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DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE EASTER SEASON
Monday May 30th
Article 16
Afraid of the Holy Ghost?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 16
Afraid of the Holy Ghost?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Fear of Ghosts and Spirits
Are you afraid of ghosts and spirits? Are you afraid of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit? You might put on a brave face and say: “No! I’m not afraid of ghosts and spirits! And even less am I afraid of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit!” Yet braver people than you have been afraid of both kinds of spirits―whether they be of departed souls, or demons, or angels or even God Himself (for God is a spirit―as the Catechism tells us).
► ABRAHAM’S FEAR: God’s initial “Chosen One” ― Abram, who had his name changed by God to Abraham ― even though chosen by God, he was still in fear of God, as we see in the following passage: “The word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: ‘Fear not, Abram!’” (Genesis 15:1) … “The Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: ‘I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect! And I will make my covenant between Me and thee; and I will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell flat on his face.” (Genesis 17:1-3).
► LEVI’S FEAR: Concerning Levi, God says: “My covenant was with him and I gave him fear―and he feared Me and he was afraid before My Name!” (Malachias 2:5).
► MOSES’ FEAR: When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush on Mount Horeb, Moses was afraid: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt ... The Lord saw called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: ‘Moses! Moses!’ … And Moses hid his face―for he dared not look at God” (Exodus 3:2-6).
► TOBIAS’ FEAR: The Archangel St. Raphael had rescued and safely delivered Tobias Junior and brought him back home to Tobias Senior. He then said: “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord!’ And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and, being seized with fear, they fell upon the ground on their face” (Tobias 12:15-16).
► ZACHARY’S FEAR: We see St. Zachary troubled and afraid at the apparition of the Archangel St. Gabriel: “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zachary, seeing him, was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: ‘Fear not Zachary!’” (Luke 1:11-13).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: “And there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow; and they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master! Does it not concern thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm. And He said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Have you not faith yet?’ And they feared exceedingly and they said one to another: ‘Who is this that both wind and sea obey Him?’” (Mark 4:37-40).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: “His disciples went down to the sea, and when they had gone up into a ship, they went over the sea to Capharnaum―but Jesus was not with them. And in the sea there arose a storm, by reason of a great wind that blew. When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing near to the ship, and they were afraid. But He said to them: ‘It is I ― be not afraid!’” (John 6:16-20).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: Peter, James and John were afraid on Mount Tabor when they witnessed Our Lord’s transfiguration: “Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain and He was transfigured before them. And His face did shine as the sun and His garments became white as snow … And a voice out of the cloud, said: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ … And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid” (Matthew 17:1-6).
► POST-RESURRECTION FEAR: We see the guards of Our Lord’s tomb to be stricken with fear and terror at the moment of the resurrection: “An angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone [of the sepulcher], and sat upon it. And his countenance was as lightning and his clothing [white] as snow. And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:2-4).
► POST-RESURRECTION FEAR: After the resurrection of Our Lord, the women who came to the sepulcher were frightened out of their wits at seeing two angels at the tomb: “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, Mary Magdalen, and Joanna, and Mary of James came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulcher. And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men [angels] stood by them, in shining apparel. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, the angels said unto them: ‘Be not afraid! … Why seek you the living with the dead?’ But they going out, fled from the sepulcher―for a trembling and fear had seized them. And they said nothing to any man―for they were afraid.” (Luke 24:1-10; Mark 16:1-10).
► POST-RESURRECTION APOSTLES’ FEAR: “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said to them: ‘Peace be to you! It is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself! Handle, and see! For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have!’” (Luke 24:36-39).
► PRE-PENTECOST APOSTLES’ FEAR: At the very first Christian Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles in the Cenacle (Upper Room), where they had gathered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews, the Holy Ghost entered with a loud bang and a fearsome wind that must have initially shocked and frightened the already frightened Apostles even more―until the peace and calm of the Holy Ghost would have removed that fear: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4).
► ST. PAUL’S FEAR: St. Paul―while still named Saul―was suddenly and miraculously converted by the Lord, being thrown off his horse and struck with blindness. Though Scripture does not mention the word “fear” in the passages concerning this incident―one can undoubtedly presume that Saul/Paul was most certainly frightened at such an encounter with the Lord―as anyone would.
Focus on Fear
As we approach the feast of Pentecost, which celebrates the descent of the Holy Ghost―with His gifts―upon Our Lady and the Apostles, we cannot help noticing that one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost is the Gift of Fear! We normally associate fear with cowardice. We see fear as a weakness. We mock fearful people. We try to hide our own fear. Yet fear can be a confusing topic―both in the religious and secular spheres. It seems―at first glance―that Holy Scripture is ambiguous and misleading about fear. There are numerous passages that seem to contradict each other―one passage telling us to fear; another passage telling us not to fear.
Some of the passages against fear are as follows: “Be not afraid!” (John 6:20) … “Do not fear!” (Genesis 26:24) … “Be not afraid of sudden fear” (Proverbs 3:25) … “Behave like men and take courage―be not afraid!” (2 Paralipomenon 32:7) … “Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return home!” (Judges 7:3) … “What man is there that is fearful, and faint hearted? Let him go and return to his house―lest he make the hearts of his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear” (Deuteronomy 20:8) … “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “The fearful … shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Apocalypse 21:8).
Yet other passages recommend or even command us to be fearful: “The Lord will give thee a fearful heart” (Deuteronomy 28:65) … “Blessed is the man that is always fearful” (Proverbs 28:14) … “From his infancy he taught him to fear God, and to abstain from all sin … We shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin” (Tobias 1:10; 4:23) … “Let everyone fear his God, because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 25:17) … “Fear thy God!” (Leviticus 25:43) … “Keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, walk in His ways, and fear Him!” (Deuteronomy 8:6) … “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him only!” (Deuteronomy 10:20) … “Learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times” (Deuteronomy 14:23) … “Thou shalt fear night and day!” (Deuteronomy 28:66) … “The Lord made all nations fear Him” (1 Paralipomenon 14:17) … “Let everyone fear his father and his mother” (Leviticus 19:3). Hence we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” Philippians 2:12).
From the above quotes, you may have noticed that the chief, or primary, or most necessary kind of fear is the fear of God, the fear of the Lord. In fact, among the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the lowest rung on the ladder belongs to the Gift of Fear of the Lord, while the highest rung on the ladder belongs to the Gift of Wisdom―it is not for nothing that Holy Scripture tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10).
Three Fears―Seven Fears
You could say that there are three kinds of fear: (1) too much fear; (2) too little fear; and (3) a correct degree of fear. Whereas many classify fear under a single category (e.g., emotion, passion, or sentiment), St. Thomas Aquinas goes even further and specifies seven distinct categories of fear: (1) the passion of fear (passio timoris); (2) the gift of fear (donum timoris); (3) the sin of fear (peccatum timoris); (4) the sin of fearlessness (peccatum intimiditatis); (5) the vice of fear (vitium timoris); (6) the vice of fearlessness (vitium intimiditatis); and (7) the propassion of fear (propassio timoris).
Here is selection of quotes from the four questions that St. Thomas dedicates to the subject of fear on a natural level (we will then give some quotes on his views on the Gift of Fear of the Holy Ghost)―they are mere jigsaw pieces that give some indication of his views on fear without giving the full picture:
“We may say that there is a natural fear … Fear chiefly has the character of passion ... The object of fear is some evil―consequently whatever tends to increase evil, leads to the increase of fear ... Fear regards future evil ... The object of fear is a future evil―an evil to come, or near at hand―which is difficult and cannot be resisted ... something difficult or arduous, so as to be almost unavoidable ... an evil which cannot be easily repelled ... Fear regards a future evil which surpasses the power of him that fears it, so that it cannot be resisted except with difficulty―this is due to one of two causes: (1) to the greatness of the evil, or (2) to the weakness of him that fears ...... There is a fear of corruptive evil [an evil that corrupts] ... There is a fear of painful evil [an evil that causes pain] ... Fear regards a saddening evil [an evil that brings sadness] ... Fear sees the evil as overcoming, so to speak, some particular good ... There is no cause for fear, except the loss of the good we love ... All fear is caused by our loving something―there is no cause for fear other than the loss of what we possess and love, or the failure to obtain what we hope for ... The most terrible of all things [that we fear] is death ... We do not fear things that are very far off; since we all know that we shall die, but as death is not near, we heed it not.” (St. Thomas, Summa, Ia-IIae, q. 41-44).
Fear Needs Guidance
Fear―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―is a passion. St. Thomas lists the chief passions as being love and hatred; desire and aversion; joy or delight; sorrow or grief or pain; hope and despair; fear (timidity) and courage (daring), and anger. The passions are, in a certain sense, “blind”―in the sense that they need the guidance of reason. The passions of the soul belong to the sphere of tendency and desire, rather than to the sphere of knowledge. Passions require the guidance of knowledge and follow upon it. Our passions are meant to be under the control and guidance of our intellect and will-power―just as children are meant to be under the control of the father and the mother. Hence, the passion of fear can be said to be rational or logical, or it can also be irrational and illogical. We sometimes encounter people whose fears are totally irrational, illogical and crazy. A strong-will must also be attached to a strong-mind, so as to overcome the panicky, irrational, wayward of the passion of fear wanting to act without any guidance or control.
The entire “family” of passions―love, hatred, desire, aversion, joy, delight, sorrow, grief, pain, hope, despair, fear (timidity), courage (daring) and anger―are like a bunch of teenagers who are all seeking their own personal good, likes and preferences, regardless of whether or not they are actually good or not. Hence, there can be a tendency to love what is sinful and hate what is good; to delight in sinful pleasure and to feel sorrow when made to do spiritual things; etc. Our intellect (mind/reason) and our will-power should be in control―but if our mind is ignorant or our will-power is weak, then these “passionate teenagers” get out of control and blindly begin to do whatever they feel like doing―regardless of whether it is good or bad, virtuous or sinful, logical or illogical. Sadly, this seems to be case with more and more people today―their passions are out of control, because their minds and wills have been allowed to become weak.
As regards the passion of fear―which is the subject of this article―this ignorance and erroneous reasoning leads to fearing what should not be feared; and not fearing what should be feared: “There is no fear of God before their eyes! … There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:5). More precisely, it leads to a lack of fear for God; a lack of fear of sin; a lack of fear of punishment and a lack of fear of Hell. That is state of the world today!
Fear is a Tool of Satan
Satan―the prince of this world according to Our Lord―uses fear as his weapon of choice to chain us worldliness. We are afraid of not being like the others. We fear what people will say of us. We fear being condemned and rejected, of not being up-to-date, of being different from everyone around us and fearful of being exposed to their mockery. These fears paralyze our intelligence and will-power.
Fear is a formidable weapon because man is a social being, who naturally hates being alone or isolated by his peers. He prefers to blindly and unquestioningly follow the crowd, rather than opposing it alone. Because we are afraid to “rock the boat”, we stay glued to our seats as the boat is carried downstream towards Hell. We lack courage. We are afraid – of struggling, of committing ourselves, of declaring war, of resisting, of enduring blows ... or of delivering them! We are afraid of not being accepted, afraid of taking the trouble to do something, afraid of living our religion on a level above a lukewarm Sunday practice. We are afraid of not enjoying the advantages of the world, afraid of being rejected, put aside, and isolated. Our soul is overcome by fear, and we sin because of this fear.
This fear is the grotesque manifestation of our attachment to our selves. It is the proof that St. Augustine’s words still apply: “We belong to the City of Man, of that man who worships only himself and sinks down to the point of despising and hating God.” Oppressed by the fear of displeasing men, we offend God! Fear blinds our mind and will to the point where we do not fear to defy the God in order to avoid having to endure the criticism or mockery of men.
We fear God only in the sense that we are afraid of what He will ask of us; afraid of where He might lead us; afraid of the holiness required of us; afraid of the crosses that can lead us to Heaven; afraid of losing valuable “worldly time” on seemingly boring “spiritual duties”. “There is no fear of God before their eyes! … There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:5). Our fear is irrational, erroneous, illogical and out of control. We have lost our spiritual sanity and replaced it with a worldly insanity. We are like lunatics that need to be brought back to a sound mind.
Are you afraid of ghosts and spirits? Are you afraid of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit? You might put on a brave face and say: “No! I’m not afraid of ghosts and spirits! And even less am I afraid of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit!” Yet braver people than you have been afraid of both kinds of spirits―whether they be of departed souls, or demons, or angels or even God Himself (for God is a spirit―as the Catechism tells us).
► ABRAHAM’S FEAR: God’s initial “Chosen One” ― Abram, who had his name changed by God to Abraham ― even though chosen by God, he was still in fear of God, as we see in the following passage: “The word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: ‘Fear not, Abram!’” (Genesis 15:1) … “The Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: ‘I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect! And I will make my covenant between Me and thee; and I will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell flat on his face.” (Genesis 17:1-3).
► LEVI’S FEAR: Concerning Levi, God says: “My covenant was with him and I gave him fear―and he feared Me and he was afraid before My Name!” (Malachias 2:5).
► MOSES’ FEAR: When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush on Mount Horeb, Moses was afraid: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt ... The Lord saw called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: ‘Moses! Moses!’ … And Moses hid his face―for he dared not look at God” (Exodus 3:2-6).
► TOBIAS’ FEAR: The Archangel St. Raphael had rescued and safely delivered Tobias Junior and brought him back home to Tobias Senior. He then said: “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord!’ And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and, being seized with fear, they fell upon the ground on their face” (Tobias 12:15-16).
► ZACHARY’S FEAR: We see St. Zachary troubled and afraid at the apparition of the Archangel St. Gabriel: “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zachary, seeing him, was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: ‘Fear not Zachary!’” (Luke 1:11-13).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: “And there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow; and they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master! Does it not concern thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm. And He said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Have you not faith yet?’ And they feared exceedingly and they said one to another: ‘Who is this that both wind and sea obey Him?’” (Mark 4:37-40).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: “His disciples went down to the sea, and when they had gone up into a ship, they went over the sea to Capharnaum―but Jesus was not with them. And in the sea there arose a storm, by reason of a great wind that blew. When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing near to the ship, and they were afraid. But He said to them: ‘It is I ― be not afraid!’” (John 6:16-20).
► APOSTLES’ FEAR: Peter, James and John were afraid on Mount Tabor when they witnessed Our Lord’s transfiguration: “Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain and He was transfigured before them. And His face did shine as the sun and His garments became white as snow … And a voice out of the cloud, said: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ … And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid” (Matthew 17:1-6).
► POST-RESURRECTION FEAR: We see the guards of Our Lord’s tomb to be stricken with fear and terror at the moment of the resurrection: “An angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone [of the sepulcher], and sat upon it. And his countenance was as lightning and his clothing [white] as snow. And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:2-4).
► POST-RESURRECTION FEAR: After the resurrection of Our Lord, the women who came to the sepulcher were frightened out of their wits at seeing two angels at the tomb: “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, Mary Magdalen, and Joanna, and Mary of James came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulcher. And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men [angels] stood by them, in shining apparel. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, the angels said unto them: ‘Be not afraid! … Why seek you the living with the dead?’ But they going out, fled from the sepulcher―for a trembling and fear had seized them. And they said nothing to any man―for they were afraid.” (Luke 24:1-10; Mark 16:1-10).
► POST-RESURRECTION APOSTLES’ FEAR: “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said to them: ‘Peace be to you! It is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself! Handle, and see! For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have!’” (Luke 24:36-39).
► PRE-PENTECOST APOSTLES’ FEAR: At the very first Christian Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles in the Cenacle (Upper Room), where they had gathered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews, the Holy Ghost entered with a loud bang and a fearsome wind that must have initially shocked and frightened the already frightened Apostles even more―until the peace and calm of the Holy Ghost would have removed that fear: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4).
► ST. PAUL’S FEAR: St. Paul―while still named Saul―was suddenly and miraculously converted by the Lord, being thrown off his horse and struck with blindness. Though Scripture does not mention the word “fear” in the passages concerning this incident―one can undoubtedly presume that Saul/Paul was most certainly frightened at such an encounter with the Lord―as anyone would.
Focus on Fear
As we approach the feast of Pentecost, which celebrates the descent of the Holy Ghost―with His gifts―upon Our Lady and the Apostles, we cannot help noticing that one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost is the Gift of Fear! We normally associate fear with cowardice. We see fear as a weakness. We mock fearful people. We try to hide our own fear. Yet fear can be a confusing topic―both in the religious and secular spheres. It seems―at first glance―that Holy Scripture is ambiguous and misleading about fear. There are numerous passages that seem to contradict each other―one passage telling us to fear; another passage telling us not to fear.
Some of the passages against fear are as follows: “Be not afraid!” (John 6:20) … “Do not fear!” (Genesis 26:24) … “Be not afraid of sudden fear” (Proverbs 3:25) … “Behave like men and take courage―be not afraid!” (2 Paralipomenon 32:7) … “Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return home!” (Judges 7:3) … “What man is there that is fearful, and faint hearted? Let him go and return to his house―lest he make the hearts of his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear” (Deuteronomy 20:8) … “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “The fearful … shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Apocalypse 21:8).
Yet other passages recommend or even command us to be fearful: “The Lord will give thee a fearful heart” (Deuteronomy 28:65) … “Blessed is the man that is always fearful” (Proverbs 28:14) … “From his infancy he taught him to fear God, and to abstain from all sin … We shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin” (Tobias 1:10; 4:23) … “Let everyone fear his God, because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 25:17) … “Fear thy God!” (Leviticus 25:43) … “Keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, walk in His ways, and fear Him!” (Deuteronomy 8:6) … “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him only!” (Deuteronomy 10:20) … “Learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times” (Deuteronomy 14:23) … “Thou shalt fear night and day!” (Deuteronomy 28:66) … “The Lord made all nations fear Him” (1 Paralipomenon 14:17) … “Let everyone fear his father and his mother” (Leviticus 19:3). Hence we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” Philippians 2:12).
From the above quotes, you may have noticed that the chief, or primary, or most necessary kind of fear is the fear of God, the fear of the Lord. In fact, among the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the lowest rung on the ladder belongs to the Gift of Fear of the Lord, while the highest rung on the ladder belongs to the Gift of Wisdom―it is not for nothing that Holy Scripture tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10).
Three Fears―Seven Fears
You could say that there are three kinds of fear: (1) too much fear; (2) too little fear; and (3) a correct degree of fear. Whereas many classify fear under a single category (e.g., emotion, passion, or sentiment), St. Thomas Aquinas goes even further and specifies seven distinct categories of fear: (1) the passion of fear (passio timoris); (2) the gift of fear (donum timoris); (3) the sin of fear (peccatum timoris); (4) the sin of fearlessness (peccatum intimiditatis); (5) the vice of fear (vitium timoris); (6) the vice of fearlessness (vitium intimiditatis); and (7) the propassion of fear (propassio timoris).
Here is selection of quotes from the four questions that St. Thomas dedicates to the subject of fear on a natural level (we will then give some quotes on his views on the Gift of Fear of the Holy Ghost)―they are mere jigsaw pieces that give some indication of his views on fear without giving the full picture:
“We may say that there is a natural fear … Fear chiefly has the character of passion ... The object of fear is some evil―consequently whatever tends to increase evil, leads to the increase of fear ... Fear regards future evil ... The object of fear is a future evil―an evil to come, or near at hand―which is difficult and cannot be resisted ... something difficult or arduous, so as to be almost unavoidable ... an evil which cannot be easily repelled ... Fear regards a future evil which surpasses the power of him that fears it, so that it cannot be resisted except with difficulty―this is due to one of two causes: (1) to the greatness of the evil, or (2) to the weakness of him that fears ...... There is a fear of corruptive evil [an evil that corrupts] ... There is a fear of painful evil [an evil that causes pain] ... Fear regards a saddening evil [an evil that brings sadness] ... Fear sees the evil as overcoming, so to speak, some particular good ... There is no cause for fear, except the loss of the good we love ... All fear is caused by our loving something―there is no cause for fear other than the loss of what we possess and love, or the failure to obtain what we hope for ... The most terrible of all things [that we fear] is death ... We do not fear things that are very far off; since we all know that we shall die, but as death is not near, we heed it not.” (St. Thomas, Summa, Ia-IIae, q. 41-44).
Fear Needs Guidance
Fear―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―is a passion. St. Thomas lists the chief passions as being love and hatred; desire and aversion; joy or delight; sorrow or grief or pain; hope and despair; fear (timidity) and courage (daring), and anger. The passions are, in a certain sense, “blind”―in the sense that they need the guidance of reason. The passions of the soul belong to the sphere of tendency and desire, rather than to the sphere of knowledge. Passions require the guidance of knowledge and follow upon it. Our passions are meant to be under the control and guidance of our intellect and will-power―just as children are meant to be under the control of the father and the mother. Hence, the passion of fear can be said to be rational or logical, or it can also be irrational and illogical. We sometimes encounter people whose fears are totally irrational, illogical and crazy. A strong-will must also be attached to a strong-mind, so as to overcome the panicky, irrational, wayward of the passion of fear wanting to act without any guidance or control.
The entire “family” of passions―love, hatred, desire, aversion, joy, delight, sorrow, grief, pain, hope, despair, fear (timidity), courage (daring) and anger―are like a bunch of teenagers who are all seeking their own personal good, likes and preferences, regardless of whether or not they are actually good or not. Hence, there can be a tendency to love what is sinful and hate what is good; to delight in sinful pleasure and to feel sorrow when made to do spiritual things; etc. Our intellect (mind/reason) and our will-power should be in control―but if our mind is ignorant or our will-power is weak, then these “passionate teenagers” get out of control and blindly begin to do whatever they feel like doing―regardless of whether it is good or bad, virtuous or sinful, logical or illogical. Sadly, this seems to be case with more and more people today―their passions are out of control, because their minds and wills have been allowed to become weak.
As regards the passion of fear―which is the subject of this article―this ignorance and erroneous reasoning leads to fearing what should not be feared; and not fearing what should be feared: “There is no fear of God before their eyes! … There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:5). More precisely, it leads to a lack of fear for God; a lack of fear of sin; a lack of fear of punishment and a lack of fear of Hell. That is state of the world today!
Fear is a Tool of Satan
Satan―the prince of this world according to Our Lord―uses fear as his weapon of choice to chain us worldliness. We are afraid of not being like the others. We fear what people will say of us. We fear being condemned and rejected, of not being up-to-date, of being different from everyone around us and fearful of being exposed to their mockery. These fears paralyze our intelligence and will-power.
Fear is a formidable weapon because man is a social being, who naturally hates being alone or isolated by his peers. He prefers to blindly and unquestioningly follow the crowd, rather than opposing it alone. Because we are afraid to “rock the boat”, we stay glued to our seats as the boat is carried downstream towards Hell. We lack courage. We are afraid – of struggling, of committing ourselves, of declaring war, of resisting, of enduring blows ... or of delivering them! We are afraid of not being accepted, afraid of taking the trouble to do something, afraid of living our religion on a level above a lukewarm Sunday practice. We are afraid of not enjoying the advantages of the world, afraid of being rejected, put aside, and isolated. Our soul is overcome by fear, and we sin because of this fear.
This fear is the grotesque manifestation of our attachment to our selves. It is the proof that St. Augustine’s words still apply: “We belong to the City of Man, of that man who worships only himself and sinks down to the point of despising and hating God.” Oppressed by the fear of displeasing men, we offend God! Fear blinds our mind and will to the point where we do not fear to defy the God in order to avoid having to endure the criticism or mockery of men.
We fear God only in the sense that we are afraid of what He will ask of us; afraid of where He might lead us; afraid of the holiness required of us; afraid of the crosses that can lead us to Heaven; afraid of losing valuable “worldly time” on seemingly boring “spiritual duties”. “There is no fear of God before their eyes! … There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:5). Our fear is irrational, erroneous, illogical and out of control. We have lost our spiritual sanity and replaced it with a worldly insanity. We are like lunatics that need to be brought back to a sound mind.
Saturday May 28th & Sunday May 29th
Article 15
Switch Your Focus from Earth to Heaven
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 15
Switch Your Focus from Earth to Heaven
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Focusing on What’s Important!
We are currently in the middle of a “heavenly season”―whereby Our Lord has just ascended into Heaven and we await the descent of the Holy Ghost from Heaven. We should not have to be told that our main focus should be Heaven and how to get there―not Earth and how to have a good time here! Yet, sadly, most people are solely or largely focused on this world and the ‘fun’ and ‘pickings’ that can be had! Our Lord warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
One has to scratch one’s head in wonder and disbelief at the multitude of people who think, speak, seek and work only for the things of this life―and give little or no thought to the afterlife! To such the following words of Scripture can be applied: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
The road to Heaven is not a broad, wide four-lane or six-lane “interstate”, but a narrow straight rugged road that few find and even fewer take if they do happen to find it: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14). The “road of life” or the “road to life” or the “road to Heaven” sees enormous fatalities―with most “drivers” spinning off the road and crashing into Hell. There are lots of traffic signs (sermons, books, articles, and even inspirations from God, etc.) warning “drivers” of the hazards on the dangerous road―but most people are too distracted to pay any attention.
Keep Your Eye on the Road!
Driving on the road could be compared to ‘driving’ to Heaven―you have to keep your eyes on the road and stay focused on your driving in order to avoid accidents, injuries and fatalities. The following passage is taken from a government NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) website on the subject of distracted driving: “Distracted driving is dangerous. Distracted driving causes over 3,000 deaths per year. Additionally, distracted driving causes about 280,000 injuries per year. Lastly, distracted driving causes about 920,000 (almost 1 million) total accidents per year. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing. Parents first have to lead by example — by never driving distracted — as well as have a talk with their young driver about distraction and all of the responsibilities that come with driving. Have everyone in the family sign the pledge to commit to distraction-free driving.”
An insurance company says this on the same subject: “Many car accidents can be avoided if drivers eliminate distractions. Distracted driving is defined as any non-driving activity that a driver engages in while behind the wheel. There are typically three distinct types of distracted driving: manual, visual, and cognitive. All drivers must understand the dangers of distracted driving so they can make sure they are safe on the roads. Learn more about the top 10 driving distractions and what you can do to avoid them.
1. Texting While Driving ― 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. Cell phone distraction rates are incredibly high. Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is the most dangerous.
2. Using the GPS ― Setting up your GPS on your phone is just as dangerous as texting. Even a glance at the directions can lead to disaster. If you are going to use the GPS, make sure it is mounted where you can easily see it and turn up the volume so that you can listen to the directions.
3. Talking to Passengers ― It’s hard not to talk to those who are riding in the car with you. You may even feel rude if you don’t. But talking, laughing, and looking at your passengers while you are driving are all distractions.
4. Dealing With Children or Pets ― It’s not safe to let pets loose in the car, but sadly some people drive with their pets in their laps, or loose in the front seat or back seat. Not only is this dangerous for your pet, but it’s dangerous for you as well. And any parent knows that dealing with children can be a huge distraction. They want your attention, they fight, they are asking you for snacks, and with all of that going on, it can be hard to focus on the road.
5. Adjusting Audio or Climate Controls ― Maybe it’s hot outside, and you need to crank up the AC or your favorite song just came on the radio and you want to turn up the volume. It may seem like just a small thing, but adjusting controls can take your eyes off the road for a few seconds and that’s all the time that is needed to cause an accident.
6. Eating and Drinking ― Sometimes we have to eat a quick meal in our cars. After all, isn’t that what the drive-thru is for? But the handling of food is a distraction that should be avoided when possible.
7. Daydreaming ― Zoning out or daydreaming is pretty common. It was responsible for 62% of all distracted driving car crashes a few years ago, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Do your best to stay focused on the road.
8. Applying Makeup/Grooming ― Some people are adamant about looking their best before they get to their destination. We get it. You want to look good. But the car is not the place to put on mascara, lipstick, blush, or even comb your hair. At least not while you’re driving. If you can’t finish grooming before you leave, then please wait until you get there safely and finish up in the car once you’ve parked.
9. Smoking ― Lighting up, putting ashes in the ashtray, and grabbing a smoke are all activities that can take your eyes off the road.
10. Emotions ― Driving while sad, angry, confused, can all lead to distracted driving. If you just had a bad break-up or had a bad day at work, take some time to cool off before you hit the road. Take deep breaths, call a close friend or relative, do whatever you can to get your emotions in check.”
Devilish Distractions Damn Disorientated Dummies
The devils are always trying to distract from what should be a our prime goal―Heaven. The distractions are endless and the distractions are endlessly successful. They manage to derail most souls into Hell―Our Lord Himself said so: “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Distractions are endless, but Scripture says: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world!” (1 John 2:15). “Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth” (Colossians 3:2). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:19-21). “Let thy eyes look straight on … Make straight the path for thy feet! … Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left! Turn away thy foot from evil!” (Proverbs 4:25-27). “No man putting his hand to the plough, and then looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!” (Luke 9:62). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations” (Apocalypse 20:7). “I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ!” (2 Corinthians 11:3). “Take heed you be not seduced―for many will come in My Name―go ye not after them!” (Luke 21:8).
Devilish “D”s
► DISTRACTION
We know from experience that so many things go wrong when we are distracted—whether it is while driving, working, cooking, cleaning, etc. The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul; if you don’t pay attention, you may for eternity! The devil is a master of distraction. It is usually one of the first steps he will take in the long devious road to your intended damnation.
The initial distraction will not be an “evil” thing, but a good thing. That is how con-men or con-artists work—they start legitimately, they may even “make a loss” on you at first by allowing you to “win” money, just to win your confidence. The devil will often distract you from holy things by ‘lesser’ holy things. He knows the power of everything and what it can do for you—so, instead of having you pray the Rosary, he will suggest some other ‘lesser’ prayer that might not seem as boring as the Rosary! Instead of going to an extra Mass, he might suggest that you go visit some sick person instead, or do something for the children, or even say a ‘boring’ Rosary. He will always try to distract with lesser things to keep you away from what can help you the most. The less grace you get, the weaker you become. He cannot win if you are strong.
Also, distraction allows him to work unnoticed. If you have ever been to Rome, you may have noticed the famous “Roma Pickpockets” at work. They used to be mainly Gypsy families, but now they also include many other immigrants too. The travel agencies, on their websites, warn you against them. Here is an extract of one such warning:
“…Others will work in groups, swarming you, babbling excitedly, and sometimes holding up bits of cardboard with messages scrawled on them to distract you. Then, faster than you can say “Hey!...”, they’ll rifle your pockets while the cardboard shields their hands from view. Near walls and in subway tunnels, they might even be so bold as to pin you against the wall with the cardboard so as to fleece you more easily. Some may spill a drink they are carrying on you and effusively apologize as they wipe you down, while in the pandemonium their cohorts are pickpocketing you, or unzipping some of your back pack compartments, etc. They aren’t really physically dangerous, but they are very skillful at rifling and taking your stuff. If they get near enough to touch you, push them away—don’t hold back just because they’re kids. They are trying to steal from you!”
Even the military and terrorists will use distraction as part of their attack maneuvers. The devil is no different. Beware of being distracted, especially by ‘good’ things, for the devil has no problem with you doing ‘good’ things if that means keeping you away from better things. The devil’s use of distraction does not just occur at the start of his long and winding road into temptation and sin, but it is something he will use all along the road—using hundreds of different ways of distracting, hundreds of times. Distraction is like the breathing of air—it is takes place all the time. Get used to it—it won’t go away, just as the devil won’t go away—but be aware of it and don’t fall for it!
These distractions are all around us and we think little or nothing of the potential danger that they hold. Remember! It takes only a few seconds of distraction for a car to crash! The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul. The military and military intelligence are well-trained in causing distractions to great effect. The devil knows you better than you know yourself—he has focused on you and your habits, tendencies, likes and dislikes, temperament, preferences, irritations, pet peeves, desires, etc., since the day you were born. The file he has on you would give you a heart attack! He knows what buttons to press and what levers to pull to turn you aside from what you should be doing! Besides, he is the prince of the world, and since you have somewhat of an attachment to certain things of the world, then he will gladly use them to distract you time and time again. It may consist of worldly distractions or even spiritual distractions—but they will have one goal in mind: to distract you from doing the “greater” or “better”, and leading you to the “lesser” or the “weaker”. He wants to distract you away from the better spiritual exercises to the lesser ones, and then from the lesser ones to worldly, or natural, or material things. Little by little, away from God and into the waters of the world.
► DELUSION DANGLE and DAZZLE
The devil is, according to Our Lord, “the prince of this world”—and we see “the prince of this world” trying to dazzle Our Lord during the temptation in the desert, by dangling many kingdoms in front of His eyes, offering them to Him if He would only bow down and adore him! “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). As Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased († 2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “The occult and Satanism always have roused people’s curiosity. The new experience, new emotions, new power that people acquire in the sects fascinates them; and Satan really does hand out his gifts of wealth, pleasure and success. In the same way that Christ was tempted―‘I will give you the whole world if you prostrate yourself before me!’―we also are tempted; and Heaven knows how many fall at Satan’s feet today!” (Interviewed by 30-Days magazine).
So many “fall at Satan’s feet today” because there is more to dazzle and dangle in this luxurious, opulent, materialistic consumer society. Never in the history of mankind has there been so much “stuff” available to the ‘common man’! If the kings of past centuries were to walk into one of today’s supermarkets or malls—they would be speechless and would probably have a heart attack! The average “Joe” of today has plenty of things that would make those kings go green with envy! The world today is the devil’s ‘paradise’, with dazzling things dangling everywhere! Sadly, Catholics (ourselves included) have been dazzled by what the world dangles and that is why they are so lukewarm—being more world orientated than God orientated. They (and we too perhaps to a certain degree) are trying to contradict Our Lord and disprove His statement: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), by shouting back: “Wanna bet? Just watch me and see!”
Even the clergy have fallen for the dazzle, as Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette said would happen: “The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. They will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!” and of the laity, she says: “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … as true Faith has faded and a false light brightens the people … the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady of La Salette), adding: “O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
By being dazzled by what is dangled, their souls are dangling over Hell in danger of being frazzled! With “the true Faith of the Lord having been forgotten”, they have “become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain” and their “love of carnal pleasures” makes them “think of nothing but amusement”, and “this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall” as “vengeance is hanging over their heads.”
► DELIGHT
What is delight? The word “delight” is defined as “a high degree of gratification or pleasure; extreme satisfaction; something that gives great pleasure.” Isn’t that what we were made for? Well, yes and no! St. Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between pleasure and joy—pleasure being a bodily delight or sense delight for the body and its senses; whereas joy is a spiritual delight for the soul. Hence Holy Scripture uses the word “delight” for both physical pleasure and spiritual joy: “I said in my heart: ‘I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy the good things of life!’ And I saw that this was vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:1) … “but I will take delight in the Lord” (Psalm 103:34). The devil wants to increasingly pull us away from all spiritual joys and to replace them with inferior earthly joys, worldly joys that only have a short duration—though, to get there, he will gladly suggest that we seek ‘lesser’ spiritual joys that give us less spiritual strength or grace, so as increasingly reduce our “grace intake” and weaken our soul’s resistance or ‘immune system’. So, for example, he will gladly suggest that you do some spiritual reading, rather than pray the Rosary; or that you spend time in a weekly Bible Study group, rather than attend an extra Mass each week.
An interesting quote, attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, is: “You change people by delight―by pleasure!” You could add to that truth the following truth: “You can change people for better or worse through delight or pleasure!” Giving delight or pleasure to others is a means to an end—you could give pleasure or delight to another for an evil purpose or goal, or you could be doing for a holy purpose or a morally good goal. The devil seeks to change people by delight and pleasure. The devil offers us and suggests pleasures and delight for an evil purpose—it is meant to a step in the direction of our damnation. The delight or the pleasure he offers, is merely the colorful bait on the end of Hell’s hook and line. For the sinner he will include “sinful bait”, while for the sincere Christian it will only “good and holy bait”—at least in the beginning—and then it will gradually become less good and less holy!
► DELUSION
This brings us to the word “delusion”, which means on the one hand, “the act of tricking or deceiving someone”, and also the result or consequence of being tricked, which is holding on to “a fixed false belief that is resistant to right reason, or an attitude that is in confrontation with actual fact.” So, in our case, it is the devil who is doing the “deluding” by “tricking and deceiving us” into accepting a “a false belief that is against right-reason and Holy Scripture”—and that false belief is that we CAN serve God and mammon, that we CAN take and enjoy the ‘goodies’ he is dazzlingly dangling before us and still get to Heaven, that we CAN live like everyone else and still expect to save our soul—which is in confrontation with what Our Lord has said:
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-25; 16:26).
Contrary to delusions sown by the devil—most souls are lost, and doing things the devil’s way is sure fire way of going the way of the majority! “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the Master shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And he answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are from! Depart from Me! Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14).
The “devil of delusion”, according to Fr. Barrielle (in his book, The Discernment of Spirits), has another gospel that he will preach to you. Fr. Barrielle writes: “Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us … Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? … One does not play with the devil! … Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil! Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him … and the devil finished by making her fall … The enemy proposes certain illusory delights, causing them to imagine sensual pleasures and enjoyments [whereas Scripture says: “Love not the world”] … He presents more vivid pleasures, and sensible delectation ... as the greatest happiness … as if it were something normal and indispensable, saying ‘The whole world is doing it!’ … The devil says: ‘Do not worry yourself, God is good! Everybody does it! Just take a look around, it is not worth talking to your confessor about it. It doesn’t concern him. You will confess it on your death bed. You will always have enough time! You are still young!’ etc.” The devil will point out to you many quotes about the mercy of God and will sweep under the rug the quotes about his justice and the loss of many souls. It is one-sided truth, partial truth, not the whole truth—it is delusion: “a fixed false belief that is resistant to right reason, or an attitude that is in confrontation with actual fact.”
► DAYDREAMS
Once the pleasure or delight has been suggested, the next step is have to mull it over and over—in other words, to get you start daydreaming about it. This is the gradual—”little by little”—way to get you to move forwards without making you feel too uncomfortable or too concerned about what he has offered or suggested. Hey! What the heck! You’re only thinking about it! You’re NOT DOING anything! So what’s the big deal? That is how the devil wants us to rationalize away his plots and plans. This could be called the “incubation” period—the seed has been planted and all you have to do is water it with attention as you daydream.
Remember that Native American Indian saying: “Where you plant your feet determines what you see!” The same is true for the mind! St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his autobiography, admits to having a problem with daydreaming—especially before his ‘conversion’ during convalescence, after being wounded in battle. At the time he was daydreaming like any soldier—his daydreams were of a worldly nature. Yet God’s Providence saw to it that Ignatius’ mind would plucked-out of the “worldly plant bed” and replanted in “religious soil”—for the only books available at the place he was convalescing, were books on the lives of the saints! Ignatius writes that as grew older, he became more mature and got to grips with the habit of daydreaming and rechanneled it into holy thoughts.
Just a thought here! If Our Lord says: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)—then what about idle thoughts or idle daydreams? Do thoughts not count? They do count! For Our Lord says elsewhere: “But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)—here, Our Lord condemns a thought in the heart, which has not even reached the lips! “And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Matthew 9:4). There is a quote from the authoress, Charlotte Bronte (of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre fame), that says: “Daydreams are the delusions of the devil!” Now Charlotte was not a Catholic, nor is she a saint, but she sure hits the nail on the head! It’s just that we so naïve and so gullible in these things that we “write-off” most of the evil in our lives as being harmless!
► DEVIATE from your true path
Fr. Amorth writes: “In order to make them deviate, the devil used two expedients with Adam and Eve, and he uses them also with us. Above all, he leads them to deny what God has imposed. For this the serpent says to Eve: “You will not die” (Genesis 3:4). He acts in the same way with us, when he makes us doubt the existence of sin and Hell and paradise and of their eternity; or, for example, as in our times, where euthanasia and abortion are passed off as signs of humanity’s progress. The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The serpent proceeds: “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful.”
Fr. Barrielle (in his book, The Discernment of Spirits) also points out the opposite kind of deviation from the true path, whereby the devil, seeing that we are making progress in the ways, or even, in rare cases, have been given mystical graces by God, tries to make us doubt and deviate from that path—even using good and holy men and women as unwitting instruments for his plans― “When the devil acts, it is either by himself or through one of his henchmen―bad counsel, or bad example” writes Fr. Barrielle. He adds: “The learned and holy priest, Gerson, we saw, despised the visions of St. Catherine of Siena and wanted the Council of Constance to condemn all her revelations and visions and to order that no one speak any more about them. At the time of St. Teresa of Avila, all the learned people gathered together to discuss her visions and unanimously concluded that these favors were not from God. They even sent a delegation to notify her that she had been deceived by the devil, and that she take every means to leave this path, which they asserted was just an illusion.
“One of the greatest difficulties encountered by the efforts to spread the Sacred Heart devotion was the fact that Our Lord made use of a humble Visitation sister to ask for the institution of this feast, the first Fridays of the month, the consecration, etc.
“Yet in both the Old and the New Testaments, ineffable relations of God with certain men are often recounted. It is true that one must be careful about being too credulous. St. Peter, in his second epistle, after having recalled the vision of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, gives a grand rule which should be the guideline for all apparitions or extraordinary events: Sed habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem. In other words, we have, above all private revelation, the hierarchical and official Church, with the Deposit of the Faith. This should be the yardstick used in examining whether a vision is from God or not. Beware, as soon as the passions become mixed‑up, many want to make you believe that the authentic hierarchy has spoken, while it is perhaps only a member of the hierarchy who may have, in fact, exceeded his powers. The Pope, speaking ex cathedra, is infallible. A bishop, even while having the role of the hierarchy in his diocese, is not necessarily infallible. The Holy Office, which twice condemned Padre Pio, has now allowed the introduction of his process of beatification.
“In other words, true obedience and the rule of Faith are the two rules used to judge whether a vision is true or not. With respect to personal miraculous graces, it will often be impossible to obtain a certitude, and the Church, while favoring public acts of devotion, pilgrimages, etc., avoids definitive pronouncements in such events. We may give general rules in regard to mysticism: God is master! He acts as He pleases. The rules of discernment of St. Ignatius help us to act prudently in all cases (ascetical, ordinary mystical, and extraordinary mystical). One must not desire these miraculous states, as they are often accompanied by terrible trials. If the soul is not detached from all, these graces could be harmful.” (Fr. Barrielle, The Discernment of Spirits).
Whatever the area of deviation may be—that is to say, either in making you deviate from the right path by suggesting you START DOING something, or by suggesting you STOP DOING something—whether it be done by the devil acting alone through planting suggestions in your imagination, or through other people (even good and well-intentioned people) doing his work for him or with him (in ignorance, thinking they are doing something good and right)—whatever the case may be, as Fr. Barrielle rightly points out above, “true obedience and the rule of Faith are the two rules used to judge” in discerning what to do and in judging which is the right path. That is why it is important to have a good and solid spiritual director—which is easier said than done, since St. Teresa and St. Francis de Sales (among many others) say that such a person is only one-in-a-thousand! St. Teresa of Avila complains in her book about the many poor spiritual directors who gave her bad advice on many occasions.
This stage—the stage of deviation—is the last bus-stop at which we can get off the ‘bus of temptation’ before it enters the point of no return—that is to say, the actual committing of sin. For once we decide to deviate from the right path—even though we have not yet committed the sin by actual word or deed, we have already committed it in our minds or in our thought or judgment to go ahead with it. If we refuse to get off the bus, then we have implicitly said “YES!” to the temptation and are only waiting for the next bus-stop when we can off the bust and do the deed.
Warning of Our Lady
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady revealed the following:
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Thou canst not follow Christ if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things.
“Human nature is imperfect and remiss in practicing virtue, and easily weakens in its exercise―for it continually seeks rest and evades labor with all its might. When the soul listens to and extemporizes with the animal and carnal part of its nature this latter will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery. A voluntary remissness in regard to one imperfection prepares and opens the way for others: these facilitate the commission of venial sins, these again of mortal sins. Thus the descent is from one abyss to another, until the bottom is found in the disregard of all evil. This disorder is abominable and much to be feared by all. By remissness in battle, and by their frequent defeats, they live themselves into a paralyzing and self-satisfied conviction of false security, content with the performance of certain easy outward practices of virtue, at the same time imagining (without the least real advancement) that they are moving mountains and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference. The demon then introduces other distractions and temptations, and on account of their small appreciation of the rules and practices of religion, they begin to weaken in all of them, esteem them as light and unimportant matter, and, living on in their false security, come to lose the very perception of true virtue and turn toward the dangerous levities and distractions.
“Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life? The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! Carnal men, with a most perverse blindness, continue to make much of the visible and fictitious goods, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever they fail to obtain them. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it. The endless damage caused in mortals by this insane love, greed and covetousness of visible things, will pervert the greater part of the human nature, who are lost by the vice of avarice and cupidity. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16).
“The worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings. Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart. These worldlings abhor all that is painful.
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death.
“Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites under the name Christian. How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces, being blind themselves, follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous tepidity. They live in the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices.”
Where Are Your Thoughts? Where Is Your Heart? Thoughts Lead to Actions!
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Ideas have consequences. We are what we think. What is in our heart, ends up in our actions. Our Lord said: “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23). Which is the same as Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “The dressing of a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so too a word out of the thought of the heart of man” (Ecclesiasticus 27:7). Our ideas become our ideals which become our actions. Feed the mind trash and …
Junk Does Not Bring Good Health
This is why good reading and good friends are of utmost importance. They are the chief suppliers of our ideas. If we eat junk food, so readily available on today’s market, then our health will become ‘junk’ as disease gradually sets in. As many doctors say, “We eat and drink ourselves into disease”! The same is true for the ‘food’ and ‘drink’ that we feed our minds and hearts. Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). He even gives us His own Flesh and Blood to eat and drink: “I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:51-56).
Think Little, Believe Even Less
This Bread of Life has even fed and kept several mystics and saints alive for varying numbers of years—over 10, 20 and even 30 years—without any other food being taken. The fare served by Heaven is certainly of the highest quality! It should be our greatest treasure—yet, alas, it is not! Varying numbers of Catholics—depending in which part of the world you live—no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. This number of disbelievers, or ‘doubting Thomases’, ranges from 40% to 80% ― depending upon where they live and what age they are. Small wonder Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We Think More of Earth Than Heaven
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalms 13:2). Our Lady of La Salette replies: “People will think only of amusement!” To which Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
Ladder to Heaven
What Jacob saw in his sleep is an indication and an invitation for us also: “And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the Earth, and the top thereof touching Heaven” (Genesis 28:12). We are to climb that ladder to Heaven! To do that, we must first climb there with our minds and hearts—which are the two vertical members of the ladder, while each thought or desire is a horizontal rung. If we think little of Heaven or desire it little, then there will be hardly any rungs on our ladder to Heaven.
Hours on the Ladder
Many saints spent many hours on the ladder! They thought about God and Heaven; they desired God and Heaven; they spoke about God and Heaven; they spent many hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament and thought they were in Heaven! Heavens above! Did they do this because they were saints? Not at all! It was the doing of this that made them saints! It is an infallible recipe for sanctity. It is a guaranteed cure! A certain success! Yet so few try it and even less persevere in it! It seems too arduous, or too boring, or too limiting, or too demanding. Yet, for those who think that, it plainly shows how little they think of Heaven—meaning that they cheapen Heaven, downgrade Heaven, expect Heaven to be a freebie.
The Perks of Heaven Would Perk Them Up
If they were only to think more about Heaven, then they would realize what an incredible ‘product’ it really is—it durability is eternal; it never runs-out or runs-down; it produces in a person a happiness and satisfaction that is unimaginable and unthinkable; the views are splendid; the mansions are many; the community is delightfully friendly; there is no crime in the neighborhood. The medical staff are out of this world—restoring all body parts so that they function perfectly; reversing aging and guaranteeing youthful looks for eternity; eliminating obesity without artificial means like liposuction, naturally or supernaturally; removing all fears, worries, anxieties and sufferings. The entertainment is divine! The music, by all accounts, is angelic—with melodies previously unheard and thought to be impossible.
More Than An Eyeful
No wonder St. Paul, who says he was caught up to the third Heaven, says: “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We are reminded of St. Dominic Savio, who appeared in a vision to St. John Bosco, saying: “Father, tell the boys how wonderful it is here! How wonderful it is!” Which is why Our Lord tries to encourage us to focus more on Heaven than Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
You Can Do It!
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady is also speaking to us, as she says: “With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and His gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord ... Let thy thoughts always be of the noblest and thy conversation in Heaven and with the angelic spirits … Of thee, my daughter, I require the practice of these rules, and through thee I wish to inculcate them on other mortals … Let their conversations be in Heaven with the Most High, and with me, who am their Mother, and let it be with the angels, imitating them in holy love.”
Happy Thoughts or Hopeless Thoughts
Putting our eggs in the basket of this world is like eating candy floss—the experience is over before you know it and your not left really satisfied. Why on earth would we place all our hopes for happiness in a miserably short stay on Earth—80 years long if we are lucky—when the basket of eternity is the other option? “Our days upon Earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay” (1 Paralipomenon 29:15). “His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his Earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish” (Psalm 145:4). “Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth … But the things that are in Heaven, who shall search out?” (Wisdom 9:16). “I am a sojourner on the Earth” (Psalm 118:19).
Just because most other people seem to want to be ‘earthy’ and worldly, do I have to follow suit? “He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the Earth, of the Earth he is, and of the Earth he speaketh. He that cometh from Heaven, is above all” (John 3:31). “The first man was of the Earth, earthly: the second man, from Heaven, heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47). Our Lord came to Earth to lead us to Heaven: “And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all things to Myself” (John 12:32). This Earth, and all that is in it, will perish—why place my eggs in that perishable basket?
On Ash Wednesday, as our foreheads are smeared with ashes, we are told: “Remember man that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” Adam was made from the dust or slime of the earth “And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, Who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “All men are earth and ashes” (Ecclesiasticus 17:31). “And of the same clay by a vain labor he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again. But his care is, not that he shall labor, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth, and his life more base than clay. Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker and Him that breathed into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit” (Wisdom 15:8-11).
The Spirit of St. Paul
Holy Scripture asks us a very searching question, that we must answer and act upon: “For what have I in Heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire upon Earth?” (Psalm 72:25). St. Paul gives us his answer: “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Yet how many have the spirit of St. Paul? Most have the spirit of the world. They look upon religion as though it were dung, and would gladly suffer the loss of all religious obligations so that they may gain the world.
The Spirit of God Speaks
In response to these worldlings, the Holy Spirit, in Holy Scripture, says: “O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord!” (Jeremias 22:29). “You have feasted upon Earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts!” (“James 5:5). “Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the Earth? That take their diversion with the birds of the air. That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? Who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable. They are cut off, and are gone down to Hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the Earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known, nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face!” (Baruch 3:16-21). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof … All mirth is forsaken: the joy of the Earth is gone away!” (Isaias 24:1, 11). “Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the Earth is laid waste!” (Jeremias 4:20).
The World At His Feet
Our Lord had the world at His feet, but He chose to turn His back upon it: “Again the devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). “Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing …” (John 14:30). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress―but have confidence, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33).
Overcoming and Rising Above the World
If Our Lord has “overcome the world” then this means the world is an enemy. Therefore, we too must overcome the world, or be overcome by it. It is our Faith that overcomes the world: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world—our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Religion clean and undefiled before God … is to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” (James 1:27). “Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Heaven and Hell
Just as a coin has two sides that are inseparable, so too does our spiritual life have two inseparable thoughts—Heaven and Hell. In fact, the Church teaches us that the chief things that we should think about are the FOUR LAST THINGS, namely—Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Sadly, none of those things make the “Top Ten” of our favorite thoughts for the day! Yet Holy Mother Church knows best! Most people would do well to follow their Mother’s advice. Yet little is known of what death is like! Who can tell us much about the final judgment after death? Who has been to Hell and come back to tell the tale? Who has come back to Earth from Heaven with pictures and a description?
Even so, there are snippets that we can glean from certain books—though few such books exist. Those that do exist, risk being a little dry for most readers. However, we do ourselves a disservice by neglecting to find and study material on these matters. Some books that spring to mind are Fr. Xavier Schouppe’s two books: Hell and How To Avoid It and its sister book, Purgatory Explained. That deals with the negative side of the coin. On the more positive side we have some books that gradually take us from the negativity of Hell, through the partial negativity of Purgatory, to the positivity of Heaven. These books are: The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Fr. Regis Martin; and The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven by Fr. Martin von Cochem; Purgatory and Heaven by Fr. J. P. Arendzen; Guidance to Heaven by Cardinal Giovanni Bona; and, finally, The Happiness of Heaven: And How to Attain the Joys That Await You There by Fr. Boudreaux.
What God Gives? What the World Gives?
God offers us eternity, the world can only promise 70, 80 or 90 years. In Heaven there are no enemies, in this world Our Lord says that “a man's enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Today, the enemies of Christianity are growing with each day, so too is the threat to Christianity—just as Our Lord forecast: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake” (Matthew 24:9). In Heaven, there shall be no such hatred—the hatred will be perpetual in Hell. The world offers can only offer us perishable riches—which are left behind the day we die. The riches of Heaven are forever—never to lost; never to taken away. God offers us a perfect body in the prime of life (they say around 33 years of age); perfect peace; perfect joy; perfect happiness; an abundance of true and pure love—the world cannot eliminate anxiety, stress, fear and threats. In Heaven we are loved by all, on Earth we are hated by many. In Heaven there is no gossip, no talk of past sins, failures and mistakes; whereas Earth is full of such talk. There are no diseases or wars in Heaven; while Earth is full of disease and impending war. The rulers of the Earth just want to take from you; in Heaven God and everyone seeks to give. SO WHY DO WE THINK AND TALK SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE IN THIS WORLD? THINK OF HEAVEN MORE, AND LESS OF THIS WORLD!
We are currently in the middle of a “heavenly season”―whereby Our Lord has just ascended into Heaven and we await the descent of the Holy Ghost from Heaven. We should not have to be told that our main focus should be Heaven and how to get there―not Earth and how to have a good time here! Yet, sadly, most people are solely or largely focused on this world and the ‘fun’ and ‘pickings’ that can be had! Our Lord warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
One has to scratch one’s head in wonder and disbelief at the multitude of people who think, speak, seek and work only for the things of this life―and give little or no thought to the afterlife! To such the following words of Scripture can be applied: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
The road to Heaven is not a broad, wide four-lane or six-lane “interstate”, but a narrow straight rugged road that few find and even fewer take if they do happen to find it: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14). The “road of life” or the “road to life” or the “road to Heaven” sees enormous fatalities―with most “drivers” spinning off the road and crashing into Hell. There are lots of traffic signs (sermons, books, articles, and even inspirations from God, etc.) warning “drivers” of the hazards on the dangerous road―but most people are too distracted to pay any attention.
Keep Your Eye on the Road!
Driving on the road could be compared to ‘driving’ to Heaven―you have to keep your eyes on the road and stay focused on your driving in order to avoid accidents, injuries and fatalities. The following passage is taken from a government NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) website on the subject of distracted driving: “Distracted driving is dangerous. Distracted driving causes over 3,000 deaths per year. Additionally, distracted driving causes about 280,000 injuries per year. Lastly, distracted driving causes about 920,000 (almost 1 million) total accidents per year. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing. Parents first have to lead by example — by never driving distracted — as well as have a talk with their young driver about distraction and all of the responsibilities that come with driving. Have everyone in the family sign the pledge to commit to distraction-free driving.”
An insurance company says this on the same subject: “Many car accidents can be avoided if drivers eliminate distractions. Distracted driving is defined as any non-driving activity that a driver engages in while behind the wheel. There are typically three distinct types of distracted driving: manual, visual, and cognitive. All drivers must understand the dangers of distracted driving so they can make sure they are safe on the roads. Learn more about the top 10 driving distractions and what you can do to avoid them.
1. Texting While Driving ― 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. Cell phone distraction rates are incredibly high. Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is the most dangerous.
2. Using the GPS ― Setting up your GPS on your phone is just as dangerous as texting. Even a glance at the directions can lead to disaster. If you are going to use the GPS, make sure it is mounted where you can easily see it and turn up the volume so that you can listen to the directions.
3. Talking to Passengers ― It’s hard not to talk to those who are riding in the car with you. You may even feel rude if you don’t. But talking, laughing, and looking at your passengers while you are driving are all distractions.
4. Dealing With Children or Pets ― It’s not safe to let pets loose in the car, but sadly some people drive with their pets in their laps, or loose in the front seat or back seat. Not only is this dangerous for your pet, but it’s dangerous for you as well. And any parent knows that dealing with children can be a huge distraction. They want your attention, they fight, they are asking you for snacks, and with all of that going on, it can be hard to focus on the road.
5. Adjusting Audio or Climate Controls ― Maybe it’s hot outside, and you need to crank up the AC or your favorite song just came on the radio and you want to turn up the volume. It may seem like just a small thing, but adjusting controls can take your eyes off the road for a few seconds and that’s all the time that is needed to cause an accident.
6. Eating and Drinking ― Sometimes we have to eat a quick meal in our cars. After all, isn’t that what the drive-thru is for? But the handling of food is a distraction that should be avoided when possible.
7. Daydreaming ― Zoning out or daydreaming is pretty common. It was responsible for 62% of all distracted driving car crashes a few years ago, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Do your best to stay focused on the road.
8. Applying Makeup/Grooming ― Some people are adamant about looking their best before they get to their destination. We get it. You want to look good. But the car is not the place to put on mascara, lipstick, blush, or even comb your hair. At least not while you’re driving. If you can’t finish grooming before you leave, then please wait until you get there safely and finish up in the car once you’ve parked.
9. Smoking ― Lighting up, putting ashes in the ashtray, and grabbing a smoke are all activities that can take your eyes off the road.
10. Emotions ― Driving while sad, angry, confused, can all lead to distracted driving. If you just had a bad break-up or had a bad day at work, take some time to cool off before you hit the road. Take deep breaths, call a close friend or relative, do whatever you can to get your emotions in check.”
Devilish Distractions Damn Disorientated Dummies
The devils are always trying to distract from what should be a our prime goal―Heaven. The distractions are endless and the distractions are endlessly successful. They manage to derail most souls into Hell―Our Lord Himself said so: “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Distractions are endless, but Scripture says: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world!” (1 John 2:15). “Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth” (Colossians 3:2). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:19-21). “Let thy eyes look straight on … Make straight the path for thy feet! … Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left! Turn away thy foot from evil!” (Proverbs 4:25-27). “No man putting his hand to the plough, and then looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!” (Luke 9:62). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations” (Apocalypse 20:7). “I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ!” (2 Corinthians 11:3). “Take heed you be not seduced―for many will come in My Name―go ye not after them!” (Luke 21:8).
Devilish “D”s
► DISTRACTION
We know from experience that so many things go wrong when we are distracted—whether it is while driving, working, cooking, cleaning, etc. The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul; if you don’t pay attention, you may for eternity! The devil is a master of distraction. It is usually one of the first steps he will take in the long devious road to your intended damnation.
The initial distraction will not be an “evil” thing, but a good thing. That is how con-men or con-artists work—they start legitimately, they may even “make a loss” on you at first by allowing you to “win” money, just to win your confidence. The devil will often distract you from holy things by ‘lesser’ holy things. He knows the power of everything and what it can do for you—so, instead of having you pray the Rosary, he will suggest some other ‘lesser’ prayer that might not seem as boring as the Rosary! Instead of going to an extra Mass, he might suggest that you go visit some sick person instead, or do something for the children, or even say a ‘boring’ Rosary. He will always try to distract with lesser things to keep you away from what can help you the most. The less grace you get, the weaker you become. He cannot win if you are strong.
Also, distraction allows him to work unnoticed. If you have ever been to Rome, you may have noticed the famous “Roma Pickpockets” at work. They used to be mainly Gypsy families, but now they also include many other immigrants too. The travel agencies, on their websites, warn you against them. Here is an extract of one such warning:
“…Others will work in groups, swarming you, babbling excitedly, and sometimes holding up bits of cardboard with messages scrawled on them to distract you. Then, faster than you can say “Hey!...”, they’ll rifle your pockets while the cardboard shields their hands from view. Near walls and in subway tunnels, they might even be so bold as to pin you against the wall with the cardboard so as to fleece you more easily. Some may spill a drink they are carrying on you and effusively apologize as they wipe you down, while in the pandemonium their cohorts are pickpocketing you, or unzipping some of your back pack compartments, etc. They aren’t really physically dangerous, but they are very skillful at rifling and taking your stuff. If they get near enough to touch you, push them away—don’t hold back just because they’re kids. They are trying to steal from you!”
Even the military and terrorists will use distraction as part of their attack maneuvers. The devil is no different. Beware of being distracted, especially by ‘good’ things, for the devil has no problem with you doing ‘good’ things if that means keeping you away from better things. The devil’s use of distraction does not just occur at the start of his long and winding road into temptation and sin, but it is something he will use all along the road—using hundreds of different ways of distracting, hundreds of times. Distraction is like the breathing of air—it is takes place all the time. Get used to it—it won’t go away, just as the devil won’t go away—but be aware of it and don’t fall for it!
These distractions are all around us and we think little or nothing of the potential danger that they hold. Remember! It takes only a few seconds of distraction for a car to crash! The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul. The military and military intelligence are well-trained in causing distractions to great effect. The devil knows you better than you know yourself—he has focused on you and your habits, tendencies, likes and dislikes, temperament, preferences, irritations, pet peeves, desires, etc., since the day you were born. The file he has on you would give you a heart attack! He knows what buttons to press and what levers to pull to turn you aside from what you should be doing! Besides, he is the prince of the world, and since you have somewhat of an attachment to certain things of the world, then he will gladly use them to distract you time and time again. It may consist of worldly distractions or even spiritual distractions—but they will have one goal in mind: to distract you from doing the “greater” or “better”, and leading you to the “lesser” or the “weaker”. He wants to distract you away from the better spiritual exercises to the lesser ones, and then from the lesser ones to worldly, or natural, or material things. Little by little, away from God and into the waters of the world.
► DELUSION DANGLE and DAZZLE
The devil is, according to Our Lord, “the prince of this world”—and we see “the prince of this world” trying to dazzle Our Lord during the temptation in the desert, by dangling many kingdoms in front of His eyes, offering them to Him if He would only bow down and adore him! “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). As Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased († 2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “The occult and Satanism always have roused people’s curiosity. The new experience, new emotions, new power that people acquire in the sects fascinates them; and Satan really does hand out his gifts of wealth, pleasure and success. In the same way that Christ was tempted―‘I will give you the whole world if you prostrate yourself before me!’―we also are tempted; and Heaven knows how many fall at Satan’s feet today!” (Interviewed by 30-Days magazine).
So many “fall at Satan’s feet today” because there is more to dazzle and dangle in this luxurious, opulent, materialistic consumer society. Never in the history of mankind has there been so much “stuff” available to the ‘common man’! If the kings of past centuries were to walk into one of today’s supermarkets or malls—they would be speechless and would probably have a heart attack! The average “Joe” of today has plenty of things that would make those kings go green with envy! The world today is the devil’s ‘paradise’, with dazzling things dangling everywhere! Sadly, Catholics (ourselves included) have been dazzled by what the world dangles and that is why they are so lukewarm—being more world orientated than God orientated. They (and we too perhaps to a certain degree) are trying to contradict Our Lord and disprove His statement: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), by shouting back: “Wanna bet? Just watch me and see!”
Even the clergy have fallen for the dazzle, as Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette said would happen: “The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. They will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!” and of the laity, she says: “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … as true Faith has faded and a false light brightens the people … the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady of La Salette), adding: “O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
By being dazzled by what is dangled, their souls are dangling over Hell in danger of being frazzled! With “the true Faith of the Lord having been forgotten”, they have “become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain” and their “love of carnal pleasures” makes them “think of nothing but amusement”, and “this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall” as “vengeance is hanging over their heads.”
► DELIGHT
What is delight? The word “delight” is defined as “a high degree of gratification or pleasure; extreme satisfaction; something that gives great pleasure.” Isn’t that what we were made for? Well, yes and no! St. Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between pleasure and joy—pleasure being a bodily delight or sense delight for the body and its senses; whereas joy is a spiritual delight for the soul. Hence Holy Scripture uses the word “delight” for both physical pleasure and spiritual joy: “I said in my heart: ‘I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy the good things of life!’ And I saw that this was vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:1) … “but I will take delight in the Lord” (Psalm 103:34). The devil wants to increasingly pull us away from all spiritual joys and to replace them with inferior earthly joys, worldly joys that only have a short duration—though, to get there, he will gladly suggest that we seek ‘lesser’ spiritual joys that give us less spiritual strength or grace, so as increasingly reduce our “grace intake” and weaken our soul’s resistance or ‘immune system’. So, for example, he will gladly suggest that you do some spiritual reading, rather than pray the Rosary; or that you spend time in a weekly Bible Study group, rather than attend an extra Mass each week.
An interesting quote, attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, is: “You change people by delight―by pleasure!” You could add to that truth the following truth: “You can change people for better or worse through delight or pleasure!” Giving delight or pleasure to others is a means to an end—you could give pleasure or delight to another for an evil purpose or goal, or you could be doing for a holy purpose or a morally good goal. The devil seeks to change people by delight and pleasure. The devil offers us and suggests pleasures and delight for an evil purpose—it is meant to a step in the direction of our damnation. The delight or the pleasure he offers, is merely the colorful bait on the end of Hell’s hook and line. For the sinner he will include “sinful bait”, while for the sincere Christian it will only “good and holy bait”—at least in the beginning—and then it will gradually become less good and less holy!
► DELUSION
This brings us to the word “delusion”, which means on the one hand, “the act of tricking or deceiving someone”, and also the result or consequence of being tricked, which is holding on to “a fixed false belief that is resistant to right reason, or an attitude that is in confrontation with actual fact.” So, in our case, it is the devil who is doing the “deluding” by “tricking and deceiving us” into accepting a “a false belief that is against right-reason and Holy Scripture”—and that false belief is that we CAN serve God and mammon, that we CAN take and enjoy the ‘goodies’ he is dazzlingly dangling before us and still get to Heaven, that we CAN live like everyone else and still expect to save our soul—which is in confrontation with what Our Lord has said:
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-25; 16:26).
Contrary to delusions sown by the devil—most souls are lost, and doing things the devil’s way is sure fire way of going the way of the majority! “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the Master shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And he answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are from! Depart from Me! Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14).
The “devil of delusion”, according to Fr. Barrielle (in his book, The Discernment of Spirits), has another gospel that he will preach to you. Fr. Barrielle writes: “Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us … Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? … One does not play with the devil! … Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil! Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him … and the devil finished by making her fall … The enemy proposes certain illusory delights, causing them to imagine sensual pleasures and enjoyments [whereas Scripture says: “Love not the world”] … He presents more vivid pleasures, and sensible delectation ... as the greatest happiness … as if it were something normal and indispensable, saying ‘The whole world is doing it!’ … The devil says: ‘Do not worry yourself, God is good! Everybody does it! Just take a look around, it is not worth talking to your confessor about it. It doesn’t concern him. You will confess it on your death bed. You will always have enough time! You are still young!’ etc.” The devil will point out to you many quotes about the mercy of God and will sweep under the rug the quotes about his justice and the loss of many souls. It is one-sided truth, partial truth, not the whole truth—it is delusion: “a fixed false belief that is resistant to right reason, or an attitude that is in confrontation with actual fact.”
► DAYDREAMS
Once the pleasure or delight has been suggested, the next step is have to mull it over and over—in other words, to get you start daydreaming about it. This is the gradual—”little by little”—way to get you to move forwards without making you feel too uncomfortable or too concerned about what he has offered or suggested. Hey! What the heck! You’re only thinking about it! You’re NOT DOING anything! So what’s the big deal? That is how the devil wants us to rationalize away his plots and plans. This could be called the “incubation” period—the seed has been planted and all you have to do is water it with attention as you daydream.
Remember that Native American Indian saying: “Where you plant your feet determines what you see!” The same is true for the mind! St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his autobiography, admits to having a problem with daydreaming—especially before his ‘conversion’ during convalescence, after being wounded in battle. At the time he was daydreaming like any soldier—his daydreams were of a worldly nature. Yet God’s Providence saw to it that Ignatius’ mind would plucked-out of the “worldly plant bed” and replanted in “religious soil”—for the only books available at the place he was convalescing, were books on the lives of the saints! Ignatius writes that as grew older, he became more mature and got to grips with the habit of daydreaming and rechanneled it into holy thoughts.
Just a thought here! If Our Lord says: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)—then what about idle thoughts or idle daydreams? Do thoughts not count? They do count! For Our Lord says elsewhere: “But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)—here, Our Lord condemns a thought in the heart, which has not even reached the lips! “And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Matthew 9:4). There is a quote from the authoress, Charlotte Bronte (of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre fame), that says: “Daydreams are the delusions of the devil!” Now Charlotte was not a Catholic, nor is she a saint, but she sure hits the nail on the head! It’s just that we so naïve and so gullible in these things that we “write-off” most of the evil in our lives as being harmless!
► DEVIATE from your true path
Fr. Amorth writes: “In order to make them deviate, the devil used two expedients with Adam and Eve, and he uses them also with us. Above all, he leads them to deny what God has imposed. For this the serpent says to Eve: “You will not die” (Genesis 3:4). He acts in the same way with us, when he makes us doubt the existence of sin and Hell and paradise and of their eternity; or, for example, as in our times, where euthanasia and abortion are passed off as signs of humanity’s progress. The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The serpent proceeds: “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful.”
Fr. Barrielle (in his book, The Discernment of Spirits) also points out the opposite kind of deviation from the true path, whereby the devil, seeing that we are making progress in the ways, or even, in rare cases, have been given mystical graces by God, tries to make us doubt and deviate from that path—even using good and holy men and women as unwitting instruments for his plans― “When the devil acts, it is either by himself or through one of his henchmen―bad counsel, or bad example” writes Fr. Barrielle. He adds: “The learned and holy priest, Gerson, we saw, despised the visions of St. Catherine of Siena and wanted the Council of Constance to condemn all her revelations and visions and to order that no one speak any more about them. At the time of St. Teresa of Avila, all the learned people gathered together to discuss her visions and unanimously concluded that these favors were not from God. They even sent a delegation to notify her that she had been deceived by the devil, and that she take every means to leave this path, which they asserted was just an illusion.
“One of the greatest difficulties encountered by the efforts to spread the Sacred Heart devotion was the fact that Our Lord made use of a humble Visitation sister to ask for the institution of this feast, the first Fridays of the month, the consecration, etc.
“Yet in both the Old and the New Testaments, ineffable relations of God with certain men are often recounted. It is true that one must be careful about being too credulous. St. Peter, in his second epistle, after having recalled the vision of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, gives a grand rule which should be the guideline for all apparitions or extraordinary events: Sed habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem. In other words, we have, above all private revelation, the hierarchical and official Church, with the Deposit of the Faith. This should be the yardstick used in examining whether a vision is from God or not. Beware, as soon as the passions become mixed‑up, many want to make you believe that the authentic hierarchy has spoken, while it is perhaps only a member of the hierarchy who may have, in fact, exceeded his powers. The Pope, speaking ex cathedra, is infallible. A bishop, even while having the role of the hierarchy in his diocese, is not necessarily infallible. The Holy Office, which twice condemned Padre Pio, has now allowed the introduction of his process of beatification.
“In other words, true obedience and the rule of Faith are the two rules used to judge whether a vision is true or not. With respect to personal miraculous graces, it will often be impossible to obtain a certitude, and the Church, while favoring public acts of devotion, pilgrimages, etc., avoids definitive pronouncements in such events. We may give general rules in regard to mysticism: God is master! He acts as He pleases. The rules of discernment of St. Ignatius help us to act prudently in all cases (ascetical, ordinary mystical, and extraordinary mystical). One must not desire these miraculous states, as they are often accompanied by terrible trials. If the soul is not detached from all, these graces could be harmful.” (Fr. Barrielle, The Discernment of Spirits).
Whatever the area of deviation may be—that is to say, either in making you deviate from the right path by suggesting you START DOING something, or by suggesting you STOP DOING something—whether it be done by the devil acting alone through planting suggestions in your imagination, or through other people (even good and well-intentioned people) doing his work for him or with him (in ignorance, thinking they are doing something good and right)—whatever the case may be, as Fr. Barrielle rightly points out above, “true obedience and the rule of Faith are the two rules used to judge” in discerning what to do and in judging which is the right path. That is why it is important to have a good and solid spiritual director—which is easier said than done, since St. Teresa and St. Francis de Sales (among many others) say that such a person is only one-in-a-thousand! St. Teresa of Avila complains in her book about the many poor spiritual directors who gave her bad advice on many occasions.
This stage—the stage of deviation—is the last bus-stop at which we can get off the ‘bus of temptation’ before it enters the point of no return—that is to say, the actual committing of sin. For once we decide to deviate from the right path—even though we have not yet committed the sin by actual word or deed, we have already committed it in our minds or in our thought or judgment to go ahead with it. If we refuse to get off the bus, then we have implicitly said “YES!” to the temptation and are only waiting for the next bus-stop when we can off the bust and do the deed.
Warning of Our Lady
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady revealed the following:
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Thou canst not follow Christ if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things.
“Human nature is imperfect and remiss in practicing virtue, and easily weakens in its exercise―for it continually seeks rest and evades labor with all its might. When the soul listens to and extemporizes with the animal and carnal part of its nature this latter will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery. A voluntary remissness in regard to one imperfection prepares and opens the way for others: these facilitate the commission of venial sins, these again of mortal sins. Thus the descent is from one abyss to another, until the bottom is found in the disregard of all evil. This disorder is abominable and much to be feared by all. By remissness in battle, and by their frequent defeats, they live themselves into a paralyzing and self-satisfied conviction of false security, content with the performance of certain easy outward practices of virtue, at the same time imagining (without the least real advancement) that they are moving mountains and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference. The demon then introduces other distractions and temptations, and on account of their small appreciation of the rules and practices of religion, they begin to weaken in all of them, esteem them as light and unimportant matter, and, living on in their false security, come to lose the very perception of true virtue and turn toward the dangerous levities and distractions.
“Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life? The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! Carnal men, with a most perverse blindness, continue to make much of the visible and fictitious goods, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever they fail to obtain them. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it. The endless damage caused in mortals by this insane love, greed and covetousness of visible things, will pervert the greater part of the human nature, who are lost by the vice of avarice and cupidity. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16).
“The worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings. Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart. These worldlings abhor all that is painful.
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death.
“Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites under the name Christian. How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces, being blind themselves, follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous tepidity. They live in the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices.”
Where Are Your Thoughts? Where Is Your Heart? Thoughts Lead to Actions!
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Ideas have consequences. We are what we think. What is in our heart, ends up in our actions. Our Lord said: “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23). Which is the same as Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “The dressing of a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so too a word out of the thought of the heart of man” (Ecclesiasticus 27:7). Our ideas become our ideals which become our actions. Feed the mind trash and …
Junk Does Not Bring Good Health
This is why good reading and good friends are of utmost importance. They are the chief suppliers of our ideas. If we eat junk food, so readily available on today’s market, then our health will become ‘junk’ as disease gradually sets in. As many doctors say, “We eat and drink ourselves into disease”! The same is true for the ‘food’ and ‘drink’ that we feed our minds and hearts. Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). He even gives us His own Flesh and Blood to eat and drink: “I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:51-56).
Think Little, Believe Even Less
This Bread of Life has even fed and kept several mystics and saints alive for varying numbers of years—over 10, 20 and even 30 years—without any other food being taken. The fare served by Heaven is certainly of the highest quality! It should be our greatest treasure—yet, alas, it is not! Varying numbers of Catholics—depending in which part of the world you live—no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. This number of disbelievers, or ‘doubting Thomases’, ranges from 40% to 80% ― depending upon where they live and what age they are. Small wonder Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We Think More of Earth Than Heaven
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalms 13:2). Our Lady of La Salette replies: “People will think only of amusement!” To which Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
Ladder to Heaven
What Jacob saw in his sleep is an indication and an invitation for us also: “And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the Earth, and the top thereof touching Heaven” (Genesis 28:12). We are to climb that ladder to Heaven! To do that, we must first climb there with our minds and hearts—which are the two vertical members of the ladder, while each thought or desire is a horizontal rung. If we think little of Heaven or desire it little, then there will be hardly any rungs on our ladder to Heaven.
Hours on the Ladder
Many saints spent many hours on the ladder! They thought about God and Heaven; they desired God and Heaven; they spoke about God and Heaven; they spent many hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament and thought they were in Heaven! Heavens above! Did they do this because they were saints? Not at all! It was the doing of this that made them saints! It is an infallible recipe for sanctity. It is a guaranteed cure! A certain success! Yet so few try it and even less persevere in it! It seems too arduous, or too boring, or too limiting, or too demanding. Yet, for those who think that, it plainly shows how little they think of Heaven—meaning that they cheapen Heaven, downgrade Heaven, expect Heaven to be a freebie.
The Perks of Heaven Would Perk Them Up
If they were only to think more about Heaven, then they would realize what an incredible ‘product’ it really is—it durability is eternal; it never runs-out or runs-down; it produces in a person a happiness and satisfaction that is unimaginable and unthinkable; the views are splendid; the mansions are many; the community is delightfully friendly; there is no crime in the neighborhood. The medical staff are out of this world—restoring all body parts so that they function perfectly; reversing aging and guaranteeing youthful looks for eternity; eliminating obesity without artificial means like liposuction, naturally or supernaturally; removing all fears, worries, anxieties and sufferings. The entertainment is divine! The music, by all accounts, is angelic—with melodies previously unheard and thought to be impossible.
More Than An Eyeful
No wonder St. Paul, who says he was caught up to the third Heaven, says: “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We are reminded of St. Dominic Savio, who appeared in a vision to St. John Bosco, saying: “Father, tell the boys how wonderful it is here! How wonderful it is!” Which is why Our Lord tries to encourage us to focus more on Heaven than Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
You Can Do It!
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady is also speaking to us, as she says: “With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and His gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord ... Let thy thoughts always be of the noblest and thy conversation in Heaven and with the angelic spirits … Of thee, my daughter, I require the practice of these rules, and through thee I wish to inculcate them on other mortals … Let their conversations be in Heaven with the Most High, and with me, who am their Mother, and let it be with the angels, imitating them in holy love.”
Happy Thoughts or Hopeless Thoughts
Putting our eggs in the basket of this world is like eating candy floss—the experience is over before you know it and your not left really satisfied. Why on earth would we place all our hopes for happiness in a miserably short stay on Earth—80 years long if we are lucky—when the basket of eternity is the other option? “Our days upon Earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay” (1 Paralipomenon 29:15). “His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his Earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish” (Psalm 145:4). “Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth … But the things that are in Heaven, who shall search out?” (Wisdom 9:16). “I am a sojourner on the Earth” (Psalm 118:19).
Just because most other people seem to want to be ‘earthy’ and worldly, do I have to follow suit? “He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the Earth, of the Earth he is, and of the Earth he speaketh. He that cometh from Heaven, is above all” (John 3:31). “The first man was of the Earth, earthly: the second man, from Heaven, heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47). Our Lord came to Earth to lead us to Heaven: “And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all things to Myself” (John 12:32). This Earth, and all that is in it, will perish—why place my eggs in that perishable basket?
On Ash Wednesday, as our foreheads are smeared with ashes, we are told: “Remember man that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” Adam was made from the dust or slime of the earth “And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, Who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “All men are earth and ashes” (Ecclesiasticus 17:31). “And of the same clay by a vain labor he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again. But his care is, not that he shall labor, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth, and his life more base than clay. Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker and Him that breathed into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit” (Wisdom 15:8-11).
The Spirit of St. Paul
Holy Scripture asks us a very searching question, that we must answer and act upon: “For what have I in Heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire upon Earth?” (Psalm 72:25). St. Paul gives us his answer: “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Yet how many have the spirit of St. Paul? Most have the spirit of the world. They look upon religion as though it were dung, and would gladly suffer the loss of all religious obligations so that they may gain the world.
The Spirit of God Speaks
In response to these worldlings, the Holy Spirit, in Holy Scripture, says: “O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord!” (Jeremias 22:29). “You have feasted upon Earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts!” (“James 5:5). “Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the Earth? That take their diversion with the birds of the air. That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? Who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable. They are cut off, and are gone down to Hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the Earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known, nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face!” (Baruch 3:16-21). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof … All mirth is forsaken: the joy of the Earth is gone away!” (Isaias 24:1, 11). “Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the Earth is laid waste!” (Jeremias 4:20).
The World At His Feet
Our Lord had the world at His feet, but He chose to turn His back upon it: “Again the devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). “Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing …” (John 14:30). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress―but have confidence, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33).
Overcoming and Rising Above the World
If Our Lord has “overcome the world” then this means the world is an enemy. Therefore, we too must overcome the world, or be overcome by it. It is our Faith that overcomes the world: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world—our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Religion clean and undefiled before God … is to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” (James 1:27). “Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Heaven and Hell
Just as a coin has two sides that are inseparable, so too does our spiritual life have two inseparable thoughts—Heaven and Hell. In fact, the Church teaches us that the chief things that we should think about are the FOUR LAST THINGS, namely—Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Sadly, none of those things make the “Top Ten” of our favorite thoughts for the day! Yet Holy Mother Church knows best! Most people would do well to follow their Mother’s advice. Yet little is known of what death is like! Who can tell us much about the final judgment after death? Who has been to Hell and come back to tell the tale? Who has come back to Earth from Heaven with pictures and a description?
Even so, there are snippets that we can glean from certain books—though few such books exist. Those that do exist, risk being a little dry for most readers. However, we do ourselves a disservice by neglecting to find and study material on these matters. Some books that spring to mind are Fr. Xavier Schouppe’s two books: Hell and How To Avoid It and its sister book, Purgatory Explained. That deals with the negative side of the coin. On the more positive side we have some books that gradually take us from the negativity of Hell, through the partial negativity of Purgatory, to the positivity of Heaven. These books are: The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Fr. Regis Martin; and The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven by Fr. Martin von Cochem; Purgatory and Heaven by Fr. J. P. Arendzen; Guidance to Heaven by Cardinal Giovanni Bona; and, finally, The Happiness of Heaven: And How to Attain the Joys That Await You There by Fr. Boudreaux.
What God Gives? What the World Gives?
God offers us eternity, the world can only promise 70, 80 or 90 years. In Heaven there are no enemies, in this world Our Lord says that “a man's enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Today, the enemies of Christianity are growing with each day, so too is the threat to Christianity—just as Our Lord forecast: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake” (Matthew 24:9). In Heaven, there shall be no such hatred—the hatred will be perpetual in Hell. The world offers can only offer us perishable riches—which are left behind the day we die. The riches of Heaven are forever—never to lost; never to taken away. God offers us a perfect body in the prime of life (they say around 33 years of age); perfect peace; perfect joy; perfect happiness; an abundance of true and pure love—the world cannot eliminate anxiety, stress, fear and threats. In Heaven we are loved by all, on Earth we are hated by many. In Heaven there is no gossip, no talk of past sins, failures and mistakes; whereas Earth is full of such talk. There are no diseases or wars in Heaven; while Earth is full of disease and impending war. The rulers of the Earth just want to take from you; in Heaven God and everyone seeks to give. SO WHY DO WE THINK AND TALK SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE IN THIS WORLD? THINK OF HEAVEN MORE, AND LESS OF THIS WORLD!
Ascension Thursday May 26th & Friday May 27th
Article 14
Christ Goes Home to Heaven! Are You Going With Him?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 14
Christ Goes Home to Heaven! Are You Going With Him?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Home Sweet Home!
They say that “Home is where the heart is!” Or, as Our Lord said: “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:21). Where is your heart? Where is your home? What is your home? What are you most at home with? What do you treasure the most? Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal! But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal!” (Matthew 6:21).
St. John Vianney said: “Our home is Heaven. On Earth we are like travelers staying at a hotel. When one is away, one is always thinking of going home!” Heaven is our real home, it is the home that God has ultimately intended for everyone, but has guaranteed to nobody. We were made by God and we were made for God―and God is in Heaven. We are in exile on Earth―we have been exiled by the Original Sin of our original “parents”―Adam and Eve. We now have to fight our way out of this exile and fight to return to our home: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Hence, “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―because the devil, the world and even our own fallen nature will try to prevent from taking and successfully navigating the dangerous path that leads home.
Our Homes on Earth do not Reflect our Home in Heaven!
One of the many reasons why so many souls are damned and never make it home to Heaven, but fall in battle and fall into Hell, is the fact that Catholic homes do not reflect Heaven―which is what they should do! For a young child growing up, the father of the family should reflect Christ and God the Father; the mother of the family should reflect the Blessed Virgin Mary; and all the members of the family should be striving to be saints before striving for anything else. “Assemble together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates, so that hearing the word of the Lord, they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and keep and fulfill all the words of the law, so that their children, who now are ignorant, may hear the word, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live! … These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart―and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13; 6:6-7).
Sadly, Catholic families are too busy striving for the things of this world (mammon) rather than the things of Heaven―which totally goes against what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
What a child observes being practiced in the family is usually what that same child will practice as an adult! “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!” (Proverbs 22:6)―which applies for better or for worse. A badly trained child will become a bad adult. A well trained child will become good adult. A worldly child will become a worldly adult. A spiritual child will become a spiritual adult. If a child does experience spirituality in the home―by a regular SINCERE (not mechanical) family prayer life; reading Holy Scripture regularly; conversations about the spiritual life and the Faith; a visible and obvious practice of virtues; a hatred of sin; etc. ― then that child will not feel as though it belongs to God, to Heaven, to the Faith―but will feel more as though it belongs to the world.
Parents would make their homes more “heavenly” if they followed the words of Christ, who says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things [your needs in this world] shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31). The Kingdom of God is being sought as it should be sought―and that is why souls are not being saved as they should be saved! It is a simple mathematical case of what you sow is what you reap! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our Lord Goes to Prepare a Place for Us
Towards the end of His life on Earth, Our Lord said at the Last Supper: “In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you―because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself―so that where I am, you also may be! And where I go you know, and the way you know!” (John 14:2-4). His home is Heaven―His heart is in Heaven. He wants our hearts to be in Heaven too! The world is a prison for us―it is a place of exile―it is not home. The world belongs to Satan, it is in the clutches of Satan, it is the instrument Satan uses in order to make us lose Heaven. Our Lord refers to Satan as the prince of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30).
Our Lord wants us to rise above this world in order to rise to Heaven: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
That is why the Scriptures say: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6).
There Lies the Problem!
We don’t like the above quotes! We have a problem with not loving the world! We have a problem in separating ourselves from the world! We have a problem with not conforming ourselves to the world! We have a problem in not speaking so much about the world! We feel very at home in this world! Dare we say it? We love this world quite a lot! We love all the modern day comforts. We love the stores with their incredibly wide range of goods; we love the convenience of cars, central heating, air-conditioning, refrigeration, gas or electric stoves, washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves and all the other kitchen appliances and power tools. We love modern technology and the entertainment and information it provides―the internet, smartphones, tablets, laptops, television, digital personal assistants, search engines, social media, videos and movies on our phone/tablet/laptop, e-mail, texting, video-conferencing, etc. Wow! It is Heaven on Earth―or so many think!
This leads to a conscious or unconscious desire to reconcile the world with Christ, worldliness with Christianity, comfort and ease with the cross and suffering. This is impossible to do unless we begin to rationalize, re-interpret, twist, modify, change the meaning of crucial quotes from Holy Scripture―quotes that “rub us up the wrong way” or irritate us. In order to reconcile the world with Christ, to marry worldliness with Christianity, we start to become “Protestant” in thought while retaining our label of “Catholic.” The world is full of these “Protestant Catholics” or “Catholic Protestants” ― for that is the underlying attitude that is to be found in Liberalism and Modernism ― a sense of indignation and protest at what Christ, the Church and Scripture teaches dogmatically (what we must believe) and morally (how we must behave). Hence, today, surveys in 12 countries found that 78% of Catholics support contraception and 65% think abortion should be allowed. Obviously, regularly practicing Catholics are less rebellious that partially practicing Catholics―as the table below shows:
IN SUPPORT OF LESS THAN WEEKLY WEEKLY OR MORE
THESE TOPICS MASS ATTENDANCE MASS ATTENDANCE
Married priests 71% in favor 48% in favor
Women priests 68% in favor 45% in favor
Birth control 83% in favor 65% in favor
Gay marriage 52% in favor 37% in favor
Communion after remarriage 70% in favor 50% in favor
Communion while cohabiting 71% in favor 46% in favor
According to a 2018 survey from the Pew Research Center, 80% of U.S. adults responded “YES!” when asked: “Do you believe in God or not?” Yet, as we can see from some of today’s opinions―believing that there is a God is not the same as believing what God teaches! The survey asked those surveyed if their understanding of a “biblical” God aligned with three attributes: “all-loving,” “all-knowing” and “all-powerful.” Only 61% percent of Catholics said they believe “God has all three traits” ― all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful. 80% of U.S. Catholics said God is “all-loving,” 78% agreed with the attribute “all-knowing,” and 67% agreed with “all-powerful.” Only 73% of U.S. Catholics agree that God will judge people for their actions―which is slightly higher than the 61% of Americans overall who hold the same belief.
A study, commissioned by the U.S. bishops, discovered that young Catholic adults exhibit an alarmingly casual attitude towards accepting Church. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami stated: “They feel completely Catholic even while disagreeing with the Church! They agree to disagree with the Church!” Today we see anywhere from 65% to 85% (depending on where you live or what age group you are in) of Catholics no longer believing in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―instead, they believe His presence is merely symbolic.
Our Lord Demands Belief and Faith
The Creed teaches us that there is “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Holy Scripture says: “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.” (Ephesians 4:5). Our Lord tells His Apostles to go into entire world and teach that Faith in its entirety: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations! … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“Jesus said to them: ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him [Jesus] whom He hath sent!’” (John 6:29). “I am one that gives testimony of Myself, and the Father that sent me gives testimony of Me ... If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:18-24). “You search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting―and the same Scriptures give testimony of Me! But you will not come to Me so that you may have life!” (John 5:39-40). “Be not faithless, but believing!” (John 20:27). “He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life!” (John 6:47). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “If I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you believe not―how will you believe if I shall speak to you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended into Heaven, except He [Jesus] that descended from Heaven, the Son of man Who is in Heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up [on the cross] ― so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish; but may have life everlasting. For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:12-16).
Will Faith Alone Save? Will Faith Alone Get You to Heaven?
The popular Protestant mantra is “Faith saves! Believe in Jesus and you are saved!” The above quote seems to validate that Protestant mantra―“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved!” (Acts 16:31). Over the centuries, the Protestants have evolved a five-fold basis for salvation―which are commonly known, in Latin, as the five solae (which comes from the Latin, sola, meaning “alone”― an English corruption of solae (the Latin plural for sola) calls them the five solas. Each sola represents a key belief in these Protestant traditions as opposed to the theological doctrine of the Catholic Church. However, they were not assembled as a theological unit until the 20th century. The 16th century Reformers are known to have only clearly stated two of the five solae ― sola Fides and sola Scriptura (Faith alone and Scripture alone). Even today there are differences among Protestants as to what constitutes the solae and how many there are, not to mention how to interpret them so as to reflect the beliefs of the 16th century Reformers.
Unfortunately, many Catholics have taken on board similar views to the rebel Protestants―and they now also belief that you can be saved by simply believing in Jesus, having ‘faith’ in Jesus, and no more! It is as though Faith is the “be all and end all” of everything that pertains to salvation―nothing more is needed! How false that is―and Holy Scripture clearly points out that falsehood.
Faith and the Fruit of Faith
Yes―Faith is a requirement for salvation―for Scripture not only says: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved!” (Acts 16:31), but also “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). However, Faith is not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end. Faith alone is not enough. To pretend that Faith alone suffices is to act like the man, in Our Lord’s parable about the talents, who dug a hole and hid his talent in the ground instead of working with it and showing profit. Scripture clearly and unambiguously states: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
In His Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord also alludes to the necessity of works in addition to Faith: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine [let your Faith shine] before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:14-16)―and speaking of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Our Lord says: “According to their works do ye not! For they say, and do not do!” (Matthew 23:3). On the contrary, “Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1).
Our Lady, at the marriage feast of Cana, says to the servants the words that apply to all of us: “His mother saith to the waiters: ‘Whatsoever He [Jesus] shall say to you, do ye!’” (John 2:5) and, elsewhere, Jesus adds: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) … “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you!” (John 15:14). “Do not forget to do good!” (Hebrews 13:16). The “doing good” side of things is the “fruit” of the Faith. Our Lord spoke of these fruits at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [= gardener or farmer]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away―and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples … I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-8, 16).
We cannot buy this kind of fruit in a store―we have to produce it ourselves. Is our fruit “good fruit” or is it “bad fruit”? Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). What is the will of the Father? Our Lord tells us: “In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit! … That you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-16).
What Are Catholic Fruits Today?
You can well guess! Let Our Lady tell you instead. Already, back in 1917 at Fatima, Our Lady said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” Less than 40 years later, on December 8th, 1956, Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Then, around 17 years later in 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!”
In fact, if carefully study the modern-day apparitions of Our Lady, then you will see a constant lament by Our Lady as to the lack of fruits on the part of Catholics―the chief fruits she desires and prayers and sacrifices/penance. Our Lord already said in the Gospels: “No, I say to you―but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and then He immediately repeats Himself] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). Our Lady confirmed that at La Salette, Fatima and Akita, saying: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” (La Salette). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Fatima). “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Akita).
What Fruits Are We Giving God? Bitter Fruits!
If there is one word that can be widely applied to most Catholics today, it is word “bitterness”. Many discover bitterness within their own family setting―perhaps a bitter father, mother, sibling or relative. Children imitate what they see and the virus of bitterness is more easily caught than the virus of virtue. All throughout life, the devils are eager to sow the seeds of bitterness everywhere―for bitterness destroys charity, and charity makes us like God, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Thus children experience bitterness from the hands and lips of fellow students. They become bitter in return―for bitterness begets bitterness. They may become bitter towards their parents and teachers. Later in life, that bitterness embraces employers and fellow employees. It might show itself to pastors, priests, politicians, on the internet in bitter posts―before you know it, it is like a forest-fire, a wildfire, out of control, burning everyone in its path.
“Their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters most bitter!” (Deuteronomy 32:32). In the Bible, the word “gall” most often refers to a bitter-tasting substance made of a plant such as wormwood or myrrh. The Psalms prophesy of Christ on the cross of Calvary, saying: “They gave me gall for my food, and, in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink!” (Psalm 68:22). While crucified on Calvary, the soldiers offered Jesus a bitter drink―but Jesus refused it after tasting it: “And they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall. And when He had tasted, He would not drink” (Matthew 27:34). Similarly, we―the Soldiers of Christ―give Him our bitter fruits to taste, but He will refuse them.
Holy Scripture warns us against that dangers of bitterness, “lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and, by it, many be defiled!” (Hebrews 12:15). The word “root” comes the Greek word “ridzo”―which refers to a root, such as the root of a tree. Roots can go down deep and become deeply embedded―making it extremely hard to uproot them. The word “bitterness” comes from the Greek word “pikria”. It refers to an inward attitude that is so bitter, that it produces a scowl on one’s face. In other words, you become so inwardly infected with bitterness that you are outwardly affected in your appearance and disposition. A bitter heart cannot find happiness. Our English word “bitter” comes from an Old English root which means “to bite”. There is no shortage of “bitter biters” or “bitter back-biters” in the world today. Bitter people are those who have been hurt by others ― perhaps even (they think) by God. They have allowed the pain of the hurt and the negative anger to ferment in their soul until they become spiteful, ‘biteful’ people, caustic and sour. When they become bitter, it is impossible for them to be the only ones infected. Others around them will also be poisoned by this virus of bitterness. Beware, “lest perhaps there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness!” (Deuteronomy 29:18).
By using the word “root” in Hebrews 12:15, God is telling you that if you do not repent of bitterness and remove it from your life, it becomes deeply embedded in your soul. Once it becomes this deeply rooted in your soul, your negative opinion of the offender will become firmly fixed. As time passes, your thoughts of judgment against him will become more developed, rationalized, and established. That root of bitterness will become so firmly fixed inside you, that your angry, judgmental thoughts about the person will actually begin to make sense to you.
When a “root of bitterness” gets this deeply embedded in your mind and emotions, it’s no longer just a “root” you’re dealing with―you now have a mental stronghold. That stronghold of bitterness will take a lofty position in your mind and emotions. From that position, it will then present a multitude of ‘logical’ reasons to explain why you shouldn’t have anything else to do with that person and why you should keep your distance from him.
This “bitterness” is acid to your soul―it eats away at it, and eventually it begins to surface. When it does, the fruit it produces is unkind, sour, sharp, sarcastic, scornful, cynical, mocking, contemptuous, and wounding. Bitterness has nothing good to say about the other person. In fact, it looks for negative things to say about that person in order to affect others’ opinions about him as well.
If you find yourself constantly saying negative things about someone who has offended you or upset you in the past, it may be that a root of bitterness is trying to grow inside your heart. If this describes you, it is essential that you grab hold of that root of bitterness through the act of repentance and rip those destructive roots clear out of your soul! If you don’t, the roots of bitterness will go down deep into the soil of your soul, and eventually you’ll be filled with the bitter fruit that bitterness produces.
No Bitter Fruit With God
Yes―you most certainly can find a lot in this world to be bitter about. There is much wrong with world, much sin in the world, much injustice in the world, much crime and perversion in the world. Yet that has always been the case and God has not dealt with the world in bitterness, but in charity and mercy. Only when the world repeatedly refuses God’s charity and mercy, does God then act in anger. Scripture says:
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
The fruit of the Lord is sweet―not bitter: “O taste and see that the Lord is sweet!” (Psalm 33:9) … He is “a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion” (2 Esdras 9:17) … “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For the Lord is sweet, His mercy endures for ever” (Psalm 99:5) … “Thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world” (Psalm 24:6) … “He delights in mercy!” (Micheas 7:18). “When the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared―not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to His mercy―He saved us” (Titus 3:4-5).
Holy Scripture further manifests the qualities of that mercy and kindness of God: “He never withdraws His mercy from us. Although He chastises and disciplines us with misfortunes, He does not abandon His own people!” (Machabees 2:16-17). “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “I am he that blot out thy iniquities, for My own sake, and I will not remember thy sins!” (Isaias 43:25). “The soul that sins, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keeps all My commandments, and does judgment and justice, then living he shall live and shall not die! ... I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done―and, in his justice which he has performed, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … When the wicked turns himself away from his wickedness, which he has done, and does judgment and justice―then he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities, which he has done, he shall surely live and not die! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dies, says the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Nevertheless, we must not take God’s mercy for granted―we must not be presumptuous about being forgiven: “The fear of the Lord drives out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looks upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Imitate That Divine Fruit
We are commanded to show that same sweetness and mercy to others if we wish to follow Christ to Heaven: “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience―bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord hath forgiven you―so do you also!” (Colossians 3:12-13). “Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being merciful” (1 Peter 3:8). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other cheek! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat―then let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you―Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45).
“Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). “If you will forgive men their offences, then your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offences. But if you will not forgive men, then neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
St. Peter questioned Jesus as to how many times he should forgive his neighbor. In reply, Jesus likened the debt of sin to financial debts: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
We Live in a Bitter World―a Merciless World
“Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) but “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). We live in an increasingly merciless world―especially towards godliness and godly people―but there seems to be endless mercy for sinners who wish to remain sinners! If someone who is godly happens to fail and fall into sin―then all Hell breaks loose and there are calls for them to resign, to be sacked, to be hauled before courts, to be publicly disgraced, etc. On the other hand, take a homosexual, a same-sex marriage, a transgenderist, an abortionist or a woman seeking abortion, an illegal immigrant, a public rioter, etc. ― who has no intention of leaving sin behind―and they are defended, pitied, praised, comforted, helped and integrated into society! God has strong words on that subject: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
“Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest! For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest. For we know that the judgment of God is, according to truth, against them that do such things! And thinkest thou this, O man―that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same―that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3). Or put in more modern English: You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you―who pass judgment―do the same things. And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Christ died on the cross begging mercy for his killers ― He not only “talked the talk” ― “I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:44) ― but He also “walked the walk” when He prayed for His killers from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34) ― what is our attitude towards our enemies?
Charity and Mercy are Our Keys to Heaven―Not Bitterness
The more God-like we are, then the greater is the chance of our salvation. What is God like? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “the Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:9). Thus we must try to imitate and resemble God in His charity and His mercy.
“Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God―and every one that loves, is born of God! He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity!” (1 John 4:7-8). “If any man say, ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom He seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). “The love of our neighbor worketh no evil. Love is the fulfilling of the law!” (Romans 13:10). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31).
Secondly, let us show mercy―not only to our nearest and dearest, but also to our enemies and those who have wronged us! For have we not wronged God many times in our lives by our sins―and do we not expect mercy from His hands? If we expect to receive mercy for our sins, then we should be showing mercy towards those who have sinned against us or against those close to us―or even those who have sinned against others in society. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). The full quote is even more enlightening:
“If you love them that love you―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also love those that love them! And if you do good to them who do good to you―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also do this! And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive something―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, so as to receive something in return. But love ye your enemies! Do good and lend―hoping for nothing thereby! And your reward shall be great and you shall be the sons of the Highest―for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven! … For with the same measure that you shall measure out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:32-38). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls―but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32). “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7), “but judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13).
At Fatima, Our Lady came and begged our mercy for the innumerable souls that are continually falling into Hell―are we showing mercy to those sinners? “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, July & August of 1917). The Fatima Angel―the Angel of Portugal and the Angel of Peace―scolded the children who were playing: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
Talking of angels and wings―those are the two chief wings with which we shall follow Our Lord in His ascension and with which will fly to Heaven―the wings of charity and mercy! Are we wearing those wings? “They shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards Heaven!” (Proverbs 23:5). Or are our wings those of bitterness and hatred? “And I said: ‘Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?’” (Psalm 54:7).
They say that “Home is where the heart is!” Or, as Our Lord said: “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:21). Where is your heart? Where is your home? What is your home? What are you most at home with? What do you treasure the most? Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal! But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal!” (Matthew 6:21).
St. John Vianney said: “Our home is Heaven. On Earth we are like travelers staying at a hotel. When one is away, one is always thinking of going home!” Heaven is our real home, it is the home that God has ultimately intended for everyone, but has guaranteed to nobody. We were made by God and we were made for God―and God is in Heaven. We are in exile on Earth―we have been exiled by the Original Sin of our original “parents”―Adam and Eve. We now have to fight our way out of this exile and fight to return to our home: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Hence, “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―because the devil, the world and even our own fallen nature will try to prevent from taking and successfully navigating the dangerous path that leads home.
Our Homes on Earth do not Reflect our Home in Heaven!
One of the many reasons why so many souls are damned and never make it home to Heaven, but fall in battle and fall into Hell, is the fact that Catholic homes do not reflect Heaven―which is what they should do! For a young child growing up, the father of the family should reflect Christ and God the Father; the mother of the family should reflect the Blessed Virgin Mary; and all the members of the family should be striving to be saints before striving for anything else. “Assemble together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates, so that hearing the word of the Lord, they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and keep and fulfill all the words of the law, so that their children, who now are ignorant, may hear the word, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live! … These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart―and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13; 6:6-7).
Sadly, Catholic families are too busy striving for the things of this world (mammon) rather than the things of Heaven―which totally goes against what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
What a child observes being practiced in the family is usually what that same child will practice as an adult! “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!” (Proverbs 22:6)―which applies for better or for worse. A badly trained child will become a bad adult. A well trained child will become good adult. A worldly child will become a worldly adult. A spiritual child will become a spiritual adult. If a child does experience spirituality in the home―by a regular SINCERE (not mechanical) family prayer life; reading Holy Scripture regularly; conversations about the spiritual life and the Faith; a visible and obvious practice of virtues; a hatred of sin; etc. ― then that child will not feel as though it belongs to God, to Heaven, to the Faith―but will feel more as though it belongs to the world.
Parents would make their homes more “heavenly” if they followed the words of Christ, who says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things [your needs in this world] shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31). The Kingdom of God is being sought as it should be sought―and that is why souls are not being saved as they should be saved! It is a simple mathematical case of what you sow is what you reap! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our Lord Goes to Prepare a Place for Us
Towards the end of His life on Earth, Our Lord said at the Last Supper: “In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you―because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself―so that where I am, you also may be! And where I go you know, and the way you know!” (John 14:2-4). His home is Heaven―His heart is in Heaven. He wants our hearts to be in Heaven too! The world is a prison for us―it is a place of exile―it is not home. The world belongs to Satan, it is in the clutches of Satan, it is the instrument Satan uses in order to make us lose Heaven. Our Lord refers to Satan as the prince of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30).
Our Lord wants us to rise above this world in order to rise to Heaven: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
That is why the Scriptures say: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6).
There Lies the Problem!
We don’t like the above quotes! We have a problem with not loving the world! We have a problem in separating ourselves from the world! We have a problem with not conforming ourselves to the world! We have a problem in not speaking so much about the world! We feel very at home in this world! Dare we say it? We love this world quite a lot! We love all the modern day comforts. We love the stores with their incredibly wide range of goods; we love the convenience of cars, central heating, air-conditioning, refrigeration, gas or electric stoves, washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves and all the other kitchen appliances and power tools. We love modern technology and the entertainment and information it provides―the internet, smartphones, tablets, laptops, television, digital personal assistants, search engines, social media, videos and movies on our phone/tablet/laptop, e-mail, texting, video-conferencing, etc. Wow! It is Heaven on Earth―or so many think!
This leads to a conscious or unconscious desire to reconcile the world with Christ, worldliness with Christianity, comfort and ease with the cross and suffering. This is impossible to do unless we begin to rationalize, re-interpret, twist, modify, change the meaning of crucial quotes from Holy Scripture―quotes that “rub us up the wrong way” or irritate us. In order to reconcile the world with Christ, to marry worldliness with Christianity, we start to become “Protestant” in thought while retaining our label of “Catholic.” The world is full of these “Protestant Catholics” or “Catholic Protestants” ― for that is the underlying attitude that is to be found in Liberalism and Modernism ― a sense of indignation and protest at what Christ, the Church and Scripture teaches dogmatically (what we must believe) and morally (how we must behave). Hence, today, surveys in 12 countries found that 78% of Catholics support contraception and 65% think abortion should be allowed. Obviously, regularly practicing Catholics are less rebellious that partially practicing Catholics―as the table below shows:
IN SUPPORT OF LESS THAN WEEKLY WEEKLY OR MORE
THESE TOPICS MASS ATTENDANCE MASS ATTENDANCE
Married priests 71% in favor 48% in favor
Women priests 68% in favor 45% in favor
Birth control 83% in favor 65% in favor
Gay marriage 52% in favor 37% in favor
Communion after remarriage 70% in favor 50% in favor
Communion while cohabiting 71% in favor 46% in favor
According to a 2018 survey from the Pew Research Center, 80% of U.S. adults responded “YES!” when asked: “Do you believe in God or not?” Yet, as we can see from some of today’s opinions―believing that there is a God is not the same as believing what God teaches! The survey asked those surveyed if their understanding of a “biblical” God aligned with three attributes: “all-loving,” “all-knowing” and “all-powerful.” Only 61% percent of Catholics said they believe “God has all three traits” ― all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful. 80% of U.S. Catholics said God is “all-loving,” 78% agreed with the attribute “all-knowing,” and 67% agreed with “all-powerful.” Only 73% of U.S. Catholics agree that God will judge people for their actions―which is slightly higher than the 61% of Americans overall who hold the same belief.
A study, commissioned by the U.S. bishops, discovered that young Catholic adults exhibit an alarmingly casual attitude towards accepting Church. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami stated: “They feel completely Catholic even while disagreeing with the Church! They agree to disagree with the Church!” Today we see anywhere from 65% to 85% (depending on where you live or what age group you are in) of Catholics no longer believing in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―instead, they believe His presence is merely symbolic.
Our Lord Demands Belief and Faith
The Creed teaches us that there is “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Holy Scripture says: “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.” (Ephesians 4:5). Our Lord tells His Apostles to go into entire world and teach that Faith in its entirety: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations! … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“Jesus said to them: ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him [Jesus] whom He hath sent!’” (John 6:29). “I am one that gives testimony of Myself, and the Father that sent me gives testimony of Me ... If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:18-24). “You search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting―and the same Scriptures give testimony of Me! But you will not come to Me so that you may have life!” (John 5:39-40). “Be not faithless, but believing!” (John 20:27). “He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life!” (John 6:47). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “If I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you believe not―how will you believe if I shall speak to you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended into Heaven, except He [Jesus] that descended from Heaven, the Son of man Who is in Heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up [on the cross] ― so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish; but may have life everlasting. For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:12-16).
Will Faith Alone Save? Will Faith Alone Get You to Heaven?
The popular Protestant mantra is “Faith saves! Believe in Jesus and you are saved!” The above quote seems to validate that Protestant mantra―“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved!” (Acts 16:31). Over the centuries, the Protestants have evolved a five-fold basis for salvation―which are commonly known, in Latin, as the five solae (which comes from the Latin, sola, meaning “alone”― an English corruption of solae (the Latin plural for sola) calls them the five solas. Each sola represents a key belief in these Protestant traditions as opposed to the theological doctrine of the Catholic Church. However, they were not assembled as a theological unit until the 20th century. The 16th century Reformers are known to have only clearly stated two of the five solae ― sola Fides and sola Scriptura (Faith alone and Scripture alone). Even today there are differences among Protestants as to what constitutes the solae and how many there are, not to mention how to interpret them so as to reflect the beliefs of the 16th century Reformers.
Unfortunately, many Catholics have taken on board similar views to the rebel Protestants―and they now also belief that you can be saved by simply believing in Jesus, having ‘faith’ in Jesus, and no more! It is as though Faith is the “be all and end all” of everything that pertains to salvation―nothing more is needed! How false that is―and Holy Scripture clearly points out that falsehood.
Faith and the Fruit of Faith
Yes―Faith is a requirement for salvation―for Scripture not only says: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved!” (Acts 16:31), but also “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). However, Faith is not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end. Faith alone is not enough. To pretend that Faith alone suffices is to act like the man, in Our Lord’s parable about the talents, who dug a hole and hid his talent in the ground instead of working with it and showing profit. Scripture clearly and unambiguously states: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
In His Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord also alludes to the necessity of works in addition to Faith: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine [let your Faith shine] before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:14-16)―and speaking of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Our Lord says: “According to their works do ye not! For they say, and do not do!” (Matthew 23:3). On the contrary, “Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1).
Our Lady, at the marriage feast of Cana, says to the servants the words that apply to all of us: “His mother saith to the waiters: ‘Whatsoever He [Jesus] shall say to you, do ye!’” (John 2:5) and, elsewhere, Jesus adds: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) … “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you!” (John 15:14). “Do not forget to do good!” (Hebrews 13:16). The “doing good” side of things is the “fruit” of the Faith. Our Lord spoke of these fruits at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [= gardener or farmer]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away―and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples … I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-8, 16).
We cannot buy this kind of fruit in a store―we have to produce it ourselves. Is our fruit “good fruit” or is it “bad fruit”? Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). What is the will of the Father? Our Lord tells us: “In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit! … That you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-16).
What Are Catholic Fruits Today?
You can well guess! Let Our Lady tell you instead. Already, back in 1917 at Fatima, Our Lady said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” Less than 40 years later, on December 8th, 1956, Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Then, around 17 years later in 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!”
In fact, if carefully study the modern-day apparitions of Our Lady, then you will see a constant lament by Our Lady as to the lack of fruits on the part of Catholics―the chief fruits she desires and prayers and sacrifices/penance. Our Lord already said in the Gospels: “No, I say to you―but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and then He immediately repeats Himself] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). Our Lady confirmed that at La Salette, Fatima and Akita, saying: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” (La Salette). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Fatima). “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Akita).
What Fruits Are We Giving God? Bitter Fruits!
If there is one word that can be widely applied to most Catholics today, it is word “bitterness”. Many discover bitterness within their own family setting―perhaps a bitter father, mother, sibling or relative. Children imitate what they see and the virus of bitterness is more easily caught than the virus of virtue. All throughout life, the devils are eager to sow the seeds of bitterness everywhere―for bitterness destroys charity, and charity makes us like God, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Thus children experience bitterness from the hands and lips of fellow students. They become bitter in return―for bitterness begets bitterness. They may become bitter towards their parents and teachers. Later in life, that bitterness embraces employers and fellow employees. It might show itself to pastors, priests, politicians, on the internet in bitter posts―before you know it, it is like a forest-fire, a wildfire, out of control, burning everyone in its path.
“Their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters most bitter!” (Deuteronomy 32:32). In the Bible, the word “gall” most often refers to a bitter-tasting substance made of a plant such as wormwood or myrrh. The Psalms prophesy of Christ on the cross of Calvary, saying: “They gave me gall for my food, and, in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink!” (Psalm 68:22). While crucified on Calvary, the soldiers offered Jesus a bitter drink―but Jesus refused it after tasting it: “And they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall. And when He had tasted, He would not drink” (Matthew 27:34). Similarly, we―the Soldiers of Christ―give Him our bitter fruits to taste, but He will refuse them.
Holy Scripture warns us against that dangers of bitterness, “lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and, by it, many be defiled!” (Hebrews 12:15). The word “root” comes the Greek word “ridzo”―which refers to a root, such as the root of a tree. Roots can go down deep and become deeply embedded―making it extremely hard to uproot them. The word “bitterness” comes from the Greek word “pikria”. It refers to an inward attitude that is so bitter, that it produces a scowl on one’s face. In other words, you become so inwardly infected with bitterness that you are outwardly affected in your appearance and disposition. A bitter heart cannot find happiness. Our English word “bitter” comes from an Old English root which means “to bite”. There is no shortage of “bitter biters” or “bitter back-biters” in the world today. Bitter people are those who have been hurt by others ― perhaps even (they think) by God. They have allowed the pain of the hurt and the negative anger to ferment in their soul until they become spiteful, ‘biteful’ people, caustic and sour. When they become bitter, it is impossible for them to be the only ones infected. Others around them will also be poisoned by this virus of bitterness. Beware, “lest perhaps there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness!” (Deuteronomy 29:18).
By using the word “root” in Hebrews 12:15, God is telling you that if you do not repent of bitterness and remove it from your life, it becomes deeply embedded in your soul. Once it becomes this deeply rooted in your soul, your negative opinion of the offender will become firmly fixed. As time passes, your thoughts of judgment against him will become more developed, rationalized, and established. That root of bitterness will become so firmly fixed inside you, that your angry, judgmental thoughts about the person will actually begin to make sense to you.
When a “root of bitterness” gets this deeply embedded in your mind and emotions, it’s no longer just a “root” you’re dealing with―you now have a mental stronghold. That stronghold of bitterness will take a lofty position in your mind and emotions. From that position, it will then present a multitude of ‘logical’ reasons to explain why you shouldn’t have anything else to do with that person and why you should keep your distance from him.
This “bitterness” is acid to your soul―it eats away at it, and eventually it begins to surface. When it does, the fruit it produces is unkind, sour, sharp, sarcastic, scornful, cynical, mocking, contemptuous, and wounding. Bitterness has nothing good to say about the other person. In fact, it looks for negative things to say about that person in order to affect others’ opinions about him as well.
If you find yourself constantly saying negative things about someone who has offended you or upset you in the past, it may be that a root of bitterness is trying to grow inside your heart. If this describes you, it is essential that you grab hold of that root of bitterness through the act of repentance and rip those destructive roots clear out of your soul! If you don’t, the roots of bitterness will go down deep into the soil of your soul, and eventually you’ll be filled with the bitter fruit that bitterness produces.
No Bitter Fruit With God
Yes―you most certainly can find a lot in this world to be bitter about. There is much wrong with world, much sin in the world, much injustice in the world, much crime and perversion in the world. Yet that has always been the case and God has not dealt with the world in bitterness, but in charity and mercy. Only when the world repeatedly refuses God’s charity and mercy, does God then act in anger. Scripture says:
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
The fruit of the Lord is sweet―not bitter: “O taste and see that the Lord is sweet!” (Psalm 33:9) … He is “a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion” (2 Esdras 9:17) … “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For the Lord is sweet, His mercy endures for ever” (Psalm 99:5) … “Thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world” (Psalm 24:6) … “He delights in mercy!” (Micheas 7:18). “When the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared―not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to His mercy―He saved us” (Titus 3:4-5).
Holy Scripture further manifests the qualities of that mercy and kindness of God: “He never withdraws His mercy from us. Although He chastises and disciplines us with misfortunes, He does not abandon His own people!” (Machabees 2:16-17). “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “I am he that blot out thy iniquities, for My own sake, and I will not remember thy sins!” (Isaias 43:25). “The soul that sins, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keeps all My commandments, and does judgment and justice, then living he shall live and shall not die! ... I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done―and, in his justice which he has performed, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … When the wicked turns himself away from his wickedness, which he has done, and does judgment and justice―then he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities, which he has done, he shall surely live and not die! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dies, says the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Nevertheless, we must not take God’s mercy for granted―we must not be presumptuous about being forgiven: “The fear of the Lord drives out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looks upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Imitate That Divine Fruit
We are commanded to show that same sweetness and mercy to others if we wish to follow Christ to Heaven: “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience―bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord hath forgiven you―so do you also!” (Colossians 3:12-13). “Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being merciful” (1 Peter 3:8). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other cheek! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat―then let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you―Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45).
“Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). “If you will forgive men their offences, then your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offences. But if you will not forgive men, then neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
St. Peter questioned Jesus as to how many times he should forgive his neighbor. In reply, Jesus likened the debt of sin to financial debts: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
We Live in a Bitter World―a Merciless World
“Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) but “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). We live in an increasingly merciless world―especially towards godliness and godly people―but there seems to be endless mercy for sinners who wish to remain sinners! If someone who is godly happens to fail and fall into sin―then all Hell breaks loose and there are calls for them to resign, to be sacked, to be hauled before courts, to be publicly disgraced, etc. On the other hand, take a homosexual, a same-sex marriage, a transgenderist, an abortionist or a woman seeking abortion, an illegal immigrant, a public rioter, etc. ― who has no intention of leaving sin behind―and they are defended, pitied, praised, comforted, helped and integrated into society! God has strong words on that subject: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
“Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest! For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest. For we know that the judgment of God is, according to truth, against them that do such things! And thinkest thou this, O man―that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same―that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3). Or put in more modern English: You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you―who pass judgment―do the same things. And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Christ died on the cross begging mercy for his killers ― He not only “talked the talk” ― “I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:44) ― but He also “walked the walk” when He prayed for His killers from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34) ― what is our attitude towards our enemies?
Charity and Mercy are Our Keys to Heaven―Not Bitterness
The more God-like we are, then the greater is the chance of our salvation. What is God like? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “the Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:9). Thus we must try to imitate and resemble God in His charity and His mercy.
“Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God―and every one that loves, is born of God! He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity!” (1 John 4:7-8). “If any man say, ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom He seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). “The love of our neighbor worketh no evil. Love is the fulfilling of the law!” (Romans 13:10). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31).
Secondly, let us show mercy―not only to our nearest and dearest, but also to our enemies and those who have wronged us! For have we not wronged God many times in our lives by our sins―and do we not expect mercy from His hands? If we expect to receive mercy for our sins, then we should be showing mercy towards those who have sinned against us or against those close to us―or even those who have sinned against others in society. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). The full quote is even more enlightening:
“If you love them that love you―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also love those that love them! And if you do good to them who do good to you―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also do this! And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive something―what thanks are due to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, so as to receive something in return. But love ye your enemies! Do good and lend―hoping for nothing thereby! And your reward shall be great and you shall be the sons of the Highest―for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven! … For with the same measure that you shall measure out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:32-38). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls―but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32). “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7), “but judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13).
At Fatima, Our Lady came and begged our mercy for the innumerable souls that are continually falling into Hell―are we showing mercy to those sinners? “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, July & August of 1917). The Fatima Angel―the Angel of Portugal and the Angel of Peace―scolded the children who were playing: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
Talking of angels and wings―those are the two chief wings with which we shall follow Our Lord in His ascension and with which will fly to Heaven―the wings of charity and mercy! Are we wearing those wings? “They shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards Heaven!” (Proverbs 23:5). Or are our wings those of bitterness and hatred? “And I said: ‘Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?’” (Psalm 54:7).
Monday May 23rd to Wednesday May 25th
Article 13
Have You Ever Thought About Heaven?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 13
Have You Ever Thought About Heaven?
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You Are What You Think and Talk About
You have undoubtedly heard the saying: “You are what you eat!” ― meaning that if you eat healthy food you are likely to be healthy, but if you eat junk food then you are likely to get sick. Another similar saying is: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what kind of person you are!” You could say that this is an extension of: “Birds of a feather flock together!”
Holy Scripture says something similar: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God! He that knoweth God, heareth us! He that is not of God, heareth us not!” (1 John 4:5-6). “You ought to be in holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). “Many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:18-20).
Our Lord “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not! He came unto his own, and his own received him not!” (John 1:10-11). Our Lord said of Himself: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not here!” (John 18:36). “I am the light of the world … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world … As the Father hath taught me, these things I speak! … I speak that which I have seen with my Father―and you do the things that you have seen with your father … You do the works of your father … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! … If I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:12-47).
“Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! … For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them! … The care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word of God, and they becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:13-15, 22). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:19).
To His followers, Our Lord says: “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Elsewhere He adds: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Be not anxious for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
What Are You Feeding Your Mind?
So what are you feeding your mind? What things do you think about the most during the day? What do you talk about most during the day? How much spiritual thinking do you do in comparison to worldly or secular thinking? What is your conversation like? What do you talk about the most? Spiritual things or secular things? How many hours is given to spiritual or religious talk in your family each week?
Holy Scripture is pretty clear on this subject: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? … Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:15-19). “If you be risen with Christ, then seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1-2). “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “Be not conformed to this world―but be reformed in the newness of your mind!” (Romans 121:2). “Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge [of God], according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:10). “Put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth!” (Colossians 3:8). “You ought to be in holy conversation!” (2 Peter 3:11). “Many … mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven!” (Philippians 3:18-20). “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of Faith, so that it may administer grace to the hearers! (Ephesians 4:29). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work!” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20).
Spiritually and Religiously Starved, Dumb, Deaf and Blind
Sadly, most people know little about God and the Faith; so they think very little about God and the Faith; and consequently talk very little about God and the Faith; and they also do very little for God and the Faith. Holy Scripture warns: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) … “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a teacher? Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ!” (Romans 10:13-17).
Yet with each passing year there are fewer and fewer persons who seek God and want to know more and more about God: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men―they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Furthermore, those who have the Faith, do very little or nothing with the Faith. Faith is not to be buried in the ground, but Faith must produce fruit: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The Faith is one of the most precious things that God gives to us―and we should remember that “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Those who have been given the tremendous grace of Catholicism are expected to produce fruit above and beyond that of non-Catholics―whether Protestants or Pagans. What have we done with our Faith? The parable of the talents comes to mind―and the servant who buried his talent and had no fruit to show for it.
Lack of Enthusiasm for Heaven
Why do we rarely think of Heaven? Why do know so little―or next to nothing―about Heaven? Why do we lack enthusiasm for Heaven? Why are we so lazy in finding out more about Heaven? Is it because we have given-up on getting there and have resigned ourselves to ending up in Hell? If we imagine that we cannot possibly end-up in Hell, then is our lack of desire for heavenly knowledge down to a greater desire to experience the fires of Purgatory for many decades or even centuries? Is our lack of enthusiasm for Heaven fired by fear that Heaven must be such a boring place, where we are forced to sit and gaze at God for eternity?
Very few people―of the uncountable majority of mankind that end-up in Hell―actually thought that they would eventually go to Hell. The vast majority entertained a complacent and overly-confident delusion that somehow they were automatically destined for Heaven without hardly lifting a finger to get there! They based their false and presumptuous reasoning on thoughts such as: “God is love! God is merciful! God would never send me to Hell!” or “I’m not as bad a person as so-and-so, or most of the world!” or “I wear the Scapular!” or “I pray the Rosary!” or “I go to church every Sunday!” or “I go to Confession each week or once a month!” or “I’m a traditional Catholic!” or some similar presumptuous thought. They forget that for nearly 2,000 years all the Catholic Church and Catholic laity were all traditional Catholics―yet, as the saints tell us, most Catholic souls were lost! Hell is not short of Catholics who went to Mass every Sunday―more Catholics attended Mass regularly in bygone years and centuries than the meager 15% today! Hell is loaded with Catholics who prayed the Rosary―but also deliberately stayed in mortal sin. St. Alphonsus Liguori states that the Scapular will not protect us from Hell if we are determined to commit mortal sins. Yes, of course, there have been miraculous exceptions to this―but they remain EXCEPTIONS to the rule and not the general rule.
St. Alphonsus also states: “The preacher should often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell. Hence it is very useful to mention, from time to time, some example of souls that were damned by willfully concealing sins in confession!” Heck! It only logical and as clear and plain as the end of your nose on your face! If all Catholics were making good confessions―then there would be no Catholics in Hell, but we are told by the saints that most Catholics end up in Hell! Therefore most Catholics are either failing to go to Confession when in a state of mortal sin, or they are making bad confessions by concealing mortal sins in Confession, or misrepresenting them by “disguising” them, or confessing them in a way that makes it sound as though the mortal sin was merely a venial sin, etc.
Heaven Undervalued―Earth Overrated
The ultimate problem is that Heaven ― and all that goes with it (God, Christ, Holy Ghost, Our Lady, the Saints, the Faith, the spiritual life, spiritual exercises, etc. ― is grossly underrated, undervalued, underestimated, underappreciated, underemphasized, underexposed, understated and understudied. People prefer to pore-over perishable things and ignore eternal things. They spend most of their time, money and efforts on passing, temporary, transient and trivial things―and leave aside the more important eternal things. As Our Lord said: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). As Our Lord indicated in His parable about the rich landowner who only thought about amassing more and more things: “But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
We undervalue Heaven and overvalue the world―We think more of secular things than heavenly things―we spend hours on worldly activities and barely a few minutes on spiritual activities―We will avidly watch a movie or a sports game for hours, but a 20 minute Rosary makes us yawn and puts us to sleep―We can’t stop talking about secular things, but find it so hard to talk about spiritual things―We are more eager to go to a party than we are about going to Heaven―We know by heart innumerable facts, recipes, and ways of doing things, but know very few prayers by heart and are pretty clueless on how to get to Heaven and what to expect on the road―We can memorize phone numbers, addresses, birth dates and names of persons, but we cannot even name the Twelve Apostles or remember the dates of feast days of most saints―We can talk to persons for hours on the phone, but can barely find time to talk to God―We can sacrifice our precious time to go and help a friend, neighbor or relative, but we can’t find time to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners―We weep more over losing money or some precious possession, but we do not weep over losing the grace of God―We will happily listen to some YouTube item for an hour or more, but having to listen to long sermon irritates us―We are endlessly and enthusiastically picking-up our smartphones for one reason or another, but neglect to pick-up our Rosary beads with the same frequency―We plan, save-up and look forward to a short week-long vacation in some exotic location, but never plan, never make as much effort and look forward to eternity in Heaven.
Heaven Cheapened!
Yet if we would only stop and think at what Heaven is, what Heaven will be like for us―then we would be put to great shame and confusion as regards our minimal valuation of Heaven and our minimal efforts in order to get there! Obviously, nobody knows all about Heaven―but some things we do know―and the little that we know makes Heaven priceless. What Heaven offers us is beyond anything we could hope to obtain here on Earth. Just for starters―what kind of price can you put on eternal life, living for ever with no more death in sight? People on Earth spends thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to preserve their lives and ward-off death! How much would they be prepared to pay to live for ever?
Nobody likes to suffer―that is clear―and people go to extremes to avoid suffering or to remove suffering. In Heaven there will no suffering of any kind―no physical suffering, no mental suffering, no emotional suffering, no internal suffering, no external suffering, no suffering at the hands of others, no suffering at the hands of nature―NO SUFFERING AT ALL! NO SUFFERING FOR EVER MORE! What price can you put on that? What incredible amounts of money would some people pay on Earth to be free from any and all suffering? What extreme efforts would they undertake to avoid suffering? Yet we expect to achieve a heavenly freedom from suffering without making any efforts or paying a price for it!
Everyone seeks joy and happiness. They pay a lot of money to achieve what always ends up being a transitory, temporary, passing and fleeting happiness. What price can you put on ETERNAL joy and happiness, a never-ending joy and happiness, a perpetual, ceaseless, limitless joy and happiness? Heaven will give us that joy and happiness―yet we think little of it and imagine that we get it for free or with very little effort!
Where Are Your Thoughts? Where Is Your Heart?
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Thoughts Lead to Actions
Ideas have consequences. We are what we think. What is in our heart, ends up in our actions. Our Lord said: “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23). Which is the same as Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “The dressing of a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man” (Ecclesiasticus 27:7). Our ideas become our ideals which become our actions. Feed the mind trash and …
Junk Does Not Bring Good Health
This is why good reading and good friends are of utmost importance. They are the chief suppliers of our ideas. If we eat junk food, so readily available on today’s market, then our health will become ‘junk’ as disease gradually sets in. As many doctors say, “We eat and drink ourselves into disease”! The same is true for the ‘food’ and ‘drink’ that we feed our minds and hearts. Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). He even gives us His own Flesh and Blood to eat and drink: “I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:51-56).
Think Little, Believe Even Less
This Bread of Life has even fed and kept several mystics and saints alive for varying numbers of years—over 10, 20 and even 30 years—without any other food being taken. The fare served by Heaven is certainly of the highest quality! It should be our greatest treasure—yet, alas, it is not! Varying numbers of Catholics—depending in which part of the world you live—no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. This number of disbelievers, or ‘doubting Thomases’, ranges from 40% to 80%. Small wonder Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We Think More of Earth Than Heaven
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalms 13:2). Our Lady of La Salette replies: “People will think only of amusement!” To which Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
Ladder to Heaven
What Jacob saw in his sleep is an indication and an invitation for us also: “And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the Earth, and the top thereof touching Heaven” (Genesis 28:12). We are to climb that ladder to Heaven! To do that, we must first climb there with our minds and hearts—which are the two vertical members of the ladder, while each thought or desire is a horizontal rung. If we think little of Heaven or desire it little, then there will be hardly any rungs on our ladder to Heaven.
Hours on the Ladder
Many saints spent many hours on the ladder! They thought about God and Heaven; they desired God and Heaven; they spoke about God and Heaven; they spent many hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament and thought they were in Heaven! Heavens above! Did they do this because they were saints? Not at all! It was the doing of this that made them saints! It is an infallible recipe for sanctity. It is a guaranteed cure! A certain success! Yet so few try it and even less persevere in it! It seems too arduous, or too boring, or too limiting, or too demanding. Yet, for those who think that, it plainly shows how little they think of Heaven—meaning that they cheapen Heaven, downgrade Heaven, expect Heaven to be a freebie.
The Perks of Heaven Would Perk Them Up
If they were only to think more about Heaven, then they would realize what an incredible ‘product’ it really is—it durability is eternal; it never runs out or down; it produces in a person a happiness and satisfaction that is unimaginable and unthinkable; the views are splendid; the mansions are many; the community is delightfully friendly; there is no crime in the neighborhood. The medical staff are out of this world—restoring all body parts so that they function perfectly; reversing aging and guaranteeing youthful looks for eternity; eliminating obesity without artificial means like liposuction, naturally or supernaturally; removing all fears, worries and anxieties. The entertainment is divine! The music, by all accounts, is angelic—with melodies previously unheard and thought to be impossible.
More Than An Eyeful
No wonder St. Paul, who says he was caught up to the third Heaven, says: “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We are reminded of St. Dominic Savio, who appeared in a vision to St. John Bosco, saying: “Father, tell the boys how wonderful it is here! How wonderful it is!” Which is why Our Lord tries to encourage to focus more on Heaven than Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
You Can Do It!
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady is also speaking to us, as she says: “With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and his gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord ... Let thy thoughts always be of the noblest and thy conversation in Heaven and with the angelic spirits … Of thee, my daughter, I require the practice of these rules, and through thee I wish to inculcate them on other mortals … Let their conversations be in Heaven with the Most High, and with me, who am their Mother, and let it be with the angels, imitating them in holy love.”
Happy Thoughts or Hopeless Thoughts
Putting our eggs in the basket of this world is like eating candy floss—the experience is over before you know it and your not left really satisfied. Why on earth would we place all our hopes for happiness in a miserably short stay on Earth—80 years long if we are lucky—when the basket of eternity is the other option? “Our days upon Earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay” (1 Paralipomenon 29:15). “His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his Earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish” (Psalm 145:4). “Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth … But the things that are in Heaven, who shall search out?” (Wisdom 9:16). “I am a sojourner on the Earth” (Psalm 118:19).
Just because most other people seem to want to be ‘earthy’ and worldly, do I have to follow suit? “He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the Earth, of the Earth he is, and of the Earth he speaketh. He that cometh from Heaven, is above all” (John 3:31). “The first man was of the Earth, earthly: the second man, from Heaven, heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47). Our Lord came to Earth to lead us to Heaven: “And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all things to Myself” (John 12:32). This Earth, and all that is in it, will perish—why place my eggs in that perishable basket?
On Ash Wednesday, as our foreheads are smeared with ashes, we are told: “Remember man that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” Adam was made from the dust or slime of the earth “And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, Who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “All men are earth and ashes” (Ecclesiasticus 17:31). “And of the same clay by a vain labor he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again. But his care is, not that he shall labor, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain Earth, and his life more base than clay. Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker and Him that breathed into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit” (Wisdom 15:8-11).
The Spirit of St. Paul
Holy Scripture asks us a very searching question, that we must answer and act upon: “For what have I in Heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire upon Earth?” (Psalm 72:25). St. Paul gives us his answer: “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Yet how many have the spirit of St. Paul? Most have the spirit of the world. They look upon religion as though it were dung, and would gladly suffer the loss of all religious obligations so that they may gain the world.
The Spirit of God Speaks
In response to these worldlings, the Holy Spirit, in Holy Scripture, says: “O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord!” (Jeremias 22:29). “You have feasted upon Earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts” (“James 5:5).
“Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the Earth? That take their diversion with the birds of the air. That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? Who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable. They are cut off, and are gone down to Hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the Earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known, nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face” (Baruch 3:16-21). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof … All mirth is forsaken: the joy of the Earth is gone away” (Isaias 24:1, 11). “Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the Earth is laid waste” (Jeremias 4:20).
The World At His Feet
Our Lord had the world at His feet, but He chose to turn His back upon it: “Again the devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). “Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing …” (John 14:30). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Overcoming and Rising Above the World
If Our Lord has “overcome the world” then this means the world is an enemy. Therefore, we too must overcome the world, or be overcome by it. It is our Faith that overcomes the world: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world—our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Religion clean and undefiled before God … is to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” (James 1:27).“Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
What God Gives? What the World Gives?
God offers us eternity, the world can only promise 70 to 90 years. In Heaven there are no enemies, in this world Our Lord says that “a man's enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Today, the enemies of Christianity are growing with each day, so too is the threat to Christianity—just as Our Lord forecast: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake” (Matthew 24:9). In Heaven, there shall be no such hatred—the hatred will be perpetual in Hell. The world offers can only offer us perishable riches—which are left behind the day we die. The riches of Heaven are forever—never to lost; never to taken away. God offers us a perfect body in the prime of life (they say around 33 years of age); perfect peace; perfect joy; perfect happiness; an abundance of true and pure love—the world cannot eliminate anxiety, stress, fear and threats. In Heaven we are loved by all, on Earth we are hated by many. In Heaven there is no gossip, no talk of past sins, failures and mistakes; whereas Earth is full of such talk. There are no diseases or wars in Heaven; while Earth is full of disease and impending war. The rulers of the Earth just want to take from you; in Heaven God and everyone seeks to give. SO WHY DO WE THINK AND TALK SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE IN THIS WORLD? THINK OF HEAVEN MORE, AND LESS OF THIS WORLD!
Heaven and Hell
Just as a coin has two sides that are inseparable, so too does our spiritual life have two inseparable thoughts—Heaven and Hell. In fact, the Church teaches us that the chief things that we should think about are the FOUR LAST THINGS, namely—Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Sadly, none of those things make the “Top Ten” of our favorite thoughts for the day! Yet Holy Mother Church knows best! Most people would do well to follow their Mother’s advice. Yet little is known of what death is like! Who can tell us much about the final judgment after death? Who has been to Hell and come back to tell the tale? Who has come back to Earth from Heaven with pictures and a description?
Even so, there are snippets that we can glean from certain books—though few such books exist. Those that do exist, risk being a little dry for most readers. However, we do ourselves a disservice by neglecting to find and study material on these matters. Some books that spring to mind are Fr. Xavier Schouppe’s two books: Hell and How To Avoid It and its sister book, Purgatory Explained. That deals with the negative side of the coin. On the positive side we have The Happiness of Heaven: And How to Attain the Joys That Await You There by Fr. Boudreaux; also Purgatory and Heaven by Fr. J. P. Arendzen; also Guidance to Heaven by Cardinal Giovanni Bona; also The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Fr. Regis Martin; and The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven by Fr. Martin von Cochem.
You have undoubtedly heard the saying: “You are what you eat!” ― meaning that if you eat healthy food you are likely to be healthy, but if you eat junk food then you are likely to get sick. Another similar saying is: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what kind of person you are!” You could say that this is an extension of: “Birds of a feather flock together!”
Holy Scripture says something similar: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God! He that knoweth God, heareth us! He that is not of God, heareth us not!” (1 John 4:5-6). “You ought to be in holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). “Many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:18-20).
Our Lord “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not! He came unto his own, and his own received him not!” (John 1:10-11). Our Lord said of Himself: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not here!” (John 18:36). “I am the light of the world … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world … As the Father hath taught me, these things I speak! … I speak that which I have seen with my Father―and you do the things that you have seen with your father … You do the works of your father … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! … If I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:12-47).
“Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! … For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them! … The care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word of God, and they becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:13-15, 22). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:19).
To His followers, Our Lord says: “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Elsewhere He adds: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Be not anxious for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
What Are You Feeding Your Mind?
So what are you feeding your mind? What things do you think about the most during the day? What do you talk about most during the day? How much spiritual thinking do you do in comparison to worldly or secular thinking? What is your conversation like? What do you talk about the most? Spiritual things or secular things? How many hours is given to spiritual or religious talk in your family each week?
Holy Scripture is pretty clear on this subject: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? … Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:15-19). “If you be risen with Christ, then seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1-2). “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “Be not conformed to this world―but be reformed in the newness of your mind!” (Romans 121:2). “Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge [of God], according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:10). “Put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth!” (Colossians 3:8). “You ought to be in holy conversation!” (2 Peter 3:11). “Many … mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven!” (Philippians 3:18-20). “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of Faith, so that it may administer grace to the hearers! (Ephesians 4:29). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work!” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20).
Spiritually and Religiously Starved, Dumb, Deaf and Blind
Sadly, most people know little about God and the Faith; so they think very little about God and the Faith; and consequently talk very little about God and the Faith; and they also do very little for God and the Faith. Holy Scripture warns: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) … “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a teacher? Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ!” (Romans 10:13-17).
Yet with each passing year there are fewer and fewer persons who seek God and want to know more and more about God: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men―they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Furthermore, those who have the Faith, do very little or nothing with the Faith. Faith is not to be buried in the ground, but Faith must produce fruit: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The Faith is one of the most precious things that God gives to us―and we should remember that “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Those who have been given the tremendous grace of Catholicism are expected to produce fruit above and beyond that of non-Catholics―whether Protestants or Pagans. What have we done with our Faith? The parable of the talents comes to mind―and the servant who buried his talent and had no fruit to show for it.
Lack of Enthusiasm for Heaven
Why do we rarely think of Heaven? Why do know so little―or next to nothing―about Heaven? Why do we lack enthusiasm for Heaven? Why are we so lazy in finding out more about Heaven? Is it because we have given-up on getting there and have resigned ourselves to ending up in Hell? If we imagine that we cannot possibly end-up in Hell, then is our lack of desire for heavenly knowledge down to a greater desire to experience the fires of Purgatory for many decades or even centuries? Is our lack of enthusiasm for Heaven fired by fear that Heaven must be such a boring place, where we are forced to sit and gaze at God for eternity?
Very few people―of the uncountable majority of mankind that end-up in Hell―actually thought that they would eventually go to Hell. The vast majority entertained a complacent and overly-confident delusion that somehow they were automatically destined for Heaven without hardly lifting a finger to get there! They based their false and presumptuous reasoning on thoughts such as: “God is love! God is merciful! God would never send me to Hell!” or “I’m not as bad a person as so-and-so, or most of the world!” or “I wear the Scapular!” or “I pray the Rosary!” or “I go to church every Sunday!” or “I go to Confession each week or once a month!” or “I’m a traditional Catholic!” or some similar presumptuous thought. They forget that for nearly 2,000 years all the Catholic Church and Catholic laity were all traditional Catholics―yet, as the saints tell us, most Catholic souls were lost! Hell is not short of Catholics who went to Mass every Sunday―more Catholics attended Mass regularly in bygone years and centuries than the meager 15% today! Hell is loaded with Catholics who prayed the Rosary―but also deliberately stayed in mortal sin. St. Alphonsus Liguori states that the Scapular will not protect us from Hell if we are determined to commit mortal sins. Yes, of course, there have been miraculous exceptions to this―but they remain EXCEPTIONS to the rule and not the general rule.
St. Alphonsus also states: “The preacher should often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell. Hence it is very useful to mention, from time to time, some example of souls that were damned by willfully concealing sins in confession!” Heck! It only logical and as clear and plain as the end of your nose on your face! If all Catholics were making good confessions―then there would be no Catholics in Hell, but we are told by the saints that most Catholics end up in Hell! Therefore most Catholics are either failing to go to Confession when in a state of mortal sin, or they are making bad confessions by concealing mortal sins in Confession, or misrepresenting them by “disguising” them, or confessing them in a way that makes it sound as though the mortal sin was merely a venial sin, etc.
Heaven Undervalued―Earth Overrated
The ultimate problem is that Heaven ― and all that goes with it (God, Christ, Holy Ghost, Our Lady, the Saints, the Faith, the spiritual life, spiritual exercises, etc. ― is grossly underrated, undervalued, underestimated, underappreciated, underemphasized, underexposed, understated and understudied. People prefer to pore-over perishable things and ignore eternal things. They spend most of their time, money and efforts on passing, temporary, transient and trivial things―and leave aside the more important eternal things. As Our Lord said: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). As Our Lord indicated in His parable about the rich landowner who only thought about amassing more and more things: “But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
We undervalue Heaven and overvalue the world―We think more of secular things than heavenly things―we spend hours on worldly activities and barely a few minutes on spiritual activities―We will avidly watch a movie or a sports game for hours, but a 20 minute Rosary makes us yawn and puts us to sleep―We can’t stop talking about secular things, but find it so hard to talk about spiritual things―We are more eager to go to a party than we are about going to Heaven―We know by heart innumerable facts, recipes, and ways of doing things, but know very few prayers by heart and are pretty clueless on how to get to Heaven and what to expect on the road―We can memorize phone numbers, addresses, birth dates and names of persons, but we cannot even name the Twelve Apostles or remember the dates of feast days of most saints―We can talk to persons for hours on the phone, but can barely find time to talk to God―We can sacrifice our precious time to go and help a friend, neighbor or relative, but we can’t find time to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners―We weep more over losing money or some precious possession, but we do not weep over losing the grace of God―We will happily listen to some YouTube item for an hour or more, but having to listen to long sermon irritates us―We are endlessly and enthusiastically picking-up our smartphones for one reason or another, but neglect to pick-up our Rosary beads with the same frequency―We plan, save-up and look forward to a short week-long vacation in some exotic location, but never plan, never make as much effort and look forward to eternity in Heaven.
Heaven Cheapened!
Yet if we would only stop and think at what Heaven is, what Heaven will be like for us―then we would be put to great shame and confusion as regards our minimal valuation of Heaven and our minimal efforts in order to get there! Obviously, nobody knows all about Heaven―but some things we do know―and the little that we know makes Heaven priceless. What Heaven offers us is beyond anything we could hope to obtain here on Earth. Just for starters―what kind of price can you put on eternal life, living for ever with no more death in sight? People on Earth spends thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to preserve their lives and ward-off death! How much would they be prepared to pay to live for ever?
Nobody likes to suffer―that is clear―and people go to extremes to avoid suffering or to remove suffering. In Heaven there will no suffering of any kind―no physical suffering, no mental suffering, no emotional suffering, no internal suffering, no external suffering, no suffering at the hands of others, no suffering at the hands of nature―NO SUFFERING AT ALL! NO SUFFERING FOR EVER MORE! What price can you put on that? What incredible amounts of money would some people pay on Earth to be free from any and all suffering? What extreme efforts would they undertake to avoid suffering? Yet we expect to achieve a heavenly freedom from suffering without making any efforts or paying a price for it!
Everyone seeks joy and happiness. They pay a lot of money to achieve what always ends up being a transitory, temporary, passing and fleeting happiness. What price can you put on ETERNAL joy and happiness, a never-ending joy and happiness, a perpetual, ceaseless, limitless joy and happiness? Heaven will give us that joy and happiness―yet we think little of it and imagine that we get it for free or with very little effort!
Where Are Your Thoughts? Where Is Your Heart?
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Thoughts Lead to Actions
Ideas have consequences. We are what we think. What is in our heart, ends up in our actions. Our Lord said: “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23). Which is the same as Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “The dressing of a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man” (Ecclesiasticus 27:7). Our ideas become our ideals which become our actions. Feed the mind trash and …
Junk Does Not Bring Good Health
This is why good reading and good friends are of utmost importance. They are the chief suppliers of our ideas. If we eat junk food, so readily available on today’s market, then our health will become ‘junk’ as disease gradually sets in. As many doctors say, “We eat and drink ourselves into disease”! The same is true for the ‘food’ and ‘drink’ that we feed our minds and hearts. Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). He even gives us His own Flesh and Blood to eat and drink: “I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:51-56).
Think Little, Believe Even Less
This Bread of Life has even fed and kept several mystics and saints alive for varying numbers of years—over 10, 20 and even 30 years—without any other food being taken. The fare served by Heaven is certainly of the highest quality! It should be our greatest treasure—yet, alas, it is not! Varying numbers of Catholics—depending in which part of the world you live—no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. This number of disbelievers, or ‘doubting Thomases’, ranges from 40% to 80%. Small wonder Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We Think More of Earth Than Heaven
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalms 13:2). Our Lady of La Salette replies: “People will think only of amusement!” To which Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
Ladder to Heaven
What Jacob saw in his sleep is an indication and an invitation for us also: “And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the Earth, and the top thereof touching Heaven” (Genesis 28:12). We are to climb that ladder to Heaven! To do that, we must first climb there with our minds and hearts—which are the two vertical members of the ladder, while each thought or desire is a horizontal rung. If we think little of Heaven or desire it little, then there will be hardly any rungs on our ladder to Heaven.
Hours on the Ladder
Many saints spent many hours on the ladder! They thought about God and Heaven; they desired God and Heaven; they spoke about God and Heaven; they spent many hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament and thought they were in Heaven! Heavens above! Did they do this because they were saints? Not at all! It was the doing of this that made them saints! It is an infallible recipe for sanctity. It is a guaranteed cure! A certain success! Yet so few try it and even less persevere in it! It seems too arduous, or too boring, or too limiting, or too demanding. Yet, for those who think that, it plainly shows how little they think of Heaven—meaning that they cheapen Heaven, downgrade Heaven, expect Heaven to be a freebie.
The Perks of Heaven Would Perk Them Up
If they were only to think more about Heaven, then they would realize what an incredible ‘product’ it really is—it durability is eternal; it never runs out or down; it produces in a person a happiness and satisfaction that is unimaginable and unthinkable; the views are splendid; the mansions are many; the community is delightfully friendly; there is no crime in the neighborhood. The medical staff are out of this world—restoring all body parts so that they function perfectly; reversing aging and guaranteeing youthful looks for eternity; eliminating obesity without artificial means like liposuction, naturally or supernaturally; removing all fears, worries and anxieties. The entertainment is divine! The music, by all accounts, is angelic—with melodies previously unheard and thought to be impossible.
More Than An Eyeful
No wonder St. Paul, who says he was caught up to the third Heaven, says: “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We are reminded of St. Dominic Savio, who appeared in a vision to St. John Bosco, saying: “Father, tell the boys how wonderful it is here! How wonderful it is!” Which is why Our Lord tries to encourage to focus more on Heaven than Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
You Can Do It!
In speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady is also speaking to us, as she says: “With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and his gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord ... Let thy thoughts always be of the noblest and thy conversation in Heaven and with the angelic spirits … Of thee, my daughter, I require the practice of these rules, and through thee I wish to inculcate them on other mortals … Let their conversations be in Heaven with the Most High, and with me, who am their Mother, and let it be with the angels, imitating them in holy love.”
Happy Thoughts or Hopeless Thoughts
Putting our eggs in the basket of this world is like eating candy floss—the experience is over before you know it and your not left really satisfied. Why on earth would we place all our hopes for happiness in a miserably short stay on Earth—80 years long if we are lucky—when the basket of eternity is the other option? “Our days upon Earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay” (1 Paralipomenon 29:15). “His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his Earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish” (Psalm 145:4). “Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth … But the things that are in Heaven, who shall search out?” (Wisdom 9:16). “I am a sojourner on the Earth” (Psalm 118:19).
Just because most other people seem to want to be ‘earthy’ and worldly, do I have to follow suit? “He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the Earth, of the Earth he is, and of the Earth he speaketh. He that cometh from Heaven, is above all” (John 3:31). “The first man was of the Earth, earthly: the second man, from Heaven, heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47). Our Lord came to Earth to lead us to Heaven: “And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all things to Myself” (John 12:32). This Earth, and all that is in it, will perish—why place my eggs in that perishable basket?
On Ash Wednesday, as our foreheads are smeared with ashes, we are told: “Remember man that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” Adam was made from the dust or slime of the earth “And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, Who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “All men are earth and ashes” (Ecclesiasticus 17:31). “And of the same clay by a vain labor he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again. But his care is, not that he shall labor, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain Earth, and his life more base than clay. Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker and Him that breathed into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit” (Wisdom 15:8-11).
The Spirit of St. Paul
Holy Scripture asks us a very searching question, that we must answer and act upon: “For what have I in Heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire upon Earth?” (Psalm 72:25). St. Paul gives us his answer: “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Yet how many have the spirit of St. Paul? Most have the spirit of the world. They look upon religion as though it were dung, and would gladly suffer the loss of all religious obligations so that they may gain the world.
The Spirit of God Speaks
In response to these worldlings, the Holy Spirit, in Holy Scripture, says: “O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord!” (Jeremias 22:29). “You have feasted upon Earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts” (“James 5:5).
“Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the Earth? That take their diversion with the birds of the air. That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? Who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable. They are cut off, and are gone down to Hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the Earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known, nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face” (Baruch 3:16-21). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof … All mirth is forsaken: the joy of the Earth is gone away” (Isaias 24:1, 11). “Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the Earth is laid waste” (Jeremias 4:20).
The World At His Feet
Our Lord had the world at His feet, but He chose to turn His back upon it: “Again the devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). “Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing …” (John 14:30). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Overcoming and Rising Above the World
If Our Lord has “overcome the world” then this means the world is an enemy. Therefore, we too must overcome the world, or be overcome by it. It is our Faith that overcomes the world: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world—our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Religion clean and undefiled before God … is to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” (James 1:27).“Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
What God Gives? What the World Gives?
God offers us eternity, the world can only promise 70 to 90 years. In Heaven there are no enemies, in this world Our Lord says that “a man's enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Today, the enemies of Christianity are growing with each day, so too is the threat to Christianity—just as Our Lord forecast: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake” (Matthew 24:9). In Heaven, there shall be no such hatred—the hatred will be perpetual in Hell. The world offers can only offer us perishable riches—which are left behind the day we die. The riches of Heaven are forever—never to lost; never to taken away. God offers us a perfect body in the prime of life (they say around 33 years of age); perfect peace; perfect joy; perfect happiness; an abundance of true and pure love—the world cannot eliminate anxiety, stress, fear and threats. In Heaven we are loved by all, on Earth we are hated by many. In Heaven there is no gossip, no talk of past sins, failures and mistakes; whereas Earth is full of such talk. There are no diseases or wars in Heaven; while Earth is full of disease and impending war. The rulers of the Earth just want to take from you; in Heaven God and everyone seeks to give. SO WHY DO WE THINK AND TALK SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE IN THIS WORLD? THINK OF HEAVEN MORE, AND LESS OF THIS WORLD!
Heaven and Hell
Just as a coin has two sides that are inseparable, so too does our spiritual life have two inseparable thoughts—Heaven and Hell. In fact, the Church teaches us that the chief things that we should think about are the FOUR LAST THINGS, namely—Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Sadly, none of those things make the “Top Ten” of our favorite thoughts for the day! Yet Holy Mother Church knows best! Most people would do well to follow their Mother’s advice. Yet little is known of what death is like! Who can tell us much about the final judgment after death? Who has been to Hell and come back to tell the tale? Who has come back to Earth from Heaven with pictures and a description?
Even so, there are snippets that we can glean from certain books—though few such books exist. Those that do exist, risk being a little dry for most readers. However, we do ourselves a disservice by neglecting to find and study material on these matters. Some books that spring to mind are Fr. Xavier Schouppe’s two books: Hell and How To Avoid It and its sister book, Purgatory Explained. That deals with the negative side of the coin. On the positive side we have The Happiness of Heaven: And How to Attain the Joys That Await You There by Fr. Boudreaux; also Purgatory and Heaven by Fr. J. P. Arendzen; also Guidance to Heaven by Cardinal Giovanni Bona; also The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Fr. Regis Martin; and The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven by Fr. Martin von Cochem.
Friday May 20th & Saturday May 21st
Article 12
If You Won't Practice Devotion, You'll Inevitably Become Lukewarm
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 12
If You Won't Practice Devotion, You'll Inevitably Become Lukewarm
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Forwards or Backwards―No Standing Still
We are headed in one direction or the other. Which one is it? Am I becoming more spiritual, or more worldly? You may secretly think to yourself: “I go to Mass every week, I pray the Rosary daily, and I try to follow the teachings of the Church. I’m good!” Such were the thoughts of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:11-12).
The spiritual masters tell us that there is no standing still, or treading water, in the spiritual life—if we are not going forwards, then we are going backwards. A child who stops growing or growing in knowledge is technically backwards, even though he doesn’t diminish in size or lose existing knowledge.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes: “The period of puberty, which is the end of childhood, about the age of fourteen, is characterized by a transformation which is not only organic but also psychological, intellectual and moral. The youth is no longer content to follow his imagination, as the child was; he begins to reflect on the things of human life, on the need to prepare himself for some career or occupation in the future. He has no longer the child’s attitude towards family, social and religious matters; his moral personality begins to take shape, and he acquires the sense of honor and of good repute. Or else, on the contrary, if he passes unsuccessfully through this difficult period, he deteriorates and follows evil courses. The law of nature so ordains that the transition from childhood to youth must follow a normal development; otherwise the subject will assume a positive bias to evil, or else he will remain a half-wit, perhaps even a complete idiot, for the rest of his life. “He who makes no progress loses ground.” It is at this point that the analogy becomes illuminating for the spiritual life. We shall see that the beginner who fails to become a proficient, either turns to sin or else presents an example of arrested spiritual development. Here, too, it is true that “he who makes no progress loses ground,” as the Fathers of the Church have so often pointed out.”
Stop Making Excuses!
You were created by God in order to become a saint! Yes, YOU! Our Lord was pretty clear and blunt on the subject: “Be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Our Lord is saying nothing more than what God had said in the Old Testament: “I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect!” (Genesis 17:1). “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2). “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by anything upon the Earth!” (Leviticus 11:44). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself … keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be a holy people of the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 26:19). “You shall be to Me a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 20:7).
That same requirement is mentioned by St. Paul and St. Peter in the New Testament: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight” (Ephesians 1:4). “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy! Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
If you wish to go to Heaven―you must become a saint! There is no place in Heaven for mediocrity―only saints go to Heaven. This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48).
It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this! Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
O Chosen Soul―It’s Your Choice!
As St. Louis de Montfort says: “All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end― growth in the holiness of God!” Our Lord said on several occasions: “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and again, “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Holy Scripture says that God excludes nobody: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Thus we are all called to Heaven―but few choose to do what it takes to get there! Our Lord Himself points this out: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). God wishes the salvation of all men―but not all men shall be saved. Why? Because most men refuse to do what it takes to be saved. Even though wishes the salvation of all men, He does not guarantee the salvation of all men―the fact of whether or not we are saved is ultimately down to us and not God. God sets forth the terms and conditions that we must meet in order to be saved―it is our choice whether or not we accept them and fulfill them.
Our Lord emphasizes that point: “Not everyone that saith to Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, He shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Salvation Requires Fervor
Do not fool yourself into imagining that there are two kinds of people in Heaven―the saints and the mediocre. Heaven is only for saints and sanctity requires fervor. Does not Our Lord indicate this? “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence―and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Whereas He condemns mere lip service without ‘heart-service’: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Mammon Cannot Save!
Holy Scripture is clear on the matter of mammon or riches: “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Most people in this world focus more upon worldly wealth and procuring more and more possessions. The current availability of almost anything you can imagine only pours fuel on that insatiable desire. The warnings of Our Lord go unheeded―especially His warnings against riches and possessions: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man comes to mind: “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
Likewise, we recall the parable of Our Lord about the rich landowner: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
This is why St. James writes: “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Fight with Fervor!
Heaven is not a heavenly Social Security handout! Today, we live in a world that thinks it is entitled to things―nobody is entitled to Heaven. Heaven is a fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses! … Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (2 Timothy 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:12). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). That is why St. Paul adds elsewhere: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
If we lack fervor, if we lack the stomach for the fight, if we are lukewarm about our Faith―then we will never see Heaven, we shall be lost. God Himself warns us of this half-hearted tepid lukewarmness in His service: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Lose with Lukewarmness!
Who is lukewarm? According to Fr. Faber―who is writing in far better and perhaps more fervent days in the 1800s―most people are lukewarm in his opinion: “I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there ... Lukewarmness is in no sense a beginning. We may begin by being cold, but not by being lukewarm. For lukewarmness implies that a great deal has gone before, that a height has been climbed, and that from cowardice, human respect or weariness, we have come down from it” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25: Lukewarmness).
St. Alphonsus Liguori adds: “I will endeavor to convince you of the great danger into which tepidity brings the soul, since it makes Jesus Christ hide His divine light from the soul, and makes Him less generous in bestowing upon the soul the graces and helps, without which the soul shall find it very difficult to complete the journey of this life without falling into an abyss—that is, into mortal sin … Mortal diseases do not generally proceed from serious indisposition, but from many slight and continued infirmities: so, likewise, the fall of many souls into mortal sin, follows from habitual venial sins; for, these render the soul so weak, that, when a strong temptation assails her, she has not strength to resist it, and she falls … Moreover, deliberate and habitual venial sins, not only deprive us of strength to resist temptations, but also of the special helps, without which we fall into grievous sins ... This danger will be still greater for those who commit many venial sins through an attachment to any passion, such as pride, ambition, aversion to a neighbor, or an inordinate affection for any person ... When the Devil cannot gain much from us, he is in the beginning content with the little; by many trifling victories he will make a great conquest ... St. Francis of Assisi says, that, in endeavoring to draw to sin, a soul that is afraid of being in enmity with God, the Devil does not seek in the beginning to bind her with the chain of a slave, by tempting her to commit mortal sin, because she would have a horror of yielding to mortal sin, and would guard herself against it. He first endeavors to bind her by a single hair; then by a slender thread; next by a cord; afterwards by a rope; and in the end by a chain of Hell—that is, by mortal sin; and thus he makes her his slave.
“We know that such a lie, such a curse, such an injury to our neighbor, and such detraction, though some are not mortal sins [though lies, curses and detraction can also be mortal when serious], are displeasing to God―and still we do not abstain from them ... Woe to him who is at peace with his faults! … Miserable the soul that allows herself to be the slave of any passion! … A small spark, if it be not extinguished, will set fire to an entire forest; that is to say, an unmortified passion shall bring the soul to ruin! … As long as a person, who is guilty of defects, detests his faults, there is reason to hope that he will, one day, correct them and amend his life; but when he commits faults without endeavoring to amend, he will continually go from bad to worse, till he loses the grace of God ... Why then should we expect that God will give us His divine consolations? … A tepid soul is one that frequently falls into fully deliberate venial sins—such as deliberate lies, deliberate acts of impatience, deliberate cursing, and the like. St. Teresa of Avila used to say, that one venial sin does us more harm than all the devils in Hell … How can we expect that God will be generous in His favors to us, when we are not generous to Him? … They who are not generous to God, well deserve that God should not be generous to them. ‘He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly’ (2 Corinthians 9:6) ...
“Let us come to the remedy. The amendment of a tepid soul is difficult; but there are remedies for those who wish to adopt them. First, the tepid must sincerely desire to be delivered from a state which, as we have seen, is so miserable and dangerous; for, without this desire, they shall not take pains to employ the proper means. Secondly, they must resolve to remove the occasions of their faults; otherwise, they will always relapse into the same defects. Thirdly, they must earnestly beg of the Lord to raise them from so wretched a state. By their own strength they can do nothing; but they can do all things with the assistance of God, who has promised to hear the prayers of all. “Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find” (Luke 11:9). We must pray and continue to pray without interruption. If we cease to pray we shall be defeated; but if we persevere in prayer we shall conquer!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sermon for Passion Sunday).
St. John Vianney Describes the Lukewarm Soul
The following is an extract from a sermon on lukewarmness by St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars: “I think, brethren, that you would like to know what is the state of the lukewarm soul. Well, this is it. A lukewarm soul is not yet quite dead in the eyes of God because the faith, the hope, and the charity which are its spiritual life are not altogether extinct. But it is a faith without zeal, a hope without resolution, a charity without ardor. Nothing touches this soul―it hears the word of God, yes, that is true; but often it just bores it. Its possessor hears it with difficulty, more or less by habit, like someone who thinks that he knows enough about it and does enough of what he should. Any prayers which are a bit long are distasteful to him. This soul is so full of whatever it has just been doing or what it is going to do next, its boredom is so great, that this poor unfortunate thing is almost in agony. It is still alive, but it is not capable of doing anything to gain Heaven. For the last twenty years this soul has been filled with good intentions without doing anything at all to correct its habits.
“It is like someone who is envious of anyone who is on top of the world, but who would not lift a foot to try to get there himself. If God, in order to force such a soul to detach itself from temporal things, sends it any cross or suffering, it is fretful and grieving and abandons itself to grumbles and complaints and often even to a kind of despair. It seems as if it does not want to see that God has sent it these trials for its good, to detach it from this world and to draw it towards Himself. What has it done to deserve these trials? In this state a person thinks in his own mind that there are many others more blameworthy than himself who have not to submit to such trials.
“The lukewarm soul comes to the point of being completely indifferent to its own loss. It has nothing left but a love without tenderness, without action, and without energy which sustains it with difficulty in all that is essential for salvation. But for all other means of Grace, it looks upon them as nothing or almost nothing. Alas, my brethren, this poor soul in its tepidity is like someone between two bouts of sleep. It would like to act, but its will has become so softened that it lacks either the force or the courage to accomplish its wishes.
“It is true that a Christian who lives in tepidity still regularly ― in appearance at least ― fulfils his duties. He will indeed get down on his knees every morning to say his prayers. He will go to the Sacraments. But in all of this there will be such a distaste, so much slackness and so much indifference, so little preparation, so little change in his way of life, that it is easy to see that he is only fulfilling his duties from habit and routine. His Confessions and his Communions are not sacrilegious, if you like, but they are Confessions and Communions which bear no fruit ― which, far from making him more perfect and more pleasing to God, only make him more unworthy. As for his prayers, God alone knows what ― without, of course, any preparation ― he makes of these.
“In the morning it is not God who occupies his thoughts, nor the salvation of his poor soul―instead he is quite taken up with thoughts of work. His mind is so wrapped up in the things of Earth that the thought of God has no place in it. He is thinking about what he is going to be doing during the day, his various employees, and in what way he will expedite his own work. To say his prayers, he gets down on his knees, undoubtedly, but he does not know what he wants to ask God, nor what he needs, nor even before whom he is kneeling. His careless demeanor shows this very clearly.
“You can see that this lukewarm soul has no difficulty, on the slightest pretext, in talking during the course of his prayers. For no reason at all he will abandon them, partly at least, thinking that he will finish them in another moment. Does he want to offer his day to God, to say his Grace? He does all that, but often without thinking of the one who is addressed. He will not even stop working. Distractions during prayer are not exactly deliberate. People would rather not have them, but because it is necessary to go to so much trouble and expend so much energy to get rid of them, they let them alone and allow them to come as they will.
“The lukewarm Christian may not perhaps work on Sunday at tasks which seem to be forbidden to anyone who has even the slightest shred of religion, but doing some sewing, arranging something in the house, driving sheep to the fields during the times for Masses, on the pretext that there is not enough food to give them ― all these things will be done without the slightest scruple. A man will busy himself getting out his tools and his carts and harrows and so on, for the next day; he will fill in a hole or fence a gap; he will cut various lengths of cords and ropes; he will carry out the churns and set them in order. What do you think about all this, my brethren? Is it not, alas, the simple truth?
“A lukewarm soul will go to Confession regularly, and even quite frequently. But what kind of Confessions are they? No preparation, no desire to correct faults, or, at the least, a desire so feeble and so small that the slightest difficulty will put a stop to it altogether. The Confessions of such a person are merely repetitions of old ones, which would be a happy state of affairs indeed if there were nothing to add to them. Twenty years ago he was accusing himself of the same things he confesses today, and if he goes to Confession for the next twenty years, he will say the same things. A lukewarm soul will not, if you like, commit the big sins. But some slander or back‑biting, a lie, a feeling of hatred, of dislike, of jealousy, a slight touch of deceit or double‑dealing ― these count for nothing with it.
“On the day when she wants to receive her God, she spends part of the morning thinking of temporal matters. If it is a man, he will be thinking about his deals and his sales. If it is a married woman, she will be thinking about her household and her children. If it is a young girl, her thoughts will be on her clothes. If it is a boy, he will be dreaming about passing pleasures and so on. The lukewarm soul shuts God up in an obscure and ugly kind of prison. Its possessor does not crucify Him, but God can find little joy or consolation in his heart. All his dispositions proclaim that his poor soul is struggling for the breath of life. After having received Holy Communion, this person will hardly give another thought to God in all the days to follow. His manner of life tells us that he did not know the greatness of the happiness which had been his.
“A lukewarm Christian thinks very little upon the state of his poor soul and almost never lets his mind run over the past. If the thought of making any effort to be better crosses his mind at all, he believes that once he has confessed his sins, he ought to be perfectly happy and at peace. He assists at Holy Mass very much as he would at any ordinary activity. He does not think at all seriously of what he is doing and finds no trouble in chatting about all sorts of things while on the way there. Possibly he will not give a single thought to the fact that he is about to participate in the greatest of all the gifts that God, all‑powerful as He is, could give us. He does give some thought to the needs of his own soul, yes, but a very small and feeble amount of thought indeed. Frequently he will even present himself before the presence of God without having any idea of what he is going to ask of Him.
“He has few scruples in cutting out, on the least pretext, the beginning of Mass and the prayers before Mass. During the course of the Mass, he does not want to go to sleep, of course, and he is even afraid that someone might see him, but he does not do himself any violence all the same. He does not want, of course, to have distractions during prayer or during the Holy Mass, yet when he should put up some little fight against them, he suffers them very patiently, reassuring himself of the fact that he does not like them. Fast days are reduced to practically nothing, either by advancing the time of the main meal or, under the pretext that Heaven was never taken by famine, by making the collation so abundant that it amounts to a full meal. When he performs good or beneficial actions, his intentions are often very mixed ― sometimes it is to please someone, sometimes it is out of compassion, and sometimes it is just to please the world. With such people everything that is not a really serious sin is good enough.
“They like doing good, being faithful, but they wish that it did not cost them anything or, at least, that it cost very little. They would like to visit the sick, indeed, but it would be more convenient if the sick would come to them. They have something to give away in alms, they know quite well that a certain person has need of help, but they wait until she comes to ask them instead of anticipating her, which would make the kindness so very much more meritorious. We will even say, my brethren, that the person who leads a lukewarm life does not fail to do plenty of good works, to frequent the Sacraments, to assist regularly at all church services, but in all of this one sees only a weak, languishing faith, hope which the slightest trial will upset, a love of God and of neighbor which is without warmth or pleasure. Everything that such a person does is not entirely lost―but it is very nearly so!
“See, before God, my brethren, on what side you are. On the side of the sinners, who have abandoned everything and plunge themselves into sin without remorse? On the side of the just souls, who seek but God alone? Or are you of the number of these slack, tepid, and indifferent souls such as we have just been depicting for you? Down which road are you traveling? Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner, nor a tepid soul, but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world, but who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God?.... Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you!” (St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, Sermon on Lukewarmness).
The Gradual Slippery Slothful Slope Downwards
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange links lukewarmness to spiritual sloth: “Some souls, because of their negligence or spiritual sloth, do not pass from the age of beginners to that of proficients. These are retarded souls; in the spiritual life they are like abnormal children, who do not happily pass through the crisis of adolescence and who, though they do not remain children, never reach the full development of maturity. Thus these retarded souls belong neither among beginners nor among proficients. Unfortunately they are numerous. Of these retarded souls, some, who formerly served God with fidelity, are now in a state bordering on indifference. Though in the past they knew true spiritual fervor, they seriously misused divine graces. Had it not been for this misuse, as a matter of fact the Lord would have continued what He had begun in them, for He does not refuse His help to those who do what is in their power to obtain it. How did these souls reach this state of tepidity? As a rule, two principal causes are indicated: the neglect of little things in the service of God and the refusal to make the sacrifices He asks. If these sacrifices are refused, the soul remains retarded; it may stay so permanently.
“Then it loses zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of its neighbor, the fervor of charity. It falls into tepidity, which, with habitual negligence, is affection for venial sin or the disposition of the will to commit certain venial sins deliberately when the occasion presents itself. There is finally, as it were, the firm resolution to remain in this state. In addition to the lack of the spirit of sacrifice, other causes may produce this tepidity of retarded souls: namely, levity of spirit, the thoughtlessness with which one tells, for example, officious lies (i.e., lies of expediency) whenever the occasion offers; spiritual sloth, which leads finally to the abandonment of the spiritual war against our defects, against our predominant fault, which quite frequently tries to pass for a virtue, and gives rise in us to other more or less inordinate passions.
“In the service of God, things which seem small in themselves are great in their relation to our last end, to God who should be loved above all else ... The neglect of little things seems slight in itself, but it may become grave in its results ... The neglect of little things in the service of God leads rapidly to neglect of great things … We read, on the contrary, in St. Luke: ‘He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater’ (Luke 16:10). Whoever is daily faithful to the smallest duties of Christian life, or to those of the religious life, will receive the grace to be faithful even to martyrdom, if he should have to bear witness to God in his blood ... Spiritual sloth is gravely sinful when it reaches the point of giving up the religious duties necessary for our salvation and sanctification: for example, when it goes so far as to omit the hearing of Mass on Sunday. When it leads us to omit religious acts of lesser importance without a reason, the sin is only venial; but if we do not struggle against this negligence, it soon becomes more serious, placing us in a genuine state of tepidity or spiritual relaxation. This state is a sort of moral anemia, in which evil tendencies awaken little by little, seek to prevail, and manifest themselves by numerous deliberate venial sins, which dispose us to still graver faults, just as bodily anemia prepares the way for the invasion of the germ of a disease, the beginning of a serious illness. Consequently, disastrous results follow disgust for spiritual things and for the work of sanctification. Descending this slope, many have lost sight of the grandeur of the Christian vocation, have forgotten the promises they made to God, and have taken the descending road.
“We must, therefore, conquer spiritual sloth by real love of God, by true devotion of the will. Some daily sacrifices will restore vigor and tone to our spiritual life. Thus we will gradually recover substantial fervor, promptness of the will in the service of God, even if sensible devotion is lacking, a privation we should accept in order to make reparation for past offenses. To recover the spirit of faith, enthusiasm, and generosity in the love of God, we must every day courageously impose some sacrifices on ourselves in those matters in which we are weakest ... Little by little there would grow up in us zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls ... It is the first step that costs; but after a week of effort the task becomes easy: for example, to rise at the appointed hour and to be obliging to everybody. All spiritual authors say that one of the remedies for tepidity is frankness with ourselves and with our confessor; a serious examination of conscience every day in order to rise again; the assiduous practice of our religious duties coupled with our duties of state, fidelity to prayer and to the morning offering, which we ought to make to God of all our actions during the day.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapters 29 & 37).
We are headed in one direction or the other. Which one is it? Am I becoming more spiritual, or more worldly? You may secretly think to yourself: “I go to Mass every week, I pray the Rosary daily, and I try to follow the teachings of the Church. I’m good!” Such were the thoughts of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:11-12).
The spiritual masters tell us that there is no standing still, or treading water, in the spiritual life—if we are not going forwards, then we are going backwards. A child who stops growing or growing in knowledge is technically backwards, even though he doesn’t diminish in size or lose existing knowledge.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes: “The period of puberty, which is the end of childhood, about the age of fourteen, is characterized by a transformation which is not only organic but also psychological, intellectual and moral. The youth is no longer content to follow his imagination, as the child was; he begins to reflect on the things of human life, on the need to prepare himself for some career or occupation in the future. He has no longer the child’s attitude towards family, social and religious matters; his moral personality begins to take shape, and he acquires the sense of honor and of good repute. Or else, on the contrary, if he passes unsuccessfully through this difficult period, he deteriorates and follows evil courses. The law of nature so ordains that the transition from childhood to youth must follow a normal development; otherwise the subject will assume a positive bias to evil, or else he will remain a half-wit, perhaps even a complete idiot, for the rest of his life. “He who makes no progress loses ground.” It is at this point that the analogy becomes illuminating for the spiritual life. We shall see that the beginner who fails to become a proficient, either turns to sin or else presents an example of arrested spiritual development. Here, too, it is true that “he who makes no progress loses ground,” as the Fathers of the Church have so often pointed out.”
Stop Making Excuses!
You were created by God in order to become a saint! Yes, YOU! Our Lord was pretty clear and blunt on the subject: “Be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Our Lord is saying nothing more than what God had said in the Old Testament: “I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect!” (Genesis 17:1). “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2). “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by anything upon the Earth!” (Leviticus 11:44). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself … keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be a holy people of the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 26:19). “You shall be to Me a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 20:7).
That same requirement is mentioned by St. Paul and St. Peter in the New Testament: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight” (Ephesians 1:4). “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy! Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
If you wish to go to Heaven―you must become a saint! There is no place in Heaven for mediocrity―only saints go to Heaven. This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48).
It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this! Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
O Chosen Soul―It’s Your Choice!
As St. Louis de Montfort says: “All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end― growth in the holiness of God!” Our Lord said on several occasions: “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and again, “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Holy Scripture says that God excludes nobody: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Thus we are all called to Heaven―but few choose to do what it takes to get there! Our Lord Himself points this out: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). God wishes the salvation of all men―but not all men shall be saved. Why? Because most men refuse to do what it takes to be saved. Even though wishes the salvation of all men, He does not guarantee the salvation of all men―the fact of whether or not we are saved is ultimately down to us and not God. God sets forth the terms and conditions that we must meet in order to be saved―it is our choice whether or not we accept them and fulfill them.
Our Lord emphasizes that point: “Not everyone that saith to Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, He shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Salvation Requires Fervor
Do not fool yourself into imagining that there are two kinds of people in Heaven―the saints and the mediocre. Heaven is only for saints and sanctity requires fervor. Does not Our Lord indicate this? “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence―and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Whereas He condemns mere lip service without ‘heart-service’: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Mammon Cannot Save!
Holy Scripture is clear on the matter of mammon or riches: “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Most people in this world focus more upon worldly wealth and procuring more and more possessions. The current availability of almost anything you can imagine only pours fuel on that insatiable desire. The warnings of Our Lord go unheeded―especially His warnings against riches and possessions: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man comes to mind: “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
Likewise, we recall the parable of Our Lord about the rich landowner: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
This is why St. James writes: “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Fight with Fervor!
Heaven is not a heavenly Social Security handout! Today, we live in a world that thinks it is entitled to things―nobody is entitled to Heaven. Heaven is a fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses! … Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (2 Timothy 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:12). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). That is why St. Paul adds elsewhere: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
If we lack fervor, if we lack the stomach for the fight, if we are lukewarm about our Faith―then we will never see Heaven, we shall be lost. God Himself warns us of this half-hearted tepid lukewarmness in His service: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Lose with Lukewarmness!
Who is lukewarm? According to Fr. Faber―who is writing in far better and perhaps more fervent days in the 1800s―most people are lukewarm in his opinion: “I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there ... Lukewarmness is in no sense a beginning. We may begin by being cold, but not by being lukewarm. For lukewarmness implies that a great deal has gone before, that a height has been climbed, and that from cowardice, human respect or weariness, we have come down from it” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25: Lukewarmness).
St. Alphonsus Liguori adds: “I will endeavor to convince you of the great danger into which tepidity brings the soul, since it makes Jesus Christ hide His divine light from the soul, and makes Him less generous in bestowing upon the soul the graces and helps, without which the soul shall find it very difficult to complete the journey of this life without falling into an abyss—that is, into mortal sin … Mortal diseases do not generally proceed from serious indisposition, but from many slight and continued infirmities: so, likewise, the fall of many souls into mortal sin, follows from habitual venial sins; for, these render the soul so weak, that, when a strong temptation assails her, she has not strength to resist it, and she falls … Moreover, deliberate and habitual venial sins, not only deprive us of strength to resist temptations, but also of the special helps, without which we fall into grievous sins ... This danger will be still greater for those who commit many venial sins through an attachment to any passion, such as pride, ambition, aversion to a neighbor, or an inordinate affection for any person ... When the Devil cannot gain much from us, he is in the beginning content with the little; by many trifling victories he will make a great conquest ... St. Francis of Assisi says, that, in endeavoring to draw to sin, a soul that is afraid of being in enmity with God, the Devil does not seek in the beginning to bind her with the chain of a slave, by tempting her to commit mortal sin, because she would have a horror of yielding to mortal sin, and would guard herself against it. He first endeavors to bind her by a single hair; then by a slender thread; next by a cord; afterwards by a rope; and in the end by a chain of Hell—that is, by mortal sin; and thus he makes her his slave.
“We know that such a lie, such a curse, such an injury to our neighbor, and such detraction, though some are not mortal sins [though lies, curses and detraction can also be mortal when serious], are displeasing to God―and still we do not abstain from them ... Woe to him who is at peace with his faults! … Miserable the soul that allows herself to be the slave of any passion! … A small spark, if it be not extinguished, will set fire to an entire forest; that is to say, an unmortified passion shall bring the soul to ruin! … As long as a person, who is guilty of defects, detests his faults, there is reason to hope that he will, one day, correct them and amend his life; but when he commits faults without endeavoring to amend, he will continually go from bad to worse, till he loses the grace of God ... Why then should we expect that God will give us His divine consolations? … A tepid soul is one that frequently falls into fully deliberate venial sins—such as deliberate lies, deliberate acts of impatience, deliberate cursing, and the like. St. Teresa of Avila used to say, that one venial sin does us more harm than all the devils in Hell … How can we expect that God will be generous in His favors to us, when we are not generous to Him? … They who are not generous to God, well deserve that God should not be generous to them. ‘He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly’ (2 Corinthians 9:6) ...
“Let us come to the remedy. The amendment of a tepid soul is difficult; but there are remedies for those who wish to adopt them. First, the tepid must sincerely desire to be delivered from a state which, as we have seen, is so miserable and dangerous; for, without this desire, they shall not take pains to employ the proper means. Secondly, they must resolve to remove the occasions of their faults; otherwise, they will always relapse into the same defects. Thirdly, they must earnestly beg of the Lord to raise them from so wretched a state. By their own strength they can do nothing; but they can do all things with the assistance of God, who has promised to hear the prayers of all. “Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find” (Luke 11:9). We must pray and continue to pray without interruption. If we cease to pray we shall be defeated; but if we persevere in prayer we shall conquer!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sermon for Passion Sunday).
St. John Vianney Describes the Lukewarm Soul
The following is an extract from a sermon on lukewarmness by St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars: “I think, brethren, that you would like to know what is the state of the lukewarm soul. Well, this is it. A lukewarm soul is not yet quite dead in the eyes of God because the faith, the hope, and the charity which are its spiritual life are not altogether extinct. But it is a faith without zeal, a hope without resolution, a charity without ardor. Nothing touches this soul―it hears the word of God, yes, that is true; but often it just bores it. Its possessor hears it with difficulty, more or less by habit, like someone who thinks that he knows enough about it and does enough of what he should. Any prayers which are a bit long are distasteful to him. This soul is so full of whatever it has just been doing or what it is going to do next, its boredom is so great, that this poor unfortunate thing is almost in agony. It is still alive, but it is not capable of doing anything to gain Heaven. For the last twenty years this soul has been filled with good intentions without doing anything at all to correct its habits.
“It is like someone who is envious of anyone who is on top of the world, but who would not lift a foot to try to get there himself. If God, in order to force such a soul to detach itself from temporal things, sends it any cross or suffering, it is fretful and grieving and abandons itself to grumbles and complaints and often even to a kind of despair. It seems as if it does not want to see that God has sent it these trials for its good, to detach it from this world and to draw it towards Himself. What has it done to deserve these trials? In this state a person thinks in his own mind that there are many others more blameworthy than himself who have not to submit to such trials.
“The lukewarm soul comes to the point of being completely indifferent to its own loss. It has nothing left but a love without tenderness, without action, and without energy which sustains it with difficulty in all that is essential for salvation. But for all other means of Grace, it looks upon them as nothing or almost nothing. Alas, my brethren, this poor soul in its tepidity is like someone between two bouts of sleep. It would like to act, but its will has become so softened that it lacks either the force or the courage to accomplish its wishes.
“It is true that a Christian who lives in tepidity still regularly ― in appearance at least ― fulfils his duties. He will indeed get down on his knees every morning to say his prayers. He will go to the Sacraments. But in all of this there will be such a distaste, so much slackness and so much indifference, so little preparation, so little change in his way of life, that it is easy to see that he is only fulfilling his duties from habit and routine. His Confessions and his Communions are not sacrilegious, if you like, but they are Confessions and Communions which bear no fruit ― which, far from making him more perfect and more pleasing to God, only make him more unworthy. As for his prayers, God alone knows what ― without, of course, any preparation ― he makes of these.
“In the morning it is not God who occupies his thoughts, nor the salvation of his poor soul―instead he is quite taken up with thoughts of work. His mind is so wrapped up in the things of Earth that the thought of God has no place in it. He is thinking about what he is going to be doing during the day, his various employees, and in what way he will expedite his own work. To say his prayers, he gets down on his knees, undoubtedly, but he does not know what he wants to ask God, nor what he needs, nor even before whom he is kneeling. His careless demeanor shows this very clearly.
“You can see that this lukewarm soul has no difficulty, on the slightest pretext, in talking during the course of his prayers. For no reason at all he will abandon them, partly at least, thinking that he will finish them in another moment. Does he want to offer his day to God, to say his Grace? He does all that, but often without thinking of the one who is addressed. He will not even stop working. Distractions during prayer are not exactly deliberate. People would rather not have them, but because it is necessary to go to so much trouble and expend so much energy to get rid of them, they let them alone and allow them to come as they will.
“The lukewarm Christian may not perhaps work on Sunday at tasks which seem to be forbidden to anyone who has even the slightest shred of religion, but doing some sewing, arranging something in the house, driving sheep to the fields during the times for Masses, on the pretext that there is not enough food to give them ― all these things will be done without the slightest scruple. A man will busy himself getting out his tools and his carts and harrows and so on, for the next day; he will fill in a hole or fence a gap; he will cut various lengths of cords and ropes; he will carry out the churns and set them in order. What do you think about all this, my brethren? Is it not, alas, the simple truth?
“A lukewarm soul will go to Confession regularly, and even quite frequently. But what kind of Confessions are they? No preparation, no desire to correct faults, or, at the least, a desire so feeble and so small that the slightest difficulty will put a stop to it altogether. The Confessions of such a person are merely repetitions of old ones, which would be a happy state of affairs indeed if there were nothing to add to them. Twenty years ago he was accusing himself of the same things he confesses today, and if he goes to Confession for the next twenty years, he will say the same things. A lukewarm soul will not, if you like, commit the big sins. But some slander or back‑biting, a lie, a feeling of hatred, of dislike, of jealousy, a slight touch of deceit or double‑dealing ― these count for nothing with it.
“On the day when she wants to receive her God, she spends part of the morning thinking of temporal matters. If it is a man, he will be thinking about his deals and his sales. If it is a married woman, she will be thinking about her household and her children. If it is a young girl, her thoughts will be on her clothes. If it is a boy, he will be dreaming about passing pleasures and so on. The lukewarm soul shuts God up in an obscure and ugly kind of prison. Its possessor does not crucify Him, but God can find little joy or consolation in his heart. All his dispositions proclaim that his poor soul is struggling for the breath of life. After having received Holy Communion, this person will hardly give another thought to God in all the days to follow. His manner of life tells us that he did not know the greatness of the happiness which had been his.
“A lukewarm Christian thinks very little upon the state of his poor soul and almost never lets his mind run over the past. If the thought of making any effort to be better crosses his mind at all, he believes that once he has confessed his sins, he ought to be perfectly happy and at peace. He assists at Holy Mass very much as he would at any ordinary activity. He does not think at all seriously of what he is doing and finds no trouble in chatting about all sorts of things while on the way there. Possibly he will not give a single thought to the fact that he is about to participate in the greatest of all the gifts that God, all‑powerful as He is, could give us. He does give some thought to the needs of his own soul, yes, but a very small and feeble amount of thought indeed. Frequently he will even present himself before the presence of God without having any idea of what he is going to ask of Him.
“He has few scruples in cutting out, on the least pretext, the beginning of Mass and the prayers before Mass. During the course of the Mass, he does not want to go to sleep, of course, and he is even afraid that someone might see him, but he does not do himself any violence all the same. He does not want, of course, to have distractions during prayer or during the Holy Mass, yet when he should put up some little fight against them, he suffers them very patiently, reassuring himself of the fact that he does not like them. Fast days are reduced to practically nothing, either by advancing the time of the main meal or, under the pretext that Heaven was never taken by famine, by making the collation so abundant that it amounts to a full meal. When he performs good or beneficial actions, his intentions are often very mixed ― sometimes it is to please someone, sometimes it is out of compassion, and sometimes it is just to please the world. With such people everything that is not a really serious sin is good enough.
“They like doing good, being faithful, but they wish that it did not cost them anything or, at least, that it cost very little. They would like to visit the sick, indeed, but it would be more convenient if the sick would come to them. They have something to give away in alms, they know quite well that a certain person has need of help, but they wait until she comes to ask them instead of anticipating her, which would make the kindness so very much more meritorious. We will even say, my brethren, that the person who leads a lukewarm life does not fail to do plenty of good works, to frequent the Sacraments, to assist regularly at all church services, but in all of this one sees only a weak, languishing faith, hope which the slightest trial will upset, a love of God and of neighbor which is without warmth or pleasure. Everything that such a person does is not entirely lost―but it is very nearly so!
“See, before God, my brethren, on what side you are. On the side of the sinners, who have abandoned everything and plunge themselves into sin without remorse? On the side of the just souls, who seek but God alone? Or are you of the number of these slack, tepid, and indifferent souls such as we have just been depicting for you? Down which road are you traveling? Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner, nor a tepid soul, but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world, but who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God?.... Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you!” (St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, Sermon on Lukewarmness).
The Gradual Slippery Slothful Slope Downwards
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange links lukewarmness to spiritual sloth: “Some souls, because of their negligence or spiritual sloth, do not pass from the age of beginners to that of proficients. These are retarded souls; in the spiritual life they are like abnormal children, who do not happily pass through the crisis of adolescence and who, though they do not remain children, never reach the full development of maturity. Thus these retarded souls belong neither among beginners nor among proficients. Unfortunately they are numerous. Of these retarded souls, some, who formerly served God with fidelity, are now in a state bordering on indifference. Though in the past they knew true spiritual fervor, they seriously misused divine graces. Had it not been for this misuse, as a matter of fact the Lord would have continued what He had begun in them, for He does not refuse His help to those who do what is in their power to obtain it. How did these souls reach this state of tepidity? As a rule, two principal causes are indicated: the neglect of little things in the service of God and the refusal to make the sacrifices He asks. If these sacrifices are refused, the soul remains retarded; it may stay so permanently.
“Then it loses zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of its neighbor, the fervor of charity. It falls into tepidity, which, with habitual negligence, is affection for venial sin or the disposition of the will to commit certain venial sins deliberately when the occasion presents itself. There is finally, as it were, the firm resolution to remain in this state. In addition to the lack of the spirit of sacrifice, other causes may produce this tepidity of retarded souls: namely, levity of spirit, the thoughtlessness with which one tells, for example, officious lies (i.e., lies of expediency) whenever the occasion offers; spiritual sloth, which leads finally to the abandonment of the spiritual war against our defects, against our predominant fault, which quite frequently tries to pass for a virtue, and gives rise in us to other more or less inordinate passions.
“In the service of God, things which seem small in themselves are great in their relation to our last end, to God who should be loved above all else ... The neglect of little things seems slight in itself, but it may become grave in its results ... The neglect of little things in the service of God leads rapidly to neglect of great things … We read, on the contrary, in St. Luke: ‘He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater’ (Luke 16:10). Whoever is daily faithful to the smallest duties of Christian life, or to those of the religious life, will receive the grace to be faithful even to martyrdom, if he should have to bear witness to God in his blood ... Spiritual sloth is gravely sinful when it reaches the point of giving up the religious duties necessary for our salvation and sanctification: for example, when it goes so far as to omit the hearing of Mass on Sunday. When it leads us to omit religious acts of lesser importance without a reason, the sin is only venial; but if we do not struggle against this negligence, it soon becomes more serious, placing us in a genuine state of tepidity or spiritual relaxation. This state is a sort of moral anemia, in which evil tendencies awaken little by little, seek to prevail, and manifest themselves by numerous deliberate venial sins, which dispose us to still graver faults, just as bodily anemia prepares the way for the invasion of the germ of a disease, the beginning of a serious illness. Consequently, disastrous results follow disgust for spiritual things and for the work of sanctification. Descending this slope, many have lost sight of the grandeur of the Christian vocation, have forgotten the promises they made to God, and have taken the descending road.
“We must, therefore, conquer spiritual sloth by real love of God, by true devotion of the will. Some daily sacrifices will restore vigor and tone to our spiritual life. Thus we will gradually recover substantial fervor, promptness of the will in the service of God, even if sensible devotion is lacking, a privation we should accept in order to make reparation for past offenses. To recover the spirit of faith, enthusiasm, and generosity in the love of God, we must every day courageously impose some sacrifices on ourselves in those matters in which we are weakest ... Little by little there would grow up in us zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls ... It is the first step that costs; but after a week of effort the task becomes easy: for example, to rise at the appointed hour and to be obliging to everybody. All spiritual authors say that one of the remedies for tepidity is frankness with ourselves and with our confessor; a serious examination of conscience every day in order to rise again; the assiduous practice of our religious duties coupled with our duties of state, fidelity to prayer and to the morning offering, which we ought to make to God of all our actions during the day.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapters 29 & 37).
Wednesday May 18th & Thursday May 19th
Article 11
Start Defending Your Mother!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 11
Start Defending Your Mother!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
“Failure to Protect” Laws
Parents or caretakers may be charged with a form of criminal or civil penalty called “failure to protect” when they do not prevent another person from abusing the children in their care. Failure to protect laws mean that a parent can be punished (prosecuted, or children taken away etc) for permitting another person’s abuse of that child. These laws focus largely upon children being abused or beaten by adults. Yet we must not forget that adults abuse and beat other adults―and not just children. Likewise, we must remember that there are adult children who could protect their adult parents―but neglect to do so.
Studies have shown that children who witness their mother being abused and beaten at home by their father, tend to “normalize” violence in the home―rationalizing that this is just the way life is. Nevertheless, they show strong feelings of guilt―as they consider that they have failed to protect their mother.
Protect Your Mother!
There is a growing “Protect Your Mother” or “Respect Your Mother” movement throughout the world―but, wouldn’t you just know it―they refer to “Mother Earth” rather than a human mother or their heavenly Mother! As one website writes: “The Earth is our mother, nourishing and protecting us in every moment–giving us air to breathe, fresh water to drink, food to eat and healing herbs to cure us when we are sick. Every breath we inhale contains our planet’s nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and trace elements.”
Behold Your Mother!
Mary―Our Lady―is not an option but an obligation. She is not only the Mother of God, but also the spiritual Mother men. As He died upon His cross on Calvary, Christ bequeathed His Mother to us in the person and representation of St. John. To Our Lady He said: “Behold thy son!” and to St. John (and to all of us) He said: “Behold thy Mother!” The Scripture passage reads as follows: “When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple standing―whom He loved―He saith to His Mother: ‘Woman! Behold thy son!’ After that, He saith to the disciple: ‘Behold thy mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27).
Have we―have YOU―taken Mary to be YOUR Mother? Is she like a true Mother to you―or is she more like a stranger to you? What role does Mary play in your life? What importance has Mary in your life? Mary is the Mediatrix of All Grace―all the graces of God flow to us through her―do you rely on your heavenly spiritual Mother for EVERYTHING in life? Or do you only turn to her for some things? Do you only have recourse to her when you own proud personal independent powers are unable to get you what you want? Is she your last port of call, or first port of call?
Neglect Your Mother at Your Peril
Our Lady warns us against neglecting her by these words―spoken to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (this passage is quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book, The Glories of Mary).
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
St. John Damascene (a Doctor of the Church) says: “To be devout to you, O holy Virgin, is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church), in his book, The Glories of Mary, says: “The intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation. We say ‘necessary’, not absolutely, but morally. This necessity proceeds from the will itself of God, that all graces that He dispenses should pass by the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard.”
St. Louis de Montfort adds: “Devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
St. Bernardine of Sienna addresses these words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “O Lady, thou art the dispenser of all graces, and since the grace of salvation can only come through thy hands, our salvation depends on thee!”
Your Mother is Being Abused Today
Our Lord and Our Lady revealed to Sr. Lucia of Fatima the outrages committed against the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. By 1925 Lucia, who was now 18, had become a postulant with the Sisters of St. Dorothy at Pontevedra in Spain, and on Thursday, December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus on a little cloud, appeared to her in her cell. Lucia recounted that Mary rested her hand on her shoulder, while showing her a Heart encircled by thorns in her other hand.
The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.” Notice that Our Lord says YOUR Most Holy Mother, and not MY Most Holy Mother―thus indicating, as stated above, that Our Lady is also OUR Mother and not just the Mother of God (Christ).
Then Mary said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me, and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
The Child Jesus again appeared to Lucia in February 1926 to encourage her to propagate this devotion, and additionally on the night of 29th-30th May 1930; as she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, she received an interior locution explaining why it was necessary to have a communion of reparation on five Saturdays.
She explained later that she had been given to understand that this related to the five main types of blasphemies and offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: that is against the Immaculate Conception; against Mary’s Virginity; against her Divine Maternity and her spiritual motherhood of mankind; for the offences of those who encourage in the hearts of children indifference, contempt and even hatred of her, and finally as reparation for those who outrage her in her holy images.
Hey! Not Me! I’m Innocent!
You may well be tempted to protest: “Hey! That’s not what I’m like! I’m innocent of those five main types of blasphemies!” That actually sounds a little like the Pharisee in one of Our Lord’s parables: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men ― extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:10-12).
We might not be DIRECTLY guilty of those five main blasphemies―but we must not forget what the Church and the Catechism teach about sharing the guilt of others. There are nine chief ways in which can be guilty of the sins of others: (1) by consent; (2) by concealment; (3) by command; (4) by counsel; (5) by partaking; (6) by provocation; (7) by praise or flattery; (8) by silence; (9) by defense of the ill done.
Perhaps the one that stands out the most is guilt BY SILENCE. There are several different ways in which we can sin by silence. (1) We might be silent and fail to speak out and protest or correct those who commit some kind of blasphemy against Our Lady; (2) we might be silent and not explain to our children/students/parishioners how Our Lady is being offended these days; (3) we also might be silent by not praying in reparation for such sins and begging the conversion of such sinners.
Damned Neglect
Silence is a form of neglect―a neglect in speaking out in protest or speaking out in reprimand, or speaking out in correcting others. We might protest: “But I didn’t do anything!” ― but that is exactly where the problem lies! We don’t do what we should do! Arguably, you could say that the sin of neglect is perhaps one of the most common sins that damns souls. We see Our Lord point this out in His parable about the Sheep and the Goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
No Spectators!
Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed that we are in a period of time wherein Satan is waging war against Our Lady―and there can be no spectators in this war―we are either fighting for Our Lady, or by default and neglect we are on the side of Satan: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God [and Our Lady], or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady of La Salette speaks in a similar vein: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Parents or caretakers may be charged with a form of criminal or civil penalty called “failure to protect” when they do not prevent another person from abusing the children in their care. Failure to protect laws mean that a parent can be punished (prosecuted, or children taken away etc) for permitting another person’s abuse of that child. These laws focus largely upon children being abused or beaten by adults. Yet we must not forget that adults abuse and beat other adults―and not just children. Likewise, we must remember that there are adult children who could protect their adult parents―but neglect to do so.
Studies have shown that children who witness their mother being abused and beaten at home by their father, tend to “normalize” violence in the home―rationalizing that this is just the way life is. Nevertheless, they show strong feelings of guilt―as they consider that they have failed to protect their mother.
Protect Your Mother!
There is a growing “Protect Your Mother” or “Respect Your Mother” movement throughout the world―but, wouldn’t you just know it―they refer to “Mother Earth” rather than a human mother or their heavenly Mother! As one website writes: “The Earth is our mother, nourishing and protecting us in every moment–giving us air to breathe, fresh water to drink, food to eat and healing herbs to cure us when we are sick. Every breath we inhale contains our planet’s nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and trace elements.”
Behold Your Mother!
Mary―Our Lady―is not an option but an obligation. She is not only the Mother of God, but also the spiritual Mother men. As He died upon His cross on Calvary, Christ bequeathed His Mother to us in the person and representation of St. John. To Our Lady He said: “Behold thy son!” and to St. John (and to all of us) He said: “Behold thy Mother!” The Scripture passage reads as follows: “When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple standing―whom He loved―He saith to His Mother: ‘Woman! Behold thy son!’ After that, He saith to the disciple: ‘Behold thy mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27).
Have we―have YOU―taken Mary to be YOUR Mother? Is she like a true Mother to you―or is she more like a stranger to you? What role does Mary play in your life? What importance has Mary in your life? Mary is the Mediatrix of All Grace―all the graces of God flow to us through her―do you rely on your heavenly spiritual Mother for EVERYTHING in life? Or do you only turn to her for some things? Do you only have recourse to her when you own proud personal independent powers are unable to get you what you want? Is she your last port of call, or first port of call?
Neglect Your Mother at Your Peril
Our Lady warns us against neglecting her by these words―spoken to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (this passage is quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book, The Glories of Mary).
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
St. John Damascene (a Doctor of the Church) says: “To be devout to you, O holy Virgin, is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church), in his book, The Glories of Mary, says: “The intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation. We say ‘necessary’, not absolutely, but morally. This necessity proceeds from the will itself of God, that all graces that He dispenses should pass by the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard.”
St. Louis de Montfort adds: “Devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
St. Bernardine of Sienna addresses these words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “O Lady, thou art the dispenser of all graces, and since the grace of salvation can only come through thy hands, our salvation depends on thee!”
Your Mother is Being Abused Today
Our Lord and Our Lady revealed to Sr. Lucia of Fatima the outrages committed against the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. By 1925 Lucia, who was now 18, had become a postulant with the Sisters of St. Dorothy at Pontevedra in Spain, and on Thursday, December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus on a little cloud, appeared to her in her cell. Lucia recounted that Mary rested her hand on her shoulder, while showing her a Heart encircled by thorns in her other hand.
The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.” Notice that Our Lord says YOUR Most Holy Mother, and not MY Most Holy Mother―thus indicating, as stated above, that Our Lady is also OUR Mother and not just the Mother of God (Christ).
Then Mary said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me, and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
The Child Jesus again appeared to Lucia in February 1926 to encourage her to propagate this devotion, and additionally on the night of 29th-30th May 1930; as she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, she received an interior locution explaining why it was necessary to have a communion of reparation on five Saturdays.
She explained later that she had been given to understand that this related to the five main types of blasphemies and offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: that is against the Immaculate Conception; against Mary’s Virginity; against her Divine Maternity and her spiritual motherhood of mankind; for the offences of those who encourage in the hearts of children indifference, contempt and even hatred of her, and finally as reparation for those who outrage her in her holy images.
Hey! Not Me! I’m Innocent!
You may well be tempted to protest: “Hey! That’s not what I’m like! I’m innocent of those five main types of blasphemies!” That actually sounds a little like the Pharisee in one of Our Lord’s parables: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men ― extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:10-12).
We might not be DIRECTLY guilty of those five main blasphemies―but we must not forget what the Church and the Catechism teach about sharing the guilt of others. There are nine chief ways in which can be guilty of the sins of others: (1) by consent; (2) by concealment; (3) by command; (4) by counsel; (5) by partaking; (6) by provocation; (7) by praise or flattery; (8) by silence; (9) by defense of the ill done.
Perhaps the one that stands out the most is guilt BY SILENCE. There are several different ways in which we can sin by silence. (1) We might be silent and fail to speak out and protest or correct those who commit some kind of blasphemy against Our Lady; (2) we might be silent and not explain to our children/students/parishioners how Our Lady is being offended these days; (3) we also might be silent by not praying in reparation for such sins and begging the conversion of such sinners.
Damned Neglect
Silence is a form of neglect―a neglect in speaking out in protest or speaking out in reprimand, or speaking out in correcting others. We might protest: “But I didn’t do anything!” ― but that is exactly where the problem lies! We don’t do what we should do! Arguably, you could say that the sin of neglect is perhaps one of the most common sins that damns souls. We see Our Lord point this out in His parable about the Sheep and the Goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
No Spectators!
Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed that we are in a period of time wherein Satan is waging war against Our Lady―and there can be no spectators in this war―we are either fighting for Our Lady, or by default and neglect we are on the side of Satan: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God [and Our Lady], or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady of La Salette speaks in a similar vein: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Friday May 13th, Our Lady's 1st Apparition at Fatima & Saturday May 14th & Sunday May 15th
Article 10
Listen to Your Mother!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 10
Listen to Your Mother!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Don’t You Just Hate It?
Don’t you just hate it when people will not listen to you? It becomes more hateful when you offer some truly great advice and you are ‘blown-off’ and your advice is either disputed, ignored or even outright rejected. The pain of not being listened to is even greater when our loved ones refuse to listen to what we say or reject the advice that we give. Yet we ourselves are also often guilty of not listening. Why don’t we listen? Psychologists propose a wide variety of reasons behind our refusal to listen.
Why We Don’t Listen
Listening is one of those vital skills that we often overlook. It plays an important role not only in the work environment, but at home as well. In these environments we need to actually hear and understand what people are saying, with our full attention. Even if you aren’t good at listening, it can always be improved if you work at it, so in this post let us go over some of the reason that we struggle to listen.
(1) We think we already know the answers ― We often assume we know what people are going to say, we have heard it all before, and this causes us to ‘zone-out’ or ‘tune-out’. Or, we may think that we have all the answers already figured out and therefore think that listening is a waste of time.
(2) We think what is being said is inapplicable to us ― We might imagine that what is being said applies to others, but not to us. Or we think that what is being said will not happen in our lifetime, or in our country, or to our family, etc. We can easily take on the attitude of the Pharisee from one of Our Lord’s parables, who boasted: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican!” (Luke 18:11).
(3) Struggling to listen to the truth ― Sometimes people struggle with hearing the truth, so they don’t actively listen. Many people are afraid of the truth―so they create their own ‘truth’ that is less fearsome. The truth can be unpleasant―and most people turn away from unpleasant things. They don’t like what is being said―it goes against their personal view of things. They ‘tune-out’ or ‘filter-out’ whatever is unpleasant. They hear what is being said, but don’t really listen and take-on-board what is being said. They are in state of denial, or they feel self-righteous and above what is being said.
(4) We are too distracted with other things ― Many times we find ourselves too distracted and too engrossed in our personal cares, preoccupations, desires and life. Such things seem to be far more relevant, important and pressing than the things others are talking about. The world is one big distraction these days―never in history has mankind had to deal with so many distractions that have largely been created by advances in modern technology.
Our Lady Complains of Not Being Listened To
It was very fitting and representative of our modern age that Our Lady chose to appear, in 1973, to by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, in the remote area of Yuzawadai, an outskirt of Akita, Japan. For several decades, Sasagawa, originally from a Buddhist family, had encountered many health problems as a result of a poorly performed appendix operation and was immobile for over a decade. Her health reportedly improved after drinking water from Lourdes while under the care of a Catholic nun. After going totally deaf, she went to live with the nuns near Akita. The modern world seems to be totally deaf to Our Lady and her warnings and requests. At Akita, Our Lady said: “Is what you think in your heart true? Do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you.”
Our Lady of Good Success further pointed out the characteristics of a good listener: “Our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge.” She also speaks of the need for “humility of heart, docility to divine inspiration.”
Our Lady of La Salette speaks further of our failure to listen to her and the terrible consequences it will bring: “If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! If my people do not wish to [listen and] submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Our Lady also points out one of the chief reasons for our failure to listen―a love of worldliness, luxury and amusements: “Woe to the Colony in the 20th century! … Woe to the children of these times! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! … Passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance! … People will think of nothing but amusement! … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. They will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima & Akita). However, very few people do what she says we must do―and so many souls are damned.
The Fatima revelations revealed that once of the many offences against Our Lady was an “indifference, contempt and even hatred of her.” (May 29th-30th, 1930). Sister Lucia later added: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “It is sad indeed that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave, which is sweeping the world, and that they are blinded, to the point of being incapable of seeing error!”
Our Lord also complained to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) of being ignored by inattentive and ungrateful persons: “If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to the deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious!” The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
At Rianjo, Spain, in August 1931, Our Lord communicated to Sister Lucia His dissatisfaction with the Pope’s and the Catholic bishops’ failure to obey His command to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart. He said: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My requests, they will follow him into misfortune [by not listening to Heaven’s requests and commands]. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” In another text Lucia wrote that Our Lord complained to her: “They did not wish to heed My request! Like the King of France they will repent of it, and they will do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer.” Alas, the consequences and pains of not listening!
Our Lady Tells Us to Listen!
The words that Our Lady addressed to to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, are words that can be addressed to everyone: “Listen to my words, to my teachings and discipline, for therein are contained the peace and the enlightenment of thy soul! … Listen to my counsels, follow my instructions and receive my warnings―for if thou pass them by without paying attention to them, I will cease to speak to thee! … Employ thyself entirely in listening, attending to and obeying in all things thy Spouse and Lord! … Listen to His holy Law! … It will be thy duty to listen to Him with reverence and humble gratitude; to appreciate his teachings, and to follow them in practice with all diligence and punctuality ... There are many who do not listen or attend to them! … Nothing can be hid from this great Master and Teacher, and He withdraws in disgust from those who are ungrateful and disobedient! ... Listen therefore to the Lord … Listen and incline thy ear―free thyself from all visible things! … When the soul listens to and extemporizes with the animal and carnal part of its nature this latter will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery. This disorder is abominable and much to be feared by all! … Renew in thy soul the strong resolution not to listen to thy inclinations!”
Don’t you just hate it when people will not listen to you? It becomes more hateful when you offer some truly great advice and you are ‘blown-off’ and your advice is either disputed, ignored or even outright rejected. The pain of not being listened to is even greater when our loved ones refuse to listen to what we say or reject the advice that we give. Yet we ourselves are also often guilty of not listening. Why don’t we listen? Psychologists propose a wide variety of reasons behind our refusal to listen.
Why We Don’t Listen
Listening is one of those vital skills that we often overlook. It plays an important role not only in the work environment, but at home as well. In these environments we need to actually hear and understand what people are saying, with our full attention. Even if you aren’t good at listening, it can always be improved if you work at it, so in this post let us go over some of the reason that we struggle to listen.
(1) We think we already know the answers ― We often assume we know what people are going to say, we have heard it all before, and this causes us to ‘zone-out’ or ‘tune-out’. Or, we may think that we have all the answers already figured out and therefore think that listening is a waste of time.
(2) We think what is being said is inapplicable to us ― We might imagine that what is being said applies to others, but not to us. Or we think that what is being said will not happen in our lifetime, or in our country, or to our family, etc. We can easily take on the attitude of the Pharisee from one of Our Lord’s parables, who boasted: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican!” (Luke 18:11).
(3) Struggling to listen to the truth ― Sometimes people struggle with hearing the truth, so they don’t actively listen. Many people are afraid of the truth―so they create their own ‘truth’ that is less fearsome. The truth can be unpleasant―and most people turn away from unpleasant things. They don’t like what is being said―it goes against their personal view of things. They ‘tune-out’ or ‘filter-out’ whatever is unpleasant. They hear what is being said, but don’t really listen and take-on-board what is being said. They are in state of denial, or they feel self-righteous and above what is being said.
(4) We are too distracted with other things ― Many times we find ourselves too distracted and too engrossed in our personal cares, preoccupations, desires and life. Such things seem to be far more relevant, important and pressing than the things others are talking about. The world is one big distraction these days―never in history has mankind had to deal with so many distractions that have largely been created by advances in modern technology.
Our Lady Complains of Not Being Listened To
It was very fitting and representative of our modern age that Our Lady chose to appear, in 1973, to by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, in the remote area of Yuzawadai, an outskirt of Akita, Japan. For several decades, Sasagawa, originally from a Buddhist family, had encountered many health problems as a result of a poorly performed appendix operation and was immobile for over a decade. Her health reportedly improved after drinking water from Lourdes while under the care of a Catholic nun. After going totally deaf, she went to live with the nuns near Akita. The modern world seems to be totally deaf to Our Lady and her warnings and requests. At Akita, Our Lady said: “Is what you think in your heart true? Do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you.”
Our Lady of Good Success further pointed out the characteristics of a good listener: “Our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge.” She also speaks of the need for “humility of heart, docility to divine inspiration.”
Our Lady of La Salette speaks further of our failure to listen to her and the terrible consequences it will bring: “If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! If my people do not wish to [listen and] submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Our Lady also points out one of the chief reasons for our failure to listen―a love of worldliness, luxury and amusements: “Woe to the Colony in the 20th century! … Woe to the children of these times! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! … Passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance! … People will think of nothing but amusement! … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. They will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima & Akita). However, very few people do what she says we must do―and so many souls are damned.
The Fatima revelations revealed that once of the many offences against Our Lady was an “indifference, contempt and even hatred of her.” (May 29th-30th, 1930). Sister Lucia later added: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “It is sad indeed that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave, which is sweeping the world, and that they are blinded, to the point of being incapable of seeing error!”
Our Lord also complained to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) of being ignored by inattentive and ungrateful persons: “If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to the deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious!” The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
At Rianjo, Spain, in August 1931, Our Lord communicated to Sister Lucia His dissatisfaction with the Pope’s and the Catholic bishops’ failure to obey His command to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart. He said: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My requests, they will follow him into misfortune [by not listening to Heaven’s requests and commands]. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” In another text Lucia wrote that Our Lord complained to her: “They did not wish to heed My request! Like the King of France they will repent of it, and they will do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer.” Alas, the consequences and pains of not listening!
Our Lady Tells Us to Listen!
The words that Our Lady addressed to to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, are words that can be addressed to everyone: “Listen to my words, to my teachings and discipline, for therein are contained the peace and the enlightenment of thy soul! … Listen to my counsels, follow my instructions and receive my warnings―for if thou pass them by without paying attention to them, I will cease to speak to thee! … Employ thyself entirely in listening, attending to and obeying in all things thy Spouse and Lord! … Listen to His holy Law! … It will be thy duty to listen to Him with reverence and humble gratitude; to appreciate his teachings, and to follow them in practice with all diligence and punctuality ... There are many who do not listen or attend to them! … Nothing can be hid from this great Master and Teacher, and He withdraws in disgust from those who are ungrateful and disobedient! ... Listen therefore to the Lord … Listen and incline thy ear―free thyself from all visible things! … When the soul listens to and extemporizes with the animal and carnal part of its nature this latter will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery. This disorder is abominable and much to be feared by all! … Renew in thy soul the strong resolution not to listen to thy inclinations!”
Saturday May 7th & Sunday May 8th
Article 9
Make it a Very Merry Mary Month of May!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 9
Make it a Very Merry Mary Month of May!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Will the Real Marian Month Please Step Forward!
For Catholics, May is traditionally the first and foremost month of Mary―the other being October, on account of the feast of the Holy Rosary (October 7th) and the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (October 11th). Holy Rosary. Some might protest and claim that September should be the main month of Mary―since it has the feasts of Our Lady’s Nativity (September 8th), the Holy Name of Mary (September 12th), and the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (September 15th). If you check our Calendar Overview page (click here), then you will see that every month could be called “Mary’s Month” for she has a feast celebrated somewhere in the world on every single day of the year! Coming back to the month of May, the only widely celebrated feasts in the traditional calendar for May are Our Lady Help of Christians (May 24th) and the Queenship of Mary (May 31st)―yet there are quite a number of local feasts that are celebrated in various countries throughout the world (click here for the May calendar).
Our current calendar owes a lot to the Roman calendar. The Romans borrowed parts of their earliest known calendar from the Greeks. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced the original Roman calendar in the 700s BC. The original Roman calendar, introduced in the 700s BC, consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter―who likes winter anyway! Give it the cold shoulder! The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The last six names were taken from the Latin words for five (Quintilis), six (Sextilis), seven (September), eight (October), nine (November), and ten (December).
According to tradition, the Roman ruler, Numa Pompilius―the legendary second king of Rome, succeeded Romulus and reigned from 715 BC–672 BC―added January and February to the calendar. This made the Roman year 355 days long. To make the calendar correspond approximately to the solar year, Numa also ordered the addition―in every other year―of a month called Mercedinus. Mercedinus was inserted after February 23 or 24, and the last days of February were moved to the end of Mercedinus. In years when it was inserted, Mercedinus added 22 or 23 days to the year.
In 45 BC, Romans modified their method of marking time yet again, in order to keep the calendar in phase with seasons, but not require intercalation of an extra month every other year (Mercedinus). They accomplished this with the Julian Calendar. Month lengths were extended to bring the calendar’s total to 365 days, making it truly solar. This change was accompanied by addition of an extra day every fourth year (after February 23rd) because of the almost six extra hours beyond 365 days in a tropical year.
Pagan May
Our current month of May corresponds to the Roman month “Maius” named after Maia, the Italic goddess of spring, the daughter of Faunus, and wife of Vulcan. The month Maius was said by some to be named after the goddess Maia, a daughter of Atlas. Maius was as far from the Marian Month of May as you could possibly imagine. The month was a mixed-bag of licentious and debauched festivities. The beginning of the month of May (Maius) saw a continuation of the festival called “Ludi Florae”, the “Games of Flora”, which had begun on April 28th and lasted for six days under the empire―hence the last three days of April and first three days of May. Flora is one of the most ancient goddesses of Roman religion and was a goddess of flowers, vegetation, and fertility. The “Ludi Florae” or “Games of Flora” opened with theatrical performances, and concluded with competitive events and spectacles at the Circus and a sacrifice to the goddess Flora. Prostitutes participated in the Floralia and danced naked and fought in mock gladiator combat.
Then, before the middle of the month, there took place three days of Lemuria. , The Lemuralia or Lemuria was a feast in the pagan religion of ancient Rome during which the Romans performed rites to exorcise the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. In the Julian calendar the three days of the feast were the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May. It was the custom to appease or expel the evil spirits by walking barefoot and throwing black beans over the shoulder at night. It was the head of the household who was responsible for getting up at midnight and walking around the house with bare feet throwing out black beans and repeating the incantation: “I send these [spirits away]; with these beans I redeem myself and mine!” (Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis!) nine times. The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating: “Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!” nine times. Because of this annual exorcism of the noxious spirits of the dead, the whole month of May was looked upon as being unlucky for marriages, from which arises the proverb: Mense Maio malae nubunt (“Bad girls wed in May”).
May and the Maypole
The month of May also conjures up the thought of the very popular “Maypole” which was widely used in many parts of Europe before its Christianization. The precise origins of the Maypole remain unknown. Maypoles were primarily, though not exclusively, found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighboring areas which they have influenced. Originally the Maypole represented a phallic symbol or a pagan symbol of Fertility celebrating sexuality and life to the “horned god”, and was decorated with flowers and wild garlands. The horned god image is similar to the Greek/Roman god Pan―he is a symbol of fertility and the life for the forest, including the hunting of game. Later, moving away from pagan worship, it was revived by and became Roman in origin. They used it in some ceremonies connected with the worship of Maia― the presiding goddess of the month Maius (May).
For many centuries it was the chief dance of England. The ancient Britons erected Maypoles even before Claudius and the Roman invasion (AD 43). The pagan practice survived after the Christianization of Europe (most of it took place between the 300s and 700s) and was, to some degree, incorporated into Christian cultural life. The May Maypole Dance was de-paganized and its finishing non-pagan touches in the rural districts of England. The rise of Protestantism in the 16th century led to increasing disapproval of Maypoles and other May Day practices from various Protestants, who viewed them as idolatry and therefore immoral. Under the reign of Edward VI in England and Wales, Protestant Anglicanism was declared to be the state religion, and, under the Reformation, many Maypoles, such as the famous Cornhill Maypole of London, were destroyed; however when Mary I ascended the throne after Edward's death, she reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state Faith, and the practice of Maypoles was reinstated. It fell out of favor with the Church around the late 1800s.
May and Mother’s Day
The vast majority of countries throughout the world―a total of 132 countries―celebrate Mother’s Day during the month of May. The bulk of them―97 countries―celebrate Mother’s Day on the Second Sunday of May. Motherhood is as old as Eve. Everyone has a mother and―if all mother’s followed Christ and His teachings―every mother should and would be loved. Yet God intended us to have TWO mothers―a natural biological mother and spiritual supernatural mother. It was on Calvary that Christ gave His Mother to mankind in the representative person of St. John: “When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple [St. John] standing whom He loved, He said to His Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ After that, He said to the disciple: ‘Behold thy Mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27).
May and Mary's Motherhood
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, has some beautiful thoughts and truths on the subject of Mary’s spiritual motherhood. He points out that she is a “Mother secret and hidden … the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only-Begotten to the world … God the Son descended into her virginal womb to work in secret marvels of grace. God made Man, found His freedom in seeing Himself imprisoned in her womb … God the Holy Ghost is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He produced His Masterpiece―which is God made Man―and that He goes on producing daily, to the end of the world, the predestinate and the members of the Body of that adorable Head … by producing, in her and by her, Jesus Christ and His members … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … Just as in the natural and corporal generation of children there are a father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there are a Father, who is God, and a Mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God, the predestinate, have God for their Father and Mary for their Mother. He who has not Mary for his Mother, has not God for his Father.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, chapter 1).
For Catholics, May is traditionally the first and foremost month of Mary―the other being October, on account of the feast of the Holy Rosary (October 7th) and the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (October 11th). Holy Rosary. Some might protest and claim that September should be the main month of Mary―since it has the feasts of Our Lady’s Nativity (September 8th), the Holy Name of Mary (September 12th), and the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (September 15th). If you check our Calendar Overview page (click here), then you will see that every month could be called “Mary’s Month” for she has a feast celebrated somewhere in the world on every single day of the year! Coming back to the month of May, the only widely celebrated feasts in the traditional calendar for May are Our Lady Help of Christians (May 24th) and the Queenship of Mary (May 31st)―yet there are quite a number of local feasts that are celebrated in various countries throughout the world (click here for the May calendar).
Our current calendar owes a lot to the Roman calendar. The Romans borrowed parts of their earliest known calendar from the Greeks. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced the original Roman calendar in the 700s BC. The original Roman calendar, introduced in the 700s BC, consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter―who likes winter anyway! Give it the cold shoulder! The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The last six names were taken from the Latin words for five (Quintilis), six (Sextilis), seven (September), eight (October), nine (November), and ten (December).
According to tradition, the Roman ruler, Numa Pompilius―the legendary second king of Rome, succeeded Romulus and reigned from 715 BC–672 BC―added January and February to the calendar. This made the Roman year 355 days long. To make the calendar correspond approximately to the solar year, Numa also ordered the addition―in every other year―of a month called Mercedinus. Mercedinus was inserted after February 23 or 24, and the last days of February were moved to the end of Mercedinus. In years when it was inserted, Mercedinus added 22 or 23 days to the year.
In 45 BC, Romans modified their method of marking time yet again, in order to keep the calendar in phase with seasons, but not require intercalation of an extra month every other year (Mercedinus). They accomplished this with the Julian Calendar. Month lengths were extended to bring the calendar’s total to 365 days, making it truly solar. This change was accompanied by addition of an extra day every fourth year (after February 23rd) because of the almost six extra hours beyond 365 days in a tropical year.
Pagan May
Our current month of May corresponds to the Roman month “Maius” named after Maia, the Italic goddess of spring, the daughter of Faunus, and wife of Vulcan. The month Maius was said by some to be named after the goddess Maia, a daughter of Atlas. Maius was as far from the Marian Month of May as you could possibly imagine. The month was a mixed-bag of licentious and debauched festivities. The beginning of the month of May (Maius) saw a continuation of the festival called “Ludi Florae”, the “Games of Flora”, which had begun on April 28th and lasted for six days under the empire―hence the last three days of April and first three days of May. Flora is one of the most ancient goddesses of Roman religion and was a goddess of flowers, vegetation, and fertility. The “Ludi Florae” or “Games of Flora” opened with theatrical performances, and concluded with competitive events and spectacles at the Circus and a sacrifice to the goddess Flora. Prostitutes participated in the Floralia and danced naked and fought in mock gladiator combat.
Then, before the middle of the month, there took place three days of Lemuria. , The Lemuralia or Lemuria was a feast in the pagan religion of ancient Rome during which the Romans performed rites to exorcise the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. In the Julian calendar the three days of the feast were the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May. It was the custom to appease or expel the evil spirits by walking barefoot and throwing black beans over the shoulder at night. It was the head of the household who was responsible for getting up at midnight and walking around the house with bare feet throwing out black beans and repeating the incantation: “I send these [spirits away]; with these beans I redeem myself and mine!” (Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis!) nine times. The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating: “Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!” nine times. Because of this annual exorcism of the noxious spirits of the dead, the whole month of May was looked upon as being unlucky for marriages, from which arises the proverb: Mense Maio malae nubunt (“Bad girls wed in May”).
May and the Maypole
The month of May also conjures up the thought of the very popular “Maypole” which was widely used in many parts of Europe before its Christianization. The precise origins of the Maypole remain unknown. Maypoles were primarily, though not exclusively, found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighboring areas which they have influenced. Originally the Maypole represented a phallic symbol or a pagan symbol of Fertility celebrating sexuality and life to the “horned god”, and was decorated with flowers and wild garlands. The horned god image is similar to the Greek/Roman god Pan―he is a symbol of fertility and the life for the forest, including the hunting of game. Later, moving away from pagan worship, it was revived by and became Roman in origin. They used it in some ceremonies connected with the worship of Maia― the presiding goddess of the month Maius (May).
For many centuries it was the chief dance of England. The ancient Britons erected Maypoles even before Claudius and the Roman invasion (AD 43). The pagan practice survived after the Christianization of Europe (most of it took place between the 300s and 700s) and was, to some degree, incorporated into Christian cultural life. The May Maypole Dance was de-paganized and its finishing non-pagan touches in the rural districts of England. The rise of Protestantism in the 16th century led to increasing disapproval of Maypoles and other May Day practices from various Protestants, who viewed them as idolatry and therefore immoral. Under the reign of Edward VI in England and Wales, Protestant Anglicanism was declared to be the state religion, and, under the Reformation, many Maypoles, such as the famous Cornhill Maypole of London, were destroyed; however when Mary I ascended the throne after Edward's death, she reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state Faith, and the practice of Maypoles was reinstated. It fell out of favor with the Church around the late 1800s.
May and Mother’s Day
The vast majority of countries throughout the world―a total of 132 countries―celebrate Mother’s Day during the month of May. The bulk of them―97 countries―celebrate Mother’s Day on the Second Sunday of May. Motherhood is as old as Eve. Everyone has a mother and―if all mother’s followed Christ and His teachings―every mother should and would be loved. Yet God intended us to have TWO mothers―a natural biological mother and spiritual supernatural mother. It was on Calvary that Christ gave His Mother to mankind in the representative person of St. John: “When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple [St. John] standing whom He loved, He said to His Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ After that, He said to the disciple: ‘Behold thy Mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27).
May and Mary's Motherhood
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, has some beautiful thoughts and truths on the subject of Mary’s spiritual motherhood. He points out that she is a “Mother secret and hidden … the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only-Begotten to the world … God the Son descended into her virginal womb to work in secret marvels of grace. God made Man, found His freedom in seeing Himself imprisoned in her womb … God the Holy Ghost is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He produced His Masterpiece―which is God made Man―and that He goes on producing daily, to the end of the world, the predestinate and the members of the Body of that adorable Head … by producing, in her and by her, Jesus Christ and His members … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … Just as in the natural and corporal generation of children there are a father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there are a Father, who is God, and a Mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God, the predestinate, have God for their Father and Mary for their Mother. He who has not Mary for his Mother, has not God for his Father.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, chapter 1).
Monday May 2nd to Wednesday May 4th
Article 8
Mary is Your Insurance Policy!
Are You Keeping Up With Your Payments?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 8
Mary is Your Insurance Policy!
Are You Keeping Up With Your Payments?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Mary is Our Insurance Policy―She Ensures Our Salvation
At La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady gave us an insight into how much she does in order to save us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary,… because only she can help you!” (July 1917).
At Akita, in 1973, Our Lady repeated her Fatima statement that only she can help us: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
► ST. JOHN DAMASCENE (a Doctor of the Church) says: “To be devout to you, O holy Virgin, is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.”
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church), in his book, The Glories of Mary, says: “The intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation. We say ‘necessary’, not absolutely, but morally. This necessity proceeds from the will itself of God, that all graces that He dispenses should pass by the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard.”
► ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT adds: “Devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
► ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENNA addresses these words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “O Lady, thou art the dispenser of all graces, and since the grace of salvation can only come through thy hands, our salvation depends on thee!”
Mary “Saves”? ― Is That a Blasphemy?
Scripture makes very clear that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is both first cause of our salvation as God, and instrumental cause in his human nature. Thus, in 1 Timothy 2:5, St. Paul describes Christ in His human nature as the “one mediator between God and men ― Christ Jesus!” while in Titus 2:13, St. Paul calls Him “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” St. Peter adds: “There is no other Name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12).
However, even though Jesus Christ is our unique savior/mediator/intercessor, St. Paul clearly urges all Christians to be “intercessors” in Christ as well: “I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men … For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
The Apostle St. Paul is of the opinion that he can save people and that others can do so, too, that they can even save themselves: “For I say to you, Gentiles―as long indeed as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry, if, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh, and may save some of them” (Romans 11:13-14) … “For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” (1 Corinthians 7:16) … “To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all” (1 Corinthians 9:22) … “Take heed to thyself and to doctrine: be earnest in them. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).
And St. James says that “the prayer of Faith” can “save”: “And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him … Pray one for another, that you may be saved!” (James 5:15-16). And St. Jude goes so far as to command his readers to save others: “My beloved, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed reprove some persons―but others save, pulling them out of the fire!” (Jude 1:20-23).
Our Lady of Fatima also speaks of this intercession for the saving of souls and pulling souls out of the fire―and she asks us to play our part in this saving of souls: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners’! When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!’ Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
At La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady gave us an insight into how much she does in order to save us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary,… because only she can help you!” (July 1917).
At Akita, in 1973, Our Lady repeated her Fatima statement that only she can help us: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
► ST. JOHN DAMASCENE (a Doctor of the Church) says: “To be devout to you, O holy Virgin, is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.”
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church), in his book, The Glories of Mary, says: “The intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation. We say ‘necessary’, not absolutely, but morally. This necessity proceeds from the will itself of God, that all graces that He dispenses should pass by the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard.”
► ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT adds: “Devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
► ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENNA addresses these words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “O Lady, thou art the dispenser of all graces, and since the grace of salvation can only come through thy hands, our salvation depends on thee!”
Mary “Saves”? ― Is That a Blasphemy?
Scripture makes very clear that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is both first cause of our salvation as God, and instrumental cause in his human nature. Thus, in 1 Timothy 2:5, St. Paul describes Christ in His human nature as the “one mediator between God and men ― Christ Jesus!” while in Titus 2:13, St. Paul calls Him “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” St. Peter adds: “There is no other Name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12).
However, even though Jesus Christ is our unique savior/mediator/intercessor, St. Paul clearly urges all Christians to be “intercessors” in Christ as well: “I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men … For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
The Apostle St. Paul is of the opinion that he can save people and that others can do so, too, that they can even save themselves: “For I say to you, Gentiles―as long indeed as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry, if, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh, and may save some of them” (Romans 11:13-14) … “For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” (1 Corinthians 7:16) … “To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all” (1 Corinthians 9:22) … “Take heed to thyself and to doctrine: be earnest in them. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).
And St. James says that “the prayer of Faith” can “save”: “And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him … Pray one for another, that you may be saved!” (James 5:15-16). And St. Jude goes so far as to command his readers to save others: “My beloved, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed reprove some persons―but others save, pulling them out of the fire!” (Jude 1:20-23).
Our Lady of Fatima also speaks of this intercession for the saving of souls and pulling souls out of the fire―and she asks us to play our part in this saving of souls: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners’! When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!’ Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Saturday April 30th & Sunday May 1st
Article 7
Are You A Merciful Person?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 7
Are You A Merciful Person?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Everyone Desires and Loves Mercy
Who doesn’t like mercy? There is nobody who doesn’t like mercy! Everyone wants mercy! On your deathbed, there is one thing that you will crave above everything else―mercy! Nobody is owed mercy―for mercy is not a section or a part of the virtue of justice. We are owed and have a right to certain things in justice―but mercy does not belong to justice; it belongs to charity. It is not something that God HAS to give, something that He MUST give―it is something that God gives freely under no obligation: “I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please Me!” (Exodus 33:19).
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, in the section on Charity (IIa-IIae, q. 21) lists the virtues that could be called the children or offspring of charity―and mercy is one of those offspring (IIa-IIae, q. 30). The joy in receiving mercy chiefly lays in the fact that we know that we do not deserve it. We are, in a sense, in the same situation and predicament as the women who was caught in adultery and was hauled before Jesus to see what He would say and do about the matter. The Scribes and Pharisees, who brought her before Jesus, appealed to God’s law that commanded that anyone caught in adultery should be stoned:
“And the Scribes and the Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, so that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:3-11).
The adulterous woman knew she was guilty and she knew that she deserved to be stoned to death―that was just and fair according the Law of God: “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbor's wife, let them be put to death―both the adulterer and the adulteress” (Leviticus 20:10). She had no right to mercy―she had no right to a pardon. Yet, if a President of the USA can grant pardons to criminals, then all the more can Jesus―who is God―also show undeserved mercy and grant pardon and forgiveness.
No Salvation Without Mercy
Salvation necessarily requires the forgiveness of our sins―without forgiveness of sin, there can be no salvation. We have all sinned: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Roman 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive a reward or a punishment, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil!” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must find God’s forgiveness, while there is still time, if we want to be saved from the consequences of our sins. We need to be forgiven by God in order to be saved from Hell. Yet we have no inbuilt right for mercy; we cannot demand forgiveness from God. Mercy and forgiveness are outside the scope of our rights―they belong solely to the charity of God and are owed to nobody.
The Mercies of God are Above All His Works!
Holy Scripture tells us that “the Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:9). God Himself says: “I am the Lord thy God … showing mercy unto thousands to them that love Me, and keep My commandments!” (Exodus 20:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:9-10). However, His mercies are not to be abused: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). Mercy is not to be taken from granted. As Our Lord warned the man whom He had cured from a 38-year-long illness: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you!” (Tobias 13:8).
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap!
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Applying those words to mercy, you could well say: “If you sow [or show] mercy, then you will get mercy! … If you sow [show] mercy sparingly, you will receive little mercy!”
Our Lord has warned us that as we judge others, so shall we be judged by God; and what we “dish-out” to others will be “dished-out” to us: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure-out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:2). In the prayer, the Our Father, Our Lord teaches us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us!” (Luke 11:4). Hence Jesus adds: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “Forgive if you have anything against any man; so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25). “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Holy Scripture adds: “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another―if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
Many Seek Mercy―Few Show Mercy!
Unfortunately, there are many who seek mercy, but very few who show mercy―except to those whom they love! Yet Our Lord said during His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) … “You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love [show mercy to] thy neighbor, and hate [show no mercy] thy enemy. But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven, and who makes his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust. For if you love [show mercy to] them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:43-48).
Our Lord adds, in the same Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore, if thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee―leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. Be in agreement with thy adversary in good time, whilst thou art still in the way with him―lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:23-26).
It is along these lines that Our Lord warns us: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). Yet that is what we are like―read the Catholic blogs and forums, and you will find hundreds of times more “finger-pointing” at others and very little or no “breast-beating” about oneself! In this we sin―and, as Scripture says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). The word devil comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate” ― and that is what the vast majority of Catholics do on the internet: they accuse others, they twist what others say and do, and they calumniate others.
Merciless Parable
Speaking of being put into prison for not paying your debts―we have the following parable of Our Lord on the merciless servant:
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
We should note that the debt of 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the debt of 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Sometimes, we tend to be merciless to others who have committed less or less serious sins that ourselves! Of such an attitude Our Lord says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). We see something similar to this today, whereby a person who commits a racial slur is looked upon as being more evil than an abortionist!
Heaven is Mercy
Heaven is an act of mercy by God. Nobody is deserving of Heaven―for everyone is a sinner: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). Who dare say: “I am clean, and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9). “There is no just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not!” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). It is important to clearly understand that nobody deserves Heaven of themselves: “By grace you are saved and that not of yourselves―for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Not even Our Lady deserved salvation of her own accord―all the gifts and graces that she received were due to God’s free will and kindness, and not because of anything that she did independently of God―as Jesus would later say: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
All of us―just like the indebted servant who owed his king 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money)―and we do not have the means to pay our debts. Fortunately for us, Christ stepped-in and offered to pay our unpayable debts―and that makes us forever indebted to Christ. We have that slim chance of getting to Heaven because of Christ and not because of something we have done. No Christ―no salvation! Our debts for sin have spiraled out of control because we never really think about the price or cost of sin. Our Catechisms tell us that SIN IS THE GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Committing the greatest evil in the world―not just once, but many times―has to be pricey, it has to be expensive, incredibly expensive―yet we blind ourselves to that truth. The price or cost of sin is death and Hell: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “We can never fully realize the malice of mortal sin. We can get a small idea of it by remembering that God sent His own beloved Son to suffer untold agonies, to save us from its consequences. Mortal sin must be a most terrible thing indeed, to make a just and merciful God create Hell for the everlasting punishment of the rebellious angels and of sinners who die with even only one mortal sin” (My Catholic Faith, chapter 22: “Mortal Sin”, Bishop Morrow, STD).
In the matter of sin, it is not only WHAT we do that is of importance, but also WHO we offend by what we do. The greater, or more dignified, or more important, or holier the person is that we offend, then all the more greater is our sin. Punching a criminal is not as serious as punching a just man. Yet punching a just man is not as serious as punching a brother or sister. Furthermore, punching a brother or sister is not as serious as punching our mother or father. Taking it a stage further, punching our mother or father is not as serious as punching a priest or religious. Yet punching a priest or religious is not as serious as punching a bishop or cardinal. Finally, punching a bishop or cardinal is not as serious as punching a pope. Yet all of these persons are FINITE creatures―but God is INFINITE. Hence, when we attack or offend God by sin, we do not merely commit a FINITE offence, but an INFINITE offence and contract an INFINITE debt because God is infinite. A mere finite creature―which is what we are―cannot repay an infinite debt. Only an infinite creature can repay an infinite debt. Therefore we need Jesus Christ, who, being the infinite God Himself, is the only one who can repay an infinite debt―yet, by also being human, Jesus can also repay our human debt. As Jesus so correctly says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Pleading for God’s mercy is asking Him to show us undeserved kindness and withhold the judgment we deserve. We deserve nothing good from God. God does not owe us any good thing. God was not even obliged to create the universe and man. Since the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, we deserved judgment and punishment―but in Christ we receive mercy and grace from God and are delivered from judgment. Mercy and grace are GIFTS of God that are freely given, and to which we have no claims and no rights―the Catechism tells us this: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God bestowed on us, through the merits of Jesus Christ, for our salvation” (Baltimore Catechism §109). Likewise, the Catechism, My Catholic Faith, repeats this and further explains it: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God bestowed on us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Grace is a favor, a free gift, granted to us though we have no claim to it. God grants us graces because He is good, not because we deserve them. God grants, us graces for the sake of His Son, Who died on the cross to earn for us these graces; we men can never merit these graces.” (My Catholic Faith, chapter 39: “Sanctifying Grace”). Even the latest Catechism of the modern Church echoes the same thought: “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us … The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to … our soul, to heal it of sin and to sanctify it” (Modern Catechism of the Church, §1996, §1999).
Therefore, the grace of Heaven is owed to nobody―especially since we are all sinners. Yet we proudly and presumptuously look upon Heaven as being our automatic right―something that is owed to us and something that we do not have to work for and fight to attain―almost like some kind of supernatural social security free handout.
Who doesn’t like mercy? There is nobody who doesn’t like mercy! Everyone wants mercy! On your deathbed, there is one thing that you will crave above everything else―mercy! Nobody is owed mercy―for mercy is not a section or a part of the virtue of justice. We are owed and have a right to certain things in justice―but mercy does not belong to justice; it belongs to charity. It is not something that God HAS to give, something that He MUST give―it is something that God gives freely under no obligation: “I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please Me!” (Exodus 33:19).
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, in the section on Charity (IIa-IIae, q. 21) lists the virtues that could be called the children or offspring of charity―and mercy is one of those offspring (IIa-IIae, q. 30). The joy in receiving mercy chiefly lays in the fact that we know that we do not deserve it. We are, in a sense, in the same situation and predicament as the women who was caught in adultery and was hauled before Jesus to see what He would say and do about the matter. The Scribes and Pharisees, who brought her before Jesus, appealed to God’s law that commanded that anyone caught in adultery should be stoned:
“And the Scribes and the Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, so that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:3-11).
The adulterous woman knew she was guilty and she knew that she deserved to be stoned to death―that was just and fair according the Law of God: “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbor's wife, let them be put to death―both the adulterer and the adulteress” (Leviticus 20:10). She had no right to mercy―she had no right to a pardon. Yet, if a President of the USA can grant pardons to criminals, then all the more can Jesus―who is God―also show undeserved mercy and grant pardon and forgiveness.
No Salvation Without Mercy
Salvation necessarily requires the forgiveness of our sins―without forgiveness of sin, there can be no salvation. We have all sinned: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Roman 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive a reward or a punishment, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil!” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must find God’s forgiveness, while there is still time, if we want to be saved from the consequences of our sins. We need to be forgiven by God in order to be saved from Hell. Yet we have no inbuilt right for mercy; we cannot demand forgiveness from God. Mercy and forgiveness are outside the scope of our rights―they belong solely to the charity of God and are owed to nobody.
The Mercies of God are Above All His Works!
Holy Scripture tells us that “the Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:9). God Himself says: “I am the Lord thy God … showing mercy unto thousands to them that love Me, and keep My commandments!” (Exodus 20:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:9-10). However, His mercies are not to be abused: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). Mercy is not to be taken from granted. As Our Lord warned the man whom He had cured from a 38-year-long illness: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you!” (Tobias 13:8).
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap!
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Applying those words to mercy, you could well say: “If you sow [or show] mercy, then you will get mercy! … If you sow [show] mercy sparingly, you will receive little mercy!”
Our Lord has warned us that as we judge others, so shall we be judged by God; and what we “dish-out” to others will be “dished-out” to us: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure-out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:2). In the prayer, the Our Father, Our Lord teaches us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us!” (Luke 11:4). Hence Jesus adds: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “Forgive if you have anything against any man; so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25). “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Holy Scripture adds: “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another―if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
Many Seek Mercy―Few Show Mercy!
Unfortunately, there are many who seek mercy, but very few who show mercy―except to those whom they love! Yet Our Lord said during His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) … “You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love [show mercy to] thy neighbor, and hate [show no mercy] thy enemy. But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven, and who makes his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust. For if you love [show mercy to] them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:43-48).
Our Lord adds, in the same Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore, if thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee―leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. Be in agreement with thy adversary in good time, whilst thou art still in the way with him―lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:23-26).
It is along these lines that Our Lord warns us: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). Yet that is what we are like―read the Catholic blogs and forums, and you will find hundreds of times more “finger-pointing” at others and very little or no “breast-beating” about oneself! In this we sin―and, as Scripture says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). The word devil comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate” ― and that is what the vast majority of Catholics do on the internet: they accuse others, they twist what others say and do, and they calumniate others.
Merciless Parable
Speaking of being put into prison for not paying your debts―we have the following parable of Our Lord on the merciless servant:
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
We should note that the debt of 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the debt of 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Sometimes, we tend to be merciless to others who have committed less or less serious sins that ourselves! Of such an attitude Our Lord says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). We see something similar to this today, whereby a person who commits a racial slur is looked upon as being more evil than an abortionist!
Heaven is Mercy
Heaven is an act of mercy by God. Nobody is deserving of Heaven―for everyone is a sinner: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). Who dare say: “I am clean, and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9). “There is no just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not!” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). It is important to clearly understand that nobody deserves Heaven of themselves: “By grace you are saved and that not of yourselves―for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Not even Our Lady deserved salvation of her own accord―all the gifts and graces that she received were due to God’s free will and kindness, and not because of anything that she did independently of God―as Jesus would later say: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
All of us―just like the indebted servant who owed his king 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money)―and we do not have the means to pay our debts. Fortunately for us, Christ stepped-in and offered to pay our unpayable debts―and that makes us forever indebted to Christ. We have that slim chance of getting to Heaven because of Christ and not because of something we have done. No Christ―no salvation! Our debts for sin have spiraled out of control because we never really think about the price or cost of sin. Our Catechisms tell us that SIN IS THE GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Committing the greatest evil in the world―not just once, but many times―has to be pricey, it has to be expensive, incredibly expensive―yet we blind ourselves to that truth. The price or cost of sin is death and Hell: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “We can never fully realize the malice of mortal sin. We can get a small idea of it by remembering that God sent His own beloved Son to suffer untold agonies, to save us from its consequences. Mortal sin must be a most terrible thing indeed, to make a just and merciful God create Hell for the everlasting punishment of the rebellious angels and of sinners who die with even only one mortal sin” (My Catholic Faith, chapter 22: “Mortal Sin”, Bishop Morrow, STD).
In the matter of sin, it is not only WHAT we do that is of importance, but also WHO we offend by what we do. The greater, or more dignified, or more important, or holier the person is that we offend, then all the more greater is our sin. Punching a criminal is not as serious as punching a just man. Yet punching a just man is not as serious as punching a brother or sister. Furthermore, punching a brother or sister is not as serious as punching our mother or father. Taking it a stage further, punching our mother or father is not as serious as punching a priest or religious. Yet punching a priest or religious is not as serious as punching a bishop or cardinal. Finally, punching a bishop or cardinal is not as serious as punching a pope. Yet all of these persons are FINITE creatures―but God is INFINITE. Hence, when we attack or offend God by sin, we do not merely commit a FINITE offence, but an INFINITE offence and contract an INFINITE debt because God is infinite. A mere finite creature―which is what we are―cannot repay an infinite debt. Only an infinite creature can repay an infinite debt. Therefore we need Jesus Christ, who, being the infinite God Himself, is the only one who can repay an infinite debt―yet, by also being human, Jesus can also repay our human debt. As Jesus so correctly says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Pleading for God’s mercy is asking Him to show us undeserved kindness and withhold the judgment we deserve. We deserve nothing good from God. God does not owe us any good thing. God was not even obliged to create the universe and man. Since the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, we deserved judgment and punishment―but in Christ we receive mercy and grace from God and are delivered from judgment. Mercy and grace are GIFTS of God that are freely given, and to which we have no claims and no rights―the Catechism tells us this: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God bestowed on us, through the merits of Jesus Christ, for our salvation” (Baltimore Catechism §109). Likewise, the Catechism, My Catholic Faith, repeats this and further explains it: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God bestowed on us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Grace is a favor, a free gift, granted to us though we have no claim to it. God grants us graces because He is good, not because we deserve them. God grants, us graces for the sake of His Son, Who died on the cross to earn for us these graces; we men can never merit these graces.” (My Catholic Faith, chapter 39: “Sanctifying Grace”). Even the latest Catechism of the modern Church echoes the same thought: “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us … The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to … our soul, to heal it of sin and to sanctify it” (Modern Catechism of the Church, §1996, §1999).
Therefore, the grace of Heaven is owed to nobody―especially since we are all sinners. Yet we proudly and presumptuously look upon Heaven as being our automatic right―something that is owed to us and something that we do not have to work for and fight to attain―almost like some kind of supernatural social security free handout.
Wednesday April 27th & Thursday April 28th
Article 6
How to be One of the Few Saved
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 6
How to be One of the Few Saved
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End of Conversation!
There is one “sure-fire” way to end a conversation suddenly or quickly evacuate a room ― it is to start up a conversation about the fewness of those who are saved. The subject is taboo or almost outlawed among Catholics ― it is as though we commit a sin or a social crime by talking about the small number of souls who will be saved. Perhaps it will be soon called a “hate crime” to speak of the vast number of damned souls and small number of saved souls. “How dare you suggest that people go to Hell! You deserve to be locked-up!” Start up the conversation on the matter ― and the reaction of most people will be one of: “Oh! Is that the time? I didn’t realize it was so late! Sorrry! Gotta go!”
On the contrary, the popular belief today―among Catholics and non-Catholics alike―is that everyone goes to Heaven! In the modern Church, we no longer have funerals in black―but in white! There is no mention of Purgatory―never mind Hell! Everyone speaks of the deceased as already being Heaven ― sweetly smiling down upon us! We have ceased to “mourn” for the dead, nor pray for the dead ― instead we “celebrate” their immediate entry into Heaven!
What Do You Want?
Everyone wants to be “saved” ― right? Or put it another way ― nobody wants to go to Hell ― right? Hopefully that is the case ― for God wants everyone to be saved too! “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Our Lord said of Himself: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and Holy Scripture adds: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-18).
Facing Reality
Okay! All is fine and dandy, then! Everyone is going to be saved, right? No! Salvation is not automatic. It is not a “freebie handout”. It is not guaranteed. Even though God wants to save everyone ― not everyone will be saved!
Our Lord pointed this out on several occasions. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Another time He said: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen! Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14; 21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The fewness of those who will be saved is hinted at in these Scriptural passages: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness!’” (John 8:12). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not … the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
Our Lord further hints at the division between the “saved” and “not-saved” when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Truth Swept Under the Carpet
How often do we hear these truths preached from the pulpit? How often do parents and teachers communicate those truths to their children and students? How often do we speak of these things in our conversations? Hardly ever or never! These truths are unpleasant truths that disturb our fantasy world in which we imagine everyone or almost everyone to be saved ― except for our personal enemies!! We could well quote the words of Our Lord here: “I say the truth and you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:45-47).
The truth is often bitter and hard to take―we prefer our sugary imagination and selective acceptation of only those truths are sweet to swallow, and we spit-out the bitter truths that are hard to take. Hence, we gladly accept Our Lady’s truthful statement that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph―but we are reluctant to accept, taste and swallow the equally truthful statement of Our Lady that many nations will be annihilated and that many souls go to Hell. Like immature and illogical children we gravitate to the sugary desserts and leave aside the more nutritional, yet more bitter tasting, good food on the table. Cakes are sweeter than lemons, but lemons are better for you than cakes ― “bitter is better” as they say.
Final Fight
The current events―or the events of the recent decades―clearly indicate that a terrible, yet glorious, fight is approaching. Sister Lucia spoke of this back in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady of La Salette herself spoke of this battle in 1846: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Many Are Called―Few Are Chosen!
On more than one occasion Our Lord said: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). Similarly, “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few!” Matthew 9:37). Yes―God wants everyone to be saved! However, not everyone wants to do what it takes to be saved! That is where the problem lies―or, rather, that is where the tragedy lies―for the vast majority of souls is lost because of their refusal to work out their salvation and fight for salvation ― “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) …
“Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Or should we say: “Many are called, but few choose to respond”?
Too many are too busy with too many things in this world―and so they ignore or neglect the call of God. Our Lord’s parable about the invitations to the banquet clearly points this out: “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame!’ And the servant said: ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room!’ And the Lord said to the servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled! But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24). Many were initially called, but nobody chose to accept the invitation and so they were rejected. The same applies to Heaven―we cannot get to Heaven by being preoccupied with the things of this Earth! God has made the terms of His contract very clear ― if we choose to reject those terms, then we choose to forfeit Heaven!
More Than Just Baptism!
Yes―Holy Scripture does say: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved!” (Mark 16:16)―but Baptism is merely a beginning, and not and end! Baptism is the planting of the seed of Faith―but that Faith cannot lie dormant on a couch in front of the TV: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Lord expects much more than mere Baptism―hence He said to His Apostles and disciples, before ascending into Heaven: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations―baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:191-20) to which St. John adds: “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written!” (John 21:25).
Our Lord gave us the “tip of the iceberg” of some of the chief things we must do if we want to be saved―if we want to be among the few that are saved. Here are some of His commands:
► LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
► LOVING GOD MEANS KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS ― He then explains that “love” is more than a “feeling” or “nice words” ― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
► A CHIEF COMMANDMENT IS TO CARRY THE CROSS ― One of the chief commandments is that of carrying the cross: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The better we carry the cross, the less we complain! How do you measure up to the complaining litmus test in carrying your crosses? Today, the vast majority of Catholics spend the vast majority of their day in complaining about one thing or another―except their own sins!
► FORGIVE IF YOU WANT TO BE FORGIVEN ― Salvation necessarily requires the forgiveness of our sins―without forgiveness of sin, there can be no salvation. We have all sinned: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Roman 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive a reward or a punishment, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil!” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must find God’s forgiveness, while there is still time, if we want to be saved from the consequences of our sins. We need to be forgiven by God in order to be saved from Hell. Jesus’ Blood is the only way for this to happen: “God the Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His Son, in Whom we have redemption [salvation] through His Blood, and the remission of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14). “Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself … in Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins” (Ephesians 1:5-7).
However, Our Lord has warned us that as we judge others, so shall we be judged by God; and what we “dish-out” to others will be “dished-out” to us: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure-out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:2). In the prayer, the Our Father, Our Lord teaches us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us!” (Luke 11:4). Hence Jesus adds: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “Forgive if you have anything against any man; so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25). “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). Scripture adds: “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another―if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
► QUIT MORTAL SIN ― Yes―God is forgiving, as He Himself tells us: “The soul that sins, the same shall die! … Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, then living he shall live and shall not die! I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-23). God further adds: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Holy Scripture adds: “For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee!” (Psalm 85:5). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9) … “He will send his fury in no more, because He delights in mercy. He will turn again and have mercy on us! He will put away our iniquities and He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea!” (Micheas 7:18-19).
So yes―God is forgiving. However, even though God is infinite and can show infinite mercy to the sinner―He does not do so! If God had shown infinite mercy to every sinner―then Hell would be empty and everyone would be in Heaven! Yet we know that the vast majority of souls are damned. Holy Scripture warns us: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). Our Lord warned the man whom He cured from a 38-year long illness: “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). To the woman caught in adultery―whom Jesus had spared―He said: “Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11).
Sin is a willful and terrible attack upon God. Sin―whether it be Mortal Sin or Venial Sin―is the greatest evil in the world. Our Catechism teaches us that truth: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Unfortunately, we have lost the true sense of sin―we rationalize, minimalize, and trivialize the gravity of sin, and that is one major reason why most souls end up being damned. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days.
In 1946 Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In a 2011 homily on the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. The meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God.” In a 2014 homily, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Even in the Modernist Church of today, during the Vatican’s Synod of the Eucharist, back in 2005, the then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze made the observation: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don’t go to Mass, and those that come don’t understand. They go to Communion, but not to Confession ― as if they were immaculate.” Increasing laxity and acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, female ordination, married priests―in addition to the pedophile scandals and openly homosexual priests―plus the fact that only around 10% to 15% of Catholics practice their Faith by regularly attending Sunday Mass―all of this does not reflect “holiness” but “unholiness”. You can this loss of the sense of sin in most Catholics today, whereby most Catholics refuse to believe that certain practices are sinful. This will be shown in the next section.
► BELIEVE WHAT CHRIST AND THE CHURCH TEACHES ― “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved―but he that believeth not shall be condemned!” (Mark 16:16). There are different binding degrees of belief in the Church―the top of the tree being what we call a “dogma”, which we bound to believe under the pain of Mortal Sin. More and more Catholics are beginning to disbelieve more and more teachings of the Church―whether they be dogmas or other teachings. Our Lord gave His Church the power to teach and to bind persons to those teachings. To St. Peter, Jesus said: “Thou art Peter … I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19). Then later, to His disciples, Our Lord told them: “Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon Earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven!” (Matthew 18:18). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). “If he will not hear the Church, then let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:17).
A very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics—76%—expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. 62% said they felt that the Church should allow priests to marry, and about the same percentage said they thought that the Church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed, said that women should be allowed to become priests. Meanwhile, just 46% of Catholics said the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly, support for these changes was lower overall. But the Pew Research Center notes that even among this particular group, two-thirds of Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. From the viewpoint of sinfulness, only 57% of Catholics still think it’s a sin to have an abortion. 44% of Catholics think homosexual behavior is sinful. And just 17% of Catholics believe it is a sin to use contraceptives, while only 21% say the same of getting a divorce and remarrying. And although those percentages are higher among those who attend Mass weekly — only 73% of weekly churchgoers say that abortion is a sin, and just 31% of regular weekly Mass attendees say the use of artificial contraception is a sin. (Pew Research Center). 77% believe one can be a good Catholic without going to Mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70% of all Catholics, in the age group 18 to 44, believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. No wonder most souls end up being damned!
► LET YOUR FAITH BE SEEN BY YOUR WORKS ― Today, we have more and more “Cafeteria Catholics” or “Armchair Catholics” who are quick to speak of the Faith, but do very little to manifest or propagate the Faith. To put in modern-day terms: “They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk!” This was even true in the Old Testament times and in Our Lord’s day. We read that “the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord echoes those same words in the New Testament, saying to the Jews: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord wants to not only talk the talk, but to also walk the walk―He wants more than mere lips service: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bucket, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). That is why St. James adds: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Faith is supposed to produce fruit. Our Lord alludes to this in his Parable about the Talents―where three men were given money by their master as he left on a long journey. “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 5 talents to be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” Upon his return, the master saw that the servants who had been given the 5 talents and 2 talents, had used that money to gain an additional 5 and 2 talents―and they were duly praised by their master. However, the servant who buried his talent and had nothing more to show for it, was severely chastised: “His lord said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
So too it is with the “talent” of the Faith! What have to show for it? “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes ... Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). Our Lord echoes this at the Last Supper, when He says to His Apostles: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit … If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples” (John 15:1-8).
Hence Our Lord warns: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
In fact, Our Lord cursed the fig tree because He found no fruit on it―and the fig tree immediately withered and died: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away!” (Matthew 21:19).
Similarly, in another parable of Our Lord’s we read: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And perhaps happily it bear fruit―but, if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The fate of those above that did not bear fruit was ― “Faith without works is dead! … Wicked and slothful servant! … Cast out the unprofitable servant into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! … He shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!”
Sure―we have read or heard these words many times before! Yet it seems that the seed of the Word of God is not falling upon good soil: “The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and such bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). Which category do we fall into? Will our category fall into Hell?
The fewness of those who will be saved is hinted at in these Scriptural passages: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness!’” (John 8:12). But “the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). Let our works not be evil, but let them be works of the Faith!
There is one “sure-fire” way to end a conversation suddenly or quickly evacuate a room ― it is to start up a conversation about the fewness of those who are saved. The subject is taboo or almost outlawed among Catholics ― it is as though we commit a sin or a social crime by talking about the small number of souls who will be saved. Perhaps it will be soon called a “hate crime” to speak of the vast number of damned souls and small number of saved souls. “How dare you suggest that people go to Hell! You deserve to be locked-up!” Start up the conversation on the matter ― and the reaction of most people will be one of: “Oh! Is that the time? I didn’t realize it was so late! Sorrry! Gotta go!”
On the contrary, the popular belief today―among Catholics and non-Catholics alike―is that everyone goes to Heaven! In the modern Church, we no longer have funerals in black―but in white! There is no mention of Purgatory―never mind Hell! Everyone speaks of the deceased as already being Heaven ― sweetly smiling down upon us! We have ceased to “mourn” for the dead, nor pray for the dead ― instead we “celebrate” their immediate entry into Heaven!
What Do You Want?
Everyone wants to be “saved” ― right? Or put it another way ― nobody wants to go to Hell ― right? Hopefully that is the case ― for God wants everyone to be saved too! “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Our Lord said of Himself: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and Holy Scripture adds: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-18).
Facing Reality
Okay! All is fine and dandy, then! Everyone is going to be saved, right? No! Salvation is not automatic. It is not a “freebie handout”. It is not guaranteed. Even though God wants to save everyone ― not everyone will be saved!
Our Lord pointed this out on several occasions. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Another time He said: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen! Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14; 21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The fewness of those who will be saved is hinted at in these Scriptural passages: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness!’” (John 8:12). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not … the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
Our Lord further hints at the division between the “saved” and “not-saved” when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Truth Swept Under the Carpet
How often do we hear these truths preached from the pulpit? How often do parents and teachers communicate those truths to their children and students? How often do we speak of these things in our conversations? Hardly ever or never! These truths are unpleasant truths that disturb our fantasy world in which we imagine everyone or almost everyone to be saved ― except for our personal enemies!! We could well quote the words of Our Lord here: “I say the truth and you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:45-47).
The truth is often bitter and hard to take―we prefer our sugary imagination and selective acceptation of only those truths are sweet to swallow, and we spit-out the bitter truths that are hard to take. Hence, we gladly accept Our Lady’s truthful statement that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph―but we are reluctant to accept, taste and swallow the equally truthful statement of Our Lady that many nations will be annihilated and that many souls go to Hell. Like immature and illogical children we gravitate to the sugary desserts and leave aside the more nutritional, yet more bitter tasting, good food on the table. Cakes are sweeter than lemons, but lemons are better for you than cakes ― “bitter is better” as they say.
Final Fight
The current events―or the events of the recent decades―clearly indicate that a terrible, yet glorious, fight is approaching. Sister Lucia spoke of this back in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady of La Salette herself spoke of this battle in 1846: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Many Are Called―Few Are Chosen!
On more than one occasion Our Lord said: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). Similarly, “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few!” Matthew 9:37). Yes―God wants everyone to be saved! However, not everyone wants to do what it takes to be saved! That is where the problem lies―or, rather, that is where the tragedy lies―for the vast majority of souls is lost because of their refusal to work out their salvation and fight for salvation ― “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) …
“Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Or should we say: “Many are called, but few choose to respond”?
Too many are too busy with too many things in this world―and so they ignore or neglect the call of God. Our Lord’s parable about the invitations to the banquet clearly points this out: “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame!’ And the servant said: ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room!’ And the Lord said to the servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled! But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24). Many were initially called, but nobody chose to accept the invitation and so they were rejected. The same applies to Heaven―we cannot get to Heaven by being preoccupied with the things of this Earth! God has made the terms of His contract very clear ― if we choose to reject those terms, then we choose to forfeit Heaven!
More Than Just Baptism!
Yes―Holy Scripture does say: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved!” (Mark 16:16)―but Baptism is merely a beginning, and not and end! Baptism is the planting of the seed of Faith―but that Faith cannot lie dormant on a couch in front of the TV: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Lord expects much more than mere Baptism―hence He said to His Apostles and disciples, before ascending into Heaven: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations―baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:191-20) to which St. John adds: “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written!” (John 21:25).
Our Lord gave us the “tip of the iceberg” of some of the chief things we must do if we want to be saved―if we want to be among the few that are saved. Here are some of His commands:
► LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
► LOVING GOD MEANS KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS ― He then explains that “love” is more than a “feeling” or “nice words” ― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
► A CHIEF COMMANDMENT IS TO CARRY THE CROSS ― One of the chief commandments is that of carrying the cross: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The better we carry the cross, the less we complain! How do you measure up to the complaining litmus test in carrying your crosses? Today, the vast majority of Catholics spend the vast majority of their day in complaining about one thing or another―except their own sins!
► FORGIVE IF YOU WANT TO BE FORGIVEN ― Salvation necessarily requires the forgiveness of our sins―without forgiveness of sin, there can be no salvation. We have all sinned: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Roman 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive a reward or a punishment, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil!” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must find God’s forgiveness, while there is still time, if we want to be saved from the consequences of our sins. We need to be forgiven by God in order to be saved from Hell. Jesus’ Blood is the only way for this to happen: “God the Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His Son, in Whom we have redemption [salvation] through His Blood, and the remission of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14). “Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself … in Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins” (Ephesians 1:5-7).
However, Our Lord has warned us that as we judge others, so shall we be judged by God; and what we “dish-out” to others will be “dished-out” to us: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure-out to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:2). In the prayer, the Our Father, Our Lord teaches us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us!” (Luke 11:4). Hence Jesus adds: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “Forgive if you have anything against any man; so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25). “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). Scripture adds: “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another―if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13). “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
► QUIT MORTAL SIN ― Yes―God is forgiving, as He Himself tells us: “The soul that sins, the same shall die! … Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, then living he shall live and shall not die! I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-23). God further adds: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Holy Scripture adds: “For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee!” (Psalm 85:5). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9) … “He will send his fury in no more, because He delights in mercy. He will turn again and have mercy on us! He will put away our iniquities and He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea!” (Micheas 7:18-19).
So yes―God is forgiving. However, even though God is infinite and can show infinite mercy to the sinner―He does not do so! If God had shown infinite mercy to every sinner―then Hell would be empty and everyone would be in Heaven! Yet we know that the vast majority of souls are damned. Holy Scripture warns us: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). Our Lord warned the man whom He cured from a 38-year long illness: “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). To the woman caught in adultery―whom Jesus had spared―He said: “Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11).
Sin is a willful and terrible attack upon God. Sin―whether it be Mortal Sin or Venial Sin―is the greatest evil in the world. Our Catechism teaches us that truth: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Unfortunately, we have lost the true sense of sin―we rationalize, minimalize, and trivialize the gravity of sin, and that is one major reason why most souls end up being damned. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days.
In 1946 Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In a 2011 homily on the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. The meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God.” In a 2014 homily, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Even in the Modernist Church of today, during the Vatican’s Synod of the Eucharist, back in 2005, the then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze made the observation: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don’t go to Mass, and those that come don’t understand. They go to Communion, but not to Confession ― as if they were immaculate.” Increasing laxity and acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, female ordination, married priests―in addition to the pedophile scandals and openly homosexual priests―plus the fact that only around 10% to 15% of Catholics practice their Faith by regularly attending Sunday Mass―all of this does not reflect “holiness” but “unholiness”. You can this loss of the sense of sin in most Catholics today, whereby most Catholics refuse to believe that certain practices are sinful. This will be shown in the next section.
► BELIEVE WHAT CHRIST AND THE CHURCH TEACHES ― “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved―but he that believeth not shall be condemned!” (Mark 16:16). There are different binding degrees of belief in the Church―the top of the tree being what we call a “dogma”, which we bound to believe under the pain of Mortal Sin. More and more Catholics are beginning to disbelieve more and more teachings of the Church―whether they be dogmas or other teachings. Our Lord gave His Church the power to teach and to bind persons to those teachings. To St. Peter, Jesus said: “Thou art Peter … I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19). Then later, to His disciples, Our Lord told them: “Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon Earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven!” (Matthew 18:18). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). “If he will not hear the Church, then let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:17).
A very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics—76%—expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. 62% said they felt that the Church should allow priests to marry, and about the same percentage said they thought that the Church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed, said that women should be allowed to become priests. Meanwhile, just 46% of Catholics said the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly, support for these changes was lower overall. But the Pew Research Center notes that even among this particular group, two-thirds of Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. From the viewpoint of sinfulness, only 57% of Catholics still think it’s a sin to have an abortion. 44% of Catholics think homosexual behavior is sinful. And just 17% of Catholics believe it is a sin to use contraceptives, while only 21% say the same of getting a divorce and remarrying. And although those percentages are higher among those who attend Mass weekly — only 73% of weekly churchgoers say that abortion is a sin, and just 31% of regular weekly Mass attendees say the use of artificial contraception is a sin. (Pew Research Center). 77% believe one can be a good Catholic without going to Mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70% of all Catholics, in the age group 18 to 44, believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. No wonder most souls end up being damned!
► LET YOUR FAITH BE SEEN BY YOUR WORKS ― Today, we have more and more “Cafeteria Catholics” or “Armchair Catholics” who are quick to speak of the Faith, but do very little to manifest or propagate the Faith. To put in modern-day terms: “They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk!” This was even true in the Old Testament times and in Our Lord’s day. We read that “the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord echoes those same words in the New Testament, saying to the Jews: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord wants to not only talk the talk, but to also walk the walk―He wants more than mere lips service: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bucket, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). That is why St. James adds: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Faith is supposed to produce fruit. Our Lord alludes to this in his Parable about the Talents―where three men were given money by their master as he left on a long journey. “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 5 talents to be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” Upon his return, the master saw that the servants who had been given the 5 talents and 2 talents, had used that money to gain an additional 5 and 2 talents―and they were duly praised by their master. However, the servant who buried his talent and had nothing more to show for it, was severely chastised: “His lord said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
So too it is with the “talent” of the Faith! What have to show for it? “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes ... Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). Our Lord echoes this at the Last Supper, when He says to His Apostles: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit … If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples” (John 15:1-8).
Hence Our Lord warns: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
In fact, Our Lord cursed the fig tree because He found no fruit on it―and the fig tree immediately withered and died: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away!” (Matthew 21:19).
Similarly, in another parable of Our Lord’s we read: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And perhaps happily it bear fruit―but, if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The fate of those above that did not bear fruit was ― “Faith without works is dead! … Wicked and slothful servant! … Cast out the unprofitable servant into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! … He shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!”
Sure―we have read or heard these words many times before! Yet it seems that the seed of the Word of God is not falling upon good soil: “The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and such bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). Which category do we fall into? Will our category fall into Hell?
The fewness of those who will be saved is hinted at in these Scriptural passages: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness!’” (John 8:12). But “the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). Let our works not be evil, but let them be works of the Faith!
Monday April 25th & Tuesday April 26th
Article 5
Are You Tempted to Doubt?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 5
Are You Tempted to Doubt?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Doubters Galore!
After the Resurrection of Our Lord, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). “There are some of you that believe not!” (John 6:65). In fact today, there are not just SOME that believe not―but MANY who believe not! Our Lord―in speaking of the “End Times” of the world, said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Today, Faith is plummeting while doubt is soaring! Increasing numbers of Catholics are doubting or even totally rejecting certain Catholic teachings.
The Pew Research Center asked Catholics if they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues. A very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics—76%—expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. 62% said they felt that the Church should allow priests to marry, and about the same percentage said they thought that the Church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed, said that women should be allowed to become priests. Meanwhile, just 46% of Catholics said the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly, support for these changes was lower overall. But the Pew Research Center notes that even among this particular group, two-thirds of Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. From the viewpoint of sinfulness, only 57% of Catholics still think it’s a sin to have an abortion. 44% of Catholics think homosexual behavior is sinful. And just 17% of Catholics believe it is a sin to use contraceptives, while only 21% say the same of getting a divorce and remarrying. And although those percentages are higher among those who attend Mass weekly — only 73% of weekly churchgoers say that abortion is a sin, and just 31% of regular weekly Mass attendees say the use of artificial contraception is a sin. (Pew Research Center).
77% believe one can be a good Catholic without going to Mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70% of all Catholics, in the age group 18 to 44, believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. During the Vatican’s Synod of the Eucharist, back in 2005, the then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze made the same observation: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don’t go to Mass, and those that come don’t understand. They go to Communion, but not to Confession ― as if they were immaculate.” In 2013, it was found that 80% of Catholics are no longer Catholic by the time they turn 23 years of age. This is an American statistic.
Thomas Runs Into Trouble
The Gospel for this First Sunday after Easter has the encounter of Christ with His doubting Apostle, St. Thomas:
“Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: ‘Peace be to you!’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
“Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed! Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:19-29).
Poor Old Doubting Thomas
We say “poor old Thomas” because he was not the only one to doubt, but the Gospels seem to single him by name for the ignominy and shame of doubting—and so his name has gone into proverbial history as the “Doubting Thomas”. Yet ALL the other Apostles doubted too—if you take a careful look at the Gospels.
When Mary Magdalen, after seeing Christ, ran back to tell the Apostles: “They, hearing that He was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe” (Mark 16:11). Then, when the other women to whom Jesus appeared came to tell the Apostles they had seen the risen Christ... “These words seemed to them as idle tales; and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).
“And, after that, He appeared in another shape to two of them walking, as they were going into the country [the road to Emmaus]. And they going told it to the rest: neither did they believe them. At length He appeared to the Eleven as they were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again” (Mark 16:12-14).
Right to the point of the Ascension, forty days after the Resurrection, after many apparitions by Christ to His followers, some still doubted: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17).
So we see that “poor old Thomas” was merely reacting in the same way to the testimony of the other Apostles, as those same Apostles had reacted in face of the testimony of Mary Magdalen and the other women—he disbelieved. Yet history only remembers “poor old Thomas” as the disbeliever, and canonizes him as “Doubting Thomas”, whereas all the Apostles and disciples were disbelieving doubters.
Wrong is Wrong
Nevertheless, whatever the merits or demerits behind the nickname “Doubting Thomas” may be, both Thomas and the other Apostles were taken to task and rebuked for the lack of Faith: “He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe” (Mark 16:14).
This lack of Faith had already been condemned by Christ several times before His Passion, Death and Resurrection.
In His “Sermon on the Mount” Our Lord castigates our lack of faith in Divine Providence: “If the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe― how much more you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30).
His Apostles in the storm-tossed boat on the lake, who were screaming: “Lord! Save us! We perish!” were rebuked by Our Lord: “And Jesus saith to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).
Another time, Peter starts to walk upon water, only to begin sinking—for which He is also rebuked: “Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord! Save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little faith! Why didst thou doubt?’” (Matthew 14:29-31).
Another rebuke about a lack of Faith came “when His disciples were come over the water, they had forgotten to take bread. Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’ But they thought within themselves, saying: ‘Because we have taken no bread!’ And Jesus, knowing it, said: ‘Why do you think within yourselves, O ye of little faith, for that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves among four thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?’” (Matthew 16:6-10).
Jesus Demands Faith and Criticizes Doubt
“Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’” (Matthew 8:26). “And He said to them: ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:25). “And Jesus said to them: ‘Have the faith of God!’” (Mark 11:22).
Jesus wants to see our Faith in action before He takes some action in our favor:
● Our Lord, before performing the miracle of restoring the sight to two blind men, first asks: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28).
● “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’” (Matthew 9:2).
● When access to Jesus was blocked by the crowds, the men carrying a sick man resorted to climbing onto the roof of the house where Jesus was preaching: “They went up upon the roof, and let him down through the tiles with his bed into the midst before Jesus. Whose faith when He saw, He said: ‘Man, thy sins are forgiven thee!’” (Luke 5:19-20).
● “And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5).
● “Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’” (Matthew 9:29).
● “And He said to the woman: ‘Thy faith hath made thee safe! Go in peace!’” (Luke 7:50).
● “And Jesus said to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:52).
● “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:28).
● “And He said to him: ‘Arise, go thy way! For thy faith hath made thee whole!’” (Luke 17:19)
● “And Jesus said to him: ‘Receive thy sight! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’” (Luke 18:42).
● Sts. Peter and John, after curing the lame man, stated: “And in the faith of His Name, this man, whom you have seen and known, hath his name strengthened; and the faith which is by Him, hath given this perfect soundness in the sight of you all” (Acts 3:16).
Faith and the Virus of Doubt
Faith and doubt are opposed to each other. Just as Faith can grow―so, too, can doubts grow. You could say, in a broad sense, that doubt is a virus that weakens Faith and can eventually even destroy Faith.
“Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and doubt not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also, if you shall say to this mountain: “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!” ― it shall be done!’” (Matthew 21:21). “But let him ask in faith, without doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind!” (James 1:6).
Lack of Faith Means Lack of Help
Already back in the Middle Ages, a mystic asked Our Lord why there were so few miracles in those days in comparison to the many miracles in the early days of the Church. Our Lord replied: “Because of your lack of Faith!” How much worse is our Faith, Hope, trust and confidence in God today? “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall he find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The Apostles had failed to cast out a devil from a boy and came to Our asking: “‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from hence hither!” and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:18-20).
“And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5). We need to say the same thing to the Lord at a time when Faith is sinking and perishing! “Lord! Preserve our Faith! Strengthen our Faith! Increase our Faith!” Let us cry out with the man who sought a cure for his possessed boy, crying: “‘If thou canst do anything, help us, having compassion on us!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth!’ And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
We need to be like the pagan centurion, who came to Jesus with great faith, asking for the cure of his servant: “And Jesus hearing this, marveled; and said to them that followed Him: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel’” (Matthew 8:10). For “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from hence hither!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19).
Sitting in Darkness
“The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). When we first come out of a room that was in total darkness, we cannot see things clearly in the bright light of the sun. It takes time for our eyes to get used to the light. Likewise, when one emerges from a life of mortal sin to a life of grace, the bright light of a fully vibrant spiritual life is too great for us—we can only perceive vague outlines and little or no detail. The more naturalistic and materialistic we are, then the greater is the darkness that enshrouds us. When faced with the brilliancy of the spiritual, we cannot see it properly and, dazzled by its splendor, we often prefer to retreat back into our comfortable darkness to escape the pain of dazzling spiritual light that hurts the eyes of our soul.
Failure to See Christ
Why on earth did Jesus appear to be different after His Resurrection? We know that He had changed because everyone whom He encountered or appeared to after the Resurrection, failed to recognize Him, even among His nearest and dearest—the Apostles, Mary Magdalen, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and many others. Prior to His Passion and Death, Our Lord had conformed Himself largely to our way of doing things—after His Resurrection He seems to expect that we should now conform more to His way of doing things. The apprenticeship is over, now we have to really get down to work! So far there has been more watching than doing. Now there has to be more doing than watching. “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
Do You Believe?
However, we cannot see Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father; we cannot see Heaven; we have no experience of the after-life; we do not know exactly what lies behind the doors of death; we have no real notion of what it is that we are buying with our prayers, sacrifices, mortifications and penances. All we have is God’s word for it and our Faith. God wants to test our Faith in Him, just as Our Lord tested the Faith, both in His words and His actions, of those around Him while He walked among us:
“Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee” (Matthew 8:13) … “Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22) ... “Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (John 14:10) … “Do you now believe?” (John 16:31) … “Though you will not believe me, believe the works” (John 10:38) … “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not!” (John 4:48) … “But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep” (John 10:26).
Our Lord performed many miracles while on earth; He rose from the dead; He ascended into Heaven; He performs many miracles from Heaven even unto this day—yet many find it hard to believe. The words of Holy Scripture could well be applied to us, that say: “And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 1:32). When Our Lord had risen from the dead and even appeared to His followers, there were many who did not believe! When Our Lord comes back to judge the world, He foretells that: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). We have to cry out with the man in Holy Scripture: “And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
A Test of Faith
We are rapidly approaching dangerous—even cataclysmic—times, where our Faith will be severely tested. Times of which Our Lady of Good Success says: “In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”
Holy Scripture tells us that our Faith is that which will overcome the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Yet our Faith will be tested and attacked: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31). “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye―strong in faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Our Faith furnishes us with all that we need to overcome Satan, overcome the world, and to save our souls―but we must not doubt our Faith. Neither must we doubt God’s love and mercy towards us―and Satan is always sowing seeds of doubt on that point. Let us not become the object of Our Lord’s scathing words: “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26).
After the Resurrection of Our Lord, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). “There are some of you that believe not!” (John 6:65). In fact today, there are not just SOME that believe not―but MANY who believe not! Our Lord―in speaking of the “End Times” of the world, said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Today, Faith is plummeting while doubt is soaring! Increasing numbers of Catholics are doubting or even totally rejecting certain Catholic teachings.
The Pew Research Center asked Catholics if they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues. A very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics—76%—expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. 62% said they felt that the Church should allow priests to marry, and about the same percentage said they thought that the Church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed, said that women should be allowed to become priests. Meanwhile, just 46% of Catholics said the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly, support for these changes was lower overall. But the Pew Research Center notes that even among this particular group, two-thirds of Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. From the viewpoint of sinfulness, only 57% of Catholics still think it’s a sin to have an abortion. 44% of Catholics think homosexual behavior is sinful. And just 17% of Catholics believe it is a sin to use contraceptives, while only 21% say the same of getting a divorce and remarrying. And although those percentages are higher among those who attend Mass weekly — only 73% of weekly churchgoers say that abortion is a sin, and just 31% of regular weekly Mass attendees say the use of artificial contraception is a sin. (Pew Research Center).
77% believe one can be a good Catholic without going to Mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70% of all Catholics, in the age group 18 to 44, believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. During the Vatican’s Synod of the Eucharist, back in 2005, the then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze made the same observation: “The problem we have discussed is that many people don’t go to Mass, and those that come don’t understand. They go to Communion, but not to Confession ― as if they were immaculate.” In 2013, it was found that 80% of Catholics are no longer Catholic by the time they turn 23 years of age. This is an American statistic.
Thomas Runs Into Trouble
The Gospel for this First Sunday after Easter has the encounter of Christ with His doubting Apostle, St. Thomas:
“Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: ‘Peace be to you!’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
“Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed! Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:19-29).
Poor Old Doubting Thomas
We say “poor old Thomas” because he was not the only one to doubt, but the Gospels seem to single him by name for the ignominy and shame of doubting—and so his name has gone into proverbial history as the “Doubting Thomas”. Yet ALL the other Apostles doubted too—if you take a careful look at the Gospels.
When Mary Magdalen, after seeing Christ, ran back to tell the Apostles: “They, hearing that He was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe” (Mark 16:11). Then, when the other women to whom Jesus appeared came to tell the Apostles they had seen the risen Christ... “These words seemed to them as idle tales; and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).
“And, after that, He appeared in another shape to two of them walking, as they were going into the country [the road to Emmaus]. And they going told it to the rest: neither did they believe them. At length He appeared to the Eleven as they were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again” (Mark 16:12-14).
Right to the point of the Ascension, forty days after the Resurrection, after many apparitions by Christ to His followers, some still doubted: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17).
So we see that “poor old Thomas” was merely reacting in the same way to the testimony of the other Apostles, as those same Apostles had reacted in face of the testimony of Mary Magdalen and the other women—he disbelieved. Yet history only remembers “poor old Thomas” as the disbeliever, and canonizes him as “Doubting Thomas”, whereas all the Apostles and disciples were disbelieving doubters.
Wrong is Wrong
Nevertheless, whatever the merits or demerits behind the nickname “Doubting Thomas” may be, both Thomas and the other Apostles were taken to task and rebuked for the lack of Faith: “He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe” (Mark 16:14).
This lack of Faith had already been condemned by Christ several times before His Passion, Death and Resurrection.
In His “Sermon on the Mount” Our Lord castigates our lack of faith in Divine Providence: “If the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe― how much more you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30).
His Apostles in the storm-tossed boat on the lake, who were screaming: “Lord! Save us! We perish!” were rebuked by Our Lord: “And Jesus saith to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).
Another time, Peter starts to walk upon water, only to begin sinking—for which He is also rebuked: “Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord! Save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little faith! Why didst thou doubt?’” (Matthew 14:29-31).
Another rebuke about a lack of Faith came “when His disciples were come over the water, they had forgotten to take bread. Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’ But they thought within themselves, saying: ‘Because we have taken no bread!’ And Jesus, knowing it, said: ‘Why do you think within yourselves, O ye of little faith, for that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves among four thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?’” (Matthew 16:6-10).
Jesus Demands Faith and Criticizes Doubt
“Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’” (Matthew 8:26). “And He said to them: ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:25). “And Jesus said to them: ‘Have the faith of God!’” (Mark 11:22).
Jesus wants to see our Faith in action before He takes some action in our favor:
● Our Lord, before performing the miracle of restoring the sight to two blind men, first asks: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28).
● “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’” (Matthew 9:2).
● When access to Jesus was blocked by the crowds, the men carrying a sick man resorted to climbing onto the roof of the house where Jesus was preaching: “They went up upon the roof, and let him down through the tiles with his bed into the midst before Jesus. Whose faith when He saw, He said: ‘Man, thy sins are forgiven thee!’” (Luke 5:19-20).
● “And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5).
● “Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’” (Matthew 9:29).
● “And He said to the woman: ‘Thy faith hath made thee safe! Go in peace!’” (Luke 7:50).
● “And Jesus said to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:52).
● “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:28).
● “And He said to him: ‘Arise, go thy way! For thy faith hath made thee whole!’” (Luke 17:19)
● “And Jesus said to him: ‘Receive thy sight! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’” (Luke 18:42).
● Sts. Peter and John, after curing the lame man, stated: “And in the faith of His Name, this man, whom you have seen and known, hath his name strengthened; and the faith which is by Him, hath given this perfect soundness in the sight of you all” (Acts 3:16).
Faith and the Virus of Doubt
Faith and doubt are opposed to each other. Just as Faith can grow―so, too, can doubts grow. You could say, in a broad sense, that doubt is a virus that weakens Faith and can eventually even destroy Faith.
“Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and doubt not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also, if you shall say to this mountain: “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!” ― it shall be done!’” (Matthew 21:21). “But let him ask in faith, without doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind!” (James 1:6).
Lack of Faith Means Lack of Help
Already back in the Middle Ages, a mystic asked Our Lord why there were so few miracles in those days in comparison to the many miracles in the early days of the Church. Our Lord replied: “Because of your lack of Faith!” How much worse is our Faith, Hope, trust and confidence in God today? “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall he find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The Apostles had failed to cast out a devil from a boy and came to Our asking: “‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from hence hither!” and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:18-20).
“And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5). We need to say the same thing to the Lord at a time when Faith is sinking and perishing! “Lord! Preserve our Faith! Strengthen our Faith! Increase our Faith!” Let us cry out with the man who sought a cure for his possessed boy, crying: “‘If thou canst do anything, help us, having compassion on us!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth!’ And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
We need to be like the pagan centurion, who came to Jesus with great faith, asking for the cure of his servant: “And Jesus hearing this, marveled; and said to them that followed Him: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel’” (Matthew 8:10). For “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from hence hither!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19).
Sitting in Darkness
“The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). When we first come out of a room that was in total darkness, we cannot see things clearly in the bright light of the sun. It takes time for our eyes to get used to the light. Likewise, when one emerges from a life of mortal sin to a life of grace, the bright light of a fully vibrant spiritual life is too great for us—we can only perceive vague outlines and little or no detail. The more naturalistic and materialistic we are, then the greater is the darkness that enshrouds us. When faced with the brilliancy of the spiritual, we cannot see it properly and, dazzled by its splendor, we often prefer to retreat back into our comfortable darkness to escape the pain of dazzling spiritual light that hurts the eyes of our soul.
Failure to See Christ
Why on earth did Jesus appear to be different after His Resurrection? We know that He had changed because everyone whom He encountered or appeared to after the Resurrection, failed to recognize Him, even among His nearest and dearest—the Apostles, Mary Magdalen, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and many others. Prior to His Passion and Death, Our Lord had conformed Himself largely to our way of doing things—after His Resurrection He seems to expect that we should now conform more to His way of doing things. The apprenticeship is over, now we have to really get down to work! So far there has been more watching than doing. Now there has to be more doing than watching. “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
Do You Believe?
However, we cannot see Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father; we cannot see Heaven; we have no experience of the after-life; we do not know exactly what lies behind the doors of death; we have no real notion of what it is that we are buying with our prayers, sacrifices, mortifications and penances. All we have is God’s word for it and our Faith. God wants to test our Faith in Him, just as Our Lord tested the Faith, both in His words and His actions, of those around Him while He walked among us:
“Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee” (Matthew 8:13) … “Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22) ... “Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (John 14:10) … “Do you now believe?” (John 16:31) … “Though you will not believe me, believe the works” (John 10:38) … “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not!” (John 4:48) … “But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep” (John 10:26).
Our Lord performed many miracles while on earth; He rose from the dead; He ascended into Heaven; He performs many miracles from Heaven even unto this day—yet many find it hard to believe. The words of Holy Scripture could well be applied to us, that say: “And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 1:32). When Our Lord had risen from the dead and even appeared to His followers, there were many who did not believe! When Our Lord comes back to judge the world, He foretells that: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). We have to cry out with the man in Holy Scripture: “And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
A Test of Faith
We are rapidly approaching dangerous—even cataclysmic—times, where our Faith will be severely tested. Times of which Our Lady of Good Success says: “In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”
Holy Scripture tells us that our Faith is that which will overcome the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Yet our Faith will be tested and attacked: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31). “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye―strong in faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Our Faith furnishes us with all that we need to overcome Satan, overcome the world, and to save our souls―but we must not doubt our Faith. Neither must we doubt God’s love and mercy towards us―and Satan is always sowing seeds of doubt on that point. Let us not become the object of Our Lord’s scathing words: “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26).
Easter Friday April 22nd & Easter Saturday April 23rd
Article 4
Who is Fooling Who? Stop Fooling Yourself!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 4
Who is Fooling Who? Stop Fooling Yourself!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wise Words About Fools
Holy Scripture furnishes plenty of wise words about fools which we would be fools to ignore! First of all, there are more fools than we would like to imagine: “The number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Fools think themselves to be wise―but truly wise people know that they are fools. “He that trusts in his own heart, is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “Let no man deceive himself―if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may be wise!” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men!” (1 Corinthians 1:25). “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, so that he may confound the wise!” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
► FOOLISHNESS OF THE CROSS: “For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is to us, it is the power of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “We preach Christ crucified―unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness!” (1 Corinthians 1:23). “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand!” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
► FOOLISHLY THINKING TOO MUCH OF OURSELVES: To be full of yourself is to make a fool of yourself. We are fools for thinking ourselves to be way above our true station in life: “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from Thee!” (Psalm 68:6). “All seem to themselves to be wise!” (Job 37:24). St. Paul wisely says: “That which I speak, in this matter of glorying, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness!” (2 Corinthians 11:17). “For even though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish―for I would be saying the truth! [for St. Paul had reached a level of holiness at which he could glory if he wanted to]. But I will not do this, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees in me, or anything he hears from me!” (2 Corinthians 12:6). As William Shakespeare wrote: “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool!”
► FOOLISHNESS IN SPEAKING TOO MUCH: Loquaciousness (talking too much) often degenerates into foolishness. Fools often know little and talk much. “A fool multiplies words” (Ecclesiastes 10:14). “The heart of fools is in their mouth” (Ecclesiasticus 21:29). “The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things” (Ecclesiasticus 21:28). As the ancient Greek philosopher so truly said: “Wise men speak because they have something to say―but fools speak because they need to say something!” To speak and to speak well, are two different things. Any fool can talk, but a wise man speaks. A fool is made more of a fool, when their mouth is more open than their mind.
Silence is foolish if we are wise, but silence is wise if we are foolish. It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought of being a fool―rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt on the matter. “He that answers before he hears, shows himself to be a fool” (Proverbs 18:13). “I wish you would hold your peace, so that you might be thought to be wise men!” (Job 13:5). “The mouth of fools bubbles out folly” (Proverbs 15:2). “The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things” (Ecclesiasticus 21:28). “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:22). “Weep for the fool―for his understanding fails!” (Ecclesiasticus 22:10).
► KNOWLEDGE IS NOT WISDOM: Being surrounded by modern technology, we live in an age of information overload―whereby many people are able to find out about and know many things. Yet knowledge is the not the same thing as understanding, and neither knowledge and understanding are the same thing as wisdom. To understand is to go deeper into something than to merely know something. You might know a lion when you seen one―but you have very little understanding about lions. Similarly, wisdom is the right use of knowledge and understanding―it ties all things together and creates an overall view of things and how to best use them. To know is not to be wise. Neither is understanding the same as wisdom. Many men know a great deal, but are all the greater fools for it. As Albert Einstein said: “Any fool can know! The point is to understand!” Many men understand many things, but are still fools in one way or another. A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool and also more dangerous than an ignorant fool. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool or an understanding fool. But to know how to use knowledge and understanding is to have wisdom.
► FOOLISH ARGUMENTS: We also have a tendency to foolishly get involved in foolish and vain arguments: “The lips of a fool intermeddle with strife and his mouth provokes quarrels” (Proverbs 18:6). “Avoid foolish and unlearned questions, knowing that they beget strife!” (2 Timothy 2:23). “Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. For they are unprofitable and vain!” (Titus 3:9). They “became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool who thinks he knows what he is talking about. Any fool can complain, criticize and condemn―and most fools do! This is echoed in Holy Scripture: “All fools are meddling with reproaches” (Proverbs 20:3). “Anger rests in the bosom of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). “A fool immediately shows his anger” (Proverbs 12:16). “A fool will upbraid bitterly” (Ecclesiasticus 18:18).
Our Lord and Fools
Our Lord even calls His followers fools: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25). As for the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought themselves to be wise, Our Lord calls them “foolish and blind!” (Matthew 23:17). He also warns and instructs us against foolishness in His parable about the wise and foolish virgins: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish virgins, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them! But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And since the bridegroom was tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy some oil for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord, Lord! Open the door to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
In another parable, Our Lord also warned against greed and covetousness, instead of being rich towards God: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Fool Me Once―Shame On You! Fool Me Twice―Shame On Me!
Any man can make a mistake―but only a fool keeps on making the same mistake over and over again. “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). To avoid being fooled, the first principle is that you must not fool yourself and to also realize that you can be easily fooled. The world is full of fools, and he who cannot see this, must have never looked into a mirror! The greatest of all fools is the proud fool―the fool who is too proud to admit that he is a fool and that he can be fooled! There are two ways to be fooled ― (1) to believe what is not true; and (2) to refuse to believe what is true.
Politics is all about fooling the people. This brings to mind the famous quote made by Hitler’s propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, who said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” A similar quote was made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who said to President Reagan during a Presidential Briefing in 1981: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” This quote was corroborated by Barbara Honegger―Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan―who was present at that Presidential Briefing.
According to the “Fact Checkers” ― who are, more often than not, “Fact Changers” or “Fact Camouflagers” or “Fact Corrupters” rather than honest “Fact Checkers” ― former United States President Donald Trump allegedly made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during the four years of his presidency. This is an average of more than 20 a day. In Australia, politicians rank as one of Australia’s least trusted professions! Nearly two-thirds (64%) of American adults say it is hard to tell the difference between what’s true and what’s not true when listening to elected officials. The New York Post, in its November 22nd, 2021, article entitled “Biden’s obsessive lies – small and large – are big trouble for America”, states that “President Joe Biden keeps telling lies … He invents stuff in order to make a seemingly personal connection … Even when there’s some truth, he exaggerates … It’s a calculated con job ... It would be bad enough if Biden only told personal tall tales. But his reality distortion field now extends to national policy … Truth just doesn’t matter: He’ll say whatever he likes to get past the moment. He got away with it for most of his life because nobody bothers to fact-check a Delaware senator. Now he’s president, and his lies are going to hurt us all.”
Political leaders often conceal their true views when the latter diverge from majority public opinion, or from the beliefs of a key part of their base. Both Barack Obama and Dick Cheney spent years concealing their then-unpopular support for same-sex marriage – only coming out of the closet when the political winds changed. Hillary Clinton and her advisers knew that a $15 dollar minimum wage was a dangerous idea that would cost jobs, but pretended otherwise in order to please the Democratic Party’s base. During the Republican primaries, Ted Cruz utilized political lying by trying to deceive voters about his record on immigration policy. Cruz knew that many voters did not know about the details of his record, and would not take the time to check it carefully.
In his 1943 treatise, Reflections on Lying, the Russian-born French philosopher, Alexandre Koyré, wrote: “Lying never was more widespread than today―or more shameless, systematic and constant!” What most distressed Mr. Koyré, however, was that lies don’t even need to be believable to work. “On the contrary,” he wrote, “the grosser, the bigger, the cruder the lie, the more readily is it believed and followed.”
It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled. “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “The instruction of fools is foolishness … because they will despise the instruction of thy speech” (Proverbs 16:22; 23:9). As Euripides the Greek writer of classical Athens, said: “Talk sense to a fool and he will call you foolish!” As Scripture says: “The fool esteems all men to be fools, whereas he himself is a fool” (Ecclesiastes 10:3) and the politician esteems the people to be fools, whereas in God’s eyes the politician is the fool. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15) and the lies of a politician are justified in his own eyes. “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “A wise man fears and declines from evil―but the fool leaps over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16) and the honest politician fears evil and lying, but the dishonest politician leaps into evil and lying with confidence.
A Pandemic of Lies to Fool the People
We are all born with the inbuilt mechanism of trust. That quality of trust already begins to work when we are babies―we trust our parents and we also trust everyone else. We only start to distrust when our trust has been abused in some way and when we learn the hard-way that not everyone is trustworthy. Children trust their parents to feed them, clothe them and look after them. They trust and believe their teachers when they are told 2+2=4, or that there is a island called Japan on the other side of the world. Young children believe and trust their Protestant parents when they tell their children that Catholics are evil and Protestantism is the only true path to Heaven. In atheist families, children trustingly believe their atheist parents when they are told that there is no God. Even St. Thomas Aquinas trusted his fellow Dominican friars not to lie―yet one day, they decided to play a joke on Thomas. One of them shouted out: “Thomas! Thomas! Come! Look out the window! A cow is jumping over the moon!” Thomas rushed to the window see the prodigy. When the assembled friars laughed at him, he replied: “I would rather believe that a cow was jumping over the moon than beleive that a Dominican would tell a lie!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could trust today’s popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and religious! Yet the Church has―just like the world―caught the virus of lies and deceit. The Second Vatican Council could quite fairly be called a “Council of Deceit” because many of its documents were deliberately loaded with dangerous ambiguities that eventually opened the floodgates to Liberalism and Modernism to flood the Church. The words of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich come to mind, in her account of the visions that God granted her concerning the Church of our times:
“I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … I a long processions of bishops [The four different sessions of the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, had between 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembled all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... I now see that in this place [Rome], the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy ...
“I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … A great devastation is now near at hand! … They were building a large, strange, and extravagant church there in Rome … I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... There was nothing holy in it … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome … Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council] ... The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks is to spread everywhere! … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away!”
We see the concrete ramifications of those visions in the infiltration of the Catholic Church by Freemasons and Communists―who managed to rise to some of the highest positions in the Church, pretending to be “good Catholics” whereas they were actually the sworn enemies of Catholicism! Many of them became “fake” bishops who would then ordain “fake” priests since they never wanted and never obtained episcopal powers―they were mere imposters placed into the Church for its destruction from within. Thus Pope Paul VI would say on three separate occasions that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church.
Furthermore, we have been lied to about the actual contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In addition to that, it is almost certain that the real Sister Lucy was either “spirited-away” or “disposed of” so as to prevent the real account of the Third Secret of Fatima being revealed by her―it is said that once Lucia sensed that Rome would not reveal the Secret by 1960 (as requested by Our Lady), Lucia was herself prepared to “go public” with the Secret. The Church eventually released a false account of the Third Secret and falsely claimed that Russia had already been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Holy Scripture furnishes plenty of wise words about fools which we would be fools to ignore! First of all, there are more fools than we would like to imagine: “The number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Fools think themselves to be wise―but truly wise people know that they are fools. “He that trusts in his own heart, is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “Let no man deceive himself―if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may be wise!” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men!” (1 Corinthians 1:25). “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, so that he may confound the wise!” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
► FOOLISHNESS OF THE CROSS: “For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is to us, it is the power of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “We preach Christ crucified―unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness!” (1 Corinthians 1:23). “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand!” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
► FOOLISHLY THINKING TOO MUCH OF OURSELVES: To be full of yourself is to make a fool of yourself. We are fools for thinking ourselves to be way above our true station in life: “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from Thee!” (Psalm 68:6). “All seem to themselves to be wise!” (Job 37:24). St. Paul wisely says: “That which I speak, in this matter of glorying, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness!” (2 Corinthians 11:17). “For even though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish―for I would be saying the truth! [for St. Paul had reached a level of holiness at which he could glory if he wanted to]. But I will not do this, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees in me, or anything he hears from me!” (2 Corinthians 12:6). As William Shakespeare wrote: “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool!”
► FOOLISHNESS IN SPEAKING TOO MUCH: Loquaciousness (talking too much) often degenerates into foolishness. Fools often know little and talk much. “A fool multiplies words” (Ecclesiastes 10:14). “The heart of fools is in their mouth” (Ecclesiasticus 21:29). “The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things” (Ecclesiasticus 21:28). As the ancient Greek philosopher so truly said: “Wise men speak because they have something to say―but fools speak because they need to say something!” To speak and to speak well, are two different things. Any fool can talk, but a wise man speaks. A fool is made more of a fool, when their mouth is more open than their mind.
Silence is foolish if we are wise, but silence is wise if we are foolish. It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought of being a fool―rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt on the matter. “He that answers before he hears, shows himself to be a fool” (Proverbs 18:13). “I wish you would hold your peace, so that you might be thought to be wise men!” (Job 13:5). “The mouth of fools bubbles out folly” (Proverbs 15:2). “The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things” (Ecclesiasticus 21:28). “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:22). “Weep for the fool―for his understanding fails!” (Ecclesiasticus 22:10).
► KNOWLEDGE IS NOT WISDOM: Being surrounded by modern technology, we live in an age of information overload―whereby many people are able to find out about and know many things. Yet knowledge is the not the same thing as understanding, and neither knowledge and understanding are the same thing as wisdom. To understand is to go deeper into something than to merely know something. You might know a lion when you seen one―but you have very little understanding about lions. Similarly, wisdom is the right use of knowledge and understanding―it ties all things together and creates an overall view of things and how to best use them. To know is not to be wise. Neither is understanding the same as wisdom. Many men know a great deal, but are all the greater fools for it. As Albert Einstein said: “Any fool can know! The point is to understand!” Many men understand many things, but are still fools in one way or another. A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool and also more dangerous than an ignorant fool. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool or an understanding fool. But to know how to use knowledge and understanding is to have wisdom.
► FOOLISH ARGUMENTS: We also have a tendency to foolishly get involved in foolish and vain arguments: “The lips of a fool intermeddle with strife and his mouth provokes quarrels” (Proverbs 18:6). “Avoid foolish and unlearned questions, knowing that they beget strife!” (2 Timothy 2:23). “Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. For they are unprofitable and vain!” (Titus 3:9). They “became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool who thinks he knows what he is talking about. Any fool can complain, criticize and condemn―and most fools do! This is echoed in Holy Scripture: “All fools are meddling with reproaches” (Proverbs 20:3). “Anger rests in the bosom of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). “A fool immediately shows his anger” (Proverbs 12:16). “A fool will upbraid bitterly” (Ecclesiasticus 18:18).
Our Lord and Fools
Our Lord even calls His followers fools: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25). As for the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought themselves to be wise, Our Lord calls them “foolish and blind!” (Matthew 23:17). He also warns and instructs us against foolishness in His parable about the wise and foolish virgins: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish virgins, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them! But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And since the bridegroom was tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy some oil for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord, Lord! Open the door to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
In another parable, Our Lord also warned against greed and covetousness, instead of being rich towards God: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Fool Me Once―Shame On You! Fool Me Twice―Shame On Me!
Any man can make a mistake―but only a fool keeps on making the same mistake over and over again. “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). To avoid being fooled, the first principle is that you must not fool yourself and to also realize that you can be easily fooled. The world is full of fools, and he who cannot see this, must have never looked into a mirror! The greatest of all fools is the proud fool―the fool who is too proud to admit that he is a fool and that he can be fooled! There are two ways to be fooled ― (1) to believe what is not true; and (2) to refuse to believe what is true.
Politics is all about fooling the people. This brings to mind the famous quote made by Hitler’s propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, who said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” A similar quote was made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who said to President Reagan during a Presidential Briefing in 1981: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” This quote was corroborated by Barbara Honegger―Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan―who was present at that Presidential Briefing.
According to the “Fact Checkers” ― who are, more often than not, “Fact Changers” or “Fact Camouflagers” or “Fact Corrupters” rather than honest “Fact Checkers” ― former United States President Donald Trump allegedly made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during the four years of his presidency. This is an average of more than 20 a day. In Australia, politicians rank as one of Australia’s least trusted professions! Nearly two-thirds (64%) of American adults say it is hard to tell the difference between what’s true and what’s not true when listening to elected officials. The New York Post, in its November 22nd, 2021, article entitled “Biden’s obsessive lies – small and large – are big trouble for America”, states that “President Joe Biden keeps telling lies … He invents stuff in order to make a seemingly personal connection … Even when there’s some truth, he exaggerates … It’s a calculated con job ... It would be bad enough if Biden only told personal tall tales. But his reality distortion field now extends to national policy … Truth just doesn’t matter: He’ll say whatever he likes to get past the moment. He got away with it for most of his life because nobody bothers to fact-check a Delaware senator. Now he’s president, and his lies are going to hurt us all.”
Political leaders often conceal their true views when the latter diverge from majority public opinion, or from the beliefs of a key part of their base. Both Barack Obama and Dick Cheney spent years concealing their then-unpopular support for same-sex marriage – only coming out of the closet when the political winds changed. Hillary Clinton and her advisers knew that a $15 dollar minimum wage was a dangerous idea that would cost jobs, but pretended otherwise in order to please the Democratic Party’s base. During the Republican primaries, Ted Cruz utilized political lying by trying to deceive voters about his record on immigration policy. Cruz knew that many voters did not know about the details of his record, and would not take the time to check it carefully.
In his 1943 treatise, Reflections on Lying, the Russian-born French philosopher, Alexandre Koyré, wrote: “Lying never was more widespread than today―or more shameless, systematic and constant!” What most distressed Mr. Koyré, however, was that lies don’t even need to be believable to work. “On the contrary,” he wrote, “the grosser, the bigger, the cruder the lie, the more readily is it believed and followed.”
It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled. “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “The instruction of fools is foolishness … because they will despise the instruction of thy speech” (Proverbs 16:22; 23:9). As Euripides the Greek writer of classical Athens, said: “Talk sense to a fool and he will call you foolish!” As Scripture says: “The fool esteems all men to be fools, whereas he himself is a fool” (Ecclesiastes 10:3) and the politician esteems the people to be fools, whereas in God’s eyes the politician is the fool. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15) and the lies of a politician are justified in his own eyes. “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “A wise man fears and declines from evil―but the fool leaps over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16) and the honest politician fears evil and lying, but the dishonest politician leaps into evil and lying with confidence.
A Pandemic of Lies to Fool the People
We are all born with the inbuilt mechanism of trust. That quality of trust already begins to work when we are babies―we trust our parents and we also trust everyone else. We only start to distrust when our trust has been abused in some way and when we learn the hard-way that not everyone is trustworthy. Children trust their parents to feed them, clothe them and look after them. They trust and believe their teachers when they are told 2+2=4, or that there is a island called Japan on the other side of the world. Young children believe and trust their Protestant parents when they tell their children that Catholics are evil and Protestantism is the only true path to Heaven. In atheist families, children trustingly believe their atheist parents when they are told that there is no God. Even St. Thomas Aquinas trusted his fellow Dominican friars not to lie―yet one day, they decided to play a joke on Thomas. One of them shouted out: “Thomas! Thomas! Come! Look out the window! A cow is jumping over the moon!” Thomas rushed to the window see the prodigy. When the assembled friars laughed at him, he replied: “I would rather believe that a cow was jumping over the moon than beleive that a Dominican would tell a lie!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could trust today’s popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and religious! Yet the Church has―just like the world―caught the virus of lies and deceit. The Second Vatican Council could quite fairly be called a “Council of Deceit” because many of its documents were deliberately loaded with dangerous ambiguities that eventually opened the floodgates to Liberalism and Modernism to flood the Church. The words of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich come to mind, in her account of the visions that God granted her concerning the Church of our times:
“I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … I a long processions of bishops [The four different sessions of the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, had between 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembled all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... I now see that in this place [Rome], the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy ...
“I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … A great devastation is now near at hand! … They were building a large, strange, and extravagant church there in Rome … I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... There was nothing holy in it … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome … Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council] ... The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks is to spread everywhere! … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away!”
We see the concrete ramifications of those visions in the infiltration of the Catholic Church by Freemasons and Communists―who managed to rise to some of the highest positions in the Church, pretending to be “good Catholics” whereas they were actually the sworn enemies of Catholicism! Many of them became “fake” bishops who would then ordain “fake” priests since they never wanted and never obtained episcopal powers―they were mere imposters placed into the Church for its destruction from within. Thus Pope Paul VI would say on three separate occasions that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church.
Furthermore, we have been lied to about the actual contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In addition to that, it is almost certain that the real Sister Lucy was either “spirited-away” or “disposed of” so as to prevent the real account of the Third Secret of Fatima being revealed by her―it is said that once Lucia sensed that Rome would not reveal the Secret by 1960 (as requested by Our Lady), Lucia was herself prepared to “go public” with the Secret. The Church eventually released a false account of the Third Secret and falsely claimed that Russia had already been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Easter Wednesday April 20th & Easter Thursday April 21st
Article 3
Quit Being What You Were! Start Being What You Can Be!
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Article 3
Quit Being What You Were! Start Being What You Can Be!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Stuck in the Rut!
Most people are stuck in a rut! They want to be different. They are not really happy being what they are like. They see the need for change. They would like to change. Yet they do not change. Their life suffers as a consequence―and their eternal life also risks suffering as a consequence!
God tells us, through Holy Scripture, that we must stop living the way we like to live and start living the way God wants us to live: “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12). The man who had been sick for 38 years, was cured by Our Lord, who told him: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). Our Lord calls Zacheus, the chief publican, to change his ways: “There was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. Jesus walked through Jericho and he sought to see who Jesus was, but he could not see because of the crowd, because he was low of stature [a small man]. And running ahead, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, so that he might see Him―for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him: ‘Zacheus, make haste and come down! For this day I must abide in thy house!’ And he made haste and came down; and received Him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, saying, that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: ‘Behold, Lord! Half of my goods I will give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of anything, I will restore to him fourfold!’ Jesus said to him: ‘This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham! For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!’” (Luke 19:1-10). Zacheus saw the need for change and went ahead and changed his life!
A similar change of life occurred in the life of Saul―who was become St. Paul. You could say that Saul was anti-Christ, he was opposed to Christ and Christians. Not only did Saul witness the murder of Stephen, the first Christian killed for his belief in Jesus Christ, he also wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death. Saul later persecuted and ravaged the Church, entering the homes of believers and committing them to prison. Saul’s anti-Christian zeal motivated him not only to arrest and imprison male Christians (the “ringleaders”) but to lock up female believers as well (Acts 8:3). While on his way to Damascus to arrest and extradite Christians back to Jerusalem, Saul was confronted by the very One whom he was persecuting (Acts 9:3-9; 22:6-11; 26:12-18). What followed was one of the most dramatic conversions in church history. Saul of Tarsus became the apostle Paul, an ardent missionary to an unbelieving world and a fine example of faithful service in the face of fierce persecution (Acts 14:19; 16:22-24; 2 Corinthians 11:25-26).
Stop and Start!
Our Lord tells the rich young man to stop his life of pleasure, to sell what he has and give the money to the poor and then to start a new life by following Christ! Yet the rich young man could not bear the thought of abandoning his riches and went away sad―refusing to follow Jesus: “And behold, a certain rich young man asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus―seeing him become sorrowful―said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). The rich young man did not want to stop his life of riches. He had hoped to keep his riches AND follow Christ. Our Lord pointed out to him that this was not perfection, but imperfection. He expected more from the rich young man, but the man refused to give Our Lord what He wanted.
Unfortunately, most people are like the rich young man―they are too attached to the world to give it up and follow Christ. When “push-comes-to-shove”, they love the world more than Christ; they show more enthusiasm for the world than Christ; they give far more hours to the world than they do to Christ!
On the other hand, the fishermen―Peter, Andrew, James and John―abandoned their business to follow Christ when called: “And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea―for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets―and He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him!” (Matthew 4:18-22).
Holy Scripture further adds the following command: “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above―not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God! When Christ shall appear―who is your life―then you also shall appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore your members―which are upon the Earth―from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief―in which you also walked for some time, when you lived in them. But now, all of you, put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Do not lie one to another! Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him [God] that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Mary Magdalen Arose to a New Life
We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
Mary was a passionate woman: passionate in sin; passionate in her repentance; passionate in hearing the Word of God. By piecing together the different Gospels (Luke 7:36-50; 8:1-2; Matthew 26:6-11; Mark 14:1-9; 16:9; John 11:1-2), we find that Mary Magdalen was the same Mary as the sister of Martha and Lazarus―that she was a great sinner and that Jesus cast out seven devils from her. In other words, she was in one hell of a mess! Yet she changed her life and became a great saint! Pope St. Gregory I (Gregory the Great), writes:
“She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord's feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer's feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance … Mary Magdalen, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, through love of the truth, washed away in her tears the defilement of her sins, and the words of the Truth are fulfilled which He spoke: ‘Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much!’ She, who had remained chilly in sin, became fiery through love. When even His disciples went away again unto their own home, Mary still stood outside at the sepulcher of Christ, weeping. She sought Him whom her soul loved, but she found Him not. She searched for Him with tears; she yearned with strong desire for Him who, she believed, had been taken away. And thus it befell her, that being the only one who had remained to seek Him, she was the only one that saw Him. It is the truth that the backbone of a good work is perseverance” (Pope St. Gregory I, homily 33 & homily 25).
She―who had sinned much―was forgiven much, because she loved much: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” said Jesus (Luke 7:47). The greatest sinners have the greatest debts and so, in justice, to be able to pay those debts, they should become the greatest saints. We see this in the case of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Paul of Tarsus and a host of other “sinner-saints”. Let us look at some of the other big sinners―“rising out of the ashes” of sin―to become great saints. For the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and great virtues of holiness.
St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
St. Augustine: Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone, was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theatre. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father who looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished, for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled round me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery.
Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity.
Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women.
He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism.
Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men.
When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely.
Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest.
As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick.
Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Jonas Finally Changed His Mind
Jonas is an Old Testament encouragement to all of us! When initially commanded by God to go and preach penance to the sinful inhabitants of Ninive, Jonas rebelled and went in the opposite direction―which is what most Catholics tend to do! Yet―as was the case in the conversion of St. Paul, where God blinded him―God is pretty adept at “turning-the-screw” or “twisting-the-arm”―in this case, God besieges Jonas’ “escape boat” with a terrible storm and has Jonas thrown overboard and then swallowed by a whale―which finally breaks the stubborn will of Jonas:
“The word of the Lord came to Jonas, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it―for the wickedness thereof is come up before Me!’ And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis away from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis. He paid the fare and went down into the ship, to go to Tharsis away from the face of the Lord. But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken. And the sailors were afraid and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares, that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them. Jonas went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep. And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him: ‘Why art thou fast asleep? Rise up! Call upon thy God, so that God will think of us, that we may not perish!’
“And everyone said to his fellow: ‘Come, and let us cast lots, so that we may know why this evil is upon us!’ And they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonas. And they said to him: ‘Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us! What is thy business? From what country art thou? And where goest thou? Or of what people art thou?’ And Jonas said to them: ‘I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of Heaven!’ And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ ― for the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord, because he had told them. And they said to him: ‘What shall we do to thee, so that the sea may be calm to us?’ ― for the sea flowed and swelled. And he said to them: ‘Take me up and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you! For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you!’ And the men rowed hard to return to land, but they were not able―because the sea tossed and swelled upon them. And they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood! For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee!’ And they took Jonas and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.
“Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And Jonas prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish. And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited out Jonas upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city! And preach in it the preaching that I bid thee!’ And Jonas arose and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonas 1:1 to 3:3).
What will it take to make us change? What kind of “arm-twisting” or “turning-the-screw” must God do in order to make us quit our lukewarm, comfortable, self-centered, worldly life and start becoming what He expects us to be?
Most people are stuck in a rut! They want to be different. They are not really happy being what they are like. They see the need for change. They would like to change. Yet they do not change. Their life suffers as a consequence―and their eternal life also risks suffering as a consequence!
God tells us, through Holy Scripture, that we must stop living the way we like to live and start living the way God wants us to live: “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12). The man who had been sick for 38 years, was cured by Our Lord, who told him: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). Our Lord calls Zacheus, the chief publican, to change his ways: “There was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. Jesus walked through Jericho and he sought to see who Jesus was, but he could not see because of the crowd, because he was low of stature [a small man]. And running ahead, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, so that he might see Him―for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him: ‘Zacheus, make haste and come down! For this day I must abide in thy house!’ And he made haste and came down; and received Him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, saying, that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: ‘Behold, Lord! Half of my goods I will give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of anything, I will restore to him fourfold!’ Jesus said to him: ‘This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham! For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!’” (Luke 19:1-10). Zacheus saw the need for change and went ahead and changed his life!
A similar change of life occurred in the life of Saul―who was become St. Paul. You could say that Saul was anti-Christ, he was opposed to Christ and Christians. Not only did Saul witness the murder of Stephen, the first Christian killed for his belief in Jesus Christ, he also wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death. Saul later persecuted and ravaged the Church, entering the homes of believers and committing them to prison. Saul’s anti-Christian zeal motivated him not only to arrest and imprison male Christians (the “ringleaders”) but to lock up female believers as well (Acts 8:3). While on his way to Damascus to arrest and extradite Christians back to Jerusalem, Saul was confronted by the very One whom he was persecuting (Acts 9:3-9; 22:6-11; 26:12-18). What followed was one of the most dramatic conversions in church history. Saul of Tarsus became the apostle Paul, an ardent missionary to an unbelieving world and a fine example of faithful service in the face of fierce persecution (Acts 14:19; 16:22-24; 2 Corinthians 11:25-26).
Stop and Start!
Our Lord tells the rich young man to stop his life of pleasure, to sell what he has and give the money to the poor and then to start a new life by following Christ! Yet the rich young man could not bear the thought of abandoning his riches and went away sad―refusing to follow Jesus: “And behold, a certain rich young man asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus―seeing him become sorrowful―said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). The rich young man did not want to stop his life of riches. He had hoped to keep his riches AND follow Christ. Our Lord pointed out to him that this was not perfection, but imperfection. He expected more from the rich young man, but the man refused to give Our Lord what He wanted.
Unfortunately, most people are like the rich young man―they are too attached to the world to give it up and follow Christ. When “push-comes-to-shove”, they love the world more than Christ; they show more enthusiasm for the world than Christ; they give far more hours to the world than they do to Christ!
On the other hand, the fishermen―Peter, Andrew, James and John―abandoned their business to follow Christ when called: “And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea―for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets―and He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him!” (Matthew 4:18-22).
Holy Scripture further adds the following command: “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above―not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God! When Christ shall appear―who is your life―then you also shall appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore your members―which are upon the Earth―from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief―in which you also walked for some time, when you lived in them. But now, all of you, put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Do not lie one to another! Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him [God] that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Mary Magdalen Arose to a New Life
We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
Mary was a passionate woman: passionate in sin; passionate in her repentance; passionate in hearing the Word of God. By piecing together the different Gospels (Luke 7:36-50; 8:1-2; Matthew 26:6-11; Mark 14:1-9; 16:9; John 11:1-2), we find that Mary Magdalen was the same Mary as the sister of Martha and Lazarus―that she was a great sinner and that Jesus cast out seven devils from her. In other words, she was in one hell of a mess! Yet she changed her life and became a great saint! Pope St. Gregory I (Gregory the Great), writes:
“She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord's feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer's feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance … Mary Magdalen, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, through love of the truth, washed away in her tears the defilement of her sins, and the words of the Truth are fulfilled which He spoke: ‘Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much!’ She, who had remained chilly in sin, became fiery through love. When even His disciples went away again unto their own home, Mary still stood outside at the sepulcher of Christ, weeping. She sought Him whom her soul loved, but she found Him not. She searched for Him with tears; she yearned with strong desire for Him who, she believed, had been taken away. And thus it befell her, that being the only one who had remained to seek Him, she was the only one that saw Him. It is the truth that the backbone of a good work is perseverance” (Pope St. Gregory I, homily 33 & homily 25).
She―who had sinned much―was forgiven much, because she loved much: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” said Jesus (Luke 7:47). The greatest sinners have the greatest debts and so, in justice, to be able to pay those debts, they should become the greatest saints. We see this in the case of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Paul of Tarsus and a host of other “sinner-saints”. Let us look at some of the other big sinners―“rising out of the ashes” of sin―to become great saints. For the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and great virtues of holiness.
St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
St. Augustine: Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone, was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theatre. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father who looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished, for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled round me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery.
Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity.
Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women.
He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism.
Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men.
When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely.
Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest.
As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick.
Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Jonas Finally Changed His Mind
Jonas is an Old Testament encouragement to all of us! When initially commanded by God to go and preach penance to the sinful inhabitants of Ninive, Jonas rebelled and went in the opposite direction―which is what most Catholics tend to do! Yet―as was the case in the conversion of St. Paul, where God blinded him―God is pretty adept at “turning-the-screw” or “twisting-the-arm”―in this case, God besieges Jonas’ “escape boat” with a terrible storm and has Jonas thrown overboard and then swallowed by a whale―which finally breaks the stubborn will of Jonas:
“The word of the Lord came to Jonas, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it―for the wickedness thereof is come up before Me!’ And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis away from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis. He paid the fare and went down into the ship, to go to Tharsis away from the face of the Lord. But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken. And the sailors were afraid and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares, that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them. Jonas went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep. And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him: ‘Why art thou fast asleep? Rise up! Call upon thy God, so that God will think of us, that we may not perish!’
“And everyone said to his fellow: ‘Come, and let us cast lots, so that we may know why this evil is upon us!’ And they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonas. And they said to him: ‘Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us! What is thy business? From what country art thou? And where goest thou? Or of what people art thou?’ And Jonas said to them: ‘I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of Heaven!’ And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ ― for the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord, because he had told them. And they said to him: ‘What shall we do to thee, so that the sea may be calm to us?’ ― for the sea flowed and swelled. And he said to them: ‘Take me up and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you! For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you!’ And the men rowed hard to return to land, but they were not able―because the sea tossed and swelled upon them. And they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood! For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee!’ And they took Jonas and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.
“Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And Jonas prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish. And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited out Jonas upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city! And preach in it the preaching that I bid thee!’ And Jonas arose and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonas 1:1 to 3:3).
What will it take to make us change? What kind of “arm-twisting” or “turning-the-screw” must God do in order to make us quit our lukewarm, comfortable, self-centered, worldly life and start becoming what He expects us to be?
Easter Tuesday April 19th
Article 2
Rise to a New Life! Die to the Past!
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Article 2
Rise to a New Life! Die to the Past!
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Which Turning Will You Take at the Easter Crossroads?
Now that Lent is over and Easter is here―what road will you take? Will you, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, walk away from Jerusalem? Or will you stay where you are? In other words, there are those who walk away from the progress they may have made during Lent, and walk back into their old habits. Whereas there are some―admittedly few―who not only maintain the progress that they have made, but also build upon it.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on Earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days: “And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence. They just don’t get it! They do not understand! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Christ Rises With His Wounds
The second point that is worth mentioning and imprinting upon our minds and hearts, is the fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible. He could have healed Himself totally, but He chose to keep His wounds like a stigmata.
He also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion. He doesn’t want to be remembered so much for His resurrection, as He wants to be remembered for His Passion and Death. It was the latter that redeemed us and brought about the defeat of the devil, sin and death.
We have arrived at the crossroads of Lent and Easter―yet that does not mean that we must now cast the cross off at the side of the road! Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Now that Lent is over and Easter is here―what road will you take? Will you, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, walk away from Jerusalem? Or will you stay where you are? In other words, there are those who walk away from the progress they may have made during Lent, and walk back into their old habits. Whereas there are some―admittedly few―who not only maintain the progress that they have made, but also build upon it.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on Earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days: “And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence. They just don’t get it! They do not understand! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Christ Rises With His Wounds
The second point that is worth mentioning and imprinting upon our minds and hearts, is the fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible. He could have healed Himself totally, but He chose to keep His wounds like a stigmata.
He also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion. He doesn’t want to be remembered so much for His resurrection, as He wants to be remembered for His Passion and Death. It was the latter that redeemed us and brought about the defeat of the devil, sin and death.
We have arrived at the crossroads of Lent and Easter―yet that does not mean that we must now cast the cross off at the side of the road! Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Easter Sunday April 17th
Article 1
Eat Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 1
Eat Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Multiform Victory of Christ
Attacked from all sides—the Sadducees (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus looked a failure and a loser as He died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory over his murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love no man hath than he who lay down his life for his friends.”
Victory over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory over death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection.
Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory over the devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight of His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory over the world
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean.
Saints Sing of Victory!
In one of his Easter homilies, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom (347-407), sings of the victory brought about by Christ's resurrection from the dead:
“Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour―let them receive their due reward! If any have come after the third hour―let him with gratitude join in the Feast! And he that arrived after the sixth hour―let him not doubt and be afraid of being too late―for he, too, shall sustain no loss! And if any delayed until the ninth hour―let him not hesitate; but let him come too! And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour―let him not be afraid by reason of his delay!
“For the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows. He rewards the one and is generous to the other. He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor. The deed He honors and the intention He commends. He repays the deed and praises the effort.
“Come―all of! Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! Enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last―will receive alike your reward. You rich and you poor―dance and rejoice together! You who are sober and you who are slothful―celebrate the day! You who have kept the fast and you who have not―rejoice today! The Table is richly loaded―enjoy its royal banquet! The calf is a fatted one―let no one go away hungry! All of you enjoy the banquet and partake of the cup of Faith! All of you receive the riches of His goodness!
“Let no one grieve over his poverty―for the universal kingdom has been revealed! Let no one weep over his sins and mourn that he has fallen again and again―for pardon and forgiveness have risen from the grave! Let no one fear death―for the death of our Savior has set us free! He has destroyed death by enduring it! He destroyed Hell when He descended into its kingdom! He has put it into an uproar and angered it―by allowing it to taste of His flesh!
“Isaias foresaw and foretold all this when he said: ‘You, O Hell, have been troubled and angered by encountering Him below!’ Hell was in an uproar and angered because it was frustrated and done away with! It was in an uproar and angered because it was mocked! It was in an uproar and angered, because its power was destroyed! It was in an uproar and angered, because it is annihilated and reduced to nothing! It was in an uproar and angered, for it was made captive! Hell took a body―and discovered God! It took Earth―and encountered Heaven! It took what it saw―and was overcome by what it did not see! It took what was visible, and was overcome by the invisible!
“O death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen and death is annihilated! Christ is risen and life is freed! Christ is risen, and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is risen and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead! For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep in death. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen!
Attacked from all sides—the Sadducees (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus looked a failure and a loser as He died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory over his murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love no man hath than he who lay down his life for his friends.”
Victory over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory over death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection.
Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory over the devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight of His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory over the world
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean.
Saints Sing of Victory!
In one of his Easter homilies, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom (347-407), sings of the victory brought about by Christ's resurrection from the dead:
“Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour―let them receive their due reward! If any have come after the third hour―let him with gratitude join in the Feast! And he that arrived after the sixth hour―let him not doubt and be afraid of being too late―for he, too, shall sustain no loss! And if any delayed until the ninth hour―let him not hesitate; but let him come too! And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour―let him not be afraid by reason of his delay!
“For the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows. He rewards the one and is generous to the other. He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor. The deed He honors and the intention He commends. He repays the deed and praises the effort.
“Come―all of! Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! Enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last―will receive alike your reward. You rich and you poor―dance and rejoice together! You who are sober and you who are slothful―celebrate the day! You who have kept the fast and you who have not―rejoice today! The Table is richly loaded―enjoy its royal banquet! The calf is a fatted one―let no one go away hungry! All of you enjoy the banquet and partake of the cup of Faith! All of you receive the riches of His goodness!
“Let no one grieve over his poverty―for the universal kingdom has been revealed! Let no one weep over his sins and mourn that he has fallen again and again―for pardon and forgiveness have risen from the grave! Let no one fear death―for the death of our Savior has set us free! He has destroyed death by enduring it! He destroyed Hell when He descended into its kingdom! He has put it into an uproar and angered it―by allowing it to taste of His flesh!
“Isaias foresaw and foretold all this when he said: ‘You, O Hell, have been troubled and angered by encountering Him below!’ Hell was in an uproar and angered because it was frustrated and done away with! It was in an uproar and angered because it was mocked! It was in an uproar and angered, because its power was destroyed! It was in an uproar and angered, because it is annihilated and reduced to nothing! It was in an uproar and angered, for it was made captive! Hell took a body―and discovered God! It took Earth―and encountered Heaven! It took what it saw―and was overcome by what it did not see! It took what was visible, and was overcome by the invisible!
“O death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen and death is annihilated! Christ is risen and life is freed! Christ is risen, and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is risen and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead! For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep in death. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen!
Holy Thursday April 14th
Article 30
Eat Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 30
Eat Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Too Fat on Earth!
The World Health Organization designated March 4th, 2022, as World Obesity Day. The World Health Organization reports that more than 1 billion people worldwide are obese – 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents and 39 million children. Since the world population is almost 8 billion―that means that 1 in 8 persons is obese.
In the USA, more than 1 in 3 persons is obese. Today, Americans eat 23% more calories than we did in 1970. The United States ranks 12th in the world for obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), almost 40% (4 in 10) of American adults age 20 and older were obese based on 2015-2016 data. 38% of men and 41% of women are considered to be obese in the United States. This is twice as many as three decades ago. Approximately 15% of children and teens are overweight―three times as many as there were in the 1980s.
In addition to the 40% obese American adults, you have an extra 33% of adults of American adults who are overweight. If you count both the overweight Americans and the obese Americans, then you have a total of around 73% (more than 7 out of 10) of American adults who are either overweight or obese!
As regards American children, around 17% of American children, from ages 2 to 19, have obesity. That’s more than 12.7 million American children. One in 8 preschoolers has obesity. According to another survey by the National Center for Health Statistics, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, among children and adolescents ages 2 to 19, about 1 in 6 (16.1%) are overweight; almost 1 in 5 (19.3%) have obesity, and about 1 in 16 (6.1%) have severe obesity. All in all, you can say that over 40% of children are either overweight, obese, or severely obese.
Too Fat for Heaven?
Is all of this gluttony― Americans eat 23% more calories today than in 1970―an obstacle to getting into Heaven? After all, isn’t gluttony a sin? Did Our Lord not say: “Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat! Is not the life more than the meat?” (Matthew 6:25). “Jesus spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns and will build bigger ones; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”’” (Luke 12:16-21).
Holy Scripture adds: “Do not become idolaters, as some of them were―as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ―whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
Our Lord points out that the gate to Heaven is a “narrow” gate! We must presume that it must be somewhat difficult for a fat person to wiggle through a narrow gate! “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24).
In a similar vein you could say that Our Lord condemns those who “get fat” on money and wealth. He warns: “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 18:18-25). Those words conjure up the image of a big-fat camel finding it difficult or even impossible to pass through the “eye of a needle”.
There is some argument over what Our Lord actually meant by “camel” and “eye of a needle” ― St. Cyril of Alexandria claimed that the use of the word “camel” came about as a Greek typo made by a Scripture scribe, where the word kamêlos (meaning “camel”) was written in place of kamilos (meaning “rope” or “cable”). Another interpretation of Our Lord’s words insists that the “needle” Jesus was speaking of was the Needle Gate, supposedly a low and narrow nightfall security entrance found in the wall surrounding Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. It was purposely small and narrow for security reasons. and a merchant could only take his camel through the gate by stripping-off any saddles, merchandise, or packs and then making the camel crawl through on its knees. Thus a rich man would need to free himself of his possessions in order to enter Heaven. Other biblical scholars insist that in the three Gospels that mention the “eye of a needle” (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18), each author uses slightly different words for this phrase. Matthew and Mark the word for needle that refers specifically to a tailor’s needle. Luke uses the word for a surgeon’s needle, rather than the word for a tailor’s needle―which is probably down to the fact the Luke was also a physician. All of this is merely academic―for whichever argument you prefer to accept, the point that Our Lord is making still stands ― those who “get fat” on money, wealth and possessions will find it incredibly difficult to “squeeze” through Heaven’s “narrow gate”!
God the Father is God the Feeder
Any father worthy of the name is by nature a provider for his family―a feeder of his family. He would “put food on the table”. In ancient times―and still in some places today―the father would be the hunter who would bring home the fruits of his hunting. Modern man is mainly limited to hunting along the shelves in stores!
God the Father is also God the Feeder―and this is in more than just one way. When God created the world, He also created all the things that we could eat until the end of the world. He created trees, plants, seeds, vegetables, fruits, etc. He also created animals and fishes that would also supply us with food. He created and provided the soil and water and heat that all these things need to live and grow. We still eat today what God initially created―even though it seems that we too much of it, thereby becoming overweight or obese!
Yet we should not become overly preoccupied with all this material food available to us―as Jesus Himself said: “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat! Is not the life more than the meat? Behold the birds of the air―for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33).
God miraculously fed the Chosen People in the desert wilderness with manna―for FORTY YEARS! God was not just feeding a handful of people each day―the Chosen People numbered anywhere from 3 million to 6 million! Go and try feeding millions of people each and every day for 40 years and see how you get on! Yet God did not feed with excess food―only enough to get by on for one day! God was not encouraging gluttony!
God also miraculously cared for individuals as well as millions. In the case of the prophet Elias we read: “And the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: ‘Get thee hence, and go towards the east and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith―which is over against the Jordan―and there thou shalt drink of the torrent, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there!’ So Elias went and did according to the word of the Lord. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank of the torrent. But, after some time, the torrent was dried up, for it had not rained upon the earth. Then the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there―for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee!’ He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: ‘Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink!’ And when she was going to fetch it he called after her, saying: ‘Bring me also a morsel of bread!’ And she answered: ‘As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil! Behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die!’ And Elias said to her: ‘Fear not, but go, and do as thou hast said! But first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me―and, afterwards, make some for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: “The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the pot of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the Earth!”’ She went and did according to the word of Elias―and he ate, and she, and her house. And, from that day, the pot of meal wasted not, and the pot of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke through Elias” (3 Kings 17:2-16).
Our Lord Himself―on two different occasions―miraculously fed 4,000 and 5,000. Remember―when the Bible speaks about numbers of people, it is referring to men-folk only! So those numbers of 4,000 and 5,000 could easily be inflated to over 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000! Add to those miraculous the miracle of changing pots of water into pots of wine at the marriage feast at Cana!
You Are What You Eat!
We have all heard of the saying: “You are what you eat!” Eat man-made junk food―and you will become sick! Eat God-made food―and you will be healthy! Our Lord adds: “Not in bread alone doth man live―but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) ― whereby Our Lord is quoting the Old Testament verse: “God afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food―which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Food from Heaven―Food for Heaven
Our Lord again draws upon this analogy of eating something spiritual for life, when He speaks of Himself being the “Bread of Life” after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand: “Jesus said to them: ‘You seek Me, not because you have seen miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled! Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endures unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you!’
“They said therefore to Him: ‘What sign therefore dost thou show, that we may see and may believe Thee? What sign dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: “He gave them bread from Heaven to eat!”’
“Then Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, Moses gave you not bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true Bread from Heaven! For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world!’
“They said therefore unto Him: ‘Lord, give us always this Bread!’
“And Jesus said to them: ‘I am the Bread of life! He that comes to Me shall not hunger; and he that believes in Me shall never thirst!’
“The Jews therefore murmured at Him, because He had said: ‘I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven!’
“Jesus therefore answered and said to them: ‘Murmur not among yourselves! … I am the Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven―that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven! If any man eat of this Bread―he shall live for ever―and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh, for the life of the world!’
“The Jews therefore argued among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’
“Then Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, has everlasting life and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed! And My Blood is drink indeed! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abided in Me, and I in him! He that eats Me, the same also shall live by Me! This is the Bread that came down from Heaven―not as your fathers did eat manna and are now dead―he that eats this bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:26-59).
Well, you can imagine the uproar Our Lord caused by speaking in this manner. The result was such that He lost many followers: “Many, therefore, of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! Who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Does this scandalize you?’ After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve [Apostles]: ‘Will you also go away?’ And Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life! And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God!’” (John 6:61-70).
The Bread of Life
The “Bread of Life” is, of course, the Holy Eucharist―one of Seven Sacraments and our greatest Treasure here on Earth! Or is it? It seems like most people would prefer a great meal rather than the greatest Treasure! The restaurants and shops are full of people paying “big money” in buying and eating their favorite foods―but the Catholic churches, that give the “Bread of Life” free-of-charge, are more and more empty with each passing year. “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving Day in the USA) is millions of times more popular than Holy Thursday during Holy Week. People have “lost their appetite” for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―which stand at the very center of our Faith!
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, in his little, but wonderful book, The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, says of the Mass: “Treasures, however great and precious, are never appreciated until examined, counted over, and summed up. Hence it is, dear reader, that by many there is formed no due estimate of the Holy and awful Sacrifice of the Mass. Though the greatest treasure which glorifies and enriches the Church of God, it is still a hidden treasure, and known to few.”
Sadly, that is the case with an ever increasing number of people today―either explicitly or at least implicitly. Recent statistics show that over 90% of graduates will cease to practicing their Faith on a regular basis once their schooling is over. In other words, once school is finished, God is finished (unless they live at home and are made to practice by their parents). They show more appetite for going to a party, or the movies, or a sports game, or a restaurant, than the distaste that they have when “forced” to “swallow” the Holy Mass.
But it is not just youngsters that have “lost their appetite” for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist; the oldsters are at it too! Less than 20% of Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass. Most (90%) of the weekly Mass goers (which is less than 20%) believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; while among those who only attend a few times a year, less than 40% believe in the Real Presence. The words of Jesus come hauntingly back to mind: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8), “and because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
What Meat Do We Labor For?
What meat do we labor for? The turkey of this world, or the meat of Heaven. Our Lord said: “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting!” (John 6:27). What is that meat? “Jesus said to them: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work!’” (John 4:34). Of course we have to work, but we do not live to eat, but eat merely to live. Sadly, the opposite is true today, for the world is full of persons “whose God is their belly; and who mind earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19). Too much emphasis is placed on busying ourselves with the things of this world, and not enough emphasis on busying ourselves with the Word of God—whether it be the Word made flesh, as in the Holy Eucharist, or in the Word written and recorded in Holy Scripture.
Jesus told us: “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you” (John 6:27). For “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4), and Jesus is “the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1; 1:14).
There is a food that is far more nutritious and tastier that any earthly food: the Word of God and the Word made flesh in the Holy Eucharist. “O taste and see that the Lord is sweet” (Psalm 33:9). For this sugar-loving generation that we are, that should be sufficient an advertisement to have everyone scurrying for a taste!
Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist. This is a dogma of the Catholic Church, a belief which binds under pain of mortal sin. The Holy Eucharist is the most important Sacrament of the Church, but never has it been as important as in these days of impending apostasy. Notice the Eucharistic adoration that took place at Fatima, before Our Lady even appeared. Notice how Divine Providence reserved the prodigious scientific discoveries about the Holy Eucharist from the Miracle of Lanziano Italy, to be uncovered in 1969/1970 at a time when God knew that belief in the Eucharistic would dwindle in the world. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith; yet by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times.
Pope Pius XII: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
Listen to Your Mother!
The following words are taken from The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, and they are Our Lady’s comments upon the need to detach and distance ourselves from the world and worldliness. For our own worldly times, these medicinal words may seem strong, perhaps even too demanding, but at the end of the day, we must remember that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways. We could all do with a healthy medicinal dose of the detachment that Our Lady speaks of in these passages!
“From this day on, I wish that you embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world. And tell me if, in exchange for this forgetfulness and scorn of the world, why should you not buy so cheaply what is worth an infinite price? What can the world give you―even when it esteems you and exalts you most? And what do you lose, if you despise it? Is its favor not all vanity and deceit? Is it not all a fleeting and momentary shadow, which eludes the grasp of those that chase after it? Even if you had all worldly advantage in your possession―what great feat would it be to despise it as of no value? Consider how little you do in rejecting all of it for the love of God, love of me, and that of the holy angels. And if the world does not neglect you as much as you should desire, you should, on your own behalf, despise it, in order to remain free and unhampered to enjoy to the full extent the highest Good with the plenitude of His most delightful love and communications.
“My most holy Son sought destitution and poverty, not because He had any need of them for bringing the practice of virtues to the highest perfection, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God. If men would keep their heart disengaged and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and Redeemer.
“Learn from my example the reverence, fear and respect, with which you must treat Him, remembering how I acted, when I held Him in my arms; follow my example, whenever you receive Him in your heart in the venerable Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, wherein is contained the same God-Man, Who was born of my womb. In this Holy Sacrament you receive Him and possess Him just as really, and He remains in you just as actually, as I possessed Him and conversed with Him, although in another manner.
“I desire that you go even to extremes in this holy reverence and fear; and I wish that you take notice and be convinced, that in entering into your heart in the Holy Sacrament, your God exhorts you in the same words, which you have recorded as spoken to me: become like unto me. His coming down from Heaven onto the Earth, His being born in humility and poverty, His living and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its deceits; the knowledge, which you have received concerning His conduct and which you have penetrated so deeply by divine intelligence: all these things should be for you like living voices, which you must heed and inscribe into the interior of your heart.”
The words Our Lady uses and the lifestyle she recommends will make many recoil in horror or distaste: “embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world ... forgetfulness and scorn of the world ... heart disengaged ...What can the world give you ... and what do you lose, if you despise it? Is its favor not all vanity and deceit? ... love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride ... Who will dare to love the vanity and pride ... seek nothing, or engage yourself with nothing except what can help you to withdraw and detach you from the world and its inhabitants.”
Venerable Edel Quinn and the Holy Eucharist
The Venerable Edel Quinn (1907-1944), was a young Irish girl who was one of the jewels of the Legion of Mary. Edel Quinn felt a call to religious life at a young age. She wished to join the Poor Clares but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. After spending eighteen months in a sanatorium, her condition unchanged, she decided to become active in the Legion of Mary, which she joined in Dublin at age 20. She gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin. In 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, Quinn became a Legion of Mary Envoy, a very active missionary to East and Central Africa, departing in December 1936 for Mombasa. By the outbreak of the Second World War, she was working as far away as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius.
Edel Quinn had an extraordinary devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Anselm Moynihan O.P., who was the very dedicated vice-postulator for her Cause wrote: “To be deprived of Communion was one of the greatest sufferings she could conceive. At one period in Africa she was a patient in a non-Catholic sanatorium and was able to receive Holy Communion only once a week. She said later that the privation of daily Communion gave her an experience of what Hell must be like.” In her own words she says: “Without the Eucharist what a desolation life would be... Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift... We want to be united with Him, to give ourselves to Him utterly. Our Faith tells us He is in the Eucharist; let us seek Him there.” Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of the Legion of Mary’s spirituality. Is devotion to the Holy Eucharist a bright jewel in your family life?
Time After Communion is Special
There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated. The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
Thanksgiving After Mass a Must
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence, these people wrongly and falsely argue, that it is not liturgical.
In America we have not seen much speculative defense of this aberration; but in practice how many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal colloquies are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ ... for the consolation of conversing with Him, also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
The World Health Organization designated March 4th, 2022, as World Obesity Day. The World Health Organization reports that more than 1 billion people worldwide are obese – 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents and 39 million children. Since the world population is almost 8 billion―that means that 1 in 8 persons is obese.
In the USA, more than 1 in 3 persons is obese. Today, Americans eat 23% more calories than we did in 1970. The United States ranks 12th in the world for obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), almost 40% (4 in 10) of American adults age 20 and older were obese based on 2015-2016 data. 38% of men and 41% of women are considered to be obese in the United States. This is twice as many as three decades ago. Approximately 15% of children and teens are overweight―three times as many as there were in the 1980s.
In addition to the 40% obese American adults, you have an extra 33% of adults of American adults who are overweight. If you count both the overweight Americans and the obese Americans, then you have a total of around 73% (more than 7 out of 10) of American adults who are either overweight or obese!
As regards American children, around 17% of American children, from ages 2 to 19, have obesity. That’s more than 12.7 million American children. One in 8 preschoolers has obesity. According to another survey by the National Center for Health Statistics, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, among children and adolescents ages 2 to 19, about 1 in 6 (16.1%) are overweight; almost 1 in 5 (19.3%) have obesity, and about 1 in 16 (6.1%) have severe obesity. All in all, you can say that over 40% of children are either overweight, obese, or severely obese.
Too Fat for Heaven?
Is all of this gluttony― Americans eat 23% more calories today than in 1970―an obstacle to getting into Heaven? After all, isn’t gluttony a sin? Did Our Lord not say: “Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat! Is not the life more than the meat?” (Matthew 6:25). “Jesus spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns and will build bigger ones; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”’” (Luke 12:16-21).
Holy Scripture adds: “Do not become idolaters, as some of them were―as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ―whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
Our Lord points out that the gate to Heaven is a “narrow” gate! We must presume that it must be somewhat difficult for a fat person to wiggle through a narrow gate! “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24).
In a similar vein you could say that Our Lord condemns those who “get fat” on money and wealth. He warns: “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 18:18-25). Those words conjure up the image of a big-fat camel finding it difficult or even impossible to pass through the “eye of a needle”.
There is some argument over what Our Lord actually meant by “camel” and “eye of a needle” ― St. Cyril of Alexandria claimed that the use of the word “camel” came about as a Greek typo made by a Scripture scribe, where the word kamêlos (meaning “camel”) was written in place of kamilos (meaning “rope” or “cable”). Another interpretation of Our Lord’s words insists that the “needle” Jesus was speaking of was the Needle Gate, supposedly a low and narrow nightfall security entrance found in the wall surrounding Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. It was purposely small and narrow for security reasons. and a merchant could only take his camel through the gate by stripping-off any saddles, merchandise, or packs and then making the camel crawl through on its knees. Thus a rich man would need to free himself of his possessions in order to enter Heaven. Other biblical scholars insist that in the three Gospels that mention the “eye of a needle” (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18), each author uses slightly different words for this phrase. Matthew and Mark the word for needle that refers specifically to a tailor’s needle. Luke uses the word for a surgeon’s needle, rather than the word for a tailor’s needle―which is probably down to the fact the Luke was also a physician. All of this is merely academic―for whichever argument you prefer to accept, the point that Our Lord is making still stands ― those who “get fat” on money, wealth and possessions will find it incredibly difficult to “squeeze” through Heaven’s “narrow gate”!
God the Father is God the Feeder
Any father worthy of the name is by nature a provider for his family―a feeder of his family. He would “put food on the table”. In ancient times―and still in some places today―the father would be the hunter who would bring home the fruits of his hunting. Modern man is mainly limited to hunting along the shelves in stores!
God the Father is also God the Feeder―and this is in more than just one way. When God created the world, He also created all the things that we could eat until the end of the world. He created trees, plants, seeds, vegetables, fruits, etc. He also created animals and fishes that would also supply us with food. He created and provided the soil and water and heat that all these things need to live and grow. We still eat today what God initially created―even though it seems that we too much of it, thereby becoming overweight or obese!
Yet we should not become overly preoccupied with all this material food available to us―as Jesus Himself said: “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat! Is not the life more than the meat? Behold the birds of the air―for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33).
God miraculously fed the Chosen People in the desert wilderness with manna―for FORTY YEARS! God was not just feeding a handful of people each day―the Chosen People numbered anywhere from 3 million to 6 million! Go and try feeding millions of people each and every day for 40 years and see how you get on! Yet God did not feed with excess food―only enough to get by on for one day! God was not encouraging gluttony!
God also miraculously cared for individuals as well as millions. In the case of the prophet Elias we read: “And the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: ‘Get thee hence, and go towards the east and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith―which is over against the Jordan―and there thou shalt drink of the torrent, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there!’ So Elias went and did according to the word of the Lord. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank of the torrent. But, after some time, the torrent was dried up, for it had not rained upon the earth. Then the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there―for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee!’ He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: ‘Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink!’ And when she was going to fetch it he called after her, saying: ‘Bring me also a morsel of bread!’ And she answered: ‘As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil! Behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die!’ And Elias said to her: ‘Fear not, but go, and do as thou hast said! But first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me―and, afterwards, make some for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: “The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the pot of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the Earth!”’ She went and did according to the word of Elias―and he ate, and she, and her house. And, from that day, the pot of meal wasted not, and the pot of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke through Elias” (3 Kings 17:2-16).
Our Lord Himself―on two different occasions―miraculously fed 4,000 and 5,000. Remember―when the Bible speaks about numbers of people, it is referring to men-folk only! So those numbers of 4,000 and 5,000 could easily be inflated to over 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000! Add to those miraculous the miracle of changing pots of water into pots of wine at the marriage feast at Cana!
You Are What You Eat!
We have all heard of the saying: “You are what you eat!” Eat man-made junk food―and you will become sick! Eat God-made food―and you will be healthy! Our Lord adds: “Not in bread alone doth man live―but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) ― whereby Our Lord is quoting the Old Testament verse: “God afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food―which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Food from Heaven―Food for Heaven
Our Lord again draws upon this analogy of eating something spiritual for life, when He speaks of Himself being the “Bread of Life” after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand: “Jesus said to them: ‘You seek Me, not because you have seen miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled! Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endures unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you!’
“They said therefore to Him: ‘What sign therefore dost thou show, that we may see and may believe Thee? What sign dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: “He gave them bread from Heaven to eat!”’
“Then Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, Moses gave you not bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true Bread from Heaven! For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world!’
“They said therefore unto Him: ‘Lord, give us always this Bread!’
“And Jesus said to them: ‘I am the Bread of life! He that comes to Me shall not hunger; and he that believes in Me shall never thirst!’
“The Jews therefore murmured at Him, because He had said: ‘I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven!’
“Jesus therefore answered and said to them: ‘Murmur not among yourselves! … I am the Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven―that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven! If any man eat of this Bread―he shall live for ever―and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh, for the life of the world!’
“The Jews therefore argued among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’
“Then Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, has everlasting life and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed! And My Blood is drink indeed! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abided in Me, and I in him! He that eats Me, the same also shall live by Me! This is the Bread that came down from Heaven―not as your fathers did eat manna and are now dead―he that eats this bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:26-59).
Well, you can imagine the uproar Our Lord caused by speaking in this manner. The result was such that He lost many followers: “Many, therefore, of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! Who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Does this scandalize you?’ After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve [Apostles]: ‘Will you also go away?’ And Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life! And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God!’” (John 6:61-70).
The Bread of Life
The “Bread of Life” is, of course, the Holy Eucharist―one of Seven Sacraments and our greatest Treasure here on Earth! Or is it? It seems like most people would prefer a great meal rather than the greatest Treasure! The restaurants and shops are full of people paying “big money” in buying and eating their favorite foods―but the Catholic churches, that give the “Bread of Life” free-of-charge, are more and more empty with each passing year. “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving Day in the USA) is millions of times more popular than Holy Thursday during Holy Week. People have “lost their appetite” for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―which stand at the very center of our Faith!
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, in his little, but wonderful book, The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, says of the Mass: “Treasures, however great and precious, are never appreciated until examined, counted over, and summed up. Hence it is, dear reader, that by many there is formed no due estimate of the Holy and awful Sacrifice of the Mass. Though the greatest treasure which glorifies and enriches the Church of God, it is still a hidden treasure, and known to few.”
Sadly, that is the case with an ever increasing number of people today―either explicitly or at least implicitly. Recent statistics show that over 90% of graduates will cease to practicing their Faith on a regular basis once their schooling is over. In other words, once school is finished, God is finished (unless they live at home and are made to practice by their parents). They show more appetite for going to a party, or the movies, or a sports game, or a restaurant, than the distaste that they have when “forced” to “swallow” the Holy Mass.
But it is not just youngsters that have “lost their appetite” for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist; the oldsters are at it too! Less than 20% of Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass. Most (90%) of the weekly Mass goers (which is less than 20%) believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; while among those who only attend a few times a year, less than 40% believe in the Real Presence. The words of Jesus come hauntingly back to mind: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8), “and because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
What Meat Do We Labor For?
What meat do we labor for? The turkey of this world, or the meat of Heaven. Our Lord said: “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting!” (John 6:27). What is that meat? “Jesus said to them: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work!’” (John 4:34). Of course we have to work, but we do not live to eat, but eat merely to live. Sadly, the opposite is true today, for the world is full of persons “whose God is their belly; and who mind earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19). Too much emphasis is placed on busying ourselves with the things of this world, and not enough emphasis on busying ourselves with the Word of God—whether it be the Word made flesh, as in the Holy Eucharist, or in the Word written and recorded in Holy Scripture.
Jesus told us: “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you” (John 6:27). For “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4), and Jesus is “the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1; 1:14).
There is a food that is far more nutritious and tastier that any earthly food: the Word of God and the Word made flesh in the Holy Eucharist. “O taste and see that the Lord is sweet” (Psalm 33:9). For this sugar-loving generation that we are, that should be sufficient an advertisement to have everyone scurrying for a taste!
Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist. This is a dogma of the Catholic Church, a belief which binds under pain of mortal sin. The Holy Eucharist is the most important Sacrament of the Church, but never has it been as important as in these days of impending apostasy. Notice the Eucharistic adoration that took place at Fatima, before Our Lady even appeared. Notice how Divine Providence reserved the prodigious scientific discoveries about the Holy Eucharist from the Miracle of Lanziano Italy, to be uncovered in 1969/1970 at a time when God knew that belief in the Eucharistic would dwindle in the world. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith; yet by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times.
Pope Pius XII: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
Listen to Your Mother!
The following words are taken from The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, and they are Our Lady’s comments upon the need to detach and distance ourselves from the world and worldliness. For our own worldly times, these medicinal words may seem strong, perhaps even too demanding, but at the end of the day, we must remember that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways. We could all do with a healthy medicinal dose of the detachment that Our Lady speaks of in these passages!
“From this day on, I wish that you embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world. And tell me if, in exchange for this forgetfulness and scorn of the world, why should you not buy so cheaply what is worth an infinite price? What can the world give you―even when it esteems you and exalts you most? And what do you lose, if you despise it? Is its favor not all vanity and deceit? Is it not all a fleeting and momentary shadow, which eludes the grasp of those that chase after it? Even if you had all worldly advantage in your possession―what great feat would it be to despise it as of no value? Consider how little you do in rejecting all of it for the love of God, love of me, and that of the holy angels. And if the world does not neglect you as much as you should desire, you should, on your own behalf, despise it, in order to remain free and unhampered to enjoy to the full extent the highest Good with the plenitude of His most delightful love and communications.
“My most holy Son sought destitution and poverty, not because He had any need of them for bringing the practice of virtues to the highest perfection, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God. If men would keep their heart disengaged and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and Redeemer.
“Learn from my example the reverence, fear and respect, with which you must treat Him, remembering how I acted, when I held Him in my arms; follow my example, whenever you receive Him in your heart in the venerable Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, wherein is contained the same God-Man, Who was born of my womb. In this Holy Sacrament you receive Him and possess Him just as really, and He remains in you just as actually, as I possessed Him and conversed with Him, although in another manner.
“I desire that you go even to extremes in this holy reverence and fear; and I wish that you take notice and be convinced, that in entering into your heart in the Holy Sacrament, your God exhorts you in the same words, which you have recorded as spoken to me: become like unto me. His coming down from Heaven onto the Earth, His being born in humility and poverty, His living and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its deceits; the knowledge, which you have received concerning His conduct and which you have penetrated so deeply by divine intelligence: all these things should be for you like living voices, which you must heed and inscribe into the interior of your heart.”
The words Our Lady uses and the lifestyle she recommends will make many recoil in horror or distaste: “embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world ... forgetfulness and scorn of the world ... heart disengaged ...What can the world give you ... and what do you lose, if you despise it? Is its favor not all vanity and deceit? ... love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride ... Who will dare to love the vanity and pride ... seek nothing, or engage yourself with nothing except what can help you to withdraw and detach you from the world and its inhabitants.”
Venerable Edel Quinn and the Holy Eucharist
The Venerable Edel Quinn (1907-1944), was a young Irish girl who was one of the jewels of the Legion of Mary. Edel Quinn felt a call to religious life at a young age. She wished to join the Poor Clares but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. After spending eighteen months in a sanatorium, her condition unchanged, she decided to become active in the Legion of Mary, which she joined in Dublin at age 20. She gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin. In 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, Quinn became a Legion of Mary Envoy, a very active missionary to East and Central Africa, departing in December 1936 for Mombasa. By the outbreak of the Second World War, she was working as far away as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius.
Edel Quinn had an extraordinary devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Anselm Moynihan O.P., who was the very dedicated vice-postulator for her Cause wrote: “To be deprived of Communion was one of the greatest sufferings she could conceive. At one period in Africa she was a patient in a non-Catholic sanatorium and was able to receive Holy Communion only once a week. She said later that the privation of daily Communion gave her an experience of what Hell must be like.” In her own words she says: “Without the Eucharist what a desolation life would be... Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift... We want to be united with Him, to give ourselves to Him utterly. Our Faith tells us He is in the Eucharist; let us seek Him there.” Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of the Legion of Mary’s spirituality. Is devotion to the Holy Eucharist a bright jewel in your family life?
Time After Communion is Special
There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated. The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
Thanksgiving After Mass a Must
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence, these people wrongly and falsely argue, that it is not liturgical.
In America we have not seen much speculative defense of this aberration; but in practice how many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal colloquies are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ ... for the consolation of conversing with Him, also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
Friday April 8th to Sunday April 10th
Article 29
Show Some Compassion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 29
Show Some Compassion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Don’t Walk By
In the Mass commemorating the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday in Passion Week (the Friday before Good Friday), the Liturgy cries out to us: “O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow!” One of the hardest things to do is console someone who is in deep sorrow―our words often seem so superficial, insincere, lightweight, even hypocritical. “Fair-weather Catholics” that we are, we are quick to come on the scene whenever there is joviality, laughter, celebration, fun and entertainment―but we feel impotent, reticent, awkward and clueless when faced with misery and suffering. “Many honor the person of him that is mighty, and are friends of him that giveth gifts. But the brethren of the poor man hate him, and his friends have departed far from him!” (Proverbs 19:6-7).
The Imitation of Christ echoes this idea of “fair-weather friendship” in relating it to Christ: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection” (Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Christ”).
We have friends galore as long as things are going well for us―but a true friend is tested and found to be still present when things go badly for us. Most of us have had our share of fair-weather friends. Their friendship is merely a mirage. As long as you are rich and carefree―they love you, they stand by your side, and they laugh at your jokes. But as soon as you lose your job or popularity―those fair-weather friends disappear faster than your paycheck. The blows inflicted by such impostors do a lot of damage because they hit you at a time when you are the most vulnerable―that is to say, a time when you are deep in problems.
Satan thought that Job’s Faith in God was that of a fair-weather friend. As long as life was good and things were going Job’s way, it was pretty obvious that Job’s Faith in God would be firm and strong. But, reasoned Satan, the loss of loved ones here, and a little disease there, would make Job’s Faith collapse—at least that’s what Satan thought.
Are You Merely Mary’s Fair-weather Friend?
As He died on the cross, Jesus gave us to His Mother and gave His Mother to us, saying to Mary: “Woman! Behold thy son!”― then saying to St. John: “Son! Behold thy Mother!” St. John was merely a representative or a proxy for us. There is no doubt that Mary has been faithful to her side of the “contract” ― but have we been faithful to our side of the “contract”? All graces that we receive from God come to us through the motherly hands of Our Lady―the Mediatrix of All Grace. She certainly shows herself to be a faithful mother! Are we faithful children?
What grade of friendship do you have towards Our Lady? Are you a “fair-weather friend” or a friend “come what may”? Are you “always on the make” with Our Lady―getting all you can out of her without giving much or anything in return? Or does your friendship go beyond such selfishness? Do you seek consolations―but never console? Do you seek her pity amidst your self-pity―but never pity her?
On December 10th, 1925, Our Lady with the Child Jesus to Sr. Lucia of Fatima in the cell of her monastery at Pontevedra in Spain. The Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment―and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them!” Then Our Lady added: “Look at my Heart surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude! At least try to console me! Confess and receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of five consecutive months; recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes, while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me. I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who do this!”
In 1926 Sister Lucis left the convent in Pontevedra to enter the Dorothean novitiate at Tuy―a Spanish city near Pontevedra. At Tuy, Our Lady again appeared to S. Lucia on June 13th, 1929, saying, among other things: “So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!”
Guilty Bystanders
We see the headlines from time to time: a rape, a murder, a mugging, a beating-up, a theft, damage or destruction of property, in which many bystanders saw or heard the crime without trying to stop it. These stories start a discussion―are bystanders responsible for what happened to the victim or property? Do bystanders incur some guilt if they know a crime is going to be committed, but they say or do nothing about it? Are bystanders guilty if they see a crime actually being committed and do nothing about it? The answer, of course, varies from situation to situation―CAN you do something to stop it? Do you have the MEANS of stopping it? Would your intervention ACTUALLY STOP it, or would it not? Are you RISKING YOUR OWN LIFE in intervening? What is the GRAVITY or SERIOUSNESS of the crime being committed in proportion to the RISKS you run in stopping it? There are even more questions come into play.
One would think that LEGALLY and MORALLY the opinions would be identical―but man’s laws (the LEGAL side of things) are not always following God’s laws (the MORAL side of things). Man’s laws make legal such things as abortion, homosexuality, adultery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, etc. ― whereas all these things are immoral according to God’s laws. In other words, man’s laws allow and turn a blind-eye to many sins that God would not ignore.
“Good Samaritan” Laws
In law schools around the country it is common for first-year law students to learn about the “no duty to rescue” rule. This legal doctrine states that, as an average person, you are under no legal obligation to help someone in distress. Even if helping an imperiled person would impose little or no risk to yourself, you do not commit a crime if you choose not to give assistance. Not only that, but you cannot be sued if the person is injured or killed because of your choice not to act.
However, there are several exceptions to this rule. Some states have adopted “Good Samaritan” laws that impose criminal sanctions against people who do not offer assistance in some situations. While these laws differ significantly between states, they raise the possibility that you can commit a crime when you choose not to help a person in need.
Only a few states actually have laws requiring residents to act if they see a crime. In most states failure to report a crime is not illegal, but a small minority of states have enacted laws punishing individuals who fail to report certain types of crimes to the authorities. Under Texas law, for example, you can be charged with a “Class A misdemeanor” for failing to report an offense that resulted in serious bodily injury or death. In Ohio, it is illegal to knowingly fail to report a felony― felonies are the most serious crimes you can commit and have long jail or prison sentence. In Minnesota there is a “duty to assist” provision―according to which, anyone “at the scene of an emergency” who knows that someone “has suffered grave physical harm, or could be hurt” must provide “reasonable assistance.” The state of Vermont has a law that says that you must render assistance if you know that someone else is in grave danger of physical harm, if no one else is doing so, and if doing so does not place your life in peril. Many countries including Denmark, Germany and France have duty to assist statues or similar laws. Failure to report a crime, or failure to try and prevent a crime, can have serious consequences. Depending on the severity of the underlying crime, aiding and abetting can be either a misdemeanor or a felony in most states.
Who Cares Anymore?
Good Samaritans are rare these days! There are more “Bad Samaritans” than “Good Samaritans”―as is shown in the following sample cases.
● A group of Florida teens watched a man drown in a pond and did nothing to help him, laughing and filming his death on a cell phone.
● In September of 2009, in Chicago, a 16-year-old honor student was beaten to death with a two-by-four, after apparently stumbling into a gang fight. His killing was captured on a cell phone video that also showed a large crowd on the scene. No one there called for help.
● In October of 2009, in Richmond, California, a 15-year-old girl was gang-raped in a schoolyard during a homecoming dance. Police said that over the course of two and a half hours, as many as 20 people saw what was happening. None came forward to help. Some stayed to watch, with several reportedly cheering and videotaping it, while some even joined in.
● In October of 2021, a passenger was sexually harassed and eventually raped by another rider on a train in Philadelphia. Several bystanders in the area apparently witnessed the incident, and even allegedly recorded the assault on their smartphones, while failing to alert authorities, or stop the assault―until one off-duty train employee called 911 after boarding the train and noticing the attack. The sexual assault went on for nearly 40 minutes!
Our Lady Cares, But Few Care With Her!
At La Salette, Our Lady manifested her compassion for us―but lamented our indifference towards it: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
At Fatima, she begged for souls to share her compassion for sinners: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, July & August of 1917).
At Akita, Our Lady essentially repeated the same “recruitment” message: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls … beloved souls who console Him by forming a cohort of victim souls ... who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor!”
Damned Guilty!
If in many countries and some states in the U.S. ―as in Minnesota where there is a legal “duty to assist” provision―according to which, anyone “at the scene of an emergency” who knows that someone “has suffered grave physical harm, or could be hurt” must provide “reasonable assistance”; or as in the state of Vermont where a law states that you must render assistance if you know that someone else is in grave danger of physical harm, if no one else is doing so, and if doing so does not place your life in peril―then what can be said of the “legal” obligation that Heaven places on our shoulders to assist those have suffered grave spiritual harm (are in a state of mortal sin) and are in grave danger of losing their souls, being damned and falling into Hell? The soul is more important than the body! If there are laws obliging us to help those in grave physical danger, how much more are we not obliged to help those in grave spiritual danger? As Our Lady said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?”
Our instinctive response is much like that of Cain―whom God questioned as to the whereabouts of Abel, whom Cain had killed: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood cries to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth―which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). We can quite easily rephrase that to apply to our neglect of our “brother” sinners, whom we indirectly “kill” and “damn” by refusing to comply with Our Lady’s request that we pray and sacrifice ourselves for the conversion of sinners and rescue them from eternal damnation! Hence, the above passage could read as follows: “And the Lord will say to you: ‘Where is thy sinner brother?’ And you will answer: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord will say to you: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy damned brother cries to Me from Hell―which has opened its gates and the received the soul of thy brother at thy hand and due to thy neglect!’”
St. John Chrysostom, a Father and Doctor of the Church, writes: “The loss of one soul is so great an evil as no man can understand. If the salvation of one soul is of such importance that, for its sake, the Son of God became man and suffered so much, think of the penalty that the loss of one soul will entail!” (Third Homily on the Acts of the Apostles). How many souls have been lost through our neglect and indifference in praying and sacrificing for their salvation?
Lack of Compassion―No Lack of Hatred
We lack compassion for sinners! Instead, we prefer to point the finger at sinners, to accuse sinners, to put-down sinners, to ridicule them, taunt them, despise them and hate them. That is not the spirit of Christ, who says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32; 9:56). Holy Scripture adds: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer! And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself! … If any man say ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother―he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” (1 John 3:15; 4:20).
On several occasions Our Lord clearly manifested that truth. One such occasion was with the woman caught in adultery: “And the Scribes and the Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, so that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:3-11).
On another occasion: “Peter came unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money)―it is like being let-off a debt of $600,000 but refusing to let your neighbor off the $1 he owes you! Sadly, too many of us are like the unjust steward from Our Lord’s parable―we expect God’s mercy for ourselves and expect to be “let-off” many sins, but we are reluctant to show that same mercy to those who offend us! “Wherefore you are inexcusable, O man, whosoever you are that judges! For in the things that you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you dost the same things which you judge in others!” (Romans 2:1). Our Lord puts it this way: “Why do you the splinter that is in your brother’s eye; and cannot see the plank that is in your own eye? Or how is it that you say to your brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of your eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First cast out the plank in your own eye, and then you shall be able to see in order to cast out the splinter out of your brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
St. James and St. John were also found to be lacking in compassion for sinners―wanting to destroy them instead: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face―and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Samaritans and Jews were enemies of each other]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
On another occasion, Our Lord used the enmity between the Jews and Samaritans as the basis for His parable about the Good Samaritan: “A certain man [a Jew] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain [Jewish] priest went down the same way―and, seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite [a Jew], when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him; and, seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:30-34).
“Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32) … “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, the bowels of mercy―bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another! Even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:12-13).
In the Mass commemorating the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday in Passion Week (the Friday before Good Friday), the Liturgy cries out to us: “O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow!” One of the hardest things to do is console someone who is in deep sorrow―our words often seem so superficial, insincere, lightweight, even hypocritical. “Fair-weather Catholics” that we are, we are quick to come on the scene whenever there is joviality, laughter, celebration, fun and entertainment―but we feel impotent, reticent, awkward and clueless when faced with misery and suffering. “Many honor the person of him that is mighty, and are friends of him that giveth gifts. But the brethren of the poor man hate him, and his friends have departed far from him!” (Proverbs 19:6-7).
The Imitation of Christ echoes this idea of “fair-weather friendship” in relating it to Christ: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection” (Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Christ”).
We have friends galore as long as things are going well for us―but a true friend is tested and found to be still present when things go badly for us. Most of us have had our share of fair-weather friends. Their friendship is merely a mirage. As long as you are rich and carefree―they love you, they stand by your side, and they laugh at your jokes. But as soon as you lose your job or popularity―those fair-weather friends disappear faster than your paycheck. The blows inflicted by such impostors do a lot of damage because they hit you at a time when you are the most vulnerable―that is to say, a time when you are deep in problems.
Satan thought that Job’s Faith in God was that of a fair-weather friend. As long as life was good and things were going Job’s way, it was pretty obvious that Job’s Faith in God would be firm and strong. But, reasoned Satan, the loss of loved ones here, and a little disease there, would make Job’s Faith collapse—at least that’s what Satan thought.
Are You Merely Mary’s Fair-weather Friend?
As He died on the cross, Jesus gave us to His Mother and gave His Mother to us, saying to Mary: “Woman! Behold thy son!”― then saying to St. John: “Son! Behold thy Mother!” St. John was merely a representative or a proxy for us. There is no doubt that Mary has been faithful to her side of the “contract” ― but have we been faithful to our side of the “contract”? All graces that we receive from God come to us through the motherly hands of Our Lady―the Mediatrix of All Grace. She certainly shows herself to be a faithful mother! Are we faithful children?
What grade of friendship do you have towards Our Lady? Are you a “fair-weather friend” or a friend “come what may”? Are you “always on the make” with Our Lady―getting all you can out of her without giving much or anything in return? Or does your friendship go beyond such selfishness? Do you seek consolations―but never console? Do you seek her pity amidst your self-pity―but never pity her?
On December 10th, 1925, Our Lady with the Child Jesus to Sr. Lucia of Fatima in the cell of her monastery at Pontevedra in Spain. The Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment―and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them!” Then Our Lady added: “Look at my Heart surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude! At least try to console me! Confess and receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of five consecutive months; recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes, while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me. I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who do this!”
In 1926 Sister Lucis left the convent in Pontevedra to enter the Dorothean novitiate at Tuy―a Spanish city near Pontevedra. At Tuy, Our Lady again appeared to S. Lucia on June 13th, 1929, saying, among other things: “So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!”
Guilty Bystanders
We see the headlines from time to time: a rape, a murder, a mugging, a beating-up, a theft, damage or destruction of property, in which many bystanders saw or heard the crime without trying to stop it. These stories start a discussion―are bystanders responsible for what happened to the victim or property? Do bystanders incur some guilt if they know a crime is going to be committed, but they say or do nothing about it? Are bystanders guilty if they see a crime actually being committed and do nothing about it? The answer, of course, varies from situation to situation―CAN you do something to stop it? Do you have the MEANS of stopping it? Would your intervention ACTUALLY STOP it, or would it not? Are you RISKING YOUR OWN LIFE in intervening? What is the GRAVITY or SERIOUSNESS of the crime being committed in proportion to the RISKS you run in stopping it? There are even more questions come into play.
One would think that LEGALLY and MORALLY the opinions would be identical―but man’s laws (the LEGAL side of things) are not always following God’s laws (the MORAL side of things). Man’s laws make legal such things as abortion, homosexuality, adultery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, etc. ― whereas all these things are immoral according to God’s laws. In other words, man’s laws allow and turn a blind-eye to many sins that God would not ignore.
“Good Samaritan” Laws
In law schools around the country it is common for first-year law students to learn about the “no duty to rescue” rule. This legal doctrine states that, as an average person, you are under no legal obligation to help someone in distress. Even if helping an imperiled person would impose little or no risk to yourself, you do not commit a crime if you choose not to give assistance. Not only that, but you cannot be sued if the person is injured or killed because of your choice not to act.
However, there are several exceptions to this rule. Some states have adopted “Good Samaritan” laws that impose criminal sanctions against people who do not offer assistance in some situations. While these laws differ significantly between states, they raise the possibility that you can commit a crime when you choose not to help a person in need.
Only a few states actually have laws requiring residents to act if they see a crime. In most states failure to report a crime is not illegal, but a small minority of states have enacted laws punishing individuals who fail to report certain types of crimes to the authorities. Under Texas law, for example, you can be charged with a “Class A misdemeanor” for failing to report an offense that resulted in serious bodily injury or death. In Ohio, it is illegal to knowingly fail to report a felony― felonies are the most serious crimes you can commit and have long jail or prison sentence. In Minnesota there is a “duty to assist” provision―according to which, anyone “at the scene of an emergency” who knows that someone “has suffered grave physical harm, or could be hurt” must provide “reasonable assistance.” The state of Vermont has a law that says that you must render assistance if you know that someone else is in grave danger of physical harm, if no one else is doing so, and if doing so does not place your life in peril. Many countries including Denmark, Germany and France have duty to assist statues or similar laws. Failure to report a crime, or failure to try and prevent a crime, can have serious consequences. Depending on the severity of the underlying crime, aiding and abetting can be either a misdemeanor or a felony in most states.
Who Cares Anymore?
Good Samaritans are rare these days! There are more “Bad Samaritans” than “Good Samaritans”―as is shown in the following sample cases.
● A group of Florida teens watched a man drown in a pond and did nothing to help him, laughing and filming his death on a cell phone.
● In September of 2009, in Chicago, a 16-year-old honor student was beaten to death with a two-by-four, after apparently stumbling into a gang fight. His killing was captured on a cell phone video that also showed a large crowd on the scene. No one there called for help.
● In October of 2009, in Richmond, California, a 15-year-old girl was gang-raped in a schoolyard during a homecoming dance. Police said that over the course of two and a half hours, as many as 20 people saw what was happening. None came forward to help. Some stayed to watch, with several reportedly cheering and videotaping it, while some even joined in.
● In October of 2021, a passenger was sexually harassed and eventually raped by another rider on a train in Philadelphia. Several bystanders in the area apparently witnessed the incident, and even allegedly recorded the assault on their smartphones, while failing to alert authorities, or stop the assault―until one off-duty train employee called 911 after boarding the train and noticing the attack. The sexual assault went on for nearly 40 minutes!
Our Lady Cares, But Few Care With Her!
At La Salette, Our Lady manifested her compassion for us―but lamented our indifference towards it: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
At Fatima, she begged for souls to share her compassion for sinners: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, July & August of 1917).
At Akita, Our Lady essentially repeated the same “recruitment” message: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls … beloved souls who console Him by forming a cohort of victim souls ... who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor!”
Damned Guilty!
If in many countries and some states in the U.S. ―as in Minnesota where there is a legal “duty to assist” provision―according to which, anyone “at the scene of an emergency” who knows that someone “has suffered grave physical harm, or could be hurt” must provide “reasonable assistance”; or as in the state of Vermont where a law states that you must render assistance if you know that someone else is in grave danger of physical harm, if no one else is doing so, and if doing so does not place your life in peril―then what can be said of the “legal” obligation that Heaven places on our shoulders to assist those have suffered grave spiritual harm (are in a state of mortal sin) and are in grave danger of losing their souls, being damned and falling into Hell? The soul is more important than the body! If there are laws obliging us to help those in grave physical danger, how much more are we not obliged to help those in grave spiritual danger? As Our Lady said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?”
Our instinctive response is much like that of Cain―whom God questioned as to the whereabouts of Abel, whom Cain had killed: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood cries to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth―which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). We can quite easily rephrase that to apply to our neglect of our “brother” sinners, whom we indirectly “kill” and “damn” by refusing to comply with Our Lady’s request that we pray and sacrifice ourselves for the conversion of sinners and rescue them from eternal damnation! Hence, the above passage could read as follows: “And the Lord will say to you: ‘Where is thy sinner brother?’ And you will answer: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord will say to you: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy damned brother cries to Me from Hell―which has opened its gates and the received the soul of thy brother at thy hand and due to thy neglect!’”
St. John Chrysostom, a Father and Doctor of the Church, writes: “The loss of one soul is so great an evil as no man can understand. If the salvation of one soul is of such importance that, for its sake, the Son of God became man and suffered so much, think of the penalty that the loss of one soul will entail!” (Third Homily on the Acts of the Apostles). How many souls have been lost through our neglect and indifference in praying and sacrificing for their salvation?
Lack of Compassion―No Lack of Hatred
We lack compassion for sinners! Instead, we prefer to point the finger at sinners, to accuse sinners, to put-down sinners, to ridicule them, taunt them, despise them and hate them. That is not the spirit of Christ, who says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32; 9:56). Holy Scripture adds: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer! And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself! … If any man say ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother―he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” (1 John 3:15; 4:20).
On several occasions Our Lord clearly manifested that truth. One such occasion was with the woman caught in adultery: “And the Scribes and the Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, so that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:3-11).
On another occasion: “Peter came unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money)―it is like being let-off a debt of $600,000 but refusing to let your neighbor off the $1 he owes you! Sadly, too many of us are like the unjust steward from Our Lord’s parable―we expect God’s mercy for ourselves and expect to be “let-off” many sins, but we are reluctant to show that same mercy to those who offend us! “Wherefore you are inexcusable, O man, whosoever you are that judges! For in the things that you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you dost the same things which you judge in others!” (Romans 2:1). Our Lord puts it this way: “Why do you the splinter that is in your brother’s eye; and cannot see the plank that is in your own eye? Or how is it that you say to your brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of your eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First cast out the plank in your own eye, and then you shall be able to see in order to cast out the splinter out of your brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
St. James and St. John were also found to be lacking in compassion for sinners―wanting to destroy them instead: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face―and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Samaritans and Jews were enemies of each other]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
On another occasion, Our Lord used the enmity between the Jews and Samaritans as the basis for His parable about the Good Samaritan: “A certain man [a Jew] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain [Jewish] priest went down the same way―and, seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite [a Jew], when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him; and, seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:30-34).
“Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor be put away from you! And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:31-32) … “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, the bowels of mercy―bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another! Even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:12-13).
Wednesday April 6th & Thursday April 7th
Article 28
A Passion for the Passion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 28
A Passion for the Passion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Who Wants to Suffer?
Suffering is the last thing on anyone’s Christmas wish-list! Even Our Lord, in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, said: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me!” (Matthew 26:39) … “Father, all things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me!” (Mark 14:36) … “Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me!” (Luke 22:42). Faced with sufferings of His impending passion and death, “He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful―even unto death!’” (Matthew 26:37-38).
When Our Lord’s passion eventually “exploded” with His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Apostles―except for Peter and his sword―all fled, leaving Our Lord alone: “Then the disciples, all leaving Him, fled!” (Matthew 26:56) … “Then His disciples, leaving Him, all fled away!” (Mark 14:50). They fled because they were afraid and did not want to suffer. Even Peter became afraid: “And Peter followed Him afar off, even to the court of the high priest. And going in, he sat with the servants, that he might see the end” (Matthew 26:58). But Peter would deny knowing Our Lord three times in the court of the high priest: “He denied with an oath, ‘I know not the man!’ … He began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man!” (Matthew 26:72-74). Why? Because he was afraid of being associated with Jesus and thus risking arrest.
Peter had earlier tried to dissuade Our Lord from entering into His passion: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be done unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!’” (Matthew 16:21-25).
We see a fearfulness in the Apostles on several occasions―one such occasion was during the tempest on the lake―which is recorded by three of the four Evangelists:
“And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then, rising up, He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26) ... “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow―and they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master, does it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm. And He said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Have you no faith yet?’ And they feared exceedingly” (Mark 4:37-40). “Jesus went into a little ship with His disciples, and He said to them: ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake!’ And they launched forth. And when they were sailing, He slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake, and they were filled with water and were in danger. And they came and awakened Him, saying: ‘Master! We perish!’ But He, arising, rebuked the wind and the rage of the water―and it ceased, and there was a calm. And He said to them: ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:22-25).
After Our Lord’s crucifixion and death, the Apostles remained hidden from public view for fear of the Jews: “The doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Why? Because they were afraid of suffering.
School of Suffering―No Students
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks thus of the cross and suffering: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the souls, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that flee from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … In order that you may advance in my school, I wish to see you poor, humble, despised, abased―yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance ... In the school of humility, I want you to be studious and diligent; and this should be your first and principal care … I admonish and command you to go to the greatest extremes, if you wish to remain in my school and be endowed with the perfection taught in my school! … In my school I want you to learn the love, the gratitude and humility that is required of a true disciple of mine; for I desire that you distinguish yourself and advance exceedingly! ... Do not try to repay yourself with the applause or the love of any creature, nor allow human sentiment to rule over you! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor is the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. I do not count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, then they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart! These inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness! … They do not seek the medicine of suffering! … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, being altogether different from the saints―who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires―these worldlings desire none of it and abhor everything that is painful.
“In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored! Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion! … They act like men who have done little to penetrate into the mysteries and into the spirit of what they had seen and heard in the school of their Master ... This school was established by my most holy and loving Son when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:10). Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches! … This was set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them, like a book of life, during their whole earthly pilgrimage―but there are only a few and remotely scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught! ... This is the teaching of the school of the Redeemer, hidden from those living in Babylon and from those who love vanity! … Many persons―whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise―have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16) ... The number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate is also be uncountable!”
A Passionate Answer
Supernaturally and spiritually speaking, there is no more profitable activity than the studying of the Our Lord’s battle with the devil, the world and His own human nature. In fact, the famed spiritual author, FR. LORENZO SCUPOLI, in his book Spiritual Combat (a book that St. Francis de Sales always carried in his pocket), says that the meditation of the Passion is the key and answer to all our problems whatever they might be. Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, in The School of Jesus Crucified, writes:
“Perhaps there is no subject for meditation more suitable for every class of persons than the most sacred Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In it may sinners find the encouragement and graces necessary for their conversion; from it may beginners derive strength and fervor wherewith to subdue their passions; in it may the good discover fresh incentives to advance in the paths of virtue. In short, there are none who will not find in it an inexhaustible mine of hidden treasures, and an endless source of graces and spiritual blessings. In all ages it has been a favorite exercise of the Saints, who greatly to their consolation have been in the habit of spending hours, day and night, in meditation on the bitter sufferings of their Savior. So much is not required of you, O devout Christian, but only that you should daily spend half, or at least a quarter of an hour, in attentive consideration of some point of the Passion of Jesus.”
The Passion was the Passion of the Saints
It is extremely important to know that there is no saint who has ever reached the heights of the spiritual life without having meditated frequently on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them attributed to the meditation of the Passion of Our Lord, the beginning of that stage in the spiritual life in which they decided to give themselves entirely to God, to His Most Holy Will. Over and over again we find in their writings that they move faster toward holiness with the help of this meditation than through any other. Obviously, we cannot say that they surpass the great means provided by the Sacraments, but we can say that the Sacraments alone cannot reach all their effectiveness without the help of the meditation of the Passion of Our Lord. That is because the Sacraments are the most precious fruits of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We would like to add a few remarks made by some of the saints that refer to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and we hope that they be useful to your soul.
► ST. BONAVENTURE says: “He who desires to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus.” And he adds that “there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”
► ST. AUGUSTINE also said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water.
► ST. PAUL OF CROSS, in his Spiritual Diary, writes: “The remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the door through which the soul enters into intimate union with God, interior recollection and most sublime contemplation.” … “The Passion of Christ is the greatest and most stupendous work of Divine Love. The greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love.” … “The most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the most efficacious means to convert obstinate sinners.” … “The holy sufferings of Jesus is a sea of sorrows, but it is also a sea of love. Ask the Lord to teach you to fish in this sea. Immerse yourself in it, and, no matter how deeply you go, you will never reach the bottom. Allow yourself to be penetrated with love and sorrow. In this way you will make the sufferings of the gentle Jesus your own. Fish for the pearls of the virtues of Jesus. This holy fishing is done without words.” (8th April, 1758).
► ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA, in his Seven Other Meditations of the Passion of Our Lord, writes: “In the passion of our blessed Savior, six things chiefly are to be meditated upon. First, the bitterness of his sorrow, that we may compassionate with Him. Secondly, the greatness of our sins, which were the cause of His torments, that we may abhor them. Thirdly, the greatness of the benefit, that we may be grateful for it. Fourthly, the excellence of the divine charity and bounty therein manifested, that we may love Him more fervently. Fifthly, the convenience of the mystery, that we may be drawn to admiration of it. Lastly, the multiplicity of virtues of our Blessed Savior which did shine in this stupendous mystery, that we may partly imitate and partly admire them; wherefore, in the midst of these meditations, let us sometimes compassionate with Our Blessed Savior in the extremity of His sorrows; extreme indeed, both by reason of the tenderness of His body, as also, for the great affection He bore unto our souls.
“He did suffer them without any manner of consolation, as we shall speak hereafter in its proper place. Sometimes let us stir up in ourselves compunction for our sins, which were the cause of His great sufferings. Sometimes let us kindle in our souls an ardent affection, considering His great affection towards us, which upon the cross He declared and manifested to the whole world. And the benefit which He bestowed upon us in his passion, because He bought us with the inestimable price of His Precious Blood, of which only, we reap the benefit and commodity.”
► ST. TERESA OF AVILA asked God to make her suffer ― “I desire to suffer, Lord, because Thou didst suffer!”
► ST. MARY MAGDALENE OF PAZZI, while still a child, before her First Holy Communion, made a crown of thorns and wore it for an entire night―enduring great pain. When, in later years, she entered the Carmelite monastery she took as her motto: “Either suffer or die!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA called the three young children of Fatima ― Lucia (10 years old), Francisco (9 years old) and Jacinta (7 years old)―and enrolled them in her school of suffering: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Love and Passion and Love of the Passion
The word “passion” comes from the Latin verb “patior” (of which “passus” is the past participle) which gives us the Latin noun “passio” ― all of them referring to suffering and enduring. From this we can easily see how this evolved into the “passion of Christ”―meaning the “sufferings of Christ”.
In modern-day language, we tend to associate “passion” more with “love” rather than with “suffering”. We use phrases like “passionately in love” … “passionate lover” … “works with a passion” … “has a passion for” etc. You could even argue that “passion” today could be equally applied to love and suffering―or rather to the suffering that modern-day love seems to bring, with so many arguments, infidelities, adultery and divorce! Passion is also often associated with extreme emotion―such as love or hatred, desire or anger.
Nevertheless, Our Lord Himself seems to bring “love” and “suffering” together into a “marriage” of sorts―implying that one cannot exist without the other―meaning that suffering will not be endured for very long if love is not present; and that love is tested and proved in suffering. Furthermore, Christ proved this to be true in His own life. Christ is God and God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God [Christ] proved His love for us by coming into this world to suffer and die for us.
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Son of man is come to give His life as redemption for many” (Matthew 20:28). “Christ was offered to redeem the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). “Christ died for our sins―the just for the unjust―that He might offer [reconcile] us to God … Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―and by Whose stripes you were healed!” (1 Peter 3:18; 2:24). “He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
“Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). “The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep” (John 10:11). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He has laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16).
Suffering is the last thing on anyone’s Christmas wish-list! Even Our Lord, in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, said: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me!” (Matthew 26:39) … “Father, all things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me!” (Mark 14:36) … “Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me!” (Luke 22:42). Faced with sufferings of His impending passion and death, “He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful―even unto death!’” (Matthew 26:37-38).
When Our Lord’s passion eventually “exploded” with His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Apostles―except for Peter and his sword―all fled, leaving Our Lord alone: “Then the disciples, all leaving Him, fled!” (Matthew 26:56) … “Then His disciples, leaving Him, all fled away!” (Mark 14:50). They fled because they were afraid and did not want to suffer. Even Peter became afraid: “And Peter followed Him afar off, even to the court of the high priest. And going in, he sat with the servants, that he might see the end” (Matthew 26:58). But Peter would deny knowing Our Lord three times in the court of the high priest: “He denied with an oath, ‘I know not the man!’ … He began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man!” (Matthew 26:72-74). Why? Because he was afraid of being associated with Jesus and thus risking arrest.
Peter had earlier tried to dissuade Our Lord from entering into His passion: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be done unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!’” (Matthew 16:21-25).
We see a fearfulness in the Apostles on several occasions―one such occasion was during the tempest on the lake―which is recorded by three of the four Evangelists:
“And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then, rising up, He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26) ... “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow―and they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master, does it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm. And He said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Have you no faith yet?’ And they feared exceedingly” (Mark 4:37-40). “Jesus went into a little ship with His disciples, and He said to them: ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake!’ And they launched forth. And when they were sailing, He slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake, and they were filled with water and were in danger. And they came and awakened Him, saying: ‘Master! We perish!’ But He, arising, rebuked the wind and the rage of the water―and it ceased, and there was a calm. And He said to them: ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:22-25).
After Our Lord’s crucifixion and death, the Apostles remained hidden from public view for fear of the Jews: “The doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Why? Because they were afraid of suffering.
School of Suffering―No Students
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks thus of the cross and suffering: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the souls, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that flee from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … In order that you may advance in my school, I wish to see you poor, humble, despised, abased―yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance ... In the school of humility, I want you to be studious and diligent; and this should be your first and principal care … I admonish and command you to go to the greatest extremes, if you wish to remain in my school and be endowed with the perfection taught in my school! … In my school I want you to learn the love, the gratitude and humility that is required of a true disciple of mine; for I desire that you distinguish yourself and advance exceedingly! ... Do not try to repay yourself with the applause or the love of any creature, nor allow human sentiment to rule over you! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor is the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. I do not count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, then they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart! These inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness! … They do not seek the medicine of suffering! … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, being altogether different from the saints―who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires―these worldlings desire none of it and abhor everything that is painful.
“In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored! Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion! … They act like men who have done little to penetrate into the mysteries and into the spirit of what they had seen and heard in the school of their Master ... This school was established by my most holy and loving Son when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:10). Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches! … This was set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them, like a book of life, during their whole earthly pilgrimage―but there are only a few and remotely scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught! ... This is the teaching of the school of the Redeemer, hidden from those living in Babylon and from those who love vanity! … Many persons―whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise―have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16) ... The number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate is also be uncountable!”
A Passionate Answer
Supernaturally and spiritually speaking, there is no more profitable activity than the studying of the Our Lord’s battle with the devil, the world and His own human nature. In fact, the famed spiritual author, FR. LORENZO SCUPOLI, in his book Spiritual Combat (a book that St. Francis de Sales always carried in his pocket), says that the meditation of the Passion is the key and answer to all our problems whatever they might be. Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, in The School of Jesus Crucified, writes:
“Perhaps there is no subject for meditation more suitable for every class of persons than the most sacred Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In it may sinners find the encouragement and graces necessary for their conversion; from it may beginners derive strength and fervor wherewith to subdue their passions; in it may the good discover fresh incentives to advance in the paths of virtue. In short, there are none who will not find in it an inexhaustible mine of hidden treasures, and an endless source of graces and spiritual blessings. In all ages it has been a favorite exercise of the Saints, who greatly to their consolation have been in the habit of spending hours, day and night, in meditation on the bitter sufferings of their Savior. So much is not required of you, O devout Christian, but only that you should daily spend half, or at least a quarter of an hour, in attentive consideration of some point of the Passion of Jesus.”
The Passion was the Passion of the Saints
It is extremely important to know that there is no saint who has ever reached the heights of the spiritual life without having meditated frequently on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them attributed to the meditation of the Passion of Our Lord, the beginning of that stage in the spiritual life in which they decided to give themselves entirely to God, to His Most Holy Will. Over and over again we find in their writings that they move faster toward holiness with the help of this meditation than through any other. Obviously, we cannot say that they surpass the great means provided by the Sacraments, but we can say that the Sacraments alone cannot reach all their effectiveness without the help of the meditation of the Passion of Our Lord. That is because the Sacraments are the most precious fruits of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We would like to add a few remarks made by some of the saints that refer to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and we hope that they be useful to your soul.
► ST. BONAVENTURE says: “He who desires to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus.” And he adds that “there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”
► ST. AUGUSTINE also said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water.
► ST. PAUL OF CROSS, in his Spiritual Diary, writes: “The remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the door through which the soul enters into intimate union with God, interior recollection and most sublime contemplation.” … “The Passion of Christ is the greatest and most stupendous work of Divine Love. The greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love.” … “The most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the most efficacious means to convert obstinate sinners.” … “The holy sufferings of Jesus is a sea of sorrows, but it is also a sea of love. Ask the Lord to teach you to fish in this sea. Immerse yourself in it, and, no matter how deeply you go, you will never reach the bottom. Allow yourself to be penetrated with love and sorrow. In this way you will make the sufferings of the gentle Jesus your own. Fish for the pearls of the virtues of Jesus. This holy fishing is done without words.” (8th April, 1758).
► ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA, in his Seven Other Meditations of the Passion of Our Lord, writes: “In the passion of our blessed Savior, six things chiefly are to be meditated upon. First, the bitterness of his sorrow, that we may compassionate with Him. Secondly, the greatness of our sins, which were the cause of His torments, that we may abhor them. Thirdly, the greatness of the benefit, that we may be grateful for it. Fourthly, the excellence of the divine charity and bounty therein manifested, that we may love Him more fervently. Fifthly, the convenience of the mystery, that we may be drawn to admiration of it. Lastly, the multiplicity of virtues of our Blessed Savior which did shine in this stupendous mystery, that we may partly imitate and partly admire them; wherefore, in the midst of these meditations, let us sometimes compassionate with Our Blessed Savior in the extremity of His sorrows; extreme indeed, both by reason of the tenderness of His body, as also, for the great affection He bore unto our souls.
“He did suffer them without any manner of consolation, as we shall speak hereafter in its proper place. Sometimes let us stir up in ourselves compunction for our sins, which were the cause of His great sufferings. Sometimes let us kindle in our souls an ardent affection, considering His great affection towards us, which upon the cross He declared and manifested to the whole world. And the benefit which He bestowed upon us in his passion, because He bought us with the inestimable price of His Precious Blood, of which only, we reap the benefit and commodity.”
► ST. TERESA OF AVILA asked God to make her suffer ― “I desire to suffer, Lord, because Thou didst suffer!”
► ST. MARY MAGDALENE OF PAZZI, while still a child, before her First Holy Communion, made a crown of thorns and wore it for an entire night―enduring great pain. When, in later years, she entered the Carmelite monastery she took as her motto: “Either suffer or die!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA called the three young children of Fatima ― Lucia (10 years old), Francisco (9 years old) and Jacinta (7 years old)―and enrolled them in her school of suffering: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Love and Passion and Love of the Passion
The word “passion” comes from the Latin verb “patior” (of which “passus” is the past participle) which gives us the Latin noun “passio” ― all of them referring to suffering and enduring. From this we can easily see how this evolved into the “passion of Christ”―meaning the “sufferings of Christ”.
In modern-day language, we tend to associate “passion” more with “love” rather than with “suffering”. We use phrases like “passionately in love” … “passionate lover” … “works with a passion” … “has a passion for” etc. You could even argue that “passion” today could be equally applied to love and suffering―or rather to the suffering that modern-day love seems to bring, with so many arguments, infidelities, adultery and divorce! Passion is also often associated with extreme emotion―such as love or hatred, desire or anger.
Nevertheless, Our Lord Himself seems to bring “love” and “suffering” together into a “marriage” of sorts―implying that one cannot exist without the other―meaning that suffering will not be endured for very long if love is not present; and that love is tested and proved in suffering. Furthermore, Christ proved this to be true in His own life. Christ is God and God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God [Christ] proved His love for us by coming into this world to suffer and die for us.
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Son of man is come to give His life as redemption for many” (Matthew 20:28). “Christ was offered to redeem the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). “Christ died for our sins―the just for the unjust―that He might offer [reconcile] us to God … Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―and by Whose stripes you were healed!” (1 Peter 3:18; 2:24). “He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
“Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). “The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep” (John 10:11). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He has laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16).
Monday April 4th & Tuesday April 5th
Article 27
You Can't Hide in Passiontide!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 27
You Can't Hide in Passiontide!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Stepping-Up a Notch! Turning-Up the Heat!
In his monumental multi-volume work―The Liturgical Year―in the volume on Passiontide, Dom Guéranger writes:
“After having proposed the forty-day fast of Jesus in the desert to the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of Lent, the holy Church gives the two weeks which still remain before Easter to the commemoration of the Passion. The holy images are not allowed to be uncovered. The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several Churches attest―by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole liturgy of these two weeks―that the Passion of Our Lord is now the one sole thought of the Christian world.
“As for the last seven days of Passiontide, we find St. John Chrysostom, calling it the ‘Great Week’: ‘Not,’ says the holy doctor, ‘that it has more days in it than other weeks, or that its days are made up of more hours than other days; but we call it ‘Great’ because of the great mysteries which are then celebrated.’ We find it called also by other names: the ‘Painful Week’ (hebdomada poenosa), on account of the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the fatigue required from us in celebrating them; the ‘Week of Indulgence’, because sinners are then received to penance; and, lastly, ‘Holy Week’, in allusion to the holiness of the mysteries which are commemorated during these seven days. This last name is the one under which it most generally goes with us; and the very days themselves are, in many countries, called by the same name, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday.
“The severity of the Lenten fast is increased during these its last days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought out. In the early ages, fasting during Holy Week was carried to the utmost limits that human nature could endure. We learn from St. Epiphanius, that there were some of the Christians who observed a strict fast from Monday morning to cock-crow of Easter Sunday. Of course it must have been very few of the faithful who could go so far as this. Many passed two, three, and even four consecutive days, without tasting any food; but the general practice was to fast from Maundy Thursday evening to Easter morning. Many Christians in the East, and in Russia, observe this fast even in these times. Would that such severe penance were always accompanied by a firm Faith and union with the Church―without which the merit of such penitential works is of no avail for salvation!
“Another of the ancient practices of Holy Week, were the long hours spent, during the night, in the churches. On Maundy Thursday, after having celebrated the divine mysteries in remembrance of the Last Supper, the faithful continued a long time in prayer. The night between [Good] Friday and [Holy] Saturday was spent in almost uninterrupted vigil, in honor of Our Lord’s burial. But the longest of all these vigils was that of Saturday, which was kept up till Easter Sunday morning. The whole congregation joined in it: they assisted at the final preparation of the catechumens, as also at the administration of Baptism; nor did they leave the church until after the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice [of the Mass], which was not over till sunrise.
“Cessation from servile work was, for a long time, an obligation during Holy Week. The civil law united with that of the Church, in order to bring about this solemn rest from toil and business―which so eloquently expresses the state of mourning of the Christian world. The thought of the sufferings and death of Jesus was the one pervading thought―the Divine Offices and prayer were the sole occupation of the people; and, indeed, all the strength of the body was needed for the support of the austerities of fasting and abstinence. We can readily understand what an impression was made upon men’s minds, during the whole of the rest of the year, by this universal suspension of the ordinary routine of life.” (Dom Guéranger, The Liturgical Year―volume on Passiontide).
How pathetically lukewarm our spiritual exercises and penances seem to be when compared to the above account by Dom Guéranger! No wonder the Church and world are in a mess―“For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). Today, our penances are very sparing indeed! You could even say that the people of the time that Dom Guéranger above speaks, would look upon our present day penances as being comparable to their normal every day life practices―whereby our version of “fasting” is looked upon them as being more like their version of “feasting”!
Hell Turns-Up the Heat
We are in the middle of Satanic battle―which Satan and Hell is waging against the Church and mankind. More and more people are coming to see and understand it for what it is―a Satanic onslaught using the human slaves or servants of Satan as tools for the destruction of Church and mankind. Already the vast majority of people have received what could truly be called “Satan’s Jab” and are now awaiting death―sooner rather than later. Funeral homes are quietly admitting that death rates have sky-rocketed. “Satan’s Jab” is slowly taking its toll ― as Our Lord said of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
The repeated statements made by the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, today seem like understatements: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray! Through prayer, we can even stop wars! According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting.”
Fast-Track to Victory―Fast-Track to Heaven
Our Lord said that certain kinds of devils cannot be cast-out except by prayer and fasting: “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). Our Lord said this in response to being questioned by the Apostles as to why they had failed to exorcise a devil from a possessed young man: “There came to Jesus a man, falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord, have pity on my son! For he is a lunatic and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you―if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, then you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall remove! And nothing shall be impossible to you! But this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
In this Satanically ruled world today, we need to get on the “fast-track” or “fasting-track” if we wish to cast out the devil from the world in general and our own environment in particular. As Father Gabriele Amorth said: “According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting … The Gospel of Mark says: ‘This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting’ (Mark 9:29) ... I recommend three tips―that Jesus gives―to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine apostles who failed to release a young man from demons ― ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone! Both the person struck by the spiritual evil and those close to him!”
Free-Fast or Force-Fast?
O what fools we are! Why do we take the most expensive and most painful path? Why do we choose to suffer more when we could suffer less? Only a fool will pay $10 for a gallon of gasoline when he can get the very same gasoline for only $2. While we are still living in this world, we can do penance for our sins at a discounted rate―but if we refuse to do penance here below, then either the fires of Hell or the fires of Purgatory await us. “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “A fool will laugh at sin!” (Proverbs 14:9). Most people are foolish―thinking little of the gravity of sin and neglecting to pay their debts while living in this world: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
This sinful world has never been in a worse state―as Our Lady pointed out to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [= the Great Flood in Noe’s time]. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
If we look around at the tsunami of sin in the world, we can easily let ourselves be drawn into minimizing the significance and gravity of our sins. The devil is always ready to blind us to the truth that the Church teaches us―even from childhood―in our catechism: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). No matter who you are, or who you think you are, we have all been guilty of committing the greatest evil in the world MULTIPLE and perhaps COUNTLESS times. We are too busy―like the Pharisee―focusing on the sins that others commit, that we become blind to numerous sins WE COMMIT every day! “For a just man shall fall seven times” (Proverbs 24:16). “For our iniquities are multiplied over our heads, and our sins are grown up even unto Heaven!” (1 Esdras 9:6).
Furthermore, let us not try and hide our partial culpability for the tsunami of sins in the world. “What?” you cry out, “I am not guilty for the sins of the world!” The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, bursts the bubble of your objection―for he warns us that when we die, we shall be judged for all the sins that were committed in the world while we were alive―not in the sense that we directly responsible for them, but in the sense that we were indirectly responsible for them by doing little or nothing about it. We are like passers-by who see one person violently beating-up or raping another person―and, like the Priest and the Levite in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, we simply walk by and do nothing:
“And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who also stripped him and, having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way―and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite―when he was near the place and saw him, passed by” (Luke 10:25-32).
Damned Neglect!
Our Lady of Fatima essentially said the same thing: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
So―as Our Lady points out―we could prevent sin in this world by our prayers and sacrifices! Our neglect or refusal to do so falls into the category of those who are damned for NOT DOING WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE, which Our Lord also demonstrates in His parable about the Sheep and the Goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats! And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.
“Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee? Thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’
“Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:31-46).
No Hiding From Penance! No Hiding From Suffering!
Let us not play the role of the Pharisee―as depicted in Our Lord’s parable―who said: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican!” (Luke 18:11). Is that our attitude? “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). No―we have all sinned! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) ― all have sinned and need the mercy of God ― all have sinned and need to do penance! “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but His eyes are upon his ways!” (Job 24:23). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Without doubt you have sinned! You have been sinning every day throughout your whole life―20 years of sin, or 30 years of sin, or 40, 50, 60, 70 or more years of sin! As regards the seriousness of sin, the Church teaches in Her catechisms that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Therefore you have been committing either “the greatest evil in the world” (which is mortal sin) or the second greatest evil in the world (which is venial sin), many times a day, for year after year after year after year―for anywhere from 20 to 80 years! What kind of a punishment or sentence do you think you get from the civil authorities for committing JUST ONE great evil? So why do you satisfy yourself with paltry, pitiful, puerile penances―which would like trying to get away with a bank-robbery, or attempted murder, or attempted rape by merely paying a $10 fine!
The Penances of the Ninivites
In the Old Testament we read of God threatening to destroy the sinful city of Ninive: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days journey. And Jonas began to enter one day’s journey into the city and he cried and said: ‘Yet forty more days and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive―and he rose up out of his throne and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste anything! Let them not feed, nor drink water! And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn, each and every one, from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and forgive and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works―that they were turned from their evil way―and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not” (Jonas 3:1-10).
God never changes: “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17) … “God is not a man, that He should be changed!” (Numbers 23:19). Hence the ways that God deals with sin and sinners also never changes. Sin merits punishment―the ultimate punishment is death―whereas repentance for sin when joined to penance for sin, brings mercy and life: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) … “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) … “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21) … “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) … “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The Lord keepeth all them that love Him―but all the wicked He will destroy!” (Psalm 144:20). “And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity ... And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:11; 6:5-7).
However, God also adds: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die … When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). However, “be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14).
Our Lady essentially tells us the same thing: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases! … Various nations will be annihilated! … O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears! Implore our Celestial Father ... that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (combination of quotes of Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima & Akita).
“As for us, therefore, let us not revenge ourselves for these things which we suffer―but, esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve! Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord―with which we are chastised like servants―have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction!” (Judith 8:26-27).
In his monumental multi-volume work―The Liturgical Year―in the volume on Passiontide, Dom Guéranger writes:
“After having proposed the forty-day fast of Jesus in the desert to the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of Lent, the holy Church gives the two weeks which still remain before Easter to the commemoration of the Passion. The holy images are not allowed to be uncovered. The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several Churches attest―by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole liturgy of these two weeks―that the Passion of Our Lord is now the one sole thought of the Christian world.
“As for the last seven days of Passiontide, we find St. John Chrysostom, calling it the ‘Great Week’: ‘Not,’ says the holy doctor, ‘that it has more days in it than other weeks, or that its days are made up of more hours than other days; but we call it ‘Great’ because of the great mysteries which are then celebrated.’ We find it called also by other names: the ‘Painful Week’ (hebdomada poenosa), on account of the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the fatigue required from us in celebrating them; the ‘Week of Indulgence’, because sinners are then received to penance; and, lastly, ‘Holy Week’, in allusion to the holiness of the mysteries which are commemorated during these seven days. This last name is the one under which it most generally goes with us; and the very days themselves are, in many countries, called by the same name, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday.
“The severity of the Lenten fast is increased during these its last days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought out. In the early ages, fasting during Holy Week was carried to the utmost limits that human nature could endure. We learn from St. Epiphanius, that there were some of the Christians who observed a strict fast from Monday morning to cock-crow of Easter Sunday. Of course it must have been very few of the faithful who could go so far as this. Many passed two, three, and even four consecutive days, without tasting any food; but the general practice was to fast from Maundy Thursday evening to Easter morning. Many Christians in the East, and in Russia, observe this fast even in these times. Would that such severe penance were always accompanied by a firm Faith and union with the Church―without which the merit of such penitential works is of no avail for salvation!
“Another of the ancient practices of Holy Week, were the long hours spent, during the night, in the churches. On Maundy Thursday, after having celebrated the divine mysteries in remembrance of the Last Supper, the faithful continued a long time in prayer. The night between [Good] Friday and [Holy] Saturday was spent in almost uninterrupted vigil, in honor of Our Lord’s burial. But the longest of all these vigils was that of Saturday, which was kept up till Easter Sunday morning. The whole congregation joined in it: they assisted at the final preparation of the catechumens, as also at the administration of Baptism; nor did they leave the church until after the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice [of the Mass], which was not over till sunrise.
“Cessation from servile work was, for a long time, an obligation during Holy Week. The civil law united with that of the Church, in order to bring about this solemn rest from toil and business―which so eloquently expresses the state of mourning of the Christian world. The thought of the sufferings and death of Jesus was the one pervading thought―the Divine Offices and prayer were the sole occupation of the people; and, indeed, all the strength of the body was needed for the support of the austerities of fasting and abstinence. We can readily understand what an impression was made upon men’s minds, during the whole of the rest of the year, by this universal suspension of the ordinary routine of life.” (Dom Guéranger, The Liturgical Year―volume on Passiontide).
How pathetically lukewarm our spiritual exercises and penances seem to be when compared to the above account by Dom Guéranger! No wonder the Church and world are in a mess―“For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). Today, our penances are very sparing indeed! You could even say that the people of the time that Dom Guéranger above speaks, would look upon our present day penances as being comparable to their normal every day life practices―whereby our version of “fasting” is looked upon them as being more like their version of “feasting”!
Hell Turns-Up the Heat
We are in the middle of Satanic battle―which Satan and Hell is waging against the Church and mankind. More and more people are coming to see and understand it for what it is―a Satanic onslaught using the human slaves or servants of Satan as tools for the destruction of Church and mankind. Already the vast majority of people have received what could truly be called “Satan’s Jab” and are now awaiting death―sooner rather than later. Funeral homes are quietly admitting that death rates have sky-rocketed. “Satan’s Jab” is slowly taking its toll ― as Our Lord said of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
The repeated statements made by the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, today seem like understatements: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray! Through prayer, we can even stop wars! According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting.”
Fast-Track to Victory―Fast-Track to Heaven
Our Lord said that certain kinds of devils cannot be cast-out except by prayer and fasting: “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). Our Lord said this in response to being questioned by the Apostles as to why they had failed to exorcise a devil from a possessed young man: “There came to Jesus a man, falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord, have pity on my son! For he is a lunatic and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you―if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, then you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall remove! And nothing shall be impossible to you! But this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
In this Satanically ruled world today, we need to get on the “fast-track” or “fasting-track” if we wish to cast out the devil from the world in general and our own environment in particular. As Father Gabriele Amorth said: “According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting … The Gospel of Mark says: ‘This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting’ (Mark 9:29) ... I recommend three tips―that Jesus gives―to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine apostles who failed to release a young man from demons ― ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone! Both the person struck by the spiritual evil and those close to him!”
Free-Fast or Force-Fast?
O what fools we are! Why do we take the most expensive and most painful path? Why do we choose to suffer more when we could suffer less? Only a fool will pay $10 for a gallon of gasoline when he can get the very same gasoline for only $2. While we are still living in this world, we can do penance for our sins at a discounted rate―but if we refuse to do penance here below, then either the fires of Hell or the fires of Purgatory await us. “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “A fool will laugh at sin!” (Proverbs 14:9). Most people are foolish―thinking little of the gravity of sin and neglecting to pay their debts while living in this world: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
This sinful world has never been in a worse state―as Our Lady pointed out to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [= the Great Flood in Noe’s time]. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
If we look around at the tsunami of sin in the world, we can easily let ourselves be drawn into minimizing the significance and gravity of our sins. The devil is always ready to blind us to the truth that the Church teaches us―even from childhood―in our catechism: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). No matter who you are, or who you think you are, we have all been guilty of committing the greatest evil in the world MULTIPLE and perhaps COUNTLESS times. We are too busy―like the Pharisee―focusing on the sins that others commit, that we become blind to numerous sins WE COMMIT every day! “For a just man shall fall seven times” (Proverbs 24:16). “For our iniquities are multiplied over our heads, and our sins are grown up even unto Heaven!” (1 Esdras 9:6).
Furthermore, let us not try and hide our partial culpability for the tsunami of sins in the world. “What?” you cry out, “I am not guilty for the sins of the world!” The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, bursts the bubble of your objection―for he warns us that when we die, we shall be judged for all the sins that were committed in the world while we were alive―not in the sense that we directly responsible for them, but in the sense that we were indirectly responsible for them by doing little or nothing about it. We are like passers-by who see one person violently beating-up or raping another person―and, like the Priest and the Levite in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, we simply walk by and do nothing:
“And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who also stripped him and, having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way―and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite―when he was near the place and saw him, passed by” (Luke 10:25-32).
Damned Neglect!
Our Lady of Fatima essentially said the same thing: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
So―as Our Lady points out―we could prevent sin in this world by our prayers and sacrifices! Our neglect or refusal to do so falls into the category of those who are damned for NOT DOING WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE, which Our Lord also demonstrates in His parable about the Sheep and the Goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats! And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.
“Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee? Thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’
“Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:31-46).
No Hiding From Penance! No Hiding From Suffering!
Let us not play the role of the Pharisee―as depicted in Our Lord’s parable―who said: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican!” (Luke 18:11). Is that our attitude? “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). No―we have all sinned! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) ― all have sinned and need the mercy of God ― all have sinned and need to do penance! “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but His eyes are upon his ways!” (Job 24:23). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Without doubt you have sinned! You have been sinning every day throughout your whole life―20 years of sin, or 30 years of sin, or 40, 50, 60, 70 or more years of sin! As regards the seriousness of sin, the Church teaches in Her catechisms that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Therefore you have been committing either “the greatest evil in the world” (which is mortal sin) or the second greatest evil in the world (which is venial sin), many times a day, for year after year after year after year―for anywhere from 20 to 80 years! What kind of a punishment or sentence do you think you get from the civil authorities for committing JUST ONE great evil? So why do you satisfy yourself with paltry, pitiful, puerile penances―which would like trying to get away with a bank-robbery, or attempted murder, or attempted rape by merely paying a $10 fine!
The Penances of the Ninivites
In the Old Testament we read of God threatening to destroy the sinful city of Ninive: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days journey. And Jonas began to enter one day’s journey into the city and he cried and said: ‘Yet forty more days and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive―and he rose up out of his throne and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste anything! Let them not feed, nor drink water! And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn, each and every one, from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and forgive and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works―that they were turned from their evil way―and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not” (Jonas 3:1-10).
God never changes: “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17) … “God is not a man, that He should be changed!” (Numbers 23:19). Hence the ways that God deals with sin and sinners also never changes. Sin merits punishment―the ultimate punishment is death―whereas repentance for sin when joined to penance for sin, brings mercy and life: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) … “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) … “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21) … “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) … “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The Lord keepeth all them that love Him―but all the wicked He will destroy!” (Psalm 144:20). “And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity ... And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:11; 6:5-7).
However, God also adds: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die … When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). However, “be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14).
Our Lady essentially tells us the same thing: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases! … Various nations will be annihilated! … O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears! Implore our Celestial Father ... that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (combination of quotes of Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima & Akita).
“As for us, therefore, let us not revenge ourselves for these things which we suffer―but, esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve! Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord―with which we are chastised like servants―have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction!” (Judith 8:26-27).
Friday April 1st to Sunday April 3rd
Article 26
What Will the Triumph of the Immaculate Be Like?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 26
What Will the Triumph of the Immaculate Be Like?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
No Positives Without Negatives! No Negatives Without Positives!
God’s creation is filled with “flip-sides-of-the-coin”―that is to say “heads and tails”, positives and negatives. Everything has two sides ― a positive one and a negative one. We have light and darkness, day and night. We have heat and cold, summer and winter. We have good and evil; life and death; sight and blindness; health and disease; wealth and poverty; knowledge and ignorance; virtue and vice; giving and taking; love and hatred; truth and error; Heaven and Hell; joy and sorrow; laughter and tears; war and peace, etc, etc.
Even Holy Scripture points this out: “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:2-8).
You could also say that every negative thing or event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit or positive thing. We say: “Every cloud has a silver lining!” For example, we learn (=positive) from mistakes (=negative). God is always trying to bring good out of evil―and tries to turn man away from damnation to salvation. Similarly, the notion of “triumph” (=positive) implicitly includes a possible “defeat” (=negative) and therefore also includes the idea of “fighting”. Peace often only comes after war. Our Lord goes to die for our sins so that He can raise us life from the death of sin: “The wages of sin is death―but the grace of God, life everlasting” (Romans 6:23) … Therefore, “fight the good fight of Faith―lay a hold upon eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Everything has Positive and Negative Consequences
Everything that we do has positive and negative consequences―we say: “Everything has its pros and cons!” If I want to get to Heaven (=positive), then I must give up the things of this world (=negative): “Go, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor (=negative), and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven (=positive); and come, follow Me!” (Mark 10:21) ... “If any man will come after Me (=positive), let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily (=negative), and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
When it comes to negative and positive, you will always thrive more powerfully in the positive if you have first been immersed in, and have heroically overcome, the polar opposite negative of that thing. We enjoy the spring and summer even more (=positive) when we have had to endure a harsh winter (=negative). The harder someone has had to fight for victory (=negative), the more enjoyable that victory becomes (=positive).
Our Lady’s Positive Will Come Out of Satan’s Negative
The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is not going to happen in a situation where there is little or no danger, little or no threat, little or no suffering. On the contrary, her triumph will occur in monumental, catastrophic, apocalyptic times. No nation uses its nuclear weapons to blow up a tank―you do not use a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito! You do not call-out the ambulance to take you to the hospital emergency room for a bruised finger! The so-called “big-guns” are reserved for the big battles―and, as Sister Lucia of Fatima warned, we have now entered what she calls a “final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle―where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat! So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This is echoed in Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Our Lady Speaks of Her Future Triumph
In her modern day apparitions, Our Lady has, on several occasions spoken about her “hour” and her “triumph”. The fact that she has mentioned this in several apparitions, does not mean that there will be several triumphs. No! She is speaking of the one and same triumph―which we today call “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” In all of those references, she also paints a picture of the dire straits that we will find ourselves in, before she comes to the rescue.
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS―back in the late 1500s and early 1600s―speaks of our times, first pointing out the dire straits that we will find ourselves in, and then speaking of her rescuing triumph: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years — during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government — will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration! … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus Church and country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny!”
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE, in 1846, adds further jigsaw pieces to the puzzle of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. She, too, points out that before the triumph the world will in a woeful state: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! …
“For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow on all sides. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy.
“I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! …
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … And then, Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA, in 1917, spoke explicitly about the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, prefacing it with the ominous phrase “in the end”―referring to the terrible times that would have to be endured beforehand, which would see the annihilation of various nations: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you! … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA, in 1973, repeated the key elements once again―a terrible time to be endured and she being chosen by God as being the one to help us out of that mess: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Great Calamities Will Precede the Triumph
There are several important testimonies regarding the calamities that will befall the world prior to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
► Msgr. Eugenio Pacelli―prior to his elevation to the papacy in 1939 as Pius XII―who, in the 1930s was the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI, made the following astonishing prophecy about a coming upheaval in the Church: “Suppose, dear friend, that Communism [one of ‘the errors of Russia’ mentioned in the Message of Fatima] was only the most visible of the instruments of subversion to be used against the Church and the traditions of Divine Revelation … I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask: ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
► Father Joaquin Alonso, who for sixteen years was the official archivist of Fatima, wrote a monumental work on the Fatima Message, entitled Fatima Texts and Critical Studies. This book, which consists of 24 volumes containing 5,396 documents, was withheld from publication by the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Msgr. Alberto Cosme do Amaral, at its completion in 1975. Since then, only two of the 24 volumes have been released for publication, and these were heavily edited. Before his death in 1981, Father Alonso stated the following important conclusions concerning the Third Secret:
“In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’ ― the phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith. If in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. It is quite possible that the message not only speaks of a ‘crisis of Faith’ in the Church during this period, but also, like the Secret of La Salette, that it makes concrete references to internal strife among Catholics and to the deficiencies of priests and religious. It is also possible that it may imply deficiencies even among the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
“Thus it is quite possible that, in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves. One conclusion does indeed seem to be beyond question: the content of the unpublished part of the Secret does not refer to new wars or political upheavals, but to happenings of a religious and intra-Church character, which of their nature are still more grave.”
“Does the unpublished text speak of concrete circumstances? It is very possible that it speaks not only of a real crisis of the Faith in the Church during this in-between period, but―like the secret of La Salette, for example―there are more concrete references to the internal struggles of Catholics, or to the fall of priests and religious. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church. For that matter, none of this is foreign to other communications Sister Lucy has had on this subject.”
► Father Joseph Schweigl was entrusted by Pope Pius XII, in 1952, with a secret mission to interview Sister Lucia about the Third Secret. He subsequently stated: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts―one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘’In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’”
► Cardinal Oddi―who was a personal friend of Pope John XXIII and who had spoken to him regarding the Secret―gave the following testimony to Italian journalist, Lucio Brunelli, on March 17th, 1990, in the journal Il Sabato: “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.”
► Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi―who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II―in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Father Malachi Martin―in a four-hour interview on the Art Bell radio program (during the summer of 1998), stated that, in February 1960, while he was secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea (who was one of the close advisors to Pope John XXIII), Father Malachi Martin was given the Third of Fatima to read. Bound by oath not to reveal the Secret, he commented on different versions, which callers quoted to him on the program. He stated that Our Lady’s words were dry and specific. In response to a quotation that a pope would be under the control of Satan, he responded, “Yes, it sounds as if they were reading the text of the Third Secret.” He stated that the release of the Secret would provoke strong reactions. He stated that if the Secret were made public, the confessionals and churches would be filled with parishioners on their knees. He also stated that something very relevant to the United States is mentioned in the Secret. He stated that the central element of the Secret is awful, and that it concerns apostasy.
► Father Jose Valinho―Sister Lucia’s nephew, Father Jose dos Santos Valinho. He related his opinion of the contents of the Third Secret in a book by Renzo and Roberto Allegri, entitled Reportage su Fatima [Milan 2000], which was published — providentially enough — very shortly before the disclosure of the vision purported to be the Third Secret and the publication of booklet, entitled The Message of Fatima, by Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone. Father Valinho stated: “I believe that (the third) part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt [Lucia] wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’ … Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.”
On February 14th, 2003 Father Valinho also spoke about the Third Secret on the program ENIGMA. It was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the national television network of Italy. Father Valinho stated on this occasion: “I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means: ‘Here is the third part, which is not revealed’ and then the conclusion: ‘In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc.’ ― this suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.”
Calamities? What Calamities?
Some people imagine only physical and material calamities. Others speak of spiritual calamities. Some even try to wrongly convince themselves that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart has already taken place and that there is nothing more to worry about! Looking at things logically―since we sin and offend God with both our bodies and souls―it is only fitting that the calamities should be both material/physical as well as spiritual.
► Sr. Lucia of Fatima indicates that the calamities will be both spiritual and material/physical. To Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Lucia revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her Message― neither the good nor the bad. The good merely continue on with their life on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad―the sinners―because of their sins, keep following the road of evil ignoring the Message and do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
“The Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand … Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!”
► Pope John Paul II, when visiting Fulda in Germany in 1980, was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired! Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
What Will the Triumph Bring?
Since the evil in the world today is both spiritual and material―affecting both the soul and the body and enslaving both of them to sin―then the triumph has to be a triumph over both the evils of soul and body. If Russia will have spread her errors throughout every country in the world, then all those errors will have to defeated and destroyed in the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Since there is a mass apostasy and neo-paganism and atheism throughout the world―then there will have to be a massive conversion to One True Faith―the Catholic Faith―throughout the world. All the currents bastions and fortresses of sin―in government, ecclesiastical life, family life, social life, economic life, in the media, in fashion, in culture, in medicine, etc. ― any and all sinful elements in these areas will be defeated or at least driven underground.
Prophecy states that the world will reach a level of holiness that has never been seen before―Our Lady sheds a little light on this, saying: “Evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny” (Our Lady of Good Success). “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Nothing Comes for Free―No Triumph Without Paying
We could have already seen the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by now―if only we had put in the effort already by increasing our daily output of prayer, penance, sacrifices and devotion to her Immaculate Heart. This would have obtained the Triumph at a reduced or discounted price. Since we, as a whole, refused to that―we will now have to endure some terrible times where we will be ‘forced’ by God’s heavy hand to pray, do penance, and sacrifice far, far more than we would have had to sacrifice willingly if we only would have done as we were told to you years ago!
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks of this ‘forced’ penance: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation!”
You could paraphrase the above to read thus: “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his heavenly Mother, who does not imitate her―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow Our Lady―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his Mother by devotion to her―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering, sacrificing, praying many Rosaries and being devoted to my Immaculate Heart―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges my Son and I to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation!”
All of this is similar to the “freely and willingly suffer on Earth” or “be forced to suffer in Purgatory” option. Only the fool chooses to suffer for sin in Purgatory when he could suffer on Earth for sin at a heavily discounted price. It is like being offered a fine of only $10 for speeding if you pay now―or, if you prefer to wait a few years before paying it, then you will be paying $100,000. We have the audacity to sin here on Earth; and we have the stupidity of not wanting to pay for sin here on Earth!
The Imitation of Christ echoes these sentiments: “If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. ‘It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead ... and so enter into His glory.’ (Luke 24:46, 26). How is it that you look for another way than this―the royal way of the holy cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases … With God nothing that is suffered for His sake, no matter how small, can pass without reward ... Always remember your end and do not forget that lost time never returns ... Be prepared for the fight, then, if you wish to gain the victory! … There is one thing that keeps many from zealously improving their lives, that is, dread of the difficulty, the toil of battle!” (The Imitation of Christ).
God’s creation is filled with “flip-sides-of-the-coin”―that is to say “heads and tails”, positives and negatives. Everything has two sides ― a positive one and a negative one. We have light and darkness, day and night. We have heat and cold, summer and winter. We have good and evil; life and death; sight and blindness; health and disease; wealth and poverty; knowledge and ignorance; virtue and vice; giving and taking; love and hatred; truth and error; Heaven and Hell; joy and sorrow; laughter and tears; war and peace, etc, etc.
Even Holy Scripture points this out: “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:2-8).
You could also say that every negative thing or event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit or positive thing. We say: “Every cloud has a silver lining!” For example, we learn (=positive) from mistakes (=negative). God is always trying to bring good out of evil―and tries to turn man away from damnation to salvation. Similarly, the notion of “triumph” (=positive) implicitly includes a possible “defeat” (=negative) and therefore also includes the idea of “fighting”. Peace often only comes after war. Our Lord goes to die for our sins so that He can raise us life from the death of sin: “The wages of sin is death―but the grace of God, life everlasting” (Romans 6:23) … Therefore, “fight the good fight of Faith―lay a hold upon eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Everything has Positive and Negative Consequences
Everything that we do has positive and negative consequences―we say: “Everything has its pros and cons!” If I want to get to Heaven (=positive), then I must give up the things of this world (=negative): “Go, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor (=negative), and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven (=positive); and come, follow Me!” (Mark 10:21) ... “If any man will come after Me (=positive), let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily (=negative), and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
When it comes to negative and positive, you will always thrive more powerfully in the positive if you have first been immersed in, and have heroically overcome, the polar opposite negative of that thing. We enjoy the spring and summer even more (=positive) when we have had to endure a harsh winter (=negative). The harder someone has had to fight for victory (=negative), the more enjoyable that victory becomes (=positive).
Our Lady’s Positive Will Come Out of Satan’s Negative
The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is not going to happen in a situation where there is little or no danger, little or no threat, little or no suffering. On the contrary, her triumph will occur in monumental, catastrophic, apocalyptic times. No nation uses its nuclear weapons to blow up a tank―you do not use a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito! You do not call-out the ambulance to take you to the hospital emergency room for a bruised finger! The so-called “big-guns” are reserved for the big battles―and, as Sister Lucia of Fatima warned, we have now entered what she calls a “final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle―where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat! So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This is echoed in Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Our Lady Speaks of Her Future Triumph
In her modern day apparitions, Our Lady has, on several occasions spoken about her “hour” and her “triumph”. The fact that she has mentioned this in several apparitions, does not mean that there will be several triumphs. No! She is speaking of the one and same triumph―which we today call “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” In all of those references, she also paints a picture of the dire straits that we will find ourselves in, before she comes to the rescue.
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS―back in the late 1500s and early 1600s―speaks of our times, first pointing out the dire straits that we will find ourselves in, and then speaking of her rescuing triumph: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years — during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government — will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration! … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus Church and country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny!”
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE, in 1846, adds further jigsaw pieces to the puzzle of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. She, too, points out that before the triumph the world will in a woeful state: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! …
“For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow on all sides. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy.
“I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! …
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … And then, Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA, in 1917, spoke explicitly about the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, prefacing it with the ominous phrase “in the end”―referring to the terrible times that would have to be endured beforehand, which would see the annihilation of various nations: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you! … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA, in 1973, repeated the key elements once again―a terrible time to be endured and she being chosen by God as being the one to help us out of that mess: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Great Calamities Will Precede the Triumph
There are several important testimonies regarding the calamities that will befall the world prior to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
► Msgr. Eugenio Pacelli―prior to his elevation to the papacy in 1939 as Pius XII―who, in the 1930s was the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI, made the following astonishing prophecy about a coming upheaval in the Church: “Suppose, dear friend, that Communism [one of ‘the errors of Russia’ mentioned in the Message of Fatima] was only the most visible of the instruments of subversion to be used against the Church and the traditions of Divine Revelation … I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask: ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
► Father Joaquin Alonso, who for sixteen years was the official archivist of Fatima, wrote a monumental work on the Fatima Message, entitled Fatima Texts and Critical Studies. This book, which consists of 24 volumes containing 5,396 documents, was withheld from publication by the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Msgr. Alberto Cosme do Amaral, at its completion in 1975. Since then, only two of the 24 volumes have been released for publication, and these were heavily edited. Before his death in 1981, Father Alonso stated the following important conclusions concerning the Third Secret:
“In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’ ― the phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith. If in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. It is quite possible that the message not only speaks of a ‘crisis of Faith’ in the Church during this period, but also, like the Secret of La Salette, that it makes concrete references to internal strife among Catholics and to the deficiencies of priests and religious. It is also possible that it may imply deficiencies even among the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
“Thus it is quite possible that, in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves. One conclusion does indeed seem to be beyond question: the content of the unpublished part of the Secret does not refer to new wars or political upheavals, but to happenings of a religious and intra-Church character, which of their nature are still more grave.”
“Does the unpublished text speak of concrete circumstances? It is very possible that it speaks not only of a real crisis of the Faith in the Church during this in-between period, but―like the secret of La Salette, for example―there are more concrete references to the internal struggles of Catholics, or to the fall of priests and religious. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church. For that matter, none of this is foreign to other communications Sister Lucy has had on this subject.”
► Father Joseph Schweigl was entrusted by Pope Pius XII, in 1952, with a secret mission to interview Sister Lucia about the Third Secret. He subsequently stated: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts―one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘’In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’”
► Cardinal Oddi―who was a personal friend of Pope John XXIII and who had spoken to him regarding the Secret―gave the following testimony to Italian journalist, Lucio Brunelli, on March 17th, 1990, in the journal Il Sabato: “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.”
► Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi―who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II―in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Father Malachi Martin―in a four-hour interview on the Art Bell radio program (during the summer of 1998), stated that, in February 1960, while he was secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea (who was one of the close advisors to Pope John XXIII), Father Malachi Martin was given the Third of Fatima to read. Bound by oath not to reveal the Secret, he commented on different versions, which callers quoted to him on the program. He stated that Our Lady’s words were dry and specific. In response to a quotation that a pope would be under the control of Satan, he responded, “Yes, it sounds as if they were reading the text of the Third Secret.” He stated that the release of the Secret would provoke strong reactions. He stated that if the Secret were made public, the confessionals and churches would be filled with parishioners on their knees. He also stated that something very relevant to the United States is mentioned in the Secret. He stated that the central element of the Secret is awful, and that it concerns apostasy.
► Father Jose Valinho―Sister Lucia’s nephew, Father Jose dos Santos Valinho. He related his opinion of the contents of the Third Secret in a book by Renzo and Roberto Allegri, entitled Reportage su Fatima [Milan 2000], which was published — providentially enough — very shortly before the disclosure of the vision purported to be the Third Secret and the publication of booklet, entitled The Message of Fatima, by Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone. Father Valinho stated: “I believe that (the third) part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt [Lucia] wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’ … Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.”
On February 14th, 2003 Father Valinho also spoke about the Third Secret on the program ENIGMA. It was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the national television network of Italy. Father Valinho stated on this occasion: “I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means: ‘Here is the third part, which is not revealed’ and then the conclusion: ‘In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc.’ ― this suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.”
Calamities? What Calamities?
Some people imagine only physical and material calamities. Others speak of spiritual calamities. Some even try to wrongly convince themselves that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart has already taken place and that there is nothing more to worry about! Looking at things logically―since we sin and offend God with both our bodies and souls―it is only fitting that the calamities should be both material/physical as well as spiritual.
► Sr. Lucia of Fatima indicates that the calamities will be both spiritual and material/physical. To Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Lucia revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her Message― neither the good nor the bad. The good merely continue on with their life on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad―the sinners―because of their sins, keep following the road of evil ignoring the Message and do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
“The Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand … Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!”
► Pope John Paul II, when visiting Fulda in Germany in 1980, was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired! Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
What Will the Triumph Bring?
Since the evil in the world today is both spiritual and material―affecting both the soul and the body and enslaving both of them to sin―then the triumph has to be a triumph over both the evils of soul and body. If Russia will have spread her errors throughout every country in the world, then all those errors will have to defeated and destroyed in the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Since there is a mass apostasy and neo-paganism and atheism throughout the world―then there will have to be a massive conversion to One True Faith―the Catholic Faith―throughout the world. All the currents bastions and fortresses of sin―in government, ecclesiastical life, family life, social life, economic life, in the media, in fashion, in culture, in medicine, etc. ― any and all sinful elements in these areas will be defeated or at least driven underground.
Prophecy states that the world will reach a level of holiness that has never been seen before―Our Lady sheds a little light on this, saying: “Evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny” (Our Lady of Good Success). “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Nothing Comes for Free―No Triumph Without Paying
We could have already seen the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by now―if only we had put in the effort already by increasing our daily output of prayer, penance, sacrifices and devotion to her Immaculate Heart. This would have obtained the Triumph at a reduced or discounted price. Since we, as a whole, refused to that―we will now have to endure some terrible times where we will be ‘forced’ by God’s heavy hand to pray, do penance, and sacrifice far, far more than we would have had to sacrifice willingly if we only would have done as we were told to you years ago!
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks of this ‘forced’ penance: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation!”
You could paraphrase the above to read thus: “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his heavenly Mother, who does not imitate her―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow Our Lady―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his Mother by devotion to her―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering, sacrificing, praying many Rosaries and being devoted to my Immaculate Heart―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges my Son and I to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation!”
All of this is similar to the “freely and willingly suffer on Earth” or “be forced to suffer in Purgatory” option. Only the fool chooses to suffer for sin in Purgatory when he could suffer on Earth for sin at a heavily discounted price. It is like being offered a fine of only $10 for speeding if you pay now―or, if you prefer to wait a few years before paying it, then you will be paying $100,000. We have the audacity to sin here on Earth; and we have the stupidity of not wanting to pay for sin here on Earth!
The Imitation of Christ echoes these sentiments: “If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. ‘It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead ... and so enter into His glory.’ (Luke 24:46, 26). How is it that you look for another way than this―the royal way of the holy cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases … With God nothing that is suffered for His sake, no matter how small, can pass without reward ... Always remember your end and do not forget that lost time never returns ... Be prepared for the fight, then, if you wish to gain the victory! … There is one thing that keeps many from zealously improving their lives, that is, dread of the difficulty, the toil of battle!” (The Imitation of Christ).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday March 28th to Wednesday March 30th
Article 25
How to Acquire a True Devotion to Mary
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday March 28th to Wednesday March 30th
Article 25
How to Acquire a True Devotion to Mary
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Do You Know What You Want?
Before you go and get something, you have to first of all know what you want! Secondly, you have to know whether or not it is possible. When you go shopping, you usually know what you want; you know more or less where to look for it; and you should roughly know what it is going to cost; and have some idea on how to use it.
Similarly, whenever you get into your car, you should know how the car works and how to drive the car; you should know where you intend to go; you should know how to get there; and whether or not you have enough fuel to get there.
The same is true for a True Devotion to Mary―you should first of all know what it is; how and where you can acquire it; what it will cost you in spiritual effort; and also how to use it.
Even though, as the Catechism tells us, “grace is a supernatural gift of God that is freely given”―that does not mean that everything in the spiritual life is free. God might freely “start the ball rolling”, but it is our duty to “run with the ball”. God is not going to spoil us by “spoon-feeding” us all life long!
Life Means Work
God made Adam and Eve to work in Paradise or the Garden of Eden: “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth … And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that bears fruit, each one having seed according to its kind ... And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth … And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth; and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul ... God created man to His own image … And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning wherein He placed man whom He had formed … And God said: ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat!’ …. And God blessed them, saying: ‘Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth!’” (Genesis chapters 1 & 2). All of this means work―yet before committing Original Sin, Adam and Eve found work to be satisfying and pleasant, they enjoyed working.
However, after committing Original Sin, God punished them by making work feel burdensome. God said: “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat―cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken! For dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 2:17-19).
Life means work! There is no escape from that fact and requirement! Likewise―eternal life means work and there is no escape from that fact and requirement: “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold upon eternal life―whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― fighting means work! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― and warfare means work! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “Send him to work, that he be not idle!” (Ecclesiasticus 33:28).
As Our Lord says in one of His parables: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard … And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle [doing no work]. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [and work], and I will give you what shall be just!' [for the work] … Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But, about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ [doing no work] They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ [and work]. And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: ‘Call the laborers [workers] and pay them their hire [for their work]” (Matthew 20:1-8).
In another parable―about the Talents―Our Lord praises and rewards those who worked and profited from the talents that had been given to them: “He that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained [by my work] other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two [by my work]!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reap where thou hast not sown, and gather where thou hast not strewn. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! [and did no work with it] Behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou ought, therefore, to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Of course, the ultimate work is the carrying of the cross―of which Our Lord says the following: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Different Kinds of Work
St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of three different kinds of work, each being of differing difficulty. St. Thomas says that the easiest work of all is physical work; after that comes intellectual work; but the hardest of all is spiritual work. The rewards are also different―with physical work being focused on material reward (which is finite); intellectual work can gain a less finite reward, in that it can endure for centuries, even after the person dies, by means of books and writings―but only spiritual work can merit an eternal reward, that is to say, Heaven.
The Problem of Devotion
Devotion! Devotion! What’s the commotion?
It’s presence or lack, brings promotion or demotion!
It should grow and flow, like a river to an ocean!
A fire of love, causing spiritual locomotion!
Yet, of devotion, most souls have not the least notion!
Good Lord, I beg Thee, give me some devotion!
What on Earth is Devotion?
What is devotion? Much like the world “love”, it will be defined a thousand different ways! Does anyone really know what it is? Does it mean saying a number of prayers, going frequently to church, having devout and pleasant feelings at our prayers? Some of us may have this idea of devotion, but it is not the real meaning of the word, and above all, it is not the meaning of devotion as signified in this title of Our Lady’s Litany—in which we say: “Singular Vessel of Devotion!”
Etymology of Devotion
Sometimes the meaning of a word can be traced by its roots—by what we call “etymology.” We find the origins of “devotion” in Latin, rooted in words like: devotus, devotio, devovere, etc. The verb, devovere, giving the past participle devotus, is itself based on the verb vovere, whose past-participle is votus, meaning to “to give up, to vow, dedicate or consecrate.” Hence we see a connection between devotion and a vow. Thus the word devotus essentially means being faithful to something, from which we obviously get our word “devoted.”
Definition of Devotion
If we come to more modern times, and look up the word in the book of definitions, the Dictionary, we will encounter such definitions as: (1) earnestness and zeal in the performance of religious duties and observations; (2) religious fervor, reverence, piety; (3) an act of prayer or supplication—now usually used in plural; (4) oblation or offering, such as of oneself or an alms given from religious motives; (5) ardent love or affection; (6) strong attachment; (7) zeal, enthusiasm.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” as being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
When we look at the areas in which we use the word “devotion”, then the theory of the word comes into a concrete reality that paints a picture of something way above the ordinary, something extraordinary, something of a very high level. We speak of someone devoting all their time to their family, or devoting everything to this or that sport, hobby, job, etc. We speak of a soldier being devoted to his country; a student devoted to his or her studies; etc. Devotion usually produces results that are out of the ordinary, results that are extraordinary. Given the inherent slothful, easy-going, comfort orientated nature of mankind―which seeks to get paid as much as possible for doing as little as possible―then it is easy to see that very few people are willing or capable of attaining a true devotion. It is not because it is humanly impossible to them―it is just because they have become accustomed to being minimalists―and devotion is the exact opposite. We can fool ourselves―but we cannot fool God or Our Lady: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
True Devotion Means True Work
With God―and Our Lady―you get what you pay for! “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). To willingly work hard is to prove your love for the work. To work hard shows a devotion to the work that you are doing. To have devotion to your work means being prepared to suffer in your work―and that in turn proves your love for your work. Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―Our Lord not only laid down His life for His friends, but also for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” were His words as He was dying and laying down His life on the cross (Luke 23:34). Love and devotion are related―but devotion is the pinnacle of love. If you can attain a true devotion to Our Lady, then you will truly attain Heaven―it will be impossible for you to be damned! Yet the attainment of that true devotion means work―constant work―just like the attainment of high intelligence or wisdom requires a constant high degree of study―and study can be very painful to the mind, and devotion can be painful to the soul.
As Our Lady said the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.” Once again, Our Lady points out that the true measuring stick of devotion is the “yardstick of suffering” ― suffering challenges, tests and proves our devotion. If we envisioning for ourselves some kind of “devotion” without the essential ingredient of suffering―then we are trying to bake a “pie-in-the-sky” and will only end up with “egg-on-our-face” and a lot of “spilled-milk”!
Sowing the Seed of Devotion
Coming back to the idea of “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” ― we can look upon the acquisition and attainment of devotion as being much like the parable that Our Lord told about the Sower of the Seed:
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
Any success or lack of success in “sowing the seed” of devotion will depend upon the how carefully we “sow the seed” of devotion and the “quality of the soil” in our soul and whether or not we expose that seed to external dangers “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
From Seed to Tree
Our Lord speaks of the mustard seed being the tiniest of seeds that grows into the biggest of plants: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32). We can devotion in the same light. It begins as a tiny seed of devotion, but it is meant to grow into a tree of devotion―St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, speaks of true devotion to Mary as being the “Tree of Life”.
“O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Plant in my soul the Tree of true Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and blossom and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance. O Holy Spirit, give me great devotion to Mary, Thy faithful spouse! … If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey. Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
(1) This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of Heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors or your natural talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help.
(2) The person in whose soul this tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. For this tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and attention of soul. A soul that desires to be holy will make this its chief aim and occupation.
Whatever is likely to choke the tree or in the course of time prevent its yielding fruit, such as thorns and thistles, must be cut away and rooted-out. This means that by self-denial and self-discipline you must sedulously cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses.
(3) You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is incompatible with love of Mary.
(4) You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. They must not be allowed even to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is, venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble ourselves about them.
(5) It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit.
(6) Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and shake this tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost tend to smother it. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked. But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have nothing to fear.
“Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in it. It will become such a good tree that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary.
“Happy is that soul in which Mary, the tree of life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary's fruit and preserves it up till death and then beyond to all eternity!” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, §68 to §78).
However, this “Tree of Life” is inextricably tied to the “Tree of the Cross” as we see in these combined texts from St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of Mary:
“If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ ... He who wishes to have the fruit well ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it … Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them, she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. In this way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e., “sweetened” crosses rather than “bitter” ones. If, from time to time, they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which, we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates, in them, a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.”
Degrees of Devotion
Since devotion is rooted in love―just like love it has various degrees, all of which can be broadly called “devotion”, but some more perfect than others. You could loosely compare devotion to a person―a person passes through various stages of life, from infancy, to childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood. Normally, a person should become more and more perfect as they grow older and pass through those stages―the same can be said of devotion. St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, writes:
“There are indeed several true devotions to Our Lady. The first consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God, more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional. The second consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate our Lady’s pictures and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her modalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third, nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ. The third devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few. This is the one I am about to present to you” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, §27 to §29). The “third devotion” that St. Louis speaks of, refers to a “true devotion” or a “perfect devotion” ― the “icing-on-the-cake” of devotions, so to speak.
In his True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis also alludes to these degrees―though not limiting them to only three: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”
Where Are We On the Devotion Scale?
► THE FIRST LEVEL OF DEVOTION: St. Louis says that the greatest number of Catholics will remain in the exterior aspects of the devotion and will not rise beyond that. Since Our Lord speaks of birds by analogy ― “Behold the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26) ― we could say that these Catholics are like birds that cannot fly or sing. There are around 10,000 known species of birds―and 57 of those cannot fly or sing―such as the ostrich and the penguin, for example (yes―penguins are birds!). These flightless Catholics have some kind of external devotion to Our Lady―such as having statues of her, pictures of her in their prayer books, wearing medals or scapulars, owning books about her, they might even sometimes say (but not pray) the Rosary, etc. ― but they never enter into the interior aspects of devotion to Mary. Most do not even know what that means or how to do it! So like penguins, they waddle along with their external devotions, thinking that this is perfection! Our Lady does not despise or reject them―but she does expect them to emerge from the kindergarten of devotion after spending so many years there!
St. Louis de Montfort’s description of them is: “The first [level of devotion] consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God, more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional … They stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number.” Another analogy to describe them―besides the flightless bird―would be that of “would-be-swimmers” who do not actually plunge into the sea and swim, but merely dress as swimmers and loiter along the sea shore, occasionally dipping their big-toe in the water. Or you could compare them to children in kindergarten, who learn certain new words but cannot use them in a sentence. Or someone who knows how to turn on a computer and only uses it as a typewriter, without advancing beyond that level to use the computer’s full capabilities.
► THE SECOND LEVEL OF DEVOTION: The next level of devotion is one which we could call a “chicken devotion”! St. Louis speaks of the second level of devotion as consisting of those who barely get off the ground: “Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step … This second [level of devotion] consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate our Lady’s pictures and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her modalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third.” Thus we call it a “chicken devotion”―for chickens CAN fly, but not very far and not very often. There has never been a time when chickens filled the skies. Chickens are better suited to the ground than branches and beaks built for ground foraging. Still, when danger lurks or better foraging can be found on the other side of a fence, a determined chicken will take flight. Depending on the breed, chickens will reach heights of about 10 feet and can span distances of just forty or fifty feet. The longest recorded flight of a modern chicken lasted 13 seconds for a distance of just over three hundred feet.
► THE THIRD LEVEL OF DEVOTION: St. Louis de Montfort then asks: “Who will mount to the second step [second level of the devotion]? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state? … This [second level of the] devotion, by keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third [level of the devotion], nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ. The third [level of the] devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few.”
We can again turn to our “feathered friends” for an analogy! St. Louis speaks of a “third step” and then seems to speak of something even higher than that―“Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” As for the third step, we could refer by analogy to the Bar-Tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), a bird which scientists tracked in 2020, that flew for 11 days straight from Alaska to New Zealand, covering a distance of 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) without stopping, breaking the longest nonstop flight among birds known to scientists.
For the even higher level, of which St. Louis says “will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state”, we can refer to the Alpine Swift, a swallow-like bird found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some of the swifts breed in Switzerland, then wing their way across the Sahara to Western Africa for the winters. A team of scientists caught six Alpine swifts in Switzerland and tagged them with data loggers. After the birds migrated to Africa and back, the researchers caught three of them and tried to reconstruct the birds’ flight patterns. They found that the Alpine Swifts could fly continuously for 200 days―eating and sleeping while soaring through the sky.
However, another group of scientists at Lund University in Sweden equipped adult Common Swifts with data loggers to track the birds’ movements to find out the Swifts’ endurance limits as they embarked on their epic 10-month migration from Europe to sub-Saharan Africa and back. The results, published in the journal Current Biology, found that some birds were able to continue flying for 10 months, while those that landed for short periods still spent 99.5% of their 10-month migration in the air. The other two months of the year are spent hatching and raising chicks. When the scientists recaptured 19 of the birds as they returned to their nests one or two years later, the loggers showed that the birds almost never stopped to rest during their intercontinental journeys. In fact, three birds literally never stopped flying for the entire 10 months. Professor Anders Hedenström, from the Department of Biology at Lund University, said: “A ten-month flight phase is the longest we know of any bird species ― it’s a record!” Researchers remain unsure on how the birds sleep during this time. The swifts eat bugs in mid-air, so that explains why they don’t starve. Interestingly, the birds that never landed, molted and gained new flight feathers in the wings and tail while flying, but those that landed didn’t.
It is also said of Albatrosses that they are masters of soaring flight, able to glide over vast tracts of ocean without flapping their wings. So fully have they adapted to their oceanic existence that they spend the first six or more years of their long lives (which last upwards of 50 years) without ever touching land.
This brings to mind the words of Holy Scripture―than can equally be applied to the subject of devotion: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)―or “Fly non-stop!” Jesus Himself said that “we ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). So as there are different kinds of birds with different levels of endurance―likewise, there are different kinds of Catholics with different levels of devotion. We need to aim to be in the third category! We need to aim to be in the third category! We need to fly non-stop to Heaven by praying non-stop on Earth! “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13).
Imitating the Imitation
We see something of this high-level of devotion expressed in The Imitation of Christ, where the author speaks of the excellent effects of divine love, which indicates the kind of devotion we should have: “Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, or higher, or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth! One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all … He does not look to the gift, but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much, where he, who does not love, fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself, there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter, for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice!”
We Need to Acquire a Fanatical Love
Today, the word “fanatical” has negative connotations―it is seen to be more of a severe criticism rather than a word of praise. “Fanatical” comes from the word “fanatic”, which itself came from the Latin “fanaticus”, meaning “mad” or “inspired by a god or deity.” The root word of “fanatic” is “fanum”, which means “temple, shrine, consecrated place.” The original English meanings of both fanatic and fanatical implied that the person being described was insane with enthusiasm, like a religious zealot. The English statesman and politician, Sir Winston Churchill, said: “A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject!” In that case, you could describe God as a “fanatic” ― “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Our Lady could also be described as “fanatical” because she never changes the subject in her apparitions―which is always pray, do penance, or else! Even her Fatima demands for praying the Rosary never changed from one apparition to the next:
“Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
It is not exaggeration to say that God demands from us a “fanatical” love! How else could you interpret the command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). If someone loves a sport, or a sports team, with ALL their heart, ALL their soul, ALL their mind and ALL their strength―devoting ALL their time to the subject, speaking about the subject ALL the time―then would rightly call them “a fanatic”, would we not? Well that is what God is demanding of us―that is the pinnacle of devotion, the perfection of devotion, the ultimate devotion.
We speak of people being “sex-mad” or “sports-mad” or “money-mad” ― meaning that they are “mad” (crazy about) those things. We should be “God-mad”, “Our Lady-mad” and “Faith-mad” instead of being “mad” about those earthly things! “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). Sadly, we do not treasure Our Lady as we ought to do―there are many earthly things that we value above her. She is God’s masterpiece and our “ticket to salvation”! As St. Louis de Montfort states: “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High! … She is the magnificence of the Most High! … Mary is an abyss which never can be sounded. O height incomprehensible! O breadth unspeakable! O length immeasurable! O abyss impenetrable! … After that, we must cry out with the saints: ‘De Maria numquam satis!’—‘Of Mary there is never enough!’ We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought! She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
To Know Mary is to Love Mary
As the Catechism tells us why God created us: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world―so that I can be happy with Him in the next world!” God took on human flesh through Mary―at the Incarnation, which we celebrate on the feast of the Annunciation―so that we could know Him better. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity―Our Lord Jesus Christ―became man by being miraculously conceived in the womb of Our Lady. It is hard to know God as an invisible Spirit―but it is much easier to know God if God takes on human flesh. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot love what you do not know.” St. Thérèse the Little Flower (St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus), used to say that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. This is also true of Our Lady. We will barely love her if we barely know her!
Fr. Faber, in his Preface to his own personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, has this to say on knowing Mary: “Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow, which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! … Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! … Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother … Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
We need to know Mary better by reading more about her! We need to make Mary better known by speaking and writing about what we have read! True devotion to Mary is no “part-time” hobby―but a “full-time” occupation. In all honesty, who can say that their devotion is what it should be; who can say it is at the level that God expects from them? As Fr. Faber so rightly says: “Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor!” As we heard at the outset of Lent the words: “We entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain! For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!” (Epistle, First Sunday of Lent). In regard to Mary, we could paraphrase that to read: “We entreat you not to receive the grace of devotion to Mary in vain. For she says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation! Behold now is the time to improve your devotion to Mary!”
As Our Lady herself said, to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them! Therefore, he shall be miserable―and forever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners!” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
Before you go and get something, you have to first of all know what you want! Secondly, you have to know whether or not it is possible. When you go shopping, you usually know what you want; you know more or less where to look for it; and you should roughly know what it is going to cost; and have some idea on how to use it.
Similarly, whenever you get into your car, you should know how the car works and how to drive the car; you should know where you intend to go; you should know how to get there; and whether or not you have enough fuel to get there.
The same is true for a True Devotion to Mary―you should first of all know what it is; how and where you can acquire it; what it will cost you in spiritual effort; and also how to use it.
Even though, as the Catechism tells us, “grace is a supernatural gift of God that is freely given”―that does not mean that everything in the spiritual life is free. God might freely “start the ball rolling”, but it is our duty to “run with the ball”. God is not going to spoil us by “spoon-feeding” us all life long!
Life Means Work
God made Adam and Eve to work in Paradise or the Garden of Eden: “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth … And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that bears fruit, each one having seed according to its kind ... And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth … And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth; and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul ... God created man to His own image … And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning wherein He placed man whom He had formed … And God said: ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat!’ …. And God blessed them, saying: ‘Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth!’” (Genesis chapters 1 & 2). All of this means work―yet before committing Original Sin, Adam and Eve found work to be satisfying and pleasant, they enjoyed working.
However, after committing Original Sin, God punished them by making work feel burdensome. God said: “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat―cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken! For dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 2:17-19).
Life means work! There is no escape from that fact and requirement! Likewise―eternal life means work and there is no escape from that fact and requirement: “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold upon eternal life―whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― fighting means work! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― and warfare means work! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “Send him to work, that he be not idle!” (Ecclesiasticus 33:28).
As Our Lord says in one of His parables: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard … And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle [doing no work]. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [and work], and I will give you what shall be just!' [for the work] … Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But, about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ [doing no work] They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ [and work]. And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: ‘Call the laborers [workers] and pay them their hire [for their work]” (Matthew 20:1-8).
In another parable―about the Talents―Our Lord praises and rewards those who worked and profited from the talents that had been given to them: “He that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained [by my work] other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two [by my work]!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reap where thou hast not sown, and gather where thou hast not strewn. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! [and did no work with it] Behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou ought, therefore, to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Of course, the ultimate work is the carrying of the cross―of which Our Lord says the following: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Different Kinds of Work
St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of three different kinds of work, each being of differing difficulty. St. Thomas says that the easiest work of all is physical work; after that comes intellectual work; but the hardest of all is spiritual work. The rewards are also different―with physical work being focused on material reward (which is finite); intellectual work can gain a less finite reward, in that it can endure for centuries, even after the person dies, by means of books and writings―but only spiritual work can merit an eternal reward, that is to say, Heaven.
The Problem of Devotion
Devotion! Devotion! What’s the commotion?
It’s presence or lack, brings promotion or demotion!
It should grow and flow, like a river to an ocean!
A fire of love, causing spiritual locomotion!
Yet, of devotion, most souls have not the least notion!
Good Lord, I beg Thee, give me some devotion!
What on Earth is Devotion?
What is devotion? Much like the world “love”, it will be defined a thousand different ways! Does anyone really know what it is? Does it mean saying a number of prayers, going frequently to church, having devout and pleasant feelings at our prayers? Some of us may have this idea of devotion, but it is not the real meaning of the word, and above all, it is not the meaning of devotion as signified in this title of Our Lady’s Litany—in which we say: “Singular Vessel of Devotion!”
Etymology of Devotion
Sometimes the meaning of a word can be traced by its roots—by what we call “etymology.” We find the origins of “devotion” in Latin, rooted in words like: devotus, devotio, devovere, etc. The verb, devovere, giving the past participle devotus, is itself based on the verb vovere, whose past-participle is votus, meaning to “to give up, to vow, dedicate or consecrate.” Hence we see a connection between devotion and a vow. Thus the word devotus essentially means being faithful to something, from which we obviously get our word “devoted.”
Definition of Devotion
If we come to more modern times, and look up the word in the book of definitions, the Dictionary, we will encounter such definitions as: (1) earnestness and zeal in the performance of religious duties and observations; (2) religious fervor, reverence, piety; (3) an act of prayer or supplication—now usually used in plural; (4) oblation or offering, such as of oneself or an alms given from religious motives; (5) ardent love or affection; (6) strong attachment; (7) zeal, enthusiasm.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” as being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
When we look at the areas in which we use the word “devotion”, then the theory of the word comes into a concrete reality that paints a picture of something way above the ordinary, something extraordinary, something of a very high level. We speak of someone devoting all their time to their family, or devoting everything to this or that sport, hobby, job, etc. We speak of a soldier being devoted to his country; a student devoted to his or her studies; etc. Devotion usually produces results that are out of the ordinary, results that are extraordinary. Given the inherent slothful, easy-going, comfort orientated nature of mankind―which seeks to get paid as much as possible for doing as little as possible―then it is easy to see that very few people are willing or capable of attaining a true devotion. It is not because it is humanly impossible to them―it is just because they have become accustomed to being minimalists―and devotion is the exact opposite. We can fool ourselves―but we cannot fool God or Our Lady: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
True Devotion Means True Work
With God―and Our Lady―you get what you pay for! “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). To willingly work hard is to prove your love for the work. To work hard shows a devotion to the work that you are doing. To have devotion to your work means being prepared to suffer in your work―and that in turn proves your love for your work. Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―Our Lord not only laid down His life for His friends, but also for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” were His words as He was dying and laying down His life on the cross (Luke 23:34). Love and devotion are related―but devotion is the pinnacle of love. If you can attain a true devotion to Our Lady, then you will truly attain Heaven―it will be impossible for you to be damned! Yet the attainment of that true devotion means work―constant work―just like the attainment of high intelligence or wisdom requires a constant high degree of study―and study can be very painful to the mind, and devotion can be painful to the soul.
As Our Lady said the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.” Once again, Our Lady points out that the true measuring stick of devotion is the “yardstick of suffering” ― suffering challenges, tests and proves our devotion. If we envisioning for ourselves some kind of “devotion” without the essential ingredient of suffering―then we are trying to bake a “pie-in-the-sky” and will only end up with “egg-on-our-face” and a lot of “spilled-milk”!
Sowing the Seed of Devotion
Coming back to the idea of “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” ― we can look upon the acquisition and attainment of devotion as being much like the parable that Our Lord told about the Sower of the Seed:
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
Any success or lack of success in “sowing the seed” of devotion will depend upon the how carefully we “sow the seed” of devotion and the “quality of the soil” in our soul and whether or not we expose that seed to external dangers “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
From Seed to Tree
Our Lord speaks of the mustard seed being the tiniest of seeds that grows into the biggest of plants: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32). We can devotion in the same light. It begins as a tiny seed of devotion, but it is meant to grow into a tree of devotion―St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, speaks of true devotion to Mary as being the “Tree of Life”.
“O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Plant in my soul the Tree of true Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and blossom and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance. O Holy Spirit, give me great devotion to Mary, Thy faithful spouse! … If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey. Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
(1) This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of Heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors or your natural talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help.
(2) The person in whose soul this tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. For this tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and attention of soul. A soul that desires to be holy will make this its chief aim and occupation.
Whatever is likely to choke the tree or in the course of time prevent its yielding fruit, such as thorns and thistles, must be cut away and rooted-out. This means that by self-denial and self-discipline you must sedulously cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses.
(3) You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is incompatible with love of Mary.
(4) You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. They must not be allowed even to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is, venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble ourselves about them.
(5) It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit.
(6) Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and shake this tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost tend to smother it. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked. But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have nothing to fear.
“Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in it. It will become such a good tree that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary.
“Happy is that soul in which Mary, the tree of life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary's fruit and preserves it up till death and then beyond to all eternity!” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, §68 to §78).
However, this “Tree of Life” is inextricably tied to the “Tree of the Cross” as we see in these combined texts from St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of Mary:
“If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ ... He who wishes to have the fruit well ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it … Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them, she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. In this way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e., “sweetened” crosses rather than “bitter” ones. If, from time to time, they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which, we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates, in them, a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.”
Degrees of Devotion
Since devotion is rooted in love―just like love it has various degrees, all of which can be broadly called “devotion”, but some more perfect than others. You could loosely compare devotion to a person―a person passes through various stages of life, from infancy, to childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood. Normally, a person should become more and more perfect as they grow older and pass through those stages―the same can be said of devotion. St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, writes:
“There are indeed several true devotions to Our Lady. The first consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God, more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional. The second consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate our Lady’s pictures and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her modalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third, nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ. The third devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few. This is the one I am about to present to you” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, §27 to §29). The “third devotion” that St. Louis speaks of, refers to a “true devotion” or a “perfect devotion” ― the “icing-on-the-cake” of devotions, so to speak.
In his True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis also alludes to these degrees―though not limiting them to only three: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”
Where Are We On the Devotion Scale?
► THE FIRST LEVEL OF DEVOTION: St. Louis says that the greatest number of Catholics will remain in the exterior aspects of the devotion and will not rise beyond that. Since Our Lord speaks of birds by analogy ― “Behold the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26) ― we could say that these Catholics are like birds that cannot fly or sing. There are around 10,000 known species of birds―and 57 of those cannot fly or sing―such as the ostrich and the penguin, for example (yes―penguins are birds!). These flightless Catholics have some kind of external devotion to Our Lady―such as having statues of her, pictures of her in their prayer books, wearing medals or scapulars, owning books about her, they might even sometimes say (but not pray) the Rosary, etc. ― but they never enter into the interior aspects of devotion to Mary. Most do not even know what that means or how to do it! So like penguins, they waddle along with their external devotions, thinking that this is perfection! Our Lady does not despise or reject them―but she does expect them to emerge from the kindergarten of devotion after spending so many years there!
St. Louis de Montfort’s description of them is: “The first [level of devotion] consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God, more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional … They stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number.” Another analogy to describe them―besides the flightless bird―would be that of “would-be-swimmers” who do not actually plunge into the sea and swim, but merely dress as swimmers and loiter along the sea shore, occasionally dipping their big-toe in the water. Or you could compare them to children in kindergarten, who learn certain new words but cannot use them in a sentence. Or someone who knows how to turn on a computer and only uses it as a typewriter, without advancing beyond that level to use the computer’s full capabilities.
► THE SECOND LEVEL OF DEVOTION: The next level of devotion is one which we could call a “chicken devotion”! St. Louis speaks of the second level of devotion as consisting of those who barely get off the ground: “Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step … This second [level of devotion] consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate our Lady’s pictures and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her modalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third.” Thus we call it a “chicken devotion”―for chickens CAN fly, but not very far and not very often. There has never been a time when chickens filled the skies. Chickens are better suited to the ground than branches and beaks built for ground foraging. Still, when danger lurks or better foraging can be found on the other side of a fence, a determined chicken will take flight. Depending on the breed, chickens will reach heights of about 10 feet and can span distances of just forty or fifty feet. The longest recorded flight of a modern chicken lasted 13 seconds for a distance of just over three hundred feet.
► THE THIRD LEVEL OF DEVOTION: St. Louis de Montfort then asks: “Who will mount to the second step [second level of the devotion]? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state? … This [second level of the] devotion, by keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third [level of the devotion], nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ. The third [level of the] devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few.”
We can again turn to our “feathered friends” for an analogy! St. Louis speaks of a “third step” and then seems to speak of something even higher than that―“Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” As for the third step, we could refer by analogy to the Bar-Tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), a bird which scientists tracked in 2020, that flew for 11 days straight from Alaska to New Zealand, covering a distance of 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) without stopping, breaking the longest nonstop flight among birds known to scientists.
For the even higher level, of which St. Louis says “will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state”, we can refer to the Alpine Swift, a swallow-like bird found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some of the swifts breed in Switzerland, then wing their way across the Sahara to Western Africa for the winters. A team of scientists caught six Alpine swifts in Switzerland and tagged them with data loggers. After the birds migrated to Africa and back, the researchers caught three of them and tried to reconstruct the birds’ flight patterns. They found that the Alpine Swifts could fly continuously for 200 days―eating and sleeping while soaring through the sky.
However, another group of scientists at Lund University in Sweden equipped adult Common Swifts with data loggers to track the birds’ movements to find out the Swifts’ endurance limits as they embarked on their epic 10-month migration from Europe to sub-Saharan Africa and back. The results, published in the journal Current Biology, found that some birds were able to continue flying for 10 months, while those that landed for short periods still spent 99.5% of their 10-month migration in the air. The other two months of the year are spent hatching and raising chicks. When the scientists recaptured 19 of the birds as they returned to their nests one or two years later, the loggers showed that the birds almost never stopped to rest during their intercontinental journeys. In fact, three birds literally never stopped flying for the entire 10 months. Professor Anders Hedenström, from the Department of Biology at Lund University, said: “A ten-month flight phase is the longest we know of any bird species ― it’s a record!” Researchers remain unsure on how the birds sleep during this time. The swifts eat bugs in mid-air, so that explains why they don’t starve. Interestingly, the birds that never landed, molted and gained new flight feathers in the wings and tail while flying, but those that landed didn’t.
It is also said of Albatrosses that they are masters of soaring flight, able to glide over vast tracts of ocean without flapping their wings. So fully have they adapted to their oceanic existence that they spend the first six or more years of their long lives (which last upwards of 50 years) without ever touching land.
This brings to mind the words of Holy Scripture―than can equally be applied to the subject of devotion: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)―or “Fly non-stop!” Jesus Himself said that “we ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). So as there are different kinds of birds with different levels of endurance―likewise, there are different kinds of Catholics with different levels of devotion. We need to aim to be in the third category! We need to aim to be in the third category! We need to fly non-stop to Heaven by praying non-stop on Earth! “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13).
Imitating the Imitation
We see something of this high-level of devotion expressed in The Imitation of Christ, where the author speaks of the excellent effects of divine love, which indicates the kind of devotion we should have: “Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, or higher, or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth! One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all … He does not look to the gift, but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much, where he, who does not love, fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself, there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter, for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice!”
We Need to Acquire a Fanatical Love
Today, the word “fanatical” has negative connotations―it is seen to be more of a severe criticism rather than a word of praise. “Fanatical” comes from the word “fanatic”, which itself came from the Latin “fanaticus”, meaning “mad” or “inspired by a god or deity.” The root word of “fanatic” is “fanum”, which means “temple, shrine, consecrated place.” The original English meanings of both fanatic and fanatical implied that the person being described was insane with enthusiasm, like a religious zealot. The English statesman and politician, Sir Winston Churchill, said: “A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject!” In that case, you could describe God as a “fanatic” ― “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Our Lady could also be described as “fanatical” because she never changes the subject in her apparitions―which is always pray, do penance, or else! Even her Fatima demands for praying the Rosary never changed from one apparition to the next:
“Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
It is not exaggeration to say that God demands from us a “fanatical” love! How else could you interpret the command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). If someone loves a sport, or a sports team, with ALL their heart, ALL their soul, ALL their mind and ALL their strength―devoting ALL their time to the subject, speaking about the subject ALL the time―then would rightly call them “a fanatic”, would we not? Well that is what God is demanding of us―that is the pinnacle of devotion, the perfection of devotion, the ultimate devotion.
We speak of people being “sex-mad” or “sports-mad” or “money-mad” ― meaning that they are “mad” (crazy about) those things. We should be “God-mad”, “Our Lady-mad” and “Faith-mad” instead of being “mad” about those earthly things! “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). Sadly, we do not treasure Our Lady as we ought to do―there are many earthly things that we value above her. She is God’s masterpiece and our “ticket to salvation”! As St. Louis de Montfort states: “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High! … She is the magnificence of the Most High! … Mary is an abyss which never can be sounded. O height incomprehensible! O breadth unspeakable! O length immeasurable! O abyss impenetrable! … After that, we must cry out with the saints: ‘De Maria numquam satis!’—‘Of Mary there is never enough!’ We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought! She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
To Know Mary is to Love Mary
As the Catechism tells us why God created us: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world―so that I can be happy with Him in the next world!” God took on human flesh through Mary―at the Incarnation, which we celebrate on the feast of the Annunciation―so that we could know Him better. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity―Our Lord Jesus Christ―became man by being miraculously conceived in the womb of Our Lady. It is hard to know God as an invisible Spirit―but it is much easier to know God if God takes on human flesh. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot love what you do not know.” St. Thérèse the Little Flower (St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus), used to say that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. This is also true of Our Lady. We will barely love her if we barely know her!
Fr. Faber, in his Preface to his own personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, has this to say on knowing Mary: “Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow, which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! … Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! … Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother … Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
We need to know Mary better by reading more about her! We need to make Mary better known by speaking and writing about what we have read! True devotion to Mary is no “part-time” hobby―but a “full-time” occupation. In all honesty, who can say that their devotion is what it should be; who can say it is at the level that God expects from them? As Fr. Faber so rightly says: “Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor!” As we heard at the outset of Lent the words: “We entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain! For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!” (Epistle, First Sunday of Lent). In regard to Mary, we could paraphrase that to read: “We entreat you not to receive the grace of devotion to Mary in vain. For she says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation! Behold now is the time to improve your devotion to Mary!”
As Our Lady herself said, to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them! Therefore, he shall be miserable―and forever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners!” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
Saturday March 26th & Sunday March 27th
Article 24
True Devotion to Mary is the Only Answer―She Herself Said So!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 24
True Devotion to Mary is the Only Answer―She Herself Said So!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
No Solution Apart From Heaven’s Solution
Human pride―and we are all proud to a greater or lesser, and usually far more proud than we imagine ourselves to be―human pride too often thwarts and gets in the way of God’s plans. Without actually saying it and without actually thinking it to be true in theory―at times we act as though we knew better than God, and that our approach to things and our solution to things is better than God’s approaches and solutions. He Himself warns us: “And the children of Israel [today, Catholicism] say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29) … “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
God says: “I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) ― instead, we prefer to be worldly, or at least some kind of hybrid mixture of holiness and worldliness, despite Our Lord saying: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) ― imagining that we are still guaranteed to get to Heaven despite taking our own road.
Our Lord and God said: “My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27) ― however, we hear the voice of the world more than Christ, and we follow the world in so many, many things!
Our Lady has, in numerous apparitions, told us what we must do to avoid the Hell that most souls end up falling into ― yet we seem to know better and continue along our own preferred and chosen path. Yet Sr. Lucia of Fatima said in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her Message― neither the good nor the bad. The good merely continue on with their life on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad―the sinners―because of their sins, keep following the road of evil ignoring the Message and do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
Both Our Lord and Our Lady have warned us about the utmost need for penance ― and that we will lose our souls if we fail to do penance: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 5:32; 13:3). Our Lady adds: “Penance! Penance! Penance! [1] … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! [2] … Bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation [3] [penance] … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [and the people too], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence! They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! [4] … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! [3] [Obviously they are not doing penance for themselves―otherwise why would we have to do penance for them?] … O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! [5] ” (References to the above quotes by Our Lady: [1] ― Our Lady of Lourdes; [2] ― Our Lady of Akita; [3] ― Our Lady of Fatima; [4] ― Our Lady of La Salette; [5] ― Our Lady of Good Success).
Mary’s Lament
In her revelations to the mystic, the Venerable Mary of Agreda (1602–1665), who body is still incorrupt, Our Lady said that both she and her Son, Jesus, suffered enormously during their lives on Earth even though they were both innocent and not guilty of any sin whatsoever. Whereas we sinners―she calls us “mortals”―do not want to suffer anything and complain bitterly when we are made to suffer.
Our Lady states: “It was not necessary for my Son to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much. He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good! Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment!
“But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings ... It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful―that they should abhor suffering, after my most holy Son did suffer for them! ... Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside for laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature ...Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities ... Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? You cannot follow Christ, if you refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! Seek to obtain a joyful suffering, to a love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it!
“Nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness!
“The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be ... With a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. They do not seek the medicine of suffering! ... Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities.
“In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again! With blind stubbornness, they are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish.
“Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross! Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! Many persons―whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise―have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16) ... The number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate is also be uncountable!”
If We Refuse to Admit We are Wrong, then We Will Never Change!
Are we lovers of the Cross? Or are we lovers of the world―with its comfort, ease, pleasures, amusements, entertainment, commodities, wealth and riches? If you really and truly think about it―our love and devotion towards Our Lady is proved by the “litmus test” of suffering and our love of suffering. We love Our Lady so little, because we want to suffer little. Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). You could paraphrase this to say: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man be prepared to suffer for Our Lady!” (John 15:13). Holy Scripture adds: “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16) ― which we could also paraphrase to read thus: “In this know our charity of Our Lady, because she laid down her life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for Our Lady!”
Is that not true? Just think about it! If we have someone who we really love or like―are we not willing to suffer for them? Are we not willing to go the “extra-mile” to help them? Are we not prepared to sacrifice something we wanted to do in order to go their assistance? Are we not prepared to “give them time” above and beyond what we are prepared to give most other people? Of course we are! Otherwise we would be mere “Fairweather Friends”―who are only friends if there is no burden or no inconvenience or no suffering imposed upon them in their “friendship”.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, states that “true devotion” to Our Lady inevitably and inescapably brings with it greater crosses: “If this devotion to our Blessed Lady makes the road to Jesus easier, how is it that they who follow it are the most despised of men? I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being also her greatest favorites, receive from her the greatest graces and favors of Heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain that it is also the servants of Mary who carry these crosses with more ease, more merit and more glory!” (§153 & §154). In all honesty, you cannot be “truly” devoted to Our Lady if you dislike and avoid crosses. This is why Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross! Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom!”
Nobody would doubt that the three children at Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―were truly devoted to Our Lady. Yet their devotion was not―and could not―be divorced from the cross. That is why among her opening words at her first apparition to them, on May 13th 1917, Our Lady asked, so to speak, proof of devotion, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Devoted Friends of the Cross are Devoted Friends of Jesus and Mary
Those three children accepted the cross, they became “friends of the cross” and ultimately were accepted as being friends of Mary. St. Louis de Montfort―in another of his works, Letter to Friends of the Cross―paints a vivid picture of this link between “friendship” and the “cross”, showing that a “love of the cross” is synonymous with “loving Jesus”―and therefore also loving Mary, for the two are inseparable.
St. Louis writes: “Friends of the Cross … Bind yourselves together in that strong union of heart and mind! … Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave ... to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life … Do you not flatter yourselves, Friends of the Cross, that you are, or that you want to be the friends of God? Be firmly resolved, then, to drink of the chalice which you must necessarily drink if you wish to enjoy the friendship of God ... To desire God’s glory is good, indeed, but to desire it and pray for it without being resolved to suffer all things is mere folly and senseless asking! In the Liturgy, from the Common of the Apostles (Lesson 7) we read: ‘They drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God’ … In answer to the gracious invitation which Jesus extends … the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things ... They can be heard repeating: ‘Let us suffer, let us weep, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humble ourselves, let us be poor, let us mortify ourselves! For he who has not the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Cross, is none of Christ’s. Those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its concupiscence. We must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or else be damned! There are fewer saved than man may think!’
“No, no, dear companions of the Cross, make no mistake! The Christians you see around you, fashionably attired, supersensitive, excessively haughty and sedate, are neither true disciples nor true members of the crucified Jesus. To think otherwise would be an insult to your thorn-crowned Head and His Gospel truth My God! How many would-be Christians there are who imagine they are members of the Savior when in reality they are His most insidious persecutors, for while blessing themselves with the sign of the Cross, they crucify Him in their hearts. If you are led by the spirit of Jesus and are living the same life with Him, your thorn-crowned Head, then you must look forward to nothing but thorns, nails and lashes, in a word, to nothing but a cross. A real disciple needs to be treated as his Master was, a member as its Head ... If God the Father does not send you worthwhile crosses from time to time, that is because He no longer cares for you and is angry at you.”
Devoted friends of the cross prove themselves to be devoted friends of Jesus and Mary. Did not Our Lord say: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24). What is one of Our Lord’s chief commandments that prove our love for Him? He Himself tells us: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The same is true of following Our Lady―anyone who professes to be truly devoted to Our Lady, must also be truly devoted to the cross! Very few are―and that is why most souls are lost and damned. They want to get to Heaven on their own terms―they refuse the terms offered by Heaven.
A True Devotee of Our Lady Cannot Be Damned
The saints are clear on the matter of Our Blessed Mother holding such an important place in the economy of our redemption, that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!”
► St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation!”
► St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost!”
► St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
► St. Louis de Montfort adds: “The learned and pious Jesuit, Suarez, the erudite and devout Justus Lipsius, doctor of Louvain, and many others, have proved invincibly, from the sentiments of the Fathers of the Church―among others, St. Augustine, St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Damascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure―that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
Even the devils admit that they are powerless over those persons who have a true devotion to Our Lady. In his book, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort relates an incident where the devils admitted this to St. Dominic during an exorcism: “The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves ... Then the devils started screaming: ‘Oh, you [the Mother of God] who are our enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone, who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness! Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell! She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety! It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective! We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us! One single sigh, that she offers to the Blessed Trinity, is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints! We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants! Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession! And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity! Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy!’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, 33rd Rose).
But What is “Devotion” or “True Devotion”?
It is amazing how ready and quick we are to fool ourselves! We usually think that we are better than we really are―even if we think we are bad, we are still worse than what we think! We would do well to profit from reading the opening chapter from Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis Sales, wherein he paints the following picture of self-deception with regard to devotion:
“There is only one true devotion―while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational. [The artist] Aurelius used to draw all the faces in the pictures he painted with the expressions and appearance of the women he loved. Likewise, each person represents devotion according to his personal liking and imagination. He who is in the habit of fasting, will think that because he fasts he is very devout―even though his heart is filled with hatred for someone. He will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, anxious about sobriety―but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbor by speaking ill of him or by making false statements about him. Another person considers himself devout because of the very great number of prayers he recites every day―even though, soon after this, he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbors. Another person very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor―but cannot take any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another person will forgive his enemies―but will not pay what he owes, unless he is legally forced to do so. All such persons are generally looked upon as devout whereas in fact they are not! When Saul’s soldiers came looking for David in his house, Michal placed a statue on a bed and covered it with David’s clothes and so made them believe that it was David himself asleep due to illness (1 Kings 19:11-16). In the same way, many people cover themselves with various external actions that are related to holy devotion. The world then takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual―whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Chapter 1: “What True Devotion Is”).
St. Louis de Montfort similarly has a section in his book, True Devotion to Mary, that speaks of FALSE DEVOTIONS to Our Lady. Therein he writes: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not, for the most part, counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them, and then recognize true devotion, in order to embrace it!” (True Devotion to Mary, §91 & §91). So before we look at “true devotion”, here is St. Louis de Montfort’s list and description of the seven chief “false devotions”.
False Devotions to Mary
St. Louis lists 7 chief false devotions to Our Lady ― “(1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.” He then gives us “thumb-nail” descriptions of each of them―which are as follows (True Devotion to Mary, §93 to §104):
(1) CRITICAL DEVOTEES ― The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there; and they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they adored the wood or the stone. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. When they are told how admirably the Fathers of the Church praised the Blessed Virgin, they either reply that the Fathers spoke as professional orators, with exaggeration; or they misinterpret their words. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady; and they are but too successful in alienating people from it, under the pretext of destroying its abuses.
(2) SCRUPULOUS DEVOTEES ― The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently. Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mummery of our religion. Speak to us of those who are devout to Jesus Christ.” … “We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true―but in the application it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, they make it very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only so that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus―since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus. The Church, with the Holy Ghost, blesses Our Lady first, and Our Lord second: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” It is not that Mary is more than Jesus or even equal to Him—that would be intolerable heresy; but it is that, in order to bless Jesus more perfectly, we must begin by blessing Mary. Let us then say, with all the true clients of Our Lady, in opposition to these false scrupulous devotees, “O Mary, thou art blessed among all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
(3) EXTERNAL DEVOTEES ― External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible2 part of devotion, without having any relish for its solidity. If they have not sensible sweetness in their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer, who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward modesty which always accompanies true devotion.
(4) PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES ― Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady. They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things.
To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption.
(5) INCONSTANT DEVOTEES ― The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon;3 and Mary puts them under her feet with the crescent, because they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful Virgin who have for their special graces fidelity and constancy. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.
(6) HYPOCRITICAL DEVOTEES ― We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not.
(7) INTERESTED DEVOTEES ― There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother. Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees, who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.
The Need for True Devotion
We naturally cannot―or should not―tolerate fakes. God is truth! Our Lord said of Himself: “I am the truth!” (John 14:6). He also said that God the Holy Ghost is “the Spirit of truth, Who proceedeth from the Father” (John 15:26). “O Lord, the God of truth!” (Psalm 30:6) … “O Lord, Thy truth is round about Thee!” (Psalm 88:9) … “I will be their God in truth” (Zacharias 8:8) … “God loveth truth!” (Psalm 83:12). If God is truth, then his adorers must be true adorers: “True adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth!” (John 4:23-24). Our Lord indicates this by despising hypocrisy, as when He said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) ― further adding: “When you pray―you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men! Amen I say to you, they have received their reward! And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites―sad! For they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward!” (Matthew 6:5, 6:16).
Those words are no doubt the backbone for St. Louis de Montfort’s description of false devotions. Unfortunately, most people must be “fakes” or “hypocrites”―that is to say, they must have a false devotion―for you cannot be truly devoted and lose your soul. Yet, as Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints and theologians tell us―most souls are damned! Therefore, they must not have had a true devotion. The saints―as stated above―indicated that those who were truly devoted to Our Lady could not be damned. So is it not in our eternal, long-term, interests to find out what “true devotion” is and how we can acquire it? Most certainly!
Our Lady herself indicated this at Fatima, when she said: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! These souls will be dear to God!” (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (July 1917). Then, speaking of herself in the third-person (using the word “she” instead of “I”), Our Lady added: “Only she can help you!” ― meaning, only Our Lady can help us. At Akita, Japan, in 1973, she adds: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
We―the Church and the World―are in one hell-of-a-mess―and it will get a hell-of-a-lot worse before it gets better! We face so many problems, setbacks, sufferings and failures in our lives―yet the medicine or remedy stares us in the face and we ignore it, or take too little of it. We would do well to read Fr. Faber’s Preface to his own personal translation, from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, in which Faber writes: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect [afraid of what other will think or say] … wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary so that even Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
Neglect of Devotion Leads to Damnation
In addition to the above quotes by the Saints and Fathers of the Church on the necessity of devotion to Mary for salvation, we also have the words spoken by Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “I receive with maternal affection all those who, FERVENTLY AND DEVOUTLY, desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and Advocate … God, in His kindness, wishes to offer this opportune remedy to men, in order that all of them may seek help and eternal salvation through my intercession … In the beatific vision, I pray without ceasing for the salvation of my clients … It should teach them to seek my most kind and powerful intercession and to fear the judgments of the Most High―for in this lies an efficacious means of salvation! … One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire that all be filled with grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord. I call and invite all to come with me! Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for, if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son … If they obey me in this I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, to be their help and defense. And I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son―if they do not displease me.
“For this purpose you should exhort them to a CONTINUAL LOVE AND DEVOTION TOWARD ME, engrafting it in their hearts! … Let therefore mortals beware, lest I, in the Day of Judgment, most justly refuse my intercession to those, who have foolishly despised and forgotten so many and so great favors and blessings, the results of the divine love of my Son and my own! God has given them sufficient and opportune time, while they abused and wasted all in the pursuit of vanity! This world and all the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have me, for their Mother and Intercessor! I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, can retard the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it. But I am much incensed to find so few who suffer with me and try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the Day of Judgment!
“There are very few of the faithful who call to me WITH ALL THEIR HEART! I would defend them all from the dragon, if all would call upon me! I assure thee, that all those, who damn themselves―after the death of my Son and in spite of the benefits and favors procured by my intercession―will suffer greater torments in Hell than those who were lost before His coming and before I was in the world. Thus, those who, from now on, understand these mysteries and despise them to their loss, shall be subject to new and greater punishments … All those DEVOTED to me, shall be under my special protection in that hour of judgment, shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession … The Most High still wishes to give generously of His infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God.
“How much my intercession and the power I have in Heaven is worth, has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated on behalf of those DEVOTED to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.”
Acquiring a “True Devotion”
So far, in this article, we have laid the groundwork and foundation for recognizing the necessity, personal need and eternal consequences of acquiring a “true devotion” to Our Lady―as well as recognizing the chief pitfalls of a “false devotions” to her. Your eternal destiny depends upon that! In the next article, we shall switch the focus from the negative aspects of failing to have a true devotion to Mary and being content with our self-deceiving false devotions, and we will focus on the positive aspects of a true devotion and its consequences.
Human pride―and we are all proud to a greater or lesser, and usually far more proud than we imagine ourselves to be―human pride too often thwarts and gets in the way of God’s plans. Without actually saying it and without actually thinking it to be true in theory―at times we act as though we knew better than God, and that our approach to things and our solution to things is better than God’s approaches and solutions. He Himself warns us: “And the children of Israel [today, Catholicism] say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29) … “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
God says: “I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) ― instead, we prefer to be worldly, or at least some kind of hybrid mixture of holiness and worldliness, despite Our Lord saying: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) ― imagining that we are still guaranteed to get to Heaven despite taking our own road.
Our Lord and God said: “My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27) ― however, we hear the voice of the world more than Christ, and we follow the world in so many, many things!
Our Lady has, in numerous apparitions, told us what we must do to avoid the Hell that most souls end up falling into ― yet we seem to know better and continue along our own preferred and chosen path. Yet Sr. Lucia of Fatima said in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her Message― neither the good nor the bad. The good merely continue on with their life on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad―the sinners―because of their sins, keep following the road of evil ignoring the Message and do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
Both Our Lord and Our Lady have warned us about the utmost need for penance ― and that we will lose our souls if we fail to do penance: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 5:32; 13:3). Our Lady adds: “Penance! Penance! Penance! [1] … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! [2] … Bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation [3] [penance] … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [and the people too], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence! They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! [4] … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! [3] [Obviously they are not doing penance for themselves―otherwise why would we have to do penance for them?] … O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! [5] ” (References to the above quotes by Our Lady: [1] ― Our Lady of Lourdes; [2] ― Our Lady of Akita; [3] ― Our Lady of Fatima; [4] ― Our Lady of La Salette; [5] ― Our Lady of Good Success).
Mary’s Lament
In her revelations to the mystic, the Venerable Mary of Agreda (1602–1665), who body is still incorrupt, Our Lady said that both she and her Son, Jesus, suffered enormously during their lives on Earth even though they were both innocent and not guilty of any sin whatsoever. Whereas we sinners―she calls us “mortals”―do not want to suffer anything and complain bitterly when we are made to suffer.
Our Lady states: “It was not necessary for my Son to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much. He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good! Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment!
“But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings ... It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful―that they should abhor suffering, after my most holy Son did suffer for them! ... Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside for laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature ...Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities ... Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? You cannot follow Christ, if you refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! Seek to obtain a joyful suffering, to a love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it!
“Nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness!
“The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be ... With a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. They do not seek the medicine of suffering! ... Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities.
“In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again! With blind stubbornness, they are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish.
“Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross! Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! Many persons―whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise―have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16) ... The number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate is also be uncountable!”
If We Refuse to Admit We are Wrong, then We Will Never Change!
Are we lovers of the Cross? Or are we lovers of the world―with its comfort, ease, pleasures, amusements, entertainment, commodities, wealth and riches? If you really and truly think about it―our love and devotion towards Our Lady is proved by the “litmus test” of suffering and our love of suffering. We love Our Lady so little, because we want to suffer little. Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). You could paraphrase this to say: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man be prepared to suffer for Our Lady!” (John 15:13). Holy Scripture adds: “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16) ― which we could also paraphrase to read thus: “In this know our charity of Our Lady, because she laid down her life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for Our Lady!”
Is that not true? Just think about it! If we have someone who we really love or like―are we not willing to suffer for them? Are we not willing to go the “extra-mile” to help them? Are we not prepared to sacrifice something we wanted to do in order to go their assistance? Are we not prepared to “give them time” above and beyond what we are prepared to give most other people? Of course we are! Otherwise we would be mere “Fairweather Friends”―who are only friends if there is no burden or no inconvenience or no suffering imposed upon them in their “friendship”.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, states that “true devotion” to Our Lady inevitably and inescapably brings with it greater crosses: “If this devotion to our Blessed Lady makes the road to Jesus easier, how is it that they who follow it are the most despised of men? I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being also her greatest favorites, receive from her the greatest graces and favors of Heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain that it is also the servants of Mary who carry these crosses with more ease, more merit and more glory!” (§153 & §154). In all honesty, you cannot be “truly” devoted to Our Lady if you dislike and avoid crosses. This is why Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross! Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom!”
Nobody would doubt that the three children at Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―were truly devoted to Our Lady. Yet their devotion was not―and could not―be divorced from the cross. That is why among her opening words at her first apparition to them, on May 13th 1917, Our Lady asked, so to speak, proof of devotion, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Devoted Friends of the Cross are Devoted Friends of Jesus and Mary
Those three children accepted the cross, they became “friends of the cross” and ultimately were accepted as being friends of Mary. St. Louis de Montfort―in another of his works, Letter to Friends of the Cross―paints a vivid picture of this link between “friendship” and the “cross”, showing that a “love of the cross” is synonymous with “loving Jesus”―and therefore also loving Mary, for the two are inseparable.
St. Louis writes: “Friends of the Cross … Bind yourselves together in that strong union of heart and mind! … Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave ... to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life … Do you not flatter yourselves, Friends of the Cross, that you are, or that you want to be the friends of God? Be firmly resolved, then, to drink of the chalice which you must necessarily drink if you wish to enjoy the friendship of God ... To desire God’s glory is good, indeed, but to desire it and pray for it without being resolved to suffer all things is mere folly and senseless asking! In the Liturgy, from the Common of the Apostles (Lesson 7) we read: ‘They drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God’ … In answer to the gracious invitation which Jesus extends … the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things ... They can be heard repeating: ‘Let us suffer, let us weep, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humble ourselves, let us be poor, let us mortify ourselves! For he who has not the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Cross, is none of Christ’s. Those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its concupiscence. We must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or else be damned! There are fewer saved than man may think!’
“No, no, dear companions of the Cross, make no mistake! The Christians you see around you, fashionably attired, supersensitive, excessively haughty and sedate, are neither true disciples nor true members of the crucified Jesus. To think otherwise would be an insult to your thorn-crowned Head and His Gospel truth My God! How many would-be Christians there are who imagine they are members of the Savior when in reality they are His most insidious persecutors, for while blessing themselves with the sign of the Cross, they crucify Him in their hearts. If you are led by the spirit of Jesus and are living the same life with Him, your thorn-crowned Head, then you must look forward to nothing but thorns, nails and lashes, in a word, to nothing but a cross. A real disciple needs to be treated as his Master was, a member as its Head ... If God the Father does not send you worthwhile crosses from time to time, that is because He no longer cares for you and is angry at you.”
Devoted friends of the cross prove themselves to be devoted friends of Jesus and Mary. Did not Our Lord say: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24). What is one of Our Lord’s chief commandments that prove our love for Him? He Himself tells us: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The same is true of following Our Lady―anyone who professes to be truly devoted to Our Lady, must also be truly devoted to the cross! Very few are―and that is why most souls are lost and damned. They want to get to Heaven on their own terms―they refuse the terms offered by Heaven.
A True Devotee of Our Lady Cannot Be Damned
The saints are clear on the matter of Our Blessed Mother holding such an important place in the economy of our redemption, that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!”
► St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation!”
► St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost!”
► St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
► St. Louis de Montfort adds: “The learned and pious Jesuit, Suarez, the erudite and devout Justus Lipsius, doctor of Louvain, and many others, have proved invincibly, from the sentiments of the Fathers of the Church―among others, St. Augustine, St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Damascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure―that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
Even the devils admit that they are powerless over those persons who have a true devotion to Our Lady. In his book, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort relates an incident where the devils admitted this to St. Dominic during an exorcism: “The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves ... Then the devils started screaming: ‘Oh, you [the Mother of God] who are our enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone, who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness! Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell! She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety! It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective! We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us! One single sigh, that she offers to the Blessed Trinity, is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints! We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants! Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession! And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity! Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy!’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, 33rd Rose).
But What is “Devotion” or “True Devotion”?
It is amazing how ready and quick we are to fool ourselves! We usually think that we are better than we really are―even if we think we are bad, we are still worse than what we think! We would do well to profit from reading the opening chapter from Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis Sales, wherein he paints the following picture of self-deception with regard to devotion:
“There is only one true devotion―while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational. [The artist] Aurelius used to draw all the faces in the pictures he painted with the expressions and appearance of the women he loved. Likewise, each person represents devotion according to his personal liking and imagination. He who is in the habit of fasting, will think that because he fasts he is very devout―even though his heart is filled with hatred for someone. He will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, anxious about sobriety―but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbor by speaking ill of him or by making false statements about him. Another person considers himself devout because of the very great number of prayers he recites every day―even though, soon after this, he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbors. Another person very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor―but cannot take any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another person will forgive his enemies―but will not pay what he owes, unless he is legally forced to do so. All such persons are generally looked upon as devout whereas in fact they are not! When Saul’s soldiers came looking for David in his house, Michal placed a statue on a bed and covered it with David’s clothes and so made them believe that it was David himself asleep due to illness (1 Kings 19:11-16). In the same way, many people cover themselves with various external actions that are related to holy devotion. The world then takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual―whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Chapter 1: “What True Devotion Is”).
St. Louis de Montfort similarly has a section in his book, True Devotion to Mary, that speaks of FALSE DEVOTIONS to Our Lady. Therein he writes: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not, for the most part, counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them, and then recognize true devotion, in order to embrace it!” (True Devotion to Mary, §91 & §91). So before we look at “true devotion”, here is St. Louis de Montfort’s list and description of the seven chief “false devotions”.
False Devotions to Mary
St. Louis lists 7 chief false devotions to Our Lady ― “(1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.” He then gives us “thumb-nail” descriptions of each of them―which are as follows (True Devotion to Mary, §93 to §104):
(1) CRITICAL DEVOTEES ― The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there; and they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they adored the wood or the stone. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. When they are told how admirably the Fathers of the Church praised the Blessed Virgin, they either reply that the Fathers spoke as professional orators, with exaggeration; or they misinterpret their words. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady; and they are but too successful in alienating people from it, under the pretext of destroying its abuses.
(2) SCRUPULOUS DEVOTEES ― The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently. Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mummery of our religion. Speak to us of those who are devout to Jesus Christ.” … “We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true―but in the application it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, they make it very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only so that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus―since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus. The Church, with the Holy Ghost, blesses Our Lady first, and Our Lord second: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” It is not that Mary is more than Jesus or even equal to Him—that would be intolerable heresy; but it is that, in order to bless Jesus more perfectly, we must begin by blessing Mary. Let us then say, with all the true clients of Our Lady, in opposition to these false scrupulous devotees, “O Mary, thou art blessed among all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
(3) EXTERNAL DEVOTEES ― External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible2 part of devotion, without having any relish for its solidity. If they have not sensible sweetness in their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer, who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward modesty which always accompanies true devotion.
(4) PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES ― Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady. They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things.
To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption.
(5) INCONSTANT DEVOTEES ― The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon;3 and Mary puts them under her feet with the crescent, because they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful Virgin who have for their special graces fidelity and constancy. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.
(6) HYPOCRITICAL DEVOTEES ― We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not.
(7) INTERESTED DEVOTEES ― There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother. Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees, who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.
The Need for True Devotion
We naturally cannot―or should not―tolerate fakes. God is truth! Our Lord said of Himself: “I am the truth!” (John 14:6). He also said that God the Holy Ghost is “the Spirit of truth, Who proceedeth from the Father” (John 15:26). “O Lord, the God of truth!” (Psalm 30:6) … “O Lord, Thy truth is round about Thee!” (Psalm 88:9) … “I will be their God in truth” (Zacharias 8:8) … “God loveth truth!” (Psalm 83:12). If God is truth, then his adorers must be true adorers: “True adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth!” (John 4:23-24). Our Lord indicates this by despising hypocrisy, as when He said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) ― further adding: “When you pray―you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men! Amen I say to you, they have received their reward! And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites―sad! For they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward!” (Matthew 6:5, 6:16).
Those words are no doubt the backbone for St. Louis de Montfort’s description of false devotions. Unfortunately, most people must be “fakes” or “hypocrites”―that is to say, they must have a false devotion―for you cannot be truly devoted and lose your soul. Yet, as Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints and theologians tell us―most souls are damned! Therefore, they must not have had a true devotion. The saints―as stated above―indicated that those who were truly devoted to Our Lady could not be damned. So is it not in our eternal, long-term, interests to find out what “true devotion” is and how we can acquire it? Most certainly!
Our Lady herself indicated this at Fatima, when she said: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! These souls will be dear to God!” (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (July 1917). Then, speaking of herself in the third-person (using the word “she” instead of “I”), Our Lady added: “Only she can help you!” ― meaning, only Our Lady can help us. At Akita, Japan, in 1973, she adds: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
We―the Church and the World―are in one hell-of-a-mess―and it will get a hell-of-a-lot worse before it gets better! We face so many problems, setbacks, sufferings and failures in our lives―yet the medicine or remedy stares us in the face and we ignore it, or take too little of it. We would do well to read Fr. Faber’s Preface to his own personal translation, from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, in which Faber writes: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect [afraid of what other will think or say] … wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary so that even Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
Neglect of Devotion Leads to Damnation
In addition to the above quotes by the Saints and Fathers of the Church on the necessity of devotion to Mary for salvation, we also have the words spoken by Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “I receive with maternal affection all those who, FERVENTLY AND DEVOUTLY, desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and Advocate … God, in His kindness, wishes to offer this opportune remedy to men, in order that all of them may seek help and eternal salvation through my intercession … In the beatific vision, I pray without ceasing for the salvation of my clients … It should teach them to seek my most kind and powerful intercession and to fear the judgments of the Most High―for in this lies an efficacious means of salvation! … One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire that all be filled with grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord. I call and invite all to come with me! Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for, if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son … If they obey me in this I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, to be their help and defense. And I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son―if they do not displease me.
“For this purpose you should exhort them to a CONTINUAL LOVE AND DEVOTION TOWARD ME, engrafting it in their hearts! … Let therefore mortals beware, lest I, in the Day of Judgment, most justly refuse my intercession to those, who have foolishly despised and forgotten so many and so great favors and blessings, the results of the divine love of my Son and my own! God has given them sufficient and opportune time, while they abused and wasted all in the pursuit of vanity! This world and all the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have me, for their Mother and Intercessor! I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, can retard the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it. But I am much incensed to find so few who suffer with me and try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the Day of Judgment!
“There are very few of the faithful who call to me WITH ALL THEIR HEART! I would defend them all from the dragon, if all would call upon me! I assure thee, that all those, who damn themselves―after the death of my Son and in spite of the benefits and favors procured by my intercession―will suffer greater torments in Hell than those who were lost before His coming and before I was in the world. Thus, those who, from now on, understand these mysteries and despise them to their loss, shall be subject to new and greater punishments … All those DEVOTED to me, shall be under my special protection in that hour of judgment, shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession … The Most High still wishes to give generously of His infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God.
“How much my intercession and the power I have in Heaven is worth, has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated on behalf of those DEVOTED to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.”
Acquiring a “True Devotion”
So far, in this article, we have laid the groundwork and foundation for recognizing the necessity, personal need and eternal consequences of acquiring a “true devotion” to Our Lady―as well as recognizing the chief pitfalls of a “false devotions” to her. Your eternal destiny depends upon that! In the next article, we shall switch the focus from the negative aspects of failing to have a true devotion to Mary and being content with our self-deceiving false devotions, and we will focus on the positive aspects of a true devotion and its consequences.
Thursday March 24th & Friday March 25th
Article 23
Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 23
Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Consecration Controversy
Most Catholics―who show any interest in their Faith―are most likely aware that tomorrow, March 25th (the Feast of the Annunciation), Pope Francis is going to consecrate Russia (and the Ukraine) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It will be one in a line of “partial” or “insufficient” consecrations that been made over the years by Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II and now Francis.
► OCTOBER 31, 1942 ― POPE PIUX XII
In the midst of the Second World War, Pope Pius XII consecrated the Church and the whole human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary through a radio message on October 31st, the eve of All Saints Day. This message was sent to Portugal and included the local bishops.
► DECEMBER 8, 1942 ― POPE PIUX XII
The above consecration (of October 31st, 1942) was solemnly renewed at St. Peter’s Vatican Basilica on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1942.
► JULY 7, 1952 ― POPE PIUX XII
On the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius―the Apostles to the Slavic nations―Pope Pius XII directed to the Russian people, consecrating Russia and her people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In the Apostolic Letter, Carissimis Russiae Populis, wherein he stated: “Just as a few years ago we consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mother of God, so now, in a most special way, we consecrate all the peoples of Russia to the same Immaculate Heart” (Pope Pius XII).
► NOVEMBER 21, 1964 ― POPE PAUL VI
At the conclusion of the third Session of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI, along with the bishops who were present, renewed the consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
► JUNE 7, 1981 ― POPE JOHN PAUL II
Pope John Paul II made an Act of Entrustment of the world to Our Lady in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, on June 7th, 1981.
► DECEMBER 8, 1981 ― POPE JOHN PAUL II
On December 8th, 1981, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope John Paul II re-consecrated the Church and World to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
► MAY 13, 1982 ― POPE JOHN PAUL II
On May 13th, 1982, during long homily at Fatima on the one-year anniversary of his near-assassination in 1981, Pope John Paul II inserted an act of consecration into his homily. The consecration was essentially the same one as he later used on March 25th, 1984, as Pope John Paul II himself said.
► MARCH 25, 1984 ― POPE JOHN PAUL II
Three years later, on March 25th, 1984, in St. Peter’s Square, he did so in person. The Vatican’s description of the event stated: “The Holy Father, in spiritual union with the bishops of the world, who had been ‘convoked’ beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
► OCTOBER 13, 2013 ― POPE FRANCIS
The statue of Our Lady of Fatima was flown to Rome from Fatima on for a Marian Day. During the celebration, on October 13th, 2013―the anniversary of Our Lady’s final apparition at Fatima in 1917―Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
► MARCH 11, 2020 ― POPE FRANCIS
On March 11th, 2020, Francis entrusted the entire world to the protection of the Virgin Mary―although that had less to do with Russia and more to do with evolving Covid Plannedemic.
Why the Controversy?
All of the above led to the ever increasing controversy of whether or not any of the above consecrations actually met the requirements stated by Our Lady―namely: (1) That Russia be specifically consecrated … (2) to her Immaculate Heart … (3) by the Holy Father … (4) in union with all the bishops of the world.
Sounds simple, huh? Who on earth could get that wrong? Well, the controversy rages as various people think that various points have not been correctly fulfilled according to Our Lady’s requests and liking! Some say that in some consecrations Russia was not mentioned by name and was merely included as part of the world that was consecrated. In other consecrations, some argue that Russia was “implied” but not clearly mentioned. Some say the Immaculate Heart was not clearly stated, or that Russia was not specifically directed or linked to the Immaculate Heart. As regards the consecration being made by the Pope―some say that there has been no valid pope since Pope Pius XII; others even hold that Pope Pius XII was also an invalid pope. For the current consecration (March 25, 2022), many hold that Pope Francis is not a true pope, but a heretic, or was invalidly elected. Then there is the group that says that these consecrations were not made in union with all the bishops of the world, merely some of them, but not all. The list of nuanced objections is long and complicated.
Then―with view to the currently scheduled consecration by Pope Francis on March 25th, 2022―many persons have taken issue with the text that has composed for the consecration. They hold it to be modernist, ecumenical, humanist, etc.
Here is Pope Francis’ March 25th, 2022, text for the consecration in full:
POPE FRANCIS’ CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbor’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity. By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (John 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son!” (John 19:26). In this way he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother!” (John 19:27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.
Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen.
Any Problems?
Various persons see various problems with the above text. Without necessarily agreeing with all of them, here are some of things that they are objecting to on the many different internet sites, each of which has a different degree of Traditionalism, Conservatism, Liberalism or Modernism.
Some are “over-the-moon” and “gung-ho” about it! Others are skeptical about its potential efficacity. Some look upon it as being too humanistic and not spiritual enough. There are those who complain about the lack of sufficient references to the Immaculate Heart. Others even call it blasphemous.
One website states: “The text of the so-called consecration prayer is loaded with Bergoglian-Globalist buzzwords and phrases. For example:
– We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations.
– We have betrayed … the hopes of the young.
– We thought only of our own nations and their interests.
– We stopped being our neighbor’s keepers and stewards of our common home.
– Our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters.
– In our own day … fraternity has faded.”
Your personal “take” on the matter will largely be guided by your personal Catholic “flavor” or “booth” in which you place yourself― Traditional, Conservative, Liberal or Modernist. You are not the pope, nor are you a bishop―yet there is nothing to stop you from making the consecration insofar as you can―at least to please God and Our Lady with the right intention, if nothing else. In this light, here below is an alternative act of consecration that you can use as it is, or modify it according to your personal opinion.
AN ALTERNATIVE ACT OF CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, today we belatedly come to you, lamenting our past neglect and indifference in consecrating Russia to your Immaculate Heart, in accordance with your requests made at Fatima, Portugal (1917); Pontevedra, Spain (1925), and Tuy, Spain (1929).
THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, at Fatima in 1917, during the First World War, you showed the three children a vision of Hell and said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end―but if people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out! … Know that God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.”
You further said that, at some future date, you would come to formally ask for the consecration of Russia to your Immaculate Heart―in order to convert that nation and prevent it from spreading its errors throughout the world; provoking wars; annihilating nations; and persecuting the Church: “To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace―if not, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Then, at Tuy (1929) you finally stated: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means!”
Sadly, popes, clergy and laity have been either reticent or indifferent in fulfilling your commands. We have not fulfilled the consecration in accordance with your demands―namely, that Russia be specifically consecrated to your Immaculate Heart, and also in union with all the bishops of the world. Nor have we sufficiently spread and established, throughout the world, devotion to your Immaculate Heart.
We wish to make amends for this neglect and so, today, in union with all the bishops of the world [and anyone else who is participating in this act], we unequivocally, unambiguously and unreservedly consecrate Russia―both as a nation, together with all its individual persons―to your Immaculate Heart! We beg you to obtain from God, mercy for that nation and its people, and also the grace of conversion, so that Russia may return to unity of the One True Flock of Christ, from which it is separated by schism since 1054―as Jesus said: “What man of you, that has an hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go after that which was lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4) … “Other sheep I have, that are not of this fold―them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16), so “that they may be one, as We, Father, also are one” (John 17:22) and that there may be “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).
O most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, kindly accept this belated consecration and obtain the grace of conversion for Russia and its people! Forgive them their sins! Save them from Hell! Lead them to penance, lest they perish! Bring them back to the One True Fold of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church!
THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS
O most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Church teaches that the greatest and most serious sins are those against God and the Faith. Pope Pius XI wrote that Russia “is Bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization. In the face of such a threat, the Catholic Church could not and does not remain silent ... for it knows that its proper and social mission is to defend truth, justice and all those eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks” (Encyclical: Divini Redemptoris, 1937).
Our Lady of Fatima, you warned that Russia “will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church.” You also revealed, to Sister Lucia of Fatima, that Communism would take over the entire world! Those “errors of Russia”, which are the “errors of Atheistic Communism” are “errors of sin”―and today the whole world labors under those “errors of sin”―awaiting a total Communist takeover. That fatal error of sinfulness, justly and rightly, deserves Divine retribution, punishment and chastisement: “The wages of sin is death! … Sin hath reigned to death! … All have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 6:23; 5:21; 3:23) ... “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
At Pontevedra in Spain (December 10, 1925), you appeared with the Child Jesus to Sr. Lucia. Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment―and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them!” You then revealed your Immaculate Heart and said: “Look at my Heart surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude!”
At Tuy in Spain (June 13, 1929) you further said to Sr. Lucia: “So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!”
Later (May 30, 1930), your Son, Jesus, revealed to Sr. Lucia what the chief sins against you were:
● Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.
● Blasphemies against your perpetual Virginity.
● Blasphemies against your divine Maternity, while refusing at the same time to recognize you as the Mother of men.
● The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to place in the hearts of children indifference or scorn, or even hatred towards you.
● The offenses of those who outrage you directly in your holy images.
Jesus then added: “Move My mercy to forgive souls who have had the misfortune to offend her! Seek, unceasingly, through your prayers and sacrifices, to move My mercy with regard to these poor souls!”
O most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, at Fatima (1917) you said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’” O most holy Mother of God―we offer ourselves to God through thy Immaculate Heart and are willing to bear uncomplainingly all the sufferings God will send us as an act of reparation for our own personal sins, the sins and blasphemies of others, and for the conversion of all sinners―not only in Russia, but in the whole world.
You also said at Fatima: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” Grant us the grace to be truly devoted to your Immaculate Heart and to spread that devotion to your Immaculate Heart throughout the world―beginning with those persons who surround us in our daily life―thereby hoping to make some reparation for the many blasphemies committed against your Immaculate Heart.
Grant us also the grace of being truly devoted to your Holy Rosary, for at Fatima you ceaselessly asked for the Rosary to be prayed: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (May 1917) … “Pray the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” … (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (July 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917). Above all, obtain for us the grace to not merely “say” the Rosary, but to “pray” the Rosary―to meditate it, learn from it and put into practice what it contains. It is said that you will one day save the world through the Rosary and the Scapular! Hasten that hour! Hasten the hour of the Triumph of your Immaculate Heart―that you promised would take place! Hasten the hour of the conversion of Russia! Immaculate Heart of Mary―pray for us!
Tuesday March 22nd & Wednesday March 23rd
Article 22
The Only Thing You Can Do
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 22
The Only Thing You Can Do
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
That Recurring Word ― “Only”
On several occasions Our Lady has used the word “ONLY” with regard to our present plight. “The evil sect of Masonry will take control of civil government and will be the ONLY rulers of the world …. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and ONLY homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … ONLY Faith will survive!” (OL of La Salette) … “Communities can ONLY be preserved at the cost of much penance, humiliations and a daily and solid practice of the virtues! … But the practice of the virtues and doctrines will be found in ONLY a few souls! ONLY a small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue!” (OL of Good Success) … “The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will ONLY reflect a faint reddish glow!” (OL of La Salette) ... “Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not ONLY for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons” (OL of Good Success). Our Lady of Good Success added that the Church would be so embattled and suffering that ONLY the divine power and love of the Blessed Virgin would sustain the faithful. “ONLY I am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! … The ONLY weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! (OL of Akita). “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because ONLY she can help you! (OL of Fatima) … “O, if men ONLY understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (OL of Good Success).
Our Lady is generally speaking of an approaching great chastisement for sin, much as in the time of Noe, when “God destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth and Noe ONLY remained, and they that were with him in the ark!” (Genesis 7:23) ― a foretaste of what is to come ― for Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956, that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because the world is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [meaning the “Great Flood” in Noe’s day]. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―ONLY my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet she points out that she can be our “Ark of Salvation”― “ONLY my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm!”
Additionally, in 1954, Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed to the Fr. Lombardi, what she knew from Our Lady, namely, that “ONLY a limited number of the human race will be saved― many, many will be lost!” In 1957, to Fr. Fuentes, she added: “Each one has to save not ONLY his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!”
We Know―Only We Do Nothing!
Of course, most Catholics know all this―only they do little or nothing about it! We also know that “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20) ― only we do little or nothing with our Faith! We know that we should “enter in at the narrow gate ― for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13) ― only we don’t really care! God says: “Destruction is thy own! Thy help is only in Me!” (Osee 13:9) ― only we rarely look for God’s help first, if at all! “And lifting up their they eyes saw no one but only Jesus” (Matthew 17:8) ― only today, we lift up our smartphones and our eyes see only websites and social media sites. Our Lady of La Salette, in speaking of the future (the age in which we now live), lamented: “The people will think of nothing but amusements!” While Our Lady of Good Success added: “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which―acting thus to snare the rest into sin―will conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost!”
Satan―the prince of this world and no doubt the prince of modern technology―has succeeded in ensnaring most souls in his technological web. If one of the World Economic Forum slogans for the future Great Reset is: “You will own nothing and be happy!” ― then Satan’s slogan could well be: “You will be ensnared in my techonological web and you will be happy!” How true that is! Most people are caught and ensnared in the world-wide-web (www) and they are perfectly happy being entangled in the silky strands of Satan’s spider-web! The Internet can be used via a computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, games machine, digital TV, etc. In richer countries around 75% of the population are typically online. And although usage rates are much lower in the developing world, they are increasing.
Globally, the number of Internet users increased from only 16 million in 1995 to over 5.6 billion in 2021. The one-billion barrier was crossed in 2005. Every day over the past five years, an average of 640,000 people went online for the first time. These numbers are huge – there are almost 8 billion people in the world, with 5.1 billion being online―which is 66.6% or two-thirds of the world population.
Now, of course, the internet can be of use to religion―but it can also be of use to the devil. It largely depends upon self-discipline and a right-intention. You can find religious things on the internet and you can find sinful things on the internet. As the philosophical axiom says: “The greater absorbs the lesser.” There is far more worldliness on the internet and that overwhelming tsunami of worldliness is bound to affect―to a greater or lesser degree―even those whose intentions are good and religious. As the proverb says: “You cannot leave clothes for very long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” ― and Satan’s smoke is in plentiful supply on the internet and social media, gradually burning up the Faith of many or most people.
Of course, technological inventions and technological advances are in the minds and hands of humans―yet ultimately, one has to conclude that Satan must be behind a lot of these technological “distractions”―because they distract us from God. As Our Lord said: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20). Based on this principle, how can you call the internet “good” if it leads to the “bad fruit” of taking time and attention away from God, the Faith and spiritual duties and exercises? St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” The average American adult spends, about 65 minutes per day eating and drinking as a primary activity and about 17 minutes eating as a secondary activity (like snacking while working). On average, Americans spend 3 hours on their phones each day. The average American spends over 7 hours looking at a screen each day―which includes television, videos, games, mobile devices, etc. Yet the average time Americans spend per day in religious and spiritual activities is only 9 minutes (“average” includes those who spend no time at all, through all degrees up to those who spend a long time in prayer). Nine measly minutes! Heck― the average person spends 30 minutes in the bathroom daily! People pee and poop more than they pray! As God says: “Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it!” (Malachias 2:3). We are reminded of Our Lord bitterly complaining about His Apostles falling asleep instead of praying with Him during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―and we are guilty of the same in this current agony of the Church and world: “And He came to His disciples, and found them asleep [or today, found them staring at a screen], and He said to Peter: ‘What? Why are you sleeping? [today, surfing the internet]. Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40; Mark 14:37).
Don't Play! Pray!
We read in Holy Scripture the command to transform everything into some form of prayer―for prayer is simply raising our mind and heart to God: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) … “Praying at all times in the spirit” (Ephesians 6:18) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
What would the Angel of Fatima say to modern man for all the time spent in amusements and entertainment? Back in 1916, when he appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima, the Angel scolded the children for playing. He said: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!” The Angel of Fatima scolded the young children for playing and not praying―which is line with Our Lady's lament at La Salette: “The people will think of nothing but amusements!” Today, fun comes before God! Entertainment comes before prayer! Food and drink takes precedence over receiving Holy Communion! The words on the internet are more important than the Word of God! Accusing others on the internet replaces accusing ourselves in Confession! The faults of others are magnified and our own faults are minimized! O what a web we weave!
Our Lord, too, laments this neglect. To Sr. Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame), Our Lord said: “Know that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations for the sins of the people, who are called to be the salt of the Earth … but by straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, they quicken the rigor of the punishments ... When those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them! … Communities can only be preserved at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily solid practice of virtue. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Those words of Our Lord ― “I desire all or nothing! … I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections! ... But I will not tolerate this!” ― merely echo the words of God in Holy Scripture: “I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Most Catholics―even Conservative or Traditional Catholics―are lukewarm. To placate and pacify their consciences, they use false reasoning to concoct some kind of spurious and specious alibi for their lukewarmness―they lower the true level of sanctity and its demands, instead creating a false and lower level of sanctity that fits their lukewarm state. It truly beggars belief that Catholics―who should be aware that most Catholic souls end up being damned―nevertheless persist in remaining within the herd of vast majority who are lukewarm, indifferent and worldly. How on earth can you reconcile that vast majority with salvation when you know that only a minority are saved? Insanity! Stupidity! As Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13).
On several occasions Our Lady has used the word “ONLY” with regard to our present plight. “The evil sect of Masonry will take control of civil government and will be the ONLY rulers of the world …. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and ONLY homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … ONLY Faith will survive!” (OL of La Salette) … “Communities can ONLY be preserved at the cost of much penance, humiliations and a daily and solid practice of the virtues! … But the practice of the virtues and doctrines will be found in ONLY a few souls! ONLY a small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue!” (OL of Good Success) … “The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will ONLY reflect a faint reddish glow!” (OL of La Salette) ... “Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not ONLY for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons” (OL of Good Success). Our Lady of Good Success added that the Church would be so embattled and suffering that ONLY the divine power and love of the Blessed Virgin would sustain the faithful. “ONLY I am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! … The ONLY weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! (OL of Akita). “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because ONLY she can help you! (OL of Fatima) … “O, if men ONLY understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (OL of Good Success).
Our Lady is generally speaking of an approaching great chastisement for sin, much as in the time of Noe, when “God destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth and Noe ONLY remained, and they that were with him in the ark!” (Genesis 7:23) ― a foretaste of what is to come ― for Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956, that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because the world is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [meaning the “Great Flood” in Noe’s day]. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―ONLY my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet she points out that she can be our “Ark of Salvation”― “ONLY my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm!”
Additionally, in 1954, Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed to the Fr. Lombardi, what she knew from Our Lady, namely, that “ONLY a limited number of the human race will be saved― many, many will be lost!” In 1957, to Fr. Fuentes, she added: “Each one has to save not ONLY his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!”
We Know―Only We Do Nothing!
Of course, most Catholics know all this―only they do little or nothing about it! We also know that “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20) ― only we do little or nothing with our Faith! We know that we should “enter in at the narrow gate ― for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13) ― only we don’t really care! God says: “Destruction is thy own! Thy help is only in Me!” (Osee 13:9) ― only we rarely look for God’s help first, if at all! “And lifting up their they eyes saw no one but only Jesus” (Matthew 17:8) ― only today, we lift up our smartphones and our eyes see only websites and social media sites. Our Lady of La Salette, in speaking of the future (the age in which we now live), lamented: “The people will think of nothing but amusements!” While Our Lady of Good Success added: “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which―acting thus to snare the rest into sin―will conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost!”
Satan―the prince of this world and no doubt the prince of modern technology―has succeeded in ensnaring most souls in his technological web. If one of the World Economic Forum slogans for the future Great Reset is: “You will own nothing and be happy!” ― then Satan’s slogan could well be: “You will be ensnared in my techonological web and you will be happy!” How true that is! Most people are caught and ensnared in the world-wide-web (www) and they are perfectly happy being entangled in the silky strands of Satan’s spider-web! The Internet can be used via a computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, games machine, digital TV, etc. In richer countries around 75% of the population are typically online. And although usage rates are much lower in the developing world, they are increasing.
Globally, the number of Internet users increased from only 16 million in 1995 to over 5.6 billion in 2021. The one-billion barrier was crossed in 2005. Every day over the past five years, an average of 640,000 people went online for the first time. These numbers are huge – there are almost 8 billion people in the world, with 5.1 billion being online―which is 66.6% or two-thirds of the world population.
Now, of course, the internet can be of use to religion―but it can also be of use to the devil. It largely depends upon self-discipline and a right-intention. You can find religious things on the internet and you can find sinful things on the internet. As the philosophical axiom says: “The greater absorbs the lesser.” There is far more worldliness on the internet and that overwhelming tsunami of worldliness is bound to affect―to a greater or lesser degree―even those whose intentions are good and religious. As the proverb says: “You cannot leave clothes for very long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” ― and Satan’s smoke is in plentiful supply on the internet and social media, gradually burning up the Faith of many or most people.
Of course, technological inventions and technological advances are in the minds and hands of humans―yet ultimately, one has to conclude that Satan must be behind a lot of these technological “distractions”―because they distract us from God. As Our Lord said: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20). Based on this principle, how can you call the internet “good” if it leads to the “bad fruit” of taking time and attention away from God, the Faith and spiritual duties and exercises? St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” The average American adult spends, about 65 minutes per day eating and drinking as a primary activity and about 17 minutes eating as a secondary activity (like snacking while working). On average, Americans spend 3 hours on their phones each day. The average American spends over 7 hours looking at a screen each day―which includes television, videos, games, mobile devices, etc. Yet the average time Americans spend per day in religious and spiritual activities is only 9 minutes (“average” includes those who spend no time at all, through all degrees up to those who spend a long time in prayer). Nine measly minutes! Heck― the average person spends 30 minutes in the bathroom daily! People pee and poop more than they pray! As God says: “Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it!” (Malachias 2:3). We are reminded of Our Lord bitterly complaining about His Apostles falling asleep instead of praying with Him during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―and we are guilty of the same in this current agony of the Church and world: “And He came to His disciples, and found them asleep [or today, found them staring at a screen], and He said to Peter: ‘What? Why are you sleeping? [today, surfing the internet]. Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40; Mark 14:37).
Don't Play! Pray!
We read in Holy Scripture the command to transform everything into some form of prayer―for prayer is simply raising our mind and heart to God: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) … “Praying at all times in the spirit” (Ephesians 6:18) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
What would the Angel of Fatima say to modern man for all the time spent in amusements and entertainment? Back in 1916, when he appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima, the Angel scolded the children for playing. He said: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!” The Angel of Fatima scolded the young children for playing and not praying―which is line with Our Lady's lament at La Salette: “The people will think of nothing but amusements!” Today, fun comes before God! Entertainment comes before prayer! Food and drink takes precedence over receiving Holy Communion! The words on the internet are more important than the Word of God! Accusing others on the internet replaces accusing ourselves in Confession! The faults of others are magnified and our own faults are minimized! O what a web we weave!
Our Lord, too, laments this neglect. To Sr. Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame), Our Lord said: “Know that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations for the sins of the people, who are called to be the salt of the Earth … but by straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, they quicken the rigor of the punishments ... When those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them! … Communities can only be preserved at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily solid practice of virtue. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Those words of Our Lord ― “I desire all or nothing! … I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections! ... But I will not tolerate this!” ― merely echo the words of God in Holy Scripture: “I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Most Catholics―even Conservative or Traditional Catholics―are lukewarm. To placate and pacify their consciences, they use false reasoning to concoct some kind of spurious and specious alibi for their lukewarmness―they lower the true level of sanctity and its demands, instead creating a false and lower level of sanctity that fits their lukewarm state. It truly beggars belief that Catholics―who should be aware that most Catholic souls end up being damned―nevertheless persist in remaining within the herd of vast majority who are lukewarm, indifferent and worldly. How on earth can you reconcile that vast majority with salvation when you know that only a minority are saved? Insanity! Stupidity! As Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13).
Sunday March 20th & Monday March 21st
Article 21
Will God Give Us Miraculous Aid?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 21
Will God Give Us Miraculous Aid?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
S.O.S. Help! Help!
We read about wars, we think about wars, we talk about wars! The Elite-owned mainstream media pours more gasoline on the fire with its hyped-up frenzied war propaganda. “We’re all gonna die! We’re all gonna die!” is the panicky thought in the minds of many―except perhaps those who are too busy having fun, glued to their televisions, smartphones, social media, beer, burgers, cakes and cookies! Actually, the Elites would like you all to die―for that way the world is more manageable, or controllable. Depopulation is all part and parcel of the “Great Reset” ― and what better and more convenient way can you find to achieve that, except by war and disease?
People start posting information about the catastrophic effects of nuclear war. The Russian “Tsar Bomb” ― now no longer in service ― was 3,800 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Japan during the Second World War. It has been 50 years since the Tsar Bomb was detonated in 1961. However, Russia developed three AN602 physics packages at 101.5 megatons and these are more twice as powerful than the Tsar Bomb at 51 megatons. The latest hypersonic missiles can travel at 10 times the speed of sound―the Russian Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, are said to be capable of Mach 10 speeds (7,672 mph, or 127 miles per minute, or 2 miles per second) with ranges of up to 1200 miles.
Which Countries Have Nuclear Weapons?
The “Big-Two” ― Russia and the United States ― stand miles ahead of all other nuclear weapon countries, of which there is only a total of nine:
RUSSIA — 6,257 (1,458 active, 3,039 available, 1,760 retired)
UNITED STATES — 5,550 (1,389 active, 2,361 available, 1,800 retired)
CHINA — 350 available (actively expanding nuclear arsenal)
FRANCE — 290 available
UNITED KINGDOM — 225 available
PAKISTAN — 165 available
INDIA — 156 available
ISRAEL — 90 available
NORTH KOREA — 40-50 available (estimated)
Biological and Chemical Weapons
Biological weapons, or germ warfare, involve toxins or infectious agents used to incapacitate or kill. The potential for damage is huge, even bigger than the H-bomb. Properly engineered, pathogens could spread quickly into a target population, while aggressors could create vaccines to provide immunity to their own population.
On that point―with the recent and ongoing Plannedemic―according to the World Health Organization numbers, as of March 18th 2022, a total of 10,925,055,390 (just short of 11 billion or 11,000 million) vaccine doses have been administered and 57% of the world’s population has been fully vaccinated with two doses. More than 5 billion people worldwide ― out of a world population of around 8 billion ― have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, equal to about 66% of the world population. In the United States, 73% have received one jab. The death rate among vaccinated persons is now over 40% the usual annual death rate. Of those who allegedly die of Covid these days, over 90% of them are those who have been fully vaccinated!
Chemical weapons incur far fewer deaths than a nuclear or H-bomb, but they can cause severe psychological and physical effects. Novichok is believed to be one of the most toxic chemical weapons known and was developed in Soviet Russia―it is eight times more toxic than the nerve agent VX developed for warfare by the UK in 1950s.
EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) Weapons
The Elite-owned media has stepped-up talk about potential EMP attacks (Electromagnetic Pulse). The U.S. government has failed to properly protect the electric grid and other critical infrastructure from the threat of an EMP attack. A successful series of EMP attacks on the U.S. could lead to a nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and a shutdown of critical infrastructure reliant on the grid, including, but not limited to, communications, transportation, food and water supply, and sanitation. Such a shutdown could last as long as a year―and without such critical infrastructure, a portion of the America would die from starvation, disease, or the effects of general societal collapse which would see widespread looting and killing―because electricity, gasoline, water would no longer be available. Therefore food could no longer be delivered. There would be no lighting, no heating and no refrigeration in homes and businesses. Hospitals could not function. Law enforcement would collapse. Furthermore, in a worst-case scenario, all nuclear reactors in the affected region could be impacted, leading to as many as 60 meltdowns similar to Japan's Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Disaster.
Lord! Save Us! We Perish!
All of this creates such a potentially hazardous and life-threatening situation where one is tempted to cry out with the Apostles―who found themselves in a tiny boat in the midst of terrible tempest on the lake and Our Lord was sleeping through it, while they thought they were going to die. So they cried out: “Lord! Save us! We perish!”
“When Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves―but He was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26).
Will Jesus Save Us Today?
In view of all these growing tempests and storms today, you might well ask: “Will Jesus save us?” The answer is not just a simple “Yes!” or “No!” It is a little more complicated than that! It is more of case of: “It depends!” Depends on what? It depends if we are willing to “pay” the price―everything comes at a price, nothing is ultimately “free”. Heaven is not “free” but comes at a price―Our Lord puts it this way: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), and St. Paul adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called! … Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses―so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 2:3-4).
Why are we in the mess that we are in? Because of sin! Our Lady of La Salette clearly says: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” So before Our Lord will step-in and save us―we must take care of the sin side of things. Our Lady has repeatedly tried to tell us this over the course of many apparitions:
► LA SALETTE ― “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance! People will think of nothing but amusement!
► LOURDES ― “Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground … eat the grass … as penance for sinners!”
► FATIMA ― “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
► AKITA ― “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls … beloved souls who console Him by forming a cohort of victim souls ... who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
So―to come back to the answer to the question: “Will Jesus save us?” Let Our Lord answer it for you Himself: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) ... “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) ... “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times!” (Luke 21:36) … “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Sin is not cheap and sin is not without consequence. Just look at what sin did in the time of Noe! God destroyed life in the entire world―apart from what Noe ‘salvaged’ in the Ark. Yet, as Our Lady also said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
Reparation is Needed Before Help is Given
Reparation for that tsunami of sin has to be made―God will not just “wipe the slate clean” without any penitential participation on our part. Our Lady has insisted upon that reparation in her many apparitions―as quoted above. What amount of reparation do you think is needed when―as Our Lady said― the world “is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!” Everyone wants a miracle for free! Everyone expects mercy for free! It is as though miracles and mercy were like some kind of heavenly social-security handout―much like illegal immigrants being given all kinds of handouts and privileges that even taxpayers don’t get! We forget the gravity of sin―even venial sin―and consequently the we ignore the cost or price of sin. We forget what the Church teaches us through the Catechism: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Abraham Haggles with God over the Price for Sin
We are in a similar position to which Abraham found himself to be in with the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha which God had threatened. Sure―God was prepared to show mercy, but it was at a price―a ridiculously low price due to the haggling by Abraham:
“Abraham as yet stood before the Lord and said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? What if there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men―if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in the same case as the wicked―this is not beseeming Thee! Thou who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ “And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’
“Abraham answered and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord―whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be found five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for forty-five destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five!’
“And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if only forty be found there―what wilt Thou do?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’
“Abraham said: ‘Lord, be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if only thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’
“Abraham again said: ‘Seeing that I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’
“Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’
“And the Lord departed after he had left speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
“Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city ... and they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters―all that are thine, bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them. So Lot went and spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to have his daughters, and said: ‘Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city!’ And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest. And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying:
Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city! Save thy life! Neither stay in the surrounding countryside―but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed! …
“And the Lord rained brimstone and fire from out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrha. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace!” (Genesis 18:22-33; 19:1-28).
The city of Sodom was located in the southern Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and reached its zenith some 3,600 years ago. At the time, some scholars estimate that as many as 500,000 people lived in the valley’s three major cities and surrounding regions―yet not even ten just men could be found (which would require 1 out of every 50,000). Today, samples from the site show that an extremely hot, explosive event leveled an area of almost 200 square miles. Archaeologists studying the ruins Tall el-Hamman―one of the cities around Sodom and Gomorrha― found what they called the destruction layer: “A mix of charcoal, ash, and melted pottery that was five feet thick—the kind of devastation that comes from superheated temperatures of a firestorm, ruling out human warfare and other natural disasters such as a volcano, earthquake, fire, or tornado as its cause”. Furnace experiments indicated that the melted mud-bricks had reached temperatures of 2,700 degrees. Tiny melted spherules found in the destruction layer were made when vaporized iron and sand reached 2,900 degrees. There were melted metallic grains of iridium (which has a melting point of 4,435 degrees), platinum (3,215 degrees), and zirconium silicate (2,800 degrees). Other signs indicating there had been a massive explosion included tiny grains of shocked quartz that only form under 725,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.
Our Lady Speaks of Fire from Heaven
In several of her apparitions Our Lady has warned us of a terrible fire coming from above as a punishment for this terribly sinful world: “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita) … “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions! … Water and fire will purge the Earth! … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966), a mystical soul and a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, of whom Padre Pio said to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel prophesied that “with the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God! ... A rain of fire will fall upon all the Earth! There will be gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars! … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed! … Several nations will disappear off the face of the map!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima
In an interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia revealed:
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message ― neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
“It is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance! No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!
“We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance! Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations! No―Our Lord has often used these means―and the world has not paid any attention! So, now, each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save, not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!
“In the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, then with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima
Another seer at Fatima, Jacinta Marto, the younger cousin of Lucia, was only 9 years old at her death in 1920, spoke of what Our Lady had revealed to her: “Our Lady can no longer uphold the arm of her Divine Son which will strike the world. If people amend their lives, Our Lord will even now save the world, but if they do not, punishment will come! People must renounce sin and not persist in it, as has been done until now. It is essential to repent greatly!”
We read about wars, we think about wars, we talk about wars! The Elite-owned mainstream media pours more gasoline on the fire with its hyped-up frenzied war propaganda. “We’re all gonna die! We’re all gonna die!” is the panicky thought in the minds of many―except perhaps those who are too busy having fun, glued to their televisions, smartphones, social media, beer, burgers, cakes and cookies! Actually, the Elites would like you all to die―for that way the world is more manageable, or controllable. Depopulation is all part and parcel of the “Great Reset” ― and what better and more convenient way can you find to achieve that, except by war and disease?
People start posting information about the catastrophic effects of nuclear war. The Russian “Tsar Bomb” ― now no longer in service ― was 3,800 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Japan during the Second World War. It has been 50 years since the Tsar Bomb was detonated in 1961. However, Russia developed three AN602 physics packages at 101.5 megatons and these are more twice as powerful than the Tsar Bomb at 51 megatons. The latest hypersonic missiles can travel at 10 times the speed of sound―the Russian Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, are said to be capable of Mach 10 speeds (7,672 mph, or 127 miles per minute, or 2 miles per second) with ranges of up to 1200 miles.
Which Countries Have Nuclear Weapons?
The “Big-Two” ― Russia and the United States ― stand miles ahead of all other nuclear weapon countries, of which there is only a total of nine:
RUSSIA — 6,257 (1,458 active, 3,039 available, 1,760 retired)
UNITED STATES — 5,550 (1,389 active, 2,361 available, 1,800 retired)
CHINA — 350 available (actively expanding nuclear arsenal)
FRANCE — 290 available
UNITED KINGDOM — 225 available
PAKISTAN — 165 available
INDIA — 156 available
ISRAEL — 90 available
NORTH KOREA — 40-50 available (estimated)
Biological and Chemical Weapons
Biological weapons, or germ warfare, involve toxins or infectious agents used to incapacitate or kill. The potential for damage is huge, even bigger than the H-bomb. Properly engineered, pathogens could spread quickly into a target population, while aggressors could create vaccines to provide immunity to their own population.
On that point―with the recent and ongoing Plannedemic―according to the World Health Organization numbers, as of March 18th 2022, a total of 10,925,055,390 (just short of 11 billion or 11,000 million) vaccine doses have been administered and 57% of the world’s population has been fully vaccinated with two doses. More than 5 billion people worldwide ― out of a world population of around 8 billion ― have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, equal to about 66% of the world population. In the United States, 73% have received one jab. The death rate among vaccinated persons is now over 40% the usual annual death rate. Of those who allegedly die of Covid these days, over 90% of them are those who have been fully vaccinated!
Chemical weapons incur far fewer deaths than a nuclear or H-bomb, but they can cause severe psychological and physical effects. Novichok is believed to be one of the most toxic chemical weapons known and was developed in Soviet Russia―it is eight times more toxic than the nerve agent VX developed for warfare by the UK in 1950s.
EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) Weapons
The Elite-owned media has stepped-up talk about potential EMP attacks (Electromagnetic Pulse). The U.S. government has failed to properly protect the electric grid and other critical infrastructure from the threat of an EMP attack. A successful series of EMP attacks on the U.S. could lead to a nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and a shutdown of critical infrastructure reliant on the grid, including, but not limited to, communications, transportation, food and water supply, and sanitation. Such a shutdown could last as long as a year―and without such critical infrastructure, a portion of the America would die from starvation, disease, or the effects of general societal collapse which would see widespread looting and killing―because electricity, gasoline, water would no longer be available. Therefore food could no longer be delivered. There would be no lighting, no heating and no refrigeration in homes and businesses. Hospitals could not function. Law enforcement would collapse. Furthermore, in a worst-case scenario, all nuclear reactors in the affected region could be impacted, leading to as many as 60 meltdowns similar to Japan's Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Disaster.
Lord! Save Us! We Perish!
All of this creates such a potentially hazardous and life-threatening situation where one is tempted to cry out with the Apostles―who found themselves in a tiny boat in the midst of terrible tempest on the lake and Our Lord was sleeping through it, while they thought they were going to die. So they cried out: “Lord! Save us! We perish!”
“When Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves―but He was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26).
Will Jesus Save Us Today?
In view of all these growing tempests and storms today, you might well ask: “Will Jesus save us?” The answer is not just a simple “Yes!” or “No!” It is a little more complicated than that! It is more of case of: “It depends!” Depends on what? It depends if we are willing to “pay” the price―everything comes at a price, nothing is ultimately “free”. Heaven is not “free” but comes at a price―Our Lord puts it this way: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), and St. Paul adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called! … Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses―so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 2:3-4).
Why are we in the mess that we are in? Because of sin! Our Lady of La Salette clearly says: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” So before Our Lord will step-in and save us―we must take care of the sin side of things. Our Lady has repeatedly tried to tell us this over the course of many apparitions:
► LA SALETTE ― “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance! People will think of nothing but amusement!
► LOURDES ― “Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground … eat the grass … as penance for sinners!”
► FATIMA ― “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
► AKITA ― “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls … beloved souls who console Him by forming a cohort of victim souls ... who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
So―to come back to the answer to the question: “Will Jesus save us?” Let Our Lord answer it for you Himself: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) ... “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) ... “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times!” (Luke 21:36) … “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Sin is not cheap and sin is not without consequence. Just look at what sin did in the time of Noe! God destroyed life in the entire world―apart from what Noe ‘salvaged’ in the Ark. Yet, as Our Lady also said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
Reparation is Needed Before Help is Given
Reparation for that tsunami of sin has to be made―God will not just “wipe the slate clean” without any penitential participation on our part. Our Lady has insisted upon that reparation in her many apparitions―as quoted above. What amount of reparation do you think is needed when―as Our Lady said― the world “is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!” Everyone wants a miracle for free! Everyone expects mercy for free! It is as though miracles and mercy were like some kind of heavenly social-security handout―much like illegal immigrants being given all kinds of handouts and privileges that even taxpayers don’t get! We forget the gravity of sin―even venial sin―and consequently the we ignore the cost or price of sin. We forget what the Church teaches us through the Catechism: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Abraham Haggles with God over the Price for Sin
We are in a similar position to which Abraham found himself to be in with the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha which God had threatened. Sure―God was prepared to show mercy, but it was at a price―a ridiculously low price due to the haggling by Abraham:
“Abraham as yet stood before the Lord and said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? What if there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men―if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in the same case as the wicked―this is not beseeming Thee! Thou who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ “And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’
“Abraham answered and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord―whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be found five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for forty-five destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five!’
“And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if only forty be found there―what wilt Thou do?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’
“Abraham said: ‘Lord, be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if only thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’
“Abraham again said: ‘Seeing that I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’
“Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’
“And the Lord departed after he had left speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
“Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city ... and they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters―all that are thine, bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them. So Lot went and spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to have his daughters, and said: ‘Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city!’ And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest. And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying:
Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city! Save thy life! Neither stay in the surrounding countryside―but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed! …
“And the Lord rained brimstone and fire from out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrha. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace!” (Genesis 18:22-33; 19:1-28).
The city of Sodom was located in the southern Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and reached its zenith some 3,600 years ago. At the time, some scholars estimate that as many as 500,000 people lived in the valley’s three major cities and surrounding regions―yet not even ten just men could be found (which would require 1 out of every 50,000). Today, samples from the site show that an extremely hot, explosive event leveled an area of almost 200 square miles. Archaeologists studying the ruins Tall el-Hamman―one of the cities around Sodom and Gomorrha― found what they called the destruction layer: “A mix of charcoal, ash, and melted pottery that was five feet thick—the kind of devastation that comes from superheated temperatures of a firestorm, ruling out human warfare and other natural disasters such as a volcano, earthquake, fire, or tornado as its cause”. Furnace experiments indicated that the melted mud-bricks had reached temperatures of 2,700 degrees. Tiny melted spherules found in the destruction layer were made when vaporized iron and sand reached 2,900 degrees. There were melted metallic grains of iridium (which has a melting point of 4,435 degrees), platinum (3,215 degrees), and zirconium silicate (2,800 degrees). Other signs indicating there had been a massive explosion included tiny grains of shocked quartz that only form under 725,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.
Our Lady Speaks of Fire from Heaven
In several of her apparitions Our Lady has warned us of a terrible fire coming from above as a punishment for this terribly sinful world: “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita) … “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions! … Water and fire will purge the Earth! … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966), a mystical soul and a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, of whom Padre Pio said to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel prophesied that “with the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God! ... A rain of fire will fall upon all the Earth! There will be gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars! … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed! … Several nations will disappear off the face of the map!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima
In an interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia revealed:
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message ― neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
“It is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance! No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!
“We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance! Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations! No―Our Lord has often used these means―and the world has not paid any attention! So, now, each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save, not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!
“In the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, then with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima
Another seer at Fatima, Jacinta Marto, the younger cousin of Lucia, was only 9 years old at her death in 1920, spoke of what Our Lady had revealed to her: “Our Lady can no longer uphold the arm of her Divine Son which will strike the world. If people amend their lives, Our Lord will even now save the world, but if they do not, punishment will come! People must renounce sin and not persist in it, as has been done until now. It is essential to repent greatly!”
Tuesday March 15th & Wednesday March 16th
Article 20
Heaven Rescues From Famine!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 20
Heaven Rescues From Famine!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Hungry Times Coming!
From whichever perspective you look at it―whether from a secular viewpoint or a Faith viewpoint―we look to be headed for hungry times! Famine is closer than you think! When you throw into the mix “The Great Reset” of Klaus Schwab and company, the “Russian-Ukranian War”, the economic sanctions being levied by many world governments against Russia, the retaliatory sanctions emanating from Russia on the rest of the world, the Elitist puppeteering, maneuvering and manipulating, etc. ― the end result of this toxic “cake-mix” is going to be famine (among many other things). Hey! Isn’t the easiest way to depopulate the world a mix of war, famine and economic collapse? Sure it is! That way nobody points the finger at the real perpetrators (or “perpe-traitors”), but they can blame fighting nations, food shortages and inhuman inflation, etc.
Our Lady Speaks of Famine
Our Lady, in her apparitions at Quito, La Salette and Fatima, includes “famine” as part of her terrible warnings for our days: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell [and no doubt they will work through their “Elites” on Earth]. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The cursed demon will achieve his victories by means of faithless people so numerous that … with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down, in turn, every type of chastisement―such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls … A great famine will come! … People will do penance through hunger! … Besides pestilence and famine―which will be widespread―there will be wars up to the last war, which will then be waged by the ten kings of the Antichrist― kings who will all have a common design and will be the sole rulers of the world! ... During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Various nations will be annihilated! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war and famine!”
Prophets Speak of Famine
St. Columbcille, an Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597, prophesied: “The unjust and iniquitous people who shall live in the ages to come, shall be punished. The trees shall not bear the usual quantity of fruit, fisheries shall become unproductive and the earth shall not yield its usual abundance. Inclement weather and famine shall come and fishes shall forsake the rivers. The people will be oppressed for lack of food, shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail.”
St. Odile, a 7th century French saint, prophesied of our days: “There will come a time when war will break out, more terrible than all other wars combined, which have ever visited mankind … All nations of the Earth will fight each other in
this war … Battles of the past will only be skirmishes compared to the battles that will take place, since blood will flow in all directions. The earth will shake from the violent fighting. Famine and pestilence will join the war. The nations will then cry: ‘Peace! Peace!’ but there will be no peace.”
St. Hildegard of Bingen (born 1098 AD) prophesied: “Toward the end of the world, mankind will be purified through sufferings ... Before the Comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scoured with want and famine.”
The Liber Mirabilis, a 1500s collection of Medieval Latin prophecies, states: “All elements will become altered … An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
The Monk of Premol, was an anonymous monk of the 1600s, who left a mysterious manuscript, discovered in the year 1783, in which is the prophecy: “What is this noise of arms? What are these cries of war and fear? The dragon has appeared in all countries and has brought terrible confusion everywhere. There is war everywhere. Individuals and nations rise against each other. Wars! Wars! Civil wars, foreign wars! What terrifying clashes! Everything is dead or in mourning; and famine stalks the Earth.”
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century) prophesies that “Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth.”
Sr. Julie-Marie Jahenny de la Fraudais, a nun in France who had an apocalyptic vision in the early 19th century, prophesied: “The sea will reverse in foamy waves upon the Earth ... The famine which will follow will be enormous; all the vegetation of the Earth will be destroyed as also will be three-fourths of mankind. The crisis will come suddenly and the disaster will be universal.”
Sr. Palma Maria, who lived in Italy during the 1800s, prophesied: “There will be … dreadful punishments, such as pestilence and famine!”
The Prophecy of Mayence states: “Fire and sword shall succeed fire and famine!”
Rodolphus Gekner prophesied: “Famine, pestilence, and earthquakes shall destroy many cities!”
St. John Bosco prophesied that “War, pestilence and famine are the rods to scourge men’s pride and wickedness … Famine, pestilence, and war will be such that mothers will have to cry on account of the blood of their sons and of their martyrs dead in a hostile country.”
Mitar Tarabich, who lived from 1829 to 1899, was a Serbian whose gift of prophecy is uncanny. He prophesied: “The evil ones will do evil deeds. They will poison air and water and spread pestilence over the seas, rivers and earth, and people will start to die suddenly of various ailments ... Then people will run away from the cities to the country and look for the mountains … Those who escape will save themselves and their families, but not for long because a great famine will appear. There will be plenty of food in towns and villages, but it will be poisoned. Many will eat because of hunger and die immediately. Those who will fast to the end, will survive, because the Holy Ghost will save them and they will be close to God.”
“The Great Reset” Perfectly Synchronizes With Prophecies
You can readily and easily see how perfectly the plans for “The Great Reset”, “Agenda 21” and “Agenda 2030” fit in with the prophecies made by Our Lady, the saints and mystics. The Elitist agenda is essentially one of mass depopulation. This can be achieved in a variety of ways:
► THROUGH DISEASE ― the thousands of biowarfare labs throughout the world are ideal breeding grounds for a multitude of diseases. Additionally, modern medicine is hardly a paragon of healthiness―as they say, “There is no money to made from health!” You only make money if people are sick! Therefore, it is not in the interests of modern medicine to actually cure everyone, but simply to reduce the symptoms to make the patient feel a little better, but to keep him sick so that he keeps on coming back for more and more medicine! Furthermore, the more chronically sick people you have, then the more deaths you are likely to have―nobody dies from good health!
► THROUGH POISONING ― once again, the biowarfare labs and additionally Big Pharma with its “adverse effect” vaccines are ideal for this―in addition to tampering with the food supply, which has seen the depopulationist Bill Gates buying-up agricultural land like crazy. An NBC News analysis also identified Gates as the largest farmland owner in the US. Almost 300,000 acres is a lot of land for one family or private individual to own. In his annual letter for 2012, Bill Gates announced that the Gates Foundation intends to combat world hunger by investing in genetically modified agriculture. A significant percentage of processed foods purchased today contain genetically engineered (GE) food products. Consumers have no way of knowing what foods are genetically engineered because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require labeling of these products. What is worse―the agency also does not require any pre-market safety testing of GE foods. The agency’s failure to require testing or labeling of GE foods has made millions of consumers into guinea pigs. There are many potential human health concerns regarding GE foods. Genetically engineered foods are different from other foods. Genetic engineering allows, for the first time, foreign genes, bacterial and viral vectors, viral promoters and antibiotic marker systems to be engineered into food. These should be subject to extensive safety testing. Instead, in 1992 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ruled, without any scientific basis, that genetically engineered foods present no different risks than traditional foods. FDA’s own scientists ridiculed this unscientific agency view of genetic engineering. FDA scientists consistently stated that there is a profound difference between the types of unexpected effects from traditional breeding and genetic engineering. What are the new “unexpected effects” and health risks posed by genetic engineering? (1) Toxicity, (2) Allergic Reactions, (3) Antibiotic Resistance, (4) Immuno-suppression, (5) Cancer, and (6) Loss of Nutrition.
► THROUGH WARFARE ― there is nothing like a world war for depopulation, especially in view of modern day nuclear weapons and potential EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) warfare. Destroy the electrical grid of any country and you will likely depopulate it by as much as 90% in a very short period. For without electricity there will no running water, no gas, no heating, no refrigeration, no fuel, no food deliveries, no medical supplies, no communication, etc. The knock-on domino effect will quickly see ever-increasing and widespread famine, disease to lack of hygiene and food, looting, rapes, killings, etc.
► THROUGH FAMINE ― the threat of famine is always around the next corner. A whole multitude of things can lead to famine. Natural disasters, economic collapse, mass unemployment, disruption of food supply chains, rampant inflation, war, etc. If you can manipulate the weather (which today is easily done), or if you can sabotage the workings of the food supply chain, or provoke an economic collapse and mass unemployment, or provoke a world war―then you will have consequently provoked the necessary chain of events that will lead to famine.
God’s Use of Famine in the Past
As always, the underlying principle in all disasters, wars, disease, famine and the suffering that accompanies these, is found in the words of Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” We can see this in the Old Testament dealings of God with mankind in general and His Chosen People in particular. On numerous occasions God threatens famine as part of a broader punishment for sin:
“Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them― and the Lord, being angry, shut up heaven so that the rain comes not down, nor the earth yields her fruit, and you perish quickly from the land!” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
“Hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them, and turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them. But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, then all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field! Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores! Cursed shall be the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep! The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger―as a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do―until He consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken Me!” (Deuteronomy 28:13-20).
“Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, thou shalt serve thy enemy―whom the Lord will send upon thee―in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things! And He shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till He consume thee! The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth―like an eagle that flyeth swiftly―whose tongue thou canst not understand. A most insolent nation, that will show no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant! And will devour the fruit of thy cattle and the fruits of thy land ― until thou be destroyed! And will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep ― until he destroy thee!” (Deuteronomy 28:47-52).
“The Lord of hosts shall take away the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water from Jerusalem and from Juda … because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty!” (Isaias3:1).
“I will deliver vexation and affliction to the king of Juda, his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt, and to all the kingdoms of the Earth! I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence―until they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers!” (Jeremias 24:8-10).
“I shall send in upon Jerusalem my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and beast―yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved!” (Ezechiel 14:21-22).
“I shall send upon them the grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send to destroy you! And I will gather together famine against you and I will break among you the staff of bread. And I will send in upon you famine, and evil beasts unto utter destruction! Pestilence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring in the sword upon thee! I the Lord have spoken it!” (Ezechiel 5:16-17).
“Behold I will set my face upon you for evil and I will destroy all Juda! And I will take the remnant of Juda―that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there―and they shall be all consumed in the land of Egypt! They shall fall by the sword and by the famine―and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest! By the sword and by the famine shall they die―and they shall be for an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach. And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt―as I have visited Jerusalem by the sword and by famine, and by pestilence― and there shall be none that shall escape!” (Jeremias 44:11-14).
“I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant!” (Isaias 14:30).
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad! And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and with the pestilence! And I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the Earth―to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out―because they have not hearkened to My words, saith the Lord!” (Jeremias 29:17-19).
“I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, till I consume them, saith the Lord” (Jeremias 27:8).
“I called and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not hear; and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me! Therefore, my servants shall eat and you shall be hungry; my servants shall drink and you shall be thirsty, thus saith the Lord God!” (Isaias 65:12-13).
God Didn’t Just Talk the Talk! He Walked the Walk!
All the above threats were not merely “hot-air”, “all-talk and no action”―God keeps His promises and carries out His threats.
► The first famine mentioned in Holy Scripture was so great that it forced God’s “Chosen One”, Abraham, to leave his land and go down to the land of Egypt: “And there came a famine in the country; and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land” (Genesis 12:10).
► We see another famine recorded in Scripture as occurring in the days of Isaac, causing him to go to Gerar: “And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Palestines to Gerara” (Genesis 26:1), where he became rich and powerful―a case of God bring good out of evil.
► Naomi experienced a famine in the days when judges ruled in Israel, causing her family to move to Moab, where her son married Ruth. She returned to Israel with her daughter-in-law after the famine was over, following the death of her husband and sons (Ruth 1).
► During the days of David, there were 3 consecutive years of famine due to King Saul and “his bloody house” who wrongly slew the Gabaonites: “And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively. And the Lord said: ‘It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites!’” (2 Kings 21:2, 5) in violation of the Israelite covenant with them (Josue 9:3-27).
► Years later, King David and his land were punished by God with 3 years of pestilence and famine, killing 70,000 men of Israel, due to David’s sin of taking a census against God’s command (1 Paralipomenon 21). When King David disobeyed God, but repented of his disobedience, God told David to choose one of three possible punishments for his sin: “David said to the Lord: ‘I have sinned very much in what I have done! But I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceedingly foolishly!’ And the word of the Lord came to Gad, the prophet and the seer of David, saying: ‘Go, and say to David: “Thus saith the Lord―I give thee thy choice of three things! Choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee!”’ And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: ‘Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land; or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee; or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land! Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to Him that sent me!’ And David said to Gad: ‘I am in a great straits! But it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord―for His mercies are many―than into the hands of men!’ And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men” (2 Kings 24:10-15).
► There were severe famines in Samaria: “After many days the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year [of the famine], saying: Go and show thyself to King Achab, so that I may give rain upon the face of the Earth!’ And Elias went to show himself to King Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria” (3 Kings 18:2); “And there was a great famine in Samaria” (4 Kings 6:25).
► God called for a 7 year famine during the days of Eliseus: “And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: ‘Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst find―for the Lord hath exiled a famine and it shall come upon the land seven years!’” (4 Kings 8:1).
► The following famines were sent as an effect of God’s anger against a guilty people “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land―not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord!” (Amos 8:11);
“May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want! … The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land! … May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof! ... May thy sheep be given to thy enemies! … May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labors! … Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little―because the locusts shall consume all! Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather anything thereof―because it shall be wasted with worms! Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil―for the olives shall fall off and perish! … The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground!” (Deuteronomy 28:22-42);
“All the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence! None of them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will bring upon them!” (Jeremias 42:17).
► God sent famine and other punishments upon the false prophets who pretended to prophesy in God’s name: “And the Lord said to me: ‘The prophets prophesy falsely in My Name―I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them! They prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart! Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophecy in My Name, whom I did not send, that prophesy saying: “Sword and famine shall not be in this land!” By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophecy, shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there shall be none to bury them―they and their wives, their sons and their daughters―and I will pour out their wickedness upon them!” (Jeremias 14:14-16)
► Some city-wide famines were caused by enemy seiges. For example, King Nabuchodonosor of Babylon sealed-off Jerusalem with his surrounding army for years, until the city ran out of food (4 Kings 25).
► In the New Testament times we see a famine predicted by the Christian prophet Agabus (Acts 11:28).
► The ancient historian Josephus makes mention of the famine which occurred 45 A.D. Helena, queen of Adiabene, being at Jerusalem at that time, procured corn from Alexandria and figs from Cyprus for its poor inhabitants.
► Our Lord prophesied a famine (among other sufferings) during the last days before His second coming: “…nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places” (Matthew 24:7; also Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11).
► The Book of Apocalypse, speaking of the “Babylon” of our present day, says: “As much as [Babylon] has glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her; because she said in her heart: ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow; and sorrow I shall not see!’ Therefore shall her plagues come in one day―death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire―because God who is strong, shall judge her!” (Apocalypse 18:7-8)
Seven Year Famine in Egypt
The most famous famine of all, due to the many chapters Scripture devotes to it, was the Egyptian famine in the days of Joseph (son of Jacob), which lasted for 7 years and was extremely severe. Holy Scripture devotes 5 chapters (Genesis chapters 41 to 45) to it: “Pharao had a dream … Pharao awoke and, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men, and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it ... Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they brought him in to Pharao, who said to him: ‘I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them! Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them!’
“Pharao told Joseph what he had dreamed: ‘I stood upon the bank of the river, and seven healthy cows came up out of the river and grazed on green places. Then another seven cows, sickly and thin, devoured and consumed the healthy cows. I awoke, and then fell asleep again, and dreamed another dream. Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair. Another seven ears, thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk and devoured the beauty of the former.’
“Joseph answered: ‘The seven beautiful cows, and the seven full ears of corn, are seven years of plenty―and the seven sickly and thin cows and the seven thin ears of corn are seven years of famine to come. There shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt, after which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land, and the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty. Therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt, so that he may appoint overseers over all the land and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years and let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity. The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants. And he said to Joseph: “Thou shalt be over my house, and all the people shall obey―only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.
“Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt … and went round all the countries of Egypt. And the fruitfulness of the seven years came and the corn was gathered together into the barns of Egypt. And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city … Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past, the seven years of scarcity began to come and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt. And the famine increased daily in all the land and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians―for the famine had oppressed them also. And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want. And Jacob, hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: ‘Why are ye careless? I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt! Go ye down, and buy us necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want!’ So the ten brothers of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt … Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and though he knew his brothers, he was not known by them … And they talked one to another: ‘We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, Joseph, seeing the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear! Therefore is this affliction come upon us!’ And Ruben one of them, said: ‘Did not I say to you: “Do not sin against the boy Joseph?” And you would not hear me? Behold his blood is required!’ And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to them through an interpreter.
“Joseph could no longer refrain himself and he said to his brothers: ‘I am Joseph! Be not afraid! For God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more remain, wherein there can be neither plowing nor reaping. God sent me ahead of you, so that you might be preserved upon the Earth, and may have food to live. Not by your plotting was I sent here―but by the will of God, who has made me lord of Pharao’s whole house, and governor in all the land of Egypt. Go to my father and say to him: “Thus says thy son Joseph: ‘God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt! Come down to me, linger not. Thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons! … And there I will feed thee―for there are yet five more years of famine remaining―lest both thou and thy house perish, and all things that thou hast!” You shall tell my father of all my glory! Make haste and bring him to me!’ And the sons of Israel did as they were bid” (Genesis, extracts from chapters 41 to 45).
Famines Can Be Good For Us
Famine was seen as both punishment and opportunity. Suffering opened the door for repentance and change. For example, when the famously wise King Solomon inaugurates the Temple in Jerusalem, he prays that God will be forgiving when, in the future, a famine-stricken Israel turns toward the newly built Temple for mercy. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards Heaven and said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath! Hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which Thou gavest to their fathers. If Heaven shall be shut up and there shall be no rain because of their sins, but they, praying in this place, shall do penance to Thy Name and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions, then hear Thou them in Heaven and forgive the sins of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, and show them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land. If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew; or if their enemy afflict them besieging the gates; or whatsoever plague, whatsoever infirmity, whatsoever curse or imprecation shall happen to any man of thy people Israel―then hear Thou in Heaven and forgive, and do so as to give to everyone according to his ways, as Thou shalt see his heart―for Thou only knowest the heart of all the children of men!” (3 Kings 8:22-39).
Famines can make us focus on a more important food―the word of God. God speaks of punishing by a famine of the word of God: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord!” (Amos 8:11). What is worse―a famine of food or a famine of the word of God? Worldly folk would say a famine of food is worse―for they have little interest in the word of God! Yet Our Lord reminds us: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). Our Lord is here actually quoting the Old Testament words of Moses, who rebuked the Israelites saying: “The Lord afflicted thee with want and gave thee manna for thy food―which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―in order to show you that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Our Lord further explains: “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? … Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice―and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
It is in this vein that Our Lord relates the parable about the rich man with lots of crops and food: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
From whichever perspective you look at it―whether from a secular viewpoint or a Faith viewpoint―we look to be headed for hungry times! Famine is closer than you think! When you throw into the mix “The Great Reset” of Klaus Schwab and company, the “Russian-Ukranian War”, the economic sanctions being levied by many world governments against Russia, the retaliatory sanctions emanating from Russia on the rest of the world, the Elitist puppeteering, maneuvering and manipulating, etc. ― the end result of this toxic “cake-mix” is going to be famine (among many other things). Hey! Isn’t the easiest way to depopulate the world a mix of war, famine and economic collapse? Sure it is! That way nobody points the finger at the real perpetrators (or “perpe-traitors”), but they can blame fighting nations, food shortages and inhuman inflation, etc.
Our Lady Speaks of Famine
Our Lady, in her apparitions at Quito, La Salette and Fatima, includes “famine” as part of her terrible warnings for our days: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell [and no doubt they will work through their “Elites” on Earth]. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The cursed demon will achieve his victories by means of faithless people so numerous that … with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down, in turn, every type of chastisement―such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls … A great famine will come! … People will do penance through hunger! … Besides pestilence and famine―which will be widespread―there will be wars up to the last war, which will then be waged by the ten kings of the Antichrist― kings who will all have a common design and will be the sole rulers of the world! ... During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Various nations will be annihilated! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war and famine!”
Prophets Speak of Famine
St. Columbcille, an Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597, prophesied: “The unjust and iniquitous people who shall live in the ages to come, shall be punished. The trees shall not bear the usual quantity of fruit, fisheries shall become unproductive and the earth shall not yield its usual abundance. Inclement weather and famine shall come and fishes shall forsake the rivers. The people will be oppressed for lack of food, shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail.”
St. Odile, a 7th century French saint, prophesied of our days: “There will come a time when war will break out, more terrible than all other wars combined, which have ever visited mankind … All nations of the Earth will fight each other in
this war … Battles of the past will only be skirmishes compared to the battles that will take place, since blood will flow in all directions. The earth will shake from the violent fighting. Famine and pestilence will join the war. The nations will then cry: ‘Peace! Peace!’ but there will be no peace.”
St. Hildegard of Bingen (born 1098 AD) prophesied: “Toward the end of the world, mankind will be purified through sufferings ... Before the Comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scoured with want and famine.”
The Liber Mirabilis, a 1500s collection of Medieval Latin prophecies, states: “All elements will become altered … An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
The Monk of Premol, was an anonymous monk of the 1600s, who left a mysterious manuscript, discovered in the year 1783, in which is the prophecy: “What is this noise of arms? What are these cries of war and fear? The dragon has appeared in all countries and has brought terrible confusion everywhere. There is war everywhere. Individuals and nations rise against each other. Wars! Wars! Civil wars, foreign wars! What terrifying clashes! Everything is dead or in mourning; and famine stalks the Earth.”
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century) prophesies that “Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth.”
Sr. Julie-Marie Jahenny de la Fraudais, a nun in France who had an apocalyptic vision in the early 19th century, prophesied: “The sea will reverse in foamy waves upon the Earth ... The famine which will follow will be enormous; all the vegetation of the Earth will be destroyed as also will be three-fourths of mankind. The crisis will come suddenly and the disaster will be universal.”
Sr. Palma Maria, who lived in Italy during the 1800s, prophesied: “There will be … dreadful punishments, such as pestilence and famine!”
The Prophecy of Mayence states: “Fire and sword shall succeed fire and famine!”
Rodolphus Gekner prophesied: “Famine, pestilence, and earthquakes shall destroy many cities!”
St. John Bosco prophesied that “War, pestilence and famine are the rods to scourge men’s pride and wickedness … Famine, pestilence, and war will be such that mothers will have to cry on account of the blood of their sons and of their martyrs dead in a hostile country.”
Mitar Tarabich, who lived from 1829 to 1899, was a Serbian whose gift of prophecy is uncanny. He prophesied: “The evil ones will do evil deeds. They will poison air and water and spread pestilence over the seas, rivers and earth, and people will start to die suddenly of various ailments ... Then people will run away from the cities to the country and look for the mountains … Those who escape will save themselves and their families, but not for long because a great famine will appear. There will be plenty of food in towns and villages, but it will be poisoned. Many will eat because of hunger and die immediately. Those who will fast to the end, will survive, because the Holy Ghost will save them and they will be close to God.”
“The Great Reset” Perfectly Synchronizes With Prophecies
You can readily and easily see how perfectly the plans for “The Great Reset”, “Agenda 21” and “Agenda 2030” fit in with the prophecies made by Our Lady, the saints and mystics. The Elitist agenda is essentially one of mass depopulation. This can be achieved in a variety of ways:
► THROUGH DISEASE ― the thousands of biowarfare labs throughout the world are ideal breeding grounds for a multitude of diseases. Additionally, modern medicine is hardly a paragon of healthiness―as they say, “There is no money to made from health!” You only make money if people are sick! Therefore, it is not in the interests of modern medicine to actually cure everyone, but simply to reduce the symptoms to make the patient feel a little better, but to keep him sick so that he keeps on coming back for more and more medicine! Furthermore, the more chronically sick people you have, then the more deaths you are likely to have―nobody dies from good health!
► THROUGH POISONING ― once again, the biowarfare labs and additionally Big Pharma with its “adverse effect” vaccines are ideal for this―in addition to tampering with the food supply, which has seen the depopulationist Bill Gates buying-up agricultural land like crazy. An NBC News analysis also identified Gates as the largest farmland owner in the US. Almost 300,000 acres is a lot of land for one family or private individual to own. In his annual letter for 2012, Bill Gates announced that the Gates Foundation intends to combat world hunger by investing in genetically modified agriculture. A significant percentage of processed foods purchased today contain genetically engineered (GE) food products. Consumers have no way of knowing what foods are genetically engineered because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require labeling of these products. What is worse―the agency also does not require any pre-market safety testing of GE foods. The agency’s failure to require testing or labeling of GE foods has made millions of consumers into guinea pigs. There are many potential human health concerns regarding GE foods. Genetically engineered foods are different from other foods. Genetic engineering allows, for the first time, foreign genes, bacterial and viral vectors, viral promoters and antibiotic marker systems to be engineered into food. These should be subject to extensive safety testing. Instead, in 1992 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ruled, without any scientific basis, that genetically engineered foods present no different risks than traditional foods. FDA’s own scientists ridiculed this unscientific agency view of genetic engineering. FDA scientists consistently stated that there is a profound difference between the types of unexpected effects from traditional breeding and genetic engineering. What are the new “unexpected effects” and health risks posed by genetic engineering? (1) Toxicity, (2) Allergic Reactions, (3) Antibiotic Resistance, (4) Immuno-suppression, (5) Cancer, and (6) Loss of Nutrition.
► THROUGH WARFARE ― there is nothing like a world war for depopulation, especially in view of modern day nuclear weapons and potential EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) warfare. Destroy the electrical grid of any country and you will likely depopulate it by as much as 90% in a very short period. For without electricity there will no running water, no gas, no heating, no refrigeration, no fuel, no food deliveries, no medical supplies, no communication, etc. The knock-on domino effect will quickly see ever-increasing and widespread famine, disease to lack of hygiene and food, looting, rapes, killings, etc.
► THROUGH FAMINE ― the threat of famine is always around the next corner. A whole multitude of things can lead to famine. Natural disasters, economic collapse, mass unemployment, disruption of food supply chains, rampant inflation, war, etc. If you can manipulate the weather (which today is easily done), or if you can sabotage the workings of the food supply chain, or provoke an economic collapse and mass unemployment, or provoke a world war―then you will have consequently provoked the necessary chain of events that will lead to famine.
God’s Use of Famine in the Past
As always, the underlying principle in all disasters, wars, disease, famine and the suffering that accompanies these, is found in the words of Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” We can see this in the Old Testament dealings of God with mankind in general and His Chosen People in particular. On numerous occasions God threatens famine as part of a broader punishment for sin:
“Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them― and the Lord, being angry, shut up heaven so that the rain comes not down, nor the earth yields her fruit, and you perish quickly from the land!” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
“Hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them, and turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them. But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, then all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field! Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores! Cursed shall be the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep! The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger―as a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do―until He consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken Me!” (Deuteronomy 28:13-20).
“Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, thou shalt serve thy enemy―whom the Lord will send upon thee―in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things! And He shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till He consume thee! The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth―like an eagle that flyeth swiftly―whose tongue thou canst not understand. A most insolent nation, that will show no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant! And will devour the fruit of thy cattle and the fruits of thy land ― until thou be destroyed! And will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep ― until he destroy thee!” (Deuteronomy 28:47-52).
“The Lord of hosts shall take away the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water from Jerusalem and from Juda … because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty!” (Isaias3:1).
“I will deliver vexation and affliction to the king of Juda, his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt, and to all the kingdoms of the Earth! I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence―until they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers!” (Jeremias 24:8-10).
“I shall send in upon Jerusalem my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and beast―yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved!” (Ezechiel 14:21-22).
“I shall send upon them the grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send to destroy you! And I will gather together famine against you and I will break among you the staff of bread. And I will send in upon you famine, and evil beasts unto utter destruction! Pestilence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring in the sword upon thee! I the Lord have spoken it!” (Ezechiel 5:16-17).
“Behold I will set my face upon you for evil and I will destroy all Juda! And I will take the remnant of Juda―that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there―and they shall be all consumed in the land of Egypt! They shall fall by the sword and by the famine―and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest! By the sword and by the famine shall they die―and they shall be for an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach. And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt―as I have visited Jerusalem by the sword and by famine, and by pestilence― and there shall be none that shall escape!” (Jeremias 44:11-14).
“I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant!” (Isaias 14:30).
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad! And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and with the pestilence! And I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the Earth―to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out―because they have not hearkened to My words, saith the Lord!” (Jeremias 29:17-19).
“I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, till I consume them, saith the Lord” (Jeremias 27:8).
“I called and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not hear; and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me! Therefore, my servants shall eat and you shall be hungry; my servants shall drink and you shall be thirsty, thus saith the Lord God!” (Isaias 65:12-13).
God Didn’t Just Talk the Talk! He Walked the Walk!
All the above threats were not merely “hot-air”, “all-talk and no action”―God keeps His promises and carries out His threats.
► The first famine mentioned in Holy Scripture was so great that it forced God’s “Chosen One”, Abraham, to leave his land and go down to the land of Egypt: “And there came a famine in the country; and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land” (Genesis 12:10).
► We see another famine recorded in Scripture as occurring in the days of Isaac, causing him to go to Gerar: “And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Palestines to Gerara” (Genesis 26:1), where he became rich and powerful―a case of God bring good out of evil.
► Naomi experienced a famine in the days when judges ruled in Israel, causing her family to move to Moab, where her son married Ruth. She returned to Israel with her daughter-in-law after the famine was over, following the death of her husband and sons (Ruth 1).
► During the days of David, there were 3 consecutive years of famine due to King Saul and “his bloody house” who wrongly slew the Gabaonites: “And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively. And the Lord said: ‘It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites!’” (2 Kings 21:2, 5) in violation of the Israelite covenant with them (Josue 9:3-27).
► Years later, King David and his land were punished by God with 3 years of pestilence and famine, killing 70,000 men of Israel, due to David’s sin of taking a census against God’s command (1 Paralipomenon 21). When King David disobeyed God, but repented of his disobedience, God told David to choose one of three possible punishments for his sin: “David said to the Lord: ‘I have sinned very much in what I have done! But I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceedingly foolishly!’ And the word of the Lord came to Gad, the prophet and the seer of David, saying: ‘Go, and say to David: “Thus saith the Lord―I give thee thy choice of three things! Choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee!”’ And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: ‘Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land; or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee; or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land! Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to Him that sent me!’ And David said to Gad: ‘I am in a great straits! But it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord―for His mercies are many―than into the hands of men!’ And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men” (2 Kings 24:10-15).
► There were severe famines in Samaria: “After many days the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year [of the famine], saying: Go and show thyself to King Achab, so that I may give rain upon the face of the Earth!’ And Elias went to show himself to King Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria” (3 Kings 18:2); “And there was a great famine in Samaria” (4 Kings 6:25).
► God called for a 7 year famine during the days of Eliseus: “And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: ‘Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst find―for the Lord hath exiled a famine and it shall come upon the land seven years!’” (4 Kings 8:1).
► The following famines were sent as an effect of God’s anger against a guilty people “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land―not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord!” (Amos 8:11);
“May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want! … The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land! … May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof! ... May thy sheep be given to thy enemies! … May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labors! … Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little―because the locusts shall consume all! Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather anything thereof―because it shall be wasted with worms! Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil―for the olives shall fall off and perish! … The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground!” (Deuteronomy 28:22-42);
“All the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence! None of them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will bring upon them!” (Jeremias 42:17).
► God sent famine and other punishments upon the false prophets who pretended to prophesy in God’s name: “And the Lord said to me: ‘The prophets prophesy falsely in My Name―I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them! They prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart! Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophecy in My Name, whom I did not send, that prophesy saying: “Sword and famine shall not be in this land!” By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophecy, shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there shall be none to bury them―they and their wives, their sons and their daughters―and I will pour out their wickedness upon them!” (Jeremias 14:14-16)
► Some city-wide famines were caused by enemy seiges. For example, King Nabuchodonosor of Babylon sealed-off Jerusalem with his surrounding army for years, until the city ran out of food (4 Kings 25).
► In the New Testament times we see a famine predicted by the Christian prophet Agabus (Acts 11:28).
► The ancient historian Josephus makes mention of the famine which occurred 45 A.D. Helena, queen of Adiabene, being at Jerusalem at that time, procured corn from Alexandria and figs from Cyprus for its poor inhabitants.
► Our Lord prophesied a famine (among other sufferings) during the last days before His second coming: “…nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places” (Matthew 24:7; also Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11).
► The Book of Apocalypse, speaking of the “Babylon” of our present day, says: “As much as [Babylon] has glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her; because she said in her heart: ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow; and sorrow I shall not see!’ Therefore shall her plagues come in one day―death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire―because God who is strong, shall judge her!” (Apocalypse 18:7-8)
Seven Year Famine in Egypt
The most famous famine of all, due to the many chapters Scripture devotes to it, was the Egyptian famine in the days of Joseph (son of Jacob), which lasted for 7 years and was extremely severe. Holy Scripture devotes 5 chapters (Genesis chapters 41 to 45) to it: “Pharao had a dream … Pharao awoke and, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men, and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it ... Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they brought him in to Pharao, who said to him: ‘I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them! Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them!’
“Pharao told Joseph what he had dreamed: ‘I stood upon the bank of the river, and seven healthy cows came up out of the river and grazed on green places. Then another seven cows, sickly and thin, devoured and consumed the healthy cows. I awoke, and then fell asleep again, and dreamed another dream. Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair. Another seven ears, thin and blasted, sprung of the stalk and devoured the beauty of the former.’
“Joseph answered: ‘The seven beautiful cows, and the seven full ears of corn, are seven years of plenty―and the seven sickly and thin cows and the seven thin ears of corn are seven years of famine to come. There shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt, after which shall follow other seven years of so great scarcity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land, and the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty. Therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt, so that he may appoint overseers over all the land and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years and let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not be consumed with scarcity. The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants. And he said to Joseph: “Thou shalt be over my house, and all the people shall obey―only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.
“Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt … and went round all the countries of Egypt. And the fruitfulness of the seven years came and the corn was gathered together into the barns of Egypt. And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city … Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past, the seven years of scarcity began to come and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt. And the famine increased daily in all the land and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians―for the famine had oppressed them also. And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want. And Jacob, hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: ‘Why are ye careless? I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt! Go ye down, and buy us necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want!’ So the ten brothers of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt … Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and though he knew his brothers, he was not known by them … And they talked one to another: ‘We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, Joseph, seeing the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear! Therefore is this affliction come upon us!’ And Ruben one of them, said: ‘Did not I say to you: “Do not sin against the boy Joseph?” And you would not hear me? Behold his blood is required!’ And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to them through an interpreter.
“Joseph could no longer refrain himself and he said to his brothers: ‘I am Joseph! Be not afraid! For God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more remain, wherein there can be neither plowing nor reaping. God sent me ahead of you, so that you might be preserved upon the Earth, and may have food to live. Not by your plotting was I sent here―but by the will of God, who has made me lord of Pharao’s whole house, and governor in all the land of Egypt. Go to my father and say to him: “Thus says thy son Joseph: ‘God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt! Come down to me, linger not. Thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons! … And there I will feed thee―for there are yet five more years of famine remaining―lest both thou and thy house perish, and all things that thou hast!” You shall tell my father of all my glory! Make haste and bring him to me!’ And the sons of Israel did as they were bid” (Genesis, extracts from chapters 41 to 45).
Famines Can Be Good For Us
Famine was seen as both punishment and opportunity. Suffering opened the door for repentance and change. For example, when the famously wise King Solomon inaugurates the Temple in Jerusalem, he prays that God will be forgiving when, in the future, a famine-stricken Israel turns toward the newly built Temple for mercy. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards Heaven and said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath! Hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which Thou gavest to their fathers. If Heaven shall be shut up and there shall be no rain because of their sins, but they, praying in this place, shall do penance to Thy Name and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions, then hear Thou them in Heaven and forgive the sins of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, and show them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land. If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew; or if their enemy afflict them besieging the gates; or whatsoever plague, whatsoever infirmity, whatsoever curse or imprecation shall happen to any man of thy people Israel―then hear Thou in Heaven and forgive, and do so as to give to everyone according to his ways, as Thou shalt see his heart―for Thou only knowest the heart of all the children of men!” (3 Kings 8:22-39).
Famines can make us focus on a more important food―the word of God. God speaks of punishing by a famine of the word of God: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord!” (Amos 8:11). What is worse―a famine of food or a famine of the word of God? Worldly folk would say a famine of food is worse―for they have little interest in the word of God! Yet Our Lord reminds us: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). Our Lord is here actually quoting the Old Testament words of Moses, who rebuked the Israelites saying: “The Lord afflicted thee with want and gave thee manna for thy food―which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―in order to show you that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Our Lord further explains: “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? … Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice―and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
It is in this vein that Our Lord relates the parable about the rich man with lots of crops and food: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
First Sunday of Lent, March 13th & Monday March 14th
Article 20
Give and You Shall Get!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 20
Give and You Shall Get!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
We Want Everything for Free!
We have been increasingly accustomed to getting more and more things “for free” ― free handouts, Social-Security payments; paid-sick-leave or paid vacations at work; free education for our children; etc. We even expect “free” things from God! Now even though God “seems” to give things “for free” ― the Catechism teaches, for example: “Faith is supernatural gift of God that is freely given…” ― in reality it is not really free, for God expects a return from us for what He freely gave to us.
Sometimes we even fail to see what God has done and is still doing for us―imaging ourselves to be the source of all our benefits. Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) … “What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). We should be saying: “What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things He hath rendered unto me?” (Psalm 115:12). This “showing a return” to God for what He has done for us, is shown in the words of Scripture: “Let us love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19).
“Showing a Return” for God’s Gifts
Our Lord also echoes this principle of “showing a return” to God in His parables:
► PARABLE OF THE TALENTS: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The men who received the five talents and the two talents showed a return by doubling what had been given them―and they were consequently rewarded. But he who had been given one talent and showed no return on what he had been given, was duly punished!
► PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD: “Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [farmers]; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: “They will reverence my son!” But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to Him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
Those who were leasing from the householder refused to show a return for what they were given and were duly punished.
Ungrateful Unjust Humans
God is extremely generous to us―but we are incredibly ungrateful and unjust towards God. We should show far more gratitude than we do―and we should show a much bigger return (or fruit) for what we have been given (justice is giving another what is rightly deserved by them―rewards or punishment). Our Lord loosely paints this picture at the Last Supper, when He says: ““I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer [gardener]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
What We Sow, We Reap
There is no cheating or fooling God! What we sow is what we reap: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Even the secular world says the same in its maxims and axioms: “You get what you pay for!” … “You only get out of something what you put into it!” … “If you don’t sow in Spring you won’t reap in Autumn!” … “Thinking will not do the plowing for you!”
The Buried Talent
We have Our Lord’s Parable of the Talents, where three servants are given talents (1 talent = 750 ounces of silver). Two of them are not idle and use the wealth to double the amount they were given, whereas the third servant did nothing with his talent (silver) and buried it in the ground. We pick up the parable in its latter stages:
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Faith Without Works
Just as a dormant talent or skill is useless unless we use it, in a similar vein Holy Scripture tells us: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
God Wants Fruit
God did not make us so that we could be lazy and simply “Do our own thing!” God made us to bear fruit for Him! Our Lord clearly states that at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [= gardener or farmer]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples” (John 15:1-8). “You have not chosen Me―but I have chosen you and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:16). As fruit is unique to each tree, our fruit is unique to us. God knows what He has entrusted to each of us and what He expects us to do with it
“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). What is the will of the Father? Our Lord tells us: “In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit! … that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-16).
When we are baptized, God sows in us many seeds that He expects to come to fruition―the seeds of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, etc. We are expected to care for those seeds, water them with our prayers, fertilize them with our sacrifices, kill the bugs with our penances and bring those seeds to maturity and perfection―much like the mustard seed: “Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof!’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Similarly, in the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord says: “The sower went out to sow his seed [Why? Because he wanted fruit from that seed―he wanted the seed to produce fruit]. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
“Walk worthy of God … being fruitful!” (Colossians 1:10). “Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). We see Our Lord curse the fruitless fig-tree as a lesson for us: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but only leaves, and He said to it: ‘Henceforward, may no fruit grow on thee for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19) ... “When they came out from Bethania, He was hungry. And when He had seen, afar off, a fig tree having leaves, He came to it to see if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, He found nothing but leaves. And He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee anymore for ever! And His disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem ... And when evening was come, He went forth out of the city. And when they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him: ‘Rabbi, behold the fig tree, which Thou didst curse, is withered away!’” (Mark 11:12-21).
Likewise, we read: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?” But he, answering, said to him: “Lord, leave it alone for another year, until I dig about it and dung it! Perhaps, happily, it will bear fruit, but, if not, then, after that, thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-19).
One counterfeit to bearing good fruit is pretense. We can become experts at the routines, the lingo, and “acting Christian”, while experiencing no real spiritual power and bearing no eternal fruit. Our hearts remain self-centered, angry, envious, critical and joyless even while we go through the motions of serving God. We can easily slip into the sin of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, in judging ourselves by how we think we appear to others and neglecting that secret place of the heart where all good fruit germinates. When we love, desire, pursue, and fear the same things that the rest of the world does, we are not “abiding” in Christ on the “vine” of Christ, even though our lives may be filled with church-related activity. And, often, we don’t realize that we are living fruitless lives.
Don’t Be Idle―Work and Produce Fruit
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place, idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But, about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why do you stand here all the day idle?’” (Matthew 20:1-6).
“The slothful hides his hand under his armpit” (Proverbs 19:24) … “Desires kill the slothful―for his hands have refused to work at all!” (Proverbs 21:25) … “The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns!” (Proverbs 15:19) “I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the foolish man―and behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down!” (Proverbs 24:3-31).
The world is beginning to fall to pieces and most Catholics are “standing idly in the market-place”―they see what is happening, but idly stand by merely talking about everything and doing little or nothing! To them the words of Scripture can be addressed: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). “I have made thee a watchman and thou shalt hear the word out of My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. If, when I say to the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-19).
We have been increasingly accustomed to getting more and more things “for free” ― free handouts, Social-Security payments; paid-sick-leave or paid vacations at work; free education for our children; etc. We even expect “free” things from God! Now even though God “seems” to give things “for free” ― the Catechism teaches, for example: “Faith is supernatural gift of God that is freely given…” ― in reality it is not really free, for God expects a return from us for what He freely gave to us.
Sometimes we even fail to see what God has done and is still doing for us―imaging ourselves to be the source of all our benefits. Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) … “What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). We should be saying: “What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things He hath rendered unto me?” (Psalm 115:12). This “showing a return” to God for what He has done for us, is shown in the words of Scripture: “Let us love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19).
“Showing a Return” for God’s Gifts
Our Lord also echoes this principle of “showing a return” to God in His parables:
► PARABLE OF THE TALENTS: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The men who received the five talents and the two talents showed a return by doubling what had been given them―and they were consequently rewarded. But he who had been given one talent and showed no return on what he had been given, was duly punished!
► PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD: “Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [farmers]; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: “They will reverence my son!” But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to Him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
Those who were leasing from the householder refused to show a return for what they were given and were duly punished.
Ungrateful Unjust Humans
God is extremely generous to us―but we are incredibly ungrateful and unjust towards God. We should show far more gratitude than we do―and we should show a much bigger return (or fruit) for what we have been given (justice is giving another what is rightly deserved by them―rewards or punishment). Our Lord loosely paints this picture at the Last Supper, when He says: ““I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer [gardener]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
What We Sow, We Reap
There is no cheating or fooling God! What we sow is what we reap: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Even the secular world says the same in its maxims and axioms: “You get what you pay for!” … “You only get out of something what you put into it!” … “If you don’t sow in Spring you won’t reap in Autumn!” … “Thinking will not do the plowing for you!”
The Buried Talent
We have Our Lord’s Parable of the Talents, where three servants are given talents (1 talent = 750 ounces of silver). Two of them are not idle and use the wealth to double the amount they were given, whereas the third servant did nothing with his talent (silver) and buried it in the ground. We pick up the parable in its latter stages:
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Faith Without Works
Just as a dormant talent or skill is useless unless we use it, in a similar vein Holy Scripture tells us: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
God Wants Fruit
God did not make us so that we could be lazy and simply “Do our own thing!” God made us to bear fruit for Him! Our Lord clearly states that at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [= gardener or farmer]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become My disciples” (John 15:1-8). “You have not chosen Me―but I have chosen you and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:16). As fruit is unique to each tree, our fruit is unique to us. God knows what He has entrusted to each of us and what He expects us to do with it
“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). What is the will of the Father? Our Lord tells us: “In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit! … that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should remain!” (John 15:1-16).
When we are baptized, God sows in us many seeds that He expects to come to fruition―the seeds of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, etc. We are expected to care for those seeds, water them with our prayers, fertilize them with our sacrifices, kill the bugs with our penances and bring those seeds to maturity and perfection―much like the mustard seed: “Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof!’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Similarly, in the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord says: “The sower went out to sow his seed [Why? Because he wanted fruit from that seed―he wanted the seed to produce fruit]. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
“Walk worthy of God … being fruitful!” (Colossians 1:10). “Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). We see Our Lord curse the fruitless fig-tree as a lesson for us: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but only leaves, and He said to it: ‘Henceforward, may no fruit grow on thee for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19) ... “When they came out from Bethania, He was hungry. And when He had seen, afar off, a fig tree having leaves, He came to it to see if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, He found nothing but leaves. And He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee anymore for ever! And His disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem ... And when evening was come, He went forth out of the city. And when they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him: ‘Rabbi, behold the fig tree, which Thou didst curse, is withered away!’” (Mark 11:12-21).
Likewise, we read: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?” But he, answering, said to him: “Lord, leave it alone for another year, until I dig about it and dung it! Perhaps, happily, it will bear fruit, but, if not, then, after that, thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-19).
One counterfeit to bearing good fruit is pretense. We can become experts at the routines, the lingo, and “acting Christian”, while experiencing no real spiritual power and bearing no eternal fruit. Our hearts remain self-centered, angry, envious, critical and joyless even while we go through the motions of serving God. We can easily slip into the sin of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, in judging ourselves by how we think we appear to others and neglecting that secret place of the heart where all good fruit germinates. When we love, desire, pursue, and fear the same things that the rest of the world does, we are not “abiding” in Christ on the “vine” of Christ, even though our lives may be filled with church-related activity. And, often, we don’t realize that we are living fruitless lives.
Don’t Be Idle―Work and Produce Fruit
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place, idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But, about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why do you stand here all the day idle?’” (Matthew 20:1-6).
“The slothful hides his hand under his armpit” (Proverbs 19:24) … “Desires kill the slothful―for his hands have refused to work at all!” (Proverbs 21:25) … “The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns!” (Proverbs 15:19) “I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the foolish man―and behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down!” (Proverbs 24:3-31).
The world is beginning to fall to pieces and most Catholics are “standing idly in the market-place”―they see what is happening, but idly stand by merely talking about everything and doing little or nothing! To them the words of Scripture can be addressed: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). “I have made thee a watchman and thou shalt hear the word out of My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. If, when I say to the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-19).
Ember Friday and Ember Saturday after First Sunday of Lent, March 11th & March 12th
Article 19
Have Catholic Families Become Dens of Thieves?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 19
Have Catholic Families Become Dens of Thieves?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Own Nothing and Be Happy!
Klaus Schwab the founder and ‘head’ of the World Economic Forum―Schwab is merely one of many front-men for the Elite gods of this world―had posted on the World Economic Forum’s website an essay by Ida Auken, a Danish politician, which basically a forecast for 2030 which implied: “You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy!” The essay would later be included in the video “8 Predictions for the World in 2030” by the World Economic Forum. On November 10th, 2016, the Ida Auken published an essay “Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better,” for the World Economic Forum. In the essay, Auken makes a prediction for year 2030, writing that in 2030 one will not own a house, a car, appliances or clothes, but will be renting everything instead. The essay also predicts mass surveillance and a society split in two. The essay was summarized in the “8 Prediction for the World in 2030” article by the World Economic Forum, published on November 16th, 2016. “I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances, or any clothes,” writes Danish MP Ida Auken. In this essay, shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean-energy and borrow what they need on demand. It sounds utopian, until she mentions that her every move is tracked and outside the city live swathes of discontents, the ultimate vision of a society split in two. Together with the article, World Economic Forum posted a video “8 Predictions for the World in 2030” to its website, Facebook and Twitter. As of 2022, the essay is no longer available on the World Economic Forum’s website.
Who Owns What?
The question naturally arises: “If we will own nothing and be happy―then who will own all the things in the world?” Well, already it is the Elite who own most of the world―and that is not a conspiracy theory! Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a 2017 report published by Oxfam to mark the annual World Economic Forum invitation-only meeting of political and business leaders in Davos. The 400 richest Americans — which is 1 out every 830,000 of the population — have tripled their share of the nation’s wealth since the early 1980s, according to a new working paper on wealth inequality by University of California at Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman. The top 0.01% richest individuals—the 520,000 people who have at least $19 million— now hold 11% of the world’s wealth. The more you have, the more you want!
It is hardly surprising that Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). Holy Scripture adds: “Woe to you that are rich! For you have your consolation!” (Luke 6:24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). It seems as though only God is capable of handling enormous wealth correctly!
Why all this talk about rich men? Wasn’t this supposed to be about Catholic families? Yes―but, sadly, most Catholic families are well and truly caught up in the world’s race for riches, or “rat-race”. Unfortunately, personal experience recalls a priest asking a group of Catholic children, from what you generally call “good Catholic families”, to raise their hands if any of them wanted to be rich when they grow up. Immediately all their hands shot up with great enthusiasm! Sad, but true. Alas, one can only suspect that most Catholic children from “good Catholic families” probably have the same mindset―riches, wealth, possessions and the things of this world come before God. If God still has a heartfelt place in their lives―not just on their lips―then they are trying to serve both God and mammon. Where did they get that attitude? The family, without doubt, has a large part in that failure―as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44), or as the secular proverb says: “Like father, like son!” Today’s consumer society and advent of modern technology has tapped into the vice of avarice or greed that is present in everyone to a greater or lesser degree. The more we manage to get, the more we want! If it were possible, most would like to own the world―which is exactly what most Elites are seeking to achieve. Scripture says: “Be without covetousness―contented with such things as you have!” (Hebrews 13:5). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
God is the Rightful Owner of Everything
In fact and in reality, God actually owns the whole world! All Belongs to God: “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof!” (1 Corinthians 10:26). “All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3). “In Him were all things created in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him and in Him! And He is before all, and by Him all things consist!” (Colossians 1:16-17). “Behold Heaven is the Lord thy God’s, and the Heaven of Heaven, the Earth and all things that are therein!” (Deuteronomy 10:14). “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof―the world, and all they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers” (Psalm 23:1-2).
The Lord our God says: “The world is Mine, and the fullness thereof!” (Psalm 49:12). “Who hath given Me beforehand that I should repay him? All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine!” (Aggeus 2:9). “All the Earth is Mine!” (Exodus 19:5). “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4).
“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and give Him of the first of all thy fruits” (Proverbs 3:9). “Beware lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own might and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!’ But remember the Lord thy God, that He hath given thee strength!” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
“O Lord, Thou hast made all things in wisdom―the Earth is filled with Thy riches!” (Psalm 103:24). “Thine are the Heavens, and Thine is the Earth―the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded!” (Psalm 88:12). “Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to Thee is praise, for all that is in Heaven and in Earth is Thine―Thine is the kingdom, O Lord and Thou art above all princes! Thine are riches and Thine is glory, Thou hast dominion over all, in Thy hand is power and might; in Thy hand greatness and the empire of all things!” (1 Paralipomenon 29:11-12). “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods! For in His hand are all the ends of the Earth, and the heights of the mountains are His. For the sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land! Come let us adore and fall down, and weep before the Lord that made us!” (Psalm 94:3-6).
We Are Not Owners, But Renters!
Even though we say that we own things―we only own them secondarily, because God is primary owner of everything and it is God alone who keeps all things in existence. You could say that we are mere renters or tenants―having been given certain things by God to use during this life. God has, so to speak, leased His possessions to us―and one day we will have to give an account of how well or how badly we have used them. We see this very clearly in the case of Adam and Eve―God made all things before He made Adam and Eve. He then allowed them to use what He had made under certain conditions. They disobeyed and rejected one of those conditions―and thus Original Sin and death came into this world. In a certain sense, you could say that all that Adam and Eve made on their very own, was sin and death!
Our Lord conveys this idea of a lease or rental in his parable about the vineyard: “Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [farmers]; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: “They will reverence my son!” But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to Him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
What have we done with the things that God has kindly given us through His Divine Providence? Have we profited from His gifts? “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away; and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-2). Again, the parable of unfruitful servant comes to mind:
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices [in 2022]of around $26 per ounce, 5 talents would be worth $97,500; 2 talents would be worth $39,000, and 1 talent would be $19,500). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The things we have are ultimately God’s things―He made everything from nothing―we can merely use His “raw materials” to “create” things for ourselves, but we cannot make those “raw materials” nor can we guarantee their existence. If God ceased to will the existence of anything―it would abruptly end. We tend to forget this and act as though we were the creators and owners of what we have. Our Lord punctures that prideful thought when He says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
In a certain sense, when we claim ULTIMATE ownership of something, or claim to be the ULTIMATE creator of something―then we steal glory from God; we also become liars just like Satan. God can rightly say to us what Christ said to some of the Jews: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. From the beginning he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Stealing Souls and Glory from God
In our current climate of “Self-Comes-First” and “Fun-Comes-Second”, we have lost sight of WHO made us and WHY we were made! Every truly sane person gifted with common sense knows that God made us―but is common sense very common anymore? In Holy Scripture God says: “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). Even the very first Catechism for the youngest child, tells us: “God made me!” It goes on to tell us: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him” ― which is what we are doing less and less with each passing year! God Himself tells us the purpose of our life and why He created us: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and made him!” (Isaias 43:7). Therefore: “Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honor, and power―because Thou hast created all things; and for Thy will they were, and have been created!” (Apocalypse 4:11). For which reason God says: “Give glory to the Lord God!” (Josue 7:19). “You shall give glory to God” (1 Kings 6:5). “Give glory to the Lord for he is good!” (2 Paralipomenon 5:13). “Give glory to the Lord for thy good things!” (Tobias 13:12). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt thee and give glory to Thy Name―for Thou hast done wonderful things!” (Isaias (25:1). “I will give glory to Thee!” (Psalms 117:21).
If we fail to give glory to God, then we are in effect stealing the glory that is due to Him―we are failing to “make our payments” to Him for all that He has done, is doing and will do. “There is no one found to return and give glory to God!” (Luke 17:18). Our sins―which did not give glory to God, but offense to God, need to be paid for by penance―which then gives back to God the glory due to Him―but “neither did they do penance to give Him glory!” (Apocalypse 16:9).
Stealing Knowledge
Another way that we steal from God is by not educating our children sufficiently in the Faith. “Walk worthy of God … and increasing in the knowledge of God!” (Colossians 1:10)―but do we? Be “filled with the knowledge of the Lord” (Isaias 11:9) ― is it that which fills our mind, or worldly things? “Give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 4:6) ― and not to the knowledge of the internet or social media. “Be neither empty nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 1:8) … “But grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 3:18) ― are we filling our minds with knowledge of Christ?
Unfortunately, “there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1). “Some have not the knowledge of God―I speak it to your shame!” (1 Corinthians 15:34). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisdom 13:1). “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us! We desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14). “And since they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are sinful” (Romans 1:28). “The Lord chose them not, neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27). You have to ask yourself: “Why is it that the vast majority of souls end up being damned?” A refusal to truly know God has to be one of the major reasons.
The knowledge of God is so very crucial! Why? The Catechism gives us a clue when it tells us, in LOGICAL order, that “God made me you KNOW Him, love Him and serve Him” ― because you cannot love what you do not know and you will not serve for very long or very well someone whom you do not love! Lack of knowledge invariably leads to a lack of love, which then invariably leads to a lack of service. Our Lord also indicates part of the logicality of this truth when He says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength! This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30) and elsewhere He adds what that love of God should mean in practical terms, that is to say, in practical service: “If you love Me, keep My commandments! … Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (John 14:15; Luke 6:46).
Priests, parents and teachers will have a lot to answer for on the Day of Judgment with regard to failing to sufficiently teach those under their care about God. It is not only to the Apostles, but to them also, that Our Lord addresses the words: “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). Those three groups―priests, parents and teachers―form a trinity of educators that surround each child. Generally speaking, they do talk enough and do not teach enough about God. If the greatest of all commandments is to love God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength―then that goal cannot be reached without the chief means to be able to love―which is knowledge about the one whom we must love―for you cannot love what you do not know; and you will only love a little someone who you know little about. For “how then shall they call on Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).
Our Lord says: “Suffer the little children and forbid them not to come to Me!” (Matthew 19:14). How often do your children, or others under your care, actually go to Jesus―to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to extra Masses, etc? You should be continually saying: “Come, children, listen to me! I will teach you the fear of the Lord!” (Psalm 33:12). “The child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame!” (Proverbs 29:15). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart! And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising! … Lay up these My words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up! Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house!” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; 11:18-20).
Stealing Love
We were made for love and we cannot live without love. Yet our first love, our prime love, our greatest love should be God. A simple child―St. Dominic Savio for his First Holy Communion at the age of seven―wrote down four promises that he would keep after making that First Holy Communion. One of them was: “Jesus and Mary will be my best friends!” That is what love has to have as a foundation―friendship. Without that foundation of friendship, there is a risk that love will fail sooner or later. Without that friendship towards God, we risk seeing God as a harsh judge, or an insurance agent with an insurance policy to get to Heaven. Furthermore, without that love of God, we are stealing the love that is owed to Him―for love is a “two-way-street”―it is all about “giving and taking” and not just taking.
Incidentally, the other promises made by St. Dominic Savio―or rather, let us list all four of them―are as follows:
(1) I will go to Confession often, and as frequently to Holy Communion as my confessor allows.
(2) I wish to sanctify the Sundays and festivals in a special manner.
(3) My friends shall be Jesus and Mary.
(4) Death rather than sin.
In fact all of those four promises are expressions of friendship and love. Confession is apologizing to the One we love for having offended Him. Holy Communion is an intimate union of our body and soul with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Sanctifying Sunday is paying attention to a special day that honors God―the “Lord’s Day”. Friendship is obviously a sub-category of love. While death rather than sin is the ultimate expression and proof of love―as Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13).
If we have not raised our children, our students, or our parishioners with this mentality of friendship and love of God, then we have stolen the love that was rightfully owed God. For love is reciprocal―it is “give and take”―as expressed in Holy Scripture: “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another … Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:10-11, 19).
If we allow or condone our children, or students, or parishioners to focus upon and place the things of this world above the attention and love that is due to God, then we are accomplices to the crime of stealing love from God―especially so as parents have authority over their children; and teachers have authority over their students; and priests have authority over their parishioners. Christ could not have been more emphatic than He was when He said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). What is it about the word “whole” that we do not understand? “Whole” means total―it is as though Christ is telling us to be fanatical (in a good sense) in our love for God.
Stealing Children
God says: “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). Each soul is made to give glory to God: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and made him!” (Isaias 43:7). Every child, that is born into this world, becomes a potential adorer and glorifier of God. Thus, the glory given to God should and could increase with each child born into this world. On the other hand, that potential increase in glory to God is lost with the prevention of each child being born―and we see this in the crimes and sins of contraception and abortion. Today, it is estimated that over 95% of CATHOLIC men and women have practiced contraception at one point or another, and many practice it regularly. Abortion also does the same thing―with the addition of the crime and sin of murdering a child whose soul was created and placed in it by God Himself.
When you consider that roughly 121 million “unintended” pregnancies occur each year and of these “unintended” pregnancies, 61% ended in abortion. This translates to 73 million abortions per year―which is more deaths than the average number of persons out of womb (that is to say, men, women and children) that die each year, which is only around 55 million. How many more millions of babies are unconceived through the crime and sin of contraception? The number must be incredibly higher than the 73 million abortions! All of this is a theft of life and glory from God.
Klaus Schwab the founder and ‘head’ of the World Economic Forum―Schwab is merely one of many front-men for the Elite gods of this world―had posted on the World Economic Forum’s website an essay by Ida Auken, a Danish politician, which basically a forecast for 2030 which implied: “You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy!” The essay would later be included in the video “8 Predictions for the World in 2030” by the World Economic Forum. On November 10th, 2016, the Ida Auken published an essay “Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better,” for the World Economic Forum. In the essay, Auken makes a prediction for year 2030, writing that in 2030 one will not own a house, a car, appliances or clothes, but will be renting everything instead. The essay also predicts mass surveillance and a society split in two. The essay was summarized in the “8 Prediction for the World in 2030” article by the World Economic Forum, published on November 16th, 2016. “I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances, or any clothes,” writes Danish MP Ida Auken. In this essay, shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean-energy and borrow what they need on demand. It sounds utopian, until she mentions that her every move is tracked and outside the city live swathes of discontents, the ultimate vision of a society split in two. Together with the article, World Economic Forum posted a video “8 Predictions for the World in 2030” to its website, Facebook and Twitter. As of 2022, the essay is no longer available on the World Economic Forum’s website.
Who Owns What?
The question naturally arises: “If we will own nothing and be happy―then who will own all the things in the world?” Well, already it is the Elite who own most of the world―and that is not a conspiracy theory! Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a 2017 report published by Oxfam to mark the annual World Economic Forum invitation-only meeting of political and business leaders in Davos. The 400 richest Americans — which is 1 out every 830,000 of the population — have tripled their share of the nation’s wealth since the early 1980s, according to a new working paper on wealth inequality by University of California at Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman. The top 0.01% richest individuals—the 520,000 people who have at least $19 million— now hold 11% of the world’s wealth. The more you have, the more you want!
It is hardly surprising that Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). Holy Scripture adds: “Woe to you that are rich! For you have your consolation!” (Luke 6:24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). It seems as though only God is capable of handling enormous wealth correctly!
Why all this talk about rich men? Wasn’t this supposed to be about Catholic families? Yes―but, sadly, most Catholic families are well and truly caught up in the world’s race for riches, or “rat-race”. Unfortunately, personal experience recalls a priest asking a group of Catholic children, from what you generally call “good Catholic families”, to raise their hands if any of them wanted to be rich when they grow up. Immediately all their hands shot up with great enthusiasm! Sad, but true. Alas, one can only suspect that most Catholic children from “good Catholic families” probably have the same mindset―riches, wealth, possessions and the things of this world come before God. If God still has a heartfelt place in their lives―not just on their lips―then they are trying to serve both God and mammon. Where did they get that attitude? The family, without doubt, has a large part in that failure―as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44), or as the secular proverb says: “Like father, like son!” Today’s consumer society and advent of modern technology has tapped into the vice of avarice or greed that is present in everyone to a greater or lesser degree. The more we manage to get, the more we want! If it were possible, most would like to own the world―which is exactly what most Elites are seeking to achieve. Scripture says: “Be without covetousness―contented with such things as you have!” (Hebrews 13:5). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
God is the Rightful Owner of Everything
In fact and in reality, God actually owns the whole world! All Belongs to God: “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof!” (1 Corinthians 10:26). “All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3). “In Him were all things created in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him and in Him! And He is before all, and by Him all things consist!” (Colossians 1:16-17). “Behold Heaven is the Lord thy God’s, and the Heaven of Heaven, the Earth and all things that are therein!” (Deuteronomy 10:14). “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof―the world, and all they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers” (Psalm 23:1-2).
The Lord our God says: “The world is Mine, and the fullness thereof!” (Psalm 49:12). “Who hath given Me beforehand that I should repay him? All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine!” (Aggeus 2:9). “All the Earth is Mine!” (Exodus 19:5). “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4).
“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and give Him of the first of all thy fruits” (Proverbs 3:9). “Beware lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own might and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!’ But remember the Lord thy God, that He hath given thee strength!” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
“O Lord, Thou hast made all things in wisdom―the Earth is filled with Thy riches!” (Psalm 103:24). “Thine are the Heavens, and Thine is the Earth―the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded!” (Psalm 88:12). “Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to Thee is praise, for all that is in Heaven and in Earth is Thine―Thine is the kingdom, O Lord and Thou art above all princes! Thine are riches and Thine is glory, Thou hast dominion over all, in Thy hand is power and might; in Thy hand greatness and the empire of all things!” (1 Paralipomenon 29:11-12). “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods! For in His hand are all the ends of the Earth, and the heights of the mountains are His. For the sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land! Come let us adore and fall down, and weep before the Lord that made us!” (Psalm 94:3-6).
We Are Not Owners, But Renters!
Even though we say that we own things―we only own them secondarily, because God is primary owner of everything and it is God alone who keeps all things in existence. You could say that we are mere renters or tenants―having been given certain things by God to use during this life. God has, so to speak, leased His possessions to us―and one day we will have to give an account of how well or how badly we have used them. We see this very clearly in the case of Adam and Eve―God made all things before He made Adam and Eve. He then allowed them to use what He had made under certain conditions. They disobeyed and rejected one of those conditions―and thus Original Sin and death came into this world. In a certain sense, you could say that all that Adam and Eve made on their very own, was sin and death!
Our Lord conveys this idea of a lease or rental in his parable about the vineyard: “Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [farmers]; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: “They will reverence my son!” But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to Him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
What have we done with the things that God has kindly given us through His Divine Providence? Have we profited from His gifts? “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away; and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-2). Again, the parable of unfruitful servant comes to mind:
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices [in 2022]of around $26 per ounce, 5 talents would be worth $97,500; 2 talents would be worth $39,000, and 1 talent would be $19,500). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The things we have are ultimately God’s things―He made everything from nothing―we can merely use His “raw materials” to “create” things for ourselves, but we cannot make those “raw materials” nor can we guarantee their existence. If God ceased to will the existence of anything―it would abruptly end. We tend to forget this and act as though we were the creators and owners of what we have. Our Lord punctures that prideful thought when He says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
In a certain sense, when we claim ULTIMATE ownership of something, or claim to be the ULTIMATE creator of something―then we steal glory from God; we also become liars just like Satan. God can rightly say to us what Christ said to some of the Jews: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. From the beginning he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Stealing Souls and Glory from God
In our current climate of “Self-Comes-First” and “Fun-Comes-Second”, we have lost sight of WHO made us and WHY we were made! Every truly sane person gifted with common sense knows that God made us―but is common sense very common anymore? In Holy Scripture God says: “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). Even the very first Catechism for the youngest child, tells us: “God made me!” It goes on to tell us: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him” ― which is what we are doing less and less with each passing year! God Himself tells us the purpose of our life and why He created us: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and made him!” (Isaias 43:7). Therefore: “Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honor, and power―because Thou hast created all things; and for Thy will they were, and have been created!” (Apocalypse 4:11). For which reason God says: “Give glory to the Lord God!” (Josue 7:19). “You shall give glory to God” (1 Kings 6:5). “Give glory to the Lord for he is good!” (2 Paralipomenon 5:13). “Give glory to the Lord for thy good things!” (Tobias 13:12). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt thee and give glory to Thy Name―for Thou hast done wonderful things!” (Isaias (25:1). “I will give glory to Thee!” (Psalms 117:21).
If we fail to give glory to God, then we are in effect stealing the glory that is due to Him―we are failing to “make our payments” to Him for all that He has done, is doing and will do. “There is no one found to return and give glory to God!” (Luke 17:18). Our sins―which did not give glory to God, but offense to God, need to be paid for by penance―which then gives back to God the glory due to Him―but “neither did they do penance to give Him glory!” (Apocalypse 16:9).
Stealing Knowledge
Another way that we steal from God is by not educating our children sufficiently in the Faith. “Walk worthy of God … and increasing in the knowledge of God!” (Colossians 1:10)―but do we? Be “filled with the knowledge of the Lord” (Isaias 11:9) ― is it that which fills our mind, or worldly things? “Give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 4:6) ― and not to the knowledge of the internet or social media. “Be neither empty nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 1:8) … “But grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 3:18) ― are we filling our minds with knowledge of Christ?
Unfortunately, “there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1). “Some have not the knowledge of God―I speak it to your shame!” (1 Corinthians 15:34). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisdom 13:1). “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us! We desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14). “And since they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are sinful” (Romans 1:28). “The Lord chose them not, neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27). You have to ask yourself: “Why is it that the vast majority of souls end up being damned?” A refusal to truly know God has to be one of the major reasons.
The knowledge of God is so very crucial! Why? The Catechism gives us a clue when it tells us, in LOGICAL order, that “God made me you KNOW Him, love Him and serve Him” ― because you cannot love what you do not know and you will not serve for very long or very well someone whom you do not love! Lack of knowledge invariably leads to a lack of love, which then invariably leads to a lack of service. Our Lord also indicates part of the logicality of this truth when He says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength! This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30) and elsewhere He adds what that love of God should mean in practical terms, that is to say, in practical service: “If you love Me, keep My commandments! … Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (John 14:15; Luke 6:46).
Priests, parents and teachers will have a lot to answer for on the Day of Judgment with regard to failing to sufficiently teach those under their care about God. It is not only to the Apostles, but to them also, that Our Lord addresses the words: “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). Those three groups―priests, parents and teachers―form a trinity of educators that surround each child. Generally speaking, they do talk enough and do not teach enough about God. If the greatest of all commandments is to love God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength―then that goal cannot be reached without the chief means to be able to love―which is knowledge about the one whom we must love―for you cannot love what you do not know; and you will only love a little someone who you know little about. For “how then shall they call on Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).
Our Lord says: “Suffer the little children and forbid them not to come to Me!” (Matthew 19:14). How often do your children, or others under your care, actually go to Jesus―to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to extra Masses, etc? You should be continually saying: “Come, children, listen to me! I will teach you the fear of the Lord!” (Psalm 33:12). “The child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame!” (Proverbs 29:15). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart! And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising! … Lay up these My words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up! Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house!” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; 11:18-20).
Stealing Love
We were made for love and we cannot live without love. Yet our first love, our prime love, our greatest love should be God. A simple child―St. Dominic Savio for his First Holy Communion at the age of seven―wrote down four promises that he would keep after making that First Holy Communion. One of them was: “Jesus and Mary will be my best friends!” That is what love has to have as a foundation―friendship. Without that foundation of friendship, there is a risk that love will fail sooner or later. Without that friendship towards God, we risk seeing God as a harsh judge, or an insurance agent with an insurance policy to get to Heaven. Furthermore, without that love of God, we are stealing the love that is owed to Him―for love is a “two-way-street”―it is all about “giving and taking” and not just taking.
Incidentally, the other promises made by St. Dominic Savio―or rather, let us list all four of them―are as follows:
(1) I will go to Confession often, and as frequently to Holy Communion as my confessor allows.
(2) I wish to sanctify the Sundays and festivals in a special manner.
(3) My friends shall be Jesus and Mary.
(4) Death rather than sin.
In fact all of those four promises are expressions of friendship and love. Confession is apologizing to the One we love for having offended Him. Holy Communion is an intimate union of our body and soul with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Sanctifying Sunday is paying attention to a special day that honors God―the “Lord’s Day”. Friendship is obviously a sub-category of love. While death rather than sin is the ultimate expression and proof of love―as Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13).
If we have not raised our children, our students, or our parishioners with this mentality of friendship and love of God, then we have stolen the love that was rightfully owed God. For love is reciprocal―it is “give and take”―as expressed in Holy Scripture: “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another … Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:10-11, 19).
If we allow or condone our children, or students, or parishioners to focus upon and place the things of this world above the attention and love that is due to God, then we are accomplices to the crime of stealing love from God―especially so as parents have authority over their children; and teachers have authority over their students; and priests have authority over their parishioners. Christ could not have been more emphatic than He was when He said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). What is it about the word “whole” that we do not understand? “Whole” means total―it is as though Christ is telling us to be fanatical (in a good sense) in our love for God.
Stealing Children
God says: “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). Each soul is made to give glory to God: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and made him!” (Isaias 43:7). Every child, that is born into this world, becomes a potential adorer and glorifier of God. Thus, the glory given to God should and could increase with each child born into this world. On the other hand, that potential increase in glory to God is lost with the prevention of each child being born―and we see this in the crimes and sins of contraception and abortion. Today, it is estimated that over 95% of CATHOLIC men and women have practiced contraception at one point or another, and many practice it regularly. Abortion also does the same thing―with the addition of the crime and sin of murdering a child whose soul was created and placed in it by God Himself.
When you consider that roughly 121 million “unintended” pregnancies occur each year and of these “unintended” pregnancies, 61% ended in abortion. This translates to 73 million abortions per year―which is more deaths than the average number of persons out of womb (that is to say, men, women and children) that die each year, which is only around 55 million. How many more millions of babies are unconceived through the crime and sin of contraception? The number must be incredibly higher than the 73 million abortions! All of this is a theft of life and glory from God.
Tuesday and Wednesday after First Sunday of Lent, March 8th & March 9th
Article 18
Has the Church Become a Den of Thieves?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 18
Has the Church Become a Den of Thieves?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Is the Church a Den of Thieves?
In one of the Gospel readings for this first full week of Lent, we see Our Lord whipping the money-changers and sellers. Actually, this did not just happen just once―but on two different occasions. The first time, recorded in St. John’s Gospel, was just after the beginning of His public ministry. The second time, recorded in the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, was at the approach of His Passion and Death, after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we commemorate on “Palm Sunday”.
St. John reports the first incident: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capharnaum, He and his Mother, and His brethren, and His disciples, and they remained there not many days. And the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the Temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves He said: ‘Take these things out of here, and make not the House of My Father a house of traffic!’ And His disciples remembered, that it was written: “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up!’” (John 2:11-17).
The other three Evangelists record the second incident―which occurred right after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which would lead to His Passion and Death: St. Matthew writes: “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes, that went before and that followed, cried, saying: ‘Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when He was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: ‘Who is this?’ And the people said: ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee!’ And Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves. And He said to them: ‘It is written: “My House shall be called the House of Prayer!” ― but you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Matthew 21:8-13).
St. Mark also reports the second incident: “And they came to Jerusalem. And when He had entered into the Temple, He began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the chairs of them that sold doves. And He suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the Temple. And He taught, saying to them: ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations?” But you have made it a den of thieves” (Mark 11:15-17). Likewise St. Luke: “And entering into the Temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them: ‘It is written: “My house is the house of prayer!” But you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Luke 19:45-46).
Behind the Scenes
Too often we read biblical passages much too superficially―without really understanding what is going-on, with penetrating all the Whos, Whys, Whats, and Wherefores. Why did Jesus act like He did with money-changers and sellers in the Temple? Wasn’t it lawful for them to be there? Let us delve deeper. Judea was under the rule of the Romans, and the money in current use at that time was Roman coin. However, the Jewish law required that every man should pay a tribute to the service of the Temple of “half-a-shekel” or “half-a-sicle” (both are the same thing―a Jewish coin): “And this shall every one give that passeth at the naming―half-a-sicle according to the standard of the temple. Half-a-sicle shall be offered to the Lord. [which was half-an-ounce of silver ― at today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would be around $13]. He that is counted in the number from twenty years and upwards, shall give the price. The rich man shall not add to half-a-sicle, and the poor man shall diminish nothing. And the money received which was contributed by the children of Israel, thou shalt deliver unto the uses of the tabernacle” (Exodus 30:11–16). It became, therefore, a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin could be exchanged for the Jewish half-shekel. The money-changers provided this convenience, but would demand a small sum for the exchange. Because so many thousands of people came up to the great feasts, changing money was a very profitable business and one that resulted in fraud and oppression of the poor.
Also, according to the Law, two doves or pigeons were required to be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 14:22; Luke 2:24). Yet it was difficult to bring them from the distant parts of Judea, so a lucrative business selling the birds sprang up, with the sellers gouging the faithful by charging exorbitant prices. There were other merchants selling cattle and sheep for the temple sacrifices as well. Because of these sellers, who preyed on and profited from the poor, and because of His passion for the purity of His Father’s House, Jesus was filled with rightfully indignant. In a certain sense, by “stealing” from the poor (through overcharging), they were indirectly stealing from God―as pointed out by Our Lord: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40).
Corrupt Priesthood
It was not just the money-changers and sellers that were “stealing”―the priesthood also left a lot to be desired in those days. Jesus saw the Temple as a money-spinning enterprise operating at the expense of the poor, the intense commercialization obliterating any sense of a “house of prayer”. He viewed the rich landowners of the priesthood as a major cause of misery for the poor. A detail that is critical for understanding Jesus’ last week is the corruption of the Temple priesthood that existed in Jesus’ time. The Temple was the heart and soul of the faith of the people of Israel, where God’s very presence dwelled. But in the preceding century, the chief priests had become extremely corrupt.
Throughout the history of Israel, high priests were chosen by lot from among the Levites. Herod was threatened by the power of the priesthood, so he ignored biblical law and appointed the High Priest himself. The position was subsequently bought with bribes from wealthy aristocratic Sadducean families, who agreed to keep peace with Rome in exchange for wealth from the temple tithes and the sale of sacrificial animals.
At the time of Christ, the priestly family that had been in power for many years was the house of Annas (or, Ananias). Annas himself served for nine years and then appointed several sons and one son-in-law, Caiphas. The family was extremely wealthy and corrupt, functioning much like a mafia. The “godfather” was Annas, who controlled the position behind the scenes, even when his sons were given the title of High Priest.
The family of Annas owned the flocks from which the sacrificial animals had to come and be sold to the Jews for sacrifice. They also controlled the money-changing tables at the Temple, which were called “booths of Annas.” They charged greatly inflated prices on sacrificial animals, extorted money, and stole funds intended to support other priests who had no other income. All of this priestly opulence would have been visible to anyone visiting Jerusalem, including those from Galilee who were attending a pilgrimage festival at the temple. Therefore, Jews throughout the region would have been aware of the standard of living enjoyed by the Jerusalem priesthood. As noted, several Jewish writings from this period harshly criticized the priestly aristocracy for such excesses. The use of sacred revenues, to support these lavish priestly lifestyles, made the disparity between the upper-class priests and the lower-class masses even more disturbing.
Additional revenues for the priestly aristocracy came from the inner workings of the temple economy. Because some worshippers could not bring a fit sacrifice with them to the temple, the temple administration licensed dealers who would sell the necessary sacrificial animals on site. Along with placing a surcharge on such purchased animals, temple officials required all sacred items to be bought with Tyrian shekels. This expensive currency was obtained from temple money changers at a high exchange rate. Needless to say, these expenses were a financial hardship for the lower-class.
The Jews of that time hated this corruption. Different Jewish groups reacted in different ways. Among the priests themselves, some groups, such as the Oniads and Essenes, responded to Sadducean corruption by disassociating themselves from the Jerusalem aristocracy. Other groups, including the Pharisees, remained fully integrated in Jewish society yet openly questioned the legitimacy, purity standards, morality, and opulence of the Jerusalem priesthood. Despite the criticisms coming from these various groups, the Jewish masses, who did not belong to any sect, still viewed the priesthood as a vital link in their relationship with God―as shown by their continued temple worship and their regular payment of priestly tithes.
Our Lady’s Warning
What was true of the priesthood in Our Lord’s day is also true today―you could even say it has been true in every age, since St. John Chrysostom was of the opinion that most bishops and priests ended up in Hell. You don’t end up in Hell if you’ve done nothing wrong!
Our Lady, on several occasions, has issued a similar warning: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … During this time the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … . Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette and Akita).
The Devil Will Infiltrate the Church
Among the above quotes, Our Lady of Akita further indicated that that “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church” (Akita) and that “The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders” (La Salette).
Even the modernist POPE PAUL VI admitted on several occasions that Satan had infiltrated the Church:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome confirmed what Pope Paul VI said:
“Pope Leo XIII, in a vision in the 1880s, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times ... On June 29th, 1972, Pope Paul VI explicitly addressed the topic of Satan during Mass at St. Peter’s. He called him ‘the enemy of mankind’ ‘preternatural being’ and accused him of wanting to destroy [the Church]. On November 15th of the same year, returned to the topic clarifying that ‘Satan is enemy number one, he is the tempter par excellence ... The influence of Satan is immense! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! … One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ … The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Today, Satan has free hands. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, when we abandon God, we open the door to Satan. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one!”
OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS warned that “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights.”
Already back in the 1990s, several bishops and members of the clergy revealed that there were 4 Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy (cardinals and bishops) in the Vatican. Goodness knows what it is like today!
DR. BELLA DODD (1904-1969) ― a fallen-away Catholic ― was a leader and organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. In 1949 she quit from the Communist Party in disillusionment and returned to the Faith in 1952, thanks to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
BISHOP ATHANASIUS SCHNEIDER, on April 11th, 2019, wrote: “The issue of a possible infiltration of the Church―by forces outside her―does not fit into the optimistic picture that Pope John XXIII and particularly the Second Vatican Council unrealistically and uncritically drew of the modern world. In the last sixty years, there has been a continuously growing hostility toward Jesus Christ and His claim to be the sole Redeemer and Teacher of humankind. This hostility has reached its peak in our day. Not a few high-ranking members of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy have―not only yielded to the relentless demands of the modern world―they are, with or without conviction, actively collaborating in the implementation of its principles in the daily life of the Church in all areas and on all levels. Many wonder how it could happen that the Church’s doctrine, morals, and liturgy have been disfigured to such a large extent … It would be dishonest and irresponsible only to state the facts of the Church’s current internal crisis, and to deal with the symptoms. We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons ― an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process ...
“The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration, and this is determined by the degree of vigilance exercised by those in the Church who are designated as ‘watchmen,’ which is the literal meaning of the word ‘episcopos’—that is, bishop. The highest watchman in the Church is the Roman pontiff, the supreme shepherd both of the bishops and of the faithful. The first infiltration in the Church happened with the apostate apostle Judas Iscariot. Since then, there have been in the Church intruders ― priests, bishops, and even in very rare cases, popes ― whom Our Lord called ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing.’ … In the past fifty years, such an alarm has been sounded several times by courageous bishops, priests, and lay faithful. Those in responsible offices in the Church, however, have not paid due attention to those alarms, and so the intruders ― wolves in sheep’s clothing ― have been able to wreak havoc, undisturbed, in the house of God, the Church. With devastation and confusion in the Church now in full public view, it is time to expose the historical roots and the perpetrators of this harm. It may help many in the Church to wake up out of their lethargy and to stop acting as if everything is just fine.
“Saint Augustine gave us the following realistic yet consoling description of the truth that the Church will be always persecuted: ‘Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up’ (Psalm 128:1). ... The Church is of ancient birth. ... At one time, the Church was in Abel only, and he was fought against by his wicked ... brother Cain (Genesis 4:8). At one time, the Church was in Enoch alone: and he was taken from the unrighteous (Genesis 5:24). At one time, the Church was in the house of Noe alone, and endured all who perished by the flood, and the ark alone swam upon the waves, and escaped to shore (Genesis chapters 6 to 8). At one time, the Church was in Abraham alone, and we know what he endured from the wicked. The Church was in his brother’s son, Lot, alone, and in his house, in Sodom, and he endured the iniquities and perversities of Sodom until God freed him from among them (Genesis chapters 13 to 20). The Church also began to exist in the people of Israel. She endured Pharao and the Egyptians. . . . We come unto our Lord Jesus Christ: the Gospel was preached in the Psalms. For this reason, lest the Church wonder now, or lest anyone . .. who wishes to be a good member of the Church wonder, let him hear his Mother the Church saying to him, ‘Marvel not at these things, my son: Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up, but they could not prevail over me.’ (Enarr. in Psalm 128).’
“Even the most perfidious plot to destroy the Church from within will not succeed. Hence, our Mother the Church will answer with the voice of her innocent children, of her pure young men and virgins, of her fathers and mothers of families, of her courageous and knightly lay apostles and apologists, of her chaste and zealous priests and bishops, of her religious sisters and especially of her cloistered nuns, the spiritual gems of the Church: “They could not prevail over me!” Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Foreword to the book Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within).
BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH (1774-1824), Marian visionary, mystic and stigmatist, was given a series of visions by God in which she saw the present decimation of the Church that we are starting to witness and suffer. Here are just a few extracts of what see related of those visions concerning the Church and the priesthood:
“I a long processions of bishops [The four different sessions of the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, had between 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembled all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... ... Priests were among them! … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons] … Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of modern teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … A great devastation is now near at hand! …
They were building a large, strange, and extravagant church there in Rome … I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else [which possibly implies the absence of the true Sacrifice of the Mass in this new church], and only very few attended it. People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion ... There―in the strange big church―all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth. All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome…
“Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council] ... The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks is to spread everywhere! … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Then my Guide [Jesus] said: ‘This is Babel’ … I saw very clearly the errors, the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason ...
“I also saw the various regions of the Earth. My Guide [Jesus] named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia [East Germany], the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils.’ … I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms―even if it only be long enough to say three Our Fathers [this does not mean that we must only pray for the length of three Our Fathers, but that our arms must outstretched in the form of a cross for at least as long as it takes to say three Our Fathers―our prayers must be fervent, many and much longer than a mere three Our Fathers]. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … She [the Holy Mother] said a great many others things that it pains me to relate: she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters [that are to come].”
“I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest [Francis?] will do much harm to the Church. When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I see in the future religion falling so low that it will be practiced only here and there in farmhouses and in families protected by God during the horrors of war ... I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
As Our Lady said: “A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost ... The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima, Akita).
In one of the Gospel readings for this first full week of Lent, we see Our Lord whipping the money-changers and sellers. Actually, this did not just happen just once―but on two different occasions. The first time, recorded in St. John’s Gospel, was just after the beginning of His public ministry. The second time, recorded in the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, was at the approach of His Passion and Death, after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we commemorate on “Palm Sunday”.
St. John reports the first incident: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capharnaum, He and his Mother, and His brethren, and His disciples, and they remained there not many days. And the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the Temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves He said: ‘Take these things out of here, and make not the House of My Father a house of traffic!’ And His disciples remembered, that it was written: “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up!’” (John 2:11-17).
The other three Evangelists record the second incident―which occurred right after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which would lead to His Passion and Death: St. Matthew writes: “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes, that went before and that followed, cried, saying: ‘Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when He was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: ‘Who is this?’ And the people said: ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee!’ And Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves. And He said to them: ‘It is written: “My House shall be called the House of Prayer!” ― but you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Matthew 21:8-13).
St. Mark also reports the second incident: “And they came to Jerusalem. And when He had entered into the Temple, He began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the chairs of them that sold doves. And He suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the Temple. And He taught, saying to them: ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations?” But you have made it a den of thieves” (Mark 11:15-17). Likewise St. Luke: “And entering into the Temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them: ‘It is written: “My house is the house of prayer!” But you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Luke 19:45-46).
Behind the Scenes
Too often we read biblical passages much too superficially―without really understanding what is going-on, with penetrating all the Whos, Whys, Whats, and Wherefores. Why did Jesus act like He did with money-changers and sellers in the Temple? Wasn’t it lawful for them to be there? Let us delve deeper. Judea was under the rule of the Romans, and the money in current use at that time was Roman coin. However, the Jewish law required that every man should pay a tribute to the service of the Temple of “half-a-shekel” or “half-a-sicle” (both are the same thing―a Jewish coin): “And this shall every one give that passeth at the naming―half-a-sicle according to the standard of the temple. Half-a-sicle shall be offered to the Lord. [which was half-an-ounce of silver ― at today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would be around $13]. He that is counted in the number from twenty years and upwards, shall give the price. The rich man shall not add to half-a-sicle, and the poor man shall diminish nothing. And the money received which was contributed by the children of Israel, thou shalt deliver unto the uses of the tabernacle” (Exodus 30:11–16). It became, therefore, a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin could be exchanged for the Jewish half-shekel. The money-changers provided this convenience, but would demand a small sum for the exchange. Because so many thousands of people came up to the great feasts, changing money was a very profitable business and one that resulted in fraud and oppression of the poor.
Also, according to the Law, two doves or pigeons were required to be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 14:22; Luke 2:24). Yet it was difficult to bring them from the distant parts of Judea, so a lucrative business selling the birds sprang up, with the sellers gouging the faithful by charging exorbitant prices. There were other merchants selling cattle and sheep for the temple sacrifices as well. Because of these sellers, who preyed on and profited from the poor, and because of His passion for the purity of His Father’s House, Jesus was filled with rightfully indignant. In a certain sense, by “stealing” from the poor (through overcharging), they were indirectly stealing from God―as pointed out by Our Lord: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40).
Corrupt Priesthood
It was not just the money-changers and sellers that were “stealing”―the priesthood also left a lot to be desired in those days. Jesus saw the Temple as a money-spinning enterprise operating at the expense of the poor, the intense commercialization obliterating any sense of a “house of prayer”. He viewed the rich landowners of the priesthood as a major cause of misery for the poor. A detail that is critical for understanding Jesus’ last week is the corruption of the Temple priesthood that existed in Jesus’ time. The Temple was the heart and soul of the faith of the people of Israel, where God’s very presence dwelled. But in the preceding century, the chief priests had become extremely corrupt.
Throughout the history of Israel, high priests were chosen by lot from among the Levites. Herod was threatened by the power of the priesthood, so he ignored biblical law and appointed the High Priest himself. The position was subsequently bought with bribes from wealthy aristocratic Sadducean families, who agreed to keep peace with Rome in exchange for wealth from the temple tithes and the sale of sacrificial animals.
At the time of Christ, the priestly family that had been in power for many years was the house of Annas (or, Ananias). Annas himself served for nine years and then appointed several sons and one son-in-law, Caiphas. The family was extremely wealthy and corrupt, functioning much like a mafia. The “godfather” was Annas, who controlled the position behind the scenes, even when his sons were given the title of High Priest.
The family of Annas owned the flocks from which the sacrificial animals had to come and be sold to the Jews for sacrifice. They also controlled the money-changing tables at the Temple, which were called “booths of Annas.” They charged greatly inflated prices on sacrificial animals, extorted money, and stole funds intended to support other priests who had no other income. All of this priestly opulence would have been visible to anyone visiting Jerusalem, including those from Galilee who were attending a pilgrimage festival at the temple. Therefore, Jews throughout the region would have been aware of the standard of living enjoyed by the Jerusalem priesthood. As noted, several Jewish writings from this period harshly criticized the priestly aristocracy for such excesses. The use of sacred revenues, to support these lavish priestly lifestyles, made the disparity between the upper-class priests and the lower-class masses even more disturbing.
Additional revenues for the priestly aristocracy came from the inner workings of the temple economy. Because some worshippers could not bring a fit sacrifice with them to the temple, the temple administration licensed dealers who would sell the necessary sacrificial animals on site. Along with placing a surcharge on such purchased animals, temple officials required all sacred items to be bought with Tyrian shekels. This expensive currency was obtained from temple money changers at a high exchange rate. Needless to say, these expenses were a financial hardship for the lower-class.
The Jews of that time hated this corruption. Different Jewish groups reacted in different ways. Among the priests themselves, some groups, such as the Oniads and Essenes, responded to Sadducean corruption by disassociating themselves from the Jerusalem aristocracy. Other groups, including the Pharisees, remained fully integrated in Jewish society yet openly questioned the legitimacy, purity standards, morality, and opulence of the Jerusalem priesthood. Despite the criticisms coming from these various groups, the Jewish masses, who did not belong to any sect, still viewed the priesthood as a vital link in their relationship with God―as shown by their continued temple worship and their regular payment of priestly tithes.
Our Lady’s Warning
What was true of the priesthood in Our Lord’s day is also true today―you could even say it has been true in every age, since St. John Chrysostom was of the opinion that most bishops and priests ended up in Hell. You don’t end up in Hell if you’ve done nothing wrong!
Our Lady, on several occasions, has issued a similar warning: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … During this time the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … . Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette and Akita).
The Devil Will Infiltrate the Church
Among the above quotes, Our Lady of Akita further indicated that that “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church” (Akita) and that “The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders” (La Salette).
Even the modernist POPE PAUL VI admitted on several occasions that Satan had infiltrated the Church:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome confirmed what Pope Paul VI said:
“Pope Leo XIII, in a vision in the 1880s, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times ... On June 29th, 1972, Pope Paul VI explicitly addressed the topic of Satan during Mass at St. Peter’s. He called him ‘the enemy of mankind’ ‘preternatural being’ and accused him of wanting to destroy [the Church]. On November 15th of the same year, returned to the topic clarifying that ‘Satan is enemy number one, he is the tempter par excellence ... The influence of Satan is immense! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! … One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ … The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Today, Satan has free hands. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, when we abandon God, we open the door to Satan. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one!”
OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS warned that “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights.”
Already back in the 1990s, several bishops and members of the clergy revealed that there were 4 Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy (cardinals and bishops) in the Vatican. Goodness knows what it is like today!
DR. BELLA DODD (1904-1969) ― a fallen-away Catholic ― was a leader and organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. In 1949 she quit from the Communist Party in disillusionment and returned to the Faith in 1952, thanks to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
BISHOP ATHANASIUS SCHNEIDER, on April 11th, 2019, wrote: “The issue of a possible infiltration of the Church―by forces outside her―does not fit into the optimistic picture that Pope John XXIII and particularly the Second Vatican Council unrealistically and uncritically drew of the modern world. In the last sixty years, there has been a continuously growing hostility toward Jesus Christ and His claim to be the sole Redeemer and Teacher of humankind. This hostility has reached its peak in our day. Not a few high-ranking members of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy have―not only yielded to the relentless demands of the modern world―they are, with or without conviction, actively collaborating in the implementation of its principles in the daily life of the Church in all areas and on all levels. Many wonder how it could happen that the Church’s doctrine, morals, and liturgy have been disfigured to such a large extent … It would be dishonest and irresponsible only to state the facts of the Church’s current internal crisis, and to deal with the symptoms. We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons ― an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process ...
“The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration, and this is determined by the degree of vigilance exercised by those in the Church who are designated as ‘watchmen,’ which is the literal meaning of the word ‘episcopos’—that is, bishop. The highest watchman in the Church is the Roman pontiff, the supreme shepherd both of the bishops and of the faithful. The first infiltration in the Church happened with the apostate apostle Judas Iscariot. Since then, there have been in the Church intruders ― priests, bishops, and even in very rare cases, popes ― whom Our Lord called ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing.’ … In the past fifty years, such an alarm has been sounded several times by courageous bishops, priests, and lay faithful. Those in responsible offices in the Church, however, have not paid due attention to those alarms, and so the intruders ― wolves in sheep’s clothing ― have been able to wreak havoc, undisturbed, in the house of God, the Church. With devastation and confusion in the Church now in full public view, it is time to expose the historical roots and the perpetrators of this harm. It may help many in the Church to wake up out of their lethargy and to stop acting as if everything is just fine.
“Saint Augustine gave us the following realistic yet consoling description of the truth that the Church will be always persecuted: ‘Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up’ (Psalm 128:1). ... The Church is of ancient birth. ... At one time, the Church was in Abel only, and he was fought against by his wicked ... brother Cain (Genesis 4:8). At one time, the Church was in Enoch alone: and he was taken from the unrighteous (Genesis 5:24). At one time, the Church was in the house of Noe alone, and endured all who perished by the flood, and the ark alone swam upon the waves, and escaped to shore (Genesis chapters 6 to 8). At one time, the Church was in Abraham alone, and we know what he endured from the wicked. The Church was in his brother’s son, Lot, alone, and in his house, in Sodom, and he endured the iniquities and perversities of Sodom until God freed him from among them (Genesis chapters 13 to 20). The Church also began to exist in the people of Israel. She endured Pharao and the Egyptians. . . . We come unto our Lord Jesus Christ: the Gospel was preached in the Psalms. For this reason, lest the Church wonder now, or lest anyone . .. who wishes to be a good member of the Church wonder, let him hear his Mother the Church saying to him, ‘Marvel not at these things, my son: Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up, but they could not prevail over me.’ (Enarr. in Psalm 128).’
“Even the most perfidious plot to destroy the Church from within will not succeed. Hence, our Mother the Church will answer with the voice of her innocent children, of her pure young men and virgins, of her fathers and mothers of families, of her courageous and knightly lay apostles and apologists, of her chaste and zealous priests and bishops, of her religious sisters and especially of her cloistered nuns, the spiritual gems of the Church: “They could not prevail over me!” Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Foreword to the book Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within).
BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH (1774-1824), Marian visionary, mystic and stigmatist, was given a series of visions by God in which she saw the present decimation of the Church that we are starting to witness and suffer. Here are just a few extracts of what see related of those visions concerning the Church and the priesthood:
“I a long processions of bishops [The four different sessions of the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, had between 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembled all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... ... Priests were among them! … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons] … Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of modern teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … A great devastation is now near at hand! …
They were building a large, strange, and extravagant church there in Rome … I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else [which possibly implies the absence of the true Sacrifice of the Mass in this new church], and only very few attended it. People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion ... There―in the strange big church―all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth. All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome…
“Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council] ... The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks is to spread everywhere! … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Then my Guide [Jesus] said: ‘This is Babel’ … I saw very clearly the errors, the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason ...
“I also saw the various regions of the Earth. My Guide [Jesus] named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia [East Germany], the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils.’ … I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms―even if it only be long enough to say three Our Fathers [this does not mean that we must only pray for the length of three Our Fathers, but that our arms must outstretched in the form of a cross for at least as long as it takes to say three Our Fathers―our prayers must be fervent, many and much longer than a mere three Our Fathers]. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … She [the Holy Mother] said a great many others things that it pains me to relate: she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters [that are to come].”
“I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest [Francis?] will do much harm to the Church. When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I see in the future religion falling so low that it will be practiced only here and there in farmhouses and in families protected by God during the horrors of war ... I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
As Our Lady said: “A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost ... The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima, Akita).
Monday after First Sunday of Lent, March 7th
Article 17
Back to Lent! Back to Basics!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 17
Back to Lent! Back to Basics!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
That “Monday Morning Feeling”!
Many people regularly experience the proverbial “Monday Morning Feeling” which usually refers to the return to work or school after enjoying the free time of the weekend. It is commonly a feeling of being depressed because you have to start a new week back at work or back at school―which is all the more exacerbated if you do not like work in general, do not like your particular line of work, or your particular workplace, or do not like school.
A similar feeling is felt when we find ourselves “Back in Lent” after months of indulgence in food, drink, entertainment and comfort. The Church can easily be seen as a “Spoilsport”, a “Sourpuss”, a “Party-Pooper”, a “Killjoy”, etc. Many end up dragging their feet into Lent, just as they drag themselves out of bed on Monday mornings and drag themselves off to work.
It is Easier if You Are Paid Well!
However, there are some people who are in a job that they do not like, but which pays very well. For them that is an underlying comfort as they drag themselves out of bed and off to work on that proverbial “Monday morning”―and also every morning of the working week. This should remind us of the story about St. Dominic Savio, who, as young boy, aged 10, would trudge 12 miles a day to school and back. The school he attended was 3 miles away from home, and he had to go and come twice a day.
On one very hot day an elderly man met him and asked: “Aren’t you afraid to walk so far alone on this country road?”
“I’m not alone,” replied Dominic. “I have my guardian angel with me. “
“But surely you find the journey long and tiresome in this very hot weather!” the man said.
Dominic told him: “I work for a Master who pays well!”
“And who is your master?” asked the man.
“God is my master!” replied Dominic.
Lent Pays Well
Lent is a time when God pays well! Lent is in rich in grace! “Do not receive the grace of God in vain!” said the Epistle for the First Sunday of Lent, “Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” Where is this wealth of grace to be found? The same Epistle tells us―it is to be found “in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes, in imprisonments, in labors, in sleepless nights, in fastings; in long-sufferings, etc.” This gives us a treasure―not on Earth, but in Heaven. That is what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:19-20). “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven!” (Matthew 19:21). Our Lord also hints that there are hidden riches in suffering: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly―for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-12).
St. Paul tells us to “mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:2), adding: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18). That is why St. Paul rejoices and exults in being able to suffer for Christ: “We glory also in tribulations!” (Romans 5:3-5). “I rejoice in my sufferings!” (Colossians 1:24). “God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Galatians 6:14). This is totally in line with the words of Our Lord: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Back to Basics
All of this is pretty basic―the cross of Christ stands at the center of history and in the center of the life of Church. It should also be at the center of our life. As the Liturgy says: “In cruce salus!” ― “In the cross is salvation!” Lent, so to speak, is the school of the cross. It culminates with Good Friday which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Christ on the cross on Calvary.
The cross should be planted in our minds and hearts―just as it was planted, by our being anointed multiple times with Holy Oil and without the Oil in the form of the Sign of the Cross, in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation―two indelible Sacraments that marked us with the Sign of the Cross. We are absolved in the Sacrament of Confession by the Sign of the Cross. When we receive Holy Communion, the priest makes a Sign of the Cross with the Holy Eucharist before placing it on our tongue. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the priest blesses the married couple with the Sign of the Cross. In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the newly ordained priest has the Sign of the Cross traced upon the palms of his hands with Holy Oil. As we are about to die, the Church gives us the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, whereby all our five senses―eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands and feet―are anointed with Holy Oil in the form of the Sign of the Cross.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is all about the cross―it is a re-enactment, in a mystical and unbloody manner, of the crucifixion of Christ on Calvary. Whenever you ask for any items to be blessed by the priest―they are always blessed with one or multiple Signs of the Cross. You begin and end your prayers with the Sign of the Cross. You make the Sign of the Cross before and after meals, when you say your “Grace Before Meals” prayer. The priest uses the Sign of the Cross as part of the ritual to subdue and cast out Satan during exorcisms. The cross is as basic as you can get―two simple lines or pieces of wood crossing each other at 90 degree angles. Yet the power of the cross is truly immense.
Sign of the Cross Conquers
By 312, the Roman Empire had been divided by its previous emperor, Diocletian. He divided the Empire between two senior and two junior emperors, but the complex arrangement had collapsed. The successors are at one another’s throats. The young general Constantine, son of Constantius, one of Diocletian’s co-emperors, has military successes under his belt, but now he faces a formidable veteran, Maxentius, with a larger army and a better strategic position. Constantine realized that he needed help from a power greater than himself, but who or what? He had his doubts about the traditional Roman gods. So he prayed fervently that the true God, whoever that may be, would reveal to him who He is, and stretch forth His right hand to help him. Constantine suddenly saw a bright cross of light in the noonday sky and upon it was the inscription: “In hoc signo vinces” — “In this Sign Conquer.”
Constantine saw this was the answer to his prayer and ordered his soldiers to inscribe crosses on their shields. Encouraged by his vision, he threw his troops into battle against his rival, Maxentius, at Rome’s Milvian Bridge. Surprisingly, against the odds, Constantine is victorious. Maxentius is among those who drown in the Tiber. Afterwards, Constantine did not forget to whom he owed his victory. For nearly 250 years―since the year 64, when Nero initiated violence against it―the Christian Church has been a persecuted minority in Roman lands. Only a few years earlier, between 303 and 311, it suffered through Diocletian’s savage “Great Persecution.” Now Constantine issues orders that the Christian church is to be tolerated just as other religions are. Although he does not make Christianity the official religion of the empire, Constantine bestows favor on it, builds places of worship for Christians, and presides over the first general church council. He becomes the first emperor to embrace Christianity and will be baptized on his death bed—waiting so late for fear his duties as emperor might cause him to sin after he receives the solemn rite, blotting out its efficacy.
The Cross Can Conquer Again!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, foretells the appearance of true disciples of Jesus and Mary in the latter days of the world. He asks: “Who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere ... well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God, who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior ... The most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being also her greatest favorites, receive from her the greatest graces and favors of Heaven―which are crosses. But I maintain that it is also the servants of Mary who carry these crosses with more ease, more merit and more glory.”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to Friends of the Cross, encourages us to use the cross to bring about victory for Christ: “Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … far more terrifying to the world and Hell than the armed forces of a well-organized kingdom are to its enemies. Reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer. You are intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow! Combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross! ‘Friends of the Cross’ ― what a wonderful name! It is the unmistakable title of a Christian. A perfect Friend of the Cross is a true Christ-bearer, or rather another Christ, so much so that he can say with truth: “I live now not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. True to this heritage, he breathes forth only crosses and blood, death to the world. A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand. A Friend of the Cross is a holy man, separated from visible things. He is thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true Faith and burns with love for the Cross. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering. My dear Friends of the Cross, does every act of yours justify what the eminent name you bear implies? Or at least are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?”
Don’t Break What Works!
As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” In other words, if it works―don’t fix it, don’t tinker with it. You could also say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it!” Today we are tinkering with the cross. We are rethinking and redesigning the cross―we are adding wheels and soft padding to it; we are reducing it in size and creating a slim, trim, tiny version of the cross. You could say this was epitomized by Pope Paul VI’s 1966 apostolic constitution, Paenitemini, which changed the strictly regulated Catholic fasting requirements―especially for Lent―by reducing fasting from 40 days to merely 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday)―which is a 95% discount on fasting!
Many Catholics families have taken advantage of this discount―but, in reality, it is not really a discount but adds to the price we will have to pay after death. Our Lord warned: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 5:32; 13:3). These “discounted” families discount the gravity of sin. They ignore that the Catechism teaches that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). While Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). That is why “penance” is meant to be a time of “pay-nance”―whereby we pay for our sins at an already discounted rate in this life. If we try seek a further discount―as did Pope Paul VI―then are merely throwing ourselves into deeper and deeper debt.
When Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal at the Rue du Bac in Paris (1830), she said: “Times are evil in France and in the world. The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground! The streets will run with blood! ... The whole world will be in sadness! The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery! … The moment will come when the danger will be enormous ― it will seem that all is lost!”
Our Lord also condemned those who rejected the cross and sought an easy life: “Carry with valor and perseverance the cross that I will place on your shoulders for you to bear through your remaining years. For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Victory Requires Suffering
Victory in any war requires that we fight! Fighting invariably means suffering! There can be no victory without suffering―Our Lord showed us that during His Passion and Death. That is pretty basic―who cannot see and understand that? Another basic truth is that the enemy will just not go away! Since the time of Adam and Eve, we have always been attacked by the devil and world on the outside; and we have been attacked from within, or the inside, by our own concupiscences―a consequence of Original Sin. All of these enemies work together to try and wound us or kill us by either venial sin or mortal sin. There is no escape from this fight, for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), because “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Therefore you must “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
God has clearly stated who is our enemy: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Naturally, this fight against the devil, the prince of this world; the fight against the world itself; and the fight against our own concupiscences or sinful inclinations, will entail much suffering and prolonged suffering. No soldier can possibly go to war without expecting to suffer. Christ came to redeem us from the devil and the world―and to do so He had to suffer. Why do we expect otherwise?
We are meant to break-free of the world, cast-off its chains and separate ourselves from the world: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8).
These Basic Truths Are Basically Ignored
Too many Catholics betray their Faith and betray Christ―like Judas―by trying to live in peace with the enemies of Christ, especially the world. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world!” (1 John 2:15). “The friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Christ came to separate us from this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Our Lord was no pacifist―as He Himself clearly stated: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another! He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Get Back to Basics
All of that is pretty basic―we have all heard those words numerous times―but have those words truly penetrated our minds and hearts? Have they brought about a change in our lives? Or are we still trying to fit-in with the world while professing to serve God? Our Lord Himself said that is impossible and that we must choose one or the other: “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). Lent is the time “par-excellence” to listen to His words and put them into practice!
Many people regularly experience the proverbial “Monday Morning Feeling” which usually refers to the return to work or school after enjoying the free time of the weekend. It is commonly a feeling of being depressed because you have to start a new week back at work or back at school―which is all the more exacerbated if you do not like work in general, do not like your particular line of work, or your particular workplace, or do not like school.
A similar feeling is felt when we find ourselves “Back in Lent” after months of indulgence in food, drink, entertainment and comfort. The Church can easily be seen as a “Spoilsport”, a “Sourpuss”, a “Party-Pooper”, a “Killjoy”, etc. Many end up dragging their feet into Lent, just as they drag themselves out of bed on Monday mornings and drag themselves off to work.
It is Easier if You Are Paid Well!
However, there are some people who are in a job that they do not like, but which pays very well. For them that is an underlying comfort as they drag themselves out of bed and off to work on that proverbial “Monday morning”―and also every morning of the working week. This should remind us of the story about St. Dominic Savio, who, as young boy, aged 10, would trudge 12 miles a day to school and back. The school he attended was 3 miles away from home, and he had to go and come twice a day.
On one very hot day an elderly man met him and asked: “Aren’t you afraid to walk so far alone on this country road?”
“I’m not alone,” replied Dominic. “I have my guardian angel with me. “
“But surely you find the journey long and tiresome in this very hot weather!” the man said.
Dominic told him: “I work for a Master who pays well!”
“And who is your master?” asked the man.
“God is my master!” replied Dominic.
Lent Pays Well
Lent is a time when God pays well! Lent is in rich in grace! “Do not receive the grace of God in vain!” said the Epistle for the First Sunday of Lent, “Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” Where is this wealth of grace to be found? The same Epistle tells us―it is to be found “in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes, in imprisonments, in labors, in sleepless nights, in fastings; in long-sufferings, etc.” This gives us a treasure―not on Earth, but in Heaven. That is what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:19-20). “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven!” (Matthew 19:21). Our Lord also hints that there are hidden riches in suffering: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly―for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-12).
St. Paul tells us to “mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:2), adding: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18). That is why St. Paul rejoices and exults in being able to suffer for Christ: “We glory also in tribulations!” (Romans 5:3-5). “I rejoice in my sufferings!” (Colossians 1:24). “God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Galatians 6:14). This is totally in line with the words of Our Lord: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Back to Basics
All of this is pretty basic―the cross of Christ stands at the center of history and in the center of the life of Church. It should also be at the center of our life. As the Liturgy says: “In cruce salus!” ― “In the cross is salvation!” Lent, so to speak, is the school of the cross. It culminates with Good Friday which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Christ on the cross on Calvary.
The cross should be planted in our minds and hearts―just as it was planted, by our being anointed multiple times with Holy Oil and without the Oil in the form of the Sign of the Cross, in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation―two indelible Sacraments that marked us with the Sign of the Cross. We are absolved in the Sacrament of Confession by the Sign of the Cross. When we receive Holy Communion, the priest makes a Sign of the Cross with the Holy Eucharist before placing it on our tongue. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the priest blesses the married couple with the Sign of the Cross. In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the newly ordained priest has the Sign of the Cross traced upon the palms of his hands with Holy Oil. As we are about to die, the Church gives us the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, whereby all our five senses―eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands and feet―are anointed with Holy Oil in the form of the Sign of the Cross.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is all about the cross―it is a re-enactment, in a mystical and unbloody manner, of the crucifixion of Christ on Calvary. Whenever you ask for any items to be blessed by the priest―they are always blessed with one or multiple Signs of the Cross. You begin and end your prayers with the Sign of the Cross. You make the Sign of the Cross before and after meals, when you say your “Grace Before Meals” prayer. The priest uses the Sign of the Cross as part of the ritual to subdue and cast out Satan during exorcisms. The cross is as basic as you can get―two simple lines or pieces of wood crossing each other at 90 degree angles. Yet the power of the cross is truly immense.
Sign of the Cross Conquers
By 312, the Roman Empire had been divided by its previous emperor, Diocletian. He divided the Empire between two senior and two junior emperors, but the complex arrangement had collapsed. The successors are at one another’s throats. The young general Constantine, son of Constantius, one of Diocletian’s co-emperors, has military successes under his belt, but now he faces a formidable veteran, Maxentius, with a larger army and a better strategic position. Constantine realized that he needed help from a power greater than himself, but who or what? He had his doubts about the traditional Roman gods. So he prayed fervently that the true God, whoever that may be, would reveal to him who He is, and stretch forth His right hand to help him. Constantine suddenly saw a bright cross of light in the noonday sky and upon it was the inscription: “In hoc signo vinces” — “In this Sign Conquer.”
Constantine saw this was the answer to his prayer and ordered his soldiers to inscribe crosses on their shields. Encouraged by his vision, he threw his troops into battle against his rival, Maxentius, at Rome’s Milvian Bridge. Surprisingly, against the odds, Constantine is victorious. Maxentius is among those who drown in the Tiber. Afterwards, Constantine did not forget to whom he owed his victory. For nearly 250 years―since the year 64, when Nero initiated violence against it―the Christian Church has been a persecuted minority in Roman lands. Only a few years earlier, between 303 and 311, it suffered through Diocletian’s savage “Great Persecution.” Now Constantine issues orders that the Christian church is to be tolerated just as other religions are. Although he does not make Christianity the official religion of the empire, Constantine bestows favor on it, builds places of worship for Christians, and presides over the first general church council. He becomes the first emperor to embrace Christianity and will be baptized on his death bed—waiting so late for fear his duties as emperor might cause him to sin after he receives the solemn rite, blotting out its efficacy.
The Cross Can Conquer Again!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, foretells the appearance of true disciples of Jesus and Mary in the latter days of the world. He asks: “Who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere ... well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God, who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior ... The most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being also her greatest favorites, receive from her the greatest graces and favors of Heaven―which are crosses. But I maintain that it is also the servants of Mary who carry these crosses with more ease, more merit and more glory.”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to Friends of the Cross, encourages us to use the cross to bring about victory for Christ: “Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … far more terrifying to the world and Hell than the armed forces of a well-organized kingdom are to its enemies. Reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer. You are intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow! Combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross! ‘Friends of the Cross’ ― what a wonderful name! It is the unmistakable title of a Christian. A perfect Friend of the Cross is a true Christ-bearer, or rather another Christ, so much so that he can say with truth: “I live now not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. True to this heritage, he breathes forth only crosses and blood, death to the world. A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand. A Friend of the Cross is a holy man, separated from visible things. He is thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true Faith and burns with love for the Cross. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering. My dear Friends of the Cross, does every act of yours justify what the eminent name you bear implies? Or at least are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?”
Don’t Break What Works!
As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” In other words, if it works―don’t fix it, don’t tinker with it. You could also say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it!” Today we are tinkering with the cross. We are rethinking and redesigning the cross―we are adding wheels and soft padding to it; we are reducing it in size and creating a slim, trim, tiny version of the cross. You could say this was epitomized by Pope Paul VI’s 1966 apostolic constitution, Paenitemini, which changed the strictly regulated Catholic fasting requirements―especially for Lent―by reducing fasting from 40 days to merely 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday)―which is a 95% discount on fasting!
Many Catholics families have taken advantage of this discount―but, in reality, it is not really a discount but adds to the price we will have to pay after death. Our Lord warned: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 5:32; 13:3). These “discounted” families discount the gravity of sin. They ignore that the Catechism teaches that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). While Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). That is why “penance” is meant to be a time of “pay-nance”―whereby we pay for our sins at an already discounted rate in this life. If we try seek a further discount―as did Pope Paul VI―then are merely throwing ourselves into deeper and deeper debt.
When Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal at the Rue du Bac in Paris (1830), she said: “Times are evil in France and in the world. The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground! The streets will run with blood! ... The whole world will be in sadness! The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery! … The moment will come when the danger will be enormous ― it will seem that all is lost!”
Our Lord also condemned those who rejected the cross and sought an easy life: “Carry with valor and perseverance the cross that I will place on your shoulders for you to bear through your remaining years. For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Victory Requires Suffering
Victory in any war requires that we fight! Fighting invariably means suffering! There can be no victory without suffering―Our Lord showed us that during His Passion and Death. That is pretty basic―who cannot see and understand that? Another basic truth is that the enemy will just not go away! Since the time of Adam and Eve, we have always been attacked by the devil and world on the outside; and we have been attacked from within, or the inside, by our own concupiscences―a consequence of Original Sin. All of these enemies work together to try and wound us or kill us by either venial sin or mortal sin. There is no escape from this fight, for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), because “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Therefore you must “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
God has clearly stated who is our enemy: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Naturally, this fight against the devil, the prince of this world; the fight against the world itself; and the fight against our own concupiscences or sinful inclinations, will entail much suffering and prolonged suffering. No soldier can possibly go to war without expecting to suffer. Christ came to redeem us from the devil and the world―and to do so He had to suffer. Why do we expect otherwise?
We are meant to break-free of the world, cast-off its chains and separate ourselves from the world: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8).
These Basic Truths Are Basically Ignored
Too many Catholics betray their Faith and betray Christ―like Judas―by trying to live in peace with the enemies of Christ, especially the world. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world!” (1 John 2:15). “The friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Christ came to separate us from this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Our Lord was no pacifist―as He Himself clearly stated: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another! He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Get Back to Basics
All of that is pretty basic―we have all heard those words numerous times―but have those words truly penetrated our minds and hearts? Have they brought about a change in our lives? Or are we still trying to fit-in with the world while professing to serve God? Our Lord Himself said that is impossible and that we must choose one or the other: “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). Lent is the time “par-excellence” to listen to His words and put them into practice!
First Sunday of Lent, March 6th
Article 16
We Need More Desert and Less Dessert!
Article 16
We Need More Desert and Less Dessert!
Desert or Dessert?
Today―the First Sunday of Lent―the Church presents us with the Gospel of Our Lord being led into the desert to fast for forty days and to be tempted. Most people, however, would prefer being led to be tempted by desserts in a snazzy restaurant! Human nature usually seeks comfort above discomfort; ease above hardship; sweetness over bitterness. On a rainy day, most would prefer to take a comfortable car ride to work rather than cycle in the rain or take an uncomfortable walk to work in the rain. Most prefer the ease of using power tools rather than the hardship of doing things under their own steam―for example, they prefer a sit-and-ride-lawn-mower over a push-lawn-mower; they prefer to sit on a cushioned seat more than hard seat. Most prefer to buy clothes “off-the-peg” rather than make their own clothes. They prefer to buy food in stores rather than grow their own food; ready processed chickens rather than raising, butchering and plucking your own chicken. They prefer electric or gas fires more than wood fires―for it dispenses you from having to gather and chop wood all the time. Most people would opt to have more possessions rather than part with possessions and make do with less things. Most people would choose the sweet orange or banana over the more bitter lemon or lime.
All-in-all, the world is forever seeking ways to make life more comfortable, wealthy, easy and sweet―whereas Our Lord seeks to do the opposite. “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … You cannot serve God and mammon! … Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on … but seek first the Kingdom of God, and His justice” (Matthew 6:19-33). “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21). “If a man will take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy! But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:40-44). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Two Ways, Two Paths, Two Groups
When faced with the world’s way of doing things and Our Lord’s way of doing things―most people are tempted to take the world’s path of comfort, wealth, ease, sweetness and fun. St. Louis de Montfort paints a very vivid picture of this in his Letter to Friends of the Cross, saying: “Two groups appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead with a heavy cross. Only a handful of people follow Him. To the left is the world’s group―the devil’s in fact―which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. The little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things. Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good―He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.”
Today, most Catholics resemble the worldly worldlings and not Christ. They have fallen for multi-sided temptations to worldliness and it is increasingly hard to recognize Catholics among the crowds of the world. They are worldly in their speech, worldly in their clothing, worldly in the behavior, worldly in their possessions, worldly in how they spend their time. They prefer the juicy desserts that the world offers and find the desert that God offers as something repulsive, repugnant and rejectable. Today’s Catholics seem to imagine the path to Heaven to be “limo-ride” or a seat in the first-class cabin on a luxury flight to Heaven. They forget that Christ said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Christ vs. Satan
St. Paul says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). In Holy Scripture we see the account of Our Lord’s battle with Satan in the desert, after He had fasted and prayed for forty days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). In this triple temptation, Our Lord comes out on top against the wiles and temptations of Satan. It would seem that the prayer and fasting was the key to His victory. He Himself would later say, speaking of the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). Which is something He would essentially repeat during His Agony in the Garden, when He said to Peter, James and John: “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).
The Story of the Battle by Matthew
“Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter coming said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’ Who answered and said: ‘It is written, “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!”‘ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: “That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!”‘ Jesus said to him: ‘It is written again: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”‘ Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:1-11).
The Story of the Battle by Luke
“And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him: ‘If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread!’ And Jesus answered him: ‘It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!’ And the devil led Him into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and he said to Him: ‘To Thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If Thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be Thine!’ And Jesus answering said to him: ‘It is written: “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and he said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee! And that in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘It is said: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”‘ And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from Him for a time” (Luke 4:1-13).
Satan Leaves Only For a Time
Even though he was defeated by Christ in the desert, Satan would return to fight another day and in another way. Our life is meant to be one long struggle, one long war. Holy Scripture is very adamant on this: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “And the Lord said: ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy Faith fail not!” (Luke 22:31-32).
Satan’s Major Weapon—Temptation
The chief weapon of Satan is temptation—it is like a universal tool. It can be applied to any subject and to any person at any time. It was the weapon that was first successfully used against Adam and Eve, and it has stood the test of time. From Satan’s point of view, it is a very successful weapon, since, as most Saints and Father of the Church tell us, most souls end up being damned—yet that damnation is not inevitable and could have easily been avoided, if only they would have perseveringly taken the precautions that Christ has given us through His Church.
Just as temptation could be said to be the universal tool, the remedy or defense against temptation is also simple and universal—in that it works against each and every kind of temptation—it is quite simply prayer and fasting, fasting in the broadest sense of the word: not just keeping away from food, but many other things too. This is proved by Our Lord both in theory and in practice. He personally prayed and fasted in the desert for forty days and nights, after which He was able to overcome Satan’s temptations; and He also told us of the power of prayer and fasting against the devil: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
The plush and comfortable Titanic sailed into the graveyard of death; the uncomfortable and harsh conditions of the lifeboats saved the lives of a few on the desert of the sea. Do we want the Titanic or its lifeboat? The city or the desert? Pleasure or penance? Fun or fasting?
Go into the Desert
So let us, this Lenten season, retreat into our own desert—to fight and defeat the devil, the world and the flesh. The Desert Fathers (and Mothers!) were the pioneers of monastic life in the Church. Beginning in the third century, some Christians began to flee the comforts and conflicts of pagan cities to seek a life of spirituality in the desert.
They sought a simpler life, in imitation of Christ during his forty days in the desert wilderness, and dedicated themselves to solitude, labor, poverty, fasting, charity and prayer. Some of them lived in isolation; others developed rules for communal life that evolved into large monastic communities. Over time their reputation for holiness grew, and Christians from the surrounding areas sought them out for advice and spiritual direction.
St. Anthony of the Desert
Some of them became great spiritual giants and teachers in the history of the Church: they include St. Anthony the Great, St. Pachomius and St. Athanasius (in Egypt) and St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Macrina (in Asia Minor.) Their influence in the Church has been deeply felt though the centuries, particularly as monasticism and religious life developed. One of the great Desert Fathers, St. Paul, was born in Upper Egypt, around the year 229, and became an orphan at the age of fifteen. He was very rich and highly educated.
Fearing that the tortures of a terrible persecution might endanger his Christian perseverance, he retired into a remote village. But his pagan brother-in-law denounced him, and St. Paul, rather than remain where his Faith was in danger, entered the barren desert, trusting that God would supply his wants. And his confidence was rewarded; for, on the spot to which Providence led him, he found the fruit of a palm-tree for food, its leaves for clothing, and the water of a spring for drink. His first plan was to return to the world when the persecution was over; but tasting great delights in prayer and penance, he remained for the rest of his life, ninety years, in penance, prayer and contemplation. He died in the desert in his one hundred and thirteenth year.
Anthony the Who? The Great? Why?
Who, then was this “St. Anthony the Great”, whose feast we celebrate othis Sunday, January 17th? He was another example of the life that we may well find ourselves living in the not too distant future.
Concerning St. Anthony of Egypt we have more knowledge than of any other saint of this early period, thanks to the biography written by his friend, St. Athanasius. St. Anthony was born in 251 at Coma, a village near Great Heracleopolis in Middle Egypt. His Christian parents wished to protect him from bad examples and kept him closely at home, so that he grew up in ignorance of pagan literature and read no language but his own. At their death, before he had reached the age of twenty, he found himself very rich and in possession of a large estate, as well as being responsible for the care of a younger sister.
Decisions! Decisions!
Soon afterward, while in church, he heard the text from Matthew 19:21, in which Christ says to the rich young man, “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.” Anthony took this command as meant for himself. He went home and made over to his neighbors about one hundred and twenty acres of good land. He then sold the rest of the estate and gave the money to the needy, saving only what he thought necessary to maintain his sister and himself.
Another drastic step was to follow. He heard in church those other words which Christ spoke (Matthew 6:34), “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” Anthony now distributed in alms all his movable property and placed his sister in a “house of consecrated virgins,” the first reference we have to a Christian nunnery. In her later years this sister was entrusted with the direction of the women in that holy way of life. Anthony, now twenty-one and free of worldly care, became a hermit. He retired to a solitary place and occupied himself with manual labor, prayer, and religious reading. His only food was bread and a little salt, and he drank nothing but water. His bed was a rush mat. He soon became a model of humility, piety, and self-discipline.
Devil Hates Those Who Love God
However, the devil assailed him by various temptations. He pointed out the joys of family life, the good works Anthony might have done in the world with his money, and the futility of the hermit’s existence. When repulsed by the young novice, the devil changed his mode of attack, and harassed him night and day with gross and obscene thoughts. Anthony resisted by a strict watchfulness over his senses and imagination, controlling them by austere fasts, acts of humility, and prayer. At last Satan himself appeared in visible form, first as a seductive woman, then as a black and terrifying man. Anthony remained unmoved, and the fiend confessed himself vanquished.
Satanic Siege
In quest now of greater solitude, he hid himself in an old tomb in the desert, where a friend brought him a little bread from time to time. Here Satan again attacked him and deafened him with loud noises. Once, Athanasius says, he was so grievously beaten that when his friend arrived he lay almost dead. As Anthony came to himself, he called out to the devils, “See, here I am! Do your worst! Nothing shall separate me from Christ my Lord.” At this, the demons reappeared and again filled the tomb with a terrible clamor and specters of ravening beasts in hideous shapes until a ray of heavenly light, breaking through, chased them away. “Where wast Thou,” Anthony cried, “my Lord and my Master? Why wast Thou not here from the beginning of my conflict to give me succor?” “Anthony,” replied a voice, “I was here the whole time; I stood by thee, and watched thy conflict. And because thou hast manfully withstood thy enemies, I will forever protect thee, and will make thy name famous throughout the earth.” At this the saint rose up to pray and give thanks.
Desert Soldiers
It was a common practice at this time for fervent Christians to lead retired lives in penance and contemplation on the outskirts of towns, and in the desert, while others practiced their austerities without withdrawing from their fellow men. In even earlier times we hear of these ascetics. Origen, about 249, wrote that they abstained from flesh, as the disciples of Pythagoras did. Anthony lived in his tomb near Coma until about 285. Then, at the age of thirty-five, he set out into the empty desert, crossed the eastern branch of the Nile, and took up his abode in the ruins of an old castle on the top of a mountain. There he lived for almost twenty years, rarely seeing any man except the one who brought him food every six months.
In his fifty-fifth year he came down from his mountain retreat and founded his first monastery, not far from Aphroditopolis. It consisted of scattered cells, each inhabited by a solitary monk; some of the later settlements may have been arranged on more of a community plan. Anthony did not stay with any of his foundations long, but visited them all from time to time. These interruptions to his solitude, involving as they did some management of the affairs of others, tended to disturb him. We are told of a temptation to despair, which he overcame by prayer and hard manual labor. Notwithstanding his stringent self-discipline, he always maintained that perfection consisted not in mortification of the flesh but in love of God. He taught his monks to have eternity always present to their minds and to perform every act with all the fervor of their souls, as if it were to be their last.
Tough Life but Great Joy
Anthony’s later years were spent on Mount Colzim, near the Red Sea. Here he lived on a bit of bread daily, with some dates; in extreme old age, a little oil was added to this meager diet. When he came to his meal, usually taken late in the day, he said he felt a sense of shame, remembering the state of the blessed spirits in Heaven, who praise God without ceasing. He always seemed vigorous and cheerful. Strangers were able to pick him out from among his disciples by the joy which shone in his face. They traveled great distances to talk with the celebrated holy man, and it was the duty of Macarius, Anthony’s companion and disciple, to interview them. If they proved to be spiritual men, Anthony would come out and sit in converse. If they were worldly persons, Macarius would entertain them, and Anthony would appear only to give a short talk.
In spite of his fame, this saint looked on himself as the least of mankind; he listened carefully to the counsel of others, and declared that he received benefit from speaking with the humblest person. He cultivated a small garden that he might have a few refreshing vegetables to offer his visitors, who were apt to be weary after traveling by camel caravan over long stretches of desert and climbing the mountain. Athanasius also writes of his weaving mats as a daily occupation. He could pray while working, although his practice was to alternate periods of prayer and contemplation with his weaving.
Ready for Martyrdom!
In the year 311, during the persecutions under Maximian, Anthony hoped he might be one of those chosen for martyrdom. He went down to Alexandria and made himself conspicuous by encouraging the Christians already imprisoned, and also those who were standing before the judges and at the places of execution. He wore his white hermit’s habit openly, within sight of the governor, yet he did nothing provocative and did not come forward and accuse himself, as some impetuous ones did.
Back to Work
The next year, when the persecutions abated, he returned to his mountain. In his extreme old age he made another trip to Alexandria, expressly to refute the Arians, and went about preaching that Christ the Son was not a creature, but of the same eternal substance as the Father; and that the impious Arians, who called Him a creature, did not differ from the heathen, “who worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
The people flocked to hear him, and even pagans, struck by the dignity of his bearing, gathered around him, saying, “We want to see the man of God.” He made many converts and worked several miracles. The governor of Egypt invited him to stay longer in the city, but he declined, saying, “Fish die if they are taken from the water; so does a monk wither away if he forsakes his solitude.”
When Belacius, the military commander in Egypt, was savagely persecuting the Christians, Anthony wrote warning him to leave the servants of Christ in peace. Belacius tore up the letter, spat and trampled on it, and threatened to make Anthony his next victim. But five days later, as he was riding with Nestorius, governor of Egypt, the commander’s horse began to curvet and prance and crashed against the other. Belacius was thrown and his horse then turned and bit his thigh. In three days he was dead.
The Emperor Constantine and his two sons, Constantius and Constans, once sent Anthony a joint letter, recommending themselves to his prayers. Noting the astonishment of some of the monks present, Anthony said, “Do not wonder that the Emperor writes to us, even to a man such as I am; rather be astounded that God has communicated with us, and has spoken to us by His Son.” Replying to the letter, he exhorted the Emperor and his sons to contempt of the world and to constant remembrance of the final judgment.
The Moral of the Story
What are we to learn from the above? Well, what goes around, comes around. There is nothing new under the sun. Both Paul and Anthony were rich young men, well educated, who left those riches and the comfortable life that these purchased, and exchanged it for the discomfort and poverty of the desert. They did it willingly, yet in our case, God will soon enforce it upon us—as Our Lady foretells: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita) … “All those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
Yet, if we happen to be survivors in that desert-like world, let us remember those early Christians who freely chose to exchange their riches for the poverty and hardship of the desert. Let us remember, too, the wonderful Providence of God towards those Desert Fathers and trust in that same Providence for our needs.
To which the mystic and visionary, Fr. Pel of France, adds further details. Father Constant Louis Marie PEL (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. A Doctor in Theology, a seminary professor, a founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was also a close personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him, to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular [which can be seen as an indication of what will strike the rest of world too]. Here it is, quoted in abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ...but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Let us take very seriously the short time of mercy that is left to the world. Let us prepare for Lent with the knowledge that there are probably few Lents left for us to pay what we owe! Now is the time for serious preparation, not lighthearted jubilation! Time may mean money to the worldly, but time is running out for all! As Holy Scripture says:
“I called, and you refused! I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded! You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions! Therefore I will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared; when sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand; when tribulation and distress shall come upon you! Then shall they call upon Me, and I will not hear! They shall rise in the morning and shall not find me! Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils” (Proverbs 1:24-33).
Today―the First Sunday of Lent―the Church presents us with the Gospel of Our Lord being led into the desert to fast for forty days and to be tempted. Most people, however, would prefer being led to be tempted by desserts in a snazzy restaurant! Human nature usually seeks comfort above discomfort; ease above hardship; sweetness over bitterness. On a rainy day, most would prefer to take a comfortable car ride to work rather than cycle in the rain or take an uncomfortable walk to work in the rain. Most prefer the ease of using power tools rather than the hardship of doing things under their own steam―for example, they prefer a sit-and-ride-lawn-mower over a push-lawn-mower; they prefer to sit on a cushioned seat more than hard seat. Most prefer to buy clothes “off-the-peg” rather than make their own clothes. They prefer to buy food in stores rather than grow their own food; ready processed chickens rather than raising, butchering and plucking your own chicken. They prefer electric or gas fires more than wood fires―for it dispenses you from having to gather and chop wood all the time. Most people would opt to have more possessions rather than part with possessions and make do with less things. Most people would choose the sweet orange or banana over the more bitter lemon or lime.
All-in-all, the world is forever seeking ways to make life more comfortable, wealthy, easy and sweet―whereas Our Lord seeks to do the opposite. “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … You cannot serve God and mammon! … Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on … but seek first the Kingdom of God, and His justice” (Matthew 6:19-33). “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21). “If a man will take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy! But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:40-44). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Two Ways, Two Paths, Two Groups
When faced with the world’s way of doing things and Our Lord’s way of doing things―most people are tempted to take the world’s path of comfort, wealth, ease, sweetness and fun. St. Louis de Montfort paints a very vivid picture of this in his Letter to Friends of the Cross, saying: “Two groups appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead with a heavy cross. Only a handful of people follow Him. To the left is the world’s group―the devil’s in fact―which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. The little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things. Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good―He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.”
Today, most Catholics resemble the worldly worldlings and not Christ. They have fallen for multi-sided temptations to worldliness and it is increasingly hard to recognize Catholics among the crowds of the world. They are worldly in their speech, worldly in their clothing, worldly in the behavior, worldly in their possessions, worldly in how they spend their time. They prefer the juicy desserts that the world offers and find the desert that God offers as something repulsive, repugnant and rejectable. Today’s Catholics seem to imagine the path to Heaven to be “limo-ride” or a seat in the first-class cabin on a luxury flight to Heaven. They forget that Christ said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Christ vs. Satan
St. Paul says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). In Holy Scripture we see the account of Our Lord’s battle with Satan in the desert, after He had fasted and prayed for forty days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). In this triple temptation, Our Lord comes out on top against the wiles and temptations of Satan. It would seem that the prayer and fasting was the key to His victory. He Himself would later say, speaking of the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). Which is something He would essentially repeat during His Agony in the Garden, when He said to Peter, James and John: “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).
The Story of the Battle by Matthew
“Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter coming said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’ Who answered and said: ‘It is written, “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!”‘ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: “That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!”‘ Jesus said to him: ‘It is written again: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”‘ Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:1-11).
The Story of the Battle by Luke
“And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him: ‘If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread!’ And Jesus answered him: ‘It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!’ And the devil led Him into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and he said to Him: ‘To Thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If Thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be Thine!’ And Jesus answering said to him: ‘It is written: “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and he said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee! And that in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone!’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘It is said: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”‘ And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from Him for a time” (Luke 4:1-13).
Satan Leaves Only For a Time
Even though he was defeated by Christ in the desert, Satan would return to fight another day and in another way. Our life is meant to be one long struggle, one long war. Holy Scripture is very adamant on this: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “And the Lord said: ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy Faith fail not!” (Luke 22:31-32).
Satan’s Major Weapon—Temptation
The chief weapon of Satan is temptation—it is like a universal tool. It can be applied to any subject and to any person at any time. It was the weapon that was first successfully used against Adam and Eve, and it has stood the test of time. From Satan’s point of view, it is a very successful weapon, since, as most Saints and Father of the Church tell us, most souls end up being damned—yet that damnation is not inevitable and could have easily been avoided, if only they would have perseveringly taken the precautions that Christ has given us through His Church.
Just as temptation could be said to be the universal tool, the remedy or defense against temptation is also simple and universal—in that it works against each and every kind of temptation—it is quite simply prayer and fasting, fasting in the broadest sense of the word: not just keeping away from food, but many other things too. This is proved by Our Lord both in theory and in practice. He personally prayed and fasted in the desert for forty days and nights, after which He was able to overcome Satan’s temptations; and He also told us of the power of prayer and fasting against the devil: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
The plush and comfortable Titanic sailed into the graveyard of death; the uncomfortable and harsh conditions of the lifeboats saved the lives of a few on the desert of the sea. Do we want the Titanic or its lifeboat? The city or the desert? Pleasure or penance? Fun or fasting?
Go into the Desert
So let us, this Lenten season, retreat into our own desert—to fight and defeat the devil, the world and the flesh. The Desert Fathers (and Mothers!) were the pioneers of monastic life in the Church. Beginning in the third century, some Christians began to flee the comforts and conflicts of pagan cities to seek a life of spirituality in the desert.
They sought a simpler life, in imitation of Christ during his forty days in the desert wilderness, and dedicated themselves to solitude, labor, poverty, fasting, charity and prayer. Some of them lived in isolation; others developed rules for communal life that evolved into large monastic communities. Over time their reputation for holiness grew, and Christians from the surrounding areas sought them out for advice and spiritual direction.
St. Anthony of the Desert
Some of them became great spiritual giants and teachers in the history of the Church: they include St. Anthony the Great, St. Pachomius and St. Athanasius (in Egypt) and St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Macrina (in Asia Minor.) Their influence in the Church has been deeply felt though the centuries, particularly as monasticism and religious life developed. One of the great Desert Fathers, St. Paul, was born in Upper Egypt, around the year 229, and became an orphan at the age of fifteen. He was very rich and highly educated.
Fearing that the tortures of a terrible persecution might endanger his Christian perseverance, he retired into a remote village. But his pagan brother-in-law denounced him, and St. Paul, rather than remain where his Faith was in danger, entered the barren desert, trusting that God would supply his wants. And his confidence was rewarded; for, on the spot to which Providence led him, he found the fruit of a palm-tree for food, its leaves for clothing, and the water of a spring for drink. His first plan was to return to the world when the persecution was over; but tasting great delights in prayer and penance, he remained for the rest of his life, ninety years, in penance, prayer and contemplation. He died in the desert in his one hundred and thirteenth year.
Anthony the Who? The Great? Why?
Who, then was this “St. Anthony the Great”, whose feast we celebrate othis Sunday, January 17th? He was another example of the life that we may well find ourselves living in the not too distant future.
Concerning St. Anthony of Egypt we have more knowledge than of any other saint of this early period, thanks to the biography written by his friend, St. Athanasius. St. Anthony was born in 251 at Coma, a village near Great Heracleopolis in Middle Egypt. His Christian parents wished to protect him from bad examples and kept him closely at home, so that he grew up in ignorance of pagan literature and read no language but his own. At their death, before he had reached the age of twenty, he found himself very rich and in possession of a large estate, as well as being responsible for the care of a younger sister.
Decisions! Decisions!
Soon afterward, while in church, he heard the text from Matthew 19:21, in which Christ says to the rich young man, “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.” Anthony took this command as meant for himself. He went home and made over to his neighbors about one hundred and twenty acres of good land. He then sold the rest of the estate and gave the money to the needy, saving only what he thought necessary to maintain his sister and himself.
Another drastic step was to follow. He heard in church those other words which Christ spoke (Matthew 6:34), “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” Anthony now distributed in alms all his movable property and placed his sister in a “house of consecrated virgins,” the first reference we have to a Christian nunnery. In her later years this sister was entrusted with the direction of the women in that holy way of life. Anthony, now twenty-one and free of worldly care, became a hermit. He retired to a solitary place and occupied himself with manual labor, prayer, and religious reading. His only food was bread and a little salt, and he drank nothing but water. His bed was a rush mat. He soon became a model of humility, piety, and self-discipline.
Devil Hates Those Who Love God
However, the devil assailed him by various temptations. He pointed out the joys of family life, the good works Anthony might have done in the world with his money, and the futility of the hermit’s existence. When repulsed by the young novice, the devil changed his mode of attack, and harassed him night and day with gross and obscene thoughts. Anthony resisted by a strict watchfulness over his senses and imagination, controlling them by austere fasts, acts of humility, and prayer. At last Satan himself appeared in visible form, first as a seductive woman, then as a black and terrifying man. Anthony remained unmoved, and the fiend confessed himself vanquished.
Satanic Siege
In quest now of greater solitude, he hid himself in an old tomb in the desert, where a friend brought him a little bread from time to time. Here Satan again attacked him and deafened him with loud noises. Once, Athanasius says, he was so grievously beaten that when his friend arrived he lay almost dead. As Anthony came to himself, he called out to the devils, “See, here I am! Do your worst! Nothing shall separate me from Christ my Lord.” At this, the demons reappeared and again filled the tomb with a terrible clamor and specters of ravening beasts in hideous shapes until a ray of heavenly light, breaking through, chased them away. “Where wast Thou,” Anthony cried, “my Lord and my Master? Why wast Thou not here from the beginning of my conflict to give me succor?” “Anthony,” replied a voice, “I was here the whole time; I stood by thee, and watched thy conflict. And because thou hast manfully withstood thy enemies, I will forever protect thee, and will make thy name famous throughout the earth.” At this the saint rose up to pray and give thanks.
Desert Soldiers
It was a common practice at this time for fervent Christians to lead retired lives in penance and contemplation on the outskirts of towns, and in the desert, while others practiced their austerities without withdrawing from their fellow men. In even earlier times we hear of these ascetics. Origen, about 249, wrote that they abstained from flesh, as the disciples of Pythagoras did. Anthony lived in his tomb near Coma until about 285. Then, at the age of thirty-five, he set out into the empty desert, crossed the eastern branch of the Nile, and took up his abode in the ruins of an old castle on the top of a mountain. There he lived for almost twenty years, rarely seeing any man except the one who brought him food every six months.
In his fifty-fifth year he came down from his mountain retreat and founded his first monastery, not far from Aphroditopolis. It consisted of scattered cells, each inhabited by a solitary monk; some of the later settlements may have been arranged on more of a community plan. Anthony did not stay with any of his foundations long, but visited them all from time to time. These interruptions to his solitude, involving as they did some management of the affairs of others, tended to disturb him. We are told of a temptation to despair, which he overcame by prayer and hard manual labor. Notwithstanding his stringent self-discipline, he always maintained that perfection consisted not in mortification of the flesh but in love of God. He taught his monks to have eternity always present to their minds and to perform every act with all the fervor of their souls, as if it were to be their last.
Tough Life but Great Joy
Anthony’s later years were spent on Mount Colzim, near the Red Sea. Here he lived on a bit of bread daily, with some dates; in extreme old age, a little oil was added to this meager diet. When he came to his meal, usually taken late in the day, he said he felt a sense of shame, remembering the state of the blessed spirits in Heaven, who praise God without ceasing. He always seemed vigorous and cheerful. Strangers were able to pick him out from among his disciples by the joy which shone in his face. They traveled great distances to talk with the celebrated holy man, and it was the duty of Macarius, Anthony’s companion and disciple, to interview them. If they proved to be spiritual men, Anthony would come out and sit in converse. If they were worldly persons, Macarius would entertain them, and Anthony would appear only to give a short talk.
In spite of his fame, this saint looked on himself as the least of mankind; he listened carefully to the counsel of others, and declared that he received benefit from speaking with the humblest person. He cultivated a small garden that he might have a few refreshing vegetables to offer his visitors, who were apt to be weary after traveling by camel caravan over long stretches of desert and climbing the mountain. Athanasius also writes of his weaving mats as a daily occupation. He could pray while working, although his practice was to alternate periods of prayer and contemplation with his weaving.
Ready for Martyrdom!
In the year 311, during the persecutions under Maximian, Anthony hoped he might be one of those chosen for martyrdom. He went down to Alexandria and made himself conspicuous by encouraging the Christians already imprisoned, and also those who were standing before the judges and at the places of execution. He wore his white hermit’s habit openly, within sight of the governor, yet he did nothing provocative and did not come forward and accuse himself, as some impetuous ones did.
Back to Work
The next year, when the persecutions abated, he returned to his mountain. In his extreme old age he made another trip to Alexandria, expressly to refute the Arians, and went about preaching that Christ the Son was not a creature, but of the same eternal substance as the Father; and that the impious Arians, who called Him a creature, did not differ from the heathen, “who worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
The people flocked to hear him, and even pagans, struck by the dignity of his bearing, gathered around him, saying, “We want to see the man of God.” He made many converts and worked several miracles. The governor of Egypt invited him to stay longer in the city, but he declined, saying, “Fish die if they are taken from the water; so does a monk wither away if he forsakes his solitude.”
When Belacius, the military commander in Egypt, was savagely persecuting the Christians, Anthony wrote warning him to leave the servants of Christ in peace. Belacius tore up the letter, spat and trampled on it, and threatened to make Anthony his next victim. But five days later, as he was riding with Nestorius, governor of Egypt, the commander’s horse began to curvet and prance and crashed against the other. Belacius was thrown and his horse then turned and bit his thigh. In three days he was dead.
The Emperor Constantine and his two sons, Constantius and Constans, once sent Anthony a joint letter, recommending themselves to his prayers. Noting the astonishment of some of the monks present, Anthony said, “Do not wonder that the Emperor writes to us, even to a man such as I am; rather be astounded that God has communicated with us, and has spoken to us by His Son.” Replying to the letter, he exhorted the Emperor and his sons to contempt of the world and to constant remembrance of the final judgment.
The Moral of the Story
What are we to learn from the above? Well, what goes around, comes around. There is nothing new under the sun. Both Paul and Anthony were rich young men, well educated, who left those riches and the comfortable life that these purchased, and exchanged it for the discomfort and poverty of the desert. They did it willingly, yet in our case, God will soon enforce it upon us—as Our Lady foretells: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita) … “All those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
Yet, if we happen to be survivors in that desert-like world, let us remember those early Christians who freely chose to exchange their riches for the poverty and hardship of the desert. Let us remember, too, the wonderful Providence of God towards those Desert Fathers and trust in that same Providence for our needs.
To which the mystic and visionary, Fr. Pel of France, adds further details. Father Constant Louis Marie PEL (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. A Doctor in Theology, a seminary professor, a founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was also a close personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him, to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular [which can be seen as an indication of what will strike the rest of world too]. Here it is, quoted in abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ...but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Let us take very seriously the short time of mercy that is left to the world. Let us prepare for Lent with the knowledge that there are probably few Lents left for us to pay what we owe! Now is the time for serious preparation, not lighthearted jubilation! Time may mean money to the worldly, but time is running out for all! As Holy Scripture says:
“I called, and you refused! I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded! You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions! Therefore I will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared; when sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand; when tribulation and distress shall come upon you! Then shall they call upon Me, and I will not hear! They shall rise in the morning and shall not find me! Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils” (Proverbs 1:24-33).
Saturday after Ash Wednesday, March 5th
Article 15
Temptation Week is Around the Corner!
Article 15
Temptation Week is Around the Corner!
Now is the Acceptable Time!
Tomorrow―on the First Sunday of Lent―we have a double-barreled spiritual shotgun pointed at us. The Epistle for the First Sunday of Lent will tell us: “Receive not the grace of God in vain … For He [the Lord] says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold! Now is the acceptable time! Behold! Now is the day of salvation! Let us conduct ourselves in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes [from being whipped]; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labors; in sleepless nights; in fasting; in long-sufferings!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-10).
Now is the Dreaded Time!
While the Gospel will give us the bleak picture of Our Lord’s 40 days and nights of fasting in the desert, which was then followed by the triple-temptation of Satan: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter, coming, said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’ Who answered and said: ‘It is written: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!”’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: “That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone!”’ Jesus said to him: ‘It is written again: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”’ Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:1-11).
In one sense, those two readings confront us with very bleak and painful scene: “Now is the acceptable time [to suffer] in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes [from being whipped]; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labors; in sleepless nights; in fasting; in long-sufferings!” In addition to that, we have Our Lord fasting for 40 days and nights in the desert! After which He would tell us: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Not only that―He also indicates that we too shall have to undergo much temptation if we are to have a chance of entering Heaven: “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38).
We read in the Old Testament: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee’” (Isaias 49:8) and St. Paul echoes that in the New Testament, telling us that now is time, here on Earth, to work out our salvation: “For God saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
Listening to Our Lord’s message as to why He has come on Earth is enough to make anyone fear and tremble! He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Not Just 40 Days of Temptation―But a Whole Life of Temptation!
We are very naïve if we imagine that life on Earth is meant to be free of temptation just because we are baptized Catholics! Temptation there must be--“Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee” (Tobias 12:13).
We do well to listen to, absorb and digest the words of the Imitation of Christ, which devotes a whole chapter to the subject of temptation:
“As long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: ‘The life of man upon Earth is a warfare.’ Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps, but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy, but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation.
“Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret, that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us — in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness.
“Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before. Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled.
“The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are. Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.
“Someone has said very aptly: “Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength.” First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.
“Some suffer great temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others toward the end, while some are troubled almost constantly throughout their life. Others, again, are tempted but lightly according to the wisdom and justice of Divine Providence Who weighs the status and merit of each and prepares all for the salvation of His elect.
“We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit.
“In temptations and trials the progress of a man is measured; in them opportunity for merit and virtue is made more manifest. When a man is not troubled it is not hard for him to be fervent and devout, but if he bears up patiently in time of adversity, there is hope for great progress. Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 13).
“An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought. True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 6).
“If you do not overcome small, trifling things, how will you overcome the more difficult? Resist temptations in the beginning, and unlearn the evil habit lest perhaps, little by little, it lead to a more evil one” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 11).
A Tragic Loss of Souls
Most souls are damned―a teaching that comes to us from Our Lord, Our Lady, many Saints and Holy Scripture: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14). Our Lady adds at Fatima: “Many souls go to Hell!” ―and to the Venerable Mary of Agreda she said: “How many men have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! … Countless numbers have fallen into Hell! … Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day!”
The Saints say the same thing. St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God!” St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!” St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “It is certain that few are saved! Beyond a doubt the elect are few!” St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved! … Those who are saved are in the minority!” St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost.” St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell! ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter… Yes, indeed, many will be damned―few will be saved!” Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima (1907-1958?): “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved!” This is not even the tip of the iceberg of quotes by the saints on the subject.
Why are most souls damned? They are damned because they gave in to temptation. They gave in to temptation because they did not overcome temptation with the tools that God has given us. They neglected to use these God-given weapons when they were tempted and so they fell into sin ― again, and again, and again ― until they finally died in a state of mortal sin, having repeatedly given in to the many temptations to mortal sin. The starting point for the journey to Hell is temptation. Yet, strangely enough, the starting point for the journey to Heaven is also temptation. Temptation is a cross, a trial, a test―and, as St. Augustine says: “The same crosses lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell” ― meaning that those who do not refuse the cross and carry it well, end up in Heaven; but those who refuse the cross and carry it badly, end up in Hell.
Scary, but ...
Of course this is frightening―but it should be discouraging. It is the fault of each damned soul―whom God wanted to save and for whom Christ suffered and died on the cross. In the Old Testament God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
However, God also says: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ … Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-8). Which is echoed in the New Testament: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) ― and echoed by Our Lord, who said to the paralytic man whom He had just cured: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
As we enter what could be called “Temptation Week”, we shall be looking at how to combat temptation better so that we do not fall into the same fatal predicament that befalls that vast multitude of souls that fall into Hell by their thousands each and every day!
Tomorrow―on the First Sunday of Lent―we have a double-barreled spiritual shotgun pointed at us. The Epistle for the First Sunday of Lent will tell us: “Receive not the grace of God in vain … For He [the Lord] says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you!’ Behold! Now is the acceptable time! Behold! Now is the day of salvation! Let us conduct ourselves in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes [from being whipped]; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labors; in sleepless nights; in fasting; in long-sufferings!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-10).
Now is the Dreaded Time!
While the Gospel will give us the bleak picture of Our Lord’s 40 days and nights of fasting in the desert, which was then followed by the triple-temptation of Satan: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter, coming, said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’ Who answered and said: ‘It is written: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!”’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him: ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: “That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone!”’ Jesus said to him: ‘It is written again: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”’ Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:1-11).
In one sense, those two readings confront us with very bleak and painful scene: “Now is the acceptable time [to suffer] in much patience; in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses; in stripes [from being whipped]; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labors; in sleepless nights; in fasting; in long-sufferings!” In addition to that, we have Our Lord fasting for 40 days and nights in the desert! After which He would tell us: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Not only that―He also indicates that we too shall have to undergo much temptation if we are to have a chance of entering Heaven: “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38).
We read in the Old Testament: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee’” (Isaias 49:8) and St. Paul echoes that in the New Testament, telling us that now is time, here on Earth, to work out our salvation: “For God saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
Listening to Our Lord’s message as to why He has come on Earth is enough to make anyone fear and tremble! He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Not Just 40 Days of Temptation―But a Whole Life of Temptation!
We are very naïve if we imagine that life on Earth is meant to be free of temptation just because we are baptized Catholics! Temptation there must be--“Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee” (Tobias 12:13).
We do well to listen to, absorb and digest the words of the Imitation of Christ, which devotes a whole chapter to the subject of temptation:
“As long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: ‘The life of man upon Earth is a warfare.’ Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps, but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy, but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation.
“Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret, that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us — in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness.
“Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before. Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled.
“The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are. Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.
“Someone has said very aptly: “Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength.” First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.
“Some suffer great temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others toward the end, while some are troubled almost constantly throughout their life. Others, again, are tempted but lightly according to the wisdom and justice of Divine Providence Who weighs the status and merit of each and prepares all for the salvation of His elect.
“We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit.
“In temptations and trials the progress of a man is measured; in them opportunity for merit and virtue is made more manifest. When a man is not troubled it is not hard for him to be fervent and devout, but if he bears up patiently in time of adversity, there is hope for great progress. Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 13).
“An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought. True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 6).
“If you do not overcome small, trifling things, how will you overcome the more difficult? Resist temptations in the beginning, and unlearn the evil habit lest perhaps, little by little, it lead to a more evil one” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1; chapter 11).
A Tragic Loss of Souls
Most souls are damned―a teaching that comes to us from Our Lord, Our Lady, many Saints and Holy Scripture: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it! … For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14; 22:14). Our Lady adds at Fatima: “Many souls go to Hell!” ―and to the Venerable Mary of Agreda she said: “How many men have thrown themselves into the eternal darkness of Hell! … Countless numbers have fallen into Hell! … Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day!”
The Saints say the same thing. St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God!” St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!” St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “It is certain that few are saved! Beyond a doubt the elect are few!” St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved! … Those who are saved are in the minority!” St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost.” St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell! ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter… Yes, indeed, many will be damned―few will be saved!” Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima (1907-1958?): “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved!” This is not even the tip of the iceberg of quotes by the saints on the subject.
Why are most souls damned? They are damned because they gave in to temptation. They gave in to temptation because they did not overcome temptation with the tools that God has given us. They neglected to use these God-given weapons when they were tempted and so they fell into sin ― again, and again, and again ― until they finally died in a state of mortal sin, having repeatedly given in to the many temptations to mortal sin. The starting point for the journey to Hell is temptation. Yet, strangely enough, the starting point for the journey to Heaven is also temptation. Temptation is a cross, a trial, a test―and, as St. Augustine says: “The same crosses lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell” ― meaning that those who do not refuse the cross and carry it well, end up in Heaven; but those who refuse the cross and carry it badly, end up in Hell.
Scary, but ...
Of course this is frightening―but it should be discouraging. It is the fault of each damned soul―whom God wanted to save and for whom Christ suffered and died on the cross. In the Old Testament God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
However, God also says: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ … Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-8). Which is echoed in the New Testament: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) ― and echoed by Our Lord, who said to the paralytic man whom He had just cured: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
As we enter what could be called “Temptation Week”, we shall be looking at how to combat temptation better so that we do not fall into the same fatal predicament that befalls that vast multitude of souls that fall into Hell by their thousands each and every day!
Friday after Ash Wednesday, March 4th
Article 14
The First Lenten War Casualties
Article 14
The First Lenten War Casualties
Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics, Cafeteria Catholics
Carelessness can have fatal consequences! Likewise with a “couldn’t care less” attitude! Today it seems that most Catholics take their Faith too casually. Furthermore, they pick and choose what they want to believe and ignore what they do not like or find too difficult to believe or to do. Our Lord condemns such people saying: “You have made void the commandment of God! Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
There are too many Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics or Cafeteria Catholics in the world today―who even think that they are good Catholics! As Our Lord says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
CARELESSNESS refers to the lack of awareness during a behavior that can result in unintended consequences; not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoiding harm or errors; not being concerned or worried about something; being indifferent, unconcerned or negligent about something; not paying enough attention; not thinking before one acts or speaks. If you are CASUAL, then you are, or you pretend to be, relaxed and not very concerned about what is happening or what you are doing. Whereas a CAFETERIA CATHOLIC is typically defined as one who picks and chooses what Catholic teaching he wants to believe. All of these kinds of Catholics are the first casualties in the Lenten War that we obliged to fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “I therefore so fight―not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:26).
Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics or Cafeteria Catholics are like the careless soldier―whose indifference, neglect, lack of attention, lack of worry, lack of prudence risks and often leads to either being captured, wounded or even killed. As soon as the “battle of Lent” begins, they are likely to be the first ones to fall. Some have no plan for Lent, others have weapons that are not tough enough for the battle―merely giving-up chocolate, or beer, or cookies, etc., instead of pulling-out the “big-guns” of fasting and more prayer. Our Lord said of the devil: “This kind can go out by nothing except by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). Since―as the former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth says―“Satan rules the world”, then peashooters and water-pistols are of little use―we need the “big-guns”. Since Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics and Cafeteria Catholics refuse to use those “big-guns”, they are among the first to fall to the increased temptations with which Satan bombards everybody during Lent.
Who the Heck Cares Anymore?
If ever the following Scriptural verse applied to any period in history, then our age must be the most deserving of it: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Love Matters
Yet Scripture also tells us: “Take care of only this with all diligence―that you love the Lord your God!” (Josue 23:11). Actually, the word “diligence” comes from the Latin verb “diligere”―which means “to love”. Therefore, what Scripture is basically telling us to do is―“Take care of only this―that you put all your love into loving God!” Which is what Our Lord would later re-affirm and confirm: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind!” (Matthew 22:37).
That “love” of God is not a mere “lip-love” or “lip-service” towards God―that “love” is proved by actions―for Charity, just like Faith, is dead and useless unless it is put into action which proves that love: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Similarly with Charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) … “Let all your things be done in charity!” (1 Corinthians 16:14). It is love that gives life to whatever we do―love, so to speak, should be the soul of everything we think, say and do. Without it―everything is as though it were dead. When our love is wounded or killed―then we fall in battle, so to speak.
It is love that multiplies the merit of whatever that we offer God. That is the meaning behind Our Lord’s condemnation of mere loveless lip-service: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). God says something similar: “I wish thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). It is a terrible danger to enter into the “battle of Lent” in a lukewarm state!
Lax Lent
For many, of not most, Lent will be lax. It will be lax because of a lost sense of sin. An attitude that trivializes what is the greatest evil on Earth. Many imagine a quick trip to the confessional and a few Hail Marys as a penance from the priest is enough to take care of all sin! These kind of souls foolishly fail to understand that the penance given in confession is a mere down-payment to massive amount of temporal punishment that grows and grows each time we sin. Remember that God revealed to St. Frances of Rome, that just one mortal sin, duly confessed and the confessional penance duly done, still had SEVEN YEARS of expiation until the balance was paid! If we fail to do penance, then God will make us do penance—as Our Lady has prophesied, listing the horrible consequences that will befall the sinful world some time in the not so distant future. Hence she asks for penance and sacrifices at her apparitions.. Let us not be lax this Lent, but let us give it our all!
Lovely Lazy Lukewarmness
What is it with lukewarmness in that it does not shock our system, but, on the contrary, feels nice and pleasant? This is what makes it so dangerous! For things that cause pain, are things that we instinctively avoid; but things that are pleasurable, we tend to welcome, or, at least, we do not resist them.
The salesman knows this, and, in the sales industry, they call it the “Pleasure Principle.” Modern man, following the modern trends and tendencies sown by the modern crop of insane naturalistic psychologists, like Sigmund Freud, are ruled by the “Pleasure Principle.” This principle is the instinctual seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain in order to satisfy biological and psychological needs. The pleasure principle is the driving force guiding the world today.
Spiritual Sugar Kills
Yet, as with sugar in the area of nutrition and diet, so too with pleasure in the spiritual life. They can both be a massive danger and the source of so many ills, diseases and deaths. Lukewarmness is sugary sweet too! And it too, kills or sucks the spiritual lifeblood out of so many souls. It is one of the devil’s favorite poisons. We should spit-out any poison out if we have the misfortune to taste it; or if it is swallowed, then we should try vomit it out. And it is lukewarmness or, more correctly, the lukewarm that God threatens to spit out and vomit out of His mouth: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth” (Apocalypse 3:16).
Faber’s Lukewarmness Diagnosis
The remainder of this article is taken from the Fr. Faber’s book, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25 “Lukewarmness.” In it, he traces the causes and effects of lukewarmness, before proceeding to recommend some cures. We will cover this chapter of his in two articles, this being the first of the two.
“Lukewarmness is in no sense a beginning. We may begin by being cold, but not by being lukewarm. For lukewarmness implies that a great deal has gone before, that a height has been climbed, and that we have come down from it. He who was never fervent can never be lukewarm. Cold he may be, and low, and mean, and ungenerous, and a poltroon, but not lukewarm.
“I prefer therefore to consider lukewarmness in this place, because the knowledge we have now gained of the various appliances of the spiritual life will enable us the better to understand its true nature; and also because all the component parts of the spiritual life being also, when spoiled, the component parts of lukewarmness, this is the natural place it occupies. In fact, all that has gone before of struggle, issues simply in one of two states, lukewarmness or fervor. Either we are lukewarm, or we are fervent.
“There is nothing in the spiritual life which arrests our attention so forcibly as lukewarmness because of the unusual language in which it has pleased God to express His ineffable disgust with it, and the startling doctrine which accompanies the declaration of His loathing, that coldness is less offensive to Him than tepidity. Who is it then with whom God is so exceedingly displeased, that He is sick of His own redeemed creature? We tremble at the answer.
“The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all.
This Blindness is Owing Principally to Three Causes:
1. the frequency of venial sins,
2. habitual dissipation of mind and
3. the ruling passion.
“The frequency of venial sins is like traveling in the wilderness, where the bright air is imperceptibly filled with fine sand. Habitual dissipation of mind is like reading in the sunshine, and living in a light too strong for our eyes. The ruling passion is an external violence which menaces us and makes us shut our eyes, and have them always shut, that we may not see what it would fain hide, and so when we open them after long being used to darkness, it is the very light itself which blinds us.
The Immediate Results of this Blindness are Three:
“1. In the first place conscience becomes untrue. The body does not move firmly and in a straight line in the dark. So the conscience also must see in order to keep its balance. But if we falsify the oracle, and still believe it, what is the consequence but error and corruption everywhere? If the light that is in us be darkness, says Our Lord, how great is that darkness! So first there comes a false conscience.
“2. Bad instincts grow stronger. But in proportion as conscience becomes dark, and so cold, and finally numb, in the same proportion the bad instincts of the human spirit, like owls at night, get more far‑sighted, animated and vivacious. These instincts lead us with uncommon tact to avoid anything which will restore animation to the conscience. For their purpose it had best remain under chloroform for life. Thus they make us shrink from anything like vigorous spiritual direction. We suspect we shall be awakened, and driven, and made too good. Discretion, that is, the discretion of the blind conscience, tells us this shrinking is wisdom and sagacity. We must, it says, be moderate in everything, but, of all things, amazingly moderate in the love of God?!
“So in hearing sermons, reading books, cultivating acquaintances, patronizing works of mercy, it draws back from everything that is likely to come too near or hit too hard. It is the old story of the earthen jug and the brazen jar, as they went down the stream together. Here is the second result of this blindness, which renders the cure still less likely. Indeed it is a characteristic of tepidity that everything we do while we are in that state has a tendency to confirm us as incurable.
“3. Out of the two preceding results flows a third, which is a profane use of the Sacraments. To go to Holy Communion when we are physically drowsy, yawning and half asleep, or to make our general confession half stupefied with laudanum would be fair types of the way in which we morally use the Sacraments. Thus frequent or even daily Communion seems to have only a negative effect upon us. We do not know how bad it might be without it; and that is all.
“Weekly confession gives us no additional power over our commonest imperfections. Matters look as if they had come to a standstill, if there were any such phase of the spiritual life. But no! we are blind men, whose faces have been turned unwittingly. We are retracing our steps; and the only wonder is that the easier task of going down hill does not by its contrast make us suspicious of some mistake. Alas, we are asleep as well as blind! The finest things we do now are no better than feats of somnambulism.”
Fr. Faber then points out the importance, for our own safety and welfare, of knowing and recognizing the symptoms of lukewarmness, which he then lists and explains. We will merely add an occasional comment or will illustrate a point.
Seven Symptoms Of Lukewarmness
“It is plain from this description that what is of the greatest practical utility in this matter of lukewarmness is a thorough acquaintance with the symptoms by which the insidious disease allows itself to be detected.
“These are seven in number; and according as we perceive that we unite them in ourselves, either in number or degree, so we have reason painfully to doubt whether our spiritual eyesight is not failing.”
(1) Omitting Spiritual Exercises Becomes Easy
“The first mark is a great facility in omitting our exercises of piety, which is the exact contradictory of fervor. Everyone has his routine of pious exercises; and there are few days in which they do not entail upon us some little inconveniences. Perhaps it is one of their special uses to do this, especially if habitual distractions are going to make the exercise itself of small value. Now these little inconveniences suggest dispensations, or at least delays, which we see confusedly, will turn out dispensations at the last. Clearly there are cases in which conflicting duties or the needs of charity will interfere, and it will be more perfect to give way to them than to read or meditate. But most often the inconveniences concern only ourselves. We have the power to dispense ourselves; and we grant these dispensations either rarely and with reluctance, or often and with facility. If the latter be the case, behold the first mark of tepidity! I do not say that by itself it proves everything; but it proves much. At all events, wherever there is lukewarmness, there also is this symptom.”
(2) Spiritual Exercises Performed Badly
“But we are not only easy in omitting exercises of piety; we are negligent in those which we do perform. We care more about the fact of going through them, than the manner or the spirit of it. Thus our prayers rise to Heaven with an equipage of venial sins in attendance upon them, and the angels are reluctant witnesses of our Confessions and Communions. This is a second symptom. Here is a third.
(3) We Just Don’t Feel Right
“The soul feels not altogether right with God. It does not exactly know what is wrong; but it is sure all is not right. It casts about to see. It quarrels with everything it does, and questions each of them, and yet the mischief eludes it. It is angry with its Confessions; yet it is not easy to settle how to amend them. Something always seems unexpressed, something left behind which ought to have come out and does not. What is it?
“Then the Communions are overhauled in a similar way, the examinations of conscience are tortured, meditations reprimanded, spiritual books cashiered, together with a determination to reform everything. General orders are issued from self’s headquarters, in which strong things are said ambiguously. Everyone feels he is aimed at. Blame lies everywhere. Yet all to no purpose. At last when we have given the matter up, we suddenly come upon the offending thing, just as we look for a lost article till we are hot and tired, and then all at once see it lying in open day in a spot we have searched four or five times before.
“Now when we have this feeling of not being altogether right with God, and will not face the inquiry and make the disturbance I have described, and buckle to the triple task of discovery, punishment, and reformation, it is a symptom of our being lukewarm.”
(4) Aimless Actions
“A fourth symptom of lukewarmness is an habitual acting without any intention at all, good, bad or indifferent.” [No intentions made for the Rosary, no intentions for assisting at Mass or receiving Holy Communion. We just do it because everyone else does it or because we have to do it. We neither hate it nor love it. Routine ‘spirituality’ on auto-pilot].
(5) Careless About Virtues
“A fifth is a carelessness about forming habits of virtue. This is the opposite of the inordinate appetite for self‑improvement already considered; the truth lying here, as it mostly does in spiritual matters, in a mean.”
(6) Little Things Don’t Matter
“A sixth symptom is a contempt of little things and of daily opportunities. This is a necessary part of our blindness. We can only despise little things because we do not discern the capabilities of glorifying God, and advancing our own spiritual interest, which they contain.” [This spills over into the moral life, where the attitude to venial sin, which, after mortal sin, is the greatest evil in the world, is a dismissive comment like, “Oh, it’s only a venial sin! I won’t be sent to Hell for that!”]
(7) Just look at the Positive, Ignore the Negative
“The seventh and last symptom is a thinking rather of the good we have done than of the good we have left undone, resting on the past rather than striving for the future, loving to look at people below us rather than people above us. Our own ease and self‑complacency find their account in this attitude of the soul.
“The lukewarm are ever calculating the sacrifices they have made, and fondly realizing to themselves the glory of their self‑devotion. When these signs are observed, we can recognize in them the alarming symptoms of tepidity.
God Absolutely Despises Lukewarmness
“From these fatal marks let us pass to consider the extraordinary hatred which God has of this state. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot! I would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
“This passage is without any parallel in Scripture. God not only prefers coldness, but He rejects tepidity. It turns Him sick who is eternal love. The charity of the Heart of Jesus, our only home, cannot retain us. His disgust is too strong for Him to resist it; and He rejects us with an unconquerable nausea which even redeeming love cannot temper or allay. It is a most awful figure, and one which, but for His own word, we should not dare to have mentioned in the same breath with His adorable majesty. How much He must have meant to teach us by the singularity of that terrific language!
“Now God is infinitely just, therefore His hatred of this state cannot be too great. It is not in His majesty to exaggerate. But He is also infinitely forbearing, so that His punishment must be, if anything, short of its horrible deserts. What then must its real horror be?”
Why Does God Hate Lukewarmness So Much?
“But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him second-hand.
“Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy.
“It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly. It profanes grace by the indifference with which it misuses it. It takes it as a right, and misapplies it, as a dishonest man spends money on purposes for which it was not trusted to him. It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do.
“It would be better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart!”
Can Lukewarmness be Cured?
“A few words on its remedies and the hateful subject may be dismissed. Its cure is immensely difficult; St. Bernard would make us almost despair of its being curable at all. Only, we made up our minds at the beginning to hold this all through, that nothing is incurable, though many things in the spiritual life are nearly so; and neither doctor, nor father, nor saint, but only the Pope, shall drive us from this doctrine. St. Bernard therefore will be satisfied if we say that its cure is immensely difficult, because all the Saints have said so, because the evil is unsuspected, because even the good is mixed with evil, because men do not realize the possible forfeiture of grace to keep precepts when they have been playing fast and loose with counsels, and because, as St. Teresa teaches, for some souls perfection is accidentally necessary even for their salvation!”
Take the Remedies Seriously!
“How absurd it seems to mention the feeble remedies!
(1) The first is to quicken Faith by meditation on eternal truths, so as to possess our minds habitually with their overwhelming importance and their exacting purity.
(2) The second is, not having so many things to do. It is no use. The times are busy. But we cannot save our souls if we have so many things to do. But the remedy? Good soul! There are some knots in life which cannot be untied; the thing is to cut them, and leave the consequences to help themselves. If you have more duties to do than you can do well, you must boldly neglect some of them. Only have Faith, and God will spirit the consequences away, so that you will see nothing more of them.
(3) The third remedy is the practice of silence, not in any offensive or singular way, but proportionally to our state of life. [God is found in silence. Not just silence of speech; but also silence from the noise around us: the TV, radio, music, worldly activity and bustle; silence of imagination; silence of activity, etc.]
(4) The fourth is to persevere in our spiritual exercises in spite of dryness and distractions. [Many times dryness is a punishment for lukewarmness; it is God justly ignoring us for our having ignored Him, God showing little warmth for a while in return for our lack of warmth in our lukewarmness towards Him].
(5) The fifth, which is nearer a specific than any of the others, is a habit of mortification, not interior, but exterior. The interior will look out for itself when its time comes. Just now I want the flesh to suffer. If you turn away from this I give you up. It is the quinine for your ague [a bitter tonic for our fever].
“Alas! Alas! What does all this come to but the admission that the only sure remedy for lukewarmness is never to be lukewarm, an oracle worthy of the pompous physician of the old comedy? Yet does it not in reality say a great deal?
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there.
“It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then--lost for ever.”
Thus ends Fr. Faber’s chapter on Lukewarmness.
Lukewarmness is the first and foremost weapon the devil will use during Lent (and all throughout the year, but especially during Lent). He knows the great graces that are on offer; he knows that a serious Lent could do serious damage to his plans for your damnation. Use your time well, and you will avoid Hell.
Carelessness can have fatal consequences! Likewise with a “couldn’t care less” attitude! Today it seems that most Catholics take their Faith too casually. Furthermore, they pick and choose what they want to believe and ignore what they do not like or find too difficult to believe or to do. Our Lord condemns such people saying: “You have made void the commandment of God! Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
There are too many Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics or Cafeteria Catholics in the world today―who even think that they are good Catholics! As Our Lord says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
CARELESSNESS refers to the lack of awareness during a behavior that can result in unintended consequences; not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoiding harm or errors; not being concerned or worried about something; being indifferent, unconcerned or negligent about something; not paying enough attention; not thinking before one acts or speaks. If you are CASUAL, then you are, or you pretend to be, relaxed and not very concerned about what is happening or what you are doing. Whereas a CAFETERIA CATHOLIC is typically defined as one who picks and chooses what Catholic teaching he wants to believe. All of these kinds of Catholics are the first casualties in the Lenten War that we obliged to fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “I therefore so fight―not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:26).
Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics or Cafeteria Catholics are like the careless soldier―whose indifference, neglect, lack of attention, lack of worry, lack of prudence risks and often leads to either being captured, wounded or even killed. As soon as the “battle of Lent” begins, they are likely to be the first ones to fall. Some have no plan for Lent, others have weapons that are not tough enough for the battle―merely giving-up chocolate, or beer, or cookies, etc., instead of pulling-out the “big-guns” of fasting and more prayer. Our Lord said of the devil: “This kind can go out by nothing except by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). Since―as the former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth says―“Satan rules the world”, then peashooters and water-pistols are of little use―we need the “big-guns”. Since Careless Catholics, Casual Catholics and Cafeteria Catholics refuse to use those “big-guns”, they are among the first to fall to the increased temptations with which Satan bombards everybody during Lent.
Who the Heck Cares Anymore?
If ever the following Scriptural verse applied to any period in history, then our age must be the most deserving of it: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Love Matters
Yet Scripture also tells us: “Take care of only this with all diligence―that you love the Lord your God!” (Josue 23:11). Actually, the word “diligence” comes from the Latin verb “diligere”―which means “to love”. Therefore, what Scripture is basically telling us to do is―“Take care of only this―that you put all your love into loving God!” Which is what Our Lord would later re-affirm and confirm: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind!” (Matthew 22:37).
That “love” of God is not a mere “lip-love” or “lip-service” towards God―that “love” is proved by actions―for Charity, just like Faith, is dead and useless unless it is put into action which proves that love: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Similarly with Charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) … “Let all your things be done in charity!” (1 Corinthians 16:14). It is love that gives life to whatever we do―love, so to speak, should be the soul of everything we think, say and do. Without it―everything is as though it were dead. When our love is wounded or killed―then we fall in battle, so to speak.
It is love that multiplies the merit of whatever that we offer God. That is the meaning behind Our Lord’s condemnation of mere loveless lip-service: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). God says something similar: “I wish thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). It is a terrible danger to enter into the “battle of Lent” in a lukewarm state!
Lax Lent
For many, of not most, Lent will be lax. It will be lax because of a lost sense of sin. An attitude that trivializes what is the greatest evil on Earth. Many imagine a quick trip to the confessional and a few Hail Marys as a penance from the priest is enough to take care of all sin! These kind of souls foolishly fail to understand that the penance given in confession is a mere down-payment to massive amount of temporal punishment that grows and grows each time we sin. Remember that God revealed to St. Frances of Rome, that just one mortal sin, duly confessed and the confessional penance duly done, still had SEVEN YEARS of expiation until the balance was paid! If we fail to do penance, then God will make us do penance—as Our Lady has prophesied, listing the horrible consequences that will befall the sinful world some time in the not so distant future. Hence she asks for penance and sacrifices at her apparitions.. Let us not be lax this Lent, but let us give it our all!
Lovely Lazy Lukewarmness
What is it with lukewarmness in that it does not shock our system, but, on the contrary, feels nice and pleasant? This is what makes it so dangerous! For things that cause pain, are things that we instinctively avoid; but things that are pleasurable, we tend to welcome, or, at least, we do not resist them.
The salesman knows this, and, in the sales industry, they call it the “Pleasure Principle.” Modern man, following the modern trends and tendencies sown by the modern crop of insane naturalistic psychologists, like Sigmund Freud, are ruled by the “Pleasure Principle.” This principle is the instinctual seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain in order to satisfy biological and psychological needs. The pleasure principle is the driving force guiding the world today.
Spiritual Sugar Kills
Yet, as with sugar in the area of nutrition and diet, so too with pleasure in the spiritual life. They can both be a massive danger and the source of so many ills, diseases and deaths. Lukewarmness is sugary sweet too! And it too, kills or sucks the spiritual lifeblood out of so many souls. It is one of the devil’s favorite poisons. We should spit-out any poison out if we have the misfortune to taste it; or if it is swallowed, then we should try vomit it out. And it is lukewarmness or, more correctly, the lukewarm that God threatens to spit out and vomit out of His mouth: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth” (Apocalypse 3:16).
Faber’s Lukewarmness Diagnosis
The remainder of this article is taken from the Fr. Faber’s book, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25 “Lukewarmness.” In it, he traces the causes and effects of lukewarmness, before proceeding to recommend some cures. We will cover this chapter of his in two articles, this being the first of the two.
“Lukewarmness is in no sense a beginning. We may begin by being cold, but not by being lukewarm. For lukewarmness implies that a great deal has gone before, that a height has been climbed, and that we have come down from it. He who was never fervent can never be lukewarm. Cold he may be, and low, and mean, and ungenerous, and a poltroon, but not lukewarm.
“I prefer therefore to consider lukewarmness in this place, because the knowledge we have now gained of the various appliances of the spiritual life will enable us the better to understand its true nature; and also because all the component parts of the spiritual life being also, when spoiled, the component parts of lukewarmness, this is the natural place it occupies. In fact, all that has gone before of struggle, issues simply in one of two states, lukewarmness or fervor. Either we are lukewarm, or we are fervent.
“There is nothing in the spiritual life which arrests our attention so forcibly as lukewarmness because of the unusual language in which it has pleased God to express His ineffable disgust with it, and the startling doctrine which accompanies the declaration of His loathing, that coldness is less offensive to Him than tepidity. Who is it then with whom God is so exceedingly displeased, that He is sick of His own redeemed creature? We tremble at the answer.
“The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all.
This Blindness is Owing Principally to Three Causes:
1. the frequency of venial sins,
2. habitual dissipation of mind and
3. the ruling passion.
“The frequency of venial sins is like traveling in the wilderness, where the bright air is imperceptibly filled with fine sand. Habitual dissipation of mind is like reading in the sunshine, and living in a light too strong for our eyes. The ruling passion is an external violence which menaces us and makes us shut our eyes, and have them always shut, that we may not see what it would fain hide, and so when we open them after long being used to darkness, it is the very light itself which blinds us.
The Immediate Results of this Blindness are Three:
“1. In the first place conscience becomes untrue. The body does not move firmly and in a straight line in the dark. So the conscience also must see in order to keep its balance. But if we falsify the oracle, and still believe it, what is the consequence but error and corruption everywhere? If the light that is in us be darkness, says Our Lord, how great is that darkness! So first there comes a false conscience.
“2. Bad instincts grow stronger. But in proportion as conscience becomes dark, and so cold, and finally numb, in the same proportion the bad instincts of the human spirit, like owls at night, get more far‑sighted, animated and vivacious. These instincts lead us with uncommon tact to avoid anything which will restore animation to the conscience. For their purpose it had best remain under chloroform for life. Thus they make us shrink from anything like vigorous spiritual direction. We suspect we shall be awakened, and driven, and made too good. Discretion, that is, the discretion of the blind conscience, tells us this shrinking is wisdom and sagacity. We must, it says, be moderate in everything, but, of all things, amazingly moderate in the love of God?!
“So in hearing sermons, reading books, cultivating acquaintances, patronizing works of mercy, it draws back from everything that is likely to come too near or hit too hard. It is the old story of the earthen jug and the brazen jar, as they went down the stream together. Here is the second result of this blindness, which renders the cure still less likely. Indeed it is a characteristic of tepidity that everything we do while we are in that state has a tendency to confirm us as incurable.
“3. Out of the two preceding results flows a third, which is a profane use of the Sacraments. To go to Holy Communion when we are physically drowsy, yawning and half asleep, or to make our general confession half stupefied with laudanum would be fair types of the way in which we morally use the Sacraments. Thus frequent or even daily Communion seems to have only a negative effect upon us. We do not know how bad it might be without it; and that is all.
“Weekly confession gives us no additional power over our commonest imperfections. Matters look as if they had come to a standstill, if there were any such phase of the spiritual life. But no! we are blind men, whose faces have been turned unwittingly. We are retracing our steps; and the only wonder is that the easier task of going down hill does not by its contrast make us suspicious of some mistake. Alas, we are asleep as well as blind! The finest things we do now are no better than feats of somnambulism.”
Fr. Faber then points out the importance, for our own safety and welfare, of knowing and recognizing the symptoms of lukewarmness, which he then lists and explains. We will merely add an occasional comment or will illustrate a point.
Seven Symptoms Of Lukewarmness
“It is plain from this description that what is of the greatest practical utility in this matter of lukewarmness is a thorough acquaintance with the symptoms by which the insidious disease allows itself to be detected.
“These are seven in number; and according as we perceive that we unite them in ourselves, either in number or degree, so we have reason painfully to doubt whether our spiritual eyesight is not failing.”
(1) Omitting Spiritual Exercises Becomes Easy
“The first mark is a great facility in omitting our exercises of piety, which is the exact contradictory of fervor. Everyone has his routine of pious exercises; and there are few days in which they do not entail upon us some little inconveniences. Perhaps it is one of their special uses to do this, especially if habitual distractions are going to make the exercise itself of small value. Now these little inconveniences suggest dispensations, or at least delays, which we see confusedly, will turn out dispensations at the last. Clearly there are cases in which conflicting duties or the needs of charity will interfere, and it will be more perfect to give way to them than to read or meditate. But most often the inconveniences concern only ourselves. We have the power to dispense ourselves; and we grant these dispensations either rarely and with reluctance, or often and with facility. If the latter be the case, behold the first mark of tepidity! I do not say that by itself it proves everything; but it proves much. At all events, wherever there is lukewarmness, there also is this symptom.”
(2) Spiritual Exercises Performed Badly
“But we are not only easy in omitting exercises of piety; we are negligent in those which we do perform. We care more about the fact of going through them, than the manner or the spirit of it. Thus our prayers rise to Heaven with an equipage of venial sins in attendance upon them, and the angels are reluctant witnesses of our Confessions and Communions. This is a second symptom. Here is a third.
(3) We Just Don’t Feel Right
“The soul feels not altogether right with God. It does not exactly know what is wrong; but it is sure all is not right. It casts about to see. It quarrels with everything it does, and questions each of them, and yet the mischief eludes it. It is angry with its Confessions; yet it is not easy to settle how to amend them. Something always seems unexpressed, something left behind which ought to have come out and does not. What is it?
“Then the Communions are overhauled in a similar way, the examinations of conscience are tortured, meditations reprimanded, spiritual books cashiered, together with a determination to reform everything. General orders are issued from self’s headquarters, in which strong things are said ambiguously. Everyone feels he is aimed at. Blame lies everywhere. Yet all to no purpose. At last when we have given the matter up, we suddenly come upon the offending thing, just as we look for a lost article till we are hot and tired, and then all at once see it lying in open day in a spot we have searched four or five times before.
“Now when we have this feeling of not being altogether right with God, and will not face the inquiry and make the disturbance I have described, and buckle to the triple task of discovery, punishment, and reformation, it is a symptom of our being lukewarm.”
(4) Aimless Actions
“A fourth symptom of lukewarmness is an habitual acting without any intention at all, good, bad or indifferent.” [No intentions made for the Rosary, no intentions for assisting at Mass or receiving Holy Communion. We just do it because everyone else does it or because we have to do it. We neither hate it nor love it. Routine ‘spirituality’ on auto-pilot].
(5) Careless About Virtues
“A fifth is a carelessness about forming habits of virtue. This is the opposite of the inordinate appetite for self‑improvement already considered; the truth lying here, as it mostly does in spiritual matters, in a mean.”
(6) Little Things Don’t Matter
“A sixth symptom is a contempt of little things and of daily opportunities. This is a necessary part of our blindness. We can only despise little things because we do not discern the capabilities of glorifying God, and advancing our own spiritual interest, which they contain.” [This spills over into the moral life, where the attitude to venial sin, which, after mortal sin, is the greatest evil in the world, is a dismissive comment like, “Oh, it’s only a venial sin! I won’t be sent to Hell for that!”]
(7) Just look at the Positive, Ignore the Negative
“The seventh and last symptom is a thinking rather of the good we have done than of the good we have left undone, resting on the past rather than striving for the future, loving to look at people below us rather than people above us. Our own ease and self‑complacency find their account in this attitude of the soul.
“The lukewarm are ever calculating the sacrifices they have made, and fondly realizing to themselves the glory of their self‑devotion. When these signs are observed, we can recognize in them the alarming symptoms of tepidity.
God Absolutely Despises Lukewarmness
“From these fatal marks let us pass to consider the extraordinary hatred which God has of this state. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot! I would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
“This passage is without any parallel in Scripture. God not only prefers coldness, but He rejects tepidity. It turns Him sick who is eternal love. The charity of the Heart of Jesus, our only home, cannot retain us. His disgust is too strong for Him to resist it; and He rejects us with an unconquerable nausea which even redeeming love cannot temper or allay. It is a most awful figure, and one which, but for His own word, we should not dare to have mentioned in the same breath with His adorable majesty. How much He must have meant to teach us by the singularity of that terrific language!
“Now God is infinitely just, therefore His hatred of this state cannot be too great. It is not in His majesty to exaggerate. But He is also infinitely forbearing, so that His punishment must be, if anything, short of its horrible deserts. What then must its real horror be?”
Why Does God Hate Lukewarmness So Much?
“But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him second-hand.
“Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy.
“It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly. It profanes grace by the indifference with which it misuses it. It takes it as a right, and misapplies it, as a dishonest man spends money on purposes for which it was not trusted to him. It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do.
“It would be better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart!”
Can Lukewarmness be Cured?
“A few words on its remedies and the hateful subject may be dismissed. Its cure is immensely difficult; St. Bernard would make us almost despair of its being curable at all. Only, we made up our minds at the beginning to hold this all through, that nothing is incurable, though many things in the spiritual life are nearly so; and neither doctor, nor father, nor saint, but only the Pope, shall drive us from this doctrine. St. Bernard therefore will be satisfied if we say that its cure is immensely difficult, because all the Saints have said so, because the evil is unsuspected, because even the good is mixed with evil, because men do not realize the possible forfeiture of grace to keep precepts when they have been playing fast and loose with counsels, and because, as St. Teresa teaches, for some souls perfection is accidentally necessary even for their salvation!”
Take the Remedies Seriously!
“How absurd it seems to mention the feeble remedies!
(1) The first is to quicken Faith by meditation on eternal truths, so as to possess our minds habitually with their overwhelming importance and their exacting purity.
(2) The second is, not having so many things to do. It is no use. The times are busy. But we cannot save our souls if we have so many things to do. But the remedy? Good soul! There are some knots in life which cannot be untied; the thing is to cut them, and leave the consequences to help themselves. If you have more duties to do than you can do well, you must boldly neglect some of them. Only have Faith, and God will spirit the consequences away, so that you will see nothing more of them.
(3) The third remedy is the practice of silence, not in any offensive or singular way, but proportionally to our state of life. [God is found in silence. Not just silence of speech; but also silence from the noise around us: the TV, radio, music, worldly activity and bustle; silence of imagination; silence of activity, etc.]
(4) The fourth is to persevere in our spiritual exercises in spite of dryness and distractions. [Many times dryness is a punishment for lukewarmness; it is God justly ignoring us for our having ignored Him, God showing little warmth for a while in return for our lack of warmth in our lukewarmness towards Him].
(5) The fifth, which is nearer a specific than any of the others, is a habit of mortification, not interior, but exterior. The interior will look out for itself when its time comes. Just now I want the flesh to suffer. If you turn away from this I give you up. It is the quinine for your ague [a bitter tonic for our fever].
“Alas! Alas! What does all this come to but the admission that the only sure remedy for lukewarmness is never to be lukewarm, an oracle worthy of the pompous physician of the old comedy? Yet does it not in reality say a great deal?
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there.
“It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then--lost for ever.”
Thus ends Fr. Faber’s chapter on Lukewarmness.
Lukewarmness is the first and foremost weapon the devil will use during Lent (and all throughout the year, but especially during Lent). He knows the great graces that are on offer; he knows that a serious Lent could do serious damage to his plans for your damnation. Use your time well, and you will avoid Hell.
Ash Wednesday, March 2nd
Article 13
The Lenten War Starts! Reduced to Ashes!
Article 13
The Lenten War Starts! Reduced to Ashes!
Remember Man…!
If you attended the Ash Wednesday Mass, you no doubt received the sobering imposition of ashes on your forehead―accompanied by the even more sobering words: “Remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return!” Those words, said by the priest, could easily be said the Globalists or Elites―who look upon us as being mere nothings! Or, as Klaus Schwab―a Globalist and Elite puppet or frontman―indicates: “You will have nothing and you will be happy!” As Schwab’s WEF (World Economic Forum) explained on its website: “[By 2030] all products will have become services. ‘I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes.’ Shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean energy and borrow what they need on demand. It sounds utopian, until she mentions that her every move is tracked and outside the city live swathes of discontents, the ultimate depiction of a society split in two.”
You could even liken the imposition of ashes to the imposition of the vaccine―which implicitly means that those who receive it will soon be ashes―meaning they are doomed to die sooner or later, and become ashes through the ever increasingly popular funeral custom of cremation, or at least slowly turning into ashes in the coffin.
Worse Than What You Think!
We seem to be eternal optimists! Or we think that we can stare God down! Or make Him feel guilty when actually we and the world are the guilty ones! Isn’t our reasoning very strange when we seem to think that with all the sin increasing at alarming rate in the world and with penance decreasing at an alarming rate in the world—somehow everything will end up “hunky-dory” or “sweet as apple pie”! Somewhere our math has gone awry—Heaven asks for more prayer and penance, we pay less prayer and penance, and we still hope to get the goods! Is that insanity or what? Of course, Our Lord said: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22)—but Holy Scripture also says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Somehow, Hollywood’s “happy ending” is unlikely to be part of the script that we are living-out, especially in view of Our Lady’s lines: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them! … The true Faith to the Lord will be forgotten! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “There will be unbridled luxury … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
When Our Lady of Good Success had revealed to Mother Mariana the terrible state of things to come, Mother Mariana asked Our Lady: “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?”
“No,” Our Lady replied, “it is not you, but the criminal world!”
Yet, in a certain sense—we are guilty of aiding and abetting the world in its criminal sinfulness! How? Because we have refused to pull down from Heaven—by a multitude of prayers and sacrifices—the heavenly waters of grace that would have put-out many of the sinful fiery passions that have raged like a forest fire throughout this world during the time that we have been alive! We cannot escape blame altogether and protest as Cain protested to God, saying: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Yes, we are—for as Holy Scripture says: “The prayer of faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up; and, if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him!” (James 5:15).
This is exactly what Our Lady has come to ask of us in these modern times―she has come to ask for prayers, sacrifices and penances from the just: “Pray for sinners! Penance! Penance! Penance! Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” she says at Lourdes in 1858. Has sin increased or decreased since Lourdes in 1858? Increased! Have the prayers and penances and sacrifices of the world increased or decreased since 1858. Decreased! Do the math for yourself!
At Fatima, almost 60 years later, first of all the Angel of Portugal (the Angel of Peace) appeared to three young children, aged, at that time, 6, 8 and 9, and said: “Pray, pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you.”
Sr. Lucia comments: “Those words of the Angel engraved themselves in our souls, as a light which made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wants to be loved by us, the value of sacrifice and how pleasing it is to Him, and that out of respect for it, God converts sinners.” Has sin increased or decreased since Fatima in 1917? Increased! Have the prayers and penances and sacrifices of the world increased or decreased since 1917. Decreased! Do the math for yourself!
Our Lady Enlists “Brother’s Keepers”
At a later time, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the children and insisted on the same: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Who Is Influencing Who?
As the saying goes: “You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” The world is the devil’s princedom and it is full of smoke and mirrors, which the devil uses to flatter, confuse, lure and trick souls into an even smokier afterlife. Many foolishly succumb to his temptations and the temptations of the world, of which he is the prince! “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). Catholics forget that “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1).
The weapons the world and the devil uses are not frightening weapons—no guns, knives, or nuclear bombs—but physically and materially tantalizing, alluring, seductive weapons! We see them, we love them, we desire them, we partake of them! We allow ourselves to be influenced and compromised by the world and its disguised ‘delights’! No wonder the vast majority of souls is lost! They ignore God’s word at their peril:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. NOW THESE AVOID!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Life is a tug-of-war between Heaven and Hell, the Church and world, the spiritual and the material, the pray and the play—each side trying to pull us over into their camp. Who are we listening to the most? I think that many have to say that they listen more to the world than they do to God—just look at the time spent in worldly things, compared to spiritual things! No contest! We love what we should hate and we hate what we should love!
Are You Peace-Loving Person?
Do you really hate the world? Of course you don’t! You see the world and God as two bickering, arguing, fighting parents who you wish would reconcile with each other, so that everyone can live in peace with each other! Yet your way is not Our Lord’s way, Who said: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). As Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). It is chiefly spiritual warfare―warfare against the triple enemy: (1) the devil, (2) the world, and (3) the flesh―that is to say our fallen nature with all of its evil tendencies. In short―a fight against sin―for as Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” And we “have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
Which Side of the Divide?
Our Lord and His teaching is not about false peace and fake reconciliations—it is about picking and choosing which side of the divide you are going to stand: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23). Life is a tug-of-war between Heaven and Hell—each side trying to pull us into their place. We somehow think—or at least somehow hope—that God can be served without letting go of the mammon! To such people Our Lord says: “Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Changing Times! Changing Truth?
You cannot pull other souls into the lifeboat if you are outside the lifeboat to start with! You cannot give what you haven’t got! Our Lord says that few are saved and you live and act as though the majority is saved! What Our Lord said to the Pharisees also applies to us: “You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:23-24).
Today, objective (real) truth, has been replaced by subjective (imaginary) truth. Today, people believe what they want to believe. It is amazing how many folk think that all their family and relatives are saved—imagining them to be either in Heaven, or at worst, in Purgatory. Nobody among their family or relatives is in Hell! Considering that most Catholic souls—whether they be clergy or laity—are lost, according to the opinion of most of the Fathers, Doctors, Saints and Theologians. Yet along come the unholy trinity—Maude Ernist, Iva Knobjekshun and Luke Warm—protesting that times have changed and truth is what we believe it to be! If you believe that, then you are lost! Yet that is how most people are today, they live a dream—their self-made dream—which has no truth in reality!
“If you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few. Do not follow the majority of mankind, but follow those who renounce the world and never relax their efforts day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness” (St. Anselm). “It is certain that few are saved” (St. Augustine, Sermon 111; also Against Cresconius). “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1).
Are You With the Many or the Few?
Our Lord is pretty adamant: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “A certain man said to Jesus:
Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13).
Many are called, but few are chosen! Many are told, but few listen! There are many who play, but few who pray! There are many who are lost, because we refuse to pay the cost! And many will be shocked, because their refusal to pay has seen the gates of Heaven locked! As Sr. Lucia of Fatima sadly said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Fuentes).
We listen, but we refuse to do as we are told: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” (Matthew 13:13-15).
The Isaias prophecy Jesus refers to and quotes, is the following: “And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us?’ And I said: ‘Behold! Here I am! Send me!’ And He said: ‘Go, and thou shalt say to this people: “Hearing, hear, and understand not! And see the vision, and know it not!” Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!’” (Isaias 6:8-10).
Blind, Deaf and Dumb!
God wants to heal us, but, just as He used Isaias and the other prophets to send messages, so too has He used Our Lady in these days—the Queen of Prophets—to speak to us, but nothing changes—our hearts are blind, we see but we then shut our eyes; we hear, but then we shut our ears; we are told, but we fail to understand—and therefore few are converted because we refuse to play our part.
Slack Soldiers and Lukewarm Lovers of Christ
All this is down to a failure of Catholics to fulfill their role as being their “Brother’s Keeper”! The whole economy of our Redemption is simply based on this truth: God could save mankind without using men to do so, but God has ruled that mankind has to be saved by the use of its own men and women. Nothing could be clearer or more obvious than that! There countless examples of that in Holy Scripture alone! God uses Noe to save a remnant of mankind by having Noe build an ark—God could have saved that remnant without any ark and saved Noe nearly 100 years of heavy labor! God chose Abraham to be the springboard and foundation for the Chosen People, from which Christ would come—but Christ had no need of any race in order to fulfill the Redemption. God chooses Moses to lead His Chosen People out of Egypt and to the Promised Land—but He could have dispensed with Moses and still have achieved His purpose. God chose Jonas to go to Nineve and warn them of their imminent destruction unless they convert and do penance—God had no real need of Jonas, He could have delivered that message Himself. God appoints and sends one prophet after another to instruct the Chosen People—but God could just easily have done so directly by Himself. Our Lord chooses Twelve Apostles to do what He could have done far better by Himself—He only ‘worked’ for three years and then ascended to Heaven, leaving men to continue His work for almost two thousand years.
St. John Chrysostom says that on our personal Day of Judgment, we shall be judged for all that happened in the world during our lifetime! We will then try the old Cain excuse of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and we already know the answer to that one!
Lenten Springboard
Lent is an ideal time to re-awaken—or waken for the first time in our lives—the realization that we will stand or fall before the Judgment Seat of God based upon what we have done for or against our neighbor. “Whatever you did or did not do to these, the least of my brethren, you did or did not do unto Me!” (Matthew 25:31-46). “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20)―and this is essentially what Our Lady demanded at Fatima. But if we fail to turn sinners from their errors—then what?…!!!
If you attended the Ash Wednesday Mass, you no doubt received the sobering imposition of ashes on your forehead―accompanied by the even more sobering words: “Remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return!” Those words, said by the priest, could easily be said the Globalists or Elites―who look upon us as being mere nothings! Or, as Klaus Schwab―a Globalist and Elite puppet or frontman―indicates: “You will have nothing and you will be happy!” As Schwab’s WEF (World Economic Forum) explained on its website: “[By 2030] all products will have become services. ‘I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes.’ Shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean energy and borrow what they need on demand. It sounds utopian, until she mentions that her every move is tracked and outside the city live swathes of discontents, the ultimate depiction of a society split in two.”
You could even liken the imposition of ashes to the imposition of the vaccine―which implicitly means that those who receive it will soon be ashes―meaning they are doomed to die sooner or later, and become ashes through the ever increasingly popular funeral custom of cremation, or at least slowly turning into ashes in the coffin.
Worse Than What You Think!
We seem to be eternal optimists! Or we think that we can stare God down! Or make Him feel guilty when actually we and the world are the guilty ones! Isn’t our reasoning very strange when we seem to think that with all the sin increasing at alarming rate in the world and with penance decreasing at an alarming rate in the world—somehow everything will end up “hunky-dory” or “sweet as apple pie”! Somewhere our math has gone awry—Heaven asks for more prayer and penance, we pay less prayer and penance, and we still hope to get the goods! Is that insanity or what? Of course, Our Lord said: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22)—but Holy Scripture also says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Somehow, Hollywood’s “happy ending” is unlikely to be part of the script that we are living-out, especially in view of Our Lady’s lines: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them! … The true Faith to the Lord will be forgotten! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “There will be unbridled luxury … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
When Our Lady of Good Success had revealed to Mother Mariana the terrible state of things to come, Mother Mariana asked Our Lady: “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?”
“No,” Our Lady replied, “it is not you, but the criminal world!”
Yet, in a certain sense—we are guilty of aiding and abetting the world in its criminal sinfulness! How? Because we have refused to pull down from Heaven—by a multitude of prayers and sacrifices—the heavenly waters of grace that would have put-out many of the sinful fiery passions that have raged like a forest fire throughout this world during the time that we have been alive! We cannot escape blame altogether and protest as Cain protested to God, saying: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Yes, we are—for as Holy Scripture says: “The prayer of faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up; and, if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him!” (James 5:15).
This is exactly what Our Lady has come to ask of us in these modern times―she has come to ask for prayers, sacrifices and penances from the just: “Pray for sinners! Penance! Penance! Penance! Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” she says at Lourdes in 1858. Has sin increased or decreased since Lourdes in 1858? Increased! Have the prayers and penances and sacrifices of the world increased or decreased since 1858. Decreased! Do the math for yourself!
At Fatima, almost 60 years later, first of all the Angel of Portugal (the Angel of Peace) appeared to three young children, aged, at that time, 6, 8 and 9, and said: “Pray, pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you.”
Sr. Lucia comments: “Those words of the Angel engraved themselves in our souls, as a light which made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wants to be loved by us, the value of sacrifice and how pleasing it is to Him, and that out of respect for it, God converts sinners.” Has sin increased or decreased since Fatima in 1917? Increased! Have the prayers and penances and sacrifices of the world increased or decreased since 1917. Decreased! Do the math for yourself!
Our Lady Enlists “Brother’s Keepers”
At a later time, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the children and insisted on the same: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Who Is Influencing Who?
As the saying goes: “You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” The world is the devil’s princedom and it is full of smoke and mirrors, which the devil uses to flatter, confuse, lure and trick souls into an even smokier afterlife. Many foolishly succumb to his temptations and the temptations of the world, of which he is the prince! “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). Catholics forget that “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1).
The weapons the world and the devil uses are not frightening weapons—no guns, knives, or nuclear bombs—but physically and materially tantalizing, alluring, seductive weapons! We see them, we love them, we desire them, we partake of them! We allow ourselves to be influenced and compromised by the world and its disguised ‘delights’! No wonder the vast majority of souls is lost! They ignore God’s word at their peril:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. NOW THESE AVOID!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Life is a tug-of-war between Heaven and Hell, the Church and world, the spiritual and the material, the pray and the play—each side trying to pull us over into their camp. Who are we listening to the most? I think that many have to say that they listen more to the world than they do to God—just look at the time spent in worldly things, compared to spiritual things! No contest! We love what we should hate and we hate what we should love!
Are You Peace-Loving Person?
Do you really hate the world? Of course you don’t! You see the world and God as two bickering, arguing, fighting parents who you wish would reconcile with each other, so that everyone can live in peace with each other! Yet your way is not Our Lord’s way, Who said: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). As Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). It is chiefly spiritual warfare―warfare against the triple enemy: (1) the devil, (2) the world, and (3) the flesh―that is to say our fallen nature with all of its evil tendencies. In short―a fight against sin―for as Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” And we “have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
Which Side of the Divide?
Our Lord and His teaching is not about false peace and fake reconciliations—it is about picking and choosing which side of the divide you are going to stand: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23). Life is a tug-of-war between Heaven and Hell—each side trying to pull us into their place. We somehow think—or at least somehow hope—that God can be served without letting go of the mammon! To such people Our Lord says: “Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Changing Times! Changing Truth?
You cannot pull other souls into the lifeboat if you are outside the lifeboat to start with! You cannot give what you haven’t got! Our Lord says that few are saved and you live and act as though the majority is saved! What Our Lord said to the Pharisees also applies to us: “You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:23-24).
Today, objective (real) truth, has been replaced by subjective (imaginary) truth. Today, people believe what they want to believe. It is amazing how many folk think that all their family and relatives are saved—imagining them to be either in Heaven, or at worst, in Purgatory. Nobody among their family or relatives is in Hell! Considering that most Catholic souls—whether they be clergy or laity—are lost, according to the opinion of most of the Fathers, Doctors, Saints and Theologians. Yet along come the unholy trinity—Maude Ernist, Iva Knobjekshun and Luke Warm—protesting that times have changed and truth is what we believe it to be! If you believe that, then you are lost! Yet that is how most people are today, they live a dream—their self-made dream—which has no truth in reality!
“If you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few. Do not follow the majority of mankind, but follow those who renounce the world and never relax their efforts day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness” (St. Anselm). “It is certain that few are saved” (St. Augustine, Sermon 111; also Against Cresconius). “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1).
Are You With the Many or the Few?
Our Lord is pretty adamant: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “A certain man said to Jesus:
Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13).
Many are called, but few are chosen! Many are told, but few listen! There are many who play, but few who pray! There are many who are lost, because we refuse to pay the cost! And many will be shocked, because their refusal to pay has seen the gates of Heaven locked! As Sr. Lucia of Fatima sadly said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Fuentes).
We listen, but we refuse to do as we are told: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” (Matthew 13:13-15).
The Isaias prophecy Jesus refers to and quotes, is the following: “And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us?’ And I said: ‘Behold! Here I am! Send me!’ And He said: ‘Go, and thou shalt say to this people: “Hearing, hear, and understand not! And see the vision, and know it not!” Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!’” (Isaias 6:8-10).
Blind, Deaf and Dumb!
God wants to heal us, but, just as He used Isaias and the other prophets to send messages, so too has He used Our Lady in these days—the Queen of Prophets—to speak to us, but nothing changes—our hearts are blind, we see but we then shut our eyes; we hear, but then we shut our ears; we are told, but we fail to understand—and therefore few are converted because we refuse to play our part.
Slack Soldiers and Lukewarm Lovers of Christ
All this is down to a failure of Catholics to fulfill their role as being their “Brother’s Keeper”! The whole economy of our Redemption is simply based on this truth: God could save mankind without using men to do so, but God has ruled that mankind has to be saved by the use of its own men and women. Nothing could be clearer or more obvious than that! There countless examples of that in Holy Scripture alone! God uses Noe to save a remnant of mankind by having Noe build an ark—God could have saved that remnant without any ark and saved Noe nearly 100 years of heavy labor! God chose Abraham to be the springboard and foundation for the Chosen People, from which Christ would come—but Christ had no need of any race in order to fulfill the Redemption. God chooses Moses to lead His Chosen People out of Egypt and to the Promised Land—but He could have dispensed with Moses and still have achieved His purpose. God chose Jonas to go to Nineve and warn them of their imminent destruction unless they convert and do penance—God had no real need of Jonas, He could have delivered that message Himself. God appoints and sends one prophet after another to instruct the Chosen People—but God could just easily have done so directly by Himself. Our Lord chooses Twelve Apostles to do what He could have done far better by Himself—He only ‘worked’ for three years and then ascended to Heaven, leaving men to continue His work for almost two thousand years.
St. John Chrysostom says that on our personal Day of Judgment, we shall be judged for all that happened in the world during our lifetime! We will then try the old Cain excuse of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and we already know the answer to that one!
Lenten Springboard
Lent is an ideal time to re-awaken—or waken for the first time in our lives—the realization that we will stand or fall before the Judgment Seat of God based upon what we have done for or against our neighbor. “Whatever you did or did not do to these, the least of my brethren, you did or did not do unto Me!” (Matthew 25:31-46). “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20)―and this is essentially what Our Lady demanded at Fatima. But if we fail to turn sinners from their errors—then what?…!!!
Quinquagesima Sunday February 27th & Monday February 28th
Article 12
Who Is Fighting Whom?
Article 12
Who Is Fighting Whom?
War Propaganda
War always brings propaganda ― and propaganda creates confusion ― and confusion produces uncertainty ― and uncertainty leads to inaction ― and inaction allows for escalation. So what is propaganda? Propaganda is defined as being “information―especially of a biased or misleading nature―that is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” Another definition states: “Propaganda is the dissemination of information — facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies — to influence public opinion.”
A longer definition (a rather, an article) from the Encyclopedia Britannica states: “Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these, they deliberately select facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and present them in ways they think will have the most effect. To maximize effect, they may omit or distort pertinent facts or simply lie, and they may try to divert the attention of the reactors (the people they are trying to sway) from everything but their own propaganda.”
The Culture of Lying
One cannot help feeling that this war between Russia and the Ukraine is somehow scripted―where innocent, clueless people are the victims―as the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it does, you can bet it was planned that way!” Another American president, Ronald Reagan was told by William Casey, the CIA Director from 1981 to 1987: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” In politics, whether it be national or international, hypocrisy and doublespeak have become the regular tools of the trade. They can be used for evil purposes, illegally or for personal gain.
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.” Dr. Taylor then lists these reasons as follows:
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war.”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, American, Russian or Chinese―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each political party, in every country, is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Wars and Crises are Tools of Control
Wars and crises are the tried and tested tools for social control. They have worked time and time again. For decades, war and the threat of war has enriched the technocratic elite and kept the population going along with their agenda. War and physical attacks have been repeatedly used to foist ever more draconian restrictions upon us and remove many freedoms and rights. The Patriot Act―rammed through in the aftermath of 9/11―is just one egregious example―and there are quite a few who think 9/11 was a false flag operation―a deliberate lie as who was really responsible―in order to be able to introduce those draconian restrictions and curtail certain freedoms and rights.
Our Lady speaks of this double aspect of lies in order to gain control of people: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan [a liar and the father of lies―John 8:44] will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
Bishop Athanasius Schneider gave a conference in Germany in 2017, to the Pontifical Foundation, Kirche in Not (Aid to the Church in Need), in which he explained the history and main characteristics of Freemasonry. He made it clear that: “Historians recognized in Freemasonry the seed of political totalitarianism … The confusion and the deceit of it consists in the fact that Freemasonry praises itself with attractive names and definitions, like “philanthropy,” “humanism,” “intellectuality,” “tolerance,” and at the same time, Freemasonry masks itself with these names … Political and social anarchism is a phenomenon which mostly embodies the spirit of Freemasonry, since one of their key principles is “order out of chaos” [which is identical to the Communist tactic of providing the “solution” after they created the “crisis”]. This means that one must first create a chaos and then build a new, other order, an order created by men [which is what is happening in the Ukraine right now]. Freemasonry was spread very quickly in countless affiliated organizations and often under different names, which penetrated foremost powerful levels in society, in politics, and in the world of finances. It was Pope Pius VIII who, in 1829, gave one of the most apt and precise definitions of Freemasonry: ‘It is a satanic sect, which has its demon as its god (Encyclical Traditi humilitati nostrae).” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, in Germany, 2017).
Happening Before Our Very Own Eyes
“All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of La Salette). Are we so blinded by propaganda and our own petty distractions that we fail to see that every single one of those things, that Our Lady mentions, is blatantly and boldly staring us in face today? “Order and justice will be trampled underfoot” ― God is all about order, Satan is all about chaos. Satan always seeks to overturn the order of God, to reverse God’s values, to turn things “upside-down” and “inside-out”. Disorder has become the “new normal”! The recent street riots ― for example the Black Lives Matter (a Communist led organization), the post-2020 Presidential election January 6th 2021 invasion of the Capitol building in Washington DC, and many other such riots and protests.
Can you not see the ever-increasing civil unrest throughout the world. In America―in protest over the killing of man, George Floyd, by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 ― huge demonstrations took place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews were imposed in nearly 40 cities. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities during that weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city was turned into a war-zone ― with escalating and prolonged destruction of property, looting of stores and violence against police and other innocent persons. Interestingly, in all of these cities the police and other authorities reported that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, were not locals, but came from cities sometimes hundreds of miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states. The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― initially activated 5,000 personnel in 15 states ― which quickly rose to 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities issued a state of emergency.
All of this set the scene and further conditioned the people for more and greater civil unrest in the form of a future civil war. That was just a “trailer” for the full-length “movie” that is to come―however, it will not be a movie, but a reality―yet it will be a movie in the sense that script (or narrative) will be a bunch of lies and half-truths, with the purpose of frightening, manipulating and controlling the population and coercing them into accepting what the minions of Satan―from the Illuminati all the way down the pyramid of power to the Freemasons, Communists and all their affiliates―have planned for the world.
Below, you have two graphics that show the estimated pyramid of power and the interconnections of the real rulers of the world―Satan, the prince of the world (John 12:31) and his multiple minions, slaves and servants. In the famous vision that God granted to Pope Leo XIII, where he witnessed a conversation between Christ and Satan, he overheard Satan boasting that he could destroy Christ’s Church, if he could only have more power. Our Lord gave him that extra power.
Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church!”
Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so!”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power!”
Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan replied: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord concluded: “You have the time, you will have the power! Do with them what you will!”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it.
Below, you can see that pyramid of power that Satan has built over the years. If you think that the governments of the world are high up in the rankings of “movers and shakers”, then you had better think again. Look at the pyramid of power and see how low down the pyramid governments actually are! The world leaders―government leaders―are not really leaders at all, but they are led by the “higher-ups”.
War always brings propaganda ― and propaganda creates confusion ― and confusion produces uncertainty ― and uncertainty leads to inaction ― and inaction allows for escalation. So what is propaganda? Propaganda is defined as being “information―especially of a biased or misleading nature―that is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” Another definition states: “Propaganda is the dissemination of information — facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies — to influence public opinion.”
A longer definition (a rather, an article) from the Encyclopedia Britannica states: “Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these, they deliberately select facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and present them in ways they think will have the most effect. To maximize effect, they may omit or distort pertinent facts or simply lie, and they may try to divert the attention of the reactors (the people they are trying to sway) from everything but their own propaganda.”
The Culture of Lying
One cannot help feeling that this war between Russia and the Ukraine is somehow scripted―where innocent, clueless people are the victims―as the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it does, you can bet it was planned that way!” Another American president, Ronald Reagan was told by William Casey, the CIA Director from 1981 to 1987: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” In politics, whether it be national or international, hypocrisy and doublespeak have become the regular tools of the trade. They can be used for evil purposes, illegally or for personal gain.
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.” Dr. Taylor then lists these reasons as follows:
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war.”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, American, Russian or Chinese―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each political party, in every country, is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Wars and Crises are Tools of Control
Wars and crises are the tried and tested tools for social control. They have worked time and time again. For decades, war and the threat of war has enriched the technocratic elite and kept the population going along with their agenda. War and physical attacks have been repeatedly used to foist ever more draconian restrictions upon us and remove many freedoms and rights. The Patriot Act―rammed through in the aftermath of 9/11―is just one egregious example―and there are quite a few who think 9/11 was a false flag operation―a deliberate lie as who was really responsible―in order to be able to introduce those draconian restrictions and curtail certain freedoms and rights.
Our Lady speaks of this double aspect of lies in order to gain control of people: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan [a liar and the father of lies―John 8:44] will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
Bishop Athanasius Schneider gave a conference in Germany in 2017, to the Pontifical Foundation, Kirche in Not (Aid to the Church in Need), in which he explained the history and main characteristics of Freemasonry. He made it clear that: “Historians recognized in Freemasonry the seed of political totalitarianism … The confusion and the deceit of it consists in the fact that Freemasonry praises itself with attractive names and definitions, like “philanthropy,” “humanism,” “intellectuality,” “tolerance,” and at the same time, Freemasonry masks itself with these names … Political and social anarchism is a phenomenon which mostly embodies the spirit of Freemasonry, since one of their key principles is “order out of chaos” [which is identical to the Communist tactic of providing the “solution” after they created the “crisis”]. This means that one must first create a chaos and then build a new, other order, an order created by men [which is what is happening in the Ukraine right now]. Freemasonry was spread very quickly in countless affiliated organizations and often under different names, which penetrated foremost powerful levels in society, in politics, and in the world of finances. It was Pope Pius VIII who, in 1829, gave one of the most apt and precise definitions of Freemasonry: ‘It is a satanic sect, which has its demon as its god (Encyclical Traditi humilitati nostrae).” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, in Germany, 2017).
Happening Before Our Very Own Eyes
“All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of La Salette). Are we so blinded by propaganda and our own petty distractions that we fail to see that every single one of those things, that Our Lady mentions, is blatantly and boldly staring us in face today? “Order and justice will be trampled underfoot” ― God is all about order, Satan is all about chaos. Satan always seeks to overturn the order of God, to reverse God’s values, to turn things “upside-down” and “inside-out”. Disorder has become the “new normal”! The recent street riots ― for example the Black Lives Matter (a Communist led organization), the post-2020 Presidential election January 6th 2021 invasion of the Capitol building in Washington DC, and many other such riots and protests.
Can you not see the ever-increasing civil unrest throughout the world. In America―in protest over the killing of man, George Floyd, by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 ― huge demonstrations took place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews were imposed in nearly 40 cities. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities during that weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city was turned into a war-zone ― with escalating and prolonged destruction of property, looting of stores and violence against police and other innocent persons. Interestingly, in all of these cities the police and other authorities reported that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, were not locals, but came from cities sometimes hundreds of miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states. The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― initially activated 5,000 personnel in 15 states ― which quickly rose to 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities issued a state of emergency.
All of this set the scene and further conditioned the people for more and greater civil unrest in the form of a future civil war. That was just a “trailer” for the full-length “movie” that is to come―however, it will not be a movie, but a reality―yet it will be a movie in the sense that script (or narrative) will be a bunch of lies and half-truths, with the purpose of frightening, manipulating and controlling the population and coercing them into accepting what the minions of Satan―from the Illuminati all the way down the pyramid of power to the Freemasons, Communists and all their affiliates―have planned for the world.
Below, you have two graphics that show the estimated pyramid of power and the interconnections of the real rulers of the world―Satan, the prince of the world (John 12:31) and his multiple minions, slaves and servants. In the famous vision that God granted to Pope Leo XIII, where he witnessed a conversation between Christ and Satan, he overheard Satan boasting that he could destroy Christ’s Church, if he could only have more power. Our Lord gave him that extra power.
Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church!”
Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so!”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power!”
Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan replied: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord concluded: “You have the time, you will have the power! Do with them what you will!”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it.
Below, you can see that pyramid of power that Satan has built over the years. If you think that the governments of the world are high up in the rankings of “movers and shakers”, then you had better think again. Look at the pyramid of power and see how low down the pyramid governments actually are! The world leaders―government leaders―are not really leaders at all, but they are led by the “higher-ups”.
Putin―and All Other World Leaders―Are “Small Fry” Pawns
Your might be surprised to know that that the chief world leaders are appointed, not elected. What might surprise you even more is that it appears that not only are they appointed, but in fact trained well in advance for their future roles! By now, you should be very familiar with a certain Mr. Klaus Schwab, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and also the founder of another organization called Young Global Leaders ― which selects and trains globalist puppets to be promoted to positions of influence.
This largely explains the current unprecedented wave of governmental, medical and media authoritarianism and censorship that is sweeping the globe. There is nothing coincidental about it. Governments, media, and corporations are all controlled behind the scenes by the same people who want us to “own nothing and be happy” while subsisting on a diet of laboratory meat and GMO crops, while taking care of our health with endless jabs and boosters containing nefarious chemicals, parasites, and nanoparticles―while scientists continue experimenting to perfect the forthcoming chip in the brain!
Notable members listed on their site, or mentioned by Klaus Schwab, include:
● David de Rothschild – needs no introduction
● Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation
● Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and the second-wealthiest person in the world
● Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and fourth-wealthiest person in the world
● Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook
● Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
● Richard Branson, British billionaire entrepreneur and business magnate
● Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
● Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
● Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
● Emmanuel Macron, President of France
● Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany
● Alexander de Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium
● Alberto Fernández, President of Argentina
● Leo Varadkar, homosexual former Prime Minister of Ireland, now Minister of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment
● Jacinda Ardern, current Prime Minister of New Zealand
● Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland
● Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica
● Mamuka Bakhtadze, former Prime Minister of Georgia
● Chrystia Freeland, Canadian deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
● Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s Marxist NDP (Canada's New Democrats)
● Francois-Phillipe Champagne, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry.
● Marc Kielburger, close friend of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
● Pete Buttigieg, homosexual US Secretary of Transportation, responsible for supply chain breakdown
● Sebastian Kurz, twice served as Chancellor of Austria.
● Banafsheh Geretzki, head of division at the European Central Bank and former BlackRock CEO
● Jens Spahn, German Health Minister who is ready to lock down unvaccinated citizens
● Leana Wen, CNN’s favorite medical fascist
● Ivanka Trump
● Numerous executives at Blackrock (including Larry Fink) and Goldman Sachs, two of the world’s largest investment firms
These and many, many others from most countries of the world were all members of the organization Young Global Leaders ― which selects and trains globalist puppets to be promoted to positions of influence from its current 1,400+ members (with membership covering over 120 countries). Potential candidates are selected by the alumni of the Young Global Leaders organization and are subject to veto during the selection process. Candidate must be between 28 and 38 years old at the time of nomination and have 5-15 years of recognized achievements, leadership and outstanding professional work experience.
One has to ask where the loyalty of these Young Global Leaders actually lies―is it with their country of origin, or is it with Elites and Globalists who have hand-picked them to be Young Global Leaders? Today, money attracts more than patriotism attracts. The Elites possess the vast majority of world’s wealth and they use that wealth to control the world. They have no desire in being known to the public―they prefer (like the devil) to operate unseen, not being worried about fame and glory, but mostly being concerned with wealth and power.
When you become indifferent towards God, or even reject God, then money and power become the new ‘gods’ and Satan is only too willing to accommodate those desires: “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9) … “And the devil led Jesus into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him: ‘To thee will I give all this power and the glory of them―for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them! If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine!’” (Luke 4:5-7). Our Lord resisted the temptation―today’s wealthy ones have not resisted and so the devil has given them wealth and power to control the world for him.
Human society is controlled by people who hate humanity and seek to corrupt, control, or destroy it. Democracy is a puppet show. What appears to be opposition to evil is in most cases another mouth of the same globalist bird. This is a feudalist oligarchy. Leaders in business, politics, and media are either members of secret societies such as Freemasonry, the Rosicrucians, and Skull and Bones, or are hand-picked and directed by Klaus Schwab (who himself is controlled by “higher-ups”). Or both.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky used to be an actor and a comedian―no joke! Mr. Zelensky’s journey from actor to president in 2019, mirrored the plot of his hit TV series Servant of the People, where he played a school teacher catapulted to the presidency. In 2020, Zelensky was invited by Schwab to give a talk at the World Economic Forum. Arizona Republican lawmaker, Wendy Rogers, claims that Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a “globalist puppet for [George] Soros and the Clintons.” Furthermore, both Zelensky, and allegedly Putin, were born to Jewish parents.
Klaus Schwab, the president of the World Economic Forum, which is one of the “front” organizations of the anonymous Elites for the so-called “Great Reset.” What is the “Great Reset”? In 2020, members of the world’s elite met at the World Economic Forum―a famous highly publicized organization made up of the world’s political, economic, and cultural elites that meets annually in Davos, Switzerland―and launched the “Great Reset” initiative to transform the world economy. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive director of the World Economic Forum, wrote, “Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” The Great Reset aims to usher in a bewildering economic amalgam—which some have called “Corporate Socialism” and others have called “Communist Capitalism.” One of the World Economic Forum’s many powerful strategic partners is BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest asset manager. Watch this video [https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly] on how BlackRock and two other institutional investor companies ultimately control all other major and important companies in the world.
Klaus Schwab, in a recent interview, revealed that the World Economic Forum has trained many persons who are now either presidents of countries, or are cabinet members of the governments of countries. He even boasted that the Canadian President Justin Trudeau was trained by them and that over half the Canadian government’s cabinet members have also been trained by the World Economic Forum and the Young Global Leaders―adding that Brazil's government cabinet members consist of more that 50% of Schwab trained people.
Russian-Ukrainian Conflict in a Nutshell (or Bombshell)―The Official MSN Narrative
Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russians in 2014, there has been a strong military presence alongside the Ukraine. Signs of a potential invasion of Ukraine were seen in 2021 with a visible Russian military build-up. By November of 2021, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed that there were around 90,000 Russian troops located near the Ukrainian border. Russia blamed the West for the escalation―for holding military maneuvers in the Ukraine and in the Black Sea near Russia’s borders. Putin stressed that Russia was threatening nobody―but that Russia itself was under threat from the West and NATO and was merely taking adequate security measures. Russia was vehemently against the Ukraine joining NATO―for that would increase NATO’s presence on the borders with Russia. NATO responded that Ukraine should be free to decide for itself whether or not to join to NATO. As the Russian military presence increased, the U.S. and the West, started shipping weapons the Ukraine.
By February of 2022, the Russian military presence had now grown to around 190,000 soldiers ― which had more than doubled in 12 weeks since November of 2021. Putin then signed a decree that recognized the independence of two Moscow backed territories on the eastern Ukraine-Russian border―Luhansk and Donetsk―and ordered troops into the region. This sparked international outrage and a whole host of sanctions were consequently imposed upon Russia by the West. On February 24th, 2022, Russia no longer remained in the two eastern territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, but entered into the rest of Ukraine―targeting military installations throughout the country.
On that same day, February 24th, Putin issued a warning to any country that tries to stop Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine, saying: “Whoever tries to interfere with us or stand in our way … and, ever more so, tries to create threats to our country and people, they must know that Russia’s response will be immediate, and the consequences will be such as you have never experienced in your entire history …. I hope that my words will be heard.”
In a statement Sunday, February 27th, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky called on citizens of the world also to join the fight against the “Russian war criminals.” He called on the formation of a “Foreign Legion” made up of volunteers from around the world who wanted to help Ukraine in the fight, saying: “This is not just Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence.” President Zelensky posted the call-out on his social media accounts inviting anyone to come and fight “side-by-side” with Ukrainians. The post reads: “The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is addressing all citizens of the world, friends of Ukraine, peace and democracy. “Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals.” A more detailed post says foreign citizens are legally allowed to join Ukraine’s defenses, and that a separate division of fighters is being formed called “the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.”
Putin later announced his nuclear forces are on high alert, in order to remind the world he has a deterrent. He announced on Russian television: “Top officials, in leading NATO countries, have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country. Therefore, I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff to place the Russian Army’s Deterrence Force on combat alert.” The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, reacted to this Putin announcement by saying: “This is dangerous rhetoric! This is behavior that is irresponsible! And if you combine this rhetoric with what they are doing on the ground in Ukraine―waging war against an independent sovereign nation, conducting a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine―this adds to the seriousness of the situation. That is the reason why we support Ukraine and in last weeks and months we have significantly increased the presence of NATO in the eastern part of Luhansk. US and also European allies are now stepping-up with more troops, more ships, more planes. We have now also to realize that we are faced with a “new normal” for our security. There will be some long-term consequences and this is just the beginning of the adaptation that we need to do as a response to a more aggressive Russia.”
The UK Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK does not see anything that is a change in Russia’s nuclear posture. He added that Britain is also a nuclear power and Putin will know anything involving a nuclear weapon has an equal or greater response from the West. He further said that the UK will not do anything to escalate the nuclear situation, but “this is a battle of rhetoric and we just have to make sure we manage it properly ... The Ukrainians are putting up a very strong fight.” He thought the Russian forces are under pressure and behind schedule in Ukraine. He adds that they are taking significant casualties and they are feeling public rejection in parts of the Russian system including protests back home. That means the Russians must reset their plan―slow down or even play for time. “But the Russian handbook is to get more violent and commit more forces because fundamentally in the Russian doctrine the lives of their own soldiers matter much less than in other armed forces! We have to brace ourselves for what may come next which could be ruthless indiscriminate bombing of cities and the propelling forward of soldiers and high casualty levels and that's going to be horrific!”
Local War or World War?
Prior to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, in a CNN interview, said: “When we talk about the possibility of a war in Ukraine, we have to understand that it is not the war against Ukraine, it is not just a war against Ukraine, it the war of Europe that will be fought in Ukraine if it will start. So I think it is in every country’s interest to support Ukraine, so that it can fight-off that possible invasion.”
As the invasion began on February 24th and continued, former President Trump, in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday February 26th, warned that Russia’s multi-front invasion in Ukraine could lead to “world war” and told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is going to have to “do a lot more than just sanctions” to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said Russia’s war on Ukraine “is a horrible thing. It would never have happened under any circumstance, and it is what it is! … But there’s great bravery being shown, and I think they’re doing one hell of a job—much more so than anybody would have thought possible!”
As the invasion got underway, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with CNN, said: “Nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine. Nobody is going to degrade the Ukrainian armed forces. We are talking about preventing neo-Nazism and those promoting genocide from ruling this country. The current regime in Kiev (Kyiv), is under two external control mechanisms. The first is the West and the U.S., and the second is neo-Nazism ― that is those who imposing their culture and it is flourishing in Ukraine today. As for your feelings of someone who is Kiev at this very moment, I will stress read what Putin said: ‘No strikes on civilian infrastructure, and no strikes on the personnel of the Ukrainian army in their dormitories or other places not connected to the military facilities.’”
Who Profits from Wars?
The mainstream media―the propaganda tool of the Eiltes who own and control it―is repeatedly stoking up the fires of fear by hinting and speaking of a world war. One of the less-discussed aspects of the current crisis in Eastern Europe is its huge financial sales potential. Who profits from wars? Certainly not governments―they pay for wars! It is private businesses that profit from wars by supplying weapons and a whole host of other things that are needed to fight a war. The United States is home to five of the world’s 10 largest defense contractors. American contractors account for 57% of total arms sales by the world’s 100 largest defense contractors. In 2019, 61% of all global arms sales came from the United States. In the last 20 years, since the infamous 9/11 demolition collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, the United States has spent almost $7 trillion (one trillion is the same as one million times one million―therefore $7 trillion is 7 million millions) on post-9/11 wars and conflicts in more than 80 countries―most of which was transferred to the top 5 military and weapons contractors in the United States. Almost $2.5 trillion was spent on the Afghanistan War of which 87% or $2 trillion went into the bank accounts of those top 5 military and weapons contractors in the United States. Between them, NATO and Russia are responsible for well over half of the world’s annual military budget of $2 trillion (i.e. $2 million millions).
In less than two decades, the price of shares of the top five defense contractors mentioned before has increased between 3 and 12 times. From 2001 to 2021, the stocks of those top 5 contractors outperformed the rest of the stock market by 58%. If you had invested $10,000 in those top 5 defense contractors ($2,000 on each), then your return would now be worth $100,000. If you invested that $10,000 only in the biggest of those 5 contractors―Lockheed Martin―then your return would be $133,000. Western weapons manufacturers are reaping huge profits from the war in Ukraine. Their share prices have increased manifold since the Russian build-up in November. At total of 51 members of Congress and their spouses own between $2.3 and $5.8 million worth of stocks in the companies that are among the top 30 defense contractors in the world. While nearly 33% or one-in-three Senate members of the Defense Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, own stocks in the top defense contractors. Who ultimately owns these and most other important companies? Watch this video and find out: [https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly].
The US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost American taxpayers $6.4 trillion since they began in 2001, according to the report by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University published in November 2019. Taxpayers in the US were exploited financially by the government's immense military expenses. From 2001 to 2021, the US annual defense budget has kept rocketing. According to the latest study by the Cost of War Project of Brown University, the war in Afghanistan has cost $2.3 trillion. That is an expense of $300 million per day for 20 years.
Funding Both Sides in a War
Ten years ago (June 1st, 2011), the Business Insider ran an article on the Rothschilds in which it stated: “The Rothschilds are the most famous banking family in history. In the 19th century they lent money to Kings and governments and funded both sides in the Napoleonic wars … From their five European bases, the Rothschilds became masters of the political universe. They lent money to Kings, including England’s George IV, dined with Prime Ministers like Disraeli and Gladstone, funded the creation of a pan-European rail network and financed wars, including both sides in the Napoleonic Wars. Their status was put most eloquently by the contemporary newspaper Nile’s Weekly Register in 1835: ‘The Rothschilds are the wonders of modern banking...peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands....not a cabinet moves without their advice.’ Of Baron Nathan Rosthchild, the head of the English branch, the newspaper said: ‘He holds the keys to peace or war. They are the brokers and counselors of the Kings of Europe and of the Republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire?’”
Douglas Wissing, author of Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban, wrote about his impression of the Afghanistan War after spending time on the ground with US troops in Afghanistan. He writes: “When I was embedded with U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, the soldiers started telling me that the U.S. government is wasting tens of billions of American taxpayer dollars on scandalously mismanaged aid and logistics contracts that end up financing the Taliban. We’d be trundling through Taliban-controlled areas in armored vehicles, dodging ambushes and hitting IEDs, and the soldiers would be saying: ‘We’re funding both sides of this war!’ It seemed preposterous at first. But as I dug into the story, officers, diplomats, and aid officials confirmed the rough outlines of the pernicious system. One sardonic US intelligence officer told me: ‘It’s the perfect war! Everyone is making money!’”
Another by-product of war is that it causes fear among the general population―as you can see in the case of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who are fleeing the Ukraine. A frightened population is a controllable population. When someone is really scared, then the logical side of their mind has caved-in to the emotional side of things. It is no longer the sensible mind that rules, but the panicking emotions instead. A war also allows a government to play many cards that would be totally rejected in peace-time. You can impose martial law, impose censorship, take control of land, property, money, buildings and even companies under the pretext of needing them for the “war-effort”. You can ration certain commodities. You can pull persons out of families and conscript them to the army to ‘defend’ the country and fight the ‘enemy’.
Creating Fear and Control through War
In George Orwell’s novel on totalitarianism, entitled 1984, the purpose of war in a totalitarian society is to keep the population under control by having an outside enemy which it fears and upon which the populace can direct its anger and hatred. In the book 1984, Oceania (a giant country comprised of the Americas; the Atlantic Islands, including the British Isles; Australia; and the southern portion of Africa) has its culture, economy, and political system controlled by the ruling Party, which can never execute totalitarian control until it gains control of the minds of its citizens. The bulk of the Party’s energy, therefore, is spent on capturing and maintaining control over people’s thoughts and feelings. The Party’s widespread use of surveillance prevents citizens from organizing to overthrow it. The Party exploits personal and collective fears to maintain Party loyalty and suppress revolt. Throughout the novel, Winston (the key character) walks past posters reminding him that “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” The telescreen in his home, which cannot be turned off, has the power to monitor his movements and issue orders to him to correct his behavior. Cameras and recording devices are frequently planted in public areas.
What seemed like wild imagination back in 1949―when Orwell wrote his novel―is clearly commonplace today! Big Brother really is watching you! Consumers already face a laundry list of daily privacy issues ranging from Facebook’s failure to police how user data is abused, to ISPs that routinely track your every online movement down to the millisecond. Every phone call you make is recorded by computers. Every e-mail or text you send―even every keystroke you make―is also recorded. Most dash cams also include the ability to record audio as well as video. The audio is recorded from a microphone that is built into the dash cam, inside the car, so any conversations taking place within the vehicle will be captured.
Laptops have an internal microphone and a built-in webcam. You have heard about webcam hacking, but what about microphone hacking? Yes, there are people out there who can hack into your operating system and take over your microphone, using it to listen in on your conversations and record personal information. One example is RATs. RATs is short for “Remote Access Trojans”. These are pieces of malware that allow a hacker to remotely control a victim's computer. They can bypass security software before running invisibly in the background. RATs have been found in highly secure government and corporate environments, with experts now claiming confidential data is being exposed at an alarming rate. The hacking resources and capabilities of the government are significantly greater than those of the typical home hacker―the end results are often the same, with webcams, microphones, and keystrokes being monitored for information with “national security” being given as a justification for these privacy invading techniques. Most TVs already have cameras and microphones installed.
The latest AI or Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistants ― such as Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, Bixby, Nina, Mycroft, etc. ― can record our conversations, images and many other pieces of sensitive personal information, including location via our smartphones. For years now, security experts have warned of privacy risks associated with using Amazon’s and Google’s AI-based, virtual assistants carelessly. Alexa and Google Assistant powered devices have been known, for example, to share our conversations with random people from our address books. They can disarm alarms for criminals, or be hacked with lasers by neighbors. Indeed, with their new, deep learning algorithms, virtual assistants have been caught secretly recording key stroke sounds and piecing together conversations. They can also be hacked remotely, resulting in breaches of users’ privacy. For example, an Oregon couple had to unplug their Alexa device, Amazon’s virtual assistant, as their private conversation was recorded and sent to one of their friends on their contact list. In another incident, a German man accidentally received access to 1,700 Alexa audio files belonging to a complete stranger. The files revealed the person’s name, habits, jobs and other sensitive information.
In a USA Today article (December 19th, 2019), entitled “You’re not paranoid: Your phone really is listening in”, it states: “When you use your default [smartphone] settings, everything you say may be recorded through your device’s onboard microphone. Many Americans believe their phones routinely collect their voice data and use it for marketing purposes … Your phone isn't the only device that’s watching and listening to you ... User agreements explicitly state recorded audio may be used for targeted advertising purposes. Interestingly, such practices aren't against the law. This action allows tech companies to push privacy boundaries even further … The FBI warns hackers can take over your smart TV if you don't secure it.”
The Next Step―Getting Into Your Mind
Klaus Schwab published a book in 2016 titled: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” in which Schwab argued a technological revolution is underway “that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.” He predicts that technologies like Artificial Intelligence, autonomous self-driving vehicles and the “internet of things” are merging with physical lives of humans. He foresees humans merging with Artificial Intelligence. As internet corporations like Facebook experiment with “brain-reading” technology, Klaus Schwab predicted in 2016 that brain microchips are fast becoming a reality. He predicted Big Tech firms will increasingly pursue implanted microchips and other “transhumanist” technologies. Schwab openly admitting he is a fan of the technology. He even claims brain chips will be extensively used “certainly in the next 10 years” to combine the physical, digital, and biological world. “At first we will implant them in our clothes,” he can be heard saying. “We could imagine that we will implant them in our brain, or in our skin. In the end, maybe there will be a direct communication between our brains and the digital world.” He believes it will soon be possible to phone someone without needing a physical gadget. The user only needs to say, “I want to connect with anyone now.” The phone call will begin moments later.
Klaus Schwab’s WEF (World Economic Forum) website states: “Have you ever wished you could add extra memory to your brain? Elon Musk may be able to help you with that! Musk heads the company best known for making Tesla, the industry-leading electric car. Now Musk has revealed that he is the founder and chief executive of Neuralink, a startup company in 2016, seeking to create cerebral implants that will turn computers into a direct extension of our brains and thus enhance our intelligence and memory. Given rapid progress on artificial intelligence, and the multiple incentives for making computers even smarter, Musk sees no way of preventing that from happening. His favored strategy to save us from being eliminated by super-intelligent machines is therefore to hook us into computers, so that we become as clever as state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, however intelligent that may be. Since 1998, scientists have been implanting devices in the brains of people who are paralyzed, enabling them to move a cursor on a screen with their thoughts, or in more advanced versions, to move an artificial hand that can grasp things. The artist Neil Harbisson, has an extreme form of colorblindness. However, an antenna, implanted in his skull, enables him to hear frequencies corresponding, not only to colors we can see, but also to infrared and ultraviolet light, which are invisible to us. Harbisson claims that he is a cyborg―that is, an organism with technologically enhanced capacities. To move from these useful but limited devices to the kind of brain-machine interactions that Musk is seeking would require major scientific breakthroughs. For Musk’s plan to succeed, experimenting on humans as well as animals will be unavoidable.”
Neuralink is Elon Musk’s neural interface technology company. It is developing a chip, a device that would be embedded in a person’s brain, to simultaneously record and stimulate brain activity. Elon Musk claims Neuralink will lead to “artificial intelligence symbiosis.” The chip Neuralink is developing is about the size of a coin, and would be embedded in a person's skull. From the chip, an array of tiny wires, each roughly 20 times thinner than a human hair, fan out into the patient’s brain. The wires are equipped with 1,024 electrodes which are able to monitor brain activity and, theoretically, electrically stimulate the brain. This data is transmitted wirelessly via the chip to computers, where it can be studied by researchers. It has already been implanted and tested in a variety of animals. Elon Musk says: “I really do think there is a path to having some sort of merger of biological intelligence and machine intelligence!”
Bill Gates pioneered the implanted microchip industry long before Musk’s Neuralink, personally commissioning birth control chips from a company named Microchips Biotech back in 2012. According to the Gates Foundation website, the Microsoft founder contributed more than $20 million to the initiative in recent years. Contraceptive microchips, designed to provide morning-after medication to users.
Brain-computer experiments have progressed steadily, with the company announcing a new wearable prototype with a “neural interface” earlier in 2021. Facebook-developed artificial intelligence is claimed to be capable of translating brain data to text with only a 3% error rate. University of California San Francisco (UCSF) clinical professor Eric Chang is leading the research. The study involves planting electrodes onto the brain’s surface, and using a computer program to directly decode “full words” from brain activity. Recent test results are claimed to be promising.
Overwhelmingly, 77% of the public worry microchip implants will be used to usher in a never-before-seen level of totalitarian control, versus 10% who say it will improve lives. Similarly, almost 7 of 10 (67%) prefer to remain human and not merge with Artificial Intelligence, whereas 18% believe the transition would bring about new heights of prosperity and well-being.
The US military has begun testing AI brain implants that can change a person's mood on humans. These ‘mind control’ chips emit electronic pulses that alter brain chemistry in a process called “deep brain stimulation”. Though the stated goal of this technology is said to be focused on helping people with mental problems―that does not rule out doing the exact opposite through these chips implanted in the brain. Just as you could bring health to a “brain-chipped” person, so too could you bring disease and disturbance to that same person. Once you allow such technology, you open a “Pandora’s Box” of incalculable trouble.
All these pandemics, wars, economic crashes, and whatever else is created to besiege, terrify and distract the world―are nothing else than tools for the manipulation of mankind into a sheep-pen, or “sheeple-pen”, of absolute totalitarian control of the world by the prince of this world (Satan) and his selected and seduced minions who are found in all shapes and sizes in all nations and in all walks of life. That is the real fight! That is the real war! That is where our focus should be!
Our weapons are not Artificial Intelligence, but Divine Intelligence. We rely not on chips, but on grace. Our tools are not electronic, but spiritual. Sadly―few there are who see this and do this! “Many are called, but few are chosen!”
Your might be surprised to know that that the chief world leaders are appointed, not elected. What might surprise you even more is that it appears that not only are they appointed, but in fact trained well in advance for their future roles! By now, you should be very familiar with a certain Mr. Klaus Schwab, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and also the founder of another organization called Young Global Leaders ― which selects and trains globalist puppets to be promoted to positions of influence.
This largely explains the current unprecedented wave of governmental, medical and media authoritarianism and censorship that is sweeping the globe. There is nothing coincidental about it. Governments, media, and corporations are all controlled behind the scenes by the same people who want us to “own nothing and be happy” while subsisting on a diet of laboratory meat and GMO crops, while taking care of our health with endless jabs and boosters containing nefarious chemicals, parasites, and nanoparticles―while scientists continue experimenting to perfect the forthcoming chip in the brain!
Notable members listed on their site, or mentioned by Klaus Schwab, include:
● David de Rothschild – needs no introduction
● Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation
● Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and the second-wealthiest person in the world
● Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and fourth-wealthiest person in the world
● Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook
● Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
● Richard Branson, British billionaire entrepreneur and business magnate
● Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
● Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
● Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
● Emmanuel Macron, President of France
● Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany
● Alexander de Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium
● Alberto Fernández, President of Argentina
● Leo Varadkar, homosexual former Prime Minister of Ireland, now Minister of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment
● Jacinda Ardern, current Prime Minister of New Zealand
● Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland
● Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica
● Mamuka Bakhtadze, former Prime Minister of Georgia
● Chrystia Freeland, Canadian deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
● Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s Marxist NDP (Canada's New Democrats)
● Francois-Phillipe Champagne, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry.
● Marc Kielburger, close friend of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
● Pete Buttigieg, homosexual US Secretary of Transportation, responsible for supply chain breakdown
● Sebastian Kurz, twice served as Chancellor of Austria.
● Banafsheh Geretzki, head of division at the European Central Bank and former BlackRock CEO
● Jens Spahn, German Health Minister who is ready to lock down unvaccinated citizens
● Leana Wen, CNN’s favorite medical fascist
● Ivanka Trump
● Numerous executives at Blackrock (including Larry Fink) and Goldman Sachs, two of the world’s largest investment firms
These and many, many others from most countries of the world were all members of the organization Young Global Leaders ― which selects and trains globalist puppets to be promoted to positions of influence from its current 1,400+ members (with membership covering over 120 countries). Potential candidates are selected by the alumni of the Young Global Leaders organization and are subject to veto during the selection process. Candidate must be between 28 and 38 years old at the time of nomination and have 5-15 years of recognized achievements, leadership and outstanding professional work experience.
One has to ask where the loyalty of these Young Global Leaders actually lies―is it with their country of origin, or is it with Elites and Globalists who have hand-picked them to be Young Global Leaders? Today, money attracts more than patriotism attracts. The Elites possess the vast majority of world’s wealth and they use that wealth to control the world. They have no desire in being known to the public―they prefer (like the devil) to operate unseen, not being worried about fame and glory, but mostly being concerned with wealth and power.
When you become indifferent towards God, or even reject God, then money and power become the new ‘gods’ and Satan is only too willing to accommodate those desires: “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9) … “And the devil led Jesus into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him: ‘To thee will I give all this power and the glory of them―for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them! If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine!’” (Luke 4:5-7). Our Lord resisted the temptation―today’s wealthy ones have not resisted and so the devil has given them wealth and power to control the world for him.
Human society is controlled by people who hate humanity and seek to corrupt, control, or destroy it. Democracy is a puppet show. What appears to be opposition to evil is in most cases another mouth of the same globalist bird. This is a feudalist oligarchy. Leaders in business, politics, and media are either members of secret societies such as Freemasonry, the Rosicrucians, and Skull and Bones, or are hand-picked and directed by Klaus Schwab (who himself is controlled by “higher-ups”). Or both.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky used to be an actor and a comedian―no joke! Mr. Zelensky’s journey from actor to president in 2019, mirrored the plot of his hit TV series Servant of the People, where he played a school teacher catapulted to the presidency. In 2020, Zelensky was invited by Schwab to give a talk at the World Economic Forum. Arizona Republican lawmaker, Wendy Rogers, claims that Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a “globalist puppet for [George] Soros and the Clintons.” Furthermore, both Zelensky, and allegedly Putin, were born to Jewish parents.
Klaus Schwab, the president of the World Economic Forum, which is one of the “front” organizations of the anonymous Elites for the so-called “Great Reset.” What is the “Great Reset”? In 2020, members of the world’s elite met at the World Economic Forum―a famous highly publicized organization made up of the world’s political, economic, and cultural elites that meets annually in Davos, Switzerland―and launched the “Great Reset” initiative to transform the world economy. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive director of the World Economic Forum, wrote, “Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” The Great Reset aims to usher in a bewildering economic amalgam—which some have called “Corporate Socialism” and others have called “Communist Capitalism.” One of the World Economic Forum’s many powerful strategic partners is BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest asset manager. Watch this video [https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly] on how BlackRock and two other institutional investor companies ultimately control all other major and important companies in the world.
Klaus Schwab, in a recent interview, revealed that the World Economic Forum has trained many persons who are now either presidents of countries, or are cabinet members of the governments of countries. He even boasted that the Canadian President Justin Trudeau was trained by them and that over half the Canadian government’s cabinet members have also been trained by the World Economic Forum and the Young Global Leaders―adding that Brazil's government cabinet members consist of more that 50% of Schwab trained people.
Russian-Ukrainian Conflict in a Nutshell (or Bombshell)―The Official MSN Narrative
Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russians in 2014, there has been a strong military presence alongside the Ukraine. Signs of a potential invasion of Ukraine were seen in 2021 with a visible Russian military build-up. By November of 2021, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed that there were around 90,000 Russian troops located near the Ukrainian border. Russia blamed the West for the escalation―for holding military maneuvers in the Ukraine and in the Black Sea near Russia’s borders. Putin stressed that Russia was threatening nobody―but that Russia itself was under threat from the West and NATO and was merely taking adequate security measures. Russia was vehemently against the Ukraine joining NATO―for that would increase NATO’s presence on the borders with Russia. NATO responded that Ukraine should be free to decide for itself whether or not to join to NATO. As the Russian military presence increased, the U.S. and the West, started shipping weapons the Ukraine.
By February of 2022, the Russian military presence had now grown to around 190,000 soldiers ― which had more than doubled in 12 weeks since November of 2021. Putin then signed a decree that recognized the independence of two Moscow backed territories on the eastern Ukraine-Russian border―Luhansk and Donetsk―and ordered troops into the region. This sparked international outrage and a whole host of sanctions were consequently imposed upon Russia by the West. On February 24th, 2022, Russia no longer remained in the two eastern territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, but entered into the rest of Ukraine―targeting military installations throughout the country.
On that same day, February 24th, Putin issued a warning to any country that tries to stop Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine, saying: “Whoever tries to interfere with us or stand in our way … and, ever more so, tries to create threats to our country and people, they must know that Russia’s response will be immediate, and the consequences will be such as you have never experienced in your entire history …. I hope that my words will be heard.”
In a statement Sunday, February 27th, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky called on citizens of the world also to join the fight against the “Russian war criminals.” He called on the formation of a “Foreign Legion” made up of volunteers from around the world who wanted to help Ukraine in the fight, saying: “This is not just Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence.” President Zelensky posted the call-out on his social media accounts inviting anyone to come and fight “side-by-side” with Ukrainians. The post reads: “The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is addressing all citizens of the world, friends of Ukraine, peace and democracy. “Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals.” A more detailed post says foreign citizens are legally allowed to join Ukraine’s defenses, and that a separate division of fighters is being formed called “the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.”
Putin later announced his nuclear forces are on high alert, in order to remind the world he has a deterrent. He announced on Russian television: “Top officials, in leading NATO countries, have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country. Therefore, I order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff to place the Russian Army’s Deterrence Force on combat alert.” The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, reacted to this Putin announcement by saying: “This is dangerous rhetoric! This is behavior that is irresponsible! And if you combine this rhetoric with what they are doing on the ground in Ukraine―waging war against an independent sovereign nation, conducting a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine―this adds to the seriousness of the situation. That is the reason why we support Ukraine and in last weeks and months we have significantly increased the presence of NATO in the eastern part of Luhansk. US and also European allies are now stepping-up with more troops, more ships, more planes. We have now also to realize that we are faced with a “new normal” for our security. There will be some long-term consequences and this is just the beginning of the adaptation that we need to do as a response to a more aggressive Russia.”
The UK Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK does not see anything that is a change in Russia’s nuclear posture. He added that Britain is also a nuclear power and Putin will know anything involving a nuclear weapon has an equal or greater response from the West. He further said that the UK will not do anything to escalate the nuclear situation, but “this is a battle of rhetoric and we just have to make sure we manage it properly ... The Ukrainians are putting up a very strong fight.” He thought the Russian forces are under pressure and behind schedule in Ukraine. He adds that they are taking significant casualties and they are feeling public rejection in parts of the Russian system including protests back home. That means the Russians must reset their plan―slow down or even play for time. “But the Russian handbook is to get more violent and commit more forces because fundamentally in the Russian doctrine the lives of their own soldiers matter much less than in other armed forces! We have to brace ourselves for what may come next which could be ruthless indiscriminate bombing of cities and the propelling forward of soldiers and high casualty levels and that's going to be horrific!”
Local War or World War?
Prior to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, in a CNN interview, said: “When we talk about the possibility of a war in Ukraine, we have to understand that it is not the war against Ukraine, it is not just a war against Ukraine, it the war of Europe that will be fought in Ukraine if it will start. So I think it is in every country’s interest to support Ukraine, so that it can fight-off that possible invasion.”
As the invasion began on February 24th and continued, former President Trump, in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday February 26th, warned that Russia’s multi-front invasion in Ukraine could lead to “world war” and told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is going to have to “do a lot more than just sanctions” to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said Russia’s war on Ukraine “is a horrible thing. It would never have happened under any circumstance, and it is what it is! … But there’s great bravery being shown, and I think they’re doing one hell of a job—much more so than anybody would have thought possible!”
As the invasion got underway, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with CNN, said: “Nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine. Nobody is going to degrade the Ukrainian armed forces. We are talking about preventing neo-Nazism and those promoting genocide from ruling this country. The current regime in Kiev (Kyiv), is under two external control mechanisms. The first is the West and the U.S., and the second is neo-Nazism ― that is those who imposing their culture and it is flourishing in Ukraine today. As for your feelings of someone who is Kiev at this very moment, I will stress read what Putin said: ‘No strikes on civilian infrastructure, and no strikes on the personnel of the Ukrainian army in their dormitories or other places not connected to the military facilities.’”
Who Profits from Wars?
The mainstream media―the propaganda tool of the Eiltes who own and control it―is repeatedly stoking up the fires of fear by hinting and speaking of a world war. One of the less-discussed aspects of the current crisis in Eastern Europe is its huge financial sales potential. Who profits from wars? Certainly not governments―they pay for wars! It is private businesses that profit from wars by supplying weapons and a whole host of other things that are needed to fight a war. The United States is home to five of the world’s 10 largest defense contractors. American contractors account for 57% of total arms sales by the world’s 100 largest defense contractors. In 2019, 61% of all global arms sales came from the United States. In the last 20 years, since the infamous 9/11 demolition collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, the United States has spent almost $7 trillion (one trillion is the same as one million times one million―therefore $7 trillion is 7 million millions) on post-9/11 wars and conflicts in more than 80 countries―most of which was transferred to the top 5 military and weapons contractors in the United States. Almost $2.5 trillion was spent on the Afghanistan War of which 87% or $2 trillion went into the bank accounts of those top 5 military and weapons contractors in the United States. Between them, NATO and Russia are responsible for well over half of the world’s annual military budget of $2 trillion (i.e. $2 million millions).
In less than two decades, the price of shares of the top five defense contractors mentioned before has increased between 3 and 12 times. From 2001 to 2021, the stocks of those top 5 contractors outperformed the rest of the stock market by 58%. If you had invested $10,000 in those top 5 defense contractors ($2,000 on each), then your return would now be worth $100,000. If you invested that $10,000 only in the biggest of those 5 contractors―Lockheed Martin―then your return would be $133,000. Western weapons manufacturers are reaping huge profits from the war in Ukraine. Their share prices have increased manifold since the Russian build-up in November. At total of 51 members of Congress and their spouses own between $2.3 and $5.8 million worth of stocks in the companies that are among the top 30 defense contractors in the world. While nearly 33% or one-in-three Senate members of the Defense Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, own stocks in the top defense contractors. Who ultimately owns these and most other important companies? Watch this video and find out: [https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly].
The US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost American taxpayers $6.4 trillion since they began in 2001, according to the report by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University published in November 2019. Taxpayers in the US were exploited financially by the government's immense military expenses. From 2001 to 2021, the US annual defense budget has kept rocketing. According to the latest study by the Cost of War Project of Brown University, the war in Afghanistan has cost $2.3 trillion. That is an expense of $300 million per day for 20 years.
Funding Both Sides in a War
Ten years ago (June 1st, 2011), the Business Insider ran an article on the Rothschilds in which it stated: “The Rothschilds are the most famous banking family in history. In the 19th century they lent money to Kings and governments and funded both sides in the Napoleonic wars … From their five European bases, the Rothschilds became masters of the political universe. They lent money to Kings, including England’s George IV, dined with Prime Ministers like Disraeli and Gladstone, funded the creation of a pan-European rail network and financed wars, including both sides in the Napoleonic Wars. Their status was put most eloquently by the contemporary newspaper Nile’s Weekly Register in 1835: ‘The Rothschilds are the wonders of modern banking...peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands....not a cabinet moves without their advice.’ Of Baron Nathan Rosthchild, the head of the English branch, the newspaper said: ‘He holds the keys to peace or war. They are the brokers and counselors of the Kings of Europe and of the Republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire?’”
Douglas Wissing, author of Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban, wrote about his impression of the Afghanistan War after spending time on the ground with US troops in Afghanistan. He writes: “When I was embedded with U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, the soldiers started telling me that the U.S. government is wasting tens of billions of American taxpayer dollars on scandalously mismanaged aid and logistics contracts that end up financing the Taliban. We’d be trundling through Taliban-controlled areas in armored vehicles, dodging ambushes and hitting IEDs, and the soldiers would be saying: ‘We’re funding both sides of this war!’ It seemed preposterous at first. But as I dug into the story, officers, diplomats, and aid officials confirmed the rough outlines of the pernicious system. One sardonic US intelligence officer told me: ‘It’s the perfect war! Everyone is making money!’”
Another by-product of war is that it causes fear among the general population―as you can see in the case of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who are fleeing the Ukraine. A frightened population is a controllable population. When someone is really scared, then the logical side of their mind has caved-in to the emotional side of things. It is no longer the sensible mind that rules, but the panicking emotions instead. A war also allows a government to play many cards that would be totally rejected in peace-time. You can impose martial law, impose censorship, take control of land, property, money, buildings and even companies under the pretext of needing them for the “war-effort”. You can ration certain commodities. You can pull persons out of families and conscript them to the army to ‘defend’ the country and fight the ‘enemy’.
Creating Fear and Control through War
In George Orwell’s novel on totalitarianism, entitled 1984, the purpose of war in a totalitarian society is to keep the population under control by having an outside enemy which it fears and upon which the populace can direct its anger and hatred. In the book 1984, Oceania (a giant country comprised of the Americas; the Atlantic Islands, including the British Isles; Australia; and the southern portion of Africa) has its culture, economy, and political system controlled by the ruling Party, which can never execute totalitarian control until it gains control of the minds of its citizens. The bulk of the Party’s energy, therefore, is spent on capturing and maintaining control over people’s thoughts and feelings. The Party’s widespread use of surveillance prevents citizens from organizing to overthrow it. The Party exploits personal and collective fears to maintain Party loyalty and suppress revolt. Throughout the novel, Winston (the key character) walks past posters reminding him that “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” The telescreen in his home, which cannot be turned off, has the power to monitor his movements and issue orders to him to correct his behavior. Cameras and recording devices are frequently planted in public areas.
What seemed like wild imagination back in 1949―when Orwell wrote his novel―is clearly commonplace today! Big Brother really is watching you! Consumers already face a laundry list of daily privacy issues ranging from Facebook’s failure to police how user data is abused, to ISPs that routinely track your every online movement down to the millisecond. Every phone call you make is recorded by computers. Every e-mail or text you send―even every keystroke you make―is also recorded. Most dash cams also include the ability to record audio as well as video. The audio is recorded from a microphone that is built into the dash cam, inside the car, so any conversations taking place within the vehicle will be captured.
Laptops have an internal microphone and a built-in webcam. You have heard about webcam hacking, but what about microphone hacking? Yes, there are people out there who can hack into your operating system and take over your microphone, using it to listen in on your conversations and record personal information. One example is RATs. RATs is short for “Remote Access Trojans”. These are pieces of malware that allow a hacker to remotely control a victim's computer. They can bypass security software before running invisibly in the background. RATs have been found in highly secure government and corporate environments, with experts now claiming confidential data is being exposed at an alarming rate. The hacking resources and capabilities of the government are significantly greater than those of the typical home hacker―the end results are often the same, with webcams, microphones, and keystrokes being monitored for information with “national security” being given as a justification for these privacy invading techniques. Most TVs already have cameras and microphones installed.
The latest AI or Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistants ― such as Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, Bixby, Nina, Mycroft, etc. ― can record our conversations, images and many other pieces of sensitive personal information, including location via our smartphones. For years now, security experts have warned of privacy risks associated with using Amazon’s and Google’s AI-based, virtual assistants carelessly. Alexa and Google Assistant powered devices have been known, for example, to share our conversations with random people from our address books. They can disarm alarms for criminals, or be hacked with lasers by neighbors. Indeed, with their new, deep learning algorithms, virtual assistants have been caught secretly recording key stroke sounds and piecing together conversations. They can also be hacked remotely, resulting in breaches of users’ privacy. For example, an Oregon couple had to unplug their Alexa device, Amazon’s virtual assistant, as their private conversation was recorded and sent to one of their friends on their contact list. In another incident, a German man accidentally received access to 1,700 Alexa audio files belonging to a complete stranger. The files revealed the person’s name, habits, jobs and other sensitive information.
In a USA Today article (December 19th, 2019), entitled “You’re not paranoid: Your phone really is listening in”, it states: “When you use your default [smartphone] settings, everything you say may be recorded through your device’s onboard microphone. Many Americans believe their phones routinely collect their voice data and use it for marketing purposes … Your phone isn't the only device that’s watching and listening to you ... User agreements explicitly state recorded audio may be used for targeted advertising purposes. Interestingly, such practices aren't against the law. This action allows tech companies to push privacy boundaries even further … The FBI warns hackers can take over your smart TV if you don't secure it.”
The Next Step―Getting Into Your Mind
Klaus Schwab published a book in 2016 titled: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” in which Schwab argued a technological revolution is underway “that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.” He predicts that technologies like Artificial Intelligence, autonomous self-driving vehicles and the “internet of things” are merging with physical lives of humans. He foresees humans merging with Artificial Intelligence. As internet corporations like Facebook experiment with “brain-reading” technology, Klaus Schwab predicted in 2016 that brain microchips are fast becoming a reality. He predicted Big Tech firms will increasingly pursue implanted microchips and other “transhumanist” technologies. Schwab openly admitting he is a fan of the technology. He even claims brain chips will be extensively used “certainly in the next 10 years” to combine the physical, digital, and biological world. “At first we will implant them in our clothes,” he can be heard saying. “We could imagine that we will implant them in our brain, or in our skin. In the end, maybe there will be a direct communication between our brains and the digital world.” He believes it will soon be possible to phone someone without needing a physical gadget. The user only needs to say, “I want to connect with anyone now.” The phone call will begin moments later.
Klaus Schwab’s WEF (World Economic Forum) website states: “Have you ever wished you could add extra memory to your brain? Elon Musk may be able to help you with that! Musk heads the company best known for making Tesla, the industry-leading electric car. Now Musk has revealed that he is the founder and chief executive of Neuralink, a startup company in 2016, seeking to create cerebral implants that will turn computers into a direct extension of our brains and thus enhance our intelligence and memory. Given rapid progress on artificial intelligence, and the multiple incentives for making computers even smarter, Musk sees no way of preventing that from happening. His favored strategy to save us from being eliminated by super-intelligent machines is therefore to hook us into computers, so that we become as clever as state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, however intelligent that may be. Since 1998, scientists have been implanting devices in the brains of people who are paralyzed, enabling them to move a cursor on a screen with their thoughts, or in more advanced versions, to move an artificial hand that can grasp things. The artist Neil Harbisson, has an extreme form of colorblindness. However, an antenna, implanted in his skull, enables him to hear frequencies corresponding, not only to colors we can see, but also to infrared and ultraviolet light, which are invisible to us. Harbisson claims that he is a cyborg―that is, an organism with technologically enhanced capacities. To move from these useful but limited devices to the kind of brain-machine interactions that Musk is seeking would require major scientific breakthroughs. For Musk’s plan to succeed, experimenting on humans as well as animals will be unavoidable.”
Neuralink is Elon Musk’s neural interface technology company. It is developing a chip, a device that would be embedded in a person’s brain, to simultaneously record and stimulate brain activity. Elon Musk claims Neuralink will lead to “artificial intelligence symbiosis.” The chip Neuralink is developing is about the size of a coin, and would be embedded in a person's skull. From the chip, an array of tiny wires, each roughly 20 times thinner than a human hair, fan out into the patient’s brain. The wires are equipped with 1,024 electrodes which are able to monitor brain activity and, theoretically, electrically stimulate the brain. This data is transmitted wirelessly via the chip to computers, where it can be studied by researchers. It has already been implanted and tested in a variety of animals. Elon Musk says: “I really do think there is a path to having some sort of merger of biological intelligence and machine intelligence!”
Bill Gates pioneered the implanted microchip industry long before Musk’s Neuralink, personally commissioning birth control chips from a company named Microchips Biotech back in 2012. According to the Gates Foundation website, the Microsoft founder contributed more than $20 million to the initiative in recent years. Contraceptive microchips, designed to provide morning-after medication to users.
Brain-computer experiments have progressed steadily, with the company announcing a new wearable prototype with a “neural interface” earlier in 2021. Facebook-developed artificial intelligence is claimed to be capable of translating brain data to text with only a 3% error rate. University of California San Francisco (UCSF) clinical professor Eric Chang is leading the research. The study involves planting electrodes onto the brain’s surface, and using a computer program to directly decode “full words” from brain activity. Recent test results are claimed to be promising.
Overwhelmingly, 77% of the public worry microchip implants will be used to usher in a never-before-seen level of totalitarian control, versus 10% who say it will improve lives. Similarly, almost 7 of 10 (67%) prefer to remain human and not merge with Artificial Intelligence, whereas 18% believe the transition would bring about new heights of prosperity and well-being.
The US military has begun testing AI brain implants that can change a person's mood on humans. These ‘mind control’ chips emit electronic pulses that alter brain chemistry in a process called “deep brain stimulation”. Though the stated goal of this technology is said to be focused on helping people with mental problems―that does not rule out doing the exact opposite through these chips implanted in the brain. Just as you could bring health to a “brain-chipped” person, so too could you bring disease and disturbance to that same person. Once you allow such technology, you open a “Pandora’s Box” of incalculable trouble.
All these pandemics, wars, economic crashes, and whatever else is created to besiege, terrify and distract the world―are nothing else than tools for the manipulation of mankind into a sheep-pen, or “sheeple-pen”, of absolute totalitarian control of the world by the prince of this world (Satan) and his selected and seduced minions who are found in all shapes and sizes in all nations and in all walks of life. That is the real fight! That is the real war! That is where our focus should be!
Our weapons are not Artificial Intelligence, but Divine Intelligence. We rely not on chips, but on grace. Our tools are not electronic, but spiritual. Sadly―few there are who see this and do this! “Many are called, but few are chosen!”
Sexagesima Wednesday February 23rd to Sexagesima Friday February 25th
Article 11
You Shall Hear of Wars and Rumors of Wars
Article 11
You Shall Hear of Wars and Rumors of Wars
Our Lord’s Warning―Our Lady’s Warning
For days now, we have be hearing warmongering talk on all the news media outlets concerning Russia and the Ukraine. For those who have been asleep for the last few years, the origins of this current conflict go back to 2018, and then 2014 and then 1991―as will be explained further below. In a certain sense, it is all “old news”―because Our Lord and Our Lady spoke of these things long before the current mainstream media got hold of the story.
While still on Earth, Our Lord―in speaking of the Latter Days―warned in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet!” (Matthew 24:6). St. Mark and St. Luke felt it important to include the same warning in their Gospels: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7). “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9).
Our Lady also spoke of these things in her various apparitions: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... I ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions. Various nations will be annihilated. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Sister Lucia of Fatima would later reveal that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance of Our Lady saying this in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!”
The Third Secret of Fatima Speaks of Russia and Ukraine
Back in 1996, Fr. Malachi Martin―who had been granted the privilege of reading the “Third Secret of Fatima”―was asked during an interview: “Does Russia still play an important role in the message of Fatima, even though the Iron Curtain has come down?”
Fr. Malachi Martin replied: “It does! It does! There is some unfinished chapter or paragraph … in connection with Russia. It is definitely tied with Kiev in the Ukraine, and Moscow. Why? I don’t know―but I know that there is something connected there! … Now, as the regards the ‘Message of Fatima’―it still stands. The errors of Russia are now abroad―and they are abroad! Russia will be converted, says Our Lady, by my Immaculate Heart. It will be converted―she said it. Russia is within the plan! Why? That would take me too far into the field of papal secrecy, as to why Russia and Kiev are involved in the final solution to this problem―but they are! It is really God’s choice. It is purely and simply God’s choice―like He chose the Jews to bring His Son into the world through them. He makes choices. He has His own favorite solutions to things! I would not have chosen the Russians, or Kiev, or the East for salvation―but salvation is to come from the East for us all.”
When he was asked if this involved a chastisement, Fr. Martin replied: “Yes! Several! … It’s going to be a reckoning and nobody existing on the face of the Earth will be exempt from knowing the power from on high! … They will interpret it in different ways―according to their beliefs, their conscience and their bias. Some will reject it. Scientists will try to find a scientific explanation for it … It is not 200 years away! It is not 50 years away! It is not 20 years away! It involves the entire world system―it is not merely one area, or one religion, or one race.” (Fr. Malachi Martin, interviewed in 1996).
A Worldwide Orchestration of Evil
As they say: “Fool me once―shame on you! Fool me twice―shame on me!” In other words, if we have been fooled by someone once, then we must learn from that mistake and be on our guard so that we are not fooled again by them. Many were fooled by the propaganda narrative about the Covid scare and were thereby fooled and even coerced into receiving a vaccine that has proved to be more incredibly more dangerous that the Coronavirus. Over 99.9% of people recovered from the Coronavirus―but it has been seen to be quite the opposite with the ‘killer’ vaccine! With over a year into the biggest vaccination campaign in history, more than 10.6 billion (10,000 million) doses have been administered across 184 countries. The latest rate was roughly 28.4 million doses a day. In the U.S., 551 million doses have been given so far, with 253 million Americans having received at least one dose of a vaccine—75.5% of the population. At least 215 million have completed a vaccination regimen and 93.3 million have received boosters. Clearly, most people were fooled. The Covid propaganda was merely a ploy for achieving worldwide vaccination―and then forever continuing the procedure by creating new narratives about dangerous variants being born of Covid-19.
The point behind all this is to show an unprecedented worldwide cooperation in propagandizing a lie and perpetuating that lie to degrees of totalitarian enforcement never before seen or suffered in the western world―even though for the Communist world it has been a staple diet of falsehoods and coercion for over 100 years. Such a sudden worldwide and heavy-handed cooperation in totalitarian suppression of the rights of people has never been seen in the history of the world―and it is especially strange since the natural recovery rate from Covid-19 without a vaccine was at over 99.9%. Hmm! Strange indeed! It is like trying to persuade people to allow their government to kill a mosquito or a fly in their homes with an atom bomb! All of that bespeaks and seems to fulfill the words of Our Lady: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
As the recently deceased (2016) former chief-exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth said on many occasions: “Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. The masses no longer believe in God ... Today we live in a period of little Faith ... When Faith declines, we open the door to Satan … Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!” It is these politicians and government members that the devil has used to pass laws allowing abortion, divorce, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, contraception, pornography, cohabitation, etc. Yes―truly Satan rules the world at this time―for increasing numbers of people, nay, the majority of people, today support those sinful causes.
You can “bet your bottom dollar” that Satan rules supreme among the many governments of the world. Never mind the United Nations―you could and should call them the United Satanic Nations! “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). Satan―as Our Lord says―is the father of lies and thus his children, that he has ‘fathered’ among the many governments of the world, also become ‘fathers of lies’. This is borne out by an incident in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― reveals: “CIA Director, William Casey, [was] at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!” ― which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
Who Do You Believe?
Within the realms of the Catholic Faith there is a term entitled “sensus fidei”―which literally means the “sense of faith.” As a result of the gift of Faith and the graces received in the Sacrament of Baptism, the faithful have an instinct for the truth of the Gospel, which enables them to recognize authentic Christian doctrine and practice, and to reject what is false. That supernatural instinct, intrinsically linked to the gift of Faith received in the communion of the Church, is called the sensus fidei. You could say in modern parlance that it is like a “sixth-sense” that enables them “smell-out” the good from the bad. In everyday life we say that something “smells fishy” when we suspect falsehood might be present. The more we cooperate with God and His graces, then the more sharp our “sixth-sense” or “spiritual sense of smell” becomes. The more we pull away from God, the more we lose that “sixth-sense” or “spiritual senses of smell”.
In a similar way―or as an extension of the “sensus fidei” into the secular realm―we can sometimes get a “sense” of whether or not someone is telling the truth. Currently, 56% of Americans say they agreed with the following statement: “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.” Additionally, 59% of Americans say they agree with this statement: that “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.” And 61% of Americans think that “The media is not doing well at being objective and non-partisan.” These Americans have, so to speak, a “sixth-sense” feeling, or “gut-feeling” that makes them suspicious and mistrusting of what the mainstream media offers as being the “truth”.
In a certain sense, we have reached the point today where only a small minority have control over the “truth” ― or the propaganda that they seek pass for the truth, regardless of whether or not it is really true or not. “Truth” is what they say is truth. This small minority―call them by whatever name you want: “The Money Men”, “The Elites”, “The Privileged Families”, “The Cabal”, “Deep State”, etc. ― this small minority of persons owns almost all of the world through the means of financial investment, majority shareholding and control of the most important and influential companies in the world.
The institutional investors, Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway are the four largest investment companies on the planet and their tentacles reach out into almost ALL THE IMPORTANT SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES IN THE WORLD. Vanguard is the top of the pyramid, while Blackrock in #2 on the ladder. Whether it be the computer industry companies, social media companies, even direct competitors such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, or Microsoft and Apple, or different airlines like American Airlines and United Airlines, all the Pharmaceutical companies, all competing oil companies or competing industries―all of these companies have the above mentioned four major institutional investors as their major shareholders: Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway. Watch this video: https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly
Just Stop and Think!
Just as we can all ultimately trace our ancestry back to Adam and Eve, we can likewise trace everyone’s allegiance to either God or Satan―Heaven or Hell. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima says―there can be no neutrality, no sitting on the fence, no being a spectator in the war between Heaven and Hell, God and Satan. “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Our Lord puts it thus: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) … “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
All of the above quotes are in perfect agreement with other quotes from Holy Scripture that call us to the fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Yet as for fighting, it must be noted that God does not fight the way that we might like to fight, or how we imagine we should fight: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Why is that? Because we fail to see the true enemy, we fail to see through the smoke and mirrors of the enemy, we fail to realize that behind all the troops of the enemy lies “the father of lies and the prince of this world”―Satan (John 8:44; 12:31). “Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Satan is ultimately behind all the “isms” of the world today―Atheism, Communism, Paganism, Satanism, Rationalism, Modernism, Liberalism, Protestantism, Ecumenism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure seeking), Sensualism, etc. They are all baits and traps of Hell, set and hidden to entrap the naïve, gullible, careless, indifferent and unsuspecting souls. Most souls fall into those traps and never emerge―since we are told by Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints that most Catholic souls fall into Hell, and all the more so do no-Catholic souls. They fall in battle, they lose the war, they are taken away to eternal captivity and torture in Hell.
Satan is so subtle and the sheeple are so stupid! They refuse to believe the warnings of Heaven and believe the false gospel of the world. They fail to see that world is an enemy of God and therefore an enemy to their own salvation. They are duped by the enemy in to believing that you can be a friend of God and a friend of the world at the same time! That you can follow God and follow the world simultaneously! They believe the propaganda of the world and doubt the revelations of Heaven!
The real war is one between Satan with his ever increasing human stooges on Earth and God with His ever decreasing remnant of believers and followers. Satan has successfully seduced mankind with false promises of wealth, pleasure, power, comfort and ease―whereas God has always warned against those traps and snares. Our Lord says: “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’” (Matthew 19:21) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21) … “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23).
Unfortunately, the kingdoms and nations of the world today are all about finding and enjoying treasures on Earth. The slogan: “Make America Great Again”, is more about material wealth and well-being than it is about spiritual wealth and well-being! Yes―“by their fruits you shall know them!” And the fruits of today’s kingdoms and nations are not good, but evil. They are not of God, they are of the devil―and Our Lord would address to the same words that spoke over 2,000 years ago: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). How true that is of today’s kingdoms and nations; rulers and governors!
As Holy Scripture states, kingdoms, nations, kings and princes have risen-up against God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ!” (Psalm 2:2) … “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and his Christ!” (Acts 4:26). We clearly see this reflected in the laws that those kingdoms, nations, kings, princes, governors, rulers and legislators have passed―laws that allow abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation, contraception, drug-use, etc. ― and make it a crime for anyone to speak out and oppose those blatant sins against God. Sin becomes a “virtue” and religion and virtue becomes a “sin”.
Controlled by Puppet Masters
All that we are seeing in the world today is largely a script, a staged play, a world pantomime, a virtual reality, with leaders of the world acting out the parts and roles assigned to them by the scriptwriting “Puppet Masters” behind the scenes, for whom those world leaders ultimately work and whose bidding they do. They call such things conspiracy theories and ridicule them in order to deflect attention from the truth. Yet stop and analyze the situation in the world today and then ask yourself who do you believe―the godless sinful leaders of the world who protest their innocence, or the godly warnings from Heaven and the popes of the Church that point out their sinfulness and guilt?
For days now, we have be hearing warmongering talk on all the news media outlets concerning Russia and the Ukraine. For those who have been asleep for the last few years, the origins of this current conflict go back to 2018, and then 2014 and then 1991―as will be explained further below. In a certain sense, it is all “old news”―because Our Lord and Our Lady spoke of these things long before the current mainstream media got hold of the story.
While still on Earth, Our Lord―in speaking of the Latter Days―warned in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet!” (Matthew 24:6). St. Mark and St. Luke felt it important to include the same warning in their Gospels: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7). “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9).
Our Lady also spoke of these things in her various apparitions: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... I ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions. Various nations will be annihilated. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Sister Lucia of Fatima would later reveal that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance of Our Lady saying this in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!”
The Third Secret of Fatima Speaks of Russia and Ukraine
Back in 1996, Fr. Malachi Martin―who had been granted the privilege of reading the “Third Secret of Fatima”―was asked during an interview: “Does Russia still play an important role in the message of Fatima, even though the Iron Curtain has come down?”
Fr. Malachi Martin replied: “It does! It does! There is some unfinished chapter or paragraph … in connection with Russia. It is definitely tied with Kiev in the Ukraine, and Moscow. Why? I don’t know―but I know that there is something connected there! … Now, as the regards the ‘Message of Fatima’―it still stands. The errors of Russia are now abroad―and they are abroad! Russia will be converted, says Our Lady, by my Immaculate Heart. It will be converted―she said it. Russia is within the plan! Why? That would take me too far into the field of papal secrecy, as to why Russia and Kiev are involved in the final solution to this problem―but they are! It is really God’s choice. It is purely and simply God’s choice―like He chose the Jews to bring His Son into the world through them. He makes choices. He has His own favorite solutions to things! I would not have chosen the Russians, or Kiev, or the East for salvation―but salvation is to come from the East for us all.”
When he was asked if this involved a chastisement, Fr. Martin replied: “Yes! Several! … It’s going to be a reckoning and nobody existing on the face of the Earth will be exempt from knowing the power from on high! … They will interpret it in different ways―according to their beliefs, their conscience and their bias. Some will reject it. Scientists will try to find a scientific explanation for it … It is not 200 years away! It is not 50 years away! It is not 20 years away! It involves the entire world system―it is not merely one area, or one religion, or one race.” (Fr. Malachi Martin, interviewed in 1996).
A Worldwide Orchestration of Evil
As they say: “Fool me once―shame on you! Fool me twice―shame on me!” In other words, if we have been fooled by someone once, then we must learn from that mistake and be on our guard so that we are not fooled again by them. Many were fooled by the propaganda narrative about the Covid scare and were thereby fooled and even coerced into receiving a vaccine that has proved to be more incredibly more dangerous that the Coronavirus. Over 99.9% of people recovered from the Coronavirus―but it has been seen to be quite the opposite with the ‘killer’ vaccine! With over a year into the biggest vaccination campaign in history, more than 10.6 billion (10,000 million) doses have been administered across 184 countries. The latest rate was roughly 28.4 million doses a day. In the U.S., 551 million doses have been given so far, with 253 million Americans having received at least one dose of a vaccine—75.5% of the population. At least 215 million have completed a vaccination regimen and 93.3 million have received boosters. Clearly, most people were fooled. The Covid propaganda was merely a ploy for achieving worldwide vaccination―and then forever continuing the procedure by creating new narratives about dangerous variants being born of Covid-19.
The point behind all this is to show an unprecedented worldwide cooperation in propagandizing a lie and perpetuating that lie to degrees of totalitarian enforcement never before seen or suffered in the western world―even though for the Communist world it has been a staple diet of falsehoods and coercion for over 100 years. Such a sudden worldwide and heavy-handed cooperation in totalitarian suppression of the rights of people has never been seen in the history of the world―and it is especially strange since the natural recovery rate from Covid-19 without a vaccine was at over 99.9%. Hmm! Strange indeed! It is like trying to persuade people to allow their government to kill a mosquito or a fly in their homes with an atom bomb! All of that bespeaks and seems to fulfill the words of Our Lady: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
As the recently deceased (2016) former chief-exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth said on many occasions: “Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. The masses no longer believe in God ... Today we live in a period of little Faith ... When Faith declines, we open the door to Satan … Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!” It is these politicians and government members that the devil has used to pass laws allowing abortion, divorce, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, contraception, pornography, cohabitation, etc. Yes―truly Satan rules the world at this time―for increasing numbers of people, nay, the majority of people, today support those sinful causes.
You can “bet your bottom dollar” that Satan rules supreme among the many governments of the world. Never mind the United Nations―you could and should call them the United Satanic Nations! “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). Satan―as Our Lord says―is the father of lies and thus his children, that he has ‘fathered’ among the many governments of the world, also become ‘fathers of lies’. This is borne out by an incident in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― reveals: “CIA Director, William Casey, [was] at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!” ― which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
Who Do You Believe?
Within the realms of the Catholic Faith there is a term entitled “sensus fidei”―which literally means the “sense of faith.” As a result of the gift of Faith and the graces received in the Sacrament of Baptism, the faithful have an instinct for the truth of the Gospel, which enables them to recognize authentic Christian doctrine and practice, and to reject what is false. That supernatural instinct, intrinsically linked to the gift of Faith received in the communion of the Church, is called the sensus fidei. You could say in modern parlance that it is like a “sixth-sense” that enables them “smell-out” the good from the bad. In everyday life we say that something “smells fishy” when we suspect falsehood might be present. The more we cooperate with God and His graces, then the more sharp our “sixth-sense” or “spiritual sense of smell” becomes. The more we pull away from God, the more we lose that “sixth-sense” or “spiritual senses of smell”.
In a similar way―or as an extension of the “sensus fidei” into the secular realm―we can sometimes get a “sense” of whether or not someone is telling the truth. Currently, 56% of Americans say they agreed with the following statement: “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.” Additionally, 59% of Americans say they agree with this statement: that “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.” And 61% of Americans think that “The media is not doing well at being objective and non-partisan.” These Americans have, so to speak, a “sixth-sense” feeling, or “gut-feeling” that makes them suspicious and mistrusting of what the mainstream media offers as being the “truth”.
In a certain sense, we have reached the point today where only a small minority have control over the “truth” ― or the propaganda that they seek pass for the truth, regardless of whether or not it is really true or not. “Truth” is what they say is truth. This small minority―call them by whatever name you want: “The Money Men”, “The Elites”, “The Privileged Families”, “The Cabal”, “Deep State”, etc. ― this small minority of persons owns almost all of the world through the means of financial investment, majority shareholding and control of the most important and influential companies in the world.
The institutional investors, Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway are the four largest investment companies on the planet and their tentacles reach out into almost ALL THE IMPORTANT SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES IN THE WORLD. Vanguard is the top of the pyramid, while Blackrock in #2 on the ladder. Whether it be the computer industry companies, social media companies, even direct competitors such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, or Microsoft and Apple, or different airlines like American Airlines and United Airlines, all the Pharmaceutical companies, all competing oil companies or competing industries―all of these companies have the above mentioned four major institutional investors as their major shareholders: Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway. Watch this video: https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/monopoly
Just Stop and Think!
Just as we can all ultimately trace our ancestry back to Adam and Eve, we can likewise trace everyone’s allegiance to either God or Satan―Heaven or Hell. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima says―there can be no neutrality, no sitting on the fence, no being a spectator in the war between Heaven and Hell, God and Satan. “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Our Lord puts it thus: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) … “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
All of the above quotes are in perfect agreement with other quotes from Holy Scripture that call us to the fight: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Yet as for fighting, it must be noted that God does not fight the way that we might like to fight, or how we imagine we should fight: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Why is that? Because we fail to see the true enemy, we fail to see through the smoke and mirrors of the enemy, we fail to realize that behind all the troops of the enemy lies “the father of lies and the prince of this world”―Satan (John 8:44; 12:31). “Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Satan is ultimately behind all the “isms” of the world today―Atheism, Communism, Paganism, Satanism, Rationalism, Modernism, Liberalism, Protestantism, Ecumenism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure seeking), Sensualism, etc. They are all baits and traps of Hell, set and hidden to entrap the naïve, gullible, careless, indifferent and unsuspecting souls. Most souls fall into those traps and never emerge―since we are told by Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints that most Catholic souls fall into Hell, and all the more so do no-Catholic souls. They fall in battle, they lose the war, they are taken away to eternal captivity and torture in Hell.
Satan is so subtle and the sheeple are so stupid! They refuse to believe the warnings of Heaven and believe the false gospel of the world. They fail to see that world is an enemy of God and therefore an enemy to their own salvation. They are duped by the enemy in to believing that you can be a friend of God and a friend of the world at the same time! That you can follow God and follow the world simultaneously! They believe the propaganda of the world and doubt the revelations of Heaven!
The real war is one between Satan with his ever increasing human stooges on Earth and God with His ever decreasing remnant of believers and followers. Satan has successfully seduced mankind with false promises of wealth, pleasure, power, comfort and ease―whereas God has always warned against those traps and snares. Our Lord says: “Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’” (Matthew 19:21) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21) … “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23).
Unfortunately, the kingdoms and nations of the world today are all about finding and enjoying treasures on Earth. The slogan: “Make America Great Again”, is more about material wealth and well-being than it is about spiritual wealth and well-being! Yes―“by their fruits you shall know them!” And the fruits of today’s kingdoms and nations are not good, but evil. They are not of God, they are of the devil―and Our Lord would address to the same words that spoke over 2,000 years ago: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). How true that is of today’s kingdoms and nations; rulers and governors!
As Holy Scripture states, kingdoms, nations, kings and princes have risen-up against God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ!” (Psalm 2:2) … “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and his Christ!” (Acts 4:26). We clearly see this reflected in the laws that those kingdoms, nations, kings, princes, governors, rulers and legislators have passed―laws that allow abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation, contraception, drug-use, etc. ― and make it a crime for anyone to speak out and oppose those blatant sins against God. Sin becomes a “virtue” and religion and virtue becomes a “sin”.
Controlled by Puppet Masters
All that we are seeing in the world today is largely a script, a staged play, a world pantomime, a virtual reality, with leaders of the world acting out the parts and roles assigned to them by the scriptwriting “Puppet Masters” behind the scenes, for whom those world leaders ultimately work and whose bidding they do. They call such things conspiracy theories and ridicule them in order to deflect attention from the truth. Yet stop and analyze the situation in the world today and then ask yourself who do you believe―the godless sinful leaders of the world who protest their innocence, or the godly warnings from Heaven and the popes of the Church that point out their sinfulness and guilt?
In 1815, Rothschild made his famous statement: “I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls the British money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply.” The opinion within the godless world is that money brings power―because he who has the most money has the power to do more things. Yet God and Holy Scripture say the opposite―Our Lord says: “But woe to you that are rich―for you have your consolation!” (Luke 6:24) … “But what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23-24). “The desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have strayed from the Faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows!” (1 Timothy 6:10).
The U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt is alleged to have said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way!” Some claim to have debunked the claim that Roosevelt actually said those words―what they cannot debunk is the truth of those words. The key directions and important decisions in the political sphere have already been made somewhere “up-above”―or perhaps more truly, “down-below”! As Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot.”
Yes―Satan, the prince of this world, rules―as the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome reminds us: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Right now―just as Russia has invaded Ukraine―Satan has invaded the world. Yes―just as in the Ukraine there is some resistance―yet, on the whole, most people have surrendered to Satan, which they do through committing mortal sin and remaining in mortal sin. All of the “shenanigans” or major world events that we see, are all planned and scripted like a realistic Hollywood movie. “Actors” dutifully “learn their lines” and “act out their part” ― some knowingly, others unknowingly ― to create a worldwide virtual reality that has us totally fooled, or at best, leaves very confused and uncertain. As Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism would take over the ENTIRE WORLD. Lucia left us in no doubt about that! On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Professor William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia. He recorded the incident in book, Our Lady of Fatima. Walsh writes:
“Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
“I asked her: ‘Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?’
“Lucia replied: ‘Yes!’” (Taken from Our Lady of Fatima, by William Thomas Walsh, 4th printing, 1947, p. 226).
A Communist World
You cannot conquer the whole world if you have not infiltrated, coordinated and synchronized your plan. Satan has had many years to infiltrate, coordinate and synchronize his plan―and, as Our Lady has already revealed, Satan would make use of Satanism, Masonry, Communism, Materialism, Liberalism, Modernism and Atheism to bring about that conquest. All the pieces are in place―merely waiting to be activated―while we happily sit in front of the television, or have fun on the smartphone, or make our rounds to all the parties, barbecues, socials within our milieu, or stroll the malls, or watch the sports! As the former Russian KGB (Security and Intelligence Agency) defector, Yuri Bezmenov, revealed when he came to North America:
“In reality, the main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all. Only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, or active measures, or psychological warfare. Subversion goes on simultaneously on various “levels” of national and human activity: on the level of consciousness (ideology); on the level of authority (socio-political power and administration), and on the level of material well-being (economy). What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided in four basic stages. (1) Demoralization; (2) Destabilization; (3) Crisis; (4) Normalization.
“The result? The result you can see. Most of the people who graduated in the sixties, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. Even if you start right now, here this minute, you start educating a new generation of Americans, it will still take you fifteen to twenty years to turn the tide of ideological perception of reality back to normalcy and patriotism.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already [He says this in 1984]. Actually, it’s over-fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where previously not even our experts would even dream of such a tremendous success. I could never have believed it fourteen years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process would go that fast. And you can see it quite clearly that in some areas, in such sensitive areas as defense and economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. Most of it is done by Americans, to Americans ― thanks to lack of moral standards.”
One Big Satanic Machine
Do not fool yourself about “apparent” opposition or enmity between the USA, Russia, China or any other nation. As Our Lady clearly foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan!” What do you not understand about those words? Our Lady is speaking of a hidden worldwide unity of ALL civil governments under the influence of Satan and his tool of Freemasonry. Just as a handful of institutional investors―the Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway―are the four largest investment companies on the planet and their tentacles reach out into almost ALL THE IMPORTANT SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES IN THE WORLD, which they control to a greater or lesser degree―the same is true in politics, whereby the underlying Masonic network has pushed its tentacles into all the major governments of the world. It is not governments that “run the show” ― but the mega-rich “Puppet Masters” behind the scenes. Most of what we see in the political and economic world is merely smoke and mirrors―they keep us entertained, distracted, misinformed and confused, while they move ahead with their nefarious agendas.
The U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt is alleged to have said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way!” Some claim to have debunked the claim that Roosevelt actually said those words―what they cannot debunk is the truth of those words. The key directions and important decisions in the political sphere have already been made somewhere “up-above”―or perhaps more truly, “down-below”! As Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot.”
Yes―Satan, the prince of this world, rules―as the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome reminds us: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Right now―just as Russia has invaded Ukraine―Satan has invaded the world. Yes―just as in the Ukraine there is some resistance―yet, on the whole, most people have surrendered to Satan, which they do through committing mortal sin and remaining in mortal sin. All of the “shenanigans” or major world events that we see, are all planned and scripted like a realistic Hollywood movie. “Actors” dutifully “learn their lines” and “act out their part” ― some knowingly, others unknowingly ― to create a worldwide virtual reality that has us totally fooled, or at best, leaves very confused and uncertain. As Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism would take over the ENTIRE WORLD. Lucia left us in no doubt about that! On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Professor William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia. He recorded the incident in book, Our Lady of Fatima. Walsh writes:
“Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
“I asked her: ‘Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?’
“Lucia replied: ‘Yes!’” (Taken from Our Lady of Fatima, by William Thomas Walsh, 4th printing, 1947, p. 226).
A Communist World
You cannot conquer the whole world if you have not infiltrated, coordinated and synchronized your plan. Satan has had many years to infiltrate, coordinate and synchronize his plan―and, as Our Lady has already revealed, Satan would make use of Satanism, Masonry, Communism, Materialism, Liberalism, Modernism and Atheism to bring about that conquest. All the pieces are in place―merely waiting to be activated―while we happily sit in front of the television, or have fun on the smartphone, or make our rounds to all the parties, barbecues, socials within our milieu, or stroll the malls, or watch the sports! As the former Russian KGB (Security and Intelligence Agency) defector, Yuri Bezmenov, revealed when he came to North America:
“In reality, the main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all. Only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, or active measures, or psychological warfare. Subversion goes on simultaneously on various “levels” of national and human activity: on the level of consciousness (ideology); on the level of authority (socio-political power and administration), and on the level of material well-being (economy). What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided in four basic stages. (1) Demoralization; (2) Destabilization; (3) Crisis; (4) Normalization.
“The result? The result you can see. Most of the people who graduated in the sixties, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. Even if you start right now, here this minute, you start educating a new generation of Americans, it will still take you fifteen to twenty years to turn the tide of ideological perception of reality back to normalcy and patriotism.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already [He says this in 1984]. Actually, it’s over-fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where previously not even our experts would even dream of such a tremendous success. I could never have believed it fourteen years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process would go that fast. And you can see it quite clearly that in some areas, in such sensitive areas as defense and economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. Most of it is done by Americans, to Americans ― thanks to lack of moral standards.”
One Big Satanic Machine
Do not fool yourself about “apparent” opposition or enmity between the USA, Russia, China or any other nation. As Our Lady clearly foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan!” What do you not understand about those words? Our Lady is speaking of a hidden worldwide unity of ALL civil governments under the influence of Satan and his tool of Freemasonry. Just as a handful of institutional investors―the Vanguard Group, Blackrock, State Street Corporation and Berkshire Hathaway―are the four largest investment companies on the planet and their tentacles reach out into almost ALL THE IMPORTANT SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES IN THE WORLD, which they control to a greater or lesser degree―the same is true in politics, whereby the underlying Masonic network has pushed its tentacles into all the major governments of the world. It is not governments that “run the show” ― but the mega-rich “Puppet Masters” behind the scenes. Most of what we see in the political and economic world is merely smoke and mirrors―they keep us entertained, distracted, misinformed and confused, while they move ahead with their nefarious agendas.
Sexagesima Tuesday February 22nd
Article 10
Suffering Paul Leads the Way
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 10
Suffering Paul Leads the Way
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
To Reach the Goal Requires the Taking of the Means
The Sundays of the current pre-Lenten season―Septuagesima Sunday, Sexagesima Sunday and Quinquagesima Sunday―are so rich in readings that it is impossible to devour and digest them in one sitting! You have divide-up the liturgical meal over several ‘sittings’ or several days, in order to them justice and to enrich your own soul with their contents! Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel (which was last Sunday) dealt with the sowing of the seed―a subject that we have spent the last two days examining from different perspectives. Sexagesima Sunday’s Epistle reading dealt with the incredible litany of suffering that St. Paul had to endure in his work for Christ. If we think that our ‘lot in life’ is meant to be any different to that of St. Paul, then we are grossly fooling ourselves and risking our salvation in the process. In view of the fact that most Catholic souls are lost (as stated by Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints), would it not be in our best interests to avoid falling into the same ill-fated company? The discipline of philosophy teaches us that irrefutable and unchangeable axiom, which says: “He who desires the end, necessarily must also desire the means to that end.” Therefore, if you desire to get to Heaven, then you must necessarily desire and take (whether you like it or not) the means that will lead you to Heaven.
Holy Scripture and Our Lord put it this way: “This is the will of God, your sanctification!” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) … “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie!” (Apocalypse 21:27) … “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20) ... “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) ... “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and everyone that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified―that you bring forth very much fruit and become My disciples … If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he shall burn” (John 15:1-8).
The path to Heaven is not jingle-bells sleigh-ride in the snow. It is not an ocean cruise on a luxury liner on calm waters. It is not limousine ride, nor a first class seat on a jet-liner. Our Lord clearly warns: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which Scripture adds: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
If you want to go to Heaven, then those are the means that you must take. If you reject the means, then you reject Heaven and Heaven will reject you. Most people end up being rejects―because they selfishly and stubbornly refuse to take the means that God has offered. As Our Lady reminded the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Remember, that the journey from the mortal to the eternal life is long, painful and dangerous―long, because it takes up the whole life; painful, on account of the hardships; dangerous, on account of human frailty and the astuteness of the enemies. The shortest and the most secure course to follow, both for thee and for all men, is to welcome bitterness and sorrow and put aside ease and pleasure of the senses. In addition to this thou must continually seek after the greater pleasure of the Lord and aspire to the great last end of all thy longings.” While to St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Our Lady said: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” Sadly, most Catholics seek ease, comfort and happiness in this life―and that is why they end up in Hell in the next life!
Suffering St. Paul
The Epistle reading for Sexagesima Sunday is basically a litany of sufferings that St. Paul underwent for Christ’s sake. Originally, St. Paul―when he was still called Saul―was a kind of “Antichrist”. He was opposed to Christ and Christians. He even sought ought Christians so that he could ‘arrest’ them and take them to be judged before the Jewish authorities. He took part in the murder and martyrdom of St. Stephen―holding the cloaks of his fellow murderers while they stoned Stephen to death. Yet Christ loved His enemy, Paul―and the way that Christ showed His love towards Paul―after He converted him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22)―by showering Paul with suffererings! Providence showered him with suffering after suffering. In fact, the Lord had said to Ananias, just after Paul’s conversion: “This man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!” (Acts 9:15-16). And suffer he did! Here is St. Paul’s partial list, written down by himself, of just a fraction of his sufferings:
“They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites―so am I. They are the seed of Abraham―so am I. They are the ministers of Christ―I am more! In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:22-33; 12:1-10).
And now he finds himself in prison, and what does he say? He writes to the Philippians: “Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Philippians 4:4-7).
St. Paul’s Silver-Lined Cloud
This letter of St. Paul to the Christians of Philippi—his first converts in Europe—was written to them from his prison in Rome. When the Philippians, who were very attached to their Apostle, heard of Paul’s imprisonment, they sent one of the community, Epaphroditus, with a sum of money, and with instructions to remain with Paul, to help him in his needs. Epaphroditus became seriously ill in Rome and nearly died; when he recovered Paul sent him back and sent this letter with him to the Christians of Philippi. In it he thanks them and praises them for their generosity and true Christian love, he exhorts them to remain firm in the Faith, despite the present adversity of Paul being in prison. In the letter, St. Paul urges them to “rejoice always.” He repeats it to emphasize how important he thought it: “again I say rejoice.” He does not mean rejoice as in having fun―but rejoice in the cross and sufferings that Christ will send your way as a token of His love for you!
The joy St. Paul urges them to practice is the spiritual joy, which comes from the knowledge that, as Christians, they are incorporated by their baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ. Part of the ‘contract’ means having to take up your cross daily and carry it with joy, as did the Apostles, who “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). This was simply the small print of the ‘contract’ that Jesus revealed at the Last Supper, when He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
Can You Spot Christ?
We need our supernatural glasses or contact lenses to see Jesus in our sufferings, but as the old adage goes: “Where there is the cross, there too is Christ!” St. Paul understood this and that is why he can speak so joyfully and courageously of the cross and suffering:
“For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18) ... “That I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19) ... “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14) ... “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (Romans 8:18) ... “I Paul...now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh” (Colossians 1:23-24).
This attitude of St. Paul is approved and ‘rubber-stamped’ by St. Peter, who writes: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, then rejoice, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
The World is Anti-Cross and Anti-Christ
We are fools for trying to marry the world with Christ. We stupidly imagine that we can serve the world and serve Christ; love the world and love Christ. We easily fall into this trap on a daily basis―and this trap entraps many gullible souls in Hell at the end of their “adulterous” life―seeking to love two opposites, the world and Christ. Our Lord and Holy Scripture clearly, bluntly and consistently warn against the spiritual suicide of trying to love Christ and His enemy.
Our Lord Himself warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The world praises riches and wealth and encourages us to seek them―Our Lord warns against riches and wealth and tell us to avoid them: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me! … How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
The world encourages us to seek as much ease, comfort and fun as we can possibly obtain―yet Our Lord says the opposite: “Behold they that are clothed in soft garments and costly clothing and live delicately, are in the houses of kings! … Be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat; nor for your body and what you shall wear. Is not life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek! Seek ye first the kingdom of God! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Matthew 11:8; 6:25, 6:31-33; Luke 7:25; 13:3) … “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me! … And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple! … And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Luke 9:23; 14:27; Matthew 10:38).
It is to be ominously noted that whenever the Israelites has things easy, comfortable and in plentiful supply―then they invariably fell away from God into idolizing those things that brought them ease, comfort and plenitude. This led God to ‘kindly’ give them lots of crosses that brought them to their knees and brought them back to God! Nothing has changed in human nature since those times! The cross more than anything that brings ease, comfort, wealth and fun, draws us closer to God. Just as we say: “Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia” (Where there is Peter, there too is the Church)―we can likewise say: “Ubi Crux, ibi Jesus” (Where there is the cross, there also is Jesus).
Comfort-Zone Catholics and Fairweather Followers
We naively expect, or at least want, our life on Earth to be “plain sailing”, a “smooth road” without inclines, we want fair weather―and so we quickly become “fair-weather Catholics”―that is to say, Catholics who only operate when things are easy, comfortable, favorable and fair. It is only as things progress that we realize that everything is not going to be a bed of roses, and that we are going to have separate the wheat from the chaff, make modifications, undergo some stresses and strains, suffer and sacrifice, work harder, etc., etc. Suffering is not without its reward if it is borne humbly, perseveringly and well. As St. Paul writes: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). “Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). St. Peter adds: “Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations” (1 Peter 1:6). Which is essentially what Our Lady said to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.”
So let us not place our eggs in the basket of this world, seeking to please ourselves and please those who surround us. This is what the Pharisees did and Our Lord said they had already received their reward in this world. We work for God, He is our master and rewarder. The world is no friend of God’s, and God is no friend of the world. We cannot serve God and the world. As St. James says: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
And we will even find enemies among the Catholics that surround us, as Our Lord warned: “And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household ... Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
St. Padre Pio said that “every grace must be paid for” ― which means that great graces have great prices; and that price is usually paid by suffering. In His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord, in His humanity, did not quite like the idea of having to go through the suffering that was laid in store for Him. The fact that He eventually did go through with it, was one of the reasons why the graces He earned were so extraordinarily powerful. If, in our weakness we cannot handle great sacrifices or sufferings, or if great sufferings would draw us away from Jesus instead of closer to Him, then of course He will not grant the great grace(s) that we are asking for, because it is not beneficial for our souls. Heaven rarely gives anything away for free—if we don’t pay beforehand, we must pay afterwards. Rarely in our lives will Jesus work extraordinary miracles or give us extraordinary graces, because we cannot handle the extraordinary sufferings or sacrifices that often accompany them as a necessary payment for them—which is what St. Padre Pio stated, when pointing out that extraordinary graces—such as miraculous cures or conversions—have to be “paid” for through much suffering.
The Only Way Out of This Mess is Suffering
The world is currently in a big mess. Already back in the seemingly more innocent and less sinful days of the 1950s, Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
The only solution is to suffer. We either suffer willingly and voluntarily before the “Great Chastisement” ― or we will forced to suffer for our neglect as a result of the “Great Chastisement”. As Our Lady said at Akita, Japan, in 1973: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened, so many times, to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.” (July 3rd & August 6th, 1973).
The Sundays of the current pre-Lenten season―Septuagesima Sunday, Sexagesima Sunday and Quinquagesima Sunday―are so rich in readings that it is impossible to devour and digest them in one sitting! You have divide-up the liturgical meal over several ‘sittings’ or several days, in order to them justice and to enrich your own soul with their contents! Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel (which was last Sunday) dealt with the sowing of the seed―a subject that we have spent the last two days examining from different perspectives. Sexagesima Sunday’s Epistle reading dealt with the incredible litany of suffering that St. Paul had to endure in his work for Christ. If we think that our ‘lot in life’ is meant to be any different to that of St. Paul, then we are grossly fooling ourselves and risking our salvation in the process. In view of the fact that most Catholic souls are lost (as stated by Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints), would it not be in our best interests to avoid falling into the same ill-fated company? The discipline of philosophy teaches us that irrefutable and unchangeable axiom, which says: “He who desires the end, necessarily must also desire the means to that end.” Therefore, if you desire to get to Heaven, then you must necessarily desire and take (whether you like it or not) the means that will lead you to Heaven.
Holy Scripture and Our Lord put it this way: “This is the will of God, your sanctification!” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) … “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie!” (Apocalypse 21:27) … “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20) ... “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) ... “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and everyone that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified―that you bring forth very much fruit and become My disciples … If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he shall burn” (John 15:1-8).
The path to Heaven is not jingle-bells sleigh-ride in the snow. It is not an ocean cruise on a luxury liner on calm waters. It is not limousine ride, nor a first class seat on a jet-liner. Our Lord clearly warns: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which Scripture adds: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
If you want to go to Heaven, then those are the means that you must take. If you reject the means, then you reject Heaven and Heaven will reject you. Most people end up being rejects―because they selfishly and stubbornly refuse to take the means that God has offered. As Our Lady reminded the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Remember, that the journey from the mortal to the eternal life is long, painful and dangerous―long, because it takes up the whole life; painful, on account of the hardships; dangerous, on account of human frailty and the astuteness of the enemies. The shortest and the most secure course to follow, both for thee and for all men, is to welcome bitterness and sorrow and put aside ease and pleasure of the senses. In addition to this thou must continually seek after the greater pleasure of the Lord and aspire to the great last end of all thy longings.” While to St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Our Lady said: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” Sadly, most Catholics seek ease, comfort and happiness in this life―and that is why they end up in Hell in the next life!
Suffering St. Paul
The Epistle reading for Sexagesima Sunday is basically a litany of sufferings that St. Paul underwent for Christ’s sake. Originally, St. Paul―when he was still called Saul―was a kind of “Antichrist”. He was opposed to Christ and Christians. He even sought ought Christians so that he could ‘arrest’ them and take them to be judged before the Jewish authorities. He took part in the murder and martyrdom of St. Stephen―holding the cloaks of his fellow murderers while they stoned Stephen to death. Yet Christ loved His enemy, Paul―and the way that Christ showed His love towards Paul―after He converted him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22)―by showering Paul with suffererings! Providence showered him with suffering after suffering. In fact, the Lord had said to Ananias, just after Paul’s conversion: “This man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!” (Acts 9:15-16). And suffer he did! Here is St. Paul’s partial list, written down by himself, of just a fraction of his sufferings:
“They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites―so am I. They are the seed of Abraham―so am I. They are the ministers of Christ―I am more! In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:22-33; 12:1-10).
And now he finds himself in prison, and what does he say? He writes to the Philippians: “Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Philippians 4:4-7).
St. Paul’s Silver-Lined Cloud
This letter of St. Paul to the Christians of Philippi—his first converts in Europe—was written to them from his prison in Rome. When the Philippians, who were very attached to their Apostle, heard of Paul’s imprisonment, they sent one of the community, Epaphroditus, with a sum of money, and with instructions to remain with Paul, to help him in his needs. Epaphroditus became seriously ill in Rome and nearly died; when he recovered Paul sent him back and sent this letter with him to the Christians of Philippi. In it he thanks them and praises them for their generosity and true Christian love, he exhorts them to remain firm in the Faith, despite the present adversity of Paul being in prison. In the letter, St. Paul urges them to “rejoice always.” He repeats it to emphasize how important he thought it: “again I say rejoice.” He does not mean rejoice as in having fun―but rejoice in the cross and sufferings that Christ will send your way as a token of His love for you!
The joy St. Paul urges them to practice is the spiritual joy, which comes from the knowledge that, as Christians, they are incorporated by their baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ. Part of the ‘contract’ means having to take up your cross daily and carry it with joy, as did the Apostles, who “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). This was simply the small print of the ‘contract’ that Jesus revealed at the Last Supper, when He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
Can You Spot Christ?
We need our supernatural glasses or contact lenses to see Jesus in our sufferings, but as the old adage goes: “Where there is the cross, there too is Christ!” St. Paul understood this and that is why he can speak so joyfully and courageously of the cross and suffering:
“For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18) ... “That I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19) ... “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14) ... “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (Romans 8:18) ... “I Paul...now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh” (Colossians 1:23-24).
This attitude of St. Paul is approved and ‘rubber-stamped’ by St. Peter, who writes: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, then rejoice, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
The World is Anti-Cross and Anti-Christ
We are fools for trying to marry the world with Christ. We stupidly imagine that we can serve the world and serve Christ; love the world and love Christ. We easily fall into this trap on a daily basis―and this trap entraps many gullible souls in Hell at the end of their “adulterous” life―seeking to love two opposites, the world and Christ. Our Lord and Holy Scripture clearly, bluntly and consistently warn against the spiritual suicide of trying to love Christ and His enemy.
Our Lord Himself warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The world praises riches and wealth and encourages us to seek them―Our Lord warns against riches and wealth and tell us to avoid them: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me! … How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
The world encourages us to seek as much ease, comfort and fun as we can possibly obtain―yet Our Lord says the opposite: “Behold they that are clothed in soft garments and costly clothing and live delicately, are in the houses of kings! … Be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat; nor for your body and what you shall wear. Is not life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek! Seek ye first the kingdom of God! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Matthew 11:8; 6:25, 6:31-33; Luke 7:25; 13:3) … “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me! … And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple! … And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Luke 9:23; 14:27; Matthew 10:38).
It is to be ominously noted that whenever the Israelites has things easy, comfortable and in plentiful supply―then they invariably fell away from God into idolizing those things that brought them ease, comfort and plenitude. This led God to ‘kindly’ give them lots of crosses that brought them to their knees and brought them back to God! Nothing has changed in human nature since those times! The cross more than anything that brings ease, comfort, wealth and fun, draws us closer to God. Just as we say: “Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia” (Where there is Peter, there too is the Church)―we can likewise say: “Ubi Crux, ibi Jesus” (Where there is the cross, there also is Jesus).
Comfort-Zone Catholics and Fairweather Followers
We naively expect, or at least want, our life on Earth to be “plain sailing”, a “smooth road” without inclines, we want fair weather―and so we quickly become “fair-weather Catholics”―that is to say, Catholics who only operate when things are easy, comfortable, favorable and fair. It is only as things progress that we realize that everything is not going to be a bed of roses, and that we are going to have separate the wheat from the chaff, make modifications, undergo some stresses and strains, suffer and sacrifice, work harder, etc., etc. Suffering is not without its reward if it is borne humbly, perseveringly and well. As St. Paul writes: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). “Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). St. Peter adds: “Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations” (1 Peter 1:6). Which is essentially what Our Lady said to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.”
So let us not place our eggs in the basket of this world, seeking to please ourselves and please those who surround us. This is what the Pharisees did and Our Lord said they had already received their reward in this world. We work for God, He is our master and rewarder. The world is no friend of God’s, and God is no friend of the world. We cannot serve God and the world. As St. James says: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
And we will even find enemies among the Catholics that surround us, as Our Lord warned: “And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household ... Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
St. Padre Pio said that “every grace must be paid for” ― which means that great graces have great prices; and that price is usually paid by suffering. In His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord, in His humanity, did not quite like the idea of having to go through the suffering that was laid in store for Him. The fact that He eventually did go through with it, was one of the reasons why the graces He earned were so extraordinarily powerful. If, in our weakness we cannot handle great sacrifices or sufferings, or if great sufferings would draw us away from Jesus instead of closer to Him, then of course He will not grant the great grace(s) that we are asking for, because it is not beneficial for our souls. Heaven rarely gives anything away for free—if we don’t pay beforehand, we must pay afterwards. Rarely in our lives will Jesus work extraordinary miracles or give us extraordinary graces, because we cannot handle the extraordinary sufferings or sacrifices that often accompany them as a necessary payment for them—which is what St. Padre Pio stated, when pointing out that extraordinary graces—such as miraculous cures or conversions—have to be “paid” for through much suffering.
The Only Way Out of This Mess is Suffering
The world is currently in a big mess. Already back in the seemingly more innocent and less sinful days of the 1950s, Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
The only solution is to suffer. We either suffer willingly and voluntarily before the “Great Chastisement” ― or we will forced to suffer for our neglect as a result of the “Great Chastisement”. As Our Lady said at Akita, Japan, in 1973: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened, so many times, to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.” (July 3rd & August 6th, 1973).
Sexagesima Monday February 21st
Article 9
Lost For Words!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 9
Lost For Words!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Loss of Words
The Gospel of Sexagesima Sunday spoke of “sowing the seed” whereby the “seed” symbolizes or represents the “word of God”. The “seed” is withering just as intelligence is withering. In 1990, Harper's Index noted the rather astounding fact that, over the previous fifty years, the vocabulary of the average American student had declined from 25,000 words to 10,000.
In December, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) found that the diction of American students is not nearly as good as it should be. A report from DOE’s National Center for Education Statistics found that vocabulary skills are tied closely to reading level, and that both must start being developed from a young age in order to progress properly.
In a later report, in October of 2013, it was shown that the United States ranks lower than other developed countries in many key skills in Math, Vocabulary, and Technology.
In Washington, in September of 2016, an alarming report was published by the National Center for Education Research, the majority of American students do not possess the language skills and vocabulary necessary to belittle their classmates in an effective manner. The report, based on observations of more than 500,000 students around the country from kindergarten through 12th grade, concludes that while most can easily perceive weakness and vulnerability in their fellow schoolchildren, their rudimentary linguistic capabilities routinely prevent them from mocking the appearance, personality, or athletic ability of others in such a way that those individuals are reduced to tears and suffer chronically low self-esteem. “Unfortunately, most of our students are finishing high school with only a fifth-grade ability to shame and deride their peers,” said report co-author and educational psychologist Joyce Marrone, observing that most graduates cannot string together two sentences about a classmate’s lisp or general weirdness with enough proficiency to completely devastate them. “While they know how to identify a loser, they lack the semantic tools to articulate exactly why that person is so lame, ugly, or stupid.”
The Words of the Rich and the Poor
The results are also vexing because early vocabulary skills have long been a divider between rich and poor kids before they even step foot in the classroom: a seminal study in 1995 found that children whose families were on welfare heard on average 616 words per hour, while children from wealthier families heard 2,153 words per hour.
Dummies of the Faith
You could say the same thing about the Faith—knowledge of the Faith is closely linked to a reading level. If we never challenge ourselves by delving deeper into the Faith by reading books that give a deeper and broader exposition of the Faith, then we shall end up being “Faith-challenged” or, to put it more bluntly, “Dummies in the Faith”! We shall end up being “at a loss for words” when it comes to discussing, promoting or defending our Faith—which is the case for most Catholics, for they have even forgotten much of their First Holy Communion Catechism or their Confirmation Catechism, which they learnt only to pass a test and then filed it away in the trash cans of their memories. Most Catholics today could correctly recall all of the Ten Commandments, nor the Six Chief Commandments of the Church, nor the five conditions required for a good confession, nor name how many conditions must be present for a mortal sin, and a host of similar questions asked to the 7 or 8 year old children preparing for their First Communion. All that is just “Kiddie-Cathechism”—yet most adults do not even have a “Kiddie-Knowledge” of the Faith—and I am not kidding!
The Words of the “Faith Rich” and “Faith Poor”
Furthermore, there is also a “rich” and “poor” divide or chasm in matters of not only vocabulary, but also Faith. There are families “rich” in the Faith, who speak about and discuss the Faith often, and there are families that are “poor” in the Faith, who speak about or discuss the Faith only rarely, or never at all. In families who are “rich in the Faith” a child will hear “thousands” of words on the Faith spoken daily, while in families who are “poor in the Faith” a child will hear only a few Faith related words spoken daily.
Pope’s Guide On Dummies
Pope St. Pius X is of the same opinion: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life ― for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ. They know nothing of … Grace, the greatest of the helps for attaining eternal things, the Holy Sacrifice and the Sacraments, are entirely unknown to them. They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life’s end in such a condition … And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed, in order to be numbered among the elect.’”
Does a Loss of Words Lead to a Loss of Souls?
To have a decent chance of survival in this life and in this world, you need you know how to speak and how to write. You need to know your local language where you wish and hope to live and survive. You need to be able to “read the word”, “understand the word” and “speak the word”. Words are important! Our very life depends upon them! Misunderstandings can lead to death. Refusal to communicate the word can lead to death. Lack of understanding what is said to you can lead to death!
If you cannot read the words of warning on a bottle of liquid that tells you it is poisonous—then you could die. If you cannot understand or do not bother to read the words: “Shark infested beach” before going to swim in the sea, then you are risking your life. If you cannot understand the words—“Toxic chemicals”—when handling a substance, then you are risking your health or even your life. The examples are endless. The truth is obvious. Words are important and sometimes life-saving. The same is true of the Word of God. “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
The “Word” of All Words—Jesus Christ the Word of God!
The “Word of all words”—so to speak—is Jesus Christ. That is what Holy Scripture tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men ... The true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:1-14).
A parallel passage to the above, that is closely linked to it, is found in the Book of Apocalypse, which also speaks of Christ being the “Word of God”. The above passage (John 1:1-14) refers to Christ as the “Word of God” in His “First Coming” which was in His birth at Bethlehem and His successive short life on Earth. The Book of the Apocalypse refers to Christ as the “Word of God” in His “Second Coming” at towards the end of time:
“And I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon it was called ‘faithful’ and ‘true’, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a Name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, “THE WORD OF GOD”. And the armies that are in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’” (Apocalypse 19:11-6).
Why is Christ Called “The Word of God”?
We get to know things—we learn—through words. Parents and teachers use words to explain things to their children and students. In the Old Testament we read of God saying: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We could say that Our Lord is personification and verbalization of the thoughts of God. He has come to teach us what His Father, God the Father, wants to be taught―as Jesus Himself says: ”The Word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me!” (John 14:15-24). “I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me … And this is the will of My Father that sent Me: that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:38-40).
Jesus is the personification of wisdom, He is the wisdom incarnate, He is the wisdom of the thought of God made incarnate as a man, to speak the thoughts of God His Father to us, as is described in the Book of Proverbs, in chapters 5 to 8. That section begins by saying: “My son, attend to My wisdom, and incline thy ear to My prudence! That thou mayest keep My thoughts, and thy lips may preserve My instruction!” (Proverbs 5:1-2).
This “Word”, this “Wisdom”, is God’s communication to humanity. Christ is the communication of God to humanity. He revealed to the world the Word of God. Jesus was the personification of the written and spoken Word. In the Old Testament God revealed His word through the mere mortals, the prophets, while in the New Testament the word of God the Father was revealed in a Person, a Divine Person―God the Son. “God sent the Word to the children of Israel, by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).
The Power of “The Word of God”
In the Old Testament, the Word carries the idea of active power. God ‘spoke’ the universe into being. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis—the very first chapter of the whole Bible—we read of God ‘speaking’ all things into existence:
“And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made … And God said: ‘Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters!’ … and it was so … God also said: ‘Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear!’ And it was so done ... And He said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth!’ And it was so done ... And God said: ‘Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, to shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth!’ And it was so done … God also said: ‘Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven!’ And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind … And God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds!’ And it was so done ... And He said: ‘Let us make man to Our image and likeness … and God created man to His own image” (Genesis 1:1-27).
This “power” of the “Word of God” is later echoed by Holy Scripture, where Psalm (33:6) states: “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established!” Creation was brought about through the Word of God, just as John observed of the Word, " All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3). Other Psalms testify the same thing: “And they cried to the Lord in their affliction and He delivered them out of their distresses. He sent his Word, and healed them: and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 106:19-20). “He sends forth His command to the Earth; His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments! Who can stand before His cold? He sends forth His Word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow!” (Psalm 147:15-18).
This “power” of the “Word of God” is later, once again, echoed by God’s own words to His prophet Isaias: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My Word be, which goes forth from My mouth! It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaias 55:10-11).
The pagan Centurion, seeking the cure of his servant, trusted in the great power of the ‘mere’ “Word of God” to cure the servant, without even asking for Christ to personally go to cure him:
“The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying to him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him. For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord! Trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou should enter under my roof! For which cause neither did I think myself worthy to come to thee; but say the Word, and my servant shall be healed! For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’ Which Jesus hearing, marveled: and turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great Faith, not even in Israel. And they who were sent, being returned to the house, found the servant whole [cured] who had been sick” (Luke 7:2-10).
Jesus performed many other miracles by His “Word” alone.
The Canaanite women has her possessed daughter cured by the mere Word of Jesus: “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:21-28).
“Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water change into wine. And there was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to Him, and prayed Him to come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: ‘Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not!’ The ruler said to Him: ‘Lord! Come down before that my son die!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy son liveth!’ The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. He asked, therefore, of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: ‘Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him!’ The father therefore knew, that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him: ‘Thy son liveth!’ and he himself believed, and his whole household” (John 4:46-53).
At other times, Jesus merely says the word and devils leave the bodies of those whom they had possessed: “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour” (Matthew 17:17).
Similarly, “there met him a man with an unclean spirit, … and seeing Jesus afar off, he ran and adored Him. And crying with a loud voice, he said: ‘What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not!’ For Jesus said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’ … And there was, near the mountain, a great herd of swine, feeding. And the spirits besought Him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them!’ And Jesus immediately gave them leave. And the unclean spirits going out, entered into the swine: and the herd with great violence was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were drowned in the sea” (Mark 5:2-13).
On another occasion, “Jesus said to the sick of the palsy: ‘I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:10-12).
The Word of God is Powerful For Us
Holy Scripture says: “Take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword” (Isaias 49:2). “They shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips!” (Psalm 58:8). “You are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God!” (Colossians 3:16).
“Elias the prophet stood up as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch. He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the commandments of the Lord. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought down fire from heaven thrice. Thus was Elias magnified in his wondrous works, who raised up a dead man from below, from the lot of death, by the word of the Lord God” (Ecclesiasticus 48:1-5).
That “Sword of the Word” will be seen to strike down the sinners and enemies of God in the last days. Speaking of the ‘sword’ that is Christ’s tongue, the Book of Apocalypse says: “And from His mouth came out a sharp two edged sword: and His face was as the sun shineth in His power … And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty! … And the rest were slain by the sword of Him, that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of His mouth!” (Apocalypse 1:16; 19:15, 19:21).
Listen to the “Word” of All Words, or Lose Your Soul
At the transfiguration of Jesus, on Mount Tabor, Our Lord had taken Peter, James and John with Him onto the mountain, and He was transfigured before them: “And there was a cloud overshadowing them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My most beloved Son! Hear ye Him!’” (Mark 9:6). “And as He was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’” (Matthew 17:5). “And there came a cloud, and overshadowed them; and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son; hear Him!’” (Luke 9:35).
St. Peter testifies to this event much later, after Christ’s ascension into Heaven, when, speaking of Jesus, Peter says: “For He received from God the Father, honor and glory! This voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!’” (2 Peter 1:17).
Jesus Himself says: “This is the will of My Father that sent Me: that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:40). This echoes the Old Testament: “My son, keep My words, and lay up My precepts with thee. Son, keep My commandments, and thou shalt live!” (Proverbs 7:1-2).
Our Lord tells us take His Words seriously: “If you love me, keep my commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My Word … He that loveth me not, keepeth not My Words. And the Word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me!” (John 14:15-24).
Our Lord, speaking of Himself, said: “For he that shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when He shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels!” (Mark 8:38). “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away!” (Matthew 24:35). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23).
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
“Hear the Word of the Lord, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1).
Let us learn from Our Lady: “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The Hypocrisy of Our Words
The danger is—and always has been—is that we do not ponder the words of God deep in our hearts, but we merely let them float on the surface of our memory, and sometimes the heat of the world even makes those words evaporate! Our Lord complained bitterly of this kind of superficiality: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord also spoke of the hypocritical Pharisees, saying: “The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not!” (Matthew 23:2-3).
“I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:13-14). “Every man’s word shall be his burden―for you have perverted the words of the living God” (Jeremias 23:36). Woe to them who have started changing our Faith—the Liberals and the Modernists—and those lay people who ‘invent’ their own form of Catholicism, saying that they refuse to accept this or that! Woe to those who have perverted the Word of God by saying same-sex unions are acceptable, that divorce is acceptable, that contraception is permissible, that abortion is allowable, that such and such a thing is no longer a sin, that you can be a ‘good Catholic’ while not going to Mass on Sundays and not confessing your sins, etc.
“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits! … For they have cast away the Law of the Lord!” (Isaias 5:20-24). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). “Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: ‘Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make My Words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them!’” (Jeremias 5:14).
The Gospel of Sexagesima Sunday spoke of “sowing the seed” whereby the “seed” symbolizes or represents the “word of God”. The “seed” is withering just as intelligence is withering. In 1990, Harper's Index noted the rather astounding fact that, over the previous fifty years, the vocabulary of the average American student had declined from 25,000 words to 10,000.
In December, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) found that the diction of American students is not nearly as good as it should be. A report from DOE’s National Center for Education Statistics found that vocabulary skills are tied closely to reading level, and that both must start being developed from a young age in order to progress properly.
In a later report, in October of 2013, it was shown that the United States ranks lower than other developed countries in many key skills in Math, Vocabulary, and Technology.
In Washington, in September of 2016, an alarming report was published by the National Center for Education Research, the majority of American students do not possess the language skills and vocabulary necessary to belittle their classmates in an effective manner. The report, based on observations of more than 500,000 students around the country from kindergarten through 12th grade, concludes that while most can easily perceive weakness and vulnerability in their fellow schoolchildren, their rudimentary linguistic capabilities routinely prevent them from mocking the appearance, personality, or athletic ability of others in such a way that those individuals are reduced to tears and suffer chronically low self-esteem. “Unfortunately, most of our students are finishing high school with only a fifth-grade ability to shame and deride their peers,” said report co-author and educational psychologist Joyce Marrone, observing that most graduates cannot string together two sentences about a classmate’s lisp or general weirdness with enough proficiency to completely devastate them. “While they know how to identify a loser, they lack the semantic tools to articulate exactly why that person is so lame, ugly, or stupid.”
The Words of the Rich and the Poor
The results are also vexing because early vocabulary skills have long been a divider between rich and poor kids before they even step foot in the classroom: a seminal study in 1995 found that children whose families were on welfare heard on average 616 words per hour, while children from wealthier families heard 2,153 words per hour.
Dummies of the Faith
You could say the same thing about the Faith—knowledge of the Faith is closely linked to a reading level. If we never challenge ourselves by delving deeper into the Faith by reading books that give a deeper and broader exposition of the Faith, then we shall end up being “Faith-challenged” or, to put it more bluntly, “Dummies in the Faith”! We shall end up being “at a loss for words” when it comes to discussing, promoting or defending our Faith—which is the case for most Catholics, for they have even forgotten much of their First Holy Communion Catechism or their Confirmation Catechism, which they learnt only to pass a test and then filed it away in the trash cans of their memories. Most Catholics today could correctly recall all of the Ten Commandments, nor the Six Chief Commandments of the Church, nor the five conditions required for a good confession, nor name how many conditions must be present for a mortal sin, and a host of similar questions asked to the 7 or 8 year old children preparing for their First Communion. All that is just “Kiddie-Cathechism”—yet most adults do not even have a “Kiddie-Knowledge” of the Faith—and I am not kidding!
The Words of the “Faith Rich” and “Faith Poor”
Furthermore, there is also a “rich” and “poor” divide or chasm in matters of not only vocabulary, but also Faith. There are families “rich” in the Faith, who speak about and discuss the Faith often, and there are families that are “poor” in the Faith, who speak about or discuss the Faith only rarely, or never at all. In families who are “rich in the Faith” a child will hear “thousands” of words on the Faith spoken daily, while in families who are “poor in the Faith” a child will hear only a few Faith related words spoken daily.
Pope’s Guide On Dummies
Pope St. Pius X is of the same opinion: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life ― for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ. They know nothing of … Grace, the greatest of the helps for attaining eternal things, the Holy Sacrifice and the Sacraments, are entirely unknown to them. They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life’s end in such a condition … And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed, in order to be numbered among the elect.’”
Does a Loss of Words Lead to a Loss of Souls?
To have a decent chance of survival in this life and in this world, you need you know how to speak and how to write. You need to know your local language where you wish and hope to live and survive. You need to be able to “read the word”, “understand the word” and “speak the word”. Words are important! Our very life depends upon them! Misunderstandings can lead to death. Refusal to communicate the word can lead to death. Lack of understanding what is said to you can lead to death!
If you cannot read the words of warning on a bottle of liquid that tells you it is poisonous—then you could die. If you cannot understand or do not bother to read the words: “Shark infested beach” before going to swim in the sea, then you are risking your life. If you cannot understand the words—“Toxic chemicals”—when handling a substance, then you are risking your health or even your life. The examples are endless. The truth is obvious. Words are important and sometimes life-saving. The same is true of the Word of God. “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
The “Word” of All Words—Jesus Christ the Word of God!
The “Word of all words”—so to speak—is Jesus Christ. That is what Holy Scripture tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men ... The true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:1-14).
A parallel passage to the above, that is closely linked to it, is found in the Book of Apocalypse, which also speaks of Christ being the “Word of God”. The above passage (John 1:1-14) refers to Christ as the “Word of God” in His “First Coming” which was in His birth at Bethlehem and His successive short life on Earth. The Book of the Apocalypse refers to Christ as the “Word of God” in His “Second Coming” at towards the end of time:
“And I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon it was called ‘faithful’ and ‘true’, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a Name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, “THE WORD OF GOD”. And the armies that are in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’” (Apocalypse 19:11-6).
Why is Christ Called “The Word of God”?
We get to know things—we learn—through words. Parents and teachers use words to explain things to their children and students. In the Old Testament we read of God saying: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We could say that Our Lord is personification and verbalization of the thoughts of God. He has come to teach us what His Father, God the Father, wants to be taught―as Jesus Himself says: ”The Word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me!” (John 14:15-24). “I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me … And this is the will of My Father that sent Me: that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:38-40).
Jesus is the personification of wisdom, He is the wisdom incarnate, He is the wisdom of the thought of God made incarnate as a man, to speak the thoughts of God His Father to us, as is described in the Book of Proverbs, in chapters 5 to 8. That section begins by saying: “My son, attend to My wisdom, and incline thy ear to My prudence! That thou mayest keep My thoughts, and thy lips may preserve My instruction!” (Proverbs 5:1-2).
This “Word”, this “Wisdom”, is God’s communication to humanity. Christ is the communication of God to humanity. He revealed to the world the Word of God. Jesus was the personification of the written and spoken Word. In the Old Testament God revealed His word through the mere mortals, the prophets, while in the New Testament the word of God the Father was revealed in a Person, a Divine Person―God the Son. “God sent the Word to the children of Israel, by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).
The Power of “The Word of God”
In the Old Testament, the Word carries the idea of active power. God ‘spoke’ the universe into being. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis—the very first chapter of the whole Bible—we read of God ‘speaking’ all things into existence:
“And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made … And God said: ‘Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters!’ … and it was so … God also said: ‘Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear!’ And it was so done ... And He said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth!’ And it was so done ... And God said: ‘Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, to shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth!’ And it was so done … God also said: ‘Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven!’ And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind … And God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds!’ And it was so done ... And He said: ‘Let us make man to Our image and likeness … and God created man to His own image” (Genesis 1:1-27).
This “power” of the “Word of God” is later echoed by Holy Scripture, where Psalm (33:6) states: “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established!” Creation was brought about through the Word of God, just as John observed of the Word, " All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3). Other Psalms testify the same thing: “And they cried to the Lord in their affliction and He delivered them out of their distresses. He sent his Word, and healed them: and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 106:19-20). “He sends forth His command to the Earth; His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments! Who can stand before His cold? He sends forth His Word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow!” (Psalm 147:15-18).
This “power” of the “Word of God” is later, once again, echoed by God’s own words to His prophet Isaias: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My Word be, which goes forth from My mouth! It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaias 55:10-11).
The pagan Centurion, seeking the cure of his servant, trusted in the great power of the ‘mere’ “Word of God” to cure the servant, without even asking for Christ to personally go to cure him:
“The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying to him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him. For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord! Trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou should enter under my roof! For which cause neither did I think myself worthy to come to thee; but say the Word, and my servant shall be healed! For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’ Which Jesus hearing, marveled: and turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great Faith, not even in Israel. And they who were sent, being returned to the house, found the servant whole [cured] who had been sick” (Luke 7:2-10).
Jesus performed many other miracles by His “Word” alone.
The Canaanite women has her possessed daughter cured by the mere Word of Jesus: “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:21-28).
“Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water change into wine. And there was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to Him, and prayed Him to come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: ‘Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not!’ The ruler said to Him: ‘Lord! Come down before that my son die!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy son liveth!’ The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. He asked, therefore, of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: ‘Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him!’ The father therefore knew, that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him: ‘Thy son liveth!’ and he himself believed, and his whole household” (John 4:46-53).
At other times, Jesus merely says the word and devils leave the bodies of those whom they had possessed: “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour” (Matthew 17:17).
Similarly, “there met him a man with an unclean spirit, … and seeing Jesus afar off, he ran and adored Him. And crying with a loud voice, he said: ‘What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not!’ For Jesus said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’ … And there was, near the mountain, a great herd of swine, feeding. And the spirits besought Him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them!’ And Jesus immediately gave them leave. And the unclean spirits going out, entered into the swine: and the herd with great violence was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were drowned in the sea” (Mark 5:2-13).
On another occasion, “Jesus said to the sick of the palsy: ‘I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:10-12).
The Word of God is Powerful For Us
Holy Scripture says: “Take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword” (Isaias 49:2). “They shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips!” (Psalm 58:8). “You are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God!” (Colossians 3:16).
“Elias the prophet stood up as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch. He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the commandments of the Lord. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought down fire from heaven thrice. Thus was Elias magnified in his wondrous works, who raised up a dead man from below, from the lot of death, by the word of the Lord God” (Ecclesiasticus 48:1-5).
That “Sword of the Word” will be seen to strike down the sinners and enemies of God in the last days. Speaking of the ‘sword’ that is Christ’s tongue, the Book of Apocalypse says: “And from His mouth came out a sharp two edged sword: and His face was as the sun shineth in His power … And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty! … And the rest were slain by the sword of Him, that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of His mouth!” (Apocalypse 1:16; 19:15, 19:21).
Listen to the “Word” of All Words, or Lose Your Soul
At the transfiguration of Jesus, on Mount Tabor, Our Lord had taken Peter, James and John with Him onto the mountain, and He was transfigured before them: “And there was a cloud overshadowing them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My most beloved Son! Hear ye Him!’” (Mark 9:6). “And as He was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’” (Matthew 17:5). “And there came a cloud, and overshadowed them; and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son; hear Him!’” (Luke 9:35).
St. Peter testifies to this event much later, after Christ’s ascension into Heaven, when, speaking of Jesus, Peter says: “For He received from God the Father, honor and glory! This voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!’” (2 Peter 1:17).
Jesus Himself says: “This is the will of My Father that sent Me: that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:40). This echoes the Old Testament: “My son, keep My words, and lay up My precepts with thee. Son, keep My commandments, and thou shalt live!” (Proverbs 7:1-2).
Our Lord tells us take His Words seriously: “If you love me, keep my commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My Word … He that loveth me not, keepeth not My Words. And the Word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me!” (John 14:15-24).
Our Lord, speaking of Himself, said: “For he that shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when He shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels!” (Mark 8:38). “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away!” (Matthew 24:35). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23).
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
“Hear the Word of the Lord, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1).
Let us learn from Our Lady: “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The Hypocrisy of Our Words
The danger is—and always has been—is that we do not ponder the words of God deep in our hearts, but we merely let them float on the surface of our memory, and sometimes the heat of the world even makes those words evaporate! Our Lord complained bitterly of this kind of superficiality: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord also spoke of the hypocritical Pharisees, saying: “The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not!” (Matthew 23:2-3).
“I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:13-14). “Every man’s word shall be his burden―for you have perverted the words of the living God” (Jeremias 23:36). Woe to them who have started changing our Faith—the Liberals and the Modernists—and those lay people who ‘invent’ their own form of Catholicism, saying that they refuse to accept this or that! Woe to those who have perverted the Word of God by saying same-sex unions are acceptable, that divorce is acceptable, that contraception is permissible, that abortion is allowable, that such and such a thing is no longer a sin, that you can be a ‘good Catholic’ while not going to Mass on Sundays and not confessing your sins, etc.
“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits! … For they have cast away the Law of the Lord!” (Isaias 5:20-24). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). “Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: ‘Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make My Words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them!’” (Jeremias 5:14).
Sexagesima Sunday February 20th
Article 8
What Seeds Are You Sowing?
Article 8
What Seeds Are You Sowing?
What’s Your Preference? Sowing God’s Seed or Wild Oats?
Today’s Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel speaks of sowing the seed. No doubt you have also heard of the expression about a person “sowing their wild oats.” What is this seed? What are those wild oats? The first question is answered by Our Lord Himself, Who says that the seed is the Word of God. The second question―about sowing wild oats―has a double meaning. One is literal and agricultural in meaning; the other is metaphorical and has an immoral meaning.
Wild Weeds and Wild Behavior
The literal and agricultural meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to a European species of grass―botanically called Avena fatua, which the English have been calling “wild oats” for centuries. Botanists are of the opinion that these “wild oats” are the origin of cultivated oats. Farmers, since ancient times, have detested these “wild oats” because they are nothing but a useless weed, whose seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals. Consequently, these “wild oats” have survived and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was by hand-weeding it. Modern seed cleaning and selective weed-killers have not really solved the problem in our days―for it still exists.
The metaphorical and immoral meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to activities that are either immoral or a pure waste of time with little or no fruit coming from them. Hence, the expression of a “young man sowing his wild oats” came to be applied to those who “frittered away their time in stupid or idle pastimes.” Or as one writer puts it: “There’s a strong sexual association here, too, because the phrase was often applied, in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men, to what was politely referred to as youthful dissipation. The associations between male sexual activity and sowing seed are obvious enough.”
It is asserted that the expression goes back to Roman times, with a certain Roman, called Plautus, thought to be the originator of the phrase. In the English language, it was apparently first used by the Norfolk Protestant clergyman Thomas Becon, in 1542. Later, in 1869, Louisa May Alcott used the expression in her book, Little Women, saying: “Boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles”―by which she seems to give the expression as one of time-wasting, trivial, pointless, infantile or stupid activities.
With time―and with the moral degeneration of mankind―the meaning of “sowing one’s wild oats” began to be increasingly applied, as the dictionary lists, to the following: “to engage in premarital or extramarital affairs; to have numerous sexual partners; to spread one's genes around by impregnating many females; as well as to indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior.” Thus, if a young man “sows his wild oats”, he has a period of his life when he does a lot of exciting things and has a lot of sexual relationships.
Our Lady on Wild Oats and Wild Behavior
You could say that Our Lady speaks of the same ‘wild behavior’ when she says: “As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education .… acting thus to snare many into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
These words of Our Lady of Good Success are reiterated and compounded by Our Lady at Fatima, when she revealed that the sins that damn most souls are the sins of the flesh―sins of impurity in either thought, word or deed―which deeply affected little St. Jacinta Marto, to whom Our Lady―in three private apparitions―revealed that “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” … “Woe to women lacking in modesty” and that “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity.”
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of “sowing one’s wild oats”―for it is not just sexual sins that damn souls, but a whole host of other ‘weeds’ or ‘wild oats’ that choke the life out of the soul. The list itself is generally summarized by the Ten Commandments―but the Ten Commandments are merely ‘chapter headings’ that have an awful lot of detail in their chapters, as anyone who has read a Moral Theology manual will tell you. If you like, the Ten Commandments are like the names of ten countries―but within each country there are millions of people, more or less alike, speaking the same language, but each one different to everyone else in one way or another.
Yet today, everyone seems to sowing more seeds of sin than seeds of virtue! It will not end well!
Sowing What Seed?
God, through His Church, has provided us with many seeds of knowledge, graces and virtues. But unless that seed is planted and makes us die to the world, we will bear no fruit. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
We have a choice in whether to be Marthas or Marys. We can be busy with the world, or busy with Our Lord. Each choice has its inescapable consequences. As we sow, so shall we reap. To those who sow their seed in the world, it will be said: “Because thou hast forgotten God thy Savior, thou shalt sow strange seed” (Isaias 17:10); “Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap” (Micheas 6:15) ... “You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies” (Leviticus 26:16).
Jesus spoke of those who were too preoccupied with the world and were thus unable to see the mysteries of God: “And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive .For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:14-16).
The Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Explaining the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus tells His Apostles that the seed is the Word of God. He then continues (here follow both the accounts by St. Matthew and St. Mark):
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:18-23).
“He that soweth, soweth the Word. And these are they by the way side, where the Word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution ariseth for the Word, they are presently scandalized. And others there are who are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the Word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the Word, and it is made fruitless. And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the Word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred” (Mark 4:14-20).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith” (Galatians 6:7-10). “With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted” (Psalm 17:27).
We cannot give what we have not got! Therefore, we need to plant that Word of God within us; we need to nurture the mysteries of God what we have seen this Christmas season, which only recently ended (February 2nd); we need to let those seeds sprout in our souls; and water them with our prayers and pluck out any weeds with our sacrifices. It is serious work, it is hard work, it is the work of salvation!
Preparing the Plant for “Hardening-Off”
“Hardening off” is the process of moving plants outdoors for a portion of the day to gradually introduce them to the direct sunlight, dry air, and cold nights. Young, pampered seedlings that were grown either indoors or in a greenhouse need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden.
Hardening-off gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up by thickening the cuticle on the leaves so that the leaves lose less water. This helps prevent transplant shock; seedlings that languish, become stunted or die from sudden changes in temperature. Hardening-off times depend on the type of plants that are being grown and the temperature and temperature fluctuations.
The same is true for our spiritual life. Advent was a time for preparing the soil of the soul. Christmas was the time of planting the seed of the baby Christ-Child in that prepared soil. Now we have a period of growth, where the feasts and festivities have to give way to the eventual fasting and abstinence of Lent. So we need to adjust, we need that period of “hardening-off” whereby our softness becomes less soft and more ready to bear the harshness of Lent. That Lenten harshness is necessary for the maturity of our spiritual plant, the soul, in order for it to bring forth the fruit required by God, once it is watered by the grace of the Holy Ghost after Pentecost.
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed. Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism. Yet all around us, in the world that surrounds and which we must live, there is an abundance of wild oats―meaning worldliness.
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
The Mustard Seed of Faith
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, good seed and seed of wild oats, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Wheat and Cockle
The parable of the Wheat and the Cockle could easily be called the parable of the Seed of God and the Seed of Wild Oats. “Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—”If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith―which is symbolized by the seed―then we are told to leave the world behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. They want to sow the seed of God together with the wild oats of the world. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential―Sow the Seed of God, Not the World
The field of our soul should be sown solely with the seed of God and not the world―there can be no cross-breeding, only cross carrying. The world is a weed that chokes the seed of God―which is the word of God. The two seeds cannot grow side by side―we cannot serve God and mammon, we cannot grow the seed of God and the world in the same soul. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
Separate the Seeds
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism has penetrated almost every corner of the world and every facet of daily life. What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism is a Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
What Seeds Have Been Sown in Your Family, Parish, School or Workplace?
As one, long-deceased, very conservative and traditional bishop used to say: “We are all Liberals!”―it is only in degrees of Liberalism that we differ. It is much the same as sin―we are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8)―the only difference is in the degree of sin present in our lives. Liberalism is basically a freedom from authority, a freedom from being told what to do, a freedom of thought, a freedom of conscience, a freedom of action, a freedom of belief. Hence, today’s false theory of Ecumenism is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of Religious Freedom is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of everyone being equal is pure Liberalism. Today’s focus on Human Rights is pure Liberalism when it ignores and fails to place the Divine Rights of God above all Human Rights. Today’s laws―or so-called ‘laws’―that allow sinful behavior that contradicts the laws of God, are pure Liberalism. There is no love of God in Liberalism for a love of God requires a submission to God and His Laws: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). Liberalism seeks to escape the keeping of God’s commandments and God’s word―therefore Liberalism is not a love of God, but a hatred of God―varying, of course, according to the degree of Liberalism with which each one us is infected.
Pope Leo XIII writes: “It is a high crime to withdraw allegiance from God, in order to please men, … to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church; ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29) … If the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the Divine Law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey would be a crime … Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws … Human laws can never be set above the Divine Law” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientia Christianae).
Let us not pretend that there are no weeds, no cockle, no wild-oats being sown in our family, or parish, or school or workplace or social field. Once again, the words of Holy Scripture refute us and contradict us―”If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Liberalism is a sin―as irrefutably indicated in the book Liberalism Is A Sin, by Fr. Felix Salvany, and so the Scriptural passage could easily be rephrased to include Liberalism: “If we say that we have no Liberalism within us, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our Liberalism, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our Liberalism, and to cleanse us and weed out our iniquitous Liberalism. If we say that we have no Liberalism, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The Biggest Weeds, the Wildest Oats
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest, greatest and most successful sower of cockle and wild-oats is today’s modern technological media apparatus―the TV, the internet (via computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone), the radio. Through these ‘weapons’ the devil manages to sow his cockle which leads us to “sow our wild oats” in a variety of ways, ranging from wasting time, worldliness, irresponsible behavior, impure imaginations, immoral and impure actions. We are a civilization of time-fritterers, wasting the precious time that God has given us to grow in a knowledge, love and service of Him, by using that time to grown in a knowledge, love and service of the world and all it offers. The eyes are said to be the “windows of the soul” and the ears could be said to be the doors of the soul. The modern media is one long continuous intense onslaught on our eyes and ears. If we would only listen to sermons and read spiritual material for as long as we open our eyes and ears to this media onslaught! Our Lord says that loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27)―yet we give our whole heart (or most of it), mind, soul and strength to these media outlets which enter through the inlets of our eyes and ears.
Watching and listening to what is on the screen has become an epidemic of addiction throughout the world. Within the USA people are watching screens of TVs and computers, browsing social media and swiping their lives away on their tablets and smartphones. The market research organization, Nielsen, reported in August of 2018, that an average adult in the USA (Catholic and non-Catholic combined) spends more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. That is a 90 minute daily increase from 2014. The average time spent on computers, tablets and smartphones was just under 4 hours a day. Television remains the most used media outlet, with an average of almost 5 hours a day being consecrated to that worldly tabernacle.
Some people even put their idols on a par with God―taking their smartphones to Mass and using them during Mass, especially during the sermon. Perhaps they are texting God and asking Him to “pull-the-plug” on the sermon! Now, it may well be that they are taking notes of the sermon―which, at a stretch, would be permissible―but it is hard for others to know whether that person is holily taking notes, or if that person is unholily texting or surfing the internet (unless you happen to be sitting right next to them or behind them). Or they may even be recording the sermon―but that does not involve tapping away at the keyboard. Yet, in all honesty, how many persons take notes during sermons, or record sermons. For most people the sermon is too long anyway―and the last thing they want to do is go through the ordeal all over again!
Nevertheless, there are quite a few interruptions during Mass as one Smartphone or another chimes in to add to the worship of God with its own peculiar ‘hymn’―some obnoxious modern-day tune or ringtone. One wonders why a phone cannot be turned off during Mass. Then there is a goodly number of ‘worshipers’ who cannot wait to get out of church once Mass has finished, and pull-out and start using their beloved Smartphone. Their zeal for doing that exceeds their zeal for receiving Holy Communion. Thanksgiving to God after Holy Mass and Holy Communion is pretty far down the list―you have to scroll to the bottom to get there.
God Becomes an Afterthought
Far from loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27), we pat ourselves on the head if we give Him a few minutes a day―and those are often rushed, distracted and half-hearted minutes, of which Our Lord says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Most children―especially as they grown older―have little care and little time for God, and parents and teachers care little about trying to uproot that cancerous weed that is choking their hearts.
The Spiritual Loses to the Material
The general tone and flavor of once-spiritual Christian feasts and seasons has been flooded with anti-Christian values of a greedy desire for material goods, and an unmortified indulgence in amusements, entertainment, fun and pleasure, a gluttonous consumption of food and drink—all of which, as the spiritual masters tell us, leads to sexual sins of thought, word and action—because if we do not and cannot control our physical appetites, then this overflows to our sexual appetites, which we find are even more difficult to control. Hence the suitability of our annual Lent―which (until 1966, when Pope gave a 95% discount in Lenten penance) is meant to put a brake on our appetites and force us to practice self-control throughout the Lenten season by 40 days of fasting.
The World Feeds Our Greed and Gluttony
The world is always seeking to feed both our physical and sexual appetites to gratification—and let us face it: Our Lady, way back in 1917, said that sexual sins (not just actions, but thoughts, glances, reading, watching, looking, talking, etc.) are the sins that damn the most souls in this modern era. She said that long before the advent of television, internet, social media, widespread books and magazines, popular music, modern fashions, modern dancing, beachwear, etc. When the three children of Fatima asked Our Lady about the whereabouts of their friend Amelia—who had recently died aged around 18—Our Lady said that she would have to burn in Purgatory until the end of the world! Amelia’s sin? She was known to have been a little immodest (in 1917!!) and perhaps guilty of some impurity (1917)—how much worse is 102 years later, in 2019!!! How much more guilty are we today than Amelia was in 1917!
Our Appetites Have Increased!
Back in 1917, there was very little to have and to own by way of possessions—compared to weeds and cockle that is available to the common person today, in 2019. The variety and quantity of food was far, far less than what is available in the stores today. There were no electronic goods, gizmos and convenient electrical appliances in 1917. In 1882 Thomas Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan, Ney York―but only one square mile and not for everyone within that square mile― there were 85 customers with a total of 400 light bulbs between them, served by 6 jumbo generators. Progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. In 1925, only around half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. If you lived in town in the 1930s, your house had probably electricity. In town, the more affluent families started using electric stoves, coffee makers, waffle irons, hot plates, electric roasters, and Waring Blenders during the 1930s. But if you lived in a farmhouse in the country, you did not have electricity.
The Sinful Daughters of Electricity
Once electricity arrived on the scene, it quickly gave birth to a large family, many of whom were the seductive occasions of sin. Television or TV is one example. Television sales took-off in the late 1940s, following the start of individual stations in the largest cities. Only in such heavily populated places was the relatively high cost of starting and operating a TV station considered economically viable. TV set ownership thus initially possessed a big-city or, more accurately, metropolitan-area bias. Yet do not for one second imagine that every household had a TV set! There were ONLY around 102,000 TV sets in the ENTIRE United States in early 1948, two-thirds of those TV sets were in the New York area, from which most of the first TV stations operated.
Another child of electricity was the PC (personal computer). Home computers were entering the market as a rarity in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s. Yet in those ‘ancient’ days, much like electricity when it first became available to homes, only a few households had a computer. It was a rarity, unlike today. The first “mainframe” computers—too large for any home—would soon give birth to smaller computers, leading to the desktop computer, then the laptop computer, and then the computerized phones and tablets. The computer, though not an evil in itself, was to be the platform or forerunner of a series of ‘children’ or offspring, who would imitate it and build upon it—namely, the Internet, the Smartphone, computer Tablets, computer TV sets or Smart-TVs, etc.
A later child of electricity was the Internet. On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available—and what a web it has become! How many souls in Hell owe their presence there to the Internet? Not a few! The Internet—even though it has a FEW good qualities—has brought about LOTS of sin in general, and immodesty and impurity in particular—into the home (much like the TV).
All of these electronic “conveniences” have become a very convenient way for the devil and the world to bring the spirit of the world—which is not the spirit of God—into the home today. If “eyes are the window of the soul”—then these electronic gizmos (TV, Cable TV, Satellite TV, Streaming TV, Smart TV, Computer, Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, etc. loaded with the Internet and its offspring of Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, DeviantArt, BeMyEyes, NextDoor, etc.), then these electronic gizmos have become “the windows of the home”—and those windows are left open day and night! It is not for nothing that one of the major computer platforms is called “WINDOWS”! Thus does the sowing of wild oats begin with these seeds being sowed without hindrance.
Open Windows and Open Doors!
Parents used to take vigilant care on whom they allowed to enter their homes, for the sake of protecting the morals of their children—now, with these electronic gizmos, they and their children are open to invasion by anyone and anything, regardless of trying to take ‘preventative’ measures to protect the morals of the home from the immorality in the world. We are not just talking about sexual immorality, but of worldliness in general and a whole host of attitudes in particular, that cover topics such as bad language, bad music and lyrics, immodest dress, the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, envy, sloth), lying, mockery, materialism in general, erroneous philosophies of life, indifference to God and religion, questioning and doubting of the Faith, indirect and direct exposure to false religions, promotion of atheism and sinful lifestyles, etc. Consequently, the seeds of wild oats are sown and start to sprout, grow roots, and spread out and grow bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper.
If all of this does not please and appeal to the Catholic, it will still, nevertheless, gradually weaken the Faith―on the basis of the principle or axiom of: “You cannot place and leave clothes in a smoky room, without them gradually taking on the smell of smoke”—much like you cannot continue to peel onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions. Even if the Catholic miraculously (by God’s grace) escapes drinking-in the mortal sins from these electronic gizmos, the Catholic will nevertheless drink-in many poisonous venial sins and be gradually “desensitized” and “acclimatized” to sin and worldliness in general. Living among all the present opulence and wealth of the world, gazing at all the so-called “goodies” in the stores and malls, only serves to feed our appetite for all those things, which we begin to desire and seek. This is what Our Lord means, when explaining the parable of the Sower of Seed, in referring to the seeds of the word of God that bear no fruit because either the birds of the air take the seeds away, or they fall on stony ground, or among thorns and weeds.
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, Catholic Aren’t Corrupted in a Day
As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is the Catholic corrupted in a day. Yet that corruption or sowing of wild oats—you had better believe it—is planned and put into effect by the devil and world. Our Lord does not call the devil “the prince of this world” for no reason at all! If he is a prince—rather than a mere citizen—then he has power, and he uses that power well, as we see from the fact that most souls are lost and end up being eternal citizens of that prince in his real princedom—Hell. Why on earth (or should we say, why the hell) does Holy Scripture say: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). We need to be reminded of this again and again and again―because we are falling into that (pleasant) trap again and again and again!
The World is Not a Friend, But an Enemy
Holy Scripture says these things because God know that our ENEMY is the WORLD—which is why Our Lord pointed-out: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). Yet, strangely enough, we DO NOT hate the world! We actually LIKE THE WORLD! We seek to MARRY THE WORLD to our Faith and its beliefs! Yet, this is NOT POSSIBLE, as Holy Scripture clearly states: “Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee and have said: ‘Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not!’” (Deuteronomy 13:13) … “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Separation of Church and State, But No Separation of Catholic from the World
We naively or ignorantly accept the irreligious principle of “Separation of State from Church”, but we refuse to accept the religious principle of separating ourselves from the world. God says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet we DO NOT separate ourselves from—and make all kinds of specious excuses for not separating ourselves as much as possible. Today, the temples of Belial (the stores or screens of TV, computer or smartphone) are filled with glistening-eyed worshipers. They drool before the altars (store-shelves or TV and computer or smartphone screens) of those temples which are filled with “the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
This is nothing new! The Chosen People of old—during the Exodus from Egypt—did the very same thing. They became tired of the mortification of the desert wilderness, that God had led them into on their way to the Promised Land, just as we get tired of being spiritual in the desert wilderness of worldliness. They hankered after the “fleshpots” of Egypt and wanted to turn back—as we will hanker after the things of the world that we may have left during the upcoming Lent and want to indulge in them all over again. They, so to speak, sowed their wild oats by building their golden calf in the desert and were severely punished for that—and do we expect to go unpunished for loving our “golden calves” more than we love God?
St. Paul warns us of repeating that grave mistake: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was [a figure of] Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
You say: “Of course—I know all this! I’ve heard countless times before! I don’t need to be told of it over again, and again, and again!” Of course you know this! Yet when you drive your car—and you are heading down a steep hill—do you merely apply the brakes only once (at the top of the hill), or do you keep the pressing the brake-pedal down continually, or at least press it down “again and again and again”? We, in this most materialistic and most affluent age in all of the world’s history, are heading down a very steep hill—and we are going down very fast—accelerating with each year! “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). If you do not want to crash through the gates of Hell, then the brakes must be applied and the horn must be sounded―“again and again and again”! Road signs that warn of dangers are left up day and night―and are not just posted for a day or two―so that we might see them “again and again and again”!
Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). So we preach “in season and out of season”.
Today’s Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel speaks of sowing the seed. No doubt you have also heard of the expression about a person “sowing their wild oats.” What is this seed? What are those wild oats? The first question is answered by Our Lord Himself, Who says that the seed is the Word of God. The second question―about sowing wild oats―has a double meaning. One is literal and agricultural in meaning; the other is metaphorical and has an immoral meaning.
Wild Weeds and Wild Behavior
The literal and agricultural meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to a European species of grass―botanically called Avena fatua, which the English have been calling “wild oats” for centuries. Botanists are of the opinion that these “wild oats” are the origin of cultivated oats. Farmers, since ancient times, have detested these “wild oats” because they are nothing but a useless weed, whose seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals. Consequently, these “wild oats” have survived and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was by hand-weeding it. Modern seed cleaning and selective weed-killers have not really solved the problem in our days―for it still exists.
The metaphorical and immoral meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to activities that are either immoral or a pure waste of time with little or no fruit coming from them. Hence, the expression of a “young man sowing his wild oats” came to be applied to those who “frittered away their time in stupid or idle pastimes.” Or as one writer puts it: “There’s a strong sexual association here, too, because the phrase was often applied, in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men, to what was politely referred to as youthful dissipation. The associations between male sexual activity and sowing seed are obvious enough.”
It is asserted that the expression goes back to Roman times, with a certain Roman, called Plautus, thought to be the originator of the phrase. In the English language, it was apparently first used by the Norfolk Protestant clergyman Thomas Becon, in 1542. Later, in 1869, Louisa May Alcott used the expression in her book, Little Women, saying: “Boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles”―by which she seems to give the expression as one of time-wasting, trivial, pointless, infantile or stupid activities.
With time―and with the moral degeneration of mankind―the meaning of “sowing one’s wild oats” began to be increasingly applied, as the dictionary lists, to the following: “to engage in premarital or extramarital affairs; to have numerous sexual partners; to spread one's genes around by impregnating many females; as well as to indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior.” Thus, if a young man “sows his wild oats”, he has a period of his life when he does a lot of exciting things and has a lot of sexual relationships.
Our Lady on Wild Oats and Wild Behavior
You could say that Our Lady speaks of the same ‘wild behavior’ when she says: “As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education .… acting thus to snare many into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
These words of Our Lady of Good Success are reiterated and compounded by Our Lady at Fatima, when she revealed that the sins that damn most souls are the sins of the flesh―sins of impurity in either thought, word or deed―which deeply affected little St. Jacinta Marto, to whom Our Lady―in three private apparitions―revealed that “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” … “Woe to women lacking in modesty” and that “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity.”
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of “sowing one’s wild oats”―for it is not just sexual sins that damn souls, but a whole host of other ‘weeds’ or ‘wild oats’ that choke the life out of the soul. The list itself is generally summarized by the Ten Commandments―but the Ten Commandments are merely ‘chapter headings’ that have an awful lot of detail in their chapters, as anyone who has read a Moral Theology manual will tell you. If you like, the Ten Commandments are like the names of ten countries―but within each country there are millions of people, more or less alike, speaking the same language, but each one different to everyone else in one way or another.
Yet today, everyone seems to sowing more seeds of sin than seeds of virtue! It will not end well!
Sowing What Seed?
God, through His Church, has provided us with many seeds of knowledge, graces and virtues. But unless that seed is planted and makes us die to the world, we will bear no fruit. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
We have a choice in whether to be Marthas or Marys. We can be busy with the world, or busy with Our Lord. Each choice has its inescapable consequences. As we sow, so shall we reap. To those who sow their seed in the world, it will be said: “Because thou hast forgotten God thy Savior, thou shalt sow strange seed” (Isaias 17:10); “Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap” (Micheas 6:15) ... “You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies” (Leviticus 26:16).
Jesus spoke of those who were too preoccupied with the world and were thus unable to see the mysteries of God: “And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive .For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:14-16).
The Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Explaining the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus tells His Apostles that the seed is the Word of God. He then continues (here follow both the accounts by St. Matthew and St. Mark):
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:18-23).
“He that soweth, soweth the Word. And these are they by the way side, where the Word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution ariseth for the Word, they are presently scandalized. And others there are who are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the Word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the Word, and it is made fruitless. And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the Word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred” (Mark 4:14-20).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith” (Galatians 6:7-10). “With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted” (Psalm 17:27).
We cannot give what we have not got! Therefore, we need to plant that Word of God within us; we need to nurture the mysteries of God what we have seen this Christmas season, which only recently ended (February 2nd); we need to let those seeds sprout in our souls; and water them with our prayers and pluck out any weeds with our sacrifices. It is serious work, it is hard work, it is the work of salvation!
Preparing the Plant for “Hardening-Off”
“Hardening off” is the process of moving plants outdoors for a portion of the day to gradually introduce them to the direct sunlight, dry air, and cold nights. Young, pampered seedlings that were grown either indoors or in a greenhouse need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden.
Hardening-off gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up by thickening the cuticle on the leaves so that the leaves lose less water. This helps prevent transplant shock; seedlings that languish, become stunted or die from sudden changes in temperature. Hardening-off times depend on the type of plants that are being grown and the temperature and temperature fluctuations.
The same is true for our spiritual life. Advent was a time for preparing the soil of the soul. Christmas was the time of planting the seed of the baby Christ-Child in that prepared soil. Now we have a period of growth, where the feasts and festivities have to give way to the eventual fasting and abstinence of Lent. So we need to adjust, we need that period of “hardening-off” whereby our softness becomes less soft and more ready to bear the harshness of Lent. That Lenten harshness is necessary for the maturity of our spiritual plant, the soul, in order for it to bring forth the fruit required by God, once it is watered by the grace of the Holy Ghost after Pentecost.
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed. Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism. Yet all around us, in the world that surrounds and which we must live, there is an abundance of wild oats―meaning worldliness.
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
The Mustard Seed of Faith
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, good seed and seed of wild oats, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Wheat and Cockle
The parable of the Wheat and the Cockle could easily be called the parable of the Seed of God and the Seed of Wild Oats. “Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—”If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith―which is symbolized by the seed―then we are told to leave the world behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. They want to sow the seed of God together with the wild oats of the world. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential―Sow the Seed of God, Not the World
The field of our soul should be sown solely with the seed of God and not the world―there can be no cross-breeding, only cross carrying. The world is a weed that chokes the seed of God―which is the word of God. The two seeds cannot grow side by side―we cannot serve God and mammon, we cannot grow the seed of God and the world in the same soul. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
Separate the Seeds
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism has penetrated almost every corner of the world and every facet of daily life. What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism is a Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
What Seeds Have Been Sown in Your Family, Parish, School or Workplace?
As one, long-deceased, very conservative and traditional bishop used to say: “We are all Liberals!”―it is only in degrees of Liberalism that we differ. It is much the same as sin―we are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8)―the only difference is in the degree of sin present in our lives. Liberalism is basically a freedom from authority, a freedom from being told what to do, a freedom of thought, a freedom of conscience, a freedom of action, a freedom of belief. Hence, today’s false theory of Ecumenism is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of Religious Freedom is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of everyone being equal is pure Liberalism. Today’s focus on Human Rights is pure Liberalism when it ignores and fails to place the Divine Rights of God above all Human Rights. Today’s laws―or so-called ‘laws’―that allow sinful behavior that contradicts the laws of God, are pure Liberalism. There is no love of God in Liberalism for a love of God requires a submission to God and His Laws: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). Liberalism seeks to escape the keeping of God’s commandments and God’s word―therefore Liberalism is not a love of God, but a hatred of God―varying, of course, according to the degree of Liberalism with which each one us is infected.
Pope Leo XIII writes: “It is a high crime to withdraw allegiance from God, in order to please men, … to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church; ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29) … If the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the Divine Law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey would be a crime … Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws … Human laws can never be set above the Divine Law” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientia Christianae).
Let us not pretend that there are no weeds, no cockle, no wild-oats being sown in our family, or parish, or school or workplace or social field. Once again, the words of Holy Scripture refute us and contradict us―”If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Liberalism is a sin―as irrefutably indicated in the book Liberalism Is A Sin, by Fr. Felix Salvany, and so the Scriptural passage could easily be rephrased to include Liberalism: “If we say that we have no Liberalism within us, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our Liberalism, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our Liberalism, and to cleanse us and weed out our iniquitous Liberalism. If we say that we have no Liberalism, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The Biggest Weeds, the Wildest Oats
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest, greatest and most successful sower of cockle and wild-oats is today’s modern technological media apparatus―the TV, the internet (via computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone), the radio. Through these ‘weapons’ the devil manages to sow his cockle which leads us to “sow our wild oats” in a variety of ways, ranging from wasting time, worldliness, irresponsible behavior, impure imaginations, immoral and impure actions. We are a civilization of time-fritterers, wasting the precious time that God has given us to grow in a knowledge, love and service of Him, by using that time to grown in a knowledge, love and service of the world and all it offers. The eyes are said to be the “windows of the soul” and the ears could be said to be the doors of the soul. The modern media is one long continuous intense onslaught on our eyes and ears. If we would only listen to sermons and read spiritual material for as long as we open our eyes and ears to this media onslaught! Our Lord says that loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27)―yet we give our whole heart (or most of it), mind, soul and strength to these media outlets which enter through the inlets of our eyes and ears.
Watching and listening to what is on the screen has become an epidemic of addiction throughout the world. Within the USA people are watching screens of TVs and computers, browsing social media and swiping their lives away on their tablets and smartphones. The market research organization, Nielsen, reported in August of 2018, that an average adult in the USA (Catholic and non-Catholic combined) spends more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. That is a 90 minute daily increase from 2014. The average time spent on computers, tablets and smartphones was just under 4 hours a day. Television remains the most used media outlet, with an average of almost 5 hours a day being consecrated to that worldly tabernacle.
Some people even put their idols on a par with God―taking their smartphones to Mass and using them during Mass, especially during the sermon. Perhaps they are texting God and asking Him to “pull-the-plug” on the sermon! Now, it may well be that they are taking notes of the sermon―which, at a stretch, would be permissible―but it is hard for others to know whether that person is holily taking notes, or if that person is unholily texting or surfing the internet (unless you happen to be sitting right next to them or behind them). Or they may even be recording the sermon―but that does not involve tapping away at the keyboard. Yet, in all honesty, how many persons take notes during sermons, or record sermons. For most people the sermon is too long anyway―and the last thing they want to do is go through the ordeal all over again!
Nevertheless, there are quite a few interruptions during Mass as one Smartphone or another chimes in to add to the worship of God with its own peculiar ‘hymn’―some obnoxious modern-day tune or ringtone. One wonders why a phone cannot be turned off during Mass. Then there is a goodly number of ‘worshipers’ who cannot wait to get out of church once Mass has finished, and pull-out and start using their beloved Smartphone. Their zeal for doing that exceeds their zeal for receiving Holy Communion. Thanksgiving to God after Holy Mass and Holy Communion is pretty far down the list―you have to scroll to the bottom to get there.
God Becomes an Afterthought
Far from loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27), we pat ourselves on the head if we give Him a few minutes a day―and those are often rushed, distracted and half-hearted minutes, of which Our Lord says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Most children―especially as they grown older―have little care and little time for God, and parents and teachers care little about trying to uproot that cancerous weed that is choking their hearts.
The Spiritual Loses to the Material
The general tone and flavor of once-spiritual Christian feasts and seasons has been flooded with anti-Christian values of a greedy desire for material goods, and an unmortified indulgence in amusements, entertainment, fun and pleasure, a gluttonous consumption of food and drink—all of which, as the spiritual masters tell us, leads to sexual sins of thought, word and action—because if we do not and cannot control our physical appetites, then this overflows to our sexual appetites, which we find are even more difficult to control. Hence the suitability of our annual Lent―which (until 1966, when Pope gave a 95% discount in Lenten penance) is meant to put a brake on our appetites and force us to practice self-control throughout the Lenten season by 40 days of fasting.
The World Feeds Our Greed and Gluttony
The world is always seeking to feed both our physical and sexual appetites to gratification—and let us face it: Our Lady, way back in 1917, said that sexual sins (not just actions, but thoughts, glances, reading, watching, looking, talking, etc.) are the sins that damn the most souls in this modern era. She said that long before the advent of television, internet, social media, widespread books and magazines, popular music, modern fashions, modern dancing, beachwear, etc. When the three children of Fatima asked Our Lady about the whereabouts of their friend Amelia—who had recently died aged around 18—Our Lady said that she would have to burn in Purgatory until the end of the world! Amelia’s sin? She was known to have been a little immodest (in 1917!!) and perhaps guilty of some impurity (1917)—how much worse is 102 years later, in 2019!!! How much more guilty are we today than Amelia was in 1917!
Our Appetites Have Increased!
Back in 1917, there was very little to have and to own by way of possessions—compared to weeds and cockle that is available to the common person today, in 2019. The variety and quantity of food was far, far less than what is available in the stores today. There were no electronic goods, gizmos and convenient electrical appliances in 1917. In 1882 Thomas Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan, Ney York―but only one square mile and not for everyone within that square mile― there were 85 customers with a total of 400 light bulbs between them, served by 6 jumbo generators. Progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. In 1925, only around half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. If you lived in town in the 1930s, your house had probably electricity. In town, the more affluent families started using electric stoves, coffee makers, waffle irons, hot plates, electric roasters, and Waring Blenders during the 1930s. But if you lived in a farmhouse in the country, you did not have electricity.
The Sinful Daughters of Electricity
Once electricity arrived on the scene, it quickly gave birth to a large family, many of whom were the seductive occasions of sin. Television or TV is one example. Television sales took-off in the late 1940s, following the start of individual stations in the largest cities. Only in such heavily populated places was the relatively high cost of starting and operating a TV station considered economically viable. TV set ownership thus initially possessed a big-city or, more accurately, metropolitan-area bias. Yet do not for one second imagine that every household had a TV set! There were ONLY around 102,000 TV sets in the ENTIRE United States in early 1948, two-thirds of those TV sets were in the New York area, from which most of the first TV stations operated.
Another child of electricity was the PC (personal computer). Home computers were entering the market as a rarity in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s. Yet in those ‘ancient’ days, much like electricity when it first became available to homes, only a few households had a computer. It was a rarity, unlike today. The first “mainframe” computers—too large for any home—would soon give birth to smaller computers, leading to the desktop computer, then the laptop computer, and then the computerized phones and tablets. The computer, though not an evil in itself, was to be the platform or forerunner of a series of ‘children’ or offspring, who would imitate it and build upon it—namely, the Internet, the Smartphone, computer Tablets, computer TV sets or Smart-TVs, etc.
A later child of electricity was the Internet. On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available—and what a web it has become! How many souls in Hell owe their presence there to the Internet? Not a few! The Internet—even though it has a FEW good qualities—has brought about LOTS of sin in general, and immodesty and impurity in particular—into the home (much like the TV).
All of these electronic “conveniences” have become a very convenient way for the devil and the world to bring the spirit of the world—which is not the spirit of God—into the home today. If “eyes are the window of the soul”—then these electronic gizmos (TV, Cable TV, Satellite TV, Streaming TV, Smart TV, Computer, Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, etc. loaded with the Internet and its offspring of Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, DeviantArt, BeMyEyes, NextDoor, etc.), then these electronic gizmos have become “the windows of the home”—and those windows are left open day and night! It is not for nothing that one of the major computer platforms is called “WINDOWS”! Thus does the sowing of wild oats begin with these seeds being sowed without hindrance.
Open Windows and Open Doors!
Parents used to take vigilant care on whom they allowed to enter their homes, for the sake of protecting the morals of their children—now, with these electronic gizmos, they and their children are open to invasion by anyone and anything, regardless of trying to take ‘preventative’ measures to protect the morals of the home from the immorality in the world. We are not just talking about sexual immorality, but of worldliness in general and a whole host of attitudes in particular, that cover topics such as bad language, bad music and lyrics, immodest dress, the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, envy, sloth), lying, mockery, materialism in general, erroneous philosophies of life, indifference to God and religion, questioning and doubting of the Faith, indirect and direct exposure to false religions, promotion of atheism and sinful lifestyles, etc. Consequently, the seeds of wild oats are sown and start to sprout, grow roots, and spread out and grow bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper.
If all of this does not please and appeal to the Catholic, it will still, nevertheless, gradually weaken the Faith―on the basis of the principle or axiom of: “You cannot place and leave clothes in a smoky room, without them gradually taking on the smell of smoke”—much like you cannot continue to peel onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions. Even if the Catholic miraculously (by God’s grace) escapes drinking-in the mortal sins from these electronic gizmos, the Catholic will nevertheless drink-in many poisonous venial sins and be gradually “desensitized” and “acclimatized” to sin and worldliness in general. Living among all the present opulence and wealth of the world, gazing at all the so-called “goodies” in the stores and malls, only serves to feed our appetite for all those things, which we begin to desire and seek. This is what Our Lord means, when explaining the parable of the Sower of Seed, in referring to the seeds of the word of God that bear no fruit because either the birds of the air take the seeds away, or they fall on stony ground, or among thorns and weeds.
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, Catholic Aren’t Corrupted in a Day
As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is the Catholic corrupted in a day. Yet that corruption or sowing of wild oats—you had better believe it—is planned and put into effect by the devil and world. Our Lord does not call the devil “the prince of this world” for no reason at all! If he is a prince—rather than a mere citizen—then he has power, and he uses that power well, as we see from the fact that most souls are lost and end up being eternal citizens of that prince in his real princedom—Hell. Why on earth (or should we say, why the hell) does Holy Scripture say: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). We need to be reminded of this again and again and again―because we are falling into that (pleasant) trap again and again and again!
The World is Not a Friend, But an Enemy
Holy Scripture says these things because God know that our ENEMY is the WORLD—which is why Our Lord pointed-out: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). Yet, strangely enough, we DO NOT hate the world! We actually LIKE THE WORLD! We seek to MARRY THE WORLD to our Faith and its beliefs! Yet, this is NOT POSSIBLE, as Holy Scripture clearly states: “Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee and have said: ‘Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not!’” (Deuteronomy 13:13) … “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Separation of Church and State, But No Separation of Catholic from the World
We naively or ignorantly accept the irreligious principle of “Separation of State from Church”, but we refuse to accept the religious principle of separating ourselves from the world. God says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet we DO NOT separate ourselves from—and make all kinds of specious excuses for not separating ourselves as much as possible. Today, the temples of Belial (the stores or screens of TV, computer or smartphone) are filled with glistening-eyed worshipers. They drool before the altars (store-shelves or TV and computer or smartphone screens) of those temples which are filled with “the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
This is nothing new! The Chosen People of old—during the Exodus from Egypt—did the very same thing. They became tired of the mortification of the desert wilderness, that God had led them into on their way to the Promised Land, just as we get tired of being spiritual in the desert wilderness of worldliness. They hankered after the “fleshpots” of Egypt and wanted to turn back—as we will hanker after the things of the world that we may have left during the upcoming Lent and want to indulge in them all over again. They, so to speak, sowed their wild oats by building their golden calf in the desert and were severely punished for that—and do we expect to go unpunished for loving our “golden calves” more than we love God?
St. Paul warns us of repeating that grave mistake: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was [a figure of] Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
You say: “Of course—I know all this! I’ve heard countless times before! I don’t need to be told of it over again, and again, and again!” Of course you know this! Yet when you drive your car—and you are heading down a steep hill—do you merely apply the brakes only once (at the top of the hill), or do you keep the pressing the brake-pedal down continually, or at least press it down “again and again and again”? We, in this most materialistic and most affluent age in all of the world’s history, are heading down a very steep hill—and we are going down very fast—accelerating with each year! “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). If you do not want to crash through the gates of Hell, then the brakes must be applied and the horn must be sounded―“again and again and again”! Road signs that warn of dangers are left up day and night―and are not just posted for a day or two―so that we might see them “again and again and again”!
Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). So we preach “in season and out of season”.
Saturday February 19th
Article 7
Be Proud and ... !
Article 7
Be Proud and ... !
Hey! What’s Wrong With Being Proud?
What’s all this insinuation about pride being wrong? What’s wrong with feeling proud about the good things we do? What’s wrong in feeling good about accomplishing things? What’s wrong in being proud about our projects turning out successfully? If I work hard at something and succeed, what’s wrong with being proud about it? If my family, children, relatives and friends succeed, what’s wrong in feeling proud of them? Isn’t pride a virtue?
No Pride in Being Proud!
Pride is listed as being among the Seven Cardinal Sins, or their other popular name of Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is the root of all sin: “For pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride ruined Lucifer and the other angels that followed him. Pride, likewise, ruined Adam and Eve. In both cases—the fallen angels and our fallen first parents—they were filled with maledictions and it ruined them in the end. The fallen angels fell into Hell, and our fallen first parents fell from Original Sin into the death that God had threatened them with. Thus, the Church defines Original Sin as first and foremost a sin of pride and then disobedience, for disobedience is one of the branches that grows out of the trunk of pride.
The Trunk of Pride
As a result of Original Sin, each one of us has an inborn tendency to assert himself, to make himself the “center” of things, to make his will prevail over that of others. Our great passion is for our highest good, but, too often, we do not understand or grasp what this highest good is, and we seek for it in a wrong way or we other things to be our highest good. We need to understand that our highest good is GOD. God has made Himself our last End and Reward. He has shown us the way to Himself through Christ, who called Himself “The Way”—“Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life!’” (John 14:6).
We must recognize our relationship to God as creatures who have the duty to love and serve Him in the manner He wills and desires, in order that we may possess Him in Heaven, or “save our souls,” as we commonly express it. However, when we are wrapped up in our own ego, even though we may not realize the fact (and many don’t realize it), everything we think, say and do revolves around our own self. We are really “seeking self,” though we may try to convince ourselves that we are following Christ and seeking God.
Who Do We Think of the Most?
In theory (and that’s where it stays and stops for most people), we know that you should “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). Yet in practice, God is loved only with a fraction of the heart, soul, mind and strength! Instead—without advertising or even admitting the fact—we have placed ourselves on the pedestal that should be reserved for God. It is pride that dethrones God―for pride is nothing else than a love of self―and we all love self more than we love God! That is why we sin. We know that sin offends God, yet we choose to sin (many times a day) because we want to please ourselves rather than please God.
Furthermore, it is a “piece of cake” or easy to love God when He sends pleasant things our way. However, a quick and efficient litmus test of that love of God is to see how often we complain, grumble, moan, resist, try change, and even reject the things that God’s Providence sends us each day! There’s a whole lotta grumblin’ goin’ on!
Murmuring Pride
That grumbling is a sign of pride, as it was with the Chosen People who grumbled and murmured during the Exodus from Egypt and during the journey to the Promised Land, which irritated God no end: “And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Exodus 16:2). “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel!’” (Number 14:26-27). “For I know that the people will not hear Me, for they are a people of a stiff neck!” (Baruch 2:30). “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people are stiff-necked! Let me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!’” (Exodus 32:9).
This murmuring—even though it was made to Moses and Aaron—was really directed at God and the “penance” that God had imposed upon them in the desert with little to eat and drink and which, as a consequence of this endless murmuring, would last for 40 years (much longer than our 40 days of Lent with little to eat and drink!!).
Pride—First One There! Last One to Go!
The spiritual masters—of which, in recent times, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange is undoubtedly one of the best, having taught Ascetical and Mystical Theology at the famous Angelicum seminary in Rome for many decades—tell us that pride is first arrives as part of the package of Original Sin with which we are born, and it is one of last things to be cast out of the soul (if it ever is). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes:
“Many imperfections remain even in those who have advanced in the way of God. If their sensibility has been to a great extent purged of the faults of spiritual sensuality, inertia, jealousy, impatience, yet there still remain in the spirit certain ‘stains of the old man’ which are like rust on the soul, a rust which will only disappear under the action of an intense fire, similar to that which came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. This comparison is made by St. John of the Cross.
“‘This rust remains deep down in the spiritual faculties of the soul, in the intelligence and the will; and it consists in an attachment to self which prevents the soul from being completely united to God. Hence it is that we are often distracted in prayer, that we are subject to sluggishness, to a failure to understand the things of God, to the dissipation of the spirit, and to natural affections which are hardly, if at all, inspired by the motive of charity. Movements of roughness and impatience are not rare at this stage.’
“Moreover, many souls, even among those that are advanced in the way of God, remain too much attached to their own point of view in the spiritual life; they imagine that they have received special inspirations from God, whereas they are in reality the victims of their own imagination or of the enemy of all good. They thus become puffed up with presumption, spiritual pride and vanity; they depart from the true path and lead other souls astray. The proficient is apt to take some complacency, through some remnant of spiritual pride which he still retains. Together with spiritual pride there remains often in the soul intellectual pride, jealousy, or some hidden ambition.
“The proficient begins to take complacency—by reason of an unconscious pride—in this great facility in prayer, working, teaching, or preaching. He tends to forget that these are God’s gifts, and he rejoices in them with a proprietary air which ill beseems one who adores in spirit and in truth. It is true that he is working for God, he is working for souls; but he has not yet sufficiently forgotten himself. An unconscious self-seeking and self-importance cause him to dissipate himself and to lose the sense of the presence of God. He thinks that his labors are being very fruitful; but it is not quite certain. He is becoming too sure of himself, he gives himself too much importance and is perhaps inclined to exaggerate his own talents, to forget his own imperfection and to be too greatly aware of the imperfections of others.
“All this, says St. John of the Cross, shows the need of the ‘strong lye,’ that passive purgation of the spirit, that further conversion which marks the entrance into the perfect way. Even after passing through the night of the senses, St. John says, ‘these proficients are still at a very low stage of progress, and follow their own nature closely in the communication and dealings which they have with God; because the gold of their spirit is not yet purified and refined; they still think of God as little children, and feel and experience God as little children, even as St. Paul says, because they have not reached perfection, which is the union of the soul with God. In order to cure the soul of all spiritual and intellectual pride, and to show it what dregs of poverty it still has within, He leaves the understanding in darkness, the will in aridity, sometimes even in bitterness and anguish.’” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Good People Still Have Bad Pride
Thus, from the above comments, we see that people who are making good progress in the spiritual life, are still loaded with pride—though it becomes more and more subtle, and hence more and more hidden, as time goes on. We see this “Do-Gooder-Pride” exposed in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican.
“To some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
No Praise for the Proud
The Pharisee, in Our Lord’s parable, was actually DOING NOTHING WRONG (apart from being proud). He was keeping the law and was truthful in what he said—He even praised and thanked God that he was good—yet it was the “doing everything right” that went to his head! Our Lord gave no praise to the Pharisee of his parable, and there is no praise for the proud—or rather, there may well be lots of applause for the proud from Earth, but there is no applause for the proud from Heaven. “Where pride is, there also shall be reproach” (Proverbs 11:2).
Holy Scripture backs this up in numerous other places: “I hate arrogance and pride” (Proverbs 8:13). “Pride is hateful before God and men” (Ecclesiasticus 10:7). “A vain man is lifted up into pride” (Job 11:12). “Mockery and reproach are of the proud” (Ecclesiasticus 27:31). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, haughty, proud, stubborn, puffed up! Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee!” (Judith 9:16). “Thou hast rebuked the proud: they are cursed” (Psalm 118:21).
“God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6). “He hath shown might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52). “Humility is an abomination to the proud” (Ecclesiasticus 13:24). “The Lord will destroy the house of the proud” (Proverbs 15:25). “Why is earth and ashes proud?” (Ecclesiasticus 10:9). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5). “Hear ye, and give ear! Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken!” (Jeremias 13:15). “Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning” (Tobias 4:14). “Thy pride is brought down to Hell” (Isaias 14:11). “For pride is the beginning of all sin” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18).
The World Encourages Pride!
When we look at the world’s customs, we notice that the world is trying to breed pride and grow pride in us. Pride oozes from every pore and its flag flutters in every household! It gushes forth from the TV and the internet! Businesses cannot live without it—"We are proud to announce....!" Politicians wallow in it! Film, music and sports stars are loaded with it! Children are addicted to it from their infancy. Schools promote it with their grades of 110% (??). Children are “high-fived” at every opportunity. Bumper stickers proclaim it--“I’m the Proud Parent of….”
Eye of an Eagle, yet Blind as a Bat
Similarly, we tend to exaggerate our personal qualities, while ignoring our defects. We have the eye of an eagle, when it comes to our qualities, but are blind as bats, when it comes to our sins. Yet with regard to our neighbors, the reverse principle is true! We have an eagle eye for their faults, but are blind to their virtues!
This pride is the source of many faults: through pride we are unyielding, even when in the wrong; we become caustic and sarcastic in speech; we get involved in harsh and heated discussions, which bring about dissension and discord; which then lead to bitter words, unjust words and actions against our rivals, in order to belittle them. “When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears” (Isaias 27:39).
I Will Not Serve, only Myself
Pride also leads to the bitter criticism of superiors and a refusal to obey their orders; or a bitter criticism of one’s subordinates and a refusal to take their advice. Hence, too, the demi-god of prideful obstinacy and lack of humility in superiors, by never admitting a fault, or changing a course of action, when they realize that they are in the wrong. Pride also accounts for our refusal to consult others; our refusal to admit they may be right; our refusal to put the advice or counsel of others into practice; our refusal to take the blame; our refusal to apologize; our refusal to see the truth; our refusal... our refusal... our refusal! The cry of Satan: “I will not serve!” Just like the Original Sin of our first parents—likewise a sin of pride. Because of that Original Sin, we are born with that tendency to pride. A spirit of refusal—a refusal of humble service of God and those above us, as well as others below us! In fact, it is, in reality, a service of self—a ‘self-service’.
This is far from imitating and learning from Jesus, the Superior of all superiors, Who said “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). This pride of life leads and keeps us within an atmosphere of anxiety and unhappiness, wherein we find no peace, nor any real lasting contentment, because we want to excel in all things and lord it over all others.
Pride is Not a Virtue
If we are trying to be humble, people flatter us to fan the fires of pride! Then there is the fake humility, that pridefully fishes for flattery! Pride is growing out of everyone's ears! It is on everyone’s tongue and in everyone’s eyes! Their hearts and heads are inflated with it, ready to burst! We end up thinking that PRIDE IS A VIRTUE AND NOT A VICE!!! Yet nowhere in Holy Scripture is there a good word to found about pride! We are twisting truth when we try to make pride to be a virtue, when it is a vice. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
When we proud, we resemble “the father of lies” ― Satan. The first act of pride was that of Satan, that is to say, Lucifer. As Holy Mother Church teaches, Satan’s pride at being the greatest of all the angels, led him to cry out: “I will not serve!” That act of pride ultimately led him―and his followers―to Hell. Since that time, he is constantly trying to instill that pride in us. Each sin that we have ever committed was an act of pride―a proud statement in face of God’s commandments of “I will not serve!” or “I will not obey these commandments!” When we do that, then the words that Our Lord addressed to the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, can equally be addressed to us: “You do the works of your father … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:41-44).
All Credit to God, Not Man!
If there is anyone who could be proud without sinning, then it is God. It is only God who can things without relying on anyone or anything else. We are incapable of doing anything without the assistance of God and God’s creation (persons, places, and things). This is why Our Lord punctures our pride by saying: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Nothing means NO THING, NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST THING.
You pride yourself on your beauty, your strength, your health, your wealth, your education, your job, your achievements, your knowledge, your influence, your connections, your power, your reputation, etc., etc. ALL OF THOSE THINGS depended upon the Providence of God, God’s inspirations and God’s grace. Which is why St. Paul warns: “For your sakes learn not to be puffed up one against the other … For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:4-7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
All Credit to Man, Not God!
No matter how much good we may have done and may still do—it was not done and it will not be done without God! This is why Our Lord tells us: “Doth the Lord thank that servant, for doing the things which he commanded him? I think not! So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
The only thing we can be proud about is the only thing that we have managed to do without God—and that is SIN! Sin is our own personal, “I did it by myself!” achievement!
That’s Why We Must Fight Self!
Plainly, then, the battle against self-seeking and pride is fought within ourselves. Specifically, the battle is in in our will—we must become less self-willed. It is in this fountainhead of self-love and self-will, that pride and all the other Capital Sins have their origin and bring forth a host of offspring, great and small. If we are strongly motivated by self-seeking, we will rarely “deny” ourselves, as Our Lord taught, by charity, love, sacrifice, humility, obedience, patience, generosity, or whatever the calls of duty and virtue may be. Instead, our self-love will nourish the vices and we will become more and more ensnared in them.
To follow the path of self-love is to continually refuse to love to God as He should be loved, and such a course is a great danger to salvation. No soul can enter Heaven until it has been purged of all self-love and self-will and exists only for God; that is to say, until it is sanctified. For most persons who are saved, a great part of this purging has to be done in Purgatory, because the soul did not do it on Earth.
The Interior Remedy For Pride
In principle, the remedy for pride is humility. Humility, for it to be true, must spring from the interior; otherwise we put on a fake exterior humility, which has no foundation in reality. So we must think thoughts that will help us admit our true worth and which will cultivate a spirit of humility in our minds. We must tell ourselves that we are nothing! We came from dust! We will return, as the Ash Wednesday liturgy says, into dust! Without God we can do nothing good! As St. Paul says: what have we to glory about, except our sins? What is it that we achieved when left totally to ourselves? Nothing but sin!
Furthermore, let us ask searching questions of ourselves. What can I do without the help of others? How much success would I have had, were it not for the help and talents of others? How much success would I have had, without the agreement and help of God’s Providence? Nothing happens without God putting his signature to it! Absolutely nothing! Was I the source of my own existence? Did I survive without the care of parents? Did I teach myself? Did I create all the talents that I have? Will I avoid all illness and suffering? Will I escape death? Will I escape the final judgment? Will I create and build a Heaven for myself in Hell? No! Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!
The Exterior Remedy For Pride
However, thought always manifests itself in some way by words and actions! When we have prideful thoughts, our words and actions reflect those thoughts to a greater or lesser degree. It has to be the same for thoughts of humility. If we are truly growing in an interior spirit of humility, then it will reflect itself exteriorly.
With regard to God, our interior realization of the incredible dependence that we have upon Him, will manifest itself by more frequent recourse to Him through prayer for His Providential assistance in all our needs and affairs. It will show itself by a humble, uncomplaining acceptance of Divine Providence, especially in the painful and sorrowful events He allows or wants to send our way. In will be seen in an increased spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude towards God for both the joyful and sorrowful gifts and graces He grants us. We will show that humility by a clear and visible putting of God first in all the duties and activities of our life. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).
What’s all this insinuation about pride being wrong? What’s wrong with feeling proud about the good things we do? What’s wrong in feeling good about accomplishing things? What’s wrong in being proud about our projects turning out successfully? If I work hard at something and succeed, what’s wrong with being proud about it? If my family, children, relatives and friends succeed, what’s wrong in feeling proud of them? Isn’t pride a virtue?
No Pride in Being Proud!
Pride is listed as being among the Seven Cardinal Sins, or their other popular name of Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is the root of all sin: “For pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride ruined Lucifer and the other angels that followed him. Pride, likewise, ruined Adam and Eve. In both cases—the fallen angels and our fallen first parents—they were filled with maledictions and it ruined them in the end. The fallen angels fell into Hell, and our fallen first parents fell from Original Sin into the death that God had threatened them with. Thus, the Church defines Original Sin as first and foremost a sin of pride and then disobedience, for disobedience is one of the branches that grows out of the trunk of pride.
The Trunk of Pride
As a result of Original Sin, each one of us has an inborn tendency to assert himself, to make himself the “center” of things, to make his will prevail over that of others. Our great passion is for our highest good, but, too often, we do not understand or grasp what this highest good is, and we seek for it in a wrong way or we other things to be our highest good. We need to understand that our highest good is GOD. God has made Himself our last End and Reward. He has shown us the way to Himself through Christ, who called Himself “The Way”—“Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life!’” (John 14:6).
We must recognize our relationship to God as creatures who have the duty to love and serve Him in the manner He wills and desires, in order that we may possess Him in Heaven, or “save our souls,” as we commonly express it. However, when we are wrapped up in our own ego, even though we may not realize the fact (and many don’t realize it), everything we think, say and do revolves around our own self. We are really “seeking self,” though we may try to convince ourselves that we are following Christ and seeking God.
Who Do We Think of the Most?
In theory (and that’s where it stays and stops for most people), we know that you should “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). Yet in practice, God is loved only with a fraction of the heart, soul, mind and strength! Instead—without advertising or even admitting the fact—we have placed ourselves on the pedestal that should be reserved for God. It is pride that dethrones God―for pride is nothing else than a love of self―and we all love self more than we love God! That is why we sin. We know that sin offends God, yet we choose to sin (many times a day) because we want to please ourselves rather than please God.
Furthermore, it is a “piece of cake” or easy to love God when He sends pleasant things our way. However, a quick and efficient litmus test of that love of God is to see how often we complain, grumble, moan, resist, try change, and even reject the things that God’s Providence sends us each day! There’s a whole lotta grumblin’ goin’ on!
Murmuring Pride
That grumbling is a sign of pride, as it was with the Chosen People who grumbled and murmured during the Exodus from Egypt and during the journey to the Promised Land, which irritated God no end: “And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Exodus 16:2). “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel!’” (Number 14:26-27). “For I know that the people will not hear Me, for they are a people of a stiff neck!” (Baruch 2:30). “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people are stiff-necked! Let me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!’” (Exodus 32:9).
This murmuring—even though it was made to Moses and Aaron—was really directed at God and the “penance” that God had imposed upon them in the desert with little to eat and drink and which, as a consequence of this endless murmuring, would last for 40 years (much longer than our 40 days of Lent with little to eat and drink!!).
Pride—First One There! Last One to Go!
The spiritual masters—of which, in recent times, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange is undoubtedly one of the best, having taught Ascetical and Mystical Theology at the famous Angelicum seminary in Rome for many decades—tell us that pride is first arrives as part of the package of Original Sin with which we are born, and it is one of last things to be cast out of the soul (if it ever is). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes:
“Many imperfections remain even in those who have advanced in the way of God. If their sensibility has been to a great extent purged of the faults of spiritual sensuality, inertia, jealousy, impatience, yet there still remain in the spirit certain ‘stains of the old man’ which are like rust on the soul, a rust which will only disappear under the action of an intense fire, similar to that which came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. This comparison is made by St. John of the Cross.
“‘This rust remains deep down in the spiritual faculties of the soul, in the intelligence and the will; and it consists in an attachment to self which prevents the soul from being completely united to God. Hence it is that we are often distracted in prayer, that we are subject to sluggishness, to a failure to understand the things of God, to the dissipation of the spirit, and to natural affections which are hardly, if at all, inspired by the motive of charity. Movements of roughness and impatience are not rare at this stage.’
“Moreover, many souls, even among those that are advanced in the way of God, remain too much attached to their own point of view in the spiritual life; they imagine that they have received special inspirations from God, whereas they are in reality the victims of their own imagination or of the enemy of all good. They thus become puffed up with presumption, spiritual pride and vanity; they depart from the true path and lead other souls astray. The proficient is apt to take some complacency, through some remnant of spiritual pride which he still retains. Together with spiritual pride there remains often in the soul intellectual pride, jealousy, or some hidden ambition.
“The proficient begins to take complacency—by reason of an unconscious pride—in this great facility in prayer, working, teaching, or preaching. He tends to forget that these are God’s gifts, and he rejoices in them with a proprietary air which ill beseems one who adores in spirit and in truth. It is true that he is working for God, he is working for souls; but he has not yet sufficiently forgotten himself. An unconscious self-seeking and self-importance cause him to dissipate himself and to lose the sense of the presence of God. He thinks that his labors are being very fruitful; but it is not quite certain. He is becoming too sure of himself, he gives himself too much importance and is perhaps inclined to exaggerate his own talents, to forget his own imperfection and to be too greatly aware of the imperfections of others.
“All this, says St. John of the Cross, shows the need of the ‘strong lye,’ that passive purgation of the spirit, that further conversion which marks the entrance into the perfect way. Even after passing through the night of the senses, St. John says, ‘these proficients are still at a very low stage of progress, and follow their own nature closely in the communication and dealings which they have with God; because the gold of their spirit is not yet purified and refined; they still think of God as little children, and feel and experience God as little children, even as St. Paul says, because they have not reached perfection, which is the union of the soul with God. In order to cure the soul of all spiritual and intellectual pride, and to show it what dregs of poverty it still has within, He leaves the understanding in darkness, the will in aridity, sometimes even in bitterness and anguish.’” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Good People Still Have Bad Pride
Thus, from the above comments, we see that people who are making good progress in the spiritual life, are still loaded with pride—though it becomes more and more subtle, and hence more and more hidden, as time goes on. We see this “Do-Gooder-Pride” exposed in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican.
“To some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
No Praise for the Proud
The Pharisee, in Our Lord’s parable, was actually DOING NOTHING WRONG (apart from being proud). He was keeping the law and was truthful in what he said—He even praised and thanked God that he was good—yet it was the “doing everything right” that went to his head! Our Lord gave no praise to the Pharisee of his parable, and there is no praise for the proud—or rather, there may well be lots of applause for the proud from Earth, but there is no applause for the proud from Heaven. “Where pride is, there also shall be reproach” (Proverbs 11:2).
Holy Scripture backs this up in numerous other places: “I hate arrogance and pride” (Proverbs 8:13). “Pride is hateful before God and men” (Ecclesiasticus 10:7). “A vain man is lifted up into pride” (Job 11:12). “Mockery and reproach are of the proud” (Ecclesiasticus 27:31). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, haughty, proud, stubborn, puffed up! Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee!” (Judith 9:16). “Thou hast rebuked the proud: they are cursed” (Psalm 118:21).
“God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6). “He hath shown might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52). “Humility is an abomination to the proud” (Ecclesiasticus 13:24). “The Lord will destroy the house of the proud” (Proverbs 15:25). “Why is earth and ashes proud?” (Ecclesiasticus 10:9). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5). “Hear ye, and give ear! Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken!” (Jeremias 13:15). “Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning” (Tobias 4:14). “Thy pride is brought down to Hell” (Isaias 14:11). “For pride is the beginning of all sin” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18).
The World Encourages Pride!
When we look at the world’s customs, we notice that the world is trying to breed pride and grow pride in us. Pride oozes from every pore and its flag flutters in every household! It gushes forth from the TV and the internet! Businesses cannot live without it—"We are proud to announce....!" Politicians wallow in it! Film, music and sports stars are loaded with it! Children are addicted to it from their infancy. Schools promote it with their grades of 110% (??). Children are “high-fived” at every opportunity. Bumper stickers proclaim it--“I’m the Proud Parent of….”
Eye of an Eagle, yet Blind as a Bat
Similarly, we tend to exaggerate our personal qualities, while ignoring our defects. We have the eye of an eagle, when it comes to our qualities, but are blind as bats, when it comes to our sins. Yet with regard to our neighbors, the reverse principle is true! We have an eagle eye for their faults, but are blind to their virtues!
This pride is the source of many faults: through pride we are unyielding, even when in the wrong; we become caustic and sarcastic in speech; we get involved in harsh and heated discussions, which bring about dissension and discord; which then lead to bitter words, unjust words and actions against our rivals, in order to belittle them. “When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears” (Isaias 27:39).
I Will Not Serve, only Myself
Pride also leads to the bitter criticism of superiors and a refusal to obey their orders; or a bitter criticism of one’s subordinates and a refusal to take their advice. Hence, too, the demi-god of prideful obstinacy and lack of humility in superiors, by never admitting a fault, or changing a course of action, when they realize that they are in the wrong. Pride also accounts for our refusal to consult others; our refusal to admit they may be right; our refusal to put the advice or counsel of others into practice; our refusal to take the blame; our refusal to apologize; our refusal to see the truth; our refusal... our refusal... our refusal! The cry of Satan: “I will not serve!” Just like the Original Sin of our first parents—likewise a sin of pride. Because of that Original Sin, we are born with that tendency to pride. A spirit of refusal—a refusal of humble service of God and those above us, as well as others below us! In fact, it is, in reality, a service of self—a ‘self-service’.
This is far from imitating and learning from Jesus, the Superior of all superiors, Who said “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). This pride of life leads and keeps us within an atmosphere of anxiety and unhappiness, wherein we find no peace, nor any real lasting contentment, because we want to excel in all things and lord it over all others.
Pride is Not a Virtue
If we are trying to be humble, people flatter us to fan the fires of pride! Then there is the fake humility, that pridefully fishes for flattery! Pride is growing out of everyone's ears! It is on everyone’s tongue and in everyone’s eyes! Their hearts and heads are inflated with it, ready to burst! We end up thinking that PRIDE IS A VIRTUE AND NOT A VICE!!! Yet nowhere in Holy Scripture is there a good word to found about pride! We are twisting truth when we try to make pride to be a virtue, when it is a vice. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
When we proud, we resemble “the father of lies” ― Satan. The first act of pride was that of Satan, that is to say, Lucifer. As Holy Mother Church teaches, Satan’s pride at being the greatest of all the angels, led him to cry out: “I will not serve!” That act of pride ultimately led him―and his followers―to Hell. Since that time, he is constantly trying to instill that pride in us. Each sin that we have ever committed was an act of pride―a proud statement in face of God’s commandments of “I will not serve!” or “I will not obey these commandments!” When we do that, then the words that Our Lord addressed to the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, can equally be addressed to us: “You do the works of your father … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:41-44).
All Credit to God, Not Man!
If there is anyone who could be proud without sinning, then it is God. It is only God who can things without relying on anyone or anything else. We are incapable of doing anything without the assistance of God and God’s creation (persons, places, and things). This is why Our Lord punctures our pride by saying: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Nothing means NO THING, NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST THING.
You pride yourself on your beauty, your strength, your health, your wealth, your education, your job, your achievements, your knowledge, your influence, your connections, your power, your reputation, etc., etc. ALL OF THOSE THINGS depended upon the Providence of God, God’s inspirations and God’s grace. Which is why St. Paul warns: “For your sakes learn not to be puffed up one against the other … For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:4-7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
All Credit to Man, Not God!
No matter how much good we may have done and may still do—it was not done and it will not be done without God! This is why Our Lord tells us: “Doth the Lord thank that servant, for doing the things which he commanded him? I think not! So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
The only thing we can be proud about is the only thing that we have managed to do without God—and that is SIN! Sin is our own personal, “I did it by myself!” achievement!
That’s Why We Must Fight Self!
Plainly, then, the battle against self-seeking and pride is fought within ourselves. Specifically, the battle is in in our will—we must become less self-willed. It is in this fountainhead of self-love and self-will, that pride and all the other Capital Sins have their origin and bring forth a host of offspring, great and small. If we are strongly motivated by self-seeking, we will rarely “deny” ourselves, as Our Lord taught, by charity, love, sacrifice, humility, obedience, patience, generosity, or whatever the calls of duty and virtue may be. Instead, our self-love will nourish the vices and we will become more and more ensnared in them.
To follow the path of self-love is to continually refuse to love to God as He should be loved, and such a course is a great danger to salvation. No soul can enter Heaven until it has been purged of all self-love and self-will and exists only for God; that is to say, until it is sanctified. For most persons who are saved, a great part of this purging has to be done in Purgatory, because the soul did not do it on Earth.
The Interior Remedy For Pride
In principle, the remedy for pride is humility. Humility, for it to be true, must spring from the interior; otherwise we put on a fake exterior humility, which has no foundation in reality. So we must think thoughts that will help us admit our true worth and which will cultivate a spirit of humility in our minds. We must tell ourselves that we are nothing! We came from dust! We will return, as the Ash Wednesday liturgy says, into dust! Without God we can do nothing good! As St. Paul says: what have we to glory about, except our sins? What is it that we achieved when left totally to ourselves? Nothing but sin!
Furthermore, let us ask searching questions of ourselves. What can I do without the help of others? How much success would I have had, were it not for the help and talents of others? How much success would I have had, without the agreement and help of God’s Providence? Nothing happens without God putting his signature to it! Absolutely nothing! Was I the source of my own existence? Did I survive without the care of parents? Did I teach myself? Did I create all the talents that I have? Will I avoid all illness and suffering? Will I escape death? Will I escape the final judgment? Will I create and build a Heaven for myself in Hell? No! Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!
The Exterior Remedy For Pride
However, thought always manifests itself in some way by words and actions! When we have prideful thoughts, our words and actions reflect those thoughts to a greater or lesser degree. It has to be the same for thoughts of humility. If we are truly growing in an interior spirit of humility, then it will reflect itself exteriorly.
With regard to God, our interior realization of the incredible dependence that we have upon Him, will manifest itself by more frequent recourse to Him through prayer for His Providential assistance in all our needs and affairs. It will show itself by a humble, uncomplaining acceptance of Divine Providence, especially in the painful and sorrowful events He allows or wants to send our way. In will be seen in an increased spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude towards God for both the joyful and sorrowful gifts and graces He grants us. We will show that humility by a clear and visible putting of God first in all the duties and activities of our life. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).
Friday February 18th
Article 6
Anger, Anger Everywhere!
Article 6
Anger, Anger Everywhere!
Does God and His Church Tell Us to be Angry?
As we continue to chew the doctrine presented to us on Septuagesima Sunday, we come across the problem of anger. In the Epistle reading for Septuagesima Sunday, the Church tells us, using the words of St. Paul, to run the race so as to win it, and to fight the fight: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain! … I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-26). Sometimes we can run faster and fight harder when we are angry! Is it good to be angry? Does anger help?
Anger is an emotion and scientific studies show that emotional states influence athletic performance. Multiple studies suggest that pre-competitive emotional states are associated with various outcomes in athletic performance. For instance, emotional states perceived as being “under control” were thought to increase swimming performance, whereas those emotions perceived as being “out of control” were thought to hinder performance.
We usually look upon anger as being a sin ― especially modern day anger! Yet, in the Old Testament, Holy Scripture says: “Be angry, and sin not!” (Psalm 4:5), and also in the New Testament: “Be angry, and sin not! Let not the sun go down upon your anger!” (Ephesians 4:26). However, at the same time, Scripture seems to say the opposite: “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation be put away from you!” (Ephesians 4:31).
Anger, Anger, Everywhere! What Are We to Think?
There is no doubt about it—it is an angry world and it is getting even angrier! Political anger; financial anger; social anger; anger in the home; anger in the workplace; anger in the school; anger in the church—wherever you turn, you see anger. We might be short on money, but we certainly are not short on anger! We may not have much to love or be happy about, but we can certainly find much to be angry about!
Of course, some temperaments are more prone to anger than others—cholerics seem to be top of the anger rankings, closely followed by sanguines—the difference being that sanguines are angry for a short time, whereas cholerics can be the marathon runners in the race of anger. Those two are the extroverts—yet the introverted melancholics and phlegmatics can also be and often are angry—but their anger is more of a ‘closet anger’ that is partially or totally hidden, with the melancholic more prone to inwardly snarl, stew, seethe and smolder for a long time, whereas the phlegmatic lets go of anger much sooner.
Yet there is nobody who can claim to be free of anger—be it exterior anger or interior anger. When we get down to the very roots of anger, we will find the spark of pride, which ignites anger because things ARE NOT GOING MY WAY, OR THE WAY I WANT THEM TO GO! “For pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holds it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). If you like, pride is the trunk, and from that trunk there emerge all the other branches of sin—anger included.
Anger is an inordinate desire of revenge against any one we imagine has offended us. The Apostle has left us a good medicine against this vice, when he says, “Let all bitterness, and anger and wrath … be removed from you, with all kind of malice. Be kind and merciful to one another, as God has given you in Christ!” (Ephesians 5:21-22). Our Savior, speaking in St. Matthew of this vice, says, “Every one that is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; but he that shall call him fool, shall be in danger of Hell-fire” (Matthew 5:16).
The Anger of God
Yet not all anger is sinful—there is unjust anger and justified anger. Obviously, God cannot sin, yet there are many striking quotes from Holy Scripture that show the just anger of God. Therefore anger can also be justified. “In Thy anger Thou wilt tread the Earth under foot: in Thy wrath Thou wilt astonish the nations” (Habacuc 3:12). “Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire: and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:6). “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Lo, I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to consume!’” (Ezechiel 13:13).
Our Lady of Akita, as recently as 1973, reiterates the existence of this justified anger of God: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita).
Anger―Good & Bad
Anger is one of the passions of the soul. It proceeds from a real or imaginary offense, which makes us want to “get even” with the offender. When the desire for revenge is not suppressed, it is a sin and a vice. It is opposed to charity and justice. Every kind of anger, however, is not a vice. An occasional fit of temper is not the vice of anger, but it may be a sin. There is also a form of anger that is good and virtuous, when it proceeds from a proper cause, as in the case of Our Lord whipping and driving the buyers and sellers from the Temple.
We have given way to anger and hate when we harbor resentment in our heart against a certain person or persons; when we plot harm for anyone by word or deed; when we use insulting language toward the offender. We are guilty of anger when we become excited and incensed to such a degree that we strike or hurt another; when we wrangle and quarrel violently with another; or when by the sullen expression on our face, or by our silence, we show our resentment toward him. Our sin is very, very serious if we harbor rancor or hatred in our heart for days, or months, or even years and abstain from marks of kindness and friendship. We are also guilty of anger if we abuse our authority and punish an inferior more than he deserves. We may even direct our anger toward God, interiorly, or exteriorly by passionate blasphemy.
Anger is a destructive and highly injurious vice. A fit of rage deprives us of reason; it estranges us from God. It separates us from friends and relatives. Anger clouds the intellect, and its unreasoning obstinacy makes us trample on the rights of others. Anger destroys peace and produces disastrous wars. It causes all sorts of evils, discords, enmities, long-standing quarrels, insults, spites, slander, blasphemy, hatred, revenge, murder. All these things kill charity and are obstacles to grace, our greatest gift from God.
Lawful & Justified Anger
As already stated, anger is not always a sin. There is a lawful sentiment of anger, a just indignation, which is an ardent, but rational, desire to punish a guilty party with some form of just retribution. As an example of this, we see Our Lord, with a whip, angrily cast out the money-changers from the Temple. Whereas, on the other hand, we see the high-priest Heli, severely rebuked for not showing enough anger in correcting his sons.
Thus for anger to be legitimate, it must be:
(a) Just—by punishing only those that deserve punishment;
(b) Tempered—by moderation in the degree of the punishment that is given; by giving a punishment that fits the crime and not exceeding that;
(c) Charitable—not vented out of a spirit of hatred, revenge or animosity, but out of a sincere desire of helping the wrongdoer.
Anger is sinful when it is unjust, immoderate or uncharitable. Sometimes, we have a violent and inordinate desire to punish someone, regardless of the conditions we have mentioned above. Our anger is accompanied by hatred, which does not merely seek to correct, but seeks to exact some form of revenge. There are several degrees of intensity within anger, which are worth remembering:
(a) Interior Anger of the Mind:
Firstly, we become increasingly impatient with others, whereby the least annoying thing, or the smallest degree of failure, causes dissatisfaction.
This is followed by agitation, producing an unnecessary irritation, which we manifest outwardly in some way—facial expressions, agitation, etc.
Then, by brooding upon the facts, this anger or irritation can become so deep rooted, that it engenders sentiments of varying degrees that pass from resentment, to bitterness, hatred and eventually a desire for revenge.
(b) Exterior Anger
The interior anger manifests itself outwardly, beginning with exterior signs of impatience. The earlier anger manifests itself, the weaker it shows the person to be. This exterior anger can, if uncontrolled, easily develop into violence, which in turn can lead to an insane rage, wherein we no longer know what we are saying or doing.
(c) Sinfulness of anger
When anger is impulsive and spontaneous, it is usually a venial sin. If it is so intense that self-control is lost and grave insult is shown to neighbor, then it would be mortal, but this is often not the case. Anger that goes as far as hatred and rancor, when it is deliberate and willful, is, of itself, a mortal sin.
The Terrible Dangers of Anger
Here are a few thoughts and paragraphs taken from a sermon by St. Alphonsus Liguori on anger, wherein he depicts the manifold dangers and sins emanating from this passion when it is uncontrolled.
Anger resembles fire―hence, as fire is vehement in its action, and, by the smoke which it produces, obstructs the view, so anger makes men rush into a thousand excesses, and prevents them from seeing the sinfulness of their conduct; and thus exposes them to the danger of the judgment of eternal death. Anger is so pernicious to man, that it even disfigures his countenance. No matter how comely and gentle he may be, he shall, as often as he yields to the passion of anger, appear to be a monster and a wild beast full of terror.
St. Jerome says that anger is the door by which all vices enter the soul. Anger plunges people into resentments, blasphemies, acts of injustice, detractions, scandals, and other iniquities; for the passion of anger darkens the understanding, and makes a man act like a beast and a madman. Hence, according to St. Bonaventure, an angry man is incapable of distinguishing between what is just and unjust. A man who does not restrain the impulse of anger, easily falls into hatred towards the person who has been the occasion of his passion. According to St. Augustine, hatred is nothing else than persevering anger.
But some will say: “I am the head of the house! I must correct my children and servants, and, when necessary, I must raise my voice against the disorders which I witness!” I say in answer: It is one thing to be angry against a brother, and another to be displeased at the sin of a brother. To be angry against sin is not anger, but zeal; and therefore it is not only lawful, but it is sometimes a duty. But our anger must be accompanied with prudence, and must appear to be directed against sin, but not against the sinner. To be angry, then, against a brother’s sin, is certainly lawful. But, to be angry against a brother on account of the sin which he has committed, is not lawful; because, according to St. Augustine, we are not allowed to hate others for their vices.
Hatred brings with it a desire of revenge; for, according to St. Thomas, anger, when fully voluntary, is accompanied with a desire of revenge. But you will perhaps say: “If I resent such an injury, God will have pity on me, because I have just grounds for resentment.” As long as the passion of anger lasts, you will consider your neighbor’s conduct very unjust and intolerable; but, when your anger shall have passed away, you shall see that his act (even if it was bad) was not so bad as it appeared to you.
But, though the injury is grievous, or even more grievous, God will not have compassion on you, if you seek revenge. No; He says: Vengeance for sins belongs not to you, but to Me; and when the time shall come, I will chastise them as they deserve. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time” (Deuteronomy 32:35).
If you resent an injury done to you by a neighbor, God will justly inflict vengeance on you for all the injuries you have offered to Him, and particularly for taking revenge on a brother whom He commands you to pardon. “He that seeks to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord ... Man to man reserves anger, and does he seek remedy of God? He that is but flesh nourishes anger; and does he ask forgiveness of God? Who shall obtain pardon for his sins?” (Ecclesiasticus 28:1, 3, 5). How can he, who will not obey the command of God to pardon his neighbor, expect to obtain from God the forgiveness of his own sins? (End of the extract from the sermon of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
As we continue to chew the doctrine presented to us on Septuagesima Sunday, we come across the problem of anger. In the Epistle reading for Septuagesima Sunday, the Church tells us, using the words of St. Paul, to run the race so as to win it, and to fight the fight: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain! … I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-26). Sometimes we can run faster and fight harder when we are angry! Is it good to be angry? Does anger help?
Anger is an emotion and scientific studies show that emotional states influence athletic performance. Multiple studies suggest that pre-competitive emotional states are associated with various outcomes in athletic performance. For instance, emotional states perceived as being “under control” were thought to increase swimming performance, whereas those emotions perceived as being “out of control” were thought to hinder performance.
We usually look upon anger as being a sin ― especially modern day anger! Yet, in the Old Testament, Holy Scripture says: “Be angry, and sin not!” (Psalm 4:5), and also in the New Testament: “Be angry, and sin not! Let not the sun go down upon your anger!” (Ephesians 4:26). However, at the same time, Scripture seems to say the opposite: “Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation be put away from you!” (Ephesians 4:31).
Anger, Anger, Everywhere! What Are We to Think?
There is no doubt about it—it is an angry world and it is getting even angrier! Political anger; financial anger; social anger; anger in the home; anger in the workplace; anger in the school; anger in the church—wherever you turn, you see anger. We might be short on money, but we certainly are not short on anger! We may not have much to love or be happy about, but we can certainly find much to be angry about!
Of course, some temperaments are more prone to anger than others—cholerics seem to be top of the anger rankings, closely followed by sanguines—the difference being that sanguines are angry for a short time, whereas cholerics can be the marathon runners in the race of anger. Those two are the extroverts—yet the introverted melancholics and phlegmatics can also be and often are angry—but their anger is more of a ‘closet anger’ that is partially or totally hidden, with the melancholic more prone to inwardly snarl, stew, seethe and smolder for a long time, whereas the phlegmatic lets go of anger much sooner.
Yet there is nobody who can claim to be free of anger—be it exterior anger or interior anger. When we get down to the very roots of anger, we will find the spark of pride, which ignites anger because things ARE NOT GOING MY WAY, OR THE WAY I WANT THEM TO GO! “For pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holds it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). If you like, pride is the trunk, and from that trunk there emerge all the other branches of sin—anger included.
Anger is an inordinate desire of revenge against any one we imagine has offended us. The Apostle has left us a good medicine against this vice, when he says, “Let all bitterness, and anger and wrath … be removed from you, with all kind of malice. Be kind and merciful to one another, as God has given you in Christ!” (Ephesians 5:21-22). Our Savior, speaking in St. Matthew of this vice, says, “Every one that is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; but he that shall call him fool, shall be in danger of Hell-fire” (Matthew 5:16).
The Anger of God
Yet not all anger is sinful—there is unjust anger and justified anger. Obviously, God cannot sin, yet there are many striking quotes from Holy Scripture that show the just anger of God. Therefore anger can also be justified. “In Thy anger Thou wilt tread the Earth under foot: in Thy wrath Thou wilt astonish the nations” (Habacuc 3:12). “Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire: and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:6). “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Lo, I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to consume!’” (Ezechiel 13:13).
Our Lady of Akita, as recently as 1973, reiterates the existence of this justified anger of God: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita).
Anger―Good & Bad
Anger is one of the passions of the soul. It proceeds from a real or imaginary offense, which makes us want to “get even” with the offender. When the desire for revenge is not suppressed, it is a sin and a vice. It is opposed to charity and justice. Every kind of anger, however, is not a vice. An occasional fit of temper is not the vice of anger, but it may be a sin. There is also a form of anger that is good and virtuous, when it proceeds from a proper cause, as in the case of Our Lord whipping and driving the buyers and sellers from the Temple.
We have given way to anger and hate when we harbor resentment in our heart against a certain person or persons; when we plot harm for anyone by word or deed; when we use insulting language toward the offender. We are guilty of anger when we become excited and incensed to such a degree that we strike or hurt another; when we wrangle and quarrel violently with another; or when by the sullen expression on our face, or by our silence, we show our resentment toward him. Our sin is very, very serious if we harbor rancor or hatred in our heart for days, or months, or even years and abstain from marks of kindness and friendship. We are also guilty of anger if we abuse our authority and punish an inferior more than he deserves. We may even direct our anger toward God, interiorly, or exteriorly by passionate blasphemy.
Anger is a destructive and highly injurious vice. A fit of rage deprives us of reason; it estranges us from God. It separates us from friends and relatives. Anger clouds the intellect, and its unreasoning obstinacy makes us trample on the rights of others. Anger destroys peace and produces disastrous wars. It causes all sorts of evils, discords, enmities, long-standing quarrels, insults, spites, slander, blasphemy, hatred, revenge, murder. All these things kill charity and are obstacles to grace, our greatest gift from God.
Lawful & Justified Anger
As already stated, anger is not always a sin. There is a lawful sentiment of anger, a just indignation, which is an ardent, but rational, desire to punish a guilty party with some form of just retribution. As an example of this, we see Our Lord, with a whip, angrily cast out the money-changers from the Temple. Whereas, on the other hand, we see the high-priest Heli, severely rebuked for not showing enough anger in correcting his sons.
Thus for anger to be legitimate, it must be:
(a) Just—by punishing only those that deserve punishment;
(b) Tempered—by moderation in the degree of the punishment that is given; by giving a punishment that fits the crime and not exceeding that;
(c) Charitable—not vented out of a spirit of hatred, revenge or animosity, but out of a sincere desire of helping the wrongdoer.
Anger is sinful when it is unjust, immoderate or uncharitable. Sometimes, we have a violent and inordinate desire to punish someone, regardless of the conditions we have mentioned above. Our anger is accompanied by hatred, which does not merely seek to correct, but seeks to exact some form of revenge. There are several degrees of intensity within anger, which are worth remembering:
(a) Interior Anger of the Mind:
Firstly, we become increasingly impatient with others, whereby the least annoying thing, or the smallest degree of failure, causes dissatisfaction.
This is followed by agitation, producing an unnecessary irritation, which we manifest outwardly in some way—facial expressions, agitation, etc.
Then, by brooding upon the facts, this anger or irritation can become so deep rooted, that it engenders sentiments of varying degrees that pass from resentment, to bitterness, hatred and eventually a desire for revenge.
(b) Exterior Anger
The interior anger manifests itself outwardly, beginning with exterior signs of impatience. The earlier anger manifests itself, the weaker it shows the person to be. This exterior anger can, if uncontrolled, easily develop into violence, which in turn can lead to an insane rage, wherein we no longer know what we are saying or doing.
(c) Sinfulness of anger
When anger is impulsive and spontaneous, it is usually a venial sin. If it is so intense that self-control is lost and grave insult is shown to neighbor, then it would be mortal, but this is often not the case. Anger that goes as far as hatred and rancor, when it is deliberate and willful, is, of itself, a mortal sin.
The Terrible Dangers of Anger
Here are a few thoughts and paragraphs taken from a sermon by St. Alphonsus Liguori on anger, wherein he depicts the manifold dangers and sins emanating from this passion when it is uncontrolled.
Anger resembles fire―hence, as fire is vehement in its action, and, by the smoke which it produces, obstructs the view, so anger makes men rush into a thousand excesses, and prevents them from seeing the sinfulness of their conduct; and thus exposes them to the danger of the judgment of eternal death. Anger is so pernicious to man, that it even disfigures his countenance. No matter how comely and gentle he may be, he shall, as often as he yields to the passion of anger, appear to be a monster and a wild beast full of terror.
St. Jerome says that anger is the door by which all vices enter the soul. Anger plunges people into resentments, blasphemies, acts of injustice, detractions, scandals, and other iniquities; for the passion of anger darkens the understanding, and makes a man act like a beast and a madman. Hence, according to St. Bonaventure, an angry man is incapable of distinguishing between what is just and unjust. A man who does not restrain the impulse of anger, easily falls into hatred towards the person who has been the occasion of his passion. According to St. Augustine, hatred is nothing else than persevering anger.
But some will say: “I am the head of the house! I must correct my children and servants, and, when necessary, I must raise my voice against the disorders which I witness!” I say in answer: It is one thing to be angry against a brother, and another to be displeased at the sin of a brother. To be angry against sin is not anger, but zeal; and therefore it is not only lawful, but it is sometimes a duty. But our anger must be accompanied with prudence, and must appear to be directed against sin, but not against the sinner. To be angry, then, against a brother’s sin, is certainly lawful. But, to be angry against a brother on account of the sin which he has committed, is not lawful; because, according to St. Augustine, we are not allowed to hate others for their vices.
Hatred brings with it a desire of revenge; for, according to St. Thomas, anger, when fully voluntary, is accompanied with a desire of revenge. But you will perhaps say: “If I resent such an injury, God will have pity on me, because I have just grounds for resentment.” As long as the passion of anger lasts, you will consider your neighbor’s conduct very unjust and intolerable; but, when your anger shall have passed away, you shall see that his act (even if it was bad) was not so bad as it appeared to you.
But, though the injury is grievous, or even more grievous, God will not have compassion on you, if you seek revenge. No; He says: Vengeance for sins belongs not to you, but to Me; and when the time shall come, I will chastise them as they deserve. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time” (Deuteronomy 32:35).
If you resent an injury done to you by a neighbor, God will justly inflict vengeance on you for all the injuries you have offered to Him, and particularly for taking revenge on a brother whom He commands you to pardon. “He that seeks to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord ... Man to man reserves anger, and does he seek remedy of God? He that is but flesh nourishes anger; and does he ask forgiveness of God? Who shall obtain pardon for his sins?” (Ecclesiasticus 28:1, 3, 5). How can he, who will not obey the command of God to pardon his neighbor, expect to obtain from God the forgiveness of his own sins? (End of the extract from the sermon of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
Thursday February 17th
Article 5
Septuagesima Season Seasoning
Article 5
Septuagesima Season Seasoning
Beauty, But Only Skin Deep!
For those lucky enough to be following the Septuagesima Season, there is therein a rich vein of spiritual teaching and thought, presented to us by a wise Mother—Holy Mother Church—to nourish our souls with what is most profitable to our salvation. Yet even those who are fortunate to have attended a Mass that celebrated Septuagesima Sunday, are unlikely to benefit from the fruits that Holy Mother Church offered them—because we have become a very superficial race of people living in a very superficial world, where superficial news is given in little, easy to understand, 30-second or 1-minute servings, that has very little depth to it. The attention span of man has grown shorter and shorter over the last few decades—with the blame to be largely placed at the feet of modern electronic communications such as radio, TV, internet, and even newspapers—all of whom give it to you as short and as succinct as possible. Thinking has been replaced by mere watching. Images have increasingly replaced words. Feelings count for more than truth.
Vocabulary Dried-Up
Vocabulary has also had the juice of its words squeezed out if it and we look at the carcass or bones of vocabulary in phrases and abbreviations such as: “Wassup?” replaces “What is the matter?” “Bro” … replaces “brother”. “?4U” replaces “I have a question for you”. “2EZ” replaces “Too easy”. “2M2H” replaces “Too much to handle”. “2MORO” replaces “Tomorrow”. “2NITE” replaces “Tonight”. “GRATZ” replaces “Congratulations”. etc., etc.
All of this is synonymous with “the fast life”—“fast food” restaurants, “fast-track” or “express-lanes” in stores and airports, “speed-dialing” and “faster computers”, etc. Researchers note that this push for speed is changing the way people think. The need to be efficient and instant leads to a dumbing down of information intake so that people become scanners and “decoders” of information, cruising horizontally across the screen to pick up bytes, rather than delving towards a deeper understanding.
Intellectual Decline Brings Spiritual Decline
It is this turning away from a deeper understanding and being satisfied with superficial knowledge, that causes havoc within the spiritual life and makes salvation less and less likely, as people can no longer (and no longer want to) get to grips with the nuts and bolts of the spiritual life. For the spiritual life and spiritual knowledge is much more difficult and much more demanding than the physical life or the intellectual life. In fact, St. Thomas Aquinas states that in comparing the three levels of possible work—physical work, intellectual work and spiritual work—it is physical work which is less demanding for the soul; intellectual work is much harder for the soul; while spiritual work is the hardest of all for the soul.
Our mind (intellect) has already been weakened by Original Sin, and we are born in a state of ignorance which finds learning hard. Add to this natural state the modern “dumbing-down” that the world has brought about upon the intellectual levels of people worldwide, then you have a mind that shrinks and shirks anything that is spiritual demanding to understand.
Baby Language—Baby Spirituality
A baby or an infant can only understand so much before its mind is “frazzled” by its inability to understand more complex or difficult words or concepts. To communicate with a child at that infantile level, you have use infantile language or “baby talk”—gradually raising the levels of vocabulary and concepts as the child grows older. The problem is that, today, most Catholics cannot get past or cannot grasp anything beyond “infantile Catholicism” because the world, in many respects, is becoming more and more infantile, banal, superficial and pretentious as it goes along on the broad wide to the gates of you know where. If the child will not learn, ultimately the teacher or parent will use severe punishment—physical or psychological—to remedy the situation. Even the State does that with fines, imprisonment and capital punishment for criminals who “will not learn” and remedy their criminal behavior.
God will do the same, at some point in the future, with His “Great Chastisement” which the world will think is “not so great”—when He will unleash a physical and psychological punishment of the kind that has never been seen before in the history of mankind. Then, suddenly—as is often the case with a punished child or student—seriousness, behavioral rectitude, effort and results will improve—and prophecies foretell that the level of spirituality and holiness in the world, after the chastisement, will be of a level never before seen in the history of the world! Amazing what punishment can do for incorrigible folk!
Anyway, back to “baby Catholicism” or “infantile Catholicism”! So many Catholics never really “grow-up” spiritually. The little bit catechism (a survival ration), that they were once taught at school, has not been built upon in the years since leaving school, but has been largely forgotten. Put any Catholic on the spot with an impromptu catechism test, and they will fail miserably—and I am talking about a First Communion Catechism, or at best, a Confirmation Catechism—thus for ages around 7 to 11 years old. Let us not forget that this level of catechism is mostly “parrot-fashion” repetition of answers with only a minimal of thinking and understanding taking place. For example, a 6 or 7 year old will tell you: “God is a spirit!”—but after that, there is nothing much more that they can tell you, except that “a spirit has no body”!
Most Catholics could not tell you how many books there are in the Bible, let alone even name them, and definitely not name them in their correct order—but even if they could, that is nothing more than a work of mere memorization that is devoid of understanding and deeper knowledge. It is handily forgotten that back in colonial America, many fathers of families were comfortable with debating the finer points of theology! And that entrance exams to the top universities required the high-school graduate to debate with his future professors in either Greek or Latin! O how far have we fallen intellectually since those days. We may possess a greater and broader intelligence in technology, but we have become too specialized and lack breadth of knowledge. Search online for the “copy of the eighth-grade exam used in schools in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in 1912” and present it to an eighth-grader today, and you will see the difference in results.
The Spiritual Babies of 1905
Yet even back at that time—in 1905—Pope St. Pius X wrote a papal encyclical on the dangers of religious ignorance! Yes, over 100 years ago! What would he say today? A few lines from the encyclical will give you the idea (the encyclical can be read here).
“We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’
“It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life -- for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there.
“They rarely give thought to God, the Supreme Author and Ruler of all things, or to the teachings of the faith of Christ. They know nothing of the Incarnation of the Word of God, nothing of the perfect restoration of the human race which He accomplished. Grace, the greatest of the helps for attaining eternal things, the Holy Sacrifice and the Sacraments by which we obtain grace, are entirely unknown to them. They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life's end in such a condition … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis. April 1905).
What Has This to Do With Septuagesima?
Good question! Well, it is like this. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You can a Catholic to the Catechism or Bible, but you cannot make them think! And if they just look at the surface of the content, they will not really understand the Faith, and thus won’t really live the Faith. To understand, you need to see what stand under the thing—you need to dig below the surface. You can live on an oil-field yet die of poverty and starvation if you are not prepared to dig. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, in effect, physical digging is easier than intellectual digging, but spiritual digging is harder than either physical or intellectual digging. Most people do not want to dig spiritually—so they will die of spiritual poverty and starved of grace!
Septuagsima Sunday—and the ensuing Sexagesima and Quinquagsima Sundays—are a rich oil-field or rich storehouse of theological and spiritual wealth. Yet they remain untapped sources for most Catholics. They have no time, no inclination and no desire to venture therein. For the few that do follow the liturgical rite that still celebrates the Septuagesima season, many of those ‘fortunate’ Catholics unfortunately let the texts of the liturgy go in one ear and out the other. Their spiritual stomachs are hungry as they enter church and they come away with equally empty stomachs after Mass—the sad (and most dangerous) thing is that they DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY! Perhaps it because they are “Compromised Catholics”, who live for both the world and for God—a marriage that Christ said cannot happen: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Being eagerly fed by the junk food of mammon, they have no real appetite for the word of God, yet, as Christ also said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
The child who is raised on junk food and fast food, loaded with sugar—will have revulsion for the very healthy bitter foods, such as garlic, onions, lemons, limes, and a host of other herbs and spices—which, though they do not form the main part of the meal, they are often the most healthiest part of the meal—as research and studies have shown. There is a general axiom that says: “Bitter is better!”
Septuagesima Season Seasoning
The texts for the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday could be said to be like seasoning—they are somewhat bitter! Here is an extract for those who did not have the benefit or privilege of attending a Septuagesima Sunday Mass. You can well imagine many people wincing and whining at the spiciness of the Septuagesima Sunday seasoning! The Entrance Hymn (Introit) and the Prayer (collect) were pretty sharp and spicy: “The terrors of death surged round me, the cords of the nether world enmeshed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord … Hear the prayers of Thy people, that we, who are justly punished for our sins, may be mercifully delivered!” St. Paul added some more spice to the food in the Epistle: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers … did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink … But with most of them God was not well pleased!” Immediately after the Epistle, the Gradual chimed in with another “not-too-sweet” verse: “Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! If Thou, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand it?” Then the Gospel asked: “Why do stand here all day idle?” and ended with the haunting and harrowing words of Our Lord: “Many are called, but few chosen!” While the Communion prayer pleaded: “O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon Thee!”
Just like spice with a meal—there is not a predominance of it, but enough to make the eyes water and the nose to run as the sinuses are cleared out. Likewise, the Septuagesima Season seasoning or spice, should sting our consciences and make our eyes water with tears for our sins, clearing-out the sinful sinuses of our consciences by making us run to confession and performing penance.
A “Baby Lent” or a “Serious Lent”?
Usually, words and actions come forth from thoughts. We think of something first and then we say it or do it. Serious things require serious thought and reflection—everybody will agree on that. The more expensive the thing that we intend to buy, the more we think about it. Tell, me—what is more expensive than sin? We treat sin lightly—not so with God! Sin, in God’s eyes, is so evil that He created Hell for its punishment, and sent the rebellious angels there without a second thought. He placed the penalty of death over Adam, Eve and mankind because of sin, warning Adam and Eve: “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). In the Old Testament, God said: “He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book” (Exodus 32:33) and nothing has changed since, for God never changes. That is why St. Paul, in the New Testament, tells us: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
I Disagree!
Just because we do not think this way, does not make it false. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. At a pinch, we might persuade ourselves of that in the case of SOME mortal sins…but ALL MORTAL SINS?? We say, no way!! But God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways,’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). In God’s eyes, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Adam and Eve found that out after committing JUST ONE SIN! Did God over-react? It would be blasphemy to think so!
Let It Sink In
Now let those phrases sink-in: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” Let us think of and list some evils that we can imagine (that is to say, evils that have nothing to do with sin). An earthquake destroys buildings in a city—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! An earthquake kills thousands of people in a city—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that. Think back to the tsunamis of recent times and the devastation that they caused and the lives they took—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! A forest fire destroys thousands of acres of cultivated orchards and hundreds of homes—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! It’s not the way WE think, or this may not be acceptable to OUR sense of values—but it is God’s way of thinking and God’s way of evaluating things.
It is with that mentality and sentiment that we should be preparing for Lent. For we have all sinned, as Holy Scripture tells us: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Measuring and Weighing by Sin
If we had a true notion of the gravity, seriousness, heinousness and evil of sin, then any suffering, or any penance, or any sacrifice would fade away in relation to the suffering due to sin. If we look at the fires of Purgatory and the fires of Hell (which the saints, like St. Thomas Aquinas, tell us are one and the same fire), then we start to get an idea or a feel for sin’s gravity. If God can have a soul burn in Purgatory for centuries on end, then that must tell us something about God’s value system. If God can send a soul to Hell for eternity, just for one single unrepented mortal sin, then that value system becomes even clearer. Read some of the extracts from Fr. Schouppe’s renowned book Purgatory Explained, and you will start to get the picture.
Extreme Justice, Yet Extreme Mercy
The fires of Purgatory and Hell are one side of the coin—the negative side, the side of Justice. Yet there is another side of the coin—the positive side, the side of Mercy. God is extremely perfect; therefore all of His virtues go to the extreme. Our puny minds cannot possibly grasp the notion of extreme Justice blending with extreme Mercy. To us it seems like a contradiction, total opposites. God is extreme in everything, for He is perfect in everything, He is all perfect, therefore He is all-extreme. The souls in Purgatory and Hell can perhaps grasp that better than we grasp it here below. They know that they deserve what they are getting and they see the price of sin quite clearly. Yet they also know that what they are suffering is nowhere near to what they deserve to get—for God’s mercy has softened the punishment enormously. In this way, even the souls in Hell know that God is being merciful to them, and since they have rejected God, they hate His Mercy, for, in a way, it rubs salt into their wounds. I guess St. Paul’s words are most applicable here: “But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (Romans 12:20).
What About Me?
Now let us get to the Mercy bit for ourselves! If such is the punishment of sin in Purgatory and Hell, and if that punishment can last for even centuries, then what an incredible act of Mercy is it by God, to offer sinners (whether mortal or venial or both) the chance to forego all that burning and go straight from death in this world to the joys of Heaven, without as much as one second being spent in those burning, purging, cleansing fires! It almost seems like cheating to be able to avoid all that burning! Yet it is possible and it made possible by the grace of martyrdom. Ouch! That is a nasty gruesome word! Okay then! Well what about love? Is that a nasty gruesome word? We can pay by pain (martyrdom) or we can pay by love (which ends up being a kind of martyrdom anyway). The Good Thief paid for his ticket to Paradise by willingly accepting the pain that the crucifixion justly inflicted on him, whereas St. Mary Magdalen paid my much love: Our Lord, referring to the previously sinful woman, that was weeping over His feet at the banquet of Simon the Leper, and wiping His feet with her hair, thought by many to St. Mary Magdalen, said to Simon: “Wherefore, I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
“He that loves God and wishes to save his soul, must despise the world and all human respect; and to do this, everyone must offer violence to himself. St. Mary Magdalene had to do great violence to herself; in order to overcome human respect and the murmurings and scoffs of the world, when in the presence of so many persons, she cast herself at the feet of Jesus Christ to wash them with her tears, and dry them with her hair. But she thus became a saint, and merited from Jesus Christ pardon of her sins and praise for her great love–her great love of Him, not her great love of the world.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).
Our Lord ate with sinners, preached to sinners, forgave sinners, but accepted no practicing sinner into His inner-circle of friends—Mary Magdalen converted and paid heed to Our Lord’s command of “Go and sin no more” before she was accepted.
St. Peter learned a powerful lesson at that banquet where St. Mary Magdalen washed Our Lord’s feet with her tears for her sins, and St. Peter later wrote: “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Yet this is nothing new, for the Old Testament Scriptures had already stated “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12).
St. James shows us an example of a great act of charity: “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
“In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:15-18).
Time to Warm-Up
Nobody likes to eat food that has gone cold! Not even God! Just as we find lukewarm food repulsive, so too does God find lukewarm souls repulsive, hence He says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Perhaps we need to heat up and spice up a little before Lent starts! Now is the time to do it. Septuagesima is like a planning and rehearsing period given to us—just like an athlete does not go into the race “cold”, but warms-up and stretches his muscles before the race begins, we too should be planning, stretching, rehearsing and getting our Lenten “race” tactics worked out before the race begins. The same is true for sports teams―especially those that play more or less once a week. They do start talking tactics and developing a game-plan five minutes before the game—but they spend many days planning and training for the game.
For those lucky enough to be following the Septuagesima Season, there is therein a rich vein of spiritual teaching and thought, presented to us by a wise Mother—Holy Mother Church—to nourish our souls with what is most profitable to our salvation. Yet even those who are fortunate to have attended a Mass that celebrated Septuagesima Sunday, are unlikely to benefit from the fruits that Holy Mother Church offered them—because we have become a very superficial race of people living in a very superficial world, where superficial news is given in little, easy to understand, 30-second or 1-minute servings, that has very little depth to it. The attention span of man has grown shorter and shorter over the last few decades—with the blame to be largely placed at the feet of modern electronic communications such as radio, TV, internet, and even newspapers—all of whom give it to you as short and as succinct as possible. Thinking has been replaced by mere watching. Images have increasingly replaced words. Feelings count for more than truth.
Vocabulary Dried-Up
Vocabulary has also had the juice of its words squeezed out if it and we look at the carcass or bones of vocabulary in phrases and abbreviations such as: “Wassup?” replaces “What is the matter?” “Bro” … replaces “brother”. “?4U” replaces “I have a question for you”. “2EZ” replaces “Too easy”. “2M2H” replaces “Too much to handle”. “2MORO” replaces “Tomorrow”. “2NITE” replaces “Tonight”. “GRATZ” replaces “Congratulations”. etc., etc.
All of this is synonymous with “the fast life”—“fast food” restaurants, “fast-track” or “express-lanes” in stores and airports, “speed-dialing” and “faster computers”, etc. Researchers note that this push for speed is changing the way people think. The need to be efficient and instant leads to a dumbing down of information intake so that people become scanners and “decoders” of information, cruising horizontally across the screen to pick up bytes, rather than delving towards a deeper understanding.
Intellectual Decline Brings Spiritual Decline
It is this turning away from a deeper understanding and being satisfied with superficial knowledge, that causes havoc within the spiritual life and makes salvation less and less likely, as people can no longer (and no longer want to) get to grips with the nuts and bolts of the spiritual life. For the spiritual life and spiritual knowledge is much more difficult and much more demanding than the physical life or the intellectual life. In fact, St. Thomas Aquinas states that in comparing the three levels of possible work—physical work, intellectual work and spiritual work—it is physical work which is less demanding for the soul; intellectual work is much harder for the soul; while spiritual work is the hardest of all for the soul.
Our mind (intellect) has already been weakened by Original Sin, and we are born in a state of ignorance which finds learning hard. Add to this natural state the modern “dumbing-down” that the world has brought about upon the intellectual levels of people worldwide, then you have a mind that shrinks and shirks anything that is spiritual demanding to understand.
Baby Language—Baby Spirituality
A baby or an infant can only understand so much before its mind is “frazzled” by its inability to understand more complex or difficult words or concepts. To communicate with a child at that infantile level, you have use infantile language or “baby talk”—gradually raising the levels of vocabulary and concepts as the child grows older. The problem is that, today, most Catholics cannot get past or cannot grasp anything beyond “infantile Catholicism” because the world, in many respects, is becoming more and more infantile, banal, superficial and pretentious as it goes along on the broad wide to the gates of you know where. If the child will not learn, ultimately the teacher or parent will use severe punishment—physical or psychological—to remedy the situation. Even the State does that with fines, imprisonment and capital punishment for criminals who “will not learn” and remedy their criminal behavior.
God will do the same, at some point in the future, with His “Great Chastisement” which the world will think is “not so great”—when He will unleash a physical and psychological punishment of the kind that has never been seen before in the history of mankind. Then, suddenly—as is often the case with a punished child or student—seriousness, behavioral rectitude, effort and results will improve—and prophecies foretell that the level of spirituality and holiness in the world, after the chastisement, will be of a level never before seen in the history of the world! Amazing what punishment can do for incorrigible folk!
Anyway, back to “baby Catholicism” or “infantile Catholicism”! So many Catholics never really “grow-up” spiritually. The little bit catechism (a survival ration), that they were once taught at school, has not been built upon in the years since leaving school, but has been largely forgotten. Put any Catholic on the spot with an impromptu catechism test, and they will fail miserably—and I am talking about a First Communion Catechism, or at best, a Confirmation Catechism—thus for ages around 7 to 11 years old. Let us not forget that this level of catechism is mostly “parrot-fashion” repetition of answers with only a minimal of thinking and understanding taking place. For example, a 6 or 7 year old will tell you: “God is a spirit!”—but after that, there is nothing much more that they can tell you, except that “a spirit has no body”!
Most Catholics could not tell you how many books there are in the Bible, let alone even name them, and definitely not name them in their correct order—but even if they could, that is nothing more than a work of mere memorization that is devoid of understanding and deeper knowledge. It is handily forgotten that back in colonial America, many fathers of families were comfortable with debating the finer points of theology! And that entrance exams to the top universities required the high-school graduate to debate with his future professors in either Greek or Latin! O how far have we fallen intellectually since those days. We may possess a greater and broader intelligence in technology, but we have become too specialized and lack breadth of knowledge. Search online for the “copy of the eighth-grade exam used in schools in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in 1912” and present it to an eighth-grader today, and you will see the difference in results.
The Spiritual Babies of 1905
Yet even back at that time—in 1905—Pope St. Pius X wrote a papal encyclical on the dangers of religious ignorance! Yes, over 100 years ago! What would he say today? A few lines from the encyclical will give you the idea (the encyclical can be read here).
“We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’
“It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life -- for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there.
“They rarely give thought to God, the Supreme Author and Ruler of all things, or to the teachings of the faith of Christ. They know nothing of the Incarnation of the Word of God, nothing of the perfect restoration of the human race which He accomplished. Grace, the greatest of the helps for attaining eternal things, the Holy Sacrifice and the Sacraments by which we obtain grace, are entirely unknown to them. They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life's end in such a condition … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis. April 1905).
What Has This to Do With Septuagesima?
Good question! Well, it is like this. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You can a Catholic to the Catechism or Bible, but you cannot make them think! And if they just look at the surface of the content, they will not really understand the Faith, and thus won’t really live the Faith. To understand, you need to see what stand under the thing—you need to dig below the surface. You can live on an oil-field yet die of poverty and starvation if you are not prepared to dig. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, in effect, physical digging is easier than intellectual digging, but spiritual digging is harder than either physical or intellectual digging. Most people do not want to dig spiritually—so they will die of spiritual poverty and starved of grace!
Septuagsima Sunday—and the ensuing Sexagesima and Quinquagsima Sundays—are a rich oil-field or rich storehouse of theological and spiritual wealth. Yet they remain untapped sources for most Catholics. They have no time, no inclination and no desire to venture therein. For the few that do follow the liturgical rite that still celebrates the Septuagesima season, many of those ‘fortunate’ Catholics unfortunately let the texts of the liturgy go in one ear and out the other. Their spiritual stomachs are hungry as they enter church and they come away with equally empty stomachs after Mass—the sad (and most dangerous) thing is that they DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY! Perhaps it because they are “Compromised Catholics”, who live for both the world and for God—a marriage that Christ said cannot happen: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Being eagerly fed by the junk food of mammon, they have no real appetite for the word of God, yet, as Christ also said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
The child who is raised on junk food and fast food, loaded with sugar—will have revulsion for the very healthy bitter foods, such as garlic, onions, lemons, limes, and a host of other herbs and spices—which, though they do not form the main part of the meal, they are often the most healthiest part of the meal—as research and studies have shown. There is a general axiom that says: “Bitter is better!”
Septuagesima Season Seasoning
The texts for the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday could be said to be like seasoning—they are somewhat bitter! Here is an extract for those who did not have the benefit or privilege of attending a Septuagesima Sunday Mass. You can well imagine many people wincing and whining at the spiciness of the Septuagesima Sunday seasoning! The Entrance Hymn (Introit) and the Prayer (collect) were pretty sharp and spicy: “The terrors of death surged round me, the cords of the nether world enmeshed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord … Hear the prayers of Thy people, that we, who are justly punished for our sins, may be mercifully delivered!” St. Paul added some more spice to the food in the Epistle: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers … did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink … But with most of them God was not well pleased!” Immediately after the Epistle, the Gradual chimed in with another “not-too-sweet” verse: “Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! If Thou, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand it?” Then the Gospel asked: “Why do stand here all day idle?” and ended with the haunting and harrowing words of Our Lord: “Many are called, but few chosen!” While the Communion prayer pleaded: “O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon Thee!”
Just like spice with a meal—there is not a predominance of it, but enough to make the eyes water and the nose to run as the sinuses are cleared out. Likewise, the Septuagesima Season seasoning or spice, should sting our consciences and make our eyes water with tears for our sins, clearing-out the sinful sinuses of our consciences by making us run to confession and performing penance.
A “Baby Lent” or a “Serious Lent”?
Usually, words and actions come forth from thoughts. We think of something first and then we say it or do it. Serious things require serious thought and reflection—everybody will agree on that. The more expensive the thing that we intend to buy, the more we think about it. Tell, me—what is more expensive than sin? We treat sin lightly—not so with God! Sin, in God’s eyes, is so evil that He created Hell for its punishment, and sent the rebellious angels there without a second thought. He placed the penalty of death over Adam, Eve and mankind because of sin, warning Adam and Eve: “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). In the Old Testament, God said: “He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book” (Exodus 32:33) and nothing has changed since, for God never changes. That is why St. Paul, in the New Testament, tells us: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
I Disagree!
Just because we do not think this way, does not make it false. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. At a pinch, we might persuade ourselves of that in the case of SOME mortal sins…but ALL MORTAL SINS?? We say, no way!! But God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways,’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). In God’s eyes, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Adam and Eve found that out after committing JUST ONE SIN! Did God over-react? It would be blasphemy to think so!
Let It Sink In
Now let those phrases sink-in: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” Let us think of and list some evils that we can imagine (that is to say, evils that have nothing to do with sin). An earthquake destroys buildings in a city—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! An earthquake kills thousands of people in a city—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that. Think back to the tsunamis of recent times and the devastation that they caused and the lives they took—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! A forest fire destroys thousands of acres of cultivated orchards and hundreds of homes—one single venial sin is a greater evil than that! It’s not the way WE think, or this may not be acceptable to OUR sense of values—but it is God’s way of thinking and God’s way of evaluating things.
It is with that mentality and sentiment that we should be preparing for Lent. For we have all sinned, as Holy Scripture tells us: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Measuring and Weighing by Sin
If we had a true notion of the gravity, seriousness, heinousness and evil of sin, then any suffering, or any penance, or any sacrifice would fade away in relation to the suffering due to sin. If we look at the fires of Purgatory and the fires of Hell (which the saints, like St. Thomas Aquinas, tell us are one and the same fire), then we start to get an idea or a feel for sin’s gravity. If God can have a soul burn in Purgatory for centuries on end, then that must tell us something about God’s value system. If God can send a soul to Hell for eternity, just for one single unrepented mortal sin, then that value system becomes even clearer. Read some of the extracts from Fr. Schouppe’s renowned book Purgatory Explained, and you will start to get the picture.
Extreme Justice, Yet Extreme Mercy
The fires of Purgatory and Hell are one side of the coin—the negative side, the side of Justice. Yet there is another side of the coin—the positive side, the side of Mercy. God is extremely perfect; therefore all of His virtues go to the extreme. Our puny minds cannot possibly grasp the notion of extreme Justice blending with extreme Mercy. To us it seems like a contradiction, total opposites. God is extreme in everything, for He is perfect in everything, He is all perfect, therefore He is all-extreme. The souls in Purgatory and Hell can perhaps grasp that better than we grasp it here below. They know that they deserve what they are getting and they see the price of sin quite clearly. Yet they also know that what they are suffering is nowhere near to what they deserve to get—for God’s mercy has softened the punishment enormously. In this way, even the souls in Hell know that God is being merciful to them, and since they have rejected God, they hate His Mercy, for, in a way, it rubs salt into their wounds. I guess St. Paul’s words are most applicable here: “But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (Romans 12:20).
What About Me?
Now let us get to the Mercy bit for ourselves! If such is the punishment of sin in Purgatory and Hell, and if that punishment can last for even centuries, then what an incredible act of Mercy is it by God, to offer sinners (whether mortal or venial or both) the chance to forego all that burning and go straight from death in this world to the joys of Heaven, without as much as one second being spent in those burning, purging, cleansing fires! It almost seems like cheating to be able to avoid all that burning! Yet it is possible and it made possible by the grace of martyrdom. Ouch! That is a nasty gruesome word! Okay then! Well what about love? Is that a nasty gruesome word? We can pay by pain (martyrdom) or we can pay by love (which ends up being a kind of martyrdom anyway). The Good Thief paid for his ticket to Paradise by willingly accepting the pain that the crucifixion justly inflicted on him, whereas St. Mary Magdalen paid my much love: Our Lord, referring to the previously sinful woman, that was weeping over His feet at the banquet of Simon the Leper, and wiping His feet with her hair, thought by many to St. Mary Magdalen, said to Simon: “Wherefore, I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
“He that loves God and wishes to save his soul, must despise the world and all human respect; and to do this, everyone must offer violence to himself. St. Mary Magdalene had to do great violence to herself; in order to overcome human respect and the murmurings and scoffs of the world, when in the presence of so many persons, she cast herself at the feet of Jesus Christ to wash them with her tears, and dry them with her hair. But she thus became a saint, and merited from Jesus Christ pardon of her sins and praise for her great love–her great love of Him, not her great love of the world.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).
Our Lord ate with sinners, preached to sinners, forgave sinners, but accepted no practicing sinner into His inner-circle of friends—Mary Magdalen converted and paid heed to Our Lord’s command of “Go and sin no more” before she was accepted.
St. Peter learned a powerful lesson at that banquet where St. Mary Magdalen washed Our Lord’s feet with her tears for her sins, and St. Peter later wrote: “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Yet this is nothing new, for the Old Testament Scriptures had already stated “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12).
St. James shows us an example of a great act of charity: “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
“In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:15-18).
Time to Warm-Up
Nobody likes to eat food that has gone cold! Not even God! Just as we find lukewarm food repulsive, so too does God find lukewarm souls repulsive, hence He says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Perhaps we need to heat up and spice up a little before Lent starts! Now is the time to do it. Septuagesima is like a planning and rehearsing period given to us—just like an athlete does not go into the race “cold”, but warms-up and stretches his muscles before the race begins, we too should be planning, stretching, rehearsing and getting our Lenten “race” tactics worked out before the race begins. The same is true for sports teams―especially those that play more or less once a week. They do start talking tactics and developing a game-plan five minutes before the game—but they spend many days planning and training for the game.
Wednesday February 16th
Article 4
What is Crippling My Family?
Article 4
What is Crippling My Family?
Crippled Catholic Church
It does not take 20/20 vision to see that today the Catholic Church is crippled. When a person is crippled, it is because they have lost the normal use of an arm(s) or leg(s). To cripple somebody is to injure someone so that they are unable to walk or move in a normal way ― as in the case of a soldier who returns from war as a cripple having lost a leg in an bomb explosion. When an object is crippled, then it is said to be severely damaged or malfunctioning. We speak of an economy crippled by inflation. Or we say higher taxes could cripple small businesses. Or a country crippled by war. Today, the Catholic Church has been crippled―from the outside and from within. The Church no longer moves as it once did―it has received severe wounds that have deprived it of its mobility and strength. If the Church is crippled, then it is only natural that Catholic families are also crippled.
The Cripple of Jerusalem
“Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.
“When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’
“The infirm man answered Him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’
“Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed, and walk!’
“And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked.
“Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Another Cripple of Jerusalem
“Now Peter and John went up into the Temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb, was carried: whom they laid every day at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, that he might ask alms of them that went into the Temple. He, when he had seen Peter and John about to go into the Temple, asked to receive an alms.
“But Peter with John fastening his eyes upon him, said: ‘Look upon us!’
“But he looked earnestly upon them, hoping that he should receive something of them.
“But Peter said: ‘Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee! In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise, and walk!’ And taking him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forthwith his feet and soles received strength.
“And he leaping up, stood, and walked, and went in with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew him, that it was he who sat begging alms at the ‘Beautiful Gate’ of the Temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him” (Acts 3:1-10).
The Lame Walk—The Blind See
Just as Jesus comes to seek and save that which was lost, so too does He come to heal the sick and the lame: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “And there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple; and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14). “And there came to Him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others: and they cast them down at His feet, and He healed them, so that the multitudes marveled seeing the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see―and they glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 15:30-31).
Lame, Blind, Maimed and Dumb Families
God often speaks to us spiritually through the natural, physical and material things of this life. Our Lord even uses such a method in His many parables: the Cockle and the Wheat; the Sower of the Seed; the Laborers in the Vineyard; the Talents and Servants; the Good Samaritan; the Rich Fool; the Unjust Steward; the Prodigal Son; and whole host of other parables. He does this because we can more easily access and understand the invisible (spiritual) through the visible (physical and material).
Sicknesses of Body and Soul
The sicknesses of the body can be correlative to sicknesses of the soul. We can be spiritually blind, spiritually dumb, spiritually, deaf, spiritually lame, etc. Fr. Faber, writing on Lukewarmness, in his book Growth in Holiness, says: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all.” In this passage Fr. Faber correlates physical blindness with a spiritual blindness in the form of lukewarmness.
Our Lord, speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees, also uses the idea of physical blindness and correlates it to a spiritual blindness on the part of the Scribes and Pharisees: “Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Our Lord does not mean that they are physically blind, but that they are spiritually blind. This same correlation could just as well be used with the notion of being deaf, dumb, lame and even dead! There are, in fact, very many families (or, at the very least, many members of families) who are spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually dumb, spiritually lame and even spiritually dead. If Our Lord came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10); and if “there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple; and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14), then He must want to seek and save, heal and cure those members of our families too!
Deaf, Blind, Dumb, Lame and Dead
You could say that there is a progressive downward spiral in spiritual sickness—we are first of all spiritually deaf, which leads to us becoming spiritually blind, which, in turn, makes us spiritually dumb, then lame and finally spiritually dead. Let us briefly examine those states—though entire articles or even books could be written on each particular stage.
As a springboard for this—to show that it is not just an arbitrary or novel idea—we have the following words of Our Lord Himself, which pave the way for this examination: “‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’ And His disciples came and said to Him: ‘Why speakest Thou to them in parables?’ Who answered and said to them: ‘Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven: but to them it is not given. For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath. Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: “By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For, amen, I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them!’” (Matthew 13:9-17).
Spiritually Deaf
The above words of Our Lord were spoken in the context of the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (Matthew 13:3-8; 18-23; Mark 4:2-20; Luke 8:5-15)—where, as Our Lord explains, “The seed is the word of God … He that soweth, soweth the word” but the word of God is received in various ways that do not bear any fruit—which is depicted as being “by the wayside” or “upon stony ground” or “among thorns”. These are symbolic, as Our Lord says, of “those that hear the word of God and understand it not” and “those that hear the word with joy, but do not let it take root” and “those that hear but are choked up by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.”
Since three of the four Evangelist record this parable, it is evident that it is of the utmost importance—especially since the parable and its explanation almost takes an entire chapter with each Evangelist. Therefore, here is a composite (blending together of all three: Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:2-20; Luke 8:5-15) for you instruction—for this explains much of the spiritual deafness that exists among Catholics.
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth. And when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And some fell upon good ground; and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred. Saying these things, he cried out: ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’”
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom He said: ‘To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand!’”
Our Lord then proceeds to explain the symbolism: “The seed is the word of God. He that sows, sows the word. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, Satan comes and takes away that which was sown in his heart, lest believing they should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side.
“Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and, in time of temptation, when there arises tribulation and persecution because of the word, they fall away.
“And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard the word, but going their way, are choked with the cares of the world and pleasures of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things, and it is made fruitless and yields no fruit.
“And the seed that is sown upon the good ground, are they who hear the word, and receive and understand it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.”
How true is this of our present day! There are so many who hear the word of God, but do not hear it—that is to say, they do not hear what is really being said; they hear selectively; they hear only what they want to hear; they hear and like and remember the “nice bits”, but they “tune-out” the “tough bits” and “rough bits”—they refuse to “take the rough with the smooth”.
For them there is only a “God of Love” and there is no such thing as a “God of Justice”! They hear only want they want to hear—and they are the ones Holy Scripture speaks about when it says: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!”(Matthew 13:15). They are spiritually deaf to the true word of God as St. Paul says: “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears! And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Curing the Spiritually Deaf
The usual cures are—as St. Ignatius Loyola writes in his Spiritual Exercises—are to “agere contra”, meaning: to do the contrary, to do the opposite. Thus St. Paul writes: “What son is there whom the father doth not correct?” (Hebrews 12:7). “And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in My Name, I will be the revenger!” (Deuteronomy 18:19).
“Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:14-17).
“Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine…” (2 Timothy 4:2-2) … “By what doth a young man correct his way? By observing Thy words” (Psalm 118:9). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Dethroned Word of God Needs Re-crowning
Let us not pretend that the word of God rules supreme in families today—it is the word of the world that rules in most families. The word of God might not be totally ignored, but the word of the world is given equal footing, if not more. The finger of blame for this can be pointed in many directions: parents, parish priests, school teachers, peers, media, etc. Yet whatever the secondary cause may be, we are the ultimate responsibility for what enters the family—there is no escaping that. We can play the “Adam and Eve” games of passing the buck of blame, but it finally comes back to us. We have a free will and we have the opportunity to seek, research and learn—but we prefer not to, for we are infected, some more and some less, with the spirit of today’s world, and religious study comes pretty low on totem pole of our preferred activities—and then we complain in disbelief that most souls are lost! Figure that one out!
Until the word of God is replaced (or, in some cases, placed for the first time) in its rightful place at the head of the family, then families will continue to be spiritually deaf, dumb, blind, lame and even dead. You do not speak much about things you don’t love. You cannot love what you do not know, but you cannot know unless you listen and read. The word of God must be read and spoken and preached in the family; the word of God must reign in the family. God, and attention to God, must come first. If your family has lost that—then you have to do something to bring it back! Will it painful? You can bet your last dollar that it will be painful—for the devil is not going to give up years of investment and profit just because you suddenly decide to stop playing his game! There are two Scriptural quotes that bear this out:
The Word
Firstly, on the word of God: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? … Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound hath gone forth into all the Earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world ... But all do not obey the Gospel ... But I say: Hath not Israel known? … All the day long have I spread my hands to a people that believe not and contradict Me!” (Romans 10:13-21).
If you family is spiritually weak, lukewarm and worldly, it is because it is not being sufficiently fed the word of God: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). You are allowing the world to feed your family far more than you are allowing God to feed your family—as you sow, so shall you reap, what you feed is what you get. If the majority of the diet is worldly, you will get a worldly family; if the majority is of God, you should get a godly family.
The Battle
Secondly, the devil is not going you relinquish any crafty control that he has over your family. Jesus said: “When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesses. But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathers not with me, scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: ‘I will return into my house whence I came out!’ And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first!” (Luke 11:21-26).
Most families are so weak in their knowledge and awareness of the spiritual, that they fail to realize the omnipresence of devils all throughout the day—with the result that little or no measures are taken to combat them. These families live ‘at peace’ amongst this infernal subtle onslaught, totally forgetting that “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
It is not for nothing that the Church, on the First Sunday of Lent, gives us the Gospel reading of Christ doing battle with the devil in the desert, after having fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights in the desert. Spiritual warfare is our daily fare—from birth to death: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). Woe to those who do not train for the battle and who refuse to do battle—but most persons and families DO NEGLECT this critical aspect of life! Small wonder, then, that most souls are lost! As you sow, so shall you reap.
Spiritual reading—which is nothing other than sowing the seed of the word of God—may not be the most popular family activity, but it is the most crucial and the most neglected. Plan to put that right this Lent! Get a wise supply of books ready and just as the Church lays down the law concerning Lent, so too must you lay down the law concerning the Lent that your family will follow. The bottom line has to be: “Are we truly Catholic, or are we pagans? Whose word comes first? God’s or the world’s?” You may well be in for a fight--”For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:52)—but it is probably partially your fault anyway that things have slid downhill as far as they have! If you caused it, you must try to put it right!
Spiritually Blind
We do not want to see those things that we do not like. We do not like to see ourselves as we really are. We do not want to admit to the truth about ourselves and our families. It is all very natural, but it is not very supernatural. Such a blindness is closely connected to pride. “Seeing they see not” (Matthew 13:13) … “They do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed!” (Isaias 44:9) … “Seeing they see, and do not perceive; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10).
Worldliness leads to spiritual blindness. The glitz and dazzle of the world blinds the eyes of the worldly so that they cannot see the truths of the Gospel: “Our Gospel is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:26-27). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Denial of Spiritual Blindness
Why can some people just not get it? Why can they not see things that are as clear as the nose on their face? The saddest part about spiritual blindness is that a person who is spiritually blind, usually cannot recognize the fact that he cannot see! People who are physically blind are very aware of the fact that they are blind and that everything around them is dark. But the spiritually blind actually think they can see and, in fact, often think they can see better than anyone else! Is this not what Jesus meant when He spoke about the man with the plank in his eye, wanting to remove the small splinter from another person’s eye? (Matthew 7:3-5). God also told the church in Laodicea: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’―and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind!” (Apocalypse 3:17).
Religious leaders are often amongst those who are spiritually blind. Many times Jesus accused the Pharisees of being “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14; 23:24; 23:26, etc.). Jesus said to the Pharisees that the very fact that they say they can see is proof that they are blind! “And Jesus said: ‘ I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind!’ And some of the Pharisees, who were with Jesus, heard: and they said unto Him: ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them: ‘If you were blind, you should not have sin! But now because you say: “We see!” your sin remains!” (John 9:39-41).
Causes of Spiritual Blindness
There are a few things that cause spiritual blindness. The first is pride. Remember that “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes” (Proverbs 16:2). After Saul had disobeyed the command of the Lord, he actually erected a statue to himself, and with the bleating of the cursed sheep in the background, greeted Samuel with the words: “I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:13). His arrogance had made him so blind, that he really thought that wrong was right. Even after Samuel had clearly explained to Saul how he had disobeyed, he still did not get it. The story of the first king of Israel is a sad saga of a man who was so blinded by his arrogance, that he never understood a single thing the prophet Samuel said to him. Even once David had been anointed in Saul’s place and clearly carried God’s blessing, Saul still thought he could hold onto the anointing by killing David. In a similar way, we can be so proud that we ignore the word of God that comes to us through Holy Scripture, the Liturgy, and the writings of the Church Fathers, Popes and Saints. We are deaf to their entreaties and warnings, and so our spiritual deafness leads us into spiritual blindness. If we don’t listen, then we won’t see!
In the same way we develop the sad ability to see the specks in the eyes of others without seeing the log in our own eye. We see so clearly how unruly other people’s children are, but are blind to the faults of our own. We see the addiction of others to drugs, but cannot see our own addiction to criticism, gossip, revealing of faults, uncharitable thoughts, impure thoughts, eating, drinking, television or other forms of entertainment. But it goes further. Whenever we hear or read Holy Scripture, we see how all the positive things (promises, blessings etc.) apply to us, and how all the negative things (rebuke, correction, admonition, punishment) apply to everyone else.
This kind of selective vision is very dangerous, because it soon becomes permanent, so that we are no longer able to see the realities even if we want to―we see everything through tinted glasses. They say that if a person is given a pair of glasses to wear, that turn everything upside down, it only takes a few days for the mind to invert the image and to make everything look the right way up. The mind is powerful and it causes us to see wrong as right and black as white.
The antidote to blindness that comes through pride is obviously humility. Take every rebuke personally and receive every message you hear for yourself. Read every word in Holy Scripture as a personal message to you, especially those that contain admonition, warning and rebuke. Ask others to be honest with you and to tell you how they see you and be humble enough to listen to their advice. Above all, ask the Lord daily to open your eyes so you may really see. When you see others stumbling about in darkness, you should never look down on them, but rather allow it to be a warning and immediately flee to the Lord and ask Him to help you see and to keep you from developing blind spots.
“I counsel you to ... anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see!” (Apocalypse 3:18). That eye salve is the word of God.
The Spiritually Dumb
We have all heard the saying: “Hear no evil! See no evil! Speak no evil!” Well, something similar could be said of the spiritual life and the Faith. “Hear nothing spiritual! See nothing spiritual! Say nothing spiritual!” If we do not hear anything spiritual, then we will not be accustomed to seeing or understanding spiritual things, and consequently our minds will be empty of spiritual knowledge to the extent that we will be incapable of speaking spiritually about spiritual things. Thus we end up being spiritually dumb.
The dumb person is ‘tongue-tied’ and cannot speak. This is also the effect of lacking knowledge about the Faith—we become ‘tongue-tied’ in the sense that we are afraid to open our mouths and risk showing how dumb or stupid we really are. Do not try fool yourself, the average Catholic is pretty dumb doctrinally—some do not even have the level of knowledge to pass an old-fashioned First Holy Communion test, or the Sacrament of Confirmation test. This is why they cannot argue logically and persuasively on points of doctrine—therefore, when faced with opposition, the discussion is either abandoned, or transforms itself into anger, insults, recriminations, or emotional illogical statements.
As Pope St. Pius X wrote, speaking of the ignorance of Catholics: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and sickness of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of divine things. This fully agrees with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed’ (Osee 4:1-2). It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation.
“And when we speak of Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life—for these find some excuse for their ignorance—but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, the Supreme Author and Ruler of all things, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! And on the other hand, how necessary and how beneficial is religious instruction! It is indeed vain to expect a fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them … How many there are, alas, not only among the young, but among adults and those advanced in years, who know nothing of the chief mysteries of Faith …
“It follows, too, that if Faith languishes in our days, if among large numbers it has almost vanished, the reason is that the duty of catechetical teaching is either fulfilled very superficially or altogether neglected. It will not do to say, in excuse, that Faith is a free gift of God bestowed upon each one at Baptism. True enough, when we are baptized in Christ, the habit of Faith is given, but this most divine seed, if left entirely to itself, by its own power, so to speak, is not like the mustard seed which “grows up. . . and puts out great branches.” Man has the faculty of understanding at his birth, but he also has need of his mother’s word to awaken it, as it were, and to make it active. So too, the Christian, born again of water and the Holy Spirit, has Faith within him, but he requires the word of the teaching Church to nourish and develop it and to make it bear fruit. Thus wrote the Apostle: ‘Faith then depends on hearing, and hearing on the word of Christ’; and to show the necessity of instruction, he added, ‘How are they to hear, if no one preaches?’ … We pray and entreat you to reflect on the great loss of souls due solely to ignorance of divine things!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis).
The Spiritually Lame
At the start of the Septuagesima season—on Septuagesima Sunday itself—the Church presented us with the Epistle of St. Paul saying: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Yet the lame man cannot run! If we have not listened to the word of God, if we do not if we cannot clearly see the spiritual mechanisms in our life, if we cannot understand the workings and paths of the spiritual life, if we are spiritually deaf, blind and dumb, then we will invariably also become spiritually lame. Every step along the spiritual path to Heaven will see us dragging our feet, barely moving along. The race cannot and will not be won in that state. Small wonder, then, that most souls are lost! As St. Paul says: “With most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
The spiritually lame have to drag themselves to pray—and they even pray lamely! The spiritually lame cannot make it to an extra Mass, or very rarely. The spiritually lame limp through Mass lukewarmly with little or no devotion or fervor. Any spiritual exercise seems like having to move the Earth! Spiritual reading or meditation is a torture that keeps them away from the fun things in life! They trudge and limp though life like spiritual cripples. It is the combination and final consequence of being spiritually deaf, spiritually blind, and spiritually dumb. Only a miracle of grace can help them now—for as we live, so shall we die!
Lent could be a remedy, but who will have the courage, strength, and endurance to take a remedy that one instinctively finds “gut-wrenching”? Now is the time to pray to Our Lady that she mercifully obtain for us this grace! There are only 14 days to go! Prepare and be prepared! No preparation leads to inevitable deterioration.
It does not take 20/20 vision to see that today the Catholic Church is crippled. When a person is crippled, it is because they have lost the normal use of an arm(s) or leg(s). To cripple somebody is to injure someone so that they are unable to walk or move in a normal way ― as in the case of a soldier who returns from war as a cripple having lost a leg in an bomb explosion. When an object is crippled, then it is said to be severely damaged or malfunctioning. We speak of an economy crippled by inflation. Or we say higher taxes could cripple small businesses. Or a country crippled by war. Today, the Catholic Church has been crippled―from the outside and from within. The Church no longer moves as it once did―it has received severe wounds that have deprived it of its mobility and strength. If the Church is crippled, then it is only natural that Catholic families are also crippled.
The Cripple of Jerusalem
“Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.
“When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’
“The infirm man answered Him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’
“Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed, and walk!’
“And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked.
“Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Another Cripple of Jerusalem
“Now Peter and John went up into the Temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb, was carried: whom they laid every day at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, that he might ask alms of them that went into the Temple. He, when he had seen Peter and John about to go into the Temple, asked to receive an alms.
“But Peter with John fastening his eyes upon him, said: ‘Look upon us!’
“But he looked earnestly upon them, hoping that he should receive something of them.
“But Peter said: ‘Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee! In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise, and walk!’ And taking him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forthwith his feet and soles received strength.
“And he leaping up, stood, and walked, and went in with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew him, that it was he who sat begging alms at the ‘Beautiful Gate’ of the Temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him” (Acts 3:1-10).
The Lame Walk—The Blind See
Just as Jesus comes to seek and save that which was lost, so too does He come to heal the sick and the lame: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “And there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple; and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14). “And there came to Him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others: and they cast them down at His feet, and He healed them, so that the multitudes marveled seeing the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see―and they glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 15:30-31).
Lame, Blind, Maimed and Dumb Families
God often speaks to us spiritually through the natural, physical and material things of this life. Our Lord even uses such a method in His many parables: the Cockle and the Wheat; the Sower of the Seed; the Laborers in the Vineyard; the Talents and Servants; the Good Samaritan; the Rich Fool; the Unjust Steward; the Prodigal Son; and whole host of other parables. He does this because we can more easily access and understand the invisible (spiritual) through the visible (physical and material).
Sicknesses of Body and Soul
The sicknesses of the body can be correlative to sicknesses of the soul. We can be spiritually blind, spiritually dumb, spiritually, deaf, spiritually lame, etc. Fr. Faber, writing on Lukewarmness, in his book Growth in Holiness, says: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all.” In this passage Fr. Faber correlates physical blindness with a spiritual blindness in the form of lukewarmness.
Our Lord, speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees, also uses the idea of physical blindness and correlates it to a spiritual blindness on the part of the Scribes and Pharisees: “Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Our Lord does not mean that they are physically blind, but that they are spiritually blind. This same correlation could just as well be used with the notion of being deaf, dumb, lame and even dead! There are, in fact, very many families (or, at the very least, many members of families) who are spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually dumb, spiritually lame and even spiritually dead. If Our Lord came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10); and if “there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple; and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14), then He must want to seek and save, heal and cure those members of our families too!
Deaf, Blind, Dumb, Lame and Dead
You could say that there is a progressive downward spiral in spiritual sickness—we are first of all spiritually deaf, which leads to us becoming spiritually blind, which, in turn, makes us spiritually dumb, then lame and finally spiritually dead. Let us briefly examine those states—though entire articles or even books could be written on each particular stage.
As a springboard for this—to show that it is not just an arbitrary or novel idea—we have the following words of Our Lord Himself, which pave the way for this examination: “‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’ And His disciples came and said to Him: ‘Why speakest Thou to them in parables?’ Who answered and said to them: ‘Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven: but to them it is not given. For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath. Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: “By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For, amen, I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them!’” (Matthew 13:9-17).
Spiritually Deaf
The above words of Our Lord were spoken in the context of the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (Matthew 13:3-8; 18-23; Mark 4:2-20; Luke 8:5-15)—where, as Our Lord explains, “The seed is the word of God … He that soweth, soweth the word” but the word of God is received in various ways that do not bear any fruit—which is depicted as being “by the wayside” or “upon stony ground” or “among thorns”. These are symbolic, as Our Lord says, of “those that hear the word of God and understand it not” and “those that hear the word with joy, but do not let it take root” and “those that hear but are choked up by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.”
Since three of the four Evangelist record this parable, it is evident that it is of the utmost importance—especially since the parable and its explanation almost takes an entire chapter with each Evangelist. Therefore, here is a composite (blending together of all three: Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:2-20; Luke 8:5-15) for you instruction—for this explains much of the spiritual deafness that exists among Catholics.
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth. And when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And some fell upon good ground; and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred. Saying these things, he cried out: ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’”
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom He said: ‘To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand!’”
Our Lord then proceeds to explain the symbolism: “The seed is the word of God. He that sows, sows the word. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, Satan comes and takes away that which was sown in his heart, lest believing they should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side.
“Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and, in time of temptation, when there arises tribulation and persecution because of the word, they fall away.
“And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard the word, but going their way, are choked with the cares of the world and pleasures of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things, and it is made fruitless and yields no fruit.
“And the seed that is sown upon the good ground, are they who hear the word, and receive and understand it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.”
How true is this of our present day! There are so many who hear the word of God, but do not hear it—that is to say, they do not hear what is really being said; they hear selectively; they hear only what they want to hear; they hear and like and remember the “nice bits”, but they “tune-out” the “tough bits” and “rough bits”—they refuse to “take the rough with the smooth”.
For them there is only a “God of Love” and there is no such thing as a “God of Justice”! They hear only want they want to hear—and they are the ones Holy Scripture speaks about when it says: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!”(Matthew 13:15). They are spiritually deaf to the true word of God as St. Paul says: “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears! And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Curing the Spiritually Deaf
The usual cures are—as St. Ignatius Loyola writes in his Spiritual Exercises—are to “agere contra”, meaning: to do the contrary, to do the opposite. Thus St. Paul writes: “What son is there whom the father doth not correct?” (Hebrews 12:7). “And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in My Name, I will be the revenger!” (Deuteronomy 18:19).
“Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:14-17).
“Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine…” (2 Timothy 4:2-2) … “By what doth a young man correct his way? By observing Thy words” (Psalm 118:9). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Dethroned Word of God Needs Re-crowning
Let us not pretend that the word of God rules supreme in families today—it is the word of the world that rules in most families. The word of God might not be totally ignored, but the word of the world is given equal footing, if not more. The finger of blame for this can be pointed in many directions: parents, parish priests, school teachers, peers, media, etc. Yet whatever the secondary cause may be, we are the ultimate responsibility for what enters the family—there is no escaping that. We can play the “Adam and Eve” games of passing the buck of blame, but it finally comes back to us. We have a free will and we have the opportunity to seek, research and learn—but we prefer not to, for we are infected, some more and some less, with the spirit of today’s world, and religious study comes pretty low on totem pole of our preferred activities—and then we complain in disbelief that most souls are lost! Figure that one out!
Until the word of God is replaced (or, in some cases, placed for the first time) in its rightful place at the head of the family, then families will continue to be spiritually deaf, dumb, blind, lame and even dead. You do not speak much about things you don’t love. You cannot love what you do not know, but you cannot know unless you listen and read. The word of God must be read and spoken and preached in the family; the word of God must reign in the family. God, and attention to God, must come first. If your family has lost that—then you have to do something to bring it back! Will it painful? You can bet your last dollar that it will be painful—for the devil is not going to give up years of investment and profit just because you suddenly decide to stop playing his game! There are two Scriptural quotes that bear this out:
The Word
Firstly, on the word of God: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? … Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound hath gone forth into all the Earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world ... But all do not obey the Gospel ... But I say: Hath not Israel known? … All the day long have I spread my hands to a people that believe not and contradict Me!” (Romans 10:13-21).
If you family is spiritually weak, lukewarm and worldly, it is because it is not being sufficiently fed the word of God: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). You are allowing the world to feed your family far more than you are allowing God to feed your family—as you sow, so shall you reap, what you feed is what you get. If the majority of the diet is worldly, you will get a worldly family; if the majority is of God, you should get a godly family.
The Battle
Secondly, the devil is not going you relinquish any crafty control that he has over your family. Jesus said: “When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesses. But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathers not with me, scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: ‘I will return into my house whence I came out!’ And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first!” (Luke 11:21-26).
Most families are so weak in their knowledge and awareness of the spiritual, that they fail to realize the omnipresence of devils all throughout the day—with the result that little or no measures are taken to combat them. These families live ‘at peace’ amongst this infernal subtle onslaught, totally forgetting that “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
It is not for nothing that the Church, on the First Sunday of Lent, gives us the Gospel reading of Christ doing battle with the devil in the desert, after having fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights in the desert. Spiritual warfare is our daily fare—from birth to death: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). Woe to those who do not train for the battle and who refuse to do battle—but most persons and families DO NEGLECT this critical aspect of life! Small wonder, then, that most souls are lost! As you sow, so shall you reap.
Spiritual reading—which is nothing other than sowing the seed of the word of God—may not be the most popular family activity, but it is the most crucial and the most neglected. Plan to put that right this Lent! Get a wise supply of books ready and just as the Church lays down the law concerning Lent, so too must you lay down the law concerning the Lent that your family will follow. The bottom line has to be: “Are we truly Catholic, or are we pagans? Whose word comes first? God’s or the world’s?” You may well be in for a fight--”For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:52)—but it is probably partially your fault anyway that things have slid downhill as far as they have! If you caused it, you must try to put it right!
Spiritually Blind
We do not want to see those things that we do not like. We do not like to see ourselves as we really are. We do not want to admit to the truth about ourselves and our families. It is all very natural, but it is not very supernatural. Such a blindness is closely connected to pride. “Seeing they see not” (Matthew 13:13) … “They do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed!” (Isaias 44:9) … “Seeing they see, and do not perceive; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10).
Worldliness leads to spiritual blindness. The glitz and dazzle of the world blinds the eyes of the worldly so that they cannot see the truths of the Gospel: “Our Gospel is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:26-27). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Denial of Spiritual Blindness
Why can some people just not get it? Why can they not see things that are as clear as the nose on their face? The saddest part about spiritual blindness is that a person who is spiritually blind, usually cannot recognize the fact that he cannot see! People who are physically blind are very aware of the fact that they are blind and that everything around them is dark. But the spiritually blind actually think they can see and, in fact, often think they can see better than anyone else! Is this not what Jesus meant when He spoke about the man with the plank in his eye, wanting to remove the small splinter from another person’s eye? (Matthew 7:3-5). God also told the church in Laodicea: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’―and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind!” (Apocalypse 3:17).
Religious leaders are often amongst those who are spiritually blind. Many times Jesus accused the Pharisees of being “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14; 23:24; 23:26, etc.). Jesus said to the Pharisees that the very fact that they say they can see is proof that they are blind! “And Jesus said: ‘ I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind!’ And some of the Pharisees, who were with Jesus, heard: and they said unto Him: ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them: ‘If you were blind, you should not have sin! But now because you say: “We see!” your sin remains!” (John 9:39-41).
Causes of Spiritual Blindness
There are a few things that cause spiritual blindness. The first is pride. Remember that “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes” (Proverbs 16:2). After Saul had disobeyed the command of the Lord, he actually erected a statue to himself, and with the bleating of the cursed sheep in the background, greeted Samuel with the words: “I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:13). His arrogance had made him so blind, that he really thought that wrong was right. Even after Samuel had clearly explained to Saul how he had disobeyed, he still did not get it. The story of the first king of Israel is a sad saga of a man who was so blinded by his arrogance, that he never understood a single thing the prophet Samuel said to him. Even once David had been anointed in Saul’s place and clearly carried God’s blessing, Saul still thought he could hold onto the anointing by killing David. In a similar way, we can be so proud that we ignore the word of God that comes to us through Holy Scripture, the Liturgy, and the writings of the Church Fathers, Popes and Saints. We are deaf to their entreaties and warnings, and so our spiritual deafness leads us into spiritual blindness. If we don’t listen, then we won’t see!
In the same way we develop the sad ability to see the specks in the eyes of others without seeing the log in our own eye. We see so clearly how unruly other people’s children are, but are blind to the faults of our own. We see the addiction of others to drugs, but cannot see our own addiction to criticism, gossip, revealing of faults, uncharitable thoughts, impure thoughts, eating, drinking, television or other forms of entertainment. But it goes further. Whenever we hear or read Holy Scripture, we see how all the positive things (promises, blessings etc.) apply to us, and how all the negative things (rebuke, correction, admonition, punishment) apply to everyone else.
This kind of selective vision is very dangerous, because it soon becomes permanent, so that we are no longer able to see the realities even if we want to―we see everything through tinted glasses. They say that if a person is given a pair of glasses to wear, that turn everything upside down, it only takes a few days for the mind to invert the image and to make everything look the right way up. The mind is powerful and it causes us to see wrong as right and black as white.
The antidote to blindness that comes through pride is obviously humility. Take every rebuke personally and receive every message you hear for yourself. Read every word in Holy Scripture as a personal message to you, especially those that contain admonition, warning and rebuke. Ask others to be honest with you and to tell you how they see you and be humble enough to listen to their advice. Above all, ask the Lord daily to open your eyes so you may really see. When you see others stumbling about in darkness, you should never look down on them, but rather allow it to be a warning and immediately flee to the Lord and ask Him to help you see and to keep you from developing blind spots.
“I counsel you to ... anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see!” (Apocalypse 3:18). That eye salve is the word of God.
The Spiritually Dumb
We have all heard the saying: “Hear no evil! See no evil! Speak no evil!” Well, something similar could be said of the spiritual life and the Faith. “Hear nothing spiritual! See nothing spiritual! Say nothing spiritual!” If we do not hear anything spiritual, then we will not be accustomed to seeing or understanding spiritual things, and consequently our minds will be empty of spiritual knowledge to the extent that we will be incapable of speaking spiritually about spiritual things. Thus we end up being spiritually dumb.
The dumb person is ‘tongue-tied’ and cannot speak. This is also the effect of lacking knowledge about the Faith—we become ‘tongue-tied’ in the sense that we are afraid to open our mouths and risk showing how dumb or stupid we really are. Do not try fool yourself, the average Catholic is pretty dumb doctrinally—some do not even have the level of knowledge to pass an old-fashioned First Holy Communion test, or the Sacrament of Confirmation test. This is why they cannot argue logically and persuasively on points of doctrine—therefore, when faced with opposition, the discussion is either abandoned, or transforms itself into anger, insults, recriminations, or emotional illogical statements.
As Pope St. Pius X wrote, speaking of the ignorance of Catholics: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and sickness of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of divine things. This fully agrees with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed’ (Osee 4:1-2). It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation.
“And when we speak of Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life—for these find some excuse for their ignorance—but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, the Supreme Author and Ruler of all things, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! And on the other hand, how necessary and how beneficial is religious instruction! It is indeed vain to expect a fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them … How many there are, alas, not only among the young, but among adults and those advanced in years, who know nothing of the chief mysteries of Faith …
“It follows, too, that if Faith languishes in our days, if among large numbers it has almost vanished, the reason is that the duty of catechetical teaching is either fulfilled very superficially or altogether neglected. It will not do to say, in excuse, that Faith is a free gift of God bestowed upon each one at Baptism. True enough, when we are baptized in Christ, the habit of Faith is given, but this most divine seed, if left entirely to itself, by its own power, so to speak, is not like the mustard seed which “grows up. . . and puts out great branches.” Man has the faculty of understanding at his birth, but he also has need of his mother’s word to awaken it, as it were, and to make it active. So too, the Christian, born again of water and the Holy Spirit, has Faith within him, but he requires the word of the teaching Church to nourish and develop it and to make it bear fruit. Thus wrote the Apostle: ‘Faith then depends on hearing, and hearing on the word of Christ’; and to show the necessity of instruction, he added, ‘How are they to hear, if no one preaches?’ … We pray and entreat you to reflect on the great loss of souls due solely to ignorance of divine things!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis).
The Spiritually Lame
At the start of the Septuagesima season—on Septuagesima Sunday itself—the Church presented us with the Epistle of St. Paul saying: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Yet the lame man cannot run! If we have not listened to the word of God, if we do not if we cannot clearly see the spiritual mechanisms in our life, if we cannot understand the workings and paths of the spiritual life, if we are spiritually deaf, blind and dumb, then we will invariably also become spiritually lame. Every step along the spiritual path to Heaven will see us dragging our feet, barely moving along. The race cannot and will not be won in that state. Small wonder, then, that most souls are lost! As St. Paul says: “With most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
The spiritually lame have to drag themselves to pray—and they even pray lamely! The spiritually lame cannot make it to an extra Mass, or very rarely. The spiritually lame limp through Mass lukewarmly with little or no devotion or fervor. Any spiritual exercise seems like having to move the Earth! Spiritual reading or meditation is a torture that keeps them away from the fun things in life! They trudge and limp though life like spiritual cripples. It is the combination and final consequence of being spiritually deaf, spiritually blind, and spiritually dumb. Only a miracle of grace can help them now—for as we live, so shall we die!
Lent could be a remedy, but who will have the courage, strength, and endurance to take a remedy that one instinctively finds “gut-wrenching”? Now is the time to pray to Our Lady that she mercifully obtain for us this grace! There are only 14 days to go! Prepare and be prepared! No preparation leads to inevitable deterioration.
Tuesday February 15th
Article 3
Family Fights
Article 3
Family Fights
Run the Race―Fight the Fight
Continuing with the Septuagesima themes introduced by Holy Mother Church for this pre-Lenten season of preparation and training for Lent, let us take the “sister” thought that was presented to us in the Epistle reading for Septuagesima Sunday. The two “sister” thoughts are of course St. Paul’s comparison of the life of Faith being akin to running a race and fighting a fight: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so RUN, not as at an uncertainty; I so FIGHT, not as one beating the air ― but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Hence Scripture speaks of running in the way of the Commandments of God: “I have run the way of Thy commandments!” (Psalms 118:32). “The just shall run to and fro like sparks” (Wisdom 3:7). “They shall run and not be weary” (Isaias 40:31). Likewise with fighting: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
In a certain sense, Our Lord came on Earth to start a fight! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Life is Just One Long Battle!
We all would like peace, but with the advent of sin—Original Sin and our personal sins--“The life of man on Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). And who is the enemy? The devil, the world and the flesh—as is shown by the following Scriptural verses:
► THE DEVIL IS AN ENEMY: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
► THE WORLD IS AN ENEMY: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
► THE FLESH IS AN ENEMY: “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5). “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh … For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God … and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:1, 5-6).
► THE FAMILY CAN BE AN ENEMY: “A man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-37). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Mark 13:12-13).
All of the above is nothing else but a continuation and echo of the painful and worrisome words of Our Lord, spoken while He was still on this Earth: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53).
“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
Who Doesn’t Have Family Fights or Feuds?
Family feuds and fights “are as old as Adam” as they say. The very first one saw Cain kill Abel—and the reason for this feud and killing was to be ever-present throughout the history of mankind. Cain was envious of Abel because God looked more favorably upon Abel and his sacrifice than He did upon Cain’s.
“Cain offered, of the fruits of the Earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings; but to Cain and his offerings he had no respect. And Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?’” (Genesis 4:3-7).
From that time onwards, the good have been persecuted by the “not-so-good”, or the “I-don’t-wanna-be-good”, or the downright “no-good”. Holy Scripture mentions only a handful of real-life cases—such as (1) Isaac and Ishmael; (2) Jacob and Esau; (3) Joseph and his envious brothers; (4) David and Saul. Our Lord Himself was hated by most of His own nation and He also gave us the parable of the Prodigal Son, who, after his return, was disliked by his brother.
With all this as a background, Our Lord warns us to expect the same: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:52). “And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:36).
He then adds that we should not avoid this confrontation out of a desire of “not rocking the boat” or “going along to get along”, but that we must stand up for Him and truth: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! … “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:37; 10:33).
Our Lady Also Speaks of These Feuds and Fights
“God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres” (Our Lady of Akita). “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Why All This Fighting and Feuding?
Ultimately, all the fighting and feuding in families comes down to each person’s relationship or lack of relationship to God. As Our Lord says: “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Mark 13:13). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master!’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20). Jesus was to be the “sign of contradiction” foretold by St. Simeon to Our Lady at the Presentation in the Temple: “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: ‘Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted! And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed!” (Luke 2:34-35).
It is because some are more or less for Him, while others are more or less against Him, that disagreements, jealousies, resentment, arguing, feuds and fighting take place. “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
Feuds Come From a Fake Godliness
St. James tells us that these contentions, fights and feuds basically stem from a preference for worldliness rather than godliness: “From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not from your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not! You kill, and envy, and cannot obtain! You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not! You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences! Adulterers [by trying to love God and the world], know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:1-4).
St. Paul also speaks in the same vein, saying that this worldliness leads to a fake godliness—having the appearance of godliness in theory, but in practice being worldly lovers of themselves: “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God, having an appearance, indeed, of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid! … For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will, indeed, turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-4).
Getting the Family on the Same Page
St. James and St. Paul both hit the nail on the head in their own way. St. James asks why are there feuds and fights between you? He then says that it basically comes from being worldly and having our passions out of control—we want things out of concupiscence. He says that such a mindset and attitude is inimical to God—meaning that we become enemies of God. St. Paul puts it another way, but hits with same truth, saying that, in a nutshell, “men shall become lovers of themselves … having an appearance of godliness” but being far from godly, for they “will not endure sound doctrine and will turn away from the truth [and] will turn to fables.” How many are they who have turned the truth of God’s teaching into their own personal fable by twisting, exaggerating, bending, diluting, ignoring and reinterpreting the teaching of God. Then, instead of one objective truth, you have hundreds and thousands of subjective truths. Instead of reality, you have virtual reality or pure fables.
There is only one way to redress and correct that—it is by bringing our passions under control, attacking worldliness, focusing on God’s teaching (rather than our own lax interpretation of that teaching) and starting to love God more than ourselves. However, that will and cannot be achieved until we pull-out the one and only true spiritual yardstick by which we can objectively (not subjectively) measure everything and every ‘opinion’ to see if it measures up with God’s teaching. The family needs the humility to subject itself unreservedly, without argument, to God’s truth, God’s teaching, God’s commandments, God’s counsels and God’s way. The family must be asked: “Who is in charge here?” And the only acceptable answer is: “God!”
There Can Be No Separation Between Church & State
One of the most pernicious modern errors today is the false principle that there is a separation between Church and State. This is neither the time or place for a thorough examination of the subject, but suffice it to say that, in essence, the separation of Church and State arose in no small degree from the refusal of God’s Objective Truth, which was replaced by “My Personal Subjective Version of the Truth”—which then, in turn, allows for hundreds and thousands of differing “Personal Subjective Versions of the Truth” to exist. The only way around that is to say: “What you believe may well be true for you, but it is not true for me! I prefer my truth to your truth! You can stick to your truth and do what you want! I will stick to my truth and do what I want!”
With the advent of Protestantism on a large scale, in the 1500’s, there arose an ever-increasing clash in Europe between ‘Truths’—with the result that the adherents to one ‘Truth’ started to persecute the adherents of other ‘Truths.’ This saw over a century of religious fighting in the so-called “European Wars of Religion” from 1524 to 1648. The conflicts ended with the treaty at the Peace of Westphalia, which recognized three separate Christian traditions in Europe: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.
The problem was, however, that one split leads to another. Lutheranism and Calvinism, being based on personal subjective interpretation of religious truth, led to further internal divisions. This, in turn, led to a persecution of these dissidents within Lutheranism and Calvinism, which—to cut a long story short—led to the emigration of these dissidents from Europe, in order to escape persecution and to be able to freely practice their own personal subjective version of religion. The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society.
Come to ‘Free’ America and Do What You Want!
Many emigrated to America and formed the religious melting-pot or religious stew that we have today. Even though their personal versions of religion differed on many points, they had to agree to “go along to get along” and the governing political bodies had to “go along to get along to” in what was to be become a fledgling American nation. Hence the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...etc.” In other words, believe what you want—we won’t interfere. Likewise, the government will believe what it wants—and you had better not interfere!
As one American historical Liberal and Protestant website puts it: “Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe. The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion." Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives―‘to catch fish’ as one New Englander put it―but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create ‘a city on a hill’ or a ‘holy experiment,’ whose success would prove that God’s plan for his churches (??) could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. Even colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves ‘militant Protestants’ and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church.”
What’s With All This History Stuff?
Well, what “goes around comes around” and “there is nothing new under the sun”--“If we do not learn and know our history, then we will know and learn it by repeating it!” This false idea and principle of separation of Church and State, together with the false principle of “Freedom of Religion” has inescapably and imperceptibly, like air that has been poisoned by an odorless gas, drifted into the families of so many Catholics—even ‘good’ Conservative Catholic families. What Fr. Salvany covers in the opening chapter of his book Liberalism Is A Sin, is at the root of the fighting and feuding that we find in Catholic families today. In essence, Catholic families are becoming Protestant families, because of their constant exposure to an overwhelmingly Protestant and pagan environment. In the following extracts, the population data has been updated for our present day, according to the latest available figures. Fr. Salvany writes:
“Swarming in the atmosphere of our spiritual lives are innumerable deadly germs, ever ready to fasten upon the depleted and weakened soul and, propagating its leprous contagion through every faculty, destroy the spiritual life. Against the menace of this ever-threatening danger, whose advances we cannot avoid in our present circumstances, the ever-healthy soul alone can be prepared … To be prepared is to be armed, but to be prepared is not sufficient; we must possess the interior strength to throw off the germ. There must be no condition in the soul to make a suitable nidus for an enemy so insidious and so efficacious as to need only the slightest point of contact whence to spread its deadly contagion. It is not only through the avenues of disordered passions that this spiritual disease may gain an entrance; it may make its inroad through the intellect, and this under a disguise often calculated to deceive the unwary and incautious ... Intellectual torpidity, inexperience, ignorance, indifference, and complaisance, or even virtues, such as, benevolence, generosity, and pity may be the unsuspected way open to the foe, and lo, we are surprised to find him in possession of the citadel!
“As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life … Let us then consider these surroundings in a general way for the moment. [the following population date has been updated for our day] The population of this country is at present something over 325 million. [2016 census]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 150 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 100 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all. Amongst the 150 million Protestants, every shade and variety of belief in the Christian dispensation find easy lodgment … A Protestant may freely range from one end of the scale to the other and still be considered orthodox according to Protestant estimates. A loose indefinite belief in Christ … suffices to place the Protestant within the compass of his own standard of orthodoxy.
Outside of these various bodies of loosely professed Christians stands a mass of our population [around 100 million] who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little moment whether they hold themselves merely indifferent or positively hostile. This mass … holds itself aloof from Christianity, and in some instances virulently antagonistic to it. This mass of infidelity and Protestantism is enhanced to an even more frightening percentage by the vast majority (70%) of Catholics today—2016 figures—who either do not practice their Faith at all or who are ignorant of its teachings. This brings the total of practical non-believing, or non-practicing and infidel people to probably over 90 percent, Heresy and infidelity are irreconcilable with Catholicity. ‘He that is not with Me is against Me’ (Matthew 12:30) are the words of Our Lord Himself, for denial of Catholic truth is the radical and common element of both heresy and infidelity.
“We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some 300 million (out of 325 million) of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic [2016 figures]. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without harm amidst an heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our 300 million non-Catholic (including the non-practicing Catholics) population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature, where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise.” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
The Above is True for the Family Too!
Since we pay scant attention to our Faith and rarely do serious reading on the subject, we become prey to falsehoods, fallacies, novelties and errors that creep past the ‘sleeping sentries’ of our Faith. We are strong in earthly, worldly knowledge, but weak in doctrinal, spiritual knowledge. We know pretty well the history of favorite sports team, but very little about the history of the Church. We know all about the celebrities of this life, but very little about the saints. We have, in essence, diluted our knowledge of the Faith with knowledge of world—going diametrically against the command of Holy Scripture: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). We have committed adultery of sorts, which is what St. James call us, when he says: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Once our knowledge of the Faith is weak, anyone could tell us almost anything, and we would be stuck for a powerful argument or answer. Like Our Lady of Good Success warned: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” Yet this silence is deafening, not only in Church, but also in the family. Just as Our Lady of La Salette condemned the leaders of the Church, when she said: “The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!”—she could just as well say the same of parents (the family ‘clergy’ so to speak), who have neglected, not only prayer and penance in the family (the mini-Church), but who have also neglected to ensure the study of the Faith at home, which would have furnished the principles required to stand any kind of chance from being corrupted by the 90%+ of the population that are indifferent or even hostile to the Faith.
Protest-olic and Cath-estant Families
Little by little the Catholicity of families has been eroded. The modern Church—with its discounted spirituality of less prayers and less penance—has removed the backbone of Catholicity and replaced it with a spineless worldly rapacity. Our Lord’s command to “watch and pray” has become “watch TV and play”—with the result that there is insufficient grace being called down from Heaven to battle, overcome and control our passions and penchant for worldliness, comfort, ease, indulgence and gratification. The windows and doors of the home are open to the non-Catholic world and its pernicious influence as it pours into the home through the TV, computer, i-Pads, smartphones, music, magazines, newspapers and catalogues. The result is the de-Catholicization of one family after another. Without being specifically told that a family was Catholic, you could not differentiate it from a Protestant or pagan family in some (or even many) cases.
Family Civil Wars
This leads to the family ‘civil wars’ that Our Lord speaks about: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). Those who dislike or even refuse to go down the path of de-Catholicization and worldliness end up arguing with those who do not mind the worldliness. That is the devil’s way—divide and conquer—and it has all come about because of doctrinal and spiritual laxity that, in many cases, is now irreversible. Hence the statistics show that around 90% of youth, once they reach the age of maturity, no longer practice the Faith on a regular basis. Missing Mass, neglecting Confession, praying little, doing spiritual reading even less, doing penance rarely and meditating never. The parents—who in some cases are barely any better—can either “go along to get along” or vainly “shut the barn once the horse has bolted.”
Are You Up for the Fight or the Flight?
What is the solution to this gradual crumbling of Catholic families—and you had better believe that they are crumbling. Go online yourself and check the stats. Look at the closing down of churches due to insufficient numbers in attendances—the only reason some churches are fairly full today, is because they have closed two churches and amalgamated then with a third parish—that way you can magically transform three dwindling parishes into a seemingly thriving parish! A great sleight of hand!
So what is the solution? Do stand and fight, or do you take flight? Do you sit and talk, or do you avoid the talk and off you walk? “Sweet-talkin’ ain’t gonna work, honey!” That’s all the Church been doing for the last 50 years and numbers have gone down, down, down; while sins have gone up, up, up. You can talk till the proverbial cows come home, or you go blue in the face—the world and its prince, the devil, talk a smarter talk than you can talk, because you have been greatly dumbed-down over these last 50 years since the Second Vatican Council “opened its doors to the world”—and instead of the world jumping into the Church, most of the Catholics have jumped out into the world and are quite happy with their choice.
Sit and Do Nothing?
So do you do nothing but sit there and watch the demise? If you do that, then you will likely hear God’s words to Cain being also addressed to you--“And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!’” (Genesis 4:9-10).
Something has to be done, for, as Our Lady said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God” (La Salette) … “ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Fatima).
She says “many souls go to Hell”—and that was way back in 1917, one hundred years ago! Do you think less souls to go to Hell today? She says they go to Hell “because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them”—Do you think that there are more people praying for sinners today? Hey, only 2% of USA Catholics pray the Rosary daily! Only 25% go to Sunday Mass regularly!
A Few Hail Marys Just Won’t Cut-It!
Do we truly realize the price of grace? Do we really appreciate what it takes to bring about a conversion? To get a true picture of this it is recommended to read a little of The Way of Divine Love by Sister Josefa Menendez, to see the “hell” that Christ puts her through just to bring about the conversion of a lukewarm soul—never mind a big sinner! It all comes back to the way we cheapened the divine and expect ‘bargain-basement’ deals for a pittance on our part.
Your family cannot and will not change without heavy duty weapons being used! It is no rocket science, but it certainly will take some rocket power, or the thrust of rocket, to get a family out the pull of the gravity of worldliness. We could well react like the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible! But with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26-27).
Two Chief Weapons for the Fight
To God you must turn and you must put away the pea-shooter and pull-out the rockets or “big-guns”! Our Lady gives us a clue as to what to use when she says: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son” (Akita). We can most certainly take this to mean the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (with its ‘child’, the Holy Eucharist).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima had already indicated in 1957 that the Rosary was one of the weapons chosen by Heaven for our day and age: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is quite simply the weapon par excellence! It is nothing other than the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary, though in an unbloody manner. Nothing can hold a candle to its power. Yet, much like the Rosary today, it is underused, misused, unused and abused. A weapon is only as good as the person using it. It was revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich that if a priest would say the Mass with the devotion that the Apostles had for the Mass, then many if not all the dangers threatening us would be allayed: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Get Serious! Get Real!
The end to family fighting won’t come without a fight! Mere talking has got you nowhere! Giving them books and pamphlets has got you nowhere! Doing nothing has got you nowhere! Biting your tongue has got you nowhere! Being nice has got you nowhere! Getting angry has got you nowhere! Becoming depressed and discouraged has go you nowhere!
There is a fundamental principle that we must never forget—as we were taught in our early catechism days—“Faith is a supernatural gift of God freely given by God.” No person can give another person the Faith. No person can truly convert another person. These things come from God—and they COST! God could convert all the sinners in the world in one single second—but He will not do so if we do pay for it! This is why Our Lady came at Fatima and Akita to ask for LOTS OF PRAYER and LOTS OF SACRIFICES. “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” (Fatima) … “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Akita).
Spiritual Aspirins and Band-Aids
You will not heal a gunshot wound by giving the victim an aspirin and a Band-Aid. It takes far more than that! The same is true of spiritual healing—most people are riddled with the devil’s and the world’s gunshots. We are naïve and senseless if we think that a few Hail Marys are going to bring about massive conversions. We need to get serious and get real! If little Francisco at Fatima was told that he would have to pray MANY Rosaries before he would get to Heaven, then what about us and our worldly family members? How many more need to be said—especially given our super-sinful times! Look at the many years of prayer, penance and tears the St. Monica went through to bring about the conversion of her wayward son, the future St. Augustine! And we expect the same for a pittance!!?
The same applies to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—how few are the people who have Masses regularly offered for the conversion of family members! They will pay a fortune for the best doctor available if a family member gets sick, but will not even pay a fraction of that to have a regular series of Masses said to cure their spiritual sickness! Senseless! Crazy! Foolish!
Those are the ‘big-guns’ that are neglected—and the devil rejoices over that! He simply pours more and more gasoline on the fires of family fights and feuds, waiting for the day when can carry on fighting and feuding in the fires of Hell! God help them! Unless they help themselves now by using what God has put before them!
Once that foundation has been laid, THEN you can start talking, encouraging, threatening, warning, pleading, explaining, teaching, etc. But without Him, we can do nothing! Lay the proper spiritual foundation first, then you can start to build on it.
Continuing with the Septuagesima themes introduced by Holy Mother Church for this pre-Lenten season of preparation and training for Lent, let us take the “sister” thought that was presented to us in the Epistle reading for Septuagesima Sunday. The two “sister” thoughts are of course St. Paul’s comparison of the life of Faith being akin to running a race and fighting a fight: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so RUN, not as at an uncertainty; I so FIGHT, not as one beating the air ― but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Hence Scripture speaks of running in the way of the Commandments of God: “I have run the way of Thy commandments!” (Psalms 118:32). “The just shall run to and fro like sparks” (Wisdom 3:7). “They shall run and not be weary” (Isaias 40:31). Likewise with fighting: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
In a certain sense, Our Lord came on Earth to start a fight! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Life is Just One Long Battle!
We all would like peace, but with the advent of sin—Original Sin and our personal sins--“The life of man on Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). And who is the enemy? The devil, the world and the flesh—as is shown by the following Scriptural verses:
► THE DEVIL IS AN ENEMY: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
► THE WORLD IS AN ENEMY: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
► THE FLESH IS AN ENEMY: “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5). “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh … For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God … and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:1, 5-6).
► THE FAMILY CAN BE AN ENEMY: “A man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-37). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Mark 13:12-13).
All of the above is nothing else but a continuation and echo of the painful and worrisome words of Our Lord, spoken while He was still on this Earth: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53).
“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
Who Doesn’t Have Family Fights or Feuds?
Family feuds and fights “are as old as Adam” as they say. The very first one saw Cain kill Abel—and the reason for this feud and killing was to be ever-present throughout the history of mankind. Cain was envious of Abel because God looked more favorably upon Abel and his sacrifice than He did upon Cain’s.
“Cain offered, of the fruits of the Earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings; but to Cain and his offerings he had no respect. And Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?’” (Genesis 4:3-7).
From that time onwards, the good have been persecuted by the “not-so-good”, or the “I-don’t-wanna-be-good”, or the downright “no-good”. Holy Scripture mentions only a handful of real-life cases—such as (1) Isaac and Ishmael; (2) Jacob and Esau; (3) Joseph and his envious brothers; (4) David and Saul. Our Lord Himself was hated by most of His own nation and He also gave us the parable of the Prodigal Son, who, after his return, was disliked by his brother.
With all this as a background, Our Lord warns us to expect the same: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:52). “And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:36).
He then adds that we should not avoid this confrontation out of a desire of “not rocking the boat” or “going along to get along”, but that we must stand up for Him and truth: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! … “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:37; 10:33).
Our Lady Also Speaks of These Feuds and Fights
“God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres” (Our Lady of Akita). “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Why All This Fighting and Feuding?
Ultimately, all the fighting and feuding in families comes down to each person’s relationship or lack of relationship to God. As Our Lord says: “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Mark 13:13). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master!’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20). Jesus was to be the “sign of contradiction” foretold by St. Simeon to Our Lady at the Presentation in the Temple: “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: ‘Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted! And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed!” (Luke 2:34-35).
It is because some are more or less for Him, while others are more or less against Him, that disagreements, jealousies, resentment, arguing, feuds and fighting take place. “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
Feuds Come From a Fake Godliness
St. James tells us that these contentions, fights and feuds basically stem from a preference for worldliness rather than godliness: “From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not from your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not! You kill, and envy, and cannot obtain! You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not! You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences! Adulterers [by trying to love God and the world], know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:1-4).
St. Paul also speaks in the same vein, saying that this worldliness leads to a fake godliness—having the appearance of godliness in theory, but in practice being worldly lovers of themselves: “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God, having an appearance, indeed, of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid! … For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will, indeed, turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-4).
Getting the Family on the Same Page
St. James and St. Paul both hit the nail on the head in their own way. St. James asks why are there feuds and fights between you? He then says that it basically comes from being worldly and having our passions out of control—we want things out of concupiscence. He says that such a mindset and attitude is inimical to God—meaning that we become enemies of God. St. Paul puts it another way, but hits with same truth, saying that, in a nutshell, “men shall become lovers of themselves … having an appearance of godliness” but being far from godly, for they “will not endure sound doctrine and will turn away from the truth [and] will turn to fables.” How many are they who have turned the truth of God’s teaching into their own personal fable by twisting, exaggerating, bending, diluting, ignoring and reinterpreting the teaching of God. Then, instead of one objective truth, you have hundreds and thousands of subjective truths. Instead of reality, you have virtual reality or pure fables.
There is only one way to redress and correct that—it is by bringing our passions under control, attacking worldliness, focusing on God’s teaching (rather than our own lax interpretation of that teaching) and starting to love God more than ourselves. However, that will and cannot be achieved until we pull-out the one and only true spiritual yardstick by which we can objectively (not subjectively) measure everything and every ‘opinion’ to see if it measures up with God’s teaching. The family needs the humility to subject itself unreservedly, without argument, to God’s truth, God’s teaching, God’s commandments, God’s counsels and God’s way. The family must be asked: “Who is in charge here?” And the only acceptable answer is: “God!”
There Can Be No Separation Between Church & State
One of the most pernicious modern errors today is the false principle that there is a separation between Church and State. This is neither the time or place for a thorough examination of the subject, but suffice it to say that, in essence, the separation of Church and State arose in no small degree from the refusal of God’s Objective Truth, which was replaced by “My Personal Subjective Version of the Truth”—which then, in turn, allows for hundreds and thousands of differing “Personal Subjective Versions of the Truth” to exist. The only way around that is to say: “What you believe may well be true for you, but it is not true for me! I prefer my truth to your truth! You can stick to your truth and do what you want! I will stick to my truth and do what I want!”
With the advent of Protestantism on a large scale, in the 1500’s, there arose an ever-increasing clash in Europe between ‘Truths’—with the result that the adherents to one ‘Truth’ started to persecute the adherents of other ‘Truths.’ This saw over a century of religious fighting in the so-called “European Wars of Religion” from 1524 to 1648. The conflicts ended with the treaty at the Peace of Westphalia, which recognized three separate Christian traditions in Europe: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.
The problem was, however, that one split leads to another. Lutheranism and Calvinism, being based on personal subjective interpretation of religious truth, led to further internal divisions. This, in turn, led to a persecution of these dissidents within Lutheranism and Calvinism, which—to cut a long story short—led to the emigration of these dissidents from Europe, in order to escape persecution and to be able to freely practice their own personal subjective version of religion. The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society.
Come to ‘Free’ America and Do What You Want!
Many emigrated to America and formed the religious melting-pot or religious stew that we have today. Even though their personal versions of religion differed on many points, they had to agree to “go along to get along” and the governing political bodies had to “go along to get along to” in what was to be become a fledgling American nation. Hence the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...etc.” In other words, believe what you want—we won’t interfere. Likewise, the government will believe what it wants—and you had better not interfere!
As one American historical Liberal and Protestant website puts it: “Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe. The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion." Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives―‘to catch fish’ as one New Englander put it―but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create ‘a city on a hill’ or a ‘holy experiment,’ whose success would prove that God’s plan for his churches (??) could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. Even colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves ‘militant Protestants’ and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church.”
What’s With All This History Stuff?
Well, what “goes around comes around” and “there is nothing new under the sun”--“If we do not learn and know our history, then we will know and learn it by repeating it!” This false idea and principle of separation of Church and State, together with the false principle of “Freedom of Religion” has inescapably and imperceptibly, like air that has been poisoned by an odorless gas, drifted into the families of so many Catholics—even ‘good’ Conservative Catholic families. What Fr. Salvany covers in the opening chapter of his book Liberalism Is A Sin, is at the root of the fighting and feuding that we find in Catholic families today. In essence, Catholic families are becoming Protestant families, because of their constant exposure to an overwhelmingly Protestant and pagan environment. In the following extracts, the population data has been updated for our present day, according to the latest available figures. Fr. Salvany writes:
“Swarming in the atmosphere of our spiritual lives are innumerable deadly germs, ever ready to fasten upon the depleted and weakened soul and, propagating its leprous contagion through every faculty, destroy the spiritual life. Against the menace of this ever-threatening danger, whose advances we cannot avoid in our present circumstances, the ever-healthy soul alone can be prepared … To be prepared is to be armed, but to be prepared is not sufficient; we must possess the interior strength to throw off the germ. There must be no condition in the soul to make a suitable nidus for an enemy so insidious and so efficacious as to need only the slightest point of contact whence to spread its deadly contagion. It is not only through the avenues of disordered passions that this spiritual disease may gain an entrance; it may make its inroad through the intellect, and this under a disguise often calculated to deceive the unwary and incautious ... Intellectual torpidity, inexperience, ignorance, indifference, and complaisance, or even virtues, such as, benevolence, generosity, and pity may be the unsuspected way open to the foe, and lo, we are surprised to find him in possession of the citadel!
“As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life … Let us then consider these surroundings in a general way for the moment. [the following population date has been updated for our day] The population of this country is at present something over 325 million. [2016 census]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 150 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 100 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all. Amongst the 150 million Protestants, every shade and variety of belief in the Christian dispensation find easy lodgment … A Protestant may freely range from one end of the scale to the other and still be considered orthodox according to Protestant estimates. A loose indefinite belief in Christ … suffices to place the Protestant within the compass of his own standard of orthodoxy.
Outside of these various bodies of loosely professed Christians stands a mass of our population [around 100 million] who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little moment whether they hold themselves merely indifferent or positively hostile. This mass … holds itself aloof from Christianity, and in some instances virulently antagonistic to it. This mass of infidelity and Protestantism is enhanced to an even more frightening percentage by the vast majority (70%) of Catholics today—2016 figures—who either do not practice their Faith at all or who are ignorant of its teachings. This brings the total of practical non-believing, or non-practicing and infidel people to probably over 90 percent, Heresy and infidelity are irreconcilable with Catholicity. ‘He that is not with Me is against Me’ (Matthew 12:30) are the words of Our Lord Himself, for denial of Catholic truth is the radical and common element of both heresy and infidelity.
“We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some 300 million (out of 325 million) of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic [2016 figures]. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without harm amidst an heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our 300 million non-Catholic (including the non-practicing Catholics) population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature, where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise.” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
The Above is True for the Family Too!
Since we pay scant attention to our Faith and rarely do serious reading on the subject, we become prey to falsehoods, fallacies, novelties and errors that creep past the ‘sleeping sentries’ of our Faith. We are strong in earthly, worldly knowledge, but weak in doctrinal, spiritual knowledge. We know pretty well the history of favorite sports team, but very little about the history of the Church. We know all about the celebrities of this life, but very little about the saints. We have, in essence, diluted our knowledge of the Faith with knowledge of world—going diametrically against the command of Holy Scripture: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). We have committed adultery of sorts, which is what St. James call us, when he says: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Once our knowledge of the Faith is weak, anyone could tell us almost anything, and we would be stuck for a powerful argument or answer. Like Our Lady of Good Success warned: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” Yet this silence is deafening, not only in Church, but also in the family. Just as Our Lady of La Salette condemned the leaders of the Church, when she said: “The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!”—she could just as well say the same of parents (the family ‘clergy’ so to speak), who have neglected, not only prayer and penance in the family (the mini-Church), but who have also neglected to ensure the study of the Faith at home, which would have furnished the principles required to stand any kind of chance from being corrupted by the 90%+ of the population that are indifferent or even hostile to the Faith.
Protest-olic and Cath-estant Families
Little by little the Catholicity of families has been eroded. The modern Church—with its discounted spirituality of less prayers and less penance—has removed the backbone of Catholicity and replaced it with a spineless worldly rapacity. Our Lord’s command to “watch and pray” has become “watch TV and play”—with the result that there is insufficient grace being called down from Heaven to battle, overcome and control our passions and penchant for worldliness, comfort, ease, indulgence and gratification. The windows and doors of the home are open to the non-Catholic world and its pernicious influence as it pours into the home through the TV, computer, i-Pads, smartphones, music, magazines, newspapers and catalogues. The result is the de-Catholicization of one family after another. Without being specifically told that a family was Catholic, you could not differentiate it from a Protestant or pagan family in some (or even many) cases.
Family Civil Wars
This leads to the family ‘civil wars’ that Our Lord speaks about: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). Those who dislike or even refuse to go down the path of de-Catholicization and worldliness end up arguing with those who do not mind the worldliness. That is the devil’s way—divide and conquer—and it has all come about because of doctrinal and spiritual laxity that, in many cases, is now irreversible. Hence the statistics show that around 90% of youth, once they reach the age of maturity, no longer practice the Faith on a regular basis. Missing Mass, neglecting Confession, praying little, doing spiritual reading even less, doing penance rarely and meditating never. The parents—who in some cases are barely any better—can either “go along to get along” or vainly “shut the barn once the horse has bolted.”
Are You Up for the Fight or the Flight?
What is the solution to this gradual crumbling of Catholic families—and you had better believe that they are crumbling. Go online yourself and check the stats. Look at the closing down of churches due to insufficient numbers in attendances—the only reason some churches are fairly full today, is because they have closed two churches and amalgamated then with a third parish—that way you can magically transform three dwindling parishes into a seemingly thriving parish! A great sleight of hand!
So what is the solution? Do stand and fight, or do you take flight? Do you sit and talk, or do you avoid the talk and off you walk? “Sweet-talkin’ ain’t gonna work, honey!” That’s all the Church been doing for the last 50 years and numbers have gone down, down, down; while sins have gone up, up, up. You can talk till the proverbial cows come home, or you go blue in the face—the world and its prince, the devil, talk a smarter talk than you can talk, because you have been greatly dumbed-down over these last 50 years since the Second Vatican Council “opened its doors to the world”—and instead of the world jumping into the Church, most of the Catholics have jumped out into the world and are quite happy with their choice.
Sit and Do Nothing?
So do you do nothing but sit there and watch the demise? If you do that, then you will likely hear God’s words to Cain being also addressed to you--“And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!’” (Genesis 4:9-10).
Something has to be done, for, as Our Lady said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God” (La Salette) … “ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Fatima).
She says “many souls go to Hell”—and that was way back in 1917, one hundred years ago! Do you think less souls to go to Hell today? She says they go to Hell “because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them”—Do you think that there are more people praying for sinners today? Hey, only 2% of USA Catholics pray the Rosary daily! Only 25% go to Sunday Mass regularly!
A Few Hail Marys Just Won’t Cut-It!
Do we truly realize the price of grace? Do we really appreciate what it takes to bring about a conversion? To get a true picture of this it is recommended to read a little of The Way of Divine Love by Sister Josefa Menendez, to see the “hell” that Christ puts her through just to bring about the conversion of a lukewarm soul—never mind a big sinner! It all comes back to the way we cheapened the divine and expect ‘bargain-basement’ deals for a pittance on our part.
Your family cannot and will not change without heavy duty weapons being used! It is no rocket science, but it certainly will take some rocket power, or the thrust of rocket, to get a family out the pull of the gravity of worldliness. We could well react like the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible! But with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26-27).
Two Chief Weapons for the Fight
To God you must turn and you must put away the pea-shooter and pull-out the rockets or “big-guns”! Our Lady gives us a clue as to what to use when she says: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son” (Akita). We can most certainly take this to mean the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (with its ‘child’, the Holy Eucharist).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima had already indicated in 1957 that the Rosary was one of the weapons chosen by Heaven for our day and age: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is quite simply the weapon par excellence! It is nothing other than the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary, though in an unbloody manner. Nothing can hold a candle to its power. Yet, much like the Rosary today, it is underused, misused, unused and abused. A weapon is only as good as the person using it. It was revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich that if a priest would say the Mass with the devotion that the Apostles had for the Mass, then many if not all the dangers threatening us would be allayed: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Get Serious! Get Real!
The end to family fighting won’t come without a fight! Mere talking has got you nowhere! Giving them books and pamphlets has got you nowhere! Doing nothing has got you nowhere! Biting your tongue has got you nowhere! Being nice has got you nowhere! Getting angry has got you nowhere! Becoming depressed and discouraged has go you nowhere!
There is a fundamental principle that we must never forget—as we were taught in our early catechism days—“Faith is a supernatural gift of God freely given by God.” No person can give another person the Faith. No person can truly convert another person. These things come from God—and they COST! God could convert all the sinners in the world in one single second—but He will not do so if we do pay for it! This is why Our Lady came at Fatima and Akita to ask for LOTS OF PRAYER and LOTS OF SACRIFICES. “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” (Fatima) … “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Akita).
Spiritual Aspirins and Band-Aids
You will not heal a gunshot wound by giving the victim an aspirin and a Band-Aid. It takes far more than that! The same is true of spiritual healing—most people are riddled with the devil’s and the world’s gunshots. We are naïve and senseless if we think that a few Hail Marys are going to bring about massive conversions. We need to get serious and get real! If little Francisco at Fatima was told that he would have to pray MANY Rosaries before he would get to Heaven, then what about us and our worldly family members? How many more need to be said—especially given our super-sinful times! Look at the many years of prayer, penance and tears the St. Monica went through to bring about the conversion of her wayward son, the future St. Augustine! And we expect the same for a pittance!!?
The same applies to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—how few are the people who have Masses regularly offered for the conversion of family members! They will pay a fortune for the best doctor available if a family member gets sick, but will not even pay a fraction of that to have a regular series of Masses said to cure their spiritual sickness! Senseless! Crazy! Foolish!
Those are the ‘big-guns’ that are neglected—and the devil rejoices over that! He simply pours more and more gasoline on the fires of family fights and feuds, waiting for the day when can carry on fighting and feuding in the fires of Hell! God help them! Unless they help themselves now by using what God has put before them!
Once that foundation has been laid, THEN you can start talking, encouraging, threatening, warning, pleading, explaining, teaching, etc. But without Him, we can do nothing! Lay the proper spiritual foundation first, then you can start to build on it.
Monday February 14th
Article 2
I Heard on the Grapevine that ...
Article 2
I Heard on the Grapevine that ...
Digesting Septuagesima Sunday
Our Lord said to Satan: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). We are more likely to be gluttons for food than being gluttons for the word of God! Overeating causes the stomach to expand beyond its normal size, so that it can adjust to the large amount of food being forced into it. Eating too much food requires your organs to work harder. Similarly, “overeating” on the word of God can cause “overheating” of brain and mind! Too much information can cause “information constipation” ― which seems to be a common fault in the modern world, which bombards us with information―usually trivial and useless information―from all sides and sources: television, internet, radio, telephone, text messages, social media, newspapers, magazines, advertizing, etc. We seem to be gluttons for “junk information” just as we gluttons for “junk food” ― our bellies grow fat with “junk food” and our minds become bloated, fat and flabby with “junk information”.
The Liturgy of Holy Mother Church always serves up a “healthy meal” of words that proceed from the mouth of God. Every season of the Church’s year has its own specialty recipes―and this Septuagesima season is no different. You could even say that Septuagesima is merely an “appetizer” for Lent. The readings that are found in the Mass for Septuagesima Sunday are so rich and varied, that you cannot possibly “digest” them in one “sitting” ― and gulping things down with properly chewing them is no aid to digestion and usually leads to indigestion!
Lent is a Spiritual Vineyard
While the Epistle for Septuagesima Sunday speaks of running a race; the Gospel of Septuagesima Sunday speaks of working in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). Yesterday, we mainly focused on the Epistle reading concerning the obligatory “race” that we all have to run, in order to win the prize of Heaven. Today, let us focus on the Gospel reading for Septuagesima Sunday, which speaks of the workers in the vineyard―for we must all work in the vineyard of life in order to be paid with a ticket to Heaven, and if we refuse to work, then we throw away any chance of reaching Heaven. Just as the householder calls men to come and work in his vineyard, so too does God call us to come and work in the vineyard of Lent:
“And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just.’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us.’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard.’” (Matthew 20:3-7).
Roll Up Those Sleeves
You could look upon Lent as being the eleventh hour, where God almost forces us into the vineyard through the laws of the Church, that require penance to be done during Lent. In the parable, some were called in at dawn and worked all day—which symbolizes those souls who make many sacrifices for God and do penance all year round. If we have been more or less idle so far, let us go into the Lenten Vineyard and work.
Salvation has been lost by most souls because they “stood idle all day in the market place”—or could we say stood idle all their life in shopping mall, engrossed in material things and idle talk and entertainment—neglecting what Our Lord calls the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42), which is the spiritual life and the salvation of the soul.
The Gates of Heaven’s Vineyard Call for Work
Heaven has its gates open to those who are willing to work--“Work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “Jesus answered them: ‘My Father worketh until now; and I work!” (John 5:17). “For He will render to a man his work, and, according to the ways of every one, He will reward them!” (Job 34:11). “Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is!” (1 Corinthians 3:13). “Therefore, be ye steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15:58). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). “Walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God … All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him!” (Colossians 1:10; 3:17). “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16).
Let Us Not Be Idle in Spiritual Work
Would that we were able to say to God the same words Jesus addressed to Him: “I have glorified Thee on the Earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do!” (John 17:4). Or will we find ourselves addressed by these terrible words: “And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30).
Let Us Not Pride Ourselves in Our Earthly Works
The modern world is an exceptionally proud world―where everyone likes to pride themselves on what they know, what they can do, what they can achieve, what they can make, what they earn, what they own, what their body and facial features look like, etc. “Extol not thyself in doing thy work” (Ecclesiasticus 10:29). “Their land is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made” (Isaias 2:8). “They are vain things and a ridiculous work: in the time of their visitation they shall perish” (Jeremias 10:15). “Can those things then that are made by them be gods? How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils? For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, and it shall be manifest that they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them” (Baruch 6:46-50).
“Every work that is corruptible shall fail in the end: and the worker thereof shall go with it. And every excellent work shall be justified: and the worker thereof shall be honored therein” (Ecclesiasticus 14:20-21). “The work of the just is unto life; but the fruit of the wicked, unto sin” (Proverbs 10:16).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing!” (Jeremias 2:21). How does God view your family? St. Paul tells us that, regarding the Chosen People, “with most of them God was not well pleased” (1 Corinthians 10:5). What does God see when He looks down upon your family? Would the following verses apply? “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4).
Does your family belong to the stereotype of the modern worldly family that forms the majority of families in the world today? If so, it is a bad sign according to the words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
We Know Not the Day Nor the Hour
Prophecy speaks of two apostasies in the End Times—the “Minor Apostasy”, which really is far from being minor in the sense of trivial, and then, in the time of the Antichrist, there will the “Great Apostasy”, which precedes the Second Coming of Christ, of which Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). We can be sure that we have entered the time of the “Minor Apostasy” because of Our Lady’s warning at Fatima, where she implies that most of the Catholic world will lose the Faith, for she says “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved” to which can be added the words of Fr. Malachi Martin, who had read the Third Secret of Fatima: “The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!”
Thanks to the words of Our Lady and many other prophets throughout the annals of time, we have a good idea of what lies in store for us! What we do not know is the exact time that it will happen. As Our Lord says: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone!” (Matthew 24:36). “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:13). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come! Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not!” (Matthew 24:42-50). Therefore, “Take ye heed, watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33).
Cultivate a Strong Faith
How strong is your family in the Faith—the question is not about being strong in theory, but strong in practice. Yet it is unlikely that the Faith of anyone is strong in the practice of the Faith, if it is not also proportionately strong in its knowledge of the Faith. It is a string Faith that overcomes the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). Yet today’s weak Faith has been overcome by the world, Lent is the time to turn the tables onto the world, a time to push back the worldly tide, a time to recover a strong Faith once again. Yet there cannot be too many Lents left, we seem to be living on borrowed time. Will this another unplanned, insipid, lukewarm Lent, or will we truly get to work at reforming ourselves and the family around us? Will this Lent be a blaster or a disaster?
Work is a Cross
Work, usually, is more of a cross than it is a pleasure—and the work of reform is even less of a pleasure and even more of a cross. This is the result of Original Sin, whereby God punished Adam and Eve by making work difficult, whereas before it had been a pleasure: “And to Adam he said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’” (Genesis 3:17-19). We are reminded of these words of God to Adam on Ash Wednesday, as we enter the toil and labor of Lent, when our forehead is marked with dust (ashes) and we are told: “Remember, man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return!”
Penance is for Sin and Sinners
Because we have such a warped and cheap idea of sin—failing to see its true gravity—we therefore feel little or no need to do penance. If we hear the term “the sinners of this world” used, we do not really include ourselves among that group. Faced with the adulteress and the crowd of stone-throwers, Jesus said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7) for “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). The Pharisees were quick to see and tackle sins in others, but blind and reticent about tackling their own faults and failings. There can be no arguing with Holy Scripture when it says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
“There is none that doth good. God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:2-4).
The problem today is that many things, that are evil, are instead looked upon as good—or at least not too bad!
The prophet Malachias could well address these words to us as did to the Chosen People of old: “You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ In that you say: ‘Everyone that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please Him!’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’” (Malachias 2:17). The prophet Isaias has a condemning response to such a complacent attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
We All Need Penance! Your Family Needs Penance!
We are all in need of penance; whether we think we are good or bad. For God judges differently to man. We judge merely on the surface, but God, Who notices the loss of one single hair from our head and takes note of every idle word we utter (Matthew 10:30; 12:36), also takes into account everything that contributes to our sins. “They have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22).
Some are tempted more frequently, others less frequently; some are tempted with great vehemence, others lightly; some have many souls praying for them, others have few praying for them; some may have a natural temperament that will open them up to more temptation, others have a naturally strong blend of temperaments that help them resist temptation; some are hated more by the devil, others hated less; some are trying hard to be spiritual and will thus attract the devil’s attention and temptations, others are lukewarm, and so they are partially doing the devil’s work for him.
The list of possibilities is endless. That is why the ex-Pharisee, St. Paul, writes: “It is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man’s day; but neither do I judge my own self” (1 Corinthians 4:3). The important thing is that do not try to play the “Adam and Eve Game” by pointing the finger at others and blaming them for OUR SINS! “And they began all at once to make excuse” (Luke 14:18)—which provoked the answer of “I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!” (Luke 14:24).
Christ Came Looking For Sinners!
Why do we downplay our sinfulness and our guilt when Christ came to seek and save sinners. But we will not be found and saved if we deny our sinfulness. A sick man cannot be cured unless he recognizes himself as sick and seeks out a doctor and takes the remedy the doctor gives him. The same is true for a sinner—who happens to spiritually sick. Christ does not come to condemn the sinner (at least not now, but He will at the end of time, or at the sinner’s death), but He comes to seek, find, reform and cure the sinner.
“For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting … God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
We Work Hard, But at the Wrong Things
Most people can work hard and do work hard at some things. Yet, invariably, it is the wrong thing! Not necessarily a sinful thing—but they are piling efforts into a project, hobby or area which will do little or nothing towards their salvation—thus triggering the truth of Our Lord’s words when He said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Which is why The Imitation of Christ opens with the following words: “This is the greatest wisdom — to seek the kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 1).
The World Crisis is due to a Reversal of Values
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange comments: “God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their highest good, and thus reverse the whole scale of values … As though in the hope of compensating for the poor quality of earthly goods, men are striving to increase their quantity; they are trying to produce as much as possible in the order of material enjoyment ... The present state of the world is called a crisis. But in fact it is more than a crisis; it is a condition of affairs which, if men only had eyes to see, ought to be revealing, it ought to show men that they have sought their last end where it is not to be found, in earthly enjoyment—instead of God. They are seeking happiness in an abundance of material possessions which are incapable of giving it … for, so long as earthly possessions retain their nature and man retains the nature which is his, he will never find his happiness in them. The remedy is this, and this only: to consider the one thing necessary, and to ask God to give us saints who live only on this thought, saints who will give the world the spirit that it needs. God has always sent us saints in troubled times. We need them especially today” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Clever People Showing What Fools They Are
The above quote comes from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s summary of his two-volumed The Three Ages of the Interior Life, wherein he speaks of this misguided effort, placed on secondary things, while neglecting the one thing necessary: “Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Sowing the Wrong Seeds
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange shows how we have planted the wrong seeds and now we are bearing the bad fruit. What he says for the world as a whole, is equally true of families, parishes and schools. They have all become far too materialistic and more world orientated than Heaven orientated. As Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19).
What kinds of seeds have been mainly planted in your family, parish or school? Spiritual seeds or worldly seeds? Of course there will be both. But what is the predominant kind of fruit tree? Good or bad? What preoccupies most of everyone’s time? What is the topic of conversations? What are the activities? How much religion enters into all of this? Is it superficial or profound. Rare or frequent?
Which is why Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him … To wish to get along without God, leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: ‘He that is not with Me is against Me.’
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies … converge, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God who created him and who is his last End, he makes a religion for himself―since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. Man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics, thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity.
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus. If religion is no longer a grave matter, but something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science, or in social activity … If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man. If man continually seeks himself, instead of God, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ's words: ‘He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth.’ The facts confirm this declaration.
“We conclude logically that religion can give an efficacious and truly realistic answer to the great modern problems, only if it is a religion that is PROFOUNDLY LIVED, not simply a superficial and cheap religion made up of some vocal prayers and some ceremonies, in which religious art has more place than true piety. As a matter of fact, no religion that is profoundly lived is without an interior life ... The logical conclusion to be drawn is that religion, the interior life, must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Creating Our Own Seeds of Religion
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange hit the nail on the head when he said: “When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God Who created him and Who is his last End, he makes a religion for himself―since he absolutely cannot get along without religion.” Many a Catholic would be shocked and scandalized if you accused them of having made a religion of their own—yet that, very sadly, is the case with a great number of Catholics.
They do not like God’s ‘very demanding’ version of religion, so they pick and choose, ignore and discard what they want. They replace dogmas and Church teaching with their own ‘dogmas’ whose authority is merely their own twisted imagination. This attitude has almost as many degrees as there are Catholics. Everyone has his or her own version. It ranges from everybody goes to Heaven to very few go to Heaven; from Hell is empty to Hell is full. Sin is only sin when I think it is wrong—to hell with what the Church teaches! God is given a ‘makeover’ whereby He is stripped of His garments of justice (which are all thrown into the trash can) and is made to put on layers and layers of clothing of mercy.
This is how and why most Catholics practice contraception; this is how and why only 2 out of 100 pray the Rosary daily; this is how and why most Catholics no longer go to Mass regularly on Sundays; why barely anyone goes to Confession anymore but almost everyone goes to Communion—all the while thinking that they are good Catholics. But the words of St. Paul are more likely to be true: “With most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
Time to Reseed the Garden of Your Soul & Family
If we are going to be humbly truthful, then we have to admit that we as individuals and our families, parishes and schools, are far from being what God wants us to be! We are the complacent children of the modern Church’s 95% Lenten penance discount. We do 10 times more for ourselves than we do for God—and then we pretend that we are fulfilling the command to love God with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole soul and our whole strength—while our nose grows longer each time we utter that lie.
It is time to admit that the majority of the seeds that have been sown in our own lives and our families, parishes and schools have been material, earthly, worldly seeds and that the fruits are not the fruits of God, but fruits of the world. As Our Lord says, those trees need to be cut down and thrown into the fire—and new spiritual seeds need to be sown—before we end up in the fire ourselves! God is not a merciful doormat upon Whom we can wipe our worldly or even sinful feet time and time again without there ever being any repercussions or consequences.
Our Lady has warned us for the last 170 years of those terrible and awful consequences, which, when they come, will prove the truth of the Holy Scripture when it says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “The Lord delayeth not His promise [of chastisement], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Now is the time to work on your family, parish and school to cultivate and prepare the right attitude of mind for the start of Lent. That right attitude of mind is the not the mindset of the “95% Lenten Penance Discount”—for Our Lady already foretold, warned and condemned that attitude at La Salette, saying that prayer and penance would be neglected with the consequence that many souls would be lost. Much prayer and much penance is needed—you need to convince yourself and those around you of that truth. If not, then we have all read and know the terrible penance that God is preparing to impose on the world. Better pay now, which is mere cents on the dollar, than pay then, which will see an interest rate that goes through the roof!
Our Lord said to Satan: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). We are more likely to be gluttons for food than being gluttons for the word of God! Overeating causes the stomach to expand beyond its normal size, so that it can adjust to the large amount of food being forced into it. Eating too much food requires your organs to work harder. Similarly, “overeating” on the word of God can cause “overheating” of brain and mind! Too much information can cause “information constipation” ― which seems to be a common fault in the modern world, which bombards us with information―usually trivial and useless information―from all sides and sources: television, internet, radio, telephone, text messages, social media, newspapers, magazines, advertizing, etc. We seem to be gluttons for “junk information” just as we gluttons for “junk food” ― our bellies grow fat with “junk food” and our minds become bloated, fat and flabby with “junk information”.
The Liturgy of Holy Mother Church always serves up a “healthy meal” of words that proceed from the mouth of God. Every season of the Church’s year has its own specialty recipes―and this Septuagesima season is no different. You could even say that Septuagesima is merely an “appetizer” for Lent. The readings that are found in the Mass for Septuagesima Sunday are so rich and varied, that you cannot possibly “digest” them in one “sitting” ― and gulping things down with properly chewing them is no aid to digestion and usually leads to indigestion!
Lent is a Spiritual Vineyard
While the Epistle for Septuagesima Sunday speaks of running a race; the Gospel of Septuagesima Sunday speaks of working in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). Yesterday, we mainly focused on the Epistle reading concerning the obligatory “race” that we all have to run, in order to win the prize of Heaven. Today, let us focus on the Gospel reading for Septuagesima Sunday, which speaks of the workers in the vineyard―for we must all work in the vineyard of life in order to be paid with a ticket to Heaven, and if we refuse to work, then we throw away any chance of reaching Heaven. Just as the householder calls men to come and work in his vineyard, so too does God call us to come and work in the vineyard of Lent:
“And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just.’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us.’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard.’” (Matthew 20:3-7).
Roll Up Those Sleeves
You could look upon Lent as being the eleventh hour, where God almost forces us into the vineyard through the laws of the Church, that require penance to be done during Lent. In the parable, some were called in at dawn and worked all day—which symbolizes those souls who make many sacrifices for God and do penance all year round. If we have been more or less idle so far, let us go into the Lenten Vineyard and work.
Salvation has been lost by most souls because they “stood idle all day in the market place”—or could we say stood idle all their life in shopping mall, engrossed in material things and idle talk and entertainment—neglecting what Our Lord calls the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42), which is the spiritual life and the salvation of the soul.
The Gates of Heaven’s Vineyard Call for Work
Heaven has its gates open to those who are willing to work--“Work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “Jesus answered them: ‘My Father worketh until now; and I work!” (John 5:17). “For He will render to a man his work, and, according to the ways of every one, He will reward them!” (Job 34:11). “Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is!” (1 Corinthians 3:13). “Therefore, be ye steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15:58). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). “Walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God … All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him!” (Colossians 1:10; 3:17). “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16).
Let Us Not Be Idle in Spiritual Work
Would that we were able to say to God the same words Jesus addressed to Him: “I have glorified Thee on the Earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do!” (John 17:4). Or will we find ourselves addressed by these terrible words: “And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30).
Let Us Not Pride Ourselves in Our Earthly Works
The modern world is an exceptionally proud world―where everyone likes to pride themselves on what they know, what they can do, what they can achieve, what they can make, what they earn, what they own, what their body and facial features look like, etc. “Extol not thyself in doing thy work” (Ecclesiasticus 10:29). “Their land is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made” (Isaias 2:8). “They are vain things and a ridiculous work: in the time of their visitation they shall perish” (Jeremias 10:15). “Can those things then that are made by them be gods? How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils? For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, and it shall be manifest that they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them” (Baruch 6:46-50).
“Every work that is corruptible shall fail in the end: and the worker thereof shall go with it. And every excellent work shall be justified: and the worker thereof shall be honored therein” (Ecclesiasticus 14:20-21). “The work of the just is unto life; but the fruit of the wicked, unto sin” (Proverbs 10:16).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing!” (Jeremias 2:21). How does God view your family? St. Paul tells us that, regarding the Chosen People, “with most of them God was not well pleased” (1 Corinthians 10:5). What does God see when He looks down upon your family? Would the following verses apply? “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4).
Does your family belong to the stereotype of the modern worldly family that forms the majority of families in the world today? If so, it is a bad sign according to the words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
We Know Not the Day Nor the Hour
Prophecy speaks of two apostasies in the End Times—the “Minor Apostasy”, which really is far from being minor in the sense of trivial, and then, in the time of the Antichrist, there will the “Great Apostasy”, which precedes the Second Coming of Christ, of which Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). We can be sure that we have entered the time of the “Minor Apostasy” because of Our Lady’s warning at Fatima, where she implies that most of the Catholic world will lose the Faith, for she says “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved” to which can be added the words of Fr. Malachi Martin, who had read the Third Secret of Fatima: “The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!”
Thanks to the words of Our Lady and many other prophets throughout the annals of time, we have a good idea of what lies in store for us! What we do not know is the exact time that it will happen. As Our Lord says: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone!” (Matthew 24:36). “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:13). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come! Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not!” (Matthew 24:42-50). Therefore, “Take ye heed, watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33).
Cultivate a Strong Faith
How strong is your family in the Faith—the question is not about being strong in theory, but strong in practice. Yet it is unlikely that the Faith of anyone is strong in the practice of the Faith, if it is not also proportionately strong in its knowledge of the Faith. It is a string Faith that overcomes the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). Yet today’s weak Faith has been overcome by the world, Lent is the time to turn the tables onto the world, a time to push back the worldly tide, a time to recover a strong Faith once again. Yet there cannot be too many Lents left, we seem to be living on borrowed time. Will this another unplanned, insipid, lukewarm Lent, or will we truly get to work at reforming ourselves and the family around us? Will this Lent be a blaster or a disaster?
Work is a Cross
Work, usually, is more of a cross than it is a pleasure—and the work of reform is even less of a pleasure and even more of a cross. This is the result of Original Sin, whereby God punished Adam and Eve by making work difficult, whereas before it had been a pleasure: “And to Adam he said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’” (Genesis 3:17-19). We are reminded of these words of God to Adam on Ash Wednesday, as we enter the toil and labor of Lent, when our forehead is marked with dust (ashes) and we are told: “Remember, man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return!”
Penance is for Sin and Sinners
Because we have such a warped and cheap idea of sin—failing to see its true gravity—we therefore feel little or no need to do penance. If we hear the term “the sinners of this world” used, we do not really include ourselves among that group. Faced with the adulteress and the crowd of stone-throwers, Jesus said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7) for “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). The Pharisees were quick to see and tackle sins in others, but blind and reticent about tackling their own faults and failings. There can be no arguing with Holy Scripture when it says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
“There is none that doth good. God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:2-4).
The problem today is that many things, that are evil, are instead looked upon as good—or at least not too bad!
The prophet Malachias could well address these words to us as did to the Chosen People of old: “You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ In that you say: ‘Everyone that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please Him!’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’” (Malachias 2:17). The prophet Isaias has a condemning response to such a complacent attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
We All Need Penance! Your Family Needs Penance!
We are all in need of penance; whether we think we are good or bad. For God judges differently to man. We judge merely on the surface, but God, Who notices the loss of one single hair from our head and takes note of every idle word we utter (Matthew 10:30; 12:36), also takes into account everything that contributes to our sins. “They have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22).
Some are tempted more frequently, others less frequently; some are tempted with great vehemence, others lightly; some have many souls praying for them, others have few praying for them; some may have a natural temperament that will open them up to more temptation, others have a naturally strong blend of temperaments that help them resist temptation; some are hated more by the devil, others hated less; some are trying hard to be spiritual and will thus attract the devil’s attention and temptations, others are lukewarm, and so they are partially doing the devil’s work for him.
The list of possibilities is endless. That is why the ex-Pharisee, St. Paul, writes: “It is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man’s day; but neither do I judge my own self” (1 Corinthians 4:3). The important thing is that do not try to play the “Adam and Eve Game” by pointing the finger at others and blaming them for OUR SINS! “And they began all at once to make excuse” (Luke 14:18)—which provoked the answer of “I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!” (Luke 14:24).
Christ Came Looking For Sinners!
Why do we downplay our sinfulness and our guilt when Christ came to seek and save sinners. But we will not be found and saved if we deny our sinfulness. A sick man cannot be cured unless he recognizes himself as sick and seeks out a doctor and takes the remedy the doctor gives him. The same is true for a sinner—who happens to spiritually sick. Christ does not come to condemn the sinner (at least not now, but He will at the end of time, or at the sinner’s death), but He comes to seek, find, reform and cure the sinner.
“For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting … God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
We Work Hard, But at the Wrong Things
Most people can work hard and do work hard at some things. Yet, invariably, it is the wrong thing! Not necessarily a sinful thing—but they are piling efforts into a project, hobby or area which will do little or nothing towards their salvation—thus triggering the truth of Our Lord’s words when He said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Which is why The Imitation of Christ opens with the following words: “This is the greatest wisdom — to seek the kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 1).
The World Crisis is due to a Reversal of Values
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange comments: “God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their highest good, and thus reverse the whole scale of values … As though in the hope of compensating for the poor quality of earthly goods, men are striving to increase their quantity; they are trying to produce as much as possible in the order of material enjoyment ... The present state of the world is called a crisis. But in fact it is more than a crisis; it is a condition of affairs which, if men only had eyes to see, ought to be revealing, it ought to show men that they have sought their last end where it is not to be found, in earthly enjoyment—instead of God. They are seeking happiness in an abundance of material possessions which are incapable of giving it … for, so long as earthly possessions retain their nature and man retains the nature which is his, he will never find his happiness in them. The remedy is this, and this only: to consider the one thing necessary, and to ask God to give us saints who live only on this thought, saints who will give the world the spirit that it needs. God has always sent us saints in troubled times. We need them especially today” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Clever People Showing What Fools They Are
The above quote comes from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s summary of his two-volumed The Three Ages of the Interior Life, wherein he speaks of this misguided effort, placed on secondary things, while neglecting the one thing necessary: “Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Sowing the Wrong Seeds
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange shows how we have planted the wrong seeds and now we are bearing the bad fruit. What he says for the world as a whole, is equally true of families, parishes and schools. They have all become far too materialistic and more world orientated than Heaven orientated. As Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19).
What kinds of seeds have been mainly planted in your family, parish or school? Spiritual seeds or worldly seeds? Of course there will be both. But what is the predominant kind of fruit tree? Good or bad? What preoccupies most of everyone’s time? What is the topic of conversations? What are the activities? How much religion enters into all of this? Is it superficial or profound. Rare or frequent?
Which is why Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him … To wish to get along without God, leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: ‘He that is not with Me is against Me.’
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies … converge, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God who created him and who is his last End, he makes a religion for himself―since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. Man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics, thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity.
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus. If religion is no longer a grave matter, but something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science, or in social activity … If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man. If man continually seeks himself, instead of God, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ's words: ‘He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth.’ The facts confirm this declaration.
“We conclude logically that religion can give an efficacious and truly realistic answer to the great modern problems, only if it is a religion that is PROFOUNDLY LIVED, not simply a superficial and cheap religion made up of some vocal prayers and some ceremonies, in which religious art has more place than true piety. As a matter of fact, no religion that is profoundly lived is without an interior life ... The logical conclusion to be drawn is that religion, the interior life, must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Creating Our Own Seeds of Religion
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange hit the nail on the head when he said: “When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God Who created him and Who is his last End, he makes a religion for himself―since he absolutely cannot get along without religion.” Many a Catholic would be shocked and scandalized if you accused them of having made a religion of their own—yet that, very sadly, is the case with a great number of Catholics.
They do not like God’s ‘very demanding’ version of religion, so they pick and choose, ignore and discard what they want. They replace dogmas and Church teaching with their own ‘dogmas’ whose authority is merely their own twisted imagination. This attitude has almost as many degrees as there are Catholics. Everyone has his or her own version. It ranges from everybody goes to Heaven to very few go to Heaven; from Hell is empty to Hell is full. Sin is only sin when I think it is wrong—to hell with what the Church teaches! God is given a ‘makeover’ whereby He is stripped of His garments of justice (which are all thrown into the trash can) and is made to put on layers and layers of clothing of mercy.
This is how and why most Catholics practice contraception; this is how and why only 2 out of 100 pray the Rosary daily; this is how and why most Catholics no longer go to Mass regularly on Sundays; why barely anyone goes to Confession anymore but almost everyone goes to Communion—all the while thinking that they are good Catholics. But the words of St. Paul are more likely to be true: “With most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
Time to Reseed the Garden of Your Soul & Family
If we are going to be humbly truthful, then we have to admit that we as individuals and our families, parishes and schools, are far from being what God wants us to be! We are the complacent children of the modern Church’s 95% Lenten penance discount. We do 10 times more for ourselves than we do for God—and then we pretend that we are fulfilling the command to love God with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole soul and our whole strength—while our nose grows longer each time we utter that lie.
It is time to admit that the majority of the seeds that have been sown in our own lives and our families, parishes and schools have been material, earthly, worldly seeds and that the fruits are not the fruits of God, but fruits of the world. As Our Lord says, those trees need to be cut down and thrown into the fire—and new spiritual seeds need to be sown—before we end up in the fire ourselves! God is not a merciful doormat upon Whom we can wipe our worldly or even sinful feet time and time again without there ever being any repercussions or consequences.
Our Lady has warned us for the last 170 years of those terrible and awful consequences, which, when they come, will prove the truth of the Holy Scripture when it says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “The Lord delayeth not His promise [of chastisement], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Now is the time to work on your family, parish and school to cultivate and prepare the right attitude of mind for the start of Lent. That right attitude of mind is the not the mindset of the “95% Lenten Penance Discount”—for Our Lady already foretold, warned and condemned that attitude at La Salette, saying that prayer and penance would be neglected with the consequence that many souls would be lost. Much prayer and much penance is needed—you need to convince yourself and those around you of that truth. If not, then we have all read and know the terrible penance that God is preparing to impose on the world. Better pay now, which is mere cents on the dollar, than pay then, which will see an interest rate that goes through the roof!
Septuagesima Sunday February 13th
Article 1
On Your Marks! Get Set! GO!!
Article 1
On Your Marks! Get Set! GO!!
Get the Spiritual Engine Serviced Before Lent
Before we know it, Lent will be upon us! This Sunday, Septuagesima Sunday, the Church will place before us the words of St. Paul, about running in a race in such a manner that we may win. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9: 24). In our lazy modern times, the car has replaced the two feet as the chief means of running around; but whether it is the athlete with his feet, or the driver with his car, the bottom line is that, to win a race, the athlete or the car has to be in peak condition. Most Catholic cars (souls) are far from being in peak condition—much like the Israelite ‘cars’ (souls) crossing the desert—most of whom were not pleasing to God, as the reading from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday points out:
God’s Viewpoint of the Racers
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
Hence St. Paul warns us that “Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:6-12).
In a certain sense, they all ran in the race for the Promised Land, but only two of the original 4 or so million that started out from Egypt, actually entered the Promised Land and successfully crossed the ‘finish-line’—the remaining finishers were born in desert during those 40 years. With most of the ‘starters’ God was not well pleased! They ended up being starters and losers, not starter and finishers and winners.
Secondly, no athlete will win a competitive race without training beforehand. The car has to be tried out beforehand also, to see if all is running smoothly and well. This is what the Septuagesima season, with its three countdown Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima) is for: a serious time of preparation for the even more serious time of Lent.
The means to win are fairly simple, but most engines misfire and overheat by using the means badly. The means, as Our Lady has tried to tell us many times, as PRAYER and PENANCE. You could say prayer is the gasoline and penance is the oil for the engine. Prayer is of the utmost importance to our ‘spiritual engine’; it is what drives our ‘spiritual body’ forwards and it is what gives it power.
The Power of Prayer
“Do we believe in the power of prayer? We know the common teaching of theologians: that true prayer—by which we ask something for ourselves with humility, confidence and perseverance, the graces necessary for salvation—is infallibly efficacious (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, Q.83, Art.15, ad 2). We know this doctrine, and yet it seems to us, at times, that we have truly prayed without being heard. We believe in, or rather we see, the power of a machine, of an army, of money and of knowledge; but we do not believe strongly enough in the efficacy of prayer.” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The Gasoline of Grace comes through Prayer
“The modern world cannot do without God. This is the root of its ills. The great truth is that we have an absolute need of God…He normally bestows His grace only in response to prayer. Since our need exists at all times....”We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1)....The true nature of Christian prayer is perfectly expressed in the following definition given by St. John Damascene and St. Thomas Aquinas: prayer is “a raising of the mind and heart towards God” to offer Him our homage and to ask Him for all those things of which we stand in need” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Spinning Wheels and Going Nowhere
People often pray without realizing what it is that they are doing, or Whom they are addressing! God so rightly complains in Scripture saying: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7).
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips....In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind....Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Winning Races Requires Intensity
Many find prayer difficult. That is only natural, since we are trying to communicate with the supernatural world.
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Focus on the Race, the Whole Race and Nothing but the Race
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes.
“Prayer in our life, must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ--The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
All Enter the Race, Not All Finish the Race
Prayer is actually a bending of our will towards the will of God. He wishes the salvation of all, but all will not be saved—and one of the contributory causes of failing to make it to Heaven is a lack of prayer; a lack of prayer by those who will be damned (the driver) and a lack of prayer on the part of others for the conversion of those unfortunate souls (the mechanics and maintenance crew).
“For material harvests, God prepared the seed, the rain that must help it germinate, the sun that will ripen the fruits of the Earth. Likewise, for spiritual harvest, He has prepared spiritual seeds, the divine graces necessary for sanctification and salvation. Prayer is one of the causes meant to produce that sanctification and salvation” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23). We can add to this the Biblical axiom of we reap what we sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). Prayer is sowing in the spirit. Playing is sowing in the flesh. The Angel said to the children at Fatima: “Don’t play, but pray!”
“St. Gregory the Great says: ‘Men ought, by prayer, to dispose themselves to receive what Almighty God, from eternity, has decided to give them’ (Dialogues, Book 1, chapter 8). Thus, Christ, wishing to convert the Samaritan woman, led her to pray by saying to her: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” In the same way, He granted Mary Magdalen a strong and gentle actual grace, which inclined her to repentance and to prayer. He acted in the same way to Zacheus and the Good Thief. It is, therefore, as necessary to pray in order to obtain the help of God, as it is necessary to sow seed in order to have wheat. To those who say that, what was to happen would happen, whether they prayed or not, is as foolish as to maintain that, whether or not we sowed seed, wheat would still appear once summer came! Therefore, prayer is necessary to obtain the help of God, as seed is necessary for the harvest” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give. The efficacy of prayer, correctly made, is infallibly assured by Christ:
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you....And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he give him a serpent?...If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:9-13). The problem does not lie with the Giver, but with us.
Some Racing Tips
Many of us become discouraged with prayer because our prayers are rarely, if ever heard. It is like entering the race just to make up numbers—but we never win! Yet, there are ways in which we can, almost infallibly, get our prayers answered and win that race! The spiritual writers or racers list the following chief tactics as “infallible” or guaranteed means of having our prayers favorably heard and answered:
1. Pray for what is good and not sinful or harmful to our salvation — We should always remember that what we want is not always what we need. At times, adversity is a better route to Heaven than prosperity. St. Augustine says: “We ought to be persuaded that what God refuses to our prayer, He grants to our salvation.”
2. Our prayer must be humble — Remember the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember, too, Our Lady’s prayer, the Magnificat, wherein she says that God has “regarded the humility of His handmaid…He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.” The Old Testament says: “...nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee: but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee” (Judith 9:16). “May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalm 11:4). “Thou hast rebuked the proud” (Psalm 118:21). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5).
3. Our prayer must be fervent —Too often our prayers are said listlessly, routinely, mechanically; our heart is not in them. Of such Our Lord said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7). Our prayers should be like grains of incense, placed on the hot coals of our hearts.
4. We should amend our life — If we persist in leading a life of sin, even venial sin, then we greatly handicap the chances of having our prayers heard. “He who turns his ears from hearing the law, his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).
5. We should forgive those who have injured us — This was the example of Christ dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them...” “If, therefore, thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee—Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee, when thou prayest” (Ecclesiasticus. 28:2).
6. Our prayer should be united to good works or sacrifices — “Prayer is good with fasting and alms” (Tobias 12:8). That is why penance is so crucial in strengthening our prayer. Our Lady asks not only for prayer at Fatima, but prayer and sacrifices. The power of this is expressed in Scripture, where the Apostles failed to cast out a demon from one particular person, and asked Our Lord why they had failed. Our Lord replied: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20).
7. We should pray with confidence — Our Lord praised the Faith and confidence of persons on many occasions, saying: “Go, thy Faith has made thee whole…” (Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 17:19; 18:42). He also told us that “all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Do we have that confidence in prayer?
8. We should pray with perseverance — “He defers the granting to increase our desire and appreciation” says St. Augustine. Our Lord Himself said: “Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Luke 11:8-9).
If we would only pray in the above manner, we would be amazed at the response our prayers would bring from Heaven! Keep in mind the words of St. Augustine: “The man who knows how to pray well, is the one who knows how to live well.” Which, for our purposes, translates into “Drive well, and you’ll win the race! Pray well, and you’ll get the grace!”
The Penance Part
You could say that the “prayer part” to Lent is like an athlete’s mental attitude. The “penance part” of Lent to be likened to the athlete’s bodily fitness. Winners are usually those athletes who are both mentally strong and physically fit and strong. The same can be said to be true of the spiritual life—which is why, when asked by His Apostles why they had failed to cast out the devil from a young boy, Our Lord replied: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
Wholly Wholesome Holy & Whole
Therefore, we need to use our WHOLE being in our spiritual warfare and in the spiritual race for Heaven—not just soul, but body too—for a human being is a composite of body and soul. Which is why Holy Scripture powerfully and almost severely commands both elements in unmistakably strong terms: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! [and Our Lord then repeats Himself two verses later] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5) … “The Lord delayeth not his promise [of punishment], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” (2 Peter 3:9) … “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23).
In fact, things are so intertwined, that we could say that prayer and penance are just as necessary for one and the other. We must pray with the mind and mortify the mind. We must pray with the body and mortify the body.
Furthermore, just as in a good healthy, nourishing diet, there has to be a balance and a variety in our prayers and penances. As in a diet we must have proper proportions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, so too in our spiritual diet we have to have a balance between various bodily ‘proteins’, ‘carbohydrates’ and ‘fats’ and mental ‘proteins’, ‘carbohydrates’ and ‘fats’—in order to avoid become one-dimensional and restricted in our spirituality.
Specific Penances for Specific Sins
Prayer and Fasting are among the best penances that can be undertaken—as Our Lord points out: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20). Yet we must also remember that—in both Hell and Purgatory—sins are punished in a specific way that somehow corresponds to the type of sin committed. Thus, the murderer will be punished differently to the drunkard. The adulterer differently to the slanderer or detractor. The thief differently to the blasphemer, and so on and on and on. Likewise, our penances can and should correspond to our sins, even while we live on Earth. Everyone is different and so everyone’s sins differ from his or her neighbor’s sins. Therefore the appropriate penance will also be different. The general rule of thumb being—as St. Ignatius says in his Spiritual Exercises—“agere contra”, which literally means “act against” or “act in opposition to”—which more precisely means “do the opposite.”
Therefore, if you are naturally a critical person, then be more praising and more accepting. If you are stingy, then be more generous. If you are lazy, be more industrious. If too inattentive, show more attention. If too untidy, show a greater tidiness. If too timid, be more courageous. If too angry, be more meek. If never wrong, start apologizing for your errors. If lukewarm, be more fervent. If a constant complainer, thank God more for your lot in life. If greedy, be temperate. If proud, accept humiliations gladly. If always excusing yourself, blame yourself more. If unhelpful, be more helpful. You see the principle being used—the list is as endless as sins are endless in their nuances. The bedrock or foundation to all this can and should be prayer and fasting, but built on top of the foundation should be an individual building of tailor-made penance that corresponds to one’s own personal sins.
Start Planning Now!
Let’s be honest and admit it—we are not going to plan and put into practice such a tailor-made approach to penance on Ash Wednesday. The only place “winging-it” will get you to is the “Hall of Fame of Failure!” As you sow, so shall you reap. “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Take a sheet of paper and write down your CHIEF faults—which are often those we do not want to face, or downplay, or even deny! If you’re not sure—then ask some honest, non-flattering, people around you who know you very well. Just don’t fall-out with them or injure them when the hit the nail on the head!
Once you have a STARTER list (you can add more as you start to diminish the frequency in committing the sins list in this first batch), then start to examine them in detail—when, where, how to they arise? With or against whom? What means are you avoiding to take, that could reduce these sins? Do you pray daily, even many times daily, asking for the grace to overcome them? Do you mortify yourself to avoid them? Do you punish yourself in some way after having committed them? List a variety of ways and methods open to you to overcome them—if unsure, consult with your confessor. Write down a series of heavier and heavier self-inflicted punishments or sanctions for every successive time you fail and fall. Make those sins the regular part of your confession, reporting if they have increased or decreased since your last confession.
Make Lent a Family Affair, Not Just Individual
Our Lord sent out His disciples in pairs—two-by-two—knowing full well that mutual support is necessary for courage, perseverance and success. The Legion of Mary also works this way—sending out its Legionaries in pairs as much as possible. In normal times, parishes had a least two priests stationed there—until the Post-Vatican fall in vocations shot-down that ideal in many places. God even made man and woman as a twosome in marriage. Pilots have their co-pilots. Presidents have Vice-Presidents. We often—though not always—work better as a team than we do alone.
Furthermore, on Judgement Day, it will not only be individuals that are judged, but also nations, states, communities, religious orders, parishes, schools, and even families. Therefore, as a family, it makes sense to approach Lent, not just from an individual perspective, but also from a family perspective. What was said of an individual assessment of one person’s chief sins, can also be applied to a ‘family’s sins’—though this is a little more difficult to pinpoint and address, for everyone’s participation in a ‘family sin’ is likely to be of a different degree—some being more guilty (instigators) and other less guilty (the followers or the coerced).
Nevertheless, there are certain family traits that can be either virtuous or sinful. It takes great humility and honesty to both see and admit to those faults. To attack one or two such family faults would be a marvelous communal penance for Lent. However, this will not happen on Ash Wednesday, at the flick of a switch—serious reflection and discussion is needed to see where a family has, as a group, let God down and offended Him, either directly or indirectly by sinning against our fellow human beings: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40).
So now is the time, in a general way, to start planning for Lent—both individually or as a family or as a school or class. Parents, especially, should help their children well in advance and talk about Lent often during this Septuagesima Season, to prepare the mind and attitude of their children in good time, so that they hit the road running and with zeal, not distaste and trepidation. Some of the future Daily Thoughts articles will try to help with suggestions—while a special website page has been created to focus on this in particular: Ash Wednesday Countdown—which can be accessed under the SEPTUAGESIMA tab at the top of the page or click here.
Before we know it, Lent will be upon us! This Sunday, Septuagesima Sunday, the Church will place before us the words of St. Paul, about running in a race in such a manner that we may win. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9: 24). In our lazy modern times, the car has replaced the two feet as the chief means of running around; but whether it is the athlete with his feet, or the driver with his car, the bottom line is that, to win a race, the athlete or the car has to be in peak condition. Most Catholic cars (souls) are far from being in peak condition—much like the Israelite ‘cars’ (souls) crossing the desert—most of whom were not pleasing to God, as the reading from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday points out:
God’s Viewpoint of the Racers
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
Hence St. Paul warns us that “Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:6-12).
In a certain sense, they all ran in the race for the Promised Land, but only two of the original 4 or so million that started out from Egypt, actually entered the Promised Land and successfully crossed the ‘finish-line’—the remaining finishers were born in desert during those 40 years. With most of the ‘starters’ God was not well pleased! They ended up being starters and losers, not starter and finishers and winners.
Secondly, no athlete will win a competitive race without training beforehand. The car has to be tried out beforehand also, to see if all is running smoothly and well. This is what the Septuagesima season, with its three countdown Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima) is for: a serious time of preparation for the even more serious time of Lent.
The means to win are fairly simple, but most engines misfire and overheat by using the means badly. The means, as Our Lady has tried to tell us many times, as PRAYER and PENANCE. You could say prayer is the gasoline and penance is the oil for the engine. Prayer is of the utmost importance to our ‘spiritual engine’; it is what drives our ‘spiritual body’ forwards and it is what gives it power.
The Power of Prayer
“Do we believe in the power of prayer? We know the common teaching of theologians: that true prayer—by which we ask something for ourselves with humility, confidence and perseverance, the graces necessary for salvation—is infallibly efficacious (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, Q.83, Art.15, ad 2). We know this doctrine, and yet it seems to us, at times, that we have truly prayed without being heard. We believe in, or rather we see, the power of a machine, of an army, of money and of knowledge; but we do not believe strongly enough in the efficacy of prayer.” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The Gasoline of Grace comes through Prayer
“The modern world cannot do without God. This is the root of its ills. The great truth is that we have an absolute need of God…He normally bestows His grace only in response to prayer. Since our need exists at all times....”We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1)....The true nature of Christian prayer is perfectly expressed in the following definition given by St. John Damascene and St. Thomas Aquinas: prayer is “a raising of the mind and heart towards God” to offer Him our homage and to ask Him for all those things of which we stand in need” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Spinning Wheels and Going Nowhere
People often pray without realizing what it is that they are doing, or Whom they are addressing! God so rightly complains in Scripture saying: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7).
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips....In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind....Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Winning Races Requires Intensity
Many find prayer difficult. That is only natural, since we are trying to communicate with the supernatural world.
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Focus on the Race, the Whole Race and Nothing but the Race
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes.
“Prayer in our life, must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ--The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
All Enter the Race, Not All Finish the Race
Prayer is actually a bending of our will towards the will of God. He wishes the salvation of all, but all will not be saved—and one of the contributory causes of failing to make it to Heaven is a lack of prayer; a lack of prayer by those who will be damned (the driver) and a lack of prayer on the part of others for the conversion of those unfortunate souls (the mechanics and maintenance crew).
“For material harvests, God prepared the seed, the rain that must help it germinate, the sun that will ripen the fruits of the Earth. Likewise, for spiritual harvest, He has prepared spiritual seeds, the divine graces necessary for sanctification and salvation. Prayer is one of the causes meant to produce that sanctification and salvation” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23). We can add to this the Biblical axiom of we reap what we sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). Prayer is sowing in the spirit. Playing is sowing in the flesh. The Angel said to the children at Fatima: “Don’t play, but pray!”
“St. Gregory the Great says: ‘Men ought, by prayer, to dispose themselves to receive what Almighty God, from eternity, has decided to give them’ (Dialogues, Book 1, chapter 8). Thus, Christ, wishing to convert the Samaritan woman, led her to pray by saying to her: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” In the same way, He granted Mary Magdalen a strong and gentle actual grace, which inclined her to repentance and to prayer. He acted in the same way to Zacheus and the Good Thief. It is, therefore, as necessary to pray in order to obtain the help of God, as it is necessary to sow seed in order to have wheat. To those who say that, what was to happen would happen, whether they prayed or not, is as foolish as to maintain that, whether or not we sowed seed, wheat would still appear once summer came! Therefore, prayer is necessary to obtain the help of God, as seed is necessary for the harvest” (Rev. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give. The efficacy of prayer, correctly made, is infallibly assured by Christ:
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you....And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he give him a serpent?...If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:9-13). The problem does not lie with the Giver, but with us.
Some Racing Tips
Many of us become discouraged with prayer because our prayers are rarely, if ever heard. It is like entering the race just to make up numbers—but we never win! Yet, there are ways in which we can, almost infallibly, get our prayers answered and win that race! The spiritual writers or racers list the following chief tactics as “infallible” or guaranteed means of having our prayers favorably heard and answered:
1. Pray for what is good and not sinful or harmful to our salvation — We should always remember that what we want is not always what we need. At times, adversity is a better route to Heaven than prosperity. St. Augustine says: “We ought to be persuaded that what God refuses to our prayer, He grants to our salvation.”
2. Our prayer must be humble — Remember the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember, too, Our Lady’s prayer, the Magnificat, wherein she says that God has “regarded the humility of His handmaid…He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.” The Old Testament says: “...nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee: but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee” (Judith 9:16). “May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalm 11:4). “Thou hast rebuked the proud” (Psalm 118:21). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5).
3. Our prayer must be fervent —Too often our prayers are said listlessly, routinely, mechanically; our heart is not in them. Of such Our Lord said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7). Our prayers should be like grains of incense, placed on the hot coals of our hearts.
4. We should amend our life — If we persist in leading a life of sin, even venial sin, then we greatly handicap the chances of having our prayers heard. “He who turns his ears from hearing the law, his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).
5. We should forgive those who have injured us — This was the example of Christ dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them...” “If, therefore, thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee—Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee, when thou prayest” (Ecclesiasticus. 28:2).
6. Our prayer should be united to good works or sacrifices — “Prayer is good with fasting and alms” (Tobias 12:8). That is why penance is so crucial in strengthening our prayer. Our Lady asks not only for prayer at Fatima, but prayer and sacrifices. The power of this is expressed in Scripture, where the Apostles failed to cast out a demon from one particular person, and asked Our Lord why they had failed. Our Lord replied: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20).
7. We should pray with confidence — Our Lord praised the Faith and confidence of persons on many occasions, saying: “Go, thy Faith has made thee whole…” (Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 17:19; 18:42). He also told us that “all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Do we have that confidence in prayer?
8. We should pray with perseverance — “He defers the granting to increase our desire and appreciation” says St. Augustine. Our Lord Himself said: “Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Luke 11:8-9).
If we would only pray in the above manner, we would be amazed at the response our prayers would bring from Heaven! Keep in mind the words of St. Augustine: “The man who knows how to pray well, is the one who knows how to live well.” Which, for our purposes, translates into “Drive well, and you’ll win the race! Pray well, and you’ll get the grace!”
The Penance Part
You could say that the “prayer part” to Lent is like an athlete’s mental attitude. The “penance part” of Lent to be likened to the athlete’s bodily fitness. Winners are usually those athletes who are both mentally strong and physically fit and strong. The same can be said to be true of the spiritual life—which is why, when asked by His Apostles why they had failed to cast out the devil from a young boy, Our Lord replied: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
Wholly Wholesome Holy & Whole
Therefore, we need to use our WHOLE being in our spiritual warfare and in the spiritual race for Heaven—not just soul, but body too—for a human being is a composite of body and soul. Which is why Holy Scripture powerfully and almost severely commands both elements in unmistakably strong terms: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! [and Our Lord then repeats Himself two verses later] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5) … “The Lord delayeth not his promise [of punishment], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” (2 Peter 3:9) … “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23).
In fact, things are so intertwined, that we could say that prayer and penance are just as necessary for one and the other. We must pray with the mind and mortify the mind. We must pray with the body and mortify the body.
Furthermore, just as in a good healthy, nourishing diet, there has to be a balance and a variety in our prayers and penances. As in a diet we must have proper proportions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, so too in our spiritual diet we have to have a balance between various bodily ‘proteins’, ‘carbohydrates’ and ‘fats’ and mental ‘proteins’, ‘carbohydrates’ and ‘fats’—in order to avoid become one-dimensional and restricted in our spirituality.
Specific Penances for Specific Sins
Prayer and Fasting are among the best penances that can be undertaken—as Our Lord points out: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20). Yet we must also remember that—in both Hell and Purgatory—sins are punished in a specific way that somehow corresponds to the type of sin committed. Thus, the murderer will be punished differently to the drunkard. The adulterer differently to the slanderer or detractor. The thief differently to the blasphemer, and so on and on and on. Likewise, our penances can and should correspond to our sins, even while we live on Earth. Everyone is different and so everyone’s sins differ from his or her neighbor’s sins. Therefore the appropriate penance will also be different. The general rule of thumb being—as St. Ignatius says in his Spiritual Exercises—“agere contra”, which literally means “act against” or “act in opposition to”—which more precisely means “do the opposite.”
Therefore, if you are naturally a critical person, then be more praising and more accepting. If you are stingy, then be more generous. If you are lazy, be more industrious. If too inattentive, show more attention. If too untidy, show a greater tidiness. If too timid, be more courageous. If too angry, be more meek. If never wrong, start apologizing for your errors. If lukewarm, be more fervent. If a constant complainer, thank God more for your lot in life. If greedy, be temperate. If proud, accept humiliations gladly. If always excusing yourself, blame yourself more. If unhelpful, be more helpful. You see the principle being used—the list is as endless as sins are endless in their nuances. The bedrock or foundation to all this can and should be prayer and fasting, but built on top of the foundation should be an individual building of tailor-made penance that corresponds to one’s own personal sins.
Start Planning Now!
Let’s be honest and admit it—we are not going to plan and put into practice such a tailor-made approach to penance on Ash Wednesday. The only place “winging-it” will get you to is the “Hall of Fame of Failure!” As you sow, so shall you reap. “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Take a sheet of paper and write down your CHIEF faults—which are often those we do not want to face, or downplay, or even deny! If you’re not sure—then ask some honest, non-flattering, people around you who know you very well. Just don’t fall-out with them or injure them when the hit the nail on the head!
Once you have a STARTER list (you can add more as you start to diminish the frequency in committing the sins list in this first batch), then start to examine them in detail—when, where, how to they arise? With or against whom? What means are you avoiding to take, that could reduce these sins? Do you pray daily, even many times daily, asking for the grace to overcome them? Do you mortify yourself to avoid them? Do you punish yourself in some way after having committed them? List a variety of ways and methods open to you to overcome them—if unsure, consult with your confessor. Write down a series of heavier and heavier self-inflicted punishments or sanctions for every successive time you fail and fall. Make those sins the regular part of your confession, reporting if they have increased or decreased since your last confession.
Make Lent a Family Affair, Not Just Individual
Our Lord sent out His disciples in pairs—two-by-two—knowing full well that mutual support is necessary for courage, perseverance and success. The Legion of Mary also works this way—sending out its Legionaries in pairs as much as possible. In normal times, parishes had a least two priests stationed there—until the Post-Vatican fall in vocations shot-down that ideal in many places. God even made man and woman as a twosome in marriage. Pilots have their co-pilots. Presidents have Vice-Presidents. We often—though not always—work better as a team than we do alone.
Furthermore, on Judgement Day, it will not only be individuals that are judged, but also nations, states, communities, religious orders, parishes, schools, and even families. Therefore, as a family, it makes sense to approach Lent, not just from an individual perspective, but also from a family perspective. What was said of an individual assessment of one person’s chief sins, can also be applied to a ‘family’s sins’—though this is a little more difficult to pinpoint and address, for everyone’s participation in a ‘family sin’ is likely to be of a different degree—some being more guilty (instigators) and other less guilty (the followers or the coerced).
Nevertheless, there are certain family traits that can be either virtuous or sinful. It takes great humility and honesty to both see and admit to those faults. To attack one or two such family faults would be a marvelous communal penance for Lent. However, this will not happen on Ash Wednesday, at the flick of a switch—serious reflection and discussion is needed to see where a family has, as a group, let God down and offended Him, either directly or indirectly by sinning against our fellow human beings: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40).
So now is the time, in a general way, to start planning for Lent—both individually or as a family or as a school or class. Parents, especially, should help their children well in advance and talk about Lent often during this Septuagesima Season, to prepare the mind and attitude of their children in good time, so that they hit the road running and with zeal, not distaste and trepidation. Some of the future Daily Thoughts articles will try to help with suggestions—while a special website page has been created to focus on this in particular: Ash Wednesday Countdown—which can be accessed under the SEPTUAGESIMA tab at the top of the page or click here.
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
Saturday February 12th
Article 24
Miracles Available! Any Takers?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 24
Miracles Available! Any Takers?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What Happened to All the Miracles? Where Did They Go?
Already back in the hey-day or height of Christianity―the 1000s to 1300s AD―one of Our Lord’s mystics asked Him why there were no longer such magnificent miracles as those that we read about in the Old and New Testaments. Our Lord replied that the chief reason was that people did not have sufficient Faith to warrant and bring about such miracles. Yet, as we saw in the previous article, miracles still happen in modern-days, though perhaps not as many as could be the case if we only had more Faith in God, a greater Hope in God and a stronger Love of God.
We nevertheless have the incredible miracle of the sun at Our Lady’s final apparition at Fatima, on October 13th, 1917. We have stream of miracles at Lourdes and countless other miracles of grace, or physical cures that never make it to the newspapers or the public eye.
Would God work a miracle for you? “Ah, no way!” you say. Yet God does work a miracle for you each and every day ― yet you are rarely there to see it! We say, when we pray the “Our Father” ― “Give us this day our daily bread!” Yet God not only gives us our “daily bread”, but He also gives us a “daily miracle”! What is that miracle? Yes, you guessed right―or you should have guessed right―it is the Holy Eucharist, our “daily Bread” from Heaven. Not only is it our “daily Bread from Heaven”, but it is also our “daily really”, our daily Real Presence of Christ with His entire Body, entire Blood, entire Soul, entire Divinity that replaces the bread and wine that His priest offered and consecrated at each daily Mass. Jesus Christ is just as really present, daily present, amongst us―just as He was present over 2,000 years ago in Galilee and Judea. The difference being that back then He was visibly present―undisguised, so to speak―whereas today He is “invisibly” present, disguised under the outward visible appearances of bread and wine. Yet using “disguise” is not something new to Jesus―we read that He even went to Jerusalem on one occasion in some form of disguise:
The Hidden Jesus, the Secret Jesus
“Jesus walked in Galilee―for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His brethren said to Him: ‘Go from here, and go into Judea [to Jerusalem]; so that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything in secret, but he himself seeks to be known openly. If Thou do these things, then manifest Thyself to the world!’ For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them: ‘My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready … Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day―because My time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up [to Jerusalem], then He also went up to the feast, NOT OPENLY, but, as it were, IN SECRET. The Jews therefore sought Him on the festival day, and said: ‘Where is He?’ And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning Him” (John 7:1-12).
Nobody Believes in the Miracle
Today, there is also “murmuring among the multitude concerning Him”, in the sense that many do not believe in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist―holding and thinking the Eucharist to be a mere symbol of Christ, but not really Christ Himself. It is a lack of Faith in the words of Christ, Who said to the Jews: “My Father gives you the true Bread from Heaven. For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world … I am the Bread of Life! … But you believe not! … I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven … I am the Bread of Life … This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven―that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh … Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me and I live by the Father; so he that eats Me, the same also shall live by Me … This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-59).
Just as most people do not believe in Christ’s miraculous Real Eucharistic Presence today, the same was true back then, as the reaction to the above quoted words of Christ was: “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This teaching is hard, and who can accept it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:53, 61, 67).
Feast of the Tabernacles―Feast in the Tabernacles!
It was not just coincidental that Our Lord went to the Feast of the Tabernacles in a “secret” manner, “not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:10). Today, Our Lord comes into our tabernacles so that we can feast upon Him―but He comes, “not openly, but, as it were, in secret” ― under the appearance of Bread. If you could change your body into bread―then it would be a miracle. That is exactly what Our Lord does―He changes the bread and wine that is offered at Mass, into His own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He becomes just as really present to us today, as He was over 2,000 years ago―but He disguises Himself under the outward appearance of the Eucharistic bread. Even when Christ first came to this sinful world, He came as God disguised as man―He was God, but He also chose to clothe Himself with human flesh.
Satan tempted Christ to perform miracles when he tempted Christ in the desert: “And the tempter, coming, said to Him: ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’” (Matthew 4:3). Christ, of course refused to “show-off” for no reason at all―but He would later turn water into wine (His first recorded miracle), and bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.
Miraculous Incarnation
The Incarnation of Christ―God taking on the flesh of man while still remaining God―was one of the greatest miracles ever to be performed. Man cannot make himself God, human nature cannot become the divine nature―never even mind the miracle of Christ taking on human nature and ALSO retaining His divine nature. He did that in order to redeem mankind from its sins. For when man sins against God, he commits an infinite offense―because the offended God is infinite. No finite man can repay an infinite offense―only an infinite Being can repay an infinite offense―and only God is infinite. Yet the offense against God through sin is a human act, an act of man―and therefore a human has to pay for that human debt. Thus sin is both a human offense (because it is committed by humans) and it is also an infinite offense (because it strikes out at the infinite God). Hence, for a full and proper reparation for that sin or all the sins of mankind, someone is needed who is both human and infinite―who is both man and God at the same time. Hence the need for the incarnation of the Son of God, whereby Christ the Son of God also becomes the “Son of man”―so that as an infinite God He can repay an infinite debt, and as man He can repay a human debt. Hence the miracle of the Incarnation. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “God alone can change the order of nature―and this is what is meant by a miracle.”
The Incarnation was not only a miracle―it was a humiliation. The infinite God becomes a mere finite man! Would you drop-down the ladder and demote yourself from being a human to being an ant, a cockroach, a spider, a mouse, a cat or a dog? If you believe in the silly doctrine of re-incarnation, then perhaps you see yourself as being an ant, a cockroach, a spider, a mouse, a cat or a dog in your past life, or perhaps that awaits you in your future life! Yet a normal sane person would never humiliate themselves to that degree―yet for God to become man was even more humiliating. God, Who, so to speak, holds the whole universe in His hand―now becomes a mere man, a mere tiny, microscopic speck compared to the whole universe that He has created.
A Miracle Just For You!
C.S. Lewis writes: “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less! … When Christ died, He died for you individually―just as much as if you had been the only man in the world!” As Holy Scripture says: “God will [i.e., wants to] have all men to be saved … Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 2:4; 1:15). Christ Himself says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners! … Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32; Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:13).
Consider how God healed Naaman the Syrian from leprosy (4 Kings 5:1-15) or the angelic vision of the unbaptized Cornelius (Acts 10:3). Received into a Gentile home in Sarephta in Sidonia, God worked miracles for the Gentile widow through His prophet Elias, who performed the remarkable miracle of replenishing the flour and oil, then later restored the widow’s dead son to life (3 Kings 17:9-24). Our Lord healed a number of persons who were not of the true religion (Judaism back then, Catholicism today). We have the miracles Our Lord performed for the non-Jewish centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13) and the non-Jewish Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30). Then we have the miraculous healing of the ten lepers, one of whom was certainly a non-Jew, for the Gospel tells us he was a Samaritan, who were enemies of the Jews. Yet, the only one of the ten who returned to glorify God and thank Christ — was the Samaritan (Luke 17:16). Many who were miraculously healed were not Jews: “Jesus went about all Galilee, healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity, among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria [the Syrians were Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews], and they presented to Him all sick people that were taken with various different diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy―and He cured them” (Matthew 4:23-24). Our Lord performed miracles for His enemies―as we see in the case of Malchus, who had come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and had his ear cut-off by Peter’s sword blow: “And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus touched his ear, and He healed him” (Luke 22:50-51).
God even performs miracles using unworthy persons. When a priest celebrates Mass in a state of mortal sin, Christ still performs the miracle through the priest of making the bread and wine become His Body and Blood. When person in mortal sin goes to Confession, a miracle of grace is performed by God, Who, through the instrument of the priest, restores grace to that sinful soul―something beyond the natural powers of the sinner and beyond the natural powers of the priest. The Scribes and Pharisees were scandalized when Our Lord said to a sick man: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!” For in their eyes this was above the natural powers of man―and they thought Jesus was a mere man, and not God.
“And they came to Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed, which was carried by four men. And they sought to bring him in and to lay him before Jesus. And when they could not find any means by which they might bring him in―because of the crowd―they went up upon the roof and they uncovered the part of the roof where Jesus was, and lowered him down, through the tiles with his bed, into the midst of the crowd before Jesus. When Jesus had seen their faith, he said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And the Scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying: ‘Who is this who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering, He said to them: ‘What is it you think in your hearts? Which is it easier to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee” or to say, “Arise and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins’ (he saith to the sick of the palsy) ‘I say to thee, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!”’ And immediately rising up before them, in the sight of everyone, he took up the bed on which he lay, and he went away, in the sight of all, to his own house, glorifying God. And all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw anything like this!’” (Luke 5:18-25; Matthew 9:2-7; Mark 2:3-12).
Already back in the hey-day or height of Christianity―the 1000s to 1300s AD―one of Our Lord’s mystics asked Him why there were no longer such magnificent miracles as those that we read about in the Old and New Testaments. Our Lord replied that the chief reason was that people did not have sufficient Faith to warrant and bring about such miracles. Yet, as we saw in the previous article, miracles still happen in modern-days, though perhaps not as many as could be the case if we only had more Faith in God, a greater Hope in God and a stronger Love of God.
We nevertheless have the incredible miracle of the sun at Our Lady’s final apparition at Fatima, on October 13th, 1917. We have stream of miracles at Lourdes and countless other miracles of grace, or physical cures that never make it to the newspapers or the public eye.
Would God work a miracle for you? “Ah, no way!” you say. Yet God does work a miracle for you each and every day ― yet you are rarely there to see it! We say, when we pray the “Our Father” ― “Give us this day our daily bread!” Yet God not only gives us our “daily bread”, but He also gives us a “daily miracle”! What is that miracle? Yes, you guessed right―or you should have guessed right―it is the Holy Eucharist, our “daily Bread” from Heaven. Not only is it our “daily Bread from Heaven”, but it is also our “daily really”, our daily Real Presence of Christ with His entire Body, entire Blood, entire Soul, entire Divinity that replaces the bread and wine that His priest offered and consecrated at each daily Mass. Jesus Christ is just as really present, daily present, amongst us―just as He was present over 2,000 years ago in Galilee and Judea. The difference being that back then He was visibly present―undisguised, so to speak―whereas today He is “invisibly” present, disguised under the outward visible appearances of bread and wine. Yet using “disguise” is not something new to Jesus―we read that He even went to Jerusalem on one occasion in some form of disguise:
The Hidden Jesus, the Secret Jesus
“Jesus walked in Galilee―for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His brethren said to Him: ‘Go from here, and go into Judea [to Jerusalem]; so that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything in secret, but he himself seeks to be known openly. If Thou do these things, then manifest Thyself to the world!’ For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them: ‘My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready … Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day―because My time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up [to Jerusalem], then He also went up to the feast, NOT OPENLY, but, as it were, IN SECRET. The Jews therefore sought Him on the festival day, and said: ‘Where is He?’ And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning Him” (John 7:1-12).
Nobody Believes in the Miracle
Today, there is also “murmuring among the multitude concerning Him”, in the sense that many do not believe in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist―holding and thinking the Eucharist to be a mere symbol of Christ, but not really Christ Himself. It is a lack of Faith in the words of Christ, Who said to the Jews: “My Father gives you the true Bread from Heaven. For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world … I am the Bread of Life! … But you believe not! … I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven … I am the Bread of Life … This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven―that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh … Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me and I live by the Father; so he that eats Me, the same also shall live by Me … This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-59).
Just as most people do not believe in Christ’s miraculous Real Eucharistic Presence today, the same was true back then, as the reaction to the above quoted words of Christ was: “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This teaching is hard, and who can accept it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:53, 61, 67).
Feast of the Tabernacles―Feast in the Tabernacles!
It was not just coincidental that Our Lord went to the Feast of the Tabernacles in a “secret” manner, “not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:10). Today, Our Lord comes into our tabernacles so that we can feast upon Him―but He comes, “not openly, but, as it were, in secret” ― under the appearance of Bread. If you could change your body into bread―then it would be a miracle. That is exactly what Our Lord does―He changes the bread and wine that is offered at Mass, into His own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He becomes just as really present to us today, as He was over 2,000 years ago―but He disguises Himself under the outward appearance of the Eucharistic bread. Even when Christ first came to this sinful world, He came as God disguised as man―He was God, but He also chose to clothe Himself with human flesh.
Satan tempted Christ to perform miracles when he tempted Christ in the desert: “And the tempter, coming, said to Him: ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread!’” (Matthew 4:3). Christ, of course refused to “show-off” for no reason at all―but He would later turn water into wine (His first recorded miracle), and bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.
Miraculous Incarnation
The Incarnation of Christ―God taking on the flesh of man while still remaining God―was one of the greatest miracles ever to be performed. Man cannot make himself God, human nature cannot become the divine nature―never even mind the miracle of Christ taking on human nature and ALSO retaining His divine nature. He did that in order to redeem mankind from its sins. For when man sins against God, he commits an infinite offense―because the offended God is infinite. No finite man can repay an infinite offense―only an infinite Being can repay an infinite offense―and only God is infinite. Yet the offense against God through sin is a human act, an act of man―and therefore a human has to pay for that human debt. Thus sin is both a human offense (because it is committed by humans) and it is also an infinite offense (because it strikes out at the infinite God). Hence, for a full and proper reparation for that sin or all the sins of mankind, someone is needed who is both human and infinite―who is both man and God at the same time. Hence the need for the incarnation of the Son of God, whereby Christ the Son of God also becomes the “Son of man”―so that as an infinite God He can repay an infinite debt, and as man He can repay a human debt. Hence the miracle of the Incarnation. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “God alone can change the order of nature―and this is what is meant by a miracle.”
The Incarnation was not only a miracle―it was a humiliation. The infinite God becomes a mere finite man! Would you drop-down the ladder and demote yourself from being a human to being an ant, a cockroach, a spider, a mouse, a cat or a dog? If you believe in the silly doctrine of re-incarnation, then perhaps you see yourself as being an ant, a cockroach, a spider, a mouse, a cat or a dog in your past life, or perhaps that awaits you in your future life! Yet a normal sane person would never humiliate themselves to that degree―yet for God to become man was even more humiliating. God, Who, so to speak, holds the whole universe in His hand―now becomes a mere man, a mere tiny, microscopic speck compared to the whole universe that He has created.
A Miracle Just For You!
C.S. Lewis writes: “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less! … When Christ died, He died for you individually―just as much as if you had been the only man in the world!” As Holy Scripture says: “God will [i.e., wants to] have all men to be saved … Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 2:4; 1:15). Christ Himself says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners! … Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32; Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:13).
Consider how God healed Naaman the Syrian from leprosy (4 Kings 5:1-15) or the angelic vision of the unbaptized Cornelius (Acts 10:3). Received into a Gentile home in Sarephta in Sidonia, God worked miracles for the Gentile widow through His prophet Elias, who performed the remarkable miracle of replenishing the flour and oil, then later restored the widow’s dead son to life (3 Kings 17:9-24). Our Lord healed a number of persons who were not of the true religion (Judaism back then, Catholicism today). We have the miracles Our Lord performed for the non-Jewish centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13) and the non-Jewish Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30). Then we have the miraculous healing of the ten lepers, one of whom was certainly a non-Jew, for the Gospel tells us he was a Samaritan, who were enemies of the Jews. Yet, the only one of the ten who returned to glorify God and thank Christ — was the Samaritan (Luke 17:16). Many who were miraculously healed were not Jews: “Jesus went about all Galilee, healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity, among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria [the Syrians were Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews], and they presented to Him all sick people that were taken with various different diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy―and He cured them” (Matthew 4:23-24). Our Lord performed miracles for His enemies―as we see in the case of Malchus, who had come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and had his ear cut-off by Peter’s sword blow: “And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus touched his ear, and He healed him” (Luke 22:50-51).
God even performs miracles using unworthy persons. When a priest celebrates Mass in a state of mortal sin, Christ still performs the miracle through the priest of making the bread and wine become His Body and Blood. When person in mortal sin goes to Confession, a miracle of grace is performed by God, Who, through the instrument of the priest, restores grace to that sinful soul―something beyond the natural powers of the sinner and beyond the natural powers of the priest. The Scribes and Pharisees were scandalized when Our Lord said to a sick man: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!” For in their eyes this was above the natural powers of man―and they thought Jesus was a mere man, and not God.
“And they came to Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed, which was carried by four men. And they sought to bring him in and to lay him before Jesus. And when they could not find any means by which they might bring him in―because of the crowd―they went up upon the roof and they uncovered the part of the roof where Jesus was, and lowered him down, through the tiles with his bed, into the midst of the crowd before Jesus. When Jesus had seen their faith, he said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And the Scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying: ‘Who is this who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering, He said to them: ‘What is it you think in your hearts? Which is it easier to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee” or to say, “Arise and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins’ (he saith to the sick of the palsy) ‘I say to thee, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!”’ And immediately rising up before them, in the sight of everyone, he took up the bed on which he lay, and he went away, in the sight of all, to his own house, glorifying God. And all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw anything like this!’” (Luke 5:18-25; Matthew 9:2-7; Mark 2:3-12).
Tuesday February 8th & Wednesday Febuary 9th & Thursday February 10th
Article 23
There is a Vaccine That Works, But We Refuse to Take It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 23
There is a Vaccine That Works, But We Refuse to Take It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Vaccine of Life and the Vaccine of Death
All around us we see a culture of death that seeks to force upon us a vaccine of death while pretending that it is a vaccine of life! One should rightly and indignantly feel like telling them to go and “stick-it”―stick it themselves and not others. Some do “stick-it” in themselves―but, as has been discovered, there are various batches of vaccines―some are merely placebo saline solutions; others batches are incapacitators and disease causers; while other batches are pure cold-blooded killers, that will kill over a shorter or longer period of time―all for the “good and noble cause” of depopulation and control. The top officials and personalities have no problem lining up to be “vaccinated” because they know and have been promised that they will merely be injected with a placebo saline solution (or perhaps with whisky, brandy or some pleasure drug―all in the line of duty of conning the sheeple to come and be injected with something far more deadly.
“Do unto others as you would have it done unto you!” Our current culture of death ― which has no qualms in cold-bloodedly murdering babies under the euphemisms of “abortion”, “planned parenthood” or “pro-choice” ― has no qualms in committing adult murder, or adult “abortions” under the agenda of “planned population” but without their being any “pro-choice” or “pro-life” stances allowed. You take the jab―or else! No―you can’t say (with the abortionists): “It’s my body and I can do what I want with it!” Today, faced with the jab, the authorities say: “You’re a nobody and we can do what we want with your body!” If you refuse―then there are many options that we could choose to use―you could lose your job; lose your rights; lose your freedom; lose your children; lose your loved ones!
Just as is the case with Our Lord, the vaccine issue divides and separates. Our Lord said of Himself and His doctrine: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). There shall be “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism!” (Ephesians 4:5). “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned!” (Mark 16:16). “For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
The vaccine issue has done the same―it has not brought peace, but division and separation; it has divided families, divided workers, divided doctors, divided politicians, divided churchmen, divided the laity. People are being hauled before councils and courts, governors and rulers for refusing the vaccine. Brother is delivering brother to the risk of death or serious injury by recommending the “Doctrine of the Vaccine” or “Vaccine Propaganda.” Doctors are preaching the “Doctrine of the Vaccine” for every man, woman and child―they are false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing! Children are delivering parents over to “Vaccine Indoctrination” and an “Immunization of Dehumanization”. There shall be “one World Order, one World Religion, one Worldwide Vaccine!” Those who refuse to believe in the Vaccine and refuse to be “baptized” with the Vaccine, are condemned and hated by all men for the Vaccine’s sake! When persecuted in one city, we should flee to another for safety!
Christ the True “Vaccine” of Life
These horrendous experimental vaccines being forced upon the world’s population are not the way, not the truth and being not life―but disease and death! Christ is the true “Vaccine” that brings true life to the world and Who seeks to be “injected” into our souls by means of the Holy Eucharist and His Divine Grace ― “He that eateth My Fesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him … Abide in Me, and I in you … If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 6:57; 15:4-6). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10). “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:54-55).
The Vaccine propagandists and propagators―the peons of the prince of this world, Satan―similarly say: “He who takes my Vaccine will abide in me and I in them. If any choose not to abide in me and allow my Vaccine to abide in them, then we will gather them together and cast them into camps! The Vaccine is the way, the truth and the life―you will take boosters of the Vaccine for the rest of your life! Unless you take the Vaccine, you shall not have a life that is worth living!”
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). The “Elites” so hate the world, as to give the world their begotten Vaccine, that whosoever believes and receives the vaccine, may perish and no longer have life.
Christ gives us eternal life through His death―the Vaccine takes away our life and gives us death! Christ “was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins … and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaias 53:5). The Vaccine iniquitously wounds our health and by it we are diseased.
In the Sacrament of Confession, Christ restores grace and health to our wounded soul and gives us a “passport” to Holy Communion. The Vaccine robs us of our health and is a passport to more sickness, disease and death.
Christ teaches us that there is no salvation outside His Church ― “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). The Vaccine propagandists, propagators and indoctrinators teach that there is no “salvation” without the Vaccine.
The Church teaches that we must receive Holy Communion at least once a year―and failure to do so makes one guilty of mortal sin. The Vaccine propagandists and propagators teach that we must receive a Vaccine Booster at least once a year, and preferably more often―and failure to do so is a “mortal sin” against society.
Holy Communion Heals!
In his classic work on the Holy Eucharist, entitled The Blessed Eucharist, written in the middle of the nineteenth century, Fr. Michael Muller, C.SS.R., relates many miracles of the Holy Eucharist, among which are the following two stories of miraculous healing through the Holy Eurcharist.
The first story, dating back to 1824, is that of a woman named Mrs. Ann Mattingly of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Mrs. Mattingly had been suffering from a dangerous, incurable cancer for seven years and was clearly at death’s door. She made a novena in honor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and at the end of the novena she received Holy Communion. She knew that the time had come when she would either die or be restored to health, and as she received Holy Communion she uttered the words: “Lord Jesus, Thy holy will be glorified!” Her tongue was so rough and parched that she was unable to swallow the Sacred Host for five or six minutes, but the moment she swallowed it, all pain instantly left her. She was healed immediately. She knelt down and gave thanks to God, and hundreds of visitors streamed into her home for the rest of the day to witness the miracle.
Fr. Muller also recounts the story of a young woman, Ann de Clery, of Metz, France, whose health began to decline at the age of thirteen, and who eventually suffered an incurable paralysis, which was to plague her for almost ten years. She was thin and weak because she wasn’t able to digest food. Throughout the day she suffered from violent headaches and intense pain. Yet, she was totally resigned to God’s will for those nine years, and spent her time embroidering altar cloths. A priest brought her Holy Communion every week.
At that point, in the year 1867, an extraordinary event took place. When Ann learned that the Forty Hours Devotion would be celebrated at a nearly church, she insisted on participating. For the first two days, she was not able to attend because of the precarious state of her health. But on the third day, her family carried her there. A nurse held Ann on her knees, though Ann was twenty-three years old. Ann fixed her attention on the Blessed Sacrament and prayed the prayer she would always pray before receiving Holy Communion: “Lord, you can heal me if you so desire!” At first a violent pain racked her whole body. Then she felt as though she was penetrated with faith and hope, and became conscious that she was cured. She threw herself on her knees and shouted, “Pray, pray! I am cured!” Ann then rose to her feet and walked out of the church with only the help of her mother’s arm. Tears and sobs mingled with the people’s prayers. At home, her mother discovered that the knots Ann had had under her knees had completely disappeared. Afterwards, Ann returned to the church, and spent forty-five minutes on her knees before the Blessed Sacrament, without feeling the least bit of pain or fatigue. In an instant, she was completely healed. All the ailments that afflicted her disappeared along with the paralysis, and she did not exhibit any of the usual signs of weakness that follow a long illness.
We all know about the miraculous healing waters of Lourdes in France. One such miracle was of a sudden cure recorded by a physician who was part of the examining board at the Lourdes shrine. According to this physician the sudden healing of a women dying of cancer was the most medically remarkable experience he had in his two decades of working with the examining board. She arrived at Lourdes in a dying condition. First she was immersed at the water at Lourdes. The first effect of bathing in that water of Lourdes was excruciating pain. Then the pain ceased but the cancer remained. It was only the next day, when the priest blessed her with the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance, that she was immediately cured of her cancerous condition.
Another case was that of Jeanne Fretel, aged 31, a student nurse from Rennes, France, visited Lourdes on May 10th, 1948. In 1937, Jeanne, then 23 years old, contracted a serious and mysterious illness. Her abdomen grew rock-hard and was painful to the touch. Blood came from her nose, mouth, and intestines. Over an eleven-year period, she underwent thirteen different operations, but nothing helped. Eventually, she was diagnosed with tubercular peritonitis. On four occasions, her priest administered last rites. Several of Jeanne's friends convinced her to go to Lourdes. By the time she arrived there in October 1948, she had been virtually comatose for three months. Her bandages had to be changed twenty times per day. Due to her condition, she was taken immediately to the Rosary Basilica where Mass was being held. Father Roques was one of the priests there and tried to give her Communion. With the help of her friend, he put part of it in her mouth. Just seconds later, she awoke from her near-comatose state. She had not yet bathed in or drunk the water. Jeanne was moved into the grotto where Bernadette had her vision. That night, she felt someone lift her to a sitting position. She looked for the person, but saw no one. The presence then took her hands and placed them on her stomach. She felt that she was immediately cured. Soon, she could stand for the first time in years. She felt hungry and was able to eat without problems. She was taken to be bathed in the Lourdes waters a few hours later. The next day, a group of doctors came to examine her. Virtually every symptom of her illness had disappeared. She was released in November 1948 and returned to her home. Her cure was recognized officially over two years later, on November 11th 1950, by the medical team on the Lourdes Medical Bureau.
Miraculously Healed Sister Who Became a Miraculous Healer
Briege McKenna was born on Pentecost Sunday in 1946, in Newry, a remote part of County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Her father was a tenant farmer and her mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage when Briege was 13. She later revealed: “As I cried that night, I heard a voice say: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you!’ The next morning I knew I wanted to be a nun!” Her father was heartbroken at her decision, but he told her: “If that’s what you want, go ahead, and if it’s not what you want, you’ll know it.”
Around a year later, at age 14, Briege entered the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Clare (The Poor Clares) in her hometown. When she later took her first vows, reveals: “As I knelt in the chapel, waiting to be called up, I saw Jesus dressed as the Good Shepherd coming to me to take my hand, saying: ‘Come with Me!’” During her training she fell ill and was heartbroken, in 1965, when she learned that she had developed rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling condition.
After her religious profession two years later―still suffering from a progressively worsening rheumatoid arthritis―she was sent across the Atlantic, in 1967, to her community’s convent in Tampa, Florida as a teacher―in the hope that the climate would be beneficial to her illness―but her condition continually deteriorated. She wore plaster casts and lived in constant pain. By age 23, she was taking 30 pills a day and receiving shots of cortisone. She states: “I cried with the pain! I used to faint with pain! The doctor said that there was no hope for me and that before long I would be confined to a wheelchair.” Meanwhile Sr. Briege also began to experience immense spiritual pain and dryness. “I didn’t believe that Jesus would heal me,” she wrote in her book. “I believed that if I had gone to Lourdes, or some other place, there might be a healing, but I did not believe that healing could happen in normal daily living ... I even began to ask myself whether I really believed in Jesus,” she revealed.
But the skeptical nun’s belief system was in for a jolt when one day, while on a spiritual retreat, she prayed at Mass for more Faith. What happened next began a remarkable chapter her life. Sr. Briege explains: “I attended a retreat in December 1970. I listened to talks on the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. During the retreat I remember looking at the clock as I closed my eyes. It was 8:45 a.m., December 9th, 1970. The only prayer I said was: ‘Jesus, please help me! Please come to me!’ At that moment, I felt a hand touch my head, I opened my eyes and no one was there, but there was a power going through my body. I looked down. My knees, my one knee was very badly affected. My feet were badly affected. My fingers had been stiff, but not deformed like my feet. There had been sores on my elbows. I looked at myself. My fingers were limber, the sores were gone from my elbows and I could see that my feet, in sandals, were no longer deformed. In one instant, everything left, and I jumped up screaming: ‘Jesus! You’re really here!’ At that moment ― even though I was cured exteriorly ― interiorly I fell in love with Jesus, with the Faith, with Faith and everything spiritual that I had!”
Sr. Briege was cured. Her rheumatoid arthritis never returned to this day. Doctors were and still are baffled by her recovery, but Sr. Briege needs no explanation. For her it is simply the power of the touch of the healing hand of God. Sr. Briege’s miraculous recovery was just the beginning of a whole new life for her. Not only had she been healed herself, but she would also receive from God the gift of healing, and a powerful gift of insight.
A few months later, in 1971, she said she was paid another supernatural visit while she was in church. “The next thing I know a voice spoke audibly and said: ‘Briege, you have My gift of healing. Go and use it!’ ― and this power went through me and my two hands started burning.” A first grade teacher at the time, she said she wanted no part of a healing ministry. I said: ‘Jesus, I don’t want any gift of healing! You keep it yourself!’ I didn’t want it―I thought they’ll think I’m hearing voices and I’m going to be going to a psychiatric hospital!”
Sr. Briege was reluctant to take on a healing ministry, in fact she put the idea completely out of her head―but the Lord will not take no for an answer. She explains: “I was at a prayer meeting, I wasn’t going to talk about healing, but as I got up a lady jumped up and said: ‘Excuse me, Sister, I want to say something. You have the gift of healing. You know about it, but you are more worried about the approval of people than you are about God’s will’. I looked at her and said: ‘I’ve never seen you in my life, who are you?’” The lady had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal what was special about Sr. Briege.
Sr. Briege eventually embraced her gifts and God is doing wonderful things through her. It would be easy to get proud with such gifts, but Sr. Briege keeps her feet firmly on the ground: “I had a big problem. After my own dramatic healing and then receiving the gift of healing others, I was worried because so many people were coming to me. In less than one year, so many healings were taking place, that the people wanted to make a saint out of me, even asking for relics ― some cloth from an old habit, my hair trimmings, etc. I was astounded and disturbed by it! And then there was the way that some people wanted to touch me ― as if they would be healed or graced by doing so. I loved the people, but I did not like what was happening. There was a danger that, instead of directing people to the Lord or to the Mass, they had come just to see me. I certainly knew that, of myself, I had absolutely no power, and that it was Jesus Who was doing the healing; that I was only His chosen instrument. However, even to be chosen by Him was itself an extraordinary gift. Pride could step in, and one could begin to believe that one is better than other people. In a certain way, I felt that I was becoming a celebrity, and I knew that it was neither true, nor good for my soul!”
“I am convinced that no one can do more than become a signpost that points to Him, to help others discover Him in their own hearts and permit Him to give them great blessings … I think my mission is to bring hope to people. Hope not in me, but in Jesus. The great thing about the Lord is that he never gives a cross to a person that he won’t give them the strength to carry, if they come to him. Sometimes people think when they’re sick that it’s because of something they did wrong or that Jesus doesn’t love them, which is a complete misunderstanding of his teaching on suffering. It’s very difficult when you see somebody suffering to say to them that Jesus wants you to offer this to him. But in my experience, that’s where they get grace, and I’m just the signpost.”
“I don’t believe physical healing is the most important. Many people have perfect health but they are miserable; others are ill, but they are filled with joy … I often tell the story of the father who couldn’t accept that his child was dying. He was desperate. When the child died, he came to me and said: ‘Two days ago I couldn’t have found the strength to cope with it, but today I have the strength!’ You have to believe that Jesus gives the grace when the time comes. I remember visiting a home where there was a young couple, with four children ranging from the ages of two to eight years, and they were all dying with disease. The parents were radiant! They wouldn’t let them go into hospital, but were taking care of them at home. One of their children had already died. I said to the mother: ‘How could you be so joyous?’ She said: ‘We get the grace from God to tell these children that Jesus is beautiful, and that where their little brother went is beautiful, and we keep telling them not to be afraid!’ That’s grace at work! … Joy is a gift and doesn’t depend on circumstances. You can be going through terrible suffering and tragedy and still have joy. What the world is telling you is that if you get close to God you can’t have any joy, or that people who are suffering can’t have joy, instead of realizing that these attributes and gifts do not depend on the circumstances of your life. You meet people with the most horrible suffering and look at their faces and see joy. Joy is a gift God gives.”
Many Miraculous Healings
Sister Briege McKenna says that in less than one year, since God had given her the power of healing others, “so many healings were taking place … I had a big problem. After my own dramatic healing and then receiving the gift of healing others, I was worried because so many people were coming to me. There was a danger that, instead of directing people to the Lord or to the Mass, they had come just to see me. I certainly knew that, of myself, I had absolutely no power, and that it was Jesus Who was doing the healing; that I was only His chosen instrument. However, even to be chosen by Him was itself an extraordinary gift. Pride could step in, and one could begin to believe that one is better than other people. In a certain way, I felt that I was becoming a celebrity, and I knew that it was neither true, nor good for my soul. I went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, and begged Our Lady for help. I asked Her, to please keep me in the heart of the Church, and to show me how to integrate this healing ministry into the life of the Church. I remember sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Exposition one day, just praying to Our Lady. Then I went down to the Grotto. A pilgrimage was taking place of mentally handicapped children, and as I watched them being assisted from Mass, I remember thinking and knowing that Mary will show me the way.”
The Miracles in El Paso
In 1972, Sr. Briege came back to America, and three weeks later she got a phone call from Fr. Rick Thomas. He had a special ministry across the border in Mexico. He said to her: “I would love to have you come and visit the poor at the garbage dump and pray with them. You can help with the healings. Their need is so great!” She explained that given her existing commitments, she had only an evening and a morning available, and he responded: “That’s fine. God doesn’t need a long time. On your way back from California, stop off and stay overnight.” She arrived in El Paso and, that same evening, the priest drove her directly out to the dump, and he told her: “They do not have a clue as to who you are, and it does not matter. When the time comes, I will just get you to say a prayer with them, and God will do the rest.”
When they arrived at the dump, Sr. Briege witnessed scenes she will never forget. On the Texan border with Mexico, there is the Rio Grande, the river which Mexicans try to cross to get into the U.S. They are driven back by border police. These are poor Mexicans, who squat and live at the garbage dump, and their children, are born there. As Fr. Thomas showed Sr. Briege around, she was horrified by the sheer squalor. She had given retreats in South America, but she had never seen anything like this. When Fr. Thomas told her that he was going to celebrate Mass there for them the next morning, she was somewhat taken aback, wondering how Mass could be celebrated with any dignity in such an environment. What would the people know or understand? The children were running around wild like little animals. She was horrified at thinking that, in that place with those people; they will not be able to comprehend what happens during Mass. Anyway, the next morning, she, a small group of young Mexican Americans, and Fr. Rick Thomas set out for the dump. He brought a little table and all the Mass requirements. When they arrived, already up to 1,000 people were there, and more were coming!
The Healing Holy Miraculous Sacrifice of the Mass
The Mass started, and although Sr. Briege has been a daily communicant since she was 12 years old, she said that that Mass had changed her life! Before the Mass began, she watched an old woman coming in, carrying a bundle on her shoulder. At first, Sr. Briege thought that it was some form of a gift for Fr. Thomas. But, when the old woman opened up the cloth, in it there was a little child, completely burned from head to foot, filthy dirty, and screaming! The woman looked at Fr. Thomas, and with great compassion, she said: “Please bless him! I found him smoldering when I was coming across the mountain!” She had picked him up, put him into this piece of cloth, and carried him to Fr. Thomas.
The child was practically skinless! Fr. Thomas looked at the little boy, got Sr. Briege to join with him in a prayer, and then suggested that he be placed under the table on which the Mass was to be celebrated. Sr. Briege related that once the Mass had begun, she felt and saw the presence of Jesus. When Fr. Thomas said: “Let us say the Gloria”, praises to God came forth from the tops of their voices. She had come from across the border from comfort. She had everything that she needed, but they had nothing, and yet they praised God loudly and wholeheartedly. She heard the Lord speaking to her, saying: “If my people do not praise Me, the stones will cry out!” Here were the poorest of the poor and they were radiant with praise to God. When the consecration came, she had her head down. Then she looked up and saw that Fr. Thomas holding the Host in the air for adoration. For a moment, everybody was prostrate on the ground. It was then that she had the most beautiful image of Jesus with His two hands out. He was smiling, and within herself, she heard the words of the Gospel: “Come to Me all you who are weary, and I will refresh you!” Just as she was seeing that, the people lifted up their faces and started shouting: “Viva Cristo Rey!!”… “Long live Christ the King!!” At that moment, she truly knew that Jesus was in the Host that it is not just a piece of bread, but truly Jesus, Himself. For these people, in the midst of their poverty, they had the King of Kings. They clapped, cheered, and cried: “Viva Cristo Rey!!”… “Long live Christ the King!!” She found herself weeping as she saw the great Faith of these people, and she asked herself: “Is my Faith as strong as theirs, that I may always realize that a Consecrated Host is really Jesus?”
The Healed Little Children
Mass ended and the burned little boy, who had been placed under the Mass table, had long since stopped crying. Sr. Briege went to look for him, and she was overwhelmed when she saw him. He had crawled out from under the table, was totally healed, and was playing in the sand! She went over to the old woman, and said to her: “What happened to him?” With hindsight, she realized that it was a stupid question. The old woman looked at Sr. Briege, and said: “What do you mean what happened? Didn’t Jesus come?” As Fr. Thomas consecrated the bread and wine and made Jesus present upon the altar, as the bread and wine were changed, the little boy was changed. He was given new skin!
Not only that, before the Mass, Sr. Briege saw a mother bringing in a Down Syndrome baby. The mother was a young girl, and she had this beautiful little baby in her arms, but it had all the appearances of having Down Syndrome. She and Fr. Thomas prayed over the child. At the end of the Mass, the child’s mother came running up to her, saying: “Look at my baby!” Her baby was now perfect.
There were many more healings. Sr. Briege had spent eight hours with the people, and she did not remember which ones she prayed with, but it was certainly not all of those who were healed. It was as if God had put on a display of miracles. Fr. Thomas usually did not pray with the people. All he did was celebrate the Mass. Sr. Briege spent eight hours on the mountain dump, and she went back to El Paso so overwhelmed that she could not sleep. Finally, at three a.m., she heard Jesus tell her: “Get up and pray!” She knelt at the side of the bed, and the Lord said: “You asked My Mother to help you, and to show and teach you―She brought you here! People come and seek signs and wonders. They go looking for healers and for something to help them, and they will go to anybody! Yet, I am on the altars of the world and in the tabernacles of the world, and they pass Me by. I brought you here because I have a mission for you. I want you to go to the world and speak on the power of the Eucharist. As you begin to lead people to the Eucharist, I will show you what I can do!” ― and, He is doing just that!
This occurred in 1972. Since that time, Sr. Briege has been traveling all over the world to speak about the power of the Eucharist. She says: “I see a lot of healings, I saw a beautiful young girl here a couple of months ago who had cancer of the liver and of the pancreas, a lapsed Catholic, and she came. Somebody gave her my book ― Miracles Do Happen. Her father was a doctor and she didn’t practice the Catholic Faith. They hear of Sr. Briege and they say: ‘Oh I’m going to get this nun!’ And then she became desperate for me to pray with her. So I took her to the tabernacle and I showed her ― we have a little monstrance in the door of our tabernacle ― and I said to her, “You know, Karen, that’s Jesus!” But she kept looking at it and she said: “But it’s not really Him!” I said: “Yes, it is! He’s 100% present. You can’t see Him, but He’s alive and present!” So, I encouraged her to go back, go to Confession and to go back to the Sacraments. You know what ― two months later she was completely healed! … People go to chemotherapy, they go to radiation treatment for cancer. I say: ‘You’re Catholic! We have Jesus!’”
All around us we see a culture of death that seeks to force upon us a vaccine of death while pretending that it is a vaccine of life! One should rightly and indignantly feel like telling them to go and “stick-it”―stick it themselves and not others. Some do “stick-it” in themselves―but, as has been discovered, there are various batches of vaccines―some are merely placebo saline solutions; others batches are incapacitators and disease causers; while other batches are pure cold-blooded killers, that will kill over a shorter or longer period of time―all for the “good and noble cause” of depopulation and control. The top officials and personalities have no problem lining up to be “vaccinated” because they know and have been promised that they will merely be injected with a placebo saline solution (or perhaps with whisky, brandy or some pleasure drug―all in the line of duty of conning the sheeple to come and be injected with something far more deadly.
“Do unto others as you would have it done unto you!” Our current culture of death ― which has no qualms in cold-bloodedly murdering babies under the euphemisms of “abortion”, “planned parenthood” or “pro-choice” ― has no qualms in committing adult murder, or adult “abortions” under the agenda of “planned population” but without their being any “pro-choice” or “pro-life” stances allowed. You take the jab―or else! No―you can’t say (with the abortionists): “It’s my body and I can do what I want with it!” Today, faced with the jab, the authorities say: “You’re a nobody and we can do what we want with your body!” If you refuse―then there are many options that we could choose to use―you could lose your job; lose your rights; lose your freedom; lose your children; lose your loved ones!
Just as is the case with Our Lord, the vaccine issue divides and separates. Our Lord said of Himself and His doctrine: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). There shall be “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism!” (Ephesians 4:5). “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned!” (Mark 16:16). “For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
The vaccine issue has done the same―it has not brought peace, but division and separation; it has divided families, divided workers, divided doctors, divided politicians, divided churchmen, divided the laity. People are being hauled before councils and courts, governors and rulers for refusing the vaccine. Brother is delivering brother to the risk of death or serious injury by recommending the “Doctrine of the Vaccine” or “Vaccine Propaganda.” Doctors are preaching the “Doctrine of the Vaccine” for every man, woman and child―they are false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing! Children are delivering parents over to “Vaccine Indoctrination” and an “Immunization of Dehumanization”. There shall be “one World Order, one World Religion, one Worldwide Vaccine!” Those who refuse to believe in the Vaccine and refuse to be “baptized” with the Vaccine, are condemned and hated by all men for the Vaccine’s sake! When persecuted in one city, we should flee to another for safety!
Christ the True “Vaccine” of Life
These horrendous experimental vaccines being forced upon the world’s population are not the way, not the truth and being not life―but disease and death! Christ is the true “Vaccine” that brings true life to the world and Who seeks to be “injected” into our souls by means of the Holy Eucharist and His Divine Grace ― “He that eateth My Fesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him … Abide in Me, and I in you … If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 6:57; 15:4-6). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10). “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:54-55).
The Vaccine propagandists and propagators―the peons of the prince of this world, Satan―similarly say: “He who takes my Vaccine will abide in me and I in them. If any choose not to abide in me and allow my Vaccine to abide in them, then we will gather them together and cast them into camps! The Vaccine is the way, the truth and the life―you will take boosters of the Vaccine for the rest of your life! Unless you take the Vaccine, you shall not have a life that is worth living!”
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). The “Elites” so hate the world, as to give the world their begotten Vaccine, that whosoever believes and receives the vaccine, may perish and no longer have life.
Christ gives us eternal life through His death―the Vaccine takes away our life and gives us death! Christ “was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins … and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaias 53:5). The Vaccine iniquitously wounds our health and by it we are diseased.
In the Sacrament of Confession, Christ restores grace and health to our wounded soul and gives us a “passport” to Holy Communion. The Vaccine robs us of our health and is a passport to more sickness, disease and death.
Christ teaches us that there is no salvation outside His Church ― “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). The Vaccine propagandists, propagators and indoctrinators teach that there is no “salvation” without the Vaccine.
The Church teaches that we must receive Holy Communion at least once a year―and failure to do so makes one guilty of mortal sin. The Vaccine propagandists and propagators teach that we must receive a Vaccine Booster at least once a year, and preferably more often―and failure to do so is a “mortal sin” against society.
Holy Communion Heals!
In his classic work on the Holy Eucharist, entitled The Blessed Eucharist, written in the middle of the nineteenth century, Fr. Michael Muller, C.SS.R., relates many miracles of the Holy Eucharist, among which are the following two stories of miraculous healing through the Holy Eurcharist.
The first story, dating back to 1824, is that of a woman named Mrs. Ann Mattingly of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Mrs. Mattingly had been suffering from a dangerous, incurable cancer for seven years and was clearly at death’s door. She made a novena in honor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and at the end of the novena she received Holy Communion. She knew that the time had come when she would either die or be restored to health, and as she received Holy Communion she uttered the words: “Lord Jesus, Thy holy will be glorified!” Her tongue was so rough and parched that she was unable to swallow the Sacred Host for five or six minutes, but the moment she swallowed it, all pain instantly left her. She was healed immediately. She knelt down and gave thanks to God, and hundreds of visitors streamed into her home for the rest of the day to witness the miracle.
Fr. Muller also recounts the story of a young woman, Ann de Clery, of Metz, France, whose health began to decline at the age of thirteen, and who eventually suffered an incurable paralysis, which was to plague her for almost ten years. She was thin and weak because she wasn’t able to digest food. Throughout the day she suffered from violent headaches and intense pain. Yet, she was totally resigned to God’s will for those nine years, and spent her time embroidering altar cloths. A priest brought her Holy Communion every week.
At that point, in the year 1867, an extraordinary event took place. When Ann learned that the Forty Hours Devotion would be celebrated at a nearly church, she insisted on participating. For the first two days, she was not able to attend because of the precarious state of her health. But on the third day, her family carried her there. A nurse held Ann on her knees, though Ann was twenty-three years old. Ann fixed her attention on the Blessed Sacrament and prayed the prayer she would always pray before receiving Holy Communion: “Lord, you can heal me if you so desire!” At first a violent pain racked her whole body. Then she felt as though she was penetrated with faith and hope, and became conscious that she was cured. She threw herself on her knees and shouted, “Pray, pray! I am cured!” Ann then rose to her feet and walked out of the church with only the help of her mother’s arm. Tears and sobs mingled with the people’s prayers. At home, her mother discovered that the knots Ann had had under her knees had completely disappeared. Afterwards, Ann returned to the church, and spent forty-five minutes on her knees before the Blessed Sacrament, without feeling the least bit of pain or fatigue. In an instant, she was completely healed. All the ailments that afflicted her disappeared along with the paralysis, and she did not exhibit any of the usual signs of weakness that follow a long illness.
We all know about the miraculous healing waters of Lourdes in France. One such miracle was of a sudden cure recorded by a physician who was part of the examining board at the Lourdes shrine. According to this physician the sudden healing of a women dying of cancer was the most medically remarkable experience he had in his two decades of working with the examining board. She arrived at Lourdes in a dying condition. First she was immersed at the water at Lourdes. The first effect of bathing in that water of Lourdes was excruciating pain. Then the pain ceased but the cancer remained. It was only the next day, when the priest blessed her with the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance, that she was immediately cured of her cancerous condition.
Another case was that of Jeanne Fretel, aged 31, a student nurse from Rennes, France, visited Lourdes on May 10th, 1948. In 1937, Jeanne, then 23 years old, contracted a serious and mysterious illness. Her abdomen grew rock-hard and was painful to the touch. Blood came from her nose, mouth, and intestines. Over an eleven-year period, she underwent thirteen different operations, but nothing helped. Eventually, she was diagnosed with tubercular peritonitis. On four occasions, her priest administered last rites. Several of Jeanne's friends convinced her to go to Lourdes. By the time she arrived there in October 1948, she had been virtually comatose for three months. Her bandages had to be changed twenty times per day. Due to her condition, she was taken immediately to the Rosary Basilica where Mass was being held. Father Roques was one of the priests there and tried to give her Communion. With the help of her friend, he put part of it in her mouth. Just seconds later, she awoke from her near-comatose state. She had not yet bathed in or drunk the water. Jeanne was moved into the grotto where Bernadette had her vision. That night, she felt someone lift her to a sitting position. She looked for the person, but saw no one. The presence then took her hands and placed them on her stomach. She felt that she was immediately cured. Soon, she could stand for the first time in years. She felt hungry and was able to eat without problems. She was taken to be bathed in the Lourdes waters a few hours later. The next day, a group of doctors came to examine her. Virtually every symptom of her illness had disappeared. She was released in November 1948 and returned to her home. Her cure was recognized officially over two years later, on November 11th 1950, by the medical team on the Lourdes Medical Bureau.
Miraculously Healed Sister Who Became a Miraculous Healer
Briege McKenna was born on Pentecost Sunday in 1946, in Newry, a remote part of County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Her father was a tenant farmer and her mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage when Briege was 13. She later revealed: “As I cried that night, I heard a voice say: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you!’ The next morning I knew I wanted to be a nun!” Her father was heartbroken at her decision, but he told her: “If that’s what you want, go ahead, and if it’s not what you want, you’ll know it.”
Around a year later, at age 14, Briege entered the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Clare (The Poor Clares) in her hometown. When she later took her first vows, reveals: “As I knelt in the chapel, waiting to be called up, I saw Jesus dressed as the Good Shepherd coming to me to take my hand, saying: ‘Come with Me!’” During her training she fell ill and was heartbroken, in 1965, when she learned that she had developed rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling condition.
After her religious profession two years later―still suffering from a progressively worsening rheumatoid arthritis―she was sent across the Atlantic, in 1967, to her community’s convent in Tampa, Florida as a teacher―in the hope that the climate would be beneficial to her illness―but her condition continually deteriorated. She wore plaster casts and lived in constant pain. By age 23, she was taking 30 pills a day and receiving shots of cortisone. She states: “I cried with the pain! I used to faint with pain! The doctor said that there was no hope for me and that before long I would be confined to a wheelchair.” Meanwhile Sr. Briege also began to experience immense spiritual pain and dryness. “I didn’t believe that Jesus would heal me,” she wrote in her book. “I believed that if I had gone to Lourdes, or some other place, there might be a healing, but I did not believe that healing could happen in normal daily living ... I even began to ask myself whether I really believed in Jesus,” she revealed.
But the skeptical nun’s belief system was in for a jolt when one day, while on a spiritual retreat, she prayed at Mass for more Faith. What happened next began a remarkable chapter her life. Sr. Briege explains: “I attended a retreat in December 1970. I listened to talks on the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. During the retreat I remember looking at the clock as I closed my eyes. It was 8:45 a.m., December 9th, 1970. The only prayer I said was: ‘Jesus, please help me! Please come to me!’ At that moment, I felt a hand touch my head, I opened my eyes and no one was there, but there was a power going through my body. I looked down. My knees, my one knee was very badly affected. My feet were badly affected. My fingers had been stiff, but not deformed like my feet. There had been sores on my elbows. I looked at myself. My fingers were limber, the sores were gone from my elbows and I could see that my feet, in sandals, were no longer deformed. In one instant, everything left, and I jumped up screaming: ‘Jesus! You’re really here!’ At that moment ― even though I was cured exteriorly ― interiorly I fell in love with Jesus, with the Faith, with Faith and everything spiritual that I had!”
Sr. Briege was cured. Her rheumatoid arthritis never returned to this day. Doctors were and still are baffled by her recovery, but Sr. Briege needs no explanation. For her it is simply the power of the touch of the healing hand of God. Sr. Briege’s miraculous recovery was just the beginning of a whole new life for her. Not only had she been healed herself, but she would also receive from God the gift of healing, and a powerful gift of insight.
A few months later, in 1971, she said she was paid another supernatural visit while she was in church. “The next thing I know a voice spoke audibly and said: ‘Briege, you have My gift of healing. Go and use it!’ ― and this power went through me and my two hands started burning.” A first grade teacher at the time, she said she wanted no part of a healing ministry. I said: ‘Jesus, I don’t want any gift of healing! You keep it yourself!’ I didn’t want it―I thought they’ll think I’m hearing voices and I’m going to be going to a psychiatric hospital!”
Sr. Briege was reluctant to take on a healing ministry, in fact she put the idea completely out of her head―but the Lord will not take no for an answer. She explains: “I was at a prayer meeting, I wasn’t going to talk about healing, but as I got up a lady jumped up and said: ‘Excuse me, Sister, I want to say something. You have the gift of healing. You know about it, but you are more worried about the approval of people than you are about God’s will’. I looked at her and said: ‘I’ve never seen you in my life, who are you?’” The lady had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal what was special about Sr. Briege.
Sr. Briege eventually embraced her gifts and God is doing wonderful things through her. It would be easy to get proud with such gifts, but Sr. Briege keeps her feet firmly on the ground: “I had a big problem. After my own dramatic healing and then receiving the gift of healing others, I was worried because so many people were coming to me. In less than one year, so many healings were taking place, that the people wanted to make a saint out of me, even asking for relics ― some cloth from an old habit, my hair trimmings, etc. I was astounded and disturbed by it! And then there was the way that some people wanted to touch me ― as if they would be healed or graced by doing so. I loved the people, but I did not like what was happening. There was a danger that, instead of directing people to the Lord or to the Mass, they had come just to see me. I certainly knew that, of myself, I had absolutely no power, and that it was Jesus Who was doing the healing; that I was only His chosen instrument. However, even to be chosen by Him was itself an extraordinary gift. Pride could step in, and one could begin to believe that one is better than other people. In a certain way, I felt that I was becoming a celebrity, and I knew that it was neither true, nor good for my soul!”
“I am convinced that no one can do more than become a signpost that points to Him, to help others discover Him in their own hearts and permit Him to give them great blessings … I think my mission is to bring hope to people. Hope not in me, but in Jesus. The great thing about the Lord is that he never gives a cross to a person that he won’t give them the strength to carry, if they come to him. Sometimes people think when they’re sick that it’s because of something they did wrong or that Jesus doesn’t love them, which is a complete misunderstanding of his teaching on suffering. It’s very difficult when you see somebody suffering to say to them that Jesus wants you to offer this to him. But in my experience, that’s where they get grace, and I’m just the signpost.”
“I don’t believe physical healing is the most important. Many people have perfect health but they are miserable; others are ill, but they are filled with joy … I often tell the story of the father who couldn’t accept that his child was dying. He was desperate. When the child died, he came to me and said: ‘Two days ago I couldn’t have found the strength to cope with it, but today I have the strength!’ You have to believe that Jesus gives the grace when the time comes. I remember visiting a home where there was a young couple, with four children ranging from the ages of two to eight years, and they were all dying with disease. The parents were radiant! They wouldn’t let them go into hospital, but were taking care of them at home. One of their children had already died. I said to the mother: ‘How could you be so joyous?’ She said: ‘We get the grace from God to tell these children that Jesus is beautiful, and that where their little brother went is beautiful, and we keep telling them not to be afraid!’ That’s grace at work! … Joy is a gift and doesn’t depend on circumstances. You can be going through terrible suffering and tragedy and still have joy. What the world is telling you is that if you get close to God you can’t have any joy, or that people who are suffering can’t have joy, instead of realizing that these attributes and gifts do not depend on the circumstances of your life. You meet people with the most horrible suffering and look at their faces and see joy. Joy is a gift God gives.”
Many Miraculous Healings
Sister Briege McKenna says that in less than one year, since God had given her the power of healing others, “so many healings were taking place … I had a big problem. After my own dramatic healing and then receiving the gift of healing others, I was worried because so many people were coming to me. There was a danger that, instead of directing people to the Lord or to the Mass, they had come just to see me. I certainly knew that, of myself, I had absolutely no power, and that it was Jesus Who was doing the healing; that I was only His chosen instrument. However, even to be chosen by Him was itself an extraordinary gift. Pride could step in, and one could begin to believe that one is better than other people. In a certain way, I felt that I was becoming a celebrity, and I knew that it was neither true, nor good for my soul. I went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, and begged Our Lady for help. I asked Her, to please keep me in the heart of the Church, and to show me how to integrate this healing ministry into the life of the Church. I remember sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Exposition one day, just praying to Our Lady. Then I went down to the Grotto. A pilgrimage was taking place of mentally handicapped children, and as I watched them being assisted from Mass, I remember thinking and knowing that Mary will show me the way.”
The Miracles in El Paso
In 1972, Sr. Briege came back to America, and three weeks later she got a phone call from Fr. Rick Thomas. He had a special ministry across the border in Mexico. He said to her: “I would love to have you come and visit the poor at the garbage dump and pray with them. You can help with the healings. Their need is so great!” She explained that given her existing commitments, she had only an evening and a morning available, and he responded: “That’s fine. God doesn’t need a long time. On your way back from California, stop off and stay overnight.” She arrived in El Paso and, that same evening, the priest drove her directly out to the dump, and he told her: “They do not have a clue as to who you are, and it does not matter. When the time comes, I will just get you to say a prayer with them, and God will do the rest.”
When they arrived at the dump, Sr. Briege witnessed scenes she will never forget. On the Texan border with Mexico, there is the Rio Grande, the river which Mexicans try to cross to get into the U.S. They are driven back by border police. These are poor Mexicans, who squat and live at the garbage dump, and their children, are born there. As Fr. Thomas showed Sr. Briege around, she was horrified by the sheer squalor. She had given retreats in South America, but she had never seen anything like this. When Fr. Thomas told her that he was going to celebrate Mass there for them the next morning, she was somewhat taken aback, wondering how Mass could be celebrated with any dignity in such an environment. What would the people know or understand? The children were running around wild like little animals. She was horrified at thinking that, in that place with those people; they will not be able to comprehend what happens during Mass. Anyway, the next morning, she, a small group of young Mexican Americans, and Fr. Rick Thomas set out for the dump. He brought a little table and all the Mass requirements. When they arrived, already up to 1,000 people were there, and more were coming!
The Healing Holy Miraculous Sacrifice of the Mass
The Mass started, and although Sr. Briege has been a daily communicant since she was 12 years old, she said that that Mass had changed her life! Before the Mass began, she watched an old woman coming in, carrying a bundle on her shoulder. At first, Sr. Briege thought that it was some form of a gift for Fr. Thomas. But, when the old woman opened up the cloth, in it there was a little child, completely burned from head to foot, filthy dirty, and screaming! The woman looked at Fr. Thomas, and with great compassion, she said: “Please bless him! I found him smoldering when I was coming across the mountain!” She had picked him up, put him into this piece of cloth, and carried him to Fr. Thomas.
The child was practically skinless! Fr. Thomas looked at the little boy, got Sr. Briege to join with him in a prayer, and then suggested that he be placed under the table on which the Mass was to be celebrated. Sr. Briege related that once the Mass had begun, she felt and saw the presence of Jesus. When Fr. Thomas said: “Let us say the Gloria”, praises to God came forth from the tops of their voices. She had come from across the border from comfort. She had everything that she needed, but they had nothing, and yet they praised God loudly and wholeheartedly. She heard the Lord speaking to her, saying: “If my people do not praise Me, the stones will cry out!” Here were the poorest of the poor and they were radiant with praise to God. When the consecration came, she had her head down. Then she looked up and saw that Fr. Thomas holding the Host in the air for adoration. For a moment, everybody was prostrate on the ground. It was then that she had the most beautiful image of Jesus with His two hands out. He was smiling, and within herself, she heard the words of the Gospel: “Come to Me all you who are weary, and I will refresh you!” Just as she was seeing that, the people lifted up their faces and started shouting: “Viva Cristo Rey!!”… “Long live Christ the King!!” At that moment, she truly knew that Jesus was in the Host that it is not just a piece of bread, but truly Jesus, Himself. For these people, in the midst of their poverty, they had the King of Kings. They clapped, cheered, and cried: “Viva Cristo Rey!!”… “Long live Christ the King!!” She found herself weeping as she saw the great Faith of these people, and she asked herself: “Is my Faith as strong as theirs, that I may always realize that a Consecrated Host is really Jesus?”
The Healed Little Children
Mass ended and the burned little boy, who had been placed under the Mass table, had long since stopped crying. Sr. Briege went to look for him, and she was overwhelmed when she saw him. He had crawled out from under the table, was totally healed, and was playing in the sand! She went over to the old woman, and said to her: “What happened to him?” With hindsight, she realized that it was a stupid question. The old woman looked at Sr. Briege, and said: “What do you mean what happened? Didn’t Jesus come?” As Fr. Thomas consecrated the bread and wine and made Jesus present upon the altar, as the bread and wine were changed, the little boy was changed. He was given new skin!
Not only that, before the Mass, Sr. Briege saw a mother bringing in a Down Syndrome baby. The mother was a young girl, and she had this beautiful little baby in her arms, but it had all the appearances of having Down Syndrome. She and Fr. Thomas prayed over the child. At the end of the Mass, the child’s mother came running up to her, saying: “Look at my baby!” Her baby was now perfect.
There were many more healings. Sr. Briege had spent eight hours with the people, and she did not remember which ones she prayed with, but it was certainly not all of those who were healed. It was as if God had put on a display of miracles. Fr. Thomas usually did not pray with the people. All he did was celebrate the Mass. Sr. Briege spent eight hours on the mountain dump, and she went back to El Paso so overwhelmed that she could not sleep. Finally, at three a.m., she heard Jesus tell her: “Get up and pray!” She knelt at the side of the bed, and the Lord said: “You asked My Mother to help you, and to show and teach you―She brought you here! People come and seek signs and wonders. They go looking for healers and for something to help them, and they will go to anybody! Yet, I am on the altars of the world and in the tabernacles of the world, and they pass Me by. I brought you here because I have a mission for you. I want you to go to the world and speak on the power of the Eucharist. As you begin to lead people to the Eucharist, I will show you what I can do!” ― and, He is doing just that!
This occurred in 1972. Since that time, Sr. Briege has been traveling all over the world to speak about the power of the Eucharist. She says: “I see a lot of healings, I saw a beautiful young girl here a couple of months ago who had cancer of the liver and of the pancreas, a lapsed Catholic, and she came. Somebody gave her my book ― Miracles Do Happen. Her father was a doctor and she didn’t practice the Catholic Faith. They hear of Sr. Briege and they say: ‘Oh I’m going to get this nun!’ And then she became desperate for me to pray with her. So I took her to the tabernacle and I showed her ― we have a little monstrance in the door of our tabernacle ― and I said to her, “You know, Karen, that’s Jesus!” But she kept looking at it and she said: “But it’s not really Him!” I said: “Yes, it is! He’s 100% present. You can’t see Him, but He’s alive and present!” So, I encouraged her to go back, go to Confession and to go back to the Sacraments. You know what ― two months later she was completely healed! … People go to chemotherapy, they go to radiation treatment for cancer. I say: ‘You’re Catholic! We have Jesus!’”
Sunday February 6th
Article 22
Three Days of Darkness
Part 3 : When Will They Happen?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 22
Three Days of Darkness
Part 3 : When Will They Happen?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
General Events or “The Big Picture” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy)
● The World War will not be a two-camp war, but a multi-sided war.
● Not a war only, but a world-wide revolution as well.
● Not simply a man-made holocaust, but also a God-sent chastisement, accompanied by cosmic disturbances.
● It will last about four years.
Particular Events or “Zooming In On The Big Picture” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy)
● The whole world will be involved in the fighting.
● A unique feature is the internal disintegration of the Western democracies and the invasion of Western Europe by Arab forces.
● The roles of the U.S.A. and Russia are not clear in the beginning. The U.S.A. may be involved in the Far-East, or at home, or both. The Russians may want to keep out of the fray at first, while abetting the Arab world, or may be involved in Siberia.
● Civil wars rage in Western Europe.
● The Church is persecuted; the Pope leaves Rome and dies in exile: an anti-pope is installed in Rome; the Catholic Church is split, leaderless and completely disorganized.
● Communism is victorious.
● The Mohammedans invade Europe and commit innumerable atrocities.
● In the West, however, Christians rally around an unexpected leader, an army officer of royal blood, but their chances seem very slim.
● The natural disturbances begin: floods, droughts, famines.
● A comet approaches the Earth: whole mountains split open; huge tidal waves swallow up low-lying lands; stones fall from the sky; a deadly fog or gas poisons the atmosphere; a prolonged darkness envelops the Earth.
● Two-thirds or three-fourths of the human race is wiped out.
● The powers of evil are shattered. The Christian Prince leads his growing army to battle and wins victory upon victory.
● In West Germany he crushes a Germano-Russian Army. Communism collapses everywhere.
● The Mohammedans are thrown back to the sea. The war is carried to Africa and the Middle East, where the Arab Power is dealt a deadly blow.
● At this stage, if not earlier, U.S. troops come to the assistance of Western Europe.
● Russia and China are converted to Catholicism, as also the Mohammedans. All non-Catholics return to Mother Church.
● A holy Pope is elected; he shows great firmness; and he restores all the former disciplines in the Church.
● All the nations of Western Europe unite and form a new Roman Empire, and accept as their emperor the great Christian Prince, chosen by God, who works hand-in-hand with the holy Pope. The triumph of the Catholic Church is universal.
● The whole world enjoys a period of complete peace and unprecedented prosperity in mutual love and respect among people and nations.
● This great peace will last until the coming of Antichrist.
► ALOIS IRLMAIER prophesied: “During the war the big darkness comes―which lasts 72 hours … It will become dark in a day during the war. Then a hailstorm, consisting of lightning and thunder, breaks out, and an earthquake shakes the Earth. Please do not go out of the house at that time! The lights will not work, except candle light, for the electric current stops. Whoever inhales the dust, gets a cramp and dies. Do not open the windows―cover them completely with black paper. All open-standing water becomes poisonous and also all open-standing meals, which are not in locked doses. Also no meals in glass containers, because they would not cover it up completely. Outside, the death by dust goes around, and
many humans die. After 72 hours everything will be over. But again: Do not go out of the house, do not look out of the windows, and keep the candle light burning! Keep watch and pray! Overnight more humans will die than in the two World Wars before!” (Prophecies of Alois Irlmaier, 1894-1959).
► YVES DUPONT (1922-1976), who had studied Catholic prophecy for decades and is the author of the book Catholic Prophecy. On page 37 of his pamphlet, “The Prophecies of La Fraudais, Part III”, Dupont gives an outline of the Chastisement as he saw it. Under the heading “PROXIMATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, Dupont writes:
“Here are the proximate signs in their probable order of occurrence. This, to be sure, is only my own opinion, and I may be wrong―for I am no prophet myself; but, after studying a large number of prophecies, this order appears to me to be the most likely.
(1) Flouting of Church laws, irreverence and immodesty in church, fall in attendance at church.
(2) Lack of charity towards others, heartlessness, indifference, divisions, contentions, godlessness, pride in human knowledge.
(3) Breakdown of family life: immorality, adultery, perversion of youth (e.g. homosexuals giving lectures in schools), immodest fashions (e.g. mini-skirts and hot pants, bikinis and see-throughs, and other revealing and immodest clothing), people concerned only with eating, drinking, dancing and other pleasures.
(4) Civil commotions, contempt for authority, downfall of governments, confusion in high places, corruption, coups d’états, civil war, revolution.”
(5) Floods and droughts, crop failures, unusual weather, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, famines, epidemics, unknown diseases (e.g. new strains of viruses).”
► After listing these “PROXIMATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, and before dealing with the “IMMEDIATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, Dupont writes of “THE WARNING AND THE MIRACLE”:
“These will take place between proximate and the immediate signs. Both will be supernatural occurrences, and the Miracle will closely follow the Warning. There will be a solar prodigy; a Cross will be visible in the sky all over the world. The Warning will be associated with the letter “A”. It will not fall on a feast day of Our Lady, nor on the 18th of the month.
“The Miracle will fall on the feast day of a young martyr of the Eucharist; this will be on a Thursday evening, and it will coincide with an important Church event.
“Since the Miracle is to be seen only in Northern Spain and in Rome, and since the Cross in the sky is to be seen everywhere, it seems that the latter occurrence will take place with the Warning, not with the Miracle. However, the Miracle may also have a Cross in the sky.
“During the Warning, everyone will be made aware of his/her own sinfulness, and many will wish to die, but the Warning itself will be completely harmless.
“Both the Warning and the Miracle must be viewed as the last act of mercy from God, a final appeal to mankind to do penance before the Three Days of Darkness and the destruction of three-quarters of the human race. At a time when the murder of unborn babies and the sin of Sodom and Lesbos have become respectable and, sometimes, legal, we should not wonder why God is going to punish mankind.
“By that time, war and revolution will have already caused a high death toll, and Communism will be victorious, but all this will be as nothing compared with the death toll caused by the Three Days of Darkness.”
► Then, under the heading “IMMEDIATE SIGNS”, Yves Dupont, quoting prophecies and paraphrasing prophecies, writes:
“It will be a bitterly cold winter night in the Northern hemisphere. (Presumably, a very cold summer night in Australia or, by contrast, a torrid night). The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude, will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed ― this will be the beginning of the Three Days of Darkness. Every demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open, like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.
“As soon as you notice that bitterly cold night, go indoors, lock all the doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at (out?) the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle holy water about and windows―the devils fear holy water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it―eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also (but you can live without food for three days). Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Charity. Above all, say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries.
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand, to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated ― more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days.”
“But, when all seems lost and hopeless, then, in the twinkling of an eye, the ordeal will be over―the sun will rise and shine again, as in springtime, over a purified Earth.”
► Then, in speaking of the AFTERMATH OF THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS, Dupont writes:
“Some nations will disappear entirely―and the face of the Earth will be changed. There will be no more “Big Business” and huge factories which sap men’s souls. Craftsmanship will revive, and assembly lines will give way to the working bench.
“People will return to the land, but food will be scarce for about three years. Married women will bear many children ― for it will be regarded as a disgrace not to have children ― no more “career women” addicted to the “pill.” Unmarried females ― there will be many ― will enter the religious orders and form large congregations of nuns within the reborn Church. Disease will decrease dramatically, and mental illnesses will be rare, for man will have retrieved his natural environment. It will be an age of Faith, true brotherhood between neighbors, civil harmony, peace, and prosperity. The land will yield crops as never before. Police will have little work to do―crime will disappear almost entirely. Mutual trust and honesty will be universal. There will be little work for lawyers, either. All the manpower―which is currently taken up by the wickedness of the modern world―will be released and available for the production of useful commodities. Thus, prosperity will be very great. This wonderful period will probably last 30 years approximately.
“As soon as you see the sun rise again, at the end of the Three Days, drop to your knees and give thanks to God.
“Be warned, SPREAD THE MESSAGE, but do not fear―it would be an offence to God to show lack of confidence in His protection. Those who spread the message will be protected, but the scoffers, the skeptics, and those who dismiss the message, because they are frightened, will not escape the chastisement.”
► FATHER CONSTANT LOUIS-MARIE PEL (1876–1966) was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. A prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is again, as already quoted above. Fr. Pel states that a whole series of catastrophes must first occur before the “Three Days of Darkness” occur:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France, being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation, will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness, caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars, falling for three days and nights, will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► FR. R. GERALD CULLETON, in his book Prophets and Our Times, writes of the Three Days of Darkness: “When everything seems hopeless for the Christian forces, God will work a “wonderful miracle,” or as some prophets refer to it, “a great event” or “a terrible event,” in favor of His own. During this phenomenon, the truly holy will not be harmed, and terrible though it will be, yet we may take consolation in the fact that it will mark the end of God’s chastisements. It would seem that the event, mentioned vaguely by so many seers, is that specified by others as “Three Days of Darkness” with the sun and the moon, as it were, turning to blood. The air will be poisoned, thus killing off most of the enemies of Christ’s Church. During these three days, the only light available to men will be blessed candles, and one candle will burn the entire period. However, even blessed candles will not light in the houses of the godless, yet once the candle is lit by one in the state of grace, it will not burn out until the three day’s darkness is over. This “great event” will usher in peace to the troubled world. It would be a sort of reenactment of the three hours of darkness “over the whole Earth” at Christ’s crucifixion.”
ANALYZING THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS
What to Make of the “Three Days of Darkness”?
Now that we have had an in-depth look at the prophecies themselves, what are we to make of them? How are we to look upon them? How are we to react to them? Should we act upon them? If so, what should we do?
Prophetical Purpose
Divine Public Revelation ended with the death of the last of the Apostles—St. John the Evangelist. From that time, there can be no new additions to the deposit of Faith. Divine Private Revelation cannot add one iota of a new teaching or dogma, but Divine Private Revelation can provide deeper insights into existing teachings and dogmas of Divine Public Revelation, or provide guidance as regards action to be taken at any particular point in time, or reminds us of crucial aspects of Divine Public Revelation that we are neglecting or have forgotten.
Thus, at Lourdes, for example, Our Lady asks for more penance—but the need for penance is contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At Fatima, Our Lady asks for more prayer and sacrifices—yet those too are contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At La Salette, she issues many warnings regarding neglect of prayer and penance, the dangers of being worldly, the chastisements to come upon the world—but those too can be found in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture).
The Essence of the Prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness”
The essence, or nutshell, or “bottom line” of the prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” are already contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). What are these essential elements?
(1) God punishes evil—this is patently obvious. Holy Scripture is full of proof of this incontestable truth. God has always punished evil and always will. In Old Testament times, in New Testament times and in our times. The fire and brimstone that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, or the Great Flood, are some of the more striking punishments. God punished the idolatry of His Chosen People by wiping-out most of the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Promised Land and destroying Jerusalem with its Temple to God. The punishment of evil is whole point of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
(2) God is not averse to wiping-out or destroying most of the world, as He did with the Great Flood in the days of Noe. The prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness” state that something similar and just as widespread will be coming in our days. Therefore, there is nothing new with regards to God’s ways of acting. “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6).
(3) God protects the just—the instances of this are too numerous to mention, it is patently obvious to anyone who has a basic knowledge of Holy Scripture. Just a few examples would include the Israelites during the Exodus; Daniel in the den of lions (Daniel chapter 6); the three young men in the fire (Daniel chapter 3); and angel of God destroys the army of the Assyrians (4 Kings, chapter 19), etc. The events of the “Three Days of Darkness”, besides being a punishment upon evil people, are also protection for those who are just.
(4) God uses natural elements or materials as part of His “protection plan”—like the smearing of the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites in the time of Moses, prior to their Exodus from Egypt, in order to protect them from the avenging angel of God, that would pass throughout Egypt, slaughtering the first born humans and animals. Or the use of water (Red Sea) to overcome and drown the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing the Israelites during the Exodus. The use of candles during the “Three Days of Darkness” fall into a similar category.
(5) God is always seeking to bring good out of evil—This is part of the mercy of God. If God was not merciful, He would wipe everything out because of our sins and “call it a day.” Thankfully He is not like that! He seeks to restore things and bring some good out of the fall of Adam and Eve. He brings good out of the evil done to Joseph by his many brothers, when they sold him as a slave. He brings good out of Saul and converts the persecutor of Christians into the new St. Paul and makes him a pillar of the Church. The list is almost endless—every person can find many such situations in their own life. The “Three Days of Darkness” will bring good out of the evil that brought about the punishment of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Our Lady and Three Days of Darkness
Though Our Lady does not explicitly mention the “Three Days of Darkness” by name, she certainly speaks of them implicitly, by describing the very same events, catastrophes, and punishments, as are described in the prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness.” We will take the similar predictions that ‘dovetail’ from the various “Three Days of Darkness” prophecies quoted in the previous chapter, group them all together and then compare them to Our Lady’s prophecies.
The Sinfulness of the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “They will have stubbornly remained in their sins” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady constantly speaks of this sinfulness and the dangers of stubbornness in sin: “The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Quito).
► “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (La Salette).
► “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
The Devils Will Infest and Rule the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons, who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful!” (Palma Maria, born 1825, death unknown).
● “Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass … The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard” (Words of Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
Our Lady Says:
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will have great power over Nature. There will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called ‘resurrected dead’—who will be nothing but the devil in this form—will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people.” (La Salette).
► “Others, impelled by the malice of the devil, will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church” (Quito).
► “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church, in such a way, that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked” (Akita).
The Persecution of the Church
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Impious and heretical persons [will] desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima).
► “For a while, the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (La Salette).
► “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (La Salette).
God Will Punish The World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases will destroy everything” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive. Storms will have more catastrophic effects. Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady speaks of the same: “The impious will rage a cruel war” (Quito).
► “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases!” (La Salette).
► “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before” (Akita).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
Punishment Shared By Good And Bad Alike
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted” (Words Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven ... The air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. “ (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful” (Akita).
Calamities Throughout The World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “At that time there shall be such a terrible crisis that people, frightened by events, shall believe that the end of the world is come. Blood shall flow in several large cities. The very elements shall be convulsed. It will be like a little general judgment” (Fr. Nectou, died 1777).
● “All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Our Lady Says:
► “During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private” (Quito).
► “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds—in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (La Salette).
► “The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
All Will Seem Lost
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
Our Lady Says:
► “There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Quito).
► “The moment will come when the danger will be enormous; it will seem that all is lost!” (Rue du Bac, Paris, 1830).
► “The world will be in dismay … People will believe that all is lost!” (La Salette).
The World Will Be Like A Graveyard
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The entire Earth will … look like a huge graveyard” (Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “Only one-fourth of mankind will survive” (Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified, died 1878).
● “Three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “This will be something so deplorable and atrocious, that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness―with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. Religion shall be persecuted and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases. Of mankind, there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
● “He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
Summary
Of course, all this is just Divine Private Revelation—yet, as was said in an earlier article, let us beware of rejecting all Divine Private Revelation as being inconsequential. Holy Scripture warns: “Despise not prophecies” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). What would be the point of Our Lady coming from Heaven with warnings if we were to ignore or even despise them? What an insult to God to pridefully ignore Our Lady, or even the saints and mystics, to whom God went to the trouble of passing on messages for our benefit!
Not that this means that we have to naively and gullibly accept all that SEEMS to come from Heaven. Holy Scripture tells us that the devil can and will try to fool us. St. Paul speaks of the devil as appearing as an angel of light—“Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Satan has mimicked or aped true apparitions many a time—He tried to appear in the form of Our Lady in vicinity of Lourdes, to draw way attention from the true apparition. The devil appeared as Our Lord to St. John of the Cross and as the spiritual director of St. Padre Pio.
Holy Scripture tells us be wary: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Nevertheless, it is folly to reject all Divine Private Revelations just because some of them are false. Careful discernment and judgment is required, as well as avoiding a pride that rushes to pronounce things before the Church has even spoken on the matter!
Finally, it must be remembered that no matter how terrifying the “Three Days of Darkness” may seem, they are a merciful intervention of God in order to destroy the evildoers―who will have almost wrecked the world before God justly steps in. The “Three Days of Darkness” are to be feared more by evildoers, than feared by the just.
We have seen how the “Three Days of Darkness” dovetail with Holy Scripture and God’s ways of acting, as well as dovetailing with Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies at the chief Church approved apparitions of Our Lady. Let us remember that all such prophecies are CONDITIONAL and their ultimate arrival, or their severity, depends upon mankind’s response the warnings given. As we sow, so shall we reap!
However, Pope John Paul II said in 1980, at Fulda, in Germany, that we can no longer avoid what is coming—we can only mitigate or soften the blow.
● The World War will not be a two-camp war, but a multi-sided war.
● Not a war only, but a world-wide revolution as well.
● Not simply a man-made holocaust, but also a God-sent chastisement, accompanied by cosmic disturbances.
● It will last about four years.
Particular Events or “Zooming In On The Big Picture” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy)
● The whole world will be involved in the fighting.
● A unique feature is the internal disintegration of the Western democracies and the invasion of Western Europe by Arab forces.
● The roles of the U.S.A. and Russia are not clear in the beginning. The U.S.A. may be involved in the Far-East, or at home, or both. The Russians may want to keep out of the fray at first, while abetting the Arab world, or may be involved in Siberia.
● Civil wars rage in Western Europe.
● The Church is persecuted; the Pope leaves Rome and dies in exile: an anti-pope is installed in Rome; the Catholic Church is split, leaderless and completely disorganized.
● Communism is victorious.
● The Mohammedans invade Europe and commit innumerable atrocities.
● In the West, however, Christians rally around an unexpected leader, an army officer of royal blood, but their chances seem very slim.
● The natural disturbances begin: floods, droughts, famines.
● A comet approaches the Earth: whole mountains split open; huge tidal waves swallow up low-lying lands; stones fall from the sky; a deadly fog or gas poisons the atmosphere; a prolonged darkness envelops the Earth.
● Two-thirds or three-fourths of the human race is wiped out.
● The powers of evil are shattered. The Christian Prince leads his growing army to battle and wins victory upon victory.
● In West Germany he crushes a Germano-Russian Army. Communism collapses everywhere.
● The Mohammedans are thrown back to the sea. The war is carried to Africa and the Middle East, where the Arab Power is dealt a deadly blow.
● At this stage, if not earlier, U.S. troops come to the assistance of Western Europe.
● Russia and China are converted to Catholicism, as also the Mohammedans. All non-Catholics return to Mother Church.
● A holy Pope is elected; he shows great firmness; and he restores all the former disciplines in the Church.
● All the nations of Western Europe unite and form a new Roman Empire, and accept as their emperor the great Christian Prince, chosen by God, who works hand-in-hand with the holy Pope. The triumph of the Catholic Church is universal.
● The whole world enjoys a period of complete peace and unprecedented prosperity in mutual love and respect among people and nations.
● This great peace will last until the coming of Antichrist.
► ALOIS IRLMAIER prophesied: “During the war the big darkness comes―which lasts 72 hours … It will become dark in a day during the war. Then a hailstorm, consisting of lightning and thunder, breaks out, and an earthquake shakes the Earth. Please do not go out of the house at that time! The lights will not work, except candle light, for the electric current stops. Whoever inhales the dust, gets a cramp and dies. Do not open the windows―cover them completely with black paper. All open-standing water becomes poisonous and also all open-standing meals, which are not in locked doses. Also no meals in glass containers, because they would not cover it up completely. Outside, the death by dust goes around, and
many humans die. After 72 hours everything will be over. But again: Do not go out of the house, do not look out of the windows, and keep the candle light burning! Keep watch and pray! Overnight more humans will die than in the two World Wars before!” (Prophecies of Alois Irlmaier, 1894-1959).
► YVES DUPONT (1922-1976), who had studied Catholic prophecy for decades and is the author of the book Catholic Prophecy. On page 37 of his pamphlet, “The Prophecies of La Fraudais, Part III”, Dupont gives an outline of the Chastisement as he saw it. Under the heading “PROXIMATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, Dupont writes:
“Here are the proximate signs in their probable order of occurrence. This, to be sure, is only my own opinion, and I may be wrong―for I am no prophet myself; but, after studying a large number of prophecies, this order appears to me to be the most likely.
(1) Flouting of Church laws, irreverence and immodesty in church, fall in attendance at church.
(2) Lack of charity towards others, heartlessness, indifference, divisions, contentions, godlessness, pride in human knowledge.
(3) Breakdown of family life: immorality, adultery, perversion of youth (e.g. homosexuals giving lectures in schools), immodest fashions (e.g. mini-skirts and hot pants, bikinis and see-throughs, and other revealing and immodest clothing), people concerned only with eating, drinking, dancing and other pleasures.
(4) Civil commotions, contempt for authority, downfall of governments, confusion in high places, corruption, coups d’états, civil war, revolution.”
(5) Floods and droughts, crop failures, unusual weather, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, famines, epidemics, unknown diseases (e.g. new strains of viruses).”
► After listing these “PROXIMATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, and before dealing with the “IMMEDIATE SIGNS” of the “Three Days of Darkness”, Dupont writes of “THE WARNING AND THE MIRACLE”:
“These will take place between proximate and the immediate signs. Both will be supernatural occurrences, and the Miracle will closely follow the Warning. There will be a solar prodigy; a Cross will be visible in the sky all over the world. The Warning will be associated with the letter “A”. It will not fall on a feast day of Our Lady, nor on the 18th of the month.
“The Miracle will fall on the feast day of a young martyr of the Eucharist; this will be on a Thursday evening, and it will coincide with an important Church event.
“Since the Miracle is to be seen only in Northern Spain and in Rome, and since the Cross in the sky is to be seen everywhere, it seems that the latter occurrence will take place with the Warning, not with the Miracle. However, the Miracle may also have a Cross in the sky.
“During the Warning, everyone will be made aware of his/her own sinfulness, and many will wish to die, but the Warning itself will be completely harmless.
“Both the Warning and the Miracle must be viewed as the last act of mercy from God, a final appeal to mankind to do penance before the Three Days of Darkness and the destruction of three-quarters of the human race. At a time when the murder of unborn babies and the sin of Sodom and Lesbos have become respectable and, sometimes, legal, we should not wonder why God is going to punish mankind.
“By that time, war and revolution will have already caused a high death toll, and Communism will be victorious, but all this will be as nothing compared with the death toll caused by the Three Days of Darkness.”
► Then, under the heading “IMMEDIATE SIGNS”, Yves Dupont, quoting prophecies and paraphrasing prophecies, writes:
“It will be a bitterly cold winter night in the Northern hemisphere. (Presumably, a very cold summer night in Australia or, by contrast, a torrid night). The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude, will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed ― this will be the beginning of the Three Days of Darkness. Every demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open, like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.
“As soon as you notice that bitterly cold night, go indoors, lock all the doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at (out?) the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle holy water about and windows―the devils fear holy water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it―eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also (but you can live without food for three days). Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Charity. Above all, say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries.
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand, to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated ― more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days.”
“But, when all seems lost and hopeless, then, in the twinkling of an eye, the ordeal will be over―the sun will rise and shine again, as in springtime, over a purified Earth.”
► Then, in speaking of the AFTERMATH OF THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS, Dupont writes:
“Some nations will disappear entirely―and the face of the Earth will be changed. There will be no more “Big Business” and huge factories which sap men’s souls. Craftsmanship will revive, and assembly lines will give way to the working bench.
“People will return to the land, but food will be scarce for about three years. Married women will bear many children ― for it will be regarded as a disgrace not to have children ― no more “career women” addicted to the “pill.” Unmarried females ― there will be many ― will enter the religious orders and form large congregations of nuns within the reborn Church. Disease will decrease dramatically, and mental illnesses will be rare, for man will have retrieved his natural environment. It will be an age of Faith, true brotherhood between neighbors, civil harmony, peace, and prosperity. The land will yield crops as never before. Police will have little work to do―crime will disappear almost entirely. Mutual trust and honesty will be universal. There will be little work for lawyers, either. All the manpower―which is currently taken up by the wickedness of the modern world―will be released and available for the production of useful commodities. Thus, prosperity will be very great. This wonderful period will probably last 30 years approximately.
“As soon as you see the sun rise again, at the end of the Three Days, drop to your knees and give thanks to God.
“Be warned, SPREAD THE MESSAGE, but do not fear―it would be an offence to God to show lack of confidence in His protection. Those who spread the message will be protected, but the scoffers, the skeptics, and those who dismiss the message, because they are frightened, will not escape the chastisement.”
► FATHER CONSTANT LOUIS-MARIE PEL (1876–1966) was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. A prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is again, as already quoted above. Fr. Pel states that a whole series of catastrophes must first occur before the “Three Days of Darkness” occur:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France, being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation, will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness, caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars, falling for three days and nights, will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► FR. R. GERALD CULLETON, in his book Prophets and Our Times, writes of the Three Days of Darkness: “When everything seems hopeless for the Christian forces, God will work a “wonderful miracle,” or as some prophets refer to it, “a great event” or “a terrible event,” in favor of His own. During this phenomenon, the truly holy will not be harmed, and terrible though it will be, yet we may take consolation in the fact that it will mark the end of God’s chastisements. It would seem that the event, mentioned vaguely by so many seers, is that specified by others as “Three Days of Darkness” with the sun and the moon, as it were, turning to blood. The air will be poisoned, thus killing off most of the enemies of Christ’s Church. During these three days, the only light available to men will be blessed candles, and one candle will burn the entire period. However, even blessed candles will not light in the houses of the godless, yet once the candle is lit by one in the state of grace, it will not burn out until the three day’s darkness is over. This “great event” will usher in peace to the troubled world. It would be a sort of reenactment of the three hours of darkness “over the whole Earth” at Christ’s crucifixion.”
ANALYZING THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS
What to Make of the “Three Days of Darkness”?
Now that we have had an in-depth look at the prophecies themselves, what are we to make of them? How are we to look upon them? How are we to react to them? Should we act upon them? If so, what should we do?
Prophetical Purpose
Divine Public Revelation ended with the death of the last of the Apostles—St. John the Evangelist. From that time, there can be no new additions to the deposit of Faith. Divine Private Revelation cannot add one iota of a new teaching or dogma, but Divine Private Revelation can provide deeper insights into existing teachings and dogmas of Divine Public Revelation, or provide guidance as regards action to be taken at any particular point in time, or reminds us of crucial aspects of Divine Public Revelation that we are neglecting or have forgotten.
Thus, at Lourdes, for example, Our Lady asks for more penance—but the need for penance is contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At Fatima, Our Lady asks for more prayer and sacrifices—yet those too are contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At La Salette, she issues many warnings regarding neglect of prayer and penance, the dangers of being worldly, the chastisements to come upon the world—but those too can be found in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture).
The Essence of the Prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness”
The essence, or nutshell, or “bottom line” of the prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” are already contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). What are these essential elements?
(1) God punishes evil—this is patently obvious. Holy Scripture is full of proof of this incontestable truth. God has always punished evil and always will. In Old Testament times, in New Testament times and in our times. The fire and brimstone that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, or the Great Flood, are some of the more striking punishments. God punished the idolatry of His Chosen People by wiping-out most of the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Promised Land and destroying Jerusalem with its Temple to God. The punishment of evil is whole point of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
(2) God is not averse to wiping-out or destroying most of the world, as He did with the Great Flood in the days of Noe. The prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness” state that something similar and just as widespread will be coming in our days. Therefore, there is nothing new with regards to God’s ways of acting. “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6).
(3) God protects the just—the instances of this are too numerous to mention, it is patently obvious to anyone who has a basic knowledge of Holy Scripture. Just a few examples would include the Israelites during the Exodus; Daniel in the den of lions (Daniel chapter 6); the three young men in the fire (Daniel chapter 3); and angel of God destroys the army of the Assyrians (4 Kings, chapter 19), etc. The events of the “Three Days of Darkness”, besides being a punishment upon evil people, are also protection for those who are just.
(4) God uses natural elements or materials as part of His “protection plan”—like the smearing of the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites in the time of Moses, prior to their Exodus from Egypt, in order to protect them from the avenging angel of God, that would pass throughout Egypt, slaughtering the first born humans and animals. Or the use of water (Red Sea) to overcome and drown the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing the Israelites during the Exodus. The use of candles during the “Three Days of Darkness” fall into a similar category.
(5) God is always seeking to bring good out of evil—This is part of the mercy of God. If God was not merciful, He would wipe everything out because of our sins and “call it a day.” Thankfully He is not like that! He seeks to restore things and bring some good out of the fall of Adam and Eve. He brings good out of the evil done to Joseph by his many brothers, when they sold him as a slave. He brings good out of Saul and converts the persecutor of Christians into the new St. Paul and makes him a pillar of the Church. The list is almost endless—every person can find many such situations in their own life. The “Three Days of Darkness” will bring good out of the evil that brought about the punishment of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Our Lady and Three Days of Darkness
Though Our Lady does not explicitly mention the “Three Days of Darkness” by name, she certainly speaks of them implicitly, by describing the very same events, catastrophes, and punishments, as are described in the prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness.” We will take the similar predictions that ‘dovetail’ from the various “Three Days of Darkness” prophecies quoted in the previous chapter, group them all together and then compare them to Our Lady’s prophecies.
The Sinfulness of the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “They will have stubbornly remained in their sins” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady constantly speaks of this sinfulness and the dangers of stubbornness in sin: “The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Quito).
► “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (La Salette).
► “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
The Devils Will Infest and Rule the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons, who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful!” (Palma Maria, born 1825, death unknown).
● “Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass … The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard” (Words of Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
Our Lady Says:
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will have great power over Nature. There will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called ‘resurrected dead’—who will be nothing but the devil in this form—will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people.” (La Salette).
► “Others, impelled by the malice of the devil, will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church” (Quito).
► “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church, in such a way, that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked” (Akita).
The Persecution of the Church
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Impious and heretical persons [will] desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima).
► “For a while, the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (La Salette).
► “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (La Salette).
God Will Punish The World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases will destroy everything” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive. Storms will have more catastrophic effects. Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady speaks of the same: “The impious will rage a cruel war” (Quito).
► “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases!” (La Salette).
► “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before” (Akita).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
Punishment Shared By Good And Bad Alike
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted” (Words Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven ... The air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. “ (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful” (Akita).
Calamities Throughout The World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “At that time there shall be such a terrible crisis that people, frightened by events, shall believe that the end of the world is come. Blood shall flow in several large cities. The very elements shall be convulsed. It will be like a little general judgment” (Fr. Nectou, died 1777).
● “All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Our Lady Says:
► “During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private” (Quito).
► “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds—in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (La Salette).
► “The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
All Will Seem Lost
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
Our Lady Says:
► “There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Quito).
► “The moment will come when the danger will be enormous; it will seem that all is lost!” (Rue du Bac, Paris, 1830).
► “The world will be in dismay … People will believe that all is lost!” (La Salette).
The World Will Be Like A Graveyard
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The entire Earth will … look like a huge graveyard” (Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “Only one-fourth of mankind will survive” (Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified, died 1878).
● “Three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “This will be something so deplorable and atrocious, that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness―with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. Religion shall be persecuted and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases. Of mankind, there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
● “He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
Summary
Of course, all this is just Divine Private Revelation—yet, as was said in an earlier article, let us beware of rejecting all Divine Private Revelation as being inconsequential. Holy Scripture warns: “Despise not prophecies” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). What would be the point of Our Lady coming from Heaven with warnings if we were to ignore or even despise them? What an insult to God to pridefully ignore Our Lady, or even the saints and mystics, to whom God went to the trouble of passing on messages for our benefit!
Not that this means that we have to naively and gullibly accept all that SEEMS to come from Heaven. Holy Scripture tells us that the devil can and will try to fool us. St. Paul speaks of the devil as appearing as an angel of light—“Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Satan has mimicked or aped true apparitions many a time—He tried to appear in the form of Our Lady in vicinity of Lourdes, to draw way attention from the true apparition. The devil appeared as Our Lord to St. John of the Cross and as the spiritual director of St. Padre Pio.
Holy Scripture tells us be wary: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Nevertheless, it is folly to reject all Divine Private Revelations just because some of them are false. Careful discernment and judgment is required, as well as avoiding a pride that rushes to pronounce things before the Church has even spoken on the matter!
Finally, it must be remembered that no matter how terrifying the “Three Days of Darkness” may seem, they are a merciful intervention of God in order to destroy the evildoers―who will have almost wrecked the world before God justly steps in. The “Three Days of Darkness” are to be feared more by evildoers, than feared by the just.
We have seen how the “Three Days of Darkness” dovetail with Holy Scripture and God’s ways of acting, as well as dovetailing with Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies at the chief Church approved apparitions of Our Lady. Let us remember that all such prophecies are CONDITIONAL and their ultimate arrival, or their severity, depends upon mankind’s response the warnings given. As we sow, so shall we reap!
However, Pope John Paul II said in 1980, at Fulda, in Germany, that we can no longer avoid what is coming—we can only mitigate or soften the blow.
Saturday February 5th
Article 21
Three Days of Darkness
Part 2 : The Actual Prophecies
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 21
Three Days of Darkness
Part 2 : The Actual Prophecies
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Actual Prophecies
We will now begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
The most spectacular aspect of the Act of God will be the three days of darkness over the whole Earth. The Three Days have been announced by many mystics.
► From ITALY we have Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837), Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825), St. Casper del Bufalo (1786-1836), Sister Rosa-Colomba Asdente (1781-1847), Palma Maria d’ Oria (died 1863).
► From FRANCE we have Blessed Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau, (1846-1878); Père Jean Lamy or Fr. John Edward Lamy (1855-1931) a mystic and founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary; Sister Marie Baourdi, a Carmelite; Marie Martel, Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941).
► From GERMANY we have St. Hildegard (1098-1179).
► From AUSTRIA we have Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257).
This list is not exhaustive; many more Saints and mystics, such as St. Columba (died 597) have announced the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Prophecies and Credentials
We will first have a look at the various prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness”, after which we will direct you pages that will have the lives of the Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God, to show it no “crazy guy off the street” that made these prophecies.
(1) Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837, Italy)
Though an ordinary housewife and mother, Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi led an exemplary spiritual and Christian life that gained her the reputation as one of the greatest saints of all time. She experienced frequent ecstasies, performed miraculous cures, read hearts, foretold deaths, and predicted the coming of future events. She foretold the first two World Wars that wreaked havoc in the twentieth century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained supple and incorrupt. Amid praises, Pope Benedict XV beatified her on May 20th, 1920.
The following is her revelation about “Three Days of Darkness”:
“God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth … Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome ... The other [punishment] will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few, whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“After the three days of darkness, St. Peter and St. Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach in the whole world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and will settle upon the cardinal who is to become Pope. Christianity, then, will spread throughout the world. He is the Holy Pontiff, chosen by God to withstand the storm. At the end, he will have the gift of miracles, and his name shall be praised over the whole Earth. Whole nations will come back to the Church and the face of the Earth will be renewed. Russia, England, and China will come into the Church.” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, 1973).
(2) Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825, Italy)
Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora was born in 1774 and lived in Italy until her saintly death in 1825. Thanks to her confessor, her revelations were preserved in hundreds of pages of her own writings. Today, the Trinitarian Fathers at San Carlino, Rome hold her manuscripts for safekeeping in their archives. These writings were meticulously examined at length, as a safeguard against doctrinal errors, when Blessed Pope Pius IX authorized Elizabeth Canori Mora’s cause for canonization to proceed. The ecclesiastical censor, commissioned by the Holy See, released his official judgment on November 5th, 1900. It stated “there is nothing against Faith and good customs, and no doctrinal innovation or deviation was found.” Elizabeth Canori Mora was beatified—that is to say, given the title “Blessed”—in 1994.
Some of her prophecies are as follows:
Here is an extract from Fr. Culleton, who, in his book The Prophets and Our Times, relates the following prophecy: “...the sky was covered with clouds, so dense and dismal, that it was impossible to look at them without dismay... The avenging arm of God will strike the wicked, and, in His mighty power, He will punish their pride and presumption. God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons, who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation .... Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice ... Nothing on the Earth shall be spared. After this frightful punishment, I saw the heavens opening, and St. Peter coming down again upon Earth; he was vested in his pontifical robes, and surrounded by a great number of angels, who were chanting hymns in his honor, and they proclaimed him as sovereign of the Earth. I saw also St. Paul descending upon the Earth. By God’s command, he traversed the Earth and chained the demons, whom he brought before St. Peter, who commanded them to return into Hell, whence they had come.”
“Then a great light appeared upon the Earth, which was the sign of the reconciliation of God with man. The angels conducted, before the throne of the prince of the Apostles, the small flock that had remained faithful to Jesus Christ. These good and zealous Christians testified to him the most profound respect, praising God and thanking the Apostles for having delivered them from the common destruction, and for having protected the Church of Jesus Christ, by not permitting her to be infected with the false maxims of the world. St. Peter then chose the new pope. The Church was again organized.” (Prophecy of Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora)
At Christmas, in 1816, Blessed Elizabeth saw Our Lady, who appeared extremely sad. Upon inquiring why, Our Lady answered: “Behold, my daughter, such great ungodliness!” Blessed Elizabeth then saw “apostates brazenly trying to rip her most holy Son from her arms. Confronted with such an outrage, the Mother of God ceased to ask mercy for the world, and instead requested justice from the Eternal Father. Clothed in His inexorable Justice and full of indignation, He turned towards the world.
“At that moment all nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.”
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, 1820, she saw St. Peter descending from Heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of angels. With his crosier he drew great cross over the face of the Earth, separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and enveloped in magnificent light. All the good laity and religious fled for protection underneath these trees and were spared from the tremendous chastisement. “Woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy Rules. They will all perish in the terrible chastisement, together with all who give themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of their deplorable contemporary philosophy!
“The sky took on a morbid blue color, which terrified everyone who looked at it. A dark wind blew everywhere. An impassioned and mournful shrieking filled the air, like the terrible roar of a fierce lion, and resounded all over the Earth in blood curdling echoes. All men and animals brimmed with terror. The entire world convulsed and everyone pitilessly slaughtered one another … When this bloody fight will arrive, the vengeful hand of God will weigh upon these fated ones and with His omnipotence He will chastise the proud for their rashness and shameless insolence. God will use the powers of darkness to exterminate these sectarian, iniquitous and criminal men, who plot to eradicate the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother, by tearing Her up by Her deepest roots, and casting Her on the ground.”
(3) St. Caspar del Bufalo (Italy, 1786-1836)
St. Caspar del Bufalo was a priest and the Founder of the Missioners of the Precious Blood. Caspar was born in Rome in 1786, and was ordained a priest in 1808. Shortly after this, Rome was taken by Napoleon’s army, and he, with most of the clergy, was exiled for refusing to abjure his allegiance to the Holy See. He returned after the fall of Napoleon to find a wide scope for work, as Rome had, for nearly five years, been almost entirely without priests and Sacraments. In 1814, he founded the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. The houses of the congregation were opened to young clergy, who wished to be trained specially as missioners. In his lifetime, their work covered the whole of Italy.
Del Bufalo’s biographer gives us a graphic account of a mission, describing its successive stages. Some of his methods were distinctly dramatic, e.g. the missioners took the discipline (scourging themselves) in the public plaza, which always resulted in many conversions. On the last day, forbidden firearms, obscene books, and anything else that might offend Almighty God, were publicly burnt. A cross was erected in memoriam of the mission, a solemn Te Deum sung, and the missioners went away quietly.
His last mission was preached in Rome, at the Chiesa Nuova, during the cholera outbreak of 1836. Feeling his strength failing, he returned at once to Albano, and made every preparation for death. He suffered terribly from cold, and, at night, from parching thirst, but he would not take anything to drink, so that he might be able to celebrate Mass. After the feast of St. Francis Xavier, he went to Rome to die. On December 19th, the doctor forbade him to say Mass; he received the last Sacraments on December 28th, and he died the same day. Various miracles had been worked by Fr. Caspar during his lifetime, and, after his death, many graces were obtained by his intercession. He was canonized in 1954.
Desmond Birch, in his book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph, quotes the following prophecy of St. Caspar: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness. He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).”
(4) Palma Maria (Italy, 19th century)
Palma Maria was an Italian woman, born in 1825. Widowed at the age of 28, she received the stigmata in her hands, feet and side on May 3rd, 1865. She lived only on the Holy Eucharist for the last ten years of her life. Palma Maria made many prophecies concerning local events, but she also had this to say on the “Three Days of Darkness”, indicating that they will come at the end of a period of great tribulation for the Church:
“There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils, who shall cause the death of large multitudes of unbelievers and wicked men … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful! But a grand cross shall appear and the triumph of the Church will make people quickly forget all evils.
“Blessed candles alone shall be able to give light and preserve the faithful Catholics from this impending scourge. Supernatural prodigies shall appear in the heavens. There is to be a short but furious war, during which the enemies of religion and of mankind shall be universally destroyed. A general purification of the world, and the universal triumph of the Church are to follow.”
(5) Blessed Elena Aiello (Italy, 1895-1961)
Blessed Elena Aiello was an Italian Catholic nun. Elena lived in an exemplary Christian family. Her extremely devout family were never given over to the practice of any vanity, nor entertained anything of a worldly fashion. At a very young age, Elena lived a devout life and performed penances. Having contracted severe illness, while still a child, she prayed to Our Lady of Pompeii, promising her that she would become a nun if she was cured. And, in fact, Our Lady of Pompeii appeared to her during the night and assured her that she would be healed ― which she was.
In 1920, she joined the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Before entering, she was prophetically told that she would not last in this Order, because God had other plans in store for her. While in the Order, she almost immediately contracted an intestinal pain and a severe pain on the left shoulder. Eventually her shoulder became one solid black mass. She was eventually operated on, without any anesthetic, while holding a small wooden cross and looking at a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows. The physician, well-intentioned, but inept, in addition to cutting flesh, also cut nerves that caused her lockjaw and a vomiting spell for 40 days.
What she feared would happen, did happen―she was asked to leave the convent and return home. Elena’s shoulder was getting worse. In fact, the doctor told her that gangrene was already setting in. After praying to St. Rita, she had a vision of St. Rita, who told her that she would be cured, but the pain in her shoulder would remain, because she had to suffer for the sins of the world.
Next on the list of sufferings was to be a mystical crown of thorns and the stigmata. On a First Friday, Our Lord appeared to her in a white garment and wearing a crown of thorns. On being assured of her consent, Our Lord removed the crown from His Head and placed it on Elena’s head. Then a large quantity of blood started to flow. Our Lord told her that He wished her to suffer for the conversion of sinners and for the many sins of impurity. He wanted her to be a victim in order to appease Divine Justice.
A few Fridays later, she was given the stigmata. Her body was now one mass of wounds, blood and pain. Yet God is also merciful—after some time in this horrendous suffering, through the intercession of St. Rita, she was miraculously cured of her cancer.
She was now free to try again in her pursuit of a religious vocation, and through a miraculous apparition of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, she was shown a house that would serve as a convent and she herself would be the foundress of a religious order.
On Good Friday, April 16th, 1954, Blessed Elena Aiello received the following message from Our Lady: “Clouds with lightning rays of fire and a tempest of fire will pass over the whole world, and the punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind. It will last 70 hours [three days]. The wicked will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost, because they will have stubbornly remained in their sins. Then they will feel the force of light over darkness. The hours of darkness are near!” (Public and Private Prophecies About the Last Times).
(6) Marie-Julie Jahenny (France, 1850-1941)
Marie-Julie Jahenny was a Breton mystic and stigmatist. She was born in a large peasant family, and later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced supernatural attacks from the devil, had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin, that would fall first on France, then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly, plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France, that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government; the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians; the destruction of Paris; a Day of Darkness that would come shortly before the Three Days of Darkness. The coming of the Great Monarch would also be announced by signs in the sky. She also had visions of the Angelic Pontiff, who would reign at the same time as the Great Monarch, and that both these great leaders were destined to restore the Catholic Church. Her house has been transformed into a sanctuary, which bears her name, in Blain, near Nantes in France, where she is buried in the cemetery.
► Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding “The Warning” (June 15th, 1882)
Before the “Three Days of Darkness” actually occur, God will send a “Day of Warning” which will be similar to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny: “I forewarn you that a day will be found, and it is already appointed, when there will be little sun, few stars, and no light to take a step outside of your homes, the refuges of My people. The days will be beginning to increase. It will not be at the height of summer, nor during the longer days of the year, but when the days are still short. It will not be at the end of the year, but during the first months, that I shall give My clear warnings. That [single] day of darkness and lightning will be the first that I shall send to convert the impious, and to see if a great number will return to Me, before the Great Storm which will closely follow … From one night to the next, the thunder will not cease to rumble. The fire from the lightning will do a lot of damage, even in the closed homes where someone will be living in sin. My children, that first day will not take away anything from the three others (the Three Day of Darkness) already pointed out and described.”
► Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding the “Three Days of Darkness” (December 8th, 1882 & January 4th, 1884)
The prophecy continues: “The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed (this will be the beginning of the Three Days). Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open, like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.”
“As soon as you notice these signs, go indoors, lock all doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at [out of?] the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle Holy Water about the house and especially in the vicinity of doors and windows: the devils fear Holy Water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also. Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Above all say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries.”
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand, to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated―more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days. The Earth will become like a vast cemetery. The bodies of the wicked and the just will cover the ground―three-quarters of the population of the globe will disappear.” (December 8th, 1882)
“The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption ... The three days of darkness will begin on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Days of the Most Holy Sacrament, of the Cross and Our Lady ... three days less one night. The defenders of the Faith will be protected from Heaven.” (January 4th, 1884).
(7) Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau (France, died 1878)
Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified stated that: “During a darkness, lasting three days, the people given to evil will perish, so that only one-fourth of mankind will survive.”
(8) The Ecstatic of Tours (in France, 1800s)
All we know of The Ecstatic of Tours, is that she was a French nun. In 1882, using her nom de plume (pen name), her spiritual director published her revelations, in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following prophecy was made in 1872-1873 and is taken from Yves Dupont’s book, Catholic Prophecy (p. 37):
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth.”
(9) Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966)
Father Constant Louis Marie Pel is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church, with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident, just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is in an abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation, will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west, to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything . . .
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness―caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights―will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... France, thus purified, will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation, at world’s end, will be lesser.
(10) Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257)
According to a vision received by Johann Friede, an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John, several extraordinary phenomena will give warning that the present order of civilization is about to end:
“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds [modern day technology and weapons of climate manipulation], gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder …
“The nebula of the Greater Bear will arrive in the vicinity of Earth ... and will fill the space of five hundred suns at the horizon. It will, more and more, cover up the light of the sun, until the days will be like nights at full moon ... By this time mankind will be stricken with terror. Birds will be like reptiles and will not use their wings. Animals of the ground, in fear and alarm, will raise such a clamor, that it will make human hearts tremble. Men will flee their homes, in order not to see the weird occurrence. Finally, complete darkness will set in and last for three days and three nights.
“During this time, men, deprived of the power of light, will fall into a slumber-like sleep, from which many will not awaken, especially those who have no spark of spiritual life. When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes, like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases.
“Of mankind, there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars. In the homes of the children of light, the Book of the Apocalypse will be read, and, in the palaces of the Church, they will await the arrival of the great comet. On the seventh day after the return of light, Earth will have absorbed the ashes and formed such a fertility as has not been experienced ever before.”
Summary
Even though Holy Scripture does not speak specifically about the “Three Days of Darkness” that are to come, we have nevertheless seen that Scripture speak of “Three Days of Darkness” in the past—namely, just prior to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, where the ninth plague, that God sent, was one of “Three Days of Darkness” (Exodus 10:22).
God speaks of something resembling the “Three Days of Darkness” when He announces through the prophet Ezechiel: “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: ‘I will spread out My net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in My net. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the Earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption, and I will water the Earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. I will make all the lights of Heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land” (Ezechiel 32:3-8).
A similar message does God send through His prophet Isaias: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaias 13:9-11).
Our Lord implicitly refers to something like days of darkness in His apocalyptic prophecies for our days, when He says: “And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be moved” (Matthew 24:29). He also says “Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40)—and there was no light for Jonas during his personal “Three Days of Darkness.”
Our Lady’s prophecies, of later times, also vaguely hint at something like the “Three Days of Darkness”—when she says: “The sun is darkening; only Faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the King of Kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady, in a sense, played with the sun—showing thereby that, for Heaven, nothing is impossible. Our Lady predicted that God would work a great miracle on October 13th, 1917 to prove the authenticity of her apparitions. A tremendous prodigy happened on that day, just as Our Lady had promised. For four minutes, the noontime sun spun around giving off various colors, one after the other. If a person at Fatima that day, had on a white shirt — it would turn red, green and blue as the sun spun around. It stopped and started again for four more minutes, this time giving off even more beautiful colors. Then it stopped again. Then it started again. This time it detached itself from its regular position and began to zigzag in the sky. It “danced” for about four minutes, then started to plummet to the Earth. It looked like it was the end of the world. Many people fell on their knees to ask for mercy of God. The sun then returned to its original position in the sky. It was witnessed by over 70,000 people who all, both believers and unbelievers, came away acknowledging that a great miracle had occurred. Several learned men present testified: “I have seen it―but I cannot explain it.”
Likewise, the above prophets—ranging from saints, to blesseds, to venerables or just holy Catholics—have testified to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Like the learned men at Fatima, we have to say: “I have seen the testimonies and, though I do not fully understand how this can be, I nevertheless believe!”
The reasons for accepting these prophecies and their imminent consequences for ourselves, we shall examine in the next article.
We will now begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
The most spectacular aspect of the Act of God will be the three days of darkness over the whole Earth. The Three Days have been announced by many mystics.
► From ITALY we have Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837), Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825), St. Casper del Bufalo (1786-1836), Sister Rosa-Colomba Asdente (1781-1847), Palma Maria d’ Oria (died 1863).
► From FRANCE we have Blessed Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau, (1846-1878); Père Jean Lamy or Fr. John Edward Lamy (1855-1931) a mystic and founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary; Sister Marie Baourdi, a Carmelite; Marie Martel, Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941).
► From GERMANY we have St. Hildegard (1098-1179).
► From AUSTRIA we have Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257).
This list is not exhaustive; many more Saints and mystics, such as St. Columba (died 597) have announced the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Prophecies and Credentials
We will first have a look at the various prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness”, after which we will direct you pages that will have the lives of the Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God, to show it no “crazy guy off the street” that made these prophecies.
(1) Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837, Italy)
Though an ordinary housewife and mother, Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi led an exemplary spiritual and Christian life that gained her the reputation as one of the greatest saints of all time. She experienced frequent ecstasies, performed miraculous cures, read hearts, foretold deaths, and predicted the coming of future events. She foretold the first two World Wars that wreaked havoc in the twentieth century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained supple and incorrupt. Amid praises, Pope Benedict XV beatified her on May 20th, 1920.
The following is her revelation about “Three Days of Darkness”:
“God will send two punishments―one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth … Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome ... The other [punishment] will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few, whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“After the three days of darkness, St. Peter and St. Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach in the whole world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and will settle upon the cardinal who is to become Pope. Christianity, then, will spread throughout the world. He is the Holy Pontiff, chosen by God to withstand the storm. At the end, he will have the gift of miracles, and his name shall be praised over the whole Earth. Whole nations will come back to the Church and the face of the Earth will be renewed. Russia, England, and China will come into the Church.” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, 1973).
(2) Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825, Italy)
Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora was born in 1774 and lived in Italy until her saintly death in 1825. Thanks to her confessor, her revelations were preserved in hundreds of pages of her own writings. Today, the Trinitarian Fathers at San Carlino, Rome hold her manuscripts for safekeeping in their archives. These writings were meticulously examined at length, as a safeguard against doctrinal errors, when Blessed Pope Pius IX authorized Elizabeth Canori Mora’s cause for canonization to proceed. The ecclesiastical censor, commissioned by the Holy See, released his official judgment on November 5th, 1900. It stated “there is nothing against Faith and good customs, and no doctrinal innovation or deviation was found.” Elizabeth Canori Mora was beatified—that is to say, given the title “Blessed”—in 1994.
Some of her prophecies are as follows:
Here is an extract from Fr. Culleton, who, in his book The Prophets and Our Times, relates the following prophecy: “...the sky was covered with clouds, so dense and dismal, that it was impossible to look at them without dismay... The avenging arm of God will strike the wicked, and, in His mighty power, He will punish their pride and presumption. God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons, who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation .... Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice ... Nothing on the Earth shall be spared. After this frightful punishment, I saw the heavens opening, and St. Peter coming down again upon Earth; he was vested in his pontifical robes, and surrounded by a great number of angels, who were chanting hymns in his honor, and they proclaimed him as sovereign of the Earth. I saw also St. Paul descending upon the Earth. By God’s command, he traversed the Earth and chained the demons, whom he brought before St. Peter, who commanded them to return into Hell, whence they had come.”
“Then a great light appeared upon the Earth, which was the sign of the reconciliation of God with man. The angels conducted, before the throne of the prince of the Apostles, the small flock that had remained faithful to Jesus Christ. These good and zealous Christians testified to him the most profound respect, praising God and thanking the Apostles for having delivered them from the common destruction, and for having protected the Church of Jesus Christ, by not permitting her to be infected with the false maxims of the world. St. Peter then chose the new pope. The Church was again organized.” (Prophecy of Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora)
At Christmas, in 1816, Blessed Elizabeth saw Our Lady, who appeared extremely sad. Upon inquiring why, Our Lady answered: “Behold, my daughter, such great ungodliness!” Blessed Elizabeth then saw “apostates brazenly trying to rip her most holy Son from her arms. Confronted with such an outrage, the Mother of God ceased to ask mercy for the world, and instead requested justice from the Eternal Father. Clothed in His inexorable Justice and full of indignation, He turned towards the world.
“At that moment all nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.”
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, 1820, she saw St. Peter descending from Heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of angels. With his crosier he drew great cross over the face of the Earth, separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and enveloped in magnificent light. All the good laity and religious fled for protection underneath these trees and were spared from the tremendous chastisement. “Woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy Rules. They will all perish in the terrible chastisement, together with all who give themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of their deplorable contemporary philosophy!
“The sky took on a morbid blue color, which terrified everyone who looked at it. A dark wind blew everywhere. An impassioned and mournful shrieking filled the air, like the terrible roar of a fierce lion, and resounded all over the Earth in blood curdling echoes. All men and animals brimmed with terror. The entire world convulsed and everyone pitilessly slaughtered one another … When this bloody fight will arrive, the vengeful hand of God will weigh upon these fated ones and with His omnipotence He will chastise the proud for their rashness and shameless insolence. God will use the powers of darkness to exterminate these sectarian, iniquitous and criminal men, who plot to eradicate the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother, by tearing Her up by Her deepest roots, and casting Her on the ground.”
(3) St. Caspar del Bufalo (Italy, 1786-1836)
St. Caspar del Bufalo was a priest and the Founder of the Missioners of the Precious Blood. Caspar was born in Rome in 1786, and was ordained a priest in 1808. Shortly after this, Rome was taken by Napoleon’s army, and he, with most of the clergy, was exiled for refusing to abjure his allegiance to the Holy See. He returned after the fall of Napoleon to find a wide scope for work, as Rome had, for nearly five years, been almost entirely without priests and Sacraments. In 1814, he founded the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. The houses of the congregation were opened to young clergy, who wished to be trained specially as missioners. In his lifetime, their work covered the whole of Italy.
Del Bufalo’s biographer gives us a graphic account of a mission, describing its successive stages. Some of his methods were distinctly dramatic, e.g. the missioners took the discipline (scourging themselves) in the public plaza, which always resulted in many conversions. On the last day, forbidden firearms, obscene books, and anything else that might offend Almighty God, were publicly burnt. A cross was erected in memoriam of the mission, a solemn Te Deum sung, and the missioners went away quietly.
His last mission was preached in Rome, at the Chiesa Nuova, during the cholera outbreak of 1836. Feeling his strength failing, he returned at once to Albano, and made every preparation for death. He suffered terribly from cold, and, at night, from parching thirst, but he would not take anything to drink, so that he might be able to celebrate Mass. After the feast of St. Francis Xavier, he went to Rome to die. On December 19th, the doctor forbade him to say Mass; he received the last Sacraments on December 28th, and he died the same day. Various miracles had been worked by Fr. Caspar during his lifetime, and, after his death, many graces were obtained by his intercession. He was canonized in 1954.
Desmond Birch, in his book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph, quotes the following prophecy of St. Caspar: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness. He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).”
(4) Palma Maria (Italy, 19th century)
Palma Maria was an Italian woman, born in 1825. Widowed at the age of 28, she received the stigmata in her hands, feet and side on May 3rd, 1865. She lived only on the Holy Eucharist for the last ten years of her life. Palma Maria made many prophecies concerning local events, but she also had this to say on the “Three Days of Darkness”, indicating that they will come at the end of a period of great tribulation for the Church:
“There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils, who shall cause the death of large multitudes of unbelievers and wicked men … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful! But a grand cross shall appear and the triumph of the Church will make people quickly forget all evils.
“Blessed candles alone shall be able to give light and preserve the faithful Catholics from this impending scourge. Supernatural prodigies shall appear in the heavens. There is to be a short but furious war, during which the enemies of religion and of mankind shall be universally destroyed. A general purification of the world, and the universal triumph of the Church are to follow.”
(5) Blessed Elena Aiello (Italy, 1895-1961)
Blessed Elena Aiello was an Italian Catholic nun. Elena lived in an exemplary Christian family. Her extremely devout family were never given over to the practice of any vanity, nor entertained anything of a worldly fashion. At a very young age, Elena lived a devout life and performed penances. Having contracted severe illness, while still a child, she prayed to Our Lady of Pompeii, promising her that she would become a nun if she was cured. And, in fact, Our Lady of Pompeii appeared to her during the night and assured her that she would be healed ― which she was.
In 1920, she joined the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Before entering, she was prophetically told that she would not last in this Order, because God had other plans in store for her. While in the Order, she almost immediately contracted an intestinal pain and a severe pain on the left shoulder. Eventually her shoulder became one solid black mass. She was eventually operated on, without any anesthetic, while holding a small wooden cross and looking at a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows. The physician, well-intentioned, but inept, in addition to cutting flesh, also cut nerves that caused her lockjaw and a vomiting spell for 40 days.
What she feared would happen, did happen―she was asked to leave the convent and return home. Elena’s shoulder was getting worse. In fact, the doctor told her that gangrene was already setting in. After praying to St. Rita, she had a vision of St. Rita, who told her that she would be cured, but the pain in her shoulder would remain, because she had to suffer for the sins of the world.
Next on the list of sufferings was to be a mystical crown of thorns and the stigmata. On a First Friday, Our Lord appeared to her in a white garment and wearing a crown of thorns. On being assured of her consent, Our Lord removed the crown from His Head and placed it on Elena’s head. Then a large quantity of blood started to flow. Our Lord told her that He wished her to suffer for the conversion of sinners and for the many sins of impurity. He wanted her to be a victim in order to appease Divine Justice.
A few Fridays later, she was given the stigmata. Her body was now one mass of wounds, blood and pain. Yet God is also merciful—after some time in this horrendous suffering, through the intercession of St. Rita, she was miraculously cured of her cancer.
She was now free to try again in her pursuit of a religious vocation, and through a miraculous apparition of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, she was shown a house that would serve as a convent and she herself would be the foundress of a religious order.
On Good Friday, April 16th, 1954, Blessed Elena Aiello received the following message from Our Lady: “Clouds with lightning rays of fire and a tempest of fire will pass over the whole world, and the punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind. It will last 70 hours [three days]. The wicked will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost, because they will have stubbornly remained in their sins. Then they will feel the force of light over darkness. The hours of darkness are near!” (Public and Private Prophecies About the Last Times).
(6) Marie-Julie Jahenny (France, 1850-1941)
Marie-Julie Jahenny was a Breton mystic and stigmatist. She was born in a large peasant family, and later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced supernatural attacks from the devil, had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin, that would fall first on France, then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly, plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France, that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government; the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians; the destruction of Paris; a Day of Darkness that would come shortly before the Three Days of Darkness. The coming of the Great Monarch would also be announced by signs in the sky. She also had visions of the Angelic Pontiff, who would reign at the same time as the Great Monarch, and that both these great leaders were destined to restore the Catholic Church. Her house has been transformed into a sanctuary, which bears her name, in Blain, near Nantes in France, where she is buried in the cemetery.
► Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding “The Warning” (June 15th, 1882)
Before the “Three Days of Darkness” actually occur, God will send a “Day of Warning” which will be similar to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny: “I forewarn you that a day will be found, and it is already appointed, when there will be little sun, few stars, and no light to take a step outside of your homes, the refuges of My people. The days will be beginning to increase. It will not be at the height of summer, nor during the longer days of the year, but when the days are still short. It will not be at the end of the year, but during the first months, that I shall give My clear warnings. That [single] day of darkness and lightning will be the first that I shall send to convert the impious, and to see if a great number will return to Me, before the Great Storm which will closely follow … From one night to the next, the thunder will not cease to rumble. The fire from the lightning will do a lot of damage, even in the closed homes where someone will be living in sin. My children, that first day will not take away anything from the three others (the Three Day of Darkness) already pointed out and described.”
► Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding the “Three Days of Darkness” (December 8th, 1882 & January 4th, 1884)
The prophecy continues: “The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed (this will be the beginning of the Three Days). Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open, like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.”
“As soon as you notice these signs, go indoors, lock all doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at [out of?] the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle Holy Water about the house and especially in the vicinity of doors and windows: the devils fear Holy Water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also. Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Above all say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries.”
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand, to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated―more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days. The Earth will become like a vast cemetery. The bodies of the wicked and the just will cover the ground―three-quarters of the population of the globe will disappear.” (December 8th, 1882)
“The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption ... The three days of darkness will begin on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Days of the Most Holy Sacrament, of the Cross and Our Lady ... three days less one night. The defenders of the Faith will be protected from Heaven.” (January 4th, 1884).
(7) Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau (France, died 1878)
Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified stated that: “During a darkness, lasting three days, the people given to evil will perish, so that only one-fourth of mankind will survive.”
(8) The Ecstatic of Tours (in France, 1800s)
All we know of The Ecstatic of Tours, is that she was a French nun. In 1882, using her nom de plume (pen name), her spiritual director published her revelations, in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following prophecy was made in 1872-1873 and is taken from Yves Dupont’s book, Catholic Prophecy (p. 37):
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth.”
(9) Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966)
Father Constant Louis Marie Pel is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church, with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident, just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is in an abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation, will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west, to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything . . .
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness―caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights―will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... France, thus purified, will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation, at world’s end, will be lesser.
(10) Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257)
According to a vision received by Johann Friede, an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John, several extraordinary phenomena will give warning that the present order of civilization is about to end:
“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds [modern day technology and weapons of climate manipulation], gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder …
“The nebula of the Greater Bear will arrive in the vicinity of Earth ... and will fill the space of five hundred suns at the horizon. It will, more and more, cover up the light of the sun, until the days will be like nights at full moon ... By this time mankind will be stricken with terror. Birds will be like reptiles and will not use their wings. Animals of the ground, in fear and alarm, will raise such a clamor, that it will make human hearts tremble. Men will flee their homes, in order not to see the weird occurrence. Finally, complete darkness will set in and last for three days and three nights.
“During this time, men, deprived of the power of light, will fall into a slumber-like sleep, from which many will not awaken, especially those who have no spark of spiritual life. When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes, like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases.
“Of mankind, there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars. In the homes of the children of light, the Book of the Apocalypse will be read, and, in the palaces of the Church, they will await the arrival of the great comet. On the seventh day after the return of light, Earth will have absorbed the ashes and formed such a fertility as has not been experienced ever before.”
Summary
Even though Holy Scripture does not speak specifically about the “Three Days of Darkness” that are to come, we have nevertheless seen that Scripture speak of “Three Days of Darkness” in the past—namely, just prior to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, where the ninth plague, that God sent, was one of “Three Days of Darkness” (Exodus 10:22).
God speaks of something resembling the “Three Days of Darkness” when He announces through the prophet Ezechiel: “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: ‘I will spread out My net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in My net. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the Earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption, and I will water the Earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. I will make all the lights of Heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land” (Ezechiel 32:3-8).
A similar message does God send through His prophet Isaias: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaias 13:9-11).
Our Lord implicitly refers to something like days of darkness in His apocalyptic prophecies for our days, when He says: “And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be moved” (Matthew 24:29). He also says “Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40)—and there was no light for Jonas during his personal “Three Days of Darkness.”
Our Lady’s prophecies, of later times, also vaguely hint at something like the “Three Days of Darkness”—when she says: “The sun is darkening; only Faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the King of Kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady, in a sense, played with the sun—showing thereby that, for Heaven, nothing is impossible. Our Lady predicted that God would work a great miracle on October 13th, 1917 to prove the authenticity of her apparitions. A tremendous prodigy happened on that day, just as Our Lady had promised. For four minutes, the noontime sun spun around giving off various colors, one after the other. If a person at Fatima that day, had on a white shirt — it would turn red, green and blue as the sun spun around. It stopped and started again for four more minutes, this time giving off even more beautiful colors. Then it stopped again. Then it started again. This time it detached itself from its regular position and began to zigzag in the sky. It “danced” for about four minutes, then started to plummet to the Earth. It looked like it was the end of the world. Many people fell on their knees to ask for mercy of God. The sun then returned to its original position in the sky. It was witnessed by over 70,000 people who all, both believers and unbelievers, came away acknowledging that a great miracle had occurred. Several learned men present testified: “I have seen it―but I cannot explain it.”
Likewise, the above prophets—ranging from saints, to blesseds, to venerables or just holy Catholics—have testified to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Like the learned men at Fatima, we have to say: “I have seen the testimonies and, though I do not fully understand how this can be, I nevertheless believe!”
The reasons for accepting these prophecies and their imminent consequences for ourselves, we shall examine in the next article.
Friday February 4th
Article 20
Three Days of Darkness
Part 1 : The Controversy and Doubts
Article 20
Three Days of Darkness
Part 1 : The Controversy and Doubts
Candles, Candlemas and the Three Days of Darkness?
What on earth could be the connection between candles, the feast of Candlemas (February 2nd) and the so-called “Three Days of Darkness”? I believe in the existence of candles. I believe in the existence of Candlemas Day. Do I believe in the “Three Days of Darkness”? Much like St. Thomas Aquinas would do—which is what we all should do—let us first look at the objections and not try to run or hide from them. Then let us look at the sources that speak of the “Three Days of Darkness” and then make some necessary distinctions as we try come to a conclusion.
Three Groups Sitting in Darkness
First of all, there are rabid objectors to the Catholic Faith who are not worth listening to and not worth wasting our breath upon—these are outright enemies of the Church who will denigrate, ridicule, slander, question, dispute and cast doubt over as many teachings of the Catholic Faith and her actions as they can get away with. The fact that most Catholic today are grossly “dumbed-down” and know very little about their Faith, let alone having an understanding of it, makes the work of these enemies very easy indeed.
Secondly, there are rational objectors—some of them Catholic, others non-Catholic—who also question, dispute and cast doubt over many teachings and actions of the Church, but they are less likely to be sensationalist, nor rabid, nor illogical in their doubts, disputes or attacks. Some may be in good faith, others in bad faith. The current day Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals in the Church fall into this category. They have grown to place more and more ‘faith’ in science and human reason, rather than having Faith in God. This Rationalism makes oneself the authority in judging truth—which leads to subjectivism and subjective truth. Truth becomes what I think it is, what I would like it to be, what favors my position, what brings me most advantage, etc.
Thirdly, there are those who are neither Rationalists, Modernists, nor Liberals, but sincere faithful members of the Catholic Church, who want to believe and do what is right—but who do not always know what is true and what ought to be done. Often this is due to a negligence or laziness on their part, in not studying the Faith sufficiently—which, had they done so, would eliminate many of the dilemmas and uncertainties that they face.
All of these people—given any teaching or aspect of the Catholic Church and its actions, customs and practices―will have questions, incertitude, doubts, gaps in knowledge, misconceptions, etc., that should be addressed. The rabid objectors need to be put down and dismissed. The Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals need to be answered and proven wrong (in cases where they are wrong, for rarely is someone wrong in absolutely everything—just as nobody is right in absolutely everything). While the sincere Catholics needs to be enlightened—both as to the dangers of the two previous groups, as well as in their own personal ignorance, doubts and misconceptions.
An Example of Mental Darkness and Misconception
Before proceeding to the “Three Days of Darkness”, let us look how the mind can be darkened by misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations. Take for example the subject of Hell. There are some who hold that Hell does not exist. Others say that it exists, but that it is not permanent. While some say that it exists and that it is permanent.
The Church teaches, as a dogma of Faith, that Hell exists and that it is permanent. “The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell. (De fide―of Faith) … The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity. (De fide―of Faith). The Council of Lyons I stated: ‘If anyone, without repentance, dies in mortal sin, without a doubt he is tortured forever by the flames of eternal Hell’ [Denzinger §457] (Denzinger, Sources of Catholic Dogma).
Yet reputable theologians also teach that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine, writes: “Gregory says [he quotes St. Augustine (The City of God, 1:8)]: ‘Even as in the same fire gold glistens and straw smokes, so in the same fire the sinner burns and the elect is cleansed.’ Therefore the fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, Appendix 2, art. 2).
That it is the same fire that burns in Purgatory as in Hell, is also testified by Private Revelation—yes, we all know that Private Revelation is not dogma and does not hold the same obligations of belief, but I dare anyone to appear before God and reject the private revelations He has permitted and made, e.g. the Sacred Heart, the Rosary, the Scapular! We shall not go into any detail here—a cursory glance at Fr. Schouppe’s two books on Hell and Purgatory ― Hell And How To Avoid It and Purgatory Explained ― will give you more than just a clear insight into the private revelations of souls, that have been allowed by God to appear and attest to the fires that burn them in both Purgatory and Hell.
Some of those revelations state—as many theologians, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, also believe—that the fires of Purgatory (that is to say in lowest, deepest parts of Purgatory) are the same as the fires of Hell. From this it is easy to see how some misinformed, irrational, superficial souls could come up with the idea that Hell is only temporary—because they look only at the aspect of fire and not place. To them, being in the lowest, deepest confines of Purgatory, is like being in Hell, only that this ‘Hell’ (Purgatory) ends sooner or later. The truth is that the fires of Hell cease to burn them in Purgatory because they are in Purgatory and not in Hell―yet it is the same punishing fire that burns in both places.
These misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations can come forth from both a weak-minded, but well-intentioned soul, or they can emanate from a strong-minded, but evil-intentioned soul. From this digression, let us proceed to the “Three Days of Darkness” to see if we can find some light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Wikipedia in the Dark?
Let us first of all, in order to deal with objections, take the opinion given by Wikipedia, which is a non-Catholic source, which quite often (though not always) will show a bias against solid and ancient Catholic teaching―favoring more Rationalistic, Liberal or Modernistic interpretations. The Wikipedia article on the subject reads thus:
“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism which parallels the Ten Plagues against Egypt in the Book of Exodus.
“Just as God punished the Egyptians with plagues including the “three days of darkness”, the theory states that God will chastise the world with darkness at the end of time. The Earth will be enveloped by darkness lasting three days and three nights, the only light source that can be seen being blessed candles. Various Catholic visionaries agree that the faithful should stay within their homes during this period as most of the Earth’s inhabitants shall die.
Advocates
Wikipedia continues: “Many Catholic seers and mystics such as Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Gaspar del Bufalo, Padre Pio, Anna Maria Taigi, Elisabeth Canori Mora, Mariam Baouardi (Mary of Jesus Crucified), Rosa-Colomba Asdente, Palma d’Oria, Père Lamy, Marie Martel, and Marie Julie Jahenny, have prophesied the Three Days of Darkness. However, it is not endorsed by the Holy See.
“Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the most known seer of the Three Days of Darkness and describes the event in this way: “There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941), known as the “Breton Stigmatist”, expanded upon the story of the Three Days of Darkness, saying that it will occur on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when all of Hell will be let loose to strike at those outside their homes and those without a lit blessed candle of 100% pure wax.
Controversy
Wikipedia continues: “Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists. The latter group hopes that a “true pope” will be miraculously designated by an apparition of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; this tangential belief assumes that the most recent pontiffs of the Church are in fact “antipopes.” There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness―as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed.” (End of the Wikipedia article).
Critique of the “Three Ways of Darkness” article by Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article very subtly denigrates and casts doubt upon the prophecies about the “Three Day of Darkness.” It must be said that whoever wrote the article has the honesty to state some of the facts (but an article that would lie about all the facts would lose its credibility), but then the Wikipedia article casts doubt upon the veracity of the matter—“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism … This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See … There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed ... Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists.”
Criticism of Certain Parts of the Wikipedia Article
► (1) First of all the Wikipedia article pits the “Three Days of Darkness” against the approbation of the Church, saying: “This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See.” Yet it fails to mention that neither does the Church condemn the “Three Days of Darkness.” It is much like canonizing a saint—the Church may judge it too early to canonize somebody, but neither does the Church say the opposite. Or, for example, speaking of the fires of Purgatory, the Church does not make it a dogma, but it does not forbid theologians of speaking of the fires of Purgatory—for the Church holds the teaching to be probably true, though not dogmatically true. To say that the Church does not endorse the “Three Days of Darkness”, does not mean the Church rejects the “Three Days of Darkness.” Subtle and clever sowing of doubt here!
► (2) Another way the article discredits “Three Days of Darkness” is the very crafty way it resorts to discreditation or guilt by association with ‘undesirables’—in this case “traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists [those who think there is no current valid pope]”—which implies “guilt by association” meaning that you are just like them if you also believe in the “Three Days of Darkness.” However, this ignores all the generations before today’s post-Vatican II “traditional Catholics” (which fails to mention that all Catholics of bygone years were traditional Catholics for centuries before our current Modernist ‘flavor’ of Catholicism came around) and fails to mention that thousands of Catholics, way before the current problem of sedevacantism, also adhered to the “Three Days of Darkness” ― saints and theologians included.
► (3) Then the article goes on to cast doubt upon the authenticity of St. Padre Pio positively endorsing the “Three Days of Darkness” and stops there--without referring to the authenticity of many of other saints and blessed who DO ENDORSE the “Three Days of Darkness.” Though the authenticity of St. Padre Pio may rightfully be in question, that is not the case for most of the other saints and blesseds—but, following this line of reasoning, it is tantamount to saying: “If St. Padre Pio did not endorse the ‘Three Days of Darkness’—even though many think he did—then automatically you must doubt all the other ‘Three Days of Darkness’ endorsing saints and blesseds too!” This is like saying, because one person is wrong, then everyone must be wrong; or if a person is wrong once, then they must automatically be always wrong; or if one person did not say something, then nobody must have said it. Ridiculous!
Another Objection by a Catholic Priest
There is a website named “Brother Priests”, run by a Catholic priest, Fr. Joel Sember, who studied at St. John Vianney Seminary, Mundelein Seminary (north of Chicago, Illinois) and the North American College (Rome). He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay (WI), United States on June 30th, 2007. Fr. Joel Sember has a License Degree in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University Santa Croce in Rome. He is/was pastor of three parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
There is an article, on Fr. Sember’s website, that also denigrates and casts doubt over the “Three Days of Darkness”—and rhetorically asks “What should Catholics think?” before putting-down, slamming and ridiculing any such belief in the “Three Days of Darkness.” Here are some key objections of Fr. Joel Sember―which we will proceed to answer immediately within or after the quoted text (by giving our comments in red print):
Fr. Joel Sember: “An end-times prophecy about three days of darkness is making the rounds of Catholic circles. This prophecy states that God’s last act of judgment on Earth will be three days and three nights of total darkness. No light will shine during this time except blessed wax candles, and the enemies of the Church will die.
[COMMENT: Wrong! The prophecy DOES NOT state that it will be “God’s last act of judgment on Earth” ― but that it will bring to an end the Minor Tribulation or Minor Apostasy, after which God will triumph and there will be peace on Earth, with God being wonderfully served and worshiped. If the writer cannot get his facts right in the opening paragraph, then where else is he erring?]
Fr. Joel Sember: “According to some web searches I did, this same prophecy also makes the rounds in New Age circles—although without the references to the Church of course. On the internet you can find a purported Mayan legend, about a time when the sun did not rise and there were three days of darkness, until the people’s prayers brought the sun back.
[COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate and ridicule using the “guilt by association” method—linking to New Age and pagan Mayan sources. In that case we can cast doubt on many aspects and teachings of the Catholic Faith, just because Protestants, or other religions, believe the same thing—for example worshiping on Sundays rather than the Sabbath (nowhere in the Bible does it say we have to worship on Sunday). ].
Fr. Joel Sember: “The Catholic version is far more terrifying than the New-Age version. The prophecy is attributed to Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi. I have not done any research to establish whether she really wrote this [COMMENT: Again subtle doubt casting. Have you done any research to see if Christ really existed, that Our Lady really existed, etc. You believe Jesus and Mary existed―but have not done any research to see if the Bible testimony is actually true!], but here is the passage that you can find on the internet:
Fr. Joel Sember now quotes what he has found on the internet: “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils―it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness―except blessed wax candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.” [end of the passage by Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi that Fr. Sember chose to quote].
Fr. Joel Sember: “This is the mild version of the prophecy. More serious versions tell you that all Hell will roam the Earth during those three days, and just looking out a window will be fatal. You are warned to buy thick drapes or black plastic to cover all your windows. Also, it is said that during the three days you will hear people banging on your door and you will think that people you love are out in the darkness ― but do not open the door, because it will really be the demons trying to get you.”
[COMMENT: Here again we have a subtle form of ridicule and denigration that seeks to make the reader disbelieve that God could be brutal. If you do not believe that, then simply read the Old Testament and look at the ‘brutality’ God commanded in retribution for sin! Read, for example, chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus. Oh, that is the Old Testament, you may say! Well look at the New Testament times and see how God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Christ, where the city was razed to the ground by the Romans and over a million Jews were slaughtered (men, women and children), and where some of the Jews, on order to stay alive, were eating their own babies during the long siege, due to a lack of food. Pretty brutal, eh? And prophesied by Christ! So the brutality of the forthcoming chastisement should not surprise us! As for the devil appearing and sounding like people whom we love, in order to “try and get us”―do not forget the devil appeared as Our Lord and Our Lady to St. John of the Cross, and that the devil appeared to Padre Pio under the guise of his spiritual director and confessor―always with the intention “trying to get them” in some way. So cut the sarcasm Fr. Sember!].
Fr. Joel Sember: “What should Catholics think about this prophecy? They should think that it is probably wrong. There is no Scriptural support for the idea that darkness will be the last punishment of mankind [COMMENT: Again, who says it is “the last punishment of mankind”? Only you! None of the saints or mystics say that! You have got your ‘facts’ wrong once again! Wrong facts lead to wrong conclusions!]. Although there are several Scriptures which talk about the sun being darkened in the last days, the darkness is never the last and final judgment, but it is only a sign of the judgment that is coming. This is true in the references in Matthew, Revelation, and the prophets. In Exodus 10:21-29, the only passage in the Bible that refers to three days of darkness, the darkness is the penultimate plague unleashed against Egypt. The last and final plague was the death of the firstborn.
[COMMENT: Again, wrong assumption and insinuation—you need to understand that the “Three Days of Darkness” will not be “the last and final” punishment. The prophecies make it CLEAR that there will be period of peace after the “Three Days of Darkness” until the coming of the Antichrist. This is a good example of how to build castles on sand―only to see them fall because of insufficient support. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, if you are little off course in the beginning of your journey, then after many hours you will be a long way from your intended destination.].
Fr. Joel Sember: “The clearest reference in Scripture to the final judgment of the Earth [COMMENT: The “Three Days of Darkness is NOT the Final Judgment] says that this judgment will happen by fire. Revelation 20:7-10 says this:
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the Earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.” (Revelation/Apocalypse 20:7-10).
Fr. Joel Sember: “Someone could claim that the fire that comes down from Heaven is really an intense darkness, laden with pestilence and swarming with demons―but that does not make any sense. [COMMENT: If you reject the notion of true fire coming down from Heaven, then is Our Lady in error or lying when she says: “Without virginity, it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Quito) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity” (Akita).].
Fr. Joel Sember: “Second, the more you think about the prophecy, the less sense it makes [COMMENT: The more one thinks about what you are saying, the less sense it makes]. This is supposed to be God’s final act of punishment [COMMENT: No! It is not a final act of punishment―a punishment, yes; a final punishment, no!] against evildoers and enemies of the Church, but many evil people are going to be spared [COMMENT: Where do you get “many”? Several prophecies speak of “few”, not many, and certainly not the majority], so that they can be converted by the Church after the great chastisement. Also, many good and holy persons will be among the dead, according to this prophecy.”
Fr. Joel Sember: “In Exodus, the Israelites were spared the darkness and the death of their firstborn, and these plagues only fell on Egyptians. This time God must be a lot more angry, because only the just people―who stay in their homes, do not look out the windows, and light blessed candles―will be spared.”
[COMMENT: Here the author is being sarcastic—but God IS “a lot more angry”, as stated by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before.”].
Fr. Joel Sember: “This prophecy ― and particularly the swarms of demons in the sky ― seems to reflect the devil’s way of thinking and doing things, much more than God’s way of doing things.”
[COMMENT: If you reject the “swarms of demons”, then please explain Our Lady’s words at Quito, La Salette—or are those bogus too? “The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings” (Quito) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will have great power over nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests” (La Salette) ― which echoes Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
Fr. Joel Sember: “Endnote: you should be careful to read the fine print. Most of the internet sites, promoting this prophecy, are connected to individuals and groups which believe that the Catholic Church is in apostasy right now and most Masses are not valid. [COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method―if you accept the “Three Days of Darkness”, then you are just like those people]. Apostasy in the Catholic Church is the devil’s favorite end-time prophecy, something he has been dreaming about since 33 AD (the devil, like many politicians, believes that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true).
[COMMENT: Then you are condemning some of the greatest saints and mystics of the Church. Furthermore, you condemn Cardinal Manning, who wrote: “The writers of the Church tell us that in the latter days the city of Rome will probably become apostate from the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ; and that Rome will again be punished, for he will depart from it; and the judgment of God will fall on the place from which he once reigned over the nations of the world …. Rome shall apostatize from the Faith and drive away the Vicar of Christ, and return to its ancient paganism.” And what of the recent and current day cardinals who say that apostasy will start at the top? In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” ]. During the Protestant Reformation, he [the devil] was telling everyone that the Pope in Rome was the Antichrist. The “alternate” version of the Third Secret of Fatima, the one supposedly hidden by the Vatican, proclaims that the papacy will be in apostasy and the true Faith will not be preserved in Rome, but only in Portugal. Whenever you find people believing that the Catholic Church has become, or will become, unfaithful to Christ, the devil is not far away!”
[COMMENT: Was Our Lord the devil in disguise when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Was St. Paul the devil in disguise when he wrote that God was not well pleased with most of the 2 to 3 million Israelites in the desert, during the time of Moses and the Exodus? During the Arian heresy, most of the Church was unfaithful to the dogma of Christ being true God, denying that the Son is of one essence, nature, or substance with God. Hence St. Jerome’s famous quote, who complained that nearly all the world had become Arian!
To conclude this critique, let it be said that Fr. Sember’s article is the typical denigrating and ridiculing attack that comes from the pens of many Modernists, Rationalists and Liberals within the Church itself. This requires vigilance and repudiation whenever encountered. For, as Our Lord said: “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Sifting the Prophecies
A lot has been written about the “Three Days of Darkness”—some of it exaggerated and sensational, some not—therefore one needs to sift through the material carefully, for fear of falling into serious doctrinal errors. This separation of the chaff from the wheat is a difficult task.
The Catholic Church & Prophecies
The “Three Days of Darkness” is a prophecy—not from one single source, but from several sources from different time spheres. So it is first of all necessary to look at the principles of judgment concerning prophecies. Therefore, let us consult the Catholic Encyclopedia for some guidelines regarding prophecies—for this summarizes and presents these principles in a succinct manner. The Catholic Encyclopedia, under the entry “Prophecy”, states:
● As the term is used in mystical theology, it applies both to the prophecies of canonical Scripture and private prophecies.
● Understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events, of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things, which cannot be known by the natural light of reason.
● St. Paul, speaking of prophecy in 1 Corinthians verse 14, does not confine its meaning to predictions of future events, but includes under it Divine inspirations, concerning what is secret, whether future or not.
● As, however, the manifestation of hidden present mysteries, or past events comes under revelation, we have here to understand by prophecy what is in its strict and proper sense, namely the revelation of future events.
● The knowledge must be supernatural and infused by God, because it concerns things beyond the natural power of created intelligence; and the knowledge must be manifested either by words or signs, because the gift of prophecy is given primarily for the good of others, and hence needs to be manifested.
● It is a Divine light, by which God reveals things concerning the unknown future, and by which these things are in some way represented to the mind of the prophet, whose duty it is to manifest them to others.
Prudent Discernment Needed
The Church considers the Book of Apocalypse as divinely inspired and it remains to be the last prophetic work that the Church acknowledges as such. Though the prophetic spirit has continued through the centuries, the Church has never promoted any other prophetical work—even if the Church proclaimed countless persons as saints who were gifted with prophecy. Thus the Church shows prudence--by neither absolutely accepting, or absolutely denying the prophecies made by those saints. She will simply say that there is nothing in them that can be judged to be against Faith or Morals.
The Church prudently gives ample latitude as to the acceptance or rejection of particular or private prophecies―based on evidence for or against them. The Catholic faithful’s attitude should be that of prudence and balance―always being careful and slow in accepting or rejecting them—especially when they come from trustworthy sources and do not contradict Catholic doctrine and morals. Unfortunately there are many who are lovers and followers of the sensational, and bite the fruit before testing it, to whom you can apply the proverb: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!”
How Can Prophecy Be Verified?
The only real way a prophecy can be absolutely verified as true, is when it is fulfilled. It is much like the police holding a person in suspicion of criminal behavior of committing a crime—they cannot be sure, or they cannot arrest or convict the person, until their suspicion (or ‘prophecy’) is fulfilled and irrefutable evidence surfaces of that person committing the crime. Veracity or accuracy of their fulfillment remains to be the litmus test to which all prophecies are to be judged.
The character of these prophecies covers a wide gamut―ranging from pious anticipations of Providence; to events in the lives of saints; to the fate of nations; to the popes and the papacy; and to apocalyptic catastrophes leading to the end of the world. They may sometimes be realized or “come true” only in part, and in part may even run contrary to events. Due to the conditional nature of some of them―they may or may not be fulfilled.
For example, Our Lady says at Fatima--if her demands are fulfilled then a certain thing will not happen, but if her demands are not fulfilled, then it will happen. So if we pray and do much penance, the terrible things she foretold at Fatima and also at La Salette and Akita would not happen. Because they would not happen, we cannot say the prophecy of a chastisement was false—it is simply that we took heed of her warnings and put into practice whatever was necessary to stop the prophecy from happening. In this way many prophecies are said to be “conditional”.
“End Time” Prophecies
First of all we must ask ourselves: “Are we in the end times?” Though we are most certainly not on the verge of the actual end of the world, we can almost certainly say that we are within a period that could well be called “The End Times” … “Last Times” … “Last Days” or “The Latter Days”.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in December 1957, speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions of Our Lady, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984, by Jesus magazine. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the Third Secret of Fatima and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.”
In the build-up to Christmas 2015, Pope Francis told crowds in St. Peter’s Square that this Christmas might be the last one for humanity. In a grim speech, the Pope said that the current chaotic state of the world marks the beginning of the “end times”, and that this time next year the world is likely to be unrecognizable. Well, Francis is obviously no prophet ― as his ‘prophecy’ did not come true ― but that does not mean that we are not living in the “end times.”
The common and outstanding character among latter day prophecies seems to be the foreboding of a terrible destruction of the world, due to an unrepentant mankind, the resurgence of the Church, and the conversion of the world. E.H. Thompson keenly pointed out in his “Life of Anna Maria Taigi” (chapter 18) that the revelations have the following features: “First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a revolution springing from most deep-rooted impiety, consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth, and resulting in the most formidable persecution to which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they all promise, for the Church, a victory more splendid than she has ever achieved here below.”
The Fatima prophecies fit exactly into this category, when Our Lady spoke of a terrible chastisement―if men do not repent and amend their lives—but she also gave hope by promising that, in the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
The Three Days of Darkness—Not A New Idea
The idea or fact of “days of darkness” is nothing new. Holy Scripture has many references to “days of darkness”—therefore this whole idea is not the invention of someone’s feverish imagination!
► Firstly, at the very beginning of time, the whole world was enshrouded in darkness: “And the Earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep … And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night” (Genesis 1:2-4).
► Secondly, an event which could be said to resemble most the circumstances of the prophecy about the “Three Days of Darkness”, is found in the time of Moses and the ten plagues that God sends upon Pharaoh and Egypt, especially the ninth plague—which actually was three days of darkness:
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch out thy hand towards Heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt!’ And Moses stretched forth his hand towards Heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was. But wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt, there was light” (Exodus 10:21-23). These “Three Days of Darkness” from the time of Moses are a clear precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness” of the future.
Once the Israelites left Egypt and were being pursued by the Egyptian soldiers, God again used darkness as weapon, before destroying His enemies: “And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them” (Josue 24:7).
► In another Old Testament instance, Isaias the prophet also spoke of a day of darkness: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light! The sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light! And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity―and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogance of the mighty … I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil―I am the Lord that does all these things” (Isaias 13: 9-11; 45:7).
► The Books of Job and Amos speak of day being turned into darkness and death: “Let that day be turned into darkness and let not the light shine upon it! Let darkness and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness! … He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world!” (Job 3:4-5; 18:18). “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the Earth dark in the day of light!” (Amos 8:9). “For he knoweth their works―and therefore He shall bring night on them, and they shall be destroyed!” (Job 34:25).
► Coming to the New Testament, we have the “Three Hours of Darkness” that enveloped the whole world at the moment Our Lord died on the cross on Mount Calvary. Three of the Gospel writers mention this fact: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole Earth, until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45) … “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole Earth until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33) … “And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the Earth until the ninth hour” (Luke 23:44). Again, a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”, showing that God is liable to operate in this way and that it is nothing new.
These and even more Scriptural references, provide a platform of reality and not mere fancy for the prophecies and revelations about days of darkness that would be made—by the saints, the blessed, the venerables, and mystics—after New Testament times and relating to our times.
In the next article we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
What on earth could be the connection between candles, the feast of Candlemas (February 2nd) and the so-called “Three Days of Darkness”? I believe in the existence of candles. I believe in the existence of Candlemas Day. Do I believe in the “Three Days of Darkness”? Much like St. Thomas Aquinas would do—which is what we all should do—let us first look at the objections and not try to run or hide from them. Then let us look at the sources that speak of the “Three Days of Darkness” and then make some necessary distinctions as we try come to a conclusion.
Three Groups Sitting in Darkness
First of all, there are rabid objectors to the Catholic Faith who are not worth listening to and not worth wasting our breath upon—these are outright enemies of the Church who will denigrate, ridicule, slander, question, dispute and cast doubt over as many teachings of the Catholic Faith and her actions as they can get away with. The fact that most Catholic today are grossly “dumbed-down” and know very little about their Faith, let alone having an understanding of it, makes the work of these enemies very easy indeed.
Secondly, there are rational objectors—some of them Catholic, others non-Catholic—who also question, dispute and cast doubt over many teachings and actions of the Church, but they are less likely to be sensationalist, nor rabid, nor illogical in their doubts, disputes or attacks. Some may be in good faith, others in bad faith. The current day Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals in the Church fall into this category. They have grown to place more and more ‘faith’ in science and human reason, rather than having Faith in God. This Rationalism makes oneself the authority in judging truth—which leads to subjectivism and subjective truth. Truth becomes what I think it is, what I would like it to be, what favors my position, what brings me most advantage, etc.
Thirdly, there are those who are neither Rationalists, Modernists, nor Liberals, but sincere faithful members of the Catholic Church, who want to believe and do what is right—but who do not always know what is true and what ought to be done. Often this is due to a negligence or laziness on their part, in not studying the Faith sufficiently—which, had they done so, would eliminate many of the dilemmas and uncertainties that they face.
All of these people—given any teaching or aspect of the Catholic Church and its actions, customs and practices―will have questions, incertitude, doubts, gaps in knowledge, misconceptions, etc., that should be addressed. The rabid objectors need to be put down and dismissed. The Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals need to be answered and proven wrong (in cases where they are wrong, for rarely is someone wrong in absolutely everything—just as nobody is right in absolutely everything). While the sincere Catholics needs to be enlightened—both as to the dangers of the two previous groups, as well as in their own personal ignorance, doubts and misconceptions.
An Example of Mental Darkness and Misconception
Before proceeding to the “Three Days of Darkness”, let us look how the mind can be darkened by misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations. Take for example the subject of Hell. There are some who hold that Hell does not exist. Others say that it exists, but that it is not permanent. While some say that it exists and that it is permanent.
The Church teaches, as a dogma of Faith, that Hell exists and that it is permanent. “The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell. (De fide―of Faith) … The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity. (De fide―of Faith). The Council of Lyons I stated: ‘If anyone, without repentance, dies in mortal sin, without a doubt he is tortured forever by the flames of eternal Hell’ [Denzinger §457] (Denzinger, Sources of Catholic Dogma).
Yet reputable theologians also teach that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine, writes: “Gregory says [he quotes St. Augustine (The City of God, 1:8)]: ‘Even as in the same fire gold glistens and straw smokes, so in the same fire the sinner burns and the elect is cleansed.’ Therefore the fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, Appendix 2, art. 2).
That it is the same fire that burns in Purgatory as in Hell, is also testified by Private Revelation—yes, we all know that Private Revelation is not dogma and does not hold the same obligations of belief, but I dare anyone to appear before God and reject the private revelations He has permitted and made, e.g. the Sacred Heart, the Rosary, the Scapular! We shall not go into any detail here—a cursory glance at Fr. Schouppe’s two books on Hell and Purgatory ― Hell And How To Avoid It and Purgatory Explained ― will give you more than just a clear insight into the private revelations of souls, that have been allowed by God to appear and attest to the fires that burn them in both Purgatory and Hell.
Some of those revelations state—as many theologians, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, also believe—that the fires of Purgatory (that is to say in lowest, deepest parts of Purgatory) are the same as the fires of Hell. From this it is easy to see how some misinformed, irrational, superficial souls could come up with the idea that Hell is only temporary—because they look only at the aspect of fire and not place. To them, being in the lowest, deepest confines of Purgatory, is like being in Hell, only that this ‘Hell’ (Purgatory) ends sooner or later. The truth is that the fires of Hell cease to burn them in Purgatory because they are in Purgatory and not in Hell―yet it is the same punishing fire that burns in both places.
These misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations can come forth from both a weak-minded, but well-intentioned soul, or they can emanate from a strong-minded, but evil-intentioned soul. From this digression, let us proceed to the “Three Days of Darkness” to see if we can find some light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Wikipedia in the Dark?
Let us first of all, in order to deal with objections, take the opinion given by Wikipedia, which is a non-Catholic source, which quite often (though not always) will show a bias against solid and ancient Catholic teaching―favoring more Rationalistic, Liberal or Modernistic interpretations. The Wikipedia article on the subject reads thus:
“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism which parallels the Ten Plagues against Egypt in the Book of Exodus.
“Just as God punished the Egyptians with plagues including the “three days of darkness”, the theory states that God will chastise the world with darkness at the end of time. The Earth will be enveloped by darkness lasting three days and three nights, the only light source that can be seen being blessed candles. Various Catholic visionaries agree that the faithful should stay within their homes during this period as most of the Earth’s inhabitants shall die.
Advocates
Wikipedia continues: “Many Catholic seers and mystics such as Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Gaspar del Bufalo, Padre Pio, Anna Maria Taigi, Elisabeth Canori Mora, Mariam Baouardi (Mary of Jesus Crucified), Rosa-Colomba Asdente, Palma d’Oria, Père Lamy, Marie Martel, and Marie Julie Jahenny, have prophesied the Three Days of Darkness. However, it is not endorsed by the Holy See.
“Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the most known seer of the Three Days of Darkness and describes the event in this way: “There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941), known as the “Breton Stigmatist”, expanded upon the story of the Three Days of Darkness, saying that it will occur on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when all of Hell will be let loose to strike at those outside their homes and those without a lit blessed candle of 100% pure wax.
Controversy
Wikipedia continues: “Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists. The latter group hopes that a “true pope” will be miraculously designated by an apparition of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; this tangential belief assumes that the most recent pontiffs of the Church are in fact “antipopes.” There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness―as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed.” (End of the Wikipedia article).
Critique of the “Three Ways of Darkness” article by Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article very subtly denigrates and casts doubt upon the prophecies about the “Three Day of Darkness.” It must be said that whoever wrote the article has the honesty to state some of the facts (but an article that would lie about all the facts would lose its credibility), but then the Wikipedia article casts doubt upon the veracity of the matter—“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism … This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See … There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed ... Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists.”
Criticism of Certain Parts of the Wikipedia Article
► (1) First of all the Wikipedia article pits the “Three Days of Darkness” against the approbation of the Church, saying: “This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See.” Yet it fails to mention that neither does the Church condemn the “Three Days of Darkness.” It is much like canonizing a saint—the Church may judge it too early to canonize somebody, but neither does the Church say the opposite. Or, for example, speaking of the fires of Purgatory, the Church does not make it a dogma, but it does not forbid theologians of speaking of the fires of Purgatory—for the Church holds the teaching to be probably true, though not dogmatically true. To say that the Church does not endorse the “Three Days of Darkness”, does not mean the Church rejects the “Three Days of Darkness.” Subtle and clever sowing of doubt here!
► (2) Another way the article discredits “Three Days of Darkness” is the very crafty way it resorts to discreditation or guilt by association with ‘undesirables’—in this case “traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists [those who think there is no current valid pope]”—which implies “guilt by association” meaning that you are just like them if you also believe in the “Three Days of Darkness.” However, this ignores all the generations before today’s post-Vatican II “traditional Catholics” (which fails to mention that all Catholics of bygone years were traditional Catholics for centuries before our current Modernist ‘flavor’ of Catholicism came around) and fails to mention that thousands of Catholics, way before the current problem of sedevacantism, also adhered to the “Three Days of Darkness” ― saints and theologians included.
► (3) Then the article goes on to cast doubt upon the authenticity of St. Padre Pio positively endorsing the “Three Days of Darkness” and stops there--without referring to the authenticity of many of other saints and blessed who DO ENDORSE the “Three Days of Darkness.” Though the authenticity of St. Padre Pio may rightfully be in question, that is not the case for most of the other saints and blesseds—but, following this line of reasoning, it is tantamount to saying: “If St. Padre Pio did not endorse the ‘Three Days of Darkness’—even though many think he did—then automatically you must doubt all the other ‘Three Days of Darkness’ endorsing saints and blesseds too!” This is like saying, because one person is wrong, then everyone must be wrong; or if a person is wrong once, then they must automatically be always wrong; or if one person did not say something, then nobody must have said it. Ridiculous!
Another Objection by a Catholic Priest
There is a website named “Brother Priests”, run by a Catholic priest, Fr. Joel Sember, who studied at St. John Vianney Seminary, Mundelein Seminary (north of Chicago, Illinois) and the North American College (Rome). He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay (WI), United States on June 30th, 2007. Fr. Joel Sember has a License Degree in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University Santa Croce in Rome. He is/was pastor of three parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
There is an article, on Fr. Sember’s website, that also denigrates and casts doubt over the “Three Days of Darkness”—and rhetorically asks “What should Catholics think?” before putting-down, slamming and ridiculing any such belief in the “Three Days of Darkness.” Here are some key objections of Fr. Joel Sember―which we will proceed to answer immediately within or after the quoted text (by giving our comments in red print):
Fr. Joel Sember: “An end-times prophecy about three days of darkness is making the rounds of Catholic circles. This prophecy states that God’s last act of judgment on Earth will be three days and three nights of total darkness. No light will shine during this time except blessed wax candles, and the enemies of the Church will die.
[COMMENT: Wrong! The prophecy DOES NOT state that it will be “God’s last act of judgment on Earth” ― but that it will bring to an end the Minor Tribulation or Minor Apostasy, after which God will triumph and there will be peace on Earth, with God being wonderfully served and worshiped. If the writer cannot get his facts right in the opening paragraph, then where else is he erring?]
Fr. Joel Sember: “According to some web searches I did, this same prophecy also makes the rounds in New Age circles—although without the references to the Church of course. On the internet you can find a purported Mayan legend, about a time when the sun did not rise and there were three days of darkness, until the people’s prayers brought the sun back.
[COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate and ridicule using the “guilt by association” method—linking to New Age and pagan Mayan sources. In that case we can cast doubt on many aspects and teachings of the Catholic Faith, just because Protestants, or other religions, believe the same thing—for example worshiping on Sundays rather than the Sabbath (nowhere in the Bible does it say we have to worship on Sunday). ].
Fr. Joel Sember: “The Catholic version is far more terrifying than the New-Age version. The prophecy is attributed to Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi. I have not done any research to establish whether she really wrote this [COMMENT: Again subtle doubt casting. Have you done any research to see if Christ really existed, that Our Lady really existed, etc. You believe Jesus and Mary existed―but have not done any research to see if the Bible testimony is actually true!], but here is the passage that you can find on the internet:
Fr. Joel Sember now quotes what he has found on the internet: “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils―it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole Earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness―except blessed wax candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole Earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.” [end of the passage by Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi that Fr. Sember chose to quote].
Fr. Joel Sember: “This is the mild version of the prophecy. More serious versions tell you that all Hell will roam the Earth during those three days, and just looking out a window will be fatal. You are warned to buy thick drapes or black plastic to cover all your windows. Also, it is said that during the three days you will hear people banging on your door and you will think that people you love are out in the darkness ― but do not open the door, because it will really be the demons trying to get you.”
[COMMENT: Here again we have a subtle form of ridicule and denigration that seeks to make the reader disbelieve that God could be brutal. If you do not believe that, then simply read the Old Testament and look at the ‘brutality’ God commanded in retribution for sin! Read, for example, chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus. Oh, that is the Old Testament, you may say! Well look at the New Testament times and see how God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Christ, where the city was razed to the ground by the Romans and over a million Jews were slaughtered (men, women and children), and where some of the Jews, on order to stay alive, were eating their own babies during the long siege, due to a lack of food. Pretty brutal, eh? And prophesied by Christ! So the brutality of the forthcoming chastisement should not surprise us! As for the devil appearing and sounding like people whom we love, in order to “try and get us”―do not forget the devil appeared as Our Lord and Our Lady to St. John of the Cross, and that the devil appeared to Padre Pio under the guise of his spiritual director and confessor―always with the intention “trying to get them” in some way. So cut the sarcasm Fr. Sember!].
Fr. Joel Sember: “What should Catholics think about this prophecy? They should think that it is probably wrong. There is no Scriptural support for the idea that darkness will be the last punishment of mankind [COMMENT: Again, who says it is “the last punishment of mankind”? Only you! None of the saints or mystics say that! You have got your ‘facts’ wrong once again! Wrong facts lead to wrong conclusions!]. Although there are several Scriptures which talk about the sun being darkened in the last days, the darkness is never the last and final judgment, but it is only a sign of the judgment that is coming. This is true in the references in Matthew, Revelation, and the prophets. In Exodus 10:21-29, the only passage in the Bible that refers to three days of darkness, the darkness is the penultimate plague unleashed against Egypt. The last and final plague was the death of the firstborn.
[COMMENT: Again, wrong assumption and insinuation—you need to understand that the “Three Days of Darkness” will not be “the last and final” punishment. The prophecies make it CLEAR that there will be period of peace after the “Three Days of Darkness” until the coming of the Antichrist. This is a good example of how to build castles on sand―only to see them fall because of insufficient support. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, if you are little off course in the beginning of your journey, then after many hours you will be a long way from your intended destination.].
Fr. Joel Sember: “The clearest reference in Scripture to the final judgment of the Earth [COMMENT: The “Three Days of Darkness is NOT the Final Judgment] says that this judgment will happen by fire. Revelation 20:7-10 says this:
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the Earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.” (Revelation/Apocalypse 20:7-10).
Fr. Joel Sember: “Someone could claim that the fire that comes down from Heaven is really an intense darkness, laden with pestilence and swarming with demons―but that does not make any sense. [COMMENT: If you reject the notion of true fire coming down from Heaven, then is Our Lady in error or lying when she says: “Without virginity, it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Quito) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity” (Akita).].
Fr. Joel Sember: “Second, the more you think about the prophecy, the less sense it makes [COMMENT: The more one thinks about what you are saying, the less sense it makes]. This is supposed to be God’s final act of punishment [COMMENT: No! It is not a final act of punishment―a punishment, yes; a final punishment, no!] against evildoers and enemies of the Church, but many evil people are going to be spared [COMMENT: Where do you get “many”? Several prophecies speak of “few”, not many, and certainly not the majority], so that they can be converted by the Church after the great chastisement. Also, many good and holy persons will be among the dead, according to this prophecy.”
Fr. Joel Sember: “In Exodus, the Israelites were spared the darkness and the death of their firstborn, and these plagues only fell on Egyptians. This time God must be a lot more angry, because only the just people―who stay in their homes, do not look out the windows, and light blessed candles―will be spared.”
[COMMENT: Here the author is being sarcastic—but God IS “a lot more angry”, as stated by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before.”].
Fr. Joel Sember: “This prophecy ― and particularly the swarms of demons in the sky ― seems to reflect the devil’s way of thinking and doing things, much more than God’s way of doing things.”
[COMMENT: If you reject the “swarms of demons”, then please explain Our Lady’s words at Quito, La Salette—or are those bogus too? “The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings” (Quito) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will have great power over nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests” (La Salette) ― which echoes Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
Fr. Joel Sember: “Endnote: you should be careful to read the fine print. Most of the internet sites, promoting this prophecy, are connected to individuals and groups which believe that the Catholic Church is in apostasy right now and most Masses are not valid. [COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method―if you accept the “Three Days of Darkness”, then you are just like those people]. Apostasy in the Catholic Church is the devil’s favorite end-time prophecy, something he has been dreaming about since 33 AD (the devil, like many politicians, believes that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true).
[COMMENT: Then you are condemning some of the greatest saints and mystics of the Church. Furthermore, you condemn Cardinal Manning, who wrote: “The writers of the Church tell us that in the latter days the city of Rome will probably become apostate from the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ; and that Rome will again be punished, for he will depart from it; and the judgment of God will fall on the place from which he once reigned over the nations of the world …. Rome shall apostatize from the Faith and drive away the Vicar of Christ, and return to its ancient paganism.” And what of the recent and current day cardinals who say that apostasy will start at the top? In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” ]. During the Protestant Reformation, he [the devil] was telling everyone that the Pope in Rome was the Antichrist. The “alternate” version of the Third Secret of Fatima, the one supposedly hidden by the Vatican, proclaims that the papacy will be in apostasy and the true Faith will not be preserved in Rome, but only in Portugal. Whenever you find people believing that the Catholic Church has become, or will become, unfaithful to Christ, the devil is not far away!”
[COMMENT: Was Our Lord the devil in disguise when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Was St. Paul the devil in disguise when he wrote that God was not well pleased with most of the 2 to 3 million Israelites in the desert, during the time of Moses and the Exodus? During the Arian heresy, most of the Church was unfaithful to the dogma of Christ being true God, denying that the Son is of one essence, nature, or substance with God. Hence St. Jerome’s famous quote, who complained that nearly all the world had become Arian!
To conclude this critique, let it be said that Fr. Sember’s article is the typical denigrating and ridiculing attack that comes from the pens of many Modernists, Rationalists and Liberals within the Church itself. This requires vigilance and repudiation whenever encountered. For, as Our Lord said: “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Sifting the Prophecies
A lot has been written about the “Three Days of Darkness”—some of it exaggerated and sensational, some not—therefore one needs to sift through the material carefully, for fear of falling into serious doctrinal errors. This separation of the chaff from the wheat is a difficult task.
The Catholic Church & Prophecies
The “Three Days of Darkness” is a prophecy—not from one single source, but from several sources from different time spheres. So it is first of all necessary to look at the principles of judgment concerning prophecies. Therefore, let us consult the Catholic Encyclopedia for some guidelines regarding prophecies—for this summarizes and presents these principles in a succinct manner. The Catholic Encyclopedia, under the entry “Prophecy”, states:
● As the term is used in mystical theology, it applies both to the prophecies of canonical Scripture and private prophecies.
● Understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events, of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things, which cannot be known by the natural light of reason.
● St. Paul, speaking of prophecy in 1 Corinthians verse 14, does not confine its meaning to predictions of future events, but includes under it Divine inspirations, concerning what is secret, whether future or not.
● As, however, the manifestation of hidden present mysteries, or past events comes under revelation, we have here to understand by prophecy what is in its strict and proper sense, namely the revelation of future events.
● The knowledge must be supernatural and infused by God, because it concerns things beyond the natural power of created intelligence; and the knowledge must be manifested either by words or signs, because the gift of prophecy is given primarily for the good of others, and hence needs to be manifested.
● It is a Divine light, by which God reveals things concerning the unknown future, and by which these things are in some way represented to the mind of the prophet, whose duty it is to manifest them to others.
Prudent Discernment Needed
The Church considers the Book of Apocalypse as divinely inspired and it remains to be the last prophetic work that the Church acknowledges as such. Though the prophetic spirit has continued through the centuries, the Church has never promoted any other prophetical work—even if the Church proclaimed countless persons as saints who were gifted with prophecy. Thus the Church shows prudence--by neither absolutely accepting, or absolutely denying the prophecies made by those saints. She will simply say that there is nothing in them that can be judged to be against Faith or Morals.
The Church prudently gives ample latitude as to the acceptance or rejection of particular or private prophecies―based on evidence for or against them. The Catholic faithful’s attitude should be that of prudence and balance―always being careful and slow in accepting or rejecting them—especially when they come from trustworthy sources and do not contradict Catholic doctrine and morals. Unfortunately there are many who are lovers and followers of the sensational, and bite the fruit before testing it, to whom you can apply the proverb: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!”
How Can Prophecy Be Verified?
The only real way a prophecy can be absolutely verified as true, is when it is fulfilled. It is much like the police holding a person in suspicion of criminal behavior of committing a crime—they cannot be sure, or they cannot arrest or convict the person, until their suspicion (or ‘prophecy’) is fulfilled and irrefutable evidence surfaces of that person committing the crime. Veracity or accuracy of their fulfillment remains to be the litmus test to which all prophecies are to be judged.
The character of these prophecies covers a wide gamut―ranging from pious anticipations of Providence; to events in the lives of saints; to the fate of nations; to the popes and the papacy; and to apocalyptic catastrophes leading to the end of the world. They may sometimes be realized or “come true” only in part, and in part may even run contrary to events. Due to the conditional nature of some of them―they may or may not be fulfilled.
For example, Our Lady says at Fatima--if her demands are fulfilled then a certain thing will not happen, but if her demands are not fulfilled, then it will happen. So if we pray and do much penance, the terrible things she foretold at Fatima and also at La Salette and Akita would not happen. Because they would not happen, we cannot say the prophecy of a chastisement was false—it is simply that we took heed of her warnings and put into practice whatever was necessary to stop the prophecy from happening. In this way many prophecies are said to be “conditional”.
“End Time” Prophecies
First of all we must ask ourselves: “Are we in the end times?” Though we are most certainly not on the verge of the actual end of the world, we can almost certainly say that we are within a period that could well be called “The End Times” … “Last Times” … “Last Days” or “The Latter Days”.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in December 1957, speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions of Our Lady, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984, by Jesus magazine. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the Third Secret of Fatima and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.”
In the build-up to Christmas 2015, Pope Francis told crowds in St. Peter’s Square that this Christmas might be the last one for humanity. In a grim speech, the Pope said that the current chaotic state of the world marks the beginning of the “end times”, and that this time next year the world is likely to be unrecognizable. Well, Francis is obviously no prophet ― as his ‘prophecy’ did not come true ― but that does not mean that we are not living in the “end times.”
The common and outstanding character among latter day prophecies seems to be the foreboding of a terrible destruction of the world, due to an unrepentant mankind, the resurgence of the Church, and the conversion of the world. E.H. Thompson keenly pointed out in his “Life of Anna Maria Taigi” (chapter 18) that the revelations have the following features: “First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a revolution springing from most deep-rooted impiety, consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth, and resulting in the most formidable persecution to which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they all promise, for the Church, a victory more splendid than she has ever achieved here below.”
The Fatima prophecies fit exactly into this category, when Our Lady spoke of a terrible chastisement―if men do not repent and amend their lives—but she also gave hope by promising that, in the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
The Three Days of Darkness—Not A New Idea
The idea or fact of “days of darkness” is nothing new. Holy Scripture has many references to “days of darkness”—therefore this whole idea is not the invention of someone’s feverish imagination!
► Firstly, at the very beginning of time, the whole world was enshrouded in darkness: “And the Earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep … And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night” (Genesis 1:2-4).
► Secondly, an event which could be said to resemble most the circumstances of the prophecy about the “Three Days of Darkness”, is found in the time of Moses and the ten plagues that God sends upon Pharaoh and Egypt, especially the ninth plague—which actually was three days of darkness:
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch out thy hand towards Heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt!’ And Moses stretched forth his hand towards Heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was. But wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt, there was light” (Exodus 10:21-23). These “Three Days of Darkness” from the time of Moses are a clear precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness” of the future.
Once the Israelites left Egypt and were being pursued by the Egyptian soldiers, God again used darkness as weapon, before destroying His enemies: “And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them” (Josue 24:7).
► In another Old Testament instance, Isaias the prophet also spoke of a day of darkness: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light! The sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light! And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity―and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogance of the mighty … I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil―I am the Lord that does all these things” (Isaias 13: 9-11; 45:7).
► The Books of Job and Amos speak of day being turned into darkness and death: “Let that day be turned into darkness and let not the light shine upon it! Let darkness and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness! … He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world!” (Job 3:4-5; 18:18). “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the Earth dark in the day of light!” (Amos 8:9). “For he knoweth their works―and therefore He shall bring night on them, and they shall be destroyed!” (Job 34:25).
► Coming to the New Testament, we have the “Three Hours of Darkness” that enveloped the whole world at the moment Our Lord died on the cross on Mount Calvary. Three of the Gospel writers mention this fact: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole Earth, until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45) … “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole Earth until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33) … “And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the Earth until the ninth hour” (Luke 23:44). Again, a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”, showing that God is liable to operate in this way and that it is nothing new.
These and even more Scriptural references, provide a platform of reality and not mere fancy for the prophecies and revelations about days of darkness that would be made—by the saints, the blessed, the venerables, and mystics—after New Testament times and relating to our times.
In the next article we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
Wednesday February 2nd & Thursday February 3rd
Article 19
Candlemas Day Lights the Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 19
Candlemas Day Lights the Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sitting in the Dark?
They used to―perhaps they still do―mockingly speak about the “Dark Ages” in history. Do you know what the “Dark Ages” are? The “Dark Ages” is a term for the Early Middle-Ages (400s to 900s) or Middle-Ages (400s to 1400s) in Western Europe ― a period of time after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (which gradually collapsed from around 376 to 476 AD). Sometimes these post-Roman Empire times are called “Barbarian times” ― characterized as by economic, intellectual, and cultural decline. The concept of a “Dark Age” originated in the 1330s when scholars regarded the post-Roman centuries after Barbarians invaded the Roman Empire as “dark” ― compared to the “light” of classical Roman antiquity. The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle-Ages as a time of intellectual darkness in Europe, between the fall of Rome (in the 400s) and the Renaissance (1300s or 1400s).
Generally, the medieval era is divided into three periods: the “Early Middle-Ages”, the “High Middle-Ages”, and the “Late Middle-Ages”. Just like the concept of the “Middle-Ages” itself, each of these three periods lacks hard and fast parameters or timelines. The most common division is ― Early Middle-Ages being from late 400s to end of 900s; the High Middle-Ages being from 1000 to around 1250; and the Late Middle-Ages being from 1250 to the end of the 1400s).
During the Protestant Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries (1550s and 1600s), Protestants generally had a similar view―but also added an anti-Catholic perspective. They promoted the idea that the “Middle-Ages” were also times of darkness due to the corruption within the Catholic Church― such as popes ruling as kings, veneration of the relics of saints, a sinful priesthood, and institutionalized moral hypocrisy. In response to the Protestants, Catholics developed a counter-image to depict the High Middle-Ages (1000 to 1250 AD) in particular, as a period of social and religious harmony, and not “dark” at all. If anything, you could call the period of time that began with 16th century Protestant Reformation (with Luther in 1517) to the present day. Many would be shocked to hear you say that we are smack-bang-right-in-the-middle of the “Dark Ages” today ― which have been becoming darker and darker with each successive century. Yes―we might well have electric lighting today, but we are still living in the neo-Dark Ages!
When we say “someone is in the dark” about something, we mean that the person is in a state of ignorance, is uninformed, as in that phrase: “I was in the dark about their plans.” This metaphor often appears in the sense of “keeping someone in the dark”, meaning “deliberately keep someone uninformed,” as in “They kept me in the dark about their plans.” On the other hand, when we remove someone’s ignorance, when we inform someone of what they did not know, then we are said to “enlighten” them, or “we shine a light on something” for them, or we say: “A light-bulb turned on in his head!” or that “They finally see the light!”
Light Bulbs Turned Off―Intellectual Power Cut Responsible
Though the entire world is today filled with electric light bulbs―not many light bulbs are turned on in the minds of the world’s population. The world has definitely been dumbed down! For many decades, the U.S. educational system has both struggled and seen tremendous change. This has led many to believe that students are more uneducated than ever before. Dumbing down the educational system creates new problems. America’s youth are not prepared for the real world when they graduate from high school―especially when they spend many hours every day living in a “virtual world” on their smartphones, tablets, laptops, surfing the internet.
Add to that the “unreal world” of movies and television, plus the “unreal truth” spewed-out by most mainstream media outlets, that twist the truth when it suits them―and you are left with a severely handicapped intelligence on the part of most students―and most adults too. Most people have become intellectually juvenile or senile―they believe everything they are told by their “caregivers” ― the world’s media and the majority of governments. They might clever in things that don’t really matter―but dumb in things that really do matter. Our Lord pointed this out: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
In a survey, it was found that 75% of Americans would not believe anything unless they saw it on television! Can you believe it? Television is one of the worst sources of honest truth―closely followed by newspapers, magazines and the internet. It really is a sad reflection of modern society! They passively absorb all that media throws at them, blindly believing all that they see, read and hear! It is as though God was talking to them―God Who cannot deceive nor be deceived―but the modern media does deceive for it is ultimately in the hands of its prince―the devil: “The prince of this world” (John 12:31).
Culture is built up over decades, even centuries, and not in just a few years. That is true of evil cultures and virtuous cultures. “Rome wasn’t built in day” as they say―and it also took time to build a Christian culture after Christ ascended into Heaven. In a Christian culture the spiritual was more important than the material―Heaven more important than Earth―which is borne out by Our Lady’s words to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Today, Catholics want to be happy in this world―forget the next! It is no longer the words of Christ, the words of Scripture, the teaching of Tradition than inspires, enlightens and guides Catholics. That has been replaced by the words of the media―the internet, social media, television, etc. Those are the “prophets” and “saints” of today, who claim to be “enlightening”―but are actually darkening―the minds of mankind.
Prophecies of Dark Ages to Come
Pope Leo VI (died in 911 AD), in referring to our dark days, says: “There will set in a period of darkness, crime and revolution.” Pope Pius XII said: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.” St. Nilus, who lived around 400 AD, prophesied: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable ... [They will] discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish … At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change ... The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors … Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men … People’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign ... People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women―due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair ... Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society ... Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures ... These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals … Then the world will become unrecognizable … At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit … Woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all.”
The above “dark” prophecies do not differ from the “dark” prophecies made by Our Lady concerning our times: “For a while the Church will yield to large persecution―a time of darkness―and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [Satan and secret societies both like to “work in the dark”] ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The Church will be in eclipse [an “eclipse” is an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer ― in other words, an eclipse can bring darkness], the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
If we consult Holy Scripture, it merely adds “the icing-on-the-cake” of darkness: “Be converted from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God!” (Acts 26:18) ― thus we see darkness being equated with Satan and light with God. “That old serpent―who is called the Devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world― was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him!” (Apocalypse 12:9). He is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) … “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). They have their disciples or followers, who live “in the dark places, and in the shadow of death” (Psalms 87:7). “Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways” (Proverbs 2:13). “Their works are in the dark, and they say: ‘Who sees us, and who knows us?’” (Isaias 29:15). Our Lord adds: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything! … The prince of this world is already judged! ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30).
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “The light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “They that walk in vain where there is no way―they shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light” (Job 12:24-25). “The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp shall be put out” (Job 18:6). How true that is today, at a time when we see the fulfillment of Pope Pius XII’s prophecy concerning “Christians [who] will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them”, made in 1931, before his election to the papacy, while he was still Cardinal Eugene Pacelli: Eugene Cardinal Pacelli in 1931, the future Pope Pius XII. The quote in full reads thus: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary, about the dangers which menace the Church, is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
On a similar “dark” note, Pope St. Pius X described a vision that God had given him: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and after a short retirement [exile] he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness [darkness] of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
Don’t Be Afraid of Fire
Let us not be afraid of fire, especially supernatural fire, for fire represents God. We should draw near to that fire, as Moses drew near to God in the burning bush; or as St. Margaret Mary drew close to the fires of the Sacred Heart. Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). The Holy Ghost also came down to cast fire upon Earth, as He did upon Our Lady and the Apostles, at Pentecost, in the form of tongues of fire. Do we not say, in the prayer to the Holy Ghost, “enkindle in us the fire of Thy love”? In fact, God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Let us love that “fire of love” and let the Holy Ghost enkindle that “fire of love” in your soul, and let the Holy Eucharist, received often (if not daily) be the daily Holy ‘Coal’ for that “fire of love” in your soul! Without the spark (the Holy Ghost) and without the coals (the Holy Eucharist) and without a supply of air (which is prayer) that fire will go out!
Candles of Faith
Faith comes first, even though it may not be of first importance (Charity is the most important virtue). Faith is about knowing and then believing what we know. There can be no hope without knowledge—I cannot hope to be saved from an illness if I have no knowledge of the existence of the cure, nor any knowledge on how to use that cure. Nor can I love something or somebody if I do not know of their existence, whereabouts, qualities, etc. I will not be allowed to serve the community as a priest, doctor, attorney, teacher, etc., if I do not have the pre-requisite knowledge for whatever capacity I wish to be of service. “You shall know that I am the Lord God” (Ezechiel 13:9). “Thou shalt know the Lord thy God …” (Deuteronomy 7:9). “Know that the Lord He is God, and there is no other besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).
In knowing Him, we shall be enLIGHTened, for He is the Light. “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). His teachings shine a light on our vocation and the purpose of life. We are called to the Light and we are called to be a Light unto others: “YOU are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let YOUR light shine before men” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Like St. John the Baptist, we are not THE Light, but a reflection or a part of THE Light, and we have to give witness to that Light to those sat in darkness of the world. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the Light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the Light, but was to give testimony of the Light” (John 1:6-8). St. John the Baptist’s father, St. Zachary, had prophesied this at John’s birth: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways: to give knowledge of salvation to His people ... to enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:76-79).
Most of us do hide our candle under the bushel; not entirely of course, but we tailor it to suit our preferences and our love for ease and comfort, and our abhorrence of difficulty and confrontation. We know the quote, but we brush it off. But there is no escaping the words of Our Lord: “So let your light shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) ... “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Candles of Hope
Fire is one of the basic elements of life. Arguably, we could say it forms part of a trinity of essentials: air, water and fire. Without these we suffocate, we dehydrate and we freeze. When we have fire, we have warmth, we can cook―we can even melt and mold materials into tools that otherwise we could not use. In essence, the flame ignites the engines of our cars and planes. The ‘fire’ of the sun, besides giving light, also warms our Earth and makes things grow. Without all this fire we would have no hope.
The candle is a platform for that flame, just like the soul is a platform for God and His grace. We say “Where there is life, there is hope!” Likewise, where there is supernatural life, there is hope. If we have the fire of God within us, the sanctifying grace of God within us, then we have what is essential—ultimately, when push comes to shove, nothing else matters. What is it that we shall all need on our deathbed? The grace and mercy of God! If that sanctifying grace has not been extinguished in the candle of our soul, then we can be full of hope of receiving God’s mercy and being saved.
Candles of Charity
Charity is the highest of the three theological virtues. It is the virtue that we will be ultimately judged upon, for we have been told: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). So everything rests upon our love of God and neighbor. That is why charity has to infuse and penetrate every virtue, every good thought, word and action that we do, otherwise it is, as St. Paul says, useless:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind; Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; it is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. And now there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three―but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
The candle of Charity should never be extinguished: “Many waters cannot quench Charity, neither can the floods drown it” (Canticle 8:7). Yet, it is we ourselves who can extinguish the flame of Charity, if we do not replenish it. This is where the original ‘candles’ or lamps serve our analogy better―for the wax candle cannot be ‘topped-up’ as it burns, unlike the original ‘candles’ which were the olive-oil lamps (the parable of wise and foolish virgins). As the wick draws up the olive-oil to burn it, new oil is added to the reservoir. Olive-oil is a symbol of humility, as it is obtained through the crushing of the olive, much like wine is obtained by the crushing of the grape. Though wine is readily a symbol of charity, olive-oil can be said to be humility that turns into Charity―for humility means little love of self, as opposed to pride which is a great love of self. If I am full of excessive self-love, then there is little or no room left for love of God and neighbor. The humble olive-oil is a suitable substance and ‘wick’, for the fiery flame of Charity to rest and feed upon and keep burning.
Flickering Candles in Tribulation
Life is not always easy for the candle! There are many drafts of air wishing to extinguish the brave candle! The result is a candle that flickers nervously and desperately as it battles the air current; often exuding wavering smoke as it wavers back and forth―like a candle tempted to bend in the direction that the wind blows! This, of course, is symbolic of our battle against the powerful gusting winds of the devil, the world and our own flesh with its concupiscences. Any one of these can quickly extinguish our candle. Usually, in the case of a candle, the thicker or larger is the wick, the less likely it is to be extinguished by a gust of wind. Likewise, the thicker or bigger the soul (in the sense of being filled more with the things of God), the less likely it is to be blown-out. Sometimes brass followers (which are those brass-caps that are placed on top of the candle) aid the candle to burn correctly and give some minor protection against air-drafts. They are like a cross or weight on the shoulder of the candle, that it has to carry, but a cross that preserves its burning flame of Charity.
However, sometimes the wind is powerful and sustained (imagine an outdoor procession with candles) and unless there is extra protection for the candle, it stands no chance of keeping its flame alive. In these situations, the remedy for that situation is drastic, and the candle has to isolate itself from everything else around it. The altar server candles will often have a brass follower that allows a 2-3 inch tall glass funnel to sit atop, thus cutting-off the candle from the world and protecting it from the onslaught of the wind. Another, less aesthetic solution, would be to simply put the candle is a glass jar. In all of these cases, the beneficial light can get out, but the damaging wind of the world finds it hard to get in.
That is what we have to sometimes do in relation to the world: whether it be in the circle of our family and relatives, or in our work and social environment. The flame and fire of God is too precious to lose.
Burning the Candle at Both Ends
The Benedictine Order has for its motto, the words Ora et Labora, meaning Pray and Work. Notice that PRAY comes before WORK, just as God comes before man, and the soul is more important than the body.
The problem today is that there is more focus, care and attention being given to work, man and the body, than there is to prayer, God and the soul. People are prepared to “burn the candle at both ends” when it comes to work, fun or their own bodies, but are not willing to “burn the candle at both ends” when it comes to their spiritual life.
Yet we see the example of Our Lord “burning the candle at both ends”, where, after working hard all day, He does not dispense Himself from His duties to His Father, and spends the ensuing night in prayer: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12). We too easily dispense ourselves from our spiritual duties so that we can take care of worldly duties. It is a case of the sisters Martha and Mary all over again―with Martha busy around the house, while Mary sits listening to Our Lord. “And the Lord said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things―but one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:41-42).
Burnt Out Candles
The candle burns itself out in order to give us light. The light is not its own, the light or flame came from elsewhere, but the candle is a vehicle for that light. It was made for that light. It fails to live up to its vocation as a candle if it remains unlit and gives off no light. The burnt-out candle, paradoxically, is a good candle, or, shall we say, was a good candle―for it exists no longer in this world, except in memory.
Likewise, one day, we too will no longer exist―except in the memories of some people. Will we have burnt ourselves out giving the light of Faith and the flame of Hope and the fire of Charity to others? Will we have passed on the flame that we received? “For I have delivered unto you that which I received of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:23). Or will we hide our light under a bushel, or bury our talent in the ground? “No man lighteth a candle, and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel; but upon a candlestick, that they that come in, may see the light” (Luke 11:33).
As Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Greater love no man hath than he who burns himself out for love of God and for the love of the friends of God. This is what the martyrs did. Finally, is it not providential that some martyrs died like human candles? We speak of those Christians whom the evil Roman Emperor Nero had coated with tar, tied to pillars and then set alight to burn to death! Now they burn brightly in Heaven—for eternity―and their lives are a light to the world.
They used to―perhaps they still do―mockingly speak about the “Dark Ages” in history. Do you know what the “Dark Ages” are? The “Dark Ages” is a term for the Early Middle-Ages (400s to 900s) or Middle-Ages (400s to 1400s) in Western Europe ― a period of time after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (which gradually collapsed from around 376 to 476 AD). Sometimes these post-Roman Empire times are called “Barbarian times” ― characterized as by economic, intellectual, and cultural decline. The concept of a “Dark Age” originated in the 1330s when scholars regarded the post-Roman centuries after Barbarians invaded the Roman Empire as “dark” ― compared to the “light” of classical Roman antiquity. The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle-Ages as a time of intellectual darkness in Europe, between the fall of Rome (in the 400s) and the Renaissance (1300s or 1400s).
Generally, the medieval era is divided into three periods: the “Early Middle-Ages”, the “High Middle-Ages”, and the “Late Middle-Ages”. Just like the concept of the “Middle-Ages” itself, each of these three periods lacks hard and fast parameters or timelines. The most common division is ― Early Middle-Ages being from late 400s to end of 900s; the High Middle-Ages being from 1000 to around 1250; and the Late Middle-Ages being from 1250 to the end of the 1400s).
During the Protestant Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries (1550s and 1600s), Protestants generally had a similar view―but also added an anti-Catholic perspective. They promoted the idea that the “Middle-Ages” were also times of darkness due to the corruption within the Catholic Church― such as popes ruling as kings, veneration of the relics of saints, a sinful priesthood, and institutionalized moral hypocrisy. In response to the Protestants, Catholics developed a counter-image to depict the High Middle-Ages (1000 to 1250 AD) in particular, as a period of social and religious harmony, and not “dark” at all. If anything, you could call the period of time that began with 16th century Protestant Reformation (with Luther in 1517) to the present day. Many would be shocked to hear you say that we are smack-bang-right-in-the-middle of the “Dark Ages” today ― which have been becoming darker and darker with each successive century. Yes―we might well have electric lighting today, but we are still living in the neo-Dark Ages!
When we say “someone is in the dark” about something, we mean that the person is in a state of ignorance, is uninformed, as in that phrase: “I was in the dark about their plans.” This metaphor often appears in the sense of “keeping someone in the dark”, meaning “deliberately keep someone uninformed,” as in “They kept me in the dark about their plans.” On the other hand, when we remove someone’s ignorance, when we inform someone of what they did not know, then we are said to “enlighten” them, or “we shine a light on something” for them, or we say: “A light-bulb turned on in his head!” or that “They finally see the light!”
Light Bulbs Turned Off―Intellectual Power Cut Responsible
Though the entire world is today filled with electric light bulbs―not many light bulbs are turned on in the minds of the world’s population. The world has definitely been dumbed down! For many decades, the U.S. educational system has both struggled and seen tremendous change. This has led many to believe that students are more uneducated than ever before. Dumbing down the educational system creates new problems. America’s youth are not prepared for the real world when they graduate from high school―especially when they spend many hours every day living in a “virtual world” on their smartphones, tablets, laptops, surfing the internet.
Add to that the “unreal world” of movies and television, plus the “unreal truth” spewed-out by most mainstream media outlets, that twist the truth when it suits them―and you are left with a severely handicapped intelligence on the part of most students―and most adults too. Most people have become intellectually juvenile or senile―they believe everything they are told by their “caregivers” ― the world’s media and the majority of governments. They might clever in things that don’t really matter―but dumb in things that really do matter. Our Lord pointed this out: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
In a survey, it was found that 75% of Americans would not believe anything unless they saw it on television! Can you believe it? Television is one of the worst sources of honest truth―closely followed by newspapers, magazines and the internet. It really is a sad reflection of modern society! They passively absorb all that media throws at them, blindly believing all that they see, read and hear! It is as though God was talking to them―God Who cannot deceive nor be deceived―but the modern media does deceive for it is ultimately in the hands of its prince―the devil: “The prince of this world” (John 12:31).
Culture is built up over decades, even centuries, and not in just a few years. That is true of evil cultures and virtuous cultures. “Rome wasn’t built in day” as they say―and it also took time to build a Christian culture after Christ ascended into Heaven. In a Christian culture the spiritual was more important than the material―Heaven more important than Earth―which is borne out by Our Lady’s words to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Today, Catholics want to be happy in this world―forget the next! It is no longer the words of Christ, the words of Scripture, the teaching of Tradition than inspires, enlightens and guides Catholics. That has been replaced by the words of the media―the internet, social media, television, etc. Those are the “prophets” and “saints” of today, who claim to be “enlightening”―but are actually darkening―the minds of mankind.
Prophecies of Dark Ages to Come
Pope Leo VI (died in 911 AD), in referring to our dark days, says: “There will set in a period of darkness, crime and revolution.” Pope Pius XII said: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.” St. Nilus, who lived around 400 AD, prophesied: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable ... [They will] discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish … At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change ... The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors … Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men … People’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign ... People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women―due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair ... Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society ... Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures ... These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals … Then the world will become unrecognizable … At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit … Woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all.”
The above “dark” prophecies do not differ from the “dark” prophecies made by Our Lady concerning our times: “For a while the Church will yield to large persecution―a time of darkness―and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [Satan and secret societies both like to “work in the dark”] ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The Church will be in eclipse [an “eclipse” is an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer ― in other words, an eclipse can bring darkness], the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
If we consult Holy Scripture, it merely adds “the icing-on-the-cake” of darkness: “Be converted from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God!” (Acts 26:18) ― thus we see darkness being equated with Satan and light with God. “That old serpent―who is called the Devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world― was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him!” (Apocalypse 12:9). He is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) … “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). They have their disciples or followers, who live “in the dark places, and in the shadow of death” (Psalms 87:7). “Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways” (Proverbs 2:13). “Their works are in the dark, and they say: ‘Who sees us, and who knows us?’” (Isaias 29:15). Our Lord adds: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything! … The prince of this world is already judged! ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30).
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “The light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “They that walk in vain where there is no way―they shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light” (Job 12:24-25). “The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp shall be put out” (Job 18:6). How true that is today, at a time when we see the fulfillment of Pope Pius XII’s prophecy concerning “Christians [who] will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them”, made in 1931, before his election to the papacy, while he was still Cardinal Eugene Pacelli: Eugene Cardinal Pacelli in 1931, the future Pope Pius XII. The quote in full reads thus: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary, about the dangers which menace the Church, is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
On a similar “dark” note, Pope St. Pius X described a vision that God had given him: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and after a short retirement [exile] he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness [darkness] of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
Don’t Be Afraid of Fire
Let us not be afraid of fire, especially supernatural fire, for fire represents God. We should draw near to that fire, as Moses drew near to God in the burning bush; or as St. Margaret Mary drew close to the fires of the Sacred Heart. Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). The Holy Ghost also came down to cast fire upon Earth, as He did upon Our Lady and the Apostles, at Pentecost, in the form of tongues of fire. Do we not say, in the prayer to the Holy Ghost, “enkindle in us the fire of Thy love”? In fact, God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Let us love that “fire of love” and let the Holy Ghost enkindle that “fire of love” in your soul, and let the Holy Eucharist, received often (if not daily) be the daily Holy ‘Coal’ for that “fire of love” in your soul! Without the spark (the Holy Ghost) and without the coals (the Holy Eucharist) and without a supply of air (which is prayer) that fire will go out!
Candles of Faith
Faith comes first, even though it may not be of first importance (Charity is the most important virtue). Faith is about knowing and then believing what we know. There can be no hope without knowledge—I cannot hope to be saved from an illness if I have no knowledge of the existence of the cure, nor any knowledge on how to use that cure. Nor can I love something or somebody if I do not know of their existence, whereabouts, qualities, etc. I will not be allowed to serve the community as a priest, doctor, attorney, teacher, etc., if I do not have the pre-requisite knowledge for whatever capacity I wish to be of service. “You shall know that I am the Lord God” (Ezechiel 13:9). “Thou shalt know the Lord thy God …” (Deuteronomy 7:9). “Know that the Lord He is God, and there is no other besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).
In knowing Him, we shall be enLIGHTened, for He is the Light. “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). His teachings shine a light on our vocation and the purpose of life. We are called to the Light and we are called to be a Light unto others: “YOU are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let YOUR light shine before men” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Like St. John the Baptist, we are not THE Light, but a reflection or a part of THE Light, and we have to give witness to that Light to those sat in darkness of the world. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the Light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the Light, but was to give testimony of the Light” (John 1:6-8). St. John the Baptist’s father, St. Zachary, had prophesied this at John’s birth: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways: to give knowledge of salvation to His people ... to enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:76-79).
Most of us do hide our candle under the bushel; not entirely of course, but we tailor it to suit our preferences and our love for ease and comfort, and our abhorrence of difficulty and confrontation. We know the quote, but we brush it off. But there is no escaping the words of Our Lord: “So let your light shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) ... “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Candles of Hope
Fire is one of the basic elements of life. Arguably, we could say it forms part of a trinity of essentials: air, water and fire. Without these we suffocate, we dehydrate and we freeze. When we have fire, we have warmth, we can cook―we can even melt and mold materials into tools that otherwise we could not use. In essence, the flame ignites the engines of our cars and planes. The ‘fire’ of the sun, besides giving light, also warms our Earth and makes things grow. Without all this fire we would have no hope.
The candle is a platform for that flame, just like the soul is a platform for God and His grace. We say “Where there is life, there is hope!” Likewise, where there is supernatural life, there is hope. If we have the fire of God within us, the sanctifying grace of God within us, then we have what is essential—ultimately, when push comes to shove, nothing else matters. What is it that we shall all need on our deathbed? The grace and mercy of God! If that sanctifying grace has not been extinguished in the candle of our soul, then we can be full of hope of receiving God’s mercy and being saved.
Candles of Charity
Charity is the highest of the three theological virtues. It is the virtue that we will be ultimately judged upon, for we have been told: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). So everything rests upon our love of God and neighbor. That is why charity has to infuse and penetrate every virtue, every good thought, word and action that we do, otherwise it is, as St. Paul says, useless:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind; Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; it is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. And now there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three―but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
The candle of Charity should never be extinguished: “Many waters cannot quench Charity, neither can the floods drown it” (Canticle 8:7). Yet, it is we ourselves who can extinguish the flame of Charity, if we do not replenish it. This is where the original ‘candles’ or lamps serve our analogy better―for the wax candle cannot be ‘topped-up’ as it burns, unlike the original ‘candles’ which were the olive-oil lamps (the parable of wise and foolish virgins). As the wick draws up the olive-oil to burn it, new oil is added to the reservoir. Olive-oil is a symbol of humility, as it is obtained through the crushing of the olive, much like wine is obtained by the crushing of the grape. Though wine is readily a symbol of charity, olive-oil can be said to be humility that turns into Charity―for humility means little love of self, as opposed to pride which is a great love of self. If I am full of excessive self-love, then there is little or no room left for love of God and neighbor. The humble olive-oil is a suitable substance and ‘wick’, for the fiery flame of Charity to rest and feed upon and keep burning.
Flickering Candles in Tribulation
Life is not always easy for the candle! There are many drafts of air wishing to extinguish the brave candle! The result is a candle that flickers nervously and desperately as it battles the air current; often exuding wavering smoke as it wavers back and forth―like a candle tempted to bend in the direction that the wind blows! This, of course, is symbolic of our battle against the powerful gusting winds of the devil, the world and our own flesh with its concupiscences. Any one of these can quickly extinguish our candle. Usually, in the case of a candle, the thicker or larger is the wick, the less likely it is to be extinguished by a gust of wind. Likewise, the thicker or bigger the soul (in the sense of being filled more with the things of God), the less likely it is to be blown-out. Sometimes brass followers (which are those brass-caps that are placed on top of the candle) aid the candle to burn correctly and give some minor protection against air-drafts. They are like a cross or weight on the shoulder of the candle, that it has to carry, but a cross that preserves its burning flame of Charity.
However, sometimes the wind is powerful and sustained (imagine an outdoor procession with candles) and unless there is extra protection for the candle, it stands no chance of keeping its flame alive. In these situations, the remedy for that situation is drastic, and the candle has to isolate itself from everything else around it. The altar server candles will often have a brass follower that allows a 2-3 inch tall glass funnel to sit atop, thus cutting-off the candle from the world and protecting it from the onslaught of the wind. Another, less aesthetic solution, would be to simply put the candle is a glass jar. In all of these cases, the beneficial light can get out, but the damaging wind of the world finds it hard to get in.
That is what we have to sometimes do in relation to the world: whether it be in the circle of our family and relatives, or in our work and social environment. The flame and fire of God is too precious to lose.
Burning the Candle at Both Ends
The Benedictine Order has for its motto, the words Ora et Labora, meaning Pray and Work. Notice that PRAY comes before WORK, just as God comes before man, and the soul is more important than the body.
The problem today is that there is more focus, care and attention being given to work, man and the body, than there is to prayer, God and the soul. People are prepared to “burn the candle at both ends” when it comes to work, fun or their own bodies, but are not willing to “burn the candle at both ends” when it comes to their spiritual life.
Yet we see the example of Our Lord “burning the candle at both ends”, where, after working hard all day, He does not dispense Himself from His duties to His Father, and spends the ensuing night in prayer: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12). We too easily dispense ourselves from our spiritual duties so that we can take care of worldly duties. It is a case of the sisters Martha and Mary all over again―with Martha busy around the house, while Mary sits listening to Our Lord. “And the Lord said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things―but one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:41-42).
Burnt Out Candles
The candle burns itself out in order to give us light. The light is not its own, the light or flame came from elsewhere, but the candle is a vehicle for that light. It was made for that light. It fails to live up to its vocation as a candle if it remains unlit and gives off no light. The burnt-out candle, paradoxically, is a good candle, or, shall we say, was a good candle―for it exists no longer in this world, except in memory.
Likewise, one day, we too will no longer exist―except in the memories of some people. Will we have burnt ourselves out giving the light of Faith and the flame of Hope and the fire of Charity to others? Will we have passed on the flame that we received? “For I have delivered unto you that which I received of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:23). Or will we hide our light under a bushel, or bury our talent in the ground? “No man lighteth a candle, and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel; but upon a candlestick, that they that come in, may see the light” (Luke 11:33).
As Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Greater love no man hath than he who burns himself out for love of God and for the love of the friends of God. This is what the martyrs did. Finally, is it not providential that some martyrs died like human candles? We speak of those Christians whom the evil Roman Emperor Nero had coated with tar, tied to pillars and then set alight to burn to death! Now they burn brightly in Heaven—for eternity―and their lives are a light to the world.
Monday January 31st & Tuesday February 1st
Article 18
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART FIVE: The Power & Miracles of Blessed Candles
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 18
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART FIVE: The Power & Miracles of Blessed Candles
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Can You See the Light?
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life! … As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world!” (John 8:12; 9:5). St. John adds: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men … He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world ... And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it! … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 3:19).
Yet only is Christ the “Light of the world” ― but we, being part of the Mystical Body of Christ, being members of Christ’s Mystical Body (the Church), we too are the “light of the world”. “You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel [an 8 gallon bucket], but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). We see this represented in the ceremonies of the Paschal Vigil on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter Sunday, when, after the Paschal Fire is lit (representing God), the Paschal Candle is lit (representing Christ) with the flames of the Paschal Fire, and then the candles of the clergy, altar servers and laity are lit from the Paschal Candle (Christ)―and so we all process through the darkness of the night carrying the light of Christ―thus we are “the light of the world”.
Moses Saw the Light!
God appeared to Moses under the form of fire: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2)—God was the flame, the bush was the ‘candle’ that God used as a platform for His divine flame.
Our Lady and the Apostles Saw the Light
At Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came down upon Our Lady and the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire and used them as a platform—they must have looked like ‘human candles’ at that moment―God was the flame, the bodies of Our Lady and the Apostles were the candles: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were, of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4).
St. Margaret Mary Saw the Light
The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light. That was the vision granted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque by Our Lord. St. Margaret Mary writes: “One day, as I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar, after feeling withdrawn within myself by an extraordinary recollection of all my senses and faculties, Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent with glory, with His five wounds shining like so many suns. From all parts of His Sacred Humanity there issued flames but especially from His adorable breast, which was like a furnace. Opening it, He showed me His loving and lovable Heart as the living source of those flames. He said: ‘My divine Heart is so wrought with love for men and in especial for you, that it can no longer contain the flame of the fire of its love but must spread this flame through you and manifest itself to men to enrich them with its precious treasures. These I show you ― they contain the sanctifying and saving graces needed to draw men back from the pit of perdition. And for the accomplishment of this great design, I have chosen you as an abyss of unworthiness and ignorance, in order that all should be wrought by Me!’ Thereupon He asked me for my heart ― which I prayed Him to take ― which He did, and placed it in His own adorable Heart, wherein He showed it to me like a tiny atom being consumed in that blazing furnace. And then He drew it forth again, like a burning flame in the form of a heart, and set it once more in the place whence he had taken it.”
God is Fire ― God is Light
Thus we see God the Father appear to Moses in the form of fire and light. God the Son appears to St. Margaret Mary with His Sacred Heart exuding flames of fire and light. God the Holy Ghost comes down, at Pentecost, upon Our Lady and the Apostles in the form of fire and light. Hence we can see the importance that fire and light has in the Church ― being a central part of its worship, just as God has to be the central part of our lives. Love is even symbolized by fire ― do we not say that our hearts burn with love? And our first and foremost love should be God ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
The candles that burn during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the sanctuary candle that perpetually burns alongside the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, the other devotional candles that burn before images and statues in the church ― are all symbols of our burning love and our prayers rising to Heaven as the smoke wisps upward from the candles and heat naturally rises upwards ― “Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight” (Psalm 140:2) which is said during the incensation of the altar at Mass while the smoke of the burning charcoal rises upwards towards Heaven.
Be Enlightened About Lighting!
Before electric lighting became common in the early 20th century, people used candles, gas lights, oil lamps, and fires. The candle is a relative latecomer on the scene of light―though the “new kids on the block” are the later-born gaslights and electric lights.
Candle Light
Funnily enough, apart from Egyptian use of some kind of wick-candle, the wax candle did not come to light much before the year 200 BC—as far as we know―but then, what do we know!?! Man’s knowledge―though he thinks it is great―is quite paltry in reality! Anyhow, that’s what they say—the candles, as we know them today, only came into existence around 200 BC. It is also thought that the earliest known candles were made from whale-fat by the Chinese, during the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. In parts of Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, where lamp-oil made from olives was readily available, candle-making, though it existed quite early, remained unknown until the early Middle-Ages. Even today, some Catholic churches and chapels still prefer to burn olive-oil for their sanctuary (tabernacle) lights. Candles were primarily made from tallow and beeswax until about 1850―since then they have been increasingly made from spermaceti (a white waxy substance produced by the sperm whale), purified animal fats (stearin) and paraffin wax.
In the 19th century, Michel Chevruel made chemical advances that enabled the production of stearine, a tallow derivative that was used for candles. Using a soap-making process, chemists separated stearine from the liquid oleic acid in tallow. In 1830, Karl Reichenbach isolated a solid crystalline substance from coal that was stable and burned readily. He named it paraffin. After 1860, paraffin was distilled from petroleum and vast quantities were produced, enabling candles to be made cheaply.
Gas Light
During the 17th century, it was widely known that heating coal produced a flammable gas. But it was not until 1792 that William Murdoch experimented with a practical system to distill and distribute coal gas for illumination. He developed early practical coal gas lighting systems between 1805 and 1813. The entrepreneur Frederick Winsor, in competition with Murdoch, in 1812 established the London and Westminster Chartered Gaslight and Coke Company, the world’s first gas company. Soon, many companies arose that manufactured and distributed coal gas for major cities. The first U.S. municipal gas plant was established in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816. That same year, W.A. Lampadius established one of the first gasworks in Germany at Freiburg. By 1860, there would be more than 400 gas companies in the United States, 266 in Germany, and more than 900 in Great Britain. As of 1825, gas light was a quarter of the cost of lighting by oil or candles and so it grew rapidly. Over the next 50 years, coal gas lighting became a mature industry with a highly developed technology in Europe, England and the United States.
Electric Light
English chemist Humphry Davy developed the first incandescent light in 1802. By the 1870s it was used to light many public spaces. Efforts by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison led to commercial incandescent light bulbs becoming widely available in the 1880s. In 1882 Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan. But progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. By 1925 only half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. Today, electric lighting is found everywhere―even in churches―and, in some churches, they even use electric ‘candles’!! However, the Catholic Church has ruled that liturgical ceremonies must use real candles―even though the Church has already permitted the use of electric devotional ‘candles’!! Thank Heaven that we have not yet arrived at the battery-powered electric Paschal Candle and Mass candles being ‘lit’ with a flick of a switch rather than a burning taper!
Light Reflects the Faith
In a certain way, the changes in lighting reflect somewhat the changes in the Faith. The beeswax candle was already known to the Romans. Some historians are of the opinion that the Egyptians were already using beeswax candles as early as 3000 BC, whereas others are of the opinion that it was much later than that―around 300 BC to 200 BC. For many centuries beeswax was the only material used in the candles prescribed for ceremonial use in the Catholic Church. The beeswax candle itself was given a mystical meaning: the beeswax symbolized the pure flesh Christ received from his Virgin Mother, the wick symbolized his soul, and the flame his divinity. The flame, as it burns down the wick, consumes the wax to give us light. It burns, expending itself, sacrificing itself, just as Christ sacrificed himself.
The wax produced by the honeybee is considered the sweetest and purist, the most appropriate for symbolizing the humanity of Christ. It is produced by the bees actually consuming honey (honey itself is a symbol for the superlative in sweetness, the sweetness of the Word of God). Our Lord indirectly identifies Himself with the light of coming from the candle when He calls Himself “the Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) and says that He has come to set the world alight: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what do I want, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). A flame will spread to what it touches if the object is combustible.
The candle also symbolizes Christ’s presence in the individual believer. The Easter Vigil shows this when the new flame is lit, blessed, and touched to the tapers held by members of the congregation. The light, like the Faith, spreads from one to the next. Furthermore, the newly baptized, the newly ordained, and the newly professed are given candles, and votive candles stand in for the believer at prayer. On the other hand, the extinguishing of a candle is found in ritual excommunication.
Light-Up and Lighten-Up
Blessed candles are a very underestimated and neglected Sacramental. Hey! If blessed candles are an absolute MUST for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―and Mass cannot be celebrated without blessed candles―then why are we not using blessed candles at home? There are millions of people who “light-up” and go through several or many “mouth-candles” (cigarettes) a day―saying that they can’t cope without them―yet we rarely or never “light-up” a blessed candle in the home! Perhaps the “sentimentality” and “romanticism” of the secular candle world ― with “candlelight dinners” and plethora of “scented candles” has “extinguished” any desire for spiritually blessed candles! Yet if we were to read the text from the Roman Ritual for blessing candles and, even more so, the text from Roman Missal for the blessing of candles on before Mass on Candlemas Day (February 2nd―the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple), then perhaps we would change our minds and make blessed candles a regular and integral part of our family spirituality.
Here is one of the longer blessings of candles (that is now sadly no longer, or rarely, used): “O candles, I exorcize you in the Name of God ☩ the Father Almighty, in the Name of Jesus ☩ Christ His Son, Our Lord, and in the Name of the Holy ☩ Spirit. May God uproot and cast out from these objects, all power of the devil; all attacks of the unclean spirit; and all deceptions of Satan; so that they may bring health of mind and body to all who use them. We ask this through the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.
“Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, light of everlasting life, Thou hast given us candles to dispel the darkness. We humbly implore Thee to now bless ☩ these candles at our lowly request, and sanctify ☩ them by the light of Thy grace. By the power of the Holy ☩ Cross, endow them with a heavenly blessing. May the blessing they receive be so powerful that, wherever they are placed or lighted, the princes of darkness shall flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb those who serve Thee, the almighty God. Let the entire building in which these candles are kept, be free from the power of the adversary, and be defended from the snares of the enemy. Grant, we pray, that those who will use these candles may be protected from every assault of the evil spirit, and be safeguarded from all danger. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”
The following prayer is similar to the above, but shorter, and comes from the traditional Roman Ritual: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, bless ☩ these candles at our lowly request. Endow them, Lord, by the power of the Holy ☩ Cross, with a blessing from on high, Thou Who gave them to mankind in order to dispel darkness. Let the blessing that they receive from the sign of the Holy ☩ Cross be so effectual that, wherever they are lighted or placed, the princes of darkness may depart in trembling from all these places, and flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb or molest those who serve Thee, the almighty God, Who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen”
The above prayer could not be more precise in its them of protection—“Let the blessing that they receive, from the sign of the Holy ☩ Cross, be so effectual that, wherever they are lighted or placed, the princes of darkness may depart in trembling from all these places, and flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb or molest those who serve Thee, the almighty God!” This is totally in line with the promises made to those who use blessed candles during the “Three Days of Darkness”.
The more modern-day blessing seems a little watered-down and far less imposing than the above version: “Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world: we praise You, and ask You to guide our steps each day. Help us to love You and serve You faithfully, and to carry our daily cross with You. Bless ☩ this candle, and let it always remind us that You are our Light in darkness, our Protector in danger, and our saving Lord at all times. Lord Jesus, we praise You and give You glory, for You are Lord for ever and ever. Amen.”
The blessing of candles on Candlemas Day—February 2nd, which is the feast of the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple and also that of the Purification of His Holy Mother—is much more solemn, though it has less reference to and less invocations against the evil spirits. This blessing consists of five consecutive prayers, that are both beautiful and profound in the content.
“O Holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God, Who hast created all things out of nothing, and by Thy command hast caused this liquid to become perfect wax by the labor of bees: and Who, on this day, didst fulfill the petition of the righteous man Simeon: we humbly entreat Thee, that by the invocation of Thy most Holy Name and through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, whose feast is today devoutly observed, and by the prayers of all Thy Saints, Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ these candles for the service of men and for the health of their bodies and souls―whether on land or on sea―and that Thou wouldst hear, from Thy holy Heaven, and from the throne of Thy Majesty, the voices of this Thy people, who desire to carry them in their hands with honor, and to praise Thee with hymns; and wouldst be propitious to all that call upon Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
“O almighty and everlasting God, Who on this day didst present Thine only-begotten Son in Thy holy Temple, to be received in the arms of holy Simeon; we humbly entreat Thy clemency, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ and to kindle with the light of Thy heavenly benediction these candles, which we, Thy servants, desire to receive and to bear lighted in the honor of Thy Name: that, by offering them to Thee our Lord God, being worthily inflamed with the holy fire of Thy most sweet charity, we may deserve to be presented in the holy Temple of Thy glory. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, the true Light who enlightenest every man that cometh into this world: pour forth Thy blessing ☩ upon these candles, and sanctify ☩ them with the light of Thy grace, and mercifully grant, that as these lights, enkindled with visible fire, dispel the darkness of night, so our hearts, illumined by invisible fire, that is, by the splendor of the Holy Spirit, may be free from the blindness of all vice, that the eye of our mind being cleansed, we may be able to discern what is pleasing to Thee and profitable to our salvation; so that, after the perilous darkness of this life, we may deserve to attain to never-failing light: through Thee, O Christ Jesus, Savior of the world, Who in the perfect Trinity, livest and reignest, God, world without end. Amen.
“O almighty and everlasting God, Who, by Thy servant Moses, didst command the purest oil to be prepared for lamps to burn continuously before Thee: vouchsafe to pour forth the grace of Thy blessing ☩ upon these candles: that they may so afford us light outwardly that, by Thy gift, the gift of Thy Spirit may never be wanting inwardly to our minds. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, appearing on this day among men in the substance of our flesh, wast presented by Thy parents in the temple; Whom the venerable and aged Simeon, illuminated by the light of Thy Spirit, recognized, received into his arms, and blessed: mercifully grant that, enlightened and taught by the grace of the same Holy Ghost, we may truly acknowledge Thee and faithfully love Thee; Who with God the Father in the unity of the same Holy Ghost livest and reignest, God, world without end. Amen.
Just as there are short and longer versions of blessings for Rosaries and Scapulars, it would be desirable to have as solemn a blessing as possible given to candles, which could potentially play such a great part is safeguarding the bodies and souls of God’s faithful servants. Take your candles to Mass on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) and ask the priest to include them with any and all other candles that he will be blessing at the altar before Mass.
One of the most remarkable effects of Sacramentals is the virtue to drive away evil spirits, whose mysterious and harmful operations sometimes affect the physical activity of man. To combat this occult power, the Church has recourse to the Sacramental prayers of exorcism and other Sacramentals―such as Holy Water, blessed Rosaries, Scapulars, Medals, Candles, etc.
Candles at Lourdes
After Our Lady’s first apparition at Lourdes on February 11th, 1858, Bernadette felt an inner force drawing her to the Grotto but she was forbidden to go there by her parents―fearing that the devil or evil spirits were the cause of all this. At her insistence, her mother finally allowed her to go, but she was to take Holy Water with her to sprinkle at the apparition. The three little girls started out, armed with a vial of Holy Water. If what their parents said was true, they might need this to ward off malign influences. Bernadette says: “I went to the Parish Church to get a little bottle of holy water, to throw over the Vision, if I were to see her at the grotto. When we arrived, we all took our Rosaries and we knelt down to say them. I had hardly finished the first decade when I saw the same Lady. Then I started to throw holy water in her direction, and at the same time I said that if she came from God she was to stay, but if not, she must go. She started to smile, and bowed; and the more I sprinkled her with holy water, the more she smiled and bowed her head and the more I saw her make signs. Then I was seized with fright and I hurried to sprinkle her with holy water until the bottle was empty. Then I went on saying my Rosary. When I had finished it she disappeared.”
On February 19th, 1858, at the 4th apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes, Bernadette arrived at the grotto armed with a blessed candle for protection. Our Lady asked Bernadette to leave her candle there. Bernadette replied: “It belongs to my aunt, I’ll have to ask her―but if she agrees, I will!”
On February 20th, 1858, at Our Lady’s 5th apparition, Our Lady told Bernadette to always bring a blessed candle with her. She would continue to bring a blessed candle with her to all the remaining apparitions.
On April 7th, 1858, at Our Lady’s 17th apparition, we encounter the miracle of the candle. A medical doctor, Dr. Douzous, who had originally set out to “expose” Bernadette as being a case of neurasthenia, immediately witnessed this fact. During this apparition, Bernadette had to keep her candle alight. Dr. Dozous observed that the candle Bernadette held burned right down to the wick and that the flames flickered around Bernadette’s fingers for some fifteen minutes. When the ecstasy was over, he carefully examined her fingers, and was astonished to find that she had not been harmed in any way and that she was never aware of the flames. Dr. Dozous was converted from a skeptic to a believer and supporter of the apparitions not to mention an important witness. He departed for Commissioner Jacomet’s office to record what he had seen in writing. Dr. Donzous is source for the following statement:
“Bernadette seemed to be even more absorbed than usual in the Appearance upon which her gaze was riveted. I witnessed, as did also everyone else there present, the fact which I am about to narrate. She was on her knees saying with fervent devotion the prayers of her Rosary, which she held in her left hand, while in her right hand was a large blessed candle, alight. The child was just beginning to make the usual ascent on her knees when suddenly she stopped and, her right hand joining her left, the flame of the big candle passed between the fingers of the latter. Though fanned by a fairly strong breeze, the flame produced no effect upon the skin which it was touching. Astonished at this strange fact, I forbade anyone there to interfere, and taking my watch in my hand, I studied the phenomenon attentively for a quarter of an hour. At the end of this time Bernadette, still in her ecstasy, advanced to the upper part of the Grotto, separating her hands. The flame thus ceased to touch her left hand. Bernadette finished her prayer and the splendor of the transfiguration left her face. She rose and was about to quit the Grotto when I asked her to show me her left hand. I examined it most carefully, but could not find the least trace of burning anywhere upon it. I then asked the person who was holding the candle to light it again and give it to me. I put it several times in succession under Bernadette’s left hand, but she drew it away quickly, saying ‘You are burning me!’ I record this fact just as I have seen it, without attempting to explain it. Many persons who were present at the time can confirm what I have said.”
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life! … As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world!” (John 8:12; 9:5). St. John adds: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men … He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world ... And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it! … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 3:19).
Yet only is Christ the “Light of the world” ― but we, being part of the Mystical Body of Christ, being members of Christ’s Mystical Body (the Church), we too are the “light of the world”. “You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel [an 8 gallon bucket], but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). We see this represented in the ceremonies of the Paschal Vigil on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter Sunday, when, after the Paschal Fire is lit (representing God), the Paschal Candle is lit (representing Christ) with the flames of the Paschal Fire, and then the candles of the clergy, altar servers and laity are lit from the Paschal Candle (Christ)―and so we all process through the darkness of the night carrying the light of Christ―thus we are “the light of the world”.
Moses Saw the Light!
God appeared to Moses under the form of fire: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2)—God was the flame, the bush was the ‘candle’ that God used as a platform for His divine flame.
Our Lady and the Apostles Saw the Light
At Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came down upon Our Lady and the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire and used them as a platform—they must have looked like ‘human candles’ at that moment―God was the flame, the bodies of Our Lady and the Apostles were the candles: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were, of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4).
St. Margaret Mary Saw the Light
The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light. That was the vision granted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque by Our Lord. St. Margaret Mary writes: “One day, as I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar, after feeling withdrawn within myself by an extraordinary recollection of all my senses and faculties, Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent with glory, with His five wounds shining like so many suns. From all parts of His Sacred Humanity there issued flames but especially from His adorable breast, which was like a furnace. Opening it, He showed me His loving and lovable Heart as the living source of those flames. He said: ‘My divine Heart is so wrought with love for men and in especial for you, that it can no longer contain the flame of the fire of its love but must spread this flame through you and manifest itself to men to enrich them with its precious treasures. These I show you ― they contain the sanctifying and saving graces needed to draw men back from the pit of perdition. And for the accomplishment of this great design, I have chosen you as an abyss of unworthiness and ignorance, in order that all should be wrought by Me!’ Thereupon He asked me for my heart ― which I prayed Him to take ― which He did, and placed it in His own adorable Heart, wherein He showed it to me like a tiny atom being consumed in that blazing furnace. And then He drew it forth again, like a burning flame in the form of a heart, and set it once more in the place whence he had taken it.”
God is Fire ― God is Light
Thus we see God the Father appear to Moses in the form of fire and light. God the Son appears to St. Margaret Mary with His Sacred Heart exuding flames of fire and light. God the Holy Ghost comes down, at Pentecost, upon Our Lady and the Apostles in the form of fire and light. Hence we can see the importance that fire and light has in the Church ― being a central part of its worship, just as God has to be the central part of our lives. Love is even symbolized by fire ― do we not say that our hearts burn with love? And our first and foremost love should be God ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
The candles that burn during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the sanctuary candle that perpetually burns alongside the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, the other devotional candles that burn before images and statues in the church ― are all symbols of our burning love and our prayers rising to Heaven as the smoke wisps upward from the candles and heat naturally rises upwards ― “Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight” (Psalm 140:2) which is said during the incensation of the altar at Mass while the smoke of the burning charcoal rises upwards towards Heaven.
Be Enlightened About Lighting!
Before electric lighting became common in the early 20th century, people used candles, gas lights, oil lamps, and fires. The candle is a relative latecomer on the scene of light―though the “new kids on the block” are the later-born gaslights and electric lights.
Candle Light
Funnily enough, apart from Egyptian use of some kind of wick-candle, the wax candle did not come to light much before the year 200 BC—as far as we know―but then, what do we know!?! Man’s knowledge―though he thinks it is great―is quite paltry in reality! Anyhow, that’s what they say—the candles, as we know them today, only came into existence around 200 BC. It is also thought that the earliest known candles were made from whale-fat by the Chinese, during the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. In parts of Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, where lamp-oil made from olives was readily available, candle-making, though it existed quite early, remained unknown until the early Middle-Ages. Even today, some Catholic churches and chapels still prefer to burn olive-oil for their sanctuary (tabernacle) lights. Candles were primarily made from tallow and beeswax until about 1850―since then they have been increasingly made from spermaceti (a white waxy substance produced by the sperm whale), purified animal fats (stearin) and paraffin wax.
In the 19th century, Michel Chevruel made chemical advances that enabled the production of stearine, a tallow derivative that was used for candles. Using a soap-making process, chemists separated stearine from the liquid oleic acid in tallow. In 1830, Karl Reichenbach isolated a solid crystalline substance from coal that was stable and burned readily. He named it paraffin. After 1860, paraffin was distilled from petroleum and vast quantities were produced, enabling candles to be made cheaply.
Gas Light
During the 17th century, it was widely known that heating coal produced a flammable gas. But it was not until 1792 that William Murdoch experimented with a practical system to distill and distribute coal gas for illumination. He developed early practical coal gas lighting systems between 1805 and 1813. The entrepreneur Frederick Winsor, in competition with Murdoch, in 1812 established the London and Westminster Chartered Gaslight and Coke Company, the world’s first gas company. Soon, many companies arose that manufactured and distributed coal gas for major cities. The first U.S. municipal gas plant was established in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816. That same year, W.A. Lampadius established one of the first gasworks in Germany at Freiburg. By 1860, there would be more than 400 gas companies in the United States, 266 in Germany, and more than 900 in Great Britain. As of 1825, gas light was a quarter of the cost of lighting by oil or candles and so it grew rapidly. Over the next 50 years, coal gas lighting became a mature industry with a highly developed technology in Europe, England and the United States.
Electric Light
English chemist Humphry Davy developed the first incandescent light in 1802. By the 1870s it was used to light many public spaces. Efforts by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison led to commercial incandescent light bulbs becoming widely available in the 1880s. In 1882 Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan. But progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. By 1925 only half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. Today, electric lighting is found everywhere―even in churches―and, in some churches, they even use electric ‘candles’!! However, the Catholic Church has ruled that liturgical ceremonies must use real candles―even though the Church has already permitted the use of electric devotional ‘candles’!! Thank Heaven that we have not yet arrived at the battery-powered electric Paschal Candle and Mass candles being ‘lit’ with a flick of a switch rather than a burning taper!
Light Reflects the Faith
In a certain way, the changes in lighting reflect somewhat the changes in the Faith. The beeswax candle was already known to the Romans. Some historians are of the opinion that the Egyptians were already using beeswax candles as early as 3000 BC, whereas others are of the opinion that it was much later than that―around 300 BC to 200 BC. For many centuries beeswax was the only material used in the candles prescribed for ceremonial use in the Catholic Church. The beeswax candle itself was given a mystical meaning: the beeswax symbolized the pure flesh Christ received from his Virgin Mother, the wick symbolized his soul, and the flame his divinity. The flame, as it burns down the wick, consumes the wax to give us light. It burns, expending itself, sacrificing itself, just as Christ sacrificed himself.
The wax produced by the honeybee is considered the sweetest and purist, the most appropriate for symbolizing the humanity of Christ. It is produced by the bees actually consuming honey (honey itself is a symbol for the superlative in sweetness, the sweetness of the Word of God). Our Lord indirectly identifies Himself with the light of coming from the candle when He calls Himself “the Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) and says that He has come to set the world alight: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what do I want, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). A flame will spread to what it touches if the object is combustible.
The candle also symbolizes Christ’s presence in the individual believer. The Easter Vigil shows this when the new flame is lit, blessed, and touched to the tapers held by members of the congregation. The light, like the Faith, spreads from one to the next. Furthermore, the newly baptized, the newly ordained, and the newly professed are given candles, and votive candles stand in for the believer at prayer. On the other hand, the extinguishing of a candle is found in ritual excommunication.
Light-Up and Lighten-Up
Blessed candles are a very underestimated and neglected Sacramental. Hey! If blessed candles are an absolute MUST for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―and Mass cannot be celebrated without blessed candles―then why are we not using blessed candles at home? There are millions of people who “light-up” and go through several or many “mouth-candles” (cigarettes) a day―saying that they can’t cope without them―yet we rarely or never “light-up” a blessed candle in the home! Perhaps the “sentimentality” and “romanticism” of the secular candle world ― with “candlelight dinners” and plethora of “scented candles” has “extinguished” any desire for spiritually blessed candles! Yet if we were to read the text from the Roman Ritual for blessing candles and, even more so, the text from Roman Missal for the blessing of candles on before Mass on Candlemas Day (February 2nd―the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple), then perhaps we would change our minds and make blessed candles a regular and integral part of our family spirituality.
Here is one of the longer blessings of candles (that is now sadly no longer, or rarely, used): “O candles, I exorcize you in the Name of God ☩ the Father Almighty, in the Name of Jesus ☩ Christ His Son, Our Lord, and in the Name of the Holy ☩ Spirit. May God uproot and cast out from these objects, all power of the devil; all attacks of the unclean spirit; and all deceptions of Satan; so that they may bring health of mind and body to all who use them. We ask this through the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.
“Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, light of everlasting life, Thou hast given us candles to dispel the darkness. We humbly implore Thee to now bless ☩ these candles at our lowly request, and sanctify ☩ them by the light of Thy grace. By the power of the Holy ☩ Cross, endow them with a heavenly blessing. May the blessing they receive be so powerful that, wherever they are placed or lighted, the princes of darkness shall flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb those who serve Thee, the almighty God. Let the entire building in which these candles are kept, be free from the power of the adversary, and be defended from the snares of the enemy. Grant, we pray, that those who will use these candles may be protected from every assault of the evil spirit, and be safeguarded from all danger. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”
The following prayer is similar to the above, but shorter, and comes from the traditional Roman Ritual: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, bless ☩ these candles at our lowly request. Endow them, Lord, by the power of the Holy ☩ Cross, with a blessing from on high, Thou Who gave them to mankind in order to dispel darkness. Let the blessing that they receive from the sign of the Holy ☩ Cross be so effectual that, wherever they are lighted or placed, the princes of darkness may depart in trembling from all these places, and flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb or molest those who serve Thee, the almighty God, Who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen”
The above prayer could not be more precise in its them of protection—“Let the blessing that they receive, from the sign of the Holy ☩ Cross, be so effectual that, wherever they are lighted or placed, the princes of darkness may depart in trembling from all these places, and flee in fear, along with all their legions, and never more dare to disturb or molest those who serve Thee, the almighty God!” This is totally in line with the promises made to those who use blessed candles during the “Three Days of Darkness”.
The more modern-day blessing seems a little watered-down and far less imposing than the above version: “Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world: we praise You, and ask You to guide our steps each day. Help us to love You and serve You faithfully, and to carry our daily cross with You. Bless ☩ this candle, and let it always remind us that You are our Light in darkness, our Protector in danger, and our saving Lord at all times. Lord Jesus, we praise You and give You glory, for You are Lord for ever and ever. Amen.”
The blessing of candles on Candlemas Day—February 2nd, which is the feast of the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple and also that of the Purification of His Holy Mother—is much more solemn, though it has less reference to and less invocations against the evil spirits. This blessing consists of five consecutive prayers, that are both beautiful and profound in the content.
“O Holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God, Who hast created all things out of nothing, and by Thy command hast caused this liquid to become perfect wax by the labor of bees: and Who, on this day, didst fulfill the petition of the righteous man Simeon: we humbly entreat Thee, that by the invocation of Thy most Holy Name and through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, whose feast is today devoutly observed, and by the prayers of all Thy Saints, Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ these candles for the service of men and for the health of their bodies and souls―whether on land or on sea―and that Thou wouldst hear, from Thy holy Heaven, and from the throne of Thy Majesty, the voices of this Thy people, who desire to carry them in their hands with honor, and to praise Thee with hymns; and wouldst be propitious to all that call upon Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
“O almighty and everlasting God, Who on this day didst present Thine only-begotten Son in Thy holy Temple, to be received in the arms of holy Simeon; we humbly entreat Thy clemency, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ and to kindle with the light of Thy heavenly benediction these candles, which we, Thy servants, desire to receive and to bear lighted in the honor of Thy Name: that, by offering them to Thee our Lord God, being worthily inflamed with the holy fire of Thy most sweet charity, we may deserve to be presented in the holy Temple of Thy glory. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, the true Light who enlightenest every man that cometh into this world: pour forth Thy blessing ☩ upon these candles, and sanctify ☩ them with the light of Thy grace, and mercifully grant, that as these lights, enkindled with visible fire, dispel the darkness of night, so our hearts, illumined by invisible fire, that is, by the splendor of the Holy Spirit, may be free from the blindness of all vice, that the eye of our mind being cleansed, we may be able to discern what is pleasing to Thee and profitable to our salvation; so that, after the perilous darkness of this life, we may deserve to attain to never-failing light: through Thee, O Christ Jesus, Savior of the world, Who in the perfect Trinity, livest and reignest, God, world without end. Amen.
“O almighty and everlasting God, Who, by Thy servant Moses, didst command the purest oil to be prepared for lamps to burn continuously before Thee: vouchsafe to pour forth the grace of Thy blessing ☩ upon these candles: that they may so afford us light outwardly that, by Thy gift, the gift of Thy Spirit may never be wanting inwardly to our minds. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, appearing on this day among men in the substance of our flesh, wast presented by Thy parents in the temple; Whom the venerable and aged Simeon, illuminated by the light of Thy Spirit, recognized, received into his arms, and blessed: mercifully grant that, enlightened and taught by the grace of the same Holy Ghost, we may truly acknowledge Thee and faithfully love Thee; Who with God the Father in the unity of the same Holy Ghost livest and reignest, God, world without end. Amen.
Just as there are short and longer versions of blessings for Rosaries and Scapulars, it would be desirable to have as solemn a blessing as possible given to candles, which could potentially play such a great part is safeguarding the bodies and souls of God’s faithful servants. Take your candles to Mass on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) and ask the priest to include them with any and all other candles that he will be blessing at the altar before Mass.
One of the most remarkable effects of Sacramentals is the virtue to drive away evil spirits, whose mysterious and harmful operations sometimes affect the physical activity of man. To combat this occult power, the Church has recourse to the Sacramental prayers of exorcism and other Sacramentals―such as Holy Water, blessed Rosaries, Scapulars, Medals, Candles, etc.
Candles at Lourdes
After Our Lady’s first apparition at Lourdes on February 11th, 1858, Bernadette felt an inner force drawing her to the Grotto but she was forbidden to go there by her parents―fearing that the devil or evil spirits were the cause of all this. At her insistence, her mother finally allowed her to go, but she was to take Holy Water with her to sprinkle at the apparition. The three little girls started out, armed with a vial of Holy Water. If what their parents said was true, they might need this to ward off malign influences. Bernadette says: “I went to the Parish Church to get a little bottle of holy water, to throw over the Vision, if I were to see her at the grotto. When we arrived, we all took our Rosaries and we knelt down to say them. I had hardly finished the first decade when I saw the same Lady. Then I started to throw holy water in her direction, and at the same time I said that if she came from God she was to stay, but if not, she must go. She started to smile, and bowed; and the more I sprinkled her with holy water, the more she smiled and bowed her head and the more I saw her make signs. Then I was seized with fright and I hurried to sprinkle her with holy water until the bottle was empty. Then I went on saying my Rosary. When I had finished it she disappeared.”
On February 19th, 1858, at the 4th apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes, Bernadette arrived at the grotto armed with a blessed candle for protection. Our Lady asked Bernadette to leave her candle there. Bernadette replied: “It belongs to my aunt, I’ll have to ask her―but if she agrees, I will!”
On February 20th, 1858, at Our Lady’s 5th apparition, Our Lady told Bernadette to always bring a blessed candle with her. She would continue to bring a blessed candle with her to all the remaining apparitions.
On April 7th, 1858, at Our Lady’s 17th apparition, we encounter the miracle of the candle. A medical doctor, Dr. Douzous, who had originally set out to “expose” Bernadette as being a case of neurasthenia, immediately witnessed this fact. During this apparition, Bernadette had to keep her candle alight. Dr. Dozous observed that the candle Bernadette held burned right down to the wick and that the flames flickered around Bernadette’s fingers for some fifteen minutes. When the ecstasy was over, he carefully examined her fingers, and was astonished to find that she had not been harmed in any way and that she was never aware of the flames. Dr. Dozous was converted from a skeptic to a believer and supporter of the apparitions not to mention an important witness. He departed for Commissioner Jacomet’s office to record what he had seen in writing. Dr. Donzous is source for the following statement:
“Bernadette seemed to be even more absorbed than usual in the Appearance upon which her gaze was riveted. I witnessed, as did also everyone else there present, the fact which I am about to narrate. She was on her knees saying with fervent devotion the prayers of her Rosary, which she held in her left hand, while in her right hand was a large blessed candle, alight. The child was just beginning to make the usual ascent on her knees when suddenly she stopped and, her right hand joining her left, the flame of the big candle passed between the fingers of the latter. Though fanned by a fairly strong breeze, the flame produced no effect upon the skin which it was touching. Astonished at this strange fact, I forbade anyone there to interfere, and taking my watch in my hand, I studied the phenomenon attentively for a quarter of an hour. At the end of this time Bernadette, still in her ecstasy, advanced to the upper part of the Grotto, separating her hands. The flame thus ceased to touch her left hand. Bernadette finished her prayer and the splendor of the transfiguration left her face. She rose and was about to quit the Grotto when I asked her to show me her left hand. I examined it most carefully, but could not find the least trace of burning anywhere upon it. I then asked the person who was holding the candle to light it again and give it to me. I put it several times in succession under Bernadette’s left hand, but she drew it away quickly, saying ‘You are burning me!’ I record this fact just as I have seen it, without attempting to explain it. Many persons who were present at the time can confirm what I have said.”
Saturday January 29th & Sunday January 30th
Article 17
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART FOUR: The Power & Miracles of the Miraculous Medal
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 17
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART FOUR: The Power & Miracles of the Miraculous Medal
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Soon We Will Need All The Sacramentals We Can Get
In case you have not noticed―for a very long time now―war has been continually, increasingly and effectively made against the Catholic Church and Her weaponry. For well over 150 years the Church has been increasingly infiltrated. The original major source of infiltration was (and still is) Freemasonry. Then, since the rise and establishment of Communism in the 1920s, the Church has also been infiltrated by Communist “plants” who, according the high-ranking USA Communist Party member, Dr. Bella Dodd, already had reached the highest ranks in the Church (cardinals and bishops) in the 1950s. Dr. Bella Dodd said: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops … Right now they are in the highest places in the Church.” These infiltrator priests, who initially faithfully taught the Catholic religion, but if they were promoted and became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, then, upon becoming “active”, they immediately began to exhibit hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed faithfully. Dr. Bella Dodd added that the changes that they would manage to bring about in the Church would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Today, you can easily see that unrecognizable ‘Catholic’ Church ― the job is not yet complete, but it well underway. The rite of ordination to the priesthood and rite of consecration of bishops have both been changed. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been changed. The strict laws of fasting and abstinence have been changed and made to be almost non-existent. The Sacraments have been changed in one way or another―whereby the multiple exorcisms have been removed from Baptism and the use of olive-oil in the consecration of the Holy Oils is no longer necessary, for now any plant oil suffices (which raises questions about validity). Matrimony has weakened by less strict rules regarding marrying someone outside the Catholic Faith. The Sacraments of Confirmation and Extreme Unction have a shadow of doubt cast upon them by the use of the new ruling allowing any kind of plant oil as the matter to be used in consecrating the Holy Oils.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Supports Bella Dodd
Coming back to Bella Dodd’s statement ― “You will not recognize the Catholic Church” ― we can cross-reference that or verify that by the visions God Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich concerning a “strange … new … church … that was being built” by the enemies of the Church. Emmerich states: “I saw the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it ... I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy, with one shepherd and one flock. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that they had set fire to the old one … They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it ... In the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of Our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion …
“The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! … Pastors allow themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived ... They all work for destruction ― even the clergy. I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons] ... Very bad times will come when non-Catholics will lead many people astray ... A great devastation is now near at hand! … The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … A great confusion will result ... It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … A false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
Pope Benedict XVI Supports Emmerich & Dodd
The Church “stands in particularly pressing need of convincing shepherds who can resist the dictatorship of the spirit of the age and who live and think the Faith with determination,” Pope Benedict said in July 2017. Already back in 1969, while he was still Father Joseph Ratzinger (later to become Benedict XVI), he said:
“The future of the Church can and will issue from those persons whose roots are deep, and who live from the pure fullness of their Faith ... The future of the Church, once again as always, will be reshaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe deeper than the slogans of the day; who see more than others see, because their lives embrace a wider reality … It means that the big talk of those who prophesy a Church without God and without Faith, is all empty chatter. We have no need of a Church that celebrates the cult of action in political prayers. It is utterly superfluous. Therefore, it will destroy itself ... From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge ― a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh ― more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices [buildings] that she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she loose many of her social privileges. As a small society, she will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members ... The Church will be a more spiritual Church. It will be hard-going for the Church. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous … One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution … But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty ... And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984 by Jesus magazine, a publication of the Pauline Sisters. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), published to millions in Italy, Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the REAL Third Secret and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.” Cardinal Ratzinger said that the Third Secret had been suppressed since 1960 “to avoid confusing religious prophecy with sensationalism.” He also said, “But the things contained in this Third Secret correspond to what is announced in Scripture and are confirmed by many other Marian apparitions....” Howard Dee, former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine: “Bishop Ito [the local bishop, now deceased] was certain Akita was an extension of Fatima, and Cardinal Ratzinger personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same.”
Both Fatima and Akita speak of annihilation of nations and widespread destruction and infiltration of the Church. “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God” (Our Lady of Akita). Whereas the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly contains the revelation that the apostasy in the Church will begin at the very top. Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Other Churchmen Support Pope Benedict, Emmerich & Dodd
Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Fr. J. Schweigl, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigl to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima from 1965 to 1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Echoes the Above
The universally designated “Age of Mary,” which had been anticipated by the historic Marian apparitions at Guadalupe some three centuries earlier is generally accepted to have begun in 1830 with the ecclesiastically approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré in what has been named the “Miraculous Medal” apparitions. From these 19th-century apparitions until our present time, Marian apparitions have been reported and approved by the Church on every continent. The Marian message to the modern world begins in seed form in the revelations of Our Lady of Grace at Rue du Bac, and then expands in specificity and concretization throughout the twentieth century and on into our own time. In 1830, at the convent of the Sisters of Charity, on Rue du Bac in Paris, Our Lady said: “Times are evil in France and in the world ... Sorrows will come … The whole world will be in sadness. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery … The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground. They will open up again the side of Our Lord. Blood will flow! … The streets will run with blood ... Come to the foot of the altar [the Virgin indicates a specific spot]. There graces will be shed upon all, great and small, who ask for them. Graces will be especially shed upon those who ask for them … The moment will come when the danger will be enormous; it will seem that all is lost; at that moment, I will be with you; have confidence. You will recognize my coming; you will see the protection of God … Have confidence. Do not be discouraged. I shall be with you! … My eyes are always watching you, I shall grant you many graces. Special graces will be given to all who ask for them, but people must pray … Many people fail to receive graces because they neglect to ask for them … Have a medal struck after this model [Catherine was shown a vision of the Miraculous Medal]. All who wear it will receive great graces; it should be worn around the neck. Great graces will be given to those who wear it with confidence.”
Sister Catherine's confessor, Father Aladel, placed very little credence in her visions. As a consequence, Our Lady complained that the medal had not been made. “But my dear Mother,” Sister Catherine said, “I have told Father Aladel and he hasn't done anything about it!”
“A day will come,” replied Our Lady, “when Father Aladel will do what I wish. He is my servant and would fear to displease me.”
The message jolted Father Aladel and he laid the matter before the Archbishop of Paris, who ordered the medal struck immediately and ordered the first quantity for himself.
Our Lady had opened the great drama. This was her first official herald, the Heaven-sent insignia of the modern Age of Mary. It was to be called the “Medal of the Immaculate Conception,” the prayer inscribed on it honored Our Lady’s unique privilege: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!” It would prepare the world for the great declaration of a quarter of a century later, when Pius IX would declare the great dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an article of Faith, an essential element of Catholic belief.
Not long after, in 1832 during the great cholera pandemic struck France―although it also affected other parts of Europe, as well as from Asia to the Americas. However, the cholera had particularly dramatic effects in France. In just a few months, the disease killed more than 20,000 Parisians (out of a population of 780,000 ― 1 out 39 persons died of cholera) and over 100,000 people in the country as a whole (out of a population of 33 million ― 1 in 330 died of cholera). The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal of the Immaculate Conception with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence, especially if it were worn around the neck. After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures and conversions were brought about through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the excitement; it became known simply as “The Miraculous Medal.” The medals of the Immaculate Conception streamed from the presses by the millions. They overflowed France into the world beyond.
The Miracles of the Miraculous Medal
There is no other Sacramental medal that has produced as many miracles as the Miraculous Medal. As they say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t try fix it!” If the Miraculous Medal has produced so many miracles in the past, then it will produce many miracles in the future ― and the Lord knows we are going to need many miracles on the current ominous path that we have allowed ourselves to be led down!! That was the whole point of Our Lady introducing the Miraculous Medal ― like a Heaven-sent, spiritual medicine, a miraculous ‘vaccine’ ― back in 1830. It has had plenty of ‘clinical’ trials and has been thoroughly tested on millions of ‘patients’ over the last 180 years, with no known or visible side-effects! Put simply ― IT WORKS!
Yet, as Our Lady said, how well it works depends upon how well we use it ― which is true of all Sacramentals ― for it depends upon our dispositions, or, as the Church says, Sacramentals only work “ex opere operato”, meaning that the more Faith, Hope and Charity we have, that is to say, the more belief we have in them, the more confidence we have in them, and the more fervor we exhibit in using them ― then the more their power will shine through and work for us. That is why Our Lady speaks of wearing the Medal with “confidence.”
The many, multitudinous miracles speak for themselves. If miracles fail, it is because we have failed in manifesting sufficient belief, confidence and fervor ― perhaps we expect “automatic miracles” as though the Miraculous Medal was some kind of glorified good luck charm! In this heretical and neo-pagan age of “Trust the Science”, most Catholics find it harder and harder to “Trust in God” and trust that the miracles of God can happen. Already back in the Middle-Ages, one of Our Lord’s mystics asked Him why there were no longer such striking miracles as we read about in the Old Testament and New Testament. Our Lord simply said: “Because you no longer have that same Faith and confidence!” You could just as well say: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly ― and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). As Our Lord said elsewhere: the following words of Our Lord are particularly applicable: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “According to your Faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29) … “Great is thy Faith―be it done to thee as thou wilt!” (Matthew 15:28) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!” (Matthew 8:13).
Let us then look at some of those “many, multitudinous Miraculous Medal miracles” of the past, so as to enkindle in our souls the necessary Faith, Hope and Charity, or belief, confidence and fervor needed to continue those miracles in the present day. Many of the miracles were cures from disease ― something that should be high on our “wish list” in view of the clearly genocidal maneuvers being made by the laboratory manufactured “clot-shots”, “genocidal-jabs”, “noxious needles” and “infernal injections” that are being forced upon humanity today ― resulting in an explosion of toxic, noxious, lethal side effects that are either severely disabling or killing the clueless recipients. We are going to need all the heavenly help we can get ― and Heaven has proved its reliability in the past, as we will now see.
The Miraculous Medal Arrives with Cholera Pandemic
The first two-thousand medals were delivered on June 30th, 1832. The spread of the Medal was almost like a miracle in itself. The cholera epidemic of the same year, 1832, was seeing Parisian death rates of 1 in 39 people―which probably and understandably increased the demand for the Medal. The first supply disappeared very fast. Pope Gregory XVI put one of them at the foot of the crucifix on his desk. The Redemptorist Founder of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in America, Fr. Gillet, had the design of the Medal placed on his ordination card in 1836. The stories of the cures and wonders of the Medal helped to spread its use far and wide. By 1836 the firm of Vachette had sold several million Medals. Eleven other engravers in Paris had done the same. And four engravers in Lyons were hard pressed to meet the demands for the Medal.
It was around this time that Europe was being hit by the Second Cholera Pandemic. The First Cholera Pandemic emerged out of India, in 1817. By 1820, cholera had spread to Thailand, Indonesia (killing 100,000 people on the island of Java alone) and the Philippines. From Thailand and Indonesia, the disease made its way to China in 1820 and Japan in 1822. It also spread beyond Asia. In 1821, British troops traveling from India to Oman brought cholera to the Persian Gulf. The disease eventually made its way to European territory, reaching modern-day Turkey, Syria and Southern Russia. The pandemic died out 6 years after it began, likely thanks to a severe winter in 1823–1824.
The Second Cholera Pandemic began again in India, around 1829, and spread along trade and military routes to Eastern and Central Asia and the Middle East. By late 1830, the cholera had made it to Moscow. The spread of the disease temporarily slowed during the winter, but picked up again in spring of 1831, reaching Finland and Poland. It then passed into Hungary and Germany. The disease then spread throughout Europe, reaching the north of England in late 1831 and London in spring of 1832. France was also infected by 1832 (the year the Miraculous Medal was first manufactured). In 1832, cholera had also made it to the Americas. Over the next couple of years, it would spread across America, reaching the Pacific West Coast by 1834. It reached Latin America, including Mexico and Cuba, in 1833. The public became gripped with widespread fear of the disease. Countries enacted several actions to help curb the spread of the disease, including implementing quarantines.
However, the cholera had particularly dramatic effects in France. In just a few months, the disease killed more than 20,000 Parisians (out of a population of 650,000 ― 1 out 32 persons died of cholera) and over 100,000 people in the country as a whole (out of a population of 33 million ― 1 in 330 died of cholera). The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal of the Immaculate Conception with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence, especially if it were worn around the neck. After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures and conversions were brought about through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the excitement; it became known simply as “The Miraculous Medal.” The medals of the Immaculate Conception streamed from the presses by the millions. They overflowed France into the world beyond.
The Miraculous Medal Miracles of the Past
We will follow a chronological order in relating the accounts of some the multitudinous miracles ― both physical and spiritual ― that took place from 1832 onwards.
THE WIDOW’S MIRACLE
Saint-Maur, France, 1834
Father Bégin, an eyewitness to this cure that took place in Saint-Maur where he was chaplain, wrote a report in which he attested to the following facts:
● that the sick person was gravely ill;
● that she was cured on March 14th, 1834; and
● that she declared that she only used the Medal and prayer.
One hundred witnesses from the nursing home signed this document. The Bishop of Châlons also added his signature to the document: “We certify that the testimony of Father Bégin should be taken as wholly trustworthy, as well as that of the nuns and so many others, who were eye -witnesses and spoke according to their consciences, without any other interest except that of stating the truth. Châlons, May 30th, 1834 + M.S.F.V., Bishop of Châlons.”
In 1834, only two years after the first copies of the Miraculous Medal were made and distributed in Paris, news of the Medal had traveled throughout France. One person who heard about it was Mrs. C.H., a 70-year-old impoverished widow, who had entered the nursing home of Saint-Maur, after a terrible fall on August 7th, 1833. She had to drag her left leg and had great difficulty walking―she needed the assistance of another person’s arm or crutches to walk. Furthermore, she also found it hard to sit and only with great difficulty was she able to rise and get back up again. It was almost impossible for her to climb stairs, as she had to hold on to whatever she could to do so. She could not bend down or kneel, and had to drag her left leg, as that was where the problem lay.
At the beginning of January, 1834, she was told of a Medal that was reported to be miraculous. Described as having, on one side, Mary crushing the infernal serpent and on the reverse of the Medal were depicted the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the letter “M” with a cross on top, she also heard of marvelous things that had happened to those who wore it with confidence. When she heard about the Medal, in January 1834, she requested one and was filled with hope.
From that moment she felt her heart enkindled with the consoling hope of finding some relief that the wearing of this Medal promised to her, and she could not wait for the moment she would receive one. Finally, on March 6th, she received the much longed-for Medal as a gift from Heaven.
As soon as she received it, in March of that year, she went to Confession in order to dispose herself to receive the favor she desired. The next day ― which was the first Friday of the month ― she received the Holy Eucharist and began praying a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She also venerated the Medal, which she wore around her neck, 20 times a day. In a short while, she obtained a happy answer to her requests. After only seven days of the novena, she was suddenly freed from the painful torments she had suffered so cruelly for seven months. Everyone at the nursing home was shocked on the morning of March 14th upon seeing this woman walk about without assistance when the previous evening she had been crippled. After having received the miraculous cure, she was able to bend down, kneel, go up and down stairs.
Everyone cried out: “Miracle!” and was greatly edified by such a prodigious cure. They congratulated her on such a great grace from God and Mary Most Holy. The Mother Superior of the nursing home, who had taken care of her innumerable times since she had been taken ill and daily witnessed her sufferings, wanted a Te Deum―the Church’s traditional hymn of thanksgiving―to be sung by the whole community in the nursing home chapel to celebrate solemnly this extraordinary grace. The sick lady remained cured and no longer felt the effects of her former infirmity.
SAVED FROM DEATH, CURED FROM PNEUMONIA AND CONVERTED FROM SIN
Italy, 1836
By 1836, news of the Medal had spread throughout Europe. In January of that year, a priest in Italy secretly slipped a Medal into the pillow of a 27-year-old man who had become indifferent about his Faith. Even though he was dying from pneumonia, he didn’t want to turn from sin and return to his Faith and family.
Since the priest and a chaplain had failed to convince him to do so, the priest hoped to return after giving the young man time to reflect on what they had said.
Before the priest returned, the young man reconciled with his mother and asked her to call the priest, because he wanted to reject the sins of his past and return to his Faith.
When the priest showed him the Medal and gave it to him, the young man began devoutly kissing the Medal. With remorse, he confessed his sins and received absolution, and he also received the Last Rites.
But to everyone’s astonishment, he began feeling better and made a full recovery within a few days. He kept the Medal and frequently kissed it with great devotion and gratitude to God and Blessed Mother.
Testimony of the parish priest of Bologna on February 8th, 1836.
“There was a young man in my parish, 27 years of age, who lived a dissolute life. In order to have fewer impediments to his excesses, he had left the family home. Sometime later he became gravely ill with pneumonia. Dr. Giovanni Pulioli, a distinguished doctor, treated him; but the illness was stronger than the medicine of the day.
“The youth was left in a lamentable state, unable to move. By then he was living scandalously with a woman and had declared, from the beginning of the illness, that he would not consent to a priest being called.
“My chaplain went to visit him and exhorted him to put an end to the scandal through marriage; but he failed to convince the young man. I went there and spoke with him about legitimizing the union, rather than breaking it up; but I found him to be in a state of complete religious indifferentism.
“Despite my every effort to persuade him, I also failed. I then thought it better to allow him to reflect a little while and to return another day to find out his decision. In the meantime, I asked him to have recourse to the Most Holy Virgin, refuge of sinners; and, without telling him, I placed a Miraculous Medal in his pillow and departed.
“I did not need to return to the house of my own accord; the sick youth himself called me through his mother with whom he had already reconciled himself. He told me that he had reasons, which were justified, for not speaking personally with the woman with whom he had been living, and requested I ask her to leave. The unfortunate woman condescended and left.
“Once I had accomplished this, I told the sick youth how happy I was. When I presented the Medal to him, he began to kiss it with feelings of sincere gratitude, even though the state of his health was extremely grave. He then showed signs of sincere repentance and confessed his sins, received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, because we expected him to die at any moment. This took place on January 19th, 1836.
“The young man felt the greatest tranquility, which he attributed to the Most Holy Virgin. From then on he started to feel better and had totally recuperated within a few days. He still perseveres in his good resolutions and is full of love for his Heavenly benefactress whose Medal he keeps as something precious, frequently kissing it with great devotion.
“I myself witnessed this fact and I write not only with the young man’s approval, but at his request, so that it may serve for the greater glory of God that, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, this miracle took place. To this written testimony I have appended the medical report proving the sickness and the cure.”
BLINDNESS CURED
Belgium, 1836
On November 9th, 1835, Rosalie Ducas from Jauchelette, near Jodoigne, suddenly lost her sight. She was only four and a half years old, in perfect health with no signs of illness. Any light or breeze disturbed her to the point of having to cover her face with a cloth folded in four. The pains the child suffered day and night caused everyone much grief.
At this point, Realizing that the child needed help from above, the parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine gave the girl’s mother a Miraculous Medal. The mother took it and started a novena. She put another Medal around the girl’s neck on June 11th, 1836 at about 6:00 p.m. By midnight the girl had stopped complaining of pain. Then, on the fourth or fifth day of the novena, Rosalie opened her eyes. The parents felt so hopeful that they prayed even more to the Most Holy Virgin. On the ninth day in the afternoon, the girl regained her sight completely to the great surprise of the neighbors and all those who witnessed the event.
The parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine, who had given the Medal to the family, went to see the girl who lived only a mile and a half away, and testified that she had recovered her sight completely. No pain whatsoever was left. These facts are known by everyone and attest to the honor we owe to the Virgin Mary.
MIRACLE OF THE MIND, MENTAL CONFUSION REMOVED
Ho-Nan, China, 1837
By the end of 1837, people throughout the world had learned about the Miraculous Medal. And around that time, a woman in China received a miracle. She was given the Medal by Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, a holy priest who was on mission in Ho-Nan.
The saint ― who was later imprisoned, tortured for about a year and martyred in 1840 because of his Catholic Faith ― was told about the woman by other Catholics living in Ho-Nan. They told the priest that she desperately wanted him to hear her confession, even though she had been mentally disturbed for about eight months. Although it was almost impossible for her to make a coherent confession, he compassionately agreed to hear her. Although she didn’t know what it was, the saint gave her the Miraculous Medal, so that she could be under the protection of Blessed Mother. Only four or five days later, he was amazed at the healing that had taken place. Her mental suffering and anguish had been replaced by peace, common sense and joy.
Father Perboyre himself tells the story on August 10th, 1839.
It is interesting to mention that this missionary was taken prisoner one month later out of hatred for religion. He confessed the Faith generously for a whole year amidst horrible tortures and then had the joy of receiving the martyr’s palm on September 11th, 1840.
“While I was on mission in the Catholic community of Ho-Nan in November 1837, the Catholics there presented a woman to me who had been suffering from mental confusion for eight months. They added that she ardently desired to make her confession to me, even though she was incapable of doing so, and implored me not to deny her this consolation that she had so much at heart.
“Her unfortunate state really made the exercise of my ministry appear futile. But I heard her confession out of compassion and as she departed I gave her a Miraculous Medal so she would be under the protection of the Virgin. She did not understand the value of this holy remedy, but she soon recognized its virtue as she started to get better.
“Her progress was such that she was another person after four or five days. Her mental confusion, her worries that had caused her mortal anguish—in which I had noticed a diabolical influence—gave way to common sense, tranquility and happiness.”
LIBERATION OF BOY POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL
Macau, China, 1841
Letter from a missionary in Macau dated August 25th, 1841.
“A widow, who had been brought up as a pagan, had only one son. One day she saw him come under the power of the devil―in other words, possessed by the devil. Everyone fled from him as he wandered through the fields making fearful cries. If someone dared to grab him, the boy would immediately throw the person to the ground.
“The poor mother was full of pain and sorrow, but Divine Providence had pity on this unfortunate family. One day the boy was more tormented than ever, not knowing where he went and brutally repelling all who drew near. In his wanderings he came upon a Catholic, who, animated by a lively Faith and seeing that the devil tyrannically mistreated the unfortunate boy, told those who were close by to leave. He said that only he was able to calm him down, hold him and return him to his mother. This manner of speaking surprised the pagans. They warned him of the danger, but let him get on with it.
“This Catholic carried a Miraculous Medal and took it into his hand. Drawing near to the possessed boy, he showed it to him, ordering the devil to leave him alone and depart, which happened immediately. The boy, seeing the Catholic with the Medal, threw himself to the ground before this image without knowing what it was. The pagans, who had watched him from afar, were astounded.
“The Catholic then said to him that he should rise and follow him. In this manner he brought him to his mother’s house. As soon as the boy saw her he said: ‘Do not cry! I am free! The devil left me as soon as he saw this Medal!’
“Imagine the joy of the mother upon hearing these words. She did not know whether or not she was dreaming. The Catholic certified the truth of what the boy was saying and told her what had happened. He added that her son would be free forever as long as he renounced the idols and became a Catholic. The boy sincerely promised to do so and both of them began removing the false gods from a sort of altar where they were kept.”
CURE OF A LITTLE GIRL (PARIS)—1843
This account was published in the month of January, 1877, by the very person who was cured
“About the 15th of December, 1843, a little girl, Zénobie de M., just one year old, was attacked, at one and the same time, by water on the lungs, a disease of the bowels, and cerebral congestion. Dr. Flandrin, a friend of the family was called in immediately, and gave the child every attention, but his skill was powerless, and the family was plunged in the deepest grief.
“The child’s eldest sister alone cherished a faint hope in the depths of her heart; she had intended consecrating herself to God in a religious state, and had always regarded the birth of this little one as a gift of Providence, sent to take her place in the family, and console her afflicted parents. God will not, she thought, take back the child.
“In her room was a picture representing the apparition of the Miraculous Medal. She knelt before it, begging the child’s recovery, and renewing her promises of embracing a religious life―should the petition be granted. This generous offering she kept a secret.
“A little while after, the doctor came and declared the child’s case hopeless, and moreover, its recovery not desirable as it would remain imbecile, paralyzed or blind. He proposed, however, a consultation with Dr. Blache, physician of the Necker hospital, who prescribed energetic treatment, but said, ‘this child cannot live.’
“The poor mother, deeming it inadvisable to cause the little creature unnecessary suffering, gently laid it in the cradle, saying with the Faith and resignation, seen in none but a Christian mother: ‘The Lord gave her to me, the Lord wishes to take her away! May His holy will be accomplished!’
“In the afternoon, one of the aunts came to accompany the elder sister to church, and whilst their prayers ascended to the Most High, more for the mother than the child, this mother obeyed spontaneously a supernatural impulse, and, taking the Miraculous Medal as a last hope, she applied it to the body of the child, and repeated with confidence the invocation: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!’
The plaintive cries ceased, and when Dr. Flandrin came that evening, to see if the little one were still alive, he was greatly surprised to perceive a faint improvement since that morning―with the whole body covered with a gentle perspiration, and the little paralyzed arm able to move in any direction. ‘But what a pity,’ said he, ‘the child will be blind,’ which indeed it seemed to be already, as a light passed several times before its eyes produced no effect whatever.
“The mother who had not yet mentioned her secret, waited until all had left the room, then taking her dear Medal, she lay it upon her infant’s eyes and repeated the invocation. After a sound sleep of about twenty-four hours, little Zénobie awoke, recognizing all around her, and smiling upon all, her sight was restored!
“The child’s father, penetrated with Faith and piety, said: ‘Most certainly God alone has restored our child to us! Henceforth, she shall be called Marie, so that she may always bear in mind to whom she is indebted for life.’
“An attack of measles now supervened and finished the work, according to the doctor, by absorbing the water on the brain, and throwing out upon the surface of the skin the heretofore internal malady. A small gold cross, having engraven upon it the memorable date of this miraculous cure, was hung around the neck of little Marie, who is now a Daughter of St. Vincent de Paul.”
CONVERSION OF A CAPTAIN IN THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.
Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1860
“After the war in Italy, a Polish regiment passed through Gratz. The captain, attacked by a violent hemorrhage, was obliged to stop at the general hospital, in charge of the Daughters of Charity. Their constant and unremitting attentions did not retard the progress of the disease, and his life was in imminent danger.
“Full of consideration, gratitude and politeness for those who nursed him, he nevertheless expressed great displeasure whenever they approached him on the subject of religion; he had requested to be spared the visits of the chaplain of the regiment, and as to the hospital chaplain, he dared not present himself. It was necessary to keep the patient very quiet, and avoid all worry, for the least excitement might cause a mortal hemorrhage.
“A Sister, who had been watching by his couch one night, left, in mistake, a little book containing an account of favors obtained through the Blessed Virgin’s intercession. The sick man took the book and read a few pages. When another Sister came into his room, he showed her a passage, and said, putting his hand to his forehead with a significant gesture: ‘Here, Sister, just read this nonsense! As for myself, I cannot understand how anyone can write such books—if I may dare, let me beg you to take this away!’
“Vain was every effort to reach his heart by pleasant distractions, by engaging his attention or his interest; he was insensible to all.
“A few days after the occurrence just mentioned, a Sister ventured to offer him a Medal of the Blessed Virgin suspended on a cord, so that he might wear it around his neck if he wished. He was too polite to refuse the present, but he let it remain just where the Sister had put it.
“His servant, though a devout Christian, dared not speak to him of receiving the Sacraments, and, although the patient expected to leave the hospital soon, it was very evident to all else that the fever was daily sapping his strength and rapidly conducting him to the tomb.
“Much grieved at his condition, and especially his impenitence, the Sisters determined to make one last effort to save this soul. And what was it? They wrote the Blessed Virgin a note, as follows: ‘Grant that, by some means, most holy Mother, he may accept your Medal, prepare him yourself to receive the Sacraments, and assist him at the hour of death. O Mary! conceived without sin, pardon our temerity, we attach this note to your statue, and leave it there till you deign to hear our prayers.’
“The chief physician of the hospital said, one day, to the Sister on leaving this patient’s room: ‘The captain will die without the Sacraments―he seems inflexible!’
“‘Oh! As to that,’ she replied, ‘the Blessed Virgin will not fail to overcome his obstinacy!’
“Three or four days elapsed. One morning, the sick man requested the Sister to put the Medal around his neck, which she did most joyfully. In the afternoon, he called her again: “Sister,” he said: “I beg you to send for the chaplain of my regiment to hear my confession, so that tomorrow I may receive the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction.”
“The priest was happy to answer the summons. He remained a long time with the sick man, and, next morning, after celebrating Mass at the altar of the Immaculate Conception, he administered to him the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
“We were all edified at the dying man’s piety. He cherished his Medal with religious fidelity, often asking for it and kissing it tenderly. A few days after receiving the Last Sacraments, he rendered his soul to God, saved, as we have every reason to hope, by the intercession of Mary conceived without sin.”
CONVERSION OF A HARDENED SINNER
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity at Issoudun, 1862
“In the month of August, 1862, a young man aged twenty-nine, and who had been married several years, was dying of consumption. Vainly did his friends endeavor to turn his thoughts to eternity. Every idea of religion seemed extinguished in his heart, and he positively refused to see the priest.
“An acquaintance informed the Sisters of his deplorable state; one of them went immediately to see him. She was met with a cool reception, but was not the least disconcerted, and spoke to him very kindly, proposing to send him a physician, and adding, that she would supply all necessary medicines and nourishment.
“‘I need neither doctors nor medicines!’ was the reply, ‘I am going to die, and I ask only that you will let me die in peace!’
“His poor wife, who was present, holding their little child in her arms, said to him with tears: ‘Accept Sister’s offer, and perhaps you will recover!’― but he made no answer.
“The Sister, then turning to his wife, endeavored to console her, by promising to send the doctor and return soon herself. The doctor came and met with no better reception.
“In a few days the Sister presented herself again, and was received as before, all her advances eliciting no response save a frigid silence; but naught discouraged, she returned day after day, though her reception was always the same.
“As the young man grew worse, the Sister’s prayers increased, and she felt inspired to offer him a Medal of the Immaculate Conception, still hoping that the good God would lead back to the fold, this poor strayed sheep. ‘I accept a Medal!’ he exclaimed angrily, ‘And what do you wish me to do with it? It would suit my wife or child well enough, but as for myself, I want no Medals!’
“The Sister withdrew from the contest for the time, but not discouraged, she returned to the charge next morning. ‘Ah,’ said she pleasantly, ‘are you going to take the Medal today?’
“‘You know what I told you yesterday!’ he answered, ‘Besides, Sister, I am afraid of becoming imbued with your sentiments should I accept it, for I perceive that you are much more unhappy than I care to be.’
“A ray of happiness illumined the Sister’s countenance, for she knew that he who fears is already conquered. After plying her with questions about religion, he concluded thus: ‘After all, death will be a great relief to me! I have twice made an unsuccessful attempt at committing suicide! I suffer so much that I desire nothing but to die as soon possible!’
“Next day, the Sister asked her Superioress to visit him and offer him the Medal. She did so, and he not only accepted it, but at last consented to see the priest. When our Sister next saw him he was completely changed, and expressed his joy at the priest’s visit, and his desire of seeing him soon again.
“‘Sister,’ said he, ‘I am too miserable! I wish to be like you!’
“The priest did not delay his second coming, and the poor, suffering creature, having made his confession, asked for Holy Communion, which he had not received for many years, but this favor was denied him, his throat being so inflamed that he could swallow only a few drops of liquid. His last days were sanctified by the most admirable resignation; no one ever heard him utter a complaint, he asked for one thing only, the visits of the priest and Sister, which alone seemed to afford him any consolation. And on the Feast of All Saints, evincing every mark of a sincere conversion, he breathed his last.”
CONVERSION OF AN EVILDOER
A Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen, in Prussian Poland, 1865
“There was brought to our hospital, a young man of notoriously bad character. He entered our doors blaspheming, and as the physician had told the Sister that he had but a few days to live, she essayed a few words of piety and consolation, to turn his attention to the state of his soul; but he answered her by maledictions.
“At last, one day she said to him: ‘My friend, since you will not listen to me, I will ask my Superioress herself to come!’
“‘Let her come,’ was his reply, ‘if she were to tell me to hang myself, I would obey her, but as for confession, she may talk about that as much as she pleases, I shall never yield!’
“These words were followed by so many blasphemies, that it was with a very heavy heart the poor Sister sought her Superioress.
“‘Have you given him a Medal?’ said the latter.
“‘A Medal?’ was the reply, ‘He would throw it away!’
“‘Ah, well, we must put one under his pillow and trust to prayer, for it is useless to talk to him; tell him only that I say he is not worthy of going to confession, and I forbid his doing so.’
“As soon as the Sister, who was nursing him, left the presence of her Superioress, the latter threw herself upon her knees and began to repeat that beautiful prayer―the Memorare (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to they protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession and was left forsaken … etc.).
“In only a few minutes the Sister returned, this time shedding tears of joy. ‘Ah, Sister!’ she cried, ‘He wishes to confess! As soon as I had put the Medal under his pillow and recited the “Memorare” prayer for him, I delivered your message!’
“‘Indeed!’ said he, rising from his seat, ‘Well, I would just like to see the person that could prevent it! Tell your Superioress that tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, I am going to pay the priest a visit!’
“The Sisters felt a little troubled concerning a confession apparently dictated by the spirit of contradiction―but their fears were dissipated when the penitent returned bathed in tears. He had just been to Holy Communion―and, asking the Sisters’ pardon for his past misconduct, he begged them to implore the Blessed Virgin to let him live eight days longer, that he might weep for his sins. This favor was granted him, and daily did he soak his pillow with tears. At the end of the eight days he died, blessing God, and pressing the Medal to his lips.”
CONVERSION OF AN ACTRESS
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen in Prussian Poland, 1865
“Some years ago, a young Protestant woman, belonging to a troupe of comedians, arrived in Beuthen with her company. The good God permitted that she should find lodgings in a Catholic family, with whom she soon entered into controversial arguments.
“‘Mademoiselle,’ said the master of the house, ‘it would be better for you to go see the Sisters about these things! The Blessed Virgin has brought about wonders in their establishments, I am sure you would return fully enlightened on the subject you have been discussing!’
The young girl laughed at such a proposition; but a few days after, impelled by curiosity, she went to the hospital and asked for the Sister-Servant.
“‘Invite her in!’ said the latter, who had already heard of the young actress, ‘No doubt, the Blessed Virgin has something in store for her here!’
“After a few formalities of etiquette, our visitor introduced the subject of religion, and attempted to enter into a controversy with the Sister. ‘Alas! Mademoiselle,’ replied the latter, ‘the poor Daughters of Charity have neither the time nor learning necessary for a discussion of these subtle questions, but they have other arms with which to vanquish you!’― and, smiling, she presented her disputant a little Medal of the Blessed Virgin. ‘Promise me to wear this slight souvenir, it will be a constant reminder that we are praying for you!’
“She allowed the Sister to put the Medal on her neck, and retired rather pleased with her visit.
“From this day, the Sisters at the hospital began to recommend the young actress to Mary, conceived without sin.
“Not many weeks after, the priest said to the Sister-Servant: ‘Do you know, Sister, that Mademoiselle M., who spent the most of her time walking with gentlemen and smoking cigars, now comes to me for religious instruction? In a little while she will make her abjuration of heresy.’
“And, indeed, it was not very long before she repaired to the hospital. “Sister,” said she to the Sister-Servant: “I am going to confession today, and tomorrow I make my First Communion. On my first visit here, I was enraged at you. I could have fought you, and cast to the winds this Medal that I now kiss. From the very moment you put it on my neck, an unaccountable change was brought about in me.”
“Next day, the church was filled with Protestants and Jews, all anxious to witness a ceremony which had excited so much comment. After her reception into the Church, the young convert, on the eve of her departure, paid another visit to the Sister Servant, and the latter saw by her very countenance what great changes grace had wrought in this soul.
“‘Well,’ said the Sister, just to try her, ‘here is a silver Medal to replace yours―which has become very black!’
“‘Oh, no!’ was the earnest, prompt reply, as she tenderly pressed her own Medal, ‘I would not exchange this for any other in the world, for it is since I began to wear it my soul has awaked to a new life!’
“Some years later, the Sister received a letter dated from Rome, it was from the young convert, who wrote to her as follows: ‘Sister, God’s Providence has led me to Rome, and it is no longer Mlle. M. you must address, but Sister St.—— of the B. convent. Your desires are accomplished; I now belong entirely to God, as I once did to the world; the Blessed Virgin vanquishes souls with other arms than those of controversy.’
“We must add, to the praise of the young actress, that her moral character was always irreproachable.”
The Superioress of the hospital at Beuthen, in narrating these facts, adds: “I could mention, for the greater glory of God and honor of the Immaculate Mary, numberless incidents of this kind―but lack of time and my weak eyes prevent my giving the details. I will say, however, and that without the slightest exaggeration, that not a week passes without the Blessed Virgin bestowing upon our patients at the hospital some new proof of her maternal kindness. The Medal, so dear to us, is really miraculous, and the instrument by which we snatch from destruction souls that have cost Our Lord so much! Ah! How numberless, in this unhappy land, the snares of the enemy of our salvation to entrap souls; but to vanquish him, I everywhere circulate the Miraculous Medal, and my confidence in Mary is never deceived!”
A DYING SOLDIER AND THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
In the hospital of the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans, a nun tried to instruct a Protestant in the truths of the Faith and to dispose him to receive Baptism. However, he did not want to speak about the subject.
One day she showed him a Miraculous Medal and explained its origin to him. He seemed to pay attention, but when she offered it to him, he became annoyed and snapped angrily: “Take that away, this Virgin is just an ordinary woman.” “I will leave it on the table,” the nun replied: “I am certain that you will think about what I said.” He did not answer her, but, in order not to see the Medal, he placed his bible on top of it.
Every day the nun, with the pretext of cleaning the table, made sure the Medal was still there. Days passed and the sickness became increasingly worse.
One night when he was suffering acutely, he saw a marvelous light around his bed, while the rest of the room was in total darkness. Surprised, he struggled to get up in spite of his frailty and turned up the flame in the gas lamp to see if he could discover what this strange light was. He could find nothing and returned to his bed.
Moments later he noticed that the light came from the Medal. He then took it into his hands and kept it there the rest of the night. As soon as the nun’s rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the nurse and asked him to tell the nun that he wanted to be baptized.
They advised the chaplain immediately who exclaimed: “That is impossible!” He had spoken with the sick man many times and knew how he felt about the matter.
Nonetheless, he went to him and found him perfectly disposed and receptive to him. He baptized him and gave him the sacraments, and a little while later the sick man died, praising God and the Holy Virgin for the graces he had received.
CONVERSION OF A PROMINENT FREEMASON
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
Among the patients at the great Charity hospital, New Orleans, was a very prominent Freemason. His hatred of religion was displayed in a thousand ways―not only did he forbid the Sister, who nursed, him any allusion to his salvation, but he even habitually repaid, by harsh and injurious words, her kindness and attention to his physical sufferings.
If others ventured to mention the subject of religion to him, they were received with jeers and mockery. Several times he was at the point of death, and yet, sad to say, his dispositions remained the same.
At last, when the Sister saw that he had but a few hours to live, she stealthily slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and said interiorly to the Blessed Virgin: “My dear Mother, you know I have spared no effort to touch this poor man’s heart, but in vain; now I abandon him to you, it is you who must save him; I leave him entirely in your hands, and shall try to divest myself of all anxiety concerning him!”
That evening, in making her rounds, she glanced at him and learned from the infirmarian that ever since her (the Sister’s) last visit, he had been very calm and apparently absorbed in thought. On inquiring of the patient himself how he felt, she was astonished at his polite answer, but remembering that she had entrusted him entirely to the Blessed Virgin’s care, she did not venture a word about his soul, and bidding him good night, she left the room.
About 9:00 p.m., he called the infirmarian, and asked for a priest. Knowing his former bitterness, the infirmarian thought it a joke and treated it accordingly. The patient repeated his request―but with no better success. Then he began to weep and cry aloud for a priest. All the other patients were struck dumb with astonishment, and the infirmarian unable to resist such entreaties went for the chaplain and the Sister.
The dying man requested Baptism, which was administered immediately, as well as Extreme Unction, and, before morning, he had rendered his account to the Sovereign Judge. His body was interred with Masonic rites, but his soul, thanks to the powerful protection of Mary Immaculate, had been carried by angels to the bosom of its God.
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG METHODIST
St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 1865
A young man, a Methodist, arrived at the hospital in an extremely weak condition. The physician at once pronounced his case hopeless, and said he had but a few days to live. Consequently, the Sister’s first care was for his soul.
Questioning him, she soon learned that he believed neither in the efficacy, nor necessity of Baptism―and all her efforts to induce him to receive this Sacrament were unavailing. He had no desire for any conversation on the subject, and his invariable reply to all her arguments was: “I believe in Jesus―that suffices! I am sure of being saved!”
The Sister redoubled her prayers, for in them lay her only hope, and time was precious. A good priest visited him every day; once, after a much longer visit than usual, he told the Sister on leaving the room it was impossible to do anything with that man, unless God wrought a miracle in his favor, and they must entreat Him to do so.
The poor man persisted, indeed, in refusing all spiritual assistance, though receiving gratefully the attentions bestowed upon his body.
His strength diminished day by day, and he calmly awaited death; one thought alone disquieted him―that of never seeing his mother and dying afar from her. Perceiving himself on the brink of the grave, he called one of his companions, whom he begged to be with him at that fearful moment, and write the particulars of it to his mother.
Whilst he made this request, the Sister slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, confidently believing that Mary would not let this soul entrusted to her perish―even though he was already in his last agony.
Two Sisters watched and silently prayed beside his bed till midnight, when obliged to retire, they left him in charge of an infirmarian and the young man who had promised to be with him at the hour of death. Apparently he had not more than half an hour to live―so, next morning, when the infirmarian came to meet the Sister, she was prepared for news of the patient’s death, but to her astonishment the infirmarian exclaimed: “Come Sister, come see him, he is restored to life!”
He then told her that the patient, to all appearances, had been dead for about an hour; that the friend and himself had rendered all the last duties to the body, having washed and dressed and prepared it for the grave―then the young man went to bed, and he alone remained with the corpse.
After watching near it some time, he approached to bandage the jaws, but what was his fright whilst thus engaged, to see the dead man open his eyes! The Sister heard no more, but eagerly hastened to the spot, and found the man still breathing.
With a great effort he said: “Oh! What a blessing that you have come!”
In reply, she exhorted him to receive Baptism, and told him that he was indebted to the Blessed Virgin for this prolongation of his life.
“I wish to be baptized,” he said.
When the Sister replied that the priest would come, his pitiful answer was: “Oh! That will be too late!”
The other patients now joined their entreaties to his, and the Sister, after reciting aloud the acts of Faith, Hope, Charity and contrition, which the dying man endeavored to repeat, with hands clasped and eyes raised to Heaven, baptized him.
Whilst the regenerating waters flowed upon his soul, transports of love and thanksgiving escaped his lips. Half an hour later, he closed his eyes, never to open them here below.
All that the infirmarian related of his first death, was confirmed in the most positive manner, by the Protestant friend who had assisted in preparing him for the grave.
INCURABLE SCABS
New York, 1866
A girl, some twenty years old, came to the hospital covered with the most repugnant scabs which the doctors had said were incurable. The nun, who cared for her wounds, one day told her that the Most Holy Virgin had the power to cure her and that, if she wanted to wear the Medal and ask for a cure, she would obtain it.
Knowing the doctors had given up, she answered roughly: “I do not believe in your Holy Virgin, nor do I want a Medal.”
“Very well then,” the nun answered: “in that case, keep your wounds.”
Some days later, she asked for the Medal and placed it around her neck, and prepared to be baptized. Shortly thereafter she left the hospital in perfect health, to the great astonishment of the doctors, who had been unanimous in considering her sickness incurable.
The Miraculous Medal Miracles in Modern Times
ICE CREAM MIRACLE
United States, 1948
Despite the miracles associated with the Medal, many people don’t believe it can make such a difference. Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., was one of those people. Not long after he had been ordained, a Vincentian priest encouraged him and others to promote the Miraculous Medal―because Blessed Mother really does work miracles through it. Although Fr. Hardon ordered a free pamphlet on how to bless the Medals and enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal, he didn’t get one for himself.
But later, in 1948, when the United States priest encountered a ten-year-old boy who was in a coma after a sledding accident, he decided to see if it would help. A sister who worked at the hospital found one and a ribbon the priest could use to hang it around the boy’s neck. Even though the boy had been diagnosed with inoperable permanent brain damage, the priest read the prayer that enrolled the boy in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. As soon as he finished the prayer, the boy opened his eyes and asked his mother for ice cream. It was the first time he had spoken in nearly two weeks. New x-rays showed the brain damage had disappeared, and the boy was released from the hospital after about three days. Like the boy and his family, the priest’s life and his belief in the Medal were forever changed.
ELEVATOR MIRACLE
Czechoslovakia, 1950s
In the 1950s, in what was then the communist country of Czechoslovakia, a teenage boy received a Miraculous Medal from an underground seminarian. Even though religious beliefs were condemned by the government, the boy decided to wear his Medal around his neck when he worked, one summer, at a construction site. When his supervisor told him to take it off, he continued to wear it.
The next day, he fell into a hole that contained the engine – with moving wheels, gears and belts – of an unsophisticated elevator that allowed construction workers to transport materials to upper floors of the apartment building that was being built. His co-workers pulled him out and put him on the ground. But to their surprise, he was uninjured. He was able to get up and continue working. And he fervently believed that it was Blessed Mother’s protection, received through the Medal, that kept him safe from harm.
TRAGENDY PREVENTED
Australia
The Legion of Mary in Australia gives the following account of two Legion of Mary legionaries visiting a home:
Approaching the next home on our visitation we noticed that a chain was on the grill surrounding the front door area. As there was no padlock on the chain we were able to enter the porch and press the front doorbell. A woman answered the door and we started with our normal opening comments “Hi we are …. and …. from the Catholic Church and we are visiting on behalf of Father, who sends his regards to you.” The reply given was “I am sorry but I go to another Parish and don’t want to talk at the moment as I have just lost my job.” We said we were sorry to hear the news and that we would pray for her. She then accepted the Mass times and a prayer card along with a miraculous medal and the explanation leaflet on the medal. We did not press any further comment to her as she closed the door.
That evening I received a message on my answering machine to call this very lady. After a short prayer I cautiously returned her call. She had called the Parish Priest and he had listened to her story and gave her my phone number. She quietly related what was happening behind that door we knocked on for Jesus and Mary.
“Ten minutes before you arrived, I removed the padlock from the external grill surround, as it would be easier for people to find me. I had planned to go to the medicine cabinet and commit suicide. But your knock on the door interrupted me. When you left I read the pamphlet and held the Miraculous Medal in my hand and I want to say thank you for calling today.”
Wasn’t it wonderful that Jesus and Mary directed us, on their behalf, to that door at that time. A small prayer card and a miraculous medal can be very powerful. We never know what is happening to the people behind those closed doors when we simply give a smile, a hello and a gift from Jesus and Mary.
WITCH DRIVEN AWAY
England, 1982
The following account was given by a priest regarding his pre-seminary days.
In my home town the local newspaper printed a story about a witch wishing to purchase a local Protestant church. The newspaper reported that all the paper work had been completed and that the purchase by the witch was to be completed within the next few days. A friend of mine―who also became a priest―suggested that we cycle down to the church concerned and plant Miraculous Medals all around the exterior wall of the church. We took around 50 blessed Miraculous Medals with us and, under cover of nightfall, duly planted most of them in the soil, alongside the exterior walls of the church. Within a few days the local newspaper again ran a story regarding the witch and her purchase of the church, stating that for inexplicable reasons the witch had suddenly pulled out of the purchase the church ― which was strange, since the previous newspaper report had quoted her as being overjoyed at the forthcoming purchase.
ANOTHER WITCH DRIVEN AWAY
United States, 1993
Another incident regarding a 16-year old witch is related by a priest in the Mid-West region of the United. A Protestant “born-again” family approached various sources regarding preternatural incidents that were occurring in their recently purchased house. Pentagrams would appear in mirrors; the ceiling fans would suddenly turn themselves and whirl around at indescribably fast speeds. In one particular room―the bedroom of a 16-year-old “born again” Protestant girl―she would frequently come home from school to find her bedroom like a pig-sty, drawers pulled-out and emptied all over the floor, mattress on the floor, books thrown off the shelves, and―most disconcerting of all―her “born again” Christian audio-tapes floating attached to the bedroom ceiling.
The parish priest decided to initially send the local branch of the Legion of Mary and a deacon (later to be ordained priest) to investigate matters. Those who were sent―as a precautionary measure―fasted on water alone for three days. They then took with them various Sacramentals―Holy Water, blessed Crucifixes, blessed Rosary beads, blessed Miraculous Medals, and blessed St. Benedict Medals. Upon arrival at the house, they instructed the family on the power of the Church’s Sacramentals, gave a brief overview of how the devil works, and instructed them on how to pray the Rosary. After that, they went through each room of the house―sprinkled each room with Holy Water, placed the blessed medals in all four corners of each room and above each door and window, and a blessed crucifix on the wall of each room. They then prayed a decade of the Rosary and the St. Michael Archangel prayer in each room, before repeating the same procedure in the next room―until all the rooms of the house had been covered. They then told the family to pray the Rosary regularly―each day.
In the process of all this, they discovered from the family that they had purchased the house from what seemed to be satanic owners, and that the bedroom of the 16-year-old “born again Christian” girl had been originally painted in black and red! It was further discovered that this 16-year-old girl had a close ‘friend’ at the local high school who was a practicing witch and whose friends were also dabbling in Satanism (it is estimated that at least 50% of public school students have dabbled in the occult, or witchcraft, or Satanism at least once in their lives. A 2018 Newsweek article stated: “The number of witches and Americans practicing Wicca religious rituals increased dramatically since the 1990s, with several recent studies indicating there may be at least 1.5 million witches across the country ... Witchcraft has more followers than the 1.4 million mainline members of the Presbyterian church." Anyway, this 16-year-old witch and her occult-dabbling friends would love coming to visit the “born again Christian” girl in her new home―obviously she “felt at home” in an ex-satanic building! She was even alleged to have levitated in the house on several occasions!
However, once the Holy Water had been sprinkled in the house, the Crucifixes attached to the walls, the blessed medals planted in each room and with the Rosary being prayed regularly―all the diabolical infestation stopped, to the joy of the family. The 16-year-old witch and her occult-dabbling friends would no longer enter the house when they came to visit the “born again Christian” girl―but asked her to step outside. When the girl invited them in―they flatly and resolutely refused, saying: “We can’t come in! You have to come out!” Obviously, the “born again Christian” girl cut any and all ties with these people. However, the problem was that they also attended the same local public school. When it came to the annual re-registration for school, that takes place each summer, the “born again Christian” girl was at school wearing a blessed Rosary around her neck. When the witch entered and saw it, she asked: “What is that? It’s not a Rosary is it?” The girl replied approached her and held out the Rosary to her, saying: “Yes it is! Here! Look!” At which point the witch turned around and quickly walked out of the room. So it was proposed to the “born again Christian” girl that she plant another batch of Miraculous Medals―a very large number of them―all around the perimeter of the school. The result was that the witch never returned to that school in the Fall.
CONCLUSION
The Miraculous Medal continues to multiply its prodigies even today. We know of countless other impressive stories of conversions, graces of moral regeneration, cures of attachment to vices, and infallible protection against the action of the devil. There are innumerable accounts of cures and relief procured in every kind of illness, as well as assistance to expectant mothers and of astounding protection against assault, robbery, kidnapping, accidents and other dangers. And who can count those who have found employment and resolved financial difficulties by means of this devotion? Even in our days, so lacking in true Faith, the facts that take place never cease to surprise and edify us.
When she revealed the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady clearly promised that “Everyone who wears it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.” She did not put restrictive conditions; she said “everyone.” And then completed the phrase with: “The graces will be abundant to those who use it with confidence.”
We all need great graces, especially in these difficult and critical times. Let us turn to the Virgin Mother of God in all our needs and concerns, and ask her with a childlike confidence to answer our prayers.
In case you have not noticed―for a very long time now―war has been continually, increasingly and effectively made against the Catholic Church and Her weaponry. For well over 150 years the Church has been increasingly infiltrated. The original major source of infiltration was (and still is) Freemasonry. Then, since the rise and establishment of Communism in the 1920s, the Church has also been infiltrated by Communist “plants” who, according the high-ranking USA Communist Party member, Dr. Bella Dodd, already had reached the highest ranks in the Church (cardinals and bishops) in the 1950s. Dr. Bella Dodd said: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops … Right now they are in the highest places in the Church.” These infiltrator priests, who initially faithfully taught the Catholic religion, but if they were promoted and became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, then, upon becoming “active”, they immediately began to exhibit hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed faithfully. Dr. Bella Dodd added that the changes that they would manage to bring about in the Church would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Today, you can easily see that unrecognizable ‘Catholic’ Church ― the job is not yet complete, but it well underway. The rite of ordination to the priesthood and rite of consecration of bishops have both been changed. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been changed. The strict laws of fasting and abstinence have been changed and made to be almost non-existent. The Sacraments have been changed in one way or another―whereby the multiple exorcisms have been removed from Baptism and the use of olive-oil in the consecration of the Holy Oils is no longer necessary, for now any plant oil suffices (which raises questions about validity). Matrimony has weakened by less strict rules regarding marrying someone outside the Catholic Faith. The Sacraments of Confirmation and Extreme Unction have a shadow of doubt cast upon them by the use of the new ruling allowing any kind of plant oil as the matter to be used in consecrating the Holy Oils.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Supports Bella Dodd
Coming back to Bella Dodd’s statement ― “You will not recognize the Catholic Church” ― we can cross-reference that or verify that by the visions God Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich concerning a “strange … new … church … that was being built” by the enemies of the Church. Emmerich states: “I saw the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it ... I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work ... They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy, with one shepherd and one flock. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that they had set fire to the old one … They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it ... In the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of Our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion …
“The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! … Pastors allow themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived ... They all work for destruction ― even the clergy. I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons] ... Very bad times will come when non-Catholics will lead many people astray ... A great devastation is now near at hand! … The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … A great confusion will result ... It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … A false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
Pope Benedict XVI Supports Emmerich & Dodd
The Church “stands in particularly pressing need of convincing shepherds who can resist the dictatorship of the spirit of the age and who live and think the Faith with determination,” Pope Benedict said in July 2017. Already back in 1969, while he was still Father Joseph Ratzinger (later to become Benedict XVI), he said:
“The future of the Church can and will issue from those persons whose roots are deep, and who live from the pure fullness of their Faith ... The future of the Church, once again as always, will be reshaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe deeper than the slogans of the day; who see more than others see, because their lives embrace a wider reality … It means that the big talk of those who prophesy a Church without God and without Faith, is all empty chatter. We have no need of a Church that celebrates the cult of action in political prayers. It is utterly superfluous. Therefore, it will destroy itself ... From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge ― a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh ― more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices [buildings] that she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she loose many of her social privileges. As a small society, she will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members ... The Church will be a more spiritual Church. It will be hard-going for the Church. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous … One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution … But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty ... And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984 by Jesus magazine, a publication of the Pauline Sisters. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), published to millions in Italy, Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the REAL Third Secret and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.” Cardinal Ratzinger said that the Third Secret had been suppressed since 1960 “to avoid confusing religious prophecy with sensationalism.” He also said, “But the things contained in this Third Secret correspond to what is announced in Scripture and are confirmed by many other Marian apparitions....” Howard Dee, former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine: “Bishop Ito [the local bishop, now deceased] was certain Akita was an extension of Fatima, and Cardinal Ratzinger personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same.”
Both Fatima and Akita speak of annihilation of nations and widespread destruction and infiltration of the Church. “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God” (Our Lady of Akita). Whereas the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly contains the revelation that the apostasy in the Church will begin at the very top. Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Other Churchmen Support Pope Benedict, Emmerich & Dodd
Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Fr. J. Schweigl, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigl to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima from 1965 to 1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Echoes the Above
The universally designated “Age of Mary,” which had been anticipated by the historic Marian apparitions at Guadalupe some three centuries earlier is generally accepted to have begun in 1830 with the ecclesiastically approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré in what has been named the “Miraculous Medal” apparitions. From these 19th-century apparitions until our present time, Marian apparitions have been reported and approved by the Church on every continent. The Marian message to the modern world begins in seed form in the revelations of Our Lady of Grace at Rue du Bac, and then expands in specificity and concretization throughout the twentieth century and on into our own time. In 1830, at the convent of the Sisters of Charity, on Rue du Bac in Paris, Our Lady said: “Times are evil in France and in the world ... Sorrows will come … The whole world will be in sadness. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery … The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground. They will open up again the side of Our Lord. Blood will flow! … The streets will run with blood ... Come to the foot of the altar [the Virgin indicates a specific spot]. There graces will be shed upon all, great and small, who ask for them. Graces will be especially shed upon those who ask for them … The moment will come when the danger will be enormous; it will seem that all is lost; at that moment, I will be with you; have confidence. You will recognize my coming; you will see the protection of God … Have confidence. Do not be discouraged. I shall be with you! … My eyes are always watching you, I shall grant you many graces. Special graces will be given to all who ask for them, but people must pray … Many people fail to receive graces because they neglect to ask for them … Have a medal struck after this model [Catherine was shown a vision of the Miraculous Medal]. All who wear it will receive great graces; it should be worn around the neck. Great graces will be given to those who wear it with confidence.”
Sister Catherine's confessor, Father Aladel, placed very little credence in her visions. As a consequence, Our Lady complained that the medal had not been made. “But my dear Mother,” Sister Catherine said, “I have told Father Aladel and he hasn't done anything about it!”
“A day will come,” replied Our Lady, “when Father Aladel will do what I wish. He is my servant and would fear to displease me.”
The message jolted Father Aladel and he laid the matter before the Archbishop of Paris, who ordered the medal struck immediately and ordered the first quantity for himself.
Our Lady had opened the great drama. This was her first official herald, the Heaven-sent insignia of the modern Age of Mary. It was to be called the “Medal of the Immaculate Conception,” the prayer inscribed on it honored Our Lady’s unique privilege: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!” It would prepare the world for the great declaration of a quarter of a century later, when Pius IX would declare the great dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an article of Faith, an essential element of Catholic belief.
Not long after, in 1832 during the great cholera pandemic struck France―although it also affected other parts of Europe, as well as from Asia to the Americas. However, the cholera had particularly dramatic effects in France. In just a few months, the disease killed more than 20,000 Parisians (out of a population of 780,000 ― 1 out 39 persons died of cholera) and over 100,000 people in the country as a whole (out of a population of 33 million ― 1 in 330 died of cholera). The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal of the Immaculate Conception with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence, especially if it were worn around the neck. After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures and conversions were brought about through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the excitement; it became known simply as “The Miraculous Medal.” The medals of the Immaculate Conception streamed from the presses by the millions. They overflowed France into the world beyond.
The Miracles of the Miraculous Medal
There is no other Sacramental medal that has produced as many miracles as the Miraculous Medal. As they say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t try fix it!” If the Miraculous Medal has produced so many miracles in the past, then it will produce many miracles in the future ― and the Lord knows we are going to need many miracles on the current ominous path that we have allowed ourselves to be led down!! That was the whole point of Our Lady introducing the Miraculous Medal ― like a Heaven-sent, spiritual medicine, a miraculous ‘vaccine’ ― back in 1830. It has had plenty of ‘clinical’ trials and has been thoroughly tested on millions of ‘patients’ over the last 180 years, with no known or visible side-effects! Put simply ― IT WORKS!
Yet, as Our Lady said, how well it works depends upon how well we use it ― which is true of all Sacramentals ― for it depends upon our dispositions, or, as the Church says, Sacramentals only work “ex opere operato”, meaning that the more Faith, Hope and Charity we have, that is to say, the more belief we have in them, the more confidence we have in them, and the more fervor we exhibit in using them ― then the more their power will shine through and work for us. That is why Our Lady speaks of wearing the Medal with “confidence.”
The many, multitudinous miracles speak for themselves. If miracles fail, it is because we have failed in manifesting sufficient belief, confidence and fervor ― perhaps we expect “automatic miracles” as though the Miraculous Medal was some kind of glorified good luck charm! In this heretical and neo-pagan age of “Trust the Science”, most Catholics find it harder and harder to “Trust in God” and trust that the miracles of God can happen. Already back in the Middle-Ages, one of Our Lord’s mystics asked Him why there were no longer such striking miracles as we read about in the Old Testament and New Testament. Our Lord simply said: “Because you no longer have that same Faith and confidence!” You could just as well say: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly ― and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). As Our Lord said elsewhere: the following words of Our Lord are particularly applicable: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “According to your Faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29) … “Great is thy Faith―be it done to thee as thou wilt!” (Matthew 15:28) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!” (Matthew 8:13).
Let us then look at some of those “many, multitudinous Miraculous Medal miracles” of the past, so as to enkindle in our souls the necessary Faith, Hope and Charity, or belief, confidence and fervor needed to continue those miracles in the present day. Many of the miracles were cures from disease ― something that should be high on our “wish list” in view of the clearly genocidal maneuvers being made by the laboratory manufactured “clot-shots”, “genocidal-jabs”, “noxious needles” and “infernal injections” that are being forced upon humanity today ― resulting in an explosion of toxic, noxious, lethal side effects that are either severely disabling or killing the clueless recipients. We are going to need all the heavenly help we can get ― and Heaven has proved its reliability in the past, as we will now see.
The Miraculous Medal Arrives with Cholera Pandemic
The first two-thousand medals were delivered on June 30th, 1832. The spread of the Medal was almost like a miracle in itself. The cholera epidemic of the same year, 1832, was seeing Parisian death rates of 1 in 39 people―which probably and understandably increased the demand for the Medal. The first supply disappeared very fast. Pope Gregory XVI put one of them at the foot of the crucifix on his desk. The Redemptorist Founder of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in America, Fr. Gillet, had the design of the Medal placed on his ordination card in 1836. The stories of the cures and wonders of the Medal helped to spread its use far and wide. By 1836 the firm of Vachette had sold several million Medals. Eleven other engravers in Paris had done the same. And four engravers in Lyons were hard pressed to meet the demands for the Medal.
It was around this time that Europe was being hit by the Second Cholera Pandemic. The First Cholera Pandemic emerged out of India, in 1817. By 1820, cholera had spread to Thailand, Indonesia (killing 100,000 people on the island of Java alone) and the Philippines. From Thailand and Indonesia, the disease made its way to China in 1820 and Japan in 1822. It also spread beyond Asia. In 1821, British troops traveling from India to Oman brought cholera to the Persian Gulf. The disease eventually made its way to European territory, reaching modern-day Turkey, Syria and Southern Russia. The pandemic died out 6 years after it began, likely thanks to a severe winter in 1823–1824.
The Second Cholera Pandemic began again in India, around 1829, and spread along trade and military routes to Eastern and Central Asia and the Middle East. By late 1830, the cholera had made it to Moscow. The spread of the disease temporarily slowed during the winter, but picked up again in spring of 1831, reaching Finland and Poland. It then passed into Hungary and Germany. The disease then spread throughout Europe, reaching the north of England in late 1831 and London in spring of 1832. France was also infected by 1832 (the year the Miraculous Medal was first manufactured). In 1832, cholera had also made it to the Americas. Over the next couple of years, it would spread across America, reaching the Pacific West Coast by 1834. It reached Latin America, including Mexico and Cuba, in 1833. The public became gripped with widespread fear of the disease. Countries enacted several actions to help curb the spread of the disease, including implementing quarantines.
However, the cholera had particularly dramatic effects in France. In just a few months, the disease killed more than 20,000 Parisians (out of a population of 650,000 ― 1 out 32 persons died of cholera) and over 100,000 people in the country as a whole (out of a population of 33 million ― 1 in 330 died of cholera). The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal of the Immaculate Conception with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence, especially if it were worn around the neck. After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures and conversions were brought about through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the excitement; it became known simply as “The Miraculous Medal.” The medals of the Immaculate Conception streamed from the presses by the millions. They overflowed France into the world beyond.
The Miraculous Medal Miracles of the Past
We will follow a chronological order in relating the accounts of some the multitudinous miracles ― both physical and spiritual ― that took place from 1832 onwards.
THE WIDOW’S MIRACLE
Saint-Maur, France, 1834
Father Bégin, an eyewitness to this cure that took place in Saint-Maur where he was chaplain, wrote a report in which he attested to the following facts:
● that the sick person was gravely ill;
● that she was cured on March 14th, 1834; and
● that she declared that she only used the Medal and prayer.
One hundred witnesses from the nursing home signed this document. The Bishop of Châlons also added his signature to the document: “We certify that the testimony of Father Bégin should be taken as wholly trustworthy, as well as that of the nuns and so many others, who were eye -witnesses and spoke according to their consciences, without any other interest except that of stating the truth. Châlons, May 30th, 1834 + M.S.F.V., Bishop of Châlons.”
In 1834, only two years after the first copies of the Miraculous Medal were made and distributed in Paris, news of the Medal had traveled throughout France. One person who heard about it was Mrs. C.H., a 70-year-old impoverished widow, who had entered the nursing home of Saint-Maur, after a terrible fall on August 7th, 1833. She had to drag her left leg and had great difficulty walking―she needed the assistance of another person’s arm or crutches to walk. Furthermore, she also found it hard to sit and only with great difficulty was she able to rise and get back up again. It was almost impossible for her to climb stairs, as she had to hold on to whatever she could to do so. She could not bend down or kneel, and had to drag her left leg, as that was where the problem lay.
At the beginning of January, 1834, she was told of a Medal that was reported to be miraculous. Described as having, on one side, Mary crushing the infernal serpent and on the reverse of the Medal were depicted the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the letter “M” with a cross on top, she also heard of marvelous things that had happened to those who wore it with confidence. When she heard about the Medal, in January 1834, she requested one and was filled with hope.
From that moment she felt her heart enkindled with the consoling hope of finding some relief that the wearing of this Medal promised to her, and she could not wait for the moment she would receive one. Finally, on March 6th, she received the much longed-for Medal as a gift from Heaven.
As soon as she received it, in March of that year, she went to Confession in order to dispose herself to receive the favor she desired. The next day ― which was the first Friday of the month ― she received the Holy Eucharist and began praying a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She also venerated the Medal, which she wore around her neck, 20 times a day. In a short while, she obtained a happy answer to her requests. After only seven days of the novena, she was suddenly freed from the painful torments she had suffered so cruelly for seven months. Everyone at the nursing home was shocked on the morning of March 14th upon seeing this woman walk about without assistance when the previous evening she had been crippled. After having received the miraculous cure, she was able to bend down, kneel, go up and down stairs.
Everyone cried out: “Miracle!” and was greatly edified by such a prodigious cure. They congratulated her on such a great grace from God and Mary Most Holy. The Mother Superior of the nursing home, who had taken care of her innumerable times since she had been taken ill and daily witnessed her sufferings, wanted a Te Deum―the Church’s traditional hymn of thanksgiving―to be sung by the whole community in the nursing home chapel to celebrate solemnly this extraordinary grace. The sick lady remained cured and no longer felt the effects of her former infirmity.
SAVED FROM DEATH, CURED FROM PNEUMONIA AND CONVERTED FROM SIN
Italy, 1836
By 1836, news of the Medal had spread throughout Europe. In January of that year, a priest in Italy secretly slipped a Medal into the pillow of a 27-year-old man who had become indifferent about his Faith. Even though he was dying from pneumonia, he didn’t want to turn from sin and return to his Faith and family.
Since the priest and a chaplain had failed to convince him to do so, the priest hoped to return after giving the young man time to reflect on what they had said.
Before the priest returned, the young man reconciled with his mother and asked her to call the priest, because he wanted to reject the sins of his past and return to his Faith.
When the priest showed him the Medal and gave it to him, the young man began devoutly kissing the Medal. With remorse, he confessed his sins and received absolution, and he also received the Last Rites.
But to everyone’s astonishment, he began feeling better and made a full recovery within a few days. He kept the Medal and frequently kissed it with great devotion and gratitude to God and Blessed Mother.
Testimony of the parish priest of Bologna on February 8th, 1836.
“There was a young man in my parish, 27 years of age, who lived a dissolute life. In order to have fewer impediments to his excesses, he had left the family home. Sometime later he became gravely ill with pneumonia. Dr. Giovanni Pulioli, a distinguished doctor, treated him; but the illness was stronger than the medicine of the day.
“The youth was left in a lamentable state, unable to move. By then he was living scandalously with a woman and had declared, from the beginning of the illness, that he would not consent to a priest being called.
“My chaplain went to visit him and exhorted him to put an end to the scandal through marriage; but he failed to convince the young man. I went there and spoke with him about legitimizing the union, rather than breaking it up; but I found him to be in a state of complete religious indifferentism.
“Despite my every effort to persuade him, I also failed. I then thought it better to allow him to reflect a little while and to return another day to find out his decision. In the meantime, I asked him to have recourse to the Most Holy Virgin, refuge of sinners; and, without telling him, I placed a Miraculous Medal in his pillow and departed.
“I did not need to return to the house of my own accord; the sick youth himself called me through his mother with whom he had already reconciled himself. He told me that he had reasons, which were justified, for not speaking personally with the woman with whom he had been living, and requested I ask her to leave. The unfortunate woman condescended and left.
“Once I had accomplished this, I told the sick youth how happy I was. When I presented the Medal to him, he began to kiss it with feelings of sincere gratitude, even though the state of his health was extremely grave. He then showed signs of sincere repentance and confessed his sins, received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, because we expected him to die at any moment. This took place on January 19th, 1836.
“The young man felt the greatest tranquility, which he attributed to the Most Holy Virgin. From then on he started to feel better and had totally recuperated within a few days. He still perseveres in his good resolutions and is full of love for his Heavenly benefactress whose Medal he keeps as something precious, frequently kissing it with great devotion.
“I myself witnessed this fact and I write not only with the young man’s approval, but at his request, so that it may serve for the greater glory of God that, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, this miracle took place. To this written testimony I have appended the medical report proving the sickness and the cure.”
BLINDNESS CURED
Belgium, 1836
On November 9th, 1835, Rosalie Ducas from Jauchelette, near Jodoigne, suddenly lost her sight. She was only four and a half years old, in perfect health with no signs of illness. Any light or breeze disturbed her to the point of having to cover her face with a cloth folded in four. The pains the child suffered day and night caused everyone much grief.
At this point, Realizing that the child needed help from above, the parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine gave the girl’s mother a Miraculous Medal. The mother took it and started a novena. She put another Medal around the girl’s neck on June 11th, 1836 at about 6:00 p.m. By midnight the girl had stopped complaining of pain. Then, on the fourth or fifth day of the novena, Rosalie opened her eyes. The parents felt so hopeful that they prayed even more to the Most Holy Virgin. On the ninth day in the afternoon, the girl regained her sight completely to the great surprise of the neighbors and all those who witnessed the event.
The parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine, who had given the Medal to the family, went to see the girl who lived only a mile and a half away, and testified that she had recovered her sight completely. No pain whatsoever was left. These facts are known by everyone and attest to the honor we owe to the Virgin Mary.
MIRACLE OF THE MIND, MENTAL CONFUSION REMOVED
Ho-Nan, China, 1837
By the end of 1837, people throughout the world had learned about the Miraculous Medal. And around that time, a woman in China received a miracle. She was given the Medal by Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, a holy priest who was on mission in Ho-Nan.
The saint ― who was later imprisoned, tortured for about a year and martyred in 1840 because of his Catholic Faith ― was told about the woman by other Catholics living in Ho-Nan. They told the priest that she desperately wanted him to hear her confession, even though she had been mentally disturbed for about eight months. Although it was almost impossible for her to make a coherent confession, he compassionately agreed to hear her. Although she didn’t know what it was, the saint gave her the Miraculous Medal, so that she could be under the protection of Blessed Mother. Only four or five days later, he was amazed at the healing that had taken place. Her mental suffering and anguish had been replaced by peace, common sense and joy.
Father Perboyre himself tells the story on August 10th, 1839.
It is interesting to mention that this missionary was taken prisoner one month later out of hatred for religion. He confessed the Faith generously for a whole year amidst horrible tortures and then had the joy of receiving the martyr’s palm on September 11th, 1840.
“While I was on mission in the Catholic community of Ho-Nan in November 1837, the Catholics there presented a woman to me who had been suffering from mental confusion for eight months. They added that she ardently desired to make her confession to me, even though she was incapable of doing so, and implored me not to deny her this consolation that she had so much at heart.
“Her unfortunate state really made the exercise of my ministry appear futile. But I heard her confession out of compassion and as she departed I gave her a Miraculous Medal so she would be under the protection of the Virgin. She did not understand the value of this holy remedy, but she soon recognized its virtue as she started to get better.
“Her progress was such that she was another person after four or five days. Her mental confusion, her worries that had caused her mortal anguish—in which I had noticed a diabolical influence—gave way to common sense, tranquility and happiness.”
LIBERATION OF BOY POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL
Macau, China, 1841
Letter from a missionary in Macau dated August 25th, 1841.
“A widow, who had been brought up as a pagan, had only one son. One day she saw him come under the power of the devil―in other words, possessed by the devil. Everyone fled from him as he wandered through the fields making fearful cries. If someone dared to grab him, the boy would immediately throw the person to the ground.
“The poor mother was full of pain and sorrow, but Divine Providence had pity on this unfortunate family. One day the boy was more tormented than ever, not knowing where he went and brutally repelling all who drew near. In his wanderings he came upon a Catholic, who, animated by a lively Faith and seeing that the devil tyrannically mistreated the unfortunate boy, told those who were close by to leave. He said that only he was able to calm him down, hold him and return him to his mother. This manner of speaking surprised the pagans. They warned him of the danger, but let him get on with it.
“This Catholic carried a Miraculous Medal and took it into his hand. Drawing near to the possessed boy, he showed it to him, ordering the devil to leave him alone and depart, which happened immediately. The boy, seeing the Catholic with the Medal, threw himself to the ground before this image without knowing what it was. The pagans, who had watched him from afar, were astounded.
“The Catholic then said to him that he should rise and follow him. In this manner he brought him to his mother’s house. As soon as the boy saw her he said: ‘Do not cry! I am free! The devil left me as soon as he saw this Medal!’
“Imagine the joy of the mother upon hearing these words. She did not know whether or not she was dreaming. The Catholic certified the truth of what the boy was saying and told her what had happened. He added that her son would be free forever as long as he renounced the idols and became a Catholic. The boy sincerely promised to do so and both of them began removing the false gods from a sort of altar where they were kept.”
CURE OF A LITTLE GIRL (PARIS)—1843
This account was published in the month of January, 1877, by the very person who was cured
“About the 15th of December, 1843, a little girl, Zénobie de M., just one year old, was attacked, at one and the same time, by water on the lungs, a disease of the bowels, and cerebral congestion. Dr. Flandrin, a friend of the family was called in immediately, and gave the child every attention, but his skill was powerless, and the family was plunged in the deepest grief.
“The child’s eldest sister alone cherished a faint hope in the depths of her heart; she had intended consecrating herself to God in a religious state, and had always regarded the birth of this little one as a gift of Providence, sent to take her place in the family, and console her afflicted parents. God will not, she thought, take back the child.
“In her room was a picture representing the apparition of the Miraculous Medal. She knelt before it, begging the child’s recovery, and renewing her promises of embracing a religious life―should the petition be granted. This generous offering she kept a secret.
“A little while after, the doctor came and declared the child’s case hopeless, and moreover, its recovery not desirable as it would remain imbecile, paralyzed or blind. He proposed, however, a consultation with Dr. Blache, physician of the Necker hospital, who prescribed energetic treatment, but said, ‘this child cannot live.’
“The poor mother, deeming it inadvisable to cause the little creature unnecessary suffering, gently laid it in the cradle, saying with the Faith and resignation, seen in none but a Christian mother: ‘The Lord gave her to me, the Lord wishes to take her away! May His holy will be accomplished!’
“In the afternoon, one of the aunts came to accompany the elder sister to church, and whilst their prayers ascended to the Most High, more for the mother than the child, this mother obeyed spontaneously a supernatural impulse, and, taking the Miraculous Medal as a last hope, she applied it to the body of the child, and repeated with confidence the invocation: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!’
The plaintive cries ceased, and when Dr. Flandrin came that evening, to see if the little one were still alive, he was greatly surprised to perceive a faint improvement since that morning―with the whole body covered with a gentle perspiration, and the little paralyzed arm able to move in any direction. ‘But what a pity,’ said he, ‘the child will be blind,’ which indeed it seemed to be already, as a light passed several times before its eyes produced no effect whatever.
“The mother who had not yet mentioned her secret, waited until all had left the room, then taking her dear Medal, she lay it upon her infant’s eyes and repeated the invocation. After a sound sleep of about twenty-four hours, little Zénobie awoke, recognizing all around her, and smiling upon all, her sight was restored!
“The child’s father, penetrated with Faith and piety, said: ‘Most certainly God alone has restored our child to us! Henceforth, she shall be called Marie, so that she may always bear in mind to whom she is indebted for life.’
“An attack of measles now supervened and finished the work, according to the doctor, by absorbing the water on the brain, and throwing out upon the surface of the skin the heretofore internal malady. A small gold cross, having engraven upon it the memorable date of this miraculous cure, was hung around the neck of little Marie, who is now a Daughter of St. Vincent de Paul.”
CONVERSION OF A CAPTAIN IN THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.
Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1860
“After the war in Italy, a Polish regiment passed through Gratz. The captain, attacked by a violent hemorrhage, was obliged to stop at the general hospital, in charge of the Daughters of Charity. Their constant and unremitting attentions did not retard the progress of the disease, and his life was in imminent danger.
“Full of consideration, gratitude and politeness for those who nursed him, he nevertheless expressed great displeasure whenever they approached him on the subject of religion; he had requested to be spared the visits of the chaplain of the regiment, and as to the hospital chaplain, he dared not present himself. It was necessary to keep the patient very quiet, and avoid all worry, for the least excitement might cause a mortal hemorrhage.
“A Sister, who had been watching by his couch one night, left, in mistake, a little book containing an account of favors obtained through the Blessed Virgin’s intercession. The sick man took the book and read a few pages. When another Sister came into his room, he showed her a passage, and said, putting his hand to his forehead with a significant gesture: ‘Here, Sister, just read this nonsense! As for myself, I cannot understand how anyone can write such books—if I may dare, let me beg you to take this away!’
“Vain was every effort to reach his heart by pleasant distractions, by engaging his attention or his interest; he was insensible to all.
“A few days after the occurrence just mentioned, a Sister ventured to offer him a Medal of the Blessed Virgin suspended on a cord, so that he might wear it around his neck if he wished. He was too polite to refuse the present, but he let it remain just where the Sister had put it.
“His servant, though a devout Christian, dared not speak to him of receiving the Sacraments, and, although the patient expected to leave the hospital soon, it was very evident to all else that the fever was daily sapping his strength and rapidly conducting him to the tomb.
“Much grieved at his condition, and especially his impenitence, the Sisters determined to make one last effort to save this soul. And what was it? They wrote the Blessed Virgin a note, as follows: ‘Grant that, by some means, most holy Mother, he may accept your Medal, prepare him yourself to receive the Sacraments, and assist him at the hour of death. O Mary! conceived without sin, pardon our temerity, we attach this note to your statue, and leave it there till you deign to hear our prayers.’
“The chief physician of the hospital said, one day, to the Sister on leaving this patient’s room: ‘The captain will die without the Sacraments―he seems inflexible!’
“‘Oh! As to that,’ she replied, ‘the Blessed Virgin will not fail to overcome his obstinacy!’
“Three or four days elapsed. One morning, the sick man requested the Sister to put the Medal around his neck, which she did most joyfully. In the afternoon, he called her again: “Sister,” he said: “I beg you to send for the chaplain of my regiment to hear my confession, so that tomorrow I may receive the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction.”
“The priest was happy to answer the summons. He remained a long time with the sick man, and, next morning, after celebrating Mass at the altar of the Immaculate Conception, he administered to him the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
“We were all edified at the dying man’s piety. He cherished his Medal with religious fidelity, often asking for it and kissing it tenderly. A few days after receiving the Last Sacraments, he rendered his soul to God, saved, as we have every reason to hope, by the intercession of Mary conceived without sin.”
CONVERSION OF A HARDENED SINNER
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity at Issoudun, 1862
“In the month of August, 1862, a young man aged twenty-nine, and who had been married several years, was dying of consumption. Vainly did his friends endeavor to turn his thoughts to eternity. Every idea of religion seemed extinguished in his heart, and he positively refused to see the priest.
“An acquaintance informed the Sisters of his deplorable state; one of them went immediately to see him. She was met with a cool reception, but was not the least disconcerted, and spoke to him very kindly, proposing to send him a physician, and adding, that she would supply all necessary medicines and nourishment.
“‘I need neither doctors nor medicines!’ was the reply, ‘I am going to die, and I ask only that you will let me die in peace!’
“His poor wife, who was present, holding their little child in her arms, said to him with tears: ‘Accept Sister’s offer, and perhaps you will recover!’― but he made no answer.
“The Sister, then turning to his wife, endeavored to console her, by promising to send the doctor and return soon herself. The doctor came and met with no better reception.
“In a few days the Sister presented herself again, and was received as before, all her advances eliciting no response save a frigid silence; but naught discouraged, she returned day after day, though her reception was always the same.
“As the young man grew worse, the Sister’s prayers increased, and she felt inspired to offer him a Medal of the Immaculate Conception, still hoping that the good God would lead back to the fold, this poor strayed sheep. ‘I accept a Medal!’ he exclaimed angrily, ‘And what do you wish me to do with it? It would suit my wife or child well enough, but as for myself, I want no Medals!’
“The Sister withdrew from the contest for the time, but not discouraged, she returned to the charge next morning. ‘Ah,’ said she pleasantly, ‘are you going to take the Medal today?’
“‘You know what I told you yesterday!’ he answered, ‘Besides, Sister, I am afraid of becoming imbued with your sentiments should I accept it, for I perceive that you are much more unhappy than I care to be.’
“A ray of happiness illumined the Sister’s countenance, for she knew that he who fears is already conquered. After plying her with questions about religion, he concluded thus: ‘After all, death will be a great relief to me! I have twice made an unsuccessful attempt at committing suicide! I suffer so much that I desire nothing but to die as soon possible!’
“Next day, the Sister asked her Superioress to visit him and offer him the Medal. She did so, and he not only accepted it, but at last consented to see the priest. When our Sister next saw him he was completely changed, and expressed his joy at the priest’s visit, and his desire of seeing him soon again.
“‘Sister,’ said he, ‘I am too miserable! I wish to be like you!’
“The priest did not delay his second coming, and the poor, suffering creature, having made his confession, asked for Holy Communion, which he had not received for many years, but this favor was denied him, his throat being so inflamed that he could swallow only a few drops of liquid. His last days were sanctified by the most admirable resignation; no one ever heard him utter a complaint, he asked for one thing only, the visits of the priest and Sister, which alone seemed to afford him any consolation. And on the Feast of All Saints, evincing every mark of a sincere conversion, he breathed his last.”
CONVERSION OF AN EVILDOER
A Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen, in Prussian Poland, 1865
“There was brought to our hospital, a young man of notoriously bad character. He entered our doors blaspheming, and as the physician had told the Sister that he had but a few days to live, she essayed a few words of piety and consolation, to turn his attention to the state of his soul; but he answered her by maledictions.
“At last, one day she said to him: ‘My friend, since you will not listen to me, I will ask my Superioress herself to come!’
“‘Let her come,’ was his reply, ‘if she were to tell me to hang myself, I would obey her, but as for confession, she may talk about that as much as she pleases, I shall never yield!’
“These words were followed by so many blasphemies, that it was with a very heavy heart the poor Sister sought her Superioress.
“‘Have you given him a Medal?’ said the latter.
“‘A Medal?’ was the reply, ‘He would throw it away!’
“‘Ah, well, we must put one under his pillow and trust to prayer, for it is useless to talk to him; tell him only that I say he is not worthy of going to confession, and I forbid his doing so.’
“As soon as the Sister, who was nursing him, left the presence of her Superioress, the latter threw herself upon her knees and began to repeat that beautiful prayer―the Memorare (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to they protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession and was left forsaken … etc.).
“In only a few minutes the Sister returned, this time shedding tears of joy. ‘Ah, Sister!’ she cried, ‘He wishes to confess! As soon as I had put the Medal under his pillow and recited the “Memorare” prayer for him, I delivered your message!’
“‘Indeed!’ said he, rising from his seat, ‘Well, I would just like to see the person that could prevent it! Tell your Superioress that tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, I am going to pay the priest a visit!’
“The Sisters felt a little troubled concerning a confession apparently dictated by the spirit of contradiction―but their fears were dissipated when the penitent returned bathed in tears. He had just been to Holy Communion―and, asking the Sisters’ pardon for his past misconduct, he begged them to implore the Blessed Virgin to let him live eight days longer, that he might weep for his sins. This favor was granted him, and daily did he soak his pillow with tears. At the end of the eight days he died, blessing God, and pressing the Medal to his lips.”
CONVERSION OF AN ACTRESS
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen in Prussian Poland, 1865
“Some years ago, a young Protestant woman, belonging to a troupe of comedians, arrived in Beuthen with her company. The good God permitted that she should find lodgings in a Catholic family, with whom she soon entered into controversial arguments.
“‘Mademoiselle,’ said the master of the house, ‘it would be better for you to go see the Sisters about these things! The Blessed Virgin has brought about wonders in their establishments, I am sure you would return fully enlightened on the subject you have been discussing!’
The young girl laughed at such a proposition; but a few days after, impelled by curiosity, she went to the hospital and asked for the Sister-Servant.
“‘Invite her in!’ said the latter, who had already heard of the young actress, ‘No doubt, the Blessed Virgin has something in store for her here!’
“After a few formalities of etiquette, our visitor introduced the subject of religion, and attempted to enter into a controversy with the Sister. ‘Alas! Mademoiselle,’ replied the latter, ‘the poor Daughters of Charity have neither the time nor learning necessary for a discussion of these subtle questions, but they have other arms with which to vanquish you!’― and, smiling, she presented her disputant a little Medal of the Blessed Virgin. ‘Promise me to wear this slight souvenir, it will be a constant reminder that we are praying for you!’
“She allowed the Sister to put the Medal on her neck, and retired rather pleased with her visit.
“From this day, the Sisters at the hospital began to recommend the young actress to Mary, conceived without sin.
“Not many weeks after, the priest said to the Sister-Servant: ‘Do you know, Sister, that Mademoiselle M., who spent the most of her time walking with gentlemen and smoking cigars, now comes to me for religious instruction? In a little while she will make her abjuration of heresy.’
“And, indeed, it was not very long before she repaired to the hospital. “Sister,” said she to the Sister-Servant: “I am going to confession today, and tomorrow I make my First Communion. On my first visit here, I was enraged at you. I could have fought you, and cast to the winds this Medal that I now kiss. From the very moment you put it on my neck, an unaccountable change was brought about in me.”
“Next day, the church was filled with Protestants and Jews, all anxious to witness a ceremony which had excited so much comment. After her reception into the Church, the young convert, on the eve of her departure, paid another visit to the Sister Servant, and the latter saw by her very countenance what great changes grace had wrought in this soul.
“‘Well,’ said the Sister, just to try her, ‘here is a silver Medal to replace yours―which has become very black!’
“‘Oh, no!’ was the earnest, prompt reply, as she tenderly pressed her own Medal, ‘I would not exchange this for any other in the world, for it is since I began to wear it my soul has awaked to a new life!’
“Some years later, the Sister received a letter dated from Rome, it was from the young convert, who wrote to her as follows: ‘Sister, God’s Providence has led me to Rome, and it is no longer Mlle. M. you must address, but Sister St.—— of the B. convent. Your desires are accomplished; I now belong entirely to God, as I once did to the world; the Blessed Virgin vanquishes souls with other arms than those of controversy.’
“We must add, to the praise of the young actress, that her moral character was always irreproachable.”
The Superioress of the hospital at Beuthen, in narrating these facts, adds: “I could mention, for the greater glory of God and honor of the Immaculate Mary, numberless incidents of this kind―but lack of time and my weak eyes prevent my giving the details. I will say, however, and that without the slightest exaggeration, that not a week passes without the Blessed Virgin bestowing upon our patients at the hospital some new proof of her maternal kindness. The Medal, so dear to us, is really miraculous, and the instrument by which we snatch from destruction souls that have cost Our Lord so much! Ah! How numberless, in this unhappy land, the snares of the enemy of our salvation to entrap souls; but to vanquish him, I everywhere circulate the Miraculous Medal, and my confidence in Mary is never deceived!”
A DYING SOLDIER AND THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
In the hospital of the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans, a nun tried to instruct a Protestant in the truths of the Faith and to dispose him to receive Baptism. However, he did not want to speak about the subject.
One day she showed him a Miraculous Medal and explained its origin to him. He seemed to pay attention, but when she offered it to him, he became annoyed and snapped angrily: “Take that away, this Virgin is just an ordinary woman.” “I will leave it on the table,” the nun replied: “I am certain that you will think about what I said.” He did not answer her, but, in order not to see the Medal, he placed his bible on top of it.
Every day the nun, with the pretext of cleaning the table, made sure the Medal was still there. Days passed and the sickness became increasingly worse.
One night when he was suffering acutely, he saw a marvelous light around his bed, while the rest of the room was in total darkness. Surprised, he struggled to get up in spite of his frailty and turned up the flame in the gas lamp to see if he could discover what this strange light was. He could find nothing and returned to his bed.
Moments later he noticed that the light came from the Medal. He then took it into his hands and kept it there the rest of the night. As soon as the nun’s rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the nurse and asked him to tell the nun that he wanted to be baptized.
They advised the chaplain immediately who exclaimed: “That is impossible!” He had spoken with the sick man many times and knew how he felt about the matter.
Nonetheless, he went to him and found him perfectly disposed and receptive to him. He baptized him and gave him the sacraments, and a little while later the sick man died, praising God and the Holy Virgin for the graces he had received.
CONVERSION OF A PROMINENT FREEMASON
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
Among the patients at the great Charity hospital, New Orleans, was a very prominent Freemason. His hatred of religion was displayed in a thousand ways―not only did he forbid the Sister, who nursed, him any allusion to his salvation, but he even habitually repaid, by harsh and injurious words, her kindness and attention to his physical sufferings.
If others ventured to mention the subject of religion to him, they were received with jeers and mockery. Several times he was at the point of death, and yet, sad to say, his dispositions remained the same.
At last, when the Sister saw that he had but a few hours to live, she stealthily slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and said interiorly to the Blessed Virgin: “My dear Mother, you know I have spared no effort to touch this poor man’s heart, but in vain; now I abandon him to you, it is you who must save him; I leave him entirely in your hands, and shall try to divest myself of all anxiety concerning him!”
That evening, in making her rounds, she glanced at him and learned from the infirmarian that ever since her (the Sister’s) last visit, he had been very calm and apparently absorbed in thought. On inquiring of the patient himself how he felt, she was astonished at his polite answer, but remembering that she had entrusted him entirely to the Blessed Virgin’s care, she did not venture a word about his soul, and bidding him good night, she left the room.
About 9:00 p.m., he called the infirmarian, and asked for a priest. Knowing his former bitterness, the infirmarian thought it a joke and treated it accordingly. The patient repeated his request―but with no better success. Then he began to weep and cry aloud for a priest. All the other patients were struck dumb with astonishment, and the infirmarian unable to resist such entreaties went for the chaplain and the Sister.
The dying man requested Baptism, which was administered immediately, as well as Extreme Unction, and, before morning, he had rendered his account to the Sovereign Judge. His body was interred with Masonic rites, but his soul, thanks to the powerful protection of Mary Immaculate, had been carried by angels to the bosom of its God.
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG METHODIST
St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 1865
A young man, a Methodist, arrived at the hospital in an extremely weak condition. The physician at once pronounced his case hopeless, and said he had but a few days to live. Consequently, the Sister’s first care was for his soul.
Questioning him, she soon learned that he believed neither in the efficacy, nor necessity of Baptism―and all her efforts to induce him to receive this Sacrament were unavailing. He had no desire for any conversation on the subject, and his invariable reply to all her arguments was: “I believe in Jesus―that suffices! I am sure of being saved!”
The Sister redoubled her prayers, for in them lay her only hope, and time was precious. A good priest visited him every day; once, after a much longer visit than usual, he told the Sister on leaving the room it was impossible to do anything with that man, unless God wrought a miracle in his favor, and they must entreat Him to do so.
The poor man persisted, indeed, in refusing all spiritual assistance, though receiving gratefully the attentions bestowed upon his body.
His strength diminished day by day, and he calmly awaited death; one thought alone disquieted him―that of never seeing his mother and dying afar from her. Perceiving himself on the brink of the grave, he called one of his companions, whom he begged to be with him at that fearful moment, and write the particulars of it to his mother.
Whilst he made this request, the Sister slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, confidently believing that Mary would not let this soul entrusted to her perish―even though he was already in his last agony.
Two Sisters watched and silently prayed beside his bed till midnight, when obliged to retire, they left him in charge of an infirmarian and the young man who had promised to be with him at the hour of death. Apparently he had not more than half an hour to live―so, next morning, when the infirmarian came to meet the Sister, she was prepared for news of the patient’s death, but to her astonishment the infirmarian exclaimed: “Come Sister, come see him, he is restored to life!”
He then told her that the patient, to all appearances, had been dead for about an hour; that the friend and himself had rendered all the last duties to the body, having washed and dressed and prepared it for the grave―then the young man went to bed, and he alone remained with the corpse.
After watching near it some time, he approached to bandage the jaws, but what was his fright whilst thus engaged, to see the dead man open his eyes! The Sister heard no more, but eagerly hastened to the spot, and found the man still breathing.
With a great effort he said: “Oh! What a blessing that you have come!”
In reply, she exhorted him to receive Baptism, and told him that he was indebted to the Blessed Virgin for this prolongation of his life.
“I wish to be baptized,” he said.
When the Sister replied that the priest would come, his pitiful answer was: “Oh! That will be too late!”
The other patients now joined their entreaties to his, and the Sister, after reciting aloud the acts of Faith, Hope, Charity and contrition, which the dying man endeavored to repeat, with hands clasped and eyes raised to Heaven, baptized him.
Whilst the regenerating waters flowed upon his soul, transports of love and thanksgiving escaped his lips. Half an hour later, he closed his eyes, never to open them here below.
All that the infirmarian related of his first death, was confirmed in the most positive manner, by the Protestant friend who had assisted in preparing him for the grave.
INCURABLE SCABS
New York, 1866
A girl, some twenty years old, came to the hospital covered with the most repugnant scabs which the doctors had said were incurable. The nun, who cared for her wounds, one day told her that the Most Holy Virgin had the power to cure her and that, if she wanted to wear the Medal and ask for a cure, she would obtain it.
Knowing the doctors had given up, she answered roughly: “I do not believe in your Holy Virgin, nor do I want a Medal.”
“Very well then,” the nun answered: “in that case, keep your wounds.”
Some days later, she asked for the Medal and placed it around her neck, and prepared to be baptized. Shortly thereafter she left the hospital in perfect health, to the great astonishment of the doctors, who had been unanimous in considering her sickness incurable.
The Miraculous Medal Miracles in Modern Times
ICE CREAM MIRACLE
United States, 1948
Despite the miracles associated with the Medal, many people don’t believe it can make such a difference. Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., was one of those people. Not long after he had been ordained, a Vincentian priest encouraged him and others to promote the Miraculous Medal―because Blessed Mother really does work miracles through it. Although Fr. Hardon ordered a free pamphlet on how to bless the Medals and enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal, he didn’t get one for himself.
But later, in 1948, when the United States priest encountered a ten-year-old boy who was in a coma after a sledding accident, he decided to see if it would help. A sister who worked at the hospital found one and a ribbon the priest could use to hang it around the boy’s neck. Even though the boy had been diagnosed with inoperable permanent brain damage, the priest read the prayer that enrolled the boy in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. As soon as he finished the prayer, the boy opened his eyes and asked his mother for ice cream. It was the first time he had spoken in nearly two weeks. New x-rays showed the brain damage had disappeared, and the boy was released from the hospital after about three days. Like the boy and his family, the priest’s life and his belief in the Medal were forever changed.
ELEVATOR MIRACLE
Czechoslovakia, 1950s
In the 1950s, in what was then the communist country of Czechoslovakia, a teenage boy received a Miraculous Medal from an underground seminarian. Even though religious beliefs were condemned by the government, the boy decided to wear his Medal around his neck when he worked, one summer, at a construction site. When his supervisor told him to take it off, he continued to wear it.
The next day, he fell into a hole that contained the engine – with moving wheels, gears and belts – of an unsophisticated elevator that allowed construction workers to transport materials to upper floors of the apartment building that was being built. His co-workers pulled him out and put him on the ground. But to their surprise, he was uninjured. He was able to get up and continue working. And he fervently believed that it was Blessed Mother’s protection, received through the Medal, that kept him safe from harm.
TRAGENDY PREVENTED
Australia
The Legion of Mary in Australia gives the following account of two Legion of Mary legionaries visiting a home:
Approaching the next home on our visitation we noticed that a chain was on the grill surrounding the front door area. As there was no padlock on the chain we were able to enter the porch and press the front doorbell. A woman answered the door and we started with our normal opening comments “Hi we are …. and …. from the Catholic Church and we are visiting on behalf of Father, who sends his regards to you.” The reply given was “I am sorry but I go to another Parish and don’t want to talk at the moment as I have just lost my job.” We said we were sorry to hear the news and that we would pray for her. She then accepted the Mass times and a prayer card along with a miraculous medal and the explanation leaflet on the medal. We did not press any further comment to her as she closed the door.
That evening I received a message on my answering machine to call this very lady. After a short prayer I cautiously returned her call. She had called the Parish Priest and he had listened to her story and gave her my phone number. She quietly related what was happening behind that door we knocked on for Jesus and Mary.
“Ten minutes before you arrived, I removed the padlock from the external grill surround, as it would be easier for people to find me. I had planned to go to the medicine cabinet and commit suicide. But your knock on the door interrupted me. When you left I read the pamphlet and held the Miraculous Medal in my hand and I want to say thank you for calling today.”
Wasn’t it wonderful that Jesus and Mary directed us, on their behalf, to that door at that time. A small prayer card and a miraculous medal can be very powerful. We never know what is happening to the people behind those closed doors when we simply give a smile, a hello and a gift from Jesus and Mary.
WITCH DRIVEN AWAY
England, 1982
The following account was given by a priest regarding his pre-seminary days.
In my home town the local newspaper printed a story about a witch wishing to purchase a local Protestant church. The newspaper reported that all the paper work had been completed and that the purchase by the witch was to be completed within the next few days. A friend of mine―who also became a priest―suggested that we cycle down to the church concerned and plant Miraculous Medals all around the exterior wall of the church. We took around 50 blessed Miraculous Medals with us and, under cover of nightfall, duly planted most of them in the soil, alongside the exterior walls of the church. Within a few days the local newspaper again ran a story regarding the witch and her purchase of the church, stating that for inexplicable reasons the witch had suddenly pulled out of the purchase the church ― which was strange, since the previous newspaper report had quoted her as being overjoyed at the forthcoming purchase.
ANOTHER WITCH DRIVEN AWAY
United States, 1993
Another incident regarding a 16-year old witch is related by a priest in the Mid-West region of the United. A Protestant “born-again” family approached various sources regarding preternatural incidents that were occurring in their recently purchased house. Pentagrams would appear in mirrors; the ceiling fans would suddenly turn themselves and whirl around at indescribably fast speeds. In one particular room―the bedroom of a 16-year-old “born again” Protestant girl―she would frequently come home from school to find her bedroom like a pig-sty, drawers pulled-out and emptied all over the floor, mattress on the floor, books thrown off the shelves, and―most disconcerting of all―her “born again” Christian audio-tapes floating attached to the bedroom ceiling.
The parish priest decided to initially send the local branch of the Legion of Mary and a deacon (later to be ordained priest) to investigate matters. Those who were sent―as a precautionary measure―fasted on water alone for three days. They then took with them various Sacramentals―Holy Water, blessed Crucifixes, blessed Rosary beads, blessed Miraculous Medals, and blessed St. Benedict Medals. Upon arrival at the house, they instructed the family on the power of the Church’s Sacramentals, gave a brief overview of how the devil works, and instructed them on how to pray the Rosary. After that, they went through each room of the house―sprinkled each room with Holy Water, placed the blessed medals in all four corners of each room and above each door and window, and a blessed crucifix on the wall of each room. They then prayed a decade of the Rosary and the St. Michael Archangel prayer in each room, before repeating the same procedure in the next room―until all the rooms of the house had been covered. They then told the family to pray the Rosary regularly―each day.
In the process of all this, they discovered from the family that they had purchased the house from what seemed to be satanic owners, and that the bedroom of the 16-year-old “born again Christian” girl had been originally painted in black and red! It was further discovered that this 16-year-old girl had a close ‘friend’ at the local high school who was a practicing witch and whose friends were also dabbling in Satanism (it is estimated that at least 50% of public school students have dabbled in the occult, or witchcraft, or Satanism at least once in their lives. A 2018 Newsweek article stated: “The number of witches and Americans practicing Wicca religious rituals increased dramatically since the 1990s, with several recent studies indicating there may be at least 1.5 million witches across the country ... Witchcraft has more followers than the 1.4 million mainline members of the Presbyterian church." Anyway, this 16-year-old witch and her occult-dabbling friends would love coming to visit the “born again Christian” girl in her new home―obviously she “felt at home” in an ex-satanic building! She was even alleged to have levitated in the house on several occasions!
However, once the Holy Water had been sprinkled in the house, the Crucifixes attached to the walls, the blessed medals planted in each room and with the Rosary being prayed regularly―all the diabolical infestation stopped, to the joy of the family. The 16-year-old witch and her occult-dabbling friends would no longer enter the house when they came to visit the “born again Christian” girl―but asked her to step outside. When the girl invited them in―they flatly and resolutely refused, saying: “We can’t come in! You have to come out!” Obviously, the “born again Christian” girl cut any and all ties with these people. However, the problem was that they also attended the same local public school. When it came to the annual re-registration for school, that takes place each summer, the “born again Christian” girl was at school wearing a blessed Rosary around her neck. When the witch entered and saw it, she asked: “What is that? It’s not a Rosary is it?” The girl replied approached her and held out the Rosary to her, saying: “Yes it is! Here! Look!” At which point the witch turned around and quickly walked out of the room. So it was proposed to the “born again Christian” girl that she plant another batch of Miraculous Medals―a very large number of them―all around the perimeter of the school. The result was that the witch never returned to that school in the Fall.
CONCLUSION
The Miraculous Medal continues to multiply its prodigies even today. We know of countless other impressive stories of conversions, graces of moral regeneration, cures of attachment to vices, and infallible protection against the action of the devil. There are innumerable accounts of cures and relief procured in every kind of illness, as well as assistance to expectant mothers and of astounding protection against assault, robbery, kidnapping, accidents and other dangers. And who can count those who have found employment and resolved financial difficulties by means of this devotion? Even in our days, so lacking in true Faith, the facts that take place never cease to surprise and edify us.
When she revealed the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady clearly promised that “Everyone who wears it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.” She did not put restrictive conditions; she said “everyone.” And then completed the phrase with: “The graces will be abundant to those who use it with confidence.”
We all need great graces, especially in these difficult and critical times. Let us turn to the Virgin Mother of God in all our needs and concerns, and ask her with a childlike confidence to answer our prayers.
Wednesday January 26th & Thursday January 27th
Article 16
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART THREE: The Power & Miracles of the Brown Scapular
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 16
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART THREE: The Power & Miracles of the Brown Scapular
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saving the World Through the Scapular
Back in the Middle-Ages, St. Dominic had prophesied of Our Lady: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.” Since that time, Our Lady has given us countless proofs of both her power to be able to do that, and also her willingness to do that. In the previous article, we briefly examined a handful of the hundreds of thousands Rosary miracles that Our Lady has performed over the centuries―in this article we will examine the power and miracles that have come from another Sacramental of the Church―the Brown Scapular of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, often simply referred to as “The Brown Scapular” or just “The Scapular”.
In November of 1955 a plane, carrying 27 passengers, crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw that the plane was going down, she took hold of her Brown Scapular and called on Mary for help. She survived and suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but the flames did not burn her Brown Scapular.
In the same year of 1955, a similar miracle occurred in the Midwest. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and, at the very same moment, an gasoline explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected―a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this young man has special reason to remember our Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
The above two incidents are ― just as in the case of the Holy Rosary ― merely two leaves on the innumerable trees of miracles that Our Lady has performed by means of her “Brown Scapular”. Some miracles have been enormous miracles in the physical and natural realm―others have been hidden miracles of grace. Some have been duly recorded―most have passed into the annals of history as unrecorded.
Not “Magical Trinkets” or “Lucky Charms”
As already stated in the previous article, Sacramentals are not “lucky charms” or “magical trinkets”. They do not “work” automatically―but largely depend upon the Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) of the person using them. You might object, saying: “Well, what about the cases where Miraculous Medals have been secretly placed within the clothing, or belongings, or rooms of sinners or pagans―and they have been converted? The sinners or pagans did not have any Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity)―and yet the Sacramental ‘worked’ for them!” What you are forgetting in these cases is that Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) was present on the part of the person using the Sacramental―that is to say, Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) was present in the person ‘planting’ the Sacramental with Faith, and confidently hoping with great fervor that Heaven would work a miracle―even though the unsuspecting ‘victim’ of the ‘planting’ was lacking Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity).
In the case of Sacramentals, the following words of Our Lord are particularly applicable: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “According to your Faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29) … “Great is thy Faith―be it done to thee as thou wilt!” (Matthew 15:28) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!” (Matthew 8:13) … “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you―you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:7).
The Apostles had failed to cast out demons from a possessed boy (Remember, exorcism is one of Sacramentals of the Church) and they questioned Our Lord as to why they had failed to do so. “Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do [Jesus had made a fig tree wither with His words], but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done!” (Matthew 21:21). “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). “But there are some of you that believe not!” (John 6:65). Perhaps we are among them? “And immediately the father of the [possessed] boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23). Perhaps we, too, need to fervently cry out: “I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!”
From the above, you can see the origins of the modern-day phrase: “Faith can move mountains!” It is also Faith, Hope and Charity (belief, confidence and fervor) that moves Sacramentals into action―or, rather, moves God to work through His Sacramentals. The power of the Sacramentals that you might have at home―blessed Rosaries, Scapulars, Medals, etc.―greatly depends upon your Faith (the belief in God’s power and willingness to work through those Sacramentals), your Hope (the confidence in God’s power and willingness to work through those Sacramentals), and your Charity (the fervent love towards God with which you beg Him to use His power and work through those Sacramentals). Merely possessing those Sacramentals―without possessing great Faith, great Hope and great Charity―will see very little grace and no miracles coming through those Sacramentals. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Whad’Ya Know?
You cannot love what you do not know! You cannot love God if you do not know of His existence―and the more you know about Him, the more you will start to love Him! The same is true of many things―the Scapular included. What do you know about the Brown Scapular? How did it come about? When did it come about? To whom was it given? Where was it given? ― and a whole lot of similar questions! What do you know?
History of Carmel
Mount Carmel is on the northwestern coast of Palestine [see more here]. The Hebrew word for Carmel means “Beautiful Garden Land.” Truly that is what Our Lady is, the beautiful garden that brought forth Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
The Origin of Carmel goes back to about 860 B.C. to the time of the prophet Elias and his victory over the pagan prophets and their god, Baal. The account of this event is given in 3 Kings 18:19-40. The Israelites had taken to worshipping false gods, especially the god Baal. Their evil King Achab had married the gentile [non-Israelite], Jezabel, who worshiped Baal. The king built a temple to this pagan god. When the prophets denounced Achab for this, he had them killed. Elias stood firm and challenged the prophets of Baal to gather on Mount Carmel to determine which God, Baal or the Lord was the true God. Each built a stone altar with firewood and a sacrificial bull upon it. The “God” who would send fire from Heaven upon the altar would be accepted as the true God.
The prophets of Baal prayed and danced and chanted all day to no avail. Elias, though, before beginning his prayer poured gallons of water over his sacrifice, making it humanly impossible to light the fire. Elias then called upon the Lord and immediately a bolt of lightning came down from Heaven setting afire and consuming the sacrifice and the stones of the altar. The pagan prophets were killed and Elias went into hiding on Mount Carmel, to escape from the wrath of Jezabel, whose false prophets he had killed. Later a community of prophets joined him. They dwelt in caves, praying to God, living in peace.
Elian Origins of the Carmelites
Before coming into Europe in the 1200s, to escape the Muslim persecutions in the Holy Land, the Carmelites were hermits living on Mount Carmel in the northwest tip of Israel. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of the prophet Elias. They led a life of contemplation, modeled after the prophet Elias. At the base of this holy mountain, a few miles away, was the little village of Nazareth, the Incarnation was accomplished. The Blessed Virgin Mary, there in the shadow of Mount Carmel, uttered her sublime “fiat” thus enabling the second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become God incarnate as Man for our salvation. Ancient tradition speaks of the wondrous delight of the Mount Carmel hermits, when Our Lady with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus visited Mount Carmel upon returning from their years of exile in Egypt ― for Nazareth was only a few miles from Mount Carmel. As a result of this visit the contemplatives of Carmel professed their unqualified belief in Jesus as the long awaited Messias, the Savior of the World.
Tradition assures us that, because of their childlike Faith, the Carmelites were among the first to be baptized by the Apostles after Pentecost. Likewise, their great love for the Mother of God induced them to erect on Mount Carmel the first Church honoring Our Lady. Moreover, as a reward for their devotion to Mary, the Carmelites were the first to be entrusted with the guardianship of the Holy House of Nazareth, following Our Lady’s death and Assumption into Heaven. So great was their Love for Our Blessed Mother that the Carmelites were known as the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel”.
Exiled to Europe
Many of the holy Carmelites were forced to leave Palestine because of the Saracen invasion around the 1200s. St. Louis IX of France conducted them to Europe. As they were leaving they sang the Salva Regina (Hail Holy Queen). Our Lady appeared to them and promised to be their “Star of the Sea” that would safely guide them to their destination. Along the way some stayed in Cyprus, others in Naples. Still some went to France to live. A few went on to England. Lord Richard de Grey gave them property and land in Alyesford, in Kent.
Troubled Times
It was in England that Simon Stock joined the group, later to be elected their first Vicar General. Many problems plagued the new order. The people made fun of the brown and white “striped bedouin mantle” ― which made them look like human bees. Others felt there were enough religious orders already. To make matters worse there was internal strife and bickering between the older and younger monks―the older ones wanting to remain cloistered and contemplative, while the younger ones wanted to imitate the other new religious orders that were springing-up, by being active in the world by going around preaching and teaching.
By 1251, St. Simon―who had been elected as the first Vicar General (Superior) of the Carmelite Order―realized that Our Lady was his only hope. With broken heart and tears in eyes, he saluted her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea. He prayed fervently for her “privilegium” ― which means the special protection a lord gave to his vassals. The lord would protect the vassal’s life and property, in return for the loyalty of the vassal who was making the request. In the 13th century there was no commerce or industry. Land was the only means of a livelihood. The vassals paid homage to the lord of the land. The lords owned the land and by this act of homage the vassal was given the right to till the land. He was also guaranteed the protection of the lord.
The scapular was not something new to medieval Europe. It had been around since around 550, when the monastic orders came about. The two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down the back and breast had deep spiritual meaning. Our Lord said in the Gospels: “My yoke is sweet and my burden is light!” The monks by putting on this garment realized that the sweet burden of Divine service was upon him and the whole day was dedicated to God.
Faith and actual living were united as one in the Middle-Ages. The monk presented himself to God, His Divine Master, just as a vassal presented himself to his lord ‘to pay homage.’ So too, did the friar make his vows to God.
As we have seen the idea of the scapular and the giving of yourself to another for protection was not a novel idea. Our Lady chose that which was traditional and widely practiced. Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular and making this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire!”
In 1917, almost 7 centuries after Our Lady had first given the Scapular to St. Simon Stock in 1251, Our Lady again held out her Brown Scapular to the world at her sixth and final apparition at Fatima. In 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Sr. Lucia of Fatima for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady, and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered: “Most definitely, the Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.”
The following year, 1950, on the Feast of the Assumption, a Carmelite priest, Father Howard Rafferty, interviewed Lucia and asked if Our Lady wanted the Scapular to be part of the Fatima Message. Lucia answered, “Yes!” Then she added: “Now the Holy Father [Pope Pius XII in 1951] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!” The Carmelite priest persisted and probed further by commenting upon the fact that books written about Fatima up to that time (1950), did not list the Scapular as a necessary part of the Fatima message. Lucia immediately and firmly said: “Oh, they are wrong! Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular!”
However, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel has proved to be, not only a protection against the fires of Hell, but also a protection against all kinds of other evils and dangers here on Earth. Here are just a few accounts of the innumerable miracles―great and small―that have come about through a Faith-filled, fervent and confident use of one of the greatest Sacraments of the Church.
MIRACLES OF THE SCAPULAR
(1) MIRACLES OF GRACE
Grace of Conversion
On the very day that Our Lady gave the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock, he was hurriedly called by Lord Peter of Linton: “Come quickly, Father, my brother is dying in despair!” Saint Simon Stock left at once for the bedside of the dying man. Upon arrival, he placed his large Scapular over the man, asking Our Blessed Mother to keep her promise. Immediately the man repented, and died in the grace of God. That night the dead man appeared to his brother and said, “I have been saved through the most powerful Queen and the habit of that man as a shield.”
New York Conversion
We should even give the Scapular to non-Catholics, for Our Lady will bring conversions to those who will wear it and say one Hail Mary each day, as the following true story will show. An old man was rushed to the hospital in New York City, unconscious and dying. The nurse, seeing the Brown Scapular on the patient, called the priest. As the prayers were being said for the dying man, he became conscious and spoke up: “Father, I am not a Catholic.” “Then why are you wearing the Brown Scapular?” asked the priest. “I promised my friends to wear it ,” the patient explained, “and say one Hail Mary a day.” “You are dying,” the priest told him. “Do you want to become a Catholic?” “All my life I wanted to be one,” the dying man replied. He was baptized, received the Last Rites, and died in peace. Our Lady took another soul to Heaven under her mantle through her Scapular!
Chicago Conversion
In more modern times we have another example of the many miracles of grace that the Brown Scapular has performed. A priest relates that one day in a town near Chicago he was called to the bedside of a man who had been away from the Sacraments for many years. “The man did not want to see me: he would not talk. Then I asked him to look at the little Scapular I was holding. ‘Will you wear this if I put it on you? I ask nothing more.’ He agreed to wear it, and within the hour he wanted to go to Confession and make his peace with God. This did not surprise me, because for over 700 years Our Lady has been working in this way through her Scapular.”
Saved at the Point of Death
An American newspaper related the following interesting event:
On Good Friday, a Mr. MacGill, being 240 miles from Gainesville, where he believed there was a Catholic church, determined to go there and remain over Easter. Arriving at this place he found there was neither a church nor a priest, and that the nearest town where he could receive the Sacraments was Pilatea-Putnamby. This was too far for him to go, so he engaged rooms at a hotel, where he stayed several days.
On the morning after his arrival, he noticed that many persons went in and out of a certain room. He asked the landlord’s daughter whether anyone was sick, and received the answer that a young man from Massachusetts lay there, dying of consumption. Mr. MacGill asked to be taken to see him, and as his business was not urgent, and his visits appeared to be pleasing to the sick man, he often sat for hours by his bedside, rendering him all kinds of little services, by arranging his pillows and giving him water or medicine, etc. He spoke to him about anything he thought might interest him, but avoided the topic of religion, for he supposed the young man to be a Protestant.
On the evening before his departure, Mr. MacGill visited the sick man once more, and just before leaving him, raised him in bed, in order to arrange the pillows and bed coverings. He then caught sight of a Scapular, which, to his astonishment, the sufferer was wearing round his neck. Seeing, however, that he was exhausted and sleepy, he could not say anything more to him that night, but going to him early the next morning, he told the patient that he had noticed the Scapular, and asked if he were a Catholic.
“I am not one,” was the answer, “my mother was, but she died when I was quite a child. Before her death, I attended the church and Sunday school, but afterwards, I gave no thought to religion. My father kept a boarding house for sailors, in Boston, so you can imagine the kind of companions that surrounded my youth. I was nursed, at the beginning of this illness, by a Sister of Mercy, in a hospital, and, before coming here, she gave me the Scapular, recommending me to wear it, as it might perhaps be of use to me. I have worn it ever since, just to please her, because she was so kind to me, and I shall continue to do so, even if I return home.”
On being asked whether he would like to see a priest, he said he would, but added he had nearly forgotten all he had ever known of the Catholic religion, but that, if he ever practiced any form of worship, he would prefer the religion of his mother to any other. His friend saw there was no time to lose, for the youth was in the last stage of consumption so he hastened to the telegraph office, and sent a dispatch to Father Kenny, at Pilatea. The priest took the next train, and arrived in the morning at Gainesville; he went to the sick room, instructed the young man, heard his Confession, gave him Holy Communion, and administered Extreme Unction. The very day after, the poor sufferer died.
Is not this, again, a proof how the Holy Mother of God takes care of all who are in any way her servants? If this youth had not worn the Scapular, he would, most probably, have died without the opportunity of making his peace with God.
(2) PHYSICAL MIRACLES
Saved from Shipwreck
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. A wild tornado swept the ocean from the northwest. The waves were lashed into fury, the sails torn, and all the wooden structures on deck were only as reeds before the angry winds and waves on that memorable night. The passengers were sent below; the captain and crew, who had lashed themselves to the deck rigging, were unable to act. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, Rev. Fisher, with his wife and children, ages 9 and 7, and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Wave on wave washed over the apparently doomed boat, and nothing, short of the intervention of Divine Providence, could save her from a watery grave. Among the crew was a young Irishman from County Louth, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, John McAuliffe opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed over the deck ― bringing with it the Scapular which came back to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the Protestant minister, Rev. Fisher, had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin, her Scapular and her promise of protection in time of danger. They were so impressed by this, that Rev. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after the ship arrived safe and sound at the port of Botany, in Australia. They continued to their intended destination of Sydney, Australia, where they went to the small chapel of Santa Maria, then made of wood, before it became the magnificent church that stands there today, and were received into the bosom of the Church by Fr. Paulding, later to become Archbishop.
A Train Accident
One of the most extraordinary of all Scapular incidents took place in the United States. It happened around the turn of the century (1900s) in the town of Ashtabula, Ohio, that a man was cut in two but a train. He was wearing the Scapular. Instead of dying instantly, as would be expected, he remained alive and conscious for 45 minutes ― just enough time until a priest could arrive to administer the Last Sacraments. These, and other such incidents, tell us that Our Blessed Mother will take personal care of us in the hour of our death. So great and powerful a Mother is Mary that she will never fail to keep the Scapular contract, i.e. to see that we die in God’s grace.
Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.
Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
The Scapular that Saved Two Soldiers
My battalion was a member of the Irene Brigade. We were just about to advance. After we passed Eindhofen, our trucks and tanks went through Uden. In the evening we encamped on an old farm near Nijmegen. Behind the house there was an old wooden pump surrounded by bricks, to wash away the sweat and dust of hours of fighting. You can well imagine that we made good use of this opportunity. I was one in the group and so I tossed my jacket on the ground and hung my Scapular on the pump while I washed.
An hour later we received orders to proceed about a mile and a half further and to occupy a trench there. We were looking forward to being able to get a peaceful night’s sleep in that trench. I was about to lie down and was unbuttoning my collar when to my horror I realized that I no longer had my Scapular. It had been a gift from my mother. I had it with me all during the war and now, that we were approaching the lion’s den, was I to be deprived of it? To go fetch it was unthinkable, so I tried not to think about it any more and to go to sleep. I pitched and tossed from side to side, but I couldn’t get to sleep.
All round me, my buddies were sleeping like logs even though from time to time shells fell dangerously close. Finally I was overcome by the desire to get my Scapular back and I crept out among my sleeping companions. It wasn’t so easy to get past the sentry but I managed to do it and ran back the way we had come. It was pitch dark, but nevertheless I had good luck and in a short time I was back on the farm and at the pump. My hands glided searchingly all over the pump but the Scapular was gone. I was just about to strike a match when there was the sound of a dreadful explosion. What was I to do? Was that the sign of an enemy attack? As fast as I could I ran back to our trench. Maybe I could do something for my buddies there.
Near the trench I saw the engineers busily removing piles of dirt and barbed wire. At the very spot where my companions had been sleeping there yawned a gigantic shell-hole. Before the enemy had vacated this trench the enemy had placed a time bomb in it and it had exploded during my absence. Nobody survived the explosion. If I had not set out to fetch my Scapular, I would have been buried under that rubble too.
On the following morning I went to the field kitchen and met a buddy there. He looked at me with astonishment and said: “I thought you were in that trench!”
“And I thought you were buried there!” I replied.
My friend then continued: “I was lying in the trench, but before I went to sleep I went looking for you. But I couldn’t find you. The corporal saw me hunting around and asked me what I wanted. When I told him what I was doing there, he said: ‘Be sensible! Instead go to that nearby inn and get me a bottle of water.’ And while I was on the errand the explosion occurred.”
“Well, I escaped it by a hair’s breadth too,” I replied. “But why on earth were you looking for me so late at night?”
“To give you this!” he replied, and handed me my Scapular, which he had taken from the old pump.
A Shield in Time of Battle
Mr. Sisto Mosco of North Providence, Rhode Island, is a veteran of the Second World War, who survived, unscathed, the invasion of Normandy, and later, the 7th fleet war with the Japanese fleet, the taking of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and other bloody battles in the South Pacific. Sisto affirms that his miraculous escape is another perfect example of the powerful protection of Our Blessed Mother of Mount Carmel, through her Brown Scapular.
“I was on the battleship the U.S.S. Nevada as chaplain’s yeoman, during the Second World War in the Pacific. I always wore my Scapular because I was brought up close to the Church, and I kept it on me all through the war. The ship was loaded with dynamite. A suicide plane hit the deck real close to where I was positioned. The blast blew open the bolted steel doors of the compartment. I alone was left uninjured after the explosion. The rest were all dead, or seriously mangled. I was the only one untouched and I attribute it to the wearing of my Scapular.”
Mr. Mosco later received a commendation from the Admiral of the fleet for bravery, but in his heart he firmly believes that the credit goes to Our Lady, the Virgin most powerful, who works such wonders through her Habit of Salvation.
Protection Against the Devil
In 2005, a priest was giving a talk about the growth of satanic worship in the world and how adults and young children are becoming possessed by the devil, because of the use of things such as the ouija board, saying the incantations that open the door to the demonic in “children’s books” such as the Harry Potter series, and going to fortune tellers, etc. When someone asked the priest how to protect oneself from the demonic, besides the obvious path of avoiding things that call upon Satan, the priest answered, “Wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for protection from curses and the devil.”
One can understand why the devil works against those who promote the Scapular after hearing the story of Venerable Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.
One day a young woman, before entering the religious life, went to see the Curé of Ars, and during the conversation, he asked her, “Do you recall, my child, at the certain evening of dancing, where you were? There was a very young man, very pretty, unknown, distinguished, admired, and all the girls wanted to dance with him.” “Yes, I recall when he never came to ask me, I was sad, yet all the other girls were privileged to dance with that young man.” “You would have liked to dance with him, wouldn’t you?” “Yes.” “Do you recall, when that young man was leaving the dance hall, you saw under his feet two blue flames? And you thought it was an illusion of your eyes? When you saw that young man leave the dance hall, you saw fire under his feet! It was not an illusion of your eyes, my daughter. That man was a demon. And if he did not come to you to ask you to dance, it’s for one reason: you were wearing the vestment of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”
Scapular Saved from Poison
Here is another miracle of grace. In 1834, an elderly soldier living in Angouleme, France, no longer able to bear certain sorrows, resolved to take his own life. He decided to kill himself with poison, thinking that he could more easily hide his crime from the public. Upon taking the poison, he did not have to wait long to suffer the effects. Immediately he went to the hospital and asked to spend the night, thinking that the cause of his death would be undiscovered and his name would not be blackened because of commission of the cowardly sin of suicide.
But the hospital supervisor would not allow him to be admitted without an administration pass — which would mean discovery of his impending death by his own hand. The unhappy soldier was forced to abandon the idea of spending the night in the hospital. While wondering what course of action to take, he suddenly heard a voice telling him to go to nearby St. Peter’s church and confess to Father X. The soldier went to the designated church and asked Father X to hear his confession.
Father X, overcome with fatigue, told the man to wait — it was Lent and it was three o’clock in the afternoon and he had not yet had a bite to eat. The unhappy soldier made a new plea and assured the priest that there was not time to wait. The priest entered the confessional and the penitent confessed that he had just poisoned himself. The confessor showed him his priestly obligation before God regarding the seal of confession, which included acquiring the penitent’s permission to the priest to reveal the penitent’s secret of poisoning himself―since that is what was confessed in confession. The soldier, touched by this grace, gave the priest permission, and like the fire which burned his insides, the sufferings he felt threw him into a state of perfect hopelessness. The charitable priest pulled him out of the confessional and took him to the hospital. He immediately asked for an antidote, but while they were preparing it, he took the pulse of the sick man, and no longer found any ― instead he had a deathly pale complexion and misty eyes — everything heralded the coming death.
His heart pierced with sadness, but full of confidence in the Divine Mercy, the fervent priest threw himself to his knees, and recited the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. At the first invocation, he sensed the pulse of the dying man return, and a short time later he heard the soldier speak a few words. “O my good Father,” he said in a weak voice, “my Father, pray, pray some more!” And he let out a breath and said: “Holy Mary, pray for me!” And soon his consciousness returned.
Father X, in his enthusiasm over such a marvelous change, asked the soldier if he hadn’t kept some pious practices — “No, my Father, I have not said any prayers in a long time.” But after having reflected for an instant, he showed a Scapular: “Here is the only sign of piety that I have preserved.”
“Ah! My friend,” exclaimed the priest, “I am no longer surprised by the miracle which just occurred! It is Mary who protected you! It is to her that you owe being alive!”
Nevertheless the doctor arrived, and, after having heard the necessary details on the condition of the patient, he assured them that only a superior power could prolong his life for longer than two hours after having taken the poison, one of the most active and potent poisons that we know ― and five hours had gone by since the fatal moment! The doctor proposed to record a statement to attest the truth of the miracle; but the humble priest, fearing that they would perhaps attribute the miracle to the fervor of his prayers, did not think about making the miracle public. It was told to me by others, that it may give you a new confidence in Mary. (Told by Father Michaud in The Month of Mary and recorded in the book Vertu Miraculeuse Du Scapulaire, 1869, pp. 30-32).
(3) SOME MODERN DAY MIRACLES
Necessity of Wearing the Scapular
During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, seven Communists were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tried to prepare the men for death ― but they refused. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes, food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion. In a short while they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed, one refused. Soon, all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continued to refuse. Eventually, after much pleading, only to please them, he put on the Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and, as the time of the execution came near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for a priest. Although he was wearing the Scapular, he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died WITHOUT the Scapular.
Centuries before, the legendary Jesuit and spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (to whom the Sacred Heart appeared) St. Claude Colombière, gave us the solution to the mystery of the missing Scapular: “You ask: ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’” I answer: “Then you will die in your sins ― but YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SCAPULAR.” St. Claude Colombière then tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times. He was rescued against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish and died in his sins.
Saved from Sinking to Death
One day in 1944, a Carmelite missionary in the Holy Land was called to an internment camp to give the Last Rites. The Arab bus driver made the priest get off the bus four miles from the camp, because the road was dangerously muddy. After two miles, the missionary found his feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Trying to get solid footing, he slipped into a muddy pool. Sinking to his death, in this desolate place, he thought of Our Lady and her Scapular.
He kissed his great Scapular — for he was wearing the full habit — and looked toward the holy mountain of Carmel in the distance, the birthplace of devotion to God’s Mother. He cried out, “Holy Mother of Carmel! Help me! Save me!” A moment later, he found himself on solid ground. Later he said, “I know I was saved by the Blessed Virgin through her Brown Scapular. My shoes were lost in the mud, and I was covered with it, but I walked the remaining two miles through that desolate country praising Mary.”
Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died ― except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular and called on Mary for help. She herself suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames.
Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The pious inhabitants of a home located right in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged, amidst all the destruction, was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people, who came to see the place Our Lady had saved, are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Child Falls Out of Car
A priest relayed the following two accounts. The first is as follows:
The first one occurred about 1980 in Ontario, Canada, in a small city near Toronto. “A woman whose son I had recently enrolled in the Brown Scapular relayed the following: she told me that she was very grateful because I had enrolled her son in the Scapular. That same day, after the enrollment, she went somewhere with her son. She had put him in the back seat and closed the door and drove away down the highway. But she didn’t close the door very well, and when she turned the corner the door opened and her son rolled out onto the highway. She was terrified and horrified and she came back to pick him up and discovered that he did not have a scratch on him. He was, of course, wearing his Scapular.”
Saved from a Bullet in Baltimore
The second account by the priest is as follows: “There was a man in Baltimore who told me this himself in about 1990. As he was driving down the highway, someone threw a rock through his window. He didn’t know where from. It knocked his glasses that were in his shirt-pocket onto the seat beside him. He didn’t need the glasses, so he left them where they landed. When he arrived home, he remembered his glasses. He went to pick them up to put them back in his pocket, but they wouldn’t go in. He thought it was because the rock was still in his pocket. So he pulled the rock out, but it wasn’t a rock. It was a bullet. He had been shot at. He was uninjured. He was wearing his Scapular.”
Saved from the Bullet in Switzerland
A French priest on pilgrimage to one of Our Lady’s shrines ― Einsiedeln, Switzerland ― was on his way to celebrate Holy Mass when he realized that he had forgotten something. He had forgotten to put on his Brown Scapular! Due to the debt of his devotion to the Blessed Mother, it disturbed him he would be celebrating Mass at one of her major shrines without honoring her by wearing the Brown Scapular. Even though he was risked being late for his allotted slot to celebrate Mass at the shrine, he returned to his room to get the Scapular. Little did he know that God was preparing some surprise for him a little later. While he was at the altar offering Mass, something happened that shocked everyone. A young man approached the altar, pulled out a revolver and shot him in the back. To the amazement of all, the priest continued to say Mass as though nothing had happened. It was at first presumed that the bullet had miraculously missed its target. In the sacristy the abbot exclaimed: “I thought the man missed you!” However, when the vestments were removed, upon examination, the bullet was found ADHERING TO THE LITTLE BROWN SCAPULAR which the priest had so obstinately refused to be without. The priest was saved by God through the wearing of the Brown Scapular.
Back in the Middle-Ages, St. Dominic had prophesied of Our Lady: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.” Since that time, Our Lady has given us countless proofs of both her power to be able to do that, and also her willingness to do that. In the previous article, we briefly examined a handful of the hundreds of thousands Rosary miracles that Our Lady has performed over the centuries―in this article we will examine the power and miracles that have come from another Sacramental of the Church―the Brown Scapular of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, often simply referred to as “The Brown Scapular” or just “The Scapular”.
In November of 1955 a plane, carrying 27 passengers, crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw that the plane was going down, she took hold of her Brown Scapular and called on Mary for help. She survived and suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but the flames did not burn her Brown Scapular.
In the same year of 1955, a similar miracle occurred in the Midwest. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and, at the very same moment, an gasoline explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected―a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this young man has special reason to remember our Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
The above two incidents are ― just as in the case of the Holy Rosary ― merely two leaves on the innumerable trees of miracles that Our Lady has performed by means of her “Brown Scapular”. Some miracles have been enormous miracles in the physical and natural realm―others have been hidden miracles of grace. Some have been duly recorded―most have passed into the annals of history as unrecorded.
Not “Magical Trinkets” or “Lucky Charms”
As already stated in the previous article, Sacramentals are not “lucky charms” or “magical trinkets”. They do not “work” automatically―but largely depend upon the Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) of the person using them. You might object, saying: “Well, what about the cases where Miraculous Medals have been secretly placed within the clothing, or belongings, or rooms of sinners or pagans―and they have been converted? The sinners or pagans did not have any Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity)―and yet the Sacramental ‘worked’ for them!” What you are forgetting in these cases is that Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) was present on the part of the person using the Sacramental―that is to say, Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity) was present in the person ‘planting’ the Sacramental with Faith, and confidently hoping with great fervor that Heaven would work a miracle―even though the unsuspecting ‘victim’ of the ‘planting’ was lacking Faith, confidence (Hope), and fervor (Charity).
In the case of Sacramentals, the following words of Our Lord are particularly applicable: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28) … “According to your Faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29) … “Great is thy Faith―be it done to thee as thou wilt!” (Matthew 15:28) … “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!” (Matthew 8:13) … “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you―you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:7).
The Apostles had failed to cast out demons from a possessed boy (Remember, exorcism is one of Sacramentals of the Church) and they questioned Our Lord as to why they had failed to do so. “Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do [Jesus had made a fig tree wither with His words], but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done!” (Matthew 21:21). “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). “But there are some of you that believe not!” (John 6:65). Perhaps we are among them? “And immediately the father of the [possessed] boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23). Perhaps we, too, need to fervently cry out: “I do believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!”
From the above, you can see the origins of the modern-day phrase: “Faith can move mountains!” It is also Faith, Hope and Charity (belief, confidence and fervor) that moves Sacramentals into action―or, rather, moves God to work through His Sacramentals. The power of the Sacramentals that you might have at home―blessed Rosaries, Scapulars, Medals, etc.―greatly depends upon your Faith (the belief in God’s power and willingness to work through those Sacramentals), your Hope (the confidence in God’s power and willingness to work through those Sacramentals), and your Charity (the fervent love towards God with which you beg Him to use His power and work through those Sacramentals). Merely possessing those Sacramentals―without possessing great Faith, great Hope and great Charity―will see very little grace and no miracles coming through those Sacramentals. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Whad’Ya Know?
You cannot love what you do not know! You cannot love God if you do not know of His existence―and the more you know about Him, the more you will start to love Him! The same is true of many things―the Scapular included. What do you know about the Brown Scapular? How did it come about? When did it come about? To whom was it given? Where was it given? ― and a whole lot of similar questions! What do you know?
History of Carmel
Mount Carmel is on the northwestern coast of Palestine [see more here]. The Hebrew word for Carmel means “Beautiful Garden Land.” Truly that is what Our Lady is, the beautiful garden that brought forth Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
The Origin of Carmel goes back to about 860 B.C. to the time of the prophet Elias and his victory over the pagan prophets and their god, Baal. The account of this event is given in 3 Kings 18:19-40. The Israelites had taken to worshipping false gods, especially the god Baal. Their evil King Achab had married the gentile [non-Israelite], Jezabel, who worshiped Baal. The king built a temple to this pagan god. When the prophets denounced Achab for this, he had them killed. Elias stood firm and challenged the prophets of Baal to gather on Mount Carmel to determine which God, Baal or the Lord was the true God. Each built a stone altar with firewood and a sacrificial bull upon it. The “God” who would send fire from Heaven upon the altar would be accepted as the true God.
The prophets of Baal prayed and danced and chanted all day to no avail. Elias, though, before beginning his prayer poured gallons of water over his sacrifice, making it humanly impossible to light the fire. Elias then called upon the Lord and immediately a bolt of lightning came down from Heaven setting afire and consuming the sacrifice and the stones of the altar. The pagan prophets were killed and Elias went into hiding on Mount Carmel, to escape from the wrath of Jezabel, whose false prophets he had killed. Later a community of prophets joined him. They dwelt in caves, praying to God, living in peace.
Elian Origins of the Carmelites
Before coming into Europe in the 1200s, to escape the Muslim persecutions in the Holy Land, the Carmelites were hermits living on Mount Carmel in the northwest tip of Israel. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of the prophet Elias. They led a life of contemplation, modeled after the prophet Elias. At the base of this holy mountain, a few miles away, was the little village of Nazareth, the Incarnation was accomplished. The Blessed Virgin Mary, there in the shadow of Mount Carmel, uttered her sublime “fiat” thus enabling the second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become God incarnate as Man for our salvation. Ancient tradition speaks of the wondrous delight of the Mount Carmel hermits, when Our Lady with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus visited Mount Carmel upon returning from their years of exile in Egypt ― for Nazareth was only a few miles from Mount Carmel. As a result of this visit the contemplatives of Carmel professed their unqualified belief in Jesus as the long awaited Messias, the Savior of the World.
Tradition assures us that, because of their childlike Faith, the Carmelites were among the first to be baptized by the Apostles after Pentecost. Likewise, their great love for the Mother of God induced them to erect on Mount Carmel the first Church honoring Our Lady. Moreover, as a reward for their devotion to Mary, the Carmelites were the first to be entrusted with the guardianship of the Holy House of Nazareth, following Our Lady’s death and Assumption into Heaven. So great was their Love for Our Blessed Mother that the Carmelites were known as the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel”.
Exiled to Europe
Many of the holy Carmelites were forced to leave Palestine because of the Saracen invasion around the 1200s. St. Louis IX of France conducted them to Europe. As they were leaving they sang the Salva Regina (Hail Holy Queen). Our Lady appeared to them and promised to be their “Star of the Sea” that would safely guide them to their destination. Along the way some stayed in Cyprus, others in Naples. Still some went to France to live. A few went on to England. Lord Richard de Grey gave them property and land in Alyesford, in Kent.
Troubled Times
It was in England that Simon Stock joined the group, later to be elected their first Vicar General. Many problems plagued the new order. The people made fun of the brown and white “striped bedouin mantle” ― which made them look like human bees. Others felt there were enough religious orders already. To make matters worse there was internal strife and bickering between the older and younger monks―the older ones wanting to remain cloistered and contemplative, while the younger ones wanted to imitate the other new religious orders that were springing-up, by being active in the world by going around preaching and teaching.
By 1251, St. Simon―who had been elected as the first Vicar General (Superior) of the Carmelite Order―realized that Our Lady was his only hope. With broken heart and tears in eyes, he saluted her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea. He prayed fervently for her “privilegium” ― which means the special protection a lord gave to his vassals. The lord would protect the vassal’s life and property, in return for the loyalty of the vassal who was making the request. In the 13th century there was no commerce or industry. Land was the only means of a livelihood. The vassals paid homage to the lord of the land. The lords owned the land and by this act of homage the vassal was given the right to till the land. He was also guaranteed the protection of the lord.
The scapular was not something new to medieval Europe. It had been around since around 550, when the monastic orders came about. The two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down the back and breast had deep spiritual meaning. Our Lord said in the Gospels: “My yoke is sweet and my burden is light!” The monks by putting on this garment realized that the sweet burden of Divine service was upon him and the whole day was dedicated to God.
Faith and actual living were united as one in the Middle-Ages. The monk presented himself to God, His Divine Master, just as a vassal presented himself to his lord ‘to pay homage.’ So too, did the friar make his vows to God.
As we have seen the idea of the scapular and the giving of yourself to another for protection was not a novel idea. Our Lady chose that which was traditional and widely practiced. Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular and making this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire!”
In 1917, almost 7 centuries after Our Lady had first given the Scapular to St. Simon Stock in 1251, Our Lady again held out her Brown Scapular to the world at her sixth and final apparition at Fatima. In 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Sr. Lucia of Fatima for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady, and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered: “Most definitely, the Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.”
The following year, 1950, on the Feast of the Assumption, a Carmelite priest, Father Howard Rafferty, interviewed Lucia and asked if Our Lady wanted the Scapular to be part of the Fatima Message. Lucia answered, “Yes!” Then she added: “Now the Holy Father [Pope Pius XII in 1951] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!” The Carmelite priest persisted and probed further by commenting upon the fact that books written about Fatima up to that time (1950), did not list the Scapular as a necessary part of the Fatima message. Lucia immediately and firmly said: “Oh, they are wrong! Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular!”
However, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel has proved to be, not only a protection against the fires of Hell, but also a protection against all kinds of other evils and dangers here on Earth. Here are just a few accounts of the innumerable miracles―great and small―that have come about through a Faith-filled, fervent and confident use of one of the greatest Sacraments of the Church.
MIRACLES OF THE SCAPULAR
(1) MIRACLES OF GRACE
Grace of Conversion
On the very day that Our Lady gave the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock, he was hurriedly called by Lord Peter of Linton: “Come quickly, Father, my brother is dying in despair!” Saint Simon Stock left at once for the bedside of the dying man. Upon arrival, he placed his large Scapular over the man, asking Our Blessed Mother to keep her promise. Immediately the man repented, and died in the grace of God. That night the dead man appeared to his brother and said, “I have been saved through the most powerful Queen and the habit of that man as a shield.”
New York Conversion
We should even give the Scapular to non-Catholics, for Our Lady will bring conversions to those who will wear it and say one Hail Mary each day, as the following true story will show. An old man was rushed to the hospital in New York City, unconscious and dying. The nurse, seeing the Brown Scapular on the patient, called the priest. As the prayers were being said for the dying man, he became conscious and spoke up: “Father, I am not a Catholic.” “Then why are you wearing the Brown Scapular?” asked the priest. “I promised my friends to wear it ,” the patient explained, “and say one Hail Mary a day.” “You are dying,” the priest told him. “Do you want to become a Catholic?” “All my life I wanted to be one,” the dying man replied. He was baptized, received the Last Rites, and died in peace. Our Lady took another soul to Heaven under her mantle through her Scapular!
Chicago Conversion
In more modern times we have another example of the many miracles of grace that the Brown Scapular has performed. A priest relates that one day in a town near Chicago he was called to the bedside of a man who had been away from the Sacraments for many years. “The man did not want to see me: he would not talk. Then I asked him to look at the little Scapular I was holding. ‘Will you wear this if I put it on you? I ask nothing more.’ He agreed to wear it, and within the hour he wanted to go to Confession and make his peace with God. This did not surprise me, because for over 700 years Our Lady has been working in this way through her Scapular.”
Saved at the Point of Death
An American newspaper related the following interesting event:
On Good Friday, a Mr. MacGill, being 240 miles from Gainesville, where he believed there was a Catholic church, determined to go there and remain over Easter. Arriving at this place he found there was neither a church nor a priest, and that the nearest town where he could receive the Sacraments was Pilatea-Putnamby. This was too far for him to go, so he engaged rooms at a hotel, where he stayed several days.
On the morning after his arrival, he noticed that many persons went in and out of a certain room. He asked the landlord’s daughter whether anyone was sick, and received the answer that a young man from Massachusetts lay there, dying of consumption. Mr. MacGill asked to be taken to see him, and as his business was not urgent, and his visits appeared to be pleasing to the sick man, he often sat for hours by his bedside, rendering him all kinds of little services, by arranging his pillows and giving him water or medicine, etc. He spoke to him about anything he thought might interest him, but avoided the topic of religion, for he supposed the young man to be a Protestant.
On the evening before his departure, Mr. MacGill visited the sick man once more, and just before leaving him, raised him in bed, in order to arrange the pillows and bed coverings. He then caught sight of a Scapular, which, to his astonishment, the sufferer was wearing round his neck. Seeing, however, that he was exhausted and sleepy, he could not say anything more to him that night, but going to him early the next morning, he told the patient that he had noticed the Scapular, and asked if he were a Catholic.
“I am not one,” was the answer, “my mother was, but she died when I was quite a child. Before her death, I attended the church and Sunday school, but afterwards, I gave no thought to religion. My father kept a boarding house for sailors, in Boston, so you can imagine the kind of companions that surrounded my youth. I was nursed, at the beginning of this illness, by a Sister of Mercy, in a hospital, and, before coming here, she gave me the Scapular, recommending me to wear it, as it might perhaps be of use to me. I have worn it ever since, just to please her, because she was so kind to me, and I shall continue to do so, even if I return home.”
On being asked whether he would like to see a priest, he said he would, but added he had nearly forgotten all he had ever known of the Catholic religion, but that, if he ever practiced any form of worship, he would prefer the religion of his mother to any other. His friend saw there was no time to lose, for the youth was in the last stage of consumption so he hastened to the telegraph office, and sent a dispatch to Father Kenny, at Pilatea. The priest took the next train, and arrived in the morning at Gainesville; he went to the sick room, instructed the young man, heard his Confession, gave him Holy Communion, and administered Extreme Unction. The very day after, the poor sufferer died.
Is not this, again, a proof how the Holy Mother of God takes care of all who are in any way her servants? If this youth had not worn the Scapular, he would, most probably, have died without the opportunity of making his peace with God.
(2) PHYSICAL MIRACLES
Saved from Shipwreck
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. A wild tornado swept the ocean from the northwest. The waves were lashed into fury, the sails torn, and all the wooden structures on deck were only as reeds before the angry winds and waves on that memorable night. The passengers were sent below; the captain and crew, who had lashed themselves to the deck rigging, were unable to act. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, Rev. Fisher, with his wife and children, ages 9 and 7, and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Wave on wave washed over the apparently doomed boat, and nothing, short of the intervention of Divine Providence, could save her from a watery grave. Among the crew was a young Irishman from County Louth, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, John McAuliffe opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed over the deck ― bringing with it the Scapular which came back to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the Protestant minister, Rev. Fisher, had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin, her Scapular and her promise of protection in time of danger. They were so impressed by this, that Rev. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after the ship arrived safe and sound at the port of Botany, in Australia. They continued to their intended destination of Sydney, Australia, where they went to the small chapel of Santa Maria, then made of wood, before it became the magnificent church that stands there today, and were received into the bosom of the Church by Fr. Paulding, later to become Archbishop.
A Train Accident
One of the most extraordinary of all Scapular incidents took place in the United States. It happened around the turn of the century (1900s) in the town of Ashtabula, Ohio, that a man was cut in two but a train. He was wearing the Scapular. Instead of dying instantly, as would be expected, he remained alive and conscious for 45 minutes ― just enough time until a priest could arrive to administer the Last Sacraments. These, and other such incidents, tell us that Our Blessed Mother will take personal care of us in the hour of our death. So great and powerful a Mother is Mary that she will never fail to keep the Scapular contract, i.e. to see that we die in God’s grace.
Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.
Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
The Scapular that Saved Two Soldiers
My battalion was a member of the Irene Brigade. We were just about to advance. After we passed Eindhofen, our trucks and tanks went through Uden. In the evening we encamped on an old farm near Nijmegen. Behind the house there was an old wooden pump surrounded by bricks, to wash away the sweat and dust of hours of fighting. You can well imagine that we made good use of this opportunity. I was one in the group and so I tossed my jacket on the ground and hung my Scapular on the pump while I washed.
An hour later we received orders to proceed about a mile and a half further and to occupy a trench there. We were looking forward to being able to get a peaceful night’s sleep in that trench. I was about to lie down and was unbuttoning my collar when to my horror I realized that I no longer had my Scapular. It had been a gift from my mother. I had it with me all during the war and now, that we were approaching the lion’s den, was I to be deprived of it? To go fetch it was unthinkable, so I tried not to think about it any more and to go to sleep. I pitched and tossed from side to side, but I couldn’t get to sleep.
All round me, my buddies were sleeping like logs even though from time to time shells fell dangerously close. Finally I was overcome by the desire to get my Scapular back and I crept out among my sleeping companions. It wasn’t so easy to get past the sentry but I managed to do it and ran back the way we had come. It was pitch dark, but nevertheless I had good luck and in a short time I was back on the farm and at the pump. My hands glided searchingly all over the pump but the Scapular was gone. I was just about to strike a match when there was the sound of a dreadful explosion. What was I to do? Was that the sign of an enemy attack? As fast as I could I ran back to our trench. Maybe I could do something for my buddies there.
Near the trench I saw the engineers busily removing piles of dirt and barbed wire. At the very spot where my companions had been sleeping there yawned a gigantic shell-hole. Before the enemy had vacated this trench the enemy had placed a time bomb in it and it had exploded during my absence. Nobody survived the explosion. If I had not set out to fetch my Scapular, I would have been buried under that rubble too.
On the following morning I went to the field kitchen and met a buddy there. He looked at me with astonishment and said: “I thought you were in that trench!”
“And I thought you were buried there!” I replied.
My friend then continued: “I was lying in the trench, but before I went to sleep I went looking for you. But I couldn’t find you. The corporal saw me hunting around and asked me what I wanted. When I told him what I was doing there, he said: ‘Be sensible! Instead go to that nearby inn and get me a bottle of water.’ And while I was on the errand the explosion occurred.”
“Well, I escaped it by a hair’s breadth too,” I replied. “But why on earth were you looking for me so late at night?”
“To give you this!” he replied, and handed me my Scapular, which he had taken from the old pump.
A Shield in Time of Battle
Mr. Sisto Mosco of North Providence, Rhode Island, is a veteran of the Second World War, who survived, unscathed, the invasion of Normandy, and later, the 7th fleet war with the Japanese fleet, the taking of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and other bloody battles in the South Pacific. Sisto affirms that his miraculous escape is another perfect example of the powerful protection of Our Blessed Mother of Mount Carmel, through her Brown Scapular.
“I was on the battleship the U.S.S. Nevada as chaplain’s yeoman, during the Second World War in the Pacific. I always wore my Scapular because I was brought up close to the Church, and I kept it on me all through the war. The ship was loaded with dynamite. A suicide plane hit the deck real close to where I was positioned. The blast blew open the bolted steel doors of the compartment. I alone was left uninjured after the explosion. The rest were all dead, or seriously mangled. I was the only one untouched and I attribute it to the wearing of my Scapular.”
Mr. Mosco later received a commendation from the Admiral of the fleet for bravery, but in his heart he firmly believes that the credit goes to Our Lady, the Virgin most powerful, who works such wonders through her Habit of Salvation.
Protection Against the Devil
In 2005, a priest was giving a talk about the growth of satanic worship in the world and how adults and young children are becoming possessed by the devil, because of the use of things such as the ouija board, saying the incantations that open the door to the demonic in “children’s books” such as the Harry Potter series, and going to fortune tellers, etc. When someone asked the priest how to protect oneself from the demonic, besides the obvious path of avoiding things that call upon Satan, the priest answered, “Wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for protection from curses and the devil.”
One can understand why the devil works against those who promote the Scapular after hearing the story of Venerable Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.
One day a young woman, before entering the religious life, went to see the Curé of Ars, and during the conversation, he asked her, “Do you recall, my child, at the certain evening of dancing, where you were? There was a very young man, very pretty, unknown, distinguished, admired, and all the girls wanted to dance with him.” “Yes, I recall when he never came to ask me, I was sad, yet all the other girls were privileged to dance with that young man.” “You would have liked to dance with him, wouldn’t you?” “Yes.” “Do you recall, when that young man was leaving the dance hall, you saw under his feet two blue flames? And you thought it was an illusion of your eyes? When you saw that young man leave the dance hall, you saw fire under his feet! It was not an illusion of your eyes, my daughter. That man was a demon. And if he did not come to you to ask you to dance, it’s for one reason: you were wearing the vestment of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”
Scapular Saved from Poison
Here is another miracle of grace. In 1834, an elderly soldier living in Angouleme, France, no longer able to bear certain sorrows, resolved to take his own life. He decided to kill himself with poison, thinking that he could more easily hide his crime from the public. Upon taking the poison, he did not have to wait long to suffer the effects. Immediately he went to the hospital and asked to spend the night, thinking that the cause of his death would be undiscovered and his name would not be blackened because of commission of the cowardly sin of suicide.
But the hospital supervisor would not allow him to be admitted without an administration pass — which would mean discovery of his impending death by his own hand. The unhappy soldier was forced to abandon the idea of spending the night in the hospital. While wondering what course of action to take, he suddenly heard a voice telling him to go to nearby St. Peter’s church and confess to Father X. The soldier went to the designated church and asked Father X to hear his confession.
Father X, overcome with fatigue, told the man to wait — it was Lent and it was three o’clock in the afternoon and he had not yet had a bite to eat. The unhappy soldier made a new plea and assured the priest that there was not time to wait. The priest entered the confessional and the penitent confessed that he had just poisoned himself. The confessor showed him his priestly obligation before God regarding the seal of confession, which included acquiring the penitent’s permission to the priest to reveal the penitent’s secret of poisoning himself―since that is what was confessed in confession. The soldier, touched by this grace, gave the priest permission, and like the fire which burned his insides, the sufferings he felt threw him into a state of perfect hopelessness. The charitable priest pulled him out of the confessional and took him to the hospital. He immediately asked for an antidote, but while they were preparing it, he took the pulse of the sick man, and no longer found any ― instead he had a deathly pale complexion and misty eyes — everything heralded the coming death.
His heart pierced with sadness, but full of confidence in the Divine Mercy, the fervent priest threw himself to his knees, and recited the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. At the first invocation, he sensed the pulse of the dying man return, and a short time later he heard the soldier speak a few words. “O my good Father,” he said in a weak voice, “my Father, pray, pray some more!” And he let out a breath and said: “Holy Mary, pray for me!” And soon his consciousness returned.
Father X, in his enthusiasm over such a marvelous change, asked the soldier if he hadn’t kept some pious practices — “No, my Father, I have not said any prayers in a long time.” But after having reflected for an instant, he showed a Scapular: “Here is the only sign of piety that I have preserved.”
“Ah! My friend,” exclaimed the priest, “I am no longer surprised by the miracle which just occurred! It is Mary who protected you! It is to her that you owe being alive!”
Nevertheless the doctor arrived, and, after having heard the necessary details on the condition of the patient, he assured them that only a superior power could prolong his life for longer than two hours after having taken the poison, one of the most active and potent poisons that we know ― and five hours had gone by since the fatal moment! The doctor proposed to record a statement to attest the truth of the miracle; but the humble priest, fearing that they would perhaps attribute the miracle to the fervor of his prayers, did not think about making the miracle public. It was told to me by others, that it may give you a new confidence in Mary. (Told by Father Michaud in The Month of Mary and recorded in the book Vertu Miraculeuse Du Scapulaire, 1869, pp. 30-32).
(3) SOME MODERN DAY MIRACLES
Necessity of Wearing the Scapular
During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, seven Communists were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tried to prepare the men for death ― but they refused. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes, food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion. In a short while they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed, one refused. Soon, all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continued to refuse. Eventually, after much pleading, only to please them, he put on the Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and, as the time of the execution came near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for a priest. Although he was wearing the Scapular, he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died WITHOUT the Scapular.
Centuries before, the legendary Jesuit and spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (to whom the Sacred Heart appeared) St. Claude Colombière, gave us the solution to the mystery of the missing Scapular: “You ask: ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’” I answer: “Then you will die in your sins ― but YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SCAPULAR.” St. Claude Colombière then tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times. He was rescued against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish and died in his sins.
Saved from Sinking to Death
One day in 1944, a Carmelite missionary in the Holy Land was called to an internment camp to give the Last Rites. The Arab bus driver made the priest get off the bus four miles from the camp, because the road was dangerously muddy. After two miles, the missionary found his feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Trying to get solid footing, he slipped into a muddy pool. Sinking to his death, in this desolate place, he thought of Our Lady and her Scapular.
He kissed his great Scapular — for he was wearing the full habit — and looked toward the holy mountain of Carmel in the distance, the birthplace of devotion to God’s Mother. He cried out, “Holy Mother of Carmel! Help me! Save me!” A moment later, he found himself on solid ground. Later he said, “I know I was saved by the Blessed Virgin through her Brown Scapular. My shoes were lost in the mud, and I was covered with it, but I walked the remaining two miles through that desolate country praising Mary.”
Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died ― except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular and called on Mary for help. She herself suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames.
Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The pious inhabitants of a home located right in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged, amidst all the destruction, was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people, who came to see the place Our Lady had saved, are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Child Falls Out of Car
A priest relayed the following two accounts. The first is as follows:
The first one occurred about 1980 in Ontario, Canada, in a small city near Toronto. “A woman whose son I had recently enrolled in the Brown Scapular relayed the following: she told me that she was very grateful because I had enrolled her son in the Scapular. That same day, after the enrollment, she went somewhere with her son. She had put him in the back seat and closed the door and drove away down the highway. But she didn’t close the door very well, and when she turned the corner the door opened and her son rolled out onto the highway. She was terrified and horrified and she came back to pick him up and discovered that he did not have a scratch on him. He was, of course, wearing his Scapular.”
Saved from a Bullet in Baltimore
The second account by the priest is as follows: “There was a man in Baltimore who told me this himself in about 1990. As he was driving down the highway, someone threw a rock through his window. He didn’t know where from. It knocked his glasses that were in his shirt-pocket onto the seat beside him. He didn’t need the glasses, so he left them where they landed. When he arrived home, he remembered his glasses. He went to pick them up to put them back in his pocket, but they wouldn’t go in. He thought it was because the rock was still in his pocket. So he pulled the rock out, but it wasn’t a rock. It was a bullet. He had been shot at. He was uninjured. He was wearing his Scapular.”
Saved from the Bullet in Switzerland
A French priest on pilgrimage to one of Our Lady’s shrines ― Einsiedeln, Switzerland ― was on his way to celebrate Holy Mass when he realized that he had forgotten something. He had forgotten to put on his Brown Scapular! Due to the debt of his devotion to the Blessed Mother, it disturbed him he would be celebrating Mass at one of her major shrines without honoring her by wearing the Brown Scapular. Even though he was risked being late for his allotted slot to celebrate Mass at the shrine, he returned to his room to get the Scapular. Little did he know that God was preparing some surprise for him a little later. While he was at the altar offering Mass, something happened that shocked everyone. A young man approached the altar, pulled out a revolver and shot him in the back. To the amazement of all, the priest continued to say Mass as though nothing had happened. It was at first presumed that the bullet had miraculously missed its target. In the sacristy the abbot exclaimed: “I thought the man missed you!” However, when the vestments were removed, upon examination, the bullet was found ADHERING TO THE LITTLE BROWN SCAPULAR which the priest had so obstinately refused to be without. The priest was saved by God through the wearing of the Brown Scapular.
Monday January 24th & Tuesday January 25th
Article 15
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART TWO: The Power of Exorcism and Power of the Rosary
Article 15
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART TWO: The Power of Exorcism and Power of the Rosary
Heavens Diagnosis and Heaven’s Medicine
We are sick! The world is sick! Our current problems throughout the world stem from sin: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). The fact that most people disregard and disobey God, has led to the current diabolical situation throughout the world. God―in “whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17)―has clearly listed the consequences of disregarding and disobeying Him:
“If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and then I will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … I will make you few in number and your cities destroyed … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness and your highways desolate and your land shall be desert ... I will destroy your land, I will bring upon you the sword that shall avenge Me and I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! … I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you ... I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you ... And if some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for their sins and those of their fathers―until they confess their iniquities … and pray for their sins … They shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
The fact that “there is no change, nor shadow of alteration in God” (James 1:17) is borne out by the words of Our Lady in modern times, whereby she echoes or repeats what God said in the Old Testament quote above: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. Nations will be annihilated. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
Heavens Weapons
In essence, what Our Lady said at Akita was a battle-cry, a “call to arms” to take up the weapons offered by Heaven―or to take the “medicine” offered by Heaven for this sick world―the Sacraments and the Sacramentals: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” The Rosary is a Sacramental―and the “Sign left by my Son” is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (which includes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―the “Sign of the Cross on Calvary”).
As stated in the “sister article to this article” ― that is to say, the previous article ― the greatest weapon we have for overcoming these current spiritual diseases of sin, the onslaughts of Hell and the current physical threats of a genocidal totalitarianism, is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The grace and power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has to be injected into this world ― sinners need to vaccinated with God’s grace ― a triple dose consisting of the Sacrament of Confession (first shot), followed by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (second shot), and then the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (third shot). This triple “vaccination” needs to be followed by constant “booster shots” of Confession, Mass and Communion for the rest of one’s life.
Attacks on the Priesthood and the Mass
If the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful weapon on Earth―then it is in the interests of Satan to try and and eliminate the Mass. There are several ways in which Satan can destroy the Mass―one is by changing the Mass to such a degree that it would no longer be a valid Mass. The other way would be to destroy the priesthood―which Satan can do in several ways. The first is to try and prevent vocations to the priesthood by enticing such vocations with allurements of the world. The second way Satan can destroy the priesthood is by introducing either (1) a new rite of ordination to the priesthood which would be defective and thus invalid―even though everyone would think it is valid; or (2) by introducing a defective new rite of consecration of bishops, whereby the bishops would not be validly consecrated as bishops―with the result that, if they ordained priests, those “priests” would not really be priests, because the “bishops” would not really be bishops. Both of those things MIGHT have happened―with the new rite of ordination of priests and the new rite of consecration of bishops being introduced on June 18th, 1968, by Pope Paul VI. Much debate has taken place―by solid theological minds―on the “what ifs” and “what if nots” of it all. We will probably not really know until the next life. Nevertheless, one thing we can be certain of is the success that Satan has had in both reducing the number of priests (and hence reducing the number of Masses that are offered daily).
Let us take the case of the United States. There were nearly 60,000 Catholic priests in the United States in 1970. Seminaries were bursting at the seams as young men were being turned away due to a lack of space. Fifty years later that number has essentially fallen in half ― down to 35,000 priests (a drop of 25,000 priests since 1970). Half of all active priests have already reached the minimum retirement age of 70. The average age of priests is around 63 years of age―whereas in 1970 the average age of priests was 35 years of age. Seminaries are derelict. Less and less Catholics are regularly attending Sunday Mass (only 10% to 15%). Parishes are closing down.
Furthermore, let us recall the famous testimony of Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904 –1969), who was born and baptized in Italy, and came to the USA as a young child. She joined the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) for whom she was an organizer from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. She returned to the Faith in 1952, thanks to Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Bella Dodd later explained what she did while working as a Communist. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
As regards the Mass, the attacks on the Mass increase. Recently, Pope Francis ― in his July 16th, 2021, motu proprio, entitled Traditionis Custodes―has even tried to eliminate the age-old Tridentine Latin Mass―forbidding any newly ordained priest (after July 16th, 201) to offer the Traditional Latin Mass without explicit permission from Rome. The diocesan bishop must seek the authorization of the Vatican to permit priests ordained after the publication of Traditionis Custodes to celebrate the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal. Satan knows the power of the “The Tridentine Mass”, (sometimes called “The Traditional Latin Mass”, or “The Old Mass”, etc.). The “New Mass” ― the present day Mass offered by the mainstream Catholic Church is vastly inferior to the “Old Mass”.
The Sacramental of Exorcism
Though you may not be aware of this―exorcism, being a blessing of the Church upon a possessed person, is therefore a Sacramental of the Catholic Church. Just as the inferior “New Mass” has replaced the superior “Old Mass”, likewise the modern Church tried to impose a “New Rite of Exorcism” to replace the “Old Rite of Exorcism” which had been doing its job perfectly since 1614. The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome (for over 30 years), Fr. Gabrielle Amorth said concerning the “New Rite of Exorcism” that exorcists were given in 1999-2000: “We exorcists, the ones who would have to use it, we took the opportunity to point out that, on a number of points, we were in disagreement with the New Ritual [of Exorcism] … I will give you but two examples. Two spectacular examples. Point #15 treats of evil spells and how one should behave when dealing with them. An evil spell is an evil brought about on a person by means of recourse to the devil. It can be accomplished under a variety of forms like spells, curses, the evil eye, voodoo and macumba. The [Old] Roman Ritual [of Exorcism] used to explain how one should confront it. The New Ritual [of Exorcism], on the other hand, categorically declares that it is absolutely forbidden to perform exorcisms in such cases! Absurd! Evil spells are by far the most frequent causes of possessions and evil procured through the demon: at least 90% of cases. It is as good as telling exorcists they can no longer perform exorcisms.”
“Then Point #16 solemnly declares that one should not carry out exorcisms if one is not certain of the presence of the devil. This is a masterstroke of incompetence: the certainty that the devil is present in someone can only be obtained by carrying out an exorcism. What is more, the authors of the New Ritual [of Exorcism] failed to notice that on two points they were contradicting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For this points out that exorcism should be practiced in cases of diabolical possession and in those of evil caused by the demon. And it also recommends that it be performed on people as well as on things. And in things, there is never the presence of the demon, there is only his influence!”
“The declarations contained in the New Ritual [of Exorcism] are very serious and very damaging. They are the fruit of ignorance and inexperience. I can affirm with certainty that none of the members of these commissions had ever performed an exorcism, had ever been present at an exorcism and ever possessed the slightest idea of what an exorcism is. And yet we exorcists were never consulted … They were looking to give us a blunt weapon. Efficacious prayers, prayers that had been in existence for twelve centuries, were suppressed and replaced by new ineffective prayers.” Today, exorcists have increasingly abandoned the “New Rite of Exorcism” and have gone back to using the “Old Rite of Exorcism.”
However, since the prayers of exorcism are not Sacraments, but only Sacramentals, they depend not only upon the Faith and fervor of the person using them, and the person receiving them―they also depend upon the Faith and fervor of the Church as a whole. One current exorcist has said that the prayers of exorcism (even those of the “Old Rite of Exorcism”) no longer work as powerfully as earlier decades, resulting in the fact that exorcisms today take many more sessions than it would take in the past. Previously, one single exorcism might have been enough to drive the devil out―nowadays it is taking many more sessions to achieve the same result. It is not because the devil has become more powerful―it is because the Church has become weaker as a whole and that affects the power of the Sacramentals of Church as a “knock-on” effect.
We all have “a devil on the shoulder”, so to speak, just as we all have a guardian angel by our side. As Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, says that today, “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity! ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray! Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity.”
Some people stupidly or naively have an exaggerated imagination when it comes to demonic possession ― just because people sin gravely does not automatically mean they are possessed (even though persistently living in very grave mortal sins does incur the risk of eventual possession). Demonic possession is rare ― but demonic oppression and demonic obsession is extremely common ― as said above, we all have “a devil on the shoulder”, so to speak. The Catholic exorcist priests have composed various prayers that the laity can pray frequently to offset this demonic oppression and obsession. Here is one of those prayers ― BUT BE WARNED, THIS PRAYER IS ONLY MEANT TO APPLY YOU PRAYING FOR YOURSELF ― YOU MUST NOT START PLAYING AT BEING AN EXORCIST BY TRYING TO PRAY IT OVER OTHER PEOPLE ― YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER OTHERS (exceptions being parents over their own personal children). IF YOU FAIL TO IGNORE THIS WARNING, THEN YOU ARE OPENING YOURSELF UP TO THE DEVIL! Copy and paste this prayer for your own PERSONAL USE and also COPY AND PASTE THE WARNING, and keep the warning always on the same page as the prayer. The devil would like nothing more than for you to start playing at being a DIY exorcist ― which would open you up to him. The prayer is very powerful ― DO NOT BE AFRAID TO USE IT ― but ONLY USE FOR YOURSELF. You can encourage others to pray it also ― but never separate the prayer from the warning. With all being said, here is the prayer composed by Catholic exorcists for use by the laity:
“O Most Blessed Trinity, by the authority given to me by the Natural Law, and by virtue of Thy giving these things and rights to me, I claim authority, rights and power over my (mention whatever applies: physical health, mental health, emotions, relationships, family, security, freedom, reputation, income, finances, possessions, job, etc.) and anything else that pertains to the demonic oppression.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, by the merits of Thy Sacred Wounds, I reclaim the rights, powers and authority over anything which I may have lost or conceded to any demon; and I ask Thee to remove any demon’s ability to influence or affect anything in my life.
“O God Almighty Father, humiliate the demons that have sought to steal Thy glory from Thee, by oppressing Thy creatures. I beseech Thee to show Thy great glory and power over them; and to show Thy generosity, kindness and mercy to me, Thine unworthy servant and sinful creature, by answering and granting all that I have asked of Thee.
“I bind all demons of oppression―in the Name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Most Precious Blood; by the power of the humility with which Christ suffered His wounds; and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Most Powerful; and through the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel, the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the Saints; and I command you demons to go to the foot of the Holy Cross to receive your sentence, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Alternatively, you can download a PDF file with prayer with warning included here ― just click on the icon or the words "Download File".
We are sick! The world is sick! Our current problems throughout the world stem from sin: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). The fact that most people disregard and disobey God, has led to the current diabolical situation throughout the world. God―in “whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17)―has clearly listed the consequences of disregarding and disobeying Him:
“If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and then I will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … I will make you few in number and your cities destroyed … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness and your highways desolate and your land shall be desert ... I will destroy your land, I will bring upon you the sword that shall avenge Me and I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! … I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you ... I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you ... And if some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for their sins and those of their fathers―until they confess their iniquities … and pray for their sins … They shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
The fact that “there is no change, nor shadow of alteration in God” (James 1:17) is borne out by the words of Our Lady in modern times, whereby she echoes or repeats what God said in the Old Testament quote above: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. Nations will be annihilated. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
Heavens Weapons
In essence, what Our Lady said at Akita was a battle-cry, a “call to arms” to take up the weapons offered by Heaven―or to take the “medicine” offered by Heaven for this sick world―the Sacraments and the Sacramentals: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” The Rosary is a Sacramental―and the “Sign left by my Son” is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (which includes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―the “Sign of the Cross on Calvary”).
As stated in the “sister article to this article” ― that is to say, the previous article ― the greatest weapon we have for overcoming these current spiritual diseases of sin, the onslaughts of Hell and the current physical threats of a genocidal totalitarianism, is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The grace and power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has to be injected into this world ― sinners need to vaccinated with God’s grace ― a triple dose consisting of the Sacrament of Confession (first shot), followed by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (second shot), and then the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (third shot). This triple “vaccination” needs to be followed by constant “booster shots” of Confession, Mass and Communion for the rest of one’s life.
Attacks on the Priesthood and the Mass
If the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful weapon on Earth―then it is in the interests of Satan to try and and eliminate the Mass. There are several ways in which Satan can destroy the Mass―one is by changing the Mass to such a degree that it would no longer be a valid Mass. The other way would be to destroy the priesthood―which Satan can do in several ways. The first is to try and prevent vocations to the priesthood by enticing such vocations with allurements of the world. The second way Satan can destroy the priesthood is by introducing either (1) a new rite of ordination to the priesthood which would be defective and thus invalid―even though everyone would think it is valid; or (2) by introducing a defective new rite of consecration of bishops, whereby the bishops would not be validly consecrated as bishops―with the result that, if they ordained priests, those “priests” would not really be priests, because the “bishops” would not really be bishops. Both of those things MIGHT have happened―with the new rite of ordination of priests and the new rite of consecration of bishops being introduced on June 18th, 1968, by Pope Paul VI. Much debate has taken place―by solid theological minds―on the “what ifs” and “what if nots” of it all. We will probably not really know until the next life. Nevertheless, one thing we can be certain of is the success that Satan has had in both reducing the number of priests (and hence reducing the number of Masses that are offered daily).
Let us take the case of the United States. There were nearly 60,000 Catholic priests in the United States in 1970. Seminaries were bursting at the seams as young men were being turned away due to a lack of space. Fifty years later that number has essentially fallen in half ― down to 35,000 priests (a drop of 25,000 priests since 1970). Half of all active priests have already reached the minimum retirement age of 70. The average age of priests is around 63 years of age―whereas in 1970 the average age of priests was 35 years of age. Seminaries are derelict. Less and less Catholics are regularly attending Sunday Mass (only 10% to 15%). Parishes are closing down.
Furthermore, let us recall the famous testimony of Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904 –1969), who was born and baptized in Italy, and came to the USA as a young child. She joined the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) for whom she was an organizer from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. She returned to the Faith in 1952, thanks to Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Bella Dodd later explained what she did while working as a Communist. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
As regards the Mass, the attacks on the Mass increase. Recently, Pope Francis ― in his July 16th, 2021, motu proprio, entitled Traditionis Custodes―has even tried to eliminate the age-old Tridentine Latin Mass―forbidding any newly ordained priest (after July 16th, 201) to offer the Traditional Latin Mass without explicit permission from Rome. The diocesan bishop must seek the authorization of the Vatican to permit priests ordained after the publication of Traditionis Custodes to celebrate the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal. Satan knows the power of the “The Tridentine Mass”, (sometimes called “The Traditional Latin Mass”, or “The Old Mass”, etc.). The “New Mass” ― the present day Mass offered by the mainstream Catholic Church is vastly inferior to the “Old Mass”.
The Sacramental of Exorcism
Though you may not be aware of this―exorcism, being a blessing of the Church upon a possessed person, is therefore a Sacramental of the Catholic Church. Just as the inferior “New Mass” has replaced the superior “Old Mass”, likewise the modern Church tried to impose a “New Rite of Exorcism” to replace the “Old Rite of Exorcism” which had been doing its job perfectly since 1614. The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome (for over 30 years), Fr. Gabrielle Amorth said concerning the “New Rite of Exorcism” that exorcists were given in 1999-2000: “We exorcists, the ones who would have to use it, we took the opportunity to point out that, on a number of points, we were in disagreement with the New Ritual [of Exorcism] … I will give you but two examples. Two spectacular examples. Point #15 treats of evil spells and how one should behave when dealing with them. An evil spell is an evil brought about on a person by means of recourse to the devil. It can be accomplished under a variety of forms like spells, curses, the evil eye, voodoo and macumba. The [Old] Roman Ritual [of Exorcism] used to explain how one should confront it. The New Ritual [of Exorcism], on the other hand, categorically declares that it is absolutely forbidden to perform exorcisms in such cases! Absurd! Evil spells are by far the most frequent causes of possessions and evil procured through the demon: at least 90% of cases. It is as good as telling exorcists they can no longer perform exorcisms.”
“Then Point #16 solemnly declares that one should not carry out exorcisms if one is not certain of the presence of the devil. This is a masterstroke of incompetence: the certainty that the devil is present in someone can only be obtained by carrying out an exorcism. What is more, the authors of the New Ritual [of Exorcism] failed to notice that on two points they were contradicting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For this points out that exorcism should be practiced in cases of diabolical possession and in those of evil caused by the demon. And it also recommends that it be performed on people as well as on things. And in things, there is never the presence of the demon, there is only his influence!”
“The declarations contained in the New Ritual [of Exorcism] are very serious and very damaging. They are the fruit of ignorance and inexperience. I can affirm with certainty that none of the members of these commissions had ever performed an exorcism, had ever been present at an exorcism and ever possessed the slightest idea of what an exorcism is. And yet we exorcists were never consulted … They were looking to give us a blunt weapon. Efficacious prayers, prayers that had been in existence for twelve centuries, were suppressed and replaced by new ineffective prayers.” Today, exorcists have increasingly abandoned the “New Rite of Exorcism” and have gone back to using the “Old Rite of Exorcism.”
However, since the prayers of exorcism are not Sacraments, but only Sacramentals, they depend not only upon the Faith and fervor of the person using them, and the person receiving them―they also depend upon the Faith and fervor of the Church as a whole. One current exorcist has said that the prayers of exorcism (even those of the “Old Rite of Exorcism”) no longer work as powerfully as earlier decades, resulting in the fact that exorcisms today take many more sessions than it would take in the past. Previously, one single exorcism might have been enough to drive the devil out―nowadays it is taking many more sessions to achieve the same result. It is not because the devil has become more powerful―it is because the Church has become weaker as a whole and that affects the power of the Sacramentals of Church as a “knock-on” effect.
We all have “a devil on the shoulder”, so to speak, just as we all have a guardian angel by our side. As Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, says that today, “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity! ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray! Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity.”
Some people stupidly or naively have an exaggerated imagination when it comes to demonic possession ― just because people sin gravely does not automatically mean they are possessed (even though persistently living in very grave mortal sins does incur the risk of eventual possession). Demonic possession is rare ― but demonic oppression and demonic obsession is extremely common ― as said above, we all have “a devil on the shoulder”, so to speak. The Catholic exorcist priests have composed various prayers that the laity can pray frequently to offset this demonic oppression and obsession. Here is one of those prayers ― BUT BE WARNED, THIS PRAYER IS ONLY MEANT TO APPLY YOU PRAYING FOR YOURSELF ― YOU MUST NOT START PLAYING AT BEING AN EXORCIST BY TRYING TO PRAY IT OVER OTHER PEOPLE ― YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER OTHERS (exceptions being parents over their own personal children). IF YOU FAIL TO IGNORE THIS WARNING, THEN YOU ARE OPENING YOURSELF UP TO THE DEVIL! Copy and paste this prayer for your own PERSONAL USE and also COPY AND PASTE THE WARNING, and keep the warning always on the same page as the prayer. The devil would like nothing more than for you to start playing at being a DIY exorcist ― which would open you up to him. The prayer is very powerful ― DO NOT BE AFRAID TO USE IT ― but ONLY USE FOR YOURSELF. You can encourage others to pray it also ― but never separate the prayer from the warning. With all being said, here is the prayer composed by Catholic exorcists for use by the laity:
“O Most Blessed Trinity, by the authority given to me by the Natural Law, and by virtue of Thy giving these things and rights to me, I claim authority, rights and power over my (mention whatever applies: physical health, mental health, emotions, relationships, family, security, freedom, reputation, income, finances, possessions, job, etc.) and anything else that pertains to the demonic oppression.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, by the merits of Thy Sacred Wounds, I reclaim the rights, powers and authority over anything which I may have lost or conceded to any demon; and I ask Thee to remove any demon’s ability to influence or affect anything in my life.
“O God Almighty Father, humiliate the demons that have sought to steal Thy glory from Thee, by oppressing Thy creatures. I beseech Thee to show Thy great glory and power over them; and to show Thy generosity, kindness and mercy to me, Thine unworthy servant and sinful creature, by answering and granting all that I have asked of Thee.
“I bind all demons of oppression―in the Name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Most Precious Blood; by the power of the humility with which Christ suffered His wounds; and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Most Powerful; and through the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel, the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the Saints; and I command you demons to go to the foot of the Holy Cross to receive your sentence, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Alternatively, you can download a PDF file with prayer with warning included here ― just click on the icon or the words "Download File".
| prayer_against_demonic_oppression___instructions__ver_2021-11-18_.pdf |
The Sacramental of the Holy Rosary
Way back in the Middle Ages, St. Dominic prophesied that one day, through the Rosary and Scapular, Our Lady would save the world. In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia) the author of this book found the following account:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. And one day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.”
► OUR LADY, on July 13th, 1917, at her third apparition at Fatima, seemed to reinforce St. Dominic’s prophesy when she said: Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” At her final apparition at Fatima, on October 17th, 1917, Our Lady was dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding out the Brown Scapular to the world.
At every single Fatima apparition she insisted upon the Rosary being prayed: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, in Japan, she took the same stance: “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
Heaven has ruled that the Rosary is to be the weapon for our day and age―as Our Lady of Akita stated: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” Sister Lucia of Fatima says that Our Lady revealed to her that the Rosary is a universal weapon or multi-tasking tool for all circumstances―both natural and supernatural, physical and spiritual: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady is not asking for an occasional Rosary, the bare minimum she asks for is a DAILY ROSARY―but, she also encourages us to much more: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita, 1973).
St. Louis de Montfort tells us: “Our Lady also taught the Rosary to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me! But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ―for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► ST. PADRE PIO had a great love for our Blessed Mother and he prayed the Rosary almost continually. He is reputed to have said the five decades of the Rosary as many as 35 to 50 times per day―therefore anywhere from 175 decades to 250 decades a day! On February 6th, 1954 at 9:00 p.m., Padre Pio said to Padre Carmelo: “I still have two Rosaries to pray today. I have only said thirty-four Rosaries so far. Then I will go to bed.” At another time, answering Padre Michelangelo’s question as to how many Rosaries he had prayed that day, Padre Pio said: “Today I said thirty-two or thirty-three Rosaries. Maybe one or two more.” Answering a similar question from Padre Mariano, Padre Pio said: “About thirty. Maybe some more, but not less!” When asked: “How do you do it?” Padre Pio replied: “What is the night for?” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it? ― How do you manage not to say any Rosaries?”
St. Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” To Enedina Mori, St. Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” He instructed his spiritual children: “In all the free time you have, once you have finished your duties of state, you should kneel down and pray the Rosary. Pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, or before a crucifix.” Commenting upon complaints about the repetitiveness of the Rosary, St. Padre Pio sarcastically said: “Pay attention to the mysteries! They change with every decade!” Two days before he died, Padre Pio repeated: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always. And recite it as much as you can!”
Convinced of the power of the Rosary, St. Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. One person said: “We always saw him with his Rosary in his hand — in the friary, in the halls, on the stairs, in the sacristy, in the Church, even in the brief interval when going to and coming from the confessional.” Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” St. Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night.
A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!” Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” Later, to Padre Onorato Marcucci, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, Padre Pio said: “With this—one wins the battles … The Rosary is THE weapon!” St. Padre Pio urged all Catholics to “pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is THE weapon against the evils of the world.” Another person added: “When, at the end of his life, he did not talk to us anymore, we told him our thoughts. We asked for help. And all he did was to show us the Rosary, always, always.”
► ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! … How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently!’ (Jeremias 48:10).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all [like a soldier not taking aim before firing his rifle], so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “I would add that the Rosary, being the prayer most appreciated by Our Lady, is an extremely powerful arm against the devil, and I warmly recommend it to anyone suffering from spiritual evils ... During an exorcism Satan told me, through the possessed person, ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’ … Pray the Rosary. It is an extremely powerful weapon against the devil and will give us strong protection and liberation from evil. Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed that God conferred a power so great on the Rosary that there is no evil: personal, family or social that cannot be defeated by praying the Rosary with Faith … Maybe we do not pray with the heart? Ah, this is possible!! We must pray in Faith―not mechanically!”
► POPE ADRIAN VI said: “The Rosary is the scourge of the devil!”
► POPE LEO XIII wrote: “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying!”
► BLESSED POPE PIUS IX said: “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!”
► POPE ST. PIUS X said the following: “If there were one million families praying the Rosary every day, the entire world would be saved.”
► POPE PIUS XI wrote that “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and a most powerful weapon to overcome the devil ... It serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion.”
► ARE YOU SURE YOUR ROSARY IS PROFITABLE? We can easily be drawn into a false sense of security and a dangerous complacency when we look at the small number of those who pray the Rosary. We might be tempted to have a similar view of ourselves as the Pharisee had of himself in one of Our Lord’s parables: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Why is that we tend to compare ourselves with the sinners beneath us, rather than the saints above us? We are tempted to look at the 90% to 95% of Catholics who DO NOT say the Rosary daily, and think: “At least I say my Rosary daily!” Yet we will not compare ourselves to saints such as St. Padre Pio, who would pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily―yes, you read that correctly, 30 to 50 Rosaries (5 decade Rosaries) and not just 30 to 50 decades!
Nevertheless, quantity without quality is pointless and worthless. We need to pray from the heart and not just from the lips! Our Rosaries should be prayed with deep love of God and not just said mechanically with the lips! Our Lord rebuked such “lip-service” when He said: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
As St. Louis de Montfort said, a “fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible.” Our Lady might well ask us the question that she put before Melanie and Maximin during her apparition at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Do we say the Rosary properly, or do we merely give “lip-service”? To say―or should we say “pray”―the Rosary properly, we should be also meditating the Rosary. That is the wish of Our Lady―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he quotes Our Lady’s own words to Blessed Alan de la Roche: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.”
Furthermore, to pray the Rosary properly, we need to slow down! If we say it hurriedly―rushing through it―then it loses much of its value. To use a financial analogy, a properly prayed Rosary might see God rewarding us with $500, or $400, or $300―depending upon whether we pray it at a respectful speed. However, if we speed and race through it, then God might only give us $20 for our speedy-Rosary and also give us a speeding-ticket with a fine of $100―so, ultimately, even though God rewarded us with $20 for our hurried Rosary, we end up $80 out-of-pocket because of the speeding fine! We should bear in mind the proverb: “Make haste slowly!”
Rosary Miracles
► LEPANTO, OCTOBER 7TH, 1571 ― The Muslim Ottoman Empire was rising in the east, while the Church and State were rapidly sinking in the west. Ever since the tide turned in the Crusades, in favor of the forces of Islam, the Muslim Empire grew through the Middle East and spilled out into the surrounding areas of Europe, North Africa and Asia. The Muslim Ottoman Empire was on the ascendancy, to the point that it by the time of Lepanto, it had total naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. During the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman Empire was especially at the height of its power. As the spring of 1571 approached, almost five years of pleading on the part of Pius V, for Europe to unite in opposition to the threat of the Turkish fleet, seemed to have been without any effect. The Pope was sure in his own mind that, unless the Holy League could be made effective by the spring of 1571, the present chance of repelling the ever-increasing Turkish aggression would be lost. The Muslim Empire had been ever increasingly invading the fringes of Europe and had set its sights on overrunning Europe and capturing Rome. Finally, the Pope managed to organize a few European nations to form a Holy League against the Muslims. On the eve of battle, the leader of the Christian forces, Don John of Austria, had already distributed Rosaries to each and every soldier and sailor of the Holy League. Don John reminded his fleet that the battle they would soon engage in was as much spiritual as physical. They prepared their souls by falling to their knees on the decks of their ships and praying the Rosary for hours on end―at least four hours of Rosary praying before sailing to battle. Masses were offered by priests on the ships. Back in Rome, and up and down the Italian Peninsula, at the request of Pope Pius V, the churches were filled with the faithful praying the Rosary. Even during the battle the Rosary was prayed on the decks of the ships. We all know the outcome―you can read about it great detail in our eight part series [click here to start with the Introduction].
► HIROSHIMA, JAPAN, AUGUST 6TH, 1945 ― The Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The intense heat and radiation spread immediately and engulfed all those in its path. Eight square miles were reduced to ash in resulting fires. The heat evaporated metal, melted glass, and ignited clothing miles away. Those whose flesh had not melted away, faced horrible suffering in a variety of symptoms as the radiation destroyed the cells in their bodies. Over 80,000 people were killed instantly. Thousands more would die later from radiation poisoning. Men, women and children endured incomprehensible suffering. The temperature at the center of the blast was said to be as hot as the surface of the sun. Hiroshima was obliterated in seconds, but beneath the mushroom cloud, in the midst of horror, a miracle would rise from the ashes of destruction and bear witness to the power of the Rosary. There was a house, the parish rectory, only eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from ground-zero, where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the parish rectory survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
► AUSTRIA, 1955 —After the Second World War, the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to Communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
► BRAZIL, 1962 ― In 1962, there was a looming threat of Communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In the city of Belo Horizonte, 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In the city of Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the Communist President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
► ROSARY SAVED A YOUNG WOMAN FROM SERIAL KILLER, FLORIDA, 1978 ― The above examples apply to large scale situations on a national or international level, except perhaps the Hiroshima miracle. Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed Our Lady had told her that “there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.” Here is an example of the effect of the Rosary on a small scale, in someone’s personal life. In Florida, USA, on January 15th, 1978, a serial killer named Ted Bundy went on a killing rampage at the Florida State University in Tallahassee. He killed two girls in the Chi Omega sorority house and headed off to search for more victims. He barged into another room, with weapon in hand, to kill another girl. All of a sudden, a mysterious force repelled him from the room and flung the weapon out of his hand. Why? Well, that night, the girl in that room had fallen asleep with a Rosary in her hand. Before she started college, she had promised her family that she would pray the Rosary every night for protection. That night ― as is often the case if you leave your prayers to the very end of the day ― she fell asleep as she was praying the Rosary and the Rosary beads remained in her hand. When the police came, they found the girl emotionally paralyzed with fear ― she said she would not talk to anybody except a priest. They called a priest, Monsignor Kerr, who quickly came, and the girl told the priest what she had promised her family about praying the Rosary nightly for protection. Years later, when Ted Bundy was on Death Row, he asked to see a priest. Providentially, it was that same priest who came to talk to Bundy― Monsignor Kerr. As they were speaking, Bundy revealed to him that there was something that puzzled him. He then said: “After I had killed those two girls and entered another room to kill another girl―some force threw me out of the room and knocked the knife out of my hand! Can you explain that to me?” The priest replied: “Actually, I can! I spoke to that girl that night! You were not aware of it, but she had made a promise to pray the Rosary nightly for protection. There was a power through those Rosary beads that threw you out of the room!”
IN THE NEXT ARTICLE WE WILL EXAMINE THE POWER AND THE MIRACLES PRODUCED BY THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
Way back in the Middle Ages, St. Dominic prophesied that one day, through the Rosary and Scapular, Our Lady would save the world. In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia) the author of this book found the following account:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. And one day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.”
► OUR LADY, on July 13th, 1917, at her third apparition at Fatima, seemed to reinforce St. Dominic’s prophesy when she said: Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” At her final apparition at Fatima, on October 17th, 1917, Our Lady was dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding out the Brown Scapular to the world.
At every single Fatima apparition she insisted upon the Rosary being prayed: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, in Japan, she took the same stance: “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
Heaven has ruled that the Rosary is to be the weapon for our day and age―as Our Lady of Akita stated: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” Sister Lucia of Fatima says that Our Lady revealed to her that the Rosary is a universal weapon or multi-tasking tool for all circumstances―both natural and supernatural, physical and spiritual: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady is not asking for an occasional Rosary, the bare minimum she asks for is a DAILY ROSARY―but, she also encourages us to much more: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita, 1973).
St. Louis de Montfort tells us: “Our Lady also taught the Rosary to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me! But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ―for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► ST. PADRE PIO had a great love for our Blessed Mother and he prayed the Rosary almost continually. He is reputed to have said the five decades of the Rosary as many as 35 to 50 times per day―therefore anywhere from 175 decades to 250 decades a day! On February 6th, 1954 at 9:00 p.m., Padre Pio said to Padre Carmelo: “I still have two Rosaries to pray today. I have only said thirty-four Rosaries so far. Then I will go to bed.” At another time, answering Padre Michelangelo’s question as to how many Rosaries he had prayed that day, Padre Pio said: “Today I said thirty-two or thirty-three Rosaries. Maybe one or two more.” Answering a similar question from Padre Mariano, Padre Pio said: “About thirty. Maybe some more, but not less!” When asked: “How do you do it?” Padre Pio replied: “What is the night for?” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it? ― How do you manage not to say any Rosaries?”
St. Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” To Enedina Mori, St. Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” He instructed his spiritual children: “In all the free time you have, once you have finished your duties of state, you should kneel down and pray the Rosary. Pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, or before a crucifix.” Commenting upon complaints about the repetitiveness of the Rosary, St. Padre Pio sarcastically said: “Pay attention to the mysteries! They change with every decade!” Two days before he died, Padre Pio repeated: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always. And recite it as much as you can!”
Convinced of the power of the Rosary, St. Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. One person said: “We always saw him with his Rosary in his hand — in the friary, in the halls, on the stairs, in the sacristy, in the Church, even in the brief interval when going to and coming from the confessional.” Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” St. Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night.
A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!” Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” Later, to Padre Onorato Marcucci, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, Padre Pio said: “With this—one wins the battles … The Rosary is THE weapon!” St. Padre Pio urged all Catholics to “pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is THE weapon against the evils of the world.” Another person added: “When, at the end of his life, he did not talk to us anymore, we told him our thoughts. We asked for help. And all he did was to show us the Rosary, always, always.”
► ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! … How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently!’ (Jeremias 48:10).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all [like a soldier not taking aim before firing his rifle], so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “I would add that the Rosary, being the prayer most appreciated by Our Lady, is an extremely powerful arm against the devil, and I warmly recommend it to anyone suffering from spiritual evils ... During an exorcism Satan told me, through the possessed person, ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’ … Pray the Rosary. It is an extremely powerful weapon against the devil and will give us strong protection and liberation from evil. Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed that God conferred a power so great on the Rosary that there is no evil: personal, family or social that cannot be defeated by praying the Rosary with Faith … Maybe we do not pray with the heart? Ah, this is possible!! We must pray in Faith―not mechanically!”
► POPE ADRIAN VI said: “The Rosary is the scourge of the devil!”
► POPE LEO XIII wrote: “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying!”
► BLESSED POPE PIUS IX said: “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!”
► POPE ST. PIUS X said the following: “If there were one million families praying the Rosary every day, the entire world would be saved.”
► POPE PIUS XI wrote that “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and a most powerful weapon to overcome the devil ... It serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion.”
► ARE YOU SURE YOUR ROSARY IS PROFITABLE? We can easily be drawn into a false sense of security and a dangerous complacency when we look at the small number of those who pray the Rosary. We might be tempted to have a similar view of ourselves as the Pharisee had of himself in one of Our Lord’s parables: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Why is that we tend to compare ourselves with the sinners beneath us, rather than the saints above us? We are tempted to look at the 90% to 95% of Catholics who DO NOT say the Rosary daily, and think: “At least I say my Rosary daily!” Yet we will not compare ourselves to saints such as St. Padre Pio, who would pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily―yes, you read that correctly, 30 to 50 Rosaries (5 decade Rosaries) and not just 30 to 50 decades!
Nevertheless, quantity without quality is pointless and worthless. We need to pray from the heart and not just from the lips! Our Rosaries should be prayed with deep love of God and not just said mechanically with the lips! Our Lord rebuked such “lip-service” when He said: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
As St. Louis de Montfort said, a “fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible.” Our Lady might well ask us the question that she put before Melanie and Maximin during her apparition at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Do we say the Rosary properly, or do we merely give “lip-service”? To say―or should we say “pray”―the Rosary properly, we should be also meditating the Rosary. That is the wish of Our Lady―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he quotes Our Lady’s own words to Blessed Alan de la Roche: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.”
Furthermore, to pray the Rosary properly, we need to slow down! If we say it hurriedly―rushing through it―then it loses much of its value. To use a financial analogy, a properly prayed Rosary might see God rewarding us with $500, or $400, or $300―depending upon whether we pray it at a respectful speed. However, if we speed and race through it, then God might only give us $20 for our speedy-Rosary and also give us a speeding-ticket with a fine of $100―so, ultimately, even though God rewarded us with $20 for our hurried Rosary, we end up $80 out-of-pocket because of the speeding fine! We should bear in mind the proverb: “Make haste slowly!”
Rosary Miracles
► LEPANTO, OCTOBER 7TH, 1571 ― The Muslim Ottoman Empire was rising in the east, while the Church and State were rapidly sinking in the west. Ever since the tide turned in the Crusades, in favor of the forces of Islam, the Muslim Empire grew through the Middle East and spilled out into the surrounding areas of Europe, North Africa and Asia. The Muslim Ottoman Empire was on the ascendancy, to the point that it by the time of Lepanto, it had total naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. During the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman Empire was especially at the height of its power. As the spring of 1571 approached, almost five years of pleading on the part of Pius V, for Europe to unite in opposition to the threat of the Turkish fleet, seemed to have been without any effect. The Pope was sure in his own mind that, unless the Holy League could be made effective by the spring of 1571, the present chance of repelling the ever-increasing Turkish aggression would be lost. The Muslim Empire had been ever increasingly invading the fringes of Europe and had set its sights on overrunning Europe and capturing Rome. Finally, the Pope managed to organize a few European nations to form a Holy League against the Muslims. On the eve of battle, the leader of the Christian forces, Don John of Austria, had already distributed Rosaries to each and every soldier and sailor of the Holy League. Don John reminded his fleet that the battle they would soon engage in was as much spiritual as physical. They prepared their souls by falling to their knees on the decks of their ships and praying the Rosary for hours on end―at least four hours of Rosary praying before sailing to battle. Masses were offered by priests on the ships. Back in Rome, and up and down the Italian Peninsula, at the request of Pope Pius V, the churches were filled with the faithful praying the Rosary. Even during the battle the Rosary was prayed on the decks of the ships. We all know the outcome―you can read about it great detail in our eight part series [click here to start with the Introduction].
► HIROSHIMA, JAPAN, AUGUST 6TH, 1945 ― The Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The intense heat and radiation spread immediately and engulfed all those in its path. Eight square miles were reduced to ash in resulting fires. The heat evaporated metal, melted glass, and ignited clothing miles away. Those whose flesh had not melted away, faced horrible suffering in a variety of symptoms as the radiation destroyed the cells in their bodies. Over 80,000 people were killed instantly. Thousands more would die later from radiation poisoning. Men, women and children endured incomprehensible suffering. The temperature at the center of the blast was said to be as hot as the surface of the sun. Hiroshima was obliterated in seconds, but beneath the mushroom cloud, in the midst of horror, a miracle would rise from the ashes of destruction and bear witness to the power of the Rosary. There was a house, the parish rectory, only eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from ground-zero, where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the parish rectory survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
► AUSTRIA, 1955 —After the Second World War, the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to Communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
► BRAZIL, 1962 ― In 1962, there was a looming threat of Communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In the city of Belo Horizonte, 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In the city of Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the Communist President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
► ROSARY SAVED A YOUNG WOMAN FROM SERIAL KILLER, FLORIDA, 1978 ― The above examples apply to large scale situations on a national or international level, except perhaps the Hiroshima miracle. Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed Our Lady had told her that “there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.” Here is an example of the effect of the Rosary on a small scale, in someone’s personal life. In Florida, USA, on January 15th, 1978, a serial killer named Ted Bundy went on a killing rampage at the Florida State University in Tallahassee. He killed two girls in the Chi Omega sorority house and headed off to search for more victims. He barged into another room, with weapon in hand, to kill another girl. All of a sudden, a mysterious force repelled him from the room and flung the weapon out of his hand. Why? Well, that night, the girl in that room had fallen asleep with a Rosary in her hand. Before she started college, she had promised her family that she would pray the Rosary every night for protection. That night ― as is often the case if you leave your prayers to the very end of the day ― she fell asleep as she was praying the Rosary and the Rosary beads remained in her hand. When the police came, they found the girl emotionally paralyzed with fear ― she said she would not talk to anybody except a priest. They called a priest, Monsignor Kerr, who quickly came, and the girl told the priest what she had promised her family about praying the Rosary nightly for protection. Years later, when Ted Bundy was on Death Row, he asked to see a priest. Providentially, it was that same priest who came to talk to Bundy― Monsignor Kerr. As they were speaking, Bundy revealed to him that there was something that puzzled him. He then said: “After I had killed those two girls and entered another room to kill another girl―some force threw me out of the room and knocked the knife out of my hand! Can you explain that to me?” The priest replied: “Actually, I can! I spoke to that girl that night! You were not aware of it, but she had made a promise to pray the Rosary nightly for protection. There was a power through those Rosary beads that threw you out of the room!”
IN THE NEXT ARTICLE WE WILL EXAMINE THE POWER AND THE MIRACLES PRODUCED BY THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
Thursday January 20th through to Sunday January 23rd
Article 14
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART ONE: The Power of the Mass and the Eucharist
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 14
Use These Weapons NOW!
PART ONE: The Power of the Mass and the Eucharist
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
From Presumption to Gumption
For those who are unaware of the meaning of the word “gumption”―it is a noun that has a twofold meaning: (1) sound practical judgment, and (2) fortitude and determination. In our current plight and predicament, faced with the ever-increasing totalitarian stranglehold that is being exerted and coerced upon these days―mankind in general, and Catholics in particular, need to leave behind the false presumption that “everything will sort itself out somehow”; or that some “gallant knight in shining armor on a white horse” will gallop to the rescue; or that a “doting, cosseting, pampering” God will wave a “magic-wand” and instantaneously bring to an end this totalitarian genocidal threat as though it was only a bad nightmare. In place of that false presumption, we need a lot of “gumption”―that is to say, we need a sound practical judgment as to what to do and lots of fortitude and determination to carry it out and see it through.
Get God’s Gumption
There is no better gumption that God’s gumption―meaning that there is no better sound practical judgment than God’s judgment; and no greater fortitude and determination that God’s fortitude and determination. Our human judgment, fortitude and determination are merely piddly, paltry and pathetic compared to that of God. There are too many idiotic, impotent and infantile solutions being bandied around as band-aids to the catastrophic collapse of civilization as we know it. We do not need an injection of some Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine―we need an injection of God’s gumption vaccine―and the sooner the better!
We are not fighting a worldwide battle against mere evil men―but against the prince that rules those evil men: Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). Once you remove the omnipotent God from the equation, the sum total that you are left with is the impotence of man trying to overcome the exponentially greater powers of Satan and Hell. It is like trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella! Pathetic, pointless and preposterous! The lesser will not overcome the greater! Once you cease to rely upon God ― “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― then you have “sacked”, “dismissed” or “fired” the only power greater than the angelic power, that is to say, the power of God. Yet sadly, that is where we find ourselves today―God has been either “sacked”, “dismissed”, “fired”, “furloughed”, “part-timed” or “forgotten”. Men presume that they can solve today’s problems, threats and crises with human powers alone―totally failing to realize that behind those problems, threats and crises is to be found Satan and the powers of Hell. We need Christ to crush Satan―just as He did on Calvary―and until we call Christ back, we are doomed to lose the battle and perhaps our souls too!
Sister Lucia of Fatima has stated that Satan has entered into a final battle with Our Lady and that this means that there can be no spectators―we must either fight alongside Our Lady, or, if we do nothing, then by default we are fighting on the side of Satan: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons … The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
First Things First
In any kind of war certain things take precedence―in other words “first things first”. Trivial things must be set aside in order to take care of the most important things. Right now, we are most certainly in a war―a silent war, an insidious war, a war of depopulation, a war against morality, a war that is ultimately waged against Christianity.
► THE FIRST THING to “get right” is the fact that we―by ourselves―are powerless. As Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Holy Scripture backs this up by saying: “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28). “Trust not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “In God I have put my trust! I will not fear what flesh can do against me!” (Psalm 55:5). “I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened!” (Psalm 25:1). “Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 30:25). If our chief hope and trust, reliance and confidence is not in God―then we are doomed to be the losers in this battle. Yes―God has ruled that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will eventually triumph in the Name of God―but that does not mean that we, and many many others, might not suffer and die in the process, as a result of our indifference, lethargy, laziness, neglect or even outright refusal to use the weapons that God has given us.
► THE SECOND THING that we absolutely must realize is that if we are not in a state of sanctifying grace, then most of weapons that Heaven has given us WILL NOT WORK in battle. At best, they will earn graces for our own conversion and return to sanctifying grace―but they will be useless against the enemy. Bear in mind that VERY FEW people above the age of reason are in a state of sanctifying grace. That is obviously the case with the vast majority of non-Catholics, but it is also the case with Catholics! Hey! If only around 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly fulfill their obligation, which binds under pain of mortal sin, of attending Mass on each and every Sunday and Holy Day―and less than 2% of Catholics go to confession frequently, and 75% never go to Confession, or go less than once a year―then you do the math! Even back in the “good-old-days”―when all of the Catholic Church was traditional―St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confessed badly for one reason or another, and were thus in a state of mortal sin! Just think―it is impossible to end up in Hell if you are NOT in a state of mortal sin! Why then do most souls go to Hell? Remember that Satan is not going to prick your conscience if you are in a state of mortal sin―he is going to either make you imagine that you are not in mortal sin at all, he will downplay your mortal sin and make you think it is only a venial sin, or he will convince you that there is nothing to worry about even if you are in mortal sin, or if he sees that you confess your mortal sin, then he will have you repeat again and again and again, while you confess it again and again and again―but any priest worth his salt will tell you that this indicates that you have no FIRM purpose of amending your life (which is one of the 5 essential requirements for a good and valid confession). Such persons simply make bad confessions and remain in mortal sin, while thinking their confessions and good and valid. To effectively fight as soldiers of Christ―and not be in the field hospital―we need to be in a state of sanctifying grace with no unconfessed, nor badly confessed, mortal sin in our soul.
► THE THIRD THING that we must possess is supernatural charity―without it, we are pretty much powerless in using the weapons that Heaven gives us. This is clearly pointed-out by Holy Scripture: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Sadly, today, true charity ― that is to say supernatural charity ― is becoming more and more rare. We can sometimes get away with faking charity in the eyes of men ― but not with God, Whose all piercing eye penetrates the camouflage. “Serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind ― for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the thoughts of minds!” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9).
The Weapons
We are already familiar with most, if not all, of the weapons―the problem is that we are not using them and they are getting “rusty” and “blunt” through lack of use, or misuse, or even abuse. It is much like modern-day weapons―if you put them into untrained hands, then they will be of little or no use. Furthermore, if the person using the weapon is ignorant of the weapon’s power and capabilities―then, again, the weapon will be of little or no use. There is a point and a purpose behind the saying that “a weapon is only as good as the person using it”.
You could say that our weapons “come in twos” ― just as Jesus sent out His disciples in twos, in order to preach and fight for the truth: “The Lord appointed also other seventy-two―and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city” (Luke 10:1). God made the Earth with two essential elements―land and sea. He made two bodies that would give light to the Earth―the sun and moon. He made two periods of time―day and night. God made us with two essential components ― body and soul. God made two kinds of humans ― male and female. He created them with two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two lips, two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet. Likewise we see, by God’s command, Noe take the animals going into his ark, two by two: “And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark ― the male sex, and the female. Two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live” (Genesis 6:19-20). Our Lord entered this world surrounded by only two persons ― Mary and Joseph. Christ had two natures―the divine nature and the human nature. Christ was crucified between two thieves: “And there were also two other malefactors led with Him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him there ― and the robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left” (Luke 23:32-33). After He had risen from the dead, two angels were seen by women entering the empty tomb: “And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel” (Luke 24:3-4). At Our Lord’s ascension into Heaven, once again two angels were present: “While they were beholding Him going up to Heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments” (Acts of Apostles 1:10). Our Lord points to two weapons for casting out Satan ― prayer and fasting: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
This leads us into the two distinct kinds or genres of weapons that Heaven has given us: SACRAMENTS and SACRAMENTALS ― which have been instituted by two different bodies ― Christ instituted the Sacraments and the Church has instituted the Sacramentals. Sacraments also have two essential elements―matter and form. Sacramentals usually also have two essential elements―an object and a blessing―for example, the Rosary beads and blessing they receive that changes them into a Sacramental. The Rosary itself is made up of two essential parts―vocal prayer and meditation―the vocal prayer is performed by the body (lips) and the meditation is performed by the soul.
Sacraments are efficacious signs of God’s grace. This means that, barring human obstacle, they convey to us the grace they signify in virtue of the rite or action performed (ex opere operato). When the proper matter for each Sacrament is present and the correct words are spoken, the grace of the Sacrament is automatically conferred―unless something on the part of the person receiving the Sacrament creates an obstacle (e.g. trying to receive a Sacrament in a state of mortal sin). While the Sacraments “work” regardless of the person who administers them, or for that matter of those who receive them, there may be a hindrance to what the Sacrament has been instituted to bring about in the soul, if one is unwilling or fundamentally not disposed to receive them.
In contrast, Sacramentals confer grace from the merit, devotion or work of the person using the Sacramental (ex opere operantis). Therefore, the grace received is determined by the spiritual disposition or worthiness of the individual.
The third difference consists in the grace received. While the Sacraments confer both Sanctifying and Sacramental grace when they are conferred, such is not the case with Sacramentals. Sacramentals do not confer Sanctifying Grace but they can obtain for us these benefits: (1) Actual graces; (2) Forgiveness of venial sins; (3) Remission of temporal punishment; (4) Health of body and material blessings; (5) Protection from evil spirits.
THE SACRAMENTS
The Sacrifice of Calvary and the Mass is the Ultimate Weapon
Sadly and unfortunately, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is poorly understood, greatly underrated, largely unattended and always underused. There is no power on Earth greater than the power contained in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―based on the visions granted to her by Heaven―says: “She (the Holy Mother) said a great many others things that it pains me to relate. She said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless Sacrifice [of the Mass] as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters that are to come.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church, writes: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross!” St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor of the Church, adds: “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us; and if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way.” St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, states: “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death!” St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), author of a wonderful book on the Mass, writes: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities! Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base! ... Get celebrated all the Masses possible in your circumstances―not only for the souls departed, but for your own! [and the current needs of the world in this present crisis] … There is no more efficacious means for attaining so holy a purpose.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Doctor of the Church, adds: “You will gain more from one single Mass than you would from distributing all your goods to the poor or making pilgrimages to all the most holy shrines in Christendom.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), said: “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass! … It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass!”
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart, says: “How often have I heard young ladies say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. I do not blame your novenas to the saints, but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! You have a right to ask for such miracles. But I tell you that you must pay the ransom! Pay the ransom with the Chalice ― with the Mass!”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil! Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
So why are we not using the Mass as we should? Or―since it is easy and convenient to anonymously hide behind the word “WE”―why are YOU not using the Mass as you should? Why are you not having Masses offered against this current crisis of attempted genocide in the world? Why are you having Masse offered against the fatal virus of Liberalism and Modernism in the Church today? Don’t say that you cannot afford 10 or 20 or 30 stipends over the course of a year! A Mass stipend is usually within the $10 to $25 dollar range! Don’t say you can’t afford $100, or $200 or $300 per year for the protection of the Church and the world and the defeat of their enemies! If you protest that you can’t afford that annually―then what is there to stop you from “clubbing together” with one, or two, or three or ten other families? Laziness―that is all! Can’t be bothered to go to so much trouble! Well wait until REAL TROUBLE hits you on the nose! It will not be very long in coming!
► POWER BEYOND OUR WILDEST IMAGINATION ― It is MOST POWERFUL weapon on Earth―more powerful than nuclear weapons―because behind it, in it, is Almighty God―Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity! Yet to “tap-into” that power, the Mass should be offered or assisted at (depending on whether you are priest or layperson) with the utmost, supreme devotion―as Our Lady revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich above. Satan knows that! That is why he prefers to whisper in your ear that you could do something else―like say a novena, say an occasional Rosary, etc. Satan is always seeking to make us do what will be the lesser of two ‘evils’ for him. He prefers to take hammer blows to the head―so to speak―by our praying the Rosary, rather than being blown sky high by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The problem is that we forget that perpetually have a “devil on our shoulder”, just as we have our guardian angel by our side. The devil will not be just sitting there idle all day, twiddling his thumbs!
► EXCUSES! EXCUSES! ―Too many Catholics have the “Adam and Eve Virus”―we are not speaking of the “obvious virus” of Original Sin―but the virus of blaming someone else when oneself is to blame: “And the Lord said to Adam: ‘Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat!’ And Adam said: ‘The woman―whom Thou gavest me to be my companion―she gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:11-13) ― so, in other words, “It wasn’t MY fault―SHE made me do it, or the DEVIL made me do it!” We are so full of excuses! It’s a disease or virus that has been incessantly spread from the beginning of the world!
► POWER UNTAPPED ―The bottom line is that our celebration of Mass (if we are priests) or our attendance at Mass (if we are laypersons) is way below the level that Our Lady spoke of to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich ― “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” As a layperson, do not think that you are exempt from that command or criticism ― for since you join yourself to the priest offering Mass, your devotion should be far greater than what it is right now! Our Lady could have just as well said: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” We do not treasure the “Greatest Treasure” in the world as much as we should. We assist at Mass halfheartedly, distractedly, mechanically, lukewarmly ― and we forget that we are, in essence, standing at the foot of Christ’s Cross on Calvary. “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Of such lukewarmness God says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Our Lord complained of this lukewarmness to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
► POWER OF ONE MASS AND ONE COMMUNION ―The renowned Fr. Faber (1814-1863) writes: “Sometimes we get into a rut and we almost begin taking Holy Communion for granted. We must resist this temptation towards tepidity―because Holy Communion is a great gift from Jesus ― a priceless treasure ... No one can tell how much grace lies in a single Sacrament. In a single Communion lies all grace; for in It is the Author and Fountain of all grace. And, if the theological opinion be true―that there is no grace in any of His members which has not actually been first in our Lord Himself―then all the grace of all the world lies in one Communion, to be unsealed and enjoyed by [proportionate to] the degree of fervor which we bring. The saints have said that a single Communion was enough to make a saint.” (The Precious Blood, chapter 3, “Empire of the Precious Blood”, p. 147).
One Holy Communion can make a person a saint! Yes―just one! Why doesn’t it happen then? The fault does not lay on the side of the Holy Eucharist (which is Jesus Himself), but the fault lays on our side and our insufficient appreciation and efforts, our lack of desire and Faith, our lukewarmness and lack of love. This is so because we implicitly put self before God. We are too caught-up with ourselves to be caught-up with God! Our personal interests come before the interests of God; our personal good come before the good of God’s Church and the needy world. The material comes before the spiritual. Time spent on material things far exceeds time spent on spiritual things. Happiness in this world is more of a target than happiness in the next world.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is―so to speak―a double-barreled ‘shotgun’ or a two-edged ‘sword’. It is―unlike the other Sacraments―both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice―the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary. It contains―not only Sanctifying Grace―but the very Author and Fountain of all grace. It is both a weapon of offense and a weapon of defense―it is like a sword and a shield. It is the very heart, or center, of all the Sacraments and Sacramentals. It is like the sun around which all of them revolve and in which all the Sacraments find their raison d’être or reason for existence. We are Baptized so that we can receive the Holy Eucharist; we are Confirmed to fight to spread belief in the Eucharist and defend it; we go to Confession to be healed of sin so that we can once again receive the Eucharist; Matrimony produces (children) new adorers of the Eucharist; Holy Orders creates priests to produce the Eucharist; Extreme Unction gives us―besides the anointing with holy oils―the Viaticum, which is the Holy Eucharist that you take on your road through death into eternity.
► NO “LIGHT-SWITCH” DEVOTION ―Yet the remedy to this woeful neglect of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist cannot be solved by merely flicking a light-switch to get the current of devotion flowing again (or perhaps for the first time ever!). We will not be devoted to something we do not love―and we cannot love what we do not know! Therefore―much as it is with exercise and building muscle―painful steps have to be undertaken and endured until the muscles of the soul start to grow and be strengthened. We need to undertake the painful exercise of reading, growing in knowledge, learning, understanding and appreciation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―if we to have any chance of reaching such heights of devotion that the Mass and the Eucharist both deserve and the level of devotion that will start to change things in the world.
To put things into terms more understandable for the modern materialistic mind―let us talk in terms of dollars and cents. A Mass said (or attended) with a supreme degree of devotion might be worth, so to speak, 1 trillion or 1 billion dollars. Whereas a Mass said hurriedly, halfheartedly, routinely, mechanically, etc. or a Mass attended distractedly, lukewarmly, on “auto-pilot” might only be worth, so to speak, 100 dollars―or even less! It is in this light that we should consider the above-mentioned words of Our Lady to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Or, in the case of laypersons, you could rewrite those words and say: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
Our Lady of Akita told us: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” What else can “the Sign left by my Son” mean ― except the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, which is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary. Yet it is pitiful and woeful to see how underused or even unused that weapon is! There is no shortage of persons who clearly see and understand the current crisis in both the Church and the world. Likewise, there is no shortage of persons giving their well-intentioned solutions to the problem ― much like Fr. Matteo says in the above mentioned quote: “How often have I heard young ladies say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions―but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA!”
Yes! Why do not make a novena of Masses―nine days in a row if you can, nine Sundays in a row, or just nine Masses? Make a “double-barreled” intention for those Masses ― THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE OF MARY & THE CONVERSION (preferably) OR DESTRUCTION (if they won’t convert) OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH & MANKIND. Better still, don’t just assist at Masses with those intentions, but GIVE THE PRIEST A STIPEND TO HAVE MASSES SAID FOR THOSE INTENTIONS―as many as you can afford and as often as you can afford. Even better still, RECRUIT OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THE SAME WITH THEIR LOCAL PRIESTS. If you are a priest, then encourage the faithful with words similar to these:
“Dear faithful, many of you ask for Masses to be said―for example―for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally”. Yet, as you well know, the Church and mankind are currently facing unprecedented attacks from within and from the outside. We need to repel those attacks! The most powerful weapon that we possess is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―for it is Christ Himself who offers Himself in every Mass. Let us turn that weapon upon our enemies and beg Christ, first and foremost, to hasten the hour of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―and, as result, to preferably convert our enemies―but, if they will not convert, then may He destroy them before they destroy countless bodies and souls. So, if you wish, give me your stipend for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” ― but allow me to say to Our Lord before I celebrate that Mass for your intention: “Lord! This Mass is meant to for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” ― but the person asking for this Mass has agreed to let me say to Thee: ‘Lord, if you want this Mass to be offered for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church and mankind―then please use it for that intention―because we know that You will take care of “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” in your own way―for you are God and nothing is impossible to You!’”
We have the solution―but damnably negligent in actually using that solution, using that weapon. Furthermore, a mechanical, routine, hurried, listless, lukewarm rendition of the Mass is not going to be worth very much (the same applies to assistance at Mass)―certainly not the 1 trillion or 1 billion dollars worth that was mentioned above! It would require tens of thousands of those “$100” Masses to buy the help that we need. But, as Our Lady said: “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Or, in the case of laypersons,: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
In days gone by, it was common to find on the sacristy wall a picture frame containing these words: “O priest! Offer today’s Mass as if it were your first Mass and as if it were your last Mass on Earth!” Perhaps we all need to start there―priest and laypersons alike!
The Sacrament and Weapon of the Holy Eucharist
The other side of the “coin”―or perhaps we could say “medal”―of the Sacrifice of the Mass, is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is, as the Church teaches, both a Sacrament and Sacrifice. Just as the Mass in underrated and underused―the same is true of the Holy Eucharist. For Heaven’s sake―the Holy Eucharist is God Himself! How can anyone in their right mind not crave and treasure the Holy Eucharist? If we want to go to Heaven, then we automatically must want God―for the definition of Hell is “an absence of God.” Without God, Heaven would become Hell. Without the Holy Eucharist on Earth, life becomes Hell on Earth!
A recent 2019 Pew Research study found that only 26% of U.S. Catholics under the age of 40 believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the most Holy Eucharist. The Pew Research study found that most Catholics who attend Mass weekly do believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ ― but then only around 10% to 15% of Catholics actually do attend Mass weekly.
► LIVING ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST ALONE ― Despite this increasing disbelief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and persons not canonized nor beatified have lived on nothing but the Holy Eucharist―taking no food and no drink―some of them for as long as over 60 years, others for several decades, or several years, or several months.
Bl. Alpais (d. 1211), Bl. Mary of Oignies (d. 1213), St. Angela of Foligno (d. 1309), St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), Bl. Elizabeth the Good of Waldsee (d. 1420), St. Lydwina of Schiedam (d. 1433), St. Rita of Cascia (d. 1456), St. Nicholas von Flue (d. 1487), Bl. Catherine of Racconigi (d. 1547), St. Peter of Alacantara (d. 1562), Francesca del Serrone (d. 1601), St. Rose of Lima (d. 1617), St. Marianna de Jesus Paredes Flores (d. 1645), St. Joseph Cupertino (d. 1663), Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (d. 1824), Domenica Lazzeri (d. 1848), Juliana Engelbrecht (d. 1853), Louise Lateau (d. 1883), Viktoria Hecht (d. 1890), Magdalena Gornik (d. 1896), St. Gemma Galgani (d. 1903), Rosalie Put (d. 1919), Teresa Palminota (d. 1934), Marie Julie Jahenny (d. 1941), Berthe Petit (d. 1943), Luisa Piccarreta (d. 1947), Bl. Alexandrina Da Costa (d. 1955), Therese Neumann (d. 1962), Marthe Robin (d. 1981), the recent case of the Italian mystic/stigmatic, Antonietta de Vitus (d. 2004).
► DEFENDED BY THE HOLY EUCHARIST ALONE ― The History of Saint Clare, Virgin, tells of various miracles performed by Saint Clare. There are episodes of multiplications of loaves and of bottles of oil that appeared in the convent when there was none before. But Clare performed the most famous of the miracles in 1240, on a Friday in September, in which she turned away an attack by Saracen soldiers who were breaking into the convent cloister by confronting them with the Blessed Sacrament. St. Clare of Assisi’s great faith in the Eucharist brought about this Eucharistic Miracle, which is described by Thomas of Celano (Tomaso da Celano) in the Legend of St. Claire, Virgin, contained in Franciscan Sources.
The German emperor, Frederick II of Swabia, had turned against the Pope and the Church in his ruthless expansion of territory, waging a war against them, and the people of the Umbria. Frederick had visions of an empire that would spread itself throughout modern-day Italy―from Assisi down to Sicily. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick, along with any man serving in his army. With no Christians willing to enlist, Frederick hired Saracens, Arab, and Muslim mercenaries― known for their savagery and cruelty. Villages were burned, and murders and atrocities were committed against the innocent and the defenseless. Monasteries were pillaged and destroyed, with unspeakable violations committed against nuns. Reinforced by this band of merciless cutthroats, Frederick proceeded to march against Assisi.
St. Clare’s convent in San Damiano stood between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The Saracens finally arrived at the monastery of San Damiano, where St. Clare and her fellow sisters resided. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens―who hated Christians, and had a lusty appetite for Caucasian women. They proceeded to attack the Convent. St. Clare was sick in bed at this time. As ladders were being set to scale the walls of the convent, her nuns rushed to her in a state of panic. What would they do? They knew Clare had performed many miracles in the past―so could she protect them from the attacking soldiers? One of the sisters ran into the room to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out. St. Clare had two sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel, and removed a ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament.
As the invaders sought to enter the convent at San Damiano, St. Clare took the ciborium with the Holy Eucharist inside of it, and held it in her hands, pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord: “Behold, my Lord, is it possible that You want to deliver Your defenseless handmaids into the hands of pagans? I beg You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot now save by myself!”
Suddenly a voice was heard that spoke from the ciborium: “I will always protect you!”
St. Clare further prayed: “My Lord, if it is Your wish, protect also this city which is sustained by Your love!”
The voice of Christ replied: “It will have to undergo trials―but it will be defended by My protection!”
Then Clare―her face bathed in tears of gratitude, comforted the sisters: “I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no evil―only have Faith in Christ!”
St. Clare, filled with trust in the Eucharistic Jesus, with great courage took the Blessed Sacrament and went out of the chapel with it to face the Saracen troops, begging God to spare the life of her sisters and to protect the city of Assisi. She brought the ciborium to a large open window facing the courtyard below, where the soldiers had set a ladder against the walls and were in the process of scaling them. She raised the Blessed Sacrament on high. The soldiers looked up at Clare, at the ciborium in her hands. The advancing Saracens froze in their tracks in the courtyard of the convent. Immediately, as if repelled by a mysterious force and petrified with fear, as if they could recognize the God Who was there, the Saracens began to fall off the ladders they had erected, and away from the wall, as if dazzled by something. They all turned back and ran―fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her sisters in peace. St. Clare immediately admonished those who heard the voice of Our Lord speaking to her, telling them severely: “Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters!”
St. Clare of Assisi, demonstrated that spiritual weapons are not only confounding to the world, but they are powerful beyond space and time. Our Lord Himself offered His body on the Cross to defeat mankind’s worst enemy — death. At Calvary, Satan was soundly and definitively defeated. Christ’s sacrifice is the greatest weapon against the devil―and the world of whom Satan is prince. Jesus continues to work in our day, no less than He did two thousand years. The signs and wonders that Jesus performed during His visible stay on Earth were performed on one condition―that they believed. He is now among us in the Holy Eucharist, the Almighty Son of God. He is ready and willing to work wonders no less astounding through the Holy Eucharist. But there is one condition, we must believe. Over the twenty centuries of the Church’s history, there have been countless physical miracles that Christ has performed by His divine power exercised through the Holy Eucharist. The Miracle Worker in the Eucharist is no one less than Jesus Christ. He told us not to be afraid, “for I have overcome the world.” He also told us: “I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.”
We need fortitude and strength to profess and practice our faith with the courage of martyrs. Where do we obtain this strength? Only from Jesus Christ, Who is present on Earth in the Holy Eucharist. Except for the Blessed Sacrament, there would be no martyrs in Christian history. Except for martyrs, there would be no growth in the Catholic Church. St. Augustine could not have been more clear. In his book, The City of God, he tells us: “The martyrs were bound, imprisoned, scourged, racked, burnt, rent, butchered — and they multiplied.” The 20th century saw more martyrdoms than all the previous centuries combined! The way things are going, it is likely we will be breaking the record in the 21st century. It is the Holy Eucharist that can be our defense―as it was for St. Clare―and it is the same Eucharist that will give us the strength to die as martyrs or suffer a living martyrdom in the days to come!
For those who are unaware of the meaning of the word “gumption”―it is a noun that has a twofold meaning: (1) sound practical judgment, and (2) fortitude and determination. In our current plight and predicament, faced with the ever-increasing totalitarian stranglehold that is being exerted and coerced upon these days―mankind in general, and Catholics in particular, need to leave behind the false presumption that “everything will sort itself out somehow”; or that some “gallant knight in shining armor on a white horse” will gallop to the rescue; or that a “doting, cosseting, pampering” God will wave a “magic-wand” and instantaneously bring to an end this totalitarian genocidal threat as though it was only a bad nightmare. In place of that false presumption, we need a lot of “gumption”―that is to say, we need a sound practical judgment as to what to do and lots of fortitude and determination to carry it out and see it through.
Get God’s Gumption
There is no better gumption that God’s gumption―meaning that there is no better sound practical judgment than God’s judgment; and no greater fortitude and determination that God’s fortitude and determination. Our human judgment, fortitude and determination are merely piddly, paltry and pathetic compared to that of God. There are too many idiotic, impotent and infantile solutions being bandied around as band-aids to the catastrophic collapse of civilization as we know it. We do not need an injection of some Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine―we need an injection of God’s gumption vaccine―and the sooner the better!
We are not fighting a worldwide battle against mere evil men―but against the prince that rules those evil men: Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). Once you remove the omnipotent God from the equation, the sum total that you are left with is the impotence of man trying to overcome the exponentially greater powers of Satan and Hell. It is like trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella! Pathetic, pointless and preposterous! The lesser will not overcome the greater! Once you cease to rely upon God ― “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― then you have “sacked”, “dismissed” or “fired” the only power greater than the angelic power, that is to say, the power of God. Yet sadly, that is where we find ourselves today―God has been either “sacked”, “dismissed”, “fired”, “furloughed”, “part-timed” or “forgotten”. Men presume that they can solve today’s problems, threats and crises with human powers alone―totally failing to realize that behind those problems, threats and crises is to be found Satan and the powers of Hell. We need Christ to crush Satan―just as He did on Calvary―and until we call Christ back, we are doomed to lose the battle and perhaps our souls too!
Sister Lucia of Fatima has stated that Satan has entered into a final battle with Our Lady and that this means that there can be no spectators―we must either fight alongside Our Lady, or, if we do nothing, then by default we are fighting on the side of Satan: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons … The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
First Things First
In any kind of war certain things take precedence―in other words “first things first”. Trivial things must be set aside in order to take care of the most important things. Right now, we are most certainly in a war―a silent war, an insidious war, a war of depopulation, a war against morality, a war that is ultimately waged against Christianity.
► THE FIRST THING to “get right” is the fact that we―by ourselves―are powerless. As Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Holy Scripture backs this up by saying: “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28). “Trust not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “In God I have put my trust! I will not fear what flesh can do against me!” (Psalm 55:5). “I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened!” (Psalm 25:1). “Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 30:25). If our chief hope and trust, reliance and confidence is not in God―then we are doomed to be the losers in this battle. Yes―God has ruled that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will eventually triumph in the Name of God―but that does not mean that we, and many many others, might not suffer and die in the process, as a result of our indifference, lethargy, laziness, neglect or even outright refusal to use the weapons that God has given us.
► THE SECOND THING that we absolutely must realize is that if we are not in a state of sanctifying grace, then most of weapons that Heaven has given us WILL NOT WORK in battle. At best, they will earn graces for our own conversion and return to sanctifying grace―but they will be useless against the enemy. Bear in mind that VERY FEW people above the age of reason are in a state of sanctifying grace. That is obviously the case with the vast majority of non-Catholics, but it is also the case with Catholics! Hey! If only around 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly fulfill their obligation, which binds under pain of mortal sin, of attending Mass on each and every Sunday and Holy Day―and less than 2% of Catholics go to confession frequently, and 75% never go to Confession, or go less than once a year―then you do the math! Even back in the “good-old-days”―when all of the Catholic Church was traditional―St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confessed badly for one reason or another, and were thus in a state of mortal sin! Just think―it is impossible to end up in Hell if you are NOT in a state of mortal sin! Why then do most souls go to Hell? Remember that Satan is not going to prick your conscience if you are in a state of mortal sin―he is going to either make you imagine that you are not in mortal sin at all, he will downplay your mortal sin and make you think it is only a venial sin, or he will convince you that there is nothing to worry about even if you are in mortal sin, or if he sees that you confess your mortal sin, then he will have you repeat again and again and again, while you confess it again and again and again―but any priest worth his salt will tell you that this indicates that you have no FIRM purpose of amending your life (which is one of the 5 essential requirements for a good and valid confession). Such persons simply make bad confessions and remain in mortal sin, while thinking their confessions and good and valid. To effectively fight as soldiers of Christ―and not be in the field hospital―we need to be in a state of sanctifying grace with no unconfessed, nor badly confessed, mortal sin in our soul.
► THE THIRD THING that we must possess is supernatural charity―without it, we are pretty much powerless in using the weapons that Heaven gives us. This is clearly pointed-out by Holy Scripture: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Sadly, today, true charity ― that is to say supernatural charity ― is becoming more and more rare. We can sometimes get away with faking charity in the eyes of men ― but not with God, Whose all piercing eye penetrates the camouflage. “Serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind ― for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the thoughts of minds!” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9).
The Weapons
We are already familiar with most, if not all, of the weapons―the problem is that we are not using them and they are getting “rusty” and “blunt” through lack of use, or misuse, or even abuse. It is much like modern-day weapons―if you put them into untrained hands, then they will be of little or no use. Furthermore, if the person using the weapon is ignorant of the weapon’s power and capabilities―then, again, the weapon will be of little or no use. There is a point and a purpose behind the saying that “a weapon is only as good as the person using it”.
You could say that our weapons “come in twos” ― just as Jesus sent out His disciples in twos, in order to preach and fight for the truth: “The Lord appointed also other seventy-two―and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city” (Luke 10:1). God made the Earth with two essential elements―land and sea. He made two bodies that would give light to the Earth―the sun and moon. He made two periods of time―day and night. God made us with two essential components ― body and soul. God made two kinds of humans ― male and female. He created them with two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two lips, two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet. Likewise we see, by God’s command, Noe take the animals going into his ark, two by two: “And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark ― the male sex, and the female. Two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live” (Genesis 6:19-20). Our Lord entered this world surrounded by only two persons ― Mary and Joseph. Christ had two natures―the divine nature and the human nature. Christ was crucified between two thieves: “And there were also two other malefactors led with Him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him there ― and the robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left” (Luke 23:32-33). After He had risen from the dead, two angels were seen by women entering the empty tomb: “And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel” (Luke 24:3-4). At Our Lord’s ascension into Heaven, once again two angels were present: “While they were beholding Him going up to Heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments” (Acts of Apostles 1:10). Our Lord points to two weapons for casting out Satan ― prayer and fasting: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
This leads us into the two distinct kinds or genres of weapons that Heaven has given us: SACRAMENTS and SACRAMENTALS ― which have been instituted by two different bodies ― Christ instituted the Sacraments and the Church has instituted the Sacramentals. Sacraments also have two essential elements―matter and form. Sacramentals usually also have two essential elements―an object and a blessing―for example, the Rosary beads and blessing they receive that changes them into a Sacramental. The Rosary itself is made up of two essential parts―vocal prayer and meditation―the vocal prayer is performed by the body (lips) and the meditation is performed by the soul.
Sacraments are efficacious signs of God’s grace. This means that, barring human obstacle, they convey to us the grace they signify in virtue of the rite or action performed (ex opere operato). When the proper matter for each Sacrament is present and the correct words are spoken, the grace of the Sacrament is automatically conferred―unless something on the part of the person receiving the Sacrament creates an obstacle (e.g. trying to receive a Sacrament in a state of mortal sin). While the Sacraments “work” regardless of the person who administers them, or for that matter of those who receive them, there may be a hindrance to what the Sacrament has been instituted to bring about in the soul, if one is unwilling or fundamentally not disposed to receive them.
In contrast, Sacramentals confer grace from the merit, devotion or work of the person using the Sacramental (ex opere operantis). Therefore, the grace received is determined by the spiritual disposition or worthiness of the individual.
The third difference consists in the grace received. While the Sacraments confer both Sanctifying and Sacramental grace when they are conferred, such is not the case with Sacramentals. Sacramentals do not confer Sanctifying Grace but they can obtain for us these benefits: (1) Actual graces; (2) Forgiveness of venial sins; (3) Remission of temporal punishment; (4) Health of body and material blessings; (5) Protection from evil spirits.
THE SACRAMENTS
The Sacrifice of Calvary and the Mass is the Ultimate Weapon
Sadly and unfortunately, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is poorly understood, greatly underrated, largely unattended and always underused. There is no power on Earth greater than the power contained in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―based on the visions granted to her by Heaven―says: “She (the Holy Mother) said a great many others things that it pains me to relate. She said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless Sacrifice [of the Mass] as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters that are to come.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church, writes: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross!” St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor of the Church, adds: “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us; and if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way.” St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, states: “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death!” St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), author of a wonderful book on the Mass, writes: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities! Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base! ... Get celebrated all the Masses possible in your circumstances―not only for the souls departed, but for your own! [and the current needs of the world in this present crisis] … There is no more efficacious means for attaining so holy a purpose.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Doctor of the Church, adds: “You will gain more from one single Mass than you would from distributing all your goods to the poor or making pilgrimages to all the most holy shrines in Christendom.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), said: “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass! … It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass!”
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart, says: “How often have I heard young ladies say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. I do not blame your novenas to the saints, but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! You have a right to ask for such miracles. But I tell you that you must pay the ransom! Pay the ransom with the Chalice ― with the Mass!”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil! Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
So why are we not using the Mass as we should? Or―since it is easy and convenient to anonymously hide behind the word “WE”―why are YOU not using the Mass as you should? Why are you not having Masses offered against this current crisis of attempted genocide in the world? Why are you having Masse offered against the fatal virus of Liberalism and Modernism in the Church today? Don’t say that you cannot afford 10 or 20 or 30 stipends over the course of a year! A Mass stipend is usually within the $10 to $25 dollar range! Don’t say you can’t afford $100, or $200 or $300 per year for the protection of the Church and the world and the defeat of their enemies! If you protest that you can’t afford that annually―then what is there to stop you from “clubbing together” with one, or two, or three or ten other families? Laziness―that is all! Can’t be bothered to go to so much trouble! Well wait until REAL TROUBLE hits you on the nose! It will not be very long in coming!
► POWER BEYOND OUR WILDEST IMAGINATION ― It is MOST POWERFUL weapon on Earth―more powerful than nuclear weapons―because behind it, in it, is Almighty God―Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity! Yet to “tap-into” that power, the Mass should be offered or assisted at (depending on whether you are priest or layperson) with the utmost, supreme devotion―as Our Lady revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich above. Satan knows that! That is why he prefers to whisper in your ear that you could do something else―like say a novena, say an occasional Rosary, etc. Satan is always seeking to make us do what will be the lesser of two ‘evils’ for him. He prefers to take hammer blows to the head―so to speak―by our praying the Rosary, rather than being blown sky high by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The problem is that we forget that perpetually have a “devil on our shoulder”, just as we have our guardian angel by our side. The devil will not be just sitting there idle all day, twiddling his thumbs!
► EXCUSES! EXCUSES! ―Too many Catholics have the “Adam and Eve Virus”―we are not speaking of the “obvious virus” of Original Sin―but the virus of blaming someone else when oneself is to blame: “And the Lord said to Adam: ‘Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat!’ And Adam said: ‘The woman―whom Thou gavest me to be my companion―she gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:11-13) ― so, in other words, “It wasn’t MY fault―SHE made me do it, or the DEVIL made me do it!” We are so full of excuses! It’s a disease or virus that has been incessantly spread from the beginning of the world!
► POWER UNTAPPED ―The bottom line is that our celebration of Mass (if we are priests) or our attendance at Mass (if we are laypersons) is way below the level that Our Lady spoke of to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich ― “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” As a layperson, do not think that you are exempt from that command or criticism ― for since you join yourself to the priest offering Mass, your devotion should be far greater than what it is right now! Our Lady could have just as well said: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” We do not treasure the “Greatest Treasure” in the world as much as we should. We assist at Mass halfheartedly, distractedly, mechanically, lukewarmly ― and we forget that we are, in essence, standing at the foot of Christ’s Cross on Calvary. “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Of such lukewarmness God says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Our Lord complained of this lukewarmness to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
► POWER OF ONE MASS AND ONE COMMUNION ―The renowned Fr. Faber (1814-1863) writes: “Sometimes we get into a rut and we almost begin taking Holy Communion for granted. We must resist this temptation towards tepidity―because Holy Communion is a great gift from Jesus ― a priceless treasure ... No one can tell how much grace lies in a single Sacrament. In a single Communion lies all grace; for in It is the Author and Fountain of all grace. And, if the theological opinion be true―that there is no grace in any of His members which has not actually been first in our Lord Himself―then all the grace of all the world lies in one Communion, to be unsealed and enjoyed by [proportionate to] the degree of fervor which we bring. The saints have said that a single Communion was enough to make a saint.” (The Precious Blood, chapter 3, “Empire of the Precious Blood”, p. 147).
One Holy Communion can make a person a saint! Yes―just one! Why doesn’t it happen then? The fault does not lay on the side of the Holy Eucharist (which is Jesus Himself), but the fault lays on our side and our insufficient appreciation and efforts, our lack of desire and Faith, our lukewarmness and lack of love. This is so because we implicitly put self before God. We are too caught-up with ourselves to be caught-up with God! Our personal interests come before the interests of God; our personal good come before the good of God’s Church and the needy world. The material comes before the spiritual. Time spent on material things far exceeds time spent on spiritual things. Happiness in this world is more of a target than happiness in the next world.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is―so to speak―a double-barreled ‘shotgun’ or a two-edged ‘sword’. It is―unlike the other Sacraments―both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice―the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary. It contains―not only Sanctifying Grace―but the very Author and Fountain of all grace. It is both a weapon of offense and a weapon of defense―it is like a sword and a shield. It is the very heart, or center, of all the Sacraments and Sacramentals. It is like the sun around which all of them revolve and in which all the Sacraments find their raison d’être or reason for existence. We are Baptized so that we can receive the Holy Eucharist; we are Confirmed to fight to spread belief in the Eucharist and defend it; we go to Confession to be healed of sin so that we can once again receive the Eucharist; Matrimony produces (children) new adorers of the Eucharist; Holy Orders creates priests to produce the Eucharist; Extreme Unction gives us―besides the anointing with holy oils―the Viaticum, which is the Holy Eucharist that you take on your road through death into eternity.
► NO “LIGHT-SWITCH” DEVOTION ―Yet the remedy to this woeful neglect of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist cannot be solved by merely flicking a light-switch to get the current of devotion flowing again (or perhaps for the first time ever!). We will not be devoted to something we do not love―and we cannot love what we do not know! Therefore―much as it is with exercise and building muscle―painful steps have to be undertaken and endured until the muscles of the soul start to grow and be strengthened. We need to undertake the painful exercise of reading, growing in knowledge, learning, understanding and appreciation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―if we to have any chance of reaching such heights of devotion that the Mass and the Eucharist both deserve and the level of devotion that will start to change things in the world.
To put things into terms more understandable for the modern materialistic mind―let us talk in terms of dollars and cents. A Mass said (or attended) with a supreme degree of devotion might be worth, so to speak, 1 trillion or 1 billion dollars. Whereas a Mass said hurriedly, halfheartedly, routinely, mechanically, etc. or a Mass attended distractedly, lukewarmly, on “auto-pilot” might only be worth, so to speak, 100 dollars―or even less! It is in this light that we should consider the above-mentioned words of Our Lady to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Or, in the case of laypersons, you could rewrite those words and say: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
Our Lady of Akita told us: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” What else can “the Sign left by my Son” mean ― except the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, which is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary. Yet it is pitiful and woeful to see how underused or even unused that weapon is! There is no shortage of persons who clearly see and understand the current crisis in both the Church and the world. Likewise, there is no shortage of persons giving their well-intentioned solutions to the problem ― much like Fr. Matteo says in the above mentioned quote: “How often have I heard young ladies say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions―but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA!”
Yes! Why do not make a novena of Masses―nine days in a row if you can, nine Sundays in a row, or just nine Masses? Make a “double-barreled” intention for those Masses ― THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE OF MARY & THE CONVERSION (preferably) OR DESTRUCTION (if they won’t convert) OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH & MANKIND. Better still, don’t just assist at Masses with those intentions, but GIVE THE PRIEST A STIPEND TO HAVE MASSES SAID FOR THOSE INTENTIONS―as many as you can afford and as often as you can afford. Even better still, RECRUIT OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THE SAME WITH THEIR LOCAL PRIESTS. If you are a priest, then encourage the faithful with words similar to these:
“Dear faithful, many of you ask for Masses to be said―for example―for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally”. Yet, as you well know, the Church and mankind are currently facing unprecedented attacks from within and from the outside. We need to repel those attacks! The most powerful weapon that we possess is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―for it is Christ Himself who offers Himself in every Mass. Let us turn that weapon upon our enemies and beg Christ, first and foremost, to hasten the hour of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―and, as result, to preferably convert our enemies―but, if they will not convert, then may He destroy them before they destroy countless bodies and souls. So, if you wish, give me your stipend for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” ― but allow me to say to Our Lord before I celebrate that Mass for your intention: “Lord! This Mass is meant to for “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” ― but the person asking for this Mass has agreed to let me say to Thee: ‘Lord, if you want this Mass to be offered for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church and mankind―then please use it for that intention―because we know that You will take care of “Uncle Bob” or “Aunt Sally” in your own way―for you are God and nothing is impossible to You!’”
We have the solution―but damnably negligent in actually using that solution, using that weapon. Furthermore, a mechanical, routine, hurried, listless, lukewarm rendition of the Mass is not going to be worth very much (the same applies to assistance at Mass)―certainly not the 1 trillion or 1 billion dollars worth that was mentioned above! It would require tens of thousands of those “$100” Masses to buy the help that we need. But, as Our Lady said: “If only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Or, in the case of laypersons,: “If only one layperson assisted at the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same devotion as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
In days gone by, it was common to find on the sacristy wall a picture frame containing these words: “O priest! Offer today’s Mass as if it were your first Mass and as if it were your last Mass on Earth!” Perhaps we all need to start there―priest and laypersons alike!
The Sacrament and Weapon of the Holy Eucharist
The other side of the “coin”―or perhaps we could say “medal”―of the Sacrifice of the Mass, is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is, as the Church teaches, both a Sacrament and Sacrifice. Just as the Mass in underrated and underused―the same is true of the Holy Eucharist. For Heaven’s sake―the Holy Eucharist is God Himself! How can anyone in their right mind not crave and treasure the Holy Eucharist? If we want to go to Heaven, then we automatically must want God―for the definition of Hell is “an absence of God.” Without God, Heaven would become Hell. Without the Holy Eucharist on Earth, life becomes Hell on Earth!
A recent 2019 Pew Research study found that only 26% of U.S. Catholics under the age of 40 believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the most Holy Eucharist. The Pew Research study found that most Catholics who attend Mass weekly do believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ ― but then only around 10% to 15% of Catholics actually do attend Mass weekly.
► LIVING ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST ALONE ― Despite this increasing disbelief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and persons not canonized nor beatified have lived on nothing but the Holy Eucharist―taking no food and no drink―some of them for as long as over 60 years, others for several decades, or several years, or several months.
Bl. Alpais (d. 1211), Bl. Mary of Oignies (d. 1213), St. Angela of Foligno (d. 1309), St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), Bl. Elizabeth the Good of Waldsee (d. 1420), St. Lydwina of Schiedam (d. 1433), St. Rita of Cascia (d. 1456), St. Nicholas von Flue (d. 1487), Bl. Catherine of Racconigi (d. 1547), St. Peter of Alacantara (d. 1562), Francesca del Serrone (d. 1601), St. Rose of Lima (d. 1617), St. Marianna de Jesus Paredes Flores (d. 1645), St. Joseph Cupertino (d. 1663), Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (d. 1824), Domenica Lazzeri (d. 1848), Juliana Engelbrecht (d. 1853), Louise Lateau (d. 1883), Viktoria Hecht (d. 1890), Magdalena Gornik (d. 1896), St. Gemma Galgani (d. 1903), Rosalie Put (d. 1919), Teresa Palminota (d. 1934), Marie Julie Jahenny (d. 1941), Berthe Petit (d. 1943), Luisa Piccarreta (d. 1947), Bl. Alexandrina Da Costa (d. 1955), Therese Neumann (d. 1962), Marthe Robin (d. 1981), the recent case of the Italian mystic/stigmatic, Antonietta de Vitus (d. 2004).
► DEFENDED BY THE HOLY EUCHARIST ALONE ― The History of Saint Clare, Virgin, tells of various miracles performed by Saint Clare. There are episodes of multiplications of loaves and of bottles of oil that appeared in the convent when there was none before. But Clare performed the most famous of the miracles in 1240, on a Friday in September, in which she turned away an attack by Saracen soldiers who were breaking into the convent cloister by confronting them with the Blessed Sacrament. St. Clare of Assisi’s great faith in the Eucharist brought about this Eucharistic Miracle, which is described by Thomas of Celano (Tomaso da Celano) in the Legend of St. Claire, Virgin, contained in Franciscan Sources.
The German emperor, Frederick II of Swabia, had turned against the Pope and the Church in his ruthless expansion of territory, waging a war against them, and the people of the Umbria. Frederick had visions of an empire that would spread itself throughout modern-day Italy―from Assisi down to Sicily. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick, along with any man serving in his army. With no Christians willing to enlist, Frederick hired Saracens, Arab, and Muslim mercenaries― known for their savagery and cruelty. Villages were burned, and murders and atrocities were committed against the innocent and the defenseless. Monasteries were pillaged and destroyed, with unspeakable violations committed against nuns. Reinforced by this band of merciless cutthroats, Frederick proceeded to march against Assisi.
St. Clare’s convent in San Damiano stood between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The Saracens finally arrived at the monastery of San Damiano, where St. Clare and her fellow sisters resided. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens―who hated Christians, and had a lusty appetite for Caucasian women. They proceeded to attack the Convent. St. Clare was sick in bed at this time. As ladders were being set to scale the walls of the convent, her nuns rushed to her in a state of panic. What would they do? They knew Clare had performed many miracles in the past―so could she protect them from the attacking soldiers? One of the sisters ran into the room to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out. St. Clare had two sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel, and removed a ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament.
As the invaders sought to enter the convent at San Damiano, St. Clare took the ciborium with the Holy Eucharist inside of it, and held it in her hands, pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord: “Behold, my Lord, is it possible that You want to deliver Your defenseless handmaids into the hands of pagans? I beg You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot now save by myself!”
Suddenly a voice was heard that spoke from the ciborium: “I will always protect you!”
St. Clare further prayed: “My Lord, if it is Your wish, protect also this city which is sustained by Your love!”
The voice of Christ replied: “It will have to undergo trials―but it will be defended by My protection!”
Then Clare―her face bathed in tears of gratitude, comforted the sisters: “I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no evil―only have Faith in Christ!”
St. Clare, filled with trust in the Eucharistic Jesus, with great courage took the Blessed Sacrament and went out of the chapel with it to face the Saracen troops, begging God to spare the life of her sisters and to protect the city of Assisi. She brought the ciborium to a large open window facing the courtyard below, where the soldiers had set a ladder against the walls and were in the process of scaling them. She raised the Blessed Sacrament on high. The soldiers looked up at Clare, at the ciborium in her hands. The advancing Saracens froze in their tracks in the courtyard of the convent. Immediately, as if repelled by a mysterious force and petrified with fear, as if they could recognize the God Who was there, the Saracens began to fall off the ladders they had erected, and away from the wall, as if dazzled by something. They all turned back and ran―fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her sisters in peace. St. Clare immediately admonished those who heard the voice of Our Lord speaking to her, telling them severely: “Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters!”
St. Clare of Assisi, demonstrated that spiritual weapons are not only confounding to the world, but they are powerful beyond space and time. Our Lord Himself offered His body on the Cross to defeat mankind’s worst enemy — death. At Calvary, Satan was soundly and definitively defeated. Christ’s sacrifice is the greatest weapon against the devil―and the world of whom Satan is prince. Jesus continues to work in our day, no less than He did two thousand years. The signs and wonders that Jesus performed during His visible stay on Earth were performed on one condition―that they believed. He is now among us in the Holy Eucharist, the Almighty Son of God. He is ready and willing to work wonders no less astounding through the Holy Eucharist. But there is one condition, we must believe. Over the twenty centuries of the Church’s history, there have been countless physical miracles that Christ has performed by His divine power exercised through the Holy Eucharist. The Miracle Worker in the Eucharist is no one less than Jesus Christ. He told us not to be afraid, “for I have overcome the world.” He also told us: “I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.”
We need fortitude and strength to profess and practice our faith with the courage of martyrs. Where do we obtain this strength? Only from Jesus Christ, Who is present on Earth in the Holy Eucharist. Except for the Blessed Sacrament, there would be no martyrs in Christian history. Except for martyrs, there would be no growth in the Catholic Church. St. Augustine could not have been more clear. In his book, The City of God, he tells us: “The martyrs were bound, imprisoned, scourged, racked, burnt, rent, butchered — and they multiplied.” The 20th century saw more martyrdoms than all the previous centuries combined! The way things are going, it is likely we will be breaking the record in the 21st century. It is the Holy Eucharist that can be our defense―as it was for St. Clare―and it is the same Eucharist that will give us the strength to die as martyrs or suffer a living martyrdom in the days to come!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday, January 18th & Wednesday January 19th
Article 13
Will You Please Do This?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday, January 18th & Wednesday January 19th
Article 13
Will You Please Do This?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Have You Ever…?
Have you ever been wrong? Have you ever taken the wrong turning? Have you ever “backed the wrong horse”? Have you ever presumed an outcome, only to be proved wrong? Have something ever failed to live up to your expectations? Have you ever proposed a wrong solution? Have you ever taken the wrong means? Have you ever overestimated the ease of doing or achieving something? Have you ever underestimated the cost or difficulty of something?
Your answer is or should probably be “Yes!” to all of those things. Don’t get depressed about it―everyone is the same, we are only human, we are fallible, we are not God. It is only God who never gets things wrong―all humans are wrong some of the time, or even most of the time.
Being wrong is sometimes insignificant, sometimes inconvenient, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes disastrous. If you are wrong about the price of an item, thinking it cost $1.89 when it really costs $1.99―then that is insignificant. If you take a wrong turn while driving―it can be inconvenient. If get a simple sum wrong or spell a word wrong―it can be embarrassing. If you drink a colorless poison, thinking it to be water―it can be disastrous.
Have You Ever Presumed?
We can apply the same principles to our physical life, our intellectual life, our moral life, our social life, our working life, our financial life and our spiritual life―and there is no shortage of disasters in all of these domains! We often ASSUME or PRESUME in our minds that we are right, whereas in reality we are wrong. We presume that we know things without having sufficiently studied them. We presume we will achieve things without putting forth sufficient efforts.
The ultimate disastrous case of presumption can be seen in the case of the innumerable souls who presumed they would go to Heaven, but ended up in Hell. Nobody in their right mind would want to go to Hell―but most souls end up in Hell! Why? Because of the folly of presumption. Holy Scripture warns: “Say not: ‘How mighty am I! And who shall bring me under for my deeds?’ ― for God will surely take revenge! Say not: ‘I have sinned―but what harm hath befallen me?’ ― for the most High is a patient rewarder of the evil. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin, and say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great! He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ ― for mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners! Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day! For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee! … Till He have rendered to men according to their deeds and according to their presumption … He hath seen the presumption of their heart and that it is wicked, and hath known their end that it is evil!” (Ecclessiasticus 18:10; 35:24; 5:3-9).
St. John the Baptist also “shoots down” the presumption of the Jews when He says: “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:8-10).
Our Lord, too, takes a swipe at presumption when He says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’ … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 15:7-9; 7:21-27).
Our Lady also speaks out against presumption: “Mortal men are ignorant in their ways and in their ignorance they should not presume, lest they make themselves guilty of great temerity and incur the danger of damnation ... Presumption and pride of worldly wisdom is more powerful in its devotees, than humility and true self-knowledge is in the children of light! … The Most High bears with them and suffers such boldness and presumption! … The loving sweetness with which the Lord often treats them engenders in them a certain presumption and disrespectful forwardness, causing them to deal with His infinite Majesty in an irreverent manner. They fall into this presumption because they judge of the familiar communication with God according to the imperfect judgment of mortals, presuming to regulate their relationship with God along the lines of the friendly communication of human creatures with one another … Be warned not to fall into the foolish presumption of the worldly! … The demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption … How can Catholics imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable? … By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day! … Who, then, shall be so presumptuous in this mortal life as not to fear the danger of eternal ruin―no matter how many favors he has received from the Almighty? They were Apostles chosen by their divine Master, their true God; yet one of them fell lower than any other individual of the human race; and the others failed in Faith, the foundation of all virtue! … No soul must despair of the divine goodness! Yet no one must on that account have a vain and presumptuous trust, expecting divine love to work in it effects of grace, of which the sinful soul is altogether unworthy!” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
What is Presumption?
The Baltimore Catechism, Question 1183, asks: “What is presumption?” It then gives the answer: “Presumption is a rash expectation of salvation without making proper use of the necessary means to obtain it.”
Then, in Question 1184, the Baltimore Catechism asks: “How may we be guilty of presumption?” It then answers as follows: “We may be guilty of presumption:
(1) By putting off confession when in a state of mortal sin;
(2) By delaying the amendment of our lives and repentance for past sins;
(3) By being indifferent about the number of times we yield to any temptation after we have once yielded and broken our resolution to resist it;
(4) By thinking we can avoid sin without avoiding its near occasion;
(5) By relying too much on ourselves and neglecting to follow the advice of our confessor in regard to the sins we confess.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the sin of presumption as follows: “It may be defined as the condition of a soul that, because of a badly regulated reliance on God’s mercy and power, hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them. Presumption is here considered as a vice opposed to the theological virtue of hope. It may also be regarded as a product of pride. Presumption is said to offend against Hope by excessive hope, as despair offends against Hope by a defect in hope.”
St. Thomas Aquinas says the following of presumption: “The sin of presumption is contrary to the sin of despair, [and both are] directly opposed to hope. Just as, through despair, a man despises [rejects] the Divine mercy, on which the virtue of Hope relies, so, through presumption, he despises [rejects] the Divine justice, which punishes the sinner. Presumption is a sin, a species of sin against the Holy Ghost, but less grave than despair, since―on account of His infinite goodness―it is more proper to God to have mercy and to spare, than to punish.
“Presumption does not denote excessive hope, as though man hoped too much in God; but it is excessive hope by man in hoping to obtain from God something that is unbecoming to Him―which is the same as to hope too little in Him and implies a depreciation of His power.
“Presumption seems to imply immoderate [exaggerated, unrealistic] hope ― for instance, if a man hopes to obtain pardon without repenting, or obtain glory without meriting it. This presumption is, properly, the sin against the Holy Ghost, because, by presuming thus, a man removes or despises the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Hence presumption whereby a man relies on God inordinately, is a more grievous sin than the presumption of trusting in one's own power.
“Presumption―whereby a man presumes inordinately on God―includes excessive self-love. For when we desire a thing very much, we think we can easily obtain it through others―even though we cannot.
“Presumption is twofold―(1) one whereby a man relies on his own power, when he attempts something beyond his power, as though it were possible to him. Such like presumption clearly arises from vainglory; for it is owing to a great desire for glory, that a man attempts things beyond his power, and especially novelties which call for greater admiration. Hence Gregory states explicitly that presumption of novelties is a daughter of vainglory. (2) The other presumption is an inordinate [exaggerated, unrealistic] trust in the Divine mercy or power, consisting in the hope of obtaining glory without merits, or pardon without repentance. Such like presumption seems to arise directly from pride, as though man thought so much of himself as to esteem that God would not punish him or exclude him from glory, however much he might be a sinner. To sin with the intention of persevering in sin and through the hope of being pardoned, is presumptuous, and this does not diminish, but increases sin.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-IIae, question 21, extracts from articles 1, 2, 3 & 4).
Presumption is an Unrealistic Hope in God
The sin of presumption is the distortion or vice directly opposed to the theological virtue of Hope. It is an unwarranted or habitual expectation that eternal life will be gained without God’s assistance, or that salvation will be granted regardless of one’s personal response to God’s grace. People seem to think that, since God loves them, it doesn’t matter how they live. In other words, it is an unwarranted attitude that one will enjoy salvation without seeking reconciliation and forgiveness for one’s sins.
One cannot sin simply because God is forgiving. To decide to sin is to offend God. To decide to sin because one knows that he can be forgiven―is to sin twice. It is to use and abuse God―reducing Him to a utility at the service of our whim. It is to laugh at His Passion and Death. Furthermore, if people, who are tempted toward presumption, take the cross of Jesus seriously, they could not possibly dismiss the gravity of their sins. The cross is the price God paid for their sins. If a person takes the cross of Christ seriously, they have to recognize that it is their sin that moved the God of love to embrace suffering and death in order to forgive them.
To help understand this sin, here is a natural, human form of presumption. Imagine a child who stays out well past his curfew. When he comes home, his parents are upset, but he apologizes for his lateness and they forgive him. Then, on their way to bed, they hear their son talking on the phone to a friend – “Yeah, they were mad―but they forgave me. I knew they would, that’s why I did it.” Ouch! What parent wouldn’t then proceed with an even more severe punishment than what mere lateness merited?
Unlike an unsuspecting parent, God is wise to this game. Persons have “too much hope” or an “unrealistic hope” if they reasons within themselves that: “God will forgive me whatever I do” or they might say: “I don’t have to be concerned with following God―He loves me no matter what!” ― and they use this as an excuse for doing whatever they want and then confess the sins they commits because of their unrealistic expectation of forgiveness. What they should also be confessing―and usually do not confess―is their motivation for sinning, which was a presumption upon God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The sin of presumption starts out with committing small sins presuming that God will forgive them. But over time our conscience will become dulled to sin and we will be led to presume that God will forgive our mortal sins. However, at that point, because of our presumption, we will be missing the necessary condition for the forgiveness of mortal sins―which is sorrow for our sin. One wonders how sincere a person’s love for God is when he is so readily willing to sin simply because God is forgiving. God cannot be fooled. He reads hearts and knows our sincerity. One who thinks he is so great as to deserve Heaven is likely to fall into halfhearted repentance, or even into no repentance at all. What a calamity! It is an indisputable fact that most souls are damned―not because God wanted them damned, but because they presumed that they would be saved. There is hardly anyone in Hell who wanted to go to Hell or expected to go to Hell―they somehow presumed that, in one way or another, they would be saved! What a calamity! What a tragedy! What a waste of grace! What a waste of the Precious Blood of Jesus!
Another Form of Presumption―Unrealistic Reliance on Oneself
Just as there are people who will not lift a finger to help themselves, their neighbor or the world―expecting God to take care of everything―there are also people who think that they can do everything by themselves and be saved by their own efforts. Salvation is gained not through one’s own efforts, but through God’s grace, mercy and love. It was not in vain that Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, at the same time, God expects that we play our role in salvation―for, as Scripture says: “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20).
Hence, St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Yet, at all times, God is the “major player” and we only have a “bit-part” to play.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Presumption seems to imply immoderate hope which is possible to a man in two ways: first by his own power; secondly, by the power of God alone. With regard to either hope ― hope is self and hope in God ― there may be presumption owing to lack of moderation. As regards the hope whereby a man relies on his own power, there is presumption if he tends to a good as though it were possible for him to achieve or obtain, whereas it surpasses his powers, according to Judith 6:15: ‘Thou humblest them that presume of themselves!’” (Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q. 21, art 1).
Basically, what St. Thomas is saying is that there are people who expect God to do almost everything and they will barely lift a finger (which is an excessive presumption on God)―and there are those who think that they do not need God for anything and that they can do almost everything themselves (which is an excessive presumption on self). As Holy Scripture says: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it!” (Psalm 126:1).
The Israelites were often guilty of presumption as St. Paul testifies: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
The Jews would presumptuously pride themselves upon being the Chosen People of God―yet St. John the Baptist warned them against such a proud presumption: “And think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ ― for I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:9). In essence, the Pharisees were saying to St. John the Baptist: “Your threats do not apply to us! We are Jews! Jews are heirs of the promise of the Lord!” John in essence replied: “The axe is laid to the root of your presumptuous tree!” God is never cornered by human presumption. If we think we have him over a barrel, we may be sure it will crash upon our own heads.
Prideful Presumption is the Present Problem
Perhaps never before has the world been as presumptuous as it is today. We have built our modern-day “Tower of Babel” in the form of Science and Technology. The mantra is increasingly becoming one of “Follow the Science!” rather than “Follow God!” The “powers that be”, the powers behind the scenes, the “money-men” and governments now rely more on Science and Technology than they rely upon God―in fact you could say that they worship what could be called “The Unholy Trinity” ― Wealth, Science and Technology ― which they imagine gives them the omnipotence and omniscience of God.
Likewise, the once “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” is now crippled―laboring and hobbling along as the new “Divided, Unholy, Non-Catholic and Demonic Church”. Really? “Harsh words!” you may say ― but true nevertheless.
► NOT “ONE” BUT DIVIDED ― Never before have we had so many news outlets reporting on the danger of modern-day schism within the Church. They tell us that on the one hand, there is a danger of the leftist Modernist Church in Germany separating from Rome as a result of being encouraged by Francis’ Liberal and Modernist policies―and, on the other hand, Francis is increasingly polarizing the Conservatives, who are increasingly questioning whether or not Francis is truly Catholic and whether or not he is truly the pope!
● Our Lady already warned of these divisive times: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw something similar in the visions granted to her by God: “When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church ... I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known! ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons].”
► NOT “HOLY” BUT UNHOLY ― Increasing laxity and acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, female ordination, married priests―in addition to the pedophile scandals and openly homosexual priests―plus the fact that only around 10% to 15% of Catholics practice their Faith by regularly attending Sunday Mass―all of this does not reflect “holiness” but “unholiness”.
● Our Lady warned: “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests will become cesspools of impurity! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich ― in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it!”
► NOT “CATHOLIC” BUT NON-CATHOLIC ― The number of people who have left the Catholic Church is huge. The numbers of Catholics, still in the Church, who are increasingly accepting non-Catholic beliefs and attitudes is also huge. The Pew Research Center survey of 2015, examined American Catholics and family life in the USA. According to the survey, about half of those who were raised Catholic end up leaving and that most Americans, who were raised Catholic but have since left the church, could not envision themselves returning to it. The survey also examined U.S. Catholics’ views on issues such as divorce, same-sex marriage and sinful behavior, finding an openness for non-traditional family structures. The study sheds some light on how Catholic American attitudes on family, sex and marriage compare with Church teaching. When asked whether they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues, a very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics — 76% — expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. Even 66% of regular Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. 62% wanted the Church to allow priests to marry, and 63% wanted the church to allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed thought that women should be allowed to become priests. And 46% thought that the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% of Catholics think it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 56% think that homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% of Catholics believe it is NOT a sin to use contraceptives. 80% think that divorcing is NOT a sin. On the issue of the dogma of Church on the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, an August 2019 Pew Research Center survey showed that 70% of all self-identified Catholics said they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that for them the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Even among the Catholic clergy you can find bishops and priests who hold similar views to those just mentioned. Francis himself is a prime example of someone who is increasingly departing from Catholic teaching on more and more issues. Recently, he suppressed the extraordinarily Catholic rite of Mass―known as “The Latin Mass”, or “The Traditional Latin Mass”, or “The Tridentine Mass”―which has caused consternation and uproar in certain parts of the mainstream Church. Yet prior to that, he has increasingly expresses sympathy and support for homosexuality and same-sex marriages; advocated Holy Communion for practicing gays; ridiculed Traditional and Conservative Catholics; he extolled paganism by having the pagan idol “Pachamama” placed in a Catholic church in Rome during the “Amazon Synod”;
In April of 2021, a group of Catholic scholars and priests has written an open letter to the College of Bishops accusing Pope Francis of heresy―the letter had over 1,500 signatures of bishops, priests and scholars.
● Our Lady spoke of this loss of Catholicism and acceptance of non-Catholicism: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten …. several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “They were building a great, strange, and extravagant church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description … I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about this new church, and they seemed very successful ... I saw it increase in size. I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word.”
► NOT “APOSTOLIC” BUT DEMONIC ― If that sounds shocking to you, then listen to what popes, exorcists, as well as Our Lady and mystics have to say on the matter.
● Pope Paul VI, on June 29th, 1972, in a public address on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election, said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.”
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil!”
A few years later, in another public address on October 13th, 1977, on the 60th Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
● Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, commented upon the words of Pope Paul VI and revealed: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long―but it had no practical consequences!”
● Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Father Martin adds: “In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
● Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the exorcist, adds: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifices. Only if we are accustomed to sacrifice ourselves, will we be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.”
● Our Lady also spoke of this infiltration of the Church by Satan: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [today, there are at least four Masonic lodges for the higher clergy in the Vatican] … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them! … The devil has bedimmed their intelligence … They all work for destruction―even the clergy! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “I heard that Lucifer will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2000 AD ... I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast … I saw a laughing figure which said: ‘Do build it as solid as you can―we will pull it to the ground!’ … I saw a great round building like a cupola — it was a pagan temple full of idols ... It seemed as if all the idols that ever existed were gathered together therein every conceivable posture … Each member of the congregation drew an idol from his breast, set it up before him, and prayed to it … I saw no altar in it, but only benches, and in the middle of it something like a pulpit … All was so different―even the sacred ceremonies … I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived! Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome!”
Please Stop Being Presumptuous!
Is there anyone who is not, or has not been presumptuous? No! Just as there is nobody who can claim to have never sinned: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). “O wicked presumption! Whence camest thou to cover the Earth with thy malice, and deceitfulness?” (Ecclesiasticus 37:3).
What weird creatures we are! On the one hand we almost expect God to do everything for us―almost as if He was our servant or employee, Who is expected to wait upon us “hand and toe”, all day and all night, catering to our every whim and need. Yet on the other hand, we audaciously think that we have no need of God in many of our enterprises and activities―making no reference and no deference to Him at all. Hence, most of the day goes by without any thought of God at all. Yet when something goes wrong, then we go running to God as though He was the Emergency Room at a hospital (but we have not kept-up our “spiritual health insurance” payments and so have no spiritual insurance), or we moan and groan, complain and whimper, or even shake our fist at Heaven in anger as to why God has let this or that happen to us! On the one hand, we presume too much upon God―as though He was our servant or slave; and on the other hand, we presume too much upon ourselves, acting independently of God and forgetting, ignoring or even rejecting the truth that Christ pointed out to us: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Just like a parent will not (or should not) spoil a child by catering to its every whim, likewise God refuses to spoil us by catering to our every whim. Sure―if we get into a mess, He will help us get out of it―but He will not clean up all the mess for us, nor do everything for us, nor solve every problem in our lives, nor prevent evil things from happening to us if we regularly ignore His requests and commands, give Him little or time, show little or no love for Him. As you sow, so shall you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap ... He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly … For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8; 2 Corinthians 9:60).
God has stated that if we pay attention to Him, if we listen to Him, if we obey His commands―then He will take care of us in a remarkable way. On the other hand, He warns that if we ignore Him, fail to listen to Him and refuses to obey Him―then He will allow incredible to befall us. Catholics―especially priests, parents and teachers―would do well to FREQUENTLY read for themselves and read to others the entire 26th chapter of the Book of Leviticus―where God clearly points out what has just been said. Here is an abbreviated extract:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
God―especially through the Blessed Virgin Mary―has repeatedly told us what He expected us to do to avoid the mess that we not find ourselves in, in both the Church and the world, in the spiritual and material domains. Unfortunately, most Catholics have freely chosen to ignore Him―presuming that God will sort everything out without them having to lift a finger. The more we ignore God, God the more He withdraws His Providential Help. As the saints say―the worst and cruelest thing that God can do to us is to leave to ourselves. That is what is happening today. We will pay the price―and we are already starting to see and sense how big a price that might end up being! Yes―God will triumph in the end―but at what cost? How many souls will have been damned by our indifference, negligence or even outright stubborn refusal to do what God has been asking of us?
Presumption is born of pride―and the only way out of this is through humility and obedience. The next article will lay out an extensive, practical, supernatural plan that any person, any family, any community, any parish can practice―but it has to be regularly (not sporadically) practiced; it has to be ordered and enforced; it has to taken seriously and applied meticulously―almost in military fashion. Yet, are we soldiers of Christ? Are we not in the middle of a war? A soldier has to fight―it is a case of “kill, or be killed”. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Have you ever been wrong? Have you ever taken the wrong turning? Have you ever “backed the wrong horse”? Have you ever presumed an outcome, only to be proved wrong? Have something ever failed to live up to your expectations? Have you ever proposed a wrong solution? Have you ever taken the wrong means? Have you ever overestimated the ease of doing or achieving something? Have you ever underestimated the cost or difficulty of something?
Your answer is or should probably be “Yes!” to all of those things. Don’t get depressed about it―everyone is the same, we are only human, we are fallible, we are not God. It is only God who never gets things wrong―all humans are wrong some of the time, or even most of the time.
Being wrong is sometimes insignificant, sometimes inconvenient, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes disastrous. If you are wrong about the price of an item, thinking it cost $1.89 when it really costs $1.99―then that is insignificant. If you take a wrong turn while driving―it can be inconvenient. If get a simple sum wrong or spell a word wrong―it can be embarrassing. If you drink a colorless poison, thinking it to be water―it can be disastrous.
Have You Ever Presumed?
We can apply the same principles to our physical life, our intellectual life, our moral life, our social life, our working life, our financial life and our spiritual life―and there is no shortage of disasters in all of these domains! We often ASSUME or PRESUME in our minds that we are right, whereas in reality we are wrong. We presume that we know things without having sufficiently studied them. We presume we will achieve things without putting forth sufficient efforts.
The ultimate disastrous case of presumption can be seen in the case of the innumerable souls who presumed they would go to Heaven, but ended up in Hell. Nobody in their right mind would want to go to Hell―but most souls end up in Hell! Why? Because of the folly of presumption. Holy Scripture warns: “Say not: ‘How mighty am I! And who shall bring me under for my deeds?’ ― for God will surely take revenge! Say not: ‘I have sinned―but what harm hath befallen me?’ ― for the most High is a patient rewarder of the evil. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin, and say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great! He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ ― for mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners! Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day! For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee! … Till He have rendered to men according to their deeds and according to their presumption … He hath seen the presumption of their heart and that it is wicked, and hath known their end that it is evil!” (Ecclessiasticus 18:10; 35:24; 5:3-9).
St. John the Baptist also “shoots down” the presumption of the Jews when He says: “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:8-10).
Our Lord, too, takes a swipe at presumption when He says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’ … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 15:7-9; 7:21-27).
Our Lady also speaks out against presumption: “Mortal men are ignorant in their ways and in their ignorance they should not presume, lest they make themselves guilty of great temerity and incur the danger of damnation ... Presumption and pride of worldly wisdom is more powerful in its devotees, than humility and true self-knowledge is in the children of light! … The Most High bears with them and suffers such boldness and presumption! … The loving sweetness with which the Lord often treats them engenders in them a certain presumption and disrespectful forwardness, causing them to deal with His infinite Majesty in an irreverent manner. They fall into this presumption because they judge of the familiar communication with God according to the imperfect judgment of mortals, presuming to regulate their relationship with God along the lines of the friendly communication of human creatures with one another … Be warned not to fall into the foolish presumption of the worldly! … The demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption … How can Catholics imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable? … By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day! … Who, then, shall be so presumptuous in this mortal life as not to fear the danger of eternal ruin―no matter how many favors he has received from the Almighty? They were Apostles chosen by their divine Master, their true God; yet one of them fell lower than any other individual of the human race; and the others failed in Faith, the foundation of all virtue! … No soul must despair of the divine goodness! Yet no one must on that account have a vain and presumptuous trust, expecting divine love to work in it effects of grace, of which the sinful soul is altogether unworthy!” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
What is Presumption?
The Baltimore Catechism, Question 1183, asks: “What is presumption?” It then gives the answer: “Presumption is a rash expectation of salvation without making proper use of the necessary means to obtain it.”
Then, in Question 1184, the Baltimore Catechism asks: “How may we be guilty of presumption?” It then answers as follows: “We may be guilty of presumption:
(1) By putting off confession when in a state of mortal sin;
(2) By delaying the amendment of our lives and repentance for past sins;
(3) By being indifferent about the number of times we yield to any temptation after we have once yielded and broken our resolution to resist it;
(4) By thinking we can avoid sin without avoiding its near occasion;
(5) By relying too much on ourselves and neglecting to follow the advice of our confessor in regard to the sins we confess.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the sin of presumption as follows: “It may be defined as the condition of a soul that, because of a badly regulated reliance on God’s mercy and power, hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them. Presumption is here considered as a vice opposed to the theological virtue of hope. It may also be regarded as a product of pride. Presumption is said to offend against Hope by excessive hope, as despair offends against Hope by a defect in hope.”
St. Thomas Aquinas says the following of presumption: “The sin of presumption is contrary to the sin of despair, [and both are] directly opposed to hope. Just as, through despair, a man despises [rejects] the Divine mercy, on which the virtue of Hope relies, so, through presumption, he despises [rejects] the Divine justice, which punishes the sinner. Presumption is a sin, a species of sin against the Holy Ghost, but less grave than despair, since―on account of His infinite goodness―it is more proper to God to have mercy and to spare, than to punish.
“Presumption does not denote excessive hope, as though man hoped too much in God; but it is excessive hope by man in hoping to obtain from God something that is unbecoming to Him―which is the same as to hope too little in Him and implies a depreciation of His power.
“Presumption seems to imply immoderate [exaggerated, unrealistic] hope ― for instance, if a man hopes to obtain pardon without repenting, or obtain glory without meriting it. This presumption is, properly, the sin against the Holy Ghost, because, by presuming thus, a man removes or despises the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Hence presumption whereby a man relies on God inordinately, is a more grievous sin than the presumption of trusting in one's own power.
“Presumption―whereby a man presumes inordinately on God―includes excessive self-love. For when we desire a thing very much, we think we can easily obtain it through others―even though we cannot.
“Presumption is twofold―(1) one whereby a man relies on his own power, when he attempts something beyond his power, as though it were possible to him. Such like presumption clearly arises from vainglory; for it is owing to a great desire for glory, that a man attempts things beyond his power, and especially novelties which call for greater admiration. Hence Gregory states explicitly that presumption of novelties is a daughter of vainglory. (2) The other presumption is an inordinate [exaggerated, unrealistic] trust in the Divine mercy or power, consisting in the hope of obtaining glory without merits, or pardon without repentance. Such like presumption seems to arise directly from pride, as though man thought so much of himself as to esteem that God would not punish him or exclude him from glory, however much he might be a sinner. To sin with the intention of persevering in sin and through the hope of being pardoned, is presumptuous, and this does not diminish, but increases sin.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-IIae, question 21, extracts from articles 1, 2, 3 & 4).
Presumption is an Unrealistic Hope in God
The sin of presumption is the distortion or vice directly opposed to the theological virtue of Hope. It is an unwarranted or habitual expectation that eternal life will be gained without God’s assistance, or that salvation will be granted regardless of one’s personal response to God’s grace. People seem to think that, since God loves them, it doesn’t matter how they live. In other words, it is an unwarranted attitude that one will enjoy salvation without seeking reconciliation and forgiveness for one’s sins.
One cannot sin simply because God is forgiving. To decide to sin is to offend God. To decide to sin because one knows that he can be forgiven―is to sin twice. It is to use and abuse God―reducing Him to a utility at the service of our whim. It is to laugh at His Passion and Death. Furthermore, if people, who are tempted toward presumption, take the cross of Jesus seriously, they could not possibly dismiss the gravity of their sins. The cross is the price God paid for their sins. If a person takes the cross of Christ seriously, they have to recognize that it is their sin that moved the God of love to embrace suffering and death in order to forgive them.
To help understand this sin, here is a natural, human form of presumption. Imagine a child who stays out well past his curfew. When he comes home, his parents are upset, but he apologizes for his lateness and they forgive him. Then, on their way to bed, they hear their son talking on the phone to a friend – “Yeah, they were mad―but they forgave me. I knew they would, that’s why I did it.” Ouch! What parent wouldn’t then proceed with an even more severe punishment than what mere lateness merited?
Unlike an unsuspecting parent, God is wise to this game. Persons have “too much hope” or an “unrealistic hope” if they reasons within themselves that: “God will forgive me whatever I do” or they might say: “I don’t have to be concerned with following God―He loves me no matter what!” ― and they use this as an excuse for doing whatever they want and then confess the sins they commits because of their unrealistic expectation of forgiveness. What they should also be confessing―and usually do not confess―is their motivation for sinning, which was a presumption upon God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The sin of presumption starts out with committing small sins presuming that God will forgive them. But over time our conscience will become dulled to sin and we will be led to presume that God will forgive our mortal sins. However, at that point, because of our presumption, we will be missing the necessary condition for the forgiveness of mortal sins―which is sorrow for our sin. One wonders how sincere a person’s love for God is when he is so readily willing to sin simply because God is forgiving. God cannot be fooled. He reads hearts and knows our sincerity. One who thinks he is so great as to deserve Heaven is likely to fall into halfhearted repentance, or even into no repentance at all. What a calamity! It is an indisputable fact that most souls are damned―not because God wanted them damned, but because they presumed that they would be saved. There is hardly anyone in Hell who wanted to go to Hell or expected to go to Hell―they somehow presumed that, in one way or another, they would be saved! What a calamity! What a tragedy! What a waste of grace! What a waste of the Precious Blood of Jesus!
Another Form of Presumption―Unrealistic Reliance on Oneself
Just as there are people who will not lift a finger to help themselves, their neighbor or the world―expecting God to take care of everything―there are also people who think that they can do everything by themselves and be saved by their own efforts. Salvation is gained not through one’s own efforts, but through God’s grace, mercy and love. It was not in vain that Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, at the same time, God expects that we play our role in salvation―for, as Scripture says: “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20).
Hence, St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Yet, at all times, God is the “major player” and we only have a “bit-part” to play.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Presumption seems to imply immoderate hope which is possible to a man in two ways: first by his own power; secondly, by the power of God alone. With regard to either hope ― hope is self and hope in God ― there may be presumption owing to lack of moderation. As regards the hope whereby a man relies on his own power, there is presumption if he tends to a good as though it were possible for him to achieve or obtain, whereas it surpasses his powers, according to Judith 6:15: ‘Thou humblest them that presume of themselves!’” (Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q. 21, art 1).
Basically, what St. Thomas is saying is that there are people who expect God to do almost everything and they will barely lift a finger (which is an excessive presumption on God)―and there are those who think that they do not need God for anything and that they can do almost everything themselves (which is an excessive presumption on self). As Holy Scripture says: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it!” (Psalm 126:1).
The Israelites were often guilty of presumption as St. Paul testifies: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
The Jews would presumptuously pride themselves upon being the Chosen People of God―yet St. John the Baptist warned them against such a proud presumption: “And think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ ― for I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:9). In essence, the Pharisees were saying to St. John the Baptist: “Your threats do not apply to us! We are Jews! Jews are heirs of the promise of the Lord!” John in essence replied: “The axe is laid to the root of your presumptuous tree!” God is never cornered by human presumption. If we think we have him over a barrel, we may be sure it will crash upon our own heads.
Prideful Presumption is the Present Problem
Perhaps never before has the world been as presumptuous as it is today. We have built our modern-day “Tower of Babel” in the form of Science and Technology. The mantra is increasingly becoming one of “Follow the Science!” rather than “Follow God!” The “powers that be”, the powers behind the scenes, the “money-men” and governments now rely more on Science and Technology than they rely upon God―in fact you could say that they worship what could be called “The Unholy Trinity” ― Wealth, Science and Technology ― which they imagine gives them the omnipotence and omniscience of God.
Likewise, the once “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” is now crippled―laboring and hobbling along as the new “Divided, Unholy, Non-Catholic and Demonic Church”. Really? “Harsh words!” you may say ― but true nevertheless.
► NOT “ONE” BUT DIVIDED ― Never before have we had so many news outlets reporting on the danger of modern-day schism within the Church. They tell us that on the one hand, there is a danger of the leftist Modernist Church in Germany separating from Rome as a result of being encouraged by Francis’ Liberal and Modernist policies―and, on the other hand, Francis is increasingly polarizing the Conservatives, who are increasingly questioning whether or not Francis is truly Catholic and whether or not he is truly the pope!
● Our Lady already warned of these divisive times: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw something similar in the visions granted to her by God: “When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church ... I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known! ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons].”
► NOT “HOLY” BUT UNHOLY ― Increasing laxity and acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, female ordination, married priests―in addition to the pedophile scandals and openly homosexual priests―plus the fact that only around 10% to 15% of Catholics practice their Faith by regularly attending Sunday Mass―all of this does not reflect “holiness” but “unholiness”.
● Our Lady warned: “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests will become cesspools of impurity! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich ― in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it!”
► NOT “CATHOLIC” BUT NON-CATHOLIC ― The number of people who have left the Catholic Church is huge. The numbers of Catholics, still in the Church, who are increasingly accepting non-Catholic beliefs and attitudes is also huge. The Pew Research Center survey of 2015, examined American Catholics and family life in the USA. According to the survey, about half of those who were raised Catholic end up leaving and that most Americans, who were raised Catholic but have since left the church, could not envision themselves returning to it. The survey also examined U.S. Catholics’ views on issues such as divorce, same-sex marriage and sinful behavior, finding an openness for non-traditional family structures. The study sheds some light on how Catholic American attitudes on family, sex and marriage compare with Church teaching. When asked whether they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues, a very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics — 76% — expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. Even 66% of regular Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. 62% wanted the Church to allow priests to marry, and 63% wanted the church to allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed thought that women should be allowed to become priests. And 46% thought that the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% of Catholics think it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 56% think that homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% of Catholics believe it is NOT a sin to use contraceptives. 80% think that divorcing is NOT a sin. On the issue of the dogma of Church on the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, an August 2019 Pew Research Center survey showed that 70% of all self-identified Catholics said they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that for them the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Even among the Catholic clergy you can find bishops and priests who hold similar views to those just mentioned. Francis himself is a prime example of someone who is increasingly departing from Catholic teaching on more and more issues. Recently, he suppressed the extraordinarily Catholic rite of Mass―known as “The Latin Mass”, or “The Traditional Latin Mass”, or “The Tridentine Mass”―which has caused consternation and uproar in certain parts of the mainstream Church. Yet prior to that, he has increasingly expresses sympathy and support for homosexuality and same-sex marriages; advocated Holy Communion for practicing gays; ridiculed Traditional and Conservative Catholics; he extolled paganism by having the pagan idol “Pachamama” placed in a Catholic church in Rome during the “Amazon Synod”;
In April of 2021, a group of Catholic scholars and priests has written an open letter to the College of Bishops accusing Pope Francis of heresy―the letter had over 1,500 signatures of bishops, priests and scholars.
● Our Lady spoke of this loss of Catholicism and acceptance of non-Catholicism: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten …. several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “They were building a great, strange, and extravagant church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description … I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about this new church, and they seemed very successful ... I saw it increase in size. I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word.”
► NOT “APOSTOLIC” BUT DEMONIC ― If that sounds shocking to you, then listen to what popes, exorcists, as well as Our Lady and mystics have to say on the matter.
● Pope Paul VI, on June 29th, 1972, in a public address on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election, said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.”
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil!”
A few years later, in another public address on October 13th, 1977, on the 60th Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
● Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, commented upon the words of Pope Paul VI and revealed: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long―but it had no practical consequences!”
● Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Father Martin adds: “In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
● Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the exorcist, adds: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifices. Only if we are accustomed to sacrifice ourselves, will we be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.”
● Our Lady also spoke of this infiltration of the Church by Satan: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [today, there are at least four Masonic lodges for the higher clergy in the Vatican] … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them! … The devil has bedimmed their intelligence … They all work for destruction―even the clergy! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
● Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich―in the visions granted to her by God―likewise says: “I heard that Lucifer will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2000 AD ... I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast … I saw a laughing figure which said: ‘Do build it as solid as you can―we will pull it to the ground!’ … I saw a great round building like a cupola — it was a pagan temple full of idols ... It seemed as if all the idols that ever existed were gathered together therein every conceivable posture … Each member of the congregation drew an idol from his breast, set it up before him, and prayed to it … I saw no altar in it, but only benches, and in the middle of it something like a pulpit … All was so different―even the sacred ceremonies … I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived! Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome!”
Please Stop Being Presumptuous!
Is there anyone who is not, or has not been presumptuous? No! Just as there is nobody who can claim to have never sinned: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). “O wicked presumption! Whence camest thou to cover the Earth with thy malice, and deceitfulness?” (Ecclesiasticus 37:3).
What weird creatures we are! On the one hand we almost expect God to do everything for us―almost as if He was our servant or employee, Who is expected to wait upon us “hand and toe”, all day and all night, catering to our every whim and need. Yet on the other hand, we audaciously think that we have no need of God in many of our enterprises and activities―making no reference and no deference to Him at all. Hence, most of the day goes by without any thought of God at all. Yet when something goes wrong, then we go running to God as though He was the Emergency Room at a hospital (but we have not kept-up our “spiritual health insurance” payments and so have no spiritual insurance), or we moan and groan, complain and whimper, or even shake our fist at Heaven in anger as to why God has let this or that happen to us! On the one hand, we presume too much upon God―as though He was our servant or slave; and on the other hand, we presume too much upon ourselves, acting independently of God and forgetting, ignoring or even rejecting the truth that Christ pointed out to us: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Just like a parent will not (or should not) spoil a child by catering to its every whim, likewise God refuses to spoil us by catering to our every whim. Sure―if we get into a mess, He will help us get out of it―but He will not clean up all the mess for us, nor do everything for us, nor solve every problem in our lives, nor prevent evil things from happening to us if we regularly ignore His requests and commands, give Him little or time, show little or no love for Him. As you sow, so shall you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap ... He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly … For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8; 2 Corinthians 9:60).
God has stated that if we pay attention to Him, if we listen to Him, if we obey His commands―then He will take care of us in a remarkable way. On the other hand, He warns that if we ignore Him, fail to listen to Him and refuses to obey Him―then He will allow incredible to befall us. Catholics―especially priests, parents and teachers―would do well to FREQUENTLY read for themselves and read to others the entire 26th chapter of the Book of Leviticus―where God clearly points out what has just been said. Here is an abbreviated extract:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
God―especially through the Blessed Virgin Mary―has repeatedly told us what He expected us to do to avoid the mess that we not find ourselves in, in both the Church and the world, in the spiritual and material domains. Unfortunately, most Catholics have freely chosen to ignore Him―presuming that God will sort everything out without them having to lift a finger. The more we ignore God, God the more He withdraws His Providential Help. As the saints say―the worst and cruelest thing that God can do to us is to leave to ourselves. That is what is happening today. We will pay the price―and we are already starting to see and sense how big a price that might end up being! Yes―God will triumph in the end―but at what cost? How many souls will have been damned by our indifference, negligence or even outright stubborn refusal to do what God has been asking of us?
Presumption is born of pride―and the only way out of this is through humility and obedience. The next article will lay out an extensive, practical, supernatural plan that any person, any family, any community, any parish can practice―but it has to be regularly (not sporadically) practiced; it has to be ordered and enforced; it has to taken seriously and applied meticulously―almost in military fashion. Yet, are we soldiers of Christ? Are we not in the middle of a war? A soldier has to fight―it is a case of “kill, or be killed”. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Feast of St. Paul the Hermit & Sunday January 16th
& Feast of St. Anthony the Great of the Egyptian Desert, January 17th
Article 12
Lessons from the Desert Fathers for Our Future Desert
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
& Feast of St. Anthony the Great of the Egyptian Desert, January 17th
Article 12
Lessons from the Desert Fathers for Our Future Desert
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Are We Heading Towards a Global Desert? Are We Already There?
Very few people associate the desert with fun―unless you misspell “desert” with “dessert”―which then brings to mind ice-cream, cookies, apple-pie, etc. The desert is seen as being quite the opposite of fun. What is a desert? The English word “desert” is similar in other languages: the Italian and Portuguese “deserto”, French “desert” and Spanish “desierto”, all come from the ecclesiastical Latin dēsertum (originally “an abandoned place”), a participle of dēserere, meaning “to abandon.” The word “desert” has come to refer to a vast sandy area without vegetation, or any empty, lifeless expanse. Yet there are also ice-deserts―with the Antarctic Desert and Arctic Desert being around 50% bigger than the sandy Sahara Desert that we are more familiar with.
A classic definition of the noun “desert” will give you something akin to the following: (1) A region so arid, because of little rainfall, that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation, or no vegetation at all. (2) Any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil. (3) Any place lacking in something. Some synonyms, of the word “desert”, are “waste”, “wasteland”, “barren wilderness”.
The question we have to ask is whether our world is heading towards being desert-like? Our Lady of La Salette foretells that “the Earth will become desert-like.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) was given a vision of the Church being like a desert―being completely abandoned and deserted: “The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away!” We are seeing this today, as people in large numbers have abandoned the Catholic Church, with only around 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass. Statistics show that over 90% of the younger generation cease to go to Church once they (a) graduate or (b) leave the parental home.
Melanie Calvat, one of the two seers of La Salette, is reported as saying to Fr. Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground” (from the book The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis by Fr. Combe, 1906).
Saint Ephrem, born in Mesopotamia in the 4th Century, speaks of the saints of the last days fleeing from the impending evil to hide in the deserts and caves: “Many of the saints shall most speedily flee to the deserts and lie hid in the deserts and mountains and caves through fear, and strew earth and ashes on their heads, destitute and weeping both day and night with great humility.”
Two Catholic authors on prophecy― Rev. Fr. R. Gerald Culleton and Yves Dupont―state that Bernadine Von Busto (died 1490) prophesied that “Many fervent priests and religious in the wilderness and desert will be miraculously sustained by God.”
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him, to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II. A prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement is here quoted in an abbreviated form, where he paints a picture of the Earth being left looking desert-like:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... Any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another living human being! ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... All the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this Judgment upon the Nations.” According to Fr. Pel, this judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Understand the Reason!
God is good. Good is kind. God is patient. God is merciful. Yet God is not mocked: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8). As Fr. Pel said above (around 1945): “The sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire!” Our Lady of La Salette had already states in 1846: “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to plague and famine, which will be widespread … The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Holy Scripture also makes this clear: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). We brush-off the gravity of sin as though it was little or nothing―easily remedied by a quick confession. Yet Our Lord says: ““Go, and now sin no more! … Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 8:10-11; 5:14). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
No―we cannot brush-off sin, nor minimize its gravity! Our Catechism tells us that sin is most serious and disastrous evil in the whole world―nothing can be compared to it: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Just listen to what Our Lady had to say to Blessed Elena Aiello, a mystic and stigmatist and founder of a religious order―the following words were said BACK IN 1956, when television was only just starting out―by 1955 only half of U.S. homes had a television; in other countries of world it was less than that. There was no internet in 1956―it only started to invade homes around 1994; and even then it was very rare for homes to have access to the internet. Legalized divorce was a rarity. Legalized abortion was almost non-existent. Homosexuality was not legalized. Same-sex marriages were not allowed nor legalized. Contraception was not legalized―it was only five years after the contraceptive pill was approved for use as a contraceptive in 1960, that birth control became legal nationwide in the U.S. Pornography was not publicly available and very few people had access to it. Even though immodesty was on the increase―it was nothing like what we see today. Over 75% of Catholics regularly attended Sunday Mass―and that has not dropped to post-Covid numbers of around only 10% to 15% regularly attending Sunday Mass. These sins are the MERE TIP OF THE ICEBERG OF SIN THAT IS FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY. So bear that in mind when you read the following words of Our Lady, spoken in 1956, when sin was a fraction of the amount that it is today:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956). What would Our Lady say today?
Well, , in 1973, around 17 years after saying those words, Our Lady spoke again of sin at Akita, in Japan. She said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The reason for the impending desert-like situation that will embrace THE ENTIRE WORLD is quite clearly and simply the escalating number and gravity of sins committed in the world. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8).
So What Could Become Desert-Like?
There are numerous aspects of our life that could quickly become “desert-like”―either almost overnight, or over several weeks, months or even a year or two. More than you at first imagine. For, like a "domino-effect", one catastrophe easily provokes another one. Here is possible and plausible scenario:
In Holy Scripture, we read that Jesus was led into the desert and there He was tempted by Satan. Likewise, we have been led into a desert of lies, where Satan tempts us to believe his lies, which he makes through his many minions―of which there is no shortage. Unlike Christ, who overcame Satan’s temptation, Catholics (and the rest of the world) too easily fall for his lies―just as Eve fell for his lies in the Garden of Eden. St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians can equally be addressed to us: “I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Desert of Lies
In this desert of lies, the vegetation of truth is wilting and dying more and more with every passing year. To the world Our Lord says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life … But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? … He that is of God, heareth the words of God! Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You do the works of your father! … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 14:6; 8:41-47).
What else can you expect from a world whose prince in the Devil (John 12:31). Christ is Truth itself. The Devil is the father of lies. If the Devil is the father of lies, then it only logical that, being prince of this world, the world has to be infected with lies. The worldly folk―the followers of the world with its culture, fashions, attitudes, maxims, laws and codes―are bound to be infected with the lies of the world. In essence, the world is a desert of lies, where truth cannot grow―unless it be a truth that is advantageous to the world (and the Devil). For, as the spiritual masters say―the Devil will admit nine truths if he pass a lie as being believed to be the tenth ‘truth’.
Desert of Ignorance and Stupidity
It is easy to fool a fool―and, as Scripture says: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). A quote allegedly and debatably attributed to Mark Twain, says: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled!” The less we know, the more easily we are fooled―often because we are afraid to show others how ignorant or stupid we are on some matter, and so we gullibly take on board whatever is said for fear of looking stupid by asking questions.
The greatest dangers regarding ignorance and stupidity are to be found in the domain of Faith. Very few Catholics know and understand their Faith sufficiently―that is why they are easily drawn into all kinds of stupid ideas and beliefs. Way back in 1905, in his encyclical on Catholic ignorance (Acerbo Nimis), Pope St. Pius X wrote: “At this very troublesome and difficult time … The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, … there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … who are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … They rarely give thought to God … It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! … It is indeed vain to expect a fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them!”
As they say: “If you won’t believe God, you will believe anything!” ― sadly, that is the case of most Catholics today, and, even more so, the case of most people in the world. They will soon start to believe in aliens!
Desert of Delusion
Most Catholics―never mind those who are not Catholics―live in a state of delusion. What is delusion? Delusion, in simple terms, is something a person believes and wants to be true, when it is actually not true. In less simple terms, delusions is a personal subjective belief or impression, that is firmly maintained, despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument. Most Catholics have tweaked and modified the Faith to suit their own personal “wishful thinking”. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about the “Emperor’s New Clothes”, or sometimes known as the “Emperor With No Clothes.”
Briefly, the plot is as follows: Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool. Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city stark naked, or at least in his underwear. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although startled, the emperor continues the procession, walking more proudly than ever.
Many of the things that are proposed to us by governments, politicians, Big Pharma, banksters, etc., fall into this category of illusion and delusion. They make things out to be what they are not―and we, gullibly or fearfully, follow along and take the bait. On a topical note, the currents narratives about Covid and its ‘dangers’ (99.9% recover), the needs for masks and vaccines, the ever-mutating ‘killer’ virus, the paranoid hand-washing, social-distancing, quarantining, etc. are all part and parcel of creating an illusion that is not true, and making the deluded “sheeple” buy-into the false narrative.
Desert of Hatred
Just as God is Truth itself and the Devil is the father of lies―likewise, “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Devil is hatred in whom there is no charity nor love―except, perhaps, a love of self. Christ seeks to save, whereas the Devil seeks to destroy. Scripture says of Jesus: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Whereas of the Devil it says: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Today, we see the many minions of Satan going about seeking whom they may devour―and the vaccine is one of those things Satan is using to devour (depopulate) the world.
Once you turn your back upon God―Who is charity itself―then you automatically begin to drift towards hatred. There can be no true charity, no true love, without a love of God―all godless love is not true love, it is make-believe, merely humanistic love, materialistic love, sensual love, counterfeit love. St. Paul speaks of true charity―the love of God―when he writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The spirit of hatred is progressively and increasingly growing throughout the world because God is being progressively and increasingly neglected and abandoned throughout the world. The further you walk away from a fire, the colder it gets―the same applies to God. “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). This hatred manifests itself very clearly in areas such as abortion (hatred of the unborn), euthanasia, biological warfare whereby humans create poisons and diseases in a laboratory that are meant to kill large numbers of innocent people, racism, the sexual slavery trade, the manipulation of economies and markets by the greed of the rich minority that often drives people into poverty or unemployment, etc.
A recent study showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has made the world’s wealthiest far richer, but has led to more people living in poverty. Lower incomes for the world’s poorest contribute to the death of 21,000 around people each day. But the world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their collective fortunes since March 2020. 99% of the world’s population are worse off because of lockdowns which resulted in lower international trade, less international tourism, and as a result of that, 160 million more people have been pushed into poverty. The world’s 10 richest men are: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault and family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffet. While collectively their wealth grew from $700bn to $1.5tn between March 2020 and November 2021, there is significant variation between them, with Elon Musk’s fortune growing by more than 1,000% (ten times more), while Bill Gates’ rose by 30%.
“He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? … If any man say: ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom He seeth not?” (1 John 3:17; 4:20).
Moral Desert
Immorality and immoral laws are like a virus that easily spreads from place to place, from country to country. Just look at the immoral laws that have been passed or are attempting to get passed concerning the immoral lies about Covid-19 and its solutions. Many of those laws step outside the limited boundaries of the lawmakers and violate the God-given freedoms and rights of individuals. As the Canon Law of the Church points out―a bad law has no force of law and Scripture says: “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29) ― meaning that where a law opposes the laws of God, then that ‘law’ cannot be rightly called a law.
What has just happened in Canada will soon be happening elsewhere―since the Covid-19 agenda has betrayed a worldwide orchestration of totalitarianism that has never been seen before in the history of the world. A new Canadian law went into effect January 8th, 2022, after being fast-tracked through the Canadian Parliament in December 2021, without any extensive debate. The new law could open the door to religious persecution. The new law describes as a “myth” the belief that heterosexuality (being sexually attracted solely to people of the opposite sex) and cisgenderism (keeping the gender identity assigned at birth, e.g. man is always man, woman always woman) are preferable. In other words, it legally opens the door to homosexuality and transgenderism. Any person who counsels anyone else in a way that does not align with such a worldview that promotes homosexuality and transgenderism and a worldview that rejects heterosexuality and cisgenderism, now carries a potential five-year jail sentence. Critics claim the language of the bill is very broad and could even include private conversations between two citizens.
Yet that is merely a grain of sand in the vast desert of immorality that besieges the world today! Abortion, contraception, divorce, living together in sin without marriage, fornication, children born out of wedlock (Catholic countries: Colombia 74%, Chile 74%, Mexico 72%, Peru 70%, Argentina 60%, France 60%, Portugal 58%, Spain 52% ― the USA has 50%), pornography and immodesty, homosexuality, not to mention the incalculable lies, deceit, cheating, stealing, embezzlement, fraud, blackmail, etc. that goes on in politics, businesses and industries.
Yet Catholics, soldiers of Christ, are indifferent to tsunami of sin throughout the world and just idly sit watching their televisions, with a burger in one hand and a beer in the other; or idly chatting or scrolling away on their smartphones or tablets. “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) has been reduced to fighting to get to coffee and donuts before anyone else after Mass.
Desert of Apostasy
We know that the Catholic Church will endure until the end of time: “I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world” (Matthew, 28:20) Nevertheless, the misconception that the Church will always have a large number of faithful Catholics, is not claimed in Sacred Scripture nor anywhere else. Quite to the contrary, Scripture tells us: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The Saints and Mystics have also prophesied this apostasy.
ST. HIPPOLYTUS (3rd century) foretold that “the churches will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither oblation nor incense is attended to, nor will there be a service acceptable to God; but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher’s hut, and the Holy Body and Blood of Christ will not be shown in those days. The public service of God shall be extinguished.”
ST. NICHOLAS VON FLUE (15th century) prophesied that “the Church will be punished because the majority of Her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper, until She will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired. But, after this, She will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters.”
ST. JOHN BOSCO (19th century) prophesied that “there will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.” [1862 Prediction―the Second Vatican Council was the only Ecumenical Council in the 1900s].
BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH (19th century), a German mystic who was favored with extensive revelations, said: “I saw the relationship between the two popes… I saw how baleful (evil; harmful) would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome) … Once more I saw the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect (Masonry), while storms were damaging it … I saw a secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … When the Church had been for the most part destroyed (by the secret sect), and when only the sanctuary and the altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers (of the secret sect) enter the Church with the Beast … The (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there will hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. The great devastation is now at hand … It was also shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away … I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … Then I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … I heard that Lucifer (if I am not mistaken) will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2000 AD.”
In 1861, CARDINAL HENRY EDWARD MANNING was a high ranking official of the Anglican church and achieved notoriety when he converted to Catholicism in the 19th century. He was a staunch supporter of papal infallibility and a close friend of Pope Leo XIII. He spoke of the future apostasy, saying: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90).
History has witnessed time and again entire nations (England) and even groups of nations (the Great Eastern Schism), who were once Catholic, apostatizing from the Faith. That this would happen on a larger scale, especially in consideration of a “shrinking world” due to modern technology, is not at all inconceivable, and in fact, was predicted and has happened.
Pope St. Pius X warned the Church of this in 1907: “[T]hey put into operation their designs for Her [the Church’s] undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of Her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers.” (Encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis).
Our Lady has warned us of apostasy on numerous occasions.
Our Lady of Good Success said: “Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century… It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation… The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished … Various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs [morals]… The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and the virtues will suffer an unspeakably cruel and slow martyrdom.”
Our Lady of La Salette spoke of a universal relaxation in matters of the Faith: “Lucifer, with a great number of demons will be unchained from Hell. By degrees they shall abolish the Faith, even among persons consecrated to God ... In every place there will be extraordinary prodigies, because the true Faith has been extinguished ... The abomination shall be seen in holy places, in convents, and then the demon shall make himself the king of hearts … Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.”
Our Lady of Fatima implied a worldwide apostasy when she revealed as part of the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima”, that “in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc…” This partial sentence speaks volumes. The “etc.” written down by Sister Lucy herself, clearly indicates that Our Lady said more―but which Sister Lucia is not revealing. What a strange statement to make at a time when essentially every country on the face of the Earth had the dogma of the Faith. The implication is clear ― Our Lady was, at the very least, forecasting that entire countries would lose the dogma of the Faith, Portugal being an exception. Every Fatima scholar agrees that Our Lady went on to say that in other parts of the world, the dogma of the Faith will be attacked and not preserved as it should, it may even be lost altogether. We must not allow ourselves to be victims of this creeping apostasy all around us.
In 1931, CARDINAL PACELLI, THE FUTURE POPE PIUS XII, said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them [he means the sanctuary light that indicates the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar]. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
In 1952, FR. SCHWEIGL was personally sent by Pope Pius XII to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret. Fr. Schweigl said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74).
FR. J. ALONSO, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965-1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether ... Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
CARDINAL OTTAVIANI was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955. The Cardinal said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia: ‘Why this date?’ She answered: ‘Because then it will be clearer.’”
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II … I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
CARDINAL CIAPPI, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
In 1963, a German periodical, NEUES EUROPA, after much research into whatever information was available on the Third Secret of Fatima, published an educated guess on its contents. Part of the article stated: “Satan rules even in the highest positions and determines the direction of things. He will succeed in worming his way even into the highest summits of the Church … But this will be a time of great trials for the Church. Cardinals will oppose cardinals. Bishops will oppose bishops. Satan will walk in their ranks. In Rome, there will be great changes. What is rotten will fall and what will fall will never rise again. Darkness will envelope the Church and the world will be thrown into a panic.” This text received unofficial approbation (approval) in the 1960s by several Church officials, who had actually read the original text of the Third Secret of Fatima. Among these Church officials was the well-respected Cardinal Ottovani.
Just recently, in September of 2021, ARCHBISHOP CARLO MARIA VIGANÒ, spoke of the apostasy that is currently clearly visible within the Catholic Church: “I tell you all nothing that you do not already know, when I say that the Church of Christ is undergoing a very serious crisis, and that the Catholic Hierarchy has failed in the serious obligations of its apostolic mission and is, in a large part, corrupt. The origins of this crisis and this apostasy are now apparent even to the most moderate. The origins lay in having wanted to align the Church with the mentality of the world, whose prince, let us not forget, is Satan: ‘the prince of this world’ (John 12:31) … What we see happening shows us the reality of a terrible situation, in which a corrupt part of the Hierarchy – which I call the ‘Deep Church’ for the sake of brevity – has totally surrendered itself to the ‘Deep State’. It is a betrayal … We are faced with a war … Our generals not only are not leading the army to face the enemy, but are actually ordering the army to lay down its weapons and surrender unconditionally, driving away the most courageous soldiers and punishing the most loyal officials. The entire general staff of the Catholic Church has revealed itself to be allied with the enemy and is itself an enemy of those it instead ought to be defending ...
“The great apostasy has been foretold in the Sacred Scriptures and should not catch us unprepared ... The goal of the glory of God and the salvation of souls has been replaced by the glory of man and the consequent damnation of souls. What was a vice yesterday is today a virtue; what was a virtue yesterday is today a vice. All the present action of the Modernist sect that infests the Vatican, the Dioceses, and the Religious Orders is characterized by the overturning of what has been taught and handed down to us … Good Catholics have been defined as mad or sick … Do not think that I am using exaggerated expressions―just a few days ago a priest in Costa Rica was suspended from ministry and forced to undergo psychiatric treatment simply for having celebrated the Mass of Paul VI in Latin despite the prohibition of his Bishop … Today we are witnessing the criminalization of dissenters, and if we do not yet see their physical elimination, we know how many of them are suspended, deprived of their very means of support and banished from ecclesial life. And this happens while at the same time scandalous persons and fornicators of every sort not only are not punished and expelled from the Ministry, but are even promoted.”
In practical terms, the Desert of Apostasy can be seen in surveys such as the Pew Research Center survey of 2015, examining American Catholics and family life in the USA. According to the survey, about half of those who were raised Catholic end up leaving and that most Americans, who were raised Catholic but have since left the church, could not envision themselves returning to it. 77% of those who were raised Catholic, but no longer identify with the religion, said they could not envision themselves eventually returning to the Church. Although Catholics have long made up about a quarter of the U.S. population―though not all of them practiced their Catholic Faith regularly―recent data has shown that percentage dropping. In these COVID days of lockdowns and recent church closures―the already bad regular Sunday Mass attendance of only 25%, dropped even lower once the churches were re-opened―being as low as 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass.
The survey also examined U.S. Catholics’ views on issues such as divorce, same-sex marriage and sinful behavior, finding an openness for non-traditional family structures. The study sheds some light on how Catholic American attitudes on family, sex and marriage compare with Church teaching. When asked whether they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues, a very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics — 76% — expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. Even 66% of regular Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. 62% wanted the Church to allow priests to marry, and 63% wanted the church to allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed thought that women should be allowed to become priests. And 46% thought that the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% of Catholics think it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 56% think that homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% of Catholics believe it is NOT a sin to use contraceptives. 80% think that divorcing is NOT a sin. On the issue of the dogma of Church on the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, an August 2019 Pew Research Center survey showed that 70% of all self-identified Catholics said they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that for them the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. After the Second Vatican Council, patterns of regular Confession, that were once in abundance, began to fade. Today, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), only 2% of Catholics go regularly to confession—and 75% never go to Confession, or go less than once a year.
All of the above behaviors are clearly SINS and SIN IS EXPENSIVE! Sin must be paid for―but nobody wants to pay! God says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, then he shall die therein―in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities, which he hath wrought, he shall surely live and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Desert of Death
After believing the lie―you are doomed to die! Satan is a liar and a murderer―Our Lord Himself said so: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 14:6; 8:41-47). Scripture adds that this murderer constantly roams seeking whom he can devour: “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is the purveyor of temptation to sin―and sin brings with it death: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15).
ABORTIONS ― Yes―the current world deserves death a thousand times over! According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. There have around 1,682 million (almost 1.7 billion) abortions worldwide since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. In the USA―where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion―there are over 3,000 abortions per day. 22% of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Most Catholics do very little, or even nothing, by way of praying many Rosaries and making many sacrifices against this constant murder of the unborn. Not only will those asking for and those performing the abortions be punished―but we will be punished for our indifference, negligence or refusal to stop them by constant bombardments of Rosaries and sacrifices. We are too busy with our own daily little lives with all their relatively petty little things to worry about saving babies! We are content to let those babies be ‘sacrificed’ rather than make daily sacrifices ourselves! Does that mean that we will get away with it? No! God will act―for their blood is indirectly on our hands, just as it is directly on the hands of the mother and the abortionist.
VACCINE “ABORTIONS” ― We are now, in a broad and loose sense, seeing ‘abortions’ being committed upon adults by these genocide jabs that every government is so keen to enforce upon every man, woman and child on the planet. 93% of autopsies reveal that people who were vaccinated with Covid-19 Jab, died from the vaccine. The most attacked organ was the heart, but other organs were involved such as the lungs and liver. In over 90% of the deceased, doctors found an auto-immune self-attack in the tissues of these organs by killer T-lymphocytes― the age range was from 28 to 90. In all deaths they found the same pathological findings. The only common denominator in all these people was the genocide Covid jab, a gene based therapy, which caused spike protein damage to tissue. Four of the victims from the Covid-19 shot, only received one dose. With each Covid jab, the immune system gets progressively worse.
SLAVERY ― An estimated 24.9 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery of one kind or another. Of these, 16 million (64%) are exploited for labor, 4.8 million (19%) are sexually exploited, and 4.1 million (17%) are exploited in state-imposed forced labor. America is considered one of the worst countries for adult human trafficking, with the top three being Mexico, the United States, and the Philippines. Our reaction is the same as our reaction to abortion―in theory we don’t agree with it, we dislike it, or even hate the thought of it―but in practice we do little or nothing; perhaps an occasional Rosary or two, now and then, but very little or nothing more. God is not letting all of us fall prey to a slavery within the ever increasing totalitarianism that is closing in on us.
CIVIL WAR ― On top of all that, we have the ever increasing threat of war. For several years now Americans have increasingly become convinced that America is heading toward civil war. Our Lady of La Salette foretold that there would be an outbreak of many civil wars throughout the world. As we enter 2022, the mainstream media is stoking up the fire of a potential civil war. A 2021 national survey found a variety of Americans (46%) believed a future civil war was likely, 43% felt it was unlikely, and 11% were not sure. War seemed more likely for younger people (53%) than older ones (31%), and for those residing in the South (49%) and Central/Great Lakes region (48%) relative to those in the East (39%). For those wishing to depopulate the world, what better tool than a civil war? You can use mass media and false flag operations to polarize the people into opposing factions―Democrats versus Republicans; blacks versus whites; poor versus the rich; vaxxed versus the unvaxxed; the anti-mask versus the pro-mask wearers; the duped versus the enlightened; militias versus the military; the pro-police versus the anti-police; atheists and pagans versus the Christians; the anti-LGBT versus the pro-LGBT; the owners of guns versus the gun confiscators; etc. In that way you can attract just about anybody into their own personal civil war platform.
THIRD WORLD WAR ― In addition to the likelihood of an American Civil War, everyone is also talking about a potential World War which could begin with Russia invading the Ukraine. Catholic prophecy has many references to a Third World War, which is meant to be appalling. If you want to depopulate the world―then simply start a world war and watch everyone kill each other by simply sitting on the sidelines. Nobody can point the finger at you if they do not know that you are the one who provoked the war in the first place―just blame the fighting nations, it’s their fault! The culture of death knows no limits!
EMP ATTACKS ― Throw into the mix the much vaunted and ‘promised’ EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) attacks. Experts are warning that the United States is vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack from adversaries such as China, and that time is running out to invest in defending the country from it. Peter Vincent Pry, the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, says: “That poses a real threat of possibly being able to win a war with a single blow by means of an EMP attack … Moreover … they don’t envision employing an EMP by itself. It would be used in conjunction with cyber-attacks and physical sabotage, and non-nuclear EMP.” Pry warns that the U.S. electric grid and other infrastructures – such as communications and transportation systems and water and sewer services – could all be devastated by such an attack. China has invested heavily in its EMP program and already possesses “super EMPs” and last summer tested a new hypersonic glide vehicle that analysts warn could deploy the EMP and cause a long-lasting blackout that would shut down key infrastructure and cripple the military's ability to communicate. If China or any other adversary such as Russia were to successfully cause a large scale blackout, Pry warns that there is little the U.S. could do in response. Experts warn that a yearlong blackout, caused by an EMP, could kill an estimated 90% of the American population. Depopulation was never easier! Technology today makes mass death a piece of cake!
Desert of Starvation
As if all that was not enough, there is much talk about potential unrest and deaths resulting from the orchestrated and planned breakdown in the U.S. supply chain right now. The supply chain defines how a product moves from its source as a raw material, to a finished product available to the consumer. It is sometimes referred to as “farm to fork.” Transportation is a recurring step in each stage of the supply chain. Delivery of raw materials to the manufacturer of a product; delivery of the finished product from manufacturer to warehouses; delivery from warehouses to stores is the final step in the supply chain. It is done in a variety of ways including ships, trains, trucks, and sometimes by air. It usually involves trucks. Sometimes it’s a dedicated fleet of trucks and sometimes independent operators. Our economy depends on trucks to deliver ten billion tons of virtually every commodity consumed—over 80 percent of all freight transported annually in the U.S.
The delays have rippled throughout the supply chain, as trucking companies face massive shortages of drivers, and warehouses run out of space for the accumulating goods that they cannot get rid of. More than 50% of American truckers are unvaxxed and in a survey by the American Trucking Associations, 37% of truckers said they will never get the injection and will quit their jobs if forced to do so by their employers.
All the mainstream media outlets are singing the same tune―the global supply chain is about to collapse. One US newspaper writes: “It has become obvious that the global supply chain, that we have blindly depended on for so long, is collapsing!” Another writes: “Workers from across the supply chain in four industry groups, including the International Chamber of Shipping — which represent over 65 million seafarers, truck drivers, and airline workers across the globe — warned world leaders that global trade is facing a possible system collapse! Global supply chains are beginning to buckle!” Hmm! Wonder who wrote the ‘music’ and the ‘lyrics’?
In the US, ports in Southern California have taken the center stage as over 60 hulking cargo ships wait weeks to dock and unload, setting multiple all-time records. In key export markets like China, ports have faced numerous shutdowns due to the country's zero tolerance policy for COVID-19 outbreaks. The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain. Pandemic ensued border restrictions, distancing requirements and factory closures have all wreaked havoc on traditional supply chains, leading to congestion at ports, delivery delays and soaring freight rates on the main shipping routes between China, the US and Europe. Thousands of containers are still stuck in the wrong place. Trucking is the primary source of container transport once the cargo is unloaded at a port. A shortage of drivers across the country means much of the container volume sits idle at capacity-constrained facilities. Until container circulation improves, prices will likely keep rising. Scarcity has caused the prices of many things to go higher. Prices are going up, some shelves are still empty, and some things seem to have simply disappeared from stores. Orders for many things are late, many stores are closing, and even critical items like pharmaceuticals and other medicines are delayed. Unless the situation is resolved soon, the consequences for the global economy may be dire.
Every day, Americans purchase billions of dollars of groceries. Most of these goods are brought to market via daily truck deliveries. Significant shortages will occur in as little as three days, especially for perishable items following a national emergency and a ban on truck traffic. Minor shortages will occur within one to two days. At convenience stores and other small retailers with less inventory, shortages will occur much sooner. Consumer fear and panic will exacerbate shortages. News of a truck stoppage—whether on the local level, state or regional level, or nationwide—will spur hoarding and drastic increases in consumer purchases of essential goods. A stoppage at harvest time in or around any of the nation’s agricultural regions will cut off the transport of fresh foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. Not only would Americans be deprived of fresh foods, the economic impact to the farming industry would be devastating. Moreover, a truck stoppage in a major metropolitan area will result in rapid depletion of food, bottled water, and critical medical supplies, potentially leading to civil unrest as citizens compete for basic necessities. Starvation is not far behind!
Supplies of clean drinking water will run dry in two to four weeks. According to the American Water Works Association, Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day. For safety and security reasons, most water supply plants maintain a larger inventory of supplies than the typical business. However, the amount of chemical storage varies significantly and is site specific. Most water treatment facilities receive chlorine in cylinders (150 pounds and one ton cylinders) that are delivered by trucks. On average, trucks deliver purification chemicals to water supply plants every seven to 14 days. Without these chemicals, water cannot be purified and made safe for drinking. Without truck deliveries of purification chemicals, water supply plants will run out of drinkable water in 14 to 28 days. Once the water supply is drained, water will be deemed safe for drinking only when boiled. Lack of clean drinking water will lead to increased gastrointestinal and other illnesses, further taxing an already weakened healthcare system.
Truck transport is the mechanism for fuel delivery to service stations and truck stops. Service station fuel supplies will start to run out in just one to two days. The nation’s busiest fuel stations sell between 200,000 and 300,000 gallons per month. These stations require multiple deliveries every day to meet this demand. An average service station requires a delivery every 2.4 days. Based on these statistics, the busiest service stations could run out of fuel within hours of a truck stoppage, with the remaining stations following within one to two days. Researchers predict that automobile travel will cease within one week if fuel deliveries are halted.
There are many, many more terrible consequences ― many that ultimately lead to disease and death ― as a result of a breakdown in the supply chain. What better way to depopulate the world? Nobody points a finger at you―you can simply blame the economy and industries and whoever else you want to blame for the breakdown.
The pressure is building while the façade of normalcy reigns in the lives of 90 percent of American families. As they complacently sleepwalk through life, most people (or “sheeple”) are oblivious to the dangers that are to be found just around the corner.
Very few people associate the desert with fun―unless you misspell “desert” with “dessert”―which then brings to mind ice-cream, cookies, apple-pie, etc. The desert is seen as being quite the opposite of fun. What is a desert? The English word “desert” is similar in other languages: the Italian and Portuguese “deserto”, French “desert” and Spanish “desierto”, all come from the ecclesiastical Latin dēsertum (originally “an abandoned place”), a participle of dēserere, meaning “to abandon.” The word “desert” has come to refer to a vast sandy area without vegetation, or any empty, lifeless expanse. Yet there are also ice-deserts―with the Antarctic Desert and Arctic Desert being around 50% bigger than the sandy Sahara Desert that we are more familiar with.
A classic definition of the noun “desert” will give you something akin to the following: (1) A region so arid, because of little rainfall, that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation, or no vegetation at all. (2) Any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil. (3) Any place lacking in something. Some synonyms, of the word “desert”, are “waste”, “wasteland”, “barren wilderness”.
The question we have to ask is whether our world is heading towards being desert-like? Our Lady of La Salette foretells that “the Earth will become desert-like.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) was given a vision of the Church being like a desert―being completely abandoned and deserted: “The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away!” We are seeing this today, as people in large numbers have abandoned the Catholic Church, with only around 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass. Statistics show that over 90% of the younger generation cease to go to Church once they (a) graduate or (b) leave the parental home.
Melanie Calvat, one of the two seers of La Salette, is reported as saying to Fr. Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground” (from the book The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis by Fr. Combe, 1906).
Saint Ephrem, born in Mesopotamia in the 4th Century, speaks of the saints of the last days fleeing from the impending evil to hide in the deserts and caves: “Many of the saints shall most speedily flee to the deserts and lie hid in the deserts and mountains and caves through fear, and strew earth and ashes on their heads, destitute and weeping both day and night with great humility.”
Two Catholic authors on prophecy― Rev. Fr. R. Gerald Culleton and Yves Dupont―state that Bernadine Von Busto (died 1490) prophesied that “Many fervent priests and religious in the wilderness and desert will be miraculously sustained by God.”
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him, to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II. A prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement is here quoted in an abbreviated form, where he paints a picture of the Earth being left looking desert-like:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... Any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another living human being! ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... All the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this Judgment upon the Nations.” According to Fr. Pel, this judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Understand the Reason!
God is good. Good is kind. God is patient. God is merciful. Yet God is not mocked: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8). As Fr. Pel said above (around 1945): “The sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire!” Our Lady of La Salette had already states in 1846: “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to plague and famine, which will be widespread … The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Holy Scripture also makes this clear: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). We brush-off the gravity of sin as though it was little or nothing―easily remedied by a quick confession. Yet Our Lord says: ““Go, and now sin no more! … Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 8:10-11; 5:14). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
No―we cannot brush-off sin, nor minimize its gravity! Our Catechism tells us that sin is most serious and disastrous evil in the whole world―nothing can be compared to it: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Just listen to what Our Lady had to say to Blessed Elena Aiello, a mystic and stigmatist and founder of a religious order―the following words were said BACK IN 1956, when television was only just starting out―by 1955 only half of U.S. homes had a television; in other countries of world it was less than that. There was no internet in 1956―it only started to invade homes around 1994; and even then it was very rare for homes to have access to the internet. Legalized divorce was a rarity. Legalized abortion was almost non-existent. Homosexuality was not legalized. Same-sex marriages were not allowed nor legalized. Contraception was not legalized―it was only five years after the contraceptive pill was approved for use as a contraceptive in 1960, that birth control became legal nationwide in the U.S. Pornography was not publicly available and very few people had access to it. Even though immodesty was on the increase―it was nothing like what we see today. Over 75% of Catholics regularly attended Sunday Mass―and that has not dropped to post-Covid numbers of around only 10% to 15% regularly attending Sunday Mass. These sins are the MERE TIP OF THE ICEBERG OF SIN THAT IS FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY. So bear that in mind when you read the following words of Our Lady, spoken in 1956, when sin was a fraction of the amount that it is today:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956). What would Our Lady say today?
Well, , in 1973, around 17 years after saying those words, Our Lady spoke again of sin at Akita, in Japan. She said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The reason for the impending desert-like situation that will embrace THE ENTIRE WORLD is quite clearly and simply the escalating number and gravity of sins committed in the world. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8).
So What Could Become Desert-Like?
There are numerous aspects of our life that could quickly become “desert-like”―either almost overnight, or over several weeks, months or even a year or two. More than you at first imagine. For, like a "domino-effect", one catastrophe easily provokes another one. Here is possible and plausible scenario:
In Holy Scripture, we read that Jesus was led into the desert and there He was tempted by Satan. Likewise, we have been led into a desert of lies, where Satan tempts us to believe his lies, which he makes through his many minions―of which there is no shortage. Unlike Christ, who overcame Satan’s temptation, Catholics (and the rest of the world) too easily fall for his lies―just as Eve fell for his lies in the Garden of Eden. St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians can equally be addressed to us: “I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Desert of Lies
In this desert of lies, the vegetation of truth is wilting and dying more and more with every passing year. To the world Our Lord says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life … But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? … He that is of God, heareth the words of God! Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You do the works of your father! … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 14:6; 8:41-47).
What else can you expect from a world whose prince in the Devil (John 12:31). Christ is Truth itself. The Devil is the father of lies. If the Devil is the father of lies, then it only logical that, being prince of this world, the world has to be infected with lies. The worldly folk―the followers of the world with its culture, fashions, attitudes, maxims, laws and codes―are bound to be infected with the lies of the world. In essence, the world is a desert of lies, where truth cannot grow―unless it be a truth that is advantageous to the world (and the Devil). For, as the spiritual masters say―the Devil will admit nine truths if he pass a lie as being believed to be the tenth ‘truth’.
Desert of Ignorance and Stupidity
It is easy to fool a fool―and, as Scripture says: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). A quote allegedly and debatably attributed to Mark Twain, says: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled!” The less we know, the more easily we are fooled―often because we are afraid to show others how ignorant or stupid we are on some matter, and so we gullibly take on board whatever is said for fear of looking stupid by asking questions.
The greatest dangers regarding ignorance and stupidity are to be found in the domain of Faith. Very few Catholics know and understand their Faith sufficiently―that is why they are easily drawn into all kinds of stupid ideas and beliefs. Way back in 1905, in his encyclical on Catholic ignorance (Acerbo Nimis), Pope St. Pius X wrote: “At this very troublesome and difficult time … The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, … there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … who are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … They rarely give thought to God … It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! … It is indeed vain to expect a fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them!”
As they say: “If you won’t believe God, you will believe anything!” ― sadly, that is the case of most Catholics today, and, even more so, the case of most people in the world. They will soon start to believe in aliens!
Desert of Delusion
Most Catholics―never mind those who are not Catholics―live in a state of delusion. What is delusion? Delusion, in simple terms, is something a person believes and wants to be true, when it is actually not true. In less simple terms, delusions is a personal subjective belief or impression, that is firmly maintained, despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument. Most Catholics have tweaked and modified the Faith to suit their own personal “wishful thinking”. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about the “Emperor’s New Clothes”, or sometimes known as the “Emperor With No Clothes.”
Briefly, the plot is as follows: Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool. Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city stark naked, or at least in his underwear. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although startled, the emperor continues the procession, walking more proudly than ever.
Many of the things that are proposed to us by governments, politicians, Big Pharma, banksters, etc., fall into this category of illusion and delusion. They make things out to be what they are not―and we, gullibly or fearfully, follow along and take the bait. On a topical note, the currents narratives about Covid and its ‘dangers’ (99.9% recover), the needs for masks and vaccines, the ever-mutating ‘killer’ virus, the paranoid hand-washing, social-distancing, quarantining, etc. are all part and parcel of creating an illusion that is not true, and making the deluded “sheeple” buy-into the false narrative.
Desert of Hatred
Just as God is Truth itself and the Devil is the father of lies―likewise, “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Devil is hatred in whom there is no charity nor love―except, perhaps, a love of self. Christ seeks to save, whereas the Devil seeks to destroy. Scripture says of Jesus: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Whereas of the Devil it says: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Today, we see the many minions of Satan going about seeking whom they may devour―and the vaccine is one of those things Satan is using to devour (depopulate) the world.
Once you turn your back upon God―Who is charity itself―then you automatically begin to drift towards hatred. There can be no true charity, no true love, without a love of God―all godless love is not true love, it is make-believe, merely humanistic love, materialistic love, sensual love, counterfeit love. St. Paul speaks of true charity―the love of God―when he writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The spirit of hatred is progressively and increasingly growing throughout the world because God is being progressively and increasingly neglected and abandoned throughout the world. The further you walk away from a fire, the colder it gets―the same applies to God. “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). This hatred manifests itself very clearly in areas such as abortion (hatred of the unborn), euthanasia, biological warfare whereby humans create poisons and diseases in a laboratory that are meant to kill large numbers of innocent people, racism, the sexual slavery trade, the manipulation of economies and markets by the greed of the rich minority that often drives people into poverty or unemployment, etc.
A recent study showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has made the world’s wealthiest far richer, but has led to more people living in poverty. Lower incomes for the world’s poorest contribute to the death of 21,000 around people each day. But the world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their collective fortunes since March 2020. 99% of the world’s population are worse off because of lockdowns which resulted in lower international trade, less international tourism, and as a result of that, 160 million more people have been pushed into poverty. The world’s 10 richest men are: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault and family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffet. While collectively their wealth grew from $700bn to $1.5tn between March 2020 and November 2021, there is significant variation between them, with Elon Musk’s fortune growing by more than 1,000% (ten times more), while Bill Gates’ rose by 30%.
“He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? … If any man say: ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom He seeth not?” (1 John 3:17; 4:20).
Moral Desert
Immorality and immoral laws are like a virus that easily spreads from place to place, from country to country. Just look at the immoral laws that have been passed or are attempting to get passed concerning the immoral lies about Covid-19 and its solutions. Many of those laws step outside the limited boundaries of the lawmakers and violate the God-given freedoms and rights of individuals. As the Canon Law of the Church points out―a bad law has no force of law and Scripture says: “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29) ― meaning that where a law opposes the laws of God, then that ‘law’ cannot be rightly called a law.
What has just happened in Canada will soon be happening elsewhere―since the Covid-19 agenda has betrayed a worldwide orchestration of totalitarianism that has never been seen before in the history of the world. A new Canadian law went into effect January 8th, 2022, after being fast-tracked through the Canadian Parliament in December 2021, without any extensive debate. The new law could open the door to religious persecution. The new law describes as a “myth” the belief that heterosexuality (being sexually attracted solely to people of the opposite sex) and cisgenderism (keeping the gender identity assigned at birth, e.g. man is always man, woman always woman) are preferable. In other words, it legally opens the door to homosexuality and transgenderism. Any person who counsels anyone else in a way that does not align with such a worldview that promotes homosexuality and transgenderism and a worldview that rejects heterosexuality and cisgenderism, now carries a potential five-year jail sentence. Critics claim the language of the bill is very broad and could even include private conversations between two citizens.
Yet that is merely a grain of sand in the vast desert of immorality that besieges the world today! Abortion, contraception, divorce, living together in sin without marriage, fornication, children born out of wedlock (Catholic countries: Colombia 74%, Chile 74%, Mexico 72%, Peru 70%, Argentina 60%, France 60%, Portugal 58%, Spain 52% ― the USA has 50%), pornography and immodesty, homosexuality, not to mention the incalculable lies, deceit, cheating, stealing, embezzlement, fraud, blackmail, etc. that goes on in politics, businesses and industries.
Yet Catholics, soldiers of Christ, are indifferent to tsunami of sin throughout the world and just idly sit watching their televisions, with a burger in one hand and a beer in the other; or idly chatting or scrolling away on their smartphones or tablets. “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) has been reduced to fighting to get to coffee and donuts before anyone else after Mass.
Desert of Apostasy
We know that the Catholic Church will endure until the end of time: “I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world” (Matthew, 28:20) Nevertheless, the misconception that the Church will always have a large number of faithful Catholics, is not claimed in Sacred Scripture nor anywhere else. Quite to the contrary, Scripture tells us: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The Saints and Mystics have also prophesied this apostasy.
ST. HIPPOLYTUS (3rd century) foretold that “the churches will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither oblation nor incense is attended to, nor will there be a service acceptable to God; but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher’s hut, and the Holy Body and Blood of Christ will not be shown in those days. The public service of God shall be extinguished.”
ST. NICHOLAS VON FLUE (15th century) prophesied that “the Church will be punished because the majority of Her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper, until She will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired. But, after this, She will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters.”
ST. JOHN BOSCO (19th century) prophesied that “there will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.” [1862 Prediction―the Second Vatican Council was the only Ecumenical Council in the 1900s].
BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH (19th century), a German mystic who was favored with extensive revelations, said: “I saw the relationship between the two popes… I saw how baleful (evil; harmful) would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome) … Once more I saw the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect (Masonry), while storms were damaging it … I saw a secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … When the Church had been for the most part destroyed (by the secret sect), and when only the sanctuary and the altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers (of the secret sect) enter the Church with the Beast … The (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there will hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. The great devastation is now at hand … It was also shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away … I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … Then I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … I heard that Lucifer (if I am not mistaken) will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2000 AD.”
In 1861, CARDINAL HENRY EDWARD MANNING was a high ranking official of the Anglican church and achieved notoriety when he converted to Catholicism in the 19th century. He was a staunch supporter of papal infallibility and a close friend of Pope Leo XIII. He spoke of the future apostasy, saying: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90).
History has witnessed time and again entire nations (England) and even groups of nations (the Great Eastern Schism), who were once Catholic, apostatizing from the Faith. That this would happen on a larger scale, especially in consideration of a “shrinking world” due to modern technology, is not at all inconceivable, and in fact, was predicted and has happened.
Pope St. Pius X warned the Church of this in 1907: “[T]hey put into operation their designs for Her [the Church’s] undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of Her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers.” (Encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis).
Our Lady has warned us of apostasy on numerous occasions.
Our Lady of Good Success said: “Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century… It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation… The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished … Various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs [morals]… The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and the virtues will suffer an unspeakably cruel and slow martyrdom.”
Our Lady of La Salette spoke of a universal relaxation in matters of the Faith: “Lucifer, with a great number of demons will be unchained from Hell. By degrees they shall abolish the Faith, even among persons consecrated to God ... In every place there will be extraordinary prodigies, because the true Faith has been extinguished ... The abomination shall be seen in holy places, in convents, and then the demon shall make himself the king of hearts … Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.”
Our Lady of Fatima implied a worldwide apostasy when she revealed as part of the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima”, that “in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc…” This partial sentence speaks volumes. The “etc.” written down by Sister Lucy herself, clearly indicates that Our Lady said more―but which Sister Lucia is not revealing. What a strange statement to make at a time when essentially every country on the face of the Earth had the dogma of the Faith. The implication is clear ― Our Lady was, at the very least, forecasting that entire countries would lose the dogma of the Faith, Portugal being an exception. Every Fatima scholar agrees that Our Lady went on to say that in other parts of the world, the dogma of the Faith will be attacked and not preserved as it should, it may even be lost altogether. We must not allow ourselves to be victims of this creeping apostasy all around us.
In 1931, CARDINAL PACELLI, THE FUTURE POPE PIUS XII, said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them [he means the sanctuary light that indicates the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar]. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’”
In 1952, FR. SCHWEIGL was personally sent by Pope Pius XII to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret. Fr. Schweigl said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74).
FR. J. ALONSO, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965-1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether ... Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
CARDINAL OTTAVIANI was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955. The Cardinal said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia: ‘Why this date?’ She answered: ‘Because then it will be clearer.’”
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II … I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
CARDINAL CIAPPI, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
In 1963, a German periodical, NEUES EUROPA, after much research into whatever information was available on the Third Secret of Fatima, published an educated guess on its contents. Part of the article stated: “Satan rules even in the highest positions and determines the direction of things. He will succeed in worming his way even into the highest summits of the Church … But this will be a time of great trials for the Church. Cardinals will oppose cardinals. Bishops will oppose bishops. Satan will walk in their ranks. In Rome, there will be great changes. What is rotten will fall and what will fall will never rise again. Darkness will envelope the Church and the world will be thrown into a panic.” This text received unofficial approbation (approval) in the 1960s by several Church officials, who had actually read the original text of the Third Secret of Fatima. Among these Church officials was the well-respected Cardinal Ottovani.
Just recently, in September of 2021, ARCHBISHOP CARLO MARIA VIGANÒ, spoke of the apostasy that is currently clearly visible within the Catholic Church: “I tell you all nothing that you do not already know, when I say that the Church of Christ is undergoing a very serious crisis, and that the Catholic Hierarchy has failed in the serious obligations of its apostolic mission and is, in a large part, corrupt. The origins of this crisis and this apostasy are now apparent even to the most moderate. The origins lay in having wanted to align the Church with the mentality of the world, whose prince, let us not forget, is Satan: ‘the prince of this world’ (John 12:31) … What we see happening shows us the reality of a terrible situation, in which a corrupt part of the Hierarchy – which I call the ‘Deep Church’ for the sake of brevity – has totally surrendered itself to the ‘Deep State’. It is a betrayal … We are faced with a war … Our generals not only are not leading the army to face the enemy, but are actually ordering the army to lay down its weapons and surrender unconditionally, driving away the most courageous soldiers and punishing the most loyal officials. The entire general staff of the Catholic Church has revealed itself to be allied with the enemy and is itself an enemy of those it instead ought to be defending ...
“The great apostasy has been foretold in the Sacred Scriptures and should not catch us unprepared ... The goal of the glory of God and the salvation of souls has been replaced by the glory of man and the consequent damnation of souls. What was a vice yesterday is today a virtue; what was a virtue yesterday is today a vice. All the present action of the Modernist sect that infests the Vatican, the Dioceses, and the Religious Orders is characterized by the overturning of what has been taught and handed down to us … Good Catholics have been defined as mad or sick … Do not think that I am using exaggerated expressions―just a few days ago a priest in Costa Rica was suspended from ministry and forced to undergo psychiatric treatment simply for having celebrated the Mass of Paul VI in Latin despite the prohibition of his Bishop … Today we are witnessing the criminalization of dissenters, and if we do not yet see their physical elimination, we know how many of them are suspended, deprived of their very means of support and banished from ecclesial life. And this happens while at the same time scandalous persons and fornicators of every sort not only are not punished and expelled from the Ministry, but are even promoted.”
In practical terms, the Desert of Apostasy can be seen in surveys such as the Pew Research Center survey of 2015, examining American Catholics and family life in the USA. According to the survey, about half of those who were raised Catholic end up leaving and that most Americans, who were raised Catholic but have since left the church, could not envision themselves returning to it. 77% of those who were raised Catholic, but no longer identify with the religion, said they could not envision themselves eventually returning to the Church. Although Catholics have long made up about a quarter of the U.S. population―though not all of them practiced their Catholic Faith regularly―recent data has shown that percentage dropping. In these COVID days of lockdowns and recent church closures―the already bad regular Sunday Mass attendance of only 25%, dropped even lower once the churches were re-opened―being as low as 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass.
The survey also examined U.S. Catholics’ views on issues such as divorce, same-sex marriage and sinful behavior, finding an openness for non-traditional family structures. The study sheds some light on how Catholic American attitudes on family, sex and marriage compare with Church teaching. When asked whether they believed that the Church should change its position on a variety of issues, a very large percentage of religiously identified Catholics — 76% — expressed a desire to see the Church allow the use of birth control. Even 66% of regular Mass-going Catholics said the Church should relax its prohibition on contraceptives. 62% wanted the Church to allow priests to marry, and 63% wanted the church to allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% of Catholics surveyed thought that women should be allowed to become priests. And 46% thought that the Church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% of Catholics think it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 56% think that homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% of Catholics believe it is NOT a sin to use contraceptives. 80% think that divorcing is NOT a sin. On the issue of the dogma of Church on the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, an August 2019 Pew Research Center survey showed that 70% of all self-identified Catholics said they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that for them the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. After the Second Vatican Council, patterns of regular Confession, that were once in abundance, began to fade. Today, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), only 2% of Catholics go regularly to confession—and 75% never go to Confession, or go less than once a year.
All of the above behaviors are clearly SINS and SIN IS EXPENSIVE! Sin must be paid for―but nobody wants to pay! God says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, then he shall die therein―in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities, which he hath wrought, he shall surely live and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Desert of Death
After believing the lie―you are doomed to die! Satan is a liar and a murderer―Our Lord Himself said so: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 14:6; 8:41-47). Scripture adds that this murderer constantly roams seeking whom he can devour: “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is the purveyor of temptation to sin―and sin brings with it death: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15).
ABORTIONS ― Yes―the current world deserves death a thousand times over! According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. There have around 1,682 million (almost 1.7 billion) abortions worldwide since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. In the USA―where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion―there are over 3,000 abortions per day. 22% of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Most Catholics do very little, or even nothing, by way of praying many Rosaries and making many sacrifices against this constant murder of the unborn. Not only will those asking for and those performing the abortions be punished―but we will be punished for our indifference, negligence or refusal to stop them by constant bombardments of Rosaries and sacrifices. We are too busy with our own daily little lives with all their relatively petty little things to worry about saving babies! We are content to let those babies be ‘sacrificed’ rather than make daily sacrifices ourselves! Does that mean that we will get away with it? No! God will act―for their blood is indirectly on our hands, just as it is directly on the hands of the mother and the abortionist.
VACCINE “ABORTIONS” ― We are now, in a broad and loose sense, seeing ‘abortions’ being committed upon adults by these genocide jabs that every government is so keen to enforce upon every man, woman and child on the planet. 93% of autopsies reveal that people who were vaccinated with Covid-19 Jab, died from the vaccine. The most attacked organ was the heart, but other organs were involved such as the lungs and liver. In over 90% of the deceased, doctors found an auto-immune self-attack in the tissues of these organs by killer T-lymphocytes― the age range was from 28 to 90. In all deaths they found the same pathological findings. The only common denominator in all these people was the genocide Covid jab, a gene based therapy, which caused spike protein damage to tissue. Four of the victims from the Covid-19 shot, only received one dose. With each Covid jab, the immune system gets progressively worse.
SLAVERY ― An estimated 24.9 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery of one kind or another. Of these, 16 million (64%) are exploited for labor, 4.8 million (19%) are sexually exploited, and 4.1 million (17%) are exploited in state-imposed forced labor. America is considered one of the worst countries for adult human trafficking, with the top three being Mexico, the United States, and the Philippines. Our reaction is the same as our reaction to abortion―in theory we don’t agree with it, we dislike it, or even hate the thought of it―but in practice we do little or nothing; perhaps an occasional Rosary or two, now and then, but very little or nothing more. God is not letting all of us fall prey to a slavery within the ever increasing totalitarianism that is closing in on us.
CIVIL WAR ― On top of all that, we have the ever increasing threat of war. For several years now Americans have increasingly become convinced that America is heading toward civil war. Our Lady of La Salette foretold that there would be an outbreak of many civil wars throughout the world. As we enter 2022, the mainstream media is stoking up the fire of a potential civil war. A 2021 national survey found a variety of Americans (46%) believed a future civil war was likely, 43% felt it was unlikely, and 11% were not sure. War seemed more likely for younger people (53%) than older ones (31%), and for those residing in the South (49%) and Central/Great Lakes region (48%) relative to those in the East (39%). For those wishing to depopulate the world, what better tool than a civil war? You can use mass media and false flag operations to polarize the people into opposing factions―Democrats versus Republicans; blacks versus whites; poor versus the rich; vaxxed versus the unvaxxed; the anti-mask versus the pro-mask wearers; the duped versus the enlightened; militias versus the military; the pro-police versus the anti-police; atheists and pagans versus the Christians; the anti-LGBT versus the pro-LGBT; the owners of guns versus the gun confiscators; etc. In that way you can attract just about anybody into their own personal civil war platform.
THIRD WORLD WAR ― In addition to the likelihood of an American Civil War, everyone is also talking about a potential World War which could begin with Russia invading the Ukraine. Catholic prophecy has many references to a Third World War, which is meant to be appalling. If you want to depopulate the world―then simply start a world war and watch everyone kill each other by simply sitting on the sidelines. Nobody can point the finger at you if they do not know that you are the one who provoked the war in the first place―just blame the fighting nations, it’s their fault! The culture of death knows no limits!
EMP ATTACKS ― Throw into the mix the much vaunted and ‘promised’ EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) attacks. Experts are warning that the United States is vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack from adversaries such as China, and that time is running out to invest in defending the country from it. Peter Vincent Pry, the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, says: “That poses a real threat of possibly being able to win a war with a single blow by means of an EMP attack … Moreover … they don’t envision employing an EMP by itself. It would be used in conjunction with cyber-attacks and physical sabotage, and non-nuclear EMP.” Pry warns that the U.S. electric grid and other infrastructures – such as communications and transportation systems and water and sewer services – could all be devastated by such an attack. China has invested heavily in its EMP program and already possesses “super EMPs” and last summer tested a new hypersonic glide vehicle that analysts warn could deploy the EMP and cause a long-lasting blackout that would shut down key infrastructure and cripple the military's ability to communicate. If China or any other adversary such as Russia were to successfully cause a large scale blackout, Pry warns that there is little the U.S. could do in response. Experts warn that a yearlong blackout, caused by an EMP, could kill an estimated 90% of the American population. Depopulation was never easier! Technology today makes mass death a piece of cake!
Desert of Starvation
As if all that was not enough, there is much talk about potential unrest and deaths resulting from the orchestrated and planned breakdown in the U.S. supply chain right now. The supply chain defines how a product moves from its source as a raw material, to a finished product available to the consumer. It is sometimes referred to as “farm to fork.” Transportation is a recurring step in each stage of the supply chain. Delivery of raw materials to the manufacturer of a product; delivery of the finished product from manufacturer to warehouses; delivery from warehouses to stores is the final step in the supply chain. It is done in a variety of ways including ships, trains, trucks, and sometimes by air. It usually involves trucks. Sometimes it’s a dedicated fleet of trucks and sometimes independent operators. Our economy depends on trucks to deliver ten billion tons of virtually every commodity consumed—over 80 percent of all freight transported annually in the U.S.
The delays have rippled throughout the supply chain, as trucking companies face massive shortages of drivers, and warehouses run out of space for the accumulating goods that they cannot get rid of. More than 50% of American truckers are unvaxxed and in a survey by the American Trucking Associations, 37% of truckers said they will never get the injection and will quit their jobs if forced to do so by their employers.
All the mainstream media outlets are singing the same tune―the global supply chain is about to collapse. One US newspaper writes: “It has become obvious that the global supply chain, that we have blindly depended on for so long, is collapsing!” Another writes: “Workers from across the supply chain in four industry groups, including the International Chamber of Shipping — which represent over 65 million seafarers, truck drivers, and airline workers across the globe — warned world leaders that global trade is facing a possible system collapse! Global supply chains are beginning to buckle!” Hmm! Wonder who wrote the ‘music’ and the ‘lyrics’?
In the US, ports in Southern California have taken the center stage as over 60 hulking cargo ships wait weeks to dock and unload, setting multiple all-time records. In key export markets like China, ports have faced numerous shutdowns due to the country's zero tolerance policy for COVID-19 outbreaks. The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain. Pandemic ensued border restrictions, distancing requirements and factory closures have all wreaked havoc on traditional supply chains, leading to congestion at ports, delivery delays and soaring freight rates on the main shipping routes between China, the US and Europe. Thousands of containers are still stuck in the wrong place. Trucking is the primary source of container transport once the cargo is unloaded at a port. A shortage of drivers across the country means much of the container volume sits idle at capacity-constrained facilities. Until container circulation improves, prices will likely keep rising. Scarcity has caused the prices of many things to go higher. Prices are going up, some shelves are still empty, and some things seem to have simply disappeared from stores. Orders for many things are late, many stores are closing, and even critical items like pharmaceuticals and other medicines are delayed. Unless the situation is resolved soon, the consequences for the global economy may be dire.
Every day, Americans purchase billions of dollars of groceries. Most of these goods are brought to market via daily truck deliveries. Significant shortages will occur in as little as three days, especially for perishable items following a national emergency and a ban on truck traffic. Minor shortages will occur within one to two days. At convenience stores and other small retailers with less inventory, shortages will occur much sooner. Consumer fear and panic will exacerbate shortages. News of a truck stoppage—whether on the local level, state or regional level, or nationwide—will spur hoarding and drastic increases in consumer purchases of essential goods. A stoppage at harvest time in or around any of the nation’s agricultural regions will cut off the transport of fresh foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. Not only would Americans be deprived of fresh foods, the economic impact to the farming industry would be devastating. Moreover, a truck stoppage in a major metropolitan area will result in rapid depletion of food, bottled water, and critical medical supplies, potentially leading to civil unrest as citizens compete for basic necessities. Starvation is not far behind!
Supplies of clean drinking water will run dry in two to four weeks. According to the American Water Works Association, Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day. For safety and security reasons, most water supply plants maintain a larger inventory of supplies than the typical business. However, the amount of chemical storage varies significantly and is site specific. Most water treatment facilities receive chlorine in cylinders (150 pounds and one ton cylinders) that are delivered by trucks. On average, trucks deliver purification chemicals to water supply plants every seven to 14 days. Without these chemicals, water cannot be purified and made safe for drinking. Without truck deliveries of purification chemicals, water supply plants will run out of drinkable water in 14 to 28 days. Once the water supply is drained, water will be deemed safe for drinking only when boiled. Lack of clean drinking water will lead to increased gastrointestinal and other illnesses, further taxing an already weakened healthcare system.
Truck transport is the mechanism for fuel delivery to service stations and truck stops. Service station fuel supplies will start to run out in just one to two days. The nation’s busiest fuel stations sell between 200,000 and 300,000 gallons per month. These stations require multiple deliveries every day to meet this demand. An average service station requires a delivery every 2.4 days. Based on these statistics, the busiest service stations could run out of fuel within hours of a truck stoppage, with the remaining stations following within one to two days. Researchers predict that automobile travel will cease within one week if fuel deliveries are halted.
There are many, many more terrible consequences ― many that ultimately lead to disease and death ― as a result of a breakdown in the supply chain. What better way to depopulate the world? Nobody points a finger at you―you can simply blame the economy and industries and whoever else you want to blame for the breakdown.
The pressure is building while the façade of normalcy reigns in the lives of 90 percent of American families. As they complacently sleepwalk through life, most people (or “sheeple”) are oblivious to the dangers that are to be found just around the corner.
Wednesday January 12th & Thursday January 13th & Friday January 14th
Article 11
Your Are Called To The Fight! Stop Sitting On The Fence!
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Article 11
Your Are Called To The Fight! Stop Sitting On The Fence!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Born to Fight! Baptized to Fight! Confirmed to Fight!
Hey, soldier! Your Mother is being ridiculed, robbed and raped! Where are you? Your brothers and sisters are being seduced and carried away captives to be enslaved forever! Where are you? What are you doing? Have you no heart? Have you no courage? Do you not care?
We speak, of course, of your Holy Mother the Church and your brothers and sisters in the Faith. Modern life has desensitized us to the calamities that befall our Holy Mother the Church and nonchalant to the loss of countless souls to the Devil, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). If only we could rouse ourselves to have the sentiments of the saints: St. Teresa of Avila said: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) lamented: “Yes, indeed, many will be damned and few will be saved … Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
Unfortunately, our souls are as cold as the winter―and never meditate on Hell, nor do we strive to be among the “few who are chosen.” The words of Our Lord do not really penetrate our hearts, but flow off us like water off a duck’s back: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). We shut-out such words, we bury them, sanitize them, modify them to suit our preferences or personal beliefs.
Our Lady’s revelations to the children of Fatima concerning Hell and damnation―spoken in 1917, a time much closer to our day than the First Century when Our Lord spoke those words―fail to touch our hard hearts: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, June, July & August of 1917). Neither do those words of Our Lady penetrate our hearts, but flow off us like water off a duck’s back.
Refusing to Fight! Refusing to Help!
Today, the world is many times worse than it was back in 1917, when Our Lady recruited three young soldiers (aged 10, 9 and 7) into the endless battle for souls. It is shameful that today, we adults, fail to achieve what those three children did, once Our Lady recruited them to fight the battle for souls and for the Church.
The following words of Holy Scripture can also be applied to us: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6). Likewise with the following words: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 13:2-3) … “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me; and there is no one that hath regard to my soul!” (Psalms 141:5) … “They surrounded me on every side, and there was no one that would help me! I looked for the help of men―and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10) … “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me! … I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3-5).
In 1973, Our Lady of Akita also speaks of seeking helpers for the fight: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … I desire souls to console Him, to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair for the sinners and the ungrateful … Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! …. Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.”
Every Refusal Has a Price!
Unfortunately, what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed to Fr. Fuentes in 1957, was also true at the time of Akita in 1973 and is still true today: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
A Gambling World
Overall, world gambling statistics show that around 26% of the world’s population gamble. There are almost 8 billion people in the world―children under 18 accounting for around 2 billion. That means around 1.5 billion adults worldwide gamble and 4.2 billion adults gamble at least once every year. Australia has the highest percentage of gamblers with 82% adults gambling at various rates of frequency all the way down to at least once a year. In the UK, studies show that nearly 75% of adults gamble from time to time, and 85% of American adults are said to have gambled at least once in their lifetime – with 80% of them having done so in the last year.
Each game you play at a casino has a statistical probability against you winning. Slot machine odds are some of the worst, ranging from one in 5,000 to one in about 34 million chance of winning the top prize when using the maximum coin play. In every betting game, the odds are against the player. That means that the “house” (the casino, bingo hall, racetrack, lottery commission etc.), is absolutely guaranteed, mathematically, to “win” over time. For every millionaire that is created from lottery winnings, there are millions of others who have lost their money!
Know that none of the casino games have good odds for players. There is a reason for the phrase, “The house always wins.” Every casino game is designed to give the house (casino) a better chance of winning than the gambler.
Gambling With Your Soul
How many people gamble with their soul? That is to say, how many people put their salvation at risk by gambling with sin? Or, in other words, how many people think that they can freely sin as much as they want, be as worldly as they want―and still get to Heaven? They treat sin lightly and gamble on being forgiven! Our Lord addresses this gamble when He says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The vast majority of the world―even the vast majority of Catholics―risk damnation and losing their souls by gambling with the world. If you like, by analogy, they are like a person who needlessly enters a casino and risks losing his money―except in this case, the ‘money’ is sanctifying grace―and thus they willingly and excitedly enter the world (the casino) and risk losing the treasure of sanctifying grace that God has given them.
This is why Holy Scripture says: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ― and, once again: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
We Are Meant to Fight the World, Not Enjoy It!
It is a simple truth, the ignoring of which has damned the vast majority of mankind―the simple truth is that we were made to fight against this world, not enjoy it! We were made to conquer this world and not be conquered by this world. “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). God wants us to fight this world―for Christ Himself said that He and His followers are not of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, for I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“The Lord my God teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). “Therefore, put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
“Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
We Befriend the Enemy and Lose the Friendship of God
Tragically, the most frustrating and exasperating thing about most Catholics is the fact that they expect to get to Heaven without lifting a finger. They utterly fail to see that they have to fight for Heaven―fight to get to Heaven and fight the world (whose prince is the Devil―John 12:31) which seeks to prevent them from getting to Heaven. Incredibly, they do not hate the world and its false maxims, despite what Scripture commands―but they have compromised with the world, they quite like the world, they adopt much of the world’s attitude to things while still paying lip-service to God at Mass on Sundays (but only 10 to 15% of Catholics still attend Sunday Mass regularly) and they pay lip-service with a few prayers or the mechanically distractedly said Rosary (but only 2% of Catholics pray it daily).
These Catholics feel comfortable and safe in this lukewarm state (or even comfortable in mortal sin). They totally and pridefully disregard the teachings of Christ and His Church―which tell us that most souls end up being damned and that few are saved [read more here if you disbelieve that]. They have invented their own “Disney Land” version of the Faith, which has most souls going to Heaven no matter what they do!
Yet―without even having to quote the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the Popes and Saints―Holy Scripture clearly punctures that “Disney Land” wishful thinking in several clear and irrefutable quotes made by Our Lord Himself: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Yet most Catholics totally disregard those words of Our Lord, as if they didn’t exist, or as if He didn’t really mean what He was saying―and worse still, many such persons are parents, teachers and priests, who never or rarely repeat those words to those under their care (children, students or parishioners).
It is doubtless that Our Lord must have preached this truth many times. During the “Sermon on the Mount” He warned: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
On another occasion “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Elsewhere, Our Lord warned, on more than one occasion: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16, also 22:14). Why do Catholics not understand that? Why do parents, teachers and priests not teach that? It is their refusal (or indifference, or negligence) that contributes to the fact that most souls are damned. Our Lord says of them: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Simple Math and Simple Logic
Why are most Catholic souls damned? They are damned because they do not do what they are supposed to do and what they are expected to do! They are not their own masters, but servants of God and soldiers of Christ. If Our Lord says: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants! We have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10). What then would Our Lord say of those who do not do what they are commanded to do? “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
The chief commandment is to LOVE GOD: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). How often is that repeated at home, at school and in the parish? Our Lord then adds: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Simple, isn’t it? “If you love Me, keep my commandments! … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” What the commandments? The Ten Commandments? Yes, the Ten Commandments and MORE BESIDES―for, as Our Lord commanded His Apostles and disciples before ascending into Heaven: “Teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you [all things, and not just the Ten Commandments] … He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me” (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 10:16).
Yet we scratch our heads and shake them, wondering how it can be that most souls are damned! The answer is simple and logical―most souls do not obey the commands of God―not just the Ten Commandments, but all the other commands and counsels of Our Lord that are found in the Gospels. Too many people “pick-and-choose” which commands and counsels they are comfortable with and what counsels they are willing to accept―as though they themselves were God!
● For example, 75% of Catholics believe that they can be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday. Try telling God that on Judgment Day!
● Only 25% of Catholics say that the Catholic Faith is the most important thing in their life.
● A 2019 study showed that 70% of Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the Body and Blood of Christ. They believe the bread and wine used at Mass do not become Jesus, but instead are merely symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
● Most U.S. Catholics (62%) think the Church should allow Catholics who have been divorced and remarried without an annulment to receive Holy Communion. And only about a third of American Catholics (35%) say they personally think getting remarried after a divorce without an annulment is sinful, compared with half (49%) who say it is not a sin. Only 21% of Catholics say simply getting a divorce is sinful, while 61% say it is not sinful.
● Over three-quarters (76%) of Catholics think that the Church should allow birth control.
● Almost 50% of Catholics accept same-sex marriages.
● 44% of Catholics say it is not sinful to engage in homosexual behavior.
That is just the tip of the iceberg of the heretical and sinful views of many Catholics in the world today. It is not getting better, but it is getting worse. “These always err in heart! And these men have not known My ways! So I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into My rest!” (Psalm 94:11; Hebrews 3:10-11). As Our Lord warns: “Salt is good. You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? Wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Luke 14:34; Matthew 5:13). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Sitting on the Fence, Doing Little or Nothing
All of the above doesn’t really faze Catholics―it passes over their heads, or in one ear and out the other, or flows off them like water off a duck’s back. They know it is happening, they see it happening ― yet they do little or nothing about it. At best, the above things provide material for gossip over coffee and donuts. Souls are being damned, but the “show” must go on! Instead of fingers being glued to Rosary beads, eyes are glued to the television, smartphone, tablet or computer screens. Instead of fingers moving over the Rosary beads, instead they are texting and typing. As Our Lady of La Salette lamented: “People will think of nothing but amusements!”
There are no more “Good Samaritans”―everyone is too busy with their life and there is no time to save souls. They see what is happening in the world―but, like the Priest and the Levite, in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, they simply pass by and go about their own business: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’” (Luke 10:30-35).
On Judgment Day, those fence-sitting, non-fighting, world-loving Catholics will have a lot to answer for! “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes! … And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
Our Lord says He came to seek and save that which was lost: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Yet most Catholics “don’t really give a damn” as to who is lost and damned―they are too caught up with their own life and activities. Yet, in the Canon Law of the Church, it states that the supreme law is the salvation of souls. By neglecting to fight for the salvation of souls, we are, in essence, breaking the supreme law of the Church. What kind of judicial sentence or court ruling would you expect for breaking a country’s greatest law? On Judgment Day they will hear the sentence Our Lord pronounced in His parable about the sheep and the goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats! And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.
“Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee? Thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’
“Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:31-46).
As a consequence of receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are all soldiers of Christ. Being a soldier of Christ does not mean being a spectator for Christ. Being a soldier of Christ means fighting the world, fighting its prince―the Devil, and fighting our own corrupt nature with its corrupt tendencies. Heaven is only reached and won by fighting―as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and Holy Scripture adds: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Yet sadly, to most Catholics, Holy Scripture would address the following words: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6).
Hey, soldier! Your Mother is being ridiculed, robbed and raped! Where are you? Your brothers and sisters are being seduced and carried away captives to be enslaved forever! Where are you? What are you doing? Have you no heart? Have you no courage? Do you not care?
We speak, of course, of your Holy Mother the Church and your brothers and sisters in the Faith. Modern life has desensitized us to the calamities that befall our Holy Mother the Church and nonchalant to the loss of countless souls to the Devil, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). If only we could rouse ourselves to have the sentiments of the saints: St. Teresa of Avila said: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) lamented: “Yes, indeed, many will be damned and few will be saved … Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
Unfortunately, our souls are as cold as the winter―and never meditate on Hell, nor do we strive to be among the “few who are chosen.” The words of Our Lord do not really penetrate our hearts, but flow off us like water off a duck’s back: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). We shut-out such words, we bury them, sanitize them, modify them to suit our preferences or personal beliefs.
Our Lady’s revelations to the children of Fatima concerning Hell and damnation―spoken in 1917, a time much closer to our day than the First Century when Our Lord spoke those words―fail to touch our hard hearts: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, June, July & August of 1917). Neither do those words of Our Lady penetrate our hearts, but flow off us like water off a duck’s back.
Refusing to Fight! Refusing to Help!
Today, the world is many times worse than it was back in 1917, when Our Lady recruited three young soldiers (aged 10, 9 and 7) into the endless battle for souls. It is shameful that today, we adults, fail to achieve what those three children did, once Our Lady recruited them to fight the battle for souls and for the Church.
The following words of Holy Scripture can also be applied to us: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6). Likewise with the following words: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 13:2-3) … “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me; and there is no one that hath regard to my soul!” (Psalms 141:5) … “They surrounded me on every side, and there was no one that would help me! I looked for the help of men―and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10) … “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me! … I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3-5).
In 1973, Our Lady of Akita also speaks of seeking helpers for the fight: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … I desire souls to console Him, to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair for the sinners and the ungrateful … Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! …. Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.”
Every Refusal Has a Price!
Unfortunately, what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed to Fr. Fuentes in 1957, was also true at the time of Akita in 1973 and is still true today: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
A Gambling World
Overall, world gambling statistics show that around 26% of the world’s population gamble. There are almost 8 billion people in the world―children under 18 accounting for around 2 billion. That means around 1.5 billion adults worldwide gamble and 4.2 billion adults gamble at least once every year. Australia has the highest percentage of gamblers with 82% adults gambling at various rates of frequency all the way down to at least once a year. In the UK, studies show that nearly 75% of adults gamble from time to time, and 85% of American adults are said to have gambled at least once in their lifetime – with 80% of them having done so in the last year.
Each game you play at a casino has a statistical probability against you winning. Slot machine odds are some of the worst, ranging from one in 5,000 to one in about 34 million chance of winning the top prize when using the maximum coin play. In every betting game, the odds are against the player. That means that the “house” (the casino, bingo hall, racetrack, lottery commission etc.), is absolutely guaranteed, mathematically, to “win” over time. For every millionaire that is created from lottery winnings, there are millions of others who have lost their money!
Know that none of the casino games have good odds for players. There is a reason for the phrase, “The house always wins.” Every casino game is designed to give the house (casino) a better chance of winning than the gambler.
Gambling With Your Soul
How many people gamble with their soul? That is to say, how many people put their salvation at risk by gambling with sin? Or, in other words, how many people think that they can freely sin as much as they want, be as worldly as they want―and still get to Heaven? They treat sin lightly and gamble on being forgiven! Our Lord addresses this gamble when He says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The vast majority of the world―even the vast majority of Catholics―risk damnation and losing their souls by gambling with the world. If you like, by analogy, they are like a person who needlessly enters a casino and risks losing his money―except in this case, the ‘money’ is sanctifying grace―and thus they willingly and excitedly enter the world (the casino) and risk losing the treasure of sanctifying grace that God has given them.
This is why Holy Scripture says: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ― and, once again: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
We Are Meant to Fight the World, Not Enjoy It!
It is a simple truth, the ignoring of which has damned the vast majority of mankind―the simple truth is that we were made to fight against this world, not enjoy it! We were made to conquer this world and not be conquered by this world. “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). God wants us to fight this world―for Christ Himself said that He and His followers are not of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, for I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“The Lord my God teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). “Therefore, put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
“Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
We Befriend the Enemy and Lose the Friendship of God
Tragically, the most frustrating and exasperating thing about most Catholics is the fact that they expect to get to Heaven without lifting a finger. They utterly fail to see that they have to fight for Heaven―fight to get to Heaven and fight the world (whose prince is the Devil―John 12:31) which seeks to prevent them from getting to Heaven. Incredibly, they do not hate the world and its false maxims, despite what Scripture commands―but they have compromised with the world, they quite like the world, they adopt much of the world’s attitude to things while still paying lip-service to God at Mass on Sundays (but only 10 to 15% of Catholics still attend Sunday Mass regularly) and they pay lip-service with a few prayers or the mechanically distractedly said Rosary (but only 2% of Catholics pray it daily).
These Catholics feel comfortable and safe in this lukewarm state (or even comfortable in mortal sin). They totally and pridefully disregard the teachings of Christ and His Church―which tell us that most souls end up being damned and that few are saved [read more here if you disbelieve that]. They have invented their own “Disney Land” version of the Faith, which has most souls going to Heaven no matter what they do!
Yet―without even having to quote the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the Popes and Saints―Holy Scripture clearly punctures that “Disney Land” wishful thinking in several clear and irrefutable quotes made by Our Lord Himself: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Yet most Catholics totally disregard those words of Our Lord, as if they didn’t exist, or as if He didn’t really mean what He was saying―and worse still, many such persons are parents, teachers and priests, who never or rarely repeat those words to those under their care (children, students or parishioners).
It is doubtless that Our Lord must have preached this truth many times. During the “Sermon on the Mount” He warned: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
On another occasion “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Elsewhere, Our Lord warned, on more than one occasion: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16, also 22:14). Why do Catholics not understand that? Why do parents, teachers and priests not teach that? It is their refusal (or indifference, or negligence) that contributes to the fact that most souls are damned. Our Lord says of them: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Simple Math and Simple Logic
Why are most Catholic souls damned? They are damned because they do not do what they are supposed to do and what they are expected to do! They are not their own masters, but servants of God and soldiers of Christ. If Our Lord says: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants! We have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10). What then would Our Lord say of those who do not do what they are commanded to do? “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
The chief commandment is to LOVE GOD: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). How often is that repeated at home, at school and in the parish? Our Lord then adds: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Simple, isn’t it? “If you love Me, keep my commandments! … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” What the commandments? The Ten Commandments? Yes, the Ten Commandments and MORE BESIDES―for, as Our Lord commanded His Apostles and disciples before ascending into Heaven: “Teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you [all things, and not just the Ten Commandments] … He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me” (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 10:16).
Yet we scratch our heads and shake them, wondering how it can be that most souls are damned! The answer is simple and logical―most souls do not obey the commands of God―not just the Ten Commandments, but all the other commands and counsels of Our Lord that are found in the Gospels. Too many people “pick-and-choose” which commands and counsels they are comfortable with and what counsels they are willing to accept―as though they themselves were God!
● For example, 75% of Catholics believe that they can be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday. Try telling God that on Judgment Day!
● Only 25% of Catholics say that the Catholic Faith is the most important thing in their life.
● A 2019 study showed that 70% of Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the Body and Blood of Christ. They believe the bread and wine used at Mass do not become Jesus, but instead are merely symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
● Most U.S. Catholics (62%) think the Church should allow Catholics who have been divorced and remarried without an annulment to receive Holy Communion. And only about a third of American Catholics (35%) say they personally think getting remarried after a divorce without an annulment is sinful, compared with half (49%) who say it is not a sin. Only 21% of Catholics say simply getting a divorce is sinful, while 61% say it is not sinful.
● Over three-quarters (76%) of Catholics think that the Church should allow birth control.
● Almost 50% of Catholics accept same-sex marriages.
● 44% of Catholics say it is not sinful to engage in homosexual behavior.
That is just the tip of the iceberg of the heretical and sinful views of many Catholics in the world today. It is not getting better, but it is getting worse. “These always err in heart! And these men have not known My ways! So I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into My rest!” (Psalm 94:11; Hebrews 3:10-11). As Our Lord warns: “Salt is good. You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? Wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Luke 14:34; Matthew 5:13). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Sitting on the Fence, Doing Little or Nothing
All of the above doesn’t really faze Catholics―it passes over their heads, or in one ear and out the other, or flows off them like water off a duck’s back. They know it is happening, they see it happening ― yet they do little or nothing about it. At best, the above things provide material for gossip over coffee and donuts. Souls are being damned, but the “show” must go on! Instead of fingers being glued to Rosary beads, eyes are glued to the television, smartphone, tablet or computer screens. Instead of fingers moving over the Rosary beads, instead they are texting and typing. As Our Lady of La Salette lamented: “People will think of nothing but amusements!”
There are no more “Good Samaritans”―everyone is too busy with their life and there is no time to save souls. They see what is happening in the world―but, like the Priest and the Levite, in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, they simply pass by and go about their own business: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’” (Luke 10:30-35).
On Judgment Day, those fence-sitting, non-fighting, world-loving Catholics will have a lot to answer for! “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes! … And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
Our Lord says He came to seek and save that which was lost: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Yet most Catholics “don’t really give a damn” as to who is lost and damned―they are too caught up with their own life and activities. Yet, in the Canon Law of the Church, it states that the supreme law is the salvation of souls. By neglecting to fight for the salvation of souls, we are, in essence, breaking the supreme law of the Church. What kind of judicial sentence or court ruling would you expect for breaking a country’s greatest law? On Judgment Day they will hear the sentence Our Lord pronounced in His parable about the sheep and the goats:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats! And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.
“Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
“Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee? Thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’
“Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:31-46).
As a consequence of receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are all soldiers of Christ. Being a soldier of Christ does not mean being a spectator for Christ. Being a soldier of Christ means fighting the world, fighting its prince―the Devil, and fighting our own corrupt nature with its corrupt tendencies. Heaven is only reached and won by fighting―as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and Holy Scripture adds: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Yet sadly, to most Catholics, Holy Scripture would address the following words: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6).
Monday January 10th & Tuesday January 11th
Article 10
Will 2022 be "Annus Horribilis"
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 10
Will 2022 be "Annus Horribilis"
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Annus Horribilis?
“Annus horribilis” is a Latin term, meaning “horrible year”. It is the opposite to “annus mirabilis”, which means “wonderful year”. Sometimes you will also encounter the term “annus terribilis” meaning a “terrible year” or a “frightful year”.
During a speech on the United States Senate floor on December 21st, 2020, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said “I want to bid good riddance to 2020. There can be no question that last year was a horrible year―as they have said in Britain, an annus horribilis.” The year 2020 was widely remarked as being an annus horribilis as the world faced several challenges, most notably, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and rapidly spread in early 2020.
If 2020 could be said to be an annus horribilis, then 2021 could be said to have been an annus horribilior (more horrible), and 2020 risks being the annus horribilissimus (the most horrible). The Church is getting worse, the world is getting worse, totalitarianism increases, liberalism increases, materialism increases, sin increases―while virtue decreases, spirituality decreases, Mass attendance decreases, penance decreases, and time given to God decreases.
The number of churchgoers has steadily dropped in the U.S. over the past few decades―in 1947 around 75% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque; in 2020 that number was 47%. But “belonging” to a church, synagogue or mosque is not the same as “regularly attending” a church, synagogue or mosque. Regular attendance at Catholic Sunday Mass had already fallen to around 20% before Covid-19 came on the scene. But Covid-19 and its lockdown restrictions has further accelerated that fall. In-person church attendance is roughly 30% to 50% lower than it was before the pandemic, estimates Barna Group, a research firm that studies religion in the U.S. That means that if only 20% of Catholics regularly attended Sunday Mass―then a 30% fall reduces that meager 20% down to around 14%.
The Archdiocese of Boston had been losing about 2.5% of its Mass-going population each year since the early 1980s, said Rev. Fr. Paul Soper, the archdiocese’s secretary for evangelization and discipleship. He estimates that attendance at its churches now is down roughly 30% from before the pandemic. Father Soper, who is also the co-pastor of two parishes in Westwood, Mass., asked worryingly: “If there’s not obligation pressure driving them, how are they going to form the habit again?”
In Philadelphia, Father Walsh says that in-person weekend church attendance at St. Raymond of Penafort is about three-quarters of what it was before the pandemic. Remember―before the pandemic, attendance on average was already a lowly 20%! Therefore, three-quarters of 20% is 15% ― a similar percentage to that experienced in the Diocese of Boston (14%).
World Depopulation Also Means Church Depopulation
The elitist world depopulation program is already well advertized and well-known. Even Bill Gates talks about it openly on mainstream media. The current global fear pandemic primes the world for future depopulation by the newly introduced and greatly questionable and highly risky medical “solutions” to the pandemic. Whistleblower doctors and nurses are confirming that large numbers of vaccinated “sheeple” are having serious adverse effects from the medical procedure. Insurance companies and funeral homes are already reporting a 40% increase in deaths―even among the younger generation.
OneAmerica, a national life insurance company based in Indianapolis, reports working age people (18 to 64) are dying at a rate that is 40% higher than pre-pandemic rates. Statistics over the years show that death rates tend to be very stable―but now no longer, ever since worldwide vaccination is being enforced. With that in mind, OneAmerica’s announcement that the death rate of working-age Americans (18 to 64), in the third quarter of 2021, was 40% higher than pre-pandemic levels is rather stunning. OneAmerica is a national mutual life insurance company based in Indianapolis. During an early January 2022 press conference, CEO Scott Davidson said:
“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business — not just at OneAmerica. The data is consistent across every player in that business. And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic. Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic. So, 40% is just unheard of.”
A Physicians Declaration by the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists, signed by more than 16,000 doctors and scientists, states that “healthy children shall not be subjected to forced vaccination” as their clinical risk from SARS-CoV-2 infection is negligible and long term safety of the shots cannot be determined prior to such policies being enacted. Already, data32 from the U.K. show deaths among teenagers increased 47% since they started getting COVID-19 shots. COVID-19-associated deaths also mysteriously rose among 15- to 19-year-olds after the shots were rolled out for this age group.
The Pfizer COVID jab has come under scrutiny since its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval, including claims that Pfizer falsified data and underreported adverse events. After receiving the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) in the matter, lawyers for the FDA only proposed to release the Pfizer documentation over many decades, ultimately asking a federal judge to give them 75 years to completely process the request! A nice way to hide what is really going! Who will still be alive in 75 years to care about the issue? Devious!
Meanwhile―who would have guessed―the WHO (World Health Organization) has just warned that over half of Europe will have been infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 within six to eight weeks. Dr. Hans Kluge said a “west-to-east tidal wave” of Omicron was sweeping across the region, on top of the surge of the Delta variant already present. The projection was based on the seven million “alleged” new cases reported across Europe in the first week of 2022. The number of infections has allegedly more than doubled in a two-week period. Dr. Kluge told a news conference: “Today the Omicron variant represents a new west-to-east tidal wave, sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021.”
The solution to the “crisis” is―of course, you guessed right―more vaccines, more boosters, a broader age-range, jab them younger and younger! Soon they will vaccinating babies while they are still in the womb! It’s a shame that nobody has invented a vaccine for stupidity!
The Voice of Sanity vs the Voice of Satanity
Masks don’t work. Lockdowns don’t work. Shutting down small businesses and schools don’t work. Social distancing doesn’t work. The COVID shots don’t work. Yet with the emergence of Omicron, governments are re-implementing all of the same countermeasures that haven’t worked for the past two years. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Yet that’s precisely what’s passing for “science” these days.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of doctors who see, know, understand and realize the fatal consequences that will result from the current diabolical, deceptive and deathly path that we have be forced to walk by the rulers of this world―whether it be the rulers in government, Big Pharma, mainstream media or elsewhere. These rulers, who follow this diabolical, deceptive and deathly path are clearly in the clutches of Satan. As the recently deceased chief-exorcist of Rome (died 2016), Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said on different occasions: “The influence of Satan is immense! … Today, Satan has free hands ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere ... Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase! ... Satanism is spreading enormously! ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! ... Today Satan rules the world! ... And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
“This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society ... This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. [Today we hear Dr. Fauci and his followers constantly trumpet: “Follow the science!” ― even bishops and priests are trumpeting the same message]. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.” (Selection of quotes of Fr. Amorth made on different occasions and compiled to form one whole message).
There still are hundreds of thousands of scientists who have not put science on the altar, but still worship the truth. Here are the comments of just a handful of them:
Professor Dr. Luc Montagnier: “This vaccine is the biggest risk of genocide to humanity in all of human history.” Professor Montagnier is a Nobel Prize winner in the field of virology. Today, he clearly warns of the risk of vaccination genocide.
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg: “This vaccination corresponds to a genetic modification of the human genome. What is happening now borders on genocide. We must bring them to justice for crimes against humanity.” Professor Wodarg was a longtime chairman of the Council of Europe’s Health Committee. He warns you against becoming a genetically modified organism through vaccination! He raises the alarm that this crime against humanity poses a threat of genocide.
Professor Dr. Alexander Alexeevich Redko: “Vaccination is possible only against stable infections such as measles, rabies… One gets the vaccine and they become immune for the rest of their life.” … “If the virus mutates, there cannot be any non-harmful vaccine against it!” Russian Professor A. Redko points out the nonsense of Covid vaccines due to the rapid mutation of the virus, because the vaccines will already be out of date since the virus will have moved on.
Dr. Vernon Coleman: “We have a horrifying avalanche of evidence showing that these damned vaccines are killing and maiming people… This is global genocide. How much longer are people going to be silent? How many must die?” From the very beginning, Dr. Coleman has warned that the covid-affair along with the experimental mRNA vaccine is an organized fraud.
Dr. Lawrence Palevsky: “Spike protein has been shown to cause brain inflammation and neurological damage, heart attacks, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease… Messenger RNA makes the body produce spike protein on an ongoing basis.” Dr. Palevsky warns the public that the mRNA vaccine makes the body produce spike protein on an ongoing basis. Spike protein causes brain inflammation and neurological damage, heart attacks, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease and other diseases.
Pamela Acker, vaccine researcher: “When you get this vaccine, you are actually injecting pieces of this individual who was murdered into your body. So, you end up losing your actual DNA and having the DNA from the aborted fetal cells incorporated into your cells. In a lot of cases, because it is done on purpose for research purposes, they will actually deliver these babies via cesarean section… So, they’re removing this tissue while the baby’s alive, and in extreme amounts of pain, and so this makes it even more sadistic. The Aztecs, when they would consecrate their temples, they would literally rip out the beating hearts of the victims that they were slaying on top of the temples, and then cast their bodies down the side. This is pretty much exactly the same thing that these researchers are doing.”
Professor Dr. Jean-Bernard Fourtillan: “In this way they have triggered a false pandemic. The aim was to make us accept and demand a so-called “life-saving” vaccine, which is in fact a deadly poison intended to control us, to enslave us and finally to exterminate us by reducing the world population according to a plan announced by Bill Gates.” In a comprehensive evaluation, the French expert shows what the vaccine is intended to do, namely to maim, enslave and ultimately exterminate the vast majority of humanity.
Professor Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, microbiologist: “The big, big danger about this vaccine is you are shooting the gene of the virus into your body. It is going to go through the body and enter cells… And I warn you, if you go along these lines, you are going to your doom… To make things clear, I will never get vaccinated.” This professor of microbiology and researcher emphasizes the dangers of the mRNA vaccine and, by his example, encourages people not to get vaccinated.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò: “In no way can we accept the administration of experimental gene serums, in the course of whose production children have been killed in the third month of pregnancy: their blood would fall on those who produce them, as well as on those who impose them, and those who receive them.”
You have heard an evaluation by specialists and, finally, the moral attitude towards this dangerous vaccine, which is associated with the murder of unborn children. An American researcher testifies that this is not about a cell line of the past, but that the crimes associated with the vaccine are happening in laboratories today! A grim, a very grim scenario indeed!
The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ― Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) ― were German authors who together collected and published folklore. The rise of romanticism in the 19th century revived interest in traditional folk stories ― and the Brothers Grimm profited from that interest. Among the best-known folk tales that they popularized are stories such as Cinderella … The Frog Prince … Hansel and Gretel … Rapunzel … Sleeping Beauty … and Snow White.
Today, we no longer have the original versions of the stories or fairy tales of Brothers Grimm―but a “cleaned-up” and “sanitized” version that eliminated the gruesome bits―for the stories of the Brothers Grimm were not only Grimm by name, but also grim by nature! The stories were didactic in nature―which means that they were meant to teach a moral lesson. They were written at a time when discipline relied on fear―hence, tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel were written as “warning tales” for children.
The stories in include scenes of violence that have since been sanitized. For example, in the Grimms’ original version of Snow White, the Queen is Little Snow White’s mother―not her stepmother. Yet even so she orders her Huntsman to kill Snow White (her biological daughter) and bring home the child’s lungs and liver, so that she can eat them. The story ends with the Queen's mother dancing at Snow White's wedding, wearing a pair of red-hot iron shoes that kill her. Another story, The Goose Girl, has a servant being stripped naked and pushed into a barrel studded with sharp nails, pointing inwards, and then rolled down the street. The Grimms’ version of The Frog Prince describes the princess throwing the frog against a wall, instead of kissing him (as we see in the sanitized version). To some extent, the cruelty and violence may have been a reflection of medieval culture from which the tales originated.
It is to wondered what kind of Grimm stories would be written by the Grim Brothers today―especially on the subject of Covid and the grim medical procedures that claim to help, but are mere fairy tales! Our Lady may not be Grimm by name, but she certainly is grim in teachings and predictions! Read on!
A Grim Our Lady
Our Lady, in her apparitions at Quito (Our Lady of Good Success), at La Salette, Fatima and Akita, has already warned of us what is to come. Here is a compilation of selected quotes of Our Lady from those four apparitions, arranged in logical or thematic order:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … [Holy Scripture foretells this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... The evil sect of Masonry will take control of civil government … all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds …
“The Christian spirit will rapidly decay … During this time the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … . Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! …
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The cursed demon will achieve his victories by means of faithless people so numerous that … with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down, in turn, every type of chastisement―such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls … During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Various nations will be annihilated! … In order to dissipate this black cloud which impedes the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests, as well as that of other religious ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost ... Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? …
“No one on the face of the Earth is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ...
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Sins cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door… God will strike in an unprecedented way … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If sins increase in number and gravity [which they have], there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead …
“God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... For there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world … There are not any souls who, by their lives of immolation and sacrifice, appease the Divine Justice … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of … beloved souls, who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, in the privacy of your heart. Implore our Celestial Father ... that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
“Annus horribilis” is a Latin term, meaning “horrible year”. It is the opposite to “annus mirabilis”, which means “wonderful year”. Sometimes you will also encounter the term “annus terribilis” meaning a “terrible year” or a “frightful year”.
During a speech on the United States Senate floor on December 21st, 2020, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said “I want to bid good riddance to 2020. There can be no question that last year was a horrible year―as they have said in Britain, an annus horribilis.” The year 2020 was widely remarked as being an annus horribilis as the world faced several challenges, most notably, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and rapidly spread in early 2020.
If 2020 could be said to be an annus horribilis, then 2021 could be said to have been an annus horribilior (more horrible), and 2020 risks being the annus horribilissimus (the most horrible). The Church is getting worse, the world is getting worse, totalitarianism increases, liberalism increases, materialism increases, sin increases―while virtue decreases, spirituality decreases, Mass attendance decreases, penance decreases, and time given to God decreases.
The number of churchgoers has steadily dropped in the U.S. over the past few decades―in 1947 around 75% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque; in 2020 that number was 47%. But “belonging” to a church, synagogue or mosque is not the same as “regularly attending” a church, synagogue or mosque. Regular attendance at Catholic Sunday Mass had already fallen to around 20% before Covid-19 came on the scene. But Covid-19 and its lockdown restrictions has further accelerated that fall. In-person church attendance is roughly 30% to 50% lower than it was before the pandemic, estimates Barna Group, a research firm that studies religion in the U.S. That means that if only 20% of Catholics regularly attended Sunday Mass―then a 30% fall reduces that meager 20% down to around 14%.
The Archdiocese of Boston had been losing about 2.5% of its Mass-going population each year since the early 1980s, said Rev. Fr. Paul Soper, the archdiocese’s secretary for evangelization and discipleship. He estimates that attendance at its churches now is down roughly 30% from before the pandemic. Father Soper, who is also the co-pastor of two parishes in Westwood, Mass., asked worryingly: “If there’s not obligation pressure driving them, how are they going to form the habit again?”
In Philadelphia, Father Walsh says that in-person weekend church attendance at St. Raymond of Penafort is about three-quarters of what it was before the pandemic. Remember―before the pandemic, attendance on average was already a lowly 20%! Therefore, three-quarters of 20% is 15% ― a similar percentage to that experienced in the Diocese of Boston (14%).
World Depopulation Also Means Church Depopulation
The elitist world depopulation program is already well advertized and well-known. Even Bill Gates talks about it openly on mainstream media. The current global fear pandemic primes the world for future depopulation by the newly introduced and greatly questionable and highly risky medical “solutions” to the pandemic. Whistleblower doctors and nurses are confirming that large numbers of vaccinated “sheeple” are having serious adverse effects from the medical procedure. Insurance companies and funeral homes are already reporting a 40% increase in deaths―even among the younger generation.
OneAmerica, a national life insurance company based in Indianapolis, reports working age people (18 to 64) are dying at a rate that is 40% higher than pre-pandemic rates. Statistics over the years show that death rates tend to be very stable―but now no longer, ever since worldwide vaccination is being enforced. With that in mind, OneAmerica’s announcement that the death rate of working-age Americans (18 to 64), in the third quarter of 2021, was 40% higher than pre-pandemic levels is rather stunning. OneAmerica is a national mutual life insurance company based in Indianapolis. During an early January 2022 press conference, CEO Scott Davidson said:
“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business — not just at OneAmerica. The data is consistent across every player in that business. And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic. Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic. So, 40% is just unheard of.”
A Physicians Declaration by the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists, signed by more than 16,000 doctors and scientists, states that “healthy children shall not be subjected to forced vaccination” as their clinical risk from SARS-CoV-2 infection is negligible and long term safety of the shots cannot be determined prior to such policies being enacted. Already, data32 from the U.K. show deaths among teenagers increased 47% since they started getting COVID-19 shots. COVID-19-associated deaths also mysteriously rose among 15- to 19-year-olds after the shots were rolled out for this age group.
The Pfizer COVID jab has come under scrutiny since its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval, including claims that Pfizer falsified data and underreported adverse events. After receiving the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) in the matter, lawyers for the FDA only proposed to release the Pfizer documentation over many decades, ultimately asking a federal judge to give them 75 years to completely process the request! A nice way to hide what is really going! Who will still be alive in 75 years to care about the issue? Devious!
Meanwhile―who would have guessed―the WHO (World Health Organization) has just warned that over half of Europe will have been infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 within six to eight weeks. Dr. Hans Kluge said a “west-to-east tidal wave” of Omicron was sweeping across the region, on top of the surge of the Delta variant already present. The projection was based on the seven million “alleged” new cases reported across Europe in the first week of 2022. The number of infections has allegedly more than doubled in a two-week period. Dr. Kluge told a news conference: “Today the Omicron variant represents a new west-to-east tidal wave, sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021.”
The solution to the “crisis” is―of course, you guessed right―more vaccines, more boosters, a broader age-range, jab them younger and younger! Soon they will vaccinating babies while they are still in the womb! It’s a shame that nobody has invented a vaccine for stupidity!
The Voice of Sanity vs the Voice of Satanity
Masks don’t work. Lockdowns don’t work. Shutting down small businesses and schools don’t work. Social distancing doesn’t work. The COVID shots don’t work. Yet with the emergence of Omicron, governments are re-implementing all of the same countermeasures that haven’t worked for the past two years. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Yet that’s precisely what’s passing for “science” these days.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of doctors who see, know, understand and realize the fatal consequences that will result from the current diabolical, deceptive and deathly path that we have be forced to walk by the rulers of this world―whether it be the rulers in government, Big Pharma, mainstream media or elsewhere. These rulers, who follow this diabolical, deceptive and deathly path are clearly in the clutches of Satan. As the recently deceased chief-exorcist of Rome (died 2016), Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said on different occasions: “The influence of Satan is immense! … Today, Satan has free hands ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere ... Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase! ... Satanism is spreading enormously! ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! ... Today Satan rules the world! ... And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
“This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society ... This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. [Today we hear Dr. Fauci and his followers constantly trumpet: “Follow the science!” ― even bishops and priests are trumpeting the same message]. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.” (Selection of quotes of Fr. Amorth made on different occasions and compiled to form one whole message).
There still are hundreds of thousands of scientists who have not put science on the altar, but still worship the truth. Here are the comments of just a handful of them:
Professor Dr. Luc Montagnier: “This vaccine is the biggest risk of genocide to humanity in all of human history.” Professor Montagnier is a Nobel Prize winner in the field of virology. Today, he clearly warns of the risk of vaccination genocide.
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg: “This vaccination corresponds to a genetic modification of the human genome. What is happening now borders on genocide. We must bring them to justice for crimes against humanity.” Professor Wodarg was a longtime chairman of the Council of Europe’s Health Committee. He warns you against becoming a genetically modified organism through vaccination! He raises the alarm that this crime against humanity poses a threat of genocide.
Professor Dr. Alexander Alexeevich Redko: “Vaccination is possible only against stable infections such as measles, rabies… One gets the vaccine and they become immune for the rest of their life.” … “If the virus mutates, there cannot be any non-harmful vaccine against it!” Russian Professor A. Redko points out the nonsense of Covid vaccines due to the rapid mutation of the virus, because the vaccines will already be out of date since the virus will have moved on.
Dr. Vernon Coleman: “We have a horrifying avalanche of evidence showing that these damned vaccines are killing and maiming people… This is global genocide. How much longer are people going to be silent? How many must die?” From the very beginning, Dr. Coleman has warned that the covid-affair along with the experimental mRNA vaccine is an organized fraud.
Dr. Lawrence Palevsky: “Spike protein has been shown to cause brain inflammation and neurological damage, heart attacks, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease… Messenger RNA makes the body produce spike protein on an ongoing basis.” Dr. Palevsky warns the public that the mRNA vaccine makes the body produce spike protein on an ongoing basis. Spike protein causes brain inflammation and neurological damage, heart attacks, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease and other diseases.
Pamela Acker, vaccine researcher: “When you get this vaccine, you are actually injecting pieces of this individual who was murdered into your body. So, you end up losing your actual DNA and having the DNA from the aborted fetal cells incorporated into your cells. In a lot of cases, because it is done on purpose for research purposes, they will actually deliver these babies via cesarean section… So, they’re removing this tissue while the baby’s alive, and in extreme amounts of pain, and so this makes it even more sadistic. The Aztecs, when they would consecrate their temples, they would literally rip out the beating hearts of the victims that they were slaying on top of the temples, and then cast their bodies down the side. This is pretty much exactly the same thing that these researchers are doing.”
Professor Dr. Jean-Bernard Fourtillan: “In this way they have triggered a false pandemic. The aim was to make us accept and demand a so-called “life-saving” vaccine, which is in fact a deadly poison intended to control us, to enslave us and finally to exterminate us by reducing the world population according to a plan announced by Bill Gates.” In a comprehensive evaluation, the French expert shows what the vaccine is intended to do, namely to maim, enslave and ultimately exterminate the vast majority of humanity.
Professor Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, microbiologist: “The big, big danger about this vaccine is you are shooting the gene of the virus into your body. It is going to go through the body and enter cells… And I warn you, if you go along these lines, you are going to your doom… To make things clear, I will never get vaccinated.” This professor of microbiology and researcher emphasizes the dangers of the mRNA vaccine and, by his example, encourages people not to get vaccinated.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò: “In no way can we accept the administration of experimental gene serums, in the course of whose production children have been killed in the third month of pregnancy: their blood would fall on those who produce them, as well as on those who impose them, and those who receive them.”
You have heard an evaluation by specialists and, finally, the moral attitude towards this dangerous vaccine, which is associated with the murder of unborn children. An American researcher testifies that this is not about a cell line of the past, but that the crimes associated with the vaccine are happening in laboratories today! A grim, a very grim scenario indeed!
The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ― Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) ― were German authors who together collected and published folklore. The rise of romanticism in the 19th century revived interest in traditional folk stories ― and the Brothers Grimm profited from that interest. Among the best-known folk tales that they popularized are stories such as Cinderella … The Frog Prince … Hansel and Gretel … Rapunzel … Sleeping Beauty … and Snow White.
Today, we no longer have the original versions of the stories or fairy tales of Brothers Grimm―but a “cleaned-up” and “sanitized” version that eliminated the gruesome bits―for the stories of the Brothers Grimm were not only Grimm by name, but also grim by nature! The stories were didactic in nature―which means that they were meant to teach a moral lesson. They were written at a time when discipline relied on fear―hence, tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel were written as “warning tales” for children.
The stories in include scenes of violence that have since been sanitized. For example, in the Grimms’ original version of Snow White, the Queen is Little Snow White’s mother―not her stepmother. Yet even so she orders her Huntsman to kill Snow White (her biological daughter) and bring home the child’s lungs and liver, so that she can eat them. The story ends with the Queen's mother dancing at Snow White's wedding, wearing a pair of red-hot iron shoes that kill her. Another story, The Goose Girl, has a servant being stripped naked and pushed into a barrel studded with sharp nails, pointing inwards, and then rolled down the street. The Grimms’ version of The Frog Prince describes the princess throwing the frog against a wall, instead of kissing him (as we see in the sanitized version). To some extent, the cruelty and violence may have been a reflection of medieval culture from which the tales originated.
It is to wondered what kind of Grimm stories would be written by the Grim Brothers today―especially on the subject of Covid and the grim medical procedures that claim to help, but are mere fairy tales! Our Lady may not be Grimm by name, but she certainly is grim in teachings and predictions! Read on!
A Grim Our Lady
Our Lady, in her apparitions at Quito (Our Lady of Good Success), at La Salette, Fatima and Akita, has already warned of us what is to come. Here is a compilation of selected quotes of Our Lady from those four apparitions, arranged in logical or thematic order:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … [Holy Scripture foretells this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... The evil sect of Masonry will take control of civil government … all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds …
“The Christian spirit will rapidly decay … During this time the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … . Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! …
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The cursed demon will achieve his victories by means of faithless people so numerous that … with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down, in turn, every type of chastisement―such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls … During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Various nations will be annihilated! … In order to dissipate this black cloud which impedes the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests, as well as that of other religious ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost ... Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? …
“No one on the face of the Earth is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ...
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Sins cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door… God will strike in an unprecedented way … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If sins increase in number and gravity [which they have], there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead …
“God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... For there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world … There are not any souls who, by their lives of immolation and sacrifice, appease the Divine Justice … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of … beloved souls, who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, in the privacy of your heart. Implore our Celestial Father ... that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Saturday January 8th & Sunday January 9th
Article 9
The "Post-Christmas Blues" or "After Holiday Depression"
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 9
The "Post-Christmas Blues" or "After Holiday Depression"
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
No doubt you both said and heard the greetings “Merry Christmas!” and a “Happy New Year!” many times over the Christmas season―which, incidentally, still continues until February 2nd, which is the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. Yet how “merry” was Christmas and how “happy” is the New Year? The following selection and combination of quotes come from a variety of secular authors who write about the “Post-Christmas Blues” or “After Holiday Depression” that is experienced by many at this time of the year. After this looking at this “secular lament” we will take a religious perspective on why Christmas “fails” in the case of the vast majority of people. Here is what the secularists say:
“It’s the start of January, which means it’s back to reality and business as usual. For some, it’s a major relief. Even with all its good tidings and cheer, it’s a financially, physically, and emotionally demanding time of year. Some are still running on fumes from the emotional high that opening presents and seeing family brought. They may even try to extend the holiday an extra week, with varying degrees of success. Others feel guilty for over-indulging in holiday sweets and are on a weeklong shame fest. They are already starting to make those New Year’s resolutions. Even others are dealing with the disappointment of another year gone by, another December 25th come and gone, and a lingering feeling of emptiness after the last gift is unwrapped.
“Christmas cheer is a great concept. Yet it’s often far from the reality of this time of year, when depression becomes a battle for many. The Office for National Statistics in the UK has previously reported up to a 3% rise in female suicides, and 5% for men. What is behind holiday depression?
“One reason is that we have indulged in far too much ‘comparison shopping’. And we aren’t talking about actual gifts here. We compare our lives to an unrealistic representation of shiny, perfect Christmas experiences we are bombarded with by the media. And we compare our holidays to those of others, like our colleagues and friends. They have more money than us, more success, a more exciting holiday plan, a more loving family. And if that is not enough, this Christmas is then held up to the past ones. The one before the divorce, or when we were in love and not single, or when our mother was still around and we weren’t grieving, or when we were younger, happier, etc.
“Another reason is that stress tends to be higher over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year marathon. There are simply more things on the to-do list. More get-togethers, more gifts to buy, more meals to plan. Add to this that we tend to drink more alcohol (a shocking 41% more according to statistics) and eat less discriminately Both of which can lead to sluggishness and disrupted sleeping patterns, so we aren’t even well equipped to deal with the stress. There is also the stress of having to see family we don’t get along with, which can cause weeks of worry.
“A third reason is that the presence of ‘END OF YEAR ANXIETY’ which leads to negative thinking. With New Years pending, you might be criticizing yourself for what you did or didn’t do with your year, or having negative thoughts about your finances, relationships, prospects, etc. And many of us start to focus on what is missing from life in the face of the false cheer around us. Gratitude goes out the window as suddenly we don’t have the right relationship, the right house to have our relatives visit, the right income to go somewhere exotic instead.
“Once December 25th turns into December 26th, or January 2nd, a post-Christmas depression sets in. You’re back to work, everyone is grumpy, the tree goes down, the light displays are turned off, and you wonder how you managed to put on fifteen pounds! It’s not just after Christmas that many of us get down. Whenever we have a lot of fun and excitement, it’s hard to get back to our ‘usual lives,’ especially if your ‘usual life’ is boring and unfulfilling. This typically happens after any sort of meaningful moment or escape, like a vacation or concert. But, the post-Christmas blues are unique because with Thanksgiving and Christmas and everything in between there are celebrations, parties, beautiful lights, music, great food, gift-giving and receiving, excitement and socializing. Once that ends, you are left with a social and emotional void that needs filled. And, the reality of holiday spending and weight gain might have kicked in to add to the anxiety. It can lead to depression and a general sad feeling.
What are “Post-Christmas Blues” or “After Holiday Depression”?
“Also known as post-vacation syndrome, stress, or depression, this slump can hit hard after a period of intense emotion and stress. Post-holiday blues share many of the same characteristic symptoms of an anxiety or mood disorder: insomnia, low-energy, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and anxiousness. But unlike clinical depression, the distress is short-lived rather than long-term. So, what’s responsible for this glaring lack of post-holiday glow?
“The holiday season can often be an emotional rollercoaster. Many people go into a funk or depression after all of the holiday hoopla winds down and find it difficult to function normally in their daily routine. Holiday blues, holiday depression or post-Christmas blues, these commonly used terms depict the mental distress occurring after the winter holiday season. Post-holiday depression can impact anyone, but it can be extremely likely for those with a current diagnosis of depression.
“Post-holiday depression can occur because of a variety of factors. Perhaps, the holidays were not as festive or celebratory as expected, your plans fell through, or expectations simply were not met. There may be guiltiness over spending too much money, drinking or overeating. Also, you might feel guilty because, perhaps, you did not attend an even that you were expected to. For some, the hype of the holidays can bring excitement, joy, and a sense of nostalgia. For others, the holiday season can bring up past trauma, estranged relationships, and feelings of loneliness.
“The post-Christmas period can potentially be a deflating and lonely time when all the fuss of the build-up to the holidays is well and truly over. The decorations are put away and the Christmas tree is eventually tossed on the recycling heap. Your mood can feel empty and lonely. In January, the days are still short, but it can feel like there is no longer anything to look forward to. Worse still, the credit card bills begin to arrive through the letterbox and the repayment schedules loom. January is also a time of self-assessment deadline for a lot of people and springtime can seem like a long way off.
“It is tempting to compare Christmas against the perception of others having a seemingly perfect holiday period (perhaps through the fake lens of social media). Or we compare our own past Christmases, maybe the ones that represented the magic of Christmas as a child, or the one before our relationship breakup, or when our loved one was still around and we weren’t going through a period of grieving. There are constant reminders of past times through songs, films and memories.
Post-Holiday Depression Statistics
“According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64% of people report being affected by holiday depression, and it’s most often triggered by financial, emotional, and physical stress of the season. But for others, coming down from the high after the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ (and the inevitable return to work) can bring on a bout of the post-holiday blues too.
“According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 24% of people with a diagnosed mental illness find that the holidays make their condition “a lot” worse and 40% “somewhat” worse.”
“The most difficult months for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression, in the United States tend to be January and February, according to the American Psychiatric Association. This can compound negative post-holiday feelings in the 5% of adults in the U.S. who experience SAD.
“While it is a myth that suicides increase around the holidays, a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine found that New Year’s Day was one of the times associated with the highest number of poison ingestions with suicidal intent.”
[HERE ENDS THE SELECTION OF QUOTES BY SECULAR AUTHORS]
The Religious Answer to the Problem
Creation is a connected whole―having many parts, but also possessing a certain unity. Our bodies also have many parts―but they are a connected and are unified for the good of the whole. God―the ultimate Author of all creation―has created many things: “He is before all, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). “For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things!” (Romans 11:36). “All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3); but they possess a certain connectivity to each other, influencing each other, aiding each other in a kind of God-given unity. God rules and guides His creation and its creatures by Divine Providence―everything should be in some way connected to God, from Whom everything gets its initial being and its continued preservation.
Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and in that same discourse at the Last Supper, He speaks of this “connectedness” to God, comparing Himself to being a vine and comparing us to the branches of the vine: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I [will abide] in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you bear fruit, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you the branches―he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, then he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6).
If Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” and if He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” ― then why on earth are we trying to do things without Him and live without Him? What is it about the word “nothing” that we cannot understand? The opposite of “nothing” is “everything” ― thus, if without Him we can do nothing, then we need Him for everything that we do! As Scripture says: “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him!” (Colossians 3:17) … “that in all things God may be honored through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). “Christ is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand” (Ephesians 3:20). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
Seeking the Wrong Things and the Wrong Help
We are often left empty and dissatisfied with Christmas because we have been seeking the wrong things and the wrong people. God will not reward any work that is not begun by Him, is not done with Him and is not for Him! Hence we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass: “Through Him, with Him, and in Him!”
“Be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat; nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air―for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feeds them! Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by worrying, can add to his stature one cubit? And for clothing why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow―they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe―then how much more you will He do for you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek! Your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
“God is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Did we seek Christ in Christmas? Did we seek God in Christmas? Did we grow in the grace of Christ during Christmas? Did we grow in the love of God during Christmas? God will not reward those who seek the wrong things during Christmas! Christmas―and it still is Christmas until February 2nd―is a time of Christ, hence the title for the season “Christmas”. Christ is the reason for the season―and Christ should be the reason behind all that we do at Christmas. We were created for Christ, we were created for God―hence, as St. Augustine, in his book Confessions, so correctly laments: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee!” We could well add to that or transpose his words by saying: “Our hearts were made to be filled by Thee, O Lord, and our hearts will remain empty until we empty them of this world and fill them with Thee!” This Christmas should be a time when―like every Christmas so far―we become less and less and worldly and more and more spiritual. A time to empty ourselves and fill ourselves with Christ―which is what Scripture tells us: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30) … “And I live, now not ― but Christ liveth in me!” (Galatians 2:20).
That is the whole point of Christ’s command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Elsewhere He adds: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). Was Christ loved above all things with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength this Christmas? If not, then our Christmas was at least imperfect, if not a failure! Nobody is delighted with imperfection and nobody is fulfilled by failure! We feel disappointed once Christmas is over because we have warped, twisted, adjusted and modified the purpose of Christmas. The less Christ-like our Christmases are, then the less true and deep satisfaction we will draw from them―God’s Providence will see to that! Sure―we can binge on all the alcohol we want over Christmas; binge on all the food that we want; binge on entertainment; binge on presents―but, at the end of the day, our hearts and souls will be hollow, empty and dissatisfied. We will have exchanged the bird for its feathers; we will have missed out on true peace and happiness that only Christ can bring: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and without Him your Christmases will be nothing but materialistic celebrations―the feathers without the bird.
Personal experience with a friend echoed this inevitable dissatisfaction and emptiness with the things of this world. This friend had a daughter (at that time around 5 years old) upon whom he would lavish the greatest material attention. He would always be buying the little girl gifts and toys. Her playroom, without any exaggeration, had hundreds of toys scattered all over the floor and furniture―there was literally little room to walk and no room to sit down. The little girl would show great excitement when a new toy arrived, but within days it was set aside and almost forgotten. Yet, at the same time, she was more attracted to her toys, more in love with her toys, than she was in love with her mother and father. It was sad and heartbreaking to witness the faulty and flawed principles upon which she was being raised. We are much the same when it comes to God―the things of this world are given much more time, attention and love than the meager, paltry, miniscule time, attention and love that we give to God.
Riches Distract Us From God
There is no doubt that we have made Christmas a “time of riches”―riches are spent on expensive presents, expensive food and drink, expensive decorations, expensive parties, etc. Amid all this expense, very little is expended upon Christ. You would think that being the proverbial “Birthday Boy”, Christ would be showered with gifts at Christmas! Yet He received little or nothing! The focus was on those around us―and not Christ within us by His grace!
It brings to mind Our Lord’s words: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It also brings to mind His parable about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Likewise are we reminded of Our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man―who could well be said to be a symbol of ourselves: “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
The Liturgy of the Church, in the Divine Office (Breviary) for the hour of Terce for the feast of the Holy Family, states of Christ: “Being rich, for our sake, He became poor, so that through His poverty we might be rich.” The Church means to say that Christ, Who made all things and ultimately owns all things―owning not just thousands of acres, but the entire universe―thus being the richest of the rich, deliberately became poor for our sakes, so that being poor in material goods, He might make us rich is spiritual goods.
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, has this to say of riches and poverty: “In all the difficulties, which I underwent, after I was born into the world, I was resigned and contented. Therefore, when anything was wanting of the necessaries of life, I remained in peace and contentedness and deemed it all perfectly reasonable and proper in my regard, since I had merited none of the gifts and could justly be deprived of all of them. I felt myself troubled and inconvenienced by the possession of the treasures of the Three Kings offered to my most holy Son in Bethlehem. I did not wish to keep them for myself, nor dispose of them according to my own will, but according to the wishes of my spouse Joseph.
“Neither you, nor all creatures together, can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God. Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts―so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things.
“How unreasonable and how damnable is the conduct of a man, who, for a momentary sensible pleasure, which at most must end with life and generally lasts only for a short time, labors so much and still claims to have the Faith, while at the same time he takes no account of his immortal soul, and forgets it, as if it ended and were consumed with the visible things? They consider not, that when all comes to an end, the soul begins to suffer or enjoy the eternal and everlasting things. This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. It is the height of perverseness for man to devote all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, and, on the other hand, he spares for his poor soul only one hour! In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
Riches Ultimately Bring Sadness and Emptiness
As Our Lady adds: “If they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, testify what is required to retain them! They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities. All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light. If you look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, you will see that they consider themselves fortunate whenever they attain all that they desire, according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune―for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any reward in the eternal life.” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
It is not for nothing that Scripture warns against seeking riches and being attached to riches: “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “For they that will [desire or want to] become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
No doubt you both said and heard the greetings “Merry Christmas!” and a “Happy New Year!” many times over the Christmas season―which, incidentally, still continues until February 2nd, which is the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. Yet how “merry” was Christmas and how “happy” is the New Year? The following selection and combination of quotes come from a variety of secular authors who write about the “Post-Christmas Blues” or “After Holiday Depression” that is experienced by many at this time of the year. After this looking at this “secular lament” we will take a religious perspective on why Christmas “fails” in the case of the vast majority of people. Here is what the secularists say:
“It’s the start of January, which means it’s back to reality and business as usual. For some, it’s a major relief. Even with all its good tidings and cheer, it’s a financially, physically, and emotionally demanding time of year. Some are still running on fumes from the emotional high that opening presents and seeing family brought. They may even try to extend the holiday an extra week, with varying degrees of success. Others feel guilty for over-indulging in holiday sweets and are on a weeklong shame fest. They are already starting to make those New Year’s resolutions. Even others are dealing with the disappointment of another year gone by, another December 25th come and gone, and a lingering feeling of emptiness after the last gift is unwrapped.
“Christmas cheer is a great concept. Yet it’s often far from the reality of this time of year, when depression becomes a battle for many. The Office for National Statistics in the UK has previously reported up to a 3% rise in female suicides, and 5% for men. What is behind holiday depression?
“One reason is that we have indulged in far too much ‘comparison shopping’. And we aren’t talking about actual gifts here. We compare our lives to an unrealistic representation of shiny, perfect Christmas experiences we are bombarded with by the media. And we compare our holidays to those of others, like our colleagues and friends. They have more money than us, more success, a more exciting holiday plan, a more loving family. And if that is not enough, this Christmas is then held up to the past ones. The one before the divorce, or when we were in love and not single, or when our mother was still around and we weren’t grieving, or when we were younger, happier, etc.
“Another reason is that stress tends to be higher over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year marathon. There are simply more things on the to-do list. More get-togethers, more gifts to buy, more meals to plan. Add to this that we tend to drink more alcohol (a shocking 41% more according to statistics) and eat less discriminately Both of which can lead to sluggishness and disrupted sleeping patterns, so we aren’t even well equipped to deal with the stress. There is also the stress of having to see family we don’t get along with, which can cause weeks of worry.
“A third reason is that the presence of ‘END OF YEAR ANXIETY’ which leads to negative thinking. With New Years pending, you might be criticizing yourself for what you did or didn’t do with your year, or having negative thoughts about your finances, relationships, prospects, etc. And many of us start to focus on what is missing from life in the face of the false cheer around us. Gratitude goes out the window as suddenly we don’t have the right relationship, the right house to have our relatives visit, the right income to go somewhere exotic instead.
“Once December 25th turns into December 26th, or January 2nd, a post-Christmas depression sets in. You’re back to work, everyone is grumpy, the tree goes down, the light displays are turned off, and you wonder how you managed to put on fifteen pounds! It’s not just after Christmas that many of us get down. Whenever we have a lot of fun and excitement, it’s hard to get back to our ‘usual lives,’ especially if your ‘usual life’ is boring and unfulfilling. This typically happens after any sort of meaningful moment or escape, like a vacation or concert. But, the post-Christmas blues are unique because with Thanksgiving and Christmas and everything in between there are celebrations, parties, beautiful lights, music, great food, gift-giving and receiving, excitement and socializing. Once that ends, you are left with a social and emotional void that needs filled. And, the reality of holiday spending and weight gain might have kicked in to add to the anxiety. It can lead to depression and a general sad feeling.
What are “Post-Christmas Blues” or “After Holiday Depression”?
“Also known as post-vacation syndrome, stress, or depression, this slump can hit hard after a period of intense emotion and stress. Post-holiday blues share many of the same characteristic symptoms of an anxiety or mood disorder: insomnia, low-energy, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and anxiousness. But unlike clinical depression, the distress is short-lived rather than long-term. So, what’s responsible for this glaring lack of post-holiday glow?
“The holiday season can often be an emotional rollercoaster. Many people go into a funk or depression after all of the holiday hoopla winds down and find it difficult to function normally in their daily routine. Holiday blues, holiday depression or post-Christmas blues, these commonly used terms depict the mental distress occurring after the winter holiday season. Post-holiday depression can impact anyone, but it can be extremely likely for those with a current diagnosis of depression.
“Post-holiday depression can occur because of a variety of factors. Perhaps, the holidays were not as festive or celebratory as expected, your plans fell through, or expectations simply were not met. There may be guiltiness over spending too much money, drinking or overeating. Also, you might feel guilty because, perhaps, you did not attend an even that you were expected to. For some, the hype of the holidays can bring excitement, joy, and a sense of nostalgia. For others, the holiday season can bring up past trauma, estranged relationships, and feelings of loneliness.
“The post-Christmas period can potentially be a deflating and lonely time when all the fuss of the build-up to the holidays is well and truly over. The decorations are put away and the Christmas tree is eventually tossed on the recycling heap. Your mood can feel empty and lonely. In January, the days are still short, but it can feel like there is no longer anything to look forward to. Worse still, the credit card bills begin to arrive through the letterbox and the repayment schedules loom. January is also a time of self-assessment deadline for a lot of people and springtime can seem like a long way off.
“It is tempting to compare Christmas against the perception of others having a seemingly perfect holiday period (perhaps through the fake lens of social media). Or we compare our own past Christmases, maybe the ones that represented the magic of Christmas as a child, or the one before our relationship breakup, or when our loved one was still around and we weren’t going through a period of grieving. There are constant reminders of past times through songs, films and memories.
Post-Holiday Depression Statistics
“According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64% of people report being affected by holiday depression, and it’s most often triggered by financial, emotional, and physical stress of the season. But for others, coming down from the high after the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ (and the inevitable return to work) can bring on a bout of the post-holiday blues too.
“According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 24% of people with a diagnosed mental illness find that the holidays make their condition “a lot” worse and 40% “somewhat” worse.”
“The most difficult months for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression, in the United States tend to be January and February, according to the American Psychiatric Association. This can compound negative post-holiday feelings in the 5% of adults in the U.S. who experience SAD.
“While it is a myth that suicides increase around the holidays, a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine found that New Year’s Day was one of the times associated with the highest number of poison ingestions with suicidal intent.”
[HERE ENDS THE SELECTION OF QUOTES BY SECULAR AUTHORS]
The Religious Answer to the Problem
Creation is a connected whole―having many parts, but also possessing a certain unity. Our bodies also have many parts―but they are a connected and are unified for the good of the whole. God―the ultimate Author of all creation―has created many things: “He is before all, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). “For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things!” (Romans 11:36). “All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3); but they possess a certain connectivity to each other, influencing each other, aiding each other in a kind of God-given unity. God rules and guides His creation and its creatures by Divine Providence―everything should be in some way connected to God, from Whom everything gets its initial being and its continued preservation.
Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and in that same discourse at the Last Supper, He speaks of this “connectedness” to God, comparing Himself to being a vine and comparing us to the branches of the vine: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I [will abide] in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you bear fruit, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you the branches―he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, then he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6).
If Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” and if He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” ― then why on earth are we trying to do things without Him and live without Him? What is it about the word “nothing” that we cannot understand? The opposite of “nothing” is “everything” ― thus, if without Him we can do nothing, then we need Him for everything that we do! As Scripture says: “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him!” (Colossians 3:17) … “that in all things God may be honored through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). “Christ is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand” (Ephesians 3:20). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
Seeking the Wrong Things and the Wrong Help
We are often left empty and dissatisfied with Christmas because we have been seeking the wrong things and the wrong people. God will not reward any work that is not begun by Him, is not done with Him and is not for Him! Hence we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass: “Through Him, with Him, and in Him!”
“Be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat; nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat; and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air―for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feeds them! Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by worrying, can add to his stature one cubit? And for clothing why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow―they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe―then how much more you will He do for you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek! Your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:25-33). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
“God is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Did we seek Christ in Christmas? Did we seek God in Christmas? Did we grow in the grace of Christ during Christmas? Did we grow in the love of God during Christmas? God will not reward those who seek the wrong things during Christmas! Christmas―and it still is Christmas until February 2nd―is a time of Christ, hence the title for the season “Christmas”. Christ is the reason for the season―and Christ should be the reason behind all that we do at Christmas. We were created for Christ, we were created for God―hence, as St. Augustine, in his book Confessions, so correctly laments: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee!” We could well add to that or transpose his words by saying: “Our hearts were made to be filled by Thee, O Lord, and our hearts will remain empty until we empty them of this world and fill them with Thee!” This Christmas should be a time when―like every Christmas so far―we become less and less and worldly and more and more spiritual. A time to empty ourselves and fill ourselves with Christ―which is what Scripture tells us: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30) … “And I live, now not ― but Christ liveth in me!” (Galatians 2:20).
That is the whole point of Christ’s command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Elsewhere He adds: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). Was Christ loved above all things with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength this Christmas? If not, then our Christmas was at least imperfect, if not a failure! Nobody is delighted with imperfection and nobody is fulfilled by failure! We feel disappointed once Christmas is over because we have warped, twisted, adjusted and modified the purpose of Christmas. The less Christ-like our Christmases are, then the less true and deep satisfaction we will draw from them―God’s Providence will see to that! Sure―we can binge on all the alcohol we want over Christmas; binge on all the food that we want; binge on entertainment; binge on presents―but, at the end of the day, our hearts and souls will be hollow, empty and dissatisfied. We will have exchanged the bird for its feathers; we will have missed out on true peace and happiness that only Christ can bring: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and without Him your Christmases will be nothing but materialistic celebrations―the feathers without the bird.
Personal experience with a friend echoed this inevitable dissatisfaction and emptiness with the things of this world. This friend had a daughter (at that time around 5 years old) upon whom he would lavish the greatest material attention. He would always be buying the little girl gifts and toys. Her playroom, without any exaggeration, had hundreds of toys scattered all over the floor and furniture―there was literally little room to walk and no room to sit down. The little girl would show great excitement when a new toy arrived, but within days it was set aside and almost forgotten. Yet, at the same time, she was more attracted to her toys, more in love with her toys, than she was in love with her mother and father. It was sad and heartbreaking to witness the faulty and flawed principles upon which she was being raised. We are much the same when it comes to God―the things of this world are given much more time, attention and love than the meager, paltry, miniscule time, attention and love that we give to God.
Riches Distract Us From God
There is no doubt that we have made Christmas a “time of riches”―riches are spent on expensive presents, expensive food and drink, expensive decorations, expensive parties, etc. Amid all this expense, very little is expended upon Christ. You would think that being the proverbial “Birthday Boy”, Christ would be showered with gifts at Christmas! Yet He received little or nothing! The focus was on those around us―and not Christ within us by His grace!
It brings to mind Our Lord’s words: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It also brings to mind His parable about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Likewise are we reminded of Our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man―who could well be said to be a symbol of ourselves: “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
The Liturgy of the Church, in the Divine Office (Breviary) for the hour of Terce for the feast of the Holy Family, states of Christ: “Being rich, for our sake, He became poor, so that through His poverty we might be rich.” The Church means to say that Christ, Who made all things and ultimately owns all things―owning not just thousands of acres, but the entire universe―thus being the richest of the rich, deliberately became poor for our sakes, so that being poor in material goods, He might make us rich is spiritual goods.
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, has this to say of riches and poverty: “In all the difficulties, which I underwent, after I was born into the world, I was resigned and contented. Therefore, when anything was wanting of the necessaries of life, I remained in peace and contentedness and deemed it all perfectly reasonable and proper in my regard, since I had merited none of the gifts and could justly be deprived of all of them. I felt myself troubled and inconvenienced by the possession of the treasures of the Three Kings offered to my most holy Son in Bethlehem. I did not wish to keep them for myself, nor dispose of them according to my own will, but according to the wishes of my spouse Joseph.
“Neither you, nor all creatures together, can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God. Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts―so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things.
“How unreasonable and how damnable is the conduct of a man, who, for a momentary sensible pleasure, which at most must end with life and generally lasts only for a short time, labors so much and still claims to have the Faith, while at the same time he takes no account of his immortal soul, and forgets it, as if it ended and were consumed with the visible things? They consider not, that when all comes to an end, the soul begins to suffer or enjoy the eternal and everlasting things. This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. It is the height of perverseness for man to devote all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, and, on the other hand, he spares for his poor soul only one hour! In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
Riches Ultimately Bring Sadness and Emptiness
As Our Lady adds: “If they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! Let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, testify what is required to retain them! They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities. All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light. If you look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, you will see that they consider themselves fortunate whenever they attain all that they desire, according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune―for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any reward in the eternal life.” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
It is not for nothing that Scripture warns against seeking riches and being attached to riches: “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “For they that will [desire or want to] become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
The Feast of the Epiphany, Thursday January 6th & Friday January 7th
Article 8
Where is Your Present? What is Your Present?
Article 8
Where is Your Present? What is Your Present?
Here He Is!
Epiphany comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia” which means “a manifestation, a showing, an appearance, or a revelation.” Jesus had already been revealed to the Jews—in the form of the shepherds and the few people with whom they had shared the “good news.” Now Divine Providence wished to reveal the Son of God to the Gentiles—these would be represented by the Magi or the Three Kings. Why this manifestation? Because He had come to seek and save that which was lost—even those who were outside of the Chosen People. “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) ... “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you” (Tobias 13:8).
Going the Extra-Mile for Christ
The philosophy of the Magi, erroneous though it was, led them to the journey by which they were to find Christ. From Persia, the area from which the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem was a journey of between 1,000 and 1,200 miles. Such a distance may have taken any time between three and twelve months by camel. How far are we prepared to go to find Christ? What difficulties are we prepared to endure? It is our role to bring others to Christ, by confessing Him—that is to say witnessing to Him and to the Faith—before others. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32).
Tough Love—Or Love is Tough
Of course, this is neither easy nor pleasant, for Our Lord has foretold that we “shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake” (Matthew 10:22). But that is part of the cross of Christ—“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Christ and the cross are synonymous. We cannot have one without the other. It is give and take. Christ gives His life for us—we must give our lives for Christ, in witnessing to the Faith that Christ planted. “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Epiphany Troubles
Already at the Epiphany trouble is brewing because of Him—Herod wants to kill Him already in His infancy, while the three Magi are now wanted men. They will sneak past Herod soldiers on their secret and elusive way home, and then they will manifest Christ to others—just as the shepherds had done shortly before. The Epiphany is all about bringing Christ to the Gentiles—which, for our modern purposes and circumstances, means bringing Christ to non-Catholics, both Protestants and pagans.
A Time of Gifts
As some of the Fathers of the Church (for example St. Augustine) say the Child may or may not have still been in the stable. Nevertheless, the Magi adored the Child as God, and offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The giving of gifts was in keeping with Oriental custom. The Magi probably meant no symbolism, yet the Fathers have found many symbolic meanings in these three gifts.
Gifts Fit For A King
All three gifts were the usual gifts given to a king. Gold, besides being the most precious metal and represents power, also symbolizes the most precious and powerful virtue—which is Charity. Frankincense symbolizes the sweet odor of prayer coming from a burning heart, like grains of sweet incense on hot coals. Myrrh is called a “bitter-sweet perfume” and was used as both incense and embalming ointment in funerals. It symbolizes the sweetness of suffering, that earns for us an unimaginable heavenly reward.
Symbolic Gifts
There is a deliberate and logical progression in the order in which these gifts are listed in Scripture—first gold, then frankincense, and finally myrrh; much like the catechism response to "Why did God make you?" — "To know Him, love Him and serve Him" is the answer. We cannot love what we do not know, and we will not serve anyone very well or very long if we don't like or love them. Similarly with the three gifts: gold symbolizes love; when we love someone we talk to them, and prayer (represented by frankincense) is talking to God; finally, if we deeply love someone, we will suffer much for them and this suffering is symbolized by the myrrh--“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends”(John 15:13). So, in short, the gifts give us a natural order in this matter: first we love, then we pray to the One we love, then we go beyond mere words into actions whereby we suffer for the One we love.
An Exchange of Gifts
God’s gift to the world is His Son, born in the Town of Bread—which foreshadows the greatest gift that Christ left behind when He returned to Heaven. That gift is the Holy Eucharist.
The Epiphany and the Holy Eucharist
► The Epiphany is the manifestation of the WORD MADE FLESH, and in the Holy Eucharist, the Word becomes Flesh once more, but under the appearance of bread.
► Just as the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, so too is the Holy Eucharist the manifestation of Jesus to the world. Anyone in the world can go into a Catholic Church and adore Jesus, really and truly present, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
► But to go there and adore Him, means that, like the three Magi Kings, we have to make our journey to the modern-day Bethlehem or "Town of Bread", which is the nearest Catholic Church.
► Yet when the Magi arrived, they did not see God in all His glory and splendor, but instead they saw a tiny little baby wrapped-up and hidden, so to speak, in swaddling clothes. They had to have eyes of Faith to see God in that baby. Similarly, when we enter a Catholic church, we do not see Jesus in His divine glory and splendor, but under the appearance of tiny pieces of bread, 'wrapped-up' or veiled in the tabernacle. We need those same eyes of Faith to adore our hidden God.
► God is worshiped and adored (whether in the Eucharist or elsewhere) through the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; these are the kings of all other virtues. The three adoring kings prostrate before Jesus in the cave at Bethlehem remind us of this truth and these three kingly virtues.
► The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh also remind us of Holy Eucharist in another way. (1) The Holy Eucharist is our most precious treasure on earth, just like gold is regarded as the most precious metal. (2) The Holy Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful prayer that we have, and frankincense is the most precious of all brands of incense, and incense is a symbol of prayer: "The smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God" (Apocalypse 8:4). (3) The Holy Eucharist is also the greatest sacrifice that can be offered to God, and this what the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass does daily. The Sacrifice of the Mass brings healing graces to world. Likewise, Myrrh is a symbol of the supreme sacrifice, as it is used for embalming after the supreme sacrifice of death has taken the life of person; and myrrh also has healing 'graces', for it is also used for medicinal purposes.
Reverse Divine Psychology
That is how things should be; but there are some who do not love God, and therefore do not pray to Him, let alone suffering for Him. What then? Well, in that case, God reverses the order. He begins by making them suffer, and He goes on increasing the intensity or frequency (or both) until He brings the soul to its knees in desperation. The soul, crushed and helpless, turns to God in prayer and begs for mercy and help. God then shows that mercy and gives that help in the hope that it will now lead the soul to be grateful and to start loving Him. So, in this case, the reverse order is used: sufferings increase (the myrrh); the helpless soul turns to God in prayer (the frankincense); when God responds, the soul in gratitude finds a spark of love (the gold) in itself towards God.
Life Changing Encounter With Christ
The next point to consider is that this encounter with Jesus and Mary totally changes their lives. This is symbolized by the fact that they go back home by a different route to the one that had brought them to Bethlehem. This is commanded to them by an angel and they correspond with the grace that is given them. A very wise thing to do!
The fact that they are told to avoid traveling through Jerusalem, because of King Herod, who wanted to find out the whereabouts of Jesus in order to kill Him, in very instructive for our own lives. Outside of own wounded and weak souls, there is the devil and the world who are perpetually seeking to kill the life and influence of grace in our souls. The world hates God, because the laws and counsels of God are diametrically opposed to the laws and counsels of the world. The world, or part of the world, fakes a love of God (like Herod did) and would have us believe that it is not opposed to God, telling us that it is possible to know, love and serve both the world and God. But this is a principle that comes from the father of lies, the devil, for Our Lord told us: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Follow the Fleeing Magi
That is why we must flee the world as much as possible. To those who seek to love both the world and God, this is a shocking and painful thought. They 'feel' (not think) that this must be somehow wrong; that it is too radical, too extreme. Yet that is what our good God is, He is radical and extreme: He is extreme mercy and extreme justice; He is extreme patience and extreme anger. Perfection is an extreme; somebody who is perfect at doing something, is EXTREMELY good at doing that particular thing. God is perfect in all things, therefore He is extreme in all things, and Jesus told us: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As was said before, Christmas is not a time of fuzzy sentimentality; Christmas is all about sin and redemption from sin. Christ does not come to party, Christ comes to change and save the world. He offers a hand of mercy to all comers. But, as in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, there are not many 'comers.' “He came unto His own, and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:11-12).
From Sinners to Saints
The Magi came as sinners and left as the sons of God. Their idolatrous lives changed and their remains are now buried in the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. Today there is a sweet odor in Cologne, the odor of sanctity achieved by the three wise men, the three kings who came, who saw and who conquered themselves, the world and the devil. May their dogged pursuit of the Christ-Child and their fidelity to the inspirations of Heaven, be our guiding star that also leads us find Christ, one day, in Heaven.
Epiphany comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia” which means “a manifestation, a showing, an appearance, or a revelation.” Jesus had already been revealed to the Jews—in the form of the shepherds and the few people with whom they had shared the “good news.” Now Divine Providence wished to reveal the Son of God to the Gentiles—these would be represented by the Magi or the Three Kings. Why this manifestation? Because He had come to seek and save that which was lost—even those who were outside of the Chosen People. “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) ... “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you” (Tobias 13:8).
Going the Extra-Mile for Christ
The philosophy of the Magi, erroneous though it was, led them to the journey by which they were to find Christ. From Persia, the area from which the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem was a journey of between 1,000 and 1,200 miles. Such a distance may have taken any time between three and twelve months by camel. How far are we prepared to go to find Christ? What difficulties are we prepared to endure? It is our role to bring others to Christ, by confessing Him—that is to say witnessing to Him and to the Faith—before others. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32).
Tough Love—Or Love is Tough
Of course, this is neither easy nor pleasant, for Our Lord has foretold that we “shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake” (Matthew 10:22). But that is part of the cross of Christ—“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Christ and the cross are synonymous. We cannot have one without the other. It is give and take. Christ gives His life for us—we must give our lives for Christ, in witnessing to the Faith that Christ planted. “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Epiphany Troubles
Already at the Epiphany trouble is brewing because of Him—Herod wants to kill Him already in His infancy, while the three Magi are now wanted men. They will sneak past Herod soldiers on their secret and elusive way home, and then they will manifest Christ to others—just as the shepherds had done shortly before. The Epiphany is all about bringing Christ to the Gentiles—which, for our modern purposes and circumstances, means bringing Christ to non-Catholics, both Protestants and pagans.
A Time of Gifts
As some of the Fathers of the Church (for example St. Augustine) say the Child may or may not have still been in the stable. Nevertheless, the Magi adored the Child as God, and offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The giving of gifts was in keeping with Oriental custom. The Magi probably meant no symbolism, yet the Fathers have found many symbolic meanings in these three gifts.
Gifts Fit For A King
All three gifts were the usual gifts given to a king. Gold, besides being the most precious metal and represents power, also symbolizes the most precious and powerful virtue—which is Charity. Frankincense symbolizes the sweet odor of prayer coming from a burning heart, like grains of sweet incense on hot coals. Myrrh is called a “bitter-sweet perfume” and was used as both incense and embalming ointment in funerals. It symbolizes the sweetness of suffering, that earns for us an unimaginable heavenly reward.
Symbolic Gifts
There is a deliberate and logical progression in the order in which these gifts are listed in Scripture—first gold, then frankincense, and finally myrrh; much like the catechism response to "Why did God make you?" — "To know Him, love Him and serve Him" is the answer. We cannot love what we do not know, and we will not serve anyone very well or very long if we don't like or love them. Similarly with the three gifts: gold symbolizes love; when we love someone we talk to them, and prayer (represented by frankincense) is talking to God; finally, if we deeply love someone, we will suffer much for them and this suffering is symbolized by the myrrh--“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends”(John 15:13). So, in short, the gifts give us a natural order in this matter: first we love, then we pray to the One we love, then we go beyond mere words into actions whereby we suffer for the One we love.
An Exchange of Gifts
God’s gift to the world is His Son, born in the Town of Bread—which foreshadows the greatest gift that Christ left behind when He returned to Heaven. That gift is the Holy Eucharist.
The Epiphany and the Holy Eucharist
► The Epiphany is the manifestation of the WORD MADE FLESH, and in the Holy Eucharist, the Word becomes Flesh once more, but under the appearance of bread.
► Just as the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, so too is the Holy Eucharist the manifestation of Jesus to the world. Anyone in the world can go into a Catholic Church and adore Jesus, really and truly present, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
► But to go there and adore Him, means that, like the three Magi Kings, we have to make our journey to the modern-day Bethlehem or "Town of Bread", which is the nearest Catholic Church.
► Yet when the Magi arrived, they did not see God in all His glory and splendor, but instead they saw a tiny little baby wrapped-up and hidden, so to speak, in swaddling clothes. They had to have eyes of Faith to see God in that baby. Similarly, when we enter a Catholic church, we do not see Jesus in His divine glory and splendor, but under the appearance of tiny pieces of bread, 'wrapped-up' or veiled in the tabernacle. We need those same eyes of Faith to adore our hidden God.
► God is worshiped and adored (whether in the Eucharist or elsewhere) through the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; these are the kings of all other virtues. The three adoring kings prostrate before Jesus in the cave at Bethlehem remind us of this truth and these three kingly virtues.
► The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh also remind us of Holy Eucharist in another way. (1) The Holy Eucharist is our most precious treasure on earth, just like gold is regarded as the most precious metal. (2) The Holy Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful prayer that we have, and frankincense is the most precious of all brands of incense, and incense is a symbol of prayer: "The smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God" (Apocalypse 8:4). (3) The Holy Eucharist is also the greatest sacrifice that can be offered to God, and this what the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass does daily. The Sacrifice of the Mass brings healing graces to world. Likewise, Myrrh is a symbol of the supreme sacrifice, as it is used for embalming after the supreme sacrifice of death has taken the life of person; and myrrh also has healing 'graces', for it is also used for medicinal purposes.
Reverse Divine Psychology
That is how things should be; but there are some who do not love God, and therefore do not pray to Him, let alone suffering for Him. What then? Well, in that case, God reverses the order. He begins by making them suffer, and He goes on increasing the intensity or frequency (or both) until He brings the soul to its knees in desperation. The soul, crushed and helpless, turns to God in prayer and begs for mercy and help. God then shows that mercy and gives that help in the hope that it will now lead the soul to be grateful and to start loving Him. So, in this case, the reverse order is used: sufferings increase (the myrrh); the helpless soul turns to God in prayer (the frankincense); when God responds, the soul in gratitude finds a spark of love (the gold) in itself towards God.
Life Changing Encounter With Christ
The next point to consider is that this encounter with Jesus and Mary totally changes their lives. This is symbolized by the fact that they go back home by a different route to the one that had brought them to Bethlehem. This is commanded to them by an angel and they correspond with the grace that is given them. A very wise thing to do!
The fact that they are told to avoid traveling through Jerusalem, because of King Herod, who wanted to find out the whereabouts of Jesus in order to kill Him, in very instructive for our own lives. Outside of own wounded and weak souls, there is the devil and the world who are perpetually seeking to kill the life and influence of grace in our souls. The world hates God, because the laws and counsels of God are diametrically opposed to the laws and counsels of the world. The world, or part of the world, fakes a love of God (like Herod did) and would have us believe that it is not opposed to God, telling us that it is possible to know, love and serve both the world and God. But this is a principle that comes from the father of lies, the devil, for Our Lord told us: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Follow the Fleeing Magi
That is why we must flee the world as much as possible. To those who seek to love both the world and God, this is a shocking and painful thought. They 'feel' (not think) that this must be somehow wrong; that it is too radical, too extreme. Yet that is what our good God is, He is radical and extreme: He is extreme mercy and extreme justice; He is extreme patience and extreme anger. Perfection is an extreme; somebody who is perfect at doing something, is EXTREMELY good at doing that particular thing. God is perfect in all things, therefore He is extreme in all things, and Jesus told us: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As was said before, Christmas is not a time of fuzzy sentimentality; Christmas is all about sin and redemption from sin. Christ does not come to party, Christ comes to change and save the world. He offers a hand of mercy to all comers. But, as in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, there are not many 'comers.' “He came unto His own, and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:11-12).
From Sinners to Saints
The Magi came as sinners and left as the sons of God. Their idolatrous lives changed and their remains are now buried in the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. Today there is a sweet odor in Cologne, the odor of sanctity achieved by the three wise men, the three kings who came, who saw and who conquered themselves, the world and the devil. May their dogged pursuit of the Christ-Child and their fidelity to the inspirations of Heaven, be our guiding star that also leads us find Christ, one day, in Heaven.
Monday January 3rd & Tuesday January 4th & Wednesday January 5th
Article 7
Where Will Your New Year's Journey Take You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 7
Where Will Your New Year's Journey Take You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Life is a Journey
“Life is a journey!” How often have you heard that? All of us have heard it so many times. Sure―life is a journey! Every day, in a sense, is a journey―or, rather, a small step in the bigger journey of life. Yet do you know where you are going? Do you know where your journey is leading you? Do you know what path or road you are on?
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? … These are the two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the tumult of the world, or men do not have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
These words of St. Louis de Montfort are obviously based upon the words spoken by Our Lord in referring to our spiritual journey through life. Our Lord speaks of not being “sidetracked” in our journey towards Heaven and warns that we cannot have two mansions―one in Heaven and one on Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! … “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-24; 16:26).
Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
To this, Holy Scripture adds by means of explanation: “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world] and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore mortify your members, which are upon the Earth, from all fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. Put you also all away all anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another. Strip yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and put on the new!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Journeying on the Wrong Road
There is nothing as deflating and discouraging, after many hours of journeying, than finding out that your are on the wrong road! Our Lord indirectly says the same thing: “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Those who are joyously traveling down the broad wide road of the world, will soon find their joys to be sour―eternally sour!
Most souls are journeying to Hell―many without even knowing it! Our Lord testified to this on several occasions. He informs us that “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:1-16). On this point of the few, we read that “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Journey with Jesus
The Protestants have a phrase that we Catholics will often frown upon or even ridicule―it is “Walking with the Lord.” Yet that is exactly what Jesus asks to do―it is what He asked the Apostles to do: “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren―Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother―casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately, leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from there, He saw two other brethren―James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother―in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:18-22).
“Jesus passed on from here, and He saw a man sitting in the custom house [tax collection house], named Matthew―and he said to Him: ‘Follow me!’ And he rose up and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9).
“On the following day, He went forth into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him: ‘Follow me!’” (John 1:43).
Our Lord said: “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27). “Peter followed him” (Mark 14:54) … “His disciples followed Him” (Mark 6:1) … “And Peter began to say unto Him: ‘Behold, we have left all things and have followed Thee!” (Mark 10:28) … “Many women followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto Him” (Matthew 27:55) … “The people followed Him” (Luke 9:11) … “A great multitude followed Him” (Mark 5:24) … “The multitude followed Him” (Luke 7:9) … “There followed Him a great multitude of people” (Luke 23:27).
“Jesus said to another: ‘Follow Me!’ And he said: ‘Lord, suffer me first to go, and to bury my father!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Let the dead bury their dead―but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God!’ And another said: ‘I will follow Thee, Lord―but let me first take my leave of them that are at my house!’ Jesus said to him: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:59-62).
We read with trepidation the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man, who was so attached to his great possessions and riches that he would not follow Jesus! “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25). Does that apply to us? Are we saddened and sorrowful at having to give up many things in order to be true and perfect followers of Jesus?
The “Small-Print” of Following Jesus!
Everyone is called to follow Jesus―yet few really choose to do so! Why? Well, the answer lies in the ‘small-print’ of the ‘contract’ ― which speaks of the cross! As the Imitation of Christ so fittingly states:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection … To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
“Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory. Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapters 11 & 12).
Few Journey with Jesus Along the Narrow Path
The message of Jesus is clear and blunt. The path that Jesus journeyed along and the path onto which He invites to follow Him is the “Journey of the Cross” or the “Way of the Cross.” Our Lord came from Heaven to lead us on rocky, gritty, tough road to Heaven. He tells us that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Our life on Earth is a battle for Heaven: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). He warns that if we want to follow Him to Heaven, then we will have to fight for Heaven and carry the cross that is our key to Heaven: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Sadly, cross-carrying is not very high on everyone’s “To-Do-List” these days! This is especially so in view of the world’s constant preoccupation with “making life easier”―we no longer walk or ride horses, but we have cars, trains, planes and buses. We no longer have to make our own clothes, but find an endless array of clothes in the stores―a quantity and quality that even the kings and queens of old would envy! We no longer have to grow and process, or go hunting and fishing for our own food―we simply “cherry-pick” all that we want from the supermarket shelves, refrigerators or freezers―all of which is ready made, harvested, cleaned, prepared to be ready for the table or the oven. We no longer have to start a fire to cook our food―we have electric or gas stoves and ovens. The same applies to heating―we no have to go gather and chop wood―we simply turn a dial and warmth appears! We can even buy ready-made meals so as to avoid the labor of having to make them ourselves. Many Americans like to “eat-out” rather than go through the toil of cooking at home. We have power tools that take the effort and reduce the time spent on cooking, cleaning, building and maintaining things. We no longer research and read to find answers―we simply “Google” a question and get millions of potential answers in less than a second or two; or we can simply ask one of the many “Artificial Intelligence Assistant” machines (the modern-day electronic butler, maid or servant) that are now available, such as Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Alexa, Bixby, etc. Maybe those electronic “Artificial Intelligence Assistants” could even pray our Rosaries for us―giving us more time to do other things!
“Life is a journey!” How often have you heard that? All of us have heard it so many times. Sure―life is a journey! Every day, in a sense, is a journey―or, rather, a small step in the bigger journey of life. Yet do you know where you are going? Do you know where your journey is leading you? Do you know what path or road you are on?
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? … These are the two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the tumult of the world, or men do not have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
These words of St. Louis de Montfort are obviously based upon the words spoken by Our Lord in referring to our spiritual journey through life. Our Lord speaks of not being “sidetracked” in our journey towards Heaven and warns that we cannot have two mansions―one in Heaven and one on Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! … “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-24; 16:26).
Our Lady of Good Success adds: “Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
To this, Holy Scripture adds by means of explanation: “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world] and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore mortify your members, which are upon the Earth, from all fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. Put you also all away all anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another. Strip yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and put on the new!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Journeying on the Wrong Road
There is nothing as deflating and discouraging, after many hours of journeying, than finding out that your are on the wrong road! Our Lord indirectly says the same thing: “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Those who are joyously traveling down the broad wide road of the world, will soon find their joys to be sour―eternally sour!
Most souls are journeying to Hell―many without even knowing it! Our Lord testified to this on several occasions. He informs us that “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:1-16). On this point of the few, we read that “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Journey with Jesus
The Protestants have a phrase that we Catholics will often frown upon or even ridicule―it is “Walking with the Lord.” Yet that is exactly what Jesus asks to do―it is what He asked the Apostles to do: “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren―Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother―casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately, leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from there, He saw two other brethren―James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother―in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:18-22).
“Jesus passed on from here, and He saw a man sitting in the custom house [tax collection house], named Matthew―and he said to Him: ‘Follow me!’ And he rose up and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9).
“On the following day, He went forth into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him: ‘Follow me!’” (John 1:43).
Our Lord said: “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27). “Peter followed him” (Mark 14:54) … “His disciples followed Him” (Mark 6:1) … “And Peter began to say unto Him: ‘Behold, we have left all things and have followed Thee!” (Mark 10:28) … “Many women followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto Him” (Matthew 27:55) … “The people followed Him” (Luke 9:11) … “A great multitude followed Him” (Mark 5:24) … “The multitude followed Him” (Luke 7:9) … “There followed Him a great multitude of people” (Luke 23:27).
“Jesus said to another: ‘Follow Me!’ And he said: ‘Lord, suffer me first to go, and to bury my father!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Let the dead bury their dead―but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God!’ And another said: ‘I will follow Thee, Lord―but let me first take my leave of them that are at my house!’ Jesus said to him: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:59-62).
We read with trepidation the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man, who was so attached to his great possessions and riches that he would not follow Jesus! “And behold, a certain rich young man, a ruler, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25). Does that apply to us? Are we saddened and sorrowful at having to give up many things in order to be true and perfect followers of Jesus?
The “Small-Print” of Following Jesus!
Everyone is called to follow Jesus―yet few really choose to do so! Why? Well, the answer lies in the ‘small-print’ of the ‘contract’ ― which speaks of the cross! As the Imitation of Christ so fittingly states:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection … To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
“Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory. Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapters 11 & 12).
Few Journey with Jesus Along the Narrow Path
The message of Jesus is clear and blunt. The path that Jesus journeyed along and the path onto which He invites to follow Him is the “Journey of the Cross” or the “Way of the Cross.” Our Lord came from Heaven to lead us on rocky, gritty, tough road to Heaven. He tells us that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Our life on Earth is a battle for Heaven: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). He warns that if we want to follow Him to Heaven, then we will have to fight for Heaven and carry the cross that is our key to Heaven: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Sadly, cross-carrying is not very high on everyone’s “To-Do-List” these days! This is especially so in view of the world’s constant preoccupation with “making life easier”―we no longer walk or ride horses, but we have cars, trains, planes and buses. We no longer have to make our own clothes, but find an endless array of clothes in the stores―a quantity and quality that even the kings and queens of old would envy! We no longer have to grow and process, or go hunting and fishing for our own food―we simply “cherry-pick” all that we want from the supermarket shelves, refrigerators or freezers―all of which is ready made, harvested, cleaned, prepared to be ready for the table or the oven. We no longer have to start a fire to cook our food―we have electric or gas stoves and ovens. The same applies to heating―we no have to go gather and chop wood―we simply turn a dial and warmth appears! We can even buy ready-made meals so as to avoid the labor of having to make them ourselves. Many Americans like to “eat-out” rather than go through the toil of cooking at home. We have power tools that take the effort and reduce the time spent on cooking, cleaning, building and maintaining things. We no longer research and read to find answers―we simply “Google” a question and get millions of potential answers in less than a second or two; or we can simply ask one of the many “Artificial Intelligence Assistant” machines (the modern-day electronic butler, maid or servant) that are now available, such as Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Alexa, Bixby, etc. Maybe those electronic “Artificial Intelligence Assistants” could even pray our Rosaries for us―giving us more time to do other things!
Saturday January 1st & Sunday January 2nd
Article 6
God is Tired of the Old! He Wants Something New!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 6
God is Tired of the Old! He Wants Something New!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Change Your Old Heart for a New Heart
God complains about our hard-heartedness: “They made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent” (Zacharias 7:12). God complains of our lukewarm hearts: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance! Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Apocalypse 3:15-20).
God wants something new―He wants to take away the old and replace it with the new: “I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh―so that they may walk in My commandments, and keep My judgments, and do them―and that they may be My people, and I may be their God!” (Ezechiel 11:19-20). “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols! And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh! And I will put My spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in My commandments, and to keep My judgments, and do them!” (Ezechiel 36:25-27).
This New Year—Buy the Gold of Charity
Yes, we are spiritually poor, blind and naked, as the Apocalypse just said. Just as the three kings brought three gifts, so do the three persons of the Holy Trinity counsel us to turn to Them for the solution: to buy from Them gold, white garments, and eye-salve. These three are an echo of the three gifts offered to Jesus by the Magi.
The Gold in both cases—the Apocalypse account and that of the Magi—is the gold of charity, which, as we said with the Scriptural quote above, will have grown cold in many souls: “Because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Will this be a cold year in my heart, or will I kindle a fire in my heart towards God: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Will the fire in my heart grow or burn-out?
This New Year—Cloth Yourself with Suffering
The white garments, spoken of in Apocalypse, correspond to the Myrrh. The Myrrh is a symbol of suffering, being used both as a painkiller and for embalming the dead. The white garments reflect that suffering, as shown by this quote: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 7:14).
This coming New Year, no doubt, will bring increased suffering in an increasingly sinful world—“Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). The world cannot sin with impunity: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin has reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “When concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death” (James 1:15).
This New Year—Use the Eye-Salve of Fervent Prayer
The Eye-Salve, spoken of in Apocalypse, corresponds to the frankincense of prayer, which rises like smoke to Heaven. The blind man is begging and praying to Jesus for his blindness to be removed. “Jesus asked him saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord, that I may see!’” (Luke 18:41).
His prayer is the eye-salve that removes his blindness. This blindness corresponds to lukewarmness—as Fr. Faber writes: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness). Our Lady of Good Success says: “Others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil.”
The lukewarm need the ‘eye-salve’ of prayer to save them from the fate of lukewarmness—which is being vomited out from the mouth of God. Let us resolve to use this ‘eye-salve’ regularly and properly this coming New Year! As Our Lord said: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
‘Happy’ New Year! Ouch!
Today there is not enough gold, frankincense and myrrh in our lives. We love too little; we pray too little; we suffer too little. That is why we risk having little chance for salvation unless we follow the counsels of the Apocalypse in our apocalyptic times! Love, pray and suffer! This should be our New Year resolution! Have a charitable New Year! Have a prayerful New Year! Have a painful New Year! Ouch!
But that is what Our Lady herself told us: “The children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray, pray very much!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “Are you willing to bear all the sufferings God wills to send you? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “I do not promise to make you Happy [New Year] in this life, but in the next!” (Our Lady of Lourdes). Ouch! ‘Happy’ New Year!
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, but You Cannot Make it Drink!
God has ceaselessly tried to improve mankind―but most of mankind is just not interested. Sure―God could not only lead us to the waters of grace, but He could also force us to drink! Yet God will not violate the free-will that has placed within us―even if that means us freely willing to go to Hell by our bad choices and stubborn resistance to God. As Christ says in Scripture: “Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him!” (Apocalypse 3:20) ― Our Lord politely knocks at the door of our souls; He will not force the door open, we need to open it to Him from inside our soul. He comes to fix our souls, repair our souls, improve our souls, heal our souls―but He awaits our acceptance and cooperation, without which He will not act. “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “For the sensual [materialistic] man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is all foolishness to him, and he cannot understand!” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
God complains about our hard-heartedness: “They made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent” (Zacharias 7:12). God complains of our lukewarm hearts: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance! Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Apocalypse 3:15-20).
God wants something new―He wants to take away the old and replace it with the new: “I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh―so that they may walk in My commandments, and keep My judgments, and do them―and that they may be My people, and I may be their God!” (Ezechiel 11:19-20). “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols! And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh! And I will put My spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in My commandments, and to keep My judgments, and do them!” (Ezechiel 36:25-27).
This New Year—Buy the Gold of Charity
Yes, we are spiritually poor, blind and naked, as the Apocalypse just said. Just as the three kings brought three gifts, so do the three persons of the Holy Trinity counsel us to turn to Them for the solution: to buy from Them gold, white garments, and eye-salve. These three are an echo of the three gifts offered to Jesus by the Magi.
The Gold in both cases—the Apocalypse account and that of the Magi—is the gold of charity, which, as we said with the Scriptural quote above, will have grown cold in many souls: “Because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Will this be a cold year in my heart, or will I kindle a fire in my heart towards God: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Will the fire in my heart grow or burn-out?
This New Year—Cloth Yourself with Suffering
The white garments, spoken of in Apocalypse, correspond to the Myrrh. The Myrrh is a symbol of suffering, being used both as a painkiller and for embalming the dead. The white garments reflect that suffering, as shown by this quote: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 7:14).
This coming New Year, no doubt, will bring increased suffering in an increasingly sinful world—“Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). The world cannot sin with impunity: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin has reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “When concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death” (James 1:15).
This New Year—Use the Eye-Salve of Fervent Prayer
The Eye-Salve, spoken of in Apocalypse, corresponds to the frankincense of prayer, which rises like smoke to Heaven. The blind man is begging and praying to Jesus for his blindness to be removed. “Jesus asked him saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord, that I may see!’” (Luke 18:41).
His prayer is the eye-salve that removes his blindness. This blindness corresponds to lukewarmness—as Fr. Faber writes: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness). Our Lady of Good Success says: “Others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil.”
The lukewarm need the ‘eye-salve’ of prayer to save them from the fate of lukewarmness—which is being vomited out from the mouth of God. Let us resolve to use this ‘eye-salve’ regularly and properly this coming New Year! As Our Lord said: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
‘Happy’ New Year! Ouch!
Today there is not enough gold, frankincense and myrrh in our lives. We love too little; we pray too little; we suffer too little. That is why we risk having little chance for salvation unless we follow the counsels of the Apocalypse in our apocalyptic times! Love, pray and suffer! This should be our New Year resolution! Have a charitable New Year! Have a prayerful New Year! Have a painful New Year! Ouch!
But that is what Our Lady herself told us: “The children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray, pray very much!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “Are you willing to bear all the sufferings God wills to send you? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “I do not promise to make you Happy [New Year] in this life, but in the next!” (Our Lady of Lourdes). Ouch! ‘Happy’ New Year!
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, but You Cannot Make it Drink!
God has ceaselessly tried to improve mankind―but most of mankind is just not interested. Sure―God could not only lead us to the waters of grace, but He could also force us to drink! Yet God will not violate the free-will that has placed within us―even if that means us freely willing to go to Hell by our bad choices and stubborn resistance to God. As Christ says in Scripture: “Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him!” (Apocalypse 3:20) ― Our Lord politely knocks at the door of our souls; He will not force the door open, we need to open it to Him from inside our soul. He comes to fix our souls, repair our souls, improve our souls, heal our souls―but He awaits our acceptance and cooperation, without which He will not act. “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “For the sensual [materialistic] man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is all foolishness to him, and he cannot understand!” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Thursday December 30th & Friday December 31st
Article 5
Will the New Year See a New You? Or the Same Old, Same Old ...?
Article 5
Will the New Year See a New You? Or the Same Old, Same Old ...?
New Year Comes Late!
The Church has already beaten the State to the New Year—the New Liturgical Year started with the First Sunday of Advent! However, since many are partying tonight and waiting for the secular “New Year”, let us look at some aspects of the “new” from a spiritual perspective. To do so, let us primarily turn to the Word of God—Holy Scripture—for a look at the “new.”
Our Lord Comes to Make Things New
There are times when the “old” is better, and there are times when the “new” is necessary. Our Lord Himself came to perfect the old with the new—the Old Testament gave way to the New Testament. Our “old” selves, likewise, need to make for our “new” selves—renewed by the grace of God. Heaven is often called the “New Jerusalem” —a heavenly Jerusalem that replaces or perfects the earthly Jerusalem. We see this focus on the “new” in the words of Our Lord and the New Testament authors. “But we look for new heavens and a new Earth” (2 Peter 3:13).
Don’t Mix the Old with the New
We cannot make a blend of the world and God; nor can we marry spirituality to materialism: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) … “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-5).
Purge Out the Old
“And He that sat on the throne, said: ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ And He said to me: ‘Write! For these words are most faithful and true!’” (Apocalypse 21:5). “A new commandment I give unto you” (John 13:34) ... “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste” (1 Corinthians 5:7). “Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). “If then anyone be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “In saying ‘a new’, He hath made the former old” (Hebrews 8:13).
God wants us to be new creatures, new persons, better creatures, better persons. That is why He came on Earth—the Advent and Christmas liturgy speaks of Our Lord coming to restore, to renew, to recreate what was lost through sin. This is the spirit that we should positively and effectively undertake in the coming New Year—putting on a new man, a new self, created in justice and holiness; becoming a new leaven, renewed in mind and heart, so that we are a new creature in Christ, having put the old ways behind us and having made all things new!
Vintage Year for God
While others toast the New Year with glasses of wine, we should be preparing to give God a special vintage this coming year—not mixing our old cheap wine with the vintage wine that God expects from us: “Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottles: and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17). “No man sews a piece of raw cloth to an old garment” (Mark 2:21). “No man puts a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise the piece taken from the new agrees not with the old” (Luke 5:36).
God Seeks Improvement
All these Scriptural quotes stress or imply the need for improvement—not just “new” for sake of it being “new”, but “new’ in the sense of something better than was there before. In this sense, we go through school learning new things every year and, thereby, our intelligence becomes better. We learn new skills and thereby become better. Our spiritual life should follow the same pattern—each year we should become better due to new things and changes that we have made; much like a tree that each year grows more, becomes stronger and bears more fruit: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
The tree or vine should be always improving, as Our Lord points out at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
Fruitless and Loveless
Our Lord relates a parable that shows God dissatisfaction with our fruitlessness in the “vineyard” of the Lord: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he, answering, said to him: ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it! And if happily it bears fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The Apocalypse has even stronger words to say: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see” (Apocalypse 3:14-18).
What’s Your New Year Resolution?
As the secular New Year approaches (the Liturgical New Year began with the First Sunday of Advent), some people are thinking about making the customary New Year resolutions. Most people don’t care! Many are tired of New Year resolutions because they are tired of failure―making and taking resolutions, only to see them fail! Even fewer people make and take SPIRITUAL New Year resolutions―and most people fail and fall spiritually by falling into Hell! You can bet that wasn’t their New Year resolution―but that is what they got! Why? Because they failed to take, make and make work resolutions that could have saved their soul!
In a sense, every Confession is like a New Year resolution―because one of the five essential components or requirements for good and valid confession is “a firm purpose of amendment”―whereby we take and make a resolution to avoid the occasions and sin that led us to fall in the first place, and to take and make a resolution to use those tools and weapons that will help us overcome those sins in the future.
For how many years have we procrastinated about getting serious about our sanctity and salvation? Read about Purgatory and see what happens to those who put-off putting-on Christ—it makes for painful reading! We are called to holiness, for only saints go to Heaven, but we still play too much with the world, which is the enemy of God: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God?” (James 4:4). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31).
The Only Resolution that Really Matters―To Be Holy!
St. Louis de Montfort puts it very clearly: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being.
“What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you?” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
The Life That Really Matters
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange stresses that the spiritual life is the optimal life, or the highest form of life we can lead—being superior to our intellectual, social, economic and political life: “Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism, the love of God and the love of souls in Him. The one thing necessary, which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary, consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life ... Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul ... If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? … Religion, the interior life, must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity” (Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Part 1, Introduction).
Getting Your Resolution Started!
“Consider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: ‘Now I begin to love my God!’” (St. Francis de Sales). It was in this manner that the Apostle St. Paul acted; though, after his conversion, he had become a vessel of election, filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ, yet, to persevere and advance along Heaven’s way, he made use of this means, for he said in his Epistle to the Philippians: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do: forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.”
The glorious St. Anthony went on from day to day, stimulating himself to virtue. St. Anastasius said of him, that he always looked upon himself as a beginner, as if every day were the first in which he was serving God, and as if in the past he had done nothing good, and were but just setting foot in the way of the Lord, and taking the first steps on the road to Heaven. And this was the very last admonition he left to his monks at his death: “My sons,” he said to them, “if you wish to advance in virtue and perfection, never give up the practice of considering each day that you are then beginning, and of conducting yourselves always as you did on the day you began.”
We find that St. Gregory, St. Bernard, and St. Charles acted likewise and advised others to act in the same manner. To make the necessity and utility of this method clearer to all, they made use of two beautiful comparisons, saying, that we must act in this like travelers, who do not regard the road they have gone over, but, rather, what remains for them to traverse, and this they keep always before their eyes, even to their journey’s end; or, like merchants, eager for riches, who make no account of what they have so far acquired, nor of the fatigue they have borne, but put all their thought and care upon new acquisitions, and upon daily multiplying their possessions, as if in the past they had made no profit at all.
Resolutions, Resolutions and More Resolutions!
St. Francis de Sales stated that: “We must begin with a strong and constant resolution to give ourselves wholly to God, professing to Him, in a tender, loving manner, from the bottom of our hearts, that we intend to be His without any reserve, and then we must often go back and renew this same resolution.”
One of the means for the acquisition of perfection, which was chiefly inculcated and much practiced by St. Philip Neri, was a frequent renewal of good resolutions. St. Francis de Sales made, from time to time, a spiritual renovation, and always conceived in it new desires to serve God better.
St. John Berchmans, at his very entrance into religion, planted in his heart a strong resolution to become a Saint, and then he not only remained constant in all the practices and resolutions which he took up for this end, but he went on daily gaining new vigor to his spiritual advantage.
When a holy Religious was giving the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Rome, a nun, called Sr. Marie Bonaventura, who was living a very easy and relaxed life, did not wish to be present. After much effort, she was finally persuaded to attend. The first meditation, on the end of man, enkindled such fervor in her heart, that the priest had scarcely finished when she called him to her, and said: “Father, I intend to be a Saint, and quickly!” She then retired to her cell, and, writing the same words on a scrap of paper, fastened them to the foot of her crucifix. From that moment, she applied herself with so much zeal to the practice of perfection, that a memoir about her was written at her death, which occurred eleven months later.
God Wants Everyone to be Holy—Even the Greatest Sinner
St. Teresa of Avila explains that “The Lord chiefly desires of us that we should be completely perfect, so that we may be wholly one with Him. Let us aim, therefore, at whatever we need to reach this.”
Father Peter Faber, a companion of St. Ignatius, and highly esteemed by St. Francis de Sales, often dwelt on the thought that God greatly desires our advancement. And so he endeavored to grow constantly, and not to let a day pass without some progress in virtue, so that he gradually rose to great perfection and a high reputation for sanctity. St. Pacomius and St. Anthony, by studying the virtues of others, stimulated themselves to attain similar excellence.
The Church has already beaten the State to the New Year—the New Liturgical Year started with the First Sunday of Advent! However, since many are partying tonight and waiting for the secular “New Year”, let us look at some aspects of the “new” from a spiritual perspective. To do so, let us primarily turn to the Word of God—Holy Scripture—for a look at the “new.”
Our Lord Comes to Make Things New
There are times when the “old” is better, and there are times when the “new” is necessary. Our Lord Himself came to perfect the old with the new—the Old Testament gave way to the New Testament. Our “old” selves, likewise, need to make for our “new” selves—renewed by the grace of God. Heaven is often called the “New Jerusalem” —a heavenly Jerusalem that replaces or perfects the earthly Jerusalem. We see this focus on the “new” in the words of Our Lord and the New Testament authors. “But we look for new heavens and a new Earth” (2 Peter 3:13).
Don’t Mix the Old with the New
We cannot make a blend of the world and God; nor can we marry spirituality to materialism: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) … “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-5).
Purge Out the Old
“And He that sat on the throne, said: ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ And He said to me: ‘Write! For these words are most faithful and true!’” (Apocalypse 21:5). “A new commandment I give unto you” (John 13:34) ... “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste” (1 Corinthians 5:7). “Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). “If then anyone be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “In saying ‘a new’, He hath made the former old” (Hebrews 8:13).
God wants us to be new creatures, new persons, better creatures, better persons. That is why He came on Earth—the Advent and Christmas liturgy speaks of Our Lord coming to restore, to renew, to recreate what was lost through sin. This is the spirit that we should positively and effectively undertake in the coming New Year—putting on a new man, a new self, created in justice and holiness; becoming a new leaven, renewed in mind and heart, so that we are a new creature in Christ, having put the old ways behind us and having made all things new!
Vintage Year for God
While others toast the New Year with glasses of wine, we should be preparing to give God a special vintage this coming year—not mixing our old cheap wine with the vintage wine that God expects from us: “Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottles: and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17). “No man sews a piece of raw cloth to an old garment” (Mark 2:21). “No man puts a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise the piece taken from the new agrees not with the old” (Luke 5:36).
God Seeks Improvement
All these Scriptural quotes stress or imply the need for improvement—not just “new” for sake of it being “new”, but “new’ in the sense of something better than was there before. In this sense, we go through school learning new things every year and, thereby, our intelligence becomes better. We learn new skills and thereby become better. Our spiritual life should follow the same pattern—each year we should become better due to new things and changes that we have made; much like a tree that each year grows more, becomes stronger and bears more fruit: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
The tree or vine should be always improving, as Our Lord points out at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
Fruitless and Loveless
Our Lord relates a parable that shows God dissatisfaction with our fruitlessness in the “vineyard” of the Lord: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he, answering, said to him: ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it! And if happily it bears fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The Apocalypse has even stronger words to say: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see” (Apocalypse 3:14-18).
What’s Your New Year Resolution?
As the secular New Year approaches (the Liturgical New Year began with the First Sunday of Advent), some people are thinking about making the customary New Year resolutions. Most people don’t care! Many are tired of New Year resolutions because they are tired of failure―making and taking resolutions, only to see them fail! Even fewer people make and take SPIRITUAL New Year resolutions―and most people fail and fall spiritually by falling into Hell! You can bet that wasn’t their New Year resolution―but that is what they got! Why? Because they failed to take, make and make work resolutions that could have saved their soul!
In a sense, every Confession is like a New Year resolution―because one of the five essential components or requirements for good and valid confession is “a firm purpose of amendment”―whereby we take and make a resolution to avoid the occasions and sin that led us to fall in the first place, and to take and make a resolution to use those tools and weapons that will help us overcome those sins in the future.
For how many years have we procrastinated about getting serious about our sanctity and salvation? Read about Purgatory and see what happens to those who put-off putting-on Christ—it makes for painful reading! We are called to holiness, for only saints go to Heaven, but we still play too much with the world, which is the enemy of God: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God?” (James 4:4). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31).
The Only Resolution that Really Matters―To Be Holy!
St. Louis de Montfort puts it very clearly: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being.
“What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you?” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
The Life That Really Matters
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange stresses that the spiritual life is the optimal life, or the highest form of life we can lead—being superior to our intellectual, social, economic and political life: “Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism, the love of God and the love of souls in Him. The one thing necessary, which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary, consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life ... Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul ... If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? … Religion, the interior life, must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity” (Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Part 1, Introduction).
Getting Your Resolution Started!
“Consider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: ‘Now I begin to love my God!’” (St. Francis de Sales). It was in this manner that the Apostle St. Paul acted; though, after his conversion, he had become a vessel of election, filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ, yet, to persevere and advance along Heaven’s way, he made use of this means, for he said in his Epistle to the Philippians: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do: forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.”
The glorious St. Anthony went on from day to day, stimulating himself to virtue. St. Anastasius said of him, that he always looked upon himself as a beginner, as if every day were the first in which he was serving God, and as if in the past he had done nothing good, and were but just setting foot in the way of the Lord, and taking the first steps on the road to Heaven. And this was the very last admonition he left to his monks at his death: “My sons,” he said to them, “if you wish to advance in virtue and perfection, never give up the practice of considering each day that you are then beginning, and of conducting yourselves always as you did on the day you began.”
We find that St. Gregory, St. Bernard, and St. Charles acted likewise and advised others to act in the same manner. To make the necessity and utility of this method clearer to all, they made use of two beautiful comparisons, saying, that we must act in this like travelers, who do not regard the road they have gone over, but, rather, what remains for them to traverse, and this they keep always before their eyes, even to their journey’s end; or, like merchants, eager for riches, who make no account of what they have so far acquired, nor of the fatigue they have borne, but put all their thought and care upon new acquisitions, and upon daily multiplying their possessions, as if in the past they had made no profit at all.
Resolutions, Resolutions and More Resolutions!
St. Francis de Sales stated that: “We must begin with a strong and constant resolution to give ourselves wholly to God, professing to Him, in a tender, loving manner, from the bottom of our hearts, that we intend to be His without any reserve, and then we must often go back and renew this same resolution.”
One of the means for the acquisition of perfection, which was chiefly inculcated and much practiced by St. Philip Neri, was a frequent renewal of good resolutions. St. Francis de Sales made, from time to time, a spiritual renovation, and always conceived in it new desires to serve God better.
St. John Berchmans, at his very entrance into religion, planted in his heart a strong resolution to become a Saint, and then he not only remained constant in all the practices and resolutions which he took up for this end, but he went on daily gaining new vigor to his spiritual advantage.
When a holy Religious was giving the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Rome, a nun, called Sr. Marie Bonaventura, who was living a very easy and relaxed life, did not wish to be present. After much effort, she was finally persuaded to attend. The first meditation, on the end of man, enkindled such fervor in her heart, that the priest had scarcely finished when she called him to her, and said: “Father, I intend to be a Saint, and quickly!” She then retired to her cell, and, writing the same words on a scrap of paper, fastened them to the foot of her crucifix. From that moment, she applied herself with so much zeal to the practice of perfection, that a memoir about her was written at her death, which occurred eleven months later.
God Wants Everyone to be Holy—Even the Greatest Sinner
St. Teresa of Avila explains that “The Lord chiefly desires of us that we should be completely perfect, so that we may be wholly one with Him. Let us aim, therefore, at whatever we need to reach this.”
Father Peter Faber, a companion of St. Ignatius, and highly esteemed by St. Francis de Sales, often dwelt on the thought that God greatly desires our advancement. And so he endeavored to grow constantly, and not to let a day pass without some progress in virtue, so that he gradually rose to great perfection and a high reputation for sanctity. St. Pacomius and St. Anthony, by studying the virtues of others, stimulated themselves to attain similar excellence.
Tuesday December 28th & Wednesday December 29th
Article 4
If Only We Could Be Holy Innocents!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 4
If Only We Could Be Holy Innocents!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Innocent or Guilty?
Speaking of Heaven, Holy Scripture warns: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10) … “For all have sinned and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23).
Our Lord is the innocent Lamb Who comes to cleanse us from sin and save us from sin: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). “He appeared in order to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin!” (1 John 3:5). “Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree [of the cross], so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice!” (1 Peter 2:24). “Knowing this―that our old [sinful] man is crucified with Him, so that the body of sin may be destroyed, in order that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6). “And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go―and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11) … “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14).
The Real Purpose of Christmas―The Real Christmas Message
Christ comes at Christmas―not to party and play―but to do penance and pray! “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days … and he ate nothing in those days … and he fasted forty days and forty nights” (Luke 4:1-2; Matthew 4:1-2). In the eyes of the world and the worldly, Christ seems to be a killjoy, a grouch, a sourpuss and a spoilsport. What politician would win an election by asking for and promising the things that Christ demanded and promised? Christ speaks of much prayer, much penance, suffering persecution and death for His Name’s sake! He demands that His followers carry a heavy cross; that they give whatever riches they possess to the poor, sell all they have and follow Him! For a politician that would be a suicidal political manifesto! Yet that is what Christ demands and promises!
The Christmas Christ of the Cross
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) ... “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) ... “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [He then repeats the same warning] … I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Our Lord then promises persecution and even death to those who will follow Him: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Wow! That is a tough manifesto that Christ lays down! Yet, God reminds us that His ways and His thoughts are not our ways and thoughts: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our Lord adds that “he that will save his life, shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25) … “For whosoever will [seek to] save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it!” (Luke 9:24) … “He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:39). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Party-Pooper Church
When we compare the Christmas of the worldly-minded to the Christmas mind of the Church, the latter looks like a ‘party-pooper’ compared to former fun-loving, ‘anything-goes’, carefree world! When we take a quick scan of the table of goodies prepared for us by the world, they look much more appetizing than what the Church dishes up! The world’s dishes are nothing but sweetness, while the dishes served by the Church—even though many are sweet—have a tinge of sourness or bitterness or a pungency to them!
Sweet and Sour Serving
A brief selection of extracts from the Christmas liturgy sours our sweet palate and irritates our sweet-tooth! We keep finding small irritating fish-bones, grape seeds, olive pits or cherry stones―all of which seem to spoil the enjoyment of the fish or fruit. These are some of the bones, seeds, pits and stones that the Church refuses to take out of the food She serves us over the Christmas festivities:
“Our Lord―Who is the destroyer of sin and of death― is come to make all free” … “The wickedness of the Earth shall be destroyed and the Savior of the world will rule over us” … “He shall save His people from their sins” … and “set us free, whom the old bondage holds under the yoke of sin” – but we like some of our sins! We like some of the wickedness of the world! We don’t really want to be freed from these—especially the Venial Sins, for they say that we won’t go to Hell because of them! “Our Savior hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world”—“But I don’t want to be sober all the time, I don’t want to be drunk, but I like being ‘tipsy’!”, say many.
Honest Mother
Holy Mother Church, like any good mother, is uncompromising when it comes to the good of Her children. She tells the Christmas Story as it really is, and does not embellish it or disguise it or lace it with unnecessary sugary sweetness. Celebrate we must—for as Pope St. Leo the Great says in his Christmas homily, “It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to partake in our rejoicing”—yet, at the same time, we must realize why it is that we are celebrating! We rejoice because Christ comes, with His power and grace, to help us change our lives for the better; to help us cut ourselves free from the bondage of sin; to help us detach ourselves from this world and to attach ourselves more to heavenly things:
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31) … “Seek the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalm 13:2). The whole point of Christmas is that Jesus becomes man, in order to make us like unto God: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “For I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by any thing … upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44).
The ‘Bloody’ Mind of the Church
Dom Guéranger, in the Christmas volume of his Liturgical Year, writes: “We have so much to learn from the mystery of the Sacred Infancy, we shall be in strict accordance with the spirit of the Church if, whilst assisting at Mass, we keep before our minds, not only the bleeding Victim of Calvary, but likewise the sweet Lamb of Bethlehem. Moreover, does not our Jesus offer Himself for us to his Father from His Crib as well as from His Cross? … Then let us go to Him, that we may know Him; let us know Him, that we may love Him; let us love Him, that we may grow like Him. What He demands of us by this Christmas mystery is that we become, like Him―little children.”
Yet to love Him, means to lay down our life for Him—whether that be bloodily or bloodlessly. He Himself said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Gospels repeatedly quote Our Lord saying that we must “lose” our life in this world for His sake: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it!” (Luke 9:24) … “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it!” (Luke 17:33).
In our current culture, the emphasis is on the preservation of youth and bodily life, the concept of martyrdom does seem foreign.
Divine Providence Arranges All Things
Nothing happens by chance—even Our Lord said: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:28-29).
In that masterpiece of a book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ ‘I am the Lord,’ He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, ‘and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.’ … ‘It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them,’ He said to Moses … ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive,’ it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, ‘He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth.’ ‘Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?” asks the prophet Amos. ‘Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,’ Solomon proclaims. And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 1).
A Christmas of Martyrdom
Providence has arranged for His Son’s birthday to be celebrated by many martyrdoms throughout the course of time, and Holy Mother Church, in Her wisdom, has arranged for a succession of martyrs feasts to be celebrated in the liturgical calendar, starting with Christmas Day itself!
December 25th: St. Anastasia, Wife and Widow
December 26th: St. Stephen the First Martyr, Deacon
December 27th: St. John the Apostle & Evangelist, Apostle
December 28th: The Massacre of the Holy Innocents,
December 29th: St. Thomas Becket, Bishop
Our Lord came to give His life for us and these martyrs gave up their lives for Him. As we say in the Stations of the Cross: "Jesus, you died for love of me! Let me die for love of you!" If Christmas is about giving and receiving presents, as a sign of our love, then Our Lord points out that “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
St. Anastasia—a Christmas Day Martyr
In the very midst of her celebration of this mystery of the Birth of Jesus, the Church offers us another object of admiration and joy: it is one of her own children. Whilst solemnizing the divine Mystery of today’s Feast, she commemorates in this second Mass one of those glorious heroines who preserved the Light of Christ within their souls, in spite of all the attacks made to rob them of it. Her name is Anastasia. This holy Widow of Rome suffered martyrdom under the persecution of Diocletian, and had the privilege of being thus born to eternal life on the Birthday of that Jesus for whom she suffered death.
She had been married to a Pagan of the name of Publius; himself also a Roman; who, being irritated against her on account of her great charities to the Christians, treated her with every sort of cruelty. She endured all with admirable patience; and when this heavy trial was removed from her by the death of her husband, she devoted herself to visiting and solacing the holy Confessors who had been cast into the prisons of Rome for the Faith. Being at length apprehended as a Christian, she was tied to a stake and burned to death.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
Martyrs of Christmas Day, 303 AD
God’s providence arranged for a bloody martyrdom on Christmas Day, December 25th, 303 AD. The Roman Emperor, Diocletian had published the famous edict of persecution, which waged against the Church the fiercest war she has ever experienced. The edict was torn down from the Emperor’s palace at Nicomedia by one of the Christians, who paid for this holy daring by a glorious martyrdom. The faithful of the same city were ready for the combat, and feared not to brave the Emperor’s power by continuing to frequent their Church, which was condemned to be pulled down. Christmas Day came and several thousands of them had assembled there, in order to celebrate, for the last time within those walls, the Nativity of our Savior.
Being informed of it, the Emperor became furious and sent one of the officers of his court to order the Church doors to be fastened shut, with the congregation of Christians trapped inside the church, and a fire to be enkindled on each side of the building. This being done, the clang of trumpets was heard, and then a herald’s voice proclaiming to the faithful, in the Emperor’s name, that they who wished to save their lives would be permitted to leave the Basilica, on the condition of their offering incense on an altar of Jupiter, which had been placed near the door; but that otherwise, all were to be left a prey to the flames.
One of the Christians thus answered, in the name of the whole assembly: “We are all of us Christians; we honor Christ as the one only God and King; and we are all ready to lay down our lives for him on this Day.” Whereupon the soldiers were commanded to set fire to the Church. In a very short time, it was one immense mass of flames, whence was offered to the Son of God who deigned to begin, on this same day the human life he had assumed, the generous holocaust of these thousands of lives, laid down as witness to his having come into this world. Thus was glorified, in the year 303.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
St. Stephen the First Martyr
The second day after Christmas, sees the celebration of another martyr—one whom we call “The First Martyr”. St. Stephen’s name means “crown,” and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr’s crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.
God worked many miracles through St. Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen’s preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.
The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
The Apostle of Love and Martyrdom
We all know the ‘Apostle of Love’—St. John the Apostle and Evangelist—who laid his head on Our Lord’s heart. St. John, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. James the Great, was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry. He became the “beloved disciple” and the only one of the Twelve who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion. He stood faithfully at the cross when the Savior made him the guardian of His Mother. His later life was passed chiefly in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. He founded many churches in Asia Minor. He wrote the fourth Gospel, and three Epistles, and the Book of the Apocalypse is also attributed to him.
Even though he died of old age, he should have and would have died a martyr—if God had not intervened in the arranged process of martyrdom. Brought to Rome, tradition relates that he was by order of Emperor Domitian cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, where St. John was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, which, rather than killing him, did him no harm whatever. He was then banished to the island of Patmos for a year. St. John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master, and which he constantly inculcated by word and example. The “beloved disciple” died at Ephesus, where a stately church was erected over his tomb. It was afterwards converted into a Mohammedan mosque. He lived to an extreme old age, surviving all his fellow apostles, and died at Ephesus about the year 100.
The Holy Innocents
On December 28th, the day following the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we celebrate the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents. This is probably the most astounding, or perplexing, disconcerting or puzzling actions of Gods’ Providence. He allows these innocent babies to be killed! He—the Almighty and All-Knowing God, Who could well have prevented this by simply wishing it—allows the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent children aged two years and under. We do not know how many babies were killed—the Greek Liturgy asserts that Herod killed 14,000 boys, the Syrians speak of 64,000, many medieval authors of 144,000, according to Apocalypse 14:3, but 144,000 seems to be a symbolic number and historically, there was no way that there were so many babies in a town like Bethlehem! Modern writers reduce the number considerably, since Bethlehem was a rather small town—but it must be remembered that Herod was not likely to have just stopped with the children in Bethlehem, but, to be safe, he may have had those in nearby areas killed also.
The Church venerates these children as martyrs; they are the first buds of the Church, killed by the frost of persecution; they died not only for Christ, but in his place, says St. Augustine. The Latin Church instituted the feast of the Holy Innocents at a date now unknown, not before the end of the fourth and not later than the end of the fifth century. It is, with the feasts of St. Stephen and St. John, first found in the Leonine Sacramentary, dating from about 485. The Latin Church keeps it on December 28th, the Greeks on December 29th, the Syrians and Chaldeans on December 27th. These dates have nothing to do with the chronological order of the event; the feast is kept within the octave of Christmas because the Holy Innocents gave their life for the newborn Savior. Stephen the first martyr (martyr by will, love, and blood), John, the Disciple of Love (martyr by will and love, but not blood), and these first flowers of the Church (martyrs by blood alone) accompany the Holy Child Jesus entering this world on Christmas day.
St. Thomas Becket, Martyr
December 29th sees the feast of St. Thomas Becket, the English martyr of the 12th century (martyred in 1172). Originally quite a worldly young, even after entering the religious life, he later changed his worldly way when he was appointed Archbishop of the chief see in England—Canterbury. A long-time friend and companion of the King—Henry II—he was even appointed Chancellor for the King. Although, when he became Archbishop, Thomas had resigned the secular post of Chancellor for the King, against the King’s wish, initially the relations between the two men seemed to be unchanged for a time, but he soon found that his reformed life and principles did not meet with the approval of the King, who preferred the old Thomas to the new one. A host of troubles was brewing, and the crux of all of them was the relationship between Church and state. Gradually, as their interests grew in different directions, the King found himself being increasingly opposed by the Church, in the form of Thomas.
After several setbacks, the King was bent on vengeance for what he considered the disloyalty and ingratitude of the Archbishop. Fuel was added to the fire by several subordinate bishops of Thomas’ who lodged complaints with the King about punishments they had received from Thomas. When the three bishops had laid their complaints before the King, someone had exclaimed aloud that there would be no peace for the realm of England while Becket lived. At this, the King, in a fit of rage, pronounced some words, which several of his hearers took as a rebuke to them for allowing Becket to continue to live and thereby disturb him. Four of his knights at once set off for Canterbury.
On the afternoon of December 29th, the four knights came to see him in his episcopal palace. The knights broke in shouting, “Where is Thomas the traitor?” “Where is the archbishop?” “Here I am,” he replied, “no traitor, but archbishop and priest of God!” The knights demanded that he absolve the three bishops he had punished, and Thomas. One knight made a threatening gesture with his axe. “I am ready to die,” said Thomas, “but God’s curse on you if you harm my people.” The knight flung down his axe and drew his sword. At this, Thomas covered his face and called aloud on God and the saints. Tracy struck a blow, which partially missed and grazed Thomas’ skull and blood ran down into his eyes. He wiped the stain away and cried, “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!” Another blow beat him to his knees, and he pitched forward onto his face, murmuring, “For the name of Jesus and in defense of the Church I am willing to die.” With a vigorous thrust another knight struck his sword deep into his head, breaking his sword against the pavement. The murderers then, brandishing their swords, dashed away through the cloisters, shouting “The King’s men! The King’s men!”
When the news was brought to the King, he shut himself up and fasted for forty days, for he knew that his chance remark had caused the knights to go Canterbury full of vengeance. He later performed public penance in Canterbury Cathedral and in 1172 received absolution from the papal delegates. Within three years of his death the archbishop had been canonized as a martyr. Though far from a faultless character, Thomas Becket, when his time of testing came, had the courage to lay down his life to defend the ancient rights of the Church against an aggressive state. This should be an encouragement for all worldly Catholics today—but it must remembered that Thomas became a saint, not because he was worldly, but because he changed his ways and rejected his past worldliness. The discovery of his hair-shirt and other evidences of austerity, and the many miracles which were reported at his tomb, increased the veneration in which he was held.
Future Martyrs?
What about martyrdom today? There are some statisticians who state that the 20th century has more martyrs that any previous century. It is estimated that two thirds of all the martyrs in Christian history died in the twentieth century. However, with the term “Christian” they are taking in all Christian religions and not just the One, True Religion, the Catholic Faith. Most are not martyrs in the strictly canonical sense. Given the sheer numbers of Christian dead and the number of ways they were killed, it is difficult to determine whether they fit the canonical criteria of dying in odium fidei (meaning a hatred of the Faith, by enemies of the Faith), or for refusing to apostatize under specific pressure to do so. Instead, those Christians who have suffered for their Faith, not necessarily as individuals, but rather in whole groups, whole communities, whole generations of believers—they are known as “new martyrs.”
Widespread Martyrdom
Modern day martyrdom covers the world from South and Central America to Europe and the Communist countries, and on into Africa and Asia. It encompasses the African slaughterhouse, the Cristeros, the Spanish Civil War, and the post-World War II period. It is seen around the globe and it is growing annually. On July 24th, 1936, near the start of the Spanish Civil War, Republican militiamen in Madrid shot three Carmelite nuns in the middle of a street. “One died instantly,” Royal writes, “another was at first refused transport to a hospital by a bus driver, who wanted to ‘finish her off,’ a third wandered around dazed until another band of militiamen executed her.” By July 31st, in Madrid and Barcelona alone, 321 priests had been murdered. Between 1950 and 1953 in Communist North Korea, “50 percent of the hierarchy, one third of the clergy, and at least fifteen thousand lay persons perished”; many more died in the notorious Death March to the Yalu River.
One After Another
► Hundreds of thousands of Catholics were murdered in Mexico, beginning in the 1920s.
► Priests, nuns, and lay people were tortured in Soviet labor camps and in Nazi-occupied Poland.
► Sadistic brainwashing techniques were developed against Romanian Catholics, who nonetheless kept attending Mass at a rate of almost 80 percent.
► “Accidents” befell priests in Lithuania.
► “Reeducation centers” were established by the North Vietnamese.
► Missionaries in Angola and the Trappist monks at Tibhirine were murdered for their Faith.
► In Albania, Catholics, the only religious group that refused to cede power to that Communist state, though they were later forced to sign an agreement in which they submitted to state control, were tortured, their bishops forced to clean the streets and public bathrooms wearing clown outfits with paper signs across their chests saying, “I have sinned against the people.”
► In 1967 the Albanian government outlawed religion altogether, and declared the traditional family to be reactionary. Over two thousand religious buildings were closed or destroyed, and almost all the clergy were imprisoned. Under Soviet rule, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was the largest suppressed group of believers in the world.
► The persecution of Catholics in Communist China, especially from the 1940s onwards, could fill many books with stories of relentless brutality.
The stories are overwhelming, all the more so because they all tell the same tale. In every part of the world, throughout the twentieth century, Christians were being slaughtered on the altar of the atheist state.
Forewarned by the Queen of Martyrs
Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our era, has said: “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs.” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611). At Fatima, Our Lady warned: “Russia … will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated” (Our Lady of Fatima, July, 1917).
Sweet Apostasy
To those who can drag themselves away from their food and alcoholic tipples, their parties, TV’s and internet—Christmas is a reminder of the essential and important things in life. The reason for Christmas is sin and salvation from those sins; yet the destruction of Christmas is also sin, and an addiction to those sins. Though we may not quite be at the doors of a bloody martyrdom, there is a bloodless martyrdom being conducted against the true Faith all throughout the world. The instruments of martyrdom are not swords, knives, axes, guillotines, fires, nooses or bombs, but much more pleasant instruments of torture like the TV, the internet, bad books and magazines, alcohol, drugs, social outlets, etc. These seem to have a far greater success rate than the hard-nosed persecutions of old—which always risked sparking a resistance. These new weapons of torture are too nice to resist—they seem almost harmless by comparison!
This is what Our Lady warns us of: “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. People will think of nothing but amusement. All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
Faith & Pottage
Christ came at Christmas to enlighten those who sit in darkness and to open their eyes to the light of the Faith. The martyrs died for the Faith, in order to preserve their Faith. Take your Faith seriously and do not exchange our Faith for the latest kind of modern-day pottage--“And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, Esau ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright” (Genesis 25:34). Keep the Faith and it will keep you: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith” (1 John 5:4). Yet not many will keep the Faith, preferring the latest pottage to the Faith: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Speaking of Heaven, Holy Scripture warns: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10) … “For all have sinned and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23).
Our Lord is the innocent Lamb Who comes to cleanse us from sin and save us from sin: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). “He appeared in order to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin!” (1 John 3:5). “Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree [of the cross], so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice!” (1 Peter 2:24). “Knowing this―that our old [sinful] man is crucified with Him, so that the body of sin may be destroyed, in order that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6). “And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go―and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11) … “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14).
The Real Purpose of Christmas―The Real Christmas Message
Christ comes at Christmas―not to party and play―but to do penance and pray! “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days … and he ate nothing in those days … and he fasted forty days and forty nights” (Luke 4:1-2; Matthew 4:1-2). In the eyes of the world and the worldly, Christ seems to be a killjoy, a grouch, a sourpuss and a spoilsport. What politician would win an election by asking for and promising the things that Christ demanded and promised? Christ speaks of much prayer, much penance, suffering persecution and death for His Name’s sake! He demands that His followers carry a heavy cross; that they give whatever riches they possess to the poor, sell all they have and follow Him! For a politician that would be a suicidal political manifesto! Yet that is what Christ demands and promises!
The Christmas Christ of the Cross
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) ... “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) ... “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [He then repeats the same warning] … I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Our Lord then promises persecution and even death to those who will follow Him: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Wow! That is a tough manifesto that Christ lays down! Yet, God reminds us that His ways and His thoughts are not our ways and thoughts: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our Lord adds that “he that will save his life, shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25) … “For whosoever will [seek to] save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it!” (Luke 9:24) … “He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:39). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Party-Pooper Church
When we compare the Christmas of the worldly-minded to the Christmas mind of the Church, the latter looks like a ‘party-pooper’ compared to former fun-loving, ‘anything-goes’, carefree world! When we take a quick scan of the table of goodies prepared for us by the world, they look much more appetizing than what the Church dishes up! The world’s dishes are nothing but sweetness, while the dishes served by the Church—even though many are sweet—have a tinge of sourness or bitterness or a pungency to them!
Sweet and Sour Serving
A brief selection of extracts from the Christmas liturgy sours our sweet palate and irritates our sweet-tooth! We keep finding small irritating fish-bones, grape seeds, olive pits or cherry stones―all of which seem to spoil the enjoyment of the fish or fruit. These are some of the bones, seeds, pits and stones that the Church refuses to take out of the food She serves us over the Christmas festivities:
“Our Lord―Who is the destroyer of sin and of death― is come to make all free” … “The wickedness of the Earth shall be destroyed and the Savior of the world will rule over us” … “He shall save His people from their sins” … and “set us free, whom the old bondage holds under the yoke of sin” – but we like some of our sins! We like some of the wickedness of the world! We don’t really want to be freed from these—especially the Venial Sins, for they say that we won’t go to Hell because of them! “Our Savior hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world”—“But I don’t want to be sober all the time, I don’t want to be drunk, but I like being ‘tipsy’!”, say many.
Honest Mother
Holy Mother Church, like any good mother, is uncompromising when it comes to the good of Her children. She tells the Christmas Story as it really is, and does not embellish it or disguise it or lace it with unnecessary sugary sweetness. Celebrate we must—for as Pope St. Leo the Great says in his Christmas homily, “It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to partake in our rejoicing”—yet, at the same time, we must realize why it is that we are celebrating! We rejoice because Christ comes, with His power and grace, to help us change our lives for the better; to help us cut ourselves free from the bondage of sin; to help us detach ourselves from this world and to attach ourselves more to heavenly things:
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31) … “Seek the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalm 13:2). The whole point of Christmas is that Jesus becomes man, in order to make us like unto God: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “For I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by any thing … upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44).
The ‘Bloody’ Mind of the Church
Dom Guéranger, in the Christmas volume of his Liturgical Year, writes: “We have so much to learn from the mystery of the Sacred Infancy, we shall be in strict accordance with the spirit of the Church if, whilst assisting at Mass, we keep before our minds, not only the bleeding Victim of Calvary, but likewise the sweet Lamb of Bethlehem. Moreover, does not our Jesus offer Himself for us to his Father from His Crib as well as from His Cross? … Then let us go to Him, that we may know Him; let us know Him, that we may love Him; let us love Him, that we may grow like Him. What He demands of us by this Christmas mystery is that we become, like Him―little children.”
Yet to love Him, means to lay down our life for Him—whether that be bloodily or bloodlessly. He Himself said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Gospels repeatedly quote Our Lord saying that we must “lose” our life in this world for His sake: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it!” (Luke 9:24) … “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it!” (Luke 17:33).
In our current culture, the emphasis is on the preservation of youth and bodily life, the concept of martyrdom does seem foreign.
Divine Providence Arranges All Things
Nothing happens by chance—even Our Lord said: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:28-29).
In that masterpiece of a book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ ‘I am the Lord,’ He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, ‘and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.’ … ‘It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them,’ He said to Moses … ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive,’ it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, ‘He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth.’ ‘Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?” asks the prophet Amos. ‘Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,’ Solomon proclaims. And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 1).
A Christmas of Martyrdom
Providence has arranged for His Son’s birthday to be celebrated by many martyrdoms throughout the course of time, and Holy Mother Church, in Her wisdom, has arranged for a succession of martyrs feasts to be celebrated in the liturgical calendar, starting with Christmas Day itself!
December 25th: St. Anastasia, Wife and Widow
December 26th: St. Stephen the First Martyr, Deacon
December 27th: St. John the Apostle & Evangelist, Apostle
December 28th: The Massacre of the Holy Innocents,
December 29th: St. Thomas Becket, Bishop
Our Lord came to give His life for us and these martyrs gave up their lives for Him. As we say in the Stations of the Cross: "Jesus, you died for love of me! Let me die for love of you!" If Christmas is about giving and receiving presents, as a sign of our love, then Our Lord points out that “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
St. Anastasia—a Christmas Day Martyr
In the very midst of her celebration of this mystery of the Birth of Jesus, the Church offers us another object of admiration and joy: it is one of her own children. Whilst solemnizing the divine Mystery of today’s Feast, she commemorates in this second Mass one of those glorious heroines who preserved the Light of Christ within their souls, in spite of all the attacks made to rob them of it. Her name is Anastasia. This holy Widow of Rome suffered martyrdom under the persecution of Diocletian, and had the privilege of being thus born to eternal life on the Birthday of that Jesus for whom she suffered death.
She had been married to a Pagan of the name of Publius; himself also a Roman; who, being irritated against her on account of her great charities to the Christians, treated her with every sort of cruelty. She endured all with admirable patience; and when this heavy trial was removed from her by the death of her husband, she devoted herself to visiting and solacing the holy Confessors who had been cast into the prisons of Rome for the Faith. Being at length apprehended as a Christian, she was tied to a stake and burned to death.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
Martyrs of Christmas Day, 303 AD
God’s providence arranged for a bloody martyrdom on Christmas Day, December 25th, 303 AD. The Roman Emperor, Diocletian had published the famous edict of persecution, which waged against the Church the fiercest war she has ever experienced. The edict was torn down from the Emperor’s palace at Nicomedia by one of the Christians, who paid for this holy daring by a glorious martyrdom. The faithful of the same city were ready for the combat, and feared not to brave the Emperor’s power by continuing to frequent their Church, which was condemned to be pulled down. Christmas Day came and several thousands of them had assembled there, in order to celebrate, for the last time within those walls, the Nativity of our Savior.
Being informed of it, the Emperor became furious and sent one of the officers of his court to order the Church doors to be fastened shut, with the congregation of Christians trapped inside the church, and a fire to be enkindled on each side of the building. This being done, the clang of trumpets was heard, and then a herald’s voice proclaiming to the faithful, in the Emperor’s name, that they who wished to save their lives would be permitted to leave the Basilica, on the condition of their offering incense on an altar of Jupiter, which had been placed near the door; but that otherwise, all were to be left a prey to the flames.
One of the Christians thus answered, in the name of the whole assembly: “We are all of us Christians; we honor Christ as the one only God and King; and we are all ready to lay down our lives for him on this Day.” Whereupon the soldiers were commanded to set fire to the Church. In a very short time, it was one immense mass of flames, whence was offered to the Son of God who deigned to begin, on this same day the human life he had assumed, the generous holocaust of these thousands of lives, laid down as witness to his having come into this world. Thus was glorified, in the year 303.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
St. Stephen the First Martyr
The second day after Christmas, sees the celebration of another martyr—one whom we call “The First Martyr”. St. Stephen’s name means “crown,” and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr’s crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.
God worked many miracles through St. Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen’s preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.
The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and “he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
The Apostle of Love and Martyrdom
We all know the ‘Apostle of Love’—St. John the Apostle and Evangelist—who laid his head on Our Lord’s heart. St. John, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. James the Great, was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry. He became the “beloved disciple” and the only one of the Twelve who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion. He stood faithfully at the cross when the Savior made him the guardian of His Mother. His later life was passed chiefly in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. He founded many churches in Asia Minor. He wrote the fourth Gospel, and three Epistles, and the Book of the Apocalypse is also attributed to him.
Even though he died of old age, he should have and would have died a martyr—if God had not intervened in the arranged process of martyrdom. Brought to Rome, tradition relates that he was by order of Emperor Domitian cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, where St. John was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, which, rather than killing him, did him no harm whatever. He was then banished to the island of Patmos for a year. St. John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master, and which he constantly inculcated by word and example. The “beloved disciple” died at Ephesus, where a stately church was erected over his tomb. It was afterwards converted into a Mohammedan mosque. He lived to an extreme old age, surviving all his fellow apostles, and died at Ephesus about the year 100.
The Holy Innocents
On December 28th, the day following the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we celebrate the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents. This is probably the most astounding, or perplexing, disconcerting or puzzling actions of Gods’ Providence. He allows these innocent babies to be killed! He—the Almighty and All-Knowing God, Who could well have prevented this by simply wishing it—allows the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent children aged two years and under. We do not know how many babies were killed—the Greek Liturgy asserts that Herod killed 14,000 boys, the Syrians speak of 64,000, many medieval authors of 144,000, according to Apocalypse 14:3, but 144,000 seems to be a symbolic number and historically, there was no way that there were so many babies in a town like Bethlehem! Modern writers reduce the number considerably, since Bethlehem was a rather small town—but it must be remembered that Herod was not likely to have just stopped with the children in Bethlehem, but, to be safe, he may have had those in nearby areas killed also.
The Church venerates these children as martyrs; they are the first buds of the Church, killed by the frost of persecution; they died not only for Christ, but in his place, says St. Augustine. The Latin Church instituted the feast of the Holy Innocents at a date now unknown, not before the end of the fourth and not later than the end of the fifth century. It is, with the feasts of St. Stephen and St. John, first found in the Leonine Sacramentary, dating from about 485. The Latin Church keeps it on December 28th, the Greeks on December 29th, the Syrians and Chaldeans on December 27th. These dates have nothing to do with the chronological order of the event; the feast is kept within the octave of Christmas because the Holy Innocents gave their life for the newborn Savior. Stephen the first martyr (martyr by will, love, and blood), John, the Disciple of Love (martyr by will and love, but not blood), and these first flowers of the Church (martyrs by blood alone) accompany the Holy Child Jesus entering this world on Christmas day.
St. Thomas Becket, Martyr
December 29th sees the feast of St. Thomas Becket, the English martyr of the 12th century (martyred in 1172). Originally quite a worldly young, even after entering the religious life, he later changed his worldly way when he was appointed Archbishop of the chief see in England—Canterbury. A long-time friend and companion of the King—Henry II—he was even appointed Chancellor for the King. Although, when he became Archbishop, Thomas had resigned the secular post of Chancellor for the King, against the King’s wish, initially the relations between the two men seemed to be unchanged for a time, but he soon found that his reformed life and principles did not meet with the approval of the King, who preferred the old Thomas to the new one. A host of troubles was brewing, and the crux of all of them was the relationship between Church and state. Gradually, as their interests grew in different directions, the King found himself being increasingly opposed by the Church, in the form of Thomas.
After several setbacks, the King was bent on vengeance for what he considered the disloyalty and ingratitude of the Archbishop. Fuel was added to the fire by several subordinate bishops of Thomas’ who lodged complaints with the King about punishments they had received from Thomas. When the three bishops had laid their complaints before the King, someone had exclaimed aloud that there would be no peace for the realm of England while Becket lived. At this, the King, in a fit of rage, pronounced some words, which several of his hearers took as a rebuke to them for allowing Becket to continue to live and thereby disturb him. Four of his knights at once set off for Canterbury.
On the afternoon of December 29th, the four knights came to see him in his episcopal palace. The knights broke in shouting, “Where is Thomas the traitor?” “Where is the archbishop?” “Here I am,” he replied, “no traitor, but archbishop and priest of God!” The knights demanded that he absolve the three bishops he had punished, and Thomas. One knight made a threatening gesture with his axe. “I am ready to die,” said Thomas, “but God’s curse on you if you harm my people.” The knight flung down his axe and drew his sword. At this, Thomas covered his face and called aloud on God and the saints. Tracy struck a blow, which partially missed and grazed Thomas’ skull and blood ran down into his eyes. He wiped the stain away and cried, “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!” Another blow beat him to his knees, and he pitched forward onto his face, murmuring, “For the name of Jesus and in defense of the Church I am willing to die.” With a vigorous thrust another knight struck his sword deep into his head, breaking his sword against the pavement. The murderers then, brandishing their swords, dashed away through the cloisters, shouting “The King’s men! The King’s men!”
When the news was brought to the King, he shut himself up and fasted for forty days, for he knew that his chance remark had caused the knights to go Canterbury full of vengeance. He later performed public penance in Canterbury Cathedral and in 1172 received absolution from the papal delegates. Within three years of his death the archbishop had been canonized as a martyr. Though far from a faultless character, Thomas Becket, when his time of testing came, had the courage to lay down his life to defend the ancient rights of the Church against an aggressive state. This should be an encouragement for all worldly Catholics today—but it must remembered that Thomas became a saint, not because he was worldly, but because he changed his ways and rejected his past worldliness. The discovery of his hair-shirt and other evidences of austerity, and the many miracles which were reported at his tomb, increased the veneration in which he was held.
Future Martyrs?
What about martyrdom today? There are some statisticians who state that the 20th century has more martyrs that any previous century. It is estimated that two thirds of all the martyrs in Christian history died in the twentieth century. However, with the term “Christian” they are taking in all Christian religions and not just the One, True Religion, the Catholic Faith. Most are not martyrs in the strictly canonical sense. Given the sheer numbers of Christian dead and the number of ways they were killed, it is difficult to determine whether they fit the canonical criteria of dying in odium fidei (meaning a hatred of the Faith, by enemies of the Faith), or for refusing to apostatize under specific pressure to do so. Instead, those Christians who have suffered for their Faith, not necessarily as individuals, but rather in whole groups, whole communities, whole generations of believers—they are known as “new martyrs.”
Widespread Martyrdom
Modern day martyrdom covers the world from South and Central America to Europe and the Communist countries, and on into Africa and Asia. It encompasses the African slaughterhouse, the Cristeros, the Spanish Civil War, and the post-World War II period. It is seen around the globe and it is growing annually. On July 24th, 1936, near the start of the Spanish Civil War, Republican militiamen in Madrid shot three Carmelite nuns in the middle of a street. “One died instantly,” Royal writes, “another was at first refused transport to a hospital by a bus driver, who wanted to ‘finish her off,’ a third wandered around dazed until another band of militiamen executed her.” By July 31st, in Madrid and Barcelona alone, 321 priests had been murdered. Between 1950 and 1953 in Communist North Korea, “50 percent of the hierarchy, one third of the clergy, and at least fifteen thousand lay persons perished”; many more died in the notorious Death March to the Yalu River.
One After Another
► Hundreds of thousands of Catholics were murdered in Mexico, beginning in the 1920s.
► Priests, nuns, and lay people were tortured in Soviet labor camps and in Nazi-occupied Poland.
► Sadistic brainwashing techniques were developed against Romanian Catholics, who nonetheless kept attending Mass at a rate of almost 80 percent.
► “Accidents” befell priests in Lithuania.
► “Reeducation centers” were established by the North Vietnamese.
► Missionaries in Angola and the Trappist monks at Tibhirine were murdered for their Faith.
► In Albania, Catholics, the only religious group that refused to cede power to that Communist state, though they were later forced to sign an agreement in which they submitted to state control, were tortured, their bishops forced to clean the streets and public bathrooms wearing clown outfits with paper signs across their chests saying, “I have sinned against the people.”
► In 1967 the Albanian government outlawed religion altogether, and declared the traditional family to be reactionary. Over two thousand religious buildings were closed or destroyed, and almost all the clergy were imprisoned. Under Soviet rule, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was the largest suppressed group of believers in the world.
► The persecution of Catholics in Communist China, especially from the 1940s onwards, could fill many books with stories of relentless brutality.
The stories are overwhelming, all the more so because they all tell the same tale. In every part of the world, throughout the twentieth century, Christians were being slaughtered on the altar of the atheist state.
Forewarned by the Queen of Martyrs
Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our era, has said: “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs.” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611). At Fatima, Our Lady warned: “Russia … will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated” (Our Lady of Fatima, July, 1917).
Sweet Apostasy
To those who can drag themselves away from their food and alcoholic tipples, their parties, TV’s and internet—Christmas is a reminder of the essential and important things in life. The reason for Christmas is sin and salvation from those sins; yet the destruction of Christmas is also sin, and an addiction to those sins. Though we may not quite be at the doors of a bloody martyrdom, there is a bloodless martyrdom being conducted against the true Faith all throughout the world. The instruments of martyrdom are not swords, knives, axes, guillotines, fires, nooses or bombs, but much more pleasant instruments of torture like the TV, the internet, bad books and magazines, alcohol, drugs, social outlets, etc. These seem to have a far greater success rate than the hard-nosed persecutions of old—which always risked sparking a resistance. These new weapons of torture are too nice to resist—they seem almost harmless by comparison!
This is what Our Lady warns us of: “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. People will think of nothing but amusement. All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
Faith & Pottage
Christ came at Christmas to enlighten those who sit in darkness and to open their eyes to the light of the Faith. The martyrs died for the Faith, in order to preserve their Faith. Take your Faith seriously and do not exchange our Faith for the latest kind of modern-day pottage--“And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, Esau ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright” (Genesis 25:34). Keep the Faith and it will keep you: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith” (1 John 5:4). Yet not many will keep the Faith, preferring the latest pottage to the Faith: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Sunday December 26th & Monday December 27th
Article 3
Here Today, Gone Tomorrrow! Here Yesterday, Gone Today!
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Article 3
Here Today, Gone Tomorrrow! Here Yesterday, Gone Today!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
One Night Stand
If you will pardon the distasteful expression, it could be said that many folk have made Christmas to be much like a “one-night-stand.” The expression is defined thus: “A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. The practice can be described as ‘Sexual activity without emotional commitment or future involvement’.” It is a case of “here today and gone tomorrow”, or, in this case, since it is the day after Christmas Day―“here yesterday, gone today” or “easy come, easy go”!
Applying this to Christ and Christmas, you could say: “A one-night stand is a single encounter with Christ at Christmas Mass in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further encounter between the person and Christ after Mass. It is an encounter without emotional commitment or future involvement.” These folk came to Christ on Christmas for a brief encounter at Midnight Mass or Christmas Day Mass and just a quickly left Christ behind as they went off to do other more preferable and exciting things than having to sit through Mass. They “said” that they loved Christ while at Mass, but it was mere lip-service that only said what was expected to be said without any emotional involvement. Words coming from the lips and not from the heart. The materialistic, fun-side, party filled Christmas might still continue through to the New Year’s Eve party―but the religious and spiritual side of Christmas is already a forgotten thing of the past.
It is almost as though Christ was not only born at Christmas, but, for these people, Christ has already died at Christmas―or at least, Christ has died in their memories, thoughts and hearts. A brief religious encounter, which has already been put back in the closet while the food and drinks are put on the table. “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play … But with most of them God was not well pleased! … Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7; Philippians 3:19).
O to be a fly on the wall at yesterday’s (or today’s) Christmas parties! How much talk was about Our Lord? How often was Jesus mentioned? Did anyone discuss at length, and not just in passing, anything about the events at Bethlehem, or the significance of Our Lord’s birth, or the spiritual or religious importance and joy in Christ’s nativity? Perhaps one word in thousand? Perhaps not even that!
Every Day Can Be Christmas
Christmas is not meant to be a “one night stand” that lasts a brief while and then means little or nothing afterwards―except perhaps the filling of our belly and the intoxication of our mind! Christmas is meant to be a beginning that never ends! As some spiritual writers say: “Every day is or should be Christmas!” ― not that we should expect presents and parties each and every all year round ― but in the sense that we can and should let Christ be born anew in our souls every day by going to “Bethlehem” (which means “Town of Bread”) or to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in today’s “Town of Bread” (the church) to receive Christ in Holy Communion, or at least to visit Him in the “cave” of His tabernacle on the altar in the church.
Every Christmas Should be a Better Christmas
Christ was not born to be a “one-day-wonder”―only to be forgotten the next day! Parents do not conceive a child in order to throw the baby away the day after its birth! Advent could be likened to a spiritual pregnancy which ends with the spiritual birth of Christ in our souls―and He is expected to live daily in our souls all year long and all year round, and not to be shoved out of the way within a day of two Christmas Day!
Furthermore, each successive year there should be an increased knowledge of Christ in our souls; an increased love of Christ in our souls; and an increased activity and service of Christ in our souls―for, as the Catechism says, we were made to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world. We can compare each Christmas to each grade that we passed through at school―each year we were expected to study more, learn more, know more, and do more. If we did not study, learn, know and do more―then we would not be allowed to graduate from that grade in the next grade.
In the spiritual life, the spiritual masters tell us that if we are not making progress then we are, in effect, going backwards―for there is no possibility of “standing still” in the spiritual life, no “treading water”―we are making progress and therefore going forwards, or we are not making progress and are, in effect, going backwards. If you failed to graduate from, let’s say, 8th Grade into 9th Grade―that did not mean that you lost what little knowledge you had acquired during 8th Grade, nor does it mean that you had to go down a grade to 7th Grade―you merely had to remain in 8th Grade for at least another year, until you had done enough to enter 9th Grade. Yet, even though you stayed another year in 8th Grade, you were still looked upon as being “backwards”. In his book, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “See how true is the saying of the ancients, that ‘in the way of God, he who makes no progress, loses ground.’”
If your Christmases have not been gradually becoming more and more spiritual over the years―then you are going “backwards” and not forwards. You are like a child with “stunted-growth”, who has stopped growing and who risks being like a pygmy or dwarf as it enter adulthood. The spiritual life―like any kind of life―is meant to undergo progressive growth and maturity. A baby cannot remain a baby for life―it has to pass through the progressive maturing stages and gradual stages of perfection that are experienced in childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and matured adulthood.
Becoming More and More Perfect
In the spiritual life, the spiritual masters generally speak of 3 broad categories―(1) the various levels of beginners; (2) the various levels of those making progress; and (3) the various levels of perfection. You can liken it to a schooling system with Lower School comprising of Grades 1 to 4; Middle School comprising of Grades 5 to 8; and High School compromising of Grades 9 to 12. Each general category (Lower, Middle and High School) contains differing levels, whereby 1st Grade in knowledge, skill, capabilities, etc. that 2nd Grade; and 2nd Grade is bettered by 3rd Grade―and so on.
Even in the category of perfection there are different degrees of perfection. We have to be perfect―we have to be saints―in order to enter Heaven. Yet in Heaven not all the saints are of the same level of perfection―Our Lady tops the class and then everyone else has different degrees of perfection down to smallest perfection of the smallest saint in Heaven―yet everyone is perfectly happy with the perfection that they have.
Grace Perfects Our Human Nature
By Original Sin, Adam and Eve wounded and impaired the perfections of the human nature given to them by God. They lost sanctifying grace―and it is grace that perfects our human nature and keeps it in a state of perfection. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the very first question of his Summa Theologica, writes: “Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it” (Summa, q. 1, art. 8, ad 2). It is sin that destroys the God-given perfections that fallen human nature acquires by the help of grace. Our Lord was born to save us from the ravages and chains of sin―and to bring us the grace of God that can help fallen human rise to an acceptable and required level of perfection that is necessary for Heaven. Christ―being God―is the Author all grace, and He was born to restore sinners to the state of grace that is necessary for entrance into Heaven. Our Lord, the Author of grace, said: “I am come that they may have life [the life of grace that leads to eternal life], and may have it more abundantly [by gaining eternal life]” (John 10:10). “Abide in Me, and I in you [by a life of grace] … For without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange―one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century―in his book, “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” (recently re-titled as “The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life”), writes: “The interior life is for all the “one thing necessary”. It ought to be constantly developing in our souls; more so than what we call our intellectual life, more so than our scientific, artistic or literary life [and today we should add “social life” to that list] ... Our life would gain immeasurably by appreciating this; it would receive an inestimable advantage if―instead of attempting to supplant the spiritual life―it recognized its necessity and importance, and welcomed its beneficial influence … It is important to us not only as individuals, but also in our social relations, for it is evident that we can exert no real or profound influence upon our fellow-men unless we live a truly interior life ourselves. The pressing need of devoting ourselves to the consideration of the “one thing necessary” [the spiritual life that focuses upon God] is especially manifest in these days of general chaos and unrest, when so many men and nations, neglecting their true destiny, give themselves up entirely to acquiring earthly possessions, failing to realize how inferior these are to the everlasting riches of the spirit. … God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their highest good …
“Sanctifying grace, the principle of our interior life, makes us truly the children of God because it makes us partakers of His nature … Truly sanctifying grace is a real and formal participation of the divine nature … To understand what our interior life is in itself and in its various phases, we must consider it not merely in its seed, but in its full and complete development. Now, if we ask the Gospel what our interior life is, it tells us that the life of grace, given to us in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, is the seed or germ of eternal life … ‘Grace,’ says the whole of Tradition, ‘is the seed of glory’ … Grace, then, is eternal life already begun within us … It is there, hidden within you, like the grain of mustard seed, like the leaven which will cause the whole of the meal to rise, like the treasure hidden in a field … St. Thomas Aquinas expresses this doctrine in the brief statement: ‘Grace is nothing else but a certain beginning of glory within us’ …
“Such is the supernatural life which we received in Baptism; and this is what constitutes our interior life. This beginning of eternal life is a complete spiritual organism, which has to grow and develop until we enter Heaven. The root principle of this undying organism is sanctifying grace, received in the very essence of the soul; and this grace would last forever, if it were not that [mortal] sin, which is a radical disorder in the soul, sometimes destroys it…
“We are thus able to appreciate something of the importance of true conversion, by which a man passes from the state of mortal sin to the state of grace. In the former state his energies were dissipated and he was indifferent in regard to God; now [in a state of sanctifying grace] he loves God more than he loves himself, more than he loves anything else; at any rate he esteems God beyond all earthly things, even though his love of God may not be free from all selfish motives. The state of sin was a state of spiritual death; a state in which, more or less consciously, he made himself the center of all his activities and the end of all his desires; in which he was actually the slave of everything, the slave of his passions, of the spirit of the world, of the spirit of evil. The state of grace, on the other hand, is a state of life in which man begins seriously to tend beyond himself and to make God the center of his activities, loving God more than himself. The state of grace is entrance into the kingdom of God, where the docile soul begins to reign with God over its own passions, over the spirit of the world and the spirit of evil.”
“We may well understand, therefore, how St. Thomas could write that the lowest degree of grace in a soul―for example in that of a small child after its baptism―is of greater value than the natural goodness of the whole universe. This grace alone is worth more than all created natures together, including even the angelic natures. St. Thomas adds. ‘The justification of the sinner is proportionately more precious than the glorification of the just; because the gift of grace more greatly transcends the state of the sinner, who is deserving of punishment, than the gift of glory transcends the state of the just man, who, by reason of his justification, is worthy of the gift of glory.’ … Hence when a sinner is absolved in the confessional, an event occurs which is proportionately of greater importance than the entrance of a just soul into Heaven.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life).
The Grace of Christmas
Unfortunately, we esteem the material gifts and presents of Christmas far more than we esteem any kind of spiritual gift! The ultimate gift of Christmas is the gift of Christ Himself―the Author of grace. The grace of Christmas is Christ―the Author of grace―Who comes to live through grace in our souls. Each Christmas Christ seeks to plant a stronger and stronger grace in our souls that will lead to sanctity―and, through sanctity, to eternal life or eternal salvation.
As the Church teaches, Sanctifying Grace is the free gift of His life that God makes to us. Sanctifying grace is a free gift of God that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God. Sanctifying Grace comes to us when we receive the Sacrament of Baptism. It confers new life in our soul. Sanctifying Grace makes us holy and pleasing to God; it makes us adopted children of God; with it comes the presence of the Holy Spirit to live within our souls; and finally it gives us the right to Heaven. That last point is very important to understand. Sanctifying Grace actually gives us the right, or a chance, or a “ticket” to go to Heaven. That does not mean that it makes our salvation automatic. Sadly, we can lose Sanctifying Grace through Mortal Sin.
In short, we can lose Sanctifying Grace the same way we can lose our health―by not doing what is necessary to maintain and to preserve it. Sanctifying Grace is lost whenever we commit a Mortal Sin by thought, word, deed, neglect or omission. A Mortal Sin is a sin serious enough that it drives out Sanctifying Grace from our souls [see an examination of conscience here]. When that happens the Holy Spirit can no longer remain within our soul―mortal sin drives God out; mortal sin is incompatible with Sanctifying Grace and the presence of God. If we choose to commit Mortal Sin, we must go to the Sacrament of Penance, or Confession, in order to have Sanctifying Grace restored. When we receive absolution from the priest, Sanctifying Grace returns once again, and, with it, all of its gifts, including the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
If you will pardon the distasteful expression, it could be said that many folk have made Christmas to be much like a “one-night-stand.” The expression is defined thus: “A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. The practice can be described as ‘Sexual activity without emotional commitment or future involvement’.” It is a case of “here today and gone tomorrow”, or, in this case, since it is the day after Christmas Day―“here yesterday, gone today” or “easy come, easy go”!
Applying this to Christ and Christmas, you could say: “A one-night stand is a single encounter with Christ at Christmas Mass in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further encounter between the person and Christ after Mass. It is an encounter without emotional commitment or future involvement.” These folk came to Christ on Christmas for a brief encounter at Midnight Mass or Christmas Day Mass and just a quickly left Christ behind as they went off to do other more preferable and exciting things than having to sit through Mass. They “said” that they loved Christ while at Mass, but it was mere lip-service that only said what was expected to be said without any emotional involvement. Words coming from the lips and not from the heart. The materialistic, fun-side, party filled Christmas might still continue through to the New Year’s Eve party―but the religious and spiritual side of Christmas is already a forgotten thing of the past.
It is almost as though Christ was not only born at Christmas, but, for these people, Christ has already died at Christmas―or at least, Christ has died in their memories, thoughts and hearts. A brief religious encounter, which has already been put back in the closet while the food and drinks are put on the table. “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play … But with most of them God was not well pleased! … Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7; Philippians 3:19).
O to be a fly on the wall at yesterday’s (or today’s) Christmas parties! How much talk was about Our Lord? How often was Jesus mentioned? Did anyone discuss at length, and not just in passing, anything about the events at Bethlehem, or the significance of Our Lord’s birth, or the spiritual or religious importance and joy in Christ’s nativity? Perhaps one word in thousand? Perhaps not even that!
Every Day Can Be Christmas
Christmas is not meant to be a “one night stand” that lasts a brief while and then means little or nothing afterwards―except perhaps the filling of our belly and the intoxication of our mind! Christmas is meant to be a beginning that never ends! As some spiritual writers say: “Every day is or should be Christmas!” ― not that we should expect presents and parties each and every all year round ― but in the sense that we can and should let Christ be born anew in our souls every day by going to “Bethlehem” (which means “Town of Bread”) or to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in today’s “Town of Bread” (the church) to receive Christ in Holy Communion, or at least to visit Him in the “cave” of His tabernacle on the altar in the church.
Every Christmas Should be a Better Christmas
Christ was not born to be a “one-day-wonder”―only to be forgotten the next day! Parents do not conceive a child in order to throw the baby away the day after its birth! Advent could be likened to a spiritual pregnancy which ends with the spiritual birth of Christ in our souls―and He is expected to live daily in our souls all year long and all year round, and not to be shoved out of the way within a day of two Christmas Day!
Furthermore, each successive year there should be an increased knowledge of Christ in our souls; an increased love of Christ in our souls; and an increased activity and service of Christ in our souls―for, as the Catechism says, we were made to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world. We can compare each Christmas to each grade that we passed through at school―each year we were expected to study more, learn more, know more, and do more. If we did not study, learn, know and do more―then we would not be allowed to graduate from that grade in the next grade.
In the spiritual life, the spiritual masters tell us that if we are not making progress then we are, in effect, going backwards―for there is no possibility of “standing still” in the spiritual life, no “treading water”―we are making progress and therefore going forwards, or we are not making progress and are, in effect, going backwards. If you failed to graduate from, let’s say, 8th Grade into 9th Grade―that did not mean that you lost what little knowledge you had acquired during 8th Grade, nor does it mean that you had to go down a grade to 7th Grade―you merely had to remain in 8th Grade for at least another year, until you had done enough to enter 9th Grade. Yet, even though you stayed another year in 8th Grade, you were still looked upon as being “backwards”. In his book, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “See how true is the saying of the ancients, that ‘in the way of God, he who makes no progress, loses ground.’”
If your Christmases have not been gradually becoming more and more spiritual over the years―then you are going “backwards” and not forwards. You are like a child with “stunted-growth”, who has stopped growing and who risks being like a pygmy or dwarf as it enter adulthood. The spiritual life―like any kind of life―is meant to undergo progressive growth and maturity. A baby cannot remain a baby for life―it has to pass through the progressive maturing stages and gradual stages of perfection that are experienced in childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and matured adulthood.
Becoming More and More Perfect
In the spiritual life, the spiritual masters generally speak of 3 broad categories―(1) the various levels of beginners; (2) the various levels of those making progress; and (3) the various levels of perfection. You can liken it to a schooling system with Lower School comprising of Grades 1 to 4; Middle School comprising of Grades 5 to 8; and High School compromising of Grades 9 to 12. Each general category (Lower, Middle and High School) contains differing levels, whereby 1st Grade in knowledge, skill, capabilities, etc. that 2nd Grade; and 2nd Grade is bettered by 3rd Grade―and so on.
Even in the category of perfection there are different degrees of perfection. We have to be perfect―we have to be saints―in order to enter Heaven. Yet in Heaven not all the saints are of the same level of perfection―Our Lady tops the class and then everyone else has different degrees of perfection down to smallest perfection of the smallest saint in Heaven―yet everyone is perfectly happy with the perfection that they have.
Grace Perfects Our Human Nature
By Original Sin, Adam and Eve wounded and impaired the perfections of the human nature given to them by God. They lost sanctifying grace―and it is grace that perfects our human nature and keeps it in a state of perfection. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the very first question of his Summa Theologica, writes: “Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it” (Summa, q. 1, art. 8, ad 2). It is sin that destroys the God-given perfections that fallen human nature acquires by the help of grace. Our Lord was born to save us from the ravages and chains of sin―and to bring us the grace of God that can help fallen human rise to an acceptable and required level of perfection that is necessary for Heaven. Christ―being God―is the Author all grace, and He was born to restore sinners to the state of grace that is necessary for entrance into Heaven. Our Lord, the Author of grace, said: “I am come that they may have life [the life of grace that leads to eternal life], and may have it more abundantly [by gaining eternal life]” (John 10:10). “Abide in Me, and I in you [by a life of grace] … For without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange―one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century―in his book, “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” (recently re-titled as “The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life”), writes: “The interior life is for all the “one thing necessary”. It ought to be constantly developing in our souls; more so than what we call our intellectual life, more so than our scientific, artistic or literary life [and today we should add “social life” to that list] ... Our life would gain immeasurably by appreciating this; it would receive an inestimable advantage if―instead of attempting to supplant the spiritual life―it recognized its necessity and importance, and welcomed its beneficial influence … It is important to us not only as individuals, but also in our social relations, for it is evident that we can exert no real or profound influence upon our fellow-men unless we live a truly interior life ourselves. The pressing need of devoting ourselves to the consideration of the “one thing necessary” [the spiritual life that focuses upon God] is especially manifest in these days of general chaos and unrest, when so many men and nations, neglecting their true destiny, give themselves up entirely to acquiring earthly possessions, failing to realize how inferior these are to the everlasting riches of the spirit. … God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their highest good …
“Sanctifying grace, the principle of our interior life, makes us truly the children of God because it makes us partakers of His nature … Truly sanctifying grace is a real and formal participation of the divine nature … To understand what our interior life is in itself and in its various phases, we must consider it not merely in its seed, but in its full and complete development. Now, if we ask the Gospel what our interior life is, it tells us that the life of grace, given to us in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, is the seed or germ of eternal life … ‘Grace,’ says the whole of Tradition, ‘is the seed of glory’ … Grace, then, is eternal life already begun within us … It is there, hidden within you, like the grain of mustard seed, like the leaven which will cause the whole of the meal to rise, like the treasure hidden in a field … St. Thomas Aquinas expresses this doctrine in the brief statement: ‘Grace is nothing else but a certain beginning of glory within us’ …
“Such is the supernatural life which we received in Baptism; and this is what constitutes our interior life. This beginning of eternal life is a complete spiritual organism, which has to grow and develop until we enter Heaven. The root principle of this undying organism is sanctifying grace, received in the very essence of the soul; and this grace would last forever, if it were not that [mortal] sin, which is a radical disorder in the soul, sometimes destroys it…
“We are thus able to appreciate something of the importance of true conversion, by which a man passes from the state of mortal sin to the state of grace. In the former state his energies were dissipated and he was indifferent in regard to God; now [in a state of sanctifying grace] he loves God more than he loves himself, more than he loves anything else; at any rate he esteems God beyond all earthly things, even though his love of God may not be free from all selfish motives. The state of sin was a state of spiritual death; a state in which, more or less consciously, he made himself the center of all his activities and the end of all his desires; in which he was actually the slave of everything, the slave of his passions, of the spirit of the world, of the spirit of evil. The state of grace, on the other hand, is a state of life in which man begins seriously to tend beyond himself and to make God the center of his activities, loving God more than himself. The state of grace is entrance into the kingdom of God, where the docile soul begins to reign with God over its own passions, over the spirit of the world and the spirit of evil.”
“We may well understand, therefore, how St. Thomas could write that the lowest degree of grace in a soul―for example in that of a small child after its baptism―is of greater value than the natural goodness of the whole universe. This grace alone is worth more than all created natures together, including even the angelic natures. St. Thomas adds. ‘The justification of the sinner is proportionately more precious than the glorification of the just; because the gift of grace more greatly transcends the state of the sinner, who is deserving of punishment, than the gift of glory transcends the state of the just man, who, by reason of his justification, is worthy of the gift of glory.’ … Hence when a sinner is absolved in the confessional, an event occurs which is proportionately of greater importance than the entrance of a just soul into Heaven.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life).
The Grace of Christmas
Unfortunately, we esteem the material gifts and presents of Christmas far more than we esteem any kind of spiritual gift! The ultimate gift of Christmas is the gift of Christ Himself―the Author of grace. The grace of Christmas is Christ―the Author of grace―Who comes to live through grace in our souls. Each Christmas Christ seeks to plant a stronger and stronger grace in our souls that will lead to sanctity―and, through sanctity, to eternal life or eternal salvation.
As the Church teaches, Sanctifying Grace is the free gift of His life that God makes to us. Sanctifying grace is a free gift of God that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God. Sanctifying Grace comes to us when we receive the Sacrament of Baptism. It confers new life in our soul. Sanctifying Grace makes us holy and pleasing to God; it makes us adopted children of God; with it comes the presence of the Holy Spirit to live within our souls; and finally it gives us the right to Heaven. That last point is very important to understand. Sanctifying Grace actually gives us the right, or a chance, or a “ticket” to go to Heaven. That does not mean that it makes our salvation automatic. Sadly, we can lose Sanctifying Grace through Mortal Sin.
In short, we can lose Sanctifying Grace the same way we can lose our health―by not doing what is necessary to maintain and to preserve it. Sanctifying Grace is lost whenever we commit a Mortal Sin by thought, word, deed, neglect or omission. A Mortal Sin is a sin serious enough that it drives out Sanctifying Grace from our souls [see an examination of conscience here]. When that happens the Holy Spirit can no longer remain within our soul―mortal sin drives God out; mortal sin is incompatible with Sanctifying Grace and the presence of God. If we choose to commit Mortal Sin, we must go to the Sacrament of Penance, or Confession, in order to have Sanctifying Grace restored. When we receive absolution from the priest, Sanctifying Grace returns once again, and, with it, all of its gifts, including the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Saturday December 25th, Christmas Day
Article 2
He Is Here! Where Are You?
Article 2
He Is Here! Where Are You?
Hey! He’s Here! Where Are You? What on Earth Are You Doing?
One of the most important days of the year! In the Church’s Liturgical Year, Christmas Day is one of the “Big Three” ― the other two being Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. Our Lord has arrived! Where are you? He is asking for you! Are you stuck in Christmas traffic? Are you stuck in the Christmas trafficking of pleasures? Food, drink, presents, entertainment, partying, etc. Our Lord is knocking at your door! Can’t you hear Him? He won’t knock forever! Open the door and let Him and shove the world out.
What on earth…? Who on earth…?
What on earth are we of make of this day? Who on earth was born? What on earth is going on? Why on earth is He doing here? Where on earth is all this going to lead?
Different persons have conflicting answers to these questions. If you want the answer to them, then go to the Mother. Go to the Mother of God and go to Holy Mother Church. They will tell it as it is! For one witness or testimony, we have these words of Pope St. Leo the Great (died 461):
“Dearly beloved brethren, ‘Unto us is born this day a Savior!’ … Today is Life’s Birthday; the Birthday of that Life, which, for us dying creatures, takes away the sting of death, and brings the bright promise of the eternal gladness hereafter ... Our Lord―Who is the destroyer of sin and of death― is come to make all free. Rejoice, O you who are holy, for you draw nearer to your crown! Rejoice, you that are sinful, your Savior offers you pardon! Rejoice also, you Gentiles, God calls you to life! For the Son of God … took upon Himself the nature of man, that He might reconcile that nature to Him Who made it.”
A True Understanding of This Day
Through the readings from the Mass of the Vigil of Christmas, Holy Mother Church explains to us what on earth is happening regarding the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In the morning, at the Vigil Mass, the Introit tells us that “This day you shall know that the Lord will come and save us.” In the Gospel, Joseph is told by the angel not to fear taking Mary for his wife, for “she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus (Savior), for He shall save His people from their sins.” By the time the day is over and midnight arrives, Holy Mother Church, at the first Mass of Christmas, is telling us: “Why have the people devised vain things” (Introit) ... “Our Savior hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world” (Epistle) ... “Grant that we who rejoice in celebrating the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, may by dignified conversation become worthy to attain fellowship with Him” (Postcommunion).
By the following morning’s Dawn Mass, Holy Mother Church continues: “...that we may show forth in our actions that which by faith shines in our minds” (Collect of 2nd Mass) ... “that the new birth of Thy only-begotten Son, may set us free, whom the old bondage holds under the yoke of sin” (Collect of 3rd Mass).... “and cleanse us from the stains of our sins” (Secret of the 3rd Mass).
Listen to Your Mother
The other mother, the Mother of God, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says these things in speaking of the mystery of Christmas:
“My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride … He also sought destitution and poverty … in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God ... If men would keep their heart disengaged and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, if they would only make use of their freedom to treat this mystery with the reverence due to its greatness, who would be so hardened as not to be moved at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world?
“Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example: and on account of this vile ingratitude only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries ...
“I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God ... His coming down from Heaven onto the Earth, His being born in humility and poverty, His living and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its deceits; the knowledge, which thou hast received concerning His conduct and which thou hast penetrated so deeply by divine intelligence: all these things should be for thee like living voices, which thou must heed and inscribe into the interior of thy heart. “ (The Mystical City of God, vol. 2, The Incarnation, Ven. Mary of Agreda)
Honest Mother
Holy Mother Church, like any good mother, is uncompromising when it comes to the good of Her children. She tells the Christmas Story as it really is, and does not embellish it or disguise it or lace it with unnecessary sugary sweetness. Celebrate we must—for as Pope St. Leo the Great says in his Christmas homily, “It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to partake in our rejoicing”—yet, at the same time, we must realize why it is that we are celebrating! We rejoice because Christ comes, with His power and grace, to help us change our lives for the better; to help us cut ourselves free from the bondage of sin; to help us detach ourselves from this world and to attach ourselves more to heavenly things:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31) … “Seek the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalm 13:2). The whole point of Christmas is that Jesus becomes man, in order to make us like unto God: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy men to Me” (Exodus 22:31). “For I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by any thing … upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44).
This Day Deserves Something More Than…
So as we celebrate this astounding day, let us grasp the true spirit of the day, which is not to be found in stuffing ourselves with good food, merrily enjoying intoxicating drinks, watching worldly movies or sports on the TV, or partying away with family, friends and relatives. This day deserves something less banal and more spiritual and more profound. Our Lord comes to give mercy and pardon. The following incident from Our Lord’s life shows the “great divide” in attitudes:
“And it came to pass, as He was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before Jesus’ feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger!’ “ (Luke 17:11-18).
Be Thankful, Not Forgetful!
Sadly, today, the vast majority of Catholics no longer go to Sunday Mass regularly. All of them once received the mercy of Baptism, whereby they were made clean of the leprosy of Original Sin (and all Actual Sins, if they were baptized as adults). Yet, today, they no longer come back to adore and thank Jesus for that mercy. Many have committed sins since their Baptism and have received mercy in the confessional, where they “showed themselves to the priests”; but few are truly grateful and thankful, “with a loud voice glorifying God.” Of the minority who did go to Mass on Christmas Day, how many will go back to Jesus throughout the rest of the day, “with a loud voice glorifying God”?
To God Pay Heed—Forget the Greed!
Let us not fall (and let us nor permit those closest to us to fall) into that selfish, ungrateful, worldly-minded spirit that has succeeded in almost de-Christianizing Christmas into a winter fun-fest of food, drink, parties, presents and pleasure. When we take a realistic and honest look at the Holy Family, we none of those elements present. If our Christmas is full of things, then there is a good chance that there will be no thing or nothing for Christ; but if we have little or nothing to do over Christmas, then there is nothing to distract us from Christ. No Christ, no Christmas—know Christ, know Christmas! The soil of our soul will reap whatever we plant therein; if we plant the seed of the infant Christ, then Christ will grow in us; if we plant the seeds the world offers, then worldliness will grow in us.
Be Wise—Don’t De-Christianize!
Let us not de-Christianize this holy day, but, like the Samaritan leper, let us often go back in thoughts and words to the Person whom we should be celebrating today. It is His birthday, not ours or anyone else’s, that is the cause of universal festivities. Otherwise it is like going to a birthday party, and completely ignoring the person whose birthday it is, while taking all the food and drink they have provided. How many will stop their celebrations for prayer, let alone even extra prayers (which should be the case, for on a birthday, we do more than the usual for the person concerned)? How many will have attended a second Mass today (for the Church allows each priest to offer three Masses today)? Let us show our gratitude and love for Christ this Christmas! As Our Lady has said at several of her apparitions, God is already offended enough, we must stop offending Him. Let us make up for the countless offences that will rise heavenward on what should be a truly holy and spiritual day!
One of the most important days of the year! In the Church’s Liturgical Year, Christmas Day is one of the “Big Three” ― the other two being Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. Our Lord has arrived! Where are you? He is asking for you! Are you stuck in Christmas traffic? Are you stuck in the Christmas trafficking of pleasures? Food, drink, presents, entertainment, partying, etc. Our Lord is knocking at your door! Can’t you hear Him? He won’t knock forever! Open the door and let Him and shove the world out.
What on earth…? Who on earth…?
What on earth are we of make of this day? Who on earth was born? What on earth is going on? Why on earth is He doing here? Where on earth is all this going to lead?
Different persons have conflicting answers to these questions. If you want the answer to them, then go to the Mother. Go to the Mother of God and go to Holy Mother Church. They will tell it as it is! For one witness or testimony, we have these words of Pope St. Leo the Great (died 461):
“Dearly beloved brethren, ‘Unto us is born this day a Savior!’ … Today is Life’s Birthday; the Birthday of that Life, which, for us dying creatures, takes away the sting of death, and brings the bright promise of the eternal gladness hereafter ... Our Lord―Who is the destroyer of sin and of death― is come to make all free. Rejoice, O you who are holy, for you draw nearer to your crown! Rejoice, you that are sinful, your Savior offers you pardon! Rejoice also, you Gentiles, God calls you to life! For the Son of God … took upon Himself the nature of man, that He might reconcile that nature to Him Who made it.”
A True Understanding of This Day
Through the readings from the Mass of the Vigil of Christmas, Holy Mother Church explains to us what on earth is happening regarding the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In the morning, at the Vigil Mass, the Introit tells us that “This day you shall know that the Lord will come and save us.” In the Gospel, Joseph is told by the angel not to fear taking Mary for his wife, for “she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus (Savior), for He shall save His people from their sins.” By the time the day is over and midnight arrives, Holy Mother Church, at the first Mass of Christmas, is telling us: “Why have the people devised vain things” (Introit) ... “Our Savior hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world” (Epistle) ... “Grant that we who rejoice in celebrating the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, may by dignified conversation become worthy to attain fellowship with Him” (Postcommunion).
By the following morning’s Dawn Mass, Holy Mother Church continues: “...that we may show forth in our actions that which by faith shines in our minds” (Collect of 2nd Mass) ... “that the new birth of Thy only-begotten Son, may set us free, whom the old bondage holds under the yoke of sin” (Collect of 3rd Mass).... “and cleanse us from the stains of our sins” (Secret of the 3rd Mass).
Listen to Your Mother
The other mother, the Mother of God, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says these things in speaking of the mystery of Christmas:
“My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride … He also sought destitution and poverty … in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God ... If men would keep their heart disengaged and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, if they would only make use of their freedom to treat this mystery with the reverence due to its greatness, who would be so hardened as not to be moved at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world?
“Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example: and on account of this vile ingratitude only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries ...
“I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God ... His coming down from Heaven onto the Earth, His being born in humility and poverty, His living and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its deceits; the knowledge, which thou hast received concerning His conduct and which thou hast penetrated so deeply by divine intelligence: all these things should be for thee like living voices, which thou must heed and inscribe into the interior of thy heart. “ (The Mystical City of God, vol. 2, The Incarnation, Ven. Mary of Agreda)
Honest Mother
Holy Mother Church, like any good mother, is uncompromising when it comes to the good of Her children. She tells the Christmas Story as it really is, and does not embellish it or disguise it or lace it with unnecessary sugary sweetness. Celebrate we must—for as Pope St. Leo the Great says in his Christmas homily, “It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to partake in our rejoicing”—yet, at the same time, we must realize why it is that we are celebrating! We rejoice because Christ comes, with His power and grace, to help us change our lives for the better; to help us cut ourselves free from the bondage of sin; to help us detach ourselves from this world and to attach ourselves more to heavenly things:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31) … “Seek the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God” (Psalm 13:2). The whole point of Christmas is that Jesus becomes man, in order to make us like unto God: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy men to Me” (Exodus 22:31). “For I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by any thing … upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44).
This Day Deserves Something More Than…
So as we celebrate this astounding day, let us grasp the true spirit of the day, which is not to be found in stuffing ourselves with good food, merrily enjoying intoxicating drinks, watching worldly movies or sports on the TV, or partying away with family, friends and relatives. This day deserves something less banal and more spiritual and more profound. Our Lord comes to give mercy and pardon. The following incident from Our Lord’s life shows the “great divide” in attitudes:
“And it came to pass, as He was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before Jesus’ feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger!’ “ (Luke 17:11-18).
Be Thankful, Not Forgetful!
Sadly, today, the vast majority of Catholics no longer go to Sunday Mass regularly. All of them once received the mercy of Baptism, whereby they were made clean of the leprosy of Original Sin (and all Actual Sins, if they were baptized as adults). Yet, today, they no longer come back to adore and thank Jesus for that mercy. Many have committed sins since their Baptism and have received mercy in the confessional, where they “showed themselves to the priests”; but few are truly grateful and thankful, “with a loud voice glorifying God.” Of the minority who did go to Mass on Christmas Day, how many will go back to Jesus throughout the rest of the day, “with a loud voice glorifying God”?
To God Pay Heed—Forget the Greed!
Let us not fall (and let us nor permit those closest to us to fall) into that selfish, ungrateful, worldly-minded spirit that has succeeded in almost de-Christianizing Christmas into a winter fun-fest of food, drink, parties, presents and pleasure. When we take a realistic and honest look at the Holy Family, we none of those elements present. If our Christmas is full of things, then there is a good chance that there will be no thing or nothing for Christ; but if we have little or nothing to do over Christmas, then there is nothing to distract us from Christ. No Christ, no Christmas—know Christ, know Christmas! The soil of our soul will reap whatever we plant therein; if we plant the seed of the infant Christ, then Christ will grow in us; if we plant the seeds the world offers, then worldliness will grow in us.
Be Wise—Don’t De-Christianize!
Let us not de-Christianize this holy day, but, like the Samaritan leper, let us often go back in thoughts and words to the Person whom we should be celebrating today. It is His birthday, not ours or anyone else’s, that is the cause of universal festivities. Otherwise it is like going to a birthday party, and completely ignoring the person whose birthday it is, while taking all the food and drink they have provided. How many will stop their celebrations for prayer, let alone even extra prayers (which should be the case, for on a birthday, we do more than the usual for the person concerned)? How many will have attended a second Mass today (for the Church allows each priest to offer three Masses today)? Let us show our gratitude and love for Christ this Christmas! As Our Lady has said at several of her apparitions, God is already offended enough, we must stop offending Him. Let us make up for the countless offences that will rise heavenward on what should be a truly holy and spiritual day!
Friday December 24th, Christmas Eve
Article 1
A Shocking Christmas Present for Jesus!
Article 1
A Shocking Christmas Present for Jesus!
Jesus and Jerome
The well-known story of St. Jerome should be an encouragement to us. About four centuries after the birth of Christ, after many years spent in Jerusalem translating the Word of God from various different Bibles and languages into what would be later known as the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, St. Jerome had finished his grand project just days before Christmas. To celebrate this great forty-year long accomplishment, Jerome decided to spend Christmas Eve in nearby Bethlehem. He comes as a pilgrim to Bethlehem. He longs to venerate the place where Christ was born. He comes to the cave of the Nativity, where he humbly prays. He himself speaks later on about the divine experience he had.
Surprise Visitor! Surprise Gift!
According to the ancient account, sometime around midnight Jesus appeared to him, saying: “Jerome, what will you give Me for My birthday?”
Immediately and enthusiastically, Jerome declared, “Lord, I give You my translation of Your Word!”
But instead of congratulating him, Jesus simply replied, “No, Jerome, that is not what I want!”
St. Jerome was speechless. Then he began to complain and remonstrate with Jesus, asking why He had let him go on for forty years, far from home, laboring at something other than what God most wanted from him. But Jesus remained silent. Jerome started suggesting other ways of honoring Jesus’ birthday—fasting, or becoming a hermit, or giving his possessions to the poor.
To each of these Jesus replied, “No. Jerome. That is not what I want most!”
St. Jerome then pleaded: “Oh Lord, You know that it is for You I have abandoned everything … both the court of the rulers, and the majesties of Rome, and the pleasures and the riches… and at this time my mind, my whole heart, my thoughts and even my life, everything belongs to You! What else could I give You? I don’t have anything else to give you today on Your on this feast day of Your birth!”
Jesus replied: “You still have something to give Me, Jerome! You have something which you have forgotten and today I want you to place it at My feet!”
Finally, Jerome protested, “What is that, my Lord? Please tell me! Do I truly have something else to give you? Would I be so evil as to keep something for myself! Tell me, dear Lord, what is there that I can still give You? Tell me, Lord! Tell me what would give You the most joy on Your birthday, and You shall have it!”
“Do you promise, Jerome?” asked Our Lord.
“Yes, Lord, anything at all!” cried Jerome.
Jesus replied, “Give Me your sins!”
“My sins, O Lord? What would You do with my sins?” asked a bewildered Jerome.
“Jerome, give Me all your sins, so that I can forgive them all.”
Hearing this, St. Jerome broke down into tears of emotion, happiness and love at the merciful words of Jesus.
“Give me your sins.” In His limitless humility, more than any service we can render Him, the Lord considers it a gift that we “allow” Him to take away our sins. Why? Precisely because He thirsts for us, because He longs for union with us, and the only obstacle to that union is our sin — which, in His eyes, then, becomes the most precious gift we can offer.
Hope and Confidence in God
Sometimes, the sight of our many sins can induce dejection discouragement, despondency, or even despair. That is not the work of God, but of the devil. God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. If you can arrive at that same hatred of sin, then there is nothing to worry about—no matter how great or frequent those sins may have been! Our Lord Himself said: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10; Matthew 18:11). “But the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying to His disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!’” (Luke 5:30-32).
There Is No Sin That Cannot Be Forgiven
“If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). All God wants is repentance and sorrow for past sin. “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?... Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die .... Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezechiel 18:21-31).
Rise to a New Life
The Sacrament of Confession casts away our transgressions and gives us a new heart and a new spirit. It is a spiritual resurrection. We enter the “tomb” of the confessional and leave our sins and guilt there, emerging as a new person, having put off the “old man” and put on the new—as St. Paul says: “To put off ... the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in spirit of your mind: and put on the new man...” (Ephesians 4:22-23).
The Mercies of God Are Above all His Works
It is of capital importance that we never ever let our past sins—no matter how great or filthy they may have been—come between God and ourselves, or make us in any way doubt God’s love, friendship and mercy. As the Psalmist says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm144:8-9). God does not do things by halves. When He forgives sins, He forgives completely. Their guilt is blotted out entirely and He will not reproach us with them again. Yet, His generosity goes even further. When a soul falls into mortal sin, all the merits from its past life are lost. If, however, the soul repents and obtains pardon, these merits revive again. Such is God’s generosity and love.
This is a point of great importance. There is always a great temptation to discouragement and distrust, even after our sins have been forgiven. We feel that God still holds our sins against us; that His providence will be less favorable to us in the future; we feel that He no longer trusts us and that He will be reserved and sparing in His granting of graces. We imagine, too, that no matter how great our progress may be in the future, the ultimate result will always be spoiled by that unfortunate past.
All that is natural—but it is also quite wrong! It is based upon a wrong notion of God. God loves to bring good out of evil. He did so with St. Paul, with Mary Magdalen, with St. Augustine, with St. John of God, with the Venerable Matthew Talbot and many, many more. It is our lack of confidence that places obstacles in the way. Many sins were forgiven Mary Magdalen, because she loved much. If we love Him as she did, our sins will be forgiven us; and we can be more pleasing to God by a life of ardent love after our sin, than the lukewarm life of our previous innocence. Truly God can bring good out of evil!
To Obtain Mercy, We Must Show Mercy
At the sermon on the Mount, Our Lord stated: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). If we want mercy, we have to show mercy. “The just are merciful and show mercy” (Proverbs 13:13).
We pray: “Forgive us our trespasses” but perhaps wish that we could omit the next part: “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The perennial human problem is not “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”, but rather “What is good for me, is not good for anyone else—unless I say so!” We want mercy badly, but we are often bad about showing mercy to others. But Scripture says: “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). The parable of the Unmerciful Servant, serves as warning to us. Just before this parable, “Peter came unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, seven times; but seventy times seven times.
“Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. One was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. Then his lord called him; and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The well-known story of St. Jerome should be an encouragement to us. About four centuries after the birth of Christ, after many years spent in Jerusalem translating the Word of God from various different Bibles and languages into what would be later known as the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, St. Jerome had finished his grand project just days before Christmas. To celebrate this great forty-year long accomplishment, Jerome decided to spend Christmas Eve in nearby Bethlehem. He comes as a pilgrim to Bethlehem. He longs to venerate the place where Christ was born. He comes to the cave of the Nativity, where he humbly prays. He himself speaks later on about the divine experience he had.
Surprise Visitor! Surprise Gift!
According to the ancient account, sometime around midnight Jesus appeared to him, saying: “Jerome, what will you give Me for My birthday?”
Immediately and enthusiastically, Jerome declared, “Lord, I give You my translation of Your Word!”
But instead of congratulating him, Jesus simply replied, “No, Jerome, that is not what I want!”
St. Jerome was speechless. Then he began to complain and remonstrate with Jesus, asking why He had let him go on for forty years, far from home, laboring at something other than what God most wanted from him. But Jesus remained silent. Jerome started suggesting other ways of honoring Jesus’ birthday—fasting, or becoming a hermit, or giving his possessions to the poor.
To each of these Jesus replied, “No. Jerome. That is not what I want most!”
St. Jerome then pleaded: “Oh Lord, You know that it is for You I have abandoned everything … both the court of the rulers, and the majesties of Rome, and the pleasures and the riches… and at this time my mind, my whole heart, my thoughts and even my life, everything belongs to You! What else could I give You? I don’t have anything else to give you today on Your on this feast day of Your birth!”
Jesus replied: “You still have something to give Me, Jerome! You have something which you have forgotten and today I want you to place it at My feet!”
Finally, Jerome protested, “What is that, my Lord? Please tell me! Do I truly have something else to give you? Would I be so evil as to keep something for myself! Tell me, dear Lord, what is there that I can still give You? Tell me, Lord! Tell me what would give You the most joy on Your birthday, and You shall have it!”
“Do you promise, Jerome?” asked Our Lord.
“Yes, Lord, anything at all!” cried Jerome.
Jesus replied, “Give Me your sins!”
“My sins, O Lord? What would You do with my sins?” asked a bewildered Jerome.
“Jerome, give Me all your sins, so that I can forgive them all.”
Hearing this, St. Jerome broke down into tears of emotion, happiness and love at the merciful words of Jesus.
“Give me your sins.” In His limitless humility, more than any service we can render Him, the Lord considers it a gift that we “allow” Him to take away our sins. Why? Precisely because He thirsts for us, because He longs for union with us, and the only obstacle to that union is our sin — which, in His eyes, then, becomes the most precious gift we can offer.
Hope and Confidence in God
Sometimes, the sight of our many sins can induce dejection discouragement, despondency, or even despair. That is not the work of God, but of the devil. God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. If you can arrive at that same hatred of sin, then there is nothing to worry about—no matter how great or frequent those sins may have been! Our Lord Himself said: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10; Matthew 18:11). “But the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying to His disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!’” (Luke 5:30-32).
There Is No Sin That Cannot Be Forgiven
“If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). All God wants is repentance and sorrow for past sin. “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?... Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die .... Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezechiel 18:21-31).
Rise to a New Life
The Sacrament of Confession casts away our transgressions and gives us a new heart and a new spirit. It is a spiritual resurrection. We enter the “tomb” of the confessional and leave our sins and guilt there, emerging as a new person, having put off the “old man” and put on the new—as St. Paul says: “To put off ... the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in spirit of your mind: and put on the new man...” (Ephesians 4:22-23).
The Mercies of God Are Above all His Works
It is of capital importance that we never ever let our past sins—no matter how great or filthy they may have been—come between God and ourselves, or make us in any way doubt God’s love, friendship and mercy. As the Psalmist says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm144:8-9). God does not do things by halves. When He forgives sins, He forgives completely. Their guilt is blotted out entirely and He will not reproach us with them again. Yet, His generosity goes even further. When a soul falls into mortal sin, all the merits from its past life are lost. If, however, the soul repents and obtains pardon, these merits revive again. Such is God’s generosity and love.
This is a point of great importance. There is always a great temptation to discouragement and distrust, even after our sins have been forgiven. We feel that God still holds our sins against us; that His providence will be less favorable to us in the future; we feel that He no longer trusts us and that He will be reserved and sparing in His granting of graces. We imagine, too, that no matter how great our progress may be in the future, the ultimate result will always be spoiled by that unfortunate past.
All that is natural—but it is also quite wrong! It is based upon a wrong notion of God. God loves to bring good out of evil. He did so with St. Paul, with Mary Magdalen, with St. Augustine, with St. John of God, with the Venerable Matthew Talbot and many, many more. It is our lack of confidence that places obstacles in the way. Many sins were forgiven Mary Magdalen, because she loved much. If we love Him as she did, our sins will be forgiven us; and we can be more pleasing to God by a life of ardent love after our sin, than the lukewarm life of our previous innocence. Truly God can bring good out of evil!
To Obtain Mercy, We Must Show Mercy
At the sermon on the Mount, Our Lord stated: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). If we want mercy, we have to show mercy. “The just are merciful and show mercy” (Proverbs 13:13).
We pray: “Forgive us our trespasses” but perhaps wish that we could omit the next part: “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The perennial human problem is not “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”, but rather “What is good for me, is not good for anyone else—unless I say so!” We want mercy badly, but we are often bad about showing mercy to others. But Scripture says: “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). The parable of the Unmerciful Servant, serves as warning to us. Just before this parable, “Peter came unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, seven times; but seventy times seven times.
“Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. One was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. Then his lord called him; and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts” (Matthew 18:21-35).
THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Wednesday December 22nd & Thursday December 23rd
Article 13
Don't Lock Jesus Out of Your Christmas!
Wednesday December 22nd & Thursday December 23rd
Article 13
Don't Lock Jesus Out of Your Christmas!
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Knock, Knock! Who’s There?
We all have heard one or more of the “Knock! Knock! Who’s There” jokes―except when it comes to Jesus knocking, then it’s no joke! “Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Apocalypse 3:20). “Behold the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9). Every day―but especially at times like Christmas―Jesus knocks again and again on the doors of our souls―yet very few even hear Him knocking, and, of the few that do hear, very few open the door to Him. Some grow so accustomed to the knocking that they “tune it out” and no longer pay attention it as it becomes an imperceptible unwanted “background noise”. Can you truly say that you are attentive to “the voice of my beloved knocking” (Canticles 5:2). “Behold my beloved speaketh to me!” (Canticles 2:10), but are you tuned-in, are you listening? We ought to be listening and communicating: “I will speak to my Lord!” (Genesis 18:27). “I will sing to my beloved!” (Isaias 5:1). Of course, we all do talk to God, Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints—but for those who are supposed to love, occasional communication is not enough. The more we love, the more we want to be in the presence of the one we love! There is another simple litmus test of love. “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). St. Paul seconds this, saying to the Thessalonians: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The more we love, the more we are devoted, the easier it becomes to be always at prayer. Sadly, we pray too little for we love too little. |
Changing for the Better
“Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments” (Genesis 35:2). What are your strange gods? What do you give most of your time to? What is it that would embarrass you if Jesus were to come in person and knock on your door one day or evening? What would Jesus think of your house and its contents? What would you try to quickly hide in the closet before you let Him in? Would you still watch some of those TV shows and movies in His presence? Would you wear your usual clothes in His presence? Would the conversation and language remain the same? Would the daily schedule and activities remain the same? Would you still make the same comments at table or around the house? Would you listen to the same music, go to the same internet sites, read the same magazines, newspapers and books? Would you allow your children to behave their usual way? Would you say your prayers the usual way? What would Jesus think of your household and its members? Perhaps all would be well, or perhaps it would be Hell! What would He ask you to change?
Today, the service of God increasingly becomes a mockery of God—the lukewarmness, indifference and carelessness with which we serve Him are asking for punishment. Weak children will imitate their weak parents, and weak parishioners will imitate the weak priest. It was a holy French priest—it may have been the Curé of Ars—who said: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same can be said of parents in relation to their children, and it is equally true of teachers in relation to their students.
A Lukewarm World Needs to Change
The general tone of the world—hence of priests, parents and teachers—is one of lukewarmness. Fr. Faber and Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange are of this opinion, while Our Lady says that many souls “let themselves be dazzled by the false glamor of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil” and that “many hearts consecrated to God, in the priestly and religious state, will fall into lukewarmness” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures … have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Changing Our Spiritual Wardrobe
“I have taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments” (Zacharias 3:4). Let nobody say there is nothing to change in their lives! “Let no man deceive himself” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Joh 1:8). “For there is no just man upon Earth, that doth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). However, even though there is nobody that does not sin, that does mean we must make peace with sin. All the spiritual masters tell us that as we progress through the so-called “Three Stages of the Spiritual Life” we sin less and less, to the point that we no longer commit Mortal Sins, and then later we arrive at a point where we no longer commit any Venial Sins. This is the goal and duty of all Catholics. We all need to change for the better—some more, other perhaps less—for not only does our nature require it, but so too does God: “Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God” (Jeremias 26:13).
Cease and Desist
A “cease and desist” letter is a written notice which serves to warn an offender that legal action may take place if they don’t stop the activity that is mentioned in the letter. Your could say that God requires that we cease and desist from making Christmas more of a secular materialistic affair, rather than the spiritual feast it is intended to be! The Gospel of the Fourth and last Sunday of Advent clearly cries out through St. John the Baptist: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Our Lord Himself said: “No man can serve two masters [a spiritual Christmas and a material Christmas]. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? [and isn’t Christmas more than just food, drink, parties and presents?].” (Matthew 6:22-23). “Be not solicitous therefore, saying, ‘What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek” (Matthew 6:31-32).
Christmas will be like the planting of a seed; but the soul, like soil, needs to be receptive and free from the weeds of the world. Our Lord’s words from the parable of the Sower of Seed come to mind here: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22). This is what will happen to us if we do not remove the thorns and weeds of the world before Christmas arrives—hence the time of Advent, a time of work and penance in tilling and preparing the soil of the soul.
If we prepare well, then the following words form the same parable will apply to us: “But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
The world wants to impose upon us its false Christmas spirit and false Christmas customs. It is time to firmly and politely resist this vain, emotional and worldly gospel. It is time to leave the town of Bethlehem (the material Christmas) and seek out a cave (a lack of materialism) in which to await the graces Christ comes to gives us at Christmas.
“Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments” (Genesis 35:2). What are your strange gods? What do you give most of your time to? What is it that would embarrass you if Jesus were to come in person and knock on your door one day or evening? What would Jesus think of your house and its contents? What would you try to quickly hide in the closet before you let Him in? Would you still watch some of those TV shows and movies in His presence? Would you wear your usual clothes in His presence? Would the conversation and language remain the same? Would the daily schedule and activities remain the same? Would you still make the same comments at table or around the house? Would you listen to the same music, go to the same internet sites, read the same magazines, newspapers and books? Would you allow your children to behave their usual way? Would you say your prayers the usual way? What would Jesus think of your household and its members? Perhaps all would be well, or perhaps it would be Hell! What would He ask you to change?
Today, the service of God increasingly becomes a mockery of God—the lukewarmness, indifference and carelessness with which we serve Him are asking for punishment. Weak children will imitate their weak parents, and weak parishioners will imitate the weak priest. It was a holy French priest—it may have been the Curé of Ars—who said: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same can be said of parents in relation to their children, and it is equally true of teachers in relation to their students.
A Lukewarm World Needs to Change
The general tone of the world—hence of priests, parents and teachers—is one of lukewarmness. Fr. Faber and Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange are of this opinion, while Our Lady says that many souls “let themselves be dazzled by the false glamor of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil” and that “many hearts consecrated to God, in the priestly and religious state, will fall into lukewarmness” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures … have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Changing Our Spiritual Wardrobe
“I have taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments” (Zacharias 3:4). Let nobody say there is nothing to change in their lives! “Let no man deceive himself” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Joh 1:8). “For there is no just man upon Earth, that doth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). However, even though there is nobody that does not sin, that does mean we must make peace with sin. All the spiritual masters tell us that as we progress through the so-called “Three Stages of the Spiritual Life” we sin less and less, to the point that we no longer commit Mortal Sins, and then later we arrive at a point where we no longer commit any Venial Sins. This is the goal and duty of all Catholics. We all need to change for the better—some more, other perhaps less—for not only does our nature require it, but so too does God: “Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God” (Jeremias 26:13).
Cease and Desist
A “cease and desist” letter is a written notice which serves to warn an offender that legal action may take place if they don’t stop the activity that is mentioned in the letter. Your could say that God requires that we cease and desist from making Christmas more of a secular materialistic affair, rather than the spiritual feast it is intended to be! The Gospel of the Fourth and last Sunday of Advent clearly cries out through St. John the Baptist: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Our Lord Himself said: “No man can serve two masters [a spiritual Christmas and a material Christmas]. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? [and isn’t Christmas more than just food, drink, parties and presents?].” (Matthew 6:22-23). “Be not solicitous therefore, saying, ‘What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek” (Matthew 6:31-32).
Christmas will be like the planting of a seed; but the soul, like soil, needs to be receptive and free from the weeds of the world. Our Lord’s words from the parable of the Sower of Seed come to mind here: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22). This is what will happen to us if we do not remove the thorns and weeds of the world before Christmas arrives—hence the time of Advent, a time of work and penance in tilling and preparing the soil of the soul.
If we prepare well, then the following words form the same parable will apply to us: “But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
The world wants to impose upon us its false Christmas spirit and false Christmas customs. It is time to firmly and politely resist this vain, emotional and worldly gospel. It is time to leave the town of Bethlehem (the material Christmas) and seek out a cave (a lack of materialism) in which to await the graces Christ comes to gives us at Christmas.
THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Monday December 20th & Tuesday December 21st
Article 12
Make Christmas Come Alive
Monday December 20th & Tuesday December 21st
Article 12
Make Christmas Come Alive
Christmas Knocks on Your Door
That very first Christmas―over 2,000 years ago―can come alive in your Christmas celebrations this year. What Mary and Joseph experienced all those years ago―you can experience today. Without even realizing it, you could find yourself in similar scenarios to those in which Mary and Joseph found themselves.
Mary knew the treasure that she carried within her. She carried the greatest good the world would ever know―Our Lord Jesus Christ―and since it is the characteristic of good to diffuse itself or share itself, Mary wanted to share her Son with the whole world, beginning at Bethlehem―but they were too preoccupied with other things.
Similarly, you might want to share Christ with everyone around you this Christmas―but you will also find that many, if not most, will be too preoccupied with other things and will have little or no interest in Christ, nor much time for Christ.
Joseph by this also knew the treasure that Mary carried within her womb, but he could find no “takers”―instead he experienced rejection at one door after another.
The first Christmas in Bethlehem was immersed in materialism―there was a lot of money to made with a continual influx of people coming to fulfill the edict of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, who had commanded a universal census in the lands occupied by the Romans. Incoming travelers meant monetary income for the Bethlemites! Spirituality was the last thing on the minds of many of the greedy Bethlehemites.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Mother, Like Daughter―Like Christ, Like Christian
Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). Similarly, as the Mother of God suffered rejection and persecution because of Christ, so also will we suffer rejection and persecution because of Christ. Just the Bethlehemites were distracted by the money that the obligatory census brought in (because people had to return to the city of the birth to register there―hence that meant money by selling them food and accommodation)―likewise do our modern day Christmases create a materialistic atmosphere in which sensuality (see, touch, smell, taste, hear) takes primacy over spirituality. If your heart longs for the spiritual, then very few people will accommodate you―and like Mary and Joseph―you will find the door shut in your face.
How it must pain Our Lady―not to mention Our Lord―to see the hearts of so many Catholics besotted and hypnotized by the innumerable pleasures and treasures of the world, while ignoring the only real treasure, the only eternal treasure that will lasts for ever―Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christmas Dinner will be appreciated and remembered far more that the Christmas Holy Communion―the Christmas dinner preparations will have taken many hours, while preparation for Christmas Holy Communion will take but a few distracted minutes!
What's for Christmas Dinner?
God spent more than a few hours preparing our Christmas “Dinner” or “Meal”―He spent thousands of years, announcing His “recipe” through the prophets! Since Gods’ Providence arranged for His only-begotten Son to be born in Bethlehem―which means “Town of Bread”―don’t you think that God is trying to tell us something important? Since God’s Providence arranged for His only-begotten Son to placed in a manger―which is an eating trough for animals (and in French, “manger” means “to eat”)―don’t you think that God is sending us a message? The Son of God, the “Town of Bread”, and the verb “to eat”?
Our Lord Himself would later say: “The bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world ... I am the Bread of Life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst! … I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so too he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven! Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead! He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-35, 48-52; 54-59).
Eat Your Own Words―Or Someone Else’s for Christmas
There will be a lot of words spoken over Christmas―and some people will end up having to “eat their own words” afterwards. Even Our Lord speaks about “eating” words! He says: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4) … “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). In other words, we could say: “Not only must we eat the Body of Christ and Drink His Precious Blood―but we must also drink, eat and digest His words!” How impolite would it be go to someone’s birthday party and deliberately ignore that person and refuse to listen to that person? How would you feel at your birthday party if everyone spoke to each other, but not to you? How would you feel if nobody touched or ate the food that you had prepared? Well, God has prepared a veritable meal by means of His words in Scripture concerning the Nativity of His only-begotten Son―and nobody really wants to taste those words or chew them over by meditating upon them!
Are You Satisfied With Christmas?
In answer to the question―“Are you satisfied with Christmas?”―it all depends upon your tastes and preferences. Some prefer a secular, fun-filled, entertainment laden, laugh-a-minute, belly-filled and glass-filled intoxicating Christmas. Few there are who prefer a spiritual, Christ-filled Christmas. You could take Christ’s words on salvation and apply them to Christmas: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat … But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! … Not everyone that saith to Me: “Lord! Lord!” shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: “Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?” And then will I profess unto them: “I never knew you! Depart from Me!”’” (Luke 13:23-28; Matthew 7:13; 7:21-23).
Transposing those words into the Christmas setting (with a few additions), it could read as follows: “Strive to enter the narrow spiritual gate of Christmas ― for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow spiritual gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to worldliness and destruction, and many there are who go in thereat … But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy honor at Christmas, and sung Christmas Carols in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of worldliness! … Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me―teaching doctrines and commandments of worldliness!’ … There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see the spiritually minded persons in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! … Not everyone that saith: “Merry Christmas” shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we celebrated Christmas in Thy Name, and had Christmas parties in Thy Name, and filled our bellies in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’”
You can bet your last dollar that Our Lord is not, on the whole, pleased with today’s genre of Christmas celebrations―so how can a true Catholic be pleased with that overpowering materialism and sensuality with which we are surrounded each and every Christmas―in addition to the woeful lack of spirituality and true inclusion of Christ in those Christmas celebrations, apart from perhaps a occasional mention here and there, and then He is stuffed back in the closet for another year. Even Conservative and Traditional Catholic families have their “Achilles heels” ― weak family members who are more worldly than they are spiritual. This creates a “worldly virus” within the family, which can infect or at least weaken whatever spirituality others may have―creating a compromise situation, or a “serve both God and mammon” syndrome.
God Does Not Need a Materialistic Christmas
The saints and theologians tell us that God’s Providence could have arranged for Christ to be born to a king and queen, born in palace, born into wealth and rich possessions, born surrounded by courtiers and servants who would cater to His every need! Yet God chose to arrange for His Son to be born into poverty; to be born, not in mighty Jerusalem, but in humble Bethlehem; not even in Bethlehem itself, but outside the town in stable or cave; not surrounded by servants, but only with a poor carpenter and a humble virgin for company; no lavish dishes and intoxicating drinks, but with only the bare necessities of life! That speaks volumes!
It is not God who needs and wants a “wonderfully” worldly and materialistic Christmas―it we who crave such a Christmas! Our Lady herself comments upon this in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda (taken from the book, The Mystical City of God) :
The Dangers of Worldliness
OUR LADY ― “Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God, because it is of the devil, deceitful, earthly and rebellious to the divine laws. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things. Worldly wisdom looks upon the exterior person―not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward show.
“Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval and acceptance of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings, as if they had not received them from God.
“Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation [showing-off], suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant―for the world does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, look upon its laughing as sorrow, its sensible enjoyment as self deceit, and recognize this foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and God knows that this insane love will pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.
Obsession with Earthly Possessions and Riches
OUR LADY ― “The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!”
OUR LADY ― “The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: (1) On the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation. (2) On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart about spiritual things, or he makes use of other trickery and snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul in neglecting God.
Spiritual Treasures and Worldly Treasures are Incompatible
OUR LADY ― “O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
“With this true wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
The Goods of the World are False Goods
OUR LADY ― “All goods are estimated according to the appreciation in which creatures hold them: in so far they value them, as they know them to be good. But since there is only one true Good, and all the others merely fictitious goods and only apparent goods, therefore it follows that only the highest Good is to be appreciated and recognized. Then only shall you give God true appreciation and love, when you shall enjoy and esteem God above all created things. By this appreciation and love will also be measured the sorrow of losing Him. Imagine then, what ought to be the grief of really losing God by sin. But this wisdom seems far from the minds of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible goods and fictitious goods, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. How easily charity is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death! The sons of darkness live as if they had only a counterfeit or doubtful connection with eternity.”
Our Lord Deliberately Chose Poverty
OUR LADY ― “Neither you nor all creatures together can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride. He also sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God.
“Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts― so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things. Who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries!
The Cross is the Answer
OUR LADY ― “Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for you a most rigid Cross on which you must remain crucified. I exhort you to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts, and rather embrace afflictions than desire to be visited with caresses―for in choosing favors and delights you might be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, you can be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights, wherever it can be done without sin, what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
Few Care About the Salvation that Christ Came to Offer
OUR LADY ― “What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
Yuck!
The above words will naturally be repulsive and repelling to most people because they are addicted to a diet of worldliness and imagine that they cannot possible survive without it―but we are meant to rise above the natural to the supernatural, which is what Heaven is! We are to seek our treasure in Heaven, and not seek our treasure on Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). The fact that most people ignore those words of Our Lord is inextricably linked to the fact that most souls end up being damned―as we already saw in an earlier above mentioned quote of Our Lord’s: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13).
Today, modern-Catholics refuse Our Lord’s “yucky” path to Heaven―and so they have created their own version of the road to Heaven (that actually will lead them to Hell). Everything is permitted. Nobody must be judged. Everyone can pick and choose what they want to believe and modify what they don’t want to believe. Religion should not be burdensome (the cross), but it should fun! “Know this first, that in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts!” (2 Peter 3:3). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Don’t Abort Christ this Christmas―Let Him Live!
Today’s Christmases are―in a spiritual sense―abortions of Christ. People no longer want Christ to reign at Christmas. Some even go into a rage if you use the words “Merry Christmas” instead of the secular sanitized “Happy Holidays”. Even Catholics are ashamed, embarrassed and uneasy at the thought of transforming their customary secular Christmas festivities into more spiritual ones! “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:1-3). There are many modern-day “King Herods” who feel threatened by Jesus and the kind of life He wants us to lead! They prefer their worldly lives and will do anything to preserve them and therefore they seek to “kill” Jesus as Herod did―to kill His spirit in Christmas celebrations so that the worldly spirit can prevail.
Jesus wants to be spiritually born into everyone’s soul at Christmas―let Him be born and let Him live in your soul! Don’t abort Him! Don’t provoke a miscarriage! Let Him enter your life FULLY for a change! He says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) … “And you will not come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:40). Jesus comes, but few really want Him: “He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:10-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light!” (John 3:19).
Division Over Jesus
Our Lord was not joking when He said that He would be the cause of division within families! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lord truly was a source of division among the His own Jewish people: “A dissension rose again among the Jews for these words of Jesus. And many of them said: ‘He has a devil, and is mad! Why do you listen to Him?’ Others said: ‘These are not the words of one that has a devil! Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19-21). “Of that multitude therefore, when they had heard these words of his, some said: ‘This is the prophet indeed!’ Others said: ‘This is the Christ!’ But some said: ‘Does the Christ come out of Galilee? Does not the Scripture say: “That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?”’ So there arose a dissension among the people because of Him” (John 7:40-43).
Do Not Be Afraid to Cause Dissension for Jesus’ Sake
These worldly, carnal, boisterous, gluttonous, intoxicating, entertaining, garrulous (excessive talking), self-centered Christmases have gone on for long enough! Christ was not born to feast and play, booze and laugh―but He was born to fast and pray, suffer and die for our sins and to win salvation! Let not our Christmases be nest of sins galore! For if, as Scripture says, the just man sins seven times a day―then he tends to sin seventy times seven times on Christmas Day!
Stand up Christ this Christmas and demand that it be a truly spiritual Christmas! Of course, you will not be liked for doing so―yet Christ has foretold that dislike, hatred and persecution will be the staple diet of His followers: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Let Christ Live This Christmas
It is not just neo-paganism and secularism that has thrown out Christ from Christmas―but many Catholics (even Conservative and Traditional Catholics) have at least sidelined, marginalized, demoted or forgotten Christ at Christmas. We can easily judge the importance of something by the time we dedicate to it. Just think of the hours that are dedicated to cleaning the house for Christmas; or putting up Christmas decorations (inside and outside); or decorating the Christmas Tree; or shopping for Christmas presents and Christmas food and drink; or writing all the Christmas cards; or wrapping the presents; then the preparing and cooking of the Christmas dinner; the time spent on Christmas entertainment (television, videos, games, etc.); the time spent in idle chatter (or gossip), etc. Everyone is different in how much value and time they give to these things―but the bottom line, when it comes to Christ, is that He will not come top of the list in time spent on persons, places, occupations or things. LET IT NOT BE SO! “Christ is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He may hold the primacy!” (Colossians 1:18).
Let this Christmas be the Christmas of your conversion! Let this Christmas be the time of your spiritual awakening! Let this Christmas be the time of your spiritual re-birth! Let this Christmas be the time when you are rejected for wanting to be truly spiritual―just as Mary and Joseph were rejected door after door in Bethlehem. Let this Christmas be the time when you find your own spiritual cave devoid of distractions and worldliness, in which Jesus can be born anew spiritually. “That Christ may dwell by Faith in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17). Do not let the following words apply to you this Christmas: “The Son of man, when He cometh [this Christmas], shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink―that depends on the horse itself. There is a mountain of materials available on this website that will more than make your Christmas truly spiritual [click here] ― but the problem is will you have the nerve and courage to use it among those who prefer their Christmases to be more worldly than spiritual? Take courage from the words of Christ: “Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-38).
More and more ideas and handouts will be made available over the next two days to help you make that “great leap of Faith” over the frightening chasm from reluctantly putting-up with secular, materialistic Christmases to positively trying to spiritualize your Christmas despite INEVITABLE OPPOSITION, GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINTS ― so that “that in me first, Christ Jesus might show forth all the information to them that shall believe in Him” (1 Timothy 1:16). “How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Roman 10:14-15). You have to bring those “glad tidings” and preach Christ this Christmas!
You have to bring those “glad tidings” and preach Christ this Christmas! “A faithful witness delivereth souls!” (Proverbs 14:25). Most souls need delivering―for most souls are lost! Most souls celebrate Christmas―but most souls are lost! Are they lost because they celebrate Christmas? No, they are not lost because they celebrate Christmas, but because they celebrate Christmas badly! They mainly celebrate Christmas in a worldly manner―and the world is an enemy of God: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). You need to turn the tide and bring them tidings of great joy―as the angel said to the shepherds at Bethlehem: “And the angel said to them: ‘Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people!’” (Luke 2:10). Except that your “glad tidings” will not be gladly accepted by many! The opposition will be roused up by the devil―who prefers worldly and secular Christmas laden with presents for him in the form of many venial sins and not a few mortal sins! Opposition will come from family, relatives and friends who for a long time now have been addicted to the drug of Christmas materialism and secularism.
You have to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me! Though I live now in the flesh―I also live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
You have to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me! Though I live now in the flesh―I also live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
That very first Christmas―over 2,000 years ago―can come alive in your Christmas celebrations this year. What Mary and Joseph experienced all those years ago―you can experience today. Without even realizing it, you could find yourself in similar scenarios to those in which Mary and Joseph found themselves.
Mary knew the treasure that she carried within her. She carried the greatest good the world would ever know―Our Lord Jesus Christ―and since it is the characteristic of good to diffuse itself or share itself, Mary wanted to share her Son with the whole world, beginning at Bethlehem―but they were too preoccupied with other things.
Similarly, you might want to share Christ with everyone around you this Christmas―but you will also find that many, if not most, will be too preoccupied with other things and will have little or no interest in Christ, nor much time for Christ.
Joseph by this also knew the treasure that Mary carried within her womb, but he could find no “takers”―instead he experienced rejection at one door after another.
The first Christmas in Bethlehem was immersed in materialism―there was a lot of money to made with a continual influx of people coming to fulfill the edict of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, who had commanded a universal census in the lands occupied by the Romans. Incoming travelers meant monetary income for the Bethlemites! Spirituality was the last thing on the minds of many of the greedy Bethlehemites.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Mother, Like Daughter―Like Christ, Like Christian
Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). Similarly, as the Mother of God suffered rejection and persecution because of Christ, so also will we suffer rejection and persecution because of Christ. Just the Bethlehemites were distracted by the money that the obligatory census brought in (because people had to return to the city of the birth to register there―hence that meant money by selling them food and accommodation)―likewise do our modern day Christmases create a materialistic atmosphere in which sensuality (see, touch, smell, taste, hear) takes primacy over spirituality. If your heart longs for the spiritual, then very few people will accommodate you―and like Mary and Joseph―you will find the door shut in your face.
How it must pain Our Lady―not to mention Our Lord―to see the hearts of so many Catholics besotted and hypnotized by the innumerable pleasures and treasures of the world, while ignoring the only real treasure, the only eternal treasure that will lasts for ever―Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christmas Dinner will be appreciated and remembered far more that the Christmas Holy Communion―the Christmas dinner preparations will have taken many hours, while preparation for Christmas Holy Communion will take but a few distracted minutes!
What's for Christmas Dinner?
God spent more than a few hours preparing our Christmas “Dinner” or “Meal”―He spent thousands of years, announcing His “recipe” through the prophets! Since Gods’ Providence arranged for His only-begotten Son to be born in Bethlehem―which means “Town of Bread”―don’t you think that God is trying to tell us something important? Since God’s Providence arranged for His only-begotten Son to placed in a manger―which is an eating trough for animals (and in French, “manger” means “to eat”)―don’t you think that God is sending us a message? The Son of God, the “Town of Bread”, and the verb “to eat”?
Our Lord Himself would later say: “The bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world ... I am the Bread of Life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst! … I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so too he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven! Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead! He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-35, 48-52; 54-59).
Eat Your Own Words―Or Someone Else’s for Christmas
There will be a lot of words spoken over Christmas―and some people will end up having to “eat their own words” afterwards. Even Our Lord speaks about “eating” words! He says: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4) … “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). In other words, we could say: “Not only must we eat the Body of Christ and Drink His Precious Blood―but we must also drink, eat and digest His words!” How impolite would it be go to someone’s birthday party and deliberately ignore that person and refuse to listen to that person? How would you feel at your birthday party if everyone spoke to each other, but not to you? How would you feel if nobody touched or ate the food that you had prepared? Well, God has prepared a veritable meal by means of His words in Scripture concerning the Nativity of His only-begotten Son―and nobody really wants to taste those words or chew them over by meditating upon them!
Are You Satisfied With Christmas?
In answer to the question―“Are you satisfied with Christmas?”―it all depends upon your tastes and preferences. Some prefer a secular, fun-filled, entertainment laden, laugh-a-minute, belly-filled and glass-filled intoxicating Christmas. Few there are who prefer a spiritual, Christ-filled Christmas. You could take Christ’s words on salvation and apply them to Christmas: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat … But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! … Not everyone that saith to Me: “Lord! Lord!” shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: “Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?” And then will I profess unto them: “I never knew you! Depart from Me!”’” (Luke 13:23-28; Matthew 7:13; 7:21-23).
Transposing those words into the Christmas setting (with a few additions), it could read as follows: “Strive to enter the narrow spiritual gate of Christmas ― for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow spiritual gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to worldliness and destruction, and many there are who go in thereat … But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy honor at Christmas, and sung Christmas Carols in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of worldliness! … Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me―teaching doctrines and commandments of worldliness!’ … There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see the spiritually minded persons in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! … Not everyone that saith: “Merry Christmas” shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we celebrated Christmas in Thy Name, and had Christmas parties in Thy Name, and filled our bellies in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’”
You can bet your last dollar that Our Lord is not, on the whole, pleased with today’s genre of Christmas celebrations―so how can a true Catholic be pleased with that overpowering materialism and sensuality with which we are surrounded each and every Christmas―in addition to the woeful lack of spirituality and true inclusion of Christ in those Christmas celebrations, apart from perhaps a occasional mention here and there, and then He is stuffed back in the closet for another year. Even Conservative and Traditional Catholic families have their “Achilles heels” ― weak family members who are more worldly than they are spiritual. This creates a “worldly virus” within the family, which can infect or at least weaken whatever spirituality others may have―creating a compromise situation, or a “serve both God and mammon” syndrome.
God Does Not Need a Materialistic Christmas
The saints and theologians tell us that God’s Providence could have arranged for Christ to be born to a king and queen, born in palace, born into wealth and rich possessions, born surrounded by courtiers and servants who would cater to His every need! Yet God chose to arrange for His Son to be born into poverty; to be born, not in mighty Jerusalem, but in humble Bethlehem; not even in Bethlehem itself, but outside the town in stable or cave; not surrounded by servants, but only with a poor carpenter and a humble virgin for company; no lavish dishes and intoxicating drinks, but with only the bare necessities of life! That speaks volumes!
It is not God who needs and wants a “wonderfully” worldly and materialistic Christmas―it we who crave such a Christmas! Our Lady herself comments upon this in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda (taken from the book, The Mystical City of God) :
The Dangers of Worldliness
OUR LADY ― “Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God, because it is of the devil, deceitful, earthly and rebellious to the divine laws. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things. Worldly wisdom looks upon the exterior person―not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward show.
“Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval and acceptance of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings, as if they had not received them from God.
“Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation [showing-off], suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant―for the world does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, look upon its laughing as sorrow, its sensible enjoyment as self deceit, and recognize this foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and God knows that this insane love will pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.
Obsession with Earthly Possessions and Riches
OUR LADY ― “The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!”
OUR LADY ― “The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: (1) On the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation. (2) On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart about spiritual things, or he makes use of other trickery and snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul in neglecting God.
Spiritual Treasures and Worldly Treasures are Incompatible
OUR LADY ― “O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
“With this true wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
The Goods of the World are False Goods
OUR LADY ― “All goods are estimated according to the appreciation in which creatures hold them: in so far they value them, as they know them to be good. But since there is only one true Good, and all the others merely fictitious goods and only apparent goods, therefore it follows that only the highest Good is to be appreciated and recognized. Then only shall you give God true appreciation and love, when you shall enjoy and esteem God above all created things. By this appreciation and love will also be measured the sorrow of losing Him. Imagine then, what ought to be the grief of really losing God by sin. But this wisdom seems far from the minds of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible goods and fictitious goods, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. How easily charity is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death! The sons of darkness live as if they had only a counterfeit or doubtful connection with eternity.”
Our Lord Deliberately Chose Poverty
OUR LADY ― “Neither you nor all creatures together can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride. He also sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God.
“Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts― so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things. Who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries!
The Cross is the Answer
OUR LADY ― “Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for you a most rigid Cross on which you must remain crucified. I exhort you to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts, and rather embrace afflictions than desire to be visited with caresses―for in choosing favors and delights you might be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, you can be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights, wherever it can be done without sin, what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
Few Care About the Salvation that Christ Came to Offer
OUR LADY ― “What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
Yuck!
The above words will naturally be repulsive and repelling to most people because they are addicted to a diet of worldliness and imagine that they cannot possible survive without it―but we are meant to rise above the natural to the supernatural, which is what Heaven is! We are to seek our treasure in Heaven, and not seek our treasure on Earth: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). The fact that most people ignore those words of Our Lord is inextricably linked to the fact that most souls end up being damned―as we already saw in an earlier above mentioned quote of Our Lord’s: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able ... Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13).
Today, modern-Catholics refuse Our Lord’s “yucky” path to Heaven―and so they have created their own version of the road to Heaven (that actually will lead them to Hell). Everything is permitted. Nobody must be judged. Everyone can pick and choose what they want to believe and modify what they don’t want to believe. Religion should not be burdensome (the cross), but it should fun! “Know this first, that in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts!” (2 Peter 3:3). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Don’t Abort Christ this Christmas―Let Him Live!
Today’s Christmases are―in a spiritual sense―abortions of Christ. People no longer want Christ to reign at Christmas. Some even go into a rage if you use the words “Merry Christmas” instead of the secular sanitized “Happy Holidays”. Even Catholics are ashamed, embarrassed and uneasy at the thought of transforming their customary secular Christmas festivities into more spiritual ones! “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:1-3). There are many modern-day “King Herods” who feel threatened by Jesus and the kind of life He wants us to lead! They prefer their worldly lives and will do anything to preserve them and therefore they seek to “kill” Jesus as Herod did―to kill His spirit in Christmas celebrations so that the worldly spirit can prevail.
Jesus wants to be spiritually born into everyone’s soul at Christmas―let Him be born and let Him live in your soul! Don’t abort Him! Don’t provoke a miscarriage! Let Him enter your life FULLY for a change! He says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) … “And you will not come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:40). Jesus comes, but few really want Him: “He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:10-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light!” (John 3:19).
Division Over Jesus
Our Lord was not joking when He said that He would be the cause of division within families! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lord truly was a source of division among the His own Jewish people: “A dissension rose again among the Jews for these words of Jesus. And many of them said: ‘He has a devil, and is mad! Why do you listen to Him?’ Others said: ‘These are not the words of one that has a devil! Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19-21). “Of that multitude therefore, when they had heard these words of his, some said: ‘This is the prophet indeed!’ Others said: ‘This is the Christ!’ But some said: ‘Does the Christ come out of Galilee? Does not the Scripture say: “That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?”’ So there arose a dissension among the people because of Him” (John 7:40-43).
Do Not Be Afraid to Cause Dissension for Jesus’ Sake
These worldly, carnal, boisterous, gluttonous, intoxicating, entertaining, garrulous (excessive talking), self-centered Christmases have gone on for long enough! Christ was not born to feast and play, booze and laugh―but He was born to fast and pray, suffer and die for our sins and to win salvation! Let not our Christmases be nest of sins galore! For if, as Scripture says, the just man sins seven times a day―then he tends to sin seventy times seven times on Christmas Day!
Stand up Christ this Christmas and demand that it be a truly spiritual Christmas! Of course, you will not be liked for doing so―yet Christ has foretold that dislike, hatred and persecution will be the staple diet of His followers: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Let Christ Live This Christmas
It is not just neo-paganism and secularism that has thrown out Christ from Christmas―but many Catholics (even Conservative and Traditional Catholics) have at least sidelined, marginalized, demoted or forgotten Christ at Christmas. We can easily judge the importance of something by the time we dedicate to it. Just think of the hours that are dedicated to cleaning the house for Christmas; or putting up Christmas decorations (inside and outside); or decorating the Christmas Tree; or shopping for Christmas presents and Christmas food and drink; or writing all the Christmas cards; or wrapping the presents; then the preparing and cooking of the Christmas dinner; the time spent on Christmas entertainment (television, videos, games, etc.); the time spent in idle chatter (or gossip), etc. Everyone is different in how much value and time they give to these things―but the bottom line, when it comes to Christ, is that He will not come top of the list in time spent on persons, places, occupations or things. LET IT NOT BE SO! “Christ is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He may hold the primacy!” (Colossians 1:18).
Let this Christmas be the Christmas of your conversion! Let this Christmas be the time of your spiritual awakening! Let this Christmas be the time of your spiritual re-birth! Let this Christmas be the time when you are rejected for wanting to be truly spiritual―just as Mary and Joseph were rejected door after door in Bethlehem. Let this Christmas be the time when you find your own spiritual cave devoid of distractions and worldliness, in which Jesus can be born anew spiritually. “That Christ may dwell by Faith in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17). Do not let the following words apply to you this Christmas: “The Son of man, when He cometh [this Christmas], shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink―that depends on the horse itself. There is a mountain of materials available on this website that will more than make your Christmas truly spiritual [click here] ― but the problem is will you have the nerve and courage to use it among those who prefer their Christmases to be more worldly than spiritual? Take courage from the words of Christ: “Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-38).
More and more ideas and handouts will be made available over the next two days to help you make that “great leap of Faith” over the frightening chasm from reluctantly putting-up with secular, materialistic Christmases to positively trying to spiritualize your Christmas despite INEVITABLE OPPOSITION, GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINTS ― so that “that in me first, Christ Jesus might show forth all the information to them that shall believe in Him” (1 Timothy 1:16). “How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Roman 10:14-15). You have to bring those “glad tidings” and preach Christ this Christmas!
You have to bring those “glad tidings” and preach Christ this Christmas! “A faithful witness delivereth souls!” (Proverbs 14:25). Most souls need delivering―for most souls are lost! Most souls celebrate Christmas―but most souls are lost! Are they lost because they celebrate Christmas? No, they are not lost because they celebrate Christmas, but because they celebrate Christmas badly! They mainly celebrate Christmas in a worldly manner―and the world is an enemy of God: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). You need to turn the tide and bring them tidings of great joy―as the angel said to the shepherds at Bethlehem: “And the angel said to them: ‘Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people!’” (Luke 2:10). Except that your “glad tidings” will not be gladly accepted by many! The opposition will be roused up by the devil―who prefers worldly and secular Christmas laden with presents for him in the form of many venial sins and not a few mortal sins! Opposition will come from family, relatives and friends who for a long time now have been addicted to the drug of Christmas materialism and secularism.
You have to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me! Though I live now in the flesh―I also live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
You have to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me! Though I live now in the flesh―I also live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “I can do all these things in Him who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13).
THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Sunday December 19th
Article 11
Practical Suggestions for Christmas
Sunday December 19th
Article 11
Practical Suggestions for Christmas
Start Now and Do Not Look Back!
Most Christmases have been gross spiritual mistakes or failures! Rather than try find lame excuses, we should recognize the fact and leave behind us the methods that produced those failures and start afresh, begin anew. There can be no retaining of old failed measures when searching for a new and better approach to Christmas: “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly!” (Proverbs 26:11). “Jesus said: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:62). It is much like a conversion to the Faith―you leave behind all heresy or paganism and totally embrace a new way of life, as Scripture says: : “To cast-off, according to former conversation, the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “If then anyone be a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, and all things are made new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We should say: “Behold, I make all things new!” (Apocalypse 21:5).
Let this Christmas be a new Christmas, a new direction to Christmas, a spiritual direction for Christmas―after all, it is Christ’s birthday, and He was born into this world to make us more spiritual and less worldly: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Likewise, no man can have both a spiritual Christmas and a “mammon” Christmas―he will either love the spiritual side of Christmas and despise the purely worldly side of Christmas, or he will love the worldly side of Christmas and despise the spiritual side of Christmas.
You could apply the words of Holy Scripture, from the Gospel of the Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent, to this scenario: “The word of God came to John (the Baptist), the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaias the prophet: ‘The voice of one crying in the desert, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make straight His paths! Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth! And all mankind shall see the salvation of God!”’” (Luke 3:2-6). You could apply those words to Christmas, saying: “Prepare for the coming of the Lord! Make straight His paths! Do not deviate and descend into worldliness! Those who seek and hunger for the Lord shall be filled―but the proud self-seeking and self-centered folk shall be brought low! The crooked Christmases, that are materialistic, shall be made supernatural, and rough Christmases that are worldly shall be made spiritual! So that all can focus on the Lord!”
Some Practical Suggestions
We are heavily influenced by the atmosphere that surrounds us―advertisers know this and they play upon this in order to make us buy a particular good. There is no greater good that Christ―and we need to “advertise” Christ if we hope to get people to “buy into” Christ. Advertising might seem to be something that is purely materialistic―yet God Himself has advertised His “product” many a time. The “product” of which we speak is the Messias―Our Lord Jesus Christ. The word “advertise” is defined as “describe or draw attention to a product, service, or event.”
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #1 ― Advertise Christ in Your Christmas
You could say that the prophets of the Old Testament were “advertisers” for the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament contains over 400 prophecies about the coming Messias. Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled every one of them. One biblical scholar even claims that Jesus fulfilled as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament! All of these prophecies made by the prophets, advertised the future coming of Christ. They prepared the way for Christ. In the New Testament, we even see Christ sending out His apostles and disciples in advance―ahead of time―to prepare (advertise) for His coming into various towns: “The Lord appointed also other seventy-two disciples and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come” (Luke 10:1).
Advertising has three primary objectives: to inform, to persuade, and to remind. That is exactly what you need to do for your family, relatives and friends who will part of your Christmas celebrations―you need to inform them about Christ, His Birth and the purpose of His coming into this world; you need to persuade them to give their attention and focus to the spiritual nature and purpose of Christ’s coming; and you need to remind them that Christmas is all about Christ and not merely a secular family gathering for socializing, entertaining, eating and drinking. By doing this NOW, you will give people time to get over the “shock” of finding out that you have lost your mind and plan to have a spiritual Christmas.
You have around 7 days to go until Christmas Day. Send out an e-mail or text message today to all those who are invited to your Christmas celebration informing them that this year you hope to place Christ at the center of all celebrations; persuading them to come to your Christmas celebration with that goal in mind and therefore asking them to have that mindset and attitude; reminding them that Christmas is Christ’s birthday and not ours, and that worldliness is actually inimical (an enemy) to Christ as Holy Scripture tells us: “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36) … “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16) … “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). You could add, in the e-mail, that you feel guilty and ashamed about not giving Christ sufficient room (no room at the inn) in your past Christmas celebrations―and that it is never too late to change―just like the Good Thief on the cross―and that you regret robbing Christ of His due and just glory in all previous Christmas celebrations.
Nothing could be clearer than that! Have the courage to stand up for Christ against worldliness, for Christ says: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #2 ― Prepare Your Presents for Christ
Hey! Everyone else is getting presents for Christmas―and it’s not even their birthday! It is Christ’s birthday! What can you give Christ for Christmas? Prayers and Sacrifices! To help you keep track and for you to be able to present and place something visible and tangible in Our Lord’s Christmas manger, here are some cards specifically designed for that purpose.
● Christmas Cards for Christ [click here] These cards are for a spiritual bouquet to be offered to Jesus at midnight on Christmas or on Christmas Day morning. Guests to your Christmas celebrations could fill them out at home and bring them along on Christmas Day, to deposit at the manger of Jesus in your home. The cards have space for your prayers and penances to be listed.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #3 ― Prepare Your Christmas Celebration Schedule
If you are intending to please God and Christ by having a truly spiritual Christmas, then you need to inject much more of the spiritual into your Christmas celebration schedule―and reduce the worldly aspects and even eliminate the truly unnecessary worldly activities. A little of the spiritual OFTEN throughout the day is far more palatable (for the unspiritual persons) than a LOT ALL AT ONCE. It is shocking to see how few families will recite the Rosary on Christmas Day during their festivities―it is almost as though the Rosary is an embarrassment and simply doesn’t “fit in” with all the secular activities. Even when it is accommodated, it is invariably SAID and NOT PRAYED (that is to say NOT MEDITATED). It is suggested that the Rosary be PRAYED at five different times throughout the day―with only ONE DECADE being prayed at each session. With meditation included (see the Christmas Day Ritual), it would only take about 7 to 10 minutes for each decade―which will far more bearable and palatable to the unspiritual persons than 40 to 50 minutes all at once!
Likewise with other prayers or spiritual readings―it almost seems as this is forbidden in the minds of many secular minded Catholics, as though the less prayers that are said, the better is the Christmas party! This tendency needs to be addressed and redressed. Prayer is nothing else than talking to God―we spend hours upon hours talking amongst ourselves and we begrudge any time that needs to be given to talking to God! It is Christ’s birthday and people begrudge having to talk to Him through prayer! Shameful!
If you download the Christmas Day Ritual, then you will find therein a skeleton or backbone for a potential Christmas Day Schedule―add or adjust according to your personal desires and circumstances. [click here for the downloads page]
Additionally, there are variety of games that can be played that can be made to have a religious flavor for Christmas. (1) Charades is ideal for this―whereby a single person act out each syllable of a Christmas word or Christmas phrase in correct order, followed by the whole phrase together, while the rest of the group guesses. (2) A Christmas Quiz ― whereby participants are divide into two or three teams and compete against each other. (3) Ask people―those who are talented enough and willing―to compose a short poem on a Christmas theme for recitation during the Christmas celebration. (4) For the musically inclined, ask them to compose a short song that has a Christmas religious theme to be played and/or sung during the Christmas celebrations. (5) Ask persons to compose a Christmas prayer for recitation during the festivities. (6) Ask persons to draw or paint a Christmas spiritually themed drawing or painting to be displayed during the festivities. (7) Set aside some time for the communal singing of some Christmas Carols. These are just some of the many possibilities to supernaturalize your Christmas while still making it enjoyable.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #4 ― Prepare Your Spiritual Food (Prayers & Readings)
► PRE-CHRISTMAS DAY
● Advent Posters [click here] These posters help to cement the spirit of Advent and can be useful in these final days of Advent
● Christmas Cards for Christ [click here] These cards are for a spiritual bouquet to be offered to Jesus at midnight on Christmas or on Christmas Day morning. Guests to your Christmas celebrations could fill them out at home and bring them along on Christmas Day, to deposit at the manger of Jesus in your home. The cards have space for your prayers and penances to be listed.
● Journey to Bethlehem [click here] This page takes you through the day by day itinerary of Mary and Joseph on the 100+ mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Lots of pictures and maps to help you envisage the route they followed.
● Life of Mary [click here] The sections of Mary’s life that lead up to the birth of Christ
● Pre-Christmas reflections of St. Thomas Aquinas [click here] & Dom Gueranger [click here] Short meditative and informative reflections by two solid authorities of the Church.
● The Great 'O' Antiphons [Intro click here] [Ant. 1] [Ant. 2] [Ant. 3] [Ant. 4] [Ant. 5] [Ant. 6] [Ant. 7]
Latin musical notation and English translation plus audio of Latin chant of each of the 7 “Great ‘O’ Antiphons” that are traditional chanted on seven successive days leading up to Christmas Eve (December 17th to 23rd).
● Advent Prayers (Psalms) for each day of the week [Sun] [Mon] [Tue] [Wed] [Thu] [Fri] [Sat] Specially selected psalms and readings in English, arranged in the typical Divine Office or Breviary format and order.
● Advent Prayers ― standard prayers [click here] A selection of various prayers for Advent
● Christmas Eve Family Ritual [click here] containing (1) The Purpose of Christmas, (2) The Story of St. Jerome Meeting Jesus on Christmas Eve (3) Examination of Conscience, (4) Prayers and Ritual for Family Blessing of the Crib, (5) The Proclamation of Christ's Birth (6) Prayers and Reading for the Lighting of the Christ Candle; (7) Prayers and RItual for Placing Christ in His Manger (8) Liturgical Hymns and Carols; (9) Prayers and Ritual for Eating the Oplatki -- Christmas Wafer Breads; (10) Overnight Vigil Arrangments and Prayers.
► CHRISTMAS DAY & AFTER
● Christmas Day Family Ritual [click here] containing (1) Morning Proclamation of Christ's Birth, (2) Christmas Day Morning Prayers and Angelus; (3) Fifteen Decade Rosary with meditations all on the Nativity, to be scheduled at intervals throughout the day, (4) Day Vigil at the Crib arrangements, (5) The Midday Angelus (6) Prayers and Reading before, during and after the Christmas dinner; (7) The Oplatki custom (8) The Evening Angelus.
● 24 Letter Size (8 x 11 inch) Posters - Christ Comes First in Christmas [click here] Brief informative posters that will help everyone focus on Christ at Christmas
● The Nativity of Our Lord - Eight Hours that Changed the World [click here] The events surrounding the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of His nativity.
● Life of Mary [click here] The sections of Mary’s life that deal with the birth of Christ and the successive events
● Christmas reflections of St. Thomas Aquinas [click here] & Dom Gueranger [click here] Short meditative and informative reflections by two solid authorities of the Church on the subject of Christmas.
● Christmas Prayers (Psalms) for each day of the week [Sun] [Mon] [Tue] [Wed] [Thu] [Fri] [Sat] Specially selected psalms and readings in English, arranged in the typical Divine Office or Breviary format and order.
● The Twelve Days Christmas [Intro] [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] [Day 8] [Day 9] [Day 10] [Day 11] [Day 12] A explanation of the symbols for each day with additional meditative reflections on each day.
● Food for Thought [click here] A recipe for cooking lamb for Christmas, since Christ is the Lamb of God, and the spiritual symbolism of all the ingredients used in the recipe.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #5 ― Prepare Your Christmas Posters and Handouts
● On the downloads page [click here] you will find the JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM poster which can be displayed both prior to and during Christmas.
● Additionally―also on the downloads page [click here]―there is a single file download that contains 24 POSTERS (24 pages) that help keep the focus on Christ at Christmas. Display them in a variety of rooms and perhaps rotate them from time to time.
● More materials for download will be added in the days leading up to Christmas. One such download will contain short character sketches of all the chief personages involved in that very first Christmas―you could assign to each member attending your Christmas celebration one of those personages, who will have to read out aloud the text at some point during the day or evening.
● You could also divide up either the Gospel passages concerning the events at Bethlehem, or take the account from Private Revelation (such as Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich or the Venerable Mary of Agreda) and have that read out aloud be different persons at different times during the day or evening.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #6 ― Prepare Your Christmas Music
This could be a very touchy subject, but, in all reality, there are certain kinds of music that have no place in Christmas celebration that is sincerely trying to celebrate and honor Our Lord’s birth into this world. The presence of such modern music―rock-n-roll, heavy rock, country music, jazz, and other forms of ‘pop’ music―would seem to be out of place in a spiritual celebration. It is like trying to “serve God and mammon” ― and Our Lord said that this is impossible: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Some people will argue against this―but it only shows that they have already made fatal compromises with the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
There is more than enough decent Christmas music available which can be alternated with good classical music―without having to descend to the profane level of modern worldly music. As they say: “By their friends you shall know them!” and “You are what you eat (read, watch, etc.)!” Likewise with music―the music that we love betrays what we are really like.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #7 ― Prepare Your Christmas Celebration Activities
(still to be written--check back later)
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #8 ― Prepare Your Symbolic Christmas Food and Drink
(still to be written--check back later)
Most Christmases have been gross spiritual mistakes or failures! Rather than try find lame excuses, we should recognize the fact and leave behind us the methods that produced those failures and start afresh, begin anew. There can be no retaining of old failed measures when searching for a new and better approach to Christmas: “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly!” (Proverbs 26:11). “Jesus said: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:62). It is much like a conversion to the Faith―you leave behind all heresy or paganism and totally embrace a new way of life, as Scripture says: : “To cast-off, according to former conversation, the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “If then anyone be a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, and all things are made new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We should say: “Behold, I make all things new!” (Apocalypse 21:5).
Let this Christmas be a new Christmas, a new direction to Christmas, a spiritual direction for Christmas―after all, it is Christ’s birthday, and He was born into this world to make us more spiritual and less worldly: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Likewise, no man can have both a spiritual Christmas and a “mammon” Christmas―he will either love the spiritual side of Christmas and despise the purely worldly side of Christmas, or he will love the worldly side of Christmas and despise the spiritual side of Christmas.
You could apply the words of Holy Scripture, from the Gospel of the Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent, to this scenario: “The word of God came to John (the Baptist), the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaias the prophet: ‘The voice of one crying in the desert, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make straight His paths! Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth! And all mankind shall see the salvation of God!”’” (Luke 3:2-6). You could apply those words to Christmas, saying: “Prepare for the coming of the Lord! Make straight His paths! Do not deviate and descend into worldliness! Those who seek and hunger for the Lord shall be filled―but the proud self-seeking and self-centered folk shall be brought low! The crooked Christmases, that are materialistic, shall be made supernatural, and rough Christmases that are worldly shall be made spiritual! So that all can focus on the Lord!”
Some Practical Suggestions
We are heavily influenced by the atmosphere that surrounds us―advertisers know this and they play upon this in order to make us buy a particular good. There is no greater good that Christ―and we need to “advertise” Christ if we hope to get people to “buy into” Christ. Advertising might seem to be something that is purely materialistic―yet God Himself has advertised His “product” many a time. The “product” of which we speak is the Messias―Our Lord Jesus Christ. The word “advertise” is defined as “describe or draw attention to a product, service, or event.”
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #1 ― Advertise Christ in Your Christmas
You could say that the prophets of the Old Testament were “advertisers” for the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament contains over 400 prophecies about the coming Messias. Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled every one of them. One biblical scholar even claims that Jesus fulfilled as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament! All of these prophecies made by the prophets, advertised the future coming of Christ. They prepared the way for Christ. In the New Testament, we even see Christ sending out His apostles and disciples in advance―ahead of time―to prepare (advertise) for His coming into various towns: “The Lord appointed also other seventy-two disciples and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come” (Luke 10:1).
Advertising has three primary objectives: to inform, to persuade, and to remind. That is exactly what you need to do for your family, relatives and friends who will part of your Christmas celebrations―you need to inform them about Christ, His Birth and the purpose of His coming into this world; you need to persuade them to give their attention and focus to the spiritual nature and purpose of Christ’s coming; and you need to remind them that Christmas is all about Christ and not merely a secular family gathering for socializing, entertaining, eating and drinking. By doing this NOW, you will give people time to get over the “shock” of finding out that you have lost your mind and plan to have a spiritual Christmas.
You have around 7 days to go until Christmas Day. Send out an e-mail or text message today to all those who are invited to your Christmas celebration informing them that this year you hope to place Christ at the center of all celebrations; persuading them to come to your Christmas celebration with that goal in mind and therefore asking them to have that mindset and attitude; reminding them that Christmas is Christ’s birthday and not ours, and that worldliness is actually inimical (an enemy) to Christ as Holy Scripture tells us: “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36) … “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16) … “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). You could add, in the e-mail, that you feel guilty and ashamed about not giving Christ sufficient room (no room at the inn) in your past Christmas celebrations―and that it is never too late to change―just like the Good Thief on the cross―and that you regret robbing Christ of His due and just glory in all previous Christmas celebrations.
Nothing could be clearer than that! Have the courage to stand up for Christ against worldliness, for Christ says: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #2 ― Prepare Your Presents for Christ
Hey! Everyone else is getting presents for Christmas―and it’s not even their birthday! It is Christ’s birthday! What can you give Christ for Christmas? Prayers and Sacrifices! To help you keep track and for you to be able to present and place something visible and tangible in Our Lord’s Christmas manger, here are some cards specifically designed for that purpose.
● Christmas Cards for Christ [click here] These cards are for a spiritual bouquet to be offered to Jesus at midnight on Christmas or on Christmas Day morning. Guests to your Christmas celebrations could fill them out at home and bring them along on Christmas Day, to deposit at the manger of Jesus in your home. The cards have space for your prayers and penances to be listed.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #3 ― Prepare Your Christmas Celebration Schedule
If you are intending to please God and Christ by having a truly spiritual Christmas, then you need to inject much more of the spiritual into your Christmas celebration schedule―and reduce the worldly aspects and even eliminate the truly unnecessary worldly activities. A little of the spiritual OFTEN throughout the day is far more palatable (for the unspiritual persons) than a LOT ALL AT ONCE. It is shocking to see how few families will recite the Rosary on Christmas Day during their festivities―it is almost as though the Rosary is an embarrassment and simply doesn’t “fit in” with all the secular activities. Even when it is accommodated, it is invariably SAID and NOT PRAYED (that is to say NOT MEDITATED). It is suggested that the Rosary be PRAYED at five different times throughout the day―with only ONE DECADE being prayed at each session. With meditation included (see the Christmas Day Ritual), it would only take about 7 to 10 minutes for each decade―which will far more bearable and palatable to the unspiritual persons than 40 to 50 minutes all at once!
Likewise with other prayers or spiritual readings―it almost seems as this is forbidden in the minds of many secular minded Catholics, as though the less prayers that are said, the better is the Christmas party! This tendency needs to be addressed and redressed. Prayer is nothing else than talking to God―we spend hours upon hours talking amongst ourselves and we begrudge any time that needs to be given to talking to God! It is Christ’s birthday and people begrudge having to talk to Him through prayer! Shameful!
If you download the Christmas Day Ritual, then you will find therein a skeleton or backbone for a potential Christmas Day Schedule―add or adjust according to your personal desires and circumstances. [click here for the downloads page]
Additionally, there are variety of games that can be played that can be made to have a religious flavor for Christmas. (1) Charades is ideal for this―whereby a single person act out each syllable of a Christmas word or Christmas phrase in correct order, followed by the whole phrase together, while the rest of the group guesses. (2) A Christmas Quiz ― whereby participants are divide into two or three teams and compete against each other. (3) Ask people―those who are talented enough and willing―to compose a short poem on a Christmas theme for recitation during the Christmas celebration. (4) For the musically inclined, ask them to compose a short song that has a Christmas religious theme to be played and/or sung during the Christmas celebrations. (5) Ask persons to compose a Christmas prayer for recitation during the festivities. (6) Ask persons to draw or paint a Christmas spiritually themed drawing or painting to be displayed during the festivities. (7) Set aside some time for the communal singing of some Christmas Carols. These are just some of the many possibilities to supernaturalize your Christmas while still making it enjoyable.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #4 ― Prepare Your Spiritual Food (Prayers & Readings)
► PRE-CHRISTMAS DAY
● Advent Posters [click here] These posters help to cement the spirit of Advent and can be useful in these final days of Advent
● Christmas Cards for Christ [click here] These cards are for a spiritual bouquet to be offered to Jesus at midnight on Christmas or on Christmas Day morning. Guests to your Christmas celebrations could fill them out at home and bring them along on Christmas Day, to deposit at the manger of Jesus in your home. The cards have space for your prayers and penances to be listed.
● Journey to Bethlehem [click here] This page takes you through the day by day itinerary of Mary and Joseph on the 100+ mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Lots of pictures and maps to help you envisage the route they followed.
● Life of Mary [click here] The sections of Mary’s life that lead up to the birth of Christ
● Pre-Christmas reflections of St. Thomas Aquinas [click here] & Dom Gueranger [click here] Short meditative and informative reflections by two solid authorities of the Church.
● The Great 'O' Antiphons [Intro click here] [Ant. 1] [Ant. 2] [Ant. 3] [Ant. 4] [Ant. 5] [Ant. 6] [Ant. 7]
Latin musical notation and English translation plus audio of Latin chant of each of the 7 “Great ‘O’ Antiphons” that are traditional chanted on seven successive days leading up to Christmas Eve (December 17th to 23rd).
● Advent Prayers (Psalms) for each day of the week [Sun] [Mon] [Tue] [Wed] [Thu] [Fri] [Sat] Specially selected psalms and readings in English, arranged in the typical Divine Office or Breviary format and order.
● Advent Prayers ― standard prayers [click here] A selection of various prayers for Advent
● Christmas Eve Family Ritual [click here] containing (1) The Purpose of Christmas, (2) The Story of St. Jerome Meeting Jesus on Christmas Eve (3) Examination of Conscience, (4) Prayers and Ritual for Family Blessing of the Crib, (5) The Proclamation of Christ's Birth (6) Prayers and Reading for the Lighting of the Christ Candle; (7) Prayers and RItual for Placing Christ in His Manger (8) Liturgical Hymns and Carols; (9) Prayers and Ritual for Eating the Oplatki -- Christmas Wafer Breads; (10) Overnight Vigil Arrangments and Prayers.
► CHRISTMAS DAY & AFTER
● Christmas Day Family Ritual [click here] containing (1) Morning Proclamation of Christ's Birth, (2) Christmas Day Morning Prayers and Angelus; (3) Fifteen Decade Rosary with meditations all on the Nativity, to be scheduled at intervals throughout the day, (4) Day Vigil at the Crib arrangements, (5) The Midday Angelus (6) Prayers and Reading before, during and after the Christmas dinner; (7) The Oplatki custom (8) The Evening Angelus.
● 24 Letter Size (8 x 11 inch) Posters - Christ Comes First in Christmas [click here] Brief informative posters that will help everyone focus on Christ at Christmas
● The Nativity of Our Lord - Eight Hours that Changed the World [click here] The events surrounding the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of His nativity.
● Life of Mary [click here] The sections of Mary’s life that deal with the birth of Christ and the successive events
● Christmas reflections of St. Thomas Aquinas [click here] & Dom Gueranger [click here] Short meditative and informative reflections by two solid authorities of the Church on the subject of Christmas.
● Christmas Prayers (Psalms) for each day of the week [Sun] [Mon] [Tue] [Wed] [Thu] [Fri] [Sat] Specially selected psalms and readings in English, arranged in the typical Divine Office or Breviary format and order.
● The Twelve Days Christmas [Intro] [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] [Day 8] [Day 9] [Day 10] [Day 11] [Day 12] A explanation of the symbols for each day with additional meditative reflections on each day.
● Food for Thought [click here] A recipe for cooking lamb for Christmas, since Christ is the Lamb of God, and the spiritual symbolism of all the ingredients used in the recipe.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #5 ― Prepare Your Christmas Posters and Handouts
● On the downloads page [click here] you will find the JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM poster which can be displayed both prior to and during Christmas.
● Additionally―also on the downloads page [click here]―there is a single file download that contains 24 POSTERS (24 pages) that help keep the focus on Christ at Christmas. Display them in a variety of rooms and perhaps rotate them from time to time.
● More materials for download will be added in the days leading up to Christmas. One such download will contain short character sketches of all the chief personages involved in that very first Christmas―you could assign to each member attending your Christmas celebration one of those personages, who will have to read out aloud the text at some point during the day or evening.
● You could also divide up either the Gospel passages concerning the events at Bethlehem, or take the account from Private Revelation (such as Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich or the Venerable Mary of Agreda) and have that read out aloud be different persons at different times during the day or evening.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #6 ― Prepare Your Christmas Music
This could be a very touchy subject, but, in all reality, there are certain kinds of music that have no place in Christmas celebration that is sincerely trying to celebrate and honor Our Lord’s birth into this world. The presence of such modern music―rock-n-roll, heavy rock, country music, jazz, and other forms of ‘pop’ music―would seem to be out of place in a spiritual celebration. It is like trying to “serve God and mammon” ― and Our Lord said that this is impossible: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Some people will argue against this―but it only shows that they have already made fatal compromises with the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
There is more than enough decent Christmas music available which can be alternated with good classical music―without having to descend to the profane level of modern worldly music. As they say: “By their friends you shall know them!” and “You are what you eat (read, watch, etc.)!” Likewise with music―the music that we love betrays what we are really like.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #7 ― Prepare Your Christmas Celebration Activities
(still to be written--check back later)
PRACTICAL SUGGESTION #8 ― Prepare Your Symbolic Christmas Food and Drink
(still to be written--check back later)
THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Friday December 17th & Saturday December 18th
Article 10
A Blueprint for a Holy Christmas
Not Just "Talking the Talk", but also "Walking the Walk"
Friday December 17th & Saturday December 18th
Article 10
A Blueprint for a Holy Christmas
Not Just "Talking the Talk", but also "Walking the Walk"
Making Christmas Holy
The only true Christmas, or real Christmas, or authentic Christmas, is a holy Christmas―anything other than that is a cheap compromise, a farcical fake, and an insult to God. Unfortunately, we have grown so accustomed to the fake Christmas that we mistake the fake for the real thing! You even have to ask the question: “Has anyone ever experienced a real Christmas?” Most have not―and therefore there is nothing to which they can compare and measure their fake Christmases.
You could liken it to the difference between good wine and olive oil, as compared to cheap wine and olive oil―we choose those elements because Our Lord has chosen them for use in His Sacraments: wine for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (being changed into His Precious Blood during the Sacrifice of the Mass) and olive oil for use in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Extreme-Unction (the Sacrament of the Sick).
There is infinitely more cheap (even bad) wine and olive oil on the market―and very little high quality wine and oil available. Partly, that is because nobody wants to pay a lot for wine and olive oil―and since, as they say, “You get what you pay for!” ― those people want to pay little and they get little quality in return. You can see this mentality reflected in the spiritual life―we are all called to be holy, called to be saints―yet very few people want to be holy and saints are barely to be found.
The general principle is that we should always give God our best―not second best. Sadly, that is not the case these days, nor is it the case during Christmas. We give ourselves the best, and God gets second-best, if even that! If you are not prepared to give God the best―then you will not be prepared to do what will be suggested in this article. It will be “too much” in your opinion, “impossible” to do, it will seem to be “way over the top” and you will complain that nobody in your family will “buy into it”.
Fake Christmases can be likened to fake olive oil. A scientific study found that 7 of the biggest olive oil makers in the USA, mix their items with cheap oils to get more profits. Apparently, 70% of olive oil sold in the U.S. stores is fake―because the olive oil has been mixed with cheaper, inferior oils like canola and sunflower oil! The oil was mixed, colored, perfumed and flavored too! These scams made the University of California to study 124 imported brands of extra virgin olive oil and discovered that more than 70% of the samples did not pass the test.
Similarly, our Christmas―which should be like extra virgin olive oil―have been mixed with cheaper, inferior, secular practices. If God was to study the Christmas practices of all Catholic families, perhaps as many as 99% would not pass the test. Of most Christmases, Our Lord would say: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). How true that is of most Christmases―people give Our Lord some “lip-service”, perhaps going to Mass, perhaps grace before and after meals. Rosary? Unlikely! Spiritual readings at table? Non-existent! Spiritual table talk? You must joking, right? Their hearts are in the secular conversations, the fun, the food and drink, the entertainment and trimmings, decorations and presents that go with it―but Our Lord has no presents! Just as Our Lord found to be the case in the Bethlehem at the time of His birth―people had no time for Him for they were too preoccupied with worldly things during the hustle and bustle of the census that the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had called.
In fact, that is synonymous with small number of souls that are saved [read more on that here]. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
They Have Poisoned Christmas!
Most Catholics have poisoned their Christmas with materialism and secularism―there is little or nothing that is spiritual about their Christmas celebrations. A glass of water is poisonous even if 99% of it is water and the poison is as little as 1% or even less! We are nowhere near having 99% of the spiritual in our Christmas celebrations―and the percentage of worldly poison is not just 1%, but anywhere from 60% to 99%! Just like one single mortal sin will “poison” and kill all the sanctifying grace in your soul―grace that might have been accumulated, hard-earned and growing by a virtuous life for many months. The secular―unless it has been spiritualized (made holy)―invariably “poisons” the spiritual. Our Lord (in Matthew 6:24) clearly said: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (mammon = the pleasures and treasures of the world). The devil is “the prince of this world” and of him Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). The “prince of this world” has pretty much infiltrated and enthroned himself in most Christmas celebrations today―for there is far of the worldly is seen to be on offer, than there is of the spiritual side of things. Our Christless Christmases merit these words of God: “I hate and have rejected your festivities; and I will not receive the odor of your assemblies!” (Amos 5:21).
Time to Turn Things Around!
It is time to turn things around and there is still time before Christmas to turn things around! Yet who will have the courage and humility to do that? “With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26).
The first thing you must do is PRAY. If you are seeking to put Christ back into Christmas, then you need Christ to help you do it. Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing! … Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (John 15:5; Matthew 7:7). Pray for grace to move the minds of those members of the family who mainly manifest a secular spirit during Christmas and avoid the spiritual as much as possible. You also need to do some PENANCE of some kind for the past Christmases that have either disappointed God, or even been an insult to God. Add some SACRIFICES to further ensure the efficacy of the grace that you are praying for.
The second thing to do―if you share a home with others―is to sit down and discuss what Christmas is SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT and then compare it to what Christmas IS USUALLY LIKE. If you cannot and will not admit that you have a vastly inferior product in your home that is being touted and paraded about as being a true Christmas with a real Christmas spirit (which is a spiritual spirit and not a worldly spirit), then nothing will change and you are going nowhere―except into the land of self-deception. If everyone is happy with being non-spiritual and mainly secular and materialistic―then you have a problem on your hands. Rather than enter into human arguments based on human reasoning―turn to Holy Scripture and spiritualize your argument with scriptural quotes such as these:
“He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him! … Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:8-9; 19).
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:31). “Justice” means giving another person his or her due. Honor, glory, adoration, praise and thanksgiving is due to Christ on his birthday―and not just at Mass, but in all the other celebrations too.
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Unfortunately, we do not do things to honor Christ, but we do most things for our own selfish selves: “When you did eat and drink―did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” (Zacharias 7:6). Do not shove God into the closet once Christmas Day Mass is over―that is not a love of God, but an insult to God. Do not spend Christmas Day as thought it was your birthday―it isn’t―it is Christ’s birthday! Let Christ be at the center of all that you do on Christmas Day. If you can’t give Christ all the attention on His birthday, then when ARE you going to do it?
St. Paul warns us that the Chosen People of the Old Testament―even though they were chosen by God―ended up displeasing and offending God: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea … And did all eat the same spiritual food, And all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased … Therefore, do not become idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:1-7). Christmas, for most Catholics, is not a spiritual time, but mainly a time of idolatry of one form or another―with a mere cosmetic powdering of the spiritual here and there―just to keep up appearances, customs and traditions.
Make and Take a New Year’s Resolution
Advent sees the start of the New Year in the Church’s Liturgy―so now is the time to make that resolution and to prove that you have made it by making your Christmas holy in a week’s time! Start as you mean to go on! Take a New Year’s resolution to give God the best―not second-best, third-best or whatever!
At the beginning of Advent, the Church placed before us those awakening words of St. Paul: “Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we came to believe! The night is far advanced; the day is at hand! Let us therefore lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light! Let us walk becomingly as in the day―not in partying and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in arguments and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Romans 13:11-14). Unfortunately, that is what many Christmases have become―partying, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, arguments, jealousy, etc. Elsewhere, St. Paul appropriately adds: “To cast-off, according to former conversation, the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
This Christmas we need to cast-off or throw-out our old versions of Christmas and put-on a new Christmas, which, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth! Otherwise, Our Lord may well say what God said in the Old Testament “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, then I will send poverty upon you and will curse your blessings! Yes, I will curse them―because you have not laid it to heart! Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it!” (Malachias 2:1-3).
The Very Best is Not Pomp and Pageantry
You do not have to be wealthy to cater for Christ at Christmas! Christ prefers simplicity―especially when lavishness does nothing else than distract us away from Christ! He chose to be born―not in a rich palace amongst trappings of wealth, but in humble cave outside the town! This brings to mind the incident where the Byzantine Emperor tried to move the Cross of Christ with much pomp and pageantry. Around 615 AD, a Persian king captured Jerusalem and carried off the relic of the true Cross of Jesus Christ that had been discovered by St. Helena. It stayed with the Persians for roughly 14 years, until Byzantine Emperor Heraclius came and defeated their armies. Heraclius found the relic of Jesus’ cross still preserved and resolved to return it to Jerusalem.
When he neared the gates of Jerusalem he intended to take the cross through the same gate Jesus used on his way to the crucifixion. However, Heraclius wanted to do it with great royal pageantry while riding on his horse. In the process of doing this, something miraculous happened that prevented Heraclius from going through the gate. Suddenly the stones of the gateway fell down and locked together, forming an unbroken wall. To the amazement of everyone, an angel of the Lord, carrying a cross in his hands, appeared above the wall and said: “When the King of Heaven passed through this gate to suffer death, there was no royal pomp. He rode a lowly ass, to leave an example of humility to His worshipers!” With those words the angel vanished. Heraclius was stunned and began to weep. He dismounted his horse and took off every article of royal clothing, expect for his simple undergarment. Then he took the relic of the true cross and walked slowly toward the gate. It instantly returned to its former position and allowed Heraclius to enter Jerusalem.
There is much to learn from this as regards our Christmas preparations! Are all the lavish, costly, time-consuming preparations really being done for Christ? Hardly so! There is largely self in all of this―not Christ! In fact, all of that lavish preparation takes away time from what is even more important―a spiritual preparation. Very few people are truly spiritually prepared for Christmas―and that is why Christmas is usually a spiritual flop!
We would do well to take to heart the words that Our Lord spoke to Sr. Mary of the Trinity: “The most important work is not that which you do, it is that which you allow Me to do among you … Your value does not lie in your personal capabilities, however brilliant they may be, but in your capacity to receive your Creator and allow Him to live and shine through you! … The best gift that you can make Me is to receive Me! … I ask only for love. What are you doing about it? … Have I not exhausted every means to beg for your attention and your gratitude? … What is it that keeps you from loving Me? It is useless thoughts and being interested in others! … Do not allow yourself to become engrossed in your little occupations; they are secondary. They are for your fingers; they are not to monopolize all your thoughts. You remain near Me, but your mind is saturated with mere nothings!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 90).
Alas, is that not a perfect description of ourselves―we pray to God, but our minds are elsewhere; the prayers that we say (but don’t pray) are, more often than not, automatic, routine, mechanical lip-service! We think more about the material preparations for Christmas and very little about the spiritual preparations! That is why our Christmases are like “feathers without the bird”, more like waxwork person than a real person, a hollow egg-shell with nothing inside! Ideally, Christmas should be a time when you can walk away, look back and say: “Christmas was all about Christ―I truly sensed that I grew spiritually closer to Christ this Christmas. There was very little worldliness present that distracted us from Christ. Christ was truly our focal point!”
Preparing a Spiritual Blueprint for Christmas
To have a truly spiritual Christmas, there is no need to schedule anything different to the schedule you already follow. The chief thing to change is eliminate as much of the worldly elements as you can and replace them with spiritual elements. The bottom line or litmus test should be―would we be doing this if Jesus was here? And if Jesus is not there at Christmas―why the heck are you there? It is His birthday after all―and do we not tend to cater to the likes of the person whose birthday it is?
There are several key areas of a Christmas celebration that need to be spiritualized. Usually, the central focus of the day is Christmas Dinner. Before and after that come the flexible and variable “entertainment” periods. Throughout all of these three periods there is the constant conversation that is going on―whether it be at the dinner table, or relaxing before and after the meal. The guests that are invited are for the most part the same guests that come every Christmas―especially on the side of close relatives and close friends. It is likely that everyone is already accustomed to how things will unfold and flow―most people “act the part” that they typically project or what is typically expected of them. You can almost guess in advance the scenarios that will unfold if everyone is their usual selves.
Being Hated for Putting Christ Back into Christmas
Many treat Christmas like a theatrical stage upon which they have to act a part. This betrays a spiritual poverty and hollowness, which takes away from the Christ-centeredness that should be present in Christmas. Everyone is talking about themselves, what they have done, what they have achieved, what they are going to do―with the usual side-dish of complaints about this that the other. One has to have the humility and courage―which can only come from a true love of Christ―to try an extinguish this human pride, self-centeredness, self-projection and self-importance, so as give way to Christ, to give Christ primacy at Christmas.
To achieve this requires squelching all human respect as to what others might think! What Christ thinks is more important than what others think―and, after all, it is HIS birthday and not their birthdays! Feathers will have be ruffled and Our Lord is not averse to ruffling feathers―for He Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
To achieve this will mean pain in one form or another. It will, most likely, draw sarcastic comments, demeaning comments, ridicule and opposition in one way or another. Unbelievably, you will be seen as being some kind of “party-pooper”, a “wet-blanket”, a “holy-roller”, a “fanatic” ― whereas, in reality, you will be merely seeking to make Christ noticed and loved―as we are commanded to do: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
The only true Christmas, or real Christmas, or authentic Christmas, is a holy Christmas―anything other than that is a cheap compromise, a farcical fake, and an insult to God. Unfortunately, we have grown so accustomed to the fake Christmas that we mistake the fake for the real thing! You even have to ask the question: “Has anyone ever experienced a real Christmas?” Most have not―and therefore there is nothing to which they can compare and measure their fake Christmases.
You could liken it to the difference between good wine and olive oil, as compared to cheap wine and olive oil―we choose those elements because Our Lord has chosen them for use in His Sacraments: wine for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (being changed into His Precious Blood during the Sacrifice of the Mass) and olive oil for use in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Extreme-Unction (the Sacrament of the Sick).
There is infinitely more cheap (even bad) wine and olive oil on the market―and very little high quality wine and oil available. Partly, that is because nobody wants to pay a lot for wine and olive oil―and since, as they say, “You get what you pay for!” ― those people want to pay little and they get little quality in return. You can see this mentality reflected in the spiritual life―we are all called to be holy, called to be saints―yet very few people want to be holy and saints are barely to be found.
The general principle is that we should always give God our best―not second best. Sadly, that is not the case these days, nor is it the case during Christmas. We give ourselves the best, and God gets second-best, if even that! If you are not prepared to give God the best―then you will not be prepared to do what will be suggested in this article. It will be “too much” in your opinion, “impossible” to do, it will seem to be “way over the top” and you will complain that nobody in your family will “buy into it”.
Fake Christmases can be likened to fake olive oil. A scientific study found that 7 of the biggest olive oil makers in the USA, mix their items with cheap oils to get more profits. Apparently, 70% of olive oil sold in the U.S. stores is fake―because the olive oil has been mixed with cheaper, inferior oils like canola and sunflower oil! The oil was mixed, colored, perfumed and flavored too! These scams made the University of California to study 124 imported brands of extra virgin olive oil and discovered that more than 70% of the samples did not pass the test.
Similarly, our Christmas―which should be like extra virgin olive oil―have been mixed with cheaper, inferior, secular practices. If God was to study the Christmas practices of all Catholic families, perhaps as many as 99% would not pass the test. Of most Christmases, Our Lord would say: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). How true that is of most Christmases―people give Our Lord some “lip-service”, perhaps going to Mass, perhaps grace before and after meals. Rosary? Unlikely! Spiritual readings at table? Non-existent! Spiritual table talk? You must joking, right? Their hearts are in the secular conversations, the fun, the food and drink, the entertainment and trimmings, decorations and presents that go with it―but Our Lord has no presents! Just as Our Lord found to be the case in the Bethlehem at the time of His birth―people had no time for Him for they were too preoccupied with worldly things during the hustle and bustle of the census that the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had called.
In fact, that is synonymous with small number of souls that are saved [read more on that here]. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
They Have Poisoned Christmas!
Most Catholics have poisoned their Christmas with materialism and secularism―there is little or nothing that is spiritual about their Christmas celebrations. A glass of water is poisonous even if 99% of it is water and the poison is as little as 1% or even less! We are nowhere near having 99% of the spiritual in our Christmas celebrations―and the percentage of worldly poison is not just 1%, but anywhere from 60% to 99%! Just like one single mortal sin will “poison” and kill all the sanctifying grace in your soul―grace that might have been accumulated, hard-earned and growing by a virtuous life for many months. The secular―unless it has been spiritualized (made holy)―invariably “poisons” the spiritual. Our Lord (in Matthew 6:24) clearly said: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (mammon = the pleasures and treasures of the world). The devil is “the prince of this world” and of him Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). The “prince of this world” has pretty much infiltrated and enthroned himself in most Christmas celebrations today―for there is far of the worldly is seen to be on offer, than there is of the spiritual side of things. Our Christless Christmases merit these words of God: “I hate and have rejected your festivities; and I will not receive the odor of your assemblies!” (Amos 5:21).
Time to Turn Things Around!
It is time to turn things around and there is still time before Christmas to turn things around! Yet who will have the courage and humility to do that? “With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26).
The first thing you must do is PRAY. If you are seeking to put Christ back into Christmas, then you need Christ to help you do it. Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing! … Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (John 15:5; Matthew 7:7). Pray for grace to move the minds of those members of the family who mainly manifest a secular spirit during Christmas and avoid the spiritual as much as possible. You also need to do some PENANCE of some kind for the past Christmases that have either disappointed God, or even been an insult to God. Add some SACRIFICES to further ensure the efficacy of the grace that you are praying for.
The second thing to do―if you share a home with others―is to sit down and discuss what Christmas is SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT and then compare it to what Christmas IS USUALLY LIKE. If you cannot and will not admit that you have a vastly inferior product in your home that is being touted and paraded about as being a true Christmas with a real Christmas spirit (which is a spiritual spirit and not a worldly spirit), then nothing will change and you are going nowhere―except into the land of self-deception. If everyone is happy with being non-spiritual and mainly secular and materialistic―then you have a problem on your hands. Rather than enter into human arguments based on human reasoning―turn to Holy Scripture and spiritualize your argument with scriptural quotes such as these:
“He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him! … Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:8-9; 19).
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:31). “Justice” means giving another person his or her due. Honor, glory, adoration, praise and thanksgiving is due to Christ on his birthday―and not just at Mass, but in all the other celebrations too.
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Unfortunately, we do not do things to honor Christ, but we do most things for our own selfish selves: “When you did eat and drink―did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” (Zacharias 7:6). Do not shove God into the closet once Christmas Day Mass is over―that is not a love of God, but an insult to God. Do not spend Christmas Day as thought it was your birthday―it isn’t―it is Christ’s birthday! Let Christ be at the center of all that you do on Christmas Day. If you can’t give Christ all the attention on His birthday, then when ARE you going to do it?
St. Paul warns us that the Chosen People of the Old Testament―even though they were chosen by God―ended up displeasing and offending God: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea … And did all eat the same spiritual food, And all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased … Therefore, do not become idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:1-7). Christmas, for most Catholics, is not a spiritual time, but mainly a time of idolatry of one form or another―with a mere cosmetic powdering of the spiritual here and there―just to keep up appearances, customs and traditions.
Make and Take a New Year’s Resolution
Advent sees the start of the New Year in the Church’s Liturgy―so now is the time to make that resolution and to prove that you have made it by making your Christmas holy in a week’s time! Start as you mean to go on! Take a New Year’s resolution to give God the best―not second-best, third-best or whatever!
At the beginning of Advent, the Church placed before us those awakening words of St. Paul: “Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we came to believe! The night is far advanced; the day is at hand! Let us therefore lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light! Let us walk becomingly as in the day―not in partying and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in arguments and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Romans 13:11-14). Unfortunately, that is what many Christmases have become―partying, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, arguments, jealousy, etc. Elsewhere, St. Paul appropriately adds: “To cast-off, according to former conversation, the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
This Christmas we need to cast-off or throw-out our old versions of Christmas and put-on a new Christmas, which, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth! Otherwise, Our Lord may well say what God said in the Old Testament “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, then I will send poverty upon you and will curse your blessings! Yes, I will curse them―because you have not laid it to heart! Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it!” (Malachias 2:1-3).
The Very Best is Not Pomp and Pageantry
You do not have to be wealthy to cater for Christ at Christmas! Christ prefers simplicity―especially when lavishness does nothing else than distract us away from Christ! He chose to be born―not in a rich palace amongst trappings of wealth, but in humble cave outside the town! This brings to mind the incident where the Byzantine Emperor tried to move the Cross of Christ with much pomp and pageantry. Around 615 AD, a Persian king captured Jerusalem and carried off the relic of the true Cross of Jesus Christ that had been discovered by St. Helena. It stayed with the Persians for roughly 14 years, until Byzantine Emperor Heraclius came and defeated their armies. Heraclius found the relic of Jesus’ cross still preserved and resolved to return it to Jerusalem.
When he neared the gates of Jerusalem he intended to take the cross through the same gate Jesus used on his way to the crucifixion. However, Heraclius wanted to do it with great royal pageantry while riding on his horse. In the process of doing this, something miraculous happened that prevented Heraclius from going through the gate. Suddenly the stones of the gateway fell down and locked together, forming an unbroken wall. To the amazement of everyone, an angel of the Lord, carrying a cross in his hands, appeared above the wall and said: “When the King of Heaven passed through this gate to suffer death, there was no royal pomp. He rode a lowly ass, to leave an example of humility to His worshipers!” With those words the angel vanished. Heraclius was stunned and began to weep. He dismounted his horse and took off every article of royal clothing, expect for his simple undergarment. Then he took the relic of the true cross and walked slowly toward the gate. It instantly returned to its former position and allowed Heraclius to enter Jerusalem.
There is much to learn from this as regards our Christmas preparations! Are all the lavish, costly, time-consuming preparations really being done for Christ? Hardly so! There is largely self in all of this―not Christ! In fact, all of that lavish preparation takes away time from what is even more important―a spiritual preparation. Very few people are truly spiritually prepared for Christmas―and that is why Christmas is usually a spiritual flop!
We would do well to take to heart the words that Our Lord spoke to Sr. Mary of the Trinity: “The most important work is not that which you do, it is that which you allow Me to do among you … Your value does not lie in your personal capabilities, however brilliant they may be, but in your capacity to receive your Creator and allow Him to live and shine through you! … The best gift that you can make Me is to receive Me! … I ask only for love. What are you doing about it? … Have I not exhausted every means to beg for your attention and your gratitude? … What is it that keeps you from loving Me? It is useless thoughts and being interested in others! … Do not allow yourself to become engrossed in your little occupations; they are secondary. They are for your fingers; they are not to monopolize all your thoughts. You remain near Me, but your mind is saturated with mere nothings!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 90).
Alas, is that not a perfect description of ourselves―we pray to God, but our minds are elsewhere; the prayers that we say (but don’t pray) are, more often than not, automatic, routine, mechanical lip-service! We think more about the material preparations for Christmas and very little about the spiritual preparations! That is why our Christmases are like “feathers without the bird”, more like waxwork person than a real person, a hollow egg-shell with nothing inside! Ideally, Christmas should be a time when you can walk away, look back and say: “Christmas was all about Christ―I truly sensed that I grew spiritually closer to Christ this Christmas. There was very little worldliness present that distracted us from Christ. Christ was truly our focal point!”
Preparing a Spiritual Blueprint for Christmas
To have a truly spiritual Christmas, there is no need to schedule anything different to the schedule you already follow. The chief thing to change is eliminate as much of the worldly elements as you can and replace them with spiritual elements. The bottom line or litmus test should be―would we be doing this if Jesus was here? And if Jesus is not there at Christmas―why the heck are you there? It is His birthday after all―and do we not tend to cater to the likes of the person whose birthday it is?
There are several key areas of a Christmas celebration that need to be spiritualized. Usually, the central focus of the day is Christmas Dinner. Before and after that come the flexible and variable “entertainment” periods. Throughout all of these three periods there is the constant conversation that is going on―whether it be at the dinner table, or relaxing before and after the meal. The guests that are invited are for the most part the same guests that come every Christmas―especially on the side of close relatives and close friends. It is likely that everyone is already accustomed to how things will unfold and flow―most people “act the part” that they typically project or what is typically expected of them. You can almost guess in advance the scenarios that will unfold if everyone is their usual selves.
Being Hated for Putting Christ Back into Christmas
Many treat Christmas like a theatrical stage upon which they have to act a part. This betrays a spiritual poverty and hollowness, which takes away from the Christ-centeredness that should be present in Christmas. Everyone is talking about themselves, what they have done, what they have achieved, what they are going to do―with the usual side-dish of complaints about this that the other. One has to have the humility and courage―which can only come from a true love of Christ―to try an extinguish this human pride, self-centeredness, self-projection and self-importance, so as give way to Christ, to give Christ primacy at Christmas.
To achieve this requires squelching all human respect as to what others might think! What Christ thinks is more important than what others think―and, after all, it is HIS birthday and not their birthdays! Feathers will have be ruffled and Our Lord is not averse to ruffling feathers―for He Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
To achieve this will mean pain in one form or another. It will, most likely, draw sarcastic comments, demeaning comments, ridicule and opposition in one way or another. Unbelievably, you will be seen as being some kind of “party-pooper”, a “wet-blanket”, a “holy-roller”, a “fanatic” ― whereas, in reality, you will be merely seeking to make Christ noticed and loved―as we are commanded to do: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Wednesday December 15th & Thursday December 16th
Article 9
Make it a Holy Christmas This Year!
Wednesday December 15th & Thursday December 16th
Article 9
Make it a Holy Christmas This Year!
THE TWO SIDES OF CHRISTMAS: (1) IN THE FAMILY & (2) OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
As they say: “There are two sides to every story!” Likewise, there are two sides to the Christmas story that takes place each and every year in the lives of most people. One side is the family side ― that is to say how each family views, approaches and spends Christmas. The other side is the public side of Christmas ― that is to say how the world at large looks upon, interprets, portrays and spends Christmas. Unfortunately, the influence of the world on the family is far greater than the influence of the family on the world.
Within those two spheres you could also find two sides to the story―one being a religious and spiritual approach to Christmas, and the other being a secular and materialistic approach to Christmas. There are, of course, many who are trying to do what Our Lord said was impossible: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). These “hybrid” Catholics, or “cross-bred” Catholics, or “fence-straddling” Catholics are under the impression that their secular and materialistic Christmases can be religious and spiritual; and that religious and spiritual Christmases can be secular and materialistic. In other words, religious and secular, spiritual and materialistic are interchangeable terms―everyone is welcome to the party, so to speak. Anything goes! Do what makes you happy!
PART ONE : CHRISTMAS IN THE FAMILY
Will it be a Christmas or another Christmess?
It’s Christmas soon! Time off work! Gifts to give and receive! Eating and drinking as much as you like! Seeing friends, family, loved ones! The atmosphere of goodwill and cheer! What is there not to like about Christmas? Well, if you’re a “mammonizer”, then this kind of Christmas is “just what the doctor ordered” (or should that be “devil” instead of “doctor”?). It is the characteristic or trait of the devil to reverse the true value of things. So, even though he might not be able to “kick-out” Christ from Christmas―he will at least try to see Christ relegated to a “bit-part” during Christmas. Instead of seeking―as Christ says―the kingdom of God above all things― “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31)―the devil has us seek the “other things” first and Christ last of all, or he seeks to make us give most of our time to the “other things” and less time to Christ. The above lists of how much time people spend on this, that and the other, in preparing for Christmas, are typical of this satanic reversal of values. If we would only spend as much time preparing for CHRIST’S COMING as we spend time preparing for guests coming, then our life, our family, our world would be a lot different to what it is today.
We have―with the silent background help of the devil’s prompting and prodding―made a mess of Christmas, and so it can justly and fittingly be renamed “Christmess” instead of “Christmas”. Our Christmases might still be “Christmases by name” but they have become “Christmesses by nature”. Christ is barely left in our Christmases, hanging, as it were, by a thread like one of baubles on the Christmas tree. The following news report from the British newspaper, The Guardian, epitomizes the “new born” Christmas of today―what is true over there in England, is (or is becoming) equally true in America and in the rest of the world:
“It’s as traditional as mince pies to lament how Christmas has declined from the heights of a religious festival to the lows of a secular knees-up. The census figures published last week could be read as supporting this diagnosis: non-religion up, Christianity down. But though it’s true that Christmas has changed since the 1980s, and true that it’s a good indicator of our shifting religious complexion, it hasn’t simply secularized. What’s declined is an understanding of Christmas derived from the Reformation of the 16th century. For Reformation-style religion, both Catholic and Protestant, Christianity was a drama of salvation in which each individual played their part. People experienced themselves as helpless sinners who, by throwing themselves on God’s mercy, could be saved. Everyone should repent of their sins and be born again as a member of the body of Christ. At stake was eternal life. Within this frame of reference, Christmas was about Christ. It centered on God incarnate, born in a stable to save us from our sins. It was day of repentance and rejoicing: ‘Peace on Earth and mercy mild/ God and sinners reconciled.’ Of course, there are still some Christians who celebrate Christmas in this way, but it’s not how most people in Britain now do it. They no longer insert their lives into this drama of salvation and no longer worship the Christ-Child as the savior of the world. Instead, Christmas has become a ritual celebration of family life. It’s a time to gather the scattered family unit, renew bonds and forget grievances. Women often orchestrate the proceedings, attempting through gifts, decorations and food, to engender a spirit of warmth and generosity. It’s a drama of kin, not sin. ‘It’s all about the children,’ people say” (The Guardian, UK London).
Christmess and Christstress
The more Christ is removed from Christmas, the more stress comes into our Christmess―so that our Christmess quickly degenerates into a Christstress or Christmess-stress. Today, Christmas is often a source of great stress for many. At least one study suggests that it can literally give you a heart attack. Obviously, many people have good reason to not like Christmas, be it estrangement, or loss of their own family or friends, trauma experienced during the festive period (with all the context cues constantly bringing the unpleasant memories flooding back) and so on. But, if you look at the modern manifestation of Christmas, it turns out there are a surprising number of elements that can, and probably do, lead to an increase in stress, rather than the opposite. Christmas comes with it a particular set of environmental features that could easily combine to tick us off, even if we don’t realize it.
For instance, Christmas (in the northern hemisphere) happens in winter, when the days are shorter and the weather is generally poor. There’s a wealth of data to suggest that the loss of daylight has a negative effect upon our mood, so that’s already an issue. However, consider the following: suggested that mood and well-being in the workplace was correlated with exposure to daylight, but also with general illumination and color. It being too dark, or too bright, caused negative moods, suggesting that an environment that’s generally dark but regularly punctuated with bright lights and garish colors would be the worst option for taxing our brains. Now consider the typical Christmas decorations you encounter everywhere.
It’s not just visual either. Many complain about Christmas songs, leading to a surprising amount of coverage. In truth, familiar songs can often be perceived more positively rather than negatively, but some argue this is only true up to a point, after which something becomes annoying and unpleasant. Given how few of them there are and how often they’re played every year, most Christmas songs undoubtedly passed this point long ago. Furthermore, these Christmas songs―as opposed to Christmas Carols―are focused on empty secular things and glorify emptiness, which we instinctively sense and our conscience finds it revolting―Christmas songs such as: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer ― Frosty The Snowman ― Jingle Bells ― White Christmas ― Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town ― Most Wonderful Time of the Year ― Have A Holly Jolly Christmas ― Winter Wonderland ― Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow ― Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree ― Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas ― Jingle Bell Rock ― Happy Holidays, etc.
What You Sow is What You Reap at Christmas
While it’s nice to think of all the pleasant aspects of Christmas, they don’t just “happen”, or pop out of nowhere because you wished hard enough (despite what many a Christmas film would suggest). Someone must do the legwork in to put it all together. Traditionally it’s mum, or the family matriarch, but whoever ends up bearing the brunt of it is bound to be at risk of greater stress.
Workload and stress are clearly linked, but just because it’s Christmas it doesn’t mean the regular demands of maintaining a household go away. If anything, because of work and school closures and more regular visitors, those demands increase. And heaped on top of this are a number of other duties (decorating, food and gift buying etc), many of which are pretty pricey at a time when money is increasingly tight.
All of this would undeniably combine to create a situation where stress is far more common, not less.
An Unreal Christmas
The traditional image of Christmas is, let’s be honest, incredibly optimistic. Nearly every portrayal shows a cosy cheerful, tastefully decorated home, surrounded by pristine snow, in which a happy family gathers to share a large dinner cooked to picture-postcard perfection.
Sadly, life is just too complex and messy to ever guarantee the mainstream portrayal of a perfect Christmas. And yet, we still expect it. The human tendency to expect the best is the result of a well-known optimism bias, something seemingly inherent in our brains. This, coupled with the planning fallacy (a related phenomenon where we repeatedly underestimate how much time and effort tasks will take despite previous experiences) would lead to many people expecting a fun, pleasant, relaxing Christmas and ending up with a messy, chaotic, stressful one.
Stressing Christmas or Stress in Christmas?
Expectations (and the thwarting of them) can cause a lot of stress. And that’s just at the personal level. These days, social media means we can see how great everyone else is at their Christmas efforts, inducing extra pressure to conform, and even do better to maintain your status in your group/community, because losing it is another cause of stress. So not only do people have to do all the extra work required to make Christmas happen, they also have to keep everyone updated as to the antics of their “Elf on the Shelf” too. No pressure, like.
Families, and even friends, can be a source of stress at Christmas. Not that they mean to be, it’s just that, given enough time, other people are just stressful to be around, if you can’t get away.
Christmas is a time for families, if you’re lucky enough to still be part of one. However, while family support and involvement can often be an important facet of wellbeing, in the short-term your family can be a cause of stress. The obvious example of this is political or cultural clashes caused by generational or even geographical differences, which result in tense atmospheres or furious rows over the dinner table, particularly in these polarized times of Brexit and Trump.
Thing is though, even if there’s no obvious source of disagreement or even conflict, a prolonged period in close quarters with a lot of your family can still be stressful. There’s the relative lack of privacy that comes from having your house full of people, a known cause of stress. There’s also the loss of control as everyone is chipping in or in your face, even if it’s with 100% good intentions. Perceived loss of control is another potent stressor.
There’s also the weird aspect of regression. You return to your childhood home and stay with your parents with your siblings around, it seems like your brain “resets” and reverts to the schemas that governed your behavior and thinking when you were in that context before (which usually bedded in over many years). Trouble is, you’re typically not a teenager any more. You often have your own partner and children with you. So now you’ve got competing perspectives in your head, with your “responsible adult” thinking crashing against the “subservient child” behavior patterns. This causes confusion and uncertainty, yet another source of stress.
Given how stressful Christmas can be, it’s no wonder people quickly resort to stress-reducing acts, namely eating rich food and drinking alcohol. ‘Tis the season, after all. It’s true that high-calorie foods reduce feelings of stress. The same with alcohol. But in both cases, it’s a very short-term fix. Our bodies seem to actually store more fat when we’re stressed, and alcohol consumption can quickly cross the line from “pleasant” to “not pleasant”, leaving us bloated, hung-over, miserable and with a worse state of overall health than when we started. All things that add up to more stress.
This isn’t to say that Christmas is, by default, a hard and stressful time. It can be brilliant, providing all the good things we expect and more. But it’s important to recognize that this isn’t a given, or automatic result. It all requires time, effort and investment. Above all, it requires courage and a lack of human respect to make it a spiritual Christmas. Never mind what people will think! What will Christ think? After all, whose birthday is it? Ignoring this will just make it more stressful in the long run.
PART TWO : CHRISTMAS OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
The Darkness
The commentators of Holy Scripture tell us that God waited until the world was in darkness before giving them the Light that was to be Christ. Christ will be born in the darkest time of the year, when the hours of light are very few and darkness rules most of the day. Christ is also born in the middle of the night. Night is symbolical of evil when the evil ones like to do their work under the secrecy of darkness, as Psalm 103 says: “it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about.” ... “I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and exceedingly strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet” (Daniel 7:7).
Though we look upon Christmas as a season of light, the truth is, the time of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with darkness. The same can be said of Christianity today―it has lost its Light and is wandering around in a spiritual darkness, having preferred the light of materialism. Speaking of the future birth of the Christ Child, centuries beforehand, Isaias says: “The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light―to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen” (Isaias 9:2). It was a time of gloom, anguish, and contempt for religion; a time when the Chosen People of God, once slaves in Egypt and in Babylon, were now enslaved in their own country under Roman rule. God chose a time for the coming of His Son, which would at a low ebb, a time of dejection and despondency, a time of impotence and powerlessness. We can well imagine that we are headed for a “repeat” in our day and age ― whereby Mary will once again introduce Jesus into the world through the promised triumph of her Immaculate Heart.
The People of God Slaves of the World
The second aspect of this darkness was that the Chosen People of God were under the oppressive rule of Rome―just as today we are under the oppressive rule of the Elite and their Totalitarianism and camouflaged Communism (which Our Lady of Fatima warned would take over the entire world). This oppressive rule of Rome is evident from the Gospel of St. Luke (2:1), which records the census taken up by Caesar Augustus. It was a blatant reminder that the people of Israel were owned by someone else―and today we are owned by someone else too! Likewise, Herod, a descendent of Edom (therefore a Gentile and a non-Jew), ruled in Jerusalem. Long gone were the days of a Davidic king. Soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem; Roman guards, called to police the city of David.
In some ways, Israel had escaped exile. No longer did they live in Egypt or Babylon. But in many ways, they were exiles in their own country. Even their own temple was built by a foreigner—Herod the Great was a descendent of a rival nation. Political darkness reigned!
Internal Arguments and Fighting
The third aspect of darkness was that the nation of Israel was breaking-up. Four groups in Israel sought and fought to lead the people.
(1) The Pharisees resided in Jerusalem. They attempted to shape religious life in Israel through their traditions. Jesus had many run-ins with these legalistic Jews, who led astray the people of God (cf. Matthew 23).
(2) Sadducees opposed the strict legalism of the Pharisees, and only embraced Moses law (the Torah, or the five first books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy). They rejected the resurrection, belief in angels, but still had an influential place in the temple and law courts.
(3) The Essenes, who lived in a commune near Qumran―they were the scribes who penned and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls―lived an especially pure life. They devoted themselves to God, and prayed for God’s overthrow of Rome.
(4) The Zealots were a band of brothers who did not pray for change so much as they sought violent means of overthrowing Roman rule.
The result of these four competing sects in Judaism led to constant friction, only increased by the oppressive rule of Rome. Riots were common. Tension was unceasing. Darkness permeated Judaism. We are seeing similarities today with various factions warring against each other―each having their own brand of politics and own brand of religion. In religion, the clergy has become increasing Liberal, Modernist and corrupt―just as the Sadducees (the priests of Our Lord’s day). The Conservatives and Traditionalists are somewhat like the Pharisees―who tried to maintain, uphold and preserve the traditions of the Jewish religion and its law. The so-called “Resistance” ― an offshoot from Traditional Catholicism could be said to embrace both the Essenes (focused on spiritually trying to remedy the crisis in the Church and world) and the Zealots (focused more on action than prayer, in overcoming those crises).
What Goes Around Comes Around
Does that bear some resemblance to our day? You bet it does! And just as Mary was needed to bring Christ into their darkness way back then; so too is Mary necessary to bring Christ into our darkness today. Mary came before Jesus over 2,000 years ago; Mary must come again before Jesus in our darkness today. She is the Mother who gives the world her Child, without her, we will receive nothing. That is why we are, by God’s Providence, currently living what is called “The Age of Mary”—which began with Our Lady’s apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830 and which will ends its period of gestation or pregnancy with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why God wishes to establish, in the world, devotion to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. The knocking on the doors of the houses of Bethlehem is taking place all over again, as Mary seeks entrance into our minds, hearts and lives, in order to give birth to the Light of World into our own pervading darkness. Will we open the door? Will we let her in with her Child? Here is what St. John says of those to whom Christ tried to come over 2,000 years ago:
“In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:4-11).
Yet as the people of Bethlehem were preoccupied with themselves and their poor worldliness, and so refused entrance to Mary, today we find the modern world is doing the same thing. Just as it was around four centuries since the word of God was properly heard among the Israelites, so too we have over four centuries since the Protestant Revolution had been fully born in Europe by the end of the Sixteenth Century and at the start of the 1600’s. Likewise, as the Jews found several factions battling among themselves for the control of the people (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots), so too we have the Traditionalists, Conservatives, Liberals and Modernists fighting to control the Church today. Similarly, as the Jerusalem saw herself under Roman occupation, the New Jerusalem, the Church, finds herself today occupied also, as, in the words of Pope Paul VI, the smoke of Satan has entered into the Church. Today we have our own darkness as the Jews had theirs 2,000 years ago. Satan has also long since entered into politics―and we can see Satan rearing his ugly head right now, in the satanic crisis he has concocted through his human minions and worshipers. What will our response be to the solution that God sends? We will accept it, or carry on doing our own thing and reject it?
PART THREE: PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS
How to Make Christmas Holy Again (Or for the First Time Ever)
We can get used to being failures. Repetitive failure deadens or anesthetizes the shock and shame of failure. It is much like some mortal sin that might plague our lives―the first time someone commits a mortal sin, they are truly shocked, stupefied and shamed. Yet, with each successive sin, that shock and shame gradually melts and withers away―to the point where mortal sin no longer seems to be that big of a deal.
The same is true for Christmas. Once upon a time, perhaps we had an ideal for Christmas that was truly spiritual―yet with time, that ideal has probably been eroded year after year by unwanted incursions of worldliness and materialistic values that increasingly focused upon the physical, material, entertaining and culinary aspects of Christmas, to the detriment of the spiritual aspects of Christmas―sometimes to the point that after leaving church on Christmas Day, no more prayers are said all day long! What is even worse is that any attempt to re-spiritualize Christmas is looked upon by many in the family as some kind of fanatical idea coming from an over-pious “holy roller” who is out of touch with reality! Such a person is quickly put in their place with a series of sardonic, sarcastic and scathing remarks―and then the materialistic Christmas goes ahead as usual.
How long will Christ tolerate our Christless Christmases? The words of Our Lord’s parable about the barren fig tree could well be applied to our barren or Christless Christmases: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down, therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?” But he, answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it! And, perhaps happily it bear fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-9). You could transpose that to our barren Christmases, with Christ saying: “For years I have come to this family at Christmas, seeking spiritual fruit―but I find none! Why should I let them waste my time? I shall cut them down!” In fact, the Lord has cut-down Christmas in a sense, for if you remember, many parts of the world were forced into a Christmas lockdown due to the Plannedemic in December of 2020. It looks like we are shaping up for another repeat Christmas lockdown this year―as the “powers that be” and the puppet “mainstream media” hype up the dangers of the “new kid on the block” of viruses―Omicron (which, if you rearrange the letters, also spells out the word “Moronic.” A “moron” is appropriately defined as “a stupid person”).
Put On Christ for Christmas
The words of St. Paul that were read in the liturgy at the opening of Advent, were meant for us: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in partying and drunkenness, not in sexual liaisons and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:11-14). We need to wake-up and rise from our “spiritual sleep” and get busy with providing Our Lord with a suitable atmosphere in our homes for HIS birthday! Yet most people prepare as though it was going to be THEIR OWN birthday, rather than the birthday of Christ! St. Paul warns against what we see in most Christmas celebrations―partying, drunkenness, lustful thoughts, impure talk and actions, arguments, envy, etc. ― all of which is served-up as your typical Christmas fare.
Advent is a time of preparation for, as St. Paul says, the “putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ” ― so that Christmas can truly be a “family” gathering of “little Christians” or “brothers and sisters in Christ”. Christ wants to see Himself reflected in those who call themselves “Christians”. That is the garment that we should be preparing during Advent―which is meant to be a time of self-examination, of correction and confession; a time of serious spiritual renewal and rejuvenation, a time of spiritual betterment and improvement, a time of re-assessing our motives and values, a time of preparing the soil of our soul to receive the seed of sanctity that our Savior wants to sow.
It is not a frivolous time; it is not a time of worldly worry over the material and social side of Christmas. It was this material preoccupation at the lucrative time of the Emperor Caesar Augustus’ census and the ‘tourist’ swelling of Bethlehem as people returned to register, that blinded the Bethlehemites to the True Treasure that had arrived on their doorsteps disguised as poverty and hidden in Mary’s womb.
They thought they were rich, but in reality they were very poor. They thought Mary and Joseph were poor, but they were the richest people in Heaven and Earth. They carried the only thing that really matters; the Bethlehemites sought many things but missed the one essential thing.
When we total up the man-hours spent on the material and social side of Advent and its successor, Christmas, and then compare it to the man-hours that will have been spent on the spiritual side of Advent and Christmas, then I think most people would have to blush with shame—as they will on Judgment Day. For we risk the King saying to us: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in: naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me” (Matthew 25:41-43).
Harsh? Well, Our Lord complained of the lukewarmness, indifference, coldness and sacrilege of many souls to St. Margaret Mary, in His apparitions to her from 1673-1675: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men … in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt!”
It was also in the 17th century that Our Lady of Good Success complained of and condemned lukewarmness: “Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Cramming for Christmas?
How on earth can we “rebuild” our Christmas? As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!” ― and neither can you prepare for Christmas in a day. When taking an exam, you should be preparing a long time beforehand―and not “cramming” the night before. God prepared for the very first Christmas―the birth of His only-begotten Son―thousands of years beforehand. As Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
The person who puts-off studying for the exam to the very last minute and then crams all night to learn the essential material, clearly manifests a lack of respect and love for the subject he or she is supposed to be studying. The same is true for the spiritual life in general, and Christmas in particular. There are too many Catholics who either arrive late for Mass; make no solid and sincere preparation for Holy Communion; devote little or no time to a heartfelt thanksgiving after Holy Communion and after Mass; make no thorough examination of conscience before Confession; make no real and solid efforts to amend their lives so as to avoid in the future the sins that they confess in the present; make no time for studying, learning and understanding the Faith, etc. Such persons manifest a lack of respect and love for the Faith and the treasures that the Faith offers them. Such an attitude carries over into the liturgical year in general and Christmas in particular. A spiritual Christmas is thought of as being a boring Christmas, in comparison to worldly materialistic Christmas offered by the neo-pagan world. To a person raised on “junk-food”, good healthy food is unpalatable. Likewise, to a person raised upon worldliness and materialism, a spiritual Christmas tastes revolting. Most people would “draw a blank” if they were asked how Christmas could be spiritualized.
Rebuilding Christmas
There are several problems to overcome before we can “rebuild” and truly sanctify our Christmas celebrations. The first is our spiritual poverty which manifests itself by an ignorance on how to inject spirituality into Christmas. For most people, their spirituality is shallow―because they do little spiritual reading and even less meditation (which are the principal tools and fountains for a deep spirituality). The Rosary is too often “said” and not “prayed” ― whereby “saying the Rosary” means merely saying the prayers without any further reflection; whereas “praying the Rosary” means, not only saying the prayers, but also meditating upon the mysteries. But if your knowledge of the mysteries is shallow ― through lack of spiritual reading ― then your meditation has no “gas” or “electricity” on which to function; you “dry-up” in no time at all! In fact, most people prefer to say it rather than pray it.
► DO WE REALLY WANT A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? The first problem might be on the level of our will. Do we really want a spiritual Christmas? Or are we content with status quo of “marriage” between a Christian Christmas and a worldly Christmas? There should only be one answer to that, since Holy Scripture clearly states that there can be no “marriage” between the Faith and the world, between God or Christ and the prince of the world, Satan. The following verses from Holy Scripture should be mandatory reading as preparation for the approaching season of Christmas―for many Catholics need to detoxify themselves of the worldly spirit if there is to be any hope of rebuilding Christmas.
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit” (Romans 8:5). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
So before going any further―you need to ask yourself: “Do I really want a spiritual Christmas? Or am I prepared to be an adulterer this Christmas?” For Scripture says: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
► DO WE HAVE THE CAPACITY TO CREATE A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? The second potential problem that might prevent us from rebuilding Christmas is in the domain of our intellect and concerns our spiritual poverty―which manifests itself by an ignorance on how to inject spirituality into Christmas. We might really want to have a truly spiritual Christmas―but we don’t know how to achieve it! For most people, their knowledge of the Faith and their level of spirituality is shallow―because they do little spiritual reading and even less meditation (which are the principal tools and fountains for a deep spirituality). The Rosary is too often “said” and not “prayed” ― whereby “saying the Rosary” means merely saying the prayers without any further reflection; whereas “praying the Rosary” means, not only saying the prayers, but also meditating upon the mysteries. But if your knowledge of the mysteries is shallow ― through lack of spiritual reading ― then your meditation has no “gas” or “electricity” on which to function; you “dry-up” in no time at all! In fact, most people prefer to say it rather than pray it. All of this creates a negative attitude towards true spirituality―producing people who prefer to “fast-track” the spiritual so that they can all the sooner arrive at the materialistic.
A second aspect of this lack of capacity to create a spiritual Christmas stems from our spiritual and intellectual poverty. This second factor is that of having to overcome family opposition to any desire to spiritualize Christmas―whether it be from spouses, children or relatives (as well as friends). Our spiritual and intellectual poverty handicaps our efforts to improve Christmas because we are unable to express and explain the need and are unable to convince others of that need.
► EMOTIONAL CONFLICT AND EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS. The lack of spirituality and knowledge, combined with an inability to organize and convince others, leads to emotional conflict and emotional outbursts. Emotions seem to have replaced intelligence these days―not because emotions are superior to intelligence, but because intelligence has withered away and has been “dumbed-down”. The emotions are more about “feeling”, while intelligence is more about “thinking”. When intelligence is blind, then, just like a blind person, you “feel” your way around because you cannot see. The less we think, the more emotional we become. Emotion often becomes a cheap substitute for lack of intelligence―if you cannot debate with a person, then you can at least insult, demean, put down that person. That is where we are headed these days.
A Christmas Blueprint
With all these difficulties in mind―and presuming that you really do want a spiritual Christmas and while there is still just over a week to go till Christmas―the next article will try to present a blueprint for spiritual Christmas and point you in the right direction for trying to achieve it. The caveat, nevertheless, is that it won’t be easy―since hardly anyone wants to be spiritual, least of all the devils, and they will fight tooth and nail to prevent you from having a spiritual Christmas. So on to the next article…
As they say: “There are two sides to every story!” Likewise, there are two sides to the Christmas story that takes place each and every year in the lives of most people. One side is the family side ― that is to say how each family views, approaches and spends Christmas. The other side is the public side of Christmas ― that is to say how the world at large looks upon, interprets, portrays and spends Christmas. Unfortunately, the influence of the world on the family is far greater than the influence of the family on the world.
Within those two spheres you could also find two sides to the story―one being a religious and spiritual approach to Christmas, and the other being a secular and materialistic approach to Christmas. There are, of course, many who are trying to do what Our Lord said was impossible: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). These “hybrid” Catholics, or “cross-bred” Catholics, or “fence-straddling” Catholics are under the impression that their secular and materialistic Christmases can be religious and spiritual; and that religious and spiritual Christmases can be secular and materialistic. In other words, religious and secular, spiritual and materialistic are interchangeable terms―everyone is welcome to the party, so to speak. Anything goes! Do what makes you happy!
PART ONE : CHRISTMAS IN THE FAMILY
Will it be a Christmas or another Christmess?
It’s Christmas soon! Time off work! Gifts to give and receive! Eating and drinking as much as you like! Seeing friends, family, loved ones! The atmosphere of goodwill and cheer! What is there not to like about Christmas? Well, if you’re a “mammonizer”, then this kind of Christmas is “just what the doctor ordered” (or should that be “devil” instead of “doctor”?). It is the characteristic or trait of the devil to reverse the true value of things. So, even though he might not be able to “kick-out” Christ from Christmas―he will at least try to see Christ relegated to a “bit-part” during Christmas. Instead of seeking―as Christ says―the kingdom of God above all things― “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31)―the devil has us seek the “other things” first and Christ last of all, or he seeks to make us give most of our time to the “other things” and less time to Christ. The above lists of how much time people spend on this, that and the other, in preparing for Christmas, are typical of this satanic reversal of values. If we would only spend as much time preparing for CHRIST’S COMING as we spend time preparing for guests coming, then our life, our family, our world would be a lot different to what it is today.
We have―with the silent background help of the devil’s prompting and prodding―made a mess of Christmas, and so it can justly and fittingly be renamed “Christmess” instead of “Christmas”. Our Christmases might still be “Christmases by name” but they have become “Christmesses by nature”. Christ is barely left in our Christmases, hanging, as it were, by a thread like one of baubles on the Christmas tree. The following news report from the British newspaper, The Guardian, epitomizes the “new born” Christmas of today―what is true over there in England, is (or is becoming) equally true in America and in the rest of the world:
“It’s as traditional as mince pies to lament how Christmas has declined from the heights of a religious festival to the lows of a secular knees-up. The census figures published last week could be read as supporting this diagnosis: non-religion up, Christianity down. But though it’s true that Christmas has changed since the 1980s, and true that it’s a good indicator of our shifting religious complexion, it hasn’t simply secularized. What’s declined is an understanding of Christmas derived from the Reformation of the 16th century. For Reformation-style religion, both Catholic and Protestant, Christianity was a drama of salvation in which each individual played their part. People experienced themselves as helpless sinners who, by throwing themselves on God’s mercy, could be saved. Everyone should repent of their sins and be born again as a member of the body of Christ. At stake was eternal life. Within this frame of reference, Christmas was about Christ. It centered on God incarnate, born in a stable to save us from our sins. It was day of repentance and rejoicing: ‘Peace on Earth and mercy mild/ God and sinners reconciled.’ Of course, there are still some Christians who celebrate Christmas in this way, but it’s not how most people in Britain now do it. They no longer insert their lives into this drama of salvation and no longer worship the Christ-Child as the savior of the world. Instead, Christmas has become a ritual celebration of family life. It’s a time to gather the scattered family unit, renew bonds and forget grievances. Women often orchestrate the proceedings, attempting through gifts, decorations and food, to engender a spirit of warmth and generosity. It’s a drama of kin, not sin. ‘It’s all about the children,’ people say” (The Guardian, UK London).
Christmess and Christstress
The more Christ is removed from Christmas, the more stress comes into our Christmess―so that our Christmess quickly degenerates into a Christstress or Christmess-stress. Today, Christmas is often a source of great stress for many. At least one study suggests that it can literally give you a heart attack. Obviously, many people have good reason to not like Christmas, be it estrangement, or loss of their own family or friends, trauma experienced during the festive period (with all the context cues constantly bringing the unpleasant memories flooding back) and so on. But, if you look at the modern manifestation of Christmas, it turns out there are a surprising number of elements that can, and probably do, lead to an increase in stress, rather than the opposite. Christmas comes with it a particular set of environmental features that could easily combine to tick us off, even if we don’t realize it.
For instance, Christmas (in the northern hemisphere) happens in winter, when the days are shorter and the weather is generally poor. There’s a wealth of data to suggest that the loss of daylight has a negative effect upon our mood, so that’s already an issue. However, consider the following: suggested that mood and well-being in the workplace was correlated with exposure to daylight, but also with general illumination and color. It being too dark, or too bright, caused negative moods, suggesting that an environment that’s generally dark but regularly punctuated with bright lights and garish colors would be the worst option for taxing our brains. Now consider the typical Christmas decorations you encounter everywhere.
It’s not just visual either. Many complain about Christmas songs, leading to a surprising amount of coverage. In truth, familiar songs can often be perceived more positively rather than negatively, but some argue this is only true up to a point, after which something becomes annoying and unpleasant. Given how few of them there are and how often they’re played every year, most Christmas songs undoubtedly passed this point long ago. Furthermore, these Christmas songs―as opposed to Christmas Carols―are focused on empty secular things and glorify emptiness, which we instinctively sense and our conscience finds it revolting―Christmas songs such as: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer ― Frosty The Snowman ― Jingle Bells ― White Christmas ― Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town ― Most Wonderful Time of the Year ― Have A Holly Jolly Christmas ― Winter Wonderland ― Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow ― Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree ― Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas ― Jingle Bell Rock ― Happy Holidays, etc.
What You Sow is What You Reap at Christmas
While it’s nice to think of all the pleasant aspects of Christmas, they don’t just “happen”, or pop out of nowhere because you wished hard enough (despite what many a Christmas film would suggest). Someone must do the legwork in to put it all together. Traditionally it’s mum, or the family matriarch, but whoever ends up bearing the brunt of it is bound to be at risk of greater stress.
Workload and stress are clearly linked, but just because it’s Christmas it doesn’t mean the regular demands of maintaining a household go away. If anything, because of work and school closures and more regular visitors, those demands increase. And heaped on top of this are a number of other duties (decorating, food and gift buying etc), many of which are pretty pricey at a time when money is increasingly tight.
All of this would undeniably combine to create a situation where stress is far more common, not less.
An Unreal Christmas
The traditional image of Christmas is, let’s be honest, incredibly optimistic. Nearly every portrayal shows a cosy cheerful, tastefully decorated home, surrounded by pristine snow, in which a happy family gathers to share a large dinner cooked to picture-postcard perfection.
Sadly, life is just too complex and messy to ever guarantee the mainstream portrayal of a perfect Christmas. And yet, we still expect it. The human tendency to expect the best is the result of a well-known optimism bias, something seemingly inherent in our brains. This, coupled with the planning fallacy (a related phenomenon where we repeatedly underestimate how much time and effort tasks will take despite previous experiences) would lead to many people expecting a fun, pleasant, relaxing Christmas and ending up with a messy, chaotic, stressful one.
Stressing Christmas or Stress in Christmas?
Expectations (and the thwarting of them) can cause a lot of stress. And that’s just at the personal level. These days, social media means we can see how great everyone else is at their Christmas efforts, inducing extra pressure to conform, and even do better to maintain your status in your group/community, because losing it is another cause of stress. So not only do people have to do all the extra work required to make Christmas happen, they also have to keep everyone updated as to the antics of their “Elf on the Shelf” too. No pressure, like.
Families, and even friends, can be a source of stress at Christmas. Not that they mean to be, it’s just that, given enough time, other people are just stressful to be around, if you can’t get away.
Christmas is a time for families, if you’re lucky enough to still be part of one. However, while family support and involvement can often be an important facet of wellbeing, in the short-term your family can be a cause of stress. The obvious example of this is political or cultural clashes caused by generational or even geographical differences, which result in tense atmospheres or furious rows over the dinner table, particularly in these polarized times of Brexit and Trump.
Thing is though, even if there’s no obvious source of disagreement or even conflict, a prolonged period in close quarters with a lot of your family can still be stressful. There’s the relative lack of privacy that comes from having your house full of people, a known cause of stress. There’s also the loss of control as everyone is chipping in or in your face, even if it’s with 100% good intentions. Perceived loss of control is another potent stressor.
There’s also the weird aspect of regression. You return to your childhood home and stay with your parents with your siblings around, it seems like your brain “resets” and reverts to the schemas that governed your behavior and thinking when you were in that context before (which usually bedded in over many years). Trouble is, you’re typically not a teenager any more. You often have your own partner and children with you. So now you’ve got competing perspectives in your head, with your “responsible adult” thinking crashing against the “subservient child” behavior patterns. This causes confusion and uncertainty, yet another source of stress.
Given how stressful Christmas can be, it’s no wonder people quickly resort to stress-reducing acts, namely eating rich food and drinking alcohol. ‘Tis the season, after all. It’s true that high-calorie foods reduce feelings of stress. The same with alcohol. But in both cases, it’s a very short-term fix. Our bodies seem to actually store more fat when we’re stressed, and alcohol consumption can quickly cross the line from “pleasant” to “not pleasant”, leaving us bloated, hung-over, miserable and with a worse state of overall health than when we started. All things that add up to more stress.
This isn’t to say that Christmas is, by default, a hard and stressful time. It can be brilliant, providing all the good things we expect and more. But it’s important to recognize that this isn’t a given, or automatic result. It all requires time, effort and investment. Above all, it requires courage and a lack of human respect to make it a spiritual Christmas. Never mind what people will think! What will Christ think? After all, whose birthday is it? Ignoring this will just make it more stressful in the long run.
PART TWO : CHRISTMAS OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
The Darkness
The commentators of Holy Scripture tell us that God waited until the world was in darkness before giving them the Light that was to be Christ. Christ will be born in the darkest time of the year, when the hours of light are very few and darkness rules most of the day. Christ is also born in the middle of the night. Night is symbolical of evil when the evil ones like to do their work under the secrecy of darkness, as Psalm 103 says: “it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about.” ... “I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and exceedingly strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet” (Daniel 7:7).
Though we look upon Christmas as a season of light, the truth is, the time of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with darkness. The same can be said of Christianity today―it has lost its Light and is wandering around in a spiritual darkness, having preferred the light of materialism. Speaking of the future birth of the Christ Child, centuries beforehand, Isaias says: “The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light―to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen” (Isaias 9:2). It was a time of gloom, anguish, and contempt for religion; a time when the Chosen People of God, once slaves in Egypt and in Babylon, were now enslaved in their own country under Roman rule. God chose a time for the coming of His Son, which would at a low ebb, a time of dejection and despondency, a time of impotence and powerlessness. We can well imagine that we are headed for a “repeat” in our day and age ― whereby Mary will once again introduce Jesus into the world through the promised triumph of her Immaculate Heart.
The People of God Slaves of the World
The second aspect of this darkness was that the Chosen People of God were under the oppressive rule of Rome―just as today we are under the oppressive rule of the Elite and their Totalitarianism and camouflaged Communism (which Our Lady of Fatima warned would take over the entire world). This oppressive rule of Rome is evident from the Gospel of St. Luke (2:1), which records the census taken up by Caesar Augustus. It was a blatant reminder that the people of Israel were owned by someone else―and today we are owned by someone else too! Likewise, Herod, a descendent of Edom (therefore a Gentile and a non-Jew), ruled in Jerusalem. Long gone were the days of a Davidic king. Soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem; Roman guards, called to police the city of David.
In some ways, Israel had escaped exile. No longer did they live in Egypt or Babylon. But in many ways, they were exiles in their own country. Even their own temple was built by a foreigner—Herod the Great was a descendent of a rival nation. Political darkness reigned!
Internal Arguments and Fighting
The third aspect of darkness was that the nation of Israel was breaking-up. Four groups in Israel sought and fought to lead the people.
(1) The Pharisees resided in Jerusalem. They attempted to shape religious life in Israel through their traditions. Jesus had many run-ins with these legalistic Jews, who led astray the people of God (cf. Matthew 23).
(2) Sadducees opposed the strict legalism of the Pharisees, and only embraced Moses law (the Torah, or the five first books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy). They rejected the resurrection, belief in angels, but still had an influential place in the temple and law courts.
(3) The Essenes, who lived in a commune near Qumran―they were the scribes who penned and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls―lived an especially pure life. They devoted themselves to God, and prayed for God’s overthrow of Rome.
(4) The Zealots were a band of brothers who did not pray for change so much as they sought violent means of overthrowing Roman rule.
The result of these four competing sects in Judaism led to constant friction, only increased by the oppressive rule of Rome. Riots were common. Tension was unceasing. Darkness permeated Judaism. We are seeing similarities today with various factions warring against each other―each having their own brand of politics and own brand of religion. In religion, the clergy has become increasing Liberal, Modernist and corrupt―just as the Sadducees (the priests of Our Lord’s day). The Conservatives and Traditionalists are somewhat like the Pharisees―who tried to maintain, uphold and preserve the traditions of the Jewish religion and its law. The so-called “Resistance” ― an offshoot from Traditional Catholicism could be said to embrace both the Essenes (focused on spiritually trying to remedy the crisis in the Church and world) and the Zealots (focused more on action than prayer, in overcoming those crises).
What Goes Around Comes Around
Does that bear some resemblance to our day? You bet it does! And just as Mary was needed to bring Christ into their darkness way back then; so too is Mary necessary to bring Christ into our darkness today. Mary came before Jesus over 2,000 years ago; Mary must come again before Jesus in our darkness today. She is the Mother who gives the world her Child, without her, we will receive nothing. That is why we are, by God’s Providence, currently living what is called “The Age of Mary”—which began with Our Lady’s apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830 and which will ends its period of gestation or pregnancy with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why God wishes to establish, in the world, devotion to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. The knocking on the doors of the houses of Bethlehem is taking place all over again, as Mary seeks entrance into our minds, hearts and lives, in order to give birth to the Light of World into our own pervading darkness. Will we open the door? Will we let her in with her Child? Here is what St. John says of those to whom Christ tried to come over 2,000 years ago:
“In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:4-11).
Yet as the people of Bethlehem were preoccupied with themselves and their poor worldliness, and so refused entrance to Mary, today we find the modern world is doing the same thing. Just as it was around four centuries since the word of God was properly heard among the Israelites, so too we have over four centuries since the Protestant Revolution had been fully born in Europe by the end of the Sixteenth Century and at the start of the 1600’s. Likewise, as the Jews found several factions battling among themselves for the control of the people (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots), so too we have the Traditionalists, Conservatives, Liberals and Modernists fighting to control the Church today. Similarly, as the Jerusalem saw herself under Roman occupation, the New Jerusalem, the Church, finds herself today occupied also, as, in the words of Pope Paul VI, the smoke of Satan has entered into the Church. Today we have our own darkness as the Jews had theirs 2,000 years ago. Satan has also long since entered into politics―and we can see Satan rearing his ugly head right now, in the satanic crisis he has concocted through his human minions and worshipers. What will our response be to the solution that God sends? We will accept it, or carry on doing our own thing and reject it?
PART THREE: PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS
How to Make Christmas Holy Again (Or for the First Time Ever)
We can get used to being failures. Repetitive failure deadens or anesthetizes the shock and shame of failure. It is much like some mortal sin that might plague our lives―the first time someone commits a mortal sin, they are truly shocked, stupefied and shamed. Yet, with each successive sin, that shock and shame gradually melts and withers away―to the point where mortal sin no longer seems to be that big of a deal.
The same is true for Christmas. Once upon a time, perhaps we had an ideal for Christmas that was truly spiritual―yet with time, that ideal has probably been eroded year after year by unwanted incursions of worldliness and materialistic values that increasingly focused upon the physical, material, entertaining and culinary aspects of Christmas, to the detriment of the spiritual aspects of Christmas―sometimes to the point that after leaving church on Christmas Day, no more prayers are said all day long! What is even worse is that any attempt to re-spiritualize Christmas is looked upon by many in the family as some kind of fanatical idea coming from an over-pious “holy roller” who is out of touch with reality! Such a person is quickly put in their place with a series of sardonic, sarcastic and scathing remarks―and then the materialistic Christmas goes ahead as usual.
How long will Christ tolerate our Christless Christmases? The words of Our Lord’s parable about the barren fig tree could well be applied to our barren or Christless Christmases: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down, therefore! Why is it encumbering the ground?” But he, answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it! And, perhaps happily it bear fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-9). You could transpose that to our barren Christmases, with Christ saying: “For years I have come to this family at Christmas, seeking spiritual fruit―but I find none! Why should I let them waste my time? I shall cut them down!” In fact, the Lord has cut-down Christmas in a sense, for if you remember, many parts of the world were forced into a Christmas lockdown due to the Plannedemic in December of 2020. It looks like we are shaping up for another repeat Christmas lockdown this year―as the “powers that be” and the puppet “mainstream media” hype up the dangers of the “new kid on the block” of viruses―Omicron (which, if you rearrange the letters, also spells out the word “Moronic.” A “moron” is appropriately defined as “a stupid person”).
Put On Christ for Christmas
The words of St. Paul that were read in the liturgy at the opening of Advent, were meant for us: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in partying and drunkenness, not in sexual liaisons and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:11-14). We need to wake-up and rise from our “spiritual sleep” and get busy with providing Our Lord with a suitable atmosphere in our homes for HIS birthday! Yet most people prepare as though it was going to be THEIR OWN birthday, rather than the birthday of Christ! St. Paul warns against what we see in most Christmas celebrations―partying, drunkenness, lustful thoughts, impure talk and actions, arguments, envy, etc. ― all of which is served-up as your typical Christmas fare.
Advent is a time of preparation for, as St. Paul says, the “putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ” ― so that Christmas can truly be a “family” gathering of “little Christians” or “brothers and sisters in Christ”. Christ wants to see Himself reflected in those who call themselves “Christians”. That is the garment that we should be preparing during Advent―which is meant to be a time of self-examination, of correction and confession; a time of serious spiritual renewal and rejuvenation, a time of spiritual betterment and improvement, a time of re-assessing our motives and values, a time of preparing the soil of our soul to receive the seed of sanctity that our Savior wants to sow.
It is not a frivolous time; it is not a time of worldly worry over the material and social side of Christmas. It was this material preoccupation at the lucrative time of the Emperor Caesar Augustus’ census and the ‘tourist’ swelling of Bethlehem as people returned to register, that blinded the Bethlehemites to the True Treasure that had arrived on their doorsteps disguised as poverty and hidden in Mary’s womb.
They thought they were rich, but in reality they were very poor. They thought Mary and Joseph were poor, but they were the richest people in Heaven and Earth. They carried the only thing that really matters; the Bethlehemites sought many things but missed the one essential thing.
When we total up the man-hours spent on the material and social side of Advent and its successor, Christmas, and then compare it to the man-hours that will have been spent on the spiritual side of Advent and Christmas, then I think most people would have to blush with shame—as they will on Judgment Day. For we risk the King saying to us: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in: naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me” (Matthew 25:41-43).
Harsh? Well, Our Lord complained of the lukewarmness, indifference, coldness and sacrilege of many souls to St. Margaret Mary, in His apparitions to her from 1673-1675: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men … in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt!”
It was also in the 17th century that Our Lady of Good Success complained of and condemned lukewarmness: “Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Cramming for Christmas?
How on earth can we “rebuild” our Christmas? As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!” ― and neither can you prepare for Christmas in a day. When taking an exam, you should be preparing a long time beforehand―and not “cramming” the night before. God prepared for the very first Christmas―the birth of His only-begotten Son―thousands of years beforehand. As Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
The person who puts-off studying for the exam to the very last minute and then crams all night to learn the essential material, clearly manifests a lack of respect and love for the subject he or she is supposed to be studying. The same is true for the spiritual life in general, and Christmas in particular. There are too many Catholics who either arrive late for Mass; make no solid and sincere preparation for Holy Communion; devote little or no time to a heartfelt thanksgiving after Holy Communion and after Mass; make no thorough examination of conscience before Confession; make no real and solid efforts to amend their lives so as to avoid in the future the sins that they confess in the present; make no time for studying, learning and understanding the Faith, etc. Such persons manifest a lack of respect and love for the Faith and the treasures that the Faith offers them. Such an attitude carries over into the liturgical year in general and Christmas in particular. A spiritual Christmas is thought of as being a boring Christmas, in comparison to worldly materialistic Christmas offered by the neo-pagan world. To a person raised on “junk-food”, good healthy food is unpalatable. Likewise, to a person raised upon worldliness and materialism, a spiritual Christmas tastes revolting. Most people would “draw a blank” if they were asked how Christmas could be spiritualized.
Rebuilding Christmas
There are several problems to overcome before we can “rebuild” and truly sanctify our Christmas celebrations. The first is our spiritual poverty which manifests itself by an ignorance on how to inject spirituality into Christmas. For most people, their spirituality is shallow―because they do little spiritual reading and even less meditation (which are the principal tools and fountains for a deep spirituality). The Rosary is too often “said” and not “prayed” ― whereby “saying the Rosary” means merely saying the prayers without any further reflection; whereas “praying the Rosary” means, not only saying the prayers, but also meditating upon the mysteries. But if your knowledge of the mysteries is shallow ― through lack of spiritual reading ― then your meditation has no “gas” or “electricity” on which to function; you “dry-up” in no time at all! In fact, most people prefer to say it rather than pray it.
► DO WE REALLY WANT A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? The first problem might be on the level of our will. Do we really want a spiritual Christmas? Or are we content with status quo of “marriage” between a Christian Christmas and a worldly Christmas? There should only be one answer to that, since Holy Scripture clearly states that there can be no “marriage” between the Faith and the world, between God or Christ and the prince of the world, Satan. The following verses from Holy Scripture should be mandatory reading as preparation for the approaching season of Christmas―for many Catholics need to detoxify themselves of the worldly spirit if there is to be any hope of rebuilding Christmas.
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit” (Romans 8:5). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
So before going any further―you need to ask yourself: “Do I really want a spiritual Christmas? Or am I prepared to be an adulterer this Christmas?” For Scripture says: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
► DO WE HAVE THE CAPACITY TO CREATE A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? The second potential problem that might prevent us from rebuilding Christmas is in the domain of our intellect and concerns our spiritual poverty―which manifests itself by an ignorance on how to inject spirituality into Christmas. We might really want to have a truly spiritual Christmas―but we don’t know how to achieve it! For most people, their knowledge of the Faith and their level of spirituality is shallow―because they do little spiritual reading and even less meditation (which are the principal tools and fountains for a deep spirituality). The Rosary is too often “said” and not “prayed” ― whereby “saying the Rosary” means merely saying the prayers without any further reflection; whereas “praying the Rosary” means, not only saying the prayers, but also meditating upon the mysteries. But if your knowledge of the mysteries is shallow ― through lack of spiritual reading ― then your meditation has no “gas” or “electricity” on which to function; you “dry-up” in no time at all! In fact, most people prefer to say it rather than pray it. All of this creates a negative attitude towards true spirituality―producing people who prefer to “fast-track” the spiritual so that they can all the sooner arrive at the materialistic.
A second aspect of this lack of capacity to create a spiritual Christmas stems from our spiritual and intellectual poverty. This second factor is that of having to overcome family opposition to any desire to spiritualize Christmas―whether it be from spouses, children or relatives (as well as friends). Our spiritual and intellectual poverty handicaps our efforts to improve Christmas because we are unable to express and explain the need and are unable to convince others of that need.
► EMOTIONAL CONFLICT AND EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS. The lack of spirituality and knowledge, combined with an inability to organize and convince others, leads to emotional conflict and emotional outbursts. Emotions seem to have replaced intelligence these days―not because emotions are superior to intelligence, but because intelligence has withered away and has been “dumbed-down”. The emotions are more about “feeling”, while intelligence is more about “thinking”. When intelligence is blind, then, just like a blind person, you “feel” your way around because you cannot see. The less we think, the more emotional we become. Emotion often becomes a cheap substitute for lack of intelligence―if you cannot debate with a person, then you can at least insult, demean, put down that person. That is where we are headed these days.
A Christmas Blueprint
With all these difficulties in mind―and presuming that you really do want a spiritual Christmas and while there is still just over a week to go till Christmas―the next article will try to present a blueprint for spiritual Christmas and point you in the right direction for trying to achieve it. The caveat, nevertheless, is that it won’t be easy―since hardly anyone wants to be spiritual, least of all the devils, and they will fight tooth and nail to prevent you from having a spiritual Christmas. So on to the next article…
THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Monday December 13th & Tuesday December 14th
Article 8
Finding Joy in Suffering
Monday December 13th & Tuesday December 14th
Article 8
Finding Joy in Suffering
Walking Contradictions
Most Catholics are walking contradictions! They put on a Catholic face on Sunday―but a worldly face on Monday! Hypocritically they try to serve both God and the world―imagining that into Hell they won’t be hurled! With their lips to God they pray―but those same lips will a neighbor slay! When corrected―the blame is always rejected and deflected. When persecuted―they react with hatred that’s deep-rooted. When they suffer they mutter―when in pain they complain―in face of rejection they fall into dejection. They seek what is sweet and avoid what is bitter―even though bitter is better. With Heaven they want to be paid―but to earn it they are afraid. They see the cross as a loss―and run to what’s fun.
The Imitation of Christ sums up perfectly this abhorrence for suffering in two consecutive chapters―Book 2, Chapter 11, entitled “Few Love the Cross of Jesus” and Book 2, Chapter 12, entitled “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”. Here are some pertinent extracts:
Few Love the Cross of Jesus
The Imitation of Christ states: Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation ― they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!
Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants!’” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11: “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
The Royal Road of the Holy Cross
The Imitation of Christ continues: To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who, during life, made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead ... and so enter into his glory.” How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake. It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that through fervor of spirit frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns.
To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake!” To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
If you were only worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it. With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world. Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God. (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Is Suffering Necessary?
You may be tempted to ask if suffering is necessary or not. Suffering co-equates with sin. Only those creatures of God’s creation that have an intellect and a will are capable of sin―which means angels and human beings. When Lucifer and the other rebel angels sinned, suffering entered the angelic domain and Hell was created. Likewise, when God first created Adam and Eve, there was no suffering in the world―because there was no sin in the world. Once Adam and Eve committed the first sin―Original Sin―suffering and death entered the world:
“And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:15-17) … “Now the serpent said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it―lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat” (Genesis 3:1-6).
The consequence of that sin was the punishment of suffering: “The Lord God called Adam, and said to him: ‘Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat! And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life! [= suffering]. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ [= suffering].
“To the woman also He said: ‘I will multiply thy sorrows [= suffering] and thy conceptions! In sorrow [= suffering] shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee [= suffering]. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil [= sufferings] shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face [= suffering] shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken [the ultimate suffering of death] for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’ … And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And He cast out Adam and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:9-24).
Hence Holy Scripture tells us: “By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death [the ultimate suffering]; and so death [suffering] passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all [suffer and] die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death! [the ultimate suffering]” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin [suffering]” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death! [suffering]” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death! [suffering]” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
O Happy Suffering!
The Liturgy of the Church―during the sung “Exsultet” in Paschal Vigil ceremony―sings: “O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” (LATIN: “O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum, quod Christi morte delétum est! O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!”).
In the 4th century, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose, speaks of the ‘fortunate’ ruin of Adam in the Garden of Eden―in that his sin brought more good to humanity than if he had stayed perfectly innocent. This theology is continued in the writings of Ambrose’s student, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, regarding the Fall of Man, the source of Original Sin: “For God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit any evil to exist.” (LATIN: “Melius enim iudicavit de malis benefacere, quam mala nulla esse permittere”). The Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, quoted this line when he explained how the principle―of God allowing evil to happen so that He can bring a greater good from that evil―is shown in the causal relation between Original Sin and the Divine Redeemer’s Incarnation―thus concluding that a higher state is not inhibited by sin: “But there is no reason why human nature should not have been raised to something greater after sin. For God allows evils to happen in order to bring a greater good therefrom” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 1, art. 3, ad 3). In the Offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest affirms the same thing when he prays: “O God, Who, in creating man, didst exalt his nature very wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew [after the Fall from grace by Original Sin]...”
St. Ambrose further writes: “My fault has become for me the price of redemption, through which Christ came to me. For me, Christ tasted death. Transgression is more profitable than innocence. Innocence had made me arrogant, transgression made me humble” (De Iacob et vita beata, I, 21). “The Lord knew that Adam would fall and then be redeemed by Christ. Happy ruin, that has such a beautiful reparation!” (Commentary on Psalm 39, 20). “We who have sinned more have gained more, because Thy grace, O Lord, makes us more blessed than our absence of fault does” (Commentary on Psalm 37, 47). In one of the Prefaces of the Ambrosian Liturgical rite, the priest sings to God, “You bent down over our wounds and healed us, giving us a medicine stronger than our afflictions, a mercy greater than our fault. In this way even sin, by virtue of Your invincible love, served to elevate us to the divine life.” St. Paul adds: “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28) ― even our faults, failings and sins can bring about good if we let God get to work in our sinful lives.
St. Augustine echoes this position of St. Ambrose in commenting on this same verse in a letter to the pious “Lady Proba”: “Looking to this, you do well to regard the evils of this world as easy to bear because of the hope of the world to come. For thus, by being rightly used, these evils become a blessing, because, while they do not increase our desires for this world, they exercise our patience―as to which the Apostle St. Paul says: ‘We know that all things work together for good to them that love God!’ ― all things, he says — not only, therefore, those which are desired because they are pleasant, but also those which are shunned because they are painful; since we receive the former without being carried away by them, and bear the latter without being crushed by them, and in all give thanks!” (Letter 131).
We see this principle in the lives of St. Paul―who went from persecuting and killing Christians to becoming a pillar of the Church and was rewarded by martyrdom and a direct ‘flight’ to Heaven. Likewise with St. Peter―who betrayed Our Lord, yet rose to great heights of sanctity afterwards, being also rewarded by martyrdom. St. Mary Magdalen became one of the greatest saints of the Church after being one of the greatest sinners on Earth―being a whore and possessed by seven devils. Sin did not hinder the conversion and salvation of the Good Thief on the cross―who was told that on that very day he would accompany Christ to Paradise. Several hundred years later, we see the sinner Augustine of Hippo convert after many decades of sin― St. Augustine eventually realized that God wanted to transform the manure of his past into fertilizer for new growth in the future―eventually becoming a priest, a bishop, a Father and Doctor of the Church, and a saint! The list of sinners with “happy faults” profiting from “so glorious a Redeemer” is endless. Jesus Himself would say, more than once, in the great chapter 15 of St. Luke’s Gospel, about the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son: “Heaven rejoices more for one repentant sinner than for 99 who never needed to repent!”
Holy Scripture tells us that “the Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Thus St. Paul can add: “And where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 5:20). And he adds in the next chapter: “What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1). We must do penance for our sins―as Our Lord commanded―and work out our salvation in fear and trembling: “Wherefore, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). We must always hold that it would have been better not to have sinned, rather than to have sinned. Having sinned, however, we can taste God’s loving mercy―for “His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9) ― mercies which we would not know had we not sinned and repented from sin. Contradiction? No! Mystery? Yes!
The sin of Adam is not itself good. It is not, in itself, a cause for rejoicing. It is, rather, an occasion for good. It is the tragic plot twist that sets the stage for the story’s glorious resolution. Our rejoicing is therefore is not that Adam sinned, but that, out of Adam’s sin, God brought about a greater good. Indeed, in the redeeming death and resurrection of Christ, God brought to humanity a good far greater than the paradise Adam lost by his sin. Adam’s fault is happy because it is the occasion for the saving life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the first and most consequential human sin that, as a sickness calls for a remedy, called forth the greatest and most consequential act of love. Adam’s fault is happy because of it is a great evil that God turned to even greater good. It shows us how God has turned evil to good in the great story of human salvation. However, it can also show us how God can and does turn evil into good in our own lives. God allowed the evil of Adam’s sin to take place, and God allows evils to take place in our lives as well. Those evils can come in different forms: in the harm we do to ourselves through sin, and also in the harms that come to us in the form of persecution, heartbreak, sickness, pain, and loss. God allows those evils in order to bring about a greater good. Just as God did in the case of Adam’s sin, so He will do for us.
Suffering Saints for Heavenly Happiness
If someone was to offer you 1 trillion dollars if you would suffer something very unpleasant or very painful for one minute, which would leave no lasting impression, defect, injury, scar or pain afterwards―would you take it? Of course you would! Do you expect your employer to pay you a wage for doing no work? Of course not! Would you employ a worker who only accepts the easy work and refuses to do difficult work? No, you would not! The same is true for God. There is no “easy-street” to Heaven―yet everyone expects the road to Heaven to be easy. Most people expect to get “paid” by God for doing little or no work! The only “easy-street” is the road to Hell and damnation. Satan charges no entrance fee! Admission is free! You pay nothing now―only later! You can have whatever you want right now―have all the fun that you want; eat and drink all you want; watch anything you want; listen to anything you want; say what you want; go where you want; do what you want; think what you want! Satan will not charge you a penny or a dime! He will even suggest things to you for free! Everything is free and “on the house” ― just enjoy life in any way you want, even enjoy sin if you like!
On the other hand, Heaven is not a “freebie.” It is not an eternal “social security” handout that is freely given to anyone and everyone! Heaven has its price! “Man knoweth not the price thereof!” (Job 28:13) … “Nor the price of the redemption of his soul” (Psalm 48:9). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field―which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls―who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:44-46).
“You are bought with a price! … You are bought with a great price! … With the precious Blood of Christ! … Christ died for us … In Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins … Jesus suffered so that He might sanctify the people by His own Blood … Jesus Christ washed us from our sins in His own Blood … He hath purchased with His own Blood” (1 Corinthians 7:23; 6:20; 1 Peter 1:19; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 13:12; Apocalypse 1:5; Acts 20:28).
Jesus paid the price for our sins by His Passion and Death on the Cross―and we need to co-pay towards the debt that our sins have earned. We co-pay through penance and suffering. Hence Our Lord said: “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The Cross is a penance ― “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Heaven is hard work! It is a battle to get to Heaven! Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) ― meaning that we have to fight to get to Heaven (which is why we are called “Soldiers of Christ”). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the battles of the Lord!” (1 Kings 18:17). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Put you on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil! For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places! Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect!” (Ephesians 6:11-13). “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:3-4). “Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb―so that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city [of Heaven]” (Apocalypse 22:14). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2).
St. Paul rejoices in his crosses and the fight for the Faith: “I so fight ― not as one beating the air― but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7). “I rejoice in my sufferings and fill up in my flesh those things that are lacking in the sufferings of Christ!” (Colossians 1:24). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18). “We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience!” (Romans 5:3). Holy Scripture holds patience to be greater than valor or courage: “The patient man is better than the valiant man!” (Proverbs 16:32) ― the notion of “patience” implies having something to suffer. “A patient man shall suffer for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to him!” (Ecclesiasticus 1:29). St. Peter adds: “The God of all grace, Who hath called us into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you!” (1 Peter 5:10).
Happily Crucified for Three Days
St. Andrew the Apostle, the elder brother of St. Peter, had preached the Faith in many countries, until he was eventually arrested by the governor of Edessa, in the name of the Roman senate, was sentenced to be crucified in the city of Patras, in Achaia. But the apostle said to the governor: “Had I feared the death of the cross, I should not have preached the majesty and gloriousness of the cross of Christ!” Andrew then went joyfully to the place where he was to be crucified, and, having seen the cross upon which he would be crucified, he said: “O beloved cross! I have greatly longed for thee! I rejoice to see thee erected here! I come to thee with a peaceful conscience and with cheerfulness, desiring that I, who am a disciple of Him who hung on the cross, may also be crucified!” The Apostle added: “The nearer I come to the cross, the nearer I come to God; and the farther I am from the cross, the farther I remain from God!”
The holy Apostle hung on the cross three days―for he was not nailed to the cross, like Christ, but tied to it. However, he was not feeling sad, depressed, nor discouraged―nor was he silent. As long as he could move his tongue, he preached from the pulpit of the cross and instructed the people, that stood by the cross, in the way of the truth, saying, among other things: “I thank my Lord Jesus Christ, that He, having used me for a time as an ambassador, now permits me to have this body, that I, through a good confession, may obtain everlasting grace and mercy! Remain steadfast in the word and doctrine which you have received, instructing one another, that you may dwell with God in eternity, and receive the fruit of His promises!”
The Christians and other good people begged the governor to take Andrew down from the cross and give him back to them. When the Apostle learned of this, he cried to God, saying: “O Lord Jesus Christ! Suffer not that Thy servant―who hangs here on the tree for Thy Name’s sake―be released to dwell once again among men; but receive me, O my Lord and my God, Whom I have known, whom I have loved, to whom I cling, whom I desire to see, and in whom I am what I am!” Having spoken these words, the holy Apostle committed his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father.
Happily Roasted to Death
St. Lawrence was one of seven deacons, chosen by Pope Sixtus II, who were given the task of helping the poor and needy in Rome during the reign of Emperor Valerian. When the Emperor began his persecution of Christians, Pope Sixtus was condemned to death. Lawrence followed him to his execution weeping: "Father! Where are you going without your deacon?” The Pope replied: “I am not leaving you, my son―in three days you will follow me!” Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive vessels to have more to give away to the poor.
The Prefect of Rome was a greedy man, and he imagined that the Church must have vast treasures if it was giving away money to the poor. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him. Lawrence replied that in three days time, he would comply with the command. In the meantime, Lawrence went throughout Rome gathering together all the poor and sick people who were supported by the Church. He then showed the massive crowd the greedy Prefect, saying: “This is the Church’s treasure!”
Feeling ridiculed and deceived, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. Lawrence was tied on top of an iron grill and had his body roasted over a slow fire, little by little. Lawrence was burning with a fire of love for God and he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, God gave him so much grace, strength and joy that Lawrence even joked: “Turn me over! I’m done on this side!” Just before he died, Lawrence finally said: “It’s sufficiently cooked now!” Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Christ and that the Catholic Faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyr’s reward. His feast is celebrated on August 10th.
Happy to be Food for Lions
Today, we might understand ancient Romans pitting men and horses against each other, betting, winning and losing on the races held in the Circus Maximus of Rome. What is harder for us to understand is their obsession with blood sport. Not just the drawing of blood during sport or gladiator fights, but the spectacle of innocent humans led into a sports arena to be torn to shreds by wild animals, or forced to fight to the death, while tens of thousands of people are watching, cheering, taunting, eating, talking and laughing. During the Roman persecutions of Christian, St. Ignatius, the Christian Bishop of Syrian Antioch, was sent to Rome to be tried and executed.
During his 1,500 mile transportation over land and sea to Rome, in his letter to the Christians of Rome, the city which looms ahead of him as the place where he is to die, Ignatius urges believers not to interfere with his sentence or seek his release. If they show love for his body (above the good of his soul) and he escapes his sentence, then he will have to run his race again, he tells them. It is bad enough having to gear up for such a test once, let alone a second time! Rather, the joy he expects to have after this ordeal and death, will make it all worthwhile. It inspires him to write:
“From Syria to Rome I must do battle with beasts on land and sea. For day and night I am chained to ten leopards, that is, the Roman soldiers who guard me and grow more ferocious the better they are treated. Their mistreatment is good instruction for me, yet am I still far from justified! Oh, that I may meet the wild beasts now kept in readiness for me! I shall implore them to give me death promptly and to hasten my departure! I shall invite them to devour me so that they will not leave my body unharmed as already has happened to other witnesses! If they refuse to pounce upon me, I shall impel them to eat me! My little children, forgive me these words. Surely I know what is good for me. From visible things I no longer desire anything; I want to find Jesus! Fire and cross, wild beasts, broken bones, lacerated members, a body wholly crushed, and Satan's every torment―let them all overwhelm me, if only I reach Christ! Allow me to become food for the wild beasts―through whose means it will be granted me to reach God. I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, so that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.”
Most Catholics are walking contradictions! They put on a Catholic face on Sunday―but a worldly face on Monday! Hypocritically they try to serve both God and the world―imagining that into Hell they won’t be hurled! With their lips to God they pray―but those same lips will a neighbor slay! When corrected―the blame is always rejected and deflected. When persecuted―they react with hatred that’s deep-rooted. When they suffer they mutter―when in pain they complain―in face of rejection they fall into dejection. They seek what is sweet and avoid what is bitter―even though bitter is better. With Heaven they want to be paid―but to earn it they are afraid. They see the cross as a loss―and run to what’s fun.
The Imitation of Christ sums up perfectly this abhorrence for suffering in two consecutive chapters―Book 2, Chapter 11, entitled “Few Love the Cross of Jesus” and Book 2, Chapter 12, entitled “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”. Here are some pertinent extracts:
Few Love the Cross of Jesus
The Imitation of Christ states: Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation ― they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!
Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants!’” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11: “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
The Royal Road of the Holy Cross
The Imitation of Christ continues: To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who, during life, made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead ... and so enter into his glory.” How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake. It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that through fervor of spirit frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns.
To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake!” To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
If you were only worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it. With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world. Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God. (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Is Suffering Necessary?
You may be tempted to ask if suffering is necessary or not. Suffering co-equates with sin. Only those creatures of God’s creation that have an intellect and a will are capable of sin―which means angels and human beings. When Lucifer and the other rebel angels sinned, suffering entered the angelic domain and Hell was created. Likewise, when God first created Adam and Eve, there was no suffering in the world―because there was no sin in the world. Once Adam and Eve committed the first sin―Original Sin―suffering and death entered the world:
“And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:15-17) … “Now the serpent said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it―lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat” (Genesis 3:1-6).
The consequence of that sin was the punishment of suffering: “The Lord God called Adam, and said to him: ‘Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat! And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life! [= suffering]. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ [= suffering].
“To the woman also He said: ‘I will multiply thy sorrows [= suffering] and thy conceptions! In sorrow [= suffering] shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee [= suffering]. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil [= sufferings] shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face [= suffering] shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken [the ultimate suffering of death] for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’ … And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And He cast out Adam and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:9-24).
Hence Holy Scripture tells us: “By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death [the ultimate suffering]; and so death [suffering] passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all [suffer and] die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death! [the ultimate suffering]” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin [suffering]” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death! [suffering]” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death! [suffering]” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
O Happy Suffering!
The Liturgy of the Church―during the sung “Exsultet” in Paschal Vigil ceremony―sings: “O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” (LATIN: “O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum, quod Christi morte delétum est! O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!”).
In the 4th century, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose, speaks of the ‘fortunate’ ruin of Adam in the Garden of Eden―in that his sin brought more good to humanity than if he had stayed perfectly innocent. This theology is continued in the writings of Ambrose’s student, the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, regarding the Fall of Man, the source of Original Sin: “For God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit any evil to exist.” (LATIN: “Melius enim iudicavit de malis benefacere, quam mala nulla esse permittere”). The Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, quoted this line when he explained how the principle―of God allowing evil to happen so that He can bring a greater good from that evil―is shown in the causal relation between Original Sin and the Divine Redeemer’s Incarnation―thus concluding that a higher state is not inhibited by sin: “But there is no reason why human nature should not have been raised to something greater after sin. For God allows evils to happen in order to bring a greater good therefrom” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 1, art. 3, ad 3). In the Offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest affirms the same thing when he prays: “O God, Who, in creating man, didst exalt his nature very wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew [after the Fall from grace by Original Sin]...”
St. Ambrose further writes: “My fault has become for me the price of redemption, through which Christ came to me. For me, Christ tasted death. Transgression is more profitable than innocence. Innocence had made me arrogant, transgression made me humble” (De Iacob et vita beata, I, 21). “The Lord knew that Adam would fall and then be redeemed by Christ. Happy ruin, that has such a beautiful reparation!” (Commentary on Psalm 39, 20). “We who have sinned more have gained more, because Thy grace, O Lord, makes us more blessed than our absence of fault does” (Commentary on Psalm 37, 47). In one of the Prefaces of the Ambrosian Liturgical rite, the priest sings to God, “You bent down over our wounds and healed us, giving us a medicine stronger than our afflictions, a mercy greater than our fault. In this way even sin, by virtue of Your invincible love, served to elevate us to the divine life.” St. Paul adds: “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28) ― even our faults, failings and sins can bring about good if we let God get to work in our sinful lives.
St. Augustine echoes this position of St. Ambrose in commenting on this same verse in a letter to the pious “Lady Proba”: “Looking to this, you do well to regard the evils of this world as easy to bear because of the hope of the world to come. For thus, by being rightly used, these evils become a blessing, because, while they do not increase our desires for this world, they exercise our patience―as to which the Apostle St. Paul says: ‘We know that all things work together for good to them that love God!’ ― all things, he says — not only, therefore, those which are desired because they are pleasant, but also those which are shunned because they are painful; since we receive the former without being carried away by them, and bear the latter without being crushed by them, and in all give thanks!” (Letter 131).
We see this principle in the lives of St. Paul―who went from persecuting and killing Christians to becoming a pillar of the Church and was rewarded by martyrdom and a direct ‘flight’ to Heaven. Likewise with St. Peter―who betrayed Our Lord, yet rose to great heights of sanctity afterwards, being also rewarded by martyrdom. St. Mary Magdalen became one of the greatest saints of the Church after being one of the greatest sinners on Earth―being a whore and possessed by seven devils. Sin did not hinder the conversion and salvation of the Good Thief on the cross―who was told that on that very day he would accompany Christ to Paradise. Several hundred years later, we see the sinner Augustine of Hippo convert after many decades of sin― St. Augustine eventually realized that God wanted to transform the manure of his past into fertilizer for new growth in the future―eventually becoming a priest, a bishop, a Father and Doctor of the Church, and a saint! The list of sinners with “happy faults” profiting from “so glorious a Redeemer” is endless. Jesus Himself would say, more than once, in the great chapter 15 of St. Luke’s Gospel, about the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son: “Heaven rejoices more for one repentant sinner than for 99 who never needed to repent!”
Holy Scripture tells us that “the Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Thus St. Paul can add: “And where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 5:20). And he adds in the next chapter: “What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1). We must do penance for our sins―as Our Lord commanded―and work out our salvation in fear and trembling: “Wherefore, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). We must always hold that it would have been better not to have sinned, rather than to have sinned. Having sinned, however, we can taste God’s loving mercy―for “His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9) ― mercies which we would not know had we not sinned and repented from sin. Contradiction? No! Mystery? Yes!
The sin of Adam is not itself good. It is not, in itself, a cause for rejoicing. It is, rather, an occasion for good. It is the tragic plot twist that sets the stage for the story’s glorious resolution. Our rejoicing is therefore is not that Adam sinned, but that, out of Adam’s sin, God brought about a greater good. Indeed, in the redeeming death and resurrection of Christ, God brought to humanity a good far greater than the paradise Adam lost by his sin. Adam’s fault is happy because it is the occasion for the saving life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the first and most consequential human sin that, as a sickness calls for a remedy, called forth the greatest and most consequential act of love. Adam’s fault is happy because of it is a great evil that God turned to even greater good. It shows us how God has turned evil to good in the great story of human salvation. However, it can also show us how God can and does turn evil into good in our own lives. God allowed the evil of Adam’s sin to take place, and God allows evils to take place in our lives as well. Those evils can come in different forms: in the harm we do to ourselves through sin, and also in the harms that come to us in the form of persecution, heartbreak, sickness, pain, and loss. God allows those evils in order to bring about a greater good. Just as God did in the case of Adam’s sin, so He will do for us.
Suffering Saints for Heavenly Happiness
If someone was to offer you 1 trillion dollars if you would suffer something very unpleasant or very painful for one minute, which would leave no lasting impression, defect, injury, scar or pain afterwards―would you take it? Of course you would! Do you expect your employer to pay you a wage for doing no work? Of course not! Would you employ a worker who only accepts the easy work and refuses to do difficult work? No, you would not! The same is true for God. There is no “easy-street” to Heaven―yet everyone expects the road to Heaven to be easy. Most people expect to get “paid” by God for doing little or no work! The only “easy-street” is the road to Hell and damnation. Satan charges no entrance fee! Admission is free! You pay nothing now―only later! You can have whatever you want right now―have all the fun that you want; eat and drink all you want; watch anything you want; listen to anything you want; say what you want; go where you want; do what you want; think what you want! Satan will not charge you a penny or a dime! He will even suggest things to you for free! Everything is free and “on the house” ― just enjoy life in any way you want, even enjoy sin if you like!
On the other hand, Heaven is not a “freebie.” It is not an eternal “social security” handout that is freely given to anyone and everyone! Heaven has its price! “Man knoweth not the price thereof!” (Job 28:13) … “Nor the price of the redemption of his soul” (Psalm 48:9). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field―which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls―who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:44-46).
“You are bought with a price! … You are bought with a great price! … With the precious Blood of Christ! … Christ died for us … In Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins … Jesus suffered so that He might sanctify the people by His own Blood … Jesus Christ washed us from our sins in His own Blood … He hath purchased with His own Blood” (1 Corinthians 7:23; 6:20; 1 Peter 1:19; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 13:12; Apocalypse 1:5; Acts 20:28).
Jesus paid the price for our sins by His Passion and Death on the Cross―and we need to co-pay towards the debt that our sins have earned. We co-pay through penance and suffering. Hence Our Lord said: “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The Cross is a penance ― “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Heaven is hard work! It is a battle to get to Heaven! Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) ― meaning that we have to fight to get to Heaven (which is why we are called “Soldiers of Christ”). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the battles of the Lord!” (1 Kings 18:17). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Put you on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil! For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places! Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect!” (Ephesians 6:11-13). “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:3-4). “Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb―so that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city [of Heaven]” (Apocalypse 22:14). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2).
St. Paul rejoices in his crosses and the fight for the Faith: “I so fight ― not as one beating the air― but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7). “I rejoice in my sufferings and fill up in my flesh those things that are lacking in the sufferings of Christ!” (Colossians 1:24). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18). “We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience!” (Romans 5:3). Holy Scripture holds patience to be greater than valor or courage: “The patient man is better than the valiant man!” (Proverbs 16:32) ― the notion of “patience” implies having something to suffer. “A patient man shall suffer for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to him!” (Ecclesiasticus 1:29). St. Peter adds: “The God of all grace, Who hath called us into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you!” (1 Peter 5:10).
Happily Crucified for Three Days
St. Andrew the Apostle, the elder brother of St. Peter, had preached the Faith in many countries, until he was eventually arrested by the governor of Edessa, in the name of the Roman senate, was sentenced to be crucified in the city of Patras, in Achaia. But the apostle said to the governor: “Had I feared the death of the cross, I should not have preached the majesty and gloriousness of the cross of Christ!” Andrew then went joyfully to the place where he was to be crucified, and, having seen the cross upon which he would be crucified, he said: “O beloved cross! I have greatly longed for thee! I rejoice to see thee erected here! I come to thee with a peaceful conscience and with cheerfulness, desiring that I, who am a disciple of Him who hung on the cross, may also be crucified!” The Apostle added: “The nearer I come to the cross, the nearer I come to God; and the farther I am from the cross, the farther I remain from God!”
The holy Apostle hung on the cross three days―for he was not nailed to the cross, like Christ, but tied to it. However, he was not feeling sad, depressed, nor discouraged―nor was he silent. As long as he could move his tongue, he preached from the pulpit of the cross and instructed the people, that stood by the cross, in the way of the truth, saying, among other things: “I thank my Lord Jesus Christ, that He, having used me for a time as an ambassador, now permits me to have this body, that I, through a good confession, may obtain everlasting grace and mercy! Remain steadfast in the word and doctrine which you have received, instructing one another, that you may dwell with God in eternity, and receive the fruit of His promises!”
The Christians and other good people begged the governor to take Andrew down from the cross and give him back to them. When the Apostle learned of this, he cried to God, saying: “O Lord Jesus Christ! Suffer not that Thy servant―who hangs here on the tree for Thy Name’s sake―be released to dwell once again among men; but receive me, O my Lord and my God, Whom I have known, whom I have loved, to whom I cling, whom I desire to see, and in whom I am what I am!” Having spoken these words, the holy Apostle committed his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father.
Happily Roasted to Death
St. Lawrence was one of seven deacons, chosen by Pope Sixtus II, who were given the task of helping the poor and needy in Rome during the reign of Emperor Valerian. When the Emperor began his persecution of Christians, Pope Sixtus was condemned to death. Lawrence followed him to his execution weeping: "Father! Where are you going without your deacon?” The Pope replied: “I am not leaving you, my son―in three days you will follow me!” Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive vessels to have more to give away to the poor.
The Prefect of Rome was a greedy man, and he imagined that the Church must have vast treasures if it was giving away money to the poor. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him. Lawrence replied that in three days time, he would comply with the command. In the meantime, Lawrence went throughout Rome gathering together all the poor and sick people who were supported by the Church. He then showed the massive crowd the greedy Prefect, saying: “This is the Church’s treasure!”
Feeling ridiculed and deceived, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. Lawrence was tied on top of an iron grill and had his body roasted over a slow fire, little by little. Lawrence was burning with a fire of love for God and he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, God gave him so much grace, strength and joy that Lawrence even joked: “Turn me over! I’m done on this side!” Just before he died, Lawrence finally said: “It’s sufficiently cooked now!” Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Christ and that the Catholic Faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyr’s reward. His feast is celebrated on August 10th.
Happy to be Food for Lions
Today, we might understand ancient Romans pitting men and horses against each other, betting, winning and losing on the races held in the Circus Maximus of Rome. What is harder for us to understand is their obsession with blood sport. Not just the drawing of blood during sport or gladiator fights, but the spectacle of innocent humans led into a sports arena to be torn to shreds by wild animals, or forced to fight to the death, while tens of thousands of people are watching, cheering, taunting, eating, talking and laughing. During the Roman persecutions of Christian, St. Ignatius, the Christian Bishop of Syrian Antioch, was sent to Rome to be tried and executed.
During his 1,500 mile transportation over land and sea to Rome, in his letter to the Christians of Rome, the city which looms ahead of him as the place where he is to die, Ignatius urges believers not to interfere with his sentence or seek his release. If they show love for his body (above the good of his soul) and he escapes his sentence, then he will have to run his race again, he tells them. It is bad enough having to gear up for such a test once, let alone a second time! Rather, the joy he expects to have after this ordeal and death, will make it all worthwhile. It inspires him to write:
“From Syria to Rome I must do battle with beasts on land and sea. For day and night I am chained to ten leopards, that is, the Roman soldiers who guard me and grow more ferocious the better they are treated. Their mistreatment is good instruction for me, yet am I still far from justified! Oh, that I may meet the wild beasts now kept in readiness for me! I shall implore them to give me death promptly and to hasten my departure! I shall invite them to devour me so that they will not leave my body unharmed as already has happened to other witnesses! If they refuse to pounce upon me, I shall impel them to eat me! My little children, forgive me these words. Surely I know what is good for me. From visible things I no longer desire anything; I want to find Jesus! Fire and cross, wild beasts, broken bones, lacerated members, a body wholly crushed, and Satan's every torment―let them all overwhelm me, if only I reach Christ! Allow me to become food for the wild beasts―through whose means it will be granted me to reach God. I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, so that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.”
THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
The 3rd Sunday of Advent, December 12th
Also the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Article 7
Joy! What Joy? This Joy!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The 3rd Sunday of Advent, December 12th
Also the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Article 7
Joy! What Joy? This Joy!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Happy in Prison?
For some people, Advent―much like Lent―is a penitential prison or penitential penitentiary, in which they would rather not be! They feel imprisoned, constrained, cramped and straitjacketed by the Church’s recommendation to do penance. As regards the “Prison of Advent”, today―the Third Sunday of Advent―is called Gaudete Sunday. The title “Gaudete” originates from the reading at Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent, which is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, for the Church uses the passage from Philippians chapter 4, verse 4, which says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice!” The Church uses that phrase, both in the entrance hmyn and in the reading for the Third Sunday of Advent. To put it into its proper context, you need to know that St. Paul is writing this during the time of his imprisonment at Rome―and he is joyful despite that. Gaudete Sunday is the point in Advent when the traditional purple of Advent “lightens-up” and rose colored vestments are worn. Gaudete Sunday is the day upon which the Church encourages us to “lighten-up” a little and rejoice. To rejoice! What does it mean “to rejoice”? When we look at that word and break it down, we see that it is a combination of two things: (1) to show joy, (2) once again. If we simplify or divide the word “rejoice” into more understandable parts, we come up with the prefix “re-” and word “joy.” The prefix “re-” means to do something over again or do something once more after a relapse. Hence we have similar examples in the following words: re-think, re-do, re-paint, re-write, re-make, etc.
What is “Rejoicing”?
To “re-joice” means to put aside sadness, sorrow, despondency, discouragement and despair, and take up once again feelings of joy. People are sad and disheartened in poverty, but rejoice if somebody somehow alleviates their poverty, even if it is only for a short time. A nation can be discouraged and depressed in a war, but rejoices in victory, when the war is won, the enemy defeated and peace ensues.
The Example of St. Paul
In like manner, sinful mankind can be sad and sorrowful at sight of its sins; for which it is paying through penance and piteously pleading for pardon and peace; yet the Divine deafness leaves them downcast and discouraged under the domination of devils. All this can be seen united in the person of St. Paul: (1) He was a great sinner who had persecuted Christians until converted by Our Lord Himself; (2) He penitentially practiced powerful penances and perseveringly prayed for the rest of his life in order to make amends; (3) yet God seemed to turn a blind-eye to his penances and deaf-ear to his prayers, as Providence showered him with suffering after suffering. In fact, the Lord had said to Ananias, just after Paul’s conversion: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). And suffer he did! Here is St. Paul’s partial list, written down by himself, of just a fraction of his sufferings:
“They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I. They are the ministers of Christ, I am more; in many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity” (2 Corinthians 11:22-30). And now he finds himself in prison, and what does he say? He writes to the Philippians:
“Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Philippians 4:4-7).
St. Paul’s Silver-Lined Cloud
This letter of St. Paul to the Christians of Philippi—his first converts in Europe—was written to them from his prison in Rome. When the Philippians, who were very attached to their Apostle, heard of Paul’s imprisonment, they sent one of the community, Epaphroditus, with a sum of money, and with instructions to remain with Paul, to help him in his needs. Epaphroditus became seriously ill in Rome and nearly died; when he recovered Paul sent him back and sent this letter with him to the Christians of Philippi. In it he thanks them and praises them for their generosity and true Christian love, he exhorts them to remain firm in the Faith, despite the present adversity of Paul being in prison. In the four verse extract, read at today’s Mass, St. Paul urges them to “rejoice always.” He repeats it to emphasize how important he thought it: “again I say rejoice.”
The joy St. Paul urges them to practice is the spiritual joy, which comes from the knowledge that, as Christians, they are incorporated by their baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ. Part of the ‘contract’ means having to take up your cross daily and carry it with joy, as did the Apostles, who “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). This was simply the small print of the ‘contract’ that Jesus revealed at the Last Supper, when He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
Can You Spot Christ?
We need our supernatural glasses, or contact lenses, to see Jesus in our sufferings―but, as the old adage goes: “Where there is the cross, there too is Christ!” St. Paul understood this and that is why he can speak so joyfully and courageously of the cross and suffering:
“For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18) ... “That I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19) ... “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14) ... “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (Romans 8:18) ... “I Paul...now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh” (Colossians 1:23-24).
This attitude of St. Paul is approved and ‘rubber-stamped’ by St. Peter, who writes: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, then rejoice, that when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
St. Peter and St. Paul fully realize, understand and accept that God’s gifts of grace and His promise of future glory, are sufficient at all times to give us a ready and joyful acceptance of God’s will in adversity as well as in prosperity. St. Paul himself “rejoices” in his imprisonment, because his chains have turned out to be a means of spreading the Gospel, and are, for him, a means to his own salvation as well the salvation of others (1:12-20).
Rejoice—No Matter What
There are many lessons we may learn from these words of St. Paul written from a Roman dungeon to the Christians of Philippi, but the principal lesson and the one the Church wishes to place before us today is the lesson of joy. We must rejoice in the Lord—no matter what. For all that happens to us and around us, is only happening because God either wants it to happen (if it something good and not sinful) or God has allowed it to happen (if the action we suffer happens to be unjust or sinful). In all events, we must remember that nothing can happen without God’s permission. This should give us a similar attitude to suffering to that of St. Paul.
Yet our joy should not only be a result of the crosses that come our way, but let us also stop for a moment to count our blessings and see how many positive reasons we have for rejoicing.
We are alive; we are probably reasonably healthy; reasonably well-off compared to the vast majority in this world who live in poverty or near poverty; we are most certainly much better off than the people who lived centuries ago; we are human beings who can think, reason and love; we have a body with many talents and gifts, we have a soul which is destined to last forever.
We have been redeemed and been given a chance to attain eternal happiness in Heaven; we have the means of going there and have a guarantee we will get there if we use those means. We are among the minority in this world who have been baptized; we are part of an even greater minority of the baptized who still practice the Faith; we are able to receive our God and Creator in Holy Communion—daily if we wish (in most cases); we have access to the Sacrament of Confession in the case we fall into mortal sin and lose, thereby, our chance of going to Heaven.
And while we battle and struggle on the road to Heaven, we are allowed to enjoy many temporal gifts offered us from the generous hand of a loving Father. Have we not reason to rejoice, to be glad? Indeed, can any true Christian be sad? Of course, we meet with snags and setbacks on the road. To reach the summit of the everlasting hills of Heaven we have to climb the rugged foothills that lead to the summit, but a true Christian will not moan and murmur because of that. It is only those who are going nowhere, those who are to remain forever in a lowly painful valley, who meet no obstacles and have no hills to climb. For them there is only the broad, wide road that leads downwards. We have a chance of going to Heaven and so we realize that every obstacle we overcome, every little summit we scale, is bringing us nearer to the lofty peaks where everlasting happiness and the “peace of God” will be our eternal reward together with an unending joy! Rejoice!
The Passion of Joy
Joy is one of the passions of the soul. The passions of the soul are very powerful, but they are also blind; they need to be correctly guided, and this guidance is expected to be given by the reason and the will (popularly known as the mind and the heart, as in the Scriptural command of loving God with your whole mind, heart, etc.). If this guidance is neglected, weak or erroneous, then mayhem results, but a mayhem that the passions find intoxicatingly and deliriously joyful.
Original Sin Turns Original Joy Sour
The passions of the soul are the following: love-hatred, desire-aversion, joy-grief; hope-despair, courage-fear, and anger. Adam and Eve, in the state of innocence, were not subject to the passions that have reference to evil, for they had to face no evil, present or threatening; therefore they were not subject to fear, grief, despair, anger, or inordinate desire. They had only such passions as refer to present and future good: joy, love, hope, orderly desire. And these passions of our first parents were, before the fall, perfectly subject and obedient to their reason and will, which, in turn, were perfectly subject and obedient to the enlightenment of God’s grace.
Once they had rebelled against God through their Original Sin, it was only fitting justice that God allow the inferior passions to rebel against the superior intellect and will, just as the inferior will and intellect rebelled against the superior grace of God, thus causing the inferior Adam and Eve to rebel against the superiority of God.
It is from that Original Sin that our passions beget their rebelliousness and it is from Original Sin that our intellect and our will find themselves wounded and weakened; no longer being in total domination over our passions, who now use false ‘reasoning’ in order to extort from our intellect and will an excess of what they feel will satisfy them. The passions are blind and need to be led by right reason and a strong will, when the passions overpower our reason and the will by their constant nagging and begging, then we have a case of the blind leading the weak—and as Our Lord says, they both fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14). “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do” (Romans 7:19).
Blind Passions Cannot See True Joy
Our passions being blind, do not discern between good and evil; their measurement stick is not a moral measurement, but a measurement of pleasure: “Does this give me pleasure or does it not give me pleasure?” To the uncontrolled and unguided passions, moral good and moral evil do not enter into the equation. For them, if something is pleasurable then it is automatically good; if something is not pleasurable, then it is automatically evil. The result is what Holy Scripture warns us about: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).”Dearly beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doth good, is of God: he that doth evil, hath not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
Passionate Results
The results brought about by our blind passions are partially listed by St. Paul:”Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid.” (1 Timothy 3:1-5). Those who practice some or all of the above sins, find joy in them, but it is a misguided joy, a false joy, a sinful joy.
The Greedy Joy of the Passions
The passions are all about themselves and not the common good. Each one is like a gluttonous child taking his place at the dinner table—what results is a “free for all” grab and fight, unless the parents (reason and will) take charge and impose some discipline. Similarly, a child could eat ice-cream all day long and every day, or some other junk food of their choice—however, sickness or tooth decay will sooner or later show the existence of justice. Likewise, God will eventually step-in and with justice He will correct matters. Justice is giving someone their due, whether it be a good effect (a reward) or a bad effect (a punishment). “All things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean” (Ecclesiastes 9:2).
Happiness and Joy is Every Person’s Goal
Whether we admit it nor and whether we like it or not, we all have the same ultimate supreme good. Our last end is a complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment; such a fulfillment is called beatitude or happiness and joy. But all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and consequent happiness are to be found. Some think to attain the end by becoming rich, some by enjoying pleasures, some by exercising power, some by being praised and honored, and so on.
The desire for happiness and joy is behind our ceaseless drive towards his supreme and universal good—which, in other words, means seeking something that is wholly complete, perfectly satisfying. The problem lies in the fact that we have different ideas as to what that supreme good is; and we also differ in our opinions on how best to obtain it. Even in our sinful acts, we are seeking what we imagine to be a ‘good’, that is, satisfaction, although we are perversely seeking it in the wrong place, with the wrong persons, with the wrong things, or in the wrong manner.
Everyone seeks fulfillment or satisfaction, happiness and joy. These are the feelings we wish to experience. But those feelings need an object for their fulfillment or realization; the object which, when possessed, will give us complete happiness and joy.
The Joy of Knowing and the Joy of Possessing
We cannot enjoy something that we either know nothing about, nor enjoy something that we do not, at least temporarily, possess. I cannot enjoy a conversation if I am not engaged in one; I cannot enjoy a meal unless I am eating one; I cannot enjoy the weather unless I am actually experiencing it; I cannot enjoy a thought unless I am thinking it, and so on and so forth.
St. Louis de Montfort asks that popular philosophical question: “Is it possible for man to love that which he does not know? Can he love ardently that which he knows but imperfectly? Why then is the adorable Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, loved so little? Because He is not known, or known but little. Very few of us, like St. Paul, make a sincere study of the supereminent science of Jesus, which is, nevertheless the most noble, the most consoling, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences in Heaven and on Earth” (Love of the Eternal Wisdom, St. Louis de Montfort).
Joy—the Icing on the Cake of Love
Joy is the fruit or the proverbial “icing-on-the-cake” that comes with possessing of being in the presence of what we love. Love is, in a certain sense, incomplete without the actual union with what we love. In fact, love is driven on powerfully to obtain the object of its love and will not find ultimate peace or joy until it successfully obtains the loved object.
Hence persons, who love food, are happiest and most joyful when they actually engaged in eating food. Lovers of music are happiest and most joyful when they are playing or listening to their favorite music. Sports lovers experience the height of joy only when they are actually engaged in playing or watching their favorite sport. Those who love drugs or alcohol will experience the greatest joy when they are actually united to and are consuming their beloved substance.
False Happiness and Fake Joy
However, our happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves our normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth (money) which provides us with the items of natural wealth. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Therefore wealth cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him eternally and completely happy.
Nor can power supply us with perfect happiness and joy, because power, like money, is a means to achieving something further, it is not an end in itself, but a means to something else.
Nor can our full happiness be found in being honored, respected and loved on account of some of our qualities or excellence, nor can it be found in fame and glory, because all these things are imperfect, they are not universal (not everybody feels that way about us), nor are they enduring (their opinions about us may change). Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore honor, praise and respect cannot themselves be the elements of perfect happiness.
Our ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body--life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Just like money and power, goods of the body are to be used as a means by reason (intellect and will) and not to be looked upon as end in itself, just like a ship is used by its captain; or a car by its owner. The car is a means of transportation and of carrying cargo, it is not there to be just looked at and enjoyed. The captain does not dock his ship in harbor to be admired, but to carry passengers or profitable cargoes to desired ports. Likewise the goods of the body are means to an end, and not complete ends in themselves. Besides, being a rational being as well as a bodily being; we can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods alone, for the soul ranks higher than the body.
Joy from Above, or Joy from Below?
In fact, no created good or creature can give us perfect happiness, for they all have limits and degrees that allow them to give only partial happiness and a passing joy. No created good is wholly perfect, in all areas and limitless in its degrees of fulfillment; only an uncreated and limitless good can be our ultimate end and joy. And this uncreated good is God.
However, if we listen to our passions more than we listen to God, then problems will arise. As already stated, happiness and joy are our ultimate goals, and if we no longer seek happiness and joy in the things that are above, then, nature abhorring a vacuum, will look for that happiness and joy the things that are below, for the hungry passion needs to be fed on something. If we refuse to eat healthy food, then we will by default eat junk food. Our Lord clearly tells us:
“My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) ... “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). To which St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). That is why St. Paul says: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).
No doubt friendship with the world, acceptance by the world, the ways of acting of the world, may bring us great happiness and joy, but it is not the happiness and joy of Heaven, it is not a true and enduring happiness: “
Obtaining that Heavenly Joy
True happiness and joy cannot be perfectly attained without rightness or rectitude in our will, where the will is conformed to and obedient to the guidance of grace and the teachings of Christ, Who tells us what to love and what not to love; what to seek and what not to seek. This sets our will in proper alignment with the supreme good, and makes our will love what it loves in perfect subordination to God. Without this subordination and perfection of our human will, we will never be perfectly happy.”But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 15:10).
Love, when it is true, brings joy. But love is reciprocal (two-way-street); it means not just being loved, but loving in return; it means not just taking, but giving in return. “He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him” (John 14:21). If we love Our Lord we must keep His commandments. This will bring, what is known as the “Joy of a Good Conscience.”
Happiness and Joy are Essentially in the Soul
Our ultimate happiness is essentially an operation of our soul: it is to know God with our intellect (our mind) and to love God with our will (our heart); both are faculties and actions of the soul. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole mind ... This is the greatest and the first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).
Therefore the body is not essential to our ultimate happiness. But there is a need in each soul to be in its own body, God made us that way. In the present life, a fit and healthy body is required for earthly happiness and joy, whereas a feeble and sick body is often the source of sickness and sorrow. In the after-life, though the body is not essential to the soul’s happiness and joy in Heaven, a body will be supplied to the soul at the general resurrection. Then the body itself will attain full perfection, but is will only be a secondary or accidental factor to the happiness and joy of Heaven.
Heavenly Joys without Food, Drink, Sleep and Belongings
External goods, such as food, drink, and property, which are required in due measure for earthly happiness, will not be required at all in Heaven. When souls and bodies are reunited at the general resurrection, our human bodies will be spiritualized and will no longer have material or animal needs. In Heaven, the fellowship of friends will not be essential to our happiness, for God will be all-sufficing. Nevertheless, friends will be loved and their fellowship will be enjoyed in God.
In the present earthly life we can reach a certain degree of happiness, but we cannot have perfect happiness. On Earth limitations and drawbacks are associated with happiness. Only the vision, experience and possession of God can make us perfectly happy, and this vision cannot be had in earthly life.
Once we have attained this perfect joy and happiness, it cannot be lost. For perfect happiness fills up our capacity and all our desires for what is good; that there is no tendency remaining in us which might lead us astray and away from our joyful and happy state.
Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, and be jubilantly glad, O daughter of Israel!
Behold, thy Lord cometh, and, in His day, a great light shall arise!
For some people, Advent―much like Lent―is a penitential prison or penitential penitentiary, in which they would rather not be! They feel imprisoned, constrained, cramped and straitjacketed by the Church’s recommendation to do penance. As regards the “Prison of Advent”, today―the Third Sunday of Advent―is called Gaudete Sunday. The title “Gaudete” originates from the reading at Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent, which is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, for the Church uses the passage from Philippians chapter 4, verse 4, which says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice!” The Church uses that phrase, both in the entrance hmyn and in the reading for the Third Sunday of Advent. To put it into its proper context, you need to know that St. Paul is writing this during the time of his imprisonment at Rome―and he is joyful despite that. Gaudete Sunday is the point in Advent when the traditional purple of Advent “lightens-up” and rose colored vestments are worn. Gaudete Sunday is the day upon which the Church encourages us to “lighten-up” a little and rejoice. To rejoice! What does it mean “to rejoice”? When we look at that word and break it down, we see that it is a combination of two things: (1) to show joy, (2) once again. If we simplify or divide the word “rejoice” into more understandable parts, we come up with the prefix “re-” and word “joy.” The prefix “re-” means to do something over again or do something once more after a relapse. Hence we have similar examples in the following words: re-think, re-do, re-paint, re-write, re-make, etc.
What is “Rejoicing”?
To “re-joice” means to put aside sadness, sorrow, despondency, discouragement and despair, and take up once again feelings of joy. People are sad and disheartened in poverty, but rejoice if somebody somehow alleviates their poverty, even if it is only for a short time. A nation can be discouraged and depressed in a war, but rejoices in victory, when the war is won, the enemy defeated and peace ensues.
The Example of St. Paul
In like manner, sinful mankind can be sad and sorrowful at sight of its sins; for which it is paying through penance and piteously pleading for pardon and peace; yet the Divine deafness leaves them downcast and discouraged under the domination of devils. All this can be seen united in the person of St. Paul: (1) He was a great sinner who had persecuted Christians until converted by Our Lord Himself; (2) He penitentially practiced powerful penances and perseveringly prayed for the rest of his life in order to make amends; (3) yet God seemed to turn a blind-eye to his penances and deaf-ear to his prayers, as Providence showered him with suffering after suffering. In fact, the Lord had said to Ananias, just after Paul’s conversion: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). And suffer he did! Here is St. Paul’s partial list, written down by himself, of just a fraction of his sufferings:
“They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I. They are the ministers of Christ, I am more; in many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity” (2 Corinthians 11:22-30). And now he finds himself in prison, and what does he say? He writes to the Philippians:
“Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Philippians 4:4-7).
St. Paul’s Silver-Lined Cloud
This letter of St. Paul to the Christians of Philippi—his first converts in Europe—was written to them from his prison in Rome. When the Philippians, who were very attached to their Apostle, heard of Paul’s imprisonment, they sent one of the community, Epaphroditus, with a sum of money, and with instructions to remain with Paul, to help him in his needs. Epaphroditus became seriously ill in Rome and nearly died; when he recovered Paul sent him back and sent this letter with him to the Christians of Philippi. In it he thanks them and praises them for their generosity and true Christian love, he exhorts them to remain firm in the Faith, despite the present adversity of Paul being in prison. In the four verse extract, read at today’s Mass, St. Paul urges them to “rejoice always.” He repeats it to emphasize how important he thought it: “again I say rejoice.”
The joy St. Paul urges them to practice is the spiritual joy, which comes from the knowledge that, as Christians, they are incorporated by their baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ. Part of the ‘contract’ means having to take up your cross daily and carry it with joy, as did the Apostles, who “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). This was simply the small print of the ‘contract’ that Jesus revealed at the Last Supper, when He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
Can You Spot Christ?
We need our supernatural glasses, or contact lenses, to see Jesus in our sufferings―but, as the old adage goes: “Where there is the cross, there too is Christ!” St. Paul understood this and that is why he can speak so joyfully and courageously of the cross and suffering:
“For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18) ... “That I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19) ... “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14) ... “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (Romans 8:18) ... “I Paul...now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh” (Colossians 1:23-24).
This attitude of St. Paul is approved and ‘rubber-stamped’ by St. Peter, who writes: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, then rejoice, that when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
St. Peter and St. Paul fully realize, understand and accept that God’s gifts of grace and His promise of future glory, are sufficient at all times to give us a ready and joyful acceptance of God’s will in adversity as well as in prosperity. St. Paul himself “rejoices” in his imprisonment, because his chains have turned out to be a means of spreading the Gospel, and are, for him, a means to his own salvation as well the salvation of others (1:12-20).
Rejoice—No Matter What
There are many lessons we may learn from these words of St. Paul written from a Roman dungeon to the Christians of Philippi, but the principal lesson and the one the Church wishes to place before us today is the lesson of joy. We must rejoice in the Lord—no matter what. For all that happens to us and around us, is only happening because God either wants it to happen (if it something good and not sinful) or God has allowed it to happen (if the action we suffer happens to be unjust or sinful). In all events, we must remember that nothing can happen without God’s permission. This should give us a similar attitude to suffering to that of St. Paul.
Yet our joy should not only be a result of the crosses that come our way, but let us also stop for a moment to count our blessings and see how many positive reasons we have for rejoicing.
We are alive; we are probably reasonably healthy; reasonably well-off compared to the vast majority in this world who live in poverty or near poverty; we are most certainly much better off than the people who lived centuries ago; we are human beings who can think, reason and love; we have a body with many talents and gifts, we have a soul which is destined to last forever.
We have been redeemed and been given a chance to attain eternal happiness in Heaven; we have the means of going there and have a guarantee we will get there if we use those means. We are among the minority in this world who have been baptized; we are part of an even greater minority of the baptized who still practice the Faith; we are able to receive our God and Creator in Holy Communion—daily if we wish (in most cases); we have access to the Sacrament of Confession in the case we fall into mortal sin and lose, thereby, our chance of going to Heaven.
And while we battle and struggle on the road to Heaven, we are allowed to enjoy many temporal gifts offered us from the generous hand of a loving Father. Have we not reason to rejoice, to be glad? Indeed, can any true Christian be sad? Of course, we meet with snags and setbacks on the road. To reach the summit of the everlasting hills of Heaven we have to climb the rugged foothills that lead to the summit, but a true Christian will not moan and murmur because of that. It is only those who are going nowhere, those who are to remain forever in a lowly painful valley, who meet no obstacles and have no hills to climb. For them there is only the broad, wide road that leads downwards. We have a chance of going to Heaven and so we realize that every obstacle we overcome, every little summit we scale, is bringing us nearer to the lofty peaks where everlasting happiness and the “peace of God” will be our eternal reward together with an unending joy! Rejoice!
The Passion of Joy
Joy is one of the passions of the soul. The passions of the soul are very powerful, but they are also blind; they need to be correctly guided, and this guidance is expected to be given by the reason and the will (popularly known as the mind and the heart, as in the Scriptural command of loving God with your whole mind, heart, etc.). If this guidance is neglected, weak or erroneous, then mayhem results, but a mayhem that the passions find intoxicatingly and deliriously joyful.
Original Sin Turns Original Joy Sour
The passions of the soul are the following: love-hatred, desire-aversion, joy-grief; hope-despair, courage-fear, and anger. Adam and Eve, in the state of innocence, were not subject to the passions that have reference to evil, for they had to face no evil, present or threatening; therefore they were not subject to fear, grief, despair, anger, or inordinate desire. They had only such passions as refer to present and future good: joy, love, hope, orderly desire. And these passions of our first parents were, before the fall, perfectly subject and obedient to their reason and will, which, in turn, were perfectly subject and obedient to the enlightenment of God’s grace.
Once they had rebelled against God through their Original Sin, it was only fitting justice that God allow the inferior passions to rebel against the superior intellect and will, just as the inferior will and intellect rebelled against the superior grace of God, thus causing the inferior Adam and Eve to rebel against the superiority of God.
It is from that Original Sin that our passions beget their rebelliousness and it is from Original Sin that our intellect and our will find themselves wounded and weakened; no longer being in total domination over our passions, who now use false ‘reasoning’ in order to extort from our intellect and will an excess of what they feel will satisfy them. The passions are blind and need to be led by right reason and a strong will, when the passions overpower our reason and the will by their constant nagging and begging, then we have a case of the blind leading the weak—and as Our Lord says, they both fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14). “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do” (Romans 7:19).
Blind Passions Cannot See True Joy
Our passions being blind, do not discern between good and evil; their measurement stick is not a moral measurement, but a measurement of pleasure: “Does this give me pleasure or does it not give me pleasure?” To the uncontrolled and unguided passions, moral good and moral evil do not enter into the equation. For them, if something is pleasurable then it is automatically good; if something is not pleasurable, then it is automatically evil. The result is what Holy Scripture warns us about: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).”Dearly beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doth good, is of God: he that doth evil, hath not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
Passionate Results
The results brought about by our blind passions are partially listed by St. Paul:”Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid.” (1 Timothy 3:1-5). Those who practice some or all of the above sins, find joy in them, but it is a misguided joy, a false joy, a sinful joy.
The Greedy Joy of the Passions
The passions are all about themselves and not the common good. Each one is like a gluttonous child taking his place at the dinner table—what results is a “free for all” grab and fight, unless the parents (reason and will) take charge and impose some discipline. Similarly, a child could eat ice-cream all day long and every day, or some other junk food of their choice—however, sickness or tooth decay will sooner or later show the existence of justice. Likewise, God will eventually step-in and with justice He will correct matters. Justice is giving someone their due, whether it be a good effect (a reward) or a bad effect (a punishment). “All things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean” (Ecclesiastes 9:2).
Happiness and Joy is Every Person’s Goal
Whether we admit it nor and whether we like it or not, we all have the same ultimate supreme good. Our last end is a complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment; such a fulfillment is called beatitude or happiness and joy. But all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and consequent happiness are to be found. Some think to attain the end by becoming rich, some by enjoying pleasures, some by exercising power, some by being praised and honored, and so on.
The desire for happiness and joy is behind our ceaseless drive towards his supreme and universal good—which, in other words, means seeking something that is wholly complete, perfectly satisfying. The problem lies in the fact that we have different ideas as to what that supreme good is; and we also differ in our opinions on how best to obtain it. Even in our sinful acts, we are seeking what we imagine to be a ‘good’, that is, satisfaction, although we are perversely seeking it in the wrong place, with the wrong persons, with the wrong things, or in the wrong manner.
Everyone seeks fulfillment or satisfaction, happiness and joy. These are the feelings we wish to experience. But those feelings need an object for their fulfillment or realization; the object which, when possessed, will give us complete happiness and joy.
The Joy of Knowing and the Joy of Possessing
We cannot enjoy something that we either know nothing about, nor enjoy something that we do not, at least temporarily, possess. I cannot enjoy a conversation if I am not engaged in one; I cannot enjoy a meal unless I am eating one; I cannot enjoy the weather unless I am actually experiencing it; I cannot enjoy a thought unless I am thinking it, and so on and so forth.
St. Louis de Montfort asks that popular philosophical question: “Is it possible for man to love that which he does not know? Can he love ardently that which he knows but imperfectly? Why then is the adorable Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, loved so little? Because He is not known, or known but little. Very few of us, like St. Paul, make a sincere study of the supereminent science of Jesus, which is, nevertheless the most noble, the most consoling, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences in Heaven and on Earth” (Love of the Eternal Wisdom, St. Louis de Montfort).
Joy—the Icing on the Cake of Love
Joy is the fruit or the proverbial “icing-on-the-cake” that comes with possessing of being in the presence of what we love. Love is, in a certain sense, incomplete without the actual union with what we love. In fact, love is driven on powerfully to obtain the object of its love and will not find ultimate peace or joy until it successfully obtains the loved object.
Hence persons, who love food, are happiest and most joyful when they actually engaged in eating food. Lovers of music are happiest and most joyful when they are playing or listening to their favorite music. Sports lovers experience the height of joy only when they are actually engaged in playing or watching their favorite sport. Those who love drugs or alcohol will experience the greatest joy when they are actually united to and are consuming their beloved substance.
False Happiness and Fake Joy
However, our happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves our normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth (money) which provides us with the items of natural wealth. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Therefore wealth cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him eternally and completely happy.
Nor can power supply us with perfect happiness and joy, because power, like money, is a means to achieving something further, it is not an end in itself, but a means to something else.
Nor can our full happiness be found in being honored, respected and loved on account of some of our qualities or excellence, nor can it be found in fame and glory, because all these things are imperfect, they are not universal (not everybody feels that way about us), nor are they enduring (their opinions about us may change). Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore honor, praise and respect cannot themselves be the elements of perfect happiness.
Our ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body--life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Just like money and power, goods of the body are to be used as a means by reason (intellect and will) and not to be looked upon as end in itself, just like a ship is used by its captain; or a car by its owner. The car is a means of transportation and of carrying cargo, it is not there to be just looked at and enjoyed. The captain does not dock his ship in harbor to be admired, but to carry passengers or profitable cargoes to desired ports. Likewise the goods of the body are means to an end, and not complete ends in themselves. Besides, being a rational being as well as a bodily being; we can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods alone, for the soul ranks higher than the body.
Joy from Above, or Joy from Below?
In fact, no created good or creature can give us perfect happiness, for they all have limits and degrees that allow them to give only partial happiness and a passing joy. No created good is wholly perfect, in all areas and limitless in its degrees of fulfillment; only an uncreated and limitless good can be our ultimate end and joy. And this uncreated good is God.
However, if we listen to our passions more than we listen to God, then problems will arise. As already stated, happiness and joy are our ultimate goals, and if we no longer seek happiness and joy in the things that are above, then, nature abhorring a vacuum, will look for that happiness and joy the things that are below, for the hungry passion needs to be fed on something. If we refuse to eat healthy food, then we will by default eat junk food. Our Lord clearly tells us:
“My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) ... “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). To which St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). That is why St. Paul says: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).
No doubt friendship with the world, acceptance by the world, the ways of acting of the world, may bring us great happiness and joy, but it is not the happiness and joy of Heaven, it is not a true and enduring happiness: “
Obtaining that Heavenly Joy
True happiness and joy cannot be perfectly attained without rightness or rectitude in our will, where the will is conformed to and obedient to the guidance of grace and the teachings of Christ, Who tells us what to love and what not to love; what to seek and what not to seek. This sets our will in proper alignment with the supreme good, and makes our will love what it loves in perfect subordination to God. Without this subordination and perfection of our human will, we will never be perfectly happy.”But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 15:10).
Love, when it is true, brings joy. But love is reciprocal (two-way-street); it means not just being loved, but loving in return; it means not just taking, but giving in return. “He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him” (John 14:21). If we love Our Lord we must keep His commandments. This will bring, what is known as the “Joy of a Good Conscience.”
Happiness and Joy are Essentially in the Soul
Our ultimate happiness is essentially an operation of our soul: it is to know God with our intellect (our mind) and to love God with our will (our heart); both are faculties and actions of the soul. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole mind ... This is the greatest and the first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).
Therefore the body is not essential to our ultimate happiness. But there is a need in each soul to be in its own body, God made us that way. In the present life, a fit and healthy body is required for earthly happiness and joy, whereas a feeble and sick body is often the source of sickness and sorrow. In the after-life, though the body is not essential to the soul’s happiness and joy in Heaven, a body will be supplied to the soul at the general resurrection. Then the body itself will attain full perfection, but is will only be a secondary or accidental factor to the happiness and joy of Heaven.
Heavenly Joys without Food, Drink, Sleep and Belongings
External goods, such as food, drink, and property, which are required in due measure for earthly happiness, will not be required at all in Heaven. When souls and bodies are reunited at the general resurrection, our human bodies will be spiritualized and will no longer have material or animal needs. In Heaven, the fellowship of friends will not be essential to our happiness, for God will be all-sufficing. Nevertheless, friends will be loved and their fellowship will be enjoyed in God.
In the present earthly life we can reach a certain degree of happiness, but we cannot have perfect happiness. On Earth limitations and drawbacks are associated with happiness. Only the vision, experience and possession of God can make us perfectly happy, and this vision cannot be had in earthly life.
Once we have attained this perfect joy and happiness, it cannot be lost. For perfect happiness fills up our capacity and all our desires for what is good; that there is no tendency remaining in us which might lead us astray and away from our joyful and happy state.
Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, and be jubilantly glad, O daughter of Israel!
Behold, thy Lord cometh, and, in His day, a great light shall arise!
THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Thursday December 9th & Friday December 10th & Saturday December 11th
Article 6
The Immaculate Cure
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday December 9th & Friday December 10th & Saturday December 11th
Article 6
The Immaculate Cure
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Feeling Sick? Sick of this World? Heaven is!
The world is sick―and we should be sick of this world! For Heaven’s sake―Heaven is sick of the sin in this world! Already at Fatima, in 1917―in a much less sinful time compared to today―Our Lady told us: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … The [First World] War is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out!” ― which came to pass with the Second World War.
After that Second World War (1939-1945), in 1956, Our Lady, in speaking to the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aiello, pointed out that Heaven was sick of our sins: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [Our Lady is referring to the Great Flood in Noe’s time]. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
That “slender thread” got even thinner by 1973, when Our Lady of Akita confirmed how sick God was of the pandemic of sin on Earth: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge [the Great Flood in Noe’s time], such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad―sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Our Lord Came to Cure Sickness
Jesus Himself said: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick! For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). “And they presented to Jesus all sick people that were taken with various diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy―and He cured them” (Matthew 4:24) … “And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with His word, and all that were sick, He healed” (Matthew 8:16) … “And coming forth He saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). However, the sickness of body is merely a symptom of the sickness of sin that infects the soul. Yes―Our Lord did cure physical diseases, but, above all, He came to cure the spiritual disease of sin!
Sick with Sin―But Not Sick of Sin!
The world is sick―sick with sin, diseased with the virus of sin, dying from sin: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). Our Lady of La Salette also reminds us: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!”
Our Attitude to Sin is Sickening
Our Catechism clearly sates: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet we take sin far too lightly! Thus we also take the Sacrament of Confession too lightly! It is not meant to be a weekly “spiritual car wash” where we drive in after a week of sin, get all the dirt washed-off, and then drive back into the mud and filth of sin afterwards―only to repeat everything all over again!
We have become complacent with sin―because we do not see God punishing sin―therefore we feel a certain invincibility and immunity with regard to sin, both past sins and future sins. Yet Holy Scripture warns us: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). “In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying: ‘Where is His promise or his coming?’ … But the Heavens and the Earth are reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of the ungodly men! Be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day! The Lord delays not His promise, as some imagine, but deals patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance! But the Day of the Lord shall come as a thief―in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth, and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up!” (2 Peter 3:3-10) ― which is exactly what Our Lady said at La Salette, Fatima and at Akita: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated!”
Fire Cures
Fire is a form of medicine for the land and its people. Facing massive forest fires in the USA, resulting in record-breaking devastation, there is seemingly a never-ending wildfire season. 2020 was a record year for wildfires in America, when almost 9 million acres burned, double the number from the year before. Some local fire agencies and communities in Western states are looking back to methods that Indigenous North Americans Indians have used for millennia. Government agencies have realized their dire mistake in trying to exclude fire from the forest―and, unfortunately, it has taken these raging wildfires, that happen year after year, for them to realize the terrible mistake. Now they are looking for answers and seeking out Native Indians as to what should be done and how to go about it. Forest scientist and researcher at the U.S. Forest Service, Frank Lake, is a descendant of the Indian Karuk Tribe and a “holder” of traditional knowledge. He says: “It’s important to recognize there was a fire system in place that was culturally influenced. We have to question the narrative of history that has demonized fire, coming from a colonial perspective. I’m trying to spread the idea that fire is medicine!” By setting relatively small, contained fires, indigenous tribes―like the Yurok Indians― would traditionally create breaks in the sprawling forests and grasslands that wildfires couldn’t cross, because the fuel for the wildfire — the vegetation — had already been burned up.
Similarly, you could say that the small contained fire of penance ― which burns the ‘vegetation’ of sin ― prevents God’s angry wildfire of justice from inflicting even greater pain than what penance gives us.
It is interesting to note that the Chinese use fire therapy to treat various kinds of ailments like heumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, cervical spondylosis, frozen shoulder, lumbar disc hernia, joint sprains, tumours, digestive problems, gynaecology, and andrology. Imagine parts of your body being set on fire to cure an ailment — that is what a certain Chinese treatment entails, known as fire therapy. As the name suggests, the method involves the use of fire and has been used in traditional methods such as moxibustion―which is the burning dried aromatic flowering plants called mugwort on particular points on the body; or the treatments of fire needle―which is the inserting hot needles into acupuncture points on the body; or the vacuum cupping or suction created on skin by applying heated cups.
Fire and Electricity
Fire (a flame) is a form of electricity. It is electricity simply for the fact that the flame is a flow of ion rich plasma, which produces a surrounding magnetic field, just like any other electric current. If you put fire to a tungsten bulb filament, then you will find that it will make the filament heat and glow―just as it would from electricity from a live light socket. You can also electrically charge some things with fire. What do an electric current and a flame have in common? The answer is in the electrons. The 3rd grade definition of electricity is “the flow of electrons.” Fire is a form of electricity because the modern universal definition of electricity is “the flow of charges”. Electricity is just the flow of charges, positive or negative or both. And the combustion process of “fire” is a “flow of charges” regardless of what you are burning, or what gas is doing the combusting.
We know fire (a flame) conducts electricity, because a flame is an ion rich plasma, and we can see the electric current from charged capacitor studies. A flame generates a surrounding magnetic field―just like an electrical current in a wire. If you have a strong enough magnet, then you can influence the behavior of a blaze. If you have an electroscope, then you can detect a charge from fire-heated objects; and, if you have a sensitive enough ammeter, then you can detect the electric current in a flame.
Furthermore, the fire in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines. The turbines then spin an electric generator to produce electricity. That electricity can create enough heat to where the electricity itself creates a fire. You can see electricity providing the spark to light your gas stove. An electrical spark is produced for the spark plugs in your car. Transportation essentially uses “fire” ― fire is used to directly provide mechanical work in both external and internal combustion engines. Fire, in one form or another, plays a major part in propelling the engines of planes, trains, ships and cars, whether it be to change water into steam, or provide the spark the ignites gasses.
We still make most of our electricity with fire. We don’t have to. We have known for two centuries how to produce electricity without fire, from chemical batteries, then from moving wires, and more recently from sunlight―yet, when you think about it, sunlight comes from the sun, and what is the sun? A massive fire! By the way―sunlight (or light from the fire of the sun) has wonderful healing properties too! Sunlight is essential for human health and well-being. The health benefits of sunlight include generating the production of vitamin D, supporting bone health, lowering blood pressure, preventing disease, and promoting good mental health.
Mankind’s Relationship With Fire
For as long as man has inhabited the Earth, he has had a close and mutual relationship with the environment―and as much as the environment has affected man, man has affected the environment. One of the first major victories man won in his struggle to adapt to and control his God-made environment occurred when he acquired the ability to harness fire. Fire provided the earliest men with previously unavailable luxuries for the human species. It gave him a source of warmth in the cold and light in the darkness. Fire also brought medical benefits allowing man to cook meat and fish before eating it as opposed to eating it raw and also allowed him to kill a number of unhealthy bacteria present in raw meat such as E.Coli and salmonella. Although man was unaware of these dangers at the time, it is now a well-known fact that it is possible to contract fatal diseases from eating raw and uncooked meat. We create fires in order to live more comfortably. We burn wood, coal, oil and gas in order to stay warm, to cook, to travel and do many other things.
Fire also became an important agricultural tool―for, apart from using small, confined fires which could be used for cooking food and generating warmth―man also learned the benefits of large, widespread fires. Large fires could help improve the fertility of land―which might have previously been unproductive for growing things―and yield lots of edible crops. Large fires could also be used to clear large areas of bushes or trees, thus making the area more useful for hunting. Large fires could also serve as a means for protection, preventing enemies from attacking by forming an impenetrable barrier between two groups of people.
Even our language has been penetrated by fire! We have “fireplaces” in the home. We sit by the “fireside” and talk in the “firelight”. We speak of being “fired-up” or being “on-fire”. We say someone is a “fiery” character or has a “fiery” temperament. We utilize the word “fire” in relation to security, weaponry and war, as in having a protective “firewall”, or having sufficient “firepower”, or using “firebombs” and “firing” our guns, cannons, missiles and rockets. When we seek peace, we call for a “ceasefire”. Just as “fire” gets rid of unwanted bacteria in cooking, we also “fire” unwanted persons from their job. When things go wrong, we say that they “backfire” or “misfire”. When something is certain we say it is “surefire”. In the spiritual life, we speak of “hellfire” and Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
God and Fire
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost have all represented by fire in one form or another. “Our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:29). “‘Are not My words as a fire?’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 23:29). “The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2). “And the Lord spoke from the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:12). “He showed thee His exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:36). “He spoke to us out of the midst of fire” (Deuteronomy 5:4). “People should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire” (Deuteronomy 4:33). During the Exodus from Egypt, “the Lord went before them to show the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire―so that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). When the Israelites were encamped around Mount Sinai, “all Mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:18) … “and the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai … and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount” (Exodus 24:16-17). “God, His way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire!” (2 Kings 22:31).
Our Lord, when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, revealing and demanding devotion to His Sacred Heart―He showed her His Heart as furnace of fire for love of mankind. When the resurrected Lord unrecognizably spoke to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they afterwards said to each other: “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
We beg the kindling of that fire in the prayer to Holy Ghost, when we pray: “Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!” The Holy Ghost came down at Pentecost, upon Our Lady and the Apostles, in the form of tongues of fire: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place―and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them” (Acts 2:1-3).
Sin is Like a Forest Fire
“The tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts of great things. See how a small fire can set afire a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflames the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man! But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing! My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:5-10). “Wickedness is kindled as a fire―it shall devour the brier and the thorn, and shall set afire the thicket of the forest!” (Isaias (9:18).
Fire as God’s Punishment and Medicine
Scripture speaks of God punishing sinners in the fires of Hell: “Then He shall say to the sinners that shall be on his left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:41). “Death and Hell gave up their dead that were in them―and they were judged every one according to their works. And Hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the pool of fire … and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 20:13-15; 14:10).
“If thy hand scandalize thee―cut it off! It is better for thee to enter into life, maimed―than having two hands but going into Hell, into unquenchable fire, where their worm dies not, and the fire is not extinguished! And if thy foot scandalize thee―cut it off! It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet and to be cast into the Hell of unquenchable fire, where their worm dies not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Mark 9:42-45).
We see God inflict the punishment of fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrha on account of their numerous sins: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven” (Genesis 19:24). Why? “Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God!” (Deuteronomy 4:24) and He will not tolerate our placing of other idols before Him.
We see God use fire as one of the plagues inflicted upon the Pharao in Egypt because he would release God’s Chosen People from slavery so that they could go to the Promised Land: “And the hail and fire mixed with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded” (Exodus 9:24).
God speaks of a fiery punishment when He speaks of how He will treat those who disobey Him: “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be in the midst thereof―and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you!” (Ezechiel 22:22).
“Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire which was not commanded of them. And fire, coming out from the Lord, destroyed them and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
“There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were complaining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).
On another occasion we read that “a fire, coming out from the Lord, destroyed two hundred and fifty men” (Numbers 16:35).
The Prophet Elias also called down fire from Heaven on two occasions to burn and destroy soldiers: “King Ochozias sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God! The king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias, answering, said to the captain of fifty men: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him, and the fifty men that were with him. And again King Ochozias sent to Elias another captain of fifty men, and his fifty men with him. And the captain said to him: ‘Man of God! Thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!”’ Elias, answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And fire came down from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty men” (4 Kings 1:9-12).
The Prophet Elias called down the fire of God from Heaven in his duel with the prophets of Baal: “And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you waver between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him―but if Baal, then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us. Let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood―but put no fire under it. I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the Name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many! And then call on the names of your gods―but put no fire under the bullock. And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered, while they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, and Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awakened!’ So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
“Elias then said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name!’ And he built with the stones an altar to the Name of the Lord. And he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows, round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. And he said: ‘Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood!’ [He was deliberately making it harder for the bullock to be set on fire by thoroughly soaking it with water]. And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time!’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time!’ And they did so the third time. And the water ran round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! So that this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again!’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent of Cison and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:21-40).
God Protects From Fire
We read in the Book of Daniel how God protected the three young men―Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―who had been thrown into a blazing fire for not worshiping King Nabuchodonosr’s golden statue. They told the king: “‘O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’ Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments―for the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flames of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men―that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago-fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord! … Then Nabuchodonosor the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered the king, and said: ‘True, O king!’ He answered, and said: ‘Behold I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!’ Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: ‘Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―ye servants of the most high God―go ye forth and come out!’ And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago went out from the midst of the fire. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.” (Daniel 3:18-24; 91-94).
God Purifies by Fire
God also speaks of our being refined and purified in the fires of the furnace: “Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty!” (Isaias 48:10). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5). “Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you! … You must, for a little time, be made sorrowful in various temptations―so that the trial of your Faith, which is much more precious than the gold that is tried by the fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 4:12). “Every man’s work shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is!” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
The Fire of Love ― The Immaculate Cure-All
God is love! “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Christ is God and therefore Christ is charity! In His charity, He came to redeem us from our sins by suffering and dying for our sins on Calvary. “For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God! And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because God hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins! If God hath so loved us―then we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:7-11).
Our Lord Himself said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34) … “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) … “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12) … “These things I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17). Yet the love of God comes before the love of neighbor―today, we seem to placed love of neighbor before the love of God. Sadly, we barely find love for our neighbor, and even less do we find any real love for God.
The world is sick―and we should be sick of this world! For Heaven’s sake―Heaven is sick of the sin in this world! Already at Fatima, in 1917―in a much less sinful time compared to today―Our Lady told us: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … The [First World] War is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out!” ― which came to pass with the Second World War.
After that Second World War (1939-1945), in 1956, Our Lady, in speaking to the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aiello, pointed out that Heaven was sick of our sins: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! [Our Lady is referring to the Great Flood in Noe’s time]. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
That “slender thread” got even thinner by 1973, when Our Lady of Akita confirmed how sick God was of the pandemic of sin on Earth: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge [the Great Flood in Noe’s time], such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad―sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Our Lord Came to Cure Sickness
Jesus Himself said: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick! For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). “And they presented to Jesus all sick people that were taken with various diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy―and He cured them” (Matthew 4:24) … “And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with His word, and all that were sick, He healed” (Matthew 8:16) … “And coming forth He saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). However, the sickness of body is merely a symptom of the sickness of sin that infects the soul. Yes―Our Lord did cure physical diseases, but, above all, He came to cure the spiritual disease of sin!
Sick with Sin―But Not Sick of Sin!
The world is sick―sick with sin, diseased with the virus of sin, dying from sin: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). Our Lady of La Salette also reminds us: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!”
Our Attitude to Sin is Sickening
Our Catechism clearly sates: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet we take sin far too lightly! Thus we also take the Sacrament of Confession too lightly! It is not meant to be a weekly “spiritual car wash” where we drive in after a week of sin, get all the dirt washed-off, and then drive back into the mud and filth of sin afterwards―only to repeat everything all over again!
We have become complacent with sin―because we do not see God punishing sin―therefore we feel a certain invincibility and immunity with regard to sin, both past sins and future sins. Yet Holy Scripture warns us: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-6). “In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying: ‘Where is His promise or his coming?’ … But the Heavens and the Earth are reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of the ungodly men! Be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day! The Lord delays not His promise, as some imagine, but deals patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance! But the Day of the Lord shall come as a thief―in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth, and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up!” (2 Peter 3:3-10) ― which is exactly what Our Lady said at La Salette, Fatima and at Akita: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated!”
Fire Cures
Fire is a form of medicine for the land and its people. Facing massive forest fires in the USA, resulting in record-breaking devastation, there is seemingly a never-ending wildfire season. 2020 was a record year for wildfires in America, when almost 9 million acres burned, double the number from the year before. Some local fire agencies and communities in Western states are looking back to methods that Indigenous North Americans Indians have used for millennia. Government agencies have realized their dire mistake in trying to exclude fire from the forest―and, unfortunately, it has taken these raging wildfires, that happen year after year, for them to realize the terrible mistake. Now they are looking for answers and seeking out Native Indians as to what should be done and how to go about it. Forest scientist and researcher at the U.S. Forest Service, Frank Lake, is a descendant of the Indian Karuk Tribe and a “holder” of traditional knowledge. He says: “It’s important to recognize there was a fire system in place that was culturally influenced. We have to question the narrative of history that has demonized fire, coming from a colonial perspective. I’m trying to spread the idea that fire is medicine!” By setting relatively small, contained fires, indigenous tribes―like the Yurok Indians― would traditionally create breaks in the sprawling forests and grasslands that wildfires couldn’t cross, because the fuel for the wildfire — the vegetation — had already been burned up.
Similarly, you could say that the small contained fire of penance ― which burns the ‘vegetation’ of sin ― prevents God’s angry wildfire of justice from inflicting even greater pain than what penance gives us.
It is interesting to note that the Chinese use fire therapy to treat various kinds of ailments like heumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, cervical spondylosis, frozen shoulder, lumbar disc hernia, joint sprains, tumours, digestive problems, gynaecology, and andrology. Imagine parts of your body being set on fire to cure an ailment — that is what a certain Chinese treatment entails, known as fire therapy. As the name suggests, the method involves the use of fire and has been used in traditional methods such as moxibustion―which is the burning dried aromatic flowering plants called mugwort on particular points on the body; or the treatments of fire needle―which is the inserting hot needles into acupuncture points on the body; or the vacuum cupping or suction created on skin by applying heated cups.
Fire and Electricity
Fire (a flame) is a form of electricity. It is electricity simply for the fact that the flame is a flow of ion rich plasma, which produces a surrounding magnetic field, just like any other electric current. If you put fire to a tungsten bulb filament, then you will find that it will make the filament heat and glow―just as it would from electricity from a live light socket. You can also electrically charge some things with fire. What do an electric current and a flame have in common? The answer is in the electrons. The 3rd grade definition of electricity is “the flow of electrons.” Fire is a form of electricity because the modern universal definition of electricity is “the flow of charges”. Electricity is just the flow of charges, positive or negative or both. And the combustion process of “fire” is a “flow of charges” regardless of what you are burning, or what gas is doing the combusting.
We know fire (a flame) conducts electricity, because a flame is an ion rich plasma, and we can see the electric current from charged capacitor studies. A flame generates a surrounding magnetic field―just like an electrical current in a wire. If you have a strong enough magnet, then you can influence the behavior of a blaze. If you have an electroscope, then you can detect a charge from fire-heated objects; and, if you have a sensitive enough ammeter, then you can detect the electric current in a flame.
Furthermore, the fire in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines. The turbines then spin an electric generator to produce electricity. That electricity can create enough heat to where the electricity itself creates a fire. You can see electricity providing the spark to light your gas stove. An electrical spark is produced for the spark plugs in your car. Transportation essentially uses “fire” ― fire is used to directly provide mechanical work in both external and internal combustion engines. Fire, in one form or another, plays a major part in propelling the engines of planes, trains, ships and cars, whether it be to change water into steam, or provide the spark the ignites gasses.
We still make most of our electricity with fire. We don’t have to. We have known for two centuries how to produce electricity without fire, from chemical batteries, then from moving wires, and more recently from sunlight―yet, when you think about it, sunlight comes from the sun, and what is the sun? A massive fire! By the way―sunlight (or light from the fire of the sun) has wonderful healing properties too! Sunlight is essential for human health and well-being. The health benefits of sunlight include generating the production of vitamin D, supporting bone health, lowering blood pressure, preventing disease, and promoting good mental health.
Mankind’s Relationship With Fire
For as long as man has inhabited the Earth, he has had a close and mutual relationship with the environment―and as much as the environment has affected man, man has affected the environment. One of the first major victories man won in his struggle to adapt to and control his God-made environment occurred when he acquired the ability to harness fire. Fire provided the earliest men with previously unavailable luxuries for the human species. It gave him a source of warmth in the cold and light in the darkness. Fire also brought medical benefits allowing man to cook meat and fish before eating it as opposed to eating it raw and also allowed him to kill a number of unhealthy bacteria present in raw meat such as E.Coli and salmonella. Although man was unaware of these dangers at the time, it is now a well-known fact that it is possible to contract fatal diseases from eating raw and uncooked meat. We create fires in order to live more comfortably. We burn wood, coal, oil and gas in order to stay warm, to cook, to travel and do many other things.
Fire also became an important agricultural tool―for, apart from using small, confined fires which could be used for cooking food and generating warmth―man also learned the benefits of large, widespread fires. Large fires could help improve the fertility of land―which might have previously been unproductive for growing things―and yield lots of edible crops. Large fires could also be used to clear large areas of bushes or trees, thus making the area more useful for hunting. Large fires could also serve as a means for protection, preventing enemies from attacking by forming an impenetrable barrier between two groups of people.
Even our language has been penetrated by fire! We have “fireplaces” in the home. We sit by the “fireside” and talk in the “firelight”. We speak of being “fired-up” or being “on-fire”. We say someone is a “fiery” character or has a “fiery” temperament. We utilize the word “fire” in relation to security, weaponry and war, as in having a protective “firewall”, or having sufficient “firepower”, or using “firebombs” and “firing” our guns, cannons, missiles and rockets. When we seek peace, we call for a “ceasefire”. Just as “fire” gets rid of unwanted bacteria in cooking, we also “fire” unwanted persons from their job. When things go wrong, we say that they “backfire” or “misfire”. When something is certain we say it is “surefire”. In the spiritual life, we speak of “hellfire” and Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
God and Fire
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost have all represented by fire in one form or another. “Our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:29). “‘Are not My words as a fire?’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 23:29). “The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2). “And the Lord spoke from the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:12). “He showed thee His exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:36). “He spoke to us out of the midst of fire” (Deuteronomy 5:4). “People should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire” (Deuteronomy 4:33). During the Exodus from Egypt, “the Lord went before them to show the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire―so that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). When the Israelites were encamped around Mount Sinai, “all Mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:18) … “and the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai … and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount” (Exodus 24:16-17). “God, His way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire!” (2 Kings 22:31).
Our Lord, when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, revealing and demanding devotion to His Sacred Heart―He showed her His Heart as furnace of fire for love of mankind. When the resurrected Lord unrecognizably spoke to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they afterwards said to each other: “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
We beg the kindling of that fire in the prayer to Holy Ghost, when we pray: “Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!” The Holy Ghost came down at Pentecost, upon Our Lady and the Apostles, in the form of tongues of fire: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place―and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them” (Acts 2:1-3).
Sin is Like a Forest Fire
“The tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts of great things. See how a small fire can set afire a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflames the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man! But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing! My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:5-10). “Wickedness is kindled as a fire―it shall devour the brier and the thorn, and shall set afire the thicket of the forest!” (Isaias (9:18).
Fire as God’s Punishment and Medicine
Scripture speaks of God punishing sinners in the fires of Hell: “Then He shall say to the sinners that shall be on his left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:41). “Death and Hell gave up their dead that were in them―and they were judged every one according to their works. And Hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the pool of fire … and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 20:13-15; 14:10).
“If thy hand scandalize thee―cut it off! It is better for thee to enter into life, maimed―than having two hands but going into Hell, into unquenchable fire, where their worm dies not, and the fire is not extinguished! And if thy foot scandalize thee―cut it off! It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet and to be cast into the Hell of unquenchable fire, where their worm dies not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Mark 9:42-45).
We see God inflict the punishment of fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrha on account of their numerous sins: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven” (Genesis 19:24). Why? “Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God!” (Deuteronomy 4:24) and He will not tolerate our placing of other idols before Him.
We see God use fire as one of the plagues inflicted upon the Pharao in Egypt because he would release God’s Chosen People from slavery so that they could go to the Promised Land: “And the hail and fire mixed with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded” (Exodus 9:24).
God speaks of a fiery punishment when He speaks of how He will treat those who disobey Him: “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be in the midst thereof―and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you!” (Ezechiel 22:22).
“Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire which was not commanded of them. And fire, coming out from the Lord, destroyed them and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
“There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were complaining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).
On another occasion we read that “a fire, coming out from the Lord, destroyed two hundred and fifty men” (Numbers 16:35).
The Prophet Elias also called down fire from Heaven on two occasions to burn and destroy soldiers: “King Ochozias sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God! The king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias, answering, said to the captain of fifty men: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him, and the fifty men that were with him. And again King Ochozias sent to Elias another captain of fifty men, and his fifty men with him. And the captain said to him: ‘Man of God! Thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!”’ Elias, answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And fire came down from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty men” (4 Kings 1:9-12).
The Prophet Elias called down the fire of God from Heaven in his duel with the prophets of Baal: “And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you waver between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him―but if Baal, then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us. Let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood―but put no fire under it. I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the Name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many! And then call on the names of your gods―but put no fire under the bullock. And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered, while they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, and Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awakened!’ So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
“Elias then said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name!’ And he built with the stones an altar to the Name of the Lord. And he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows, round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. And he said: ‘Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood!’ [He was deliberately making it harder for the bullock to be set on fire by thoroughly soaking it with water]. And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time!’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time!’ And they did so the third time. And the water ran round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! So that this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again!’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent of Cison and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:21-40).
God Protects From Fire
We read in the Book of Daniel how God protected the three young men―Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―who had been thrown into a blazing fire for not worshiping King Nabuchodonosr’s golden statue. They told the king: “‘O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’ Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments―for the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flames of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men―that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago-fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord! … Then Nabuchodonosor the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered the king, and said: ‘True, O king!’ He answered, and said: ‘Behold I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!’ Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: ‘Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―ye servants of the most high God―go ye forth and come out!’ And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago went out from the midst of the fire. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.” (Daniel 3:18-24; 91-94).
God Purifies by Fire
God also speaks of our being refined and purified in the fires of the furnace: “Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty!” (Isaias 48:10). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5). “Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you! … You must, for a little time, be made sorrowful in various temptations―so that the trial of your Faith, which is much more precious than the gold that is tried by the fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 4:12). “Every man’s work shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is!” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
The Fire of Love ― The Immaculate Cure-All
God is love! “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Christ is God and therefore Christ is charity! In His charity, He came to redeem us from our sins by suffering and dying for our sins on Calvary. “For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God! And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because God hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins! If God hath so loved us―then we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:7-11).
Our Lord Himself said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34) … “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) … “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12) … “These things I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17). Yet the love of God comes before the love of neighbor―today, we seem to placed love of neighbor before the love of God. Sadly, we barely find love for our neighbor, and even less do we find any real love for God.
THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Wednesday December 8th
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Article 5
The Immaculate Conception & Today's Dirty Deception
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday December 8th
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Article 5
The Immaculate Conception & Today's Dirty Deception
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Immaculate and Dirty
The world in which we live is loaded with positives and negatives, plusses and minuses. It is a world of opposites. We have things such as light and darkness; day and night; warmth and coldness; health and sickness; life and death; joy and sorrow; goodness and evil; truth and lies; love and hatred, etc. All of these things can be represented in the concepts of Heaven and Hell, or God and Satan, or virtue and sin, or eternal life and eternal death (eternal damnation). God is Heaven, Satan is Hell. God is the author of virtue and order, Satan is the author of sin and chaos. God is love, Satan is hatred.
Just as children reflect the characteristics of their parents, likewise do the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan reflect the characteristics of whomever they follow. As Our Lord said: “By their fruits you shall know them! Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
You Have an Immaculate Mother! Are You an Immaculate Child?
As Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). As Christ died on Calvary, He entrusted all of us―in the person of St. John―to His Blessed Mother: “When Jesus, therefore, had seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved [John], standing [at the foot of the cross], He said to His Mother: ‘Woman! Behold thy son!’ After that, He said to the disciple: ‘Behold thy mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27). Without doubt, Our Lady is willing to take everyone as a spiritual child―no matter how sinful they may be! “She was the Mother of them all” (Wisdom 7:12). Yet are we truly prepared to take Our Lady to be our spiritual Mother? A child must obey its mother―are we really prepared to obey Mary? Do we really obey Mary? Are we truly desirous of imitating the traits of our spiritual Mother? Or are we more like traitors to our spiritual Mother? Holy Scripture warns: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother!” (Proverbs 1:8) … “My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother!” (Proverbs 6:20) … “He that afflicts his father, and chases away his mother, will be infamous and unhappy!” (Proverbs 19:26).
Sadly, this obedience is not the case on the part of most Catholics―as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! … “Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yes, truly, “he that afflicts his father, and chases away his mother, will be infamous and unhappy!” (Proverbs 19:26).
As our Immaculate Mother warned on many occasions: “The God of Heaven and Earth is offended and unrecognized!” (OLOGS)… “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! (OLOF) … “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” (OLOLS) … “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!” (OLOA) … “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church … Many nations will be annihilated!” (OLOF). (KEY to the abbreviations: OLOGS = Our Lady of Good Success; OLOLS = Our Lady of La Salette; OLOF = Our Lady of Fatima; OLOA = Our Lady of Akita).
Your Immaculate Calling
Your vocation in life is clear and non-negotiable! You are called to be immaculate and holy! God Himself says: “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: ‘Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!’” (Leviticus 19:2). “You shall be to Me a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by anything upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 20:7). Our Lord―also God―adds: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48)―while Scripture further states: “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity” (Ephesians 1:4). “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy! Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Devotion to Our Immaculate Mother Demands Holiness
St. Louis de Montfort, author of the renowned book True Devotion to Mary, repeats what has been said in the previous paragraph in a lesser known work of his―The Secret of Mary―wherein he writes:
Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.
To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary―it all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. I explain…
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son. Thus, as St. Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.
(5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil.
(6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, (John 1:14), he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.
(7) The Holy Ghost espoused Mary and produced His greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through her. He has never disowned her and so He continues to produce every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of the elect in her and through her.
(8) Mary received, from God, a unique dominion over souls, enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more godlike. St. Augustine went so far as to say that, even in this world, all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth to eternal life. Consequently, just as an infant draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its needs, so the elect draw all their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.
(9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, “Dwell in Jacob” (Ecclesiasticus 24:8,12) that is, dwell in my elect, who are typified by Jacob. It was to Mary that God the Son said, “My dear Mother, your inheritance is in Israel,” that is, in the elect. It was to Mary that the Holy Ghost said, “Place your roots in my elect.” Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate, will have the Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in his very soul the roots of every virtue, but especially deep humility and ardent charity.
(10) Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the “living mold of God.” In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Misconceptions of the Immaculate Conception
Sadly, most Catholics today―especially young Catholics―are clueless to a greater or lesser degree about the Immaculate Conception. Some think it is all about Mary conceiving Jesus in her womb―wrong! Others confuse the Immaculate Conception with the “virgin birth”―namely, the belief that Mary gave birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin―wrong! Yes, she was a virgin before and after giving birth―but that is not the Immaculate Conception! Then there are those who think that the Immaculate Conception means that Mary’s mother, St. Anne, conceived Mary without having marital relations with her husband, St. Joachim―wrong! Mary was conceived in the womb of St. Anne according to normal rules of nature. Getting a little more technical―some think that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception includes only Mary’s sanctification in soul at moment of her conception, but does not preserve her body from ALL EFFECTS of Original Sin (the triple concupiscence―namely, the concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh and the pride of life―and being prone to disease, injury and death)―wrong again! The Immaculate Conception preserved the Virgin Mary from the effects of Original Sin on both the body and soul. Mary was not subject to death or injury or disease that was due to Original Sin―“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). If she died at the end of her life, this occurred only because it was the will of God, and not because of any personal sin or Original Sin.
So What Exactly is the “Immaculate Conception”
Before we go further―and look at the what the “Immaculate Conception” should mean to us and how it should influence our lives―let us first get a clear idea of what exactly is this term, “the Immaculate Conception”.
In his encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX pronounced and enforced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father, through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: ‘We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.’” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
Woe to Unbelievers!
“Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the Faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law, if he should are to express in words, or writing, or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
No Impulsive Dogma
Winding back just 5 years, to 1849, we see Blessed Pope Pius IX already perusing if the time was then right to make the dogmatic declaration concerning the Immaculate Conception. “There was in the entire Catholic world a most ardent and wondrous revival of the desire that the most holy Mother of God—the beloved Mother of us all, the immaculate Virgin Mary—be finally declared by a solemn definition of the Church to have been conceived without the stain of Original Sin ... “Many persons are now wondering why this honor has not already been accorded to the Blessed Virgin by the Church and the Apostolic See—an honor which the widespread piety of the Christian people so fervently desires ... Accordingly, We have appointed certain priests of recognized piety and theological learning, as well as several cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who are renowned because of their ability, piety, wisdom, prudence, and knowledge of the things of God; and We have directed them to make, carefully and thoroughly, a most diligent examination into this most important matter and then provide Us with a complete report” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ubi Primum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849).
The Pope goes on to say that this doctrine has been in the minds of Christians from antiquity: “This doctrine so filled the minds and souls of our ancestors in the Faith that a singular and truly marvelous style of speech came into vogue among them. They have frequently addressed the Mother of God as immaculate, as immaculate in every respect; innocent, and verily most innocent; spotless, and entirely spotless; holy and removed from every stain of sin; all pure, all stainless, the very model of purity and innocence; more beautiful than beauty, more lovely than loveliness; more holy than holiness, singularly holy and most pure in soul and body; the one who surpassed all integrity and virginity; the only one who has become the dwelling place of all the graces of the most Holy Ghost. God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of Heaven and Earth do not suffice.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854).
Our Lady’s Lourdes Immaculate Conception Confirmation
A little over three years after the dogmatic declaration on the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady makes a series of apparitions at Lourdes, in France, beginning on February 11th, 1858—at which time she ratifies and confirms the pope’s declaration by telling St. Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception.
Pope St. Pius X also weighed-in to the matter around 50 years later, by stating: “The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of Original Sin because she was to be the Mother of Christ” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Ad Diem Illum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904).
Habemus Matrem
If, at the election of a pope, we can shout “Habemus papam!” meaning “we have a pope (‘father’)”, then, in regard to this dogmatic declaration, we can shout “Habemus Matrem—Habemus Matrem Immaculatam”, meaning “We have a Mother—an Immaculate Mother!” Even more than the pope is the Holy Father, Our Lady is the Holiest of mothers. The “immaculate” aspect is of great importance―for, as the spiritual masters teach, purity infuses an enormous power into the petitions we place before God and purity makes us extremely close to God: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9). “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8) … “Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord and pure words most beautiful” (Proverbs 15:26).
Why on Earth…?
Of all questions―such as “What? Where? How? When? Which? Why?”―the “Why?” is foremost. It concerns the “Final End” of matters. It is the king or queen of questions. So ‘what is the why’ of the Immaculate Conception? Blessed Pope Pius XII gives us the answer in the proclaiming encyclical of December 8th, 1954:
Before getting to the heart of the matter, he prefaces it with the following statement: “God, having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race, which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness through the Incarnation of the Word. This He decreed in order that man, who had been led into sin by the cunning malice of Satan, should not perish. The eternal Father chose and prepared, for His only-begotten Son, a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom He would be born into this world. God loved her above all creatures and endowed her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts, so that this Mother, ever free of all stain of sin, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
In other words, the height and depth, length and breadth of her ‘immaculateness’ is simply mind-blowing and beyond our puny capacities to grasp and understand. It is something that we should be in total awe over, yet, for many, if not most, there is only an indifference—an attitude of “So what?” “It’s just another title!” “Let’s just get on with life! I’ve got better things to do than try fathom out how immaculate she is!”
The Supreme Reason: The Divine Maternity
The Pope Pius IX goes on to explain the “Why?” of the Immaculate Conception: “And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent, with the glory of most sublime holiness, and so completely free from all taint of Original Sin, that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent. To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son—the Son, the Father loves from His heart—and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was she whom the Son Himself chose to make His Mother; and it was from her that the Holy Spirit willed, and brought it about, that He should be conceived and born from whom He himself proceeds.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains it by equating the means with the end. Mary is the means to the end—which is the Incarnation of God (or God taking on flesh). He could have done it many different ways, but since He chose to become incarnate through Mary, it was necessary that the means be the best possible means—and since with God nothing is impossible, He made sure that Mary was the best means available. St. Thomas puts it thus:
“Mary’s whole life was free from sin. For God so prepares and endows those whom He selects for some particular office, that they are rendered capable of fulfilling it, according to 2 Corinthians 3:6: ‘Who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament.’ Now the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be His Mother. Therefore, there can be no doubt that God, by His grace, made her worthy of that office, according to the words spoken to her by the Angel (Luke 1:30), ‘Thou hast found grace with God, behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus.’ But she would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned.
“First, because the honor of the parents reflects upon the child, according to Proverbs 17:6: ‘The glory of the children are their fathers’; and consequently, on the other hand, the Mother’s shame would have reflected on her Son. Secondly, because of the singular affinity between her and Christ Who took flesh from her. And it is written (2 Corinthians 6:15): ‘What concord hath Christ with Belial?’ Thirdly, because of the singular manner in which the Son of God, ‘Who is the Divine Wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 1:24), dwelt in her, not only in her soul but in her womb. And thus, it is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’ We must therefore confess simply that the Blessed Virgin committed no actual sin, either mortal or venial; so that what is written (Canticles 4:7), is fulfilled: ‘Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.’” (Summa Theologica, 3a, q. 27).
The Awesome Terrible Sanctity of God Detests Sin
God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. “Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Habacuc 1:13). The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended.
It was sin that led to banishment of the fallen angels to Hell, and it was sin led to Adam and Eve to be cast out of the Garden of Eden and to suffer and die. Both the Angels and our First Parents were created immaculate, that is to say, in a state of grace. Yet many of the angels failed to keep that grace, and both Adam and Eve lost that grace through Mortal Sin. God cannot tolerate sin. Sin is an attack upon the holiness and purity of God. Sin has to be eliminated and reparation has to be made.
The Price and Pain of Sin
Since Adam and Even listened to the devil and fell into sin, they thereby abused and threw away the gifts the gifts that God had given them: (1) the supernatural grace of God; (2) the possibility of never having to die; (3) the possibility of being free from any and all forms of suffering; (4) the harmonious submission and obedience of the soul to God’s grace, and the obedience of the body and its passions to the soul; and finally, (5) they weakened the infused knowledge that God had created them with, to the point that now they would experience a darkened intellect that finds learning difficult, a weak will that struggles with temptation, and rebellious passions.
They had offended God in the name of humanity, all their future descendants would participate in the effects of that sin. As St. Paul writes: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Truly, as St. Paul states later, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The gates of Heaven were closed. Humanity had failed the test through Adam and Eve. It is because we downplay sin in our own thoughts, that we have such a wrong notion about what sin really is. As the old, but very clear and simple, Penny Catechism says: “It is the greatest of all evils to fall into mortal sin.” Another catechism, My Catholic Faith, states that “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God ... Although venial sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is nevertheless a great moral evil, next alone to mortal sin ... We are prone to look upon venial sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that it is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” (from the catechism My Catholic Faith).
The New Adam, the New Eve
After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. The passage in Genesis, which is called the Proto-evangelium (“first gospel”), makes the first announcement of the Messias and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because He “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends super-abundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Additionally, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the Woman announced in the Proto-evangelium as Mary, the Mother of Christ, the “New Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: for she was preserved from all stain of Original Sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
Immaculate Mary needs Immaculate Children
We all know the saying: “Like father, like son!” or “Like mother, like daughter!” or “He takes after his father!” and “She’s just like her mother!” Our Lord and Our Lady—the new Adam and Eve—want us to imitate them and Heaven. Of Our Lady, it can be said: “I am clean, and without sin: I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me” (Job 33:9) .... “My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight” (Job 11:4). “I am without sin and am innocent” (Jeremias 2:35). We became her spiritual children at the foot of the Cross, and so we should take on the traits of our spiritual Mother. Children imitate their parents.
Jesus said: “Learn of Me…!” (Matthew 11:29) … “If you love Me, keep my Commandments” (John 14:15) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) … “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) … “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). St. Peter repeats that command in the New Testament: “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy, because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). While St. Paul writes: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity” (Ephesians 1:4).
Only saints go to Heaven, that is the pedigree of the New Adam and Eve—we have to be immaculate to enter therein: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled” (Apocalypse 27:21). We have to be wholly holy, or “Holy, Holy, Holy” as we say in the Sanctus at Mass—which, incidentally, should remind of the three ever-increasing stages of holiness that we have to pass through: as beginners in holiness, (2) as proficients in holiness, and (3) as perfect in holiness. Purgatory will be necessary for even the slightest stains of sin or smallest unpaid debts for previously forgiven sin. For, as it was said above, God detests sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
“For the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes, (2) a lying tongue, (3) hands that shed innocent blood, (4) heart that deviseth wicked plots, (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief, (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
The Articulate Deception of the World Opposes the Immaculate Conception of Mary
The devil and Mary are irreconcilable enemies―a fact already foretold by God after the first sin of Adam and Eve, what we now call “Original Sin”, after which God solemnly said: “And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the Earth! Upon thy breast shalt thou go and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life! I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15). Thus, Mary and devil are irreconcilable enemies.
The devil, however, is also the “prince of this world” and thus the world is also an enemy of God and Mary―as mentioned by Our Lord on several occasions: “For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing!” (John 14:30). “The prince of this world is already judged!” (John 16:11). “Now is the judgment of the world―now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). How does Our Lord judge the world, of which the devil is prince? Jesus says: “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:10-11)―we forget that it is actually a good sign if the world does not ‘receive’ us or does not like us!
Exposing the Seductive Lies and Deception of the World
To His followers Jesus says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus says: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). To His Father in Heaven, Jesus prays: “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world ... Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them … I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-14).
This inescapable and unpleasant truth―unpleasant to us because we love the world and want the world to love us―is further driven home by the Apostles: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We are blasphemed [by the world], and we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all―even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:13). “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The Seductive Lies of the World are the Lies of the Devil
As Our Lord says of the devil and of worldly people: “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). To the worldly-minded, who are thereby implicit slaves of the “prince of this world”, the devil, Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). Yet those lies are very seductive lies―they promise a paradise on Earth, a life of ease and comfort, many useful possessions, etc.
Articulate Deceptions of the World
St. Louis de Montfort, in another of his lesser know books, Love of Eternal Wisdom, paints a very striking and clear picture of those who have been seduced by the lies of the world and the devil:
“Those who proceed according to the wisdom of the world are those who know how to manage well their affairs and to arrange things to their temporal advantage without appearing to do so; who know the art of deceiving and how to cleverly cheat without being noticed; who say or do one thing and have another thing in mind; who are thoroughly acquainted with the way and the flattery of the world; who know how to please everybody in order to reach their goal, not troubling much about the honor and interests of God; who make a secret but deadly fusion of truth with untruth, of the Gospel with the world, of virtue with vice, of Jesus Christ with Satan; who wish to pass as honest people but not as religious men; who despise and corrupt or readily condemn every religious practice which does not conform to their own. In short, the worldly‑wise are those who, being guided only by their human senses and reason, seek only to appear as Christian and honest folk, without troubling much to please God or to do penance for the sins which they have committed against His divine Majesty.
“The worldling bases his conduct upon his honor, upon what people say, upon convention, upon good cheer, upon personal interest, upon refined manners, upon witty jokes. These are the seven innocent incentives, so he thinks, upon which he can rely that he may lead an easy life. He has virtues of his own for which he is canonized by the world. These are manliness, finesse, diplomacy, tact, gallantry, politeness, sprightliness. He considers as serious sins such traits as lack of feeling, silliness, dullness, sanctimoniousness. He adheres as strictly as possible to the commandments which the world has given him:
(1) Thou shalt be well acquainted with the world.
(2) Thou shalt be an “honest” man.
(3) Thou shalt be successful in business.
(4) Thou shalt keep what is thine.
(5) Thou shalt get on in the world.
(6) Thou shalt make friends.
(7) Thou shalt be a society man.
(8) Thou shalt make merry.
(9) Thou shalt not be a killjoy.
(10) Thou shalt avoid singularity, dullness and an air of piety.
“Never was the world so corrupt as it is now, because it was never so astute, so wise in its own conceit, so cunning. It is so skillful in deceiving the soul seeking perfection that it makes use of truth to foster untruth, of virtue to authorize vice and it even distorts the meaning of Christ’s own truths to give authority to its own maxims. “The number of those who are fools according to God, is infinite.” The earthly wisdom spoken of by St. James, is an excessive striving for worldly goods. The worldly-wise make a secret profession of this type of wisdom when they allow themselves to become attached to their earthly possessions, when they strive to become rich, when they go to law and bring useless actions against others in order to acquire or to keep temporal goods; when their every thought, word and deed is mainly directed toward obtaining or retaining something temporal. As to working out their eternal salvation and making use of the means to do so, such as reception of the Sacraments and prayer, they accomplish these duties only carelessly, in a very offhand manner, once in a while, and for the sake of appearances” (St. Louis de Montfort, Love of Eternal Wisdom §76-§79).
Even the Good are Seduced by the Articulate Deceptions of the World
Even good people are seduced by some seductive aspect of the world―as we see in the real-life encounter between Jesus and good young rich man:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Which is why the Apostles write the following words of warning―which almost everyone chooses to ignore: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). But sadly, the world has overcome the Faith in most cases today!
We Need to Clean Up Our Act
God never changes and His demands for holiness never change. In the Old Testament it says: “Turn away from evil and do good” (Psalms 33:15); and St. Peter repeats the same in the New Testament: “Let him decline from evil, and do good” (1 Peter 3:11). Our Lady even echoes this today, for at Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” However, Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells us that: “the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” St. Paul clearly tells us: “Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). Not even the slightest Venial Sin, for that still separates us from God and has to paid for—either here or in Purgatory, as Our Lord says: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). But “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness” (Matthew 23:25).
Fatal Failure
Failure to clean up our act will have fatal consequences, as we already know: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it” (La Salette) … “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
We must cease being overly preoccupied with the things of the world, entertainment and amusement—all things that Our Lady has complained about—and begin to reform ourselves, to clean up our act. No matter how much we may have sinned—as with Mary Magdalen, the Good Thief, the Prodigal Son—there is a way back, but we have work hard and clean house. The foundation is prayer and penance—the things that Our Lady has insistently commanded in one apparition after another—there is no other way. We must pray VERY MUCH and we must do MUCH penance.
Detesting Sin and Worldliness
One of the chief contributors to the deluge of sin in the world today is the absence of a fear of God and a fear of offending God. This is there has to be a terrible, frightening chastisement—in order to re-establish the foundation of fear. Fear is essential, even when we love God—it is the foundation of the spiritual life. It is even one of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost—a Fear of the Lord. As Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 110:10). “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear Him shall not love it” (Ecclesiasticus 15:13). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
“Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema” (Deuteronomy 7:26). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
This detestation of the spirit of the world and of the ways of the world is absolutely essential if we are clean house and clean-up our act. The source of sin has to be stopped, like a leak in a boat, or the boat (soul) will sink. Once the incoming flow of sin has been dealt, then we can deal with the flooded basement (soul) and start pumping the bilge out.
Grace Cleans and Beautifies
We say of Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” Grace perfects our human nature, it heals the wounds of sin, it strengthens our weaknesses, it pushes us on to higher heights.
The world in which we live is loaded with positives and negatives, plusses and minuses. It is a world of opposites. We have things such as light and darkness; day and night; warmth and coldness; health and sickness; life and death; joy and sorrow; goodness and evil; truth and lies; love and hatred, etc. All of these things can be represented in the concepts of Heaven and Hell, or God and Satan, or virtue and sin, or eternal life and eternal death (eternal damnation). God is Heaven, Satan is Hell. God is the author of virtue and order, Satan is the author of sin and chaos. God is love, Satan is hatred.
Just as children reflect the characteristics of their parents, likewise do the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan reflect the characteristics of whomever they follow. As Our Lord said: “By their fruits you shall know them! Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
You Have an Immaculate Mother! Are You an Immaculate Child?
As Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). As Christ died on Calvary, He entrusted all of us―in the person of St. John―to His Blessed Mother: “When Jesus, therefore, had seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved [John], standing [at the foot of the cross], He said to His Mother: ‘Woman! Behold thy son!’ After that, He said to the disciple: ‘Behold thy mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27). Without doubt, Our Lady is willing to take everyone as a spiritual child―no matter how sinful they may be! “She was the Mother of them all” (Wisdom 7:12). Yet are we truly prepared to take Our Lady to be our spiritual Mother? A child must obey its mother―are we really prepared to obey Mary? Do we really obey Mary? Are we truly desirous of imitating the traits of our spiritual Mother? Or are we more like traitors to our spiritual Mother? Holy Scripture warns: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother!” (Proverbs 1:8) … “My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother!” (Proverbs 6:20) … “He that afflicts his father, and chases away his mother, will be infamous and unhappy!” (Proverbs 19:26).
Sadly, this obedience is not the case on the part of most Catholics―as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! … “Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yes, truly, “he that afflicts his father, and chases away his mother, will be infamous and unhappy!” (Proverbs 19:26).
As our Immaculate Mother warned on many occasions: “The God of Heaven and Earth is offended and unrecognized!” (OLOGS)… “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! (OLOF) … “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” (OLOLS) … “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!” (OLOA) … “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church … Many nations will be annihilated!” (OLOF). (KEY to the abbreviations: OLOGS = Our Lady of Good Success; OLOLS = Our Lady of La Salette; OLOF = Our Lady of Fatima; OLOA = Our Lady of Akita).
Your Immaculate Calling
Your vocation in life is clear and non-negotiable! You are called to be immaculate and holy! God Himself says: “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: ‘Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!’” (Leviticus 19:2). “You shall be to Me a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by anything upon the Earth” (Leviticus 11:44). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 20:7). Our Lord―also God―adds: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48)―while Scripture further states: “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity” (Ephesians 1:4). “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy! Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Devotion to Our Immaculate Mother Demands Holiness
St. Louis de Montfort, author of the renowned book True Devotion to Mary, repeats what has been said in the previous paragraph in a lesser known work of his―The Secret of Mary―wherein he writes:
Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.
To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary―it all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. I explain…
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son. Thus, as St. Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.
(5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil.
(6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, (John 1:14), he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.
(7) The Holy Ghost espoused Mary and produced His greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through her. He has never disowned her and so He continues to produce every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of the elect in her and through her.
(8) Mary received, from God, a unique dominion over souls, enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more godlike. St. Augustine went so far as to say that, even in this world, all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth to eternal life. Consequently, just as an infant draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its needs, so the elect draw all their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.
(9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, “Dwell in Jacob” (Ecclesiasticus 24:8,12) that is, dwell in my elect, who are typified by Jacob. It was to Mary that God the Son said, “My dear Mother, your inheritance is in Israel,” that is, in the elect. It was to Mary that the Holy Ghost said, “Place your roots in my elect.” Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate, will have the Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in his very soul the roots of every virtue, but especially deep humility and ardent charity.
(10) Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the “living mold of God.” In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Misconceptions of the Immaculate Conception
Sadly, most Catholics today―especially young Catholics―are clueless to a greater or lesser degree about the Immaculate Conception. Some think it is all about Mary conceiving Jesus in her womb―wrong! Others confuse the Immaculate Conception with the “virgin birth”―namely, the belief that Mary gave birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin―wrong! Yes, she was a virgin before and after giving birth―but that is not the Immaculate Conception! Then there are those who think that the Immaculate Conception means that Mary’s mother, St. Anne, conceived Mary without having marital relations with her husband, St. Joachim―wrong! Mary was conceived in the womb of St. Anne according to normal rules of nature. Getting a little more technical―some think that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception includes only Mary’s sanctification in soul at moment of her conception, but does not preserve her body from ALL EFFECTS of Original Sin (the triple concupiscence―namely, the concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh and the pride of life―and being prone to disease, injury and death)―wrong again! The Immaculate Conception preserved the Virgin Mary from the effects of Original Sin on both the body and soul. Mary was not subject to death or injury or disease that was due to Original Sin―“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). If she died at the end of her life, this occurred only because it was the will of God, and not because of any personal sin or Original Sin.
So What Exactly is the “Immaculate Conception”
Before we go further―and look at the what the “Immaculate Conception” should mean to us and how it should influence our lives―let us first get a clear idea of what exactly is this term, “the Immaculate Conception”.
In his encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX pronounced and enforced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father, through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: ‘We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.’” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
Woe to Unbelievers!
“Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the Faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law, if he should are to express in words, or writing, or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
No Impulsive Dogma
Winding back just 5 years, to 1849, we see Blessed Pope Pius IX already perusing if the time was then right to make the dogmatic declaration concerning the Immaculate Conception. “There was in the entire Catholic world a most ardent and wondrous revival of the desire that the most holy Mother of God—the beloved Mother of us all, the immaculate Virgin Mary—be finally declared by a solemn definition of the Church to have been conceived without the stain of Original Sin ... “Many persons are now wondering why this honor has not already been accorded to the Blessed Virgin by the Church and the Apostolic See—an honor which the widespread piety of the Christian people so fervently desires ... Accordingly, We have appointed certain priests of recognized piety and theological learning, as well as several cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who are renowned because of their ability, piety, wisdom, prudence, and knowledge of the things of God; and We have directed them to make, carefully and thoroughly, a most diligent examination into this most important matter and then provide Us with a complete report” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ubi Primum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849).
The Pope goes on to say that this doctrine has been in the minds of Christians from antiquity: “This doctrine so filled the minds and souls of our ancestors in the Faith that a singular and truly marvelous style of speech came into vogue among them. They have frequently addressed the Mother of God as immaculate, as immaculate in every respect; innocent, and verily most innocent; spotless, and entirely spotless; holy and removed from every stain of sin; all pure, all stainless, the very model of purity and innocence; more beautiful than beauty, more lovely than loveliness; more holy than holiness, singularly holy and most pure in soul and body; the one who surpassed all integrity and virginity; the only one who has become the dwelling place of all the graces of the most Holy Ghost. God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of Heaven and Earth do not suffice.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854).
Our Lady’s Lourdes Immaculate Conception Confirmation
A little over three years after the dogmatic declaration on the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady makes a series of apparitions at Lourdes, in France, beginning on February 11th, 1858—at which time she ratifies and confirms the pope’s declaration by telling St. Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception.
Pope St. Pius X also weighed-in to the matter around 50 years later, by stating: “The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of Original Sin because she was to be the Mother of Christ” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Ad Diem Illum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904).
Habemus Matrem
If, at the election of a pope, we can shout “Habemus papam!” meaning “we have a pope (‘father’)”, then, in regard to this dogmatic declaration, we can shout “Habemus Matrem—Habemus Matrem Immaculatam”, meaning “We have a Mother—an Immaculate Mother!” Even more than the pope is the Holy Father, Our Lady is the Holiest of mothers. The “immaculate” aspect is of great importance―for, as the spiritual masters teach, purity infuses an enormous power into the petitions we place before God and purity makes us extremely close to God: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9). “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8) … “Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord and pure words most beautiful” (Proverbs 15:26).
Why on Earth…?
Of all questions―such as “What? Where? How? When? Which? Why?”―the “Why?” is foremost. It concerns the “Final End” of matters. It is the king or queen of questions. So ‘what is the why’ of the Immaculate Conception? Blessed Pope Pius XII gives us the answer in the proclaiming encyclical of December 8th, 1954:
Before getting to the heart of the matter, he prefaces it with the following statement: “God, having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race, which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness through the Incarnation of the Word. This He decreed in order that man, who had been led into sin by the cunning malice of Satan, should not perish. The eternal Father chose and prepared, for His only-begotten Son, a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom He would be born into this world. God loved her above all creatures and endowed her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts, so that this Mother, ever free of all stain of sin, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
In other words, the height and depth, length and breadth of her ‘immaculateness’ is simply mind-blowing and beyond our puny capacities to grasp and understand. It is something that we should be in total awe over, yet, for many, if not most, there is only an indifference—an attitude of “So what?” “It’s just another title!” “Let’s just get on with life! I’ve got better things to do than try fathom out how immaculate she is!”
The Supreme Reason: The Divine Maternity
The Pope Pius IX goes on to explain the “Why?” of the Immaculate Conception: “And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent, with the glory of most sublime holiness, and so completely free from all taint of Original Sin, that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent. To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son—the Son, the Father loves from His heart—and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was she whom the Son Himself chose to make His Mother; and it was from her that the Holy Spirit willed, and brought it about, that He should be conceived and born from whom He himself proceeds.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains it by equating the means with the end. Mary is the means to the end—which is the Incarnation of God (or God taking on flesh). He could have done it many different ways, but since He chose to become incarnate through Mary, it was necessary that the means be the best possible means—and since with God nothing is impossible, He made sure that Mary was the best means available. St. Thomas puts it thus:
“Mary’s whole life was free from sin. For God so prepares and endows those whom He selects for some particular office, that they are rendered capable of fulfilling it, according to 2 Corinthians 3:6: ‘Who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament.’ Now the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be His Mother. Therefore, there can be no doubt that God, by His grace, made her worthy of that office, according to the words spoken to her by the Angel (Luke 1:30), ‘Thou hast found grace with God, behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus.’ But she would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned.
“First, because the honor of the parents reflects upon the child, according to Proverbs 17:6: ‘The glory of the children are their fathers’; and consequently, on the other hand, the Mother’s shame would have reflected on her Son. Secondly, because of the singular affinity between her and Christ Who took flesh from her. And it is written (2 Corinthians 6:15): ‘What concord hath Christ with Belial?’ Thirdly, because of the singular manner in which the Son of God, ‘Who is the Divine Wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 1:24), dwelt in her, not only in her soul but in her womb. And thus, it is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’ We must therefore confess simply that the Blessed Virgin committed no actual sin, either mortal or venial; so that what is written (Canticles 4:7), is fulfilled: ‘Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.’” (Summa Theologica, 3a, q. 27).
The Awesome Terrible Sanctity of God Detests Sin
God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. “Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Habacuc 1:13). The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended.
It was sin that led to banishment of the fallen angels to Hell, and it was sin led to Adam and Eve to be cast out of the Garden of Eden and to suffer and die. Both the Angels and our First Parents were created immaculate, that is to say, in a state of grace. Yet many of the angels failed to keep that grace, and both Adam and Eve lost that grace through Mortal Sin. God cannot tolerate sin. Sin is an attack upon the holiness and purity of God. Sin has to be eliminated and reparation has to be made.
The Price and Pain of Sin
Since Adam and Even listened to the devil and fell into sin, they thereby abused and threw away the gifts the gifts that God had given them: (1) the supernatural grace of God; (2) the possibility of never having to die; (3) the possibility of being free from any and all forms of suffering; (4) the harmonious submission and obedience of the soul to God’s grace, and the obedience of the body and its passions to the soul; and finally, (5) they weakened the infused knowledge that God had created them with, to the point that now they would experience a darkened intellect that finds learning difficult, a weak will that struggles with temptation, and rebellious passions.
They had offended God in the name of humanity, all their future descendants would participate in the effects of that sin. As St. Paul writes: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Truly, as St. Paul states later, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The gates of Heaven were closed. Humanity had failed the test through Adam and Eve. It is because we downplay sin in our own thoughts, that we have such a wrong notion about what sin really is. As the old, but very clear and simple, Penny Catechism says: “It is the greatest of all evils to fall into mortal sin.” Another catechism, My Catholic Faith, states that “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God ... Although venial sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is nevertheless a great moral evil, next alone to mortal sin ... We are prone to look upon venial sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that it is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” (from the catechism My Catholic Faith).
The New Adam, the New Eve
After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. The passage in Genesis, which is called the Proto-evangelium (“first gospel”), makes the first announcement of the Messias and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because He “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends super-abundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Additionally, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the Woman announced in the Proto-evangelium as Mary, the Mother of Christ, the “New Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: for she was preserved from all stain of Original Sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
Immaculate Mary needs Immaculate Children
We all know the saying: “Like father, like son!” or “Like mother, like daughter!” or “He takes after his father!” and “She’s just like her mother!” Our Lord and Our Lady—the new Adam and Eve—want us to imitate them and Heaven. Of Our Lady, it can be said: “I am clean, and without sin: I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me” (Job 33:9) .... “My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight” (Job 11:4). “I am without sin and am innocent” (Jeremias 2:35). We became her spiritual children at the foot of the Cross, and so we should take on the traits of our spiritual Mother. Children imitate their parents.
Jesus said: “Learn of Me…!” (Matthew 11:29) … “If you love Me, keep my Commandments” (John 14:15) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) … “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) … “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). St. Peter repeats that command in the New Testament: “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy, because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). While St. Paul writes: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity” (Ephesians 1:4).
Only saints go to Heaven, that is the pedigree of the New Adam and Eve—we have to be immaculate to enter therein: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled” (Apocalypse 27:21). We have to be wholly holy, or “Holy, Holy, Holy” as we say in the Sanctus at Mass—which, incidentally, should remind of the three ever-increasing stages of holiness that we have to pass through: as beginners in holiness, (2) as proficients in holiness, and (3) as perfect in holiness. Purgatory will be necessary for even the slightest stains of sin or smallest unpaid debts for previously forgiven sin. For, as it was said above, God detests sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
“For the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes, (2) a lying tongue, (3) hands that shed innocent blood, (4) heart that deviseth wicked plots, (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief, (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
The Articulate Deception of the World Opposes the Immaculate Conception of Mary
The devil and Mary are irreconcilable enemies―a fact already foretold by God after the first sin of Adam and Eve, what we now call “Original Sin”, after which God solemnly said: “And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the Earth! Upon thy breast shalt thou go and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life! I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15). Thus, Mary and devil are irreconcilable enemies.
The devil, however, is also the “prince of this world” and thus the world is also an enemy of God and Mary―as mentioned by Our Lord on several occasions: “For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing!” (John 14:30). “The prince of this world is already judged!” (John 16:11). “Now is the judgment of the world―now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). How does Our Lord judge the world, of which the devil is prince? Jesus says: “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:10-11)―we forget that it is actually a good sign if the world does not ‘receive’ us or does not like us!
Exposing the Seductive Lies and Deception of the World
To His followers Jesus says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus says: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). To His Father in Heaven, Jesus prays: “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world ... Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them … I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-14).
This inescapable and unpleasant truth―unpleasant to us because we love the world and want the world to love us―is further driven home by the Apostles: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We are blasphemed [by the world], and we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all―even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:13). “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The Seductive Lies of the World are the Lies of the Devil
As Our Lord says of the devil and of worldly people: “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). To the worldly-minded, who are thereby implicit slaves of the “prince of this world”, the devil, Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). Yet those lies are very seductive lies―they promise a paradise on Earth, a life of ease and comfort, many useful possessions, etc.
Articulate Deceptions of the World
St. Louis de Montfort, in another of his lesser know books, Love of Eternal Wisdom, paints a very striking and clear picture of those who have been seduced by the lies of the world and the devil:
“Those who proceed according to the wisdom of the world are those who know how to manage well their affairs and to arrange things to their temporal advantage without appearing to do so; who know the art of deceiving and how to cleverly cheat without being noticed; who say or do one thing and have another thing in mind; who are thoroughly acquainted with the way and the flattery of the world; who know how to please everybody in order to reach their goal, not troubling much about the honor and interests of God; who make a secret but deadly fusion of truth with untruth, of the Gospel with the world, of virtue with vice, of Jesus Christ with Satan; who wish to pass as honest people but not as religious men; who despise and corrupt or readily condemn every religious practice which does not conform to their own. In short, the worldly‑wise are those who, being guided only by their human senses and reason, seek only to appear as Christian and honest folk, without troubling much to please God or to do penance for the sins which they have committed against His divine Majesty.
“The worldling bases his conduct upon his honor, upon what people say, upon convention, upon good cheer, upon personal interest, upon refined manners, upon witty jokes. These are the seven innocent incentives, so he thinks, upon which he can rely that he may lead an easy life. He has virtues of his own for which he is canonized by the world. These are manliness, finesse, diplomacy, tact, gallantry, politeness, sprightliness. He considers as serious sins such traits as lack of feeling, silliness, dullness, sanctimoniousness. He adheres as strictly as possible to the commandments which the world has given him:
(1) Thou shalt be well acquainted with the world.
(2) Thou shalt be an “honest” man.
(3) Thou shalt be successful in business.
(4) Thou shalt keep what is thine.
(5) Thou shalt get on in the world.
(6) Thou shalt make friends.
(7) Thou shalt be a society man.
(8) Thou shalt make merry.
(9) Thou shalt not be a killjoy.
(10) Thou shalt avoid singularity, dullness and an air of piety.
“Never was the world so corrupt as it is now, because it was never so astute, so wise in its own conceit, so cunning. It is so skillful in deceiving the soul seeking perfection that it makes use of truth to foster untruth, of virtue to authorize vice and it even distorts the meaning of Christ’s own truths to give authority to its own maxims. “The number of those who are fools according to God, is infinite.” The earthly wisdom spoken of by St. James, is an excessive striving for worldly goods. The worldly-wise make a secret profession of this type of wisdom when they allow themselves to become attached to their earthly possessions, when they strive to become rich, when they go to law and bring useless actions against others in order to acquire or to keep temporal goods; when their every thought, word and deed is mainly directed toward obtaining or retaining something temporal. As to working out their eternal salvation and making use of the means to do so, such as reception of the Sacraments and prayer, they accomplish these duties only carelessly, in a very offhand manner, once in a while, and for the sake of appearances” (St. Louis de Montfort, Love of Eternal Wisdom §76-§79).
Even the Good are Seduced by the Articulate Deceptions of the World
Even good people are seduced by some seductive aspect of the world―as we see in the real-life encounter between Jesus and good young rich man:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Which is why the Apostles write the following words of warning―which almost everyone chooses to ignore: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). But sadly, the world has overcome the Faith in most cases today!
We Need to Clean Up Our Act
God never changes and His demands for holiness never change. In the Old Testament it says: “Turn away from evil and do good” (Psalms 33:15); and St. Peter repeats the same in the New Testament: “Let him decline from evil, and do good” (1 Peter 3:11). Our Lady even echoes this today, for at Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” However, Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells us that: “the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” St. Paul clearly tells us: “Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). Not even the slightest Venial Sin, for that still separates us from God and has to paid for—either here or in Purgatory, as Our Lord says: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). But “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness” (Matthew 23:25).
Fatal Failure
Failure to clean up our act will have fatal consequences, as we already know: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it” (La Salette) … “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
We must cease being overly preoccupied with the things of the world, entertainment and amusement—all things that Our Lady has complained about—and begin to reform ourselves, to clean up our act. No matter how much we may have sinned—as with Mary Magdalen, the Good Thief, the Prodigal Son—there is a way back, but we have work hard and clean house. The foundation is prayer and penance—the things that Our Lady has insistently commanded in one apparition after another—there is no other way. We must pray VERY MUCH and we must do MUCH penance.
Detesting Sin and Worldliness
One of the chief contributors to the deluge of sin in the world today is the absence of a fear of God and a fear of offending God. This is there has to be a terrible, frightening chastisement—in order to re-establish the foundation of fear. Fear is essential, even when we love God—it is the foundation of the spiritual life. It is even one of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost—a Fear of the Lord. As Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 110:10). “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear Him shall not love it” (Ecclesiasticus 15:13). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
“Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema” (Deuteronomy 7:26). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
This detestation of the spirit of the world and of the ways of the world is absolutely essential if we are clean house and clean-up our act. The source of sin has to be stopped, like a leak in a boat, or the boat (soul) will sink. Once the incoming flow of sin has been dealt, then we can deal with the flooded basement (soul) and start pumping the bilge out.
Grace Cleans and Beautifies
We say of Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” Grace perfects our human nature, it heals the wounds of sin, it strengthens our weaknesses, it pushes us on to higher heights.
THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Sunday December 5th & Monday December 6th & Tuesday December 7th
Article 4
God Needs 21st Century "John the Baptists"! Will You Be Applying?
Sunday December 5th & Monday December 6th & Tuesday December 7th
Article 4
God Needs 21st Century "John the Baptists"! Will You Be Applying?
21st Century Saints―Now Hiring!
Saints change the world―and boy, does our world need changing! Yet Satan and Satanists also change the world―and boy, are they having great success right now! Yes―we know―that in the end Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will triumph! Yet at what cost? With each passing day, our negligence in complying with Our Lady’s requests and fulfilling her commands is costing millions of souls―65 million people die each year in the world. That is 178,000 each day, 7425 each hour, and 120 each minute―and as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints tell us, most of souls end up being damned.
A large part of that is due to our indifference, lukewarmness and negligence in praying for the conversion of those unfortunate souls: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, June, July & August of 1917).
Only Saints Go To Heaven
For some strange and inexplicable reason, we seem to forget that it is only saints that go to Heaven―there is no place there for mediocrity and lukewarmness. Our Lord warned: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) … “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) ... “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14) … “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) ... “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) …
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Holy Scripture further points out: “There shall not enter into Heaven anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers [using verbally abusive language], nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 21:8).
Get Real! Get Real Holy!
We need to “get real”―that is, we need to see reality as it is! The reality is that we must be holy! We must be saints! “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “You shall be to Me a holy nation! … You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 19:6; 22:31). “I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls! … You shall be holy, because I am holy! … “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: ‘Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!’ … They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name: for they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God, and therefore they shall be holy! … You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine! … Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God! … Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, Who sanctify them!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 19:2; 21:6; 20:26; 20:7; 21:8). Our Lord crowns that by saying: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
What is there that we cannot understand about those words? The message is patently and powerfully clear! Be holy or go to Hell! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
John the Baptist―Sower of the Seed of God’s Word
The Gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent introduces St. John the Baptist to us―whereby Our Lord paints a picture of John as solid and powerful man of God―which is what we ought to be: “At that time, Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them! And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee!” ’ ” (Matthew 11:2-10).
The Gospel of the Fourth and last Sunday of Advent clearly cries out through St. John the Baptist: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths! Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God!”
But that is not even half of the story! The Church proposes readings for us each Sunday and also on each day of the year, but they are like a mere ‘trailer’ from a movie, which show only a glimpse of what is going on. The same is true for the Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It takes only the first six verses of chapter 3 of St. Luke, but the whole incident reported by Luke takes up eighteen verses. St. John the Baptist is only warming up in verses 1 to 6. Here is the whole passage for you to savor:
“The word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
“He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: ‘Ye offspring of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, “We have Abraham for our father.” For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire!’
“And the people asked him, saying: ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answering, said to them: ‘He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner!’ And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him: ‘Master, what shall we do?’ But he said to them: ‘Do nothing more than that which is appointed you!’ And the soldiers also asked him, saying: ‘And what shall we do?’ And he said to them: ‘Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay!’
“And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ; John answered, saying unto all: ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and He will purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And many other things exhorting, did he preach to the people” (Luke 3:1-18).
John the Baptist―a Saint for Today
When you really think about it, St. John the Baptist is the ideal saint for our days!
● He willingly chose a life of poverty. He was born into a priestly family―thus there was no poverty―yet he deliberately chose a life of poverty in the desert, even though he was of caste that entitled him to also become a priest and live comfortably: “John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4) ... “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6). Very soon, when the planned economic collapse takes place, with universal unemployment, no utilities, a dried-up food supply chain, with resulting riots and mayhem, with no law enforcement, no social security, no jobs, no money and consequently no food or protection, we might well find ourselves in urban deserts with little or nothing to eat, apart from whatever we can scavenge, and with nothing more than the clothes on our back and living in abject poverty―once the “Elites” get their way and once God chastises everyone! All it takes is for the utilities to be taken down―water, electricity, gas―and we will become a Third World Country almost overnight! In fact prophecy states that America will become a Third World Country as a punishment for her sins. At that point, St. John the Baptist will be our patron in our urban deserts and city wilderness.
Christ warn us: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Yet today’s Catholics―for the most part―are experienced “mammonizers” who give God “lip-service” on Sundays and in the few minutes they might occasionally spend in “lip-service” prayer―whereby they automatically, mechanically and routinely “say” (but don’t really “pray”) the Rosary (only 2% say it daily) or whatever other “lippy” prayers they care to “drip from the lip”. “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
● He was detached from the world. “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet!’” (Matthew 11:7-9). How many people can Christ find today who are not attached to the world? Most people are clothed in soft garments and their houses are better than the houses of kings in days of old! They have many more astounding possessions today than any king had in bygone days―cars, computers, smartphones, televisions, radios, electricity for indoor lighting and electrical appliances, gas and central heating, gas/electric ovens, refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioning, running water for indoor toilets, baths, showers and laundry and dishwashing machines, power tools, lawnmowers, etc. Even merely 100 years ago, most of those things were not available. All those comforts have weakened the backbone of most Soldiers of Christ and confined them to the couch or settee, from which they might “talk the talk”, but rarely “walk the walk”!
This reminds us of the parable of Our Lord about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
● He was attached to truth. “Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. For John said to him: ‘It is not lawful for thee to have her!’ And, having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people―because they esteemed him as a prophet … But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she, being instructed before by her mother, said: ‘Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist!’ And the king was struck sad―yet, because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a dish―and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:3-12).
He rebuked and denounced King Herod on account of his adulterous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half-brother Philip. Most people would just “put-up and shut-up” because what can one solitary man achieve against a king? But John, even though Herod was not even of the Jewish religion and therefore not bound by Jewish laws, and despite the fact that John was likely to fail in his endeavor, he nevertheless spoke out and, after being imprisoned, lost his life and his head for speaking the truth! Today, we are heading in the same direction―whereby rulers and presidents are ignoring the laws of God and doing whatever they want to do! Who will speak out against them? Who will oppose them? Who is prepared to risk imprisonment and execution for standing up for God and standing against those who oppose God?
Our Lord says that hatred, persecution, imprisonment and death will be the fate of most of His followers―so why are expecting and hoping for something different (especially since our output of prayer, penance and sacrifice is minimal at the best)? To the worldly Catholics, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning true Catholics, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His true followers, who are detached from the world, He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Here, Our Lord speaks the truth and says that the works of the world are evil. He is not afraid to say so―are we afraid to say so?
As Our Lord said: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
Today, some of us clearly see “what is coming down the pike” and that our general worldwide godlessness is leading us to the brink of the chastisements that have been foretold by Our Lady―yet, we are afraid to speak and announce these truths to others, for fear of what they might think of us, say to us, or do to us! “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
● He was attached to God. Outside of God, without God, independently of God―we can do nothing for our salvation. We can do a lot of worldly things―but nothing towards our salvation. “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). At the Last Supper, Our Lord points out this importance of being attached to God: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, he will take away―and every one that bears fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in me, and I in you [in other words, be attached to Me like the branch is attached to the vine]. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me―you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me [is not attached to Me], he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:1-7).
The Archangel Gabriel told St. Zachary that his future son, John, “shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:15-16) … “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest―for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways―to give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77). That is precisely what we should be doing―informing souls about God and leading them to God: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16).
It is absolutely necessary to be attached to God, because, as Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), and, as St. Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!” (John 6:69). “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people, and ancients, listen! … Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, by His power this man standeth here before you cured. Jesus is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:8-12). Hence Our Lord says, as quoted above: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
● He was attached to penance. The word “PENANCE” is related to words that echo its meaning―penalty and penalizing [as in punishment], penitentiary [as in prison], penitence [as in sorrow for sin], penury [as in extreme poverty]. Penance, as well as all those similar words, entails pain of one kind or another. Pain is a four-letter word that most people find disgusting and revolting. Few people want pain these days―and, the few who do, usually accept pain for all the wrong reasons and wrong goals. An athlete will endure pain in order to try and win an earthly reward. A worker might endure pain for the sake of money. Few there are who endure pain willingly for their sins―like the Good Thief on the cross alongside Christ on Calvary: “And one of those robbers, who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’” (Luke 23:29-41).
One of several definitions of “penance” is “voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.” Who has done wrong? Everyone! As Holy Scripture points out: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Yes―God forgives sin―but Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). We can link this to Our Lord’s words to the man whom He had miraculously healed from a 38-year-long disease: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). Which is why Our Lord categorically and absolutely requires that penance for sin be performed: “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “I say to you―except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leads thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “And, going forth, they [the Apostles] preached that men should do penance” (Mark 6:12).
After His resurrection, when he appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus―not recognized by them―said to them, concerning Himself: “It was fitting for Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead on the third day. And that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name, unto all nations” (Luke 24:46-47). Penance is an unquestionable, non-negotiable, necessary and obligatory part of salvation and the Catholic Faith. There is no salvation without it―for we are all sinners and sin, whether mortal sin or venial sin, is the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Sadly, you will very, very few Catholics who think that way―not just in theory, but also accepting that truth in practice―which means that in practice we have all contracted an enormous debt that we have to pay-off, either here on Earth while still alive, or in the fires of Purgatory (or, God forbid, in the fires of Hell).
St. John the Baptist himself preached: “Bring forth fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8) ― and he himself practiced what he preached. His whole life was one of great and severe penance! Yet for most people today, the following words of Scripture can easily be applied: “God has given him place for penance, and he abuses it in his pride!” (Job 24:23). Incredibly and shamefully, the modern Catholic Church has reduced obligatory penance in the Church (very few people will do penance unless it is obligatory and bound under the pain of mortal sin). Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution on Penance, Paenitemini, of February 1966, reduced obligatory Lenten penance from 40-days of fasting to merely 2-days of fasting (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). The Church reduces the medicine of penance at a time when the disease of sin is increasing and running rampant! A doctor would be sued for malpractice and negligence if he reduced the medicine for a patient at a time when the disease was getting worse! This attitude has, sadly and unfortunately, seeped into and imbued most Catholic families―whose life is being far from being penitential, despite the fact that most of them are committing more and more venial sins (which they even fail to see and recognize), or even committing mortal sins with greater frequency. Parents largely, or totally, fail to instill in their children and understanding of the need for penance as well as practical and daily example, encouragement and enforcement of a penitential spirit in daily family life (and not merely during Lent).
Even though we might eat food without being penitential about it as regards quantity―we can be penitential as regards its taste. The principle to remember is: “Bitter is often better!” The Israelites were told to eat bitter herbs with their lamb at the time of the Passover in Egypt. Lemons and limes are more bitter than their sugary counterpart fruits―but they are also healthier. The rind and pith of lemons and limes are much more bitter than fleshy center of the fruit―but the rind and pith also contain anywhere from 8 to 10 times the amount nutrients (especially Vitamin C) that are contained in the fleshy part of the fruit. The same is true for most fruits and vegetables―the part next to the exterior skin is often more bitter, but usually much better from a health perspective. The green part of the red melon is far for bitter―but far more better for you. Comparatively speaking, water is more ‘bitter’ than fruit juices, but it is also, on the whole, healthier for you than sugary pure fruit juices. Our Lord recommends taking up the cross―which is painfully bitter―if we wish to follow Him to Heaven. “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). He redeemed us by bitter sufferings and not by sweet words and consolations. For many souls, the teaching of Christ tastes bitter these days―they prefer the taste of the world. Yet, you could say, the teachings of Christ are bittersweet―bitter tasting at first, but turning to sweetness in the end―whereas the teachings of the world are sweetbitter―sweet tasting at first, but always ending in bitterness―as these words of Scripture seem to indicate:
“And I heard a voice from Heaven speaking to me, and saying: ‘Go, and take the book that is open, from the hand of the angel who stands upon the sea and upon the Earth. And I went to the angel, saying unto him, that he should give me the book. And he said to me: ‘Take the book, and eat it up! It shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey!’ And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up―and it was, in my mouth, sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said to me: ‘Thou must prophesy again to many nations, and peoples, and tongues, and kings!” Apocalypse 10:8-11).
Penance is bitter―but penance is extremely good for you! Try it! Teach it! Just like St. John Baptist―who “talked the talk” of penance and “walked the walk” of penance. Just like food―especially bitter food―there is a huge variety of penance that you can pick from.
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to the world]; and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Mortify therefore your bodies, which are upon the Earth, from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness―all of which is the service of idols. Also put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another! Strip yourselves of the old man with his [sinful] deeds, and putting on the new man―one who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10). There is no point giving up food and drink, as a penance, if you will not give up sin!
● He led souls to Christ. Today’s problem is the ego! Too much self, not enough God! Everyone prefers to focus on self rather than focus on God. We tend to speak more of self, than we speak of God. We think more of self, than we think of God. We act more for ourselves than we act for God. St. John the Baptist spoke a sentence about Christ that we should all take to heart and imprint in our minds: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30).
That should be the chief program and goal in the life of every Catholic―that Christ must increase, and they must decrease―to the point that they can eventually be transformed into replicas of Christ and be able to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me!” (Galatians 2:20). In other words, “It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ Who lives with me; it is Christ Who lives through me; it is Christ that lives through me!”
As we say at the end of Canon of the Mass: “Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is Thine almighty Father, forever and ever! Amen!” The Church believes in the mediation of Christ alone and His supreme Priesthood. Only “through Him, with Him and in Him” can we reach the Father. Our Lord Himself said: “No one comes to the Father except through Me!” (John 14:6) We know that our thoughts, words and actions are only pleasing to God inasmuch as they come through Christ.
● Like Christ, he was not ruled by human respect. “The Lord is in Heaven; and there is no respect of persons with Him” (Ephesians 6:9). “There is no respect of persons with God.” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts of Apostles 10:34). “For he that doth wrong, shall receive for that which he hath done wrongfully―and there is no respect of persons with God” Colossians 3:25). “Like father, like son” they say―and this is especially true of Christ and His heavenly Father. If His Father had no respect of persons, then neither did Christ―even His enemies admitted that: “The Pharisees sent to Jesus their disciples with the Herodians, saying: ‘Master, we know that Thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth! Neither carest thou for any man―for thou dost not regard the person of men!’” (Matthew 22:15-16).
Our Lord did not cave-in to human respect. If necessary, He would rebuke His own Apostles―as St. Peter found out when He tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem for His appointment with arrest, torture and crucifixion: “Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be done unto thee! Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). Wow! Jesus likens Peter to Satan! And Peter was one of Jesus’ three favorite Apostles―the other two being James and John.
Jesus also rebuked James and John on another occasion, when a Samaritan town rejected Jesus because they knew He was going to Jerusalem (the Samaritans and Jews were arch-enemies): “It came to pass, when the days of his assumption were accomplishing, that Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before his face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Samaritans and Jews were enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
The Scribes and Pharisees―who professed to be the upholders of the traditional God-given Jewish law and religion―were also on the receiving end of Our Lord’s rebukes. He would frequently point out and rebuke their hypocrisy of not entirely practicing what they preached and of demanding more of others than they demanded of themselves: “Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying: ‘The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses [that is to say, they make themselves the authority that everyone should listen to and obey]. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do―but according to their works do ye not―for they say, and do not! For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them! And all their works they do for to be seen of men! They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi!.… Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in―and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers! For this you shall receive the greater judgment! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert―and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin―and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith! These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you are like to whitened sepulchers―which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just―but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity!” (Matthew 23:1-28).
“Amen, amen I say unto you: that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin! … You seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you! … You seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth to you! … Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:34-47).
Our Lord was not worried about what others―whether it be friends or enemies―thought about Him and His teachings. His Father sent Him on a mission―just as we have been sent on a mission, the same mission as Christ’s, which is to “seek and save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11): “The living Father hath sent Me” (John 6:58). “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father Who sent Me. He gave Me commandments on what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49). “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you!” (John 20:21). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me! … Going therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you! … They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for my name's sake! … You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved ... Therefore fear them not! … That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light and preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:22-28; Luke 10:16; 21:12; Matthew 28:19-20).
Holy Scripture tells us not to fear, but to trust in the power of God―Who takes care of those who are faithful and who work for Him: “Do manfully and be of good heart! Fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight! For the Lord thy God, He Himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee, nor forsake thee!” (Deuteronomy 31:6) … “I command thee―take courage, and be strong! Fear not and be not dismayed―because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to!” (Josue 1:9) … “Take courage and fear not! Behold your God will bring revenge! God Himself will come and will save you!” (Isaias 35:4) … “Fear not! … I am thy protector, and thy reward will be exceedingly great!” (Genesis 15:1) ... “Fear not, for I am with thee! Turn not aside, for I am thy God! I have strengthened thee and have helped thee, and upheld thee! … For I am the Lord thy God, Who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: ‘Fear not, I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:10 & 13) ... “‘Fear not the King of Babylon, of whom you are greatly afraid! Fear him not! For I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand!’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 42:11).
Such was the courage and absence of human respect (fear of what others might think, say or do) on the part of St. John the Baptist. Even before Our Lord had His skirmishes with the Scribes and Pharisees, St. John the Baptist was pointing out their errors and hypocrisy: “And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, John said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree, therefore, that doth not yield good fruit―shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:7-10).
After Christ’s ascension into Heaven, the Apostles, likewise, showed courage and an absence of human respect when arrested and hauled before the high priest and the Sanhedrin: “The officer with the ministers [arrested the Apostles] and brought them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying: “Commanding we commanded you, that you should not teach in this Name [of Jesus Christ]―and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the Blood of this Man upon us!’ But Peter and the Apostles, answering, said: ‘We ought to obey God, rather than men!’” (Acts 5:26-29).
Saints change the world―and boy, does our world need changing! Yet Satan and Satanists also change the world―and boy, are they having great success right now! Yes―we know―that in the end Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will triumph! Yet at what cost? With each passing day, our negligence in complying with Our Lady’s requests and fulfilling her commands is costing millions of souls―65 million people die each year in the world. That is 178,000 each day, 7425 each hour, and 120 each minute―and as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints tell us, most of souls end up being damned.
A large part of that is due to our indifference, lukewarmness and negligence in praying for the conversion of those unfortunate souls: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Compilation of the words of Our Lady of Fatima from her apparitions in May, June, July & August of 1917).
Only Saints Go To Heaven
For some strange and inexplicable reason, we seem to forget that it is only saints that go to Heaven―there is no place there for mediocrity and lukewarmness. Our Lord warned: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) … “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) ... “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14) … “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) ... “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) …
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Holy Scripture further points out: “There shall not enter into Heaven anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers [using verbally abusive language], nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 21:8).
Get Real! Get Real Holy!
We need to “get real”―that is, we need to see reality as it is! The reality is that we must be holy! We must be saints! “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “You shall be to Me a holy nation! … You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 19:6; 22:31). “I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls! … You shall be holy, because I am holy! … “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: ‘Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!’ … They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name: for they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God, and therefore they shall be holy! … You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine! … Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God! … Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, Who sanctify them!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 19:2; 21:6; 20:26; 20:7; 21:8). Our Lord crowns that by saying: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
What is there that we cannot understand about those words? The message is patently and powerfully clear! Be holy or go to Hell! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
John the Baptist―Sower of the Seed of God’s Word
The Gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent introduces St. John the Baptist to us―whereby Our Lord paints a picture of John as solid and powerful man of God―which is what we ought to be: “At that time, Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them! And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee!” ’ ” (Matthew 11:2-10).
The Gospel of the Fourth and last Sunday of Advent clearly cries out through St. John the Baptist: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths! Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God!”
But that is not even half of the story! The Church proposes readings for us each Sunday and also on each day of the year, but they are like a mere ‘trailer’ from a movie, which show only a glimpse of what is going on. The same is true for the Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It takes only the first six verses of chapter 3 of St. Luke, but the whole incident reported by Luke takes up eighteen verses. St. John the Baptist is only warming up in verses 1 to 6. Here is the whole passage for you to savor:
“The word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
“He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: ‘Ye offspring of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, “We have Abraham for our father.” For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire!’
“And the people asked him, saying: ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answering, said to them: ‘He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner!’ And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him: ‘Master, what shall we do?’ But he said to them: ‘Do nothing more than that which is appointed you!’ And the soldiers also asked him, saying: ‘And what shall we do?’ And he said to them: ‘Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay!’
“And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ; John answered, saying unto all: ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and He will purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And many other things exhorting, did he preach to the people” (Luke 3:1-18).
John the Baptist―a Saint for Today
When you really think about it, St. John the Baptist is the ideal saint for our days!
● He willingly chose a life of poverty. He was born into a priestly family―thus there was no poverty―yet he deliberately chose a life of poverty in the desert, even though he was of caste that entitled him to also become a priest and live comfortably: “John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4) ... “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6). Very soon, when the planned economic collapse takes place, with universal unemployment, no utilities, a dried-up food supply chain, with resulting riots and mayhem, with no law enforcement, no social security, no jobs, no money and consequently no food or protection, we might well find ourselves in urban deserts with little or nothing to eat, apart from whatever we can scavenge, and with nothing more than the clothes on our back and living in abject poverty―once the “Elites” get their way and once God chastises everyone! All it takes is for the utilities to be taken down―water, electricity, gas―and we will become a Third World Country almost overnight! In fact prophecy states that America will become a Third World Country as a punishment for her sins. At that point, St. John the Baptist will be our patron in our urban deserts and city wilderness.
Christ warn us: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Yet today’s Catholics―for the most part―are experienced “mammonizers” who give God “lip-service” on Sundays and in the few minutes they might occasionally spend in “lip-service” prayer―whereby they automatically, mechanically and routinely “say” (but don’t really “pray”) the Rosary (only 2% say it daily) or whatever other “lippy” prayers they care to “drip from the lip”. “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
● He was detached from the world. “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet!’” (Matthew 11:7-9). How many people can Christ find today who are not attached to the world? Most people are clothed in soft garments and their houses are better than the houses of kings in days of old! They have many more astounding possessions today than any king had in bygone days―cars, computers, smartphones, televisions, radios, electricity for indoor lighting and electrical appliances, gas and central heating, gas/electric ovens, refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioning, running water for indoor toilets, baths, showers and laundry and dishwashing machines, power tools, lawnmowers, etc. Even merely 100 years ago, most of those things were not available. All those comforts have weakened the backbone of most Soldiers of Christ and confined them to the couch or settee, from which they might “talk the talk”, but rarely “walk the walk”!
This reminds us of the parable of Our Lord about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
● He was attached to truth. “Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. For John said to him: ‘It is not lawful for thee to have her!’ And, having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people―because they esteemed him as a prophet … But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she, being instructed before by her mother, said: ‘Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist!’ And the king was struck sad―yet, because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a dish―and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:3-12).
He rebuked and denounced King Herod on account of his adulterous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half-brother Philip. Most people would just “put-up and shut-up” because what can one solitary man achieve against a king? But John, even though Herod was not even of the Jewish religion and therefore not bound by Jewish laws, and despite the fact that John was likely to fail in his endeavor, he nevertheless spoke out and, after being imprisoned, lost his life and his head for speaking the truth! Today, we are heading in the same direction―whereby rulers and presidents are ignoring the laws of God and doing whatever they want to do! Who will speak out against them? Who will oppose them? Who is prepared to risk imprisonment and execution for standing up for God and standing against those who oppose God?
Our Lord says that hatred, persecution, imprisonment and death will be the fate of most of His followers―so why are expecting and hoping for something different (especially since our output of prayer, penance and sacrifice is minimal at the best)? To the worldly Catholics, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning true Catholics, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His true followers, who are detached from the world, He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Here, Our Lord speaks the truth and says that the works of the world are evil. He is not afraid to say so―are we afraid to say so?
As Our Lord said: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
Today, some of us clearly see “what is coming down the pike” and that our general worldwide godlessness is leading us to the brink of the chastisements that have been foretold by Our Lady―yet, we are afraid to speak and announce these truths to others, for fear of what they might think of us, say to us, or do to us! “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
● He was attached to God. Outside of God, without God, independently of God―we can do nothing for our salvation. We can do a lot of worldly things―but nothing towards our salvation. “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). At the Last Supper, Our Lord points out this importance of being attached to God: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, he will take away―and every one that bears fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in me, and I in you [in other words, be attached to Me like the branch is attached to the vine]. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me―you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me [is not attached to Me], he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:1-7).
The Archangel Gabriel told St. Zachary that his future son, John, “shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:15-16) … “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest―for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways―to give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77). That is precisely what we should be doing―informing souls about God and leading them to God: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16).
It is absolutely necessary to be attached to God, because, as Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), and, as St. Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!” (John 6:69). “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people, and ancients, listen! … Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, by His power this man standeth here before you cured. Jesus is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:8-12). Hence Our Lord says, as quoted above: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
● He was attached to penance. The word “PENANCE” is related to words that echo its meaning―penalty and penalizing [as in punishment], penitentiary [as in prison], penitence [as in sorrow for sin], penury [as in extreme poverty]. Penance, as well as all those similar words, entails pain of one kind or another. Pain is a four-letter word that most people find disgusting and revolting. Few people want pain these days―and, the few who do, usually accept pain for all the wrong reasons and wrong goals. An athlete will endure pain in order to try and win an earthly reward. A worker might endure pain for the sake of money. Few there are who endure pain willingly for their sins―like the Good Thief on the cross alongside Christ on Calvary: “And one of those robbers, who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’” (Luke 23:29-41).
One of several definitions of “penance” is “voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.” Who has done wrong? Everyone! As Holy Scripture points out: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Yes―God forgives sin―but Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). We can link this to Our Lord’s words to the man whom He had miraculously healed from a 38-year-long disease: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). Which is why Our Lord categorically and absolutely requires that penance for sin be performed: “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “I say to you―except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leads thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “And, going forth, they [the Apostles] preached that men should do penance” (Mark 6:12).
After His resurrection, when he appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus―not recognized by them―said to them, concerning Himself: “It was fitting for Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead on the third day. And that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name, unto all nations” (Luke 24:46-47). Penance is an unquestionable, non-negotiable, necessary and obligatory part of salvation and the Catholic Faith. There is no salvation without it―for we are all sinners and sin, whether mortal sin or venial sin, is the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Sadly, you will very, very few Catholics who think that way―not just in theory, but also accepting that truth in practice―which means that in practice we have all contracted an enormous debt that we have to pay-off, either here on Earth while still alive, or in the fires of Purgatory (or, God forbid, in the fires of Hell).
St. John the Baptist himself preached: “Bring forth fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8) ― and he himself practiced what he preached. His whole life was one of great and severe penance! Yet for most people today, the following words of Scripture can easily be applied: “God has given him place for penance, and he abuses it in his pride!” (Job 24:23). Incredibly and shamefully, the modern Catholic Church has reduced obligatory penance in the Church (very few people will do penance unless it is obligatory and bound under the pain of mortal sin). Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution on Penance, Paenitemini, of February 1966, reduced obligatory Lenten penance from 40-days of fasting to merely 2-days of fasting (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). The Church reduces the medicine of penance at a time when the disease of sin is increasing and running rampant! A doctor would be sued for malpractice and negligence if he reduced the medicine for a patient at a time when the disease was getting worse! This attitude has, sadly and unfortunately, seeped into and imbued most Catholic families―whose life is being far from being penitential, despite the fact that most of them are committing more and more venial sins (which they even fail to see and recognize), or even committing mortal sins with greater frequency. Parents largely, or totally, fail to instill in their children and understanding of the need for penance as well as practical and daily example, encouragement and enforcement of a penitential spirit in daily family life (and not merely during Lent).
Even though we might eat food without being penitential about it as regards quantity―we can be penitential as regards its taste. The principle to remember is: “Bitter is often better!” The Israelites were told to eat bitter herbs with their lamb at the time of the Passover in Egypt. Lemons and limes are more bitter than their sugary counterpart fruits―but they are also healthier. The rind and pith of lemons and limes are much more bitter than fleshy center of the fruit―but the rind and pith also contain anywhere from 8 to 10 times the amount nutrients (especially Vitamin C) that are contained in the fleshy part of the fruit. The same is true for most fruits and vegetables―the part next to the exterior skin is often more bitter, but usually much better from a health perspective. The green part of the red melon is far for bitter―but far more better for you. Comparatively speaking, water is more ‘bitter’ than fruit juices, but it is also, on the whole, healthier for you than sugary pure fruit juices. Our Lord recommends taking up the cross―which is painfully bitter―if we wish to follow Him to Heaven. “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). He redeemed us by bitter sufferings and not by sweet words and consolations. For many souls, the teaching of Christ tastes bitter these days―they prefer the taste of the world. Yet, you could say, the teachings of Christ are bittersweet―bitter tasting at first, but turning to sweetness in the end―whereas the teachings of the world are sweetbitter―sweet tasting at first, but always ending in bitterness―as these words of Scripture seem to indicate:
“And I heard a voice from Heaven speaking to me, and saying: ‘Go, and take the book that is open, from the hand of the angel who stands upon the sea and upon the Earth. And I went to the angel, saying unto him, that he should give me the book. And he said to me: ‘Take the book, and eat it up! It shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey!’ And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up―and it was, in my mouth, sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said to me: ‘Thou must prophesy again to many nations, and peoples, and tongues, and kings!” Apocalypse 10:8-11).
Penance is bitter―but penance is extremely good for you! Try it! Teach it! Just like St. John Baptist―who “talked the talk” of penance and “walked the walk” of penance. Just like food―especially bitter food―there is a huge variety of penance that you can pick from.
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to the world]; and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Mortify therefore your bodies, which are upon the Earth, from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness―all of which is the service of idols. Also put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another! Strip yourselves of the old man with his [sinful] deeds, and putting on the new man―one who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10). There is no point giving up food and drink, as a penance, if you will not give up sin!
● He led souls to Christ. Today’s problem is the ego! Too much self, not enough God! Everyone prefers to focus on self rather than focus on God. We tend to speak more of self, than we speak of God. We think more of self, than we think of God. We act more for ourselves than we act for God. St. John the Baptist spoke a sentence about Christ that we should all take to heart and imprint in our minds: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30).
That should be the chief program and goal in the life of every Catholic―that Christ must increase, and they must decrease―to the point that they can eventually be transformed into replicas of Christ and be able to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me!” (Galatians 2:20). In other words, “It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ Who lives with me; it is Christ Who lives through me; it is Christ that lives through me!”
As we say at the end of Canon of the Mass: “Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is Thine almighty Father, forever and ever! Amen!” The Church believes in the mediation of Christ alone and His supreme Priesthood. Only “through Him, with Him and in Him” can we reach the Father. Our Lord Himself said: “No one comes to the Father except through Me!” (John 14:6) We know that our thoughts, words and actions are only pleasing to God inasmuch as they come through Christ.
● Like Christ, he was not ruled by human respect. “The Lord is in Heaven; and there is no respect of persons with Him” (Ephesians 6:9). “There is no respect of persons with God.” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts of Apostles 10:34). “For he that doth wrong, shall receive for that which he hath done wrongfully―and there is no respect of persons with God” Colossians 3:25). “Like father, like son” they say―and this is especially true of Christ and His heavenly Father. If His Father had no respect of persons, then neither did Christ―even His enemies admitted that: “The Pharisees sent to Jesus their disciples with the Herodians, saying: ‘Master, we know that Thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth! Neither carest thou for any man―for thou dost not regard the person of men!’” (Matthew 22:15-16).
Our Lord did not cave-in to human respect. If necessary, He would rebuke His own Apostles―as St. Peter found out when He tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem for His appointment with arrest, torture and crucifixion: “Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be done unto thee! Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). Wow! Jesus likens Peter to Satan! And Peter was one of Jesus’ three favorite Apostles―the other two being James and John.
Jesus also rebuked James and John on another occasion, when a Samaritan town rejected Jesus because they knew He was going to Jerusalem (the Samaritans and Jews were arch-enemies): “It came to pass, when the days of his assumption were accomplishing, that Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before his face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Samaritans and Jews were enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
The Scribes and Pharisees―who professed to be the upholders of the traditional God-given Jewish law and religion―were also on the receiving end of Our Lord’s rebukes. He would frequently point out and rebuke their hypocrisy of not entirely practicing what they preached and of demanding more of others than they demanded of themselves: “Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying: ‘The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses [that is to say, they make themselves the authority that everyone should listen to and obey]. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do―but according to their works do ye not―for they say, and do not! For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them! And all their works they do for to be seen of men! They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi!.… Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in―and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers! For this you shall receive the greater judgment! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert―and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin―and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith! These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because you are like to whitened sepulchers―which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just―but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity!” (Matthew 23:1-28).
“Amen, amen I say unto you: that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin! … You seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you! … You seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth to you! … Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:34-47).
Our Lord was not worried about what others―whether it be friends or enemies―thought about Him and His teachings. His Father sent Him on a mission―just as we have been sent on a mission, the same mission as Christ’s, which is to “seek and save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11): “The living Father hath sent Me” (John 6:58). “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father Who sent Me. He gave Me commandments on what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49). “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you!” (John 20:21). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me! … Going therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you! … They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for my name's sake! … You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved ... Therefore fear them not! … That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light and preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:22-28; Luke 10:16; 21:12; Matthew 28:19-20).
Holy Scripture tells us not to fear, but to trust in the power of God―Who takes care of those who are faithful and who work for Him: “Do manfully and be of good heart! Fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight! For the Lord thy God, He Himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee, nor forsake thee!” (Deuteronomy 31:6) … “I command thee―take courage, and be strong! Fear not and be not dismayed―because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to!” (Josue 1:9) … “Take courage and fear not! Behold your God will bring revenge! God Himself will come and will save you!” (Isaias 35:4) … “Fear not! … I am thy protector, and thy reward will be exceedingly great!” (Genesis 15:1) ... “Fear not, for I am with thee! Turn not aside, for I am thy God! I have strengthened thee and have helped thee, and upheld thee! … For I am the Lord thy God, Who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: ‘Fear not, I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:10 & 13) ... “‘Fear not the King of Babylon, of whom you are greatly afraid! Fear him not! For I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand!’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 42:11).
Such was the courage and absence of human respect (fear of what others might think, say or do) on the part of St. John the Baptist. Even before Our Lord had His skirmishes with the Scribes and Pharisees, St. John the Baptist was pointing out their errors and hypocrisy: “And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, John said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree, therefore, that doth not yield good fruit―shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:7-10).
After Christ’s ascension into Heaven, the Apostles, likewise, showed courage and an absence of human respect when arrested and hauled before the high priest and the Sanhedrin: “The officer with the ministers [arrested the Apostles] and brought them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying: “Commanding we commanded you, that you should not teach in this Name [of Jesus Christ]―and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the Blood of this Man upon us!’ But Peter and the Apostles, answering, said: ‘We ought to obey God, rather than men!’” (Acts 5:26-29).
THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Friday December 3rd & Saturday December 4th
Article 3
Arousing the Sleeping Advent!
Friday December 3rd & Saturday December 4th
Article 3
Arousing the Sleeping Advent!
Follow My Leader!
“Follow the Leader” is a children’s game. Players first choose a leader or “head of the line” and the remaining players (the followers) all line up behind the leader. The leader then moves around and all the players have to mimic the leader’s actions. Any players who fail to follow or mimic the leader are out of the game.
You could say the same about the Church―whose leader is Christ. Our Lord sought out His future disciples and said to them: “Follow Me!”
“My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27). “When Jesus saw Matthew, He said to him: ‘Follow Me!’ And he rose up and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9). “When Jesus was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, and He said to him: ‘Follow Me!’ And rising up, he followed Him” (Mark 2:14). “He found Philip and Jesus said to him: ‘Follow Me!’” (John 1:43). “And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea―for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets―and He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him!” (Matthew 4:18-22).
“Jesus said to another: ‘Follow Me!’ And he said: ‘Lord, suffer me first to go, and to bury my father!’ And Jesus said to him: Let the dead bury their dead―but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God!’ And another said: ‘I will follow Thee, Lord; but let me first take my leave of them that are at my house!’ Jesus said to him: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:59-62).
“And a certain ruler asked Jesus, saying: ‘Good master! What shall I do to possess everlasting life?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come, follow Me!’ He, having heard these things, became sorrowful―for he was very rich. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, said: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 18:18-25).
“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:24). “And calling the multitude together with His disciples, Jesus said to them: ‘If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Mark 8:34). “Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23).
“Follow the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and hear His voice! Him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave!” (Deuteronomy 13:4). “And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them!” (Deuteronomy 28:14).
We have to follow our Leader―Christ. It is a commonly held belief among the Fathers of Church―as well as the Doctors of the Church and reliable theologians―that the Church, in the course of its existence over the centuries, has been destined to imitate the life of its Head, Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a consensus of opinion that we are now entering into Agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, which will soon result in ‘Passion’ and apparent ‘Death’ of the Church. We know, of course, that the gates of Hell cannot and will not prevail against the Church―but there will come a time in which, as Our Lady says, “all will seem lost” ― just as all seemed to be lost in the eyes of the Apostles when they saw Christ arrested, tortured and crucified to death.
Nature Sleeps―God Doesn’t Sleep
We also follow Our Lord in sleeping! For even Our Lord slept while He was on this Earth. God made nature and God made nature sleep. God even put Adam to sleep! “The Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and, when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and built the rib into a woman” (Genesis 2:21-22). Though we have no evidence for or against Adam and Eve sleeping before committing Original Sin, it is highly likely that sleeping was part and parcel of normal human existence―it is only when we get to Heaven that sleeping will no longer be a part of life. God never sleeps and we will not sleep―you could say that we won’t want to sleep in case we miss something!!
Sleep plays a critical role in metabolism, memory, learning, immune function and more. Our immune system can take a big hit if we don’t get adequate rest. As humans, our sleep-wake cycle follows an internal body clock, or circadian rhythm. This body clock or circadian rhythm runs on a roughly 24-hour schedule that mimics the patterns of the sun. When the sun is out, we feel alert. When it goes down, we start to feel sleepy. Our circadian rhythm rules over much more than sleep and wakefulness, though. It also regulates our hormone production, metabolism, and body temperature, among other biological functions.
Just like us, plants also follow a circadian rhythm, which affects their behavior and physiological processes during a 24-hour cycle. In humans, our circadian rhythm determines when we feel hungry, energized, or tired. In plants, their circadian rhythm affects when they move their leaves, open and close their flowers, or release fragrances. Plants also stop photosynthesis at night. After ‘snacking’ on sunlight all day long, plants dedicate their night-time hours to metabolizing the energy they have absorbed. By the next morning, 95% of their starch reserves has converted into sugar, providing nutrition to the plant and enabling it to grow. Some plants have leaves that curl in at night. The leaves and branches of European silver birch trees consistently droop by about 4 inches during the night and slowly return to their daytime positions before sunrise. Similarly, many flowers seem to sleep at night. For example, tulips, crocuses, and morning glories all close their flowers when it gets dark.
Sleep has been observed in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and some fish, and, in some form, in insects. Koalas are the longest sleeping-mammals, spending about 20–22 hours a day asleep. Captive sloths sleep around 16 hours a day, while sloths in nature sleep around 10 hours a day. Bats sleep between 18–20 hours per day. Small bats, chipmunks and opossums all sleep for 15 hours or more per day. In contrast, big elephants, giraffes and horses all sleep for about five hours or less. Giraffes only sleep 3–4 hours per day.
Some animals will even sleep for many weeks in what we call “hibernation”. Hibernation can last anywhere from a period of days to weeks to even months, depending on the species. Some animals, like groundhogs, hibernate for as long as 150 days―which is almost half-a-year. Animals such as these are considered true hibernators. They enter into a period of inactivity in which their metabolism is just 5% percent its normal rate. Their body temperature drops and heart and breathing rates are just a fraction of what they are during their active periods. While hibernating, a groundhog’s body temperature drops from 99 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as 33 degrees. Their heart rate plummets from about 80 beats per minute to around 5 beats, and their breathing rate goes from 16 breaths a minute to as few as 2 a minute.
In addition to groundhogs, ground squirrels and many species of bats are true hibernators. Some animals that hibernate are considered light sleep hibernators rather than true hibernators. Their state of hibernation is not as deep as a true hibernator’s and does not last as long. They are easily awakened and are basically taking long winter naps that can last several days. Bears are the most famous example of this kind of hibernation. Opossums, raccoons and skunks are also light sleep hibernators. True hibernating animals sleep so deeply that waking is difficult and takes a lot of time and energy―much like our typical teenagers, you could with tongue in cheek! These animals may wake every few weeks to eat and, like in the case of groundhogs, use the bathroom. As spring inches closer, they wake more frequently. Light sleep hibernators wake more often throughout winter and carry on as usual while they are awake. Their metabolic functions — body temperature, breathing rate and heart rate — return to normal when they wake, then drop again when they once again begin to hibernate.
Sleep is Necessary―Within Limits
Besides suffering and dying for us, in order to redeem us from our sins, Our Lord also slept! He slept at night and even slept on the boat in the middle of a storm! Yet, we also read that Our Lord did not oversleep or sleep too much. After a preaching, teaching and healing all day―He would sometimes spend the whole night in prayer.
Too much sleep is not a good thing. Sleep needs vary somewhat from person to person. The National Sleep Foundation recommends these targets for HEALTHY persons, to make sure you log enough sleep each day:
● Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours (including naps and night-time)
● School age children (6-13): 9-11 hours
● Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours
● Adults (18-64): 7-9 hours
● Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours
Of course, the above targets are for HEALTHY persons―sick persons will need more sleep to help with recovery, since the body repairs itself while it is asleep.
Too much sleep — as well as not enough sleep — raises the risk of chronic diseases, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, anxiety and obesity in adults age 45 and older. Sleeping too much puts you at greater risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes than sleeping too little.
If you remember your Holy Scripture, then you will recall the incident of the young man who fell asleep at Mass, during a long sermon (which was common) of St. Paul, and fell to his death off the balcony on which he was perched: “And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow: and he continued his speech until midnight. And there were a great number of lamps in the upper chamber where we were assembled. And a certain young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window, being oppressed with a deep sleep―as Paul was long preaching―by occasion of his sleep fell from the third loft down, and was taken up dead” (Acts 20:7-9). The moral of the story is―don’t listen to long sermons in the choir loft if you are prone to falling asleep during sermons.
Holy Scripture on Sleep
Even though sleep is good and necessary in our fallen state here on Earth, Holy Scripture warns against becoming lovers of sleep! “Love not sleep!” (Proverbs 20:13). “Knowing the season; it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep! For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed!” (Romans 13:11). “Let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch!” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). “Why art thou fast asleep? Rise up! Call upon God, so that we may not perish!” (Jonas 1:6). “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?” (Proverbs 6:9). “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer” (Proverbs 19:15). “Thou shalt be like one sleeping in the midst of the sea, like a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost” (Proverbs 23:34). “Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchers, they are cast off from Thy hand” (Psalm 87:6).
As stated earlier, even though Our Lord slept, He did not excuse Himself from prayer and other spiritual duties because of any need for sleep. When necessary, He would sacrifice His sleep in favor of prayer: “He went out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12) … “And He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). At the start of His Passion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He rebuked and upbraided His three favorite Apostles―Peter, James and John―for failing to pray with Him and falling asleep instead! It is well worth noting that all the Synoptic Evangelists (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record this incident―and so, to drive the point home, it is well worth reading their ‘repetitive’ accounts:
“And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, Jesus began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then he said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay here and watch with Me!’ And going a little further, He fell upon His face, praying and saying: ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me! Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt!’ And He came back to His disciples, and found them asleep―and He said to Peter: ‘What? Could you not watch one hour with Me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!’ Again the second time, He went and prayed, saying: ‘My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done!’ And He came again to His disciples and again found them sleeping―for their eyes were heavy. And leaving them, He went again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now and take your rest! Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners!’” (Matthew 26:37-45).
“And Jesus said to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night! For it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed!” But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee!’ But Peter said to Him: ‘Although everyone shall be scandalized in Thee―yet not I!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, today, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny Me three times!’ But Peter spoke all the more vehemently: ‘Although I should die together with Thee, I will not deny Thee!’ And in like manner also said they all. And they came to a farm called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Sit you here, while I pray!’ And he took Peter and James and John with Him. And He began to fear and to be heavy-hearted. And He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay you here, and watch!’ And when He was gone forward a little, He fell flat on the ground and He prayed, that, if it might be, the hour might pass from Him. And He said: ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me! But not what I will, but what Thou wilt!’ And He came back and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter: ‘Simon! Sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour? Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!’ And going away again, He prayed, saying the same words. And when He returned, He found them again asleep―for their eyes were heavy―and they knew not what to answer Him. And He came back the third time, and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now, and take your rest! It is enough! The hour is come! Behold, the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners! Rise up! Let us go! Behold, he that will betray Me is at hand!’” (Mark 14:27-42).
“He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives―and His disciples also followed Him. And when He was come to the place, He said to them: ‘Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!’ And He withdrew away from them a stone’s cast; and, kneeling down, He prayed, saying: ‘Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me! But yet not My will, but Thine be done!’ And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him. And, being in an agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. And when He rose up from prayer, and was come to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow. And He said to them: ‘Why sleep you? Arise! Pray! Lest you enter into temptation!’” (Luke 22:39-46).
Elsewhere, Our Lord said to His Apostles: “Take ye heed―watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is! Just like a man, who going into a far country, left his house and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore―for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning―lest, coming all of a sudden, he finds you sleeping! What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:33-37).
Sleep Walking in the Faith
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange―regarded by some as being one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, who even helped popes write their encyclicals―speaks of us as “people still half-asleep, who do not truly live sufficiently by the immense treasure given to [us].” In his magistral work on the spiritual life―The Three Ages of the Interior Life―he writes:
“The ‘Imitation of Christ’ says: ‘Love watcheth, and sleeping slumbereth not! When weary it is not tired!’ In the prologue of his Rule, St. Benedict wrote: ‘Let us therefore at length arise, since the Scriptures stir us up, saying: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep” (Romans 13:11).’ … It is time to rise from the sleep of negligence and to walk courageously in the way of God … We are like people still half-asleep, who do not truly live sufficiently by the immense treasure given to us and by the continually new graces granted to those who wish to follow Our Lord generously … St. Francis de Sales remarks―on the subject of ardent love―that it makes a man leave everything for the one he loves; it causes him to lose sleep and to aspire to an ever closer union … Before experiencing this intimate union with God present in us, we are somewhat like souls still half-asleep, souls not yet spiritually awakened … The Christian on Earth is a traveler―viator―who is advancing spiritually toward God ... Not to advance is to retrogress; not to ascend is to descend―for the law of the traveler is to advance, and not to fall asleep on the road … The way is intended for travelers, not for those who stop en route and sleep … We too often forget that we are en route to eternity, and we try to settle down in the present life as if it were going to last forever. We resemble those travelers who install themselves in one of the great international trains, where people sleep and eat, as if they were in a hotel. They sometimes forget that they are on a journey. The present life is like one of these great trains where people forget that they are on a journey … The road to eternity is not made to be used as a place for rest or sleep―but rather to be traveled … We should not settle ourselves on Earth―people do not settle themselves on the road, or go to sleep there, but rather use it as a means of advancing toward a given end … ”
“St. Dominic used to scourge himself three times every night―once, to expiate his own faults; a second time, for those of sinners; and a third, for the souls in Purgatory. He consecrated the night to prayer and penance―he slept little, rarely before Matins [a prayer of the Divine Office said in the middle of the night], and never went to bed afterward. He used to go from one altar to another in the church, praying now on his knees, his arms extended or lifted like arrows above his head, now bowed over or prostrate on the ground. When sleep overcame him, he would lie down on the flagstones, or rest his head against an altar. In his life, this personal immolation was the accompaniment of the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which our Savior’s immolation is continued in a sacramental manner. Without doubt such mortification presupposes exceptional graces―but there are certain austerities that we can all practice instead of seeking our comfort. For example, the habit of taking the discipline [scourging oneself] preserves us from many faults, keeps alive the love of austerity, expiates many negligences, and helps us to deliver souls from the bonds they have made for themselves. In a religious order the observances are a little like what the bark is to the tree―if the bark is peeled from a vigorous oak, the sap no longer rises, the tree withers and dies. The saints say: ‘If you relax observances, you relax souls’ which will no longer have the enthusiasm needed to run in the way of perfection” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Satan Never Sleeps
Though we might need to sleep to restore our energies and maintain our physical and mental health―Satan never sleeps. Instead Satan―and all the other devils―constantly prowl about us, seeking our damnation: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). It is when our spiritual powers fall asleep, that the devil invades our life and plants seeds of temptation and sin: Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming, said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’” (Matthew 13:24-28).
Satan’s Worldly Anesthetics
Our Lord calls Satan “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) ― and Satan uses his princedom and the things of this world to put us to sleep in spiritual matters. He anesthetizes us and drugs us with his vaccine of worldliness. Most of the Catholic world today is besotted with the pagan world and its toys, trinkets, treats and technology. They are addicted to the world and this is clearly seen by the enormous number of hours dedicated to worldly things each day and week. The majority spend the equivalent of a whole working week (40 hours a week) addicted to the variety of “drugs” offered by the world―television, internet and social media being the most heavily used “drugs”. They “worship” those things far more than worshiping God. That “unholy trinity” ― television, internet and social media ― has spellbound and enslaved most souls ― and almost nobody is perturbed or alarmed by this! It is all part and parcel of “normal” life―nobody sees any problem with it!
Soldiers of Christ Put to Sleep by the World
As Catholics, we are supposed to be Soldiers of Christ who fight in the “trenches” of the world and against the enemy which is the world: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-4). Our Lord adds: ““If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). To which Holy Scripture further adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? … Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Hence we are told that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and Our Lord warns us that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and “it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11). Therefore we must “fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. For no man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4) ... “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12).
Soldiers of Christ Asleep During Guard Duty
To us, Soldiers of Christ, Our Lord says: “Watch and pray!” (Matthew 26:41) ... “Know this, that if the man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open!” (Matthew 24:43) … “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:13) … “Watch with me!” (Matthew 26:38) … “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Sadly, we are too busy watching other things while we should on guard duty against the invasions of the world!
You might be surprised to know the severity with which the military treats soldiers who fail in their guard duty. The USA Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), enacted by Congress, contains procedural laws governing the military justice system. UCMJ Article 113, entitled “Misbehavior of Sentinel or Lookout” lists the punishment for failures by soldiers in guard duties. It states: “If you are a service member of the United States Armed forces misbehave while performing the duties as a lookout or sentinel, you will face charges under Article 113 of the UCMJ. This generally includes drunkenness, sleeping upon his or her post, or leaving before he or she is properly relieved. The duty of a sentinel or lookout is imperative to the security of a mission, base of operations, or of military supplies and personnel. It is therefore considered one of the worst offenses under military law. You may be executed for failing to uphold your duties as a sentinel or lookout should you be found guilty while the country is at war, if the case is referred capital. Even if you escape the death penalty, you could face incarceration that might last decades. At the very minimum, a loss of all pay, allowances, and benefits will force you to enter the civilian world at an extreme disadvantage.”
God speaks in a similar manner to us―who are enlisted to fight in the Church Militant on Earth. To each Catholic Soldier of Christ, God addresses the following words: “I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (the Church)! And you shall hear the word out of My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me! If, when I say to the wicked: ‘You shall surely die!’ ― and you do not declare it to him, nor speak to him, so that he might be converted from his wicked ways and live, then the same wicked man shall certainly die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you give warning to the wicked, and he does not convert from his wickedness and from his evil ways―then he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul! Moreover, if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity―then I will lay a stumbling-block before him and he shall die―because you have not warned him! He shall die in his sin, and all his justices which he has done beforehand, shall not be remembered―but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you warn the just man, so that the just may not sin, and he does not sin―then living he shall live, because you have warned him, and you will have saved your soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-21).
Are we truly on “guard duty” for the Church? Or have we gone AWOL (absent without leave) and deserted our post? Or are we asleep on duty? Or perhaps we are “drunk” on the entertainment and fun of the world? As the Advent liturgy warns, as it sounds out the trumpet loud and clear: “Brethren: Understand, that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we came to believe! The night is far advanced; the day is at hand! Let us, therefore, lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light! Let us walk becomingly as in the day―not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy―but put on the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Mass for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Epistle taken from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans, 13:11-14).
“Follow the Leader” is a children’s game. Players first choose a leader or “head of the line” and the remaining players (the followers) all line up behind the leader. The leader then moves around and all the players have to mimic the leader’s actions. Any players who fail to follow or mimic the leader are out of the game.
You could say the same about the Church―whose leader is Christ. Our Lord sought out His future disciples and said to them: “Follow Me!”
“My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me!” (John 10:27). “When Jesus saw Matthew, He said to him: ‘Follow Me!’ And he rose up and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9). “When Jesus was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, and He said to him: ‘Follow Me!’ And rising up, he followed Him” (Mark 2:14). “He found Philip and Jesus said to him: ‘Follow Me!’” (John 1:43). “And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea―for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of men!’ And they immediately leaving their nets, followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets―and He called them. And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him!” (Matthew 4:18-22).
“Jesus said to another: ‘Follow Me!’ And he said: ‘Lord, suffer me first to go, and to bury my father!’ And Jesus said to him: Let the dead bury their dead―but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God!’ And another said: ‘I will follow Thee, Lord; but let me first take my leave of them that are at my house!’ Jesus said to him: ‘No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!’” (Luke 9:59-62).
“And a certain ruler asked Jesus, saying: ‘Good master! What shall I do to possess everlasting life?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come, follow Me!’ He, having heard these things, became sorrowful―for he was very rich. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, said: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (Luke 18:18-25).
“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:24). “And calling the multitude together with His disciples, Jesus said to them: ‘If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Mark 8:34). “Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23).
“Follow the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and hear His voice! Him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave!” (Deuteronomy 13:4). “And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them!” (Deuteronomy 28:14).
We have to follow our Leader―Christ. It is a commonly held belief among the Fathers of Church―as well as the Doctors of the Church and reliable theologians―that the Church, in the course of its existence over the centuries, has been destined to imitate the life of its Head, Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a consensus of opinion that we are now entering into Agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, which will soon result in ‘Passion’ and apparent ‘Death’ of the Church. We know, of course, that the gates of Hell cannot and will not prevail against the Church―but there will come a time in which, as Our Lady says, “all will seem lost” ― just as all seemed to be lost in the eyes of the Apostles when they saw Christ arrested, tortured and crucified to death.
Nature Sleeps―God Doesn’t Sleep
We also follow Our Lord in sleeping! For even Our Lord slept while He was on this Earth. God made nature and God made nature sleep. God even put Adam to sleep! “The Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and, when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and built the rib into a woman” (Genesis 2:21-22). Though we have no evidence for or against Adam and Eve sleeping before committing Original Sin, it is highly likely that sleeping was part and parcel of normal human existence―it is only when we get to Heaven that sleeping will no longer be a part of life. God never sleeps and we will not sleep―you could say that we won’t want to sleep in case we miss something!!
Sleep plays a critical role in metabolism, memory, learning, immune function and more. Our immune system can take a big hit if we don’t get adequate rest. As humans, our sleep-wake cycle follows an internal body clock, or circadian rhythm. This body clock or circadian rhythm runs on a roughly 24-hour schedule that mimics the patterns of the sun. When the sun is out, we feel alert. When it goes down, we start to feel sleepy. Our circadian rhythm rules over much more than sleep and wakefulness, though. It also regulates our hormone production, metabolism, and body temperature, among other biological functions.
Just like us, plants also follow a circadian rhythm, which affects their behavior and physiological processes during a 24-hour cycle. In humans, our circadian rhythm determines when we feel hungry, energized, or tired. In plants, their circadian rhythm affects when they move their leaves, open and close their flowers, or release fragrances. Plants also stop photosynthesis at night. After ‘snacking’ on sunlight all day long, plants dedicate their night-time hours to metabolizing the energy they have absorbed. By the next morning, 95% of their starch reserves has converted into sugar, providing nutrition to the plant and enabling it to grow. Some plants have leaves that curl in at night. The leaves and branches of European silver birch trees consistently droop by about 4 inches during the night and slowly return to their daytime positions before sunrise. Similarly, many flowers seem to sleep at night. For example, tulips, crocuses, and morning glories all close their flowers when it gets dark.
Sleep has been observed in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and some fish, and, in some form, in insects. Koalas are the longest sleeping-mammals, spending about 20–22 hours a day asleep. Captive sloths sleep around 16 hours a day, while sloths in nature sleep around 10 hours a day. Bats sleep between 18–20 hours per day. Small bats, chipmunks and opossums all sleep for 15 hours or more per day. In contrast, big elephants, giraffes and horses all sleep for about five hours or less. Giraffes only sleep 3–4 hours per day.
Some animals will even sleep for many weeks in what we call “hibernation”. Hibernation can last anywhere from a period of days to weeks to even months, depending on the species. Some animals, like groundhogs, hibernate for as long as 150 days―which is almost half-a-year. Animals such as these are considered true hibernators. They enter into a period of inactivity in which their metabolism is just 5% percent its normal rate. Their body temperature drops and heart and breathing rates are just a fraction of what they are during their active periods. While hibernating, a groundhog’s body temperature drops from 99 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as 33 degrees. Their heart rate plummets from about 80 beats per minute to around 5 beats, and their breathing rate goes from 16 breaths a minute to as few as 2 a minute.
In addition to groundhogs, ground squirrels and many species of bats are true hibernators. Some animals that hibernate are considered light sleep hibernators rather than true hibernators. Their state of hibernation is not as deep as a true hibernator’s and does not last as long. They are easily awakened and are basically taking long winter naps that can last several days. Bears are the most famous example of this kind of hibernation. Opossums, raccoons and skunks are also light sleep hibernators. True hibernating animals sleep so deeply that waking is difficult and takes a lot of time and energy―much like our typical teenagers, you could with tongue in cheek! These animals may wake every few weeks to eat and, like in the case of groundhogs, use the bathroom. As spring inches closer, they wake more frequently. Light sleep hibernators wake more often throughout winter and carry on as usual while they are awake. Their metabolic functions — body temperature, breathing rate and heart rate — return to normal when they wake, then drop again when they once again begin to hibernate.
Sleep is Necessary―Within Limits
Besides suffering and dying for us, in order to redeem us from our sins, Our Lord also slept! He slept at night and even slept on the boat in the middle of a storm! Yet, we also read that Our Lord did not oversleep or sleep too much. After a preaching, teaching and healing all day―He would sometimes spend the whole night in prayer.
Too much sleep is not a good thing. Sleep needs vary somewhat from person to person. The National Sleep Foundation recommends these targets for HEALTHY persons, to make sure you log enough sleep each day:
● Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours (including naps and night-time)
● Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours (including naps and night-time)
● School age children (6-13): 9-11 hours
● Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours
● Adults (18-64): 7-9 hours
● Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours
Of course, the above targets are for HEALTHY persons―sick persons will need more sleep to help with recovery, since the body repairs itself while it is asleep.
Too much sleep — as well as not enough sleep — raises the risk of chronic diseases, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, anxiety and obesity in adults age 45 and older. Sleeping too much puts you at greater risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes than sleeping too little.
If you remember your Holy Scripture, then you will recall the incident of the young man who fell asleep at Mass, during a long sermon (which was common) of St. Paul, and fell to his death off the balcony on which he was perched: “And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow: and he continued his speech until midnight. And there were a great number of lamps in the upper chamber where we were assembled. And a certain young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window, being oppressed with a deep sleep―as Paul was long preaching―by occasion of his sleep fell from the third loft down, and was taken up dead” (Acts 20:7-9). The moral of the story is―don’t listen to long sermons in the choir loft if you are prone to falling asleep during sermons.
Holy Scripture on Sleep
Even though sleep is good and necessary in our fallen state here on Earth, Holy Scripture warns against becoming lovers of sleep! “Love not sleep!” (Proverbs 20:13). “Knowing the season; it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep! For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed!” (Romans 13:11). “Let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch!” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). “Why art thou fast asleep? Rise up! Call upon God, so that we may not perish!” (Jonas 1:6). “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?” (Proverbs 6:9). “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer” (Proverbs 19:15). “Thou shalt be like one sleeping in the midst of the sea, like a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost” (Proverbs 23:34). “Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchers, they are cast off from Thy hand” (Psalm 87:6).
As stated earlier, even though Our Lord slept, He did not excuse Himself from prayer and other spiritual duties because of any need for sleep. When necessary, He would sacrifice His sleep in favor of prayer: “He went out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12) … “And He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). At the start of His Passion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He rebuked and upbraided His three favorite Apostles―Peter, James and John―for failing to pray with Him and falling asleep instead! It is well worth noting that all the Synoptic Evangelists (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record this incident―and so, to drive the point home, it is well worth reading their ‘repetitive’ accounts:
“And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, Jesus began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then he said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay here and watch with Me!’ And going a little further, He fell upon His face, praying and saying: ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me! Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt!’ And He came back to His disciples, and found them asleep―and He said to Peter: ‘What? Could you not watch one hour with Me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!’ Again the second time, He went and prayed, saying: ‘My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done!’ And He came again to His disciples and again found them sleeping―for their eyes were heavy. And leaving them, He went again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now and take your rest! Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners!’” (Matthew 26:37-45).
“And Jesus said to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night! For it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed!” But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee!’ But Peter said to Him: ‘Although everyone shall be scandalized in Thee―yet not I!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, today, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny Me three times!’ But Peter spoke all the more vehemently: ‘Although I should die together with Thee, I will not deny Thee!’ And in like manner also said they all. And they came to a farm called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Sit you here, while I pray!’ And he took Peter and James and John with Him. And He began to fear and to be heavy-hearted. And He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay you here, and watch!’ And when He was gone forward a little, He fell flat on the ground and He prayed, that, if it might be, the hour might pass from Him. And He said: ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me! But not what I will, but what Thou wilt!’ And He came back and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter: ‘Simon! Sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour? Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!’ And going away again, He prayed, saying the same words. And when He returned, He found them again asleep―for their eyes were heavy―and they knew not what to answer Him. And He came back the third time, and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now, and take your rest! It is enough! The hour is come! Behold, the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners! Rise up! Let us go! Behold, he that will betray Me is at hand!’” (Mark 14:27-42).
“He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives―and His disciples also followed Him. And when He was come to the place, He said to them: ‘Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!’ And He withdrew away from them a stone’s cast; and, kneeling down, He prayed, saying: ‘Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me! But yet not My will, but Thine be done!’ And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him. And, being in an agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. And when He rose up from prayer, and was come to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow. And He said to them: ‘Why sleep you? Arise! Pray! Lest you enter into temptation!’” (Luke 22:39-46).
Elsewhere, Our Lord said to His Apostles: “Take ye heed―watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is! Just like a man, who going into a far country, left his house and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore―for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning―lest, coming all of a sudden, he finds you sleeping! What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:33-37).
Sleep Walking in the Faith
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange―regarded by some as being one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, who even helped popes write their encyclicals―speaks of us as “people still half-asleep, who do not truly live sufficiently by the immense treasure given to [us].” In his magistral work on the spiritual life―The Three Ages of the Interior Life―he writes:
“The ‘Imitation of Christ’ says: ‘Love watcheth, and sleeping slumbereth not! When weary it is not tired!’ In the prologue of his Rule, St. Benedict wrote: ‘Let us therefore at length arise, since the Scriptures stir us up, saying: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep” (Romans 13:11).’ … It is time to rise from the sleep of negligence and to walk courageously in the way of God … We are like people still half-asleep, who do not truly live sufficiently by the immense treasure given to us and by the continually new graces granted to those who wish to follow Our Lord generously … St. Francis de Sales remarks―on the subject of ardent love―that it makes a man leave everything for the one he loves; it causes him to lose sleep and to aspire to an ever closer union … Before experiencing this intimate union with God present in us, we are somewhat like souls still half-asleep, souls not yet spiritually awakened … The Christian on Earth is a traveler―viator―who is advancing spiritually toward God ... Not to advance is to retrogress; not to ascend is to descend―for the law of the traveler is to advance, and not to fall asleep on the road … The way is intended for travelers, not for those who stop en route and sleep … We too often forget that we are en route to eternity, and we try to settle down in the present life as if it were going to last forever. We resemble those travelers who install themselves in one of the great international trains, where people sleep and eat, as if they were in a hotel. They sometimes forget that they are on a journey. The present life is like one of these great trains where people forget that they are on a journey … The road to eternity is not made to be used as a place for rest or sleep―but rather to be traveled … We should not settle ourselves on Earth―people do not settle themselves on the road, or go to sleep there, but rather use it as a means of advancing toward a given end … ”
“St. Dominic used to scourge himself three times every night―once, to expiate his own faults; a second time, for those of sinners; and a third, for the souls in Purgatory. He consecrated the night to prayer and penance―he slept little, rarely before Matins [a prayer of the Divine Office said in the middle of the night], and never went to bed afterward. He used to go from one altar to another in the church, praying now on his knees, his arms extended or lifted like arrows above his head, now bowed over or prostrate on the ground. When sleep overcame him, he would lie down on the flagstones, or rest his head against an altar. In his life, this personal immolation was the accompaniment of the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which our Savior’s immolation is continued in a sacramental manner. Without doubt such mortification presupposes exceptional graces―but there are certain austerities that we can all practice instead of seeking our comfort. For example, the habit of taking the discipline [scourging oneself] preserves us from many faults, keeps alive the love of austerity, expiates many negligences, and helps us to deliver souls from the bonds they have made for themselves. In a religious order the observances are a little like what the bark is to the tree―if the bark is peeled from a vigorous oak, the sap no longer rises, the tree withers and dies. The saints say: ‘If you relax observances, you relax souls’ which will no longer have the enthusiasm needed to run in the way of perfection” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Satan Never Sleeps
Though we might need to sleep to restore our energies and maintain our physical and mental health―Satan never sleeps. Instead Satan―and all the other devils―constantly prowl about us, seeking our damnation: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). It is when our spiritual powers fall asleep, that the devil invades our life and plants seeds of temptation and sin: Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming, said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’” (Matthew 13:24-28).
Satan’s Worldly Anesthetics
Our Lord calls Satan “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) ― and Satan uses his princedom and the things of this world to put us to sleep in spiritual matters. He anesthetizes us and drugs us with his vaccine of worldliness. Most of the Catholic world today is besotted with the pagan world and its toys, trinkets, treats and technology. They are addicted to the world and this is clearly seen by the enormous number of hours dedicated to worldly things each day and week. The majority spend the equivalent of a whole working week (40 hours a week) addicted to the variety of “drugs” offered by the world―television, internet and social media being the most heavily used “drugs”. They “worship” those things far more than worshiping God. That “unholy trinity” ― television, internet and social media ― has spellbound and enslaved most souls ― and almost nobody is perturbed or alarmed by this! It is all part and parcel of “normal” life―nobody sees any problem with it!
Soldiers of Christ Put to Sleep by the World
As Catholics, we are supposed to be Soldiers of Christ who fight in the “trenches” of the world and against the enemy which is the world: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-4). Our Lord adds: ““If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). To which Holy Scripture further adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? … Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Hence we are told that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and Our Lord warns us that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and “it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11). Therefore we must “fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. For no man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4) ... “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12).
Soldiers of Christ Asleep During Guard Duty
To us, Soldiers of Christ, Our Lord says: “Watch and pray!” (Matthew 26:41) ... “Know this, that if the man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open!” (Matthew 24:43) … “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:13) … “Watch with me!” (Matthew 26:38) … “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Sadly, we are too busy watching other things while we should on guard duty against the invasions of the world!
You might be surprised to know the severity with which the military treats soldiers who fail in their guard duty. The USA Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), enacted by Congress, contains procedural laws governing the military justice system. UCMJ Article 113, entitled “Misbehavior of Sentinel or Lookout” lists the punishment for failures by soldiers in guard duties. It states: “If you are a service member of the United States Armed forces misbehave while performing the duties as a lookout or sentinel, you will face charges under Article 113 of the UCMJ. This generally includes drunkenness, sleeping upon his or her post, or leaving before he or she is properly relieved. The duty of a sentinel or lookout is imperative to the security of a mission, base of operations, or of military supplies and personnel. It is therefore considered one of the worst offenses under military law. You may be executed for failing to uphold your duties as a sentinel or lookout should you be found guilty while the country is at war, if the case is referred capital. Even if you escape the death penalty, you could face incarceration that might last decades. At the very minimum, a loss of all pay, allowances, and benefits will force you to enter the civilian world at an extreme disadvantage.”
God speaks in a similar manner to us―who are enlisted to fight in the Church Militant on Earth. To each Catholic Soldier of Christ, God addresses the following words: “I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (the Church)! And you shall hear the word out of My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me! If, when I say to the wicked: ‘You shall surely die!’ ― and you do not declare it to him, nor speak to him, so that he might be converted from his wicked ways and live, then the same wicked man shall certainly die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you give warning to the wicked, and he does not convert from his wickedness and from his evil ways―then he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul! Moreover, if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity―then I will lay a stumbling-block before him and he shall die―because you have not warned him! He shall die in his sin, and all his justices which he has done beforehand, shall not be remembered―but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you warn the just man, so that the just may not sin, and he does not sin―then living he shall live, because you have warned him, and you will have saved your soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-21).
Are we truly on “guard duty” for the Church? Or have we gone AWOL (absent without leave) and deserted our post? Or are we asleep on duty? Or perhaps we are “drunk” on the entertainment and fun of the world? As the Advent liturgy warns, as it sounds out the trumpet loud and clear: “Brethren: Understand, that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we came to believe! The night is far advanced; the day is at hand! Let us, therefore, lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light! Let us walk becomingly as in the day―not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy―but put on the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Mass for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Epistle taken from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans, 13:11-14).
THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Tuesday November 30th & Wednesday December 1st & Thursday December 2nd
Article 2
Advent Answers to Antichrist Agendas!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday November 30th & Wednesday December 1st & Thursday December 2nd
Article 2
Advent Answers to Antichrist Agendas!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Time for the Antichrist?
As we enter the season of Advent―which prepares for the advent or coming of Christ―there is increasing talk in some circles of the advent or coming of the Antichrist! Many people seem to think that our current time is the time of the Antichrist―is that the case? Every man and his dog has an opinion on the Antichrist! Many believe that he is alive today! Many have made failed attempts at predicting his arrival―60 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago and in all the years in between. He never turned-up! As for who it is―well, you can take your pick from the celebrity cast of candidates that people, at one time or another, thought were the Antichrist―some said the Pope, others said Obama, others thought it was Trump, others claimed it was Putin, etc. The list is endless and just as numerous as the errors. All the earlier false predictions are quickly forgotten as “new kid on the block” or the new Antichrist on the block, turns up in someone’s imagination. As the proverb says: “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” ― and, if we can be sure of anything these days, then it is the fact that there are a lot of people out there with little knowledge in big heads!
There are many prophecies concerning the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days” of the world. It is important to note that those “End Times” could be short in years, or could last hundreds of years. As Our Lord says in the Gospel: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth―not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone!” (Matthew 24:36) … “But of that day or hour no man knoweth―neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Our problem is that we want ABSOLUTE answers to our questions―but God does NOT give absolute answers in His prophecies.
Another part of the problem is that we too easily satisfy ourselves with superficial knowledge, a flimsy knowledge, a knowledge that jumps to conclusions without ever really studying things in depth. As you sow, so shall you reap! The massive storehouse of information that is found on the internet only adds fuel to the fire of flimsy knowledge―many people have a habit of believing the first thing they read, without “double-checking” the information. We live in “fast” world with its “fast-paced” and “fast-track” approach to everything―express check-outs; e-mail instead of snail-mail; drive-thru options; curbside pick-ups; one-day or overnight deliveries; instant access; etc.
People have become so lazy that they do not even use full words anymore ― “IMO” replaces “in my opinion” ― “?4U” replaces “I have a question for you” ― “@TEOTD” replaces “At the end of the day” ― “AFAIC” replaces “As far as I am concerned”, etc. This spills over into the area of reading―very few people can read a book these days, it is just too much trouble, it is too long, it requires too much attention, too much thinking! That is why we so many “books on tape”, “books on CD” and so many pictures and images. As they say ― “a picture is worth a thousand words” ― and most people have no time for reading a thousand words! “Just gimme the picture instead!” This excessive reliance on images and pictures ― instead of words ― weakens the mind and makes it increasingly impotent in being able to think effectively and precisely. We show CHILDREN pictures before they are able to read and write―but once they can read and write, the pictures no longer play a primary role in learning. Unfortunately, today, that is being reversed―and we are all the “dumber” for it! Consequently, our depth of knowledge suffers and is replaced by more and more superficial knowledge. We end up knowing a little about a lot of things, and knowing a lot about very little!
This is especially true in matters of Faith and religion. The average person is way below average when it comes to religious knowledge. Their knowledge is merely surface knowledge, superficial knowledge, or very specialized knowledge in only a few areas while massive gaps exists in other areas. So, when it comes to a subject such as “The End Times”, or “The Last Days”, or “The Antichrist” ― or any other religious subject, such as “The History of the Church”, or “Catholic Apologetics”, or “The History of the Bible”, or “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” ― the conversation dries up after three or four sentences! People have opinions―but can show no proof and validity for the opinions that they hold. They only have a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle―and are puzzled as to the rest!
That is why there is so much confusion about these so-called “End Times” and the current events that we are witnessing in the world today. People are stupidly clumping together different “time-zones” of prophecy due their lack of knowledge of the subject―they read too little because reading is “hard” and so they refuse to do it. Research is no longer done―most people simply “shoot from the lip”, that is to say, they speak before they think, they speak before they know, they think that merely speaking about a subject shows intelligence and commands authority.
This leads many to erroneously think (or should the word be “imagine” instead of “think”) that we are about to witness the advent of the Antichrist and the end of the world! “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” And there is currently a lot of “little knowledge” floating around! Even the Fathers of the Church have a variety of opinions on the Antichrist and the “End Times” ― so what credibility do we lesser mortals have?
If you simply look at Our Lady’s message at La Salette (1846), you can see that she speaks of two separate periods of terrible times, which are separated by the triumph of God (through the Immaculate Heart of Mary) and a period of peace. We are currently in the first of two terrible periods―and the Antichrist is supposed to appear in the second of those two periods. Here are those relevant extracts from Our Lady’s message at La Salette:
PERIOD 1 ― The Terrible Years Before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.
PERIOD 2 ― The Time of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Peace that Follows
“Then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.
PERIOD 3 ― The Terrible Years that Follow the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“This peace among men will be short-lived. Twenty-five years of plentiful harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth. A forerunner of the Antichrist, with his troops gathered from several nations, will fight against the true Christ, the only Savior of the world. He will shed much blood and will want to annihilate the worship of God to make himself be looked upon as a God.
“The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread. There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“It will be during this time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin, who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be B. At birth, he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word, he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders, he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve, they will draw attention upon themselves by the gallant victories they will have won; soon they will each lead armies, aided by the legions of Hell. Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will perform great wonders on Earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted.
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all peoples of all nations will get to know the truth. The children of the holy Church―the children of my Faith, my true followers―they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Ghost! I shall fight at their side, until they reach a fullness of years. I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit!
“Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
The Visions and Prophecies of Venerable Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser
Venerable Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser (1613-1658) was a parish priest, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of a religious community. Many wonderful things are related of him, extraordinary cures and the like. Lately a petition has been drawn up at Rome for his canonization. Fr. Holzhauser spoke of the Seven Ages of the Church―pointing out that since 1520 we have been in the Fifth Age of the Church. This Fifth Age ends with a great triumph for the Church (Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary?) and ushers in the Sixth Age of the Church―a period of holiness, peace and prosperity―after which comes the Seventh Age, the final age, which sees the appearance of the Antichrist. Here are just a few extracts from the prophecies that Fr. Holzhauser made as a result of the visions of the future that God gave him:
“The Fifth Age dates from the reign of Charles V until the reign of the Great Monarch … The Fifth Age of the Church, which began around 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called ‘Help From God’ ― because he will restore everything [in Christ] … The Fifth Age is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth. Nations will fight against nations and will be desolated by internecine dissensions … During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them ... They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of the law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments. As a result, no principle at all―however holy, authentic, ancient, and certain it may be―will remain free of censure, criticism, false interpretation, modification, and delimitation by man.”
“These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy will be everywhere, and the followers of heresy will be in power almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests will say that they are doing their duty, that they are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life ― but they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church. Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly―they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything … When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics, then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding. There will rise a valiant Monarch, anointed by God. He will be a Catholic, a descendant of King Louis IX [of France], yet he will also be a descendant of an ancient imperial German family, born in exile.”
“The Sixth Age of the Church commences with the Great Monarch and the Holy Pontiff, and will last until the appearance of the Antichrist ... The Great Monarch will come when the Latin Church is desolated, humiliated, and afflicted with many heresies … This Sixth Age of the Church ― ‘the time of consolation’ ― begins with the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch and terminates with the reign of Antichrist. This will be an age of solace, wherein God will console His Church after the many mortifications and afflictions she has endured in the Fifth Age, for all nations will be brought to the unity of the true Catholic Faith ...
“The Great Monarch, who is sent from God, will uproot every Republic. The Great Monarch will have the special help of God and be unconquerable … He will submit everything to this authority and he will show great zeal for the true Church of Christ. The empire of the Mahometans will be broken up and the Great Monarch will reign in the east as well as in the west. All nations will come to worship God in the true and Catholic Roman Faith. There will be many saints and doctors of the Church on Earth. Peace will reign over the whole Earth, because God will bind Satan for a number of years before the days of the Son of Perdition (the Antichrist) … The kingdoms, the nations, and the people will submit to the Roman Empire, furiously vanquished by the very powerful and very illustrious Monarch, who will govern during fifty-six years, rendering the peace of the universe and reigning alone … The priesthood will flower more than ever, and men will seek the Kingdom of God in all solicitude. The Lord will give good pastors to the Church. Vocations will be abundant, as never before, and all men will seek only the Kingdom of God and His justice. Men will live peace and this will be granted because people will make their peace with God. They will live under the protection of the Great Monarch and his successors ... He will rule supreme in temporal matters. The Pope will rule supreme in spiritual matters at the same time. Persecution will cease and justice shall rule. Religion seems to be suppressed, but by the changes of entire kingdoms it will be made more firm …. He will root out false doctrines and destroy the rule of Muslimism. His dominion will extend from the East to the West. All nations will adore God their Lord according to the Catholic teaching.”
“During the Fifth Age we saw only calamities and devastation, oppression of Catholics by tyrants and heretics, executions of kings and conspiracies to set up republics―but, by the hand of God almighty, there occurs so wonderful a change during the Sixth Age that no one can humanly visualize it. No one will be able to pervert the word of God since during the Sixth Age there will be an Ecumenical Council, which will be the greatest of all councils. By the grace of God, by the power of the Great Monarch, by the authority of the holy pontiff and by union of all the most devout princes atheism and every heresy will be banished from the Earth. The council will define the true sense of Holy Scripture and this will be beloved and accepted by everyone.”
Putting Things into Perspective
We are currently at the end of the “Fifth Age of the Church” which will see a terrible persecution of the Church. At the very end of this “Fifth Age of the Church”, when all seems lost, Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will triumph and usher-in the “Sixth Age of the Church” ― a time of unprecedented holiness and peace. At the end of that “Sixth Age of the Church” will come the Great Apostasy (the Minor Apostasy is happening right now―and is in its early stages). That will also be the time of the arrival of the Antichrist. Before the Antichrist arrives, we must first go through a period of time (which we have already entered in its infancy stage) whereby Communism will have the whole world in its grasp―as foretold by Sr. Lucia of Fatima. In this period of time the Church will be persecuted as Satan seeks to crush the Faith.
In the words of Our Lady: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … Various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes.”
Things will get to be so bad that, as Our Lady says: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” Yet that is the precise time that the Holy Trinity and Our Lady will thwart the plans of Satan and his human stooges and followers. Our Lady says: “This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss ... In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … The persecutors of the Church and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. Then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church―which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith” (Our Lady of Good Success and Fatima and La Salette).
As we enter the season of Advent―which prepares for the advent or coming of Christ―there is increasing talk in some circles of the advent or coming of the Antichrist! Many people seem to think that our current time is the time of the Antichrist―is that the case? Every man and his dog has an opinion on the Antichrist! Many believe that he is alive today! Many have made failed attempts at predicting his arrival―60 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago and in all the years in between. He never turned-up! As for who it is―well, you can take your pick from the celebrity cast of candidates that people, at one time or another, thought were the Antichrist―some said the Pope, others said Obama, others thought it was Trump, others claimed it was Putin, etc. The list is endless and just as numerous as the errors. All the earlier false predictions are quickly forgotten as “new kid on the block” or the new Antichrist on the block, turns up in someone’s imagination. As the proverb says: “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” ― and, if we can be sure of anything these days, then it is the fact that there are a lot of people out there with little knowledge in big heads!
There are many prophecies concerning the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days” of the world. It is important to note that those “End Times” could be short in years, or could last hundreds of years. As Our Lord says in the Gospel: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth―not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone!” (Matthew 24:36) … “But of that day or hour no man knoweth―neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Our problem is that we want ABSOLUTE answers to our questions―but God does NOT give absolute answers in His prophecies.
Another part of the problem is that we too easily satisfy ourselves with superficial knowledge, a flimsy knowledge, a knowledge that jumps to conclusions without ever really studying things in depth. As you sow, so shall you reap! The massive storehouse of information that is found on the internet only adds fuel to the fire of flimsy knowledge―many people have a habit of believing the first thing they read, without “double-checking” the information. We live in “fast” world with its “fast-paced” and “fast-track” approach to everything―express check-outs; e-mail instead of snail-mail; drive-thru options; curbside pick-ups; one-day or overnight deliveries; instant access; etc.
People have become so lazy that they do not even use full words anymore ― “IMO” replaces “in my opinion” ― “?4U” replaces “I have a question for you” ― “@TEOTD” replaces “At the end of the day” ― “AFAIC” replaces “As far as I am concerned”, etc. This spills over into the area of reading―very few people can read a book these days, it is just too much trouble, it is too long, it requires too much attention, too much thinking! That is why we so many “books on tape”, “books on CD” and so many pictures and images. As they say ― “a picture is worth a thousand words” ― and most people have no time for reading a thousand words! “Just gimme the picture instead!” This excessive reliance on images and pictures ― instead of words ― weakens the mind and makes it increasingly impotent in being able to think effectively and precisely. We show CHILDREN pictures before they are able to read and write―but once they can read and write, the pictures no longer play a primary role in learning. Unfortunately, today, that is being reversed―and we are all the “dumber” for it! Consequently, our depth of knowledge suffers and is replaced by more and more superficial knowledge. We end up knowing a little about a lot of things, and knowing a lot about very little!
This is especially true in matters of Faith and religion. The average person is way below average when it comes to religious knowledge. Their knowledge is merely surface knowledge, superficial knowledge, or very specialized knowledge in only a few areas while massive gaps exists in other areas. So, when it comes to a subject such as “The End Times”, or “The Last Days”, or “The Antichrist” ― or any other religious subject, such as “The History of the Church”, or “Catholic Apologetics”, or “The History of the Bible”, or “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” ― the conversation dries up after three or four sentences! People have opinions―but can show no proof and validity for the opinions that they hold. They only have a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle―and are puzzled as to the rest!
That is why there is so much confusion about these so-called “End Times” and the current events that we are witnessing in the world today. People are stupidly clumping together different “time-zones” of prophecy due their lack of knowledge of the subject―they read too little because reading is “hard” and so they refuse to do it. Research is no longer done―most people simply “shoot from the lip”, that is to say, they speak before they think, they speak before they know, they think that merely speaking about a subject shows intelligence and commands authority.
This leads many to erroneously think (or should the word be “imagine” instead of “think”) that we are about to witness the advent of the Antichrist and the end of the world! “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” And there is currently a lot of “little knowledge” floating around! Even the Fathers of the Church have a variety of opinions on the Antichrist and the “End Times” ― so what credibility do we lesser mortals have?
If you simply look at Our Lady’s message at La Salette (1846), you can see that she speaks of two separate periods of terrible times, which are separated by the triumph of God (through the Immaculate Heart of Mary) and a period of peace. We are currently in the first of two terrible periods―and the Antichrist is supposed to appear in the second of those two periods. Here are those relevant extracts from Our Lady’s message at La Salette:
PERIOD 1 ― The Terrible Years Before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.
PERIOD 2 ― The Time of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Peace that Follows
“Then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.
PERIOD 3 ― The Terrible Years that Follow the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“This peace among men will be short-lived. Twenty-five years of plentiful harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth. A forerunner of the Antichrist, with his troops gathered from several nations, will fight against the true Christ, the only Savior of the world. He will shed much blood and will want to annihilate the worship of God to make himself be looked upon as a God.
“The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread. There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“It will be during this time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin, who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be B. At birth, he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word, he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders, he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve, they will draw attention upon themselves by the gallant victories they will have won; soon they will each lead armies, aided by the legions of Hell. Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will perform great wonders on Earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted.
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all peoples of all nations will get to know the truth. The children of the holy Church―the children of my Faith, my true followers―they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Ghost! I shall fight at their side, until they reach a fullness of years. I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit!
“Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
The Visions and Prophecies of Venerable Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser
Venerable Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser (1613-1658) was a parish priest, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of a religious community. Many wonderful things are related of him, extraordinary cures and the like. Lately a petition has been drawn up at Rome for his canonization. Fr. Holzhauser spoke of the Seven Ages of the Church―pointing out that since 1520 we have been in the Fifth Age of the Church. This Fifth Age ends with a great triumph for the Church (Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary?) and ushers in the Sixth Age of the Church―a period of holiness, peace and prosperity―after which comes the Seventh Age, the final age, which sees the appearance of the Antichrist. Here are just a few extracts from the prophecies that Fr. Holzhauser made as a result of the visions of the future that God gave him:
“The Fifth Age dates from the reign of Charles V until the reign of the Great Monarch … The Fifth Age of the Church, which began around 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called ‘Help From God’ ― because he will restore everything [in Christ] … The Fifth Age is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth. Nations will fight against nations and will be desolated by internecine dissensions … During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them ... They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of the law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments. As a result, no principle at all―however holy, authentic, ancient, and certain it may be―will remain free of censure, criticism, false interpretation, modification, and delimitation by man.”
“These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy will be everywhere, and the followers of heresy will be in power almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests will say that they are doing their duty, that they are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life ― but they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church. Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly―they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything … When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics, then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding. There will rise a valiant Monarch, anointed by God. He will be a Catholic, a descendant of King Louis IX [of France], yet he will also be a descendant of an ancient imperial German family, born in exile.”
“The Sixth Age of the Church commences with the Great Monarch and the Holy Pontiff, and will last until the appearance of the Antichrist ... The Great Monarch will come when the Latin Church is desolated, humiliated, and afflicted with many heresies … This Sixth Age of the Church ― ‘the time of consolation’ ― begins with the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch and terminates with the reign of Antichrist. This will be an age of solace, wherein God will console His Church after the many mortifications and afflictions she has endured in the Fifth Age, for all nations will be brought to the unity of the true Catholic Faith ...
“The Great Monarch, who is sent from God, will uproot every Republic. The Great Monarch will have the special help of God and be unconquerable … He will submit everything to this authority and he will show great zeal for the true Church of Christ. The empire of the Mahometans will be broken up and the Great Monarch will reign in the east as well as in the west. All nations will come to worship God in the true and Catholic Roman Faith. There will be many saints and doctors of the Church on Earth. Peace will reign over the whole Earth, because God will bind Satan for a number of years before the days of the Son of Perdition (the Antichrist) … The kingdoms, the nations, and the people will submit to the Roman Empire, furiously vanquished by the very powerful and very illustrious Monarch, who will govern during fifty-six years, rendering the peace of the universe and reigning alone … The priesthood will flower more than ever, and men will seek the Kingdom of God in all solicitude. The Lord will give good pastors to the Church. Vocations will be abundant, as never before, and all men will seek only the Kingdom of God and His justice. Men will live peace and this will be granted because people will make their peace with God. They will live under the protection of the Great Monarch and his successors ... He will rule supreme in temporal matters. The Pope will rule supreme in spiritual matters at the same time. Persecution will cease and justice shall rule. Religion seems to be suppressed, but by the changes of entire kingdoms it will be made more firm …. He will root out false doctrines and destroy the rule of Muslimism. His dominion will extend from the East to the West. All nations will adore God their Lord according to the Catholic teaching.”
“During the Fifth Age we saw only calamities and devastation, oppression of Catholics by tyrants and heretics, executions of kings and conspiracies to set up republics―but, by the hand of God almighty, there occurs so wonderful a change during the Sixth Age that no one can humanly visualize it. No one will be able to pervert the word of God since during the Sixth Age there will be an Ecumenical Council, which will be the greatest of all councils. By the grace of God, by the power of the Great Monarch, by the authority of the holy pontiff and by union of all the most devout princes atheism and every heresy will be banished from the Earth. The council will define the true sense of Holy Scripture and this will be beloved and accepted by everyone.”
Putting Things into Perspective
We are currently at the end of the “Fifth Age of the Church” which will see a terrible persecution of the Church. At the very end of this “Fifth Age of the Church”, when all seems lost, Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will triumph and usher-in the “Sixth Age of the Church” ― a time of unprecedented holiness and peace. At the end of that “Sixth Age of the Church” will come the Great Apostasy (the Minor Apostasy is happening right now―and is in its early stages). That will also be the time of the arrival of the Antichrist. Before the Antichrist arrives, we must first go through a period of time (which we have already entered in its infancy stage) whereby Communism will have the whole world in its grasp―as foretold by Sr. Lucia of Fatima. In this period of time the Church will be persecuted as Satan seeks to crush the Faith.
In the words of Our Lady: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … Various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes.”
Things will get to be so bad that, as Our Lady says: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” Yet that is the precise time that the Holy Trinity and Our Lady will thwart the plans of Satan and his human stooges and followers. Our Lady says: “This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss ... In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … The persecutors of the Church and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. Then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church―which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith” (Our Lady of Good Success and Fatima and La Salette).
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Sunday November 28th & Monday November 29th
Article 1
Let's Get Serious About Advent!
Sunday November 28th & Monday November 29th
Article 1
Let's Get Serious About Advent!
Today We Start A New Year!
With Advent, the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During this time the faithful are admonished to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to make their souls worthy dwelling-places for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world. According to present modern-day custom, Advent is a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first Sunday may be as early as November 27th, and then Advent has twenty-eight days―or as late as December 3rd, giving the season only twenty-one days.
The Meaning of Advent
The word “Advent” is a compound of two Latin words: “ad” meaning “to” and “venire” meaning “to come”, of which the past participle in Latin is “ventus”. Therefore we see the word “Advent” meaning “to come to”. For Christians, Advent refers to Christ’s coming into this world. The Lord is coming. However, since it is every year at this time that we celebrate His coming, there exists a real danger that, through routine, we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation―because, at the end of the season, everything seems to return to pretty much the same old lukewarm routine. In other words―Advent brings no real change in our lives. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.
The focus of Advent is by no means limited to just Christ’s First Coming at Christmas over 2,000 years ago. An equal, if not more important theme that can be found in the Advent Liturgy is reference to the Second Coming of Christ―when He will come again to judge the world. Consequently, there is a double focus of, firstly, the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in His first Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent. In His first coming He comes as a Child offering mercy. In His second coming He will come as a Judge administering justice.
However, He is never merciful without being just, and He is never just without being merciful. Therefore, we must realize that to accept His mercy also requires that we accept His justice. He does not come to play, but to pay—pay for our sins. He does not come to enjoy life, but to give eternal life—and that comes at a price. He comes not to live on Earth forever, but to forever detach us from this Earth. He prefers poverty over power; humility over honors; rejection over riches and suffering over splendor. His way is not our way, yet He Who called Himself “the Way” shows us wayward wayfarers the true way—and it is not a pleasant way, but the Way of the Cross.
A Beginning or an End?
Advent is not an end, but a beginning. It should be the beginning of the end of a life of sin and mediocrity—”For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000+ year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ, whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.
Welcome or Unwelcome?
There is no doubt whatsoever that, on the part of Jesus, He truly wants to come to us. He loves us beyond our comprehension and our wildest dreams. There is no problem on the part of Jesus. However, on our side, we have to ask the question: “Do we really want Jesus to come to us?” The stress is on the word “really” ― not just theoretically and not just by lip-service. Do we really and truly want Jesus in our lives? To drive the point home more clearly and to avoid misconceptions, do we really and truly want Jesus to be our life? Notice the words “be our life”, which is different to being “a part of our life.” If we want Jesus to be “a part of our life”, then we only partially want Him—for some that means on Sundays and prayer times only, for others a little more perhaps, but they place a limit on “how much of Jesus they can take.” He wants to be our whole life, not just a part of our life, and that is what is meant by the commandment to love God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength.
Jesus Does Not Come Without Mary
Advent is as much about the Mother of God as it is about the Son of God. Our Lady also wants Jesus to be our whole life, and she is willing to help give birth to Jesus in our life―so that He may grow and occupy and whole life, just as He did hers. This is, in essence, what St. Louis de Montfort is trying to say in his book, True Devotion to Mary. It is TOTAL consecration, a TOTAL giving of self in return for the TOTAL giving that Christ and His Mother showed towards us poor sinful creatures. The following quotes, taken from different sections of the book, will try to show this picture of Mary as the birth-giver of Jesus in our lives.
“God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin ever since He created her–we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Luke 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her. The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Advent is, par excellence, the time of the Divine Maternity, the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin, as she draws ever closer to giving birth to God’s Greatest Gift for fallen human nature. During Advent, we should not lose focus of Our Lady, for without her there is no Christmas; without her, God will not be born into this world. It is her cooperation with God that has brought about the Incarnation—God becoming flesh, becoming man so as to save and redeem mankind.
Advent a Time of Redemption
Yes―Advent is all about Christ coming into this world; but why is He coming? He is coming to redeem―to redeem us from the guilt and penalty of our sins. Without Christ’s redemptive coming there can be no salvation: “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
But for mankind to be saved and redeemed, Christ our Savior has to be born into our souls. Nay, perhaps that one word will be passed over and looked upon as a routine phrase! Christ wants to be born in our souls, our hearts, our minds, our thoughts, our memories, our hopes, our conversations, our daydreams, our home life, our work life, our social life —in other words, everywhere, in everything, in every moment of our day and night!
That is what is meant by the first and greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30).
Time for Redemption―But Time is Running Out!
As they say: “We are born to die!” and each day is a day closer to our death! Why were we “born to die”? Actually, we could have been born not to die―but to live without dying! Adam was created by God with the possibility of not dying―yet there was no guarantee against dying. It all depended upon whether Adam would sin or not: “God commanded Adam, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve and then Adam disobeyed God and ate the “forbidden fruit” ― so they sentenced themselves to death: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
We Won’t Live to Adam’s Ripe Old Age!
Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930 years! Our Lord died aged around 33 years. Our Lady is said to have died in her early to mid-sixties. St. Dominic Savio died aged 14 years. St. Maria Goretti was 11 years old when she was killed. Little Blessed Francisco of Fatima was only 10 years old when he died; Blessed Jacinta, his sister was only 9 years old. The Venerable Anne de Guigné was 10 years old.
Time waits for nobody. Time is precious. Time means more than money. Time and how it is spent, means the difference between Heaven and Hell. Death is the most untimely thing around. Death respects no one. Even in the forthcoming chastisement of which Our Lady has warned us, time and time again, she says that the good will die with the bad; and neither will priests be spared, but they will die with the laity. Today―with the culture of death being promoted by Satan’s stooges―life is even shorter (especially in the Plannedemic or planned genocide). People are literally “dropping like flies” after receiving the “charitably” and “caring” jab that pretends to help―but in reality kills or maims.
In one sense it is only fitting that we are being made to suffer this―because for nearly 50 years (since Roe vs Wade in 1973), we have been (by our indifference and negligence in praying, sacrificing and acting against it) complicit to that culture of death by impotently standing by watching over 62 million babies, in the USA alone, butchered by physical medical interventions by abortionists. The Pharmacists for Life organization estimates that approximately an additional 250 million babies have been aborted chemically since 1973 in the USA. Worldwide, since 1973, there have been just under 2,000 million (2 billion) physical abortions―without counting a far greater number of chemical abortions. No big deal, huh? As we have sown (or failed to sow), so shall we reap! God is not mocked! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Now it is our turn be “aborted” and butchered by the medical interventions of physical abortion or the abortion pill. There is no doubt about it―in the forthcoming years―by human evil and then by divine chastisement―the majority of the world will have been “aborted”, butchered and killed by the “abortive” jab and “abortive” boosters. As Holy Scripture says―we will just change the word “sword” to “needle” or “vaccine”― “If you be willing and will listen to Me, then you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not listen to Me, and will provoke Me to wrath, then the sword (“needle” or “vaccine”) shall devour you―because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!” (Isaias 1:19-20).
Nobody has mentioned this―but it is a real twist of divine justice that is giving mankind (as a whole) a taste of its own evil “medicine”. If mankind really wanted to do so, it could put an end to abortion. We do not protest sufficiently and do not take sufficient action against abortion―so the genocide vaccine, that has been injected into well over half the world’s population―is made from the fetal cells of aborted babies. You could say that this an evil twist to the evil we have allowed. We allow babies to be aborted―and the cells of the aborted babies are used to make the vaccine that “aborts” our life―or kill us! In a very broad or loose sense you could say ― since we have allowed billions of babies to be aborted―God has allowed those aborted babies to indirectly abort (kill) us through the use of their aborted fetal cells. As you sow, so shall you reap! The billions of babies that have been aborted will soon be matched by billions of people having their own adult lives “aborted”! Over 4.2 billion (4,200 million) of the world’s almost 8 billion people having already received one dose (which is 54% of the world); while over 3.3 billion (3,300 million) have received two doses of the vaccine (which is 42% of the world). In the USA, with its population of around 334 million, over 231 million have already received one dose of the vaccine (70% of the population); while over 194 million have received two doses of the vaccine (60% of the population).
Our Lady herself (at La Salette, Fatima, Akita) has foretold that: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … Many nations will be annihilated!” She does not say how, does she? You can annihilate most of the world by a jab or two to the upper arm!
Time is Precious―Don’t Waste It―Take Advent Seriously!
That is why our time is so precious. That is why the Church chooses the words of St. Paul to open the season of Advent, the time of mercy, so that we can receive, plant, nurture and grow the spirit of Christ in our souls, and so prepare favorably for the time of our Final Judgment, when the time of mercy will cease, and the time of Justice will have arrived. Those words of St. Paul that opened Advent for us were:
“It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:11-14).
Strip Yourself of the World―Put On Christ!
Advent is a time of preparation for the “putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ.” As Holy Scripture says: “Put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind―and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth! Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth … Sin not! … Give not place to the devil! He that stole, let him now steal no more! Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good! … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice! Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.” (Ephesians 4:22-32).
Rather Than Examining Others―Examine Yourself!
As Our Lord warns: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
Advent is a time of self-examination, of self-correction and accusation of one’s own sins; a time of serious spiritual renewal and rejuvenation, a time of spiritual betterment and improvement, a time of re-assessing our motives and values, a time of preparing the soil of our soul to receive the seed of sanctity that our Savior wants to sow.
Learn from the Mistakes of Bethlehem
It is not a frivolous time; it is not a time of worldly worry over the material and social side of Christmas. It was this material preoccupation at the lucrative time of the Emperor Caesar Augustus’ census and the ‘tourist’ swelling of Bethlehem as people returned to register, that blinded the Bethlehemites to the True Treasure that had arrived on their doorsteps disguised as poverty and hidden in Mary’s womb.
They thought they were rich, but in reality they were very poor. They thought Mary and Joseph were poor, but they were the richest people in Heaven and Earth. They carried the only thing that really matters; the Bethlehemites sought many things but missed the one essential thing.
Your Hours Accuse You!
When we total up the man-hours spent on the material and social side of Advent and its successor, Christmas, and then compare it to the man-hours that will have been spent on the spiritual side of Advent and Christmas, then I think most people would have to blush with shame—as they will on Judgment Day. For we risk the King saying to us: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in: naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me” (Matthew 25:41-43).
The Worldwide Pandemic of Lukewarmness
Harsh? Well, Our Lord complained of the lukewarmness, indifference, coldness and sacrilege of many souls to St. Margaret Mary, in His apparitions to her from 1673-1675: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men … in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt!”
It was also in the 17th century that Our Lady of Good Success complained and condemned lukewarmness in her apparitions to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres: “Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity! O Cursed human respect―which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories … calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord, in appearing to the same Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, especially condemned the lukewarm: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
The existence of lukewarmness is not confined to the 17th century and the time of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―lukewarmness has always been a problem (due to the effects of Original Sin) and has been both indirectly and directly condemned in both the Old and New Testaments: “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
And the fruit of lukewarmness is clearly stated in the Book of the Apocalypse: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Burn Up Lukewarmness by Fervor
Lukewarmness is―as we can see from God’s words above―a sin. It is root cause for many other sins. Once lukewarmness sets its roots into a soul, it is very, very difficult to remove it. Halfhearted measures NEVER work [read more on that here]. Advent is that time to do penance for our lukewarmness and other sins. The time to heat up our lukewarmness into a fiery zeal; to refocus our blurred indifference into a sharp focus on spiritual matters and our salvation, rather than our relaxation and recreation. So many of the world are so focused on money, wealth, pleasures and treasures that they see enticing them in the distance, that their farsightedness or long-sightedness prevents them from threading the eye of the needle with the thread of their soul. Their spiritual eyesight is all too blurred and they fail, time and time again, year after year, to use Advent well and pass through the eye of the needle. As Our Lord warned us: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:24).
Materialism Furnishes Material for the Fires of Hell
In fact, it is worth reading the whole passage, for its context is very typical of the Advent-Christmas mentality seen in today’s modern world ― “Behold one came and said to Him: ‘Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Who said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ ... The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven’” (Matthew 19:16-24). Boy! Are we rich with possessions these days! Everyone is loaded with possessions that take up so much of their time and force them to take time away from God! It all comes at a price―and that price will have to paid when we die!
Now is the Time! Don’t Waste It!
So, to borrow the Church’s other opening line, from the season of Lent, when the Church again quotes St. Paul, saying: “Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the time of salvation!” Which dovetails with the words quoted above from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for the First Sunday of Advent: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.” “Be wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil!” (Romans 5:16).
Holy Scripture rebukes us: “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?” (Proverbs 6:9). “You do not know what shall be tomorrow! For what is your life? It is a vapor which appears for a little while and afterwards it shall vanish away! … Therefore, to him who knows to do good―but does it not―to him it is sin!” (James 4:14-17). “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hidden! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16). Think on this when you light your Advent Candle! Advent should be a time when we bring the light of Christ into our souls and the souls of others―yet, as Our Lord says: “If thy eye be evil, then thy whole body shall be darksome! If, then, the light that is in thee be darkness―the darkness itself how great shall it be!” (Matthew 6:23).
The Light of World cometh, let us not sleep without having prepared our lamps, like the foolish virgins, who were without oil at the crucial time, when the Bridegroom came, and, while they were scurrying to buy some oil, they were locked-out of the feast. Now is the acceptable time, now is the hour to fill the lamps of our souls with the spiritual oil needed to have a truly happy, holy and blessed Christmas. Noe did not build his ark at the last minute, but took much time to build it well. Let us do the same this Advent. Let us not worry about “sitting down to eat and drink, and rising up to play” (Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7), but let us rather “sit down to read and think, and kneel down to pray.”
Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, and be jubilantly glad, O daughter of Israel!
Behold, thy Lord cometh, and, in His day, a great light shall arise!
With Advent, the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During this time the faithful are admonished to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to make their souls worthy dwelling-places for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world. According to present modern-day custom, Advent is a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first Sunday may be as early as November 27th, and then Advent has twenty-eight days―or as late as December 3rd, giving the season only twenty-one days.
The Meaning of Advent
The word “Advent” is a compound of two Latin words: “ad” meaning “to” and “venire” meaning “to come”, of which the past participle in Latin is “ventus”. Therefore we see the word “Advent” meaning “to come to”. For Christians, Advent refers to Christ’s coming into this world. The Lord is coming. However, since it is every year at this time that we celebrate His coming, there exists a real danger that, through routine, we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation―because, at the end of the season, everything seems to return to pretty much the same old lukewarm routine. In other words―Advent brings no real change in our lives. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.
The focus of Advent is by no means limited to just Christ’s First Coming at Christmas over 2,000 years ago. An equal, if not more important theme that can be found in the Advent Liturgy is reference to the Second Coming of Christ―when He will come again to judge the world. Consequently, there is a double focus of, firstly, the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in His first Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent. In His first coming He comes as a Child offering mercy. In His second coming He will come as a Judge administering justice.
However, He is never merciful without being just, and He is never just without being merciful. Therefore, we must realize that to accept His mercy also requires that we accept His justice. He does not come to play, but to pay—pay for our sins. He does not come to enjoy life, but to give eternal life—and that comes at a price. He comes not to live on Earth forever, but to forever detach us from this Earth. He prefers poverty over power; humility over honors; rejection over riches and suffering over splendor. His way is not our way, yet He Who called Himself “the Way” shows us wayward wayfarers the true way—and it is not a pleasant way, but the Way of the Cross.
A Beginning or an End?
Advent is not an end, but a beginning. It should be the beginning of the end of a life of sin and mediocrity—”For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000+ year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ, whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.
Welcome or Unwelcome?
There is no doubt whatsoever that, on the part of Jesus, He truly wants to come to us. He loves us beyond our comprehension and our wildest dreams. There is no problem on the part of Jesus. However, on our side, we have to ask the question: “Do we really want Jesus to come to us?” The stress is on the word “really” ― not just theoretically and not just by lip-service. Do we really and truly want Jesus in our lives? To drive the point home more clearly and to avoid misconceptions, do we really and truly want Jesus to be our life? Notice the words “be our life”, which is different to being “a part of our life.” If we want Jesus to be “a part of our life”, then we only partially want Him—for some that means on Sundays and prayer times only, for others a little more perhaps, but they place a limit on “how much of Jesus they can take.” He wants to be our whole life, not just a part of our life, and that is what is meant by the commandment to love God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength.
Jesus Does Not Come Without Mary
Advent is as much about the Mother of God as it is about the Son of God. Our Lady also wants Jesus to be our whole life, and she is willing to help give birth to Jesus in our life―so that He may grow and occupy and whole life, just as He did hers. This is, in essence, what St. Louis de Montfort is trying to say in his book, True Devotion to Mary. It is TOTAL consecration, a TOTAL giving of self in return for the TOTAL giving that Christ and His Mother showed towards us poor sinful creatures. The following quotes, taken from different sections of the book, will try to show this picture of Mary as the birth-giver of Jesus in our lives.
“God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin ever since He created her–we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Luke 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her. The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Advent is, par excellence, the time of the Divine Maternity, the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin, as she draws ever closer to giving birth to God’s Greatest Gift for fallen human nature. During Advent, we should not lose focus of Our Lady, for without her there is no Christmas; without her, God will not be born into this world. It is her cooperation with God that has brought about the Incarnation—God becoming flesh, becoming man so as to save and redeem mankind.
Advent a Time of Redemption
Yes―Advent is all about Christ coming into this world; but why is He coming? He is coming to redeem―to redeem us from the guilt and penalty of our sins. Without Christ’s redemptive coming there can be no salvation: “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
But for mankind to be saved and redeemed, Christ our Savior has to be born into our souls. Nay, perhaps that one word will be passed over and looked upon as a routine phrase! Christ wants to be born in our souls, our hearts, our minds, our thoughts, our memories, our hopes, our conversations, our daydreams, our home life, our work life, our social life —in other words, everywhere, in everything, in every moment of our day and night!
That is what is meant by the first and greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30).
Time for Redemption―But Time is Running Out!
As they say: “We are born to die!” and each day is a day closer to our death! Why were we “born to die”? Actually, we could have been born not to die―but to live without dying! Adam was created by God with the possibility of not dying―yet there was no guarantee against dying. It all depended upon whether Adam would sin or not: “God commanded Adam, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve and then Adam disobeyed God and ate the “forbidden fruit” ― so they sentenced themselves to death: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
We Won’t Live to Adam’s Ripe Old Age!
Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930 years! Our Lord died aged around 33 years. Our Lady is said to have died in her early to mid-sixties. St. Dominic Savio died aged 14 years. St. Maria Goretti was 11 years old when she was killed. Little Blessed Francisco of Fatima was only 10 years old when he died; Blessed Jacinta, his sister was only 9 years old. The Venerable Anne de Guigné was 10 years old.
Time waits for nobody. Time is precious. Time means more than money. Time and how it is spent, means the difference between Heaven and Hell. Death is the most untimely thing around. Death respects no one. Even in the forthcoming chastisement of which Our Lady has warned us, time and time again, she says that the good will die with the bad; and neither will priests be spared, but they will die with the laity. Today―with the culture of death being promoted by Satan’s stooges―life is even shorter (especially in the Plannedemic or planned genocide). People are literally “dropping like flies” after receiving the “charitably” and “caring” jab that pretends to help―but in reality kills or maims.
In one sense it is only fitting that we are being made to suffer this―because for nearly 50 years (since Roe vs Wade in 1973), we have been (by our indifference and negligence in praying, sacrificing and acting against it) complicit to that culture of death by impotently standing by watching over 62 million babies, in the USA alone, butchered by physical medical interventions by abortionists. The Pharmacists for Life organization estimates that approximately an additional 250 million babies have been aborted chemically since 1973 in the USA. Worldwide, since 1973, there have been just under 2,000 million (2 billion) physical abortions―without counting a far greater number of chemical abortions. No big deal, huh? As we have sown (or failed to sow), so shall we reap! God is not mocked! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Now it is our turn be “aborted” and butchered by the medical interventions of physical abortion or the abortion pill. There is no doubt about it―in the forthcoming years―by human evil and then by divine chastisement―the majority of the world will have been “aborted”, butchered and killed by the “abortive” jab and “abortive” boosters. As Holy Scripture says―we will just change the word “sword” to “needle” or “vaccine”― “If you be willing and will listen to Me, then you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not listen to Me, and will provoke Me to wrath, then the sword (“needle” or “vaccine”) shall devour you―because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!” (Isaias 1:19-20).
Nobody has mentioned this―but it is a real twist of divine justice that is giving mankind (as a whole) a taste of its own evil “medicine”. If mankind really wanted to do so, it could put an end to abortion. We do not protest sufficiently and do not take sufficient action against abortion―so the genocide vaccine, that has been injected into well over half the world’s population―is made from the fetal cells of aborted babies. You could say that this an evil twist to the evil we have allowed. We allow babies to be aborted―and the cells of the aborted babies are used to make the vaccine that “aborts” our life―or kill us! In a very broad or loose sense you could say ― since we have allowed billions of babies to be aborted―God has allowed those aborted babies to indirectly abort (kill) us through the use of their aborted fetal cells. As you sow, so shall you reap! The billions of babies that have been aborted will soon be matched by billions of people having their own adult lives “aborted”! Over 4.2 billion (4,200 million) of the world’s almost 8 billion people having already received one dose (which is 54% of the world); while over 3.3 billion (3,300 million) have received two doses of the vaccine (which is 42% of the world). In the USA, with its population of around 334 million, over 231 million have already received one dose of the vaccine (70% of the population); while over 194 million have received two doses of the vaccine (60% of the population).
Our Lady herself (at La Salette, Fatima, Akita) has foretold that: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … Many nations will be annihilated!” She does not say how, does she? You can annihilate most of the world by a jab or two to the upper arm!
Time is Precious―Don’t Waste It―Take Advent Seriously!
That is why our time is so precious. That is why the Church chooses the words of St. Paul to open the season of Advent, the time of mercy, so that we can receive, plant, nurture and grow the spirit of Christ in our souls, and so prepare favorably for the time of our Final Judgment, when the time of mercy will cease, and the time of Justice will have arrived. Those words of St. Paul that opened Advent for us were:
“It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:11-14).
Strip Yourself of the World―Put On Christ!
Advent is a time of preparation for the “putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ.” As Holy Scripture says: “Put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind―and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth! Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth … Sin not! … Give not place to the devil! He that stole, let him now steal no more! Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good! … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice! Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.” (Ephesians 4:22-32).
Rather Than Examining Others―Examine Yourself!
As Our Lord warns: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
Advent is a time of self-examination, of self-correction and accusation of one’s own sins; a time of serious spiritual renewal and rejuvenation, a time of spiritual betterment and improvement, a time of re-assessing our motives and values, a time of preparing the soil of our soul to receive the seed of sanctity that our Savior wants to sow.
Learn from the Mistakes of Bethlehem
It is not a frivolous time; it is not a time of worldly worry over the material and social side of Christmas. It was this material preoccupation at the lucrative time of the Emperor Caesar Augustus’ census and the ‘tourist’ swelling of Bethlehem as people returned to register, that blinded the Bethlehemites to the True Treasure that had arrived on their doorsteps disguised as poverty and hidden in Mary’s womb.
They thought they were rich, but in reality they were very poor. They thought Mary and Joseph were poor, but they were the richest people in Heaven and Earth. They carried the only thing that really matters; the Bethlehemites sought many things but missed the one essential thing.
Your Hours Accuse You!
When we total up the man-hours spent on the material and social side of Advent and its successor, Christmas, and then compare it to the man-hours that will have been spent on the spiritual side of Advent and Christmas, then I think most people would have to blush with shame—as they will on Judgment Day. For we risk the King saying to us: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in: naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me” (Matthew 25:41-43).
The Worldwide Pandemic of Lukewarmness
Harsh? Well, Our Lord complained of the lukewarmness, indifference, coldness and sacrilege of many souls to St. Margaret Mary, in His apparitions to her from 1673-1675: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men … in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt!”
It was also in the 17th century that Our Lady of Good Success complained and condemned lukewarmness in her apparitions to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres: “Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity! O Cursed human respect―which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories … calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord, in appearing to the same Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, especially condemned the lukewarm: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
The existence of lukewarmness is not confined to the 17th century and the time of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―lukewarmness has always been a problem (due to the effects of Original Sin) and has been both indirectly and directly condemned in both the Old and New Testaments: “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
And the fruit of lukewarmness is clearly stated in the Book of the Apocalypse: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Burn Up Lukewarmness by Fervor
Lukewarmness is―as we can see from God’s words above―a sin. It is root cause for many other sins. Once lukewarmness sets its roots into a soul, it is very, very difficult to remove it. Halfhearted measures NEVER work [read more on that here]. Advent is that time to do penance for our lukewarmness and other sins. The time to heat up our lukewarmness into a fiery zeal; to refocus our blurred indifference into a sharp focus on spiritual matters and our salvation, rather than our relaxation and recreation. So many of the world are so focused on money, wealth, pleasures and treasures that they see enticing them in the distance, that their farsightedness or long-sightedness prevents them from threading the eye of the needle with the thread of their soul. Their spiritual eyesight is all too blurred and they fail, time and time again, year after year, to use Advent well and pass through the eye of the needle. As Our Lord warned us: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:24).
Materialism Furnishes Material for the Fires of Hell
In fact, it is worth reading the whole passage, for its context is very typical of the Advent-Christmas mentality seen in today’s modern world ― “Behold one came and said to Him: ‘Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Who said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ ... The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven’” (Matthew 19:16-24). Boy! Are we rich with possessions these days! Everyone is loaded with possessions that take up so much of their time and force them to take time away from God! It all comes at a price―and that price will have to paid when we die!
Now is the Time! Don’t Waste It!
So, to borrow the Church’s other opening line, from the season of Lent, when the Church again quotes St. Paul, saying: “Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the time of salvation!” Which dovetails with the words quoted above from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for the First Sunday of Advent: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.” “Be wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil!” (Romans 5:16).
Holy Scripture rebukes us: “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?” (Proverbs 6:9). “You do not know what shall be tomorrow! For what is your life? It is a vapor which appears for a little while and afterwards it shall vanish away! … Therefore, to him who knows to do good―but does it not―to him it is sin!” (James 4:14-17). “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hidden! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16). Think on this when you light your Advent Candle! Advent should be a time when we bring the light of Christ into our souls and the souls of others―yet, as Our Lord says: “If thy eye be evil, then thy whole body shall be darksome! If, then, the light that is in thee be darkness―the darkness itself how great shall it be!” (Matthew 6:23).
The Light of World cometh, let us not sleep without having prepared our lamps, like the foolish virgins, who were without oil at the crucial time, when the Bridegroom came, and, while they were scurrying to buy some oil, they were locked-out of the feast. Now is the acceptable time, now is the hour to fill the lamps of our souls with the spiritual oil needed to have a truly happy, holy and blessed Christmas. Noe did not build his ark at the last minute, but took much time to build it well. Let us do the same this Advent. Let us not worry about “sitting down to eat and drink, and rising up to play” (Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7), but let us rather “sit down to read and think, and kneel down to pray.”
Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, and be jubilantly glad, O daughter of Israel!
Behold, thy Lord cometh, and, in His day, a great light shall arise!
November 27th
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
Article 10
O Boy! Are We in Need of Miracles Today!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
Article 10
O Boy! Are We in Need of Miracles Today!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Each year, people from all over the world visit the Notre-Dame de la Medaille Miraculeuse (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal) chapel in Paris, France. The pilgrims flock there because they know what a special place it is. It was there, on November 27th, 1830, that Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré and graciously gave her the gift of the Miraculous Medal, so that she could share it with the world.
Although November 27th, 1830 was not the first time that the Mother of Our Lord had appeared to St. Catherine Labouré ― who was then a young nun ― it was the date when she manifested a perfect vision of what the Miraculous Medal should look like. The humble saint saw the Blessed Mother standing on a globe, while crushing a serpent under her feet. Our Lady’s hands were open, and brilliant rays of light streamed from jeweled rings on them. An oval soon formed around Blessed Mother, and a gold inscription read “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
The vision then rotated, so that the young nun could see what the back of the medal should look like. In that portion of the apparition, there was a letter “M” below a cross. There were also two hearts below the “M”. One was crowned with thorns, and the other was pierced with a sword.
Of the rays of light that flowed from her hands, Blessed Mother told the young nun that they were graces that she poured out on those who asked them of her. The young nun also heard Mary say “Have a medal made according to this model. For those who wear it with confidence, there will be abundant graces.”
With the permission of the Catholic Church, the first medals were made and distributed in Paris in 1832. Although it was originally known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, it was associated with so many miracles and blessings, that it became known as the Miraculous Medal. And many Christians who have them, today, still experience grace-filled blessings and miracles. We are living in such increasingly terrible times where only the miraculous intervention of Heaven can save us from many of the calamities that are on our doorsteps!
Here are just some of the countless miracles that have been attributed to the amazing power behind the Miraculous Medal. The accounts of the miracles in Europe, in the 1800s, are listed by none other than the spiritual director of St. Catherine Labouré―Fr. Adel. Many of the other accounts come from the Hospital Sisters of the Religious Order that St. Catherine Labouré joined―the Daughters of Charity. The 20th century accounts come from varied sources.
THE WIDOW’S MIRACLE
Saint-Maur, France, 1834
In 1834, only two years after the first copies of the Miraculous Medal were made and distributed in Paris, news of the Medal had traveled throughout France. One person who heard about it was a 70-year-old impoverished widow, who had entered the nursing home of Saint-Maur, after a terrible fall in August 1833. Not only did she have to drag her left leg, she needed assistance to walk, and she had difficulty sitting and getting back up. When she heard about the medal, in January 1834, she requested one and was filled with hope.
As soon as she received it, in March of that year, she went to Confession. The next day ― which was the first Friday of the month ― she received the Holy Eucharist and began praying a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She also venerated the medal, which she wore around her neck, 20 times a day. She was suddenly free of her pain on the seventh day of the novena. Everyone at the nursing home was shocked when she began walking without assistance. After having received the miraculous cure, she was even able to climb stairs and kneel.
Father Bégin, an eyewitness to this cure that took place in Saint-Maur where he was chaplain, wrote a report in which he attested to the following facts:
● that the sick person was gravely ill;
● that she was cured on March 14th, 1834; and
● that she declared that she only used the medal and prayer.
One hundred witnesses from the nursing home signed this document. The Bishop of Châlons also added his signature to the document: “We certify that the testimony of Father Bégin should be taken as wholly trustworthy, as well as that of the nuns and so many others, who were eye -witnesses and spoke according to their consciences, without any other interest except that of stating the truth. Châlons, May 30th, 1834 + M.S.F.V., Bishop of Châlons.”
Mrs. C.H., a 70-year-old widow, had been admitted in impoverished circumstances to the nursing home of Saint-Maur because of a bad fall that occurred on August 7th, 1833. She walked with great difficulty and even with the help of a crutch needed someone’s arm for support. She also found it hard to sit and only with great difficulty was she able to rise again. It was almost impossible for her to climb stairs, as she had to hold on to whatever she could to do so. She could not bend down or kneel, and had to drag her left leg, as that was where the problem lay.
At the beginning of January, 1834, she was told of a medal that was reported to be miraculous. Described as having, on one side, Mary crushing the infernal serpent and on the reverse of the medal were depicted the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the letter “M” with a cross on top, she also heard of marvelous things that had happened to those who wore it with confidence.
From that moment she felt her heart enkindled with the consoling hope of finding some relief that the wearing of this medal promised to her, and she could not wait for the moment she would receive one. Finally, on March 6th, she received the much longed-for medal as a gift from Heaven. She then went to confession in order to dispose herself to receive the favor she desired.
The following day, the first Friday of the month, after receiving Holy Communion, she started a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She venerated the medal, which she wore around her neck, twenty times a day. In a short while, she obtained a happy answer to her requests. After only seven days of the novena, she felt free from the painful infirmities she had suffered so cruelly for seven months.
We cannot describe the surprise and admiration of everyone on the morning of March 14th upon seeing this woman walk about unaided when the previous evening she had been crippled. She was able to bend down, kneel, go up and down stairs. Everyone cried out: “Miracle!” and was greatly edified by such a prodigious cure. They congratulated her on such a great grace from God and Mary Most Holy.
The Mother Superior, who had taken care of her innumerable times since she had been taken ill and daily witnessed her sufferings, wanted a Te Deum to be sung by the whole community in the house chapel to celebrate solemnly this extraordinary grace. The sick lady remained cured and no longer felt the effects of her former infirmity.
SAVED FROM DEATH, CURED FROM PNEUMONIA AND CONVERTED FROM SIN
Italy, 1836
By 1836, news of the medal had spread throughout Europe. In January of that year, a priest in Italy secretly slipped a medal into the pillow of a 27-year-old man who had become indifferent about his Faith. Even though he was dying from pneumonia, he didn’t want to turn from sin and return to his faith and family. Since the priest and a chaplain had failed to convince him to do so, the priest hoped to return after giving the young man time to reflect on what they had said. Before the priest returned, the young man reconciled with his mother and asked her to call the priest, because he wanted to reject the sins of his past and return to his Faith. When the priest showed him the medal and gave it to him, the young man began devoutly kissing the medal. With remorse, he confessed his sins and received absolution, and he also received the Last Rites. But to everyone’s astonishment, he began feeling better and made a full recovery within a few days. He kept the medal and frequently kissed it with great devotion and gratitude to God and Blessed Mother.
Testimony of the parish priest of Bologna on February 8th, 1836.
“There was a young man in my parish, 27 years of age, who lived a dissolute life. In order to have fewer impediments to his excesses, he had left the family home. Sometime later he became gravely ill with pneumonia. Dr. Giovanni Pulioli, a distinguished doctor, treated him; but the illness was stronger than the medicine of the day.
“The youth was left in a lamentable state, unable to move. By then he was living scandalously with a woman and had declared, from the beginning of the illness, that he would not consent to a priest being called.
“My chaplain went to visit him and exhorted him to put an end to the scandal through marriage; but he failed to convince the young man. I went there and spoke with him about legitimizing the union, rather than breaking it up; but I found him to be in a state of complete religious indifferentism.
“Despite my every effort to persuade him, I also failed. I then thought it better to allow him to reflect a little while and to return another day to find out his decision. In the meantime, I asked him to have recourse to the Most Holy Virgin, refuge of sinners; and, without telling him, I placed a Miraculous Medal in his pillow and departed.
“I did not need to return to the house of my own accord; the sick youth himself called me through his mother with whom he had already reconciled himself. He told me that he had reasons, which were justified, for not speaking personally with the woman with whom he had been living, and requested I ask her to leave. The unfortunate woman condescended and left.
“Once I had accomplished this, I told the sick youth how happy I was. When I presented the medal to him, he began to kiss it with feelings of sincere gratitude, even though the state of his health was extremely grave. He then showed signs of sincere repentance and confessed his sins, received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, because we expected him to die at any moment. This took place on January 19th, 1836.
“The young man felt the greatest tranquility, which he attributed to the Most Holy Virgin. From then on he started to feel better and had totally recuperated within a few days. He still perseveres in his good resolutions and is full of love for his Heavenly benefactress whose medal he keeps as something precious, frequently kissing it with great devotion.
“I myself witnessed this fact and I write not only with the young man’s approval, but at his request, so that it may serve for the greater glory of God that, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, this miracle took place. To this written testimony I have appended the medical report proving the sickness and the cure.”
BLINDNESS CURED
Belgium, 1836
On November 9th, 1835, Rosalie Ducas from Jauchelette, near Jodoigne, suddenly lost her sight. She was only four and a half years old, in perfect health with no signs of illness. Any light or breeze disturbed her to the point of having to cover her face with a cloth folded in four. The pains the child suffered day and night caused everyone much grief.
At this point, Realizing that the child needed help from above, the parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine gave the girl’s mother a Miraculous Medal. The mother took it and started a novena. She put another medal around the girl’s neck on June 11th, 1836 at about 6:00 p.m. By midnight the girl had stopped complaining of pain. Then, on the fourth or fifth day of the novena, Rosalie opened her eyes. The parents felt so hopeful that they prayed even more to the Most Holy Virgin. On the ninth day in the afternoon, the girl regained her sight completely to the great surprise of the neighbors and all those who witnessed the event.
The parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine, who had given the medal to the family, went to see the girl who lived only a mile and a half away, and testified that she had recovered her sight completely. No pain whatsoever was left. These facts are known by everyone and attest to the honor we owe to the Virgin Mary.
MIRACLE OF THE MIND
Ho-Nan, China, 1837
By the end of 1837, people throughout the world had learned about the Miraculous Medal. And around that time, a woman in China received a miracle. She was given the medal by Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, a holy priest who was on mission in Ho-Nan.
The saint ― who was later imprisoned, tortured for about a year and martyred in 1840 because of his Catholic Faith ― was told about the woman by other Catholics living in Ho-Nan. They told the priest that she desperately wanted him to hear her confession, even though she had been mentally disturbed for about eight months. Although it was almost impossible for her to make a coherent confession, he compassionately agreed to hear her. Although she didn’t know what it was, the saint gave her the Miraculous Medal, so that she could be under the protection of Blessed Mother. Only four or five days later, he was amazed at the healing that had taken place. Her mental suffering and anguish had been replaced by peace, common sense and joy.
MENTAL CONFUSION REMOVED
China, 1838
Father Perboyre told the next story on August 10th, 1839.
It is interesting to mention that this missionary was taken prisoner one month later out of hatred for religion. He confessed the Faith generously for a whole year amidst horrible tortures and then had the joy of receiving the martyr’s palm on September 11th, 1840.
“While I was on mission in the Catholic community of Honan in November 1837, the Catholics there presented a woman to me who had been suffering from mental confusion for eight months. They added that she ardently desired to make her confession to me, even though she was incapable of doing so, and implored me not to deny her this consolation that she had so much at heart.
“Her unfortunate state really made the exercise of my ministry appear futile. But I heard her confession out of compassion and as she departed I gave her a Miraculous Medal so she would be under the protection of the Virgin. She did not understand the value of this holy remedy, but she soon recognized its virtue as she started to get better.
“Her progress was such that she was another person after four or five days. Her mental confusion, her worries that had caused her mortal anguish—in which I had noticed a diabolical influence—gave way to common sense, tranquility and happiness.”
LIBERATION OF BOY POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL
Macau, China, 1841
Letter from a missionary in Macau dated August 25th, 1841.
“A widow, who had been brought up as a pagan, had only one son. One day she saw him come under the power of the devil―in other words, possessed by the devil. Everyone fled from him as he wandered through the fields making fearful cries. If someone dared to grab him, the boy would immediately throw the person to the ground.
“The poor mother was full of pain and sorrow, but Divine Providence had pity on this unfortunate family. One day the boy was more tormented than ever, not knowing where he went and brutally repelling all who drew near. In his wanderings he came upon a Catholic, who, animated by a lively Faith and seeing that the devil tyrannically mistreated the unfortunate boy, told those who were close by to leave. He said that only he was able to calm him down, hold him and return him to his mother. This manner of speaking surprised the pagans. They warned him of the danger, but let him get on with it.
“This Catholic carried a Miraculous Medal and took it into his hand. Drawing near to the possessed boy, he showed it to him, ordering the devil to leave him alone and depart, which happened immediately. The boy, seeing the Catholic with the medal, threw himself to the ground before this image without knowing what it was. The pagans, who had watched him from afar, were astounded.
“The Catholic then said to him that he should rise and follow him. In this manner he brought him to his mother’s house. As soon as the boy saw her he said: ‘Do not cry! I am free! The devil left me as soon as he saw this Medal!’
“Imagine the joy of the mother upon hearing these words. She did not know whether or not she was dreaming. The Catholic certified the truth of what the boy was saying and told her what had happened. He added that her son would be free forever as long as he renounced the idols and became a Catholic. The boy sincerely promised to do so and both of them began removing the false gods from a sort of altar where they were kept.”
CURE OF A LITTLE GIRL (PARIS)—1843
This account was published in the month of January, 1877, by the very person who was cured
“About the 15th of December, 1843, a little girl, Zénobie de M., just one year old, was attacked, at one and the same time, by water on the lungs, a disease of the bowels, and cerebral congestion. Dr. Flandrin, a friend of the family was called in immediately, and gave the child every attention, but his skill was powerless, and the family was plunged in the deepest grief.
“The child’s eldest sister alone cherished a faint hope in the depths of her heart; she had intended consecrating herself to God in a religious state, and had always regarded the birth of this little one as a gift of Providence, sent to take her place in the family, and console her afflicted parents. God will not, she thought, take back the child.
“In her room was a picture representing the apparition of the Miraculous Medal. She knelt before it, begging the child’s recovery, and renewing her promises of embracing a religious life―should the petition be granted. This generous offering she kept a secret.
“A little while after, the doctor came and declared the child’s case hopeless, and moreover, its recovery not desirable as it would remain imbecile, paralyzed or blind. He proposed, however, a consultation with Dr. Blache, physician of the Necker hospital, who prescribed energetic treatment, but said, ‘this child cannot live.’
“The poor mother, deeming it inadvisable to cause the little creature unnecessary suffering, gently laid it in the cradle, saying with the Faith and resignation, seen in none but a Christian mother: ‘The Lord gave her to me, the Lord wishes to take her away! May His holy will be accomplished!’
“In the afternoon, one of the aunts came to accompany the elder sister to church, and whilst their prayers ascended to the Most High, more for the mother than the child, this mother obeyed spontaneously a supernatural impulse, and, taking the Miraculous Medal as a last hope, she applied it to the body of the child, and repeated with confidence the invocation: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!’
The plaintive cries ceased, and when Dr. Flandrin came that evening, to see if the little one were still alive, he was greatly surprised to perceive a faint improvement since that morning―with the whole body covered with a gentle perspiration, and the little paralyzed arm able to move in any direction. ‘But what a pity,’ said he, ‘the child will be blind,’ which indeed it seemed to be already, as a light passed several times before its eyes produced no effect whatever.
“The mother who had not yet mentioned her secret, waited until all had left the room, then taking her dear medal, she lay it upon her infant’s eyes and repeated the invocation. After a sound sleep of about twenty-four hours, little Zénobie awoke, recognizing all around her, and smiling upon all, her sight was restored!
“The child’s father, penetrated with faith and piety, said: ‘Most certainly God alone has restored our child to us! Henceforth, she shall be called Marie, so that she may always bear in mind to whom she is indebted for life.’
“An attack of measles now supervened and finished the work, according to the doctor, by absorbing the water on the brain, and throwing out upon the surface of the skin the heretofore internal malady. A small gold cross, having engraven upon it the memorable date of this miraculous cure, was hung around the neck of little Marie, who is now a Daughter of St. Vincent de Paul.”
CONVERSION OF A CAPTAIN IN THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.
Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1860
“After the war in Italy, a Polish regiment passed through Gratz. The captain, attacked by a violent hemorrhage, was obliged to stop at the general hospital, in charge of the Daughters of Charity. Their constant and unremitting attentions did not retard the progress of the disease, and his life was in imminent danger.
“Full of consideration, gratitude and politeness for those who nursed him, he nevertheless expressed great displeasure whenever they approached him on the subject of religion; he had requested to be spared the visits of the chaplain of the regiment, and as to the hospital chaplain, he dared not present himself. It was necessary to keep the patient very quiet, and avoid all worry, for the least excitement might cause a mortal hemorrhage.
“A Sister, who had been watching by his couch one night, left, in mistake, a little book containing an account of favors obtained through the Blessed Virgin’s intercession. The sick man took the book and read a few pages. When another Sister came into his room, he showed her a passage, and said, putting his hand to his forehead with a significant gesture: ‘Here, Sister, just read this nonsense! As for myself, I cannot understand how anyone can write such books—if I may dare, let me beg you to take this away!’
“Vain was every effort to reach his heart by pleasant distractions, by engaging his attention or his interest; he was insensible to all.
“A few days after the occurrence just mentioned, a Sister ventured to offer him a medal of the Blessed Virgin suspended on a cord, so that he might wear it around his neck if he wished. He was too polite to refuse the present, but he let it remain just where the Sister had put it.
“His servant, though a devout Christian, dared not speak to him of receiving the Sacraments, and, although the patient expected to leave the hospital soon, it was very evident to all else that the fever was daily sapping his strength and rapidly conducting him to the tomb.
“Much grieved at his condition, and especially his impenitence, the Sisters determined to make one last effort to save this soul. And what was it? They wrote the Blessed Virgin a note, as follows: ‘Grant that, by some means, most holy Mother, he may accept your medal, prepare him yourself to receive the Sacraments, and assist him at the hour of death. O Mary! conceived without sin, pardon our temerity, we attach this note to your statue, and leave it there till you deign to hear our prayers.’
“The chief physician of the hospital said, one day, to the Sister on leaving this patient’s room: ‘The captain will die without the Sacraments―he seems inflexible!’
“‘Oh! As to that,’ she replied, ‘the Blessed Virgin will not fail to overcome his obstinacy!’
“Three or four days elapsed. One morning, the sick man requested the Sister to put the medal around his neck, which she did most joyfully. In the afternoon, he called her again: “Sister,” he said, “I beg you to send for the chaplain of my regiment to hear my confession, so that tomorrow I may receive the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction.”
“The priest was happy to answer the summons. He remained a long time with the sick man, and, next morning, after celebrating Mass at the altar of the Immaculate Conception, he administered to him the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
“We were all edified at the dying man’s piety. He cherished his medal with religious fidelity, often asking for it and kissing it tenderly. A few days after receiving the Last Sacraments, he rendered his soul to God, saved, as we have every reason to hope, by the intercession of Mary conceived without sin.”
CONVERSION OF A HARDENED SINNER
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity at Issoudun, 1862
“In the month of August, 1862, a young man aged twenty-nine, and who had been married several years, was dying of consumption. Vainly did his friends endeavor to turn his thoughts to eternity. Every idea of religion seemed extinguished in his heart, and he positively refused to see the priest.
“An acquaintance informed the Sisters of his deplorable state; one of them went immediately to see him. She was met with a cool reception, but was not the least disconcerted, and spoke to him very kindly, proposing to send him a physician, and adding, that she would supply all necessary medicines and nourishment.
“‘I need neither doctors nor medicines!’ was the reply, ‘I am going to die, and I ask only that you will let me die in peace!’
“His poor wife, who was present, holding their little child in her arms, said to him with tears: ‘Accept Sister’s offer, and perhaps you will recover!’― but he made no answer.
“The Sister, then turning to his wife, endeavored to console her, by promising to send the doctor and return soon herself. The doctor came and met with no better reception.
“In a few days the Sister presented herself again, and was received as before, all her advances eliciting no response save a frigid silence; but naught discouraged, she returned day after day, though her reception was always the same.
“As the young man grew worse, the Sister’s prayers increased, and she felt inspired to offer him a medal of the Immaculate Conception, still hoping that the good God would lead back to the fold, this poor strayed sheep. ‘I accept a medal!’ he exclaimed angrily, ‘And what do you wish me to do with it? It would suit my wife or child well enough, but as for myself, I want no medals!’
“The Sister withdrew from the contest for the time, but not discouraged, she returned to the charge next morning. ‘Ah,’ said she pleasantly, ‘are you going to take the medal today?’
“‘You know what I told you yesterday!’ he answered, ‘Besides, Sister, I am afraid of becoming imbued with your sentiments should I accept it, for I perceive that you are much more unhappy than I care to be.’
“A ray of happiness illumined the Sister’s countenance, for she knew that he who fears is already conquered. After plying her with questions about religion, he concluded thus: ‘After all, death will be a great relief to me! I have twice made an unsuccessful attempt at committing suicide! I suffer so much that I desire nothing but to die as soon possible!’
“Next day, the Sister asked her Superioress to visit him and offer him the medal. She did so, and he not only accepted it, but at last consented to see the priest. When our Sister next saw him he was completely changed, and expressed his joy at the priest’s visit, and his desire of seeing him soon again.
“‘Sister,’ said he, ‘I am too miserable! I wish to be like you!’
“The priest did not delay his second coming, and the poor, suffering creature, having made his confession, asked for Holy Communion, which he had not received for many years, but this favor was denied him, his throat being so inflamed that he could swallow only a few drops of liquid. His last days were sanctified by the most admirable resignation; no one ever heard him utter a complaint, he asked for one thing only, the visits of the priest and Sister, which alone seemed to afford him any consolation. And on the Feast of All Saints, evincing every mark of a sincere conversion, he breathed his last.”
CONVERSION OF AN EVILDOER
A Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen, in Prussian Poland, 1865
“There was brought to our hospital, a young man of notoriously bad character. He entered our doors blaspheming, and as the physician had told the Sister that he had but a few days to live, she essayed a few words of piety and consolation, to turn his attention to the state of his soul; but he answered her by maledictions.
“At last, one day she said to him: ‘My friend, since you will not listen to me, I will ask my Superioress herself to come!’
“‘Let her come,’ was his reply, ‘if she were to tell me to hang myself, I would obey her, but as for confession, she may talk about that as much as she pleases, I shall never yield!’
“These words were followed by so many blasphemies, that it was with a very heavy heart the poor Sister sought her Superioress.
“‘Have you given him a Medal?’ said the latter.
“‘A medal?’ was the reply, ‘He would throw it away!’
“‘Ah, well, we must put one under his pillow and trust to prayer, for it is useless to talk to him; tell him only that I say he is not worthy of going to confession, and I forbid his doing so.’
“As soon as the Sister, who was nursing him, left the presence of her Superioress, the latter threw herself upon her knees and began to repeat that beautiful prayer―the Memorare (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to they protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession and was left forsaken … etc.).
“In only a few minutes the Sister returned, this time shedding tears of joy. ‘Ah, Sister!’ she cried, ‘He wishes to confess! As soon as I had put the medal under his pillow and recited the “Memorare” prayer for him, I delivered your message!’
“‘Indeed!’ said he, rising from his seat, ‘Well, I would just like to see the person that could prevent it! Tell your Superioress that tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, I am going to pay the priest a visit!’
“The Sisters felt a little troubled concerning a confession apparently dictated by the spirit of contradiction―but their fears were dissipated when the penitent returned bathed in tears. He had just been to Holy Communion―and, asking the Sisters’ pardon for his past misconduct, he begged them to implore the Blessed Virgin to let him live eight days longer, that he might weep for his sins. This favor was granted him, and daily did he soak his pillow with tears. At the end of the eight days he died, blessing God, and pressing the Medal to his lips.”
CONVERSION OF AN ACTRESS
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen in Prussian Poland, 1865
“Some years ago, a young Protestant woman, belonging to a troupe of comedians, arrived in Beuthen with her company. The good God permitted that she should find lodgings in a Catholic family, with whom she soon entered into controversial arguments.
“‘Mademoiselle,’ said the master of the house, ‘it would be better for you to go see the Sisters about these things! The Blessed Virgin has brought about wonders in their establishments, I am sure you would return fully enlightened on the subject you have been discussing!’
The young girl laughed at such a proposition; but a few days after, impelled by curiosity, she went to the hospital and asked for the Sister-Servant.
“‘Invite her in!’ said the latter, who had already heard of the young actress, ‘No doubt, the Blessed Virgin has something in store for her here!’
“After a few formalities of etiquette, our visitor introduced the subject of religion, and attempted to enter into a controversy with the Sister. ‘Alas! Mademoiselle,’ replied the latter, ‘the poor Daughters of Charity have neither the time nor learning necessary for a discussion of these subtle questions, but they have other arms with which to vanquish you!’― and, smiling, she presented her disputant a little Medal of the Blessed Virgin. ‘Promise me to wear this slight souvenir, it will be a constant reminder that we are praying for you!’
“She allowed the Sister to put the medal on her neck, and retired rather pleased with her visit.
“From this day, the Sisters at the hospital began to recommend the young actress to Mary, conceived without sin.
“Not many weeks after, the priest said to the Sister-Servant: ‘Do you know, Sister, that Mademoiselle M., who spent the most of her time walking with gentlemen and smoking cigars, now comes to me for religious instruction? In a little while she will make her abjuration of heresy.’
“And, indeed, it was not very long before she repaired to the hospital. “Sister,” said she to the Sister-Servant, “I am going to confession today, and tomorrow I make my First Communion. On my first visit here, I was enraged at you. I could have fought you, and cast to the winds this medal that I now kiss. From the very moment you put it on my neck, an unaccountable change was brought about in me.”
“Next day, the church was filled with Protestants and Jews, all anxious to witness a ceremony which had excited so much comment. After her reception into the Church, the young convert, on the eve of her departure, paid another visit to the Sister Servant, and the latter saw by her very countenance what great changes grace had wrought in this soul.
“‘Well,’ said the Sister, just to try her, ‘here is a silver medal to replace yours―which has become very black!’
“‘Oh, no!’ was the earnest, prompt reply, as she tenderly pressed her own medal, ‘I would not exchange this for any other in the world, for it is since I began to wear it my soul has awaked to a new life!’
“Some years later, the Sister received a letter dated from Rome, it was from the young convert, who wrote to her as follows: ‘Sister, God’s Providence has led me to Rome, and it is no longer Mlle. M. you must address, but Sister St.—— of the B. convent. Your desires are accomplished; I now belong entirely to God, as I once did to the world; the Blessed Virgin vanquishes souls with other arms than those of controversy.’
“We must add, to the praise of the young actress, that her moral character was always irreproachable.”
The Superioress of the hospital at Beuthen, in narrating these facts, adds: “I could mention, for the greater glory of God and honor of the Immaculate Mary, numberless incidents of this kind―but lack of time and my weak eyes prevent my giving the details. I will say, however, and that without the slightest exaggeration, that not a week passes without the Blessed Virgin bestowing upon our patients at the hospital some new proof of her maternal kindness. The Medal, so dear to us, is really miraculous, and the instrument by which we snatch from destruction souls that have cost Our Lord so much! Ah! How numberless, in this unhappy land, the snares of the enemy of our salvation to entrap souls; but to vanquish him, I everywhere circulate the Miraculous Medal, and my confidence in Mary is never deceived!”
A DYING SOLDIER AND THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
In the hospital of the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans, a nun tried to instruct a Protestant in the truths of the Faith and to dispose him to receive Baptism. However, he did not want to speak about the subject.
One day she showed him a Miraculous Medal and explained its origin to him. He seemed to pay attention, but when she offered it to him, he became annoyed and snapped angrily: “Take that away, this Virgin is just an ordinary woman.” “I will leave it on the table,” the nun replied, “I am certain that you will think about what I said.” He did not answer her, but, in order not to see the medal, he placed his bible on top of it.
Every day the nun, with the pretext of cleaning the table, made sure the medal was still there. Days passed and the sickness became increasingly worse.
One night when he was suffering acutely, he saw a marvelous light around his bed, while the rest of the room was in total darkness. Surprised, he struggled to get up in spite of his frailty and turned up the flame in the gas lamp to see if he could discover what this strange light was. He could find nothing and returned to his bed.
Moments later he noticed that the light came from the medal. He then took it into his hands and kept it there the rest of the night. As soon as the nun’s rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the nurse and asked him to tell the nun that he wanted to be baptized.
They advised the chaplain immediately who exclaimed: “That is impossible!” He had spoken with the sick man many times and knew how he felt about the matter.
Nonetheless, he went to him and found him perfectly disposed and receptive to him. He baptized him and gave him the sacraments, and a little while later the sick man died, praising God and the Holy Virgin for the graces he had received.
CONVERSION OF A PROMINENT FREEMASON
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
Among the patients at the great Charity hospital, New Orleans, was a very prominent Freemason. His hatred of religion was displayed in a thousand ways―not only did he forbid the Sister, who nursed, him any allusion to his salvation, but he even habitually repaid, by harsh and injurious words, her kindness and attention to his physical sufferings.
If others ventured to mention the subject of religion to him, they were received with jeers and mockery. Several times he was at the point of death, and yet, sad to say, his dispositions remained the same.
At last, when the Sister saw that he had but a few hours to live, she stealthily slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and said interiorly to the Blessed Virgin: “My dear Mother, you know I have spared no effort to touch this poor man’s heart, but in vain; now I abandon him to you, it is you who must save him; I leave him entirely in your hands, and shall try to divest myself of all anxiety concerning him!”
That evening, in making her rounds, she glanced at him and learned from the infirmarian that ever since her (the Sister’s) last visit, he had been very calm and apparently absorbed in thought. On inquiring of the patient himself how he felt, she was astonished at his polite answer, but remembering that she had entrusted him entirely to the Blessed Virgin’s care, she did not venture a word about his soul, and bidding him good night, she left the room.
About 9:00 p.m., he called the infirmarian, and asked for a priest. Knowing his former bitterness, the infirmarian thought it a joke and treated it accordingly. The patient repeated his request―but with no better success. Then he began to weep and cry aloud for a priest. All the other patients were struck dumb with astonishment, and the infirmarian unable to resist such entreaties went for the chaplain and the Sister.
The dying man requested Baptism, which was administered immediately, as well as Extreme Unction, and, before morning, he had rendered his account to the Sovereign Judge. His body was interred with Masonic rites, but his soul, thanks to the powerful protection of Mary Immaculate, had been carried by angels to the bosom of its God.
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG METHODIST
St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 1865
A young man, a Methodist, arrived at the hospital in an extremely weak condition. The physician at once pronounced his case hopeless, and said he had but a few days to live. Consequently, the Sister’s first care was for his soul.
Questioning him, she soon learned that he believed neither in the efficacy, nor necessity of Baptism―and all her efforts to induce him to receive this Sacrament were unavailing. He had no desire for any conversation on the subject, and his invariable reply to all her arguments was: “I believe in Jesus―that suffices! I am sure of being saved!”
The Sister redoubled her prayers, for in them lay her only hope, and time was precious. A good priest visited him every day; once, after a much longer visit than usual, he told the Sister on leaving the room it was impossible to do anything with that man, unless God wrought a miracle in his favor, and they must entreat Him to do so.
The poor man persisted, indeed, in refusing all spiritual assistance, though receiving gratefully the attentions bestowed upon his body.
His strength diminished day by day, and he calmly awaited death; one thought alone disquieted him―that of never seeing his mother and dying afar from her. Perceiving himself on the brink of the grave, he called one of his companions, whom he begged to be with him at that fearful moment, and write the particulars of it to his mother.
Whilst he made this request, the Sister slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, confidently believing that Mary would not let this soul entrusted to her perish―even though he was already in his last agony.
Two Sisters watched and silently prayed beside his bed till midnight, when obliged to retire, they left him in charge of an infirmarian and the young man who had promised to be with him at the hour of death. Apparently he had not more than half an hour to live―so, next morning, when the infirmarian came to meet the Sister, she was prepared for news of the patient’s death, but to her astonishment the infirmarian exclaimed: “Come Sister, come see him, he is restored to life!”
He then told her that the patient, to all appearances, had been dead for about an hour; that the friend and himself had rendered all the last duties to the body, having washed and dressed and prepared it for the grave―then the young man went to bed, and he alone remained with the corpse.
After watching near it some time, he approached to bandage the jaws, but what was his fright whilst thus engaged, to see the dead man open his eyes! The Sister heard no more, but eagerly hastened to the spot, and found the man still breathing.
With a great effort he said: “Oh! What a blessing that you have come!”
In reply, she exhorted him to receive Baptism, and told him that he was indebted to the Blessed Virgin for this prolongation of his life.
“I wish to be baptized,” he said.
When the Sister replied that the priest would come, his pitiful answer was: “Oh! That will be too late!”
The other patients now joined their entreaties to his, and the Sister, after reciting aloud the acts of Faith, Hope, Charity and contrition, which the dying man endeavored to repeat, with hands clasped and eyes raised to Heaven, baptized him.
Whilst the regenerating waters flowed upon his soul, transports of love and thanksgiving escaped his lips. Half an hour later, he closed his eyes, never to open them here below.
All that the infirmarian related of his first death, was confirmed in the most positive manner, by the Protestant friend who had assisted in preparing him for the grave.
INCURABLE SCABS
New York, 1866
A girl, some twenty years old, came to the hospital covered with the most repugnant scabs which the doctors had said were incurable. The nun, who cared for her wounds, one day told her that the Most Holy Virgin had the power to cure her and that, if she wanted to wear the medal and ask for a cure, she would obtain it.
Knowing the doctors had given up, she answered roughly: “I do not believe in your Holy Virgin, nor do I want a medal.”
“Very well then,” the nun answered, “in that case, keep your wounds.”
Some days later, she asked for the medal and placed it around her neck, and prepared to be baptized. Shortly thereafter she left the hospital in perfect health, to the great astonishment of the doctors, who had been unanimous in considering her sickness incurable.
CONVERSION OF A SICK PROTESTANT
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
At the same hospital in New Orleans, a Sister for a long time had vainly endeavored to convince a Protestant of the most essential truths of religion, that he might receive Baptism, but he was deaf to all her persuasions.
One day, she showed him a Miraculous Medal and related its origin. He appeared to listen somewhat attentively, but, when she offered it to him, he said in a tone of great contempt: “Take it away! This Virgin is no more than any other woman!”
“I am going to leave it on your table,” was the Sister’s reply, “I am sure you will reflect on my words!”
He said nothing, but to put it out of sight, placed his Bible over it. Every day, under the pretext of arranging and dusting his room, the Sister assured herself that the medal was still there.
Several days elapsed, during which the patient grew worse. One night, whilst lying awake racked with suffering, he perceived a brilliant light around his bed―though the rest of the room was enveloped in darkness. Greatly astonished, he succeeded, in spite of his weakness, in rising and turning up the gaslight, to discover if possible, the cause of this mysterious light.
Finding none, he returned to bed, and a few minutes after, he perceived that the luminous rays escaped from the medal. He then took it in his hands, and kept it there the remainder of the night.
As soon as the Sisters’ rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the infirmarian, and begged him to tell the Sister that he desired Baptism. The chaplain was immediately informed. “Impossible!” he exclaimed―for by having had frequent conversations with the sick man, he was well aware of his sentiments, and could scarcely believe him.
Nevertheless, he obeyed the summons, and finding the patient really disposed to profit by his ministry, he administered the Last Sacraments, and shortly after receiving which the poor man died, blessing God and the Blessed Virgin for the graces bestowed upon him.
CONVERSION OF A PROTESTANT GIRL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
A poor young Protestant girl, brought to our hospital to be treated for a grave malady, had so great a horror of our holy religion, that, at the very sight of a Catholic near her, she acted like someone possessed.
The presence of a Sister was especially irritating, and one day she even went so far as to spit in the Sister’s face, but the latter, nothing dismayed, and ever hoping that the God of all mercy would change this wolf into a lamb, continued her kind attentions, the more disrespectful her patient, the more gentle and considerate the Sister.
The latter was at last inspired with the thought of slipping a Miraculous Medal between the two mattresses; she acted upon the inspiration, and, the following night, the Immaculate Mary’s image became an instrument of salvation and happiness to a guilty soul.
Pitching and tossing upon her bed, by reason of a high fever, the patient, in some unaccountable manner, found the Medal, and the Sister’s astonishment next morning at seeing her clasping it in her hands, and covering it with kisses, was second only to that she experienced on perceiving the wonderful transformation grace had wrought in this poor creature’s soul.
A supernatural light had revealed to her the sad state of her conscience; her criminal life filled her with horror, and, penetrated with regret for the past, she sighed only for holy Baptism.
After the necessary instruction, she was baptized; and, during the remainder of her sickness, which was long and tedious, her patience and fervor never faltered. She persevered in these edifying sentiments, until a happy death placed the seal upon the graces she had received through the intercession of Mary Immaculate.
CONVERSION OF A PROTESTANT
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
A Protestant gentleman had spent four years at the hospital, sometimes in one hall, sometimes another. As his malady had not been very serious, no one had considered it necessary to speak to him concerning his soul. However, when his condition became more aggravated, the Sister, after invoking the Blessed Virgin’s assistance, told him the physician considered his case dangerous, and she thought he ought to receive Baptism, without which no one could be saved.
He listened attentively, then turning to her, said: “Sister, if I were to ask you to become a Protestant, would you comply with my request?”
“No!” was the decided answer.
“Well, then,” he continued, “rest assured that it is just as useless for you to attempt persuading me to become a Catholic.”
In spite of this positive refusal, she let no occasion pass without enlightening him, were it ever so little, upon some of the truths of religion.
One day, showing him a Miraculous Medal, she told him he would confer a great favor on her by reciting the little invocation: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
“What, Sister? A Catholic prayer! That is impossible! I cannot do that!”
She said no more, but slipped the medal under his pillow, and there it remained untouched for several days, during which time she redoubled her attentions to the physical necessities of the poor patient, who gradually grew weaker.
At last, one evening she said to him: “Well, Henry, are you not going to do what I asked you?”
“Yes, Sister, I most earnestly desire to become a Catholic.”
The chaplain was called immediately; he had barely time to administer Baptism and Extreme Unction, when the dying man’s regenerated soul was carried by angels to be judged by God.
CONVERSION OF Mr. F—--
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
A Protestant named F—— was brought to our hospital in an advanced stage of consumption. He detested the Catholic religion most heartily, and received the Sisters’ services with extreme repugnance.
His physical strength diminished perceptibly, but his mind retained its energy and clearness. By degrees, the odor escaping from his decayed lungs, became so intolerable that all abandoned him.
Fr. Burke, a missionary priest and the Sisters, being the only persons who had the courage to go near him, and pay any attention to his comfort. Yet neither priest nor Sister dare mention religion. They contented themselves with putting a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and invoking Our Lady, who so often deigns to display her power in favor of those who deny it.
She did not delay in granting their petition. A few days later, as the Protestant minister left the ward, after making his usual distribution of tracts, the sick man said to the Sister: “Sister, it is done! I am converted!”
“Aha!,” said the latter interiorly, “Our good Mother has accomplished her work!”
And it was indeed true―for the patient requested a priest, was instructed, and in a few days received the Sacraments of Baptism, the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, with inexpressible fervor. The very expression of his countenance was changed; the happiness that inundated his heart beaming from every feature.
“Ah!” he said, “My sufferings are great―but I feel that I am going to Heaven! The truth has made me free!” In these happy dispositions, he expired, promising that in Heaven he would pray for all who had been instruments of his conversion.
CONVERSION OF AN UNBAPTIZED PATIENT
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Testimony of a Religious Sister:
“A patient―brought to the hospital in a hopeless condition―openly manifested his hatred of Catholicity. Yet, as he was in imminent danger of death, the Sister, profiting by a moment in which he seemed a little better disposed than usual, ventured to ask him if he would be baptized; but he answered roughly: ‘No!’ adding that he scarcely believed in baptism, and not at all in Catholic baptism, that in case of his recovery, perhaps he would receive baptism by immersion, and become a member of some church, but that would never be the Catholic Church. ‘At any rate,’ added he, ‘I am not going to torment myself now about such things!’
“The poor Sister having no other resource than the Blessed Virgin, and seeing that the young man approached his end, stealthily slipped a medal under his pillow.
“Next morning it was picked up by the infirmarian, who, thinking the Sister had dropped it accidentally, was about to return it―but the patient opposed him, for the little image pleased his fancy, and he wanted to keep it himself. To quieten him down, the infirmarian was obliged to ask the Sister if the patient could keep the Medal. The request was granted.
“Towards evening someone came to the Sister with a message from the patient, he wished to see her. ‘Sister,’ he said as soon as she approached, ‘you have told me I could not be saved without Baptism. Let me be baptized, for I wish to be saved!’
“Filled with joy at this news, she began to instruct and prepare him for the ceremony. It took place next morning, and during the course of the day, this soul, now the child of God, went to repose in the bosom of its celestial Father, to bless and thank Him for all eternity for His mercies.”
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG GIRL
Buffalo, New York, United States
A young Protestant girl about twenty years of age came to the hospital, covered from head to foot with a disgusting itch, which the physician pronounced incurable. The Sister who dressed her sores, told her that the Blessed Virgin could obtain her recovery, and would do so, if she wore the medal and relied upon the Blessed Virgin’s intercession.
The poor girl―knowing her case was deemed hopeless by the physician―answered bluntly: “I do not believe in your Blessed Virgin, and I want no medal!”
“Very well,” replied the Sister, “then you may keep your sores!”
A few days after she asked for a medal herself, put it on her neck, received instruction and was baptized, and in a short time she left the hospital perfectly cured, greatly to the astonishment of the physicians, who had all pronounced her malady incurable.
CONVERSION OF A SINNER
Hospital of Gratz, Austria
Testimony of a Religious Sister:
“An artist, whose life had been far from edifying, was an inmate of our hospital. One morning the Sister was greatly surprised at his expressing a desire to confess. Perceiving her astonishment, he said: ‘This morning, Sister, the chapel door was slightly open, and from my bed I could see the Blessed Virgin’s statue.’ (It was a statue of the Immaculate Conception). ‘It appealed so strongly to my heart, that I have had no peace since. I must put my conscience in order!’
“He did go to confession, not once, but several times, and he often expressed great regret for his past life. ‘Ah!’ he would say, ‘what a life I have led, and how sad the state of my soul when Mary came to my aid!’
“When asked what he supposed had attracted Mary’s compassion, he answered: ‘I was merely looking at the statue, no thought of religion was in my mind; when suddenly, recollections of my past life filled me with fear, and Mary at the same time inspired me with a horror for sin!’
“In this instance, repentance and reparation were the immediate consequences of the Immaculate Mary’s merciful and maternal glance.”
CONVERSION OF A GREEK SCHISMATIC
Hospital of Gratz, Austria
A Greek schismatic, attacked by a mortal malady, was brought to the hospital. He declared his intention of remaining attached to the errors in which he had been educated, and the Sisters, seeing his determination, entrusted him to the Blessed Virgin, consecrating him to her by placing under his pillow a Medal, which for him proved truly miraculous.
One day, a Franciscan Father visited the sick, and the young man asked the Sister to bring the good Father to see him. He conversed a long time with the latter, but manifested no intention of becoming a Catholic.
Meanwhile, he grew worse, and, one day, when taken with a hemorrhage, he asked for this Father, “because,” said he, “I wish to embrace the Catholic religion.”
The Sister was surprised, for she had said nothing to persuade him, but the Blessed Virgin had accomplished her work without earthly assistance.
He confessed and made his abjuration of schism. He even requested the Reverend Father to announce, in a loud voice, to the other patients that he had entered the Church of his own free will.
His attacks of vomiting made the priest hesitate to give him the Holy Viaticum, but he insisted so strongly, and had so ardent a desire to receive, that the good God permitted these spells of vomiting to become less frequent, so that he could make his first and last Communion at the same time, which he did with inexpressible fervor and consolation.
Interrogated on the subject of his conversion, he answered: “For a long time I felt that everything earthly was of little value, and I sought for the true and lasting.” During the delirium of his last moments, he spoke continually of a white robe. The grace of Baptism had clothed his soul in spotless raiment, and to Mary’s intercession was he indebted for it.
CONVERSION OF AN APOSTATE
Austria, 1866
In one of the prisons confided to the care of the Daughters of Charity, was a young man belonging to a respectable Catholic family, but whose shame and disgrace he had become. After a short stay in the prison, he fell sick, and his condition necessitated removal to the infirmary. Faithful to his principles of impiety, he absolutely refused all spiritual assistance, and whenever he saw one of the chaplains pass, he either turned away his head, or concealed it under the bedclothes.
All the Sisters begged the Superioress to make one last effort for his soul. She paid him a visit, and was received politely, but to rid himself of her importunity, he avowed himself a Protestant, and related how he came to forsake the Faith, after making the acquaintance of several very bad characters, his companions in crime and his counselors in advising him to become a Protestant.
The Sister asked him if he felt no remorse for such conduct, but he became enraged and exclaimed aloud: “I am a Protestant, and I wish to live and die as a Protestant!”
Seeing it impossible to do anything with the miserable creature, she interiorly recommended him to the Refuge of Sinners, and merely asked him to accept the Medal she offered, to wear it and sometimes kiss it. He seemed quite pleased to get rid of her so easily, and placing all her confidence in Mary, she withdrew.
The poor man passed a sleepless night, our Blessed Mother touched his heart, and very early next morning he sent word to the Sister that he wanted a priest to receive his solemn profession of Faith, in reparation of his scandalous apostasy and crimes.
But his reputation was such that the prison chaplain doubted his sincerity, and would not go to him except upon repeated insistence of the Superioress. He was deeply affected at witnessing the change grace had wrought in this soul, and the consequent compunction with which the prodigal confessed his sins. The dying man then made a public abjuration of his errors, and expired a few minutes after, in the grace of God and under the protecting smile of Mary.
CONVERSION OF A HOSPITALIZED SOLDIER
Cava, Italy, 1866
A young fallen-away Catholic soldier, suffering from disease of the chest, was brought to the Military Hospital of Cava. His first question was to ask if Catholic Sisters had charge of that hospital. On receiving an affirmative answer, he said to himself: “They will pester me about going to confession, so I shall pretend to be a Jew to get rid of them!”― and he was designated as a Jew on the card of admission.
Perceiving the serious nature of his malady, the Sisters to whose especial care he had been confided, visited him as often as possible. One of them offered him a medal of the Immaculate Conception; regarding it with a smile of pity, he said: “I accept it, because it would not be polite to refuse, but believe me, I consider it a mere plaything and nothing more.”
Every time the chaplain visited the hall, to speak a word of consolation to one and another, the poor ‘Jew’ covered his head. The Sister sometimes ventured a few words to him about the good God, but he would never reply, and her approach was the signal for his feigning sleep.
One evening when he appeared worse than usual, two Sisters went to see him just before they retired for the night. On hearing them approach, he exclaimed: “O Sister, get a priest!” The chaplain was immediately summoned to his bedside, the poor dying man repeating all the while: “A priest! a priest!”
As soon as the chaplain came, the patient made his profession of Faith in a very audible voice. He then confessed, and, just as the priest, in administering Extreme Unction, was anointing the ears, the penitent rendered his soul to God, leaving us the consoling hope that it had found mercy in its Maker’s sight.
CONVERSION OF A WOUNDED SOLDIER
Palermo, Italy, 1866
In 1866, at the Military Hospital of Palermo, was a poor man who had just undergone the amputation of his left arm. His impiety was so great, that the Sister felt constrained to remove a large crucifix that had been placed near his bed, for he covered it with invectives. The miserable man’s bodily infirmities were as hopeless as his spiritual, yet no one could succeed in inducing him to give any attention to his soul, or even to listen to a word about the good God. What could be done in such an extremity?
The poor Sister was in great distress, when one day whilst dressing his wounds she was inspired to slip a Medal of the Immaculate Conception (the Miraculous Medal) between the bandages around the stump of the amputated member.
Next morning, on witnessing the great change that had been wrought in her patient’s spiritual condition during the night, she was less astonished than happy, for she had confidently relied upon the Blessed Virgin. He asked for a priest, who came immediately. He confessed, publicly repaired the scandals of his past life, and received with piety the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
His few remaining days were spent in blessing that God who had shown him such boundless mercy. “Oh! How good God is!” did he repeat incessantly to his companions, “I have committed multitudes of sins and He has pardoned me all!”
CURE OF AN AUSTRIAN OFFICER
Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1867
An officer in the garrison at Gratz, suffered from a serious wound in the right arm. He was brought to the general hospital, that he might be more conveniently under the especial treatment of Dr. Rzehazeh, a very eminent surgeon. The latter exhausted all his skill, but in vain―and after a few weeks he saw the necessity of amputation to save the officer’s life.
Learning of the doctor’s decision, the patient was deeply grieved, and his oppressed heart sought refuge in piety. He―who had never spoken of God, who had accepted the offered Medal only out of courtesy―now appeared to experience a genuine satisfaction when the Sisters told him they would implore the Blessed Virgin in his behalf.
During the few days immediately preceding the operation, he felt inspired with a great confidence in his Medal, and frequently repeated the invocation engraven upon it: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
The danger was now imminent, and the amputation, which must not be delayed, was to take place on the next day. One of the Sisters―seeing that the young officer’s confidence expressed itself in continual prayer―suggested that evening that he lay the medal upon his afflicted arm, and let it remain all night. The suggestion was joyfully received.
Next morning she hastened to ascertain her patient’s condition, and get the Medal. He had spent a quiet night―his sufferings being less severe than usual. The Sister, while attributing his improvement to the medicine that had been prescribed, understood full well that the precious Medal had also been instrumental in procuring relief, and that Mary had looked compassionately upon him―but she did not yet realize the full extent of the blessing.
The surgeon came a few hours after, and whilst awaiting his assistants, he carefully examined the wounded arm, he touched it, he probed it, and to his great astonishment, perceived that amputation was not necessary. The other doctors on arriving, confirmed his opinion of this surprising change.
The officer was struck dumb with happiness, and, not until he found himself alone with the chief surgeon, did he impart to the latter, as a secret, his opinion as to the cause of this wonderful change. On leaving him, the surgeon (notwithstanding the injunction of secrecy), could not refrain from saying to the Sister: “I believe the Sisters of Charity have engaged the good God in this case.”
The officer’s arm was entirely healed; a few weeks later he left the hospital, taking with him the precious Medal as a memento of gratitude and love for Mary Immaculate.
CONVERSION OF MR. N—— AT LIMA
Letter from a Daughter of Charity in Lima, Peru, 1876
Mr. N—— had been suffering a long time from hypertrophy of the heart, the physicians having vainly exhausted all the resources of their skill, were forced to tell the family that he was beyond the power of human aid, and should look to the state of his soul, sad news for this father of a family, and a man devoid of religion.
In vain did his relatives and friends, with all possible delicacy, endeavor to turn his thoughts to religion and induce him to receive the Sacraments; he would hear nothing on the subject; a priest, who was an intimate friend of the family, attempted to second their efforts, but he met with no better success; the sick man became exasperated at all allusions to religion, he blasphemed everything relating to it, sparing not even the Blessed Virgin.
One day, after listening to an account of the conversion of Mr.——, of Lima, our patient’s relatives expressed a desire of having recourse to similar means for their dear one’s conversion. “It is very simple,” said the person addressed, “you have only to ask Sister N., of St. Anne’s Hospital for a medal, she got one for M. Pierre, she will not refuse you.”
One of his nephews immediately repaired to the hospital and returned with a medal. A niece offered the medal to him: “Mamma,” said she, “sends you this medal and begs that you will wear it.”
“Certainly,” was the reply, “I will wear it for her sake, but I want everybody to understand that I have no notion and no intention of confessing.”
He spent a quiet night, and was quite pleased next morning to find himself somewhat better. “Euloge,” said he, to one of his nephews, “what preparation should a person make who intends taking a long journey?”
Euloge, who thought he certainly must be in a dream to hear his uncle speak thus, inquired to what journey he alluded.
“Ah!” was the answer, “I speak of the journey to Eternity!”
The poor young man, delighted at such a happy change, replied that the best preparation was to put one’s conscience in order by making a good confession. “I will do so! Send me a priest!” said his uncle.
As soon as the clergyman arrived and heard his confession, he administered the Holy Viaticum. All the assistants were overcome with emotion when they saw the sick man, almost in his last agony, supported by his children, to receive on bended knee, the God who had just pardoned all the sins of his life. A few moments after, he blessed his children, gave them his parting counsel, and died in sentiments of piety rivaling his past irreligion. His family was deeply grateful to Mary Immaculate for this token of her favor.
CONVERSION OF AN UNBELIEVER
Letter from a Sister of Charity in Lima, Peru, 1877
“An old lady whose youth had been pious, having lost her Faith by reading bad books, had not frequented the Sacraments for thirty-five years. The sister, with whom she lived was carried to her grave, after an illness of only five days, and it was natural to suppose that the Christian death of one so dear would have softened her heart. On the contrary, it only embittered her all the more, and she vented her grief in blasphemies.
“A Sister of Charity witnessing this scandal, and not being able to soothe the poor creature, was inspired with the thought of giving her a medal of the Blessed Virgin. The old lady accepted, and wore it for several days, during which she appeared greatly preoccupied, and somewhat less confident in her skepticism. But, having yielded to a diabolical suggestion, that urged her to lay the medal aside―doubtless because grace tormented her conscience with keen remorse whilst the medal was on her person―she fell back into an habitual hardness and melancholy that she called peace.
“The Sister perceived this, and inquired if she still wore the medal. Upon receiving a negative answer, our good Sister represented the danger to which her soul was exposed without it, and the old lady promised to put it on again. Many prayers were offered up for her, and, at the end of fifteen days, the Sister, who was greatly interested in this poor woman’s soul, paid her another visit. Seeing no change in her sentiments, she inquired immediately if the medal had been resumed. The poor woman, who was very uncouth, dared not speak, but made a sign with her head which revealed all.
“‘What have you done with it, and where is it?’ asked the Sister. The old lady replied that it was in her wardrobe, and she had made several unsuccessful efforts to put it on again. The Sister understands that this miserable soul is under some diabolical influence, holding her aloof from anything that was calculated to reclaim her to God.
“She felt that this was the moment for prompt action, and in a tone of severity, said: “Very well, since you will not wear the medal, I abandon you entirely!” These words produced the desired effect. The old lady ran to the wardrobe, and taking up the medal, put it around her neck―this time it to remain there.
“Soon experiencing the sweet and powerful influence of Mary Immaculate―so justly called the Gate of Heaven―in a few days she assisted at the Holy Sacrifice and listened to the instruction, and from that time was entirely changed. She confessed and made her Easter Communion, and the deepest compunction and gratitude are now the abiding sentiments of her heart. She wished to remain at the church door, feeling herself unworthy to penetrate further into the sacred building, and it was with the greatest difficulty her friends could persuade upon her to accept a place nearer the altar.
“She never ceases to thank God and Mary; and she told the Sister that, from the moment the medal was on her neck, she knew neither peace nor rest―until she had returned to her religious duties. So great are the power and love of that Virgin who is the sovereign Terror of demons.”
CONVERSION OF A SCANDALOUS SINNER
Moirans, France, 1877
The Superioress of the Sisters of Charity at Moirans, relates as follows a very consoling conversion, redounding to the glory of Mary Immaculate:
“The most important manufacturer of our village, who employed from four to five hundred men and women, has just died, and contrary to all expectations, his death was penitent and consoling. He had been impious and immoral, and the profligate characters in his workshops were a curse to the surrounding country. His rudeness was such, that everybody trembled before him. His wife and two daughters, pious Christians, silently bewailed his misconduct; and as for myself, I had barely sufficient acquaintance with him to render justifiable my calling upon him in any urgent need.
“One morning I received a message in great haste―this person was very sick and wished to see me. I went at once, but the disease was of so serious a character and its progress so rapid, that I saw the poor man on the verge of the grave ere I could find a means of turning his thoughts to eternity. I had told his wife and daughters to give him a medal of the Immaculate Conception, but he refused to accept it, and we were reduced to the necessity of stealthily putting it under his pillow.
“On the third day, as I was about to leave, after rendering him all the care and attention in my power, he wished, in the effusion of his gratitude, to shake hands with me. I profited by the opportunity to tell him how much pleasure he could give me by consenting to receive the priest, who had just come to see him. He made a sign in the affirmative and with a smile that very rarely parted his lips. We went out of the room, leaving him alone with the priest, whom he had welcomed cordially.
“In half an hour the latter returned blessing God, for the sick man had made his confession. He now consented to wear the medal, and that evening he received Extreme Unction, but not the Holy Viaticum, as he had spells of suffocation. I asked his wife to let his employees see him, that they might be edified at their patron’s conduct. The request was granted, but not many came―as the workshops were closed at this hour. Those who did come, prayed a few minutes beside him.
“Next morning his family was greatly rejoiced at his apparent physical improvement, but their hopes were deceived, and very soon his last agony began. He was recommended to the prayers of the parish. The whole village manifested a touching interest in his condition, and his employees all came to see him. The throng around the dying man was renewed every quarter of an hour, and we recited the Rosary aloud, a most appropriate devotion for this occasion, the last moments of one whom the Blessed Virgin had snatched from eternal misery. Amidst this concert of praises to Mary, he expired. The Christian Brothers, to whom he had been very hostile, willingly aided us in rendering to him the last duties of religion.”
MIRACLES ON DEATH ROW
Mississippi Prison, United States, 1943
One of the most incredible Miraculous Medal miracles began in a Mississippi prison in 1943. Twenty-year-old Claude Newman ― who was on death row for shooting his grandmother’s abuser ― asked a fellow inmate what he was wearing around his neck. The inmate threw the medal over to him and told Claude that he could have it. Shortly after the young man had put the medal around his own neck, Blessed Mother ― whom Claude described as the most beautiful woman God had ever made ― appeared to him and told him that if he would like to be her son, he should call for a priest. He did so immediately.
Along with four other prisoners whom he had inspired, Claude prepared to be baptized. When he shared with the priest and the other men insight into the deep forgiveness found in Confession, the priest was surprised that Blessed Mother had visited Claude again. To prove he was telling the truth, he reminded the priest of a 1940 vow, that he had made to Blessed Mother, saying that he would build a church in her honor if he survived a life-threatening situation. While the priest later fulfilled that vow, Claude was baptized four days before he was scheduled to be executed in 1944. Because the young man was so happy that he was going to Heaven, his last request was to have a party.
When he received a two-week stay of execution, Claude was beside himself. To console him, the priest suggested that he pray for the conversion of a prisoner who hated Claude and religion. He took the priest’s advice. Two weeks later, the time for his execution had arrived―and Claude stunned many by being overjoyed while sitting in the electric chair. Later, when the prisoner―whom Claude had prayed for―was in the same electric chair, the prisoner’s anger suddenly turned to fear, and he called for a priest. Together, Blessed Mother and Claude appeared to him and showed him a vision of Hell. He returned to his Faith and was absolved of his sins before he was executed.
ICE CREAM MIRACLE
United States, 1948
Despite the miracles associated with the medal, many people don’t believe it can make such a difference. Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., was one of those people. Not long after he had been ordained, a Vincentian priest encouraged him and others to promote the Miraculous Medal―because Blessed Mother really does work miracles through it. Although Fr. Hardon ordered a free pamphlet on how to bless the medals and enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal, he didn’t get one for himself.
But later, in 1948, when the United States priest encountered a ten-year-old boy who was in a coma after a sledding accident, he decided to see if it would help. A sister who worked at the hospital found one and a ribbon the priest could use to hang it around the boy’s neck. Even though the boy had been diagnosed with inoperable permanent brain damage, the priest read the prayer that enrolled the boy in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. As soon as he finished the prayer, the boy opened his eyes and asked his mother for ice cream. It was the first time he had spoken in nearly two weeks. New x-rays showed the brain damage had disappeared, and the boy was released from the hospital after about three days. Like the boy and his family, the priest’s life and his belief in the medal were forever changed.
ELEVATOR MIRACLE
Czechoslovakia, 1950s
In the 1950s, in what was then the communist country of Czechoslovakia, a teenage boy received a Miraculous Medal from an underground seminarian. Even though religious beliefs were condemned by the government, the boy decided to wear his medal around his neck when he worked, one summer, at a construction site. When his supervisor told him to take it off, he continued to wear it.
The next day, he fell into a hole that contained the engine – with moving wheels, gears and belts – of an unsophisticated elevator that allowed construction workers to transport materials to upper floors of the apartment building that was being built. His co-workers pulled him out and put him on the ground. But to their surprise, he was uninjured. He was able to get up and continue working. And he fervently believed that it was Blessed Mother’s protection, received through the medal, that kept him safe from harm.
Conclusion
The Miraculous Medal continues to multiply its prodigies even today. We know of countless other impressive stories of conversions, graces of moral regeneration, cures of attachment to vices, and infallible protection against the action of the devil. There are innumerable accounts of cures and relief procured in every kind of illness, as well as assistance to expectant mothers and of astounding protection against assault, robbery, kidnapping, accidents and other dangers. And who can count those who have found employment and resolved financial difficulties by means of this devotion? Even in our days, so lacking in true Faith, the facts that take place never cease to surprise and edify us.
When she revealed the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady clearly promised that “Everyone who wears it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.” She did not put restrictive conditions; she said “everyone.” And then completed the phrase with: “The graces will be abundant to those who use it with confidence.”
We all need great graces, especially in these difficult and critical times. Let us turn to the Virgin Mother of God in all our needs and concerns, and ask her with a childlike confidence to answer our prayers.
Are you not also in need of a particular grace? Who isn’t!!? Maybe someone in your family is in dire need of one, or one of your friends? It was for people like you that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the best of all mothers, in her unfathomable mercy, gave the Miraculous Medal.
There have been miracles of physical healing, mental healing and spiritual healing associated with the Miraculous Medal. And people have been miraculously protected from harm. While there is no doubt that they are all extraordinary, there is also no doubt that the Miraculous Medals themselves can help us to reflect on the extraordinary glory, power and love of Our Lord. And they mercifully reassure all of us that we can turn to the Mother of Our Lord for help in times of trouble. And, O boy, are we in times of trouble right now! We need a miracle―or many of them! Do not neglect the Miraculous Medal!
Although November 27th, 1830 was not the first time that the Mother of Our Lord had appeared to St. Catherine Labouré ― who was then a young nun ― it was the date when she manifested a perfect vision of what the Miraculous Medal should look like. The humble saint saw the Blessed Mother standing on a globe, while crushing a serpent under her feet. Our Lady’s hands were open, and brilliant rays of light streamed from jeweled rings on them. An oval soon formed around Blessed Mother, and a gold inscription read “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
The vision then rotated, so that the young nun could see what the back of the medal should look like. In that portion of the apparition, there was a letter “M” below a cross. There were also two hearts below the “M”. One was crowned with thorns, and the other was pierced with a sword.
Of the rays of light that flowed from her hands, Blessed Mother told the young nun that they were graces that she poured out on those who asked them of her. The young nun also heard Mary say “Have a medal made according to this model. For those who wear it with confidence, there will be abundant graces.”
With the permission of the Catholic Church, the first medals were made and distributed in Paris in 1832. Although it was originally known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, it was associated with so many miracles and blessings, that it became known as the Miraculous Medal. And many Christians who have them, today, still experience grace-filled blessings and miracles. We are living in such increasingly terrible times where only the miraculous intervention of Heaven can save us from many of the calamities that are on our doorsteps!
Here are just some of the countless miracles that have been attributed to the amazing power behind the Miraculous Medal. The accounts of the miracles in Europe, in the 1800s, are listed by none other than the spiritual director of St. Catherine Labouré―Fr. Adel. Many of the other accounts come from the Hospital Sisters of the Religious Order that St. Catherine Labouré joined―the Daughters of Charity. The 20th century accounts come from varied sources.
THE WIDOW’S MIRACLE
Saint-Maur, France, 1834
In 1834, only two years after the first copies of the Miraculous Medal were made and distributed in Paris, news of the Medal had traveled throughout France. One person who heard about it was a 70-year-old impoverished widow, who had entered the nursing home of Saint-Maur, after a terrible fall in August 1833. Not only did she have to drag her left leg, she needed assistance to walk, and she had difficulty sitting and getting back up. When she heard about the medal, in January 1834, she requested one and was filled with hope.
As soon as she received it, in March of that year, she went to Confession. The next day ― which was the first Friday of the month ― she received the Holy Eucharist and began praying a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She also venerated the medal, which she wore around her neck, 20 times a day. She was suddenly free of her pain on the seventh day of the novena. Everyone at the nursing home was shocked when she began walking without assistance. After having received the miraculous cure, she was even able to climb stairs and kneel.
Father Bégin, an eyewitness to this cure that took place in Saint-Maur where he was chaplain, wrote a report in which he attested to the following facts:
● that the sick person was gravely ill;
● that she was cured on March 14th, 1834; and
● that she declared that she only used the medal and prayer.
One hundred witnesses from the nursing home signed this document. The Bishop of Châlons also added his signature to the document: “We certify that the testimony of Father Bégin should be taken as wholly trustworthy, as well as that of the nuns and so many others, who were eye -witnesses and spoke according to their consciences, without any other interest except that of stating the truth. Châlons, May 30th, 1834 + M.S.F.V., Bishop of Châlons.”
Mrs. C.H., a 70-year-old widow, had been admitted in impoverished circumstances to the nursing home of Saint-Maur because of a bad fall that occurred on August 7th, 1833. She walked with great difficulty and even with the help of a crutch needed someone’s arm for support. She also found it hard to sit and only with great difficulty was she able to rise again. It was almost impossible for her to climb stairs, as she had to hold on to whatever she could to do so. She could not bend down or kneel, and had to drag her left leg, as that was where the problem lay.
At the beginning of January, 1834, she was told of a medal that was reported to be miraculous. Described as having, on one side, Mary crushing the infernal serpent and on the reverse of the medal were depicted the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the letter “M” with a cross on top, she also heard of marvelous things that had happened to those who wore it with confidence.
From that moment she felt her heart enkindled with the consoling hope of finding some relief that the wearing of this medal promised to her, and she could not wait for the moment she would receive one. Finally, on March 6th, she received the much longed-for medal as a gift from Heaven. She then went to confession in order to dispose herself to receive the favor she desired.
The following day, the first Friday of the month, after receiving Holy Communion, she started a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She venerated the medal, which she wore around her neck, twenty times a day. In a short while, she obtained a happy answer to her requests. After only seven days of the novena, she felt free from the painful infirmities she had suffered so cruelly for seven months.
We cannot describe the surprise and admiration of everyone on the morning of March 14th upon seeing this woman walk about unaided when the previous evening she had been crippled. She was able to bend down, kneel, go up and down stairs. Everyone cried out: “Miracle!” and was greatly edified by such a prodigious cure. They congratulated her on such a great grace from God and Mary Most Holy.
The Mother Superior, who had taken care of her innumerable times since she had been taken ill and daily witnessed her sufferings, wanted a Te Deum to be sung by the whole community in the house chapel to celebrate solemnly this extraordinary grace. The sick lady remained cured and no longer felt the effects of her former infirmity.
SAVED FROM DEATH, CURED FROM PNEUMONIA AND CONVERTED FROM SIN
Italy, 1836
By 1836, news of the medal had spread throughout Europe. In January of that year, a priest in Italy secretly slipped a medal into the pillow of a 27-year-old man who had become indifferent about his Faith. Even though he was dying from pneumonia, he didn’t want to turn from sin and return to his faith and family. Since the priest and a chaplain had failed to convince him to do so, the priest hoped to return after giving the young man time to reflect on what they had said. Before the priest returned, the young man reconciled with his mother and asked her to call the priest, because he wanted to reject the sins of his past and return to his Faith. When the priest showed him the medal and gave it to him, the young man began devoutly kissing the medal. With remorse, he confessed his sins and received absolution, and he also received the Last Rites. But to everyone’s astonishment, he began feeling better and made a full recovery within a few days. He kept the medal and frequently kissed it with great devotion and gratitude to God and Blessed Mother.
Testimony of the parish priest of Bologna on February 8th, 1836.
“There was a young man in my parish, 27 years of age, who lived a dissolute life. In order to have fewer impediments to his excesses, he had left the family home. Sometime later he became gravely ill with pneumonia. Dr. Giovanni Pulioli, a distinguished doctor, treated him; but the illness was stronger than the medicine of the day.
“The youth was left in a lamentable state, unable to move. By then he was living scandalously with a woman and had declared, from the beginning of the illness, that he would not consent to a priest being called.
“My chaplain went to visit him and exhorted him to put an end to the scandal through marriage; but he failed to convince the young man. I went there and spoke with him about legitimizing the union, rather than breaking it up; but I found him to be in a state of complete religious indifferentism.
“Despite my every effort to persuade him, I also failed. I then thought it better to allow him to reflect a little while and to return another day to find out his decision. In the meantime, I asked him to have recourse to the Most Holy Virgin, refuge of sinners; and, without telling him, I placed a Miraculous Medal in his pillow and departed.
“I did not need to return to the house of my own accord; the sick youth himself called me through his mother with whom he had already reconciled himself. He told me that he had reasons, which were justified, for not speaking personally with the woman with whom he had been living, and requested I ask her to leave. The unfortunate woman condescended and left.
“Once I had accomplished this, I told the sick youth how happy I was. When I presented the medal to him, he began to kiss it with feelings of sincere gratitude, even though the state of his health was extremely grave. He then showed signs of sincere repentance and confessed his sins, received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, because we expected him to die at any moment. This took place on January 19th, 1836.
“The young man felt the greatest tranquility, which he attributed to the Most Holy Virgin. From then on he started to feel better and had totally recuperated within a few days. He still perseveres in his good resolutions and is full of love for his Heavenly benefactress whose medal he keeps as something precious, frequently kissing it with great devotion.
“I myself witnessed this fact and I write not only with the young man’s approval, but at his request, so that it may serve for the greater glory of God that, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, this miracle took place. To this written testimony I have appended the medical report proving the sickness and the cure.”
BLINDNESS CURED
Belgium, 1836
On November 9th, 1835, Rosalie Ducas from Jauchelette, near Jodoigne, suddenly lost her sight. She was only four and a half years old, in perfect health with no signs of illness. Any light or breeze disturbed her to the point of having to cover her face with a cloth folded in four. The pains the child suffered day and night caused everyone much grief.
At this point, Realizing that the child needed help from above, the parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine gave the girl’s mother a Miraculous Medal. The mother took it and started a novena. She put another medal around the girl’s neck on June 11th, 1836 at about 6:00 p.m. By midnight the girl had stopped complaining of pain. Then, on the fourth or fifth day of the novena, Rosalie opened her eyes. The parents felt so hopeful that they prayed even more to the Most Holy Virgin. On the ninth day in the afternoon, the girl regained her sight completely to the great surprise of the neighbors and all those who witnessed the event.
The parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine, who had given the medal to the family, went to see the girl who lived only a mile and a half away, and testified that she had recovered her sight completely. No pain whatsoever was left. These facts are known by everyone and attest to the honor we owe to the Virgin Mary.
MIRACLE OF THE MIND
Ho-Nan, China, 1837
By the end of 1837, people throughout the world had learned about the Miraculous Medal. And around that time, a woman in China received a miracle. She was given the medal by Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, a holy priest who was on mission in Ho-Nan.
The saint ― who was later imprisoned, tortured for about a year and martyred in 1840 because of his Catholic Faith ― was told about the woman by other Catholics living in Ho-Nan. They told the priest that she desperately wanted him to hear her confession, even though she had been mentally disturbed for about eight months. Although it was almost impossible for her to make a coherent confession, he compassionately agreed to hear her. Although she didn’t know what it was, the saint gave her the Miraculous Medal, so that she could be under the protection of Blessed Mother. Only four or five days later, he was amazed at the healing that had taken place. Her mental suffering and anguish had been replaced by peace, common sense and joy.
MENTAL CONFUSION REMOVED
China, 1838
Father Perboyre told the next story on August 10th, 1839.
It is interesting to mention that this missionary was taken prisoner one month later out of hatred for religion. He confessed the Faith generously for a whole year amidst horrible tortures and then had the joy of receiving the martyr’s palm on September 11th, 1840.
“While I was on mission in the Catholic community of Honan in November 1837, the Catholics there presented a woman to me who had been suffering from mental confusion for eight months. They added that she ardently desired to make her confession to me, even though she was incapable of doing so, and implored me not to deny her this consolation that she had so much at heart.
“Her unfortunate state really made the exercise of my ministry appear futile. But I heard her confession out of compassion and as she departed I gave her a Miraculous Medal so she would be under the protection of the Virgin. She did not understand the value of this holy remedy, but she soon recognized its virtue as she started to get better.
“Her progress was such that she was another person after four or five days. Her mental confusion, her worries that had caused her mortal anguish—in which I had noticed a diabolical influence—gave way to common sense, tranquility and happiness.”
LIBERATION OF BOY POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL
Macau, China, 1841
Letter from a missionary in Macau dated August 25th, 1841.
“A widow, who had been brought up as a pagan, had only one son. One day she saw him come under the power of the devil―in other words, possessed by the devil. Everyone fled from him as he wandered through the fields making fearful cries. If someone dared to grab him, the boy would immediately throw the person to the ground.
“The poor mother was full of pain and sorrow, but Divine Providence had pity on this unfortunate family. One day the boy was more tormented than ever, not knowing where he went and brutally repelling all who drew near. In his wanderings he came upon a Catholic, who, animated by a lively Faith and seeing that the devil tyrannically mistreated the unfortunate boy, told those who were close by to leave. He said that only he was able to calm him down, hold him and return him to his mother. This manner of speaking surprised the pagans. They warned him of the danger, but let him get on with it.
“This Catholic carried a Miraculous Medal and took it into his hand. Drawing near to the possessed boy, he showed it to him, ordering the devil to leave him alone and depart, which happened immediately. The boy, seeing the Catholic with the medal, threw himself to the ground before this image without knowing what it was. The pagans, who had watched him from afar, were astounded.
“The Catholic then said to him that he should rise and follow him. In this manner he brought him to his mother’s house. As soon as the boy saw her he said: ‘Do not cry! I am free! The devil left me as soon as he saw this Medal!’
“Imagine the joy of the mother upon hearing these words. She did not know whether or not she was dreaming. The Catholic certified the truth of what the boy was saying and told her what had happened. He added that her son would be free forever as long as he renounced the idols and became a Catholic. The boy sincerely promised to do so and both of them began removing the false gods from a sort of altar where they were kept.”
CURE OF A LITTLE GIRL (PARIS)—1843
This account was published in the month of January, 1877, by the very person who was cured
“About the 15th of December, 1843, a little girl, Zénobie de M., just one year old, was attacked, at one and the same time, by water on the lungs, a disease of the bowels, and cerebral congestion. Dr. Flandrin, a friend of the family was called in immediately, and gave the child every attention, but his skill was powerless, and the family was plunged in the deepest grief.
“The child’s eldest sister alone cherished a faint hope in the depths of her heart; she had intended consecrating herself to God in a religious state, and had always regarded the birth of this little one as a gift of Providence, sent to take her place in the family, and console her afflicted parents. God will not, she thought, take back the child.
“In her room was a picture representing the apparition of the Miraculous Medal. She knelt before it, begging the child’s recovery, and renewing her promises of embracing a religious life―should the petition be granted. This generous offering she kept a secret.
“A little while after, the doctor came and declared the child’s case hopeless, and moreover, its recovery not desirable as it would remain imbecile, paralyzed or blind. He proposed, however, a consultation with Dr. Blache, physician of the Necker hospital, who prescribed energetic treatment, but said, ‘this child cannot live.’
“The poor mother, deeming it inadvisable to cause the little creature unnecessary suffering, gently laid it in the cradle, saying with the Faith and resignation, seen in none but a Christian mother: ‘The Lord gave her to me, the Lord wishes to take her away! May His holy will be accomplished!’
“In the afternoon, one of the aunts came to accompany the elder sister to church, and whilst their prayers ascended to the Most High, more for the mother than the child, this mother obeyed spontaneously a supernatural impulse, and, taking the Miraculous Medal as a last hope, she applied it to the body of the child, and repeated with confidence the invocation: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!’
The plaintive cries ceased, and when Dr. Flandrin came that evening, to see if the little one were still alive, he was greatly surprised to perceive a faint improvement since that morning―with the whole body covered with a gentle perspiration, and the little paralyzed arm able to move in any direction. ‘But what a pity,’ said he, ‘the child will be blind,’ which indeed it seemed to be already, as a light passed several times before its eyes produced no effect whatever.
“The mother who had not yet mentioned her secret, waited until all had left the room, then taking her dear medal, she lay it upon her infant’s eyes and repeated the invocation. After a sound sleep of about twenty-four hours, little Zénobie awoke, recognizing all around her, and smiling upon all, her sight was restored!
“The child’s father, penetrated with faith and piety, said: ‘Most certainly God alone has restored our child to us! Henceforth, she shall be called Marie, so that she may always bear in mind to whom she is indebted for life.’
“An attack of measles now supervened and finished the work, according to the doctor, by absorbing the water on the brain, and throwing out upon the surface of the skin the heretofore internal malady. A small gold cross, having engraven upon it the memorable date of this miraculous cure, was hung around the neck of little Marie, who is now a Daughter of St. Vincent de Paul.”
CONVERSION OF A CAPTAIN IN THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.
Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1860
“After the war in Italy, a Polish regiment passed through Gratz. The captain, attacked by a violent hemorrhage, was obliged to stop at the general hospital, in charge of the Daughters of Charity. Their constant and unremitting attentions did not retard the progress of the disease, and his life was in imminent danger.
“Full of consideration, gratitude and politeness for those who nursed him, he nevertheless expressed great displeasure whenever they approached him on the subject of religion; he had requested to be spared the visits of the chaplain of the regiment, and as to the hospital chaplain, he dared not present himself. It was necessary to keep the patient very quiet, and avoid all worry, for the least excitement might cause a mortal hemorrhage.
“A Sister, who had been watching by his couch one night, left, in mistake, a little book containing an account of favors obtained through the Blessed Virgin’s intercession. The sick man took the book and read a few pages. When another Sister came into his room, he showed her a passage, and said, putting his hand to his forehead with a significant gesture: ‘Here, Sister, just read this nonsense! As for myself, I cannot understand how anyone can write such books—if I may dare, let me beg you to take this away!’
“Vain was every effort to reach his heart by pleasant distractions, by engaging his attention or his interest; he was insensible to all.
“A few days after the occurrence just mentioned, a Sister ventured to offer him a medal of the Blessed Virgin suspended on a cord, so that he might wear it around his neck if he wished. He was too polite to refuse the present, but he let it remain just where the Sister had put it.
“His servant, though a devout Christian, dared not speak to him of receiving the Sacraments, and, although the patient expected to leave the hospital soon, it was very evident to all else that the fever was daily sapping his strength and rapidly conducting him to the tomb.
“Much grieved at his condition, and especially his impenitence, the Sisters determined to make one last effort to save this soul. And what was it? They wrote the Blessed Virgin a note, as follows: ‘Grant that, by some means, most holy Mother, he may accept your medal, prepare him yourself to receive the Sacraments, and assist him at the hour of death. O Mary! conceived without sin, pardon our temerity, we attach this note to your statue, and leave it there till you deign to hear our prayers.’
“The chief physician of the hospital said, one day, to the Sister on leaving this patient’s room: ‘The captain will die without the Sacraments―he seems inflexible!’
“‘Oh! As to that,’ she replied, ‘the Blessed Virgin will not fail to overcome his obstinacy!’
“Three or four days elapsed. One morning, the sick man requested the Sister to put the medal around his neck, which she did most joyfully. In the afternoon, he called her again: “Sister,” he said, “I beg you to send for the chaplain of my regiment to hear my confession, so that tomorrow I may receive the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction.”
“The priest was happy to answer the summons. He remained a long time with the sick man, and, next morning, after celebrating Mass at the altar of the Immaculate Conception, he administered to him the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
“We were all edified at the dying man’s piety. He cherished his medal with religious fidelity, often asking for it and kissing it tenderly. A few days after receiving the Last Sacraments, he rendered his soul to God, saved, as we have every reason to hope, by the intercession of Mary conceived without sin.”
CONVERSION OF A HARDENED SINNER
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity at Issoudun, 1862
“In the month of August, 1862, a young man aged twenty-nine, and who had been married several years, was dying of consumption. Vainly did his friends endeavor to turn his thoughts to eternity. Every idea of religion seemed extinguished in his heart, and he positively refused to see the priest.
“An acquaintance informed the Sisters of his deplorable state; one of them went immediately to see him. She was met with a cool reception, but was not the least disconcerted, and spoke to him very kindly, proposing to send him a physician, and adding, that she would supply all necessary medicines and nourishment.
“‘I need neither doctors nor medicines!’ was the reply, ‘I am going to die, and I ask only that you will let me die in peace!’
“His poor wife, who was present, holding their little child in her arms, said to him with tears: ‘Accept Sister’s offer, and perhaps you will recover!’― but he made no answer.
“The Sister, then turning to his wife, endeavored to console her, by promising to send the doctor and return soon herself. The doctor came and met with no better reception.
“In a few days the Sister presented herself again, and was received as before, all her advances eliciting no response save a frigid silence; but naught discouraged, she returned day after day, though her reception was always the same.
“As the young man grew worse, the Sister’s prayers increased, and she felt inspired to offer him a medal of the Immaculate Conception, still hoping that the good God would lead back to the fold, this poor strayed sheep. ‘I accept a medal!’ he exclaimed angrily, ‘And what do you wish me to do with it? It would suit my wife or child well enough, but as for myself, I want no medals!’
“The Sister withdrew from the contest for the time, but not discouraged, she returned to the charge next morning. ‘Ah,’ said she pleasantly, ‘are you going to take the medal today?’
“‘You know what I told you yesterday!’ he answered, ‘Besides, Sister, I am afraid of becoming imbued with your sentiments should I accept it, for I perceive that you are much more unhappy than I care to be.’
“A ray of happiness illumined the Sister’s countenance, for she knew that he who fears is already conquered. After plying her with questions about religion, he concluded thus: ‘After all, death will be a great relief to me! I have twice made an unsuccessful attempt at committing suicide! I suffer so much that I desire nothing but to die as soon possible!’
“Next day, the Sister asked her Superioress to visit him and offer him the medal. She did so, and he not only accepted it, but at last consented to see the priest. When our Sister next saw him he was completely changed, and expressed his joy at the priest’s visit, and his desire of seeing him soon again.
“‘Sister,’ said he, ‘I am too miserable! I wish to be like you!’
“The priest did not delay his second coming, and the poor, suffering creature, having made his confession, asked for Holy Communion, which he had not received for many years, but this favor was denied him, his throat being so inflamed that he could swallow only a few drops of liquid. His last days were sanctified by the most admirable resignation; no one ever heard him utter a complaint, he asked for one thing only, the visits of the priest and Sister, which alone seemed to afford him any consolation. And on the Feast of All Saints, evincing every mark of a sincere conversion, he breathed his last.”
CONVERSION OF AN EVILDOER
A Letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen, in Prussian Poland, 1865
“There was brought to our hospital, a young man of notoriously bad character. He entered our doors blaspheming, and as the physician had told the Sister that he had but a few days to live, she essayed a few words of piety and consolation, to turn his attention to the state of his soul; but he answered her by maledictions.
“At last, one day she said to him: ‘My friend, since you will not listen to me, I will ask my Superioress herself to come!’
“‘Let her come,’ was his reply, ‘if she were to tell me to hang myself, I would obey her, but as for confession, she may talk about that as much as she pleases, I shall never yield!’
“These words were followed by so many blasphemies, that it was with a very heavy heart the poor Sister sought her Superioress.
“‘Have you given him a Medal?’ said the latter.
“‘A medal?’ was the reply, ‘He would throw it away!’
“‘Ah, well, we must put one under his pillow and trust to prayer, for it is useless to talk to him; tell him only that I say he is not worthy of going to confession, and I forbid his doing so.’
“As soon as the Sister, who was nursing him, left the presence of her Superioress, the latter threw herself upon her knees and began to repeat that beautiful prayer―the Memorare (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to they protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession and was left forsaken … etc.).
“In only a few minutes the Sister returned, this time shedding tears of joy. ‘Ah, Sister!’ she cried, ‘He wishes to confess! As soon as I had put the medal under his pillow and recited the “Memorare” prayer for him, I delivered your message!’
“‘Indeed!’ said he, rising from his seat, ‘Well, I would just like to see the person that could prevent it! Tell your Superioress that tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, I am going to pay the priest a visit!’
“The Sisters felt a little troubled concerning a confession apparently dictated by the spirit of contradiction―but their fears were dissipated when the penitent returned bathed in tears. He had just been to Holy Communion―and, asking the Sisters’ pardon for his past misconduct, he begged them to implore the Blessed Virgin to let him live eight days longer, that he might weep for his sins. This favor was granted him, and daily did he soak his pillow with tears. At the end of the eight days he died, blessing God, and pressing the Medal to his lips.”
CONVERSION OF AN ACTRESS
A letter from the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, at the Hospital of Beuthen in Prussian Poland, 1865
“Some years ago, a young Protestant woman, belonging to a troupe of comedians, arrived in Beuthen with her company. The good God permitted that she should find lodgings in a Catholic family, with whom she soon entered into controversial arguments.
“‘Mademoiselle,’ said the master of the house, ‘it would be better for you to go see the Sisters about these things! The Blessed Virgin has brought about wonders in their establishments, I am sure you would return fully enlightened on the subject you have been discussing!’
The young girl laughed at such a proposition; but a few days after, impelled by curiosity, she went to the hospital and asked for the Sister-Servant.
“‘Invite her in!’ said the latter, who had already heard of the young actress, ‘No doubt, the Blessed Virgin has something in store for her here!’
“After a few formalities of etiquette, our visitor introduced the subject of religion, and attempted to enter into a controversy with the Sister. ‘Alas! Mademoiselle,’ replied the latter, ‘the poor Daughters of Charity have neither the time nor learning necessary for a discussion of these subtle questions, but they have other arms with which to vanquish you!’― and, smiling, she presented her disputant a little Medal of the Blessed Virgin. ‘Promise me to wear this slight souvenir, it will be a constant reminder that we are praying for you!’
“She allowed the Sister to put the medal on her neck, and retired rather pleased with her visit.
“From this day, the Sisters at the hospital began to recommend the young actress to Mary, conceived without sin.
“Not many weeks after, the priest said to the Sister-Servant: ‘Do you know, Sister, that Mademoiselle M., who spent the most of her time walking with gentlemen and smoking cigars, now comes to me for religious instruction? In a little while she will make her abjuration of heresy.’
“And, indeed, it was not very long before she repaired to the hospital. “Sister,” said she to the Sister-Servant, “I am going to confession today, and tomorrow I make my First Communion. On my first visit here, I was enraged at you. I could have fought you, and cast to the winds this medal that I now kiss. From the very moment you put it on my neck, an unaccountable change was brought about in me.”
“Next day, the church was filled with Protestants and Jews, all anxious to witness a ceremony which had excited so much comment. After her reception into the Church, the young convert, on the eve of her departure, paid another visit to the Sister Servant, and the latter saw by her very countenance what great changes grace had wrought in this soul.
“‘Well,’ said the Sister, just to try her, ‘here is a silver medal to replace yours―which has become very black!’
“‘Oh, no!’ was the earnest, prompt reply, as she tenderly pressed her own medal, ‘I would not exchange this for any other in the world, for it is since I began to wear it my soul has awaked to a new life!’
“Some years later, the Sister received a letter dated from Rome, it was from the young convert, who wrote to her as follows: ‘Sister, God’s Providence has led me to Rome, and it is no longer Mlle. M. you must address, but Sister St.—— of the B. convent. Your desires are accomplished; I now belong entirely to God, as I once did to the world; the Blessed Virgin vanquishes souls with other arms than those of controversy.’
“We must add, to the praise of the young actress, that her moral character was always irreproachable.”
The Superioress of the hospital at Beuthen, in narrating these facts, adds: “I could mention, for the greater glory of God and honor of the Immaculate Mary, numberless incidents of this kind―but lack of time and my weak eyes prevent my giving the details. I will say, however, and that without the slightest exaggeration, that not a week passes without the Blessed Virgin bestowing upon our patients at the hospital some new proof of her maternal kindness. The Medal, so dear to us, is really miraculous, and the instrument by which we snatch from destruction souls that have cost Our Lord so much! Ah! How numberless, in this unhappy land, the snares of the enemy of our salvation to entrap souls; but to vanquish him, I everywhere circulate the Miraculous Medal, and my confidence in Mary is never deceived!”
A DYING SOLDIER AND THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
In the hospital of the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans, a nun tried to instruct a Protestant in the truths of the Faith and to dispose him to receive Baptism. However, he did not want to speak about the subject.
One day she showed him a Miraculous Medal and explained its origin to him. He seemed to pay attention, but when she offered it to him, he became annoyed and snapped angrily: “Take that away, this Virgin is just an ordinary woman.” “I will leave it on the table,” the nun replied, “I am certain that you will think about what I said.” He did not answer her, but, in order not to see the medal, he placed his bible on top of it.
Every day the nun, with the pretext of cleaning the table, made sure the medal was still there. Days passed and the sickness became increasingly worse.
One night when he was suffering acutely, he saw a marvelous light around his bed, while the rest of the room was in total darkness. Surprised, he struggled to get up in spite of his frailty and turned up the flame in the gas lamp to see if he could discover what this strange light was. He could find nothing and returned to his bed.
Moments later he noticed that the light came from the medal. He then took it into his hands and kept it there the rest of the night. As soon as the nun’s rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the nurse and asked him to tell the nun that he wanted to be baptized.
They advised the chaplain immediately who exclaimed: “That is impossible!” He had spoken with the sick man many times and knew how he felt about the matter.
Nonetheless, he went to him and found him perfectly disposed and receptive to him. He baptized him and gave him the sacraments, and a little while later the sick man died, praising God and the Holy Virgin for the graces he had received.
CONVERSION OF A PROMINENT FREEMASON
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1865
Among the patients at the great Charity hospital, New Orleans, was a very prominent Freemason. His hatred of religion was displayed in a thousand ways―not only did he forbid the Sister, who nursed, him any allusion to his salvation, but he even habitually repaid, by harsh and injurious words, her kindness and attention to his physical sufferings.
If others ventured to mention the subject of religion to him, they were received with jeers and mockery. Several times he was at the point of death, and yet, sad to say, his dispositions remained the same.
At last, when the Sister saw that he had but a few hours to live, she stealthily slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and said interiorly to the Blessed Virgin: “My dear Mother, you know I have spared no effort to touch this poor man’s heart, but in vain; now I abandon him to you, it is you who must save him; I leave him entirely in your hands, and shall try to divest myself of all anxiety concerning him!”
That evening, in making her rounds, she glanced at him and learned from the infirmarian that ever since her (the Sister’s) last visit, he had been very calm and apparently absorbed in thought. On inquiring of the patient himself how he felt, she was astonished at his polite answer, but remembering that she had entrusted him entirely to the Blessed Virgin’s care, she did not venture a word about his soul, and bidding him good night, she left the room.
About 9:00 p.m., he called the infirmarian, and asked for a priest. Knowing his former bitterness, the infirmarian thought it a joke and treated it accordingly. The patient repeated his request―but with no better success. Then he began to weep and cry aloud for a priest. All the other patients were struck dumb with astonishment, and the infirmarian unable to resist such entreaties went for the chaplain and the Sister.
The dying man requested Baptism, which was administered immediately, as well as Extreme Unction, and, before morning, he had rendered his account to the Sovereign Judge. His body was interred with Masonic rites, but his soul, thanks to the powerful protection of Mary Immaculate, had been carried by angels to the bosom of its God.
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG METHODIST
St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 1865
A young man, a Methodist, arrived at the hospital in an extremely weak condition. The physician at once pronounced his case hopeless, and said he had but a few days to live. Consequently, the Sister’s first care was for his soul.
Questioning him, she soon learned that he believed neither in the efficacy, nor necessity of Baptism―and all her efforts to induce him to receive this Sacrament were unavailing. He had no desire for any conversation on the subject, and his invariable reply to all her arguments was: “I believe in Jesus―that suffices! I am sure of being saved!”
The Sister redoubled her prayers, for in them lay her only hope, and time was precious. A good priest visited him every day; once, after a much longer visit than usual, he told the Sister on leaving the room it was impossible to do anything with that man, unless God wrought a miracle in his favor, and they must entreat Him to do so.
The poor man persisted, indeed, in refusing all spiritual assistance, though receiving gratefully the attentions bestowed upon his body.
His strength diminished day by day, and he calmly awaited death; one thought alone disquieted him―that of never seeing his mother and dying afar from her. Perceiving himself on the brink of the grave, he called one of his companions, whom he begged to be with him at that fearful moment, and write the particulars of it to his mother.
Whilst he made this request, the Sister slipped a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, confidently believing that Mary would not let this soul entrusted to her perish―even though he was already in his last agony.
Two Sisters watched and silently prayed beside his bed till midnight, when obliged to retire, they left him in charge of an infirmarian and the young man who had promised to be with him at the hour of death. Apparently he had not more than half an hour to live―so, next morning, when the infirmarian came to meet the Sister, she was prepared for news of the patient’s death, but to her astonishment the infirmarian exclaimed: “Come Sister, come see him, he is restored to life!”
He then told her that the patient, to all appearances, had been dead for about an hour; that the friend and himself had rendered all the last duties to the body, having washed and dressed and prepared it for the grave―then the young man went to bed, and he alone remained with the corpse.
After watching near it some time, he approached to bandage the jaws, but what was his fright whilst thus engaged, to see the dead man open his eyes! The Sister heard no more, but eagerly hastened to the spot, and found the man still breathing.
With a great effort he said: “Oh! What a blessing that you have come!”
In reply, she exhorted him to receive Baptism, and told him that he was indebted to the Blessed Virgin for this prolongation of his life.
“I wish to be baptized,” he said.
When the Sister replied that the priest would come, his pitiful answer was: “Oh! That will be too late!”
The other patients now joined their entreaties to his, and the Sister, after reciting aloud the acts of Faith, Hope, Charity and contrition, which the dying man endeavored to repeat, with hands clasped and eyes raised to Heaven, baptized him.
Whilst the regenerating waters flowed upon his soul, transports of love and thanksgiving escaped his lips. Half an hour later, he closed his eyes, never to open them here below.
All that the infirmarian related of his first death, was confirmed in the most positive manner, by the Protestant friend who had assisted in preparing him for the grave.
INCURABLE SCABS
New York, 1866
A girl, some twenty years old, came to the hospital covered with the most repugnant scabs which the doctors had said were incurable. The nun, who cared for her wounds, one day told her that the Most Holy Virgin had the power to cure her and that, if she wanted to wear the medal and ask for a cure, she would obtain it.
Knowing the doctors had given up, she answered roughly: “I do not believe in your Holy Virgin, nor do I want a medal.”
“Very well then,” the nun answered, “in that case, keep your wounds.”
Some days later, she asked for the medal and placed it around her neck, and prepared to be baptized. Shortly thereafter she left the hospital in perfect health, to the great astonishment of the doctors, who had been unanimous in considering her sickness incurable.
CONVERSION OF A SICK PROTESTANT
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
At the same hospital in New Orleans, a Sister for a long time had vainly endeavored to convince a Protestant of the most essential truths of religion, that he might receive Baptism, but he was deaf to all her persuasions.
One day, she showed him a Miraculous Medal and related its origin. He appeared to listen somewhat attentively, but, when she offered it to him, he said in a tone of great contempt: “Take it away! This Virgin is no more than any other woman!”
“I am going to leave it on your table,” was the Sister’s reply, “I am sure you will reflect on my words!”
He said nothing, but to put it out of sight, placed his Bible over it. Every day, under the pretext of arranging and dusting his room, the Sister assured herself that the medal was still there.
Several days elapsed, during which the patient grew worse. One night, whilst lying awake racked with suffering, he perceived a brilliant light around his bed―though the rest of the room was enveloped in darkness. Greatly astonished, he succeeded, in spite of his weakness, in rising and turning up the gaslight, to discover if possible, the cause of this mysterious light.
Finding none, he returned to bed, and a few minutes after, he perceived that the luminous rays escaped from the medal. He then took it in his hands, and kept it there the remainder of the night.
As soon as the Sisters’ rising bell rang at 4:00 a.m., he called the infirmarian, and begged him to tell the Sister that he desired Baptism. The chaplain was immediately informed. “Impossible!” he exclaimed―for by having had frequent conversations with the sick man, he was well aware of his sentiments, and could scarcely believe him.
Nevertheless, he obeyed the summons, and finding the patient really disposed to profit by his ministry, he administered the Last Sacraments, and shortly after receiving which the poor man died, blessing God and the Blessed Virgin for the graces bestowed upon him.
CONVERSION OF A PROTESTANT GIRL
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
A poor young Protestant girl, brought to our hospital to be treated for a grave malady, had so great a horror of our holy religion, that, at the very sight of a Catholic near her, she acted like someone possessed.
The presence of a Sister was especially irritating, and one day she even went so far as to spit in the Sister’s face, but the latter, nothing dismayed, and ever hoping that the God of all mercy would change this wolf into a lamb, continued her kind attentions, the more disrespectful her patient, the more gentle and considerate the Sister.
The latter was at last inspired with the thought of slipping a Miraculous Medal between the two mattresses; she acted upon the inspiration, and, the following night, the Immaculate Mary’s image became an instrument of salvation and happiness to a guilty soul.
Pitching and tossing upon her bed, by reason of a high fever, the patient, in some unaccountable manner, found the Medal, and the Sister’s astonishment next morning at seeing her clasping it in her hands, and covering it with kisses, was second only to that she experienced on perceiving the wonderful transformation grace had wrought in this poor creature’s soul.
A supernatural light had revealed to her the sad state of her conscience; her criminal life filled her with horror, and, penetrated with regret for the past, she sighed only for holy Baptism.
After the necessary instruction, she was baptized; and, during the remainder of her sickness, which was long and tedious, her patience and fervor never faltered. She persevered in these edifying sentiments, until a happy death placed the seal upon the graces she had received through the intercession of Mary Immaculate.
CONVERSION OF A PROTESTANT
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
A Protestant gentleman had spent four years at the hospital, sometimes in one hall, sometimes another. As his malady had not been very serious, no one had considered it necessary to speak to him concerning his soul. However, when his condition became more aggravated, the Sister, after invoking the Blessed Virgin’s assistance, told him the physician considered his case dangerous, and she thought he ought to receive Baptism, without which no one could be saved.
He listened attentively, then turning to her, said: “Sister, if I were to ask you to become a Protestant, would you comply with my request?”
“No!” was the decided answer.
“Well, then,” he continued, “rest assured that it is just as useless for you to attempt persuading me to become a Catholic.”
In spite of this positive refusal, she let no occasion pass without enlightening him, were it ever so little, upon some of the truths of religion.
One day, showing him a Miraculous Medal, she told him he would confer a great favor on her by reciting the little invocation: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
“What, Sister? A Catholic prayer! That is impossible! I cannot do that!”
She said no more, but slipped the medal under his pillow, and there it remained untouched for several days, during which time she redoubled her attentions to the physical necessities of the poor patient, who gradually grew weaker.
At last, one evening she said to him: “Well, Henry, are you not going to do what I asked you?”
“Yes, Sister, I most earnestly desire to become a Catholic.”
The chaplain was called immediately; he had barely time to administer Baptism and Extreme Unction, when the dying man’s regenerated soul was carried by angels to be judged by God.
CONVERSION OF Mr. F—--
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
A Protestant named F—— was brought to our hospital in an advanced stage of consumption. He detested the Catholic religion most heartily, and received the Sisters’ services with extreme repugnance.
His physical strength diminished perceptibly, but his mind retained its energy and clearness. By degrees, the odor escaping from his decayed lungs, became so intolerable that all abandoned him.
Fr. Burke, a missionary priest and the Sisters, being the only persons who had the courage to go near him, and pay any attention to his comfort. Yet neither priest nor Sister dare mention religion. They contented themselves with putting a Miraculous Medal under his pillow, and invoking Our Lady, who so often deigns to display her power in favor of those who deny it.
She did not delay in granting their petition. A few days later, as the Protestant minister left the ward, after making his usual distribution of tracts, the sick man said to the Sister: “Sister, it is done! I am converted!”
“Aha!,” said the latter interiorly, “Our good Mother has accomplished her work!”
And it was indeed true―for the patient requested a priest, was instructed, and in a few days received the Sacraments of Baptism, the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, with inexpressible fervor. The very expression of his countenance was changed; the happiness that inundated his heart beaming from every feature.
“Ah!” he said, “My sufferings are great―but I feel that I am going to Heaven! The truth has made me free!” In these happy dispositions, he expired, promising that in Heaven he would pray for all who had been instruments of his conversion.
CONVERSION OF AN UNBAPTIZED PATIENT
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Testimony of a Religious Sister:
“A patient―brought to the hospital in a hopeless condition―openly manifested his hatred of Catholicity. Yet, as he was in imminent danger of death, the Sister, profiting by a moment in which he seemed a little better disposed than usual, ventured to ask him if he would be baptized; but he answered roughly: ‘No!’ adding that he scarcely believed in baptism, and not at all in Catholic baptism, that in case of his recovery, perhaps he would receive baptism by immersion, and become a member of some church, but that would never be the Catholic Church. ‘At any rate,’ added he, ‘I am not going to torment myself now about such things!’
“The poor Sister having no other resource than the Blessed Virgin, and seeing that the young man approached his end, stealthily slipped a medal under his pillow.
“Next morning it was picked up by the infirmarian, who, thinking the Sister had dropped it accidentally, was about to return it―but the patient opposed him, for the little image pleased his fancy, and he wanted to keep it himself. To quieten him down, the infirmarian was obliged to ask the Sister if the patient could keep the Medal. The request was granted.
“Towards evening someone came to the Sister with a message from the patient, he wished to see her. ‘Sister,’ he said as soon as she approached, ‘you have told me I could not be saved without Baptism. Let me be baptized, for I wish to be saved!’
“Filled with joy at this news, she began to instruct and prepare him for the ceremony. It took place next morning, and during the course of the day, this soul, now the child of God, went to repose in the bosom of its celestial Father, to bless and thank Him for all eternity for His mercies.”
CONVERSION OF A YOUNG GIRL
Buffalo, New York, United States
A young Protestant girl about twenty years of age came to the hospital, covered from head to foot with a disgusting itch, which the physician pronounced incurable. The Sister who dressed her sores, told her that the Blessed Virgin could obtain her recovery, and would do so, if she wore the medal and relied upon the Blessed Virgin’s intercession.
The poor girl―knowing her case was deemed hopeless by the physician―answered bluntly: “I do not believe in your Blessed Virgin, and I want no medal!”
“Very well,” replied the Sister, “then you may keep your sores!”
A few days after she asked for a medal herself, put it on her neck, received instruction and was baptized, and in a short time she left the hospital perfectly cured, greatly to the astonishment of the physicians, who had all pronounced her malady incurable.
CONVERSION OF A SINNER
Hospital of Gratz, Austria
Testimony of a Religious Sister:
“An artist, whose life had been far from edifying, was an inmate of our hospital. One morning the Sister was greatly surprised at his expressing a desire to confess. Perceiving her astonishment, he said: ‘This morning, Sister, the chapel door was slightly open, and from my bed I could see the Blessed Virgin’s statue.’ (It was a statue of the Immaculate Conception). ‘It appealed so strongly to my heart, that I have had no peace since. I must put my conscience in order!’
“He did go to confession, not once, but several times, and he often expressed great regret for his past life. ‘Ah!’ he would say, ‘what a life I have led, and how sad the state of my soul when Mary came to my aid!’
“When asked what he supposed had attracted Mary’s compassion, he answered: ‘I was merely looking at the statue, no thought of religion was in my mind; when suddenly, recollections of my past life filled me with fear, and Mary at the same time inspired me with a horror for sin!’
“In this instance, repentance and reparation were the immediate consequences of the Immaculate Mary’s merciful and maternal glance.”
CONVERSION OF A GREEK SCHISMATIC
Hospital of Gratz, Austria
A Greek schismatic, attacked by a mortal malady, was brought to the hospital. He declared his intention of remaining attached to the errors in which he had been educated, and the Sisters, seeing his determination, entrusted him to the Blessed Virgin, consecrating him to her by placing under his pillow a Medal, which for him proved truly miraculous.
One day, a Franciscan Father visited the sick, and the young man asked the Sister to bring the good Father to see him. He conversed a long time with the latter, but manifested no intention of becoming a Catholic.
Meanwhile, he grew worse, and, one day, when taken with a hemorrhage, he asked for this Father, “because,” said he, “I wish to embrace the Catholic religion.”
The Sister was surprised, for she had said nothing to persuade him, but the Blessed Virgin had accomplished her work without earthly assistance.
He confessed and made his abjuration of schism. He even requested the Reverend Father to announce, in a loud voice, to the other patients that he had entered the Church of his own free will.
His attacks of vomiting made the priest hesitate to give him the Holy Viaticum, but he insisted so strongly, and had so ardent a desire to receive, that the good God permitted these spells of vomiting to become less frequent, so that he could make his first and last Communion at the same time, which he did with inexpressible fervor and consolation.
Interrogated on the subject of his conversion, he answered: “For a long time I felt that everything earthly was of little value, and I sought for the true and lasting.” During the delirium of his last moments, he spoke continually of a white robe. The grace of Baptism had clothed his soul in spotless raiment, and to Mary’s intercession was he indebted for it.
CONVERSION OF AN APOSTATE
Austria, 1866
In one of the prisons confided to the care of the Daughters of Charity, was a young man belonging to a respectable Catholic family, but whose shame and disgrace he had become. After a short stay in the prison, he fell sick, and his condition necessitated removal to the infirmary. Faithful to his principles of impiety, he absolutely refused all spiritual assistance, and whenever he saw one of the chaplains pass, he either turned away his head, or concealed it under the bedclothes.
All the Sisters begged the Superioress to make one last effort for his soul. She paid him a visit, and was received politely, but to rid himself of her importunity, he avowed himself a Protestant, and related how he came to forsake the Faith, after making the acquaintance of several very bad characters, his companions in crime and his counselors in advising him to become a Protestant.
The Sister asked him if he felt no remorse for such conduct, but he became enraged and exclaimed aloud: “I am a Protestant, and I wish to live and die as a Protestant!”
Seeing it impossible to do anything with the miserable creature, she interiorly recommended him to the Refuge of Sinners, and merely asked him to accept the Medal she offered, to wear it and sometimes kiss it. He seemed quite pleased to get rid of her so easily, and placing all her confidence in Mary, she withdrew.
The poor man passed a sleepless night, our Blessed Mother touched his heart, and very early next morning he sent word to the Sister that he wanted a priest to receive his solemn profession of Faith, in reparation of his scandalous apostasy and crimes.
But his reputation was such that the prison chaplain doubted his sincerity, and would not go to him except upon repeated insistence of the Superioress. He was deeply affected at witnessing the change grace had wrought in this soul, and the consequent compunction with which the prodigal confessed his sins. The dying man then made a public abjuration of his errors, and expired a few minutes after, in the grace of God and under the protecting smile of Mary.
CONVERSION OF A HOSPITALIZED SOLDIER
Cava, Italy, 1866
A young fallen-away Catholic soldier, suffering from disease of the chest, was brought to the Military Hospital of Cava. His first question was to ask if Catholic Sisters had charge of that hospital. On receiving an affirmative answer, he said to himself: “They will pester me about going to confession, so I shall pretend to be a Jew to get rid of them!”― and he was designated as a Jew on the card of admission.
Perceiving the serious nature of his malady, the Sisters to whose especial care he had been confided, visited him as often as possible. One of them offered him a medal of the Immaculate Conception; regarding it with a smile of pity, he said: “I accept it, because it would not be polite to refuse, but believe me, I consider it a mere plaything and nothing more.”
Every time the chaplain visited the hall, to speak a word of consolation to one and another, the poor ‘Jew’ covered his head. The Sister sometimes ventured a few words to him about the good God, but he would never reply, and her approach was the signal for his feigning sleep.
One evening when he appeared worse than usual, two Sisters went to see him just before they retired for the night. On hearing them approach, he exclaimed: “O Sister, get a priest!” The chaplain was immediately summoned to his bedside, the poor dying man repeating all the while: “A priest! a priest!”
As soon as the chaplain came, the patient made his profession of Faith in a very audible voice. He then confessed, and, just as the priest, in administering Extreme Unction, was anointing the ears, the penitent rendered his soul to God, leaving us the consoling hope that it had found mercy in its Maker’s sight.
CONVERSION OF A WOUNDED SOLDIER
Palermo, Italy, 1866
In 1866, at the Military Hospital of Palermo, was a poor man who had just undergone the amputation of his left arm. His impiety was so great, that the Sister felt constrained to remove a large crucifix that had been placed near his bed, for he covered it with invectives. The miserable man’s bodily infirmities were as hopeless as his spiritual, yet no one could succeed in inducing him to give any attention to his soul, or even to listen to a word about the good God. What could be done in such an extremity?
The poor Sister was in great distress, when one day whilst dressing his wounds she was inspired to slip a Medal of the Immaculate Conception (the Miraculous Medal) between the bandages around the stump of the amputated member.
Next morning, on witnessing the great change that had been wrought in her patient’s spiritual condition during the night, she was less astonished than happy, for she had confidently relied upon the Blessed Virgin. He asked for a priest, who came immediately. He confessed, publicly repaired the scandals of his past life, and received with piety the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction.
His few remaining days were spent in blessing that God who had shown him such boundless mercy. “Oh! How good God is!” did he repeat incessantly to his companions, “I have committed multitudes of sins and He has pardoned me all!”
CURE OF AN AUSTRIAN OFFICER
Hospital of Gratz, Austria, 1867
An officer in the garrison at Gratz, suffered from a serious wound in the right arm. He was brought to the general hospital, that he might be more conveniently under the especial treatment of Dr. Rzehazeh, a very eminent surgeon. The latter exhausted all his skill, but in vain―and after a few weeks he saw the necessity of amputation to save the officer’s life.
Learning of the doctor’s decision, the patient was deeply grieved, and his oppressed heart sought refuge in piety. He―who had never spoken of God, who had accepted the offered Medal only out of courtesy―now appeared to experience a genuine satisfaction when the Sisters told him they would implore the Blessed Virgin in his behalf.
During the few days immediately preceding the operation, he felt inspired with a great confidence in his Medal, and frequently repeated the invocation engraven upon it: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
The danger was now imminent, and the amputation, which must not be delayed, was to take place on the next day. One of the Sisters―seeing that the young officer’s confidence expressed itself in continual prayer―suggested that evening that he lay the medal upon his afflicted arm, and let it remain all night. The suggestion was joyfully received.
Next morning she hastened to ascertain her patient’s condition, and get the Medal. He had spent a quiet night―his sufferings being less severe than usual. The Sister, while attributing his improvement to the medicine that had been prescribed, understood full well that the precious Medal had also been instrumental in procuring relief, and that Mary had looked compassionately upon him―but she did not yet realize the full extent of the blessing.
The surgeon came a few hours after, and whilst awaiting his assistants, he carefully examined the wounded arm, he touched it, he probed it, and to his great astonishment, perceived that amputation was not necessary. The other doctors on arriving, confirmed his opinion of this surprising change.
The officer was struck dumb with happiness, and, not until he found himself alone with the chief surgeon, did he impart to the latter, as a secret, his opinion as to the cause of this wonderful change. On leaving him, the surgeon (notwithstanding the injunction of secrecy), could not refrain from saying to the Sister: “I believe the Sisters of Charity have engaged the good God in this case.”
The officer’s arm was entirely healed; a few weeks later he left the hospital, taking with him the precious Medal as a memento of gratitude and love for Mary Immaculate.
CONVERSION OF MR. N—— AT LIMA
Letter from a Daughter of Charity in Lima, Peru, 1876
Mr. N—— had been suffering a long time from hypertrophy of the heart, the physicians having vainly exhausted all the resources of their skill, were forced to tell the family that he was beyond the power of human aid, and should look to the state of his soul, sad news for this father of a family, and a man devoid of religion.
In vain did his relatives and friends, with all possible delicacy, endeavor to turn his thoughts to religion and induce him to receive the Sacraments; he would hear nothing on the subject; a priest, who was an intimate friend of the family, attempted to second their efforts, but he met with no better success; the sick man became exasperated at all allusions to religion, he blasphemed everything relating to it, sparing not even the Blessed Virgin.
One day, after listening to an account of the conversion of Mr.——, of Lima, our patient’s relatives expressed a desire of having recourse to similar means for their dear one’s conversion. “It is very simple,” said the person addressed, “you have only to ask Sister N., of St. Anne’s Hospital for a medal, she got one for M. Pierre, she will not refuse you.”
One of his nephews immediately repaired to the hospital and returned with a medal. A niece offered the medal to him: “Mamma,” said she, “sends you this medal and begs that you will wear it.”
“Certainly,” was the reply, “I will wear it for her sake, but I want everybody to understand that I have no notion and no intention of confessing.”
He spent a quiet night, and was quite pleased next morning to find himself somewhat better. “Euloge,” said he, to one of his nephews, “what preparation should a person make who intends taking a long journey?”
Euloge, who thought he certainly must be in a dream to hear his uncle speak thus, inquired to what journey he alluded.
“Ah!” was the answer, “I speak of the journey to Eternity!”
The poor young man, delighted at such a happy change, replied that the best preparation was to put one’s conscience in order by making a good confession. “I will do so! Send me a priest!” said his uncle.
As soon as the clergyman arrived and heard his confession, he administered the Holy Viaticum. All the assistants were overcome with emotion when they saw the sick man, almost in his last agony, supported by his children, to receive on bended knee, the God who had just pardoned all the sins of his life. A few moments after, he blessed his children, gave them his parting counsel, and died in sentiments of piety rivaling his past irreligion. His family was deeply grateful to Mary Immaculate for this token of her favor.
CONVERSION OF AN UNBELIEVER
Letter from a Sister of Charity in Lima, Peru, 1877
“An old lady whose youth had been pious, having lost her Faith by reading bad books, had not frequented the Sacraments for thirty-five years. The sister, with whom she lived was carried to her grave, after an illness of only five days, and it was natural to suppose that the Christian death of one so dear would have softened her heart. On the contrary, it only embittered her all the more, and she vented her grief in blasphemies.
“A Sister of Charity witnessing this scandal, and not being able to soothe the poor creature, was inspired with the thought of giving her a medal of the Blessed Virgin. The old lady accepted, and wore it for several days, during which she appeared greatly preoccupied, and somewhat less confident in her skepticism. But, having yielded to a diabolical suggestion, that urged her to lay the medal aside―doubtless because grace tormented her conscience with keen remorse whilst the medal was on her person―she fell back into an habitual hardness and melancholy that she called peace.
“The Sister perceived this, and inquired if she still wore the medal. Upon receiving a negative answer, our good Sister represented the danger to which her soul was exposed without it, and the old lady promised to put it on again. Many prayers were offered up for her, and, at the end of fifteen days, the Sister, who was greatly interested in this poor woman’s soul, paid her another visit. Seeing no change in her sentiments, she inquired immediately if the medal had been resumed. The poor woman, who was very uncouth, dared not speak, but made a sign with her head which revealed all.
“‘What have you done with it, and where is it?’ asked the Sister. The old lady replied that it was in her wardrobe, and she had made several unsuccessful efforts to put it on again. The Sister understands that this miserable soul is under some diabolical influence, holding her aloof from anything that was calculated to reclaim her to God.
“She felt that this was the moment for prompt action, and in a tone of severity, said: “Very well, since you will not wear the medal, I abandon you entirely!” These words produced the desired effect. The old lady ran to the wardrobe, and taking up the medal, put it around her neck―this time it to remain there.
“Soon experiencing the sweet and powerful influence of Mary Immaculate―so justly called the Gate of Heaven―in a few days she assisted at the Holy Sacrifice and listened to the instruction, and from that time was entirely changed. She confessed and made her Easter Communion, and the deepest compunction and gratitude are now the abiding sentiments of her heart. She wished to remain at the church door, feeling herself unworthy to penetrate further into the sacred building, and it was with the greatest difficulty her friends could persuade upon her to accept a place nearer the altar.
“She never ceases to thank God and Mary; and she told the Sister that, from the moment the medal was on her neck, she knew neither peace nor rest―until she had returned to her religious duties. So great are the power and love of that Virgin who is the sovereign Terror of demons.”
CONVERSION OF A SCANDALOUS SINNER
Moirans, France, 1877
The Superioress of the Sisters of Charity at Moirans, relates as follows a very consoling conversion, redounding to the glory of Mary Immaculate:
“The most important manufacturer of our village, who employed from four to five hundred men and women, has just died, and contrary to all expectations, his death was penitent and consoling. He had been impious and immoral, and the profligate characters in his workshops were a curse to the surrounding country. His rudeness was such, that everybody trembled before him. His wife and two daughters, pious Christians, silently bewailed his misconduct; and as for myself, I had barely sufficient acquaintance with him to render justifiable my calling upon him in any urgent need.
“One morning I received a message in great haste―this person was very sick and wished to see me. I went at once, but the disease was of so serious a character and its progress so rapid, that I saw the poor man on the verge of the grave ere I could find a means of turning his thoughts to eternity. I had told his wife and daughters to give him a medal of the Immaculate Conception, but he refused to accept it, and we were reduced to the necessity of stealthily putting it under his pillow.
“On the third day, as I was about to leave, after rendering him all the care and attention in my power, he wished, in the effusion of his gratitude, to shake hands with me. I profited by the opportunity to tell him how much pleasure he could give me by consenting to receive the priest, who had just come to see him. He made a sign in the affirmative and with a smile that very rarely parted his lips. We went out of the room, leaving him alone with the priest, whom he had welcomed cordially.
“In half an hour the latter returned blessing God, for the sick man had made his confession. He now consented to wear the medal, and that evening he received Extreme Unction, but not the Holy Viaticum, as he had spells of suffocation. I asked his wife to let his employees see him, that they might be edified at their patron’s conduct. The request was granted, but not many came―as the workshops were closed at this hour. Those who did come, prayed a few minutes beside him.
“Next morning his family was greatly rejoiced at his apparent physical improvement, but their hopes were deceived, and very soon his last agony began. He was recommended to the prayers of the parish. The whole village manifested a touching interest in his condition, and his employees all came to see him. The throng around the dying man was renewed every quarter of an hour, and we recited the Rosary aloud, a most appropriate devotion for this occasion, the last moments of one whom the Blessed Virgin had snatched from eternal misery. Amidst this concert of praises to Mary, he expired. The Christian Brothers, to whom he had been very hostile, willingly aided us in rendering to him the last duties of religion.”
MIRACLES ON DEATH ROW
Mississippi Prison, United States, 1943
One of the most incredible Miraculous Medal miracles began in a Mississippi prison in 1943. Twenty-year-old Claude Newman ― who was on death row for shooting his grandmother’s abuser ― asked a fellow inmate what he was wearing around his neck. The inmate threw the medal over to him and told Claude that he could have it. Shortly after the young man had put the medal around his own neck, Blessed Mother ― whom Claude described as the most beautiful woman God had ever made ― appeared to him and told him that if he would like to be her son, he should call for a priest. He did so immediately.
Along with four other prisoners whom he had inspired, Claude prepared to be baptized. When he shared with the priest and the other men insight into the deep forgiveness found in Confession, the priest was surprised that Blessed Mother had visited Claude again. To prove he was telling the truth, he reminded the priest of a 1940 vow, that he had made to Blessed Mother, saying that he would build a church in her honor if he survived a life-threatening situation. While the priest later fulfilled that vow, Claude was baptized four days before he was scheduled to be executed in 1944. Because the young man was so happy that he was going to Heaven, his last request was to have a party.
When he received a two-week stay of execution, Claude was beside himself. To console him, the priest suggested that he pray for the conversion of a prisoner who hated Claude and religion. He took the priest’s advice. Two weeks later, the time for his execution had arrived―and Claude stunned many by being overjoyed while sitting in the electric chair. Later, when the prisoner―whom Claude had prayed for―was in the same electric chair, the prisoner’s anger suddenly turned to fear, and he called for a priest. Together, Blessed Mother and Claude appeared to him and showed him a vision of Hell. He returned to his Faith and was absolved of his sins before he was executed.
ICE CREAM MIRACLE
United States, 1948
Despite the miracles associated with the medal, many people don’t believe it can make such a difference. Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., was one of those people. Not long after he had been ordained, a Vincentian priest encouraged him and others to promote the Miraculous Medal―because Blessed Mother really does work miracles through it. Although Fr. Hardon ordered a free pamphlet on how to bless the medals and enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal, he didn’t get one for himself.
But later, in 1948, when the United States priest encountered a ten-year-old boy who was in a coma after a sledding accident, he decided to see if it would help. A sister who worked at the hospital found one and a ribbon the priest could use to hang it around the boy’s neck. Even though the boy had been diagnosed with inoperable permanent brain damage, the priest read the prayer that enrolled the boy in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. As soon as he finished the prayer, the boy opened his eyes and asked his mother for ice cream. It was the first time he had spoken in nearly two weeks. New x-rays showed the brain damage had disappeared, and the boy was released from the hospital after about three days. Like the boy and his family, the priest’s life and his belief in the medal were forever changed.
ELEVATOR MIRACLE
Czechoslovakia, 1950s
In the 1950s, in what was then the communist country of Czechoslovakia, a teenage boy received a Miraculous Medal from an underground seminarian. Even though religious beliefs were condemned by the government, the boy decided to wear his medal around his neck when he worked, one summer, at a construction site. When his supervisor told him to take it off, he continued to wear it.
The next day, he fell into a hole that contained the engine – with moving wheels, gears and belts – of an unsophisticated elevator that allowed construction workers to transport materials to upper floors of the apartment building that was being built. His co-workers pulled him out and put him on the ground. But to their surprise, he was uninjured. He was able to get up and continue working. And he fervently believed that it was Blessed Mother’s protection, received through the medal, that kept him safe from harm.
Conclusion
The Miraculous Medal continues to multiply its prodigies even today. We know of countless other impressive stories of conversions, graces of moral regeneration, cures of attachment to vices, and infallible protection against the action of the devil. There are innumerable accounts of cures and relief procured in every kind of illness, as well as assistance to expectant mothers and of astounding protection against assault, robbery, kidnapping, accidents and other dangers. And who can count those who have found employment and resolved financial difficulties by means of this devotion? Even in our days, so lacking in true Faith, the facts that take place never cease to surprise and edify us.
When she revealed the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady clearly promised that “Everyone who wears it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.” She did not put restrictive conditions; she said “everyone.” And then completed the phrase with: “The graces will be abundant to those who use it with confidence.”
We all need great graces, especially in these difficult and critical times. Let us turn to the Virgin Mother of God in all our needs and concerns, and ask her with a childlike confidence to answer our prayers.
Are you not also in need of a particular grace? Who isn’t!!? Maybe someone in your family is in dire need of one, or one of your friends? It was for people like you that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the best of all mothers, in her unfathomable mercy, gave the Miraculous Medal.
There have been miracles of physical healing, mental healing and spiritual healing associated with the Miraculous Medal. And people have been miraculously protected from harm. While there is no doubt that they are all extraordinary, there is also no doubt that the Miraculous Medals themselves can help us to reflect on the extraordinary glory, power and love of Our Lord. And they mercifully reassure all of us that we can turn to the Mother of Our Lord for help in times of trouble. And, O boy, are we in times of trouble right now! We need a miracle―or many of them! Do not neglect the Miraculous Medal!
"Black Friday" November 26th
A "HOLY" DAY OF OBLIGATION TO SHOP
Article 9
A Black Day for the USA!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
A "HOLY" DAY OF OBLIGATION TO SHOP
Article 9
A Black Day for the USA!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Aping God & Aping the Faith
The devil likes to “ape” God, that is to say, he likes to imitate aspects of God and God’s Church. Tertullian once said: “Diabolos est Dei simia,” and that basically translates into “The devil is God’s monkey (or ape).” What Tertullian meant was that the devil likes nothing better than to ape God. Satanists and secret societies are pretty big on copying or aping certain elements of Catholic religious ceremonies—the Black Mass is one such blasphemous example.
Is Black Friday a "Good Friday" for Materialism?
Talking of the word “black”, today happens to be what the world (in the USA world) calls “Black Friday” and it comes right after “Thanksgiving Day” which is always a Thursday. In recent years, most major retailers have opened very early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) sales in many British Commonwealth nations. Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers.
For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of Black Friday, but in the late 2000’s many had crept to 5:00 a.m. or even 4:00 a.m. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Wal-Mart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. In 2014, stores even opened as early as 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. On and on it goes! This year―2021―
It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time. In 2003, however, Black Friday actually was the busiest shopping day of the year, and it has retained that position every year since, with the exception of 2004. In 2013, approximately 141 million U.S. consumers shopped during Black Friday, spending a total of $57.4 billion (57 thousand million), with online sales reaching $1.2 billion (one thousand million).
Black Friday masquerades as the first day of traditional Christmas shopping, during which crowds of consumers are drawn to special offers by retailers. The thought sprang to mind that this has an uncanny resemblance to our Holy Thursday and Good Friday, except that it tends to go in the opposite direction. One could almost say that it is a parody. Here are the reasons that occurred in formulating this idea:
Comparisons with the Faith
► The days are the same day: Holy Thursday and Good Friday / Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday.
► Holy Thursday is centered around the Last Supper; Thanksgiving in centered around the Thanksgiving meal.
► Good Friday and Black Friday are all about the world and materialism: Our Lord detaches Himself from the world and material things and dies to save souls; Black Friday is all about attaching oneself to materialism in order to save something too—money!
► Good Friday is frugal in its ceremony (the bare bones) and has somber black vestments; whereas Black Friday is all about opulence with its colorful glitz and glamour.
► The message of Good Friday is one of dying to this world—as Our Lord said: “I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Whereas the message of Black Friday is one of living for the world and grabbing all one can of this world.
► Good Friday is a day of obligatory fasting; while Black Friday for many is almost a day of compulsory spending and indulging. It is common for prospective shoppers to camp out over the Thanksgiving holiday, even in cold freezing temperatures, in an effort to secure a place in front of the line and thus a better chance at getting desired items.
► Just as the Faith spread throughout the world, so too is Black Friday spreading throughout the world since really “taking-off” in the USA. Canada has started the Black Friday practice. Black Friday was the inspiration for the Mexican government and retailing industry to create an annual weekend of discounts and extended credit terms, El Buen Fin, meaning “the good weekend” in Spanish. Black Friday is also celebrated in the United Kingdom by major online retailers, and in 2014, more UK-based retailers have adopted the Black Friday marketing scheme than ever. In Panama Black Friday was first celebrated in 2012, as a move from the Government to attract local tourism to the countries capital city. In recent years, Black Friday has been promoted in Australia by online retailers. In 2012, after two years of disappointing results, several department stores in Brazil joined their foreign competitors in a successful Black Friday, which more than doubled the total revenue in comparison to the previous year. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Black Friday Sale is a joint sales initiative by hundreds of online vendors.
The Violence of Good Friday and Black Friday
We all know, of course, the extreme violence generated against Our Lord on Good Friday by the sinful passions of the Pharisees, Jews and Roman soldiers. Yet we also see those evil passions surge to the fore on Black Friday. Somehow money, things and greed combine to make a toxic poison for basic Christian charity―or even non-Christian charity and civility. Since 2006, there have been around 50 deaths or murders on Black Friday―and hundreds have been seriously injured.
Biggest Violence of All
But the biggest violence of committed on this Black Friday is the violence against the Faith. The whole spirit of Black Friday and what it represents, goes against the spirit of Christ and what He represents. Our Lord came to live in poverty, not in riches. He did not pamper His body by living in luxury, but lived a simple and mortified life: “Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). He explicitly told us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God .. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).
Riches and Wealth Work Against Heaven
We see a clear example of this with the rich young man, who wanted to save his soul, yet also wanted to enjoy his possessions. Our Lord refused this two-facedness. Here is St. Matthew’s account: “And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24).
The Religion of Money and Goods
Many have argued that the new priesthood today consists of scientists, professors, teachers and merchants, and advertisers, who are organized as a part of a new secular tradition—they are a parody or an aping of the Church, with its pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. They deny (or relegate) the existence of the supernatural and ridicule it. For them, what is primary is the material world. The world is their god and their teacher, and they gratefully bow down and worship the world and all that the world can supply by means of material goods and their offshoot, or side-effect—money. These ‘priests’ of the secular religion of materialism, preach throughout their ‘churches’ of schools, colleges; universities, in the media and in the stores. The scientist, or man of natural knowledge, or entrepreneur has become a mini-god, falling into the same trap of Adam of Eve—who wanted to be like unto God. The devil, who in the words of Our Lord, is the prince of this world that they adore, will only too willingly aid and abet them in their folly. As materialists, they see themselves as material producers and consumers of goods, the lifestyle and economics of consumerist capitalism seems natural. Hedonism (the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good) also seems natural, because as a body that has certain needs and wants, what that idiot of a psychologist Freud rightly called modern man ― “desire-producing-machine,”whereby life becomes primarily about the fulfillment of the desires of the body―the cult of the body.
Saints Peter and Paul Prophesied This
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid” (2 Timothy 1-5).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying:’ Where is His promise or His coming?’ … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-10).
Not of the World
Speaking of the devil, Our Lord said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). “And Jesus said to the Jews [today read that as pagan scientists, pagan academics, and the pagan entrepreneurs]: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!’” (John 8:23). Of His followers, He says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world [Black Friday]” (1 John 2:16). To which St. John adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world! If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Besotted by the World
Today materialism has reached fever-pitch, even among so-called Catholics—who are really worshipers of mammon. As Our Lady said in her apparitions: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
An Insane Thirst and Attachment to the World
After the Last Supper, Our Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane—after eating their Thanksgiving meal, many go to their “Gardens of Getsomeforfree” ― that is to say, the stores and shopping malls. Our Lord sweated blood thinking of His future passion and death for our sins—today’s souls sweat worryingly thinking about the deals and goodies that they might miss-out on. Our Lord said to His three Apostles: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” ― Today we say: “Could you not shop one hour with me?” Our Lord was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver—today many sell themselves to the world and mammon, for a few paltry idols on a shelf. Our Lord was arrested, tied-up and taken captive—today many are tied-up and captivated by things of the world that have arrested their attention. On the Cross Our Lord said: “I thirst!”―thirsting for souls. The world thirsts too―but it is not for Christ, nor the spiritual, but it is an unquenchable thirst for the things that this world has to offer. Our Lord was nearly stripped of all that He had and was attached to the Cross by nails—yet souls do not want to be divested of their possessions (they want even more of them) and they are so attached to them that we could say that “they are nailed to them.”
“Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Words of Wisdom from the Queen of Poverty
(As spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda―a combination of multiple passages from The Mystical City of God).
► THE POVERTY OF JESUS AND MARY: “In all the difficulties, which I underwent, after I was born into the world, I was resigned and contented. Therefore, when anything was wanting of the necessaries of life, I remained in peace and contentedness and deemed it all perfectly reasonable and proper in my regard, since I had merited none of the gifts and could justly be deprived of all of them.
“Neither thyself nor all creatures together can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride. He also sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God.
► IMITATING MARY’S DETACHMENT AND POVERTY: “Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts― so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things.
“Who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in His conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries!
“By the divine light I knew―better than all other creatures―what a low value the Most High places on earthly blessings and riches. Therefore, in my holy liberty of spirit, I felt myself troubled and inconvenienced by the possession of the treasures of the Three Kings offered to my most holy Son in Bethlehem. I did not wish to keep them for myself, nor dispose of them according to my own will, but according to the wishes of my spouse Joseph.
► THE FEVER OF AVARICE AND GREED FOR POSSESSIONS: “Often, in His wisdom and justice, God refuses to grant the desires of men. Where has the intelligence of men gone, or what use do they make of their understanding, when, at the refusal of things which they desire and from which perhaps they do not even profit, they begin to get sad and lash themselves into fury, one against the other, and even against their God, as if by this refusal of what they desire they were suffering some injury at His hands?
“For that, which the Lord gives them gratuitously, they do not thank Him, or even give Him acknowledgment; and for that, which He denies them justly and sometimes most mercifully, they are restless and proudly desirous, and they try to procure it by unjust and forbidden means, throwing themselves into eternal destruction! Let them inquire what treasures and riches they did possess before they came into life? What services had they rendered unto God in order to merit them? And, if out of nothing there cannot arise anything, and, if they could not merit the being or existence which they have received, what obligation is there on the part of God to preserve, out of justice, what was given to them entirely gratuitously?
“How unreasonable and how damnable is the conduct of a man, who, for a momentary sensible pleasure, which at most must end with life and generally lasts only for a short time, labors so much and still claims to have the Faith, while at the same time he takes no account of his immortal soul, and forgets it, as if it ended and were consumed with the visible things? They consider not, that when all comes to an end, the soul begins to suffer or enjoy the eternal and everlasting things.
“They show vanity; they indulge greed and avarice; they serve their own interest; they love money, they place their hopes in treasures of silver and gold; they submit to the flatteries and to the slavery of the worldly and powerful. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions?
► THE DANGER OF DAMNATION: “Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!
“The lovers of its vanity have subjected themselves and are following the standard and the fables of the devil. In the midst of this ruin, Hell has opened its mouth and the more it is fed, the more insatiable becomes its hunger, seeking to bury in its infernal caverns all the rest of mankind. Fear this danger! Thou hast a warning in Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11), into whose souls the demon entered as soon as he had found out their desire for money and so the demon could attack them through this portal.
“This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has filled the world with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow thyself to desire worldly things, least of all any office of superiority; a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Envy no one his honor, nor the possession of any earthly thing, nor seek to obtain from the Lord anything else than His love and friendship. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition.”
► THE IGNORANCE AND FOOLISHNESS OF THE GREEDY: “The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. The earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with true wisdom. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom.
“How many men are not fascinated by their unbounded greed? All of them ordinarily stake their hopes on gold and material riches; and, in order to increase them, they exert all the forces of their natural being. There are very few in the world in our days who use well the temporal riches and offer them to their God. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities.
“The temporal goods are created by the Most High for the sale purpose of sustaining life; having attained this end, the need of them ceases. And as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied, there is no reason that the care for the immortal soul should be only fitful and temporary, while the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and ceaseless, as it has come to be among men. It is the height of perverseness for man to devote all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, and, on the other hand, he spares for his poor soul only one hour!
“The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation.
► THE SNARES AND PLOTS OF SATAN: “On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. In order to cast souls into this abyss of wickedness Lucifer meets them with the vain pride and honor of this world and with its base pleasures, representing them as alone important and desirable. Yet for this very reason they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and skillful in injuring us by their treachery. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits―especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach.
“He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord. Then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul. O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam!
“ All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
► THE PANDEMIC OF AVARICE AND GREED: “The Earth is filled with lovers of the world. The world is filled with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The nobility of souls so degraded and abased in the service of vile greed of gold with all its evil powers. As if all things had been created for the individual use of the rich, they appropriate them to themselves and deprive the poor, their brothers springing from the same nature and flesh; and denying those riches even to God―Who created and preserves all things, and Who can give or take at will. It is most lamentable that while the rich could purchase eternal life by a correct and virtuous use their possessions, they abuse and misuse those riches, and thereby draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures.
“This evil is common among the children of Adam! They follow their blind passions, seeking after possessions or the transitory pleasures, all of which will end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not and can never attain. It is debasing, and for you weak creatures, very dangerous to appropriate or attribute any of the goods of the Earth, be they of material possessions or goods of honor; for all this cannot be done without covetousness, ambition and vain ostentation.
► CURING THE DISEASE: “The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow yourself to desire worldly things―a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition. If you look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, you will see that they consider themselves fortunate whenever they attain all that they desire, according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune―for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any reward in the eternal life.
“If, on the one hand, possessions throttle the spirit and tyrannically oppress it in its weakness, if they suppress the soul’s most noble privilege of following eternal goods and God Himself: it is certain on the other hand, that voluntary poverty restores to man the nobility of his condition and, liberating him from vile servitude and reinstating him his noble freedom and mastery of all things. The soul is never more in control of itself than when it despises them. The soul can only have a more firm possession of riches and can make a more excellent use of riches, when she gives them away, or leaves them behind of her own free will―only then will her appetite for them be best satisfied, when she does not desire to possess them.
“Those, to whom nothing is wanting, call themselves rich. To possess more than is necessary creates unrest and affliction of spirit. You need to have such a freedom of spirit, as not to attach thyself to anything―be it great or small, superfluous or necessary. Renounce all affection or inclination for earthly things―even under the pretext of the necessity and poverty. Great possessions you must renounce as superfluous; you do not need them and it is a crime to keep them for no purpose!” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
The devil likes to “ape” God, that is to say, he likes to imitate aspects of God and God’s Church. Tertullian once said: “Diabolos est Dei simia,” and that basically translates into “The devil is God’s monkey (or ape).” What Tertullian meant was that the devil likes nothing better than to ape God. Satanists and secret societies are pretty big on copying or aping certain elements of Catholic religious ceremonies—the Black Mass is one such blasphemous example.
Is Black Friday a "Good Friday" for Materialism?
Talking of the word “black”, today happens to be what the world (in the USA world) calls “Black Friday” and it comes right after “Thanksgiving Day” which is always a Thursday. In recent years, most major retailers have opened very early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) sales in many British Commonwealth nations. Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers.
For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of Black Friday, but in the late 2000’s many had crept to 5:00 a.m. or even 4:00 a.m. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Wal-Mart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. In 2014, stores even opened as early as 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. On and on it goes! This year―2021―
It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time. In 2003, however, Black Friday actually was the busiest shopping day of the year, and it has retained that position every year since, with the exception of 2004. In 2013, approximately 141 million U.S. consumers shopped during Black Friday, spending a total of $57.4 billion (57 thousand million), with online sales reaching $1.2 billion (one thousand million).
Black Friday masquerades as the first day of traditional Christmas shopping, during which crowds of consumers are drawn to special offers by retailers. The thought sprang to mind that this has an uncanny resemblance to our Holy Thursday and Good Friday, except that it tends to go in the opposite direction. One could almost say that it is a parody. Here are the reasons that occurred in formulating this idea:
Comparisons with the Faith
► The days are the same day: Holy Thursday and Good Friday / Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday.
► Holy Thursday is centered around the Last Supper; Thanksgiving in centered around the Thanksgiving meal.
► Good Friday and Black Friday are all about the world and materialism: Our Lord detaches Himself from the world and material things and dies to save souls; Black Friday is all about attaching oneself to materialism in order to save something too—money!
► Good Friday is frugal in its ceremony (the bare bones) and has somber black vestments; whereas Black Friday is all about opulence with its colorful glitz and glamour.
► The message of Good Friday is one of dying to this world—as Our Lord said: “I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Whereas the message of Black Friday is one of living for the world and grabbing all one can of this world.
► Good Friday is a day of obligatory fasting; while Black Friday for many is almost a day of compulsory spending and indulging. It is common for prospective shoppers to camp out over the Thanksgiving holiday, even in cold freezing temperatures, in an effort to secure a place in front of the line and thus a better chance at getting desired items.
► Just as the Faith spread throughout the world, so too is Black Friday spreading throughout the world since really “taking-off” in the USA. Canada has started the Black Friday practice. Black Friday was the inspiration for the Mexican government and retailing industry to create an annual weekend of discounts and extended credit terms, El Buen Fin, meaning “the good weekend” in Spanish. Black Friday is also celebrated in the United Kingdom by major online retailers, and in 2014, more UK-based retailers have adopted the Black Friday marketing scheme than ever. In Panama Black Friday was first celebrated in 2012, as a move from the Government to attract local tourism to the countries capital city. In recent years, Black Friday has been promoted in Australia by online retailers. In 2012, after two years of disappointing results, several department stores in Brazil joined their foreign competitors in a successful Black Friday, which more than doubled the total revenue in comparison to the previous year. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Black Friday Sale is a joint sales initiative by hundreds of online vendors.
The Violence of Good Friday and Black Friday
We all know, of course, the extreme violence generated against Our Lord on Good Friday by the sinful passions of the Pharisees, Jews and Roman soldiers. Yet we also see those evil passions surge to the fore on Black Friday. Somehow money, things and greed combine to make a toxic poison for basic Christian charity―or even non-Christian charity and civility. Since 2006, there have been around 50 deaths or murders on Black Friday―and hundreds have been seriously injured.
Biggest Violence of All
But the biggest violence of committed on this Black Friday is the violence against the Faith. The whole spirit of Black Friday and what it represents, goes against the spirit of Christ and what He represents. Our Lord came to live in poverty, not in riches. He did not pamper His body by living in luxury, but lived a simple and mortified life: “Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). He explicitly told us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God .. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).
Riches and Wealth Work Against Heaven
We see a clear example of this with the rich young man, who wanted to save his soul, yet also wanted to enjoy his possessions. Our Lord refused this two-facedness. Here is St. Matthew’s account: “And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24).
The Religion of Money and Goods
Many have argued that the new priesthood today consists of scientists, professors, teachers and merchants, and advertisers, who are organized as a part of a new secular tradition—they are a parody or an aping of the Church, with its pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. They deny (or relegate) the existence of the supernatural and ridicule it. For them, what is primary is the material world. The world is their god and their teacher, and they gratefully bow down and worship the world and all that the world can supply by means of material goods and their offshoot, or side-effect—money. These ‘priests’ of the secular religion of materialism, preach throughout their ‘churches’ of schools, colleges; universities, in the media and in the stores. The scientist, or man of natural knowledge, or entrepreneur has become a mini-god, falling into the same trap of Adam of Eve—who wanted to be like unto God. The devil, who in the words of Our Lord, is the prince of this world that they adore, will only too willingly aid and abet them in their folly. As materialists, they see themselves as material producers and consumers of goods, the lifestyle and economics of consumerist capitalism seems natural. Hedonism (the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good) also seems natural, because as a body that has certain needs and wants, what that idiot of a psychologist Freud rightly called modern man ― “desire-producing-machine,”whereby life becomes primarily about the fulfillment of the desires of the body―the cult of the body.
Saints Peter and Paul Prophesied This
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid” (2 Timothy 1-5).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying:’ Where is His promise or His coming?’ … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-10).
Not of the World
Speaking of the devil, Our Lord said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). “And Jesus said to the Jews [today read that as pagan scientists, pagan academics, and the pagan entrepreneurs]: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!’” (John 8:23). Of His followers, He says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world [Black Friday]” (1 John 2:16). To which St. John adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world! If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Besotted by the World
Today materialism has reached fever-pitch, even among so-called Catholics—who are really worshipers of mammon. As Our Lady said in her apparitions: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
An Insane Thirst and Attachment to the World
After the Last Supper, Our Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane—after eating their Thanksgiving meal, many go to their “Gardens of Getsomeforfree” ― that is to say, the stores and shopping malls. Our Lord sweated blood thinking of His future passion and death for our sins—today’s souls sweat worryingly thinking about the deals and goodies that they might miss-out on. Our Lord said to His three Apostles: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” ― Today we say: “Could you not shop one hour with me?” Our Lord was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver—today many sell themselves to the world and mammon, for a few paltry idols on a shelf. Our Lord was arrested, tied-up and taken captive—today many are tied-up and captivated by things of the world that have arrested their attention. On the Cross Our Lord said: “I thirst!”―thirsting for souls. The world thirsts too―but it is not for Christ, nor the spiritual, but it is an unquenchable thirst for the things that this world has to offer. Our Lord was nearly stripped of all that He had and was attached to the Cross by nails—yet souls do not want to be divested of their possessions (they want even more of them) and they are so attached to them that we could say that “they are nailed to them.”
“Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Words of Wisdom from the Queen of Poverty
(As spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda―a combination of multiple passages from The Mystical City of God).
► THE POVERTY OF JESUS AND MARY: “In all the difficulties, which I underwent, after I was born into the world, I was resigned and contented. Therefore, when anything was wanting of the necessaries of life, I remained in peace and contentedness and deemed it all perfectly reasonable and proper in my regard, since I had merited none of the gifts and could justly be deprived of all of them.
“Neither thyself nor all creatures together can ever understand the spirit of poverty of my most holy Son―His being born in poverty and what He has taught me concerning it. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. They strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. My most holy Son has set me as the teacher and living example of the love of humility and true contempt of worldly vanity and pride. He also sought destitution and poverty―not because He had any need of them, but in order to teach mortals the shortest and surest way for reaching the heights of divine love and union with God.
► IMITATING MARY’S DETACHMENT AND POVERTY: “Detach yourself entirely of human and earthly affections and of your own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. Imitate me in being very careful to practice poverty of spirit concerning the use of necessities and comforts― so that, with advancing years, you may find yourself more free, more detached and averted from visible things. I lived in the greatest constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things.
“Who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in His conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries!
“By the divine light I knew―better than all other creatures―what a low value the Most High places on earthly blessings and riches. Therefore, in my holy liberty of spirit, I felt myself troubled and inconvenienced by the possession of the treasures of the Three Kings offered to my most holy Son in Bethlehem. I did not wish to keep them for myself, nor dispose of them according to my own will, but according to the wishes of my spouse Joseph.
► THE FEVER OF AVARICE AND GREED FOR POSSESSIONS: “Often, in His wisdom and justice, God refuses to grant the desires of men. Where has the intelligence of men gone, or what use do they make of their understanding, when, at the refusal of things which they desire and from which perhaps they do not even profit, they begin to get sad and lash themselves into fury, one against the other, and even against their God, as if by this refusal of what they desire they were suffering some injury at His hands?
“For that, which the Lord gives them gratuitously, they do not thank Him, or even give Him acknowledgment; and for that, which He denies them justly and sometimes most mercifully, they are restless and proudly desirous, and they try to procure it by unjust and forbidden means, throwing themselves into eternal destruction! Let them inquire what treasures and riches they did possess before they came into life? What services had they rendered unto God in order to merit them? And, if out of nothing there cannot arise anything, and, if they could not merit the being or existence which they have received, what obligation is there on the part of God to preserve, out of justice, what was given to them entirely gratuitously?
“How unreasonable and how damnable is the conduct of a man, who, for a momentary sensible pleasure, which at most must end with life and generally lasts only for a short time, labors so much and still claims to have the Faith, while at the same time he takes no account of his immortal soul, and forgets it, as if it ended and were consumed with the visible things? They consider not, that when all comes to an end, the soul begins to suffer or enjoy the eternal and everlasting things.
“They show vanity; they indulge greed and avarice; they serve their own interest; they love money, they place their hopes in treasures of silver and gold; they submit to the flatteries and to the slavery of the worldly and powerful. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions?
► THE DANGER OF DAMNATION: “Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!
“The lovers of its vanity have subjected themselves and are following the standard and the fables of the devil. In the midst of this ruin, Hell has opened its mouth and the more it is fed, the more insatiable becomes its hunger, seeking to bury in its infernal caverns all the rest of mankind. Fear this danger! Thou hast a warning in Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11), into whose souls the demon entered as soon as he had found out their desire for money and so the demon could attack them through this portal.
“This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has filled the world with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow thyself to desire worldly things, least of all any office of superiority; a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Envy no one his honor, nor the possession of any earthly thing, nor seek to obtain from the Lord anything else than His love and friendship. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition.”
► THE IGNORANCE AND FOOLISHNESS OF THE GREEDY: “The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. The earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with true wisdom. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom.
“How many men are not fascinated by their unbounded greed? All of them ordinarily stake their hopes on gold and material riches; and, in order to increase them, they exert all the forces of their natural being. There are very few in the world in our days who use well the temporal riches and offer them to their God. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities.
“The temporal goods are created by the Most High for the sale purpose of sustaining life; having attained this end, the need of them ceases. And as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied, there is no reason that the care for the immortal soul should be only fitful and temporary, while the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and ceaseless, as it has come to be among men. It is the height of perverseness for man to devote all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, and, on the other hand, he spares for his poor soul only one hour!
“The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation.
► THE SNARES AND PLOTS OF SATAN: “On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. In order to cast souls into this abyss of wickedness Lucifer meets them with the vain pride and honor of this world and with its base pleasures, representing them as alone important and desirable. Yet for this very reason they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and skillful in injuring us by their treachery. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits―especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach.
“He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord. Then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul. O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam!
“ All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
► THE PANDEMIC OF AVARICE AND GREED: “The Earth is filled with lovers of the world. The world is filled with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The nobility of souls so degraded and abased in the service of vile greed of gold with all its evil powers. As if all things had been created for the individual use of the rich, they appropriate them to themselves and deprive the poor, their brothers springing from the same nature and flesh; and denying those riches even to God―Who created and preserves all things, and Who can give or take at will. It is most lamentable that while the rich could purchase eternal life by a correct and virtuous use their possessions, they abuse and misuse those riches, and thereby draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures.
“This evil is common among the children of Adam! They follow their blind passions, seeking after possessions or the transitory pleasures, all of which will end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not and can never attain. It is debasing, and for you weak creatures, very dangerous to appropriate or attribute any of the goods of the Earth, be they of material possessions or goods of honor; for all this cannot be done without covetousness, ambition and vain ostentation.
► CURING THE DISEASE: “The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow yourself to desire worldly things―a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition. If you look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, you will see that they consider themselves fortunate whenever they attain all that they desire, according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune―for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any reward in the eternal life.
“If, on the one hand, possessions throttle the spirit and tyrannically oppress it in its weakness, if they suppress the soul’s most noble privilege of following eternal goods and God Himself: it is certain on the other hand, that voluntary poverty restores to man the nobility of his condition and, liberating him from vile servitude and reinstating him his noble freedom and mastery of all things. The soul is never more in control of itself than when it despises them. The soul can only have a more firm possession of riches and can make a more excellent use of riches, when she gives them away, or leaves them behind of her own free will―only then will her appetite for them be best satisfied, when she does not desire to possess them.
“Those, to whom nothing is wanting, call themselves rich. To possess more than is necessary creates unrest and affliction of spirit. You need to have such a freedom of spirit, as not to attach thyself to anything―be it great or small, superfluous or necessary. Renounce all affection or inclination for earthly things―even under the pretext of the necessity and poverty. Great possessions you must renounce as superfluous; you do not need them and it is a crime to keep them for no purpose!” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from Thy Mystical City of God―combination of multiple sections).
Thursday November 25th
THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE USA
Article 8
Make it a Godly―Not Godless―Thanksgiving Day!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE USA
Article 8
Make it a Godly―Not Godless―Thanksgiving Day!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Will You Be Thankful It’s Here? Or Thankful When It’s Over?
Just as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―you could also say that some are for Thanksgiving Day and some face it reluctantly. Will you be glad when it has finally arrived? Or will you will glad when it’s finally over?
In one sense, Thanksgiving Day can be a wonderful experience if―like anything else in life―it is used properly and in that way it was intended to be used. However, if we abuse it rather than use it―then the Thanksgiving Day side-effects begin to flow in as much abundance as the food and wine flow.
Thanksgiving Day can often become an Argument Day, or a Gossiping Day, or a Needling Day, or an Insulting Day, or a Show-Off Day, or a Competitive Day, or one of the many other flavors popular these days. It often sets the annual tone for the prolonged, almost ceaseless partying spirit that begins with Thanksgiving Day, takes in all the pre-Christmas parties at work and at school, then the actual Christmas Day and beyond parties, up until the New Year’s Eve party. For the worldly “party-animal” it is the high-point of the year―whereas for spiritual folk it the high-stress-point of the year, when they feel obliged to “go-along-to-get-along” and the fear and cringe at the thought of saying “No” to an invite just as much as they fear and cringe at saying “Yes” to an invite.
Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists?
Thanksgiving Terrorists! Have you ever thought of seeing your guests, over the holiday season, as potential terrorists? Tongue-Terrorists! Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! They come armed with a two-edged tongue, sharpened and ready to use! They should be asked to show their tongue at the door, for inspection!! “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28)—and during this holiday season many “slippery mouths” will surface! “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). As St. James so truly says:
“If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets on aflame a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue defiles the whole body, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
Is God Invited?
That brings us to the question: “Is God invited to your Thanksgiving Day party?” You reply: “Huh? Who? God? What has He got to do with Thanksgiving Day? It’s a secular celebration! It’s a secular holiday! It’s not a Church feastday! Religion has nothing to do with it!” Really? Is that so? Is that what you think? Is that what you were taught?
Is there anything from which we can and should exclude God? Does not Holy Scripture say: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? And “We give thanks to God always … without ceasing! … We ought to give thanks to God always! … We also give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all … We are bound to give thanks always to God!” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:12-13; 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3). “Cease not to give thanks! … “Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 1:16; 5:20). “I give thanks to my God always!” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Does not the Preface of the Sacrifice of the Mass say: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God”?
Protestant Presidents, Thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist
“Huh?” you exclaim, “Protestant Presidents, thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist? Are you crazy? What on earth are you talking about?” Well, okay, let’s go one step at a time. First of all “Protestant Presidents”.
Protestant Presidents
Even the Protestant are right about some things! This happens to be the case with the point and purpose of the original Thanksgiving Day. In fact, the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation. Twelve years later, George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America. The first president wrote: “Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks … And, also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
That―most definitely―is no longer the spirit, purpose and practice on Thanksgiving Day today! It has degenerated from being a day dedicated to God, prayer and penance, to a day that is filled with indifferentism, naturalism, materialism, hedonism (pleasure seeking), criticism and antagonism. Why? Because of an intellectual and spiritual degeneration―as they say: “Use it or lose it!” If you don’t review or refresh your knowledge, you will lose your knowledge. If you forget the past in order to only focus on the present―then you will repeat the mistakes of the past or fail to learn the wisdom of the past―which leads us to The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics
The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation): The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can be converted from one form into another. For example, turning on a light would seem to produce energy; however, it is electrical energy that is converted. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.
The energy in any system can be converted to heat or work or other things, but you always have the same total that you started with―for example, if the energy level is 7 units, then you could have heat at 4 units, work at 2 units and something else at 1 unit, or 5+1+1, or 2+2+3, etc. It is like saying you have $10 to spend―you spend $7 on a meal, $2 on a drink and $1 on tipping the waiter. Or, in relation to time―you have 24 hours in a day―which never changes but is always a constant 24 hours, of which you may spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working and 8 hours praying, house cleaning, traveling, visiting, reading, studying, etc. If you decide to sleep more, you have less time for other things, but if you dedicate more time to other things, then you have less time to sleep. You cannot change the 24 hours in a day―but you can change how you use those hours. Your income does not change (very much), but you can decide on what you will spend that income―but if you spend more on one thing, then you must spend less on another.
If we look at this from the perspective of the soul―God has given us our soul and the ‘positive energy’ of sanctifying to run it and guide it. The soul needs that exterior intervention of energy to maintain it. Yet, the soul can also ‘run’ on ‘negative energy’―which is sin. The soul has a certain capacity or volume and―since nature abhors a vacuum―it has to be and will be filled with some form of energy―either ‘positive energy’ (grace) or ‘negative energy’ (sin). That is an inescapable truth and it is our wise or foolish choice that will dictate on what ‘energy’ our soul will ‘run’.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. The word “entropy” means “the tendency to disorder and the degree of disorder” in any given thing. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the best verified law that we have in science, and yet it is also a law that is often misused and misunderstood. It has been confusing physics students for many years, not to mention laymen. In simple terms, you could call it “The Law of Decay”― The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly possible state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay.
Things can become more ordered by themselves, but only if an appropriate mechanism is in place. But in the absence of such a mechanism, intelligence (transmitted, for example, in the form of an external teaching program) is needed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics strikingly attests to the power and intelligence of our Creator, for the fact that the universe is unstoppably winding down, with less and less energy available for work, points to a Creator who ‘wound up’ the universe to begin with. The Second Law of Thermodynamics also explains why things, left to themselves, naturally become more and more disordered with time. And why the energy, available for work in any system or person, just naturally and spontaneously decreases―unless that energy is ‘topped-up’ or reinvigorated by some external source―like plugging a draining battery into an external electrical outlet to prevent continual draining (entropy), or an athlete needs to keep exercising and training in order to maintain a certain level of fitness and prevent it from deteriorating (entropy), or rehydrating a dehydrated body by taking a quantity of external water to prevent further dehydration (entropy). Likewise, our mind and soul needs to ‘drink-in’ the ‘water’ of religious doctrine if wants to prevent spiritual dehydration (entropy). This is also the reason why
Put into the perspective of the spiritual life―we will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help is, of course, God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8). The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure, the less degenerate and more perfect we will become.
Yet we don’t seek the grace and help of God as much as we should. We do not read and learn as much as we should. We do not remember as much as we should. That is why our Faith degenerates, decays, decomposes and dies. Ask most Catholic adults to name you the Ten Commandments in correct order―or in any order for that matter―and most of them will fail to do so! The Ten Commandments is something that a six- or seven-year-old learns! Yet, they, as adults have allowed that knowledge to decay, decompose and perhaps even die! There you have living proof of the The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
The Holy Eucharist
This brings us to the Most Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist—the word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”—should be at the heart of any Thanksgiving Day. The Greek word “eucharistia” (εὐχαριστία) means “thankfulness, gratitude; giving of thanks, thanksgiving” and comes from another similar Greek word “eucharistos” (εὐχάριστος) meaning “thankful, grateful”. This, of course, makes us think of the Holy Eucharist. The Greek word “eucharistia” later entered the Latin language, also keeping the form “eucharistia”. The same word, or at least the same root, is found in Hebrew (אויכריסטיה oikharístia), French (eucharistie), Spanish (eucaristía), English (eucharist), Irish (eocairist), German (eucharistie) and Dutch (eucharistie) languages.
The Last Supper was the Thanksgiving (Eucharistia) par excellence. The Last Supper was the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the greatest imaginable Gift—Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself! Man can never and should never cease to give thanks for this Gift of gifts, this Sharing of all possible sharings! The Last Supper, though primarily a sacrifice, was also meal that Christ commanded to be done again and again in commemoration of Him, of which the Thanksgiving Meal is but a pale secular, non-sacramental, non-grace giving, imitation. In fact, since the Last Supper, you could say that the Sacrifice and its secondary element, the Supper, has never ceased—but is one long perpetual Sacrifice and Meal. At the Last Supper, Our Lord “whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body!’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!’” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Also at the Last Supper, Our Lord gave a ‘new’ commandment, of which the idea of the American notion of “Thanksgiving Day” is a small piece of the gigantic spiritual jigsaw puzzle. Our Lord said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another!” (John 13:34-35). It is sad to see how many celebrations of Thanksgiving are spoiled and ruined by a lack of charity—by bringing in grudges, hatred, anger, envy, gossip, calumny, detraction, barbed or sarcastic comments, immodest talk, impure thoughts, insults, coldness, indifference, etc. This indicates that though these persons might be Christians in name, they are far from being Christians in nature. Imagine Our Lord or Our Lady at a Thanksgiving Day gathering and imagine what their behavior in thoughts, words and actions would be like. A follower of Christ should seek to be like Christ, not the opposite.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Greatest Thanksgiving
Yet the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Eucharistia) is only secondarily a Meal, it is above all a sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, whereby He gives again, but this time He gives up all that He has—life itself! “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—and Our Lord performed this greatest of loving actions, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies, whom He hoped to convert. What Our Lord began at the Last Supper—the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass—He filled-up and completed over the next 18 hours or so, with His Passion and Death upon the cross on Calvary—the consummation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as Christ calls Himself the “Alpha” and “Omega” (the beginning and the end) so too was the Last Supper and Calvary the beginning and the end of the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Hence it is fitting that on Thanksgiving Day, wherever possible, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be attended in a spirit of profound, humble and heartfelt thanksgiving for all that God has given us—and He has given all that we have! We should thank Christ for his soul-saving sacrifice and His grace-winning and grace-giving Sacrifice of the Mass, for at the Last Supper He also reminded us that we are in total dependence upon Him, “independence” is a misnomer: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Thanksgiving After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a Must
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated.
The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence it is not liturgical, they say.
How many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Holy Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ . . . (1) for the consolation of conversing with Him, (2) also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and (3) to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
Sadly, however, we have many a woeful instance of ‘thanksgiving’ after the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. Take a typical Sunday Mass. Within seconds of the priest leaving the altar, people are pouring out of the doors as though the church was on fire! It shows what their minds are thinking, or betrays the values system in their minds—they have just received their Lord and God, and off they go out the door! It would be one thing if they were spiritually on fire and were rushing out to preach the Faith to all and sundry—but that is not the case! They are off to gossip with Sally and Sam, Judy and Jack; they’re off to the coffee and donuts; they have a TV show or sports game to catch, or whatever each person’s passion may be. Today, they have all the Thanksgiving Day things to prepare, see and attend to.
Jesus Complains of a Lack of Love and Thanksgiving
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. Thanksgiving Day has become a time of family reunions—and how would a parent not be grieved about a child who could “come home” and spend the day with its parents, but neglected to do so because it had ‘better’ things to do. It is much the same with Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist—Who awaits our visits and our communions, but they are rare, or cold, or indifferent, or insincere, or rushed!
Time After Communion is Special
There is one occasion especially when these acts of love, adoration and thanksgiving are most efficacious: this is during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated within our body. The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
Thanksgiving After Mass a MUST
But even more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical, Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “When the Mass, which is subject to special rules of the liturgy, is over, the person who has received holy communion is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving; rather, it is most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him. Hence they have departed from the straight way of truth, who, adhering to the letter rather than the sense, assert and teach that, when Mass has ended, no such thanksgiving should be added … because the Mass is itself a thanksgiving.” Yes, the Mass, besides being a sacrifice and a propitiation for our sins, is also a public act of adoration and thanksgiving—but it does not excuse or dispense us from our own personal acts of thanksgiving that should continue long after the Mass has finished—throughout the rest of the day!
Our Lady and St. Charbel
Our Lady, as revealed to the mystics, would often spend as much as three hours in thanksgiving after Holy Communion. St. Charbel Makhlouf spent most of his day in thanksgiving for Holy Mass and Holy Communion—the rest of the day was spent in preparation for the next day’s Mass and Holy Communion! How terrible are our “fast-track-thanks” after Holy Communion, that are performed on “auto-pilot” without any or little sincerity, warmth or zeal. We don’t really mean what we say, nor do we really say what we mean, nor do we hang around long enough to say it! Our Lord must think to Himself what He once said of the upholders of tradition and religion in His own day: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Abuse and Neglect of Thanksgiving
Thus, Pope Pius XII states in his encyclical: “Why then, should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their divine Redeemer―even after the congregation has been officially dismissed, and that not only for the consolation of conversing with Him, but also to render Him due thanks and praise … We exhort them to do so in a special ... The author of that golden book, The Imitation of Christ, certainly speaks in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the liturgy, when he gives the following advice to the person who approaches the altar, ‘Remain on in secret [after Mass is over] and take delight in your God; for He is yours whom the whole world cannot take away from you” (Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei).
Hence it is not liturgical, nor worthy of the priests, religious or the faithful, to disappear from the pews once Mass is finished. They wrongly think that their obligation of thanksgiving has ended with the Mass! Not so! The end of Mass is only the beginning of their obligation. But, in practice, how many people ever spend any time in prayer after Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary, so that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.”
Back to Thermodynamics
Why? Why do they have this attitude? Why this indifference to the Holiest of holies? Because of a spiritual degeneration―which leads us back, once again, to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay―which is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay. Your house or car will depreciate and degenerate more quickly if you rarely take care of it. A car, that has run out of gas, will not run again until you walk 10 miles to and from a gas station and refuel the car. Your body will follow the same path, if you do not take care of it with regular exercise, a good diet and sufficient sleep. Your mind will follow the same path if you do not keep it active by regular and challenging mental work. The less you read, the less you learn, the less you know, which lets your ignorance grow as your intellect hits a low. The same applies to your Faith―if you do not exercise it, nourish it, maintain it, protect it on a regular basis, then it will degenerate, decay and eventually die―all of which corresponds to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
Holy Scripture puts it thus: “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away!” (1 Peter 1:24). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). We will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help, ultimately, can only come from God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8).
The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure―through the Sacraments, prayers, reading spiritual books, listening to sermons and spiritual talks, seeking spiritual guidance―the less degenerate and more perfect we will become. Without that outside or external help, we will spiritually deteriorate, degenerate, decay and die. That is what is actually happening to the Faith in the Catholic world right now―spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death. It is The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay in action, which will reach such a point as to prove the truth of Our Lord’s rhetorical question: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Following The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, each generation is becoming worse and worse―for they do not use the external mechanisms that God has put into place to prevent this spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death―namely, the Church and all the external remedies (‘energy boosters’ or sources of grace) that it offers: Sacraments, Sacramentals, Catechism, Sermons, Conferences, Books, etc.
That is why, following the principles of The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, we have arrived at this present state of quasi-secularism, a strange, almost superstitious state, where we mix God and mammon, Catholicity and worldliness, order and disorder, grace and sin, Sacraments and Smartphones, Holy Communion and Unholy Computers, Tabernacles and TVs, all the time deteriorating in our knowledge about God and increasing in our knowledge of the world; decreasing in our love of God and increasing in our love of the world; degenerating the right order of things and regenerating a disordered value of things; relinquishing the supernatural for the natural, the graceful for the ungraceful, switching from a gratitude to God to an ingratitude to God, from a dependence on God to an independence from God. Welcome to our world! Welcome to our universe! As the The Second Law of Thermodynamics says: “The entropy (tendency to disorder) of the universe only increases and never decreases.”
Thanksgiving Day Thermodynamics
If you read, once again, the initial reason and purpose for Thanksgiving Day― where the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation―and the Protestant George Washington’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, twelve years later in 1789, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America.
On October 3rd, 1789, the first Protestant president, George Washington, wrote: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor ― and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war; … and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
Most, if not all of that is today, forgotten and ignored―even though it comes from a Protestant and Protestant and even Masonic government―truth is nevertheless the truth. Just as no person is totally evil―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―so no man is totally wrong. Even apostates, heretics, pagans, etc. speak the truth in some things. Or, as they say, “A broken clock tells the correct time twice a day!” Maybe we should try change a largely godless day into a godly day―a secular day into a more spiritual day! Download the Thanksgiving Day Prayers and Rituals [click here and scroll down to almost the bottom of the page] and you will have a head-start on everybody else!
Just as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―you could also say that some are for Thanksgiving Day and some face it reluctantly. Will you be glad when it has finally arrived? Or will you will glad when it’s finally over?
In one sense, Thanksgiving Day can be a wonderful experience if―like anything else in life―it is used properly and in that way it was intended to be used. However, if we abuse it rather than use it―then the Thanksgiving Day side-effects begin to flow in as much abundance as the food and wine flow.
Thanksgiving Day can often become an Argument Day, or a Gossiping Day, or a Needling Day, or an Insulting Day, or a Show-Off Day, or a Competitive Day, or one of the many other flavors popular these days. It often sets the annual tone for the prolonged, almost ceaseless partying spirit that begins with Thanksgiving Day, takes in all the pre-Christmas parties at work and at school, then the actual Christmas Day and beyond parties, up until the New Year’s Eve party. For the worldly “party-animal” it is the high-point of the year―whereas for spiritual folk it the high-stress-point of the year, when they feel obliged to “go-along-to-get-along” and the fear and cringe at the thought of saying “No” to an invite just as much as they fear and cringe at saying “Yes” to an invite.
Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists?
Thanksgiving Terrorists! Have you ever thought of seeing your guests, over the holiday season, as potential terrorists? Tongue-Terrorists! Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! They come armed with a two-edged tongue, sharpened and ready to use! They should be asked to show their tongue at the door, for inspection!! “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28)—and during this holiday season many “slippery mouths” will surface! “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). As St. James so truly says:
“If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets on aflame a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue defiles the whole body, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
Is God Invited?
That brings us to the question: “Is God invited to your Thanksgiving Day party?” You reply: “Huh? Who? God? What has He got to do with Thanksgiving Day? It’s a secular celebration! It’s a secular holiday! It’s not a Church feastday! Religion has nothing to do with it!” Really? Is that so? Is that what you think? Is that what you were taught?
Is there anything from which we can and should exclude God? Does not Holy Scripture say: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? And “We give thanks to God always … without ceasing! … We ought to give thanks to God always! … We also give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all … We are bound to give thanks always to God!” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:12-13; 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3). “Cease not to give thanks! … “Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 1:16; 5:20). “I give thanks to my God always!” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Does not the Preface of the Sacrifice of the Mass say: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God”?
Protestant Presidents, Thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist
“Huh?” you exclaim, “Protestant Presidents, thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist? Are you crazy? What on earth are you talking about?” Well, okay, let’s go one step at a time. First of all “Protestant Presidents”.
Protestant Presidents
Even the Protestant are right about some things! This happens to be the case with the point and purpose of the original Thanksgiving Day. In fact, the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation. Twelve years later, George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America. The first president wrote: “Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks … And, also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
That―most definitely―is no longer the spirit, purpose and practice on Thanksgiving Day today! It has degenerated from being a day dedicated to God, prayer and penance, to a day that is filled with indifferentism, naturalism, materialism, hedonism (pleasure seeking), criticism and antagonism. Why? Because of an intellectual and spiritual degeneration―as they say: “Use it or lose it!” If you don’t review or refresh your knowledge, you will lose your knowledge. If you forget the past in order to only focus on the present―then you will repeat the mistakes of the past or fail to learn the wisdom of the past―which leads us to The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics
The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation): The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can be converted from one form into another. For example, turning on a light would seem to produce energy; however, it is electrical energy that is converted. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.
The energy in any system can be converted to heat or work or other things, but you always have the same total that you started with―for example, if the energy level is 7 units, then you could have heat at 4 units, work at 2 units and something else at 1 unit, or 5+1+1, or 2+2+3, etc. It is like saying you have $10 to spend―you spend $7 on a meal, $2 on a drink and $1 on tipping the waiter. Or, in relation to time―you have 24 hours in a day―which never changes but is always a constant 24 hours, of which you may spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working and 8 hours praying, house cleaning, traveling, visiting, reading, studying, etc. If you decide to sleep more, you have less time for other things, but if you dedicate more time to other things, then you have less time to sleep. You cannot change the 24 hours in a day―but you can change how you use those hours. Your income does not change (very much), but you can decide on what you will spend that income―but if you spend more on one thing, then you must spend less on another.
If we look at this from the perspective of the soul―God has given us our soul and the ‘positive energy’ of sanctifying to run it and guide it. The soul needs that exterior intervention of energy to maintain it. Yet, the soul can also ‘run’ on ‘negative energy’―which is sin. The soul has a certain capacity or volume and―since nature abhors a vacuum―it has to be and will be filled with some form of energy―either ‘positive energy’ (grace) or ‘negative energy’ (sin). That is an inescapable truth and it is our wise or foolish choice that will dictate on what ‘energy’ our soul will ‘run’.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. The word “entropy” means “the tendency to disorder and the degree of disorder” in any given thing. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the best verified law that we have in science, and yet it is also a law that is often misused and misunderstood. It has been confusing physics students for many years, not to mention laymen. In simple terms, you could call it “The Law of Decay”― The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly possible state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay.
Things can become more ordered by themselves, but only if an appropriate mechanism is in place. But in the absence of such a mechanism, intelligence (transmitted, for example, in the form of an external teaching program) is needed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics strikingly attests to the power and intelligence of our Creator, for the fact that the universe is unstoppably winding down, with less and less energy available for work, points to a Creator who ‘wound up’ the universe to begin with. The Second Law of Thermodynamics also explains why things, left to themselves, naturally become more and more disordered with time. And why the energy, available for work in any system or person, just naturally and spontaneously decreases―unless that energy is ‘topped-up’ or reinvigorated by some external source―like plugging a draining battery into an external electrical outlet to prevent continual draining (entropy), or an athlete needs to keep exercising and training in order to maintain a certain level of fitness and prevent it from deteriorating (entropy), or rehydrating a dehydrated body by taking a quantity of external water to prevent further dehydration (entropy). Likewise, our mind and soul needs to ‘drink-in’ the ‘water’ of religious doctrine if wants to prevent spiritual dehydration (entropy). This is also the reason why
Put into the perspective of the spiritual life―we will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help is, of course, God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8). The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure, the less degenerate and more perfect we will become.
Yet we don’t seek the grace and help of God as much as we should. We do not read and learn as much as we should. We do not remember as much as we should. That is why our Faith degenerates, decays, decomposes and dies. Ask most Catholic adults to name you the Ten Commandments in correct order―or in any order for that matter―and most of them will fail to do so! The Ten Commandments is something that a six- or seven-year-old learns! Yet, they, as adults have allowed that knowledge to decay, decompose and perhaps even die! There you have living proof of the The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
The Holy Eucharist
This brings us to the Most Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist—the word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”—should be at the heart of any Thanksgiving Day. The Greek word “eucharistia” (εὐχαριστία) means “thankfulness, gratitude; giving of thanks, thanksgiving” and comes from another similar Greek word “eucharistos” (εὐχάριστος) meaning “thankful, grateful”. This, of course, makes us think of the Holy Eucharist. The Greek word “eucharistia” later entered the Latin language, also keeping the form “eucharistia”. The same word, or at least the same root, is found in Hebrew (אויכריסטיה oikharístia), French (eucharistie), Spanish (eucaristía), English (eucharist), Irish (eocairist), German (eucharistie) and Dutch (eucharistie) languages.
The Last Supper was the Thanksgiving (Eucharistia) par excellence. The Last Supper was the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the greatest imaginable Gift—Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself! Man can never and should never cease to give thanks for this Gift of gifts, this Sharing of all possible sharings! The Last Supper, though primarily a sacrifice, was also meal that Christ commanded to be done again and again in commemoration of Him, of which the Thanksgiving Meal is but a pale secular, non-sacramental, non-grace giving, imitation. In fact, since the Last Supper, you could say that the Sacrifice and its secondary element, the Supper, has never ceased—but is one long perpetual Sacrifice and Meal. At the Last Supper, Our Lord “whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body!’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!’” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Also at the Last Supper, Our Lord gave a ‘new’ commandment, of which the idea of the American notion of “Thanksgiving Day” is a small piece of the gigantic spiritual jigsaw puzzle. Our Lord said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another!” (John 13:34-35). It is sad to see how many celebrations of Thanksgiving are spoiled and ruined by a lack of charity—by bringing in grudges, hatred, anger, envy, gossip, calumny, detraction, barbed or sarcastic comments, immodest talk, impure thoughts, insults, coldness, indifference, etc. This indicates that though these persons might be Christians in name, they are far from being Christians in nature. Imagine Our Lord or Our Lady at a Thanksgiving Day gathering and imagine what their behavior in thoughts, words and actions would be like. A follower of Christ should seek to be like Christ, not the opposite.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Greatest Thanksgiving
Yet the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Eucharistia) is only secondarily a Meal, it is above all a sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, whereby He gives again, but this time He gives up all that He has—life itself! “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—and Our Lord performed this greatest of loving actions, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies, whom He hoped to convert. What Our Lord began at the Last Supper—the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass—He filled-up and completed over the next 18 hours or so, with His Passion and Death upon the cross on Calvary—the consummation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as Christ calls Himself the “Alpha” and “Omega” (the beginning and the end) so too was the Last Supper and Calvary the beginning and the end of the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Hence it is fitting that on Thanksgiving Day, wherever possible, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be attended in a spirit of profound, humble and heartfelt thanksgiving for all that God has given us—and He has given all that we have! We should thank Christ for his soul-saving sacrifice and His grace-winning and grace-giving Sacrifice of the Mass, for at the Last Supper He also reminded us that we are in total dependence upon Him, “independence” is a misnomer: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Thanksgiving After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a Must
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated.
The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence it is not liturgical, they say.
How many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Holy Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ . . . (1) for the consolation of conversing with Him, (2) also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and (3) to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
Sadly, however, we have many a woeful instance of ‘thanksgiving’ after the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. Take a typical Sunday Mass. Within seconds of the priest leaving the altar, people are pouring out of the doors as though the church was on fire! It shows what their minds are thinking, or betrays the values system in their minds—they have just received their Lord and God, and off they go out the door! It would be one thing if they were spiritually on fire and were rushing out to preach the Faith to all and sundry—but that is not the case! They are off to gossip with Sally and Sam, Judy and Jack; they’re off to the coffee and donuts; they have a TV show or sports game to catch, or whatever each person’s passion may be. Today, they have all the Thanksgiving Day things to prepare, see and attend to.
Jesus Complains of a Lack of Love and Thanksgiving
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. Thanksgiving Day has become a time of family reunions—and how would a parent not be grieved about a child who could “come home” and spend the day with its parents, but neglected to do so because it had ‘better’ things to do. It is much the same with Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist—Who awaits our visits and our communions, but they are rare, or cold, or indifferent, or insincere, or rushed!
Time After Communion is Special
There is one occasion especially when these acts of love, adoration and thanksgiving are most efficacious: this is during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated within our body. The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
Thanksgiving After Mass a MUST
But even more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical, Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “When the Mass, which is subject to special rules of the liturgy, is over, the person who has received holy communion is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving; rather, it is most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him. Hence they have departed from the straight way of truth, who, adhering to the letter rather than the sense, assert and teach that, when Mass has ended, no such thanksgiving should be added … because the Mass is itself a thanksgiving.” Yes, the Mass, besides being a sacrifice and a propitiation for our sins, is also a public act of adoration and thanksgiving—but it does not excuse or dispense us from our own personal acts of thanksgiving that should continue long after the Mass has finished—throughout the rest of the day!
Our Lady and St. Charbel
Our Lady, as revealed to the mystics, would often spend as much as three hours in thanksgiving after Holy Communion. St. Charbel Makhlouf spent most of his day in thanksgiving for Holy Mass and Holy Communion—the rest of the day was spent in preparation for the next day’s Mass and Holy Communion! How terrible are our “fast-track-thanks” after Holy Communion, that are performed on “auto-pilot” without any or little sincerity, warmth or zeal. We don’t really mean what we say, nor do we really say what we mean, nor do we hang around long enough to say it! Our Lord must think to Himself what He once said of the upholders of tradition and religion in His own day: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Abuse and Neglect of Thanksgiving
Thus, Pope Pius XII states in his encyclical: “Why then, should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their divine Redeemer―even after the congregation has been officially dismissed, and that not only for the consolation of conversing with Him, but also to render Him due thanks and praise … We exhort them to do so in a special ... The author of that golden book, The Imitation of Christ, certainly speaks in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the liturgy, when he gives the following advice to the person who approaches the altar, ‘Remain on in secret [after Mass is over] and take delight in your God; for He is yours whom the whole world cannot take away from you” (Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei).
Hence it is not liturgical, nor worthy of the priests, religious or the faithful, to disappear from the pews once Mass is finished. They wrongly think that their obligation of thanksgiving has ended with the Mass! Not so! The end of Mass is only the beginning of their obligation. But, in practice, how many people ever spend any time in prayer after Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary, so that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.”
Back to Thermodynamics
Why? Why do they have this attitude? Why this indifference to the Holiest of holies? Because of a spiritual degeneration―which leads us back, once again, to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay―which is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay. Your house or car will depreciate and degenerate more quickly if you rarely take care of it. A car, that has run out of gas, will not run again until you walk 10 miles to and from a gas station and refuel the car. Your body will follow the same path, if you do not take care of it with regular exercise, a good diet and sufficient sleep. Your mind will follow the same path if you do not keep it active by regular and challenging mental work. The less you read, the less you learn, the less you know, which lets your ignorance grow as your intellect hits a low. The same applies to your Faith―if you do not exercise it, nourish it, maintain it, protect it on a regular basis, then it will degenerate, decay and eventually die―all of which corresponds to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
Holy Scripture puts it thus: “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away!” (1 Peter 1:24). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). We will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help, ultimately, can only come from God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8).
The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure―through the Sacraments, prayers, reading spiritual books, listening to sermons and spiritual talks, seeking spiritual guidance―the less degenerate and more perfect we will become. Without that outside or external help, we will spiritually deteriorate, degenerate, decay and die. That is what is actually happening to the Faith in the Catholic world right now―spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death. It is The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay in action, which will reach such a point as to prove the truth of Our Lord’s rhetorical question: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Following The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, each generation is becoming worse and worse―for they do not use the external mechanisms that God has put into place to prevent this spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death―namely, the Church and all the external remedies (‘energy boosters’ or sources of grace) that it offers: Sacraments, Sacramentals, Catechism, Sermons, Conferences, Books, etc.
That is why, following the principles of The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, we have arrived at this present state of quasi-secularism, a strange, almost superstitious state, where we mix God and mammon, Catholicity and worldliness, order and disorder, grace and sin, Sacraments and Smartphones, Holy Communion and Unholy Computers, Tabernacles and TVs, all the time deteriorating in our knowledge about God and increasing in our knowledge of the world; decreasing in our love of God and increasing in our love of the world; degenerating the right order of things and regenerating a disordered value of things; relinquishing the supernatural for the natural, the graceful for the ungraceful, switching from a gratitude to God to an ingratitude to God, from a dependence on God to an independence from God. Welcome to our world! Welcome to our universe! As the The Second Law of Thermodynamics says: “The entropy (tendency to disorder) of the universe only increases and never decreases.”
Thanksgiving Day Thermodynamics
If you read, once again, the initial reason and purpose for Thanksgiving Day― where the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation―and the Protestant George Washington’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, twelve years later in 1789, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America.
On October 3rd, 1789, the first Protestant president, George Washington, wrote: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor ― and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war; … and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
Most, if not all of that is today, forgotten and ignored―even though it comes from a Protestant and Protestant and even Masonic government―truth is nevertheless the truth. Just as no person is totally evil―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―so no man is totally wrong. Even apostates, heretics, pagans, etc. speak the truth in some things. Or, as they say, “A broken clock tells the correct time twice a day!” Maybe we should try change a largely godless day into a godly day―a secular day into a more spiritual day! Download the Thanksgiving Day Prayers and Rituals [click here and scroll down to almost the bottom of the page] and you will have a head-start on everybody else!
Wednesday November 24th
Article 7
The Lost Art of Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving in Name Only! Thanksgetting Trumps Thanksgiving!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 7
The Lost Art of Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving in Name Only! Thanksgetting Trumps Thanksgiving!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
“What Do You Say?”
We all have seen the sullen child―and perhaps we have been that sullen child―who has just been given something by another person, but shows no gratitude―almost as though they had an inborn right to what they just received! The child’s parent then has to almost play the ventriloquist ― saying “Thank you!” on behalf of the ungrateful child, or they might grab the child firmly by the shoulder and look them in the eye and remind them: “What do you say when somebody gives you something?” The child then lowers its head and half-heartedly mumbles some words in a low voice while looking at the ground―words that the parent then translates for the benefactor, saying: “He (or she) said ‘Thank you!’”
Thanksgetting or Thanksgiving?
The child just “got” something, but “gave” nothing in return―not even a word of thanks! Sadly, that epitomizes our world today―it is all about “getting” rather “giving”! Just like the ungrateful sullen child, most of us focus on “getting” rather than “giving”. We are more worried about “getting” paid than we worry about “giving” effort at work that is deserving of getting paid. At Christmas, or on birthdays, everyone is asking: “What did you get for Christmas?” You never hear anyone asking: “What did you give for Christmas?” Charity―which is the greatest of all virtues―is all about GIVING and not about getting. We say a person is charitable because he or she GIVES―not because they GET things. We complain if get “short-changed” (“ripped-off” or paid less), but we never feel guilty about “short-changing” or “ripping-off” our employer or client! Today’s world is all about “getting” ― “Get all you can out of them!”
Thanks for Shopping With Us and Paying Through the Nose!
Most stores pretend to be charitable―by taking a few cents or dollars off this or that item. Yet this “false charity” hides the fact that they are “uncharitable” by the enormous “markup” prices that they initially put on their products. For example, movie theater popcorn has an average markup of 1,275% ― for every dollar it cost to make, you pay $13.75. Astronomical prescription drug prices drain your wallet — with markups ranging from 200% (you pay $3 for something it cost $1 to make) to 3,000% (you pay $31 for something it cost $1 to make). Outgoing text messages on a cell phone can cost the provider three-tenths of a cent, but costs users up to 20 cents – that translates to a 6,000% markup. Some plans charge 10,000 times more for sending a text than other types of data. Fashion is another “black hole” for finances―a $665 price tag on Gucci jeans and $225 for Sevens, proves some shoppers are willing to go to great lengths for fashion. But these designer items are grossly overpriced. According to The Wall Street Journal, it costs about $50 to make True Religion’s best-selling jeans―Super T Jeans―but the wholesale price for them reaches $152 and the average retail price is inflated to $335. Half-a-liter of bottled water is 3,000 times more expensive than half-a-liter of tap water. In fact, an estimated 25%, or more, of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle! Everyone is “on the make” ― make as much money as you can for providing as little as you can get away with. Semantics ― or crafty use of words ― fools most of the people most of the time into thinking they are “getting” some kind of wonderful deal! Thanks, but no thanks!
Think More to Thank More! Think Less and be Thankless!
We are basically a thankless race because we are a thoughtless race! If we would only think more we would also thank more! We are blind to the incessant and innumerable gifts with which God showers the world―both the good and bad alike: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven,” says Our Lord, “maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45). As Holy Scripture adds: “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
This the incessant flow of innumerable gifts with which God showers the world requires―in justice and in charity―a sincere, heartfelt and constant flow of thanksgiving on our part. “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). “Cease not to give thanks” (Ephesians 1:16). “We give thanks to God always … in our prayers without ceasing! … We give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:13; 5:18). “Giving thanks always for all things, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 5:20). “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Colossians 3:17). “We are bound to give thanks always to God … We ought to give thanks to God always” (2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:12). “I give God thanks” (1 Corinthians 1:14). “First I give thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:8). “I give thanks to my God always” (1 Corinthians 1:4).
Blind, Ungrateful Man!
“When they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). How true are those words of the current “Holiday Season” into which the USA enters through the portal of Thanksgiving Day. In the USA, their national Thanksgiving Day celebrations kick-off a season of spending, socializing, eating, drinking and partying that will go until the end of the New Year’s Eve festivities. For the shops and stores it is the highest spending season of the year, with many taking 50% of sales in that highly materialistic period. Just as we have our 40 Days of Lent—the USA secular world has its 40 Days of Spent Money! We spend our 40 Days of Lent fasting—they spend 40 Days of Fast Living! Thanksgiving parties, soon to be followed by office or school Christmas parties in the lead up to Christmas, these are followed by the Christmas Week parties going from one place to another, culminated with the New Year’s Eve party.
In recent years, an increasing number of Americans have given up the worldly traditions of Christmas giving gifts and partying entirely, and many of them seem quite happy to have done so. Of course most people are still quite satisfied with the status quo, and there are many that will get very angry with you if you dare to suggest that the way that Americans celebrate Christmas has got way out of control and is quite opposed to the true spirit of Christ—you could even call it “Antichrist-mas”.
Nature abhors a vacuum. Take something away and something has to fill the gap. So we shouldn’t be surprised that when we turn away from or become indifferent to God, then it is natural to replace the 40-DAYS OF LENT—where we do without things—with the 40-DAYS OF pLENTy—where we stuff ourselves with things! For most Americans the biggest holiday of the year is all about the “stuff” they are going to buy, the “stuff” they are going to give and the “stuff” they are going to get! As a society, we are obsessed with things, but those things are never going to make us happy.
Slavery to Stuff & Addiction to Debt
Has there ever been a major holiday season more focused on materialism than the modern American Thanksgiving-Christmas 40-Day Season of (p)Lent(y)? Statistics show that Americans, on the whole, are spending more each year. Have incomes gone up accordingly? Of course not! In fact, real median household income in the United States has been experiencing a steady long-term decline. So in order to fund all of our Christmas spending, people have got to go into even more debt.
In fact, one Pew Research Center survey found that approximately 70% of all Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”. But then they have to work their fingers to the bone to try to make the payments on all of that debt, not realizing that debt systematically impoverishes them. It may be hard to believe, but if you have a single dollar in your pocket and no debt, you have a greater net worth than 25% of all Americans. It may sound crazy, but it is true!
If you have no debt, then you should be indebted to God for that great grace! Yet that brings up another question! How much do you owe God? How indebted are you to God? While you might be “living it up” this Thanksgiving Day, you might spare a thought and a prayer for those Poor Souls who are paying their debt to God in the fires of Purgatory! They are all thankful for being there and being allowed to pay their debts for their past sins―which, though they were confessed and forgiven, they were not fully paid by penance. That thought should make us thankful that we are not yet dead and are therefore still capable of thankfully paying our debts for sin at a much “cheaper rate” than the “price” being asked in Purgatory.
Thanksgiving on a Plate by St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, Question 106), serves up a meal for the mind to chew over with the question of “Thankfulness or Gratitude.” He first of all points out that thankfulness or gratitude is something that is owed out of justice―he then later goes on to show that thankfulness and gratitude also stems from charity.
► GRATITUDE IS A DEBT IN JUSTICE―First of all the justice aspect. St. Thomas writes:
“Thankfulness a special part of justice (it is something that we owe for a gift or favor) … The nature of the debt to be paid by us, varies according to various different causes giving rise to our debt of gratitude … Now the cause of debt is found primarily and chiefly in God, because He is the first principle of all our goods. Secondarily we owe a debt to our father, because he begot us and raised us. Thirdly we owe a debt of gratitude to the person from whom general favors proceed. Fourthly a debt of gratitude is owed to a benefactor, from whom we have received particular and private favors, on account of which we are under particular obligation to him.
“Accordingly, since what we owe God, or our father, or a person excelling in dignity, is not the same as what we owe a benefactor from whom we have received some particular favor, it follows that after religion, whereby we pay God due worship, and piety, whereby we worship our parents, and observance, whereby we worship persons excelling in dignity, there is thankfulness or gratitude, whereby we give thanks to our benefactors … The virtue of thankfulness or gratitude answers to the moral debt by paying the debt spontaneously. Thanksgiving is less thankful when it is compelled. Friendship is preserved by repayment of favors, although repayment of favors belongs specially to the virtue of gratitude.”
► WHO OWES MORE GRATITUDE―THE SAINT OR SINNER? On the tricky question whether an innocent or just person is more bound to give thanks to God than the penitent―because the greater the gift one has received from God, the more one is bound to give Him thanks. Now the gift of innocence is greater than that of justice restored. Therefore it seems that the innocent is more bound to give thanks to God than the penitent sinner. Besides, the favor of divine grace is more continuous in the innocent person than in the penitent sinner―who has lost grace. St. Thomas replies as follows:
“On the contrary, it is written: ‘To whom more is forgiven, he loveth more … To whom less is forgiven, he loveth less’ (Luke 7:47). Therefore for the same reason he is bound to greater thanksgiving to whom more has been forgiven. Thanksgiving in the recipient must correspond to the favor granted by the giver―so that when there is greater favor on the part of the giver, greater thanks are due on the part of the recipient. The penitent is more bound to give thanks than the innocent, because what he receives from God is more gratuitously given―since, whereas he was deserving of punishment, he has received mercy and grace. Wherefore, although the gift bestowed on the innocent is considered greater objectively speaking, yet the mercy and grace bestowed on the penitent is greater in relation to him (subjectively)―just as a small gift bestowed on a poor man is greater to him than a great gift is to a rich man.”
► IS EVERYONE TO BE THANKED? On the question of whether a man is bound to give thanks to every benefactor? St. Thomas says:
“It is written: ‘In all things give thanks’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). God turns all things to Himself because He is the cause of all. A benefactor is cause of the benefit. Hence the natural order requires that he who has received a favor, should repay the favor to his benefactor according to his means. Promptness enhances, delay discounts a favor … It is the height of malevolence to refuse to recognize a kindness … Gratitude is due even to a slave, when he does more than his duty … Kindness depends on the heart rather than on the deed, so too gratitude depends chiefly the heart. Hence, whoever receives a favor gratefully, has already begun to pay it back―and that we must be grateful for favors that we have received should be shown by the outpouring of our heart, not only in the benefactor’s hearing, but everywhere … There are many ways of repaying those who are well off, whatever we happen to owe them; such as good advice, frequent fellowship, affable and pleasant conversation without flattery.”
► WHEN TO REPAY? On the question of when to repay a favor, St. Thomas says that it is better to wait for an appropriate time rather than immediately return a favor:
“Some object that it seems necessary that a man is bound to repay a favor at once. For we are bound to restore at once what we owe, unless the term be fixed. Therefore a man is bound to repay a favor at once. Furthermore, a good action would seem to be all the more praiseworthy if it done earnestly and earnestness makes a person do his duty without any delay. Yet, I answer on the contrary! He that hastens to repay, is animated with a sense, not of gratitude but of indebtedness or obligation. Just as two things are to be considered in doing a favor―namely, the affection of the heart and the gift given―so also must these things be considered in repaying the favor. Do you wish to repay a favor? Receive it graciously! As regards the gift, one ought to wait until such a time as will be convenient to the benefactor. For, if instead of choosing a convenient time, one repays at once, favor for favor, it would not seem to be a virtuous, but a constrained or obligated repayment. For, he that wishes to repay too soon, is an unwilling debtor, and an unwilling debtor is ungrateful. Just as favors should be granted at a convenient time and without delay when that convenient time comes; and the same is to be observed in repaying favors.”
► WHAT COUNTS MORE―THE DISPOSITION OR THE DEED? On the question of whether, in giving thanks for a favor, we should look at the benefactor’s disposition or at the deed? In other words, should our focus be on the benefactor’s, intentions, attitude and sentiment that was behind the benefactor granting us a favor, or whether our focus should be on what was given to us or done for us? St. Thomas answers:
“We are sometimes under a greater obligation to someone who has given a little with a large heart, and has bestowed a small favor, yet willingly. Repayment of a favor depends more on the disposition of the giver than on the effect … A kindly action consists not in deed or gift, but in the disposition of the giver or doer … God alone sees person’s disposition in itself―but, in so far as it is shown by certain signs, we can also know it. It is thus that a benefactor's disposition is known by the way in which he does the kindly action―for instance through his doing it joyfully and readily.”
► DO I GIVE BACK MORE THAN I GOT? The last question St. Thomas considers is whether the repayment of gratitude should surpass the favor received? To this he answers:
“We should repay those who are gracious to us, by being gracious to them return, and this is done by repaying more than we have received. Therefore gratitude should incline to do something greater. Gratitude regards the favor received according the intention of the benefactor―who is deserving of praise for having freely conferred the favor without being bound to do so. Wherefore the beneficiary is under a moral obligation to bestow something freely in return. Now he does not seem to bestow something freely, unless he exceeds the quantity of the favor received―because, so long as he repays less or an equivalent, he would seem to do nothing freely or extra, but only to return what he has received. Therefore gratitude always inclines, as far as possible, to pay back something more … The debt of gratitude flows from charity, which the more it is paid the more it is due, according to Romans 13:8―‘Owe no man anything, but to love one another.’ Wherefore it is not unreasonable if the obligation of gratitude has no limit.”
Without God We Have Nothing!
The problem with modern man is that he is inflated and puffed-up with his false sense of “self-sufficiency”―which is seen in phrases such as “self-made-man”, “DIY or do-it-yourself”, “I did it my way!”, “I got to where I am by myself!”, “I’m independent, not dependent!”, etc., etc.
God answers: “What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) … “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) … “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) … “For if any man think himself to be something―whereas he is nothing―he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3) … “For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to His good will” (Philippians 2:13).
In the Old Testament, we see Job blessed with many good gifts by God―for which Job is thankful and grateful―but which God allows Satan to take away from Job for no apparent or justified reason.
Job―a Patron Saint for Thanksgiving
On this Thanksgiving Day and materialistic weekend (Black Friday), you could do no better than take Job as a patron saint of thanksgiving. God had blessed Job with many material things: “There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east” (Job 1:1-3).
Sadly―as we all know―an abundance of material things easily leads to an abundance of sin. Though Job was not in any way inclined to this, he nevertheless feared that his children would not be able to virtuously handle such an abundance of wealth: “And his sons went, and made a feast by houses everyone in his own day. And sending, they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job, rising up early, offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: ‘Lest perhaps my sons have sinned!’ So did Job all days” (Job 1:4-5).
Job Experiences a “Black Friday” of a Different Kind
Just because we are ‘good’ and ‘just’―as was Job―does not mean that evil things will not befall us: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth!” (Proverbs 3:12), for that adversity tests and proves the love of God in the person, “for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:3). This is exactly what happened in Job’s case, as the following passage shows in a conversation between God and Satan:
“And the Lord said to him: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job―that there is none like him in the Earth―a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?’ And Satan, answering, said: ‘Doth Job fear God in vain? Hast not Thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about; blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the Earth? But stretch forth Thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth Thee not to Thy face!’ Then the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand! Only put not forth thy hand upon his person!’” (Job 1:8-12).
So Satan, having been given power over Job and his possessions, goes away to try and prove his theory that Job will cease to love God when things cease to go well for him: “And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: ‘The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans rushed in and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: ‘The fire of God fell from Heaven and, striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: ‘The Chaldeans made three troops and have fallen upon the camels and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee! He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: ‘Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother! A violent wind came, all of a sudden, from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ Then Job rose up, and tore his garments, and, having shaven his head, fell down upon the ground and worshiped God, and said: ‘Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!’ In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God” (Job 12:22).
With his attempts at turning Job against God having failed, “the Lord said to Satan: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved Me against him, that I should afflict him without any cause!’ And Satan answered, and said: ‘Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life! But put forth thy hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see that if he will bless Thee to Thy face!’ And the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, he is in thy hand, but you must spare his life!’ So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer―from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head: And he took a piece of a broken clay pot and scraped the corrupt matter, sitting on a dunghill. And his wife said to him: ‘Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? Bless God and die!’ And he said to her: ‘Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women! If we have received good things from the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?’ In all these things Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:3-10).
Job’s Friends See His Misfortune as a Punishment from God
Much like the three friends of Job, we interpret the evil that befalls others as some kind of punishment for their sins. This, of course, is partially true in everyone’s case― “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar” (1 John 1:10) … “For all have sinned [and] the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23)―but we also suffer at the hands of God for other reasons too! It can be for the sins of others―family, relatives, friends, strangers or even the world. We can suffer at the hands of God in order to earn some great grace in the near future―whether for ourselves, others, or the Church in general, such as the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We also find ourselves suffering at the hands of God because He wants us to imitate His crucified Son, who Himself said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23)―and the carrying of a cross is synonymous with suffering. Our problem is that, unlike Job, we fail to see these truths lurking behind the sufferings that come our way―and we fall into immediate dissatisfaction and complaints―whereas, like Job, we should be full of thanksgiving for our crosses and sufferings!
Learning Gratitude From Job
Make no mistake about it―at some point in the future (perhaps sooner rather than later)―we will have undergo terrible sufferings, not just individually or here and there, but worldwide. Both Holy Scripture and prophecies confirm it. Our Lord Himself warns: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-10, 21; Mark 13:7-20; Luke 21:9-24). “And there shall be distress of nations upon the earth, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:25-26).
Besides the many prophecies concerning the sufferings that await us, there are the repeated prophetic warnings of Our Lady at her modern-day apparitions―Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Can we drink of this chalice? “And Jesus said to them: ‘Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of―or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?’ But they said to Him: ‘We can!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized!’” (Mark 10:38-39).
We all have seen the sullen child―and perhaps we have been that sullen child―who has just been given something by another person, but shows no gratitude―almost as though they had an inborn right to what they just received! The child’s parent then has to almost play the ventriloquist ― saying “Thank you!” on behalf of the ungrateful child, or they might grab the child firmly by the shoulder and look them in the eye and remind them: “What do you say when somebody gives you something?” The child then lowers its head and half-heartedly mumbles some words in a low voice while looking at the ground―words that the parent then translates for the benefactor, saying: “He (or she) said ‘Thank you!’”
Thanksgetting or Thanksgiving?
The child just “got” something, but “gave” nothing in return―not even a word of thanks! Sadly, that epitomizes our world today―it is all about “getting” rather “giving”! Just like the ungrateful sullen child, most of us focus on “getting” rather than “giving”. We are more worried about “getting” paid than we worry about “giving” effort at work that is deserving of getting paid. At Christmas, or on birthdays, everyone is asking: “What did you get for Christmas?” You never hear anyone asking: “What did you give for Christmas?” Charity―which is the greatest of all virtues―is all about GIVING and not about getting. We say a person is charitable because he or she GIVES―not because they GET things. We complain if get “short-changed” (“ripped-off” or paid less), but we never feel guilty about “short-changing” or “ripping-off” our employer or client! Today’s world is all about “getting” ― “Get all you can out of them!”
Thanks for Shopping With Us and Paying Through the Nose!
Most stores pretend to be charitable―by taking a few cents or dollars off this or that item. Yet this “false charity” hides the fact that they are “uncharitable” by the enormous “markup” prices that they initially put on their products. For example, movie theater popcorn has an average markup of 1,275% ― for every dollar it cost to make, you pay $13.75. Astronomical prescription drug prices drain your wallet — with markups ranging from 200% (you pay $3 for something it cost $1 to make) to 3,000% (you pay $31 for something it cost $1 to make). Outgoing text messages on a cell phone can cost the provider three-tenths of a cent, but costs users up to 20 cents – that translates to a 6,000% markup. Some plans charge 10,000 times more for sending a text than other types of data. Fashion is another “black hole” for finances―a $665 price tag on Gucci jeans and $225 for Sevens, proves some shoppers are willing to go to great lengths for fashion. But these designer items are grossly overpriced. According to The Wall Street Journal, it costs about $50 to make True Religion’s best-selling jeans―Super T Jeans―but the wholesale price for them reaches $152 and the average retail price is inflated to $335. Half-a-liter of bottled water is 3,000 times more expensive than half-a-liter of tap water. In fact, an estimated 25%, or more, of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle! Everyone is “on the make” ― make as much money as you can for providing as little as you can get away with. Semantics ― or crafty use of words ― fools most of the people most of the time into thinking they are “getting” some kind of wonderful deal! Thanks, but no thanks!
Think More to Thank More! Think Less and be Thankless!
We are basically a thankless race because we are a thoughtless race! If we would only think more we would also thank more! We are blind to the incessant and innumerable gifts with which God showers the world―both the good and bad alike: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven,” says Our Lord, “maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45). As Holy Scripture adds: “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
This the incessant flow of innumerable gifts with which God showers the world requires―in justice and in charity―a sincere, heartfelt and constant flow of thanksgiving on our part. “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). “Cease not to give thanks” (Ephesians 1:16). “We give thanks to God always … in our prayers without ceasing! … We give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:13; 5:18). “Giving thanks always for all things, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 5:20). “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Colossians 3:17). “We are bound to give thanks always to God … We ought to give thanks to God always” (2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:12). “I give God thanks” (1 Corinthians 1:14). “First I give thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:8). “I give thanks to my God always” (1 Corinthians 1:4).
Blind, Ungrateful Man!
“When they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). How true are those words of the current “Holiday Season” into which the USA enters through the portal of Thanksgiving Day. In the USA, their national Thanksgiving Day celebrations kick-off a season of spending, socializing, eating, drinking and partying that will go until the end of the New Year’s Eve festivities. For the shops and stores it is the highest spending season of the year, with many taking 50% of sales in that highly materialistic period. Just as we have our 40 Days of Lent—the USA secular world has its 40 Days of Spent Money! We spend our 40 Days of Lent fasting—they spend 40 Days of Fast Living! Thanksgiving parties, soon to be followed by office or school Christmas parties in the lead up to Christmas, these are followed by the Christmas Week parties going from one place to another, culminated with the New Year’s Eve party.
In recent years, an increasing number of Americans have given up the worldly traditions of Christmas giving gifts and partying entirely, and many of them seem quite happy to have done so. Of course most people are still quite satisfied with the status quo, and there are many that will get very angry with you if you dare to suggest that the way that Americans celebrate Christmas has got way out of control and is quite opposed to the true spirit of Christ—you could even call it “Antichrist-mas”.
Nature abhors a vacuum. Take something away and something has to fill the gap. So we shouldn’t be surprised that when we turn away from or become indifferent to God, then it is natural to replace the 40-DAYS OF LENT—where we do without things—with the 40-DAYS OF pLENTy—where we stuff ourselves with things! For most Americans the biggest holiday of the year is all about the “stuff” they are going to buy, the “stuff” they are going to give and the “stuff” they are going to get! As a society, we are obsessed with things, but those things are never going to make us happy.
Slavery to Stuff & Addiction to Debt
Has there ever been a major holiday season more focused on materialism than the modern American Thanksgiving-Christmas 40-Day Season of (p)Lent(y)? Statistics show that Americans, on the whole, are spending more each year. Have incomes gone up accordingly? Of course not! In fact, real median household income in the United States has been experiencing a steady long-term decline. So in order to fund all of our Christmas spending, people have got to go into even more debt.
In fact, one Pew Research Center survey found that approximately 70% of all Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”. But then they have to work their fingers to the bone to try to make the payments on all of that debt, not realizing that debt systematically impoverishes them. It may be hard to believe, but if you have a single dollar in your pocket and no debt, you have a greater net worth than 25% of all Americans. It may sound crazy, but it is true!
If you have no debt, then you should be indebted to God for that great grace! Yet that brings up another question! How much do you owe God? How indebted are you to God? While you might be “living it up” this Thanksgiving Day, you might spare a thought and a prayer for those Poor Souls who are paying their debt to God in the fires of Purgatory! They are all thankful for being there and being allowed to pay their debts for their past sins―which, though they were confessed and forgiven, they were not fully paid by penance. That thought should make us thankful that we are not yet dead and are therefore still capable of thankfully paying our debts for sin at a much “cheaper rate” than the “price” being asked in Purgatory.
Thanksgiving on a Plate by St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, Question 106), serves up a meal for the mind to chew over with the question of “Thankfulness or Gratitude.” He first of all points out that thankfulness or gratitude is something that is owed out of justice―he then later goes on to show that thankfulness and gratitude also stems from charity.
► GRATITUDE IS A DEBT IN JUSTICE―First of all the justice aspect. St. Thomas writes:
“Thankfulness a special part of justice (it is something that we owe for a gift or favor) … The nature of the debt to be paid by us, varies according to various different causes giving rise to our debt of gratitude … Now the cause of debt is found primarily and chiefly in God, because He is the first principle of all our goods. Secondarily we owe a debt to our father, because he begot us and raised us. Thirdly we owe a debt of gratitude to the person from whom general favors proceed. Fourthly a debt of gratitude is owed to a benefactor, from whom we have received particular and private favors, on account of which we are under particular obligation to him.
“Accordingly, since what we owe God, or our father, or a person excelling in dignity, is not the same as what we owe a benefactor from whom we have received some particular favor, it follows that after religion, whereby we pay God due worship, and piety, whereby we worship our parents, and observance, whereby we worship persons excelling in dignity, there is thankfulness or gratitude, whereby we give thanks to our benefactors … The virtue of thankfulness or gratitude answers to the moral debt by paying the debt spontaneously. Thanksgiving is less thankful when it is compelled. Friendship is preserved by repayment of favors, although repayment of favors belongs specially to the virtue of gratitude.”
► WHO OWES MORE GRATITUDE―THE SAINT OR SINNER? On the tricky question whether an innocent or just person is more bound to give thanks to God than the penitent―because the greater the gift one has received from God, the more one is bound to give Him thanks. Now the gift of innocence is greater than that of justice restored. Therefore it seems that the innocent is more bound to give thanks to God than the penitent sinner. Besides, the favor of divine grace is more continuous in the innocent person than in the penitent sinner―who has lost grace. St. Thomas replies as follows:
“On the contrary, it is written: ‘To whom more is forgiven, he loveth more … To whom less is forgiven, he loveth less’ (Luke 7:47). Therefore for the same reason he is bound to greater thanksgiving to whom more has been forgiven. Thanksgiving in the recipient must correspond to the favor granted by the giver―so that when there is greater favor on the part of the giver, greater thanks are due on the part of the recipient. The penitent is more bound to give thanks than the innocent, because what he receives from God is more gratuitously given―since, whereas he was deserving of punishment, he has received mercy and grace. Wherefore, although the gift bestowed on the innocent is considered greater objectively speaking, yet the mercy and grace bestowed on the penitent is greater in relation to him (subjectively)―just as a small gift bestowed on a poor man is greater to him than a great gift is to a rich man.”
► IS EVERYONE TO BE THANKED? On the question of whether a man is bound to give thanks to every benefactor? St. Thomas says:
“It is written: ‘In all things give thanks’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). God turns all things to Himself because He is the cause of all. A benefactor is cause of the benefit. Hence the natural order requires that he who has received a favor, should repay the favor to his benefactor according to his means. Promptness enhances, delay discounts a favor … It is the height of malevolence to refuse to recognize a kindness … Gratitude is due even to a slave, when he does more than his duty … Kindness depends on the heart rather than on the deed, so too gratitude depends chiefly the heart. Hence, whoever receives a favor gratefully, has already begun to pay it back―and that we must be grateful for favors that we have received should be shown by the outpouring of our heart, not only in the benefactor’s hearing, but everywhere … There are many ways of repaying those who are well off, whatever we happen to owe them; such as good advice, frequent fellowship, affable and pleasant conversation without flattery.”
► WHEN TO REPAY? On the question of when to repay a favor, St. Thomas says that it is better to wait for an appropriate time rather than immediately return a favor:
“Some object that it seems necessary that a man is bound to repay a favor at once. For we are bound to restore at once what we owe, unless the term be fixed. Therefore a man is bound to repay a favor at once. Furthermore, a good action would seem to be all the more praiseworthy if it done earnestly and earnestness makes a person do his duty without any delay. Yet, I answer on the contrary! He that hastens to repay, is animated with a sense, not of gratitude but of indebtedness or obligation. Just as two things are to be considered in doing a favor―namely, the affection of the heart and the gift given―so also must these things be considered in repaying the favor. Do you wish to repay a favor? Receive it graciously! As regards the gift, one ought to wait until such a time as will be convenient to the benefactor. For, if instead of choosing a convenient time, one repays at once, favor for favor, it would not seem to be a virtuous, but a constrained or obligated repayment. For, he that wishes to repay too soon, is an unwilling debtor, and an unwilling debtor is ungrateful. Just as favors should be granted at a convenient time and without delay when that convenient time comes; and the same is to be observed in repaying favors.”
► WHAT COUNTS MORE―THE DISPOSITION OR THE DEED? On the question of whether, in giving thanks for a favor, we should look at the benefactor’s disposition or at the deed? In other words, should our focus be on the benefactor’s, intentions, attitude and sentiment that was behind the benefactor granting us a favor, or whether our focus should be on what was given to us or done for us? St. Thomas answers:
“We are sometimes under a greater obligation to someone who has given a little with a large heart, and has bestowed a small favor, yet willingly. Repayment of a favor depends more on the disposition of the giver than on the effect … A kindly action consists not in deed or gift, but in the disposition of the giver or doer … God alone sees person’s disposition in itself―but, in so far as it is shown by certain signs, we can also know it. It is thus that a benefactor's disposition is known by the way in which he does the kindly action―for instance through his doing it joyfully and readily.”
► DO I GIVE BACK MORE THAN I GOT? The last question St. Thomas considers is whether the repayment of gratitude should surpass the favor received? To this he answers:
“We should repay those who are gracious to us, by being gracious to them return, and this is done by repaying more than we have received. Therefore gratitude should incline to do something greater. Gratitude regards the favor received according the intention of the benefactor―who is deserving of praise for having freely conferred the favor without being bound to do so. Wherefore the beneficiary is under a moral obligation to bestow something freely in return. Now he does not seem to bestow something freely, unless he exceeds the quantity of the favor received―because, so long as he repays less or an equivalent, he would seem to do nothing freely or extra, but only to return what he has received. Therefore gratitude always inclines, as far as possible, to pay back something more … The debt of gratitude flows from charity, which the more it is paid the more it is due, according to Romans 13:8―‘Owe no man anything, but to love one another.’ Wherefore it is not unreasonable if the obligation of gratitude has no limit.”
Without God We Have Nothing!
The problem with modern man is that he is inflated and puffed-up with his false sense of “self-sufficiency”―which is seen in phrases such as “self-made-man”, “DIY or do-it-yourself”, “I did it my way!”, “I got to where I am by myself!”, “I’m independent, not dependent!”, etc., etc.
God answers: “What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) … “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) … “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) … “For if any man think himself to be something―whereas he is nothing―he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3) … “For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to His good will” (Philippians 2:13).
In the Old Testament, we see Job blessed with many good gifts by God―for which Job is thankful and grateful―but which God allows Satan to take away from Job for no apparent or justified reason.
Job―a Patron Saint for Thanksgiving
On this Thanksgiving Day and materialistic weekend (Black Friday), you could do no better than take Job as a patron saint of thanksgiving. God had blessed Job with many material things: “There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east” (Job 1:1-3).
Sadly―as we all know―an abundance of material things easily leads to an abundance of sin. Though Job was not in any way inclined to this, he nevertheless feared that his children would not be able to virtuously handle such an abundance of wealth: “And his sons went, and made a feast by houses everyone in his own day. And sending, they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job, rising up early, offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: ‘Lest perhaps my sons have sinned!’ So did Job all days” (Job 1:4-5).
Job Experiences a “Black Friday” of a Different Kind
Just because we are ‘good’ and ‘just’―as was Job―does not mean that evil things will not befall us: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth!” (Proverbs 3:12), for that adversity tests and proves the love of God in the person, “for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:3). This is exactly what happened in Job’s case, as the following passage shows in a conversation between God and Satan:
“And the Lord said to him: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job―that there is none like him in the Earth―a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?’ And Satan, answering, said: ‘Doth Job fear God in vain? Hast not Thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about; blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the Earth? But stretch forth Thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth Thee not to Thy face!’ Then the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand! Only put not forth thy hand upon his person!’” (Job 1:8-12).
So Satan, having been given power over Job and his possessions, goes away to try and prove his theory that Job will cease to love God when things cease to go well for him: “And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: ‘The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans rushed in and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: ‘The fire of God fell from Heaven and, striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: ‘The Chaldeans made three troops and have fallen upon the camels and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee! He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: ‘Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother! A violent wind came, all of a sudden, from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’ Then Job rose up, and tore his garments, and, having shaven his head, fell down upon the ground and worshiped God, and said: ‘Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!’ In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God” (Job 12:22).
With his attempts at turning Job against God having failed, “the Lord said to Satan: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved Me against him, that I should afflict him without any cause!’ And Satan answered, and said: ‘Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life! But put forth thy hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see that if he will bless Thee to Thy face!’ And the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, he is in thy hand, but you must spare his life!’ So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer―from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head: And he took a piece of a broken clay pot and scraped the corrupt matter, sitting on a dunghill. And his wife said to him: ‘Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? Bless God and die!’ And he said to her: ‘Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women! If we have received good things from the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?’ In all these things Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:3-10).
Job’s Friends See His Misfortune as a Punishment from God
Much like the three friends of Job, we interpret the evil that befalls others as some kind of punishment for their sins. This, of course, is partially true in everyone’s case― “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar” (1 John 1:10) … “For all have sinned [and] the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23)―but we also suffer at the hands of God for other reasons too! It can be for the sins of others―family, relatives, friends, strangers or even the world. We can suffer at the hands of God in order to earn some great grace in the near future―whether for ourselves, others, or the Church in general, such as the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We also find ourselves suffering at the hands of God because He wants us to imitate His crucified Son, who Himself said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23)―and the carrying of a cross is synonymous with suffering. Our problem is that, unlike Job, we fail to see these truths lurking behind the sufferings that come our way―and we fall into immediate dissatisfaction and complaints―whereas, like Job, we should be full of thanksgiving for our crosses and sufferings!
Learning Gratitude From Job
Make no mistake about it―at some point in the future (perhaps sooner rather than later)―we will have undergo terrible sufferings, not just individually or here and there, but worldwide. Both Holy Scripture and prophecies confirm it. Our Lord Himself warns: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-10, 21; Mark 13:7-20; Luke 21:9-24). “And there shall be distress of nations upon the earth, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:25-26).
Besides the many prophecies concerning the sufferings that await us, there are the repeated prophetic warnings of Our Lady at her modern-day apparitions―Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Can we drink of this chalice? “And Jesus said to them: ‘Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of―or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?’ But they said to Him: ‘We can!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized!’” (Mark 10:38-39).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday November 21st & Monday November 22nd & Tuesday November 23rd
Article 6
The Abomination of Desolation Standing in the Holy Place
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday November 21st & Monday November 22nd & Tuesday November 23rd
Article 6
The Abomination of Desolation Standing in the Holy Place
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What Are We Talking About?
In the Traditional Latin Rite of the Church―also known as the “Extraordinary Rite”― in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, Holy Mother Church presents to us as the Gospel reading taken from St. Matthew―which deals with “End Times” of the world and speaks of the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”
Dictionaries define the word “abomination” as being “a vile, or vicious, or shameful action, condition, or habit; anything that is greatly disliked or abhorred; something that is regarded with disgust or hatred; something that you hate because you think it is extremely offensive, unpleasant, or wrong.”
As for the word “desolation”, dictionaries define it as being “a state of complete emptiness or destruction; devastation; ruin; depopulation; barrenness; a place that is empty or where everything has been destroyed; a feeling of great unhappiness and hopelessness.”
The Douay-Rheims footnote for chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel, concerning verse 27 ― “there shall be in the Temple the abomination of desolation” ― says: “Some understand this of the profanation of the Temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots. Others of the bringing of the ensigns and standard of the pagan Romans into the Temple. Others distinguish three different times of desolation: namely, the first desolation being that under Antiochus in Old Testament times; the second desolation being when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans in New Testament times; and the third desolation being near the end of the world under Antichrist. To all which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a relation.”
Another Douay-Rheims Bible footnote, for another verse from the Book of Daniel ― “they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation” (Daniel 11:313) ― says: “ The phrase: ‘They shall place there the abomination’ refers to the idol of Jupiter Olympius, which Antiochus ordered to be set up in the sanctuary of the Temple: which is here called ‘the sanctuary of strength’ because Almighty God was worshipped there.”
Fr. R. Gerald Culleton, in his 1951 book, The Reign of Antichrist, echoes the above as he quotes Bishop Challoner: “The abomination of desolation: some understand this of the profanation of the Temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots; others think it refers to bringing the ensigns and standards of the pagan Romans to the temple. Others distinguish three different times of desolation: (1) that under Antiochus, (2) the destruction of the Temple [of Jerusalem in 70 AD] by the Romans, and (3) the last desolation near the end of the world under Antichrist.”
Is It a Thing, an Event, a Man or an Organization?
What on earth is the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place” going to be? It has to be something drastic, something truly terrible―otherwise why would Holy Scripture and historical debate make it out to be so important? Will it be a person ― the Antichrist? Pope? Secular? Will it be an event ― the desecration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome? The destruction of the Holy Eucharist? The changing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? The occupation of Rome by Communists or Muslims?
All of these things are possibilities ― since they have all be prophesied beforehand ― and we will have to sift through them to find the most likely candidate. As you will see, there are several credible scenarios for the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place”!
Our Lord’s & Our Lady’s Revelations to Marie-Julie Jahenny
Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941) was a French mystic and stigmatic― frequently referred to as The Breton Stigmatist, The Stigmatist of Blain, or The Stigmatist of La Fraudais. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of 23 until her death aged 92, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced miraculous Holy Communions, miraculous fasting periods to where she lived on no other food but the Eucharist for several years, suffered supernatural attacks from the devil, and had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
On 27th of November 1902 and 10th of May 1904, Our Lord and Our Lady announced the New Mass: “I give you a warning! The disciples, who are not of My Gospel, are now working hard to remake―according to their ideas and under the influence of the enemy of souls―a Mass that contains words that are odious in My sight. When the fatal hour arrives when the Faith of My priests is put to the test, it will be these texts that will be celebrated in this second period ... The first period is the one of My priesthood which exists since Me. The second is the one of the persecution, when the enemies of the Faith and of holy Religion will impose their formulas in the book of the second celebration.”
On 10th of May 1904, Our Lady spoke of the new clergy and their New Mass: “They won't stop at this hateful and sacrilegious road. They will go further to compromise―all at once and in one go―the holy Church, the clergy and the Faith of My children!” Our Lady further announced the “dispersion of the pastors by the Church itself, with real pastors being replaced by others formed by Hell and initiated in all vices, all iniquities, perfidious, who will cover souls with filth ... new preachers of new sacraments, new temples, new baptisms, new confraternities.”
On January 5th, 1904, Our Lord stated: “The souls who love Me will see . . . My temple overthrown and in other places such filthy desecrations that the preceding centuries had never seen!”
On August 4th, 1904 , Our Lord said: “I sustain My elect, I am their strength, I put them to the test now to console them later at the time of desolation, of abomination. At that time, I will uphold them...I will be their King, they will be My subjects. Do not expect improvement, on the contrary, you will see evil growing continuously, unjust disorders multiplying...until the time that I rise up in My turn!” (Words of Our Lord and Our Lady to the mystic and stigmatic Marie-Julie Jahenny).
Marie-Julie Jahenny announced that three quarters of the population of the globe will disappear in the last crisis―due to terrible earthquakes, epidemics of unknown diseases whose ravages would be frightful, terrible famines, inclement weather, cyclones, rising seas that would cause terrifying tidal waves.
God’s Revelations to Jane Le Royer
Jane Le Royer (1731-1798) was a mystic and visionary in the diocese of Rennes, in Brittany, France. She entered into the Monastery of St. Clare of Fougeres, called Urbanists―taking the religious name Sister Mary of the Nativity. God granted her many visions and revelations. By command of God, she manifested all her visions and revelations to the Spiritual Director of the monastery, Fr. Genet, in fifty conferences, who wrote them down. She used to say: “The knowledge of these things shall contribute to the salvation of many souls, and form a treasure for the faithful for the last age of the world.”
Here are some excerpts which seem to have a bearing upon our own times:
“I see that the century which begins in 1800 shall not yet be the last. Woe, woe, woe to the last century which is descending! What tribulations precede its commencements! You will soon become aware of a great transformation! For the end has not, as yet, set in―and the enemies have not, as yet, reached the goal, as they suppose. To be sure, the dawn of these tribulations begins to break, but the age that follows will be stormy and full of suffering! I recognized that these woeful tribulations will make their appearance in the age before the judgment. And as I pondered over and weighed, in God, the century in which it will happen, I saw, that the century which begins with 1800 will not yet be the last.
“The reign of Antichrist is approaching! When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear, which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known! The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of Just will correspondingly diminish. I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest will do much harm to the Church.”
God has manifested to me the malice of Lucifer, and the perverse and diabolical intentions of his emissaries (secret societies) against the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. At the command of their master, these wicked men have traversed the Earth like furies, with the intention of preparing the way and the place for Antichrist, whose reign is approaching. Through the corrupted breath of this proud spirit they have poisoned the minds of men. Like persons infected with pestilence, they have reciprocally communicated the evil to each other, and the contagion has become general.”
“The thick vapors―which I have seen rising from the Earth and obscuring the light of the sun―are the false maxims of irreligion and liberty, which are confounding all sound principles and spreading everywhere such darkness as to obscure both Faith and reason.
“One night I saw a number of ecclesiastics. Their haughtiness and air of severity seemed to demand the respect of all. They forced the faithful to follow them. But God commanded me to oppose them: ‘They no longer have the right to speak in My Name!’ Jesus told me. ‘It is against My wish that they carry out a mandate for which they are no longer worthy!’
“Many precursors, false prophets, and members of infernal secret societies, worshipers of Satan, shall attack the most sacred dogmas and doctrines of our holy religion; shall persecute the faithful; shall commit abominable actions; but the real and extreme abomination and desolation shall more fully be accomplished during the reign of Antichrist.
“I saw a great power rise up against the Church. It plundered, devastated, and threw into confusion and disorder the vine of the Lord―having it trampled underfoot by the people and holding it up to ridicule, mockery and scorn by all nations. Having ridiculed and vilified celibacy, suppressing monasticism and oppressing the priesthood, this power boldly confiscated the Church’s property and usurped and arrogated to itself the powers of the Holy Father―whose person and whose laws it condemned and held in contempt.”
I had a vision of the Father and the Son. The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice, which He held in the middle. I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians―whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent.
“I see, in God, that a long time before the rise of Antichrist, the world will be afflicted with many bloody wars. Peoples will rise against peoples, and nations will rise against nations―sometimes allied, sometimes enemies―in their fight against the same party. Armies will come into frightful collisions and will fill the earth with murder and carnage. These internal and foreign wars will cause enormous sacrifices, profanations, scandals, and infinite evils, because of the incursions that will be made into the Church.
“As well as that, I see that the earth will be shaken in different places by frightful earthquakes. I see whole mountains cracking and splitting with a terrible din. Only too happy will one be in one can escape with no more than a fright; but no, I see come out of these gaping mountains whirlwinds of smoke, fire, sulphur, and tar, which reduce to cinders entire towns. All this and a thousand other disasters must come before the rise of the Man of Sin.
“I saw in the light of the Lord that the faith and our holy Religion would become weaker in almost every Christian kingdom. God has permitted that they should be chastised by the wicked in order to awaken them from their apathy. And after the justice of God has been satisfied, He will pour out an abundance of graces on His Church, and He will spread the Faith and restore the discipline of the Church in those countries where it had become tepid and lax.”
Further Prophecies of Catastrophes in Our Days
► Sister Bouquillion prophesied long ago: “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► Bishop George Wittman made the following prediction in the 19th century: “Very sad times are coming for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Our Lord will be renewed in a most painful manner in the Church and in her supreme Head. Brutal hands will be laid upon his person. Secret societies will work great ruin, and they will exercise a great financial power.”
► Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi: “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome.”
► Brother John of the Cleft Rock, in the 14th century, prophesied: “Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history.”
► Brother Louis Rocco made this prediction in the 19th century: “Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
► Caesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk in Cologne, during the 12th and 13th centuries, prophesied: “There will be no Pope, and the air will be as a pestilence, destroying men and beasts alike. Not since the creation of the world has one experienced such misfortune.”
► A Capuchin Friar anonymously made the following prediction back in the 18th century: “All priests, both secular and regular, shall be stripped of their possessions and of every kind of property. They will have to beg from lay people their food and everything necessary for their support and for the worship of God. The Pope shall die during these calamities, and the Church will be reduced to the most painful anarchy as a result. Much human blood will be shed in Italy; many cities, towns and castles shall be brought to ruins, causing the death of many thousands of people.”
► Fr. Nectou, S.J., back in the 18th century, prophesied: “The confusion will be so general that men will not be able to think aright, as if God had withheld His Providence from mankind, and that, during the worst crisis, the best that can be done would be to remain where God has placed us, and persevere in fervent prayers….At that time there will be such a terrible crisis that people will believe that the end of the world has come. Blood will flow in many large cities. The very elements will be convulsed. It will be like a little General Judgment. A great multitude of people will lose their lives in those calamitous times, but the wicked will not prevail. They will indeed attempt to destroy the whole Church, but not enough time will be allowed them, because the frightful crisis will be of short duration.”
► Maria Steiner made the following prediction in the 19th century: “I see the Lord as He will be scourging the world and chastising it in a fearful manner so that few men and women will remain. The monks will have to leave their monasteries, and the nuns will be driven from the convents, especially in Italy. The holy Church will be persecuted, and Rome will be without a shepherd.”
► St. Nicholas of Fluh prophesied in the 15th century: “The Church will be punished because the majority of her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper until she will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired.”
► The Oba Prophecy states: “It (the chastisement) will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► Pope St. Pius X received the following vision in 1909: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and after a short retirement he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► Blessed Pope Pius IX made the following prophecy back in the 19th century: “There will come a great prodigy, which will fill the world with awe. But this prodigy will be preceded by the triumph of a revolution during which the Church will go through ordeals that are beyond description.”
► Pope Pius XII made the following prediction in the years before the Second Vatican Council: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► Rudolfo Gilthier, a monk who lived in the 1700s, prophesied: “From the middle of the 20th century onwards, there will be uprisings in all parts of Europe. The Republics will be in upheaval. Rulers, important persons and priests will be killed. Priests, monks and nuns will leave their cloister. Hunger, epidemics and earthquakes will destroy numerous cities. Rome will lose its scepter through following false prophets. The Pope will be taken prisoner by his attendants. The Church will be held hostage, and, after a short time, there will be no more Pope.”
► Sister Marianne Gaultier prophesied in the 17th century: “As long as public prayers are said, nothing shall happen. But a time will come when public prayers shall cease. People will say: ‘Things will remain as they are!’ Then all men will be taken away gradually in small groups. Only old men will remain. The wicked shall be masters. They will do as much harm as they can, but not as much as they would like, because they shall not have enough time. The good Catholics shall be on the point of being annihilated but, the power of God, as stroke from Heaven will save them. All the wicked shall perish, but also many good Catholics.”
► Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified and her prophecy dates back to the Nineteenth Century: “All states will be shaken by war and civil conflict. The clergy, too will be greatly reduced in number, as most of them will die in the defense of the Faith or their country.”
► Sister Palma Maria lived in Italy during the 1800s, she prophesied: “A civil war will break out in France, Spain and Italy, accompanied by other dreadful punishments, as pestilence and famine, the massacre of priests, and also of some dignitaries of the Church. Rome shall have to endure severe trials from the malice of wicked men. But at the critical moment, when the rebellious Republicans shall attempt to take possession of the Holy City.”
► Sister Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “A great revolution will spread over all of Europe. Not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics, shall have their property confiscated. Many of the nobility shall be cast into prison. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme throughout all Europe. There will be a general overthrow. There shall be a great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms. The Russians and Prussians shall come to make war in Italy. They shall profane many churches, and turn them into stables for their horses. Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children. Many terrible calamities impend over Italy. Priests and religious shall be butchered and the Earth, especially in Italy, shall be watered with their blood. The persecution in Italy is to begin by the suppression of the Jesuits; they shall be called back again; then a third time they will be suppressed and never more revived. During a frightful storm against the Church, all religious orders will be abolished except two, namely, the Capuchins and the Dominicans, together with the Hospitalers, who shall receive the pious pilgrims who, in great numbers, shall go to visit and venerate the many martyrs in Italy, killed during the impending persecution.”
► St. Methodius, a bishop and martyr in the 4th century, prophesied: “In the last period Christians will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life―in pride, vanity, unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices―so much so that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many will doubt whether the Catholic Faith is the true and only saving one. Many will be the false teachings―resulting in confusion and bewilderment. As a consequence, the just God will give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on Earth and tempt his godless creatures. A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: ‘We have subjected the Earth and all its inhabitants and the Christians cannot escape our hands!’
“When the Son of Perdition appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised. He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the faithful elect. The Antichrist will even enter Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the [rebuilt] temple as a god―even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which Judas Iscariot also belonged.”
► St. Nilus, who lived around 400 AD, prophesied: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair.
“These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society.
“At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; for they will completely lose their Faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints.”
► St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, an apocryphal writing from the 1st century, has Our Lord stating: “Every man shall speak that which pleases him, and My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
► Mathias Lang is also known as Stormberger in some prophecy circles. Lang was illiterate and had no education, yet he predicted many things like airplanes, telephones and much more. He lived in Bavaria between 1753 to 1820. He made the following prophecy before World War One: “After the Great War there will be no peace. The people will rise and all will fight against each other… The rich and noble will be killed. The World War will not make people better but much worse … Religious Faith will decline; priests will not be respected; people will be intent only on eating and drinking; there will be many immensely rich people and large amounts of paupers … Two or three decades after the First Great War (1914-1918) it will come one a Second War (1939-1945) still larger. Almost all the nations of the world will be involved. Millions of men will die, without being soldiers. The fire will fall from the sky and many great cities will be destroyed. And after the end of the Second Great War (1939-1945), a third universal war will come, so that it will determine everything. There will be weapons totally new. In one day, more men will die than in all the previous wars. The battles will be accomplished with artificial weapons. Gigantic catastrophes will happen. With the open eyes, the nations of the planet will go through these catastrophes. They won’t know what is happening, and those that know and tell, will be silenced. Everything will be different from before, and in many places the Earth will be a great cemetery. The third war will be the end of many nations.”
► The Ecstatic of Tours, who live in the 19th century, prophesied: “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German visionary and stigmatic who died in 1824, was gifted with a lifetime of visions. The following pertains to our times: “I heard that around fifty or sixty years before the year 2000, Lucifer would be unleashed for a time. I saw the earth covered with darkness, everything was withered and barren. I saw how the darkness multiplied among the people, I saw countries and people in the greatest of distress, and fighting each other violently. All around me I see a terrible, bloody war. In the center of the battleground was a giant abyss, into which the warring factions seemed to fall.
“I had a vision of the Pope. I saw St. Francis carrying the Church, and the basilica of St. Peter borne on the shoulders of a little man who had something of the Jew in his countenance. It looked very perilous. It was only the pavement and the back part of the church, for all the rest of the Church had been demolished by the secret society helped by the servants of the Church themselves. I saw St. Peter’s in this ruinous state and so many ecclesiastics working, though secretly, at its destruction. Jesus told me that this translation of St. Peter’s signified that the Church would apparently fall to total ruin, but that she would be raised up again. Even if there should remain but one Catholic Christian, the Church would again triumph since its foundations were not cast in the intellect or councils of men. She had never yet been without members praying and suffering for her. I see the Church alone―forsaken by all and around her―in strife, misery, hatred, treason, resentment, total blindness. I also saw Jews standing under the porch of the Church. All these things caused me much distress. The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand.”
“Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame, others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound. I also saw the Holy Father —- God-fearing and prayerful. Nothing left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he were falling asleep. He often fainted and seemed to be dying. But when he was praying, he was often comforted by apparitions from Heaven. Then, his head was erect, but as soon as it dropped again onto his chest, I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world. Then, I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of the destruction. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars. “For when the Blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets.”
Scriptural Abominations
Holy Scripture―in the Douay-Rheims translation―uses the word “abomination” in the singular form a total of 52 times and the plural form, “abominations” an additional 66 times; while “abominable” is used 28 times―giving a total of 146 verses. It makes sense to start by finding out what things or actions God calls an “abomination”. In Greek, there is only one word for abomination―whereas in the original Hebrew there are five words for abomination, essentially meaning the same, but giving slightly different nuances of abomination. Ultimately, it abomination boils down to sin. All sin is an abomination and God finds sin to be abominable. Even today our catechisms will more or less tell you the same thing: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
All in all, the following sins are called “abominations” in Holy Scripture:
● idolatry or idols (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13:14, Isaias 44:19)
● illicit sex (Ezechiel 16:22,58, Ezechiel 22:11, Ezechiel 33:26)
● illicit marriage (Deuteronomy 24:2-4)
● male homosexual and (collectively) heterosexual immorality (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 18:27-30, Leviticus 20:13)
● temple prostitution (3 Kings 14:24)
● offerings from the above (Deuteronomy 23:18)
● child sacrifice (Jeremias 32:35)
● cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5)
● cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1)
● dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22)
● dietary violations (Deuteronomy 14:3)
● stealing, murder, and adultery, breaking covenants (Jeremias 7:9,10)
● violent robbery, murder, oppressing the poor and needy, etc. (Ezechiel 18:10-13)
In the Traditional Latin Rite of the Church―also known as the “Extraordinary Rite”― in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, Holy Mother Church presents to us as the Gospel reading taken from St. Matthew―which deals with “End Times” of the world and speaks of the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”
Dictionaries define the word “abomination” as being “a vile, or vicious, or shameful action, condition, or habit; anything that is greatly disliked or abhorred; something that is regarded with disgust or hatred; something that you hate because you think it is extremely offensive, unpleasant, or wrong.”
As for the word “desolation”, dictionaries define it as being “a state of complete emptiness or destruction; devastation; ruin; depopulation; barrenness; a place that is empty or where everything has been destroyed; a feeling of great unhappiness and hopelessness.”
The Douay-Rheims footnote for chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel, concerning verse 27 ― “there shall be in the Temple the abomination of desolation” ― says: “Some understand this of the profanation of the Temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots. Others of the bringing of the ensigns and standard of the pagan Romans into the Temple. Others distinguish three different times of desolation: namely, the first desolation being that under Antiochus in Old Testament times; the second desolation being when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans in New Testament times; and the third desolation being near the end of the world under Antichrist. To all which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a relation.”
Another Douay-Rheims Bible footnote, for another verse from the Book of Daniel ― “they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation” (Daniel 11:313) ― says: “ The phrase: ‘They shall place there the abomination’ refers to the idol of Jupiter Olympius, which Antiochus ordered to be set up in the sanctuary of the Temple: which is here called ‘the sanctuary of strength’ because Almighty God was worshipped there.”
Fr. R. Gerald Culleton, in his 1951 book, The Reign of Antichrist, echoes the above as he quotes Bishop Challoner: “The abomination of desolation: some understand this of the profanation of the Temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots; others think it refers to bringing the ensigns and standards of the pagan Romans to the temple. Others distinguish three different times of desolation: (1) that under Antiochus, (2) the destruction of the Temple [of Jerusalem in 70 AD] by the Romans, and (3) the last desolation near the end of the world under Antichrist.”
Is It a Thing, an Event, a Man or an Organization?
What on earth is the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place” going to be? It has to be something drastic, something truly terrible―otherwise why would Holy Scripture and historical debate make it out to be so important? Will it be a person ― the Antichrist? Pope? Secular? Will it be an event ― the desecration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome? The destruction of the Holy Eucharist? The changing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? The occupation of Rome by Communists or Muslims?
All of these things are possibilities ― since they have all be prophesied beforehand ― and we will have to sift through them to find the most likely candidate. As you will see, there are several credible scenarios for the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place”!
Our Lord’s & Our Lady’s Revelations to Marie-Julie Jahenny
Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941) was a French mystic and stigmatic― frequently referred to as The Breton Stigmatist, The Stigmatist of Blain, or The Stigmatist of La Fraudais. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of 23 until her death aged 92, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced miraculous Holy Communions, miraculous fasting periods to where she lived on no other food but the Eucharist for several years, suffered supernatural attacks from the devil, and had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
On 27th of November 1902 and 10th of May 1904, Our Lord and Our Lady announced the New Mass: “I give you a warning! The disciples, who are not of My Gospel, are now working hard to remake―according to their ideas and under the influence of the enemy of souls―a Mass that contains words that are odious in My sight. When the fatal hour arrives when the Faith of My priests is put to the test, it will be these texts that will be celebrated in this second period ... The first period is the one of My priesthood which exists since Me. The second is the one of the persecution, when the enemies of the Faith and of holy Religion will impose their formulas in the book of the second celebration.”
On 10th of May 1904, Our Lady spoke of the new clergy and their New Mass: “They won't stop at this hateful and sacrilegious road. They will go further to compromise―all at once and in one go―the holy Church, the clergy and the Faith of My children!” Our Lady further announced the “dispersion of the pastors by the Church itself, with real pastors being replaced by others formed by Hell and initiated in all vices, all iniquities, perfidious, who will cover souls with filth ... new preachers of new sacraments, new temples, new baptisms, new confraternities.”
On January 5th, 1904, Our Lord stated: “The souls who love Me will see . . . My temple overthrown and in other places such filthy desecrations that the preceding centuries had never seen!”
On August 4th, 1904 , Our Lord said: “I sustain My elect, I am their strength, I put them to the test now to console them later at the time of desolation, of abomination. At that time, I will uphold them...I will be their King, they will be My subjects. Do not expect improvement, on the contrary, you will see evil growing continuously, unjust disorders multiplying...until the time that I rise up in My turn!” (Words of Our Lord and Our Lady to the mystic and stigmatic Marie-Julie Jahenny).
Marie-Julie Jahenny announced that three quarters of the population of the globe will disappear in the last crisis―due to terrible earthquakes, epidemics of unknown diseases whose ravages would be frightful, terrible famines, inclement weather, cyclones, rising seas that would cause terrifying tidal waves.
God’s Revelations to Jane Le Royer
Jane Le Royer (1731-1798) was a mystic and visionary in the diocese of Rennes, in Brittany, France. She entered into the Monastery of St. Clare of Fougeres, called Urbanists―taking the religious name Sister Mary of the Nativity. God granted her many visions and revelations. By command of God, she manifested all her visions and revelations to the Spiritual Director of the monastery, Fr. Genet, in fifty conferences, who wrote them down. She used to say: “The knowledge of these things shall contribute to the salvation of many souls, and form a treasure for the faithful for the last age of the world.”
Here are some excerpts which seem to have a bearing upon our own times:
“I see that the century which begins in 1800 shall not yet be the last. Woe, woe, woe to the last century which is descending! What tribulations precede its commencements! You will soon become aware of a great transformation! For the end has not, as yet, set in―and the enemies have not, as yet, reached the goal, as they suppose. To be sure, the dawn of these tribulations begins to break, but the age that follows will be stormy and full of suffering! I recognized that these woeful tribulations will make their appearance in the age before the judgment. And as I pondered over and weighed, in God, the century in which it will happen, I saw, that the century which begins with 1800 will not yet be the last.
“The reign of Antichrist is approaching! When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear, which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known! The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of Just will correspondingly diminish. I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest will do much harm to the Church.”
God has manifested to me the malice of Lucifer, and the perverse and diabolical intentions of his emissaries (secret societies) against the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. At the command of their master, these wicked men have traversed the Earth like furies, with the intention of preparing the way and the place for Antichrist, whose reign is approaching. Through the corrupted breath of this proud spirit they have poisoned the minds of men. Like persons infected with pestilence, they have reciprocally communicated the evil to each other, and the contagion has become general.”
“The thick vapors―which I have seen rising from the Earth and obscuring the light of the sun―are the false maxims of irreligion and liberty, which are confounding all sound principles and spreading everywhere such darkness as to obscure both Faith and reason.
“One night I saw a number of ecclesiastics. Their haughtiness and air of severity seemed to demand the respect of all. They forced the faithful to follow them. But God commanded me to oppose them: ‘They no longer have the right to speak in My Name!’ Jesus told me. ‘It is against My wish that they carry out a mandate for which they are no longer worthy!’
“Many precursors, false prophets, and members of infernal secret societies, worshipers of Satan, shall attack the most sacred dogmas and doctrines of our holy religion; shall persecute the faithful; shall commit abominable actions; but the real and extreme abomination and desolation shall more fully be accomplished during the reign of Antichrist.
“I saw a great power rise up against the Church. It plundered, devastated, and threw into confusion and disorder the vine of the Lord―having it trampled underfoot by the people and holding it up to ridicule, mockery and scorn by all nations. Having ridiculed and vilified celibacy, suppressing monasticism and oppressing the priesthood, this power boldly confiscated the Church’s property and usurped and arrogated to itself the powers of the Holy Father―whose person and whose laws it condemned and held in contempt.”
I had a vision of the Father and the Son. The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice, which He held in the middle. I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians―whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent.
“I see, in God, that a long time before the rise of Antichrist, the world will be afflicted with many bloody wars. Peoples will rise against peoples, and nations will rise against nations―sometimes allied, sometimes enemies―in their fight against the same party. Armies will come into frightful collisions and will fill the earth with murder and carnage. These internal and foreign wars will cause enormous sacrifices, profanations, scandals, and infinite evils, because of the incursions that will be made into the Church.
“As well as that, I see that the earth will be shaken in different places by frightful earthquakes. I see whole mountains cracking and splitting with a terrible din. Only too happy will one be in one can escape with no more than a fright; but no, I see come out of these gaping mountains whirlwinds of smoke, fire, sulphur, and tar, which reduce to cinders entire towns. All this and a thousand other disasters must come before the rise of the Man of Sin.
“I saw in the light of the Lord that the faith and our holy Religion would become weaker in almost every Christian kingdom. God has permitted that they should be chastised by the wicked in order to awaken them from their apathy. And after the justice of God has been satisfied, He will pour out an abundance of graces on His Church, and He will spread the Faith and restore the discipline of the Church in those countries where it had become tepid and lax.”
Further Prophecies of Catastrophes in Our Days
► Sister Bouquillion prophesied long ago: “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► Bishop George Wittman made the following prediction in the 19th century: “Very sad times are coming for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Our Lord will be renewed in a most painful manner in the Church and in her supreme Head. Brutal hands will be laid upon his person. Secret societies will work great ruin, and they will exercise a great financial power.”
► Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi: “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome.”
► Brother John of the Cleft Rock, in the 14th century, prophesied: “Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history.”
► Brother Louis Rocco made this prediction in the 19th century: “Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
► Caesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk in Cologne, during the 12th and 13th centuries, prophesied: “There will be no Pope, and the air will be as a pestilence, destroying men and beasts alike. Not since the creation of the world has one experienced such misfortune.”
► A Capuchin Friar anonymously made the following prediction back in the 18th century: “All priests, both secular and regular, shall be stripped of their possessions and of every kind of property. They will have to beg from lay people their food and everything necessary for their support and for the worship of God. The Pope shall die during these calamities, and the Church will be reduced to the most painful anarchy as a result. Much human blood will be shed in Italy; many cities, towns and castles shall be brought to ruins, causing the death of many thousands of people.”
► Fr. Nectou, S.J., back in the 18th century, prophesied: “The confusion will be so general that men will not be able to think aright, as if God had withheld His Providence from mankind, and that, during the worst crisis, the best that can be done would be to remain where God has placed us, and persevere in fervent prayers….At that time there will be such a terrible crisis that people will believe that the end of the world has come. Blood will flow in many large cities. The very elements will be convulsed. It will be like a little General Judgment. A great multitude of people will lose their lives in those calamitous times, but the wicked will not prevail. They will indeed attempt to destroy the whole Church, but not enough time will be allowed them, because the frightful crisis will be of short duration.”
► Maria Steiner made the following prediction in the 19th century: “I see the Lord as He will be scourging the world and chastising it in a fearful manner so that few men and women will remain. The monks will have to leave their monasteries, and the nuns will be driven from the convents, especially in Italy. The holy Church will be persecuted, and Rome will be without a shepherd.”
► St. Nicholas of Fluh prophesied in the 15th century: “The Church will be punished because the majority of her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper until she will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired.”
► The Oba Prophecy states: “It (the chastisement) will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► Pope St. Pius X received the following vision in 1909: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and after a short retirement he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► Blessed Pope Pius IX made the following prophecy back in the 19th century: “There will come a great prodigy, which will fill the world with awe. But this prodigy will be preceded by the triumph of a revolution during which the Church will go through ordeals that are beyond description.”
► Pope Pius XII made the following prediction in the years before the Second Vatican Council: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► Rudolfo Gilthier, a monk who lived in the 1700s, prophesied: “From the middle of the 20th century onwards, there will be uprisings in all parts of Europe. The Republics will be in upheaval. Rulers, important persons and priests will be killed. Priests, monks and nuns will leave their cloister. Hunger, epidemics and earthquakes will destroy numerous cities. Rome will lose its scepter through following false prophets. The Pope will be taken prisoner by his attendants. The Church will be held hostage, and, after a short time, there will be no more Pope.”
► Sister Marianne Gaultier prophesied in the 17th century: “As long as public prayers are said, nothing shall happen. But a time will come when public prayers shall cease. People will say: ‘Things will remain as they are!’ Then all men will be taken away gradually in small groups. Only old men will remain. The wicked shall be masters. They will do as much harm as they can, but not as much as they would like, because they shall not have enough time. The good Catholics shall be on the point of being annihilated but, the power of God, as stroke from Heaven will save them. All the wicked shall perish, but also many good Catholics.”
► Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified and her prophecy dates back to the Nineteenth Century: “All states will be shaken by war and civil conflict. The clergy, too will be greatly reduced in number, as most of them will die in the defense of the Faith or their country.”
► Sister Palma Maria lived in Italy during the 1800s, she prophesied: “A civil war will break out in France, Spain and Italy, accompanied by other dreadful punishments, as pestilence and famine, the massacre of priests, and also of some dignitaries of the Church. Rome shall have to endure severe trials from the malice of wicked men. But at the critical moment, when the rebellious Republicans shall attempt to take possession of the Holy City.”
► Sister Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “A great revolution will spread over all of Europe. Not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics, shall have their property confiscated. Many of the nobility shall be cast into prison. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme throughout all Europe. There will be a general overthrow. There shall be a great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms. The Russians and Prussians shall come to make war in Italy. They shall profane many churches, and turn them into stables for their horses. Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children. Many terrible calamities impend over Italy. Priests and religious shall be butchered and the Earth, especially in Italy, shall be watered with their blood. The persecution in Italy is to begin by the suppression of the Jesuits; they shall be called back again; then a third time they will be suppressed and never more revived. During a frightful storm against the Church, all religious orders will be abolished except two, namely, the Capuchins and the Dominicans, together with the Hospitalers, who shall receive the pious pilgrims who, in great numbers, shall go to visit and venerate the many martyrs in Italy, killed during the impending persecution.”
► St. Methodius, a bishop and martyr in the 4th century, prophesied: “In the last period Christians will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life―in pride, vanity, unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices―so much so that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many will doubt whether the Catholic Faith is the true and only saving one. Many will be the false teachings―resulting in confusion and bewilderment. As a consequence, the just God will give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on Earth and tempt his godless creatures. A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: ‘We have subjected the Earth and all its inhabitants and the Christians cannot escape our hands!’
“When the Son of Perdition appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised. He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the faithful elect. The Antichrist will even enter Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the [rebuilt] temple as a god―even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which Judas Iscariot also belonged.”
► St. Nilus, who lived around 400 AD, prophesied: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair.
“These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society.
“At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; for they will completely lose their Faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints.”
► St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, an apocryphal writing from the 1st century, has Our Lord stating: “Every man shall speak that which pleases him, and My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
► Mathias Lang is also known as Stormberger in some prophecy circles. Lang was illiterate and had no education, yet he predicted many things like airplanes, telephones and much more. He lived in Bavaria between 1753 to 1820. He made the following prophecy before World War One: “After the Great War there will be no peace. The people will rise and all will fight against each other… The rich and noble will be killed. The World War will not make people better but much worse … Religious Faith will decline; priests will not be respected; people will be intent only on eating and drinking; there will be many immensely rich people and large amounts of paupers … Two or three decades after the First Great War (1914-1918) it will come one a Second War (1939-1945) still larger. Almost all the nations of the world will be involved. Millions of men will die, without being soldiers. The fire will fall from the sky and many great cities will be destroyed. And after the end of the Second Great War (1939-1945), a third universal war will come, so that it will determine everything. There will be weapons totally new. In one day, more men will die than in all the previous wars. The battles will be accomplished with artificial weapons. Gigantic catastrophes will happen. With the open eyes, the nations of the planet will go through these catastrophes. They won’t know what is happening, and those that know and tell, will be silenced. Everything will be different from before, and in many places the Earth will be a great cemetery. The third war will be the end of many nations.”
► The Ecstatic of Tours, who live in the 19th century, prophesied: “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German visionary and stigmatic who died in 1824, was gifted with a lifetime of visions. The following pertains to our times: “I heard that around fifty or sixty years before the year 2000, Lucifer would be unleashed for a time. I saw the earth covered with darkness, everything was withered and barren. I saw how the darkness multiplied among the people, I saw countries and people in the greatest of distress, and fighting each other violently. All around me I see a terrible, bloody war. In the center of the battleground was a giant abyss, into which the warring factions seemed to fall.
“I had a vision of the Pope. I saw St. Francis carrying the Church, and the basilica of St. Peter borne on the shoulders of a little man who had something of the Jew in his countenance. It looked very perilous. It was only the pavement and the back part of the church, for all the rest of the Church had been demolished by the secret society helped by the servants of the Church themselves. I saw St. Peter’s in this ruinous state and so many ecclesiastics working, though secretly, at its destruction. Jesus told me that this translation of St. Peter’s signified that the Church would apparently fall to total ruin, but that she would be raised up again. Even if there should remain but one Catholic Christian, the Church would again triumph since its foundations were not cast in the intellect or councils of men. She had never yet been without members praying and suffering for her. I see the Church alone―forsaken by all and around her―in strife, misery, hatred, treason, resentment, total blindness. I also saw Jews standing under the porch of the Church. All these things caused me much distress. The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand.”
“Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame, others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound. I also saw the Holy Father —- God-fearing and prayerful. Nothing left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he were falling asleep. He often fainted and seemed to be dying. But when he was praying, he was often comforted by apparitions from Heaven. Then, his head was erect, but as soon as it dropped again onto his chest, I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world. Then, I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of the destruction. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars. “For when the Blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets.”
Scriptural Abominations
Holy Scripture―in the Douay-Rheims translation―uses the word “abomination” in the singular form a total of 52 times and the plural form, “abominations” an additional 66 times; while “abominable” is used 28 times―giving a total of 146 verses. It makes sense to start by finding out what things or actions God calls an “abomination”. In Greek, there is only one word for abomination―whereas in the original Hebrew there are five words for abomination, essentially meaning the same, but giving slightly different nuances of abomination. Ultimately, it abomination boils down to sin. All sin is an abomination and God finds sin to be abominable. Even today our catechisms will more or less tell you the same thing: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
All in all, the following sins are called “abominations” in Holy Scripture:
● idolatry or idols (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13:14, Isaias 44:19)
● illicit sex (Ezechiel 16:22,58, Ezechiel 22:11, Ezechiel 33:26)
● illicit marriage (Deuteronomy 24:2-4)
● male homosexual and (collectively) heterosexual immorality (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 18:27-30, Leviticus 20:13)
● temple prostitution (3 Kings 14:24)
● offerings from the above (Deuteronomy 23:18)
● child sacrifice (Jeremias 32:35)
● cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5)
● cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1)
● dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22)
● dietary violations (Deuteronomy 14:3)
● stealing, murder, and adultery, breaking covenants (Jeremias 7:9,10)
● violent robbery, murder, oppressing the poor and needy, etc. (Ezechiel 18:10-13)
Saturday November 20th
Article 5
Do You Know How to Fight? Will You Fight or Flee?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 5
Do You Know How to Fight? Will You Fight or Flee?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Born to Fight!
Do you realize that you were born to fight? There is no choice! You have to fight! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), therefore “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Are you not a Soldier of Christ by reason of your having received the Sacrament of Confirmation? “Confirmation is a Sacrament through which we receive the Holy Ghost to make us strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ” (Baltimore Catechism #3, Lesson 15, q. 670). Therefore, “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man―being a soldier to God―entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Christ, to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Our Lord Comes to Fight!
Our Lord Himself came to fight Satan for the redemption of souls chained to Satan through sin. He even said that He had not come to bring peace―but the sword: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lady Was Born to Fight!
Likewise with Our Lady―she was chosen and designated, after Our Lord, to be the one who would be an enemy of Satan, who would fight him and finally crush his head: “And the Lord God said to the serpent [Satan]: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15). The Legion of Mary, in its handbook, referring to the above Scriptural quote, says: “To these words, addressed to Satan by Almighty God, the Legion turns as the source of its confidence and strength in its warfare with sin. It aims with all its heart to become in fullness the ‘seed’, the children of Mary―for therein is the pledge of victory [the seed and heel of Mary crushing the head of Satan]. In the measure that it makes her more and more its Mother, is the Legion’s enmity with the powers of evil intensified and victory made more complete. In the actual exercise of our apostolate, our great means of action consists in depending upon Mary, in keeping ourselves so closely united to Mary that in all things and everywhere we act as instruments of Mary and are, as it were, the ‘heel’ of that Immaculate Virgin. It is less our apostolate that we carry on than Mary’s own apostolate [it is less our “fight” and more Mary’s “fight”]. She herself acts with us, in us, by us, to the degree in which we make our life one of entire subjection to her.” (The Legion of Mary Handbook, chapter 5, §3).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells us that Our Lady revealed to her that Our Lady has entered into a final battle with Satan: “She told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin―and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this leaves the field of the laity unprotected and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This “final battle” is indicated in Holy Scripture, in the Book of the Apocalypse: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
At La Salette, Our Lady calls us to the fight: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady’s “End Times” Battle
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this warfare between Our Lady and Satan in his book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he writes: “Mary is especially necessary to the great saints of the latter times. I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed soon, because the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties. With the other hand they shall build (Esdras 4:7) the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say, the most holy Virgin, called by the Fathers the “Temple of Solomon” and the “City of God.” By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone.
“Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.
“It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent. It is to our purpose to explain this here for the glory of the most holy Virgin, for the salvation of her children and for the confusion of the devil: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.’ (Genesis 3:15).
“God has never made and formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.
“What Lucifer has lost by pride, Mary has gained by humility. What Eve has damned and lost by disobedience, Mary has saved by obedience. Eve, in obeying the serpent, has destroyed all her children together with herself, and has delivered them to him; Mary, in being perfectly faithful to God, has saved all her children and servants together with herself, and has consecrated them to His Majesty.
“God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world (for it is the same thing) have always up to this time persecuted those who belong to our Blessed Lady, and will in the future persecute them more than ever; just as Cain, of old, persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob, who are the figures of the reprobate and the predestinate. But the humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw.
“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“In a word, God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter, with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost, into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them shortly. Then they will see clearly, as far as Faith allows, that beautiful Star of the Sea. They will arrive happily in harbor, following its guidance, in spite of the tempests and the pirates. They will know the grandeurs of that Queen, and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. They will know the mercies of which she is full, and the need they have of her help; and they will have recourse to her in all things, as to their dear advocate and Mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will know what is the surest, the easiest, the shortest and the most perfect means of going to Jesus Christ; and they will give themselves to Mary, body and soul, without reserve, that they may thus belong entirely to Jesus Christ.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior.
“These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ ― Psalm 39:2” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §47 to §59).
Hollywood or Holy Wood?
The above passage from St. Louis de Montfort would give an excellent foundation for an all-action movie! Yet that stuff is not so much the stuff of Hollywood, but more of “Holy Wood” or the Holy Cross of Christ that WE should be carrying into battle! It is on the cross that Christ defeated Satan. The cross is one of our most powerful weapons! The cross―when carried―makes us strong! Sadly, we are too busy sitting in front of our TV screens (or whatever other kind of screen), better cast in the role of a Couch-Potato than cast in the role of a true cross-carrying, Soldier of Christ. Most of the fighting by Catholics is not done against the enemies of Church and mankind, but instead they fight with their own family members, they fight within their own parishes with fellow parishioners, they fight on internet forums often attacking fellow Catholics. “Jesus knowing their thoughts, said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!’” Matthew 12:25).
Satan is always seeking to “divide and conquer” as Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). The lion is an appropriate symbol for Satan, for lions are unique among cats in that they live in a group called a “pride”―and Satan is the “king of pride” as well as being “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) ― which can be linked to the lion being called “the king of the jungle.” Lions often seek to create panic among the herds of animals that they are hunting―thus, through fear and panic, they seek to separate a single animal from the greater safety of being among the herd. Furthermore―just like any general―the lion will seek out the weaker animals and then attack them at their weakest point.
So, for example, in the case of a buffalo (who has sharp horns and sharp hoofs), the lion will attack from the rear and seek to attack the spine of the buffalo. When attacking small animals, the lion hides in the grass maintaining a low profile. With slow and carefully intended moves, the lion draws closer and closer and then eventually captures the prey by quickly spring upon it. All of this is, by analogy, very descriptive of how devils work upon us: “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” Satan waits right at the edge of our consciousness and watches for any sign of weakness. He is prowling at the fence looking for any breaks or holes in the fence. If we fail to sufficiently maintain in good order the “fence” around our soul―through a regular, solid, sincere spiritual life of prayer, meditation, reading, and attendance at Holy Mass and Confession―then he see that we are weak “prey” and he moves in to attack.
Yes―of course―we are all weak in comparison to the angels of Hell, Satan and his devils. Yet only an idiot would try to “take on” an angel in a fight without the help of God! Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). To this St. Paul adds: “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “The Lord said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee―for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Therefore I will gladly glory in my infirmities [weakness], that the power of Christ may dwell in me! For this reason I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses―for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I powerful!” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me!” (Philippians 4:13). “Let the weak say: ‘I am strong!’” (Joel 3:10). “The Lord is with me as a strong warrior! Therefore they that persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak!” (Jeremias 20:11). “The Lord will fight for you!” (Exodus 14:14). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “The Lord my God teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
Victory Against All Odds
Today―those Catholics who remain true to the Faith, are greatly outnumbered by the pagan world and by bad Catholics. Even if all Catholics in the world were true and faithful Catholics―they would still be outnumbered by 6 to 1 (6.7 billion non-Catholics versus 1.3 billion Catholics). Yet the vast majority of Catholics are not true Catholics―with over 80% living in mortal sin simply be refusing to fulfill the Sunday Mass attendance obligation. That does not even take into account the numerous other potential mortal sins that Catholics engage in. The number of Liberal and Modernist Catholics greatly outnumbers Traditional and Conservative Catholics―and many Traditional and Conservative Catholics are mortal sinners too! It would extremely optimistic to say that perhaps 1 in 1,000 Catholics is true and faithful. Even such a ludicrously optimistic number would mean that true and faithful Catholics would be outnumbered by non-Catholics and bad Catholics to a ratio of over 600 to 1 (that is 13 million versus 7,900 million).
To fight an enemy that is numerically so vastly superior seems like suicide! It seems like an impossible mission―a suicide mission! Our Lord speaks of finding little or no Faith in the world at the End Times: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The righteous will suffer greatly! Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession! ... At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
God Enjoys Fighting Against the Odds
If you look at Old Testament history, you will see that on many occasions God’s Providence sets up His Chosen People as the “underdogs” in the fight―only for God to miraculously bring victory.
► NOE AND THE ARK: Noe was greatly outnumbered by sinners―he was probably a laughing-stock to them―yet Noe came out as the winner after building a massive, massive ship in the middle of nowhere―miles away from any water source that could float such a gigantic ship.
► MOSES AND THE ISRAELITES: The Chosen People, in leaving the slavery of Egypt, were caught “between a rock and a hard place”―surrounded by mountains and the Red Sea blocking them when the Egyptian army bore down on them. Yet God performed the miracle that saved His Chosen People and drowned all of the pursuing Egyptians by parting the waters of the Red Sea!
When Moses and Chosen arrived at the borders of the Promised Land for the first time, they were told by God to conquer it. The Chosen People “got scared”, complaining that its inhabitants were like giants and would make “mincemeat” of the Chosen People. This lack of trust in God―Who had already drowned the Egyptian army―infuriated God, Who then punished them by having them wander in the desert wilderness for 40 years.
During those 40 years in the desert wilderness, we see the Israelites miraculously triumph over the Amalekites (Amalec). “And Moses said to Josue: ‘Choose out men and go out and fight against Amalec! Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill―having the rod of God in my hand!” Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec―but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill. And when Moses lifted up his hands [arms], then Israel overcame Amalec; but if he let his hands [arms] down a little, then Amalec overcame. And the hands [arms] of Moses grew heavy―so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur held up his hands [arms] on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands [arms] were not weary until sunset. And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight by the edge of the sword” (Genesis 17:9-13).
► JOSUE AND JERICHO: After the death of Moses, Josue led the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan and miraculously defeated Jericho, where God brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down! “And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. Go round about the city, all ye fighting men, once a day: so shall ye do for six days. And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the Ark of the Covenant. And you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand” (Josue 6:2-5).
In the era of Judges ruling the Chosen People, we have the case of Gedeon, who, when threatened by 135,000 invading Madianites, managed to muster 32,000 Israelites for the defense. Yet God said that 32,000 was TOO MANY! God first whittled Gedeon’s army of 32,000 down to only 10,000 men. Then God further reduced Gedeon’s army from 10,000 to only 300 men!! Gedeon went from being outnumbered by around 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by 450 to 1. “The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”’ So two and twenty thousand men went away from Mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them! and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go [with thee]; and whom I shall forbid to go, let him return!’ And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs like to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand―but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7). We all know the result of the battle―the 300 men overcame the 135,000 despite being outnumbered by 450 to 1.
► DAVID AND GOLIATH: We also read of the account of David and Goliath, where a mere boy of small stature overcomes a giant of a soldier. Goliath was “armed to the teeth”, whereas David merely had a sling and five pebbles. It only took one pebble to put Goliath flat on his back! “Now the Philistines gathering together their troops to battle … And Saul and the children of Israel gathered together the army to fight against the Philistines. And there came out a man from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span [at least 7 feet and six inches]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass [125 lbs]. And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron [15 lbs]: and his armor-bearer went before him. And standing he cried out to the Israelites: ‘Why are you come out prepared to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us!’ And Saul and all the Israelites hearing these words of the Philistine were dismayed, and greatly afraid. The Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
“And Isai said to David his son: ‘Take for thy brothers [in Saul’s army] these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brothers. And carry these ten little cheeses to thy brethren!’ David therefore arose in the morning and went as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala and to the army, which was going out to fight. And as he talked with them, Goliath the Philistine showed himself coming up from the camp of the Philistines and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the Israelites, when they saw the Goliath, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘What shall be given to the man that shall kill this Philistine, and shall take away the reproach from Israel? … And David said to Saul: ‘Let not any man’s heart be dismayed in him! I, thy servant, will go and will fight against the Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth!’ And David said to Saul: ‘Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock―and I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I, thy servant, have killed both a lion and a bear―and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people! For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? The Lord, Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Go, and the Lord be with thee!’
“And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of mail. And David having girded his sword upon his armor, began to try if he could walk in armor: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: ‘I cannot go thus, for I am not used to it!’ And he laid them off, and he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s scrip, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine. And the Philistine came on, and drew nigh against David. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. And the Philistine said to David: ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And he said to David: ‘Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the Earth!’ And David said to the Philistine: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the Earth: that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for it is His battle, and He will deliver you into our hands!’
“And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew nigh to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the ground. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And, as David had no sword in his hand, he ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away. And the men of Israel and Juda rising up shouted, and pursued after the Philistines” (1 Kings 17:1-52).
Do you realize that you were born to fight? There is no choice! You have to fight! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), therefore “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Are you not a Soldier of Christ by reason of your having received the Sacrament of Confirmation? “Confirmation is a Sacrament through which we receive the Holy Ghost to make us strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ” (Baltimore Catechism #3, Lesson 15, q. 670). Therefore, “labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man―being a soldier to God―entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Christ, to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4).
Our Lord Comes to Fight!
Our Lord Himself came to fight Satan for the redemption of souls chained to Satan through sin. He even said that He had not come to bring peace―but the sword: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lady Was Born to Fight!
Likewise with Our Lady―she was chosen and designated, after Our Lord, to be the one who would be an enemy of Satan, who would fight him and finally crush his head: “And the Lord God said to the serpent [Satan]: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15). The Legion of Mary, in its handbook, referring to the above Scriptural quote, says: “To these words, addressed to Satan by Almighty God, the Legion turns as the source of its confidence and strength in its warfare with sin. It aims with all its heart to become in fullness the ‘seed’, the children of Mary―for therein is the pledge of victory [the seed and heel of Mary crushing the head of Satan]. In the measure that it makes her more and more its Mother, is the Legion’s enmity with the powers of evil intensified and victory made more complete. In the actual exercise of our apostolate, our great means of action consists in depending upon Mary, in keeping ourselves so closely united to Mary that in all things and everywhere we act as instruments of Mary and are, as it were, the ‘heel’ of that Immaculate Virgin. It is less our apostolate that we carry on than Mary’s own apostolate [it is less our “fight” and more Mary’s “fight”]. She herself acts with us, in us, by us, to the degree in which we make our life one of entire subjection to her.” (The Legion of Mary Handbook, chapter 5, §3).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells us that Our Lady revealed to her that Our Lady has entered into a final battle with Satan: “She told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin―and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this leaves the field of the laity unprotected and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This “final battle” is indicated in Holy Scripture, in the Book of the Apocalypse: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
At La Salette, Our Lady calls us to the fight: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady’s “End Times” Battle
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this warfare between Our Lady and Satan in his book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he writes: “Mary is especially necessary to the great saints of the latter times. I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed soon, because the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties. With the other hand they shall build (Esdras 4:7) the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say, the most holy Virgin, called by the Fathers the “Temple of Solomon” and the “City of God.” By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone.
“Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.
“It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent. It is to our purpose to explain this here for the glory of the most holy Virgin, for the salvation of her children and for the confusion of the devil: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.’ (Genesis 3:15).
“God has never made and formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.
“What Lucifer has lost by pride, Mary has gained by humility. What Eve has damned and lost by disobedience, Mary has saved by obedience. Eve, in obeying the serpent, has destroyed all her children together with herself, and has delivered them to him; Mary, in being perfectly faithful to God, has saved all her children and servants together with herself, and has consecrated them to His Majesty.
“God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world (for it is the same thing) have always up to this time persecuted those who belong to our Blessed Lady, and will in the future persecute them more than ever; just as Cain, of old, persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob, who are the figures of the reprobate and the predestinate. But the humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw.
“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“In a word, God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter, with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost, into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them shortly. Then they will see clearly, as far as Faith allows, that beautiful Star of the Sea. They will arrive happily in harbor, following its guidance, in spite of the tempests and the pirates. They will know the grandeurs of that Queen, and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. They will know the mercies of which she is full, and the need they have of her help; and they will have recourse to her in all things, as to their dear advocate and Mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will know what is the surest, the easiest, the shortest and the most perfect means of going to Jesus Christ; and they will give themselves to Mary, body and soul, without reserve, that they may thus belong entirely to Jesus Christ.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior.
“These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ ― Psalm 39:2” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §47 to §59).
Hollywood or Holy Wood?
The above passage from St. Louis de Montfort would give an excellent foundation for an all-action movie! Yet that stuff is not so much the stuff of Hollywood, but more of “Holy Wood” or the Holy Cross of Christ that WE should be carrying into battle! It is on the cross that Christ defeated Satan. The cross is one of our most powerful weapons! The cross―when carried―makes us strong! Sadly, we are too busy sitting in front of our TV screens (or whatever other kind of screen), better cast in the role of a Couch-Potato than cast in the role of a true cross-carrying, Soldier of Christ. Most of the fighting by Catholics is not done against the enemies of Church and mankind, but instead they fight with their own family members, they fight within their own parishes with fellow parishioners, they fight on internet forums often attacking fellow Catholics. “Jesus knowing their thoughts, said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!’” Matthew 12:25).
Satan is always seeking to “divide and conquer” as Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). The lion is an appropriate symbol for Satan, for lions are unique among cats in that they live in a group called a “pride”―and Satan is the “king of pride” as well as being “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) ― which can be linked to the lion being called “the king of the jungle.” Lions often seek to create panic among the herds of animals that they are hunting―thus, through fear and panic, they seek to separate a single animal from the greater safety of being among the herd. Furthermore―just like any general―the lion will seek out the weaker animals and then attack them at their weakest point.
So, for example, in the case of a buffalo (who has sharp horns and sharp hoofs), the lion will attack from the rear and seek to attack the spine of the buffalo. When attacking small animals, the lion hides in the grass maintaining a low profile. With slow and carefully intended moves, the lion draws closer and closer and then eventually captures the prey by quickly spring upon it. All of this is, by analogy, very descriptive of how devils work upon us: “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” Satan waits right at the edge of our consciousness and watches for any sign of weakness. He is prowling at the fence looking for any breaks or holes in the fence. If we fail to sufficiently maintain in good order the “fence” around our soul―through a regular, solid, sincere spiritual life of prayer, meditation, reading, and attendance at Holy Mass and Confession―then he see that we are weak “prey” and he moves in to attack.
Yes―of course―we are all weak in comparison to the angels of Hell, Satan and his devils. Yet only an idiot would try to “take on” an angel in a fight without the help of God! Our Lord says: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). To this St. Paul adds: “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “The Lord said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee―for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Therefore I will gladly glory in my infirmities [weakness], that the power of Christ may dwell in me! For this reason I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses―for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I powerful!” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me!” (Philippians 4:13). “Let the weak say: ‘I am strong!’” (Joel 3:10). “The Lord is with me as a strong warrior! Therefore they that persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak!” (Jeremias 20:11). “The Lord will fight for you!” (Exodus 14:14). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “The Lord my God teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
Victory Against All Odds
Today―those Catholics who remain true to the Faith, are greatly outnumbered by the pagan world and by bad Catholics. Even if all Catholics in the world were true and faithful Catholics―they would still be outnumbered by 6 to 1 (6.7 billion non-Catholics versus 1.3 billion Catholics). Yet the vast majority of Catholics are not true Catholics―with over 80% living in mortal sin simply be refusing to fulfill the Sunday Mass attendance obligation. That does not even take into account the numerous other potential mortal sins that Catholics engage in. The number of Liberal and Modernist Catholics greatly outnumbers Traditional and Conservative Catholics―and many Traditional and Conservative Catholics are mortal sinners too! It would extremely optimistic to say that perhaps 1 in 1,000 Catholics is true and faithful. Even such a ludicrously optimistic number would mean that true and faithful Catholics would be outnumbered by non-Catholics and bad Catholics to a ratio of over 600 to 1 (that is 13 million versus 7,900 million).
To fight an enemy that is numerically so vastly superior seems like suicide! It seems like an impossible mission―a suicide mission! Our Lord speaks of finding little or no Faith in the world at the End Times: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The righteous will suffer greatly! Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession! ... At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
God Enjoys Fighting Against the Odds
If you look at Old Testament history, you will see that on many occasions God’s Providence sets up His Chosen People as the “underdogs” in the fight―only for God to miraculously bring victory.
► NOE AND THE ARK: Noe was greatly outnumbered by sinners―he was probably a laughing-stock to them―yet Noe came out as the winner after building a massive, massive ship in the middle of nowhere―miles away from any water source that could float such a gigantic ship.
► MOSES AND THE ISRAELITES: The Chosen People, in leaving the slavery of Egypt, were caught “between a rock and a hard place”―surrounded by mountains and the Red Sea blocking them when the Egyptian army bore down on them. Yet God performed the miracle that saved His Chosen People and drowned all of the pursuing Egyptians by parting the waters of the Red Sea!
When Moses and Chosen arrived at the borders of the Promised Land for the first time, they were told by God to conquer it. The Chosen People “got scared”, complaining that its inhabitants were like giants and would make “mincemeat” of the Chosen People. This lack of trust in God―Who had already drowned the Egyptian army―infuriated God, Who then punished them by having them wander in the desert wilderness for 40 years.
During those 40 years in the desert wilderness, we see the Israelites miraculously triumph over the Amalekites (Amalec). “And Moses said to Josue: ‘Choose out men and go out and fight against Amalec! Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill―having the rod of God in my hand!” Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec―but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill. And when Moses lifted up his hands [arms], then Israel overcame Amalec; but if he let his hands [arms] down a little, then Amalec overcame. And the hands [arms] of Moses grew heavy―so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur held up his hands [arms] on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands [arms] were not weary until sunset. And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight by the edge of the sword” (Genesis 17:9-13).
► JOSUE AND JERICHO: After the death of Moses, Josue led the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan and miraculously defeated Jericho, where God brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down! “And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. Go round about the city, all ye fighting men, once a day: so shall ye do for six days. And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the Ark of the Covenant. And you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand” (Josue 6:2-5).
In the era of Judges ruling the Chosen People, we have the case of Gedeon, who, when threatened by 135,000 invading Madianites, managed to muster 32,000 Israelites for the defense. Yet God said that 32,000 was TOO MANY! God first whittled Gedeon’s army of 32,000 down to only 10,000 men. Then God further reduced Gedeon’s army from 10,000 to only 300 men!! Gedeon went from being outnumbered by around 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by 450 to 1. “The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”’ So two and twenty thousand men went away from Mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them! and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go [with thee]; and whom I shall forbid to go, let him return!’ And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs like to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand―but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7). We all know the result of the battle―the 300 men overcame the 135,000 despite being outnumbered by 450 to 1.
► DAVID AND GOLIATH: We also read of the account of David and Goliath, where a mere boy of small stature overcomes a giant of a soldier. Goliath was “armed to the teeth”, whereas David merely had a sling and five pebbles. It only took one pebble to put Goliath flat on his back! “Now the Philistines gathering together their troops to battle … And Saul and the children of Israel gathered together the army to fight against the Philistines. And there came out a man from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span [at least 7 feet and six inches]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass [125 lbs]. And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron [15 lbs]: and his armor-bearer went before him. And standing he cried out to the Israelites: ‘Why are you come out prepared to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us!’ And Saul and all the Israelites hearing these words of the Philistine were dismayed, and greatly afraid. The Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
“And Isai said to David his son: ‘Take for thy brothers [in Saul’s army] these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brothers. And carry these ten little cheeses to thy brethren!’ David therefore arose in the morning and went as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala and to the army, which was going out to fight. And as he talked with them, Goliath the Philistine showed himself coming up from the camp of the Philistines and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the Israelites, when they saw the Goliath, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘What shall be given to the man that shall kill this Philistine, and shall take away the reproach from Israel? … And David said to Saul: ‘Let not any man’s heart be dismayed in him! I, thy servant, will go and will fight against the Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth!’ And David said to Saul: ‘Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock―and I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I, thy servant, have killed both a lion and a bear―and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people! For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? The Lord, Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Go, and the Lord be with thee!’
“And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of mail. And David having girded his sword upon his armor, began to try if he could walk in armor: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: ‘I cannot go thus, for I am not used to it!’ And he laid them off, and he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s scrip, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine. And the Philistine came on, and drew nigh against David. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. And the Philistine said to David: ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And he said to David: ‘Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the Earth!’ And David said to the Philistine: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the Earth: that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for it is His battle, and He will deliver you into our hands!’
“And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew nigh to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the ground. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And, as David had no sword in his hand, he ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away. And the men of Israel and Juda rising up shouted, and pursued after the Philistines” (1 Kings 17:1-52).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday November 18th & Friday November 19th
Article 4
What on Earth are You Doing?
Be Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday November 18th & Friday November 19th
Article 4
What on Earth are You Doing?
Be Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wrong Ideas! Wrong Approach!
Have you ever tried eating soup with a knife or fork? Have you ever tried shoveling snow with a feather? Have you ever tried trimming your toenails with garden shears? Have you ever tried frying an egg in a thimble? Have you ever fed yourself by simply looking at the food and not eating it? Hopefully not! Hopefully you have more common sense than that! Yet when it comes to the many different crises in the world today―such common sense is not very common! We are trying to fight Satan with water pistols! We are trying to overcome the evil in the world by merely talking about it―but doing very little about it! We are lacking spiritual common sense. Man versus Satan equals no contest―it is a pushover for Satan. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that JUST ONE SINGLE ANGEL could destroy the universe if God would want it or allow it―so what chance has PUNY man against such a power? Yet our stupid pride fails to let us see that and grasp that.
Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet most people feel that that they doing just fine without Our Lord! Who needs Our Lord when you have all these technological tools to do things? Many people question the problem of evils and God’s general silence and inactivity―whereas with modern technology, you get answers immediately! Just “ask Google” or whatever other flavor of “Artificial Intelligence” advice you may regularly consult―it will search millions of sites within a couple of seconds and give you the answers you seek! Ask God the same question―and all you get is silence! Why rely on Divine Intelligence (which teaches you little or nothing), when you can rely on “Artificial Intelligence” (which teaches you ‘everything’ and in no time at all). Man has become a god unto himself! He thinks he can get along without God! As one convert to Protestantism put it: “When I look back on my pre-Christian days, I realize it wasn’t so much that I was an atheist as I was more just apathetic. I guess I was an apatheist. I didn’t believe in God, but mostly I didn’t care. Believing in God was irrelevant to me!”
The ever increasing virus of Pride is weakening man’s belief and reliance upon God and is replacing it with a dogmatic belief in science and a reliance on technology. This lead man to create a self-made (or self-tweaked) religion, that is personally tailored to fit one’s own preferences and inclinations. This virus has also infected Catholicism―to the extent that most Catholics have ‘altered’ or ‘tweaked’ Catholicism to fit their own personal opinions, whims, desires, preferences and tendencies.
On the moral side of things (as regards what is looked upon as being sinful or not sinful), you will find the following statistics among modern-day Catholics:
SUNDAY MASS ATTENDANCE: Hence you will find today that not only do 80+% of Catholics no longer fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance―which binds under pain of mortal sin―but many of them insist that they are ‘good’ Catholics even if they no longer attend Sunday Mass! They do not look upon deliberately missing Sunday Mass as being a mortal sin. The issue of the Mass is not the only area of the Faith that they will “tweak” or “change”―the “sky is the limit” in this regard, and everyone has developed their own “menu” of beliefs and moral attitudes. Today anywhere from 60% to 80% of Catholics (varies from country to country, state to state) no longer belief in Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist (which is a dogma of the Church)―instead, they believe that the bread and wine are only symbolic.
CONTRACEPTION: A 2016 Pew Research Center study reported that 90% of American Catholics believe that contraception is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all. Nearly three quarters of Catholics in the United States are not opposed to couples cohabiting before marriage, despite the Church's moral teaching.
COHABITATION: A November 2016 survey, by the Pew Research Center, reported that American Catholics as a whole are very accepting of unmarried couples living together, even if they have no plans to marry. Additionally, Pew found that a shrinking percentage of adults are getting married, and an increasing number of adults have decided to cohabit. Only 14% of adults surveyed said they did not believe that it was ever acceptable for two unmarried adults in a romantic relationship to live together. Of the people surveyed, 70% said they believed it was acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together, without any plans to eventually wed. Even 51% percent of regular church-goers were accepting of cohabitation without any intention to get married.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGES: A majority of Catholics have consistently approved of same-sex marriages since 2011, with an average 60% approving of same-sex marriages from 2011-2015, rising to an average of 70% since 2016. While Catholics say the traditional family structure of a husband and wife with kids is ideal, the survey showed that large majorities think it is fine for children to be raised by other kinds of families: 87% are accepting of single parent families, 83% accept families with unmarried parents who live together or divorced parents, and 66% are accepting of families of same-sex couples with children.
HOMOSEXUALITY: Similarly to same-sex marriages, an overwhelming 70% of Catholics of all ages are accepting of homosexuality. Even 60% of regular Mass-goers are accepting of homosexuality, while the number rises to around 80% for those who attend Mass less regularly. The numbers are even greater among younger Catholics―with 85% of Catholics in the 18 to 29 age range accepting homosexuality.
SEXUAL RELATIONS OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE: In a survey on whether or not sexual relations are sometimes or always acceptable between consenting adults who are NOT in a committed romantic relationship ― over six-in-ten Catholics (62%) thought it was acceptable. When it comes to sexual relations between unmarried adults who ARE in a committed relationship, almost six-in-ten Catholics (57%) thought it was acceptable.
ABORTION: A survey conducted in 2018 and released in August by the Public Religion Research Institute found that Catholic Millennials (ages 22-37) are nearly evenly split, with 46% saying abortion should be legal versus 48% who support making it illegal, which flips the overall percentages of Catholics of all ages (48% supporting the legality of abortion vs. 46% opposing it). With regular church-goers, the number was still fairly high, with over 20% being in support of abortion. The 2018 Public Religion Research Institute survey, and a 2017 survey of American Catholics, also found that 60% of Hispanic Catholics and 71% of non-Hispanic Catholics believed a person could be a good Catholic without obeying the institutional Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion.
God Is Not Mocked!
All of these Catholic “mini-gods”―as well as the rest of mankind―who have ignored God’s laws and replaced with their own man-made laws, should realize (as they will soon realize when God chastises the world) that God is not mocked without there being severe consequences: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you ... I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! If you walk contrary to Me, and will not listen to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate … I will destroy your land and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
In case you think that is just the “Old Testament God” Who is speaking―be assured that God never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). Hence Our Lady, in recent times, echoes that same terrible warning as you read in the Book of Leviticus: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Water Off A Duck’s Back
Yet most people pay little attention to the warnings of God’s imminent anger and chastisement―all such talk merely flows off them, like water flowing off a duck’s back―they have become impermeable or “waterproofed” to the words and warnings of God. They are indifferent to such a plight for one reason or another. Yet the hand of God will inevitably fall upon us―for we have become an abominably sinful human race, as Our Lady indicated on many occasions:
In 1846 : OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc. Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. There will be a series of wars, until the war which will be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan ― to be the only rulers of the world. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay! People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin”
In 1917 : OUR LADY OF FATIMA also warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” As regards that last point, regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
In 1956 : OUR LADY warned Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
In 1973 : OUR LADY OF AKITA also spoke along the same lines: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Talking Your Way to Hell
Too much talk and not enough action. Too many Catholics are talking the talk and not walking the walk! They are candles that have a ton of wax but no wick! Their Faith is like beautiful car with no gas―and so their Faith is leading them nowhere; they just sit in their car in their garage and talk, and talk and talk! They are keen to know everything, and just as keen on doing nothing about it! They suffer from “Information Constipation”―a lot of information is taken in, but nothing comes out of it. Just like the proverbial “armchair quarterbacks” in football, they are “armchair theologians, popes, bishops and priests” pontificating from the “papal throne” of their forums. Their theological training often amounts to having a brother who is priest; or having been in a seminary for a year or two; or having thoroughly read this or that author; or just having the guts to open their mouth and spout out what is on their mind! For the most part they are imprudent pompous peddlers of partial truths or padded truths. They seem to arrogantly arrogate to themselves an authority that has not been given to them. Their prudence is partial at best―they omit the “p”, “n”, “c” and one “e”―which makes their “prudence” simply “rude”.
They often speak out before they think things out. Like rebellious teenagers can control parental authority, their tongues and hearts control their minds. “A fool receiveth not the words of prudence―unless thou say those things which are in his heart” (Proverbs 18:2). “In the multitude of words there shall be no lack of sin―but he that refrains his lips is most wise!” (Proverbs 10:19). “Even a fool, if he will hold his peace shall be counted wise: and if he close his lips, a man of understanding” (Proverbs 17:28). “I wish you would hold your peace, that you might be thought to be wise men” (Job 13:5). Hence a wise mother once said to her son: “If you keep you keep your mouth shut and saying nothing, people will SUSPECT that you are stupid―but if you open your mouth and speak out, then you will REMOVE ALL SUSPICION―they will know for certain that you are stupid!”
Those words are very applicable to many (or most?) posters on Catholic forums these days―they have been drawn out of the obscurity of their duties of state and have placed themselves on center-stage on Satan’s stage on the www or “world wide web” ― it is not for nothing that in the Hebrew alphabet (in which each letter also represents a number) the number “6” is assigned to the letter “V” or “W” (“vav” or “waw”). Hence your “world wide web”―or the “www” in the address bar before each internet website―coincidentally stands for “666”. Outlandish? Ridiculous? Well, as Our Lord says: “Every good tree brings forth good fruit, and the evil tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit ... Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). For the most part―for, as they say, “the exception prove the rule”―for the most part the fruits of the internet or the “world wide web” or “www” or “666”, are not good fruits, but evil fruits―for it has drawn so many people away from given attention to God and focuses their attention on the world and even sin! 40% of all internet downloads today are pornographic. Immodesty reigns almost everywhere―even on mainstream news sites. Detraction (the revealing of sins) and calumny (lying about others) are everywhere! You could say that “666” or “www” has ensnared many a Catholic lip that has chosen to “pontificate” above its humble station! If the saints―in pre-internet days and days of traditional Catholicism throughout the world―said that most Catholic souls end up in Hell, what would they say today?
Even though they are sometimes well-intentioned―they are, nevertheless, partially-trained, big-brained (or pea-brained), self-contained, pride-chained, unrestrained, non-ordained but self-ordained judges of Catholicism in all its departments and Catholics of all jurisdictions. Just as you can sin against the virtue of Hope on two opposing―by despair (no hope) and by presumption (too much hope)―so too can you be a “false prophet” or a “false Christ” on two opposing sides. You can be a “false prophet” or a “false Christ” OUTSIDE the Church and also INSIDE the Church. In fact, those “false prophet” or a “false Christ” inside the Church can do more damage than those outside the Church―for we are more likely to trust a Catholic than a non-Catholic. These legions of “Soldiers of Christ”―professing to be “Crusaders for Truth”, but are more like Saul before he became St. Paul―climb on their “white horse” in search of sinners to expose and depose! Every sin must be exposed! Every sinner brought to justice! No sin, no matter how long ago it was committed, should be ignored! Truth must reign and justice must be administered! Everyone is guilty―or at least under suspicion―unless proved innocent! Any evidence can be twisted, tweaked, transformed or thrown-out if it does fit their bias. Such is the direction in which Catholicism―even Traditional and Conservative Catholicism―is headed in today! They forget―or handily choose to ignore―these words of Holy Scripture and Our Lord:
Terrible Tongues―Devilish Tongues
“In many things we all offend. If any man does not offend by words, the same is a perfect man. He is able, as with a bridle, to lead about the whole body. We put bits into the mouths of horses, so that they may obey us, and we can lead and turn their whole body. Behold also ships―even though they are great and are driven by strong winds―yet they are directed and turned around with a small helm, wherever the force of the ship’s pilot wants to go. So too the tongue is indeed a little member but boasts great things. Behold how small a fire kindles a great wood. And the tongue is a fire―a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members―but it defiles the whole body, and inflames the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man! But the tongue no man can tame! It is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison! By it we bless God and the Father―and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God! Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:2-10). “It is not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth―this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11).
“Truths are decayed from among the children of men! They have spoken vain things, everyone to his neighbor! With deceitful lips and with a double heart have they spoken! May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speak proud things. Who have said: ‘We will magnify our tongue! Our lips are our own! Who is Lord over us?’” (Psalm 11:2-5).
“There are things which the Lord hates and His soul detests: … a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that utters lies, and him that sows discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertains deceit. When he shall speak low to you, trust him not―because there are seven mischiefs in his heart. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it: and he that rolls a stone, it shall return to fall on him! A deceitful tongue loves not truth and a slippery mouth works ruin!” (Proverbs 26:24-28).
“All the day long thy tongue has devised injustice―like a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit! Thou hast loved malice more than goodness; and love to speak of iniquity rather than to speak of righteousness! Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue! Therefore God will destroy thee for ever! He will pluck thee out and remove thee from thy dwelling place, and thy root out of the land of the living!” (Psalm 51:4-7).
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue!” (Proverbs 18:21). “If any man think himself to be religious―not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart―this man's religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “Be not false accusers!” (Titus 2:3). “He that keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from distress” (Proverbs 21:23). “A harsh word stirs up fury!” (Proverbs 15:1). “When the wood fails, the fire shall go out―and when the talebearer is taken away, contentions shall cease. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so an angry man stirs up strife. The words of a talebearer are simple, but they reach to the innermost parts of the belly” (Proverbs 26:20-22). “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile” (Psalm 33:14). “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips!” (Psalm 140:3).
Christian Tongues―Christ-like Tongues
Our Lord tells us: “Learn of Me―for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon both the good and the bad, and rain to fall upon the just and the unjust!’ For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Therefore be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:43-48).
“For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:16-17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 19:10; 9:56). “I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways!” (Ezechiel 33:11).
“Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of Faith! … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you!” (Ephesians 4:29-32). “A peaceable tongue is a tree of life―but a tongue which is immoderate, shall crush the spirit!” (Proverbs 15:3). “Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man works, not the justice of God!” (James 1:19-20).
“Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
“The Scribes and the Pharisees bring unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’” (John 8:3-7). “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
We Have Replaced Forgiveness with Accusation ― Replaced Mercy with Hatred
In “tweaking” and “transforming” our Faith to suit our inclinations, whims, prejudices and preferences, we have replaces forgiveness and mercy with accusation and hatred. We have thrown aside Christ’s love and compassion for the sinner, and replaced it with disgust and hardness of heart. We bloodthirstily seek vengeance rather than mercy. All of this smacks and tastes more of the devil than Christ; it has the DNA of Hell rather than Heaven; it carries the label “Made in Hell” rather than the label “Made in Heaven”.
Even the Apostles were tainted with this virus of recrimination, vengeance and unforgiveness. We see the Apostles James and John seeking to call fire down from Heaven to destroy a Samaritan city that had given Christ the “cold shoulder” ― “They entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not … And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning to them, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (John 9:52-56).
Similarly, St. Peter, sought a loophole on the matter of forgiveness with Our Lord: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Holy Scripture adds: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirsts, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head!” (Romans 12:20)―that is a direct quote by St. Paul from the Old Testament passage: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirsts, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:21-22).
Don’t worry about vengeance and sinners being justly punished―God will take care of that: “Revenge is mine and I will repay them in due time! The day of destruction is at hand and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). Let God do the “surgery” ― He is a far better “surgeon” than you are! Or do you think yourself better equipped to handle sinners and the justice and mercy to be shown to them? Remember the words of God spoken to Isaias the prophet: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Our Lady did not come to Fatima asking that we “stone sinners” ― but that we offer many prayers and sacrifices for their conversion and salvation from Hell: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? (May 1917) … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! (July 1917) … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917).
What Would Jesus Do? What Did Jesus Do?
What was the approach of Jesus towards sinners? He Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! … You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Jesus then proceeded to suffer and die for OUR sins! “When we were sinners, Christ died for US!” (Romans 5:8-9). “He was wounded for OUR iniquities, He was bruised for OUR sins!” (Isaias 53:5). “He is the propitiation for OUR sins― and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world!” (1 John 2:2). “Who gave Himself a redemption for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). “Who gave Himself for OUR sins, that He might deliver US from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “Who, His own self, bore OUR sins in His Body upon the tree [the cross]―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―by Whose stripes YOU were healed!” (1 Peter 2:24). “Know that you were redeemed with the Precious Blood of Christ!” (1 Peter 1:18-19). “This is My Blood, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep” (John 10:11).
Charity! Charity! Charity!
Today’s world is increasingly an atmosphere of hatred and recrimination! That is not the spirit of God. “Charity is of God and … God is charity! … God hath first loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10). “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16).
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and Jesus is God―therefore Jesus is charity. Jesus, in His charity, died for our sins―and He tell us: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another!” (John 13:34) … “This is My commandment―that you love one another, as I have loved you!” (John 15:12) … “These things I command you, that you love one another!” (John 15:17) … “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:43-44). Jesus Himself not only talked the talk, but also walked the walk―for, as He died on the cross, He prays for His murderers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34).
The Holy Ghost is also charity―which is why, when we pray to Him, we say: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” Without God we are NOTHING and without charity we are NOTHING―as Holy Scripture clearly points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The World Lacks Charity―The World’s Charity is Counterfeit
To say that someone lacks charity is, strictly speaking, incorrect―for everyone loves something or someone (especially themselves). We are told, by Our Lord Himself, that God should be the SOLE and TOTAL focal point of our love or charity: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Our love of neighbor is SECONDARY to the love of God and we should love our neighbor BECAUSE OF GOD and not for other selfish, advantageous, self-seeking, manipulative reasons. As one of the many Acts of Charity states: “My God, I love Thee with all my heart, above all things, because Thou art so good―and I love my neighbor as myself for love of Thee.”
Today, most people love themselves to the point of sin. Speaking of the “End Times” of the world, Holy Scripture states that in those times, “men shall be lovers of themselves … lovers of pleasures more than of God” (2 Timothy 3:2-4). They love the world more than they love God. Sure―they love―but they love the wrong things and in a wrong way! God tells us in Holy Scripture that the world should not be object of our love―even though God created the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Counterfeit Love Cannot Buy Heaven
Unfortunately, most people find out too late, to their eternal dismay, that Our Lord was serious when He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
“You cannot serve God and mammon! … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loves his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). You would think that Catholics―if they realize as they should realize that most Catholic souls are lost and damned together with non-Catholic souls―then you would think that they would do all in their power to avoid that happening! But no! They do not really care! Sadly they will one day realize the truth of these words: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Fooling Yourself
Many souls fool themselves by EXCLUSIVELY focusing on the fact that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and they throw other Scriptural logs on the presumptuous fire of ‘charity’ such as: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) and “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked!” (Ezechiel 33:11). Yes―this is true―but like preferential Protestants they “freeze-out” or neglect to quote the “flip side of the coin” which also has God saying things like: “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways! … If that wicked man restore the pledge, and give back what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments, and do no unjust thing―then he shall live!” (Ezechiel 33:11). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant ― then I also will walk contrary to you and I will set My face against you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins … I will quickly visit you with poverty and consume your lives. You shall be devoured by your enemies ... I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … I will destroy your high places … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness … and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed.” (Leviticus 26:14-33). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Understandably, it is not nice to hear that most souls are damned: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14) … “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet the fact that only a few are saved does not mean that there is not enough room in Heaven, or that God is prejudiced against some persons and favors others! No! “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Our Lord is the Truth and the Light on the road to Heaven: “I am the Way and the Truth ... No man cometh to the Father, except by Me!” (John 14:6) … “I am come a light into the world―so that whosoever believes in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “I am the Light of the world! He that follows me, walks not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5). Unfortunately, “the Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 3:19). “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―who put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
No Change Without Charity
The current culture of hatred and death, animosity and revenge, neo-paganism and atheism, lying and falsehood, crime and evil will never be changed unless we change ourselves by being totally centered upon and totally committed to God through the virtue of charity. The pride and hatred of Satan can only be overcome by humility and charity―the humility and charity of God. Yes―Scripture says: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4)―yet Faith is only the beginning, the platform for Hope and Charity, and Charity is more powerful than Faith: “There remain Faith, Hope, and Charity―but the greatest of these is Charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith should lead to the works of Charity, for “Faith that worketh by Charity” (Galatians 5:6) and “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
Our power increases with an increase in charity. The greater our charity, the greater is our power with God. As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity ... Charity increases, properly speaking, in intensity rather than numerically ... Quality is superior to quantity. This is why the fullness of grace in Mary surpassed, from the first day of her existence, that of all the saints―just as a single diamond is worth more than a quantity of other precious stones … It follows also from these principles that one fervent Communion is worth more than many tepid Communions taken together … Our Communions ought, not only to preserve, but to increase Charity in us. Each Communion should be substantially more fervent and more fruitful than the preceding one.”
Charity is the Engine and Power
We have a beautiful passage in The Imitation of Christ that exemplifies the energy and power generated by charity or Divine Love: “Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it carries a burden without being weighed down, and makes sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites a longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and freed from all worldly affections, lest its be obstructed and entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger; nothing is more pleasant, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices! He is free, not chained by the world. Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility―because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all―performing and achieving much, where someone who does not love, fails and falls.
“Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls away from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor focused upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5 “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love”).
Today, we are achieving very little for God because our love for God is little! We reap what we sow―if we sow little, we get little in return: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes that “Charity ought to grow until death … Christian perfection requires great Charity … Even though a weak Charity can resist temptations, it is actually victorious over them only by increasing and becoming stronger and stronger. Therefore true Christian perfection of itself requires great Charity ... Perfect Charity demands serious effort, a veritable struggle, a spirit of abnegation or renunciation, in order that our affection, ceasing to descend toward the things of Earth or to fall back egoistically on ourselves, may always rise more purely and strongly toward God. This is truly the life of the saints. We are called to it, for we are all called to the life of Heaven―where there will be only saints. In order to attain Heaven, we must sanctify all the acts of our day, remembering that above the succession of daily deeds, whether pleasurable a or painful, foreseen or unforeseen, there is the parallel series of actual graces which are granted to us, from moment to moment, so that we may be able to draw the best spiritual profit from these daily deeds. If we think about this, we shall no longer see these acts only from the point of view of the senses, or from that of our reason―which is more or less led astray by self-love―but from the supernatural point of view of Faith. Then these daily deeds―whether pleasurable or painful―will become the practical application of the doctrine of the Gospel, and gradually an almost continual conversation will be established between Christ and us. This will be the true interior life, as it were, eternal life begun.”
Have you ever tried eating soup with a knife or fork? Have you ever tried shoveling snow with a feather? Have you ever tried trimming your toenails with garden shears? Have you ever tried frying an egg in a thimble? Have you ever fed yourself by simply looking at the food and not eating it? Hopefully not! Hopefully you have more common sense than that! Yet when it comes to the many different crises in the world today―such common sense is not very common! We are trying to fight Satan with water pistols! We are trying to overcome the evil in the world by merely talking about it―but doing very little about it! We are lacking spiritual common sense. Man versus Satan equals no contest―it is a pushover for Satan. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that JUST ONE SINGLE ANGEL could destroy the universe if God would want it or allow it―so what chance has PUNY man against such a power? Yet our stupid pride fails to let us see that and grasp that.
Our Lord said: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet most people feel that that they doing just fine without Our Lord! Who needs Our Lord when you have all these technological tools to do things? Many people question the problem of evils and God’s general silence and inactivity―whereas with modern technology, you get answers immediately! Just “ask Google” or whatever other flavor of “Artificial Intelligence” advice you may regularly consult―it will search millions of sites within a couple of seconds and give you the answers you seek! Ask God the same question―and all you get is silence! Why rely on Divine Intelligence (which teaches you little or nothing), when you can rely on “Artificial Intelligence” (which teaches you ‘everything’ and in no time at all). Man has become a god unto himself! He thinks he can get along without God! As one convert to Protestantism put it: “When I look back on my pre-Christian days, I realize it wasn’t so much that I was an atheist as I was more just apathetic. I guess I was an apatheist. I didn’t believe in God, but mostly I didn’t care. Believing in God was irrelevant to me!”
The ever increasing virus of Pride is weakening man’s belief and reliance upon God and is replacing it with a dogmatic belief in science and a reliance on technology. This lead man to create a self-made (or self-tweaked) religion, that is personally tailored to fit one’s own preferences and inclinations. This virus has also infected Catholicism―to the extent that most Catholics have ‘altered’ or ‘tweaked’ Catholicism to fit their own personal opinions, whims, desires, preferences and tendencies.
On the moral side of things (as regards what is looked upon as being sinful or not sinful), you will find the following statistics among modern-day Catholics:
SUNDAY MASS ATTENDANCE: Hence you will find today that not only do 80+% of Catholics no longer fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance―which binds under pain of mortal sin―but many of them insist that they are ‘good’ Catholics even if they no longer attend Sunday Mass! They do not look upon deliberately missing Sunday Mass as being a mortal sin. The issue of the Mass is not the only area of the Faith that they will “tweak” or “change”―the “sky is the limit” in this regard, and everyone has developed their own “menu” of beliefs and moral attitudes. Today anywhere from 60% to 80% of Catholics (varies from country to country, state to state) no longer belief in Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist (which is a dogma of the Church)―instead, they believe that the bread and wine are only symbolic.
CONTRACEPTION: A 2016 Pew Research Center study reported that 90% of American Catholics believe that contraception is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all. Nearly three quarters of Catholics in the United States are not opposed to couples cohabiting before marriage, despite the Church's moral teaching.
COHABITATION: A November 2016 survey, by the Pew Research Center, reported that American Catholics as a whole are very accepting of unmarried couples living together, even if they have no plans to marry. Additionally, Pew found that a shrinking percentage of adults are getting married, and an increasing number of adults have decided to cohabit. Only 14% of adults surveyed said they did not believe that it was ever acceptable for two unmarried adults in a romantic relationship to live together. Of the people surveyed, 70% said they believed it was acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together, without any plans to eventually wed. Even 51% percent of regular church-goers were accepting of cohabitation without any intention to get married.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGES: A majority of Catholics have consistently approved of same-sex marriages since 2011, with an average 60% approving of same-sex marriages from 2011-2015, rising to an average of 70% since 2016. While Catholics say the traditional family structure of a husband and wife with kids is ideal, the survey showed that large majorities think it is fine for children to be raised by other kinds of families: 87% are accepting of single parent families, 83% accept families with unmarried parents who live together or divorced parents, and 66% are accepting of families of same-sex couples with children.
HOMOSEXUALITY: Similarly to same-sex marriages, an overwhelming 70% of Catholics of all ages are accepting of homosexuality. Even 60% of regular Mass-goers are accepting of homosexuality, while the number rises to around 80% for those who attend Mass less regularly. The numbers are even greater among younger Catholics―with 85% of Catholics in the 18 to 29 age range accepting homosexuality.
SEXUAL RELATIONS OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE: In a survey on whether or not sexual relations are sometimes or always acceptable between consenting adults who are NOT in a committed romantic relationship ― over six-in-ten Catholics (62%) thought it was acceptable. When it comes to sexual relations between unmarried adults who ARE in a committed relationship, almost six-in-ten Catholics (57%) thought it was acceptable.
ABORTION: A survey conducted in 2018 and released in August by the Public Religion Research Institute found that Catholic Millennials (ages 22-37) are nearly evenly split, with 46% saying abortion should be legal versus 48% who support making it illegal, which flips the overall percentages of Catholics of all ages (48% supporting the legality of abortion vs. 46% opposing it). With regular church-goers, the number was still fairly high, with over 20% being in support of abortion. The 2018 Public Religion Research Institute survey, and a 2017 survey of American Catholics, also found that 60% of Hispanic Catholics and 71% of non-Hispanic Catholics believed a person could be a good Catholic without obeying the institutional Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion.
God Is Not Mocked!
All of these Catholic “mini-gods”―as well as the rest of mankind―who have ignored God’s laws and replaced with their own man-made laws, should realize (as they will soon realize when God chastises the world) that God is not mocked without there being severe consequences: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you ... I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! If you walk contrary to Me, and will not listen to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate … I will destroy your land and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
In case you think that is just the “Old Testament God” Who is speaking―be assured that God never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). Hence Our Lady, in recent times, echoes that same terrible warning as you read in the Book of Leviticus: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Water Off A Duck’s Back
Yet most people pay little attention to the warnings of God’s imminent anger and chastisement―all such talk merely flows off them, like water flowing off a duck’s back―they have become impermeable or “waterproofed” to the words and warnings of God. They are indifferent to such a plight for one reason or another. Yet the hand of God will inevitably fall upon us―for we have become an abominably sinful human race, as Our Lady indicated on many occasions:
In 1846 : OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc. Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. There will be a series of wars, until the war which will be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan ― to be the only rulers of the world. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay! People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin”
In 1917 : OUR LADY OF FATIMA also warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” As regards that last point, regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
In 1956 : OUR LADY warned Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
In 1973 : OUR LADY OF AKITA also spoke along the same lines: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Talking Your Way to Hell
Too much talk and not enough action. Too many Catholics are talking the talk and not walking the walk! They are candles that have a ton of wax but no wick! Their Faith is like beautiful car with no gas―and so their Faith is leading them nowhere; they just sit in their car in their garage and talk, and talk and talk! They are keen to know everything, and just as keen on doing nothing about it! They suffer from “Information Constipation”―a lot of information is taken in, but nothing comes out of it. Just like the proverbial “armchair quarterbacks” in football, they are “armchair theologians, popes, bishops and priests” pontificating from the “papal throne” of their forums. Their theological training often amounts to having a brother who is priest; or having been in a seminary for a year or two; or having thoroughly read this or that author; or just having the guts to open their mouth and spout out what is on their mind! For the most part they are imprudent pompous peddlers of partial truths or padded truths. They seem to arrogantly arrogate to themselves an authority that has not been given to them. Their prudence is partial at best―they omit the “p”, “n”, “c” and one “e”―which makes their “prudence” simply “rude”.
They often speak out before they think things out. Like rebellious teenagers can control parental authority, their tongues and hearts control their minds. “A fool receiveth not the words of prudence―unless thou say those things which are in his heart” (Proverbs 18:2). “In the multitude of words there shall be no lack of sin―but he that refrains his lips is most wise!” (Proverbs 10:19). “Even a fool, if he will hold his peace shall be counted wise: and if he close his lips, a man of understanding” (Proverbs 17:28). “I wish you would hold your peace, that you might be thought to be wise men” (Job 13:5). Hence a wise mother once said to her son: “If you keep you keep your mouth shut and saying nothing, people will SUSPECT that you are stupid―but if you open your mouth and speak out, then you will REMOVE ALL SUSPICION―they will know for certain that you are stupid!”
Those words are very applicable to many (or most?) posters on Catholic forums these days―they have been drawn out of the obscurity of their duties of state and have placed themselves on center-stage on Satan’s stage on the www or “world wide web” ― it is not for nothing that in the Hebrew alphabet (in which each letter also represents a number) the number “6” is assigned to the letter “V” or “W” (“vav” or “waw”). Hence your “world wide web”―or the “www” in the address bar before each internet website―coincidentally stands for “666”. Outlandish? Ridiculous? Well, as Our Lord says: “Every good tree brings forth good fruit, and the evil tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit ... Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). For the most part―for, as they say, “the exception prove the rule”―for the most part the fruits of the internet or the “world wide web” or “www” or “666”, are not good fruits, but evil fruits―for it has drawn so many people away from given attention to God and focuses their attention on the world and even sin! 40% of all internet downloads today are pornographic. Immodesty reigns almost everywhere―even on mainstream news sites. Detraction (the revealing of sins) and calumny (lying about others) are everywhere! You could say that “666” or “www” has ensnared many a Catholic lip that has chosen to “pontificate” above its humble station! If the saints―in pre-internet days and days of traditional Catholicism throughout the world―said that most Catholic souls end up in Hell, what would they say today?
Even though they are sometimes well-intentioned―they are, nevertheless, partially-trained, big-brained (or pea-brained), self-contained, pride-chained, unrestrained, non-ordained but self-ordained judges of Catholicism in all its departments and Catholics of all jurisdictions. Just as you can sin against the virtue of Hope on two opposing―by despair (no hope) and by presumption (too much hope)―so too can you be a “false prophet” or a “false Christ” on two opposing sides. You can be a “false prophet” or a “false Christ” OUTSIDE the Church and also INSIDE the Church. In fact, those “false prophet” or a “false Christ” inside the Church can do more damage than those outside the Church―for we are more likely to trust a Catholic than a non-Catholic. These legions of “Soldiers of Christ”―professing to be “Crusaders for Truth”, but are more like Saul before he became St. Paul―climb on their “white horse” in search of sinners to expose and depose! Every sin must be exposed! Every sinner brought to justice! No sin, no matter how long ago it was committed, should be ignored! Truth must reign and justice must be administered! Everyone is guilty―or at least under suspicion―unless proved innocent! Any evidence can be twisted, tweaked, transformed or thrown-out if it does fit their bias. Such is the direction in which Catholicism―even Traditional and Conservative Catholicism―is headed in today! They forget―or handily choose to ignore―these words of Holy Scripture and Our Lord:
Terrible Tongues―Devilish Tongues
“In many things we all offend. If any man does not offend by words, the same is a perfect man. He is able, as with a bridle, to lead about the whole body. We put bits into the mouths of horses, so that they may obey us, and we can lead and turn their whole body. Behold also ships―even though they are great and are driven by strong winds―yet they are directed and turned around with a small helm, wherever the force of the ship’s pilot wants to go. So too the tongue is indeed a little member but boasts great things. Behold how small a fire kindles a great wood. And the tongue is a fire―a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members―but it defiles the whole body, and inflames the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man! But the tongue no man can tame! It is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison! By it we bless God and the Father―and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God! Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:2-10). “It is not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth―this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11).
“Truths are decayed from among the children of men! They have spoken vain things, everyone to his neighbor! With deceitful lips and with a double heart have they spoken! May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speak proud things. Who have said: ‘We will magnify our tongue! Our lips are our own! Who is Lord over us?’” (Psalm 11:2-5).
“There are things which the Lord hates and His soul detests: … a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that utters lies, and him that sows discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertains deceit. When he shall speak low to you, trust him not―because there are seven mischiefs in his heart. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it: and he that rolls a stone, it shall return to fall on him! A deceitful tongue loves not truth and a slippery mouth works ruin!” (Proverbs 26:24-28).
“All the day long thy tongue has devised injustice―like a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit! Thou hast loved malice more than goodness; and love to speak of iniquity rather than to speak of righteousness! Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue! Therefore God will destroy thee for ever! He will pluck thee out and remove thee from thy dwelling place, and thy root out of the land of the living!” (Psalm 51:4-7).
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue!” (Proverbs 18:21). “If any man think himself to be religious―not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart―this man's religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “Be not false accusers!” (Titus 2:3). “He that keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from distress” (Proverbs 21:23). “A harsh word stirs up fury!” (Proverbs 15:1). “When the wood fails, the fire shall go out―and when the talebearer is taken away, contentions shall cease. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so an angry man stirs up strife. The words of a talebearer are simple, but they reach to the innermost parts of the belly” (Proverbs 26:20-22). “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile” (Psalm 33:14). “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips!” (Psalm 140:3).
Christian Tongues―Christ-like Tongues
Our Lord tells us: “Learn of Me―for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon both the good and the bad, and rain to fall upon the just and the unjust!’ For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Therefore be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:43-48).
“For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:16-17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 19:10; 9:56). “I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways!” (Ezechiel 33:11).
“Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of Faith! … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you!” (Ephesians 4:29-32). “A peaceable tongue is a tree of life―but a tongue which is immoderate, shall crush the spirit!” (Proverbs 15:3). “Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man works, not the justice of God!” (James 1:19-20).
“Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
“The Scribes and the Pharisees bring unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’” (John 8:3-7). “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
We Have Replaced Forgiveness with Accusation ― Replaced Mercy with Hatred
In “tweaking” and “transforming” our Faith to suit our inclinations, whims, prejudices and preferences, we have replaces forgiveness and mercy with accusation and hatred. We have thrown aside Christ’s love and compassion for the sinner, and replaced it with disgust and hardness of heart. We bloodthirstily seek vengeance rather than mercy. All of this smacks and tastes more of the devil than Christ; it has the DNA of Hell rather than Heaven; it carries the label “Made in Hell” rather than the label “Made in Heaven”.
Even the Apostles were tainted with this virus of recrimination, vengeance and unforgiveness. We see the Apostles James and John seeking to call fire down from Heaven to destroy a Samaritan city that had given Christ the “cold shoulder” ― “They entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not … And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning to them, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (John 9:52-56).
Similarly, St. Peter, sought a loophole on the matter of forgiveness with Our Lord: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Holy Scripture adds: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirsts, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head!” (Romans 12:20)―that is a direct quote by St. Paul from the Old Testament passage: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirsts, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:21-22).
Don’t worry about vengeance and sinners being justly punished―God will take care of that: “Revenge is mine and I will repay them in due time! The day of destruction is at hand and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). Let God do the “surgery” ― He is a far better “surgeon” than you are! Or do you think yourself better equipped to handle sinners and the justice and mercy to be shown to them? Remember the words of God spoken to Isaias the prophet: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Our Lady did not come to Fatima asking that we “stone sinners” ― but that we offer many prayers and sacrifices for their conversion and salvation from Hell: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? (May 1917) … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! (July 1917) … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917).
What Would Jesus Do? What Did Jesus Do?
What was the approach of Jesus towards sinners? He Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! … You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Jesus then proceeded to suffer and die for OUR sins! “When we were sinners, Christ died for US!” (Romans 5:8-9). “He was wounded for OUR iniquities, He was bruised for OUR sins!” (Isaias 53:5). “He is the propitiation for OUR sins― and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world!” (1 John 2:2). “Who gave Himself a redemption for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). “Who gave Himself for OUR sins, that He might deliver US from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “Who, His own self, bore OUR sins in His Body upon the tree [the cross]―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―by Whose stripes YOU were healed!” (1 Peter 2:24). “Know that you were redeemed with the Precious Blood of Christ!” (1 Peter 1:18-19). “This is My Blood, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep” (John 10:11).
Charity! Charity! Charity!
Today’s world is increasingly an atmosphere of hatred and recrimination! That is not the spirit of God. “Charity is of God and … God is charity! … God hath first loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10). “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16).
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and Jesus is God―therefore Jesus is charity. Jesus, in His charity, died for our sins―and He tell us: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another!” (John 13:34) … “This is My commandment―that you love one another, as I have loved you!” (John 15:12) … “These things I command you, that you love one another!” (John 15:17) … “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:43-44). Jesus Himself not only talked the talk, but also walked the walk―for, as He died on the cross, He prays for His murderers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34).
The Holy Ghost is also charity―which is why, when we pray to Him, we say: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” Without God we are NOTHING and without charity we are NOTHING―as Holy Scripture clearly points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The World Lacks Charity―The World’s Charity is Counterfeit
To say that someone lacks charity is, strictly speaking, incorrect―for everyone loves something or someone (especially themselves). We are told, by Our Lord Himself, that God should be the SOLE and TOTAL focal point of our love or charity: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Our love of neighbor is SECONDARY to the love of God and we should love our neighbor BECAUSE OF GOD and not for other selfish, advantageous, self-seeking, manipulative reasons. As one of the many Acts of Charity states: “My God, I love Thee with all my heart, above all things, because Thou art so good―and I love my neighbor as myself for love of Thee.”
Today, most people love themselves to the point of sin. Speaking of the “End Times” of the world, Holy Scripture states that in those times, “men shall be lovers of themselves … lovers of pleasures more than of God” (2 Timothy 3:2-4). They love the world more than they love God. Sure―they love―but they love the wrong things and in a wrong way! God tells us in Holy Scripture that the world should not be object of our love―even though God created the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Counterfeit Love Cannot Buy Heaven
Unfortunately, most people find out too late, to their eternal dismay, that Our Lord was serious when He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
“You cannot serve God and mammon! … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loves his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). You would think that Catholics―if they realize as they should realize that most Catholic souls are lost and damned together with non-Catholic souls―then you would think that they would do all in their power to avoid that happening! But no! They do not really care! Sadly they will one day realize the truth of these words: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Fooling Yourself
Many souls fool themselves by EXCLUSIVELY focusing on the fact that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and they throw other Scriptural logs on the presumptuous fire of ‘charity’ such as: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) and “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked!” (Ezechiel 33:11). Yes―this is true―but like preferential Protestants they “freeze-out” or neglect to quote the “flip side of the coin” which also has God saying things like: “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways! … If that wicked man restore the pledge, and give back what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments, and do no unjust thing―then he shall live!” (Ezechiel 33:11). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant ― then I also will walk contrary to you and I will set My face against you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins … I will quickly visit you with poverty and consume your lives. You shall be devoured by your enemies ... I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … I will destroy your high places … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness … and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed.” (Leviticus 26:14-33). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Understandably, it is not nice to hear that most souls are damned: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14) … “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet the fact that only a few are saved does not mean that there is not enough room in Heaven, or that God is prejudiced against some persons and favors others! No! “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Our Lord is the Truth and the Light on the road to Heaven: “I am the Way and the Truth ... No man cometh to the Father, except by Me!” (John 14:6) … “I am come a light into the world―so that whosoever believes in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “I am the Light of the world! He that follows me, walks not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5). Unfortunately, “the Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 3:19). “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―who put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
No Change Without Charity
The current culture of hatred and death, animosity and revenge, neo-paganism and atheism, lying and falsehood, crime and evil will never be changed unless we change ourselves by being totally centered upon and totally committed to God through the virtue of charity. The pride and hatred of Satan can only be overcome by humility and charity―the humility and charity of God. Yes―Scripture says: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4)―yet Faith is only the beginning, the platform for Hope and Charity, and Charity is more powerful than Faith: “There remain Faith, Hope, and Charity―but the greatest of these is Charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith should lead to the works of Charity, for “Faith that worketh by Charity” (Galatians 5:6) and “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
Our power increases with an increase in charity. The greater our charity, the greater is our power with God. As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity ... Charity increases, properly speaking, in intensity rather than numerically ... Quality is superior to quantity. This is why the fullness of grace in Mary surpassed, from the first day of her existence, that of all the saints―just as a single diamond is worth more than a quantity of other precious stones … It follows also from these principles that one fervent Communion is worth more than many tepid Communions taken together … Our Communions ought, not only to preserve, but to increase Charity in us. Each Communion should be substantially more fervent and more fruitful than the preceding one.”
Charity is the Engine and Power
We have a beautiful passage in The Imitation of Christ that exemplifies the energy and power generated by charity or Divine Love: “Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it carries a burden without being weighed down, and makes sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites a longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and freed from all worldly affections, lest its be obstructed and entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger; nothing is more pleasant, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices! He is free, not chained by the world. Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility―because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all―performing and achieving much, where someone who does not love, fails and falls.
“Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls away from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor focused upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5 “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love”).
Today, we are achieving very little for God because our love for God is little! We reap what we sow―if we sow little, we get little in return: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes that “Charity ought to grow until death … Christian perfection requires great Charity … Even though a weak Charity can resist temptations, it is actually victorious over them only by increasing and becoming stronger and stronger. Therefore true Christian perfection of itself requires great Charity ... Perfect Charity demands serious effort, a veritable struggle, a spirit of abnegation or renunciation, in order that our affection, ceasing to descend toward the things of Earth or to fall back egoistically on ourselves, may always rise more purely and strongly toward God. This is truly the life of the saints. We are called to it, for we are all called to the life of Heaven―where there will be only saints. In order to attain Heaven, we must sanctify all the acts of our day, remembering that above the succession of daily deeds, whether pleasurable a or painful, foreseen or unforeseen, there is the parallel series of actual graces which are granted to us, from moment to moment, so that we may be able to draw the best spiritual profit from these daily deeds. If we think about this, we shall no longer see these acts only from the point of view of the senses, or from that of our reason―which is more or less led astray by self-love―but from the supernatural point of view of Faith. Then these daily deeds―whether pleasurable or painful―will become the practical application of the doctrine of the Gospel, and gradually an almost continual conversation will be established between Christ and us. This will be the true interior life, as it were, eternal life begun.”
FOUR DAY ARTICLE
Thursday November 11th to Sunday November 14th
Article 3
Your Fate is in Your Hands!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday November 11th to Sunday November 14th
Article 3
Your Fate is in Your Hands!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
How Much Will It Take?
What will it take to make the “Catholic Frog” jump out of the slowly heated pot of water and start croaking and praying for help? What will it take to make that “Catholic Frog” realize that we have entered the “End Times”― not to be confused with the “End of the World” ― for one leads to the other. The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must first come ― but that “triumph” will come at a time when everything seems lost. Right now, we are in the process of losing it ― losing one right and one freedom after another, as Satan tightens his grip on the world of which Our Lord says Satan is the “prince” (John 12:31). Are we really so dumb and blind that we cannot see what is happening? One prophecy after another is being fulfilled in our days―and we still remain indifferent, at least spiritually indifferent, for all we do is talk about it and do very little about it! Our Lady has repeatedly told us what to do―but we, like stubborn teenagers towards their parents, merely let her words flow over us, like water flowing off a duck’s back.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima warned us that Our Lady had indirectly revealed to her that we have entered the period of time which is commonly called the “End Times” or “Last Days” of the world. Yes―her Immaculate Heart will triumph “in the end”―but at what cost? How many souls will have damned by our indifference, negligence, obstinacy, stubbornness or even refusal to fulfill her requests and commands? Perhaps we too will be damned because of neglect in praying and sacrificing, as well our neglect in “sounding the trumpet” of warning to others? Holy Scripture speaks of this:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them; and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people, then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, if the sword come and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, therefore his blood shall be upon him―but, if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, you shall surely die!”―if you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. But if you tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but you will have saved your own soul!’” (Ezechiel 33:1-9).
Whose Trumpet Are You Blowing?
There is a lot of “trumpeting” going on―with everyone “blowing their own trumpet”―but they are not “trumpeting” Heaven’s message! Only a fool can say that he cannot “see the sword coming upon the land” ― to everyone else who is “of the Faith” it should be quite clear! Yet what tune are we trumpeting? Is it the warning tune? Or is it a worldly tune? What do we speak about? What occupies our thoughts? What are we focused on? As they say: “First things first!” Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33) ― but most people seek the world first! Sadly, they risk losing their souls―as Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33).
Our Lord Blew the Trumpet a Long Time Ago!
There is a lot of “trumpeting” going on―with everyone “blowing their own trumpet”―but they are not “trumpeting” Heaven’s message! Our Lord was already “blowing the trumpet” about our days back in His day. We can’t complain that we were not given enough advance warning! Here are St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s Gospel accounts of that warning:
What will it take to make the “Catholic Frog” jump out of the slowly heated pot of water and start croaking and praying for help? What will it take to make that “Catholic Frog” realize that we have entered the “End Times”― not to be confused with the “End of the World” ― for one leads to the other. The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must first come ― but that “triumph” will come at a time when everything seems lost. Right now, we are in the process of losing it ― losing one right and one freedom after another, as Satan tightens his grip on the world of which Our Lord says Satan is the “prince” (John 12:31). Are we really so dumb and blind that we cannot see what is happening? One prophecy after another is being fulfilled in our days―and we still remain indifferent, at least spiritually indifferent, for all we do is talk about it and do very little about it! Our Lady has repeatedly told us what to do―but we, like stubborn teenagers towards their parents, merely let her words flow over us, like water flowing off a duck’s back.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima warned us that Our Lady had indirectly revealed to her that we have entered the period of time which is commonly called the “End Times” or “Last Days” of the world. Yes―her Immaculate Heart will triumph “in the end”―but at what cost? How many souls will have damned by our indifference, negligence, obstinacy, stubbornness or even refusal to fulfill her requests and commands? Perhaps we too will be damned because of neglect in praying and sacrificing, as well our neglect in “sounding the trumpet” of warning to others? Holy Scripture speaks of this:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them; and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people, then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, if the sword come and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, therefore his blood shall be upon him―but, if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, you shall surely die!”―if you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. But if you tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but you will have saved your own soul!’” (Ezechiel 33:1-9).
Whose Trumpet Are You Blowing?
There is a lot of “trumpeting” going on―with everyone “blowing their own trumpet”―but they are not “trumpeting” Heaven’s message! Only a fool can say that he cannot “see the sword coming upon the land” ― to everyone else who is “of the Faith” it should be quite clear! Yet what tune are we trumpeting? Is it the warning tune? Or is it a worldly tune? What do we speak about? What occupies our thoughts? What are we focused on? As they say: “First things first!” Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33) ― but most people seek the world first! Sadly, they risk losing their souls―as Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33).
Our Lord Blew the Trumpet a Long Time Ago!
There is a lot of “trumpeting” going on―with everyone “blowing their own trumpet”―but they are not “trumpeting” Heaven’s message! Our Lord was already “blowing the trumpet” about our days back in His day. We can’t complain that we were not given enough advance warning! Here are St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s Gospel accounts of that warning:
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THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW 24:3-43
“And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to Him privately, saying: ‘Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?’ And Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come in My Name saying: “I am Christ!” ― and they will seduce many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass―but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall put you to death―and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. “‘Many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved! And this Gospel of the Kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. “‘When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation―which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet―standing in the holy place―he that reads let him understand. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains. And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house. And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved! But, for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened! “‘Then if any man shall say to you: “Look! Here is Christ!” or “There He is!” ― do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive―if possible―even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand. “‘If therefore they shall say to you: “Behold! He is in the desert!” ― go ye not out. “Behold He is in the closets!” ― believe it not … And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved!’” (Matthew 24:3-43). |
THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK 13:5-33
“Jesus answering, began to say to them: ‘Take heed lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am he; and they shall deceive many. And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be―but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in various places, and famines! These things are the beginning of sorrows! But look to yourselves! For they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues you shall be beaten; and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake―for a testimony unto them. And unto all nations the Gospel must first be preached. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak―but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye! For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost! And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death! And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved! “‘And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not―he that reads let him understand―then let them that are in Judea, flee unto the mountains; and let him that is on the housetop, not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take anything out of the house; and let him that shall be in the field, not turn back to take up his garment! And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray ye, that these things happen not in winter. For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be! And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved―but, for the sake of the elect which He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. “‘And then if any man shall say to you: “Look! Here is Christ! Look! He is here!” ― do not believe. For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders, to seduce―if it were possible―even the elect. Take you heed, therefore, behold I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers that are in heaven, shall be moved … Now of the fig tree learn ye a parable. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near. So you also when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very nigh, even at the doors ... But of that day or hour no man knows―neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son―but the Father! Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is!’” (Mark 13:5-33). |
We Are There! Here We Are!
Today, if you would only care to take a look, one prophecy after another concerning the “End Times” (not to be confused with the “End of the World”) has been coming true. With each fulfilled prophecy, our certitude should grow stronger and the mathematical odds of all these prophecies being fulfilled in our day grows astronomically greater. For example, take the case of the Messianic prophecies concerning the future person of Christ―there are over 300 prophecies concerning the Messias within the pages of Holy Scripture that have been fulfilled. We might ask ourselves: “What are the odds of even a small portion of these Messianic prophecies ever coming to pass or being fulfilled?”
Well, in 1963, Dr. Peter Stoner, a science professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, did extensive research on the mathematical probabilities (odds) of various numbers of Old Testament prophecies about the Messias applying to Jesus of Nazareth (Peter Stoner, Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible, pages 101-109). Upon completion of his research, he submitted his figures for review to a Committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. What kind of numbers (odds) did Professor Stoner’s research produce? The odds of one man (Jesus or any man) fulfilling ONLY EIGHT of the 300 Old Testament Messianic prophecies, was one chance out of one with seventeen zeros after it (100,000,000,000,000,000)! If you want that in words―then it is ONE chance out of ONE HUNDRED QUADRILLION, or ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TRILLION or ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILLION MILLIONS ― and that is merely fulfilling ONLY EIGHT of the 300 prophecies. What would be the mathematical odds of someone fulfilling ALL 300 prophecies―which is what Christ did? The zeros would flow from one line to the other! If we were to increase the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies to only 48 (which is still far short of the 300+ total prophecies Jesus actually fulfilled), the chances of one man fulfilling all 48 prophecies jumps to an incredible one in ten to the one hundred and fifty-seventh power. This would be “one” chance out of one with one hundred and fifty-seven zeros after it!
Similarly, we must apply the same criteria and reasoning to the many hundreds of prophecies concerning the “End Times” or “Last Days” ― even if only 8 or 10 or 12 of those prophecies were seen to have happened in our days, then the statement is obvious―we are smack-bang-in-the-middle of those “End Times” or “Last Days” (again, not to be confused with the “End of the World”).
Vision of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Concerning Our Days
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), was a mystic and stigmatic Augustinian nun, who was beatified in 2004. God favored her with many visions all throughout her life―even from childhood. She was shown a wide variety of things―incidents from the life of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints; incidents from the Old and New Testament; and also incidents that would occur in our present times. Here is a compilation from her visions on matters concerning the Church in our day. The quotes have been arranged into a logical order with an attempt to also arrange them as chronologically as possible. She basically speaks of a time when the true Church will be eclipsed by a false church; a time of division within the Church; a time of “two popes” and a massive betrayal by most bishops and clergy. Here is what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw and related concerning our days:
“I saw the various regions of the earth. My Guide (Jesus) named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia (East Germany), the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils’.”
“I saw very clearly the errors the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason. Priests were among them … I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect [Freemasons] … I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church ... “When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect Freemasons], I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast … I also saw Jews standing under the porch of the Church … The two enemies of the Church are firmly resolved to destroy the pious and learned men that stand in their way … All these things caused me much distress! … “O city! O city! What is threatening thee? The storm is coming, do be watchful!”
“I came to the Church of Peter and Paul (Rome) and saw a dark world of distress, confusion, and corruption … They were building a new, big, strange, and extravagant church ... A strange church being built against every rule … In that church, nothing came from high above … All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth ... I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful ... All the work was being done mechanically … I did not see a single Angel nor a single saint helping in the work … There was nothing holy in it. Everything was being done, according to human reason ... All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome … They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city … Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description.
“Such was to be the new church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly, and only a few had sound views on things … I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... Most priests were lured by the glittering new but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded … There was only division and chaos ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps … Everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy the true Church and ruin is at hand … I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction ― none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others … I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto, meaning automatically) excommunicated whenever they cooperated with enterprises, enter into associations [i.e. become Freemasons], and embrace opinions upon which an anathema has been cast … A great devastation is now near at hand!”
“There was to be a Pope for this new church, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one.”
“I saw many good pious bishops―but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world―and only a small number were perfectly sound.”
“I see that a bad priest [Francis? A pope is basically a bishop who has the fullness of the priesthood] will do much harm to the Church. A false religion will appear, which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church ... The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I have been told to pray much for the Church and the Pope … The people must pray earnestly for the extirpation (rooting out) of the dark church.”
“Whole Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, confined, and deprived of their freedom. I saw many churches closed down, great miseries everywhere, wars and bloodshed. A wild and ignorant mob took violent action … I see more martyrs―not now, but in the future ... All over the world, good and devout people―especially the clergy―were harassed oppressed and put into prison. I had the feeling that they would become martyrs one day.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms …. They must pray above all for the church of darkness to leave Rome ... The Holy Mother said a great many others things that it pains me to relate―she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, he could avert all the disasters that are to come.”
“I saw also the relationship between the two popes [Benedict & Francis?]... I see the [true/real] Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before [notice how Pope Benedict XVI no longer lives in the Papal residence?] and he admits only a limited number of friends near him … The Holy Father, immersed in his sorrow, is still hiding to elude dangerous demands (made upon him). He is still very weak, and exhausted by sorrows, cares and prayers ... The Pope is still attached to the things of this Earth in many ways … He was very ill and weak; he could no longer walk ... Nothing left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he was falling asleep He often fainted and seemed to be dying.”
“The ecclesiastics in the inner circle looked insincere and lacking in zeal―I did not like them! … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church ... It was required of me to inform him, while he was praying, of the traitors and evil doers who were to be found among the high-ranking clergy living close to him, so that he might be made aware of it … He can now trust only a few people … But he still has with him an aged priest, who has much simplicity and godliness. He is his friend and, because of his simplicity, they did not think it would be worth removing him. But this man receives many graces from God. He sees and notices a great many things, which he faithfully reports to the Holy Father. They are now demanding something from the Holy Father. The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere …. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies. I see that the false church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people. The Holy Father and the Church are truly in so great a distress that one must implore God night and day!”
As Clear As Day!
You have to be a real dope not to see the clear link between the above visions and today’s scenario! Two popes! Two Churches―one true, one false! Bishops who are weak and wavering and unsound! Priests working against the Church and destroying the Church! Rampant ecumenism! Protestant doctrines entering the Church! Naturalism replacing the supernatural! Divisions within the Church―dividing into two main camps: Traditionalists and Conservatives versus Liberals and Modernists. The Church being abandoned as people leave in droves―less than 20% of Catholics regularly fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance obligation. Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of their rights―Tridentine Latin Mass forbidden; traditional Sacraments replaced by Novus Ordo rites; churches closed for long periods during the Plannedemic; mask and vaccine harassment, etc. Freemasonic and Communist infiltrators galore within the clergy and religious―the Vatican itself reputedly had 4 Masonic lodges for the higher clergy already back in the 1990s. The Communist infiltration, according to the former American Communist Party official, Dr. Bella Dodd, was so successful that back in the 1950s the Communists had managed to get several infiltrator bishops into the Vatican and thousands of priests and many bishops in the dioceses through the world.
Thanks to their influence, the Mass has been changed for the worse; many priests are saying Mass irreverently; belief in the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist has declined where less than 35% of Catholics still believe in the Real Presence; the rite of ordination of priests has been changed for the worse; the rite of consecration of bishops has also been changed for the worse―leaving grave doubts over the validity of both Masses, bishops and priests. Hardly anyone goes to Confession anymore. Immorality is being increasingly tolerated within the Church, to the point that most Catholics now accept cohabitation, contraception, abortion, divorce, remarriage, homosexual relationships, same-sex marriages and even transgenderism!
All of these things―and much more―are contained either explicitly or implicitly in the above quoted visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Warnings from Heaven Suppressed
At crucial turning points in time, the Blessed Virgin Mary has miraculously appeared to holy souls to offer her heavenly aid to the faithful and to the Church. In the early Christian age, these were uncommon events, but earthly visitations by the Mother of God increased in frequency from the time of the anti-Catholic, revolutionary movements of the 18th and 19th Centuries, to the period between World Wars I and II. Among the best-known examples of recent and officially recognized Marian apparitions are: La Salette, France (1846); Lourdes, France (1858); Pontmain, France (1871); Knock, Ireland (1879-80); Fatima, Portugal (1917); Beauraing, Belgium (1932-33); and Banneux, Belgium (1933).
Two of the most renowned of the authenticated apparitions of the Blessed Mother, La Salette and Fatima, enjoyed the enthusiastic favor of several popes, yet have been met with the greatest opposition by persons inside the structures of the Church.
Barely 22 years after the death of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Our Lady appeared to two children at La Salette in France and essentially gave the same essential predictions as were seen by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
At Fatima, Our Lady delivered a timely message for the Church and the world to three shepherd children, the first two segments of which were made public in 1917, while the remainder was to be unveiled at a later date. For decades, the Catholic world waited, with great anticipation, to learn the contents of the sealed Third Secret of Fatima, which was to be revealed publicly by the Pope no later than 1960. But when the Secret was suppressed by John XXIII, the disappointment of the faithful was enormous. Soon thereafter, suspicions that something had gone awry in the Vatican first began to be expressed in Catholic circles, and religious editorials.
In its day, the Secret of La Salette had also captured the attention of the faithful, as well as Church leaders. This included two popes, who recognized in the words conveyed by the Virgin to two French peasant children, Melanie Calvat and Maximim Giraud, an authentic harbinger of the end times. But this earlier Secret also was effectively stifled.
There has always been a definite link between the suppression of the Secret of La Salette by the French hierarchy (followed by, the Holy Office), and the quashing of the Third Secret of Fatima by John XXIII in 1960. For, their respective messages, which had the same source, were undoubtedly similar, and thus were met with stiff resistance from the same quarters.
The Secret of La Salette
Approved by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, yet virtually concealed for 70 years, the Secret of La Salette read in part: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ...Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. ... The Vicar of my Son will have much to suffer, as, for a time, the Church will be the victim of great persecutions: this will be the hour of darkness ... I will be by his side to the end in order to receive his sacrifice. The wicked will make several attempts on his life but they cannot harm him. But neither he nor his successor [here, Melanie inserted in parentheses the words, “who will not reign long”] will live to see the triumph of the Church of God ... Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Deadly Consequences of Opposing Our Lady
These kinds of details, found in the genuine, modern-day, Marian prophecies, would always generate the greatest opposition from the Church’s enemies who had infiltrated her structures. For they threatened to expose the satanic plot and long-time goal of the Masonic Lodge’s agents in the Vatican, to usurp and control the papal chair. The antagonism of the Masonic-dominated French clergy―by which the French seers had been buffeted and even shunned by some officials in Rome―was obviously generated by the Secret itself. For the Secret came very close to divulging the Lodge’s occult plan to overthrow the papacy, to suppress the Mass, and to destroy the Church (“Tolle Pappam! Tolle Misam! Tolle Ecclesiam!” ― “Take away the Pope! Take away the Mass! Take away the Church!”).
The Secret warned that “the Church will be in eclipse.” “Eclipse” means hidden; covered up; seeming to disappear. The Holy Scriptures say: “Where there is Peter, there is the Church.” That the obscuration of the Pope was the prerequisite step for taking away the Mass and the Church seems to have been foretold by Melanie. She understood that Peter would be hidden along with the Church, and that his “eclipse” would be a prelude to the disappearance of the Mass. For, in commenting on this part of the secret, Melanie said to the French priest, Fr. Paul Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground.”
The La Salette devotion and particularly, the Secret of La Salette, stirred up so much hostility against the seers Melanie and Maximim, that, to this day, the reputations of those devout souls are still called into question. Fierce hostility to the Secret soon developed within a certain coterie of the clergy, possibly where Masonic infiltration had been most effective. Melanie and Maximim became the targets of vicious attacks, particularly among members of the French hierarchy. Interestingly, the Bishops, who had most violently opposed the young seers and the La Salette devotion, were stopped “dead” in their tracks, according to the following account of that time:
“In 1846, in a municipality of the Isère (La Salette), the Virgin appeared to two little children: Maximim Giraud and Melanie Calvat-Mathieu. Four French Bishops devoted themselves to the work of suffocating the belief [in La Salette] among the population. But they all died in tragic and mysterious circumstances. Bishop Ginovuhac of Grenoble, who had confined the young Melanie in an English convent in order to silence her, died shortly afterwards in a madhouse. His successor, Bishop Fava, who also did everything possible in order to halt the dissemination of the [La Salette] devotion, was found dead, stretched out on the floor, stripped, with disfigured eyes, and clenched fists. Bishop Gilbert of Amieins (and later, Bourdeaux), who had said: “The secret of La Salette is nothing more than a tissue of profaneness, lies, and exaggeration!” ― shortly after August 16th, 1889, was found dead in his room, also having fallen to the floor. And, during his funeral, his coffin crashed from the catafalque. Archbishop Darboy of Paris, who personally interrogated Maximim, causing him great psychological disturbance, in order to learn the secret of the Virgin, and being perturbed by not obtaining it, had said to the boy: “The words of your beautiful Lady contain stupidity, as stupid as will be your secret.” This brought the response from the boy: “It is as true, that I have seen the beautiful Lady, as I am certain that before three years are out, you will have been shot.” The time for the revolutionary movement of the Communes had not yet come, nor had it been foreseen by the complacent and careless France of the Second Empire. But, on May 24th, 1871, this prediction also came true―the Archbishop was shot by the Communards of Paris." (Fr. Luigi Villa, “La Salette; 19 settembre 1846 [‘I fatti sono…fatti’],” Chiesa Viva, No. 143, November 1972, Brescia, Italy, page 4).
Too Many Witnesses & Testimonies to Be Ignored or Denied
The more witnesses and testimonies that there are, the more difficult it is to deny that we are living in the so-called “End-Times” or “Last-Days” of the world. Just as the odds as astronomical of Christ fulfilling over 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning Him―so too are the odds astronomical for our present time fulfilling many of the post-Christ prophecies.
► ST. METHODIUS was a bishop who was martyred in the 4th century. Following are some interesting excerpts from his prophecy: “A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: ‘We have subjected all the Earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands!’”
► ST. COLUMBCILLE is a famous Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597. The following is from St. Columbcille’s prophecies that seem to point to our present day and age: “Hearken, thou, until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world. Rulers will be addicted to falsehood ... and truth shall not remain in them … Judges will administer injustice, under the control of powerful, outrageous rulers … Many unjust laws will be administered … and justice shall be outraged … Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and mean … Multitudinous evils and great suffering shall prevail … Great carnage shall be made … There will come times of dark affliction and of scarcity … Churches will be held in bondage by the all-powerful men of the day ... The common people will adopt false principles … They will live devoid of justice and rectitude, from the youth up to the aged. The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be considered powerless, every race of mankind will become wicked!”
► ST. ANTHONY THE ABBOT, from the 4th century, warns: “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age ... They will say that the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day's problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand.”
► ST. NILUS OF SINAI was a 5th century monk, one of the many disciples and stalwart defenders of St. John Chrysostom. His prophecy for our times states: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. People’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit.”
► ST. ODILE was a French saint who was blind at her birth in the 7th century, but miraculously healed by St. Erhard, Bishop of Ratisbon. She prophesied: “There will come a time when war will break out, more terrible than all other wars combined, which have ever visited mankind. All nations of the Earth will fight each other in this war. The fighters will rise up to the heavens to take the stars and throw them on the cities, to set ablaze the buildings and to cause immense devastations. Battles of the past will only be like skirmishes compared to the battles that will take place―since blood will flow in all directions. The Earth will shake from the violent fighting. Famine and pestilence will be added to the war. On a single day more men will have been killed than the catacombs of Rome have ever held!”
► JOHANNES FRIEDE was an 13th century Austrian monk, of the Order of St. John, who died in 1257. He prophesied that “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence.”
► LIBER MIRABILIS is a book that was translated by Jean de Vatiguerro, and is a collection of Medieval Latin prophecies that were first published in the 1500s. One such prophecy warns: “Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes... The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole world. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men...The air will completely change and because of pestilence―through it, illness will break out. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out all of a sudden and a terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere in the West that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► MOTHER SHIPTON was an English seer who lived from 1488 to 1561. The following excerpts are from a prophecy that has been attributed to her. “The great chastisement will come when carriages go without horses [cars] and many accidents fill the world with woe. It will come when thoughts are flying around in the twinkling of an eye [internet], when long tunnels are made for horseless machines [cars and trains], when men can fly in the air and ride under the sea [submarines], when ships are wholly made of metal, when fire and water do great marvels, when even the poor can read books, when many taxes are levied for war.”
► THE SEERESS OF PRAGUE allegedly made many startling predictions concerning the end of the world. She passed away in 1658. “Darkness has entered into the heart. The people are so strange. All knowledge is mischief that threatens the world. Everyone hates, nobody wants to believe in God. They are building a tower of steel, filled with water [rockets and missiles with hydrogen as fuel], and believe with this they will rule the stars. Because of their boldness, men will become carried away with presumptuousness. The people will come to suffer very heavily, because the human spirit feels it has conquered over the all, and Nature is changed. They will again mock God. Their crimes will disgust God, because they will be able to manufacture people artificially. These artificial humans, however, are poor in spirit, because they have only small brains, but they will be strong and resilient, so there will come a new time of slavery.”
► FR. BARTHALOMEW HOLZHAUSER, parish priest, healer and an ecclesiastical writer, was born in 1613 at in Bavaria. His prophecies describe various periods in the Church, and it seems evident from his writings that we are on the verge of a horrific period: “After a World War will come a new period, in which two mighty ones will face each other. The wrangle between these two will begin in the second half of the 20th century. A great change will come to pass, such as no mortal man will have expected; Heaven and Hell will confront each other in this struggle, old states will perish and light and darkness will be pitted against each other with swords―but it will be swords of a different fashion. With these swords it will be possible to cut up the skies and split the Earth. A great lament will come over all mankind and only a small batch will survive the storm, the pestilence and the horror. When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics; when the Church and her servants are denied their rights, the monarchies have been abolished and their rulers murdered ... Then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding!”
► BLESSED REMBORDT ― who lived in the 18th Century ― prophesied: “God will punish the world when men have devised marvelous inventions that will lead them to forgetting God. They will have horseless carriages, and they will fly like birds. But they will laugh at the idea of God, thinking that they are very clever. There will be signs from Heaven, but men, in their pride, will laugh them off. Men will indulge in voluptuousness, and lewd fashions will be seen.”
► RUDOLFO GILTHIER was a monk who lived in the 1700s. He prophesied that “From the middle of the 20th century onward, there will be uprisings in all parts of Europe. Rome will lose its scepter through following false prophets. The Pope will be taken prisoner by his attendants. The Church will be held hostage, and after a short time there will be no more Pope ... Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes... The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole World. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men...The air will completely change and because of pestilence―through it illness will break out, and nature will be completely spoiled. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. Hunger, epidemics and earthquakes will destroy numerous cities. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere in the West that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► MATHIAS LANG ― also known as “Stormberger” in some prophecy circles ― lived in Bavaria between 1753 to 1820. Lang was illiterate and had no education, yet he predicted many things like airplanes, telephones and much more. Speaking of the 20th and 21st centuries, he says: “Two or three decades after the first World War, will come one a Second World War still larger. Almost all the nations of the world will be involved. Millions of men will die, without being soldiers. The fire will fall from the sky and many great cities will be destroyed. And after the end of the Second Great War, a third Universal War will come, which will determine everything. There will be weapons totally new. In one day, more men will die than in all the previous wars. The battles will be accomplished with artificial weapons. Gigantic catastrophes will happen. With the open eyes, the nations of the planet will go through these catastrophes. They won't know what is happening, and those that know and tell, will be silenced. When women walk around in pants, and men have become effeminate, so that one will no longer be able to tell men from women―then the time is near!”
► THE OBA PROPHECY states: “The chastisement will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new form of worship, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other form, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► SISTER BOUQUILLION, who lived in the 19th century, prophesied: “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► THE ECSTATIC OF TOURS ― who lived in the 19th century ― prophesied: “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
► THE NURSING NUN OF BELLAY, who lived in the 19th Century, prophesied: “The madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn! Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. The wicked try to destroy everything―their books and their doctrines are swamping the world. Horrible times! There was also a great battle, the like of which has never been seen before. Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but then, suddenly, the just received help from above.”
► POPE ST. PIUS X received the following vision in 1909: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and, after a short retirement, he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► POPE PIUS XII ― who reigned from 1939 to 1958 ― said: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► ALOIS IRLMAIER (1894-1959), a Bavarian well-builder, is a little known German Catholic seer who was endowed with extraordinary gifts. The future appeared to Irlmaier as in a movie, with only numbers appearing veiled, coded, or incomplete. He predicted his own death in July 1959. His last words were: “I am glad that I can go now, because I won’t have to experience what I see!” Irlmaier vigorously warned of a third world war for over 10 years until his death in 1959. He claims this will mainly affect Europe, but will also have an impact on Alaska, Canada and the USA. Alois Irlmaier told of an enormous military force sent by Russia that will occupy central Europe. Alois Irlmaier gives the chronology as follows: Economic vitality … A lapse of faith follows, like never before ... Then a corruption of morals, like never before … Then a huge number of strangers flood the country … Then massive inflation. Money loses its value increasingly ... Soon follows the revolution … Then, overnight, the Russians raid the West.
Our Lady―Queen of Prophets
Already back in 1846, AT LA SALETTE, OUR LADY had spoken of the “Apostles of the Last Days”, saying: “I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
The sobering words of SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA, spoken in 1957, concerning Our Lady’s revelation to her that we have entered the Last Days of the world are further strengthened and confirmed by the multitude of “End Times” prophecies we are seeing coming true in our day and age. Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons: … The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a final battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle … The second reason is because she told me that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others … And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He presents us the last means of salvation, He always first exhausts all other remedies.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Almost 55 weeks before, on December 8th 1956, Our Lady was telling BLESSED ELENA AIELLO: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
“The powers of evil are getting ready to strike furiously in every part of the globe. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The nation’s rulers do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. Oh, what torture I feel in my heart, on beholding mankind so engrossed in all kinds of things and completely ignoring the most important duty of their reconciliation with God. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people as well as saintly priests will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak.”
“You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. A great revolution shall break out and the streets shall be stained with blood. The Pope’s sufferings on this occasion may well be compared to the agony that will shorten his pilgrimage on Earth. His successor shall pilot the boat during the storm. But the punishment of the wicked shall not be slow. That will be an exceedingly dreadful day. The Earth shall quake so violently as to scare all mankind. And so, the wicked shall perish according to the inexorably severity of Divine Justice. If possible, publish this message throughout the world, and admonish all the people to do penance and to return right away to God.”
On another occasion, Our Lady also said to BLESSED ELENA AIELLO: “Listen attentively, and reveal to all: My Heart is sad for so many sufferings in an impending world in ruin. The justice of Our Father is most offended. Men live in their obstinacy of sin. The wrath of God is near. Soon the world will be afflicted with great calamities, bloody revolutions, frightful hurricanes, and the overflowing of streams and the seas.”
“Cry out until the priests of God lend their ears to my voice, to advise men that the time is near at hand―and if men do not return to God with prayers and penances, the world will be overturned in a new and more terrible war! Arms most deadly will destroy peoples and nations! The dictators of the Earth―infernal specimens―will demolish the churches and desecrate the Holy Eucharist, and will destroy things most dear! In this impious war, much will be destroyed of that which has been built by the hands of man!”
“Clouds with lightning flashes of fire in the sky and a tempest of fire shall fall upon the world! This terrible scourge―never before seen in the history of humanity―will last seventy hours! Godless persons will be crushed and wiped out. Many will be lost because they remain in their obstinacy of sin. Then shall be seen the power of light over the power of darkness.”
“Be not silent, my daughter, because the hours of darkness, of abandonment, are near. I am bending over the world, holding in suspension the justice of God. OTHERWISE THESE THINGS WOULD ALREADY HAVE NOW COME TO PASS. Prayers and penances are necessary because men MUST RETURN TO GOD and to My Immaculate Heart—the Mediatrix of men to God, and thus THE WORLD WILL BE AT LEAST IN PART SAVED.”
“Cry out these things to all, like the very echo of my voice. Let this be known to all, because it will help save many souls, and prevent much destruction in the Church and in the world.” (April 16th, 1954).
Today, if you would only care to take a look, one prophecy after another concerning the “End Times” (not to be confused with the “End of the World”) has been coming true. With each fulfilled prophecy, our certitude should grow stronger and the mathematical odds of all these prophecies being fulfilled in our day grows astronomically greater. For example, take the case of the Messianic prophecies concerning the future person of Christ―there are over 300 prophecies concerning the Messias within the pages of Holy Scripture that have been fulfilled. We might ask ourselves: “What are the odds of even a small portion of these Messianic prophecies ever coming to pass or being fulfilled?”
Well, in 1963, Dr. Peter Stoner, a science professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, did extensive research on the mathematical probabilities (odds) of various numbers of Old Testament prophecies about the Messias applying to Jesus of Nazareth (Peter Stoner, Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible, pages 101-109). Upon completion of his research, he submitted his figures for review to a Committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. What kind of numbers (odds) did Professor Stoner’s research produce? The odds of one man (Jesus or any man) fulfilling ONLY EIGHT of the 300 Old Testament Messianic prophecies, was one chance out of one with seventeen zeros after it (100,000,000,000,000,000)! If you want that in words―then it is ONE chance out of ONE HUNDRED QUADRILLION, or ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TRILLION or ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILLION MILLIONS ― and that is merely fulfilling ONLY EIGHT of the 300 prophecies. What would be the mathematical odds of someone fulfilling ALL 300 prophecies―which is what Christ did? The zeros would flow from one line to the other! If we were to increase the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies to only 48 (which is still far short of the 300+ total prophecies Jesus actually fulfilled), the chances of one man fulfilling all 48 prophecies jumps to an incredible one in ten to the one hundred and fifty-seventh power. This would be “one” chance out of one with one hundred and fifty-seven zeros after it!
Similarly, we must apply the same criteria and reasoning to the many hundreds of prophecies concerning the “End Times” or “Last Days” ― even if only 8 or 10 or 12 of those prophecies were seen to have happened in our days, then the statement is obvious―we are smack-bang-in-the-middle of those “End Times” or “Last Days” (again, not to be confused with the “End of the World”).
Vision of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Concerning Our Days
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), was a mystic and stigmatic Augustinian nun, who was beatified in 2004. God favored her with many visions all throughout her life―even from childhood. She was shown a wide variety of things―incidents from the life of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints; incidents from the Old and New Testament; and also incidents that would occur in our present times. Here is a compilation from her visions on matters concerning the Church in our day. The quotes have been arranged into a logical order with an attempt to also arrange them as chronologically as possible. She basically speaks of a time when the true Church will be eclipsed by a false church; a time of division within the Church; a time of “two popes” and a massive betrayal by most bishops and clergy. Here is what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw and related concerning our days:
“I saw the various regions of the earth. My Guide (Jesus) named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia (East Germany), the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils’.”
“I saw very clearly the errors the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason. Priests were among them … I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect [Freemasons] … I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church ... “When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect Freemasons], I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast … I also saw Jews standing under the porch of the Church … The two enemies of the Church are firmly resolved to destroy the pious and learned men that stand in their way … All these things caused me much distress! … “O city! O city! What is threatening thee? The storm is coming, do be watchful!”
“I came to the Church of Peter and Paul (Rome) and saw a dark world of distress, confusion, and corruption … They were building a new, big, strange, and extravagant church ... A strange church being built against every rule … In that church, nothing came from high above … All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth ... I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful ... All the work was being done mechanically … I did not see a single Angel nor a single saint helping in the work … There was nothing holy in it. Everything was being done, according to human reason ... All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome … They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city … Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description.
“Such was to be the new church … All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly, and only a few had sound views on things … I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church ... Most priests were lured by the glittering new but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded … There was only division and chaos ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps … Everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy the true Church and ruin is at hand … I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction ― none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others … I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy ... I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto, meaning automatically) excommunicated whenever they cooperated with enterprises, enter into associations [i.e. become Freemasons], and embrace opinions upon which an anathema has been cast … A great devastation is now near at hand!”
“There was to be a Pope for this new church, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one.”
“I saw many good pious bishops―but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world―and only a small number were perfectly sound.”
“I see that a bad priest [Francis? A pope is basically a bishop who has the fullness of the priesthood] will do much harm to the Church. A false religion will appear, which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church ... The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … I have been told to pray much for the Church and the Pope … The people must pray earnestly for the extirpation (rooting out) of the dark church.”
“Whole Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, confined, and deprived of their freedom. I saw many churches closed down, great miseries everywhere, wars and bloodshed. A wild and ignorant mob took violent action … I see more martyrs―not now, but in the future ... All over the world, good and devout people―especially the clergy―were harassed oppressed and put into prison. I had the feeling that they would become martyrs one day.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms …. They must pray above all for the church of darkness to leave Rome ... The Holy Mother said a great many others things that it pains me to relate―she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, he could avert all the disasters that are to come.”
“I saw also the relationship between the two popes [Benedict & Francis?]... I see the [true/real] Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before [notice how Pope Benedict XVI no longer lives in the Papal residence?] and he admits only a limited number of friends near him … The Holy Father, immersed in his sorrow, is still hiding to elude dangerous demands (made upon him). He is still very weak, and exhausted by sorrows, cares and prayers ... The Pope is still attached to the things of this Earth in many ways … He was very ill and weak; he could no longer walk ... Nothing left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he was falling asleep He often fainted and seemed to be dying.”
“The ecclesiastics in the inner circle looked insincere and lacking in zeal―I did not like them! … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church ... It was required of me to inform him, while he was praying, of the traitors and evil doers who were to be found among the high-ranking clergy living close to him, so that he might be made aware of it … He can now trust only a few people … But he still has with him an aged priest, who has much simplicity and godliness. He is his friend and, because of his simplicity, they did not think it would be worth removing him. But this man receives many graces from God. He sees and notices a great many things, which he faithfully reports to the Holy Father. They are now demanding something from the Holy Father. The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere …. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies. I see that the false church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people. The Holy Father and the Church are truly in so great a distress that one must implore God night and day!”
As Clear As Day!
You have to be a real dope not to see the clear link between the above visions and today’s scenario! Two popes! Two Churches―one true, one false! Bishops who are weak and wavering and unsound! Priests working against the Church and destroying the Church! Rampant ecumenism! Protestant doctrines entering the Church! Naturalism replacing the supernatural! Divisions within the Church―dividing into two main camps: Traditionalists and Conservatives versus Liberals and Modernists. The Church being abandoned as people leave in droves―less than 20% of Catholics regularly fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance obligation. Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of their rights―Tridentine Latin Mass forbidden; traditional Sacraments replaced by Novus Ordo rites; churches closed for long periods during the Plannedemic; mask and vaccine harassment, etc. Freemasonic and Communist infiltrators galore within the clergy and religious―the Vatican itself reputedly had 4 Masonic lodges for the higher clergy already back in the 1990s. The Communist infiltration, according to the former American Communist Party official, Dr. Bella Dodd, was so successful that back in the 1950s the Communists had managed to get several infiltrator bishops into the Vatican and thousands of priests and many bishops in the dioceses through the world.
Thanks to their influence, the Mass has been changed for the worse; many priests are saying Mass irreverently; belief in the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist has declined where less than 35% of Catholics still believe in the Real Presence; the rite of ordination of priests has been changed for the worse; the rite of consecration of bishops has also been changed for the worse―leaving grave doubts over the validity of both Masses, bishops and priests. Hardly anyone goes to Confession anymore. Immorality is being increasingly tolerated within the Church, to the point that most Catholics now accept cohabitation, contraception, abortion, divorce, remarriage, homosexual relationships, same-sex marriages and even transgenderism!
All of these things―and much more―are contained either explicitly or implicitly in the above quoted visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Warnings from Heaven Suppressed
At crucial turning points in time, the Blessed Virgin Mary has miraculously appeared to holy souls to offer her heavenly aid to the faithful and to the Church. In the early Christian age, these were uncommon events, but earthly visitations by the Mother of God increased in frequency from the time of the anti-Catholic, revolutionary movements of the 18th and 19th Centuries, to the period between World Wars I and II. Among the best-known examples of recent and officially recognized Marian apparitions are: La Salette, France (1846); Lourdes, France (1858); Pontmain, France (1871); Knock, Ireland (1879-80); Fatima, Portugal (1917); Beauraing, Belgium (1932-33); and Banneux, Belgium (1933).
Two of the most renowned of the authenticated apparitions of the Blessed Mother, La Salette and Fatima, enjoyed the enthusiastic favor of several popes, yet have been met with the greatest opposition by persons inside the structures of the Church.
Barely 22 years after the death of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Our Lady appeared to two children at La Salette in France and essentially gave the same essential predictions as were seen by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
At Fatima, Our Lady delivered a timely message for the Church and the world to three shepherd children, the first two segments of which were made public in 1917, while the remainder was to be unveiled at a later date. For decades, the Catholic world waited, with great anticipation, to learn the contents of the sealed Third Secret of Fatima, which was to be revealed publicly by the Pope no later than 1960. But when the Secret was suppressed by John XXIII, the disappointment of the faithful was enormous. Soon thereafter, suspicions that something had gone awry in the Vatican first began to be expressed in Catholic circles, and religious editorials.
In its day, the Secret of La Salette had also captured the attention of the faithful, as well as Church leaders. This included two popes, who recognized in the words conveyed by the Virgin to two French peasant children, Melanie Calvat and Maximim Giraud, an authentic harbinger of the end times. But this earlier Secret also was effectively stifled.
There has always been a definite link between the suppression of the Secret of La Salette by the French hierarchy (followed by, the Holy Office), and the quashing of the Third Secret of Fatima by John XXIII in 1960. For, their respective messages, which had the same source, were undoubtedly similar, and thus were met with stiff resistance from the same quarters.
The Secret of La Salette
Approved by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, yet virtually concealed for 70 years, the Secret of La Salette read in part: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ...Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. ... The Vicar of my Son will have much to suffer, as, for a time, the Church will be the victim of great persecutions: this will be the hour of darkness ... I will be by his side to the end in order to receive his sacrifice. The wicked will make several attempts on his life but they cannot harm him. But neither he nor his successor [here, Melanie inserted in parentheses the words, “who will not reign long”] will live to see the triumph of the Church of God ... Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Deadly Consequences of Opposing Our Lady
These kinds of details, found in the genuine, modern-day, Marian prophecies, would always generate the greatest opposition from the Church’s enemies who had infiltrated her structures. For they threatened to expose the satanic plot and long-time goal of the Masonic Lodge’s agents in the Vatican, to usurp and control the papal chair. The antagonism of the Masonic-dominated French clergy―by which the French seers had been buffeted and even shunned by some officials in Rome―was obviously generated by the Secret itself. For the Secret came very close to divulging the Lodge’s occult plan to overthrow the papacy, to suppress the Mass, and to destroy the Church (“Tolle Pappam! Tolle Misam! Tolle Ecclesiam!” ― “Take away the Pope! Take away the Mass! Take away the Church!”).
The Secret warned that “the Church will be in eclipse.” “Eclipse” means hidden; covered up; seeming to disappear. The Holy Scriptures say: “Where there is Peter, there is the Church.” That the obscuration of the Pope was the prerequisite step for taking away the Mass and the Church seems to have been foretold by Melanie. She understood that Peter would be hidden along with the Church, and that his “eclipse” would be a prelude to the disappearance of the Mass. For, in commenting on this part of the secret, Melanie said to the French priest, Fr. Paul Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground.”
The La Salette devotion and particularly, the Secret of La Salette, stirred up so much hostility against the seers Melanie and Maximim, that, to this day, the reputations of those devout souls are still called into question. Fierce hostility to the Secret soon developed within a certain coterie of the clergy, possibly where Masonic infiltration had been most effective. Melanie and Maximim became the targets of vicious attacks, particularly among members of the French hierarchy. Interestingly, the Bishops, who had most violently opposed the young seers and the La Salette devotion, were stopped “dead” in their tracks, according to the following account of that time:
“In 1846, in a municipality of the Isère (La Salette), the Virgin appeared to two little children: Maximim Giraud and Melanie Calvat-Mathieu. Four French Bishops devoted themselves to the work of suffocating the belief [in La Salette] among the population. But they all died in tragic and mysterious circumstances. Bishop Ginovuhac of Grenoble, who had confined the young Melanie in an English convent in order to silence her, died shortly afterwards in a madhouse. His successor, Bishop Fava, who also did everything possible in order to halt the dissemination of the [La Salette] devotion, was found dead, stretched out on the floor, stripped, with disfigured eyes, and clenched fists. Bishop Gilbert of Amieins (and later, Bourdeaux), who had said: “The secret of La Salette is nothing more than a tissue of profaneness, lies, and exaggeration!” ― shortly after August 16th, 1889, was found dead in his room, also having fallen to the floor. And, during his funeral, his coffin crashed from the catafalque. Archbishop Darboy of Paris, who personally interrogated Maximim, causing him great psychological disturbance, in order to learn the secret of the Virgin, and being perturbed by not obtaining it, had said to the boy: “The words of your beautiful Lady contain stupidity, as stupid as will be your secret.” This brought the response from the boy: “It is as true, that I have seen the beautiful Lady, as I am certain that before three years are out, you will have been shot.” The time for the revolutionary movement of the Communes had not yet come, nor had it been foreseen by the complacent and careless France of the Second Empire. But, on May 24th, 1871, this prediction also came true―the Archbishop was shot by the Communards of Paris." (Fr. Luigi Villa, “La Salette; 19 settembre 1846 [‘I fatti sono…fatti’],” Chiesa Viva, No. 143, November 1972, Brescia, Italy, page 4).
Too Many Witnesses & Testimonies to Be Ignored or Denied
The more witnesses and testimonies that there are, the more difficult it is to deny that we are living in the so-called “End-Times” or “Last-Days” of the world. Just as the odds as astronomical of Christ fulfilling over 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning Him―so too are the odds astronomical for our present time fulfilling many of the post-Christ prophecies.
► ST. METHODIUS was a bishop who was martyred in the 4th century. Following are some interesting excerpts from his prophecy: “A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: ‘We have subjected all the Earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands!’”
► ST. COLUMBCILLE is a famous Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597. The following is from St. Columbcille’s prophecies that seem to point to our present day and age: “Hearken, thou, until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world. Rulers will be addicted to falsehood ... and truth shall not remain in them … Judges will administer injustice, under the control of powerful, outrageous rulers … Many unjust laws will be administered … and justice shall be outraged … Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and mean … Multitudinous evils and great suffering shall prevail … Great carnage shall be made … There will come times of dark affliction and of scarcity … Churches will be held in bondage by the all-powerful men of the day ... The common people will adopt false principles … They will live devoid of justice and rectitude, from the youth up to the aged. The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be considered powerless, every race of mankind will become wicked!”
► ST. ANTHONY THE ABBOT, from the 4th century, warns: “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age ... They will say that the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day's problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand.”
► ST. NILUS OF SINAI was a 5th century monk, one of the many disciples and stalwart defenders of St. John Chrysostom. His prophecy for our times states: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. People’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit.”
► ST. ODILE was a French saint who was blind at her birth in the 7th century, but miraculously healed by St. Erhard, Bishop of Ratisbon. She prophesied: “There will come a time when war will break out, more terrible than all other wars combined, which have ever visited mankind. All nations of the Earth will fight each other in this war. The fighters will rise up to the heavens to take the stars and throw them on the cities, to set ablaze the buildings and to cause immense devastations. Battles of the past will only be like skirmishes compared to the battles that will take place―since blood will flow in all directions. The Earth will shake from the violent fighting. Famine and pestilence will be added to the war. On a single day more men will have been killed than the catacombs of Rome have ever held!”
► JOHANNES FRIEDE was an 13th century Austrian monk, of the Order of St. John, who died in 1257. He prophesied that “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence.”
► LIBER MIRABILIS is a book that was translated by Jean de Vatiguerro, and is a collection of Medieval Latin prophecies that were first published in the 1500s. One such prophecy warns: “Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes... The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole world. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men...The air will completely change and because of pestilence―through it, illness will break out. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out all of a sudden and a terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere in the West that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► MOTHER SHIPTON was an English seer who lived from 1488 to 1561. The following excerpts are from a prophecy that has been attributed to her. “The great chastisement will come when carriages go without horses [cars] and many accidents fill the world with woe. It will come when thoughts are flying around in the twinkling of an eye [internet], when long tunnels are made for horseless machines [cars and trains], when men can fly in the air and ride under the sea [submarines], when ships are wholly made of metal, when fire and water do great marvels, when even the poor can read books, when many taxes are levied for war.”
► THE SEERESS OF PRAGUE allegedly made many startling predictions concerning the end of the world. She passed away in 1658. “Darkness has entered into the heart. The people are so strange. All knowledge is mischief that threatens the world. Everyone hates, nobody wants to believe in God. They are building a tower of steel, filled with water [rockets and missiles with hydrogen as fuel], and believe with this they will rule the stars. Because of their boldness, men will become carried away with presumptuousness. The people will come to suffer very heavily, because the human spirit feels it has conquered over the all, and Nature is changed. They will again mock God. Their crimes will disgust God, because they will be able to manufacture people artificially. These artificial humans, however, are poor in spirit, because they have only small brains, but they will be strong and resilient, so there will come a new time of slavery.”
► FR. BARTHALOMEW HOLZHAUSER, parish priest, healer and an ecclesiastical writer, was born in 1613 at in Bavaria. His prophecies describe various periods in the Church, and it seems evident from his writings that we are on the verge of a horrific period: “After a World War will come a new period, in which two mighty ones will face each other. The wrangle between these two will begin in the second half of the 20th century. A great change will come to pass, such as no mortal man will have expected; Heaven and Hell will confront each other in this struggle, old states will perish and light and darkness will be pitted against each other with swords―but it will be swords of a different fashion. With these swords it will be possible to cut up the skies and split the Earth. A great lament will come over all mankind and only a small batch will survive the storm, the pestilence and the horror. When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics; when the Church and her servants are denied their rights, the monarchies have been abolished and their rulers murdered ... Then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding!”
► BLESSED REMBORDT ― who lived in the 18th Century ― prophesied: “God will punish the world when men have devised marvelous inventions that will lead them to forgetting God. They will have horseless carriages, and they will fly like birds. But they will laugh at the idea of God, thinking that they are very clever. There will be signs from Heaven, but men, in their pride, will laugh them off. Men will indulge in voluptuousness, and lewd fashions will be seen.”
► RUDOLFO GILTHIER was a monk who lived in the 1700s. He prophesied that “From the middle of the 20th century onward, there will be uprisings in all parts of Europe. Rome will lose its scepter through following false prophets. The Pope will be taken prisoner by his attendants. The Church will be held hostage, and after a short time there will be no more Pope ... Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes... The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole World. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men...The air will completely change and because of pestilence―through it illness will break out, and nature will be completely spoiled. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. Hunger, epidemics and earthquakes will destroy numerous cities. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere in the West that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► MATHIAS LANG ― also known as “Stormberger” in some prophecy circles ― lived in Bavaria between 1753 to 1820. Lang was illiterate and had no education, yet he predicted many things like airplanes, telephones and much more. Speaking of the 20th and 21st centuries, he says: “Two or three decades after the first World War, will come one a Second World War still larger. Almost all the nations of the world will be involved. Millions of men will die, without being soldiers. The fire will fall from the sky and many great cities will be destroyed. And after the end of the Second Great War, a third Universal War will come, which will determine everything. There will be weapons totally new. In one day, more men will die than in all the previous wars. The battles will be accomplished with artificial weapons. Gigantic catastrophes will happen. With the open eyes, the nations of the planet will go through these catastrophes. They won't know what is happening, and those that know and tell, will be silenced. When women walk around in pants, and men have become effeminate, so that one will no longer be able to tell men from women―then the time is near!”
► THE OBA PROPHECY states: “The chastisement will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new form of worship, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other form, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► SISTER BOUQUILLION, who lived in the 19th century, prophesied: “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► THE ECSTATIC OF TOURS ― who lived in the 19th century ― prophesied: “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
► THE NURSING NUN OF BELLAY, who lived in the 19th Century, prophesied: “The madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn! Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. The wicked try to destroy everything―their books and their doctrines are swamping the world. Horrible times! There was also a great battle, the like of which has never been seen before. Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but then, suddenly, the just received help from above.”
► POPE ST. PIUS X received the following vision in 1909: “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere and, after a short retirement, he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► POPE PIUS XII ― who reigned from 1939 to 1958 ― said: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► ALOIS IRLMAIER (1894-1959), a Bavarian well-builder, is a little known German Catholic seer who was endowed with extraordinary gifts. The future appeared to Irlmaier as in a movie, with only numbers appearing veiled, coded, or incomplete. He predicted his own death in July 1959. His last words were: “I am glad that I can go now, because I won’t have to experience what I see!” Irlmaier vigorously warned of a third world war for over 10 years until his death in 1959. He claims this will mainly affect Europe, but will also have an impact on Alaska, Canada and the USA. Alois Irlmaier told of an enormous military force sent by Russia that will occupy central Europe. Alois Irlmaier gives the chronology as follows: Economic vitality … A lapse of faith follows, like never before ... Then a corruption of morals, like never before … Then a huge number of strangers flood the country … Then massive inflation. Money loses its value increasingly ... Soon follows the revolution … Then, overnight, the Russians raid the West.
Our Lady―Queen of Prophets
Already back in 1846, AT LA SALETTE, OUR LADY had spoken of the “Apostles of the Last Days”, saying: “I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
The sobering words of SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA, spoken in 1957, concerning Our Lady’s revelation to her that we have entered the Last Days of the world are further strengthened and confirmed by the multitude of “End Times” prophecies we are seeing coming true in our day and age. Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons: … The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a final battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle … The second reason is because she told me that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others … And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He presents us the last means of salvation, He always first exhausts all other remedies.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Almost 55 weeks before, on December 8th 1956, Our Lady was telling BLESSED ELENA AIELLO: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
“The powers of evil are getting ready to strike furiously in every part of the globe. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The nation’s rulers do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. Oh, what torture I feel in my heart, on beholding mankind so engrossed in all kinds of things and completely ignoring the most important duty of their reconciliation with God. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people as well as saintly priests will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak.”
“You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. A great revolution shall break out and the streets shall be stained with blood. The Pope’s sufferings on this occasion may well be compared to the agony that will shorten his pilgrimage on Earth. His successor shall pilot the boat during the storm. But the punishment of the wicked shall not be slow. That will be an exceedingly dreadful day. The Earth shall quake so violently as to scare all mankind. And so, the wicked shall perish according to the inexorably severity of Divine Justice. If possible, publish this message throughout the world, and admonish all the people to do penance and to return right away to God.”
On another occasion, Our Lady also said to BLESSED ELENA AIELLO: “Listen attentively, and reveal to all: My Heart is sad for so many sufferings in an impending world in ruin. The justice of Our Father is most offended. Men live in their obstinacy of sin. The wrath of God is near. Soon the world will be afflicted with great calamities, bloody revolutions, frightful hurricanes, and the overflowing of streams and the seas.”
“Cry out until the priests of God lend their ears to my voice, to advise men that the time is near at hand―and if men do not return to God with prayers and penances, the world will be overturned in a new and more terrible war! Arms most deadly will destroy peoples and nations! The dictators of the Earth―infernal specimens―will demolish the churches and desecrate the Holy Eucharist, and will destroy things most dear! In this impious war, much will be destroyed of that which has been built by the hands of man!”
“Clouds with lightning flashes of fire in the sky and a tempest of fire shall fall upon the world! This terrible scourge―never before seen in the history of humanity―will last seventy hours! Godless persons will be crushed and wiped out. Many will be lost because they remain in their obstinacy of sin. Then shall be seen the power of light over the power of darkness.”
“Be not silent, my daughter, because the hours of darkness, of abandonment, are near. I am bending over the world, holding in suspension the justice of God. OTHERWISE THESE THINGS WOULD ALREADY HAVE NOW COME TO PASS. Prayers and penances are necessary because men MUST RETURN TO GOD and to My Immaculate Heart—the Mediatrix of men to God, and thus THE WORLD WILL BE AT LEAST IN PART SAVED.”
“Cry out these things to all, like the very echo of my voice. Let this be known to all, because it will help save many souls, and prevent much destruction in the Church and in the world.” (April 16th, 1954).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday November 7th & Monday November 8th
Article 2
Bringing the Holy Souls to the Fight!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday November 7th & Monday November 8th
Article 2
Bringing the Holy Souls to the Fight!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Do Dead Men Talk? Do Dead Men Fight?
The Church and the world are in a mess! How do we turn the tide? It seems like everyone is being prepared for “death-row” without even having to go to prison! If you ask: “How do we get out of this?” ― you are met with a “deathly hush” or “dead silence”! Some say that we are ultimately all “dead men”! You have no doubt heard the phrase: “Dead men tell no tales!” ― because dead men can’t talk! Even more so, dead soldiers can’t fight! Or can they? From one point of view, “dead soldiers” can talk and fight―far better than any soldier living on this Earth!
Can the Poor Souls pray for the living on Earth, and is their prayer efficacious? In other words: “Do their prayers ‘work’?” The famous Jesuit theologian and philosopher, Fr. Francisco Suarez (1548–1617) and the Jesuit Cardinal and Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621), both of whom closely studied this question, arrived at the conclusion that the Poor Souls can and do pray for the living. Fr. Suarez writes: “These souls are holy and dear to God. Charity urges them to love us and know ― at least in a general way ― to what dangers we are exposed and the need we have of divine assistance. Why would they not pray for their benefactors?” St. Robert Bellarmine says that because of their greater love of God and their closer union with Him, their prayers may have great intercessory power―for they are really superior to us in love of God, and in an ever growing intimacy of union with Him. (De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv).
Most modern theologians agree with them. The reasons are convincing. Charity towards others cannot have ceased in these souls at their entrance into Purgatory, nor can their charity have been condemned to complete powerlessness and silence. The Poor Souls enjoy divine grace and are God’s friends―being closer to Him than we are on Earth―and hence their intercession is pleasing to Him and certain to be heard, because they correspond with the divine plan of salvation. Their own state of punishment in Purgatory does not necessarily prevent them from lending assistance to others―just like prisoners today, even though they are in prison, are sent to a variety of tasks that benefit the community: “The director may authorize the use of prisoner work crews to participate in community betterment projects for public and private nonprofit entities” (Arizona State, Statutes of Law, Section 31-252 ― Use of Prisoners in Public Works).
The gratitude of the Poor Souls sometimes manifests itself in a clear and visible manner, but most frequently they express their gratitude invisibly―by prayers for their benefactors, who are then given graces and help by God. Although they cannot pray for themselves, they can nonetheless obtain grace and help for us. We have to go through God to help them―and they have to go through God to help us! That is how it should be―God should be the center and focus of everything. As Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Dead Men (and Women) Do Talk! The Saints Say So!
Many saints have claimed that the poor souls do regularly intercede for them. Thus, we must attempt to understand what is occurring.
► St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) testifies: “Whenever I am eager to obtain a certain grace, I appeal to these suffering souls to present my prayers to our common Father, and, as a rule, I feel that I owe the granting of my petition to their intercession.”
► St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) also had a great devotion toward the Poor Souls, and God confided those Souls who had been under his spiritual direction in a special way to his zeal. He revealed that many of his spiritual children appeared to him after their deaths, either to ask his prayers, or to profoundly thank him for what he had already done for them. He added that, through the Poor Souls, he had obtained many graces.
► St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars (1786-1859), used to say: “We owe unspeakable gratitude to God for allowing us to do more for our departed friends and relatives than to merely mourn over their graves. For by helping them, we obtain for ourselves a right to the special protection of God, and the angels and the saints―who rejoice whenever they can welcome a newcomer into their midst. Most of all, however, we gain friends among the Holy Souls themselves, and when they reach Heaven, they will surely remember and help us. O if all of us only knew what a wonderful influence and great power these Holy Souls have over the heart of God, and what graces we can obtain through their intercession, they would not be so utterly forgotten―we must pray much for them, so that they may pray for us!”
► St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) said: “When we pray for the souls in Purgatory we will always get something back. The souls in Purgatory repay the prayers that we say for them. The souls in Purgatory pray for us, and their prayers are even more effective than ours, because they are accompanied by their suffering. So, let’s pray for them, and let’s pray them to pray for us.”
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), a Doctor of the Church, in his book, The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, writes: “Again, it is disputed whether there is any use in recommending one’s self to the souls in Purgatory. Some say that the souls in that state cannot pray for us; and these rely on the authority of St. Thomas, who says that those souls, while they are being purified by pain, are inferior to us, and therefore ‘are not in a state to pray for us, but rather require cur prayers.’
“But many other Doctors and theologians, such as the Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine, Sylvius, Cardinal Gotti, Lessius, Medina and others affirm with great probability, that we should piously believe that God manifests our prayer to those holy souls in order that they may pray for us; and that so the charitable interchange of mutual prayer may be kept up between them and us. Nor do St. Thomas’ words present much difficulty; for, as Sylvius and Gotti say, it is one thing not to be in a state to pray, another not to be able to pray.
“It is true that those souls are not in a state to pray, because, as St. Thomas says, while suffering they are inferior to us, and rather require our prayers; nevertheless, in this state they are well able to pray, as they are friends of God. If a father keeps a son, whom he tenderly loves, in confinement for some fault―if the son then is not in a state to pray for himself, is that any reason why he cannot pray for others? And may he not expect to obtain what he asks, knowing, as he does, his father’s affection for him?
“So the souls in Purgatory, being beloved by God, and confirmed in grace, have absolutely no impediment to prevent them from praying for us. Nevertheless, the Church does not invoke them, or implore their intercession, because ordinarily they have no cognizance of our prayers. But we may piously believe that God makes our prayers known to them; and then they, full of charity as they are, most assuredly do not omit to pray for us. St. Catherine of Bologna, whenever she desired any favor, had recourse to the souls in Purgatory, and was immediately heard. She even testified that by the intercession of the souls in Purgatory she had obtained many graces which she had not been able to obtain by the intercession of the saints.”
► Bishop Paul Wilhelm von Keppler (1852-1926), in his book, The Poor Souls in Purgatory, writes: “Life in Purgatory―according to our mind and imagination―must be a time continual prayer, uninterrupted even by pain and grief. It is a life of love, of spiritual, though not yet beatific, union with God. We should not presume that the love―which those Holy Souls have for God―is weaker than our love of God, or that they are condemned to silence and inertia. God certainly did not deprive them of the language of prayer, or of the possibility of conversing with Him, even though their prayer is not meritorious, no matter how strong or fervent it may be―meaning that they will not be rewarded for it.”
Revelations of a Religious Sister in Purgatory
God allows some apparitions and manifestations by souls from Purgatory, both for the relief of the souls in question who thus arouse our pity, and to instruct us by showing us the rigor of divine justice when it comes to faults which we often treat lightly. In November of 1873, a religious sister, identified anonymously for us merely as Sister M. de L. C., of a convent at V., began to have regular appartions of a fellow religious sister who had recently died, on February 22nd, 1871, at the age of 36, in the convent at V.― a victim to devotion and duty. She, too, is anonysmously identified as “Sister M. G.”
Sister M. de L. C. kept her spiritual director well informed of all that happened. He was the Reverend Father Prevel of the Fathers of Pontingy, who later became Superior General of his congregation. Letter show that he was well informed on all the conversations of Sister M. de L. C. with her deceased former companion. Father Prevel accepted the communications seriously, and besides the support of her spiritual director, opinions of important theologians of that time, such as Canon Dubosq, superior of the Seminary of Bayeux and Promotor Fidei in the canonical process for the beatification and canonization of St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus, also Canon Gontier, the diocesan Censor Librorum. After examining the Manuscript carefully, these prominent priests have declared―without hesitation―that it contains nothing contrary to Faith, and nothing that is not in agreement with the true principles of the spiritual life―on the contrary, they said, it contained things that will edify devout souls. All theologians who were consulted gave unanimous consent that Sister M. de L. C.’s Manuscript portrayed in itself proof of its authenticity, and therefore, it was of value because of both content and origin. They testify that Sister M. de L. C. was endowed with sound judgment and common sense and thus was protected from going astray in vivid and harmful imaginations. Here are some quotes from that Manuscript [read the whole Manuscript HERE].
When Sister M. de L. C. asked ― “Do you know what happens on Earth?” ― the deceased Sr. M.G. replied: “I only know what happens in so far as God wills it. My knowledge is very limited. I know nothing about what goes on in the souls of other people, except in your case. That is because God allows this for your perfection. What I have sometimes told you about certain persons and what I will tell you, I only know from God … The souls in Purgatory have no knowledge of the future except what God sometimes gives them. According to their merits, some souls have more of this knowledge than others, yet what do all these things matter to us, unless it is a question of the glory of God or of the good of souls?
Among other things, she revealed the following: “We know that the Church is being persecuted and we pray for her triumph, but when this will be, I do not know. Some of the souls may know, but I do not. In Purgatory the souls are not entirely occupied by their sufferings. They pray for all the interests of God and for those on Earth who shorten their sufferings … If by remaining a little longer in Purgatory I could obtain that you should arrive at the perfection God demands of you in order to accomplish His designs, I would willingly bear that suffering.
“I will repay you later on, though I do pray a great deal for you now! … When I am released you will see that I will do far more for you than you have ever done for me! I already pray much for you! … Those who have forgotten the Holy Souls are forgotten in their turn. This is only fair. Perhaps if they had been reminded to pray for the dead and had been told a little about Purgatory, they might have acted differently … Very few souls in Purgatory get any prayers, the majority are totally abandoned and no thought or prayers are given them on Earth …
“Does not God Himself sometimes seem to change the order of His plans? For example, it may happen that God wishes to chastise a kingdom, a province, or person. That is the intention He seems to manifest. But by prayers or other means taken by that country, province or person to disarm God’s anger, He may grant full forgiveness or a partial remission of His designs according to His infinite wisdom … By the permission of God, we, in Purgatory, know what is happening on Earth at this moment, so that we may pray for those great needs, but our prayers alone will not suffice. If Jesus could only find some really good souls, who were willing to make reparation and disarm His outraged Majesty, it would indeed please His Divine Heart, now deluged by so much bitterness. Such souls might obtain His mercy, since God desires to pardon those who humble themselves.
“How very few interior souls there are in the world―and even in religious communities. Each one seeks their own ease and comfort and refuses to be inconvenienced in the smallest thing ... There are numbers of useless actions, many days entirely futile, without any love for Jesus or purity of intention. They are all lost since they have no value for Heaven. And yet God would be so happy―if one may so speak―if they would only love Him without constraint and with all their hearts. If He could only find such communities, what innumerable graces He would shower upon it.
“At this moment [already back in 1870s] there is not a single Christian kingdom that is not openly, or by underhanded means, trying to expel God from its midst. The secret societies and their master, the devil, are fomenting and stirring up all this trouble. This is now the hour of the prince of darkness. While he is in power, he may do his worst, but God will show that He alone is Master.
“You are sad in seeing how God is insulted in Paris [or for us, in the world today], but those poor people do not know what they are doing, in spite of all their blasphemies. Jesus is much more outraged by the sins of those consecrated to Him than by the more violent crimes of those who are not His friends. How many souls whom Jesus has called to perfection remain always worthless because they have not corresponded to Divine Grace. One must put oneself out and constantly check and keep oneself up to a very high standard to be happy in God’s service.”
The Church and the world are in a mess! How do we turn the tide? It seems like everyone is being prepared for “death-row” without even having to go to prison! If you ask: “How do we get out of this?” ― you are met with a “deathly hush” or “dead silence”! Some say that we are ultimately all “dead men”! You have no doubt heard the phrase: “Dead men tell no tales!” ― because dead men can’t talk! Even more so, dead soldiers can’t fight! Or can they? From one point of view, “dead soldiers” can talk and fight―far better than any soldier living on this Earth!
Can the Poor Souls pray for the living on Earth, and is their prayer efficacious? In other words: “Do their prayers ‘work’?” The famous Jesuit theologian and philosopher, Fr. Francisco Suarez (1548–1617) and the Jesuit Cardinal and Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621), both of whom closely studied this question, arrived at the conclusion that the Poor Souls can and do pray for the living. Fr. Suarez writes: “These souls are holy and dear to God. Charity urges them to love us and know ― at least in a general way ― to what dangers we are exposed and the need we have of divine assistance. Why would they not pray for their benefactors?” St. Robert Bellarmine says that because of their greater love of God and their closer union with Him, their prayers may have great intercessory power―for they are really superior to us in love of God, and in an ever growing intimacy of union with Him. (De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv).
Most modern theologians agree with them. The reasons are convincing. Charity towards others cannot have ceased in these souls at their entrance into Purgatory, nor can their charity have been condemned to complete powerlessness and silence. The Poor Souls enjoy divine grace and are God’s friends―being closer to Him than we are on Earth―and hence their intercession is pleasing to Him and certain to be heard, because they correspond with the divine plan of salvation. Their own state of punishment in Purgatory does not necessarily prevent them from lending assistance to others―just like prisoners today, even though they are in prison, are sent to a variety of tasks that benefit the community: “The director may authorize the use of prisoner work crews to participate in community betterment projects for public and private nonprofit entities” (Arizona State, Statutes of Law, Section 31-252 ― Use of Prisoners in Public Works).
The gratitude of the Poor Souls sometimes manifests itself in a clear and visible manner, but most frequently they express their gratitude invisibly―by prayers for their benefactors, who are then given graces and help by God. Although they cannot pray for themselves, they can nonetheless obtain grace and help for us. We have to go through God to help them―and they have to go through God to help us! That is how it should be―God should be the center and focus of everything. As Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Dead Men (and Women) Do Talk! The Saints Say So!
Many saints have claimed that the poor souls do regularly intercede for them. Thus, we must attempt to understand what is occurring.
► St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) testifies: “Whenever I am eager to obtain a certain grace, I appeal to these suffering souls to present my prayers to our common Father, and, as a rule, I feel that I owe the granting of my petition to their intercession.”
► St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) also had a great devotion toward the Poor Souls, and God confided those Souls who had been under his spiritual direction in a special way to his zeal. He revealed that many of his spiritual children appeared to him after their deaths, either to ask his prayers, or to profoundly thank him for what he had already done for them. He added that, through the Poor Souls, he had obtained many graces.
► St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars (1786-1859), used to say: “We owe unspeakable gratitude to God for allowing us to do more for our departed friends and relatives than to merely mourn over their graves. For by helping them, we obtain for ourselves a right to the special protection of God, and the angels and the saints―who rejoice whenever they can welcome a newcomer into their midst. Most of all, however, we gain friends among the Holy Souls themselves, and when they reach Heaven, they will surely remember and help us. O if all of us only knew what a wonderful influence and great power these Holy Souls have over the heart of God, and what graces we can obtain through their intercession, they would not be so utterly forgotten―we must pray much for them, so that they may pray for us!”
► St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) said: “When we pray for the souls in Purgatory we will always get something back. The souls in Purgatory repay the prayers that we say for them. The souls in Purgatory pray for us, and their prayers are even more effective than ours, because they are accompanied by their suffering. So, let’s pray for them, and let’s pray them to pray for us.”
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), a Doctor of the Church, in his book, The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, writes: “Again, it is disputed whether there is any use in recommending one’s self to the souls in Purgatory. Some say that the souls in that state cannot pray for us; and these rely on the authority of St. Thomas, who says that those souls, while they are being purified by pain, are inferior to us, and therefore ‘are not in a state to pray for us, but rather require cur prayers.’
“But many other Doctors and theologians, such as the Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine, Sylvius, Cardinal Gotti, Lessius, Medina and others affirm with great probability, that we should piously believe that God manifests our prayer to those holy souls in order that they may pray for us; and that so the charitable interchange of mutual prayer may be kept up between them and us. Nor do St. Thomas’ words present much difficulty; for, as Sylvius and Gotti say, it is one thing not to be in a state to pray, another not to be able to pray.
“It is true that those souls are not in a state to pray, because, as St. Thomas says, while suffering they are inferior to us, and rather require our prayers; nevertheless, in this state they are well able to pray, as they are friends of God. If a father keeps a son, whom he tenderly loves, in confinement for some fault―if the son then is not in a state to pray for himself, is that any reason why he cannot pray for others? And may he not expect to obtain what he asks, knowing, as he does, his father’s affection for him?
“So the souls in Purgatory, being beloved by God, and confirmed in grace, have absolutely no impediment to prevent them from praying for us. Nevertheless, the Church does not invoke them, or implore their intercession, because ordinarily they have no cognizance of our prayers. But we may piously believe that God makes our prayers known to them; and then they, full of charity as they are, most assuredly do not omit to pray for us. St. Catherine of Bologna, whenever she desired any favor, had recourse to the souls in Purgatory, and was immediately heard. She even testified that by the intercession of the souls in Purgatory she had obtained many graces which she had not been able to obtain by the intercession of the saints.”
► Bishop Paul Wilhelm von Keppler (1852-1926), in his book, The Poor Souls in Purgatory, writes: “Life in Purgatory―according to our mind and imagination―must be a time continual prayer, uninterrupted even by pain and grief. It is a life of love, of spiritual, though not yet beatific, union with God. We should not presume that the love―which those Holy Souls have for God―is weaker than our love of God, or that they are condemned to silence and inertia. God certainly did not deprive them of the language of prayer, or of the possibility of conversing with Him, even though their prayer is not meritorious, no matter how strong or fervent it may be―meaning that they will not be rewarded for it.”
Revelations of a Religious Sister in Purgatory
God allows some apparitions and manifestations by souls from Purgatory, both for the relief of the souls in question who thus arouse our pity, and to instruct us by showing us the rigor of divine justice when it comes to faults which we often treat lightly. In November of 1873, a religious sister, identified anonymously for us merely as Sister M. de L. C., of a convent at V., began to have regular appartions of a fellow religious sister who had recently died, on February 22nd, 1871, at the age of 36, in the convent at V.― a victim to devotion and duty. She, too, is anonysmously identified as “Sister M. G.”
Sister M. de L. C. kept her spiritual director well informed of all that happened. He was the Reverend Father Prevel of the Fathers of Pontingy, who later became Superior General of his congregation. Letter show that he was well informed on all the conversations of Sister M. de L. C. with her deceased former companion. Father Prevel accepted the communications seriously, and besides the support of her spiritual director, opinions of important theologians of that time, such as Canon Dubosq, superior of the Seminary of Bayeux and Promotor Fidei in the canonical process for the beatification and canonization of St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus, also Canon Gontier, the diocesan Censor Librorum. After examining the Manuscript carefully, these prominent priests have declared―without hesitation―that it contains nothing contrary to Faith, and nothing that is not in agreement with the true principles of the spiritual life―on the contrary, they said, it contained things that will edify devout souls. All theologians who were consulted gave unanimous consent that Sister M. de L. C.’s Manuscript portrayed in itself proof of its authenticity, and therefore, it was of value because of both content and origin. They testify that Sister M. de L. C. was endowed with sound judgment and common sense and thus was protected from going astray in vivid and harmful imaginations. Here are some quotes from that Manuscript [read the whole Manuscript HERE].
When Sister M. de L. C. asked ― “Do you know what happens on Earth?” ― the deceased Sr. M.G. replied: “I only know what happens in so far as God wills it. My knowledge is very limited. I know nothing about what goes on in the souls of other people, except in your case. That is because God allows this for your perfection. What I have sometimes told you about certain persons and what I will tell you, I only know from God … The souls in Purgatory have no knowledge of the future except what God sometimes gives them. According to their merits, some souls have more of this knowledge than others, yet what do all these things matter to us, unless it is a question of the glory of God or of the good of souls?
Among other things, she revealed the following: “We know that the Church is being persecuted and we pray for her triumph, but when this will be, I do not know. Some of the souls may know, but I do not. In Purgatory the souls are not entirely occupied by their sufferings. They pray for all the interests of God and for those on Earth who shorten their sufferings … If by remaining a little longer in Purgatory I could obtain that you should arrive at the perfection God demands of you in order to accomplish His designs, I would willingly bear that suffering.
“I will repay you later on, though I do pray a great deal for you now! … When I am released you will see that I will do far more for you than you have ever done for me! I already pray much for you! … Those who have forgotten the Holy Souls are forgotten in their turn. This is only fair. Perhaps if they had been reminded to pray for the dead and had been told a little about Purgatory, they might have acted differently … Very few souls in Purgatory get any prayers, the majority are totally abandoned and no thought or prayers are given them on Earth …
“Does not God Himself sometimes seem to change the order of His plans? For example, it may happen that God wishes to chastise a kingdom, a province, or person. That is the intention He seems to manifest. But by prayers or other means taken by that country, province or person to disarm God’s anger, He may grant full forgiveness or a partial remission of His designs according to His infinite wisdom … By the permission of God, we, in Purgatory, know what is happening on Earth at this moment, so that we may pray for those great needs, but our prayers alone will not suffice. If Jesus could only find some really good souls, who were willing to make reparation and disarm His outraged Majesty, it would indeed please His Divine Heart, now deluged by so much bitterness. Such souls might obtain His mercy, since God desires to pardon those who humble themselves.
“How very few interior souls there are in the world―and even in religious communities. Each one seeks their own ease and comfort and refuses to be inconvenienced in the smallest thing ... There are numbers of useless actions, many days entirely futile, without any love for Jesus or purity of intention. They are all lost since they have no value for Heaven. And yet God would be so happy―if one may so speak―if they would only love Him without constraint and with all their hearts. If He could only find such communities, what innumerable graces He would shower upon it.
“At this moment [already back in 1870s] there is not a single Christian kingdom that is not openly, or by underhanded means, trying to expel God from its midst. The secret societies and their master, the devil, are fomenting and stirring up all this trouble. This is now the hour of the prince of darkness. While he is in power, he may do his worst, but God will show that He alone is Master.
“You are sad in seeing how God is insulted in Paris [or for us, in the world today], but those poor people do not know what they are doing, in spite of all their blasphemies. Jesus is much more outraged by the sins of those consecrated to Him than by the more violent crimes of those who are not His friends. How many souls whom Jesus has called to perfection remain always worthless because they have not corresponded to Divine Grace. One must put oneself out and constantly check and keep oneself up to a very high standard to be happy in God’s service.”
Tuesday November 2nd, Feast of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, to Saturday November 6th
Article 1
The Holy Souls are a Powerful Weapon! Are You Using Them?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 1
The Holy Souls are a Powerful Weapon! Are You Using Them?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Win-Win Situation
The Holy Souls in Purgatory are not able to pray for themselves or do anything at all to relieve their suffering. They rely on our prayers and efforts to help them. It is permissible to believe that they can pray for their benefactors. St. John Vianney said: “If one knew what we may obtain from God by the intercession of the Poor Souls, they would not be so much abandoned. Let us pray a great deal for them, they will pray for us!” St Teresa of Avila said that she always obtained the favours which she asked from God, through the intercession of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
In chapter 6 of Fr. Paul O'Sullivan’s booklet, Read Me Or Rue It, we see a lot of miracles listed that occurred at the intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, in recompense to certain persons who were praying for the Holy Souls. Here are some of those miracles.
How Pope Pius IX Cured A Bad Memory
The blessed Pontiff, Pius IX, appointed a holy and prudent priest from a religious order, to be the Bishop of a diocese. The priest―alarmed at the responsibility put on him― earnestly begged to be excused. His protests were in vain. The Holy Father knew his merits.
Overcome with apprehension the humble religious begged a private audience with the Pope, who received him most graciously. Once more he pleaded earnestly to be excused―but the Pope was immovable.
As a last recourse Fr. Tomaso told the Holy Father that he had a very bad memory, which would naturally prove to be a grave impediment in the high office put on him.
Blessed Pius IX answered with a smile: “Your diocese is very small in comparison with the Universal Church, which I carry on my shoulders! Your cares will be very light in comparison with mine! I, too, suffered from a grave defect of memory―but I promised to say a fervent prayer daily for the Holy Souls, who, in return, have obtained for me an excellent memory! Do you likewise, dear Father, and you will have cause to rejoice!”
The Holy Souls are great intercessors in time of need―and, boy, do we need intercession right now! By our praying for themthey can and will, in justice, be praying for us in our needs. The Holy Souls cannot pray for themselves, but for others and their prayers are not ignored. The reason is that they have an incredible love of God while they burn in Purgatory―and it is the degree of love, or charity, that we have which regulates how much our prayers will obtain from God. By praying to these special souls and relieving them of some of their suffering, you in turn will merit special graces from God.
St. Alphonsus Liguori says that, although the Holy Souls cannot merit for themselves, they can obtain for us great graces. They are not, formally speaking, intercessors, as the Saints are, but through the sweet Providence of God, they can obtain for us as astounding favors and deliver us from evils, sickness and dangers of every kind. It is beyond all doubt, as already said, that they repay us a thousand times for anything we do for them. The following facts, a few hundred of which we might quote, are sufficient to show what powerful and generous friends the Holy Souls are.
How A Girl Found Her Mother
A poor servant girl in France named Jeanne Marie once heard a sermon on the Holy Souls which made an indelible impression on her mind. She was deeply moved by the thought of the intense and unceasing sufferings the Poor Souls endure, and she was horrified to see how cruelly they are neglected and forgotten by their friends on Earth.
Among other things the preacher stressed was that many souls who are in reality near to their release ― one Mass might suffice to set them free ― are oftentimes long detained; it may be for years, just because the last needful suffrage has been withheld or forgotten or neglected!
With her simple Faith, Jeanne Marie resolved that, cost what it might, she would have a Mass said for the Poor Souls every month, especially for the soul nearest to Heaven. She earned little, and it was sometimes difficult to keep her promise, but she never failed.
On one occasion she went to Paris with her mistress and there fell ill, so that she was obliged to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, the illness proved to be a long one, and her mistress had to return home, hoping that her maid would soon rejoin her. When at last the poor servant was able to leave the hospital, all she had left of her scanty earnings was one franc!
What was she to do? Where to turn? Suddenly, the thought flashed across her mind that she had not had her usual monthly Mass offered for the Holy Souls. But she had only one franc! That was little enough to buy her food. Yet her confidence that the Holy Souls would not fail her triumphed. She made her way into a church and asked a priest, just about to say Mass, if he would offer it for the Holy Souls. He consented to do so, never dreaming that the modest alms offered was the only money the poor girl possessed. At the conclusion of the Holy Sacrifice, our heroine left the church. A wave of sadness clouded her face; she felt utterly bewildered.
A young gentleman, touched by her evident distress, asked her if she was in trouble and if he could help her. She told her story briefly, and ended by saying how much she desired work. Somehow she felt consoled at the kind way in which the young man listened to what she said, and she fully recovered her confidence.
“I am delighted beyond measure,” he said, “to help you. I know a lady who is even now looking for a servant. Come with me.” And so saying he led her to a house, not too far away, and told her ring the bell, assuring her that she would find work.
In answer to her ring, the lady of the house herself opened the door and inquired what Jeanne Marie required.
“Madam” she said, “I have been told that you are looking for a servant. I have no work and should be glad to get the position.”
The lady was amazed and replied: “Who could have told you that I needed a servant? It was only a few minutes ago that I had to dismiss my maid, and that at a moment’s notice. You did not meet her?”
“No, Madam. The person who informed me that you required a servant was a young gentleman!”
“Impossible!” exclaimed the lady. “No young man, in fact no one at all, could have known that I needed a servant!”
“But Madam,” the girl answered excitedly, pointing to a picture on the wall, “that is the young man who told me!”
“Why, child―that is my only son, who has been dead for more than a year!”
“Dead or not,” asserted the girl with deep conviction in her voice, “it was he who told me to come to you, and he even led me to the door! See the scar over his eye―I would know him anywhere!”
Then followed the full story of how, with her last franc, she had had Mass offered for the Holy Souls, especially for the one nearest to Heaven.
Convinced at last of the truth of what Jeanne Marie had told her, the lady received her with open arms. “Come,” she said, “though not as my servant, but as my dear daughter. You have sent my dear boy to Heaven. I have no doubt that it was he who brought you to me.”
How A Poor Boy Became A Bishop, A Cardinal, And A Saint
St. Peter Damian lost both father and mother shortly after his birth. One of his brothers adopted him, but treated him with unnatural harshness, forcing him to work hard and giving him poor food and scanty clothing.
One day Peter found a silver piece, which represented to him a small fortune. A friend told him that he could conscientiously use it for him self, as the owner could not be found. The only difficulty Peter had was to choose what it was he most needed, for he was in sore need of many things.
While turning the matter over in his young mind, it struck him that he could do a still better thing―namely, have a Mass said for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, especially for the souls of his dear parents. At the cost of a great sacrifice, he put this thought into effect and had the Mass offered. The Holy Souls repaid his sacrifice most generously. From that day forward a complete change became noticeable in his fortunes.
His eldest brother called at the house where he lived and, horrified at the brutal hardships the little fellow was subjected to by his fellow brother, arranged that he be handed over to his own care. He clad him and fed him as his own child, and educated and cared for him most affectionately. Blessing followed upon blessing. Peter’s wonderful talents became known, and he was rapidly promoted to the priesthood; sometime after he was raised to the episcopacy and, finally, created Cardinal. Miracles attested his great sanctity, so that after death he was canonized and made a Doctor of the Church. These wonderful graces came to him after that one Mass said for the Holy Souls.
An Adventure In The Apennines
A group of priests was called to Rome to treat of a grave business matter. They were bearers of important documents, and a large sum of money was entrusted to them for the Holy Father. Aware that the Apennines, over which they had to pass, were infested by daring bandits, they chose a trusty driver. There was no tunnel through the mountains, nor train in those days. They placed themselves under the protection of the Holy Souls and decided to say a De Profundis [a prayer for the Holy Souls] every hour for them.
When right in the heart of the mountains, the driver gave the alarm and at the same time lashed the horses into a furious gallop. Looking around, the priests saw fierce bandits at each side of the road with rifles aimed, ready to fire. They were amazed that no shot rang out. They were completely at the mercy of the bandits.
After an hour’s headlong flight, the driver stopped and, looking at the priests, said: “I cannot understand how we escaped! These desperadoes never spare anyone!” The Fathers were convinced that they owed their safety to the Holy Souls, a fact that was afterwards confirmed beyond doubt.
When their business was concluded in Rome, one of their number was detained in the Eternal City, where he was appointed chaplain to a prison. Not long after, one of the fiercest brigands in Italy was captured, condemned to death for a long series of murders and was awaiting execution in this prison.
Anxious to gain his confidence, the chaplain told him of several adventures that he himself had had and, finally, of his recent escape in the Apennines. The criminal manifested the greatest interest in the story. When it was ended, he exclaimed: “I was the leader of that band! We thought that you had money and we determined to rob and murder you. An invisible force prevented each and all of us from firing, as we assuredly would have done had we been able!”
The chaplain then told the brigand of how they had placed themselves under the protection of the Holy Souls, and that they ascribed their deliverance to their protection. The bandit found no difficulty in believing it. In fact, it made his conversion more easy. He died full of repentance.
The More We Give, The More We Get
A businessman in Boston joined the Association of the Holy Souls and gave a large sum of money annually that prayers and Masses might be said for them. The Director of the Association was surprised at the gentleman’s generosity, for he knew that he was not a rich man. He asked kindly one day if the alms he so generously gave were his own offering or donations which he had gathered from others. “What I offer, dear Fathers,” the gentleman said, “is my own offering. Be not alarmed. I am not a very rich man, and you may think that I give more than I am able to do. It is not so, for far from losing by my charity, the Holy Souls see to it that I gain considerably more than I give. They are second to none in generosity.”
The Printer Of Cologne
The celebrated printer of Cologne, William Freyssen, gives us the following account of how his child and wife were restored to health by the Holy Souls. William Freyssen got the order to print a little work on Purgatory. When he was correcting the proofs, his attention was caught by the facts narrated in the book. He learned for the first time what wonders the Holy Souls can work for their friends.
Just at that time his son fell grievously ill, and soon the case became desperate. Remembering what he had read about the power of the Holy Souls, Freyssen at once promised to spread, at his own expense, a hundred copies of the book which his firm was printing. To make the promise more solemn, he went to the church and there made his vow. At once a sense of peace and confidence filled his soul. On his return home, the boy, who had been unable to swallow a drop of water, asked for food. Next day he was out of danger and soon completely cured.
At once, Freyssen ordered the books on Purgatory to be distributed, feeling sure that it was the best way to obtain help for the suffering souls, by interesting a hundred people in them. No one who knows what the Poor Souls suffer can refuse to pray for them.
Time passed, and a new sorrow fell to the share of the printer. This time his dear wife was stricken down and, despite every care, grew daily worse. She lost the use of her mind and was almost completely paralyzed, so that the doctor gave up all hope. The husband, thinking of what the Holy Souls had done for his boy, again ran to the church and promised to distribute 200 of the books on Purgatory, begging in exchange the urgent succor of the Holy Souls.
Wonderful to relate, the mental aberration ceased, his wife’s mind became normal, and she recovered the use of her limbs and of her tongue. In a short time she was perfectly restored to health.
The Cure Of A Cancer
Joana de Menezes thus tells of her cure: She was suffering severely from a cancerous growth in the leg and was plunged in grief. Remembering what she had heard of the power of the Souls in Purgatory, she resolved to place all her confidence in them and had nine Masses offered for them. She promised, moreover, to publish news of her cure if it were granted. Gradually the swelling went down, and the tumor and cancer disappeared.
An Escape From Brigands
Father Louis Manaci, a zealous missionary, had great devotion to the Souls in Purgatory. He found himself obliged to set out on a dangerous journey, but confidently asked the Holy Souls to protect him in the dangers that he was likely to meet with. His road lay through a vast desert, which he knew to be infested with brigands. While plodding along, saying the Rosary for the Holy Souls, on looking around, he was surprised to find himself surrounded by a bodyguard, as it were, of blessed spirits. Soon he discovered the reason. He had fallen into an ambush by brigands, but the Holy Souls at once surrounded him and drove off the attackers, who sought his life. The Holy Souls did not abandon him until he was well out of danger.
A Return To Life
The Prior of Cirfontaines gives us his story: “A young man of my parish fell dangerously ill with a typhoid fever. His parents were overcome with grief and asked me to recommend him to the prayers of the members of the Association of the Holy Souls. It was Saturday. The boy was at death’s door. The doctors had had recourse to every remedy! All in vain! They could think of nothing more! They were in despair! I was the only one who had hope! I knew the power of the Holy Souls, for I had already seen what they could do! On Sunday I begged the Associates of the Holy Souls to pray fervently for our sick friend! On Monday the danger passed! The boy was cured!”
Read And Wake Up!
“In my long life,” writes a priest, “I have noticed with amazement how few Catholics there are who give generously to the poor and needy, despite what Our Blessed Lord commands them to do. I have also remarked that some Catholics are, indeed, very generous and good. Some care for the poor, others look after the sick. Lepers, consumptives, cancer patients, the mentally deficient, all have their friends. Some prefer to help the young, the hearts of others go out to the old. All the various classes of the poor and needy find champions -- though, as I have said, these are not nearly as many and generous as they should be. The strangest thing of all is that I have never met one man or woman who has dedicated himself or herself entirely, wholeheartedly, to the greatest of all charities, to the greatest of all the needy ―- namely, the Holy Souls in Purgatory. There may be a few who do so, but in my long and very varied experience, I have never met any.” Unfortunately, the words of this good priest are only too true!
To those who have not as yet dedicated themselves to any particular form of charity, they should dedicate all their energies to the Holy Souls. Let them do what they can personally, and also induce others to help the Poor Souls.
You could copy and paste the various Purgatorial articles on this website and send them by e-mail to everyone you know. This would mean no mailing costs or printing costs having to be endured by you. The money that you save, you could use to have Masses offered for the Poor Souls in Purgatory! Just as Our Lord and Our Lady will never let themselves be outdone in charity by anyone―the same could be said of the Poor Souls in Purgatory!
The Holy Souls in Purgatory are not able to pray for themselves or do anything at all to relieve their suffering. They rely on our prayers and efforts to help them. It is permissible to believe that they can pray for their benefactors. St. John Vianney said: “If one knew what we may obtain from God by the intercession of the Poor Souls, they would not be so much abandoned. Let us pray a great deal for them, they will pray for us!” St Teresa of Avila said that she always obtained the favours which she asked from God, through the intercession of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
In chapter 6 of Fr. Paul O'Sullivan’s booklet, Read Me Or Rue It, we see a lot of miracles listed that occurred at the intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, in recompense to certain persons who were praying for the Holy Souls. Here are some of those miracles.
How Pope Pius IX Cured A Bad Memory
The blessed Pontiff, Pius IX, appointed a holy and prudent priest from a religious order, to be the Bishop of a diocese. The priest―alarmed at the responsibility put on him― earnestly begged to be excused. His protests were in vain. The Holy Father knew his merits.
Overcome with apprehension the humble religious begged a private audience with the Pope, who received him most graciously. Once more he pleaded earnestly to be excused―but the Pope was immovable.
As a last recourse Fr. Tomaso told the Holy Father that he had a very bad memory, which would naturally prove to be a grave impediment in the high office put on him.
Blessed Pius IX answered with a smile: “Your diocese is very small in comparison with the Universal Church, which I carry on my shoulders! Your cares will be very light in comparison with mine! I, too, suffered from a grave defect of memory―but I promised to say a fervent prayer daily for the Holy Souls, who, in return, have obtained for me an excellent memory! Do you likewise, dear Father, and you will have cause to rejoice!”
The Holy Souls are great intercessors in time of need―and, boy, do we need intercession right now! By our praying for themthey can and will, in justice, be praying for us in our needs. The Holy Souls cannot pray for themselves, but for others and their prayers are not ignored. The reason is that they have an incredible love of God while they burn in Purgatory―and it is the degree of love, or charity, that we have which regulates how much our prayers will obtain from God. By praying to these special souls and relieving them of some of their suffering, you in turn will merit special graces from God.
St. Alphonsus Liguori says that, although the Holy Souls cannot merit for themselves, they can obtain for us great graces. They are not, formally speaking, intercessors, as the Saints are, but through the sweet Providence of God, they can obtain for us as astounding favors and deliver us from evils, sickness and dangers of every kind. It is beyond all doubt, as already said, that they repay us a thousand times for anything we do for them. The following facts, a few hundred of which we might quote, are sufficient to show what powerful and generous friends the Holy Souls are.
How A Girl Found Her Mother
A poor servant girl in France named Jeanne Marie once heard a sermon on the Holy Souls which made an indelible impression on her mind. She was deeply moved by the thought of the intense and unceasing sufferings the Poor Souls endure, and she was horrified to see how cruelly they are neglected and forgotten by their friends on Earth.
Among other things the preacher stressed was that many souls who are in reality near to their release ― one Mass might suffice to set them free ― are oftentimes long detained; it may be for years, just because the last needful suffrage has been withheld or forgotten or neglected!
With her simple Faith, Jeanne Marie resolved that, cost what it might, she would have a Mass said for the Poor Souls every month, especially for the soul nearest to Heaven. She earned little, and it was sometimes difficult to keep her promise, but she never failed.
On one occasion she went to Paris with her mistress and there fell ill, so that she was obliged to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, the illness proved to be a long one, and her mistress had to return home, hoping that her maid would soon rejoin her. When at last the poor servant was able to leave the hospital, all she had left of her scanty earnings was one franc!
What was she to do? Where to turn? Suddenly, the thought flashed across her mind that she had not had her usual monthly Mass offered for the Holy Souls. But she had only one franc! That was little enough to buy her food. Yet her confidence that the Holy Souls would not fail her triumphed. She made her way into a church and asked a priest, just about to say Mass, if he would offer it for the Holy Souls. He consented to do so, never dreaming that the modest alms offered was the only money the poor girl possessed. At the conclusion of the Holy Sacrifice, our heroine left the church. A wave of sadness clouded her face; she felt utterly bewildered.
A young gentleman, touched by her evident distress, asked her if she was in trouble and if he could help her. She told her story briefly, and ended by saying how much she desired work. Somehow she felt consoled at the kind way in which the young man listened to what she said, and she fully recovered her confidence.
“I am delighted beyond measure,” he said, “to help you. I know a lady who is even now looking for a servant. Come with me.” And so saying he led her to a house, not too far away, and told her ring the bell, assuring her that she would find work.
In answer to her ring, the lady of the house herself opened the door and inquired what Jeanne Marie required.
“Madam” she said, “I have been told that you are looking for a servant. I have no work and should be glad to get the position.”
The lady was amazed and replied: “Who could have told you that I needed a servant? It was only a few minutes ago that I had to dismiss my maid, and that at a moment’s notice. You did not meet her?”
“No, Madam. The person who informed me that you required a servant was a young gentleman!”
“Impossible!” exclaimed the lady. “No young man, in fact no one at all, could have known that I needed a servant!”
“But Madam,” the girl answered excitedly, pointing to a picture on the wall, “that is the young man who told me!”
“Why, child―that is my only son, who has been dead for more than a year!”
“Dead or not,” asserted the girl with deep conviction in her voice, “it was he who told me to come to you, and he even led me to the door! See the scar over his eye―I would know him anywhere!”
Then followed the full story of how, with her last franc, she had had Mass offered for the Holy Souls, especially for the one nearest to Heaven.
Convinced at last of the truth of what Jeanne Marie had told her, the lady received her with open arms. “Come,” she said, “though not as my servant, but as my dear daughter. You have sent my dear boy to Heaven. I have no doubt that it was he who brought you to me.”
How A Poor Boy Became A Bishop, A Cardinal, And A Saint
St. Peter Damian lost both father and mother shortly after his birth. One of his brothers adopted him, but treated him with unnatural harshness, forcing him to work hard and giving him poor food and scanty clothing.
One day Peter found a silver piece, which represented to him a small fortune. A friend told him that he could conscientiously use it for him self, as the owner could not be found. The only difficulty Peter had was to choose what it was he most needed, for he was in sore need of many things.
While turning the matter over in his young mind, it struck him that he could do a still better thing―namely, have a Mass said for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, especially for the souls of his dear parents. At the cost of a great sacrifice, he put this thought into effect and had the Mass offered. The Holy Souls repaid his sacrifice most generously. From that day forward a complete change became noticeable in his fortunes.
His eldest brother called at the house where he lived and, horrified at the brutal hardships the little fellow was subjected to by his fellow brother, arranged that he be handed over to his own care. He clad him and fed him as his own child, and educated and cared for him most affectionately. Blessing followed upon blessing. Peter’s wonderful talents became known, and he was rapidly promoted to the priesthood; sometime after he was raised to the episcopacy and, finally, created Cardinal. Miracles attested his great sanctity, so that after death he was canonized and made a Doctor of the Church. These wonderful graces came to him after that one Mass said for the Holy Souls.
An Adventure In The Apennines
A group of priests was called to Rome to treat of a grave business matter. They were bearers of important documents, and a large sum of money was entrusted to them for the Holy Father. Aware that the Apennines, over which they had to pass, were infested by daring bandits, they chose a trusty driver. There was no tunnel through the mountains, nor train in those days. They placed themselves under the protection of the Holy Souls and decided to say a De Profundis [a prayer for the Holy Souls] every hour for them.
When right in the heart of the mountains, the driver gave the alarm and at the same time lashed the horses into a furious gallop. Looking around, the priests saw fierce bandits at each side of the road with rifles aimed, ready to fire. They were amazed that no shot rang out. They were completely at the mercy of the bandits.
After an hour’s headlong flight, the driver stopped and, looking at the priests, said: “I cannot understand how we escaped! These desperadoes never spare anyone!” The Fathers were convinced that they owed their safety to the Holy Souls, a fact that was afterwards confirmed beyond doubt.
When their business was concluded in Rome, one of their number was detained in the Eternal City, where he was appointed chaplain to a prison. Not long after, one of the fiercest brigands in Italy was captured, condemned to death for a long series of murders and was awaiting execution in this prison.
Anxious to gain his confidence, the chaplain told him of several adventures that he himself had had and, finally, of his recent escape in the Apennines. The criminal manifested the greatest interest in the story. When it was ended, he exclaimed: “I was the leader of that band! We thought that you had money and we determined to rob and murder you. An invisible force prevented each and all of us from firing, as we assuredly would have done had we been able!”
The chaplain then told the brigand of how they had placed themselves under the protection of the Holy Souls, and that they ascribed their deliverance to their protection. The bandit found no difficulty in believing it. In fact, it made his conversion more easy. He died full of repentance.
The More We Give, The More We Get
A businessman in Boston joined the Association of the Holy Souls and gave a large sum of money annually that prayers and Masses might be said for them. The Director of the Association was surprised at the gentleman’s generosity, for he knew that he was not a rich man. He asked kindly one day if the alms he so generously gave were his own offering or donations which he had gathered from others. “What I offer, dear Fathers,” the gentleman said, “is my own offering. Be not alarmed. I am not a very rich man, and you may think that I give more than I am able to do. It is not so, for far from losing by my charity, the Holy Souls see to it that I gain considerably more than I give. They are second to none in generosity.”
The Printer Of Cologne
The celebrated printer of Cologne, William Freyssen, gives us the following account of how his child and wife were restored to health by the Holy Souls. William Freyssen got the order to print a little work on Purgatory. When he was correcting the proofs, his attention was caught by the facts narrated in the book. He learned for the first time what wonders the Holy Souls can work for their friends.
Just at that time his son fell grievously ill, and soon the case became desperate. Remembering what he had read about the power of the Holy Souls, Freyssen at once promised to spread, at his own expense, a hundred copies of the book which his firm was printing. To make the promise more solemn, he went to the church and there made his vow. At once a sense of peace and confidence filled his soul. On his return home, the boy, who had been unable to swallow a drop of water, asked for food. Next day he was out of danger and soon completely cured.
At once, Freyssen ordered the books on Purgatory to be distributed, feeling sure that it was the best way to obtain help for the suffering souls, by interesting a hundred people in them. No one who knows what the Poor Souls suffer can refuse to pray for them.
Time passed, and a new sorrow fell to the share of the printer. This time his dear wife was stricken down and, despite every care, grew daily worse. She lost the use of her mind and was almost completely paralyzed, so that the doctor gave up all hope. The husband, thinking of what the Holy Souls had done for his boy, again ran to the church and promised to distribute 200 of the books on Purgatory, begging in exchange the urgent succor of the Holy Souls.
Wonderful to relate, the mental aberration ceased, his wife’s mind became normal, and she recovered the use of her limbs and of her tongue. In a short time she was perfectly restored to health.
The Cure Of A Cancer
Joana de Menezes thus tells of her cure: She was suffering severely from a cancerous growth in the leg and was plunged in grief. Remembering what she had heard of the power of the Souls in Purgatory, she resolved to place all her confidence in them and had nine Masses offered for them. She promised, moreover, to publish news of her cure if it were granted. Gradually the swelling went down, and the tumor and cancer disappeared.
An Escape From Brigands
Father Louis Manaci, a zealous missionary, had great devotion to the Souls in Purgatory. He found himself obliged to set out on a dangerous journey, but confidently asked the Holy Souls to protect him in the dangers that he was likely to meet with. His road lay through a vast desert, which he knew to be infested with brigands. While plodding along, saying the Rosary for the Holy Souls, on looking around, he was surprised to find himself surrounded by a bodyguard, as it were, of blessed spirits. Soon he discovered the reason. He had fallen into an ambush by brigands, but the Holy Souls at once surrounded him and drove off the attackers, who sought his life. The Holy Souls did not abandon him until he was well out of danger.
A Return To Life
The Prior of Cirfontaines gives us his story: “A young man of my parish fell dangerously ill with a typhoid fever. His parents were overcome with grief and asked me to recommend him to the prayers of the members of the Association of the Holy Souls. It was Saturday. The boy was at death’s door. The doctors had had recourse to every remedy! All in vain! They could think of nothing more! They were in despair! I was the only one who had hope! I knew the power of the Holy Souls, for I had already seen what they could do! On Sunday I begged the Associates of the Holy Souls to pray fervently for our sick friend! On Monday the danger passed! The boy was cured!”
Read And Wake Up!
“In my long life,” writes a priest, “I have noticed with amazement how few Catholics there are who give generously to the poor and needy, despite what Our Blessed Lord commands them to do. I have also remarked that some Catholics are, indeed, very generous and good. Some care for the poor, others look after the sick. Lepers, consumptives, cancer patients, the mentally deficient, all have their friends. Some prefer to help the young, the hearts of others go out to the old. All the various classes of the poor and needy find champions -- though, as I have said, these are not nearly as many and generous as they should be. The strangest thing of all is that I have never met one man or woman who has dedicated himself or herself entirely, wholeheartedly, to the greatest of all charities, to the greatest of all the needy ―- namely, the Holy Souls in Purgatory. There may be a few who do so, but in my long and very varied experience, I have never met any.” Unfortunately, the words of this good priest are only too true!
To those who have not as yet dedicated themselves to any particular form of charity, they should dedicate all their energies to the Holy Souls. Let them do what they can personally, and also induce others to help the Poor Souls.
You could copy and paste the various Purgatorial articles on this website and send them by e-mail to everyone you know. This would mean no mailing costs or printing costs having to be endured by you. The money that you save, you could use to have Masses offered for the Poor Souls in Purgatory! Just as Our Lord and Our Lady will never let themselves be outdone in charity by anyone―the same could be said of the Poor Souls in Purgatory!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
The Traditional Feast Day of Christ the King, Sunday October 31st & Monday November 1st, Feast of All Saints
Article 12
Re-Conquering the World for the Christ the King!
This article is still waiting to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Traditional Feast Day of Christ the King, Sunday October 31st & Monday November 1st, Feast of All Saints
Article 12
Re-Conquering the World for the Christ the King!
This article is still waiting to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Not an Option!
The world has to be conquered for Christ the King―or, if you like, “re-conquered” if you hold that Christendom already was to some extent the “Christ’s Kingdom” in the Middle Ages. There is really no option or choice in this matter―the only other option is that of treason. You are, by virtue of receiving the Sacrament of Christ, a SOLDIER OF CHRIST―and soldiers both defend their kingdom and conquer for their kingdom. What are YOU doing, Soldier? Are you defending Christ’s dwindling Kingdom and are you fighting to extend His Kingdom? Your salvation may well depend upon it.
Born to Fight!
In Holy Scripture we read that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and that you must “fight the good fight of faith and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Of course, that makes us feel uncomfortable―especially since we have raised in comfortable surroundings in a world that loves comfort. We prefer to pick our fights rather than have picked for us! It is not that we do fight―but we often fight over the wrong things and fight over wrong causes. In fact, we often fight more among ourselves, while neglecting to fight the REAL enemy! Furthermore, we frequently fight using the wrong weapons! Is it then surprising that the enemy has consistently and increasingly been gaining the upper hand―to the point where only a idiot would say that we have been forced into a corner and pinned to the ground.
Toy Soldiers―Armchair Soldiers―Lip Soldiers
We are only too happy to go with the flow! We want to avoid what is hard! We love heroes―as long as we are not called to be that hero! We might “talk a good fight”―but we will not actually go out and fight! We are willing to support Christ with our words―but when it comes to supporting Him with action, then we remember that we have something else to do, we have our family obligations, our work obligations, etc. We are more inclined to accommodate evil, tolerate evil, placate evil―rather than oppose, fight and overcome evil. We might have “fighting lips” or even “fighting fingers” on the keyboards of our computers―but we do not really have “fighting hearts” that will “fight the good fight of the Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Christ says: “These people honors Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Yes―we might have the Faith, but is it a mere Faith of words only, or a Faith of words that leads to action: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4) ... but “what shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Our Lord adds: “Everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33) and “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13) ― yet we are not even prepared to “lay down” our job for Christ, or lose our job for Christ, nor even lose our friends for Christ. We are led more by “human respect” rather than a respect for God―we worry about what people around us will think, and not what God will think! This brings to mind another statement of Our Lord: “Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) ― which can readily be transformed into: “Whosoever seeks to save his job, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his job for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!”
No Love or Desire for the Fight
It is easier to serve someone whom you love than someone you don’t love. That is all the more true when it comes to risking your life for someone, or even laying down your life for someone. Love is the key factor. Our Lord indicated that it is love that urges and makes us lay our lives for others: “Greater love than this no man has―that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). The martyrs gave up their lives for Christ out of a great love for Christ. Without that love, martyrdom would not be true martyrdom―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
We could also loosely apply Our Lord’s parable about the invitations to the Marriage Feast to our invitation to the Fight.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come ... They neglected and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise … But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and … said to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy! Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’ And his servants going forth, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good―and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests, and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment [ = the garment of charity, according to the Fathers of the Church]. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:1-14).
Similarly, “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame! … I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24).
Likewise, Our Lord has invited us all to the Fight for the Faith and has made us all “Soldiers of Christ” through the Sacrament of Confirmation. Yet most Catholics begin to make excuses, saying: “I can’t come to the fight because I have my family to look after and provide for―and that takes up all my days!” … “I can’t fight for you because my job takes up all my time!” … “I am too old (or too young / too weak / too sick) to fight! I will be of no use in the fight!” … “There is nobody else coming to the fight! Why should I fight? What good is so few against so many?” Then there are those who have buried themselves in comfort, entertainment and fun ― and fighting is no fun and it is uncomfortable! Of those Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette says: “In these unhappy times, the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement! … There will be unbridled luxury―which will ensnare the rest into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” (Our Lady of La Salette and Good Success).
With this general Catholic cowardice or cowering in the face of duty, we could well quote the words that the prophet Isaias placed in the mouth of future Messias―Jesus Christ: “I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid! My own arm hath saved Me, and My indignation itself hath helped Me!” (Isaias 63:5). Likewise, “What!! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6).
No Promised Land Without a Fight!
God had promised Abraham the so-called “Promised Land” as an inheritance for the “Chosen People” ― the future descendants of Abraham: “And the Lord said to Abram [God would later change his name from “Abram” to “Abraham”]: ‘Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house―and come into the land which I shall show thee!’” (Genesis 12:1). God works slowly―and it took around 700 to 800 (some scholars even say 1,000) years before Abraham’s descendants finally arrived in the Promised Land.
We all know that after Moses led the Chosen People out of Egypt, it was 40 years of wandering around the desert wilderness before they finally entered the Promised Land. Yet what most people forget (or do not know) is that the distance from Egypt to the Promised Land (Chanaan) was only 250 (direct) to 500 miles (avoiding enemy territories). Traveling at a decent rate of 15 to 20 miles a day it would have taken anywhere from 12 to 16 days (for 250 miles) or 25 to 33 days (for 500 miles) ― yet they ended up taking 40 years! Why? Because the did not want to fight the native inhabitants of the Promised Land (Chanaan).
They actually came to the Promised Land twice. The first time they arrived, the spies that Moses sent to “spy-out” the Promised Land, came back with a negative and scary report ― the native inhabitants were like giants compared to the Chosen People. Of the 12 spies that had been sent, 10 were against trying to conquer the Promised Land―only two, Josue and Caleb, were positive and confident, saying God would help them. The Promised Land was not a “freebie”―they had to fight for it!
Holy Scripture tells us that the the Chosen People were discouraged at the report given by 10 of the 12 spies.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel!’ … Moses did what the Lord had commanded … And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: ‘Go view what sort of the land it is; and whether the people that are the inhabitants, be strong or weak; few in number or many; and whether the land be good or bad; whether the cities are walled or without walls; whether the ground is fat or barren, woody or without trees!’
“And they that went to spy out the land, returned after forty days, having gone round all the country. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, and, speaking to them and to all the multitude, they showed them the fruits of the land. And they said: ‘We came into the land to which thou didst send us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey―as may be known by these fruits. But it has very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled!’
“Caleb [one of the 12 spies sents by Moses], in order to quieten the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: ‘Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it!’ But the other spies, that had been with him, said: ‘No! We are not able to stand up to to this people, because they are stronger than we are!’ And, before the children of Israel, they spoke ill of the land which they had viewed, saying: ‘The land, which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants! The people, that we saw, are of a tall stature! There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind―in comparison to whom, we seemed like locusts!”
“Wherefore the whole multitude, crying, wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘If only God would let us die in Egypt, rather than die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this [Promised] Land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?’ And they said one to another: ‘Let us appoint a leader, and let us return into Egypt!’
Josue and Caleb, who themselves had also viewed the land, tore their garments, and said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: ‘The land which we have gone round is very good! If the Lord be favorable, He will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey! Be not rebellious against the Lord! And fear ye not the people of this land―for we are able to eat them up as bread! All aid is gone from them! The Lord is with us, fear ye not!’
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will this people detract Me? How long will they not believe Me for all the signs [miracles] that I have performed before them? I will strike them therefore with pestilence and will consume them! But thee [Moses] I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is! And Moses said to the Lord: ‘The Lord is patient and full of mercy! … Forgive, I beseech Thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of Thy mercy!’ …
“And the Lord said: ‘I have forgiven according to thy word! … But all the men that have seen My majesty and the signs that I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed My voice, thoise men shall not see the land for which I promised to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted Me see it!’
“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel! Say therefore to them: “In the desert wilderness shall your carcasses lie! All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, you shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Josue. But your children―of whom you said that they should be a prey to the enemies―them will I bring in, so that they may see the land which you have despised! Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness! Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your sin, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land, a year shall be counted for a day. And so for forty years you shall suffer for your iniquities, and shall know My revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me! In this wilderness shall it faint away and die!’
Moses asks the twelve spies whom he sent to spu-out the Promised Land: “Why do ye overturn [discourage] the minds of the children of Israel, that they may not dare to pass into the place which the Lord hath given them?” (Numbers 32:7). Out of the twleve spies, only Josue and Caleb were positive and encouraging about the outcome of trying to fight and conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land. Josue would later say: “My brethren, that had gone up with me [to spy-out the Promised Land], discouraged the heart of the people―I, nevertheless, followed the Lord my God!” (Josue 14:8). “Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who, upon their return, had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land, all those men died and were struck in the sight of the Lord. But of all them that had gone to view the land, Josue and Caleb lived!” (Numbers 13:2-34; 14:1-45).
The Wickedness of Doing Nothing
In the Parable of the Talents, Our Lord speaks of three servants being given different amounts of money (talents) by their lord and master―one was given 5 talents, the second servant was given 2 talents, and the third was given 1 talent. After a period of time, they have to give an account of what they have done with the money entrusted to them. We all know the story―the man with 5 talents worked hard and gained 5 more talents; the one with 2 talents earned another 2 talents; but the man with 1 talent did nothing at all. The lord said to the ‘one-talented’ man: “Thou wicked and slothful servant!” The word “wicked” is one of the strongest words of denunciation in the New Testament. We use the word sparingly in our own English language. We speak of people as being mistaken, foolish, sinful, or dishonest, but not many people do we describe as being wicked.
Now what was there about this man that prompted the Lord to call him a wicked man? You will observe that the man was not a thief; he had not stolen the talent that was in his possession; it had been given to him. He came by it honestly. Stealing was not his wickedness. Neither was this man a prodigal by wasting the money given to him, like the young man in the parable of Prodigal Son (Luke 15), who wasted his father’s money with riotous living. Vulgar, riotous living was not his wickedness. Moreover, this man was not a liar. He could have made up an excuse. He could have said: “I worked and earned two other talents, but last week just before you returned, a thief broke into my house and carried away the two talents that I have earned. Now, all that is left is the one original talent!” It would have been an easy thing for this man to have fabricated a rather convincing excuse―but this he did not do. He told the truth; lying was not his wickedness. What, then, was the wickedness of the one-talented man? The answer lies right on the surface of the account. He buried his talent in the ground, left it there, and refused to use it. The man is labeled as a wicked man simply because he did nothing! In the eyes of Our Lord, it is wicked to do nothing. It is wicked not to care. It is wicked not to work. It is wicked not to pray. It is wicked not to give. It is wicked not to give testimony of Christ or witness to the Faith.
That is why, in another Parable of the Sheep and the Goats―the goats are damned for doing nothing: “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me NOT to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me NOT to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me NOT in! Naked, and you covered Me NOT! Sick and in prison, and you did NOT visit Me!’ [44] Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it NOT to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
Scripture clearly states: “To him therefore who knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is a sin!” (James 4:17). The first thing we see in the account of this one-talented man is the wickedness of idleness.
The Costliness of Doing Nothing
Nothing produces nothing! Do nothing and you will get nothing! Do little, and you will get little more than nothing: “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. “How long shall sinners, O Lord, how long shall sinners glory? Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low and they have afflicted thy inheritance. They have slain the widow and the stranger, and they have murdered the fatherless! And they have said: ‘The Lord shall not see!’” (Psalm 93:3-7). Yes―the wicked triumph because good people do little or nothing!
In the Parable of the Talents, the “one-talented-man” ends up having his talent taken away from him because he did not use it. His lord and master said: “Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:28-30).
Now these words of Scripture sound very strange to us in our day, when there is a tendency for the welfare state to reward those who do little or nothing. Liberal politicians are saying today: “Take from him that has and give to him that has not!” But Jesus says: “Take from him that has not and give to him that has!” Some people find that verse hard to take―but it is one of the basic laws of life―you either use what you have or lose what you have. This law applies to every area of living. You can take your right arm, strap it to your side and refuse to use it for an extended period of time; then when you release the arm you will find that its usage has been impaired. If the muscles of our physical body are allowed to lie dormant, they will wither, atrophy and become useless.
If a farmer wants to destroy his crop, it is not necessary for him to plow it up or plant weeds in his field. All that he needs to do is sit back in his rocking chair and watch television, browse the internet for hours on end, and let the hours pass away. Just do nothing, day after day; ignore seed time and harvest, and, by doing nothing, the farmer will lose and destroy his crop. “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom! The ant, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor leader, provides her meat for herself in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest! How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When will you rise out of your sleep?” (Proverbs 6:6-9).
The point is that it costs a person to do nothing in any area of life. As Scripture says: “Be wise―redeeming the time―because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16) … “Walk with wisdom … redeeming the time!” (Colossians 4:5). In other words, use your time wisely, making the best use of the time given to you, making sure time is well spent!
The same principle applies in the area of human relationships. If you want to destroy the happiness and tranquility of your family life, you do not need physically abuse your spouse or children. All that you have to do is to leave them alone. Never show any signs of interest or affection, never express any appreciation for good meals and the work they do around the house. Just do nothing, and by so doing you will destroy your family life.
If parents want to destroy the character of their children, they do not have to set up an aggressive program. All that they have to do is leave them alone. Do not bother finding out who their friends are; do not seek to know where they go at night, or when they come in. Do not know or care what they do. Just ignore them. Leave them alone, and thereby parents can destroy the character of their children.
If a man has a friendship that he wants to destroy, he does not have to attack his friend. All he needs to do is ignore him—never write, or call, or visit. Just ignore the friendship, leave it alone, and eventually it will die.
The same applies to your relationship with God―to destroy it, you do not have to attack God, question and doubt God, etc. All you need to do is ignore God—never or rarely pray to Him, never or rarely read about Him, never or rarely call on His help, and never or rarely visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, etc. Get so busy with the things of the world, that you have no time for the things of God. Those are just some of the many traits of lukewarmness. God despises lukewarmness―as can be seen in the following quote: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16). Our Lady also condemns lukewarmness, saying: “O if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success). The disease of lukewarmness gradually leads us down the slippery slope of doing less and less for God, or with less and less fervor, until we end up doing little or nothing!
The Foolishness of Doing Nothing
Pretend that you are hearing the Parable of the Talents for the first time and that you have never heard it before in all your life. Notice the basis of this one-talented man’s explanation to his lord. He said: “Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: and I was afraid” ― so I did nothing! Now stop there and remember that you have never heard this story before. All that you have heard from this man is the basis of his explanation. Now, taking these introductory words as an indication, what do you suppose would logically have been his explanation to his lord? It seems to me that he would have said: “I knew you were a hard man and I was afraid! And so I knuckled down and I went to work. These other servants doubled what you gave to them, but not I. I tripled what you gave to me!” Now, logically, it seems to me that this is what he should have said; but instead he said: “Lord, I knew, but I did nothing!” How foolish! But how much better will our explanations sound some day when we stand in judgment before God?
Like this one-talented man you too can say: “Lord, I knew! I knew that souls were being lost and damned! I knew Our Lady asked us to make many sacrifices and pray much for the conversion of sinners who are on the road to Hell! I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that the Church is “going down the tubes” with the modern viruses of Liberalism and Modernism!
“Lord, I knew the Church needed my support, my prayers, my sacrifices! I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that Jesus had died upon the cross for the sins of the world! I knew that Jesus commanded us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I also knew that Holy Scripture said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … No man can serve two masters! … You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). I knew this, Lord, and I did nothing!
“Lord, I knew the Scripture verses that said: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). I knew that the world was Your enemy and that I should separate myself from the world! I knew this, O Lord, but I did nothing to separate myself from the world!
“Lord, I knew that You commanded that we should “Go teach ye all nations … teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” Lord I knew this, but I thought you were speaking to everyone else and not me―so I did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that there is only one true religion and that most of the people that surround me―neighbors and work colleagues―do not belong to the true Faith and therefore risked being damned. I knew that God wants everyone to come to the truth and thus be saved, and that you came to seek and save that which was lost―but I did nothing about it!
“Lord, I knew that You once said: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” But Lord, my “light” is not very bright, but dim. So I thought to myself, “What’s the point?” and therefore I did nothing!”
What on earth are you trying (or not trying) to do? Are you trying to become the patron saint of “Nothing”? How foolish your explanations and excuses are going to sound if you persist in doing nothing, or next to nothing, when, one day you will inevitably stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ! By the Sacrament of Confirmation you were made a Soldier of Christ―not Spectators of Christ!
What Can I Do? I’m Too Weak!
Frequently, the tendency with one-talented people is to say: “I cannot do much and so I will just do nothing!” We think that if we could speak with the eloquence of the apostle Paul, then we would speak out for Christ as St. Paul did. But if God has not given us that ability, then He has not given us that responsibility. The thing He does expect of us is that in our own stuttering, stammering way, we do what we can and trust in His help.
Remember that Moses was a stutterer and stammerer, who protested that this was an impediment to him leading the Chosen People: “Moses said: ‘I beseech thee, Lord. I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before: and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue!’ The Lord said to him: ‘Who made man’s mouth? Or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Did not I? Go, therefore, and I will be in thy mouth, and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak!’ But Moses said: ‘I beseech thee, Lord’ send whom Thou wilt send! [In other words, “Send someone else, not me!”] The Lord being angry at Moses, said: ‘Aaron, the Levite, is thy brother! I know that he is eloquent! Speak to him, and put My words in his mouth and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will show you what you must do. He shall speak, in thy place, to the people, and shall be thy mouth―but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God!’” (Exodus 4:10―16).
We, even though we may be “stutterers” and “stammerers” and “slow of tongue”, should nevertheless, as best we can, speak to our friends and our neighbors about our Faith and their relationship to God. As Our Lord promised: “Take no thought how or what to speak―for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak!” (Matthew 10:19).
Yet, at the same time, that does not excuse us from knowing our Faith and knowing it well! Moral theology tells us that, in times of great danger to the Faith, Catholics are bound (under pain of mortal sin) to study and know their Faith much better than what would be expected in non-dangerous times―and you can be totally assured that we are currently living in dangerous times for the Faith! However, many Catholics today―even Catholics who are in some way active combatants during this crisis―do not know their Faith very well. In fact, many of them are an embarrassment―for they could not even recite the Ten Commandments from memory; and do not even know many aspects of the their First Holy Communion Catechism (which is a catechism for 7-year-olds). So rather than argue, defend and debate from the platform of the Faith (which they scarcely know), all they do is argue and debate from the platform of scandals, feelings and emotions―which is how most of the dumbed-down world operates these days.
God Uses the Weak Things to Confound the Strong
Holy Scripture tells us that “the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). Like most of us, you are probably foolish and weak, with very few “talents”―with few intellectual and physical talents, and little by way of monetary talents. You are, like the man in the Parable of Talents, a “one-talented person”.
We think if we could give thousands and thousands of dollars, then we would be willing to financially support the cause of Christ through missions. But if God has not given us that ability, then neither has He given us that responsibility. The thing He does expect us to do is to give and share with others, the little that He has kindly given to us: “I delivered unto you that which I have received of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:23). What God may ask you to do may seem small, in comparison to what others may be doing, but the truth is that the Kingdom of God has always moved along on the strength of the dedicated efforts of one-talented men and women―just like each parish church is fueled more by the many small donations rather than the few big donations.
It matter little how many talents God has given you―He expects you to use the little that you have and use it to profit the cause of Christ. Of this you can be sure: If you take the one talent that is yours, and in your own location, in your own way, use it as best as you can, not holding back on energy and effort, in the service of Our Lord, then one day you will hear Jesus say: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”
God has designed a great plan of salvation. He has given His Son to die for our sins, at a terrible cost of agony and suffering on the cross of Calvary. Jesus was not forced to come all the way from Heaven to shed His blood to redeem us. He did this freely and willingly. If He had done nothing about our salvation, we would all be damned forever. We might still be damned―but we we will most certainly and undoubtedly be lost if we do not accept His plan. If we simply do nothing, we are lost for eternity. Our Lord warned us against do nothing and bearing no fruit: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me, that bears no fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me! As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides on the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me! I am the vine and you the branches! He that abideth in Me, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing! If anyone does not abide in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6).
Many Do Something―But Do Not Do Enough!
There are many well-intentioned souls out there―whom Scripture calls “men of good will” (Luke 2:14)―who do something for God and the Faith. Unfortunately, most of them do not do enough―they only go so far, and then stutter to a stop. It is as though they build a car―but forget to put a gas-tank in it. Or a plane on a bombing mission that flies to its target and then returns to base with dropping the bombs. Or a soldier who is sent into battle with blanks instead of real bullets. Or like a someone who cooks a meal, but then never eats it. Or like a university student who studies for four years, but never takes the final exam. Or a man who tells a joke, but does not give the punchline. Or someone who writes a check, but never signs it.
That seems to be the case with most “men of good will” (or women of good will) in all of the many crises that are hitting us left-right-and-center in both the Church and world today. There are a lot of well-meaning people, who talk about the crises, write about the crises, debate about the crises―but they all seem to stop short of actually giving us effective remedies or solutions to these crises―apart from some limp and lame “sign-off” statements, such as: “Sign this petition!” … “It is crucial that you pass this message along!” … “Send this video to everyone you know!” … “Get this information out there!” … “We can defeat this together!” … “Send an e-mail to your local (Senator, House Representative, Governor, Mayor, etc.).”
Fighting Tanks with Feather Dusters―Fighting Satan with Water Pistols
Most people are sadly mistaken as to the root cause of all the different crises that we are seeing right now. They are thinking of solutions that are on too natural a level, whereas the real solutions (or SOUL-utions) exist on higher level―a supernatural level.
There is no shortage of clever, insightful and astute assessors of the current situation in the Church and the world, but it seems that with many of them “the elevator doesn’t quite go to the top floor”! They run a good race, but don’t quite make it to the finishing line! Some of them are Catholics, others are non-Catholics. Yet very few see the real solutions, the real remedies, the real weapons that we should be using in this Silent War or Underground War―if we can call it such. We have been immersed in a Silent War, Underground War, or Invisible War for quite some time―and, by the looks of things, we are losing that war―even though we know that, in the end, the Immaculate Heart will triumph. Yet, in the end, or by the time we come to end, how much damage will have been done that could have been avoided? How many souls will have been lost, that could have been saved?
Did you know that medical misdiagnosis is one of leading causes of death in USA? That is not something that is widely advertised and admitted―for obvious reasons! Yet studies show that the numbers of deaths caused annually by medical misdiagnosis is shockingly high! A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Sometimes even the doctors are wrong in the solutions and remedies they offer! The same is true of those who are offering solutions and remedies to the various crises we are suffering right now! Many of those “solutions” or “remedies” are doomed to fail―and some will only make matters worse!
Chinese Tactics
The ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC), in nearly 40-years as a general, never lost a battle, nor a campaign, nor a war. He wrote what is arguably the most important and most famous military treatise in Asia for the last two thousand years―it is entitled The Art of War, and it is still studied by today’s militaries and secret services worldwide. Sun Tzu wrote: “If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, then for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat [your chances of winning or losing are equal]. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle [you will be defeated in every battle].”
Sun Tzu has not been studied in vain by today’s militaries and secret services―for we see many of Sun Tzu’s recommendations being played out in all the current crises. We are, in effect, in a silent and invisible war―made all the more effective by the use of modern technology. We can clearly see Sun Tzu’s advice being put into practice by the enemies of the Church, the world and mankind―as the following quotes of Sun Tzu show:
“All warfare is based on deception! … Practice dissimulation, and you will succeed! … Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night! … O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible―and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands ... He who has learnt the artifice of deviation will conquer! … By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s forces must be divided! ... We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions! … Hold out baits to entice the enemy! … Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected! … If victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their zeal will be dampened! … In order to fight/kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger! … To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting! … Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting! … The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him!”
Truly we have been deceived through dissimulation (with many things being hidden, disguised or simply lied about with regard to the current “disease” and its “cures”―with the “cure” being worse than the “disease”). As Sun Tzu says: “O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through this art we learn to be invisible [just like the devil], through you inaudible―and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands [as the syringes are in our hands] ... He who has learnt the artifice of deviation will conquer!” Up to the present time, around 65% to 70% of the world has been subtly and secretly deceived and conquered (vaccinated). The powers of evil―though they are of different nationalities and ‘faiths’ or beliefs―are nevertheless united in their goals: “If Satan be risen up against himself, then he is divided and cannot stand!” (Mark 3:26). The powers of evil are united and they seek to divide and conquer us―and divided we are! They have broken the resistance of their “enemies” (the world and the Church) without really having to physically fight. We have not rolled up our sleeves to fight―we have rolled up our sleeves to get the jab! They jab themselves with a placebo―but jab us with poison! “The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him!”
Who Are We Really Fighting?
As Sun Tzu says, the goal in warfare is form a single united body (we have seen this worldwide unity over the current virus), to remain as invisible as possible (the invisible elites and secret societies who use “front-men” and the media), to divide and splinter the unity of those you are waging war against (use of propaganda), arousing anger (plenty of that today), attack the opponent where he least expects it (a jab up the nostrils and in the arm), and break your opponent’s resistance without actually having to physically fight (destroy the immune system). Warfare is based on deception, lies and dissimulation―says Sun Tzu―and that is what has been practiced in this Covid-World-War. One deception after another! One lie after another! One dissulation after another! Deception about the origins of Covid. Deception about the dangers of it. Deception about the vaccines. Deception by some “famous people” publicly being given placebo jabs instead of the real thing. Deception over the number and manner of deaths. Deception about the inneffectivity of the vaccines. Deception about the fatality of the vaccines. Deception about the numbers of vaccine adverse reactions and deaths. All lies, lies, lies and more lies. Who is the “father of lies”? It is, of course, the devil! And they are doing the work of the devil―as Our Lord said to Jews, Scribes and Pharisees back in His day: ““You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Total World Enslavement
Our Lady was not joking when she told Sr. Lucia of Fatima that Communism would take over the ENTIRE world. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette had already predicted that Satan would rule all governments (and through them the world) by means of the Secret Sect (Freemasonry), trampling underfoot all human rights and freedoms while oppressing, persecuting, killing and murdering many―especially those of the Faith: From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little! … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
Open Your Eyes and Ears! We Are Fighting Satan!
Can you not see it coming? Have you buried your head in the sand (or the television) and stopped-up and plugged your ears (or plugged them with your smartphone ear-buds)? Can you not see the obvious? “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
We need to open our eyes to see and recognize that it is ultimately Satan and Hell that are waging this war against mankind in general and the Church in particular. “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Even Jesus “was tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:13) and had to wage war against Satan ― do we sinners expect anything different? Satan is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) which is why we are told not to love the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Yet we persist in loving the world―because it offers so many comforts and “idols” ― such as the television, the internet, smartphones, electronic games, Artificial Intelligence advice and services, and a million other things that we feel we could live without! These are our idols ― we have already capitulated and surrendered without ever starting to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).
“I am the Lord your God―you shall not make to yourselves any idol” (Leviticus 26:1) … “An idol is nothing in the world, and there is no God but one!” (1 Corinthians 8:4) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30) ― but we love our modern-day “idols” (gadgets, gizmos, electronics) far more than we love God ― just look at the time we spend on them compared to the time we spend on God. We are not even talking about our job ― but our free time! Let’s be honest ― the many, many hours each week that we spend on leisure, amusements, entertainment, social media, internet browsing, forum posting, etc. far exceeds the minuscule minutes we give to God! There is just no comparison, no contest! The world wins hands down―and our hands are rarely joined in prayer by comparison. “Their days were consumed in vanity!” (Psalm 77:33).
The smartphone (or tablet) is in our hands far more than our Rosary beads, or a prayer book, the Bible, or any other spiritual book. “They have sacrificed to devils and not to God―to gods whom they knew not, that were newly come up [latest technology], whom their fathers worshiped not!” (Deuteronomy 32:17). And those parents who have allowed their children to have unrestricted access to all this modern technology: “They have sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils” (Psalm 105:37) ― for, without doubt, Satan is behind most of today’s modern-technological advancements, because, as Our Lord says: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit … Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:18). The fruits of modern technology are clear and evident―they distract from God, lead away from God and often bear a wide variety of sinful fruit.
What would Our Lord say to us? “Turning to Peter, Jesus said to him: ‘Get behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). To how many Catholics would Jesus say that today? To most of them―for without a doubt we have a greater taste for worldly things than we do for heavenly things! They have no taste for the Word of God: “When the word of God is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts ... Also there are those that hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:15-19).
Distracted Soldiers Are Doomed Soldiers!
Major John Spencer, a combat veteran and the chair of Urban Warfare Studies for the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy, speaks of the dangers of distraction for soldiers. He writes: “If the military doesn’t recognize the threat of soldiers distracted by the buzzes and whistles of the latest technology, lives could soon be lost … The US military are making historic investments in researching and testing new technologies … Imagine the peril one might face in a war zone. Fighting in urban environments―“combat in Hell”―is the worst place to make war. Every window holds a potential sniper, every pile of trash an improvised explosive device. Each soldier on a patrol is expected to be scanning for threats, observing the world around them. Now picture a group of soldiers walking down the street where most are looking into their chest- or wrist-mounted smartphones. It is easy to see why the military would want soldiers to have smartphones. Never mind soldiers for a second. Pedestrians glued to their handhelds have become a public hazard in major cities, a distracted bulls-eye for cars in crosswalks. Since the ubiquitous explosion of cellphones in the US, emergency room visits for pedestrian injuries tripled between 2004 and 2010 alone, and some cities have gone as far as making texting illegal while crossing the street.
“Imagine the peril one might face in a war zone. In combat, sharing and gathering information—an enemy location, the presence of civilians, availability of a precision weapon—could mean life or death. Smartphones have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Initially they were tested with elite formations like Special Forces and then more general formations. New experiments are pushing the envelope of providing more and more soldiers with the latest supercharged smartphones. Having served 25 years and two combat deployments, I’ve watched the societal impact of smartphones infiltrate the military. Now, whether new soldiers at a unit or cadets at the world’s preeminent military academy on a break in training, I see them reach for their phone and escape to a virtual world in any free moment—in war this will get soldiers killed. A distracted soldier, who is supposed to be scanning for threats, will be a dead soldier!”
God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and so you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). The ultimate enemy is the ultimate evil in the world―which is SIN. Yet the channels or vehicles by which temptation (the seed of sin) and sin itself comes to us is the three-barreled shotgun of (1) the devil, (2) the world, and (3) our own body with its unruly and rebellious passions.
Our Lord adds: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil [evil means lacking what should be there―therefore out of focus] then thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness―the darkness itself how great shall it be! No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19:24). Unfortunately, most people are trying to serve God and mammon―God and world―they are serving two masters, or even three or four masters at the same time. A conflict of interests is inevitable! For the maxims, customs, tenets and laws of the world are in many (or most) cases opposed to the advice, recommendations, commandments and laws of God. A soldier cannot serve in two opposing armies―that would be treason and would deserve death. Likewise, trying to be part of Christ’s army and the World’s army, is also treason and merits eternal death or damnation.
Our Lord says: “Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross [which is a weapon of Christ’s army], and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it; but he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it!” (Matthew 6:32-38).
Conquer Yourself Before Trying to Reconquer the World for Christ!
A soldier who is dead, cannot fight! A soldier who is wounded, cannot fight well! Likewise, a soul that is “dead” in mortal sin, is useless for the spiritual battle. A soul that is wounded by many venial sins, is a weakened and compromised soldier! Every time we fly, we hear flight attendants sharing some variation of the Oxygen Mask Rule: “Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.” Similarly, in the spiritual life, since grace is like oxygen―in that we need it all the time in order to live―you could say: “Should you lose sanctifying grace, please restore grace to your own soul through Confession before trying to help others!” Our Lord puts it this way: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
The world has to be conquered for Christ the King―or, if you like, “re-conquered” if you hold that Christendom already was to some extent the “Christ’s Kingdom” in the Middle Ages. There is really no option or choice in this matter―the only other option is that of treason. You are, by virtue of receiving the Sacrament of Christ, a SOLDIER OF CHRIST―and soldiers both defend their kingdom and conquer for their kingdom. What are YOU doing, Soldier? Are you defending Christ’s dwindling Kingdom and are you fighting to extend His Kingdom? Your salvation may well depend upon it.
Born to Fight!
In Holy Scripture we read that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and that you must “fight the good fight of faith and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Of course, that makes us feel uncomfortable―especially since we have raised in comfortable surroundings in a world that loves comfort. We prefer to pick our fights rather than have picked for us! It is not that we do fight―but we often fight over the wrong things and fight over wrong causes. In fact, we often fight more among ourselves, while neglecting to fight the REAL enemy! Furthermore, we frequently fight using the wrong weapons! Is it then surprising that the enemy has consistently and increasingly been gaining the upper hand―to the point where only a idiot would say that we have been forced into a corner and pinned to the ground.
Toy Soldiers―Armchair Soldiers―Lip Soldiers
We are only too happy to go with the flow! We want to avoid what is hard! We love heroes―as long as we are not called to be that hero! We might “talk a good fight”―but we will not actually go out and fight! We are willing to support Christ with our words―but when it comes to supporting Him with action, then we remember that we have something else to do, we have our family obligations, our work obligations, etc. We are more inclined to accommodate evil, tolerate evil, placate evil―rather than oppose, fight and overcome evil. We might have “fighting lips” or even “fighting fingers” on the keyboards of our computers―but we do not really have “fighting hearts” that will “fight the good fight of the Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Christ says: “These people honors Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Yes―we might have the Faith, but is it a mere Faith of words only, or a Faith of words that leads to action: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4) ... but “what shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Our Lord adds: “Everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33) and “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13) ― yet we are not even prepared to “lay down” our job for Christ, or lose our job for Christ, nor even lose our friends for Christ. We are led more by “human respect” rather than a respect for God―we worry about what people around us will think, and not what God will think! This brings to mind another statement of Our Lord: “Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35) ― which can readily be transformed into: “Whosoever seeks to save his job, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his job for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!”
No Love or Desire for the Fight
It is easier to serve someone whom you love than someone you don’t love. That is all the more true when it comes to risking your life for someone, or even laying down your life for someone. Love is the key factor. Our Lord indicated that it is love that urges and makes us lay our lives for others: “Greater love than this no man has―that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). The martyrs gave up their lives for Christ out of a great love for Christ. Without that love, martyrdom would not be true martyrdom―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
We could also loosely apply Our Lord’s parable about the invitations to the Marriage Feast to our invitation to the Fight.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come ... They neglected and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise … But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and … said to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy! Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’ And his servants going forth, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good―and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests, and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment [ = the garment of charity, according to the Fathers of the Church]. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:1-14).
Similarly, “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame! … I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24).
Likewise, Our Lord has invited us all to the Fight for the Faith and has made us all “Soldiers of Christ” through the Sacrament of Confirmation. Yet most Catholics begin to make excuses, saying: “I can’t come to the fight because I have my family to look after and provide for―and that takes up all my days!” … “I can’t fight for you because my job takes up all my time!” … “I am too old (or too young / too weak / too sick) to fight! I will be of no use in the fight!” … “There is nobody else coming to the fight! Why should I fight? What good is so few against so many?” Then there are those who have buried themselves in comfort, entertainment and fun ― and fighting is no fun and it is uncomfortable! Of those Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette says: “In these unhappy times, the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement! … There will be unbridled luxury―which will ensnare the rest into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” (Our Lady of La Salette and Good Success).
With this general Catholic cowardice or cowering in the face of duty, we could well quote the words that the prophet Isaias placed in the mouth of future Messias―Jesus Christ: “I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid! My own arm hath saved Me, and My indignation itself hath helped Me!” (Isaias 63:5). Likewise, “What!! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6).
No Promised Land Without a Fight!
God had promised Abraham the so-called “Promised Land” as an inheritance for the “Chosen People” ― the future descendants of Abraham: “And the Lord said to Abram [God would later change his name from “Abram” to “Abraham”]: ‘Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house―and come into the land which I shall show thee!’” (Genesis 12:1). God works slowly―and it took around 700 to 800 (some scholars even say 1,000) years before Abraham’s descendants finally arrived in the Promised Land.
We all know that after Moses led the Chosen People out of Egypt, it was 40 years of wandering around the desert wilderness before they finally entered the Promised Land. Yet what most people forget (or do not know) is that the distance from Egypt to the Promised Land (Chanaan) was only 250 (direct) to 500 miles (avoiding enemy territories). Traveling at a decent rate of 15 to 20 miles a day it would have taken anywhere from 12 to 16 days (for 250 miles) or 25 to 33 days (for 500 miles) ― yet they ended up taking 40 years! Why? Because the did not want to fight the native inhabitants of the Promised Land (Chanaan).
They actually came to the Promised Land twice. The first time they arrived, the spies that Moses sent to “spy-out” the Promised Land, came back with a negative and scary report ― the native inhabitants were like giants compared to the Chosen People. Of the 12 spies that had been sent, 10 were against trying to conquer the Promised Land―only two, Josue and Caleb, were positive and confident, saying God would help them. The Promised Land was not a “freebie”―they had to fight for it!
Holy Scripture tells us that the the Chosen People were discouraged at the report given by 10 of the 12 spies.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel!’ … Moses did what the Lord had commanded … And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: ‘Go view what sort of the land it is; and whether the people that are the inhabitants, be strong or weak; few in number or many; and whether the land be good or bad; whether the cities are walled or without walls; whether the ground is fat or barren, woody or without trees!’
“And they that went to spy out the land, returned after forty days, having gone round all the country. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, and, speaking to them and to all the multitude, they showed them the fruits of the land. And they said: ‘We came into the land to which thou didst send us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey―as may be known by these fruits. But it has very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled!’
“Caleb [one of the 12 spies sents by Moses], in order to quieten the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: ‘Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it!’ But the other spies, that had been with him, said: ‘No! We are not able to stand up to to this people, because they are stronger than we are!’ And, before the children of Israel, they spoke ill of the land which they had viewed, saying: ‘The land, which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants! The people, that we saw, are of a tall stature! There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind―in comparison to whom, we seemed like locusts!”
“Wherefore the whole multitude, crying, wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘If only God would let us die in Egypt, rather than die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this [Promised] Land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?’ And they said one to another: ‘Let us appoint a leader, and let us return into Egypt!’
Josue and Caleb, who themselves had also viewed the land, tore their garments, and said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: ‘The land which we have gone round is very good! If the Lord be favorable, He will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey! Be not rebellious against the Lord! And fear ye not the people of this land―for we are able to eat them up as bread! All aid is gone from them! The Lord is with us, fear ye not!’
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will this people detract Me? How long will they not believe Me for all the signs [miracles] that I have performed before them? I will strike them therefore with pestilence and will consume them! But thee [Moses] I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is! And Moses said to the Lord: ‘The Lord is patient and full of mercy! … Forgive, I beseech Thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of Thy mercy!’ …
“And the Lord said: ‘I have forgiven according to thy word! … But all the men that have seen My majesty and the signs that I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed My voice, thoise men shall not see the land for which I promised to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted Me see it!’
“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel! Say therefore to them: “In the desert wilderness shall your carcasses lie! All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, you shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Josue. But your children―of whom you said that they should be a prey to the enemies―them will I bring in, so that they may see the land which you have despised! Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness! Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your sin, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land, a year shall be counted for a day. And so for forty years you shall suffer for your iniquities, and shall know My revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me! In this wilderness shall it faint away and die!’
Moses asks the twelve spies whom he sent to spu-out the Promised Land: “Why do ye overturn [discourage] the minds of the children of Israel, that they may not dare to pass into the place which the Lord hath given them?” (Numbers 32:7). Out of the twleve spies, only Josue and Caleb were positive and encouraging about the outcome of trying to fight and conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land. Josue would later say: “My brethren, that had gone up with me [to spy-out the Promised Land], discouraged the heart of the people―I, nevertheless, followed the Lord my God!” (Josue 14:8). “Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who, upon their return, had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land, all those men died and were struck in the sight of the Lord. But of all them that had gone to view the land, Josue and Caleb lived!” (Numbers 13:2-34; 14:1-45).
The Wickedness of Doing Nothing
In the Parable of the Talents, Our Lord speaks of three servants being given different amounts of money (talents) by their lord and master―one was given 5 talents, the second servant was given 2 talents, and the third was given 1 talent. After a period of time, they have to give an account of what they have done with the money entrusted to them. We all know the story―the man with 5 talents worked hard and gained 5 more talents; the one with 2 talents earned another 2 talents; but the man with 1 talent did nothing at all. The lord said to the ‘one-talented’ man: “Thou wicked and slothful servant!” The word “wicked” is one of the strongest words of denunciation in the New Testament. We use the word sparingly in our own English language. We speak of people as being mistaken, foolish, sinful, or dishonest, but not many people do we describe as being wicked.
Now what was there about this man that prompted the Lord to call him a wicked man? You will observe that the man was not a thief; he had not stolen the talent that was in his possession; it had been given to him. He came by it honestly. Stealing was not his wickedness. Neither was this man a prodigal by wasting the money given to him, like the young man in the parable of Prodigal Son (Luke 15), who wasted his father’s money with riotous living. Vulgar, riotous living was not his wickedness. Moreover, this man was not a liar. He could have made up an excuse. He could have said: “I worked and earned two other talents, but last week just before you returned, a thief broke into my house and carried away the two talents that I have earned. Now, all that is left is the one original talent!” It would have been an easy thing for this man to have fabricated a rather convincing excuse―but this he did not do. He told the truth; lying was not his wickedness. What, then, was the wickedness of the one-talented man? The answer lies right on the surface of the account. He buried his talent in the ground, left it there, and refused to use it. The man is labeled as a wicked man simply because he did nothing! In the eyes of Our Lord, it is wicked to do nothing. It is wicked not to care. It is wicked not to work. It is wicked not to pray. It is wicked not to give. It is wicked not to give testimony of Christ or witness to the Faith.
That is why, in another Parable of the Sheep and the Goats―the goats are damned for doing nothing: “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me NOT to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me NOT to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me NOT in! Naked, and you covered Me NOT! Sick and in prison, and you did NOT visit Me!’ [44] Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it NOT to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
Scripture clearly states: “To him therefore who knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is a sin!” (James 4:17). The first thing we see in the account of this one-talented man is the wickedness of idleness.
The Costliness of Doing Nothing
Nothing produces nothing! Do nothing and you will get nothing! Do little, and you will get little more than nothing: “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. “How long shall sinners, O Lord, how long shall sinners glory? Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low and they have afflicted thy inheritance. They have slain the widow and the stranger, and they have murdered the fatherless! And they have said: ‘The Lord shall not see!’” (Psalm 93:3-7). Yes―the wicked triumph because good people do little or nothing!
In the Parable of the Talents, the “one-talented-man” ends up having his talent taken away from him because he did not use it. His lord and master said: “Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:28-30).
Now these words of Scripture sound very strange to us in our day, when there is a tendency for the welfare state to reward those who do little or nothing. Liberal politicians are saying today: “Take from him that has and give to him that has not!” But Jesus says: “Take from him that has not and give to him that has!” Some people find that verse hard to take―but it is one of the basic laws of life―you either use what you have or lose what you have. This law applies to every area of living. You can take your right arm, strap it to your side and refuse to use it for an extended period of time; then when you release the arm you will find that its usage has been impaired. If the muscles of our physical body are allowed to lie dormant, they will wither, atrophy and become useless.
If a farmer wants to destroy his crop, it is not necessary for him to plow it up or plant weeds in his field. All that he needs to do is sit back in his rocking chair and watch television, browse the internet for hours on end, and let the hours pass away. Just do nothing, day after day; ignore seed time and harvest, and, by doing nothing, the farmer will lose and destroy his crop. “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom! The ant, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor leader, provides her meat for herself in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest! How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When will you rise out of your sleep?” (Proverbs 6:6-9).
The point is that it costs a person to do nothing in any area of life. As Scripture says: “Be wise―redeeming the time―because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16) … “Walk with wisdom … redeeming the time!” (Colossians 4:5). In other words, use your time wisely, making the best use of the time given to you, making sure time is well spent!
The same principle applies in the area of human relationships. If you want to destroy the happiness and tranquility of your family life, you do not need physically abuse your spouse or children. All that you have to do is to leave them alone. Never show any signs of interest or affection, never express any appreciation for good meals and the work they do around the house. Just do nothing, and by so doing you will destroy your family life.
If parents want to destroy the character of their children, they do not have to set up an aggressive program. All that they have to do is leave them alone. Do not bother finding out who their friends are; do not seek to know where they go at night, or when they come in. Do not know or care what they do. Just ignore them. Leave them alone, and thereby parents can destroy the character of their children.
If a man has a friendship that he wants to destroy, he does not have to attack his friend. All he needs to do is ignore him—never write, or call, or visit. Just ignore the friendship, leave it alone, and eventually it will die.
The same applies to your relationship with God―to destroy it, you do not have to attack God, question and doubt God, etc. All you need to do is ignore God—never or rarely pray to Him, never or rarely read about Him, never or rarely call on His help, and never or rarely visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, etc. Get so busy with the things of the world, that you have no time for the things of God. Those are just some of the many traits of lukewarmness. God despises lukewarmness―as can be seen in the following quote: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16). Our Lady also condemns lukewarmness, saying: “O if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success). The disease of lukewarmness gradually leads us down the slippery slope of doing less and less for God, or with less and less fervor, until we end up doing little or nothing!
The Foolishness of Doing Nothing
Pretend that you are hearing the Parable of the Talents for the first time and that you have never heard it before in all your life. Notice the basis of this one-talented man’s explanation to his lord. He said: “Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: and I was afraid” ― so I did nothing! Now stop there and remember that you have never heard this story before. All that you have heard from this man is the basis of his explanation. Now, taking these introductory words as an indication, what do you suppose would logically have been his explanation to his lord? It seems to me that he would have said: “I knew you were a hard man and I was afraid! And so I knuckled down and I went to work. These other servants doubled what you gave to them, but not I. I tripled what you gave to me!” Now, logically, it seems to me that this is what he should have said; but instead he said: “Lord, I knew, but I did nothing!” How foolish! But how much better will our explanations sound some day when we stand in judgment before God?
Like this one-talented man you too can say: “Lord, I knew! I knew that souls were being lost and damned! I knew Our Lady asked us to make many sacrifices and pray much for the conversion of sinners who are on the road to Hell! I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that the Church is “going down the tubes” with the modern viruses of Liberalism and Modernism!
“Lord, I knew the Church needed my support, my prayers, my sacrifices! I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that Jesus had died upon the cross for the sins of the world! I knew that Jesus commanded us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. I knew this, Lord, and so I just did nothing!
“Lord, I also knew that Holy Scripture said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … No man can serve two masters! … You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). I knew this, Lord, and I did nothing!
“Lord, I knew the Scripture verses that said: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). I knew that the world was Your enemy and that I should separate myself from the world! I knew this, O Lord, but I did nothing to separate myself from the world!
“Lord, I knew that You commanded that we should “Go teach ye all nations … teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” Lord I knew this, but I thought you were speaking to everyone else and not me―so I did nothing!
“Lord, I knew that there is only one true religion and that most of the people that surround me―neighbors and work colleagues―do not belong to the true Faith and therefore risked being damned. I knew that God wants everyone to come to the truth and thus be saved, and that you came to seek and save that which was lost―but I did nothing about it!
“Lord, I knew that You once said: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” But Lord, my “light” is not very bright, but dim. So I thought to myself, “What’s the point?” and therefore I did nothing!”
What on earth are you trying (or not trying) to do? Are you trying to become the patron saint of “Nothing”? How foolish your explanations and excuses are going to sound if you persist in doing nothing, or next to nothing, when, one day you will inevitably stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ! By the Sacrament of Confirmation you were made a Soldier of Christ―not Spectators of Christ!
What Can I Do? I’m Too Weak!
Frequently, the tendency with one-talented people is to say: “I cannot do much and so I will just do nothing!” We think that if we could speak with the eloquence of the apostle Paul, then we would speak out for Christ as St. Paul did. But if God has not given us that ability, then He has not given us that responsibility. The thing He does expect of us is that in our own stuttering, stammering way, we do what we can and trust in His help.
Remember that Moses was a stutterer and stammerer, who protested that this was an impediment to him leading the Chosen People: “Moses said: ‘I beseech thee, Lord. I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before: and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue!’ The Lord said to him: ‘Who made man’s mouth? Or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Did not I? Go, therefore, and I will be in thy mouth, and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak!’ But Moses said: ‘I beseech thee, Lord’ send whom Thou wilt send! [In other words, “Send someone else, not me!”] The Lord being angry at Moses, said: ‘Aaron, the Levite, is thy brother! I know that he is eloquent! Speak to him, and put My words in his mouth and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will show you what you must do. He shall speak, in thy place, to the people, and shall be thy mouth―but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God!’” (Exodus 4:10―16).
We, even though we may be “stutterers” and “stammerers” and “slow of tongue”, should nevertheless, as best we can, speak to our friends and our neighbors about our Faith and their relationship to God. As Our Lord promised: “Take no thought how or what to speak―for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak!” (Matthew 10:19).
Yet, at the same time, that does not excuse us from knowing our Faith and knowing it well! Moral theology tells us that, in times of great danger to the Faith, Catholics are bound (under pain of mortal sin) to study and know their Faith much better than what would be expected in non-dangerous times―and you can be totally assured that we are currently living in dangerous times for the Faith! However, many Catholics today―even Catholics who are in some way active combatants during this crisis―do not know their Faith very well. In fact, many of them are an embarrassment―for they could not even recite the Ten Commandments from memory; and do not even know many aspects of the their First Holy Communion Catechism (which is a catechism for 7-year-olds). So rather than argue, defend and debate from the platform of the Faith (which they scarcely know), all they do is argue and debate from the platform of scandals, feelings and emotions―which is how most of the dumbed-down world operates these days.
God Uses the Weak Things to Confound the Strong
Holy Scripture tells us that “the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong!” (1 Corinthians 1:27). Like most of us, you are probably foolish and weak, with very few “talents”―with few intellectual and physical talents, and little by way of monetary talents. You are, like the man in the Parable of Talents, a “one-talented person”.
We think if we could give thousands and thousands of dollars, then we would be willing to financially support the cause of Christ through missions. But if God has not given us that ability, then neither has He given us that responsibility. The thing He does expect us to do is to give and share with others, the little that He has kindly given to us: “I delivered unto you that which I have received of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:23). What God may ask you to do may seem small, in comparison to what others may be doing, but the truth is that the Kingdom of God has always moved along on the strength of the dedicated efforts of one-talented men and women―just like each parish church is fueled more by the many small donations rather than the few big donations.
It matter little how many talents God has given you―He expects you to use the little that you have and use it to profit the cause of Christ. Of this you can be sure: If you take the one talent that is yours, and in your own location, in your own way, use it as best as you can, not holding back on energy and effort, in the service of Our Lord, then one day you will hear Jesus say: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”
God has designed a great plan of salvation. He has given His Son to die for our sins, at a terrible cost of agony and suffering on the cross of Calvary. Jesus was not forced to come all the way from Heaven to shed His blood to redeem us. He did this freely and willingly. If He had done nothing about our salvation, we would all be damned forever. We might still be damned―but we we will most certainly and undoubtedly be lost if we do not accept His plan. If we simply do nothing, we are lost for eternity. Our Lord warned us against do nothing and bearing no fruit: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me, that bears no fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me! As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides on the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me! I am the vine and you the branches! He that abideth in Me, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing! If anyone does not abide in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6).
Many Do Something―But Do Not Do Enough!
There are many well-intentioned souls out there―whom Scripture calls “men of good will” (Luke 2:14)―who do something for God and the Faith. Unfortunately, most of them do not do enough―they only go so far, and then stutter to a stop. It is as though they build a car―but forget to put a gas-tank in it. Or a plane on a bombing mission that flies to its target and then returns to base with dropping the bombs. Or a soldier who is sent into battle with blanks instead of real bullets. Or like a someone who cooks a meal, but then never eats it. Or like a university student who studies for four years, but never takes the final exam. Or a man who tells a joke, but does not give the punchline. Or someone who writes a check, but never signs it.
That seems to be the case with most “men of good will” (or women of good will) in all of the many crises that are hitting us left-right-and-center in both the Church and world today. There are a lot of well-meaning people, who talk about the crises, write about the crises, debate about the crises―but they all seem to stop short of actually giving us effective remedies or solutions to these crises―apart from some limp and lame “sign-off” statements, such as: “Sign this petition!” … “It is crucial that you pass this message along!” … “Send this video to everyone you know!” … “Get this information out there!” … “We can defeat this together!” … “Send an e-mail to your local (Senator, House Representative, Governor, Mayor, etc.).”
Fighting Tanks with Feather Dusters―Fighting Satan with Water Pistols
Most people are sadly mistaken as to the root cause of all the different crises that we are seeing right now. They are thinking of solutions that are on too natural a level, whereas the real solutions (or SOUL-utions) exist on higher level―a supernatural level.
There is no shortage of clever, insightful and astute assessors of the current situation in the Church and the world, but it seems that with many of them “the elevator doesn’t quite go to the top floor”! They run a good race, but don’t quite make it to the finishing line! Some of them are Catholics, others are non-Catholics. Yet very few see the real solutions, the real remedies, the real weapons that we should be using in this Silent War or Underground War―if we can call it such. We have been immersed in a Silent War, Underground War, or Invisible War for quite some time―and, by the looks of things, we are losing that war―even though we know that, in the end, the Immaculate Heart will triumph. Yet, in the end, or by the time we come to end, how much damage will have been done that could have been avoided? How many souls will have been lost, that could have been saved?
Did you know that medical misdiagnosis is one of leading causes of death in USA? That is not something that is widely advertised and admitted―for obvious reasons! Yet studies show that the numbers of deaths caused annually by medical misdiagnosis is shockingly high! A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Sometimes even the doctors are wrong in the solutions and remedies they offer! The same is true of those who are offering solutions and remedies to the various crises we are suffering right now! Many of those “solutions” or “remedies” are doomed to fail―and some will only make matters worse!
Chinese Tactics
The ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC), in nearly 40-years as a general, never lost a battle, nor a campaign, nor a war. He wrote what is arguably the most important and most famous military treatise in Asia for the last two thousand years―it is entitled The Art of War, and it is still studied by today’s militaries and secret services worldwide. Sun Tzu wrote: “If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, then for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat [your chances of winning or losing are equal]. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle [you will be defeated in every battle].”
Sun Tzu has not been studied in vain by today’s militaries and secret services―for we see many of Sun Tzu’s recommendations being played out in all the current crises. We are, in effect, in a silent and invisible war―made all the more effective by the use of modern technology. We can clearly see Sun Tzu’s advice being put into practice by the enemies of the Church, the world and mankind―as the following quotes of Sun Tzu show:
“All warfare is based on deception! … Practice dissimulation, and you will succeed! … Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night! … O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible―and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands ... He who has learnt the artifice of deviation will conquer! … By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s forces must be divided! ... We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions! … Hold out baits to entice the enemy! … Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected! … If victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their zeal will be dampened! … In order to fight/kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger! … To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting! … Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting! … The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him!”
Truly we have been deceived through dissimulation (with many things being hidden, disguised or simply lied about with regard to the current “disease” and its “cures”―with the “cure” being worse than the “disease”). As Sun Tzu says: “O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through this art we learn to be invisible [just like the devil], through you inaudible―and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands [as the syringes are in our hands] ... He who has learnt the artifice of deviation will conquer!” Up to the present time, around 65% to 70% of the world has been subtly and secretly deceived and conquered (vaccinated). The powers of evil―though they are of different nationalities and ‘faiths’ or beliefs―are nevertheless united in their goals: “If Satan be risen up against himself, then he is divided and cannot stand!” (Mark 3:26). The powers of evil are united and they seek to divide and conquer us―and divided we are! They have broken the resistance of their “enemies” (the world and the Church) without really having to physically fight. We have not rolled up our sleeves to fight―we have rolled up our sleeves to get the jab! They jab themselves with a placebo―but jab us with poison! “The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him!”
Who Are We Really Fighting?
As Sun Tzu says, the goal in warfare is form a single united body (we have seen this worldwide unity over the current virus), to remain as invisible as possible (the invisible elites and secret societies who use “front-men” and the media), to divide and splinter the unity of those you are waging war against (use of propaganda), arousing anger (plenty of that today), attack the opponent where he least expects it (a jab up the nostrils and in the arm), and break your opponent’s resistance without actually having to physically fight (destroy the immune system). Warfare is based on deception, lies and dissimulation―says Sun Tzu―and that is what has been practiced in this Covid-World-War. One deception after another! One lie after another! One dissulation after another! Deception about the origins of Covid. Deception about the dangers of it. Deception about the vaccines. Deception by some “famous people” publicly being given placebo jabs instead of the real thing. Deception over the number and manner of deaths. Deception about the inneffectivity of the vaccines. Deception about the fatality of the vaccines. Deception about the numbers of vaccine adverse reactions and deaths. All lies, lies, lies and more lies. Who is the “father of lies”? It is, of course, the devil! And they are doing the work of the devil―as Our Lord said to Jews, Scribes and Pharisees back in His day: ““You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Total World Enslavement
Our Lady was not joking when she told Sr. Lucia of Fatima that Communism would take over the ENTIRE world. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette had already predicted that Satan would rule all governments (and through them the world) by means of the Secret Sect (Freemasonry), trampling underfoot all human rights and freedoms while oppressing, persecuting, killing and murdering many―especially those of the Faith: From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little! … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
Open Your Eyes and Ears! We Are Fighting Satan!
Can you not see it coming? Have you buried your head in the sand (or the television) and stopped-up and plugged your ears (or plugged them with your smartphone ear-buds)? Can you not see the obvious? “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
We need to open our eyes to see and recognize that it is ultimately Satan and Hell that are waging this war against mankind in general and the Church in particular. “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Even Jesus “was tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:13) and had to wage war against Satan ― do we sinners expect anything different? Satan is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) which is why we are told not to love the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Yet we persist in loving the world―because it offers so many comforts and “idols” ― such as the television, the internet, smartphones, electronic games, Artificial Intelligence advice and services, and a million other things that we feel we could live without! These are our idols ― we have already capitulated and surrendered without ever starting to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).
“I am the Lord your God―you shall not make to yourselves any idol” (Leviticus 26:1) … “An idol is nothing in the world, and there is no God but one!” (1 Corinthians 8:4) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30) ― but we love our modern-day “idols” (gadgets, gizmos, electronics) far more than we love God ― just look at the time we spend on them compared to the time we spend on God. We are not even talking about our job ― but our free time! Let’s be honest ― the many, many hours each week that we spend on leisure, amusements, entertainment, social media, internet browsing, forum posting, etc. far exceeds the minuscule minutes we give to God! There is just no comparison, no contest! The world wins hands down―and our hands are rarely joined in prayer by comparison. “Their days were consumed in vanity!” (Psalm 77:33).
The smartphone (or tablet) is in our hands far more than our Rosary beads, or a prayer book, the Bible, or any other spiritual book. “They have sacrificed to devils and not to God―to gods whom they knew not, that were newly come up [latest technology], whom their fathers worshiped not!” (Deuteronomy 32:17). And those parents who have allowed their children to have unrestricted access to all this modern technology: “They have sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils” (Psalm 105:37) ― for, without doubt, Satan is behind most of today’s modern-technological advancements, because, as Our Lord says: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit … Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:18). The fruits of modern technology are clear and evident―they distract from God, lead away from God and often bear a wide variety of sinful fruit.
What would Our Lord say to us? “Turning to Peter, Jesus said to him: ‘Get behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). To how many Catholics would Jesus say that today? To most of them―for without a doubt we have a greater taste for worldly things than we do for heavenly things! They have no taste for the Word of God: “When the word of God is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts ... Also there are those that hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:15-19).
Distracted Soldiers Are Doomed Soldiers!
Major John Spencer, a combat veteran and the chair of Urban Warfare Studies for the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy, speaks of the dangers of distraction for soldiers. He writes: “If the military doesn’t recognize the threat of soldiers distracted by the buzzes and whistles of the latest technology, lives could soon be lost … The US military are making historic investments in researching and testing new technologies … Imagine the peril one might face in a war zone. Fighting in urban environments―“combat in Hell”―is the worst place to make war. Every window holds a potential sniper, every pile of trash an improvised explosive device. Each soldier on a patrol is expected to be scanning for threats, observing the world around them. Now picture a group of soldiers walking down the street where most are looking into their chest- or wrist-mounted smartphones. It is easy to see why the military would want soldiers to have smartphones. Never mind soldiers for a second. Pedestrians glued to their handhelds have become a public hazard in major cities, a distracted bulls-eye for cars in crosswalks. Since the ubiquitous explosion of cellphones in the US, emergency room visits for pedestrian injuries tripled between 2004 and 2010 alone, and some cities have gone as far as making texting illegal while crossing the street.
“Imagine the peril one might face in a war zone. In combat, sharing and gathering information—an enemy location, the presence of civilians, availability of a precision weapon—could mean life or death. Smartphones have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Initially they were tested with elite formations like Special Forces and then more general formations. New experiments are pushing the envelope of providing more and more soldiers with the latest supercharged smartphones. Having served 25 years and two combat deployments, I’ve watched the societal impact of smartphones infiltrate the military. Now, whether new soldiers at a unit or cadets at the world’s preeminent military academy on a break in training, I see them reach for their phone and escape to a virtual world in any free moment—in war this will get soldiers killed. A distracted soldier, who is supposed to be scanning for threats, will be a dead soldier!”
God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and so you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). The ultimate enemy is the ultimate evil in the world―which is SIN. Yet the channels or vehicles by which temptation (the seed of sin) and sin itself comes to us is the three-barreled shotgun of (1) the devil, (2) the world, and (3) our own body with its unruly and rebellious passions.
Our Lord adds: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil [evil means lacking what should be there―therefore out of focus] then thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness―the darkness itself how great shall it be! No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19:24). Unfortunately, most people are trying to serve God and mammon―God and world―they are serving two masters, or even three or four masters at the same time. A conflict of interests is inevitable! For the maxims, customs, tenets and laws of the world are in many (or most) cases opposed to the advice, recommendations, commandments and laws of God. A soldier cannot serve in two opposing armies―that would be treason and would deserve death. Likewise, trying to be part of Christ’s army and the World’s army, is also treason and merits eternal death or damnation.
Our Lord says: “Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross [which is a weapon of Christ’s army], and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it; but he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it!” (Matthew 6:32-38).
Conquer Yourself Before Trying to Reconquer the World for Christ!
A soldier who is dead, cannot fight! A soldier who is wounded, cannot fight well! Likewise, a soul that is “dead” in mortal sin, is useless for the spiritual battle. A soul that is wounded by many venial sins, is a weakened and compromised soldier! Every time we fly, we hear flight attendants sharing some variation of the Oxygen Mask Rule: “Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.” Similarly, in the spiritual life, since grace is like oxygen―in that we need it all the time in order to live―you could say: “Should you lose sanctifying grace, please restore grace to your own soul through Confession before trying to help others!” Our Lord puts it this way: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday October 29th & Saturday October 30th
Article 11
Slavery Just Around the Corner!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday October 29th & Saturday October 30th
Article 11
Slavery Just Around the Corner!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Are You Slaving Away?
In the 2016, Global Slavery Index reported that an estimated 45.8 million people are in some form of slavery in 167 countries around the world. The United Nations gave a similar number in the lower 40 million range. The Global Slavery Index defines modern slavery as an umbrella term that refers to “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power, or deception.” This incorporates various forms of slavery, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, child labor, and forced marriage.
In these current times of “plagues” and “pandemics”, we do well to reflect upon other plagues and pandemics―such as sin in general, and, for the purpose of this article, slavery in particular. Some plagues mankind seems to be incapable of fully overcoming and defeating. Slavery is one such plague―it has existed since ancient times. Slavery is the condition where an individual is deprived of freedom and/or possessions. This is important to note―since, according to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum―often referred to simply as “Davos” (the name of the Alpine resort in Switzerland where the meetings take place), we are being manipulated into accepting a voluntary slavery, whereby we will own nothing, will have little or no freedom, but we will be happy―or so they pretend (more on that point a little later).
The ancient Greeks had slaves. The Romans had slaves. The Chinese had slaves. The Ottoman Turks had slaves. Serfdom, a less shackling form of slavery, existed throughout Europe from the fall of Rome in the 400s until Russia, the last bastion of serfdom, finally abolished it in 1861. The harsher forms of slavery existed in Europe and most of the rest of the world until the 19th century — when it was peacefully abolished in many countries, such as England, or through violent clashes, such as the U.S. Civil War, also in the 1800s. By 1900, most of the “civilized” world had abolished slavery and serfdom. But then a more lethal variant emerged under the more benign names of Socialism, Fascism and Communism. The implementation of these ideologies resulted in governments causing the deaths of somewhere between 100 and 200 million of their own citizens in the 20th century.
Today, we are on the verge―as Our Lady of Fatima predicted―of a worldwide Socialist/Communist totalitarian takeover. We have already experienced the first “warning shots across the bow” during the current Planndemic and the signs are that things are only going to get worse as the Socialist/Communist noose tightens around our freedoms and God-given rights.
Definitions of Slavery
It is well to read the official definitions of slavery―for even though governments officially oppose slavery, they are bringing back slavery through the “back door”. We are well on the way to being enslaved―and, humanly speaking, there is little or nothing we can do about it. As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights [meaning an end to freedoms]. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
So, back to the definition that we would do well do read! Back in 1926, the League of Nations gave a definition of slavery in an international agreement at its Slavery Convention. It defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person, over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.” It further defined the slave trade as “all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves.” The Convention also distinguished forced labor, stipulating that “forced labor may only be exacted for public purposes” but only on the condition that the States “prevent compulsory or forced labor from developing into conditions analogous to slavery.”
Before the Slavery Convention various forms of slavery had been identified in a list prepared by the Temporary Slavery Commission in 1924 and subsequently approved by the Council of the League of Nations. In addition to enslavement, slave raiding, the slave trade and slave dealing, the list included:
“Slavery or serfdom (domestic, farming, or industrial); practices restrictive of the liberty of the person, or tending to acquire control of the person in conditions analogous to slavery, as for example: (a) Acquisition of girls by purchase disguised as payment of dowry, it being understood that this does not refer to normal marriage customs; (b) Adoption of children, of either sex, with a view to their virtual enslavement, or the ultimate disposal of their persons; (c) All forms of pledging or reducing to servitude of persons for debt or other reason....[as well as] a system of compulsory labor, public or private, paid or unpaid.”
Slave Markets of the World
Of those 45.8 million slaves, around 58% of them live in just five countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates that there are over 794,000 people currently living in slavery-like conditions in Russia. This includes forced labor, forced prostitution, debt bondage, forced servile marriage, exploitation of children, and forced prison labor. The estimated number of people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States right now is over 403,000.
North Korea has the highest proportion of slaves, with 10% (1 out every 10) of its population being forced to work in some kind of slavery. North Korean defectors who spoke of long hours and inhumane conditions in forced unpaid labor for adults and children in farming, construction and road-building. One defector said North Koreans do not consider themselves slaves: “They have been indoctrinated all their lives to think that whatever they do for the state is a good thing.”
However, no country comes close to India for the sheer number of people living in slavery. According to the report, India has 18.4 million slaves (1 in 72 persons), compared to China's 3.4 million (1 in 400 persons) and Pakistan's 2.1 million (1 in 96 persons). Overall, combining the stats and numbers from several different surveys, that puts the number of worldwide slaves at anywhere from 1 in 164 people to 1 in 200 people.
Types of Slavery
Slavery is of a very wide variety―researchers have tried to fit it all into 4 very general areas of slavery:
► Labor Slavery ― About 50% toil in forced labor slavery in industries where manual labor is needed—such as farming, ranching, logging, mining, fishing, brick making—and in service industries working as dish washers, janitors, gardeners, and maids―and even forced military service.
► Sex Slavery ― About 12.5% are trapped in forced prostitution sex slavery.
► Forced Marriage Slavery ― About 37.5% are trapped in forced marriages.
► Child Slavery ― About 25% of today’s slaves are children.
The Rise of Modern Slavery
Slavery has existed for thousands of years, but economic and social forces have enabled its alarming resurgence in the past few decades by increasing people’s vulnerability.
► Population ― A population explosion has quadrupled the number of people in the world over the last 100 years, mostly in developing countries. In 1900 there were fewer than 2 billion people on the planet; today there are almost 8 billion. In many places, the population has grown faster than the economy, leaving many people economically vulnerable. A fire, flood, drought, or medical emergency places them in the hands of ruthless moneylenders who enslave them.
► Migration ― Millions are on the move from impoverished rural areas to cities, and from poorer countries to wealthier ones, in search of work. For example, out of the current US population of 333 million, there are over 11 million unauthorized immigrants―meaning that 1 in every 30 persons is an unauthorized immigrant. Traffickers are able to trick them by posing as legitimate labor recruiters. Migrants are especially vulnerable to manipulation and slavery—they are often very far from home, don’t speak the local language, have no funds to return home, and have no friends or family to rely on. Furthermore, an illegal immigrant is not going to draw attention to themselves by seeking legal help and protection.
► Corruption ― Global government corruption often allows slavery to go unpunished. Many law enforcement officials aren’t even aware that bonded labor, where someone is enslaved to work off a loan, is illegal. In many places, those in slavery have no police protection from predatory traffickers.
► Discrimination ― Social inequality creates widespread economic and social vulnerability based on factors such as gender, race, tribe, or caste.
Modern Slaves Are Cheap and Disposable
New slavery has two chief characteristics—it’s cheap and it’s disposable. Slaves today are cheaper than ever. In 1850, an average slave in the American South cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today’s money. Today a slave costs about $90 on average worldwide. Modern slaves are not considered to be investments that are worth maintaining. Today, when someone in slavery gets sick or injured, they are simply dumped or killed.
We, modern day slaves, have allowed ourselves―willingly or unwillingly―to be enslaved in a variety of ways that were not common, and not so easily usable in those ancients times of slavery. We have become slaves of money, slaves of comfort, slaves of entertainment, slaves of technology, slaves of propaganda, slaves of fear, slaves of human respect, slaves of worldliness―and, thereby (like it or not, admit it or not), slaves of Satan―for he is “the prince of this world” as Our Lord Himself says (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). With every passing year, like Esau did with Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34), we are selling or exchanging our heavenly birthright for bowls of worldly soup!
Some agencies list the chief areas of modern day slavery as being: (1) Forced Marriage, (2) Domestic Servitude, (3) Sex-Trafficking, (4) Forced Labor, (5) Bonded Labor,
(6) Child Labor. Let us see how those domains might be effecting us:
Enslaved and Shackled by Many Chains
We, modern day slaves, have allowed ourselves―willingly or unwillingly―to be enslaved in a variety of ways that were not common, and not so easily usable in those ancients times of slavery. We have become slaves of money, slaves of comfort, slaves of entertainment, slaves of technology, slaves of propaganda, slaves of fear, slaves of human respect, slaves of worldliness―and, thereby (like it or not, admit it or not), slaves of Satan―for he is “the prince of this world” as Our Lord Himself says (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). With every passing year, like Esau did with Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34), we are selling or exchanging our heavenly birthright for bowls of worldly soup!
► Slavery by Forced Marriage―in the sense that we “marry” the world, which even the Church has done through, with and since the Second Vatican Council. We have espoused worldliness―which can clearly be seen in our occupations and preoccupations and hobbies, which are rarely spiritual and heavily worldly. Holy Scripture warns against this “marriage” with the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). When we are married to someone, it means that, aside from our daily job of work, we spend most of our time with our spouse. Well, do not most people spend most of their time pursuing worldly activities? The computer and smartphone alone prove this!
► Slavery by Domestic Servitude―in the sense that we are slaves to our domestic or house possessions, we buy more and more, we treasure them more and more, to the point where we are enslaved to them. Our Lord warns against this kind of enslavement to possessions: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
► Slavery by Sex Trafficking ― You could say that we are trafficking our souls, or even prostituting our souls, in the current tsunami of impurity―as Our Lady of Good Success lamented: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!” At Fatima―already back in 1917―Our Lady bewailed that most souls are damned due to impurity. Yet we have little or no problem “copulating” with the spirit of immodesty (at best) and the spirit of impurity (at worst), which is borne out by the fact that 41% of practicing Christian males and 13% of practicing Christian females, aged from 13 to 24, are actively seeking porn at least once or twice a month. Furthermore, just look at the immodest way many of our girls and women dress today! They have become slaves of immodesty and their own bodies. Remember! We sin by impurity―not only by impure actions with ourselves or others―but also by our impure glances, thoughts, fantasies and desires. As Our Lord said: “Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)―though Our Lord mentions “a woman”, this also applies all across the board―lusting after men or women, boys or girls.
► Slavery by Forced Labor ― Forced labor occurs when governments, state authorities, businesses and individuals force coercive labor practices upon people in order to profit or gain from their work. When public governments exploit the bodies of individuals for their own gain, then it is a form of enslavement. According to the International Labor Organization Forced Labor Convention, forced or compulsory labor consists of any and all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty, and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. You can easily see this to be the case in the current situation of increasing “forced vaccinations” or “mandatory jabs” where people are “under the threat of a penalty” (losing their jobs) if they refuse to get vaccinated. These people are not offering themselves voluntarily, but are being forced to do something under the threat of a penalty―loss of job, loss of travel rights, loss of public social mingling, etc. They are, in the most clear sense of the word, being enslaved to wishes of their “masters”―the governments who are increasingly enforcing the vaccine mandates. This same tactic―of “forced labor” or “forced compliance”―will soon be extended to many other areas of life, for we are only at the beginning of a long road to total slavery. However, the propaganda will repeatedly drum into your heads that all this is being done “for you safety” and “for your own good” and “for your health and welfare”.
► Slavery by Bonded Labor ― Bonded labor involves money and financial matters. Bonded labor is designed to exploit workers. It happens when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan, or when they inherit a debt from a relative. It can be made to look like an employment agreement, but one where the worker already starts-out with a debt to repay ― only to find that repayment of the loan is impossible. Then, their enslavement becomes permanent. Financial slavery is a term used to describe how our lenders ultimately rule over us. As Holy Scripture points out: “The rich ruleth over the poor: and the borrower is servant [slave] to him that lendeth!” (Proverbs 22:7). When you owe money to someone, you are indebted to them. They have control over you―no matter how large or small―they have some degree of financial control over you. For instance, take your vehicle. If you are making payments on your car, you don’t really own it. You are renting that vehicle until you pay it off. Until then, the bank owns your car and is letting you use it while you pay them extra money in the form of interest. The same applies to the mortgage on your house―as long as it is not fully paid off, the bank owns your house and will take it back if you suddenly lose your job and can’t make the payments. Student loans also create a financial slavery. Debt is quickly becoming a new form of modern slavery in this country. With people becoming increasingly more willing to spend on consumer items and lifestyle enhancements before they actually earn the money, debt is increasingly common. That debt, in the form of credit cards and home equity loans, often comes at an exceedingly high price. Even borrowing for educational purposes has become a victim of lifestyle extravagance.
MORTGAGE DEBT: More than 62% of Americans carry a mortgage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Homeowners in the United States owed a total of $10.3 trillion in mortgage debt in 2020. On an individual basis, that averages to about $208,000 per mortgage.
CREDIT CARD DEBT: Americans have an absolute mountain of credit card debt in 2021. Overall, Americans owe $807 billion across almost 506 million card accounts. The average credit card debt per American family stands at $6,270. The Annual Percentage Rate is anywhere from 15% to 20% (APR ― the actual annual cost of a loan to a borrower, including other fees and charges in addition to the interest rate). Making only minimum monthly payments on credit card debt is expensive and ensures you will stay in a perpetual state of debt. 42% of U.S. adults with credit card debt have increased those balances since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
CAR LOAN DEBT: According to an article by CNN Money, in 2017, 107 million Americans (out of 203 million adults) had vehicle loans. The average monthly payment on those new vehicle loans was $515.
STUDENT LOAN DEBT: 43.2 million student borrowers are in debt by an average of about $39,000 each. Not paying back your student loans can cause catastrophic results for your finances, your credit and your future borrowing prospects.
Once you are in the whirlpool of legal debt, then you are chained to the financial system―which is not meant to be to the advantage of the borrower, but to the advantage of the lender. You are thereby legally bound (tied) and legally controlled. This is why the “Money-Men”―who really rule the world (on Satan’s behalf)―want to have every individual and every nation in debt. Debt is a subtle chain and shackle of slavery. Satan even tried to enslave Jesus with the promise of riches and power: “Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil ... Then the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory [riches] of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:1-11).
Another offshoot of “bonded labor” can include blackmail, whereby some sinful pleasure or illegal benefit is given to targeted future slave, thereby chaining them to their future “masters” through fear of the sin or illegal action being revealed. Blackmail is the favorite manner of enslavement used by Masonry and the Elites. Blackmail involves a threat to do something that would cause a person to suffer embarrassment or financial loss, unless that person meets certain demands. The threat might include:
● to reveal private information about a person that is likely to cause them embarrassment;
● to reveal sensitive information that is likely to cause financial harm;
● to accuse a person falsely of a crime; or
● to report a person’s involvement in a crime.
In order to avoid the threatened action, a blackmail victim must pay money to the blackmailer or perform some other action. The action demanded by the blackmailer may or may not be illegal itself. The growth of the Internet has also led to overlap between blackmail and cybercrime.
► Slavery by Child Labor ― Today, more than a quarter of the world’s slaves are children. These children are forced to commit commercial sex acts, forced into a system of domestic servitude, or employed in occupations that are mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Electronics has become the favorite tool that Satan and his minions use on children today. Remember the warning of Our Lady―Satan would especially focus on children: “They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children! People will think only of amusement!” Children are chained to their electronic devices, almost in a hypnotic manner, giving those devices hours and hours of attention and adulation throughout each and every day―an attention and adulation that should be given to God, but is redirected to the world (and indirectly to the world’s prince―the devil).
Slavery is the Future
Unpleasant as it may sound, unpleasant though it may be―our future is one of slavery. We cannot complain―for we have, as a whole, willingly and foolishly chosen the path of slavery in so many aspects of our life. You could even argue that God actually made us to be slaves! Yes, God made us to be slaves to Him―but not in an enforced slavery, but a voluntary and willing slavery. God could have enforced a strict slavery on all of us at any time―after all, He is the almighty God. Below, you will see that we actually are slaves of God. Yet God has given us freedom with regard to our “slavery” to Him and He respects that freedom―even if we choose to exercise that freedom in a way that will damn us and lead us Hell.
Holy Scripture clearly points out the “Master ― Slave” relationship that God wants and expects to have with us. A slave obeys all his master’s commands and wishes―and that is exactly what God has required from us, as Holy Scripture clearly points out. The Bible contains many references to slavery, which was a common practice in antiquity. However, if you read the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible, then you will only find the words “slave … slaves … slavery” mentioned ONLY 24 times in the entire Old and New Testaments! Yet in the ancient Hebrew and in Greek versions of the Bible, you will find “slave … slaves … slavery” mentioned OVER 1,100 TIMES!
The original Greek text uses the word “doulos” ― that word means “slave,” and never means anything but “slave.” It doesn’t mean “servant,” it doesn’t mean “worker,” it doesn’t mean “hired-hand,” it doesn’t mean “helper” ― a “doulos” was someone who belonged to another. There are six or seven Greek words that mean “servant” in some form or another. “Doulos” never means “servant.” A servant is someone hired to do something. The slave is someone owned. That is a big difference, a huge difference―yet all through the New Testament the word “slave” is masked by the word “servant,” or some form of the word “servant.” Truly a remarkable thing.
The New Testament writers often used that Greek term to refer to their willing submission to the authority of God: “James the servant [doulos = slave] of God” … “Simon Peter, servant [doulos = slave] and Apostle of Jesus Christ” … “Jude, the servant [doulos = slave] of Jesus Christ” … “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto His servant [doulos = slave] John” (James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1, Apocalypse 1:1) ― yet “doulos” has been translated not a “slave” as it should have been, but as “servant”. Bible translators didn’t use “slave” because it evokes dehumanizing practices. Instead, they used softer words like servants and bondservants. Slavery had almost been abolished by the 13th Century―at which time the very first translations of the Bible into the vernacular (local language) were being made. Hence, slavery was not a popular concept―so the translators, even though they knew full well that “doulos” meant “slave”, nevertheless substituted “slave” with the softer word “servant”. You could say that it was thought to be the “politically correct” thing to do.
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says that she submitted herself to God like a slave: “I considered myself as His slave! ... I was not a slave of sin!” She speaks of our “condition and state of a slave as child of the Most High” adding, “Be persuaded and convinced of thy entire worthlessness and incapability, not meriting to be considered even as a slave of the servants of Christ … Deem thyself more lowly and humble, a slave of all the rest; diligently serving them all without distinction.” She further speaks of her Son, who “rescues the soul from the dangerous slavery and subjection of the passions and relieves her of the vile slavery to the world” while she laments the “abomination” of those who profess themselves to be Christians “while living as members and slaves of the devil … in the slavery and chains of sin.” She warns of “the vile slavery of avarice” and “submitting to the flatteries and to the slavery of the worldly and powerful” of “following the degrading pleasures of the flesh and being enslaved by the mortal enemy” … adding that “When the soul listens to the animal and carnal part of its nature, this carnal part will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery … The foolishness of man, when being created as the lord and king of creatures, he enslaves himself, subjecting himself to them, and degrading his dignity in using visible things, not as a prudent master, but as an unworthy slave.”
In the 2016, Global Slavery Index reported that an estimated 45.8 million people are in some form of slavery in 167 countries around the world. The United Nations gave a similar number in the lower 40 million range. The Global Slavery Index defines modern slavery as an umbrella term that refers to “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power, or deception.” This incorporates various forms of slavery, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, child labor, and forced marriage.
In these current times of “plagues” and “pandemics”, we do well to reflect upon other plagues and pandemics―such as sin in general, and, for the purpose of this article, slavery in particular. Some plagues mankind seems to be incapable of fully overcoming and defeating. Slavery is one such plague―it has existed since ancient times. Slavery is the condition where an individual is deprived of freedom and/or possessions. This is important to note―since, according to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum―often referred to simply as “Davos” (the name of the Alpine resort in Switzerland where the meetings take place), we are being manipulated into accepting a voluntary slavery, whereby we will own nothing, will have little or no freedom, but we will be happy―or so they pretend (more on that point a little later).
The ancient Greeks had slaves. The Romans had slaves. The Chinese had slaves. The Ottoman Turks had slaves. Serfdom, a less shackling form of slavery, existed throughout Europe from the fall of Rome in the 400s until Russia, the last bastion of serfdom, finally abolished it in 1861. The harsher forms of slavery existed in Europe and most of the rest of the world until the 19th century — when it was peacefully abolished in many countries, such as England, or through violent clashes, such as the U.S. Civil War, also in the 1800s. By 1900, most of the “civilized” world had abolished slavery and serfdom. But then a more lethal variant emerged under the more benign names of Socialism, Fascism and Communism. The implementation of these ideologies resulted in governments causing the deaths of somewhere between 100 and 200 million of their own citizens in the 20th century.
Today, we are on the verge―as Our Lady of Fatima predicted―of a worldwide Socialist/Communist totalitarian takeover. We have already experienced the first “warning shots across the bow” during the current Planndemic and the signs are that things are only going to get worse as the Socialist/Communist noose tightens around our freedoms and God-given rights.
Definitions of Slavery
It is well to read the official definitions of slavery―for even though governments officially oppose slavery, they are bringing back slavery through the “back door”. We are well on the way to being enslaved―and, humanly speaking, there is little or nothing we can do about it. As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights [meaning an end to freedoms]. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
So, back to the definition that we would do well do read! Back in 1926, the League of Nations gave a definition of slavery in an international agreement at its Slavery Convention. It defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person, over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.” It further defined the slave trade as “all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves.” The Convention also distinguished forced labor, stipulating that “forced labor may only be exacted for public purposes” but only on the condition that the States “prevent compulsory or forced labor from developing into conditions analogous to slavery.”
Before the Slavery Convention various forms of slavery had been identified in a list prepared by the Temporary Slavery Commission in 1924 and subsequently approved by the Council of the League of Nations. In addition to enslavement, slave raiding, the slave trade and slave dealing, the list included:
“Slavery or serfdom (domestic, farming, or industrial); practices restrictive of the liberty of the person, or tending to acquire control of the person in conditions analogous to slavery, as for example: (a) Acquisition of girls by purchase disguised as payment of dowry, it being understood that this does not refer to normal marriage customs; (b) Adoption of children, of either sex, with a view to their virtual enslavement, or the ultimate disposal of their persons; (c) All forms of pledging or reducing to servitude of persons for debt or other reason....[as well as] a system of compulsory labor, public or private, paid or unpaid.”
Slave Markets of the World
Of those 45.8 million slaves, around 58% of them live in just five countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates that there are over 794,000 people currently living in slavery-like conditions in Russia. This includes forced labor, forced prostitution, debt bondage, forced servile marriage, exploitation of children, and forced prison labor. The estimated number of people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States right now is over 403,000.
North Korea has the highest proportion of slaves, with 10% (1 out every 10) of its population being forced to work in some kind of slavery. North Korean defectors who spoke of long hours and inhumane conditions in forced unpaid labor for adults and children in farming, construction and road-building. One defector said North Koreans do not consider themselves slaves: “They have been indoctrinated all their lives to think that whatever they do for the state is a good thing.”
However, no country comes close to India for the sheer number of people living in slavery. According to the report, India has 18.4 million slaves (1 in 72 persons), compared to China's 3.4 million (1 in 400 persons) and Pakistan's 2.1 million (1 in 96 persons). Overall, combining the stats and numbers from several different surveys, that puts the number of worldwide slaves at anywhere from 1 in 164 people to 1 in 200 people.
Types of Slavery
Slavery is of a very wide variety―researchers have tried to fit it all into 4 very general areas of slavery:
► Labor Slavery ― About 50% toil in forced labor slavery in industries where manual labor is needed—such as farming, ranching, logging, mining, fishing, brick making—and in service industries working as dish washers, janitors, gardeners, and maids―and even forced military service.
► Sex Slavery ― About 12.5% are trapped in forced prostitution sex slavery.
► Forced Marriage Slavery ― About 37.5% are trapped in forced marriages.
► Child Slavery ― About 25% of today’s slaves are children.
The Rise of Modern Slavery
Slavery has existed for thousands of years, but economic and social forces have enabled its alarming resurgence in the past few decades by increasing people’s vulnerability.
► Population ― A population explosion has quadrupled the number of people in the world over the last 100 years, mostly in developing countries. In 1900 there were fewer than 2 billion people on the planet; today there are almost 8 billion. In many places, the population has grown faster than the economy, leaving many people economically vulnerable. A fire, flood, drought, or medical emergency places them in the hands of ruthless moneylenders who enslave them.
► Migration ― Millions are on the move from impoverished rural areas to cities, and from poorer countries to wealthier ones, in search of work. For example, out of the current US population of 333 million, there are over 11 million unauthorized immigrants―meaning that 1 in every 30 persons is an unauthorized immigrant. Traffickers are able to trick them by posing as legitimate labor recruiters. Migrants are especially vulnerable to manipulation and slavery—they are often very far from home, don’t speak the local language, have no funds to return home, and have no friends or family to rely on. Furthermore, an illegal immigrant is not going to draw attention to themselves by seeking legal help and protection.
► Corruption ― Global government corruption often allows slavery to go unpunished. Many law enforcement officials aren’t even aware that bonded labor, where someone is enslaved to work off a loan, is illegal. In many places, those in slavery have no police protection from predatory traffickers.
► Discrimination ― Social inequality creates widespread economic and social vulnerability based on factors such as gender, race, tribe, or caste.
Modern Slaves Are Cheap and Disposable
New slavery has two chief characteristics—it’s cheap and it’s disposable. Slaves today are cheaper than ever. In 1850, an average slave in the American South cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today’s money. Today a slave costs about $90 on average worldwide. Modern slaves are not considered to be investments that are worth maintaining. Today, when someone in slavery gets sick or injured, they are simply dumped or killed.
We, modern day slaves, have allowed ourselves―willingly or unwillingly―to be enslaved in a variety of ways that were not common, and not so easily usable in those ancients times of slavery. We have become slaves of money, slaves of comfort, slaves of entertainment, slaves of technology, slaves of propaganda, slaves of fear, slaves of human respect, slaves of worldliness―and, thereby (like it or not, admit it or not), slaves of Satan―for he is “the prince of this world” as Our Lord Himself says (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). With every passing year, like Esau did with Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34), we are selling or exchanging our heavenly birthright for bowls of worldly soup!
Some agencies list the chief areas of modern day slavery as being: (1) Forced Marriage, (2) Domestic Servitude, (3) Sex-Trafficking, (4) Forced Labor, (5) Bonded Labor,
(6) Child Labor. Let us see how those domains might be effecting us:
Enslaved and Shackled by Many Chains
We, modern day slaves, have allowed ourselves―willingly or unwillingly―to be enslaved in a variety of ways that were not common, and not so easily usable in those ancients times of slavery. We have become slaves of money, slaves of comfort, slaves of entertainment, slaves of technology, slaves of propaganda, slaves of fear, slaves of human respect, slaves of worldliness―and, thereby (like it or not, admit it or not), slaves of Satan―for he is “the prince of this world” as Our Lord Himself says (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). With every passing year, like Esau did with Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34), we are selling or exchanging our heavenly birthright for bowls of worldly soup!
► Slavery by Forced Marriage―in the sense that we “marry” the world, which even the Church has done through, with and since the Second Vatican Council. We have espoused worldliness―which can clearly be seen in our occupations and preoccupations and hobbies, which are rarely spiritual and heavily worldly. Holy Scripture warns against this “marriage” with the world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). When we are married to someone, it means that, aside from our daily job of work, we spend most of our time with our spouse. Well, do not most people spend most of their time pursuing worldly activities? The computer and smartphone alone prove this!
► Slavery by Domestic Servitude―in the sense that we are slaves to our domestic or house possessions, we buy more and more, we treasure them more and more, to the point where we are enslaved to them. Our Lord warns against this kind of enslavement to possessions: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
► Slavery by Sex Trafficking ― You could say that we are trafficking our souls, or even prostituting our souls, in the current tsunami of impurity―as Our Lady of Good Success lamented: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!” At Fatima―already back in 1917―Our Lady bewailed that most souls are damned due to impurity. Yet we have little or no problem “copulating” with the spirit of immodesty (at best) and the spirit of impurity (at worst), which is borne out by the fact that 41% of practicing Christian males and 13% of practicing Christian females, aged from 13 to 24, are actively seeking porn at least once or twice a month. Furthermore, just look at the immodest way many of our girls and women dress today! They have become slaves of immodesty and their own bodies. Remember! We sin by impurity―not only by impure actions with ourselves or others―but also by our impure glances, thoughts, fantasies and desires. As Our Lord said: “Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)―though Our Lord mentions “a woman”, this also applies all across the board―lusting after men or women, boys or girls.
► Slavery by Forced Labor ― Forced labor occurs when governments, state authorities, businesses and individuals force coercive labor practices upon people in order to profit or gain from their work. When public governments exploit the bodies of individuals for their own gain, then it is a form of enslavement. According to the International Labor Organization Forced Labor Convention, forced or compulsory labor consists of any and all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty, and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. You can easily see this to be the case in the current situation of increasing “forced vaccinations” or “mandatory jabs” where people are “under the threat of a penalty” (losing their jobs) if they refuse to get vaccinated. These people are not offering themselves voluntarily, but are being forced to do something under the threat of a penalty―loss of job, loss of travel rights, loss of public social mingling, etc. They are, in the most clear sense of the word, being enslaved to wishes of their “masters”―the governments who are increasingly enforcing the vaccine mandates. This same tactic―of “forced labor” or “forced compliance”―will soon be extended to many other areas of life, for we are only at the beginning of a long road to total slavery. However, the propaganda will repeatedly drum into your heads that all this is being done “for you safety” and “for your own good” and “for your health and welfare”.
► Slavery by Bonded Labor ― Bonded labor involves money and financial matters. Bonded labor is designed to exploit workers. It happens when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan, or when they inherit a debt from a relative. It can be made to look like an employment agreement, but one where the worker already starts-out with a debt to repay ― only to find that repayment of the loan is impossible. Then, their enslavement becomes permanent. Financial slavery is a term used to describe how our lenders ultimately rule over us. As Holy Scripture points out: “The rich ruleth over the poor: and the borrower is servant [slave] to him that lendeth!” (Proverbs 22:7). When you owe money to someone, you are indebted to them. They have control over you―no matter how large or small―they have some degree of financial control over you. For instance, take your vehicle. If you are making payments on your car, you don’t really own it. You are renting that vehicle until you pay it off. Until then, the bank owns your car and is letting you use it while you pay them extra money in the form of interest. The same applies to the mortgage on your house―as long as it is not fully paid off, the bank owns your house and will take it back if you suddenly lose your job and can’t make the payments. Student loans also create a financial slavery. Debt is quickly becoming a new form of modern slavery in this country. With people becoming increasingly more willing to spend on consumer items and lifestyle enhancements before they actually earn the money, debt is increasingly common. That debt, in the form of credit cards and home equity loans, often comes at an exceedingly high price. Even borrowing for educational purposes has become a victim of lifestyle extravagance.
MORTGAGE DEBT: More than 62% of Americans carry a mortgage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Homeowners in the United States owed a total of $10.3 trillion in mortgage debt in 2020. On an individual basis, that averages to about $208,000 per mortgage.
CREDIT CARD DEBT: Americans have an absolute mountain of credit card debt in 2021. Overall, Americans owe $807 billion across almost 506 million card accounts. The average credit card debt per American family stands at $6,270. The Annual Percentage Rate is anywhere from 15% to 20% (APR ― the actual annual cost of a loan to a borrower, including other fees and charges in addition to the interest rate). Making only minimum monthly payments on credit card debt is expensive and ensures you will stay in a perpetual state of debt. 42% of U.S. adults with credit card debt have increased those balances since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
CAR LOAN DEBT: According to an article by CNN Money, in 2017, 107 million Americans (out of 203 million adults) had vehicle loans. The average monthly payment on those new vehicle loans was $515.
STUDENT LOAN DEBT: 43.2 million student borrowers are in debt by an average of about $39,000 each. Not paying back your student loans can cause catastrophic results for your finances, your credit and your future borrowing prospects.
Once you are in the whirlpool of legal debt, then you are chained to the financial system―which is not meant to be to the advantage of the borrower, but to the advantage of the lender. You are thereby legally bound (tied) and legally controlled. This is why the “Money-Men”―who really rule the world (on Satan’s behalf)―want to have every individual and every nation in debt. Debt is a subtle chain and shackle of slavery. Satan even tried to enslave Jesus with the promise of riches and power: “Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil ... Then the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory [riches] of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:1-11).
Another offshoot of “bonded labor” can include blackmail, whereby some sinful pleasure or illegal benefit is given to targeted future slave, thereby chaining them to their future “masters” through fear of the sin or illegal action being revealed. Blackmail is the favorite manner of enslavement used by Masonry and the Elites. Blackmail involves a threat to do something that would cause a person to suffer embarrassment or financial loss, unless that person meets certain demands. The threat might include:
● to reveal private information about a person that is likely to cause them embarrassment;
● to reveal sensitive information that is likely to cause financial harm;
● to accuse a person falsely of a crime; or
● to report a person’s involvement in a crime.
In order to avoid the threatened action, a blackmail victim must pay money to the blackmailer or perform some other action. The action demanded by the blackmailer may or may not be illegal itself. The growth of the Internet has also led to overlap between blackmail and cybercrime.
► Slavery by Child Labor ― Today, more than a quarter of the world’s slaves are children. These children are forced to commit commercial sex acts, forced into a system of domestic servitude, or employed in occupations that are mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Electronics has become the favorite tool that Satan and his minions use on children today. Remember the warning of Our Lady―Satan would especially focus on children: “They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children! People will think only of amusement!” Children are chained to their electronic devices, almost in a hypnotic manner, giving those devices hours and hours of attention and adulation throughout each and every day―an attention and adulation that should be given to God, but is redirected to the world (and indirectly to the world’s prince―the devil).
Slavery is the Future
Unpleasant as it may sound, unpleasant though it may be―our future is one of slavery. We cannot complain―for we have, as a whole, willingly and foolishly chosen the path of slavery in so many aspects of our life. You could even argue that God actually made us to be slaves! Yes, God made us to be slaves to Him―but not in an enforced slavery, but a voluntary and willing slavery. God could have enforced a strict slavery on all of us at any time―after all, He is the almighty God. Below, you will see that we actually are slaves of God. Yet God has given us freedom with regard to our “slavery” to Him and He respects that freedom―even if we choose to exercise that freedom in a way that will damn us and lead us Hell.
Holy Scripture clearly points out the “Master ― Slave” relationship that God wants and expects to have with us. A slave obeys all his master’s commands and wishes―and that is exactly what God has required from us, as Holy Scripture clearly points out. The Bible contains many references to slavery, which was a common practice in antiquity. However, if you read the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible, then you will only find the words “slave … slaves … slavery” mentioned ONLY 24 times in the entire Old and New Testaments! Yet in the ancient Hebrew and in Greek versions of the Bible, you will find “slave … slaves … slavery” mentioned OVER 1,100 TIMES!
The original Greek text uses the word “doulos” ― that word means “slave,” and never means anything but “slave.” It doesn’t mean “servant,” it doesn’t mean “worker,” it doesn’t mean “hired-hand,” it doesn’t mean “helper” ― a “doulos” was someone who belonged to another. There are six or seven Greek words that mean “servant” in some form or another. “Doulos” never means “servant.” A servant is someone hired to do something. The slave is someone owned. That is a big difference, a huge difference―yet all through the New Testament the word “slave” is masked by the word “servant,” or some form of the word “servant.” Truly a remarkable thing.
The New Testament writers often used that Greek term to refer to their willing submission to the authority of God: “James the servant [doulos = slave] of God” … “Simon Peter, servant [doulos = slave] and Apostle of Jesus Christ” … “Jude, the servant [doulos = slave] of Jesus Christ” … “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto His servant [doulos = slave] John” (James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1, Apocalypse 1:1) ― yet “doulos” has been translated not a “slave” as it should have been, but as “servant”. Bible translators didn’t use “slave” because it evokes dehumanizing practices. Instead, they used softer words like servants and bondservants. Slavery had almost been abolished by the 13th Century―at which time the very first translations of the Bible into the vernacular (local language) were being made. Hence, slavery was not a popular concept―so the translators, even though they knew full well that “doulos” meant “slave”, nevertheless substituted “slave” with the softer word “servant”. You could say that it was thought to be the “politically correct” thing to do.
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says that she submitted herself to God like a slave: “I considered myself as His slave! ... I was not a slave of sin!” She speaks of our “condition and state of a slave as child of the Most High” adding, “Be persuaded and convinced of thy entire worthlessness and incapability, not meriting to be considered even as a slave of the servants of Christ … Deem thyself more lowly and humble, a slave of all the rest; diligently serving them all without distinction.” She further speaks of her Son, who “rescues the soul from the dangerous slavery and subjection of the passions and relieves her of the vile slavery to the world” while she laments the “abomination” of those who profess themselves to be Christians “while living as members and slaves of the devil … in the slavery and chains of sin.” She warns of “the vile slavery of avarice” and “submitting to the flatteries and to the slavery of the worldly and powerful” of “following the degrading pleasures of the flesh and being enslaved by the mortal enemy” … adding that “When the soul listens to the animal and carnal part of its nature, this carnal part will engross and overcome the forces of reason and of the spirit, and will reduce them to a dangerous and shameful slavery … The foolishness of man, when being created as the lord and king of creatures, he enslaves himself, subjecting himself to them, and degrading his dignity in using visible things, not as a prudent master, but as an unworthy slave.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday October 27th & Thursday October 28th
Article 10
Attack on Human Nature! You Will Be Changed!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday October 27th & Thursday October 28th
Article 10
Attack on Human Nature! You Will Be Changed!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Searching for a New and Better You?
Do you want to be better than you are? Normally everyone seeks to be become better―we seek to better ourselves. We buy a better car, a better house, a better computer, a better phone. We seek a better doctor and better health care; we seek a better education and better teachers; we look for better jobs with better conditions and better pay. We seek to do things better; we want better results, scores and ratings; to have a better understanding; a better knowledge of things; a better memory. We prefer better presentations and explanations. We are on the look-out for better tasting food and drink, and better restaurants. Athletes and sports teams all seek to perform better and getter better results, or better times.
Even in the spiritual life we are meant to get better―become more perfect with passing time. “Let us go on to things more perfect!” (Hebrews 6:1). “Christ Jesus will Himself perfect you” (1 Peter 5:10). “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels!” (Psalm 8:5-6). “Thou shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 18:13). God the Father says: “I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect!” (Genesis 17:1). Jesus, God the Son, says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “Be perfect and entire, failing in nothing!” (James 1:4).
Just as we battle over the “right to life” and “right to freedom” and “free speech” in today’s world―it is almost certain that we will battle in the future over the “right to personal enhancement”. New and radical choices will be available to parents who want certain characteristics for their unborn children — for example, augmentation of intelligence, or corrective genetic procedures. Improvement and human performance enhancing drugs and neuro-technological devices are already entering the global marketplace.
Transhumanism is a philosophical movement, whose supporters advocate and predict the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that will be able to greatly enhance longevity, mood and intellectual abilities. In a nutshell, “transhumanism” seeks to improve upon man’s natural human abilities. This basic desire to improve natural abilities is not necessarily an evil—who hasn’t used a calculator, reading-glasses, or a hearing-aid―and been grateful for its invention to assist us in our daily life? Where transhuman philosophy begins to go astray is in its perspective on the weaknesses and limits of the human condition. Suffering, pain, aging and death are―for transhumanist faithful―to be resisted and avoided at all cost. Technology then presents itself as an answer to the natural “disability” shared by everyone in being human: aging, suffering, dying.
The New “Techno” God of Mankind
Transhumanism rests upon the foundations of science―a human science. The word “science” comes from the Latin word “sciens”, which means “knowing”―which in turn comes the Latin verb “scire” meaning “to know”. Science is therefore knowledge―more specifically, human knowledge―which separates itself from Divine knowledge and all things spiritual, because spiritual, invisible, immaterial things cannot be measured―and science postulates that what you cannot measure, you cannot really know. The visible will always be more attractive to humans than the invisible―God has made us in such a way that all our knowledge (unless directly infused by God) comes to us through the five senses―what we can see, hear, touch, smell and taste. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Nihil est in intellectu, nisi prius fuerit in sensu” ― meaning there is nothing in the intellect (soul/mind) that did not come through the senses. Yet the visible world is meant to furnish knowledge about the invisible world: “For the invisible things of Him [God], from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made!” (Romans 1:20). Yet that is where “science” or “technology” divorces itself from God―it claims (wrongly) that the invisible cannot be known, that the invisible is outside our sphere of knowledge because it cannot be seen, observed, measured and tested.
► Technology is replacing Theology. Both words end with “-ology” which comes from the Greek “logos” meaning “word, speech, reason”. Simply put, “logos” means “word”. For Christians, “logos” refers to Christ. Christ is called “Logos” because He is the “Word of God”―“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Words about God (theology) are superior to words about technical or material things (technology). If you look up the word “logos” in a dictionary, you will find it defined as “the divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world and often identified with the second person of the Trinity. In ancient Greek philosophy, before the time of Christ, logos means: the reason or the controlling principle in the universe.” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary definition of “Logos”). It is the intellect and will of God that rules and guides the universe through His Divine Providence. Once you “divorce” yourself from God and His Divine Intelligence and Will, then you are only left with the infinitely inferior human intelligence and human will.
To the people of an earlier age―let’s say the 800s, or 1200s, or 1600s―we would appear to them as being some kind of “god”! We can instantly access a person on the phone, or even on the screen of a computer, from the other side of the world. We can view and place an order for an item on the other side of the world with just one click and receive that item with two or three days! We can look inside our bodies with X-rays, CT-Scans, MRIs, Ultra-Sound Scans, or Nuclear Imaging. We can fly through the air in airplanes. We can swim across seas underwater in submarines. We not only have horseless carriages (cars), but nowadays they have “invisible” drivers (driverless cars). We have cameras orbiting the Earth than are powerful enough to read a newspaper headline down here on the ground. We have drones delivering items on our doorstep. Online, with a search-engine, we can search through hundreds of thousands of books for a single word or phrase in one or two seconds. The list is endless. Almost “infinite”! Who needs an infinite God anymore?
Back in March of 2014, Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, analyzed the data that showed a massive increase in religious indifferentism during a period of time when technology was making rapid advances. In 1990, around 8% (23 million) of the 249 million U.S. population had no religious preference (no religious affiliation). By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18% (55 million out of 309 million). By 2017 those with no religious affiliation were 26% (88 million out of 3252 million). In 2021 the percentage of “no religious affiliation” persons rose to 28% (93 million out 334 million). That’s an increase of almost 40 million people since 1990, all of whom have somehow lost their interest in religion. That raises an obvious question: “Why are Americans losing their belief or interest in God?” Allen Downey analyzed the data in detail and concluded that it was the result of several factors―but the most controversial of these factors was the advent and rise of the Internet. He concluded that the increase in Internet use since the advent of the Internet caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.
In the 1980s, Internet use was essentially zero, but in 2010, 53% of the population spent two hours per week online and 25% surfed for more than 7 hours per week. Today, it more like 2 hours per day to 7 hours per day! The advent of the smartphone―which is essentially a small computer―allows for almost continuous access to the internet. Just observe how many people, who are driving cars, are on their phones as they drive. More and more families can no longer sit at table for a meal without someone being online on their smartphone. People are always checking their phones at home, while driving, while working, while shopping, while walking down the street, while waiting for an appointment, etc. The latest Digital 2019 report, from Hootsuite and We Are Social, shows that people, on average, spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day―or around 47 hours per week. It equates to more than 100 24-hour days of continuous online time during every year for every Internet user. That’s more than 27% percent of every year if you count a day as being 24 hours―meaning no sleep time. If you reduce each day to 16 hours (allowing 8 hours for sleep), then it amounts to 152 16-hour days of continuous internet usage. Based on a 16 hour day (allowing time for sleep), that amounts to more than 40% percent of every year being spend online. This increase in time spent online closely matches the decrease in religious affiliation.
The word “technology”, simply put, is “the use of science in some field such as communications, industry, engineering, medicine, etc., to invent useful things, to make things easier, or to solve problems.” There are many ways of solving problems―just as there are many ways of approaching a disease. You can treat the symptoms of the disease and so make life a little easier for the sick person, or you can treat the cause of the disease and make life even better for the sick person―since the symptoms will not recur if the cause is removed. All of the problems we face in this life on Earth are ultimately the cause of sin―“The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). Technology usually addresses the symptoms―or the symptom of a symptom―but it does not go to the root cause of all our difficulties, problems and troubles―which is nothing other than sin. Take, for example, these man-made vaccines for this man-made virus―the Big Pharma producers of the vaccine do NOT claim the vaccine cures the disease, for no vaccine can cure a disease but it can only try to stimulate the person’s own immune system to fight and overcome the disease. Even the CDC admits that these vaccines CURE NOTHING, and also that they CANNOT PREVENT contraction of the disease, they MERELY REDUCE THE SYMPTOMS of the disease when you get it!!!
Theology readily addresses sin and seeks to reduce and eliminate it―thus, in the long run, theology will do more universal good than technology could ever do, since it addresses the cause of the problem and not just the symptom. Sin is the ultimate cause of all disease and the disease is merely a symptom (punishment) for sin. In fact, some technology is even unethical, immoral and sinful―going against the laws of God and the nature that God has created. Technology, in the area of “transhumanism” seeks to prolong life―even hoping to reach the vain idea of immortality―whereas the reason for death and a short life, laden with misery, difficulty and crosses, is SIN: “For the wisdom of the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). What is there that is hard to understand about those quotes? Diseases is merely steps towards death! Yet technology has elevated itself to the point of being a god and has rejected the true God―it refuses the “logos” or the wisdom and word of God, and prefers it own “human logos” or human wisdom instead: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
► Technocracy replaces Theocracy. The word “technocracy” means “government and control of society or industry by an elite of technical experts”; whereas “theocracy” means “government of society by God.” Today, the “technocracy” or “Techno-Reign of the Elites” has replaced the “theorcracy” or “Social Reign of Christ the King”. In the last two years of this technologically created “Plannedemic”, we have even heard pope, bishops and priests saying: “We have got to follow the science!” Yet that science ― which they are asking (or telling) us to follow ― has long since cut its ties with God and the Faith. It is increasingly a neo-pagan science, a science that questions God, doubts God, opposes God and rejects God ― and all the laws, morals and ethics that come from God, whether it be in the religious sphere or in the spheres of sciences, such as the “trinity” of physics, chemistry, biology and the vast multitude of technological “off-shoot” sciences emanating from that “trinity” of science.
► Techno-paganism, is the result of the above “divorce” of science from God. Once you take God (and His laws) out of the equation, then, as they say, “anything goes”―you do whatever you want, for you have replaced God with yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot replace Original Sin and its sinful tendencies and sinful effects. Without God and His grace, “the brakes are taken off” the many passions of mankind and those passions start to run amok and go wild. No longer are there any divinely imposed limits, restrictions and prohibitions―so that you can follow your whims, and throw away your inhibitions, and do or try to do whatever you want―regardless of whether it is objectively sinful or not. Hence modern “techno-paganism” gives you abortion on demand, or abortion in a “morning-after-pill”; techno-paganism can stream pornography to your phone, tablet or laptop; “techno-paganism” will even change your gender if you wish. If you can imagine anything or think of anything―then “techno-paganism” says go ahead and do it! God is no longer part of the equation!
► Techno-chauvinism. Most people, when they hear the word “chauvinism”, immediately think of “male-chauvinism”―but that is too narrow an interpretation of the word. “Chauvinism” is defined as “the belief that your country, race, religion, gender, etc., is better than any other; an excessive or prejudiced support for one’s own cause, group, or sex; an attitude of superiority toward members of other groups; etc.” “Techno-chauvinism” is the assumption that computers are superior to people, or that a technological solution is superior to any other. The term “techno-chauvinism” is similar to “techno-solutionism”―in that, they both describe the belief that most, if not all, complex issues can be solved with the right computation and engineering. The use of “chauvinism” is intentional and is aimed at the “techno-gurus” or “techno-gods” ― the “technocrats” (see above) ― who preach that all of man’s problems and troubles can be solved by technology, sooner or later. These “techno-chauvinists” look down disdainfully upon their opponents and critics and insist that there is no other way, other than technology.
► Techno-dependence. Whether we realize it or not; like it or not; admit it or not―despite all our clamor for independence and bravado at being independent―we are actually extremely dependent beings. We depend upon people and things for most of what we have! Nobody conceived and gave birth to themselves! As babies and infants―even as children and teens―we were extremely dependent upon our parents. Who has taught themselves? We are extremely dependent upon teachers to teach us the basics of learning and the basics of all the many different disciplines with learning―all the different sciences, etc. The vast majority of people are dependent upon the multiplicity of stores for their food and clothing. We depend many appliances at work, at home, in house and garden maintenance, etc. Almost everyone is dependent upon the “utilities” or “useful things” supplied to us by our local towns and cities―electricity, gas, running water, a sewage system, etc. We depend upon doctors and dentists for our health care. We depend upon law enforcement for our security. We depend on specialists to fix our car, our plumbing, our electrical system, our air-conditioning and heating systems, and certain difficult house maintenance tasks, e.g. roofing. Around 50% of Americans, to a greater or lesser degree, depend on some kind of Social Security assistance. Truly, the list could be endless. For all the false bravado about “Independence”, we are quite the opposite―we are extremely dependent. In case we are tempted think otherwise, Our Lord reminds us: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5)―what is it about the word “NOTHING” that we fail to understand (or refuse to understand)?
The “technocrats” most certainly realize this “extreme dependency” of mankind. Yet since most of them either ignore or even reject God, they replace Christ’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” with their own technocratic version: “Without technology, you can do nothing!” Sadly, most people “buy into” this falsehood! People have been seduced by technology to the point that they want to use it for everything they do! We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work, or that it be ethical, or aligned with God’s laws.
► Technodolatry or techno-idolatry ― whereby we idolize technology to the point of thinking and revering technology more than we think of and revere God. You only have to look around you, wherever you are, to see how true this is! People idolize their technology! Their technological appliances are truly “mini-gods” to them. They devote more time to them than they devote to God! Is that not true? Of course it is! As stated above, surveys show that the modern American, on average, spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day―or around 47 hours per week. How much time does the modern American give to God each day? The time that the average American spends per day in religious and spiritual activities is 9 minutes! Calculating the “average” includes those who spend no time at all on religious and spiritual activities―therefore you might be spending an hour or more in spiritual exercises. As Our Lord complained: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Today, the answer is resounding: “NO! I have better things to do online!”
► Technodultery or techno-adultery ― whereby we compromise our love and faithfulness to God by stepping over moral boundaries into the sinful, unethical and immoral areas that technology offers us. Did you realize that 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites (out of 258 million adults―which is around 1 in 6 persons). 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. Pornography is very prevalent in our society, and porn addiction affects about 5-8% of adults. People addicted to porn spend at least 11 to 12 hours per week viewing porn. A study conducted in 2006 found that about 84% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 had watched pornographic films, either rented or on television. 41% of practicing Christian males and 13% of practicing Christian females, aged from 13 to 24, are actively seeking porn at least once or twice a month. In a 2015 survey, the following percentages of men say they view pornography at least several times a week:
18-30-year-olds, 63%
31-49-year-olds, 38%
50-68-year-olds, 25%
► Technorape ― the near-constant immersion in technology―whereby technology invades and penetrates all areas of your life with almost total surveillance of where you go, what you do, what you say―leads to what could be called “technorape” or “techno-rape”, where the technocrats force themselves into your life with almost constant surveillance in one form or another. Every phone call you make is recorded and stored. The government can basically access any computer. Facial recognition is only the tip of the creepy surveillance iceberg. The rapidly growing field of behavioral biometrics is based on recognizing individuals from their patterns of movement or behavior. One example is gait recognition, which may well be the next surveillance technology to hit the mainstream, especially if facial recognition comes under tight regulation. There are a few different ways of recognizing an individual from the way they walk. The technique is already being tested by police in China.
Your heartbeat and your breathing pattern are as unique as your fingerprint. A small but growing number of remote sensing technologies are being developed to detect vital signs from a distance, piercing through skin, clothes and in some cases even through walls. In June, 2019, the Pentagon went public with a new laser-based system capable of identifying people at a distance of up to 200 yards.
Wi-Fi can also be used to locate individuals, identify their position in the room and whether they're sitting or standing, and even track vital signs. Until recently, it was thought a dedicated Wi-Fi network was required, in part because the technique depends on knowing the exact position of the Wi-Fi transmitters. In 2018, however, a group of researchers, at the University of California, built an app which allowed them to figure out the exact location of existing Wi-Fi transmitters in a building. With that information, they were able to use normal smartphones and existing ambient Wi-Fi networks to detect human presence and movement from outside the room. “With more than two Wi-Fi devices in a regular room, our attack can detect more than 99 per cent of user presence and movement in each room tested,” the researchers claimed. Some research groups want to go further than just using Wi-Fi to identify people. Based on movement and vital signs, they claim it is possible to monitor the subject's emotional state and analyze their behavioral patterns.
► Technoslavery ― whereby you become a slave of technology, where it starts to control you rather than you controlling it. That control over you will happen whether you like it or not, want it or not, accept it or not. You are already seeing the beginnings of the worldwide slavery with the “jab or your job” mandates. Already many people have lost their jobs because they have refused the jab (vaccination). The large corporations are increasingly enforcing the “jab or your job” mandate. Thousands have also lost their jobs in the police force and military. Some doctors and hospitals require you to be vaccinated before they will treat you for any ailment you may have. Similarly, certain locations and services are only accessible if you have been vaccinated. For the most part, international travel is now being restricted to only allow the vaccinated the right to travel internationally. These enforced demands are not going to decrease or stop. One-by-one, the pockets of resistance will be forced (or starved) into submission. Illegal laws will be passed to increase the pressure on the few who still dare to resist.
Sure―some legal battles against vaccination have been won (here and there), but those cases are a mere minority, like a drop in the ocean, against the tsunami of capitulation that goes on everywhere else. Ultimately, once you diminish or lose your spirituality, then you proportionately diminish or lose you “belly for the fight” because, as Scripture says: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ! Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) to which Scripture adds: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
Do you want to be better than you are? Normally everyone seeks to be become better―we seek to better ourselves. We buy a better car, a better house, a better computer, a better phone. We seek a better doctor and better health care; we seek a better education and better teachers; we look for better jobs with better conditions and better pay. We seek to do things better; we want better results, scores and ratings; to have a better understanding; a better knowledge of things; a better memory. We prefer better presentations and explanations. We are on the look-out for better tasting food and drink, and better restaurants. Athletes and sports teams all seek to perform better and getter better results, or better times.
Even in the spiritual life we are meant to get better―become more perfect with passing time. “Let us go on to things more perfect!” (Hebrews 6:1). “Christ Jesus will Himself perfect you” (1 Peter 5:10). “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels!” (Psalm 8:5-6). “Thou shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 18:13). God the Father says: “I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect!” (Genesis 17:1). Jesus, God the Son, says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “Be perfect and entire, failing in nothing!” (James 1:4).
Just as we battle over the “right to life” and “right to freedom” and “free speech” in today’s world―it is almost certain that we will battle in the future over the “right to personal enhancement”. New and radical choices will be available to parents who want certain characteristics for their unborn children — for example, augmentation of intelligence, or corrective genetic procedures. Improvement and human performance enhancing drugs and neuro-technological devices are already entering the global marketplace.
Transhumanism is a philosophical movement, whose supporters advocate and predict the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that will be able to greatly enhance longevity, mood and intellectual abilities. In a nutshell, “transhumanism” seeks to improve upon man’s natural human abilities. This basic desire to improve natural abilities is not necessarily an evil—who hasn’t used a calculator, reading-glasses, or a hearing-aid―and been grateful for its invention to assist us in our daily life? Where transhuman philosophy begins to go astray is in its perspective on the weaknesses and limits of the human condition. Suffering, pain, aging and death are―for transhumanist faithful―to be resisted and avoided at all cost. Technology then presents itself as an answer to the natural “disability” shared by everyone in being human: aging, suffering, dying.
The New “Techno” God of Mankind
Transhumanism rests upon the foundations of science―a human science. The word “science” comes from the Latin word “sciens”, which means “knowing”―which in turn comes the Latin verb “scire” meaning “to know”. Science is therefore knowledge―more specifically, human knowledge―which separates itself from Divine knowledge and all things spiritual, because spiritual, invisible, immaterial things cannot be measured―and science postulates that what you cannot measure, you cannot really know. The visible will always be more attractive to humans than the invisible―God has made us in such a way that all our knowledge (unless directly infused by God) comes to us through the five senses―what we can see, hear, touch, smell and taste. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Nihil est in intellectu, nisi prius fuerit in sensu” ― meaning there is nothing in the intellect (soul/mind) that did not come through the senses. Yet the visible world is meant to furnish knowledge about the invisible world: “For the invisible things of Him [God], from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made!” (Romans 1:20). Yet that is where “science” or “technology” divorces itself from God―it claims (wrongly) that the invisible cannot be known, that the invisible is outside our sphere of knowledge because it cannot be seen, observed, measured and tested.
► Technology is replacing Theology. Both words end with “-ology” which comes from the Greek “logos” meaning “word, speech, reason”. Simply put, “logos” means “word”. For Christians, “logos” refers to Christ. Christ is called “Logos” because He is the “Word of God”―“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Words about God (theology) are superior to words about technical or material things (technology). If you look up the word “logos” in a dictionary, you will find it defined as “the divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world and often identified with the second person of the Trinity. In ancient Greek philosophy, before the time of Christ, logos means: the reason or the controlling principle in the universe.” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary definition of “Logos”). It is the intellect and will of God that rules and guides the universe through His Divine Providence. Once you “divorce” yourself from God and His Divine Intelligence and Will, then you are only left with the infinitely inferior human intelligence and human will.
To the people of an earlier age―let’s say the 800s, or 1200s, or 1600s―we would appear to them as being some kind of “god”! We can instantly access a person on the phone, or even on the screen of a computer, from the other side of the world. We can view and place an order for an item on the other side of the world with just one click and receive that item with two or three days! We can look inside our bodies with X-rays, CT-Scans, MRIs, Ultra-Sound Scans, or Nuclear Imaging. We can fly through the air in airplanes. We can swim across seas underwater in submarines. We not only have horseless carriages (cars), but nowadays they have “invisible” drivers (driverless cars). We have cameras orbiting the Earth than are powerful enough to read a newspaper headline down here on the ground. We have drones delivering items on our doorstep. Online, with a search-engine, we can search through hundreds of thousands of books for a single word or phrase in one or two seconds. The list is endless. Almost “infinite”! Who needs an infinite God anymore?
Back in March of 2014, Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, analyzed the data that showed a massive increase in religious indifferentism during a period of time when technology was making rapid advances. In 1990, around 8% (23 million) of the 249 million U.S. population had no religious preference (no religious affiliation). By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18% (55 million out of 309 million). By 2017 those with no religious affiliation were 26% (88 million out of 3252 million). In 2021 the percentage of “no religious affiliation” persons rose to 28% (93 million out 334 million). That’s an increase of almost 40 million people since 1990, all of whom have somehow lost their interest in religion. That raises an obvious question: “Why are Americans losing their belief or interest in God?” Allen Downey analyzed the data in detail and concluded that it was the result of several factors―but the most controversial of these factors was the advent and rise of the Internet. He concluded that the increase in Internet use since the advent of the Internet caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.
In the 1980s, Internet use was essentially zero, but in 2010, 53% of the population spent two hours per week online and 25% surfed for more than 7 hours per week. Today, it more like 2 hours per day to 7 hours per day! The advent of the smartphone―which is essentially a small computer―allows for almost continuous access to the internet. Just observe how many people, who are driving cars, are on their phones as they drive. More and more families can no longer sit at table for a meal without someone being online on their smartphone. People are always checking their phones at home, while driving, while working, while shopping, while walking down the street, while waiting for an appointment, etc. The latest Digital 2019 report, from Hootsuite and We Are Social, shows that people, on average, spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day―or around 47 hours per week. It equates to more than 100 24-hour days of continuous online time during every year for every Internet user. That’s more than 27% percent of every year if you count a day as being 24 hours―meaning no sleep time. If you reduce each day to 16 hours (allowing 8 hours for sleep), then it amounts to 152 16-hour days of continuous internet usage. Based on a 16 hour day (allowing time for sleep), that amounts to more than 40% percent of every year being spend online. This increase in time spent online closely matches the decrease in religious affiliation.
The word “technology”, simply put, is “the use of science in some field such as communications, industry, engineering, medicine, etc., to invent useful things, to make things easier, or to solve problems.” There are many ways of solving problems―just as there are many ways of approaching a disease. You can treat the symptoms of the disease and so make life a little easier for the sick person, or you can treat the cause of the disease and make life even better for the sick person―since the symptoms will not recur if the cause is removed. All of the problems we face in this life on Earth are ultimately the cause of sin―“The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette). Technology usually addresses the symptoms―or the symptom of a symptom―but it does not go to the root cause of all our difficulties, problems and troubles―which is nothing other than sin. Take, for example, these man-made vaccines for this man-made virus―the Big Pharma producers of the vaccine do NOT claim the vaccine cures the disease, for no vaccine can cure a disease but it can only try to stimulate the person’s own immune system to fight and overcome the disease. Even the CDC admits that these vaccines CURE NOTHING, and also that they CANNOT PREVENT contraction of the disease, they MERELY REDUCE THE SYMPTOMS of the disease when you get it!!!
Theology readily addresses sin and seeks to reduce and eliminate it―thus, in the long run, theology will do more universal good than technology could ever do, since it addresses the cause of the problem and not just the symptom. Sin is the ultimate cause of all disease and the disease is merely a symptom (punishment) for sin. In fact, some technology is even unethical, immoral and sinful―going against the laws of God and the nature that God has created. Technology, in the area of “transhumanism” seeks to prolong life―even hoping to reach the vain idea of immortality―whereas the reason for death and a short life, laden with misery, difficulty and crosses, is SIN: “For the wisdom of the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). What is there that is hard to understand about those quotes? Diseases is merely steps towards death! Yet technology has elevated itself to the point of being a god and has rejected the true God―it refuses the “logos” or the wisdom and word of God, and prefers it own “human logos” or human wisdom instead: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
► Technocracy replaces Theocracy. The word “technocracy” means “government and control of society or industry by an elite of technical experts”; whereas “theocracy” means “government of society by God.” Today, the “technocracy” or “Techno-Reign of the Elites” has replaced the “theorcracy” or “Social Reign of Christ the King”. In the last two years of this technologically created “Plannedemic”, we have even heard pope, bishops and priests saying: “We have got to follow the science!” Yet that science ― which they are asking (or telling) us to follow ― has long since cut its ties with God and the Faith. It is increasingly a neo-pagan science, a science that questions God, doubts God, opposes God and rejects God ― and all the laws, morals and ethics that come from God, whether it be in the religious sphere or in the spheres of sciences, such as the “trinity” of physics, chemistry, biology and the vast multitude of technological “off-shoot” sciences emanating from that “trinity” of science.
► Techno-paganism, is the result of the above “divorce” of science from God. Once you take God (and His laws) out of the equation, then, as they say, “anything goes”―you do whatever you want, for you have replaced God with yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot replace Original Sin and its sinful tendencies and sinful effects. Without God and His grace, “the brakes are taken off” the many passions of mankind and those passions start to run amok and go wild. No longer are there any divinely imposed limits, restrictions and prohibitions―so that you can follow your whims, and throw away your inhibitions, and do or try to do whatever you want―regardless of whether it is objectively sinful or not. Hence modern “techno-paganism” gives you abortion on demand, or abortion in a “morning-after-pill”; techno-paganism can stream pornography to your phone, tablet or laptop; “techno-paganism” will even change your gender if you wish. If you can imagine anything or think of anything―then “techno-paganism” says go ahead and do it! God is no longer part of the equation!
► Techno-chauvinism. Most people, when they hear the word “chauvinism”, immediately think of “male-chauvinism”―but that is too narrow an interpretation of the word. “Chauvinism” is defined as “the belief that your country, race, religion, gender, etc., is better than any other; an excessive or prejudiced support for one’s own cause, group, or sex; an attitude of superiority toward members of other groups; etc.” “Techno-chauvinism” is the assumption that computers are superior to people, or that a technological solution is superior to any other. The term “techno-chauvinism” is similar to “techno-solutionism”―in that, they both describe the belief that most, if not all, complex issues can be solved with the right computation and engineering. The use of “chauvinism” is intentional and is aimed at the “techno-gurus” or “techno-gods” ― the “technocrats” (see above) ― who preach that all of man’s problems and troubles can be solved by technology, sooner or later. These “techno-chauvinists” look down disdainfully upon their opponents and critics and insist that there is no other way, other than technology.
► Techno-dependence. Whether we realize it or not; like it or not; admit it or not―despite all our clamor for independence and bravado at being independent―we are actually extremely dependent beings. We depend upon people and things for most of what we have! Nobody conceived and gave birth to themselves! As babies and infants―even as children and teens―we were extremely dependent upon our parents. Who has taught themselves? We are extremely dependent upon teachers to teach us the basics of learning and the basics of all the many different disciplines with learning―all the different sciences, etc. The vast majority of people are dependent upon the multiplicity of stores for their food and clothing. We depend many appliances at work, at home, in house and garden maintenance, etc. Almost everyone is dependent upon the “utilities” or “useful things” supplied to us by our local towns and cities―electricity, gas, running water, a sewage system, etc. We depend upon doctors and dentists for our health care. We depend upon law enforcement for our security. We depend on specialists to fix our car, our plumbing, our electrical system, our air-conditioning and heating systems, and certain difficult house maintenance tasks, e.g. roofing. Around 50% of Americans, to a greater or lesser degree, depend on some kind of Social Security assistance. Truly, the list could be endless. For all the false bravado about “Independence”, we are quite the opposite―we are extremely dependent. In case we are tempted think otherwise, Our Lord reminds us: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5)―what is it about the word “NOTHING” that we fail to understand (or refuse to understand)?
The “technocrats” most certainly realize this “extreme dependency” of mankind. Yet since most of them either ignore or even reject God, they replace Christ’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” with their own technocratic version: “Without technology, you can do nothing!” Sadly, most people “buy into” this falsehood! People have been seduced by technology to the point that they want to use it for everything they do! We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work, or that it be ethical, or aligned with God’s laws.
► Technodolatry or techno-idolatry ― whereby we idolize technology to the point of thinking and revering technology more than we think of and revere God. You only have to look around you, wherever you are, to see how true this is! People idolize their technology! Their technological appliances are truly “mini-gods” to them. They devote more time to them than they devote to God! Is that not true? Of course it is! As stated above, surveys show that the modern American, on average, spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day―or around 47 hours per week. How much time does the modern American give to God each day? The time that the average American spends per day in religious and spiritual activities is 9 minutes! Calculating the “average” includes those who spend no time at all on religious and spiritual activities―therefore you might be spending an hour or more in spiritual exercises. As Our Lord complained: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Today, the answer is resounding: “NO! I have better things to do online!”
► Technodultery or techno-adultery ― whereby we compromise our love and faithfulness to God by stepping over moral boundaries into the sinful, unethical and immoral areas that technology offers us. Did you realize that 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites (out of 258 million adults―which is around 1 in 6 persons). 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. Pornography is very prevalent in our society, and porn addiction affects about 5-8% of adults. People addicted to porn spend at least 11 to 12 hours per week viewing porn. A study conducted in 2006 found that about 84% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 had watched pornographic films, either rented or on television. 41% of practicing Christian males and 13% of practicing Christian females, aged from 13 to 24, are actively seeking porn at least once or twice a month. In a 2015 survey, the following percentages of men say they view pornography at least several times a week:
18-30-year-olds, 63%
31-49-year-olds, 38%
50-68-year-olds, 25%
► Technorape ― the near-constant immersion in technology―whereby technology invades and penetrates all areas of your life with almost total surveillance of where you go, what you do, what you say―leads to what could be called “technorape” or “techno-rape”, where the technocrats force themselves into your life with almost constant surveillance in one form or another. Every phone call you make is recorded and stored. The government can basically access any computer. Facial recognition is only the tip of the creepy surveillance iceberg. The rapidly growing field of behavioral biometrics is based on recognizing individuals from their patterns of movement or behavior. One example is gait recognition, which may well be the next surveillance technology to hit the mainstream, especially if facial recognition comes under tight regulation. There are a few different ways of recognizing an individual from the way they walk. The technique is already being tested by police in China.
Your heartbeat and your breathing pattern are as unique as your fingerprint. A small but growing number of remote sensing technologies are being developed to detect vital signs from a distance, piercing through skin, clothes and in some cases even through walls. In June, 2019, the Pentagon went public with a new laser-based system capable of identifying people at a distance of up to 200 yards.
Wi-Fi can also be used to locate individuals, identify their position in the room and whether they're sitting or standing, and even track vital signs. Until recently, it was thought a dedicated Wi-Fi network was required, in part because the technique depends on knowing the exact position of the Wi-Fi transmitters. In 2018, however, a group of researchers, at the University of California, built an app which allowed them to figure out the exact location of existing Wi-Fi transmitters in a building. With that information, they were able to use normal smartphones and existing ambient Wi-Fi networks to detect human presence and movement from outside the room. “With more than two Wi-Fi devices in a regular room, our attack can detect more than 99 per cent of user presence and movement in each room tested,” the researchers claimed. Some research groups want to go further than just using Wi-Fi to identify people. Based on movement and vital signs, they claim it is possible to monitor the subject's emotional state and analyze their behavioral patterns.
► Technoslavery ― whereby you become a slave of technology, where it starts to control you rather than you controlling it. That control over you will happen whether you like it or not, want it or not, accept it or not. You are already seeing the beginnings of the worldwide slavery with the “jab or your job” mandates. Already many people have lost their jobs because they have refused the jab (vaccination). The large corporations are increasingly enforcing the “jab or your job” mandate. Thousands have also lost their jobs in the police force and military. Some doctors and hospitals require you to be vaccinated before they will treat you for any ailment you may have. Similarly, certain locations and services are only accessible if you have been vaccinated. For the most part, international travel is now being restricted to only allow the vaccinated the right to travel internationally. These enforced demands are not going to decrease or stop. One-by-one, the pockets of resistance will be forced (or starved) into submission. Illegal laws will be passed to increase the pressure on the few who still dare to resist.
Sure―some legal battles against vaccination have been won (here and there), but those cases are a mere minority, like a drop in the ocean, against the tsunami of capitulation that goes on everywhere else. Ultimately, once you diminish or lose your spirituality, then you proportionately diminish or lose you “belly for the fight” because, as Scripture says: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ! Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) to which Scripture adds: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday October 22nd & Saturday October 23rd & Sunday October 24th
Article 9
Christ has been Uncrowned and Dethroned! Who Cares?
Friday October 22nd & Saturday October 23rd & Sunday October 24th
Article 9
Christ has been Uncrowned and Dethroned! Who Cares?
We Have No King!
“The Jews cried out, saying: ‘If thou release this Man, thou art not Caesar’s friend! For whosoever makes himself a king, speaks against Caesar!’ Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and he said to the Jews: ‘Behold your king!’ But they cried out: ‘Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them: ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:12-15).
What a terrible scene! Christ―the Son of God, both God and man, Creator and King of, not only the Jews, but of the whole Universe which He had made―rejected and condemned to death by prideful blind creatures! History repeats itself―and if we do not know our history, we will be forced to learn it by repeating it! Today, all throughout the world, “the kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” (Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:26). “Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Thy law, and have not minded Thy commandments!” (2 Esdras 9:34).
● They have condoned murder through legalizing abortion―ignoring God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not kill!”
● They have ‘killed’ marriages by condoning and legalizing divorce―when God said: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder!” Matthew 19:6).
● They are guilty of promoting impurity and adultery by permitting grossly indecent fashions that would have had people arrested had they appeared like that in public 60 or 70 years ago―thus encouraging lustful thoughts and actions, despite Our Lord warning: “Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28).
● They have enabled pornography to exist while it is clearly possible to stamp most of it out―thereby exacerbating the sin that Our Lady said (way back in 1917) led most souls to Hell. As Our Lord threatened: “Whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me; it would be better for him if a millstone was placed around his neck, and he was cast into the sea!” (Mark 9:41).
● They have legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages―thereby contradicting God’s law: “Thou shalt not lie with a man as with woman, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13). “Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighboring cities, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire!” (Jude 1:7).
● They have legalized prostitution―thereby going against the law of God: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid!” (1 Corinthians 6:15). “Make not thy daughter a common prostitute, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness!” (Leviticus 19:29).
● They have reversed the values of Christ by promising people wealth and riches and encouraging them to seek wealth and riches (even though a minority will always hold the majority of the world’s wealth)―when Christ has said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God! … The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!’” (combined account of Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25; Mark 4:19). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
● The world continually creates more and more things, which are effectively false idols that distract us and take us away from God and which we implicitly put in the place of God. We hold a ‘god’ in our hands via the smartphone, which answers all our “prayers” or questions in seconds―much faster than God ever did! We adoringly pass hours each day “worshiping” in front of our tabernacles―the television, computer or tablet screen. We buy or build the best “temples” (houses) that we can afford and lavish hours upon them in cleaning, maintaining, repairing and improving them―yet our souls, which are temples of God, are in a state of disrepair ― “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and that you are not your own? … Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 6:15-19).
The list is endless―the above examples are merely the tip of the iceberg of the vast number of man-made laws that contradict the laws of God. In this way man has dethroned God (Christ) and crowned himself―making himself the judge of what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil.
No Room for the King
Just as there “there was no room for Jesus in the inn” at Bethlehem (Luke 2:7), there is little or no room for Christ the King in our lives today. Our life is too crowded. Too many things have come into our lives. We have too much to do and too little time to do it in―consequently there is even less time for Our Lord. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests―but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His Head!” (Matthew 8:20).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … [Christ is] the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and his own received Him not” (John 1:1-11). “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:43). “They loved Him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto Him” (Psalm 77:36).
That just about sums up our “Christian” world today―or what’s left of it: “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God … They loved Him with their mouth and with their tongue they lied unto Him!” The world comes first―though many might protest that is not true―but when you add up the hours given to God and hours given to the world, then the math does not lie. They are quite simply not loving God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength―yet somehow they expect that God will still let them waltz into Heaven regardless! These people―if you excuse the language, but it is used deliberately―don’t give a damn whether Christ is King or not; they don’t give a damn if Christ is uncrowned and dethroned; they really don’t care―all they care about is their daily preoccupation with the things of this world, Christ or God or the Faith is merely an afterthought, perhaps an insurance policy that they imagine will save them from Hell. Yet, as you sow, so shall you reap: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The King is Dead! Long Live the King!
You may or may not have heard the phrase: “The king is dead! Long live the king!” Essentially, it means “The [old] king is dead! Long live the [new] king!” The original phrase was translated from the French: “Le roi est mort, vive le roi!” ― which was first declared upon the accession to the French throne of Charles VII after the death of his father Charles VI in 1422. Robert Cecil, one of the architects of the League of Nations, famously concluded his speech at the final session of the League of Nations with the phrase: “The League is dead! Long live the United Nations!”
Today, we can clearly see that phrase being applicable to the Faith and Christ. “The old religion is dead! Long live the new religion!” Or again, “The old Mass is dead! Long live the new Mass!” Or again, “Traditional Catholicism is dead! Long live Liberal Catholicism! Long live Modernism!” Not only prophecy, but Christ the King Himself said that there will be massive loss of Faith in the so-called “End-Times” which Our Lady of Fatima said we have already entered: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Today, that Faith is crumbling―or should we say that the Faith is being replaced by a man-made “faith”, a personal “preferential faith”, a “pick-and-choose what I want to believe kind of faith”. Recent surveys show that 76% of Catholics want the Church to allow the use of birth control. 62% think that the Church should allow priests to marry. 61% think that the church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% said women should be allowed to become priests. 46% said the church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% say it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 46% say homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% say to use contraceptives is NOT a sin. 21% say divorce in NOT a sin. On the matter of the dogma of the Real Presence of Jesus with His Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, 70% of Catholics said they believed the bread and wine used at Mass are NOT Jesus, but ONLY SYMBOLS of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
“Virtual Reality” is replacing “Actual Reality”
The adjective “virtual” is used to describe something that almost exists, is almost real, is almost true, but does not really exist, is not real, is not really true. We speak of “virtual reality” which is not “actual reality” but is made to look as though it is actually real. The definition of “virtual reality” comes, naturally, from the definitions for both “virtual” and “reality”. The definition of “virtual” is “near, almost” and “reality” is “the state of things as they actually exist”. So the term “virtual reality” basically means “near-reality” or “almost reality”―but still not reality.
Virtual Reality Training is the digital simulation of lifelike scenarios for training purposes. A lot of training is done these days by using “virtual reality”―for example, airline pilots are placed in a “virtual cockpit” which then encounters “virtual storms” or “virtual engine failure” or “virtual malfunctioning” of certain parts of the “virtual airplane.” Health care uses “virtual reality” training to immerse students in a “virtual reality” surgical experience, to observe surgeries and surgical procedures from a first-person perspective, long before they are in an “actual reality” surgical residency. The military will use “virtual reality” in military training simulators that are programmed with real-life battle scenarios, as well as training soldiers to be less hesitant about killing (once you get used to killing in a “virtual reality” environment, then you are more likely to do the same in “actual reality”.
With regard to computing, something “virtual” is something existing, seen, or happening online or on a computer screen, rather than in person or in the physical world. Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. This is achieved in several ways―on a computer, or on a mobile head device (a kind of computerized visor that you put on over your eyes); or in a computerized room where all the walls, floor and ceiling are screens. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image that can be explored interactively at a personal computer, usually by manipulating keys or the mouse so that the content of the image moves in some direction or zooms in or out. More sophisticated efforts involve such approaches as wrap-around display screens, actual rooms augmented with wearable computers, and haptics (sensory) devices that let you feel the display images.
With time, the increasing or even constant use of “virtual reality” can lead and does lead to blurring the differences and dividing-line between “actual reality” and “virtual reality”. It is a little like the proverb: “Tell a lie enough times and people will believe that the lie is the truth.” Give the people enough “make believe” (or “virtual reality”) and you will make them believe that the “make believe” (or “virtual reality”) is actually worth believing as being true!
In today’s modern world there has been an explosion of “virtual” things and activities, especially during the recent lockdowns―we have seen virtual attendance at Sunday Mass; virtual doctor’s appointments; virtual school classes; virtual meetings online; virtual cooking classes; virtual maintenance classes; virtual tours of museums; virtual sports; some problems on your computer can be virtually analyzed and repaired by tech support. In fact, there is so many “virtual” activities going on that “virtual” can start to feel like “actual”. During the lockdowns many even took part in a “virtual Mass” by watching it streamed live online, but were not present at the “actual Mass” that is taking place, not in their home location, but in some church―yet they “felt” as though they had fulfilled their Sunday obligation by “attending” Mass “virtually” (on screen). Some now prefer that way of “assisting” at Mass―even though it is not “real” and does not fulfill the Sunday obligation of being physically present at Mass.
A “Virtual” King and a “Virtual” Faith
Today―perhaps without even knowing or realizing it―most Catholics are living in a “virtual Catholic Faith” which is of their own making, their own “tweaked Catholic Faith”, their personally “preferred Catholic Faith”, their “tailor-made Catholic Faith.” The same can be said for their ideas about Christ. They rarely have “objective ideas” (based on reality) about Christ, but they have “subjective ideas” (personally tweaked and tailored ideas) about Christ. Just like a tailor makes a suit to fit one particular person, so too do many Catholics “tailor-make” Christ to fit their own personal preferences.
For some Christ is “all love” and “all mercy” without at trace of justice or punishment! For others, Christ is “all fire and brimstone” and will not let anything go unpunished! Some imagine that just because they are Catholics, they must automatically go to Heaven! While all who are not Catholics will automatically go to Hell. While other say that it doesn’t matter what religion you are―you will still go to Heaven! Some even say there is no such thing as Hell or damnation! Some think almost everything is a sin―others think that nothing is a sin! Some focus on their “pet-peeve” sins and ignore others. For example, some will watch like a hawk and have the “eye of an eagle” for a woman who is not wearing a veil or head-covering in church―and they are all too ready to “staple” a veil on such a woman’s head! While for others impure thoughts of the mind are not even looked upon as being sins―because they don’t hurt anyone, and besides: “I am only looking!” There are an increasing numbers of Catholics who think that you can be a “good Catholic” even if you don’t attend Mass on Sundays! Some believe that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―others believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a symbol of Christ. Yet both claim to be “good Catholics”. All of this is a consequence, a result, a byproduct of each person’s “Virtual Catholic Faith”―which looks like the Catholic Faith, but is not the “Real Catholic Faith”. Yet all claim to be “good Catholics”―all think they are going to Heaven.
St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, has a passage that speaks of what we could call “virtual devotion” being passed-off as being a “real devotion”―what he writes could just as well be said of a “virtual Faith” and a “real Faith” or “actual Faith”. Here is that passage:
“There is only one true devotion while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational. Aurelius used to draw all the faces in the pictures he painted with the expressions and appearance of the women he loved. So, too, does each one represent devotion according to his liking and imagination. He who is in the habit of fasting will think that because he fasts he is very devout, even though his heart is filled with hatred towards some people. Another who is anxious about sobriety, will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbor by speaking ill of him or by making false statements about him. Another considers himself devout because of the very great number of prayers that he recites every day, even though, soon after this, he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbors. Another very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor, but cannot show any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another will forgive his enemies, but will not pay what he owes―unless he is legally forced to do so. All such persons are generally looked upon as devout―whereas in fact they are not. When Saul’s soldiers came looking for David in his house, Michal placed a statue on a bed and covered it with David’s clothes and so made them believe that it was David himself asleep due to illness (1 Kings 19:11-16). In the same way, many people cover themselves with various external actions that are related to holy devotion. The world takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual, whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, chapter 1).
“The Jews cried out, saying: ‘If thou release this Man, thou art not Caesar’s friend! For whosoever makes himself a king, speaks against Caesar!’ Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and he said to the Jews: ‘Behold your king!’ But they cried out: ‘Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them: ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:12-15).
What a terrible scene! Christ―the Son of God, both God and man, Creator and King of, not only the Jews, but of the whole Universe which He had made―rejected and condemned to death by prideful blind creatures! History repeats itself―and if we do not know our history, we will be forced to learn it by repeating it! Today, all throughout the world, “the kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” (Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:26). “Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Thy law, and have not minded Thy commandments!” (2 Esdras 9:34).
● They have condoned murder through legalizing abortion―ignoring God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not kill!”
● They have ‘killed’ marriages by condoning and legalizing divorce―when God said: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder!” Matthew 19:6).
● They are guilty of promoting impurity and adultery by permitting grossly indecent fashions that would have had people arrested had they appeared like that in public 60 or 70 years ago―thus encouraging lustful thoughts and actions, despite Our Lord warning: “Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28).
● They have enabled pornography to exist while it is clearly possible to stamp most of it out―thereby exacerbating the sin that Our Lady said (way back in 1917) led most souls to Hell. As Our Lord threatened: “Whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me; it would be better for him if a millstone was placed around his neck, and he was cast into the sea!” (Mark 9:41).
● They have legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages―thereby contradicting God’s law: “Thou shalt not lie with a man as with woman, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13). “Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighboring cities, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire!” (Jude 1:7).
● They have legalized prostitution―thereby going against the law of God: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid!” (1 Corinthians 6:15). “Make not thy daughter a common prostitute, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness!” (Leviticus 19:29).
● They have reversed the values of Christ by promising people wealth and riches and encouraging them to seek wealth and riches (even though a minority will always hold the majority of the world’s wealth)―when Christ has said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God! … The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!’” (combined account of Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25; Mark 4:19). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
● The world continually creates more and more things, which are effectively false idols that distract us and take us away from God and which we implicitly put in the place of God. We hold a ‘god’ in our hands via the smartphone, which answers all our “prayers” or questions in seconds―much faster than God ever did! We adoringly pass hours each day “worshiping” in front of our tabernacles―the television, computer or tablet screen. We buy or build the best “temples” (houses) that we can afford and lavish hours upon them in cleaning, maintaining, repairing and improving them―yet our souls, which are temples of God, are in a state of disrepair ― “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and that you are not your own? … Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 6:15-19).
The list is endless―the above examples are merely the tip of the iceberg of the vast number of man-made laws that contradict the laws of God. In this way man has dethroned God (Christ) and crowned himself―making himself the judge of what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil.
No Room for the King
Just as there “there was no room for Jesus in the inn” at Bethlehem (Luke 2:7), there is little or no room for Christ the King in our lives today. Our life is too crowded. Too many things have come into our lives. We have too much to do and too little time to do it in―consequently there is even less time for Our Lord. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests―but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His Head!” (Matthew 8:20).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … [Christ is] the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and his own received Him not” (John 1:1-11). “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:43). “They loved Him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto Him” (Psalm 77:36).
That just about sums up our “Christian” world today―or what’s left of it: “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God … They loved Him with their mouth and with their tongue they lied unto Him!” The world comes first―though many might protest that is not true―but when you add up the hours given to God and hours given to the world, then the math does not lie. They are quite simply not loving God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength―yet somehow they expect that God will still let them waltz into Heaven regardless! These people―if you excuse the language, but it is used deliberately―don’t give a damn whether Christ is King or not; they don’t give a damn if Christ is uncrowned and dethroned; they really don’t care―all they care about is their daily preoccupation with the things of this world, Christ or God or the Faith is merely an afterthought, perhaps an insurance policy that they imagine will save them from Hell. Yet, as you sow, so shall you reap: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The King is Dead! Long Live the King!
You may or may not have heard the phrase: “The king is dead! Long live the king!” Essentially, it means “The [old] king is dead! Long live the [new] king!” The original phrase was translated from the French: “Le roi est mort, vive le roi!” ― which was first declared upon the accession to the French throne of Charles VII after the death of his father Charles VI in 1422. Robert Cecil, one of the architects of the League of Nations, famously concluded his speech at the final session of the League of Nations with the phrase: “The League is dead! Long live the United Nations!”
Today, we can clearly see that phrase being applicable to the Faith and Christ. “The old religion is dead! Long live the new religion!” Or again, “The old Mass is dead! Long live the new Mass!” Or again, “Traditional Catholicism is dead! Long live Liberal Catholicism! Long live Modernism!” Not only prophecy, but Christ the King Himself said that there will be massive loss of Faith in the so-called “End-Times” which Our Lady of Fatima said we have already entered: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Today, that Faith is crumbling―or should we say that the Faith is being replaced by a man-made “faith”, a personal “preferential faith”, a “pick-and-choose what I want to believe kind of faith”. Recent surveys show that 76% of Catholics want the Church to allow the use of birth control. 62% think that the Church should allow priests to marry. 61% think that the church should allow divorced and cohabitating couples to receive Holy Communion. 59% said women should be allowed to become priests. 46% said the church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. 43% say it is NOT a sin to have an abortion. 46% say homosexual behavior is NOT sinful. 83% say to use contraceptives is NOT a sin. 21% say divorce in NOT a sin. On the matter of the dogma of the Real Presence of Jesus with His Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, 70% of Catholics said they believed the bread and wine used at Mass are NOT Jesus, but ONLY SYMBOLS of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
“Virtual Reality” is replacing “Actual Reality”
The adjective “virtual” is used to describe something that almost exists, is almost real, is almost true, but does not really exist, is not real, is not really true. We speak of “virtual reality” which is not “actual reality” but is made to look as though it is actually real. The definition of “virtual reality” comes, naturally, from the definitions for both “virtual” and “reality”. The definition of “virtual” is “near, almost” and “reality” is “the state of things as they actually exist”. So the term “virtual reality” basically means “near-reality” or “almost reality”―but still not reality.
Virtual Reality Training is the digital simulation of lifelike scenarios for training purposes. A lot of training is done these days by using “virtual reality”―for example, airline pilots are placed in a “virtual cockpit” which then encounters “virtual storms” or “virtual engine failure” or “virtual malfunctioning” of certain parts of the “virtual airplane.” Health care uses “virtual reality” training to immerse students in a “virtual reality” surgical experience, to observe surgeries and surgical procedures from a first-person perspective, long before they are in an “actual reality” surgical residency. The military will use “virtual reality” in military training simulators that are programmed with real-life battle scenarios, as well as training soldiers to be less hesitant about killing (once you get used to killing in a “virtual reality” environment, then you are more likely to do the same in “actual reality”.
With regard to computing, something “virtual” is something existing, seen, or happening online or on a computer screen, rather than in person or in the physical world. Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. This is achieved in several ways―on a computer, or on a mobile head device (a kind of computerized visor that you put on over your eyes); or in a computerized room where all the walls, floor and ceiling are screens. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image that can be explored interactively at a personal computer, usually by manipulating keys or the mouse so that the content of the image moves in some direction or zooms in or out. More sophisticated efforts involve such approaches as wrap-around display screens, actual rooms augmented with wearable computers, and haptics (sensory) devices that let you feel the display images.
With time, the increasing or even constant use of “virtual reality” can lead and does lead to blurring the differences and dividing-line between “actual reality” and “virtual reality”. It is a little like the proverb: “Tell a lie enough times and people will believe that the lie is the truth.” Give the people enough “make believe” (or “virtual reality”) and you will make them believe that the “make believe” (or “virtual reality”) is actually worth believing as being true!
In today’s modern world there has been an explosion of “virtual” things and activities, especially during the recent lockdowns―we have seen virtual attendance at Sunday Mass; virtual doctor’s appointments; virtual school classes; virtual meetings online; virtual cooking classes; virtual maintenance classes; virtual tours of museums; virtual sports; some problems on your computer can be virtually analyzed and repaired by tech support. In fact, there is so many “virtual” activities going on that “virtual” can start to feel like “actual”. During the lockdowns many even took part in a “virtual Mass” by watching it streamed live online, but were not present at the “actual Mass” that is taking place, not in their home location, but in some church―yet they “felt” as though they had fulfilled their Sunday obligation by “attending” Mass “virtually” (on screen). Some now prefer that way of “assisting” at Mass―even though it is not “real” and does not fulfill the Sunday obligation of being physically present at Mass.
A “Virtual” King and a “Virtual” Faith
Today―perhaps without even knowing or realizing it―most Catholics are living in a “virtual Catholic Faith” which is of their own making, their own “tweaked Catholic Faith”, their personally “preferred Catholic Faith”, their “tailor-made Catholic Faith.” The same can be said for their ideas about Christ. They rarely have “objective ideas” (based on reality) about Christ, but they have “subjective ideas” (personally tweaked and tailored ideas) about Christ. Just like a tailor makes a suit to fit one particular person, so too do many Catholics “tailor-make” Christ to fit their own personal preferences.
For some Christ is “all love” and “all mercy” without at trace of justice or punishment! For others, Christ is “all fire and brimstone” and will not let anything go unpunished! Some imagine that just because they are Catholics, they must automatically go to Heaven! While all who are not Catholics will automatically go to Hell. While other say that it doesn’t matter what religion you are―you will still go to Heaven! Some even say there is no such thing as Hell or damnation! Some think almost everything is a sin―others think that nothing is a sin! Some focus on their “pet-peeve” sins and ignore others. For example, some will watch like a hawk and have the “eye of an eagle” for a woman who is not wearing a veil or head-covering in church―and they are all too ready to “staple” a veil on such a woman’s head! While for others impure thoughts of the mind are not even looked upon as being sins―because they don’t hurt anyone, and besides: “I am only looking!” There are an increasing numbers of Catholics who think that you can be a “good Catholic” even if you don’t attend Mass on Sundays! Some believe that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―others believe the Holy Eucharist is merely a symbol of Christ. Yet both claim to be “good Catholics”. All of this is a consequence, a result, a byproduct of each person’s “Virtual Catholic Faith”―which looks like the Catholic Faith, but is not the “Real Catholic Faith”. Yet all claim to be “good Catholics”―all think they are going to Heaven.
St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, has a passage that speaks of what we could call “virtual devotion” being passed-off as being a “real devotion”―what he writes could just as well be said of a “virtual Faith” and a “real Faith” or “actual Faith”. Here is that passage:
“There is only one true devotion while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational. Aurelius used to draw all the faces in the pictures he painted with the expressions and appearance of the women he loved. So, too, does each one represent devotion according to his liking and imagination. He who is in the habit of fasting will think that because he fasts he is very devout, even though his heart is filled with hatred towards some people. Another who is anxious about sobriety, will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbor by speaking ill of him or by making false statements about him. Another considers himself devout because of the very great number of prayers that he recites every day, even though, soon after this, he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbors. Another very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor, but cannot show any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another will forgive his enemies, but will not pay what he owes―unless he is legally forced to do so. All such persons are generally looked upon as devout―whereas in fact they are not. When Saul’s soldiers came looking for David in his house, Michal placed a statue on a bed and covered it with David’s clothes and so made them believe that it was David himself asleep due to illness (1 Kings 19:11-16). In the same way, many people cover themselves with various external actions that are related to holy devotion. The world takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual, whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, chapter 1).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday October 19th to Thursday October 21st
Article 8
Better Late Than Never!
Tuesday October 19th to Thursday October 21st
Article 8
Better Late Than Never!
Better Late Than Never!
The phrase “Better late than never!” means that doing something late is better than not doing it at all. The delayed response, occurrence or achievement of something that one desires is better than it not happening at all. This phrase is often used to acknowledge that something has finally occurred― perhaps begrudgingly, or reluctantly. A doctor might say it to a patient arriving late for his appointment, for example: “We've been waiting for you for an hour—but better late than never!” Or, again, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had those symptoms? Well, better late than never!”
Even though some claim the phrase was used in the 1200s, Geoffrey Chaucer appears to have been the first person to have put the proverb into print, around 1386, in The Canterbury Tales―it is found in The Yeoman's Prologue and Tale. The Olde English rendition is: “For bet than never is late!” ― meaning “Better than never is late!”
In Holy Scripture, you could imagine that phrase being said to the “Good Thief” on the cross on Calvary, whose conversion took place in the very last hours of his life. St. Alphonsus Liguori’s book, The Glories of Mary, is full of such examples of sinners being converted by Our Lady just before death.
God could be said to use the same phrase in addressing the innumerable souls who eventually make it to Heaven after being purified in fires of Purgatory―sometimes for centuries. We think of Fatima, where Lucia asked Our Lady about the situation and whereabouts of her 18-year-old friend, Amelia, who had recently died―and Our Lady replied that she would be in Purgatory until the end of the world. “Better late than never!” Better to get to Heaven late after being “fried”, than “roasting” forever in the fires of Hell!
We see this “better late than never” situation is one of Our Lord’s parables: “A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard!’ And he answering, said: ‘I will not!’ But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: ‘I go, Sir!’ but he went not. Which of the two did the father’s will? They said to Him: ‘The first!’” (Matthew 21:28-31). Hence, “better late than never”!
On the other hand, we do not see a “better late than never” ending in Our Lord’s parable about the wise and foolish virgins: “The kingdom of Heaven is like the ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And with the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. At midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves, lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you!’ Now whilst they went to buy oil, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’ Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13). The bridegroom does not open the locked door and say to the five foolish latecomer virgins: “O come on in! Better late than never!” ― but he locks them out and says: “I know you not!”
“Eleventh-hour” conversions are a reminder to us all that God is still knocking at the door of our lives all lifelong. However, it is also a solemn warning that “too late” is a possibility. As someone has said: “Don’t wait to be saved until the eleventh hour—you might die at 10:30!” ― as Our Lord says: “Watch, therefore! Because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13). Scripture adds: “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief!” ― that is to say, unexpectedly (2 Peter 3:10). “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night!” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).
Half-a-Loaf is Better than None!
A similar phrase or idiom to “Better late than never!” is “Half-a-loaf is better than none!” ― meaning, “Something is better than nothing, even if it is not all you wanted.” It is better to receive less than what one wants or needs, than to receive nothing at all. This expression was already listed as being a proverb in John Heywood’s 1546 collection of proverbs. G. K. Chesterton repeated it in his essay, What’s Wrong with the World, saying: “Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.” You could also apply that, not only to the modern statesman, but also the modern Catholic―for whom half-the-Faith is better than the whole Faith, for you can then be 50% faithful and 50% worldly.
Nevertheless, if you can’t get to Heaven directly, then to burn in Purgatory is better than burning in Hell―“Half-a-loaf is better than none!” You might even be surprised to hear that St. Thomas Aquinas says―with regard to existence―that it is better to exist than not exist; and then he adds, rather surprisingly or shockingly, that it is better to have existence even if you end up being damned in Hell, than not having existence at all!
Who wants to go to Hell? Hopefully nobody! Yet most people do end up in Hell. Therefore, it is better to take some measures to prevent that from happening, rather than take no measures at all. If you cannot get to daily Mass, then one or two extra Masses a week is better than none. If you cannot pray the entire 15 decades of the Rosary daily, then 5 or 10 decades is better than none. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). There are too many Catholics sowing sparingly and consequently not reaping enough grace to save their souls!
Sowing sparingly is sowing half-heartedly―it is merely taking half-measures. Yes, as stated above, “Half-a-loaf is better than none!” ― but sometimes “half-a-loaf” is not enough and too little to gain Heaven. It is a little like being “a day late and dollar short” ― in which case the “better late than never” and “half-a-loaf is better than none” doesn’t quite cut it! As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing): “Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! Woe to souls like this! Woe!” Currently, most Catholics are operating in the “too little, too late” mode and that is why we find ourselves in the current mess―which is only going to get worse due to our indifference, neglect or flat our refusal to do what Heaven requires.
Information Constipation
We are living in a time of “Information Constipation”―where we want to know everything that is going on, everything that is happening, but we do not want to do anything about it―apart from spreading that information to others. We keep on taking in more and more information―to the point of information overload―like the greedy glutton who has stuffed himself so much with food, that he has no energy and no inclination to do anything else but just lie on the couch. We are gluttons for information, but do nothing with that information, we do not ‘exercise’ with that information, and because we do not use that information to make changes, we consequently grow intellectually fat on that information―information is always coming in, but no action is ever coming out: hence the “Information Constipation”.
Junk food makes you constipated. Doctors will tell you that a junk food diet and an inactive lifestyle are the most common causes of constipation. For example, consuming too much bread and greasy foods will give your digestive system a hard time to break down the food especially if you’re not drinking enough water and consuming enough fiber. There are also preservatives inside junk food that are not good for our body. Despite tasting good and being cheap, eating fast food every day can hurt not only our digestive system over time, but even some of our organs. A lack of exercise and eating too much junk food can wreak havoc on your digestive health. Likewise, reading too much junk information and leaving no time for spiritual exercise, will wreak havoc on your spiritual health and is guaranteed to cause “Information Constipation”.
As Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone―but by every word of God that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) … “Therefore, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice!” (Matthew 6:33) … “Love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Our chief diet should God and things of God―yet we prefer to binge and stuff ourselves with the “bread” of worldly information, happenings and events―and we have little or no taste for the “bread” of God, that is to say, the word of God. “But what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Despite that we are shocked, indignant, insulted and in disbelief when we are told that most Catholic souls end up being damned! Such an attitude borders on being blasphemous by implicitly questioning the fairness of God and His judgments.
Never Mind the Virus―the Faith is Dying!
For almost two years now, there has been a massive focus on the “virus” and now the “vaccine” which is touted as the “solution” to the virus! We have been bombarded daily―for nearly two years―about all kinds of stats and “facts” about these things. We have been forced to do “penance” by self-isolating, by quarantining, by lockdowns, by our movements being restricted―and some have even done that “penance” willingly, and even added to it―by religiously wearing silly masks; wearing plastic gloves; wearing hats with plastic shields covering the face; even wearing masks while driving alone or our walking alone; spraying everything with disinfectant; wiping down door handles, trolley handles, car door handles, steering wheels, etc.
This thing has become a veritable “RELIGION” with its own creed and its own commandments! “Big Pharma is the lord thy god―thou shalt not put God’s natural cures above Big Pharma! … Thou shalt honor Fauci and Big Pharma! … Thou shalt not bear false witness against Fauci and the doctors! … Thou shalt love Big Pharma with all thy mind, heart, soul and strength! … Thou shalt wear a mask at all times! … Thou shalt not kill grandma by neglecting to wear a mask! … Thou shalt not take the name of Covid in vain! … Thou shalt not bear false witness against Covid, nor its vaccine! … Thou shalt not take natural remedies in the place of the vaccine! … Thou shalt not covet natural remedies! … etc.”
The six-chief commandments of this Covid Church are: “Thou shalt regularly be tested for Covid! … Thou shalt receive the vaccine or booster shots at least once a year! … Thou shalt contribute to the support of Big Pharma! … Thou shalt confess your state of vaccination (show your vaccination passport) to everyone who asks for proof! … Thou shalt not mix or marry the unvaccinated (the “unbaptized”) … Thou shalt excommunicate (sack from their jobs) those who commit the “mortal sin” of refusing the vaccine.”
Furthermore, thou shalt believe the Covid “Gospel” as it is preached by the mainstream media and thou shalt not question its “dogmas”. Thou shalt not believe the heresy of natural medicine. There is “no salvation” outside of the vaccine. Go into the whole world and preach the vaccine to all nations, vaccinating every creature in the name of the Elite, and of Big Pharma, and of the Unholy Spirit. Amen! The vaccine is the “way”, the “truth” and the “life” ― there is no “salvation” to be found in anything else! He who “believes” and is vaccinated will “save” his life (but only for a few years)―and he who seeks to save his life by not being vaccinated, will be hauled-off and put in a camp, where there will weeping and gnashing of teeth! So let your light (vaccine passport) shine before all men, so that they, seeing your good work of being vaccinated, may glorify your father, the “prince of this world”, who lets his vaccine fall upon the good and the evil alike―his “kingdom” is within you!
Is Half-a-Mind Better Than None?
What is meant by the term “have half-a-mind to do something”? The phrase especially refers to the feeling that one would like to do something when angry and annoyed, while at the same time not really planning to do it―as in: “I have half-a-mind to tell my boss what I think of him, but I would probably get the sack―so I’ll just keep my mouth shut!” Or again: “I have half-a-mind to refuse being vaccinated, but I will probably lose my job―so I guess I will reluctantly have get the jab!” Or again: “I have half-a-mind to pray most Rosaries in view of this current crisis in the Church and the world, but I don’t know if it will do much good―so I won’t!” A similar phrase is “to be in two minds about something” ― which means having two conflicting opinions or ideas about something, as in “I'm in two minds about these mandates―they don’t make sense to me, but then it doesn’t make sense losing my job and my rights by resisting them!”
You could say that the Church is in “two minds” about fulfilling Our Lord’s and Our Lady’s command to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In August of 1931, Our Lord complained to Sister Lucia of Fatima about the tardiness of His ministers who delay the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima on June 13th, 1929 at Tuy, two years and two months earlier. Sister Lucia reported to her bishop the important revelation: “
“My confessor ordered me to inform Your Excellency about what happened a little while ago, between our Good God and myself: As I was asking God for the conversion of Russia, Spain and Portugal, His Divine Majesty said to me: ‘Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.’”
In another text she wrote: “Later, Our Lord complained to me: ‘They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France [who refused to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus] they will repent of it! They will do it, but it will be late! Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer.’”
The same can be said of our attitude towards God and the world―we are in two minds and hesitant about whether or not to “throw ourselves in the deep end” and follow God and His commandments and teachings wholeheartedly. For to do that would make us unpopular among family, friends, neighbors and work colleagues―so we choose the middle road and straddle the fence by having one foot in the camp of God and the other foot in the camp of the world. This is exactly what Our Lord condemned when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
It is worrisome and perplexing to see how few people have figured-out what is going on in the world today! The words of Holy Scripture can so easily be applied to them: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Matthew 13:15). “O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
Selective Hearing
We are all guilty―some more than others―of selective hearing; selecting what we would like to hear, and tuning-out what we do not like to hear. That is the general trait of Protestantism―and Catholicism has been becoming increasingly Protestant over the last 60 years or so. Subjectivity trumps objectivity; feelings trump clear cold logic; our preferences trump God’s preferences. Hence it is that Sr. Lucia says―already back in 1957―Catholics are essentially doing what they want to do, and not what Heaven wants them to do: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Who is wise to understand these things?” (Osee 14:10). “Make this man understand the vision!” (Daniel 8:16). “The senseless man shall not know―nor will the fool understand these things!” (Psalm 91:7). “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4). “They have not known, nor understood! For their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart!” (Isaias 44:18). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “O ye sons of men! How long will you be dull of heart?” (Psalm 4:3). “How long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16]). “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:9). “How do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21). “O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end!” (Deuteronomy 32:29). “Understand these things―you that forget God―lest He snatch you away and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22). “Understand, ye senseless among the people! You fools―be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
Eyes Blinded & Ears Plugged by the World
We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the vanities of the world. The word “vanity” comes from the Latin word “vanus” ― meaning “empty, vacant, without substance, meaningless, pointless” ― which perfectly sums up the vanities of the world! “God knows the vanity of men!” (Job 11:11). “Their days were consumed in vanity!” (Psalm 77:33). “Why do you love vanity?” (Psalm 4:3). “We have been seduced by vanity and have not kept thy commandments!” (2 Esdras 1:7). “The bewitching of vanity obscures good things, and overturns the innocent mind!” (Wisdom 4:12).
Vanities are essentially trivialities. They are non-essentials, secondary or even tertiary occupations. They do little or nothing with regards to what is essential―the salvation of our souls. Our Lord is blunt and clear on this point: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). What does it profit your salvation to spend hours and hours in front of the TV screen; or getting “information constipation” surfing the websites on your computer; or hours on end on your smartphone; or (for the few who still exercise) hours in the gym or playing some sport; or the hours spent pursuing hobbies and pastimes; or socializing, or gossiping? All these are trivialities when placed alongside the daily care and maintenance that must be given to the soul. We brag about a new car, a new deck, a new house, a new phone, a new computer, a bigger TV, new clothes, or some new discovery we have made―or the many extra hours we have put into one project, hobby or task. Yet we neglect what Our Lord calls “the one thing necessary!”
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Martha stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
The Necessary Has Become Unnecessary
Today, the necessary has sadly become unnecessary. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). The most necessary thing―loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength―is now no longer seen as necessary. We put most of our heart, mind, soul and strength into other things. Just count up the hours you spend on “non-God” things! “Ah!” you say, “I cannot give all my time to God―I have other things to do: a family to look after, a daily job that I must tend to, children to teach, a house to clean, maintain and repair, meals to cook, etc.” That is true―but God, who never demands the impossible, says in Holy Scripture: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), whereas we surf without ceasing! God says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1), whereas we can play all day and not faint! God says: “Watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33), whereas we watch television and play, forgetting what time it is!
The primary has become secondary, what should matter has become immaterial, what should be cared for is neglected, and what should be despised is loved; goodness is seen as being evil, and evil is seen as being good. To uphold the Ten Commandments is coercing free-will, while killing babies through abortion is deemed as a good that comes from a choice made by our free-will. We will sack doctors and medical staff who will not be vaccinated, but we will not sack and imprison doctors and medical staff who kill babies! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Now we have gone from aborting babies to “aborting” living persons through “killer jabs”. What is evil, we pretend is good! Whereas the good natural medicines of God we try to call “evil”―in philosophy, the word “evil” means lacking a good that should be present; and so the mainstream media and mainstream medics try to tell us that God’s natural cures cannot cure what is presently threatening us! Only their “man-made” cures will work! Well, they DO seem work―they seem work the death of those that receive them! Very efficiently too! God said to Adam and Eve: “Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth!” Today, human mini-gods that seek to replace God, are saying: “Decrease and depopulate the Earth!”
Better Wait and Never!
Blessed are they who have waited and decided never to take the vaccines. “Blessed are the undefiled” (Psalm 118:1) ... “Blessed are they who search testimonies” (Psalm 118:2) … “Blessed are they that saw…” (Ecclesiasticus 48:11) ... “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:16) … “Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see!” (Luke 10:23). “Blessed are the clean …” (Matthew 5:8). “The light [Christ] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved! … The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 3:19-20; 7:7).
Our Lord warned: “Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come and they will seduce many!” (Matthew 24:4-5). “And many false prophets [like Fauci, Gates and all the governmental and medical liars―even the Pope and many bishops and priests] shall rise, and shall seduce many [into believing the vaccines are morally good, safe and necessary]!” (Matthew 24:11). “There will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders [“miracle” vaccines], to seduce―if it were possible―even the elect!” (Mark 13:22). “For they that are such, serve not Christ our Lord, but their own [selves or Satan]; and, by pleasing speeches and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent!” (Romans 16:18).
On the other hand, as the saying goes: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” and as Holy Scripture says: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). The fools that have taken the vaccine need to be injected with some common sense! They foolishly believed the lies of the world―whose prince is Satan: “the prince of this world … the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 12:31; 8:44). As they say: “Like father, like son!” The world, like a son, will imitate Satan in his lies.
As Scripture says: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 3:19). The “wisdom” of taking the jab is foolishness with God―and the evil perpetrators (or perpe-traitors) of the evil vaccines have be caught in their own craftiness. There is more than sufficient evidence to convict them―but, when the courts are also in the hands of Satan (Our Lady of Good Success foretold that “the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects!”), then there is no chance of them ever being convicted, for they are, for the most part, all in the same boat).
Having Half a Mind to Do Something is Being a Half-Wit
Having half-a-mind to do something invariably means you do nothing. You would like to say something―but you don’t. You would like to do something―but you don’t. You have half-a-mind to pray more―but you don’t. You have half-a-mind to make sacrifices―but you don’t. All you do is constipate your mind (or half-a-mind) with more and more information, but do little or nothing about it―apart from constipating the minds of others by constantly passing on your constipated information to others. That only makes others waste even more time by having to read your constipated information―which they probably already know anyway. How many times do you have to be told the house is on fire before you actually DO SOMETHING about it? We repeat and gossip about the same information more than we say Hail Marys! What is going to change the world? The gossip, the information constipation or the praying of Hail Marys? If you have half-a-mind, then you should remember what Our Lady said:
“Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
Yes! “Pray the Rosary every day! Pray many Rosaries! Pray, pray very much! Be faithful and fervent in prayer!” Yet only 2% to 4% pray the Rosary daily―but 80% to 90% (who really knows) gossip and cause information constipation every day! Time wasted! Our Lady is sad―as Sr. Lucia says―and Satan is happy and loving it!
Is it too late to do anything? It is better late than never―but we will seriously have to answer for and give an account to God for our delay! How many souls have been lost and damned due to our delay―souls that God wanted to save, could have saved, but did not save because we refused to cooperate. As St. Augustine says: “God can save man without man’s cooperation―but God will not save man without man’s cooperation!” We have not and still do not cooperate with Him to the degree that He expects us to cooperate. We have been given the “talent” of the Faith and we have buried in the ground. That is why many are finding that their Faith is being taken away from them!
“A man going into a far-away country, called his servants and delivered to them his goods. To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability―and immediately he took his journey. He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. He that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. He that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
For that neglectful, lazy servant, there was no “better late than never” ― even though he might have had “half-a-mind to do something”, he never did anything―it was a case of too late and never another chance. You could he was “a day late and dollar short”! That is how most of us are today! A day late, and a prayer short! Too busy constipating ourselves with information and not acting upon it―or praying upon it. Praying for things is always going to be more effective than reading about things!
The phrase “Better late than never!” means that doing something late is better than not doing it at all. The delayed response, occurrence or achievement of something that one desires is better than it not happening at all. This phrase is often used to acknowledge that something has finally occurred― perhaps begrudgingly, or reluctantly. A doctor might say it to a patient arriving late for his appointment, for example: “We've been waiting for you for an hour—but better late than never!” Or, again, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had those symptoms? Well, better late than never!”
Even though some claim the phrase was used in the 1200s, Geoffrey Chaucer appears to have been the first person to have put the proverb into print, around 1386, in The Canterbury Tales―it is found in The Yeoman's Prologue and Tale. The Olde English rendition is: “For bet than never is late!” ― meaning “Better than never is late!”
In Holy Scripture, you could imagine that phrase being said to the “Good Thief” on the cross on Calvary, whose conversion took place in the very last hours of his life. St. Alphonsus Liguori’s book, The Glories of Mary, is full of such examples of sinners being converted by Our Lady just before death.
God could be said to use the same phrase in addressing the innumerable souls who eventually make it to Heaven after being purified in fires of Purgatory―sometimes for centuries. We think of Fatima, where Lucia asked Our Lady about the situation and whereabouts of her 18-year-old friend, Amelia, who had recently died―and Our Lady replied that she would be in Purgatory until the end of the world. “Better late than never!” Better to get to Heaven late after being “fried”, than “roasting” forever in the fires of Hell!
We see this “better late than never” situation is one of Our Lord’s parables: “A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard!’ And he answering, said: ‘I will not!’ But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: ‘I go, Sir!’ but he went not. Which of the two did the father’s will? They said to Him: ‘The first!’” (Matthew 21:28-31). Hence, “better late than never”!
On the other hand, we do not see a “better late than never” ending in Our Lord’s parable about the wise and foolish virgins: “The kingdom of Heaven is like the ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And with the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. At midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves, lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you!’ Now whilst they went to buy oil, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’ Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13). The bridegroom does not open the locked door and say to the five foolish latecomer virgins: “O come on in! Better late than never!” ― but he locks them out and says: “I know you not!”
“Eleventh-hour” conversions are a reminder to us all that God is still knocking at the door of our lives all lifelong. However, it is also a solemn warning that “too late” is a possibility. As someone has said: “Don’t wait to be saved until the eleventh hour—you might die at 10:30!” ― as Our Lord says: “Watch, therefore! Because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13). Scripture adds: “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief!” ― that is to say, unexpectedly (2 Peter 3:10). “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night!” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).
Half-a-Loaf is Better than None!
A similar phrase or idiom to “Better late than never!” is “Half-a-loaf is better than none!” ― meaning, “Something is better than nothing, even if it is not all you wanted.” It is better to receive less than what one wants or needs, than to receive nothing at all. This expression was already listed as being a proverb in John Heywood’s 1546 collection of proverbs. G. K. Chesterton repeated it in his essay, What’s Wrong with the World, saying: “Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.” You could also apply that, not only to the modern statesman, but also the modern Catholic―for whom half-the-Faith is better than the whole Faith, for you can then be 50% faithful and 50% worldly.
Nevertheless, if you can’t get to Heaven directly, then to burn in Purgatory is better than burning in Hell―“Half-a-loaf is better than none!” You might even be surprised to hear that St. Thomas Aquinas says―with regard to existence―that it is better to exist than not exist; and then he adds, rather surprisingly or shockingly, that it is better to have existence even if you end up being damned in Hell, than not having existence at all!
Who wants to go to Hell? Hopefully nobody! Yet most people do end up in Hell. Therefore, it is better to take some measures to prevent that from happening, rather than take no measures at all. If you cannot get to daily Mass, then one or two extra Masses a week is better than none. If you cannot pray the entire 15 decades of the Rosary daily, then 5 or 10 decades is better than none. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). There are too many Catholics sowing sparingly and consequently not reaping enough grace to save their souls!
Sowing sparingly is sowing half-heartedly―it is merely taking half-measures. Yes, as stated above, “Half-a-loaf is better than none!” ― but sometimes “half-a-loaf” is not enough and too little to gain Heaven. It is a little like being “a day late and dollar short” ― in which case the “better late than never” and “half-a-loaf is better than none” doesn’t quite cut it! As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing): “Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! Woe to souls like this! Woe!” Currently, most Catholics are operating in the “too little, too late” mode and that is why we find ourselves in the current mess―which is only going to get worse due to our indifference, neglect or flat our refusal to do what Heaven requires.
Information Constipation
We are living in a time of “Information Constipation”―where we want to know everything that is going on, everything that is happening, but we do not want to do anything about it―apart from spreading that information to others. We keep on taking in more and more information―to the point of information overload―like the greedy glutton who has stuffed himself so much with food, that he has no energy and no inclination to do anything else but just lie on the couch. We are gluttons for information, but do nothing with that information, we do not ‘exercise’ with that information, and because we do not use that information to make changes, we consequently grow intellectually fat on that information―information is always coming in, but no action is ever coming out: hence the “Information Constipation”.
Junk food makes you constipated. Doctors will tell you that a junk food diet and an inactive lifestyle are the most common causes of constipation. For example, consuming too much bread and greasy foods will give your digestive system a hard time to break down the food especially if you’re not drinking enough water and consuming enough fiber. There are also preservatives inside junk food that are not good for our body. Despite tasting good and being cheap, eating fast food every day can hurt not only our digestive system over time, but even some of our organs. A lack of exercise and eating too much junk food can wreak havoc on your digestive health. Likewise, reading too much junk information and leaving no time for spiritual exercise, will wreak havoc on your spiritual health and is guaranteed to cause “Information Constipation”.
As Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone―but by every word of God that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) … “Therefore, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice!” (Matthew 6:33) … “Love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Our chief diet should God and things of God―yet we prefer to binge and stuff ourselves with the “bread” of worldly information, happenings and events―and we have little or no taste for the “bread” of God, that is to say, the word of God. “But what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Despite that we are shocked, indignant, insulted and in disbelief when we are told that most Catholic souls end up being damned! Such an attitude borders on being blasphemous by implicitly questioning the fairness of God and His judgments.
Never Mind the Virus―the Faith is Dying!
For almost two years now, there has been a massive focus on the “virus” and now the “vaccine” which is touted as the “solution” to the virus! We have been bombarded daily―for nearly two years―about all kinds of stats and “facts” about these things. We have been forced to do “penance” by self-isolating, by quarantining, by lockdowns, by our movements being restricted―and some have even done that “penance” willingly, and even added to it―by religiously wearing silly masks; wearing plastic gloves; wearing hats with plastic shields covering the face; even wearing masks while driving alone or our walking alone; spraying everything with disinfectant; wiping down door handles, trolley handles, car door handles, steering wheels, etc.
This thing has become a veritable “RELIGION” with its own creed and its own commandments! “Big Pharma is the lord thy god―thou shalt not put God’s natural cures above Big Pharma! … Thou shalt honor Fauci and Big Pharma! … Thou shalt not bear false witness against Fauci and the doctors! … Thou shalt love Big Pharma with all thy mind, heart, soul and strength! … Thou shalt wear a mask at all times! … Thou shalt not kill grandma by neglecting to wear a mask! … Thou shalt not take the name of Covid in vain! … Thou shalt not bear false witness against Covid, nor its vaccine! … Thou shalt not take natural remedies in the place of the vaccine! … Thou shalt not covet natural remedies! … etc.”
The six-chief commandments of this Covid Church are: “Thou shalt regularly be tested for Covid! … Thou shalt receive the vaccine or booster shots at least once a year! … Thou shalt contribute to the support of Big Pharma! … Thou shalt confess your state of vaccination (show your vaccination passport) to everyone who asks for proof! … Thou shalt not mix or marry the unvaccinated (the “unbaptized”) … Thou shalt excommunicate (sack from their jobs) those who commit the “mortal sin” of refusing the vaccine.”
Furthermore, thou shalt believe the Covid “Gospel” as it is preached by the mainstream media and thou shalt not question its “dogmas”. Thou shalt not believe the heresy of natural medicine. There is “no salvation” outside of the vaccine. Go into the whole world and preach the vaccine to all nations, vaccinating every creature in the name of the Elite, and of Big Pharma, and of the Unholy Spirit. Amen! The vaccine is the “way”, the “truth” and the “life” ― there is no “salvation” to be found in anything else! He who “believes” and is vaccinated will “save” his life (but only for a few years)―and he who seeks to save his life by not being vaccinated, will be hauled-off and put in a camp, where there will weeping and gnashing of teeth! So let your light (vaccine passport) shine before all men, so that they, seeing your good work of being vaccinated, may glorify your father, the “prince of this world”, who lets his vaccine fall upon the good and the evil alike―his “kingdom” is within you!
Is Half-a-Mind Better Than None?
What is meant by the term “have half-a-mind to do something”? The phrase especially refers to the feeling that one would like to do something when angry and annoyed, while at the same time not really planning to do it―as in: “I have half-a-mind to tell my boss what I think of him, but I would probably get the sack―so I’ll just keep my mouth shut!” Or again: “I have half-a-mind to refuse being vaccinated, but I will probably lose my job―so I guess I will reluctantly have get the jab!” Or again: “I have half-a-mind to pray most Rosaries in view of this current crisis in the Church and the world, but I don’t know if it will do much good―so I won’t!” A similar phrase is “to be in two minds about something” ― which means having two conflicting opinions or ideas about something, as in “I'm in two minds about these mandates―they don’t make sense to me, but then it doesn’t make sense losing my job and my rights by resisting them!”
You could say that the Church is in “two minds” about fulfilling Our Lord’s and Our Lady’s command to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In August of 1931, Our Lord complained to Sister Lucia of Fatima about the tardiness of His ministers who delay the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima on June 13th, 1929 at Tuy, two years and two months earlier. Sister Lucia reported to her bishop the important revelation: “
“My confessor ordered me to inform Your Excellency about what happened a little while ago, between our Good God and myself: As I was asking God for the conversion of Russia, Spain and Portugal, His Divine Majesty said to me: ‘Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.’”
In another text she wrote: “Later, Our Lord complained to me: ‘They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France [who refused to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus] they will repent of it! They will do it, but it will be late! Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer.’”
The same can be said of our attitude towards God and the world―we are in two minds and hesitant about whether or not to “throw ourselves in the deep end” and follow God and His commandments and teachings wholeheartedly. For to do that would make us unpopular among family, friends, neighbors and work colleagues―so we choose the middle road and straddle the fence by having one foot in the camp of God and the other foot in the camp of the world. This is exactly what Our Lord condemned when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
It is worrisome and perplexing to see how few people have figured-out what is going on in the world today! The words of Holy Scripture can so easily be applied to them: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Matthew 13:15). “O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
Selective Hearing
We are all guilty―some more than others―of selective hearing; selecting what we would like to hear, and tuning-out what we do not like to hear. That is the general trait of Protestantism―and Catholicism has been becoming increasingly Protestant over the last 60 years or so. Subjectivity trumps objectivity; feelings trump clear cold logic; our preferences trump God’s preferences. Hence it is that Sr. Lucia says―already back in 1957―Catholics are essentially doing what they want to do, and not what Heaven wants them to do: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Who is wise to understand these things?” (Osee 14:10). “Make this man understand the vision!” (Daniel 8:16). “The senseless man shall not know―nor will the fool understand these things!” (Psalm 91:7). “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4). “They have not known, nor understood! For their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart!” (Isaias 44:18). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “O ye sons of men! How long will you be dull of heart?” (Psalm 4:3). “How long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16]). “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:9). “How do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21). “O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end!” (Deuteronomy 32:29). “Understand these things―you that forget God―lest He snatch you away and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22). “Understand, ye senseless among the people! You fools―be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
Eyes Blinded & Ears Plugged by the World
We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the vanities of the world. The word “vanity” comes from the Latin word “vanus” ― meaning “empty, vacant, without substance, meaningless, pointless” ― which perfectly sums up the vanities of the world! “God knows the vanity of men!” (Job 11:11). “Their days were consumed in vanity!” (Psalm 77:33). “Why do you love vanity?” (Psalm 4:3). “We have been seduced by vanity and have not kept thy commandments!” (2 Esdras 1:7). “The bewitching of vanity obscures good things, and overturns the innocent mind!” (Wisdom 4:12).
Vanities are essentially trivialities. They are non-essentials, secondary or even tertiary occupations. They do little or nothing with regards to what is essential―the salvation of our souls. Our Lord is blunt and clear on this point: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). What does it profit your salvation to spend hours and hours in front of the TV screen; or getting “information constipation” surfing the websites on your computer; or hours on end on your smartphone; or (for the few who still exercise) hours in the gym or playing some sport; or the hours spent pursuing hobbies and pastimes; or socializing, or gossiping? All these are trivialities when placed alongside the daily care and maintenance that must be given to the soul. We brag about a new car, a new deck, a new house, a new phone, a new computer, a bigger TV, new clothes, or some new discovery we have made―or the many extra hours we have put into one project, hobby or task. Yet we neglect what Our Lord calls “the one thing necessary!”
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Martha stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
The Necessary Has Become Unnecessary
Today, the necessary has sadly become unnecessary. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). The most necessary thing―loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength―is now no longer seen as necessary. We put most of our heart, mind, soul and strength into other things. Just count up the hours you spend on “non-God” things! “Ah!” you say, “I cannot give all my time to God―I have other things to do: a family to look after, a daily job that I must tend to, children to teach, a house to clean, maintain and repair, meals to cook, etc.” That is true―but God, who never demands the impossible, says in Holy Scripture: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), whereas we surf without ceasing! God says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1), whereas we can play all day and not faint! God says: “Watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33), whereas we watch television and play, forgetting what time it is!
The primary has become secondary, what should matter has become immaterial, what should be cared for is neglected, and what should be despised is loved; goodness is seen as being evil, and evil is seen as being good. To uphold the Ten Commandments is coercing free-will, while killing babies through abortion is deemed as a good that comes from a choice made by our free-will. We will sack doctors and medical staff who will not be vaccinated, but we will not sack and imprison doctors and medical staff who kill babies! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Now we have gone from aborting babies to “aborting” living persons through “killer jabs”. What is evil, we pretend is good! Whereas the good natural medicines of God we try to call “evil”―in philosophy, the word “evil” means lacking a good that should be present; and so the mainstream media and mainstream medics try to tell us that God’s natural cures cannot cure what is presently threatening us! Only their “man-made” cures will work! Well, they DO seem work―they seem work the death of those that receive them! Very efficiently too! God said to Adam and Eve: “Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth!” Today, human mini-gods that seek to replace God, are saying: “Decrease and depopulate the Earth!”
Better Wait and Never!
Blessed are they who have waited and decided never to take the vaccines. “Blessed are the undefiled” (Psalm 118:1) ... “Blessed are they who search testimonies” (Psalm 118:2) … “Blessed are they that saw…” (Ecclesiasticus 48:11) ... “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:16) … “Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see!” (Luke 10:23). “Blessed are the clean …” (Matthew 5:8). “The light [Christ] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved! … The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 3:19-20; 7:7).
Our Lord warned: “Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come and they will seduce many!” (Matthew 24:4-5). “And many false prophets [like Fauci, Gates and all the governmental and medical liars―even the Pope and many bishops and priests] shall rise, and shall seduce many [into believing the vaccines are morally good, safe and necessary]!” (Matthew 24:11). “There will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders [“miracle” vaccines], to seduce―if it were possible―even the elect!” (Mark 13:22). “For they that are such, serve not Christ our Lord, but their own [selves or Satan]; and, by pleasing speeches and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent!” (Romans 16:18).
On the other hand, as the saying goes: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” and as Holy Scripture says: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). The fools that have taken the vaccine need to be injected with some common sense! They foolishly believed the lies of the world―whose prince is Satan: “the prince of this world … the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 12:31; 8:44). As they say: “Like father, like son!” The world, like a son, will imitate Satan in his lies.
As Scripture says: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 3:19). The “wisdom” of taking the jab is foolishness with God―and the evil perpetrators (or perpe-traitors) of the evil vaccines have be caught in their own craftiness. There is more than sufficient evidence to convict them―but, when the courts are also in the hands of Satan (Our Lady of Good Success foretold that “the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects!”), then there is no chance of them ever being convicted, for they are, for the most part, all in the same boat).
Having Half a Mind to Do Something is Being a Half-Wit
Having half-a-mind to do something invariably means you do nothing. You would like to say something―but you don’t. You would like to do something―but you don’t. You have half-a-mind to pray more―but you don’t. You have half-a-mind to make sacrifices―but you don’t. All you do is constipate your mind (or half-a-mind) with more and more information, but do little or nothing about it―apart from constipating the minds of others by constantly passing on your constipated information to others. That only makes others waste even more time by having to read your constipated information―which they probably already know anyway. How many times do you have to be told the house is on fire before you actually DO SOMETHING about it? We repeat and gossip about the same information more than we say Hail Marys! What is going to change the world? The gossip, the information constipation or the praying of Hail Marys? If you have half-a-mind, then you should remember what Our Lady said:
“Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
Yes! “Pray the Rosary every day! Pray many Rosaries! Pray, pray very much! Be faithful and fervent in prayer!” Yet only 2% to 4% pray the Rosary daily―but 80% to 90% (who really knows) gossip and cause information constipation every day! Time wasted! Our Lady is sad―as Sr. Lucia says―and Satan is happy and loving it!
Is it too late to do anything? It is better late than never―but we will seriously have to answer for and give an account to God for our delay! How many souls have been lost and damned due to our delay―souls that God wanted to save, could have saved, but did not save because we refused to cooperate. As St. Augustine says: “God can save man without man’s cooperation―but God will not save man without man’s cooperation!” We have not and still do not cooperate with Him to the degree that He expects us to cooperate. We have been given the “talent” of the Faith and we have buried in the ground. That is why many are finding that their Faith is being taken away from them!
“A man going into a far-away country, called his servants and delivered to them his goods. To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability―and immediately he took his journey. He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. He that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. He that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
For that neglectful, lazy servant, there was no “better late than never” ― even though he might have had “half-a-mind to do something”, he never did anything―it was a case of too late and never another chance. You could he was “a day late and dollar short”! That is how most of us are today! A day late, and a prayer short! Too busy constipating ourselves with information and not acting upon it―or praying upon it. Praying for things is always going to be more effective than reading about things!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday October 17th & Monday October 18th
Article 7
The Pandora's Box of Fatima
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday October 17th & Monday October 18th
Article 7
The Pandora's Box of Fatima
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What was Pandora’s Box?
A “Pandora’s box” is a metaphor in our modern languages, and the proverbial phrase refers to a source of endless complications or trouble arising from a single, simple miscalculation. Pandora’s story comes to us from ancient Greek mythology, specifically a set of epic poems by Hesiod, called the Theogony and Works and Days. Written during the 7th century BC, these poems relate how the gods came to create Pandora and how the gift Zeus gave her, ultimately ends the Golden Age of humankind.
Before we “open Pandora’s box” and link it to Fatima, let us learn a little about the background to the “box” and the chief characters that surround it―otherwise we risk remaining on superficial level of only having a vague understanding and little knowledge of what we are talking about―and, as they say, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” There is more to Pandora’s Box than meets the eye! Before opening Pandora’s Box, let us first open our eyes to the events and characters―to see what symbolism or lessons they have for our day. For, as they say, “If you do not know your history, you will have to learn it by repeating it!” In this case, it is not history strictly speaking, but Greek mythology.
Events Before the Box
The story of Pandora’s box begins with the story of Zeus, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were Titans―but had pledged their loyalty to Zeus and the Olympians, since Prometheus was born with the special power of prophecy and knew that Zeus would defeat the Titans. Zeus rewarded Prometheus and Epimetheus for their loyalty and gave them the job of creating the first creatures to live on Earth. Prometheus was given the task of forming men. Epimetheus formed the animals and gave each a special skill and form of protection.
Prometheus & Fire
Prometheus took his time molding man, and was left with no forms of protection, since Epimetheus had already given all forms of protection to the animals. Prometheus knew man needed some form of protection and asked Zeus if he could let man have fire. Zeus refused. Fire was only for the gods. Prometheus ignored Zeus and defied the other gods by stealing fire and giving it to humans. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced Prometheus to eternal torment for his transgression. We can see in Prometheus a symbol of Lucifer―meaning “Light-bearer” and fire is a form of light―who defied God and sentenced to eternal torment in the fires of Hell. Lucifer seeks to give the fire of Hell to all of mankind. Just as the fall of Prometheus came before the creation of Pandora, so too did Lucifer’s fall come before the creation of Eve. The common denominator of fire in the case of Prometheus and Lucifer is obvious―just as the link between Pandora and Eve/Mary is also obvious as we shall see later―though it is obviously an unintended in Greek mythology.
The Revenge of the Gods
This torture eternal torture of Prometheus, for his defiance and theft, wasn’t enough of a punishment for Zeus, who also believed that humans should be punished for accepting the gift of the stolen fire from Prometheus. The enraged king of gods, Zeus, decided to give humanity a punishing gift to compensate for the benefit of the stolen fire which they had been given. To punish man, Zeus commanded that a woman―the first ever human woman―named Pandora should be created. She was molded to look like the beautiful goddess Aphrodite. She received the gifts of wisdom, beauty, kindness, peace, generosity, and health from the gods. Yet these attractive attributes were meant to hide the evil that Pandora would bring. The woman, Pandora― whom mythology calls a “beautiful evil” (just as the beautiful Eve committed evil)―was fashioned out of clay and, as mythology states: “From her is the race of women and female kind; from her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble.” All the gods contributed something to the making of Pandora― Hephaestus created her from clay, shaping her perfectly and beautifully. Aphrodite gave her femininity, dressed her in silvery clothing, taught her weaving and other crafts. Hermes made her lovely as a goddess and was ordered by Zeus to teach her to be deceitful with the gift of speech to tell lies, stubborn and curious, and nature of a treacherous dog. Pandora was to be the first of a race of women, the first bride and a great misery, who would live with mortal men as companions only in times of plenty, and desert them when times became difficult. According to Hesiod, Pandora was a curse on mankind for accepting from the rebel Prometheus the fire he had stolen from the gods. The only reason why the king of gods, Zeus, had Pandora created was to punish mankind.
Pandora's Beauty and Guile
All of the above gifts that the gods bestowed upon Pandora made her “beautifully evil”, according to Hesiod. Pandora was “sheer guile, not to be resisted by men” says Greek mythology―and the guile of Eve was not resisted Adam, whom Eve beguiled into eating the forbidden fruit. Pandora, whom mythology calls a “beautiful evil”, was made to make her descendants torment the human race―Eve’s descendants are tormented by the effects of Eve’s evil act, through the effects of Original Sin, being passed on to every human being. After Pandora had been made by the gods, Hermes took her to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, to be his wife. Prometheus―fearing further punishments from the gods―had already advised Epimetheus not to accept anything from the Gods, but when Epimetheus saw Pandora, he was astonished by her beauty, and thus he accepted her right away as his wife.
Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s deceitful feminine nature becomes the least of humanity’s worries. For she brings with her a jar, which was a wedding present from the king of gods, Zeus, to Pandora and her new husband Epimtheus. Zeus had given Pandora a container, called “pithos” in Greek―which strictly means “jar”. The word “pithos” or “jar” was uniformly employed by all Greek writers in telling the myth until the 16th century AD. Pithoi are huge storage jars that are typically partly buried in the ground. The first reference to something other than a pithos comes from the 16th-century writer Lilius Giraldus of Ferrara, who in 1580 used the word pyxis (or casket) to refer to the holder of evils opened by Pandora. Although the translation was not exact, it is a meaningful error, because a pyxis is a ‘whitened sepulcher’―a beautiful fraud. Eventually, the casket became simplified as “box”.
When Zeus gave Pandora the box (jar/casket/container), he warned her never to open it. But Pandora, who was deliberately created to be curious, couldn’t stay away from the box and the urge to open the box eventually overcame her. Evil spirits immediately flew out of the box―among them were greed, envy, strife, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, death and myriad other ills. Out from the jar flew every trouble known to humanity. All of life’s miseries had been let out into the world. Pandora slammed the lid of the box back down. The last spirit remaining inside of the box was Hope―in Greek, Elpis, which is usually translated as “hope.” Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope, in order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out.
From this mythological story we have the idiom “to open a Pandora’s box”, meaning to do or start something that will cause many unforeseen problems. A modern, more colloquial equivalent is “to open a can of worms.”
Pandora, Eve & Mary
In Greek mythology, the name “Pandora” comes from the Greek word “pān” meaning “all” and “dōron” meaning “gift”, thus “the all-endowed”, “all-gifted” or “all-giving”). In this sense, you could link Pandora to Our Lady, who “all-endowed”, “all-gifted”, “full of grace” and “blessed among women”. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus from the clay of the earth, on the instructions of the king of gods, Zeus. In this sense, you could link Pandora to Eve―the first woman who was created by God. Pandora’s other name is “Anesidora” meaning “she who sends gifts” ― which can be linked to Our Lady who distributes all the gifts or graces of God.
Is Fatima a “Pandora’s Box”?
This brings us to the title of the article and the possible or potential link between the reality of Fatima and the mythology of “Pandora’s Box”. In a certain sense, a very loose sense, you could say that the “Third Secret of Fatima” is a potential “Pandora’s Box”―which, if “opened” and revealed (as Our Lady wanted), would release the news of terrible things that are to come upon the world. Yet just as in the mythological story of “Pandora’s Box”, where Pandora slammed the lid back down after opening the box―thus keeping the spirit of Hope inside the box before it too escaped―Our Lady’s “Pandora’s Box” or Our Lady’s Third Secret of Fatima also contains some hope despite the terrible things that it reveals.
The essential difference between the “Third Secret of Fatima” and “Pandora’s Box” is that the letter containing the “Third Secret” was TO BE OPENED, whereas “Pandora’s Box” was NOT TO BE OPENED. Yet both contained terrible evils for mankind.
If Our Lady’s Third Secret would have been opened to the world, then perhaps the Pandora’s Box of evil would not have been opened―that was obviously the intend of Our Lord and Our Lady. Yet from 1929, which is when Sr. Lucia was told by Heaven that the time to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, one pope after another refused to make the consecration in the exact manner as demanded by Our Lady. They made their own personal versions of the consecrations―but not as requested by Heaven. A whole line and succession of popes failed in their duty― Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John-Paul I, John-Paul II, Benedict XVI & Francis. You could say that the evils of which Our Lady warned us about, are like a cancer―if you do not deal with it early, at the very beginning, then the cancer grows, causes much damage, and is increasingly harder to fight and defeat.
Pope John Paul II on the “Pandora’s Box” of Evil
This “cancer” had been allowed to spread so much that by 1980, Pope John Paul II―who had read the Third Secret of Fatima―stated that we could no longer defeat it, but only mitigate it, that is to say, soften the blow. The October 1981 issue of the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980. The following is a verbatim report of the discussion as published by the German Catholic magazine Stimme des Glaubens:
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves.”
“On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
Universal Blame―Our Sins Have Opened Pandora’s Box
We live in an age where we love to “shoot from the lip” and “point the finger”―it is never our fault and, as they say, “Attack is the best form defense!” So we attack others in order avoid focus on ourselves. We blame others before we can be blamed. The sins of others are not our fault, we say. We lamely protest with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). As regards our own sins we blame on others―it was something they did or didn’t do that led us ‘sin’. In confession, we try to exculpate ourselves (free ourselves from blame) by trying to pin as much as we can on others or a variety of circumstances. We do “love the sinner”―not in the correct way―but because the sinner “makes us look good.” If it wasn’t for the sinners in the world, then we would look pretty bad! We act and talk as though we had sin of our own―but that is a blatant lie, for Holy Scripture says: “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
The problem of sin has been the repeated focus of Our Lady at her modern-day apparitions. Our Lady of Good Success speaks of those sins: “The demon will persecute the Ministers of the Lord, corrupting many of them! … There will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … Every type of vice will enter! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times! Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty! There will be almost no virgin souls in the world! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women! … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children!”
Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of sin: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … By their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to those who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance! … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! … The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin! … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Our Lady of Fatima asks the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
Pandora’s Box of Sin
A lack of seriousness is listening to and obeying Our Lady’s request for much prayer and sacrifice to convert sinners and reduce sin, has led to a pandemic of sin. Our neglect, indifference or even refusal to cooperate with Our Lady’s demands is a major cause of that pandemic.
► ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS: USA data for 2018 show an overall average of 40% of children (4 in 10) being born out of wedlock―for Blacks it is 70% (7 in 10); American Indians 68% (almost 7 in 10); Native Hawaiians 50% (1 in 2); Hispanics 51% (1 in 2) and Whites, 30% (3 in 10. Half of all births in New York City are illegitimate, and in some neighborhoods the proportion reaches 80%.
► DIVORCE: Researchers claim that almost 50% of all marriages in the United States will sooner or later end in divorce or separation. Researchers also estimate that 40% percent of all first marriages will end in divorce.
► COHABITATION: As for cohabitation instead of marriage, the number of unmarried partners living together in the United States nearly tripled in two decades since 2000, from 6 million to 17 million, which is 7% of the total adult population].
► SAME-SEX MARRIAGES OR SAME-SEX COHABITATION: According the U.S. Census Board, officially reported numbers (the actual number has to be higher) show that there are 543,000 same-sex married couple households (= over 1 million persons) and 469,000 households (almost 1 million persons) with same-sex unmarried partners living together.
► PORNOGRAPHY: In a joint venture commissioned by Proven Men Ministries and conducted by the Barna Group, researchers found that 77% of Christian men between the ages of 18 and 30 view pornography at least monthly, and 36% look at it at least once a day. 32% of these men admit having an addiction to porn, while 12% think they probably are. Christian men more mature in age are not much better off than the previously mentioned younger group, as an identical 77% of men aged 31 to 49 said they viewed pornography at work within the past few months, while 64% admit to looking at it at least once a month. The Barna survey also shows that 18% of these men are addicted to porn, with 8% indicating that they might be suffering from this addiction.
Which is why Scripture can truthfully say: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
A “Pandora’s box” is a metaphor in our modern languages, and the proverbial phrase refers to a source of endless complications or trouble arising from a single, simple miscalculation. Pandora’s story comes to us from ancient Greek mythology, specifically a set of epic poems by Hesiod, called the Theogony and Works and Days. Written during the 7th century BC, these poems relate how the gods came to create Pandora and how the gift Zeus gave her, ultimately ends the Golden Age of humankind.
Before we “open Pandora’s box” and link it to Fatima, let us learn a little about the background to the “box” and the chief characters that surround it―otherwise we risk remaining on superficial level of only having a vague understanding and little knowledge of what we are talking about―and, as they say, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” There is more to Pandora’s Box than meets the eye! Before opening Pandora’s Box, let us first open our eyes to the events and characters―to see what symbolism or lessons they have for our day. For, as they say, “If you do not know your history, you will have to learn it by repeating it!” In this case, it is not history strictly speaking, but Greek mythology.
Events Before the Box
The story of Pandora’s box begins with the story of Zeus, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were Titans―but had pledged their loyalty to Zeus and the Olympians, since Prometheus was born with the special power of prophecy and knew that Zeus would defeat the Titans. Zeus rewarded Prometheus and Epimetheus for their loyalty and gave them the job of creating the first creatures to live on Earth. Prometheus was given the task of forming men. Epimetheus formed the animals and gave each a special skill and form of protection.
Prometheus & Fire
Prometheus took his time molding man, and was left with no forms of protection, since Epimetheus had already given all forms of protection to the animals. Prometheus knew man needed some form of protection and asked Zeus if he could let man have fire. Zeus refused. Fire was only for the gods. Prometheus ignored Zeus and defied the other gods by stealing fire and giving it to humans. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced Prometheus to eternal torment for his transgression. We can see in Prometheus a symbol of Lucifer―meaning “Light-bearer” and fire is a form of light―who defied God and sentenced to eternal torment in the fires of Hell. Lucifer seeks to give the fire of Hell to all of mankind. Just as the fall of Prometheus came before the creation of Pandora, so too did Lucifer’s fall come before the creation of Eve. The common denominator of fire in the case of Prometheus and Lucifer is obvious―just as the link between Pandora and Eve/Mary is also obvious as we shall see later―though it is obviously an unintended in Greek mythology.
The Revenge of the Gods
This torture eternal torture of Prometheus, for his defiance and theft, wasn’t enough of a punishment for Zeus, who also believed that humans should be punished for accepting the gift of the stolen fire from Prometheus. The enraged king of gods, Zeus, decided to give humanity a punishing gift to compensate for the benefit of the stolen fire which they had been given. To punish man, Zeus commanded that a woman―the first ever human woman―named Pandora should be created. She was molded to look like the beautiful goddess Aphrodite. She received the gifts of wisdom, beauty, kindness, peace, generosity, and health from the gods. Yet these attractive attributes were meant to hide the evil that Pandora would bring. The woman, Pandora― whom mythology calls a “beautiful evil” (just as the beautiful Eve committed evil)―was fashioned out of clay and, as mythology states: “From her is the race of women and female kind; from her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble.” All the gods contributed something to the making of Pandora― Hephaestus created her from clay, shaping her perfectly and beautifully. Aphrodite gave her femininity, dressed her in silvery clothing, taught her weaving and other crafts. Hermes made her lovely as a goddess and was ordered by Zeus to teach her to be deceitful with the gift of speech to tell lies, stubborn and curious, and nature of a treacherous dog. Pandora was to be the first of a race of women, the first bride and a great misery, who would live with mortal men as companions only in times of plenty, and desert them when times became difficult. According to Hesiod, Pandora was a curse on mankind for accepting from the rebel Prometheus the fire he had stolen from the gods. The only reason why the king of gods, Zeus, had Pandora created was to punish mankind.
Pandora's Beauty and Guile
All of the above gifts that the gods bestowed upon Pandora made her “beautifully evil”, according to Hesiod. Pandora was “sheer guile, not to be resisted by men” says Greek mythology―and the guile of Eve was not resisted Adam, whom Eve beguiled into eating the forbidden fruit. Pandora, whom mythology calls a “beautiful evil”, was made to make her descendants torment the human race―Eve’s descendants are tormented by the effects of Eve’s evil act, through the effects of Original Sin, being passed on to every human being. After Pandora had been made by the gods, Hermes took her to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, to be his wife. Prometheus―fearing further punishments from the gods―had already advised Epimetheus not to accept anything from the Gods, but when Epimetheus saw Pandora, he was astonished by her beauty, and thus he accepted her right away as his wife.
Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s deceitful feminine nature becomes the least of humanity’s worries. For she brings with her a jar, which was a wedding present from the king of gods, Zeus, to Pandora and her new husband Epimtheus. Zeus had given Pandora a container, called “pithos” in Greek―which strictly means “jar”. The word “pithos” or “jar” was uniformly employed by all Greek writers in telling the myth until the 16th century AD. Pithoi are huge storage jars that are typically partly buried in the ground. The first reference to something other than a pithos comes from the 16th-century writer Lilius Giraldus of Ferrara, who in 1580 used the word pyxis (or casket) to refer to the holder of evils opened by Pandora. Although the translation was not exact, it is a meaningful error, because a pyxis is a ‘whitened sepulcher’―a beautiful fraud. Eventually, the casket became simplified as “box”.
When Zeus gave Pandora the box (jar/casket/container), he warned her never to open it. But Pandora, who was deliberately created to be curious, couldn’t stay away from the box and the urge to open the box eventually overcame her. Evil spirits immediately flew out of the box―among them were greed, envy, strife, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, death and myriad other ills. Out from the jar flew every trouble known to humanity. All of life’s miseries had been let out into the world. Pandora slammed the lid of the box back down. The last spirit remaining inside of the box was Hope―in Greek, Elpis, which is usually translated as “hope.” Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope, in order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out.
From this mythological story we have the idiom “to open a Pandora’s box”, meaning to do or start something that will cause many unforeseen problems. A modern, more colloquial equivalent is “to open a can of worms.”
Pandora, Eve & Mary
In Greek mythology, the name “Pandora” comes from the Greek word “pān” meaning “all” and “dōron” meaning “gift”, thus “the all-endowed”, “all-gifted” or “all-giving”). In this sense, you could link Pandora to Our Lady, who “all-endowed”, “all-gifted”, “full of grace” and “blessed among women”. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus from the clay of the earth, on the instructions of the king of gods, Zeus. In this sense, you could link Pandora to Eve―the first woman who was created by God. Pandora’s other name is “Anesidora” meaning “she who sends gifts” ― which can be linked to Our Lady who distributes all the gifts or graces of God.
Is Fatima a “Pandora’s Box”?
This brings us to the title of the article and the possible or potential link between the reality of Fatima and the mythology of “Pandora’s Box”. In a certain sense, a very loose sense, you could say that the “Third Secret of Fatima” is a potential “Pandora’s Box”―which, if “opened” and revealed (as Our Lady wanted), would release the news of terrible things that are to come upon the world. Yet just as in the mythological story of “Pandora’s Box”, where Pandora slammed the lid back down after opening the box―thus keeping the spirit of Hope inside the box before it too escaped―Our Lady’s “Pandora’s Box” or Our Lady’s Third Secret of Fatima also contains some hope despite the terrible things that it reveals.
The essential difference between the “Third Secret of Fatima” and “Pandora’s Box” is that the letter containing the “Third Secret” was TO BE OPENED, whereas “Pandora’s Box” was NOT TO BE OPENED. Yet both contained terrible evils for mankind.
If Our Lady’s Third Secret would have been opened to the world, then perhaps the Pandora’s Box of evil would not have been opened―that was obviously the intend of Our Lord and Our Lady. Yet from 1929, which is when Sr. Lucia was told by Heaven that the time to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, one pope after another refused to make the consecration in the exact manner as demanded by Our Lady. They made their own personal versions of the consecrations―but not as requested by Heaven. A whole line and succession of popes failed in their duty― Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John-Paul I, John-Paul II, Benedict XVI & Francis. You could say that the evils of which Our Lady warned us about, are like a cancer―if you do not deal with it early, at the very beginning, then the cancer grows, causes much damage, and is increasingly harder to fight and defeat.
Pope John Paul II on the “Pandora’s Box” of Evil
This “cancer” had been allowed to spread so much that by 1980, Pope John Paul II―who had read the Third Secret of Fatima―stated that we could no longer defeat it, but only mitigate it, that is to say, soften the blow. The October 1981 issue of the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980. The following is a verbatim report of the discussion as published by the German Catholic magazine Stimme des Glaubens:
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves.”
“On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
Universal Blame―Our Sins Have Opened Pandora’s Box
We live in an age where we love to “shoot from the lip” and “point the finger”―it is never our fault and, as they say, “Attack is the best form defense!” So we attack others in order avoid focus on ourselves. We blame others before we can be blamed. The sins of others are not our fault, we say. We lamely protest with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). As regards our own sins we blame on others―it was something they did or didn’t do that led us ‘sin’. In confession, we try to exculpate ourselves (free ourselves from blame) by trying to pin as much as we can on others or a variety of circumstances. We do “love the sinner”―not in the correct way―but because the sinner “makes us look good.” If it wasn’t for the sinners in the world, then we would look pretty bad! We act and talk as though we had sin of our own―but that is a blatant lie, for Holy Scripture says: “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
The problem of sin has been the repeated focus of Our Lady at her modern-day apparitions. Our Lady of Good Success speaks of those sins: “The demon will persecute the Ministers of the Lord, corrupting many of them! … There will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … Every type of vice will enter! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times! Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty! There will be almost no virgin souls in the world! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women! … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children!”
Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of sin: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … By their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to those who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance! … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! … The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin! … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Our Lady of Fatima asks the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
Pandora’s Box of Sin
A lack of seriousness is listening to and obeying Our Lady’s request for much prayer and sacrifice to convert sinners and reduce sin, has led to a pandemic of sin. Our neglect, indifference or even refusal to cooperate with Our Lady’s demands is a major cause of that pandemic.
► ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS: USA data for 2018 show an overall average of 40% of children (4 in 10) being born out of wedlock―for Blacks it is 70% (7 in 10); American Indians 68% (almost 7 in 10); Native Hawaiians 50% (1 in 2); Hispanics 51% (1 in 2) and Whites, 30% (3 in 10. Half of all births in New York City are illegitimate, and in some neighborhoods the proportion reaches 80%.
► DIVORCE: Researchers claim that almost 50% of all marriages in the United States will sooner or later end in divorce or separation. Researchers also estimate that 40% percent of all first marriages will end in divorce.
► COHABITATION: As for cohabitation instead of marriage, the number of unmarried partners living together in the United States nearly tripled in two decades since 2000, from 6 million to 17 million, which is 7% of the total adult population].
► SAME-SEX MARRIAGES OR SAME-SEX COHABITATION: According the U.S. Census Board, officially reported numbers (the actual number has to be higher) show that there are 543,000 same-sex married couple households (= over 1 million persons) and 469,000 households (almost 1 million persons) with same-sex unmarried partners living together.
► PORNOGRAPHY: In a joint venture commissioned by Proven Men Ministries and conducted by the Barna Group, researchers found that 77% of Christian men between the ages of 18 and 30 view pornography at least monthly, and 36% look at it at least once a day. 32% of these men admit having an addiction to porn, while 12% think they probably are. Christian men more mature in age are not much better off than the previously mentioned younger group, as an identical 77% of men aged 31 to 49 said they viewed pornography at work within the past few months, while 64% admit to looking at it at least once a month. The Barna survey also shows that 18% of these men are addicted to porn, with 8% indicating that they might be suffering from this addiction.
Which is why Scripture can truthfully say: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday October 15th & Saturday October 16th
Article 6
Fatima Lessons for Our Crisis Today
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday October 15th & Saturday October 16th
Article 6
Fatima Lessons for Our Crisis Today
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Nobody is Too Young or Too Old for Our Lady’s Class
There is an axiom of philosophy that says: “The greater contains the lesser” ― meaning that, for example, a student who is 12th Grade will automatically be capable of doing everything that the lower school grades are doing ― unless, of course, the 12th Grader has forgotten what was taught in earlier grades. Similarly, a man who is a bishop, automatically retains all the lower ranks of the clergy. The pope, though he rules the Church, is still a bishop. The higher ranks should be capable of performing everything the lower ranks perform―hence, in serving at the altar, the Master of Ceremonies needs to fully know and have fully mastered all the ‘jobs’ carried out by the lower rank of altar server: thurifer, acolyte, cross bearer, torchbearer, etc. Likewise, anything that is demanded of a child, should be all the more easily accomplished by an adult.
This is perhaps one reason why Our Lady so often chose children as the recipients of her messages, counsels and commands―so that what she demands of children, should be all the more easily accomplished by adults. The purpose of a school―from the viewpoint of teachers―is to teach. The purpose of a school―from the viewpoint of students―is to learn. Unfortunately, there can be bad teachers or bad students that prevent a school from achieving its goals. Ultimately, a student passes or fails. From a purely secular, non-religious, perspective―those who pass the exams, successfully pass through the grades and graduate―can expect a better life than those who fall behind and fail to graduate.
God’s School
The same can be said of God’s spiritual ‘school’, which is largely the Church. Christ founded His ‘School’ (Church) in order to educate the world on what God wanted and how to get to Heaven. Ultimately, God is the teacher―even though God has consistently recruited ‘assistant teachers’ such as the Prophets and the Judges in the Old Testament, and the Apostles and other disciples who were the teaching foundation of the Church in the New Testament era. Holy Scripture makes that clear on many occasions: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘I will teach thee what thou shalt speak!’” (Exodus 4:11-12). “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘I will give thee the law and the commandments, which I have written, so that thou mayest teach them!’” (Exodus 24:12). “Therefore, you shall teach the children of Israel…” (Leviticus 15:31). Moses himself says: “The Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Call together the people unto Me, that they may hear My words, and may teach their children!’ … And he commanded me that I should teach you!” (Deuteronomy 4:10-14). “I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath said, and I will not conceal it!” (Job 27:11). “And the Lord raised up judges … but they would not listen to them!” (Judges 2:16). “They shall teach My people” (Ezechiel 44:23).
In the New Testament, Our Lord comes to teach and tells us to learn: “Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1) … “He began to teach by the sea side … He began to teach in the synagogue … He began to teach them many things” (Mark 4:1; 6:2; 6:34). And they said to Him: “Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth!” (Matthew 22:16). Our Lord also chose His ‘assistant teachers’ to help Him teach and preach the word of God: “Having called His twelve disciples together, these twelve Jesus sent, commanding them, saying: Go ye and preach, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 10:1-7). “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations! … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:18-20). “Calling together the twelve Apostles, … He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God … And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two, and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come, saying: ‘He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!’” (Luke 9:1-2; 10:1, 10:16). “And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus” (Acts 5:42).
As for us―the students in the school of God―Our Lord says: “I am the way and the truth! No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Our Lord also gives the answer: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil … He stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him ... But if I say the truth, you believe Me not!” (John 8:43-47). We might be aghast, shocked, insulted to be told that we are of the devil―but if we are not listening to God and doing what God commands then, by default, we are of the devil. If we are more worldly than we are spiritual, then, by default, we are more of the devil than we are of God, for the devil is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). By their fruits you shall know them: “By their fruits you shall know them. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16:20). If you like―in God’s school―our grades are our fruits.
Christ’s School is Easy but Hard!
That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? How can something be easy but hard? Well, it all depends upon your attitude! Some students find school easy because they want to learn, they like to learn, they seek to learn, they take time to learn, they work at learning―to them school is easy, for the school is not set up to trip them up, to catch them out, to make them fail. As the saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!”
On the other hand, some students do not want to learn, they look upon learning as being boring and a waste of time, they would rather not be in class, but outside playing and having fun. They do not really listen in class; they neglect their homework; they have no love for learning―and so, to them, school is hard. They will fail and perhaps get expelled―for, as St. Augustine says: “God could save man without man’s cooperation, but God will not save man without man’s cooperation.” Sadly, most of God’s ‘students’ do not cooperate with God, and so their grade is “F”, or should that be “H” for Hell―since most souls are damned, despite God wanting to and trying to save ALL SOULS, but most souls refuse to cooperate with God.
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks of the “School of Suffering” for which she and her Son are seeking students―but hardly anybody wishes to enroll: “Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
The School of Fatima
That is what Our Lady essentially came to teach in her ‘school’ at Fatima, in which she enrolled Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Fatima is a lesson for our days―if we would only carefully study the lesson and unearth its treasures. The lesson of Fatima contains the answers to the problems that we increasingly witnessing all around us, and to which we have no answers―only guesses. Just as it is possible to read a book superficially and get little out of it―so, too, we can look at Fatima superficially and learn little from it. To the superficial observer, Fatima does not have a lot to offer by way of instruction―but just as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the superficial observer barely hears the handful of words the priest pronounces at the Consecration and only sees what look likes bread being elevated, and totally misses out on the greatest action that takes place on Earth by failing to “dig deeper” and find God under the outward appearance of bread―so too do many people fail to discover the treasure chest of events and instructions found in Fatima, which are like an instructive beacon in the dark days that we have entered into―and which promise to only get darker with the passage of time.
In the unfolding events and successive events of Fatima we find a gold mine of instruction. We have the miraculous apparitions of Our Lady, the miracles she performs, the cures that she promises, the warnings that she sounds, the existence of Hell and vast number of souls who go there, the political upheavals and wars of which she forewarns, the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father, worldwide apostasy, the martyrdom of Catholic clergy and laity, the (still not revealed) Third Secret of Fatima, the solutions that she offers, the focus on the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary with sacrifice and suffering, the Freemasonic intervention, the persecution of the children, the imprisonment of the children, the division caused within families, the skepticism of Catholics, the consequential 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that ensues and which claims the lives of two of the seers―Francisco and Jacinta.
There is a wealth of information, instruction, good example, good advice, encouragement, strength and confidence to be found in the lessons of Fatima―if we would only take time to assiduously examine, study and learn from them.
The School of Providence
The chief thing that comes forth from Fatima―the foundation upon which all the events of Fatima took place, or the umbrella under which those events were gathered―is the Providence of God. It was because of God’s concern for us that He commanded Our Lady to appear at Fatima in the first place. Nobody can do anything without God―without His permission or will―not even Our Lady. As Our Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from Heaven” (John 3:27). God sent Our Lady from Heaven, just as He sent His Only-Begotten Son from Heaven, because He seeks our salvation: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). Our Lady came to Fatima because innumerable souls were not attaining that everlasting life in Heaven, but were attaining everlasting damnation in Hell―as she herself said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” God’s Providence wanted to provide help and prevent the damnation of so many souls.
Proud modern man―the beneficiary of so many advances in human science and technology―no longer, or barely, acknowledges nor relies upon the Providence of God. Man forgets that is living in the house that God made (Earth), and is breathing God’s air, drinking God’s water, eating God’s food, making things from the materials in God’s creation. Man has become so self-reliant that he no longer relies upon God. In a certain sense, that has always been the case for the majority of men―but today that attitude has intensified exponentially. Today, in one way or another, everyone is a god unto himself: “pride hath held them fast” (Psalm 72:6) … “who in the contempt of his pride despised God” (Judith 13:28). This is especially true of the enemies of Church―in all their different shades and colors, but ultimately led the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and the “king of pride” ― Satan. Yet Catholics are by no means immune to this prideful, independent, self-reliant attitude. Every single human being―Our Lord and Our Lady excepted―are victims of the pride that comes as part of the package of Original Sin―with which are all born. “Pride is hateful before God” (Ecclesiasticus 10:7). “God resisteth the proud” (James 4:6). “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). “I will break the pride of your stubbornness!” (Leviticus 26:19). That is what we have been seeing and will continue to see in the world around us. Truly, “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18) and we are about to see a lot of destruction―and that will be a part of God’s Providence.
Fatima School on Politics
The popular phrase to ensure “political correctness” is summed-up in the popular saying: “Don’t talk about religion and politics!” The reason being that people have strong and deeply-rooted ideas about religion and politics―and therefore, to enter into a discussion of these subjects with people who we barely know or don’t know, risks stirring-up a lot of controversy and argument. A similar phrase, very popular with politicians, is: “Religion and politics don't mix!” You see Joe Biden repeatedly trumpet that idea over many issues―especially abortion. Even recently Biden said: “Life begins at conception. That’s the Church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. I do not believe we have a right to tell other people — women — that they can’t control their body.” O stupid and foolish man! Do you think that God is not going to enforce Hell on those parents, doctors and nurses who unrepentedly murdered babies? Like Hell He will! If Biden was to take his stupid principle to their logical consequences, then you could just as equally say: “The Church rules that killing is wrong! I accept it my personal life. But I refuse to forbid killing upon anyone else ― Christian, Muslim or Jew ― who sincerely believes they can go around killing whoever they want!”
The School of Fatima and Communism
Our Lady came to Fatima to talk about both religion and politics. She spoke about Russia spreading her errors throughout the entire world at a time when Russia was not even a world super-power: “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.” Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the December 1957 Father Fuentes interview, Sr. Lucia of Fatima said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27).
Furthermore, the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” deals with both “religion and politics”! The Third Secret allegedly speaks of a worldwide apostasy from the Faith―beginning at the top of the Church―and also speaks of the political side of things with the Church being persecuted by the State. The spreading of errors by Russia (Communism) throughout the world is essentially the replacement of the religious doctrine of the Church with the political doctrine of atheistic Communism. Satan is ultimately the “shaker and mover” behind all the anti-Christian organizations, whether it be the secret societies such as the Freemasons, or whether it be one of the chief branches of Communism (Russia and China), or whether it be the neo-paganism of most of the modern world.
By God’s Divine Providence, the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 were closely linked with the traumatic upheavals occurring in Russia that same year. This link is not just a calendrical link that shares the same year―1917―but also a link due to the focus on Russia in the messages of Our Lady entrusted to the children and even more by the precise timing of the revelations. Fatima and the two Russian revolutions of March and November, 1917 are clearly contemporaneous events. Our Lady’s appearances to the three young children at Fatima took place from May to October, 1917 ― a six month period that was almost perfectly bracketed by the two great Russian revolutions of that same year. In March of 1917, the thousand-year old Russian monarchy was overthrown and replaced by a moderate, democratically-oriented regime. In November, however, the Bolsheviks led by Lenin seized power and ushered in a new era in modern history ― the era of Communism. Even before that November Revolution of 1917, Our Lady had already referred to the future Communist errors of Russia and not the previous Tsarist errors of Russia.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. Dr. Walsh writes: “Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’ Dr. Walsh then asked: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia replied: “Yes.” (Dr. William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 226).
Concerning this July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha―the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions―that Professor Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ She answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Yet even (or when) if Communism takes over the entire world―which Our Lady said it would―there is no escaping the fact the Communism will be defeated, for Our Lady promised: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” Communism, an instrument of Satan, is, just like Satan, destined to be relegated to the place reserved for eternal losers. However, if we fail, neglect or refuse to fight Our Lady’s battles against Communism, then we might well find ourselves relegated to the same place! For right now, Satan is “on a roll” and is “having a field-day” reaping the majority of souls in the world―and we are partly to blame for that by ignoring Our Lady’s commands and solutions! Nobody loves a loser―and in Hell nobody loves anyone―for they are all losers, having lost their souls to Satan. Don’t be one of those losers!
The School of Fatima and Freemasonry
Another political aspect of Fatima that is often forgotten is involvement of Freemasonry with the events of Fatima. 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. 2017 also marked the 300th anniversary of the foundation of Freemasonry―with the establishment of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717. In his account of the events at Fatima, personally verified by Sr. Lucia, Father John de Marchi's tells of the hostility of local Freemasons towards Our Lady and the three visionaries at Fatima. It is often forgotten that Arthur Santos, the mayor of Vila Nova de Ourem, who persecuted and psychologically tortured the three children, was a member of the Masonic Lodge of Leiria, and founded a new lodge in his native Vila Nova de Ourem. The Masonic Lodge at Santarem, a neighboring town to Fatima, became the rallying point to atheistic opposition to Our Lady of Fatima. In September 1917, men from Santarem joined up with men from Vila Nova de Ourem and marched to the site of the apparitions at the Cova da Iria. They proceeded to attack the make-shift shrine with axes. A local newspaper gave the following account:
“With an axe they cut the tree under which the three shepherd children stood during the famous phenomenon of the 13th of this month. They took away the tree, together with a table on which a modest altar had been arranged, and on which a religious image (of Our Lady) had been placed. They also took a wooden arch, two tin lanterns, and two crosses, one made of wood and the other of bamboo-cane wrapped in tissue paper. These prize exhibits, including, as a footnote explains, a bogus version of the tree, were placed on exhibit in a house not far from the Seminary at Santarem, and an entrance fee exacted from those who wished to enter and be entertained at the widely advertised religious farce. One disappointment to the sponsors was the fact that not everyone, even among the Church's active critics, agreed it was amusing. The profits from the exhibit were to be turned over to a local charity, but the beneficiaries said very politely, ‘Thank you! No!”
“Later, in the evening, a blasphemous procession was held. The parade was headed by two men thumping on drums (a newspaper account reveals), while just behind it came the famous tree on which the Lady is said to have appeared. Next came the wooden arch, with its lanterns alight, then the altar table and other objects which the faithful had placed upon it at the Cova da Iria. To the sound of blasphemous litanies, the procession passed through the principal streets of the city, returning to the Sa da Band Eira Square, at which point it broke up.”
Sr. Lucia later added a comical note to those Masonic manipulations by revealing that the Masons attacked and destroyed the wrong tree!!! Another case of the clear intervention of Divine Providence!! The same will be true for eternity―the Masons, in trying to destroy the Church and the Faith, will merely destroy themselves by consigning themselves to Hell for eternity. They might win some battles now, but they are destined to lose the war and lose their souls. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our Lady of Good Success had already warned us of Masonic control: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin
The School of War
Our Lady of Fatima foretold that unless WE played our part in the conversion of Russia, the consequences of our refusal, indifference or neglect would see Russia, not only spread her errors throughout the world, but Russia would also provoke wars throughout the world. The 20th century was the most murderous century in recorded history. It is the only century that had World Wars―not just one, but two! The conservative minimal estimated number of total deaths caused by or associated with 20th century wars is said to be between 187 million and 200 million. This century of war, taken as having begun in 1914 with the First World War―was a century of almost unbroken war, with there being very few and very brief periods without some kind of organized armed conflict somewhere in the world. It was dominated by the two World Wars.
Even before Fatima, Our Lady had warned of these wars. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!”
Our Lady added: “Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” That is precisely what our daily diet is today―amusement, entertainment, fun and sin. Furthermore, we living in false sense of security, a false sense of peace, a complacency that makes us feel as though “It can’t happen to us! It won’t happen in my lifetime!” or “God will step in and stop it! God is love, love, love! God is kind, kind, kind!” Yes―God is loving to those who truly love Him, but God acts differently towards those that abuse Him or hate Him. Read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―it shows both sides, or both faces of God! It shows He shows His kind face towards those who obey Him, and then His face of anger towards those who disobey Him. Chapter 28 of the Book of Deuteronomy says much the same thing. In our current times, it is well worth reading those two chapters.
At Fatima, Our Lady reiterated her warnings about wars: “I have come here to say that men must not offend Our Lord any more because He is already very much offended … God is about to punish the world with war ... If the people amend their lives the war will end … This war will end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin.”
On the subject of war―St. Jacinta Marto, one of the three visionaries at Fatima, revealed shortly before she died: “Our Lady said that the world is full of war and discords … Wars are the punishments for sin … Our Lady cannot at present avert the justice of her Son from the world … Penance is necessary. If people amend their lives, our Lord will even yet save the world, but if not, punishment will come.”
Most wars are a punishment for sin. The math is very easy and simple. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. Therefore sin deserves the greatest punishment in the world. Now man’s greatest punishment is death. Therefore sin is deserving of death. War brings death with it. Therefore war is a suitable punishment for sin. Here are the quotes that back that up: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments; if you despise My laws and judgments … then I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will bring in upon you the sword and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, and I will destroy your land, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed! … You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me!” (Leviticus 26:14-40).
We see this truth in the Old Testament where God allows Israel to be invaded and even conquered on account of their sins (cf. Judges 2:14-15, 5:8, 4 Kings 15:37, 1 Paralipomenon 5:22 & 26). We especially see this in God’s punishment of His Chosen People by the Babylonian Captivity, whereby God had Babylon declare war on Juda and destroy Jerusalem with its Temple: “For thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will deliver thee up to fear―thee and all thy friends―and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thy eyes shall see it, and I will give all Juda into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall strike them with the sword. And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its labor, and every precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Juda will I give into the hands of their enemies―and they shall pillage them, and take them away, and carry them to Babylon” (Jeremias 20:4-5). This principle is applied to Gentile nations as well. The Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible; Torah to the Jews) teaches that the Canaanite people, who lived in the Promised Land before Israel, were going to be judged by God for their sins. This was why God let the Israelites wage war on the Canaanites and conquer their land (Leviticus 18:24-28).
In a broader sense of the word “war”, you can say that God allows nature to declare “war” on mankind as a just punishment for sin. The most evident and striking instance of this declaration of war by nature is seen in the case of the Great Flood in the time of Noe, whereby God used nature to destroy almost all the human race because of sin: “God―seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times―it repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repents Me that I have made them!’ … He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh!’” (Genesis 6:5-7; 6:13-17).
Similarly, in the Book of Ezechiel, God threatens to use nature as a weapon to punish the sinfulness of His Chosen People: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because you have not walked in My commandments, and have not kept My judgments … Behold I come against thee, and I Myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee! … A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee! … I, the Lord, have spoken it! I shall send the grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death―which I will send to destroy you! I will gather together famine against you! … And I will send in upon you evil beasts unto utter destruction―and pestilence! … I the Lord have spoken it!” (Ezechiel 5:7-17).
We read a similar account in the Book of the Apocalypse: “And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the Earth, and that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him! … And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and Hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the Earth, to kill with sword, with famine, and with death! … The first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the Earth―and the third part of the Earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded the trumpet, and a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood―and the third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed. And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (Apocalypse 6:4 & 8; 8:7-11).
This is merely the tip of the iceberg of examples in Holy Scripture how God uses nature or our enemies―even if those enemies are themselves great sinners―to punish the world in general and His sinful Chosen People in particular. Today Catholics are those sinful Chosen People―and, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima said, in trying to teach and educate us spiritually: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then! … The Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, and that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world―if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sometimes wars may not be punishments for sin, but belligerent attacks by sinners upon either the Church or the State. Here we think of the many Nazi or Communist invasions of countries in the 20th century. Sometimes God will take the side of the victim nation against the invading nation―at other times He will not (because of the sinful status of the nation that is being invaded―as stated above). Luke 13:1-5 establishes a general principle for evaluating the cause of disaster. Christ tells us that simply because a given group of people was stricken with disaster, this does not mean they were worse sinners than those who were spared. Ultimately, Christ teaches that all of us must repent or we too shall perish: “Some that told Jesus of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Do you think that these Galileans were sinners more than all the other men of Galilee, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them―do you think that they also were greater debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? No, I say to you―unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!’” (Luke 13:1-5).
Nor does this mean that there are no differences between one man’s sins and another’s. We are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10), but we are not equally grievous sinners. Some sins are worse than others: “All iniquity is sin. There is a sin unto death [and] a sin which is not to death!” (1 John 5:16-17), and some people deserve more punishment than others: “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required; and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
So far we have looked at three lessons from Fatima: (1) the political aspect―especially the threat of Communism, (2) the Masonic aspect, (3) the War aspect. In the next article we will cover the remaining lessons that can be drawn from Fatima: (1) the importance of the miraculous apparitions of Our Lady, the miracles she performs, the cures that she promises, the warnings that she sounds, (2) the existence of Hell and vast number of souls who go there, (3) the Faith aspect with worldwide apostasy, persecution of the Church and the Holy Father, and the martyrdom of Catholic clergy and laity, (4) the solutions Our Lady offers, especially with a focus on the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary, Devotion to Mary, sacrifice and suffering, (5) the division and skepticism that Fatima caused among families; and finally, (6) the consequential 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that ensues and which claims the lives of two of the seers―Francisco and Jacinta―and how that relates to our Plannedemic today.
There is an axiom of philosophy that says: “The greater contains the lesser” ― meaning that, for example, a student who is 12th Grade will automatically be capable of doing everything that the lower school grades are doing ― unless, of course, the 12th Grader has forgotten what was taught in earlier grades. Similarly, a man who is a bishop, automatically retains all the lower ranks of the clergy. The pope, though he rules the Church, is still a bishop. The higher ranks should be capable of performing everything the lower ranks perform―hence, in serving at the altar, the Master of Ceremonies needs to fully know and have fully mastered all the ‘jobs’ carried out by the lower rank of altar server: thurifer, acolyte, cross bearer, torchbearer, etc. Likewise, anything that is demanded of a child, should be all the more easily accomplished by an adult.
This is perhaps one reason why Our Lady so often chose children as the recipients of her messages, counsels and commands―so that what she demands of children, should be all the more easily accomplished by adults. The purpose of a school―from the viewpoint of teachers―is to teach. The purpose of a school―from the viewpoint of students―is to learn. Unfortunately, there can be bad teachers or bad students that prevent a school from achieving its goals. Ultimately, a student passes or fails. From a purely secular, non-religious, perspective―those who pass the exams, successfully pass through the grades and graduate―can expect a better life than those who fall behind and fail to graduate.
God’s School
The same can be said of God’s spiritual ‘school’, which is largely the Church. Christ founded His ‘School’ (Church) in order to educate the world on what God wanted and how to get to Heaven. Ultimately, God is the teacher―even though God has consistently recruited ‘assistant teachers’ such as the Prophets and the Judges in the Old Testament, and the Apostles and other disciples who were the teaching foundation of the Church in the New Testament era. Holy Scripture makes that clear on many occasions: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘I will teach thee what thou shalt speak!’” (Exodus 4:11-12). “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘I will give thee the law and the commandments, which I have written, so that thou mayest teach them!’” (Exodus 24:12). “Therefore, you shall teach the children of Israel…” (Leviticus 15:31). Moses himself says: “The Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Call together the people unto Me, that they may hear My words, and may teach their children!’ … And he commanded me that I should teach you!” (Deuteronomy 4:10-14). “I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath said, and I will not conceal it!” (Job 27:11). “And the Lord raised up judges … but they would not listen to them!” (Judges 2:16). “They shall teach My people” (Ezechiel 44:23).
In the New Testament, Our Lord comes to teach and tells us to learn: “Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1) … “He began to teach by the sea side … He began to teach in the synagogue … He began to teach them many things” (Mark 4:1; 6:2; 6:34). And they said to Him: “Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth!” (Matthew 22:16). Our Lord also chose His ‘assistant teachers’ to help Him teach and preach the word of God: “Having called His twelve disciples together, these twelve Jesus sent, commanding them, saying: Go ye and preach, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 10:1-7). “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations! … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:18-20). “Calling together the twelve Apostles, … He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God … And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two, and He sent them, two and two, before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come, saying: ‘He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!’” (Luke 9:1-2; 10:1, 10:16). “And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus” (Acts 5:42).
As for us―the students in the school of God―Our Lord says: “I am the way and the truth! No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Our Lord also gives the answer: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil … He stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him ... But if I say the truth, you believe Me not!” (John 8:43-47). We might be aghast, shocked, insulted to be told that we are of the devil―but if we are not listening to God and doing what God commands then, by default, we are of the devil. If we are more worldly than we are spiritual, then, by default, we are more of the devil than we are of God, for the devil is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). By their fruits you shall know them: “By their fruits you shall know them. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16:20). If you like―in God’s school―our grades are our fruits.
Christ’s School is Easy but Hard!
That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? How can something be easy but hard? Well, it all depends upon your attitude! Some students find school easy because they want to learn, they like to learn, they seek to learn, they take time to learn, they work at learning―to them school is easy, for the school is not set up to trip them up, to catch them out, to make them fail. As the saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!”
On the other hand, some students do not want to learn, they look upon learning as being boring and a waste of time, they would rather not be in class, but outside playing and having fun. They do not really listen in class; they neglect their homework; they have no love for learning―and so, to them, school is hard. They will fail and perhaps get expelled―for, as St. Augustine says: “God could save man without man’s cooperation, but God will not save man without man’s cooperation.” Sadly, most of God’s ‘students’ do not cooperate with God, and so their grade is “F”, or should that be “H” for Hell―since most souls are damned, despite God wanting to and trying to save ALL SOULS, but most souls refuse to cooperate with God.
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks of the “School of Suffering” for which she and her Son are seeking students―but hardly anybody wishes to enroll: “Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
The School of Fatima
That is what Our Lady essentially came to teach in her ‘school’ at Fatima, in which she enrolled Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Fatima is a lesson for our days―if we would only carefully study the lesson and unearth its treasures. The lesson of Fatima contains the answers to the problems that we increasingly witnessing all around us, and to which we have no answers―only guesses. Just as it is possible to read a book superficially and get little out of it―so, too, we can look at Fatima superficially and learn little from it. To the superficial observer, Fatima does not have a lot to offer by way of instruction―but just as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the superficial observer barely hears the handful of words the priest pronounces at the Consecration and only sees what look likes bread being elevated, and totally misses out on the greatest action that takes place on Earth by failing to “dig deeper” and find God under the outward appearance of bread―so too do many people fail to discover the treasure chest of events and instructions found in Fatima, which are like an instructive beacon in the dark days that we have entered into―and which promise to only get darker with the passage of time.
In the unfolding events and successive events of Fatima we find a gold mine of instruction. We have the miraculous apparitions of Our Lady, the miracles she performs, the cures that she promises, the warnings that she sounds, the existence of Hell and vast number of souls who go there, the political upheavals and wars of which she forewarns, the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father, worldwide apostasy, the martyrdom of Catholic clergy and laity, the (still not revealed) Third Secret of Fatima, the solutions that she offers, the focus on the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary with sacrifice and suffering, the Freemasonic intervention, the persecution of the children, the imprisonment of the children, the division caused within families, the skepticism of Catholics, the consequential 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that ensues and which claims the lives of two of the seers―Francisco and Jacinta.
There is a wealth of information, instruction, good example, good advice, encouragement, strength and confidence to be found in the lessons of Fatima―if we would only take time to assiduously examine, study and learn from them.
The School of Providence
The chief thing that comes forth from Fatima―the foundation upon which all the events of Fatima took place, or the umbrella under which those events were gathered―is the Providence of God. It was because of God’s concern for us that He commanded Our Lady to appear at Fatima in the first place. Nobody can do anything without God―without His permission or will―not even Our Lady. As Our Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from Heaven” (John 3:27). God sent Our Lady from Heaven, just as He sent His Only-Begotten Son from Heaven, because He seeks our salvation: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). Our Lady came to Fatima because innumerable souls were not attaining that everlasting life in Heaven, but were attaining everlasting damnation in Hell―as she herself said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” God’s Providence wanted to provide help and prevent the damnation of so many souls.
Proud modern man―the beneficiary of so many advances in human science and technology―no longer, or barely, acknowledges nor relies upon the Providence of God. Man forgets that is living in the house that God made (Earth), and is breathing God’s air, drinking God’s water, eating God’s food, making things from the materials in God’s creation. Man has become so self-reliant that he no longer relies upon God. In a certain sense, that has always been the case for the majority of men―but today that attitude has intensified exponentially. Today, in one way or another, everyone is a god unto himself: “pride hath held them fast” (Psalm 72:6) … “who in the contempt of his pride despised God” (Judith 13:28). This is especially true of the enemies of Church―in all their different shades and colors, but ultimately led the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and the “king of pride” ― Satan. Yet Catholics are by no means immune to this prideful, independent, self-reliant attitude. Every single human being―Our Lord and Our Lady excepted―are victims of the pride that comes as part of the package of Original Sin―with which are all born. “Pride is hateful before God” (Ecclesiasticus 10:7). “God resisteth the proud” (James 4:6). “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). “I will break the pride of your stubbornness!” (Leviticus 26:19). That is what we have been seeing and will continue to see in the world around us. Truly, “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18) and we are about to see a lot of destruction―and that will be a part of God’s Providence.
Fatima School on Politics
The popular phrase to ensure “political correctness” is summed-up in the popular saying: “Don’t talk about religion and politics!” The reason being that people have strong and deeply-rooted ideas about religion and politics―and therefore, to enter into a discussion of these subjects with people who we barely know or don’t know, risks stirring-up a lot of controversy and argument. A similar phrase, very popular with politicians, is: “Religion and politics don't mix!” You see Joe Biden repeatedly trumpet that idea over many issues―especially abortion. Even recently Biden said: “Life begins at conception. That’s the Church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. I do not believe we have a right to tell other people — women — that they can’t control their body.” O stupid and foolish man! Do you think that God is not going to enforce Hell on those parents, doctors and nurses who unrepentedly murdered babies? Like Hell He will! If Biden was to take his stupid principle to their logical consequences, then you could just as equally say: “The Church rules that killing is wrong! I accept it my personal life. But I refuse to forbid killing upon anyone else ― Christian, Muslim or Jew ― who sincerely believes they can go around killing whoever they want!”
The School of Fatima and Communism
Our Lady came to Fatima to talk about both religion and politics. She spoke about Russia spreading her errors throughout the entire world at a time when Russia was not even a world super-power: “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.” Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the December 1957 Father Fuentes interview, Sr. Lucia of Fatima said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27).
Furthermore, the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” deals with both “religion and politics”! The Third Secret allegedly speaks of a worldwide apostasy from the Faith―beginning at the top of the Church―and also speaks of the political side of things with the Church being persecuted by the State. The spreading of errors by Russia (Communism) throughout the world is essentially the replacement of the religious doctrine of the Church with the political doctrine of atheistic Communism. Satan is ultimately the “shaker and mover” behind all the anti-Christian organizations, whether it be the secret societies such as the Freemasons, or whether it be one of the chief branches of Communism (Russia and China), or whether it be the neo-paganism of most of the modern world.
By God’s Divine Providence, the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 were closely linked with the traumatic upheavals occurring in Russia that same year. This link is not just a calendrical link that shares the same year―1917―but also a link due to the focus on Russia in the messages of Our Lady entrusted to the children and even more by the precise timing of the revelations. Fatima and the two Russian revolutions of March and November, 1917 are clearly contemporaneous events. Our Lady’s appearances to the three young children at Fatima took place from May to October, 1917 ― a six month period that was almost perfectly bracketed by the two great Russian revolutions of that same year. In March of 1917, the thousand-year old Russian monarchy was overthrown and replaced by a moderate, democratically-oriented regime. In November, however, the Bolsheviks led by Lenin seized power and ushered in a new era in modern history ― the era of Communism. Even before that November Revolution of 1917, Our Lady had already referred to the future Communist errors of Russia and not the previous Tsarist errors of Russia.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. Dr. Walsh writes: “Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’ Dr. Walsh then asked: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia replied: “Yes.” (Dr. William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 226).
Concerning this July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha―the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions―that Professor Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ She answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Yet even (or when) if Communism takes over the entire world―which Our Lady said it would―there is no escaping the fact the Communism will be defeated, for Our Lady promised: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” Communism, an instrument of Satan, is, just like Satan, destined to be relegated to the place reserved for eternal losers. However, if we fail, neglect or refuse to fight Our Lady’s battles against Communism, then we might well find ourselves relegated to the same place! For right now, Satan is “on a roll” and is “having a field-day” reaping the majority of souls in the world―and we are partly to blame for that by ignoring Our Lady’s commands and solutions! Nobody loves a loser―and in Hell nobody loves anyone―for they are all losers, having lost their souls to Satan. Don’t be one of those losers!
The School of Fatima and Freemasonry
Another political aspect of Fatima that is often forgotten is involvement of Freemasonry with the events of Fatima. 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. 2017 also marked the 300th anniversary of the foundation of Freemasonry―with the establishment of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717. In his account of the events at Fatima, personally verified by Sr. Lucia, Father John de Marchi's tells of the hostility of local Freemasons towards Our Lady and the three visionaries at Fatima. It is often forgotten that Arthur Santos, the mayor of Vila Nova de Ourem, who persecuted and psychologically tortured the three children, was a member of the Masonic Lodge of Leiria, and founded a new lodge in his native Vila Nova de Ourem. The Masonic Lodge at Santarem, a neighboring town to Fatima, became the rallying point to atheistic opposition to Our Lady of Fatima. In September 1917, men from Santarem joined up with men from Vila Nova de Ourem and marched to the site of the apparitions at the Cova da Iria. They proceeded to attack the make-shift shrine with axes. A local newspaper gave the following account:
“With an axe they cut the tree under which the three shepherd children stood during the famous phenomenon of the 13th of this month. They took away the tree, together with a table on which a modest altar had been arranged, and on which a religious image (of Our Lady) had been placed. They also took a wooden arch, two tin lanterns, and two crosses, one made of wood and the other of bamboo-cane wrapped in tissue paper. These prize exhibits, including, as a footnote explains, a bogus version of the tree, were placed on exhibit in a house not far from the Seminary at Santarem, and an entrance fee exacted from those who wished to enter and be entertained at the widely advertised religious farce. One disappointment to the sponsors was the fact that not everyone, even among the Church's active critics, agreed it was amusing. The profits from the exhibit were to be turned over to a local charity, but the beneficiaries said very politely, ‘Thank you! No!”
“Later, in the evening, a blasphemous procession was held. The parade was headed by two men thumping on drums (a newspaper account reveals), while just behind it came the famous tree on which the Lady is said to have appeared. Next came the wooden arch, with its lanterns alight, then the altar table and other objects which the faithful had placed upon it at the Cova da Iria. To the sound of blasphemous litanies, the procession passed through the principal streets of the city, returning to the Sa da Band Eira Square, at which point it broke up.”
Sr. Lucia later added a comical note to those Masonic manipulations by revealing that the Masons attacked and destroyed the wrong tree!!! Another case of the clear intervention of Divine Providence!! The same will be true for eternity―the Masons, in trying to destroy the Church and the Faith, will merely destroy themselves by consigning themselves to Hell for eternity. They might win some battles now, but they are destined to lose the war and lose their souls. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our Lady of Good Success had already warned us of Masonic control: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin
The School of War
Our Lady of Fatima foretold that unless WE played our part in the conversion of Russia, the consequences of our refusal, indifference or neglect would see Russia, not only spread her errors throughout the world, but Russia would also provoke wars throughout the world. The 20th century was the most murderous century in recorded history. It is the only century that had World Wars―not just one, but two! The conservative minimal estimated number of total deaths caused by or associated with 20th century wars is said to be between 187 million and 200 million. This century of war, taken as having begun in 1914 with the First World War―was a century of almost unbroken war, with there being very few and very brief periods without some kind of organized armed conflict somewhere in the world. It was dominated by the two World Wars.
Even before Fatima, Our Lady had warned of these wars. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!”
Our Lady added: “Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” That is precisely what our daily diet is today―amusement, entertainment, fun and sin. Furthermore, we living in false sense of security, a false sense of peace, a complacency that makes us feel as though “It can’t happen to us! It won’t happen in my lifetime!” or “God will step in and stop it! God is love, love, love! God is kind, kind, kind!” Yes―God is loving to those who truly love Him, but God acts differently towards those that abuse Him or hate Him. Read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―it shows both sides, or both faces of God! It shows He shows His kind face towards those who obey Him, and then His face of anger towards those who disobey Him. Chapter 28 of the Book of Deuteronomy says much the same thing. In our current times, it is well worth reading those two chapters.
At Fatima, Our Lady reiterated her warnings about wars: “I have come here to say that men must not offend Our Lord any more because He is already very much offended … God is about to punish the world with war ... If the people amend their lives the war will end … This war will end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin.”
On the subject of war―St. Jacinta Marto, one of the three visionaries at Fatima, revealed shortly before she died: “Our Lady said that the world is full of war and discords … Wars are the punishments for sin … Our Lady cannot at present avert the justice of her Son from the world … Penance is necessary. If people amend their lives, our Lord will even yet save the world, but if not, punishment will come.”
Most wars are a punishment for sin. The math is very easy and simple. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. Therefore sin deserves the greatest punishment in the world. Now man’s greatest punishment is death. Therefore sin is deserving of death. War brings death with it. Therefore war is a suitable punishment for sin. Here are the quotes that back that up: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments; if you despise My laws and judgments … then I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will bring in upon you the sword and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, and I will destroy your land, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed! … You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me!” (Leviticus 26:14-40).
We see this truth in the Old Testament where God allows Israel to be invaded and even conquered on account of their sins (cf. Judges 2:14-15, 5:8, 4 Kings 15:37, 1 Paralipomenon 5:22 & 26). We especially see this in God’s punishment of His Chosen People by the Babylonian Captivity, whereby God had Babylon declare war on Juda and destroy Jerusalem with its Temple: “For thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will deliver thee up to fear―thee and all thy friends―and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thy eyes shall see it, and I will give all Juda into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall strike them with the sword. And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its labor, and every precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Juda will I give into the hands of their enemies―and they shall pillage them, and take them away, and carry them to Babylon” (Jeremias 20:4-5). This principle is applied to Gentile nations as well. The Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible; Torah to the Jews) teaches that the Canaanite people, who lived in the Promised Land before Israel, were going to be judged by God for their sins. This was why God let the Israelites wage war on the Canaanites and conquer their land (Leviticus 18:24-28).
In a broader sense of the word “war”, you can say that God allows nature to declare “war” on mankind as a just punishment for sin. The most evident and striking instance of this declaration of war by nature is seen in the case of the Great Flood in the time of Noe, whereby God used nature to destroy almost all the human race because of sin: “God―seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times―it repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repents Me that I have made them!’ … He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh!’” (Genesis 6:5-7; 6:13-17).
Similarly, in the Book of Ezechiel, God threatens to use nature as a weapon to punish the sinfulness of His Chosen People: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because you have not walked in My commandments, and have not kept My judgments … Behold I come against thee, and I Myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee! … A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee! … I, the Lord, have spoken it! I shall send the grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death―which I will send to destroy you! I will gather together famine against you! … And I will send in upon you evil beasts unto utter destruction―and pestilence! … I the Lord have spoken it!” (Ezechiel 5:7-17).
We read a similar account in the Book of the Apocalypse: “And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the Earth, and that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him! … And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and Hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the Earth, to kill with sword, with famine, and with death! … The first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the Earth―and the third part of the Earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded the trumpet, and a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood―and the third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed. And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (Apocalypse 6:4 & 8; 8:7-11).
This is merely the tip of the iceberg of examples in Holy Scripture how God uses nature or our enemies―even if those enemies are themselves great sinners―to punish the world in general and His sinful Chosen People in particular. Today Catholics are those sinful Chosen People―and, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima said, in trying to teach and educate us spiritually: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then! … The Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, and that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world―if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sometimes wars may not be punishments for sin, but belligerent attacks by sinners upon either the Church or the State. Here we think of the many Nazi or Communist invasions of countries in the 20th century. Sometimes God will take the side of the victim nation against the invading nation―at other times He will not (because of the sinful status of the nation that is being invaded―as stated above). Luke 13:1-5 establishes a general principle for evaluating the cause of disaster. Christ tells us that simply because a given group of people was stricken with disaster, this does not mean they were worse sinners than those who were spared. Ultimately, Christ teaches that all of us must repent or we too shall perish: “Some that told Jesus of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Do you think that these Galileans were sinners more than all the other men of Galilee, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them―do you think that they also were greater debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? No, I say to you―unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!’” (Luke 13:1-5).
Nor does this mean that there are no differences between one man’s sins and another’s. We are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10), but we are not equally grievous sinners. Some sins are worse than others: “All iniquity is sin. There is a sin unto death [and] a sin which is not to death!” (1 John 5:16-17), and some people deserve more punishment than others: “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required; and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
So far we have looked at three lessons from Fatima: (1) the political aspect―especially the threat of Communism, (2) the Masonic aspect, (3) the War aspect. In the next article we will cover the remaining lessons that can be drawn from Fatima: (1) the importance of the miraculous apparitions of Our Lady, the miracles she performs, the cures that she promises, the warnings that she sounds, (2) the existence of Hell and vast number of souls who go there, (3) the Faith aspect with worldwide apostasy, persecution of the Church and the Holy Father, and the martyrdom of Catholic clergy and laity, (4) the solutions Our Lady offers, especially with a focus on the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary, Devotion to Mary, sacrifice and suffering, (5) the division and skepticism that Fatima caused among families; and finally, (6) the consequential 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that ensues and which claims the lives of two of the seers―Francisco and Jacinta―and how that relates to our Plannedemic today.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday October 10th to Tuesday October 12th
Article 5
We are at War! You MUST fight!
Sunday October 10th to Tuesday October 12th
Article 5
We are at War! You MUST fight!
Beware the Ides of March!
First, what exactly is an “ides?” The Latin root of “ides,” a singular word, means “to divide” (div-ides). So, the “ides” of any month falls in its middle―when the month is divided into two.
The three Latin terms― Kalends, Nones and Ides were ancient markers used to reference dates in relation to lunar phases. Back in Ancient Rome, in the days of Julius Caesar et al, the Roman calendar had three named days:
● Kalends (from which the English word calendar is derived) was the first day of the month.
● Nones was the fifth or seventh day of the month.
● Ides, was the day that fell in the middle of the month, usually between the 13th and 15th.
Ides simply referred to the first new moon of any given month, which usually fell between the 13th and 15th. The Roman calendar set “ides” on the 15th in March, May, July and October or on the 13th in the other months. The ides of a month usually falls on the first day of a full moon.
Superstitious folk, who believe in good luck and bad luck (St. Thomas Aquinas says there is no such thing as luck―for God’s Providence directs every tiny detail) tend to think that some days or events are unlucky. In many parts of the world, Friday the 13th is thought of as an “unlucky” day by superstitious people. Another famously unlucky day for some is March 15th, also known as, “The Ides of March.” The “Ides of March” is imagined to be so unlucky that it is often spoken as a warning: “Beware the Ides of March!”
But why do some people still use the expression, “Beware of the Ides of March”? Why do they consider it an unlucky day? It’s likely that many people, who use the phrase today, don’t know its true origin. March 15th may not be unlucky for you, but it was very unlucky for one man a very long time ago. On that date, back in the year 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators. Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating Pompey in a civil war, after which he governed the Roman Republic as a dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC.
The British playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) takes this incident from Roman history and freezes it forever in literature. In Act 1, Scene 2 of his tragedy play, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes about a meeting between the dictator and a “soothsayer” ― someone who can predict the future. “Beware the Ides of March!” says the soothsayer. Caesar asks those around him: “Who is that man?” And Brutus, one of Caesar’s ‘loyal’ friend answers, who would later kill him, says: “A soothsayer says to (bids you) beware the Ides of March!”
Caesar does not listen to the warning. He should have. He should have―in our modern jargon―stayed at home, self-quarantined in a lockdown. He didn’t. In Act III, Scene I, Shakespeare’s famous line seems to show that Caesar is asking for trouble. Caesar says to the Soothsayer: “The Ides of March are come!” ― in the sense of: “Well, the Ides of March is here and nothing has happened!” But the Soothsayer answers: “Aye, Caesar! But it is not yet gone!”
Caesar’s friend Brutus will be among the attackers who kill him on the Ides of March. Before the Ides of March was gone, Julius Caesar was violently murdered, stabbed 23 times by a mob of senators, who were led by Caesar’s protégés and supposed ‘friends’ ― Cassius and Brutus. When he sees that Brutus has turned against him, Caesar’s famous dying words to his supposed ‘friend’ Brutus, were: “Et tu, Brute?” (pronounced “brew-tay”)― meaning: “And you too, Brutus?” The phrases, “Beware the Ides of March” and “Et tu Brute!” are expressions widely used in Western culture when someone is betrayed by a friend. Caesar was betrayed by ‘friends’ and senators! Are we being betrayed and assassinated by ‘friends’ and senators?
The “Ides of March” ― the Pagan God Mars ― the God of War
In Roman times, the Ides of March was also known as a date for paying off debts. But this connection was quickly lost because of different timing between calendar months and changes in the moon’s appearance. The Ides of March was also a time when people celebrated the pagan god Mars, the god of war. In Caesar's time, the Ides of March was a day of celebration to honor Mars, the Roman god of war, in the month named after him―(March = Martius in Latin = Mars in French = Marzo in Italian = März in German). Ancient Romans usually celebrated by holding a military parade.
The symbols of Mars are the wolf, woodpecker, and lance. Certain goddesses accompanied him. These included a goddesses of war ― Discord, Fear, Dread, Panic, among others. Sounds like those goddesses are prowling around us today!
March Madness? Or Marching to War?
Uncannily, or cannily, March of 2020 saw the world’s pagan leaders and authorities speak of war in the Roman month of war!
On March 16th, 2020, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, stated: “The message is clear! The information is transparent! Believe me when I say … We are at war! Certainly in a healthcare war. We are not fighting an army, nor are we fighting another nation! But the enemy is there! Invisible, elusive, it progresses! It thus requires a call to arms! We are at war!”
On March 16th, 2020, the British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, stated in Parliament: “Our policy is to fight this virus with everything we have ... Measures will be disruptive, but they will save lives ... The measures that I have outlined are unprecedented in peacetime. We will fight this virus with everything we have. We are in a war against an invisible killer and we have to do everything we can to stop it!”
On March 17th, 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that his government would act “like any other wartime governments” to support the British economy and take “steps that are unprecedented since World War II,” calling the virus an “enemy that can be deadly.”
On March 18th, 2020, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said: “The situation is serious. Take it seriously. Since since the Second World War, there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action!”
On March 19th, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres urged the world’s nations to unite in their battle against the COVID-19 virus: “Our world faces a common enemy. We are at war with a virus―and not winning it! … This war needs a war-time plan to fight it!” the Secretary-General told reporters during a virtual press briefing from the UN headquarters in New York.
On March 22nd, 2020, President Trump stated: “I want to assure the American people that we doing, each day, everything we can to confront and ultimately defeat this horrible, invisible enemy! We are at war! In a true sense we are war and we are fighting an invisible enemy! … It’s the invisible enemy! That’s always the toughest enemy―the invisible enemy. But we’re going to defeat the invisible enemy! … I am a wartime President! It’s a war! It’s a war! A different kind of war to what we have ever had! We want to win the war! We want to win the war with as few deaths as possible!”
On March 25th, 2020, the World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told world leaders: “We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart! … The pandemic is accelerating at an exponential rate! … Drastic social and economic restrictions, shutting schools and businesses, and asking people to stay at home ― these measures will take some of the heat out of the epidemic, but they will not extinguish it! First, fight. Fight hard. Fight like Hell! Fight like your lives depend on it – because they do! Fight! Unite! Ignite!”
This “war” narrative spread beyond the ‘martial month’ or ‘military month’ of March into successive months.
On April 6th, 2020, The Washington Post reported: “In the space of seven days, the American death toll more than doubled, surpassing 9,000, with numbers of infections still rapidly rising. As bodies pile up in New York City hospitals, the virus is now also making its mark in most of the country. ‘This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,’ U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, April 4th. ‘This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment! Our 9/11 moment! Only, it’s not going to be localized! It’s going to be happening all over the country!’ … President Trump and his lieutenants — as well as political rivals — have embraced the narrative of a ‘wartime’ presidency. They’ve hailed front-line medical workers as ‘warriors,’ cast the Coronavirus as an invasive enemy’! … The pandemic’s American body count is likely to eclipse the numbers of Americans who died in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined!”
On January 11th, 2021, the former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, gave the first of four State of the State speeches, from the War Room in the State Capitol, an ornate lobby with murals memorializing New York’s military battles. He said the No. 1 priority in 2021 is defeating a disease that has sickened over a million New Yorkers and killed more than 39,000. “The War Room is fitting,” Cuomo said. “Because we are at war! A war that began early last year when we were ambushed by the COVID virus! And a war that continues today!”
On August 13th, 2021, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of a “heightened” domestic threat from violent “extremists” motivated by new COVID-19 restrictions as well as by anti-government ideology being shared online. “These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks,” the DHS bulletin said. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.” The DHS said it was promoting “authoritative sources of information” in order to “debunk” and if possible “pre-empt” disinformation. In a nutshell, if you disagree with, criticize, disprove, or call into question the COVID-19 mainstream narrative that comes from the government and the media―then you are seen as potential domestic terrorist and an “agent provocateur” who is stirring people up to revolt.
According to 18 U.S.C. §2331(5), domestic terrorism occurs primarily within U.S. territorial jurisdiction, and involves:
“(A) Acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) Acts that ppear to be intended — (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.” Based on the above law, the government could pass an unjust law mandating vaccination for the ‘safety’ of the nation, and if you refuse to be vaccinated, then you are (1) breaking the law, and (2) are dangerous to the human life of others―hence you qualify as being a “domestic terrorist”!
On August 14th, 2021, the U.S. Time magazine stated: “On Saturday (August 14th), the United States passed a new landmark in the fight against the novel Coronavirus, when the death toll surpassed 620,000 people, the classic estimate for the number of deaths from the American Civil War.”
As coverage grows, military and war metaphors have become a part of our everyday discourse. But to build support for human rights and dignity in the middle of this crisis, we need to demilitarize our language. While war metaphors, in the short term, may sometimes be effective in conveying urgency and mobilizing resources, in the long term, they breed fear. Fear is one of the goddesses that accompany Mars, the god of war― Discord, Fear, Dread, Panic, among others. Fear can in turn be weaponized by governments to promote militarized responses, which focus more on social control than on public health. We’re already seeing this play out as governments around the world have started to criminalize dissent and increase surveillance.
A Future American Civil War?
A 2021 U.S. national survey found that almost 50% of Americans believed a future civil war was likely. Republican Representative, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, addressing the 2020 election integrity, said: “If our election systems continue to be rigged, then it’s going to lead to one place and that’s bloodshed! … There’s nothing I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American!” In other words, she was saying: “It would be a shame if false election claims cause a civil war!”
In an unpublished paper submitted for peer review, Professor Goldstone, a sociologist, and Peter Turchin, an expert on the mathematical modeling of historical societies, have concluded that the U.S. is “headed for another civil war”. Ten years ago, Professor Turchin pointed his model towards the future, and made an uncannily accurate prediction. Just like in the 1850s, crisis indicators by the year 2010 were rising, he wrote in the journal Nature. They could be a reliable indicator of future instability and “look set to peak in the years around 2020,” he wrote. The conditions for civil violence, Goldstone and Turchin say, are the worst since the 19th century — in particular the years leading up to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The reason for this are trends that began in the 1980s, “with regard to inequality, selfish elites, and polarization that have crippled the ability of the US government to mount an effective response to the pandemic disease,” they write. Professor Goldstone described these predictions as “scary as hell! … The general feeling is horror!”
On August 21st, 2021, the Missouri Independent published an article entitled: “Is America Experiencing a Different Kind of ‘Civil War’?” The article stated: “America is divided on many fronts. In some places and on some matters the divisions are very wide and very deep. There were―and to an extent still are―the battles around the claims of a false presidential election, voter fraud, racial hatred, and a ‘deadly’ pandemic. One current pernicious battle involves the persistent charge that the last presidential election wasn’t legitimate and that it was riddled with voter fraud. The divisive response to COVID has been just as harmful and deadly as many other crises this nation has ever faced, including military wars.
“At first glance, you might think characterizing the divisiveness that America is experiencing today as a different kind of ‘civil war’ is a bit overstated. Given the complete meanings of both ‘civil’ and ‘war’, it can be said that America is indeed experiencing a different kind of ‘civil war’ with battles on multiple fronts. First, we need to fully understand the meaning of those two words.
“The meaning of the word ‘civil’ is distinct from a ‘military’ matter. ‘Civil’ means those things relating to ordinary citizens, who live in the same country, and their associated concerns. A closer look at the meaning of the word ‘war’, shows that it is not only defined as a sustained armed conflict between military forces, but also as a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude. It also includes the disorder or conflict occurring between citizens of the same country. Many wars are fought and won with words, ideas, philosophies — often misguided words, misguided ideas, misguided philosophies and the amorphous ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dynamic.
Given the complete meanings of both civil and war, it can be said that America is indeed experiencing a different kind of “civil war” with battles on multiple fronts. Sadly, all of the battles are not just a war of words. Some include or have the potential of violence. Wars are not always fought by armed military forces with guns, bombs, stealth fighters, and sophisticated weaponry. And the enemy is not always clearly defined. Even the reasons for war often lack clarity. But the divisiveness and fighting still rage, nonetheless. America is indeed in the midst of a different kind of “civil war” with battles on many fronts and is approaching a critical crossroads. Two truths have withstood the test of time. One, a house divided against itself will not stand. Two, a great country is not destroyed by an external enemy but from within.” (the Missouri Independent, August 21st, 2021).
An American Civil War is allegedly prophesied and the potential sparks that could make it explode are clearly visible for all to see: totalitarian governmental measures, increasing political polarization, the censorship of speech on the internet and social media, racial equity, illegal and unconditional immigration, gun control, abortion, election legitimacy, climate change, the “Great Reset”, the 5G roll-out, masks, vaccines, the “jab or no job” mandate, etc.—the list goes on. Cultural, economic, and political issues are increasingly generating outrage and hostility. We already are seeing “border wars” via federalism, with individual states passing major legislation that differs considerably from that in other places. As an illustration, a new Texas law virtually outlaws abortions. The areas of intense division are already many―and many more are likely to emerge in the near future. Therefore, remarks about a forthcoming American civil war should not be taken lightly.
Truth Stranger Than Fiction!
The Baltimore Sun, in a JUN 06, 2018, article entitled: “Is a second American civil war possible?” it states: “In his 2013 novel, A Delicate Truth, John le Carré describes the ‘Deep State’ as a very rich élite ― ‘non-governmental insiders from banking, industry and commerce’ who rule in secret. America already may be close to that sort of deep state. As Princeton professor, Martin Gilens, and Northwestern professor, Benjamin Page, found, after analyzing 1,799 policy issues that came before Congress, ‘the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.’ Instead, professors Gilens and Page concluded, lawmakers respond to the policy demands of wealthy individuals and moneyed business interests. The data Gilens and Page used comes from the period from 1981 to 2002, before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money in its Citizens United v. FEC decision. It's likely to be far worse now. So when Mr. Trump says the political system is ‘rigged,’ he is not far off the mark. Bernie Sanders said the same thing. A Monmouth University poll, released in March 2018, found that a bipartisan majority of Americans already believes that an unelected ‘Deep State’ is manipulating national policy.”
The above quotes are merely a few snowflakes in the blizzard of articles and discussions on a potential future American Civil War. Such a scenario would have seemed ridiculous several decades ago! Today, however, that has changed and the likelihood of a future is no long fiction, but more like the reality of truth! Our Lady’s predictions are being proved to be true―she was not “spinning a story” when she said:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Are we not seeing that today? Are we really that blind and isolated that the obvious is not so obvious? Isn’t Satan ruling the world today? The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, thinks that Satan most certainly rules the world today: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
As for Masonry being used by Satan to rule the world, it is known that almost a third of the US presidents have been Freemasons. That number only includes the clearly known Masons―there have more certainly been those who hid their Masonic connections. In 1959 American Freemasonry had a membership of over 4.1 million men — which meant that around 4.5% (almost 1 in 20) of all American men were members. That gives you an enormous influence and power both at the top and at grass roots levels. Membership has fallen since those days―but even the Vatican apparently has at least four Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy!
Surround by War! Immersed in War!
In speaking of so-called “Last Days” or “End Times”―which, incidentally, Our Lady of Fatima said that we have already entered― Our Lord said: “When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7) … “When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified! These things must first come to pass―but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9).
Our present day and age can truthfully be said to be the “Age of Wars”. There have always been wars―but never before have there been so many wars―with such variety, with such regularity, with such a death rate. We would manifest our gross naivety in imaging war to solely mean battles involving soldiers, guns, artillery, tanks, planes, bombs, etc. War is of many differing kinds―just as self-defense involves a wide variety of techniques. Soldiers are even trained to look for and use improvised weapons when standard military weapons are unavailable―you basically use whatever you can lay your hands on and then use it in the most effective and damaging manner possible. If you are being attacked and you have no gun―self-defense experts show how you can use anything within arm’s reach as an effective weapon of attack or defense―keys, flashlights, pens, credit cards, bottles, sticks, kitchen cutlery, kitchen knives, ladles, frying pans, pots, candleholders, chairs, furniture, bleach, ammonia, cayenne pepper, boiling oil (with or without the French-fries), etc., etc.
Similarly, the enemies of God, the enemies of the Church, the enemies of mankind―who can all be clumped together as being the soldiers, stooges or useful idiots of Satan and Hell―will use anything and everything that surrounds us or what we possess, and turn it into a weapon to use against us. Fr. Ludovic Barrielle, in his excellent booklet, Rules for Discerning the Spirits, comments upon the fact that the devil will use anything and everything in his warfare against us: “Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us! A person says: ‘Father, I’m down in the dumps!’ No, sit, you are not down in the dumps. That does not exist. You have the devil hovering about you! The person replies: ‘Father, you see the devil everywhere! I’m down in the dumps because the sun is not out today, and when the weather is bad, I’m sad, that’s all! It has nothing to do with the devil!’ Exactly! Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? He will use advantageously the bad weather, as a disposition. You just are not aware of the fact that if you are feeling sad, the devil is hovering about you. Beware!”
Since the devil is, as Our Lord says, “the prince of this world” (John 14:30), then the devil will use this world to his advantage. If we do not belong to God, then we automatically belong to the world―and, by default, we therefore belong to the devil―“the prince of this world.” Sr. Lucia of Fatima warns: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Fuentes). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that … the Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
That is why Holy Scripture warns us: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
A Universal War Using Universal Weapons
Even in human wars, the military forces of any nation use as many weapons as possible. The military is not just using soldiers on land armed with only a rifle―but they use as many weapons as the latest technology makes available to them. They will fight, not just on land, but will also use planes and missiles in the air, and ships and nuclear submarines in the seas. They will also use biological weapons that cause disease and death; they will use invisible weapons such as EMPs (electro-magnetic pulses), radiation, even 5G is a military weapon, not to mention a whole host of frequencies, whose range can do many things―from killing, to altering the minds and moods of people, to destabilizing and demoralizing people. Scientists have already harnessed certain aspects of weather control and “weather warfare” was already being used in Vietnam around 60 years ago, with Americans increasing rainfall by 30% and thus “bogging-down” North Vietnamese movements. Today, of course, scientists have advanced in their manipulation of weather, and are able to provoke many other disasters, such as floods, droughts, storms, hurricanes, etc.
► AIR WARFARE is used as a weapon these days, with such things as Chemtrails, air pollution, and the use of air-waves for electronic radio-wave, electro-magnetic, and frequency warfare.
► WATER WARFARE can also be used as a weapon by creating an overabundance of water (floods), or a lack of water (drought), or poisoning a water supply for instant death, or contaminating water with all kinds of toxic chemicals (as done by most water modern cities today)―tap water is a slow killer. Lead poisoning is a problem in places like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. Arsenic can be found in the water supply in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Radioactive substances, leeching into groundwater, have become a huge problem in Texas. 57 out of 86 Detroit public schools tested positive for elevated levels of copper or lead. Chlorine is deliberately added to the US water supply to kill germs and pathogens, but when it mixes with other organic compounds it can create a few harmful byproducts. Low levels of chlorine contribute to parasite formation in the body. All of these chemicals contribute to disease and death in a variety of ways.
► FOOD WARFARE is another weapon used to debilitate and weaken people, due to use of pesticides, chemicals and now GM (genetically modified) foods. Food, for a long time now, has and still is becoming more and more toxic. We are basically being made to eat ourselves into disease and death.
► MEDICAL WARFARE has also increased exponentially over the last 60 or so years―with more and more ‘medicines’ proving themselves to more of a killer than a healer. God’s natural medicines have been thrown into the trash can, discredited and even outlawed―while man’s ‘miracle’ medicines have replaced them with fatal results. So-called ‘advances’ in medicine―such as chemotherapy, radiation, man-made synthetic drugs, vaccines, etc.―have drained the life out of hordes of people. More than 250000 people in the US die every year because of medical mistakes, making it the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
► CHEMICAL WARFARE is more common than you think! Synthetic chemicals are in nearly everything we touch and consume. Once again, man-made products are the culprit. Dangerous chemicals can be found in food, cosmetics and personal care products (shampoo, dyes, deodorants, perfume, nail polish, hairspray, sanitary pads, lubricating oils, soaps, detergents and more). They are in, medical equipment and devices (including pharmaceuticals, blood storage bags and IV tubes). You will find those chemicals in furniture, carpets, vinyl flooring, wallpaper, mini-blinds, plastic pipes, other plastics, shower curtains. Chemicals are also found in cookware, food storage items, food wrap, cans, plastic film, and food packaging. Cleaning supplies and decorative products such as paints, varnishes, furniture restoration products, gardening products, etc. are also a massive source of toxic chemicals. They are pretty much everywhere around us. All of these things challenge and wage war on our immune-system and our health.
► ELECTRONIC WARFARE has become more and more prevalent over the last few decades. Electronics have invaded every single house and have captured almost every single person. Televisions, radios, computers, tablets, iPads, smartphones, video games, etc. are found everywhere. All of them―to one degree or another―have a detrimental effect upon both mental health and physical health. Some make us “couch-potatoes” who just sit around and no longer exercise. Others bombard us with radiation and slowly bring disease to various organs of the body (cf. smartphone/cellphone use and cancer of the brain). Besides the physical attacks on our health, there is also the propaganda that these items are used for transmitting misinformation, disinformation and plain old lies―not to mention the tsunami of immodesty, impurity and pornography that can be transmitted through them.
► ECONOMIC WARFARE seeks to enslave the masses to the whims of few who are rich. A plutocracy or plutarchy (from the Greek: “ploutos” meaning “wealth” and “kratos” meaning “power”) is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. A plutocracy is a government controlled exclusively by the wealthy, either directly or indirectly. The Fed estimates that the wealthiest 10% of Americans hold around 90% of all available equity in corporations and mutual fund shares. Another statistic shows that 1% of the people control 82% of the wealth in the world. If you imagine that money does not control governments, then you are quite simply an idiot or grossly uniformed. The big money corporations spend around $3 billion each year lobbying members of the government in Washington. Lobbyists are paid persuaders and they also subtly pay those whom they are trying to persuade. As the say: “Money talks!” and it so happens that politicians listen.
The average senator has to pull in more than $14,000 every single day, just to stay in office. One of the easiest ways to raise that kind of cash is to turn to lobbyists, who make big donations and organize swanky fundraisers for elected officials, in order to buy influence for their corporate clients. Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff says: “You can’t take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a steak. But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fundraiser!” Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re a big bank. You want to buy influence with a senator on the banking committee so he’ll vote your way on an upcoming bill. The easiest way would be to just give $100,000 directly to the senator’s reelection campaign. But alas, that would be illegal — federal law prohibits companies from making direct donations to candidates. So instead, you hire a lobbying firm. Here’s where things get corrupt. That lobbying firm can legally organize a swanky fundraiser that brings in $100,000 for the senator’s reelection campaign. At the fundraiser, your lobbyist just happens to have a friendly chat about your feelings on banking policy with the senator’s staff. At the end of the day, the senator is still up $100,000, he still knows exactly where the money came from, and he knows which way to vote if he wants the money to keep flowing. But this time, nobody’s broken any laws! One recent study found that “on average, for every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received $760 from the government.” That’s a 76,000% return on investment. And it works on both sides of the aisle — top lobbying firms raise big money for Republicans and Democrats at the same time.
The United States of America is supposedly a democratic country. However, over the past few decades, important questions about policy and budgets have been decided overwhelmingly against the interests and preferences of the middle classes and working classes. When the preferences of the rich comes into conflict with the middle classes or working classes, the rich tend to win.
► CULTURAL WARFARE seeks to replace the (remnant) of Christian culture with a neo-pagan culture―and it is succeeding with very little resistance. In a nutshell, the Christian culture is one of humility―the neo-pagan culture is one of pride. Both cultures reflect their leaders―Christ and Satan. Christian culture is God-centered, neo-pagan culture is man centered. Christian culture glorifies God―neo-pagan culture glorifies man. Christian culture is based on a love of God and leads to true charity―neo-pagan culture is based on a hatred of God and leads to hatred among fellow men. Christian culture epitomizes virtue―neo-pagan culture epitomizes sin. Christian culture seeks to lead souls to Heaven―neo-pagan culture seeks to find paradise on Earth.
► SEXUAL WARFARE is perhaps, as Our Lady of Fatima indicated over 100 years ago, the most fatal warfare that leads, as Our Lady said, most souls to Hell. It is amazing and frightening that Our Lady said that―already back in 1917―most souls were being damned by the sin of impurity! In America in the 1930s it was illegal in most states and cities for men to go anywhere shirtless! What is the case today? We should shudder to think of the collapse in modesty! Today―as a succession of popes since Pope Pius XII (reigned from to 1939 to 1958)―have said the modern man has “lost the sense of sin”. Sin is no longer sin―sin is now fun! Impurity is no longer a sin―impurity is now fun! The modern day media―movies, television, internet―is only too happy to feed us more and more of that poisonous ‘fun’. Impurity is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round, every year. A study conducted in 2006 (it must have become worse since then) found that about 84% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 had watched pornographic films, either rented or on television. Another 82% had viewed pornographic magazines. Statistics show that 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. People addicted to porn spend at least 11 to 12 hours per week viewing porn. That is ONLY about pornography―the “hard-core” of impurity―yet Our Lord said of impurity in general: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)―you can even do that in church on Sunday, or at work on Monday, or while out shopping on Saturday―you don’t have to be a porn addict to qualify. With the tsunami of immodesty and seductive clothing (or lack of it) that ‘adorns’ websites, movies, TV shows, news and weather broadcasting, billboards, newspapers, magazines and the average person on the street or in the office―it is really easy to qualify for Our Lord’s “adultery in the heart” group.
► FAMILY WARFARE seeks to destroy what should be a “Family Fortress”―but rarely is. The importance of the family cannot be denied, nor understated, nor underestimated. It is the family that produces the raw material for Church and Society. As the saying goes: “You are only as strong as your weakest link!”―and boy are we loaded with “weak links” in the domain of the family today. Hardly anyone has an acceptable level of knowledge of the Faith―most Catholics would fail their 2nd or 3rd Grade First Communion test―since they have forgotten most of it! The “weak links” are also found in the increasing numbers of divorces; escalating numbers of illegitimate children; cohabitation replacing marriage; same sex relationships; rampant child abuse on physical, mental and sexual levels; low percentages of families practicing their Faith. All of that hardly promises to produce a “Family Fortress”! Back in 1960, births outside of marriage were virtually unheard of and were often kept as secret as possible. Today, for all racial and ethnic groups combined, 40%, or 4 out of 10 births in the United States were out-of-wedlock! As always there is a wide range among groups. For blacks it is 70% (7 out 10); for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 68%; Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders are at 50%; for Hispanics, 52%; for whites, 28%; and for Asian Americans, 12%. As regards DIVORCE, the divorce rate is declining because less and less people are getting married―you can’t divorce someone if you are not married to them! Despite the fact that the rate of marriage is declining faster than rates of divorce, experts predict that somewhere between 40% and 50% of all marriages existing today will ultimately end in divorce. “Family Fortress”? No way! Furthermore, divorce is the result of “family warfare”―and such in-fighting automatically destroys the idea of marriage in the eyes of the children, who are the unfortunate and reluctant spectators of the family warfare.
► RELIGIOUS WARFARE attacks the very “lifeblood” of the soul―its Faith. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) and without Faith you cannot get to Heaven―even if you have the Faith, you still have to fight to get to Heaven, as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Who is fighting for the Faith today? Almost nobody! We are too preoccupied with fighting each other! Today, we have most definitely entered a time of apostasy―to which Our Lord alludes to when He says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” Luke 18:8). Our Faith is attacked on both fronts―from within the family and outside of the family. Our Faith is attacked on all sides―in the home, in the workplace, in school, in social life, in economic life, in culture. Wherever you turn, your Faith is attacked, frowned upon or even mocked. You are accused of “hate crimes” for hating sin! In the home, there is always one or several “black sheep” who either doubt the Faith, or whose morals are contradictory to the Faith―as Our Lord said: “Every one that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law [meaning that some will accept His teachings and others will not]. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-36). Today, around 50% or more Catholics accept or agree with abortion, contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages, same-sex relations, cohabitation, and host of other serious sins! Such positions are a clear sign of, not only the Faith being attacked, but also of a Faith that has been compromised, overcome, and beaten into surrender.
What Next? Where To?
All of the above are merely the tip of the iceberg of the attacks upon the Church, the State, and all of mankind. It can make depressive reading and provoke despairing thoughts! What can be done? What must we do? Who can we trust? To whom do we turn? The answer should be pretty obvious to anyone with common sense―but common sense is no longer very common! For those who have a solid Faith (as opposed to the common superficial Faith), the answer is even more clear!
The only place to go is to go to God―to Our Lord, to Our Lady, to the angels and saints of Heaven. Our Lord Himself already gave us the answer a long time ago: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5), to which He adds: “And they that heard it, said: ‘Who then can be saved?’ He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:26-27). The Angel Gabriel, in addressing Our Lady at the Annunciation, said: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). We need to have Faith and Hope and trust in God: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
Our Lord points out the power of Faith: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there!’ and it shall remove―and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!”―it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!’” (Matthew 21:18-22). “If you had Faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree: ‘Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted into the sea!’ and it would obey you!” (Luke 17:6).
Remedies Ignored and Neglected
Our Lady revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich the incredible POTENTIAL (not automatic, nor guaranteed) POWER of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―IF it offered with great Faith and the same high level of devotion by which the Mass was offered by the Apostles: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Those words are a terrible indictment and rebuke to Catholic priests―many of whom rush and race through their Mass as though they had something more important to go and do afterwards! Moral theologians have their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass, a matter on which the Canon Law of the Church and the Roman Missal were and still are silent. One moral theologian says that an hour should not be considered too long. Several others that, in order to avoid being tedious (wearisome, irksome), Mass should last no more than half an hour; and in order to be said with due reverence, it should last no less than 20 minutes. Another theologian, who gave half an hour as the minimum time, considered that Mass could not be said in less than a quarter of an hour (!!!?), an opinion supported by others, including Saint Alphonsus Liguori―who said that any priest who finished Mass in less than 20 minutes could scarcely be excused from mortal sin.
O Heavens above! Not only have we lost the sense of sin today, but we have also lost the sense of the importance and gravity of Mass! Our Lord―tortured, beaten, bruised, lacerated―hung on the cross for hours for us, and we think anything more than 30 minutes is tedious, boring, wearisome and irksome!!! No wonder Mass fails to be said with the same Faith and devotion of the Apostles―and, consequently, no wonder we find ourselves in our current mess! Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Our Lady of Akita told us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was one of two weapons that have been given to us ― “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” This “Sign” naturally brings to mind the “Sign of the Cross” ― which a reminded of the Crucifixion and Death of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, which, in turn, is re-enacted or reproduced in every single Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is our ultimate weapon―since it is the same Sacrifice as that of Christ on Calvary, but in an unbloody and mystical manner. There is nothing greater than the Mass on this whole Earth―yet who goes to Mass anymore? Sunday Mass attendance is obligatory under pain of mortal―yet the worldwide average attendance is less that 20% (1 in 5)―with attendance in some countries like ‘Catholic’ France as low as 2% (1 in 50).
The same is true for praying the Rosary. Our Lady requests that we pray the Rosary daily―even praying it very much: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973). Yet just as it is with the Mass, so too is it with the Rosary! Only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―and THAT IS IN A TIME OF WAR!! Yet every Catholic, who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation, is a Soldier of Christ!
St. Padre Pio urged all Catholics to “love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world.” Convinced of the power of the Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night. A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!” Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” Later, to Padre Onorato Marcucci, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, Padre Pio said: “With this—one wins the battles.”
Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it?—How do you manage not to say any?” To Enedina Mori, Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” Two days before he died, Padre Pio repeated: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always. And recite it as much as you can.”
As Soldiers of Christ, we obliged to fight―and Our Lord stressed: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12), to which Holy Scripture adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is absolutely clear that we are failing to do this―otherwise we would not find ourselves in the ever worsening mess that we are currently in. We reap what we sow―if we don’t sow, we don’t reap anything―and “he who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). We have to be honest and admit that when it comes the spiritual life―we are most certainly minimalists who seek to “get the biggest bang for our buck”! We want the maximum possible in return for doing least possible. We are told to FIGHT―but we go fly a kite! We are told to WATCH and PRAY―but we prefer to watch television and play!
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). If we neglect to follow the counsels and commands of Heaven, then we are merely created a Hell upon Earth―which may even end with an eternal Hell hereafter!
First, what exactly is an “ides?” The Latin root of “ides,” a singular word, means “to divide” (div-ides). So, the “ides” of any month falls in its middle―when the month is divided into two.
The three Latin terms― Kalends, Nones and Ides were ancient markers used to reference dates in relation to lunar phases. Back in Ancient Rome, in the days of Julius Caesar et al, the Roman calendar had three named days:
● Kalends (from which the English word calendar is derived) was the first day of the month.
● Nones was the fifth or seventh day of the month.
● Ides, was the day that fell in the middle of the month, usually between the 13th and 15th.
Ides simply referred to the first new moon of any given month, which usually fell between the 13th and 15th. The Roman calendar set “ides” on the 15th in March, May, July and October or on the 13th in the other months. The ides of a month usually falls on the first day of a full moon.
Superstitious folk, who believe in good luck and bad luck (St. Thomas Aquinas says there is no such thing as luck―for God’s Providence directs every tiny detail) tend to think that some days or events are unlucky. In many parts of the world, Friday the 13th is thought of as an “unlucky” day by superstitious people. Another famously unlucky day for some is March 15th, also known as, “The Ides of March.” The “Ides of March” is imagined to be so unlucky that it is often spoken as a warning: “Beware the Ides of March!”
But why do some people still use the expression, “Beware of the Ides of March”? Why do they consider it an unlucky day? It’s likely that many people, who use the phrase today, don’t know its true origin. March 15th may not be unlucky for you, but it was very unlucky for one man a very long time ago. On that date, back in the year 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators. Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating Pompey in a civil war, after which he governed the Roman Republic as a dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC.
The British playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) takes this incident from Roman history and freezes it forever in literature. In Act 1, Scene 2 of his tragedy play, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes about a meeting between the dictator and a “soothsayer” ― someone who can predict the future. “Beware the Ides of March!” says the soothsayer. Caesar asks those around him: “Who is that man?” And Brutus, one of Caesar’s ‘loyal’ friend answers, who would later kill him, says: “A soothsayer says to (bids you) beware the Ides of March!”
Caesar does not listen to the warning. He should have. He should have―in our modern jargon―stayed at home, self-quarantined in a lockdown. He didn’t. In Act III, Scene I, Shakespeare’s famous line seems to show that Caesar is asking for trouble. Caesar says to the Soothsayer: “The Ides of March are come!” ― in the sense of: “Well, the Ides of March is here and nothing has happened!” But the Soothsayer answers: “Aye, Caesar! But it is not yet gone!”
Caesar’s friend Brutus will be among the attackers who kill him on the Ides of March. Before the Ides of March was gone, Julius Caesar was violently murdered, stabbed 23 times by a mob of senators, who were led by Caesar’s protégés and supposed ‘friends’ ― Cassius and Brutus. When he sees that Brutus has turned against him, Caesar’s famous dying words to his supposed ‘friend’ Brutus, were: “Et tu, Brute?” (pronounced “brew-tay”)― meaning: “And you too, Brutus?” The phrases, “Beware the Ides of March” and “Et tu Brute!” are expressions widely used in Western culture when someone is betrayed by a friend. Caesar was betrayed by ‘friends’ and senators! Are we being betrayed and assassinated by ‘friends’ and senators?
The “Ides of March” ― the Pagan God Mars ― the God of War
In Roman times, the Ides of March was also known as a date for paying off debts. But this connection was quickly lost because of different timing between calendar months and changes in the moon’s appearance. The Ides of March was also a time when people celebrated the pagan god Mars, the god of war. In Caesar's time, the Ides of March was a day of celebration to honor Mars, the Roman god of war, in the month named after him―(March = Martius in Latin = Mars in French = Marzo in Italian = März in German). Ancient Romans usually celebrated by holding a military parade.
The symbols of Mars are the wolf, woodpecker, and lance. Certain goddesses accompanied him. These included a goddesses of war ― Discord, Fear, Dread, Panic, among others. Sounds like those goddesses are prowling around us today!
March Madness? Or Marching to War?
Uncannily, or cannily, March of 2020 saw the world’s pagan leaders and authorities speak of war in the Roman month of war!
On March 16th, 2020, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, stated: “The message is clear! The information is transparent! Believe me when I say … We are at war! Certainly in a healthcare war. We are not fighting an army, nor are we fighting another nation! But the enemy is there! Invisible, elusive, it progresses! It thus requires a call to arms! We are at war!”
On March 16th, 2020, the British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, stated in Parliament: “Our policy is to fight this virus with everything we have ... Measures will be disruptive, but they will save lives ... The measures that I have outlined are unprecedented in peacetime. We will fight this virus with everything we have. We are in a war against an invisible killer and we have to do everything we can to stop it!”
On March 17th, 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that his government would act “like any other wartime governments” to support the British economy and take “steps that are unprecedented since World War II,” calling the virus an “enemy that can be deadly.”
On March 18th, 2020, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said: “The situation is serious. Take it seriously. Since since the Second World War, there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action!”
On March 19th, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres urged the world’s nations to unite in their battle against the COVID-19 virus: “Our world faces a common enemy. We are at war with a virus―and not winning it! … This war needs a war-time plan to fight it!” the Secretary-General told reporters during a virtual press briefing from the UN headquarters in New York.
On March 22nd, 2020, President Trump stated: “I want to assure the American people that we doing, each day, everything we can to confront and ultimately defeat this horrible, invisible enemy! We are at war! In a true sense we are war and we are fighting an invisible enemy! … It’s the invisible enemy! That’s always the toughest enemy―the invisible enemy. But we’re going to defeat the invisible enemy! … I am a wartime President! It’s a war! It’s a war! A different kind of war to what we have ever had! We want to win the war! We want to win the war with as few deaths as possible!”
On March 25th, 2020, the World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told world leaders: “We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart! … The pandemic is accelerating at an exponential rate! … Drastic social and economic restrictions, shutting schools and businesses, and asking people to stay at home ― these measures will take some of the heat out of the epidemic, but they will not extinguish it! First, fight. Fight hard. Fight like Hell! Fight like your lives depend on it – because they do! Fight! Unite! Ignite!”
This “war” narrative spread beyond the ‘martial month’ or ‘military month’ of March into successive months.
On April 6th, 2020, The Washington Post reported: “In the space of seven days, the American death toll more than doubled, surpassing 9,000, with numbers of infections still rapidly rising. As bodies pile up in New York City hospitals, the virus is now also making its mark in most of the country. ‘This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,’ U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, April 4th. ‘This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment! Our 9/11 moment! Only, it’s not going to be localized! It’s going to be happening all over the country!’ … President Trump and his lieutenants — as well as political rivals — have embraced the narrative of a ‘wartime’ presidency. They’ve hailed front-line medical workers as ‘warriors,’ cast the Coronavirus as an invasive enemy’! … The pandemic’s American body count is likely to eclipse the numbers of Americans who died in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined!”
On January 11th, 2021, the former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, gave the first of four State of the State speeches, from the War Room in the State Capitol, an ornate lobby with murals memorializing New York’s military battles. He said the No. 1 priority in 2021 is defeating a disease that has sickened over a million New Yorkers and killed more than 39,000. “The War Room is fitting,” Cuomo said. “Because we are at war! A war that began early last year when we were ambushed by the COVID virus! And a war that continues today!”
On August 13th, 2021, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of a “heightened” domestic threat from violent “extremists” motivated by new COVID-19 restrictions as well as by anti-government ideology being shared online. “These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks,” the DHS bulletin said. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by “false narratives” and “ideologies of hate.” The DHS said it was promoting “authoritative sources of information” in order to “debunk” and if possible “pre-empt” disinformation. In a nutshell, if you disagree with, criticize, disprove, or call into question the COVID-19 mainstream narrative that comes from the government and the media―then you are seen as potential domestic terrorist and an “agent provocateur” who is stirring people up to revolt.
According to 18 U.S.C. §2331(5), domestic terrorism occurs primarily within U.S. territorial jurisdiction, and involves:
“(A) Acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) Acts that ppear to be intended — (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.” Based on the above law, the government could pass an unjust law mandating vaccination for the ‘safety’ of the nation, and if you refuse to be vaccinated, then you are (1) breaking the law, and (2) are dangerous to the human life of others―hence you qualify as being a “domestic terrorist”!
On August 14th, 2021, the U.S. Time magazine stated: “On Saturday (August 14th), the United States passed a new landmark in the fight against the novel Coronavirus, when the death toll surpassed 620,000 people, the classic estimate for the number of deaths from the American Civil War.”
As coverage grows, military and war metaphors have become a part of our everyday discourse. But to build support for human rights and dignity in the middle of this crisis, we need to demilitarize our language. While war metaphors, in the short term, may sometimes be effective in conveying urgency and mobilizing resources, in the long term, they breed fear. Fear is one of the goddesses that accompany Mars, the god of war― Discord, Fear, Dread, Panic, among others. Fear can in turn be weaponized by governments to promote militarized responses, which focus more on social control than on public health. We’re already seeing this play out as governments around the world have started to criminalize dissent and increase surveillance.
A Future American Civil War?
A 2021 U.S. national survey found that almost 50% of Americans believed a future civil war was likely. Republican Representative, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, addressing the 2020 election integrity, said: “If our election systems continue to be rigged, then it’s going to lead to one place and that’s bloodshed! … There’s nothing I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American!” In other words, she was saying: “It would be a shame if false election claims cause a civil war!”
In an unpublished paper submitted for peer review, Professor Goldstone, a sociologist, and Peter Turchin, an expert on the mathematical modeling of historical societies, have concluded that the U.S. is “headed for another civil war”. Ten years ago, Professor Turchin pointed his model towards the future, and made an uncannily accurate prediction. Just like in the 1850s, crisis indicators by the year 2010 were rising, he wrote in the journal Nature. They could be a reliable indicator of future instability and “look set to peak in the years around 2020,” he wrote. The conditions for civil violence, Goldstone and Turchin say, are the worst since the 19th century — in particular the years leading up to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The reason for this are trends that began in the 1980s, “with regard to inequality, selfish elites, and polarization that have crippled the ability of the US government to mount an effective response to the pandemic disease,” they write. Professor Goldstone described these predictions as “scary as hell! … The general feeling is horror!”
On August 21st, 2021, the Missouri Independent published an article entitled: “Is America Experiencing a Different Kind of ‘Civil War’?” The article stated: “America is divided on many fronts. In some places and on some matters the divisions are very wide and very deep. There were―and to an extent still are―the battles around the claims of a false presidential election, voter fraud, racial hatred, and a ‘deadly’ pandemic. One current pernicious battle involves the persistent charge that the last presidential election wasn’t legitimate and that it was riddled with voter fraud. The divisive response to COVID has been just as harmful and deadly as many other crises this nation has ever faced, including military wars.
“At first glance, you might think characterizing the divisiveness that America is experiencing today as a different kind of ‘civil war’ is a bit overstated. Given the complete meanings of both ‘civil’ and ‘war’, it can be said that America is indeed experiencing a different kind of ‘civil war’ with battles on multiple fronts. First, we need to fully understand the meaning of those two words.
“The meaning of the word ‘civil’ is distinct from a ‘military’ matter. ‘Civil’ means those things relating to ordinary citizens, who live in the same country, and their associated concerns. A closer look at the meaning of the word ‘war’, shows that it is not only defined as a sustained armed conflict between military forces, but also as a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude. It also includes the disorder or conflict occurring between citizens of the same country. Many wars are fought and won with words, ideas, philosophies — often misguided words, misguided ideas, misguided philosophies and the amorphous ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dynamic.
Given the complete meanings of both civil and war, it can be said that America is indeed experiencing a different kind of “civil war” with battles on multiple fronts. Sadly, all of the battles are not just a war of words. Some include or have the potential of violence. Wars are not always fought by armed military forces with guns, bombs, stealth fighters, and sophisticated weaponry. And the enemy is not always clearly defined. Even the reasons for war often lack clarity. But the divisiveness and fighting still rage, nonetheless. America is indeed in the midst of a different kind of “civil war” with battles on many fronts and is approaching a critical crossroads. Two truths have withstood the test of time. One, a house divided against itself will not stand. Two, a great country is not destroyed by an external enemy but from within.” (the Missouri Independent, August 21st, 2021).
An American Civil War is allegedly prophesied and the potential sparks that could make it explode are clearly visible for all to see: totalitarian governmental measures, increasing political polarization, the censorship of speech on the internet and social media, racial equity, illegal and unconditional immigration, gun control, abortion, election legitimacy, climate change, the “Great Reset”, the 5G roll-out, masks, vaccines, the “jab or no job” mandate, etc.—the list goes on. Cultural, economic, and political issues are increasingly generating outrage and hostility. We already are seeing “border wars” via federalism, with individual states passing major legislation that differs considerably from that in other places. As an illustration, a new Texas law virtually outlaws abortions. The areas of intense division are already many―and many more are likely to emerge in the near future. Therefore, remarks about a forthcoming American civil war should not be taken lightly.
Truth Stranger Than Fiction!
The Baltimore Sun, in a JUN 06, 2018, article entitled: “Is a second American civil war possible?” it states: “In his 2013 novel, A Delicate Truth, John le Carré describes the ‘Deep State’ as a very rich élite ― ‘non-governmental insiders from banking, industry and commerce’ who rule in secret. America already may be close to that sort of deep state. As Princeton professor, Martin Gilens, and Northwestern professor, Benjamin Page, found, after analyzing 1,799 policy issues that came before Congress, ‘the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.’ Instead, professors Gilens and Page concluded, lawmakers respond to the policy demands of wealthy individuals and moneyed business interests. The data Gilens and Page used comes from the period from 1981 to 2002, before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money in its Citizens United v. FEC decision. It's likely to be far worse now. So when Mr. Trump says the political system is ‘rigged,’ he is not far off the mark. Bernie Sanders said the same thing. A Monmouth University poll, released in March 2018, found that a bipartisan majority of Americans already believes that an unelected ‘Deep State’ is manipulating national policy.”
The above quotes are merely a few snowflakes in the blizzard of articles and discussions on a potential future American Civil War. Such a scenario would have seemed ridiculous several decades ago! Today, however, that has changed and the likelihood of a future is no long fiction, but more like the reality of truth! Our Lady’s predictions are being proved to be true―she was not “spinning a story” when she said:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Are we not seeing that today? Are we really that blind and isolated that the obvious is not so obvious? Isn’t Satan ruling the world today? The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, thinks that Satan most certainly rules the world today: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
As for Masonry being used by Satan to rule the world, it is known that almost a third of the US presidents have been Freemasons. That number only includes the clearly known Masons―there have more certainly been those who hid their Masonic connections. In 1959 American Freemasonry had a membership of over 4.1 million men — which meant that around 4.5% (almost 1 in 20) of all American men were members. That gives you an enormous influence and power both at the top and at grass roots levels. Membership has fallen since those days―but even the Vatican apparently has at least four Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy!
Surround by War! Immersed in War!
In speaking of so-called “Last Days” or “End Times”―which, incidentally, Our Lady of Fatima said that we have already entered― Our Lord said: “When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7) … “When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified! These things must first come to pass―but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9).
Our present day and age can truthfully be said to be the “Age of Wars”. There have always been wars―but never before have there been so many wars―with such variety, with such regularity, with such a death rate. We would manifest our gross naivety in imaging war to solely mean battles involving soldiers, guns, artillery, tanks, planes, bombs, etc. War is of many differing kinds―just as self-defense involves a wide variety of techniques. Soldiers are even trained to look for and use improvised weapons when standard military weapons are unavailable―you basically use whatever you can lay your hands on and then use it in the most effective and damaging manner possible. If you are being attacked and you have no gun―self-defense experts show how you can use anything within arm’s reach as an effective weapon of attack or defense―keys, flashlights, pens, credit cards, bottles, sticks, kitchen cutlery, kitchen knives, ladles, frying pans, pots, candleholders, chairs, furniture, bleach, ammonia, cayenne pepper, boiling oil (with or without the French-fries), etc., etc.
Similarly, the enemies of God, the enemies of the Church, the enemies of mankind―who can all be clumped together as being the soldiers, stooges or useful idiots of Satan and Hell―will use anything and everything that surrounds us or what we possess, and turn it into a weapon to use against us. Fr. Ludovic Barrielle, in his excellent booklet, Rules for Discerning the Spirits, comments upon the fact that the devil will use anything and everything in his warfare against us: “Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us! A person says: ‘Father, I’m down in the dumps!’ No, sit, you are not down in the dumps. That does not exist. You have the devil hovering about you! The person replies: ‘Father, you see the devil everywhere! I’m down in the dumps because the sun is not out today, and when the weather is bad, I’m sad, that’s all! It has nothing to do with the devil!’ Exactly! Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? He will use advantageously the bad weather, as a disposition. You just are not aware of the fact that if you are feeling sad, the devil is hovering about you. Beware!”
Since the devil is, as Our Lord says, “the prince of this world” (John 14:30), then the devil will use this world to his advantage. If we do not belong to God, then we automatically belong to the world―and, by default, we therefore belong to the devil―“the prince of this world.” Sr. Lucia of Fatima warns: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Fuentes). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that … the Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
That is why Holy Scripture warns us: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
A Universal War Using Universal Weapons
Even in human wars, the military forces of any nation use as many weapons as possible. The military is not just using soldiers on land armed with only a rifle―but they use as many weapons as the latest technology makes available to them. They will fight, not just on land, but will also use planes and missiles in the air, and ships and nuclear submarines in the seas. They will also use biological weapons that cause disease and death; they will use invisible weapons such as EMPs (electro-magnetic pulses), radiation, even 5G is a military weapon, not to mention a whole host of frequencies, whose range can do many things―from killing, to altering the minds and moods of people, to destabilizing and demoralizing people. Scientists have already harnessed certain aspects of weather control and “weather warfare” was already being used in Vietnam around 60 years ago, with Americans increasing rainfall by 30% and thus “bogging-down” North Vietnamese movements. Today, of course, scientists have advanced in their manipulation of weather, and are able to provoke many other disasters, such as floods, droughts, storms, hurricanes, etc.
► AIR WARFARE is used as a weapon these days, with such things as Chemtrails, air pollution, and the use of air-waves for electronic radio-wave, electro-magnetic, and frequency warfare.
► WATER WARFARE can also be used as a weapon by creating an overabundance of water (floods), or a lack of water (drought), or poisoning a water supply for instant death, or contaminating water with all kinds of toxic chemicals (as done by most water modern cities today)―tap water is a slow killer. Lead poisoning is a problem in places like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. Arsenic can be found in the water supply in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Radioactive substances, leeching into groundwater, have become a huge problem in Texas. 57 out of 86 Detroit public schools tested positive for elevated levels of copper or lead. Chlorine is deliberately added to the US water supply to kill germs and pathogens, but when it mixes with other organic compounds it can create a few harmful byproducts. Low levels of chlorine contribute to parasite formation in the body. All of these chemicals contribute to disease and death in a variety of ways.
► FOOD WARFARE is another weapon used to debilitate and weaken people, due to use of pesticides, chemicals and now GM (genetically modified) foods. Food, for a long time now, has and still is becoming more and more toxic. We are basically being made to eat ourselves into disease and death.
► MEDICAL WARFARE has also increased exponentially over the last 60 or so years―with more and more ‘medicines’ proving themselves to more of a killer than a healer. God’s natural medicines have been thrown into the trash can, discredited and even outlawed―while man’s ‘miracle’ medicines have replaced them with fatal results. So-called ‘advances’ in medicine―such as chemotherapy, radiation, man-made synthetic drugs, vaccines, etc.―have drained the life out of hordes of people. More than 250000 people in the US die every year because of medical mistakes, making it the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
► CHEMICAL WARFARE is more common than you think! Synthetic chemicals are in nearly everything we touch and consume. Once again, man-made products are the culprit. Dangerous chemicals can be found in food, cosmetics and personal care products (shampoo, dyes, deodorants, perfume, nail polish, hairspray, sanitary pads, lubricating oils, soaps, detergents and more). They are in, medical equipment and devices (including pharmaceuticals, blood storage bags and IV tubes). You will find those chemicals in furniture, carpets, vinyl flooring, wallpaper, mini-blinds, plastic pipes, other plastics, shower curtains. Chemicals are also found in cookware, food storage items, food wrap, cans, plastic film, and food packaging. Cleaning supplies and decorative products such as paints, varnishes, furniture restoration products, gardening products, etc. are also a massive source of toxic chemicals. They are pretty much everywhere around us. All of these things challenge and wage war on our immune-system and our health.
► ELECTRONIC WARFARE has become more and more prevalent over the last few decades. Electronics have invaded every single house and have captured almost every single person. Televisions, radios, computers, tablets, iPads, smartphones, video games, etc. are found everywhere. All of them―to one degree or another―have a detrimental effect upon both mental health and physical health. Some make us “couch-potatoes” who just sit around and no longer exercise. Others bombard us with radiation and slowly bring disease to various organs of the body (cf. smartphone/cellphone use and cancer of the brain). Besides the physical attacks on our health, there is also the propaganda that these items are used for transmitting misinformation, disinformation and plain old lies―not to mention the tsunami of immodesty, impurity and pornography that can be transmitted through them.
► ECONOMIC WARFARE seeks to enslave the masses to the whims of few who are rich. A plutocracy or plutarchy (from the Greek: “ploutos” meaning “wealth” and “kratos” meaning “power”) is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. A plutocracy is a government controlled exclusively by the wealthy, either directly or indirectly. The Fed estimates that the wealthiest 10% of Americans hold around 90% of all available equity in corporations and mutual fund shares. Another statistic shows that 1% of the people control 82% of the wealth in the world. If you imagine that money does not control governments, then you are quite simply an idiot or grossly uniformed. The big money corporations spend around $3 billion each year lobbying members of the government in Washington. Lobbyists are paid persuaders and they also subtly pay those whom they are trying to persuade. As the say: “Money talks!” and it so happens that politicians listen.
The average senator has to pull in more than $14,000 every single day, just to stay in office. One of the easiest ways to raise that kind of cash is to turn to lobbyists, who make big donations and organize swanky fundraisers for elected officials, in order to buy influence for their corporate clients. Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff says: “You can’t take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a steak. But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fundraiser!” Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re a big bank. You want to buy influence with a senator on the banking committee so he’ll vote your way on an upcoming bill. The easiest way would be to just give $100,000 directly to the senator’s reelection campaign. But alas, that would be illegal — federal law prohibits companies from making direct donations to candidates. So instead, you hire a lobbying firm. Here’s where things get corrupt. That lobbying firm can legally organize a swanky fundraiser that brings in $100,000 for the senator’s reelection campaign. At the fundraiser, your lobbyist just happens to have a friendly chat about your feelings on banking policy with the senator’s staff. At the end of the day, the senator is still up $100,000, he still knows exactly where the money came from, and he knows which way to vote if he wants the money to keep flowing. But this time, nobody’s broken any laws! One recent study found that “on average, for every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received $760 from the government.” That’s a 76,000% return on investment. And it works on both sides of the aisle — top lobbying firms raise big money for Republicans and Democrats at the same time.
The United States of America is supposedly a democratic country. However, over the past few decades, important questions about policy and budgets have been decided overwhelmingly against the interests and preferences of the middle classes and working classes. When the preferences of the rich comes into conflict with the middle classes or working classes, the rich tend to win.
► CULTURAL WARFARE seeks to replace the (remnant) of Christian culture with a neo-pagan culture―and it is succeeding with very little resistance. In a nutshell, the Christian culture is one of humility―the neo-pagan culture is one of pride. Both cultures reflect their leaders―Christ and Satan. Christian culture is God-centered, neo-pagan culture is man centered. Christian culture glorifies God―neo-pagan culture glorifies man. Christian culture is based on a love of God and leads to true charity―neo-pagan culture is based on a hatred of God and leads to hatred among fellow men. Christian culture epitomizes virtue―neo-pagan culture epitomizes sin. Christian culture seeks to lead souls to Heaven―neo-pagan culture seeks to find paradise on Earth.
► SEXUAL WARFARE is perhaps, as Our Lady of Fatima indicated over 100 years ago, the most fatal warfare that leads, as Our Lady said, most souls to Hell. It is amazing and frightening that Our Lady said that―already back in 1917―most souls were being damned by the sin of impurity! In America in the 1930s it was illegal in most states and cities for men to go anywhere shirtless! What is the case today? We should shudder to think of the collapse in modesty! Today―as a succession of popes since Pope Pius XII (reigned from to 1939 to 1958)―have said the modern man has “lost the sense of sin”. Sin is no longer sin―sin is now fun! Impurity is no longer a sin―impurity is now fun! The modern day media―movies, television, internet―is only too happy to feed us more and more of that poisonous ‘fun’. Impurity is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round, every year. A study conducted in 2006 (it must have become worse since then) found that about 84% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 had watched pornographic films, either rented or on television. Another 82% had viewed pornographic magazines. Statistics show that 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. People addicted to porn spend at least 11 to 12 hours per week viewing porn. That is ONLY about pornography―the “hard-core” of impurity―yet Our Lord said of impurity in general: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28)―you can even do that in church on Sunday, or at work on Monday, or while out shopping on Saturday―you don’t have to be a porn addict to qualify. With the tsunami of immodesty and seductive clothing (or lack of it) that ‘adorns’ websites, movies, TV shows, news and weather broadcasting, billboards, newspapers, magazines and the average person on the street or in the office―it is really easy to qualify for Our Lord’s “adultery in the heart” group.
► FAMILY WARFARE seeks to destroy what should be a “Family Fortress”―but rarely is. The importance of the family cannot be denied, nor understated, nor underestimated. It is the family that produces the raw material for Church and Society. As the saying goes: “You are only as strong as your weakest link!”―and boy are we loaded with “weak links” in the domain of the family today. Hardly anyone has an acceptable level of knowledge of the Faith―most Catholics would fail their 2nd or 3rd Grade First Communion test―since they have forgotten most of it! The “weak links” are also found in the increasing numbers of divorces; escalating numbers of illegitimate children; cohabitation replacing marriage; same sex relationships; rampant child abuse on physical, mental and sexual levels; low percentages of families practicing their Faith. All of that hardly promises to produce a “Family Fortress”! Back in 1960, births outside of marriage were virtually unheard of and were often kept as secret as possible. Today, for all racial and ethnic groups combined, 40%, or 4 out of 10 births in the United States were out-of-wedlock! As always there is a wide range among groups. For blacks it is 70% (7 out 10); for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 68%; Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders are at 50%; for Hispanics, 52%; for whites, 28%; and for Asian Americans, 12%. As regards DIVORCE, the divorce rate is declining because less and less people are getting married―you can’t divorce someone if you are not married to them! Despite the fact that the rate of marriage is declining faster than rates of divorce, experts predict that somewhere between 40% and 50% of all marriages existing today will ultimately end in divorce. “Family Fortress”? No way! Furthermore, divorce is the result of “family warfare”―and such in-fighting automatically destroys the idea of marriage in the eyes of the children, who are the unfortunate and reluctant spectators of the family warfare.
► RELIGIOUS WARFARE attacks the very “lifeblood” of the soul―its Faith. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) and without Faith you cannot get to Heaven―even if you have the Faith, you still have to fight to get to Heaven, as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Who is fighting for the Faith today? Almost nobody! We are too preoccupied with fighting each other! Today, we have most definitely entered a time of apostasy―to which Our Lord alludes to when He says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” Luke 18:8). Our Faith is attacked on both fronts―from within the family and outside of the family. Our Faith is attacked on all sides―in the home, in the workplace, in school, in social life, in economic life, in culture. Wherever you turn, your Faith is attacked, frowned upon or even mocked. You are accused of “hate crimes” for hating sin! In the home, there is always one or several “black sheep” who either doubt the Faith, or whose morals are contradictory to the Faith―as Our Lord said: “Every one that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law [meaning that some will accept His teachings and others will not]. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-36). Today, around 50% or more Catholics accept or agree with abortion, contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages, same-sex relations, cohabitation, and host of other serious sins! Such positions are a clear sign of, not only the Faith being attacked, but also of a Faith that has been compromised, overcome, and beaten into surrender.
What Next? Where To?
All of the above are merely the tip of the iceberg of the attacks upon the Church, the State, and all of mankind. It can make depressive reading and provoke despairing thoughts! What can be done? What must we do? Who can we trust? To whom do we turn? The answer should be pretty obvious to anyone with common sense―but common sense is no longer very common! For those who have a solid Faith (as opposed to the common superficial Faith), the answer is even more clear!
The only place to go is to go to God―to Our Lord, to Our Lady, to the angels and saints of Heaven. Our Lord Himself already gave us the answer a long time ago: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5), to which He adds: “And they that heard it, said: ‘Who then can be saved?’ He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:26-27). The Angel Gabriel, in addressing Our Lady at the Annunciation, said: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). We need to have Faith and Hope and trust in God: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
Our Lord points out the power of Faith: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there!’ and it shall remove―and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!”―it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!’” (Matthew 21:18-22). “If you had Faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree: ‘Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted into the sea!’ and it would obey you!” (Luke 17:6).
Remedies Ignored and Neglected
Our Lady revealed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich the incredible POTENTIAL (not automatic, nor guaranteed) POWER of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―IF it offered with great Faith and the same high level of devotion by which the Mass was offered by the Apostles: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Those words are a terrible indictment and rebuke to Catholic priests―many of whom rush and race through their Mass as though they had something more important to go and do afterwards! Moral theologians have their opinions on how much time the priest should dedicate to celebrating a Mass, a matter on which the Canon Law of the Church and the Roman Missal were and still are silent. One moral theologian says that an hour should not be considered too long. Several others that, in order to avoid being tedious (wearisome, irksome), Mass should last no more than half an hour; and in order to be said with due reverence, it should last no less than 20 minutes. Another theologian, who gave half an hour as the minimum time, considered that Mass could not be said in less than a quarter of an hour (!!!?), an opinion supported by others, including Saint Alphonsus Liguori―who said that any priest who finished Mass in less than 20 minutes could scarcely be excused from mortal sin.
O Heavens above! Not only have we lost the sense of sin today, but we have also lost the sense of the importance and gravity of Mass! Our Lord―tortured, beaten, bruised, lacerated―hung on the cross for hours for us, and we think anything more than 30 minutes is tedious, boring, wearisome and irksome!!! No wonder Mass fails to be said with the same Faith and devotion of the Apostles―and, consequently, no wonder we find ourselves in our current mess! Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Our Lady of Akita told us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was one of two weapons that have been given to us ― “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” This “Sign” naturally brings to mind the “Sign of the Cross” ― which a reminded of the Crucifixion and Death of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, which, in turn, is re-enacted or reproduced in every single Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is our ultimate weapon―since it is the same Sacrifice as that of Christ on Calvary, but in an unbloody and mystical manner. There is nothing greater than the Mass on this whole Earth―yet who goes to Mass anymore? Sunday Mass attendance is obligatory under pain of mortal―yet the worldwide average attendance is less that 20% (1 in 5)―with attendance in some countries like ‘Catholic’ France as low as 2% (1 in 50).
The same is true for praying the Rosary. Our Lady requests that we pray the Rosary daily―even praying it very much: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973). Yet just as it is with the Mass, so too is it with the Rosary! Only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―and THAT IS IN A TIME OF WAR!! Yet every Catholic, who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation, is a Soldier of Christ!
St. Padre Pio urged all Catholics to “love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world.” Convinced of the power of the Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night. A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!” Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” Later, to Padre Onorato Marcucci, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, Padre Pio said: “With this—one wins the battles.”
Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it?—How do you manage not to say any?” To Enedina Mori, Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” Two days before he died, Padre Pio repeated: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always. And recite it as much as you can.”
As Soldiers of Christ, we obliged to fight―and Our Lord stressed: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12), to which Holy Scripture adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is absolutely clear that we are failing to do this―otherwise we would not find ourselves in the ever worsening mess that we are currently in. We reap what we sow―if we don’t sow, we don’t reap anything―and “he who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). We have to be honest and admit that when it comes the spiritual life―we are most certainly minimalists who seek to “get the biggest bang for our buck”! We want the maximum possible in return for doing least possible. We are told to FIGHT―but we go fly a kite! We are told to WATCH and PRAY―but we prefer to watch television and play!
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). If we neglect to follow the counsels and commands of Heaven, then we are merely created a Hell upon Earth―which may even end with an eternal Hell hereafter!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday October 6th & Thursday October 7th, the Feast of the Holy Rosary
Article 4
Get Yourself a Rosary Upgrade!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday October 6th & Thursday October 7th, the Feast of the Holy Rosary
Article 4
Get Yourself a Rosary Upgrade!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Isn’t It Strange and Weird!
Don’t you find it strange that in so many earthly things we are constantly looking to upgrade what we have for something better―that is to say if we can afford it―we seek a better house, a better car, a better job, better appliances, better medical care, better prices, better deals, etc. We also seek to improve and better our appearance―our ‘looks’, our hair, our physique and body. Yet when it comes to the spiritual life, we rarely seek to upgrade our prayer life! What a striking anomaly! It is not our house, car, job or appliances that will help us reach Heaven, but it is our prayer life that will help us save our souls and attain to the reward that God is prepared to give to those who put in the proper efforts.
As St. Paul says to the “sports-mad” Corinthians: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Many have exchanged their soul’s salvation for pleasure, comfort, ease and riches in this life! Fools! Losers! Idiots! Our Lord warned against this on many occasions―He spoke of the pleasure-less and uncomfortable cross; He spoke about relinquishing riches; He spoke about penance which is not quite the ease that we seek! Here are just some quotes that highlight those things:
“And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit!” (Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14). “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’ And He said to His disciples: ‘Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing! … Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink … For all these things do the nations of the world seek … But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31).
Soul Over Body―Or Body Over Soul?
We are continually seeking and making upgrades in our natural physical and material life―but are we seeking and making upgrades in our supernatural and spiritual life? What good will all our material upgrades be on Judgment Day? The spiritual will weigh far more heavily in our favor than any material upgrades we may have made!
Our Catechism taught us from our very earliest days that the soul is more important than the body. We should be seeking the welfare of the soul more than the welfare of the body. As The Imitation of Christ so truly states:
“In all things consider the end―how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses. In this life your work is profitable, your tears acceptable, your sighs audible, your sorrow satisfying and purifying. It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning … You must, therefore, take care and repent of your sins now so that on the Day of Judgment you may rest secure with the blessed ... In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Then holy works will be of greater value than many fair words; strictness of life and hard penances will be more pleasing than all earthly delights … In truth, you cannot have two joys―you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ. If your life to this moment had been full of honors and pleasures, what good would it do if at this instant you should die? All is vanity, therefore, except to love God and to serve Him alone. He who loves God with all his heart does not fear death or punishment or judgment or Hell, because perfect love assures access to God” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24).
What Are You Focused On Most? Body or Soul?
As the saying goes: “Tell me who your friends are―and I will tell you what you are!” A derivative saying to that is: “Tell me what you eat―and I will tell what you are!”―meaning, you are either sick or healthy according to what you eat. Similarly, the phrase: “Tell me what you read―and I will tell you what you are!” Coming back to Our Lord’s quote: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit!” (Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14). “Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing! … Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink … But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice!’” (Luke 12:22 & 31).
If we seek above all the things of the world, then our minds and hearts are filled with its chatter and clutter. If we seek above all the things of Heaven, then our minds and hearts are filled with spiritual thoughts―which is what prayer is, as the Catechism tells us: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.” Too many people fail to raise their minds and hearts to God―instead, they only give God “lip-service” but little or no “heart-service”. Our Lord condemns this “lip-service” when He says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
What does Our Lady think of our Rosaries? Are they mere “lip-service” or true “heart-service”? Are they merely SAID, or are the really PRAYED? Are our minds filled with distractions, or are they filled with meditations? Are they said hurriedly, or are they prayed respectfully?
Are You In Contempt of the Court of Heaven?
We have all heard of the saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” The more we become used to something, then the chances are that we will gradually—perhaps even imperceptibly—lose our estimation and respect for it. Marriage is a wonderful (or should we say “terrible”) example of this. The respect, patience, efforts and love, spent in winning-over the future spouse, can very quickly evaporate over the years and give place to their opposites. The same applies to newly bought items—at first we take such great care over them, handle them gently, keep them sparkling clean, etc. However, over time, all that is forgotten and we can even give way to misuse and abuse.
Realize the Grandeur of Prayer!
The same can be said of prayer—whether it be the supreme prayer of the Sacrifice of the Mass, or the Divine Office, or the Holy Rosary. If we are not careful, our assistance at Mass will degenerate with relative ease, and our Rosaries and other prayers will slide comfortably into a daily mechanical routine that we apply to so many other things and chores of life. The saints warn us against this:
St. Augustine says: “What more excellent than prayer? What more useful and profitable? What sweeter and more delicious? What higher and more exalted in the whole scheme of our Christian religion?”
St. Bernard says that the angels receive our prayers and present them before God ― as the angel said to Tobias: “When thou didst pray with tears, I offered thy prayer to God” (Tobias 12:12). St. Hilary says the same: “The angels preside over the prayers of the saints and offer them each day to God.”
When we pray, we enter into the presence of the majesty of God. St. John Chrysostom warns us: “Consider the height, dignity and glory to which the Lord has raised you.”
Mary Cross Examines Us
At Lourdes, it was noticed that Our Lady prayed the Rosary, with St. Bernadette, SLOWLY and RESPECTFULLY. At La Salette, Our Lady asked the two children if they said their prayers well—which startled them and they had to embarrassingly reply: “Oh! No, not so much!” St. Louis de Montfort, in his The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we want to please God and become more holy.”
Then, a little further, he continues: “In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions, by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us, if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? … People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse, for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently.” (Jeremias 48:10).”
“We read in the life of Blessed Hermann of the Order of the Premonstratensians, that at one time when he used to say the Rosary attentively and devoutly, while meditating on the mysteries, Our Lady used to appear to him resplendent in breathtaking majesty and beauty. But, as time went on, his fervor cooled and he fell into the way of saying his Rosary hurriedly and without giving it his full attention. Then one day Our Lady appeared to him again, but this time she was far from beautiful, and her face was furrowed and drawn with sadness. Blessed Hermann was appalled at the change in her, and Our Lady explained, ‘This is how I look to you, Hermann, because this is how you are treating me; as a woman to be despised and of no importance. Why do you no longer greet me with respect and attention while meditating on my mysteries and praising my privileges?’”
Common Fault of Common People
A further passage of St. Louis’ hits the nerve of so many people: “The fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before.”
Quality Not Quantity
Why does that happen? Usually because of the phrase we used earlier—”Familiarity breeds contempt.” So let us resolve to improve the way we approach and pray our Rosaries. A few moments of quiet reflection before starting could make a big difference in changing our Rosaries from being sinful (a thought which shocks many, no doubt) to being virtuous. As St. Louis says elsewhere: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly.” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”).
Why are we so smugly satisfied with our “penny-worth”, “two-cents-worth”, or “dime-a-dozen” Rosaries? If you truly pay attention to how you are saying them, then, for the most part, you will realize that we rarely speak to anyone for 15 or 20 minutes at the pace in which we race through our Rosaries! To put it more shockingly―which perhaps might wake some people up from their “lip-service” Rosaries― should it be “zip-service” Rosaries due to the fact that we zip along through them―you could classify some people’s Rosaries as “verbal diarrhea.” That reminds us of the words of God when rebuking the lukewarm: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Whether it is “vomit” or “diarrhea”, both convey the revulsion with which God looks upon half-heartedness and lukewarmness―which, no matter how much quantity it might serve up, it is never quality. God deserves quality!
Rosary Reformation Time!
We are in grave need of a Catholic Reformation in general, and a Rosary Reformation in particular―and while we are on the subject of Reformation, we are also in need of a Mass Reformation, meaning that we need to reform the way we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (if we are priests) or how we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (if we are the laity)―for sometimes, with some priests, Mass can also be a “verbal diarrhea” or “verbal vomit” due to the speed with which the priest races through it (to the satisfaction of some Catholics who cannot wait for Mass to finish so that they can go do something better!).
Just as God says to us: “Make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) … “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you! And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26) ― so too could Our Lady say to us: “Make yourselves a new Rosary and a new spirit! … I will give you a new Rosary and a spirit of meditation! … And I will take away your stony, cold and heartless Rosary and I will show you how to make your Rosary come alive through meditating its mysteries!”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, reports Our Lady as saying: “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer! … “Whenever one of the faithful, in a state of grace, says the Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and Passion of Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins! … “I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, free from serious sin, say them with devotion, on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life!”
How You Pray is How You Pay!
We are all sinners and therefore we all have to pay for our sins. Many people mistakenly think that the paltry penance of a few Hail Marys or some other prayer, that the priest gives them in Confession, pays the debt of their sins! Not so! That is far from the truth! Whenever we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Confession, the guilt of sin is removed―but the price or payment for sin remains. You could say that the paltry penance is merely the first payment on a “mortgage” that we have taken out by our sins―and it will require many years of paying at that paltry rate of penance. Why do think some souls spend centuries in Purgatory? Remember that Our Lady of Fatima said that Lucia’s 18-year old friend, Amelia, would in Purgatory until the end of the world! We really need to pay for our sins in this life―at an enormously reduced or discounted rate―rather than have to pay for them in fires of Purgatory!
Prayer is one way of doing penance and paying for sin. Yet not all prayer is made equal! The power attached to prayer comes from two chief sources―one outside of ourselves and the other within ourselves. Concerning the power of the Rosary―Our Lady has said that the Rosary is the weapon for our time and age. That is a decision that Heaven has made and we played no part in that decision―it comes from outside of ourselves and outside of our capacity. However, we have it within our power to use that weapon well or to use that weapon badly―it depends upon how we pray: well or badly.
The Engine and Driving Force of Charity
The fundamental driving force or energy or power in our prayer is intrinsically and irreversibly linked to charity―the more charity or love there is in our soul and in our prayer, then the more powerful our prayer becomes and the more precious and valuable it is in paying-off the debt incurred by our sins. Without that charity we are nothing and what we do is supernaturally worthless and will receive no supernatural reward―even though men may applaud and praise us: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Everyone who is in a state of sanctifying grace has, at least, a minimal level of charity within the soul. Yet that level can grow enormously if we would only “stoke the fire” of charity. To “stoke the fire” we need some “painful prodding” to make our smoldering Rosaries catch fire again (or catch fire for the first time in our life). The “coals” (which are our Rosary beads) are hard and cold―we need to expose them to and make them sit in the “fire” of meditation. Nothing will catch fire if it is only briefly or momentarily exposed to a flame―it must remain in the presence of the flame for some time before it will catch fire. So, too, we must remain in the “flame” of meditation if we want our Rosaries to catch fire and become powerful weapons. “My heart grew hot within me! And in my meditation a fire shall flame out!” (Psalms 38:4). “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).
Growing in Charity―Growing in Power
Fr. Garrigrou-Lagrange, in his book Life Everlasting, speaks of the growth of charity: “Charity is a true friendship, a supernatural friendship, which unites us to God. This charity should become ever more rooted in the depths of our soul and thus drive out the unregulated love of self. Charity widens our heart, gives it something of the grandeur of divine goodness, and makes us love, as God does, all men without exception. Charity, no matter of how low a degree, excludes no one, for this exclusion would be a grave sin which would destroy it. St. Thomas expresses this truth in these words: ‘Charity can always grow greater in itself, because it is a participation in uncreated love and unlimited love. Further it can also always grow as a gift of God, its author, who can always make it grow greater. Lastly it can grow greater by our own cooperation, because the more charity grows the more the soul becomes capable of receiving its augmentation’ (Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 24, a. 7).
“Charity, thus progressing, widens our heart, which in some sense has been invaded by the love of God―‘I have walked in the way of Thy commandments, since Thou hast widened my heart!’ (Psalm 118:32). This love grows only in order to grow still greater. At times we are capable of experiencing this truth when we are in prayer. Charity ought ever to increase in us until death― it should grow in three ways: by merit, prayer, and the Sacraments.
“Charity ought not only to grow in us until death, but to increase more and more like a falling body, the speed of which increases until it reaches its last end. As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity. Quality is superior to quantity. It follows also from these principles that one fervent Communion is worth more than many tepid Communions taken together. [This brings to mind the words of St. Louis de Montfort: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly.” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”)].
“How, then, does Charity grow in us? Charity does not grow by addition, like a heap of wheat. This addition would multiply Charity without making it more intense. The increase would be in the order of quantity rather than of quality, which is quite a different thing. In reality, Charity increases in us in so far as it becomes stronger, takes deeper root in our will. The growth of Charity is obtained not only by merit, but by prayer. The mental prayer of a just man, who delights in meditating slowly on the Our Father, in nourishing his soul profoundly with each of its petitions, in remaining at times for half an hour in the loving contemplation of one of them, is at once meritorious and impetrating. It gives a right to an increase of Charity, from which it proceeds, and by the impetrating power of prayer it often obtains more than it merits. Besides, when mental prayer is truly fervent, it obtains this increase immediately. Thereby we see how fruitful mental prayer can be; how it draws God strongly toward us that He may give Himself intimately to us and that we may give ourselves to Him. Lastly, Charity grows in us through the Sacraments. The just man grows thus in the love of God through absolution in Confession and especially by Holy Communion.”
The Science of Love
Man is forever trying to understand and even judge God―which is impossible, for man is finite and God is infinite. Yet there are some things that man can know about God―even though man cannot know everything about God. Similarly, Science―the new god of today―is vainly trying to understand and judge God and spiritual things. It cannot achieve this, for Science can only work upon material physical things and God is immaterial or spiritual. Now we know that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). God is love and, amusingly, Science has tried to measure love―but Science, which can only work on the physical or material level, cannot measure something that is spiritual or immaterial. At best, Science can only observe and measure the physical effects of byproducts of love―but it cannot measure the source of those effects or byproducts. Just like we can guess―and no more than guess―the thoughts of another person by their exterior actions and words. “For man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Human beings can only observe our behavior and hear our words, they can also connect us to machines to monitor things like our heart rate, emotions, etc. ― but demons can see a bit deeper; namely, they can see our imagination and memory and the feelings that come from them. Yet even Satan, whose knowledge is far, far greater than that of any science or scientist―cannot know our thoughts (which reside in the soul, not the body), but can only guess what they might be from all our interior and exterior bodily reactions and manifestations.
St. Thomas Aquinas quotes the prophet Jeremias: “The heart is perverse … and unsearchable, who can know it? I am the Lord who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:9-10), and then Aquinas adds: “Therefore, it belongs to God alone to know the heart’s secrets.” He further states: “The following is found in the Psalms (7:10): ‘The searcher of hearts and reins is God.’ It seems, therefore, that God alone can search our hearts” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Questiones Disputatae de Veritate, q. 8, art. 13).
In another book, De Malo (Of Evil), St. Thomas writes: “The devil cannot see internal thoughts … The devil can perceive internal thoughts in their effects, not in themselves … Jeremias, 17:9-10, says: ‘The human heart is wicked and inscrutable. Who will know it? I, the Lord, search hearts and test temperaments!’ Therefore, it belongs to God alone to know the thoughts of human beings. Therefore, devils do not know the thoughts. Furthermore, the Apostle says (in 2 Corithians 2:22): ‘No one knows the things within a person except that person's spirit within the person.’ But thoughts are particularly internal to human beings. Therefore, only the individual human being, not devils, can know the thoughts of that human being. Furthermore, the work ‘On Church Dogmas’ says: ‘We are certain that the devil does not perceive the interior thoughts of the soul’ … Devils know a human being’s thoughts better than other human beings know them, because devils perceive the thoughts by more concealed external signs … Devils know the thoughts of human beings by certain physical signs, … particularly when interior thoughts induce human beings to certain emotions. If human beings have experienced strong emotions, they show signs in their external appearance that even the rather dim-witted can apprehend. For example, those who are fearful grow pale, and those who are ashamed, blush … And even if an emotion be milder, skilled doctors can detect it from change in the heartbeat that they note by the pulse. And devils can know such external and internal physical signs much more than any human being can.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, De Malo, q. 16, art. 8).
There have been some studies wherein Science has pretended that has measured love―but all it has measured is some visible, or measurable, or manifestation of love in the interior bodily reactions and changes, chemical productions and secretions of bodily organs, etc. Therefore, having dethroned the proud, God-usurping Science back into its more humble seat―we can nevertheless take something from that inferior Science’s observations on love and learn something for our own benefit.
Some psychologists say that the ability to love, together with the capacity for work, is a hallmark of full maturity. One could be cynical, instead of clinical, and say that there is not a lot of maturity to be seen! There is a lot of medical and psychological focus on emotions such as aggression and depression―which have been the focal point of much intense research―but love has seen little or no focus or research. Nevertheless, in recent times, love has come under the microscope.
One recent scientific study discovered that a critical factor in love is not how much or how little people love each other, but rather how equal their love is. In one sense, that is not rocket-science nor is it surprising―for, as the saying goes: “Love is all about give and take”―a one-sided love is going nowhere fast! Yet is our relationship with God a one-sided relationship―whereby God loves us, but we do not return a proportionate love to God? Guilty as charged? Most people are! “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us … In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:19 & 10). Our Lord told us that the most important commandment of all is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Another scientific study tries to reduce to love to drugs or chemicals within the body! The article states: “Science has identified three basic parts of love―lust, attraction and long-term attachment―each of these three being driven by a unique blend of brain chemicals. (1) Lust is governed by both estrogen and testosterone, in both men and women. (2) Attraction is driven by adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin—the same chemicals that are released by exciting, novel experiences. (3) Long-term attachment is governed by a very different set of hormones and brain chemicals—oxytocin and vasopressin, which encourage bonding. Each of these chemicals works in a specific part of the brain to influence lust, attraction and attachment. Science has also shown that the process of falling in love can, in some cases, be hurried along. In a small scale study, subjects who talked deeply to a perfect stranger for 30 minutes, then stared into each other’s eyes for four minutes, felt a deep and lasting attachment. One pair even went on to marry!” That is pretty typical for modern-man’s idea of love―the inclusion of lust! Lust has no place in love―lust is a sin, not love! God is love ((1 John 4:8)―and there is no lust in God! The article is also flawed by reducing love to the material, physical, sensual level of the body―whereas love belongs to the spiritual, immaterial level of the soul. Love can manifest its effects in the body and through actions―but love originates in the soul, not the body.
Another scientific article, speaking of attraction, states: “When people fall in love they can think of nothing else. They might even lose their appetite and need less sleep, preferring to spend hours at a time daydreaming about their new love ... Attachment is what takes over after the attraction stage, if a relationship is going to last. People couldn’t possibly stay in the attraction stage forever, otherwise they’d never get any work done! Attachment is a longer lasting commitment and is the bond that keeps couples together.”
Another scientific article, in speaking of some of the characteristics of love, states: “Being in love generally refers to those intense feelings that take over at the start of a relationship. Here are what these feelings might look like in action.
● You are intensely curious about them
● Everything feels exciting and new
● You feel charged and euphoric around them
● You feel safe
● You feel invincible
● You feel positive about the future
● You can’t wait to see them again — even when they’ve just left
● You can’t stop smiling
● You always make time for them
● You are glued to your phone
● You forget your other priorities
● You don’t mind making sacrifices for them
● You feel their pain
● You idealize them
● You feel like a better person
● You feel more love for others”
Science Gets It Right and Wrong!
There is some truth in the findings of science on the matter of love―but science errs grossly if it seeks to reduce love to the mere operation of organs and chemicals! The organs and chemicals ARE NOT THE CAUSE of the love, but only the EFFECTS OF LOVE. Love goes deeper than mere organs and chemicals. Love RESIDES IN THE SOUL in general, and love RESIDES IN THE WILL in particular (the will is one of the powers of the soul―the other being the intellect).
All the above mentioned characteristics―attraction, lust, attachment―with their accompanying hormones and chemical secretions―are not the integral or essential parts of love, but they are the pre-cursors (attraction), consequences (attachment) and abuses (lust) of love.
Furthermore, feelings and emotions are not an essential and necessary part of love―you can have powerful feelings and emotions towards the person you love, or you still be in love with them without powerful feelings and emotions.
St. Thomas Aquinas puts love in a nutshell when he defines it thus: “To love is to will the good of another.” The verb “to will” means “to want, to wish, to desire, to intend” and it comes from one of two faculties of the soul―the will―the other faculty of the soul being the intellect. Thus it is the will that wills, if you will! Joking aside, yes, it is the property or function of our will to be able to will things―“to want, to wish, to desire, to intend”―for ourselves and others. The will is a purely spiritual faculty―it is not any kind of bodily action (such as a caress, or the giving of gifts, etc.), nor is it a verbal action (such as saying “I love you!”); nor is it an emotional reaction (such as tears of joy, or a racing heart)―these bodily, verbal, emotions actions or reactions are merely physical or material manifestations of something that is greater, something that is immaterial and spiritual; something that comes before those bodily, verbal or emotional actions or reactions. You could say that they are the heat and smoke that come out of the fire―but before you can have heat and smoke, you have to have a fire.
The characteristics that Science lists for human love, should be all the more present in us if we have a divine love―that is to say, a love of God. We must only love what is “good, true and beautiful” and we must not love what is “evil, false and revolting”. Satan is the epitome of what is “evil, false and revolting”―God is the epitome of what is “good, true and beautiful”. Thus Christ tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
If we are truly loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, then such a love will undoubtedly produce in us similar manifestations as seen in the above characteristics or effects of human love, or the love of a human being:
● You are intensely curious about them―hence we want to know more about God, so we read and learn about Him.
● Everything feels exciting and new―this increased knowledge of God excites us, astounds us, captivates us.
● You feel charged and euphoric around them―we draw a spiritual energy from God and His grace that elates us.
● You feel safe―in seeing the omnipotence of God and realizing His immense love for us, we feel safe and secure.
● You feel invincible―since God is all-powerful and invincible, and since we belong to God, we feel invincible.
● You feel positive about the future―Christ spoke of God’s loving providence, telling us not to worry about the future.
● You can’t wait to see them again, even when they’ve just left―we can’t wait for the next Mass and Holy Communion.
● You can’t stop smiling―as St. Francis de Sales said: “A saint who is sad, is indeed a sad [poor] saint!”
● You always make time for them―we make time to pray, to meditate, to do spiritual reading, to go to Mass, etc.
● You are glued to your phone―we are glued to our Rosary beads, to our prayer books, to the tabernacle, etc.
● You forget your other priorities―the world and its attractions no longer seduce us and waste our time.
● You don’t mind making sacrifices for them―we offer God things, endure things, do penance, and carry our crosses.
● You feel their pain―it pains us to seen God neglected, offended, rejected or even blasphemed.
● You idealize them―there is nothing greater, more attractive, more satisfying than God.
● You feel like a better person―grace perfects nature, and we feel that ever increasing perfection within us.
● You feel more love for others―our love for God overflows into a love for God’s creatures, our fellow humans.
Supercharged Rosaries!
With such a love―as described above―can you imagine the power your Rosaries would have?!! St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “He who prays most, receives most!” You could add that he who prays better than most, receives more than most! “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). It is charity or love that is the powerhouse in our prayers―the greater our charity, the greater the power of our prayer. There is no way that you can fix your prayer life without fixing your stuttering charity towards both God and neighbor.
The famous Benedictine abbot and writer, Blessed Dom Columba Marmion, writes: “It happens to some souls that when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips....In our prayer we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind....Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Columba Marmion, Christ―The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Don’t you find it strange that in so many earthly things we are constantly looking to upgrade what we have for something better―that is to say if we can afford it―we seek a better house, a better car, a better job, better appliances, better medical care, better prices, better deals, etc. We also seek to improve and better our appearance―our ‘looks’, our hair, our physique and body. Yet when it comes to the spiritual life, we rarely seek to upgrade our prayer life! What a striking anomaly! It is not our house, car, job or appliances that will help us reach Heaven, but it is our prayer life that will help us save our souls and attain to the reward that God is prepared to give to those who put in the proper efforts.
As St. Paul says to the “sports-mad” Corinthians: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Many have exchanged their soul’s salvation for pleasure, comfort, ease and riches in this life! Fools! Losers! Idiots! Our Lord warned against this on many occasions―He spoke of the pleasure-less and uncomfortable cross; He spoke about relinquishing riches; He spoke about penance which is not quite the ease that we seek! Here are just some quotes that highlight those things:
“And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit!” (Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14). “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’ And He said to His disciples: ‘Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing! … Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink … For all these things do the nations of the world seek … But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31).
Soul Over Body―Or Body Over Soul?
We are continually seeking and making upgrades in our natural physical and material life―but are we seeking and making upgrades in our supernatural and spiritual life? What good will all our material upgrades be on Judgment Day? The spiritual will weigh far more heavily in our favor than any material upgrades we may have made!
Our Catechism taught us from our very earliest days that the soul is more important than the body. We should be seeking the welfare of the soul more than the welfare of the body. As The Imitation of Christ so truly states:
“In all things consider the end―how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses. In this life your work is profitable, your tears acceptable, your sighs audible, your sorrow satisfying and purifying. It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning … You must, therefore, take care and repent of your sins now so that on the Day of Judgment you may rest secure with the blessed ... In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Then holy works will be of greater value than many fair words; strictness of life and hard penances will be more pleasing than all earthly delights … In truth, you cannot have two joys―you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ. If your life to this moment had been full of honors and pleasures, what good would it do if at this instant you should die? All is vanity, therefore, except to love God and to serve Him alone. He who loves God with all his heart does not fear death or punishment or judgment or Hell, because perfect love assures access to God” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24).
What Are You Focused On Most? Body or Soul?
As the saying goes: “Tell me who your friends are―and I will tell you what you are!” A derivative saying to that is: “Tell me what you eat―and I will tell what you are!”―meaning, you are either sick or healthy according to what you eat. Similarly, the phrase: “Tell me what you read―and I will tell you what you are!” Coming back to Our Lord’s quote: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit!” (Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14). “Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing! … Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink … But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice!’” (Luke 12:22 & 31).
If we seek above all the things of the world, then our minds and hearts are filled with its chatter and clutter. If we seek above all the things of Heaven, then our minds and hearts are filled with spiritual thoughts―which is what prayer is, as the Catechism tells us: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.” Too many people fail to raise their minds and hearts to God―instead, they only give God “lip-service” but little or no “heart-service”. Our Lord condemns this “lip-service” when He says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
What does Our Lady think of our Rosaries? Are they mere “lip-service” or true “heart-service”? Are they merely SAID, or are the really PRAYED? Are our minds filled with distractions, or are they filled with meditations? Are they said hurriedly, or are they prayed respectfully?
Are You In Contempt of the Court of Heaven?
We have all heard of the saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” The more we become used to something, then the chances are that we will gradually—perhaps even imperceptibly—lose our estimation and respect for it. Marriage is a wonderful (or should we say “terrible”) example of this. The respect, patience, efforts and love, spent in winning-over the future spouse, can very quickly evaporate over the years and give place to their opposites. The same applies to newly bought items—at first we take such great care over them, handle them gently, keep them sparkling clean, etc. However, over time, all that is forgotten and we can even give way to misuse and abuse.
Realize the Grandeur of Prayer!
The same can be said of prayer—whether it be the supreme prayer of the Sacrifice of the Mass, or the Divine Office, or the Holy Rosary. If we are not careful, our assistance at Mass will degenerate with relative ease, and our Rosaries and other prayers will slide comfortably into a daily mechanical routine that we apply to so many other things and chores of life. The saints warn us against this:
St. Augustine says: “What more excellent than prayer? What more useful and profitable? What sweeter and more delicious? What higher and more exalted in the whole scheme of our Christian religion?”
St. Bernard says that the angels receive our prayers and present them before God ― as the angel said to Tobias: “When thou didst pray with tears, I offered thy prayer to God” (Tobias 12:12). St. Hilary says the same: “The angels preside over the prayers of the saints and offer them each day to God.”
When we pray, we enter into the presence of the majesty of God. St. John Chrysostom warns us: “Consider the height, dignity and glory to which the Lord has raised you.”
Mary Cross Examines Us
At Lourdes, it was noticed that Our Lady prayed the Rosary, with St. Bernadette, SLOWLY and RESPECTFULLY. At La Salette, Our Lady asked the two children if they said their prayers well—which startled them and they had to embarrassingly reply: “Oh! No, not so much!” St. Louis de Montfort, in his The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we want to please God and become more holy.”
Then, a little further, he continues: “In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions, by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us, if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? … People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse, for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently.” (Jeremias 48:10).”
“We read in the life of Blessed Hermann of the Order of the Premonstratensians, that at one time when he used to say the Rosary attentively and devoutly, while meditating on the mysteries, Our Lady used to appear to him resplendent in breathtaking majesty and beauty. But, as time went on, his fervor cooled and he fell into the way of saying his Rosary hurriedly and without giving it his full attention. Then one day Our Lady appeared to him again, but this time she was far from beautiful, and her face was furrowed and drawn with sadness. Blessed Hermann was appalled at the change in her, and Our Lady explained, ‘This is how I look to you, Hermann, because this is how you are treating me; as a woman to be despised and of no importance. Why do you no longer greet me with respect and attention while meditating on my mysteries and praising my privileges?’”
Common Fault of Common People
A further passage of St. Louis’ hits the nerve of so many people: “The fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before.”
Quality Not Quantity
Why does that happen? Usually because of the phrase we used earlier—”Familiarity breeds contempt.” So let us resolve to improve the way we approach and pray our Rosaries. A few moments of quiet reflection before starting could make a big difference in changing our Rosaries from being sinful (a thought which shocks many, no doubt) to being virtuous. As St. Louis says elsewhere: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly.” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”).
Why are we so smugly satisfied with our “penny-worth”, “two-cents-worth”, or “dime-a-dozen” Rosaries? If you truly pay attention to how you are saying them, then, for the most part, you will realize that we rarely speak to anyone for 15 or 20 minutes at the pace in which we race through our Rosaries! To put it more shockingly―which perhaps might wake some people up from their “lip-service” Rosaries― should it be “zip-service” Rosaries due to the fact that we zip along through them―you could classify some people’s Rosaries as “verbal diarrhea.” That reminds us of the words of God when rebuking the lukewarm: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Whether it is “vomit” or “diarrhea”, both convey the revulsion with which God looks upon half-heartedness and lukewarmness―which, no matter how much quantity it might serve up, it is never quality. God deserves quality!
Rosary Reformation Time!
We are in grave need of a Catholic Reformation in general, and a Rosary Reformation in particular―and while we are on the subject of Reformation, we are also in need of a Mass Reformation, meaning that we need to reform the way we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (if we are priests) or how we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (if we are the laity)―for sometimes, with some priests, Mass can also be a “verbal diarrhea” or “verbal vomit” due to the speed with which the priest races through it (to the satisfaction of some Catholics who cannot wait for Mass to finish so that they can go do something better!).
Just as God says to us: “Make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) … “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you! And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26) ― so too could Our Lady say to us: “Make yourselves a new Rosary and a new spirit! … I will give you a new Rosary and a spirit of meditation! … And I will take away your stony, cold and heartless Rosary and I will show you how to make your Rosary come alive through meditating its mysteries!”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, reports Our Lady as saying: “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer! … “Whenever one of the faithful, in a state of grace, says the Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and Passion of Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins! … “I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, free from serious sin, say them with devotion, on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life!”
How You Pray is How You Pay!
We are all sinners and therefore we all have to pay for our sins. Many people mistakenly think that the paltry penance of a few Hail Marys or some other prayer, that the priest gives them in Confession, pays the debt of their sins! Not so! That is far from the truth! Whenever we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Confession, the guilt of sin is removed―but the price or payment for sin remains. You could say that the paltry penance is merely the first payment on a “mortgage” that we have taken out by our sins―and it will require many years of paying at that paltry rate of penance. Why do think some souls spend centuries in Purgatory? Remember that Our Lady of Fatima said that Lucia’s 18-year old friend, Amelia, would in Purgatory until the end of the world! We really need to pay for our sins in this life―at an enormously reduced or discounted rate―rather than have to pay for them in fires of Purgatory!
Prayer is one way of doing penance and paying for sin. Yet not all prayer is made equal! The power attached to prayer comes from two chief sources―one outside of ourselves and the other within ourselves. Concerning the power of the Rosary―Our Lady has said that the Rosary is the weapon for our time and age. That is a decision that Heaven has made and we played no part in that decision―it comes from outside of ourselves and outside of our capacity. However, we have it within our power to use that weapon well or to use that weapon badly―it depends upon how we pray: well or badly.
The Engine and Driving Force of Charity
The fundamental driving force or energy or power in our prayer is intrinsically and irreversibly linked to charity―the more charity or love there is in our soul and in our prayer, then the more powerful our prayer becomes and the more precious and valuable it is in paying-off the debt incurred by our sins. Without that charity we are nothing and what we do is supernaturally worthless and will receive no supernatural reward―even though men may applaud and praise us: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Everyone who is in a state of sanctifying grace has, at least, a minimal level of charity within the soul. Yet that level can grow enormously if we would only “stoke the fire” of charity. To “stoke the fire” we need some “painful prodding” to make our smoldering Rosaries catch fire again (or catch fire for the first time in our life). The “coals” (which are our Rosary beads) are hard and cold―we need to expose them to and make them sit in the “fire” of meditation. Nothing will catch fire if it is only briefly or momentarily exposed to a flame―it must remain in the presence of the flame for some time before it will catch fire. So, too, we must remain in the “flame” of meditation if we want our Rosaries to catch fire and become powerful weapons. “My heart grew hot within me! And in my meditation a fire shall flame out!” (Psalms 38:4). “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).
Growing in Charity―Growing in Power
Fr. Garrigrou-Lagrange, in his book Life Everlasting, speaks of the growth of charity: “Charity is a true friendship, a supernatural friendship, which unites us to God. This charity should become ever more rooted in the depths of our soul and thus drive out the unregulated love of self. Charity widens our heart, gives it something of the grandeur of divine goodness, and makes us love, as God does, all men without exception. Charity, no matter of how low a degree, excludes no one, for this exclusion would be a grave sin which would destroy it. St. Thomas expresses this truth in these words: ‘Charity can always grow greater in itself, because it is a participation in uncreated love and unlimited love. Further it can also always grow as a gift of God, its author, who can always make it grow greater. Lastly it can grow greater by our own cooperation, because the more charity grows the more the soul becomes capable of receiving its augmentation’ (Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 24, a. 7).
“Charity, thus progressing, widens our heart, which in some sense has been invaded by the love of God―‘I have walked in the way of Thy commandments, since Thou hast widened my heart!’ (Psalm 118:32). This love grows only in order to grow still greater. At times we are capable of experiencing this truth when we are in prayer. Charity ought ever to increase in us until death― it should grow in three ways: by merit, prayer, and the Sacraments.
“Charity ought not only to grow in us until death, but to increase more and more like a falling body, the speed of which increases until it reaches its last end. As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity. Quality is superior to quantity. It follows also from these principles that one fervent Communion is worth more than many tepid Communions taken together. [This brings to mind the words of St. Louis de Montfort: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly.” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”)].
“How, then, does Charity grow in us? Charity does not grow by addition, like a heap of wheat. This addition would multiply Charity without making it more intense. The increase would be in the order of quantity rather than of quality, which is quite a different thing. In reality, Charity increases in us in so far as it becomes stronger, takes deeper root in our will. The growth of Charity is obtained not only by merit, but by prayer. The mental prayer of a just man, who delights in meditating slowly on the Our Father, in nourishing his soul profoundly with each of its petitions, in remaining at times for half an hour in the loving contemplation of one of them, is at once meritorious and impetrating. It gives a right to an increase of Charity, from which it proceeds, and by the impetrating power of prayer it often obtains more than it merits. Besides, when mental prayer is truly fervent, it obtains this increase immediately. Thereby we see how fruitful mental prayer can be; how it draws God strongly toward us that He may give Himself intimately to us and that we may give ourselves to Him. Lastly, Charity grows in us through the Sacraments. The just man grows thus in the love of God through absolution in Confession and especially by Holy Communion.”
The Science of Love
Man is forever trying to understand and even judge God―which is impossible, for man is finite and God is infinite. Yet there are some things that man can know about God―even though man cannot know everything about God. Similarly, Science―the new god of today―is vainly trying to understand and judge God and spiritual things. It cannot achieve this, for Science can only work upon material physical things and God is immaterial or spiritual. Now we know that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). God is love and, amusingly, Science has tried to measure love―but Science, which can only work on the physical or material level, cannot measure something that is spiritual or immaterial. At best, Science can only observe and measure the physical effects of byproducts of love―but it cannot measure the source of those effects or byproducts. Just like we can guess―and no more than guess―the thoughts of another person by their exterior actions and words. “For man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Human beings can only observe our behavior and hear our words, they can also connect us to machines to monitor things like our heart rate, emotions, etc. ― but demons can see a bit deeper; namely, they can see our imagination and memory and the feelings that come from them. Yet even Satan, whose knowledge is far, far greater than that of any science or scientist―cannot know our thoughts (which reside in the soul, not the body), but can only guess what they might be from all our interior and exterior bodily reactions and manifestations.
St. Thomas Aquinas quotes the prophet Jeremias: “The heart is perverse … and unsearchable, who can know it? I am the Lord who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:9-10), and then Aquinas adds: “Therefore, it belongs to God alone to know the heart’s secrets.” He further states: “The following is found in the Psalms (7:10): ‘The searcher of hearts and reins is God.’ It seems, therefore, that God alone can search our hearts” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Questiones Disputatae de Veritate, q. 8, art. 13).
In another book, De Malo (Of Evil), St. Thomas writes: “The devil cannot see internal thoughts … The devil can perceive internal thoughts in their effects, not in themselves … Jeremias, 17:9-10, says: ‘The human heart is wicked and inscrutable. Who will know it? I, the Lord, search hearts and test temperaments!’ Therefore, it belongs to God alone to know the thoughts of human beings. Therefore, devils do not know the thoughts. Furthermore, the Apostle says (in 2 Corithians 2:22): ‘No one knows the things within a person except that person's spirit within the person.’ But thoughts are particularly internal to human beings. Therefore, only the individual human being, not devils, can know the thoughts of that human being. Furthermore, the work ‘On Church Dogmas’ says: ‘We are certain that the devil does not perceive the interior thoughts of the soul’ … Devils know a human being’s thoughts better than other human beings know them, because devils perceive the thoughts by more concealed external signs … Devils know the thoughts of human beings by certain physical signs, … particularly when interior thoughts induce human beings to certain emotions. If human beings have experienced strong emotions, they show signs in their external appearance that even the rather dim-witted can apprehend. For example, those who are fearful grow pale, and those who are ashamed, blush … And even if an emotion be milder, skilled doctors can detect it from change in the heartbeat that they note by the pulse. And devils can know such external and internal physical signs much more than any human being can.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, De Malo, q. 16, art. 8).
There have been some studies wherein Science has pretended that has measured love―but all it has measured is some visible, or measurable, or manifestation of love in the interior bodily reactions and changes, chemical productions and secretions of bodily organs, etc. Therefore, having dethroned the proud, God-usurping Science back into its more humble seat―we can nevertheless take something from that inferior Science’s observations on love and learn something for our own benefit.
Some psychologists say that the ability to love, together with the capacity for work, is a hallmark of full maturity. One could be cynical, instead of clinical, and say that there is not a lot of maturity to be seen! There is a lot of medical and psychological focus on emotions such as aggression and depression―which have been the focal point of much intense research―but love has seen little or no focus or research. Nevertheless, in recent times, love has come under the microscope.
One recent scientific study discovered that a critical factor in love is not how much or how little people love each other, but rather how equal their love is. In one sense, that is not rocket-science nor is it surprising―for, as the saying goes: “Love is all about give and take”―a one-sided love is going nowhere fast! Yet is our relationship with God a one-sided relationship―whereby God loves us, but we do not return a proportionate love to God? Guilty as charged? Most people are! “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us … In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:19 & 10). Our Lord told us that the most important commandment of all is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Another scientific study tries to reduce to love to drugs or chemicals within the body! The article states: “Science has identified three basic parts of love―lust, attraction and long-term attachment―each of these three being driven by a unique blend of brain chemicals. (1) Lust is governed by both estrogen and testosterone, in both men and women. (2) Attraction is driven by adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin—the same chemicals that are released by exciting, novel experiences. (3) Long-term attachment is governed by a very different set of hormones and brain chemicals—oxytocin and vasopressin, which encourage bonding. Each of these chemicals works in a specific part of the brain to influence lust, attraction and attachment. Science has also shown that the process of falling in love can, in some cases, be hurried along. In a small scale study, subjects who talked deeply to a perfect stranger for 30 minutes, then stared into each other’s eyes for four minutes, felt a deep and lasting attachment. One pair even went on to marry!” That is pretty typical for modern-man’s idea of love―the inclusion of lust! Lust has no place in love―lust is a sin, not love! God is love ((1 John 4:8)―and there is no lust in God! The article is also flawed by reducing love to the material, physical, sensual level of the body―whereas love belongs to the spiritual, immaterial level of the soul. Love can manifest its effects in the body and through actions―but love originates in the soul, not the body.
Another scientific article, speaking of attraction, states: “When people fall in love they can think of nothing else. They might even lose their appetite and need less sleep, preferring to spend hours at a time daydreaming about their new love ... Attachment is what takes over after the attraction stage, if a relationship is going to last. People couldn’t possibly stay in the attraction stage forever, otherwise they’d never get any work done! Attachment is a longer lasting commitment and is the bond that keeps couples together.”
Another scientific article, in speaking of some of the characteristics of love, states: “Being in love generally refers to those intense feelings that take over at the start of a relationship. Here are what these feelings might look like in action.
● You are intensely curious about them
● Everything feels exciting and new
● You feel charged and euphoric around them
● You feel safe
● You feel invincible
● You feel positive about the future
● You can’t wait to see them again — even when they’ve just left
● You can’t stop smiling
● You always make time for them
● You are glued to your phone
● You forget your other priorities
● You don’t mind making sacrifices for them
● You feel their pain
● You idealize them
● You feel like a better person
● You feel more love for others”
Science Gets It Right and Wrong!
There is some truth in the findings of science on the matter of love―but science errs grossly if it seeks to reduce love to the mere operation of organs and chemicals! The organs and chemicals ARE NOT THE CAUSE of the love, but only the EFFECTS OF LOVE. Love goes deeper than mere organs and chemicals. Love RESIDES IN THE SOUL in general, and love RESIDES IN THE WILL in particular (the will is one of the powers of the soul―the other being the intellect).
All the above mentioned characteristics―attraction, lust, attachment―with their accompanying hormones and chemical secretions―are not the integral or essential parts of love, but they are the pre-cursors (attraction), consequences (attachment) and abuses (lust) of love.
Furthermore, feelings and emotions are not an essential and necessary part of love―you can have powerful feelings and emotions towards the person you love, or you still be in love with them without powerful feelings and emotions.
St. Thomas Aquinas puts love in a nutshell when he defines it thus: “To love is to will the good of another.” The verb “to will” means “to want, to wish, to desire, to intend” and it comes from one of two faculties of the soul―the will―the other faculty of the soul being the intellect. Thus it is the will that wills, if you will! Joking aside, yes, it is the property or function of our will to be able to will things―“to want, to wish, to desire, to intend”―for ourselves and others. The will is a purely spiritual faculty―it is not any kind of bodily action (such as a caress, or the giving of gifts, etc.), nor is it a verbal action (such as saying “I love you!”); nor is it an emotional reaction (such as tears of joy, or a racing heart)―these bodily, verbal, emotions actions or reactions are merely physical or material manifestations of something that is greater, something that is immaterial and spiritual; something that comes before those bodily, verbal or emotional actions or reactions. You could say that they are the heat and smoke that come out of the fire―but before you can have heat and smoke, you have to have a fire.
The characteristics that Science lists for human love, should be all the more present in us if we have a divine love―that is to say, a love of God. We must only love what is “good, true and beautiful” and we must not love what is “evil, false and revolting”. Satan is the epitome of what is “evil, false and revolting”―God is the epitome of what is “good, true and beautiful”. Thus Christ tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
If we are truly loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, then such a love will undoubtedly produce in us similar manifestations as seen in the above characteristics or effects of human love, or the love of a human being:
● You are intensely curious about them―hence we want to know more about God, so we read and learn about Him.
● Everything feels exciting and new―this increased knowledge of God excites us, astounds us, captivates us.
● You feel charged and euphoric around them―we draw a spiritual energy from God and His grace that elates us.
● You feel safe―in seeing the omnipotence of God and realizing His immense love for us, we feel safe and secure.
● You feel invincible―since God is all-powerful and invincible, and since we belong to God, we feel invincible.
● You feel positive about the future―Christ spoke of God’s loving providence, telling us not to worry about the future.
● You can’t wait to see them again, even when they’ve just left―we can’t wait for the next Mass and Holy Communion.
● You can’t stop smiling―as St. Francis de Sales said: “A saint who is sad, is indeed a sad [poor] saint!”
● You always make time for them―we make time to pray, to meditate, to do spiritual reading, to go to Mass, etc.
● You are glued to your phone―we are glued to our Rosary beads, to our prayer books, to the tabernacle, etc.
● You forget your other priorities―the world and its attractions no longer seduce us and waste our time.
● You don’t mind making sacrifices for them―we offer God things, endure things, do penance, and carry our crosses.
● You feel their pain―it pains us to seen God neglected, offended, rejected or even blasphemed.
● You idealize them―there is nothing greater, more attractive, more satisfying than God.
● You feel like a better person―grace perfects nature, and we feel that ever increasing perfection within us.
● You feel more love for others―our love for God overflows into a love for God’s creatures, our fellow humans.
Supercharged Rosaries!
With such a love―as described above―can you imagine the power your Rosaries would have?!! St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “He who prays most, receives most!” You could add that he who prays better than most, receives more than most! “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). It is charity or love that is the powerhouse in our prayers―the greater our charity, the greater the power of our prayer. There is no way that you can fix your prayer life without fixing your stuttering charity towards both God and neighbor.
The famous Benedictine abbot and writer, Blessed Dom Columba Marmion, writes: “It happens to some souls that when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips....In our prayer we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind....Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Columba Marmion, Christ―The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday October 4th & Tuesday October 5th
Article 3
Improve Your Rosary and Improve Your Chances!
Monday October 4th & Tuesday October 5th
Article 3
Improve Your Rosary and Improve Your Chances!
Let’s Be Honest!
It is time to stop beating around the bush! It is time to wake up from our dreams! It is time to face reality! It is time to face the unpleasant―or as Our Lady said: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
AWOL (Absent Without Leave)
Another reality we have to face is that all this going to happen BECAUSE OF US! Yes―WE are to blame! Don’t play “the Cain” by trying to “pass the buck”―our negligence has brought about all that is escalating around us today! If you think you are blameless―then you are either a devil or you are insane! For centuries Our Lady has been warning us of this and telling us to prevent what has arrived by many prayers, penances (for our sins) and sacrifices (for the conversion of other sinners)―and WE HAVE NOT DONE SO! You can be tried and sentenced to death or jail by positively DOING something bad, or by NEGLECTING TO DO what you should have done! A soldier is guilty not only by treason, but by also neglecting to do his duty―as when a guard falls asleep on guard duty. YOU are meant to be a SOLDIER OF CHRIST and also the LIGHT OF THE WORLD as well as being the SALT OF THE EARTH―as Our Lord says: “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bucket [bushel], but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
The noose in tightening, yet Catholics are still laughing at their picnics, socials, gatherings, etc. When the Angel of Portugal appeared the second time to the three children at Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―he found them PLAYING. He scolded and rebuked them for playing and not praying, saying: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
Catholic Soldiers of Christ are no longer fighting, but playing―as Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette foretold of our days: “People will think of nothing but amusement … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” If you fail to see that this is already happening on a widespread scale (even among Catholics and even the ‘best’ Catholics), then you need to have your eyesight tested or pull you head out of sand!
You’ve Been Given the Warnings, the Weapons and Called to the Fight!
In our current escalating situation of a gradual totalitarian (Masonic/Communist/or whoever else you want to add to the list of God’s enemies) takeover of the world, we cannot plead ignorance: “Huh? Nobody told me!” Our Lady told you a long, long time ago and continued to “nag” you about it! Here are some quotes from Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita:
As for the WARNINGS, here are just some of her many warnings: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, and various nations will be annihilated! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
As for being called to the FIGHT, Our Lady says: “I call on the true disciples of God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days! Those who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! I am at your side and within you, I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
As for the WEAPONS, Our Lady said: The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Burying Our Weapons and Refusing to Fight
For the most part―even among so-called ‘good’ Catholics―there is either an indifference, or slothful negligence, or outright refusal to obey Our Lady’s commands. As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady is not asking for an occasional Rosary, the bare minimum she asks for is a DAILY ROSARY―but, she also encourages us to much more: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita, 1973).
What is the result of Our Lady’s pleading? Basically, Catholics just ‘spit’ in her face and do little or nothing! Depending on where you live, the percentage of those who pray the Rosary daily is anywhere from 2% to 4%. Even in Traditional Catholic and Conservative Catholic circles the numbers are not good. You will find that in most families there is one person who tries to stir-up some fervor for the Rosary, children are ‘forced’ to say the Rosary because left to themselves they would not say it, and the level of fervor usually rests in the “saying” of the Rosary, rather than in “praying” the Rosary!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, makes the following comments upon this dilemma: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have … In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).
“Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, ‘What you have just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary!’ By tricks of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to some other devotion.
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all [like a soldier not taking aim before firing his rifle], so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Yes―small wonder, then that after saying thousands of Rosaries we have brought about little or no change in the world! It is not the weapon that is at fault―it is the soldier who is using the weapon who is to be blamed. A weapon is only as good as the person using it. Similarly, St. Augustine says that the very same sufferings lead some persons to Heaven, but other persons to Hell.
Take Careful Aim
It is necessary to “take careful aim” with each Hail Mary that we “pray” not merely “say”! As St. Louis states: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly!” One well-aimed shot is worth more than 150 badly aimed shots. The sniper―a soldier trained in precision, long-range fire―is one of the most feared opponents on the battlefield. Snipers can make their presence felt far beyond a typical soldier’s assault rifle, by cutting down enemy leaders, radio and heavy weapons operators, and damaging enemy equipment at considerable distances. This requires a weapon and optic capable of extreme accuracy, typically no more than half-an-inch of deviation per 100 yards. As one U.S. Marine Sniper School instructor says: “We've got to convince young Marines that it's not just spraying the area with bullets. One well-aimed round is the name of the game!” It took David only one sling-shot to fell the mighty Goliath, who was armed to the teeth! Likewise, and even more so, it is said of the Blessed Virgin Mary that “one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, 33rd Rose).
Are You Sure Your Rosary is Profitable?
We can easily be drawn into a false sense of security and a dangerous complacency when we look at the small number of those who pray the Rosary. We might be tempted to have a similar view of ourselves as the Pharisee had of himself in one of Our Lord’s parables: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Why is that we tend to compare ourselves with the sinners beneath us, rather than the saints above us? We are tempted to look at the 90% to 95% of Catholics who DO NOT say the Rosary daily, and think: “At least I say my Rosary daily!” Yet we will not compare ourselves to saints such as St. Padre Pio, who would pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily―yes, you read that correctly, 30 to 50 Rosaries (5 decade Rosaries) and not just 30 to 50 decades!
Nevertheless, quantity without quality is pointless and worthless. We need to pray from the heart and not just from the lips! Our Rosaries should be prayed with deep love of God and not just said mechanically with the lips! Our Lord rebuked such “lip-service” when He said: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
Spiritual Speeding-Ticket
As St. Louis de Montfort said, a “fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible.” Our Lady might well ask us the question that she put before Melanie and Maximin during her apparition at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Do we say the Rosary properly, or do we merely give “lip-service”? To say―or should we say “pray”―the Rosary properly, we should be also meditating the Rosary. That is the wish of Our Lady―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he quotes Our Lady’s own words to Blessed Alan de la Roche: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.”
Furthermore, to pray the Rosary properly, we need to slow down! If we say it hurriedly―rushing through it―then it loses much of its value. To use a financial analogy, a properly prayed Rosary might see God rewarding us with $500, or $400, or $300―depending upon whether we pray it at a respectful speed. However, if we speed and race through it, then God might only give us $20 for our speedy-Rosary and also give us a speeding-ticket with a fine of $100―so, ultimately, even though God rewarded us with $20 for our hurried Rosary, we end up $80 out-of-pocket because of the speeding fine! We should bear in mind the proverb: “Make haste slowly!”
It is time to stop beating around the bush! It is time to wake up from our dreams! It is time to face reality! It is time to face the unpleasant―or as Our Lady said: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
AWOL (Absent Without Leave)
Another reality we have to face is that all this going to happen BECAUSE OF US! Yes―WE are to blame! Don’t play “the Cain” by trying to “pass the buck”―our negligence has brought about all that is escalating around us today! If you think you are blameless―then you are either a devil or you are insane! For centuries Our Lady has been warning us of this and telling us to prevent what has arrived by many prayers, penances (for our sins) and sacrifices (for the conversion of other sinners)―and WE HAVE NOT DONE SO! You can be tried and sentenced to death or jail by positively DOING something bad, or by NEGLECTING TO DO what you should have done! A soldier is guilty not only by treason, but by also neglecting to do his duty―as when a guard falls asleep on guard duty. YOU are meant to be a SOLDIER OF CHRIST and also the LIGHT OF THE WORLD as well as being the SALT OF THE EARTH―as Our Lord says: “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bucket [bushel], but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house! So let your light shine before men!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
The noose in tightening, yet Catholics are still laughing at their picnics, socials, gatherings, etc. When the Angel of Portugal appeared the second time to the three children at Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―he found them PLAYING. He scolded and rebuked them for playing and not praying, saying: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
Catholic Soldiers of Christ are no longer fighting, but playing―as Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette foretold of our days: “People will think of nothing but amusement … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” If you fail to see that this is already happening on a widespread scale (even among Catholics and even the ‘best’ Catholics), then you need to have your eyesight tested or pull you head out of sand!
You’ve Been Given the Warnings, the Weapons and Called to the Fight!
In our current escalating situation of a gradual totalitarian (Masonic/Communist/or whoever else you want to add to the list of God’s enemies) takeover of the world, we cannot plead ignorance: “Huh? Nobody told me!” Our Lady told you a long, long time ago and continued to “nag” you about it! Here are some quotes from Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita:
As for the WARNINGS, here are just some of her many warnings: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, and various nations will be annihilated! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
As for being called to the FIGHT, Our Lady says: “I call on the true disciples of God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days! Those who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! I am at your side and within you, I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
As for the WEAPONS, Our Lady said: The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Burying Our Weapons and Refusing to Fight
For the most part―even among so-called ‘good’ Catholics―there is either an indifference, or slothful negligence, or outright refusal to obey Our Lady’s commands. As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady is not asking for an occasional Rosary, the bare minimum she asks for is a DAILY ROSARY―but, she also encourages us to much more: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita, 1973).
What is the result of Our Lady’s pleading? Basically, Catholics just ‘spit’ in her face and do little or nothing! Depending on where you live, the percentage of those who pray the Rosary daily is anywhere from 2% to 4%. Even in Traditional Catholic and Conservative Catholic circles the numbers are not good. You will find that in most families there is one person who tries to stir-up some fervor for the Rosary, children are ‘forced’ to say the Rosary because left to themselves they would not say it, and the level of fervor usually rests in the “saying” of the Rosary, rather than in “praying” the Rosary!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, makes the following comments upon this dilemma: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have … In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).
“Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, ‘What you have just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary!’ By tricks of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to some other devotion.
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all [like a soldier not taking aim before firing his rifle], so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Yes―small wonder, then that after saying thousands of Rosaries we have brought about little or no change in the world! It is not the weapon that is at fault―it is the soldier who is using the weapon who is to be blamed. A weapon is only as good as the person using it. Similarly, St. Augustine says that the very same sufferings lead some persons to Heaven, but other persons to Hell.
Take Careful Aim
It is necessary to “take careful aim” with each Hail Mary that we “pray” not merely “say”! As St. Louis states: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly!” One well-aimed shot is worth more than 150 badly aimed shots. The sniper―a soldier trained in precision, long-range fire―is one of the most feared opponents on the battlefield. Snipers can make their presence felt far beyond a typical soldier’s assault rifle, by cutting down enemy leaders, radio and heavy weapons operators, and damaging enemy equipment at considerable distances. This requires a weapon and optic capable of extreme accuracy, typically no more than half-an-inch of deviation per 100 yards. As one U.S. Marine Sniper School instructor says: “We've got to convince young Marines that it's not just spraying the area with bullets. One well-aimed round is the name of the game!” It took David only one sling-shot to fell the mighty Goliath, who was armed to the teeth! Likewise, and even more so, it is said of the Blessed Virgin Mary that “one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, 33rd Rose).
Are You Sure Your Rosary is Profitable?
We can easily be drawn into a false sense of security and a dangerous complacency when we look at the small number of those who pray the Rosary. We might be tempted to have a similar view of ourselves as the Pharisee had of himself in one of Our Lord’s parables: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Why is that we tend to compare ourselves with the sinners beneath us, rather than the saints above us? We are tempted to look at the 90% to 95% of Catholics who DO NOT say the Rosary daily, and think: “At least I say my Rosary daily!” Yet we will not compare ourselves to saints such as St. Padre Pio, who would pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily―yes, you read that correctly, 30 to 50 Rosaries (5 decade Rosaries) and not just 30 to 50 decades!
Nevertheless, quantity without quality is pointless and worthless. We need to pray from the heart and not just from the lips! Our Rosaries should be prayed with deep love of God and not just said mechanically with the lips! Our Lord rebuked such “lip-service” when He said: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
Spiritual Speeding-Ticket
As St. Louis de Montfort said, a “fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible.” Our Lady might well ask us the question that she put before Melanie and Maximin during her apparition at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Do we say the Rosary properly, or do we merely give “lip-service”? To say―or should we say “pray”―the Rosary properly, we should be also meditating the Rosary. That is the wish of Our Lady―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he quotes Our Lady’s own words to Blessed Alan de la Roche: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.”
Furthermore, to pray the Rosary properly, we need to slow down! If we say it hurriedly―rushing through it―then it loses much of its value. To use a financial analogy, a properly prayed Rosary might see God rewarding us with $500, or $400, or $300―depending upon whether we pray it at a respectful speed. However, if we speed and race through it, then God might only give us $20 for our speedy-Rosary and also give us a speeding-ticket with a fine of $100―so, ultimately, even though God rewarded us with $20 for our hurried Rosary, we end up $80 out-of-pocket because of the speeding fine! We should bear in mind the proverb: “Make haste slowly!”
Saturday October 2nd & Sunday October 3rd
Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels
Article 2
Are You Firing Blanks and Duds?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels
Article 2
Are You Firing Blanks and Duds?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Good Question!
If God is so good and caring, then why on earth is He letting all these terrible things happen to us? Why are our prayers not being heard? Why are the enemies of God, the Church and mankind being allowed to achieve all of this escalating evil that surrounds us? It seems as though God is saying: “Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, saith the Lord God” (Ezechiel 20:3). “They call upon Me, and I will not hear!” (Proverbs 1:28). “They shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them, and there shall be none to save!” (2 Kings 22:42).
Yes―prayer can ward-off evil, prayer can perform miracles. Yet our prayers―or at least the prayers of the few that still pray―do not seem make any difference to what is currently happening in the world. Why? Didn’t Abraham manage to barter with God to the point that God would have spared Sodom if only ten just men could be found? Well aren’t there enough just men in the world today to ward-off this escalating tsunami of evil?
St. Augustine, a Father and Doctor of the Church, asks: “Why is that our prayers are not heard by God?” He then gives a brief answer consisting of three points. He says that usually our prayers are ineffective and not heard by almighty because of one or a combination of the following: (1) We pray badly; (2) We pray for what will be bad for us; (3) We ourselves are bad.
(1) WE PRAY BADLY
Beads, Pebbles & Bullets
Prayers is one of the two weapons that Heaven expects us to use in our battles today. The prayer of the Rosary is especially recommended—nay, demanded—by Heaven. We can see our beads as being the pebbles that David took with him to slay Goliath, or the bullets of a soldier. We have many Goliaths to slay today—Modernism, Liberalism, Indifferentism, Atheism, Communism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure seeking) and an ever-increasing Satanism. As Our Lord said: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28).
It is that prayer that the devil seeks to uproot from our soul; and if he cannot uproot it, then the next best thing is to make us pray badly (too quickly, distractedly, sleepily, etc). That is why St. Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Prayer is one of the key elements to Our Lady’s messages in her modern-day apparitions. But those prayers must be said well, as she asked at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers well?”
Flops and Failures
We have said, and everyone knows, that Our Lady has asked for much prayer—especially the Rosary. Yet, just about everyone can testify that their prayers are not always answered—in fact, perhaps their prayers are rarely ever answered. We pray, we pray, we pray—and nothing seems to work! The key or answer is found in a question that Our Lady asked the two children at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Our Lord puts it another way, when He says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). In other words, there are two kinds of prayer—good prayer and bad prayer.
Good Quality Prayer
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “A single Hail Mary, said properly, is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly … In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth.
“To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect Him to be pleased if, while in the presence of His tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that, forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse, for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).” (Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose” & “Forty-Second Rose”).
Examples of Good and Bad Prayer in Scripture
“And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men! Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father Who seeth in secret, will repay thee” (Matthew 6:5-6).
Our Lord further illustrates the above in His Parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14).
Our Lord would remove Himself from distractions as much as possible when He wanted to pray: “And having dismissed the multitude, He went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone” (Matthew 14:23). “And when He had dismissed them, He went up to the mountain to pray” (Mark 6:46). “And it came to pass, that He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12).
Half-Hearted Sleepy Prayer
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Why sleep you? Arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation!” (Luke 22:46). “Take ye heed, watch and pray” (Mark 13:33). “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak” (Matthew 26:41). The never failing principle of sowing and reaping applies here also: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8).
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches His Heart. A single Hail Mary, said properly, is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries, or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue? It is because they are not saying them as they should” (Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”).
This is exactly what Our Lord complains about: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8)—which is an echo of what His Father said through Isaias: “The Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me” (Isaias 29:13). “Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that tempteth God” (Ecclesiasticus 18:23), lest thy “prayer be turned to sin” (Psalm 108:7), “under the pretense of long prayer” … “feigning long prayer” … as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men! (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47; Matthew 6:5). “The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the clouds” (Ecclesiasticus 35:21).
Spinning Wheels—Going Nowhere Fast
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips ... In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind .... Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give.
Is There Room For God?
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes. This is what is meant by loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole strength. God is so badly ‘short-changed’ and given ‘short-shrift’ by so, so, so many people—who nevertheless feel smug about their ‘prayer-life’! Yet we have the audacity to complain that He will not hear and answer our prayers!
“Prayer in our life must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Meditation is Even Better
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, encourages us to go beyond mere vocal prayer and to take on meditation too. He writes: “Meditation, however, is most useful and most profitable to all for salvation and perfection; to beginners, as well as to more advanced souls. It may be even said that it is the most effective means of assuring one’s salvation. This is the teaching of St. Alphonsus, who gives the following reason, that whilst habitually practicing the other exercises of piety, like the Rosary, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, fasting, etc. ... one may, unfortunately, still continue to live in mortal sin, whilst the habitual practice of mental prayer cannot suffer one to remain long in such a state. One either relinquishes mental prayer, or relinquishes sin. How could we day by day go into the presence of God, the source of all holiness, while conscious of mortal sin, and not determine, with the help of grace, to break with sin and to seek, in the Tribunal of Penance, that pardon the supreme need of which we recognize? But, if we have no appointed time and no practical method for the consideration of the great religious truths, we allow ourselves to be carried away by dissipation of mind and the example of the, world, until we lapse into sin and live in sin” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §673).
(2) WE PRAY FOR WHAT IS BAD
Be Careful what You Ask For in Prayer!
When we initially read Our Lord’s words: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22), we might have the impulse to go on an “asking binge”! Yet those words also contain a potential danger! What if we ask for the wrong things? What if we ask for what is harmful? We all know that children have a tendency not to think before they speak. Actually, there are also many adults to speak before they think! Children―due to their lack of experience, knowledge and wisdom―will often ask their parents for things that are harmful or even downright dangerous. It is those situations that the parent could well repeat the words of God: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We often ask things from God in our human passionate blindness―as Holy Scripture points out: “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss―so that you may consume it on your concupiscences” (James 4:3). In other words, we ask out of greed, out of avarice, out of an immature impulse, seeking immediate gratification in place of eternal gratification, willing to exchange like Esau our heavenly inheritance for a bowl of soup!
We see a similar instance in the case of the Israelites, who had grown tired of being ruled by God through God’s appointed Judges. Samuel was to be last of the Judges for the tribal leaders decided that there was a need for a more unified, central government, and demanded Samuel appoint a king, so that they could be like other nations. Samuel interpreted this as a personal rejection, and at first was reluctant to oblige, until reassured by a divine revelation. He warned the people of the potential negative consequences of such a decision. “They said to Samuel: ‘Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways! Make us a king to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: ‘Give us a king to judge us!’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Lisen to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee! For they have not rejected thee, but Me, so that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 5:7).
As Holy Scripture says, we can ask “amiss”―meaning ask for the wrong thing. This can be in either asking for good things that might not be all that ‘good’ for us; or asking for the removal of bad things which might not be all that bad for us! We should imitate Our Lord in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, by placing a conditional clause into all that we ask for of God: “Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me―but yet, not My will, but Thine be done!” (Luke 22:42).
(3) WE ARE BAD
Would You Reward Someone Who Commits the Greatest Evils in the World?
St. Augustine says that God will not hear and answer our prayers if we are bad. By this St. Augustine means that we are either in a state of Mortal Sin (which means we have lost sanctifying grace), or that we are sinning too much. This should be pretty obvious―but it isn’t! Sin is the greatest evil in the world―even the so-called “teeny-weeny venial sin”! Hence, even one sin is really too much! When a soul is in Mortal Sin, it becomes a mortal enemy of God. This state of soul loses all its power and influence over God. The soul’s prayers, theology teaches, will be heard but not granted by God. The soul in Mortal Sin cannot pray for anyone or anything else—the only thing God will mercifully do is to let the prayer ‘rebound’ so to speak on the sinner, in the sense that God will only ‘answer’ the sinner’s prayers by pushing the sinner towards repentance and conversion, but the sinners prayers for any other intentions are useless. Attachment to and peace with Venial Sin, greatly weaken the power of prayer—but do not make it useless. The more you sin, the weaker your prayer will be before God—and, consequently, this lessens the likelihood of the prayer being efficacious.
The more we sin, the less effective our prayers are—to the point that when we fall into mortal sin, our prayers are totally ineffective for anyone or anything other than our own conversion. If you want to be heard more, then sin less!
If God is so good and caring, then why on earth is He letting all these terrible things happen to us? Why are our prayers not being heard? Why are the enemies of God, the Church and mankind being allowed to achieve all of this escalating evil that surrounds us? It seems as though God is saying: “Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, saith the Lord God” (Ezechiel 20:3). “They call upon Me, and I will not hear!” (Proverbs 1:28). “They shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them, and there shall be none to save!” (2 Kings 22:42).
Yes―prayer can ward-off evil, prayer can perform miracles. Yet our prayers―or at least the prayers of the few that still pray―do not seem make any difference to what is currently happening in the world. Why? Didn’t Abraham manage to barter with God to the point that God would have spared Sodom if only ten just men could be found? Well aren’t there enough just men in the world today to ward-off this escalating tsunami of evil?
St. Augustine, a Father and Doctor of the Church, asks: “Why is that our prayers are not heard by God?” He then gives a brief answer consisting of three points. He says that usually our prayers are ineffective and not heard by almighty because of one or a combination of the following: (1) We pray badly; (2) We pray for what will be bad for us; (3) We ourselves are bad.
(1) WE PRAY BADLY
Beads, Pebbles & Bullets
Prayers is one of the two weapons that Heaven expects us to use in our battles today. The prayer of the Rosary is especially recommended—nay, demanded—by Heaven. We can see our beads as being the pebbles that David took with him to slay Goliath, or the bullets of a soldier. We have many Goliaths to slay today—Modernism, Liberalism, Indifferentism, Atheism, Communism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure seeking) and an ever-increasing Satanism. As Our Lord said: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28).
It is that prayer that the devil seeks to uproot from our soul; and if he cannot uproot it, then the next best thing is to make us pray badly (too quickly, distractedly, sleepily, etc). That is why St. Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Prayer is one of the key elements to Our Lady’s messages in her modern-day apparitions. But those prayers must be said well, as she asked at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers well?”
Flops and Failures
We have said, and everyone knows, that Our Lady has asked for much prayer—especially the Rosary. Yet, just about everyone can testify that their prayers are not always answered—in fact, perhaps their prayers are rarely ever answered. We pray, we pray, we pray—and nothing seems to work! The key or answer is found in a question that Our Lady asked the two children at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” Our Lord puts it another way, when He says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). In other words, there are two kinds of prayer—good prayer and bad prayer.
Good Quality Prayer
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “A single Hail Mary, said properly, is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly … In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth.
“To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect Him to be pleased if, while in the presence of His tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that, forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse, for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).” (Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose” & “Forty-Second Rose”).
Examples of Good and Bad Prayer in Scripture
“And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men! Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father Who seeth in secret, will repay thee” (Matthew 6:5-6).
Our Lord further illustrates the above in His Parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14).
Our Lord would remove Himself from distractions as much as possible when He wanted to pray: “And having dismissed the multitude, He went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone” (Matthew 14:23). “And when He had dismissed them, He went up to the mountain to pray” (Mark 6:46). “And it came to pass, that He passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (Luke 6:12).
Half-Hearted Sleepy Prayer
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Why sleep you? Arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation!” (Luke 22:46). “Take ye heed, watch and pray” (Mark 13:33). “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak” (Matthew 26:41). The never failing principle of sowing and reaping applies here also: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8).
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervor with which it is said which pleases God and touches His Heart. A single Hail Mary, said properly, is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries, or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue? It is because they are not saying them as they should” (Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-First Rose”).
This is exactly what Our Lord complains about: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8)—which is an echo of what His Father said through Isaias: “The Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me” (Isaias 29:13). “Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that tempteth God” (Ecclesiasticus 18:23), lest thy “prayer be turned to sin” (Psalm 108:7), “under the pretense of long prayer” … “feigning long prayer” … as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men! (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47; Matthew 6:5). “The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the clouds” (Ecclesiasticus 35:21).
Spinning Wheels—Going Nowhere Fast
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips ... In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind .... Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give.
Is There Room For God?
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes. This is what is meant by loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole strength. God is so badly ‘short-changed’ and given ‘short-shrift’ by so, so, so many people—who nevertheless feel smug about their ‘prayer-life’! Yet we have the audacity to complain that He will not hear and answer our prayers!
“Prayer in our life must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Meditation is Even Better
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, encourages us to go beyond mere vocal prayer and to take on meditation too. He writes: “Meditation, however, is most useful and most profitable to all for salvation and perfection; to beginners, as well as to more advanced souls. It may be even said that it is the most effective means of assuring one’s salvation. This is the teaching of St. Alphonsus, who gives the following reason, that whilst habitually practicing the other exercises of piety, like the Rosary, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, fasting, etc. ... one may, unfortunately, still continue to live in mortal sin, whilst the habitual practice of mental prayer cannot suffer one to remain long in such a state. One either relinquishes mental prayer, or relinquishes sin. How could we day by day go into the presence of God, the source of all holiness, while conscious of mortal sin, and not determine, with the help of grace, to break with sin and to seek, in the Tribunal of Penance, that pardon the supreme need of which we recognize? But, if we have no appointed time and no practical method for the consideration of the great religious truths, we allow ourselves to be carried away by dissipation of mind and the example of the, world, until we lapse into sin and live in sin” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §673).
(2) WE PRAY FOR WHAT IS BAD
Be Careful what You Ask For in Prayer!
When we initially read Our Lord’s words: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22), we might have the impulse to go on an “asking binge”! Yet those words also contain a potential danger! What if we ask for the wrong things? What if we ask for what is harmful? We all know that children have a tendency not to think before they speak. Actually, there are also many adults to speak before they think! Children―due to their lack of experience, knowledge and wisdom―will often ask their parents for things that are harmful or even downright dangerous. It is those situations that the parent could well repeat the words of God: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We often ask things from God in our human passionate blindness―as Holy Scripture points out: “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss―so that you may consume it on your concupiscences” (James 4:3). In other words, we ask out of greed, out of avarice, out of an immature impulse, seeking immediate gratification in place of eternal gratification, willing to exchange like Esau our heavenly inheritance for a bowl of soup!
We see a similar instance in the case of the Israelites, who had grown tired of being ruled by God through God’s appointed Judges. Samuel was to be last of the Judges for the tribal leaders decided that there was a need for a more unified, central government, and demanded Samuel appoint a king, so that they could be like other nations. Samuel interpreted this as a personal rejection, and at first was reluctant to oblige, until reassured by a divine revelation. He warned the people of the potential negative consequences of such a decision. “They said to Samuel: ‘Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways! Make us a king to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: ‘Give us a king to judge us!’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Lisen to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee! For they have not rejected thee, but Me, so that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 5:7).
As Holy Scripture says, we can ask “amiss”―meaning ask for the wrong thing. This can be in either asking for good things that might not be all that ‘good’ for us; or asking for the removal of bad things which might not be all that bad for us! We should imitate Our Lord in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, by placing a conditional clause into all that we ask for of God: “Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me―but yet, not My will, but Thine be done!” (Luke 22:42).
(3) WE ARE BAD
Would You Reward Someone Who Commits the Greatest Evils in the World?
St. Augustine says that God will not hear and answer our prayers if we are bad. By this St. Augustine means that we are either in a state of Mortal Sin (which means we have lost sanctifying grace), or that we are sinning too much. This should be pretty obvious―but it isn’t! Sin is the greatest evil in the world―even the so-called “teeny-weeny venial sin”! Hence, even one sin is really too much! When a soul is in Mortal Sin, it becomes a mortal enemy of God. This state of soul loses all its power and influence over God. The soul’s prayers, theology teaches, will be heard but not granted by God. The soul in Mortal Sin cannot pray for anyone or anything else—the only thing God will mercifully do is to let the prayer ‘rebound’ so to speak on the sinner, in the sense that God will only ‘answer’ the sinner’s prayers by pushing the sinner towards repentance and conversion, but the sinners prayers for any other intentions are useless. Attachment to and peace with Venial Sin, greatly weaken the power of prayer—but do not make it useless. The more you sin, the weaker your prayer will be before God—and, consequently, this lessens the likelihood of the prayer being efficacious.
The more we sin, the less effective our prayers are—to the point that when we fall into mortal sin, our prayers are totally ineffective for anyone or anything other than our own conversion. If you want to be heard more, then sin less!
Friday October 1st
Article 1
Go Get Your Weapon!
Article 1
Go Get Your Weapon!
Fight or Fall!
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). That statement has never been as true as it is today! Today we are at war―not the kind of explicit, gun-in-your-face, bomb-on-your-house, open warfare that we are used to seeing in the movies―but a more subtle, silent, surreptitious, sly, slow, smoke-screened war that many even fail to notice and acknowledge. As Our Lady of La Salette foretold: Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God!” For those who do not want to believe Divine Private Revelations, then believe Divine Public Revelation as found in Holy Scripture: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). Our Lord adds: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:14).
We Are At War!
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
You had better believe that we are at war―a war that ultimately began as a spiritual war between God and Lucifer with the rebellious angels that followed him; and which has spilled over into the material world, beginning with Adam and Eve, and has escalated ever since to point where Lucifer and his devils is on the verge of taking over the entire world today, through his human Satanic followers and the “useful idiots” that they succeed in recruiting. Far-fetched? Well listen to the man who battled Satan on a daily basis for over 30 years―the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth―who said:
Satan is the Principal Enemy
“Satan fights against Christ’s followers ... Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested ... Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) ... Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times … It is a battle Satan wages with the desperation of one who knows “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident.
“Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!]. ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans.
“In this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great ... The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Satan seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism ... People are now being taught to perform spiritualist séances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that persons can practice by themselves. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass [Ouija board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!” (Compilation of quotes of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, taken from several interviews).
Fight the Good Fight―Fight with Good Weapons
Our Lady of La Salette tells us to go to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me―those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
On numerous occasions Our Lady has also spoken of the chief weapons that we are to use in the constantly escalating battle against Satan, the devils and their human minions or stooges. Her words at Akita in Japan, in 1973, sum it up: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass].
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917).
At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
You could do no better than to copy the following summary of the above quotes and read them daily―or even several times daily―in order to encourage you to come to the battle armed with the Rosary that Our Lady demands: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
The Universal Weapon or Multi-Taking Tool
Heaven has ruled that the Rosary is to be the weapon for our day and age―as Our Lady of Akita stated: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” Sister Lucia of Fatima says that Our Lady revealed to her that the Rosary is a universal weapon or multi-tasking tool for all circumstances―both natural and supernatural, physical and spiritual: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Padre Pio’s Weapon
St. Padre Pio used to say that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” Padre Pio had a great love for our Blessed Mother and he prayed the Rosary almost continually. One person said: “We always saw him with his Rosary in his hand — in the friary, in the halls, on the stairs, in the sacristy, in the Church, even in the brief interval when going to and coming from the confessional.” Another person added: “When at the end he did not talk to us anymore, we told him our thoughts. We asked for help. And all he did was to show us the Rosary, always, always.”
Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” When his death was approaching, he recommended the Rosary to his spiritual children by saying: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Always recite the Rosary.” Padre Pio instructed his spiritual children: “In all the free time you have, once you have finished your duties of state, you should kneel down and pray the Rosary. Pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, or before a crucifix.” To Enedina Mori, Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” Commenting upon complaints about the repetitiveness of the Rosary, Padre Pio sardonically said: “Pay attention to the mysteries! They change with every decade!”
He is reputed to have said the five decades of the Rosary as many as 35 to 50 times per day―therefore anywhere from 175 decades to 250 decades a day! On February 6th, 1954 at 9:00 p.m., Padre Pio said to Padre Carmelo: “I still have two Rosaries to pray today. I have only said thirty-four Rosaries so far. Then I will go to bed.” At another time, answering Padre Michelangelo’s question as to how many Rosaries he had prayed that day, Padre Pio said: “Today I said thirty-two or thirty-three Rosaries. Maybe one or two more.” Answering a similar question from Padre Mariano, Padre Pio said: “About thirty. Maybe some more, but not less!” When asked: “How do you do it?” Padre Pio replied: “What is the night for?” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it?--How do you manage not to say any?”
Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” One evening, Padre Pio, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, said to Padre Onorato Marcucci: “With this—one wins the battles.” Convinced of the power of the Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night. A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!”
Pope Pius XI wrote that “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin ... It serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion.”
Satan Fears the Rosary
There are many testimonies as to the power of Rosary over the devils. Father Gabriele Amorth relates that, “Satan told me during an exorcism, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, says something similar: “This life is a continual war and a series of temptations! We do not have to contend with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the very powers of Hell. What better weapon could we possibly use to combat them than the prayer which our great Leader has taught us, than the Angelic Salutation [the Hail Mary] which has put the devils to flight, destroyed sin and renewed the world? What better weapon could we use, in order to defend ourselves against the very same enemies whom Christ has conquered and who molest us every day. Scripture says: ‘Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’ So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.”
St. Louis de Montfort then goes on to relate some such examples: “When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said:
(1) that there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary;
(2) that by the Rosary which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary.
(3) They revealed several other things.
“St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men. At this they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer … St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. The devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders. So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.”
“No sooner had he said this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried: ‘Dominic, we beseech you, by the Passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of His holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further―for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars — so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us!’
“St. Dominic, kneeling down, prayed to the Blessed Virgin: ‘O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. I beg you for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth here and now before the people!’ St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said: ‘Answer my servant Dominic at once!’ (It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, only St. Dominic).
“Then the devils started screaming: ‘Oh, you who are our enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness! Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell! It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective! We have to say―however, reluctantly―that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints! We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants! Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that “Marietta” (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy!’”
St. Louis de Montfort then gives some other shorter examples: “Blessed Alan de la Roche relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks.
“Father Jean Amât, of the Order of St. Dominic, was giving a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year, when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success, he put his Rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking, ‘Take it off! Take it off! These beads are tormenting me!’ At last, the priest, filled with pity for the girl, took his Rosary off her. The very next night, when Fr. Amât was in bed, the same devils who had possession of the girl came to him, foaming with rage and tried to seize him. But he had his Rosary clasped in his hand and no efforts of theirs could wrench it from him. He beat them with it very well indeed and put them to flight, crying out: ‘Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, come to my help!’
“The next day, on his way to the church, he met the poor girl, still possessed. One of the devils within her started to jeer at him, saying: ‘Well, brother! If you had been without your Rosary, we should have made short shrift of you!’ Then the good Father threw his Rosary round the girl’s neck without more ado, saying: ‘By the Sacred Names of Jesus and Mary His holy Mother, and by the power of the Holy Rosary, I command you, evil spirits, to leave the body of this girl at once!’ They were immediately forced to obey him, and she was delivered from them. These stories show the power of the Holy Rosary in overcoming all sorts of temptations from the evil spirits and all sorts of sins, because these blessed beads of the Rosary put devils to rout.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). That statement has never been as true as it is today! Today we are at war―not the kind of explicit, gun-in-your-face, bomb-on-your-house, open warfare that we are used to seeing in the movies―but a more subtle, silent, surreptitious, sly, slow, smoke-screened war that many even fail to notice and acknowledge. As Our Lady of La Salette foretold: Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God!” For those who do not want to believe Divine Private Revelations, then believe Divine Public Revelation as found in Holy Scripture: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). Our Lord adds: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:14).
We Are At War!
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
You had better believe that we are at war―a war that ultimately began as a spiritual war between God and Lucifer with the rebellious angels that followed him; and which has spilled over into the material world, beginning with Adam and Eve, and has escalated ever since to point where Lucifer and his devils is on the verge of taking over the entire world today, through his human Satanic followers and the “useful idiots” that they succeed in recruiting. Far-fetched? Well listen to the man who battled Satan on a daily basis for over 30 years―the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth―who said:
Satan is the Principal Enemy
“Satan fights against Christ’s followers ... Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested ... Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) ... Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times … It is a battle Satan wages with the desperation of one who knows “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident.
“Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!]. ... Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans.
“In this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great ... The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Satan seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism ... People are now being taught to perform spiritualist séances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that persons can practice by themselves. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass [Ouija board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!” (Compilation of quotes of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, taken from several interviews).
Fight the Good Fight―Fight with Good Weapons
Our Lady of La Salette tells us to go to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me―those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
On numerous occasions Our Lady has also spoken of the chief weapons that we are to use in the constantly escalating battle against Satan, the devils and their human minions or stooges. Her words at Akita in Japan, in 1973, sum it up: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass].
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917).
At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
You could do no better than to copy the following summary of the above quotes and read them daily―or even several times daily―in order to encourage you to come to the battle armed with the Rosary that Our Lady demands: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
The Universal Weapon or Multi-Taking Tool
Heaven has ruled that the Rosary is to be the weapon for our day and age―as Our Lady of Akita stated: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” Sister Lucia of Fatima says that Our Lady revealed to her that the Rosary is a universal weapon or multi-tasking tool for all circumstances―both natural and supernatural, physical and spiritual: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Padre Pio’s Weapon
St. Padre Pio used to say that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” Padre Pio had a great love for our Blessed Mother and he prayed the Rosary almost continually. One person said: “We always saw him with his Rosary in his hand — in the friary, in the halls, on the stairs, in the sacristy, in the Church, even in the brief interval when going to and coming from the confessional.” Another person added: “When at the end he did not talk to us anymore, we told him our thoughts. We asked for help. And all he did was to show us the Rosary, always, always.”
Padre Pio insisted: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.” When his death was approaching, he recommended the Rosary to his spiritual children by saying: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Always recite the Rosary.” Padre Pio instructed his spiritual children: “In all the free time you have, once you have finished your duties of state, you should kneel down and pray the Rosary. Pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, or before a crucifix.” To Enedina Mori, Padre Pio said: “When you get tired reciting the Rosary, rest a bit, and then restart again.” Commenting upon complaints about the repetitiveness of the Rosary, Padre Pio sardonically said: “Pay attention to the mysteries! They change with every decade!”
He is reputed to have said the five decades of the Rosary as many as 35 to 50 times per day―therefore anywhere from 175 decades to 250 decades a day! On February 6th, 1954 at 9:00 p.m., Padre Pio said to Padre Carmelo: “I still have two Rosaries to pray today. I have only said thirty-four Rosaries so far. Then I will go to bed.” At another time, answering Padre Michelangelo’s question as to how many Rosaries he had prayed that day, Padre Pio said: “Today I said thirty-two or thirty-three Rosaries. Maybe one or two more.” Answering a similar question from Padre Mariano, Padre Pio said: “About thirty. Maybe some more, but not less!” When asked: “How do you do it?” Padre Pio replied: “What is the night for?” Answering another question on how many Rosaries he was accustomed to praying, Padre Pio replied: “Some days I say forty Rosaries, some other days fifty. How do I do it?--How do you manage not to say any?”
Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” One evening, Padre Pio, grabbing the Rosary that he had put on the nightstand for a few seconds, said to Padre Onorato Marcucci: “With this—one wins the battles.” Convinced of the power of the Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. He used to carry, permanently, a Rosary in his hands and would pray it many times a day. Padre Marcellino testified that he had to help Padre Pio wash his hands one at a time, “because he didn't want to let go of the Rosary beads, and passed the Rosary from one hand to the other.” Padre Pio always wore the Rosary around his arm at night. A few days before his death, as Padre Pio was getting into bed, he said to the friars who were in his room: “Give me my weapon!” And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your habit! . . . We can only find your Rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately said: “And is this not a weapon? ... The true weapon?!”
Pope Pius XI wrote that “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin ... It serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion.”
Satan Fears the Rosary
There are many testimonies as to the power of Rosary over the devils. Father Gabriele Amorth relates that, “Satan told me during an exorcism, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, says something similar: “This life is a continual war and a series of temptations! We do not have to contend with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the very powers of Hell. What better weapon could we possibly use to combat them than the prayer which our great Leader has taught us, than the Angelic Salutation [the Hail Mary] which has put the devils to flight, destroyed sin and renewed the world? What better weapon could we use, in order to defend ourselves against the very same enemies whom Christ has conquered and who molest us every day. Scripture says: ‘Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’ So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.”
St. Louis de Montfort then goes on to relate some such examples: “When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said:
(1) that there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary;
(2) that by the Rosary which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary.
(3) They revealed several other things.
“St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men. At this they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer … St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. The devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders. So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.”
“No sooner had he said this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried: ‘Dominic, we beseech you, by the Passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of His holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further―for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars — so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us!’
“St. Dominic, kneeling down, prayed to the Blessed Virgin: ‘O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. I beg you for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth here and now before the people!’ St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said: ‘Answer my servant Dominic at once!’ (It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, only St. Dominic).
“Then the devils started screaming: ‘Oh, you who are our enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness! Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell! It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective! We have to say―however, reluctantly―that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints! We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants! Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that “Marietta” (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy!’”
St. Louis de Montfort then gives some other shorter examples: “Blessed Alan de la Roche relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks.
“Father Jean Amât, of the Order of St. Dominic, was giving a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year, when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success, he put his Rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking, ‘Take it off! Take it off! These beads are tormenting me!’ At last, the priest, filled with pity for the girl, took his Rosary off her. The very next night, when Fr. Amât was in bed, the same devils who had possession of the girl came to him, foaming with rage and tried to seize him. But he had his Rosary clasped in his hand and no efforts of theirs could wrench it from him. He beat them with it very well indeed and put them to flight, crying out: ‘Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, come to my help!’
“The next day, on his way to the church, he met the poor girl, still possessed. One of the devils within her started to jeer at him, saying: ‘Well, brother! If you had been without your Rosary, we should have made short shrift of you!’ Then the good Father threw his Rosary round the girl’s neck without more ado, saying: ‘By the Sacred Names of Jesus and Mary His holy Mother, and by the power of the Holy Rosary, I command you, evil spirits, to leave the body of this girl at once!’ They were immediately forced to obey him, and she was delivered from them. These stories show the power of the Holy Rosary in overcoming all sorts of temptations from the evil spirits and all sorts of sins, because these blessed beads of the Rosary put devils to rout.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday September 29th & Thursday September 30th
Feast of St. Michael the Archangel
Article 13
Call on Michael!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday September 29th & Thursday September 30th
Feast of St. Michael the Archangel
Article 13
Call on Michael!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Help! Help!
When we are in danger we often call for assistance. Nations also have their “help units” that they call upon in times of trouble and danger. Such “units” are, for example, the police force, paramedics, firefighters and even the armed forces in times of grave danger to the nation. The Archangel St. Michael is the patron saint of the warrior―and has been designated by the Church as the protector of those who strive to preserve security, safety and peace―namely, the police, paramedics, firefighters and military. You could say that these groups are the “warriors” who protect the nation from danger, or are supposed to protect the nation. Nevertheless, it has to be asked: “How much help will you get from a patron saint if you don’t believe in God, nor pray to God, nor pray to St. Michael the Archangel?” Today, however, you have to question the integrity of those groups as to their commitment to protecting the nation as opposed to their commitment to carrying out the nefarious plans of those guided by their own patron “saint”―the unholy Lucifer. You can clearly see cracks, divisions and splits occurring among the police and military as a direct result of the present created crisis that afflicts both nation and the world. Many are refusing to follow the Luciferian plot that seeks the ultimate enslavement and genocide of mankind in general, and Christianity (especially Catholicism) in particular.
Puppet-Masters Holding the Strings and Syringes
The governing stooges follow the commands of their behind-the-scenes “Puppet Masters” and are forcing (“mandating” is the euphemism or “nice-sounding” word they like to use) the police force, paramedics, firefighters, military to be vaccinated with an experimental, DNA damaging, toxic, spike protein creating and health destroying vaccine. These experimental vaccines have been researched and proved by many of the best virologists, epidemiologists, scientific researchers, medical professors and doctors from many different countries throughout the world―and, among the honest medical scientists and doctors, the universal opinion is that the use of these experimental vaccines is both highly dangerous, potentially life-threatening and also criminal. They have clearly debunked the lies coming forth from governments, mainstream media and deceptive pharmaceutical companies. For their pains, these honest medical experts have been censored in a variety of ways―from being banned from speaking publicly on these matters, being banned from social media platforms and mainstream media, to the point where some have been struck off the medical board and have lost, or are under the threat of losing their jobs.
Right now, those Puppet Masters are holding a gun to the head, as well as a syringe to the arm, as they threaten the police force, paramedics, firefighters and armed forces with a loss of job if they refuse the jab. This has seen notable resistance among those units―even though the majority of the police force, paramedics, firefighters and armed forces have already surrendered to the vaccine. Division is being deliberately created so as to weaken the unity and power of the people. As the famous Latin phrase states: “Divide et impera!” (pronounced: “divi-day” in Latin)―meaning “Divide and rule” and also “Divide and conquer”. The United States must become the Disunited States! A united Catholic Church must become a disunited Catholic Church. Satan is well on the way to achieving those goals.
A Divided City Cannot Stand
The divisions that are being deliberately caused by these and similar policies have one simple goal in mind―divide the people, create disunity, create division, create rebellion, create chaos. All of that bears the hallmark of Satan―who is the master of creating division. Satan wants to divide and conquer. Christ wants to unite and rule. Satan is about disorder, chaos and fighting; Christ is about order and peace. A similar division and split occurred among the angels at the beginning of time―when Lucifer rebelled against God and drew a third of the angels with him into rebellion. This rebellion of Lucifer and the angels that followed him into rebellion, is described thus in the Book of the Apocalypse:
“And a great sign appeared in Heaven―a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
“And being with child, she cried, travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.
“And there was seen another sign in Heaven―a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems.
“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; so that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.
“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days.
“And there was a great battle in Heaven―Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
“And that great dragon was cast out―that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world―and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him!” (Apocalypse 12:1-9).
Jesus spoke of this battle when He said to His Apostles: “I saw Satan like lightning falling from Heaven!” (Luke 10:18).
In the Book of Isaias the prophet, we further read: “How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? How art thou fallen to the Earth, that didst wound the nations? And thou saidst in thy heart: ‘I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High!’ But yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, into the depth of the pit!” (Isaias 14:12-15).
Satan’s Final Battle
Satan is full of pride and hate at seeing his own damnation in relation to our potential salvation―we could gain what he has lost. Hence Satan seeks the damnation of the whole world―even though he knows he cannot overcome everybody. Nevertheless, he does manage to overcome most souls. According to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Our Lady revealed to her that “… the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … She told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!”
If the devils are currently engaged in a “decisive battle with the Virgin”―then it means that the devils are engaged in a “decisive battle” with you, unless you say you want no part of the Virgin Mary and that you want to be independent from her (which means that you want no part of God and wish to be independent from Him). Whether you know it or not, like it or not, want it or not―you are involved in Satanic warfare: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). There is no neutrality in this fight between Satan and the Virgin, between the Devil and God, between Heaven and Hell―you either fight for Christ and Our Lady, or you implicitly or explicitly side with Satan―there is no other choice. “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “From now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!” Or, as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The problem is that most Catholics are actively trying to serve God and mammon―they are loving and serving two opponents or two masters, who are enemies of each other―God and the world. Do you think there is a connection with most Catholics living in this way and most Catholics being damned? Of course there is! You can bet you salvation on it! Are you one of those many Catholics, or one of few Catholics who find the path to Heaven: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Or, as the Imitation of Christ states: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship … To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment … Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies … There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapters 11 & 12).
Fighting Fire with Fire―Fighting Angels with Angels
You may have heard of the expression “Fighting fire with fire!” What does it mean? What is its origin? Is it true―can you fight fire with fire? In one of his plays―King John―written in 1595, William Shakespeare writes: “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror!” What Shakespeare means by this is that you need to deal with people attacking or threatening you by using similar methods to the ones that they are using. If you fight fire with fire, then you use the weapons or tactics of your enemy or opponent against them. A similar phrase is: “Beat them at their own game!” ― which is defined as “confounding your opposition by using a similar strategy.” When you “fight fire with fire” you need to employ more extreme methods than you would normally use, even if you find them distasteful or painful. For example, in a war, if your nation is being attacked, you need to employ at least an equal force against the attacker. In the Second World War, when the German tanks rolled into Poland, the Poles did not have the equal force to resist the Germans, who had a far greater number of tanks. The Poles relied more upon their cavalry (soldiers on horseback). The result? No contest! In the early sixteenth century, the mighty Aztec empire in the New World was defeated by a relatively small amount of Spanish soldiers. Spanish weaponry was far superior to anything used by the Aztecs or Incas and, furthermore, the invading Spanish forces also took advantage of internal divisions within the Aztec and Inca empires―a case of “Divide and Conquer”.
Shakespeare may have been the first to put the notion on paper in 1595 with his “be fire with fire”, but he didn’t coin the phrase “fight fire with fire”, that came much later. The source of this phrase was actual fire-fighting that was taken on by US settlers in the 19th century. They attempted to guard against grass or forest fires by deliberately raising small controllable fires, which they called “back-fires”, to burn-up in advance any flammable material in the path of a larger fire and so deprive it of fuel. That way, once the primary fire reached that pre-burned area, it would find nothing there to fuel itself. A fire needs oxygen and fuel, such as leaves and vegetation, to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. That way, once the primary fire reaches that area, it will have nothing left to fuel itself. This prevents the primary fire from advancing any further and eventually it goes out. This literal “fighting fire with fire” was often successful, although a lack of effective fire control equipment meant that their own fires occasionally got out of control and made matters worse rather than better.
In analyzing a fire’s hunger and growth, it is easy to think of it as some form of organism ― like a rat infestation. In addition to putting out poison, major metropolitan areas encourage residents to help combat rodent infestations through anti-litter campaigns. You don’t want rats in your home? Great, don’t litter the streets with a buffet of fast-food garbage. Likewise, you can help prevent the spread of forest fires by keeping less fuel sitting around. Around the home, this strategy often means keeping your property free of vegetation that could act as fuel. Without small fires to clear debris from the forest floor, dead sticks and leaves lie in wait, ready to burst into flame under the right conditions. Once the fire gets large enough, it can spread to the trees’ crowns and form walls of flame 100 feet or more in height. To avoid wild, out-of-control fires, you need to think about ways to reduce stores of fuel. Small, intentional burns can lower fire intensity.
The Fire of Hell and the Fire of Heaven
Similarly, we need to fight the fire of Satan or the fire of Hell, with the fire of God or the fire of Heaven. You could say that hatred is the fire of Satan and Hell and love is the fire of God and Heaven. In Hell, the devils and damned souls will burn in hatred of each other for eternity. In Heaven God and the saints will burn in love for each for eternity. Temptation and Sin can be said to be the general fires of Satan, by which he seeks to burn souls eternally in fires of Hell: “Your adversary the devil, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan seeks to set our lives on fire with sin. God seeks to set our lives on fire with love. Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). That love that He seeks to kindle is firstly a love of God, and secondly a love of neighbor. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
The flames of charity and love will always overcome the flames of anger and hatred. Today, we live in an angry world―a hateful world that loves to hate. There is only one thing worth hating―and that is sin. Yet the world loves hating the sinner as much as the sin―though you have to question whether or not the world REALLY hates sin all across the board, or is that they hate the sins of others, but not their own sins!!? The accusatory world shows no mercy except for themselves and those they like! Incidentally, the word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “Satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “Devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” What is true of the “prince of this world”―Satan―is equally true of the world for the most part―they twist, accuse and calumniate, which is why Our Lord said: “Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
As they say: “Like father like son, like mother like daughter!” ― which means to say that children take after their parents. Consequently, you could also say: “Like devil like world”―which is also why Our Lord said to the Jews (what He could today say to most of the world): “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
We Are Fighting Against Satan
Make no mistake about it―we are all currently engaged in a lifelong battle against Satan and the devils of Hell, who, like ‘Puppet Masters’ control enormous numbers of “useful idiots” among humans on Earth today! As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God.
“The truth of salvation is this: Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to free man from Satan’s slavery, and to establish the Kingdom of God, after destroying the reign of Satan. However, between the first coming of Christ and the Parousia (the second, triumphal coming of Christ as judge), the devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress. In biblical terms, I can say that people are abandoning God to give themselves up to occultism. The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism.
“Spiritualist séances in which the dead are called up to answer certain questions are very widespread. People are now being taught to perform spiritualist séances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that each can practice by himself. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass, which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!”
When we are in danger we often call for assistance. Nations also have their “help units” that they call upon in times of trouble and danger. Such “units” are, for example, the police force, paramedics, firefighters and even the armed forces in times of grave danger to the nation. The Archangel St. Michael is the patron saint of the warrior―and has been designated by the Church as the protector of those who strive to preserve security, safety and peace―namely, the police, paramedics, firefighters and military. You could say that these groups are the “warriors” who protect the nation from danger, or are supposed to protect the nation. Nevertheless, it has to be asked: “How much help will you get from a patron saint if you don’t believe in God, nor pray to God, nor pray to St. Michael the Archangel?” Today, however, you have to question the integrity of those groups as to their commitment to protecting the nation as opposed to their commitment to carrying out the nefarious plans of those guided by their own patron “saint”―the unholy Lucifer. You can clearly see cracks, divisions and splits occurring among the police and military as a direct result of the present created crisis that afflicts both nation and the world. Many are refusing to follow the Luciferian plot that seeks the ultimate enslavement and genocide of mankind in general, and Christianity (especially Catholicism) in particular.
Puppet-Masters Holding the Strings and Syringes
The governing stooges follow the commands of their behind-the-scenes “Puppet Masters” and are forcing (“mandating” is the euphemism or “nice-sounding” word they like to use) the police force, paramedics, firefighters, military to be vaccinated with an experimental, DNA damaging, toxic, spike protein creating and health destroying vaccine. These experimental vaccines have been researched and proved by many of the best virologists, epidemiologists, scientific researchers, medical professors and doctors from many different countries throughout the world―and, among the honest medical scientists and doctors, the universal opinion is that the use of these experimental vaccines is both highly dangerous, potentially life-threatening and also criminal. They have clearly debunked the lies coming forth from governments, mainstream media and deceptive pharmaceutical companies. For their pains, these honest medical experts have been censored in a variety of ways―from being banned from speaking publicly on these matters, being banned from social media platforms and mainstream media, to the point where some have been struck off the medical board and have lost, or are under the threat of losing their jobs.
Right now, those Puppet Masters are holding a gun to the head, as well as a syringe to the arm, as they threaten the police force, paramedics, firefighters and armed forces with a loss of job if they refuse the jab. This has seen notable resistance among those units―even though the majority of the police force, paramedics, firefighters and armed forces have already surrendered to the vaccine. Division is being deliberately created so as to weaken the unity and power of the people. As the famous Latin phrase states: “Divide et impera!” (pronounced: “divi-day” in Latin)―meaning “Divide and rule” and also “Divide and conquer”. The United States must become the Disunited States! A united Catholic Church must become a disunited Catholic Church. Satan is well on the way to achieving those goals.
A Divided City Cannot Stand
The divisions that are being deliberately caused by these and similar policies have one simple goal in mind―divide the people, create disunity, create division, create rebellion, create chaos. All of that bears the hallmark of Satan―who is the master of creating division. Satan wants to divide and conquer. Christ wants to unite and rule. Satan is about disorder, chaos and fighting; Christ is about order and peace. A similar division and split occurred among the angels at the beginning of time―when Lucifer rebelled against God and drew a third of the angels with him into rebellion. This rebellion of Lucifer and the angels that followed him into rebellion, is described thus in the Book of the Apocalypse:
“And a great sign appeared in Heaven―a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
“And being with child, she cried, travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.
“And there was seen another sign in Heaven―a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems.
“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; so that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.
“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days.
“And there was a great battle in Heaven―Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
“And that great dragon was cast out―that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world―and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him!” (Apocalypse 12:1-9).
Jesus spoke of this battle when He said to His Apostles: “I saw Satan like lightning falling from Heaven!” (Luke 10:18).
In the Book of Isaias the prophet, we further read: “How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? How art thou fallen to the Earth, that didst wound the nations? And thou saidst in thy heart: ‘I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High!’ But yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, into the depth of the pit!” (Isaias 14:12-15).
Satan’s Final Battle
Satan is full of pride and hate at seeing his own damnation in relation to our potential salvation―we could gain what he has lost. Hence Satan seeks the damnation of the whole world―even though he knows he cannot overcome everybody. Nevertheless, he does manage to overcome most souls. According to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Our Lady revealed to her that “… the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … She told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!”
If the devils are currently engaged in a “decisive battle with the Virgin”―then it means that the devils are engaged in a “decisive battle” with you, unless you say you want no part of the Virgin Mary and that you want to be independent from her (which means that you want no part of God and wish to be independent from Him). Whether you know it or not, like it or not, want it or not―you are involved in Satanic warfare: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). There is no neutrality in this fight between Satan and the Virgin, between the Devil and God, between Heaven and Hell―you either fight for Christ and Our Lady, or you implicitly or explicitly side with Satan―there is no other choice. “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “From now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!” Or, as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The problem is that most Catholics are actively trying to serve God and mammon―they are loving and serving two opponents or two masters, who are enemies of each other―God and the world. Do you think there is a connection with most Catholics living in this way and most Catholics being damned? Of course there is! You can bet you salvation on it! Are you one of those many Catholics, or one of few Catholics who find the path to Heaven: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Or, as the Imitation of Christ states: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship … To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment … Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies … There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapters 11 & 12).
Fighting Fire with Fire―Fighting Angels with Angels
You may have heard of the expression “Fighting fire with fire!” What does it mean? What is its origin? Is it true―can you fight fire with fire? In one of his plays―King John―written in 1595, William Shakespeare writes: “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror!” What Shakespeare means by this is that you need to deal with people attacking or threatening you by using similar methods to the ones that they are using. If you fight fire with fire, then you use the weapons or tactics of your enemy or opponent against them. A similar phrase is: “Beat them at their own game!” ― which is defined as “confounding your opposition by using a similar strategy.” When you “fight fire with fire” you need to employ more extreme methods than you would normally use, even if you find them distasteful or painful. For example, in a war, if your nation is being attacked, you need to employ at least an equal force against the attacker. In the Second World War, when the German tanks rolled into Poland, the Poles did not have the equal force to resist the Germans, who had a far greater number of tanks. The Poles relied more upon their cavalry (soldiers on horseback). The result? No contest! In the early sixteenth century, the mighty Aztec empire in the New World was defeated by a relatively small amount of Spanish soldiers. Spanish weaponry was far superior to anything used by the Aztecs or Incas and, furthermore, the invading Spanish forces also took advantage of internal divisions within the Aztec and Inca empires―a case of “Divide and Conquer”.
Shakespeare may have been the first to put the notion on paper in 1595 with his “be fire with fire”, but he didn’t coin the phrase “fight fire with fire”, that came much later. The source of this phrase was actual fire-fighting that was taken on by US settlers in the 19th century. They attempted to guard against grass or forest fires by deliberately raising small controllable fires, which they called “back-fires”, to burn-up in advance any flammable material in the path of a larger fire and so deprive it of fuel. That way, once the primary fire reached that pre-burned area, it would find nothing there to fuel itself. A fire needs oxygen and fuel, such as leaves and vegetation, to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. That way, once the primary fire reaches that area, it will have nothing left to fuel itself. This prevents the primary fire from advancing any further and eventually it goes out. This literal “fighting fire with fire” was often successful, although a lack of effective fire control equipment meant that their own fires occasionally got out of control and made matters worse rather than better.
In analyzing a fire’s hunger and growth, it is easy to think of it as some form of organism ― like a rat infestation. In addition to putting out poison, major metropolitan areas encourage residents to help combat rodent infestations through anti-litter campaigns. You don’t want rats in your home? Great, don’t litter the streets with a buffet of fast-food garbage. Likewise, you can help prevent the spread of forest fires by keeping less fuel sitting around. Around the home, this strategy often means keeping your property free of vegetation that could act as fuel. Without small fires to clear debris from the forest floor, dead sticks and leaves lie in wait, ready to burst into flame under the right conditions. Once the fire gets large enough, it can spread to the trees’ crowns and form walls of flame 100 feet or more in height. To avoid wild, out-of-control fires, you need to think about ways to reduce stores of fuel. Small, intentional burns can lower fire intensity.
The Fire of Hell and the Fire of Heaven
Similarly, we need to fight the fire of Satan or the fire of Hell, with the fire of God or the fire of Heaven. You could say that hatred is the fire of Satan and Hell and love is the fire of God and Heaven. In Hell, the devils and damned souls will burn in hatred of each other for eternity. In Heaven God and the saints will burn in love for each for eternity. Temptation and Sin can be said to be the general fires of Satan, by which he seeks to burn souls eternally in fires of Hell: “Your adversary the devil, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan seeks to set our lives on fire with sin. God seeks to set our lives on fire with love. Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). That love that He seeks to kindle is firstly a love of God, and secondly a love of neighbor. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
The flames of charity and love will always overcome the flames of anger and hatred. Today, we live in an angry world―a hateful world that loves to hate. There is only one thing worth hating―and that is sin. Yet the world loves hating the sinner as much as the sin―though you have to question whether or not the world REALLY hates sin all across the board, or is that they hate the sins of others, but not their own sins!!? The accusatory world shows no mercy except for themselves and those they like! Incidentally, the word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “Satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “Devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” What is true of the “prince of this world”―Satan―is equally true of the world for the most part―they twist, accuse and calumniate, which is why Our Lord said: “Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
As they say: “Like father like son, like mother like daughter!” ― which means to say that children take after their parents. Consequently, you could also say: “Like devil like world”―which is also why Our Lord said to the Jews (what He could today say to most of the world): “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
We Are Fighting Against Satan
Make no mistake about it―we are all currently engaged in a lifelong battle against Satan and the devils of Hell, who, like ‘Puppet Masters’ control enormous numbers of “useful idiots” among humans on Earth today! As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God.
“The truth of salvation is this: Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to free man from Satan’s slavery, and to establish the Kingdom of God, after destroying the reign of Satan. However, between the first coming of Christ and the Parousia (the second, triumphal coming of Christ as judge), the devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress. In biblical terms, I can say that people are abandoning God to give themselves up to occultism. The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism.
“Spiritualist séances in which the dead are called up to answer certain questions are very widespread. People are now being taught to perform spiritualist séances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that each can practice by himself. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass, which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday September 26th & Monday September 27th & Tuesday September 28th
Article 12
Please Do Not Fool Yourself!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday September 26th & Monday September 27th & Tuesday September 28th
Article 12
Please Do Not Fool Yourself!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Fools Are Many―Don’t Be One!
“The number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― do not become one of them! Do not listen to fools, nor mix with fools, for you will become like them: “A friend of fools shall become like to them” (Proverbs 13:20). The world is foolish―listen to the world and you will become foolish! “God has made the wisdom of this world foolish!” (1 Corinthians 1:20). “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). If you want to enter the University of Fools, then go to Hell―for Hell is full of fools! From the first fool, Satan, all the way down through the ranks of devils, down to least person in Hell―all are fools! Heaven was offered to them―yet they foolishly chose a path that led to Hell. Hell is full of fools and Heaven is full of wise persons. Some of Heaven’s wise folk could not read and write when they were on Earth―while there are educated fools in Hell that had degrees after their name, like a tail on a kite. They knew everything except the one thing that is really worth knowing―God. They did not think of tomorrow―of Judgment Day. They did not plan for a future in Heaven, but only planned for a future on Earth! They did not amass riches in Heaven, but riches on Earth! They were fools! As the saying goes: “A fool’s Paradise is a wise man’s Hell!” ― and “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Foolishness of Riches
As Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24). It is said that, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!” Well, you could also say: “The road to Hell is paved with gold intentions!”
“Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
Our Lord adds: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4).
Different Kinds of Riches
Richness or wealth is not just about money! You can be rich in knowledge by having a wealth of knowledge. This is somewhat reflected in the popular modern-day slogan: “Knowledge is power!” In a sense, knowledge is far more easily obtained than money―even the poorest man in the world can become rich in knowledge. Modern technology in general, and the internet in particular, have become the chief vehicles or providers of knowledge these days. Most people have access to the internet and most people do access the internet. They want to know! So that’s where they go to know! “Every man is become a fool for knowledge” (Jeremias 10:14). “Every man is become foolish by his knowledge!” (Jeremias 51:17). “They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened!” (Romans 1:21). Yet knowledge can be a dangerous thing―and too much knowledge can be very dangerous. Today, all of this hunger for knowledge can lead to what we call “Information Constipation”―whereby lots of information goes into our minds, but very little comes out of our minds. We have become gluttons for knowledge―and not always beneficial knowledge, since most people like a lot of spice on their plate and that spice is gossip. If Holy Scripture can say: “The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:14) ― then we can also add: “The eyes and ears of fools feed on foolishness!”
As the philosophical principle or axiom states: “Omne agens agit secundum naturam suam” ― meaning, “Every agent acts according to its own nature” or “Things act according to their nature.” In farmer philosophy, the same thing is stated thus: “If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck―then it is a duck!” Hence, you could say: “If it looks like a fool, and it acts like fool, and talks like a fool―then it is a fool!”
So much of what is posted on the internet and social media these days is absolute foolishness―some of “venial” foolishness, some of it “mortal” foolishness! Holy Scripture tells us not to waste time on foolish things, but to seek the will of God in all that we do, and not our own foolish will: “See then, brethren, in evil times like these, how carefully you have to tread―not as fools, but as wise men do, making the most of the time that is given you. No, you cannot afford to be reckless; you must grasp what the Lord’s will is for you!” (Ephesians 5:15-17). Another translation: “See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise [fools], but as wise―redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise [fools], but understanding what is the will of God!”
The World is Rich in Fools
Yes, truly, “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Holy Scripture has many verses that describe the nature of a fool: “The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:14). “The mouth of fools bubbles out folly” (Proverbs 15:2). “For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully” (Isaias 32:6). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 23:9; 1:7). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “A fool lifts up his voice in laughter” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “The heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “Fools hate them that flee from evil things” (Proverbs 13:19). “A fool laughs at the instruction of his father” (Proverbs 15:5). “Folly is joy to the fool” (Proverbs 15:21). “A fool worketh mischief as it were for sport” (Proverbs 10:23). “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11).
Holy Scripture then speaks of the fool who thinks there is no God and hence he is free to do what he wants to do in this world: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
A Foolish Rejection of Salvation
It is an uncontestable truth that Christ came to save us! He came to save sinners from Hell. Holy Scripture leaves no doubt on this matter: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). “God hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). “Christ died for our sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world!” (1 John 2:2). As Christ Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 9:56; 5:32).
Penance is a “must” for salvation―for we have all sinned: “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). Hence Our Lord says: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). Unfortunately, it can be said of most persons: “God has given him time for penance, and he abuses that time in his pride! … Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance!” (Job 24:23; 21:2).
Penance is no “piece of cake”! Penance is suffering! Penance is hard! Penance is a cross―and without that cross there can be no salvation. He who rejects and throws aside the cross, throws away the key to salvation and foolishly takes the easy path to damnation! “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
The Foolishness of the Cross―Or the Foolishness of Rejecting the Cross?
Holy Scripture tell us: “The word of the Cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is to us, it is the power of God! … We preach Christ crucified―which to the Jews is indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness!” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23).
Our Lady develops this idea in her words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! … Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom.”
“What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. What wonder then, that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Do Not Be Fooled―God Expects Much From Us!
Satan is a real sweet-talker when it comes to watering-down our Faith and watering-down our zeal! He is perpetually trying to weaken our spiritual life, while simultaneously telling us that we have nothing to worry about―God is good, God is kind, God is understanding, God is compassionate, God would never send you to Hell! You are not like the rest of world―you go to Mass; you pray (or at least say) your Rosary; you fast on the days appointed by the Church (which are getting less and less); you do this, you do that, you try and avoid this, you try and avoid that, etc., etc. Your are too good to be damned―take it easy, relax, don’t be fanatical! We readily “buy-into” such Satanic flattery because we, like everyone else, have a not so little dose of pride lurking behind the scenes! Where have we heard all that before? We have heard it from lips of Our Lord Himself:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Do not forget the words of Our Lord: “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48). We have been given MUCH! Not only much, but VERY MUCH! You have the Catholic Faith, don’t you? Well 7 out 8 people DO NOT! Providence has placed you in the world at a time when it is RELATIVELY EASY to get to Mass―in bygone days getting to Mass was much harder, people worked longer hours, there were no cars, etc. Providence has allowed you to live at a time when you can ACCESS ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF RELIGIOUS MATERIAL due to, not only the incredible amount of books in the world, but also, in the last 20 years or so, most of those can also be read on the internet for free! These are just three factors out tens and tens of advantageous factors enjoyed by Catholics in the 21st century. You have been GIVEN MORE THAN ANY PAST GENERATION OF CATHOLICS in the history of the world! God expects you to do more with it!
Faith, Without Works, Is Dead!
Your Faith is like a seed that needs to GROW and not just stay the same. God expects your Faith, not only to GROW, but God also expects your Faith TO BEAR FRUIT! Our Lord makes that clear on several occasions:
“I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “He that received the seed [the word of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit … Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Mathew 12:16-20).
Those “fruits” are the “works” of Faith. St. James speaks of the need of works sprouting from our Faith: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? So Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: but the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Foolish Faith―Foolish Catholics
Too many Catholics fool themselves into thinking that they will get to Heaven with no “fruits” or no “works.” Our Lord tried to dispel such foolishness on several occasions, warning us that halfhearted or half-baked Catholicism is simply not enough for someone wanting to follow Christ. “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Thus, one of very basic “works” or “fruits” of a true disciple of Christ is the carrying of the cross each and every day.
Foolish Confessions
Closely linked to this carrying of the cross is the performance of penance: “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Why is it that most Catholic souls perish? It is linked to penance―they abuse the Sacrament of Penance by not confessing their mortal sins, or confessing them badly―meaning that they do not give the species (kind/type) and number of their mortal sins, instead, they confess vaguely, they fudge, blur, dissimulate, disguise, misrepresent, fail to give the correct number, fail to give circumstances that aggravated the sin, etc. The devil is only too pleased to help you in the matter! “Oh, don’t worry about this or that!” he will whisper in your mind, “It’s not mortal! You don’t even have to confess it!”
For example, it is insufficient to say: “I have been impure a few times!” The word “impure” is too vague, too big an umbrella that contains many different kinds of mortal sins: impure thoughts, impure desires, impure actions―furthermore, with whom? It can be alone, or with another (which is worse). If another, then is it a married person, a person of the other sex or of the same sex, is it a child, is it a religious? Even worse, is it an animal?
St. Alphonsus Liguori―the patron saints of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confessed badly. He advises priests to “Speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell!” O how easy it is to confess vaguely and imprecisely in order to avoid embarrassment and “save face”! Many a foolish Catholic now regrets that in Hell!
For anyone who confesses mortal sins correctly, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to die without sanctifying grace; it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to be damned―unless, of course, they commit a mortal sin and fail to confess it before death, such as in the case of a serious accident, or some sudden fatal illness like a heart attack. So why do most Catholic souls (and non-Catholic souls) go to Hell. Because they abuse, misuse or do not use the Sacrament of Penance.
Foolish Penitents
Furthermore, a contributory factor is their negligence in doing sufficient penance for their sins―for the performance of penances is a mighty help in keeping future mortal sins at bay, at arm’s length. Do not fool yourself into thinking that the penance the priest gives you in Confession is the “full price” for the sins you have committed and confessed! Far from it! The paltry penance―3 Hail Mary’s or whatever else―is merely the first payment in the 30-, 40-, 50-year mortgage you have deliberately taken out by committing your sins.
Sin is not cheap! Heaven is not cheap! Most Catholics like to blot out of their minds the Church’s teaching that SIN IS THE GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD―“Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD)―and these foolish Catholics expect to pay for the GREATEST EVIL, and therefore the MOST EXPENSIVE EVIL with 3 Hail Mary’s! Come on! Get real! Wake up! Don’t be a fool! Hell and Purgatory are a testimony to EXPENSIVE price of sin! You can go to Hell for ETERNITY for one single unconfessed, misconfessed, misrepresented, unrepented mortal sin! How expensive is that? Likewise, there are souls that spend centuries in the fires of Purgatory for having done INSUFFICIENT penance on Earth for the sins they had committed. All of this is comes about because of a “devaluation” or “undervaluation” of the gravity of sin. It comes down to an attitude of “Why do penance for sin when sin is not all that bad? Besides, God forgives! Why worry!”
Such an attitude is similar to the Catholic apostate’s Martin Luther’s statement of: “Be a sinner and sin boldly―but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!” That is exactly what most Christians do today―they sin boldly and boldly believe Christ will automatically hit the “delete button” on all their sins! They treat the Sacrament of Penance like a “Weekly Car Wash” ― they happily dirty themselves with all kinds of sins throughout the week, and then go their “Drive-Thru-Confession” at the weekend! This happens week-in and week-out, without any real desire to correct their sinful ways and amend their sinful lifestyle. Do such fools not remember the words Christ spoke to the sick man whom He cured by the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem: “There was a certain man that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. Jesus said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole? … Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:5-14). Similarly, to the woman who had been caught in adultery by the Scribes and Pharisees, “Jesus said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:10-11).
Fools Who Do Not Know Their Faith!
Such “Drive-Thru-Confession” fools do not know or understand their Faith and its teachings. They forget, or ignore, or reject the FIVE NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION. All of those five requirements must be present if the Confession is to be valid and efficacious. What are they? You should know! Do you know? It seems most Catholics do not know or did not want to know―for how else can you explain the damnation of most Catholics?
► The first requirement is a THOROUGH EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE. The main thing that you are looking for is mortal sin. What is a mortal sin? You were once taught that for a sin to be a mortal sin, it must fulfill ALL three of the following conditions:
(1) It has be a grave offense against God,
(2) You must be aware that it is a grave offense at the time of committing the offense;
(3) You must full want to do it.
Sounds simple, huh? Yes―it should be―but many Catholics complicate things by:
(1) Reasoning falsely about the gravity of certain sins―for instance, some think that impure thoughts and desires are not grave sins; others think drunkenness or illicit drug use in not grave; others think that missing Sunday Mass is not grave; others think that withholding sins (hiding sins) in Confession is not grave; others think homosexuality or same sex marriages are not grave―the list is endless.
(2) Catholics further complicate matters by falsely claiming that they “did not know” this or that was a serious sin. What they are really saying is that they do not really care to know, or that their neglect of studying and reviewing the Faith has led to a blameworthy and guilty ignorance about the gravity of certain sins, or that they neglected to seek advice and clarification if “this or that” was grave or not. In such cases their protestations that they “did not know” are invalid and they are guilty.
(3) Another complicating factor is that they wrongly imagine that “full consent” to the sin means 100% consent! That is false. It is just as false as saying that for someone to classified as being sick, the WHOLE ENTIRE BODY must be sick before that judgment can be given. A poisoned drink does not mean that 100% of drink is poison―a few drops of poison in a drink suffices for it to be called a poisoned drink. “Full consent” means the consent of the majority, not the entirety. If you were mostly in favor of committing the grave sin―then that is enough, just as in marriage annulments in the case of someone refusing the indissolubility of marriage (which means accepting divorce)―the marriage is declared annulled if one of the spouses entered marriage with a double-intention: “I enter this marriage hoping it is lifelong. I hope that this marriage works and I want it to work, but if it doesn’t, then I reserve the right to divorce!” In such a case, if the predominating disposition is that of divorcing if things do not work out, then the marriage is null and void. Similarly, if the predominating disposition in a sinner is to sin, even though he might have some feelings of not wanting to sin, the predominant disposition is declared the “winner” and sinner becomes a “loses” by losing grace.
► The second requirement is BEING SORRY FOR YOU SINS. What is sorrow? You would, no doubt, agree that “lip-sorrow” is not the same as “heart-sorrow.” Our Lord points out this difference when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Similarly, you could say: “Hypocrites! You say you are sorry with your lips, but you are not sorry in your heart!” The Church teaches that there two chief kinds of sorrow―the sorrow of attrition and the sorrow of contrition―and each kind can have many degrees within it.
Attrition is sorrow for sin that is primarily or majorly based upon a fear of God’s punishments for sin. Whereas contrition is primarily or majorly a sorrow for sin that is based upon a childlike love of God that show sorrow for having offended someone whom we love, rather than someone whom we fear.
Two people can confess the same sin in Confession—one with contrition (sorrow based on a love of God) and the other with attrition (sorrow based on a fear of God’s punishments). Though both will be forgiven, the person with contrition will have less temporal punishment to undergo than the person who confessed with mere attrition—“Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
► The third requirement is HAVING A FIRM PURPOSE OF AMENDING YOUR LIFE by avoiding the steps and occasions of sin that led you to fall in the first place. A FIRM purpose of amendment is very different to the VAGUE purpose of amendment that most Catholics have! Their vague purpose of amendment is along the lines of: “Oh I’ve got to stop doing this! I should try do better in the future! I hope to do better!” There is no FIRM plan; no real analysis of how they fell in the first place; no resolution to avoid those persons, places and things that led them to sin; no plans for taking alternative action, seeking alternative friends, occupations, pastimes, places of work or recreation; no plans for reinforcing their spiritual lives with extra prayers, sacrifices, penances, spiritual reading, more frequent Communions and Confessions, etc. Their vague purpose of amendment is mere wishy-washy wishful thinking, with no real substance or plan of action. No wonder they fall back into the same sins―it is inevitable! You reap what you sow! You destroy your Confession by not having a firm purpose of amendment. You can fool the priest! You can even fool yourself! You cannot fool God―“I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12).
► The fourth requirement is CONFESSING YOUR SINS TO A PRIEST. This seems pretty straightforward and easy―but it is not, or at least for most Catholics it is not that straightforward and easy!
► The fifth requirement is ACCEPTING AND DOING THE PENANCE THAT IS GIVEN TO YOU.
“The number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― do not become one of them! Do not listen to fools, nor mix with fools, for you will become like them: “A friend of fools shall become like to them” (Proverbs 13:20). The world is foolish―listen to the world and you will become foolish! “God has made the wisdom of this world foolish!” (1 Corinthians 1:20). “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). If you want to enter the University of Fools, then go to Hell―for Hell is full of fools! From the first fool, Satan, all the way down through the ranks of devils, down to least person in Hell―all are fools! Heaven was offered to them―yet they foolishly chose a path that led to Hell. Hell is full of fools and Heaven is full of wise persons. Some of Heaven’s wise folk could not read and write when they were on Earth―while there are educated fools in Hell that had degrees after their name, like a tail on a kite. They knew everything except the one thing that is really worth knowing―God. They did not think of tomorrow―of Judgment Day. They did not plan for a future in Heaven, but only planned for a future on Earth! They did not amass riches in Heaven, but riches on Earth! They were fools! As the saying goes: “A fool’s Paradise is a wise man’s Hell!” ― and “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Foolishness of Riches
As Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24). It is said that, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!” Well, you could also say: “The road to Hell is paved with gold intentions!”
“Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
Our Lord adds: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4).
Different Kinds of Riches
Richness or wealth is not just about money! You can be rich in knowledge by having a wealth of knowledge. This is somewhat reflected in the popular modern-day slogan: “Knowledge is power!” In a sense, knowledge is far more easily obtained than money―even the poorest man in the world can become rich in knowledge. Modern technology in general, and the internet in particular, have become the chief vehicles or providers of knowledge these days. Most people have access to the internet and most people do access the internet. They want to know! So that’s where they go to know! “Every man is become a fool for knowledge” (Jeremias 10:14). “Every man is become foolish by his knowledge!” (Jeremias 51:17). “They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened!” (Romans 1:21). Yet knowledge can be a dangerous thing―and too much knowledge can be very dangerous. Today, all of this hunger for knowledge can lead to what we call “Information Constipation”―whereby lots of information goes into our minds, but very little comes out of our minds. We have become gluttons for knowledge―and not always beneficial knowledge, since most people like a lot of spice on their plate and that spice is gossip. If Holy Scripture can say: “The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:14) ― then we can also add: “The eyes and ears of fools feed on foolishness!”
As the philosophical principle or axiom states: “Omne agens agit secundum naturam suam” ― meaning, “Every agent acts according to its own nature” or “Things act according to their nature.” In farmer philosophy, the same thing is stated thus: “If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck―then it is a duck!” Hence, you could say: “If it looks like a fool, and it acts like fool, and talks like a fool―then it is a fool!”
So much of what is posted on the internet and social media these days is absolute foolishness―some of “venial” foolishness, some of it “mortal” foolishness! Holy Scripture tells us not to waste time on foolish things, but to seek the will of God in all that we do, and not our own foolish will: “See then, brethren, in evil times like these, how carefully you have to tread―not as fools, but as wise men do, making the most of the time that is given you. No, you cannot afford to be reckless; you must grasp what the Lord’s will is for you!” (Ephesians 5:15-17). Another translation: “See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise [fools], but as wise―redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise [fools], but understanding what is the will of God!”
The World is Rich in Fools
Yes, truly, “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Holy Scripture has many verses that describe the nature of a fool: “The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:14). “The mouth of fools bubbles out folly” (Proverbs 15:2). “For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully” (Isaias 32:6). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 23:9; 1:7). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “A fool lifts up his voice in laughter” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “The heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “Fools hate them that flee from evil things” (Proverbs 13:19). “A fool laughs at the instruction of his father” (Proverbs 15:5). “Folly is joy to the fool” (Proverbs 15:21). “A fool worketh mischief as it were for sport” (Proverbs 10:23). “As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11).
Holy Scripture then speaks of the fool who thinks there is no God and hence he is free to do what he wants to do in this world: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
A Foolish Rejection of Salvation
It is an uncontestable truth that Christ came to save us! He came to save sinners from Hell. Holy Scripture leaves no doubt on this matter: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). “God hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). “Christ died for our sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world!” (1 John 2:2). As Christ Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 9:56; 5:32).
Penance is a “must” for salvation―for we have all sinned: “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). Hence Our Lord says: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). Unfortunately, it can be said of most persons: “God has given him time for penance, and he abuses that time in his pride! … Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance!” (Job 24:23; 21:2).
Penance is no “piece of cake”! Penance is suffering! Penance is hard! Penance is a cross―and without that cross there can be no salvation. He who rejects and throws aside the cross, throws away the key to salvation and foolishly takes the easy path to damnation! “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
The Foolishness of the Cross―Or the Foolishness of Rejecting the Cross?
Holy Scripture tell us: “The word of the Cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is to us, it is the power of God! … We preach Christ crucified―which to the Jews is indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness!” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23).
Our Lady develops this idea in her words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors! … Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom.”
“What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. What wonder then, that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Do Not Be Fooled―God Expects Much From Us!
Satan is a real sweet-talker when it comes to watering-down our Faith and watering-down our zeal! He is perpetually trying to weaken our spiritual life, while simultaneously telling us that we have nothing to worry about―God is good, God is kind, God is understanding, God is compassionate, God would never send you to Hell! You are not like the rest of world―you go to Mass; you pray (or at least say) your Rosary; you fast on the days appointed by the Church (which are getting less and less); you do this, you do that, you try and avoid this, you try and avoid that, etc., etc. Your are too good to be damned―take it easy, relax, don’t be fanatical! We readily “buy-into” such Satanic flattery because we, like everyone else, have a not so little dose of pride lurking behind the scenes! Where have we heard all that before? We have heard it from lips of Our Lord Himself:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Do not forget the words of Our Lord: “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48). We have been given MUCH! Not only much, but VERY MUCH! You have the Catholic Faith, don’t you? Well 7 out 8 people DO NOT! Providence has placed you in the world at a time when it is RELATIVELY EASY to get to Mass―in bygone days getting to Mass was much harder, people worked longer hours, there were no cars, etc. Providence has allowed you to live at a time when you can ACCESS ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF RELIGIOUS MATERIAL due to, not only the incredible amount of books in the world, but also, in the last 20 years or so, most of those can also be read on the internet for free! These are just three factors out tens and tens of advantageous factors enjoyed by Catholics in the 21st century. You have been GIVEN MORE THAN ANY PAST GENERATION OF CATHOLICS in the history of the world! God expects you to do more with it!
Faith, Without Works, Is Dead!
Your Faith is like a seed that needs to GROW and not just stay the same. God expects your Faith, not only to GROW, but God also expects your Faith TO BEAR FRUIT! Our Lord makes that clear on several occasions:
“I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “He that received the seed [the word of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit … Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Mathew 12:16-20).
Those “fruits” are the “works” of Faith. St. James speaks of the need of works sprouting from our Faith: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? So Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: but the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
Foolish Faith―Foolish Catholics
Too many Catholics fool themselves into thinking that they will get to Heaven with no “fruits” or no “works.” Our Lord tried to dispel such foolishness on several occasions, warning us that halfhearted or half-baked Catholicism is simply not enough for someone wanting to follow Christ. “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Thus, one of very basic “works” or “fruits” of a true disciple of Christ is the carrying of the cross each and every day.
Foolish Confessions
Closely linked to this carrying of the cross is the performance of penance: “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Why is it that most Catholic souls perish? It is linked to penance―they abuse the Sacrament of Penance by not confessing their mortal sins, or confessing them badly―meaning that they do not give the species (kind/type) and number of their mortal sins, instead, they confess vaguely, they fudge, blur, dissimulate, disguise, misrepresent, fail to give the correct number, fail to give circumstances that aggravated the sin, etc. The devil is only too pleased to help you in the matter! “Oh, don’t worry about this or that!” he will whisper in your mind, “It’s not mortal! You don’t even have to confess it!”
For example, it is insufficient to say: “I have been impure a few times!” The word “impure” is too vague, too big an umbrella that contains many different kinds of mortal sins: impure thoughts, impure desires, impure actions―furthermore, with whom? It can be alone, or with another (which is worse). If another, then is it a married person, a person of the other sex or of the same sex, is it a child, is it a religious? Even worse, is it an animal?
St. Alphonsus Liguori―the patron saints of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confessed badly. He advises priests to “Speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell!” O how easy it is to confess vaguely and imprecisely in order to avoid embarrassment and “save face”! Many a foolish Catholic now regrets that in Hell!
For anyone who confesses mortal sins correctly, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to die without sanctifying grace; it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to be damned―unless, of course, they commit a mortal sin and fail to confess it before death, such as in the case of a serious accident, or some sudden fatal illness like a heart attack. So why do most Catholic souls (and non-Catholic souls) go to Hell. Because they abuse, misuse or do not use the Sacrament of Penance.
Foolish Penitents
Furthermore, a contributory factor is their negligence in doing sufficient penance for their sins―for the performance of penances is a mighty help in keeping future mortal sins at bay, at arm’s length. Do not fool yourself into thinking that the penance the priest gives you in Confession is the “full price” for the sins you have committed and confessed! Far from it! The paltry penance―3 Hail Mary’s or whatever else―is merely the first payment in the 30-, 40-, 50-year mortgage you have deliberately taken out by committing your sins.
Sin is not cheap! Heaven is not cheap! Most Catholics like to blot out of their minds the Church’s teaching that SIN IS THE GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD―“Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD)―and these foolish Catholics expect to pay for the GREATEST EVIL, and therefore the MOST EXPENSIVE EVIL with 3 Hail Mary’s! Come on! Get real! Wake up! Don’t be a fool! Hell and Purgatory are a testimony to EXPENSIVE price of sin! You can go to Hell for ETERNITY for one single unconfessed, misconfessed, misrepresented, unrepented mortal sin! How expensive is that? Likewise, there are souls that spend centuries in the fires of Purgatory for having done INSUFFICIENT penance on Earth for the sins they had committed. All of this is comes about because of a “devaluation” or “undervaluation” of the gravity of sin. It comes down to an attitude of “Why do penance for sin when sin is not all that bad? Besides, God forgives! Why worry!”
Such an attitude is similar to the Catholic apostate’s Martin Luther’s statement of: “Be a sinner and sin boldly―but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!” That is exactly what most Christians do today―they sin boldly and boldly believe Christ will automatically hit the “delete button” on all their sins! They treat the Sacrament of Penance like a “Weekly Car Wash” ― they happily dirty themselves with all kinds of sins throughout the week, and then go their “Drive-Thru-Confession” at the weekend! This happens week-in and week-out, without any real desire to correct their sinful ways and amend their sinful lifestyle. Do such fools not remember the words Christ spoke to the sick man whom He cured by the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem: “There was a certain man that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. Jesus said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole? … Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:5-14). Similarly, to the woman who had been caught in adultery by the Scribes and Pharisees, “Jesus said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:10-11).
Fools Who Do Not Know Their Faith!
Such “Drive-Thru-Confession” fools do not know or understand their Faith and its teachings. They forget, or ignore, or reject the FIVE NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION. All of those five requirements must be present if the Confession is to be valid and efficacious. What are they? You should know! Do you know? It seems most Catholics do not know or did not want to know―for how else can you explain the damnation of most Catholics?
► The first requirement is a THOROUGH EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE. The main thing that you are looking for is mortal sin. What is a mortal sin? You were once taught that for a sin to be a mortal sin, it must fulfill ALL three of the following conditions:
(1) It has be a grave offense against God,
(2) You must be aware that it is a grave offense at the time of committing the offense;
(3) You must full want to do it.
Sounds simple, huh? Yes―it should be―but many Catholics complicate things by:
(1) Reasoning falsely about the gravity of certain sins―for instance, some think that impure thoughts and desires are not grave sins; others think drunkenness or illicit drug use in not grave; others think that missing Sunday Mass is not grave; others think that withholding sins (hiding sins) in Confession is not grave; others think homosexuality or same sex marriages are not grave―the list is endless.
(2) Catholics further complicate matters by falsely claiming that they “did not know” this or that was a serious sin. What they are really saying is that they do not really care to know, or that their neglect of studying and reviewing the Faith has led to a blameworthy and guilty ignorance about the gravity of certain sins, or that they neglected to seek advice and clarification if “this or that” was grave or not. In such cases their protestations that they “did not know” are invalid and they are guilty.
(3) Another complicating factor is that they wrongly imagine that “full consent” to the sin means 100% consent! That is false. It is just as false as saying that for someone to classified as being sick, the WHOLE ENTIRE BODY must be sick before that judgment can be given. A poisoned drink does not mean that 100% of drink is poison―a few drops of poison in a drink suffices for it to be called a poisoned drink. “Full consent” means the consent of the majority, not the entirety. If you were mostly in favor of committing the grave sin―then that is enough, just as in marriage annulments in the case of someone refusing the indissolubility of marriage (which means accepting divorce)―the marriage is declared annulled if one of the spouses entered marriage with a double-intention: “I enter this marriage hoping it is lifelong. I hope that this marriage works and I want it to work, but if it doesn’t, then I reserve the right to divorce!” In such a case, if the predominating disposition is that of divorcing if things do not work out, then the marriage is null and void. Similarly, if the predominating disposition in a sinner is to sin, even though he might have some feelings of not wanting to sin, the predominant disposition is declared the “winner” and sinner becomes a “loses” by losing grace.
► The second requirement is BEING SORRY FOR YOU SINS. What is sorrow? You would, no doubt, agree that “lip-sorrow” is not the same as “heart-sorrow.” Our Lord points out this difference when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Similarly, you could say: “Hypocrites! You say you are sorry with your lips, but you are not sorry in your heart!” The Church teaches that there two chief kinds of sorrow―the sorrow of attrition and the sorrow of contrition―and each kind can have many degrees within it.
Attrition is sorrow for sin that is primarily or majorly based upon a fear of God’s punishments for sin. Whereas contrition is primarily or majorly a sorrow for sin that is based upon a childlike love of God that show sorrow for having offended someone whom we love, rather than someone whom we fear.
Two people can confess the same sin in Confession—one with contrition (sorrow based on a love of God) and the other with attrition (sorrow based on a fear of God’s punishments). Though both will be forgiven, the person with contrition will have less temporal punishment to undergo than the person who confessed with mere attrition—“Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
► The third requirement is HAVING A FIRM PURPOSE OF AMENDING YOUR LIFE by avoiding the steps and occasions of sin that led you to fall in the first place. A FIRM purpose of amendment is very different to the VAGUE purpose of amendment that most Catholics have! Their vague purpose of amendment is along the lines of: “Oh I’ve got to stop doing this! I should try do better in the future! I hope to do better!” There is no FIRM plan; no real analysis of how they fell in the first place; no resolution to avoid those persons, places and things that led them to sin; no plans for taking alternative action, seeking alternative friends, occupations, pastimes, places of work or recreation; no plans for reinforcing their spiritual lives with extra prayers, sacrifices, penances, spiritual reading, more frequent Communions and Confessions, etc. Their vague purpose of amendment is mere wishy-washy wishful thinking, with no real substance or plan of action. No wonder they fall back into the same sins―it is inevitable! You reap what you sow! You destroy your Confession by not having a firm purpose of amendment. You can fool the priest! You can even fool yourself! You cannot fool God―“I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12).
► The fourth requirement is CONFESSING YOUR SINS TO A PRIEST. This seems pretty straightforward and easy―but it is not, or at least for most Catholics it is not that straightforward and easy!
► The fifth requirement is ACCEPTING AND DOING THE PENANCE THAT IS GIVEN TO YOU.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday September 21st to Saturday September 25th
Article 11
Part 1: Mary is a Fighter! Are You?
Part 2: Fake Soldiers of Christ
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday September 21st to Saturday September 25th
Article 11
Part 1: Mary is a Fighter! Are You?
Part 2: Fake Soldiers of Christ
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Is This Not Irreverent? Calling Mary a "Fighter"?
Not in the slightest! In point of fact, there is no greater soldier than the Blessed Virgin Mary―as many saints attest, she, by herself, is more powerful than all angels and men combined! Satan and all the devils fear her enormously! It she that will crush Satan’s head with her heel: “And the Lord God said to the serpent [Satan]: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, … I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:14-15). In fact, Holy Scripture alludes to Mary when it says: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array [battle order]?” (Canticles 6:9) ― a verse which the lay organization, “Legion of Mary”, incorporates into its prayers―and remember that the word “Legion” means “Army” as in the Roman armies/Roman legions of old. St. Louis de Montfort even refers to Mary as the chief general of God’s armies: “He has made Mary sovereign of Heaven and Earth, and general of His armies!” (True Devotion to Mary).
We speak of the “Church Militant”―which means the “Fighting Church”, of which Mary can be said to be both a Mother and a Warrior-Queen. The “Church Militant” echoes the word “Military” and is the Catholic Church on Earth engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies. We, ourselves, once we have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, are made to be Soldiers of Christ. Our Lord Himself encourages to the fight when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “You have not yet resisted unto blood―striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
Holy Scripture tells us to prepare for battle by putting on the armor of God: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Mary a Warrior Queen
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle―principally in these latter times―because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.” In this same vein, Sr. Lucia of Fatima speaks of Satan fighting a final battle with Our Lady: “Our Lady told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
St. Louis de Montfort continues: “It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ (Genesis 3:15). God has never made and formed but one enmity―but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself … Firstly, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
Our Lady herself speaks of the fight―at La Salette, she not only foretells wars, but also commands her faithful children to fight fearlessly, adding that she will also fight with us: “Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!
Our Lady Speaks of Weapons and Tactics
“I call on the true disciples of the living God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
As is often stated―in the current Church and world crisis, among the numerous confusing plots and plans―the ultimate enemy, the one who is behind everything, is Satan with his devils. “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, gives us all advice on how to tackle Satan: “Learn the manner of resisting and overcoming the powers of Hell. The surest way of fighting the demon is to despise him―looking upon him as the enemy of the Most High, who has lost all fear of God and all hope of good; who, in his stubbornness, has deprived himself of all means of recovery and is without sorrow for his wickedness. Relying on this undoubtable truth, you should show yourself far superior to him―exalted and unflinching in your thoughts, and treat him as a despiser of the honor and worship of his God. Knowing that you are defending so just a cause, do not let your courage sink; but resist and counteract him with great strength and valor against all his attempts, as if you were fighting at the side of the Lord Himself; for there is no doubt that His Majesty assists all those that enter loyally into His battles!”
Our Lady continues by pointing out that the Holy Eucharist is our greatest weapon: “If only the believers in the Holy Catholic Faith would open their hardened and stony hearts in order to attain to a true understanding of the sacred and mysterious blessing of the Holy Eucharist! If they would only detach themselves, root out and reject their earthly inclinations, and, restraining their passions, apply themselves with living Faith to study their eternal God in the Holy Sacrament. If they would only worthily esteem this precious gift by Its reception and constant communication, begin to taste its sweetness, and share in the hidden power of their all-powerful God! Then nothing would ever be lacking to them in their exile on Earth. The faithful are themselves to blame for all their poverty and labors, since they pay no attention to this divine mystery, nor avail themselves of the divine powers, thus placed at their disposal by my most holy Son. I tell you truly, that Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the most Holy Eucharist, that to approach it, causes them more torments than to remain in Hell itself. Whenever He is carried through the streets they usually flee and disperse in all haste. It is the will of the Lord and my own will, that with this sword of the Holy Eucharist that you fight the battles of the Almighty in the name of the Holy Church against the invisible enemies. The Most High will lend you His strength, so that you can fight His battles with His and your enemies. Fight the battles of the Lord against His enemies and―in His Name and mine―crush their head, reign over their pride and cast them into Hell! Do not make yourself unworthy of such great blessings and favors! But there are very few who receive the Lord worthily and devoutly and who strive to preserve themselves in this purity until the next Communion.”
“My divine Son and I continue to look for some souls who are ready to defend the glory and honor of God and fight the battles against Hell, for the confusion and crushing of the demons. Dispose yourself, by divine grace, for this battle and do not wonder at the strength of the demon, nor to be downcast at your own personal misery and poverty. The wrath of Lucifer against me was greater than against any of the creatures, and greater than against all of them together―but, by the power of the Lord, I vanquished him gloriously, and you, by the same power of God, can resist him in your smaller temptations. Encourage yourself, then, to conquer Satan in present matters, for then the Lord will afterwards arm you for greater battles. Although you may be weak and lacking in what is required, I want you to understand, that my divine Son acts now as a king who is short of subjects and soldiers―and He will admit in His army anyone who wishes to serve Him.”
Mary’s Armies
St. Louis then speaks of Mary’s armies in battle against Satan’s armies: “The prayer of the humble Mary is more powerful with His Majesty than the prayers and intercessions of all the angels and saints both in Heaven and on Earth! … In the Heavens Mary commands the angels and the blessed. God has empowered her and commissioned her that Heaven, Earth and Hell bend―with good will or bad will―to the commandments of the humble Mary, whom He has made sovereign of Heaven and Earth, general of His armies! … His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world (for it is the same thing) have always up to this time persecuted those who belong to our Blessed Lady, and will in the future persecute them more than ever; just as Cain, of old, persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob, who are the figures of the reprobate and the predestinate. But the humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw. But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be ‘like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful’ Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ (Psalm 39:2).” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
In one of his other books, Letter to Friends of the Cross, St. Louis de Montfort writes: “There are two groups that appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group has … only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave! … The world’s group―which is the devil’s in fact―is far superior in number and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array! … Friends of the Cross are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! … Demons are united for your destruction, but you―be united for their overthrow! … A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand! … A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering! … A Friend of the Cross is conceived in the sorrowful heart of Christ, he comes into this world through the gash in the Savior’s right side and is all empurpled in His blood. True to this heritage, he breathes forth only crosses and blood―death to the world, the flesh and sin!”
Stomach for the Fight? Or Stomach for Food and Drink?
Do we have the “stomach for the fight”? Or do we merely think of satisfying the stomach? “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). Are we prepared to suffer for Christ? Or is all that we suffer merely indigestion? “Do not become idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:19).
The lovers of the world want peace―a false peace, an impossible peace―but Our Lord did not come to bring a false peace between the Faith and the world, between Him and Satan―who is the prince of this world: “For the prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27).
People might not like to hear this, but most Catholics are enemies of God, because they love the world. They give more time to the world than God. They think about the world more than they think of God. They expend more efforts in worldly pursuits than they expend in spiritual pursuits. They spend more time in front of a television (or some other screen) during the week than they spend time in church before the Blessed Sacrament. They talk more on the phone than they talk to God. They prefer the keys of their computer or smartphone to the beads of the Rosary. How can such a “Catholic” in name only claim to be a true Catholic who is targeting Heaven? The answer is they can’t―it is a hypocrisy, a lie, an exaggeration, mere wishful thinking!
We have entered the worst crisis that the world and Church will have ever know―and it will get much worse from here on, you had better believe it―and most Catholics are simply living as though everything was “hunky-dory” and as if there was nothing to worry about! What Communists like to call “Useful Idiots” are in no shortage among Catholics! All play and no pray! All talk and no walk! Preferring to wag and point the finger, but not finger their beads!
The Basic Errors of Catholic Warfare
No two people on the whole planet are totally alike―there may be similarities, and many of them, but we are all different in some or many ways. Only God can fully know and understand every person who has ever lived, is living, or will live in the future. In a similar way, we may all have the Catholic Faith in general, but our own personal version of the Catholic Faith differs in some degree―sometimes a lot, sometimes a little―from our fellow Catholics. This is not helped by the Liberal, Modernist, Rationalist, Subjective tone of the INDEPENDENT world today―where everyone is “king of his own castle” and his own “personal expert” in just about everything. This insistence personal independence and personal sovereignty and independence from all exterior authority (whenever possible), leads to absurd Liberal, Rationalistic and Subjective stance that everyone is master of his own “truths”―what is “true” for one person may not be “true” for another person, but it doesn’t really matter, we are “free” to believe what we want to believe, we have a “right” to believe what we want to believe, and what we “believe” is “true” for us! Insane! Absurd! Illogical! Yet “true”―that is the insane way in which we live today, in an insane world and rapidly becoming more insane and more stupid with each passing week!
This prideful independence of thought, inflated by modern-day gross stupidity, has led most Catholics down a dead-end alley whereby they reject the teachings of the Church and the words of God (and Our Lady), preferring their own evaluations and solutions to the mess that we indubitably find ourselves in today. Heaven―God and Our Lady in particular―have diagnosed the situation, given us a prognosis of the current situation and have clearly stated what medicine we must use and what weapons we must use to get of our this mess―and you had better believe that at the present moment, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”, for things will rapidly and exponentially get worse in no time at all!
Faced with threatening dangers, the unbelievable reaction of most Catholics truly beggars belief! They do not want to “work for a living”―meaning that they do not want to work for “eternal life”. It seems as most Catholics look upon God as some kind of “Social Services” and “Social Security”, whereby God will give them the reward or “payment” of eternal life in Heaven regardless of what they did or didn’t do here on Earth! God is not a glorified “Social Services” for those who do not want to work to earn Heaven, and Heaven is not a “Social Security” handout! As though Heaven was some kind of “freebie handout” for those not good enough to get there under their own steam!
Working for God means Fight for God
“Working” for God―which is what Catholicism is all about―means standing-up, defending and fighting for the rights and truths of God. Our Lord paints a battle-scene for us, in which we have to actively participate―meaning, we have to get off the comfortable Catholic couch―if we wish to gain entrance to Heaven and win our crown of victory over the devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations. As Our Lord says in His parable of the “Workers in the Vineyard” ― “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. Going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’ And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why do you stand here all the day idle? Go you also into my vineyard!’” (Matthew 22:1-14).
We are, after all, Soldiers of Christ―not idle Couch-Potatoes of Christ, or useless Cuddly Teddy Bears of Christ! Our Lord―the Son of God―came to fight and not be molly-coddled. He came to fight the devil and world in order to free us from the chains and shackles of the devil and world.
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Sloppy Soldiers and Toy Soldiers of Christ
You have probably heard of the term “G.I. Joe” ― and, even though you may know what it means, you are probably clueless as to the origins of the term. A popular theory links the term to the early 20th century, when “G.I.” was stamped on military trash cans and buckets. The two-letter abbreviation―G.I.―stood for the material from which these items were made: galvanized iron. Later, the definition of G.I. broadened and, during the First World War, it was used to refer to all things Army-related. When this happened, G.I. was reinterpreted as “government issue” or “general issue.” The widespread use of the term led to soldiers in Second World War to start referring to themselves as G.I.s. Some servicemen used it as a sarcastic reference symbolizing their belief that they were just mass-produced products of the government. During the war, G.I. Joe also became a popular term for U.S. soldiers. In 1964, U.S. toy company Hasbro, after taking note of competitor Mattel’s huge success with the Barbie doll (launched in 1959), debuted “G.I. Joe,” a military-themed line of action figures for boys―in other words, a “toy soldier”. Are we “toy soldiers” of Christ, or are we real “Soldiers of Christ”?
False Devotions to Mary―Fake Soldiers of Christ
Just as St. Louis de Montfort speaks of “False Devotions to Mary”, you could also speak of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”! St. Louis lists seven chief false devotions to Mary: “More than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones … I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §92). We will not go into them here, we just mention them as a springboard for the examination of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”.
Though the list could be extended and nuanced greatly, on the whole you could say that “Fake Soldiers of Christ” are (1) those who do not want to fight anyone at all―they want to live in peace with everybody, even the enemies of Christ; (2) those who prefer to watch the fight without participating in it; (3) those who are full of fighting talk, but never go to fight; (4) those who want fight, but only fight for a little while; (5) those who want to fight, but fight the wrong enemy; (6) those who want to fight, but fight the right enemy in the wrong way.
Let us briefly look at these chief groups of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”:
► FAKE SOLDIER #1 ― Those who do not want to fight anyone at all.
Many are those Catholics who do not want to fight anyone at all! They want to get to Heaven without a fight―they want to live in peace with everybody, even the enemies of Christ. These misguided fools fail to take account of Our Lord's words that rule out any such possibility of gaining Heaven without a fight! “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Our Lord merely builds upon what the Old Testament tells us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―while the New Testament adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please him to whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). It may not please everyone’s tastes, but the path to Heaven is a fight for Heaven! No fight? No Heaven!
Our Lord further adds―as if there was any doubt on the matter―words that were already quoted above: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53). Doesn’t sound like a “peaceful option” for the path to Heaven, does it?
► FAKE SOLDIER #2 ― Those who prefer to watch the fight without participating in it.
You could this type of Fake Soldier of Christ the Cafeteria Catholic, the Spectator Catholic, the Inquisitive Catholic―the Catholic who wants to know and see everything, but does nothing with that knowledge. They are like the proverbial lazy workmen―of whom the joke says: “How many men does it take to dig a hole? 12 men―one who digs and 11 who stand around watching him dig.” Or you could liken this kind of Fake Soldier of Christ to the Priest and the Levite in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and, seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by” (Luke 10:30-32).
Another example of this kind of Fake Soldier of Christ is seen in another parable of Our Lord: “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one―giving to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the talents and gained other five talents. And, in like manner, he that had received the two talents, gained another two. But he that had received the one talent, going his way, dug a hole into the earth and hid his lord’s money.
“After a long time the lord of those servants came and reckoned with them. He that had received the five talents, came and brought another five talents, saying: ‘Lord, you gave me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter into the joy of your lord!’ And he that had received the two talents also came and said: ‘Lord, You gave me two talents! Behold I have gained another two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Since you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many things! Enter into the joy of your lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that you are a hard man! You reap where you have not sown, and gather where you have not scattered. And, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground! Behold here I return it to you so you can have what which is yours!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not scattered! Therefore you should have committed my money to the bankers, so that at my coming I should have received my own money with profit from the interest it would have earned! Take away, therefore, the talent from him and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that has, it shall be given and he shall abound―but from him that has not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:14-30).
O Soldier of Christ! What have you done with the Faith and spiritual weapons entrusted to you by God? What spiritual profits have you earned in your long career as a Soldier of Christ? Or have you buried your Faith and buried your weapons?
► FAKE SOLDIER #3 ― Those who are full of fighting talk, but never go to fight.
These particular Fake Soldiers look like the “real deal” on the surface! They are not passive soldiers. They see the problems and speak of the problems. They know the problems and make the problems known. Which is more than the previous Fake Soldier of Christ (#2 above) does. However, that is where it stops! It stops at the lips! They Fake Soldiers of Christ are, as the popular saying states: “All talk and no action!” Or, as Lord says: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘These people honor Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that says to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It is of this kind of Fake Soldier that Holy Scripture speaks: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Though these Fake Soldiers of Christ might “talk the talk” and even “talk a good talk”, they neglect to “walk the walk” and walk into the battle for Christ. As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You could add that these Fake Soldiers of Christ talk about Fatima, but, for the most part, it all stops with the talking. They barely or rarely pray a Rosary―never mind the MANY Rosaries that they should be praying. As for sacrifices, it is not uncommon to find these Fake Soldiers of Christ complaining about one thing or another, moaning and grumbling when things go wrong for them―when they should be recycling all these disappointments and adversities as sacrifices generously accepted and transformed into powerful weapons! As the Angel of Portugal said to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima. While the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house, the Angel suddenly appeared and chided them for wasting time by playing and not praying. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
► FAKE SOLDIER #4 ― Those who want fight, but only fight for a little while.
These Fake Soldiers of Christ go beyond merely “talking the talk”, and actually do start to “walk the walk” or “fight the fight”―but they do not fight with all their might! They merely dip their big toe into the waters of battle! They do not really have the “stomach for the fight”, nor perseverance in battle. They forget that Our Lord said: “No man putting his hand to the plough and then looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God!” (Luke 9:62). “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:13).
As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
► FAKE SOLDIER #5 ― Those who want to fight, but fight the wrong enemy.
These Fake Soldiers of Christ are full of enthusiasm and energy for the fight, but mistakenly or ignorantly end up fighting the wrong enemy and so end up being worthless or even damaging to the cause of Christ. They are like the marathon runner who is way ahead of the rest of the field, but who makes a wrong turn and gets lost! Or they are like the surgeon who successfully performs an amputation surgery, only to find that he has cut off the wrong leg. Or like the assassin who successfully kills his victim with one shot, only to later find out that he killed the wrong person. Or the airplane bomber squadron that bombs a town to destruction, but then being told it was the wrong town.
Or for those of you of a more literary nature―you could compare these Fake Soldiers of Christ to the legendary fictional character of the world famous Spanish novel, Don Quixote (pronounced Don Key-Ho-Tay), by Miguel de Cervantes. We will put in parenthesis the caricature of a modern-day Don Quixote as we explain the theme of the novel. The main character of the novel is Alonso Quixano (later to become Don Quixote), a 50 year old, low-ranking Spanish person of nobility, at the beginning of the 17th century. He loves reading literature about knights and fantastic stories about chivalry, princesses, magicians, and enchanted castles [Today’s Don Quixote loves reading gossip or even truths on the internet about the crisis in the Church and world, about the conspiracies, betrayals, traitors, imposters, Satanist, Elitists, Church infiltrators, etc.]. In fact, he is so involved with these fantasies that he slowly starts to lose touch with reality and begins to believe that he is one of these fictional heroes [Similarly, many a modern-day Don Quixote loses touch with reality with this constant reading of information, counter-information, disinformation, misinformation, exaggeration, etc. to the point where he suffers from “information constipation.” Of course, it is true that there are conspiracies against God, the Church, and mankind in general―but the problem with many a modern-day Don Quixote is that they believe ALL that they read on the internet, as though the internet was the infallible God of Heaven―but much of what they read has several contradictory versions of the “truth”. Ultimately, the lack of facts does not lead to a lack of fantasy―and so the modern-day Don Quixote becomes an armchair Pope, or armchair God, an armchair judge of everything!].
Alonso finds some old armor and prepares an old horse from the stable, which he names Rocinante. Rocinante is not only Don Quixote's horse, but also his double―because, like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. The knight decides he needs to have a maiden, so, in his imagination, he changes a young village girl, with whom he was once in love with, into the lovely, but totally fictitious and imaginary, Lady Dulcinea del Toboso. As for himself, he bestows upon himself the name “Don Quixote” because it rhymes with the name of the famous knight Lanzarote, also known as Lancelot (Lan-za-ro-tay & Don Key-hoe-tay). [Many a modern-day Don Quixote has made himself or herself a “knight in shining armor” in this current (and very real) battle against the enemies of Church and mankind―but they are leaderless “knights”, accountable to nobody but themselves, believing nobody as much as themselves, and creating a version of “truth” that subjectively comes from within themselves. This reminds us of one a vision granted by God to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, concerning our present times, of which she said that among “good and devout people, they did not know where help and guidance should be sought. There were no traitors and enemies among them, yet they were afraid of one another.” However, she also added that there was real danger and real enemies to be encountered also: “A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness.”].
Back to Don Quixote now! So, the new knight, Don Quixote―together with his rustic neighbor, Sancho Panza, whom Quixote appoints as a knight’s squire―sets off on an adventure [on various internet blogs and forums] with a ridiculous new costume [meme] and the hope of committing heroic deeds. However, it will not take long for misunderstandings to occur between the real world and the fantasy world of Don Quixote. In one scene, Don Quixote arrives at an inn, which he believes to be a castle, and demands that the innkeeper dubs him the noble title of “knight.” Then the duo come upon some large windmills, which Don Quixote believes to be ferocious giants and so he attacks the windmills. Another time, Don Quixote attacks a flock of sheep believing it to be an army. Later he finds a barber’s basin, which he believes to be a magical helmet. This is an extremely brief mention of some of many ridiculous situations the self-appointed knight in shining armor encounters in a book that, according to who published it, can be anywhere from 800 to 1,000 pages.
The moral of all of the above is that we should be careful about who we are “shooting” at and who we are “fighting.” As they say: “Truth is stranger than fiction!” Many a mistake is made in the heat of passionately imprudent zeal! We get excited, our pulse and heartbeat quicken, we become increasingly agitated and we start to “spray bullets” indiscriminately―following a false of principle of “Shoot first―ask questions later!” In times of stress, our brains generate “self-talk” that can dramatically increase our feelings of fear and drastically impair our judgment. Soldiers are trained to fight back against this, by actively reminding themselves to mentally shout over those thoughts. Green Berets are taught to breathe slow, breathe deep, lower the heartbeat and pulse rate, and clear their minds―so that they can, with clear their minds, focus on the sole task at hand: shooting accurately.
This brings to mind the parable of Our Lord about the Wheat and Cockle: “A man sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming to him, said: ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How is it then, that is has it cockle in it?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy has done this!’ And the servants said to him: ‘Do you want us to go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you also root up the wheat together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn! But the wheat gather into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
Many a rifle, that soldiers use, has telescopic sights added to enhance their vision of the target and the accuracy of their shot. In our spiritual warfare―against the enemies of the Church, State and mankind―we also need telescopic sights for the use of our weapons. Our “telescopic sights” are God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and saints―they see things with far greater clarity and certainty than we can possibly see. Or, if you want to look upon it another way, God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and saints are like guided missiles that “home-in” on the right targets―we should leave the guidance of those missiles to Heaven. For our part, we need to manufacture those missiles―by our fasting, prayers, sacrifices and penances―and leave the firing of them to Heaven. God will make sure they hit the right targets at the right time and bring about a right result!
► FAKE SOLDIER #6 ― Those who want to fight, but fight the right enemy in the wrong way.
Our Lord came upon Earth to start a fight! “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Matthew 10:34-36; Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that Our Lord has come to start a fight just for the sake of starting a fight! No! The fight that Our Lord speaks about comes as a result of His teaching. The doctrine and teaching of Our Lord will separate people―some of them will accept His teaching, others will reject His teaching. That is the fight―a fight between truth and error; a fight between the “God of truth” (Psalm 30:6) and the Satan the “Father of lies” (John 8:44); a fight between “Christ and Belial” (2 Corinthians 6:15); a fight between the Church and the world which is “an enemy of God” (James 4:4); a fight between the Faith and worldliness.
So there we have the general demarcation-line between Christ and His enemies. If we see the Devil, the World and our own sinful tendencies as being the “enemy”―then we have judged correctly. To get to Heaven, we have to fight our way through those enemies―who will try to block our path and hinder our progress. That is why we are told: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Even though these Fake Soldiers of Christ are less fake than the others, they are still not the “finished article”, they are still displeasing to God because they are “doing things their own way” rather than doing things God’s way―and there is a massive difference between “our way” and “God’s way”, as God Himself tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It is much like a coach of a sports team, who has a very energetic and enthusiastic team, who are willing to work hard―but do not follow the coach’s instructions with regard to tactics, for once they take to the field against the opponents, the players “do their own thing”―they play hard, they try hard, but they do not follow instructions. It is as though they feel they know better than the coach! That is how these well-intentioned, but nevertheless Fake Soldiers of Christ, take to the field of battle―they fight, but they fight in their own way, according to their own impressions and personal way of seeing the battle that faces them.
This is exactly the kind of Fake Soldier that Sr. Lucia described, when she said to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima [In other words, they are “doing their own thing” and are ignoring the instructions and tactics of the “coach”]. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message [ignoring the tactics, ignoring the weapons given by Our Lady], because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
It is pretty plain and obvious―anyone with a smattering of common sense can (or should) see it―that if we were following Our Lady’s instructions and tactics, then Satan would not have the world in the stranglehold in which he does have it today! Our Lady has never lost to Satan whenever her instructions and tactics have been carried out to the letter. The reason why most are damned is because they preferred to “do their own thing”, to “do it their way”, to “improvise” or “modify” the instructions and tactics that were commanded. Instead, “they agreed not among themselves” (Acts 28:25). “They have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another!” (4 Kings 3:23). “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand! And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24-25).
Today, Catholics are “a house divided” and a “kingdom divided”―both in Faith and Morals. Just like the deliberately created “spike proteins”―related to the Covid-19 virus and included in the vaccines―which provoke a cytokine storm in the body. An infection usually triggers your immune system to flood your bloodstream with inflammatory proteins called cytokines. A cytokine is a signaling protein that tells the body that there is something going on that the immune system needs to fight. This ramps-up your immune response. In a normal situation, cytokines are helpful. They are telling the body: “There is something that is foreign! Something that should not be there! Let’s get rid of it!” During a cytokine storm, various inflammatory cytokines are produced at a much higher rate than normal. The problem with a cytokine storm is that there is no off-switch. Therefore, this creates huge surge of cytokines that overwhelm the body and it just cannot deal with it. The body finds itself unable to fight its own immune response and this drives the body towards failing. A severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. They can kill tissue and damage your organs. Cytokine storms are particularly problematic with Covid-19 patients. When these Covid patients experience a cytokine storm, you usually end up with multi-organ failure. The immune response is overwhelming the body and, in some cases, you get clots to certain organs and this results in the body slowly shutting down.
A similar kind of thing is occurring in the Mystical Body of Christ―the Church. “Foreign materials” have been deliberately injected into the Church―which is of course the Masonic and Communist infiltration that has been progressively going on for well over a century―as Our Lady herself said at Quito in Ecuador, at La Salette in France, at Fatima in Portugal and at Akita in Japan. Some salient extracts are as follows: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect!” Additionally, Sr. Lucia of Fatima, reveals that Our Lady indicated that Communism would take over the entire world and that the widespread apostasy from the Faith will begin at the top, meaning it will begin with the leaders of the Church, who, as Our Lady of La Salette indicated “have neglected prayer and penance.” Pope Paul VI confirmed this several times when he publicly spoke of the “smoke of Satan” having “entered the Church”―while the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, confirmed: “Satan resides in the Vatican!” Dr. Bella Dodd, a former high-ranking officer in the Communist Party of America, testified before a U.S. government committee that over 1,000 Communist infiltrators had been placed in the Catholic seminaries by her Communist cell alone! Some didn’t make it to the priesthood, while others did―and some, she stated, were now (in the 1950s) bishops and cardinals in Rome! A large number of homosexuals and pedophiles were also injected into the Church―who then favored the entry of even more of their kind. All of this has provoked a cytokine storm within the Church, where the attacks of the spiritual immune system have found that there is no “Off-Switch” and so the internal attacks of one group of Church members against another group of Church members now goes on continually. The Church is mercilessly “eating up” her own members! We are fighting and killing each other instead of healing and curing each other! How Satan must be laughing! As Our Lady of Akita said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!”
Our Lady is the answer to this spiritual cytokine storm that Satan has created within the Church, as well as being the answer to the Satan stirred attacks from outside the Church. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, recalls how Our Lady forced the devils to speak about her during a particular exorcism. The devils referred to Our Lady as “our enemy, our downfall and our destruction!” The devils went on to say: “Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §104). But “persevering in her service” means following her instructions and tactics, as well as using the weapons she gives us and using them in the manner she indicates to us.
In looking at Our Lady’s most recent apparitions over the last 200 years or so, there are certain clear recommendations coming from her as to what our weapons should be in this spiritual combat against Satan and the world.
● Miraculous Medal (1830 Rue de Bac, Paris, France)
● Brown Scapular (1858 Lourdes; 1917 Fatima)
● Rosary (1858 Lourdes, 1917 Fatima, 1973 Akita)
● Penance and Sacrifices (1846 La Salette, 1858 Lourdes, 1917 Fatima, 1973 Akita).
● The Holy Eucharist (1916 Angel of Fatima, 1973 Akita)
Not in the slightest! In point of fact, there is no greater soldier than the Blessed Virgin Mary―as many saints attest, she, by herself, is more powerful than all angels and men combined! Satan and all the devils fear her enormously! It she that will crush Satan’s head with her heel: “And the Lord God said to the serpent [Satan]: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, … I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:14-15). In fact, Holy Scripture alludes to Mary when it says: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array [battle order]?” (Canticles 6:9) ― a verse which the lay organization, “Legion of Mary”, incorporates into its prayers―and remember that the word “Legion” means “Army” as in the Roman armies/Roman legions of old. St. Louis de Montfort even refers to Mary as the chief general of God’s armies: “He has made Mary sovereign of Heaven and Earth, and general of His armies!” (True Devotion to Mary).
We speak of the “Church Militant”―which means the “Fighting Church”, of which Mary can be said to be both a Mother and a Warrior-Queen. The “Church Militant” echoes the word “Military” and is the Catholic Church on Earth engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies. We, ourselves, once we have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, are made to be Soldiers of Christ. Our Lord Himself encourages to the fight when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “You have not yet resisted unto blood―striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4).
Holy Scripture tells us to prepare for battle by putting on the armor of God: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Mary a Warrior Queen
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle―principally in these latter times―because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.” In this same vein, Sr. Lucia of Fatima speaks of Satan fighting a final battle with Our Lady: “Our Lady told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
St. Louis de Montfort continues: “It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ (Genesis 3:15). God has never made and formed but one enmity―but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself … Firstly, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
Our Lady herself speaks of the fight―at La Salette, she not only foretells wars, but also commands her faithful children to fight fearlessly, adding that she will also fight with us: “Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!
Our Lady Speaks of Weapons and Tactics
“I call on the true disciples of the living God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
As is often stated―in the current Church and world crisis, among the numerous confusing plots and plans―the ultimate enemy, the one who is behind everything, is Satan with his devils. “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, gives us all advice on how to tackle Satan: “Learn the manner of resisting and overcoming the powers of Hell. The surest way of fighting the demon is to despise him―looking upon him as the enemy of the Most High, who has lost all fear of God and all hope of good; who, in his stubbornness, has deprived himself of all means of recovery and is without sorrow for his wickedness. Relying on this undoubtable truth, you should show yourself far superior to him―exalted and unflinching in your thoughts, and treat him as a despiser of the honor and worship of his God. Knowing that you are defending so just a cause, do not let your courage sink; but resist and counteract him with great strength and valor against all his attempts, as if you were fighting at the side of the Lord Himself; for there is no doubt that His Majesty assists all those that enter loyally into His battles!”
Our Lady continues by pointing out that the Holy Eucharist is our greatest weapon: “If only the believers in the Holy Catholic Faith would open their hardened and stony hearts in order to attain to a true understanding of the sacred and mysterious blessing of the Holy Eucharist! If they would only detach themselves, root out and reject their earthly inclinations, and, restraining their passions, apply themselves with living Faith to study their eternal God in the Holy Sacrament. If they would only worthily esteem this precious gift by Its reception and constant communication, begin to taste its sweetness, and share in the hidden power of their all-powerful God! Then nothing would ever be lacking to them in their exile on Earth. The faithful are themselves to blame for all their poverty and labors, since they pay no attention to this divine mystery, nor avail themselves of the divine powers, thus placed at their disposal by my most holy Son. I tell you truly, that Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the most Holy Eucharist, that to approach it, causes them more torments than to remain in Hell itself. Whenever He is carried through the streets they usually flee and disperse in all haste. It is the will of the Lord and my own will, that with this sword of the Holy Eucharist that you fight the battles of the Almighty in the name of the Holy Church against the invisible enemies. The Most High will lend you His strength, so that you can fight His battles with His and your enemies. Fight the battles of the Lord against His enemies and―in His Name and mine―crush their head, reign over their pride and cast them into Hell! Do not make yourself unworthy of such great blessings and favors! But there are very few who receive the Lord worthily and devoutly and who strive to preserve themselves in this purity until the next Communion.”
“My divine Son and I continue to look for some souls who are ready to defend the glory and honor of God and fight the battles against Hell, for the confusion and crushing of the demons. Dispose yourself, by divine grace, for this battle and do not wonder at the strength of the demon, nor to be downcast at your own personal misery and poverty. The wrath of Lucifer against me was greater than against any of the creatures, and greater than against all of them together―but, by the power of the Lord, I vanquished him gloriously, and you, by the same power of God, can resist him in your smaller temptations. Encourage yourself, then, to conquer Satan in present matters, for then the Lord will afterwards arm you for greater battles. Although you may be weak and lacking in what is required, I want you to understand, that my divine Son acts now as a king who is short of subjects and soldiers―and He will admit in His army anyone who wishes to serve Him.”
Mary’s Armies
St. Louis then speaks of Mary’s armies in battle against Satan’s armies: “The prayer of the humble Mary is more powerful with His Majesty than the prayers and intercessions of all the angels and saints both in Heaven and on Earth! … In the Heavens Mary commands the angels and the blessed. God has empowered her and commissioned her that Heaven, Earth and Hell bend―with good will or bad will―to the commandments of the humble Mary, whom He has made sovereign of Heaven and Earth, general of His armies! … His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world (for it is the same thing) have always up to this time persecuted those who belong to our Blessed Lady, and will in the future persecute them more than ever; just as Cain, of old, persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob, who are the figures of the reprobate and the predestinate. But the humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw. But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be ‘like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful’ Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ (Psalm 39:2).” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
In one of his other books, Letter to Friends of the Cross, St. Louis de Montfort writes: “There are two groups that appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group has … only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave! … The world’s group―which is the devil’s in fact―is far superior in number and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array! … Friends of the Cross are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! … Demons are united for your destruction, but you―be united for their overthrow! … A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand! … A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering! … A Friend of the Cross is conceived in the sorrowful heart of Christ, he comes into this world through the gash in the Savior’s right side and is all empurpled in His blood. True to this heritage, he breathes forth only crosses and blood―death to the world, the flesh and sin!”
Stomach for the Fight? Or Stomach for Food and Drink?
Do we have the “stomach for the fight”? Or do we merely think of satisfying the stomach? “What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). Are we prepared to suffer for Christ? Or is all that we suffer merely indigestion? “Do not become idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:19).
The lovers of the world want peace―a false peace, an impossible peace―but Our Lord did not come to bring a false peace between the Faith and the world, between Him and Satan―who is the prince of this world: “For the prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27).
People might not like to hear this, but most Catholics are enemies of God, because they love the world. They give more time to the world than God. They think about the world more than they think of God. They expend more efforts in worldly pursuits than they expend in spiritual pursuits. They spend more time in front of a television (or some other screen) during the week than they spend time in church before the Blessed Sacrament. They talk more on the phone than they talk to God. They prefer the keys of their computer or smartphone to the beads of the Rosary. How can such a “Catholic” in name only claim to be a true Catholic who is targeting Heaven? The answer is they can’t―it is a hypocrisy, a lie, an exaggeration, mere wishful thinking!
We have entered the worst crisis that the world and Church will have ever know―and it will get much worse from here on, you had better believe it―and most Catholics are simply living as though everything was “hunky-dory” and as if there was nothing to worry about! What Communists like to call “Useful Idiots” are in no shortage among Catholics! All play and no pray! All talk and no walk! Preferring to wag and point the finger, but not finger their beads!
The Basic Errors of Catholic Warfare
No two people on the whole planet are totally alike―there may be similarities, and many of them, but we are all different in some or many ways. Only God can fully know and understand every person who has ever lived, is living, or will live in the future. In a similar way, we may all have the Catholic Faith in general, but our own personal version of the Catholic Faith differs in some degree―sometimes a lot, sometimes a little―from our fellow Catholics. This is not helped by the Liberal, Modernist, Rationalist, Subjective tone of the INDEPENDENT world today―where everyone is “king of his own castle” and his own “personal expert” in just about everything. This insistence personal independence and personal sovereignty and independence from all exterior authority (whenever possible), leads to absurd Liberal, Rationalistic and Subjective stance that everyone is master of his own “truths”―what is “true” for one person may not be “true” for another person, but it doesn’t really matter, we are “free” to believe what we want to believe, we have a “right” to believe what we want to believe, and what we “believe” is “true” for us! Insane! Absurd! Illogical! Yet “true”―that is the insane way in which we live today, in an insane world and rapidly becoming more insane and more stupid with each passing week!
This prideful independence of thought, inflated by modern-day gross stupidity, has led most Catholics down a dead-end alley whereby they reject the teachings of the Church and the words of God (and Our Lady), preferring their own evaluations and solutions to the mess that we indubitably find ourselves in today. Heaven―God and Our Lady in particular―have diagnosed the situation, given us a prognosis of the current situation and have clearly stated what medicine we must use and what weapons we must use to get of our this mess―and you had better believe that at the present moment, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”, for things will rapidly and exponentially get worse in no time at all!
Faced with threatening dangers, the unbelievable reaction of most Catholics truly beggars belief! They do not want to “work for a living”―meaning that they do not want to work for “eternal life”. It seems as most Catholics look upon God as some kind of “Social Services” and “Social Security”, whereby God will give them the reward or “payment” of eternal life in Heaven regardless of what they did or didn’t do here on Earth! God is not a glorified “Social Services” for those who do not want to work to earn Heaven, and Heaven is not a “Social Security” handout! As though Heaven was some kind of “freebie handout” for those not good enough to get there under their own steam!
Working for God means Fight for God
“Working” for God―which is what Catholicism is all about―means standing-up, defending and fighting for the rights and truths of God. Our Lord paints a battle-scene for us, in which we have to actively participate―meaning, we have to get off the comfortable Catholic couch―if we wish to gain entrance to Heaven and win our crown of victory over the devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations. As Our Lord says in His parable of the “Workers in the Vineyard” ― “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. Going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’ And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why do you stand here all the day idle? Go you also into my vineyard!’” (Matthew 22:1-14).
We are, after all, Soldiers of Christ―not idle Couch-Potatoes of Christ, or useless Cuddly Teddy Bears of Christ! Our Lord―the Son of God―came to fight and not be molly-coddled. He came to fight the devil and world in order to free us from the chains and shackles of the devil and world.
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Sloppy Soldiers and Toy Soldiers of Christ
You have probably heard of the term “G.I. Joe” ― and, even though you may know what it means, you are probably clueless as to the origins of the term. A popular theory links the term to the early 20th century, when “G.I.” was stamped on military trash cans and buckets. The two-letter abbreviation―G.I.―stood for the material from which these items were made: galvanized iron. Later, the definition of G.I. broadened and, during the First World War, it was used to refer to all things Army-related. When this happened, G.I. was reinterpreted as “government issue” or “general issue.” The widespread use of the term led to soldiers in Second World War to start referring to themselves as G.I.s. Some servicemen used it as a sarcastic reference symbolizing their belief that they were just mass-produced products of the government. During the war, G.I. Joe also became a popular term for U.S. soldiers. In 1964, U.S. toy company Hasbro, after taking note of competitor Mattel’s huge success with the Barbie doll (launched in 1959), debuted “G.I. Joe,” a military-themed line of action figures for boys―in other words, a “toy soldier”. Are we “toy soldiers” of Christ, or are we real “Soldiers of Christ”?
False Devotions to Mary―Fake Soldiers of Christ
Just as St. Louis de Montfort speaks of “False Devotions to Mary”, you could also speak of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”! St. Louis lists seven chief false devotions to Mary: “More than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones … I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §92). We will not go into them here, we just mention them as a springboard for the examination of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”.
Though the list could be extended and nuanced greatly, on the whole you could say that “Fake Soldiers of Christ” are (1) those who do not want to fight anyone at all―they want to live in peace with everybody, even the enemies of Christ; (2) those who prefer to watch the fight without participating in it; (3) those who are full of fighting talk, but never go to fight; (4) those who want fight, but only fight for a little while; (5) those who want to fight, but fight the wrong enemy; (6) those who want to fight, but fight the right enemy in the wrong way.
Let us briefly look at these chief groups of “Fake Soldiers of Christ”:
► FAKE SOLDIER #1 ― Those who do not want to fight anyone at all.
Many are those Catholics who do not want to fight anyone at all! They want to get to Heaven without a fight―they want to live in peace with everybody, even the enemies of Christ. These misguided fools fail to take account of Our Lord's words that rule out any such possibility of gaining Heaven without a fight! “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Our Lord merely builds upon what the Old Testament tells us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―while the New Testament adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please him to whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). It may not please everyone’s tastes, but the path to Heaven is a fight for Heaven! No fight? No Heaven!
Our Lord further adds―as if there was any doubt on the matter―words that were already quoted above: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53). Doesn’t sound like a “peaceful option” for the path to Heaven, does it?
► FAKE SOLDIER #2 ― Those who prefer to watch the fight without participating in it.
You could this type of Fake Soldier of Christ the Cafeteria Catholic, the Spectator Catholic, the Inquisitive Catholic―the Catholic who wants to know and see everything, but does nothing with that knowledge. They are like the proverbial lazy workmen―of whom the joke says: “How many men does it take to dig a hole? 12 men―one who digs and 11 who stand around watching him dig.” Or you could liken this kind of Fake Soldier of Christ to the Priest and the Levite in Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and, seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by” (Luke 10:30-32).
Another example of this kind of Fake Soldier of Christ is seen in another parable of Our Lord: “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one―giving to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the talents and gained other five talents. And, in like manner, he that had received the two talents, gained another two. But he that had received the one talent, going his way, dug a hole into the earth and hid his lord’s money.
“After a long time the lord of those servants came and reckoned with them. He that had received the five talents, came and brought another five talents, saying: ‘Lord, you gave me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter into the joy of your lord!’ And he that had received the two talents also came and said: ‘Lord, You gave me two talents! Behold I have gained another two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Since you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many things! Enter into the joy of your lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that you are a hard man! You reap where you have not sown, and gather where you have not scattered. And, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground! Behold here I return it to you so you can have what which is yours!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not scattered! Therefore you should have committed my money to the bankers, so that at my coming I should have received my own money with profit from the interest it would have earned! Take away, therefore, the talent from him and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that has, it shall be given and he shall abound―but from him that has not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:14-30).
O Soldier of Christ! What have you done with the Faith and spiritual weapons entrusted to you by God? What spiritual profits have you earned in your long career as a Soldier of Christ? Or have you buried your Faith and buried your weapons?
► FAKE SOLDIER #3 ― Those who are full of fighting talk, but never go to fight.
These particular Fake Soldiers look like the “real deal” on the surface! They are not passive soldiers. They see the problems and speak of the problems. They know the problems and make the problems known. Which is more than the previous Fake Soldier of Christ (#2 above) does. However, that is where it stops! It stops at the lips! They Fake Soldiers of Christ are, as the popular saying states: “All talk and no action!” Or, as Lord says: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘These people honor Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that says to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It is of this kind of Fake Soldier that Holy Scripture speaks: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Though these Fake Soldiers of Christ might “talk the talk” and even “talk a good talk”, they neglect to “walk the walk” and walk into the battle for Christ. As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You could add that these Fake Soldiers of Christ talk about Fatima, but, for the most part, it all stops with the talking. They barely or rarely pray a Rosary―never mind the MANY Rosaries that they should be praying. As for sacrifices, it is not uncommon to find these Fake Soldiers of Christ complaining about one thing or another, moaning and grumbling when things go wrong for them―when they should be recycling all these disappointments and adversities as sacrifices generously accepted and transformed into powerful weapons! As the Angel of Portugal said to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima. While the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house, the Angel suddenly appeared and chided them for wasting time by playing and not praying. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
► FAKE SOLDIER #4 ― Those who want fight, but only fight for a little while.
These Fake Soldiers of Christ go beyond merely “talking the talk”, and actually do start to “walk the walk” or “fight the fight”―but they do not fight with all their might! They merely dip their big toe into the waters of battle! They do not really have the “stomach for the fight”, nor perseverance in battle. They forget that Our Lord said: “No man putting his hand to the plough and then looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God!” (Luke 9:62). “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:13).
As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
► FAKE SOLDIER #5 ― Those who want to fight, but fight the wrong enemy.
These Fake Soldiers of Christ are full of enthusiasm and energy for the fight, but mistakenly or ignorantly end up fighting the wrong enemy and so end up being worthless or even damaging to the cause of Christ. They are like the marathon runner who is way ahead of the rest of the field, but who makes a wrong turn and gets lost! Or they are like the surgeon who successfully performs an amputation surgery, only to find that he has cut off the wrong leg. Or like the assassin who successfully kills his victim with one shot, only to later find out that he killed the wrong person. Or the airplane bomber squadron that bombs a town to destruction, but then being told it was the wrong town.
Or for those of you of a more literary nature―you could compare these Fake Soldiers of Christ to the legendary fictional character of the world famous Spanish novel, Don Quixote (pronounced Don Key-Ho-Tay), by Miguel de Cervantes. We will put in parenthesis the caricature of a modern-day Don Quixote as we explain the theme of the novel. The main character of the novel is Alonso Quixano (later to become Don Quixote), a 50 year old, low-ranking Spanish person of nobility, at the beginning of the 17th century. He loves reading literature about knights and fantastic stories about chivalry, princesses, magicians, and enchanted castles [Today’s Don Quixote loves reading gossip or even truths on the internet about the crisis in the Church and world, about the conspiracies, betrayals, traitors, imposters, Satanist, Elitists, Church infiltrators, etc.]. In fact, he is so involved with these fantasies that he slowly starts to lose touch with reality and begins to believe that he is one of these fictional heroes [Similarly, many a modern-day Don Quixote loses touch with reality with this constant reading of information, counter-information, disinformation, misinformation, exaggeration, etc. to the point where he suffers from “information constipation.” Of course, it is true that there are conspiracies against God, the Church, and mankind in general―but the problem with many a modern-day Don Quixote is that they believe ALL that they read on the internet, as though the internet was the infallible God of Heaven―but much of what they read has several contradictory versions of the “truth”. Ultimately, the lack of facts does not lead to a lack of fantasy―and so the modern-day Don Quixote becomes an armchair Pope, or armchair God, an armchair judge of everything!].
Alonso finds some old armor and prepares an old horse from the stable, which he names Rocinante. Rocinante is not only Don Quixote's horse, but also his double―because, like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. The knight decides he needs to have a maiden, so, in his imagination, he changes a young village girl, with whom he was once in love with, into the lovely, but totally fictitious and imaginary, Lady Dulcinea del Toboso. As for himself, he bestows upon himself the name “Don Quixote” because it rhymes with the name of the famous knight Lanzarote, also known as Lancelot (Lan-za-ro-tay & Don Key-hoe-tay). [Many a modern-day Don Quixote has made himself or herself a “knight in shining armor” in this current (and very real) battle against the enemies of Church and mankind―but they are leaderless “knights”, accountable to nobody but themselves, believing nobody as much as themselves, and creating a version of “truth” that subjectively comes from within themselves. This reminds us of one a vision granted by God to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, concerning our present times, of which she said that among “good and devout people, they did not know where help and guidance should be sought. There were no traitors and enemies among them, yet they were afraid of one another.” However, she also added that there was real danger and real enemies to be encountered also: “A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness.”].
Back to Don Quixote now! So, the new knight, Don Quixote―together with his rustic neighbor, Sancho Panza, whom Quixote appoints as a knight’s squire―sets off on an adventure [on various internet blogs and forums] with a ridiculous new costume [meme] and the hope of committing heroic deeds. However, it will not take long for misunderstandings to occur between the real world and the fantasy world of Don Quixote. In one scene, Don Quixote arrives at an inn, which he believes to be a castle, and demands that the innkeeper dubs him the noble title of “knight.” Then the duo come upon some large windmills, which Don Quixote believes to be ferocious giants and so he attacks the windmills. Another time, Don Quixote attacks a flock of sheep believing it to be an army. Later he finds a barber’s basin, which he believes to be a magical helmet. This is an extremely brief mention of some of many ridiculous situations the self-appointed knight in shining armor encounters in a book that, according to who published it, can be anywhere from 800 to 1,000 pages.
The moral of all of the above is that we should be careful about who we are “shooting” at and who we are “fighting.” As they say: “Truth is stranger than fiction!” Many a mistake is made in the heat of passionately imprudent zeal! We get excited, our pulse and heartbeat quicken, we become increasingly agitated and we start to “spray bullets” indiscriminately―following a false of principle of “Shoot first―ask questions later!” In times of stress, our brains generate “self-talk” that can dramatically increase our feelings of fear and drastically impair our judgment. Soldiers are trained to fight back against this, by actively reminding themselves to mentally shout over those thoughts. Green Berets are taught to breathe slow, breathe deep, lower the heartbeat and pulse rate, and clear their minds―so that they can, with clear their minds, focus on the sole task at hand: shooting accurately.
This brings to mind the parable of Our Lord about the Wheat and Cockle: “A man sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming to him, said: ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How is it then, that is has it cockle in it?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy has done this!’ And the servants said to him: ‘Do you want us to go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you also root up the wheat together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn! But the wheat gather into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
Many a rifle, that soldiers use, has telescopic sights added to enhance their vision of the target and the accuracy of their shot. In our spiritual warfare―against the enemies of the Church, State and mankind―we also need telescopic sights for the use of our weapons. Our “telescopic sights” are God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and saints―they see things with far greater clarity and certainty than we can possibly see. Or, if you want to look upon it another way, God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and saints are like guided missiles that “home-in” on the right targets―we should leave the guidance of those missiles to Heaven. For our part, we need to manufacture those missiles―by our fasting, prayers, sacrifices and penances―and leave the firing of them to Heaven. God will make sure they hit the right targets at the right time and bring about a right result!
► FAKE SOLDIER #6 ― Those who want to fight, but fight the right enemy in the wrong way.
Our Lord came upon Earth to start a fight! “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Matthew 10:34-36; Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that Our Lord has come to start a fight just for the sake of starting a fight! No! The fight that Our Lord speaks about comes as a result of His teaching. The doctrine and teaching of Our Lord will separate people―some of them will accept His teaching, others will reject His teaching. That is the fight―a fight between truth and error; a fight between the “God of truth” (Psalm 30:6) and the Satan the “Father of lies” (John 8:44); a fight between “Christ and Belial” (2 Corinthians 6:15); a fight between the Church and the world which is “an enemy of God” (James 4:4); a fight between the Faith and worldliness.
So there we have the general demarcation-line between Christ and His enemies. If we see the Devil, the World and our own sinful tendencies as being the “enemy”―then we have judged correctly. To get to Heaven, we have to fight our way through those enemies―who will try to block our path and hinder our progress. That is why we are told: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier to God, entangles himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself!” (2 Timothy 2:3-4) ― to which Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Even though these Fake Soldiers of Christ are less fake than the others, they are still not the “finished article”, they are still displeasing to God because they are “doing things their own way” rather than doing things God’s way―and there is a massive difference between “our way” and “God’s way”, as God Himself tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It is much like a coach of a sports team, who has a very energetic and enthusiastic team, who are willing to work hard―but do not follow the coach’s instructions with regard to tactics, for once they take to the field against the opponents, the players “do their own thing”―they play hard, they try hard, but they do not follow instructions. It is as though they feel they know better than the coach! That is how these well-intentioned, but nevertheless Fake Soldiers of Christ, take to the field of battle―they fight, but they fight in their own way, according to their own impressions and personal way of seeing the battle that faces them.
This is exactly the kind of Fake Soldier that Sr. Lucia described, when she said to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima [In other words, they are “doing their own thing” and are ignoring the instructions and tactics of the “coach”]. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message [ignoring the tactics, ignoring the weapons given by Our Lady], because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
It is pretty plain and obvious―anyone with a smattering of common sense can (or should) see it―that if we were following Our Lady’s instructions and tactics, then Satan would not have the world in the stranglehold in which he does have it today! Our Lady has never lost to Satan whenever her instructions and tactics have been carried out to the letter. The reason why most are damned is because they preferred to “do their own thing”, to “do it their way”, to “improvise” or “modify” the instructions and tactics that were commanded. Instead, “they agreed not among themselves” (Acts 28:25). “They have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another!” (4 Kings 3:23). “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand! And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24-25).
Today, Catholics are “a house divided” and a “kingdom divided”―both in Faith and Morals. Just like the deliberately created “spike proteins”―related to the Covid-19 virus and included in the vaccines―which provoke a cytokine storm in the body. An infection usually triggers your immune system to flood your bloodstream with inflammatory proteins called cytokines. A cytokine is a signaling protein that tells the body that there is something going on that the immune system needs to fight. This ramps-up your immune response. In a normal situation, cytokines are helpful. They are telling the body: “There is something that is foreign! Something that should not be there! Let’s get rid of it!” During a cytokine storm, various inflammatory cytokines are produced at a much higher rate than normal. The problem with a cytokine storm is that there is no off-switch. Therefore, this creates huge surge of cytokines that overwhelm the body and it just cannot deal with it. The body finds itself unable to fight its own immune response and this drives the body towards failing. A severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. They can kill tissue and damage your organs. Cytokine storms are particularly problematic with Covid-19 patients. When these Covid patients experience a cytokine storm, you usually end up with multi-organ failure. The immune response is overwhelming the body and, in some cases, you get clots to certain organs and this results in the body slowly shutting down.
A similar kind of thing is occurring in the Mystical Body of Christ―the Church. “Foreign materials” have been deliberately injected into the Church―which is of course the Masonic and Communist infiltration that has been progressively going on for well over a century―as Our Lady herself said at Quito in Ecuador, at La Salette in France, at Fatima in Portugal and at Akita in Japan. Some salient extracts are as follows: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect!” Additionally, Sr. Lucia of Fatima, reveals that Our Lady indicated that Communism would take over the entire world and that the widespread apostasy from the Faith will begin at the top, meaning it will begin with the leaders of the Church, who, as Our Lady of La Salette indicated “have neglected prayer and penance.” Pope Paul VI confirmed this several times when he publicly spoke of the “smoke of Satan” having “entered the Church”―while the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, confirmed: “Satan resides in the Vatican!” Dr. Bella Dodd, a former high-ranking officer in the Communist Party of America, testified before a U.S. government committee that over 1,000 Communist infiltrators had been placed in the Catholic seminaries by her Communist cell alone! Some didn’t make it to the priesthood, while others did―and some, she stated, were now (in the 1950s) bishops and cardinals in Rome! A large number of homosexuals and pedophiles were also injected into the Church―who then favored the entry of even more of their kind. All of this has provoked a cytokine storm within the Church, where the attacks of the spiritual immune system have found that there is no “Off-Switch” and so the internal attacks of one group of Church members against another group of Church members now goes on continually. The Church is mercilessly “eating up” her own members! We are fighting and killing each other instead of healing and curing each other! How Satan must be laughing! As Our Lady of Akita said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!”
Our Lady is the answer to this spiritual cytokine storm that Satan has created within the Church, as well as being the answer to the Satan stirred attacks from outside the Church. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, recalls how Our Lady forced the devils to speak about her during a particular exorcism. The devils referred to Our Lady as “our enemy, our downfall and our destruction!” The devils went on to say: “Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §104). But “persevering in her service” means following her instructions and tactics, as well as using the weapons she gives us and using them in the manner she indicates to us.
In looking at Our Lady’s most recent apparitions over the last 200 years or so, there are certain clear recommendations coming from her as to what our weapons should be in this spiritual combat against Satan and the world.
● Miraculous Medal (1830 Rue de Bac, Paris, France)
● Brown Scapular (1858 Lourdes; 1917 Fatima)
● Rosary (1858 Lourdes, 1917 Fatima, 1973 Akita)
● Penance and Sacrifices (1846 La Salette, 1858 Lourdes, 1917 Fatima, 1973 Akita).
● The Holy Eucharist (1916 Angel of Fatima, 1973 Akita)
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday September 17th & Saturday September 18th & Sunday September 19th
Article 10
La Salette Approaches! La Saletter is Here! Deathly Silence!
Friday September 17th & Saturday September 18th & Sunday September 19th
Article 10
La Salette Approaches! La Saletter is Here! Deathly Silence!
Not Top of the Rankings
La Salette may be much higher than the other Marian apparition sites, but it is not top of rankings as regards popularity, knowledge and understanding. La Salette sits on a mountain (a symbol of both God and Our Lady) at an altitude of about 6,000 feet above sea level―whereas Mount Carmel sits at 1,751 feet; Guadalupe sits at 1,640 feet; Lourdes sits at 1,380 feet; Fatima sits at 1,168 feet. La Salette is not a top-ranking apparition, nor is it a top-ranking place of pilgrimage, nor is it a top-ranking subject of discussion, nor is it top-ranking when it comes to having much knowledge on the subject!
Guadalupe has around 10 million pilgrims each year; Fatima has over 6 million pilgrims each year; also Lourdes has over 6 million pilgrims each year; La Salette has only around 500,000 pilgrims visiting the shrine each year!
La Salette is about as popular as the name “Salette” is among names given to babies! In the last 100 years, there are barely 200 people with the name “Salette” in the world―though in Brazil they say “Salette” is trending since records show that 180 persons have been given the name “Salette” from 1922 to 2018!!! Hmm! Brazil has a current population of 211 million! Since 1922 there have been an estimated 300+ million registered births in Brazil and only 180 girls have been given the name “Salette”!
Interestingly, the Urban Dictionary gives the meaning of the name “Salette” or its English equivalent “Sally” as being “a strong, courageous, independent woman. A woman that isn't going to stand by and be bullied by anyone nor let you bully someone else in her presence. A woman that is both beautiful on the inside and out. Many may call her a saint. She will ‘have your back’ in any fight―and so you better ‘have her back’ too―and, if not, she will discard you for the coward trash heap you are.” Most of that―except the latter part of the last sentence is incredibly descriptive of Our Lady, is it not?
All of that is a little reminiscent of the attitude shown to Our Lord and lowly esteem in which people held his home town of Nazareth―as Holy Scripture testifies: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him: ‘We have found Him of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write―Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth!’ And Nathanael said to him: ‘Can anything of good come from Nazareth?’ Philip said to him: ‘Come and see!’” (John 1:45-46). The same disbelief and sneering was seen when Jesus began to teach and preach: “And when the Sabbath was come, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue and many, hearing Him, were in admiration at His doctrine, saying: ‘How did this man come by all these things? And what wisdom is this that is given to Him, and such mighty works as are wrought by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? And they were scandalized in regard of Him!” (Mark 6:2-3). Similarly, there is an implicit “downgrading” of La Salette to which words similar to those above could be applied: “Can anything of good come from La Salette?” and “Many are scandalized by the teaching of La Salette!”
The “Scandal” of La Salette
If you know little of the history of La Salette, then you will not be aware of the “scandal” that the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette caused in its day―1846 onwards.
On September 19th, 1846, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud – who at that time were just teenagers ― saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the mountains of La Salette. The apparition transmitted both a public message for them to communicate to others, and a personal message for each of them. The events at La Salette immediately stirred up a great fervor in French society, and it also provoked enormous discussions. The question of what these “secrets” contained was on many people’s minds, and the children were relentlessly pestered to reveal the information. The children were constantly called upon to describe what they had seen, and became a target of perpetual interrogations, and even threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervor. Also, some of the bishops of France resisted the Secret with, at times, a real fury, because its warnings as to the political ambitions of the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and the regrettable state of the clergy in general, were not to their liking.
The two little visionaries were somewhat disturbed by the perpetual interrogations, the threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervor. This harmed the equilibrium of the two visionaries. Melanie had difficulty living a stable religious life. Maximin, who once entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life. Melanie was called insane, she was vilified, she was at times refused Holy Communion.
The Bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions to examine the facts. In December 1846, the first commissions were established. One was formed of professors from the major seminary of Grenoble and the other from titulary canons. The latter commission concluded that a more extensive examination was necessary before formulating a judgment. A new inquiry was held from July to September 1847, by two members of the commission, Canon Orcel, the superior of the major seminary, and the Canon, Fr. Rousselot.
A conference on the matter at the bishop’s residence took place from November to December in 1847―one year after the apparition. Sixteen members ― the vicars general of the diocese, the parish priests of Grenoble and the titulary canons ― assembled in the presence of the bishop. The majority accepted the authenticity of the apparition, after the examination of the report from Rousselot and Urcel. Moreover, the Bishop of Sens had examined very carefully three cures attributed to Our Lady of La Salette that had occurred in the city of Avallon. The local bishop, Mgr. Mellon Jolly, recognized on May 4th, 1849, one of the three cures, which had occurred on November 21st, 1847, as being miraculous.
The Bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. de Bruillard, was convinced of the reality of the apparition and authorized the publication of Fr. Rousselot’s report, which affirmed the reality of the apparition. In his letter of approbation, added as a preface to Fr. Rousselot’s report, the Bishop of Grenoble declared that he shared the opinion of the majority of the commission which adopted the conclusions of the report.
However, Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald, the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, on whom Grenoble depended, suspected trickery and deceit. The Cardinal demanded that the children tell him their secret, saying that he had a mandate from the Pope. The children finally gave in to this demand. The older of the two seers, Melanie Calvat, however, insisted that her text be carried directly to the Pope. It was under these conditions that the Bishop of Grenoble sent two representatives to Rome. The text of the two private secrets were reportedly handed to Pope Pius IX on 18 July 1851, but apparently were subsequently lost.
Nevertheless, the objections and doubts were rejected and the procedure ended by giving the La Salette apparition and favorable vote of confidence, since the mandate of Mgr. de Bruillard, adjusted according to observations of Luigi Lambruschini, Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites at Rome, was signed on September 18th, 1851, and was published the following on November 10th, 1851. In it, the bishop of Grenoble promulgated this judgment: “We judge that the apparition of the Holy Virgin to the two shepherds, September 19th, 1846 ... in the parish of La Salette ... carries within it all the characteristics of truth, and that the faithful have reason to believe it indubitable and certain.”
The motives of the decision, which rested on the work of Rousselot and that of the investigative commission of 1847, were the impossibility of explaining the events at La Salette, the miracles and the cures in a human manner, as well as the spiritual fruits of the apparition, notably conversions and finally the right expectations and desires of large crowds of priests and faithful.
Later, on November 16th, 1851 (over 5 years after the apparition of September 19th, 1846) the Bishop of Grenoble published a statement that the mission of the shepherd children had ended and that the matter was now in the hands of the Church. The bishop made it clear that the approval of the Church was only for the original revelation of 1846 and not for any subsequent claims made by the children.
Spreading the Message of La Salette as Our Lady Wanted
Our Lady’s final words at La Salette were: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!” Not content with saying this only once, she again repeated emphatically: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!”
How many of you parents have discussed La Salette in your family? How many of you teachers have taught it in your schools? How many of you priests have explained it to your parish? Unfortunately, most will have to admit―very little or nothing at all. Yet Our Lady told the children―Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud―to make her message known to everyone. Since they are both obviously dead―that duty falls upon us! Are we doing our duty?
First of all, do not forget that the children at La Salette was weeping as she was revealing all these things to them! That alone indicates that the message is not a trivial message, but a very serious message that involves all the world. Furthermore, the seriousness of the message is underlined by the words and phrases Our Lady used:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride! … Woe to the priests! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God! … Churches will be locked up or desecrated! Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death! Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion―among these people there will even be bishops! … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls! … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds! … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war! [Other prophecies also mention civil war in America] Blood will flow in the streets! Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian [American will fight American] ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes! … Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy! … There will be a series of wars, until the last war! … A general war will follow which will be appalling! … Blood will flow on all sides! … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread! … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes! People will believe that all is lost!”
“Huh? So what? What’s the big deal?” you might say. Well, just wait until it starts to happen and say that! Our Lady has warned us in her charity and mercy―are you warning your nearest and dearest, or will you just leave them in ignorance until their coffee and donuts get taken away, until their beer and burgers are taken away, until their sports and entertainments are taken away, until their very own lives are taken away? You are meant to be a SOLDIER OF CHRIST and not a COUCH POTATO OF CHRIST! You are meant to fight the world, not enjoy the world. You are meant to warn others of the danger and not keep a timid silence or embarrassed silence! You are a guardian of the Faith! To you are applied these words of Holy Scripture:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of that land take a man―one of their meanest―and make him a watchman over them, and that man sees the sword coming upon that land, and then sounds the trumpet to warn the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, so that the sword comes and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head! For he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not look to himself―so his own blood shall be upon him―but if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, and the people do not look to themselves, so that the sword comes and cuts off any soul from among them, then he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman! So, O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:1-8). Which is what Our Lady said at the end of her message at La Salette: “You will pass this on to all my people!”
The Modern Catholic― See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
Unfortunately, we are not―on the whole―sounding the warning trumpet. We have our eyes firmly fixed on future fun―not on future chastisements! As regards what Our Lady speak of, we prefer to close our eyes, plug our ears and shut our mouths―so that we “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil”! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). We know the message of La Salette, yet, as Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “Those who should speak out will be silent!” Therefore, as God says in the above quote from the Book of Ezechiel―“I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman!” Sadly, “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
Trumpet-Blower or Whistle-Blower Lucia
That is exactly what Sr. Lucia of Fatima talks about when she reveals what Our Lady said to her: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message ― neither the good, nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, but without paying attention to this message ― they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement presently about to fall upon them, and also keep following the road of evil through sin, while ignoring the message ― because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Lucia was adamant about “blowing the trumpet” to warn the world what would come its way if it did not change its sinful lifestyle. She herself said to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them! … For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
What is little known is that Sr. Lucia encountered much resistance in having the “Third Secret of Fatima” revealed by 1960. Many Fatima experts―in view of the sudden appearance of a “new” Sr. Lucia on May 13th, 1967―believe that the “real” Sr. Lucia was either “locked-away” for good, or “silenced” by being killed. Various “rumors” circulate on the matter―one of them being that Freemasonry (which had already infiltrated and infected the Church) arranged for her “liquidation” and achieved that in October of 1958. It is said that Sr. Lucia―seeing the resistance and lack of cooperation from Rome in announcing the “Third Secret of Fatima”―was prepared to “go public” herself and announce the “Third Secret” worldwide on radio. Obviously, if that was the case, then “she had to go”!
Standing-Up and Confessing Our Lord and Our Lady
Let’s face it―we have made fatal compromises with the world! As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!” This is because “People will think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette). For “there will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost! … Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Yes―those who should speak out, that is to say all true Catholics, will be SILENT! They will refuse to confess or witness to Our Lord and Our Lady in the face of the world―which is an enemy of God: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Should You Be Speaking Out? Are You Silent?
As Our Lady of Good Success lamented―concerning our present day―“Those who should speak out will be silent!” Are you one of the “silent ones”? Are you one of those of whom Holy Scripture says: “They have a mouth, but they speak not! They have eyes, but they see not!” (Psalm 134:16). Have you become the “dumb dog” that cannot or refuses to bark at the approaching danger: “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Have you become the “Silent Soldier of Christ”, who sees the enemy (the world, and the prince of this world―the devil) drawing closer and closer, and encroaching the domain of Faith―but you say and do nothing (or very little) about it? Of such a “Silent Soldier” who will not sound the warning trumpet, God says:
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (the Church)! And you shall hear the word out of My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me! If, when I say to the wicked: ‘You shall surely die!’ ― and you do not declare it to him, nor speak to him, so that he might be converted from his wicked ways and live, then the same wicked man shall certainly die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you give warning to the wicked, and he does not convert from his wickedness and from his evil ways―then he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul! Moreover, if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity―then I will lay a stumbling-block before him and he shall die―because you have not warned him! He shall die in his sin, and all his justices which he has done beforehand, shall not be remembered―but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you warn the just man, so that the just may not sin, and he does not sin―then living he shall live, because you have warned him, and you will have saved your soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-21). This quote is not quite the same as you read above―but both drive home the point and serious obligation of communicating danger―especially when it involves eternal salvation or eternal damnation―to others who may not know, or who may be ignoring the danger. Just for sake of enforcement―here is the above quote once again:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of that land take a man―one of their meanest―and make him a watchman over them, and that man sees the sword coming upon that land, and then sounds the trumpet to warn the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, so that the sword comes and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head! For he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not look to himself―so his own blood shall be upon him―but if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, and the people do not look to themselves, so that the sword comes and cuts off any soul from among them, then he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman! So, O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:1-8). Which is what Our Lady said at the end of her message at La Salette: “You will pass this on to all my people!”
A Fly on the Wall
What would the proverbial “fly on the wall” hear being spoken in your family, school, parish or workplace? What are the topics of your conversations? What do you talk about the most? What interests you the most? How much time do you spend talking about some of those subjects? Oh to be an unnoticed “a fly on the wall” listening to all that is being said! Would the words of Our Lady of La Salette apply to you and your family … or school … or parish … or workplace: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” Amusement is a very generic word―a big umbrella―that includes or shelters a wide variety of things, whatever, in fact amuses you, entertains you, distracts you, gives you pleasure, etc. It can include the television, the internet, the smartphone, social media, texting, emailing, listening to or playing music, watching or playing sports, socializing at parties, socials, barbeques, outings, window shopping, going to concerts, art galleries, museums, going to the beach for swimming, sailing, surfing, etc. Hey―you could fill a whole book with a list of amusements―Our Lady included all this and more in just that one word: “amusements” ― “People will think of nothing but amusement!”
So how do you and your family … or school … or parish … or workplace rate and rank on the ladder or table of amusements? How much total time is spent on your wide variety of amusements while souls are falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard? “I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved…I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!” (St. Benedict Joseph Labre, 1748-1783). “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter.” (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Are you whittling and wasting precious time that a Soldier of Christ could use to carry on Christ’s work of trying to save souls? Have you gone AWOL (absent-without-leave) from you sentry or guard duty? Have you exchanged your uniform of a “Soldier of Christ” for the more comfortable uniform of a “Couch-Potato of Christ”? If you have, then you might soon find that “Couch-Potato” being roasted somewhere!
The luxury and extravagance of the world has lulled to sleep and transformed many a “Soldier of Christ” into “Couch-Potato of Christ”! As Our Lady herself warned: “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Those who should speak will fall silent!”
We Are At War!
Yes―you should be speaking of these things, for we are at war and in war we speak of battle, of tactics, of the enemy, of the dangers, etc. The focus in on the battle in the battlefield and not what is going on somewhere else―on the television, internet, social media, radio, in sports, fashion, or other such things! We have a war to fight! A battle to win! A battle over souls! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle! It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat! So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Once you lose the true notion of what sin is―once you lose the sense of sin―then everything starts to crumble. Liberal and Modernist as he most certainly is―Pope Francis at least got it right when he said: “When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God! … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble!” (January 31st, 2014). Beginning with Pope Pius XII, popes have repeatedly lamented that, in our current times, people have lost the sense of sin―and sin should be regarded as our greatest enemy, as the Catechism teaches: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). One we lose the sense of sin being the greatest evil in the world, we proportionately lay down our weapons that should be used to fight sin―frequent attendance at Holy Mass; praying the Rosary, not only daily, but many times daily; doing daily penance and making many daily sacrifices; keeping communications open with our “generals” in Heaven by daily spiritual reading and daily meditation; repairing the wounds of battle in frequent Confession; feeding on the Food that gives strength for the battle―the Holy Eucharist, etc. All those weapons have fallen, or are presently falling, in to disuse―we feel no longer need them, we no longer treasure them, we no longer use them!
Learning From Lucia
The example of Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s resoluteness and determination to have Our Lady’s message announced in the manner Our Lady wished and by the deadline that Our Lady had allegedly set (at Lucia’s death or the year 1960―whichever came first), is a wonderful example for us in “taking Lucia’s baton and running the next leg of the race” or, as they say, “taking the ball and running with it”!
It thought―with good reason and reasonable evidence―in some circles that Sr. Lucia was “removed” before 1960 came around. Whether she was murdered or “locked-up” for good is open to debate. What is not open to debate is the existence of “Lucia II” or “Lucia Version 2” or the “Replacement Lucia” who was not even a credible lookalike and who “appeared” on the scene in the 1960s [read more here]. It is said that the “real” Lucia, on her own initiative, was going to have the message delivered to the world by a radio broadcast―since she was not getting the necessary cooperation from the Pope and high-ranking clergy in the Church. News of such a brave enterprise would most certainly ruffle the feathers of the Masonic and Communist infiltrators of the Catholic Church―whose number was not small!
So it had to be―as many believe―a case of “Lucia is dead! Long-live Lucia!”―in sense of the phrase: “The king is dead! Long live the king!” meaning, “The King is dead” is the announcement of a monarch who has just died. “Long live The King!” refers to the heir who immediately succeeds to a throne upon the death of the king. The “new” Lucia could not come out with a totally different “doctrine” to that “doctrine” already announced by the “real” Lucia―it would be too obvious and not very credible. So, just like the devil does, the “new” Lucia would have to admit nine truths in the hope that the lie spoken in the tenth “truth” would not be spotted as being a lie and would be accepted as being the truth.
Whether Our Lady told the “real” Lucia what was in the pipeline or not―can only be mere speculation. However, in view of some the other things that Our Lady revealed to her―which were of much lesser importance―it is hard to believe that Our Lady would keep quiet about such a thing. One can reasonably speculate that Lucia must have known her fate―but when you know you are going to Heaven, who cares?!! What we must learn from Lucia is that she kept plugging-on, pushing-on, praying her prayers, performing her penances, making her sacrifices and uncompromisingly telling the truth when it had to be told―something that we must imitate, even though we might lose our popularity, and even lose the support of our family and friends. For did not Our Lord say:
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
Lucia Told It As It Was!
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. This interview clearly demonstrates that Our Lady’s request for the Consecration of Russia will only be fulfilled when, together, the Pope and the world’s Catholic bishops consecrate specifically Russia:
“Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia.”
“She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
Asked the question: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?”
Lucia replied firmly: “Yes.” [As you can see today, we are rapidly approaching such a Communist takeover].
Professor Walsh continued: “It was plain that she felt that Our Lady’s wishes had not yet been carried out. People must say the Rosary, perform sacrifices, make the Five First Saturday Communions, pray for the Holy Father.”
In this interview with Professor Walsh, Sister Lucia again set forth the precise requirements for the Consecration of Russia, performed in accordance with Our Lady’s request: the Pope, together with all of the world’s bishops, must publicly and solemnly consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Also, it is telling that Sister Lucia did not comment on Pope Pius XII’s 1942 consecration of the world: by her silence on the subject, and by once again repeating the specific requirements for the Consecration, she affirmed that a consecration of the world would not suffice to fulfill Our Lady’s request.
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia (see “Sister Lucia’s Statement to Professor Walsh”), Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Hence, when a Liberal priest, Father Lombardi, interviewed her in 1954, with regard to matters of salvation and damnation―Sr. Lucia politely but firmly stated the truth, as is shown in the following exchange that was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
La Salette may be much higher than the other Marian apparition sites, but it is not top of rankings as regards popularity, knowledge and understanding. La Salette sits on a mountain (a symbol of both God and Our Lady) at an altitude of about 6,000 feet above sea level―whereas Mount Carmel sits at 1,751 feet; Guadalupe sits at 1,640 feet; Lourdes sits at 1,380 feet; Fatima sits at 1,168 feet. La Salette is not a top-ranking apparition, nor is it a top-ranking place of pilgrimage, nor is it a top-ranking subject of discussion, nor is it top-ranking when it comes to having much knowledge on the subject!
Guadalupe has around 10 million pilgrims each year; Fatima has over 6 million pilgrims each year; also Lourdes has over 6 million pilgrims each year; La Salette has only around 500,000 pilgrims visiting the shrine each year!
La Salette is about as popular as the name “Salette” is among names given to babies! In the last 100 years, there are barely 200 people with the name “Salette” in the world―though in Brazil they say “Salette” is trending since records show that 180 persons have been given the name “Salette” from 1922 to 2018!!! Hmm! Brazil has a current population of 211 million! Since 1922 there have been an estimated 300+ million registered births in Brazil and only 180 girls have been given the name “Salette”!
Interestingly, the Urban Dictionary gives the meaning of the name “Salette” or its English equivalent “Sally” as being “a strong, courageous, independent woman. A woman that isn't going to stand by and be bullied by anyone nor let you bully someone else in her presence. A woman that is both beautiful on the inside and out. Many may call her a saint. She will ‘have your back’ in any fight―and so you better ‘have her back’ too―and, if not, she will discard you for the coward trash heap you are.” Most of that―except the latter part of the last sentence is incredibly descriptive of Our Lady, is it not?
All of that is a little reminiscent of the attitude shown to Our Lord and lowly esteem in which people held his home town of Nazareth―as Holy Scripture testifies: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him: ‘We have found Him of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write―Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth!’ And Nathanael said to him: ‘Can anything of good come from Nazareth?’ Philip said to him: ‘Come and see!’” (John 1:45-46). The same disbelief and sneering was seen when Jesus began to teach and preach: “And when the Sabbath was come, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue and many, hearing Him, were in admiration at His doctrine, saying: ‘How did this man come by all these things? And what wisdom is this that is given to Him, and such mighty works as are wrought by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? And they were scandalized in regard of Him!” (Mark 6:2-3). Similarly, there is an implicit “downgrading” of La Salette to which words similar to those above could be applied: “Can anything of good come from La Salette?” and “Many are scandalized by the teaching of La Salette!”
The “Scandal” of La Salette
If you know little of the history of La Salette, then you will not be aware of the “scandal” that the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette caused in its day―1846 onwards.
On September 19th, 1846, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud – who at that time were just teenagers ― saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the mountains of La Salette. The apparition transmitted both a public message for them to communicate to others, and a personal message for each of them. The events at La Salette immediately stirred up a great fervor in French society, and it also provoked enormous discussions. The question of what these “secrets” contained was on many people’s minds, and the children were relentlessly pestered to reveal the information. The children were constantly called upon to describe what they had seen, and became a target of perpetual interrogations, and even threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervor. Also, some of the bishops of France resisted the Secret with, at times, a real fury, because its warnings as to the political ambitions of the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and the regrettable state of the clergy in general, were not to their liking.
The two little visionaries were somewhat disturbed by the perpetual interrogations, the threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervor. This harmed the equilibrium of the two visionaries. Melanie had difficulty living a stable religious life. Maximin, who once entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life. Melanie was called insane, she was vilified, she was at times refused Holy Communion.
The Bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions to examine the facts. In December 1846, the first commissions were established. One was formed of professors from the major seminary of Grenoble and the other from titulary canons. The latter commission concluded that a more extensive examination was necessary before formulating a judgment. A new inquiry was held from July to September 1847, by two members of the commission, Canon Orcel, the superior of the major seminary, and the Canon, Fr. Rousselot.
A conference on the matter at the bishop’s residence took place from November to December in 1847―one year after the apparition. Sixteen members ― the vicars general of the diocese, the parish priests of Grenoble and the titulary canons ― assembled in the presence of the bishop. The majority accepted the authenticity of the apparition, after the examination of the report from Rousselot and Urcel. Moreover, the Bishop of Sens had examined very carefully three cures attributed to Our Lady of La Salette that had occurred in the city of Avallon. The local bishop, Mgr. Mellon Jolly, recognized on May 4th, 1849, one of the three cures, which had occurred on November 21st, 1847, as being miraculous.
The Bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. de Bruillard, was convinced of the reality of the apparition and authorized the publication of Fr. Rousselot’s report, which affirmed the reality of the apparition. In his letter of approbation, added as a preface to Fr. Rousselot’s report, the Bishop of Grenoble declared that he shared the opinion of the majority of the commission which adopted the conclusions of the report.
However, Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald, the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, on whom Grenoble depended, suspected trickery and deceit. The Cardinal demanded that the children tell him their secret, saying that he had a mandate from the Pope. The children finally gave in to this demand. The older of the two seers, Melanie Calvat, however, insisted that her text be carried directly to the Pope. It was under these conditions that the Bishop of Grenoble sent two representatives to Rome. The text of the two private secrets were reportedly handed to Pope Pius IX on 18 July 1851, but apparently were subsequently lost.
Nevertheless, the objections and doubts were rejected and the procedure ended by giving the La Salette apparition and favorable vote of confidence, since the mandate of Mgr. de Bruillard, adjusted according to observations of Luigi Lambruschini, Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites at Rome, was signed on September 18th, 1851, and was published the following on November 10th, 1851. In it, the bishop of Grenoble promulgated this judgment: “We judge that the apparition of the Holy Virgin to the two shepherds, September 19th, 1846 ... in the parish of La Salette ... carries within it all the characteristics of truth, and that the faithful have reason to believe it indubitable and certain.”
The motives of the decision, which rested on the work of Rousselot and that of the investigative commission of 1847, were the impossibility of explaining the events at La Salette, the miracles and the cures in a human manner, as well as the spiritual fruits of the apparition, notably conversions and finally the right expectations and desires of large crowds of priests and faithful.
Later, on November 16th, 1851 (over 5 years after the apparition of September 19th, 1846) the Bishop of Grenoble published a statement that the mission of the shepherd children had ended and that the matter was now in the hands of the Church. The bishop made it clear that the approval of the Church was only for the original revelation of 1846 and not for any subsequent claims made by the children.
Spreading the Message of La Salette as Our Lady Wanted
Our Lady’s final words at La Salette were: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!” Not content with saying this only once, she again repeated emphatically: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!”
How many of you parents have discussed La Salette in your family? How many of you teachers have taught it in your schools? How many of you priests have explained it to your parish? Unfortunately, most will have to admit―very little or nothing at all. Yet Our Lady told the children―Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud―to make her message known to everyone. Since they are both obviously dead―that duty falls upon us! Are we doing our duty?
First of all, do not forget that the children at La Salette was weeping as she was revealing all these things to them! That alone indicates that the message is not a trivial message, but a very serious message that involves all the world. Furthermore, the seriousness of the message is underlined by the words and phrases Our Lady used:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride! … Woe to the priests! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God! … Churches will be locked up or desecrated! Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death! Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion―among these people there will even be bishops! … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls! … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds! … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war! [Other prophecies also mention civil war in America] Blood will flow in the streets! Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian [American will fight American] ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes! … Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy! … There will be a series of wars, until the last war! … A general war will follow which will be appalling! … Blood will flow on all sides! … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread! … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes! People will believe that all is lost!”
“Huh? So what? What’s the big deal?” you might say. Well, just wait until it starts to happen and say that! Our Lady has warned us in her charity and mercy―are you warning your nearest and dearest, or will you just leave them in ignorance until their coffee and donuts get taken away, until their beer and burgers are taken away, until their sports and entertainments are taken away, until their very own lives are taken away? You are meant to be a SOLDIER OF CHRIST and not a COUCH POTATO OF CHRIST! You are meant to fight the world, not enjoy the world. You are meant to warn others of the danger and not keep a timid silence or embarrassed silence! You are a guardian of the Faith! To you are applied these words of Holy Scripture:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of that land take a man―one of their meanest―and make him a watchman over them, and that man sees the sword coming upon that land, and then sounds the trumpet to warn the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, so that the sword comes and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head! For he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not look to himself―so his own blood shall be upon him―but if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, and the people do not look to themselves, so that the sword comes and cuts off any soul from among them, then he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman! So, O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:1-8). Which is what Our Lady said at the end of her message at La Salette: “You will pass this on to all my people!”
The Modern Catholic― See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
Unfortunately, we are not―on the whole―sounding the warning trumpet. We have our eyes firmly fixed on future fun―not on future chastisements! As regards what Our Lady speak of, we prefer to close our eyes, plug our ears and shut our mouths―so that we “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil”! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). We know the message of La Salette, yet, as Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “Those who should speak out will be silent!” Therefore, as God says in the above quote from the Book of Ezechiel―“I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman!” Sadly, “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
Trumpet-Blower or Whistle-Blower Lucia
That is exactly what Sr. Lucia of Fatima talks about when she reveals what Our Lady said to her: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message ― neither the good, nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, but without paying attention to this message ― they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement presently about to fall upon them, and also keep following the road of evil through sin, while ignoring the message ― because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Lucia was adamant about “blowing the trumpet” to warn the world what would come its way if it did not change its sinful lifestyle. She herself said to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them! … For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
What is little known is that Sr. Lucia encountered much resistance in having the “Third Secret of Fatima” revealed by 1960. Many Fatima experts―in view of the sudden appearance of a “new” Sr. Lucia on May 13th, 1967―believe that the “real” Sr. Lucia was either “locked-away” for good, or “silenced” by being killed. Various “rumors” circulate on the matter―one of them being that Freemasonry (which had already infiltrated and infected the Church) arranged for her “liquidation” and achieved that in October of 1958. It is said that Sr. Lucia―seeing the resistance and lack of cooperation from Rome in announcing the “Third Secret of Fatima”―was prepared to “go public” herself and announce the “Third Secret” worldwide on radio. Obviously, if that was the case, then “she had to go”!
Standing-Up and Confessing Our Lord and Our Lady
Let’s face it―we have made fatal compromises with the world! As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!” This is because “People will think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette). For “there will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost! … Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Yes―those who should speak out, that is to say all true Catholics, will be SILENT! They will refuse to confess or witness to Our Lord and Our Lady in the face of the world―which is an enemy of God: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Should You Be Speaking Out? Are You Silent?
As Our Lady of Good Success lamented―concerning our present day―“Those who should speak out will be silent!” Are you one of the “silent ones”? Are you one of those of whom Holy Scripture says: “They have a mouth, but they speak not! They have eyes, but they see not!” (Psalm 134:16). Have you become the “dumb dog” that cannot or refuses to bark at the approaching danger: “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Have you become the “Silent Soldier of Christ”, who sees the enemy (the world, and the prince of this world―the devil) drawing closer and closer, and encroaching the domain of Faith―but you say and do nothing (or very little) about it? Of such a “Silent Soldier” who will not sound the warning trumpet, God says:
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (the Church)! And you shall hear the word out of My mouth, and shall tell it to them from Me! If, when I say to the wicked: ‘You shall surely die!’ ― and you do not declare it to him, nor speak to him, so that he might be converted from his wicked ways and live, then the same wicked man shall certainly die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you give warning to the wicked, and he does not convert from his wickedness and from his evil ways―then he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul! Moreover, if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity―then I will lay a stumbling-block before him and he shall die―because you have not warned him! He shall die in his sin, and all his justices which he has done beforehand, shall not be remembered―but I will require his blood at your hand! But if you warn the just man, so that the just may not sin, and he does not sin―then living he shall live, because you have warned him, and you will have saved your soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-21). This quote is not quite the same as you read above―but both drive home the point and serious obligation of communicating danger―especially when it involves eternal salvation or eternal damnation―to others who may not know, or who may be ignoring the danger. Just for sake of enforcement―here is the above quote once again:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of that land take a man―one of their meanest―and make him a watchman over them, and that man sees the sword coming upon that land, and then sounds the trumpet to warn the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and does not look to himself, so that the sword comes and cuts him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head! For he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not look to himself―so his own blood shall be upon him―but if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, and the people do not look to themselves, so that the sword comes and cuts off any soul from among them, then he indeed will be taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman! So, O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore you shall hear the word from My mouth, and shall tell it them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:1-8). Which is what Our Lady said at the end of her message at La Salette: “You will pass this on to all my people!”
A Fly on the Wall
What would the proverbial “fly on the wall” hear being spoken in your family, school, parish or workplace? What are the topics of your conversations? What do you talk about the most? What interests you the most? How much time do you spend talking about some of those subjects? Oh to be an unnoticed “a fly on the wall” listening to all that is being said! Would the words of Our Lady of La Salette apply to you and your family … or school … or parish … or workplace: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” Amusement is a very generic word―a big umbrella―that includes or shelters a wide variety of things, whatever, in fact amuses you, entertains you, distracts you, gives you pleasure, etc. It can include the television, the internet, the smartphone, social media, texting, emailing, listening to or playing music, watching or playing sports, socializing at parties, socials, barbeques, outings, window shopping, going to concerts, art galleries, museums, going to the beach for swimming, sailing, surfing, etc. Hey―you could fill a whole book with a list of amusements―Our Lady included all this and more in just that one word: “amusements” ― “People will think of nothing but amusement!”
So how do you and your family … or school … or parish … or workplace rate and rank on the ladder or table of amusements? How much total time is spent on your wide variety of amusements while souls are falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard? “I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved…I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!” (St. Benedict Joseph Labre, 1748-1783). “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter.” (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Are you whittling and wasting precious time that a Soldier of Christ could use to carry on Christ’s work of trying to save souls? Have you gone AWOL (absent-without-leave) from you sentry or guard duty? Have you exchanged your uniform of a “Soldier of Christ” for the more comfortable uniform of a “Couch-Potato of Christ”? If you have, then you might soon find that “Couch-Potato” being roasted somewhere!
The luxury and extravagance of the world has lulled to sleep and transformed many a “Soldier of Christ” into “Couch-Potato of Christ”! As Our Lady herself warned: “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Those who should speak will fall silent!”
We Are At War!
Yes―you should be speaking of these things, for we are at war and in war we speak of battle, of tactics, of the enemy, of the dangers, etc. The focus in on the battle in the battlefield and not what is going on somewhere else―on the television, internet, social media, radio, in sports, fashion, or other such things! We have a war to fight! A battle to win! A battle over souls! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle! It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat! So, from now on, we are either with God, or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Once you lose the true notion of what sin is―once you lose the sense of sin―then everything starts to crumble. Liberal and Modernist as he most certainly is―Pope Francis at least got it right when he said: “When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God! … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble!” (January 31st, 2014). Beginning with Pope Pius XII, popes have repeatedly lamented that, in our current times, people have lost the sense of sin―and sin should be regarded as our greatest enemy, as the Catechism teaches: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). One we lose the sense of sin being the greatest evil in the world, we proportionately lay down our weapons that should be used to fight sin―frequent attendance at Holy Mass; praying the Rosary, not only daily, but many times daily; doing daily penance and making many daily sacrifices; keeping communications open with our “generals” in Heaven by daily spiritual reading and daily meditation; repairing the wounds of battle in frequent Confession; feeding on the Food that gives strength for the battle―the Holy Eucharist, etc. All those weapons have fallen, or are presently falling, in to disuse―we feel no longer need them, we no longer treasure them, we no longer use them!
Learning From Lucia
The example of Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s resoluteness and determination to have Our Lady’s message announced in the manner Our Lady wished and by the deadline that Our Lady had allegedly set (at Lucia’s death or the year 1960―whichever came first), is a wonderful example for us in “taking Lucia’s baton and running the next leg of the race” or, as they say, “taking the ball and running with it”!
It thought―with good reason and reasonable evidence―in some circles that Sr. Lucia was “removed” before 1960 came around. Whether she was murdered or “locked-up” for good is open to debate. What is not open to debate is the existence of “Lucia II” or “Lucia Version 2” or the “Replacement Lucia” who was not even a credible lookalike and who “appeared” on the scene in the 1960s [read more here]. It is said that the “real” Lucia, on her own initiative, was going to have the message delivered to the world by a radio broadcast―since she was not getting the necessary cooperation from the Pope and high-ranking clergy in the Church. News of such a brave enterprise would most certainly ruffle the feathers of the Masonic and Communist infiltrators of the Catholic Church―whose number was not small!
So it had to be―as many believe―a case of “Lucia is dead! Long-live Lucia!”―in sense of the phrase: “The king is dead! Long live the king!” meaning, “The King is dead” is the announcement of a monarch who has just died. “Long live The King!” refers to the heir who immediately succeeds to a throne upon the death of the king. The “new” Lucia could not come out with a totally different “doctrine” to that “doctrine” already announced by the “real” Lucia―it would be too obvious and not very credible. So, just like the devil does, the “new” Lucia would have to admit nine truths in the hope that the lie spoken in the tenth “truth” would not be spotted as being a lie and would be accepted as being the truth.
Whether Our Lady told the “real” Lucia what was in the pipeline or not―can only be mere speculation. However, in view of some the other things that Our Lady revealed to her―which were of much lesser importance―it is hard to believe that Our Lady would keep quiet about such a thing. One can reasonably speculate that Lucia must have known her fate―but when you know you are going to Heaven, who cares?!! What we must learn from Lucia is that she kept plugging-on, pushing-on, praying her prayers, performing her penances, making her sacrifices and uncompromisingly telling the truth when it had to be told―something that we must imitate, even though we might lose our popularity, and even lose the support of our family and friends. For did not Our Lord say:
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
Lucia Told It As It Was!
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. This interview clearly demonstrates that Our Lady’s request for the Consecration of Russia will only be fulfilled when, together, the Pope and the world’s Catholic bishops consecrate specifically Russia:
“Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia.”
“She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
Asked the question: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?”
Lucia replied firmly: “Yes.” [As you can see today, we are rapidly approaching such a Communist takeover].
Professor Walsh continued: “It was plain that she felt that Our Lady’s wishes had not yet been carried out. People must say the Rosary, perform sacrifices, make the Five First Saturday Communions, pray for the Holy Father.”
In this interview with Professor Walsh, Sister Lucia again set forth the precise requirements for the Consecration of Russia, performed in accordance with Our Lady’s request: the Pope, together with all of the world’s bishops, must publicly and solemnly consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Also, it is telling that Sister Lucia did not comment on Pope Pius XII’s 1942 consecration of the world: by her silence on the subject, and by once again repeating the specific requirements for the Consecration, she affirmed that a consecration of the world would not suffice to fulfill Our Lady’s request.
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia (see “Sister Lucia’s Statement to Professor Walsh”), Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Hence, when a Liberal priest, Father Lombardi, interviewed her in 1954, with regard to matters of salvation and damnation―Sr. Lucia politely but firmly stated the truth, as is shown in the following exchange that was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday September 15th, Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady
Thursday September 16th
Article 9
The Modern World's Seven Swords of Sorrow!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday September 15th, Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady
Thursday September 16th
Article 9
The Modern World's Seven Swords of Sorrow!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Suffering is the Test of Love
It is easy to say “I love you!” ― it is much harder to prove that love! You can link that idea to the proverbial “actions speak louder than words” or the Scriptural “Faith with works is dead!” In a broad and loose sense, you could also say that love without suffering is dead! Our Lord Himself implied that love and suffering were joined together―married, if you like―when He said: “Greater love than this no man has, than when a man lays down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). That is precisely what Our Lord did―He laid down His life for us sinners, in order to prove His immense love of us sinners. Even as He drew his last breaths of life on the Cross, He said: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). In His great love He dies and seeks to forgive so that we might have life―eternal life.
A woman, in childbirth, also unites her love to the suffering of bringing forth with great pain, out of her womb, the child to which she seeks to give life―life in this world. Later in life, she will join suffering to her love for that child, when she will be forced to inflict pain on that child, in order to correct the wayward child―though she inflicts a painful punishment on the misbehaving child, she, if she is a true mother, could well say: “This hurts me more than it hurts you!”
In a similar vein, at LA SALETTE in 1846, Our Lady complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” At La Salette, Our Lady appeared as a Mother of Sorrows, weeping disconsolately.
That same sorrowing Mother appeared to the three children at FATIMA, around 70 years later in 1917, asking them to take on―in their love―the task of suffering for sinners in order to save them from Hell. Our Lady did not appear as a smiling, bouncy, sparkly, funny woman―but sad. Sr. Lucia of Fatima, one of the three children, said: “We always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!” At Fatima, Our Lady asked the children to suffer out of a love for sinful souls, who would otherwise be condemned to Hell: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners!”
In Japan, in 1973, at AKITA―where Our Lady’s statue wept tears of blood―Our Lady again spoke of the need of love and suffering. She first of all refers to the multiple painful handicaps suffered by the visionary, Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, saying: “Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed, be confident! Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ― beloved souls who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this also from your community ... that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady says: “The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee!
Our Lady then adds: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation.
“And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life!”
First Things First
The popes―from Pope Pius XII onwards―have complained that we have lost the sense of sin. This is a natural and inevitable consequence of having lost the true sense of the value of things, or having lost our sense of values. Our Lord speaks of putting God above all things: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice!” ― justice = giving someone what is due to them (Matthew 6:33) ― then pointing out: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). However, that love is not mere “lip-service”, but entails accepting and carrying the cross of suffering out of a love of God: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments! … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me! … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word! … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
If seeking God first and above all―and loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength―is our first and foremost duty in life, then the avoidance of sin is the automatic flip-side of the same coin. Yet just as we have devalued God, we have consequently and automatically devalued sin. The greatest horror and greatest evil in the world is SIN! Our Catechisms teach us that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet who really follows that teaching? Yes―we might agree in theory―but how many live out that theory in their daily lives? Few, if any, for each one of our days is laden with numerous venial sins―and perhaps even mortal sins! We weep more over losing a wallet, or breaking some valuable household item, more than weep over sin!
The Sorrow of Sin
The ultimate sorrow that has been caused to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, is the sorrow caused by sin and the eternal consequences of sin. The sheer volume of daily sin must be mind-boggling and terrifying! Our Lady revealed to the mystic and foundress of a religious order, the Italian Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Sadly, the sins of the world HAVE INCREASED in both gravity and number―and some of those sins could be said to be the “Modern Day Seven Swords of Sorrow” that pierce Our Lady’s heart―and very few persons are seeking to remove those piercingly painful swords from her Sorrowful Heart. In her later apparitions (after 1917) to Sr. Lucia of Fatima,
Speaking of our times, Our Lady of Good Success stated: “The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation!”
One day in 1582, Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared on numerous occasions―was praying before the altar, when she saw the Tabernacle open and Christ Himself emerged, suffering as He had at Golgotha. Then as Our Lord began His Agony, she heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying, “This punishment will be for the 20th century.” She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity!” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era.
Our Lady of La Salette, in speaking of our days, warned: “Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but blasphemy!”
Our Lady of Fatima, in an apparition to Sr. Lucia on December 10th, 1925, said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude!”
Sin Attacks God
All sin attacks and offends God―yet some sins attack God directly and other sins attack Him indirectly. An example of an direct attack upon God would a sacrilegious Holy Communion―receiving Our Lord while in a state of mortal sin. An example of an indirect attack upon God would be a sin against our neighbor―due to the principle enunciated by Our Lord, when He said: “As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40). Obviously, sins that directly attack God are the worst sins―and these sins include any sins against the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―which are the virtues by which we relate to God, communicate with God, etc.
Yet regardless of whom we sin against, there has to be a root, or tendency, or spark within us that encourages us to sin, that lights the fuse of sin. It seems that this tendency―which is a sin in itself―is the sin of Pride. Pride is something that everyone is born with―it is part and parcel of Original Sin―against which we have to struggle throughout all our life. Today, the weed of pride has overgrown the gardens of all souls―pride reigns supreme, it oozes out from every pore, it is glorified to the heavens, its following is universal. It possesses endless degrees and numerous costumes―it can be flaunted or hidden; it can show itself in words or in thoughts; it can be brash or it can be subtle; it shows itself through clothing or lack of clothing; it provokes actions as well lack of action; it hides beneath both praise and criticism―the list could on and on!
The Roots of Sin
Holy Scripture points out that pride leads us away from God and is the ultimate beginning of all sin: “His heart is departed from Him [God] that made him―for pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holds pride shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride is the beginning of all sin―regardless of whom we sin against, whether it be sins against God, or sins against self, or sins against our neighbor, or sins against God’s creation and creatures. Pride is the foundation, the DNA, the building block of all our sins.
St. Thomas Aquinas thought pride was a special sin, because as an inordinate desire of one’s own excellence, it makes us despise God’s law and can give rise to all other vices (see Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q. 162, art. 2). Pride is listed as one of the Seven Cardinal Sins or Seven Capital Sins―also more popularly called the “Seven Deadly Sins.” The word “cardinal” refers to the Latin word for “hinge”―meaning that these seven sins are the “hinges” upon which we hang our “door” or “gate” of sin. The Seven Cardinal Sins―or Seven Deadly Sins, if you like―are Pride, Covetousness, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, Envy and Sloth. You could say that the Seven Cardinal or Seven Deadly Sins are the ultimate “influencers” of all our resulting sins―they are the seeds that produce the “weeds”, or “cockle”, or “rotten fruit” of sin. Once again, if you have your eyes open, you have to say that these seven sins are the staple diet of most of the world (ourselves included to a greater or lesser degree).
Holy Scripture also speaks of seven sins that God hates―these are not exactly the same as the Seven Cardinal Sins, because they are fruit of the Seven Cardinal Sins, which are the behind-the-scenes beginnings to them: “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth: (1) haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that deviseth wicked plots; (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief; (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren!” Those seven sins, that God hates, are truly rampant today!
As one modern-day Catholic exorcist priest said―only the humble and the pure shall be allowed into Heaven. The present day world is far from being humble and pure! It was Our Lady’s humility and purity that brought about the Incarnation of the Son of God―and, coincidentally, it is the Mystery of the Annunciation that is the beginning of the whole Rosary―which culminates with the 14th Mystery of Our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven and the final 15th Mystery of Our Lady’s Coronation in Heaven.
Lost Sense of Sin
However, what is the point of talking about sin if you have no sense of sin? Beginning with Pope Pius XII (reigned 1939 to 1958), one pope after another has bemoaned modern man’s loss of the sense of sin―whereby sin has been reduced from being the greatest evil in the world (yes―even venial sin), to today not being a big deal at all! “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin” (Pope Pius XII). “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin!” (Pope John Paul II). “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man!” (Pope Benedict XVI). “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!” (Pope Francis).
A Novus Ordo Priest on Some Modern Sins
We all know―or should know―the essential differences between a “Novus Ordo” Catholic priest and a “Traditional” Catholic priest. Generally speaking, most “Novus Ordo” (New Order) priests tend to be “softer” on some moral issues, while the “Traditional” priests tend to be “stricter” on those same issues. Today, it is not uncommon for some “Novus Ordo” priests to “turn a blind eye” towards sins like masturbation, immodest dress, missing Mass on Sundays, etc.
So, rather than quote a “stricter” Traditional priest―here is what a Novus Ordo priest says on the matter of sin. The priest in question is Fr. David Nix, a priest of the Diocese of Denver, Colarado, USA―who chose to live as a hermit and was allowed to do so by his diocesan bishop. Why quote a Novus Ordo priest on the issue of sin? Well, because you always like to buy your gasoline or food at a place that demands the least amount of money for what it sells! The Novus Ordo “prices” are generally cheaper than the Traditional “prices”!
The following is taken from one of Fr. David Nix’s articles entitled: “15 Mortal Sins Catholics Are Missing in Their Confessions” (August 3rd, 2019).
(1) Contraception, IVF (in-vitro-fertilization) and Abortion. Most readers here know that abortion is murder. But many Catholics do not know that contraception (in marriage or out of marriage) is a mortal sin. Both sterilization (of the man or woman) and/or the condom (male or female) is a mortal sin. These must be confessed to enter sanctifying grace. But there is a worse contraceptive sin than even the condom or sterilization within marriage. Many Catholics do not know that the Oral Contraceptive and the IUD function half the time as a contraceptive and half the time as an abortifacient. I explained the medicine of that in this podcast here. This means that Catholic women on the Pill (and the men who sleep with them) should confess their sorrow, not only for the mortal sin of contraception in marriage, but also having killed any of their own children through the use of the Pill, or the shot, or the birth-control implant in the arm. All of these Oral Contraceptives are chemically wired to first stop ovulation and then, as a back-up, to slough off the inner-lining of the uterus to eject newly formed individuals (your children!) into the toilet. As most readers know, IVF requires you to sacrifice about 20 of your own children, via both “embryo reduction” and “freezing” to get about two of them born. Thus, IVF is literally murdering and freezing many of your children, in order to get a few born for yourself. God can quickly forgive the murder of children. If even a priest as intense as me will not scream at anyone in the confessional for this sin, then neither will any priest out there. Just confess it, even if you didn’t know it.
(2) Masturbation and/or Pornography, before marriage or within marriage. Some saints have pointed out that sins which exacted physical death in the Old Covenant (Judaism) are frequently the sins that cause spiritual death in the New Testament (Catholicism.) God directly only kills a few people in the Old Testament, and Onan is one of them: “But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death also.” (Genesis 38:9-10). Thus, sterilization and masturbation and the use of the condom, is a mortal sin, even when no pornography is used. How about pornography without masturbation? This too is a mortal sin, since Jesus said “But I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). In this vein, simply lusting after a woman or a man on the street can be mortal sin! But thankfully St. Francis De Sales (a doctor of the Church) gives us some parameters to know if we consented to such temptations: “Sometimes we are caught off-guard by certain symptoms of pleasure immediately following a temptation. At most, this can only be a very slight venial sin. However, it becomes greater if, after we perceived the evil that has befallen us, we carelessly delay for some time and dally with the pleasure―so as to decide whether we ought to allow or reject it. The sin becomes still greater, if, after becoming aware of the pleasure, we dwell on it for some time through downright negligence and without any determination to reject it. When we voluntarily and with full deliberation resolve to take pleasure in such delights, this deliberate purpose is of itself a grave sin if the object, in which we take delight, is also very evil” (St. Francis De Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Chapter 4 part 6 on “How temptation and pleasure may become sinful”).
(3) Immodesty, Including Wearing Leggings and Short Shorts. I could quote countless saints here, but the most succinct description is what the Mother of God said at Fatima: “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). What are these certain fashions? If not leggings and short shorts, then what? Strangely, many Catholic women know this quote from Fatima, but they only apply it to women who wear less than themselves. Ladies, when you hear that quote from Our Lady of Fatima that certain fashions will lead you (and the men who look at you) to Hell, are you imagining some imaginary time in the year 3022 when some fashion gets worse than leggings and short shorts? What could be more revealing than something that shows every nook and cranny below your waist? What would this magical outfit be that could be worse than that? There is nothing. Rather, let me assure you: The Mother of God very much meant that short shorts, leggings and bikinis will lead you to Hell, including letting your little girls wear leggings. If you wear these things to Mass, you should also confess sacrilege. Or, if you don’t believe my interpretation of Mary’s words, then go for it. Wear it and let your daughters prance around Target in short-shorts and leggings. But might I suggest Pascal’s wager for this one: If your parish priest is right and Fr. Nix is wrong on his interpretation of Fatima, then the most you have lost is a little “comfort” in avoiding leggings for believing me in an erroneous state. But if Fr. Nix is correct in his interpretation (that Mary meant nothing worse than leggings and short-shorts) then just meditate on your first 15 seconds in Hell. As Fr. Z says, just meditate on your first 15 seconds in Hell. Meditate on that 7000 degree furnace for fifteen seconds and the realization that you just lost God forever because you thought leggings (again, that showed every nook and cranny of your nether-regions to every man around you) led you and countless men to Hell for the sake of “comfort.” Am I using fear of Hell to get you to stop wearing leggings and short shorts? Hell yes, I am.
(4) Before marriage, 'making-out' or anything more passionate than that. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “I answer that a thing is said to be a mortal sin in two ways. First, by reason of its species, and in this way a kiss, caress, or touch does not, of its very nature, imply a mortal sin, for it is possible to do such things without lustful pleasure, either as being the custom of one’s country, or on account of some obligation or reasonable cause. Secondly, a thing is said to be a mortal sin by reason of its cause: thus he who gives an alms, in order to lead someone into heresy, sins mortally on account of his corrupt intention. Now it has been stated above (FS, Q[74], A[8]), that it is a mortal sin not only to consent to the act, but also to the delectation of a mortal sin. Wherefore since fornication is a mortal sin, and much more so the other kinds of lust, it follows that in such like sins not only consent to the act but also consent to the pleasure is a mortal sin. Consequently, when these kisses and caresses are done for this delectation, it follows that they are mortal sins, and only in this way are they said to be lustful. Therefore in so far as they are lustful, they are mortal sins…” (St. Thomas Aquinas , Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 154, art. 4, corpus).
(5) In marriage, anything unnatural. The two greatest moral theologians of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori both teach that anal sex and oral sex in marriage is a mortal sin. If you confess this sin, expect many parish priests to say: “It’s not a sin!” Then, you will say: “But St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori both say it’s a mortal sin.” Then, your parish priest will probably say: “But they are not infallible!” This reveals his total lack of understanding of Divine Revelation ― for there is far much more than just ex-cathedra statements that are infallible in the Catholic Church. I don’t have time to re-vamp every priest’s six years training in a single blog post on mortal sins and how hundreds of Popes agree with those two saints, so please just go to a Traditional priest who knows this…or…pull out a Modernist priest’s favorite line: “Please just respect my conscience in confessing this!” Where kissing in passing is permitted anywhere on the body in marriage, St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “it is a mortal sin for a man to put his penis in his wife’s mouth” and St. Thomas Aquinas says it is a mortal sin to put anything but a husband’s penis in his wife’s vagina.
(6) Homosexual Acts. All sexual sins (heterosexual or homosexual) are mortal sins if committed with consent. But homosexual sins are not only under the category of mortal, but under the category of mortal PLUS sins that are said to cry to God for vengeance. This means that sodomy is one of the four worst mortal sins you can commit. There is nothing wrong with same-gender friendship, but ramming a penis in an anus is filthy and evil and violent. That is what sodomy is. I know there are some priests out there committing sodomy, and other priests out there not committing sodomy but celebrating those who do commit sodomy. Let me be very blunt for the sake of your soul: If you are committing homosexual sins and do not repent, and do not confess them, and do not try your best to stop, then you will go to Hell forever. I’m sorry to be blunt, but I say this because I love you, and I really believe God can forgive everyone’s sins. Everyone knows God is merciful, but He is also powerful enough to forgive such filthy sins and make you clean again. Just listen to my friend Joseph Sciambra in our interview here or here.
(7) Chronic failure to catechize your kids. Many good mothers and fathers occasionally miss some catechetical lessons for their kids, and that is not a big deal. That is why I say it’s only a mortal sin if you had a chronic (lifetime) failure to catechize your children. So, if you fail to learn the Catholic Faith and fail to teach it to your children (and I don’t mean to just Sunday Mass, I mean the fullness of the Catholic Faith) then this is a mortal sin. This is especially directed at biological fathers and priests, as you are called to be the main catechizers of your families and flocks. Look, none of this is legalism. It all comes down to love: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments!” (John 14:15). How can your children know Jesus if you don’t teach them how to pray in general and how to meditate and pray the Rosary? The Rosary, when prayed correctly, truly introduces us to Jesus Christ―so that your kids will never hear this from Our Lord at the end of their lives: “Not everyone who says to Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. On that day many will say to Me: ‘Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then will I declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
(8) Greatly harming someone’s reputation. St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, “If I reveal a hidden mortal sin of another, I sin mortally. If I reveal a hidden venial sin, I sin venially; if I reveal his defect, I manifest my own.” That means that if I gossip that my neighbor committed adultery, it puts me in mortal sin, because I have revealed a hidden mortal sin. But key to this phrase is the word “hidden” because if you reveal, for example, that your mother no longer goes to Mass, or your father left the Catholic Church, these are public mortal sins. Not that they should be talked about a lot―but discussing a public mortal sin, say of a politician, where such behavior is not what you call good practice for the Catholic―is not mortal sin. Another exception to this is intervention. For example, if your neighbor is sexually molesting his children, you are required to call the police. If your uncle is an alcoholic, you may need to have an intervention. It is not a sin to discuss these things, but it always must be for physical safety and eternal salvation of others. Also, be sure to avoid couching the gossip of mortal sins into prayer: “Yeah, that gal in our Bible Study really needs prayers because she keeps flirting with the priest!” Again, St. Ignatius of Loyola: “If I reveal a hidden mortal sin of another, I sin mortally.”
(9) Missing Sunday Mass without good reason and/or unnecessary work on Sunday. Before Vatican II, both of these were tied together in all priest’s moral theology training. Now, I am absolutely shocked how many priests today admit that missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin (good on those priests for admitting that), but then deny my assertion that unnecessary work on Sunday is a mortal sin (an oversight that might land many priests in Hell). I do not have time to quote countless Popes on this one, so I will just give a quote from the patron of all priests, St. John Vianney, who saw people pushing their farming carts around on Sunday. He said: “I see them pushing their carts and I see them pushing them into Hell.” Could we not say that at a Wal-Mart on Sunday? “I see them pushing their carts, and I see them pushing them into Hell.” Again, a caveat [warning] is in order. There is necessary work on Sunday. For example, the medical field requires workers on Sunday: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4). Or, if you have a big feast for your family on Sunday, of course it may be necessary to do a couple hours of clean up. Also excepted is charity work: cleaning up your Church, or working at a soup kitchen. These are not only permitted, but even encouraged on Sundays. But all in all, we should work on Saturdays, like Jews work on Fridays, to get everything done. I can already hear a lot of priests reading this blog post and their response to me: “But under the new law we are free in Jesus Christ―so why compare us to Old Testament Jews and the Sabbath?” My answer: “Precisely so we can be the free sons of God on Sundays with our families.”
(10) Denying your workers a fair wage. Pope St. Pius X writes in his Catechism: “The sins that are said to cry to God for vengeance are these four: (1) Willful murder; (2) The sin of sodomy; (3) Oppression of the poor; (4) Defrauding laborers of their wages.” Those last two must be highly considered by any Catholic business owners out there. These are the four most serious sins that the Church has put forth. This is not antiquated devotionals of Fr. Nix. This is the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Many more parts of our articulated Faith and Morals are infallible than just the two ex-cathedra statements.
(11) Getting Drunk or ‘High’. I will be coming out with a podcast or blog post on drugs in the future, so let’s briefly focus on why getting drunk on alcohol is a mortal sin. Getting drunk is not a mortal sin only because it leads to doing other mortal sins (like most people say today), but also in and of it itself, drunkenness overturns the greatest natural gift given to us, our reason. The threshold to balance between ‘buzzed’ and drunk for St. Alphonsus Liguori is not as difficult to meet as some might have thought: “It is certain among all authorities that for it to be the case that drunkenness to be a mortal sin it is required that it would be perfect drunkenness, namely that it would altogether deprive one of the use of reason, just as St. Thomas teaches (II IIæ q. 150, a. 2), and with all the doctors. The malice of drunkenness consists in this, that a man, wishing and knowing, deprives himself of the use of reason. St. Antoninus teaches the same thing. This is why one would not sin mortally that did not altogether lose the use of reason from drinking wine, even if the mind were disturbed, but not so much that he were not able to discern between good and evil, as the authors commonly say…{It is] the common opinion to teach that drunkenness is not a mortal sin if it would deprive one from reason for only a brief period” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Theologia Moralis, Book II, “On Sin”, chapter 3, on the Capital Sins, Article II, “What is Drunkenness?” no. 75).
(12) Saying the Name of Jesus in Vain. In the Second Part of the Second Part, question 122 article 3, St. Thomas Aquinas expounds on Exodus 20:7, “Thou shalt not take the Name of…thy God in vain,” by saying that this is actually blasphemy, and that “blasphemy, or any word or deed that is an insult to God, is much more grievous than perjury.” Thus, saying “Jesus Christ!” in vain (not in prayer or praise or supplication) is a mortal sin. Remember, as I said above, that sins exacting death in the Old Testament, usually cause spiritual death in the New Testament. Please remember that the name of Jesus is as holy as the name Yahweh, because it is the same person, God. If someone said the latter in the Old Testament, they would be stoned to death. Nowadays, in the New Covenant, judgment is reserved, which is why we do not die immediately upon committing a mortal sin―like saying God’s name in vain. In short, we have time to confess this sin before judgment. Now, I doubt that saying “Oh my God!” is a mortal sin. Also, if you slam your finger in your car door and yell Our Lord’s Most Holy Name, it is probably not a mortal sin―since you did not act with full consent. Obviously, if you’re going through childbirth, or being tortured for Christ, yelling the holy name of “Jesus!” is not only not sinful, but even meritorious, as you are begging Him for help! But just going around and misusing the Holy Name of Jesus, in a willy-nilly manner, is most certainly a mortal sin that calls down punishment on you and those around you. As I always tell youth groups: “When you say the Name of Jesus in prayer―angels come to you and demons flee. When you misuse the name of Jesus―angels flee and demons come to you.”
(13) Denying the Catholic Faith, including any involvement in the occult, even Tarot Cards or Ouija Boards. Jesus said: “So everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father Who is in Heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). Dabbling in other religions is a direct denial of Jesus Christ, as is permitting your children to play with Tarot Cards and Ouija Boards. All of these are mortal sins that must be confessed before receiving Holy Communion. Is reading Harry Potter or letting your children read Harry Potter a mortal sin? I don’t know, but I’d encourage you to listen to Fr. Ripperger (an exorcist) at minute 57 here.
(14) Skipping Friday Penance. From the earliest days of Christianity, Fridays were a day of fasting, since Jesus died for us on a Friday. In fact, all the way up to Vatican II, Catholics had to refrain from meat for about 50 Fridays a year. This was bound under mortal sin. Has that changed? No. The new Code of Canon Law, released under Pope John Paul II, has only changed the type of penance, not the requirement for a Friday penance. Now, the suggestion is still to stay meatless, but a substitutionary penance is permitted in the new 1983 code. In other words, we are still bound under grave matter to do some penance (which is a physically hard act of returning to God) on Fridays, even if it is not refraining from meat. But to refrain from meat is the clearest indication we are not skirting around such grave matter, so I highly suggest all readers (except the very old, very young, sick and pregnant) to refrain from meat on all Fridays except 1st class Feasts (solemnities in the new calendar.)
(15) Receiving Holy Communion with any of the above sins on your heart. The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X says: “He who goes to Communion in mortal sin receives Jesus Christ, but not His grace―moreover, he commits a sacrilege and renders himself deserving of sentence of damnation.” Furthermore, the Council of Trent (an infallible Council) says: “For no crime is there heavier punishment to be feared from God than for the unholy or irreligious use of the Eucharist.” (Council of Trent, De Eucharistia, v.i). Please, if you have committed any of the above sins, go to confession before receiving the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord.
Today’s Tsunami of Sin
You can see from the above explanations that we are living in the midst of a “tsunami of sin” ― which was already foretold by Our Lady of Good Success around 400 years ago: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!”
Over 300 years later, in 1956, Our Lady gave an “update on sin” to Blessed Elena Aiello, saying: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Then in 1973 in Japan, at Akita, Our Lady gave us a further update: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
In 1973―when Our Lady spoke those words at Akita―there was nowhere near the amount of sin that we are seeing today! In 1973 there was no internet (that only came in the late 1990s). Divorce was nowhere near what it is today―in 1974 less than 2% of American married women were divorced, which, back then, was a record for United States divorce rates since World War II. Today the USA divorce rate is almost 50 percent of all marriages―which is 25 times more than back in 1974. Once the modern contraceptive methods were born―the pill, the intra-uterine device, sterilization, etc. ― the practice of contraception shot through the roof. In many countries contraception was illegal―then one country after another succumbed to pressure to legalize contraception. Abortion was another sin that―prior to Roe vs. Wade in 1973 (the year Our Lady appeared in Akita)―was relatively small in number compared to the resulting tsunami of abortions after 1973, when one country after another legalized abortion. In the USA, before the Roe vs. Wade legalization of abortion, there were 5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. Within 7 seven years that number had increased by 500% percent! Some persons will try to tell you that numbers of USA abortions have fallen in last two decades―but what they won’t tell you is that around the year 2000, abortifacient (abortion provoking) contraceptives were finally legally approved in the USA. Thus women no longer had to for a medical abortion―they could now have an early abortion on the toilet seat!
Yet those numbers and their gravity fade away alongside the sins that are directly committed against God. Just think of the numbers of Catholics who either fall-away from practicing the Faith or even totally reject and abandon the Faith―the combined total is around 90% and was around 80% before the Plannedemic. Innumerable are the sacrilegious Holy Communions that are made by Catholics in a state of mortal sin. Countless are the times that the Name of God, Our Lady and the Saints are abused each and every day all around the world. The numbers of Catholics that apostatize or join heretical religious sects is massive and is still increasing! Adding injury to insult is the fact that over 50% of Catholics accept and agree with remarried divorcees; homosexual relationships; cohabitation―all of which fly in face of the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Yet we still calmly sit in front of our entertainment box of preference, sipping our preferred beverage and munching on our preferred foods and delicacies―as though there was nothing wrong and we had not a care in the world! It is said that in the terrible times of the so-called “Last Days” (which Our Lady has indicated that we have already entered), all that people will think about is amusements, sitting down to eat and drink and then rising up to play: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took them all away―so also shall the coming of the Son of man be!” (Matthew 24:36-29). “People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady of La Salette).
It is easy to say “I love you!” ― it is much harder to prove that love! You can link that idea to the proverbial “actions speak louder than words” or the Scriptural “Faith with works is dead!” In a broad and loose sense, you could also say that love without suffering is dead! Our Lord Himself implied that love and suffering were joined together―married, if you like―when He said: “Greater love than this no man has, than when a man lays down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). That is precisely what Our Lord did―He laid down His life for us sinners, in order to prove His immense love of us sinners. Even as He drew his last breaths of life on the Cross, He said: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). In His great love He dies and seeks to forgive so that we might have life―eternal life.
A woman, in childbirth, also unites her love to the suffering of bringing forth with great pain, out of her womb, the child to which she seeks to give life―life in this world. Later in life, she will join suffering to her love for that child, when she will be forced to inflict pain on that child, in order to correct the wayward child―though she inflicts a painful punishment on the misbehaving child, she, if she is a true mother, could well say: “This hurts me more than it hurts you!”
In a similar vein, at LA SALETTE in 1846, Our Lady complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” At La Salette, Our Lady appeared as a Mother of Sorrows, weeping disconsolately.
That same sorrowing Mother appeared to the three children at FATIMA, around 70 years later in 1917, asking them to take on―in their love―the task of suffering for sinners in order to save them from Hell. Our Lady did not appear as a smiling, bouncy, sparkly, funny woman―but sad. Sr. Lucia of Fatima, one of the three children, said: “We always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!” At Fatima, Our Lady asked the children to suffer out of a love for sinful souls, who would otherwise be condemned to Hell: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners!”
In Japan, in 1973, at AKITA―where Our Lady’s statue wept tears of blood―Our Lady again spoke of the need of love and suffering. She first of all refers to the multiple painful handicaps suffered by the visionary, Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, saying: “Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed, be confident! Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ― beloved souls who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this also from your community ... that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady says: “The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee!
Our Lady then adds: “Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation.
“And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life!”
First Things First
The popes―from Pope Pius XII onwards―have complained that we have lost the sense of sin. This is a natural and inevitable consequence of having lost the true sense of the value of things, or having lost our sense of values. Our Lord speaks of putting God above all things: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice!” ― justice = giving someone what is due to them (Matthew 6:33) ― then pointing out: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). However, that love is not mere “lip-service”, but entails accepting and carrying the cross of suffering out of a love of God: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments! … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me! … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word! … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
If seeking God first and above all―and loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength―is our first and foremost duty in life, then the avoidance of sin is the automatic flip-side of the same coin. Yet just as we have devalued God, we have consequently and automatically devalued sin. The greatest horror and greatest evil in the world is SIN! Our Catechisms teach us that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet who really follows that teaching? Yes―we might agree in theory―but how many live out that theory in their daily lives? Few, if any, for each one of our days is laden with numerous venial sins―and perhaps even mortal sins! We weep more over losing a wallet, or breaking some valuable household item, more than weep over sin!
The Sorrow of Sin
The ultimate sorrow that has been caused to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, is the sorrow caused by sin and the eternal consequences of sin. The sheer volume of daily sin must be mind-boggling and terrifying! Our Lady revealed to the mystic and foundress of a religious order, the Italian Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Sadly, the sins of the world HAVE INCREASED in both gravity and number―and some of those sins could be said to be the “Modern Day Seven Swords of Sorrow” that pierce Our Lady’s heart―and very few persons are seeking to remove those piercingly painful swords from her Sorrowful Heart. In her later apparitions (after 1917) to Sr. Lucia of Fatima,
Speaking of our times, Our Lady of Good Success stated: “The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation!”
One day in 1582, Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared on numerous occasions―was praying before the altar, when she saw the Tabernacle open and Christ Himself emerged, suffering as He had at Golgotha. Then as Our Lord began His Agony, she heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying, “This punishment will be for the 20th century.” She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity!” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era.
Our Lady of La Salette, in speaking of our days, warned: “Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but blasphemy!”
Our Lady of Fatima, in an apparition to Sr. Lucia on December 10th, 1925, said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude!”
Sin Attacks God
All sin attacks and offends God―yet some sins attack God directly and other sins attack Him indirectly. An example of an direct attack upon God would a sacrilegious Holy Communion―receiving Our Lord while in a state of mortal sin. An example of an indirect attack upon God would be a sin against our neighbor―due to the principle enunciated by Our Lord, when He said: “As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40). Obviously, sins that directly attack God are the worst sins―and these sins include any sins against the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―which are the virtues by which we relate to God, communicate with God, etc.
Yet regardless of whom we sin against, there has to be a root, or tendency, or spark within us that encourages us to sin, that lights the fuse of sin. It seems that this tendency―which is a sin in itself―is the sin of Pride. Pride is something that everyone is born with―it is part and parcel of Original Sin―against which we have to struggle throughout all our life. Today, the weed of pride has overgrown the gardens of all souls―pride reigns supreme, it oozes out from every pore, it is glorified to the heavens, its following is universal. It possesses endless degrees and numerous costumes―it can be flaunted or hidden; it can show itself in words or in thoughts; it can be brash or it can be subtle; it shows itself through clothing or lack of clothing; it provokes actions as well lack of action; it hides beneath both praise and criticism―the list could on and on!
The Roots of Sin
Holy Scripture points out that pride leads us away from God and is the ultimate beginning of all sin: “His heart is departed from Him [God] that made him―for pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holds pride shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride is the beginning of all sin―regardless of whom we sin against, whether it be sins against God, or sins against self, or sins against our neighbor, or sins against God’s creation and creatures. Pride is the foundation, the DNA, the building block of all our sins.
St. Thomas Aquinas thought pride was a special sin, because as an inordinate desire of one’s own excellence, it makes us despise God’s law and can give rise to all other vices (see Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q. 162, art. 2). Pride is listed as one of the Seven Cardinal Sins or Seven Capital Sins―also more popularly called the “Seven Deadly Sins.” The word “cardinal” refers to the Latin word for “hinge”―meaning that these seven sins are the “hinges” upon which we hang our “door” or “gate” of sin. The Seven Cardinal Sins―or Seven Deadly Sins, if you like―are Pride, Covetousness, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, Envy and Sloth. You could say that the Seven Cardinal or Seven Deadly Sins are the ultimate “influencers” of all our resulting sins―they are the seeds that produce the “weeds”, or “cockle”, or “rotten fruit” of sin. Once again, if you have your eyes open, you have to say that these seven sins are the staple diet of most of the world (ourselves included to a greater or lesser degree).
Holy Scripture also speaks of seven sins that God hates―these are not exactly the same as the Seven Cardinal Sins, because they are fruit of the Seven Cardinal Sins, which are the behind-the-scenes beginnings to them: “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth: (1) haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that deviseth wicked plots; (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief; (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren!” Those seven sins, that God hates, are truly rampant today!
As one modern-day Catholic exorcist priest said―only the humble and the pure shall be allowed into Heaven. The present day world is far from being humble and pure! It was Our Lady’s humility and purity that brought about the Incarnation of the Son of God―and, coincidentally, it is the Mystery of the Annunciation that is the beginning of the whole Rosary―which culminates with the 14th Mystery of Our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven and the final 15th Mystery of Our Lady’s Coronation in Heaven.
Lost Sense of Sin
However, what is the point of talking about sin if you have no sense of sin? Beginning with Pope Pius XII (reigned 1939 to 1958), one pope after another has bemoaned modern man’s loss of the sense of sin―whereby sin has been reduced from being the greatest evil in the world (yes―even venial sin), to today not being a big deal at all! “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin” (Pope Pius XII). “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin!” (Pope John Paul II). “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man!” (Pope Benedict XVI). “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!” (Pope Francis).
A Novus Ordo Priest on Some Modern Sins
We all know―or should know―the essential differences between a “Novus Ordo” Catholic priest and a “Traditional” Catholic priest. Generally speaking, most “Novus Ordo” (New Order) priests tend to be “softer” on some moral issues, while the “Traditional” priests tend to be “stricter” on those same issues. Today, it is not uncommon for some “Novus Ordo” priests to “turn a blind eye” towards sins like masturbation, immodest dress, missing Mass on Sundays, etc.
So, rather than quote a “stricter” Traditional priest―here is what a Novus Ordo priest says on the matter of sin. The priest in question is Fr. David Nix, a priest of the Diocese of Denver, Colarado, USA―who chose to live as a hermit and was allowed to do so by his diocesan bishop. Why quote a Novus Ordo priest on the issue of sin? Well, because you always like to buy your gasoline or food at a place that demands the least amount of money for what it sells! The Novus Ordo “prices” are generally cheaper than the Traditional “prices”!
The following is taken from one of Fr. David Nix’s articles entitled: “15 Mortal Sins Catholics Are Missing in Their Confessions” (August 3rd, 2019).
(1) Contraception, IVF (in-vitro-fertilization) and Abortion. Most readers here know that abortion is murder. But many Catholics do not know that contraception (in marriage or out of marriage) is a mortal sin. Both sterilization (of the man or woman) and/or the condom (male or female) is a mortal sin. These must be confessed to enter sanctifying grace. But there is a worse contraceptive sin than even the condom or sterilization within marriage. Many Catholics do not know that the Oral Contraceptive and the IUD function half the time as a contraceptive and half the time as an abortifacient. I explained the medicine of that in this podcast here. This means that Catholic women on the Pill (and the men who sleep with them) should confess their sorrow, not only for the mortal sin of contraception in marriage, but also having killed any of their own children through the use of the Pill, or the shot, or the birth-control implant in the arm. All of these Oral Contraceptives are chemically wired to first stop ovulation and then, as a back-up, to slough off the inner-lining of the uterus to eject newly formed individuals (your children!) into the toilet. As most readers know, IVF requires you to sacrifice about 20 of your own children, via both “embryo reduction” and “freezing” to get about two of them born. Thus, IVF is literally murdering and freezing many of your children, in order to get a few born for yourself. God can quickly forgive the murder of children. If even a priest as intense as me will not scream at anyone in the confessional for this sin, then neither will any priest out there. Just confess it, even if you didn’t know it.
(2) Masturbation and/or Pornography, before marriage or within marriage. Some saints have pointed out that sins which exacted physical death in the Old Covenant (Judaism) are frequently the sins that cause spiritual death in the New Testament (Catholicism.) God directly only kills a few people in the Old Testament, and Onan is one of them: “But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death also.” (Genesis 38:9-10). Thus, sterilization and masturbation and the use of the condom, is a mortal sin, even when no pornography is used. How about pornography without masturbation? This too is a mortal sin, since Jesus said “But I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). In this vein, simply lusting after a woman or a man on the street can be mortal sin! But thankfully St. Francis De Sales (a doctor of the Church) gives us some parameters to know if we consented to such temptations: “Sometimes we are caught off-guard by certain symptoms of pleasure immediately following a temptation. At most, this can only be a very slight venial sin. However, it becomes greater if, after we perceived the evil that has befallen us, we carelessly delay for some time and dally with the pleasure―so as to decide whether we ought to allow or reject it. The sin becomes still greater, if, after becoming aware of the pleasure, we dwell on it for some time through downright negligence and without any determination to reject it. When we voluntarily and with full deliberation resolve to take pleasure in such delights, this deliberate purpose is of itself a grave sin if the object, in which we take delight, is also very evil” (St. Francis De Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Chapter 4 part 6 on “How temptation and pleasure may become sinful”).
(3) Immodesty, Including Wearing Leggings and Short Shorts. I could quote countless saints here, but the most succinct description is what the Mother of God said at Fatima: “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). What are these certain fashions? If not leggings and short shorts, then what? Strangely, many Catholic women know this quote from Fatima, but they only apply it to women who wear less than themselves. Ladies, when you hear that quote from Our Lady of Fatima that certain fashions will lead you (and the men who look at you) to Hell, are you imagining some imaginary time in the year 3022 when some fashion gets worse than leggings and short shorts? What could be more revealing than something that shows every nook and cranny below your waist? What would this magical outfit be that could be worse than that? There is nothing. Rather, let me assure you: The Mother of God very much meant that short shorts, leggings and bikinis will lead you to Hell, including letting your little girls wear leggings. If you wear these things to Mass, you should also confess sacrilege. Or, if you don’t believe my interpretation of Mary’s words, then go for it. Wear it and let your daughters prance around Target in short-shorts and leggings. But might I suggest Pascal’s wager for this one: If your parish priest is right and Fr. Nix is wrong on his interpretation of Fatima, then the most you have lost is a little “comfort” in avoiding leggings for believing me in an erroneous state. But if Fr. Nix is correct in his interpretation (that Mary meant nothing worse than leggings and short-shorts) then just meditate on your first 15 seconds in Hell. As Fr. Z says, just meditate on your first 15 seconds in Hell. Meditate on that 7000 degree furnace for fifteen seconds and the realization that you just lost God forever because you thought leggings (again, that showed every nook and cranny of your nether-regions to every man around you) led you and countless men to Hell for the sake of “comfort.” Am I using fear of Hell to get you to stop wearing leggings and short shorts? Hell yes, I am.
(4) Before marriage, 'making-out' or anything more passionate than that. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “I answer that a thing is said to be a mortal sin in two ways. First, by reason of its species, and in this way a kiss, caress, or touch does not, of its very nature, imply a mortal sin, for it is possible to do such things without lustful pleasure, either as being the custom of one’s country, or on account of some obligation or reasonable cause. Secondly, a thing is said to be a mortal sin by reason of its cause: thus he who gives an alms, in order to lead someone into heresy, sins mortally on account of his corrupt intention. Now it has been stated above (FS, Q[74], A[8]), that it is a mortal sin not only to consent to the act, but also to the delectation of a mortal sin. Wherefore since fornication is a mortal sin, and much more so the other kinds of lust, it follows that in such like sins not only consent to the act but also consent to the pleasure is a mortal sin. Consequently, when these kisses and caresses are done for this delectation, it follows that they are mortal sins, and only in this way are they said to be lustful. Therefore in so far as they are lustful, they are mortal sins…” (St. Thomas Aquinas , Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 154, art. 4, corpus).
(5) In marriage, anything unnatural. The two greatest moral theologians of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori both teach that anal sex and oral sex in marriage is a mortal sin. If you confess this sin, expect many parish priests to say: “It’s not a sin!” Then, you will say: “But St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori both say it’s a mortal sin.” Then, your parish priest will probably say: “But they are not infallible!” This reveals his total lack of understanding of Divine Revelation ― for there is far much more than just ex-cathedra statements that are infallible in the Catholic Church. I don’t have time to re-vamp every priest’s six years training in a single blog post on mortal sins and how hundreds of Popes agree with those two saints, so please just go to a Traditional priest who knows this…or…pull out a Modernist priest’s favorite line: “Please just respect my conscience in confessing this!” Where kissing in passing is permitted anywhere on the body in marriage, St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “it is a mortal sin for a man to put his penis in his wife’s mouth” and St. Thomas Aquinas says it is a mortal sin to put anything but a husband’s penis in his wife’s vagina.
(6) Homosexual Acts. All sexual sins (heterosexual or homosexual) are mortal sins if committed with consent. But homosexual sins are not only under the category of mortal, but under the category of mortal PLUS sins that are said to cry to God for vengeance. This means that sodomy is one of the four worst mortal sins you can commit. There is nothing wrong with same-gender friendship, but ramming a penis in an anus is filthy and evil and violent. That is what sodomy is. I know there are some priests out there committing sodomy, and other priests out there not committing sodomy but celebrating those who do commit sodomy. Let me be very blunt for the sake of your soul: If you are committing homosexual sins and do not repent, and do not confess them, and do not try your best to stop, then you will go to Hell forever. I’m sorry to be blunt, but I say this because I love you, and I really believe God can forgive everyone’s sins. Everyone knows God is merciful, but He is also powerful enough to forgive such filthy sins and make you clean again. Just listen to my friend Joseph Sciambra in our interview here or here.
(7) Chronic failure to catechize your kids. Many good mothers and fathers occasionally miss some catechetical lessons for their kids, and that is not a big deal. That is why I say it’s only a mortal sin if you had a chronic (lifetime) failure to catechize your children. So, if you fail to learn the Catholic Faith and fail to teach it to your children (and I don’t mean to just Sunday Mass, I mean the fullness of the Catholic Faith) then this is a mortal sin. This is especially directed at biological fathers and priests, as you are called to be the main catechizers of your families and flocks. Look, none of this is legalism. It all comes down to love: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments!” (John 14:15). How can your children know Jesus if you don’t teach them how to pray in general and how to meditate and pray the Rosary? The Rosary, when prayed correctly, truly introduces us to Jesus Christ―so that your kids will never hear this from Our Lord at the end of their lives: “Not everyone who says to Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. On that day many will say to Me: ‘Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then will I declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
(8) Greatly harming someone’s reputation. St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, “If I reveal a hidden mortal sin of another, I sin mortally. If I reveal a hidden venial sin, I sin venially; if I reveal his defect, I manifest my own.” That means that if I gossip that my neighbor committed adultery, it puts me in mortal sin, because I have revealed a hidden mortal sin. But key to this phrase is the word “hidden” because if you reveal, for example, that your mother no longer goes to Mass, or your father left the Catholic Church, these are public mortal sins. Not that they should be talked about a lot―but discussing a public mortal sin, say of a politician, where such behavior is not what you call good practice for the Catholic―is not mortal sin. Another exception to this is intervention. For example, if your neighbor is sexually molesting his children, you are required to call the police. If your uncle is an alcoholic, you may need to have an intervention. It is not a sin to discuss these things, but it always must be for physical safety and eternal salvation of others. Also, be sure to avoid couching the gossip of mortal sins into prayer: “Yeah, that gal in our Bible Study really needs prayers because she keeps flirting with the priest!” Again, St. Ignatius of Loyola: “If I reveal a hidden mortal sin of another, I sin mortally.”
(9) Missing Sunday Mass without good reason and/or unnecessary work on Sunday. Before Vatican II, both of these were tied together in all priest’s moral theology training. Now, I am absolutely shocked how many priests today admit that missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin (good on those priests for admitting that), but then deny my assertion that unnecessary work on Sunday is a mortal sin (an oversight that might land many priests in Hell). I do not have time to quote countless Popes on this one, so I will just give a quote from the patron of all priests, St. John Vianney, who saw people pushing their farming carts around on Sunday. He said: “I see them pushing their carts and I see them pushing them into Hell.” Could we not say that at a Wal-Mart on Sunday? “I see them pushing their carts, and I see them pushing them into Hell.” Again, a caveat [warning] is in order. There is necessary work on Sunday. For example, the medical field requires workers on Sunday: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4). Or, if you have a big feast for your family on Sunday, of course it may be necessary to do a couple hours of clean up. Also excepted is charity work: cleaning up your Church, or working at a soup kitchen. These are not only permitted, but even encouraged on Sundays. But all in all, we should work on Saturdays, like Jews work on Fridays, to get everything done. I can already hear a lot of priests reading this blog post and their response to me: “But under the new law we are free in Jesus Christ―so why compare us to Old Testament Jews and the Sabbath?” My answer: “Precisely so we can be the free sons of God on Sundays with our families.”
(10) Denying your workers a fair wage. Pope St. Pius X writes in his Catechism: “The sins that are said to cry to God for vengeance are these four: (1) Willful murder; (2) The sin of sodomy; (3) Oppression of the poor; (4) Defrauding laborers of their wages.” Those last two must be highly considered by any Catholic business owners out there. These are the four most serious sins that the Church has put forth. This is not antiquated devotionals of Fr. Nix. This is the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Many more parts of our articulated Faith and Morals are infallible than just the two ex-cathedra statements.
(11) Getting Drunk or ‘High’. I will be coming out with a podcast or blog post on drugs in the future, so let’s briefly focus on why getting drunk on alcohol is a mortal sin. Getting drunk is not a mortal sin only because it leads to doing other mortal sins (like most people say today), but also in and of it itself, drunkenness overturns the greatest natural gift given to us, our reason. The threshold to balance between ‘buzzed’ and drunk for St. Alphonsus Liguori is not as difficult to meet as some might have thought: “It is certain among all authorities that for it to be the case that drunkenness to be a mortal sin it is required that it would be perfect drunkenness, namely that it would altogether deprive one of the use of reason, just as St. Thomas teaches (II IIæ q. 150, a. 2), and with all the doctors. The malice of drunkenness consists in this, that a man, wishing and knowing, deprives himself of the use of reason. St. Antoninus teaches the same thing. This is why one would not sin mortally that did not altogether lose the use of reason from drinking wine, even if the mind were disturbed, but not so much that he were not able to discern between good and evil, as the authors commonly say…{It is] the common opinion to teach that drunkenness is not a mortal sin if it would deprive one from reason for only a brief period” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Theologia Moralis, Book II, “On Sin”, chapter 3, on the Capital Sins, Article II, “What is Drunkenness?” no. 75).
(12) Saying the Name of Jesus in Vain. In the Second Part of the Second Part, question 122 article 3, St. Thomas Aquinas expounds on Exodus 20:7, “Thou shalt not take the Name of…thy God in vain,” by saying that this is actually blasphemy, and that “blasphemy, or any word or deed that is an insult to God, is much more grievous than perjury.” Thus, saying “Jesus Christ!” in vain (not in prayer or praise or supplication) is a mortal sin. Remember, as I said above, that sins exacting death in the Old Testament, usually cause spiritual death in the New Testament. Please remember that the name of Jesus is as holy as the name Yahweh, because it is the same person, God. If someone said the latter in the Old Testament, they would be stoned to death. Nowadays, in the New Covenant, judgment is reserved, which is why we do not die immediately upon committing a mortal sin―like saying God’s name in vain. In short, we have time to confess this sin before judgment. Now, I doubt that saying “Oh my God!” is a mortal sin. Also, if you slam your finger in your car door and yell Our Lord’s Most Holy Name, it is probably not a mortal sin―since you did not act with full consent. Obviously, if you’re going through childbirth, or being tortured for Christ, yelling the holy name of “Jesus!” is not only not sinful, but even meritorious, as you are begging Him for help! But just going around and misusing the Holy Name of Jesus, in a willy-nilly manner, is most certainly a mortal sin that calls down punishment on you and those around you. As I always tell youth groups: “When you say the Name of Jesus in prayer―angels come to you and demons flee. When you misuse the name of Jesus―angels flee and demons come to you.”
(13) Denying the Catholic Faith, including any involvement in the occult, even Tarot Cards or Ouija Boards. Jesus said: “So everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father Who is in Heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). Dabbling in other religions is a direct denial of Jesus Christ, as is permitting your children to play with Tarot Cards and Ouija Boards. All of these are mortal sins that must be confessed before receiving Holy Communion. Is reading Harry Potter or letting your children read Harry Potter a mortal sin? I don’t know, but I’d encourage you to listen to Fr. Ripperger (an exorcist) at minute 57 here.
(14) Skipping Friday Penance. From the earliest days of Christianity, Fridays were a day of fasting, since Jesus died for us on a Friday. In fact, all the way up to Vatican II, Catholics had to refrain from meat for about 50 Fridays a year. This was bound under mortal sin. Has that changed? No. The new Code of Canon Law, released under Pope John Paul II, has only changed the type of penance, not the requirement for a Friday penance. Now, the suggestion is still to stay meatless, but a substitutionary penance is permitted in the new 1983 code. In other words, we are still bound under grave matter to do some penance (which is a physically hard act of returning to God) on Fridays, even if it is not refraining from meat. But to refrain from meat is the clearest indication we are not skirting around such grave matter, so I highly suggest all readers (except the very old, very young, sick and pregnant) to refrain from meat on all Fridays except 1st class Feasts (solemnities in the new calendar.)
(15) Receiving Holy Communion with any of the above sins on your heart. The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X says: “He who goes to Communion in mortal sin receives Jesus Christ, but not His grace―moreover, he commits a sacrilege and renders himself deserving of sentence of damnation.” Furthermore, the Council of Trent (an infallible Council) says: “For no crime is there heavier punishment to be feared from God than for the unholy or irreligious use of the Eucharist.” (Council of Trent, De Eucharistia, v.i). Please, if you have committed any of the above sins, go to confession before receiving the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord.
Today’s Tsunami of Sin
You can see from the above explanations that we are living in the midst of a “tsunami of sin” ― which was already foretold by Our Lady of Good Success around 400 years ago: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!”
Over 300 years later, in 1956, Our Lady gave an “update on sin” to Blessed Elena Aiello, saying: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Then in 1973 in Japan, at Akita, Our Lady gave us a further update: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
In 1973―when Our Lady spoke those words at Akita―there was nowhere near the amount of sin that we are seeing today! In 1973 there was no internet (that only came in the late 1990s). Divorce was nowhere near what it is today―in 1974 less than 2% of American married women were divorced, which, back then, was a record for United States divorce rates since World War II. Today the USA divorce rate is almost 50 percent of all marriages―which is 25 times more than back in 1974. Once the modern contraceptive methods were born―the pill, the intra-uterine device, sterilization, etc. ― the practice of contraception shot through the roof. In many countries contraception was illegal―then one country after another succumbed to pressure to legalize contraception. Abortion was another sin that―prior to Roe vs. Wade in 1973 (the year Our Lady appeared in Akita)―was relatively small in number compared to the resulting tsunami of abortions after 1973, when one country after another legalized abortion. In the USA, before the Roe vs. Wade legalization of abortion, there were 5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. Within 7 seven years that number had increased by 500% percent! Some persons will try to tell you that numbers of USA abortions have fallen in last two decades―but what they won’t tell you is that around the year 2000, abortifacient (abortion provoking) contraceptives were finally legally approved in the USA. Thus women no longer had to for a medical abortion―they could now have an early abortion on the toilet seat!
Yet those numbers and their gravity fade away alongside the sins that are directly committed against God. Just think of the numbers of Catholics who either fall-away from practicing the Faith or even totally reject and abandon the Faith―the combined total is around 90% and was around 80% before the Plannedemic. Innumerable are the sacrilegious Holy Communions that are made by Catholics in a state of mortal sin. Countless are the times that the Name of God, Our Lady and the Saints are abused each and every day all around the world. The numbers of Catholics that apostatize or join heretical religious sects is massive and is still increasing! Adding injury to insult is the fact that over 50% of Catholics accept and agree with remarried divorcees; homosexual relationships; cohabitation―all of which fly in face of the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Yet we still calmly sit in front of our entertainment box of preference, sipping our preferred beverage and munching on our preferred foods and delicacies―as though there was nothing wrong and we had not a care in the world! It is said that in the terrible times of the so-called “Last Days” (which Our Lady has indicated that we have already entered), all that people will think about is amusements, sitting down to eat and drink and then rising up to play: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took them all away―so also shall the coming of the Son of man be!” (Matthew 24:36-29). “People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Tuesday September 14th
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Article 8
The Most Unpopular Feast of the Year!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Article 8
The Most Unpopular Feast of the Year!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Message
Is it “Get the message across!” Or “Get the message? A cross!” Our Lord tried to get the message across to everyone! Get the message―a cross.
“And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Get the message? A cross! Get the message across―in you parish, your school, your home, your workplace. It is not for nothing that Holy Mother Church says in her liturgy: “In cruce salus!” ― meaning, “In the cross is salvation!” ― and “Ave crux, spes unica!” ― meaning, “Hail cross, our sole hope!”
St. Paul―enamored with the cross―writes: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18) … “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). St. Peter adds: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
Unpopular Message
Unfortunately, there are few takers of the cross! “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
The Imitation of Christ―which is sometimes affectionately called “The Fifth Gospel”―has two chapters dedicated to the cross of Christ.
► The first is Book Two : Chapter Eleven, entitled: Few Love the Cross of Jesus:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him.
“But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!
“Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? His value is like that of things brought from the most distant lands.
“If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘we are unprofitable servants’” (Luke 17:10).
“Then he will be truly poor and stripped in spirit, and with the prophet may say: “I am alone and poor!” (Psalm 24:16). No one, however, is more wealthy than such a man; no one is more powerful, no one freer than he who knows how to leave all things and think of himself as the least of all.”
► The first is Book Two : Chapter Twelve, entitled: The Royal Road of the Holy Cross
“To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” (Matthew 16:24), seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!”(Matthew 25:41). Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
“Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
“Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
“Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
“Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
“The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? It was fitting for Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead ... and so to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:46, 26). How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
“The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
“Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake.
“It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that through fervor of spirit frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns.
“To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
“Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
“When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
“Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
“If you were but worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it.
“With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world.
“Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
“No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
“If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
“When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God.”
Boo! Hiss! Nah!
You have to admit that we are not very “gung-ho” about the cross! We have been raised in a modern world where the bottom-line in everything is to make it as easy and cheap as possible! We naturally avoid things that are hard and choose those that are easier. If we HAVE TO carry a cross, then we would prefer it to be hollow, made of lightweight plastic, have a fur-lining, and auto-drive wheels on its base so that we don’t have to drag it along.
This should remind you of the humorous story of the man who was dissatisfied with the cross that Jesus had given him. So, first thing in the morning, he takes his cross back to the Supermarket of Crosses and complains to Jesus, at “Customer Service”, that the cross which he was given is just not good enough―it is far too heavy, it rubs against the skin too much, leaves lots of splinters behind, it is too long, does not sit and fit correctly, etc.
Jesus tells him to go and throw his cross on the big pile of crosses in the supermarket and dig through the pile to find a cross that was more according to his likes and tastes.
The man happily tosses his cross on the pile and starts sifting through the other crosses on the pile―but cannot seem to find one that will sit well with him and satisfy him.
After a few hours Our Lord asks: “How are you doing? Have you found one to your liking yet?”
The man replies: “No! But I will keep on looking! There looks to be tens of thousands to pick from! Just give me some more time! I’ll find something to my liking!”
“Okay!” says Our Lord, “But just remember―the Supermarket of Crosses closes at 9:00 p.m.”
With that, the man goes back to feverishly sorting through the pile of crosses.
Eventually Our Lord shouts out that the Supermarket of Crosses is closing in 5 minutes and that he had better choose one before closing time. Eventually, the man finds one that seems acceptable to him and smilingly carries it past Jesus on his way out of the supermarket. Jesus asks the man if he is happy with it. The man replies that it is the lightest one that he could find after almost a whole day of looking and searching. Jesus then remarks: “I hate to tell you this―but that is the cross that you came in with this morning!”
Our Lady’s “Sermon” on the Cross
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks of the cross and suffering: “I understood, by divine light, that the incarnate Lord was to suffer a most cruel death and was to be bound most shamefully … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much and that He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and, as soon as He was born into the world, He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … He it was who gave His own life and subjected Himself to sufferings for the good of His creatures without waiting for any merits on their part … for whom, as man, He had suffered and died …
But the worldlings, in their torpidity, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings and that His sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief … How persistently they forget, that their Teacher and Master has first accepted sufferings, and has honored and sanctified them in his own Person! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Ponder and meditate without intermission upon that, which my most holy Son suffered, so that thy soul be a participant in His sorrows. Let the pious memory of His sufferings engender in thee such a disgust and abhorrence of all earthly pleasures, that thou despise and forget all that is visible, and instead, follow the Author of eternal life.
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider, in thy heart, the image of my Son and Lord―full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of His sacred Body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains … By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that next to ascending to the right hand of His eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
Friend or Foe?
Are you a “Friend of the Cross” or an “Enemy of the Cross”? We see Holy Scripture refer to both friends and foes of the Cross. St. Paul is most certainly a “Friend of the Cross” as he exclaims: “God forbid that I should glory―except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). Yet he also rebukes the “Enemies of Cross”, saying: “Many walk―of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18).
On a feast such as this―The Exaltation of the Holy Cross―it should be obligatory to read St. Louis de Montfort’s wonderful booklet, Letter to Friends of the Cross, wherein he covers both the theory and practice of “cross-carrying”. Here are just a few extracts [click here to read more]:
Friend of the Cross?
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world, not like those religious, men and women, who leave the world for fear of being overcome, but like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave. Fight with all your might. Demons are united for your destruction, but you be united for their overthrow!
“You call yourselves “Friends of the Cross.” What a wonderful name! I must admit that it charms and fascinates me! Its splendor dazzles me―but the weight of it frightens me! A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand! A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering!
“A Friend of the Cross is a holy man, separated from visible things. His heart is lifted high above all that is frail and perishable; “his conversation is in Heaven” (Philippians 3:20); he journeys here below like a stranger and pilgrim. He keeps his heart free from the world, looks upon it with an unconcerned glance of his left eye and disdainfully tramples it under foot.
“My dear Friends of the Cross, does every act of yours justify what the eminent name you bear implies? Or at least are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?
“Dear Brethren, these are the two groups that appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him―but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the noise of the world, nor do men have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life.
“To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (Matthew 7:13-14).
“To the right, the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things. Sobbing in their grief, they can be heard repeating: “Let us suffer, let us weep, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humble ourselves, let us be poor, let us mortify ourselves! For he who has not the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Cross, is none of Christ’s. Those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its concupiscence. We must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or else be damned!” Friends of the Cross spur each other on with such divine words.
“Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.
“Let us fly from the corrupting concupiscence and enticements of a corrupt world (2 Peter 1:4). Let us love Jesus in the right way, standing by Him through the heaviest of crosses. Let us meditate seriously on these remarkable words of our beloved Master which sum up the Christian life in its perfection: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Christian perfection consists in (1) willing to become a saint: “If any man will come after Me”; (2) in self-denial: “Let him deny himself”; (3) in suffering: “Let him take up his cross”; (4) in doing: “Let him follow Me.” Understand this, dear Friends of the Cross, should there be anyone among you who has not this firm resolve, he is just limping along on one foot, flying with one wing, and undeserving of your company, since he is not worthy to be called a Friend of the Cross.
Far be from the Company of the Friends of the Cross those who pride themselves in suffering, the worldly-wise elated geniuses and self-conceited individuals who are stubborn and puffed-up with their lights and talents. Far be they from us, those endless talkers who make plenty of noise but bring forth no other fruit than vainglory. Far from us those high-browed devotees, everywhere displaying the self-sufficient pride of Lucifer: “I am not like the rest!” (Luke 18:11). Far be from us those who must always justify themselves when blamed, resist when attacked and exalt themselves when humbled. Be careful not to admit into your fellowship those frail, sensitive persons who are afraid of the slightest pinprick, who sob and sigh when faced with the lightest suffering, who have never experienced a hair-shirt, a discipline or any other penitential instrument, and who, with their fashionable devotions, mingle the most artful delicacy and the most refined lack of mortification.
Let him ‘carry’ the cross, and not drag it, not shoulder it off, not lighten it, nor hide it. Let him hold it high in hand, without impatience or peevishness, without voluntary complaint or grumbling, without dividing or softening, without shame or human respect. Let him place it on his forehead and say with St. Paul: “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
The ‘cross’ ― it is the ‘cross’ he must carry for there is nothing more necessary, more useful, more agreeable and more glorious than suffering for Jesus Christ. All of you are sinners and there is not a single one who is not deserving of Hell; I myself deserve it the most. These sins of ours must be punished either here or hereafter. If they are punished in this world, they will not be punished in the world to come. If we agree to God’s punishing here below, this punishment will be light and momentary; blended with merit and sweetness and followed up with reward both in time and eternity. But if the punishment due to our sins is held over for the next world, then God’s avenging justice, which means fire and blood, will see to the punishing. What horrible punishment! How incomprehensible, how unspeakable! “Who knoweth the power of thy anger?” (Psalm 89:11). Punishment devoid of mercy (James 2:13), pity, mitigation or merit, without limit and without end. Yes, without end! That mortal sin of a moment that you committed, that deliberate evil thought which now escapes your memory, the word that is gone with the wind, that act of such short duration against God’s law—they shall all be punished for an eternity, punished with the devils of Hell, as long as God is God! The God of vengeance will have no pity on your torments or your sobs and tears, violent enough to cleave the rocks. Suffering and still more suffering, without merit without mercy and without end!
“Do we think of this, my dear Brothers and Sisters, when we have some trial to undergo here below? Blessed indeed are we who have the privilege of exchanging an eternal and fruitless penalty for a temporary and meritorious suffering, just by patiently carrying our cross. What debts we still have to pay! How many sins we have committed which, despite a sincere confession and heartfelt contrition, will have to be atoned for in Purgatory for many a century, simply because in this world we were satisfied with a few insignificant penances! Let us settle our debts with good grace here below in cheerfully bearing our crosses, for in the world to come everything must be expiated, even the idle word (Matthew 12:36) and even to the last farthing. If we could lay hands on the devil’s death-register in which he has noted down all our sins and the penalty to be paid, what a heavy debit we would find and how joyfully we would suffer many years here on Earth rather than a single day in the world to come!”
Is it “Get the message across!” Or “Get the message? A cross!” Our Lord tried to get the message across to everyone! Get the message―a cross.
“And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Get the message? A cross! Get the message across―in you parish, your school, your home, your workplace. It is not for nothing that Holy Mother Church says in her liturgy: “In cruce salus!” ― meaning, “In the cross is salvation!” ― and “Ave crux, spes unica!” ― meaning, “Hail cross, our sole hope!”
St. Paul―enamored with the cross―writes: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18) … “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). St. Peter adds: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
Unpopular Message
Unfortunately, there are few takers of the cross! “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
The Imitation of Christ―which is sometimes affectionately called “The Fifth Gospel”―has two chapters dedicated to the cross of Christ.
► The first is Book Two : Chapter Eleven, entitled: Few Love the Cross of Jesus:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him.
“But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!
“Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? His value is like that of things brought from the most distant lands.
“If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘we are unprofitable servants’” (Luke 17:10).
“Then he will be truly poor and stripped in spirit, and with the prophet may say: “I am alone and poor!” (Psalm 24:16). No one, however, is more wealthy than such a man; no one is more powerful, no one freer than he who knows how to leave all things and think of himself as the least of all.”
► The first is Book Two : Chapter Twelve, entitled: The Royal Road of the Holy Cross
“To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!” (Matthew 16:24), seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!”(Matthew 25:41). Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
“Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
“Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
“Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
“Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
“The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? It was fitting for Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead ... and so to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:46, 26). How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
“The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
“Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake.
“It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that through fervor of spirit frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns.
“To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
“Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
“When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
“Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
“If you were but worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it.
“With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world.
“Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
“No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
“If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
“When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God.”
Boo! Hiss! Nah!
You have to admit that we are not very “gung-ho” about the cross! We have been raised in a modern world where the bottom-line in everything is to make it as easy and cheap as possible! We naturally avoid things that are hard and choose those that are easier. If we HAVE TO carry a cross, then we would prefer it to be hollow, made of lightweight plastic, have a fur-lining, and auto-drive wheels on its base so that we don’t have to drag it along.
This should remind you of the humorous story of the man who was dissatisfied with the cross that Jesus had given him. So, first thing in the morning, he takes his cross back to the Supermarket of Crosses and complains to Jesus, at “Customer Service”, that the cross which he was given is just not good enough―it is far too heavy, it rubs against the skin too much, leaves lots of splinters behind, it is too long, does not sit and fit correctly, etc.
Jesus tells him to go and throw his cross on the big pile of crosses in the supermarket and dig through the pile to find a cross that was more according to his likes and tastes.
The man happily tosses his cross on the pile and starts sifting through the other crosses on the pile―but cannot seem to find one that will sit well with him and satisfy him.
After a few hours Our Lord asks: “How are you doing? Have you found one to your liking yet?”
The man replies: “No! But I will keep on looking! There looks to be tens of thousands to pick from! Just give me some more time! I’ll find something to my liking!”
“Okay!” says Our Lord, “But just remember―the Supermarket of Crosses closes at 9:00 p.m.”
With that, the man goes back to feverishly sorting through the pile of crosses.
Eventually Our Lord shouts out that the Supermarket of Crosses is closing in 5 minutes and that he had better choose one before closing time. Eventually, the man finds one that seems acceptable to him and smilingly carries it past Jesus on his way out of the supermarket. Jesus asks the man if he is happy with it. The man replies that it is the lightest one that he could find after almost a whole day of looking and searching. Jesus then remarks: “I hate to tell you this―but that is the cross that you came in with this morning!”
Our Lady’s “Sermon” on the Cross
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks of the cross and suffering: “I understood, by divine light, that the incarnate Lord was to suffer a most cruel death and was to be bound most shamefully … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much and that He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and, as soon as He was born into the world, He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … He it was who gave His own life and subjected Himself to sufferings for the good of His creatures without waiting for any merits on their part … for whom, as man, He had suffered and died …
But the worldlings, in their torpidity, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings and that His sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief … How persistently they forget, that their Teacher and Master has first accepted sufferings, and has honored and sanctified them in his own Person! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Ponder and meditate without intermission upon that, which my most holy Son suffered, so that thy soul be a participant in His sorrows. Let the pious memory of His sufferings engender in thee such a disgust and abhorrence of all earthly pleasures, that thou despise and forget all that is visible, and instead, follow the Author of eternal life.
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider, in thy heart, the image of my Son and Lord―full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of His sacred Body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains … By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that next to ascending to the right hand of His eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
Friend or Foe?
Are you a “Friend of the Cross” or an “Enemy of the Cross”? We see Holy Scripture refer to both friends and foes of the Cross. St. Paul is most certainly a “Friend of the Cross” as he exclaims: “God forbid that I should glory―except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). Yet he also rebukes the “Enemies of Cross”, saying: “Many walk―of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18).
On a feast such as this―The Exaltation of the Holy Cross―it should be obligatory to read St. Louis de Montfort’s wonderful booklet, Letter to Friends of the Cross, wherein he covers both the theory and practice of “cross-carrying”. Here are just a few extracts [click here to read more]:
Friend of the Cross?
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world, not like those religious, men and women, who leave the world for fear of being overcome, but like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave. Fight with all your might. Demons are united for your destruction, but you be united for their overthrow!
“You call yourselves “Friends of the Cross.” What a wonderful name! I must admit that it charms and fascinates me! Its splendor dazzles me―but the weight of it frightens me! A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand! A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering!
“A Friend of the Cross is a holy man, separated from visible things. His heart is lifted high above all that is frail and perishable; “his conversation is in Heaven” (Philippians 3:20); he journeys here below like a stranger and pilgrim. He keeps his heart free from the world, looks upon it with an unconcerned glance of his left eye and disdainfully tramples it under foot.
“My dear Friends of the Cross, does every act of yours justify what the eminent name you bear implies? Or at least are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?
“Dear Brethren, these are the two groups that appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him―but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the noise of the world, nor do men have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life.
“To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (Matthew 7:13-14).
“To the right, the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things. Sobbing in their grief, they can be heard repeating: “Let us suffer, let us weep, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humble ourselves, let us be poor, let us mortify ourselves! For he who has not the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Cross, is none of Christ’s. Those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its concupiscence. We must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or else be damned!” Friends of the Cross spur each other on with such divine words.
“Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.
“Let us fly from the corrupting concupiscence and enticements of a corrupt world (2 Peter 1:4). Let us love Jesus in the right way, standing by Him through the heaviest of crosses. Let us meditate seriously on these remarkable words of our beloved Master which sum up the Christian life in its perfection: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Christian perfection consists in (1) willing to become a saint: “If any man will come after Me”; (2) in self-denial: “Let him deny himself”; (3) in suffering: “Let him take up his cross”; (4) in doing: “Let him follow Me.” Understand this, dear Friends of the Cross, should there be anyone among you who has not this firm resolve, he is just limping along on one foot, flying with one wing, and undeserving of your company, since he is not worthy to be called a Friend of the Cross.
Far be from the Company of the Friends of the Cross those who pride themselves in suffering, the worldly-wise elated geniuses and self-conceited individuals who are stubborn and puffed-up with their lights and talents. Far be they from us, those endless talkers who make plenty of noise but bring forth no other fruit than vainglory. Far from us those high-browed devotees, everywhere displaying the self-sufficient pride of Lucifer: “I am not like the rest!” (Luke 18:11). Far be from us those who must always justify themselves when blamed, resist when attacked and exalt themselves when humbled. Be careful not to admit into your fellowship those frail, sensitive persons who are afraid of the slightest pinprick, who sob and sigh when faced with the lightest suffering, who have never experienced a hair-shirt, a discipline or any other penitential instrument, and who, with their fashionable devotions, mingle the most artful delicacy and the most refined lack of mortification.
Let him ‘carry’ the cross, and not drag it, not shoulder it off, not lighten it, nor hide it. Let him hold it high in hand, without impatience or peevishness, without voluntary complaint or grumbling, without dividing or softening, without shame or human respect. Let him place it on his forehead and say with St. Paul: “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
The ‘cross’ ― it is the ‘cross’ he must carry for there is nothing more necessary, more useful, more agreeable and more glorious than suffering for Jesus Christ. All of you are sinners and there is not a single one who is not deserving of Hell; I myself deserve it the most. These sins of ours must be punished either here or hereafter. If they are punished in this world, they will not be punished in the world to come. If we agree to God’s punishing here below, this punishment will be light and momentary; blended with merit and sweetness and followed up with reward both in time and eternity. But if the punishment due to our sins is held over for the next world, then God’s avenging justice, which means fire and blood, will see to the punishing. What horrible punishment! How incomprehensible, how unspeakable! “Who knoweth the power of thy anger?” (Psalm 89:11). Punishment devoid of mercy (James 2:13), pity, mitigation or merit, without limit and without end. Yes, without end! That mortal sin of a moment that you committed, that deliberate evil thought which now escapes your memory, the word that is gone with the wind, that act of such short duration against God’s law—they shall all be punished for an eternity, punished with the devils of Hell, as long as God is God! The God of vengeance will have no pity on your torments or your sobs and tears, violent enough to cleave the rocks. Suffering and still more suffering, without merit without mercy and without end!
“Do we think of this, my dear Brothers and Sisters, when we have some trial to undergo here below? Blessed indeed are we who have the privilege of exchanging an eternal and fruitless penalty for a temporary and meritorious suffering, just by patiently carrying our cross. What debts we still have to pay! How many sins we have committed which, despite a sincere confession and heartfelt contrition, will have to be atoned for in Purgatory for many a century, simply because in this world we were satisfied with a few insignificant penances! Let us settle our debts with good grace here below in cheerfully bearing our crosses, for in the world to come everything must be expiated, even the idle word (Matthew 12:36) and even to the last farthing. If we could lay hands on the devil’s death-register in which he has noted down all our sins and the penalty to be paid, what a heavy debit we would find and how joyfully we would suffer many years here on Earth rather than a single day in the world to come!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday September 12th, Feast of the Holy Name of Mary
Monday September 13th, Fifth Apparition of Our Lady at Fatima
Article 7
The Power of Mary's Name!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday September 12th, Feast of the Holy Name of Mary
Monday September 13th, Fifth Apparition of Our Lady at Fatima
Article 7
The Power of Mary's Name!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
A Powerful Name
St Bernard beautifully depicts the wide range of powers that we can find in Mary. The following extract has been chosen by Holy Mother Church to be part of the liturgy for the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary (September 12th) and you will find in the Divine Office for the day in Matins:
“It is said: ‘And the Virgin's name was Mary!’ Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifieth, being interpreted, Star of the Sea, and suiteth very well the Maiden Mother, who may very appropriately may be likened unto a star. A star gives forth her rays without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any hurt to her virginity. The light of a star taketh nothing away from the Virginity of Mary. She is that noble star which was to come out of Jacob, whose brightness still sheds luster upon all the Earth, whose rays are most brilliant in Heaven, and shine even unto Hell, lighting up Earth midway, and warming souls rather than bodies, fostering good and scaring away evil. She, I say, is a clear and shining star, twinkling with excellencies, and resplendent with example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and wide sea.
“Whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here, not so much walking upon firm ground, but as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life’s ocean―if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thy eyes fixed upon this star’s clear shining. If the winds of temptation rise against thee, or thou run upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If thou art tossed by the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy, look to the star―then call on Mary. If anger or avarice or the enticements of the flesh beat against the boat of thy soul―then look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgment appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair―then think of Mary.
“In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her not be away from thy mouth or from thy heart, and that thou may obtain the help of Her prayers, turn not aside from the example of her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray; if thou pray to her, thou wilt never despair; if thou keep her in mind, thou wilt never wander. If she hold thee, thou wilt never fall; if she lead thee, thou wilt never be weary; if she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe, and so prove in thyself how rightly it was said: ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’” (From the sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux in the Office of the Most Holy Name of Mary).
You could say that the above extracts from the sermon of St. Bernard are a perfect commentary upon the Prayer Collect from the Mass for the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which reads as follows: “O Almighty God, Your faithful people rejoice in the protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary and delight in her name. Deliver them from all evil here on Earth and make them worthy of everlasting happiness in heaven through her loving intercession.”
Mary’s Protection
Our Lady herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden the extent of her protective powers: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable―and for ever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) adds: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and, no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners―who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices―that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
► ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (a Doctor of the Church) says: “O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair. O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Confirmation by Our Lady
All of this Our Lady herself confirmed―implicitly and explicitly―in her modern day apparitions. Our Lady of Good Success stated in the 1600s: “My hour will arrive, the happy beginning of the complete restoration, when I, in an amazing manner, will overthrow proud Satan, crushing him under my feet, chaining him in the infernal abyss, leaving the Church and the land free of this cruel tyranny!” Our Lady of Fatima, in 1917, takes up this idea of “My hour will arrive” and explains that her Immaculate Heart will be the source of a magnificent triumph throughout the world and Church―but “part of the deal” includes (1) spreading devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world, and (2) the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the pope in union with all the bishops of the world: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God!” (June 1917) … “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart!” (July 1917) … “I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart! … In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph” (July 1917). Our Lady also stresses the importance of the Rosary and that only she can help us now―at this late state: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady restates the importance of her role at this time: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Exorcists use the Power of the Holy Name of Mary
When we imagine an exorcism―we visualize things like Holy Water, blessed Crucifixes, Rosaries and Medals―but what we rarely bring to mind is the tremendous power that the Holy Name of Mary exerts during exorcisms. St. Bonaventure, a Doctor of the Church, tells us that “Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as much as the powers of Hell fear the Name and protection of Mary.”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said in a 2011 interview with Catholic News Agency that the devil has admitted to him that he’s more afraid when the exorcist invokes Mary than when he invokes Jesus Christ. Why? “I am more afraid when you say the Madonna’s Name, because I am more humiliated to be defeated by a human creature than being defeated by Him,” the devil told Fr. Amorth during an exorcism.
Here is just a tiny excerpt from the text of the exorcism: “…the glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary commands you―she, who by her humility, and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception, crushed your proud head!”
Her humility was so radical that it crushes the “proud head” of Satan and is the surest defense against him and his attacks. As the devil told Fr. Amorth: “She makes me angry because she is the humblest of all creatures, and because I am the proudest; because she is the purest of all creatures, and I am not; because, of all creatures, she is the most obedient to God, and I am a rebel!”
Fr. Amorth refers to a particularly challenging exorcism, during which the demon-possessed individual suddenly began screaming out. In their pain, the demon, speaking through the individual, agonized over the searing pain and light they were experiencing, “She’s here! She’s here!” the possessed individual was screaming and explained it was Mary and it was her light that the demon could not bear.
Fr. Amorth recalls that “during an exorcism, Satan told me, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
St. Padre Pio, a close friend of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, agreed with this when he said: “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother! Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary―for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today! All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”
The American exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger, attests that if and when Our Lady arrives on the scene at an exorcism―then it is all over! No contest!
Another American exorcist, Fr. Vincent Lampert, presented in a conference several testimonies that the demons were forced to confess during major exorcisms performed by many different exorcists throughout the world. “Mary is the terror of Hell!” … “I do not want to see her and I cannot watch her! It’s my ruin! It’s my ruin! She is my doom since always, always! I hate her, hate her, hate her!” … “That damned Rosary! It is a chain that shackles me and imprisons me! Throw it away!” … “Take away that chain! Take away that chain! The one with the cross at the bottom! She whips us with that chain!”
Many other exorcists also attest to this fact. The demons particularly hate and fear the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some exorcists say that bringing Mary into the “equation” is a form of testing to see whether it’s a true case of demonic oppression or possession ― or merely a spiritual or psychological disturbance.
The Italian exorcist, Fr. Sante Babolin, says that the Virgin Mary is a powerful advocate for him during exorcisms: “In my experience ― so far I have performed 2,300 rites of exorcism ― I can say that the invocation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary often provokes significant reactions in the person being exorcized. While I was insistently invoking the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the devil answered me: ‘I can’t stand that One (Mary) anymore and neither can I stand you anymore!’” In the Ritual of Exorcism, the exorcist says to the devil: “Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God's elect and sift them as wheat (...) The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you, as does also the power of the mysteries of the Christian Faith (...) The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; she who by her humility and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception crushed your proud head!” Fr. Babolin also says that “the strongest reactions” of the devil during the exorcism occur “when references are made to her apparitions.” Because of this, Fr. Babolin frequently pronounces the name of Holy Mary with her titles of Lourdes, Fatima or Guadalupe. In the latter case, he said: “I use this formula: ‘Holy Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Tepeyac.’”
Mary’s Power in the End Times
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, already in 1957, has both revealed the fact that we have already entered the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days”, and also the fact of Satan’s final battle with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sr. Lucia of Fatima clearly told us that Our Lady revealed to her that we are currently living in the so-called “Last Times” of the world, which will see Satan enter into a “final battle” with Our Lady. In an interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Lucia said:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatiman, interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957).
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes of Mary’s power over the devils in the “End Times” or “Last Days”: “It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent. It is to our purpose to explain this here for the glory of the most holy Virgin, for the salvation of her children and for the confusion of the devil: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ (Genesis 3:15).
“God has never made and formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. Not that the anger, the hatred and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin―for the perfections of Mary are limited―but first, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments. Nay, the very devils in Hell respect her while they fear her!
“The humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw. But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel―that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §51 to §54).
The Devotion You Sow Dictates What You Reap
Not all devotions are made equal! Not everyone is equally devoted! “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
We all would like to sow minimally, but would like a massive return! We want “the biggest bang for our buck”! Or should that read: “We want the biggest bang for our penny!” Holy Scripture warns us: “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
If devotion to Our Lady in general―and devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart in particular―is so crucial to both our welfare in this world and our salvation in the next, then we need to procure the best devotion possible and use it to utmost of our abilities. Half-hearted efforts are despised by Heaven―as witnessed by these words of Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
We need to put “heart” into our devotion to Our Lady, and not just “lips”―otherwise we will draw upon ourselves the rebuke of Our Lord: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
The following words, that St. Louis de Montfort addresses to those praying the Rosary, can also be applicable to those trying to practice devotion towards Our Lady:
“A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary [perhaps in his day, but this is no longer the case]. Why is it then, that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue? It is because they are not saying the Rosary as they should! In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.
“The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.
“It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
In the liturgical hymn, Ave Maris Stella (Hail Star of the Sea, or commonly entitled “Hail Bright Star of Ocean”)―sung on most of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary―we have the line: “Show thyself a Mother!” (Monstra te esse matrem). In his book The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus writes: “A certain sinner once said to Mary: ‘Show yourself a mother!’ But the Blessed Virgin replied: ‘Show yourself a son!’ Another sinner invoked Our Lady, calling her the Mother of mercy. But she answered: ‘You sinners call me “Mother of mercy” when you want my help! At the same time you make me a Mother of sorrows with your sins!’” This leads us to ask the question: “Is our devotion a REAL devotion? Or is it a selfish devotion―merely seeking to get what we can out of the Blessed Virgin Mary?”
The Muscles of Devotion
A soldier needs overall fitness―it is no good just have one muscular arm and leaving the rest of the body weak. The same is true for spiritual soldiers―Soldiers of Christ that we are by virtue of having received the Sacrament of Confirmation. We cannot just exercise and strengthen one muscle of the soul―but we need to exercise the whole soul. If not, then we are vulnerable and weak―as described in Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, in the form of brief sketches of different kinds of imperfect devotions:
“We all color devotion according to our own likings and dispositions. One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness—and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although, at the same time, he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting words among his family and neighbors. Another man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him. Another one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts except under pressure. Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout.”
St Bernard beautifully depicts the wide range of powers that we can find in Mary. The following extract has been chosen by Holy Mother Church to be part of the liturgy for the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary (September 12th) and you will find in the Divine Office for the day in Matins:
“It is said: ‘And the Virgin's name was Mary!’ Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifieth, being interpreted, Star of the Sea, and suiteth very well the Maiden Mother, who may very appropriately may be likened unto a star. A star gives forth her rays without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any hurt to her virginity. The light of a star taketh nothing away from the Virginity of Mary. She is that noble star which was to come out of Jacob, whose brightness still sheds luster upon all the Earth, whose rays are most brilliant in Heaven, and shine even unto Hell, lighting up Earth midway, and warming souls rather than bodies, fostering good and scaring away evil. She, I say, is a clear and shining star, twinkling with excellencies, and resplendent with example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and wide sea.
“Whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here, not so much walking upon firm ground, but as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life’s ocean―if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thy eyes fixed upon this star’s clear shining. If the winds of temptation rise against thee, or thou run upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If thou art tossed by the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy, look to the star―then call on Mary. If anger or avarice or the enticements of the flesh beat against the boat of thy soul―then look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgment appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair―then think of Mary.
“In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her not be away from thy mouth or from thy heart, and that thou may obtain the help of Her prayers, turn not aside from the example of her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray; if thou pray to her, thou wilt never despair; if thou keep her in mind, thou wilt never wander. If she hold thee, thou wilt never fall; if she lead thee, thou wilt never be weary; if she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe, and so prove in thyself how rightly it was said: ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’” (From the sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux in the Office of the Most Holy Name of Mary).
You could say that the above extracts from the sermon of St. Bernard are a perfect commentary upon the Prayer Collect from the Mass for the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which reads as follows: “O Almighty God, Your faithful people rejoice in the protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary and delight in her name. Deliver them from all evil here on Earth and make them worthy of everlasting happiness in heaven through her loving intercession.”
Mary’s Protection
Our Lady herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden the extent of her protective powers: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable―and for ever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) adds: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and, no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners―who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices―that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
► ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (a Doctor of the Church) says: “O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair. O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Confirmation by Our Lady
All of this Our Lady herself confirmed―implicitly and explicitly―in her modern day apparitions. Our Lady of Good Success stated in the 1600s: “My hour will arrive, the happy beginning of the complete restoration, when I, in an amazing manner, will overthrow proud Satan, crushing him under my feet, chaining him in the infernal abyss, leaving the Church and the land free of this cruel tyranny!” Our Lady of Fatima, in 1917, takes up this idea of “My hour will arrive” and explains that her Immaculate Heart will be the source of a magnificent triumph throughout the world and Church―but “part of the deal” includes (1) spreading devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world, and (2) the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the pope in union with all the bishops of the world: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God!” (June 1917) … “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart!” (July 1917) … “I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart! … In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph” (July 1917). Our Lady also stresses the importance of the Rosary and that only she can help us now―at this late state: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady restates the importance of her role at this time: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Exorcists use the Power of the Holy Name of Mary
When we imagine an exorcism―we visualize things like Holy Water, blessed Crucifixes, Rosaries and Medals―but what we rarely bring to mind is the tremendous power that the Holy Name of Mary exerts during exorcisms. St. Bonaventure, a Doctor of the Church, tells us that “Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as much as the powers of Hell fear the Name and protection of Mary.”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said in a 2011 interview with Catholic News Agency that the devil has admitted to him that he’s more afraid when the exorcist invokes Mary than when he invokes Jesus Christ. Why? “I am more afraid when you say the Madonna’s Name, because I am more humiliated to be defeated by a human creature than being defeated by Him,” the devil told Fr. Amorth during an exorcism.
Here is just a tiny excerpt from the text of the exorcism: “…the glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary commands you―she, who by her humility, and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception, crushed your proud head!”
Her humility was so radical that it crushes the “proud head” of Satan and is the surest defense against him and his attacks. As the devil told Fr. Amorth: “She makes me angry because she is the humblest of all creatures, and because I am the proudest; because she is the purest of all creatures, and I am not; because, of all creatures, she is the most obedient to God, and I am a rebel!”
Fr. Amorth refers to a particularly challenging exorcism, during which the demon-possessed individual suddenly began screaming out. In their pain, the demon, speaking through the individual, agonized over the searing pain and light they were experiencing, “She’s here! She’s here!” the possessed individual was screaming and explained it was Mary and it was her light that the demon could not bear.
Fr. Amorth recalls that “during an exorcism, Satan told me, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me! If Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
St. Padre Pio, a close friend of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, agreed with this when he said: “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother! Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary―for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today! All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”
The American exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger, attests that if and when Our Lady arrives on the scene at an exorcism―then it is all over! No contest!
Another American exorcist, Fr. Vincent Lampert, presented in a conference several testimonies that the demons were forced to confess during major exorcisms performed by many different exorcists throughout the world. “Mary is the terror of Hell!” … “I do not want to see her and I cannot watch her! It’s my ruin! It’s my ruin! She is my doom since always, always! I hate her, hate her, hate her!” … “That damned Rosary! It is a chain that shackles me and imprisons me! Throw it away!” … “Take away that chain! Take away that chain! The one with the cross at the bottom! She whips us with that chain!”
Many other exorcists also attest to this fact. The demons particularly hate and fear the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some exorcists say that bringing Mary into the “equation” is a form of testing to see whether it’s a true case of demonic oppression or possession ― or merely a spiritual or psychological disturbance.
The Italian exorcist, Fr. Sante Babolin, says that the Virgin Mary is a powerful advocate for him during exorcisms: “In my experience ― so far I have performed 2,300 rites of exorcism ― I can say that the invocation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary often provokes significant reactions in the person being exorcized. While I was insistently invoking the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the devil answered me: ‘I can’t stand that One (Mary) anymore and neither can I stand you anymore!’” In the Ritual of Exorcism, the exorcist says to the devil: “Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God's elect and sift them as wheat (...) The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you, as does also the power of the mysteries of the Christian Faith (...) The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; she who by her humility and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception crushed your proud head!” Fr. Babolin also says that “the strongest reactions” of the devil during the exorcism occur “when references are made to her apparitions.” Because of this, Fr. Babolin frequently pronounces the name of Holy Mary with her titles of Lourdes, Fatima or Guadalupe. In the latter case, he said: “I use this formula: ‘Holy Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Tepeyac.’”
Mary’s Power in the End Times
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, already in 1957, has both revealed the fact that we have already entered the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days”, and also the fact of Satan’s final battle with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sr. Lucia of Fatima clearly told us that Our Lady revealed to her that we are currently living in the so-called “Last Times” of the world, which will see Satan enter into a “final battle” with Our Lady. In an interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Lucia said:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatiman, interview with Fr. Augustino Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957).
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes of Mary’s power over the devils in the “End Times” or “Last Days”: “It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent. It is to our purpose to explain this here for the glory of the most holy Virgin, for the salvation of her children and for the confusion of the devil: ‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’ (Genesis 3:15).
“God has never made and formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilable one, which shall endure and grow even to the end. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her, even since the days of the earthly paradise—though she existed then only in His idea—with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. Not that the anger, the hatred and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin―for the perfections of Mary are limited―but first, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments. Nay, the very devils in Hell respect her while they fear her!
“The humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw. But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel―that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §51 to §54).
The Devotion You Sow Dictates What You Reap
Not all devotions are made equal! Not everyone is equally devoted! “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
We all would like to sow minimally, but would like a massive return! We want “the biggest bang for our buck”! Or should that read: “We want the biggest bang for our penny!” Holy Scripture warns us: “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
If devotion to Our Lady in general―and devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart in particular―is so crucial to both our welfare in this world and our salvation in the next, then we need to procure the best devotion possible and use it to utmost of our abilities. Half-hearted efforts are despised by Heaven―as witnessed by these words of Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
We need to put “heart” into our devotion to Our Lady, and not just “lips”―otherwise we will draw upon ourselves the rebuke of Our Lord: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
The following words, that St. Louis de Montfort addresses to those praying the Rosary, can also be applicable to those trying to practice devotion towards Our Lady:
“A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary [perhaps in his day, but this is no longer the case]. Why is it then, that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue? It is because they are not saying the Rosary as they should! In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.
“The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.
“It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
In the liturgical hymn, Ave Maris Stella (Hail Star of the Sea, or commonly entitled “Hail Bright Star of Ocean”)―sung on most of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary―we have the line: “Show thyself a Mother!” (Monstra te esse matrem). In his book The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus writes: “A certain sinner once said to Mary: ‘Show yourself a mother!’ But the Blessed Virgin replied: ‘Show yourself a son!’ Another sinner invoked Our Lady, calling her the Mother of mercy. But she answered: ‘You sinners call me “Mother of mercy” when you want my help! At the same time you make me a Mother of sorrows with your sins!’” This leads us to ask the question: “Is our devotion a REAL devotion? Or is it a selfish devotion―merely seeking to get what we can out of the Blessed Virgin Mary?”
The Muscles of Devotion
A soldier needs overall fitness―it is no good just have one muscular arm and leaving the rest of the body weak. The same is true for spiritual soldiers―Soldiers of Christ that we are by virtue of having received the Sacrament of Confirmation. We cannot just exercise and strengthen one muscle of the soul―but we need to exercise the whole soul. If not, then we are vulnerable and weak―as described in Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, in the form of brief sketches of different kinds of imperfect devotions:
“We all color devotion according to our own likings and dispositions. One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness—and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although, at the same time, he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting words among his family and neighbors. Another man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him. Another one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts except under pressure. Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday September 10th & Saturday September 11th
Article 6
The Solution is Simple―Few See and Take It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday September 10th & Saturday September 11th
Article 6
The Solution is Simple―Few See and Take It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
See No Problem―Need No Solution!
A solution is defined as “a means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation.” If you cannot see a problem, you will not seek a solution! Do we need a solution today? Do we have a problem today? It depends if eyesight is faulty or not, and whether or not you have buried your head in the sand, or buried yourself in denial. Our Lady has been trying to point out the problems―there are many and not just one―for several centuries.
Yet, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying attention to this Message. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Is Modern Man Intelligent or Just Plain Stupid?
In this modern world―with our modern day education, modern day technology, modern day access to millions of resources―we think ourselves to be pretty bright and smart! We have information at our fingertips! Who needs to read, know and master the Bible when a search engine will find for you in seconds what it would normally take hours to dig-up! We have “Dr. Google” to whom we turn for natural home remedies when we are not feeling well! We have “YouTube” to turn to for videos showing how to accomplish a myriad of tasks! We can access almost any expert we want within seconds via the internet! Yet with all this “information constipation” we are still pretty stupid. As Holy Scripture says: “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? … The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 1:20; 3:19).
Riches Are No Solution―Only a Problem
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches!’” (Jeremias 9:23). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “Health of the soul in holiness, is better than all gold and silver―and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Our Lord tried to instill some wisdom into our foolish minds when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-24; 16:26).
An Encounter with a Rich Man
We all know the encounter that Our Lord had with the good young man who was rich: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Our Lord was trying to tell the rich young man that, even though he was a good person with good intentions, his riches were an obstacle to his perfection in holiness. Our Lord gave him a solution―but the solution was refused, for he preferred his riches of body to riches of the soul.
A Parable about a Rich Man
This reminds us of the parable of Our Lord about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to store my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Unfortunately, most of the world―Catholics included―are more concerned about “laying up treasures for themselves” than being “rich towards God”! Someone who would sincerely try to fulfill the commandment “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30-31) ― would be looked upon as an extremist, a fanatic or even a lunatic!
Not Seeing God’s Solutions
We are often blind (or stubborn) with regard to the solutions that God offers us―because they do not suit our tastes and are not to our liking. Yet God warns: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). More often than not, we seek to force God―like a square peg into a round hole―into our way of seeing things and doing things. We are merely blind, selfish and stubborn in our attitude―to which God says: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence? … The heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking―they have revolted and gone away. And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us fear the Lord our God!’” (Jeremias 5:21-24). All we fear is a loss of our comforts and possessions!
Presumption is no Solution
There are some that blindly trust in God to save them from all dangers―without doing anything on their own part! That is presumption. Yes, God can do anything and, in theory, does not need our cooperation to things. Yet, as St. Augustine points out: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you!” That reminds of an amusing story.
A massive storm approaches. The local news and weather station urges everyone to get out of town. Yet one man says: “I’m not worried, God will save me!” The morning of the storm, the police go through the neighborhood with a sound truck, telling everyone to evacuate. The man says: “I’m not worried! It’s okay! God will save me!”
The storm drains back up and there are several inches of water standing in the street. A fire truck comes by to pick up the man. He tells them “Don’t worry! It’s okay! God will save me! I have faith, you know!”
The water rises another foot. A National Guard truck comes by to rescue the man. He tells them: “Thank you, but it’s okay! I’m not worried! God will save me!”
The water keeps on rising even more and floods the first floor, forcing the man up to the second floor of his house. A police boat comes by to rescue the man. He tells them: “No thanks! I’m praying to God and He is going to save me! I have faith, you know!”
The water rises much higher. The man is now forced up to the very top of his roof. A helicopter comes to rescue the man and the pilot shouted down: “Tie this rope around you and I will lift you to safety!” The stranded man again replied: “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have lots of faith in God, you know!” So the helicopter reluctantly flew away and the flood waters kept rising.
Finally, the water rises above his house, and the man drowns. He appeared before God for his final judgment―at which point he finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God. He exclaimed: “I’ve been Your faithful servant ever since I was born! I had faith in You―but You didn’t save me! You let me down and let me drown! I don’t understand why!” To this God replied: “You absolute fool! First of all I sent you a warning! Then I sent you a fire truck! Then the National Guard! Then a police boat! Then I sent you a helicopter! What more did you expect, you stupid idiot! What more do you want from Me!!??” What was this fool’s final judgment? Well, you’ll have to wait until you die to find out!
Meanwhile―Back to the Problem
As they say: “Many a true word is said in jest!” When it comes to the problems that we are currently facing―and they are both many and major―we usually tend to fall into one of two extreme categories. We either rely upon ourselves too much (and commit the sin of pride), or we rely upon God too much (and commit the sin of presumption). In today’s ever rising flood waters that increasingly threaten our rights, liberties, jobs, health, life itself and, most importantly, our Faith―there are some who would like to thoughtlessly rush in where angels fear to tread, with guns blazing and nooses dangling. Then there are others who nonchalantly sit back and say―like the man in above joke―“I’m not worried! It’s okay! I have Faith! I’m praying to God and God will save me!” Yet as St. Augustine so rightly says, God has created us without our cooperation, but God will not save us without our cooperation!
So What’s the Problem?
If you want a one word answer to what the problem is―then it is “SATAN” or the “DEVIL” or “HELL”. All the rest falls under the category of Satan/Devil/Hell. Satan brings with him “SIN” ― being the first creature to sin. He passed on the deadly virus of sin to Adam and Eve―“The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23)―and since that time we all are born with a tendency to sin, which is one of scars of Original Sin. Our Lady of La Salette informs us that “the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” Sin begets sin. Sin is like a virus―it is not alive of itself, sin is not a living thing, but must find a host which it can infect with its deadly poison. Then the infected thing can pass on that sin to others. A virus―a bringer of disease―would not have been effective before sin was committed. If death is a result of sin―then disease (which causes death) is also a result of sin―nobody dies of death, they die of a disease (or an attack/accident). Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no disease and no death. A virus is a symptom of sin. “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence [bad desires], being drawn away and allured. Then, when concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:14-15).
Exercise is a Problem and a Solution!
A certain kind of diet boosts, strengthens and maintains the immune system. The same is true for our spiritual immune system that is meant to fight against the many different strains of viruses and bacteria that come under the umbrella of sin. There are many foods that are not sweet but bitter―yet they are very good in boosting our immune system. We cannot build physical muscle by inactivity―nor can we build spiritual muscle by inactivity. A healthy body does not just a muscular arm and no muscle anywhere else―the more muscles that we exercise, the healthier and stronger will be our whole body. That is why we speak of spiritual EXERCISES! These include things that some find “heavy to lift” ― such as daily spiritual reading; daily examination of conscience; daily meditation; daily Rosary; daily Mass; a precise program that targets our most predominant sins in order to uproot them, which also targets virtues so as to acquire them one by one, etc. Who is there that regularly follows such spiritual EXERCISES? They are, sadly, few and far between!
Yet―believe it or not―it is our spirituality that will bring about an end to the terrible events that are beginning to ravage the world today! If you don’t believe it, then you don’t believe Holy Scripture―which is the word of God. Some “new-agers” might like to call it “mind-over-matter” ― which is false, since that notion excludes God. Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet just as St. Augustine says: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you!” ― likewise, we can say: “God can act without you, but God will not act without you!” in the sense that you cannot just idly stand by and expect God to do all the work while you get all the benefits! As the theological axiom says: “God will not do the extraordinary when the ordinary suffices!” Or, as the popular non-biblical saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!”
Spiritual Weapons in the Physical Battle
Yes―our spiritual life is the antidote to these political, physical, material, medical and military threats, coercions, disasters and diseases that are being currently launched upon by our ultimate enemy―Satan and Hell―who merely uses unsuspecting idiots or satanic collaborators as his instruments to try and destroy mankind. This statement―our spiritual life is the antidote―sounds far-fetched, preposterous, wildly exaggerated and extreme, to say the least! Yet is it? No! It is not! Holy Scripture clearly points this out―but who reads Holy Scripture anymore?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, says: “All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God.”
We Are Not Fighting Men―We Are Fighting Satan
“Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour ― whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world! And this is the victory which overcomes the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Holy Scripture then further explains: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God! By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
We are not primarily in the boxing-ring fending-off the jabs of lifeless drug in a syringe! Nor are we in a political fight, where we stupidly imagine one side to be good and the other side bad―they are all bad! Nor do we have a legal foothold or some legal loophole―for the law does not matter to tyrants and dictators―just look at China and Russia. You are in the ring with “your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour ― whom ye must resist by being strong in the Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8). All the lies, threats, coercions, agendas and propaganda that we see (and don’t see) happening around us, are ultimately traceable back to Satan and his devils. Every human being has one or more devils assigned to them―they work on us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long, every year of our lives. Needless to say that Satan and his devils are not more powerful that God and His angels―but, once we weaken our spiritual immune system by neglecting spiritual food and spiritual exercises, then we open the door to Satan’s intrusion and ultimate control.
Exercise or Exorcise?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Satanism is spreading enormously! … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly, in periods of history, when the sinfulness of the community is more evident … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan. … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes satanic sects prosper ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard!”
Fr. Amorth personally knew St. Padre Pio for 26 years, and it is from Padre Pio that Fr. Amorth claimed to have learned the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. According to Fr. Amorth, Padre Pio said that the Third Secret pertained to the infiltration of the Vatican by Satan and the rise of a “false church” – details that are not found in the Vatican’s official publication of the Third Secret in 2000. Fr. Amorth says: “One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’”
It not a mere symbolic statement or exaggeration when Our Lord states that Satan is “the prince of this world” (John 14:30). Satan really rules this world―if you cannot see that, then Our Lord says to you: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:13-16).
The 'Teeth' of Satan
Satan is certainly showing his teeth―and he has plenty of teeth and also many, many followers. He has sunk his teeth into the Church; he has sunk his teeth into politics, science, technology, medicine, military, media, music and culture in general. Holy Scripture warned us this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette merely echoed Scripture when she said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
To Cure the World We Must Cure Our Souls
As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” That is one reason why Our Lady appeared at Fatima―with the intention of reducing the number of sins committed in the world by having us pray for the conversion of sinners. At her very first apparition she went straight for the jugular, she did not beat about the bush, without camouflaging her intentions she bluntly asked the three children (aged 7, 9 and 10): “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” Later, she adds to this, saying: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Heavens Weapons
Our Lady pointed out to us what our weapons of war should be: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” The mentioning of the Rosary is clear and evident―it needs no further explanation―but what is the “the Sign left by my Son”? The word “sign” immediately brings to mind several things. One is the “Sign of the Cross”. Another is the Sacraments―for a sacrament is defined by the Catechism as being an “outward sign of an inward grace”. The Holy Eucharist is, therefore, a sign―it is a sign that is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament―something which is unique to the Holy Eucharist, for all the other Sacraments are only Sacraments, but not Sacrifices. The Holy Eucharist is also a sign of the Real Presence of Christ―with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―in what remains after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, namely, in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar reserved in the tabernacle. The Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the Sacraments―it is, thus, the weapon of all weapons, since it is God Himself. Satan was defeated by the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross, which is re-enacted in every single Sacrifice of the Mass. How little we treasure that weapon! How little do we use that weapon!
A second point that must be made is that we underestimate the power of spiritual weapons due to our almost total reliance on modern technology in everyday life. So great have the “advances” in science in recent years that we have made a god out of science upon which we rely far more than we rely upon God! Yet Our Lord promised: “Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith and stagger not, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Take up and cast thyself into the sea!’ ― it shall be done! And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:21-22). “Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you!” (Mark 11:24).
How wonderfully numerous are the miracles and cures that have been achieved through the spiritual weapon of prayer! It is with this in mind that Our Lady revealed to Sr. Lucia of Fatima that, in our present day, God had judged that the prayer of the Rosary is to be the means of obtaining all things: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Heavens Weapons Require Good Soldiers
Yes―Our Lady has given us the weapons for the fight, but any weapon is always limited in its potency by the skill or quality of the soldier using it. If you have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, then you are Soldier of Christ. How good a soldier are you? How well do you use your weapons? Or do you even use them? The current escalating and threatening crisis―growing more ominous with each day―will not blocked, beaten or solved by mere human means, even though humans will have to play a part. The weapons have to first and foremost be spiritual weapons―for our ultimate foe, Satan and Hell, will not vanquished by merely human enterprise and activity. To try to do so would be as stupid as going to war with only a water pistol.
Sergeant First Class, Stan Ellis, a veteran sniper of more than 80 sniper missions in Korea during the 1980s, says that the mission is still the same even though the environment and conditions for today’s snipers have changed: “The sniper’s goal is always one shot, one kill!” Likewise, the Marine Corps’ Scout Sniper Instructor School’s credo is lean and mean: “One Shot, One Kill!” Capt. Steven L. Walsh, who is in charge of the sniper school, said: “Studies of automatic fire show the first round hits the target. The second round is at 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock, usually 11. The rest of the bullets marry with the sky. It’s wasted ammunition! We’ve got to convince young Marines it’s not just spraying the area. One well-aimed round is the name of the game!” No waste of ammunition―make every shot count! That should be how we pray our Rosary―each Hail Mary can be a spiritual bullet―and we do not need to waste our ammunition by needlessly “missing the target”. Sadly, most Catholics rarely hit the target with their Rosaries! St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, laments:
“A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity; in other words, to recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace, or at least seeking it. In order to pray well, we must pray with great attention. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful [miss the target] and make us guilty of sin: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
Our Lady said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.
Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.
The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.
It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. A decade said recollectedly will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Dead Soldiers Can’t Fight
It is pretty obvious that dead soldiers cannot fight! The same is true of spiritual soldiers―spiritually dead soldiers are useless in battle. As St. Louis de Montfort said in the above passage: “To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of [sanctifying] grace, for theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. To recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace!”
How many souls are in a state of grace? Only God knows the exact answer to that! Yet, based upon the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints tell us that most souls end up being damned (not just most souls in the whole world, but also most Catholic souls), then we have to deduce that most souls are in a state of mortal sin―because you cannot possibly be damned if you die in a state of sanctifying grace, damnation is only for those who die in a state of mortal sin.
All that aside―simply looking at the current statistics tells us that most Catholics are in a state of mortal sin. Only 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass each and every Sunday―an obligation that binds under the pain of mortal sin. Only 2% of Catholics go to Confession regularly―over 50% NEVER go to Confession. Over 50% of Catholics are accepting of one or more of the following mortal sins: homosexuality, cohabitation, masturbation, pornography, drunkenness, street drug use, remarriage after divorce, etc. More than 50% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As for the Rosary, only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily, over 50% NEVER pray it all. What chance of salvation have such Catholics―little or none! The saints throughout all centuries―since the time of Christ―have consistently taught that most Catholics souls are lost! Why? Because they will not fight like a Soldier of Christ is meant to fight. They will not fight the enemies of Christ―the devil and the world. They will not find their own sinful desires (concupiscences)―and so they make peace with the enemies of Christ!
A solution is defined as “a means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation.” If you cannot see a problem, you will not seek a solution! Do we need a solution today? Do we have a problem today? It depends if eyesight is faulty or not, and whether or not you have buried your head in the sand, or buried yourself in denial. Our Lady has been trying to point out the problems―there are many and not just one―for several centuries.
Yet, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying attention to this Message. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Is Modern Man Intelligent or Just Plain Stupid?
In this modern world―with our modern day education, modern day technology, modern day access to millions of resources―we think ourselves to be pretty bright and smart! We have information at our fingertips! Who needs to read, know and master the Bible when a search engine will find for you in seconds what it would normally take hours to dig-up! We have “Dr. Google” to whom we turn for natural home remedies when we are not feeling well! We have “YouTube” to turn to for videos showing how to accomplish a myriad of tasks! We can access almost any expert we want within seconds via the internet! Yet with all this “information constipation” we are still pretty stupid. As Holy Scripture says: “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? … The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 1:20; 3:19).
Riches Are No Solution―Only a Problem
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches!’” (Jeremias 9:23). “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). “Health of the soul in holiness, is better than all gold and silver―and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Our Lord tried to instill some wisdom into our foolish minds when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 6:19-24; 16:26).
An Encounter with a Rich Man
We all know the encounter that Our Lord had with the good young man who was rich: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Our Lord was trying to tell the rich young man that, even though he was a good person with good intentions, his riches were an obstacle to his perfection in holiness. Our Lord gave him a solution―but the solution was refused, for he preferred his riches of body to riches of the soul.
A Parable about a Rich Man
This reminds us of the parable of Our Lord about the rich man: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to store my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Unfortunately, most of the world―Catholics included―are more concerned about “laying up treasures for themselves” than being “rich towards God”! Someone who would sincerely try to fulfill the commandment “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30-31) ― would be looked upon as an extremist, a fanatic or even a lunatic!
Not Seeing God’s Solutions
We are often blind (or stubborn) with regard to the solutions that God offers us―because they do not suit our tastes and are not to our liking. Yet God warns: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). More often than not, we seek to force God―like a square peg into a round hole―into our way of seeing things and doing things. We are merely blind, selfish and stubborn in our attitude―to which God says: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence? … The heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking―they have revolted and gone away. And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us fear the Lord our God!’” (Jeremias 5:21-24). All we fear is a loss of our comforts and possessions!
Presumption is no Solution
There are some that blindly trust in God to save them from all dangers―without doing anything on their own part! That is presumption. Yes, God can do anything and, in theory, does not need our cooperation to things. Yet, as St. Augustine points out: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you!” That reminds of an amusing story.
A massive storm approaches. The local news and weather station urges everyone to get out of town. Yet one man says: “I’m not worried, God will save me!” The morning of the storm, the police go through the neighborhood with a sound truck, telling everyone to evacuate. The man says: “I’m not worried! It’s okay! God will save me!”
The storm drains back up and there are several inches of water standing in the street. A fire truck comes by to pick up the man. He tells them “Don’t worry! It’s okay! God will save me! I have faith, you know!”
The water rises another foot. A National Guard truck comes by to rescue the man. He tells them: “Thank you, but it’s okay! I’m not worried! God will save me!”
The water keeps on rising even more and floods the first floor, forcing the man up to the second floor of his house. A police boat comes by to rescue the man. He tells them: “No thanks! I’m praying to God and He is going to save me! I have faith, you know!”
The water rises much higher. The man is now forced up to the very top of his roof. A helicopter comes to rescue the man and the pilot shouted down: “Tie this rope around you and I will lift you to safety!” The stranded man again replied: “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have lots of faith in God, you know!” So the helicopter reluctantly flew away and the flood waters kept rising.
Finally, the water rises above his house, and the man drowns. He appeared before God for his final judgment―at which point he finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God. He exclaimed: “I’ve been Your faithful servant ever since I was born! I had faith in You―but You didn’t save me! You let me down and let me drown! I don’t understand why!” To this God replied: “You absolute fool! First of all I sent you a warning! Then I sent you a fire truck! Then the National Guard! Then a police boat! Then I sent you a helicopter! What more did you expect, you stupid idiot! What more do you want from Me!!??” What was this fool’s final judgment? Well, you’ll have to wait until you die to find out!
Meanwhile―Back to the Problem
As they say: “Many a true word is said in jest!” When it comes to the problems that we are currently facing―and they are both many and major―we usually tend to fall into one of two extreme categories. We either rely upon ourselves too much (and commit the sin of pride), or we rely upon God too much (and commit the sin of presumption). In today’s ever rising flood waters that increasingly threaten our rights, liberties, jobs, health, life itself and, most importantly, our Faith―there are some who would like to thoughtlessly rush in where angels fear to tread, with guns blazing and nooses dangling. Then there are others who nonchalantly sit back and say―like the man in above joke―“I’m not worried! It’s okay! I have Faith! I’m praying to God and God will save me!” Yet as St. Augustine so rightly says, God has created us without our cooperation, but God will not save us without our cooperation!
So What’s the Problem?
If you want a one word answer to what the problem is―then it is “SATAN” or the “DEVIL” or “HELL”. All the rest falls under the category of Satan/Devil/Hell. Satan brings with him “SIN” ― being the first creature to sin. He passed on the deadly virus of sin to Adam and Eve―“The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23)―and since that time we all are born with a tendency to sin, which is one of scars of Original Sin. Our Lady of La Salette informs us that “the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” Sin begets sin. Sin is like a virus―it is not alive of itself, sin is not a living thing, but must find a host which it can infect with its deadly poison. Then the infected thing can pass on that sin to others. A virus―a bringer of disease―would not have been effective before sin was committed. If death is a result of sin―then disease (which causes death) is also a result of sin―nobody dies of death, they die of a disease (or an attack/accident). Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no disease and no death. A virus is a symptom of sin. “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence [bad desires], being drawn away and allured. Then, when concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:14-15).
Exercise is a Problem and a Solution!
A certain kind of diet boosts, strengthens and maintains the immune system. The same is true for our spiritual immune system that is meant to fight against the many different strains of viruses and bacteria that come under the umbrella of sin. There are many foods that are not sweet but bitter―yet they are very good in boosting our immune system. We cannot build physical muscle by inactivity―nor can we build spiritual muscle by inactivity. A healthy body does not just a muscular arm and no muscle anywhere else―the more muscles that we exercise, the healthier and stronger will be our whole body. That is why we speak of spiritual EXERCISES! These include things that some find “heavy to lift” ― such as daily spiritual reading; daily examination of conscience; daily meditation; daily Rosary; daily Mass; a precise program that targets our most predominant sins in order to uproot them, which also targets virtues so as to acquire them one by one, etc. Who is there that regularly follows such spiritual EXERCISES? They are, sadly, few and far between!
Yet―believe it or not―it is our spirituality that will bring about an end to the terrible events that are beginning to ravage the world today! If you don’t believe it, then you don’t believe Holy Scripture―which is the word of God. Some “new-agers” might like to call it “mind-over-matter” ― which is false, since that notion excludes God. Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet just as St. Augustine says: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you!” ― likewise, we can say: “God can act without you, but God will not act without you!” in the sense that you cannot just idly stand by and expect God to do all the work while you get all the benefits! As the theological axiom says: “God will not do the extraordinary when the ordinary suffices!” Or, as the popular non-biblical saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!”
Spiritual Weapons in the Physical Battle
Yes―our spiritual life is the antidote to these political, physical, material, medical and military threats, coercions, disasters and diseases that are being currently launched upon by our ultimate enemy―Satan and Hell―who merely uses unsuspecting idiots or satanic collaborators as his instruments to try and destroy mankind. This statement―our spiritual life is the antidote―sounds far-fetched, preposterous, wildly exaggerated and extreme, to say the least! Yet is it? No! It is not! Holy Scripture clearly points this out―but who reads Holy Scripture anymore?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, says: “All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God.”
We Are Not Fighting Men―We Are Fighting Satan
“Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour ― whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world! And this is the victory which overcomes the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Holy Scripture then further explains: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God! By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
We are not primarily in the boxing-ring fending-off the jabs of lifeless drug in a syringe! Nor are we in a political fight, where we stupidly imagine one side to be good and the other side bad―they are all bad! Nor do we have a legal foothold or some legal loophole―for the law does not matter to tyrants and dictators―just look at China and Russia. You are in the ring with “your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour ― whom ye must resist by being strong in the Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8). All the lies, threats, coercions, agendas and propaganda that we see (and don’t see) happening around us, are ultimately traceable back to Satan and his devils. Every human being has one or more devils assigned to them―they work on us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long, every year of our lives. Needless to say that Satan and his devils are not more powerful that God and His angels―but, once we weaken our spiritual immune system by neglecting spiritual food and spiritual exercises, then we open the door to Satan’s intrusion and ultimate control.
Exercise or Exorcise?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Satanism is spreading enormously! … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly, in periods of history, when the sinfulness of the community is more evident … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan. … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes satanic sects prosper ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard!”
Fr. Amorth personally knew St. Padre Pio for 26 years, and it is from Padre Pio that Fr. Amorth claimed to have learned the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. According to Fr. Amorth, Padre Pio said that the Third Secret pertained to the infiltration of the Vatican by Satan and the rise of a “false church” – details that are not found in the Vatican’s official publication of the Third Secret in 2000. Fr. Amorth says: “One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’”
It not a mere symbolic statement or exaggeration when Our Lord states that Satan is “the prince of this world” (John 14:30). Satan really rules this world―if you cannot see that, then Our Lord says to you: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:13-16).
The 'Teeth' of Satan
Satan is certainly showing his teeth―and he has plenty of teeth and also many, many followers. He has sunk his teeth into the Church; he has sunk his teeth into politics, science, technology, medicine, military, media, music and culture in general. Holy Scripture warned us this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette merely echoed Scripture when she said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
To Cure the World We Must Cure Our Souls
As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” That is one reason why Our Lady appeared at Fatima―with the intention of reducing the number of sins committed in the world by having us pray for the conversion of sinners. At her very first apparition she went straight for the jugular, she did not beat about the bush, without camouflaging her intentions she bluntly asked the three children (aged 7, 9 and 10): “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” Later, she adds to this, saying: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Heavens Weapons
Our Lady pointed out to us what our weapons of war should be: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” The mentioning of the Rosary is clear and evident―it needs no further explanation―but what is the “the Sign left by my Son”? The word “sign” immediately brings to mind several things. One is the “Sign of the Cross”. Another is the Sacraments―for a sacrament is defined by the Catechism as being an “outward sign of an inward grace”. The Holy Eucharist is, therefore, a sign―it is a sign that is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament―something which is unique to the Holy Eucharist, for all the other Sacraments are only Sacraments, but not Sacrifices. The Holy Eucharist is also a sign of the Real Presence of Christ―with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―in what remains after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, namely, in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar reserved in the tabernacle. The Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the Sacraments―it is, thus, the weapon of all weapons, since it is God Himself. Satan was defeated by the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross, which is re-enacted in every single Sacrifice of the Mass. How little we treasure that weapon! How little do we use that weapon!
A second point that must be made is that we underestimate the power of spiritual weapons due to our almost total reliance on modern technology in everyday life. So great have the “advances” in science in recent years that we have made a god out of science upon which we rely far more than we rely upon God! Yet Our Lord promised: “Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith and stagger not, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Take up and cast thyself into the sea!’ ― it shall be done! And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:21-22). “Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you!” (Mark 11:24).
How wonderfully numerous are the miracles and cures that have been achieved through the spiritual weapon of prayer! It is with this in mind that Our Lady revealed to Sr. Lucia of Fatima that, in our present day, God had judged that the prayer of the Rosary is to be the means of obtaining all things: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Heavens Weapons Require Good Soldiers
Yes―Our Lady has given us the weapons for the fight, but any weapon is always limited in its potency by the skill or quality of the soldier using it. If you have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, then you are Soldier of Christ. How good a soldier are you? How well do you use your weapons? Or do you even use them? The current escalating and threatening crisis―growing more ominous with each day―will not blocked, beaten or solved by mere human means, even though humans will have to play a part. The weapons have to first and foremost be spiritual weapons―for our ultimate foe, Satan and Hell, will not vanquished by merely human enterprise and activity. To try to do so would be as stupid as going to war with only a water pistol.
Sergeant First Class, Stan Ellis, a veteran sniper of more than 80 sniper missions in Korea during the 1980s, says that the mission is still the same even though the environment and conditions for today’s snipers have changed: “The sniper’s goal is always one shot, one kill!” Likewise, the Marine Corps’ Scout Sniper Instructor School’s credo is lean and mean: “One Shot, One Kill!” Capt. Steven L. Walsh, who is in charge of the sniper school, said: “Studies of automatic fire show the first round hits the target. The second round is at 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock, usually 11. The rest of the bullets marry with the sky. It’s wasted ammunition! We’ve got to convince young Marines it’s not just spraying the area. One well-aimed round is the name of the game!” No waste of ammunition―make every shot count! That should be how we pray our Rosary―each Hail Mary can be a spiritual bullet―and we do not need to waste our ammunition by needlessly “missing the target”. Sadly, most Catholics rarely hit the target with their Rosaries! St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, laments:
“A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity; in other words, to recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace, or at least seeking it. In order to pray well, we must pray with great attention. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful [miss the target] and make us guilty of sin: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
Our Lady said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.
Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.
The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.
It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. A decade said recollectedly will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Dead Soldiers Can’t Fight
It is pretty obvious that dead soldiers cannot fight! The same is true of spiritual soldiers―spiritually dead soldiers are useless in battle. As St. Louis de Montfort said in the above passage: “To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of [sanctifying] grace, for theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. To recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace!”
How many souls are in a state of grace? Only God knows the exact answer to that! Yet, based upon the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints tell us that most souls end up being damned (not just most souls in the whole world, but also most Catholic souls), then we have to deduce that most souls are in a state of mortal sin―because you cannot possibly be damned if you die in a state of sanctifying grace, damnation is only for those who die in a state of mortal sin.
All that aside―simply looking at the current statistics tells us that most Catholics are in a state of mortal sin. Only 10% to 15% of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass each and every Sunday―an obligation that binds under the pain of mortal sin. Only 2% of Catholics go to Confession regularly―over 50% NEVER go to Confession. Over 50% of Catholics are accepting of one or more of the following mortal sins: homosexuality, cohabitation, masturbation, pornography, drunkenness, street drug use, remarriage after divorce, etc. More than 50% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As for the Rosary, only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily, over 50% NEVER pray it all. What chance of salvation have such Catholics―little or none! The saints throughout all centuries―since the time of Christ―have consistently taught that most Catholics souls are lost! Why? Because they will not fight like a Soldier of Christ is meant to fight. They will not fight the enemies of Christ―the devil and the world. They will not find their own sinful desires (concupiscences)―and so they make peace with the enemies of Christ!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Wednesday September 8th & Thursday September 9th
Article 5
What Are You Giving Our Lady on Her Birthday?
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Wednesday September 8th & Thursday September 9th
Article 5
What Are You Giving Our Lady on Her Birthday?
Simply the Greatest Present!
People give all kinds of things for presents on birthdays―money, jewelry, clothing, electronic appliances, kitchen or work tools, even “high-end” items such as cars, vacations, etc. Yet all such things depend upon a “four-letter-word” if they are to be truly pleasing to the recipient. That “four-letter-word” is LOVE! What greater gift can you give to anyone than God Himself? And what is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― God is LOVE. Hence Holy Scripture says: “Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14) … “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves ― for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8).
Have you ever received a gift from someone who did not like and, perhaps, you did not like either? The gift―no matter how beautiful or expensive it might be―lacks something essential. It lacks the love and sincere benevolence that should accompany it. Without that, it is like a body without a soul, like laughter at a funeral―it is empty, hollow, and perhaps even hypocritical. This is what Holy Scripture warns us about: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
A Family of Love
Not only is God LOVE―“God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―but Holy Mother Church also calls Our Lady the “Mother of Fair Love” by attributing or assigning to her the following words―taken from some of the Masses in Our Lady’s honor: “I am the mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24). So it seems that LOVE is in the family ― and if we wish to allowed into that family of LOVE, we, ourselves, must be clothed in LOVE. In the parable about the Wedding Banquet (a symbol of union with God in Heaven), one man turned up without a wedding garment, which the Father of the Church say is a symbol of LOVE and grace. He was thrown out! “And the king went in to see the guests and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend! How camest thou in here not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness! Where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:11-14). Many are baptized into Christianity, but few have true charity―most have some kind of counterfeit charity.
CHARITY or LOVE is our key to Heaven and the key to Our Lady’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart! Not a mere superficial “lip-service” love―which you hear all over the place every day―but a heartfelt LOVE, a true CHARITY, one that loves God above all things and then loves the neighbor for the sake of God, out of love of God, for God created the soul of your neighbor just as He created your soul. That neighbor includes sinners, that neighbor includes your enemies, that neighbor includes your competitors―for Our Lord prayed to His Father in Heaven “that they may be one, as We also are one!” (John 17:22) ― united by charity “which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14).
Raw-Deal Birthdays
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps have we been throwing to Our Lady on her birthday?
Just as many a mother is left unappreciated for all the care she shows and work that she does―so too is Our Lady unappreciated, or insufficiently appreciated, for all that she has been and is doing for us. She herself said at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Born to Love―Born to Mother
Our Lady was born of love―born of God, made by God, Who is Love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). She was born to love. She was born to be a Mother. She was born to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God. She was born to be the Mother of the Church―the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ. She was born to be the Mother of Love―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). She was born to be the Mother of Sinners! Sinners? Huh? Yes, the Mother of Sinners! You call her you “Mother” don’t you? Of course you do! Well, what are you? You are a sinner! “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). So, yes―if she our Mother also, then she is also the Mother of Sinners―not that she creates sinners, or gives birth to sinners, but that she inherits sinners and seeks to “mother” them and save them, just like her Son, Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save! … For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 9:56; 19:10; 5:32).
Mother of Mercy Towards Sinners
Our Lady was born to show mercy! Holy Scripture says of God that “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:9). Is not Mary the greatest of all God’s works? Yes she is! St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … She is the magnificence of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe … God willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin … She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary). Mary is the greatest creature that God has ever created, she is the greatest of all His works, and if Scripture says that “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:9), then we must equate Mary with mercy! So just as we say that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), we can also say that “Mary is mercy.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book The Glories of Mary, writes: “The Kingdom of God, consisting in Justice and Mercy, was divided by Our Lord ― the Kingdom of Justice he reserved for himself, and that of Mercy he yielded to Mary, ordaining that all mercies, that are dispensed to men, should pass through the hands of Mary and be disposed of by her at will. The great Chancellor of Paris, John Gerson, says: ‘The Kingdom of God consists in power and mercy; reserving power to Himself, He, in some way, yielded the empire of mercy to His Mother.’ (Super Magn. tr. 4). This is confirmed by St. Thomas Aquinas, saying, ‘that, when the Blessed Virgin conceived the Eternal Word in her womb and brought him forth, she obtained half the Kingdom of God; so that she is Queen of Mercy, as Jesus is King of Justice.’”
Saints Shower Praise on Mary’s Mercies
St. John Eudes, in his book The Admirable Heart of Mary, quotes various saints who extol and praise the mercies of Mary. He writes:
“Divine Mercy … gave her dominion over everything in Heaven and on Earth … To the Heart of Mary God communicated in great abundance His merciful inclinations and established in it the throne and reign of His Mercy … Divine Mercy reigns so perfectly in Mary’s Heart that she bears the name of Queen and Mother of Mercy … St. Bernard says: ‘She is called the Queen of Mercy because she opens the abyss and treasure of Divine Mercy to whom she chooses, when she chooses and as she chooses!’ Divine Mercy holds such complete sway over Mary’s Heart and fills it with so much compassion for sinners and all persons in need, that St. Augustine addresses her thus: ‘Thou art the sinner’s only hope!’ after God. St. Bernard says: ‘Her Heart is the ladder by which sinners go up to Heaven!’ Holy Church, animated and guided by the Spirit of God, exhorts us to salute and honor this prerogative of Mary in that admirable prayer: ‘Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope, all hail!’ … St. John Chrysostom declares her to be a boundless ocean of mercy …
“Would you know in what further manner Divine Mercy lives and reigns in the Heart of the Mother of Mercy? Listen to St. Bonaventure: ‘Great was Mary’s mercy towards the wretched while she was living in exile here below; but immeasurably greater still now that she is happily reigning in Heaven. She manifests this greater mercy through innumerable benefits, now that she possesses a clearer insight into the numberless woes of mankind. She does not require past merits, but grants the petitions of all men, out of charity, and opens the bosom of her clemency to everyone. She relieves every need and necessity with an incomparable affection and tenderness of heart’ …
“Her gentle Heart is so filled with mercy that it overflows on all sides and spreads itself in Heaven, on Earth and even in Hell. Let us again listen to St. Bernard proclaiming this truth: ‘Who can comprehend, O Blessed Virgin, the length, the width, the height and the depth of thy mercy? Its length extends to the last day in the life of those who invoke thee; its width encompasses the whole world; its height reaches to Heaven, there to repair the losses of the heavenly Jerusalem; its depth has penetrated Hell to obtain the deliverance of them that sit in the darkness and shadow of death!’
The Heart of the Mother of Grace is filled with such exceeding mercy, that she exercises it not only in favor of sinners who wish to be converted, but also towards many persons who never think of their eternal salvation ... She often saves from eternal perdition souls who in the ordinary course of Divine Justice would have been cast into Hell. Such is the mind of that ancient and excellent 14th century author, Fr. Raymund Jourdain (Abbot of Celles): ‘The Mother’s mercy often saves many whom the justice of the Son would have otherwise condemned!’” (St. John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of Mary, Part 5, Chapter 1).
Masterpiece Ignored?
So how important was Our Lady’s birthday in your home? Does Our Lady really matter to you? ― and not just when you want something from her! How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? Do you talk a lot about her? Do you read a lot about her? Do you write a lot about her? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece―“Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday fared no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday―just like Christmas―will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthday? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―did they manage a full 15 decade Rosary on her birhtday, or at least another 5 decades on top of the usual? Of the 25% or so Catholics who are Sunday regulars at Mass, or much smaller number of Catholics who attend Mass during weekdays, how many will carry the religious ceremonies and spirit home with them and inject it into the festivities that should be there on Our Lady’s birthday? Yes, “laying on a spread” is fine, as it is for everyone’s birthday―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., takes precedence over the spiritual side of things in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The Lady Loves Love!
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call a person, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a person must be filled with love, and, to be devout, the person must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Love is More than Just Words
Love is lost today! Love has lost its way! Love has become anemic! Love has become an empty shell that has words as its walls and roof, but inside it is empty. It is easy to say we love―it is far harder to prove that love. We must not just talk the talk―but also walk the walk. Actions speak louder than words―just like “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:26). Just as Our Lord said: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)―Our Lady could also say: “Why do say that you love me and do not things which I say?”
Our actions are the test and proof of the truthfulness and sincerity of our words―they are the “litmus test” that show if our love is true or whether it is just words. Devotion to Our Lady is exactly that―you can be devoted to Our Lady without your actions proving it. As St. Francis de Sales said above: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love!” Love has many degrees―you could compare it to school, where you are student if you are in kindergarten and you are also a student if you are in 12th grade. Devotion is, in a certain sense the pinnacle of love―it is like being in high school―and its pinnacle is 12th grade (or you could even push the analogy of the pinnacle even further and bring in college or university). Most Catholics―in relation to their love of God and Our Lady―barely get out of kindergarten. They are all talk, with little to show for that talk―just like a kindergartner, who imagines that he or she can do all kinds of things, only to fail at the first attempt.
The Power of Love―Increase Your Love
We underestimate the power of love and overestimate the degree of our love. What a fatal combination! Of the three theological virtues, Charity is the greatest! Faith and Hope pale away next to Charity: “Now there Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three: but the greatest of these is Charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). We can have knowledge―even lots of knowledge―but what good is knowledge without love? As Scripture says: “If I should have all knowledge … and have not Charity―then I am nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:2). We said that Faith without works is dead―but even works done with Faith, but without Charity, are also dead: “If I should have all Faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).
Today, we live in a world of superficiality, a world of appearances, a world of smoke and mirrors, a world which seeks to present and pass-off itself as something that it is clearly not! In blunt terms, it is a lying world, a false world, an ugly world that hides behind beautiful masks! Our love of God and love of Our Lady often follows a similar path―we pretend to be what we are clearly not. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he lists seven types of false devotees to Our Lady:
“More than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not for the most part counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them, and true devotion, in order to embrace it; secondly, which of the many practices of true devotion to our Blessed Lady is the most perfect, the most agreeable to her, the most glorious to God, and the most sanctifying for ourselves, so that we may adopt that one. I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.” (Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §92). He then goes on to describe in more detail these false devotions (§93 to §104).
Are We Dressed Up in a False Devotion at Our Lady’s Birthday Party?
Have we turned up at Our Lady’s birthday dressed in a false devotion? Most people do! Here is the mirror into which we can look to see if there are any similarities between what St. Louis describes and what we see in our own personal devotion:
(1) Critical Devotees
“The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there; and they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they adored the wood or the stone. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. When they are told how admirably the Fathers of the Church praised the Blessed Virgin, they either reply that the Fathers spoke as professional orators, with exaggeration; or they misinterpret their words. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady; and they are but too successful in alienating people from it, under the pretext of destroying its abuses.”
(2) Scrupulous Devotees
“The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently.
“Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mummery of our religion. Speak to us of those who are devout to Jesus Christ.” (Yet they often name Him without raising their hats—I say this by way of parenthesis.) “We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true, but in the application they make of it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus.
“The Church, with the Holy Ghost, blesses Our Lady first, and Our Lord second: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” It is not that Mary is more than Jesus or even equal to Him—that would be intolerable heresy; but it is that, in order to bless Jesus more perfectly, we must begin by blessing Mary. Let us then say, with all the true clients of Our Lady, in opposition to these false scrupulous devotees, “O Mary, thou art blessed among all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
(3) External Devotees
“External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible part of devotion, without having any relish for its solidity. If they have not sensible sweetness in their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer, who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward modesty which always accompanies true devotion.”
(4) Presumptuous Devotees
“Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady.
“They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things. To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors.
“Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son? If Mary laid down a law to herself, to save by her mercy this sort of people, she would be authorizing crime and helping crucify and outrage her Son. Who would ever dare think of such a thing? I say that to thus to abuse devotion to Our Lady, which, after devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, is the holiest and solidest of all devotions, is to be guilty of a horrible sacrilege, which, after the sacrilege of an unworthy Communion, is the greatest and least pardonable of all sacrileges.
“I confess that, in order to be truly devout to our Blessed Lady, it is not absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoid every sin, though this were desirable; but this much at least is necessary, and I beg you to lay it well to heart: (1) to have a sincere resolution to avoid at least all mortal sin, which outrages the Mother as well as the Son; (2) to do violence to ourselves to avoid sin; (3) to enroll ourselves in confraternities, to say the Rosary or other prayers, to fast on Saturdays and the like. These good works are likewise wonderfully useful for the conversion of a sinner, however hardened he may be. If my reader be such a one, even though he have one foot in the abyss, I would advise him to practice them, but only on condition that he do so with the intention of obtaining from God, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the grace of contrition and pardon of his sins and the grace to conquer his evil habits, and not to remain quietly in the state of sin, contrary to his remorse of conscience, the example of Jesus Christ and the saints and the maxims of the holy Gospel.”
(5) Inconstant Devotees
“The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon;3 and Mary puts them under her feet with the crescent, because they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful Virgin who have for their special graces fidelity and constancy. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.”
(6) Hypocritical Devotees
“We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not.”
(7) Interested Devotees
“There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother.”
Summary
“Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees. who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.” (Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §93 to §104).
In short, you could say that Our Lady prefers someone who comes to her “Birthday Party” with empty hands and no gifts―but with a heart full of love, rather than someone who comes with all kinds of exterior presents (carrying their pictures and statues of Our Lady, covered with her medals and scapulars, with a list of processions and pilgrimages they have made―but all of this with little love in their hearts. Sometimes―if we are not careful―the long litany of things that we have done for Our Lady can make us pridefully love ourselves more and more, and Our Lady less and less!
Just as St. Louis de Montfort writes, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, that “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly” (Forty-First Rose). So too can we say that “a single act of love made with all sincerity, is worth hundreds of acts of love made lukewarmly!” As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity. Quality is superior to quantity!” These are truths that are too little preached, little known and quickly forgotten if they are heard and known.
Devotion is the key to our problems―which is what Our Lady has always insisted upon in her modern day apparitions. At Fatima, in 1917, she said: “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” Our Lady added that only she could help now. Speaking of herself in the third person, Our Lady said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
People give all kinds of things for presents on birthdays―money, jewelry, clothing, electronic appliances, kitchen or work tools, even “high-end” items such as cars, vacations, etc. Yet all such things depend upon a “four-letter-word” if they are to be truly pleasing to the recipient. That “four-letter-word” is LOVE! What greater gift can you give to anyone than God Himself? And what is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― God is LOVE. Hence Holy Scripture says: “Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14) … “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves ― for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8).
Have you ever received a gift from someone who did not like and, perhaps, you did not like either? The gift―no matter how beautiful or expensive it might be―lacks something essential. It lacks the love and sincere benevolence that should accompany it. Without that, it is like a body without a soul, like laughter at a funeral―it is empty, hollow, and perhaps even hypocritical. This is what Holy Scripture warns us about: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
A Family of Love
Not only is God LOVE―“God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―but Holy Mother Church also calls Our Lady the “Mother of Fair Love” by attributing or assigning to her the following words―taken from some of the Masses in Our Lady’s honor: “I am the mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24). So it seems that LOVE is in the family ― and if we wish to allowed into that family of LOVE, we, ourselves, must be clothed in LOVE. In the parable about the Wedding Banquet (a symbol of union with God in Heaven), one man turned up without a wedding garment, which the Father of the Church say is a symbol of LOVE and grace. He was thrown out! “And the king went in to see the guests and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend! How camest thou in here not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness! Where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:11-14). Many are baptized into Christianity, but few have true charity―most have some kind of counterfeit charity.
CHARITY or LOVE is our key to Heaven and the key to Our Lady’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart! Not a mere superficial “lip-service” love―which you hear all over the place every day―but a heartfelt LOVE, a true CHARITY, one that loves God above all things and then loves the neighbor for the sake of God, out of love of God, for God created the soul of your neighbor just as He created your soul. That neighbor includes sinners, that neighbor includes your enemies, that neighbor includes your competitors―for Our Lord prayed to His Father in Heaven “that they may be one, as We also are one!” (John 17:22) ― united by charity “which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14).
Raw-Deal Birthdays
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps have we been throwing to Our Lady on her birthday?
Just as many a mother is left unappreciated for all the care she shows and work that she does―so too is Our Lady unappreciated, or insufficiently appreciated, for all that she has been and is doing for us. She herself said at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Born to Love―Born to Mother
Our Lady was born of love―born of God, made by God, Who is Love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). She was born to love. She was born to be a Mother. She was born to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God. She was born to be the Mother of the Church―the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ. She was born to be the Mother of Love―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). She was born to be the Mother of Sinners! Sinners? Huh? Yes, the Mother of Sinners! You call her you “Mother” don’t you? Of course you do! Well, what are you? You are a sinner! “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). So, yes―if she our Mother also, then she is also the Mother of Sinners―not that she creates sinners, or gives birth to sinners, but that she inherits sinners and seeks to “mother” them and save them, just like her Son, Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save! … For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 9:56; 19:10; 5:32).
Mother of Mercy Towards Sinners
Our Lady was born to show mercy! Holy Scripture says of God that “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:9). Is not Mary the greatest of all God’s works? Yes she is! St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … She is the magnificence of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe … God willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin … She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary). Mary is the greatest creature that God has ever created, she is the greatest of all His works, and if Scripture says that “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:9), then we must equate Mary with mercy! So just as we say that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), we can also say that “Mary is mercy.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book The Glories of Mary, writes: “The Kingdom of God, consisting in Justice and Mercy, was divided by Our Lord ― the Kingdom of Justice he reserved for himself, and that of Mercy he yielded to Mary, ordaining that all mercies, that are dispensed to men, should pass through the hands of Mary and be disposed of by her at will. The great Chancellor of Paris, John Gerson, says: ‘The Kingdom of God consists in power and mercy; reserving power to Himself, He, in some way, yielded the empire of mercy to His Mother.’ (Super Magn. tr. 4). This is confirmed by St. Thomas Aquinas, saying, ‘that, when the Blessed Virgin conceived the Eternal Word in her womb and brought him forth, she obtained half the Kingdom of God; so that she is Queen of Mercy, as Jesus is King of Justice.’”
Saints Shower Praise on Mary’s Mercies
St. John Eudes, in his book The Admirable Heart of Mary, quotes various saints who extol and praise the mercies of Mary. He writes:
“Divine Mercy … gave her dominion over everything in Heaven and on Earth … To the Heart of Mary God communicated in great abundance His merciful inclinations and established in it the throne and reign of His Mercy … Divine Mercy reigns so perfectly in Mary’s Heart that she bears the name of Queen and Mother of Mercy … St. Bernard says: ‘She is called the Queen of Mercy because she opens the abyss and treasure of Divine Mercy to whom she chooses, when she chooses and as she chooses!’ Divine Mercy holds such complete sway over Mary’s Heart and fills it with so much compassion for sinners and all persons in need, that St. Augustine addresses her thus: ‘Thou art the sinner’s only hope!’ after God. St. Bernard says: ‘Her Heart is the ladder by which sinners go up to Heaven!’ Holy Church, animated and guided by the Spirit of God, exhorts us to salute and honor this prerogative of Mary in that admirable prayer: ‘Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope, all hail!’ … St. John Chrysostom declares her to be a boundless ocean of mercy …
“Would you know in what further manner Divine Mercy lives and reigns in the Heart of the Mother of Mercy? Listen to St. Bonaventure: ‘Great was Mary’s mercy towards the wretched while she was living in exile here below; but immeasurably greater still now that she is happily reigning in Heaven. She manifests this greater mercy through innumerable benefits, now that she possesses a clearer insight into the numberless woes of mankind. She does not require past merits, but grants the petitions of all men, out of charity, and opens the bosom of her clemency to everyone. She relieves every need and necessity with an incomparable affection and tenderness of heart’ …
“Her gentle Heart is so filled with mercy that it overflows on all sides and spreads itself in Heaven, on Earth and even in Hell. Let us again listen to St. Bernard proclaiming this truth: ‘Who can comprehend, O Blessed Virgin, the length, the width, the height and the depth of thy mercy? Its length extends to the last day in the life of those who invoke thee; its width encompasses the whole world; its height reaches to Heaven, there to repair the losses of the heavenly Jerusalem; its depth has penetrated Hell to obtain the deliverance of them that sit in the darkness and shadow of death!’
The Heart of the Mother of Grace is filled with such exceeding mercy, that she exercises it not only in favor of sinners who wish to be converted, but also towards many persons who never think of their eternal salvation ... She often saves from eternal perdition souls who in the ordinary course of Divine Justice would have been cast into Hell. Such is the mind of that ancient and excellent 14th century author, Fr. Raymund Jourdain (Abbot of Celles): ‘The Mother’s mercy often saves many whom the justice of the Son would have otherwise condemned!’” (St. John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of Mary, Part 5, Chapter 1).
Masterpiece Ignored?
So how important was Our Lady’s birthday in your home? Does Our Lady really matter to you? ― and not just when you want something from her! How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? Do you talk a lot about her? Do you read a lot about her? Do you write a lot about her? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece―“Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday fared no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday―just like Christmas―will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthday? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―did they manage a full 15 decade Rosary on her birhtday, or at least another 5 decades on top of the usual? Of the 25% or so Catholics who are Sunday regulars at Mass, or much smaller number of Catholics who attend Mass during weekdays, how many will carry the religious ceremonies and spirit home with them and inject it into the festivities that should be there on Our Lady’s birthday? Yes, “laying on a spread” is fine, as it is for everyone’s birthday―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., takes precedence over the spiritual side of things in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The Lady Loves Love!
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call a person, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a person must be filled with love, and, to be devout, the person must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Love is More than Just Words
Love is lost today! Love has lost its way! Love has become anemic! Love has become an empty shell that has words as its walls and roof, but inside it is empty. It is easy to say we love―it is far harder to prove that love. We must not just talk the talk―but also walk the walk. Actions speak louder than words―just like “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:26). Just as Our Lord said: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)―Our Lady could also say: “Why do say that you love me and do not things which I say?”
Our actions are the test and proof of the truthfulness and sincerity of our words―they are the “litmus test” that show if our love is true or whether it is just words. Devotion to Our Lady is exactly that―you can be devoted to Our Lady without your actions proving it. As St. Francis de Sales said above: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love!” Love has many degrees―you could compare it to school, where you are student if you are in kindergarten and you are also a student if you are in 12th grade. Devotion is, in a certain sense the pinnacle of love―it is like being in high school―and its pinnacle is 12th grade (or you could even push the analogy of the pinnacle even further and bring in college or university). Most Catholics―in relation to their love of God and Our Lady―barely get out of kindergarten. They are all talk, with little to show for that talk―just like a kindergartner, who imagines that he or she can do all kinds of things, only to fail at the first attempt.
The Power of Love―Increase Your Love
We underestimate the power of love and overestimate the degree of our love. What a fatal combination! Of the three theological virtues, Charity is the greatest! Faith and Hope pale away next to Charity: “Now there Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three: but the greatest of these is Charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). We can have knowledge―even lots of knowledge―but what good is knowledge without love? As Scripture says: “If I should have all knowledge … and have not Charity―then I am nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:2). We said that Faith without works is dead―but even works done with Faith, but without Charity, are also dead: “If I should have all Faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).
Today, we live in a world of superficiality, a world of appearances, a world of smoke and mirrors, a world which seeks to present and pass-off itself as something that it is clearly not! In blunt terms, it is a lying world, a false world, an ugly world that hides behind beautiful masks! Our love of God and love of Our Lady often follows a similar path―we pretend to be what we are clearly not. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he lists seven types of false devotees to Our Lady:
“More than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not for the most part counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them, and true devotion, in order to embrace it; secondly, which of the many practices of true devotion to our Blessed Lady is the most perfect, the most agreeable to her, the most glorious to God, and the most sanctifying for ourselves, so that we may adopt that one. I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.” (Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §92). He then goes on to describe in more detail these false devotions (§93 to §104).
Are We Dressed Up in a False Devotion at Our Lady’s Birthday Party?
Have we turned up at Our Lady’s birthday dressed in a false devotion? Most people do! Here is the mirror into which we can look to see if there are any similarities between what St. Louis describes and what we see in our own personal devotion:
(1) Critical Devotees
“The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there; and they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they adored the wood or the stone. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. When they are told how admirably the Fathers of the Church praised the Blessed Virgin, they either reply that the Fathers spoke as professional orators, with exaggeration; or they misinterpret their words. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady; and they are but too successful in alienating people from it, under the pretext of destroying its abuses.”
(2) Scrupulous Devotees
“The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently.
“Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mummery of our religion. Speak to us of those who are devout to Jesus Christ.” (Yet they often name Him without raising their hats—I say this by way of parenthesis.) “We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true, but in the application they make of it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus.
“The Church, with the Holy Ghost, blesses Our Lady first, and Our Lord second: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” It is not that Mary is more than Jesus or even equal to Him—that would be intolerable heresy; but it is that, in order to bless Jesus more perfectly, we must begin by blessing Mary. Let us then say, with all the true clients of Our Lady, in opposition to these false scrupulous devotees, “O Mary, thou art blessed among all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
(3) External Devotees
“External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible part of devotion, without having any relish for its solidity. If they have not sensible sweetness in their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer, who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward modesty which always accompanies true devotion.”
(4) Presumptuous Devotees
“Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady.
“They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things. To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors.
“Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son? If Mary laid down a law to herself, to save by her mercy this sort of people, she would be authorizing crime and helping crucify and outrage her Son. Who would ever dare think of such a thing? I say that to thus to abuse devotion to Our Lady, which, after devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, is the holiest and solidest of all devotions, is to be guilty of a horrible sacrilege, which, after the sacrilege of an unworthy Communion, is the greatest and least pardonable of all sacrileges.
“I confess that, in order to be truly devout to our Blessed Lady, it is not absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoid every sin, though this were desirable; but this much at least is necessary, and I beg you to lay it well to heart: (1) to have a sincere resolution to avoid at least all mortal sin, which outrages the Mother as well as the Son; (2) to do violence to ourselves to avoid sin; (3) to enroll ourselves in confraternities, to say the Rosary or other prayers, to fast on Saturdays and the like. These good works are likewise wonderfully useful for the conversion of a sinner, however hardened he may be. If my reader be such a one, even though he have one foot in the abyss, I would advise him to practice them, but only on condition that he do so with the intention of obtaining from God, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the grace of contrition and pardon of his sins and the grace to conquer his evil habits, and not to remain quietly in the state of sin, contrary to his remorse of conscience, the example of Jesus Christ and the saints and the maxims of the holy Gospel.”
(5) Inconstant Devotees
“The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon;3 and Mary puts them under her feet with the crescent, because they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful Virgin who have for their special graces fidelity and constancy. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.”
(6) Hypocritical Devotees
“We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not.”
(7) Interested Devotees
“There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother.”
Summary
“Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees. who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.” (Louis de Montfort speaks of such persons in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §93 to §104).
In short, you could say that Our Lady prefers someone who comes to her “Birthday Party” with empty hands and no gifts―but with a heart full of love, rather than someone who comes with all kinds of exterior presents (carrying their pictures and statues of Our Lady, covered with her medals and scapulars, with a list of processions and pilgrimages they have made―but all of this with little love in their hearts. Sometimes―if we are not careful―the long litany of things that we have done for Our Lady can make us pridefully love ourselves more and more, and Our Lady less and less!
Just as St. Louis de Montfort writes, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, that “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly” (Forty-First Rose). So too can we say that “a single act of love made with all sincerity, is worth hundreds of acts of love made lukewarmly!” As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “As good theologians teach, God is more glorified by a single act of Charity of ten talents than by ten acts of Charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity. Quality is superior to quantity!” These are truths that are too little preached, little known and quickly forgotten if they are heard and known.
Devotion is the key to our problems―which is what Our Lady has always insisted upon in her modern day apparitions. At Fatima, in 1917, she said: “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” Our Lady added that only she could help now. Speaking of herself in the third person, Our Lady said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Tuesday September 7th
Article 4
Legion of Mary 100 Years Today! ?
Article 4
Legion of Mary 100 Years Today! ?
Happy Birthday Legion of Mary
Today, September 7th, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Legion of Mary in Dublin Ireland [read more here on the actual beginnings]. The Legion of Mary is supposed to be (but no longer is) a fighting machine of the Church in which the rank and file are the laity, led by their local "officers" — the priests. The Legion was born in 1921 just after the First World War (1914-1918). 1917 was a pivotal year in both the political arena and in the Church. The First World War was devastating Europe, the Communist Revolution exploded in Russia, which would soon set ablaze many parts of the world with the evils of Communism. It was also during 1917 that Our Lady was appearing at Fatima, offering a peace plan to the world. Soon, Our Lady was to raise an army of her own. This army, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and having as its end spiritual goals, came from Ireland and was known as the Legion of Mary. This Marian army was destined to meet the forces of the revolutionary Communist army on the battlefield of China during the 1950s.
The Legion of Mary is Born and Grows
Founded in Dublin in on September 7th, 1921, the Legion of Mary spread its wings in 1927, which was the first year that a branch was started outside Dublin, this being in Waterford. In 1928 the Legion was taken to Glasgow, Scotland, and the following year, to England and Wales. From there it spread to India, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The first Legion envoy left Ireland in 1934 and came to the United States. Two years later, Edel Quinn began her envoyship in missionary Africa, establishing thousands of praesidia (a praesidium is a local branch of the Legion of Mary) before her death in 1944. From 1930 to 1950 over thirty full time envoys were sent throughout the world to found and build up the Legion, During these years envoys labored in Central America, France, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, the Philippines, and China.
The Legion Arrives
The Legion of Mary arrived China in 1937, but was little known for almost a decade. However, the appointment of Archbishop Riberi as Interuncio to China in 1946 marked the beginning of the spread of the Legion throughout China. The Archbishop had met Edel Quinn while in Africa, and had witnessed what the Legion had accomplished there. Seeing the desperate condition of the Church in China, he asked Fr. Aedan McGrath, a Columban Father, to undertake the work of spreading the Legion. The Internuncio spoke to Father McGrath saying, “Have you realized the impossibility of the situation? Five hundred million people and only 5,000 priests. Even if I doubled and tripled that number the conversion of China is still impossible.” Clearly the Faith and the ideals which this great Archbishop had shone forth.
Fr. Aeden McGrath (prononuced McGRAW) first came to China in 1930, and spent the next fifteen years running from Mao Tse-Tung. Mao had set up a Communist government at Hankow in 1928, and after the Second World War (1939-1945) he extended his rule over most of mainland China.
With the coming of Archbishop Riberi, the Legion was able to operate on a large scale in China. Once Father McGrath was assigned to spread the Legion, he set out immediately and went to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chungking and other major parts of China. The Legion spread with amazing rapidity. Within one year there were 1,000 praesidia. Within two years, 2,000 praesidia!
Communists Take Over China
By 1949, the Communists were in control of nearly all China and became aware of this rapidly growing movement. They ordered Fr. McGrath to stop his Legion activities in Chungking, but he protested saying that the Legion was a purely spiritual organization. He gave them a copy of the Handbook and invited them to attend a meeting to see for themselves. This they did, and afterwards returned the Handbook, with permission for the Legion to resume its work in Chungking. Their comment was, “This is a great organization, just like Communism.” It is interesting to note that there are striking similarities between the Legion and International Communism. Each adopted the nomenclature of the Roman legion and both organizations use the terms “praesidium” (the name for their meetings) and “tessera” (the title of their membership prayer cards). Another interesting points the color of the Communists is red, and the Legion’s color is red.
When the Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic at Peking in October of 1949, there were 4,000,000 Catholics, 3,080 foreign priests, 2,351 foreign sisters, 2,557 Chinese priests and 5,112 Chinese sisters. But by the end of 1954 only 61 (foreign missionaries) were still in the country of whom 21 were in prison. In 1955 there were still two foreign bishops and 20 priests in China. Of these one bishop and 17 priests were imprisoned. Of the Chinese priests about 500 had been imprisoned.
All remained fairly quiet during the first year of the Communist occupation. But then persecution of the Church began, directed first against foreign missionaries. Priests and sisters were arrested, falsely convicted and expelled from China. Many hundreds were sentenced to long prison terms within the Bamboo Curtain.
The Formation of ‘Patriotic’ Churches
Up to this point, there had been no unfavorable mention by the Communists of the Legion. Then in the Summer of 1950 the Communists proclaimed their intention to establish “Patriotic Churches” which would be run by the government and be separated from Rome. This was called the Three Autonomies Movement and it began on July 28th, 1950. “Under the guise of self-rule, self-support and self-propagation they demanded absolute separation of the Chinese Churches from any alignment with foreign congregations.” These same tactics had been followed in Communist-dominated countries of Europe, since setting up an “independent” church has always signified independence from all control except that of the Communist government. Newspaper propaganda in the official press supported this to such a degree that “for months the Peking People’s Daily devoted daily space to the patriotic obligation of Catholics, throughout China, to participate in the movement.”
The real challenge had come. The Chinese hierarchy refused to support this new movement, and the Legion of Mary set to work informing and instructing the Catholic faithful about the issues at stake in this undermining plot.
Communists Attack the Clergy and the Legion
When the Communists realized that the effort to separate Chinese Catholics from Rome was failing, they began a violent attack in the Communist press directed against Archbishop Riberi, the Catholic Central Bureau and the Legion of Mary. Within a year, the Internuncio was expelled from China and most of the leading priests were jailed, including Fr. McGrath. The Legion came under very fierce attack by the press. Why was the Legion vilified in such a way? The Catholics in China were a small and comparatively uninfluential minority, and the Legion numerically less substantial. Fr. McGrath believes that the main reason was the “part played by the Legionaries in frustrating the Communist plan for a schismatic Catholic Church in China.”
Communists try to Suppress the Legion
The next Communist move was to suppress the Legion in Tientsin, Shanghai and other centers. Legionaries were ordered to register their names with the police. In Shanghai, where there were fifty-one praesidia, about fifty registration centers were set up, and manned by a highly trained Communist staff who had undergone an intensive training course, which even included study of the Legion handbook. A six foot high notice-board outside each center proclaimed, “Secret Subversive Organisation, Legion of Mary-Meaberi Registration Center.” On each side of the notice-board stood soldiers, in full battle attire. Even more alarming was the form which each member was expected to sign. It read:
“I, the undersigned joined the reactionary Legion of Mary on. . . and conducted secret counter-revolutionary and evil activities against the government, the people, and Soviet Russia. I hereby resign from the Legion of Mary and promise never to participate in such activities in the future.”
To register under these terms was equal to signing one’s death warrant, since with “revolt against the country and having contact with imperialism” there came a punishment of death or life imprisonment. Signing this also meant admitting to the false charges brought against the Legion and removed the member’s name from the ranks of Mary’s army.
Only a handful signed the forms, and most of these later returned and withdrew their registrations. The Legionaries as a body refused to give up their membership. Those in Shanghai wrote a letter, signed in their own blood, to the Bishop of Shanghai. “Monsignor, we will follow you wherever you go,” said the letter. “We are proud to live in this age of persecution and there can be no compronises.”
Thousands of Legionaries Arrested
The refusal of Legionaries to register led to the arrest of thousands. Soon, every Legion officer was in prison. Among these was Johanna Hsiao, a girl in her early twenties, who before being jailed had set up three hundred and sixty-two praesidia in the North of China. She was imprisoned in 1951, and nothing has been heard of her since. Even very young Legionaries showed heroic courage. Led by their 19 year-old President, the members of a Junior praesidium marched down the public streets singing from their St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Blessed are you when they shall persecute and calumniate you and say all that is evil against you untruly in My Name. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in Heaven.”
The total number of those executed by the Communists is almost unbelievable. In the 1950’s Time Magazine estimated that, between the years 1949 and 1952, 20,000,000 people were put to death under Mao Tse-Tung. A recent figure estimates that between the years 1949 and 1970, that number increased to 60,000,000. As for Fr. McGrath, he was released from prison in May, 1954 and saw the state that the Chinese Church was in.
The Communists still pressed on, attempting to establish an independent Church from Rome. Their plans had been frustrated by the faithful priests, bishops and members of the Legion. In 1954, Pius XII wrote the encyclical Ad Sinarum Gentem, which took issue with the three autonomies and strengthened the support against a Reform Church. However, in 1954 and 1955, a new wave of arrests and persecutions assailed the loyal Catholics. The Communists began winning over priests and bishops and by 1957 the Association of Patriotic Priests was founded. The next year, 1958, the Patriotic Church was formally established.
FR. AEDAN MCGRATH’S “CHINA STORY”
Father W. Aedan McGrath, a priest of the Columban Mission Society for over 70 years and a pioneer promoter of the Legion of Mary in China, died in Dublin, Ireland, on December 25th, 2000, aged 94.
Aedan was born on January 22nd, 1906, in Dublin, Ireland and educated at Belvedere and King’s College, London before entering the Columban seminary where he was ordained to the priesthood on December 21st, 1929. Appointed to China in 1930, he soon got involved in directing the organization and expansion of the Legion of Mary in China.
Describing the beginning of his association with the Legion of Mary, Father said it began when in one of his early mission assignments he was over-whelmed by the task of visiting the 24 stations in his mission parish. “I asked for another priest to help”, he said, “and instead I was sent a copy of the handbook of the Legion of Mary.”
He did not think starting a praesidium would help but to keep his bishop happy, he recruited six men with no particular qualifications. When he was forced by a political situation to be away from his parish for two years, he returned to find to his utter amazement these men had proved excellent evangelizers and from that point on he became a Legion of Mary organizer.
During the Japanese War, he was instrumental in saving the women in his town from physical abuse by soldiers because he had once met the movie star Loretta Young and the commanding officer was a fan of hers.
Following a visit to Dublin in 1946, he returned and was instructed to start the Legion all over China. Within half an hour, the first praesidium was formed in what was probably the most sophisticated university in China at the time in Shanghai.
From Shanghai, he went to Hankow in central China and then up to Beijing where he did the same. The success of the Legion was not lost on the Chinese authorities.
In September of 1951, Father McGrath was arrested and jailed because his work for the Legion of Mary in China was judged subversive. He spent the next two years and eight months in prison, much of it in solitary confinement.
After his release from prison and expulsion from China on the May 1st, 1954, Father McGrath spent the rest of his life worked tirelessly for the Legion in Europe, Asia and the Americas eventually ending up in the Philippines.
In 1980 when Father McGrath was already in his 70s, he was asked to go to the Philippines where he established countless branches of the Legion. He continued in this work to the end of his life. Here is account of his time in China in his own words:
I was sold on the Legion of Mary and when Archbishop Riberi, Papal Internuncio to China, appointed me in 1948 to preach and organize the Legion of Mary throughout China, my job was to sell it to others. “There are 500 million people.” Monsignor Riberi said, “and only 7,000 priests. Even if we doubled or tripled that number, the conversion of China would still be impossible.” The Communists were well on their way to winning control of the whole country and the Internuncio saw that a time was coming when the foreign missionary would be a marked man and so would the Chinese bishops and priests. The future of the Church in China might be largely dependent on fervent lay apostles. Archbishop Riberi hoped to form these apostles through the Legion of Mary.
Sent on a Fast Boat to China!
I was sold on the Legion of Mary and when Archbishop Riberi, Papal Internuncio to China, appointed me in 1948 to preach and organize the Legion of Mary throughout China, my job was to sell it to others. “There are 500 million people.” Monsignor Riberi said, “and only 7,000 priests. Even if we doubled or tripled that number, the conversion of China would still be impossible.” The Communists were well on their way to winning control of the whole country and the Internuncio saw that a time was coming when the foreign missionary would be a marked man and so would the Chinese bishops and priests. The future of the Church in China might be largely dependent on fervent lay apostles. Archbishop Riberi hoped to form these apostles through the Legion of Mary.
I traveled throughout China almost without a break for nearly two years—by air, by road, by river. I can never forget the sympathetic hearing and cooperation , and the hospitality I received from Chinese bishops and priests and from foreign missionaries of every nationality. I never stayed very long in any place. Once a Praesidium was set up and the Legion method explained, I moved on (a praesdium is a local branch―there could be several praesidia in a large town or city). As long as the Handbook was followed, I knew the Legion would thrive; and it did. Our Lady wanted to use the laity through the Legion. She was preparing China’s Catholics for the dark days that were so near.
Within less than two years, there were more than a thousand praesidia established throughout China. The Legion had spread so fast that the Concilium in Dublin was alarmed. Were we going ahead too quickly? Would so young an organization survive?
I spent the three most thrilling years of my life as Envoy of the Legion of Mary in China. They were thrilling years because, or the first time, I fully realized the tremendous possibilities of the lay apostolate as a missionary arm of the Church. I saw the heights of spiritual heroism men, women and even children are capable of—provided they are given a high enough ideal. I learned all this from the Legionaries of Mary in pagan China.
The Power of the Legion
Even though I spent most of my time down in the missions, the Legion kept ticking over itself. And when the Japanese put me out for two and a half years, I thought that because I was not there, the Legion would fail! I promise, when I came back, the six praesidia were still ticking over, gathering people to the Church on Sunday, instructing the children, instructing the pagans, carrying on, even though the president was shot dead in my room! It didn’t disturb them enough to block the Legion.
True Devotion to Mary Drives the Chinese Legion
It was in that Legion that I learned about St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, and that I should be studying that book about his True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And, I tried to read the book and couldn’t make head or tail of it. And it was only when I went home to Dublin, that I remember walking up O’Connell Street with a little legionary, a man, a civil servant, a busy man with a family, and he started to talk to me about devotion to Our Lady. Honestly, he was marvelous. And, he explained that little book that I had tried to read so often, and he explained it in a moment. Spoke with eyes, glistening, delighted at the peace he had found when he had consecrated himself to Our Lady. Told me that in doing so, he had done nothing more and hadn’t done it half as well as Christ had done to His mother, the only One who ever lived in His mother’s womb for nine months, knowingly and willingly—greatest state of subjection known to man. And yet, we are afraid to consecrate ourselves to Mary, afraid to imitate what Christ did.
This boy explained it all to me in a few minutes, and I read the book again, went back to China, preached it to the Chinese (you know the Chinese accepted it as they would accept their own mother). Europeans, we found difficult. To them, we were business people, we...I don’t know, I found it very hard to get the idea over, and yet the Chinese accepted it, and I know perfectly well that it was that acceptance, realizing Mary has the spouse of the Holy Ghost, even to this day! All graces coming through her hands, living that, living in Mary and with Mary.
The Growth of the Chinese Legion of Mary
Now I have spent the most thrilling years of my life going about China, setting up the Legion, watching Our Lady working through the most unpromising material. We had, at the university, students from the very best families, magnificent people, lovely boys and girls, giving themselves entirely to the service of Christ and His holy mother. But, if you asked me, which were the best legionaries, I might even say those in the country, poor old ladies with bone feet, hardly able to walk and never been to school who left that Legion room, not depending on their eloquence, not depending on their theology, depending on the mother of Grace, going out to do their little work, in her name. And they worked miracles of grace.
One Thousand Legion Praesidia in One Year
In one year in China, we had a thousand praesidia (a praseidium is a local branch of the Legion). We’ve never been equal since. In England, we’ve been 28 years, and we’ve only just over a thousand praesidia. But, they grew so fast in China that Brother Duff (the layman who founded the Legion of Mary in 1921) wrote to me and said, “Father, what are you doing?”
I wrote back to say, “Brother Duff, I can’t stop them. They want to come in. They feel the need. Priests and Sisters saw the need. They were being kicked out, and knew they must leave something behind them. What is the strongest? And devotion to Our Lady with this regular, detailed work. They accepted it, and 1,000 praesidia in one year!”
The Communists Praise & Fear the Legion System
The Communists told me, I must stop the Legion of Mary, and I tried to convince them that it was a spiritual organization. In proof of it, I gave them the handbook, and you know how difficult the handbook is to read, even in English, and if you saw it in Chinese! But, you know, like a true Communist, they had read that book in one week and digested it, brought it back, and they said, “That is a magnificent organization. Just like Communism.” That was the greatest compliment ever paid.
But, you know they had seen in that system the detail, the praesidia, the cell system, the Curia, the Comitium, the Senatus, the Concilium and the hierarchy above it all the time, able to stop it at a twist, or be able to get more going. You know, Frank Duff has compared that in his latest book, The Spirit of the Legion of Mary, the two systems starting in Dublin and the other in Moscow in 1921. Both using the cell system, both using Praesidium, Curia, both using definite work, both using the same color! You never thought of that one, did you? Both using RED. You’ll see it around Our Lady’s head—the red of the Holy Spirit.
What do we use for the Mass of the Holy Ghost? Red. The Legion was founded particularly to give honor to the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she was so sorely neglected. That is why your handbook is red. The two of them spreading throughout the world, and meeting in China, and immediately, they see it, they said, “We’ll stop that.” Strange. Yet, the time hadn’t come.
They read that book, in which they saw a magnificent system, but they forgot about Our Lady. They didn’t care about her. Forgot about her power. Didn’t bother about the spirit of the Legion, and now, is there any wonder after some years, when they attacked it and found it, they found it so difficult to crush that they said, “Who is this woman, this cursed woman, who dares to thwart us?” And, I like to give the answer of the little girl in Shanghai, “Oh, you’ll never catch her. She’s in Heaven!”
Well, of course, we do hope they find her. But, there you are, they never saw the important thing in the Legion. Wonderful system, yes, but what is it without de Montfort’s True Devotion? The mediatrix of all graces, depending on the Holy Spirit, every legionary, when he becomes a legionary, after three months, who does he address, Our Lady? No. He addresses the most Holy Spirit. “I….., desiring to be enrolled as a legionary of Mary,….”
There you have it, the spouse of the Holy Ghost. They never saw anything in that, and they didn’t care. And they let me back to Shanghai, but when I got to Shanghai, I found 1,000 praesidia had been erected!
I didn’t set them all up, you know. That, sometime I get the glory of that, and I didn’t do it. I was dodging around other places, little Fr. Joseph Sinn, doctor of theology, doctor of cannon law, speaking 7 languages, and speaking English with a lovely Irish brogue. That little man had traveled up and down the country in my absence, and the Legion spread by itself. You can’t say anyone spread it. I don’t even say that Brother Kenney would say that he spread it in all New Guinea, it spreads itself. But that little man was arrested the same night as myself, and, as I told you, he died after a year and a half. You see, he translated the handbook, too.
Communists try to Destroy the Legion
Now it wasn’t very long until the Communists saw the power of the Legion. They could put out foreign priests. The could kill Chinese priests. They could close down churches, but what can you do with people who insist upon talking about God and His holy mother?
Those who keep on teaching catechism and bringing people into the Church? That system must be crushed, and you know what they decided to do? They decided to crush the Legion into submission, and then use it to set up a national church.
To hear them these days in the paper, on the radio, still trying to set it up. Still all confused. Still failing. That’s a great compliment to the Chinese people. One of the most wonderful people in the world. Wonderful Catholics! After six years of a terrible persecution, still trying to set up a national church. If they had crushed the Legion under submission, and used all the Legion members to set it up, I wouldn’t be here tonight, dear people. I wouldn’t be talking. It would have been a terrible tragedy.
Communists Try to Create a National Church
They tried to set up the national church, and they, themselves, admitted it. Twice, they failed. I was in prison for 32 months of solitary confinement, never even heard if my mother was alive or dead. Never heard any news, whatsoever. Nobody, but the guard, did I see. And yet, they were telling me that the Legion of Mary had failed me, and that I had destroyed in China by my work. They said the legionaries had accused me!
Well, I couldn’t believe it, because I knew the kids. They were marvelous! I couldn’t believe that they would not carry on that work. One day, after two years, I was thrilled to hear them cursing the Legion of Mary over the loud speaker! Why? Because they said no movement that we’ve ever set up since 1949, no movement has failed, except one—the movement to set up a national church! And that movement was stopped by the Legion of Mary.
I was delighted! First bit of good news I got! And yet, they are trying to sell to the world, now, that the Chinese church has accepted separation from Rome. Be careful what you read in the papers, for Heaven’s sake. Be careful where it comes from. Their methods are terrible.
Well, when they decided to attack the Legion, they put out Monsignor Riberi. They arrested the four of us, myself, the two Chinese priests and Fr. LeGrand. And we were in prison one month when that diabolic attack started against the Legion of Mary, all over China. Loud speakers on the trees, everyday’s radio, movies, newspapers, buses—all had statements or placards against the Legion of Mary. Everybody was told they must attack it. Everybody was told they must inform against the legionaries. Imagine the poor boys and girls, going around the streets, listening to that, and watching the police cars shrieking up and down, men tied in them with long faces, being taken out to be shot! That was during the terrible purge.
Mass Persecution
Remember, I have listened. I have watched purges of 10, 20 and 30 thousand people disappearing off the streets in one night, and, all the time, I knew that I would go myself. The Communists would bring police cars up and down the street just to frighten the people—and then take these people out and shot them. One of the priests in Shanghai used to call himself the chaplain to the dying. He stood at his window, when the trucks passed, and he gave them an absolution, in case there were any Catholics there, and the trucks would come back empty. That’s what they did during the Legion purge.
Some poor kids—about 10 of them—were so terrified that they ran to the police station and did what they were told—sign a document against the Legion. About forty others were dragged down to the police by their pagan parents, and of those forty, most went back at the first opportunity and kicked up such a commotion at the police station that they got the document back and tore it up in front of the polices’ eyes. For the rest, people refused. For five months, the police used their whole army’s strength, visiting the houses round from door to door, trying to dig-out the Legionaries and the children.
Now, if I tell you something of the Legion of Mary, it’s not worth anything, because I am a Legion priest. I’ve been in prison for it, and many people might say that I’ve even cracked. Even if the Legionaries themselves talk about the Legion, you are entitled not to believe it, too. You’ll say that they’re propagandists. I’m not going to tell you about myself or about the Legion, or what the Legion says about itself. I am going to tell you about what somebody very important thinks about it. No, not even the Holy Father. You might even say that he has to talk nicely about it, rather I am going to talk about somebody who fills our paper every day—the Communist!
We take note, every day on the front page of our newspapers, what the Communists are saying or doing, even what they are guessing at, what they are thinking. We’re afraid of them, so we may as well admit it. We’re terrified of them—and rightly so.
Now, I have seen the Communists in China put out the English and the Americans, the Germans, the French, the Belgians—put out the great powers, so that they’ll be no bother to them. It was the first time in history that something like that ever happened. We may as well admit it. We have to admit it.
Throw them out. Throw their businessmen in prison. They were in the cells, on either side of me. I knew some of them. They were in prison on trumped-up charges—they took their factories, took their buildings, with no reparation. England and America demanded apologies and demanded that they be released. Did they get an answer? Not to this day!
Surely, we are getting used to that. We’re being kicked around. We’re being told lies every day, and we still go on, trying to believe them. They weren’t the least bit afraid of the major powers. They shot down our planes. They killed our civilians. We demanded apologies, and we didn’t get them.
And yet, here is what I want to say. They attacked the Legion for five-months, day after day, dragging the children in the evening and keeping them standing all night long, trying to get them to sign documents. In the morning the kids came out and said, “I don’t know what happened, Father.” Father asked them, “Did you know what to say? Were you able to answer all the questions?” And everybody said, “They were very easy. Everything seemed to come easily.”
The Communists couldn’t understand it. Where did the children get the strength from? And, after five months, they had to call off the direct attack. They haven’t ceased to attack, but they called off the direct attack because it failed, and failed hopelessly!
The Fear of the Faith
Now, while they’re not afraid of the great powers, still, after six-and-a-half years of the greatest persecution the Church has ever seen—and I stand by that statement—they’re still afraid of the Catholic Church. They’re still afraid of Christianity. They’re still worried to death about those who speak about the Faith and spread it.
They would tell you, “We are not afraid of the person who just goes to Sunday Mass and says a prayer. They will die, and the Faith will die with them.” They would conclude themselves that Christianity involves an apostleship. And, if there’s no apostleship, it’s not a full Christianity. The only one they search out is the one who is spreading it. There’s a lesson for us to learn. And, after six-and-a-half years of the greatest persecution, they’re still afraid of the Church—the living Church!
You might ask why I say the greatest persecution; surely, Rome was greater! No, it wasn’t! In Rome, we had catacombs, and we hid in them! There are no catacombs in China today! In Rome, they didn’t bother about the children—children of four or five years of age. Now, in China today, they take those children from their fathers and mothers.
The children are taken to kindergarten and are welfared. From morning until night, they have a political science teacher telling them about Marxism and Leninism. They tell them they are bound to inform on their fathers or their mothers, their sisters, or their brothers. You’ve heard about that—the children telling on their parents. Grown-up students telling on their parents! Grown-up students demanding the death of their father!
Examples of Legion Heroes
I must give you a few examples to let you see what I mean. Now, very probably, if I speak to you, if you are anything like the people of England—and perhaps you are not— I’ve gone around there every Sunday and I know that 90% of those people believe the Legion to be a sort of “sissy” organization made up of a bunch of little girls, gathered together every week and gossip about their neighbors. Now, if it were that, the Communists wouldn’t worry about it. But, I would love to make it a bit clearer here tonight what the Legion is.
Who was the president and vice-president of the Legion in Shanghai? One was a businessman with a wife and five lovely children. The vice-president was a famous doctor in a city of six million souls—much more than Sydney. He was the head of a big hospital and had a wife and five lovely children. And yet those men knew perfectly well that they would go to prison, because I was going to prison, and yet they accepted those positions.
And, I remember, some days before I was arrested, the little doctor came up to see me, because I was sick. I like to think about and repeat what he said to me, when he sat down on the chair after he gave me my medicine.
He said, “Father, would you repeat to me once again the doctrine of St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. What is it to live in Mary and with Mary?” He was getting ready for prison—the father of a family! And I said to him, “Doctor, how do you feel about what is going to happen to both of us?” He said, “Oh, Father, I am alright.”
Yet, when I shook his hand, his hand was trembling. Someone asked him, “What about your poor wife and five children?” The doctor said, “Oh, my wife is magnificent! She said to me yesterday, ‘Do what you should be doing for God and His holy Mother. Don’t mind me. I’ll look after the children.’”
Now, there’s heroism for you. You don’t need to go back to Rome for it. You have it in 1951. Those two men have been in prison for the last six-and-a-half-years. And God knows where the two wives and ten children are.
One more. You know—I came out of prison disappointed! If I got a knock on the head, it would have been the greatest cause to die for—but, they wouldn’t let anyone be a martyr. No martyrs! Martyrs are the seeds of Christians! Kick them out! Nobody will listen to them anyway. The press will say more on the other side than they’ll say against us.
When I came out I thought, “Even though I have to face the world again, I am disappointed!” I would be much more use sitting on the floor of a prison than I am here, talking. And yet, I thought when I came out, surely, the world must be looking to China to these wonderful young boys and girls, who have left their lovely families and who have left their lovely home and have gone into prison with their heads high in the air.
And, I came out and found quite a difference! I heard about heroes and heroines I never knew in my life: Davie Crockett, Hop-A-Long Cassidy, Marilyn Monroe, and Bill Haley. Well, you know, I was disappointed.
I don’t blame the kids, you know. How would they know? The papers never told them. There was nobody to go around and tell them about the martyrs, about the people—the Agneses, the Cecilias, the Agathas and all up to this very day. And their minds were on different heroes and heroines. Cutting their hair like them. Walking like them. Dancing like them. That was all.
More Examples of Legion Heroes
I give you one case, Joanna Schaal. Please remember the name. Young girl, just finished her university course and was from a very wonderful family. Lovely young girl with the world before her. She had what she needed to get her career going. This girl knew I couldn’t spread the Legion any more, and she decided she was going to do it. She was a Legionary already. She knew that, with the Chinese Communists, she couldn’t move from one village to another without the permission of the police and she said it’s useless trying to try that. So, what did she do? She tucked up her hair and donned a Communist cap, blouse and skirt, and across her breast she wore the medals of the heroes of the day, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, etc. Why did she do that? So they wouldn’t notice her, and she moved up—moved up to places I never went in my life. Up to Manchuria.
The other day, I met a little Italian nun in Brisbane, who couldn’t speak a word of English and blabbed, blabbed, blabbed Chinese to me. She was delighted to talk in Chinese. And when she heard about Joanna, she said, “Yes! She landed into our convent, dressed as a Communist. That was a girl for you!” She should be written about, but kids know nothing about her. In another place, she took off her Communist uniform and put on country-woman’s clothes, put on her plaits, sat on her bicycle, and rode off to the country places to tell the priests, “Father, you are going to be deported. We’ve got to leave something behind. Let’s start a Legion of Mary Praesidium. Get the people together. Tell them that the Church is not that building—that will be broken. Tell them that they are the Church. They are the Mystical Body of Christ. You must! They are the members. They must build up the Church, even if the priest is gone.”
That girl traveled all around North China while we were waiting to be arrested. She set up at least 350 presidia! Four days before I was arrested, Joanna was caught, too. And when I came out of prison, I heard the poor girl had been condemned to ten years hard labor! She’s there now. There’s no word. We don’t know whether she’s dead or alive, but if she’s alive, she’s sitting in some tiny little cell.
Noelle, another one. Little Noelle, my own junior president—a girl about that height, quite small. Very smart little child, brilliant! Just finished her schooling at the Mothers of the Sacred Heart—the biggest school I’ve ever seen. Studying at the university run by the Jesuit Fathers, doing her first year of medicine. Her father was a doctor, her grandfather was a doctor and Noelle going to be a doctor, too, with all arranged with the Carmelite Nuns that she would eventually join them.
Fearlessness in Face of Persecution
Now some days before I was arrested, we had to stop the external meetings of the Legion and, remember, all the more credit to the Legion—the Legion of Mary had been stopped since 1951. We told the Legionaries, “We cannot. There is no right of assembly. What you have learned in it, carry on. Do your work. You were born to be apostles, go right ahead with what you’ve got.” And even after six years, the Communists are still looking for those Legionaries.
Noelle had come up to the house. We had already stopped the external meetings and I was depressed, because I felt it was a sort of failure.
I said to her: “Noelle, listen. This is a great tragedy, but the Communists have turned against us.”
You know what she said? She said, “Father, don’t say that! This is no tragedy, this is glorious!”
I must say I blushed. I was her spiritual director and here that little girl realized far better than I did, the glory of the Cross. That Christ could think of no better way of saving the world, except by the Cross. That every time the Church was persecuted, it rose out of it gloriously and that the Legion of Mary would be far better known because it was persecuted. Look at it today. There was foresight for you.
Ah, and that child, every day went down the street with her young junior Legionaries holding the Gospel in her hand, shouting, “Matthew chapter 5, verse 11. Matthew chapter 5, verse 11. ‘Blessed are ye when they shall persecute and calumniate you, and say all that is evil against you, untruly, in My name. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven.’” She was shouting this right in the face of the Communists. Her father—a doctor! Her grandfather—a doctor! She herself was studying to become a doctor—and she was thinking about Heaven! We don’t expect to see those things nowadays, do we?
Every Sunday morning, Noelle brought her fellow university students down to the front seat of a little chapel, for there was a young priest, the first secretary of the Holy Father’s representative, some of the Fathers here must have known him—Father Mathias. He was arrested the same night as myself, and after six-and-a-half-years in prison, we don’t know where he is.
He was thundering against the injustices of the Communists, and Noelle brought her fellow students to listen to him. And she knew very well the girl beside her was a traitor, specially baptized to inform on the Catholics—writing down everything the priest said, writing down the names of everybody in that little chapel, blessing herself, genuflecting and going out and handing that document to the Communists! Noelle knew that very well, and I warned her. And she said, “Oh, what about it, Father? Forget about it.”
When I came out of prison, I asked about Noelle, and I heard that at that time she had been in prison for a year and a half. That means that she has now been in prison between four and five years. Poor little Noelle wanted to be a Carmelite nun, and there she’s been in prison, sitting on the floor, never talking to anybody—far more a Carmelite than ever a Carmelite was!
Now, I could go on all evening with these stories. Can you see what I mean? The Communist, with his foresight, is not afraid of the man with a gun, if he is not a Christian. He is afraid of nothing. Nothing. No principles. Not afraid of the atomic bomb, as they said, “Who is afraid of the atomic bomb? Certainly not China.” If they dropped half-a-dozen in China, we wouldn’t hear them. Drop half-a-dozen elsewhere, it would be another story. Can you see why they are not afraid of the Powers? Why, all they want is peace! They talk about peace! Ready for war, but they talk about peace, and infiltrate! It’s a wonderful system!
Yet, how they can do nothing with the Legion president, or the little doctor, or Joanna, or Noelle. What can you do with them? Lock them up in a cell. You let them out and they will continue to talk about God and His holy Mother. They will spread the very thing the Communists are trying to crush. They are not only useless to the Communist system, they are a menace!
There it is! Let us learn a lesson from them. We needn’t go anywhere else. Spiritual values and principles, we are bound to those! No wonder the Holy Father has opened the flood gates of spiritual values, Communion, evening Mass. We see there His foresight. He called upon the lay apostolate fifty years ago, seeing clearly the dangers in front of him, and only now we are beginning to wake up to the thing.
There is the answer. The only answer is Christianity—a living Christianity. Not war! Not atomic bombs! Nothing else. Not a new government. You are the answer! Do not try to pass on the responsibility to anyone else. Each and every one of you has a responsibility. We’ll come to that again.
I have been 24 years in China, and I spent a good deal of that time running away from bandits. And every time I heard the word bandit, I was petrified. I am a coward by nature. And I would like to convince you of that before I am finished. I was terrified!
But, I would like for you to remember one thing before I pass this point, that the very bandits from whom I ran, who were they? Ah! Who were they? They are now sitting in control in Peking—the Chinese rulers today. I ran from them. My fellow priests ran from them. They didn’t catch me then, I ran too fast, but they caught me later. But they did catch a brother of one of your priests, here, in Sydney. It was the brother of Dr. Leonard of Manly College, and they killed him on the altar steps in 1949!
Fr. Tierney, too, died at their hands, and hundreds of others. And, since they have come into control in China, I give you a figure, please remember it. It’s a figure—it’s not my figure. It’s the figure of the United Nation’s subcommittee, set-up to find out the number and found from Communist sources—fifteen million, at least, executed! Far more than the population of Australia. Fifteen million, at least! I know it’s not enough, but it’ll do.
Millions in Labor Camps
Though at least 15 million were executed, there were between 25 and 30 million in slave labor camps! Now, that’s the United Nation’s subcommittee figure, again, I am not quoting mine. I know it’s not enough, but it’ll do.
These are the people, in Peking, now, who have done these things, and they speak of peace. And, every time they open a meeting, they open a crate of doves, and let the doves fly around. Oh, photographers take pictures of the beautiful doves, doves of peace! They publish them in our papers, and we are enthralled that the Communists want peace!
I know they want peace. I repeat it. They do want peace. They don’t want war. While there is war, they can not have infiltration. While there is peace, they have cultural relations and infiltration. And through infiltration, Communism enters a country, not by war.
No, every time I heard the word “bandit”, as I say, I was terrified. And in the end, I waited a whole year for a rest in Shanghai, from 1950 to 1951. I knew by that time that they hated the Catholic Church, and I knew by that time, they had pinpointed the Legion of Mary, over everything, as their deadly enemy.
The Terror of Awaiting Arrest
And when I knew they were going to persecute the Legion of Mary, I knew I—the one who had been asked by the Holy Father’s representative to set it up throughout China—I was in for it! And from that moment, I was terrified. There was no bravery in it!
I walked the streets every day, and I knew that guards were watching me. I left the house every day, and I knew the poor “coolies” who were pulling the rickshaws, they were bound to inform on me. I didn’t blame the poor lads. That’s part of the system.
I knew one night or one day, they would take me. I always had my little Gospels and my Imitation of Christ in my pocket, and yet, the night they caught me, I couldn’t even stretch to the table to get them. Just too quick!
But, I was terrified! And while I was terrified, I, a priest, a spiritual director, you know, I love to think, now, of the young legionaries, young boys, young girls who knew they were going to be arrested, too. Remember, they were from the very best families in Shanghai. They were from the universities, and from the most comfortable homes.
What did they do? The girls cut their hair, so that the lice wouldn’t be too bad in prison! And, they dressed in cotton clothes to get ready for prison! And, they slept on their floors at nights—not in the beds—getting ready for this! Brave young people, and the waters of Baptism barely dry on some of their foreheads. And, here was I, terrified!
I tell a story against myself. I couldn’t read any books. I used to spend a good deal of time in the chapel, going around the Stations trying to get courage from the Passion of Christ. And, when I got to the 12th Station each day, I used to repeat a little prayer that I suppose you’ve often heard. I certainly always said it, “For Christ died, may I die for love of Thee, as Thou hast died for love of me?”
And my knees were shaking! I no more wanted to die than anyone wants to die! I was terrified! And, I was so terrified that I stopped it! I couldn’t say it any more! I felt a perfect hypocrite, and I changed it to Our Lord’s prayer in the Garden, and I thought it a much better one for me!
One of my greatest friends at that time, he knew he was going to be arrested, already three of his praesidia had been arrested! And, he wondered what he could do for them. And, he couldn’t sleep. For three months, he hadn’t slept. He used to come to the house, and I couldn’t console him, and he got whiter and thinner, and he smiled a sickly smile, and his eyes became pinpoints. And one night he disappeared. I knew no more about him, but in prison I heard that this poor man, after another month, had gone mad. One morning they found him lying over a table with a cut on his wrist, dead, or dying.
There you have it! That’s what would have happened to me if I hadn’t been arrested, perhaps. And these things, I can’t understand.
The Arrest of Fr. McGrath
No, it was one night, and I like to recall the day, the 6th of September 1951, half past 11 o’clock, when a long ring came at the door. And my superior, Fr. McElroy went down to open it. (And here I mention Fr. McElroy, who waited 3 years for arrest and was never picked up.) It is that very Fr. McElroy who has written these articles in The Advocate, over the past few weeks. Get it, and read it again.
He went down to the door, and when he came up, he had a lot of Communists with him. By the time the had searched my room, it was the 7th of September 1951, the vigil of the Nativity of Our Lady, and the foundation day of the Legion of Mary. Well, I was thrilled at that, alone!
They came in and, having searched my room, and taking photographs which were faked—they took an ordinary photograph of me standing at a table, and put Fr. McElroy out. Behind me was a picture of Christ the King on the wall. When I heard later, after I had come out of prison windows, pictures were published in the press, the table which was empty was covered with knives, revolvers and pornographic literature. Behind me, they had stuck in four lightly clad women—perfect Communist technique!
The very same as they did to the poor nuns in Canton, the nuns who had spent their lives picking up babies off the street, so much so that the people of China worshiped them. Chinese Communists didn’t like anybody to worship Europeans, or to worship anybody in the Church, therefore, they accused them of murdering two thousand babies! They put them in prison, and kicked them out. You’ve heard about it, or have you?
Life in Prison
Now, I was taken away that night, brought me in a car, brought me to a police station, left me standing for three hours in the corner of a police room. A man stood opposite me with a machine gun, took my beads and my medals and dashed them on the table, and at three in the morning, ordered me to lie down on a cement floor. And, he stood over me with a machine gun.
Now, I don’t like cement floors, and I hate machine guns! And yet—here’s what I am coming to—within five minutes, I was fast asleep. Now, that guard stood over me all night—it was only two hours of a night, indeed. I am quite sure that he was indignant. He was meant to impress me, and he didn’t impress me at all. And, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if I snored!
I got a kick at five in the morning to get up , but do you know that a peace came over me at that moment. I was perfectly happy. Can’t understand it. And that was the beginning of 32 months of solitary confinement, listening to people being dragged all day and night, shackles on their legs, handcuffed, and being taken out myself, often during the night. During the night, being left standing most of the night answering stupid questions of people who came in every couple of hours to ask you one. Guards changing every hour, but you stood on.
I watched that, and I listened to it, day after day. Aye, even young girls, being dragged out. Terrible, the most awful place of misery you could imagine, and yet I was perfectly peaceful. It was so strange that I promised I would tell that to everybody, and try to convince you of the power you have.
I was happy. I was perfectly peaceful. Can’t understand it! I didn’t say, comfortable. We’re inclined to mix those two things up, nowadays. If we’re not comfortable, we are not peaceful. Nonsense! Nonsense! “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you, not as the world giveth.”
The Horrors of Prison Life
In the prison—I will tell you one or two things about the prison to let you know what these poor little people are suffering inside—sitting on the floor from morning until night. Not allowed to talk, cough, sneeze, or close our eyes.
When the night comes, you long to stretch yourself out on the floor, so that you could close your eyes and get a bit of peace. Just when you’re in the midst of a heavy sleep, you hear the door knocked and your number called. You’re then handcuffed and dragged upstairs and left standing most of the night, being asked stupid questions. Legs? You don’t know where your legs are.
Towards morning, you come down and have a couple of hours sleep, and then the next day, they watch you, especially lest you’d close your eyes. Next night, you might even get two hours of sleep, and then the knock on the door, handcuffed again, and up again. And the third night, you might escape all together, but you are all the night listening to the other doors being knocked. And the shackles, poor lads going out and poor lads coming back, groaning under the tight handcuffs.
But you might say to yourself, “I thought I suffered something, and I know I suffered nothing now.” The little priest who was arrested the same night as myself, well, he died. Fr. LeGrand, who didn’t die, the European, they don’t want them to die, he came out, and in the train, he was telling me, with tears running down his face, he said, “My God, I don’t know what happened to me. At one period I was standing for six days and six nights, and they never let me move my feet!”
I said, “My God, how could you do that? Did you not fall?” He said, “I was shackled, and I was handcuffed. I tried to fall. I longed to faint. I couldn’t. And every few hours the judges would come in and they’d say that I had killed two men.” And the guards would change every hour. And he went standing on. He told me he did not know what was day and what was night. And at the end of six days and six nights, they came in. He said, “I remember it, but I don’t know what happened. I asked for paper, and I wrote that I killed two men.”
He no more killed them than you did. And the tears ran down his face. You’ll have seen his article in the Jesuit magazine monthly, The Monk, Why I Confessed, and he just tells the whole thing. Something happened. Something happened to the will—there was nothing left in it.
Father Van Coyley, standing 21 days. Another priest standing 30 days, and he couldn’t stand any more. Fr. Sawyer came out, as I told you, with his back broken. But you’ve never heard of it before—the Press don’t care! And now he’s going around stooped over, with his own mortuary card in his hand. People thought he was dead. They jumped on his back until it broke! But again, apparently the Press hasn’t reported it. Christianity? It’s a different thing, and there you are!
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard anyone going mad, but it’s a horrible thing. I heard him crying at night to himself, talking to himself, shaking the bars, calling for his father and his mother and his brothers and sisters, and then one morning, shaking the bars and shrieking! It was all over. Cold sweat ran off my forehead, and a shiver down my back, and I knew the poor boy was gone. He was left there 5 months, shrieking besides me, and I am quite sure that he was left there for my benefit.
Two men opposite me went mad. The young American on my left went mad. The little priest of the cell opposite me, I heard him vomiting for two months, and then he was dragged out of the cell, and he died. Little Fr. Joseph Sinn, arrested the same night as myself, died after one and a half years.
Somebody else down the line, I don’t know who he was, but he searched for something around the cell, and that cell was swept and garnished every few days, and they searched our clothes, lest we hide anything that might be sharpened. Must not die! Make them miserable, but don’t let them die! This man found and kept something that he polished, and it was razor sharp, and in the morning he was a pool of blood.
Now that’s what went on around me, and yet I was perfectly peaceful. Now I don’t say comfortable—but peaceful. I learned for the first time in my life what the grace of God was. I learned for the first time in my life what it was as Christ said, “My peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you, not as the world giveth...”
My cell was so small that I couldn’t stretch my fingers. Just my own length, no window, no table, no chair, no bed, nothing, just the gate. Not loud talk, not loud coughs or loud sneezes even. Now remember these things.
Every one that comes out of a Communist prison will tell you the same. You must sit there and think of your crime and confess. No books. Nothing to read, and you wonder that they went mad around me. And you’ll wonder why I didn’t. And that’s what I am trying to say to you.
Now, I promised myself, while I sat on the floor of a Chinese prison for 32 months of solitary confinement, that if I ever got out of that prison, I would spend the rest of my days thanking people for prayer. Now I don’t say that very lightly. I don’t. I promised that I would try to convince people of the power of prayer, because I am perfectly certain that if it weren’t for prayer, I would be crazy. I don’t say that very simply, because the boy on my right went mad after one month.
Now what about the poor pagans? For the Catholics, all those priests would tell you, in the midst of that terrible thing that God’s grace was there, strengthening them, and they were peaceful. Ready to die! Perhaps even hoping that the Lord might let them be a martyr!
Pagans and Informers
What about the poor pagans? The boy beside me went mad. We had no lawyers to support us! Nobody to talk to at all. I never was tried! I never got a trial in 32 months! I was interrogated, but no trial, no lawyer, but, mind you, there was one thing written on the wall of the cell, and listen to it! It’s absolutely essential to the Communist system. “If you want to gain merit, confess and inform on anybody who thinks, speaks or acts against the peoples’ government.”
There you have it. Inform. How we hate that word. Inside that tiny cell, no chance of getting out of the bars. No chance of talking to your people. No chance of asking anyone’s advice. There it is. That poor boy could have told on his mother and his father and his brothers, sisters. He wouldn’t, and he went mad. Others went mad for the same thing, but most of them do not go mad. I’ve seen them shaking the bars and calling the guards, asking for paper and writing down names, addresses, what they said, what they did, and then handing it back to the guard.
The guard goes and hands it to the police, and the people are checked up on, to see if there actually are such people, if they said such things, and they are ready to pounce on them. The guard comes back, opens that cell. Is that man free? Oh, not at all. You don’t get freed from a Communist prison, but he gets out to the Heaven of a prisoner—out to the labor camps! You’ve heard about them, but he works in them for the rest of his life, or for most of it, and has two meals a day and no wages!
Forced Cheap Labor
I’ve seen that prison in Shanghai a couple of times a year. That’s where you get your 13 million laborers for the government, building plants for no wages and two meals a day! No strikes. Not a chance of a strike!
Yet, our papers are telling us of the marvelous achievements. Why don’t we hear how it was built? If some building was built in Australia here, a magnificent building, like a pyramid, and it was built just by slaves, what would you say? You’d tear it down with your hands! And yet we are listening to these things. That’s how the prisoners are brought out to the labor camps.
Within one week, that prison would be full again—full of the people, about whom they wrote, friends, relatives, and so on. Squeeze them! Inform! Out to the labor camps in the next trot. Wonderful system! Marvelous system of getting things done—building bridges and plants and roads!
You might think I’m crazy, and I could call a thousand witnesses, if I could only get into that prison again to tell you this little story! We were called up on the roof one-day. There was a man brought up with a Communist. He started to exhort all of us to do the same as he had done. He said, “I was condemned to death, and now I am getting a reduction to seventeen years from this generous government. I deserve death, but now I have a hope of freedom when I am about seventy years of age.”
Listen! Listen to what he said. He said, “I exhort you all to do the same.” He gives his reasons why he got a reduction—because, “I informed on my wife and daughters.” Now there was a shudder that went through that crowd. That man of fifty years of age could turn against his wife and let them be hauled into prison so that he would have a chance of getting out of prison when he was seventy!
Are You With Me or Against Me?
Hardly blame the poor old man. There’s the system! The Communist stood up beside him, praising him for that dreadful betrayal and saying, “There’s a man we want in Communist China!” The informing system had gotten one to inform on another.
What about those on the outside? The words of Christ, “You are either with Me or against Me.” “He that gathereth not, scattereth.” Which side are you on? Most people would say, “Oh don’t ask us to be on either side. Let us live our own family life. We admire your government.”
That is useless! Which side are you on? Take a step. You must take it immediately. If I am against you, I go into prison. If I am with you, most people say, “Well, alright. We’re with you, but don’t ask us to be in an organization.” They are told, “Impossible! Impossible! You must take a step. Men, women and children, you are all organized. Every week you’ll meet.”
Every week you meet, your Communists dictates to you. It might be against America. It might be against England. It might be against religion. It might against the Legion. It might even be just against flies. Now, mind you, if you’ve got 600 million people swatting flies, you swat quite a few! And we did hear, we were told by an eminent man that there were no more flies in China! What chance have they, anyway?
There’s the system... killing flies. Working people against America, against England, against the Church—perfect system. And at that time, you know there were no more beggars on the streets. But, I am telling you the system. The system that tried to crush these people. There were no beggars at that time. There was no corruption. Nobody would take a sixpence from you. No porter at the station, nobody in the restaurant would take a penny! Why would he? You would tell on him, and he would be sent in to prison for the rest of his life.
Money must go into the government hands. You get your plot of land. You work on it. You produce so much, but you must. There’s no card playing or nothing else. There must be no money wasted—all goes into their pockets. No more corruption. No more unemployment. As they say, “How can you be unemployed? Off to the labor camps to dig.”
But some of the farms are on the verge of bankruptcy. Last year, there were a million cases of corruption in the courts. They can’t hold it down, even with that police system.
No prostitutes, they say. There’s one that would interest us all. We’ve been trying in England—police, and everybody else—trying to put sense into those poor girls’ heads. 60 Legionaries there, every night, walking the most dangerous spots in England—trying to convince them, drag them off the streets and bring them back to their Faith. The police can do nothing, but the Communists fixed it all in 6 weeks!
A prostitute is a parasite. She does nothing and produces nothing! Same as a horse or a cow, if their not able to produce anything. Well, we kill them. Send them into the factories, and the factories, they turn out socks and matchboxes and things.
Does it mean that they’re good girls? Oh, not at all. They live out their life. So long as it doesn’t interfere with the poppy line, and then, when they do, when the child does arrive, as it does, it is given back to the government. It is made 100% Communist. She goes back to the factory and turns out more sharks—babies. Put them up for adoption.
Today, we are not worried about these things. If we haven’t enough cars, if we haven’t enough television, we are worried! We are not worried about the prostitutes. We’ve lost those values.
Communism Coming Everywhere!
And now, why am I talking about all this? Why should I try to frighten you? Well now, honestly, my dear people, for the life of me, I cannot see what is going to stop that same thing from coming into this country. Well, if you don’t want me saying this country, let’s say England and Ireland. There’s nothing to stop it except ourselves. Not a war. Not atomic bomb. We are the answer.
You know, it was only the third day of my arrest. I had been twice up during the day, I had been standing for hours, and I was stupid. And I just slept for a little while, and they dragged me out again, and I was handcuffed. It was 12 o’clock at night until three in the morning, and honestly, I hardly knew what I was saying. But the young judge looked across the table at me and began to sneer at my country. And he said, “Ireland, Ha! We’ll be in Ireland to liberate you!”
Well, I tell you, that woke me up! I said, “Thank you very much. We are liberated.”
He said, “We’ll liberate you more.”
And he came over to me, and they took the handcuffs my back and sent me back downstairs. And for 32 months, I thought of what that young fellow had said. And, if I get out (and I am quite sure he thought I’d be shot) I’ll shout that from the housetops.
Here he was, a little Communist—only a year, perhaps, a Communist, and he is not satisfied with putting the Powers out of China. Immediately, he looks at the map, and he sees the furthest point on the map, Ireland, and he is determined to get there, to liberate us from God and the Blessed Mother, and everything we’ve ever held dear.
When I got back to Ireland three years later, he was there. He was there waiting on me, not himself, but his brother from Dublin, from Cork and from Galway. And I came to England, I found them everywhere—in the factories, the shops, the colleges ... found them meeting the trains ... for the trains come over from Ireland, and the poor boys and girls come over to work, have never known anything of a big city. They’re there to find them a job and give them lodgings and bring them to a nice dance hall, within a couple of months, those poor lads find themselves in a Communist party.
The Zeal of Communists
“I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink. I was in prison, and you visited me...” For, we, the priests— this is what we are supposed to be doing! What we are supposed to be doing, what you are supposed to be doing! All of us! Until we all get at it, that’s what Christ told all of us. And, until we all get at it, we will never be able to catch up with that desperate, shall we call it, generosity of the Communists, who is determined to bring people into the Communist party, using Christ’s methods?
Now we see where we are. Far more generous than we are. I once praised some legionaries in London for the number of hours they give every week just to do those things... “I was hungry... I was thirsty... and so on.” And a Communist, who had become a Catholic, a wonderful fellow, he stood up, he said, “Father, for God’s sake, don’t think that they are doing enough. They’re not! When I was a Communist, I did twenty-four hours a day!” He was completely eaten up with his job to bring everybody into Communism.
And I thought of that young fellow again, and what he was doing for the devil. He was doing for Communism exactly what each and every one of us is bound to do for Christ, by our very Baptism. By our very Baptism, we are bound to be apostles. What is our Confirmation for, but to strengthen us to do that work.
The Antidote
“The world belongs to him who loves it best and who proves that love”. These are the words of the Curé of Ars. They’re trying to prove it. They’re trying to prove that they love the unemployed ... that they love the man who’s down and out ... and so on. And it’s up to us to do it. “Go and preach the Gospel to every creature,” spoken not only to twelve apostles, but also to five hundred lay people, for it was the lay people that helped at that time.
No wonder the Holy Father is calling for Catholic Action, calling for the lay apostolate. The Legion, every one of us must join in. There is the answer. What is it? The Legion, every one of us be a brick in the Church? Oh, no!
Sometimes the brick is even a crumbling brick, and the building comes tumbling down. Frank Duff says, “It’s not bricks we want, but germs of life.”
I believe in God. I’ve been baptized. I’ve been strengthened. I must spread the Faith. Get after the man today, the next street, the town, outside to the next country. I see China! And, if I can’t get to China, alright, I can’t get there, but, please God, my little boy or my little girl will go. We have an order to get to the ends of the Earth. How are we doing it?
There is the answer my dear people, a living Christianity, nothing else. Coming out of prison, I was convinced there was no other answer.
They are terrified of the spiritual value that I came to in Mr. Douglas Hyde, whom you all know. He was a great Communist once, and he became now a great Catholic. And people ask him, “Mr. Hyde, how do we look for the Communist? How do we know him? How do we prepare for him?”
You know what he said? “Forget about him. Forget about him. Live your Christianity. Live a Christianity that also embodies also apostleship.” That’s Mr. Hyde’s answer, that each and every one of us be an apostle.
Communism will fail. We know it. But remember after Communism, there is some other “ism.” The answer to that other “ism” is again, “Go preach the Gospel to every creature,” which is spoken to all of us.
And now my dear listeners, I have kept you a very long time. And, I am ever so grateful for your attention. I do want you to remember, please remember all of these young, wonderful people of whom I have given you a few examples. Remember, a thousand legionaries are dead. Tens of thousands of other Catholics are dead. Tens of thousands of them sitting on the prisons, stagnating—remember what the prison was like.
Please remember, that all these people, they are our own brothers and sisters. And, I have told you what your prayers have meant to me and what they must mean to them still, not only to them, but to those in Hungary, about whom one of your own great men has written something in the United Nations. Read it if you get it. Poland, all the other countries behind the Iron Curtain, we are a part of them. We are members of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Today, September 7th, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Legion of Mary in Dublin Ireland [read more here on the actual beginnings]. The Legion of Mary is supposed to be (but no longer is) a fighting machine of the Church in which the rank and file are the laity, led by their local "officers" — the priests. The Legion was born in 1921 just after the First World War (1914-1918). 1917 was a pivotal year in both the political arena and in the Church. The First World War was devastating Europe, the Communist Revolution exploded in Russia, which would soon set ablaze many parts of the world with the evils of Communism. It was also during 1917 that Our Lady was appearing at Fatima, offering a peace plan to the world. Soon, Our Lady was to raise an army of her own. This army, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and having as its end spiritual goals, came from Ireland and was known as the Legion of Mary. This Marian army was destined to meet the forces of the revolutionary Communist army on the battlefield of China during the 1950s.
The Legion of Mary is Born and Grows
Founded in Dublin in on September 7th, 1921, the Legion of Mary spread its wings in 1927, which was the first year that a branch was started outside Dublin, this being in Waterford. In 1928 the Legion was taken to Glasgow, Scotland, and the following year, to England and Wales. From there it spread to India, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The first Legion envoy left Ireland in 1934 and came to the United States. Two years later, Edel Quinn began her envoyship in missionary Africa, establishing thousands of praesidia (a praesidium is a local branch of the Legion of Mary) before her death in 1944. From 1930 to 1950 over thirty full time envoys were sent throughout the world to found and build up the Legion, During these years envoys labored in Central America, France, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, the Philippines, and China.
The Legion Arrives
The Legion of Mary arrived China in 1937, but was little known for almost a decade. However, the appointment of Archbishop Riberi as Interuncio to China in 1946 marked the beginning of the spread of the Legion throughout China. The Archbishop had met Edel Quinn while in Africa, and had witnessed what the Legion had accomplished there. Seeing the desperate condition of the Church in China, he asked Fr. Aedan McGrath, a Columban Father, to undertake the work of spreading the Legion. The Internuncio spoke to Father McGrath saying, “Have you realized the impossibility of the situation? Five hundred million people and only 5,000 priests. Even if I doubled and tripled that number the conversion of China is still impossible.” Clearly the Faith and the ideals which this great Archbishop had shone forth.
Fr. Aeden McGrath (prononuced McGRAW) first came to China in 1930, and spent the next fifteen years running from Mao Tse-Tung. Mao had set up a Communist government at Hankow in 1928, and after the Second World War (1939-1945) he extended his rule over most of mainland China.
With the coming of Archbishop Riberi, the Legion was able to operate on a large scale in China. Once Father McGrath was assigned to spread the Legion, he set out immediately and went to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chungking and other major parts of China. The Legion spread with amazing rapidity. Within one year there were 1,000 praesidia. Within two years, 2,000 praesidia!
Communists Take Over China
By 1949, the Communists were in control of nearly all China and became aware of this rapidly growing movement. They ordered Fr. McGrath to stop his Legion activities in Chungking, but he protested saying that the Legion was a purely spiritual organization. He gave them a copy of the Handbook and invited them to attend a meeting to see for themselves. This they did, and afterwards returned the Handbook, with permission for the Legion to resume its work in Chungking. Their comment was, “This is a great organization, just like Communism.” It is interesting to note that there are striking similarities between the Legion and International Communism. Each adopted the nomenclature of the Roman legion and both organizations use the terms “praesidium” (the name for their meetings) and “tessera” (the title of their membership prayer cards). Another interesting points the color of the Communists is red, and the Legion’s color is red.
When the Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic at Peking in October of 1949, there were 4,000,000 Catholics, 3,080 foreign priests, 2,351 foreign sisters, 2,557 Chinese priests and 5,112 Chinese sisters. But by the end of 1954 only 61 (foreign missionaries) were still in the country of whom 21 were in prison. In 1955 there were still two foreign bishops and 20 priests in China. Of these one bishop and 17 priests were imprisoned. Of the Chinese priests about 500 had been imprisoned.
All remained fairly quiet during the first year of the Communist occupation. But then persecution of the Church began, directed first against foreign missionaries. Priests and sisters were arrested, falsely convicted and expelled from China. Many hundreds were sentenced to long prison terms within the Bamboo Curtain.
The Formation of ‘Patriotic’ Churches
Up to this point, there had been no unfavorable mention by the Communists of the Legion. Then in the Summer of 1950 the Communists proclaimed their intention to establish “Patriotic Churches” which would be run by the government and be separated from Rome. This was called the Three Autonomies Movement and it began on July 28th, 1950. “Under the guise of self-rule, self-support and self-propagation they demanded absolute separation of the Chinese Churches from any alignment with foreign congregations.” These same tactics had been followed in Communist-dominated countries of Europe, since setting up an “independent” church has always signified independence from all control except that of the Communist government. Newspaper propaganda in the official press supported this to such a degree that “for months the Peking People’s Daily devoted daily space to the patriotic obligation of Catholics, throughout China, to participate in the movement.”
The real challenge had come. The Chinese hierarchy refused to support this new movement, and the Legion of Mary set to work informing and instructing the Catholic faithful about the issues at stake in this undermining plot.
Communists Attack the Clergy and the Legion
When the Communists realized that the effort to separate Chinese Catholics from Rome was failing, they began a violent attack in the Communist press directed against Archbishop Riberi, the Catholic Central Bureau and the Legion of Mary. Within a year, the Internuncio was expelled from China and most of the leading priests were jailed, including Fr. McGrath. The Legion came under very fierce attack by the press. Why was the Legion vilified in such a way? The Catholics in China were a small and comparatively uninfluential minority, and the Legion numerically less substantial. Fr. McGrath believes that the main reason was the “part played by the Legionaries in frustrating the Communist plan for a schismatic Catholic Church in China.”
Communists try to Suppress the Legion
The next Communist move was to suppress the Legion in Tientsin, Shanghai and other centers. Legionaries were ordered to register their names with the police. In Shanghai, where there were fifty-one praesidia, about fifty registration centers were set up, and manned by a highly trained Communist staff who had undergone an intensive training course, which even included study of the Legion handbook. A six foot high notice-board outside each center proclaimed, “Secret Subversive Organisation, Legion of Mary-Meaberi Registration Center.” On each side of the notice-board stood soldiers, in full battle attire. Even more alarming was the form which each member was expected to sign. It read:
“I, the undersigned joined the reactionary Legion of Mary on. . . and conducted secret counter-revolutionary and evil activities against the government, the people, and Soviet Russia. I hereby resign from the Legion of Mary and promise never to participate in such activities in the future.”
To register under these terms was equal to signing one’s death warrant, since with “revolt against the country and having contact with imperialism” there came a punishment of death or life imprisonment. Signing this also meant admitting to the false charges brought against the Legion and removed the member’s name from the ranks of Mary’s army.
Only a handful signed the forms, and most of these later returned and withdrew their registrations. The Legionaries as a body refused to give up their membership. Those in Shanghai wrote a letter, signed in their own blood, to the Bishop of Shanghai. “Monsignor, we will follow you wherever you go,” said the letter. “We are proud to live in this age of persecution and there can be no compronises.”
Thousands of Legionaries Arrested
The refusal of Legionaries to register led to the arrest of thousands. Soon, every Legion officer was in prison. Among these was Johanna Hsiao, a girl in her early twenties, who before being jailed had set up three hundred and sixty-two praesidia in the North of China. She was imprisoned in 1951, and nothing has been heard of her since. Even very young Legionaries showed heroic courage. Led by their 19 year-old President, the members of a Junior praesidium marched down the public streets singing from their St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Blessed are you when they shall persecute and calumniate you and say all that is evil against you untruly in My Name. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in Heaven.”
The total number of those executed by the Communists is almost unbelievable. In the 1950’s Time Magazine estimated that, between the years 1949 and 1952, 20,000,000 people were put to death under Mao Tse-Tung. A recent figure estimates that between the years 1949 and 1970, that number increased to 60,000,000. As for Fr. McGrath, he was released from prison in May, 1954 and saw the state that the Chinese Church was in.
The Communists still pressed on, attempting to establish an independent Church from Rome. Their plans had been frustrated by the faithful priests, bishops and members of the Legion. In 1954, Pius XII wrote the encyclical Ad Sinarum Gentem, which took issue with the three autonomies and strengthened the support against a Reform Church. However, in 1954 and 1955, a new wave of arrests and persecutions assailed the loyal Catholics. The Communists began winning over priests and bishops and by 1957 the Association of Patriotic Priests was founded. The next year, 1958, the Patriotic Church was formally established.
FR. AEDAN MCGRATH’S “CHINA STORY”
Father W. Aedan McGrath, a priest of the Columban Mission Society for over 70 years and a pioneer promoter of the Legion of Mary in China, died in Dublin, Ireland, on December 25th, 2000, aged 94.
Aedan was born on January 22nd, 1906, in Dublin, Ireland and educated at Belvedere and King’s College, London before entering the Columban seminary where he was ordained to the priesthood on December 21st, 1929. Appointed to China in 1930, he soon got involved in directing the organization and expansion of the Legion of Mary in China.
Describing the beginning of his association with the Legion of Mary, Father said it began when in one of his early mission assignments he was over-whelmed by the task of visiting the 24 stations in his mission parish. “I asked for another priest to help”, he said, “and instead I was sent a copy of the handbook of the Legion of Mary.”
He did not think starting a praesidium would help but to keep his bishop happy, he recruited six men with no particular qualifications. When he was forced by a political situation to be away from his parish for two years, he returned to find to his utter amazement these men had proved excellent evangelizers and from that point on he became a Legion of Mary organizer.
During the Japanese War, he was instrumental in saving the women in his town from physical abuse by soldiers because he had once met the movie star Loretta Young and the commanding officer was a fan of hers.
Following a visit to Dublin in 1946, he returned and was instructed to start the Legion all over China. Within half an hour, the first praesidium was formed in what was probably the most sophisticated university in China at the time in Shanghai.
From Shanghai, he went to Hankow in central China and then up to Beijing where he did the same. The success of the Legion was not lost on the Chinese authorities.
In September of 1951, Father McGrath was arrested and jailed because his work for the Legion of Mary in China was judged subversive. He spent the next two years and eight months in prison, much of it in solitary confinement.
After his release from prison and expulsion from China on the May 1st, 1954, Father McGrath spent the rest of his life worked tirelessly for the Legion in Europe, Asia and the Americas eventually ending up in the Philippines.
In 1980 when Father McGrath was already in his 70s, he was asked to go to the Philippines where he established countless branches of the Legion. He continued in this work to the end of his life. Here is account of his time in China in his own words:
I was sold on the Legion of Mary and when Archbishop Riberi, Papal Internuncio to China, appointed me in 1948 to preach and organize the Legion of Mary throughout China, my job was to sell it to others. “There are 500 million people.” Monsignor Riberi said, “and only 7,000 priests. Even if we doubled or tripled that number, the conversion of China would still be impossible.” The Communists were well on their way to winning control of the whole country and the Internuncio saw that a time was coming when the foreign missionary would be a marked man and so would the Chinese bishops and priests. The future of the Church in China might be largely dependent on fervent lay apostles. Archbishop Riberi hoped to form these apostles through the Legion of Mary.
Sent on a Fast Boat to China!
I was sold on the Legion of Mary and when Archbishop Riberi, Papal Internuncio to China, appointed me in 1948 to preach and organize the Legion of Mary throughout China, my job was to sell it to others. “There are 500 million people.” Monsignor Riberi said, “and only 7,000 priests. Even if we doubled or tripled that number, the conversion of China would still be impossible.” The Communists were well on their way to winning control of the whole country and the Internuncio saw that a time was coming when the foreign missionary would be a marked man and so would the Chinese bishops and priests. The future of the Church in China might be largely dependent on fervent lay apostles. Archbishop Riberi hoped to form these apostles through the Legion of Mary.
I traveled throughout China almost without a break for nearly two years—by air, by road, by river. I can never forget the sympathetic hearing and cooperation , and the hospitality I received from Chinese bishops and priests and from foreign missionaries of every nationality. I never stayed very long in any place. Once a Praesidium was set up and the Legion method explained, I moved on (a praesdium is a local branch―there could be several praesidia in a large town or city). As long as the Handbook was followed, I knew the Legion would thrive; and it did. Our Lady wanted to use the laity through the Legion. She was preparing China’s Catholics for the dark days that were so near.
Within less than two years, there were more than a thousand praesidia established throughout China. The Legion had spread so fast that the Concilium in Dublin was alarmed. Were we going ahead too quickly? Would so young an organization survive?
I spent the three most thrilling years of my life as Envoy of the Legion of Mary in China. They were thrilling years because, or the first time, I fully realized the tremendous possibilities of the lay apostolate as a missionary arm of the Church. I saw the heights of spiritual heroism men, women and even children are capable of—provided they are given a high enough ideal. I learned all this from the Legionaries of Mary in pagan China.
The Power of the Legion
Even though I spent most of my time down in the missions, the Legion kept ticking over itself. And when the Japanese put me out for two and a half years, I thought that because I was not there, the Legion would fail! I promise, when I came back, the six praesidia were still ticking over, gathering people to the Church on Sunday, instructing the children, instructing the pagans, carrying on, even though the president was shot dead in my room! It didn’t disturb them enough to block the Legion.
True Devotion to Mary Drives the Chinese Legion
It was in that Legion that I learned about St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, and that I should be studying that book about his True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And, I tried to read the book and couldn’t make head or tail of it. And it was only when I went home to Dublin, that I remember walking up O’Connell Street with a little legionary, a man, a civil servant, a busy man with a family, and he started to talk to me about devotion to Our Lady. Honestly, he was marvelous. And, he explained that little book that I had tried to read so often, and he explained it in a moment. Spoke with eyes, glistening, delighted at the peace he had found when he had consecrated himself to Our Lady. Told me that in doing so, he had done nothing more and hadn’t done it half as well as Christ had done to His mother, the only One who ever lived in His mother’s womb for nine months, knowingly and willingly—greatest state of subjection known to man. And yet, we are afraid to consecrate ourselves to Mary, afraid to imitate what Christ did.
This boy explained it all to me in a few minutes, and I read the book again, went back to China, preached it to the Chinese (you know the Chinese accepted it as they would accept their own mother). Europeans, we found difficult. To them, we were business people, we...I don’t know, I found it very hard to get the idea over, and yet the Chinese accepted it, and I know perfectly well that it was that acceptance, realizing Mary has the spouse of the Holy Ghost, even to this day! All graces coming through her hands, living that, living in Mary and with Mary.
The Growth of the Chinese Legion of Mary
Now I have spent the most thrilling years of my life going about China, setting up the Legion, watching Our Lady working through the most unpromising material. We had, at the university, students from the very best families, magnificent people, lovely boys and girls, giving themselves entirely to the service of Christ and His holy mother. But, if you asked me, which were the best legionaries, I might even say those in the country, poor old ladies with bone feet, hardly able to walk and never been to school who left that Legion room, not depending on their eloquence, not depending on their theology, depending on the mother of Grace, going out to do their little work, in her name. And they worked miracles of grace.
One Thousand Legion Praesidia in One Year
In one year in China, we had a thousand praesidia (a praseidium is a local branch of the Legion). We’ve never been equal since. In England, we’ve been 28 years, and we’ve only just over a thousand praesidia. But, they grew so fast in China that Brother Duff (the layman who founded the Legion of Mary in 1921) wrote to me and said, “Father, what are you doing?”
I wrote back to say, “Brother Duff, I can’t stop them. They want to come in. They feel the need. Priests and Sisters saw the need. They were being kicked out, and knew they must leave something behind them. What is the strongest? And devotion to Our Lady with this regular, detailed work. They accepted it, and 1,000 praesidia in one year!”
The Communists Praise & Fear the Legion System
The Communists told me, I must stop the Legion of Mary, and I tried to convince them that it was a spiritual organization. In proof of it, I gave them the handbook, and you know how difficult the handbook is to read, even in English, and if you saw it in Chinese! But, you know, like a true Communist, they had read that book in one week and digested it, brought it back, and they said, “That is a magnificent organization. Just like Communism.” That was the greatest compliment ever paid.
But, you know they had seen in that system the detail, the praesidia, the cell system, the Curia, the Comitium, the Senatus, the Concilium and the hierarchy above it all the time, able to stop it at a twist, or be able to get more going. You know, Frank Duff has compared that in his latest book, The Spirit of the Legion of Mary, the two systems starting in Dublin and the other in Moscow in 1921. Both using the cell system, both using Praesidium, Curia, both using definite work, both using the same color! You never thought of that one, did you? Both using RED. You’ll see it around Our Lady’s head—the red of the Holy Spirit.
What do we use for the Mass of the Holy Ghost? Red. The Legion was founded particularly to give honor to the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she was so sorely neglected. That is why your handbook is red. The two of them spreading throughout the world, and meeting in China, and immediately, they see it, they said, “We’ll stop that.” Strange. Yet, the time hadn’t come.
They read that book, in which they saw a magnificent system, but they forgot about Our Lady. They didn’t care about her. Forgot about her power. Didn’t bother about the spirit of the Legion, and now, is there any wonder after some years, when they attacked it and found it, they found it so difficult to crush that they said, “Who is this woman, this cursed woman, who dares to thwart us?” And, I like to give the answer of the little girl in Shanghai, “Oh, you’ll never catch her. She’s in Heaven!”
Well, of course, we do hope they find her. But, there you are, they never saw the important thing in the Legion. Wonderful system, yes, but what is it without de Montfort’s True Devotion? The mediatrix of all graces, depending on the Holy Spirit, every legionary, when he becomes a legionary, after three months, who does he address, Our Lady? No. He addresses the most Holy Spirit. “I….., desiring to be enrolled as a legionary of Mary,….”
There you have it, the spouse of the Holy Ghost. They never saw anything in that, and they didn’t care. And they let me back to Shanghai, but when I got to Shanghai, I found 1,000 praesidia had been erected!
I didn’t set them all up, you know. That, sometime I get the glory of that, and I didn’t do it. I was dodging around other places, little Fr. Joseph Sinn, doctor of theology, doctor of cannon law, speaking 7 languages, and speaking English with a lovely Irish brogue. That little man had traveled up and down the country in my absence, and the Legion spread by itself. You can’t say anyone spread it. I don’t even say that Brother Kenney would say that he spread it in all New Guinea, it spreads itself. But that little man was arrested the same night as myself, and, as I told you, he died after a year and a half. You see, he translated the handbook, too.
Communists try to Destroy the Legion
Now it wasn’t very long until the Communists saw the power of the Legion. They could put out foreign priests. The could kill Chinese priests. They could close down churches, but what can you do with people who insist upon talking about God and His holy mother?
Those who keep on teaching catechism and bringing people into the Church? That system must be crushed, and you know what they decided to do? They decided to crush the Legion into submission, and then use it to set up a national church.
To hear them these days in the paper, on the radio, still trying to set it up. Still all confused. Still failing. That’s a great compliment to the Chinese people. One of the most wonderful people in the world. Wonderful Catholics! After six years of a terrible persecution, still trying to set up a national church. If they had crushed the Legion under submission, and used all the Legion members to set it up, I wouldn’t be here tonight, dear people. I wouldn’t be talking. It would have been a terrible tragedy.
Communists Try to Create a National Church
They tried to set up the national church, and they, themselves, admitted it. Twice, they failed. I was in prison for 32 months of solitary confinement, never even heard if my mother was alive or dead. Never heard any news, whatsoever. Nobody, but the guard, did I see. And yet, they were telling me that the Legion of Mary had failed me, and that I had destroyed in China by my work. They said the legionaries had accused me!
Well, I couldn’t believe it, because I knew the kids. They were marvelous! I couldn’t believe that they would not carry on that work. One day, after two years, I was thrilled to hear them cursing the Legion of Mary over the loud speaker! Why? Because they said no movement that we’ve ever set up since 1949, no movement has failed, except one—the movement to set up a national church! And that movement was stopped by the Legion of Mary.
I was delighted! First bit of good news I got! And yet, they are trying to sell to the world, now, that the Chinese church has accepted separation from Rome. Be careful what you read in the papers, for Heaven’s sake. Be careful where it comes from. Their methods are terrible.
Well, when they decided to attack the Legion, they put out Monsignor Riberi. They arrested the four of us, myself, the two Chinese priests and Fr. LeGrand. And we were in prison one month when that diabolic attack started against the Legion of Mary, all over China. Loud speakers on the trees, everyday’s radio, movies, newspapers, buses—all had statements or placards against the Legion of Mary. Everybody was told they must attack it. Everybody was told they must inform against the legionaries. Imagine the poor boys and girls, going around the streets, listening to that, and watching the police cars shrieking up and down, men tied in them with long faces, being taken out to be shot! That was during the terrible purge.
Mass Persecution
Remember, I have listened. I have watched purges of 10, 20 and 30 thousand people disappearing off the streets in one night, and, all the time, I knew that I would go myself. The Communists would bring police cars up and down the street just to frighten the people—and then take these people out and shot them. One of the priests in Shanghai used to call himself the chaplain to the dying. He stood at his window, when the trucks passed, and he gave them an absolution, in case there were any Catholics there, and the trucks would come back empty. That’s what they did during the Legion purge.
Some poor kids—about 10 of them—were so terrified that they ran to the police station and did what they were told—sign a document against the Legion. About forty others were dragged down to the police by their pagan parents, and of those forty, most went back at the first opportunity and kicked up such a commotion at the police station that they got the document back and tore it up in front of the polices’ eyes. For the rest, people refused. For five months, the police used their whole army’s strength, visiting the houses round from door to door, trying to dig-out the Legionaries and the children.
Now, if I tell you something of the Legion of Mary, it’s not worth anything, because I am a Legion priest. I’ve been in prison for it, and many people might say that I’ve even cracked. Even if the Legionaries themselves talk about the Legion, you are entitled not to believe it, too. You’ll say that they’re propagandists. I’m not going to tell you about myself or about the Legion, or what the Legion says about itself. I am going to tell you about what somebody very important thinks about it. No, not even the Holy Father. You might even say that he has to talk nicely about it, rather I am going to talk about somebody who fills our paper every day—the Communist!
We take note, every day on the front page of our newspapers, what the Communists are saying or doing, even what they are guessing at, what they are thinking. We’re afraid of them, so we may as well admit it. We’re terrified of them—and rightly so.
Now, I have seen the Communists in China put out the English and the Americans, the Germans, the French, the Belgians—put out the great powers, so that they’ll be no bother to them. It was the first time in history that something like that ever happened. We may as well admit it. We have to admit it.
Throw them out. Throw their businessmen in prison. They were in the cells, on either side of me. I knew some of them. They were in prison on trumped-up charges—they took their factories, took their buildings, with no reparation. England and America demanded apologies and demanded that they be released. Did they get an answer? Not to this day!
Surely, we are getting used to that. We’re being kicked around. We’re being told lies every day, and we still go on, trying to believe them. They weren’t the least bit afraid of the major powers. They shot down our planes. They killed our civilians. We demanded apologies, and we didn’t get them.
And yet, here is what I want to say. They attacked the Legion for five-months, day after day, dragging the children in the evening and keeping them standing all night long, trying to get them to sign documents. In the morning the kids came out and said, “I don’t know what happened, Father.” Father asked them, “Did you know what to say? Were you able to answer all the questions?” And everybody said, “They were very easy. Everything seemed to come easily.”
The Communists couldn’t understand it. Where did the children get the strength from? And, after five months, they had to call off the direct attack. They haven’t ceased to attack, but they called off the direct attack because it failed, and failed hopelessly!
The Fear of the Faith
Now, while they’re not afraid of the great powers, still, after six-and-a-half years of the greatest persecution the Church has ever seen—and I stand by that statement—they’re still afraid of the Catholic Church. They’re still afraid of Christianity. They’re still worried to death about those who speak about the Faith and spread it.
They would tell you, “We are not afraid of the person who just goes to Sunday Mass and says a prayer. They will die, and the Faith will die with them.” They would conclude themselves that Christianity involves an apostleship. And, if there’s no apostleship, it’s not a full Christianity. The only one they search out is the one who is spreading it. There’s a lesson for us to learn. And, after six-and-a-half years of the greatest persecution, they’re still afraid of the Church—the living Church!
You might ask why I say the greatest persecution; surely, Rome was greater! No, it wasn’t! In Rome, we had catacombs, and we hid in them! There are no catacombs in China today! In Rome, they didn’t bother about the children—children of four or five years of age. Now, in China today, they take those children from their fathers and mothers.
The children are taken to kindergarten and are welfared. From morning until night, they have a political science teacher telling them about Marxism and Leninism. They tell them they are bound to inform on their fathers or their mothers, their sisters, or their brothers. You’ve heard about that—the children telling on their parents. Grown-up students telling on their parents! Grown-up students demanding the death of their father!
Examples of Legion Heroes
I must give you a few examples to let you see what I mean. Now, very probably, if I speak to you, if you are anything like the people of England—and perhaps you are not— I’ve gone around there every Sunday and I know that 90% of those people believe the Legion to be a sort of “sissy” organization made up of a bunch of little girls, gathered together every week and gossip about their neighbors. Now, if it were that, the Communists wouldn’t worry about it. But, I would love to make it a bit clearer here tonight what the Legion is.
Who was the president and vice-president of the Legion in Shanghai? One was a businessman with a wife and five lovely children. The vice-president was a famous doctor in a city of six million souls—much more than Sydney. He was the head of a big hospital and had a wife and five lovely children. And yet those men knew perfectly well that they would go to prison, because I was going to prison, and yet they accepted those positions.
And, I remember, some days before I was arrested, the little doctor came up to see me, because I was sick. I like to think about and repeat what he said to me, when he sat down on the chair after he gave me my medicine.
He said, “Father, would you repeat to me once again the doctrine of St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. What is it to live in Mary and with Mary?” He was getting ready for prison—the father of a family! And I said to him, “Doctor, how do you feel about what is going to happen to both of us?” He said, “Oh, Father, I am alright.”
Yet, when I shook his hand, his hand was trembling. Someone asked him, “What about your poor wife and five children?” The doctor said, “Oh, my wife is magnificent! She said to me yesterday, ‘Do what you should be doing for God and His holy Mother. Don’t mind me. I’ll look after the children.’”
Now, there’s heroism for you. You don’t need to go back to Rome for it. You have it in 1951. Those two men have been in prison for the last six-and-a-half-years. And God knows where the two wives and ten children are.
One more. You know—I came out of prison disappointed! If I got a knock on the head, it would have been the greatest cause to die for—but, they wouldn’t let anyone be a martyr. No martyrs! Martyrs are the seeds of Christians! Kick them out! Nobody will listen to them anyway. The press will say more on the other side than they’ll say against us.
When I came out I thought, “Even though I have to face the world again, I am disappointed!” I would be much more use sitting on the floor of a prison than I am here, talking. And yet, I thought when I came out, surely, the world must be looking to China to these wonderful young boys and girls, who have left their lovely families and who have left their lovely home and have gone into prison with their heads high in the air.
And, I came out and found quite a difference! I heard about heroes and heroines I never knew in my life: Davie Crockett, Hop-A-Long Cassidy, Marilyn Monroe, and Bill Haley. Well, you know, I was disappointed.
I don’t blame the kids, you know. How would they know? The papers never told them. There was nobody to go around and tell them about the martyrs, about the people—the Agneses, the Cecilias, the Agathas and all up to this very day. And their minds were on different heroes and heroines. Cutting their hair like them. Walking like them. Dancing like them. That was all.
More Examples of Legion Heroes
I give you one case, Joanna Schaal. Please remember the name. Young girl, just finished her university course and was from a very wonderful family. Lovely young girl with the world before her. She had what she needed to get her career going. This girl knew I couldn’t spread the Legion any more, and she decided she was going to do it. She was a Legionary already. She knew that, with the Chinese Communists, she couldn’t move from one village to another without the permission of the police and she said it’s useless trying to try that. So, what did she do? She tucked up her hair and donned a Communist cap, blouse and skirt, and across her breast she wore the medals of the heroes of the day, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, etc. Why did she do that? So they wouldn’t notice her, and she moved up—moved up to places I never went in my life. Up to Manchuria.
The other day, I met a little Italian nun in Brisbane, who couldn’t speak a word of English and blabbed, blabbed, blabbed Chinese to me. She was delighted to talk in Chinese. And when she heard about Joanna, she said, “Yes! She landed into our convent, dressed as a Communist. That was a girl for you!” She should be written about, but kids know nothing about her. In another place, she took off her Communist uniform and put on country-woman’s clothes, put on her plaits, sat on her bicycle, and rode off to the country places to tell the priests, “Father, you are going to be deported. We’ve got to leave something behind. Let’s start a Legion of Mary Praesidium. Get the people together. Tell them that the Church is not that building—that will be broken. Tell them that they are the Church. They are the Mystical Body of Christ. You must! They are the members. They must build up the Church, even if the priest is gone.”
That girl traveled all around North China while we were waiting to be arrested. She set up at least 350 presidia! Four days before I was arrested, Joanna was caught, too. And when I came out of prison, I heard the poor girl had been condemned to ten years hard labor! She’s there now. There’s no word. We don’t know whether she’s dead or alive, but if she’s alive, she’s sitting in some tiny little cell.
Noelle, another one. Little Noelle, my own junior president—a girl about that height, quite small. Very smart little child, brilliant! Just finished her schooling at the Mothers of the Sacred Heart—the biggest school I’ve ever seen. Studying at the university run by the Jesuit Fathers, doing her first year of medicine. Her father was a doctor, her grandfather was a doctor and Noelle going to be a doctor, too, with all arranged with the Carmelite Nuns that she would eventually join them.
Fearlessness in Face of Persecution
Now some days before I was arrested, we had to stop the external meetings of the Legion and, remember, all the more credit to the Legion—the Legion of Mary had been stopped since 1951. We told the Legionaries, “We cannot. There is no right of assembly. What you have learned in it, carry on. Do your work. You were born to be apostles, go right ahead with what you’ve got.” And even after six years, the Communists are still looking for those Legionaries.
Noelle had come up to the house. We had already stopped the external meetings and I was depressed, because I felt it was a sort of failure.
I said to her: “Noelle, listen. This is a great tragedy, but the Communists have turned against us.”
You know what she said? She said, “Father, don’t say that! This is no tragedy, this is glorious!”
I must say I blushed. I was her spiritual director and here that little girl realized far better than I did, the glory of the Cross. That Christ could think of no better way of saving the world, except by the Cross. That every time the Church was persecuted, it rose out of it gloriously and that the Legion of Mary would be far better known because it was persecuted. Look at it today. There was foresight for you.
Ah, and that child, every day went down the street with her young junior Legionaries holding the Gospel in her hand, shouting, “Matthew chapter 5, verse 11. Matthew chapter 5, verse 11. ‘Blessed are ye when they shall persecute and calumniate you, and say all that is evil against you, untruly, in My name. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven.’” She was shouting this right in the face of the Communists. Her father—a doctor! Her grandfather—a doctor! She herself was studying to become a doctor—and she was thinking about Heaven! We don’t expect to see those things nowadays, do we?
Every Sunday morning, Noelle brought her fellow university students down to the front seat of a little chapel, for there was a young priest, the first secretary of the Holy Father’s representative, some of the Fathers here must have known him—Father Mathias. He was arrested the same night as myself, and after six-and-a-half-years in prison, we don’t know where he is.
He was thundering against the injustices of the Communists, and Noelle brought her fellow students to listen to him. And she knew very well the girl beside her was a traitor, specially baptized to inform on the Catholics—writing down everything the priest said, writing down the names of everybody in that little chapel, blessing herself, genuflecting and going out and handing that document to the Communists! Noelle knew that very well, and I warned her. And she said, “Oh, what about it, Father? Forget about it.”
When I came out of prison, I asked about Noelle, and I heard that at that time she had been in prison for a year and a half. That means that she has now been in prison between four and five years. Poor little Noelle wanted to be a Carmelite nun, and there she’s been in prison, sitting on the floor, never talking to anybody—far more a Carmelite than ever a Carmelite was!
Now, I could go on all evening with these stories. Can you see what I mean? The Communist, with his foresight, is not afraid of the man with a gun, if he is not a Christian. He is afraid of nothing. Nothing. No principles. Not afraid of the atomic bomb, as they said, “Who is afraid of the atomic bomb? Certainly not China.” If they dropped half-a-dozen in China, we wouldn’t hear them. Drop half-a-dozen elsewhere, it would be another story. Can you see why they are not afraid of the Powers? Why, all they want is peace! They talk about peace! Ready for war, but they talk about peace, and infiltrate! It’s a wonderful system!
Yet, how they can do nothing with the Legion president, or the little doctor, or Joanna, or Noelle. What can you do with them? Lock them up in a cell. You let them out and they will continue to talk about God and His holy Mother. They will spread the very thing the Communists are trying to crush. They are not only useless to the Communist system, they are a menace!
There it is! Let us learn a lesson from them. We needn’t go anywhere else. Spiritual values and principles, we are bound to those! No wonder the Holy Father has opened the flood gates of spiritual values, Communion, evening Mass. We see there His foresight. He called upon the lay apostolate fifty years ago, seeing clearly the dangers in front of him, and only now we are beginning to wake up to the thing.
There is the answer. The only answer is Christianity—a living Christianity. Not war! Not atomic bombs! Nothing else. Not a new government. You are the answer! Do not try to pass on the responsibility to anyone else. Each and every one of you has a responsibility. We’ll come to that again.
I have been 24 years in China, and I spent a good deal of that time running away from bandits. And every time I heard the word bandit, I was petrified. I am a coward by nature. And I would like to convince you of that before I am finished. I was terrified!
But, I would like for you to remember one thing before I pass this point, that the very bandits from whom I ran, who were they? Ah! Who were they? They are now sitting in control in Peking—the Chinese rulers today. I ran from them. My fellow priests ran from them. They didn’t catch me then, I ran too fast, but they caught me later. But they did catch a brother of one of your priests, here, in Sydney. It was the brother of Dr. Leonard of Manly College, and they killed him on the altar steps in 1949!
Fr. Tierney, too, died at their hands, and hundreds of others. And, since they have come into control in China, I give you a figure, please remember it. It’s a figure—it’s not my figure. It’s the figure of the United Nation’s subcommittee, set-up to find out the number and found from Communist sources—fifteen million, at least, executed! Far more than the population of Australia. Fifteen million, at least! I know it’s not enough, but it’ll do.
Millions in Labor Camps
Though at least 15 million were executed, there were between 25 and 30 million in slave labor camps! Now, that’s the United Nation’s subcommittee figure, again, I am not quoting mine. I know it’s not enough, but it’ll do.
These are the people, in Peking, now, who have done these things, and they speak of peace. And, every time they open a meeting, they open a crate of doves, and let the doves fly around. Oh, photographers take pictures of the beautiful doves, doves of peace! They publish them in our papers, and we are enthralled that the Communists want peace!
I know they want peace. I repeat it. They do want peace. They don’t want war. While there is war, they can not have infiltration. While there is peace, they have cultural relations and infiltration. And through infiltration, Communism enters a country, not by war.
No, every time I heard the word “bandit”, as I say, I was terrified. And in the end, I waited a whole year for a rest in Shanghai, from 1950 to 1951. I knew by that time that they hated the Catholic Church, and I knew by that time, they had pinpointed the Legion of Mary, over everything, as their deadly enemy.
The Terror of Awaiting Arrest
And when I knew they were going to persecute the Legion of Mary, I knew I—the one who had been asked by the Holy Father’s representative to set it up throughout China—I was in for it! And from that moment, I was terrified. There was no bravery in it!
I walked the streets every day, and I knew that guards were watching me. I left the house every day, and I knew the poor “coolies” who were pulling the rickshaws, they were bound to inform on me. I didn’t blame the poor lads. That’s part of the system.
I knew one night or one day, they would take me. I always had my little Gospels and my Imitation of Christ in my pocket, and yet, the night they caught me, I couldn’t even stretch to the table to get them. Just too quick!
But, I was terrified! And while I was terrified, I, a priest, a spiritual director, you know, I love to think, now, of the young legionaries, young boys, young girls who knew they were going to be arrested, too. Remember, they were from the very best families in Shanghai. They were from the universities, and from the most comfortable homes.
What did they do? The girls cut their hair, so that the lice wouldn’t be too bad in prison! And, they dressed in cotton clothes to get ready for prison! And, they slept on their floors at nights—not in the beds—getting ready for this! Brave young people, and the waters of Baptism barely dry on some of their foreheads. And, here was I, terrified!
I tell a story against myself. I couldn’t read any books. I used to spend a good deal of time in the chapel, going around the Stations trying to get courage from the Passion of Christ. And, when I got to the 12th Station each day, I used to repeat a little prayer that I suppose you’ve often heard. I certainly always said it, “For Christ died, may I die for love of Thee, as Thou hast died for love of me?”
And my knees were shaking! I no more wanted to die than anyone wants to die! I was terrified! And, I was so terrified that I stopped it! I couldn’t say it any more! I felt a perfect hypocrite, and I changed it to Our Lord’s prayer in the Garden, and I thought it a much better one for me!
One of my greatest friends at that time, he knew he was going to be arrested, already three of his praesidia had been arrested! And, he wondered what he could do for them. And, he couldn’t sleep. For three months, he hadn’t slept. He used to come to the house, and I couldn’t console him, and he got whiter and thinner, and he smiled a sickly smile, and his eyes became pinpoints. And one night he disappeared. I knew no more about him, but in prison I heard that this poor man, after another month, had gone mad. One morning they found him lying over a table with a cut on his wrist, dead, or dying.
There you have it! That’s what would have happened to me if I hadn’t been arrested, perhaps. And these things, I can’t understand.
The Arrest of Fr. McGrath
No, it was one night, and I like to recall the day, the 6th of September 1951, half past 11 o’clock, when a long ring came at the door. And my superior, Fr. McElroy went down to open it. (And here I mention Fr. McElroy, who waited 3 years for arrest and was never picked up.) It is that very Fr. McElroy who has written these articles in The Advocate, over the past few weeks. Get it, and read it again.
He went down to the door, and when he came up, he had a lot of Communists with him. By the time the had searched my room, it was the 7th of September 1951, the vigil of the Nativity of Our Lady, and the foundation day of the Legion of Mary. Well, I was thrilled at that, alone!
They came in and, having searched my room, and taking photographs which were faked—they took an ordinary photograph of me standing at a table, and put Fr. McElroy out. Behind me was a picture of Christ the King on the wall. When I heard later, after I had come out of prison windows, pictures were published in the press, the table which was empty was covered with knives, revolvers and pornographic literature. Behind me, they had stuck in four lightly clad women—perfect Communist technique!
The very same as they did to the poor nuns in Canton, the nuns who had spent their lives picking up babies off the street, so much so that the people of China worshiped them. Chinese Communists didn’t like anybody to worship Europeans, or to worship anybody in the Church, therefore, they accused them of murdering two thousand babies! They put them in prison, and kicked them out. You’ve heard about it, or have you?
Life in Prison
Now, I was taken away that night, brought me in a car, brought me to a police station, left me standing for three hours in the corner of a police room. A man stood opposite me with a machine gun, took my beads and my medals and dashed them on the table, and at three in the morning, ordered me to lie down on a cement floor. And, he stood over me with a machine gun.
Now, I don’t like cement floors, and I hate machine guns! And yet—here’s what I am coming to—within five minutes, I was fast asleep. Now, that guard stood over me all night—it was only two hours of a night, indeed. I am quite sure that he was indignant. He was meant to impress me, and he didn’t impress me at all. And, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if I snored!
I got a kick at five in the morning to get up , but do you know that a peace came over me at that moment. I was perfectly happy. Can’t understand it. And that was the beginning of 32 months of solitary confinement, listening to people being dragged all day and night, shackles on their legs, handcuffed, and being taken out myself, often during the night. During the night, being left standing most of the night answering stupid questions of people who came in every couple of hours to ask you one. Guards changing every hour, but you stood on.
I watched that, and I listened to it, day after day. Aye, even young girls, being dragged out. Terrible, the most awful place of misery you could imagine, and yet I was perfectly peaceful. It was so strange that I promised I would tell that to everybody, and try to convince you of the power you have.
I was happy. I was perfectly peaceful. Can’t understand it! I didn’t say, comfortable. We’re inclined to mix those two things up, nowadays. If we’re not comfortable, we are not peaceful. Nonsense! Nonsense! “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you, not as the world giveth.”
The Horrors of Prison Life
In the prison—I will tell you one or two things about the prison to let you know what these poor little people are suffering inside—sitting on the floor from morning until night. Not allowed to talk, cough, sneeze, or close our eyes.
When the night comes, you long to stretch yourself out on the floor, so that you could close your eyes and get a bit of peace. Just when you’re in the midst of a heavy sleep, you hear the door knocked and your number called. You’re then handcuffed and dragged upstairs and left standing most of the night, being asked stupid questions. Legs? You don’t know where your legs are.
Towards morning, you come down and have a couple of hours sleep, and then the next day, they watch you, especially lest you’d close your eyes. Next night, you might even get two hours of sleep, and then the knock on the door, handcuffed again, and up again. And the third night, you might escape all together, but you are all the night listening to the other doors being knocked. And the shackles, poor lads going out and poor lads coming back, groaning under the tight handcuffs.
But you might say to yourself, “I thought I suffered something, and I know I suffered nothing now.” The little priest who was arrested the same night as myself, well, he died. Fr. LeGrand, who didn’t die, the European, they don’t want them to die, he came out, and in the train, he was telling me, with tears running down his face, he said, “My God, I don’t know what happened to me. At one period I was standing for six days and six nights, and they never let me move my feet!”
I said, “My God, how could you do that? Did you not fall?” He said, “I was shackled, and I was handcuffed. I tried to fall. I longed to faint. I couldn’t. And every few hours the judges would come in and they’d say that I had killed two men.” And the guards would change every hour. And he went standing on. He told me he did not know what was day and what was night. And at the end of six days and six nights, they came in. He said, “I remember it, but I don’t know what happened. I asked for paper, and I wrote that I killed two men.”
He no more killed them than you did. And the tears ran down his face. You’ll have seen his article in the Jesuit magazine monthly, The Monk, Why I Confessed, and he just tells the whole thing. Something happened. Something happened to the will—there was nothing left in it.
Father Van Coyley, standing 21 days. Another priest standing 30 days, and he couldn’t stand any more. Fr. Sawyer came out, as I told you, with his back broken. But you’ve never heard of it before—the Press don’t care! And now he’s going around stooped over, with his own mortuary card in his hand. People thought he was dead. They jumped on his back until it broke! But again, apparently the Press hasn’t reported it. Christianity? It’s a different thing, and there you are!
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard anyone going mad, but it’s a horrible thing. I heard him crying at night to himself, talking to himself, shaking the bars, calling for his father and his mother and his brothers and sisters, and then one morning, shaking the bars and shrieking! It was all over. Cold sweat ran off my forehead, and a shiver down my back, and I knew the poor boy was gone. He was left there 5 months, shrieking besides me, and I am quite sure that he was left there for my benefit.
Two men opposite me went mad. The young American on my left went mad. The little priest of the cell opposite me, I heard him vomiting for two months, and then he was dragged out of the cell, and he died. Little Fr. Joseph Sinn, arrested the same night as myself, died after one and a half years.
Somebody else down the line, I don’t know who he was, but he searched for something around the cell, and that cell was swept and garnished every few days, and they searched our clothes, lest we hide anything that might be sharpened. Must not die! Make them miserable, but don’t let them die! This man found and kept something that he polished, and it was razor sharp, and in the morning he was a pool of blood.
Now that’s what went on around me, and yet I was perfectly peaceful. Now I don’t say comfortable—but peaceful. I learned for the first time in my life what the grace of God was. I learned for the first time in my life what it was as Christ said, “My peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you, not as the world giveth...”
My cell was so small that I couldn’t stretch my fingers. Just my own length, no window, no table, no chair, no bed, nothing, just the gate. Not loud talk, not loud coughs or loud sneezes even. Now remember these things.
Every one that comes out of a Communist prison will tell you the same. You must sit there and think of your crime and confess. No books. Nothing to read, and you wonder that they went mad around me. And you’ll wonder why I didn’t. And that’s what I am trying to say to you.
Now, I promised myself, while I sat on the floor of a Chinese prison for 32 months of solitary confinement, that if I ever got out of that prison, I would spend the rest of my days thanking people for prayer. Now I don’t say that very lightly. I don’t. I promised that I would try to convince people of the power of prayer, because I am perfectly certain that if it weren’t for prayer, I would be crazy. I don’t say that very simply, because the boy on my right went mad after one month.
Now what about the poor pagans? For the Catholics, all those priests would tell you, in the midst of that terrible thing that God’s grace was there, strengthening them, and they were peaceful. Ready to die! Perhaps even hoping that the Lord might let them be a martyr!
Pagans and Informers
What about the poor pagans? The boy beside me went mad. We had no lawyers to support us! Nobody to talk to at all. I never was tried! I never got a trial in 32 months! I was interrogated, but no trial, no lawyer, but, mind you, there was one thing written on the wall of the cell, and listen to it! It’s absolutely essential to the Communist system. “If you want to gain merit, confess and inform on anybody who thinks, speaks or acts against the peoples’ government.”
There you have it. Inform. How we hate that word. Inside that tiny cell, no chance of getting out of the bars. No chance of talking to your people. No chance of asking anyone’s advice. There it is. That poor boy could have told on his mother and his father and his brothers, sisters. He wouldn’t, and he went mad. Others went mad for the same thing, but most of them do not go mad. I’ve seen them shaking the bars and calling the guards, asking for paper and writing down names, addresses, what they said, what they did, and then handing it back to the guard.
The guard goes and hands it to the police, and the people are checked up on, to see if there actually are such people, if they said such things, and they are ready to pounce on them. The guard comes back, opens that cell. Is that man free? Oh, not at all. You don’t get freed from a Communist prison, but he gets out to the Heaven of a prisoner—out to the labor camps! You’ve heard about them, but he works in them for the rest of his life, or for most of it, and has two meals a day and no wages!
Forced Cheap Labor
I’ve seen that prison in Shanghai a couple of times a year. That’s where you get your 13 million laborers for the government, building plants for no wages and two meals a day! No strikes. Not a chance of a strike!
Yet, our papers are telling us of the marvelous achievements. Why don’t we hear how it was built? If some building was built in Australia here, a magnificent building, like a pyramid, and it was built just by slaves, what would you say? You’d tear it down with your hands! And yet we are listening to these things. That’s how the prisoners are brought out to the labor camps.
Within one week, that prison would be full again—full of the people, about whom they wrote, friends, relatives, and so on. Squeeze them! Inform! Out to the labor camps in the next trot. Wonderful system! Marvelous system of getting things done—building bridges and plants and roads!
You might think I’m crazy, and I could call a thousand witnesses, if I could only get into that prison again to tell you this little story! We were called up on the roof one-day. There was a man brought up with a Communist. He started to exhort all of us to do the same as he had done. He said, “I was condemned to death, and now I am getting a reduction to seventeen years from this generous government. I deserve death, but now I have a hope of freedom when I am about seventy years of age.”
Listen! Listen to what he said. He said, “I exhort you all to do the same.” He gives his reasons why he got a reduction—because, “I informed on my wife and daughters.” Now there was a shudder that went through that crowd. That man of fifty years of age could turn against his wife and let them be hauled into prison so that he would have a chance of getting out of prison when he was seventy!
Are You With Me or Against Me?
Hardly blame the poor old man. There’s the system! The Communist stood up beside him, praising him for that dreadful betrayal and saying, “There’s a man we want in Communist China!” The informing system had gotten one to inform on another.
What about those on the outside? The words of Christ, “You are either with Me or against Me.” “He that gathereth not, scattereth.” Which side are you on? Most people would say, “Oh don’t ask us to be on either side. Let us live our own family life. We admire your government.”
That is useless! Which side are you on? Take a step. You must take it immediately. If I am against you, I go into prison. If I am with you, most people say, “Well, alright. We’re with you, but don’t ask us to be in an organization.” They are told, “Impossible! Impossible! You must take a step. Men, women and children, you are all organized. Every week you’ll meet.”
Every week you meet, your Communists dictates to you. It might be against America. It might be against England. It might be against religion. It might against the Legion. It might even be just against flies. Now, mind you, if you’ve got 600 million people swatting flies, you swat quite a few! And we did hear, we were told by an eminent man that there were no more flies in China! What chance have they, anyway?
There’s the system... killing flies. Working people against America, against England, against the Church—perfect system. And at that time, you know there were no more beggars on the streets. But, I am telling you the system. The system that tried to crush these people. There were no beggars at that time. There was no corruption. Nobody would take a sixpence from you. No porter at the station, nobody in the restaurant would take a penny! Why would he? You would tell on him, and he would be sent in to prison for the rest of his life.
Money must go into the government hands. You get your plot of land. You work on it. You produce so much, but you must. There’s no card playing or nothing else. There must be no money wasted—all goes into their pockets. No more corruption. No more unemployment. As they say, “How can you be unemployed? Off to the labor camps to dig.”
But some of the farms are on the verge of bankruptcy. Last year, there were a million cases of corruption in the courts. They can’t hold it down, even with that police system.
No prostitutes, they say. There’s one that would interest us all. We’ve been trying in England—police, and everybody else—trying to put sense into those poor girls’ heads. 60 Legionaries there, every night, walking the most dangerous spots in England—trying to convince them, drag them off the streets and bring them back to their Faith. The police can do nothing, but the Communists fixed it all in 6 weeks!
A prostitute is a parasite. She does nothing and produces nothing! Same as a horse or a cow, if their not able to produce anything. Well, we kill them. Send them into the factories, and the factories, they turn out socks and matchboxes and things.
Does it mean that they’re good girls? Oh, not at all. They live out their life. So long as it doesn’t interfere with the poppy line, and then, when they do, when the child does arrive, as it does, it is given back to the government. It is made 100% Communist. She goes back to the factory and turns out more sharks—babies. Put them up for adoption.
Today, we are not worried about these things. If we haven’t enough cars, if we haven’t enough television, we are worried! We are not worried about the prostitutes. We’ve lost those values.
Communism Coming Everywhere!
And now, why am I talking about all this? Why should I try to frighten you? Well now, honestly, my dear people, for the life of me, I cannot see what is going to stop that same thing from coming into this country. Well, if you don’t want me saying this country, let’s say England and Ireland. There’s nothing to stop it except ourselves. Not a war. Not atomic bomb. We are the answer.
You know, it was only the third day of my arrest. I had been twice up during the day, I had been standing for hours, and I was stupid. And I just slept for a little while, and they dragged me out again, and I was handcuffed. It was 12 o’clock at night until three in the morning, and honestly, I hardly knew what I was saying. But the young judge looked across the table at me and began to sneer at my country. And he said, “Ireland, Ha! We’ll be in Ireland to liberate you!”
Well, I tell you, that woke me up! I said, “Thank you very much. We are liberated.”
He said, “We’ll liberate you more.”
And he came over to me, and they took the handcuffs my back and sent me back downstairs. And for 32 months, I thought of what that young fellow had said. And, if I get out (and I am quite sure he thought I’d be shot) I’ll shout that from the housetops.
Here he was, a little Communist—only a year, perhaps, a Communist, and he is not satisfied with putting the Powers out of China. Immediately, he looks at the map, and he sees the furthest point on the map, Ireland, and he is determined to get there, to liberate us from God and the Blessed Mother, and everything we’ve ever held dear.
When I got back to Ireland three years later, he was there. He was there waiting on me, not himself, but his brother from Dublin, from Cork and from Galway. And I came to England, I found them everywhere—in the factories, the shops, the colleges ... found them meeting the trains ... for the trains come over from Ireland, and the poor boys and girls come over to work, have never known anything of a big city. They’re there to find them a job and give them lodgings and bring them to a nice dance hall, within a couple of months, those poor lads find themselves in a Communist party.
The Zeal of Communists
“I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink. I was in prison, and you visited me...” For, we, the priests— this is what we are supposed to be doing! What we are supposed to be doing, what you are supposed to be doing! All of us! Until we all get at it, that’s what Christ told all of us. And, until we all get at it, we will never be able to catch up with that desperate, shall we call it, generosity of the Communists, who is determined to bring people into the Communist party, using Christ’s methods?
Now we see where we are. Far more generous than we are. I once praised some legionaries in London for the number of hours they give every week just to do those things... “I was hungry... I was thirsty... and so on.” And a Communist, who had become a Catholic, a wonderful fellow, he stood up, he said, “Father, for God’s sake, don’t think that they are doing enough. They’re not! When I was a Communist, I did twenty-four hours a day!” He was completely eaten up with his job to bring everybody into Communism.
And I thought of that young fellow again, and what he was doing for the devil. He was doing for Communism exactly what each and every one of us is bound to do for Christ, by our very Baptism. By our very Baptism, we are bound to be apostles. What is our Confirmation for, but to strengthen us to do that work.
The Antidote
“The world belongs to him who loves it best and who proves that love”. These are the words of the Curé of Ars. They’re trying to prove it. They’re trying to prove that they love the unemployed ... that they love the man who’s down and out ... and so on. And it’s up to us to do it. “Go and preach the Gospel to every creature,” spoken not only to twelve apostles, but also to five hundred lay people, for it was the lay people that helped at that time.
No wonder the Holy Father is calling for Catholic Action, calling for the lay apostolate. The Legion, every one of us must join in. There is the answer. What is it? The Legion, every one of us be a brick in the Church? Oh, no!
Sometimes the brick is even a crumbling brick, and the building comes tumbling down. Frank Duff says, “It’s not bricks we want, but germs of life.”
I believe in God. I’ve been baptized. I’ve been strengthened. I must spread the Faith. Get after the man today, the next street, the town, outside to the next country. I see China! And, if I can’t get to China, alright, I can’t get there, but, please God, my little boy or my little girl will go. We have an order to get to the ends of the Earth. How are we doing it?
There is the answer my dear people, a living Christianity, nothing else. Coming out of prison, I was convinced there was no other answer.
They are terrified of the spiritual value that I came to in Mr. Douglas Hyde, whom you all know. He was a great Communist once, and he became now a great Catholic. And people ask him, “Mr. Hyde, how do we look for the Communist? How do we know him? How do we prepare for him?”
You know what he said? “Forget about him. Forget about him. Live your Christianity. Live a Christianity that also embodies also apostleship.” That’s Mr. Hyde’s answer, that each and every one of us be an apostle.
Communism will fail. We know it. But remember after Communism, there is some other “ism.” The answer to that other “ism” is again, “Go preach the Gospel to every creature,” which is spoken to all of us.
And now my dear listeners, I have kept you a very long time. And, I am ever so grateful for your attention. I do want you to remember, please remember all of these young, wonderful people of whom I have given you a few examples. Remember, a thousand legionaries are dead. Tens of thousands of other Catholics are dead. Tens of thousands of them sitting on the prisons, stagnating—remember what the prison was like.
Please remember, that all these people, they are our own brothers and sisters. And, I have told you what your prayers have meant to me and what they must mean to them still, not only to them, but to those in Hungary, about whom one of your own great men has written something in the United Nations. Read it if you get it. Poland, all the other countries behind the Iron Curtain, we are a part of them. We are members of the Mystical Body of Christ.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday, September 5th & Monday September 6th
Article 3
How to Approach the Future?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday, September 5th & Monday September 6th
Article 3
How to Approach the Future?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Burying Our Talents!
If you cannot see that we are currently between a rock and a hard place, then you need to go back and bury your head in the sand―much like the man in Our Lord’s parable buried in the earth the talent that had been given to him and did nothing with it. God has given us the “talent” of the Faith and the “talent” of eyes. We need to see things with the “eyes of Faith” and see things with our natural eyes, aided by the “eyes” of Faith.
Closing Our Eyes to Reality
Let us not fall into the accursed state that merits from God the words: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence? … The heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking―they have revolted and gone away. And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us fear the Lord our God!’” (Jeremias 5:21-24).
Few Look to God
Anyone with healthy eyes should clearly be able to see that the following words of God are extremely applicable to our present day and age: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
The World is Our Future―Not God!
Nobody “plays around” with God and gets away with it ― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We are most definitely “sowing in our flesh” ― meaning that we are pampering our bodies with our material preoccupations and consequently neglecting God and the well-being of our souls. We are rashly placing our souls in peril of damnation by our preoccupation with the world and ourselves.
We ignore―or even spit-out―Our Lord’s eternal warning of the impossibility of serving God and the world, and the risk of losing our souls because of a love for the world: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Between a Rock and a Hard Place!
By our “two-timing” of God―trying to serve and love the world and God at the same time―we have placed ourselves in an untenable, intolerable, inescapable situation. We are between a rock a hard spot―we love the world in practice, and we love God in theory. That, in itself, is a sin―a sin of spiritual adultery. “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Don’t even try and pretend that you do not love the world―we all do! Not all of it―there are some things about the world that revolt most people―but there are many things that we just simply adore! They are not necessarily sinful―though many are at least venially sinful―yet we refuse to detach ourselves from these things which distract and turn our attention away from God. By doing so, we violate the greatest commandment of all, which says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
This is very clearly not being done! Yet we wonder and complain about the fact that most Catholics lose their souls! That is like failing to spend all day at work, failing to work all the time while you are there, failing to do all the things you are told to do―and still expecting to get paid the full wage and being shocked at being sacked from the job! As they say: “Heaven ain’t cheap―but Hell is free!”
Whose Fault Is It?
We have forged our own future! The future lay in our hands and we have “screwed-up” our future! Just as they say: “We get the leaders we deserve!”―so too you can say: “We get the future we deserve!” Our stupidity is that we have deliberately―through either mortal sin, lukewarmness, indifference or worldliness―placed ourselves between a rock and a hard spot by neglecting God or even turning our backs on God, but we cannot get out of this mess without God: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” said Our Lord (John 15:5).
For some stupid reason, we are deliberately loving the world and ‘loving’ God with the hope that God will change His mind about not being able to serve God and the world, i.e. mammon (Matthew 6:24). As though the sheer weight of numbers in the ‘Mammonite’ Party will enforce God to change the Constitution of Heaven and pass new laws that will allow the spiritual adultery of both loving the world and loving God at the same time! How would you feel if your spouse―if you were still in love with your spouse― told you that they had found a lover whom they love greatly, but they insist that at the same time they still love you? Would that be acceptable to you? “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). We adulterate our Faith by mixing worldliness into it! “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Knowing the Faith or Living the Faith?
Of course, we know those quotes―but do we live those quotes? Knowledge is good―but if knowledge is not used beneficially when it ought to be, then it becomes mere “information constipation”―a lot goes in, but nothing comes out; we know a lot but do little with it! Holy Scripture condemns this in this way: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The sad thing is that very few Catholics know a lot about their Faith―so the fruit coming forth from their Faith is little or none at all! Our Faith is meant to bear fruit―as Our Lord said at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer [gardener]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6).
Fruity Catholics? Fruitless Catholics?
Speaking of bearing fruit, Our Lord also adds: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [Does worldliness produce spiritual fruit?]. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. [A spiritual person cannot be worldly, and a worldly person cannot be spiritual]. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Our Future Depends Upon Our Sins or Lack of Them
In other words, what this means for our future is that worldliness or worldly solutions will not solve the current problems of the Church and the world. These troubles and problems ultimately find their cause in sin―as stated by Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lady is only echoing what we already find in Holy Scripture, which tells us that sin will always bring about troubles and punishments: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) … “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). What is more troublesome than death?
That is why Holy Mother Church teaches us in the Catechism that sin is the greatest evil in the world―not just mortal sin, but also venial sin: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The Double Loss―Faith and Sense of Sin
Naturally, we have a hard time accepting that supernatural truth―we less problems accepting it in theory, but massive problems accepting it in practice. That is because we are “two-timers”―loving the world while also trying to love God. This results in losing the “sense of sin”―something which all the recent popes, both Traditional as well as Liberal and Modernist, have all stated. That is why the Faith in general, and our Faith in particular, is crumbling in this current ongoing and increasing apostasy from the Faith that we see all around us.
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Sins Chips Away at the Faith and the Future
Nobody falls away from the Faith all of a sudden―like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere! The loss of Faith is a progressive loss that has been eroded and chipped-away, little by little, by sin―usually connected to an ever increasing spirit of worldliness. Faith, as Holy Scripture says, overcomes the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). The world and the devil―who is the prince of this world (John 14:30)―seek to destroy our Faith. In this the devil will have much success, for, as Our Lord warns: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Therefore, we are further warned: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:11-16).
Do Catholic families talk about these things? Do parents instill these truths into their children? Do teachers instill it into their students? Do priests preach it to their parishioners? Less and less as the attacks grow more and more! What can we expect in the future if, in the present, we are already capitulating our spiritual weapons and surrendering our Faith to the world? The future is of our own making―you make your bed and you lie in it. As Holy Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
If you cannot see that we are currently between a rock and a hard place, then you need to go back and bury your head in the sand―much like the man in Our Lord’s parable buried in the earth the talent that had been given to him and did nothing with it. God has given us the “talent” of the Faith and the “talent” of eyes. We need to see things with the “eyes of Faith” and see things with our natural eyes, aided by the “eyes” of Faith.
Closing Our Eyes to Reality
Let us not fall into the accursed state that merits from God the words: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence? … The heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking―they have revolted and gone away. And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us fear the Lord our God!’” (Jeremias 5:21-24).
Few Look to God
Anyone with healthy eyes should clearly be able to see that the following words of God are extremely applicable to our present day and age: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
The World is Our Future―Not God!
Nobody “plays around” with God and gets away with it ― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We are most definitely “sowing in our flesh” ― meaning that we are pampering our bodies with our material preoccupations and consequently neglecting God and the well-being of our souls. We are rashly placing our souls in peril of damnation by our preoccupation with the world and ourselves.
We ignore―or even spit-out―Our Lord’s eternal warning of the impossibility of serving God and the world, and the risk of losing our souls because of a love for the world: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Between a Rock and a Hard Place!
By our “two-timing” of God―trying to serve and love the world and God at the same time―we have placed ourselves in an untenable, intolerable, inescapable situation. We are between a rock a hard spot―we love the world in practice, and we love God in theory. That, in itself, is a sin―a sin of spiritual adultery. “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Don’t even try and pretend that you do not love the world―we all do! Not all of it―there are some things about the world that revolt most people―but there are many things that we just simply adore! They are not necessarily sinful―though many are at least venially sinful―yet we refuse to detach ourselves from these things which distract and turn our attention away from God. By doing so, we violate the greatest commandment of all, which says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
This is very clearly not being done! Yet we wonder and complain about the fact that most Catholics lose their souls! That is like failing to spend all day at work, failing to work all the time while you are there, failing to do all the things you are told to do―and still expecting to get paid the full wage and being shocked at being sacked from the job! As they say: “Heaven ain’t cheap―but Hell is free!”
Whose Fault Is It?
We have forged our own future! The future lay in our hands and we have “screwed-up” our future! Just as they say: “We get the leaders we deserve!”―so too you can say: “We get the future we deserve!” Our stupidity is that we have deliberately―through either mortal sin, lukewarmness, indifference or worldliness―placed ourselves between a rock and a hard spot by neglecting God or even turning our backs on God, but we cannot get out of this mess without God: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” said Our Lord (John 15:5).
For some stupid reason, we are deliberately loving the world and ‘loving’ God with the hope that God will change His mind about not being able to serve God and the world, i.e. mammon (Matthew 6:24). As though the sheer weight of numbers in the ‘Mammonite’ Party will enforce God to change the Constitution of Heaven and pass new laws that will allow the spiritual adultery of both loving the world and loving God at the same time! How would you feel if your spouse―if you were still in love with your spouse― told you that they had found a lover whom they love greatly, but they insist that at the same time they still love you? Would that be acceptable to you? “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). We adulterate our Faith by mixing worldliness into it! “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Knowing the Faith or Living the Faith?
Of course, we know those quotes―but do we live those quotes? Knowledge is good―but if knowledge is not used beneficially when it ought to be, then it becomes mere “information constipation”―a lot goes in, but nothing comes out; we know a lot but do little with it! Holy Scripture condemns this in this way: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The sad thing is that very few Catholics know a lot about their Faith―so the fruit coming forth from their Faith is little or none at all! Our Faith is meant to bear fruit―as Our Lord said at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer [gardener]. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he will burn!” (John 15:1-6).
Fruity Catholics? Fruitless Catholics?
Speaking of bearing fruit, Our Lord also adds: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [Does worldliness produce spiritual fruit?]. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. [A spiritual person cannot be worldly, and a worldly person cannot be spiritual]. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Our Future Depends Upon Our Sins or Lack of Them
In other words, what this means for our future is that worldliness or worldly solutions will not solve the current problems of the Church and the world. These troubles and problems ultimately find their cause in sin―as stated by Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lady is only echoing what we already find in Holy Scripture, which tells us that sin will always bring about troubles and punishments: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) … “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). What is more troublesome than death?
That is why Holy Mother Church teaches us in the Catechism that sin is the greatest evil in the world―not just mortal sin, but also venial sin: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The Double Loss―Faith and Sense of Sin
Naturally, we have a hard time accepting that supernatural truth―we less problems accepting it in theory, but massive problems accepting it in practice. That is because we are “two-timers”―loving the world while also trying to love God. This results in losing the “sense of sin”―something which all the recent popes, both Traditional as well as Liberal and Modernist, have all stated. That is why the Faith in general, and our Faith in particular, is crumbling in this current ongoing and increasing apostasy from the Faith that we see all around us.
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Sins Chips Away at the Faith and the Future
Nobody falls away from the Faith all of a sudden―like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere! The loss of Faith is a progressive loss that has been eroded and chipped-away, little by little, by sin―usually connected to an ever increasing spirit of worldliness. Faith, as Holy Scripture says, overcomes the world: “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). The world and the devil―who is the prince of this world (John 14:30)―seek to destroy our Faith. In this the devil will have much success, for, as Our Lord warns: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Therefore, we are further warned: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:11-16).
Do Catholic families talk about these things? Do parents instill these truths into their children? Do teachers instill it into their students? Do priests preach it to their parishioners? Less and less as the attacks grow more and more! What can we expect in the future if, in the present, we are already capitulating our spiritual weapons and surrendering our Faith to the world? The future is of our own making―you make your bed and you lie in it. As Holy Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday September 2nd & Friday September 3rd
Article 2
What Does the Future Hold for Us?
Thursday September 2nd & Friday September 3rd
Article 2
What Does the Future Hold for Us?
Fainting for Fear!
Our Lord, referring to the “Last Days” or “End Times”, spoke of “Men withering away for fear, in expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:26). Today, those “Last Days” or “End Times” are undoubtedly upon us―as revealed by Our Lady to Sr. Lucia of Fatima. In 1957, Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then―as we say in our imperfect way of talking―with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
Are we “withering away for fear, in expectation of what shall come upon the whole world”? When you add up all the events that are currently taking place and reasonably deduce the very probable events waiting in the wings―then it seems that we must sound the alarm: “Blow ye the trumpet! Sound an alarm! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is near at hand!” (Joel 2:1). Or shall we be classified among those of whom Our Lady of Good Success speaks, when she says: “In these unhappy times … and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Sinful Silence
God speaks of a sinful silence on the part of persons who, in seeing the danger approaching, refuse or neglect to “sound the trumpet”, adding that the blood of those who will die as a consequence of the threatening danger, will be on the hands of those who neglected to sound the warning:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them. And if he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet, and tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and looks not to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. For he heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself ― so his blood shall be upon him. But if he look to himself, then he shall save his life!”’
“‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and the sword comes and cuts off a soul from among them―then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.
“‘So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel [Today, the house of the Catholic Church]! therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way!” ― then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and, if he be not converted from his way, then he shall die in his iniquity ― but thou will have delivered thy soul!’” (Ezechiel 33:1-10).
Are You A Rocker?
Would you call yourself a “rocker”? Or do you usually sit-down to avoid “rocking the boat”? Do you speak up, or do you put-up and shut-up? Do you sound the alarm, or do you pretend there’s no harm? Do you fall into the category of people of whom Our Lady complained about, saying: “Those who should speak, will fall silent!” ― and adding: “Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’”
Rome and the papacy do not seem to be watchmen who want to sound the trumpet and alert mankind of the approaching danger. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! The shepherds themselves have no understanding ― all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last!” (Isaias 56:10-11). Which is why Sr. Lucia of Fatima―already back in 1957―said: “Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save, not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
On top of the blind, deaf and dumb watchmen, we also have a problem of the blind, deaf and dumb people (or sheeple), who only have eyes and ears for the world, but not for God and his words and warnings. “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21-22).
Of these Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Lucia blows the trumpet loud and clear! “For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You Sound Alarmed! Sound the Alarm!
If you only knew what is about to befall the world, then you would be truly alarmed! Yet, would you yourself sound the alarm? Would you sound the trumpet of danger? Would you sound the trumpet of prayer, penance and repentance? You must really have your head buried in the sand if you have not heard of the term “preppers”! For those whose head is firmly rammed into the sands of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” ― here is a definition of a prepper: “a prepper is a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.”
Holy Scripture also speaks of spiritual “preppers” or spiritual preparedness: “For as in the days before the flood, even until that day in which Noe entered into the ark, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and they knew not till the flood came and took them all away ― so also shall the coming of the Son of man be! Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill ― one shall be taken, and one shall be left! Watch ye therefore [be prepared], because ye know not what hour your Lord will come! But know ye this ― that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open! Wherefore be you also ready, because you know not at what hour the Son of man will come!” (Matthew 24:38-44). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come!” (Luke 21:36).
Hey! Calm Down! What’s the Big Deal?
You, or some, may well say: “Hey! Relax! Calm down! What’s the big deal? In every century people have felt that their century was the one that would see the end of the world! It was a false alarm! It never happened! It’s going to be the same in this century! Relax, will you! You’re just creating a needless panic! You are going to drive yourself and everyone else crazy!”
The answer to the above objection is quite simply: “Go tell Our Lady she is needlessly driving us crazy with her alarmist, exaggerated, unsubstantiated prophecies and predictions! She is the main source for painting our era as a terrible, cataclysmic, doom and gloom time!” She has been warning us about OUR TIMES for the last 300 years or so―that is plenty of time for her to see and acknowledge her ‘mistakes’, ‘repent’, renege and correct her ‘misinformation’―but she hasn’t, has she? Instead, with each successive century, with each successive apparition, she keeps telling us the “same-old-same-old”!
In a nutshell, here is a brief (as brief as can be) composite picture of what she has tried to tell us at Quito (1600s), La Salette (1800s), Fatima and Akita (1900s). These kinds of things were never prophesied by the Queen of Prophets with such regularity and detail in any preceding centuries. When all jigsaw pieces are put together, the composite picture is not very pleasant―and that is gross understatement! Here are the pertinent quotes of Our Lady of Good Success (Quito), Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―they have all been “sewn together” and will have no individual references as to which Our Lady it was―for it all comes from Our Lady.
As you read through them―ask yourself if these things have not already happened, are in the process of happening, or seem imminently to happen very soon.
Our Lady’s Warnings for Our Times
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Our Lady's Appendix
As an appendix to the above quotes of Our Lady at her major apparitions, here is what she said on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello, mystic and foundress of a religious order: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Those words are ominously similar to words spoken by Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, just over a year later, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.
“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it.
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand. …”
“Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands.
“Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother.
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.
“I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
“Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon and the sure door to enter Heaven. This is the first part of the Message referring to Our Lady of Fatima, and the second part, which is briefer but no less important, refers to the Holy Father.”
“The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears”
Communism to Rule the World
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Commies Coming to City Near You!
If you couldn’t spot the Communist clues before, you most certainly should be able to see them now―in the course of this worldwide Plannedemic. What is the general four-step plan that Communists usually follow? If you do not know, then here it is ― the four stages of subversion and domination honed by Stalin and his propaganda army are: (1) demoralization; (2) destabilization; (3) crisis; (4) normalization. These four stages are not a one-time thing, nor do they merely focus on one thing―these four stages are constantly running all throughout the world, like buses carrying their unsuspecting passengers into the jaws and control of Communists. The four stages can be applied to an individual, a family, a community, a parish, a school, a business, a city, a state and also a nation.
Back in 1970, Yuri Bezmenov, a Russian KGB agent trained in subversion techniques, defected to the West and came to the USA, eventually settling in Canada. In a 1985 interview he explained the 4 basic steps to socially engineering entire generations into thinking and behaving the way those in power want them to. What seemed shocking yet so alien to Americans back then, is now being played out in front of our very own eyes―for America has been transformed in the exact same way, and followed the exact same steps. You could say the same for most nations―since this worldwide Plannedemic could not be “pulled-off” the way it has been without Communist subversion playing the major, yet hidden, role.
Here, in the words of the ex-KGB agent trained in subversion techniques, is a brief overview of the subversive process. Yuri Bezmenov explains:
► DEMORALIZATION ― It takes from fifteen to twenty years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years which requires to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of the enemy. In other words Marxist-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students without being challenged or counter-balanced by the basic values of Americanism, American patriotism.
Most of the activity of the [KGB] Department was to compile huge amount, volume of information on individuals who were instrumental in creating public opinion, publishers, editors, journalists, actors, educationalists, professors of political science, members of Parliament, representatives of business circles. Most of these people were divided roughly in two groups, those that would toe the Soviet foreign policy. They would be promoted to the positions of power through media and public opinion manipulation. Those who refused the Soviet influence in their own country would be character assassinated or executed physically.
Same way, as in the small town of Hue, in South Vietnam, several thousands of Vietnamese were executed in one night when city was captured by Vietcong for only two days. And American CIA could never figure out, how could possibly Communists know each individual, where he lives, where, where to get him and would be arrested in one night, basically, arrested four hours before dawn, put on a van, taken out of the city limits and shot? The answer is very simple. Long before Communists occupied city there was extensive network of informers, local Vietnamese citizens who knew absolutely everything about people who are instrumental in public opinion, including barbers and taxi drivers. Everyone who was sympathetic to United States was executed. They were idealistically-minded Leftists, who made several visits to Russia, and yet the KGB decided that after a counter-revolution or drastic changes in political structure in India, they would have to go. They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. Because they know too much. Simply because the useful idiots, the Leftists, who are idealistically believing in the beauty of Soviet Socialism or Communism, or whatever system when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. Obviously, they will revolt. They will be very unhappy, frustrated people. A Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. They obviously will join the leagues of dissenters, dissidents. Unlike in present United States, there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America.
For example, your Leftists in the United States, all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defender, they are instrumental in the process of subversion, only to destabilize the nation. When the job is completed, they are nothing, they are not needed any more. They know too much. Some of them, when they see the Marxist-Leninists come to power, obviously, they get offended. They think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made a point, never bother with Leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. This was my instruction. Try to get into wide circulation, established conservative media. Reach the filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical, ego-centric people who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people. People who lack moral principles―who are either too greedy, or to suffer from self-importance, they feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.
The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already. For the last thirty-five years. Actually, it is over-fulfilled because demoralization reaches such areas where previously, not even Comrade Andropov [1911-1984] and all his experts would even dream of such a tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans, thanks to lack of moral standards. So, basically, you in America are stuck with demoralization. The results you can see. Most of the people who graduated in the sixties, dropouts, or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind―even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black. You cannot change the basic perception and illogical behavior. In other words, in these people, the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another twenty or fifteen years to educate a new generation of patriotically-minded and, and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
Nikita Khrushchev, who ran the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, was quite open in predicting the destruction of the United States and furthermore said it would happen in the way that every society eventually collapses — internally. “We will take America without firing a shot!” Khrushchev said, “We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within!”
► DESTABILIZATION ― Destabilization is aimed at economic calamities and in dividing the population against itself. This also involves attacking the faith in the very foundations of their country and creating a lack of faith in each other. This takes on many forms such snitching and neighbors turning in neighbors if they break the rules. This stage takes around 2 to 5 years. The second stage, Destabilization, is much faster, requiring only two to five years under KGB doctrine. In this stage, the fundamentals of the targeted population’s economy, political system, and culture would be attacked, while the demoralized population could not mount much of a defense.
Back in 1984, Bezmenov found it “absolutely fantastic” how much influence Marxist-Leninist ideas had developed in the American economy and military. In essence, a demoralized population becomes willing to believe the worst criticisms of its own society, while learning to see defenders of that society as their enemies, while avowed enemies become natural allies. The defenders are held to strict standards, while anything goes for the most strident critics.
A destabilized population becomes obsessed with hypocrisy as the ultimate political sin. They believe the best ideas – individual liberty, sovereign rights, capitalism, even the rule of law – are presented insincerely by sinister powers who seek to exploit and manipulate them. The precious resource of goodwill disappears from society as everyone comes to believe their neighbors hate them and cannot be trusted. Demoralized people lose faith in their nation, history, and ideals. Then, in the next step, destabilized people lose faith in each other.
► CRISIS ― The next stage is crisis. It does not take very long to bring a country to the verge of crisis. Once a society has been destabilized, Bezmenov said the time would be ripe to create a Crisis, which he estimated would take six to eight weeks. This is a major step and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event or multiple events upsets and divides the country―thereby creating panic among the already divided citizens (see Destablization above). To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly martial law. With turbo Internet speed, the modern era can punch out a crisis much faster than that. We have seen that to be true during the ongoing Plannedemic with all its many variants and vaccines.
A crisis has the obvious benefit of panicking the already demoralized, destabilized people into abandoning their legal protections and constitutional rights and ideals. During the Plannedemic panic, people who spoke of those legal protections and constitutional rights and ideals, were treated like lunatics. The pendulum swung the other way with blinding speed during the riots. In the span of one week, the right to peaceable assembly being painted as a crazed defiance of governmental common-sense lockdown rules, suddenly turned a blind-eye to lockdowns by allowing not so peaceful assemblies to riot at will ― for some secondary ‘urgent’ matter that totally ignored the preached need for lockdowns during the “deadly” plannedemic. Suddenly, angry political demonstration somehow magically cured the Coronavirus for a day, or made the projected wave of sickness and death into a purely secondary concern. If you wanted to work at the store so you could feed your family in late March, you were selfishly trying to “kill my Grandma to pad your bank account.” If you wanted to burn the store down in early June to protest white supremacy, nobody mentioned their imperiled grandmothers―you had a duty and right to riot and protest for whatever you felt you needed to protest about.
The more subtle side of a crisis is that it tends to de-legitimize aspects of the existing system that have already been softened up by the long process of demoralization and destabilization. Those who control the organs of public communication have the power to decide which aspects of the system are to be accused and indicted by the crisis. For example, the dominant media Left will go to great lengths to avoid painting the Coronavirus as an indictment of the flabby, blinkered, bureaucratic Big Government and it will not discuss the failures of left-wing mayors and governors. On the contrary, the pandemic was used to attack the competence of Republican governors who turned out to be entirely correct in their actions, as in Florida and Georgia. During the riots, the media is completely uninterested in discussing the incompetence of left-wing officials who allowed violence to rage out of control with deadly consequences. Somehow the lesson of wanton violence that killed people and destroyed countless livelihoods became “let’s get rid of the police altogether.” The threat of a crisis is essential for terrorizing the middle class into accepting a political agenda that is actively hostile to its interests, which leads to the fourth stage of subversion: the offer to make the pain and fear go away by accepting political domination.
► NORMALIZATION ― And after crisis, with a violent change in power, structure, and economy, you have the period of so-called normalization will last indefinitely. Normalization is a cynical expression borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Brezhnev said: “Now brother Czechoslovakia is normalized!” This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all these schmucks to promise all the goodies and paradise on Earth to destabilize your economy, to eliminate the principle of free market competition, and to put a big brother government in Washington, D.C. with benevolent dictators who will promise lots of things, never mind if they are fulfilled or not. He will go to Moscow to kiss the bottoms of the new generation of Soviet assassins. Never mind. He will create false illusions that the situation is under control. The situation is not under control. The situation is disgustingly out of control. Most politicians, media, and educational system frames another generation who think they are living at the peace time. False. The United States is in a state of war against the basic principles and the foundations of this system!
All we hear now is talk about the world never going back to what was normal before―in the future there will be a “new normal”, a “Great Reset”―which is nothing else but a new name for the “New World Order.” You could argue that we are right in the middle of crisis, or you could argue that the crisis has passed and the fourth stage―that of “Normalization” has started, which brings in the “new normal” after destroying the “old normal”. Or you could also argue that all four stages have been completed and that we are starting another cycle of Demoralization ― Destablization ― Crisis ― Normalization, which will take everything to another level, a more radical level, a more restrictive and more controlled level. This last argument is the most likely of all―since we have not yet at arrived at the ultimate “Normalization” ― which will be, as Our Lady foretold, the worldwide occupation and rule by Communists.
Sitting in the Cauldron
So here we are! Right in the middle of it! Sitting, like the proverbial frog, in the cauldron of hot water that is being slowly heated to boiling point! Are we sitting comfortably? Are you nicely relaxed? Want another donut, cookie, cake or ice-cream? Like another beer? Would you like to watch TV while you are stewing? Don’t worry! Don’t jump out! It’s all healthfully therapeutic―like a hot sauna! Just sit where you are! You do not have to do anything! It’s all okay! We are here to help you! To look after your health! It might get a little hot soon―but it’s good for your health! Don’t worry! We don’t want to kill you (just yet)!
Such is the propaganda that Yuri Bezmenov speaks of, which is gullibly lapped-up by what he calls “schmucks” and “softheads”. Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will wear diapers over their mouths! Perhaps that is a good thing after all―for some of things coming out of mouths these days are only fit for diaper! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” can be coerced into the current worldwide Plannedemic panic of dying from something that has been proved to have a 99.9% recovery rate. The vast majority who die from―ssshhh, you are not allowed to mention its name anymore―let us just say the vast majority who die from “IT” are over 80 years old and suffering with one or more comorbidities (additional diseases or illnesses). Only “schmucks” and “softheads” fail to realize―because they fail to do research―that the world death toll is more or less the same as it has always been! The exception being that people are no longer dying from the traditional big-killers like heart disease and cancer―those diseases seem to have been ‘miraculously’ cured―for everyone is now said to be dying from “IT”! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will let themselves be needled into taking the needle―when there is a 99.9% recovery rate without the need of a needle! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will take a cure that is far more dangerous and fatal than the disease. What these Only “schmucks” and “softheads” need is to be injected with some common sense―which is no longer all that common, but a rare commodity. Now if the powers that be and Big Pharma would invest some of their trillions of dollars―which are just sitting in their bank accounts and getting moldy―into some worthwhile research that would REALLY benefit mankind―let us say, for example, developing a “common-sense serum”―then that would be worth a shot!
Our Lord, referring to the “Last Days” or “End Times”, spoke of “Men withering away for fear, in expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:26). Today, those “Last Days” or “End Times” are undoubtedly upon us―as revealed by Our Lady to Sr. Lucia of Fatima. In 1957, Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then―as we say in our imperfect way of talking―with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
Are we “withering away for fear, in expectation of what shall come upon the whole world”? When you add up all the events that are currently taking place and reasonably deduce the very probable events waiting in the wings―then it seems that we must sound the alarm: “Blow ye the trumpet! Sound an alarm! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is near at hand!” (Joel 2:1). Or shall we be classified among those of whom Our Lady of Good Success speaks, when she says: “In these unhappy times … and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Sinful Silence
God speaks of a sinful silence on the part of persons who, in seeing the danger approaching, refuse or neglect to “sound the trumpet”, adding that the blood of those who will die as a consequence of the threatening danger, will be on the hands of those who neglected to sound the warning:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them. And if he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet, and tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he may be, and looks not to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. For he heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself ― so his blood shall be upon him. But if he look to himself, then he shall save his life!”’
“‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and the sword comes and cuts off a soul from among them―then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.
“‘So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel [Today, the house of the Catholic Church]! therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way!” ― then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and, if he be not converted from his way, then he shall die in his iniquity ― but thou will have delivered thy soul!’” (Ezechiel 33:1-10).
Are You A Rocker?
Would you call yourself a “rocker”? Or do you usually sit-down to avoid “rocking the boat”? Do you speak up, or do you put-up and shut-up? Do you sound the alarm, or do you pretend there’s no harm? Do you fall into the category of people of whom Our Lady complained about, saying: “Those who should speak, will fall silent!” ― and adding: “Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’”
Rome and the papacy do not seem to be watchmen who want to sound the trumpet and alert mankind of the approaching danger. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! The shepherds themselves have no understanding ― all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last!” (Isaias 56:10-11). Which is why Sr. Lucia of Fatima―already back in 1957―said: “Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save, not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
On top of the blind, deaf and dumb watchmen, we also have a problem of the blind, deaf and dumb people (or sheeple), who only have eyes and ears for the world, but not for God and his words and warnings. “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21-22).
Of these Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Lucia blows the trumpet loud and clear! “For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You Sound Alarmed! Sound the Alarm!
If you only knew what is about to befall the world, then you would be truly alarmed! Yet, would you yourself sound the alarm? Would you sound the trumpet of danger? Would you sound the trumpet of prayer, penance and repentance? You must really have your head buried in the sand if you have not heard of the term “preppers”! For those whose head is firmly rammed into the sands of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” ― here is a definition of a prepper: “a prepper is a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.”
Holy Scripture also speaks of spiritual “preppers” or spiritual preparedness: “For as in the days before the flood, even until that day in which Noe entered into the ark, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and they knew not till the flood came and took them all away ― so also shall the coming of the Son of man be! Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill ― one shall be taken, and one shall be left! Watch ye therefore [be prepared], because ye know not what hour your Lord will come! But know ye this ― that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open! Wherefore be you also ready, because you know not at what hour the Son of man will come!” (Matthew 24:38-44). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come!” (Luke 21:36).
Hey! Calm Down! What’s the Big Deal?
You, or some, may well say: “Hey! Relax! Calm down! What’s the big deal? In every century people have felt that their century was the one that would see the end of the world! It was a false alarm! It never happened! It’s going to be the same in this century! Relax, will you! You’re just creating a needless panic! You are going to drive yourself and everyone else crazy!”
The answer to the above objection is quite simply: “Go tell Our Lady she is needlessly driving us crazy with her alarmist, exaggerated, unsubstantiated prophecies and predictions! She is the main source for painting our era as a terrible, cataclysmic, doom and gloom time!” She has been warning us about OUR TIMES for the last 300 years or so―that is plenty of time for her to see and acknowledge her ‘mistakes’, ‘repent’, renege and correct her ‘misinformation’―but she hasn’t, has she? Instead, with each successive century, with each successive apparition, she keeps telling us the “same-old-same-old”!
In a nutshell, here is a brief (as brief as can be) composite picture of what she has tried to tell us at Quito (1600s), La Salette (1800s), Fatima and Akita (1900s). These kinds of things were never prophesied by the Queen of Prophets with such regularity and detail in any preceding centuries. When all jigsaw pieces are put together, the composite picture is not very pleasant―and that is gross understatement! Here are the pertinent quotes of Our Lady of Good Success (Quito), Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―they have all been “sewn together” and will have no individual references as to which Our Lady it was―for it all comes from Our Lady.
As you read through them―ask yourself if these things have not already happened, are in the process of happening, or seem imminently to happen very soon.
Our Lady’s Warnings for Our Times
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Our Lady's Appendix
As an appendix to the above quotes of Our Lady at her major apparitions, here is what she said on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello, mystic and foundress of a religious order: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Those words are ominously similar to words spoken by Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, just over a year later, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.
“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it.
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand. …”
“Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands.
“Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother.
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.
“I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
“Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon and the sure door to enter Heaven. This is the first part of the Message referring to Our Lady of Fatima, and the second part, which is briefer but no less important, refers to the Holy Father.”
“The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears”
Communism to Rule the World
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
Commies Coming to City Near You!
If you couldn’t spot the Communist clues before, you most certainly should be able to see them now―in the course of this worldwide Plannedemic. What is the general four-step plan that Communists usually follow? If you do not know, then here it is ― the four stages of subversion and domination honed by Stalin and his propaganda army are: (1) demoralization; (2) destabilization; (3) crisis; (4) normalization. These four stages are not a one-time thing, nor do they merely focus on one thing―these four stages are constantly running all throughout the world, like buses carrying their unsuspecting passengers into the jaws and control of Communists. The four stages can be applied to an individual, a family, a community, a parish, a school, a business, a city, a state and also a nation.
Back in 1970, Yuri Bezmenov, a Russian KGB agent trained in subversion techniques, defected to the West and came to the USA, eventually settling in Canada. In a 1985 interview he explained the 4 basic steps to socially engineering entire generations into thinking and behaving the way those in power want them to. What seemed shocking yet so alien to Americans back then, is now being played out in front of our very own eyes―for America has been transformed in the exact same way, and followed the exact same steps. You could say the same for most nations―since this worldwide Plannedemic could not be “pulled-off” the way it has been without Communist subversion playing the major, yet hidden, role.
Here, in the words of the ex-KGB agent trained in subversion techniques, is a brief overview of the subversive process. Yuri Bezmenov explains:
► DEMORALIZATION ― It takes from fifteen to twenty years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years which requires to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of the enemy. In other words Marxist-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students without being challenged or counter-balanced by the basic values of Americanism, American patriotism.
Most of the activity of the [KGB] Department was to compile huge amount, volume of information on individuals who were instrumental in creating public opinion, publishers, editors, journalists, actors, educationalists, professors of political science, members of Parliament, representatives of business circles. Most of these people were divided roughly in two groups, those that would toe the Soviet foreign policy. They would be promoted to the positions of power through media and public opinion manipulation. Those who refused the Soviet influence in their own country would be character assassinated or executed physically.
Same way, as in the small town of Hue, in South Vietnam, several thousands of Vietnamese were executed in one night when city was captured by Vietcong for only two days. And American CIA could never figure out, how could possibly Communists know each individual, where he lives, where, where to get him and would be arrested in one night, basically, arrested four hours before dawn, put on a van, taken out of the city limits and shot? The answer is very simple. Long before Communists occupied city there was extensive network of informers, local Vietnamese citizens who knew absolutely everything about people who are instrumental in public opinion, including barbers and taxi drivers. Everyone who was sympathetic to United States was executed. They were idealistically-minded Leftists, who made several visits to Russia, and yet the KGB decided that after a counter-revolution or drastic changes in political structure in India, they would have to go. They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. Because they know too much. Simply because the useful idiots, the Leftists, who are idealistically believing in the beauty of Soviet Socialism or Communism, or whatever system when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. Obviously, they will revolt. They will be very unhappy, frustrated people. A Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. They obviously will join the leagues of dissenters, dissidents. Unlike in present United States, there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America.
For example, your Leftists in the United States, all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defender, they are instrumental in the process of subversion, only to destabilize the nation. When the job is completed, they are nothing, they are not needed any more. They know too much. Some of them, when they see the Marxist-Leninists come to power, obviously, they get offended. They think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made a point, never bother with Leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. This was my instruction. Try to get into wide circulation, established conservative media. Reach the filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical, ego-centric people who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people. People who lack moral principles―who are either too greedy, or to suffer from self-importance, they feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.
The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already. For the last thirty-five years. Actually, it is over-fulfilled because demoralization reaches such areas where previously, not even Comrade Andropov [1911-1984] and all his experts would even dream of such a tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans, thanks to lack of moral standards. So, basically, you in America are stuck with demoralization. The results you can see. Most of the people who graduated in the sixties, dropouts, or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind―even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black. You cannot change the basic perception and illogical behavior. In other words, in these people, the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another twenty or fifteen years to educate a new generation of patriotically-minded and, and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
Nikita Khrushchev, who ran the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, was quite open in predicting the destruction of the United States and furthermore said it would happen in the way that every society eventually collapses — internally. “We will take America without firing a shot!” Khrushchev said, “We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within!”
► DESTABILIZATION ― Destabilization is aimed at economic calamities and in dividing the population against itself. This also involves attacking the faith in the very foundations of their country and creating a lack of faith in each other. This takes on many forms such snitching and neighbors turning in neighbors if they break the rules. This stage takes around 2 to 5 years. The second stage, Destabilization, is much faster, requiring only two to five years under KGB doctrine. In this stage, the fundamentals of the targeted population’s economy, political system, and culture would be attacked, while the demoralized population could not mount much of a defense.
Back in 1984, Bezmenov found it “absolutely fantastic” how much influence Marxist-Leninist ideas had developed in the American economy and military. In essence, a demoralized population becomes willing to believe the worst criticisms of its own society, while learning to see defenders of that society as their enemies, while avowed enemies become natural allies. The defenders are held to strict standards, while anything goes for the most strident critics.
A destabilized population becomes obsessed with hypocrisy as the ultimate political sin. They believe the best ideas – individual liberty, sovereign rights, capitalism, even the rule of law – are presented insincerely by sinister powers who seek to exploit and manipulate them. The precious resource of goodwill disappears from society as everyone comes to believe their neighbors hate them and cannot be trusted. Demoralized people lose faith in their nation, history, and ideals. Then, in the next step, destabilized people lose faith in each other.
► CRISIS ― The next stage is crisis. It does not take very long to bring a country to the verge of crisis. Once a society has been destabilized, Bezmenov said the time would be ripe to create a Crisis, which he estimated would take six to eight weeks. This is a major step and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event or multiple events upsets and divides the country―thereby creating panic among the already divided citizens (see Destablization above). To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly martial law. With turbo Internet speed, the modern era can punch out a crisis much faster than that. We have seen that to be true during the ongoing Plannedemic with all its many variants and vaccines.
A crisis has the obvious benefit of panicking the already demoralized, destabilized people into abandoning their legal protections and constitutional rights and ideals. During the Plannedemic panic, people who spoke of those legal protections and constitutional rights and ideals, were treated like lunatics. The pendulum swung the other way with blinding speed during the riots. In the span of one week, the right to peaceable assembly being painted as a crazed defiance of governmental common-sense lockdown rules, suddenly turned a blind-eye to lockdowns by allowing not so peaceful assemblies to riot at will ― for some secondary ‘urgent’ matter that totally ignored the preached need for lockdowns during the “deadly” plannedemic. Suddenly, angry political demonstration somehow magically cured the Coronavirus for a day, or made the projected wave of sickness and death into a purely secondary concern. If you wanted to work at the store so you could feed your family in late March, you were selfishly trying to “kill my Grandma to pad your bank account.” If you wanted to burn the store down in early June to protest white supremacy, nobody mentioned their imperiled grandmothers―you had a duty and right to riot and protest for whatever you felt you needed to protest about.
The more subtle side of a crisis is that it tends to de-legitimize aspects of the existing system that have already been softened up by the long process of demoralization and destabilization. Those who control the organs of public communication have the power to decide which aspects of the system are to be accused and indicted by the crisis. For example, the dominant media Left will go to great lengths to avoid painting the Coronavirus as an indictment of the flabby, blinkered, bureaucratic Big Government and it will not discuss the failures of left-wing mayors and governors. On the contrary, the pandemic was used to attack the competence of Republican governors who turned out to be entirely correct in their actions, as in Florida and Georgia. During the riots, the media is completely uninterested in discussing the incompetence of left-wing officials who allowed violence to rage out of control with deadly consequences. Somehow the lesson of wanton violence that killed people and destroyed countless livelihoods became “let’s get rid of the police altogether.” The threat of a crisis is essential for terrorizing the middle class into accepting a political agenda that is actively hostile to its interests, which leads to the fourth stage of subversion: the offer to make the pain and fear go away by accepting political domination.
► NORMALIZATION ― And after crisis, with a violent change in power, structure, and economy, you have the period of so-called normalization will last indefinitely. Normalization is a cynical expression borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Brezhnev said: “Now brother Czechoslovakia is normalized!” This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all these schmucks to promise all the goodies and paradise on Earth to destabilize your economy, to eliminate the principle of free market competition, and to put a big brother government in Washington, D.C. with benevolent dictators who will promise lots of things, never mind if they are fulfilled or not. He will go to Moscow to kiss the bottoms of the new generation of Soviet assassins. Never mind. He will create false illusions that the situation is under control. The situation is not under control. The situation is disgustingly out of control. Most politicians, media, and educational system frames another generation who think they are living at the peace time. False. The United States is in a state of war against the basic principles and the foundations of this system!
All we hear now is talk about the world never going back to what was normal before―in the future there will be a “new normal”, a “Great Reset”―which is nothing else but a new name for the “New World Order.” You could argue that we are right in the middle of crisis, or you could argue that the crisis has passed and the fourth stage―that of “Normalization” has started, which brings in the “new normal” after destroying the “old normal”. Or you could also argue that all four stages have been completed and that we are starting another cycle of Demoralization ― Destablization ― Crisis ― Normalization, which will take everything to another level, a more radical level, a more restrictive and more controlled level. This last argument is the most likely of all―since we have not yet at arrived at the ultimate “Normalization” ― which will be, as Our Lady foretold, the worldwide occupation and rule by Communists.
Sitting in the Cauldron
So here we are! Right in the middle of it! Sitting, like the proverbial frog, in the cauldron of hot water that is being slowly heated to boiling point! Are we sitting comfortably? Are you nicely relaxed? Want another donut, cookie, cake or ice-cream? Like another beer? Would you like to watch TV while you are stewing? Don’t worry! Don’t jump out! It’s all healthfully therapeutic―like a hot sauna! Just sit where you are! You do not have to do anything! It’s all okay! We are here to help you! To look after your health! It might get a little hot soon―but it’s good for your health! Don’t worry! We don’t want to kill you (just yet)!
Such is the propaganda that Yuri Bezmenov speaks of, which is gullibly lapped-up by what he calls “schmucks” and “softheads”. Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will wear diapers over their mouths! Perhaps that is a good thing after all―for some of things coming out of mouths these days are only fit for diaper! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” can be coerced into the current worldwide Plannedemic panic of dying from something that has been proved to have a 99.9% recovery rate. The vast majority who die from―ssshhh, you are not allowed to mention its name anymore―let us just say the vast majority who die from “IT” are over 80 years old and suffering with one or more comorbidities (additional diseases or illnesses). Only “schmucks” and “softheads” fail to realize―because they fail to do research―that the world death toll is more or less the same as it has always been! The exception being that people are no longer dying from the traditional big-killers like heart disease and cancer―those diseases seem to have been ‘miraculously’ cured―for everyone is now said to be dying from “IT”! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will let themselves be needled into taking the needle―when there is a 99.9% recovery rate without the need of a needle! Only “schmucks” and “softheads” will take a cure that is far more dangerous and fatal than the disease. What these Only “schmucks” and “softheads” need is to be injected with some common sense―which is no longer all that common, but a rare commodity. Now if the powers that be and Big Pharma would invest some of their trillions of dollars―which are just sitting in their bank accounts and getting moldy―into some worthwhile research that would REALLY benefit mankind―let us say, for example, developing a “common-sense serum”―then that would be worth a shot!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday August 31st & Wednesday September 1st
Article 1
Fools For Christ―Or Just Fools?
Tuesday August 31st & Wednesday September 1st
Article 1
Fools For Christ―Or Just Fools?
Everyone’s a Fool!
What is a fool? The noun, “a fool”, means “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense; a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding.” The verb, “to fool”, means “trick or deceive (someone); to dupe” or to be on the receiving end of the trick, as in “to be tricked, to be deceived, to be duped.”
Biblically, “foolishness” is more a moral issue rather than a mental issue. The fool is someone who is morally deficient. The biblical notion of foolishness includes insolence and rebelliousness. Another Hebrew term for foolishness refers to an obstinate person, who persists in making choices that lead to destruction. Our Lord told a parable about a wealthy farmer who was only concerned about piling up riches, saying to his soul: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest ― eat, drink, and be merry!” (Luke 12:19). What was God’s perspective? He said to the man: “Thou fool! This very night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20). A fool, or a foolish person, is only concerned about the present—and not about his eternal destiny!
Ever seen a fool? Ever known a fool? Ever been thought of as being a fool? Ever been called a fool? Ever acted or played the fool? You would be a fool to say “No!” ― because “the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). In a certain sense, there is no escaping being a fool ― the only thing that needs to be cleared up is “What kind of a fool am I?”
Have we ever acted unwisely? Have we ever been imprudent? Have we ever done something stupid? Have we shown a lack of common sense? Have we ever show bad judgment? Have we ever deceived or tricked anyone? Of course we have! Therefore we have been foolish―we have been fools! Some are rarely fools―some are fools more often than not―some are fools all of the time! As the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, used to say: “Wise men speak because they have something to say! Fools speak because they have to say something!” Or as Holy Scripture says: “In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride” (Proverbs 14:3). Further adding: “I wish you would hold your peace, that you might be thought to be wise men!” (Job 13:5) and “Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted as wise: and if he close his lips, shall be counted as a man of understanding!” (Proverbs 17:28) ― meaning, “If you say nothing, people might think you a wise person―but if you open your mouth, then they will find out that you are a fool!” Or as the following contemporary phrases put it: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt!” and “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt!” and “It is better to remain silent at the risk of being suspected of being thought to be a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it!” As Holy Scripture says: “For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
The Pinnacle of Foolishness
The biggest foolishness of all foolishness is…? What? The biggest foolishness of all is SIN! “He that deviseth to do evils, shall be called a fool!” (Proverbs 24:8). Sin―as the Church teaches―is the greatest evil in the world, regardless of whether it be mortal sin or venial sin: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). To act foolishly is sin, and to sin is to act foolishly. Sin is an attitude, or a thought, or an action, that goes against the “right reason” that God has placed in our soul and dishonors God by refusing to know, learn and follow His advice and commands. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that every act against right reason is a sin―at least a venial sin. “The wicked life of a wicked fool is worse than death” (Ecclesiasticus 22:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) ― hence the ultimate wage for foolishness is death.
Because for a short moment of pleasure, the foolish sinner will end up paying a price he foolishly ignored to think about―by burning either in Purgatory, or forever in Hell. Since everyone sins ― “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) ― everyone therefore is a fool! “The thought of a fool is sin” (Proverbs 24:9). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no, not one!” (Psalm 13:1). “O, how long will fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves?” (Proverbs 1:22). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Proverbs 1:32 says, ‘The prosperity of fools will destroy them!’ But no one is destroyed except by sin. Therefore, foolishness is a sin. Foolishness implies a certain dullness of sensibility in judging ― mainly with respect to the highest cause [God], which is the ultimate end and highest good. Now there are two ways in which a man can suffer from a dullness in judging: In the first way, from a natural indisposition, as is clear in the case of mindless individuals [who have no power to reason―either by birth defect or through injury]. And this sort of foolishness is not a sin. In the second way, insofar as a man immerses his sensibilities in earthly things, because of which he is rendered incapable of perceiving divine things—this according to 1 Corinthians 2:14: ‘The animalistic man does not perceive the things that belong to the spirit of God,’ in the same way that sweet things are not appetizing to a man whose sense of taste has been infected. And this sort of foolishness is a sin. Even though no individual desires foolishness, he does nevertheless wants and does things which result in his being foolish, viz., by drawing his senses away from spiritual things and immersing it in earthly things. The same thing happens in the case of other sins as well. For instance, the lustful individual wants the pleasure without which there is no sin—even though he does not want to sin absolutely speaking, because he only wants to enjoy the pleasure without the sin [but that is impossible―hence he is a fool].” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 46, art. 2).
Lack of Judgment and Prudence in Fools
You have to say―while keeping your fingers crossed and your Scapular on in the hope it doesn’t happen to you―that ending up in Hell is most stupid, foolish, reckless, insane thing that can be done by anybody! Yet most souls end up in Hell ― because “the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet, “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) ― for many are fools and few choose the path of wisdom.
The loss of so many foolish souls is a tragedy. “Weep for the fool, for his understanding fails” (Ecclesiasticus 22:10). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and no wisdom at all shall it hold” (Ecclesiasticus 21:17). “A wise man fears and declines from evil ― but the fool leaps over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16). “A fool receives not the words of prudence: unless you say those things which are in his heart” (Proverbs 18:2). As Our Lord says: “Everyone therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:24-27). Holy Scripture adds: “Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
A World of Fools
As was stated above―fools are only concerned about the present—and not about their spiritual life and their eternal destiny, which is the “only thing necessary” as Jesus says: “But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!” (Luke 10:42) ― when replying to the ever materially busy Martha, who was complaining about her sister Mary sitting at Our Lord’s feet and listening to His words, rather than helping Martha with all the chores. On this point, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes:
“The one thing necessary—which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary—consists in hearing the word of God and living by it. The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, more profound than artistic or literary life, more profound than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity, which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“Man is fundamentally egotistical ― his intimate conversation with himself is inspired by sensuality or pride. He converses with himself about the objects of his desires, of his envy. Finding therein sadness and death, he tries to flee from himself, to live outside of himself, to divert himself in order to forget the emptiness and the nothingness of his life. In this interior conversation of the egoist with himself, there is a certain very inferior self-knowledge and a no less inferior self-love. The egoist knows little about the spiritual part of his soul. Even if he believes in the spirituality of the soul and of the higher faculties, intellect and will, he does not live in this spiritual order. His thoughts almost always fall back on what is inferior in him, and though he often shows intelligence and cleverness which may even become craftiness and cunning; his intellect, instead of rising, always inclines toward what is inferior to it.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. St. Alphonsus Liguori, in ‘The Way of Salvation and of Perfection’, writes: ‘One thing is necessary! The salvation of our souls! It is not necessary to be great, noble, or rich in this world, or to enjoy uninterrupted health ― but it is necessary to save our souls! For this has God placed us here ― not to acquire honors, riches, or pleasures ― but to acquire, by our good works, that eternal kingdom which is prepared for those who, during this present life, fight against and overcome the enemies of their eternal salvation’ (The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, Part 1, Meditation 17). The interior life of a just man — who tends toward God and who already lives by Him — is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture, nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God.
“This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: ‘For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul’ (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? ‘Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’ (Mark 8:37) Our Lord adds. ‘One thing is necessary,’ He tells us. To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary ― to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.”
Vain Foolishness & Feign Foolishness
The foolishness described above is a “vain” foolishness―in the true sense of the word―for “vain” comes from the Latin “vanus” which means “empty”. After having lived a foolish life in the vain pursuit of worldly vanities, such foolish souls appear at the Final Judgment “empty” handed. They have nothing to show for their “empty” life―a life that was “empty” of God, spiritual “empty” while filled the materialism of worldliness. Such is vain foolishness.
Yet there is a counterpart to vain foolishness―and that is to feign foolishness. More precisely, it is to be a “fool for Christ” as expressed in Holy Scripture: “Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, in order that he may be wise! For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’ And again: ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain!’ Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21).
St. Paul and Fools For Christ
First-century Corinth was a haven for pride. People sought to increase their honor in the community by boasting of their accomplishments. Not surprisingly, the Corinthian Christians were caught up in this self-glorifying ethos, and began to boast of their spiritual attainments. This meant that they began to look down upon Paul, the founder of their church, because his life was so full of sacrifice, hardship, and deprivation.
St. Paul addresses them―with tongue in cheek and with irony or sarcasm: “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honorable, but we without honor! Even unto this hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode! We are reviled, and we bless! We are persecuted, and we suffer it! We are blasphemed, and we entreat! We are made as the refuse [garbage] of this world, the off-scouring of all ― even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13). A more modern translation reads: “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. When we are cursed, we bless! When we are persecuted, we endure it! When we are slandered, we answer kindly! We have become the scum of the Earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment!”
For most of us, St. Paul’s words are reminders to focus on God’s love, mercy and glory, and to put submission to His will ahead of the transient things of the world. But some devout followers have taken his advice further, and become what we call “Fools for Christ.” What are they, and how do they function? Are they really just pretending to be foolish, or are these people truly mentally ill?
Holy Fools or Just Fools?
Holy fools have existed for centuries, even before our Faith began. Some of the Old Testament prophets are considered as being forerunners of the Holy Fool. The prophet Isaias walked naked and barefoot for about three years, predicting a forthcoming captivity in Egypt (Isaias 20:2-3); the prophet Ezechiel lay before a stone, which symbolized beleaguered Jerusalem, and though God instructed him to eat bread baked on human waste, ultimately he asked to use cow dung instead (Ezechiel 4:9–15); the prophet Osee married a harlot to symbolize the infidelity of Israel before God. They performed these strange and unsavoury acts to highlight Israel’s infidelity to God, warning His people of what was in store for them if they didn’t repent and turn back to Him.
In ancient Greece, the “Cynics” were similar to our “Holy Fools”—they believed in a simple life and rejected the values of the day—riches, greed and immorality were their particular targets. Perhaps the most famous Cynic is Diogenes, who, among other things, carried a lit lamp around with him, searching, he said, for an honest man. He slept in a tub and is said to have eaten raw meat.
True Notion of Fools For Christ
In another passage, that echoes the above quoted one of St. Paul to the Corinthians, also addressed to the proud Corinthians, St. Paul writes: “Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, in order that he may be wise! For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’ And again: ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain!’ Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21).
The term “Fools for Christ” is derived from the writings of Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 4:10-13 see above). Desert Fathers and other saints acted the part of Holy Fools. Fools for Christ often employ shocking and unconventional behavior to challenge accepted norms, deliver prophecies, or to mask their piety. Such individuals have historically been known as both “holy fools” and “blessed fools”. The term “fool” connotes what is perceived as feeblemindedness, and “blessed” or “holy” refers to innocence in the eyes of God.
According to Christian ideas, “foolishness” included consistent rejection of worldly cares and imitating Christ, who endured mockery and humiliation from the crowd. The spiritual meaning of “foolishness” from the early ages of Christianity was close to unacceptance of common social rules of hypocrisy, brutality and thirst for power and gains. Foolishness for Christ also refers to behavior such as giving up all one’s worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting society’s conventions to serve a religious purpose—particularly of Christianity.
In our New Testament and post-New Testament Faith, Holy Fools often serve the same purpose as their Old Testament counterparts: that is, to warn a city, or a parish or a monastery about their failings and turning away from God. But their behavior often isn’t just that simple, and to be a Holy Fool is a difficult and dangerous calling. It requires someone to reject the values of the world, and sometimes, even to “seem” to reject the teachings of the Church. They lose the acceptance of others, and they act in ways that often convince people they are insane. It’s not unusual for holy fools to spend time locked up in madhouses and asylums, or to find themselves mocked, beaten, and thrown out of churches and monasteries. It’s not a way of life most people can tolerate or understand, either to do it or to be around it.
Some of the fools for Christ are in fact “faking it.” They act the way they do because they want to keep their humility and extreme piety a secret from everyone but their spiritual fathers. St. Isadora, of the Tabenna monastery, is one of the earliest examples of a fool for Christ who was more than likely faking mental illness. For the sake of humility, she wore a dishrag on her head, undertook the dirtiest and least rewarding jobs in the monastery, drank dirty dishwater and endured with meekness, humility, and silence the contempt and disdain of her sisters. Her cover was blown when a monk showed up one day at the monastery, demanding to see her and claiming God had shown her to him in a vision. Once they discovered how truly holy she was, she left the monastery and disappeared from history. St. Alexander of Constantinople is another example—he feigned madness with everyone―except his spiritual advisor and disciple―and suffered greatly because of it.
It’s unclear with other fools for Christ if they are in fact, sane, or if they are suffering from some form of mental illness, or a breakdown that enables them to draw closer to God and become living saints. St. Xenia of St. Petersburg is perhaps one such—she was so grief-stricken on the death of her husband, that she gave all her possessions away, wore his clothing, and adopted his name. She wandered the streets of St. Petersburg and spent the nights in a field outside of town. Was she mentally ill, or was she faking it to convince others, and distract them from her piety and humility? We will never know in this life, although it might be that she began her heroic foolishness out of a grief that unbalanced her. St. Feofil is another example, whose madness seemed at times calculated, as when he behaved badly in order to be released from an obedience he hated, and at times an illness, as when he kept his cell messy and full of dirt and food, or he blew his nose on the altar cloths and stood with his back to the altar.
There are undoubtedly others who have never come to light, simply because they were so good at feigning madness, or who were truly ill, that they were locked away and are known only to God. But they are a necessary and vital part of the Church, both to show us our faults as individuals and as the Body of Christ, and to demonstrate an amazing humility, patience, devotion, and piety to us.
Catholic Fools for Christ
► ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI ― is well-known and well-loved as a little poor man from Assisi. called Francis. Of course, his Christian popularity is only because of how Christ-like St. Francis was. While Christ is called the Man of Sorrows, Francis is called the man of joys. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, but St. Francis sang over Assisi. Our Lord is the King of Kings, and Francis is a happy jester―happy indeed, for he knew his merriment was pleasing to God, and so he was content to somersault instead of walk, reversing all the wisdoms of the world, so long as it made the good God glad. St. Francis was the Lord’s tumbler. The mirth of Heaven has ever been a hidden thing, but Francis rejoiced in the smile of God wherever he went. He was the Jongleur de Dieu ― a juggler, jester and joker of God ― happy, for the sake of Christ, to make a fool of himself.
Francis’ life began with a twist and a joke. His mother, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant, ordered her servants to carry her to the barn to give birth to the future St. Francis, that her son may come into the world as the Savior had. No sooner said than done. Giovanni (Francis’ original name) was born in a pantomime of Bethlehem re-enacted in Assisi―with Francis cast in the role of Jess. But the pious name, Giovanni, was short-lived, because his father, shortly thereafter, renamed the boy Francis in honor of his French business connections. Even though he had be cast in the role of Jesus in his birth, the future austerity that Francis became famous for, was definitely not the dominant characteristic of his youth! Far from it! As a young man, Francis was spoiled, worldly, energetic, dashing, flamboyant, and a prodigal.
Nevertheless, deep down in his heart, the seed of his future lifestyle was beginning to grow. A story is told how Francis, struck with a strange inspiration, spied a beggar while selling his father’s velvet and, loading his arms with precious cloth, ran after the poor man to make him a rich man, earning wonderment from the beggar, ridicule from his friends’, and a stern rebuke from his father.
As the high-stepping period of his life faltered, the world suddenly lost its allure, and instead become something stale. It was then that Francis the Troubadour became knight to an unusual damsel―Lady Poverty. Embracing his new lover, the troubadour turned tramp and went on pilgrimage to Rome. Upon his return, having lived among the raggle-taggle gypsies of Rome, he prayed before a crucifix in the ruins of the church San Damiano. “Francis,” called a voice, “seest thou not that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me.” With that dancing vision of childlike delight, Francis excitedly bore off another a bale of his father’s cloth, sold it together with his horse into the bargain, and offered the money to the priest at San Damiano to repair the church. When the priest turned him away with his foolish money, Francis’ father overtook him in a rage and dragged him before the bishop, demanding that his madcap son be forced to return to his father’s business. “I call no one father,” spoke the clown, “but God.” Renouncing the world in public, he kicked off his fancy clothes right in front of the bishop and marched off, naked, singing like a minstrel. Francis sallied forth with his soldier spirit to do everything God wanted of him with nothing, in a merry imitation of Christ.
Soon Francis gathered followers around him. He went from village to village preaching a new way of following the Gospel and even was found preaching to the animals. This earned him the nickname “God’s fool.” Francis once said to a cardinal who was overseeing a gathering of the friars: “I do not want to hear any mention of the rule of St. Augustine, of St. Bernard, or of St. Benedict. The Lord has told me that he wanted to make a new fool of me!” He was not so much rejecting these earlier rules by those saints, as claiming his authority to make something new, something that may seem foolish to the ways of the world. In chapter 9 of his First Rule, Francis wrote of his monks: “They should be glad to live among social outcasts.” This is reminiscent of a saying by the desert father Abba Nilus: “Happy is the monk who thinks he is the outcast of all!” The outcast is the one who doesn’t fit neatly into mainstream society―which, if you honestly think about it, should be how we should be. To be an outcast means that we don’t align ourselves with the dominant way of thinking. Francis was a man who loved living life on the “edges” of things. Rejecting power, prestige, and wealth, he found freedom and joy in the simplicity of his path. Walking away from security he found new purpose.
► ST. PHILIP NERI ― Much like St. Francis, St. Philip Neri, was born into a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. Philip was on track to go into business. However, he chose a different path. He moved from Florence to Rome and devoted his life to God. He then thought about going becoming a priest―but after a few years in the seminary he decided that wasn’t for him, so he left. He devoted the next thirteen years living out his vocation as a layperson, deeply engaged in prayer and being among the sick and the poor in the streets of Rome. He would visit hospitals and try to build up the morale by laughing and telling jokes. Ultimately he was encouraged by one of his contemporaries and friends, none other than the great St. Ignatius of Loyola, to gradually pursue Holy Orders.
One day, while praying in the catacombs in Rome, Philip was thrown to the floor and a ball of fire entered his mouth and lodged in his chest. On his left side there appeared a swelling about the size of his fist. It is said that his heart became so inflamed with the love of God that it broke the ribs encasing it. As one biographer writes, “it was partially on account of this that for the rest of his life he engaged in ludicrous pranks, read joke books, and played ‘the clown’ in general,” so as to deflect the admiration and praise of him by others and to downplay his reputation for sanctity―because everyone in Rome looked upon him as being a living saint. To try and stop this adulation, Philip would do things like walk around in large oversized white shoes, dress in bizarre costumes, wear his clothes inside out, and when invited to the house of one of his penitents, a rich Roman lady who had invited him to meet her worldly relatives, he arrived with half his otherwise full white beard shaved off. He would joke with and mock the Roman cardinals and even Pope Gregory VII, and desperately tried to avoid getting the red cardinal’s hat himself.
When some scholarly Bishop, not given to jesting, attended his Mass, Philip would deliberately committed every possible error in the pronunciation of the words of the Mass. Why did he sometimes wear a red jersey or a fur coat over his cassock? He would walk through the streets carrying a bouquet of flowers in his hand. At other times he carried a pack of brooms and stopped every once in awhile and smelled them, as though they were scented flowers.
On another occasion he unexpectedly performed a burlesque dance before an audience of Cardinals, while chanting comical verses which he made up as he went along. He would often wear a fur cloak through the streets of Rome to make people think he was vain.
For people who came to him asking for miraculous cures, he would give them a small sachet which they were to place on the affected part, on the condition that they must on no account open it. As soon as Philip died the recipients of the sachets could restrain their curiosity no longer. On opening up their sachets they found that they contained nothing more than a cheap holy medal!
Russian Fools for Christ
The Holy Fool or yuródivyy is the Russian version of foolishness for Christ, a peculiar form of Eastern Orthodox asceticism. The yurodivy is a Holy Fool, one who acts intentionally foolish in the eyes of men. The term implies behavior which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative. In his book, Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond, Ivanov described “holy fool” as a term for a person who “feigns insanity, pretends to be silly, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness.” He explained that such conduct qualifies as holy foolery only if the audience believes that the individual is sane, moral, and pious. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise.
Some characteristics that were commonly seen in holy fools were going around half-naked, being homeless, speaking in riddles, being believed to be clairvoyant and a prophet, and occasionally being disruptive and challenging to the point of ‘seeming’ immoral―though always to make a point.
Fools for Christ, even though they may have been canonized as Saints, are often given the title of “Blessed”, which does not necessarily mean that the individual is less than a saint, but rather points to the blessings from God that they are believed to have acquired. The Eastern Orthodox Church records Isidora Barankis of Egypt (died 369) among the first Holy Fools. However, the term was not popularized until the coming of Simeon of Emesa, who is considered to be a patron saint of holy fools.
The practice of living as “Holy Fools” was recognized in the hagiography of fifth-century Byzantium, and it was extensively adopted in Muscovite Russia, probably in the 14th century. The madness of the Holy Fool was ambiguous, and could be real or pretended. He (or she) was believed to have been divinely inspired, and was therefore able to say truths which others could not, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables. He had a particular status in regard to the Tsars, as a figure not subject to earthly control or judgment.
The Russian Orthodox Church numbers 36 Holy Fools among its saints, starting from St. Procopius of Ustyug. The first reported Fool-for-Christ in Russia was St. Procopius, who came from the lands of the Holy Roman Empire to Novgorod, then moved to Ustyug, pretending to be a fool and leading an ascetic way of life, slept naked on church-porches, prayed throughout the whole night, received food only from poor people. He was abused and beaten, but finally won respect and became venerated after his death.
► ST. SIMEON OF EMESA, THE HOLY FOOL ― Simeon the Holy Fool was a Christian monk, hermit and saint of Byzantine-Syrian origin, who lived in the sixth century AD. He is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church as one of the first “fools for Christ”. Reportedly born in Edessa, Simeon lived there, unmarried, with his old mother. At the age of 20 years Simeon took monastic vows in the monastery of Abba Gerasimus in Syria, along with his friend and fellow ascetic John from Edessa. After that Simeon and John spent about 29 years in the desert near the Dead Sea practicing asceticism and spiritual exercises. Later Simeon was urged, by inspiration of God, to move to Emesa to perform social and charitable services. Reportedly the saint asked the Lord to permit him to serve people in such a way that they should not acknowledge him. At Emesa, through simulating madness and upsetting conventional rules, he was able to bring many citizens to repentance, save many souls from sin and convert them to Christianity.
Simeon entered the gate of Emesa dragging a dead dog. Schoolchildren saw him and shouted: “Hey, a crazy abba...!” The next day, a Sunday, he entered the church, extinguished the lights and threw nuts at women. On the way out of the church, Simeon overturned the tables of the pastry chefs. Such playing the fool made him subject to insults, abuse and beatings, which Simeon endured with patience. In spite of his seemingly strange behavior, Simeon the Holy Fool healed many possessed people by his prayer, fed the hungry, preached the Gospel, and helped needy citizens of the town. Many of Simeon’s saintly deeds were done secretly.
His ministry also included trying to save a man whose eyes suffered from leucoma. Jesus had previously used saliva and clay to cure a man of blindness, and when the man with eye disease approached Simeon, he anointed the man’s eyes with mustard, burning him and aggravating the condition to the extent that he reportedly went blind. Later the eyes were healed by the advice of Simeon, who used such way to explain the man’s sins and bring him to correction.
Symeon played all sorts of foolish roles, but language is not sufficient to paint a picture of his doings. For sometimes he pretended to have a limp, sometimes he jumped around, sometimes he dragged himself along the ground on his buttocks, sometimes he stuck out his foot for someone running and tripped him. Other times when there was a new moon, he looked at the sky and fell down and thrashed about.
The life of Simeon the Holy Fool was described by Leontios of Neapolis, who symbolically compared his life to that of Jesus, whom the saint tried to imitate in his own way. According to Leontios: “While the saint was there, in Emesa, he cried out against many because of the Holy Spirit and reproached thieves and fornicators. Some he faulted, crying that they had not taken communion often, and others he reproached for perjury, so that through his inventiveness he nearly put an end to sinning in the whole city.”
The only person in Emesa with whom Simeon did not play a fool was deacon of the church in Emesa, his friend John. One time Simeon saved John from execution when he was falsely convicted. Shortly before his death Simeon, by the illustration of Leontios of Neapolis said to John: “I beg you, never disregard a single soul, especially when it happens to be a monk or a beggar. For Your Charity knows that His place is among the beggars, especially among the blind, people made as pure as the sun through their patience and distress ... Show love of your neighbor through almsgiving. For this virtue, above all, will help us on the Day of Judgment.”
The saint died about 570 AD and was buried by the city poor in a place where the homeless and strangers were buried. While the body of Saint Simeon was carried, several people heard a wondrous church choir. Only after his death did the secret of his imitative foolishness come to light. Some inhabitants remembered his acts of kindness and reportedly strange and powerful miracles.
► ST. ANDREW OF CONSTANTINOPLE ― Blessed Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was a 10th century fool-for-Christ, famed for his vision of the Protection of the Mother of God. He was born a Scythian and came to live in Constantinople as a slave of Theognostus, a “first sword-bearer” (an honorific title) to Emperor Leo VI the Great. He was also the spiritual child of Nicephorus, a priest at St. Sophia during that time. Blessed Andrew loved God’s Church and the Holy Scriptures, and he had a strong desire to devote himself totally to God. He took upon himself a very difficult and unusual ascetic feat of fool-for-Christ; that is, he acted as if he were insane.
Seeming to be insane, Andrew was brought to the Church of St. Anastasia for his care. There St. Anastasia appeared to him in a dream and encouraged him to continue his ascetic feat. He was driven off the church property because of his faked madness and had to live on the streets of the capital city, hungry and half-naked. For many years the saint endured mockery, insults, and beatings. He begged for alms and gave them away to the poor. The beggars to whom he gave his last coins despised him, but Andrew endured all his sufferings humbly and prayed for those who hurt him.
St. Andrew’s holy wisdom and extraordinary spiritual beauty were revealed when he removed his mask of folly. This occurred when talking to his spiritual father, a priest at the church of St. Sophia, or to his disciple, Epiphanius.
For his meekness and self-control, the saint received from the Lord the gifts of prophecy and wisdom, saving many from spiritual perils. Like the apostle Paul, he was taken to the third heaven and had the honor of seeing Lord Jesus Christ himself, angels and many holy saints, yet he was surprised not to see the Most Holy Virgin. While praying at the Blachernae church, it was St. Andrew who, with his disciple, the Blessed Epiphanius, saw the Most Holy Mother of God, holding her veil over those praying under her Protection. The synaxarion states that upon seeing this vision, St. Andrew turned to his companion and asked: “Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos [Mother of God], praying for all the world?” Epiphanius answered: “I do see, holy Father, and I am in awe!”
Blessed Andrew died in the year 936 at the age of 66.
► ST. BASIL FOOL FOR CHRIST ― St. Basil the Blessed, Wonderworker of Moscow, was born in 1468 outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil’s apprenticeship, the master happened to witness a remarkable occurrence, which showed him that his student was no ordinary man. A certain merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and then went to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. Blessed Basil wept and said: “I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them!” When the perplexed master questioned his apprentice he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.
When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began the difficult exploit of foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the winter’s harsh frost, he walked about barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange: here he would overturn a stand with kalachi (fruit pastries), and there he would spill a jug with kvas (a Russian beer). Angry merchants throttled the blessed one, but he endured the beatings with joy and he thanked God for them. Then it was discovered that the kalachi were poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St. Basil quickly grew, and people saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.
A certain merchant wanted to build a stone church on Pokrovna in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. “Find there John the Cripple,” he said, “he will advise you how to construct the church!” Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. “Whom do you rock?” asked the merchant. “I weep for my beloved mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing.” Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house. Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.
Preaching mercy, the blessed one helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who was left without anything at all. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing. The saint harshly condemned those who gave alms for selfish reasons, not out of compassion for the poor and destitute, but hoping for an easy way to attract God’s blessings upon their affairs. Once, the saint saw a devil in the guise of a beggar. He sat at the gates of the All-Pure Virgin’s church, and he gave speedy help in their affairs to everyone who gave alms. The saint exposed the wicked trick and drove the devil away.
For the salvation of his neighbor, St. Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see a grain of goodness, even in people very much gone to ruin, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness. Many observed that when the saint passed by a house in which they made merry and drank, he wept and clutched the corners of that house. They inquired of the fool what this meant, and he answered: “Angels stand in sorrow at the house and are distressed by the sins of the people, but I entreat them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.”
Purified by great deeds and by the prayer of his soul, the saint was also given the gift of foreseeing the future. In 1547 he predicted the great fire of Moscow; through prayer he extinguished a fire at Novgorod; and once he reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, because during the divine services he was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace on the Vorobiev hills.
St. Basil died on August 2nd, 1557. St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow served the saint’s funeral with many clergy. His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, the Protection cathedral was built in memory of the conquest of Kazan. St. Basil the Blessed was canonized in 1588.
What is a fool? The noun, “a fool”, means “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense; a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding.” The verb, “to fool”, means “trick or deceive (someone); to dupe” or to be on the receiving end of the trick, as in “to be tricked, to be deceived, to be duped.”
Biblically, “foolishness” is more a moral issue rather than a mental issue. The fool is someone who is morally deficient. The biblical notion of foolishness includes insolence and rebelliousness. Another Hebrew term for foolishness refers to an obstinate person, who persists in making choices that lead to destruction. Our Lord told a parable about a wealthy farmer who was only concerned about piling up riches, saying to his soul: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest ― eat, drink, and be merry!” (Luke 12:19). What was God’s perspective? He said to the man: “Thou fool! This very night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20). A fool, or a foolish person, is only concerned about the present—and not about his eternal destiny!
Ever seen a fool? Ever known a fool? Ever been thought of as being a fool? Ever been called a fool? Ever acted or played the fool? You would be a fool to say “No!” ― because “the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). In a certain sense, there is no escaping being a fool ― the only thing that needs to be cleared up is “What kind of a fool am I?”
Have we ever acted unwisely? Have we ever been imprudent? Have we ever done something stupid? Have we shown a lack of common sense? Have we ever show bad judgment? Have we ever deceived or tricked anyone? Of course we have! Therefore we have been foolish―we have been fools! Some are rarely fools―some are fools more often than not―some are fools all of the time! As the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, used to say: “Wise men speak because they have something to say! Fools speak because they have to say something!” Or as Holy Scripture says: “In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride” (Proverbs 14:3). Further adding: “I wish you would hold your peace, that you might be thought to be wise men!” (Job 13:5) and “Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted as wise: and if he close his lips, shall be counted as a man of understanding!” (Proverbs 17:28) ― meaning, “If you say nothing, people might think you a wise person―but if you open your mouth, then they will find out that you are a fool!” Or as the following contemporary phrases put it: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt!” and “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt!” and “It is better to remain silent at the risk of being suspected of being thought to be a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it!” As Holy Scripture says: “For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
The Pinnacle of Foolishness
The biggest foolishness of all foolishness is…? What? The biggest foolishness of all is SIN! “He that deviseth to do evils, shall be called a fool!” (Proverbs 24:8). Sin―as the Church teaches―is the greatest evil in the world, regardless of whether it be mortal sin or venial sin: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). To act foolishly is sin, and to sin is to act foolishly. Sin is an attitude, or a thought, or an action, that goes against the “right reason” that God has placed in our soul and dishonors God by refusing to know, learn and follow His advice and commands. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that every act against right reason is a sin―at least a venial sin. “The wicked life of a wicked fool is worse than death” (Ecclesiasticus 22:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) ― hence the ultimate wage for foolishness is death.
Because for a short moment of pleasure, the foolish sinner will end up paying a price he foolishly ignored to think about―by burning either in Purgatory, or forever in Hell. Since everyone sins ― “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23) ― everyone therefore is a fool! “The thought of a fool is sin” (Proverbs 24:9). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no, not one!” (Psalm 13:1). “O, how long will fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves?” (Proverbs 1:22). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Proverbs 1:32 says, ‘The prosperity of fools will destroy them!’ But no one is destroyed except by sin. Therefore, foolishness is a sin. Foolishness implies a certain dullness of sensibility in judging ― mainly with respect to the highest cause [God], which is the ultimate end and highest good. Now there are two ways in which a man can suffer from a dullness in judging: In the first way, from a natural indisposition, as is clear in the case of mindless individuals [who have no power to reason―either by birth defect or through injury]. And this sort of foolishness is not a sin. In the second way, insofar as a man immerses his sensibilities in earthly things, because of which he is rendered incapable of perceiving divine things—this according to 1 Corinthians 2:14: ‘The animalistic man does not perceive the things that belong to the spirit of God,’ in the same way that sweet things are not appetizing to a man whose sense of taste has been infected. And this sort of foolishness is a sin. Even though no individual desires foolishness, he does nevertheless wants and does things which result in his being foolish, viz., by drawing his senses away from spiritual things and immersing it in earthly things. The same thing happens in the case of other sins as well. For instance, the lustful individual wants the pleasure without which there is no sin—even though he does not want to sin absolutely speaking, because he only wants to enjoy the pleasure without the sin [but that is impossible―hence he is a fool].” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 46, art. 2).
Lack of Judgment and Prudence in Fools
You have to say―while keeping your fingers crossed and your Scapular on in the hope it doesn’t happen to you―that ending up in Hell is most stupid, foolish, reckless, insane thing that can be done by anybody! Yet most souls end up in Hell ― because “the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet, “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) ― for many are fools and few choose the path of wisdom.
The loss of so many foolish souls is a tragedy. “Weep for the fool, for his understanding fails” (Ecclesiasticus 22:10). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and no wisdom at all shall it hold” (Ecclesiasticus 21:17). “A wise man fears and declines from evil ― but the fool leaps over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16). “A fool receives not the words of prudence: unless you say those things which are in his heart” (Proverbs 18:2). As Our Lord says: “Everyone therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:24-27). Holy Scripture adds: “Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
A World of Fools
As was stated above―fools are only concerned about the present—and not about their spiritual life and their eternal destiny, which is the “only thing necessary” as Jesus says: “But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!” (Luke 10:42) ― when replying to the ever materially busy Martha, who was complaining about her sister Mary sitting at Our Lord’s feet and listening to His words, rather than helping Martha with all the chores. On this point, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes:
“The one thing necessary—which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary—consists in hearing the word of God and living by it. The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, more profound than artistic or literary life, more profound than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity, which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“Man is fundamentally egotistical ― his intimate conversation with himself is inspired by sensuality or pride. He converses with himself about the objects of his desires, of his envy. Finding therein sadness and death, he tries to flee from himself, to live outside of himself, to divert himself in order to forget the emptiness and the nothingness of his life. In this interior conversation of the egoist with himself, there is a certain very inferior self-knowledge and a no less inferior self-love. The egoist knows little about the spiritual part of his soul. Even if he believes in the spirituality of the soul and of the higher faculties, intellect and will, he does not live in this spiritual order. His thoughts almost always fall back on what is inferior in him, and though he often shows intelligence and cleverness which may even become craftiness and cunning; his intellect, instead of rising, always inclines toward what is inferior to it.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. St. Alphonsus Liguori, in ‘The Way of Salvation and of Perfection’, writes: ‘One thing is necessary! The salvation of our souls! It is not necessary to be great, noble, or rich in this world, or to enjoy uninterrupted health ― but it is necessary to save our souls! For this has God placed us here ― not to acquire honors, riches, or pleasures ― but to acquire, by our good works, that eternal kingdom which is prepared for those who, during this present life, fight against and overcome the enemies of their eternal salvation’ (The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, Part 1, Meditation 17). The interior life of a just man — who tends toward God and who already lives by Him — is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture, nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God.
“This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: ‘For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul’ (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? ‘Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’ (Mark 8:37) Our Lord adds. ‘One thing is necessary,’ He tells us. To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary ― to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.”
Vain Foolishness & Feign Foolishness
The foolishness described above is a “vain” foolishness―in the true sense of the word―for “vain” comes from the Latin “vanus” which means “empty”. After having lived a foolish life in the vain pursuit of worldly vanities, such foolish souls appear at the Final Judgment “empty” handed. They have nothing to show for their “empty” life―a life that was “empty” of God, spiritual “empty” while filled the materialism of worldliness. Such is vain foolishness.
Yet there is a counterpart to vain foolishness―and that is to feign foolishness. More precisely, it is to be a “fool for Christ” as expressed in Holy Scripture: “Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, in order that he may be wise! For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’ And again: ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain!’ Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21).
St. Paul and Fools For Christ
First-century Corinth was a haven for pride. People sought to increase their honor in the community by boasting of their accomplishments. Not surprisingly, the Corinthian Christians were caught up in this self-glorifying ethos, and began to boast of their spiritual attainments. This meant that they began to look down upon Paul, the founder of their church, because his life was so full of sacrifice, hardship, and deprivation.
St. Paul addresses them―with tongue in cheek and with irony or sarcasm: “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honorable, but we without honor! Even unto this hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode! We are reviled, and we bless! We are persecuted, and we suffer it! We are blasphemed, and we entreat! We are made as the refuse [garbage] of this world, the off-scouring of all ― even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13). A more modern translation reads: “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. When we are cursed, we bless! When we are persecuted, we endure it! When we are slandered, we answer kindly! We have become the scum of the Earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment!”
For most of us, St. Paul’s words are reminders to focus on God’s love, mercy and glory, and to put submission to His will ahead of the transient things of the world. But some devout followers have taken his advice further, and become what we call “Fools for Christ.” What are they, and how do they function? Are they really just pretending to be foolish, or are these people truly mentally ill?
Holy Fools or Just Fools?
Holy fools have existed for centuries, even before our Faith began. Some of the Old Testament prophets are considered as being forerunners of the Holy Fool. The prophet Isaias walked naked and barefoot for about three years, predicting a forthcoming captivity in Egypt (Isaias 20:2-3); the prophet Ezechiel lay before a stone, which symbolized beleaguered Jerusalem, and though God instructed him to eat bread baked on human waste, ultimately he asked to use cow dung instead (Ezechiel 4:9–15); the prophet Osee married a harlot to symbolize the infidelity of Israel before God. They performed these strange and unsavoury acts to highlight Israel’s infidelity to God, warning His people of what was in store for them if they didn’t repent and turn back to Him.
In ancient Greece, the “Cynics” were similar to our “Holy Fools”—they believed in a simple life and rejected the values of the day—riches, greed and immorality were their particular targets. Perhaps the most famous Cynic is Diogenes, who, among other things, carried a lit lamp around with him, searching, he said, for an honest man. He slept in a tub and is said to have eaten raw meat.
True Notion of Fools For Christ
In another passage, that echoes the above quoted one of St. Paul to the Corinthians, also addressed to the proud Corinthians, St. Paul writes: “Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, in order that he may be wise! For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’ And again: ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain!’ Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21).
The term “Fools for Christ” is derived from the writings of Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 4:10-13 see above). Desert Fathers and other saints acted the part of Holy Fools. Fools for Christ often employ shocking and unconventional behavior to challenge accepted norms, deliver prophecies, or to mask their piety. Such individuals have historically been known as both “holy fools” and “blessed fools”. The term “fool” connotes what is perceived as feeblemindedness, and “blessed” or “holy” refers to innocence in the eyes of God.
According to Christian ideas, “foolishness” included consistent rejection of worldly cares and imitating Christ, who endured mockery and humiliation from the crowd. The spiritual meaning of “foolishness” from the early ages of Christianity was close to unacceptance of common social rules of hypocrisy, brutality and thirst for power and gains. Foolishness for Christ also refers to behavior such as giving up all one’s worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting society’s conventions to serve a religious purpose—particularly of Christianity.
In our New Testament and post-New Testament Faith, Holy Fools often serve the same purpose as their Old Testament counterparts: that is, to warn a city, or a parish or a monastery about their failings and turning away from God. But their behavior often isn’t just that simple, and to be a Holy Fool is a difficult and dangerous calling. It requires someone to reject the values of the world, and sometimes, even to “seem” to reject the teachings of the Church. They lose the acceptance of others, and they act in ways that often convince people they are insane. It’s not unusual for holy fools to spend time locked up in madhouses and asylums, or to find themselves mocked, beaten, and thrown out of churches and monasteries. It’s not a way of life most people can tolerate or understand, either to do it or to be around it.
Some of the fools for Christ are in fact “faking it.” They act the way they do because they want to keep their humility and extreme piety a secret from everyone but their spiritual fathers. St. Isadora, of the Tabenna monastery, is one of the earliest examples of a fool for Christ who was more than likely faking mental illness. For the sake of humility, she wore a dishrag on her head, undertook the dirtiest and least rewarding jobs in the monastery, drank dirty dishwater and endured with meekness, humility, and silence the contempt and disdain of her sisters. Her cover was blown when a monk showed up one day at the monastery, demanding to see her and claiming God had shown her to him in a vision. Once they discovered how truly holy she was, she left the monastery and disappeared from history. St. Alexander of Constantinople is another example—he feigned madness with everyone―except his spiritual advisor and disciple―and suffered greatly because of it.
It’s unclear with other fools for Christ if they are in fact, sane, or if they are suffering from some form of mental illness, or a breakdown that enables them to draw closer to God and become living saints. St. Xenia of St. Petersburg is perhaps one such—she was so grief-stricken on the death of her husband, that she gave all her possessions away, wore his clothing, and adopted his name. She wandered the streets of St. Petersburg and spent the nights in a field outside of town. Was she mentally ill, or was she faking it to convince others, and distract them from her piety and humility? We will never know in this life, although it might be that she began her heroic foolishness out of a grief that unbalanced her. St. Feofil is another example, whose madness seemed at times calculated, as when he behaved badly in order to be released from an obedience he hated, and at times an illness, as when he kept his cell messy and full of dirt and food, or he blew his nose on the altar cloths and stood with his back to the altar.
There are undoubtedly others who have never come to light, simply because they were so good at feigning madness, or who were truly ill, that they were locked away and are known only to God. But they are a necessary and vital part of the Church, both to show us our faults as individuals and as the Body of Christ, and to demonstrate an amazing humility, patience, devotion, and piety to us.
Catholic Fools for Christ
► ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI ― is well-known and well-loved as a little poor man from Assisi. called Francis. Of course, his Christian popularity is only because of how Christ-like St. Francis was. While Christ is called the Man of Sorrows, Francis is called the man of joys. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, but St. Francis sang over Assisi. Our Lord is the King of Kings, and Francis is a happy jester―happy indeed, for he knew his merriment was pleasing to God, and so he was content to somersault instead of walk, reversing all the wisdoms of the world, so long as it made the good God glad. St. Francis was the Lord’s tumbler. The mirth of Heaven has ever been a hidden thing, but Francis rejoiced in the smile of God wherever he went. He was the Jongleur de Dieu ― a juggler, jester and joker of God ― happy, for the sake of Christ, to make a fool of himself.
Francis’ life began with a twist and a joke. His mother, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant, ordered her servants to carry her to the barn to give birth to the future St. Francis, that her son may come into the world as the Savior had. No sooner said than done. Giovanni (Francis’ original name) was born in a pantomime of Bethlehem re-enacted in Assisi―with Francis cast in the role of Jess. But the pious name, Giovanni, was short-lived, because his father, shortly thereafter, renamed the boy Francis in honor of his French business connections. Even though he had be cast in the role of Jesus in his birth, the future austerity that Francis became famous for, was definitely not the dominant characteristic of his youth! Far from it! As a young man, Francis was spoiled, worldly, energetic, dashing, flamboyant, and a prodigal.
Nevertheless, deep down in his heart, the seed of his future lifestyle was beginning to grow. A story is told how Francis, struck with a strange inspiration, spied a beggar while selling his father’s velvet and, loading his arms with precious cloth, ran after the poor man to make him a rich man, earning wonderment from the beggar, ridicule from his friends’, and a stern rebuke from his father.
As the high-stepping period of his life faltered, the world suddenly lost its allure, and instead become something stale. It was then that Francis the Troubadour became knight to an unusual damsel―Lady Poverty. Embracing his new lover, the troubadour turned tramp and went on pilgrimage to Rome. Upon his return, having lived among the raggle-taggle gypsies of Rome, he prayed before a crucifix in the ruins of the church San Damiano. “Francis,” called a voice, “seest thou not that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me.” With that dancing vision of childlike delight, Francis excitedly bore off another a bale of his father’s cloth, sold it together with his horse into the bargain, and offered the money to the priest at San Damiano to repair the church. When the priest turned him away with his foolish money, Francis’ father overtook him in a rage and dragged him before the bishop, demanding that his madcap son be forced to return to his father’s business. “I call no one father,” spoke the clown, “but God.” Renouncing the world in public, he kicked off his fancy clothes right in front of the bishop and marched off, naked, singing like a minstrel. Francis sallied forth with his soldier spirit to do everything God wanted of him with nothing, in a merry imitation of Christ.
Soon Francis gathered followers around him. He went from village to village preaching a new way of following the Gospel and even was found preaching to the animals. This earned him the nickname “God’s fool.” Francis once said to a cardinal who was overseeing a gathering of the friars: “I do not want to hear any mention of the rule of St. Augustine, of St. Bernard, or of St. Benedict. The Lord has told me that he wanted to make a new fool of me!” He was not so much rejecting these earlier rules by those saints, as claiming his authority to make something new, something that may seem foolish to the ways of the world. In chapter 9 of his First Rule, Francis wrote of his monks: “They should be glad to live among social outcasts.” This is reminiscent of a saying by the desert father Abba Nilus: “Happy is the monk who thinks he is the outcast of all!” The outcast is the one who doesn’t fit neatly into mainstream society―which, if you honestly think about it, should be how we should be. To be an outcast means that we don’t align ourselves with the dominant way of thinking. Francis was a man who loved living life on the “edges” of things. Rejecting power, prestige, and wealth, he found freedom and joy in the simplicity of his path. Walking away from security he found new purpose.
► ST. PHILIP NERI ― Much like St. Francis, St. Philip Neri, was born into a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. Philip was on track to go into business. However, he chose a different path. He moved from Florence to Rome and devoted his life to God. He then thought about going becoming a priest―but after a few years in the seminary he decided that wasn’t for him, so he left. He devoted the next thirteen years living out his vocation as a layperson, deeply engaged in prayer and being among the sick and the poor in the streets of Rome. He would visit hospitals and try to build up the morale by laughing and telling jokes. Ultimately he was encouraged by one of his contemporaries and friends, none other than the great St. Ignatius of Loyola, to gradually pursue Holy Orders.
One day, while praying in the catacombs in Rome, Philip was thrown to the floor and a ball of fire entered his mouth and lodged in his chest. On his left side there appeared a swelling about the size of his fist. It is said that his heart became so inflamed with the love of God that it broke the ribs encasing it. As one biographer writes, “it was partially on account of this that for the rest of his life he engaged in ludicrous pranks, read joke books, and played ‘the clown’ in general,” so as to deflect the admiration and praise of him by others and to downplay his reputation for sanctity―because everyone in Rome looked upon him as being a living saint. To try and stop this adulation, Philip would do things like walk around in large oversized white shoes, dress in bizarre costumes, wear his clothes inside out, and when invited to the house of one of his penitents, a rich Roman lady who had invited him to meet her worldly relatives, he arrived with half his otherwise full white beard shaved off. He would joke with and mock the Roman cardinals and even Pope Gregory VII, and desperately tried to avoid getting the red cardinal’s hat himself.
When some scholarly Bishop, not given to jesting, attended his Mass, Philip would deliberately committed every possible error in the pronunciation of the words of the Mass. Why did he sometimes wear a red jersey or a fur coat over his cassock? He would walk through the streets carrying a bouquet of flowers in his hand. At other times he carried a pack of brooms and stopped every once in awhile and smelled them, as though they were scented flowers.
On another occasion he unexpectedly performed a burlesque dance before an audience of Cardinals, while chanting comical verses which he made up as he went along. He would often wear a fur cloak through the streets of Rome to make people think he was vain.
For people who came to him asking for miraculous cures, he would give them a small sachet which they were to place on the affected part, on the condition that they must on no account open it. As soon as Philip died the recipients of the sachets could restrain their curiosity no longer. On opening up their sachets they found that they contained nothing more than a cheap holy medal!
Russian Fools for Christ
The Holy Fool or yuródivyy is the Russian version of foolishness for Christ, a peculiar form of Eastern Orthodox asceticism. The yurodivy is a Holy Fool, one who acts intentionally foolish in the eyes of men. The term implies behavior which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative. In his book, Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond, Ivanov described “holy fool” as a term for a person who “feigns insanity, pretends to be silly, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness.” He explained that such conduct qualifies as holy foolery only if the audience believes that the individual is sane, moral, and pious. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise.
Some characteristics that were commonly seen in holy fools were going around half-naked, being homeless, speaking in riddles, being believed to be clairvoyant and a prophet, and occasionally being disruptive and challenging to the point of ‘seeming’ immoral―though always to make a point.
Fools for Christ, even though they may have been canonized as Saints, are often given the title of “Blessed”, which does not necessarily mean that the individual is less than a saint, but rather points to the blessings from God that they are believed to have acquired. The Eastern Orthodox Church records Isidora Barankis of Egypt (died 369) among the first Holy Fools. However, the term was not popularized until the coming of Simeon of Emesa, who is considered to be a patron saint of holy fools.
The practice of living as “Holy Fools” was recognized in the hagiography of fifth-century Byzantium, and it was extensively adopted in Muscovite Russia, probably in the 14th century. The madness of the Holy Fool was ambiguous, and could be real or pretended. He (or she) was believed to have been divinely inspired, and was therefore able to say truths which others could not, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables. He had a particular status in regard to the Tsars, as a figure not subject to earthly control or judgment.
The Russian Orthodox Church numbers 36 Holy Fools among its saints, starting from St. Procopius of Ustyug. The first reported Fool-for-Christ in Russia was St. Procopius, who came from the lands of the Holy Roman Empire to Novgorod, then moved to Ustyug, pretending to be a fool and leading an ascetic way of life, slept naked on church-porches, prayed throughout the whole night, received food only from poor people. He was abused and beaten, but finally won respect and became venerated after his death.
► ST. SIMEON OF EMESA, THE HOLY FOOL ― Simeon the Holy Fool was a Christian monk, hermit and saint of Byzantine-Syrian origin, who lived in the sixth century AD. He is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church as one of the first “fools for Christ”. Reportedly born in Edessa, Simeon lived there, unmarried, with his old mother. At the age of 20 years Simeon took monastic vows in the monastery of Abba Gerasimus in Syria, along with his friend and fellow ascetic John from Edessa. After that Simeon and John spent about 29 years in the desert near the Dead Sea practicing asceticism and spiritual exercises. Later Simeon was urged, by inspiration of God, to move to Emesa to perform social and charitable services. Reportedly the saint asked the Lord to permit him to serve people in such a way that they should not acknowledge him. At Emesa, through simulating madness and upsetting conventional rules, he was able to bring many citizens to repentance, save many souls from sin and convert them to Christianity.
Simeon entered the gate of Emesa dragging a dead dog. Schoolchildren saw him and shouted: “Hey, a crazy abba...!” The next day, a Sunday, he entered the church, extinguished the lights and threw nuts at women. On the way out of the church, Simeon overturned the tables of the pastry chefs. Such playing the fool made him subject to insults, abuse and beatings, which Simeon endured with patience. In spite of his seemingly strange behavior, Simeon the Holy Fool healed many possessed people by his prayer, fed the hungry, preached the Gospel, and helped needy citizens of the town. Many of Simeon’s saintly deeds were done secretly.
His ministry also included trying to save a man whose eyes suffered from leucoma. Jesus had previously used saliva and clay to cure a man of blindness, and when the man with eye disease approached Simeon, he anointed the man’s eyes with mustard, burning him and aggravating the condition to the extent that he reportedly went blind. Later the eyes were healed by the advice of Simeon, who used such way to explain the man’s sins and bring him to correction.
Symeon played all sorts of foolish roles, but language is not sufficient to paint a picture of his doings. For sometimes he pretended to have a limp, sometimes he jumped around, sometimes he dragged himself along the ground on his buttocks, sometimes he stuck out his foot for someone running and tripped him. Other times when there was a new moon, he looked at the sky and fell down and thrashed about.
The life of Simeon the Holy Fool was described by Leontios of Neapolis, who symbolically compared his life to that of Jesus, whom the saint tried to imitate in his own way. According to Leontios: “While the saint was there, in Emesa, he cried out against many because of the Holy Spirit and reproached thieves and fornicators. Some he faulted, crying that they had not taken communion often, and others he reproached for perjury, so that through his inventiveness he nearly put an end to sinning in the whole city.”
The only person in Emesa with whom Simeon did not play a fool was deacon of the church in Emesa, his friend John. One time Simeon saved John from execution when he was falsely convicted. Shortly before his death Simeon, by the illustration of Leontios of Neapolis said to John: “I beg you, never disregard a single soul, especially when it happens to be a monk or a beggar. For Your Charity knows that His place is among the beggars, especially among the blind, people made as pure as the sun through their patience and distress ... Show love of your neighbor through almsgiving. For this virtue, above all, will help us on the Day of Judgment.”
The saint died about 570 AD and was buried by the city poor in a place where the homeless and strangers were buried. While the body of Saint Simeon was carried, several people heard a wondrous church choir. Only after his death did the secret of his imitative foolishness come to light. Some inhabitants remembered his acts of kindness and reportedly strange and powerful miracles.
► ST. ANDREW OF CONSTANTINOPLE ― Blessed Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was a 10th century fool-for-Christ, famed for his vision of the Protection of the Mother of God. He was born a Scythian and came to live in Constantinople as a slave of Theognostus, a “first sword-bearer” (an honorific title) to Emperor Leo VI the Great. He was also the spiritual child of Nicephorus, a priest at St. Sophia during that time. Blessed Andrew loved God’s Church and the Holy Scriptures, and he had a strong desire to devote himself totally to God. He took upon himself a very difficult and unusual ascetic feat of fool-for-Christ; that is, he acted as if he were insane.
Seeming to be insane, Andrew was brought to the Church of St. Anastasia for his care. There St. Anastasia appeared to him in a dream and encouraged him to continue his ascetic feat. He was driven off the church property because of his faked madness and had to live on the streets of the capital city, hungry and half-naked. For many years the saint endured mockery, insults, and beatings. He begged for alms and gave them away to the poor. The beggars to whom he gave his last coins despised him, but Andrew endured all his sufferings humbly and prayed for those who hurt him.
St. Andrew’s holy wisdom and extraordinary spiritual beauty were revealed when he removed his mask of folly. This occurred when talking to his spiritual father, a priest at the church of St. Sophia, or to his disciple, Epiphanius.
For his meekness and self-control, the saint received from the Lord the gifts of prophecy and wisdom, saving many from spiritual perils. Like the apostle Paul, he was taken to the third heaven and had the honor of seeing Lord Jesus Christ himself, angels and many holy saints, yet he was surprised not to see the Most Holy Virgin. While praying at the Blachernae church, it was St. Andrew who, with his disciple, the Blessed Epiphanius, saw the Most Holy Mother of God, holding her veil over those praying under her Protection. The synaxarion states that upon seeing this vision, St. Andrew turned to his companion and asked: “Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos [Mother of God], praying for all the world?” Epiphanius answered: “I do see, holy Father, and I am in awe!”
Blessed Andrew died in the year 936 at the age of 66.
► ST. BASIL FOOL FOR CHRIST ― St. Basil the Blessed, Wonderworker of Moscow, was born in 1468 outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil’s apprenticeship, the master happened to witness a remarkable occurrence, which showed him that his student was no ordinary man. A certain merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and then went to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. Blessed Basil wept and said: “I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them!” When the perplexed master questioned his apprentice he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.
When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began the difficult exploit of foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the winter’s harsh frost, he walked about barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange: here he would overturn a stand with kalachi (fruit pastries), and there he would spill a jug with kvas (a Russian beer). Angry merchants throttled the blessed one, but he endured the beatings with joy and he thanked God for them. Then it was discovered that the kalachi were poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St. Basil quickly grew, and people saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.
A certain merchant wanted to build a stone church on Pokrovna in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. “Find there John the Cripple,” he said, “he will advise you how to construct the church!” Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. “Whom do you rock?” asked the merchant. “I weep for my beloved mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing.” Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house. Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.
Preaching mercy, the blessed one helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who was left without anything at all. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing. The saint harshly condemned those who gave alms for selfish reasons, not out of compassion for the poor and destitute, but hoping for an easy way to attract God’s blessings upon their affairs. Once, the saint saw a devil in the guise of a beggar. He sat at the gates of the All-Pure Virgin’s church, and he gave speedy help in their affairs to everyone who gave alms. The saint exposed the wicked trick and drove the devil away.
For the salvation of his neighbor, St. Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see a grain of goodness, even in people very much gone to ruin, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness. Many observed that when the saint passed by a house in which they made merry and drank, he wept and clutched the corners of that house. They inquired of the fool what this meant, and he answered: “Angels stand in sorrow at the house and are distressed by the sins of the people, but I entreat them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.”
Purified by great deeds and by the prayer of his soul, the saint was also given the gift of foreseeing the future. In 1547 he predicted the great fire of Moscow; through prayer he extinguished a fire at Novgorod; and once he reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, because during the divine services he was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace on the Vorobiev hills.
St. Basil died on August 2nd, 1557. St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow served the saint’s funeral with many clergy. His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, the Protection cathedral was built in memory of the conquest of Kazan. St. Basil the Blessed was canonized in 1588.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday August 29th & Monday August 30th
Article 16
An Open Letter to You―To Open Heaven to You!
Sunday August 29th & Monday August 30th
Article 16
An Open Letter to You―To Open Heaven to You!
The State of the Question―The State of the World―The State of Your Soul
“What’s this all about?” you might well ask. Well, look around―what do you see? Hopefully you can see that both the world and Church are in a big mess! Does that mess concern you? You might well choose to use Cain’s answer to God when asked by God about the whereabouts of his brother Abel (whom he had just killed): “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9). Looking at the mess around us, we might be tempted to say: “I’m alright Jack! The world can go to Hell! I didn’t create this mess!” Well, actually, the world is going to Hell―for “the Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:2-5).
Are You Afraid?
Nobody likes to admit they are afraid―we like to pretend that we are not, putting on a brave face! Yet fear is something that God has ‘programmed’ into our human nature. Fear is like an alarm system―much like pain. When we feel pain, we stop or adjust what we are doing. Fear is meant to help us and guide us in our thoughts, words and actions. “By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6). “The fear of the Lord drives out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10).
Is there fear of God before your eyes? Or are you fearing things that you should not be fearing, instead of fearing God? Everyone is afraid of something! Are you afraid of Covid or whatever the bio-weapon is that “they” have made? Are you afraid of being jabbed with a blood-clotting vaccine? Are you afraid of losing your job if you don’t get jabbed? Are you afraid of the tightening noose of vaccine passports that will limit or remove your rights to travel, shop, socialize and a whole host of additional restrictions that will follow in their wake? Are you afraid of the civil unrest that is brewing and escalating―which, if things continue as they are, will result in widespread lawlessness and even civil war? Are you afraid of the increasing restriction, censorship and criminalization of free speech and constitutional rights? Are you afraid of the impending Communist takeover of the world which Our Lady promised would happen if we did not mend our ways? Fear is a powerful thing and everyone is afraid of something!
Afraid of What?
To put in a nutshell―you could say that the dominating fear in all people is either the fear of the world or the fear of God. Once you crack open that nutshell―you can elaborate further, and say that many people fear losing the pleasures and treasures of the world, while other people fear losing their souls, God and Heaven. Many fear displeasing the worldly persons that surround them, while others fear displeasing God. Many fear losing their money and possessions, while others fear losing God’s grace. Many “toe-the-line” at work for fear of the sack, more than they keep the commandments out of a fear of damnation. Everyone is afraid of something. What are you afraid of the most?
Are You Losing It?
Recent popes―even the Liberal and Modernist popes―have lamented that most people have lost the sense of sin. In a 1946 Pope Pius XII stated: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, in 2005, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In 2011 homily in Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin.The meaning of sin is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God.” In a 2014 homily, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII, and lamented: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Symptoms of Disease Are Not the Causes of Disease
The loss of the sense of sin is not the cause of our current mess―the loss of the sense of sin is merely a symptom of something deeper. That deeper cause is the loss of the fear of God. If you lose all respect and fear of law enforcement, then you will become lawless. If you lose all respect and fear of the laws of nature, then you will sooner or later harm yourself―try jumping out of a plane with no parachute and no fear! When we lose the fear of God, then we lose the fear of sin, and lose the fear of damnation. Most souls have lost that fear―and, as a result, have lost their souls. As Our Lord warns: “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, has power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Tempted Not to Fear
Hey! You’re not a bad guy or bad girl, are you? You’re a Catholic; you go to Mass every Sunday and perhaps even daily Mass! You say the Rosary―at least sometimes―or maybe you pray several Rosaries a day! You don’t go around committing mortal sins wantonly―you might fall into one from time to time, but you’re not like the rest of world, are you? What is there to fear?
That was the attitude of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican! Forgotten it? Here is it―is only a short one: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
There is no doubt that the Pharisee was, by all appearances a “good guy” ― the Jews were only obliged to fast on handful of days―apart from times of emergency such as impending danger, or in reparation for extreme sinfulness, or in time of mourning. Yet Our Lord has this Pharisee fasting twice a week! That would make it 104 times a year―almost one third of the year (28% of the time). That even puts the ancient Catholic fasts to shame―such as 40 days of Lent and the whole of Advent combined! As regards tithing, the material goods subject to tithe were grain, wine, oil, the firstlings of herd and flock―whereas Our Lord has the Pharisee gives tithes for every single thing he possesses! The Pharisee even thanks God that he is so good and does not claim personal credit for it! What does he have to fear? He is doing everything right!
Yet Our Lord refuses to justify the Pharisee. Why? Because he was self-centered, self-interested, self-orientated, self-focused. He saw the sinners surrounding him and, instead of doing something for them, he merely said: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican!” Yet Our Lord’s whole purpose for coming into this world was to seek out and save sinners. The Pharisee was a “good guy” but a selfish “good guy” ― focusing on himself, while ignoring the plight of sinners who need saving. Our Lady implies the same thing at Fatima―“ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners!’ … When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Failure to Save Others Can Lead to Failure in Saving Self
God desires you salvation―but He desires not only YOUR salvation, but the salvation of EVERYONE. We are here to save, not only our own souls, but also the souls of others―such is the spirit and purpose of Christ, as expressed in His own words: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Hence Holy Scripture adds: “Know that, he who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20). Not only will the sinner be saved, but your own sins will be “covered” because of your charity towards the sinner in bringing the sinner back to God: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
You could say that our fate―salvation or damnation―is inextricably tied in with the salvation or damnation of those around us. St. Augustine writes: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!” ― to which we could add that God could save us without the souls that surround us, but God will not save us without the souls that surround. We are, in a certain sense, responsible for the spiritual well-being and ultimate salvation of those that surround us. We all have to work and help each other on the road to salvation―much like the human body must have all its parts working together to preserve life. Holy Scripture puts it this way:
“For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the hand!’ ― is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the eye! ― is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, then where would be the hearing? If the whole body were just hearing, then where would be the smelling? God hath set the different body parts, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one part, then where would be the body? There are many parts of the body, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble parts of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable parts of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another!” (1 Corinthians 12:14-25).
So, too, just as we some beautiful and some ugly parts of the body―the Mystical Body of Christ has some beautiful parts (the just―who are in a state of grace) and some ugly parts (the sinners―who have lost the state of grace through mortal sin). Yet Christ wishes all of His Mystical Body to be saved―He desires no amputations (even though amputations do take place), but there would be no amputations if the healthy members of the Mystical Body (those in a state of grace) were looking after and caring for the sick members (the sinners).
If you suddenly your heart or lungs or liver become sick and diseased―but your healthy feet refuse to carry the heart, lungs or liver to the doctor; and the healthy mouth and tongue refuse to tell the doctor that the heart, lungs or liver is sick―then the whole body risks dying! Likewise with our salvation―if we refuse to look after the sick members of the Mystical Body, then we are risking our own eternal life and salvation. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us ― and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him ― how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:15-17).
Double Standard
We want all OUR SINS to be forgiven―no matter how revolting they may be! “Forgive me all my sins!” (Psalm 24:18). Yet we rarely have the same desire when it comes to the sins of others! If we push that to the limit―then it comes down to: “Save me Lord! Damn the rest!” When it comes to OUR SINS, we turn to Scriptural phrases such as: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow ― and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18).
Yet as regards the SINS OF OTHERS, we invoke phrases such as: “Forgive not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight!” (Jeremias 18:23) … “Pour out Thy indignation upon them and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them!” (Psalm 68:25). “Send forth lightning and scatter them! Shoot out thy arrows and trouble them!” (Psalm 143:6) … “The ways of sinners destroy!” (Psalm 145:9). “Render to them their iniquity and destroy them!” (Psalm 93:23) ... “Put to death all the wicked of the land!” (Psalm 100:8) … “Let sinners be consumed out of the Earth, so that they be no more!” (Psalm 103:35). “Let them vanish away! As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish!” (Psalm 67:3). “Break in pieces their teeth in their mouth!” (Psalm 57:7) … “Break thou the arm of the sinner!” (Psalm 10:15) … “Cut the necks of sinners!” (Psalm 128:4) … “Crush the wicked!” (Job 40:7) … “Kill the wicked, O God!” (Psalm 138:19) … “Rain upon sinners fire and brimstone!” (Psalm 10:7) … “Burning coals shall fall upon them! Thou wilt cast them down into the fire!” (Psalm 139:11) … “Make them as an oven of fire!” (Psalm 20:10) … “Bring them down into the pit of destruction!” (Psalm 54:24). “Fill their faces with shame! Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever! And let them be confounded and perish!” (Psalm 82:17-18). “Do thou destroy them!” (Jeremias 18:23).
But as for OURSELVES, we cry a different tune: “Give praise to the Lord, for He is good―for His mercy endures for ever!” (Psalm 117:1) … “If thou, O Lord, will remember our iniquities, Lord, who shall be able to stand it? For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness!” (Psalm 129:3-4) … “I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost―seek Thy servant!” (Psalm 118:176). “O look upon me, and have mercy on me!” (Psalm 85:16). “I called upon the Name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul! The Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy!” (Psalm 114:4-5). In Psalm 135, all 27 verses end with the words: “His mercy endures for ever!” ― but for us, and not other sinners!
Failure to Save Others Can Lead to Failure in Saving Self
God desires you salvation―but He desires not only YOUR s alvation, but the salvation of EVERYONE. We are here to save, not only our own souls, but also the souls of others―such is the spirit and purpose of Christ, as expressed in His own words: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Hence Holy Scripture adds: “Know that, he who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20). Not only will the sinner be saved, but your own sins will be “covered” because of your charity towards the sinner in bringing the sinner back to God: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
You could say that our fate―salvation or damnation―is inextricably tied in with the salvation or damnation of those around us. St. Augustine writes: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!” ― to which we could add that God could save us without the souls that surround us, but God will not save us without the souls that surround. On Judgment Day, God will say to us what He said to Cain: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). We are, in a certain sense, responsible for the spiritual well-being and ultimate salvation of those that surround us. We all have to work and help each other on the road to salvation―much like the human body must have all its parts working together to preserve life. Holy Scripture puts it this way:
“For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the hand!’ ― is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the eye! ― is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, then where would be the hearing? If the whole body were just hearing, then where would be the smelling? God hath set the different body parts, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one part, then where would be the body? There are many parts of the body, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble parts of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable parts of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another!” (1 Corinthians 12:14-25).
So, too, just as we some beautiful and some ugly parts of the body―the Mystical Body of Christ has some beautiful parts (the just―who are in a state of grace) and some ugly parts (the sinners―who have lost the state of grace through mortal sin). Yet Christ wishes all of His Mystical Body to be saved―He desires no amputations (even though amputations do take place), but there would be no amputations if the healthy members of the Mystical Body (those in a state of grace) were looking after and caring for the sick members (the sinners).
If you suddenly your heart or lungs or liver become sick and diseased―but your healthy feet refuse to carry the heart, lungs or liver to the doctor; and the healthy mouth and tongue refuse to tell the doctor that the heart, lungs or liver is sick―then the whole body risks dying! Likewise with our salvation―if we refuse to look after the sick members of the Mystical Body, then we are risking our own eternal life and salvation. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us ― and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him ― how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:15-17).
Our Current Mess is Down to a Lack of Charity
“Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loves, is born of God, and knows God. He that loves not, knows not God ― for God is charity! … God is charity ― and he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:7-8, 16). However, “because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
A lack of charity―which is what we are currently seeing in the world to an unprecedented degree―automatically triggers a lack of mercy, for mercy is one of the rooms in the mansion of charity. “God is charity ― the Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works! … O praise ye the Lord, for He is good ― for His mercy endures for ever!” (1 John 4:16; Psalm 144:8-9; Psalm 117:29) If we fail to show mercy to others, then we risk not being shown mercy by God. Our Lord clearly stated this: “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man ― so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins! But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences” (Matthew 6:14). “But judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13). “Give, and it shall be given to you ― in good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:38).
That is why the exorcists repeatedly tell us to forgive and not to hold grudges ― for a lack of forgiveness opens the door to Satan, who is unforgiveness personified. Just as charity makes us like God ― unforgiveness (which is a lack of charity) makes us like Satan. People often say: “I don’t get mad ― I get even!” That is the spirit of Satan, not Christ! Our Lord said: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and lets rain fall upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:43-45). Unforgiveness is a sin that, like acid, will destroy its container. Unforgiveness is a sin that will destroy you like an incurable cancer. Unforgiveness is a sin that causes bitterness in our life.
The Current Virus is a Virus of Hate
The real virus we need to fear is the “virus” of hatred ― which is clearly infecting the majority of world to pandemic proportions. Much like the current man-manufactured bio-weapon virus and jabs, hatred is a Satanically-created “spiro-weapon” (spiritual weapon) that is causing even more damage ― eternal damage, eternal damnation. Hatred is the hallmark of Hell, not Heaven. The fruit of hatred is division, whereas the fruit of charity is unity. “Hatred stirs up strife, but charity covers all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). Hatred is so infectious, it is so easily caught and so hard to get rid of! We live in a culture of hate―which is a foretaste of Hell―for in Hell there is no love, no charity, only eternal hatred. Even the devils hate each other―everyone in Hell is all alone with zero friends and 100% enemies. The hatred of Hell is the culture of today’s world―brought to you by “the prince of this world” ― Satan (John 14:30). This spirit of hatred is also very prevalent among Catholics―even Conservative and Traditional Catholics―the Church is divided and hatred for each side of the divide increases with each year. In the middle stands the Devil―the word “devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate” ― that describes the current world perfectly.
Speaking of the tactics of Satan, Fr. Gabriele Amorth―the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome―states: “The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, by inducing man to sin, progressively takes man away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, a lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex.” To counter those tactics that lead to egoism (a love of self) and a dislike or hatred of others, Fr. Amorth says that the everyone should “forgive wholeheartedly whoever caused him evil ― no matter who!”
Minimalists in Mercy
We are very selective, limited or frugal with our forgiveness. Today, you could almost say that people look upon showing forgiveness as a weakness, a cowardice in addressing issues, which allows others to “get away” with their sins and crimes. We even see this attitude in St. Peter: “Then came Peter unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord! How often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times! Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Our Lord indicated much the same thing when He said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee―and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:2). “Thus therefore shall you pray: ‘Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses [debts/sins], as we also forgive our trespassers [debtors/enemies]. And lead us not into temptation! But deliver us from evil!’ Amen. For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:9-15). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful! Judge not and you shall not be judged! Condemn not and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:36-37).
Our Lady Warns: “No Mercy!”
If we want mercy, we must show mercy! If we want mercy from God, then we must ‘show mercy’ to God ― in the sense that we must stop offending Him. That is what Our Lady has repeatedly told us. At Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” At Akita she added: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” At La Salette she stated: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance! … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!”
Yet what is Our Lady’s initial recommendation for all these sins and sinners in the world? Arrest them? Put them on trial? Imprison or execute them? No! Her initial recommendation is for Catholics―that means US―to pray very much for them and to offer many sacrifices for them! Our Lady says: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Our Lord leads the way by His example. When dying on the cross, surrounded by those who had plotted His murder and conducted His tortures, “Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them―for they know not what they do!’” (Luke 23:34). Earlier, at the Last Supper, He had said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Now, on the cross, He was not only laying down His life for His friends―but also for His enemies!
Modern Day Examples of Heroic Forgiveness
All of the above is largely Scripture quotes and so―in a broad sense―‘merely’ theory. Since they say: “Actions speak louder than words”, let us look at some heroic actions of forgiveness―not so much from ancient times, but from our own times. Let us start with a pure Catholic example―that of Maria Goretti, who was to be canonized and is now St. Maria Goretti.
► ST. MARIA GORETTI (1890–1902) AND HER FAMILY. While St. Maria Goretti is universally known as the Patroness of Purity, her greatest virtue was her unyielding forgiveness of her attacker ― even in the midst of horrendous physical suffering. This forgiveness would completely convert him and set her attacker on his path to personal holiness. St. Maria Goretti is the youngest canonized saint in the Church. She died tragically on July 6th, 1902, at the age of 11 after forgiving her attacker. Maria is known as “The Little Saint of Great Mercy.”
Maria was born the third of seven children into a poor, religious Italian family on October 16th, 1890. Her parents, Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini, moved around the countryside to find larger land to cultivate for their growing family. Eventually, they went into business with another family, Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro. In 1900, both families moved and found work under Count Attilio Mazzoleni where they shared a house. The Goretti’s father, Luigi, was stricken by malaria and later typhoid, meningitis and pneumonia before he died ― only months after moving into the new house. Assunta was devastated by the loss of her husband and had to find ways for her family to cope without a father to work the fields. Assunta eventually decided to remain in business with the Serenelli family.
This was a terrible time of trial and suffering for the whole family. For Maria, who was 10 years old, it was especially difficult. Aside from having the responsibility of caring for her family, she had to also cook and clean for Giovanni Serenelli and his son, 20-year-old Alessandro–who assisted Maria’s mother with the farm tasks.
It was also during this time that Alessandro began to develop an impure liking for Maria. It was over the next year that the Serenelli’s son, Alessandro, eight years her elder, began harboring feelings for Maria, which later degenerated into blind passion. The big 20-year-old would say rude and crude things to her, things that were inappropriate and embarrassing, and that would cause her to run away. However, at a certain point he began to make direct sexual advances towards her, demanding her virginity and threatening her with violence for non-compliance. In early June 1902, Alessandro made lewd requests to Maria, who rejected him and fled in tears. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone what he had done. A few days later, he tried again and was rejected a second time. He planned on killing her if she refused him a third time and had prepared a 10-inch long awl as his murder weapon. He terrorized Maria over the next month. She told her mother multiple times not to leave her alone, but her mother failed to grasp the meaning of her insistence.
Finally, after many months of this, Alessandro forced himself upon Maria in an attempt to rape her. On July 5th, 1902, Maria was sewing one of Alessandro’s shirts, by his orders, and watching over her two-year-old sister, Teresa. Alessandro, who had planned out his attack, asked Maria’s mother, Assunta, to drive the cart for a little while he went into the house for a pressing matter. He went into the house and ordered Maria to come in, but she did not move or respond. Alessandro dragged her into the house and locked the door and then tried to rape Maria. Even though she prevented him from raping her, Alessandro brutally stabbed fourteen times ― but she would still live another 24 hours. She was rushed by ambulance to hospital and doctors saw little hope for her, but nevertheless attempted surgery. The surgery, which lasted two hours, was excruciating as it was performed without any sedation.
Maria’s mother spent the next day with her, along with a nurse and two Sisters of the Poor. The sisters suggested Maria should pray and she did, fervently. The local archpriest saw a significant deterioration in Maria’s condition and wanted to administer Holy Communion. The priest told her about how Jesus forgave his executioners, which is when he asked her: “Maria, do you also want to forgive your murderer?”
Maria replied: “Yes, for the love of Jesus, I forgive him and I want him to be in Heaven with me, forever!”
She then received Holy Communion and received her last rites. During the painful 20 hours leading to her death on July 6th, 1902, Maria prayed with her mother, siblings, and priest, stating repeatedly that she forgave her attacker and that she was sure that God had forgiven him, as well.
As her condition worsened, Maria drifted in and out of delirium, reliving the attack and calling out to her parents in the midst of horrendous infections brought on by her fourteen stab wounds. The delusions became more frequent and she suddenly shouted: “What a beautiful lady! Can’t you see her? Look! She is so beautiful, full of light and flowers!” Then, Maria died.
Alessandro was imprisoned immediately following his attack on Maria. Sentencing was on October 15th of that year. When the presiding judge asked Marietta’s mother, Assunta, if she had any final comments before sentence was passed, she answered, “Yes, your Honor. I forgive Alessandro!” There was a momentary stunned silence in the court room, then an indignant outcry from the spectators. “Never!” they shouted. “It shouldn’t be! I would never forgive him!” Assunta, without missing a beat, stared down the protesters and asked them, “And suppose, in turn, Jesus Christ does not forgive us?”
Since Alessandro was still a minor, he was sentenced to only 30 years hard labor. One night during the third year of his confinement, Maria appeared to Alessandro in his cell. According to Alessandro, she was smiling and holding an armful of flowers— often identified as 14 lilies to symbolize the 14 wounds suffered by Maria—which she lovingly offered to the man who had taken her life. Alessandro described being enveloped in a wave of peace. From that moment on, he lived a life of goodness and grace during the remaining years of his prison term. That act of mercy and forgiveness—that act of love—filled Alessandro with contrition for his crime. It was also a turning point for him where grace entered his heart. From that point on, he lived a beautiful and converted life of holiness, eventually becoming a Franciscan lay brother.
In 1929, after having served 27 years of his 30-year prison sentence, Alessandro was released from prison three years early due to his exemplary behavior. His first action as a free man was to visit Assunta Goretti, Maria’s mother, and beg her forgiveness. Assunta said to him: “Maria has forgiven you, and surely God has forgiven you. Who am I to withhold my forgiveness?” She forgave him and the pair attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. That Christmas Eve of 1929, and each Christmas thereafter until his own death in 1970, Alessandro attended midnight Mass with the Goretti family.
Although Maria and her mother had forgiven Alessandro, the local townspeople found it difficult to forget the terrible acts he had committed in his youth. He was rejected by several nearby communities, whose residents treated him as an outcast. He was offered safe lodging at a monastery belonging to the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Alessandro prayed to St. Maria Goretti every day and became a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (a Third Order Franciscan), living in a monastery as a receptionist and gardener until he died in 1970.
St. Maria Goretti was canonized 48 years after her brutal killing. On June 24th, 1950, Maria was canonized by Pope Pius XII at an outdoor ceremony in St. Peter’s Square attended by her mother, her siblings, and the man who had taken her life. Alessandro, who had undergone his own spiritual transformation in his many years in prison, along with 30 other witnesses, testified to Maria’s sanctity during her cause of beatification. St. Maria Goretti is the only saint who has the distinction of having not only her mother, but also her murderer present at her canonization. More than 250,000 people were present at the event.
► ERIC SUTHERLAND LOMAX (1919–2012) was a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942, when he was 23-years-old. He is well-known for his book, The Railway Man, about his experiences before, during, and after Second World War, as one of thousands of British soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942 and forced to build the 418-mile railway to Burma. He was tortured until there was not a patch of unbruised skin between his shoulders and knees―receiving around 900 blows in six hours resulted in broken arms and ribs. At night he was confined to a cage coated in his own excrement. Somehow he survived. But back in Scotland, Lomax was further tortured for decades by nightmares. Post-traumatic stress led to estrangement from his father and the breakdown of his marriage. The mental scars refused to fade. The trauma worsened on retirement, and he spent the Eighties trying to track down his chief torturer and fantasizing about revenge. Eric Lomax writes of the experience:
“If you are a victim of torture you never totally recover. You may cope with the physical damage, but the psychological damage stays with you forever. In 1945 I returned to Edinburgh to a life of uncertainty, following three and half years of fear, interrogation and torture as a POW in the Far East. I had no self-worth, no trust in people, and lived in a world of my own. The privacy of the torture victim is more impregnable than any island fortress. People thought I was coping, but inside I was falling apart. I became impossible to live with; it was as if the sins my captors had sown in me were being harvested in my family. I also had intense hatred for the Japanese, and was always looking for ways and means to do them down. In my mind I often thought of my hateful interrogator. I wanted to drown him, cage him and beat him – as he had done to me. After my retirement in 1982, I started searching for information about what had happened in Siam. The need to know is powerful. In the course of my search I learnt that Nagase Takashi – my interrogator and torturer – had offered to help others with information. I learnt that he was still alive, active in charitable works, and that he had built a Buddhist temple. I was sceptical. I couldn’t believe in the notion of Japanese repentance. I strongly suspected that if I were to meet him, then I’d put my hands round his neck and do him in!”
Just over 40 years after the war ended, in 1987, at the newly-formed Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Eric Lomax heard of a book written by the very man who had been his torturer during the war. In it, Takashi Nagase told how, after the war, he worked for the Allies to locate thousands of burial sites along the Burma Railway. Ashamed of his wartime actions, Nagase set up a Buddhist temple, at the River Kwai, in order to atone for his wartime crimes. He was still haunted, he wrote, by the brutal torture of one particular prisoner―but the depths of his remorse brought him the feeling he had been forgiven.
As he read the book, Eric Lomax realized that he was the prisoner Nagase was describing. He would never forgive! Eric says: “For the first time I was able to unload the hate that had become my prison. Seeing the change in me, my wife indignant wife wrote to Nagase and said so!” Eric’s. A meeting at the river Kwai was arranged between the two old enemies. Lomax set off, simmering with rage, his heart filled with utter loathing and hate. But something extraordinary happened.
Eric Lomax explains: “When we met, Nagase greeted me with a formal bow. I took his hand and said in Japanese, ‘Good morning, Mr. Nagase, how are you?’ He was trembling and crying, and he said over and over again: ‘I am so sorry, so very sorry!’ He was full of compassion, and I think, at that moment, I lost whatever hard armor I had wrapped around me and began to think the unthinkable. I said: ‘We both survived!’ After our meeting I felt I’d come to some kind of peace and resolution. Forgiveness is possible when someone is ready to accept forgiveness. Some time the hating has to stop. I had come with no sympathy for this man, and yet Nagase, through his complete humility, turned this around. In the days that followed we spent a lot of time together, talking and laughing. It transpired that we had much in common. We promised to keep in touch and have remained friends ever since!” Forgiveness turned to a friendship of nearly two decades.
► MURDERED AMISH CHILDREN ― In the fall of 2006, the unthinkable happened when Charles C. Roberts walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse, full of Amish children, armed with three guns. There were 26 students in the schoolhouse. He allowed the 15 boys, a pregnant female student, and three other adult females with infant children to leave safely, but held the remaining 15 girls captive and tied their feet together. His deranged rationale for his actions was that he wanted to exact revenge for something that had happened in his past. Notes that he left behind indicate anger toward himself and God for the death of his newborn daughter, almost nine years earlier. Authorities were alerted, and soon arrived on the scene. After a few terrifying hours, not long after police arrived, Roberts shot 10 girls, killing 5 of them before turning the gun on himself.
In the face of such tragedy, one can only imagine the hurt and anger the loved ones of the victims might feel. Within hours, the Amish families immediately began extending their forgiveness to the gunman and visited his wife and parents to offer them comfort. In an extraordinary demonstration of forgiveness, members of the Amish community, including family members of the deceased victims, attended Robert’s funeral and comforted his widow. The Amish community did not stop there—they also offered financial support to Robert’s widow. A grandfather of one of the murdered girls cautioned the family not to hate the killer: “We must not think evil of this man” while another father of another of murdered girls said: “He had a mother and a wife and a soul. And now he’s standing before a just God.”
► MARY JOHNSON, THE MOTHER OF A MURDERED SON ― In 1993, Mary Johnson lost her only son, Laramium, when 16-year-old Oshea Israel shot him during an argument at a party. Her initial reaction was that she wanted justice. She wanted him to pay for his crime―and for which he did pay. Oshea Israel received a 25 year sentence for second degree murder. Mary Johnson writes:
“I was at work when a caller rang to ask if my son had come home that night and if not I should try to get hold of him. She said she didn’t know if it was true, but she’d heard that his body was at the morgue. I must have fainted because when I came round my supervisor was holding me. I don’t remember leaving the building, or taking the short ride downtown, but by the time I arrived at my sister’s house they had identified the body. Three days later I was told they’d picked up the 16-year-old boy who had taken Laramiun’s life. I believe hate set in then and there. Here was I―a Christian woman―full of hatred!
“I was pleased he was going to be tried as an adult for first degree murder so when the judge suddenly changed the charge to second degree murder I was mad. In court I viewed Oshea as an animal and the only thing that kept me going, was being able to give my victim impact statement. I was inspired by my faith, and so I ended off by saying I’d forgiven Oshea ‘because the Bible tells us to forgive!’ When Oshea’s mother gave her statement she asked us to forgive him, and I thought I had. But I hadn’t actually forgiven. The root of bitterness ran deep, anger had set in and I hated everyone. I remained like this for years, driving many people away. But then, one day, I read a poem which talked about two mothers―one mother whose child had been murdered and the other mother whose child was the murderer.
Suddenly I had this vision of creating an organization to support not only the mothers of murdered children but also the mothers of children who had taken a life. I knew then that I would never be able to deal with these mothers if I hadn’t really forgiven Oshea. So I put in a request to the Department of Corrections to meet him.
“Never having been to a prison before, I was so scared when we got there and wanted to turn back. But when Oshea came into the room I shook hands with him and said: ‘I don’t know you and you don’t know me! You didn’t know my son and he didn’t know you! So we need to lay down a foundation and get to know one another!’ We talked for two hours during which he admitted what he’d done. I could see how sorry he was and at the end of the meeting, for the very first time, I was genuinely able to say that I forgave Oshea. He couldn’t believe how I could do this and he asked if he could hug me. When he left the room I bent over saying ― ‘I’ve just hugged the man who’d murdered my son!’ Then, as I got up, I felt something rising from the soles of my feet and leaving me. From that day on I haven’t felt any hatred, animosity or anger. It was over!
In 2010, after serving 17 years of that 25 year sentence, he was released from jail and returned back to his old neighborhood—right next door to Mary. This was not by accident, but by a remarkable act of mercy. A few years prior to his release, Mary was overcome by the conviction to forgive him, so she set out to do just so through the course of several meetings. After some time, she was able to not only forgive him, but help him upon his departure from prison. In fact, they don’t just live close to each other—they are close in spirit.
Mary Johnson writes: “In March 2010 we gave Oshea a welcome home party organized by my organization and some Catholic nuns from the neighborhood―even some ex-gang members from Chicago drove down to witness what was happening. When Oshea told me he wanted to share his story publicly with me, so that he could help others, I couldn’t believe he wanted to do this! He is my spiritual son! Unforgiveness is like cancer! It will eat you from the inside out! It’s not about the other person ― me forgiving him does not diminish what he’s done. Yes, he murdered my son ― but the forgiveness is for me. It’s just for me!”
Oshea Israel, the killer of Laramiun Byrd, says: “As a child I never looked at myself in the mirror and thought you’re going to grow up a murderer and I’m still trying to figure out how I went so off course to commit such heartache. That night things got out of hand. I was a 16-year-old at a grown up’s party. There was this whole posturing thing going on ― Laramiun was there with his people, I come in with my people and we started playing off our egos. I took it too far.
“The court proceedings were a blur. I separated myself ― it was just my physical shell going through the motions. For years I didn’t even acknowledge what I’d done and would lay the blame on everyone else. I didn’t want to hold myself responsible for taking someone’s life over something so trivial and stupid. You blame everyone else because you don’t want to deal with the pain.
“I realize now that as I was growing up I took certain things too personally. If you don’t forgive people saying stupid and disrespectful things to you, then you walk around with this resentment, collecting more and more baggage. And if something grows and grows, it’s bound to come back to bite you. For instance, I could never forgive how my father’s alcoholism meant he was never there for me. I was defined by my disappointment and bitterness. If I’d had more forgiveness in my life, perhaps I wouldn’t have exploded at the party that night.
“In prison I spent a lot of time in segregation and for a long time had a face on which looked like I didn’t care. Then one day I had a sort of epiphany and started to look at how I was living my life. I went through a real growth process. Luckily I had started changing and educating myself by the time Mary approached me. At first I said no to the meeting because I wasn’t ready, but Mary persisted and, when she tried again, I was in a better place to hold myself accountable. To call myself a man, I had to look this lady in the eye and tell her what I had done. I needed to try and make amends. Whether she forgave me or not was not the point. I walked in without any expectations and it really put me at ease the way she genuinely wanted to know about me. This was something completely new, because, when you’re in prison, no one cares about who you are.
“People ask if I’ve forgiven myself for taking Mary’s son’s life and I think the process of forgiving myself has started, but it’s not complete. I also know, however, if I don’t forgive myself, then I’ll walk around feeling guilt and start to self-sabotage. I have to remember I’m a lot different now from that 16-year-old boy who took a life.
“Knowing Mary has made me more humble, made me approach things differently and not always expect the worst from a situation. Even at the times I don’t believe in myself, when I’m being super stubborn, she’s just as stubborn to keep wishing me better, wanting me to make progress. I am more positive now, because I have someone in my life who supports and believes in me ― even though I know Mary would prefer to be giving all that love and emotion to her son.
“I have learnt that if you hold on to pain, it grows and grows, but if you forgive you start to starve that pain and it dies. Forgiveness is pretty much saying I give up holding on to that pain. Hurt people usually haven’t forgiven and have so much pain, that they end up causing even greater pain.”
► GARY LEON RIDGWAY is better known as the infamous Green River Killer. In 2003, he confessed to the murders of 48 women. In 2011, Ridgway was convicted of the murder of Rebecca Marrero, bringing the victim count up to 49. By his own confession, he may have murdered as many as 60 women. Ridgway especially despised prostitutes and targeted them for his killings. At Ridgway’s 2003 sentencing, the families of the victims had the opportunity to speak out and address Ridgway directly. Understandably, many were angry and lashed out at Ridgway for the unimaginable grief he had put them through. As Ridgway stonily listened to the family members express their grief and anger, one person came up and said something unexpected. When the time came for Robert Rule, the father of teenage victim Linda Jane Rule, to speak, Ridgway finally showed a glimpse of remorse. Rule’s words to Ridgway were: “Mr. Ridgway . . . there are people here that hate you. I’m not one of them. You’ve made it difficult to live up to what I believe, and that is what God says to do ― and that’s to forgive! You are forgiven, sir!” These words brought Ridgway to tears.
► STEVEN MCDONALD ― In 1986, Steven McDonald was a young New York City police officer. While patrolling Central Park, he and his supervisor questioned three teenagers whom they suspected of stealing bicycles. One of the teenagers, 15-year-old Shavod Jones, pulled a gun on McDonald and shot him three times. Doctors were able to save his life, but the incident left him paralyzed and in need of a respirator to breathe. At the time of this heartbreaking event, McDonald and his wife, Patty, had not yet reached their one-year anniversary and were expecting a child. It was suggested to Mrs. McDonald that she put her husband in a home, but the McDonalds stayed together through thick and thin. In spite of everything that had happened, Steven decided that revenge was not the answer. Rather than hold a grudge, he forgave the boy who shot him. McDonald’s forgiveness of Jones was so complete that he attempted to correspond with Jones while he was in jail serving his sentence. The two men wanted to work together to promote forgiveness and non-violence, but sadly, this was not to be. Only three days after Jones was released from prison, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. McDonald did fulfill his own mission though, traveling to various speaking engagements to promote forgiveness, peace, and non-violence.
► IMMACULÉE ILIBAGIZA, a Catholic, is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide that took place in the mid-nineties. Political tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes resulted in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi tribe and of members of the Hutu tribe, who opposed the genocide.
Immaculée Ilibagiza was born and raised in a small village in Rwanda, Africa. She enjoyed a peaceful childhood with her loving parents and three brothers. Education was very important in her household, so it was no surprise that she did well in school and went on to the National University of Rwanda to study electrical and mechanical engineering. It was while she was home from school on Easter break in 1994 that Immaculée's life was transformed forever.
On April 6th of that year, the Rwandan President’s plane was shot down over the capital city of Kigali. This assassination of the Hutu president sparked months of massacres of Tutsi tribe members throughout the country. Not even small, rural communities like Immaculée’s were spared from the house-by-house slaughtering of men, women and children.
To protect his only daughter from rape and murder, Immaculée’s father told her to run to a local pastor’s house for protection. Immaculée and her younger brother, Vianney, managed to make their way to the local pastor’s home, who provided protection from the chaos that was surrounding them. When they arrived, they learned the heartbreaking news that Vianney could not stay. The pastor quickly sheltered Immaculée and seven other women in a hidden 3 x 4 foot bathroom. For the next 91 days, Immaculée and the other women huddled silently in this small room, while the genocide raged outside the home and throughout the country. While in hiding, anger and resentment were destroying Immaculée’s mind, body and spirit. It was then that Immaculée turned to prayer. Prior to going to the pastor’s home, Immaculée’s father, a devout Catholic, gave her a set of Rosary beads. She began to pray the Rosary as a way of drowning-out the anger inside her, and the evil outside the house. It was that turning point towards God and away from hate that saved Immaculée.
After 91 days, Immaculée was finally liberated from her hiding place only to face a horrific reality. Immaculée emerged from that small bathroom weighing just 65 pounds―having lost 50 pounds in weight during her ordeal, and finding her entire family brutally murdered, with the exception of one brother who was studying abroad. She also found nearly one million of her extended family, friends, neighbors and fellow Rwandans massacred. After the genocide, Immaculée came face-to-face with the man who killed her mother and one of her brothers. After enduring months of physical, mental and spiritual suffering, Immaculée was still able to offer the unthinkable, telling the man: “I forgive you!”
Forgiveness Opens the Door to Heaven
While our human nature desires revenge, Ilibagiza chose to forgive the people who killed her family, despite the bitter feelings of rage destroying her. Though not easy, she was determined to let forgiveness, rather than hate, rule her life. Eventually, she met one of the murderers face-to-face and told him directly that she forgave him.
These are just a few of the―no doubt, thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands―of examples of people still showing forgiveness throughout the world in these days of hatred, violence, vengeance and revenge! They―thanks to the grace of God―are beacons who “let their light shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and put into practice the theory of Holy Scripture:
“And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man ― so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins! But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences” (Matthew 6:14). “But judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13). “Give, and it shall be given to you ― in good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:38).
Forgive and you open the doors to Heaven. Refuse to forgive and you will be refused entry through those doors to Heaven. Forgiveness is a key to Heaven. Lack of forgiveness is a key to Hell. If want the doors of Heaven to open to you ― then choose to forgive. Hence the OPEN LETTER to YOU ― it is meant to OPEN Heaven to you!
“What’s this all about?” you might well ask. Well, look around―what do you see? Hopefully you can see that both the world and Church are in a big mess! Does that mess concern you? You might well choose to use Cain’s answer to God when asked by God about the whereabouts of his brother Abel (whom he had just killed): “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9). Looking at the mess around us, we might be tempted to say: “I’m alright Jack! The world can go to Hell! I didn’t create this mess!” Well, actually, the world is going to Hell―for “the Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:2-5).
Are You Afraid?
Nobody likes to admit they are afraid―we like to pretend that we are not, putting on a brave face! Yet fear is something that God has ‘programmed’ into our human nature. Fear is like an alarm system―much like pain. When we feel pain, we stop or adjust what we are doing. Fear is meant to help us and guide us in our thoughts, words and actions. “By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6). “The fear of the Lord drives out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10).
Is there fear of God before your eyes? Or are you fearing things that you should not be fearing, instead of fearing God? Everyone is afraid of something! Are you afraid of Covid or whatever the bio-weapon is that “they” have made? Are you afraid of being jabbed with a blood-clotting vaccine? Are you afraid of losing your job if you don’t get jabbed? Are you afraid of the tightening noose of vaccine passports that will limit or remove your rights to travel, shop, socialize and a whole host of additional restrictions that will follow in their wake? Are you afraid of the civil unrest that is brewing and escalating―which, if things continue as they are, will result in widespread lawlessness and even civil war? Are you afraid of the increasing restriction, censorship and criminalization of free speech and constitutional rights? Are you afraid of the impending Communist takeover of the world which Our Lady promised would happen if we did not mend our ways? Fear is a powerful thing and everyone is afraid of something!
Afraid of What?
To put in a nutshell―you could say that the dominating fear in all people is either the fear of the world or the fear of God. Once you crack open that nutshell―you can elaborate further, and say that many people fear losing the pleasures and treasures of the world, while other people fear losing their souls, God and Heaven. Many fear displeasing the worldly persons that surround them, while others fear displeasing God. Many fear losing their money and possessions, while others fear losing God’s grace. Many “toe-the-line” at work for fear of the sack, more than they keep the commandments out of a fear of damnation. Everyone is afraid of something. What are you afraid of the most?
Are You Losing It?
Recent popes―even the Liberal and Modernist popes―have lamented that most people have lost the sense of sin. In a 1946 Pope Pius XII stated: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, in 2005, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In 2011 homily in Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin.The meaning of sin is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God.” In a 2014 homily, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII, and lamented: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Symptoms of Disease Are Not the Causes of Disease
The loss of the sense of sin is not the cause of our current mess―the loss of the sense of sin is merely a symptom of something deeper. That deeper cause is the loss of the fear of God. If you lose all respect and fear of law enforcement, then you will become lawless. If you lose all respect and fear of the laws of nature, then you will sooner or later harm yourself―try jumping out of a plane with no parachute and no fear! When we lose the fear of God, then we lose the fear of sin, and lose the fear of damnation. Most souls have lost that fear―and, as a result, have lost their souls. As Our Lord warns: “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, has power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Tempted Not to Fear
Hey! You’re not a bad guy or bad girl, are you? You’re a Catholic; you go to Mass every Sunday and perhaps even daily Mass! You say the Rosary―at least sometimes―or maybe you pray several Rosaries a day! You don’t go around committing mortal sins wantonly―you might fall into one from time to time, but you’re not like the rest of world, are you? What is there to fear?
That was the attitude of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican! Forgotten it? Here is it―is only a short one: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
There is no doubt that the Pharisee was, by all appearances a “good guy” ― the Jews were only obliged to fast on handful of days―apart from times of emergency such as impending danger, or in reparation for extreme sinfulness, or in time of mourning. Yet Our Lord has this Pharisee fasting twice a week! That would make it 104 times a year―almost one third of the year (28% of the time). That even puts the ancient Catholic fasts to shame―such as 40 days of Lent and the whole of Advent combined! As regards tithing, the material goods subject to tithe were grain, wine, oil, the firstlings of herd and flock―whereas Our Lord has the Pharisee gives tithes for every single thing he possesses! The Pharisee even thanks God that he is so good and does not claim personal credit for it! What does he have to fear? He is doing everything right!
Yet Our Lord refuses to justify the Pharisee. Why? Because he was self-centered, self-interested, self-orientated, self-focused. He saw the sinners surrounding him and, instead of doing something for them, he merely said: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican!” Yet Our Lord’s whole purpose for coming into this world was to seek out and save sinners. The Pharisee was a “good guy” but a selfish “good guy” ― focusing on himself, while ignoring the plight of sinners who need saving. Our Lady implies the same thing at Fatima―“ You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners!’ … When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Failure to Save Others Can Lead to Failure in Saving Self
God desires you salvation―but He desires not only YOUR salvation, but the salvation of EVERYONE. We are here to save, not only our own souls, but also the souls of others―such is the spirit and purpose of Christ, as expressed in His own words: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Hence Holy Scripture adds: “Know that, he who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20). Not only will the sinner be saved, but your own sins will be “covered” because of your charity towards the sinner in bringing the sinner back to God: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
You could say that our fate―salvation or damnation―is inextricably tied in with the salvation or damnation of those around us. St. Augustine writes: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!” ― to which we could add that God could save us without the souls that surround us, but God will not save us without the souls that surround. We are, in a certain sense, responsible for the spiritual well-being and ultimate salvation of those that surround us. We all have to work and help each other on the road to salvation―much like the human body must have all its parts working together to preserve life. Holy Scripture puts it this way:
“For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the hand!’ ― is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the eye! ― is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, then where would be the hearing? If the whole body were just hearing, then where would be the smelling? God hath set the different body parts, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one part, then where would be the body? There are many parts of the body, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble parts of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable parts of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another!” (1 Corinthians 12:14-25).
So, too, just as we some beautiful and some ugly parts of the body―the Mystical Body of Christ has some beautiful parts (the just―who are in a state of grace) and some ugly parts (the sinners―who have lost the state of grace through mortal sin). Yet Christ wishes all of His Mystical Body to be saved―He desires no amputations (even though amputations do take place), but there would be no amputations if the healthy members of the Mystical Body (those in a state of grace) were looking after and caring for the sick members (the sinners).
If you suddenly your heart or lungs or liver become sick and diseased―but your healthy feet refuse to carry the heart, lungs or liver to the doctor; and the healthy mouth and tongue refuse to tell the doctor that the heart, lungs or liver is sick―then the whole body risks dying! Likewise with our salvation―if we refuse to look after the sick members of the Mystical Body, then we are risking our own eternal life and salvation. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us ― and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him ― how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:15-17).
Double Standard
We want all OUR SINS to be forgiven―no matter how revolting they may be! “Forgive me all my sins!” (Psalm 24:18). Yet we rarely have the same desire when it comes to the sins of others! If we push that to the limit―then it comes down to: “Save me Lord! Damn the rest!” When it comes to OUR SINS, we turn to Scriptural phrases such as: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow ― and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18).
Yet as regards the SINS OF OTHERS, we invoke phrases such as: “Forgive not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight!” (Jeremias 18:23) … “Pour out Thy indignation upon them and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them!” (Psalm 68:25). “Send forth lightning and scatter them! Shoot out thy arrows and trouble them!” (Psalm 143:6) … “The ways of sinners destroy!” (Psalm 145:9). “Render to them their iniquity and destroy them!” (Psalm 93:23) ... “Put to death all the wicked of the land!” (Psalm 100:8) … “Let sinners be consumed out of the Earth, so that they be no more!” (Psalm 103:35). “Let them vanish away! As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish!” (Psalm 67:3). “Break in pieces their teeth in their mouth!” (Psalm 57:7) … “Break thou the arm of the sinner!” (Psalm 10:15) … “Cut the necks of sinners!” (Psalm 128:4) … “Crush the wicked!” (Job 40:7) … “Kill the wicked, O God!” (Psalm 138:19) … “Rain upon sinners fire and brimstone!” (Psalm 10:7) … “Burning coals shall fall upon them! Thou wilt cast them down into the fire!” (Psalm 139:11) … “Make them as an oven of fire!” (Psalm 20:10) … “Bring them down into the pit of destruction!” (Psalm 54:24). “Fill their faces with shame! Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever! And let them be confounded and perish!” (Psalm 82:17-18). “Do thou destroy them!” (Jeremias 18:23).
But as for OURSELVES, we cry a different tune: “Give praise to the Lord, for He is good―for His mercy endures for ever!” (Psalm 117:1) … “If thou, O Lord, will remember our iniquities, Lord, who shall be able to stand it? For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness!” (Psalm 129:3-4) … “I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost―seek Thy servant!” (Psalm 118:176). “O look upon me, and have mercy on me!” (Psalm 85:16). “I called upon the Name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul! The Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy!” (Psalm 114:4-5). In Psalm 135, all 27 verses end with the words: “His mercy endures for ever!” ― but for us, and not other sinners!
Failure to Save Others Can Lead to Failure in Saving Self
God desires you salvation―but He desires not only YOUR s alvation, but the salvation of EVERYONE. We are here to save, not only our own souls, but also the souls of others―such is the spirit and purpose of Christ, as expressed in His own words: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Hence Holy Scripture adds: “Know that, he who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” (James 5:20). Not only will the sinner be saved, but your own sins will be “covered” because of your charity towards the sinner in bringing the sinner back to God: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
You could say that our fate―salvation or damnation―is inextricably tied in with the salvation or damnation of those around us. St. Augustine writes: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!” ― to which we could add that God could save us without the souls that surround us, but God will not save us without the souls that surround. On Judgment Day, God will say to us what He said to Cain: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). We are, in a certain sense, responsible for the spiritual well-being and ultimate salvation of those that surround us. We all have to work and help each other on the road to salvation―much like the human body must have all its parts working together to preserve life. Holy Scripture puts it this way:
“For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the hand!’ ― is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say: ‘I am not of the body because I am not the eye! ― is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, then where would be the hearing? If the whole body were just hearing, then where would be the smelling? God hath set the different body parts, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one part, then where would be the body? There are many parts of the body, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble parts of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable parts of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another!” (1 Corinthians 12:14-25).
So, too, just as we some beautiful and some ugly parts of the body―the Mystical Body of Christ has some beautiful parts (the just―who are in a state of grace) and some ugly parts (the sinners―who have lost the state of grace through mortal sin). Yet Christ wishes all of His Mystical Body to be saved―He desires no amputations (even though amputations do take place), but there would be no amputations if the healthy members of the Mystical Body (those in a state of grace) were looking after and caring for the sick members (the sinners).
If you suddenly your heart or lungs or liver become sick and diseased―but your healthy feet refuse to carry the heart, lungs or liver to the doctor; and the healthy mouth and tongue refuse to tell the doctor that the heart, lungs or liver is sick―then the whole body risks dying! Likewise with our salvation―if we refuse to look after the sick members of the Mystical Body, then we are risking our own eternal life and salvation. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us ― and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him ― how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:15-17).
Our Current Mess is Down to a Lack of Charity
“Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loves, is born of God, and knows God. He that loves not, knows not God ― for God is charity! … God is charity ― and he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:7-8, 16). However, “because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
A lack of charity―which is what we are currently seeing in the world to an unprecedented degree―automatically triggers a lack of mercy, for mercy is one of the rooms in the mansion of charity. “God is charity ― the Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works! … O praise ye the Lord, for He is good ― for His mercy endures for ever!” (1 John 4:16; Psalm 144:8-9; Psalm 117:29) If we fail to show mercy to others, then we risk not being shown mercy by God. Our Lord clearly stated this: “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man ― so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins! But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences” (Matthew 6:14). “But judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13). “Give, and it shall be given to you ― in good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:38).
That is why the exorcists repeatedly tell us to forgive and not to hold grudges ― for a lack of forgiveness opens the door to Satan, who is unforgiveness personified. Just as charity makes us like God ― unforgiveness (which is a lack of charity) makes us like Satan. People often say: “I don’t get mad ― I get even!” That is the spirit of Satan, not Christ! Our Lord said: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and lets rain fall upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:43-45). Unforgiveness is a sin that, like acid, will destroy its container. Unforgiveness is a sin that will destroy you like an incurable cancer. Unforgiveness is a sin that causes bitterness in our life.
The Current Virus is a Virus of Hate
The real virus we need to fear is the “virus” of hatred ― which is clearly infecting the majority of world to pandemic proportions. Much like the current man-manufactured bio-weapon virus and jabs, hatred is a Satanically-created “spiro-weapon” (spiritual weapon) that is causing even more damage ― eternal damage, eternal damnation. Hatred is the hallmark of Hell, not Heaven. The fruit of hatred is division, whereas the fruit of charity is unity. “Hatred stirs up strife, but charity covers all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). Hatred is so infectious, it is so easily caught and so hard to get rid of! We live in a culture of hate―which is a foretaste of Hell―for in Hell there is no love, no charity, only eternal hatred. Even the devils hate each other―everyone in Hell is all alone with zero friends and 100% enemies. The hatred of Hell is the culture of today’s world―brought to you by “the prince of this world” ― Satan (John 14:30). This spirit of hatred is also very prevalent among Catholics―even Conservative and Traditional Catholics―the Church is divided and hatred for each side of the divide increases with each year. In the middle stands the Devil―the word “devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate” ― that describes the current world perfectly.
Speaking of the tactics of Satan, Fr. Gabriele Amorth―the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome―states: “The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, by inducing man to sin, progressively takes man away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, a lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex.” To counter those tactics that lead to egoism (a love of self) and a dislike or hatred of others, Fr. Amorth says that the everyone should “forgive wholeheartedly whoever caused him evil ― no matter who!”
Minimalists in Mercy
We are very selective, limited or frugal with our forgiveness. Today, you could almost say that people look upon showing forgiveness as a weakness, a cowardice in addressing issues, which allows others to “get away” with their sins and crimes. We even see this attitude in St. Peter: “Then came Peter unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord! How often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times! Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Our Lord indicated much the same thing when He said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee―and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:2). “Thus therefore shall you pray: ‘Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses [debts/sins], as we also forgive our trespassers [debtors/enemies]. And lead us not into temptation! But deliver us from evil!’ Amen. For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:9-15). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful! Judge not and you shall not be judged! Condemn not and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:36-37).
Our Lady Warns: “No Mercy!”
If we want mercy, we must show mercy! If we want mercy from God, then we must ‘show mercy’ to God ― in the sense that we must stop offending Him. That is what Our Lady has repeatedly told us. At Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” At Akita she added: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” At La Salette she stated: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance! … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!”
Yet what is Our Lady’s initial recommendation for all these sins and sinners in the world? Arrest them? Put them on trial? Imprison or execute them? No! Her initial recommendation is for Catholics―that means US―to pray very much for them and to offer many sacrifices for them! Our Lady says: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Our Lord leads the way by His example. When dying on the cross, surrounded by those who had plotted His murder and conducted His tortures, “Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them―for they know not what they do!’” (Luke 23:34). Earlier, at the Last Supper, He had said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Now, on the cross, He was not only laying down His life for His friends―but also for His enemies!
Modern Day Examples of Heroic Forgiveness
All of the above is largely Scripture quotes and so―in a broad sense―‘merely’ theory. Since they say: “Actions speak louder than words”, let us look at some heroic actions of forgiveness―not so much from ancient times, but from our own times. Let us start with a pure Catholic example―that of Maria Goretti, who was to be canonized and is now St. Maria Goretti.
► ST. MARIA GORETTI (1890–1902) AND HER FAMILY. While St. Maria Goretti is universally known as the Patroness of Purity, her greatest virtue was her unyielding forgiveness of her attacker ― even in the midst of horrendous physical suffering. This forgiveness would completely convert him and set her attacker on his path to personal holiness. St. Maria Goretti is the youngest canonized saint in the Church. She died tragically on July 6th, 1902, at the age of 11 after forgiving her attacker. Maria is known as “The Little Saint of Great Mercy.”
Maria was born the third of seven children into a poor, religious Italian family on October 16th, 1890. Her parents, Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini, moved around the countryside to find larger land to cultivate for their growing family. Eventually, they went into business with another family, Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro. In 1900, both families moved and found work under Count Attilio Mazzoleni where they shared a house. The Goretti’s father, Luigi, was stricken by malaria and later typhoid, meningitis and pneumonia before he died ― only months after moving into the new house. Assunta was devastated by the loss of her husband and had to find ways for her family to cope without a father to work the fields. Assunta eventually decided to remain in business with the Serenelli family.
This was a terrible time of trial and suffering for the whole family. For Maria, who was 10 years old, it was especially difficult. Aside from having the responsibility of caring for her family, she had to also cook and clean for Giovanni Serenelli and his son, 20-year-old Alessandro–who assisted Maria’s mother with the farm tasks.
It was also during this time that Alessandro began to develop an impure liking for Maria. It was over the next year that the Serenelli’s son, Alessandro, eight years her elder, began harboring feelings for Maria, which later degenerated into blind passion. The big 20-year-old would say rude and crude things to her, things that were inappropriate and embarrassing, and that would cause her to run away. However, at a certain point he began to make direct sexual advances towards her, demanding her virginity and threatening her with violence for non-compliance. In early June 1902, Alessandro made lewd requests to Maria, who rejected him and fled in tears. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone what he had done. A few days later, he tried again and was rejected a second time. He planned on killing her if she refused him a third time and had prepared a 10-inch long awl as his murder weapon. He terrorized Maria over the next month. She told her mother multiple times not to leave her alone, but her mother failed to grasp the meaning of her insistence.
Finally, after many months of this, Alessandro forced himself upon Maria in an attempt to rape her. On July 5th, 1902, Maria was sewing one of Alessandro’s shirts, by his orders, and watching over her two-year-old sister, Teresa. Alessandro, who had planned out his attack, asked Maria’s mother, Assunta, to drive the cart for a little while he went into the house for a pressing matter. He went into the house and ordered Maria to come in, but she did not move or respond. Alessandro dragged her into the house and locked the door and then tried to rape Maria. Even though she prevented him from raping her, Alessandro brutally stabbed fourteen times ― but she would still live another 24 hours. She was rushed by ambulance to hospital and doctors saw little hope for her, but nevertheless attempted surgery. The surgery, which lasted two hours, was excruciating as it was performed without any sedation.
Maria’s mother spent the next day with her, along with a nurse and two Sisters of the Poor. The sisters suggested Maria should pray and she did, fervently. The local archpriest saw a significant deterioration in Maria’s condition and wanted to administer Holy Communion. The priest told her about how Jesus forgave his executioners, which is when he asked her: “Maria, do you also want to forgive your murderer?”
Maria replied: “Yes, for the love of Jesus, I forgive him and I want him to be in Heaven with me, forever!”
She then received Holy Communion and received her last rites. During the painful 20 hours leading to her death on July 6th, 1902, Maria prayed with her mother, siblings, and priest, stating repeatedly that she forgave her attacker and that she was sure that God had forgiven him, as well.
As her condition worsened, Maria drifted in and out of delirium, reliving the attack and calling out to her parents in the midst of horrendous infections brought on by her fourteen stab wounds. The delusions became more frequent and she suddenly shouted: “What a beautiful lady! Can’t you see her? Look! She is so beautiful, full of light and flowers!” Then, Maria died.
Alessandro was imprisoned immediately following his attack on Maria. Sentencing was on October 15th of that year. When the presiding judge asked Marietta’s mother, Assunta, if she had any final comments before sentence was passed, she answered, “Yes, your Honor. I forgive Alessandro!” There was a momentary stunned silence in the court room, then an indignant outcry from the spectators. “Never!” they shouted. “It shouldn’t be! I would never forgive him!” Assunta, without missing a beat, stared down the protesters and asked them, “And suppose, in turn, Jesus Christ does not forgive us?”
Since Alessandro was still a minor, he was sentenced to only 30 years hard labor. One night during the third year of his confinement, Maria appeared to Alessandro in his cell. According to Alessandro, she was smiling and holding an armful of flowers— often identified as 14 lilies to symbolize the 14 wounds suffered by Maria—which she lovingly offered to the man who had taken her life. Alessandro described being enveloped in a wave of peace. From that moment on, he lived a life of goodness and grace during the remaining years of his prison term. That act of mercy and forgiveness—that act of love—filled Alessandro with contrition for his crime. It was also a turning point for him where grace entered his heart. From that point on, he lived a beautiful and converted life of holiness, eventually becoming a Franciscan lay brother.
In 1929, after having served 27 years of his 30-year prison sentence, Alessandro was released from prison three years early due to his exemplary behavior. His first action as a free man was to visit Assunta Goretti, Maria’s mother, and beg her forgiveness. Assunta said to him: “Maria has forgiven you, and surely God has forgiven you. Who am I to withhold my forgiveness?” She forgave him and the pair attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. That Christmas Eve of 1929, and each Christmas thereafter until his own death in 1970, Alessandro attended midnight Mass with the Goretti family.
Although Maria and her mother had forgiven Alessandro, the local townspeople found it difficult to forget the terrible acts he had committed in his youth. He was rejected by several nearby communities, whose residents treated him as an outcast. He was offered safe lodging at a monastery belonging to the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Alessandro prayed to St. Maria Goretti every day and became a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (a Third Order Franciscan), living in a monastery as a receptionist and gardener until he died in 1970.
St. Maria Goretti was canonized 48 years after her brutal killing. On June 24th, 1950, Maria was canonized by Pope Pius XII at an outdoor ceremony in St. Peter’s Square attended by her mother, her siblings, and the man who had taken her life. Alessandro, who had undergone his own spiritual transformation in his many years in prison, along with 30 other witnesses, testified to Maria’s sanctity during her cause of beatification. St. Maria Goretti is the only saint who has the distinction of having not only her mother, but also her murderer present at her canonization. More than 250,000 people were present at the event.
► ERIC SUTHERLAND LOMAX (1919–2012) was a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942, when he was 23-years-old. He is well-known for his book, The Railway Man, about his experiences before, during, and after Second World War, as one of thousands of British soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942 and forced to build the 418-mile railway to Burma. He was tortured until there was not a patch of unbruised skin between his shoulders and knees―receiving around 900 blows in six hours resulted in broken arms and ribs. At night he was confined to a cage coated in his own excrement. Somehow he survived. But back in Scotland, Lomax was further tortured for decades by nightmares. Post-traumatic stress led to estrangement from his father and the breakdown of his marriage. The mental scars refused to fade. The trauma worsened on retirement, and he spent the Eighties trying to track down his chief torturer and fantasizing about revenge. Eric Lomax writes of the experience:
“If you are a victim of torture you never totally recover. You may cope with the physical damage, but the psychological damage stays with you forever. In 1945 I returned to Edinburgh to a life of uncertainty, following three and half years of fear, interrogation and torture as a POW in the Far East. I had no self-worth, no trust in people, and lived in a world of my own. The privacy of the torture victim is more impregnable than any island fortress. People thought I was coping, but inside I was falling apart. I became impossible to live with; it was as if the sins my captors had sown in me were being harvested in my family. I also had intense hatred for the Japanese, and was always looking for ways and means to do them down. In my mind I often thought of my hateful interrogator. I wanted to drown him, cage him and beat him – as he had done to me. After my retirement in 1982, I started searching for information about what had happened in Siam. The need to know is powerful. In the course of my search I learnt that Nagase Takashi – my interrogator and torturer – had offered to help others with information. I learnt that he was still alive, active in charitable works, and that he had built a Buddhist temple. I was sceptical. I couldn’t believe in the notion of Japanese repentance. I strongly suspected that if I were to meet him, then I’d put my hands round his neck and do him in!”
Just over 40 years after the war ended, in 1987, at the newly-formed Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Eric Lomax heard of a book written by the very man who had been his torturer during the war. In it, Takashi Nagase told how, after the war, he worked for the Allies to locate thousands of burial sites along the Burma Railway. Ashamed of his wartime actions, Nagase set up a Buddhist temple, at the River Kwai, in order to atone for his wartime crimes. He was still haunted, he wrote, by the brutal torture of one particular prisoner―but the depths of his remorse brought him the feeling he had been forgiven.
As he read the book, Eric Lomax realized that he was the prisoner Nagase was describing. He would never forgive! Eric says: “For the first time I was able to unload the hate that had become my prison. Seeing the change in me, my wife indignant wife wrote to Nagase and said so!” Eric’s. A meeting at the river Kwai was arranged between the two old enemies. Lomax set off, simmering with rage, his heart filled with utter loathing and hate. But something extraordinary happened.
Eric Lomax explains: “When we met, Nagase greeted me with a formal bow. I took his hand and said in Japanese, ‘Good morning, Mr. Nagase, how are you?’ He was trembling and crying, and he said over and over again: ‘I am so sorry, so very sorry!’ He was full of compassion, and I think, at that moment, I lost whatever hard armor I had wrapped around me and began to think the unthinkable. I said: ‘We both survived!’ After our meeting I felt I’d come to some kind of peace and resolution. Forgiveness is possible when someone is ready to accept forgiveness. Some time the hating has to stop. I had come with no sympathy for this man, and yet Nagase, through his complete humility, turned this around. In the days that followed we spent a lot of time together, talking and laughing. It transpired that we had much in common. We promised to keep in touch and have remained friends ever since!” Forgiveness turned to a friendship of nearly two decades.
► MURDERED AMISH CHILDREN ― In the fall of 2006, the unthinkable happened when Charles C. Roberts walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse, full of Amish children, armed with three guns. There were 26 students in the schoolhouse. He allowed the 15 boys, a pregnant female student, and three other adult females with infant children to leave safely, but held the remaining 15 girls captive and tied their feet together. His deranged rationale for his actions was that he wanted to exact revenge for something that had happened in his past. Notes that he left behind indicate anger toward himself and God for the death of his newborn daughter, almost nine years earlier. Authorities were alerted, and soon arrived on the scene. After a few terrifying hours, not long after police arrived, Roberts shot 10 girls, killing 5 of them before turning the gun on himself.
In the face of such tragedy, one can only imagine the hurt and anger the loved ones of the victims might feel. Within hours, the Amish families immediately began extending their forgiveness to the gunman and visited his wife and parents to offer them comfort. In an extraordinary demonstration of forgiveness, members of the Amish community, including family members of the deceased victims, attended Robert’s funeral and comforted his widow. The Amish community did not stop there—they also offered financial support to Robert’s widow. A grandfather of one of the murdered girls cautioned the family not to hate the killer: “We must not think evil of this man” while another father of another of murdered girls said: “He had a mother and a wife and a soul. And now he’s standing before a just God.”
► MARY JOHNSON, THE MOTHER OF A MURDERED SON ― In 1993, Mary Johnson lost her only son, Laramium, when 16-year-old Oshea Israel shot him during an argument at a party. Her initial reaction was that she wanted justice. She wanted him to pay for his crime―and for which he did pay. Oshea Israel received a 25 year sentence for second degree murder. Mary Johnson writes:
“I was at work when a caller rang to ask if my son had come home that night and if not I should try to get hold of him. She said she didn’t know if it was true, but she’d heard that his body was at the morgue. I must have fainted because when I came round my supervisor was holding me. I don’t remember leaving the building, or taking the short ride downtown, but by the time I arrived at my sister’s house they had identified the body. Three days later I was told they’d picked up the 16-year-old boy who had taken Laramiun’s life. I believe hate set in then and there. Here was I―a Christian woman―full of hatred!
“I was pleased he was going to be tried as an adult for first degree murder so when the judge suddenly changed the charge to second degree murder I was mad. In court I viewed Oshea as an animal and the only thing that kept me going, was being able to give my victim impact statement. I was inspired by my faith, and so I ended off by saying I’d forgiven Oshea ‘because the Bible tells us to forgive!’ When Oshea’s mother gave her statement she asked us to forgive him, and I thought I had. But I hadn’t actually forgiven. The root of bitterness ran deep, anger had set in and I hated everyone. I remained like this for years, driving many people away. But then, one day, I read a poem which talked about two mothers―one mother whose child had been murdered and the other mother whose child was the murderer.
Suddenly I had this vision of creating an organization to support not only the mothers of murdered children but also the mothers of children who had taken a life. I knew then that I would never be able to deal with these mothers if I hadn’t really forgiven Oshea. So I put in a request to the Department of Corrections to meet him.
“Never having been to a prison before, I was so scared when we got there and wanted to turn back. But when Oshea came into the room I shook hands with him and said: ‘I don’t know you and you don’t know me! You didn’t know my son and he didn’t know you! So we need to lay down a foundation and get to know one another!’ We talked for two hours during which he admitted what he’d done. I could see how sorry he was and at the end of the meeting, for the very first time, I was genuinely able to say that I forgave Oshea. He couldn’t believe how I could do this and he asked if he could hug me. When he left the room I bent over saying ― ‘I’ve just hugged the man who’d murdered my son!’ Then, as I got up, I felt something rising from the soles of my feet and leaving me. From that day on I haven’t felt any hatred, animosity or anger. It was over!
In 2010, after serving 17 years of that 25 year sentence, he was released from jail and returned back to his old neighborhood—right next door to Mary. This was not by accident, but by a remarkable act of mercy. A few years prior to his release, Mary was overcome by the conviction to forgive him, so she set out to do just so through the course of several meetings. After some time, she was able to not only forgive him, but help him upon his departure from prison. In fact, they don’t just live close to each other—they are close in spirit.
Mary Johnson writes: “In March 2010 we gave Oshea a welcome home party organized by my organization and some Catholic nuns from the neighborhood―even some ex-gang members from Chicago drove down to witness what was happening. When Oshea told me he wanted to share his story publicly with me, so that he could help others, I couldn’t believe he wanted to do this! He is my spiritual son! Unforgiveness is like cancer! It will eat you from the inside out! It’s not about the other person ― me forgiving him does not diminish what he’s done. Yes, he murdered my son ― but the forgiveness is for me. It’s just for me!”
Oshea Israel, the killer of Laramiun Byrd, says: “As a child I never looked at myself in the mirror and thought you’re going to grow up a murderer and I’m still trying to figure out how I went so off course to commit such heartache. That night things got out of hand. I was a 16-year-old at a grown up’s party. There was this whole posturing thing going on ― Laramiun was there with his people, I come in with my people and we started playing off our egos. I took it too far.
“The court proceedings were a blur. I separated myself ― it was just my physical shell going through the motions. For years I didn’t even acknowledge what I’d done and would lay the blame on everyone else. I didn’t want to hold myself responsible for taking someone’s life over something so trivial and stupid. You blame everyone else because you don’t want to deal with the pain.
“I realize now that as I was growing up I took certain things too personally. If you don’t forgive people saying stupid and disrespectful things to you, then you walk around with this resentment, collecting more and more baggage. And if something grows and grows, it’s bound to come back to bite you. For instance, I could never forgive how my father’s alcoholism meant he was never there for me. I was defined by my disappointment and bitterness. If I’d had more forgiveness in my life, perhaps I wouldn’t have exploded at the party that night.
“In prison I spent a lot of time in segregation and for a long time had a face on which looked like I didn’t care. Then one day I had a sort of epiphany and started to look at how I was living my life. I went through a real growth process. Luckily I had started changing and educating myself by the time Mary approached me. At first I said no to the meeting because I wasn’t ready, but Mary persisted and, when she tried again, I was in a better place to hold myself accountable. To call myself a man, I had to look this lady in the eye and tell her what I had done. I needed to try and make amends. Whether she forgave me or not was not the point. I walked in without any expectations and it really put me at ease the way she genuinely wanted to know about me. This was something completely new, because, when you’re in prison, no one cares about who you are.
“People ask if I’ve forgiven myself for taking Mary’s son’s life and I think the process of forgiving myself has started, but it’s not complete. I also know, however, if I don’t forgive myself, then I’ll walk around feeling guilt and start to self-sabotage. I have to remember I’m a lot different now from that 16-year-old boy who took a life.
“Knowing Mary has made me more humble, made me approach things differently and not always expect the worst from a situation. Even at the times I don’t believe in myself, when I’m being super stubborn, she’s just as stubborn to keep wishing me better, wanting me to make progress. I am more positive now, because I have someone in my life who supports and believes in me ― even though I know Mary would prefer to be giving all that love and emotion to her son.
“I have learnt that if you hold on to pain, it grows and grows, but if you forgive you start to starve that pain and it dies. Forgiveness is pretty much saying I give up holding on to that pain. Hurt people usually haven’t forgiven and have so much pain, that they end up causing even greater pain.”
► GARY LEON RIDGWAY is better known as the infamous Green River Killer. In 2003, he confessed to the murders of 48 women. In 2011, Ridgway was convicted of the murder of Rebecca Marrero, bringing the victim count up to 49. By his own confession, he may have murdered as many as 60 women. Ridgway especially despised prostitutes and targeted them for his killings. At Ridgway’s 2003 sentencing, the families of the victims had the opportunity to speak out and address Ridgway directly. Understandably, many were angry and lashed out at Ridgway for the unimaginable grief he had put them through. As Ridgway stonily listened to the family members express their grief and anger, one person came up and said something unexpected. When the time came for Robert Rule, the father of teenage victim Linda Jane Rule, to speak, Ridgway finally showed a glimpse of remorse. Rule’s words to Ridgway were: “Mr. Ridgway . . . there are people here that hate you. I’m not one of them. You’ve made it difficult to live up to what I believe, and that is what God says to do ― and that’s to forgive! You are forgiven, sir!” These words brought Ridgway to tears.
► STEVEN MCDONALD ― In 1986, Steven McDonald was a young New York City police officer. While patrolling Central Park, he and his supervisor questioned three teenagers whom they suspected of stealing bicycles. One of the teenagers, 15-year-old Shavod Jones, pulled a gun on McDonald and shot him three times. Doctors were able to save his life, but the incident left him paralyzed and in need of a respirator to breathe. At the time of this heartbreaking event, McDonald and his wife, Patty, had not yet reached their one-year anniversary and were expecting a child. It was suggested to Mrs. McDonald that she put her husband in a home, but the McDonalds stayed together through thick and thin. In spite of everything that had happened, Steven decided that revenge was not the answer. Rather than hold a grudge, he forgave the boy who shot him. McDonald’s forgiveness of Jones was so complete that he attempted to correspond with Jones while he was in jail serving his sentence. The two men wanted to work together to promote forgiveness and non-violence, but sadly, this was not to be. Only three days after Jones was released from prison, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. McDonald did fulfill his own mission though, traveling to various speaking engagements to promote forgiveness, peace, and non-violence.
► IMMACULÉE ILIBAGIZA, a Catholic, is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide that took place in the mid-nineties. Political tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes resulted in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi tribe and of members of the Hutu tribe, who opposed the genocide.
Immaculée Ilibagiza was born and raised in a small village in Rwanda, Africa. She enjoyed a peaceful childhood with her loving parents and three brothers. Education was very important in her household, so it was no surprise that she did well in school and went on to the National University of Rwanda to study electrical and mechanical engineering. It was while she was home from school on Easter break in 1994 that Immaculée's life was transformed forever.
On April 6th of that year, the Rwandan President’s plane was shot down over the capital city of Kigali. This assassination of the Hutu president sparked months of massacres of Tutsi tribe members throughout the country. Not even small, rural communities like Immaculée’s were spared from the house-by-house slaughtering of men, women and children.
To protect his only daughter from rape and murder, Immaculée’s father told her to run to a local pastor’s house for protection. Immaculée and her younger brother, Vianney, managed to make their way to the local pastor’s home, who provided protection from the chaos that was surrounding them. When they arrived, they learned the heartbreaking news that Vianney could not stay. The pastor quickly sheltered Immaculée and seven other women in a hidden 3 x 4 foot bathroom. For the next 91 days, Immaculée and the other women huddled silently in this small room, while the genocide raged outside the home and throughout the country. While in hiding, anger and resentment were destroying Immaculée’s mind, body and spirit. It was then that Immaculée turned to prayer. Prior to going to the pastor’s home, Immaculée’s father, a devout Catholic, gave her a set of Rosary beads. She began to pray the Rosary as a way of drowning-out the anger inside her, and the evil outside the house. It was that turning point towards God and away from hate that saved Immaculée.
After 91 days, Immaculée was finally liberated from her hiding place only to face a horrific reality. Immaculée emerged from that small bathroom weighing just 65 pounds―having lost 50 pounds in weight during her ordeal, and finding her entire family brutally murdered, with the exception of one brother who was studying abroad. She also found nearly one million of her extended family, friends, neighbors and fellow Rwandans massacred. After the genocide, Immaculée came face-to-face with the man who killed her mother and one of her brothers. After enduring months of physical, mental and spiritual suffering, Immaculée was still able to offer the unthinkable, telling the man: “I forgive you!”
Forgiveness Opens the Door to Heaven
While our human nature desires revenge, Ilibagiza chose to forgive the people who killed her family, despite the bitter feelings of rage destroying her. Though not easy, she was determined to let forgiveness, rather than hate, rule her life. Eventually, she met one of the murderers face-to-face and told him directly that she forgave him.
These are just a few of the―no doubt, thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands―of examples of people still showing forgiveness throughout the world in these days of hatred, violence, vengeance and revenge! They―thanks to the grace of God―are beacons who “let their light shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and put into practice the theory of Holy Scripture:
“And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man ― so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins! But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences” (Matthew 6:14). “But judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13). “Give, and it shall be given to you ― in good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to others, it shall be measured to you again!” (Luke 6:38).
Forgive and you open the doors to Heaven. Refuse to forgive and you will be refused entry through those doors to Heaven. Forgiveness is a key to Heaven. Lack of forgiveness is a key to Hell. If want the doors of Heaven to open to you ― then choose to forgive. Hence the OPEN LETTER to YOU ― it is meant to OPEN Heaven to you!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday August 27th & Saturday August 28th
Article 15
The Marks or Characteristics of True Devotion―How Do You Measure Up?
Friday August 27th & Saturday August 28th
Article 15
The Marks or Characteristics of True Devotion―How Do You Measure Up?
DIY Self-Diagnosis
Self-assessment is always a risky business! We like to think we are clever; we like to think we are beautiful or handsome; we like to think we are liked; we like to think that we are well-informed; we like to think that we are good Catholics; we like to think we are doing enough for salvation; we like to think we pray well; we like to think we have a devotion to God, Our Lord and Our Lady, as well as the angels and saints.
We might just like to pause and reflect upon the words of God from Holy Scripture: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together!” (Psalm 13:2-5). Our Lord adds: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants―we have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
DIY Fool
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is famous for saying: “Anyone who takes himself for his own spiritual director is the disciple of a fool!” Another version runs: “He who appoints himself as his own spiritual master has a fool for a disciple.” St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) was a bit of joker and a clown―but he wasn’t joking when he said: “Those who have themselves for a spiritual director have a fool for a spiritual director.” No doubt St. Philip Neri based his comment upon that of St. Bernard.
Whichever version you choose, you get the gist of it, don’t you? The human person has an infinite capacity for self-delusion. Sometimes even intelligence, drive, and good-will can be tools for self-delusion. Everyone will protest that they all mean well, that their intentions are good! Confessionals are full of self-deluded persons who misrepresent or downplay the guilt of their sins. That is why St. Alphonsus Liguori thinks that most Catholics confess badly and invalidly. Hey! Even Judas must have been telling himself that he was betraying Christ for a good reason! The Communists who slaughtered over 100 million people were also telling themselves that they were in the right!
Magic Mirror
You have probably heard of “Snow White” ― the 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms’ Fairy Tales and numbered as Tale 53. If you are somewhat familiar with that fairy tale, then you will recall the mention of a “Magic Mirror.” Being born to a Queen, Snow White is a princess. Sadly her mother dies in giving birth to Snow White and her father, the King, remarries a very beautiful, but vain and wicked woman who practices witchcraft, and makes her his Queen. The “Magic Mirror” belongs to Snow White’s stepmother, and she, in her vanity, consults the mirror every day, asking: “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” ― or as other variants have it: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” or “Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?”
The mirror always tells the Queen that she is the fairest: “My Queen, you are the fairest in the land!” The Queen is always pleased with that response and it satisfied her vanity ― because she knows that the Magic Mirror never lies. But when Snow White is seven years old, reaches the age of seven, she becomes even more beautiful than her stepmother, the Queen. When the Queen asks her mirror, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” it responds: “My Queen, you are the fairest here, so true! But Snow White is a thousand times more lovely, fair and beautiful than you!” This comes as a great shock to the Queen. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, whom the queen grows to hate increasingly with time. Eventually, the angry Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest to be killed.
Even Holy Scripture speaks of mirrors telling the truth! We read in the New Testament: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man seeing his own face in a mirror. For he saw himself, and went his way, and soon forgot what manner of man he was!” (James 1:22-23). In other words, the mirror reflects the truth of what we really look like―but many people either forget or choose to forget what they look like and make no changes at all to their appearance. Likewise Holy Scripture says: “As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water―so the hearts of men are laid open to the wise” (Proverbs 27:19) ― in other words, as the face is reflected in water, so the heart of man is reflected in what a man says and does.
Just about everybody has looked into a mirror at some point in their lives―some do it every day, and some even do it many times a day. We look into the mirror with the firm belief that it will “tell us the truth” and not distort our appearance. There is nothing magical about the mirror―it simply “tells the truth” ― whether we like it or not. That is how people should be with regard to us―they ought to tell us the truth and avoid flattery (which is, in all honesty, a downright lie). That is how our spiritual director ought to be in our regard―being honest, judging us truthfully, not being afraid to wound our pride with the truthful pointing out of our faults. That is exactly what Holy Scripture tries to tell us in the verse: “Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy!” (Proverbs 27:6).
How Does Your Devotion Measure Up in the Mirror?
Self-assessment is always a risky business! We like to think we are clever; we like to think we are beautiful or handsome; we like to think we are liked; we like to think that we are well-informed; we like to think that we are good Catholics; we like to think we are doing enough for salvation; we like to think we pray well; we like to think we have a devotion to God, Our Lord and Our Lady, as well as the angels and saints.
We might just like to pause and reflect upon the words of God from Holy Scripture: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together!” (Psalm 13:2-5). Our Lord adds: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants―we have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
DIY Fool
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is famous for saying: “Anyone who takes himself for his own spiritual director is the disciple of a fool!” Another version runs: “He who appoints himself as his own spiritual master has a fool for a disciple.” St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) was a bit of joker and a clown―but he wasn’t joking when he said: “Those who have themselves for a spiritual director have a fool for a spiritual director.” No doubt St. Philip Neri based his comment upon that of St. Bernard.
Whichever version you choose, you get the gist of it, don’t you? The human person has an infinite capacity for self-delusion. Sometimes even intelligence, drive, and good-will can be tools for self-delusion. Everyone will protest that they all mean well, that their intentions are good! Confessionals are full of self-deluded persons who misrepresent or downplay the guilt of their sins. That is why St. Alphonsus Liguori thinks that most Catholics confess badly and invalidly. Hey! Even Judas must have been telling himself that he was betraying Christ for a good reason! The Communists who slaughtered over 100 million people were also telling themselves that they were in the right!
Magic Mirror
You have probably heard of “Snow White” ― the 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms’ Fairy Tales and numbered as Tale 53. If you are somewhat familiar with that fairy tale, then you will recall the mention of a “Magic Mirror.” Being born to a Queen, Snow White is a princess. Sadly her mother dies in giving birth to Snow White and her father, the King, remarries a very beautiful, but vain and wicked woman who practices witchcraft, and makes her his Queen. The “Magic Mirror” belongs to Snow White’s stepmother, and she, in her vanity, consults the mirror every day, asking: “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” ― or as other variants have it: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” or “Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?”
The mirror always tells the Queen that she is the fairest: “My Queen, you are the fairest in the land!” The Queen is always pleased with that response and it satisfied her vanity ― because she knows that the Magic Mirror never lies. But when Snow White is seven years old, reaches the age of seven, she becomes even more beautiful than her stepmother, the Queen. When the Queen asks her mirror, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” it responds: “My Queen, you are the fairest here, so true! But Snow White is a thousand times more lovely, fair and beautiful than you!” This comes as a great shock to the Queen. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, whom the queen grows to hate increasingly with time. Eventually, the angry Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest to be killed.
Even Holy Scripture speaks of mirrors telling the truth! We read in the New Testament: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man seeing his own face in a mirror. For he saw himself, and went his way, and soon forgot what manner of man he was!” (James 1:22-23). In other words, the mirror reflects the truth of what we really look like―but many people either forget or choose to forget what they look like and make no changes at all to their appearance. Likewise Holy Scripture says: “As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water―so the hearts of men are laid open to the wise” (Proverbs 27:19) ― in other words, as the face is reflected in water, so the heart of man is reflected in what a man says and does.
Just about everybody has looked into a mirror at some point in their lives―some do it every day, and some even do it many times a day. We look into the mirror with the firm belief that it will “tell us the truth” and not distort our appearance. There is nothing magical about the mirror―it simply “tells the truth” ― whether we like it or not. That is how people should be with regard to us―they ought to tell us the truth and avoid flattery (which is, in all honesty, a downright lie). That is how our spiritual director ought to be in our regard―being honest, judging us truthfully, not being afraid to wound our pride with the truthful pointing out of our faults. That is exactly what Holy Scripture tries to tell us in the verse: “Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy!” (Proverbs 27:6).
How Does Your Devotion Measure Up in the Mirror?
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You may have stood in front of a distorting mirror at a Funhouse or Carnival. A distorting mirror, funhouse mirror or carnival mirror is a popular attraction at carnivals and fairs. Instead of a normal plane mirror that reflects a perfect and true mirror image―distorting mirrors are curved mirrors, often using convex and concave sections to achieve the distorted effect.
Sometimes the appearance in the mirror can be flattering―at other times it can be downright embarrassing! You can appear thin, tall, fat, short and countless other variations and combinations. The bottom line is that these mirrors distort the truth―to your advantage or to your disadvantage. The people that surround us are also like mirrors―some are true mirrors that reflect a true image of ourselves, others are distorting mirrors that give us an exaggerated image of ourselves (for better or for worse, in flattery or by putting us down). Our nearest and dearest will usually makes look and feel far better than we really are―while our enemies will make us look far worse than we really are! So when the school calls in the parents to discuss the chronic misbehavior of a particular student, the parents will protest: “Our Johnny would never do anything as horrible as than that! Our Johnny is such a good little boy!” Instead, the finger of blame is pointed at other students. In defending the culpable Johnny and blaming the innocent other students―distortion comes into play on both counts. Our own mind or conscience is also like a mirror that can give either a true image of ourselves or a false image of ourselves. When our mind or conscience distorts the truth, it will have us think or say things like: “I’m holier than most other people!” or “I’m such a big sinner that God will never forgive me!” Whereas the truth might be: “I may not be in mortal sin―but I should a heck of a lot better than what I am! I love God too little and do little penance for my past sins!” This brings to mind the words of Our Lord to one of his mystics. Now, you would think that a mystic is pretty high up on the ladder of goodness and sanctity! Our Lord said to her: “If you could see yourself as I see you―then you would die in terror!” We are forever and always “inflating the price or value of our shares” ― whereas in reality we are not worth that much! Our Lord still loves us! Our Lord still died for us! Our Lord still wants to save us! But we are “little nothings” with very big heads. To Sr. Josefa Menendez―another mystic―He said: “Little still implies some being, but, Josefa, you are less than that, you are nothingness personified!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 173). |
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How Does God See Us?
What, then, do you think Our Lord’s estimation would of us and our level of devotion? We should tremble to think! Yet He loves us, desires our salvation and is constantly working to try and save these little specks of prideful dust! God says: “Why is earth and ashes proud?” (Ecclesiasticus 10:9). We should have the sincere sentiments of Abraham, who said in the Lord’s presence: “I am dust and ashes!” (Genesis 18:27), or the words of Job in the presence of God: “I am compared to dirt and am likened to embers and ashes!” (Job 30:19). Yet both of these men were high up on the ladder of God’s beloved ones!
It is not every day that God speaks to someone as He spoke to Abram (whose name God later changed to Abraham): “The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father’s house, and come into the land which I shall show thee! And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed! I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the kindred of the Earth be blessed!” (Genesis 12:1-3). And of Job we read: “The Lord said to Satan: ‘Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth―a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?’” (Job 1:8).
Yet both Abraham and Job considered themselves to be “dirt … dust … embers and ashes” in the presence of God. Are those our sentiments when we genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament in church? Are those our sentiments when we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist? Are those our sentiments when we assist at His sacrifice in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Are those our sentiments in prayer? Are those our sentiments in Confession? Such sentiments do not exclude a love of God, nor do they exclude friendship with God―but they enforce and cement a deep humility without which there can be no real and lasting relationship with God. The spiritual masters tell us that the higher you want to build the building of sanctity and holiness, then the deeper have to be the foundations of humility. Humility is the touchstone of sanctity. Even in the natural life you see this truth in so many cases. For example, in the training of U.S. Marines, the whole of “Boot Camp” is based upon instilling humility into the recruits―from the moment they step off the bus, they are yelled at and humiliated.
What, then, do you think Our Lord’s estimation would of us and our level of devotion? We should tremble to think! Yet He loves us, desires our salvation and is constantly working to try and save these little specks of prideful dust! God says: “Why is earth and ashes proud?” (Ecclesiasticus 10:9). We should have the sincere sentiments of Abraham, who said in the Lord’s presence: “I am dust and ashes!” (Genesis 18:27), or the words of Job in the presence of God: “I am compared to dirt and am likened to embers and ashes!” (Job 30:19). Yet both of these men were high up on the ladder of God’s beloved ones!
It is not every day that God speaks to someone as He spoke to Abram (whose name God later changed to Abraham): “The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father’s house, and come into the land which I shall show thee! And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed! I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the kindred of the Earth be blessed!” (Genesis 12:1-3). And of Job we read: “The Lord said to Satan: ‘Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth―a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?’” (Job 1:8).
Yet both Abraham and Job considered themselves to be “dirt … dust … embers and ashes” in the presence of God. Are those our sentiments when we genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament in church? Are those our sentiments when we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist? Are those our sentiments when we assist at His sacrifice in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Are those our sentiments in prayer? Are those our sentiments in Confession? Such sentiments do not exclude a love of God, nor do they exclude friendship with God―but they enforce and cement a deep humility without which there can be no real and lasting relationship with God. The spiritual masters tell us that the higher you want to build the building of sanctity and holiness, then the deeper have to be the foundations of humility. Humility is the touchstone of sanctity. Even in the natural life you see this truth in so many cases. For example, in the training of U.S. Marines, the whole of “Boot Camp” is based upon instilling humility into the recruits―from the moment they step off the bus, they are yelled at and humiliated.
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“Humble thy heart and endure! Incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding! And make not haste in the time of clouds!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:2).
Humility is Necessary for a True Devotion
The whole spiritual life must be built upon humility―which is like building on immovable rock as opposed to building on shifting sand. There can be no true devotion without true humility. The saints, theologians and spiritual writers tell us that Our Lady was granted all the many favors she received due to the fact of her deep humility.
Our Lady herself revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda the power and necessity of humility: “The virtue of humility is highly exalted. If thou dost not humble thyself to the dust, thy heart is indeed hardened. Let it then be understood that thou never canst consider or profess thyself sufficiently humbled, even when thou findest thyself despised and trodden under foot by all men―sinners as they are. To merit and to be honored by this virtue of humility, will give thee such perfection and worthiness, make thyself somewhat like unto Him. Without this humility no soul can be raised to excellence and communication with the Lord―for the exalted must first be humbled and only the lowly ones can and should be exalted―and souls are always raised up by the Lord in proportion as they have humiliated themselves.
“I wish that thou carefully imitate me and especially that thou humble thyself to the dust and abase thyself. The example of my humility thou wilt see clearly evident in the special favors, as for instance, when He commanded a temple to be built, in which I was to be honored and invoked even during my mortal life. This and other favors humbled me beyond all human imagination. Therefore, if I thus humbled myself after performing such great things, consider how much more thou must do it in response to such great generosity of the Lord toward thee and after such minimal correspondence on thy part!”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his book The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life (recently renamed The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life), writes: “Our interior life must be a life of humility … This is particularly apparent in the traditional distinction of the degrees of humility, which correspond to the degrees of Charity. This traditional gradation in humility leads to a perfection which is … corresponding to the degrees in the love of God. Humility grows according to the process described by St. Anselm, and repeated by St. Thomas: (1) To know that one is contemptible; (2) to feel affliction at this knowledge; (3) to confess that one is despicable; (4) to wish one’s neighbors to know this; (5) patiently to endure their saying so; (6) to submit to being treated as worthy of contempt; (7) to like being so treated ... Not infrequently Providence allows us to commit some very palpable fault, in order to humiliate us and cause us to take true measure of ourselves. God Himself reveals to St. Catherine of Siena: “Then, having recognized the grievousness of its sin and repented of it, the soul begins to weep, for fear of punishment; then it rises to the consideration of my mercy, in which it finds satisfaction and comfort. But it is, I say, still imperfect, and so, in order to draw it on to perfection, I withdraw from it―not in grace, but in feeling. This I do in order to humiliate that soul, and cause it to seek Me in truth!” (63rd chapter of the Dialogue). “I act in this way in order to bring them to perfection, to teach them to know themselves, to realize that they are nothing and that of themselves they have no grace. Adversity should have the effect of making them seek refuge in Me, recognize Me as their benefactor, and become attached to Me by a true humility!” (60th chapter of the Dialogue).” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life).
Looking at the above degrees of humility―if we are honest (and the humble person is always honest)―then we will have to admit that we would prefer to have a devotion without humility, to be devoted without having to be humble. Described as it above, humility takes the “fun” out of devotion! After all―who wants to know that they are contemptible, have to admit to others that unpalatable truth, to wish everyone to know how contemptible you are, to endure them calling you contemptible, to submit to being treated as contemptible and love it? Human reason, without the aid of grace, recoils and rejects such a thing! Yet there is no other path, no other method―to seek some other way would be like trying to breathe without inhaling air.
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, states: “Humility may be defined as a supernatural virtue, which, through the self-knowledge it imparts, inclines us to reckon ourselves at our true worth and to seek self-effacement and contempt. More succinctly St. Bernard defines it as ‘a virtue whereby man, through a true knowledge of himself, becomes despicable in his own eyes’ … Humility has a twofold basis―truth and justice. Truth causes us to know ourselves just as we are; whereas justice inclines us to act upon that Knowledge ... Humility is likewise the foundation of all the virtues.
“Souls must advance in perfect conformity with God’s will, in a holy abandon and above all in humility … Our pride cannot be trampled upon, except by the humble admission of our unworthiness and our littleness in the face of those absolute rights the Creator has upon a creature … The humble soul sincerely acknowledges that all it has is from God … He can refuse nothing to humble souls who care more for His interests than for their own ... To acquire the virtue of humility means that we are perfecting ourselves in the practice of obedience, of the love of God, of charity ... As regards humility, one should practice, first, what may be called self-effacement or forgetfulness of self ― speaking, but little, giving others the opportunity to speak by means of discreet questions, loving to be unnoticed, to lead a hidden life, etc.”
The Characteristics of True Devotion
Fr. Nicholas Grou, S.J. (1731-1803) a French priest of the French Revolution (1789 onwards) era―a contemporary of St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)―wrote a wonderful book entitled The Characteristics of True Devotion (sometimes translated as The Marks of True Devotion), in which he points out:
► FEW PEOPLE KNOW WHAT TRUE DEVOTION REALLY IS ― “Many people who profess much devotion. Few, however, have any true idea of it! The majority follow their own prejudices with regard to it, or their imagination, or their inclination, or their self-love … Hence arise those innumerable faults to which the devout of both sexes, of every age, of every condition and every state, are subject. These faults are not such as to endanger their salvation; but they hinder perfection and place obstacles in the way of holiness. To the worldly they become an occasion of ridicule and blasphemy; to the weak, a subject of scandal; to ordinary Christians, a pretext which encourages them in carelessness, and deters them from embracing the [true] devout life. Self-love is so blind, the human will so weak, that [most souls] either they do not see themselves just as they are, or a long habit [of imperfect devotion] becomes almost a part of their nature, takes away from many the courage and even the desire to reform; or perhaps they find the model too perfect, and, in despair of attaining to it, they do not even try to approach it. How important, then, for souls to conceive, according to the Gospel, a correct idea of devotion, and to express it in their conduct!”
“What is devotion? Each one defines it in his own way. For a worldling, it is to believe in God, and to have some religious principle. For a saint, it is to be absorbed and lost in God. Between these two extremes there is an almost infinite number of degrees … If we would define it exactly, let us look at the word itself. It is derived from the Latin, and means a vowing or consecration — in short, a giving up. For a person to be devoted, then, is the same thing as to be given up, or vowed, or consecrated to God ... In so far as devotion relates to us and to our duty to God, it must be taken in its broadest and most serious sense. We have no stronger word in our language than that of “devotion” to mark intimate attachment, absolute and voluntary dependence, affectionate zeal — in short, a disposition to submit one’s self wholly to the will of another, to anticipate his desires, to study his interests, and to sacrifice all for him. It is thus one speaks of a child, a servant, or a subject, who is devoted to his father, his master, or his king. We say, also, that a man is devoted to ambition, or to some other passion, when he thinks of nothing else but to satisfy it, and seeks every means to attain that end; when he gives to it all his thoughts, and is so absorbed in it, that he can hardly occupy himself with any other matter.
► THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE DEVOTION FROM WHICH ALL OTHER DEVOTIONS COME ― “The true Christian should know only one single devotion, of which all others are but the extension and the application; namely, that which belongs to God … Devotion to God comprises all this in the highest degree; and it is, over and above this, a consecration, by virtue of which the person consecrated is no longer his own — has no right over himself ― but belongs to God, the Supreme Being. The practice of devotion has its beginning, its progress, and its perfection ― but the act of devotion must be full, entire, and perfect in the will, even in the beginning, at the moment it is formed. Upon this simple definition, one can already judge how rare devotion is among Christians, and whether we ourselves are devoted.
(1) The first and great object of devotion or piety is the glory of God, and the accomplishment of His will.
(2) The second object of true devotion is man’s own sanctification … He should desire to be holy, not according to his own way or his own idea, but according to the way and the idea of God.
(3) The third object of our devotion, that which interests us the most, is our happiness. It is inseparably attached to our devotion to God. Devotion ― rightly understood and rightly practiced ― is the source, and the only source, of solid happiness that man can taste on Earth.
► THE QUALITIES OF A TRUE DEVOTION ― “We now come to the detail of those qualities which characterize devotion to God. Nobody is ignorant that true devotion is supernatural. We can only be drawn to devotion by the influence of grace. God usually grants these graces only through the medium of prayer ― it follows then, that the first thing that inspires devotion is an attraction for prayer. If you have this spirit of prayer, O Christian soul, you have true devotion; but you do not yet possess it if you are led to prayer only by duty and necessity, and not by love and desire. You do not possess it if this exercise is painful to you; if it costs you a great effort; if you are careless, lukewarm, willingly distracted, or subject to boredom; if you count the moments; if you shorten them more than you ought; in brief, if you pay God as a bad debtor pays his debt. In this way, from habit, from routine, from human respect, because the rule or the state of life demands it, one may make many prayers without having the spirit of prayer; and nothing is more common.
► THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER FOSTERS TRUE DEVOTION ― “The spirit of prayer is evidently an interior spirit, since it is a spirit of grace ― that filial affection which is as a continual yearning of the heart towards God our Father. This divine spirit dwells in the inmost recesses of the soul. True devotion is then essentially interior, and it inspires pure thought and pure feeling. From within it diffuses itself without, around, and gives life to all external works of piety. What, indeed, would be a devotion that was purely exterior, that was expressed only in words and vain protestations, or in actions which had no spring in the heart? This would be only an mirage of devotion, which might deceive man, who judges only according to appearances, but which could not impose upon God, whose eye penetrates the soul. By this interior union with God, the soul hallows, net only its vocal and mental prayers, not only the practice of its devotion and good works, but also the actions of his physical nature, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, and those which seem the most indifferent conversation and innocent recreations, all of which are made to redound to the glory of God.
“If it is an abuse to exclude vocal prayer from devotion, it is a much more common fault to banish mental prayer. Is it pardonable for the mature and well instructed person to pray only from a book? Some persons persuade themselves that they are idle if they do not move their lips, and that God does not hear them unless they articulate their requests, often so loudly, too, as to disturb those who are praying beside them! Yet the slightest act which the heart may make, or the slightest feeling which may flow from the heart, pleases God far more, and is far more profitable to the penitent, than long prayers said from a book, while the heart is cold and empty. Vainly do they say that such cold prayers, merely said from a book, stir and nourish their devotion.
► TRUE DEVOTION IS NOT JUST INTERIOR, BUT ALSO EXTERIOR ― “It would be a very great delusion to believe that devotion is only interior, and, under the pretext that God looks within, to suppress vocal prayer, and all other exterior demonstrations. We are men, not pure spirits. It is proper that the body should take part in the homage of the soul, and that our principal organs should be employed in the praise of God. The external accessories of worship ― the order and majesty of ceremonies, the variations and harmony of music, pictures, and other pious objects ― are all aids to devotion. The humble disposition of the body, the bended knee, the folded hands, the eyes modestly lowered, or raised towards Heaven, are expressions of reverence and attention in prayer; and involuntarily the soul manifests its feeling by these external signs. Religion demands a common worship ― a public and external worship. There never was a truly devout person, even though living in solitude, who did not have some fixed time every day for vocal prayer. The interior spirit inspires it. Whether we pray in the house of God, or in private, we should not so abandon ourselves to mental prayer as to omit vocal prayer. Vocal prayer, when joined to the practice of meditation, nourishes the soul. Meditation will be barren and fruitless if not aided by vocal prayer.
The whole spiritual life must be built upon humility―which is like building on immovable rock as opposed to building on shifting sand. There can be no true devotion without true humility. The saints, theologians and spiritual writers tell us that Our Lady was granted all the many favors she received due to the fact of her deep humility.
Our Lady herself revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda the power and necessity of humility: “The virtue of humility is highly exalted. If thou dost not humble thyself to the dust, thy heart is indeed hardened. Let it then be understood that thou never canst consider or profess thyself sufficiently humbled, even when thou findest thyself despised and trodden under foot by all men―sinners as they are. To merit and to be honored by this virtue of humility, will give thee such perfection and worthiness, make thyself somewhat like unto Him. Without this humility no soul can be raised to excellence and communication with the Lord―for the exalted must first be humbled and only the lowly ones can and should be exalted―and souls are always raised up by the Lord in proportion as they have humiliated themselves.
“I wish that thou carefully imitate me and especially that thou humble thyself to the dust and abase thyself. The example of my humility thou wilt see clearly evident in the special favors, as for instance, when He commanded a temple to be built, in which I was to be honored and invoked even during my mortal life. This and other favors humbled me beyond all human imagination. Therefore, if I thus humbled myself after performing such great things, consider how much more thou must do it in response to such great generosity of the Lord toward thee and after such minimal correspondence on thy part!”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his book The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life (recently renamed The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life), writes: “Our interior life must be a life of humility … This is particularly apparent in the traditional distinction of the degrees of humility, which correspond to the degrees of Charity. This traditional gradation in humility leads to a perfection which is … corresponding to the degrees in the love of God. Humility grows according to the process described by St. Anselm, and repeated by St. Thomas: (1) To know that one is contemptible; (2) to feel affliction at this knowledge; (3) to confess that one is despicable; (4) to wish one’s neighbors to know this; (5) patiently to endure their saying so; (6) to submit to being treated as worthy of contempt; (7) to like being so treated ... Not infrequently Providence allows us to commit some very palpable fault, in order to humiliate us and cause us to take true measure of ourselves. God Himself reveals to St. Catherine of Siena: “Then, having recognized the grievousness of its sin and repented of it, the soul begins to weep, for fear of punishment; then it rises to the consideration of my mercy, in which it finds satisfaction and comfort. But it is, I say, still imperfect, and so, in order to draw it on to perfection, I withdraw from it―not in grace, but in feeling. This I do in order to humiliate that soul, and cause it to seek Me in truth!” (63rd chapter of the Dialogue). “I act in this way in order to bring them to perfection, to teach them to know themselves, to realize that they are nothing and that of themselves they have no grace. Adversity should have the effect of making them seek refuge in Me, recognize Me as their benefactor, and become attached to Me by a true humility!” (60th chapter of the Dialogue).” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life).
Looking at the above degrees of humility―if we are honest (and the humble person is always honest)―then we will have to admit that we would prefer to have a devotion without humility, to be devoted without having to be humble. Described as it above, humility takes the “fun” out of devotion! After all―who wants to know that they are contemptible, have to admit to others that unpalatable truth, to wish everyone to know how contemptible you are, to endure them calling you contemptible, to submit to being treated as contemptible and love it? Human reason, without the aid of grace, recoils and rejects such a thing! Yet there is no other path, no other method―to seek some other way would be like trying to breathe without inhaling air.
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, states: “Humility may be defined as a supernatural virtue, which, through the self-knowledge it imparts, inclines us to reckon ourselves at our true worth and to seek self-effacement and contempt. More succinctly St. Bernard defines it as ‘a virtue whereby man, through a true knowledge of himself, becomes despicable in his own eyes’ … Humility has a twofold basis―truth and justice. Truth causes us to know ourselves just as we are; whereas justice inclines us to act upon that Knowledge ... Humility is likewise the foundation of all the virtues.
“Souls must advance in perfect conformity with God’s will, in a holy abandon and above all in humility … Our pride cannot be trampled upon, except by the humble admission of our unworthiness and our littleness in the face of those absolute rights the Creator has upon a creature … The humble soul sincerely acknowledges that all it has is from God … He can refuse nothing to humble souls who care more for His interests than for their own ... To acquire the virtue of humility means that we are perfecting ourselves in the practice of obedience, of the love of God, of charity ... As regards humility, one should practice, first, what may be called self-effacement or forgetfulness of self ― speaking, but little, giving others the opportunity to speak by means of discreet questions, loving to be unnoticed, to lead a hidden life, etc.”
The Characteristics of True Devotion
Fr. Nicholas Grou, S.J. (1731-1803) a French priest of the French Revolution (1789 onwards) era―a contemporary of St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)―wrote a wonderful book entitled The Characteristics of True Devotion (sometimes translated as The Marks of True Devotion), in which he points out:
► FEW PEOPLE KNOW WHAT TRUE DEVOTION REALLY IS ― “Many people who profess much devotion. Few, however, have any true idea of it! The majority follow their own prejudices with regard to it, or their imagination, or their inclination, or their self-love … Hence arise those innumerable faults to which the devout of both sexes, of every age, of every condition and every state, are subject. These faults are not such as to endanger their salvation; but they hinder perfection and place obstacles in the way of holiness. To the worldly they become an occasion of ridicule and blasphemy; to the weak, a subject of scandal; to ordinary Christians, a pretext which encourages them in carelessness, and deters them from embracing the [true] devout life. Self-love is so blind, the human will so weak, that [most souls] either they do not see themselves just as they are, or a long habit [of imperfect devotion] becomes almost a part of their nature, takes away from many the courage and even the desire to reform; or perhaps they find the model too perfect, and, in despair of attaining to it, they do not even try to approach it. How important, then, for souls to conceive, according to the Gospel, a correct idea of devotion, and to express it in their conduct!”
“What is devotion? Each one defines it in his own way. For a worldling, it is to believe in God, and to have some religious principle. For a saint, it is to be absorbed and lost in God. Between these two extremes there is an almost infinite number of degrees … If we would define it exactly, let us look at the word itself. It is derived from the Latin, and means a vowing or consecration — in short, a giving up. For a person to be devoted, then, is the same thing as to be given up, or vowed, or consecrated to God ... In so far as devotion relates to us and to our duty to God, it must be taken in its broadest and most serious sense. We have no stronger word in our language than that of “devotion” to mark intimate attachment, absolute and voluntary dependence, affectionate zeal — in short, a disposition to submit one’s self wholly to the will of another, to anticipate his desires, to study his interests, and to sacrifice all for him. It is thus one speaks of a child, a servant, or a subject, who is devoted to his father, his master, or his king. We say, also, that a man is devoted to ambition, or to some other passion, when he thinks of nothing else but to satisfy it, and seeks every means to attain that end; when he gives to it all his thoughts, and is so absorbed in it, that he can hardly occupy himself with any other matter.
► THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE DEVOTION FROM WHICH ALL OTHER DEVOTIONS COME ― “The true Christian should know only one single devotion, of which all others are but the extension and the application; namely, that which belongs to God … Devotion to God comprises all this in the highest degree; and it is, over and above this, a consecration, by virtue of which the person consecrated is no longer his own — has no right over himself ― but belongs to God, the Supreme Being. The practice of devotion has its beginning, its progress, and its perfection ― but the act of devotion must be full, entire, and perfect in the will, even in the beginning, at the moment it is formed. Upon this simple definition, one can already judge how rare devotion is among Christians, and whether we ourselves are devoted.
(1) The first and great object of devotion or piety is the glory of God, and the accomplishment of His will.
(2) The second object of true devotion is man’s own sanctification … He should desire to be holy, not according to his own way or his own idea, but according to the way and the idea of God.
(3) The third object of our devotion, that which interests us the most, is our happiness. It is inseparably attached to our devotion to God. Devotion ― rightly understood and rightly practiced ― is the source, and the only source, of solid happiness that man can taste on Earth.
► THE QUALITIES OF A TRUE DEVOTION ― “We now come to the detail of those qualities which characterize devotion to God. Nobody is ignorant that true devotion is supernatural. We can only be drawn to devotion by the influence of grace. God usually grants these graces only through the medium of prayer ― it follows then, that the first thing that inspires devotion is an attraction for prayer. If you have this spirit of prayer, O Christian soul, you have true devotion; but you do not yet possess it if you are led to prayer only by duty and necessity, and not by love and desire. You do not possess it if this exercise is painful to you; if it costs you a great effort; if you are careless, lukewarm, willingly distracted, or subject to boredom; if you count the moments; if you shorten them more than you ought; in brief, if you pay God as a bad debtor pays his debt. In this way, from habit, from routine, from human respect, because the rule or the state of life demands it, one may make many prayers without having the spirit of prayer; and nothing is more common.
► THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER FOSTERS TRUE DEVOTION ― “The spirit of prayer is evidently an interior spirit, since it is a spirit of grace ― that filial affection which is as a continual yearning of the heart towards God our Father. This divine spirit dwells in the inmost recesses of the soul. True devotion is then essentially interior, and it inspires pure thought and pure feeling. From within it diffuses itself without, around, and gives life to all external works of piety. What, indeed, would be a devotion that was purely exterior, that was expressed only in words and vain protestations, or in actions which had no spring in the heart? This would be only an mirage of devotion, which might deceive man, who judges only according to appearances, but which could not impose upon God, whose eye penetrates the soul. By this interior union with God, the soul hallows, net only its vocal and mental prayers, not only the practice of its devotion and good works, but also the actions of his physical nature, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, and those which seem the most indifferent conversation and innocent recreations, all of which are made to redound to the glory of God.
“If it is an abuse to exclude vocal prayer from devotion, it is a much more common fault to banish mental prayer. Is it pardonable for the mature and well instructed person to pray only from a book? Some persons persuade themselves that they are idle if they do not move their lips, and that God does not hear them unless they articulate their requests, often so loudly, too, as to disturb those who are praying beside them! Yet the slightest act which the heart may make, or the slightest feeling which may flow from the heart, pleases God far more, and is far more profitable to the penitent, than long prayers said from a book, while the heart is cold and empty. Vainly do they say that such cold prayers, merely said from a book, stir and nourish their devotion.
► TRUE DEVOTION IS NOT JUST INTERIOR, BUT ALSO EXTERIOR ― “It would be a very great delusion to believe that devotion is only interior, and, under the pretext that God looks within, to suppress vocal prayer, and all other exterior demonstrations. We are men, not pure spirits. It is proper that the body should take part in the homage of the soul, and that our principal organs should be employed in the praise of God. The external accessories of worship ― the order and majesty of ceremonies, the variations and harmony of music, pictures, and other pious objects ― are all aids to devotion. The humble disposition of the body, the bended knee, the folded hands, the eyes modestly lowered, or raised towards Heaven, are expressions of reverence and attention in prayer; and involuntarily the soul manifests its feeling by these external signs. Religion demands a common worship ― a public and external worship. There never was a truly devout person, even though living in solitude, who did not have some fixed time every day for vocal prayer. The interior spirit inspires it. Whether we pray in the house of God, or in private, we should not so abandon ourselves to mental prayer as to omit vocal prayer. Vocal prayer, when joined to the practice of meditation, nourishes the soul. Meditation will be barren and fruitless if not aided by vocal prayer.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 25th & Thursday August 26th
Article 14
Swap Your Devotion for a True Devotion
Wednesday August 25th & Thursday August 26th
Article 14
Swap Your Devotion for a True Devotion
A Second-Rate World
Unfortunately, in our modern-day existence, quantity and speed have replaced the ancient values placed on quality and thoroughness. Not that quality is totally disregarded, but it often comes second to quantity. A bottom-line principle that can be seen in the lives of many people is that they want to pay less for things, so that they can afford to buy lots of different things. Now of course, one’s income obviously plays a large part in this, but many of the rich even play the same game. Manufacturers are often more focused on the quantity they can produce, more so than on the quality. If they can make something “look real” then there is no point spending extra money making the real thing. So we have and accept fake stone or brick facades for houses; we have and accept fake furs; fake foods; fake wood; fake gold; fake marble; fake candles; fake glass, etc., etc. We are living in a fake world!
The Real Thing!
We want things that are real and not something counterfeit. We want real money and not counterfeit money. We want real fruit on the table and not plastic fruit. We prefer real flowers to plastic flowers. It has been discovered that some bottled-water―being sold as “spring water”―was actually tap-water, straight out of the faucet! When you buy something that is labeled “organic”, then you expect it to be organic.
People will sometimes resort to fake things when they do not have or cannot have the real thing. They put a false stone façade on their house―or faux stone façade, if you like―since it sounds less false in French than in English! You also have false leather and fake fur (perhaps faux fur sounds less fake!). People will buy faux marble tables and countertops; fake gold fittings and fake gold jewelry; fake diamonds and other fake jewels. Mineral pyrite or iron pyrite, resembles gold and is known as “fool’s gold.”
As one article on counterfeit goods says: “The rise of counterfeit goods and other phony products sold on the Internet has been swift—and it has largely gone unnoticed by many shoppers. But make no mistake: The problem is extensive. Most people don’t realize this, but the majority of listings on Amazon aren’t actually for items sold by Amazon—they’re run by third-party sellers. And even though many, many third-party sellers are upstanding merchants, an awful lot of them are peddling fakes. A major Wall Street Journal investigation recently revealed that Amazon has listed thousands of banned, unsafe, or mislabeled products―from dangerous children’s products to electronics―with fake certifications.
Third-party sellers now dominate Amazon sales, accounting for 54% of units sold on Amazon. A 2018 GAO (Government Accountability Office) report on counterfeits recounts that of 47 products that GAO agency employees purchased from third-party sellers with good ratings, 20 were fake. The sale of counterfeit items now represents 3.3% of world trade. Worldwide, there have been instances of fake chargers causing electrocution deaths, phony cosmetics making a buyer’s face swell up, and pet supplements sickening dogs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies have reported finding carcinogens, bacteria, and waste from both humans and rodents in counterfeit cosmetics. Fake chargers and cheaply-made lithium ion batteries can damage your electronics and even catch fire.”
Fake People
People falsify themselves too! They have false teeth, false eyelashes, false hair―they even go in for plastic surgery to falsify certain aspects of their bodily appearance―removing unwanted fat and bulges, or adding to things like breast size. If you didn’t go to college or didn’t do too well at college―not to worry!―you can fake college degrees and fake diplomas online!
The sad part is that this over-spills into our intellectual, moral and spiritual lives. We fake knowledge, we fake behavior, and we fake piety―in other words, we pretend to be what we are not, we “put-on” airs and graces. We learn superficially—just enough to be able to make it look like we know a lot. Trivia becomes more popular than in-depth knowledge. We become a race of “Tips-and-Tricks”—but we are only tricking ourselves. Morally, the world has never been as sinful as it is today, yet we put on a kind of ‘moral-make-up’ to hide our own sinfulness, but rip-off the mask and make up of other and focus on their sins in order to make us feel better in our own miserable state. Spiritually, we cover the facade of our Temple of the Holy Ghost (which St Paul says we are), with pseudo-gold bricks’. Financially, we are prepared to fall into serious debt, in order to appear, to the world around us, as something that we are not, but simply want to be. I guess that would make us “fake wannabees”!
Fake Confessions
This leads us to the problem of fake, or falsified, or badly made confessions. St. Alphonsus Liguori―the patron saint of moral theologians―has this to say. In talking of the subject matter for sermons, he writes: “The preacher should, likewise, often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent ― especially in small country districts ― which consigns innumerable souls to Hell!” It would be a bad or sacrilegious confession to deliberately conceal or not to confess a known mortal sin. One could fool a priest, but not God who is really the one who forgives sin through the instrumentality of the priest. As Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger writes, back in doctrinally safer and more orthodox days of 1867: “Confession is an express self-accusation, in order to show that the penitent is bound to confess his sins, as he believes them to be, in the Divine sight, without watering-down, without exaggeration, without diminution, disguise or concealment … Every known and remembered grievous sin, at least, is to be confessed; for whoever willingly and knowingly conceals but one grievous sin has made his accusation in vain, and instead of obtaining the benefits to be derived from this saving sacrament, incurred the enormous guilt of sacrilege!”
Just do the math for yourself! It is impossible to go to Hell if you are not in a state of mortal sin. The Sacrament of Confession removes all mortal sins if they are correctly confessed. Yet most souls end up going to Hell! Why? Simply because they never confess ALL their mortal sins and only confess a select few―or, because they confess ALL their mortal sins but confess them badly by watering-down the gravity, concealing or disguising certain circumstances that must be mentioned (e.g. if the sin of impurity was by oneself, or with a single person, or a married person, or a religious person). Once again, you cannot go to Hell if your mortal sins are removed by a good Confession―which means most people are confession sacrilegiously or not confessing at all. Today, only 2% of Catholics go to Confession regularly, and over 50% never go at all.
Change of Heart
Obviously, in such cases, there is little or no true devotion in the hearts of most people. Our Lord’s rebuke applies to them: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). God does not wish the damnation of anyone ― God wants “all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) ― and the starting point is the truthful knowledge of our own sins, followed by an honest and sincerely sorrowful confession of them and the performance of penance for them.
“Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
“I will give them a new heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). Do we need a change of heart? Of course we do! Do we want a change of heart? Now that is another question! Do we?
Lost the Sense of Sin―Lost the Sense of Devotion
It all comes down to our devotion―or lack of it! As both the traditional popes and (surprisingly) also the Liberal and Modernist popes have said―beginning with the post-World War II pope, Pius XII―mankind today has lost the sense of sin. They have lost the sense of sin being the greatest evil in the world―which is why we treat the Sacrament of Confession like a revolving door in our presumption: we sin, we confess, we commit the same sin again, we again confess, we commit the sin yet again and confess again, and on and on and on and on and on it goes! That is clear manifestation and betrayal of lack of devotion, a second-rate devotion, a hypocritical devotion, a false and fake devotion! This should not be so! It is time that we swapped our fake, pretend, “put-on”, “part-time” devotion for the real thing! Empty words that slip off the lip will never be comparable to and will never replace words that truly come from the heart! “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:7-8).
Returning Love for Love
God, Our Lord and Our Lady want love for love―they want our love and devotion in return for the love and devotion that They have shown us: “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19).
We imagine that we love, we convince ourselves that we love, we protest strongly that we love―but our love is very weak. Our love is infected with a love of self and we are far from loving God, Our Lord and Our Lady as we should love Them: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Are you really loving God with your WHOLE heart, WHOLE soul, WHOLE mind and WHOLE strength? Don’t even pretend that you are! There is room for massive improvements in everyone’s life!
“Every way of a man seems right to himself―but the Lord weighs the hearts!” (Proverbs 21:2). “Man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “The Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the thoughts of minds!” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9).
Our Lord bitterly complained to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) of our lack of love towards Him: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
If we persist and continue along our lukewarm path, then that “woe” will fall upon us―for, as God says in Holy Scripture: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest ― ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19). Strong words indeed: “Thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!”
Swapping Your Devotion
Are you really content with your level of devotion to God, Our Lord and Our Lady―not to mention the Angels and Saints? Who can say―who dare say―that their devotion is a high and fervent as it could be? Hopefully nobody! “They loved Him with their mouth―and with their tongue they lied unto Him!” (Psalm 77:36). Hey! If the devotion of most people was a high level, then we would not find ourselves in the mess that we currently see in the Church and the world! It is amazing how many people make mountains of their molehill of a devotion! They imagine themselves to be spiritual super-heroes just because they are among the minority who still regularly attend Sunday Mass (10% to 15%), or because they are amongst the few that pray (or merely say?) the Rosary daily (2% to 4%), or because they go to Confession regularly (2%). All they are doing with such a self-estimation is “lowering the bar” of sanctity to very low levels!
Our Lord never painted devotion in such lowly colors. His standard was high, the bar was high―so high that He warned: “Many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:2-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “One of the Scribes asked Him which was the first commandment of all. And Jesus answered him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy WHOLE heart, and with thy WHOLE soul, and with thy WHOLE mind, and with thy WHOLE strength!’ This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:28-30; Matthew 22:37-38). Does that sound like you? WHOLE heart? WHOLE soul? WHOLE mind? WHOLE strength? Yeah? Are you sure? Is your nose growing longer and longer with your ‘love’, Pinocchio?
Okay! Maybe―just maybe―you do love God with your WHOLE heart, soul, mind and strength! Yet the next hurdle in the love of God is the love of neighbor for the sake of God! Aha! That is where many, if not most, people fail. Love of neighbor does not mean loving family members, or those who are nice to you―it also means loving the not-so-nice people and even your enemies. Our Lord points this out: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you ― ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust! For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not also the heathens do this?” (Matthew 6:43-47). Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” 1 John 4:20).
Taking this devotion or love of God through our neighbor a stage further, Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). Our Lord laid down His life―not just for His friends, but also His enemies. Holy Scripture adds: “In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue―but in deeds, and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18). “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Most people―dare we say all people―have an insufficiently charitable heart! Their charity is misfiring. It is intermittent. It fires and goes cold! It never really gets up a “head of steam” or a “heart of fire”―despite what Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). Sure―we say in the prayer to the Holy Ghost: “Fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love!” Yet, in the case of most (all?) people, those words merely fall from the lips and do not truly come from the heart!
Unfortunately, in our modern-day existence, quantity and speed have replaced the ancient values placed on quality and thoroughness. Not that quality is totally disregarded, but it often comes second to quantity. A bottom-line principle that can be seen in the lives of many people is that they want to pay less for things, so that they can afford to buy lots of different things. Now of course, one’s income obviously plays a large part in this, but many of the rich even play the same game. Manufacturers are often more focused on the quantity they can produce, more so than on the quality. If they can make something “look real” then there is no point spending extra money making the real thing. So we have and accept fake stone or brick facades for houses; we have and accept fake furs; fake foods; fake wood; fake gold; fake marble; fake candles; fake glass, etc., etc. We are living in a fake world!
The Real Thing!
We want things that are real and not something counterfeit. We want real money and not counterfeit money. We want real fruit on the table and not plastic fruit. We prefer real flowers to plastic flowers. It has been discovered that some bottled-water―being sold as “spring water”―was actually tap-water, straight out of the faucet! When you buy something that is labeled “organic”, then you expect it to be organic.
People will sometimes resort to fake things when they do not have or cannot have the real thing. They put a false stone façade on their house―or faux stone façade, if you like―since it sounds less false in French than in English! You also have false leather and fake fur (perhaps faux fur sounds less fake!). People will buy faux marble tables and countertops; fake gold fittings and fake gold jewelry; fake diamonds and other fake jewels. Mineral pyrite or iron pyrite, resembles gold and is known as “fool’s gold.”
As one article on counterfeit goods says: “The rise of counterfeit goods and other phony products sold on the Internet has been swift—and it has largely gone unnoticed by many shoppers. But make no mistake: The problem is extensive. Most people don’t realize this, but the majority of listings on Amazon aren’t actually for items sold by Amazon—they’re run by third-party sellers. And even though many, many third-party sellers are upstanding merchants, an awful lot of them are peddling fakes. A major Wall Street Journal investigation recently revealed that Amazon has listed thousands of banned, unsafe, or mislabeled products―from dangerous children’s products to electronics―with fake certifications.
Third-party sellers now dominate Amazon sales, accounting for 54% of units sold on Amazon. A 2018 GAO (Government Accountability Office) report on counterfeits recounts that of 47 products that GAO agency employees purchased from third-party sellers with good ratings, 20 were fake. The sale of counterfeit items now represents 3.3% of world trade. Worldwide, there have been instances of fake chargers causing electrocution deaths, phony cosmetics making a buyer’s face swell up, and pet supplements sickening dogs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies have reported finding carcinogens, bacteria, and waste from both humans and rodents in counterfeit cosmetics. Fake chargers and cheaply-made lithium ion batteries can damage your electronics and even catch fire.”
Fake People
People falsify themselves too! They have false teeth, false eyelashes, false hair―they even go in for plastic surgery to falsify certain aspects of their bodily appearance―removing unwanted fat and bulges, or adding to things like breast size. If you didn’t go to college or didn’t do too well at college―not to worry!―you can fake college degrees and fake diplomas online!
The sad part is that this over-spills into our intellectual, moral and spiritual lives. We fake knowledge, we fake behavior, and we fake piety―in other words, we pretend to be what we are not, we “put-on” airs and graces. We learn superficially—just enough to be able to make it look like we know a lot. Trivia becomes more popular than in-depth knowledge. We become a race of “Tips-and-Tricks”—but we are only tricking ourselves. Morally, the world has never been as sinful as it is today, yet we put on a kind of ‘moral-make-up’ to hide our own sinfulness, but rip-off the mask and make up of other and focus on their sins in order to make us feel better in our own miserable state. Spiritually, we cover the facade of our Temple of the Holy Ghost (which St Paul says we are), with pseudo-gold bricks’. Financially, we are prepared to fall into serious debt, in order to appear, to the world around us, as something that we are not, but simply want to be. I guess that would make us “fake wannabees”!
Fake Confessions
This leads us to the problem of fake, or falsified, or badly made confessions. St. Alphonsus Liguori―the patron saint of moral theologians―has this to say. In talking of the subject matter for sermons, he writes: “The preacher should, likewise, often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent ― especially in small country districts ― which consigns innumerable souls to Hell!” It would be a bad or sacrilegious confession to deliberately conceal or not to confess a known mortal sin. One could fool a priest, but not God who is really the one who forgives sin through the instrumentality of the priest. As Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger writes, back in doctrinally safer and more orthodox days of 1867: “Confession is an express self-accusation, in order to show that the penitent is bound to confess his sins, as he believes them to be, in the Divine sight, without watering-down, without exaggeration, without diminution, disguise or concealment … Every known and remembered grievous sin, at least, is to be confessed; for whoever willingly and knowingly conceals but one grievous sin has made his accusation in vain, and instead of obtaining the benefits to be derived from this saving sacrament, incurred the enormous guilt of sacrilege!”
Just do the math for yourself! It is impossible to go to Hell if you are not in a state of mortal sin. The Sacrament of Confession removes all mortal sins if they are correctly confessed. Yet most souls end up going to Hell! Why? Simply because they never confess ALL their mortal sins and only confess a select few―or, because they confess ALL their mortal sins but confess them badly by watering-down the gravity, concealing or disguising certain circumstances that must be mentioned (e.g. if the sin of impurity was by oneself, or with a single person, or a married person, or a religious person). Once again, you cannot go to Hell if your mortal sins are removed by a good Confession―which means most people are confession sacrilegiously or not confessing at all. Today, only 2% of Catholics go to Confession regularly, and over 50% never go at all.
Change of Heart
Obviously, in such cases, there is little or no true devotion in the hearts of most people. Our Lord’s rebuke applies to them: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). God does not wish the damnation of anyone ― God wants “all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) ― and the starting point is the truthful knowledge of our own sins, followed by an honest and sincerely sorrowful confession of them and the performance of penance for them.
“Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive! … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
“I will give them a new heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). Do we need a change of heart? Of course we do! Do we want a change of heart? Now that is another question! Do we?
Lost the Sense of Sin―Lost the Sense of Devotion
It all comes down to our devotion―or lack of it! As both the traditional popes and (surprisingly) also the Liberal and Modernist popes have said―beginning with the post-World War II pope, Pius XII―mankind today has lost the sense of sin. They have lost the sense of sin being the greatest evil in the world―which is why we treat the Sacrament of Confession like a revolving door in our presumption: we sin, we confess, we commit the same sin again, we again confess, we commit the sin yet again and confess again, and on and on and on and on and on it goes! That is clear manifestation and betrayal of lack of devotion, a second-rate devotion, a hypocritical devotion, a false and fake devotion! This should not be so! It is time that we swapped our fake, pretend, “put-on”, “part-time” devotion for the real thing! Empty words that slip off the lip will never be comparable to and will never replace words that truly come from the heart! “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:7-8).
Returning Love for Love
God, Our Lord and Our Lady want love for love―they want our love and devotion in return for the love and devotion that They have shown us: “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19).
We imagine that we love, we convince ourselves that we love, we protest strongly that we love―but our love is very weak. Our love is infected with a love of self and we are far from loving God, Our Lord and Our Lady as we should love Them: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Are you really loving God with your WHOLE heart, WHOLE soul, WHOLE mind and WHOLE strength? Don’t even pretend that you are! There is room for massive improvements in everyone’s life!
“Every way of a man seems right to himself―but the Lord weighs the hearts!” (Proverbs 21:2). “Man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “The Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the thoughts of minds!” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9).
Our Lord bitterly complained to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) of our lack of love towards Him: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
If we persist and continue along our lukewarm path, then that “woe” will fall upon us―for, as God says in Holy Scripture: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest ― ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19). Strong words indeed: “Thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!”
Swapping Your Devotion
Are you really content with your level of devotion to God, Our Lord and Our Lady―not to mention the Angels and Saints? Who can say―who dare say―that their devotion is a high and fervent as it could be? Hopefully nobody! “They loved Him with their mouth―and with their tongue they lied unto Him!” (Psalm 77:36). Hey! If the devotion of most people was a high level, then we would not find ourselves in the mess that we currently see in the Church and the world! It is amazing how many people make mountains of their molehill of a devotion! They imagine themselves to be spiritual super-heroes just because they are among the minority who still regularly attend Sunday Mass (10% to 15%), or because they are amongst the few that pray (or merely say?) the Rosary daily (2% to 4%), or because they go to Confession regularly (2%). All they are doing with such a self-estimation is “lowering the bar” of sanctity to very low levels!
Our Lord never painted devotion in such lowly colors. His standard was high, the bar was high―so high that He warned: “Many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:2-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “One of the Scribes asked Him which was the first commandment of all. And Jesus answered him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy WHOLE heart, and with thy WHOLE soul, and with thy WHOLE mind, and with thy WHOLE strength!’ This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:28-30; Matthew 22:37-38). Does that sound like you? WHOLE heart? WHOLE soul? WHOLE mind? WHOLE strength? Yeah? Are you sure? Is your nose growing longer and longer with your ‘love’, Pinocchio?
Okay! Maybe―just maybe―you do love God with your WHOLE heart, soul, mind and strength! Yet the next hurdle in the love of God is the love of neighbor for the sake of God! Aha! That is where many, if not most, people fail. Love of neighbor does not mean loving family members, or those who are nice to you―it also means loving the not-so-nice people and even your enemies. Our Lord points this out: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you ― ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust! For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not also the heathens do this?” (Matthew 6:43-47). Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” 1 John 4:20).
Taking this devotion or love of God through our neighbor a stage further, Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13). Our Lord laid down His life―not just for His friends, but also His enemies. Holy Scripture adds: “In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue―but in deeds, and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18). “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Most people―dare we say all people―have an insufficiently charitable heart! Their charity is misfiring. It is intermittent. It fires and goes cold! It never really gets up a “head of steam” or a “heart of fire”―despite what Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). Sure―we say in the prayer to the Holy Ghost: “Fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love!” Yet, in the case of most (all?) people, those words merely fall from the lips and do not truly come from the heart!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 23rd & Tuesday August 24th
Article 13
No Devotion = No Chance / Little Devotion = Little Chance
Monday August 23rd & Tuesday August 24th
Article 13
No Devotion = No Chance / Little Devotion = Little Chance
Haggling With God!
We are forever trying to tweak and alter our Faith to suit our personal preferences. We imagine ourselves to be modern-day “Abrahams” who are empowered to “haggle” with God and “knock-down” the price of getting to Heaven―since we selfishly feel it is way too high! Abraham “haggled” with God to spare and save the sinful city of Sodom―we “haggle” with God to spare and save our own sinful skin!
“Abraham stood before the Lord and, drawing near, he said: ‘Will Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Will Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in same predicament as the wicked! This is not becoming of Thee! Thou, Who judge all the Earth, will not make this judgment!’
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“And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’”
And Abraham answered: ‘Seeing I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, even though I am dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty just persons? Will Thou destroy the whole city for forty-five?’”
“And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find forty- five!’”
“And again Abraham said to Him: ‘But if only forty just men be found there, what will Thou do?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’”
“Abraham said: ‘Lord, I beg Thee, be not angry if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’”
“The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’”
“Abraham said: ‘Seeing that I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if only twenty be found there?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’”
“Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if only ten should be found there?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’”
“And the Lord departed after He had finished speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place” (Genesis 18:22-33).
Was All Well or All Hell?
Was it a case of “All is well that ends well”? Well, not quite! All was not well―but all was Hell! It seems that not even ten just men were found in Sodom. Abraham’s nephew―Lot―was certainly one just man, but that was not enough. The next chapter of Genesis states:
“Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters―all that are thine bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’
“So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to have his daughters, and said: ‘Arise! Get you out of this place―because the Lord will destroy this city!’ And to them he seemed to speak as it were in jest. When it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: ‘Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him. And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city, and there they spoke to him, saying: ‘Save thy life! Look not back! Neither stay thou in all the surrounding countryside―but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed!’ …
“And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the surrounding countryside, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth. And his wife, looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. And Lot went and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him” (Genesis 19:1-30).
Learning Truth the Hard Way!
Nobody messes with God! Nobody “pulls a fast one” on God! Nobody can fool God! At the end of the day everything has to be “God’s way” or you take the “Highway to Hell”! Sodom took the “Highway to Hell” and God gave the inhabitants of Sodom their just desserts―and those desserts were not sweet desserts: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the surrounding countryside, all the inhabitants of the cities!”
We reap what we sow! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7). “He that sees into the heart, he understands, and nothing deceives the keeper of thy soul, and He shall render to a man according to his works!” (Proverbs 24:12). “Behold, I come quickly, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12).
Playing Abraham’s Game!
We are all pretty much guilty of playing the “Abraham Game” of “haggling” with God over the “price” of Heaven. Abraham said: “If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Will Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men, if they be therein? … What if there are five less than fifty just persons? Will Thou destroy the whole city for forty-five? … But if only forty just men be found there, what will Thou do? … What if thirty shall be found there? … What if only twenty be found there? … What if only ten should be found there?”
We are all―whether we know it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―minimalists with God. We seek the biggest possible rewards for the lowest possible price. That is because we are lacking in devotion―which is direct result of a lack of love God and spiritual things. Similarly to Abraham, we say something like: “If I pray fifty Hail Marys, will I perish? … What if I pray less than fifty Hail Marys? What if I only pray forty-five Hail Marys? What will happen if I only pray forty Hail Marys? What if it is only thirty? What if it just twenty? What about accepting just ten Hail Marys?” The same dialogue could be applied to attending Mass, going to Confession, doing spiritual reading, meditating, etc. Most people are always “on the make”―trying to take advantage of God by giving Him the minimal that it is possible to get away with! That is not true and sincere love! That is not true and sincere devotion! That is selfishness and hypocrisy! “Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” In vain do they worship Me!’” (Mark 7:6-7).
Terms of God’s Contract with Mankind
No―be not deceived! God is not mocked! God Himself “laid down the law” back in the time of Moses―and God never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Here, in a nutshell, is God’s contract―and it basically applies, not only to the Chosen People, but every member of the human race―you can take it or leave it, but you can’t change it, you cannot adjust the clauses, you cannot find exemptions, you cannot find a loophole, it is what it is “For I am the Lord, and I change not!”
God lays down the terms in the Book of Leviticus in the following terms:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Sodom found out the hard way! God has no problem chastising stubborn disobedience and rampant sinfulness―whether it be in the Old Testament times, or the New Testament times, or even in our times―as pointed out by the many cataclysmic prophecies of Our Lady in the last few centuries. We are currently awaiting a repeat of Sodom and Gomorrha―Sodom II, if you like―with more fire and brimstone coming our way as foretold by Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (La Salette).
“If people do not cease offending God, … God will punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father! ... Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Fatima). Sr. Lucia adds that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations ”many times!”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge [the Great Flood in the time of Noe], such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Akita).
Take It or Leave It―That’s How It Is!
If you want God and Our Lady to treat you lovingly and kindly, then you have to show love and kindness towards God and Our Lady, you have be devoted to God and Our Lady. God will not reward sin! God is not senile, doting, forgetful “sugar-daddy”, a doormat over Whom we can wantonly walk on and upon Whom we can wipe our sinfully dirty boots! We cannot sin with impunity (impunity = not being punished). As Our Lady warned at Akita: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” That was said WAY BACK in 1973! Do you think sins have not increased in gravity and in number? Of course they have increased! But who cares? Nobody―or very few! As the recent popes―from Pope Pius XII onwards―have said, the modern world has lost the sense of sin. Once you lose the sense of sin, then you also lose the sense of deserving to be punished for sin!
Love Attracts Mercy
Another aspect of the losing the sense of sin is also the loss of love and devotion towards God―the two things go hand-in-hand. Love does not sin against the object of its love! The more we love the less we sin! “The love of our neighbor works no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). The same applies to God―the love of God works no evil. “But he that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate Me love death!” (Proverbs 8:36).
The more we love, the more God forgives us ― “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
The phrase, “Love God and do what you want!” has been attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo. He speaks of this in his commentary on St. John’s passage of Scripture (1 John 4:4-12). St. Augustine says: “See what we are insisting upon―that the deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity. For many things may be done that have a good appearance, and yet they do not proceed from the root of charity. For thorns also have flowers―some actions truly seem rough, they seem savage; nevertheless they are done for the sake of discipline at the bidding of charity. Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: ‘Love and do what you will!’ Whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.” This passage from the sermon of St. Augustine has been paraphrased as: “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”
Little Begets Little―Nothing Begets Nothing
We are always seeking “something for nothing” ― and that attitude is transferred to the spiritual life, where we expect to be given “free handouts” for not having done any work. Yes―there is a certain amount that God gives us for free or freely gives, but after that initial “handout” we are expected to work. It is not for nothing that Holy Scripture warns: “With fear and trembling WORK out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). WORK is part of the deal! Elsewhere Scripture warns: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has Faith, but has not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). Seven times “works” are mentioned! God must be trying to tell us something!
Our Lord’s parable about the lord who “freely gave” talents to his servants, but expected them to put the money to good use and show some profit: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou delivered two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reap where thou hast not sown, and gather where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewn! Thou ought therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Unprofitable Servants!
Our Lord’s parable should not only strike a chord in our hearts―it should also strike fear into our hearts, in the sense of “With fear and trembling WORK out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Are we not more like the “unprofitable servant” rather than being like the “profitable servants”―the saints? Of course we are―but our blind pride masks the truth from us. Even “a just man shall fall seven times” a day (Proverbs 24:16). We imagine ourselves to be what we are not! We magnify the little that we do―making mountains out of our molehills. Then we minimize the evil that we do―make molehills out of our mountains of sin! We forget that sin―even “teeny-weeny” venial sin―is the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Instead, we create our own list of what we think are the greatest evils in the world―and sin is way down the list! We have lost all sense of the gravity of sin―that is why our days are a constant rush-hour gridlock of sin, where we can easily commit ten, or twenty or more venial sins in an hour and they don’t even appear on the radar of our conscience! It is because we do not take the matter of salvation very seriously!
Our Lady also touches on this subject in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
“The worldlings in their sluggishness are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … Our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments―so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful! In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.”
Our Lady then goes on to speak of the need for a love of the Cross, a devotion to the Cross: “Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider, in thy heart, the image of my Son and Lord―full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of His sacred Body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains …
“By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that, next to ascending to the right hand of His eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
What a Waste of Money! What a Waste of Grace!
The unprofitable servant wasted his master’s money by doing nothing with it―simply burying it in the ground. Money does not grow on trees! Money is not a seed that will grow if you plant in the ground! Not only can you waste money by not using it profitably, you can also waste money by spending it non-essential or useless things.
The richest man in the world, the Amazon chief, Jeff Bezos, founded his space company, Blue Origin, in the year 2000 and has funded it with at least $5.5 billion ($5,000 million) of his own money in order to fly to the borders of outer space―which he achieved earlier this summer. Over 20 years, that comes out to the tune of around $250 million a year or $5 million a week, or almost $1 million per working day (if you take the weekend off). The 14 minute up-there-and-back-down flight lasted only 10 minutes―which included floating around weightless for around 4 minutes. No doubt he will be back up there again―but for now, that 10 minute flight cost him $500 million a minute, or over $8 million per second! He now hopes to start a “space tourism” industry where only the rich will be able to participate―since tickets for the short flight will most likely be at least half-a-million dollars or even several million dollars.
Hey! What a waste of money! How about spending $5,000 million on trying to teach people how they can “fly” to Heaven―not just for 10 minutes, but for eternity! The words of Our Lord come to mind: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
Looking at MONEY spent on entertainment in 2019, Americans spent approximately $3,050 per person on entertainment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number changes every year, and only shows a broad national average. The average TIME spent in leisure and sports activities increased by 32 minutes per day, from 5.0 hours in 2019 to 5.5 hours per day in 2020.
TELEVISION―Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time with 3.1 hours per day. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours per week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). That is around one-sixth or 17% of every 24 hours―but if you take out daily sleeping time (let’s say 8 hours a night), then TV watching becomes 4 hours in every 16, or 25% of waking hours.
COMPUTER USE―Time spent playing games and using a computer for leisure increased by 10 minutes per day. Individuals ages 15 to 24 spent more time playing games and using a computer for leisure than those who were older in 2020. Those ages 15 to 19 spent an average of 2.0 hours per day playing games and using a computer for leisure and those aged 20 to 24 averaged 1.5 hours per day in this activity. Individuals living in households without children under age 18 spent an average of 6.1 hours per day in leisure and sports activities, compared with 4.4 hours per day for those living in households with children.
As regards the SMARTPHONE, according to a survey conducted in February 2021, nearly half of the respondents stated that on average they spent five to six hours on their phone on a daily basis, NOT including work-related smartphone use. A further 22% of respondents (more than 1 in 5) said that they spent three to four hours on average on their phone daily. Therefore, over 70% spend at least 3 hours on the smartphone for non-work related (leisure) activities.
But When It Comes to the Faith…
When it comes to the Faith and the Spiritual Life, the tables and percentages are turned upside down! Only 16% of Catholics attend SUNDAY MASS on a regular basis―an obligation that binds under pain of mortal sin. That number has fallen even more after the enforced closure of churches due to the Planndemic―in some places it is now below 10% not that churches are once again open.
When it comes to the ROSARY―which Our Lady insisted we should not only pray daily, but pray a lot―only around 44% (around 4 in 10) say that they pray the Rosary SOMETIMES but not daily. Only 2% to 4% say that they pray the Rosary daily.
With regard to the Sacrament of CONFESSION according to the CARA survey―the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate—only 2% of Catholics (1 in 50) go regularly to Confession, and three-quarters of Catholics never go to Confession, or go less than once a year. In many parishes, the Sacrament of Confession is currently available only by appointment, and in Europe it has declined to such a degree, that survey groups, who study Catholic practice there, have even stopped asking about it on their questionnaires.
As regards the HOLY EUCHARIST, a 2019 study about the level of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, showed that a majority of Catholics do NOT believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the Consecration at Mass.
We are forever trying to tweak and alter our Faith to suit our personal preferences. We imagine ourselves to be modern-day “Abrahams” who are empowered to “haggle” with God and “knock-down” the price of getting to Heaven―since we selfishly feel it is way too high! Abraham “haggled” with God to spare and save the sinful city of Sodom―we “haggle” with God to spare and save our own sinful skin!
“Abraham stood before the Lord and, drawing near, he said: ‘Will Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Will Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in same predicament as the wicked! This is not becoming of Thee! Thou, Who judge all the Earth, will not make this judgment!’
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“And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’”
And Abraham answered: ‘Seeing I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, even though I am dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty just persons? Will Thou destroy the whole city for forty-five?’”
“And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find forty- five!’”
“And again Abraham said to Him: ‘But if only forty just men be found there, what will Thou do?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’”
“Abraham said: ‘Lord, I beg Thee, be not angry if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’”
“The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’”
“Abraham said: ‘Seeing that I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if only twenty be found there?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’”
“Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if only ten should be found there?’”
“The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’”
“And the Lord departed after He had finished speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place” (Genesis 18:22-33).
Was All Well or All Hell?
Was it a case of “All is well that ends well”? Well, not quite! All was not well―but all was Hell! It seems that not even ten just men were found in Sodom. Abraham’s nephew―Lot―was certainly one just man, but that was not enough. The next chapter of Genesis states:
“Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters―all that are thine bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’
“So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to have his daughters, and said: ‘Arise! Get you out of this place―because the Lord will destroy this city!’ And to them he seemed to speak as it were in jest. When it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: ‘Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him. And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city, and there they spoke to him, saying: ‘Save thy life! Look not back! Neither stay thou in all the surrounding countryside―but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed!’ …
“And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the surrounding countryside, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth. And his wife, looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. And Lot went and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him” (Genesis 19:1-30).
Learning Truth the Hard Way!
Nobody messes with God! Nobody “pulls a fast one” on God! Nobody can fool God! At the end of the day everything has to be “God’s way” or you take the “Highway to Hell”! Sodom took the “Highway to Hell” and God gave the inhabitants of Sodom their just desserts―and those desserts were not sweet desserts: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the surrounding countryside, all the inhabitants of the cities!”
We reap what we sow! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7). “He that sees into the heart, he understands, and nothing deceives the keeper of thy soul, and He shall render to a man according to his works!” (Proverbs 24:12). “Behold, I come quickly, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12).
Playing Abraham’s Game!
We are all pretty much guilty of playing the “Abraham Game” of “haggling” with God over the “price” of Heaven. Abraham said: “If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with everyone? Will Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men, if they be therein? … What if there are five less than fifty just persons? Will Thou destroy the whole city for forty-five? … But if only forty just men be found there, what will Thou do? … What if thirty shall be found there? … What if only twenty be found there? … What if only ten should be found there?”
We are all―whether we know it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―minimalists with God. We seek the biggest possible rewards for the lowest possible price. That is because we are lacking in devotion―which is direct result of a lack of love God and spiritual things. Similarly to Abraham, we say something like: “If I pray fifty Hail Marys, will I perish? … What if I pray less than fifty Hail Marys? What if I only pray forty-five Hail Marys? What will happen if I only pray forty Hail Marys? What if it is only thirty? What if it just twenty? What about accepting just ten Hail Marys?” The same dialogue could be applied to attending Mass, going to Confession, doing spiritual reading, meditating, etc. Most people are always “on the make”―trying to take advantage of God by giving Him the minimal that it is possible to get away with! That is not true and sincere love! That is not true and sincere devotion! That is selfishness and hypocrisy! “Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” In vain do they worship Me!’” (Mark 7:6-7).
Terms of God’s Contract with Mankind
No―be not deceived! God is not mocked! God Himself “laid down the law” back in the time of Moses―and God never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Here, in a nutshell, is God’s contract―and it basically applies, not only to the Chosen People, but every member of the human race―you can take it or leave it, but you can’t change it, you cannot adjust the clauses, you cannot find exemptions, you cannot find a loophole, it is what it is “For I am the Lord, and I change not!”
God lays down the terms in the Book of Leviticus in the following terms:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Sodom found out the hard way! God has no problem chastising stubborn disobedience and rampant sinfulness―whether it be in the Old Testament times, or the New Testament times, or even in our times―as pointed out by the many cataclysmic prophecies of Our Lady in the last few centuries. We are currently awaiting a repeat of Sodom and Gomorrha―Sodom II, if you like―with more fire and brimstone coming our way as foretold by Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (La Salette).
“If people do not cease offending God, … God will punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father! ... Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Fatima). Sr. Lucia adds that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations ”many times!”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge [the Great Flood in the time of Noe], such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Akita).
Take It or Leave It―That’s How It Is!
If you want God and Our Lady to treat you lovingly and kindly, then you have to show love and kindness towards God and Our Lady, you have be devoted to God and Our Lady. God will not reward sin! God is not senile, doting, forgetful “sugar-daddy”, a doormat over Whom we can wantonly walk on and upon Whom we can wipe our sinfully dirty boots! We cannot sin with impunity (impunity = not being punished). As Our Lady warned at Akita: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” That was said WAY BACK in 1973! Do you think sins have not increased in gravity and in number? Of course they have increased! But who cares? Nobody―or very few! As the recent popes―from Pope Pius XII onwards―have said, the modern world has lost the sense of sin. Once you lose the sense of sin, then you also lose the sense of deserving to be punished for sin!
Love Attracts Mercy
Another aspect of the losing the sense of sin is also the loss of love and devotion towards God―the two things go hand-in-hand. Love does not sin against the object of its love! The more we love the less we sin! “The love of our neighbor works no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). The same applies to God―the love of God works no evil. “But he that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate Me love death!” (Proverbs 8:36).
The more we love, the more God forgives us ― “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12) … “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) … “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
The phrase, “Love God and do what you want!” has been attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo. He speaks of this in his commentary on St. John’s passage of Scripture (1 John 4:4-12). St. Augustine says: “See what we are insisting upon―that the deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity. For many things may be done that have a good appearance, and yet they do not proceed from the root of charity. For thorns also have flowers―some actions truly seem rough, they seem savage; nevertheless they are done for the sake of discipline at the bidding of charity. Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: ‘Love and do what you will!’ Whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.” This passage from the sermon of St. Augustine has been paraphrased as: “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”
Little Begets Little―Nothing Begets Nothing
We are always seeking “something for nothing” ― and that attitude is transferred to the spiritual life, where we expect to be given “free handouts” for not having done any work. Yes―there is a certain amount that God gives us for free or freely gives, but after that initial “handout” we are expected to work. It is not for nothing that Holy Scripture warns: “With fear and trembling WORK out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). WORK is part of the deal! Elsewhere Scripture warns: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has Faith, but has not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). Seven times “works” are mentioned! God must be trying to tell us something!
Our Lord’s parable about the lord who “freely gave” talents to his servants, but expected them to put the money to good use and show some profit: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou delivered two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reap where thou hast not sown, and gather where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knew that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewn! Thou ought therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Unprofitable Servants!
Our Lord’s parable should not only strike a chord in our hearts―it should also strike fear into our hearts, in the sense of “With fear and trembling WORK out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Are we not more like the “unprofitable servant” rather than being like the “profitable servants”―the saints? Of course we are―but our blind pride masks the truth from us. Even “a just man shall fall seven times” a day (Proverbs 24:16). We imagine ourselves to be what we are not! We magnify the little that we do―making mountains out of our molehills. Then we minimize the evil that we do―make molehills out of our mountains of sin! We forget that sin―even “teeny-weeny” venial sin―is the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Instead, we create our own list of what we think are the greatest evils in the world―and sin is way down the list! We have lost all sense of the gravity of sin―that is why our days are a constant rush-hour gridlock of sin, where we can easily commit ten, or twenty or more venial sins in an hour and they don’t even appear on the radar of our conscience! It is because we do not take the matter of salvation very seriously!
Our Lady also touches on this subject in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
“The worldlings in their sluggishness are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … Our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments―so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful! In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.”
Our Lady then goes on to speak of the need for a love of the Cross, a devotion to the Cross: “Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider, in thy heart, the image of my Son and Lord―full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of His sacred Body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains …
“By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that, next to ascending to the right hand of His eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
What a Waste of Money! What a Waste of Grace!
The unprofitable servant wasted his master’s money by doing nothing with it―simply burying it in the ground. Money does not grow on trees! Money is not a seed that will grow if you plant in the ground! Not only can you waste money by not using it profitably, you can also waste money by spending it non-essential or useless things.
The richest man in the world, the Amazon chief, Jeff Bezos, founded his space company, Blue Origin, in the year 2000 and has funded it with at least $5.5 billion ($5,000 million) of his own money in order to fly to the borders of outer space―which he achieved earlier this summer. Over 20 years, that comes out to the tune of around $250 million a year or $5 million a week, or almost $1 million per working day (if you take the weekend off). The 14 minute up-there-and-back-down flight lasted only 10 minutes―which included floating around weightless for around 4 minutes. No doubt he will be back up there again―but for now, that 10 minute flight cost him $500 million a minute, or over $8 million per second! He now hopes to start a “space tourism” industry where only the rich will be able to participate―since tickets for the short flight will most likely be at least half-a-million dollars or even several million dollars.
Hey! What a waste of money! How about spending $5,000 million on trying to teach people how they can “fly” to Heaven―not just for 10 minutes, but for eternity! The words of Our Lord come to mind: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
Looking at MONEY spent on entertainment in 2019, Americans spent approximately $3,050 per person on entertainment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number changes every year, and only shows a broad national average. The average TIME spent in leisure and sports activities increased by 32 minutes per day, from 5.0 hours in 2019 to 5.5 hours per day in 2020.
TELEVISION―Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time with 3.1 hours per day. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours per week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). That is around one-sixth or 17% of every 24 hours―but if you take out daily sleeping time (let’s say 8 hours a night), then TV watching becomes 4 hours in every 16, or 25% of waking hours.
COMPUTER USE―Time spent playing games and using a computer for leisure increased by 10 minutes per day. Individuals ages 15 to 24 spent more time playing games and using a computer for leisure than those who were older in 2020. Those ages 15 to 19 spent an average of 2.0 hours per day playing games and using a computer for leisure and those aged 20 to 24 averaged 1.5 hours per day in this activity. Individuals living in households without children under age 18 spent an average of 6.1 hours per day in leisure and sports activities, compared with 4.4 hours per day for those living in households with children.
As regards the SMARTPHONE, according to a survey conducted in February 2021, nearly half of the respondents stated that on average they spent five to six hours on their phone on a daily basis, NOT including work-related smartphone use. A further 22% of respondents (more than 1 in 5) said that they spent three to four hours on average on their phone daily. Therefore, over 70% spend at least 3 hours on the smartphone for non-work related (leisure) activities.
But When It Comes to the Faith…
When it comes to the Faith and the Spiritual Life, the tables and percentages are turned upside down! Only 16% of Catholics attend SUNDAY MASS on a regular basis―an obligation that binds under pain of mortal sin. That number has fallen even more after the enforced closure of churches due to the Planndemic―in some places it is now below 10% not that churches are once again open.
When it comes to the ROSARY―which Our Lady insisted we should not only pray daily, but pray a lot―only around 44% (around 4 in 10) say that they pray the Rosary SOMETIMES but not daily. Only 2% to 4% say that they pray the Rosary daily.
With regard to the Sacrament of CONFESSION according to the CARA survey―the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate—only 2% of Catholics (1 in 50) go regularly to Confession, and three-quarters of Catholics never go to Confession, or go less than once a year. In many parishes, the Sacrament of Confession is currently available only by appointment, and in Europe it has declined to such a degree, that survey groups, who study Catholic practice there, have even stopped asking about it on their questionnaires.
As regards the HOLY EUCHARIST, a 2019 study about the level of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, showed that a majority of Catholics do NOT believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the Consecration at Mass.
Sunday August 22nd
The traditional date for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Article 12
The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart
The traditional date for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Article 12
The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart
Will It? Won’t It? Want It?
At Fatima, Our Lady’s own words were: “But, in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” That is a “loaded” statement! Why did she not just say: “My Immaculate will triumph!” Why did she add: “BUT, IN THE END…”? What is she insinuating by “BUT” and “IN THE END”? If “in the end” she triumphs―what then happens “in the beginning” and “in the middle”? Does she not triumph in the beginning and in the middle?
Right now we can logically conclude that we are the beginning of something nasty in the world! Some would say that we are the beginning of the end! Sister Lucia of Fatima even told us that Our Lady had revealed to her that we have entered the “Last Days” or the “End Times”―so, according to Our Lady herself, we are “at the beginning of the end”! We are soon to be in middle of a crisis that the world has never seen before―of which Our Lady of Akita says: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
We are most certainly on the cusp of, or on edge of, or in the beginning stages of that punishment―of which Our Lord warns in the Gospels, when he speaks of “Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of Heaven shall be moved!” (Luke 21:26). Before those word, Our Lord described some of things that would have “men withering away for fear.” He speaks of both natural disasters and man-made disasters: “Signs in the sun, moon and stars; and upon the Earth the distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves … great earthquakes in different places, pestilences and famines … wars and seditions [civil wars] … nation shall rise against nation … kingdom against kingdom … You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake … You shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends … They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake ... and some of you they will put to death ... But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand!” (Luke 8:9-28). Yes―your redemption shall be at hand, for Our Lady, the Redemptress of Captives, promises “But, in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”
Another “But” by the Immaculate Heart
There is another implicit “but” that comes from Our Lady and is found in the Third Secret of Fatima, which Sister Lucia tantalizingly hints at when she writes about the Faith. In her fourth memoir, which was written from October to December 1941, Sister Lucia copied the first two parts of the Secret from the text of her third memoir, but added a sentence that is not found there. Sister Lucia gave us the first sentence of the Third Secret when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” Like the word “but”, the word “etc.” [et cetera―meaning “and the other/others” or “and the remaining”] is a “loaded” word. This sentence had not appeared in her previous memoir. Sister Lucia purposely inserted it into her fourth memoir to indicate to us what the final part of the Secret is about. In 1943, after having been asked by Bishop da Silva to write down the text of the Third Secret, Sister Lucia was finding the task difficult. She declared to the bishop that it was not absolutely necessary to write out the text, “since in a certain manner she had said it.” Sister Lucia was very likely referring to the additional phrase she had inserted into her fourth memoir, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.
The Opinions Within the Church
► Cardinal Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII) said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past.
“A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939.
► Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
► Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► Fr. J. Schweigle, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► Cardinal Ottaviani said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia, ‘Why this date?’ She answered, ‘Because then it will be clearer.’” Cardinal Ottaviani was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955.
► Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
► Cardinal Ciappi the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them….
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence….
“Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26th, 1957).
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, wrote:
“The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
Time to Take Action
You could rephrase Lucia words ― “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer” ― with the words “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of DEVOTION.”
Devotion
Devotion to Our Lady and the Holy Rosary is the key and the answer to what is about to dawn upon us. “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart” said Our Lady at Fatima, and she also stated “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” In a nutshell, you could summarize it or condense it into one word―DEVOTION. What is devotion?
With all the talk about “devotion” to the Sacred Heart; “devotion” to the Immaculate Heart; “devotion” to the Mass; true “devotion” to Mary—what is this thing called “devotion”? If our salvation depends on it, to a greater or lesser degree, then we had better have some clear ideas about it constitutes! Looking up the word “devotion” in a dictionary can put us on the road to the answer, but it does not furnish it entirely.
Etymology of Devotion
Sometimes the meaning of a word can be traced by its roots—by what we call “etymology”. We find the origins of “devotion” in Latin, rooted in words like: devotus, devotio, devovere, etc. The verb, devovere, giving the past participle devotus, is itself based on the verb vovere, pp. votus, meaning “to give up, to vow, dedicate or consecrate.” The Latin devotus means “faithful”, from which we obviously get our word “devoted”.
Definition of Devotion
If come to more modern times, and look up the word in the book of definitions, the Dictionary, we will encounter such definitions as: (1) earnestness and zeal in the performance of religious duties and observations; (2) religious fervor, reverence, piety; (3) an act of prayer or supplication—now usually used in plural; (4) oblation or offering, such as of oneself or an alms given from religious motives; (5) ardent love or affection; (6) strong attachment; (7) dedication or attachment to a cause, person, principle, etc. (8) zeal, enthusiasm.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
Devotion in the Bible
The Hebrew noun used to denote exclusive dedication of something to God is herem. The root idea is separation and exclusion. This idea is also expressed in the Arabic word harem, whereby the wives belong to one person alone. This property is exclusively God’s and may be used at some time in the future or be set apart for destruction. It is His to do with as He chooses. Things that are devoted to the Lord are most holy and may not be sold or redeemed as might be done with ordinary donations and vows : “Any thing that is devoted to the Lord, whether it be man, or beast, or field, shall not be sold, neither may it be redeemed. Whatsoever is once consecrated shall be holy of holies to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:28). All devoted things belonged to Aaron and his sons, for they were the representatives of God (Numbers 18:14). This same benefit was extended to the sons of Sadoc (Ezechiel 44:29). Likewise, we see the characteristics of intensity and unrelenting pursuit in the notion of devotion: “And they were shut up by him in towers, and he set upon them, and devoted them to utter destruction, and burnt their towers with fire, and all that were in them” (1 Machabees 5:5). This vehement feeling implies intense effort, it suggests single-mindedness. Which is exactly how we ought to be in our spiritual devotion towards God and Our Lady.
Love God with Whole Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength
‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). That is true devotion in a nutshell—whole soul, whole heart, whole mind, whole strength. We even admit that on a natural level. We will say of an outstanding worker or an outstanding athlete, that they put their whole soul, heart, mind and strength into the work/race/game. Let us not try water it down and give a second-rate love or devotion! In this way, devotion is not hard to understand—it means: everything, all, total, nothing held back. It is something “outstanding”, something “out of the ordinary”, something “above the ordinary”, something “extraordinary.”
Yet, an outstanding worker or athlete, an extraordinary musician or artist, did not start out being something outstanding or extraordinary—they worked their way up to that level. The same applies to us in our pursuit of true spiritual devotion. Nobody is made that way, they have to acquire it—and everyone CAN acquire it, if they really wish and try.
You Fanatic!
To those who love themselves, such an attitude will be denigrated as fanatical, ‘over-the-top’, extreme, or some other similar epithet. Yet this is exactly what God is! If God is perfection itself, then He is extreme—for perfection is something extremely good. We call people “fanatics” who blow themselves up, or burn themselves to death, for some earthly cause. “Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it” (Ephesians 5:25). He could have saved us with one drop of His Precious Blood—the Circumcision would have been more than enough. Yet He was ‘fanatical’ about proving His love for us, and even called Peter “Satan” for trying to prevent Him from proving that love through His Passion and Crucifixion: “Who turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:23).
Want to be a Fantastic Fanatic?
The word “fanatic” can be traced back, first to a mid-16th century French adjective, fanatique, which in turn owes its origins to the Latin, fanaticus, meaning “of a temple, inspired by a god,” which itself is based on the Latin word fanum, meaning “temple.” The adjective originally described behavior or speech that might result from possession by a god or demon—behavior or speech that we describe as “fantastic.” St. Paul says that we ought to be temples of the Holy Ghost—hence temples possessed by God, hence fantastic and fanatical in a good sense. “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Sr. Lucia of Fatima echoes this: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that … starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.” (Sr. Lucia, in 1957 to Fr. Augustine Fuentes). Which brings us back to Our Lord’s words to Sr. Josefa: “All I need is to possess your will, for this I cannot find a substitute.”
Many Fanatics Exist Today—But in the Wrong Way
In modern English, we have the word “fan” in the sense of a follower of some person, team or subject. The word “fan” is actually a shortening or abbreviation of the word “fanatic” — and each sport certainly has its fair share of “fanatical fans.” They are usually those who follow the team everywhere, not sparing a thought for time, effort or expense. They support their team through ‘thick-and-thin’, taking the ‘rough with the smooth’, not being turned-off or put-off by lack of success—in short, they are not what we call “fair-weather fans.” The same is true of the Faith—there are the “fair-weather Catholics” who like smooth sailing, calm waters, cloudless sunny skies, warm fuzzy temperatures and no crosses. Then there are the “‘blood-and-guts’ Catholics” who don’t care whether the weather is calm or stormy, or if it’s sunny or bleak, hot or cold—they are not put-off or discouraged by the ever-changing fortunes of life, and sail on resolutely despite all the adversity and all the crosses. These are the devoted ones—or, if you like, the fanatical ones. It is not hard to guess which ones Heaven prefers!
God Demands Devotion
We can very easily make mini-gods of the things that surround us—for our passions are always chomping-at-the-bit for something to expend their force upon. If our Faith—with the aid of supernatural grace, which in turn strengthens the will and intellect of our soul—does not control and tame these passions, then those mini-gods will take root and sprout and, before we know it, grow into trees that are nigh impossible to uproot!
This makes God angry: “Adore not any strange god. The Lord—His name is Jealous—He is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate Me, And showing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love Me, and keep My commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:6-10).
St. Francis de Sales on Devotion
If we were to ask St. Francis de Sales, the author of the spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life, we will find him treating of this subject of devotion at quite some length. In fact, he opens the first chapter of the book with the question: “What is true Devotion?” Here is what he has to say on the matter:
CHAPTER 1 : What is true Devotion?
You aim at a devout life, dear child, because as a Christian you know that such devotion is most acceptable to God’s Divine Majesty. But seeing that the small errors, that people tend to commit in the beginning of any undertaking, are apt to wax greater as they advance, and to become irreparable in the end, it is most important that you should thoroughly understand wherein lies the grace of true devotion—and that because while there undoubtedly is such a true devotion, there are also many spurious and idle semblances thereof; and unless you know which is real, you may mistake, and waste your energy in pursuing an empty, profitless shadow.
Arelius tended to paint all his pictures with the features and expression of the women he loved, and even so we all color devotion according to our own likings and dispositions. One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness—and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although at the same time he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors. This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him; while that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts save under pressure.
Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout. When Saul’s servants sought to take David, Michal induced them to suppose that the lifeless figure lying in his bed, and covered with his garments, was the man they sought; and in like manner many people dress up an exterior with the visible acts expressive of earnest devotion, and the world supposes them to be really devout and spiritual-minded, while all the time they are mere lay figures, mere phantasms of devotion.
But, in fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God—and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind; for that Love one while shining on the soul we call grace, which makes us acceptable to His Divine Majesty—when it strengthens us to do well, it is called Charity—but when it attains its fullest perfection, in which it not only leads us to do well, but to act carefully, diligently, and promptly, then it is called Devotion.
The ostrich never flies—the hen rises with difficulty, and achieves but a brief and rare flight, but the eagle, the dove, and the swallow, are continually on the wing, and soar high—even so sinners do not rise towards God, for all their movements are earthly and earthbound. Well-meaning people, who have not as yet attained a true devotion, attempt a manner of flight by means of their good actions, but rarely, slowly and heavily; while really devout men rise up to God frequently, and with a swift and soaring wing. In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. And therefore we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love.
And forasmuch as devotion consists in a high degree of real love, it not only makes us ready, active, and diligent in following all God’s Commands, but it also excites us to be ready and loving in performing as many good works as possible, even such as are not enjoined upon us, but are only matters of counsel or inspiration. Even as a man just recovering from illness, walks only so far as he is obliged to go, with a slow and weary step, so the converted sinner journeys along as far as God commands him but slowly and wearily, until he attains a true spirit of devotion, and then, like a sound man, he not only gets along, but he runs and leaps in the way of God’s commands, and hastens gladly along the paths of heavenly counsels and inspirations. The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame—love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion, when it is fanned into a flame—and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes it eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations.
CHAPTER 2 : The Nature and Excellence of Devotion
Those who sought to discourage the Israelites from going up to the Promised Land, told them that it was “a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof”, that is, that the climate was so unhealthy that the inhabitants could not live long, and that the people thereof were “men of a great stature,” who looked upon the newcomers as mere locusts to be devoured. It is just so, my daughter, that the world runs down true devotion, painting devout people with gloomy, melancholy aspect, and affirming that religion makes them dismal and unpleasant. But even as Joshua and Caleb protested that not only was the Promised Land a fair and pleasant country, but that the Israelites would take an easy and peaceful possession thereof, so the Holy Spirit tells us through His Saints, and Our Lord has told us with His own lips, that a devout life is very sweet, very happy and very loveable.
The world, looking on, sees that devout persons fast, watch and pray, endure injury patiently, minister to the sick and poor, restrain their temper, check and subdue their passions, deny themselves in all sensual indulgence, and do many other things which in themselves are hard and difficult. But the world sees nothing of that inward, heartfelt devotion which makes all these actions pleasant and easy.
Watch a bee hovering over the mountain thyme—the juices it gathers are bitter, but the bee turns them all to honey—and so tells the worldling, that though the devout soul finds bitter herbs along its path of devotion, they are all turned to sweetness and pleasantness as it treads—and the martyrs have counted fire, sword, and rack but as perfumed flowers by reason of their devotion. And if devotion can sweeten such cruel torments, and even death itself, how much more will it give a charm to ordinary good deeds?
We sweeten unripe fruit with sugar, and it is useful in correcting the crudity even of that which is good. So devotion is the real spiritual sweetness which takes away all bitterness from mortifications; and prevents consolations from disagreeing with the soul: it cures the poor of sadness, and the rich of presumption; it keeps the oppressed from feeling desolate, and the prosperous from insolence; it averts sadness from the lonely, and dissipation from social life; it is as warmth in winter and refreshing dew in summer; it knows how to abound and how to suffer want; how to profit alike by honor and contempt; it accepts gladness and sadness with an even mind, and fills men’s hearts with a wondrous sweetness.
Ponder Jacob’s ladder—it is a true picture of the devout life; the two poles which support the steps are types of prayer which seeks the love of God, and the Sacraments which confer that love; while the steps themselves are simply the degrees of love by which we go on from virtue to virtue, either descending by good deeds on behalf of our neighbor or ascending by contemplation to a loving union with God.
Consider, too, who they are who trod this ladder; men with angels’ hearts, or angels with human forms. They are not youthful, but they seem to be so by reason of their vigor and spiritual activity. They have wings wherewith to fly, and attain to God in holy prayer, but they have likewise feet wherewith to tread in human paths by a holy gracious intercourse with men; their faces are bright and beautiful, inasmuch as they accept all things gently and sweetly; their heads and limbs are uncovered, because their thoughts, affections and actions have no motive or object save that of pleasing God; the rest of their bodies is covered with a light shining garment, because while they use the world and the things of this life, they use all such purely and honestly, and no further than is needful for their condition—such are the truly devout.
Believe me, dear child, devotion is the sweetest of sweets, the queen of virtues, the perfection of love. If love is the milk of life, devotion is the cream thereof; if it is a fruitful plant, devotion is the blossom; if it is a precious stone, devotion is its brightness; if it is a precious balm, devotion is its perfume, even that sweet odor which delights men and causes the angels to rejoice.
CHAPTER 3 : Devotion is Suitable to every Vocation and Profession
When God created the world He commanded each tree to bear fruit after its kind; and even so He bids Christians—the living trees of His Church—to bring forth fruits of devotion, each one according to his kind and vocation. A different exercise of devotion is required of each—the noble, the artisan, the servant, the prince, the maiden and the wife; and furthermore such practice must be modified according to the strength, the calling, and the duties of each individual.
I ask you, my child, would it be fitting that a Bishop should seek to lead the solitary life of a Carthusian? And if the father of a family were as regardless in making provision for the future as a Capuchin; if the artisan spent the day in church like a Religious; if the Religious involved himself in all manner of business on his neighbor’s behalf as a Bishop is called upon to do, would not such a devotion be ridiculous, ill-regulated, and intolerable? Nevertheless such a mistake is often made, and the world, which cannot, or will not, discriminate between real devotion and the indiscretion of those who fancy themselves devout, grumbles and finds fault with devotion, which is really nowise concerned in these errors.
No indeed, my child, the devotion which is true, hinders nothing, but on the contrary it perfects everything; and that which runs counter to the rightful vocation of any one is, you may be sure, a spurious devotion. Aristotle says that the bee sucks honey from flowers without damaging them, leaving them as whole and fresh as it found them—but true devotion does better still, for it not only hinders no manner of vocation or duty, but, contrariwise, it adorns and beautifies all. Throw precious stones into honey, and each will grow more brilliant according to its several color—and in like manner everybody fulfills his special calling better when subject to the influence of devotion—family duties are lighter, married love truer, service to our King more faithful, every kind of occupation more acceptable and better performed where that is the guide.
It is an error, nay more, a very heresy, to seek to banish the devout life from the soldier’s guardroom, the mechanic’s workshop, the prince’s court, or the domestic hearth. Of course a purely contemplative devotion, such as is specially proper to the religious and monastic life, cannot be practiced in these outer vocations, but there are various other kinds of devotion well-suited to lead those whose calling is secular, along the paths of perfection.
The Old Testament furnishes us examples in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Job, Tobias, Sarah, Rebecca and Judith; and in the New Testament we read of St. Joseph, Lydia and Crispus, who led a perfectly devout life in their trades—we have St. Anne, Martha, St. Monica, Aquila and Priscilla, as examples of household devotion, Cornelius, St. Sebastian, and St. Maurice among soldiers—Constantine, St. Helena, St. Louis, the Blessed Amadaeus, and St. Edward on the throne. And we even find instances of some who fell away from the Faith while in solitude—which usually is so helpful to perfection—some who had led a higher life in the world, which seems so antagonistic to it. St. Gregory dwells on how Lot, who had kept himself pure in the city, fell in his mountain solitude. Be sure that, wheresoever our lot is cast, we may and must aim at the perfect life.
Our Current Problems Come Down to a Lack of Devotion
Everyone loves something―usually themselves. God made us, or “wired us”, so as to be able to love. God Himself is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “Charity is of God―and every one that loves, is born of God” (1 John 4:7). God made us to love Him above all: “Love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). The command to love God is found in both the Old and New Testaments.
Already in the days of Moses God commands: “Love God all thy life, and call upon Him for thy salvation!” (Ecclesiasticus 13:18). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength! … Love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul! … Love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, cleaving unto Him! … Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live! … Love the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and keep His commandments and ceremonies and judgments, that thou mayest live! … Love the Lord thy God, and obey His voice, and adhere to Him!” (Deuteronomy 6:5; 11:13; 11:22; 30:6; 30:16; 30:20). “Take care only of this with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God!” (Josue 23:11).
The same command is repeated by Christ in the New Testament: “One of the Scribes asked Jesus which was the first commandment. And Jesus answered him: ‘The first commandment of all is ― “The Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it ― “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” There is no other commandment greater than these!’” (Mark 12:28-31). “The Pharisees came together and one of them, a doctor of the law, asked Jesus, tempting Him: ‘Master! Which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets!’” (Matthew 22:24-40).
You could add Our Lady to the equation and say: “God loveth them that love her!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:15). For, as Holy Mother Church says, in placing the following words into the mouth of Our Lady in the Liturgy of the Mass for the feasts of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd): “I am the Mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24) and “I love them that love me!” (Proverbs 8:17), which is part of the Tract of the Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel (April 26th). Being the “Mother of God”, she is also the “Mother of Love”, for “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God loveth them that love her!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:15).
If we have no charity, if we have no love―then we are nothing! Holy Scripture makes that abundantly clear: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Hypocritical Devotion
Despite the paramount importance of charity and love, a true and sincere love is hard to find. “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Our Lord and Our Lady could just as well say to us what Our Lord said to the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees: “But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42). “Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” In vain do they worship Me!’” (Mark 7:6-7).
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of seven chief kinds of devotion to Our Lady that are false devotions―and one of those seven is a hypocritical devotion. Speaking of false or fake devotions, St. Louis de Montfort warns us: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience, to plunge many others, by this same way, into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said, or of some outward practices which he inspires.
Recognize the Duds and Throw Them Away
“It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them … I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.
Critical Devotees
“The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin.
Scrupulous Devotees
“The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament―as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently.
External Devotees
“External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation [speed]; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities―without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer. For true men of prayer are they who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward practice which always accompanies true devotion.
Presumptuous Devotees
“Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular. They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son? If Mary laid down a law to herself, to save by her mercy this sort of people, she would be authorizing crime and helping crucify and outrage her Son. Who would ever dare think of such a thing?
Inconstant Devotees
“The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon.
Interested Devotees
“There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God, nor to His holy Mother.
St. Louis Farewell Statement
“Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees. who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries [scapulars and medals] of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.” (St. Louis de Montfort’s description of false devotions, True Devotion to Mary, §91-104).
Make Sure Your Car Works
Our devotion could be likened to a car—it is what will take us Heaven if it is in good working order. If it’s not, then it won’t! Most cars don’t make it! Our Lord said, speaking of the road they drive along: “Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:5). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
What’s Your Car Like?
Let us make sure we have the RIGHT CAR for the race, for as St. Paul says so truly—echoing Our Lord’s words about “few there are that find it” — “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Or as St. Matthew says, quoting Our Lord’s own words: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 24:14).
Can you imagine the depth and detail of inspection a racing-car goes through before it is taken out for the race! Likewise we should examine what we call our devotion to Our Lady, with the same depth and detail, and put right what may need repairing and fine-tune what looks to be a little off!
Pedaling Like Crazy!
Can you imagine a cyclist in a bike race! He has put in a mammoth effort all day long and is way ahead of everyone else in the race—or so he thinks! Alas, unbeknown to him, he has taken a wrong turn and is pedaling like crazy down the wrong road! Will he win the race? No way! But, but, but... But what about all the effort he has put into it!?!? Yep! A lot of effort—but down the wrong road, going in the wrong direction!
Like the befuddled cyclist in the bike race, pedaling like crazy, who is ahead of the pack and thinks he is winning, but does not realize that he is on the wrong road, so too is most of the world on the wrong road—they have taken a path that they THINK will lead them to Heaven, they have a devotion that they THINK will lead to Heaven, but perhaps they (and perhaps we too) need to THINK AGAIN!
Where Do You Want Your Reward?
That is a little like us in our life here below. Many put much effort into many things, but rarely the right thing! They have sacrificed much time and money, effort and energy—but they have been pedaling down the wrong road, while thinking it was the right road! They are very devoted people. Paragons of industry. Yet the only reward they get will be short-lived, because their reward will be obtained in this world, which will one day end—sooner than they think—or the world will end for them upon their death. They are devoted, sure they are, but they are devoted to the wrong things—more often than not, worldly things and values. As Holy Scripture says: “Labor not to be rich” (Proverbs 23:4). “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting” (John 6:27).
Our Lord said something similar of the Pharisees: “Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father Who is in Heaven. Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father Who seeth in secret will repay thee. And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward” (Matthew 6:1-5).
Where Do You Carry Your Devotion?
Some people are careful to show devotion in public, but, sadly, it is “just for show”! For when they are in private, when they are alone and nobody is there to notice them, their devotion takes a remarkable dip. There are many who show devotion to Our Lady, who, in reality, seek to impress others. Yet, while it seems as though they have a devotion to Our Lady, it is a mere lip service—a lip service that does not come from the heart, but the lips alone.
This kind of devotion is condemned by Our Lord, when He says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8), which is nothing new and not just confined to our time, or the New Testament. It was also true of fake devotees in the Old Testament, which made God angrily say through His prophet, Isaias: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me, and they have feared Me with the commandment and doctrines of men” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord merely repeats what His Father said through Isaias—and the same must be said today.
You Either Have It, Or You Don’t
There is an axiom of Philosophy that states: “You cannot give what you have not got!” If we do not have real devotion in our hearts, then we cannot show devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is what Heaven demands of us today. If I do not have a bike, I cannot enter a bike race—never mind thinking about winning it! If I cannot speak French or Spanish, then it is pointless trying to apply for a job as French or Spanish interpreter! It is pointless trying to bake a cake or bread, if I do not have an oven or fire.
By the same token, we could coin a phrase similar to the above one, which says: “There is no point acquiring devotion if I imagine that I already possess it!” In other words, I am not going to put the kettle on the stove if I have just done it several seconds ago! I am not going to take a shower if I have just finished taking one. I am not going to have dinner if I just finished it a minute ago. Here, the devil’s ploy is to make us mistakenly imagine that the feelings we have in our heart and the actions that we customarily perform are already proofs of devotion. It is like trying pass of counterfeit money for the real thing. The devil tells us: “You already have a devotion! What’s the point of trying to acquire one? It’s a waste of time!”
We will finish with the words of Fr. Faber, from his Preface in his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary original French version into English:
Fiery Faber
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Here in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized.
Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignon de Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ.” (Fr. Frederick Faber, Preface, True Devotion to Mary).
Yes―God and His Only Begotten Son want to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart throughout the world! Make sure your devotion is not a fake or false devotion and is worthy of idea, notion and definition of what “devotion” entails and of what it consists!
At Fatima, Our Lady’s own words were: “But, in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” That is a “loaded” statement! Why did she not just say: “My Immaculate will triumph!” Why did she add: “BUT, IN THE END…”? What is she insinuating by “BUT” and “IN THE END”? If “in the end” she triumphs―what then happens “in the beginning” and “in the middle”? Does she not triumph in the beginning and in the middle?
Right now we can logically conclude that we are the beginning of something nasty in the world! Some would say that we are the beginning of the end! Sister Lucia of Fatima even told us that Our Lady had revealed to her that we have entered the “Last Days” or the “End Times”―so, according to Our Lady herself, we are “at the beginning of the end”! We are soon to be in middle of a crisis that the world has never seen before―of which Our Lady of Akita says: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
We are most certainly on the cusp of, or on edge of, or in the beginning stages of that punishment―of which Our Lord warns in the Gospels, when he speaks of “Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of Heaven shall be moved!” (Luke 21:26). Before those word, Our Lord described some of things that would have “men withering away for fear.” He speaks of both natural disasters and man-made disasters: “Signs in the sun, moon and stars; and upon the Earth the distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves … great earthquakes in different places, pestilences and famines … wars and seditions [civil wars] … nation shall rise against nation … kingdom against kingdom … You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake … You shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends … They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake ... and some of you they will put to death ... But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand!” (Luke 8:9-28). Yes―your redemption shall be at hand, for Our Lady, the Redemptress of Captives, promises “But, in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”
Another “But” by the Immaculate Heart
There is another implicit “but” that comes from Our Lady and is found in the Third Secret of Fatima, which Sister Lucia tantalizingly hints at when she writes about the Faith. In her fourth memoir, which was written from October to December 1941, Sister Lucia copied the first two parts of the Secret from the text of her third memoir, but added a sentence that is not found there. Sister Lucia gave us the first sentence of the Third Secret when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” Like the word “but”, the word “etc.” [et cetera―meaning “and the other/others” or “and the remaining”] is a “loaded” word. This sentence had not appeared in her previous memoir. Sister Lucia purposely inserted it into her fourth memoir to indicate to us what the final part of the Secret is about. In 1943, after having been asked by Bishop da Silva to write down the text of the Third Secret, Sister Lucia was finding the task difficult. She declared to the bishop that it was not absolutely necessary to write out the text, “since in a certain manner she had said it.” Sister Lucia was very likely referring to the additional phrase she had inserted into her fourth memoir, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.
The Opinions Within the Church
► Cardinal Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII) said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past.
“A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939.
► Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
► Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► Fr. J. Schweigle, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► Cardinal Ottaviani said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia, ‘Why this date?’ She answered, ‘Because then it will be clearer.’” Cardinal Ottaviani was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955.
► Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
► Cardinal Ciappi the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them….
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence….
“Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26th, 1957).
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, wrote:
“The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
Time to Take Action
You could rephrase Lucia words ― “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer” ― with the words “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of DEVOTION.”
Devotion
Devotion to Our Lady and the Holy Rosary is the key and the answer to what is about to dawn upon us. “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart” said Our Lady at Fatima, and she also stated “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” In a nutshell, you could summarize it or condense it into one word―DEVOTION. What is devotion?
With all the talk about “devotion” to the Sacred Heart; “devotion” to the Immaculate Heart; “devotion” to the Mass; true “devotion” to Mary—what is this thing called “devotion”? If our salvation depends on it, to a greater or lesser degree, then we had better have some clear ideas about it constitutes! Looking up the word “devotion” in a dictionary can put us on the road to the answer, but it does not furnish it entirely.
Etymology of Devotion
Sometimes the meaning of a word can be traced by its roots—by what we call “etymology”. We find the origins of “devotion” in Latin, rooted in words like: devotus, devotio, devovere, etc. The verb, devovere, giving the past participle devotus, is itself based on the verb vovere, pp. votus, meaning “to give up, to vow, dedicate or consecrate.” The Latin devotus means “faithful”, from which we obviously get our word “devoted”.
Definition of Devotion
If come to more modern times, and look up the word in the book of definitions, the Dictionary, we will encounter such definitions as: (1) earnestness and zeal in the performance of religious duties and observations; (2) religious fervor, reverence, piety; (3) an act of prayer or supplication—now usually used in plural; (4) oblation or offering, such as of oneself or an alms given from religious motives; (5) ardent love or affection; (6) strong attachment; (7) dedication or attachment to a cause, person, principle, etc. (8) zeal, enthusiasm.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
This gives us a clear picture of “devotion” being a cut-above the average, being something especially noticeable due to the presence of a zeal, a fervor, an enthusiasm, a strong attachment and ardent love for some thing or some person. It rules out notions like lukewarmness, tepidity, torpor, sloth, indifference, inconsistency, sporadic, half-hearted, selfish, etc.
Devotion in the Bible
The Hebrew noun used to denote exclusive dedication of something to God is herem. The root idea is separation and exclusion. This idea is also expressed in the Arabic word harem, whereby the wives belong to one person alone. This property is exclusively God’s and may be used at some time in the future or be set apart for destruction. It is His to do with as He chooses. Things that are devoted to the Lord are most holy and may not be sold or redeemed as might be done with ordinary donations and vows : “Any thing that is devoted to the Lord, whether it be man, or beast, or field, shall not be sold, neither may it be redeemed. Whatsoever is once consecrated shall be holy of holies to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:28). All devoted things belonged to Aaron and his sons, for they were the representatives of God (Numbers 18:14). This same benefit was extended to the sons of Sadoc (Ezechiel 44:29). Likewise, we see the characteristics of intensity and unrelenting pursuit in the notion of devotion: “And they were shut up by him in towers, and he set upon them, and devoted them to utter destruction, and burnt their towers with fire, and all that were in them” (1 Machabees 5:5). This vehement feeling implies intense effort, it suggests single-mindedness. Which is exactly how we ought to be in our spiritual devotion towards God and Our Lady.
Love God with Whole Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength
‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). That is true devotion in a nutshell—whole soul, whole heart, whole mind, whole strength. We even admit that on a natural level. We will say of an outstanding worker or an outstanding athlete, that they put their whole soul, heart, mind and strength into the work/race/game. Let us not try water it down and give a second-rate love or devotion! In this way, devotion is not hard to understand—it means: everything, all, total, nothing held back. It is something “outstanding”, something “out of the ordinary”, something “above the ordinary”, something “extraordinary.”
Yet, an outstanding worker or athlete, an extraordinary musician or artist, did not start out being something outstanding or extraordinary—they worked their way up to that level. The same applies to us in our pursuit of true spiritual devotion. Nobody is made that way, they have to acquire it—and everyone CAN acquire it, if they really wish and try.
You Fanatic!
To those who love themselves, such an attitude will be denigrated as fanatical, ‘over-the-top’, extreme, or some other similar epithet. Yet this is exactly what God is! If God is perfection itself, then He is extreme—for perfection is something extremely good. We call people “fanatics” who blow themselves up, or burn themselves to death, for some earthly cause. “Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it” (Ephesians 5:25). He could have saved us with one drop of His Precious Blood—the Circumcision would have been more than enough. Yet He was ‘fanatical’ about proving His love for us, and even called Peter “Satan” for trying to prevent Him from proving that love through His Passion and Crucifixion: “Who turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:23).
Want to be a Fantastic Fanatic?
The word “fanatic” can be traced back, first to a mid-16th century French adjective, fanatique, which in turn owes its origins to the Latin, fanaticus, meaning “of a temple, inspired by a god,” which itself is based on the Latin word fanum, meaning “temple.” The adjective originally described behavior or speech that might result from possession by a god or demon—behavior or speech that we describe as “fantastic.” St. Paul says that we ought to be temples of the Holy Ghost—hence temples possessed by God, hence fantastic and fanatical in a good sense. “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Sr. Lucia of Fatima echoes this: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that … starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.” (Sr. Lucia, in 1957 to Fr. Augustine Fuentes). Which brings us back to Our Lord’s words to Sr. Josefa: “All I need is to possess your will, for this I cannot find a substitute.”
Many Fanatics Exist Today—But in the Wrong Way
In modern English, we have the word “fan” in the sense of a follower of some person, team or subject. The word “fan” is actually a shortening or abbreviation of the word “fanatic” — and each sport certainly has its fair share of “fanatical fans.” They are usually those who follow the team everywhere, not sparing a thought for time, effort or expense. They support their team through ‘thick-and-thin’, taking the ‘rough with the smooth’, not being turned-off or put-off by lack of success—in short, they are not what we call “fair-weather fans.” The same is true of the Faith—there are the “fair-weather Catholics” who like smooth sailing, calm waters, cloudless sunny skies, warm fuzzy temperatures and no crosses. Then there are the “‘blood-and-guts’ Catholics” who don’t care whether the weather is calm or stormy, or if it’s sunny or bleak, hot or cold—they are not put-off or discouraged by the ever-changing fortunes of life, and sail on resolutely despite all the adversity and all the crosses. These are the devoted ones—or, if you like, the fanatical ones. It is not hard to guess which ones Heaven prefers!
God Demands Devotion
We can very easily make mini-gods of the things that surround us—for our passions are always chomping-at-the-bit for something to expend their force upon. If our Faith—with the aid of supernatural grace, which in turn strengthens the will and intellect of our soul—does not control and tame these passions, then those mini-gods will take root and sprout and, before we know it, grow into trees that are nigh impossible to uproot!
This makes God angry: “Adore not any strange god. The Lord—His name is Jealous—He is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate Me, And showing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love Me, and keep My commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:6-10).
St. Francis de Sales on Devotion
If we were to ask St. Francis de Sales, the author of the spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life, we will find him treating of this subject of devotion at quite some length. In fact, he opens the first chapter of the book with the question: “What is true Devotion?” Here is what he has to say on the matter:
CHAPTER 1 : What is true Devotion?
You aim at a devout life, dear child, because as a Christian you know that such devotion is most acceptable to God’s Divine Majesty. But seeing that the small errors, that people tend to commit in the beginning of any undertaking, are apt to wax greater as they advance, and to become irreparable in the end, it is most important that you should thoroughly understand wherein lies the grace of true devotion—and that because while there undoubtedly is such a true devotion, there are also many spurious and idle semblances thereof; and unless you know which is real, you may mistake, and waste your energy in pursuing an empty, profitless shadow.
Arelius tended to paint all his pictures with the features and expression of the women he loved, and even so we all color devotion according to our own likings and dispositions. One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness—and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although at the same time he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors. This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him; while that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts save under pressure.
Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout. When Saul’s servants sought to take David, Michal induced them to suppose that the lifeless figure lying in his bed, and covered with his garments, was the man they sought; and in like manner many people dress up an exterior with the visible acts expressive of earnest devotion, and the world supposes them to be really devout and spiritual-minded, while all the time they are mere lay figures, mere phantasms of devotion.
But, in fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God—and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind; for that Love one while shining on the soul we call grace, which makes us acceptable to His Divine Majesty—when it strengthens us to do well, it is called Charity—but when it attains its fullest perfection, in which it not only leads us to do well, but to act carefully, diligently, and promptly, then it is called Devotion.
The ostrich never flies—the hen rises with difficulty, and achieves but a brief and rare flight, but the eagle, the dove, and the swallow, are continually on the wing, and soar high—even so sinners do not rise towards God, for all their movements are earthly and earthbound. Well-meaning people, who have not as yet attained a true devotion, attempt a manner of flight by means of their good actions, but rarely, slowly and heavily; while really devout men rise up to God frequently, and with a swift and soaring wing. In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. And therefore we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love.
And forasmuch as devotion consists in a high degree of real love, it not only makes us ready, active, and diligent in following all God’s Commands, but it also excites us to be ready and loving in performing as many good works as possible, even such as are not enjoined upon us, but are only matters of counsel or inspiration. Even as a man just recovering from illness, walks only so far as he is obliged to go, with a slow and weary step, so the converted sinner journeys along as far as God commands him but slowly and wearily, until he attains a true spirit of devotion, and then, like a sound man, he not only gets along, but he runs and leaps in the way of God’s commands, and hastens gladly along the paths of heavenly counsels and inspirations. The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame—love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion, when it is fanned into a flame—and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes it eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations.
CHAPTER 2 : The Nature and Excellence of Devotion
Those who sought to discourage the Israelites from going up to the Promised Land, told them that it was “a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof”, that is, that the climate was so unhealthy that the inhabitants could not live long, and that the people thereof were “men of a great stature,” who looked upon the newcomers as mere locusts to be devoured. It is just so, my daughter, that the world runs down true devotion, painting devout people with gloomy, melancholy aspect, and affirming that religion makes them dismal and unpleasant. But even as Joshua and Caleb protested that not only was the Promised Land a fair and pleasant country, but that the Israelites would take an easy and peaceful possession thereof, so the Holy Spirit tells us through His Saints, and Our Lord has told us with His own lips, that a devout life is very sweet, very happy and very loveable.
The world, looking on, sees that devout persons fast, watch and pray, endure injury patiently, minister to the sick and poor, restrain their temper, check and subdue their passions, deny themselves in all sensual indulgence, and do many other things which in themselves are hard and difficult. But the world sees nothing of that inward, heartfelt devotion which makes all these actions pleasant and easy.
Watch a bee hovering over the mountain thyme—the juices it gathers are bitter, but the bee turns them all to honey—and so tells the worldling, that though the devout soul finds bitter herbs along its path of devotion, they are all turned to sweetness and pleasantness as it treads—and the martyrs have counted fire, sword, and rack but as perfumed flowers by reason of their devotion. And if devotion can sweeten such cruel torments, and even death itself, how much more will it give a charm to ordinary good deeds?
We sweeten unripe fruit with sugar, and it is useful in correcting the crudity even of that which is good. So devotion is the real spiritual sweetness which takes away all bitterness from mortifications; and prevents consolations from disagreeing with the soul: it cures the poor of sadness, and the rich of presumption; it keeps the oppressed from feeling desolate, and the prosperous from insolence; it averts sadness from the lonely, and dissipation from social life; it is as warmth in winter and refreshing dew in summer; it knows how to abound and how to suffer want; how to profit alike by honor and contempt; it accepts gladness and sadness with an even mind, and fills men’s hearts with a wondrous sweetness.
Ponder Jacob’s ladder—it is a true picture of the devout life; the two poles which support the steps are types of prayer which seeks the love of God, and the Sacraments which confer that love; while the steps themselves are simply the degrees of love by which we go on from virtue to virtue, either descending by good deeds on behalf of our neighbor or ascending by contemplation to a loving union with God.
Consider, too, who they are who trod this ladder; men with angels’ hearts, or angels with human forms. They are not youthful, but they seem to be so by reason of their vigor and spiritual activity. They have wings wherewith to fly, and attain to God in holy prayer, but they have likewise feet wherewith to tread in human paths by a holy gracious intercourse with men; their faces are bright and beautiful, inasmuch as they accept all things gently and sweetly; their heads and limbs are uncovered, because their thoughts, affections and actions have no motive or object save that of pleasing God; the rest of their bodies is covered with a light shining garment, because while they use the world and the things of this life, they use all such purely and honestly, and no further than is needful for their condition—such are the truly devout.
Believe me, dear child, devotion is the sweetest of sweets, the queen of virtues, the perfection of love. If love is the milk of life, devotion is the cream thereof; if it is a fruitful plant, devotion is the blossom; if it is a precious stone, devotion is its brightness; if it is a precious balm, devotion is its perfume, even that sweet odor which delights men and causes the angels to rejoice.
CHAPTER 3 : Devotion is Suitable to every Vocation and Profession
When God created the world He commanded each tree to bear fruit after its kind; and even so He bids Christians—the living trees of His Church—to bring forth fruits of devotion, each one according to his kind and vocation. A different exercise of devotion is required of each—the noble, the artisan, the servant, the prince, the maiden and the wife; and furthermore such practice must be modified according to the strength, the calling, and the duties of each individual.
I ask you, my child, would it be fitting that a Bishop should seek to lead the solitary life of a Carthusian? And if the father of a family were as regardless in making provision for the future as a Capuchin; if the artisan spent the day in church like a Religious; if the Religious involved himself in all manner of business on his neighbor’s behalf as a Bishop is called upon to do, would not such a devotion be ridiculous, ill-regulated, and intolerable? Nevertheless such a mistake is often made, and the world, which cannot, or will not, discriminate between real devotion and the indiscretion of those who fancy themselves devout, grumbles and finds fault with devotion, which is really nowise concerned in these errors.
No indeed, my child, the devotion which is true, hinders nothing, but on the contrary it perfects everything; and that which runs counter to the rightful vocation of any one is, you may be sure, a spurious devotion. Aristotle says that the bee sucks honey from flowers without damaging them, leaving them as whole and fresh as it found them—but true devotion does better still, for it not only hinders no manner of vocation or duty, but, contrariwise, it adorns and beautifies all. Throw precious stones into honey, and each will grow more brilliant according to its several color—and in like manner everybody fulfills his special calling better when subject to the influence of devotion—family duties are lighter, married love truer, service to our King more faithful, every kind of occupation more acceptable and better performed where that is the guide.
It is an error, nay more, a very heresy, to seek to banish the devout life from the soldier’s guardroom, the mechanic’s workshop, the prince’s court, or the domestic hearth. Of course a purely contemplative devotion, such as is specially proper to the religious and monastic life, cannot be practiced in these outer vocations, but there are various other kinds of devotion well-suited to lead those whose calling is secular, along the paths of perfection.
The Old Testament furnishes us examples in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Job, Tobias, Sarah, Rebecca and Judith; and in the New Testament we read of St. Joseph, Lydia and Crispus, who led a perfectly devout life in their trades—we have St. Anne, Martha, St. Monica, Aquila and Priscilla, as examples of household devotion, Cornelius, St. Sebastian, and St. Maurice among soldiers—Constantine, St. Helena, St. Louis, the Blessed Amadaeus, and St. Edward on the throne. And we even find instances of some who fell away from the Faith while in solitude—which usually is so helpful to perfection—some who had led a higher life in the world, which seems so antagonistic to it. St. Gregory dwells on how Lot, who had kept himself pure in the city, fell in his mountain solitude. Be sure that, wheresoever our lot is cast, we may and must aim at the perfect life.
Our Current Problems Come Down to a Lack of Devotion
Everyone loves something―usually themselves. God made us, or “wired us”, so as to be able to love. God Himself is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “Charity is of God―and every one that loves, is born of God” (1 John 4:7). God made us to love Him above all: “Love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). The command to love God is found in both the Old and New Testaments.
Already in the days of Moses God commands: “Love God all thy life, and call upon Him for thy salvation!” (Ecclesiasticus 13:18). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength! … Love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul! … Love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, cleaving unto Him! … Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live! … Love the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and keep His commandments and ceremonies and judgments, that thou mayest live! … Love the Lord thy God, and obey His voice, and adhere to Him!” (Deuteronomy 6:5; 11:13; 11:22; 30:6; 30:16; 30:20). “Take care only of this with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God!” (Josue 23:11).
The same command is repeated by Christ in the New Testament: “One of the Scribes asked Jesus which was the first commandment. And Jesus answered him: ‘The first commandment of all is ― “The Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it ― “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” There is no other commandment greater than these!’” (Mark 12:28-31). “The Pharisees came together and one of them, a doctor of the law, asked Jesus, tempting Him: ‘Master! Which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets!’” (Matthew 22:24-40).
You could add Our Lady to the equation and say: “God loveth them that love her!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:15). For, as Holy Mother Church says, in placing the following words into the mouth of Our Lady in the Liturgy of the Mass for the feasts of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd): “I am the Mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24) and “I love them that love me!” (Proverbs 8:17), which is part of the Tract of the Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel (April 26th). Being the “Mother of God”, she is also the “Mother of Love”, for “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God loveth them that love her!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:15).
If we have no charity, if we have no love―then we are nothing! Holy Scripture makes that abundantly clear: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Hypocritical Devotion
Despite the paramount importance of charity and love, a true and sincere love is hard to find. “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Our Lord and Our Lady could just as well say to us what Our Lord said to the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees: “But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42). “Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” In vain do they worship Me!’” (Mark 7:6-7).
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of seven chief kinds of devotion to Our Lady that are false devotions―and one of those seven is a hypocritical devotion. Speaking of false or fake devotions, St. Louis de Montfort warns us: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience, to plunge many others, by this same way, into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said, or of some outward practices which he inspires.
Recognize the Duds and Throw Them Away
“It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them … I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Our Lady, namely: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.
Critical Devotees
“The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin.
Scrupulous Devotees
“The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament―as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently.
External Devotees
“External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest precipitation [speed]; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities―without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. The world is full of these exterior devotees, and there are no people who are more critical than they of men of prayer. For true men of prayer are they who foster an interior spirit as the essential thing, without, however, disregarding that outward practice which always accompanies true devotion.
Presumptuous Devotees
“Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular. They will not believe us when we tell them that their devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a pernicious presumption likely to destroy their souls. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son? If Mary laid down a law to herself, to save by her mercy this sort of people, she would be authorizing crime and helping crucify and outrage her Son. Who would ever dare think of such a thing?
Inconstant Devotees
“The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon.
Interested Devotees
“There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God, nor to His holy Mother.
St. Louis Farewell Statement
“Let us then take great care not to be of the number of the critical devotees, who believe nothing and criticize everything; nor of the scrupulous devotees. who are afraid of being too devout to Our Lady, out of respect to Our Lord; nor of the exterior devotees, who make all their devotion consist in outward practices; nor of the presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wallow in their sins; nor of the inconstant devotees, who from levity change their practices of devotion, or give them up altogether, at the least temptation; nor of the hypocritical devotees, who join confraternities and wear the liveries [scapulars and medals] of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good people; nor, finally, of the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to be delivered from bodily evils, or to obtain temporal goods.” (St. Louis de Montfort’s description of false devotions, True Devotion to Mary, §91-104).
Make Sure Your Car Works
Our devotion could be likened to a car—it is what will take us Heaven if it is in good working order. If it’s not, then it won’t! Most cars don’t make it! Our Lord said, speaking of the road they drive along: “Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:5). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
What’s Your Car Like?
Let us make sure we have the RIGHT CAR for the race, for as St. Paul says so truly—echoing Our Lord’s words about “few there are that find it” — “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Or as St. Matthew says, quoting Our Lord’s own words: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 24:14).
Can you imagine the depth and detail of inspection a racing-car goes through before it is taken out for the race! Likewise we should examine what we call our devotion to Our Lady, with the same depth and detail, and put right what may need repairing and fine-tune what looks to be a little off!
Pedaling Like Crazy!
Can you imagine a cyclist in a bike race! He has put in a mammoth effort all day long and is way ahead of everyone else in the race—or so he thinks! Alas, unbeknown to him, he has taken a wrong turn and is pedaling like crazy down the wrong road! Will he win the race? No way! But, but, but... But what about all the effort he has put into it!?!? Yep! A lot of effort—but down the wrong road, going in the wrong direction!
Like the befuddled cyclist in the bike race, pedaling like crazy, who is ahead of the pack and thinks he is winning, but does not realize that he is on the wrong road, so too is most of the world on the wrong road—they have taken a path that they THINK will lead them to Heaven, they have a devotion that they THINK will lead to Heaven, but perhaps they (and perhaps we too) need to THINK AGAIN!
Where Do You Want Your Reward?
That is a little like us in our life here below. Many put much effort into many things, but rarely the right thing! They have sacrificed much time and money, effort and energy—but they have been pedaling down the wrong road, while thinking it was the right road! They are very devoted people. Paragons of industry. Yet the only reward they get will be short-lived, because their reward will be obtained in this world, which will one day end—sooner than they think—or the world will end for them upon their death. They are devoted, sure they are, but they are devoted to the wrong things—more often than not, worldly things and values. As Holy Scripture says: “Labor not to be rich” (Proverbs 23:4). “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting” (John 6:27).
Our Lord said something similar of the Pharisees: “Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father Who is in Heaven. Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father Who seeth in secret will repay thee. And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward” (Matthew 6:1-5).
Where Do You Carry Your Devotion?
Some people are careful to show devotion in public, but, sadly, it is “just for show”! For when they are in private, when they are alone and nobody is there to notice them, their devotion takes a remarkable dip. There are many who show devotion to Our Lady, who, in reality, seek to impress others. Yet, while it seems as though they have a devotion to Our Lady, it is a mere lip service—a lip service that does not come from the heart, but the lips alone.
This kind of devotion is condemned by Our Lord, when He says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8), which is nothing new and not just confined to our time, or the New Testament. It was also true of fake devotees in the Old Testament, which made God angrily say through His prophet, Isaias: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me, and they have feared Me with the commandment and doctrines of men” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord merely repeats what His Father said through Isaias—and the same must be said today.
You Either Have It, Or You Don’t
There is an axiom of Philosophy that states: “You cannot give what you have not got!” If we do not have real devotion in our hearts, then we cannot show devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is what Heaven demands of us today. If I do not have a bike, I cannot enter a bike race—never mind thinking about winning it! If I cannot speak French or Spanish, then it is pointless trying to apply for a job as French or Spanish interpreter! It is pointless trying to bake a cake or bread, if I do not have an oven or fire.
By the same token, we could coin a phrase similar to the above one, which says: “There is no point acquiring devotion if I imagine that I already possess it!” In other words, I am not going to put the kettle on the stove if I have just done it several seconds ago! I am not going to take a shower if I have just finished taking one. I am not going to have dinner if I just finished it a minute ago. Here, the devil’s ploy is to make us mistakenly imagine that the feelings we have in our heart and the actions that we customarily perform are already proofs of devotion. It is like trying pass of counterfeit money for the real thing. The devil tells us: “You already have a devotion! What’s the point of trying to acquire one? It’s a waste of time!”
We will finish with the words of Fr. Faber, from his Preface in his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary original French version into English:
Fiery Faber
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Here in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized.
Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignon de Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ.” (Fr. Frederick Faber, Preface, True Devotion to Mary).
Yes―God and His Only Begotten Son want to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart throughout the world! Make sure your devotion is not a fake or false devotion and is worthy of idea, notion and definition of what “devotion” entails and of what it consists!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday August 20th & Saturday August 21st
Article 11
Not Fast Food, But Fast From Food!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday August 20th & Saturday August 21st
Article 11
Not Fast Food, But Fast From Food!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
You Are What You Eat
What you eat and drink each day effects your health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Good nutrition, along with regular exercise will help you maintain a healthy weight, while reducing your risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease. However, consuming regular amounts of fast and junk food will impact your quality of health, and will have negative effects on your body.
If you eat lots of junk food or fast food, then your body will turn to junk very fast. You are what you eat―just as you are what you read, and you are what you think, or as they say, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” If we are the friends of fast food and junk food―then we will turn into junk fast!
When we really examine the fast-food syndrome, it turns out to be very revealing about many of our attitudes to life and to the spiritual life! That is hardly surprising―for our body reflects our soul, our exterior reflects our interior, our actions reflect our thoughts, etc. Likewise, our natural life, our physical life, our material life also reflects our spiritual life.
Gluttons for Junk
McDonald’s has over 39,000 outlets in 119 countries globally. McDonald's are recognized all over the world when there are almost 39,000 outlets in 119 countries globally. McDonald’s is undoubtedly the world’s leading quick service restaurant. Not only is the fast-food chain widespread, it was by far the most valuable fast food brand in the world in 2020―with an estimated brand value of approximately $130 billion ($1,300 million). The only foodservice company that came close was the coffeehouse chain Starbucks, its brand value amounting to the much smaller sum of approximately $48 billion U.S. dollars. In 2020, McDonald’s was ranked ninth among other leading global brands such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Top ranked, and therefore most valuable, was Amazon which recorded a brand value of nearly $416 billion.
40% of all McDonald’s restaurants are in the USA. There are over 14,160 McDonalds outlets available in the USA. McDonald’s sells 80 hamburgers every minute globally. McDonald’s serve around 1% (1 in every 100 people) of the world’s population daily. They sell billions of food items daily. They serve over 70 million customers every day. Their customer traffic is more than the population of Great Britain. There are more McDonald’s restaurants available in the USA than the total number of hospitals―though many argue that too much time eating McDonald’s food can result to too much time spent in hospital! McDonald’s biggest customer base is parents with young children. Teenagers and businessmen rank second and third on this list.
Obeying Cravings Creates Obesity
Fast food and junk food consumption is strongly associated with weight gain and obesity. The percentage of caloric intake from fast foods has increased fivefold over the past three decades among adolescents. About 30% of children to more than 50% in college students use fast food daily. There has been an exponential rise in the number of obese people―especially in developed nations like United States and United Kingdom. Now obesity has become a public health problem in most nations. More than 4 in 10 (42%) adults and 1 in 5 (20%) children and teenagers are obese in United States. 71.6% of adults aged 20 and over are overweight (including the obese). Increased food consumption and substantial changes in the food habits and changes in food content are the most important factors of obesity epidemic. An estimated 500 million adults in the world are obese. If unaddressed, an estimated 1 billion adults will be obese by 2030.
Super Size Me!
You might have heard of the 2004 American documentary film, Super Size Me, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent film-maker. The film documents four weeks of eating nothing but fast food at McDonalds restaurants. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1st to March 2nd, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald’s food, and documents this fast-food lifestyle’s drastic effect on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being. Spurlock followed specific rules for this 30-day feast on fast food:
● He had to fully eat three McDonald’s meals every day― for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
● He had to eat every item on the McDonald’s menu at least once over that 30 day period (he managed this in nine days).
● He had to only eat items that are offered on the McDonald’s menu, including their bottled water. All consumption of food other than McDonald’s food was prohibited.
● He would only Super Size the meal if offered by a McDonald’s staff member, and would not request to Super Size on his own.
● He would attempt to walk about as much as a typical United States citizen, based on a suggested figure of 5,000 standardized distance steps per day―which is just under 3 miles a day.
As the film begins, Spurlock is found to be in above average physical shape ― being examined by three physicians (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), as well as a nutritionist and a personal trainer. All of the health professionals predicted that the “McDiet" would have adverse effects on his body, but none expected anything too drastic, one doctor stating that the human body is extremely adaptable.
Once the 30-day fast-food feast started, it was not long before he found himself experiencing mood swings, depression, headaches and bouts of lethargy. It was not clear at the time whether or not Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, and family and friends began to express concern. Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all. The headaches were relieved by eating a McDonald’s meal. His general practitioner described him as being addicted. After five days Spurlock had gained 9.5 pounds ― with his weight rising from a starting weight of 185.5 pounds to about 195 pounds. At his second weigh-in, he had gained another 8 pounds, putting his weight at 203.5 pounds. By the end of the month he weighed about 210 pounds, an increase of about 24.5 pounds on his starting weight of 185.5 pounds. His body mass index (BMI) had increased by 13%; his cholesterol increased to 230 mg/dL, and he had fat accumulation in his liver. On Day 21, after just three weeks of eating nothing but McDonald’s fast food, Spurlock’s health had badly deteriorated to the point that he had heart palpitations. His internist, Dr. Daryl Isaacs, advised him to stop the experiment immediately to avoid any serious health problems and putting his life in grave danger. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose all the weight gained from his experiment using a vegan diet supervised.
UK McDonald’s Splurge
Just over 10 years later, after Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me filmed experiment, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College, London, in England―Dr. Tim Spector―wanted to learn what happens to your gut if you ate only McDonald’s for 10 straight days. He recruited his son for the experiment ― Tom Spector, the son of Tim Spector, was a genetics student at the University of Aberystwyth.
Tom said that for three days he felt okay, but then started to become more lethargic and turned a slight gray color according to his friends. He reported feeling bad the last few days and says he also experienced some withdrawal symptoms. Tom sent stool samples to different labs throughout his trial, and the final results came from Cornell University and the British Gut Project. The results were astounding and revealed that Tom’s gut microbes were devastated. Tom had lost around 40% of his bacteria species, about 1,400 types, which severely compromised his immune system. Your gut is your second brain, and it is actually where 80% of your immune system lies. That severe loss of microbiome diversity is of concern since that can be a red flag and risk factor for health issues such as obesity and diabetes. There are nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms, good and bad, that compose your body’s microflora. These organisms play a crucial role in your mental and physical health, and if you upset this delicate balance, you become predisposed to a wide range of health problems.
Gluttony is a Sin that Leads to Other Sins
With over 70% of the world being overweight, and over 40% being obese, it does not take a “rocket-scientist” to figure out that the vast majority of the world has a problem with gluttony! Gluttony is an excessive love of the pleasures of the table. The disorder lies in seeking this satisfaction for its own sake, as do those “whose God is their belly” (Philippians 3:19). We should eat to live and not live to eat! Gluttons pursue the delights of food and drink to excess, at times even to the detriment of health, by disregarding the rules of moderation and sobriety. “If thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest, being glutted with it, thou vomit it up” (Proverbs 25:16).
Theologians point out four different ways in which we may violate these rules.
(1) Eating when there is no need, eating between meals, and for no other reason than that of indulging our greed.
(2) Seeking delicacies or daintily prepared meats, or fancily flavored foods, the more to enjoy their relish.
(3) Going beyond either appetite or need, and gorging oneself with food or drink with danger to health.
(4) Eating with avidity, with greed, with haste, after the manner of certain animals.
In his book, The Spiritual Life, Fr. Tanquerey writes:
“The malice of gluttony comes from the fact that it makes the soul a slave to the body, it brutalizes man, weakens his intellectual and moral life [dulls the mind and weakens the will], and insensibly paves the way to seeking sexual pleasures, which, ultimately, is one in kind with it. Excess in eating and drinking paves the way to unchastity―the offspring of gluttony―the lust of the eyes and ears, demanding to be fed with unwholesome shows and bawdy songs, the lust of the imagination and the memory, which search in the past for impressions apt to enkindle the fire of concupiscence; the lust of the mind, which, going astray, fastens itself upon unlawful objects, the lust of the heart, which longs after carnal affections; the lust of the will, which surrenders to be a slave to sense. Intemperance at the table leads to intemperance in speech. How many are the faults committed by the tongue in the course of those sumptuous and protracted feasts! How many improprieties! How many indiscretions! We betray secrets we had pledged ourselves to keep―professional secrets, sacred trusts, and we deliver to evil tongues the good name of husband wife and mother, the honor of a family, and perhaps the future welfare of a nation. How many faults against justice and against charity are not thus committed! Back-biting calumny and slander reveal themselves with dismal frankness in their most indefensible forms! How many imprudences are committed! We become entangled in situations in which we cannot remain without outrage to all the laws of morality! From the point of view of perfection, gluttony constitutes a serious obstacle: (1) It fosters a spirit of immortification, which weakens the will, whilst it develops a love for sensual pleasure predisposing the soul to dangerous surrenders. (2) It becomes the source of many faults, by exciting excessive mirth which leads to dissipation, garrulousness, jokes of a doubtful character, to lack of restraint and of propriety, and thus lays the soul bare to the attacks of the evil one. Hence, it is important that we should combat this vice.” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §866).
Gobbled Up by Gluttony
If you do not combat this vice, then it will gobble up your virtue! As Fr. Tanquerey points out, if uncombatted, gluttony leads to many other vices― it dulls and darkens the mind; it weakens the will; it leads to lust in mind, words and actions; it leads to excessive talkativeness and imprudent speech; it leads to back-biting, revealing the sins of others and lying about others; and a whole host of other sins against charity and justice! “Our son is rebellious and stubborn, he ignores our admonitions, he gives himself to partying, and to debauchery and banqueting!” (Deuteronomy 21:20). Such a thing is not an isolated case, a rarity, or confined to just a few or a minority ― “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ [enemies of mortification] ― whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). The vast majority are “minding earthly things” these days ― those “earthly things” have become their idols that replace God and which they “gobble up gluttonously” every day! Fun and games; food and drink; television and internet are the staple diet of most people today, upon which they feast for hours at a time! “Do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). The devil dangles his “meats” and “treats” before our eyes, every minute of the day! “Be not desirous of his meats―in which is the bread of deceit!” (Proverbs 23:3).
Jesus said: “Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with overeating and drunkenness!” (Luke 21:34). “It is written: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). “Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh! For the flesh lusts against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, impurity, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, divisions, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:16-21). “Live the rest of time, not after the desires of men, but according to the will of God! For the time past for riotousness, lusts, excess of wine, partying, banqueting, and unlawful worshipping of idols!” (1 Peter 4:2-3).
“You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall wear. Is not the life more than the food, and the body more than the clothing? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His justice!” (Matthew 6:24-33).
Esau gave away his birthright and inheritance to his brother Jacob for a mere bowl of soup or stew―because after days of hunting he was hungry and desired to satisfy that hunger at all cost, above anything else: “And Jacob boiled pottage [soup or stew], to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field, said: ‘Give me of this red pottage [soup or stew], for I am exceeding faint!’ And Jacob said to him: First sell me thy birthright!’ Esau answered: Behold, I am dying [of hunger], what good will the first birthright avail me?’ Jacob said: ‘Swear therefore to me!’ Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright. And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright” (Genesis 25:29-34).
Is Our Gluttony Giving Away Our Heavenly “Birthright”?
“Esau went his way, making little account of having sold his first birthright” ― have we sold our “birthright”, or “chance to be born” into Heaven for some worldly “pottage”, some worldly thing that we “hunger” for and desire? Most people have sold their chance to get to Heaven and, like Esau, they make little account of it, they think little of it! Our Lord warns such souls: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) ― “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), mammon being the pleasures and treasures of this world, “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not anxious about your life―what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall wear! Is not the life more than the food; and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25). “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink―but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17).
The Spiritual is Superior to the Material
Our Faith teaches us that the soul is more important than the body, and that spiritual goods are more important than earthly goods. “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15). “Get wisdom, because it is better than gold; and purchase prudence, for it is more precious than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16). “The law of Thy mouth, O Lord, is good to me―above thousands of gold and silver!” (Psalm 118:72). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Today’s diet is no longer spiritual―if it ever even was―but the plates are piled high with material ‘goodies’ upon which everyone gorges and gobbles to their heart’s content. In fact, most people eat materialism and worldliness for hours on end, all day long, seven days a week, all year round. They are obese―having stuffed themselves with worldliness and materialism!
Our Lady Condemns Worldliness and Materialism
► FOOLISHLY FOCUSING ON THE WRONG THINGS ― “Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? Guard thyself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God, because it is of the devil, deceitful, earthly and rebellious to the divine laws. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things. Worldly wisdom looks upon the exterior person―not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward show. Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings, as if they had not received them from God.”
“The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!”
“How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces―being blind themselves―follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish. All these vices arise from the pride rooted in human nature. The proud are cast down and rejected by the Lord in their self-sufficiency!”
► THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD AND LOVE OF THE WORLD LEADS MOST SOULS TO DAMNATION ― “Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation [showing-off], suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant; for the world does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the endless damage caused in mortals by greed and covetousness of visible things; and God knows that this insane love will pervert the greater part of the human nature, who are lost by the vice of avarice and cupidity. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.”
“What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
“Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous tepidity. They live in the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices. They are surrounded by innumerable enemies, who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men!”
“The earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with true wisdom; neither is the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate. But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, humility, truth, justice and all virtues are oppressed and debased―while pride, luxury, avarice, vanity with other grave vices reign and are exalted. Let them realize how strong has grown in them the hellish seed of pride, of presumption, vanity, self-esteem, avarice, hypocrisy, deceitfulness, and all other vices!”
“By the divine light I knew―better than all other creatures―at what a low value the Most High esteems earthly blessings and riches. The temporal goods [material goods of this life] are created by God for the sale purpose of sustaining life―having attained this end, the need for them ceases. And―as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied―there is no reason why the care for the immortal soul should be only occasional and temporary, while, on the other hand, the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and without end, as it has come to be among men. How many men are not fascinated by their unbounded greed? All of them ordinarily stake their hopes on gold and material riches; and, in order to increase them, they exert all the forces of their natural being. There are very few in the world in our days who use well the temporal riches and offer them to their God. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities. They lose themselves in these dark labyrinths and mazes! It is the height of perversion for man to mix up the end and the means in an affair so important and urgent as the salvation of his soul―whereby he devotes all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, of which he knows not the duration nor the end, and that, on the other hand, in many years of his existence he spares only one hour for his poor soul, and that hour is very often the last hour and the worst one of his whole life!”
► THE FATAL CARELESSNESS OF MANKIND ― “The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation. On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. Yet for this very reason they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and skillful in injuring us by their treachery. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits, especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul. O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
“Souls also fail in the love due to God and they divert their love toward the creatures. They esteem in creatures what they are seeking, namely power, riches, vain honor and ostentation. The faithful debase themselves to the level of worthless creatures. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! Some obtain them by very reprehensible ways and means! Some confide in influential persons, praising and flattering them. And so it happens that very few seek the Lord in such a way as to deserve His providential care. Very few trust in God and acknowledge Him as their Father, who is willing to provide for his children, who will nourish and sustain them without fail in all necessities. This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has filled the world with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow thyself to desire worldly things, least of all any office of superiority; a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Envy no one his honor, nor the possession of any earthly thing, nor seek to obtain from the Lord anything else than His love and friendship. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition. Sometimes the Lord, according to hidden judgments, grants these petitions in punishment for wicked desires and of other sins. Such souls receive an earthly reward―but no heavenly reward―for any good actions which they may have performed during their mortal life. If thou wilt look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, thou wilt see that they consider themselves fortunate, whenever they attain all that they desire according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune; for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any in the eternal life. But the just, who despise the world and meet with many adversities, are withdrawn and shielded from danger, because the Lord denies them the temporal goods, which they desire and ask for. In order that thou mayest not fall into such danger, I exhort and command thee never to hanker after nor to seek earthly possession.”
► THE NEED FOR PENANCE ― “Among all these dangers and difficulties, those of the flesh are not the least―for human weakness, always present and always active, withdraws many from grace. The shortest and the most secure course to follow, both for thee and for all men, is to welcome bitterness and sorrow and put aside ease and pleasure of the senses, and to resolve not to allow them to become dissipated or enjoy greater freedom than the strict rule of reason permits. Separate thyself from all earthly things; withdraw thyself from what is visible, forsake all the creatures, deny thyself, close thy senses to the deceits and fables of the world!”
“Force thy body to make up the losses which it has caused to the soul through its passions and earthly affections. With this object in view, seek to always keep your body in strict subjection, allowing it to partake only of those comforts which serve to keep it in proper condition for the activity of the soul, and do not pander to the body’s passions and appetites. Mortify and crush it―until it is dead to all that is delightful to the senses, so that even the common actions necessary for life shall appear to thee more painful than agreeable, taste more of bitterness than of dangerous enjoyment. In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased―yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance. Do not try to repay thyself with the applause or the love of any creature, nor allow human sentiment to rule thee.”
“Bodily penances are so appropriate and fitted to mortal creatures, that the ignorance of this truth and the neglect and contempt of bodily mortification is the cause of the damnation of many souls and brings many more into the danger of eternal loss.”
“The first reason why men should afflict their body and mortify their flesh is their having been conceived in sin. By this Original Sin human nature is depraved, filled with passions, rebellious to reason, inclined to evil and adverse to the spirit. If the soul allows itself to be carried away by them, it will be precipitated by the first vice into many others. But if this beastly flesh is curbed by mortification and penance, it loses its strength and acknowledges the authority of the spirit and the light of truth.”
“The second reason is that none of the mortals have altogether avoided sinning against God; and the punishment and retribution must inevitably correspond to the guilt―either in this life or the next―therefore, as the soul commits sin in union with the body, it follows that both of them must be punished. The interior sorrow is not sufficient for atonement, if the body seeks to escape the punishment that corresponds to the guilt. Moreover, the debt is so great and the satisfaction that can be given by the creature so limited and scanty that there remains continual uncertainty whether the Judge is satisfied even after the exertions of a whole lifetime: hence, the soul should find no rest to the end of life.”
“The third reason for bodily mortification, and the most urgent one, is the duty of Christians to imitate their divine Teacher and Master. Moreover, my divine Son and I―without being guilty of any faults, or bad inclinations―devoted ourselves to labors and made our lives a continual practice of penance and mortification of the flesh. If We then pursued such a course of life because it was reasonable, what must be thought of mortals that seek nothing but sweetness and delight, and abhor all penances, affronts, ignominies, fasting and mortification? Shall only Christ, our Lord, and I suffer all these hardships―while the guilt laden debtors and deservers of all these punishments throw themselves head over heels into the filth of their carnal inclinations? Shall they employ their faculties―given to them for the service of Christ, my Lord, and for his following―merely in listening to their lusts and the devil, who has introduced evil into the world? This absurd position―which is maintained by the children of Adam―is the cause of great indignation in the just Judge.”
What you eat and drink each day effects your health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Good nutrition, along with regular exercise will help you maintain a healthy weight, while reducing your risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease. However, consuming regular amounts of fast and junk food will impact your quality of health, and will have negative effects on your body.
If you eat lots of junk food or fast food, then your body will turn to junk very fast. You are what you eat―just as you are what you read, and you are what you think, or as they say, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” If we are the friends of fast food and junk food―then we will turn into junk fast!
When we really examine the fast-food syndrome, it turns out to be very revealing about many of our attitudes to life and to the spiritual life! That is hardly surprising―for our body reflects our soul, our exterior reflects our interior, our actions reflect our thoughts, etc. Likewise, our natural life, our physical life, our material life also reflects our spiritual life.
Gluttons for Junk
McDonald’s has over 39,000 outlets in 119 countries globally. McDonald's are recognized all over the world when there are almost 39,000 outlets in 119 countries globally. McDonald’s is undoubtedly the world’s leading quick service restaurant. Not only is the fast-food chain widespread, it was by far the most valuable fast food brand in the world in 2020―with an estimated brand value of approximately $130 billion ($1,300 million). The only foodservice company that came close was the coffeehouse chain Starbucks, its brand value amounting to the much smaller sum of approximately $48 billion U.S. dollars. In 2020, McDonald’s was ranked ninth among other leading global brands such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Top ranked, and therefore most valuable, was Amazon which recorded a brand value of nearly $416 billion.
40% of all McDonald’s restaurants are in the USA. There are over 14,160 McDonalds outlets available in the USA. McDonald’s sells 80 hamburgers every minute globally. McDonald’s serve around 1% (1 in every 100 people) of the world’s population daily. They sell billions of food items daily. They serve over 70 million customers every day. Their customer traffic is more than the population of Great Britain. There are more McDonald’s restaurants available in the USA than the total number of hospitals―though many argue that too much time eating McDonald’s food can result to too much time spent in hospital! McDonald’s biggest customer base is parents with young children. Teenagers and businessmen rank second and third on this list.
Obeying Cravings Creates Obesity
Fast food and junk food consumption is strongly associated with weight gain and obesity. The percentage of caloric intake from fast foods has increased fivefold over the past three decades among adolescents. About 30% of children to more than 50% in college students use fast food daily. There has been an exponential rise in the number of obese people―especially in developed nations like United States and United Kingdom. Now obesity has become a public health problem in most nations. More than 4 in 10 (42%) adults and 1 in 5 (20%) children and teenagers are obese in United States. 71.6% of adults aged 20 and over are overweight (including the obese). Increased food consumption and substantial changes in the food habits and changes in food content are the most important factors of obesity epidemic. An estimated 500 million adults in the world are obese. If unaddressed, an estimated 1 billion adults will be obese by 2030.
Super Size Me!
You might have heard of the 2004 American documentary film, Super Size Me, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent film-maker. The film documents four weeks of eating nothing but fast food at McDonalds restaurants. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1st to March 2nd, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald’s food, and documents this fast-food lifestyle’s drastic effect on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being. Spurlock followed specific rules for this 30-day feast on fast food:
● He had to fully eat three McDonald’s meals every day― for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
● He had to eat every item on the McDonald’s menu at least once over that 30 day period (he managed this in nine days).
● He had to only eat items that are offered on the McDonald’s menu, including their bottled water. All consumption of food other than McDonald’s food was prohibited.
● He would only Super Size the meal if offered by a McDonald’s staff member, and would not request to Super Size on his own.
● He would attempt to walk about as much as a typical United States citizen, based on a suggested figure of 5,000 standardized distance steps per day―which is just under 3 miles a day.
As the film begins, Spurlock is found to be in above average physical shape ― being examined by three physicians (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), as well as a nutritionist and a personal trainer. All of the health professionals predicted that the “McDiet" would have adverse effects on his body, but none expected anything too drastic, one doctor stating that the human body is extremely adaptable.
Once the 30-day fast-food feast started, it was not long before he found himself experiencing mood swings, depression, headaches and bouts of lethargy. It was not clear at the time whether or not Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, and family and friends began to express concern. Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all. The headaches were relieved by eating a McDonald’s meal. His general practitioner described him as being addicted. After five days Spurlock had gained 9.5 pounds ― with his weight rising from a starting weight of 185.5 pounds to about 195 pounds. At his second weigh-in, he had gained another 8 pounds, putting his weight at 203.5 pounds. By the end of the month he weighed about 210 pounds, an increase of about 24.5 pounds on his starting weight of 185.5 pounds. His body mass index (BMI) had increased by 13%; his cholesterol increased to 230 mg/dL, and he had fat accumulation in his liver. On Day 21, after just three weeks of eating nothing but McDonald’s fast food, Spurlock’s health had badly deteriorated to the point that he had heart palpitations. His internist, Dr. Daryl Isaacs, advised him to stop the experiment immediately to avoid any serious health problems and putting his life in grave danger. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose all the weight gained from his experiment using a vegan diet supervised.
UK McDonald’s Splurge
Just over 10 years later, after Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me filmed experiment, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College, London, in England―Dr. Tim Spector―wanted to learn what happens to your gut if you ate only McDonald’s for 10 straight days. He recruited his son for the experiment ― Tom Spector, the son of Tim Spector, was a genetics student at the University of Aberystwyth.
Tom said that for three days he felt okay, but then started to become more lethargic and turned a slight gray color according to his friends. He reported feeling bad the last few days and says he also experienced some withdrawal symptoms. Tom sent stool samples to different labs throughout his trial, and the final results came from Cornell University and the British Gut Project. The results were astounding and revealed that Tom’s gut microbes were devastated. Tom had lost around 40% of his bacteria species, about 1,400 types, which severely compromised his immune system. Your gut is your second brain, and it is actually where 80% of your immune system lies. That severe loss of microbiome diversity is of concern since that can be a red flag and risk factor for health issues such as obesity and diabetes. There are nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms, good and bad, that compose your body’s microflora. These organisms play a crucial role in your mental and physical health, and if you upset this delicate balance, you become predisposed to a wide range of health problems.
Gluttony is a Sin that Leads to Other Sins
With over 70% of the world being overweight, and over 40% being obese, it does not take a “rocket-scientist” to figure out that the vast majority of the world has a problem with gluttony! Gluttony is an excessive love of the pleasures of the table. The disorder lies in seeking this satisfaction for its own sake, as do those “whose God is their belly” (Philippians 3:19). We should eat to live and not live to eat! Gluttons pursue the delights of food and drink to excess, at times even to the detriment of health, by disregarding the rules of moderation and sobriety. “If thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest, being glutted with it, thou vomit it up” (Proverbs 25:16).
Theologians point out four different ways in which we may violate these rules.
(1) Eating when there is no need, eating between meals, and for no other reason than that of indulging our greed.
(2) Seeking delicacies or daintily prepared meats, or fancily flavored foods, the more to enjoy their relish.
(3) Going beyond either appetite or need, and gorging oneself with food or drink with danger to health.
(4) Eating with avidity, with greed, with haste, after the manner of certain animals.
In his book, The Spiritual Life, Fr. Tanquerey writes:
“The malice of gluttony comes from the fact that it makes the soul a slave to the body, it brutalizes man, weakens his intellectual and moral life [dulls the mind and weakens the will], and insensibly paves the way to seeking sexual pleasures, which, ultimately, is one in kind with it. Excess in eating and drinking paves the way to unchastity―the offspring of gluttony―the lust of the eyes and ears, demanding to be fed with unwholesome shows and bawdy songs, the lust of the imagination and the memory, which search in the past for impressions apt to enkindle the fire of concupiscence; the lust of the mind, which, going astray, fastens itself upon unlawful objects, the lust of the heart, which longs after carnal affections; the lust of the will, which surrenders to be a slave to sense. Intemperance at the table leads to intemperance in speech. How many are the faults committed by the tongue in the course of those sumptuous and protracted feasts! How many improprieties! How many indiscretions! We betray secrets we had pledged ourselves to keep―professional secrets, sacred trusts, and we deliver to evil tongues the good name of husband wife and mother, the honor of a family, and perhaps the future welfare of a nation. How many faults against justice and against charity are not thus committed! Back-biting calumny and slander reveal themselves with dismal frankness in their most indefensible forms! How many imprudences are committed! We become entangled in situations in which we cannot remain without outrage to all the laws of morality! From the point of view of perfection, gluttony constitutes a serious obstacle: (1) It fosters a spirit of immortification, which weakens the will, whilst it develops a love for sensual pleasure predisposing the soul to dangerous surrenders. (2) It becomes the source of many faults, by exciting excessive mirth which leads to dissipation, garrulousness, jokes of a doubtful character, to lack of restraint and of propriety, and thus lays the soul bare to the attacks of the evil one. Hence, it is important that we should combat this vice.” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §866).
Gobbled Up by Gluttony
If you do not combat this vice, then it will gobble up your virtue! As Fr. Tanquerey points out, if uncombatted, gluttony leads to many other vices― it dulls and darkens the mind; it weakens the will; it leads to lust in mind, words and actions; it leads to excessive talkativeness and imprudent speech; it leads to back-biting, revealing the sins of others and lying about others; and a whole host of other sins against charity and justice! “Our son is rebellious and stubborn, he ignores our admonitions, he gives himself to partying, and to debauchery and banqueting!” (Deuteronomy 21:20). Such a thing is not an isolated case, a rarity, or confined to just a few or a minority ― “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ [enemies of mortification] ― whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). The vast majority are “minding earthly things” these days ― those “earthly things” have become their idols that replace God and which they “gobble up gluttonously” every day! Fun and games; food and drink; television and internet are the staple diet of most people today, upon which they feast for hours at a time! “Do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). The devil dangles his “meats” and “treats” before our eyes, every minute of the day! “Be not desirous of his meats―in which is the bread of deceit!” (Proverbs 23:3).
Jesus said: “Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with overeating and drunkenness!” (Luke 21:34). “It is written: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4). “Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh! For the flesh lusts against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, impurity, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, divisions, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:16-21). “Live the rest of time, not after the desires of men, but according to the will of God! For the time past for riotousness, lusts, excess of wine, partying, banqueting, and unlawful worshipping of idols!” (1 Peter 4:2-3).
“You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall wear. Is not the life more than the food, and the body more than the clothing? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His justice!” (Matthew 6:24-33).
Esau gave away his birthright and inheritance to his brother Jacob for a mere bowl of soup or stew―because after days of hunting he was hungry and desired to satisfy that hunger at all cost, above anything else: “And Jacob boiled pottage [soup or stew], to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field, said: ‘Give me of this red pottage [soup or stew], for I am exceeding faint!’ And Jacob said to him: First sell me thy birthright!’ Esau answered: Behold, I am dying [of hunger], what good will the first birthright avail me?’ Jacob said: ‘Swear therefore to me!’ Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright. And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright” (Genesis 25:29-34).
Is Our Gluttony Giving Away Our Heavenly “Birthright”?
“Esau went his way, making little account of having sold his first birthright” ― have we sold our “birthright”, or “chance to be born” into Heaven for some worldly “pottage”, some worldly thing that we “hunger” for and desire? Most people have sold their chance to get to Heaven and, like Esau, they make little account of it, they think little of it! Our Lord warns such souls: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) ― “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), mammon being the pleasures and treasures of this world, “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not anxious about your life―what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall wear! Is not the life more than the food; and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25). “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink―but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17).
The Spiritual is Superior to the Material
Our Faith teaches us that the soul is more important than the body, and that spiritual goods are more important than earthly goods. “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15). “Get wisdom, because it is better than gold; and purchase prudence, for it is more precious than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16). “The law of Thy mouth, O Lord, is good to me―above thousands of gold and silver!” (Psalm 118:72). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Today’s diet is no longer spiritual―if it ever even was―but the plates are piled high with material ‘goodies’ upon which everyone gorges and gobbles to their heart’s content. In fact, most people eat materialism and worldliness for hours on end, all day long, seven days a week, all year round. They are obese―having stuffed themselves with worldliness and materialism!
Our Lady Condemns Worldliness and Materialism
► FOOLISHLY FOCUSING ON THE WRONG THINGS ― “Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? Guard thyself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world, more than you would guard yourself against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God, because it is of the devil, deceitful, earthly and rebellious to the divine laws. The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things. Worldly wisdom looks upon the exterior person―not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward show. Each person normally seeks to advance his own honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned―and those who imagine themselves wise―wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approval of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshiped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings, as if they had not received them from God.”
“The sons of the world are ignorant, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches. They feel and suffer the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver with great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that do not know what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more weighed down are they when they have come into possession of those riches and possessions? Let the countless numbers that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it; let their incalculable anxieties of preserving their riches, and much more, let the intolerable laws, which riches and those that possess them have foisted upon the world, testify what is required to retain them!”
“How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces―being blind themselves―follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish. All these vices arise from the pride rooted in human nature. The proud are cast down and rejected by the Lord in their self-sufficiency!”
► THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD AND LOVE OF THE WORLD LEADS MOST SOULS TO DAMNATION ― “Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation [showing-off], suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant; for the world does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the endless damage caused in mortals by greed and covetousness of visible things; and God knows that this insane love will pervert the greater part of the human nature, who are lost by the vice of avarice and cupidity. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.”
“What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to obtain it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence―and much less will the children of the Holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the Faith and yet show in their lives little difference from that of infidels and pagans. Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16)―fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation!”
“Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous tepidity. They live in the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices. They are surrounded by innumerable enemies, who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men!”
“The earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with true wisdom; neither is the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate. But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, humility, truth, justice and all virtues are oppressed and debased―while pride, luxury, avarice, vanity with other grave vices reign and are exalted. Let them realize how strong has grown in them the hellish seed of pride, of presumption, vanity, self-esteem, avarice, hypocrisy, deceitfulness, and all other vices!”
“By the divine light I knew―better than all other creatures―at what a low value the Most High esteems earthly blessings and riches. The temporal goods [material goods of this life] are created by God for the sale purpose of sustaining life―having attained this end, the need for them ceases. And―as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied―there is no reason why the care for the immortal soul should be only occasional and temporary, while, on the other hand, the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and without end, as it has come to be among men. How many men are not fascinated by their unbounded greed? All of them ordinarily stake their hopes on gold and material riches; and, in order to increase them, they exert all the forces of their natural being. There are very few in the world in our days who use well the temporal riches and offer them to their God. Thus they spend all the time of their life―which was given them in order to gain eternal salvation and happiness―in these vanities. They lose themselves in these dark labyrinths and mazes! It is the height of perversion for man to mix up the end and the means in an affair so important and urgent as the salvation of his soul―whereby he devotes all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to the life of his body, of which he knows not the duration nor the end, and that, on the other hand, in many years of his existence he spares only one hour for his poor soul, and that hour is very often the last hour and the worst one of his whole life!”
► THE FATAL CARELESSNESS OF MANKIND ― “The faithful are in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness! Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep―as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand men are so taken up with their earthly and material life, that they do not feel any other evils except those on a physical and material nature. Anything that is interior seems harmless in their estimation. On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses and since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them―the result is that they forget the fear of them. Yet for this very reason they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and skillful in injuring us by their treachery. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits, especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison concealed in a golden cup [television, smartphone, computer, internet, social media, etc.], in order to diminish the horror of the soul. O insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke! They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by His example how they are to find the way of light.”
“Souls also fail in the love due to God and they divert their love toward the creatures. They esteem in creatures what they are seeking, namely power, riches, vain honor and ostentation. The faithful debase themselves to the level of worthless creatures. Those who have riches, trust in them―and those who have none, greedily chase after them! Some obtain them by very reprehensible ways and means! Some confide in influential persons, praising and flattering them. And so it happens that very few seek the Lord in such a way as to deserve His providential care. Very few trust in God and acknowledge Him as their Father, who is willing to provide for his children, who will nourish and sustain them without fail in all necessities. This deceitful error has filled the Earth with lovers of the world; it has filled the world with avarice and concupiscence against the law of the Creator; it has made men insane in their desires―for all of them commonly chase after riches and earthly possessions; claiming, thereby, merely to satisfy their needs―which is only a lame pretext for hiding their lack of interest in higher things, spiritual things. In reality they lie to themselves abominously, since they are seeking superfluous things that they do not really need and not what is really necessary―but what ministers to worldly pride.
“The greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Do not allow thyself to desire worldly things, least of all any office of superiority; a desire which allures the human sense, disturbs the judgment and obscures reason. Envy no one his honor, nor the possession of any earthly thing, nor seek to obtain from the Lord anything else than His love and friendship. Man is full of blindest inclinations, and if he does not restrain them, he will begin to ask for that which will cause his eternal perdition. Sometimes the Lord, according to hidden judgments, grants these petitions in punishment for wicked desires and of other sins. Such souls receive an earthly reward―but no heavenly reward―for any good actions which they may have performed during their mortal life. If thou wilt look into the deceptive course of the lovers of this world, thou wilt see that they consider themselves fortunate, whenever they attain all that they desire according to their earthly inclinations. This only hastens their greater misfortune; for they, having received their reward, cannot expect any in the eternal life. But the just, who despise the world and meet with many adversities, are withdrawn and shielded from danger, because the Lord denies them the temporal goods, which they desire and ask for. In order that thou mayest not fall into such danger, I exhort and command thee never to hanker after nor to seek earthly possession.”
► THE NEED FOR PENANCE ― “Among all these dangers and difficulties, those of the flesh are not the least―for human weakness, always present and always active, withdraws many from grace. The shortest and the most secure course to follow, both for thee and for all men, is to welcome bitterness and sorrow and put aside ease and pleasure of the senses, and to resolve not to allow them to become dissipated or enjoy greater freedom than the strict rule of reason permits. Separate thyself from all earthly things; withdraw thyself from what is visible, forsake all the creatures, deny thyself, close thy senses to the deceits and fables of the world!”
“Force thy body to make up the losses which it has caused to the soul through its passions and earthly affections. With this object in view, seek to always keep your body in strict subjection, allowing it to partake only of those comforts which serve to keep it in proper condition for the activity of the soul, and do not pander to the body’s passions and appetites. Mortify and crush it―until it is dead to all that is delightful to the senses, so that even the common actions necessary for life shall appear to thee more painful than agreeable, taste more of bitterness than of dangerous enjoyment. In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased―yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance. Do not try to repay thyself with the applause or the love of any creature, nor allow human sentiment to rule thee.”
“Bodily penances are so appropriate and fitted to mortal creatures, that the ignorance of this truth and the neglect and contempt of bodily mortification is the cause of the damnation of many souls and brings many more into the danger of eternal loss.”
“The first reason why men should afflict their body and mortify their flesh is their having been conceived in sin. By this Original Sin human nature is depraved, filled with passions, rebellious to reason, inclined to evil and adverse to the spirit. If the soul allows itself to be carried away by them, it will be precipitated by the first vice into many others. But if this beastly flesh is curbed by mortification and penance, it loses its strength and acknowledges the authority of the spirit and the light of truth.”
“The second reason is that none of the mortals have altogether avoided sinning against God; and the punishment and retribution must inevitably correspond to the guilt―either in this life or the next―therefore, as the soul commits sin in union with the body, it follows that both of them must be punished. The interior sorrow is not sufficient for atonement, if the body seeks to escape the punishment that corresponds to the guilt. Moreover, the debt is so great and the satisfaction that can be given by the creature so limited and scanty that there remains continual uncertainty whether the Judge is satisfied even after the exertions of a whole lifetime: hence, the soul should find no rest to the end of life.”
“The third reason for bodily mortification, and the most urgent one, is the duty of Christians to imitate their divine Teacher and Master. Moreover, my divine Son and I―without being guilty of any faults, or bad inclinations―devoted ourselves to labors and made our lives a continual practice of penance and mortification of the flesh. If We then pursued such a course of life because it was reasonable, what must be thought of mortals that seek nothing but sweetness and delight, and abhor all penances, affronts, ignominies, fasting and mortification? Shall only Christ, our Lord, and I suffer all these hardships―while the guilt laden debtors and deservers of all these punishments throw themselves head over heels into the filth of their carnal inclinations? Shall they employ their faculties―given to them for the service of Christ, my Lord, and for his following―merely in listening to their lusts and the devil, who has introduced evil into the world? This absurd position―which is maintained by the children of Adam―is the cause of great indignation in the just Judge.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 18th & Thursday August 19th
Article 10
A Moldy Heart, or a Molded Heart?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday August 18th & Thursday August 19th
Article 10
A Moldy Heart, or a Molded Heart?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Dangers of Mold
You have obviously heard of “mold” and perhaps you have even had to deal with it. We can learn much from the dangers and effects of mold in the environment and apply the principles to the dangers and effects of a “spiritual mold” in the soul.
Obviously, you know that exposure to mold in the home is not healthy. You also know that mold can cause serious health problems. In healthy individuals, exposure to mold typically causes only minor symptoms and those are often respiratory in nature – a runny nose, a cough, sneezing, maybe a sinus infection or bronchitis. There are always exceptions and even previously healthy folks can become seriously ill due to mold exposure, but those with pre-existing health problems are at greatest risk.
But did you know that mold can cause a number of heart problems? These include myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), endocarditis (an infection of the lining of the heart), damage to the heart muscle and damage to the heart valves. Organ damage, including damage to the heart, occurs when the immune system is unable to fight off a mold-related infection. Infection can travel through the bloodstream and affect one or more of the body’s vital organs, including the heart. Sometimes a widespread infection occurs, affecting many body systems at once―a condition known as sepsis. A high fever is usually present, along with other symptoms.
Big Problems from Little Causes
The word ‘mold’ refers to fungi which grow in the form of multi-cellular strands known as hyphae. Mold is a part of the natural environment. Mold is found everywhere and can grow on almost any substance if and when moisture is present. Mold reproduces by spores, which are then carried around by air currents. When spores land on a moist surface suitable for life, they begin to grow. Mold grows on the materials it can digest― and it can digest a lot―it does this by secreting digestive enzymes that help breakdown the substance that is going to be digested. Mold grows on any dead organic matter in nature, but is only visible to the human eye when it forms a large colony.
Outdoors, molds play a part in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees, but indoors, mold growth should be avoided. Molds reproduce by means of tiny spores; the spores are invisible to the naked eye and float through outdoor and indoor air. Mold may begin growing indoors when mold spores land on surfaces that are wet. There are many types of mold, and none of them will grow without water or moisture. Molds are usually not a problem indoors, unless mold spores land on a wet or damp spot and begin growing. Molds have the potential to cause health problems. Molds produce allergens (substances that can cause allergic reactions), irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances (mycotoxins).
Allergic reactions to mold are common. They can be immediate or delayed. Molds can also cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold. In addition, mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and non-allergic people. Symptoms other than the allergic and irritant types are not commonly reported as a result of inhaling mold.
It is impossible to get rid of all mold and mold spores indoors; some mold spores will be found floating through the air and in house dust. The mold spores will not grow if moisture is not present. Indoor mold growth can and should be prevented or controlled by controlling moisture indoors. If there is mold growth in your home, you must clean up the mold and fix the water problem. If you clean up the mold, but don't fix the water problem, then, most likely, the mold problem will come back.
There are over 100,000 different types of mold. The problem with there being so many species of mold is that differentiating toxic molds from household molds is nearly impossible for an untrained professional. Mold is normally found indoors at levels which do not affect most healthy individuals. Some molds are toxic and can result in death. Other molds are less harmful, but still compromise the immune system and bring about a wide variety of less toxic illnesses. Not all types of mold are a great threat, causing severe diseases and even death―some types of mold are a lesser threat and cause less serious diseases.
Spiritual Mold
In the spiritual life, by analogy, you could compare the physical mold that is present throughout nature, to a “spiritual mold” that is also present everywhere throughout the world. As stated above, mold grows on any dead organic matter in nature, but is only visible to the human eye when it starts to form a large colony. Some mold, even as a large colony, can still be invisible behind wallpaper, behind paneling, under boards, etc. Similarly, our “spiritual mold” or sinfulness, might not be very visible in the early stages―it only becomes visible when our sins have formed a large colony. Yet, even large colonies of “spiritual mold” or sinfulness can remain hidden in the recesses of our minds―sins of thought and desire, that never see the light of day through being spoken or put into action.
You could say that the toxic molds are mortal sins, and the less toxic molds are venial sins―but both of them cause disease in the soul. Mortal sin attacks and kills the sanctifying grace in the soul―whereas venial sin weakens and compromises the “immune system” of the soul, which then opens it up more and more to the likelihood of mortal sin making an entrance. “Toxic spiritual mold” begins to grow in any “dead soul”―that is to say, a soul in a state of mortal sin. “non-toxic spiritual mold” begins to grow in any soul that is in a state of sanctifying grace, if that soul has allowed the “spores of worldliness” to enter the life of the soul, by too great an exposure to the worldliness that surrounds us.
There are some molds that are not toxic at all, but are medicinal―such as penicillin. These medicinal molds can be likened to temptations in the spiritual life. Temptations are not sins―therefore they are not “spiritual toxic”―they are, so to speak, “tests” or “examinations” that test and indicate our level of spirituality. Temptations―when they rejected and fought-off―actually make us grow in grace, thus you could say that they are “medicinal spiritual molds”.
However, mold spores can still survive in environments that don’t support normal mold growth―but they will only start to grow once they are in an environment with suitable water, right food and temperature, and oxygen. Similarly, the “molds” of worldliness can survive in a soul that is in a state of sanctifying grace―in such a case the “spores” of the “mold of worldliness” merely lie dormant, awaiting the right conditions to start growing rapidly. When the temperature, moisture, and available nutrient conditions are correct, the spores can form into new mold colonies where they are deposited. In the spiritual life, a single “spore of sin”―whether it be a mortal sin or a venial sin―can quickly grow into a “mold colony” or a “colony of sin”, which we call a “vice”. A vice is not one single sin (spore), nor is vice merely a few sins (spores), but a vice is regular sin, a habitual sin, a frequently repeated sin. Using God’s Name in vain just once is not a habit of blasphemy, but only a sin of blasphemy. Using God’s Name in vain many times a week, or many times a day, is the vice of blasphemy (the “colony of mold”).
There are many types of mold, but all require moisture (worldliness) and a food source (our thoughts, words and actions) for growth. Unlike plants that use of photosynthesis to harness energy, molds rely on organic matter to provide energy.
Our Lady is a Mold―a Different Kind of Mold
Whereas the above molds seek to break down and destroy, there is a mold that seeks to shape and perfect―that mold is Our Lady. St. Louis de Montfort describes this beautifully:
“Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the ‘living mold of God.’ In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it. A sculptor can make a statue or a life-like model in two ways: (1) By using his skill, strength, experience and good tools to produce a statue out of hard, shapeless matter; (2) By making a cast of it in a mold. The first way is long and involved and open to all sorts of accidents. It only needs a faulty stroke of the chisel or hammer to ruin the whole work. The second is quick, easy, straightforward, almost effortless and inexpensive, but the mold must be perfect and true to life and the material must be easy to handle and offer no resistance.
“Mary is the great mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Ghost to give human nature to a Man Who is God by the hypostatic union, and to fashion, through grace, men who are like to God. No godly feature is missing from this mold. Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be molded, will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ, true God, with little pain or effort, as befits his weak human condition. He will take on a faithful likeness to Jesus with no possibility of distortion, for the devil has never had and never will have any access to Mary, the holy and immaculate Virgin, in whom there is not the least suspicion of a stain of sin. Dear friend, what a difference there is between a soul brought up in the ordinary way to resemble Jesus Christ by people who, like sculptors, rely on their own skill and industry, and a soul thoroughly tractable, entirely detached, most ready to be molded in her by the working of the Holy Ghost. What blemishes and defects, what shadows and distortions, what natural and human imperfections are found in the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to Jesus is found in the second!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §16 to §18).
In his larger work, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis also speaks in a similar fashion: “Mary is a holy place, and the holy of holies where saints are formed and molded. 9. Take notice, if you please, that I say the saints are molded in Mary. There is a great difference between making a figure in relief by blows of hammer and chisel, and making a figure by throwing it into a mold. Statuaries and sculptors labor much to make figures in the first manner; but to make them in the second manner, they work little and do their work quickly. St. Augustine calls our Blessed Lady ‘the mold of God’ ―the mold fit to cast and mold gods. He who is cast in this mold is presently formed and molded in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in him. At a slight expense and in a short time he will become God, because he has been cast in the same mold which has formed a God.
“It seems to me that I can very aptly compare directors and devout persons, who wish to form Jesus Christ in themselves or others by practices different from this one, to sculptors who trust in their own professional skill, ingenuity or art, and so give an infinity of hammering and chiseling to a hard stone or a piece of badly polished wood, to make an image of Jesus Christ out of it. Sometimes they do not succeed in giving anything like the natural expression of Jesus, either from having no knowledge or experience of the Person of Jesus, or from some blow awkwardly given, which has spoiled the work. But those who embrace the secret of grace which I am revealing to them I may rightly compare to founders and casters who have discovered the beautiful mold of Mary, where Jesus was naturally and divinely formed; and without trusting in their own skill, but only in the goodness of the mold, they cast themselves and lose themselves in Mary, to become the faithful portraits of Jesus Christ. Oh, beautiful and true comparison! But who will comprehend it? I desire that you may, my dear brother. But remember that we cast in a mold only what is melted and liquid; that is to say, you must destroy and melt down in yourself the old Adam to become the new one in Mary … Let us remember, I repeat, that Mary is the great and exclusive mold of God, proper to making living images of God at small cost and in a little time; and that a soul which has found that mold, and has lost itself in it, is presently changed into Jesus Christ, whom that mold represents to the life. We must do our actions in Mary.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §218 to §221, §260 to §261).
Mary is to Mold the Greatest Saints of All Time
St. Louis then goes on to explain and describe how Mary will form the greatest saints in our “End Times” or “Last Days”:
“God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin ever since He created her—we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day, by His dear Mother … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary.”
“When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce … Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … The Most High, with His holy Mother, has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties.”
“The power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.”
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.”
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.”
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).”
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited.’ (Psalm 39:2).”
You have obviously heard of “mold” and perhaps you have even had to deal with it. We can learn much from the dangers and effects of mold in the environment and apply the principles to the dangers and effects of a “spiritual mold” in the soul.
Obviously, you know that exposure to mold in the home is not healthy. You also know that mold can cause serious health problems. In healthy individuals, exposure to mold typically causes only minor symptoms and those are often respiratory in nature – a runny nose, a cough, sneezing, maybe a sinus infection or bronchitis. There are always exceptions and even previously healthy folks can become seriously ill due to mold exposure, but those with pre-existing health problems are at greatest risk.
But did you know that mold can cause a number of heart problems? These include myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), endocarditis (an infection of the lining of the heart), damage to the heart muscle and damage to the heart valves. Organ damage, including damage to the heart, occurs when the immune system is unable to fight off a mold-related infection. Infection can travel through the bloodstream and affect one or more of the body’s vital organs, including the heart. Sometimes a widespread infection occurs, affecting many body systems at once―a condition known as sepsis. A high fever is usually present, along with other symptoms.
Big Problems from Little Causes
The word ‘mold’ refers to fungi which grow in the form of multi-cellular strands known as hyphae. Mold is a part of the natural environment. Mold is found everywhere and can grow on almost any substance if and when moisture is present. Mold reproduces by spores, which are then carried around by air currents. When spores land on a moist surface suitable for life, they begin to grow. Mold grows on the materials it can digest― and it can digest a lot―it does this by secreting digestive enzymes that help breakdown the substance that is going to be digested. Mold grows on any dead organic matter in nature, but is only visible to the human eye when it forms a large colony.
Outdoors, molds play a part in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees, but indoors, mold growth should be avoided. Molds reproduce by means of tiny spores; the spores are invisible to the naked eye and float through outdoor and indoor air. Mold may begin growing indoors when mold spores land on surfaces that are wet. There are many types of mold, and none of them will grow without water or moisture. Molds are usually not a problem indoors, unless mold spores land on a wet or damp spot and begin growing. Molds have the potential to cause health problems. Molds produce allergens (substances that can cause allergic reactions), irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances (mycotoxins).
Allergic reactions to mold are common. They can be immediate or delayed. Molds can also cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold. In addition, mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and non-allergic people. Symptoms other than the allergic and irritant types are not commonly reported as a result of inhaling mold.
It is impossible to get rid of all mold and mold spores indoors; some mold spores will be found floating through the air and in house dust. The mold spores will not grow if moisture is not present. Indoor mold growth can and should be prevented or controlled by controlling moisture indoors. If there is mold growth in your home, you must clean up the mold and fix the water problem. If you clean up the mold, but don't fix the water problem, then, most likely, the mold problem will come back.
There are over 100,000 different types of mold. The problem with there being so many species of mold is that differentiating toxic molds from household molds is nearly impossible for an untrained professional. Mold is normally found indoors at levels which do not affect most healthy individuals. Some molds are toxic and can result in death. Other molds are less harmful, but still compromise the immune system and bring about a wide variety of less toxic illnesses. Not all types of mold are a great threat, causing severe diseases and even death―some types of mold are a lesser threat and cause less serious diseases.
Spiritual Mold
In the spiritual life, by analogy, you could compare the physical mold that is present throughout nature, to a “spiritual mold” that is also present everywhere throughout the world. As stated above, mold grows on any dead organic matter in nature, but is only visible to the human eye when it starts to form a large colony. Some mold, even as a large colony, can still be invisible behind wallpaper, behind paneling, under boards, etc. Similarly, our “spiritual mold” or sinfulness, might not be very visible in the early stages―it only becomes visible when our sins have formed a large colony. Yet, even large colonies of “spiritual mold” or sinfulness can remain hidden in the recesses of our minds―sins of thought and desire, that never see the light of day through being spoken or put into action.
You could say that the toxic molds are mortal sins, and the less toxic molds are venial sins―but both of them cause disease in the soul. Mortal sin attacks and kills the sanctifying grace in the soul―whereas venial sin weakens and compromises the “immune system” of the soul, which then opens it up more and more to the likelihood of mortal sin making an entrance. “Toxic spiritual mold” begins to grow in any “dead soul”―that is to say, a soul in a state of mortal sin. “non-toxic spiritual mold” begins to grow in any soul that is in a state of sanctifying grace, if that soul has allowed the “spores of worldliness” to enter the life of the soul, by too great an exposure to the worldliness that surrounds us.
There are some molds that are not toxic at all, but are medicinal―such as penicillin. These medicinal molds can be likened to temptations in the spiritual life. Temptations are not sins―therefore they are not “spiritual toxic”―they are, so to speak, “tests” or “examinations” that test and indicate our level of spirituality. Temptations―when they rejected and fought-off―actually make us grow in grace, thus you could say that they are “medicinal spiritual molds”.
However, mold spores can still survive in environments that don’t support normal mold growth―but they will only start to grow once they are in an environment with suitable water, right food and temperature, and oxygen. Similarly, the “molds” of worldliness can survive in a soul that is in a state of sanctifying grace―in such a case the “spores” of the “mold of worldliness” merely lie dormant, awaiting the right conditions to start growing rapidly. When the temperature, moisture, and available nutrient conditions are correct, the spores can form into new mold colonies where they are deposited. In the spiritual life, a single “spore of sin”―whether it be a mortal sin or a venial sin―can quickly grow into a “mold colony” or a “colony of sin”, which we call a “vice”. A vice is not one single sin (spore), nor is vice merely a few sins (spores), but a vice is regular sin, a habitual sin, a frequently repeated sin. Using God’s Name in vain just once is not a habit of blasphemy, but only a sin of blasphemy. Using God’s Name in vain many times a week, or many times a day, is the vice of blasphemy (the “colony of mold”).
There are many types of mold, but all require moisture (worldliness) and a food source (our thoughts, words and actions) for growth. Unlike plants that use of photosynthesis to harness energy, molds rely on organic matter to provide energy.
Our Lady is a Mold―a Different Kind of Mold
Whereas the above molds seek to break down and destroy, there is a mold that seeks to shape and perfect―that mold is Our Lady. St. Louis de Montfort describes this beautifully:
“Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the ‘living mold of God.’ In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it. A sculptor can make a statue or a life-like model in two ways: (1) By using his skill, strength, experience and good tools to produce a statue out of hard, shapeless matter; (2) By making a cast of it in a mold. The first way is long and involved and open to all sorts of accidents. It only needs a faulty stroke of the chisel or hammer to ruin the whole work. The second is quick, easy, straightforward, almost effortless and inexpensive, but the mold must be perfect and true to life and the material must be easy to handle and offer no resistance.
“Mary is the great mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Ghost to give human nature to a Man Who is God by the hypostatic union, and to fashion, through grace, men who are like to God. No godly feature is missing from this mold. Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be molded, will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ, true God, with little pain or effort, as befits his weak human condition. He will take on a faithful likeness to Jesus with no possibility of distortion, for the devil has never had and never will have any access to Mary, the holy and immaculate Virgin, in whom there is not the least suspicion of a stain of sin. Dear friend, what a difference there is between a soul brought up in the ordinary way to resemble Jesus Christ by people who, like sculptors, rely on their own skill and industry, and a soul thoroughly tractable, entirely detached, most ready to be molded in her by the working of the Holy Ghost. What blemishes and defects, what shadows and distortions, what natural and human imperfections are found in the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to Jesus is found in the second!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §16 to §18).
In his larger work, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis also speaks in a similar fashion: “Mary is a holy place, and the holy of holies where saints are formed and molded. 9. Take notice, if you please, that I say the saints are molded in Mary. There is a great difference between making a figure in relief by blows of hammer and chisel, and making a figure by throwing it into a mold. Statuaries and sculptors labor much to make figures in the first manner; but to make them in the second manner, they work little and do their work quickly. St. Augustine calls our Blessed Lady ‘the mold of God’ ―the mold fit to cast and mold gods. He who is cast in this mold is presently formed and molded in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in him. At a slight expense and in a short time he will become God, because he has been cast in the same mold which has formed a God.
“It seems to me that I can very aptly compare directors and devout persons, who wish to form Jesus Christ in themselves or others by practices different from this one, to sculptors who trust in their own professional skill, ingenuity or art, and so give an infinity of hammering and chiseling to a hard stone or a piece of badly polished wood, to make an image of Jesus Christ out of it. Sometimes they do not succeed in giving anything like the natural expression of Jesus, either from having no knowledge or experience of the Person of Jesus, or from some blow awkwardly given, which has spoiled the work. But those who embrace the secret of grace which I am revealing to them I may rightly compare to founders and casters who have discovered the beautiful mold of Mary, where Jesus was naturally and divinely formed; and without trusting in their own skill, but only in the goodness of the mold, they cast themselves and lose themselves in Mary, to become the faithful portraits of Jesus Christ. Oh, beautiful and true comparison! But who will comprehend it? I desire that you may, my dear brother. But remember that we cast in a mold only what is melted and liquid; that is to say, you must destroy and melt down in yourself the old Adam to become the new one in Mary … Let us remember, I repeat, that Mary is the great and exclusive mold of God, proper to making living images of God at small cost and in a little time; and that a soul which has found that mold, and has lost itself in it, is presently changed into Jesus Christ, whom that mold represents to the life. We must do our actions in Mary.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §218 to §221, §260 to §261).
Mary is to Mold the Greatest Saints of All Time
St. Louis then goes on to explain and describe how Mary will form the greatest saints in our “End Times” or “Last Days”:
“God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin ever since He created her—we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day, by His dear Mother … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary.”
“When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce … Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … The Most High, with His holy Mother, has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties.”
“The power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.”
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.”
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.”
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).”
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited.’ (Psalm 39:2).”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 16th & Tuesday August 17th
Article 9
Cleaning Your Heart for the Immaculate Heart!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday August 16th & Tuesday August 17th
Article 9
Cleaning Your Heart for the Immaculate Heart!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Clean of Heart
God is often symbolized by a mountain in Holy Scripture. God appears to Moses on a mountain; God gives Moses the Ten Commandments on a mountain; Our Lord is transfigured on a mountain; He is crucified on a mountain; He ascends to Heaven from a mountain. The Fathers of the Church also symbolize Our Lady by a mountain. Our path to Heaven is often described as going up the mountain of God. “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands and clean of heart―who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor!” (Psalm 23:4). “Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of Faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water!” (Hebrews 10:22).
The following words of Holy Scripture can truly only be applied to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “I am clean and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9). Scripture then asks us: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). The reply is obvious: “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Therefore we should cry out to God: “Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels!” (Psalm 50:12). For, as Jesus said: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8). And, speaking of Heaven, “There shall not enter into it anything unclean!” (Apocalypse 21:27). “And the armies that are in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean!” (Apocalypse 19:14).
Leprosy is a symbol of uncleanness and sin―and Our Lord healed the lepers and made them physically clean and spiritually sin: “A leper came and adored Jesus, saying: ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I do want! Be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 8:2-3). “And as Jesus entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan! And Jesus, answering, said: ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, except this stranger!’” (Luke 17:12-18).
Our Lord condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocritical cleanliness: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees―hypocrites! Because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean!” (Matthew 23:25-36).
As the priest ascends the altar at Mass, after the prayers at the foot of the altar, he prays: “Take away from us our iniquities, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be worthy to enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Notice that he does NOT say: “Take away MY iniquities, that I might be worthy…” but “Take away OUR iniquities that WE may be worthy to enter with PURE minds into the Holy of Holies!”
Just before the Gospel of the Mass, the priest begs that God might CLEANSE his heart: “Cleanse my heart and my lips, O almighty God, Who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias with a burning coal, and vouchsafe, through Thy gracious mercy, so to purify me, that I may worthily announce Thy holy Gospel.”
We Need Purifying and Cleansing!
We all need purifying―either in this world or in the fires of Purgatory―if not, then all that remains is Hell (God forbid). We are all sinners―and we continue to sin each day―in such a state we are unfit for Heaven without a just purification and cleansing. As the succession of popes since Pope Pius XII have said―even the more recent Liberal and Modernist popes―the world today has lost the sense of sin. Thus, it has also automatically lost the sense of the need for purification. Holy Scripture says: “Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes! Cease to do perversely!” (Isaias 1:16). “Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments!” (Genesis 35:2). What are those “strange gods”? Today, they are the television, the smartphone, the computer or tablet or i-pad, the internet and social media, the evil books, immodest fashions, sinful customs and worldly gatherings and socials. All those things that distract us from loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole strength (Luke 10:25-28)―and take up many hours each day in non-religious, worldly, secondary, non-essential, trivial occupations and pastimes. They do not allow us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to “seek first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31). Such worldly souls “are not cleansed even to this day! Neither have they feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in My commandments” (Jeremias 44:10).
We have to say with the Psalmist: “Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord! And from those of others spare thy servant! If they shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot, and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin!” (Psalm 18:13-14). “Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow!” (Psalm 50:9). The entire world is defiled and idolatrous―and we have to live amongst that filth. Perhaps we even like it? Yet the end of such has been perfectly described, not only in prophecies, but also in Holy Scripture!
A Worldwide Purification and Cleansing is Prophesied!
Our Lady, in recent times, prophesied what God would to this sinful world. In 1956, Our Lady warned the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aiello, of the fate awaiting the sinful world if it refused to cleanse itself of its sins: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” That “muddy river” has stained us all to one degree or another―for you cannot live in a sinful world without taking on some of the stench of sin, just like you cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke.
Almost 17 years later, in 1973 at Akita in Japan, Our Lady reiterated what she had said in 1956, adding: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If sins increase in number and gravity [which they have], there will be no longer pardon for them! … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to punish and correct today’s world, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims visiting him in Italy: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before giving us a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... Any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another living human being! ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... All the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this Judgment upon the Nations.” According to Fr. Pel, this judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
If You Won't Believe Prophecies, then Believe God!
Some people are reluctant to believe prophecies, saying that are “merely” Private Revelations. The purpose of Divine Private Revelations is not to reveal anything new―but to bring to our attention things that are already contained in Divine Public Revelation. Holy Scripture is part-and-parcel of Divine Public Revelation and it reveals to us exactly the same things that the above Divine Private Revelations have revealed. Here are “merely” a few quotes from Scripture―and keep in mind that God never changes! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
“The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies. The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet! He rebukes the sea, and dries it up, and makes all the rivers to be a desert. The mountains tremble before Him, and the hills are made desolate, and the Earth hath quaked at His presence, and the world and all that dwell therein! Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:26).
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
“The wrath of God from Heaven is revealed against all ungodliness and injustice of those men who unjustly shackle the truth of God. Because that which is known of God is manifest in them―for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of God are clearly seen through the creation of the world―His eternal power and divinity being seen and understood by the things that He made. They are inexcusable because, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks―but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools! And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man! Therefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart―unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. They changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator! For this reason God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and have burned in their lusts one towards another [homosexuality]. And since they preferred not to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them” (Romans 1:18-32).
“Behold I will stretch forth My hand upon thee and will deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands and break thee in pieces! And thou shalt know that I am the Lord! … And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay My vengeance upon them!” (Ezechiel 25:7, 17).
“The Lord God shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city He shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, He shall pull it down even to the dust ... For behold the Lord will come to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the Earth against Him!” (Isaias 26:4-5, 21).
Pretty Tough for a Loving God, Huh?
All of that irks our “Disneyland” version of God that we have in our minds―you know, where God is just a cuddly teddy-bear that never speaks and never does anything; a God is a “Sugar Daddy” who just gives and gives and gives and expects nothing in return; a God with spiritual Alzheimer disease or spiritual dementia, who simply forgets all the sins we have committed; a God who all love and nothing but love, Who loves sinners so much that we might be tempted to think that He also loves their sins! No! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Currently, the world seems to mocking God by sinning to high Heaven with impunity (impunity = no consequences, no punishment).
“And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it My way that is not right, or rather is it not your ways that are perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). God continues: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turns himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die! And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just man turns himself away from his justice, and commits iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turns himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die! And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-31). “Wash thy heart from wickedness, so that thou mayest be saved! How long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?” (Jeremias 4:14).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Tough Stains Need Tough Treatment
When you have pots and pans that have tough stains, then, as you well know, you will not remove them with a short, little gentle wipe. Tough stains require tough cleaning―it may call for an acid such as vinegar, an abrasive such as baking soda, or a heavy-duty scouring pad. The same is true in the spiritual life. Penance stings like vinegar and it can also be abrasive like baking soda―the purpose of penance is remove the debt for sin, which is like a stain on the cookware that has to be removed before you can call it fully cleansed. If we fail to do enough penance while on Earth, then that “scouring” must be continued in Purgatory until we are fully cleansed of the stains of all our sins.
Our Lady instructed the Venerable Mary of Agreda thus: “Let fear be with thee until thou art purified and cleansed of thy sins and of thy ignorance, but also love the Lord in order that thou mayest be transformed in Him … in order that, having been cleansed of thy sins and freed from imperfection, inflamed with divine love, thou mayest become spiritualized … Wash and purify thyself in the Blood of thy Redeemer, Christ, and apply this cleansing many times by renewing thy loving sorrow for thy sins … Since thou hast so often offended the Lord, call upon His mercy, weep and wash thyself from thy sins with copious tears! Remember that, under pain of being condemned as unfaithful, thou art obliged to watch over thy soul and preserve it for an eternal resting-place of the Almighty―pure, clean and undisturbed―so that thy God may possess it and find in it a worthy dwelling … Wash and cleanse thy soul―for it is the most abominable carelessness to know oneself stained with sin, and to remain in such disgrace for a long time, yea, even for one instant … Do not delay, even for one instant, to arouse sorrow for thy sins and a firm purpose of confessing them, as soon as thou findest thyself guilty of any and of amending the least of thy imperfections. In all this be so careful that thou leave not upon thy conscience the smallest defect without being sorry for it and without cleansing thyself by the Blood of my most holy Son ... Thou canst not be a fit instrument in the hands of the Lord, such as He desires thee to be, if thou dost not cleanse thy faculties even of the images of all creatures, so that they do not find entrance into thy desires.” (Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
God Wants to Clean House!
A clean heart is a holy heart and God wants us to be holy! God has stated this numerous times: “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by anything, upon the Earth! … You shall be holy, because I am holy … You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine … Sanctify yourselves and be ye holy―because I am the Lord your God! … They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name … Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, who sanctifies them!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 20:7; 20:26; 21:6-8). “Be holy both in body and in spirit!” (1 Corinthians 7:34). “According to Him that hath called you―Who is holy―be you also in all manner of conversation holy!” (1 Peter 1:15). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity!” (Ephesians 1:4) ... “Not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but holy and without blemish!” (Ephesians 5:27). Our Lord adds: “Therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being! What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner! The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this!
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §3 to §6).
That is exactly what Our Lady came to tell us at Fatima and beyond―she came to tell us that we must turn to her for help in general, and turn to her Immaculate Heart in particular. This was amply said at Fatima in 1917 and at Akita in 1973: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima). “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita).
The Immaculate Heart Needs Immaculate Children
Yes―Our Lady is Immaculate! As the Church sings in her Liturgy on the feast of the Immaculate Conception―in the Gradual at Mass, and also at Lauds, Prime and Vespers: “Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non est in te!” meaning “Thou art all fair, O Mary, and there is no stain of Original Sin in thee!” As Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). We also have the saying: “Like father, like son!” All of this means that children take after their parents―they reflect the habits and attitudes of their parents. If we wish to be saved by Mary, we must reflect Mary, imitate Mary, work through Mary, be one with Mary!
St. Louis de Montfort puts it thus: “As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil. Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is to say, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children … Mary is called, by St. Augustine, the ‘living mold of God.’ Mary is the great mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Ghost. No godly feature is missing from this mold. Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be molded, will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §11 & §12; §16 & §17).
St. Louis elaborates on this in his book, True Devotion to Mary, by saying: “It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world … It was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her … God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son and all the members of His Mystical Body … God the Holy Ghost is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He produced His Masterpiece, which is God made Man, and that He goes on producing daily―to the end of the world―the predestinate and the members of the Body of Christ … God the Father made Mary a most rich treasury, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such a way that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary! … When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, and never will have, her equal in purity and in fruitfulness. Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §16 to §25, §35).
You Reap What You Sow!
If you want the help of Mary, then show yourself worthy of being called her child! St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book The Glories of Mary, writes: “Whilst disgusting Mary by a wicked life, who would dare even to wish to be the child of Mary? A certain sinner once said to Mary: ‘Show thyself a Mother!’ but the Blessed Virgin replied: ‘Show thyself a son!’ Another invoked the divine Mother, calling her the Mother of Mercy, and she answered: ‘You sinners, when you want my help, call me Mother of Mercy, and, at the same time, you do not cease to make me a Mother of sorrows and anguish by your sins!’ He is cursed of God, says Ecclesiasticus, that angers his mother (Ecclesiasticus 3:18). ‘That is Mary’ says Richard of St. Laurence. God curses those who by their wicked life, and still more by their obstinacy in sin, afflict this tender mother!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
As you sow, so shall you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit [especially in the spirit of Mary], of the spirit [Mary] he shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
Planting the Tree of Life in Your Soul
St. Louis de Montfort wrties: “He who wishes to have the fruit well ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life … If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §164, §44, §218).
In his book, The Secret of Mary, St. Louis further develops this idea of Mary being the Tree of Life: “If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant. Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature―since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors, or your natural talents, or your personal standing, or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help. The person in whose soul this tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. Whatever is likely to choke the tree, prevent it from yielding fruit, must be cut away and rooted out. This means that, by self-denial and self-discipline, you must cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses.
You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort― love of self is incompatible with love of Mary. You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit. Yet you need not be alarmed when the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked by others. Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will become such a good tree that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary. Happy is that soul in which Mary, the tree of life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary’s fruit and preserves it up till death and then beyond to all eternity” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §70 to §78).
Fertilize the Soil of Your Heart
However, the soil in which plant this Tree of Life has to be “clean” soil, “pure” soil, “immaculate” soil―soil of the best quality. If our hearts are sullied and stained by the world, then they are contaminated and not immaculate. The growth of plants greatly depends on the kind and quality of soil in which they have been planted. What is your heart like?
Perhaps it time―as we prepare for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 22nd―to cry out to God for a new heart, a better heart, a heart worthy of the Tree of Life. Let us beg this of God, saying: “Create a clean heart in me, O God!” (Psalm 50:12). God will surely answer―if we cry to Him with a sincere heart―and say: “I will take you from among the Gentiles … and I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them! … And you shall remember your wicked ways, and your doings that were not good: and your iniquities, and your wicked deeds shall displease you!” (Ezechiel 36:24-27, 31).
God is often symbolized by a mountain in Holy Scripture. God appears to Moses on a mountain; God gives Moses the Ten Commandments on a mountain; Our Lord is transfigured on a mountain; He is crucified on a mountain; He ascends to Heaven from a mountain. The Fathers of the Church also symbolize Our Lady by a mountain. Our path to Heaven is often described as going up the mountain of God. “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands and clean of heart―who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor!” (Psalm 23:4). “Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of Faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water!” (Hebrews 10:22).
The following words of Holy Scripture can truly only be applied to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “I am clean and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9). Scripture then asks us: “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean! I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). The reply is obvious: “All have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Therefore we should cry out to God: “Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels!” (Psalm 50:12). For, as Jesus said: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8). And, speaking of Heaven, “There shall not enter into it anything unclean!” (Apocalypse 21:27). “And the armies that are in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean!” (Apocalypse 19:14).
Leprosy is a symbol of uncleanness and sin―and Our Lord healed the lepers and made them physically clean and spiritually sin: “A leper came and adored Jesus, saying: ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I do want! Be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 8:2-3). “And as Jesus entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan! And Jesus, answering, said: ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, except this stranger!’” (Luke 17:12-18).
Our Lord condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocritical cleanliness: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees―hypocrites! Because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean!” (Matthew 23:25-36).
As the priest ascends the altar at Mass, after the prayers at the foot of the altar, he prays: “Take away from us our iniquities, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be worthy to enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Notice that he does NOT say: “Take away MY iniquities, that I might be worthy…” but “Take away OUR iniquities that WE may be worthy to enter with PURE minds into the Holy of Holies!”
Just before the Gospel of the Mass, the priest begs that God might CLEANSE his heart: “Cleanse my heart and my lips, O almighty God, Who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias with a burning coal, and vouchsafe, through Thy gracious mercy, so to purify me, that I may worthily announce Thy holy Gospel.”
We Need Purifying and Cleansing!
We all need purifying―either in this world or in the fires of Purgatory―if not, then all that remains is Hell (God forbid). We are all sinners―and we continue to sin each day―in such a state we are unfit for Heaven without a just purification and cleansing. As the succession of popes since Pope Pius XII have said―even the more recent Liberal and Modernist popes―the world today has lost the sense of sin. Thus, it has also automatically lost the sense of the need for purification. Holy Scripture says: “Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes! Cease to do perversely!” (Isaias 1:16). “Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments!” (Genesis 35:2). What are those “strange gods”? Today, they are the television, the smartphone, the computer or tablet or i-pad, the internet and social media, the evil books, immodest fashions, sinful customs and worldly gatherings and socials. All those things that distract us from loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole strength (Luke 10:25-28)―and take up many hours each day in non-religious, worldly, secondary, non-essential, trivial occupations and pastimes. They do not allow us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to “seek first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31). Such worldly souls “are not cleansed even to this day! Neither have they feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in My commandments” (Jeremias 44:10).
We have to say with the Psalmist: “Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord! And from those of others spare thy servant! If they shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot, and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin!” (Psalm 18:13-14). “Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow!” (Psalm 50:9). The entire world is defiled and idolatrous―and we have to live amongst that filth. Perhaps we even like it? Yet the end of such has been perfectly described, not only in prophecies, but also in Holy Scripture!
A Worldwide Purification and Cleansing is Prophesied!
Our Lady, in recent times, prophesied what God would to this sinful world. In 1956, Our Lady warned the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aiello, of the fate awaiting the sinful world if it refused to cleanse itself of its sins: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” That “muddy river” has stained us all to one degree or another―for you cannot live in a sinful world without taking on some of the stench of sin, just like you cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke.
Almost 17 years later, in 1973 at Akita in Japan, Our Lady reiterated what she had said in 1956, adding: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If sins increase in number and gravity [which they have], there will be no longer pardon for them! … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to punish and correct today’s world, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims visiting him in Italy: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before giving us a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“Know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the wrath of God. Everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... Any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy … In this way, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another living human being! ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... All the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this Judgment upon the Nations.” According to Fr. Pel, this judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
If You Won't Believe Prophecies, then Believe God!
Some people are reluctant to believe prophecies, saying that are “merely” Private Revelations. The purpose of Divine Private Revelations is not to reveal anything new―but to bring to our attention things that are already contained in Divine Public Revelation. Holy Scripture is part-and-parcel of Divine Public Revelation and it reveals to us exactly the same things that the above Divine Private Revelations have revealed. Here are “merely” a few quotes from Scripture―and keep in mind that God never changes! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
“The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies. The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet! He rebukes the sea, and dries it up, and makes all the rivers to be a desert. The mountains tremble before Him, and the hills are made desolate, and the Earth hath quaked at His presence, and the world and all that dwell therein! Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:26).
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
“The wrath of God from Heaven is revealed against all ungodliness and injustice of those men who unjustly shackle the truth of God. Because that which is known of God is manifest in them―for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of God are clearly seen through the creation of the world―His eternal power and divinity being seen and understood by the things that He made. They are inexcusable because, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks―but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools! And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man! Therefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart―unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. They changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator! For this reason God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and have burned in their lusts one towards another [homosexuality]. And since they preferred not to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them” (Romans 1:18-32).
“Behold I will stretch forth My hand upon thee and will deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands and break thee in pieces! And thou shalt know that I am the Lord! … And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay My vengeance upon them!” (Ezechiel 25:7, 17).
“The Lord God shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city He shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, He shall pull it down even to the dust ... For behold the Lord will come to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the Earth against Him!” (Isaias 26:4-5, 21).
Pretty Tough for a Loving God, Huh?
All of that irks our “Disneyland” version of God that we have in our minds―you know, where God is just a cuddly teddy-bear that never speaks and never does anything; a God is a “Sugar Daddy” who just gives and gives and gives and expects nothing in return; a God with spiritual Alzheimer disease or spiritual dementia, who simply forgets all the sins we have committed; a God who all love and nothing but love, Who loves sinners so much that we might be tempted to think that He also loves their sins! No! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Currently, the world seems to mocking God by sinning to high Heaven with impunity (impunity = no consequences, no punishment).
“And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore! Is it My way that is not right, or rather is it not your ways that are perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). God continues: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turns himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die! And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just man turns himself away from his justice, and commits iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turns himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die! And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-31). “Wash thy heart from wickedness, so that thou mayest be saved! How long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?” (Jeremias 4:14).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Tough Stains Need Tough Treatment
When you have pots and pans that have tough stains, then, as you well know, you will not remove them with a short, little gentle wipe. Tough stains require tough cleaning―it may call for an acid such as vinegar, an abrasive such as baking soda, or a heavy-duty scouring pad. The same is true in the spiritual life. Penance stings like vinegar and it can also be abrasive like baking soda―the purpose of penance is remove the debt for sin, which is like a stain on the cookware that has to be removed before you can call it fully cleansed. If we fail to do enough penance while on Earth, then that “scouring” must be continued in Purgatory until we are fully cleansed of the stains of all our sins.
Our Lady instructed the Venerable Mary of Agreda thus: “Let fear be with thee until thou art purified and cleansed of thy sins and of thy ignorance, but also love the Lord in order that thou mayest be transformed in Him … in order that, having been cleansed of thy sins and freed from imperfection, inflamed with divine love, thou mayest become spiritualized … Wash and purify thyself in the Blood of thy Redeemer, Christ, and apply this cleansing many times by renewing thy loving sorrow for thy sins … Since thou hast so often offended the Lord, call upon His mercy, weep and wash thyself from thy sins with copious tears! Remember that, under pain of being condemned as unfaithful, thou art obliged to watch over thy soul and preserve it for an eternal resting-place of the Almighty―pure, clean and undisturbed―so that thy God may possess it and find in it a worthy dwelling … Wash and cleanse thy soul―for it is the most abominable carelessness to know oneself stained with sin, and to remain in such disgrace for a long time, yea, even for one instant … Do not delay, even for one instant, to arouse sorrow for thy sins and a firm purpose of confessing them, as soon as thou findest thyself guilty of any and of amending the least of thy imperfections. In all this be so careful that thou leave not upon thy conscience the smallest defect without being sorry for it and without cleansing thyself by the Blood of my most holy Son ... Thou canst not be a fit instrument in the hands of the Lord, such as He desires thee to be, if thou dost not cleanse thy faculties even of the images of all creatures, so that they do not find entrance into thy desires.” (Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
God Wants to Clean House!
A clean heart is a holy heart and God wants us to be holy! God has stated this numerous times: “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by anything, upon the Earth! … You shall be holy, because I am holy … You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine … Sanctify yourselves and be ye holy―because I am the Lord your God! … They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name … Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, who sanctifies them!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 20:7; 20:26; 21:6-8). “Be holy both in body and in spirit!” (1 Corinthians 7:34). “According to Him that hath called you―Who is holy―be you also in all manner of conversation holy!” (1 Peter 1:15). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity!” (Ephesians 1:4) ... “Not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but holy and without blemish!” (Ephesians 5:27). Our Lord adds: “Therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being! What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner! The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this!
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §3 to §6).
That is exactly what Our Lady came to tell us at Fatima and beyond―she came to tell us that we must turn to her for help in general, and turn to her Immaculate Heart in particular. This was amply said at Fatima in 1917 and at Akita in 1973: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima). “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita).
The Immaculate Heart Needs Immaculate Children
Yes―Our Lady is Immaculate! As the Church sings in her Liturgy on the feast of the Immaculate Conception―in the Gradual at Mass, and also at Lauds, Prime and Vespers: “Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non est in te!” meaning “Thou art all fair, O Mary, and there is no stain of Original Sin in thee!” As Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). We also have the saying: “Like father, like son!” All of this means that children take after their parents―they reflect the habits and attitudes of their parents. If we wish to be saved by Mary, we must reflect Mary, imitate Mary, work through Mary, be one with Mary!
St. Louis de Montfort puts it thus: “As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil. Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is to say, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children … Mary is called, by St. Augustine, the ‘living mold of God.’ Mary is the great mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Ghost. No godly feature is missing from this mold. Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be molded, will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §11 & §12; §16 & §17).
St. Louis elaborates on this in his book, True Devotion to Mary, by saying: “It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world … It was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her … God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son and all the members of His Mystical Body … God the Holy Ghost is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He produced His Masterpiece, which is God made Man, and that He goes on producing daily―to the end of the world―the predestinate and the members of the Body of Christ … God the Father made Mary a most rich treasury, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such a way that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary! … When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, and never will have, her equal in purity and in fruitfulness. Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §16 to §25, §35).
You Reap What You Sow!
If you want the help of Mary, then show yourself worthy of being called her child! St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book The Glories of Mary, writes: “Whilst disgusting Mary by a wicked life, who would dare even to wish to be the child of Mary? A certain sinner once said to Mary: ‘Show thyself a Mother!’ but the Blessed Virgin replied: ‘Show thyself a son!’ Another invoked the divine Mother, calling her the Mother of Mercy, and she answered: ‘You sinners, when you want my help, call me Mother of Mercy, and, at the same time, you do not cease to make me a Mother of sorrows and anguish by your sins!’ He is cursed of God, says Ecclesiasticus, that angers his mother (Ecclesiasticus 3:18). ‘That is Mary’ says Richard of St. Laurence. God curses those who by their wicked life, and still more by their obstinacy in sin, afflict this tender mother!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
As you sow, so shall you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit [especially in the spirit of Mary], of the spirit [Mary] he shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8).
Planting the Tree of Life in Your Soul
St. Louis de Montfort wrties: “He who wishes to have the fruit well ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life … If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §164, §44, §218).
In his book, The Secret of Mary, St. Louis further develops this idea of Mary being the Tree of Life: “If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant. Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature―since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors, or your natural talents, or your personal standing, or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help. The person in whose soul this tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. Whatever is likely to choke the tree, prevent it from yielding fruit, must be cut away and rooted out. This means that, by self-denial and self-discipline, you must cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses.
You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort― love of self is incompatible with love of Mary. You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit. Yet you need not be alarmed when the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked by others. Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will become such a good tree that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary. Happy is that soul in which Mary, the tree of life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary’s fruit and preserves it up till death and then beyond to all eternity” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §70 to §78).
Fertilize the Soil of Your Heart
However, the soil in which plant this Tree of Life has to be “clean” soil, “pure” soil, “immaculate” soil―soil of the best quality. If our hearts are sullied and stained by the world, then they are contaminated and not immaculate. The growth of plants greatly depends on the kind and quality of soil in which they have been planted. What is your heart like?
Perhaps it time―as we prepare for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 22nd―to cry out to God for a new heart, a better heart, a heart worthy of the Tree of Life. Let us beg this of God, saying: “Create a clean heart in me, O God!” (Psalm 50:12). God will surely answer―if we cry to Him with a sincere heart―and say: “I will take you from among the Gentiles … and I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them! … And you shall remember your wicked ways, and your doings that were not good: and your iniquities, and your wicked deeds shall displease you!” (Ezechiel 36:24-27, 31).
Sunday August 15th
The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven
Article 8
Assuming You Will Go to Heaven
The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven
Article 8
Assuming You Will Go to Heaven
Is Assuming Presuming?
Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption. The day when Our Lady was assumed into Heaven. Do we assume that we will be going to Heaven? Is our assumption really a presumption? We hope to get to Heaven, but can we assume that we will get to Heaven. To assume is to presume! Our assumption may well a presumption—and presumption is a sin against the virtue of Hope. We can sin against Hope in two chief ways—with each way having a myriad of degrees within it. We can sin against Hope by despair and by presumption. Both despair and presumption are exaggerated deformities of the virtue of Hope. Despair is a shortage of Hope. Presumption is an excess of Hope. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, true virtue stands in the middle between excess and deficiency. Looking and listening to most Catholics today, it seems as almost all of them have an excess of Hope—in other words, they are automatically assuming that they are going to Heaven, and this assumption is a presumption—they sin against the virtue of Hope.
Your Assumption is a Presumption
Who better than Our Lady herself, can we find to speak of her assumption? Here is a passage from The City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, where Our Lady speaks of that great event and especially concerning its significance for us:
Indifferent Worldly Humans
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that you bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever wilfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness, is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt―not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh―for, by employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. Let men acknowledge and confess, whether this recollection about Heaven costs them more labor than to follow their blind passions, seeking after honors, possessions or the transitory pleasures―all of which have an end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not, and can never attain.
Humans Labor More For Hell Than Heaven
Our Lady adds: “How much easier is it for mortals to avoid such perversity, especially for the children of the Church―since they have at hand the easy means of Faith and Hope for attaining the truth! Even if to gain eternal happiness were as difficult to obtain as honors and riches and other apparent advantages, it would be very foolish to labor as much for the false as for the true advantages, to labor, in effect, for eternal punishment rather than eternal glory. This abominable foolishness you shall perceive and bewail with tears, if you consider the world in which you live: how it is disturbed by wars and discords; how many unhappy ones it contains, who seek eternal death in exchange for some short and vain honor, for some vengeance and other most vile advantages, while they do not think or care for eternal life as though they were irrational animals. It would be a blessing for them if, like animals, they could end their existence altogether with the temporal death (the souls of animals die with the death of the body); but as the most of them act against justice, and others, who still seek to be just, live in forgetfulness of their final end, the ones as well as the others incur the eternal death.
Fools!
Our Lady bemoans: “This is a sorrow beyond all sorrows, and a misfortune without equal and without remedy. Afflict yourself with the thought that, if men would not make themselves so unworthy of it, my charity would urge me―in the celestial glory where you know me now to be―to send forth a voice through the whole world exclaiming: ‘Mortal and deceived men, what are you doing? For what purpose are you living? Do you realize what it is to see God face to face, and to participate in his eternal glory and share his company? Of what are you thinking? Who has thus disturbed and fascinated your judgment? What will you seek, if once you have lost this true blessing and happiness, since there is no other? The labor is short, the reward is infinite glory, and the punishment is eternal!’
Living According to False Principles
Our Lady warns: “In connection with this sorrow, which I am trying to rouse in you, seek to labor assiduously in order to escape the danger. You have a living example in my life, which was a continual suffering, such as you have known; but when I came to my reward all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot all the suffering, as if it had not occurred. Resolve to follow me in my labor―and though your labor seems to exceed that of all the mortals, look upon it as most insignificant; let nothing seem to you as being difficult or hard, or bitter, even to passing through fire and sword. At the same time I wish you to be free from another error―which is that of men who say: ‘Let us secure salvation: greater or less glory does not matter; we shall all be together in that life in Heaven!’ By this false principle, my daughter, eternal life is not made secure, but rather put in danger; since it arises from great foolishness and lack of divine love. Whoever seeks to make such a bargain with God, offends Him, and tempts Him to permit such souls to live in continued danger of perdition. Human weakness always tends to do less good than it desires to do; and when this desire is small, then it will execute very little, and hence risks losing all.
Aiming Too Low—Falling Even Lower
Our Lady points out that “He who contents himself with the mediocre or lowest in virtue, always leaves in his will and in his inclinations an opening for earthly affections and love of the passing things. Such an opening is contrary to divine love and therefore unavoidably causes the loss of virtue and the ascendency of earthly affections. When the creature resolves to love God from all its heart and with all its powers, as He commands, God overlooks its human defects and shortcomings, and is pleased with their resolve to reap the highest rewards. But to despise those graces or wilfully undervalue them, shows not the love of children or of true friends, but the base fear of slaves, who are content to live and be let alone. If the saints could return to merit some additional degree of glory, by suffering all possible torments until the Day of Judgment, they would doubtlessly return to Earth to suffer; because they have a true and perfect knowledge of the value of the reward and they love God with a perfect charity. My example confirms this truth. It also reproves the foolishness of those, who, in order to avoid suffering and the cross of Christ, are looking for a smaller reward, one which is contrary to the inclination of God’s goodness and contrary to His desire of seeing souls multiply their merits and gain plentiful rewards in the eternal happiness.
Mary Could Help—Few Ask
Our Lady then says: “If anything could lessen the enjoyment of the highest happiness and glory which I possess, and if, in Heaven, I could be capable of any sorrow, then without a doubt I would be grieved to see the holy Church and the rest of the world in its present state of labor, in spite of the fact that men know me to be their Mother, Advocate and Protectress in Heaven, ready to guide and assist them to eternal life. In this state of affairs, when the Almighty has granted me so many privileges and placed so many sources of help in my hands solely for the benefit of mortals, it is a great cause of sorrow to me to see mortals force me to remain idle, and that, due to a negligence in calling upon me, so many souls should be lost. But if I cannot anymore experience grief now in Heaven, I may still justly complain of men, that they load themselves with eternal damnation and refuse me the glory of saving their souls.
“The extent of my intercession and the power I have in Heaven, has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated in behalf of those devoted to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs, I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.
Humans Ignore What Christ Left Behind
Our Lady speaks of our great negligence, saying: “The world and the centuries are far advanced; while mortals are negligent in turning toward the knowledge of God; the children of the Church are involving themselves in the snares of Satan; sinners multiply and crimes increase, because charity is getting cold, even after God became incarnate and has taught the world by His life and doctrine, redeemed it by His Passion and Death, established His evangelical law for the guidance of his creatures, illustrated them by so many miracles, enlightenments, blessings, favors in the Church and in its saints. In addition to all this God has in his goodness opened up His mercies through me and my intercession, by making me the Mother, Advocate, Protectress and Helper of all men, and, though I am most punctual and generous in fulfilling all these offices, the result is still inadequate. After all ― since the crimes of men merit the chastisements, which threaten them and which they begin to feel, and since, under these circumstances, the malice of men has already reached the highest possible point, what wonder is it that divine Justice be irritated?
“Consider assiduously how ugly, abominable, horrible and monstrous the world is in the sight of God and the saints, on account of the enormous abominations which men commit. Look how some follow like brutes after the horrors of sensuality, how gluttony degrades others, how some follow after pleasures of play and vanity, how others are dominated by pride and presumption, how many are entangled in avarice and the desire of gain, how they all follow the impulse of passions, seeking in this life only pleasure, while in the life to come they pile up for themselves eternal torments and incur the loss of the beatific vision of their God and Lord.
“Remember that there are only two ways to eternity: the one, which leads to eternal death by contempt of virtue and ignorance of the Divinity; the other, which leads to eternal life by the profitable knowledge of the Most High; for this is eternal life, that men know the way to Him and to His Only begotten, whom He sent into the world. The way of death is trodden by innumerable wicked ones, who are unaware of their own ignorance, presumption and insipid pride.
If Only Men Would Turn to Mary!
Our Lady then adds: “All this is true―but my kind and merciful love exceeds all this human malice, it holds back justice and still inclines the infinite Goodness toward men. The Most High still wishes to generously give of his infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God” (Words of Our Lady concerning her assumption to Heaven and her coronation in Heaven, revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Why So Many Souls Are Lost
Our Lady continues: “That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, because the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw these souls on to a state of blind presumption; for, with each sin committed, the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself more and more to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon the soul; and the soul is urged onward, under the sway of the devil, from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss―all this is a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning.
“By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls, and continues so to hurl them every day, rising up in his pride against the Almighty. In this manner has he been able to introduce into the world his tyrannical power, spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell, and casting so many nations from abyss to abyss of darkness and bestial errors, such as are contained in the heresies and false sects of the infidels. Therefore beware of this terrible danger, and let not the memory of the law of your God, His precepts and commands, and the truths of the Catholic Church and the doctrines of the Gospels ever fail in your mind. Let not a day pass in which you do not spend much time in meditating upon all these things. For your enemy and adversary is laboring with ceaseless vigilance to darken your understanding in forgetfulness of the divine law, seeking to withdraw your will, which is a blind power, from the practice of justification.” (Words of Our Lady concerning her assumption to Heaven and her coronation in Heaven, revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Our Lady on the Guilt of the Jews
Another common area of presumption is the assumption that the sins of the Jews, in rejecting and crucifying Christ, are worse than our sins today. Our Lady has this to say on the matter: “The faithful in the Church make much of the sin of the infidel Jews through taking away the life of their God and Master. They are right in doing so, for it was a most heinous crime and merited the punishments decreed against that people. But Catholics forget, that their own sins are rendered heinous by other elements of guilt surpassing that of the Jews; for although the error of the Jews was culpable, they esteemed it as truth in the end; then also the Lord delivered Himself up to them, allowing them to follow the counsels of Hell, by which they were oppressed for their sins. In our days the Catholics are not in ignorance, but in the fullness of the light, by which they know and understand the divine mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. The Holy Church has been founded, spread out, made illustrious by miracles, by saints, by holy writings, by the knowledge and proclamation of truths unknown to the Jews. In spite of all these multiplied advantages, blessings, truths and enlightenments, many Catholics live like infidels and as if they had not before their eyes so many inducements to draw them on and oblige them, nor so many chastisements to fill them with dread. How can Catholics then, under these circumstances, imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable? O ponder well this doctrine, and be filled with a holy fear!”
With those words of warning in mind, let us ask ourselves this question: “Is it more serious a sin for the Jews to crucify Christ whom they failed to see and refused to accept as the Son of God; or is it more serious for Catholics, who believe Christ to be the Son of God, to receive Him in Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin?” If you are not sure—Our Lady gives the answer above.
The False Assumption and Presumption That We Are Worthy
If we are tempted, for one reason or another, to presumptuously think that we are more worthy of God’s love, Our Lady has this to say: “Al the doings of my most holy Son prove His divine love toward men and how different this love is from that which they have among themselves. Mortals are ordinarily so small-minded, niggardly, avaricious and sluggish, that they are usually not moved to love anyone unless they see some advantage in the objects of their love. Hence the love of creatures is founded upon the advantage thought to be in that which they love. But divine love does not seek the creature because it is worthy, but it loves creatures in order to make them worthy of His love. Therefore, no soul must despair of the divine goodness. Yet no one must on that account have a vain and presumptuous trust, expecting divine love to work in it effects of grace of which he is altogether unworthy.”
“Remember that the Lord very often shows great favors to the unworthy, in order to manifest His goodness and munificence. On the contrary let no one become inflated, but let everyone acknowledge so much the more his unworthiness, using it as a medicine and treacle against the poison of presumption. Although God loves them all and wishes all to be saved, yet in the distribution of these gifts and effects of His love He undeniably applies a certain measure and weight in the way in which He dispenses them. Now, as man cannot penetrate or understand this secret way of God’s distribution of grace, he must take care not to forfeit or lose the first grace and first inspiration; for he does not know whether he will not lose the second grace by his ingratitude, and he can be certain of not losing the second only by making use of the first grace. The soul can know for certain only this: that grace will not be denied if the soul does not make itself unworthy. These workings of divine love in the soul are accompanied by interior enlightenment, so that in the presence of this light, men are reproved for their sins and convinced of their evil state and of the danger of eternal death. But human pride makes many of persons so foolish and base of heart, that they resist this light; others are hard to move and never fail to have some vain excuse for their negligence; and because of this they counteract the first effects of the love of God and make themselves unfit for future graces. Now, without the help of grace, men cannot avoid evil, nor can they do the good, or even know it; thus many cast themselves from abyss to abyss. For, since they counteract and repel grace, and thus are unworthy of further help, they inevitably draw upon themselves ruin by falling from sin to sin” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Presumptuous Assumption of the Gifts of God
Our Lady speaks of the ungrateful and presumptuous assumption of God’s gifts and graces, without using them as they should be used:
“I have a complaint against the human race, of which I have spoken to you at other times, and which applies to nearly all men: that they neglect and forget to inform themselves of what I and my most holy Son have done for them; that they do not weigh gratefully the blessings of each hour, nor seek to make a proper return. Without any excuse is the forgetfulness and negligence shown by each and every one of the children of the Church in regard to the spread and manifestation of the glory of their God by making known His Holy Name to all rational creatures.
“This negligence is much more blamable now, since the eternal Word became man in my womb, taught the world and redeemed it for this very purpose. With this end in view the Lord founded His Church, enriched it with blessings and spiritual treasures, assigned to it ministers and endowed it with temporal riches. All these gifts are intended not only to preserve the Church in its present state, but to extend it and draw others to the regeneration of the Catholic Faith. All should help in the spreading of the fruits of the Death of their Redeemer. Some can do it by prayer; others by almsgiving; others by diligent preaching; others by fervent works of charity.
“But if this forgetfulness and negligence is perhaps less blameworthy in the ignorant and the poor, who have none to encouarge them; the rich and the powerful are far more guilty, especially in the ministers and prelates of the Church, whose particular duty is the advancement of the Church of God. Many of them, forgetting the terrible account which they will have to render, seek only their own vain honor instead of Christ’s. They waste their inheritance of the Blood of the Redeemer in undertakings and goals not even fit to mention; and, through their fault, they allow innumerable souls to perish, who by proper efforts could have been gained for the Holy Church. The same responsibility rests upon the rulers and the powerful of the world, who receive from the hands of God, honors, riches and temporal blessings for advancing the glory of God, and yet think less of this obligation than of any other” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Presumption of Priests and the Presumption of the Laity in Dealing With Priests
Our Lady speaks of the presumption and complacency found in priests, and then she chastises the presumptive manner in which some of the laity deal with priests:
“Likewise it was proper that the dignity and honor of the priesthood should receive its due; for the Most High holds the priests in such esteem, that if He finds them in the right disposition, He exalts them and fills them with His Spirit in order that the world may venerate them as His chosen and anointed ones. Listen reverently, but also to the voice of His ministers, preachers and priests, whose words are the echoes of the Most High and the aqueducts through which the blessed doctrine of life and the perennial fountains of divine truth flow to the souls. In them God speaks and the voice of His divine law resounds; hear them with such reverence, that you are unwilling to look for any error, nor presume to pass judgment on what they say. For you, all must appear wise and eloquent, and in every one of them hear only the voice of Christ, my Son and Lord. Be warned not to fall into the foolish presumption of the worldly, who with very reprehensible vanity and pride, most hateful in the sight of God, despise His ministers and preachers, because they do not speak in accordance with their depraved taste. When they go to hear the divine truth, they judge only of the expression and style, as if the word of God were not simple”
“Moreover the wonders of the Lord run less risk in priests, even when they are more openly revealed to them. If they live up to their dignity, their works in comparison with those of the other creatures, are like those of the angels and of the seraphim. Their countenance should be resplendent, like that of Moses, when he came forth from converse with the Lord (Exodus 34:29). At least they should deal with the rest of men in such a manner that they be honored and revered as next to God. I desire that you understand, my dearest, that the Most High is greatly incensed against the world in this matter: as well against the priests as against laymen. God is greatly angered against the priests because, forgetting their exalted dignity, they debase themselves by a contemptible, degraded and scandalous life, giving bad example to the world by mixing up with it to the neglect of their sanctification. God is greatly angered against the laymen, because they act with a foolhardy presumption toward the anointed of the Lord, whom, even though they are of imperfect and blameworthy lives, they ought to honor and revere as taking the place or Christ, my most holy Son, on Earth” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Vanity of Seeking Earthly Praise
Our Lady warns against seeking and taking comfort in praise in this life: “Learn and understand how exalted are the judgments of the Lord and how far removed from all the thoughts of men. The Most High looks into the hearts of men and at the interior, while men look only at the exterior and at what is perceived by the senses. On this account the just and the chosen ones are highly esteemed by the Lord in their humiliation and self-abasement; while the proud are cast down and rejected by Him in their self-sufficiency. This truth is understood by few, and therefore the children of darkness do not know how to strive after any other honor or exaltation other than that of the world. This worldly honor is vain and without substance, and that it does not have any more stability than the flowers, or grass of the field. As their conscience does not show them this, they seek after the false and deceitful applause and esteem of men. The world ordinarily and fraudulently misjudges true merit, lavishing its honors upon those who least deserve it, or upon those who know how to solicit and strive after it most cunningly and inconsiderately. Flee from this deceit, let the praise of men make no impression upon you; repel its flatteries and compliments. For the children of the world are very much blinded in their judgments” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Humility the Antidote to Pride and Presumption
“Let then the sinners admit their baseness and understand how they make of themselves monsters of Hell by imitating Lucifer in his pride. For pride found him beautiful and endowed with great gifts of grace and nature; and although he wasted these blessings, he had nevertheless possessed them as his own. But man, who is mere slime, and, moreover, has sinned and is full of ugliness and baseness, is a monster, if he bloats himself up in vain pride. By such absurdity he surpasses even the demon; since man possesses a nature neither so noble, nor was ever gifted with such grace and beauty as Lucifer. He and his hellish followers despise and laugh over men, who, being so inferior, swell up in pride; for they can well understand this vain and contemptible madness and delirium.
“Therefore, learn this lesson well, and humiliate yourself lower than the earth, showing just as little sense of injury as the dust, whenever the Lord, either Himself or through others, sends you humiliation. Never judge yourself injured by anyone nor consider yourself to be offended. Do not attribute to creatures that which God brings about, in order to humiliate you or others, by affliction and tribulations―for this is protesting against mere instruments, while it is divine mercy which inflicts punishment upon men and their sins for their humiliation. This, if they would only understand, is really what is happening by the disposition of the Lord throughout the world. Humiliate yourself in the divine presence, for the sins of yourself and for all your fellowmen, in order to placate His wrath, just as if you alone were guilty; and as if you had never made any satisfaction―since, during mortal life, no one can ever know whether he has satisfied for his sins. Seek to appease Him as if you alone hadst offended Him; and in regard to the gifts and favors which you have received and still do receive, show yourself grateful as one who deserves much less and owes much more. By these considerations humiliate yourself more than all others, and labor without ceasing to correspond to the divine clemency, which has shown itself so generous towards you.”
“I desire that you attain the inestimable treasure of humility in all its fullness, and that you offer to the Most High a docile and yielding heart, in order that He may impress upon it, like on soft wax, the image of my own most humble activity. Profit from and lose not the least occasion of humiliation and advancing in this virtue. Neglect none of them, since you know how much I sought after humiliations―I, who was the Mother of God Himself, most pure and full of grace. The greater my prerogatives, so much the greater was my humility, because in my estimation they far exceeded my merits and only increased my obligations.
“All you children of Adam were conceived in sin, and there is none who has not sinned on his own account. If none can deny this infection of his nature, why should not all humiliate themselves before God and before men? Lowering themselves to the very dust and placing themselves in the last place is not such a great humiliation for those who have sinned, for even then they will always be more honored than they deserve. The truly humble must lower themselves beneath that which they have deserved. If all the creatures would despise and abhor them, or offend them; if they would consider themselves worthy of hellfire―they would only fulfill justice, but not the requirement of humility, since that would only be admitting their just desserts. But real, deep humility goes to the length of desiring a greater humiliation than that which is due to one’s self in justice. On this account, there is no mortal who can attain to the kind of humility which I practiced; but the Most High will be satisfied with and ready to reward the efforts of those who humble themselves as far as they can and as they deserve in justice” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Proud Presumptuous Herod and the Humble John the Baptist
Our Lady draws comparisons between St. John the Baptist and King Herod: “Notice well the great difference between the innocence and holiness of the Baptist, who was poor, afflicted, persecuted and imprisoned, and the abominable wickedness of Herod, the powerful king, who was flattered and served in the midst of his riches and base pleasures. Both were of the same human nature, but entirely different in the sight of God, according as they used ill or well their free will and the created things around them. The penance, poverty, humility, contempt, tribulations of Saint John, and his zeal for the glory of my divine Son, merited for him the singular favor of martyrdom. Herod, on the contrary, by his hollow pomp, his pride, vanity, tyranny and wickedness was punished in the eternal flames. Remember that the same happens now and always in the world; although men do not pay attention to it or fear it. They fear the vain strength of the world, not reflecting that it is but fleeting shadow and withering grass.
“Men think little of the ultimate end, and of the abyss, into which vices draw them―even in this world. Although the demon cannot take away man’s liberty, nor ever completely control his free will, yet, by leading them into so many and so grievous sins, he obtains such an influence over it, that he is enabled to use it as an instrument of the evil he proposes. In spite of witnessing so many and such terrible examples, men remain unmoved in regard to the fearful danger to which they expose themselves by their sins, in imitation of Herod and his adulterous concubine. In order to cast souls into this abyss of wickedness, Lucifer offers them the vain pride and honor of this world, with its base pleasures, representing them as alone being important and desirable. Thus the ignorant children of perdition loosen their bonds of reason, in order to follow the degrading pleasures of their flesh and be enslaved by their mortal enemy. I have taught the way of humility, of contempt, and tribulation. This is the royal road, on which we first walked, and of which we have set ourselves up as teachers. We are the protectors of all the afflicted and ill-used, ready to assist by miraculous and especial favors all those who call upon Us in their necessities. Of this assistance and protection the followers of this world and its vain pleasures deprive themselves, since they hate the way of the Cross” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Those Who Presume Upon Being Shown Mercy, But Will Not Show Mercy
Our Lady addresses the presumption of mercy by those who will not show any mercy to their enemies: “In regard to thy imitation of my behavior―how thou shouldst act toward those who hate and persecute thee, how thou shouldst love them and bear with them in charity and patience, and how thou shouldst pray for them to the Lord with true zeal for their salvation, as I have done for the traitor Judas―I desire that you excel and distinguish yourself therein, and that you instruct others in this manner of acting. For, in view of the patience and meekness of my most holy Son and my own example, the wicked and all mortals shall be covered with unutterable confusion because they have not pardoned each other with fraternal charity. The sins of hate and vengeance shall be punished with greater severity than other sins on the judgment day; and in this life these vices will soonest drive away the infinite mercy of God and cause eternal punishment of men, unless they amend in sorrow. Those that are kind and sweet toward their enemies and persecutors, and who forget injuries, resemble on that account more particularly the incarnate Word: for Christ always went about seeking to pardon and to load with blessings those who were in sin. By imitating the charity and the meekness of the Lamb, the soul disposes itself to receive and maintain that noble spirit of charity and love of God and the neighbor, which makes it apt for all the influences of divine grace and benevolence.”
Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption. The day when Our Lady was assumed into Heaven. Do we assume that we will be going to Heaven? Is our assumption really a presumption? We hope to get to Heaven, but can we assume that we will get to Heaven. To assume is to presume! Our assumption may well a presumption—and presumption is a sin against the virtue of Hope. We can sin against Hope in two chief ways—with each way having a myriad of degrees within it. We can sin against Hope by despair and by presumption. Both despair and presumption are exaggerated deformities of the virtue of Hope. Despair is a shortage of Hope. Presumption is an excess of Hope. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, true virtue stands in the middle between excess and deficiency. Looking and listening to most Catholics today, it seems as almost all of them have an excess of Hope—in other words, they are automatically assuming that they are going to Heaven, and this assumption is a presumption—they sin against the virtue of Hope.
Your Assumption is a Presumption
Who better than Our Lady herself, can we find to speak of her assumption? Here is a passage from The City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, where Our Lady speaks of that great event and especially concerning its significance for us:
Indifferent Worldly Humans
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that you bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever wilfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness, is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt―not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh―for, by employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. Let men acknowledge and confess, whether this recollection about Heaven costs them more labor than to follow their blind passions, seeking after honors, possessions or the transitory pleasures―all of which have an end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not, and can never attain.
Humans Labor More For Hell Than Heaven
Our Lady adds: “How much easier is it for mortals to avoid such perversity, especially for the children of the Church―since they have at hand the easy means of Faith and Hope for attaining the truth! Even if to gain eternal happiness were as difficult to obtain as honors and riches and other apparent advantages, it would be very foolish to labor as much for the false as for the true advantages, to labor, in effect, for eternal punishment rather than eternal glory. This abominable foolishness you shall perceive and bewail with tears, if you consider the world in which you live: how it is disturbed by wars and discords; how many unhappy ones it contains, who seek eternal death in exchange for some short and vain honor, for some vengeance and other most vile advantages, while they do not think or care for eternal life as though they were irrational animals. It would be a blessing for them if, like animals, they could end their existence altogether with the temporal death (the souls of animals die with the death of the body); but as the most of them act against justice, and others, who still seek to be just, live in forgetfulness of their final end, the ones as well as the others incur the eternal death.
Fools!
Our Lady bemoans: “This is a sorrow beyond all sorrows, and a misfortune without equal and without remedy. Afflict yourself with the thought that, if men would not make themselves so unworthy of it, my charity would urge me―in the celestial glory where you know me now to be―to send forth a voice through the whole world exclaiming: ‘Mortal and deceived men, what are you doing? For what purpose are you living? Do you realize what it is to see God face to face, and to participate in his eternal glory and share his company? Of what are you thinking? Who has thus disturbed and fascinated your judgment? What will you seek, if once you have lost this true blessing and happiness, since there is no other? The labor is short, the reward is infinite glory, and the punishment is eternal!’
Living According to False Principles
Our Lady warns: “In connection with this sorrow, which I am trying to rouse in you, seek to labor assiduously in order to escape the danger. You have a living example in my life, which was a continual suffering, such as you have known; but when I came to my reward all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot all the suffering, as if it had not occurred. Resolve to follow me in my labor―and though your labor seems to exceed that of all the mortals, look upon it as most insignificant; let nothing seem to you as being difficult or hard, or bitter, even to passing through fire and sword. At the same time I wish you to be free from another error―which is that of men who say: ‘Let us secure salvation: greater or less glory does not matter; we shall all be together in that life in Heaven!’ By this false principle, my daughter, eternal life is not made secure, but rather put in danger; since it arises from great foolishness and lack of divine love. Whoever seeks to make such a bargain with God, offends Him, and tempts Him to permit such souls to live in continued danger of perdition. Human weakness always tends to do less good than it desires to do; and when this desire is small, then it will execute very little, and hence risks losing all.
Aiming Too Low—Falling Even Lower
Our Lady points out that “He who contents himself with the mediocre or lowest in virtue, always leaves in his will and in his inclinations an opening for earthly affections and love of the passing things. Such an opening is contrary to divine love and therefore unavoidably causes the loss of virtue and the ascendency of earthly affections. When the creature resolves to love God from all its heart and with all its powers, as He commands, God overlooks its human defects and shortcomings, and is pleased with their resolve to reap the highest rewards. But to despise those graces or wilfully undervalue them, shows not the love of children or of true friends, but the base fear of slaves, who are content to live and be let alone. If the saints could return to merit some additional degree of glory, by suffering all possible torments until the Day of Judgment, they would doubtlessly return to Earth to suffer; because they have a true and perfect knowledge of the value of the reward and they love God with a perfect charity. My example confirms this truth. It also reproves the foolishness of those, who, in order to avoid suffering and the cross of Christ, are looking for a smaller reward, one which is contrary to the inclination of God’s goodness and contrary to His desire of seeing souls multiply their merits and gain plentiful rewards in the eternal happiness.
Mary Could Help—Few Ask
Our Lady then says: “If anything could lessen the enjoyment of the highest happiness and glory which I possess, and if, in Heaven, I could be capable of any sorrow, then without a doubt I would be grieved to see the holy Church and the rest of the world in its present state of labor, in spite of the fact that men know me to be their Mother, Advocate and Protectress in Heaven, ready to guide and assist them to eternal life. In this state of affairs, when the Almighty has granted me so many privileges and placed so many sources of help in my hands solely for the benefit of mortals, it is a great cause of sorrow to me to see mortals force me to remain idle, and that, due to a negligence in calling upon me, so many souls should be lost. But if I cannot anymore experience grief now in Heaven, I may still justly complain of men, that they load themselves with eternal damnation and refuse me the glory of saving their souls.
“The extent of my intercession and the power I have in Heaven, has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated in behalf of those devoted to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs, I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.
Humans Ignore What Christ Left Behind
Our Lady speaks of our great negligence, saying: “The world and the centuries are far advanced; while mortals are negligent in turning toward the knowledge of God; the children of the Church are involving themselves in the snares of Satan; sinners multiply and crimes increase, because charity is getting cold, even after God became incarnate and has taught the world by His life and doctrine, redeemed it by His Passion and Death, established His evangelical law for the guidance of his creatures, illustrated them by so many miracles, enlightenments, blessings, favors in the Church and in its saints. In addition to all this God has in his goodness opened up His mercies through me and my intercession, by making me the Mother, Advocate, Protectress and Helper of all men, and, though I am most punctual and generous in fulfilling all these offices, the result is still inadequate. After all ― since the crimes of men merit the chastisements, which threaten them and which they begin to feel, and since, under these circumstances, the malice of men has already reached the highest possible point, what wonder is it that divine Justice be irritated?
“Consider assiduously how ugly, abominable, horrible and monstrous the world is in the sight of God and the saints, on account of the enormous abominations which men commit. Look how some follow like brutes after the horrors of sensuality, how gluttony degrades others, how some follow after pleasures of play and vanity, how others are dominated by pride and presumption, how many are entangled in avarice and the desire of gain, how they all follow the impulse of passions, seeking in this life only pleasure, while in the life to come they pile up for themselves eternal torments and incur the loss of the beatific vision of their God and Lord.
“Remember that there are only two ways to eternity: the one, which leads to eternal death by contempt of virtue and ignorance of the Divinity; the other, which leads to eternal life by the profitable knowledge of the Most High; for this is eternal life, that men know the way to Him and to His Only begotten, whom He sent into the world. The way of death is trodden by innumerable wicked ones, who are unaware of their own ignorance, presumption and insipid pride.
If Only Men Would Turn to Mary!
Our Lady then adds: “All this is true―but my kind and merciful love exceeds all this human malice, it holds back justice and still inclines the infinite Goodness toward men. The Most High still wishes to generously give of his infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God” (Words of Our Lady concerning her assumption to Heaven and her coronation in Heaven, revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Why So Many Souls Are Lost
Our Lady continues: “That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, because the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw these souls on to a state of blind presumption; for, with each sin committed, the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself more and more to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon the soul; and the soul is urged onward, under the sway of the devil, from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss―all this is a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning.
“By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls, and continues so to hurl them every day, rising up in his pride against the Almighty. In this manner has he been able to introduce into the world his tyrannical power, spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell, and casting so many nations from abyss to abyss of darkness and bestial errors, such as are contained in the heresies and false sects of the infidels. Therefore beware of this terrible danger, and let not the memory of the law of your God, His precepts and commands, and the truths of the Catholic Church and the doctrines of the Gospels ever fail in your mind. Let not a day pass in which you do not spend much time in meditating upon all these things. For your enemy and adversary is laboring with ceaseless vigilance to darken your understanding in forgetfulness of the divine law, seeking to withdraw your will, which is a blind power, from the practice of justification.” (Words of Our Lady concerning her assumption to Heaven and her coronation in Heaven, revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Our Lady on the Guilt of the Jews
Another common area of presumption is the assumption that the sins of the Jews, in rejecting and crucifying Christ, are worse than our sins today. Our Lady has this to say on the matter: “The faithful in the Church make much of the sin of the infidel Jews through taking away the life of their God and Master. They are right in doing so, for it was a most heinous crime and merited the punishments decreed against that people. But Catholics forget, that their own sins are rendered heinous by other elements of guilt surpassing that of the Jews; for although the error of the Jews was culpable, they esteemed it as truth in the end; then also the Lord delivered Himself up to them, allowing them to follow the counsels of Hell, by which they were oppressed for their sins. In our days the Catholics are not in ignorance, but in the fullness of the light, by which they know and understand the divine mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. The Holy Church has been founded, spread out, made illustrious by miracles, by saints, by holy writings, by the knowledge and proclamation of truths unknown to the Jews. In spite of all these multiplied advantages, blessings, truths and enlightenments, many Catholics live like infidels and as if they had not before their eyes so many inducements to draw them on and oblige them, nor so many chastisements to fill them with dread. How can Catholics then, under these circumstances, imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable? O ponder well this doctrine, and be filled with a holy fear!”
With those words of warning in mind, let us ask ourselves this question: “Is it more serious a sin for the Jews to crucify Christ whom they failed to see and refused to accept as the Son of God; or is it more serious for Catholics, who believe Christ to be the Son of God, to receive Him in Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin?” If you are not sure—Our Lady gives the answer above.
The False Assumption and Presumption That We Are Worthy
If we are tempted, for one reason or another, to presumptuously think that we are more worthy of God’s love, Our Lady has this to say: “Al the doings of my most holy Son prove His divine love toward men and how different this love is from that which they have among themselves. Mortals are ordinarily so small-minded, niggardly, avaricious and sluggish, that they are usually not moved to love anyone unless they see some advantage in the objects of their love. Hence the love of creatures is founded upon the advantage thought to be in that which they love. But divine love does not seek the creature because it is worthy, but it loves creatures in order to make them worthy of His love. Therefore, no soul must despair of the divine goodness. Yet no one must on that account have a vain and presumptuous trust, expecting divine love to work in it effects of grace of which he is altogether unworthy.”
“Remember that the Lord very often shows great favors to the unworthy, in order to manifest His goodness and munificence. On the contrary let no one become inflated, but let everyone acknowledge so much the more his unworthiness, using it as a medicine and treacle against the poison of presumption. Although God loves them all and wishes all to be saved, yet in the distribution of these gifts and effects of His love He undeniably applies a certain measure and weight in the way in which He dispenses them. Now, as man cannot penetrate or understand this secret way of God’s distribution of grace, he must take care not to forfeit or lose the first grace and first inspiration; for he does not know whether he will not lose the second grace by his ingratitude, and he can be certain of not losing the second only by making use of the first grace. The soul can know for certain only this: that grace will not be denied if the soul does not make itself unworthy. These workings of divine love in the soul are accompanied by interior enlightenment, so that in the presence of this light, men are reproved for their sins and convinced of their evil state and of the danger of eternal death. But human pride makes many of persons so foolish and base of heart, that they resist this light; others are hard to move and never fail to have some vain excuse for their negligence; and because of this they counteract the first effects of the love of God and make themselves unfit for future graces. Now, without the help of grace, men cannot avoid evil, nor can they do the good, or even know it; thus many cast themselves from abyss to abyss. For, since they counteract and repel grace, and thus are unworthy of further help, they inevitably draw upon themselves ruin by falling from sin to sin” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Presumptuous Assumption of the Gifts of God
Our Lady speaks of the ungrateful and presumptuous assumption of God’s gifts and graces, without using them as they should be used:
“I have a complaint against the human race, of which I have spoken to you at other times, and which applies to nearly all men: that they neglect and forget to inform themselves of what I and my most holy Son have done for them; that they do not weigh gratefully the blessings of each hour, nor seek to make a proper return. Without any excuse is the forgetfulness and negligence shown by each and every one of the children of the Church in regard to the spread and manifestation of the glory of their God by making known His Holy Name to all rational creatures.
“This negligence is much more blamable now, since the eternal Word became man in my womb, taught the world and redeemed it for this very purpose. With this end in view the Lord founded His Church, enriched it with blessings and spiritual treasures, assigned to it ministers and endowed it with temporal riches. All these gifts are intended not only to preserve the Church in its present state, but to extend it and draw others to the regeneration of the Catholic Faith. All should help in the spreading of the fruits of the Death of their Redeemer. Some can do it by prayer; others by almsgiving; others by diligent preaching; others by fervent works of charity.
“But if this forgetfulness and negligence is perhaps less blameworthy in the ignorant and the poor, who have none to encouarge them; the rich and the powerful are far more guilty, especially in the ministers and prelates of the Church, whose particular duty is the advancement of the Church of God. Many of them, forgetting the terrible account which they will have to render, seek only their own vain honor instead of Christ’s. They waste their inheritance of the Blood of the Redeemer in undertakings and goals not even fit to mention; and, through their fault, they allow innumerable souls to perish, who by proper efforts could have been gained for the Holy Church. The same responsibility rests upon the rulers and the powerful of the world, who receive from the hands of God, honors, riches and temporal blessings for advancing the glory of God, and yet think less of this obligation than of any other” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Presumption of Priests and the Presumption of the Laity in Dealing With Priests
Our Lady speaks of the presumption and complacency found in priests, and then she chastises the presumptive manner in which some of the laity deal with priests:
“Likewise it was proper that the dignity and honor of the priesthood should receive its due; for the Most High holds the priests in such esteem, that if He finds them in the right disposition, He exalts them and fills them with His Spirit in order that the world may venerate them as His chosen and anointed ones. Listen reverently, but also to the voice of His ministers, preachers and priests, whose words are the echoes of the Most High and the aqueducts through which the blessed doctrine of life and the perennial fountains of divine truth flow to the souls. In them God speaks and the voice of His divine law resounds; hear them with such reverence, that you are unwilling to look for any error, nor presume to pass judgment on what they say. For you, all must appear wise and eloquent, and in every one of them hear only the voice of Christ, my Son and Lord. Be warned not to fall into the foolish presumption of the worldly, who with very reprehensible vanity and pride, most hateful in the sight of God, despise His ministers and preachers, because they do not speak in accordance with their depraved taste. When they go to hear the divine truth, they judge only of the expression and style, as if the word of God were not simple”
“Moreover the wonders of the Lord run less risk in priests, even when they are more openly revealed to them. If they live up to their dignity, their works in comparison with those of the other creatures, are like those of the angels and of the seraphim. Their countenance should be resplendent, like that of Moses, when he came forth from converse with the Lord (Exodus 34:29). At least they should deal with the rest of men in such a manner that they be honored and revered as next to God. I desire that you understand, my dearest, that the Most High is greatly incensed against the world in this matter: as well against the priests as against laymen. God is greatly angered against the priests because, forgetting their exalted dignity, they debase themselves by a contemptible, degraded and scandalous life, giving bad example to the world by mixing up with it to the neglect of their sanctification. God is greatly angered against the laymen, because they act with a foolhardy presumption toward the anointed of the Lord, whom, even though they are of imperfect and blameworthy lives, they ought to honor and revere as taking the place or Christ, my most holy Son, on Earth” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Vanity of Seeking Earthly Praise
Our Lady warns against seeking and taking comfort in praise in this life: “Learn and understand how exalted are the judgments of the Lord and how far removed from all the thoughts of men. The Most High looks into the hearts of men and at the interior, while men look only at the exterior and at what is perceived by the senses. On this account the just and the chosen ones are highly esteemed by the Lord in their humiliation and self-abasement; while the proud are cast down and rejected by Him in their self-sufficiency. This truth is understood by few, and therefore the children of darkness do not know how to strive after any other honor or exaltation other than that of the world. This worldly honor is vain and without substance, and that it does not have any more stability than the flowers, or grass of the field. As their conscience does not show them this, they seek after the false and deceitful applause and esteem of men. The world ordinarily and fraudulently misjudges true merit, lavishing its honors upon those who least deserve it, or upon those who know how to solicit and strive after it most cunningly and inconsiderately. Flee from this deceit, let the praise of men make no impression upon you; repel its flatteries and compliments. For the children of the world are very much blinded in their judgments” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Humility the Antidote to Pride and Presumption
“Let then the sinners admit their baseness and understand how they make of themselves monsters of Hell by imitating Lucifer in his pride. For pride found him beautiful and endowed with great gifts of grace and nature; and although he wasted these blessings, he had nevertheless possessed them as his own. But man, who is mere slime, and, moreover, has sinned and is full of ugliness and baseness, is a monster, if he bloats himself up in vain pride. By such absurdity he surpasses even the demon; since man possesses a nature neither so noble, nor was ever gifted with such grace and beauty as Lucifer. He and his hellish followers despise and laugh over men, who, being so inferior, swell up in pride; for they can well understand this vain and contemptible madness and delirium.
“Therefore, learn this lesson well, and humiliate yourself lower than the earth, showing just as little sense of injury as the dust, whenever the Lord, either Himself or through others, sends you humiliation. Never judge yourself injured by anyone nor consider yourself to be offended. Do not attribute to creatures that which God brings about, in order to humiliate you or others, by affliction and tribulations―for this is protesting against mere instruments, while it is divine mercy which inflicts punishment upon men and their sins for their humiliation. This, if they would only understand, is really what is happening by the disposition of the Lord throughout the world. Humiliate yourself in the divine presence, for the sins of yourself and for all your fellowmen, in order to placate His wrath, just as if you alone were guilty; and as if you had never made any satisfaction―since, during mortal life, no one can ever know whether he has satisfied for his sins. Seek to appease Him as if you alone hadst offended Him; and in regard to the gifts and favors which you have received and still do receive, show yourself grateful as one who deserves much less and owes much more. By these considerations humiliate yourself more than all others, and labor without ceasing to correspond to the divine clemency, which has shown itself so generous towards you.”
“I desire that you attain the inestimable treasure of humility in all its fullness, and that you offer to the Most High a docile and yielding heart, in order that He may impress upon it, like on soft wax, the image of my own most humble activity. Profit from and lose not the least occasion of humiliation and advancing in this virtue. Neglect none of them, since you know how much I sought after humiliations―I, who was the Mother of God Himself, most pure and full of grace. The greater my prerogatives, so much the greater was my humility, because in my estimation they far exceeded my merits and only increased my obligations.
“All you children of Adam were conceived in sin, and there is none who has not sinned on his own account. If none can deny this infection of his nature, why should not all humiliate themselves before God and before men? Lowering themselves to the very dust and placing themselves in the last place is not such a great humiliation for those who have sinned, for even then they will always be more honored than they deserve. The truly humble must lower themselves beneath that which they have deserved. If all the creatures would despise and abhor them, or offend them; if they would consider themselves worthy of hellfire―they would only fulfill justice, but not the requirement of humility, since that would only be admitting their just desserts. But real, deep humility goes to the length of desiring a greater humiliation than that which is due to one’s self in justice. On this account, there is no mortal who can attain to the kind of humility which I practiced; but the Most High will be satisfied with and ready to reward the efforts of those who humble themselves as far as they can and as they deserve in justice” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
The Proud Presumptuous Herod and the Humble John the Baptist
Our Lady draws comparisons between St. John the Baptist and King Herod: “Notice well the great difference between the innocence and holiness of the Baptist, who was poor, afflicted, persecuted and imprisoned, and the abominable wickedness of Herod, the powerful king, who was flattered and served in the midst of his riches and base pleasures. Both were of the same human nature, but entirely different in the sight of God, according as they used ill or well their free will and the created things around them. The penance, poverty, humility, contempt, tribulations of Saint John, and his zeal for the glory of my divine Son, merited for him the singular favor of martyrdom. Herod, on the contrary, by his hollow pomp, his pride, vanity, tyranny and wickedness was punished in the eternal flames. Remember that the same happens now and always in the world; although men do not pay attention to it or fear it. They fear the vain strength of the world, not reflecting that it is but fleeting shadow and withering grass.
“Men think little of the ultimate end, and of the abyss, into which vices draw them―even in this world. Although the demon cannot take away man’s liberty, nor ever completely control his free will, yet, by leading them into so many and so grievous sins, he obtains such an influence over it, that he is enabled to use it as an instrument of the evil he proposes. In spite of witnessing so many and such terrible examples, men remain unmoved in regard to the fearful danger to which they expose themselves by their sins, in imitation of Herod and his adulterous concubine. In order to cast souls into this abyss of wickedness, Lucifer offers them the vain pride and honor of this world, with its base pleasures, representing them as alone being important and desirable. Thus the ignorant children of perdition loosen their bonds of reason, in order to follow the degrading pleasures of their flesh and be enslaved by their mortal enemy. I have taught the way of humility, of contempt, and tribulation. This is the royal road, on which we first walked, and of which we have set ourselves up as teachers. We are the protectors of all the afflicted and ill-used, ready to assist by miraculous and especial favors all those who call upon Us in their necessities. Of this assistance and protection the followers of this world and its vain pleasures deprive themselves, since they hate the way of the Cross” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The City of God).
Those Who Presume Upon Being Shown Mercy, But Will Not Show Mercy
Our Lady addresses the presumption of mercy by those who will not show any mercy to their enemies: “In regard to thy imitation of my behavior―how thou shouldst act toward those who hate and persecute thee, how thou shouldst love them and bear with them in charity and patience, and how thou shouldst pray for them to the Lord with true zeal for their salvation, as I have done for the traitor Judas―I desire that you excel and distinguish yourself therein, and that you instruct others in this manner of acting. For, in view of the patience and meekness of my most holy Son and my own example, the wicked and all mortals shall be covered with unutterable confusion because they have not pardoned each other with fraternal charity. The sins of hate and vengeance shall be punished with greater severity than other sins on the judgment day; and in this life these vices will soonest drive away the infinite mercy of God and cause eternal punishment of men, unless they amend in sorrow. Those that are kind and sweet toward their enemies and persecutors, and who forget injuries, resemble on that account more particularly the incarnate Word: for Christ always went about seeking to pardon and to load with blessings those who were in sin. By imitating the charity and the meekness of the Lamb, the soul disposes itself to receive and maintain that noble spirit of charity and love of God and the neighbor, which makes it apt for all the influences of divine grace and benevolence.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday August 13th & Saturday August 14th
Article 7
Assumption With Presumption?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday August 13th & Saturday August 14th
Article 7
Assumption With Presumption?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Lift Up Your Minds and Hearts to Heaven!
There are two days―more than any others―that lift (or should lift) our minds and hearts towards Heaven. Those days are the feasts of the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven and the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.
At the Ascension of Our Lord, Holy Scripture tells that “while they looked on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they were beholding Him going up to Heaven, two men stood by them in white garments, who said: ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to Heaven? This Jesus, Who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into Heaven!’” (Acts 1:9-11).
As regards the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, Holy Scripture is silent on this dogma of the Faith, but we do get a glimpse of it in the revelations of the mystics. Our Lady herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden: “One day while I was admiring the Love of God in a spiritual ecstasy, my soul was filled with such joy that it could hardly contain itself. And during that contemplation my soul departed from my body. You cannot imagine what splendor my soul perceived then, and with what honor the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost welcomed it, and with what a multitude of angels it was carried upward. But those persons, who were in my house with me when I gave up my spirit, fully understood what divine mysteries I was then experiencing; because of the unusual light which they saw. Thereafter those friends of my Son, who had been brought together by God, buried my body in the Valley of Josaphat. Countless angels accompanied them. My body lay entombed in the ground. Then it was taken up to Heaven with infinite honor and rejoicing. There is no other human body in Heaven except the glorious Body of my Son and my body. That my Assumption was not known to many persons was the will of God and my Son―in order that Faith in His Ascension might first of all be firmly established in the hearts of men, for they would not have been prepared to believe in His Ascension, especially if my Assumption had been announced in the beginning.”
Pie in the Sky or Pio in the Sky?
Thus Our Lady explains that, for some people, the Ascension and all the more the Assumption, would have seemed like a “pie in the sky” tale. What would those people have thought of a “Pio in the sky” tale many centuries later? During the Second World War, when American bombers flew over San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (the town where Padre Pio’s monastery was located), to drop their bombs, the pilots encountered a giant monk in the sky, preventing them from completing their bombing mission. Pilots were unable to complete their mission, and instead would return to the US Commanding General, reporting the occurrence. Padre Pio, who was still living at that time, had previously promised the town’s people that their city would be spared. This Second World War event was directly witnessed by the general of Aeronautica Italiana, Bernardo Rosini, who at that time was part of the “United Air Command” operating out of Bari with the Allied air forces. “Each time that the pilots returned from their missions,” General Rosini said, “they spoke of this Friar that appeared in the sky and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back.” (I Miracoli d Padre Pio, by Renzo Allegri, pages 110-111).
Assumption Bombing
While we are on the subject of the Assumption and bombs, let us mention the Second World War bombing of Hiroshima in Japan by the American Air Force, who dropped an atom bomb on the city―it was aimed at the largest Catholic area of the city, and the parish church was named the Assumption of Lady. Around the same time that the “Monk in the Sky” was driving back American bombers from Padre Pio’s town of San Giovanni Rotondo, other American bombers were about to drop two Atomic Bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the Atomic Bomb fell on Hiroshima, over 80,000 people were killed instantly. Thousands more would die later from radiation poisoning. Men, women and children endured incomprehensible suffering. The temperature at the center of the blast was said to be as hot as the surface of the sun. The heat evaporated metal, melted glass, and ignited clothing miles away. Eight square miles were reduced to ash in resulting fires. Those whose flesh had not melted away, faced horrible suffering in a variety of symptoms as the radiation destroyed the cells in their bodies.
Hiroshima was obliterated in seconds, but beneath the mushroom cloud, in the midst of horror, a miracle would rise from the ashes of destruction and bear witness to the power of the Rosary and the truth of the Promises of Our Lady of Fatima. Just blocks from the epicenter, the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was in ruins. However, the rectory, which was a little further down the street, which housed eight Jesuit priests, was still standing. Four of the priests were in the rectory when the bomb dropped. They were showered with glass and debris. Four other priests were in the surrounding vicinity but, they too, survived the initial blast.
Father Hubert Schiffer was one of these eight Jesuit survivors. He was 30 when the atomic bomb exploded at Hiroshima and lived another 33 years in good health. He recounted his experiences at Hiroshima during the Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia (USA) in 1976. At that time, all eight members of the Jesuit community were still alive. Fr. Schiffer, on the morning of August 6th, 1945, he had just finished Mass, went into the rectory and sat down at the breakfast table, and had just sliced a grapefruit, and had just put his spoon into the grapefruit when there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that it was an explosion in the harbor (this was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines).
Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: “Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me ‘round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.” The next thing he remembered, he opened his eyes and he was lying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground. The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with himself. After Japan’s surrender to the American forces, when the Americans army entered Japan, their army doctors and scientists explained to Fr. Schiffer that his body would begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors amazement, Fr. Schiffer’s body contained no radiation, or ill-effects from the bomb.
There are no physical laws to explain why the Jesuits were untouched in the Hiroshima air blast. There is no other actual data, or test data, where a structure such as this was not totally destroyed at this standoff distance by an atomic weapon. All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within at most a matter of minutes if nothing else happened to them. There is no known way to design a uranium-235 atomic bomb, which could leave such a large discrete area intact, while destroying everything around it immediately outside the fireball (by shaping the plasma).
What follows is Dr. Stephen Rinehart’s commentary, on the subject of the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, Rinehart is widely recognized as international expert in this field—here is his testimony:
“A quick calculation says at a-half-a-mile (from the epicenter of the bomb blast) the bulk temperature was in excess of 20,000 to 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit (transients in microseconds greater than 100,000⁰ F perhaps as high as 1,000,000⁰ F within 1 kilometer — depends on construction details and you are inside the fireball) and the blast wave would have hit at sonic velocity with pressures on building (at one kilometer) greater than 600 psi. If the Jesuits (at one kilometer from the geometric epicenter) were outside the atomic bomb’s “plasma” their residence should still have been utterly destroyed (temp > 2,000⁰ F and air-blastpressures > 100 psi). Unreinforced masonry or brick walls (representative of commercial construction) are destroyed at 3 psi, which will also cause ear damage and burst windows. At ten psi, a human will experience severe lung and heart damage, burst eardrums and at 20 psi your limbs can be blown off. Your head will be blown off by 40 psi and no human would be alive because your skull would be crushed. All the cotton clothes would be on fire at 350⁰ F and your lungs would be inoperative within a minute breathing air (even for a few seconds) at these temperatures. There is no way any human could have survived; nor should anything have left been standing within half-a-mile.
“At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school and I think there were a few badly burned survivors; all died within fifteen years of some form of cancer). (Examining pictures taken from a panoramic view from epicenter of the blast at Shima Hospital looking for the Jesuit’s house) did show some kind of two story house totally intact (at least from what I could make out and it looked to me the windows were in place!?). Also there was a church with walls still standing but roof gone a few hundred yards away!? The Department of Defense never commented officially on this and I suspect it was classified and never discussed in open literature. I think it is possible the Jesuits were asked not to say anything either at the time” (Dr. Stephen Rinehart, U.S. Department of Defense).
Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day, with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed numerous times (Fr. Schiffer said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience. The eight Jesuits say “we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.”
Fr. Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother which protected him from all radiation and ill-effects. Fr. Schiffer attributes this to devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his daily Fatima Rosary; “in that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.” Of course the secular scientists are speechless and incredulous at this explanation — and they are sure there is some “real” explanation — but, at the same time, almost 70 years later, the scientists are still absolutely bamboozled when it comes to finding a plausible scenario to explain the missionaries unique escape from the hellish power of that bomb.
From a scientific viewpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all human logic from the laws of physics, as understood today (or at any time in the future). It must be concluded that some other external force was present, whose power and/or capability to transform energy and matter, as it relates to humans, is beyond current comprehension; a plausibility argument for the existence of a Creator who left his “calling card” at Hiroshima. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “God will look after His faithful ones!” How faithful are you? The more faithful you are, the more hopeful you can be!
Are You Assuming or Presuming Your ‘Assumption’?
With all this heavenly care going one, one can be tempted to think that we have absolutely nothing to worry about! God will take care of us! Hmm! It is not quite as “cut-and-dried” as that, dear friend! In Holy Scripture God tells us: “I love them that love Me!” (Proverbs 8:17) and Our Lord warns us against empty hypocritical words: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21).
Our Lord then continues and pierces their presumption, saying: “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and does them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:22-27).
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
For those who presume upon an easy way to Heaven, Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38) ... “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Therefore, “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10). The way to Heaven is not “Easy Street”, nor is it a limousine ride, or a flight in the first class cabin! Yet, sadly, that is how most Catholics look upon the way to Heaven today ― “a piece of cake”, a foregone conclusion, a dead “cert”!
It is foolish to think, as most modern Catholics seem to think (clergy included), that we go to Heaven immediately after our death. Our Lord, in replying to the question, “Lord! Are they few that are saved?” said, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Let’s face it—since most souls fail to reach salvation due to their indifference for the spiritual, their love of the world, their addiction to sin, and their sinful presumption upon the mercy of God—then we should be trembling in our shoes at the thought of own potential salvation. There is a reason why St. Paul wrote: “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
St. Padre Pio was of the opinion that out of all the souls that eventually make it to Heaven, the vast majority will have to pass through Purgatory: “Most of the saved pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude.” Where does that leave you? It is not a necessity, or an obligation, or an absolute that permits no other possibility—but since we have grossly devalued the gravity of sin and have audaciously undervalued the price of a ticket to Heaven, it seems that the best bet we have are the fires of Purgatory—unless we radically change our attitudes and lifestyle or are martyred for the Faith! But even martyrdom still requires a sorrow for sin and a love of God, for it to work--“If I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:3).
If you avoid Hell and end up being one of the few saved, then Purgatory will be your lot. Would it not be a good thing to ensure that your stay there is as short as possible? The way to ensure this is to pray for the souls in Purgatory now, so that “in what measure you shall measure to others, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you” (Mark 4:24). If you are too busy—forgetting and neglecting to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory—then the same will be measured or “dished” out to you when you die. If, on the other hand, you channel a lot of your prayers and sacrifices to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, for example, then you will be amazed at the charity shown to you when you find yourself in the same painful straits.
Mercy Presumes Penance
There can be no mercy without repentance. God will not show mercy to anyone who wishes to continue in sin, or is not prepared to do penance for his sins. This would constitute a sin of presumption on the mercy of God. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains presumption as coming from the Latin praesumere, meaning “to take before”, “to take for granted.” Presumption is a vice opposed to the theological virtue of Hope. It may also be regarded as a product of pride. It may be defined as the condition of a soul which, because of a badly regulated over-reliance on God’s mercy and power, which thereby hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them. The reputable theologian Suarez lists five ways in which one may be guilty of presumption, which are as follows:
(1) By hoping by one’s natural powers, unaided, to obtain what is definitely supernatural, namely, eternal bliss or the recovery of God’s friendship after grievous sin;
(2) A person might look to have his sins forgiven without adequate penance;
(3) A man might expect some special assistance from Almighty God for the perpetration of crime―this would be blasphemous as well as presumptuous;
(4) One might aspire to certain extraordinary supernatural excellencies, but without any conformity to the determinations of God’s providence;
(5) Finally, there is the transgression of those who, whilst they continue to lead a life of sin, are as confident of a happy ending as if they had not lost their baptismal innocence.
Reproaches for our Presumption
In chapter 15 of St. Catherine of Genoa’s Treatise on Purgatory, we read of reproaches made to her by a soul from Purgatory, who says:
“Would that I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror, and say to them: O wretched beings! Why are you so blinded by this world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision for the great necessity that will then come upon you?
“You shelter yourselves beneath your hope in the mercy of God, which you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain you to do His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His justice is unfailing, it must needs be in some way fully satisfied.
“Have not the boldness to say: ‘I will go to confession and gain a plenary indulgence and thus I shall be saved.’ Remember that the full confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of gaining them.”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in , writes: “Christian hope should be laborious, in order to avoid the presumption which expects the divine reward without working for it; and it should be firm and invincible, to avoid discouragement.” There is presumption when one relies more upon one’s own resources than on the help of God, forgetting that grace is needed for every good deed one does; or when one is expecting something from God’s mercy which he cannot give us because of our bad disposition; for example, to expect to be pardoned when true repentance is lacking, or to expect eternal life without making any effort to merit it. It is not unusual for a person to slip rather quickly from a state of presumption into a state of despair when faced with trials and difficulties; it is as though that difficult good, which is the object of hope, were impossible to attain.
Our Lady will help us if we desire to change, no matter how sinful we are or have been. But she will not cooperate with or condone our attitude if we wish to continue sinning, while expecting her to “get us off the hook” at the end of the day! That is a sin of presumption upon God’s mercy! But for sinner who wishes to change, even if he or she feels they are too weak to change, she will lend her helping hand! And the only hand stronger than hers is God’s Hand. No devil, no human forces, can resist her hand.
If we serve Mary faithfully, zealously and perseveringly, then she will show her hand. St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Confidence, Presumption and Despair
True virtue stands in the middle between excess and insufficiency. A healthy person stands in the middle between being obese and being too skinny. Likewise, a confident person is neither over-presumptuous nor despairing. We have to have confidence in God’s help and God’s mercy, and must not despair of receiving His help and mercy―neither should we be over-presumptuous of His help and mercy.
Holy Scripture says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9) and “if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow―and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18). Yet, at the same time, Scripture also says: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) and “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). As St. Augustine says: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!”
Sure―absolutely speaking, God can save us without our having to lift a finger! However, God will not save us without efforts being made on our part. God will not do it all―that is a presumption that is sinful. We have WORK OUT our salvation under God’s guidance and with the help of God’s grace―“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
Over confidence leads to presumption. Lack of confidence leads to despair. Over confidence can be based upon too much confidence in our own abilities, and/or a rash confidence that God will do everything for us and we have no need to worry. Lack of confidence can arise from an exaggerated undervaluing of what we are capable of, and/or a pessimistic view of God’s desire to help the miserable sinners that we are.
Virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect. True and healthy confidence, puts little trust in ourselves and a lot of trust in God, who loves the sinner and is willing to help him, if he wants to be helped out the sinful state in which he finds himself. Yet God helps those who help themselves and God expects us to play our part, even though He grants us His help. If we are stuck in a boat, in the middle of a massive lake, having lost our oars; God will give us some oars, point us in the right direction, but He won’t row the boat to shore for us—nor will he pluck us out of the boat and miraculously transport back to shore. Likewise, with the state of the sinner, God will give him the tools, advice and a map; but He will not miraculously grant him an effortless path to Heaven.
Our Imaginary Heaven
The current spiritual disease of “wishful thinking” or “unreal-reality” about who gets to Heaven and how “easy” it is to get there, leads to a dangerous “presumption” about our deceased family members, relatives and friends―to the point that we no longer, or barely, pray for them―imagining them to be in Heaven! The modern Church now no longer has funeral Masses with the color black, but all is in white! You rarely hear priests speak about Purgatory at funeral Masses, but they speak in a manner which seems to imply that the deceased soul is already drinking champagne and eating caviar in Heaven! Personal experience recalls some modern Church members looking at each other with shock and amazement, shaking their heads in disgust and disbelief, when the congregation was asked to pray for the deceased soul, so that the soul’s confinement in Purgatory would be short and less painful! Truly, most Catholics today are very presumptuous in that they imagine that everyone must go to Heaven!
Yet, the opposite is most likely to be true, especially when you think of the many Venerables and Blesseds who are still waiting canonization because God has not allowed the miracles to take place, that are required by the Church on Earth as proof that they are in Heaven. Better to err on the side of caution, than rash presumption! If they are in Heaven, then all well and good—some other poor souls will have their excruciating sufferings alleviated; but if they are still in Purgatory, what a horrible negligence in leaving them to languish in such torments that could easily be made less intensive, shortened or even entirely removed.
Yet the paradox is that we were much more assiduous and prompt about helping our family, friends and relatives in much more minor difficulties and sufferings while they lived among us, than we now are after they have died and are (most probably) languishing in Purgatory. It could well be because, on our way of judging (which is NOT God’s way of judging) and in our wishful, romantic desire for them to be Heaven (because we loved them so and, as we know, “love is blind”) we have already put them in Heaven in our imagination. St. Catherine of Sienna, in order to spare her father the pains of Purgatory, offered herself to the Divine Justice to suffer in his stead during her whole life. God accepted her offer, inflicted the most excruciating torments upon her, which lasted until her death, and admitted the soul of her father into eternal glory.
Moral Theology on Presumption
The Dominican priests, Fr. McHugh & Fr. Callan, in their book, Moral Theology, have this to say about presumption: “There are two sins contrary to hope: (a) despair, which is the opposite of hope by defect; (b) presumption, which is the opposite of hope by excess … Generally, however, the word “presumption” is applied to acts of the will in a bad sense, and indicates the purpose to do what exceeds one’s powers ... There are three kinds of sins all bearing the name of presumption. (a) If a person chooses to overstep his moral power (i.e., his right of action), he is guilty of the general sin of presumption; (b) If a person wishes to accomplish by his own efforts something so great and difficult that it surpasses his physical powers, he is guilty of the special sin of presumption―thus, he is presumptuous who undertakes a profession, when he has no sufficient knowledge of its duties; (c) He who looks forward to a free admission into eternal bliss, without repentance or obedience, does injury both to the character of God and to the virtue of hope. It is this special sin of presumption that we are now considering. It may be called the theological sin of presumption.
“The theological sin of presumption may be defined as follows: ‘An act of the will, by which a person rashly [unworthily] expects to obtain eternal happiness, or obtain the means to eternal happiness.’ The object is eternal happiness and the means to eternal includes things such as forgiveness of sin, observance of the Commandments, etc. The motive would include the unaided power of human nature, which is judged to be equal to the task of working out salvation, as when a man feels so confident of his own virtue and his security against temptation, so much so that he thinks he can dispense with prayer and all appointed means of grace and still save his soul. Similarly, a person is presumptuous if he feels that it is absolutely impossible for him to be lost, just because he has received Baptism or other Sacraments. Presumption is a sin, because it is an act of the will that accepts false intellectual judgments, namely, that God will pardon the impenitent, or grant eternal life to those who have not labored for it … The presumptuous should reflect on the justice of God, and recall that the broad way leads to perdition” (Fr. McHugh & Fr. Callan, Moral Theology).
Our Lady Speaks Out Against Presumption
Our Lady said to the mystic and stigmatic, Venerable Mary of Agreda: “No soul must despair of the divine goodness. Yet no one must, on that account, have a vain and presumptuous trust―expecting God to work in the soul such effects of grace of which the soul is altogether unworthy to receive! On the other hand, who shall be so presumptuous, in this mortal life, as not to fear the danger of eternal ruin, no matter how many favors he has received from the Almighty? The Apostles were personally chosen by their divine Master, yet one of them, Judas, fell lower than any other individual of the human race; and the other Apostles failed in Faith, the foundation of all virtue. Why then should those who are not Apostles, be without fear, who have not so labored in the school of Christ and who have not so merited my intercession? From the fall of the other eleven Apostles, learn the frailty of human nature, since, even in such great blessings and favors received of the Lord, human nature easily falls into the habit of gross negligence and ingratitude―such as was seen in the Apostles in fleeing, due to a spirit of doubt, from their heavenly Master and leaving Him alone.
“Men incur this danger from their earthly and sensuous inclinations, the result of past sins and of the habits formed by a terrestrial, carnal and sensuous life, void of spirituality. The sins of Catholics, and especially of those that are instructed and enlightened, are so displeasing to God. There is much more of bold disrespect in their presumption and temerity against God, whom they know better and to whom they owe much more, but whom they offend with more deliberation and knowledge than the ignorant.
“Remember that there are only two ways to eternity: the one, which leads to eternal death by contempt of virtue and ignorance of the Divinity; the other, which leads to eternal life by the profitable knowledge of God! The way that leads to eternal life, is that men should know the way to God and to His Only begotten Son, Whom He sent into the world. The way of death is trodden by innumerable wicked ones―who are unaware of their own ignorance, presumption and insipid pride. Let no one become inflated, but let everyone acknowledge so much the more his unworthiness, using it as a medicine and treacle against the poison of presumption. But the foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God. Never was my heart inflated with presumption above itself, nor did I ever know anything else other than to desire being abased and occupying the last place among all creatures.
“The fact that those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. The demons gain and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit much greater and more frequent sins in later years, by having succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption―for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon the soul and it is urged onward, under the sway of the devil, from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss―a chastisement merited by all those who allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning of their life. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day. In this manner has he been able to introduce, into the world, his tyrannical power―spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell.
“The faithful in the Church make much of the sin of the Jews in taking away the life of their God and Master. They are right in doing so―for it was a most heinous crime. But Catholics forget that their own sins are rendered heinous by other elements of guilt surpassing that of the Jews! For although the error of the Jews was culpable, they esteemed it as truth―In our days the Catholics are not in ignorance, but in the fullness of the light, by which they know and understand the divine mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. The holy Church has been founded, spread out, made illustrious by miracles, by saints, by holy writings, by the knowledge and proclamation of truths unknown to the Jews. In spite of all these multiplied advantages, blessings, truths and enlightenments, many live like pagans―as if they had not before their eyes so many inducements to draw them on and oblige them, nor so many chastisements to fill them with dread. How can Catholics then, under these circumstances, imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable?” (Our Lady said to the mystic and stigmatic, Venerable Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Sin No More and Be Not Presumptuous!
To Mary Magdalen, caught in adultery, He says: “Go, and now sin no more!” To the man whom He had healed by the Pool of Bethsaida, “afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
Thus Our Lord demanded a reforming of life, rather than letting Himself be a mere “doormat of mercy” upon which sinners could scrape-off the dung of sin any and every time they wanted, without having to worry about changing their lives. This is why one of the five conditions for a good and valid confession is “the firm purpose of amendment.”
Furthermore, to deliberately sin while thinking, “Oh, its okay! I’ll just go to Confession afterwards!” is an additional sin of presumption—for we are presuming on God’s mercy and treating Him like a “doormat of mercy.” Read St. Alphonsus Liguori’s sermon—“On The Number Of Sins Beyond Which God Pardons No More”—for the First Sunday in Lent—then you will have a different outlook on committing sin with ease and confidence, and perhaps will cease to commit the sin of presumption on the mercy of God! “He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). As for our past sins—God says: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!”
A Diet of Penance, Not Presumption!
Penance was the staple diet of the great sinners who became great saints! Yet not all sinners become saints! Let us not romanticize the above examples of “sinners-turned-saints” and think that God is a great big sugar daddy who cannot bear sending souls of sinners to Hell—that He will always forgive everyone everything!
This is the detestable sin of presumption. “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). For every “sinner-turned-saint” there are thousands who refused to pay the price, make the efforts required and failed to follow the path from sin to sanctity—they are now paying in Hell. Everyone can be saved, but not everyone is saved—in fact few are saved! Why? Because they treat sin lightly; they underrate the justice of God; they do not want to pay the price of Heaven; they neglect their penance.
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, writes: “Not a few beginners, full of good will, apply themselves too eagerly and too anxiously to the work of their perfection and end by fatiguing and exhausting themselves in futile efforts. The chief cause of this defect is the substitution of one’s own activity for that of God. Instead of reflecting before acting, of asking light from the Holy Ghost and following it, such beginners’ thrust themselves headlong into action. Instead of taking counsel with their spiritual director, they act first, and afterwards confront him with the accomplished fact. Hence, numerous imprudences and many wasted efforts. Often presumption enters into the case. They would like to emerge hastily from the discipline of penance and promptly arrive at the desired union with God. But alas! Many an unforeseen obstacle appears; they then lose heart, retrace their steps and at times fall into grievous faults” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §931-§932).
Fr. Tanquerey further explains: “Penance is, after prayer, the most effective means for cleansing the soul of past faults and even for guarding it against future ones … We can, by penance, atone for our faults ... For the sinner, penance is an act of justice; for having offended God and violated God’s rights, he is bound to make reparation for the outrage. This he does through penance … It is admitted on all hands that no one can afford at any time to put out of his life the spirit of penance … The purification of the soul, through the practice of penance and mortification, should never cease … Through penance our first parents regained grace … The firm determination to atone for sin and to reform our lives will follow: (1) to atone by acts of penance, which we take care to impose upon ourselves in order to deaden in us the love of pleasure, the source of bur sins; (2) to reform our lives by determining the means we shall employ, in order to lessen the number of our faults ...
“Among Beginners in the spiritual life, there are those who have a heavy burden of sin to expiate; others there are who never lost their baptismal innocence. It is evident, all things being equal in other respects, that the former must undergo a longer course of penance than the latter … Beginners must be on their guard against relapses and, in order to avoid them, they must undergo a long and rigorous penance in proportion to the number and gravity of their faults. Some of them, soon forgetting their past, want to enter forthwith into the path of love ... To love God is, indeed, an excellent thing, but that we do not attain to a pure and effective love, except trough self-abnegation and penance … Such presumption [to love without doing penance] is frequently followed by a withdrawal of sensible consolations, by discouragement and fresh falls. Others give themselves without discretion to bodily mortifications, take therein a vain complacency, impair their health, and then, under pretense of taking proper care of it, fall into a state of relaxation … They have little realized the need of frequent prayer, of rigorous penance, or mortification … Thus beginners must, assuredly, exercise themselves especially in the virtue of penance …
“Mortification assumes different names according to the point of view from which we consider it. It is called ‘penance’ when it prompts us to atone for our past faults; it is ‘mortification’, properly so called, when it sets upon the love of pleasure, in order to reduce the number of faults in the present and obviate their recurrence in the future; it is called ‘warfare against the capital sins’, when it combats those deep-rooted tendencies that incline us toward sin, and ‘warfare against temptation’, when, practiced by way of resistance to the onslaughts of our spiritual enemies.
“It will be easy and practical to propose Jesus as the model for true penitents; Jesus condemning Himself to a life of poverty; of obedience and of toil that He might be unto us an example; Jesus, doing penance for us in the desert, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in His cruel passion; Jesus dying for us upon the Cross” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
There are two days―more than any others―that lift (or should lift) our minds and hearts towards Heaven. Those days are the feasts of the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven and the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.
At the Ascension of Our Lord, Holy Scripture tells that “while they looked on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they were beholding Him going up to Heaven, two men stood by them in white garments, who said: ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to Heaven? This Jesus, Who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into Heaven!’” (Acts 1:9-11).
As regards the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, Holy Scripture is silent on this dogma of the Faith, but we do get a glimpse of it in the revelations of the mystics. Our Lady herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden: “One day while I was admiring the Love of God in a spiritual ecstasy, my soul was filled with such joy that it could hardly contain itself. And during that contemplation my soul departed from my body. You cannot imagine what splendor my soul perceived then, and with what honor the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost welcomed it, and with what a multitude of angels it was carried upward. But those persons, who were in my house with me when I gave up my spirit, fully understood what divine mysteries I was then experiencing; because of the unusual light which they saw. Thereafter those friends of my Son, who had been brought together by God, buried my body in the Valley of Josaphat. Countless angels accompanied them. My body lay entombed in the ground. Then it was taken up to Heaven with infinite honor and rejoicing. There is no other human body in Heaven except the glorious Body of my Son and my body. That my Assumption was not known to many persons was the will of God and my Son―in order that Faith in His Ascension might first of all be firmly established in the hearts of men, for they would not have been prepared to believe in His Ascension, especially if my Assumption had been announced in the beginning.”
Pie in the Sky or Pio in the Sky?
Thus Our Lady explains that, for some people, the Ascension and all the more the Assumption, would have seemed like a “pie in the sky” tale. What would those people have thought of a “Pio in the sky” tale many centuries later? During the Second World War, when American bombers flew over San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (the town where Padre Pio’s monastery was located), to drop their bombs, the pilots encountered a giant monk in the sky, preventing them from completing their bombing mission. Pilots were unable to complete their mission, and instead would return to the US Commanding General, reporting the occurrence. Padre Pio, who was still living at that time, had previously promised the town’s people that their city would be spared. This Second World War event was directly witnessed by the general of Aeronautica Italiana, Bernardo Rosini, who at that time was part of the “United Air Command” operating out of Bari with the Allied air forces. “Each time that the pilots returned from their missions,” General Rosini said, “they spoke of this Friar that appeared in the sky and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back.” (I Miracoli d Padre Pio, by Renzo Allegri, pages 110-111).
Assumption Bombing
While we are on the subject of the Assumption and bombs, let us mention the Second World War bombing of Hiroshima in Japan by the American Air Force, who dropped an atom bomb on the city―it was aimed at the largest Catholic area of the city, and the parish church was named the Assumption of Lady. Around the same time that the “Monk in the Sky” was driving back American bombers from Padre Pio’s town of San Giovanni Rotondo, other American bombers were about to drop two Atomic Bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the Atomic Bomb fell on Hiroshima, over 80,000 people were killed instantly. Thousands more would die later from radiation poisoning. Men, women and children endured incomprehensible suffering. The temperature at the center of the blast was said to be as hot as the surface of the sun. The heat evaporated metal, melted glass, and ignited clothing miles away. Eight square miles were reduced to ash in resulting fires. Those whose flesh had not melted away, faced horrible suffering in a variety of symptoms as the radiation destroyed the cells in their bodies.
Hiroshima was obliterated in seconds, but beneath the mushroom cloud, in the midst of horror, a miracle would rise from the ashes of destruction and bear witness to the power of the Rosary and the truth of the Promises of Our Lady of Fatima. Just blocks from the epicenter, the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was in ruins. However, the rectory, which was a little further down the street, which housed eight Jesuit priests, was still standing. Four of the priests were in the rectory when the bomb dropped. They were showered with glass and debris. Four other priests were in the surrounding vicinity but, they too, survived the initial blast.
Father Hubert Schiffer was one of these eight Jesuit survivors. He was 30 when the atomic bomb exploded at Hiroshima and lived another 33 years in good health. He recounted his experiences at Hiroshima during the Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia (USA) in 1976. At that time, all eight members of the Jesuit community were still alive. Fr. Schiffer, on the morning of August 6th, 1945, he had just finished Mass, went into the rectory and sat down at the breakfast table, and had just sliced a grapefruit, and had just put his spoon into the grapefruit when there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that it was an explosion in the harbor (this was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines).
Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: “Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me ‘round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.” The next thing he remembered, he opened his eyes and he was lying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground. The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with himself. After Japan’s surrender to the American forces, when the Americans army entered Japan, their army doctors and scientists explained to Fr. Schiffer that his body would begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors amazement, Fr. Schiffer’s body contained no radiation, or ill-effects from the bomb.
There are no physical laws to explain why the Jesuits were untouched in the Hiroshima air blast. There is no other actual data, or test data, where a structure such as this was not totally destroyed at this standoff distance by an atomic weapon. All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within at most a matter of minutes if nothing else happened to them. There is no known way to design a uranium-235 atomic bomb, which could leave such a large discrete area intact, while destroying everything around it immediately outside the fireball (by shaping the plasma).
What follows is Dr. Stephen Rinehart’s commentary, on the subject of the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, Rinehart is widely recognized as international expert in this field—here is his testimony:
“A quick calculation says at a-half-a-mile (from the epicenter of the bomb blast) the bulk temperature was in excess of 20,000 to 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit (transients in microseconds greater than 100,000⁰ F perhaps as high as 1,000,000⁰ F within 1 kilometer — depends on construction details and you are inside the fireball) and the blast wave would have hit at sonic velocity with pressures on building (at one kilometer) greater than 600 psi. If the Jesuits (at one kilometer from the geometric epicenter) were outside the atomic bomb’s “plasma” their residence should still have been utterly destroyed (temp > 2,000⁰ F and air-blastpressures > 100 psi). Unreinforced masonry or brick walls (representative of commercial construction) are destroyed at 3 psi, which will also cause ear damage and burst windows. At ten psi, a human will experience severe lung and heart damage, burst eardrums and at 20 psi your limbs can be blown off. Your head will be blown off by 40 psi and no human would be alive because your skull would be crushed. All the cotton clothes would be on fire at 350⁰ F and your lungs would be inoperative within a minute breathing air (even for a few seconds) at these temperatures. There is no way any human could have survived; nor should anything have left been standing within half-a-mile.
“At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school and I think there were a few badly burned survivors; all died within fifteen years of some form of cancer). (Examining pictures taken from a panoramic view from epicenter of the blast at Shima Hospital looking for the Jesuit’s house) did show some kind of two story house totally intact (at least from what I could make out and it looked to me the windows were in place!?). Also there was a church with walls still standing but roof gone a few hundred yards away!? The Department of Defense never commented officially on this and I suspect it was classified and never discussed in open literature. I think it is possible the Jesuits were asked not to say anything either at the time” (Dr. Stephen Rinehart, U.S. Department of Defense).
Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day, with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed numerous times (Fr. Schiffer said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience. The eight Jesuits say “we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.”
Fr. Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother which protected him from all radiation and ill-effects. Fr. Schiffer attributes this to devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his daily Fatima Rosary; “in that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.” Of course the secular scientists are speechless and incredulous at this explanation — and they are sure there is some “real” explanation — but, at the same time, almost 70 years later, the scientists are still absolutely bamboozled when it comes to finding a plausible scenario to explain the missionaries unique escape from the hellish power of that bomb.
From a scientific viewpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all human logic from the laws of physics, as understood today (or at any time in the future). It must be concluded that some other external force was present, whose power and/or capability to transform energy and matter, as it relates to humans, is beyond current comprehension; a plausibility argument for the existence of a Creator who left his “calling card” at Hiroshima. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “God will look after His faithful ones!” How faithful are you? The more faithful you are, the more hopeful you can be!
Are You Assuming or Presuming Your ‘Assumption’?
With all this heavenly care going one, one can be tempted to think that we have absolutely nothing to worry about! God will take care of us! Hmm! It is not quite as “cut-and-dried” as that, dear friend! In Holy Scripture God tells us: “I love them that love Me!” (Proverbs 8:17) and Our Lord warns us against empty hypocritical words: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21).
Our Lord then continues and pierces their presumption, saying: “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and does them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:22-27).
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
For those who presume upon an easy way to Heaven, Our Lord adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38) ... “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Therefore, “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10). The way to Heaven is not “Easy Street”, nor is it a limousine ride, or a flight in the first class cabin! Yet, sadly, that is how most Catholics look upon the way to Heaven today ― “a piece of cake”, a foregone conclusion, a dead “cert”!
It is foolish to think, as most modern Catholics seem to think (clergy included), that we go to Heaven immediately after our death. Our Lord, in replying to the question, “Lord! Are they few that are saved?” said, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Let’s face it—since most souls fail to reach salvation due to their indifference for the spiritual, their love of the world, their addiction to sin, and their sinful presumption upon the mercy of God—then we should be trembling in our shoes at the thought of own potential salvation. There is a reason why St. Paul wrote: “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
St. Padre Pio was of the opinion that out of all the souls that eventually make it to Heaven, the vast majority will have to pass through Purgatory: “Most of the saved pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude.” Where does that leave you? It is not a necessity, or an obligation, or an absolute that permits no other possibility—but since we have grossly devalued the gravity of sin and have audaciously undervalued the price of a ticket to Heaven, it seems that the best bet we have are the fires of Purgatory—unless we radically change our attitudes and lifestyle or are martyred for the Faith! But even martyrdom still requires a sorrow for sin and a love of God, for it to work--“If I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:3).
If you avoid Hell and end up being one of the few saved, then Purgatory will be your lot. Would it not be a good thing to ensure that your stay there is as short as possible? The way to ensure this is to pray for the souls in Purgatory now, so that “in what measure you shall measure to others, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you” (Mark 4:24). If you are too busy—forgetting and neglecting to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory—then the same will be measured or “dished” out to you when you die. If, on the other hand, you channel a lot of your prayers and sacrifices to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, for example, then you will be amazed at the charity shown to you when you find yourself in the same painful straits.
Mercy Presumes Penance
There can be no mercy without repentance. God will not show mercy to anyone who wishes to continue in sin, or is not prepared to do penance for his sins. This would constitute a sin of presumption on the mercy of God. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains presumption as coming from the Latin praesumere, meaning “to take before”, “to take for granted.” Presumption is a vice opposed to the theological virtue of Hope. It may also be regarded as a product of pride. It may be defined as the condition of a soul which, because of a badly regulated over-reliance on God’s mercy and power, which thereby hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them. The reputable theologian Suarez lists five ways in which one may be guilty of presumption, which are as follows:
(1) By hoping by one’s natural powers, unaided, to obtain what is definitely supernatural, namely, eternal bliss or the recovery of God’s friendship after grievous sin;
(2) A person might look to have his sins forgiven without adequate penance;
(3) A man might expect some special assistance from Almighty God for the perpetration of crime―this would be blasphemous as well as presumptuous;
(4) One might aspire to certain extraordinary supernatural excellencies, but without any conformity to the determinations of God’s providence;
(5) Finally, there is the transgression of those who, whilst they continue to lead a life of sin, are as confident of a happy ending as if they had not lost their baptismal innocence.
Reproaches for our Presumption
In chapter 15 of St. Catherine of Genoa’s Treatise on Purgatory, we read of reproaches made to her by a soul from Purgatory, who says:
“Would that I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror, and say to them: O wretched beings! Why are you so blinded by this world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision for the great necessity that will then come upon you?
“You shelter yourselves beneath your hope in the mercy of God, which you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain you to do His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His justice is unfailing, it must needs be in some way fully satisfied.
“Have not the boldness to say: ‘I will go to confession and gain a plenary indulgence and thus I shall be saved.’ Remember that the full confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of gaining them.”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in , writes: “Christian hope should be laborious, in order to avoid the presumption which expects the divine reward without working for it; and it should be firm and invincible, to avoid discouragement.” There is presumption when one relies more upon one’s own resources than on the help of God, forgetting that grace is needed for every good deed one does; or when one is expecting something from God’s mercy which he cannot give us because of our bad disposition; for example, to expect to be pardoned when true repentance is lacking, or to expect eternal life without making any effort to merit it. It is not unusual for a person to slip rather quickly from a state of presumption into a state of despair when faced with trials and difficulties; it is as though that difficult good, which is the object of hope, were impossible to attain.
Our Lady will help us if we desire to change, no matter how sinful we are or have been. But she will not cooperate with or condone our attitude if we wish to continue sinning, while expecting her to “get us off the hook” at the end of the day! That is a sin of presumption upon God’s mercy! But for sinner who wishes to change, even if he or she feels they are too weak to change, she will lend her helping hand! And the only hand stronger than hers is God’s Hand. No devil, no human forces, can resist her hand.
If we serve Mary faithfully, zealously and perseveringly, then she will show her hand. St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Confidence, Presumption and Despair
True virtue stands in the middle between excess and insufficiency. A healthy person stands in the middle between being obese and being too skinny. Likewise, a confident person is neither over-presumptuous nor despairing. We have to have confidence in God’s help and God’s mercy, and must not despair of receiving His help and mercy―neither should we be over-presumptuous of His help and mercy.
Holy Scripture says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9) and “if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow―and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18). Yet, at the same time, Scripture also says: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) and “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). As St. Augustine says: “God created us without us, but He will not save us without us!”
Sure―absolutely speaking, God can save us without our having to lift a finger! However, God will not save us without efforts being made on our part. God will not do it all―that is a presumption that is sinful. We have WORK OUT our salvation under God’s guidance and with the help of God’s grace―“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
Over confidence leads to presumption. Lack of confidence leads to despair. Over confidence can be based upon too much confidence in our own abilities, and/or a rash confidence that God will do everything for us and we have no need to worry. Lack of confidence can arise from an exaggerated undervaluing of what we are capable of, and/or a pessimistic view of God’s desire to help the miserable sinners that we are.
Virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect. True and healthy confidence, puts little trust in ourselves and a lot of trust in God, who loves the sinner and is willing to help him, if he wants to be helped out the sinful state in which he finds himself. Yet God helps those who help themselves and God expects us to play our part, even though He grants us His help. If we are stuck in a boat, in the middle of a massive lake, having lost our oars; God will give us some oars, point us in the right direction, but He won’t row the boat to shore for us—nor will he pluck us out of the boat and miraculously transport back to shore. Likewise, with the state of the sinner, God will give him the tools, advice and a map; but He will not miraculously grant him an effortless path to Heaven.
Our Imaginary Heaven
The current spiritual disease of “wishful thinking” or “unreal-reality” about who gets to Heaven and how “easy” it is to get there, leads to a dangerous “presumption” about our deceased family members, relatives and friends―to the point that we no longer, or barely, pray for them―imagining them to be in Heaven! The modern Church now no longer has funeral Masses with the color black, but all is in white! You rarely hear priests speak about Purgatory at funeral Masses, but they speak in a manner which seems to imply that the deceased soul is already drinking champagne and eating caviar in Heaven! Personal experience recalls some modern Church members looking at each other with shock and amazement, shaking their heads in disgust and disbelief, when the congregation was asked to pray for the deceased soul, so that the soul’s confinement in Purgatory would be short and less painful! Truly, most Catholics today are very presumptuous in that they imagine that everyone must go to Heaven!
Yet, the opposite is most likely to be true, especially when you think of the many Venerables and Blesseds who are still waiting canonization because God has not allowed the miracles to take place, that are required by the Church on Earth as proof that they are in Heaven. Better to err on the side of caution, than rash presumption! If they are in Heaven, then all well and good—some other poor souls will have their excruciating sufferings alleviated; but if they are still in Purgatory, what a horrible negligence in leaving them to languish in such torments that could easily be made less intensive, shortened or even entirely removed.
Yet the paradox is that we were much more assiduous and prompt about helping our family, friends and relatives in much more minor difficulties and sufferings while they lived among us, than we now are after they have died and are (most probably) languishing in Purgatory. It could well be because, on our way of judging (which is NOT God’s way of judging) and in our wishful, romantic desire for them to be Heaven (because we loved them so and, as we know, “love is blind”) we have already put them in Heaven in our imagination. St. Catherine of Sienna, in order to spare her father the pains of Purgatory, offered herself to the Divine Justice to suffer in his stead during her whole life. God accepted her offer, inflicted the most excruciating torments upon her, which lasted until her death, and admitted the soul of her father into eternal glory.
Moral Theology on Presumption
The Dominican priests, Fr. McHugh & Fr. Callan, in their book, Moral Theology, have this to say about presumption: “There are two sins contrary to hope: (a) despair, which is the opposite of hope by defect; (b) presumption, which is the opposite of hope by excess … Generally, however, the word “presumption” is applied to acts of the will in a bad sense, and indicates the purpose to do what exceeds one’s powers ... There are three kinds of sins all bearing the name of presumption. (a) If a person chooses to overstep his moral power (i.e., his right of action), he is guilty of the general sin of presumption; (b) If a person wishes to accomplish by his own efforts something so great and difficult that it surpasses his physical powers, he is guilty of the special sin of presumption―thus, he is presumptuous who undertakes a profession, when he has no sufficient knowledge of its duties; (c) He who looks forward to a free admission into eternal bliss, without repentance or obedience, does injury both to the character of God and to the virtue of hope. It is this special sin of presumption that we are now considering. It may be called the theological sin of presumption.
“The theological sin of presumption may be defined as follows: ‘An act of the will, by which a person rashly [unworthily] expects to obtain eternal happiness, or obtain the means to eternal happiness.’ The object is eternal happiness and the means to eternal includes things such as forgiveness of sin, observance of the Commandments, etc. The motive would include the unaided power of human nature, which is judged to be equal to the task of working out salvation, as when a man feels so confident of his own virtue and his security against temptation, so much so that he thinks he can dispense with prayer and all appointed means of grace and still save his soul. Similarly, a person is presumptuous if he feels that it is absolutely impossible for him to be lost, just because he has received Baptism or other Sacraments. Presumption is a sin, because it is an act of the will that accepts false intellectual judgments, namely, that God will pardon the impenitent, or grant eternal life to those who have not labored for it … The presumptuous should reflect on the justice of God, and recall that the broad way leads to perdition” (Fr. McHugh & Fr. Callan, Moral Theology).
Our Lady Speaks Out Against Presumption
Our Lady said to the mystic and stigmatic, Venerable Mary of Agreda: “No soul must despair of the divine goodness. Yet no one must, on that account, have a vain and presumptuous trust―expecting God to work in the soul such effects of grace of which the soul is altogether unworthy to receive! On the other hand, who shall be so presumptuous, in this mortal life, as not to fear the danger of eternal ruin, no matter how many favors he has received from the Almighty? The Apostles were personally chosen by their divine Master, yet one of them, Judas, fell lower than any other individual of the human race; and the other Apostles failed in Faith, the foundation of all virtue. Why then should those who are not Apostles, be without fear, who have not so labored in the school of Christ and who have not so merited my intercession? From the fall of the other eleven Apostles, learn the frailty of human nature, since, even in such great blessings and favors received of the Lord, human nature easily falls into the habit of gross negligence and ingratitude―such as was seen in the Apostles in fleeing, due to a spirit of doubt, from their heavenly Master and leaving Him alone.
“Men incur this danger from their earthly and sensuous inclinations, the result of past sins and of the habits formed by a terrestrial, carnal and sensuous life, void of spirituality. The sins of Catholics, and especially of those that are instructed and enlightened, are so displeasing to God. There is much more of bold disrespect in their presumption and temerity against God, whom they know better and to whom they owe much more, but whom they offend with more deliberation and knowledge than the ignorant.
“Remember that there are only two ways to eternity: the one, which leads to eternal death by contempt of virtue and ignorance of the Divinity; the other, which leads to eternal life by the profitable knowledge of God! The way that leads to eternal life, is that men should know the way to God and to His Only begotten Son, Whom He sent into the world. The way of death is trodden by innumerable wicked ones―who are unaware of their own ignorance, presumption and insipid pride. Let no one become inflated, but let everyone acknowledge so much the more his unworthiness, using it as a medicine and treacle against the poison of presumption. But the foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God. Never was my heart inflated with presumption above itself, nor did I ever know anything else other than to desire being abased and occupying the last place among all creatures.
“The fact that those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. The demons gain and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit much greater and more frequent sins in later years, by having succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption―for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon the soul and it is urged onward, under the sway of the devil, from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss―a chastisement merited by all those who allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning of their life. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day. In this manner has he been able to introduce, into the world, his tyrannical power―spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell.
“The faithful in the Church make much of the sin of the Jews in taking away the life of their God and Master. They are right in doing so―for it was a most heinous crime. But Catholics forget that their own sins are rendered heinous by other elements of guilt surpassing that of the Jews! For although the error of the Jews was culpable, they esteemed it as truth―In our days the Catholics are not in ignorance, but in the fullness of the light, by which they know and understand the divine mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. The holy Church has been founded, spread out, made illustrious by miracles, by saints, by holy writings, by the knowledge and proclamation of truths unknown to the Jews. In spite of all these multiplied advantages, blessings, truths and enlightenments, many live like pagans―as if they had not before their eyes so many inducements to draw them on and oblige them, nor so many chastisements to fill them with dread. How can Catholics then, under these circumstances, imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable?” (Our Lady said to the mystic and stigmatic, Venerable Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Sin No More and Be Not Presumptuous!
To Mary Magdalen, caught in adultery, He says: “Go, and now sin no more!” To the man whom He had healed by the Pool of Bethsaida, “afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
Thus Our Lord demanded a reforming of life, rather than letting Himself be a mere “doormat of mercy” upon which sinners could scrape-off the dung of sin any and every time they wanted, without having to worry about changing their lives. This is why one of the five conditions for a good and valid confession is “the firm purpose of amendment.”
Furthermore, to deliberately sin while thinking, “Oh, its okay! I’ll just go to Confession afterwards!” is an additional sin of presumption—for we are presuming on God’s mercy and treating Him like a “doormat of mercy.” Read St. Alphonsus Liguori’s sermon—“On The Number Of Sins Beyond Which God Pardons No More”—for the First Sunday in Lent—then you will have a different outlook on committing sin with ease and confidence, and perhaps will cease to commit the sin of presumption on the mercy of God! “He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). As for our past sins—God says: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!”
A Diet of Penance, Not Presumption!
Penance was the staple diet of the great sinners who became great saints! Yet not all sinners become saints! Let us not romanticize the above examples of “sinners-turned-saints” and think that God is a great big sugar daddy who cannot bear sending souls of sinners to Hell—that He will always forgive everyone everything!
This is the detestable sin of presumption. “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). For every “sinner-turned-saint” there are thousands who refused to pay the price, make the efforts required and failed to follow the path from sin to sanctity—they are now paying in Hell. Everyone can be saved, but not everyone is saved—in fact few are saved! Why? Because they treat sin lightly; they underrate the justice of God; they do not want to pay the price of Heaven; they neglect their penance.
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, writes: “Not a few beginners, full of good will, apply themselves too eagerly and too anxiously to the work of their perfection and end by fatiguing and exhausting themselves in futile efforts. The chief cause of this defect is the substitution of one’s own activity for that of God. Instead of reflecting before acting, of asking light from the Holy Ghost and following it, such beginners’ thrust themselves headlong into action. Instead of taking counsel with their spiritual director, they act first, and afterwards confront him with the accomplished fact. Hence, numerous imprudences and many wasted efforts. Often presumption enters into the case. They would like to emerge hastily from the discipline of penance and promptly arrive at the desired union with God. But alas! Many an unforeseen obstacle appears; they then lose heart, retrace their steps and at times fall into grievous faults” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §931-§932).
Fr. Tanquerey further explains: “Penance is, after prayer, the most effective means for cleansing the soul of past faults and even for guarding it against future ones … We can, by penance, atone for our faults ... For the sinner, penance is an act of justice; for having offended God and violated God’s rights, he is bound to make reparation for the outrage. This he does through penance … It is admitted on all hands that no one can afford at any time to put out of his life the spirit of penance … The purification of the soul, through the practice of penance and mortification, should never cease … Through penance our first parents regained grace … The firm determination to atone for sin and to reform our lives will follow: (1) to atone by acts of penance, which we take care to impose upon ourselves in order to deaden in us the love of pleasure, the source of bur sins; (2) to reform our lives by determining the means we shall employ, in order to lessen the number of our faults ...
“Among Beginners in the spiritual life, there are those who have a heavy burden of sin to expiate; others there are who never lost their baptismal innocence. It is evident, all things being equal in other respects, that the former must undergo a longer course of penance than the latter … Beginners must be on their guard against relapses and, in order to avoid them, they must undergo a long and rigorous penance in proportion to the number and gravity of their faults. Some of them, soon forgetting their past, want to enter forthwith into the path of love ... To love God is, indeed, an excellent thing, but that we do not attain to a pure and effective love, except trough self-abnegation and penance … Such presumption [to love without doing penance] is frequently followed by a withdrawal of sensible consolations, by discouragement and fresh falls. Others give themselves without discretion to bodily mortifications, take therein a vain complacency, impair their health, and then, under pretense of taking proper care of it, fall into a state of relaxation … They have little realized the need of frequent prayer, of rigorous penance, or mortification … Thus beginners must, assuredly, exercise themselves especially in the virtue of penance …
“Mortification assumes different names according to the point of view from which we consider it. It is called ‘penance’ when it prompts us to atone for our past faults; it is ‘mortification’, properly so called, when it sets upon the love of pleasure, in order to reduce the number of faults in the present and obviate their recurrence in the future; it is called ‘warfare against the capital sins’, when it combats those deep-rooted tendencies that incline us toward sin, and ‘warfare against temptation’, when, practiced by way of resistance to the onslaughts of our spiritual enemies.
“It will be easy and practical to propose Jesus as the model for true penitents; Jesus condemning Himself to a life of poverty; of obedience and of toil that He might be unto us an example; Jesus, doing penance for us in the desert, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in His cruel passion; Jesus dying for us upon the Cross” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 11th & Thursday August 12th
Article 6
Get Off the Sinking Ship!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday August 11th & Thursday August 12th
Article 6
Get Off the Sinking Ship!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Cruising to Where?
What boat are you on? Are you on an Ocean Liner or are you on a Cruise Ship? Ocean Liners are designed to undertake a line voyage, between point A and point B across a large expanse of open ocean―such as the transatlantic crossing between North America and Europe. Cruise Ships are typically designed to undertake pleasure voyages, closer to the coast, sailing between ports. Are we sailing to another “continent” or are we sailing for pleasure? Or to put it another way―are we sailing away from this world (hopefully to Heaven), or are we sailing around in this world looking for pleasure?
God did not make your soul to be a “tourist” in this world, but for you to be a “soldier” in this world―“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), so “fight the good fight of Faith, and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). In fact, we should be sailing on Battleship―never mind the Ocean Liner and Cruise Ship! God did not make you a Soldier of Christ so that you can fraternize with the enemy―which is world, and the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30)―“Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Unfortunately, most Catholics live as though they are tourists in this world―as though they were made to “see the world” and “enjoy the world” as much as they can! These Catholics are the “Cruise Ship” Catholics to “Pleasure Boat” Catholics, whose sole aim in life is to get as much fun out of it as possible! Sadly, this is mentality they pass onto their children―and they will pass it onto their own children when they marry. In this way they “water-down” the Faith and sail down the broad and wide waters that eventually lead to Hell. They are here to have fun―“come Hell or High-Water”!
Carefree Catholics
These Catholics will not rush to Mass on Sundays (the only day they ever go to Mass―if they even still go), but they will rush out of Mass to be first in line for coffee and donuts! They will rush through their Rosaries (if they even say them at all), but will linger and browse for ages on their smartphones. They can’t name all the Ten Commandments, but they can name the ten best movies they have ever watched! They will sacrifice time and money to improve their homes, but they will spend little time or money improving the state of their souls. They won’t go to Confession to confess their sins, but will talk about everyone else’s sins in the parking lot after Mass! They will spend hours in front of their favorite screen each day (television, or computer, or smartphone), but cannot spend one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament by making an extra visit outside of Mass attendance. They gladly listen to talk shows, but begrudgingly listen to sermons.
Ships and Shipwrecks―Saving Waters and Punishing Waters
Boats and water, ships and seas, all play a part in Holy Scripture. Likewise with shipwrecks and avoidance of shipwrecks. The same applies with water and seas as punishments and as “saviors”. We shall look at those in more detail in a moment―for the time being we will simply mention them.
(1) We find the first mention of waters and seas in the opening book and chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:2-10; 1:21-22), where God creates the waters and the seas.
(2) Ships or boats are first mentioned when God tells Noe to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-22).
(3) Shortly thereafter, God destroys the world’s increasingly sinful population with the Great Flood, whereby water rained heavily from Heaven continuously for forty days and forty nights and “the fountains of the great deep were broken up … and the flood was forty days upon the earth … and the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days” (Genesis 7:11-12; 7:17-24).
(4) We see God use water to ensure Moses being saved from being killed, by being floated in a basket upon the waters of the River Nile, in order escape the persecution of Pharaoh, who had commanded all the male babies of the Israelites (Hebrews) to be slain at birth (Exodus 1:21; 2:1-10).
(5) God again uses water in one of the Ten Plagues that He sends upon Egypt, whereby He changes the waterways of Egypt into blood, in order to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites (Hebrews) from slavery and allow them to leave Egypt for the Promised Land (Exodus 7:17-21).
(6) God then uses the waters of the Red Sea to save the Israelites on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to destroy the pursuing Egyptian army that sought to kill or enslave, once again, the Israelites (Exodus 14:1-31).
(7) When the Israelites had escaped the Egyptian army, but were short of water in the desert, God stepped-in and, by telling Moses to strike a rock with his staff (rod), God provided water for the millions of Israelites who were dying of thirst (Exodus 17:1-7).
(8) Some time later, the lack of water again causes the Israelites to complain and murmur against Moses and God. This time, Moses again strikes a rock in the desert―but for some reason he seems to doubt that the miraculous water will again appear out of the rock, so he strikes it again. God rebukes Moses’ lack of faith in God’s power and tells him that, as a punishment, Moses will not enter the Promised Land, but will die on its borders (Number 20:1-13).
(9) We also read of Jonas, in the Old Testament, who was commanded to go and preach penance to the sinful city of Ninive. Jonas was afraid to do so and tried to flee from God and his duties to God by taking a ship in the opposite direction. God punished Jonas by making a terrible storm arise on the sea which threatened to shipwreck the ship. This resulted in the sailors throwing Jonas overboard―at his own request―when Jonas admitted that he was the ultimate cause of the storm. Then Jonas was swallowed by a whale and managed to survive for three days until God had the whale vomit Jonas out onto dry land. (Jonas 1:1-16; 2:1-11)
(10) In the New Testament, we encounter the brothers St. Peter and St. Andrew, and the brothers St. James and St. John, who all made a living by fishing on their boats or ships on the Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias, Lake Gennesareth, and Lake Kinnereth!!!). “And passing by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Simon Peter and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea―for they were fishermen” (Mark 1:16). “And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Jesus, to hear the word of God, He stood by the Lake of Genesareth” (Luke 5:1). “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias” (John 6:1).
(11) Our Lord would board a ship or boat―ask that it pull a little distance from the shore―and then would preach and teach from the boat: “And great multitudes were gathered unto Him, so that He went up into a boat and sat―and all the multitude stood on the shore―and He spoke to them many things in parables” (Matthew 13:2). “And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, He desired him to draw back a little from the land. And, sitting, He taught the multitudes out of the ship” (Luke 5:3).
(12) Our Lord would also use the ship or boat as means of distancing Himself from the crowds that always chased after Him: “And he spoke to His disciples that a small ship should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they should throng Him” (Mark 3:9). “And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart” (Mark 6:32). “And leaving them, He went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water” (Mark 8:13). “He retired from thence by boat, into a desert place apart, and the multitudes having heard of it, followed Him on foot out of the cities” (Matthew 14:13).
(13) We also see Our Lord calming storms that threatened to overwhelm His Apostles on the ship: “There arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled with water. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow. And they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master! Does it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm” (Mark 4:37-39).
(14) We also read of St. Paul being in a shipwreck after he had been arrested and was being taken to Rome to be judged. Holy Scripture says: “…For many days we had sailed slowly, the wind not suffering us … Sailing now was dangerous … There arose against it a tempestuous wind … When the ship was caught and could not bear up against the wind, we were driven, giving up the ship to the winds … being mightily tossed with the tempest … The next day they lightened the ship. And the third day they cast out, with their own hands, the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm lay on us, all hope of our being saved was now taken away … And when we were fallen into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the front part of the ship, sticking fast, remained unmoveable: but the rear part was broken with the violence of the sea … etc” (Acts 27:1-44).
Shipwrecks Galore!
Shipwrecks are not meant to happen―but they do happen. A rough estimate by the United Nations states that there are at least 3 million shipwrecks lying across ocean floors around the planet. Some of those millions of shipwrecks are holding millions or trillions of dollars in sunken gold, silver and jewels that some ships were carrying. To date, billions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and other valuable artifacts have been recovered from shipwrecks, and considering that 95% of the ocean is still unexplored, there could be billions more worth of treasures lying on the ocean floor. Modern technologies―such as underwater robots and sonar―have revolutionized the ability of scientists, explorers and salvagers to locate underwater wrecks and their buried secrets and treasures.
In search of gold? Looking for the next gold rush? The oceans are a good place to look! However, it’s not as easy as panning for gold. Ocean waters around the world contain about 20 million tons of gold in them. When they say “in” the ocean, that is meant literally, for there is gold in ocean water. Unfortunately, the concentration lies on the order of a few parts of gold per trillion parts of water, making it extremely difficult to get. Two pints of sea water would only contain approximately 13 billionths of a gram of gold. Based on today’s spot price of gold at $56.35 USD per gram, that amount of gold would be worth roughly $1,000 trillion USD. Compare that with the United States gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 of $20 trillion and it’s 50 times more than the GDP of the USA. Alternatively, you can compare it to the world domestic product of $84 trillion in 2020, which makes it about 12 times greater than the entire world’s domestic product for 2020.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of money to be had just in gold within the world’s oceans. However, there’s the monumental task of removing the gold from vast amounts of seawater. Perhaps Holy Scripture has the wisest comments of all: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). Our Lord further warns: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Famous Shipwrecks in the Past
► THE FLEET OF KUBLAI KHAN ― Kublai Khan’s lost fleet is one of the most famous shipwrecks of olden times. The largest naval invasions in history were the seaborne assaults of 1274 and 1281 on Japan, by Mongol, Chinese, and Korean soldiers, marines, and sailors, under orders from Emperor Kublai Khan. Both invasions were part of the Kublai Khan’s plan to assimilate Japan into the Mongol Empire—and both failed. According to legend, thousands of ships and more than 100,000 men participated in the 1281 attack. The Japanese legend and an account by Marco Polo, blame the defeat on a heavenly sent wind, or rather a storm, in response to prayers for deliverance by the Japanese. Two Mongolian invasion fleets, attempting to attack Japan, were both wrecked in storms 1274 and 1281, killing tens of thousands of troops.
► THE TITANIC ― Just about everyone knows about the Titanic ― and its fate [read the full account here]. RMS Titanic (RMS = Royal Mail Ship), became the most famous ship for never making it to her destination, and was the largest ocean liner of the time. The Titanic was built in Ireland at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and was ready for her first voyage in 1912. The Titanic was considered to be the most developed ship of that era. The supposedly “unsinkable” ocean liner set sail on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 1912. However, the Titanic ― even though famously described as ‘unsinkable’ ― unfortunately sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg on her maiden voyage―from Southampton, in England, to New York City―just before midnight on April 14th, 1912, and sank in less than three hours. The shipwreck claimed around 1,514 lives, and is often remembered as one of the most famous and tragic shipwrecks in history.
► CARPATHIA ― The British passenger liner RMS Carpathia is best known for rescuing survivors from the Titanic, when the ocean liner met with its fatal accident in 1912 (see above). However, Carpathia met with the same destiny when it was destroyed by a German submarine in the year 1917, at the time of the First World War. The vessel was hit by three torpedoes from a German U-boat, when it was sailing as part of a convoy travelling from Liverpool in England to Boston in the USA, and five people were killed in the accident. The wreck of Carpathia was found, in the year 1999, in 600 feet of water, 185 miles west of Land’s End (southwestern tip of England), sitting upright on the ocean bed.
► THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND ― Canadian ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River on May 29th, 1914, after colliding with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad, due to thick fog, killing 1,012 people. The vessel was en route from Quebec City to Liverpool―with 1,057 passengers and a crew of 420 aboard―when the vessel went down in one of the worst disasters in Canadian maritime history. At present, the wreck of Empress of Ireland lies in a shallow 130 ft of water.
► ESTONIA ― The MS Estonia shipwreck in the Baltic Sea is one of the biggest maritime incidents to have occurred in the recent past. The cruise ferry MS Estonia was en route to Stockholm from the Estonian province of Tallinn, when it sank on September 28th, 1994. Over 800 people lost their lives in this horrifying incident and the majority of the bodies were never recovered. The cause of the accident remains controversial as there are many theories about the cause of the sinking. The most commonly known reason for the accident is said to be the rough weather conditions that the ship encountered, during which a heavy wave hitting the bow doors presumably caused a bow visor and ramp to be torn off, which allowed water to cascade into the ship. However, certain other sources contest this account and state that, because of the ship’s military involvement, in secretly transporting military weapons, bombs were planted by rival countries to destroy the ship to prevent such future clandestine military activity. There were discussions to raise the ship for a detailed inspection to discover the real cause of the accident. However, the Swedish government decided to bury the vessel and thousands of tons of pebbles were dropped on the site, smothering the wreckage. The Estonia Agreement of 1995, shortly after the sinking of Estonia―between the countries of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Denmark, Russia and the United Kingdom―agreed that the burial site be designated as a sea grave, which therefore prohibited the exploration and examination of the wreckage. Hmm!
► SULTANA ― Back in 19th century America, one of the worst and least recognized maritime disasters in the history of the US, was the explosion and sinking of steamboat Sultana on April 27th, 1865, which took 1,800 lives in the Mississippi River, near Memphis. The ship was used at the end of the American Civil War to transport the prisoners-of-war from the Union army back home and the vessel met with an accident after the explosion of its boilers. The wreck of the ship was found in the year 1982 in a soybean field on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, around 4 miles from Memphis.
► VICTORY ― Going back in time to the 18th century, we have the shipwreck of the 100-gun ship of the Royal Navy HMS Victory (HMS = His Majesty’s Ship). The Victory was first launched in the sea in the year 1737 and met with an accident in the English Channel in the year 1744. The sinking of HMS Victory, in one of the worst British naval disasters in the English Channel, claimed the lives of more than 1,000 sailors. The ship disappeared from sight at the Channel Islands and for over 250 years, there was no sight of any remains of the ship. The shipwreck was discovered in the year 2008 by the Odyssey Marine Expedition of the United States, around 43 nautical miles from where it encountered the storm and disappeared from sight.
► VASA ― Going back in time even further, to the 17th century, we have the shipwreck of the Vasa, a Swedish warship, believed to have been built between 1626 and 1628. It was a most high-tech warship of its day when it set sail. However, the ship sank in Stockholm Harbor, only twenty minutes and less than a mile into its journey into its maiden voyage on August 10th, 1628, after being hit by strong winds and experiencing flooding. It was regarded as a great embarrassment for the King of Sweden, especially in view of all the hype about how great the ship was!
The Barque of Peter
There you have a sampling of the estimated 3,000,000 (3 million) or more shipwrecks that have taken place throughout the world. Since the Catholic Church is often called the “Barque of Peter” (Boat of Peter), and since St. John Bosco had a vision of the Catholic Church under the form of a ship upon the sea, then it worthwhile looking at the possibility of a “shipwreck” of the Catholic Church―and, by association, the “shipwreck” of Catholic families, schools and parishes.
Now, you will probably say that the Catholic Church cannot possibly “shipwreck”, because Our Lord promised this when He said: “That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). This is true―but Our Lord also said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Echoing those words of Our Lord―Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette, as well as Our Lady of Fatima, all speak of the “shipwreck” of the Faith, saying that most Catholics will lose their Faith and few will retain it: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ...
“As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings! …
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
If Only One Catholic Remains―The Church Still Exists
If you are member of a large family―let us say, for example, a family of sixteen people: father, mother and fourteen children―and most of the family are killed, leaving behind only one or two people alive―then you cannot say that the family is destroyed. That one person, or those two persons are able to ensure that the family continues to exist for the future―they can marry, have their own children, and thus perpetuate the family.
The same is true for the Church. Today there are approximately 1,400,000 (1,400 million, or 1.4 billion) Catholics in the world. Even if everybody abandoned or lost their Faith, and the number of Catholics was reduced to only 10,000 in the whole world―then the Church would still be “alive and kicking”, it would still exist, it would have more members than the Church had when Jesus ascended into Heaven, leaving behind His newly founded Church on Earth. In fact, at that time, it is probable that those who were baptized were only―at the most―1,000 or so. At Pentecost, St. Peter gave the Church a big boost by baptizing over 3,000 persons in one day.
Even though the Titanic sank, part of the ship remained afloat in the form of the lifeboats of the Titanic, and those lifeboats saved a certain number of people―a minority―but some were saved. Likewise with the Church―the numbers of Catholics will be decimated to the point, as Our Lady of Good Success says, where a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith”. The Faith will continue exist―the Church will continue to exist. This is thought to be a part of the Third Secret of Fatima, which Sr. Lucia hints at when she writes: ““In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether! It seems as though it is time to abandon the main body of the “ship” that is sinking, and time to take to the “lifeboats” of that “ship”. As Catholic prophecy says, Catholics will be in hiding, offering Mass and worshiping in caves and barns! Melanie Calvat, one of the two seers of La Salette, is reported as saying to Fr. Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground” (from the book The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis by Fr. Combe, 1906).
Both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI essentially corroborated this, when they said that in the future, we will have to be prepared for a downsized, much smaller Church in the world.
Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984). Pope Benedict XVI confessed that in all likelihood the Church, in the near future, will be a GREATLY reduced Church—having lost most of its members. “She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes ... she will lose many of her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members ... It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome … And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals” (from his book, Faith and the Future).
Blessed Anne Emmerich (1774-1824) ― Interestingly―or should it be said, sadly―the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Anne Emmerich, also paints the same picture, as she was shown in the visions that God granted to her concerning the events of our days. She writes: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops [The Second Vatican Council had 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembles all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps. They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council]. Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of young teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church!”
She continues: “I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it … Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away.”
Everyone’s Running Away!
You bet “everyone is running away” these days! The National Catholic Reporter, ran an article back in April of 2021, where the reporter had been speaking to “friends, family and colleagues about what parish life will look like after coronavirus, a consensus is emerging that they are not coming back — or at least not in the numbers before the pandemic.” What were those numbers before the pandemic? Only 20% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly. Many estimate that it is going to pan-out at half that number―namely 10%, which is only 1 in 10 Catholics. The article continues: “If you felt like you didn't miss much after taking a pandemic-imposed yearlong break from Mass attendance, you’re probably less likely to make the effort to return with any regularity. The extra sleep on a Sunday morning may be more attractive than attending a service that does little to stir your soul!”
Back in May of 2021, Bishop Duignan of Ireland, said: “I fear that we might mistakenly think that once the current Covid restrictions are lifted and once we return to public worship, everything will be all right!” Instead, he believes the future will be “very different.” He added that some “fear a possible disaster”, with “fewer people practicing, financial difficulties, children and families further distanced from the Sacraments and congregations permanently migrating to the comfort of online attendance. There may even be a growing realization that, although much of what we normally do as Church was absent these last months, for many people, it was not really missed.” Others, he said, speak of the pandemic as simply hastening the decline of the Catholic Church in Irish life―a decline “that was already quite evident, but now it is fast-forwarded a decade or more.”
A survey in the USA, conducted in July and August of 2020, by CARA (the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate), reported that prior to the Easter 2020 Lockdowns on churches, only 13% of Catholics were regularly attending Sunday Mass during the Lenten season. They further reported that this number dropped down to only 6% even before the lockdowns came into play. The survey also found that 36% of Catholics said they planned to attend Mass less frequently when stay-at-home orders related to the Covid-19 pandemic would end and churches would fully reopen.
The current collapse of the Faith has been going on since the end of the Second Vatican Council. Already back in 2017, Archbishop Blair of the Hartford Archdiocese reported that the diocese has seen a 70% decline in church attendance since 1965 (the year the Second Vatican Council ended). The Archbishop planned to consolidate 212 parishes into 127 during the course of that year. In the city’s oldest Roman Catholic church, St. Mary, the number of registered Catholic households declined from 1,670 households in 2010 to only 309 households in 2015, according to the archdiocese.
St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC, is the largest Catholic parish in the USA with over 11,000 registered families and over 35,000 members. It is what is known, in modern day language, as a “Mega-Church”. The church is served by 4 priests―which technically gives each priest just under 9,000 people to look after! When you go to their website and look at how they handle the Sacrament of Confession for 35,000 people, you will see Confession times listed as follows: Sunday from 10 to 10:30 am and again from 11:45 am to 12:15 pm. Then on Wednesday Confession is heard from 9 am to 10 am. That gives 2 hours of Confession time per week for 35,000 people! Wow! They must speak really fast or they are all saints! For the record―if you are going allot each person around 2 minutes in the confessional once a year, then it would take around 1,200 hours a year to hear everyone’s 2-minute annual confession! St. Matthew’s us currently supplying 104 hours a year instead of 1,200 hours a year―and remember, 1,200 hours a year would only allow each person to go to Confession once a year for only 2 minutes! Even if you had all four parish priests hearing Confessions, that would only be a total of around 400 hours of Confessions a year―still a long way short of 1,200 hours required to give everyone a 2-minute Confession once a year! Folks! This is not what the Catholic Faith is supposed to be about!
A Sinking Ship
Among those who were born and raised as Catholics, only less than 40% still remain in the Faith, while 60% have abandoned the Faith (58% becoming Protestants and 2% of no-affiliation whatsoever). It is estimated that over 92% of Catholics youth no longer regularly practice their Faith after graduation (either high-school or college). Over 56% of U.S. Catholics are in favor of legalized abortion. Homosexual marriages are accepted by 61% of U.S. Catholics. About two-thirds of all U.S. Catholics (64%) say that homosexual behavior is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all, while only 32% say that it is morally wrong. As regards the Catholic teaching on the sinfulness of contraception, this teaching is rejected even among Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly. Only 1 in 10 (13%) in this group said contraception is morally wrong, with 87% saying it is either acceptable or not a moral issue―and that is among Mass attending Catholics! Nearly 75% of U.S. Catholics are not opposed to couples cohabiting before marriage, despite the Church’s moral teaching on its sinfulness.
On the flip side of the coin―as regards religious practices―only 2% of U.S. Catholics pray the Rosary daily; currently, less that 10% attend Sunday Mass regularly; 64% of U.S. Catholics do not believe that missing Sunday Mass is a sin; only 2% of U.S. Catholics go regularly to Confession, and 75% of them never go, or go less than once a year; nearly 7-in-10 U.S. Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during the Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion are only symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that during the Mass, the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Cardinal Manning (1808-1892) prophetically wrote: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90). For Cardinal Manning to speak about apostasy in his day, would seem to be scandalous — yet Manning was alive at the time of Our Lady’s warnings at La Salette. He heard; he understood and he believed.
Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
What boat are you on? Are you on an Ocean Liner or are you on a Cruise Ship? Ocean Liners are designed to undertake a line voyage, between point A and point B across a large expanse of open ocean―such as the transatlantic crossing between North America and Europe. Cruise Ships are typically designed to undertake pleasure voyages, closer to the coast, sailing between ports. Are we sailing to another “continent” or are we sailing for pleasure? Or to put it another way―are we sailing away from this world (hopefully to Heaven), or are we sailing around in this world looking for pleasure?
God did not make your soul to be a “tourist” in this world, but for you to be a “soldier” in this world―“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), so “fight the good fight of Faith, and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). In fact, we should be sailing on Battleship―never mind the Ocean Liner and Cruise Ship! God did not make you a Soldier of Christ so that you can fraternize with the enemy―which is world, and the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30)―“Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Unfortunately, most Catholics live as though they are tourists in this world―as though they were made to “see the world” and “enjoy the world” as much as they can! These Catholics are the “Cruise Ship” Catholics to “Pleasure Boat” Catholics, whose sole aim in life is to get as much fun out of it as possible! Sadly, this is mentality they pass onto their children―and they will pass it onto their own children when they marry. In this way they “water-down” the Faith and sail down the broad and wide waters that eventually lead to Hell. They are here to have fun―“come Hell or High-Water”!
Carefree Catholics
These Catholics will not rush to Mass on Sundays (the only day they ever go to Mass―if they even still go), but they will rush out of Mass to be first in line for coffee and donuts! They will rush through their Rosaries (if they even say them at all), but will linger and browse for ages on their smartphones. They can’t name all the Ten Commandments, but they can name the ten best movies they have ever watched! They will sacrifice time and money to improve their homes, but they will spend little time or money improving the state of their souls. They won’t go to Confession to confess their sins, but will talk about everyone else’s sins in the parking lot after Mass! They will spend hours in front of their favorite screen each day (television, or computer, or smartphone), but cannot spend one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament by making an extra visit outside of Mass attendance. They gladly listen to talk shows, but begrudgingly listen to sermons.
Ships and Shipwrecks―Saving Waters and Punishing Waters
Boats and water, ships and seas, all play a part in Holy Scripture. Likewise with shipwrecks and avoidance of shipwrecks. The same applies with water and seas as punishments and as “saviors”. We shall look at those in more detail in a moment―for the time being we will simply mention them.
(1) We find the first mention of waters and seas in the opening book and chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:2-10; 1:21-22), where God creates the waters and the seas.
(2) Ships or boats are first mentioned when God tells Noe to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-22).
(3) Shortly thereafter, God destroys the world’s increasingly sinful population with the Great Flood, whereby water rained heavily from Heaven continuously for forty days and forty nights and “the fountains of the great deep were broken up … and the flood was forty days upon the earth … and the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days” (Genesis 7:11-12; 7:17-24).
(4) We see God use water to ensure Moses being saved from being killed, by being floated in a basket upon the waters of the River Nile, in order escape the persecution of Pharaoh, who had commanded all the male babies of the Israelites (Hebrews) to be slain at birth (Exodus 1:21; 2:1-10).
(5) God again uses water in one of the Ten Plagues that He sends upon Egypt, whereby He changes the waterways of Egypt into blood, in order to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites (Hebrews) from slavery and allow them to leave Egypt for the Promised Land (Exodus 7:17-21).
(6) God then uses the waters of the Red Sea to save the Israelites on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to destroy the pursuing Egyptian army that sought to kill or enslave, once again, the Israelites (Exodus 14:1-31).
(7) When the Israelites had escaped the Egyptian army, but were short of water in the desert, God stepped-in and, by telling Moses to strike a rock with his staff (rod), God provided water for the millions of Israelites who were dying of thirst (Exodus 17:1-7).
(8) Some time later, the lack of water again causes the Israelites to complain and murmur against Moses and God. This time, Moses again strikes a rock in the desert―but for some reason he seems to doubt that the miraculous water will again appear out of the rock, so he strikes it again. God rebukes Moses’ lack of faith in God’s power and tells him that, as a punishment, Moses will not enter the Promised Land, but will die on its borders (Number 20:1-13).
(9) We also read of Jonas, in the Old Testament, who was commanded to go and preach penance to the sinful city of Ninive. Jonas was afraid to do so and tried to flee from God and his duties to God by taking a ship in the opposite direction. God punished Jonas by making a terrible storm arise on the sea which threatened to shipwreck the ship. This resulted in the sailors throwing Jonas overboard―at his own request―when Jonas admitted that he was the ultimate cause of the storm. Then Jonas was swallowed by a whale and managed to survive for three days until God had the whale vomit Jonas out onto dry land. (Jonas 1:1-16; 2:1-11)
(10) In the New Testament, we encounter the brothers St. Peter and St. Andrew, and the brothers St. James and St. John, who all made a living by fishing on their boats or ships on the Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias, Lake Gennesareth, and Lake Kinnereth!!!). “And passing by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Simon Peter and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea―for they were fishermen” (Mark 1:16). “And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Jesus, to hear the word of God, He stood by the Lake of Genesareth” (Luke 5:1). “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias” (John 6:1).
(11) Our Lord would board a ship or boat―ask that it pull a little distance from the shore―and then would preach and teach from the boat: “And great multitudes were gathered unto Him, so that He went up into a boat and sat―and all the multitude stood on the shore―and He spoke to them many things in parables” (Matthew 13:2). “And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, He desired him to draw back a little from the land. And, sitting, He taught the multitudes out of the ship” (Luke 5:3).
(12) Our Lord would also use the ship or boat as means of distancing Himself from the crowds that always chased after Him: “And he spoke to His disciples that a small ship should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they should throng Him” (Mark 3:9). “And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart” (Mark 6:32). “And leaving them, He went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water” (Mark 8:13). “He retired from thence by boat, into a desert place apart, and the multitudes having heard of it, followed Him on foot out of the cities” (Matthew 14:13).
(13) We also see Our Lord calming storms that threatened to overwhelm His Apostles on the ship: “There arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled with water. And Jesus was in the rear part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow. And they awakened Him, and said to Him: ‘Master! Does it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: ‘Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was made a great calm” (Mark 4:37-39).
(14) We also read of St. Paul being in a shipwreck after he had been arrested and was being taken to Rome to be judged. Holy Scripture says: “…For many days we had sailed slowly, the wind not suffering us … Sailing now was dangerous … There arose against it a tempestuous wind … When the ship was caught and could not bear up against the wind, we were driven, giving up the ship to the winds … being mightily tossed with the tempest … The next day they lightened the ship. And the third day they cast out, with their own hands, the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm lay on us, all hope of our being saved was now taken away … And when we were fallen into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the front part of the ship, sticking fast, remained unmoveable: but the rear part was broken with the violence of the sea … etc” (Acts 27:1-44).
Shipwrecks Galore!
Shipwrecks are not meant to happen―but they do happen. A rough estimate by the United Nations states that there are at least 3 million shipwrecks lying across ocean floors around the planet. Some of those millions of shipwrecks are holding millions or trillions of dollars in sunken gold, silver and jewels that some ships were carrying. To date, billions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and other valuable artifacts have been recovered from shipwrecks, and considering that 95% of the ocean is still unexplored, there could be billions more worth of treasures lying on the ocean floor. Modern technologies―such as underwater robots and sonar―have revolutionized the ability of scientists, explorers and salvagers to locate underwater wrecks and their buried secrets and treasures.
In search of gold? Looking for the next gold rush? The oceans are a good place to look! However, it’s not as easy as panning for gold. Ocean waters around the world contain about 20 million tons of gold in them. When they say “in” the ocean, that is meant literally, for there is gold in ocean water. Unfortunately, the concentration lies on the order of a few parts of gold per trillion parts of water, making it extremely difficult to get. Two pints of sea water would only contain approximately 13 billionths of a gram of gold. Based on today’s spot price of gold at $56.35 USD per gram, that amount of gold would be worth roughly $1,000 trillion USD. Compare that with the United States gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 of $20 trillion and it’s 50 times more than the GDP of the USA. Alternatively, you can compare it to the world domestic product of $84 trillion in 2020, which makes it about 12 times greater than the entire world’s domestic product for 2020.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of money to be had just in gold within the world’s oceans. However, there’s the monumental task of removing the gold from vast amounts of seawater. Perhaps Holy Scripture has the wisest comments of all: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). Our Lord further warns: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” Ecclesiasticus 8:3).
Famous Shipwrecks in the Past
► THE FLEET OF KUBLAI KHAN ― Kublai Khan’s lost fleet is one of the most famous shipwrecks of olden times. The largest naval invasions in history were the seaborne assaults of 1274 and 1281 on Japan, by Mongol, Chinese, and Korean soldiers, marines, and sailors, under orders from Emperor Kublai Khan. Both invasions were part of the Kublai Khan’s plan to assimilate Japan into the Mongol Empire—and both failed. According to legend, thousands of ships and more than 100,000 men participated in the 1281 attack. The Japanese legend and an account by Marco Polo, blame the defeat on a heavenly sent wind, or rather a storm, in response to prayers for deliverance by the Japanese. Two Mongolian invasion fleets, attempting to attack Japan, were both wrecked in storms 1274 and 1281, killing tens of thousands of troops.
► THE TITANIC ― Just about everyone knows about the Titanic ― and its fate [read the full account here]. RMS Titanic (RMS = Royal Mail Ship), became the most famous ship for never making it to her destination, and was the largest ocean liner of the time. The Titanic was built in Ireland at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and was ready for her first voyage in 1912. The Titanic was considered to be the most developed ship of that era. The supposedly “unsinkable” ocean liner set sail on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 1912. However, the Titanic ― even though famously described as ‘unsinkable’ ― unfortunately sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg on her maiden voyage―from Southampton, in England, to New York City―just before midnight on April 14th, 1912, and sank in less than three hours. The shipwreck claimed around 1,514 lives, and is often remembered as one of the most famous and tragic shipwrecks in history.
► CARPATHIA ― The British passenger liner RMS Carpathia is best known for rescuing survivors from the Titanic, when the ocean liner met with its fatal accident in 1912 (see above). However, Carpathia met with the same destiny when it was destroyed by a German submarine in the year 1917, at the time of the First World War. The vessel was hit by three torpedoes from a German U-boat, when it was sailing as part of a convoy travelling from Liverpool in England to Boston in the USA, and five people were killed in the accident. The wreck of Carpathia was found, in the year 1999, in 600 feet of water, 185 miles west of Land’s End (southwestern tip of England), sitting upright on the ocean bed.
► THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND ― Canadian ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River on May 29th, 1914, after colliding with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad, due to thick fog, killing 1,012 people. The vessel was en route from Quebec City to Liverpool―with 1,057 passengers and a crew of 420 aboard―when the vessel went down in one of the worst disasters in Canadian maritime history. At present, the wreck of Empress of Ireland lies in a shallow 130 ft of water.
► ESTONIA ― The MS Estonia shipwreck in the Baltic Sea is one of the biggest maritime incidents to have occurred in the recent past. The cruise ferry MS Estonia was en route to Stockholm from the Estonian province of Tallinn, when it sank on September 28th, 1994. Over 800 people lost their lives in this horrifying incident and the majority of the bodies were never recovered. The cause of the accident remains controversial as there are many theories about the cause of the sinking. The most commonly known reason for the accident is said to be the rough weather conditions that the ship encountered, during which a heavy wave hitting the bow doors presumably caused a bow visor and ramp to be torn off, which allowed water to cascade into the ship. However, certain other sources contest this account and state that, because of the ship’s military involvement, in secretly transporting military weapons, bombs were planted by rival countries to destroy the ship to prevent such future clandestine military activity. There were discussions to raise the ship for a detailed inspection to discover the real cause of the accident. However, the Swedish government decided to bury the vessel and thousands of tons of pebbles were dropped on the site, smothering the wreckage. The Estonia Agreement of 1995, shortly after the sinking of Estonia―between the countries of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Denmark, Russia and the United Kingdom―agreed that the burial site be designated as a sea grave, which therefore prohibited the exploration and examination of the wreckage. Hmm!
► SULTANA ― Back in 19th century America, one of the worst and least recognized maritime disasters in the history of the US, was the explosion and sinking of steamboat Sultana on April 27th, 1865, which took 1,800 lives in the Mississippi River, near Memphis. The ship was used at the end of the American Civil War to transport the prisoners-of-war from the Union army back home and the vessel met with an accident after the explosion of its boilers. The wreck of the ship was found in the year 1982 in a soybean field on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, around 4 miles from Memphis.
► VICTORY ― Going back in time to the 18th century, we have the shipwreck of the 100-gun ship of the Royal Navy HMS Victory (HMS = His Majesty’s Ship). The Victory was first launched in the sea in the year 1737 and met with an accident in the English Channel in the year 1744. The sinking of HMS Victory, in one of the worst British naval disasters in the English Channel, claimed the lives of more than 1,000 sailors. The ship disappeared from sight at the Channel Islands and for over 250 years, there was no sight of any remains of the ship. The shipwreck was discovered in the year 2008 by the Odyssey Marine Expedition of the United States, around 43 nautical miles from where it encountered the storm and disappeared from sight.
► VASA ― Going back in time even further, to the 17th century, we have the shipwreck of the Vasa, a Swedish warship, believed to have been built between 1626 and 1628. It was a most high-tech warship of its day when it set sail. However, the ship sank in Stockholm Harbor, only twenty minutes and less than a mile into its journey into its maiden voyage on August 10th, 1628, after being hit by strong winds and experiencing flooding. It was regarded as a great embarrassment for the King of Sweden, especially in view of all the hype about how great the ship was!
The Barque of Peter
There you have a sampling of the estimated 3,000,000 (3 million) or more shipwrecks that have taken place throughout the world. Since the Catholic Church is often called the “Barque of Peter” (Boat of Peter), and since St. John Bosco had a vision of the Catholic Church under the form of a ship upon the sea, then it worthwhile looking at the possibility of a “shipwreck” of the Catholic Church―and, by association, the “shipwreck” of Catholic families, schools and parishes.
Now, you will probably say that the Catholic Church cannot possibly “shipwreck”, because Our Lord promised this when He said: “That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). This is true―but Our Lord also said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Echoing those words of Our Lord―Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette, as well as Our Lady of Fatima, all speak of the “shipwreck” of the Faith, saying that most Catholics will lose their Faith and few will retain it: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ...
“As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings! …
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars will be sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
If Only One Catholic Remains―The Church Still Exists
If you are member of a large family―let us say, for example, a family of sixteen people: father, mother and fourteen children―and most of the family are killed, leaving behind only one or two people alive―then you cannot say that the family is destroyed. That one person, or those two persons are able to ensure that the family continues to exist for the future―they can marry, have their own children, and thus perpetuate the family.
The same is true for the Church. Today there are approximately 1,400,000 (1,400 million, or 1.4 billion) Catholics in the world. Even if everybody abandoned or lost their Faith, and the number of Catholics was reduced to only 10,000 in the whole world―then the Church would still be “alive and kicking”, it would still exist, it would have more members than the Church had when Jesus ascended into Heaven, leaving behind His newly founded Church on Earth. In fact, at that time, it is probable that those who were baptized were only―at the most―1,000 or so. At Pentecost, St. Peter gave the Church a big boost by baptizing over 3,000 persons in one day.
Even though the Titanic sank, part of the ship remained afloat in the form of the lifeboats of the Titanic, and those lifeboats saved a certain number of people―a minority―but some were saved. Likewise with the Church―the numbers of Catholics will be decimated to the point, as Our Lady of Good Success says, where a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith”. The Faith will continue exist―the Church will continue to exist. This is thought to be a part of the Third Secret of Fatima, which Sr. Lucia hints at when she writes: ““In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether! It seems as though it is time to abandon the main body of the “ship” that is sinking, and time to take to the “lifeboats” of that “ship”. As Catholic prophecy says, Catholics will be in hiding, offering Mass and worshiping in caves and barns! Melanie Calvat, one of the two seers of La Salette, is reported as saying to Fr. Combe: “The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground” (from the book The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis by Fr. Combe, 1906).
Both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI essentially corroborated this, when they said that in the future, we will have to be prepared for a downsized, much smaller Church in the world.
Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984). Pope Benedict XVI confessed that in all likelihood the Church, in the near future, will be a GREATLY reduced Church—having lost most of its members. “She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes ... she will lose many of her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members ... It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome … And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals” (from his book, Faith and the Future).
Blessed Anne Emmerich (1774-1824) ― Interestingly―or should it be said, sadly―the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Anne Emmerich, also paints the same picture, as she was shown in the visions that God granted to her concerning the events of our days. She writes: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops [The Second Vatican Council had 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembles all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps. They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council]. Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of young teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church!”
She continues: “I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it … Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction ― even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away.”
Everyone’s Running Away!
You bet “everyone is running away” these days! The National Catholic Reporter, ran an article back in April of 2021, where the reporter had been speaking to “friends, family and colleagues about what parish life will look like after coronavirus, a consensus is emerging that they are not coming back — or at least not in the numbers before the pandemic.” What were those numbers before the pandemic? Only 20% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly. Many estimate that it is going to pan-out at half that number―namely 10%, which is only 1 in 10 Catholics. The article continues: “If you felt like you didn't miss much after taking a pandemic-imposed yearlong break from Mass attendance, you’re probably less likely to make the effort to return with any regularity. The extra sleep on a Sunday morning may be more attractive than attending a service that does little to stir your soul!”
Back in May of 2021, Bishop Duignan of Ireland, said: “I fear that we might mistakenly think that once the current Covid restrictions are lifted and once we return to public worship, everything will be all right!” Instead, he believes the future will be “very different.” He added that some “fear a possible disaster”, with “fewer people practicing, financial difficulties, children and families further distanced from the Sacraments and congregations permanently migrating to the comfort of online attendance. There may even be a growing realization that, although much of what we normally do as Church was absent these last months, for many people, it was not really missed.” Others, he said, speak of the pandemic as simply hastening the decline of the Catholic Church in Irish life―a decline “that was already quite evident, but now it is fast-forwarded a decade or more.”
A survey in the USA, conducted in July and August of 2020, by CARA (the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate), reported that prior to the Easter 2020 Lockdowns on churches, only 13% of Catholics were regularly attending Sunday Mass during the Lenten season. They further reported that this number dropped down to only 6% even before the lockdowns came into play. The survey also found that 36% of Catholics said they planned to attend Mass less frequently when stay-at-home orders related to the Covid-19 pandemic would end and churches would fully reopen.
The current collapse of the Faith has been going on since the end of the Second Vatican Council. Already back in 2017, Archbishop Blair of the Hartford Archdiocese reported that the diocese has seen a 70% decline in church attendance since 1965 (the year the Second Vatican Council ended). The Archbishop planned to consolidate 212 parishes into 127 during the course of that year. In the city’s oldest Roman Catholic church, St. Mary, the number of registered Catholic households declined from 1,670 households in 2010 to only 309 households in 2015, according to the archdiocese.
St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC, is the largest Catholic parish in the USA with over 11,000 registered families and over 35,000 members. It is what is known, in modern day language, as a “Mega-Church”. The church is served by 4 priests―which technically gives each priest just under 9,000 people to look after! When you go to their website and look at how they handle the Sacrament of Confession for 35,000 people, you will see Confession times listed as follows: Sunday from 10 to 10:30 am and again from 11:45 am to 12:15 pm. Then on Wednesday Confession is heard from 9 am to 10 am. That gives 2 hours of Confession time per week for 35,000 people! Wow! They must speak really fast or they are all saints! For the record―if you are going allot each person around 2 minutes in the confessional once a year, then it would take around 1,200 hours a year to hear everyone’s 2-minute annual confession! St. Matthew’s us currently supplying 104 hours a year instead of 1,200 hours a year―and remember, 1,200 hours a year would only allow each person to go to Confession once a year for only 2 minutes! Even if you had all four parish priests hearing Confessions, that would only be a total of around 400 hours of Confessions a year―still a long way short of 1,200 hours required to give everyone a 2-minute Confession once a year! Folks! This is not what the Catholic Faith is supposed to be about!
A Sinking Ship
Among those who were born and raised as Catholics, only less than 40% still remain in the Faith, while 60% have abandoned the Faith (58% becoming Protestants and 2% of no-affiliation whatsoever). It is estimated that over 92% of Catholics youth no longer regularly practice their Faith after graduation (either high-school or college). Over 56% of U.S. Catholics are in favor of legalized abortion. Homosexual marriages are accepted by 61% of U.S. Catholics. About two-thirds of all U.S. Catholics (64%) say that homosexual behavior is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all, while only 32% say that it is morally wrong. As regards the Catholic teaching on the sinfulness of contraception, this teaching is rejected even among Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly. Only 1 in 10 (13%) in this group said contraception is morally wrong, with 87% saying it is either acceptable or not a moral issue―and that is among Mass attending Catholics! Nearly 75% of U.S. Catholics are not opposed to couples cohabiting before marriage, despite the Church’s moral teaching on its sinfulness.
On the flip side of the coin―as regards religious practices―only 2% of U.S. Catholics pray the Rosary daily; currently, less that 10% attend Sunday Mass regularly; 64% of U.S. Catholics do not believe that missing Sunday Mass is a sin; only 2% of U.S. Catholics go regularly to Confession, and 75% of them never go, or go less than once a year; nearly 7-in-10 U.S. Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during the Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion are only symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that during the Mass, the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Cardinal Manning (1808-1892) prophetically wrote: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90). For Cardinal Manning to speak about apostasy in his day, would seem to be scandalous — yet Manning was alive at the time of Our Lady’s warnings at La Salette. He heard; he understood and he believed.
Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday August 7th & Sunday August 8th & Monday August 9th
Article 5
How to Save Your Soul When Most People Lose Theirs
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday August 7th & Sunday August 8th & Monday August 9th
Article 5
How to Save Your Soul When Most People Lose Theirs
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What’s Top of Your Wish List?
If you were to ask everyone in the world what was at the top of their “Wish List”, then you would get some very surprising answers! The replies would be incredibly diverse―there is no point even trying to list some of them, for their diversity would be so great. Perhaps―at a pinch―you could generally and loosely group the answers in very broad categories such as happiness, pleasure, wealth, health, work related issues, well-being, etc. Everyone has a “Wish List”, even though we might not think so. There is always something in life that we are striving for, aiming for, seeking and working towards. There are always things which we desire―even though we think are unlikely to come true or are even impossible. Everyone desires something―otherwise we would never act or do things―and everyone has some things that they desire above all other things. What is that you desire? What is top of your “Wish List”? If someone asked you that “face-to-face”, you might be tempted to give a “politically correct” answer, or you might lie in order to mask you real desires!
Way Down the List
What can be said with more than a little confidence is that most people are not desiring what they should be desiring. What everyone should have at the top of their “Wish List” is …! What? When you really think about it, there is only one thing worth having―and that is SALVATION. You can change the word “Salvation” and replace it with “God” or “Heaven”―but it all pretty much comes down to the same thing. Yet how few people there are that place SALVATION at the top of their “Wish List”? Very, very, very few! Some might not even have it on their “Wish List” at all! For others, it might be way down in 10th place, or 20th place or 100th place! Ultimately, you are what you think! You reap what you sow! The title of one book is Ideas Have Consequences―and, logically following that path, ideas lead to actions and those actions have consequences. Unfortunately, most people have the wrong idea about the purpose of life, and so their actions also end up being wrong, which leads to disastrous consequences!
Christ Came to Save the World―the World Prefers Damnation
God made the angels―and a large number of them rebelled against God. God made man―Adam and Eve―and they rebelled against God. “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) ... “God, because He hath first loved us, sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:16-19) ... “In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not! He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11).
He told everyone that “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). He warned us about being too attached to this world and not attached enough to God and Heaven: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon! [mammon = the pleasures and treasures of the world]. Therefore I say to you, be not concerned for your life, what you shall eat; nor concerned about your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the food; and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus again answering, saith to them: ‘How hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ The disciples wondered all the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Mark 10:23-26).
Who Then Can Be Saved?
Yes, indeed, “Who then can be saved?” When the disciples asked Our Lord that question, He replied: “With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God!” Likewise, at the Last Supper, He said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), adding: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I in you! As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me! I am the vine―you the branches! He that abides in Me and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
Our Lord was also asked the same question about salvation by another man: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the Master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: “Lord, open to us!” And He, answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!” And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
We Have a Damn Problem!
We are faced with a massive problem! Holy Scripture clearly says that “God will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet Our Lord says, in reply to the question whether only a few souls are saved: “Many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” adding that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat!” It is not only Our Lord who says this―many of the saints have echoed His words over the centuries.
St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church, says: “The majority of men shall not see God!”
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church, writes: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!”
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, states: “It is certain that few are saved! … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved ... The good are many, but, in comparison with the wicked, the good are few … The good are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil! … Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment! … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! … Beyond a doubt the elect are few!” (St. Augustine).
St. Regimius (437-533): “Among adults there are few saved because of sins of the flesh … With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned!”
St. John Climacus (Syrian monk 525-600): “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!”
Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604), says: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom ... They who are to be saved as Saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved!”
St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church, writes: “Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates! … Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our Faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed!”
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, states: “Many attain to the Faith, but few attain salvation! … If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few―not one of the many! And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few! … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, writes: “There are a select few who are saved! ... Those who are saved are in the minority!”
St. Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727): “The number of the damned is incalculable.”
St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, writes: “The common opinion of theologians is that the greater part of adults is lost! … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved! … In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect… The greater number of men still say to God: ‘Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil, and condemned to Hell, than be Thy servants!’ Alas! The greatest number, my Jesus – we may say nearly all – not only do not love Thee, but offend Thee and despise Thee! … Some will say: ‘It is enough for me to be saved!’ ‘No,’ says St. Augustine, ‘it is not enough―if you say that it is enough, you will be lost!’ … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned! … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church, says: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588): “A greater number is lost through false confidence than through excessive fear!”
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552): “Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!”
St. Philip Neri (1515-1595): “So vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660): “Ah! A great many persons live constantly in the state of damnation!”
St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716): “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way! The number of the elect is so small ― so small ― that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief: one here and there, scattered up and down the world!”
St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved … Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved … I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist”
St. John Marie Vianney (1786-1859): “The number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vineyard-pickers have passed! … We shall find out at the day of judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion! … Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days! See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter!”
St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.”
Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima said: “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved! … Many will be lost!”
We are uncomfortable at the thought, much like Fr. Lombardi was uncomfortable, when interviewing Sr. Lucia in 1954, with the thought of many souls being lost in Hell. The interview was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica”, on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Sr. Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.” (Francis Johnston, Fatima—The Great Sign, p. 36).
One Helluva Problem! What Do We Do?
All of this is damned depressing, but absolutely avoidable! Nobody has to go to Hell―in the sense that they are “pre-programmed” for Hell. As was stated above: “God will have all men to be saved!” (1 Timothy 2:4) ... “God, because He hath first loved us, sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:16-17). Unfortunately, mankind prefers to dig itself a helluva hole, but God still offers a heavenly hand.
God offers forgiveness at a price! If mankind sins and is deserving of the punishment of Hell, God even says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23).
Do We Really Want to Be Saved? In Theory, Yes! But in Practice, …?
The bottom line is that man does not really want to be saved! We all want to be saved in theory, we will all say we want to be saved―but living that out in practice is totally different thing! Man wants to live as he pleases without pleasing God. We all have a tendency to “pick and choose” in the field of Faith―everyone ends up only “putting on their plate” and leaving aside and not “chewing” and “eating” and “swallowing” the things they do not like! We call ourselves “Catholics”, but a more precise name could be “Partial Catholics” or “Picky Catholics”. For, as regards the Faith, we practice what we like and we ignore what we don’t like. St. Augustine writes: “The Apostle commands us to rejoice―but in the Lord, not in the world. For, you see, as Scripture says, whoever wishes to be a friend of this world will be counted as God's enemy. Just as a man cannot serve two masters, so too no-one can rejoice both in the world and in the Lord.” St. Alphonsus Liguori adds: “The greater number of men still say to God: ‘Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil [and the world], and so be condemned to Hell, rather than be Thy servants!’ The greater number of men lie buried in the darkness of infidelity and heresy. Thou hast humbled Thyself to death, to the death of the cross, for the salvation of men, and these ungrateful men are unwilling even to know Thee ... Alas! The greatest number, my Jesus―we may say nearly all―not only do not love Thee, but offend Thee and despise Thee!”
As the above quotes by saints warned: “Those who wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved! … The greater number of Christians who are lost, were damned because they did not know their own religion! … A greater number is lost through false confidence than through excessive fear!” But anxiety, fear, trembling are not bad symptoms, for, as Holy Scripture says: “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11) … “With fear and trembling give ye glory to Him” (Tobias 13:6) … “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Perhaps the real problem is that we have lost the healthy symptoms of “fear and trembling”! “Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place!” (Genesis 20:11).
The Loss of a Fear of God, Leads to a Loss of Fear of Sin
This lack of fear leads to a loss of the sense of sin―or a loss of the sense of gravity of sin. The Church teaches that sin is the greatest evil in the world―yet man does not seem to worry about that! “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet recent popes affirm that mankind has lost this true sense of sin.
Pope Pius XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States, said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.”
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
Pope Benedict XVI, in a Lenten homily on March 13th, 2011, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, then we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
Pope Francis, in a homily on January 31st, 2014, also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Theory and Practice
This loss of the sense of sin in theory, or in the mind, does not stop there―we all act according to how we think. A loss of the sense of sin in the mind, inevitably leads to a loss of the sense of sin in practice―that is to say, we no longer fear to sin. When we lose the fear of sin, then we start to sin wantonly―in an unrestrained and reckless manner. This is what Our Lady spoke of way back in 1956, when she revealed to the Italian mystic, stigmatic and foundress of a religious order, Blessed Elena Aiello. Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Seventeen years later, at her apparition in Akita, Japan, Our Lady would consolidate the above statement or threat, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Most people are oblivious to those words of Our Lady, or, if they are aware of them, they don’t really give a damn―but damnation is what they truly risk getting. Very few pay attention to her words―which is what Sr. Lucia revealed was the case with Our Lady’s Fatima message, though the same can be said for all of her messages. For us it a case of “seen it, read it, know it, done with it.” Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
We are so “politically correct” (or is it “diabolically disorientated”), that we shy away from talking about such things with our fellow Catholics, for fear of being branded as “fanatics”, “prophets of doom and gloom”, “party-poopers”, etc. God forbid that we talk about religion at our family or social gatherings! Who wants to hear all that “stuff” anyway? We perfectly fall into the category of worldlings that St. Louis de Montfort describes in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross (notice that the title is not Letter to the Friends of Fun). St. Louis writes: “The two groups that appear before you each day, are the followers of Christ and the followers of the world … Our loving Savior’s group only a handful of people … The world’s group―the devil’s in fact―is far superior in number and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … . Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.”
Enemies in the Camp―Poison in the Water
Since we have lost the sense of sin and lost the fear of sinning, we naturally also lose the fear of the enemy. The enemy is, of course, the world―which belongs to Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). We are told not to unnecessarily mix with the world:
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The world “poisons” our Faith, “poisons” our spirituality, “poisons” our already weak love of God, “poisons” our spiritual ‘immune-system’ that should be fighting sin and encourages us tolerate sin in a spirit of false charity, to even accept doing “little” sins, which inevitably leads us into quagmire and quicksand of lukewarmness. The world cannot truly love God―though it will hypocritically pretend to do so―for it is largely in a state of mortal sin or lukewarmness. As the philosophical axiom states: “nemo dat quod non habet”, meaning, “You cannot give what you haven’t got!”
If you will persist in “mixing” with the world, then you are “mixing poison” into your “food and drink”―you are poisoning the mind of yourself and your family members. You are grossly weakening their chances of salvation―and, even if they were to be saved by the “skin of their teeth”, they are likely to “gnash their teeth” at the fiery punishments of Purgatory that could have been avoided had you not allowed them to freely mix with the world.
“Aw! It’s Too Hard! It’s Asking Too Much!”
“Ah!” you will protest, “Do you know how hard it is to protect children (under age and of age) from the influence of the world?” Yes―it is hard, but the sufferings of Purgatory and billions of times harder than that―and the sufferings of Hell even more so! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Yes―it is hard to avoid contamination by the world and its sinfulness―but the road to Heaven is not a “limousine-ride” nor a “first-class flight”, but the way of the cross and the cross is hard! The world―being under the control of “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30)―is naturally sinful and is endlessly try to seduce and tempt us take part in its ‘fun’ of sin. It is hard to fight the world, but Our Lord warned: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) and “you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) ― “For My yoke is sweet and My burden light!” (Matthew 11:30).
The Minimum Salvation Requirement
We might as well talk about the “minimum” requirement for salvation, for nobody really wants to pay the “maximum” to obtain a “deluxe” apartment in Heaven. For most people, a closet in the basement will suffice! Therefore, the automatically “write-off” the possibility of becoming saints and expect some kind of “second-class-cabin” or “third-class-cabin” instead, thinking that lukewarmness and minimalism is acceptable to God! Our Lord Himself revealed to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) that halfway measures are unacceptable to Him: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!”
Yes―technically speaking―the very minimum requirement for salvation is to die in the state of sanctifying grace―but that does not automatically open the gates of Heaven to you! For it is ONLY saints that go into Heaven. If you have not achieved that sanctity on Earth―at the level which God set for you individually when He created your soul―then, even if you die in a state of sanctifying grace, you will be sent to the sanctity remedial school in the fires of Purgatory for however long it takes to bring you up to speed! If you think attaining sanctity on Earth is too hard―then just wait until you hit the fires of Purgatory! St. Thomas Aquinas―no less―says that the fires of Purgatory are the same as the fires of Hell, except that the stay in Purgatory ends at some point, but the stay in Hell never ends! Now that is hard! By comparison, attaining sanctity on Earth has to be far less harder than that!
To Turn Your Back Upon Hell, You Must Turn Your Back Upon the World
You were made an “adopted child” of God by your Baptism, and you were made a Soldier of Christ in receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation―you were not made to be a “child of the world”, nor a “slave of the world”. Most Catholics deliberately choose to compromise their vocation or “calling” and choose to fraternize with the enemy and party with the enemy―that is why they inevitably lose their souls. As Our Lord said, you cannot love and serve two masters―just like you cannot love and live with two wives or two husbands: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven ―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
This is why Holy Scripture adds: “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
If you were to ask everyone in the world what was at the top of their “Wish List”, then you would get some very surprising answers! The replies would be incredibly diverse―there is no point even trying to list some of them, for their diversity would be so great. Perhaps―at a pinch―you could generally and loosely group the answers in very broad categories such as happiness, pleasure, wealth, health, work related issues, well-being, etc. Everyone has a “Wish List”, even though we might not think so. There is always something in life that we are striving for, aiming for, seeking and working towards. There are always things which we desire―even though we think are unlikely to come true or are even impossible. Everyone desires something―otherwise we would never act or do things―and everyone has some things that they desire above all other things. What is that you desire? What is top of your “Wish List”? If someone asked you that “face-to-face”, you might be tempted to give a “politically correct” answer, or you might lie in order to mask you real desires!
Way Down the List
What can be said with more than a little confidence is that most people are not desiring what they should be desiring. What everyone should have at the top of their “Wish List” is …! What? When you really think about it, there is only one thing worth having―and that is SALVATION. You can change the word “Salvation” and replace it with “God” or “Heaven”―but it all pretty much comes down to the same thing. Yet how few people there are that place SALVATION at the top of their “Wish List”? Very, very, very few! Some might not even have it on their “Wish List” at all! For others, it might be way down in 10th place, or 20th place or 100th place! Ultimately, you are what you think! You reap what you sow! The title of one book is Ideas Have Consequences―and, logically following that path, ideas lead to actions and those actions have consequences. Unfortunately, most people have the wrong idea about the purpose of life, and so their actions also end up being wrong, which leads to disastrous consequences!
Christ Came to Save the World―the World Prefers Damnation
God made the angels―and a large number of them rebelled against God. God made man―Adam and Eve―and they rebelled against God. “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) ... “God, because He hath first loved us, sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:16-19) ... “In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not! He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11).
He told everyone that “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). He warned us about being too attached to this world and not attached enough to God and Heaven: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon! [mammon = the pleasures and treasures of the world]. Therefore I say to you, be not concerned for your life, what you shall eat; nor concerned about your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the food; and the body more than the clothing?” (Matthew 6:19-25) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus again answering, saith to them: ‘How hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ The disciples wondered all the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Mark 10:23-26).
Who Then Can Be Saved?
Yes, indeed, “Who then can be saved?” When the disciples asked Our Lord that question, He replied: “With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God!” Likewise, at the Last Supper, He said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), adding: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit, He will take away! And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I in you! As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me! I am the vine―you the branches! He that abides in Me and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
Our Lord was also asked the same question about salvation by another man: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the Master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: “Lord, open to us!” And He, answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!” And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
We Have a Damn Problem!
We are faced with a massive problem! Holy Scripture clearly says that “God will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet Our Lord says, in reply to the question whether only a few souls are saved: “Many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” adding that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat!” It is not only Our Lord who says this―many of the saints have echoed His words over the centuries.
St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church, says: “The majority of men shall not see God!”
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church, writes: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!”
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, states: “It is certain that few are saved! … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved ... The good are many, but, in comparison with the wicked, the good are few … The good are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil! … Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment! … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! … Beyond a doubt the elect are few!” (St. Augustine).
St. Regimius (437-533): “Among adults there are few saved because of sins of the flesh … With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned!”
St. John Climacus (Syrian monk 525-600): “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!”
Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604), says: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom ... They who are to be saved as Saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved!”
St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church, writes: “Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates! … Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our Faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed!”
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, states: “Many attain to the Faith, but few attain salvation! … If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few―not one of the many! And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few! … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, writes: “There are a select few who are saved! ... Those who are saved are in the minority!”
St. Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727): “The number of the damned is incalculable.”
St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, writes: “The common opinion of theologians is that the greater part of adults is lost! … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved! … In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect… The greater number of men still say to God: ‘Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil, and condemned to Hell, than be Thy servants!’ Alas! The greatest number, my Jesus – we may say nearly all – not only do not love Thee, but offend Thee and despise Thee! … Some will say: ‘It is enough for me to be saved!’ ‘No,’ says St. Augustine, ‘it is not enough―if you say that it is enough, you will be lost!’ … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned! … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church, says: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588): “A greater number is lost through false confidence than through excessive fear!”
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552): “Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!”
St. Philip Neri (1515-1595): “So vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660): “Ah! A great many persons live constantly in the state of damnation!”
St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716): “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way! The number of the elect is so small ― so small ― that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief: one here and there, scattered up and down the world!”
St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved … Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved … I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist”
St. John Marie Vianney (1786-1859): “The number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vineyard-pickers have passed! … We shall find out at the day of judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion! … Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days! See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter!”
St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.”
Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima said: “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved! … Many will be lost!”
We are uncomfortable at the thought, much like Fr. Lombardi was uncomfortable, when interviewing Sr. Lucia in 1954, with the thought of many souls being lost in Hell. The interview was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica”, on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Sr. Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.” (Francis Johnston, Fatima—The Great Sign, p. 36).
One Helluva Problem! What Do We Do?
All of this is damned depressing, but absolutely avoidable! Nobody has to go to Hell―in the sense that they are “pre-programmed” for Hell. As was stated above: “God will have all men to be saved!” (1 Timothy 2:4) ... “God, because He hath first loved us, sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:16-17). Unfortunately, mankind prefers to dig itself a helluva hole, but God still offers a heavenly hand.
God offers forgiveness at a price! If mankind sins and is deserving of the punishment of Hell, God even says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23).
Do We Really Want to Be Saved? In Theory, Yes! But in Practice, …?
The bottom line is that man does not really want to be saved! We all want to be saved in theory, we will all say we want to be saved―but living that out in practice is totally different thing! Man wants to live as he pleases without pleasing God. We all have a tendency to “pick and choose” in the field of Faith―everyone ends up only “putting on their plate” and leaving aside and not “chewing” and “eating” and “swallowing” the things they do not like! We call ourselves “Catholics”, but a more precise name could be “Partial Catholics” or “Picky Catholics”. For, as regards the Faith, we practice what we like and we ignore what we don’t like. St. Augustine writes: “The Apostle commands us to rejoice―but in the Lord, not in the world. For, you see, as Scripture says, whoever wishes to be a friend of this world will be counted as God's enemy. Just as a man cannot serve two masters, so too no-one can rejoice both in the world and in the Lord.” St. Alphonsus Liguori adds: “The greater number of men still say to God: ‘Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil [and the world], and so be condemned to Hell, rather than be Thy servants!’ The greater number of men lie buried in the darkness of infidelity and heresy. Thou hast humbled Thyself to death, to the death of the cross, for the salvation of men, and these ungrateful men are unwilling even to know Thee ... Alas! The greatest number, my Jesus―we may say nearly all―not only do not love Thee, but offend Thee and despise Thee!”
As the above quotes by saints warned: “Those who wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved! … The greater number of Christians who are lost, were damned because they did not know their own religion! … A greater number is lost through false confidence than through excessive fear!” But anxiety, fear, trembling are not bad symptoms, for, as Holy Scripture says: “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11) … “With fear and trembling give ye glory to Him” (Tobias 13:6) … “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Perhaps the real problem is that we have lost the healthy symptoms of “fear and trembling”! “Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place!” (Genesis 20:11).
The Loss of a Fear of God, Leads to a Loss of Fear of Sin
This lack of fear leads to a loss of the sense of sin―or a loss of the sense of gravity of sin. The Church teaches that sin is the greatest evil in the world―yet man does not seem to worry about that! “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Yet recent popes affirm that mankind has lost this true sense of sin.
Pope Pius XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States, said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.”
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ’s invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
Pope Benedict XVI, in a Lenten homily on March 13th, 2011, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, then we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
Pope Francis, in a homily on January 31st, 2014, also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn’t crumble!”
Theory and Practice
This loss of the sense of sin in theory, or in the mind, does not stop there―we all act according to how we think. A loss of the sense of sin in the mind, inevitably leads to a loss of the sense of sin in practice―that is to say, we no longer fear to sin. When we lose the fear of sin, then we start to sin wantonly―in an unrestrained and reckless manner. This is what Our Lady spoke of way back in 1956, when she revealed to the Italian mystic, stigmatic and foundress of a religious order, Blessed Elena Aiello. Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Seventeen years later, at her apparition in Akita, Japan, Our Lady would consolidate the above statement or threat, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Most people are oblivious to those words of Our Lady, or, if they are aware of them, they don’t really give a damn―but damnation is what they truly risk getting. Very few pay attention to her words―which is what Sr. Lucia revealed was the case with Our Lady’s Fatima message, though the same can be said for all of her messages. For us it a case of “seen it, read it, know it, done with it.” Sr. Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
We are so “politically correct” (or is it “diabolically disorientated”), that we shy away from talking about such things with our fellow Catholics, for fear of being branded as “fanatics”, “prophets of doom and gloom”, “party-poopers”, etc. God forbid that we talk about religion at our family or social gatherings! Who wants to hear all that “stuff” anyway? We perfectly fall into the category of worldlings that St. Louis de Montfort describes in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross (notice that the title is not Letter to the Friends of Fun). St. Louis writes: “The two groups that appear before you each day, are the followers of Christ and the followers of the world … Our loving Savior’s group only a handful of people … The world’s group―the devil’s in fact―is far superior in number and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … . Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.”
Enemies in the Camp―Poison in the Water
Since we have lost the sense of sin and lost the fear of sinning, we naturally also lose the fear of the enemy. The enemy is, of course, the world―which belongs to Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). We are told not to unnecessarily mix with the world:
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The world “poisons” our Faith, “poisons” our spirituality, “poisons” our already weak love of God, “poisons” our spiritual ‘immune-system’ that should be fighting sin and encourages us tolerate sin in a spirit of false charity, to even accept doing “little” sins, which inevitably leads us into quagmire and quicksand of lukewarmness. The world cannot truly love God―though it will hypocritically pretend to do so―for it is largely in a state of mortal sin or lukewarmness. As the philosophical axiom states: “nemo dat quod non habet”, meaning, “You cannot give what you haven’t got!”
If you will persist in “mixing” with the world, then you are “mixing poison” into your “food and drink”―you are poisoning the mind of yourself and your family members. You are grossly weakening their chances of salvation―and, even if they were to be saved by the “skin of their teeth”, they are likely to “gnash their teeth” at the fiery punishments of Purgatory that could have been avoided had you not allowed them to freely mix with the world.
“Aw! It’s Too Hard! It’s Asking Too Much!”
“Ah!” you will protest, “Do you know how hard it is to protect children (under age and of age) from the influence of the world?” Yes―it is hard, but the sufferings of Purgatory and billions of times harder than that―and the sufferings of Hell even more so! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Yes―it is hard to avoid contamination by the world and its sinfulness―but the road to Heaven is not a “limousine-ride” nor a “first-class flight”, but the way of the cross and the cross is hard! The world―being under the control of “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30)―is naturally sinful and is endlessly try to seduce and tempt us take part in its ‘fun’ of sin. It is hard to fight the world, but Our Lord warned: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) and “you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) ― “For My yoke is sweet and My burden light!” (Matthew 11:30).
The Minimum Salvation Requirement
We might as well talk about the “minimum” requirement for salvation, for nobody really wants to pay the “maximum” to obtain a “deluxe” apartment in Heaven. For most people, a closet in the basement will suffice! Therefore, the automatically “write-off” the possibility of becoming saints and expect some kind of “second-class-cabin” or “third-class-cabin” instead, thinking that lukewarmness and minimalism is acceptable to God! Our Lord Himself revealed to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) that halfway measures are unacceptable to Him: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!”
Yes―technically speaking―the very minimum requirement for salvation is to die in the state of sanctifying grace―but that does not automatically open the gates of Heaven to you! For it is ONLY saints that go into Heaven. If you have not achieved that sanctity on Earth―at the level which God set for you individually when He created your soul―then, even if you die in a state of sanctifying grace, you will be sent to the sanctity remedial school in the fires of Purgatory for however long it takes to bring you up to speed! If you think attaining sanctity on Earth is too hard―then just wait until you hit the fires of Purgatory! St. Thomas Aquinas―no less―says that the fires of Purgatory are the same as the fires of Hell, except that the stay in Purgatory ends at some point, but the stay in Hell never ends! Now that is hard! By comparison, attaining sanctity on Earth has to be far less harder than that!
To Turn Your Back Upon Hell, You Must Turn Your Back Upon the World
You were made an “adopted child” of God by your Baptism, and you were made a Soldier of Christ in receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation―you were not made to be a “child of the world”, nor a “slave of the world”. Most Catholics deliberately choose to compromise their vocation or “calling” and choose to fraternize with the enemy and party with the enemy―that is why they inevitably lose their souls. As Our Lord said, you cannot love and serve two masters―just like you cannot love and live with two wives or two husbands: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven ―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
This is why Holy Scripture adds: “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Friday August 6th
Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord
Article 4
It's Time to Transfigure Out Yourself and Your Family!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord
Article 4
It's Time to Transfigure Out Yourself and Your Family!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Try’n Figure This Out!
Today, August 6th, the Church traditionally celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Most feasts are celebrated once―yet the Gospel of the Transfiguration is not only read on August 6th, but the Gospel is also read at Mass on the Second Sunday of Lent, and ALSO the Ember Saturday of Lent, which is usually the Saturday before the Second Sunday of Lent! Why on earth does the Church give the exact same reading, by the exact same Evangelist, two days running?!! Why—if the feast of the Transfiguration was normally on August 6th― why then have the very same Gospel reading of the Transfiguration for two consecutive days during Lent? Has the Church run-out of readings? Does it have to fill a void or gap by repeating the same text the next day?
The Gospel on the Transfiguration
“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. And whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (tents), one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’ And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’ And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And they lifting up their eyes and immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’” (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36).
Figuring Out the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Christ is the culminating point of His public life before He enters the “final scene” of His life with His Passion and Death, just as His Baptism was the starting point of His public life, and His Ascension marked the end of His public life. Moreover, this glorious event has been related in detail by St. Matthew (17:1-6), St. Mark (9:1-8), and St. Luke (9:28-36), while St. Peter (2 Peter 1:16-18) and St. John (1:14), two of the privileged witnesses, make allusion to it.
About a week after His stay in Cæsarea Philippi, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and led them to a high mountain apart, where He was transfigured before their amazed eyes. St. Matthew and St. Mark express this phenomenon by the Greek word “metemorphothe”, which the Latin Vulgate translates as “transfiguratus est.” Sts. Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptics) explain the true meaning of the word, by adding a description of the effects: “His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow,” according to the Latin Vulgate, or “as light,” according to the Greek text.
His Glory Can Be Our Glory—If We…
This dazzling brightness which shone forth from His whole Body was produced by an interior shining of the glory of His Divinity. False Judaism had rejected the Messias, and now true Judaism, represented by Moses and Elias, the Law and the Prophets, recognized and adored Him, while for the second time (the first time was at the baptism of Jesus) God the Father proclaimed Him His only-begotten and well-loved Son.
By this glorious manifestation, Our Lord, Who had just foretold His Passion to the Apostles (Matthew 16:21), and Who had just spoken with Moses and Elias of the trials which awaited Him at Jerusalem, strengthened the Faith of His three favored Apostles and tried to prepare them for the terrible struggle of which they were to soon be witnesses in Gethsemane, by giving them a foretaste of the glory and heavenly delights to which we attain by suffering. Argh! Ouch! There goes that word again—suffering!!
Only One Road, Only One Way
Yet without suffering—and penance is suffering—we cannot get to Heaven. Our Lord said it two ways: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “And he said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Boo! Hiss! Boo! Is there no other way to Heaven? Nope! That’s the only road—take it, or leave it!
The Starting Blocks of Lent For a Race That Only Ends With Death
With there being three Gospel Mass readings on the Transfiguration during every year, we can deduce that it must be very important for us to hear this Gospel three times. Lent can be looked upon the starting blocks of the race to Heaven. Lent should not be looked upon as a “Forty-Day-Flash-in-the-Pan”, but as an introduction to a new way of life. Thus after having read the “double-barreled” Gospel on Ember Saturday and the next day, the Second Sunday of Lent, we look upon that as being the start of our annual race for holiness and Heaven. At the start of the Septuagesima season, the Church gave us the Epistle of St. Paul concerning the race. We are told: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Our Lord speaks in similar terms when He says: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16) and Matthew has Our Lord saying the same thing later: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
This is what St. Paul’s tries to communicate in his follow-up to the analogy about the race: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5), further adding:
“Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:6-12).
Transfiguration―A Call to Holiness
We speak of “The Holy Family”―Jesus, Mary and Joseph―yet every family is called to be holy! Is your family holy? Does your family want to be holy? Are you on the path to holiness? Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). God Himself says: “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy! … You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2; 11:46). Is that your goal? Is that the goal of your family? Is that your goal―not just in theory―but in practice? Do you realize that ONLY SAINTS go to Heaven? “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” says Our Lord (Matthew 11:12). Are you sure that you and your family are on the way to holiness, sanctity and saintliness? If not, then you are planning on throwing yourself and your family into the fires of Purgatory, or the fires of Hell? What sane person wants to throw themselves into a fire―whether it be for a few decades, a few centuries, or for eternity? We do well to take to heart the words of St. Louis de Montfort, as written in The Secret of Mary, where he paints a clear picture of our calling in life:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.”
St. Louis continues: “Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.”
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure, although, in His infinite goodness, He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
The Transfigurations of Lent and August
The Liturgical Year is meant to transfigure us, or transform us—not just during the Forty Days of Lent, but for the rest of the year and for the rest of our lives. What is the point of taking two steps forward during Lent, only to take two steps backwards, or even more steps backward after Lent? What is the point of making a meal and then throwing it in the trash can? What is the point of building a house, only to knock it down? What’s the point of being faithful to your spouse for one week, if you commit adultery for the next three weeks? What’s the point of being “pious” on Sunday, if you live like a devil for the rest of the week? If we do not continue at a higher spiritual level after Lent is over, then the only winner of the race is the devil! Thus, this August re-reading of the Gospel of the Transfiguration serves as a refresher, or another crack of the whip, that keeps us running on the cross-laden narrow path to Heaven―that so few find, and even less take.
In that wonderful book of meditations, Divine Intimacy, its Carmelite author, Fr. Gabriel writes: “In order to confirm the Faith of the Apostles, who were shaken by the announcement of His Passion, Jesus permitted some rays from His blessed soul to shine forth for a few brief instants on Thabor, when Peter, James, and John saw Him transfigured … The three were enraptured by it, and yet Jesus had revealed to them only one ray of His glory, for no human creature could have borne the complete vision. Glory is the fruit of grace: the grace possessed by Jesus in an infinite degree is reflected in an infinite glory transfiguring Him entirely. Something similar happens to us: grace will transform us ‘from glory to glory’ (2 Corinthians 3:18), until one day it will bring us to the Beatific Vision of God in Heaven. But while grace transfigures, sin, on the other hand, darkens and disfigures whoever becomes its victim.
“Today’s Gospel … brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus. Moses and Elias appeared on Thabor on either side of the Savior. They conversed with Him, and as St. Luke explains, talked specifically about His coming Passion … The divine Master wished to teach His disciples in this way that it was impossible—for Him as well as for them—to reach the glory of the Transfiguration without passing through suffering. It was the same lesson that He would give later to the two disciples at Emmaus: ‘Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into His glory?’ (Luke 24:26). What has been disfigured by sin cannot regain its original supernatural beauty except by way of purifying suffering” (Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy).
Suffering Transfigures or Transforms into Christ
The word “transfiguration” comes from the Latin roots trans- (“across”) and figura (“form, shape”). It thus signifies a change of form or appearance. This is what happened to Jesus in the event known as the Transfiguration: His appearance changed and became glorious.
This is exactly what should happen to us and all true Christians—there should be a change of form or shape. We should change from unclean to clean; from sinner to saint. St. Paul mentions this change many a time in Holy Scripture—one such instance is as follows:
“You have heard Him, and have been taught in Him—as the truth is in Jesus—to put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:21-24). “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ” (Romans 6:5-8).
This transformation from sin to virtue, from darkness to light, from lost to saved, from death to life—is what Lent instigates or begins, and is something that should not end with the end of Lent. Pope St. Leo the Great (400-461) gave a homily on the Transfiguration of the Lord, on the Saturday before the Second Sunday in Lent. There are few nuggets worth mining and banking from that homily. Speaking of the Transfiguration, Pope St. Leo says:
“The Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, in founding that Faith, recalls the wicked to righteousness and the dead to life” … “In order that the Apostles might entertain constant courage with their whole heart, and have no tremblings about the harshness of taking up the cross, and that they might not be ashamed of the punishment of Christ, nor think what He endured disgraceful for themselves, Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John, and ascending a very high mountain with them apart, showed them the brightness of His glory” … “that they who wished to follow Him should deny themselves, and count the loss of temporal things as light in the hope of things eternal” … “In this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offense of the cross from the disciple’s heart, and to prevent their Faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion by revealing to them the excellence of His hidden dignity” … “The blessed Apostle, Paul, bears witness to the self-same thing, and says: ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Romans 8:18): and again, ‘For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory’ (Colossians 3:3).”
The holy Pope continues: “The Apostle Peter, excited by the revelation of these mysteries, despising and scorning mundane and earthly things, was seized with a sort of frenzied craving for the things eternal, and, being filled with rapture at the whole vision, desired to make his abode with Jesus in the place where he had been blessed with the manifestation of His glory. Which is why Peter says: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If you want, let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elias. But to this proposal the Lord made no answer, signifying that the world could not be saved, except by Christ’s death, and, by the Lord’s example, the faithful were called upon, … amidst the trials of this life, to ask for the power of endurance, rather than the glory, because the joyousness of reigning cannot precede the times of suffering.”
Pain, Gall, Thorns, Cross
In other words—no pain, no pay! No gall, no glory! No thorns, no throne! No cross, no crown! How we hate the very thought of that!?! Yet the way of the cross, or the pain of the passion, is the only way to Heaven. Pope St. Leo, in speaking of the words of God the Father during the Transfiguration—“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!”—“For when the Father said: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom, etc.”, was it not clearly meant … Hear Him, Who opens the way to Heaven, and by the punishment of the cross prepares for you the steps of ascent to the Kingdom? Why do you tremble at being redeemed? Why do you fear to be healed of your wounds? Let that happen which Christ wills and I will. Cast away all fleshly fear, and arm yourselves with faithful constancy; for it is unworthy that you should fear, in the Savior’s Passion, what by His good gift you shall not have to fear even at your own end ... Let no one be ashamed of Christ’s cross, through which the world was redeemed. And let not any one fear to suffer for righteousness’ sake, or doubt of the fulfilment of the promises, for this reason, that through toil we pass to rest and through death to life.” (Pope St. Leo the Great, homily on the Transfiguration).
The White Shining Garment
In the ceremony of Baptism, the newly baptized person was required to remove his or her old clothes and put on a white robe, which signified sin being expelled and grace being poured in to the soul. We stain that robe by sin and we wash that robe by penance—which we can imagine as rubbing the stained robe on the rock by the river’s edge in bygone times. If the robe could speak, it would yelp in pain! Yet penance and tribulations wash the robe of our soul—that we have stained by sin—and gradually return it to its former whiteness. The dirtier it is, the more scrubbing on the stone of penance will be required.
Purgatory Scrubs the Robe Clean
If we refuse or neglect to wash clean the robe of our soul while still on Earth, then we take the stains to Purgatory, or, God forbid, Hell. It is there that our robe is scrubbed, washed and whitened, as it undergoes its own kind of ‘transfiguration’ or transformation, being configured to become more Christlike. When we read of the apparitions of the souls in Purgatory to people on Earth, it is not uncommon to see them clothed in white and finally ascending to Heaven in a bright light of glory—similar to Our Lord’s appearance during His Transfiguration on Mount Thabor.
We read in recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, of the Life of St. Magdalen de Pazzi, written by her confessor, Father Cepari, of the Company of Jesus, that this servant of God was made witness of the deliverance of a soul under the following circumstances: One of her sisters in religion had died some time previous, when the saint being one day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, saw issue from the earth the soul of that sister, still captive in the dungeons of Purgatory. She was enveloped in a mantle of flames, under which a robe of dazzling whiteness protected her from the fierce heat of the fire; and she remained an entire hour at the foot of the altar, adoring in inexpressible annihilation the hidden God of the Eucharist.
In another instance, recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, on the Feast of All Saints, a young girl of rare piety saw appear before her a lady of her acquaintance who had died some time previously. The apparition was clad in white, with a veil of the same color on her head, and holding in her hand a long Rosary, a token of the tender devotion she had always professed towards the Queen of Heaven. She implored the charity of her pious friend, saying that she had made a vow to have three Masses celebrated at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and that, not having been able to accomplish her vow, this debt added to her sufferings. She then begged her to pay it in her place.
The young person willingly granted the alms asked of her, and when the three Masses had been celebrated, the deceased again appeared, expressing her joy and gratitude. She ever continued to appear each month of November, and almost always in the church. Her friend saw her there in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, over whelmed with an awe of which nothing can give an idea; not yet being able to see God face to face, she seemed to wish to indemnify herself by contemplating Him at least under the Eucharistic species.
During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the moment of the elevation, her face became so radiant that she might have been taken for a seraph descended from Heaven. The young girl, filled with admiration, declared that she had never seen anything so beautiful.
A third instance we can look at, again recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, is that of a Franciscan Tertiaries in Foligno, a sister named Teresa Gesta, who was mistress of novices, and had charge of the sacristy of the community. Sister Teresa was a model of fervor and charity. She died suddenly, November 4th, 1859, of a stroke of apoplexy.
Twelve days later, a sister named Anna Felicia, who succeeded her in office, went to the sacristy and was about to enter, when she heard moans which appeared to come from the interior of the room. Somewhat afraid, she hastened to open the door; there was no one. Again she heard moans, and so distinctly that, notwithstanding her ordinary courage, she felt herself over powered by fear. “Jesus! Mary!” she cried, “What can that be?”
She had not finished speaking when she heard a plaintive voice, accompanied with a painful sigh, “O my God, how I suffer!” The sister, stupefied, immediately recognized the voice of poor Sister Teresa. Then the room was filled with a thick smoke, and the spirit of Sister Teresa appeared, she cried aloud, “Behold a proof of the mercy of God.” Saying these words, she struck the upper panel of the door, and there left the print of her right hand, burnt in the wood as with a red-hot iron. She then disappeared.
Sister Anna Felicia was left half dead with fright. She burst forth into loud cries for help. One of her companions ran, then a second, and finally the whole community. They pressed around her, astonished to find a strong odor of burnt wood. Sister Anna Felicia told what had occurred, and showed them the terrible impression on the door. They instantly recognized the hand of Sister Teresa, which had been remarkably small.
Terrified, they took to flight and ran to the choir, where they passed the night in prayer and penance for the departed, and the following morning all received Holy Communion for the repose of her soul. The news spread outside the convent walls, and many communities in the city united their prayers with those of the Franciscans.
On the third day, Sister Anna Felicia, on going in the evening to her cell, heard herself called by her name, and recognized perfectly the voice of Sister Teresa. At the same instant a globe of brilliant light appeared before her, illuminating her cell with the brightness of daylight.
She then heard Sister Teresa pronounce these words in a joyful and triumphant voice: “I died on a Friday, the day of the Passion, and behold, on a Friday, I enter into eternal glory! Be strong to bear the cross, be courageous to suffer, love poverty.” Then adding, affectionately, “Adieu, adieu, adieu!” she became transfigured, and like a light, white, and dazzling cloud, rose towards Heaven and disappeared. (All the above accounts are to be found in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory).
Life’s Laundry
Let us, therefore, profit from this feast―now and during Lent―and make it a time of doing our spiritual ‘laundry’, wherein we try to remove as many stains as possible from the stained robe of our soul. We all know those ominous words from the Book of Job: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23), not to mention those chilling words of Our Lord: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Unless you do your laundry, your robe will perish! St. Augustine, in one of his sermons on the Transfiguration, says: “What wonder if the Church is signified by white raiment, when you hear the Prophet Isaiah saying, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow’? … Endure, labor hard, bear thy measure of torture; that thou mayest possess what is meant by the white raiment of the Lord, through the brightness and the beauty of an upright laboring in charity.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his sermon on the Transfiguration, adds: “Brethren, let us labor during the remainder of our lives to gain Heaven. Heaven is so great a good, that, to purchase it for us, Jesus Christ has sacrificed His life on the cross. Be assured, that the greatest of all the torments of the damned in Hell, arise from the thought of having lost Heaven through their own fault … How great is the sweetness which a soul experiences, when, in the time of prayer, God, by a ray of his own light, shows to her His goodness and His mercies towards her …
“But in this life we do not see God as He really is: we see him as it were in. the dark. “We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Here below God is hidden from, our view; we can see Him only with the eyes of Faith: how great shall be our happiness when the veil shall be raised, and we shall be permitted to behold God face to face! We shall then see His beauty, His greatness, His perfection, His amiableness, and His immense love for our souls.
“The goods of this earth do not satisfy our desires: at first they gratify the senses; but when we become accustomed to them they cease to delight. But the joys of Paradise constantly satiate and content the heart. ‘I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear’ (Psalm 16:15). Justly, then, has St. Augustine said, that to gain the eternal glory of Paradise, we should cheerfully embrace eternal labor.
“Let us, then, brethren, courageously resolve to bear patiently with all the sufferings, which shall come upon us, during the remaining days of our lives: to secure Heaven they are all little and nothing. Rejoice then; for all these pains, sorrows, and persecutions shall, if we are saved, be to us a source of never-ending joys and delights. ‘Your sorrows shall be turned into joy’ (John 16:20).
“When, then, the crosses of this life afflict us, let us raise our eyes to Heaven, and console ourselves with the hope of Paradise. At the end of her life, St. Mary of Egypt, the reformed prostitute and seductress, was asked, by the Abbot St. Zozimus, how she had been able to live for forty-seven years in the desert, where he found her dying. She answered: ‘With the hope of Paradise!’ If we be animated with the same hope, we shall not feel the tribulations of this life. Have courage! Let us love God and labor for Heaven. There the saint expects us, Mary expects us, Jesus Christ expects us; He holds in His hand a crown to make each of us a king in that eternal kingdom.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, sermon on the Transfiguration).
Transubstantiation and Transfiguration
We can loosely compare the Eucharistic Transubstantiation to the Transfiguration, or our spiritual transfiguration. Even today Christ comes to us on Earth in transfigured form. Of course we do not see Him with our bodily eyes. But we do see Him with our bodily eyes in the members of His Mystical Body―in the little child, in the poor, in the priest, in our neighbor. With our spiritual eyes of Faith, we also see Him especially in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. With the eyes of Faith we must recognize Him as the transfigured Lord when, in the Eucharist, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, He offers up His Body and His Blood in the continuation of the Passion—a Passion that He was discussing with Moses and Elias during His transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
The Eucharist is our food and nourishment for the life of grace. As theology teaches, “Graces perfects nature” ― and the Holy Eucharist is a source of grace “par excellence”. The Holy Eucharist―containing as it does the Author of all grace―can ‘transfigure’ us, or transform us, from worldly creatures into holy creatures. As already quoted above, St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this transformation or ‘transfiguration’ thus: “What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.”
Just as Christ changes bread into His Body and wine into His Blood, He can also change you into a saint. Yet that depends upon how malleable we make ourselves in His hands. If we resist the changes He would like to make, then little or even nothing will happen―and we will remain as worldly and lukewarm as we currently are. Change is never easy and spiritual changes are even harder. We must WANT to change! We must WANT to be holy! We must WANT to be saints! Merely saying so with our lips is not good enough―we must WANT it in our hearts with all sincerity: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8).
Sinners that we are, we must come to Our Lord like the leper and the blind man: “Behold a leper came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, if thou wilt [if You want], thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will [I do want], be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed!” (Matthew 8:2-3). A blind man brought to Jesus “and Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou [what do you want] that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:51-52).
Are you and your family struck and contaminated with ‘leprosy’ of worldliness; the ‘leprosy’ of lukewarmness; or the ‘leprosy’ of sin? If so, Our Lord can cure you―but you have to WANT to be cured; you have to WANT to leave behind and abandon your worldliness, your lukewarmness and your sinfulness! You cannot keep them and serve God! “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Today, the vast majority of Catholics are trying to serve those two masters―it will not end well for them, it will end badly! Already, at the best of times, most souls are lost ― “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14).
Confession and Transfiguration
The Sacrament of Confession is today greatly neglected and underestimated as means of transforming our lives. The Church’s exorcists tell us that Confession is more powerful than an exorcism―because Confession is a Sacrament, whereas an exorcism is only a Sacramental.
As one exorcist, FR. PAOLO CARLIN, said: “The Sacraments are the armor that protects soul and body. The Eucharist puts us in intimate communion with Jesus, the teacher and strength of Christians. Reconciliation, or confession, brings us closer to God. Confession is more powerful than exorcism inasmuch as it is, like all the Sacraments, a direct action of God in our lives, and furthermore, it exercises humility, which contrasts with Satan’s pride.”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, echoes the above sentiments: “Confession is more effective than an exorcism! Satan is much more enraged when we take souls away from him through confession, than when we take away bodies through exorcism ... I am convinced that a good Confession, which is a very powerful Sacrament, is much more efficacious than an exorcism, which is only a sacramental.”
MSGR. JOHN ESSEFF, an exorcist for 40 years, adds: “Confession is more powerful than exorcism. One is a Sacrament and the other is a blessing. One Confession is worth 100 exorcisms. The devil wants to destroy the soul and the soul is healed by Confession. If people want to decrease the work of Satan, they should increase the use of Confession. Once the Confessional line gets thin, the activity of Satan increases. To decrease the work of Satan, increase the use of Confession.”
The problem most people encounter with Confession can be summed up by the phrase: “The more you need it, the less you want it!” Satan knows the power of Confession, he knows its healing power, he knows its transforming power, he knows it sanctifying power―that is why he fights “tooth-and-nail” to keep us away from Confession. If we have committed a mortal sin, Satan will try to rationalize it away and convince us that it wasn’t a mortal sin, but only a venial sin. Or he will play upon our emotions and make us feel increasingly embarrassed and ashamed of what we have done―so much so that we become afraid of having to confess it to the priest, and so we stay away. Or, if Satan cannot prevent us going to Confession, then he will try to make us confess our sins badly, wrongly, making us “fudge” over things, perhaps failing to mention the correct number of mortal sins that we are guilty of, or by making us confess them in a way that makes them sound to be venial sins, etc.
Two Legs to Heaven
It is sometimes said that the “two legs” by which we run in the race for Heaven are (1) the Sacrament of Confession, and (2) the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (which automatically include the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion). The “leg” of the Holy Eucharist can rightly be called our strongest “leg”―for it Christ Himself that is really present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Christ is God and you just can’t beat God―hence the Holy Eucharist (Holy Mass and Holy Communion) is our strongest “leg”. The Sacrament of Confession is our weaker “leg” and it exists for our weaknesses―that is to say, our sins, or our spiritual injuries and wounds. You could also say that the Holy Eucharist is the “spiritual gym” where we “workout”; and the Sacrament of Confession is our hospital “emergency room” where we are treated for injury and our wounds are healed.
However, we can easily injure or even break our “legs”! We can break the “leg” of Holy Communion by making a sacrilegious Communion in a state of mortal sin. Likewise, we can also break the “leg” of Confession by making a sacrilegious Confession by hiding a mortal sin through shame; or by deliberately admitting to a smaller number of mortal sins than we actually committed; or failing to mention the necessary things about committing the sin―for example, saying you were impure with another person, without mentioning if that person was single or married or religious or of your own family or a child or if you forced yourself on that person, etc. All of these differing circumstances aggravate a mortal sin in differing degrees. If you fail to mention those necessary details, then you have made a bad (sacrilegious) Confession. How sad it is to see that most Catholics no longer care about mentioning these kinds of details any more―thus proving the truth of what St. Alphonsus Liguori lamented: “Bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame, not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts! This is an evil which consigns innumerable souls to Hell.” (Sunday Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
So what shape are your “legs” in? What is the shape of your family’s “legs”? Are they in good shape? Are they able to run, or are they injured, or even broken. Holy Scripture speaks of a race to Heaven in which everyone must run―are you able to run, or can you barely walk? “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it! And everyone that strives for the mastery [the prize, the victory], refrains himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty, I so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Sadly, most do end up being cast away, or castaways―for they do not take their spiritual life seriously enough. St. Paul warns us of this by bringing up the example of God’s Chosen People, whom Moses led out Egypt (a symbol of sin) to the Promised Land (a symbol of Heaven) while spending 40 years in the desert (a symbol of an austere and mortified life on Earth)―yet with most of them God was not pleased:
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers [the Chosen People in the time of Moses] were all under the cloud, and all [miraculously] passed through the sea [crossing the Red Sea]. And all in Moses were baptized―in the cloud and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert [by their murmurings, complaints, rebellion and idolatry]. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ [which is pretty much our existence today!] Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure, and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinks himself to stand, let him take heed, lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Figure on Being Transfigured Before You Can Get Into Heaven
We read of Jesus, in the Gospel of the Transfiguration, that “whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering” (Luke 9:29). We, too, have to alter our “face” through prayer―we have to face life differently to how we currently face it. We have to see things more with the eyes of God, rather than our own myopic human eyes that are filled with, not merely splinters, but planks! (Matthew 7:3-5). We have to realize and accept that God’s way of thinking, seeing and doing things is not our measly, narrow-minded, prejudiced way of thinking, seeing and doing things: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We have to be transfigured from our tarnished, weak, humanistic lifestyle so as to cloth ourselves with Christ’s “garments white as snow―white and glittering.” In other words, as Holy Scripture states: “To put off the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). “For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day tome―not in rioting [unrestrained behavior] and drunkenness, not in sexual actions and impurities, not in contention and envy―but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences!” (Romans 13:11-14). “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like. Of which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor scoffers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Today, August 6th, the Church traditionally celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Most feasts are celebrated once―yet the Gospel of the Transfiguration is not only read on August 6th, but the Gospel is also read at Mass on the Second Sunday of Lent, and ALSO the Ember Saturday of Lent, which is usually the Saturday before the Second Sunday of Lent! Why on earth does the Church give the exact same reading, by the exact same Evangelist, two days running?!! Why—if the feast of the Transfiguration was normally on August 6th― why then have the very same Gospel reading of the Transfiguration for two consecutive days during Lent? Has the Church run-out of readings? Does it have to fill a void or gap by repeating the same text the next day?
The Gospel on the Transfiguration
“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. And whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (tents), one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’ And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’ And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And they lifting up their eyes and immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’” (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36).
Figuring Out the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Christ is the culminating point of His public life before He enters the “final scene” of His life with His Passion and Death, just as His Baptism was the starting point of His public life, and His Ascension marked the end of His public life. Moreover, this glorious event has been related in detail by St. Matthew (17:1-6), St. Mark (9:1-8), and St. Luke (9:28-36), while St. Peter (2 Peter 1:16-18) and St. John (1:14), two of the privileged witnesses, make allusion to it.
About a week after His stay in Cæsarea Philippi, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and led them to a high mountain apart, where He was transfigured before their amazed eyes. St. Matthew and St. Mark express this phenomenon by the Greek word “metemorphothe”, which the Latin Vulgate translates as “transfiguratus est.” Sts. Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptics) explain the true meaning of the word, by adding a description of the effects: “His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow,” according to the Latin Vulgate, or “as light,” according to the Greek text.
His Glory Can Be Our Glory—If We…
This dazzling brightness which shone forth from His whole Body was produced by an interior shining of the glory of His Divinity. False Judaism had rejected the Messias, and now true Judaism, represented by Moses and Elias, the Law and the Prophets, recognized and adored Him, while for the second time (the first time was at the baptism of Jesus) God the Father proclaimed Him His only-begotten and well-loved Son.
By this glorious manifestation, Our Lord, Who had just foretold His Passion to the Apostles (Matthew 16:21), and Who had just spoken with Moses and Elias of the trials which awaited Him at Jerusalem, strengthened the Faith of His three favored Apostles and tried to prepare them for the terrible struggle of which they were to soon be witnesses in Gethsemane, by giving them a foretaste of the glory and heavenly delights to which we attain by suffering. Argh! Ouch! There goes that word again—suffering!!
Only One Road, Only One Way
Yet without suffering—and penance is suffering—we cannot get to Heaven. Our Lord said it two ways: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “And he said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Boo! Hiss! Boo! Is there no other way to Heaven? Nope! That’s the only road—take it, or leave it!
The Starting Blocks of Lent For a Race That Only Ends With Death
With there being three Gospel Mass readings on the Transfiguration during every year, we can deduce that it must be very important for us to hear this Gospel three times. Lent can be looked upon the starting blocks of the race to Heaven. Lent should not be looked upon as a “Forty-Day-Flash-in-the-Pan”, but as an introduction to a new way of life. Thus after having read the “double-barreled” Gospel on Ember Saturday and the next day, the Second Sunday of Lent, we look upon that as being the start of our annual race for holiness and Heaven. At the start of the Septuagesima season, the Church gave us the Epistle of St. Paul concerning the race. We are told: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Our Lord speaks in similar terms when He says: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16) and Matthew has Our Lord saying the same thing later: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
This is what St. Paul’s tries to communicate in his follow-up to the analogy about the race: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5), further adding:
“Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:6-12).
Transfiguration―A Call to Holiness
We speak of “The Holy Family”―Jesus, Mary and Joseph―yet every family is called to be holy! Is your family holy? Does your family want to be holy? Are you on the path to holiness? Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). God Himself says: “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy! … You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2; 11:46). Is that your goal? Is that the goal of your family? Is that your goal―not just in theory―but in practice? Do you realize that ONLY SAINTS go to Heaven? “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” says Our Lord (Matthew 11:12). Are you sure that you and your family are on the way to holiness, sanctity and saintliness? If not, then you are planning on throwing yourself and your family into the fires of Purgatory, or the fires of Hell? What sane person wants to throw themselves into a fire―whether it be for a few decades, a few centuries, or for eternity? We do well to take to heart the words of St. Louis de Montfort, as written in The Secret of Mary, where he paints a clear picture of our calling in life:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.”
St. Louis continues: “Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.”
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure, although, in His infinite goodness, He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
The Transfigurations of Lent and August
The Liturgical Year is meant to transfigure us, or transform us—not just during the Forty Days of Lent, but for the rest of the year and for the rest of our lives. What is the point of taking two steps forward during Lent, only to take two steps backwards, or even more steps backward after Lent? What is the point of making a meal and then throwing it in the trash can? What is the point of building a house, only to knock it down? What’s the point of being faithful to your spouse for one week, if you commit adultery for the next three weeks? What’s the point of being “pious” on Sunday, if you live like a devil for the rest of the week? If we do not continue at a higher spiritual level after Lent is over, then the only winner of the race is the devil! Thus, this August re-reading of the Gospel of the Transfiguration serves as a refresher, or another crack of the whip, that keeps us running on the cross-laden narrow path to Heaven―that so few find, and even less take.
In that wonderful book of meditations, Divine Intimacy, its Carmelite author, Fr. Gabriel writes: “In order to confirm the Faith of the Apostles, who were shaken by the announcement of His Passion, Jesus permitted some rays from His blessed soul to shine forth for a few brief instants on Thabor, when Peter, James, and John saw Him transfigured … The three were enraptured by it, and yet Jesus had revealed to them only one ray of His glory, for no human creature could have borne the complete vision. Glory is the fruit of grace: the grace possessed by Jesus in an infinite degree is reflected in an infinite glory transfiguring Him entirely. Something similar happens to us: grace will transform us ‘from glory to glory’ (2 Corinthians 3:18), until one day it will bring us to the Beatific Vision of God in Heaven. But while grace transfigures, sin, on the other hand, darkens and disfigures whoever becomes its victim.
“Today’s Gospel … brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus. Moses and Elias appeared on Thabor on either side of the Savior. They conversed with Him, and as St. Luke explains, talked specifically about His coming Passion … The divine Master wished to teach His disciples in this way that it was impossible—for Him as well as for them—to reach the glory of the Transfiguration without passing through suffering. It was the same lesson that He would give later to the two disciples at Emmaus: ‘Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into His glory?’ (Luke 24:26). What has been disfigured by sin cannot regain its original supernatural beauty except by way of purifying suffering” (Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy).
Suffering Transfigures or Transforms into Christ
The word “transfiguration” comes from the Latin roots trans- (“across”) and figura (“form, shape”). It thus signifies a change of form or appearance. This is what happened to Jesus in the event known as the Transfiguration: His appearance changed and became glorious.
This is exactly what should happen to us and all true Christians—there should be a change of form or shape. We should change from unclean to clean; from sinner to saint. St. Paul mentions this change many a time in Holy Scripture—one such instance is as follows:
“You have heard Him, and have been taught in Him—as the truth is in Jesus—to put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:21-24). “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ” (Romans 6:5-8).
This transformation from sin to virtue, from darkness to light, from lost to saved, from death to life—is what Lent instigates or begins, and is something that should not end with the end of Lent. Pope St. Leo the Great (400-461) gave a homily on the Transfiguration of the Lord, on the Saturday before the Second Sunday in Lent. There are few nuggets worth mining and banking from that homily. Speaking of the Transfiguration, Pope St. Leo says:
“The Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, in founding that Faith, recalls the wicked to righteousness and the dead to life” … “In order that the Apostles might entertain constant courage with their whole heart, and have no tremblings about the harshness of taking up the cross, and that they might not be ashamed of the punishment of Christ, nor think what He endured disgraceful for themselves, Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John, and ascending a very high mountain with them apart, showed them the brightness of His glory” … “that they who wished to follow Him should deny themselves, and count the loss of temporal things as light in the hope of things eternal” … “In this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offense of the cross from the disciple’s heart, and to prevent their Faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion by revealing to them the excellence of His hidden dignity” … “The blessed Apostle, Paul, bears witness to the self-same thing, and says: ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Romans 8:18): and again, ‘For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory’ (Colossians 3:3).”
The holy Pope continues: “The Apostle Peter, excited by the revelation of these mysteries, despising and scorning mundane and earthly things, was seized with a sort of frenzied craving for the things eternal, and, being filled with rapture at the whole vision, desired to make his abode with Jesus in the place where he had been blessed with the manifestation of His glory. Which is why Peter says: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If you want, let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elias. But to this proposal the Lord made no answer, signifying that the world could not be saved, except by Christ’s death, and, by the Lord’s example, the faithful were called upon, … amidst the trials of this life, to ask for the power of endurance, rather than the glory, because the joyousness of reigning cannot precede the times of suffering.”
Pain, Gall, Thorns, Cross
In other words—no pain, no pay! No gall, no glory! No thorns, no throne! No cross, no crown! How we hate the very thought of that!?! Yet the way of the cross, or the pain of the passion, is the only way to Heaven. Pope St. Leo, in speaking of the words of God the Father during the Transfiguration—“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!”—“For when the Father said: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom, etc.”, was it not clearly meant … Hear Him, Who opens the way to Heaven, and by the punishment of the cross prepares for you the steps of ascent to the Kingdom? Why do you tremble at being redeemed? Why do you fear to be healed of your wounds? Let that happen which Christ wills and I will. Cast away all fleshly fear, and arm yourselves with faithful constancy; for it is unworthy that you should fear, in the Savior’s Passion, what by His good gift you shall not have to fear even at your own end ... Let no one be ashamed of Christ’s cross, through which the world was redeemed. And let not any one fear to suffer for righteousness’ sake, or doubt of the fulfilment of the promises, for this reason, that through toil we pass to rest and through death to life.” (Pope St. Leo the Great, homily on the Transfiguration).
The White Shining Garment
In the ceremony of Baptism, the newly baptized person was required to remove his or her old clothes and put on a white robe, which signified sin being expelled and grace being poured in to the soul. We stain that robe by sin and we wash that robe by penance—which we can imagine as rubbing the stained robe on the rock by the river’s edge in bygone times. If the robe could speak, it would yelp in pain! Yet penance and tribulations wash the robe of our soul—that we have stained by sin—and gradually return it to its former whiteness. The dirtier it is, the more scrubbing on the stone of penance will be required.
Purgatory Scrubs the Robe Clean
If we refuse or neglect to wash clean the robe of our soul while still on Earth, then we take the stains to Purgatory, or, God forbid, Hell. It is there that our robe is scrubbed, washed and whitened, as it undergoes its own kind of ‘transfiguration’ or transformation, being configured to become more Christlike. When we read of the apparitions of the souls in Purgatory to people on Earth, it is not uncommon to see them clothed in white and finally ascending to Heaven in a bright light of glory—similar to Our Lord’s appearance during His Transfiguration on Mount Thabor.
We read in recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, of the Life of St. Magdalen de Pazzi, written by her confessor, Father Cepari, of the Company of Jesus, that this servant of God was made witness of the deliverance of a soul under the following circumstances: One of her sisters in religion had died some time previous, when the saint being one day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, saw issue from the earth the soul of that sister, still captive in the dungeons of Purgatory. She was enveloped in a mantle of flames, under which a robe of dazzling whiteness protected her from the fierce heat of the fire; and she remained an entire hour at the foot of the altar, adoring in inexpressible annihilation the hidden God of the Eucharist.
In another instance, recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, on the Feast of All Saints, a young girl of rare piety saw appear before her a lady of her acquaintance who had died some time previously. The apparition was clad in white, with a veil of the same color on her head, and holding in her hand a long Rosary, a token of the tender devotion she had always professed towards the Queen of Heaven. She implored the charity of her pious friend, saying that she had made a vow to have three Masses celebrated at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and that, not having been able to accomplish her vow, this debt added to her sufferings. She then begged her to pay it in her place.
The young person willingly granted the alms asked of her, and when the three Masses had been celebrated, the deceased again appeared, expressing her joy and gratitude. She ever continued to appear each month of November, and almost always in the church. Her friend saw her there in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, over whelmed with an awe of which nothing can give an idea; not yet being able to see God face to face, she seemed to wish to indemnify herself by contemplating Him at least under the Eucharistic species.
During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the moment of the elevation, her face became so radiant that she might have been taken for a seraph descended from Heaven. The young girl, filled with admiration, declared that she had never seen anything so beautiful.
A third instance we can look at, again recorded in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory, is that of a Franciscan Tertiaries in Foligno, a sister named Teresa Gesta, who was mistress of novices, and had charge of the sacristy of the community. Sister Teresa was a model of fervor and charity. She died suddenly, November 4th, 1859, of a stroke of apoplexy.
Twelve days later, a sister named Anna Felicia, who succeeded her in office, went to the sacristy and was about to enter, when she heard moans which appeared to come from the interior of the room. Somewhat afraid, she hastened to open the door; there was no one. Again she heard moans, and so distinctly that, notwithstanding her ordinary courage, she felt herself over powered by fear. “Jesus! Mary!” she cried, “What can that be?”
She had not finished speaking when she heard a plaintive voice, accompanied with a painful sigh, “O my God, how I suffer!” The sister, stupefied, immediately recognized the voice of poor Sister Teresa. Then the room was filled with a thick smoke, and the spirit of Sister Teresa appeared, she cried aloud, “Behold a proof of the mercy of God.” Saying these words, she struck the upper panel of the door, and there left the print of her right hand, burnt in the wood as with a red-hot iron. She then disappeared.
Sister Anna Felicia was left half dead with fright. She burst forth into loud cries for help. One of her companions ran, then a second, and finally the whole community. They pressed around her, astonished to find a strong odor of burnt wood. Sister Anna Felicia told what had occurred, and showed them the terrible impression on the door. They instantly recognized the hand of Sister Teresa, which had been remarkably small.
Terrified, they took to flight and ran to the choir, where they passed the night in prayer and penance for the departed, and the following morning all received Holy Communion for the repose of her soul. The news spread outside the convent walls, and many communities in the city united their prayers with those of the Franciscans.
On the third day, Sister Anna Felicia, on going in the evening to her cell, heard herself called by her name, and recognized perfectly the voice of Sister Teresa. At the same instant a globe of brilliant light appeared before her, illuminating her cell with the brightness of daylight.
She then heard Sister Teresa pronounce these words in a joyful and triumphant voice: “I died on a Friday, the day of the Passion, and behold, on a Friday, I enter into eternal glory! Be strong to bear the cross, be courageous to suffer, love poverty.” Then adding, affectionately, “Adieu, adieu, adieu!” she became transfigured, and like a light, white, and dazzling cloud, rose towards Heaven and disappeared. (All the above accounts are to be found in Fr. Schouppe’s book Purgatory).
Life’s Laundry
Let us, therefore, profit from this feast―now and during Lent―and make it a time of doing our spiritual ‘laundry’, wherein we try to remove as many stains as possible from the stained robe of our soul. We all know those ominous words from the Book of Job: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23), not to mention those chilling words of Our Lord: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Unless you do your laundry, your robe will perish! St. Augustine, in one of his sermons on the Transfiguration, says: “What wonder if the Church is signified by white raiment, when you hear the Prophet Isaiah saying, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow’? … Endure, labor hard, bear thy measure of torture; that thou mayest possess what is meant by the white raiment of the Lord, through the brightness and the beauty of an upright laboring in charity.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his sermon on the Transfiguration, adds: “Brethren, let us labor during the remainder of our lives to gain Heaven. Heaven is so great a good, that, to purchase it for us, Jesus Christ has sacrificed His life on the cross. Be assured, that the greatest of all the torments of the damned in Hell, arise from the thought of having lost Heaven through their own fault … How great is the sweetness which a soul experiences, when, in the time of prayer, God, by a ray of his own light, shows to her His goodness and His mercies towards her …
“But in this life we do not see God as He really is: we see him as it were in. the dark. “We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Here below God is hidden from, our view; we can see Him only with the eyes of Faith: how great shall be our happiness when the veil shall be raised, and we shall be permitted to behold God face to face! We shall then see His beauty, His greatness, His perfection, His amiableness, and His immense love for our souls.
“The goods of this earth do not satisfy our desires: at first they gratify the senses; but when we become accustomed to them they cease to delight. But the joys of Paradise constantly satiate and content the heart. ‘I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear’ (Psalm 16:15). Justly, then, has St. Augustine said, that to gain the eternal glory of Paradise, we should cheerfully embrace eternal labor.
“Let us, then, brethren, courageously resolve to bear patiently with all the sufferings, which shall come upon us, during the remaining days of our lives: to secure Heaven they are all little and nothing. Rejoice then; for all these pains, sorrows, and persecutions shall, if we are saved, be to us a source of never-ending joys and delights. ‘Your sorrows shall be turned into joy’ (John 16:20).
“When, then, the crosses of this life afflict us, let us raise our eyes to Heaven, and console ourselves with the hope of Paradise. At the end of her life, St. Mary of Egypt, the reformed prostitute and seductress, was asked, by the Abbot St. Zozimus, how she had been able to live for forty-seven years in the desert, where he found her dying. She answered: ‘With the hope of Paradise!’ If we be animated with the same hope, we shall not feel the tribulations of this life. Have courage! Let us love God and labor for Heaven. There the saint expects us, Mary expects us, Jesus Christ expects us; He holds in His hand a crown to make each of us a king in that eternal kingdom.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, sermon on the Transfiguration).
Transubstantiation and Transfiguration
We can loosely compare the Eucharistic Transubstantiation to the Transfiguration, or our spiritual transfiguration. Even today Christ comes to us on Earth in transfigured form. Of course we do not see Him with our bodily eyes. But we do see Him with our bodily eyes in the members of His Mystical Body―in the little child, in the poor, in the priest, in our neighbor. With our spiritual eyes of Faith, we also see Him especially in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. With the eyes of Faith we must recognize Him as the transfigured Lord when, in the Eucharist, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, He offers up His Body and His Blood in the continuation of the Passion—a Passion that He was discussing with Moses and Elias during His transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
The Eucharist is our food and nourishment for the life of grace. As theology teaches, “Graces perfects nature” ― and the Holy Eucharist is a source of grace “par excellence”. The Holy Eucharist―containing as it does the Author of all grace―can ‘transfigure’ us, or transform us, from worldly creatures into holy creatures. As already quoted above, St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this transformation or ‘transfiguration’ thus: “What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.”
Just as Christ changes bread into His Body and wine into His Blood, He can also change you into a saint. Yet that depends upon how malleable we make ourselves in His hands. If we resist the changes He would like to make, then little or even nothing will happen―and we will remain as worldly and lukewarm as we currently are. Change is never easy and spiritual changes are even harder. We must WANT to change! We must WANT to be holy! We must WANT to be saints! Merely saying so with our lips is not good enough―we must WANT it in our hearts with all sincerity: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8).
Sinners that we are, we must come to Our Lord like the leper and the blind man: “Behold a leper came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, if thou wilt [if You want], thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will [I do want], be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed!” (Matthew 8:2-3). A blind man brought to Jesus “and Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou [what do you want] that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:51-52).
Are you and your family struck and contaminated with ‘leprosy’ of worldliness; the ‘leprosy’ of lukewarmness; or the ‘leprosy’ of sin? If so, Our Lord can cure you―but you have to WANT to be cured; you have to WANT to leave behind and abandon your worldliness, your lukewarmness and your sinfulness! You cannot keep them and serve God! “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Today, the vast majority of Catholics are trying to serve those two masters―it will not end well for them, it will end badly! Already, at the best of times, most souls are lost ― “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Strive to enter by the narrow gate―for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14).
Confession and Transfiguration
The Sacrament of Confession is today greatly neglected and underestimated as means of transforming our lives. The Church’s exorcists tell us that Confession is more powerful than an exorcism―because Confession is a Sacrament, whereas an exorcism is only a Sacramental.
As one exorcist, FR. PAOLO CARLIN, said: “The Sacraments are the armor that protects soul and body. The Eucharist puts us in intimate communion with Jesus, the teacher and strength of Christians. Reconciliation, or confession, brings us closer to God. Confession is more powerful than exorcism inasmuch as it is, like all the Sacraments, a direct action of God in our lives, and furthermore, it exercises humility, which contrasts with Satan’s pride.”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, echoes the above sentiments: “Confession is more effective than an exorcism! Satan is much more enraged when we take souls away from him through confession, than when we take away bodies through exorcism ... I am convinced that a good Confession, which is a very powerful Sacrament, is much more efficacious than an exorcism, which is only a sacramental.”
MSGR. JOHN ESSEFF, an exorcist for 40 years, adds: “Confession is more powerful than exorcism. One is a Sacrament and the other is a blessing. One Confession is worth 100 exorcisms. The devil wants to destroy the soul and the soul is healed by Confession. If people want to decrease the work of Satan, they should increase the use of Confession. Once the Confessional line gets thin, the activity of Satan increases. To decrease the work of Satan, increase the use of Confession.”
The problem most people encounter with Confession can be summed up by the phrase: “The more you need it, the less you want it!” Satan knows the power of Confession, he knows its healing power, he knows its transforming power, he knows it sanctifying power―that is why he fights “tooth-and-nail” to keep us away from Confession. If we have committed a mortal sin, Satan will try to rationalize it away and convince us that it wasn’t a mortal sin, but only a venial sin. Or he will play upon our emotions and make us feel increasingly embarrassed and ashamed of what we have done―so much so that we become afraid of having to confess it to the priest, and so we stay away. Or, if Satan cannot prevent us going to Confession, then he will try to make us confess our sins badly, wrongly, making us “fudge” over things, perhaps failing to mention the correct number of mortal sins that we are guilty of, or by making us confess them in a way that makes them sound to be venial sins, etc.
Two Legs to Heaven
It is sometimes said that the “two legs” by which we run in the race for Heaven are (1) the Sacrament of Confession, and (2) the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (which automatically include the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion). The “leg” of the Holy Eucharist can rightly be called our strongest “leg”―for it Christ Himself that is really present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Christ is God and you just can’t beat God―hence the Holy Eucharist (Holy Mass and Holy Communion) is our strongest “leg”. The Sacrament of Confession is our weaker “leg” and it exists for our weaknesses―that is to say, our sins, or our spiritual injuries and wounds. You could also say that the Holy Eucharist is the “spiritual gym” where we “workout”; and the Sacrament of Confession is our hospital “emergency room” where we are treated for injury and our wounds are healed.
However, we can easily injure or even break our “legs”! We can break the “leg” of Holy Communion by making a sacrilegious Communion in a state of mortal sin. Likewise, we can also break the “leg” of Confession by making a sacrilegious Confession by hiding a mortal sin through shame; or by deliberately admitting to a smaller number of mortal sins than we actually committed; or failing to mention the necessary things about committing the sin―for example, saying you were impure with another person, without mentioning if that person was single or married or religious or of your own family or a child or if you forced yourself on that person, etc. All of these differing circumstances aggravate a mortal sin in differing degrees. If you fail to mention those necessary details, then you have made a bad (sacrilegious) Confession. How sad it is to see that most Catholics no longer care about mentioning these kinds of details any more―thus proving the truth of what St. Alphonsus Liguori lamented: “Bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame, not of rare occurrence, but frequent, especially in small country districts! This is an evil which consigns innumerable souls to Hell.” (Sunday Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
So what shape are your “legs” in? What is the shape of your family’s “legs”? Are they in good shape? Are they able to run, or are they injured, or even broken. Holy Scripture speaks of a race to Heaven in which everyone must run―are you able to run, or can you barely walk? “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it! And everyone that strives for the mastery [the prize, the victory], refrains himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty, I so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Sadly, most do end up being cast away, or castaways―for they do not take their spiritual life seriously enough. St. Paul warns us of this by bringing up the example of God’s Chosen People, whom Moses led out Egypt (a symbol of sin) to the Promised Land (a symbol of Heaven) while spending 40 years in the desert (a symbol of an austere and mortified life on Earth)―yet with most of them God was not pleased:
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers [the Chosen People in the time of Moses] were all under the cloud, and all [miraculously] passed through the sea [crossing the Red Sea]. And all in Moses were baptized―in the cloud and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert [by their murmurings, complaints, rebellion and idolatry]. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ [which is pretty much our existence today!] Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure, and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinks himself to stand, let him take heed, lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Figure on Being Transfigured Before You Can Get Into Heaven
We read of Jesus, in the Gospel of the Transfiguration, that “whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering” (Luke 9:29). We, too, have to alter our “face” through prayer―we have to face life differently to how we currently face it. We have to see things more with the eyes of God, rather than our own myopic human eyes that are filled with, not merely splinters, but planks! (Matthew 7:3-5). We have to realize and accept that God’s way of thinking, seeing and doing things is not our measly, narrow-minded, prejudiced way of thinking, seeing and doing things: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We have to be transfigured from our tarnished, weak, humanistic lifestyle so as to cloth ourselves with Christ’s “garments white as snow―white and glittering.” In other words, as Holy Scripture states: “To put off the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). “For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day tome―not in rioting [unrestrained behavior] and drunkenness, not in sexual actions and impurities, not in contention and envy―but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences!” (Romans 13:11-14). “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like. Of which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor scoffers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 4th & Thursday August 5th
Article 3
The Material and Physical Punishments of the Third Secret of Fatima
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday August 4th & Thursday August 5th
Article 3
The Material and Physical Punishments of the Third Secret of Fatima
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Two-Sides to the Story―Two-Sides to the Punishment
We are made of body and soul. We sin with our body and we sin with our soul. We sin in the secular world and we sin in the Church. Therefore we need to be punished in both body and soul. As regards the Third Secret of Fatima―being, as it is, a description of God’s chastisements for our sinful world― it is only logical and just that it should speak of both non-religious and religious consequences, natural and supernatural chastisements, material and spiritual punishments as a just reward for our sins and our failure to obey Heaven’s commands.
In a syndicated radio broadcast, FR. MALACHI MARTIN stated that the Third Secret “doesn't make any sense unless we accept that there will be, or that there is in progress, a wholesale apostasy amongst clerics, and laity in the Catholic Church ... The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop, or the context, of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible! … Much worse” than a natural disaster, and it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts ... You see, there’s going to be a new form of energy. The important thing about this new form of energy is that it will be very cheap. So cheap that it could supply the needs of every man, woman, and child on Earth if it were in the right hands. But it is not in the right hands. It is in the hands of those who will use it to kill and destroy” (Father Malachi Martin on Coast to Coast AM, interviewed by Art Bell, on May 4th, 1998).
SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA had already stressed that there would be both spiritual and material punishments. In 1957 she said to Fr. Fuentes: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God, and what will gain the Devil the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … It is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.”
POPE BENEDICT XVI, when he was still a cardinal―Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger―revealed that the message of Fatima was essentially the same as Our Lady’s message at Akita. The former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, that Bishop Ito [the local bishop of Akita, Japan] was certain Akita apparitions of the Blessed Mother in the early 1970s was an extension of Fatima, and Howard Dee further stated that Cardinal Ratzinger had “personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same!” Let us then look at the message of Akita.
OUR LADY OF AKITA refers to terrible material chastisements befalling the world, as well as spiritual chastisements within the Church: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on ALL humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Here Our Lady speaks of fire falling from the sky―which adds fire to the floods that Pope John Paul II revealed as being part of the Third Secret of Fatima, as is seen in the paragraph below.
POPE JOHN PAUL II―when questioned about the Third Secret of Fatima in 1980, in Fulda, Germany―also spoke of material punishments mentioned in the Third Secret of Fatima, saying: “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this much―if there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the Earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish ... then there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message ... We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise!”
Thus we see that part of the Third Secret of Fatima involves worldwide floods, coming from the oceans, which will kill millions of people. Fr. Malachi Martin speaks of a billion or more, Our Lady of Akita speaks of “a great part of humanity” and Our Lady of Fatima says: “Various nations will be annihilated!” ― to which Sister Lucia of Fatima adds that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times, ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July of 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” All of these are reconcilable and non-contradictory.
OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE―It is at this point that we can bring in Our Lady of La Salette, whose warnings and prophecies dove-tail with all of the above. Our Lady of La Salette had already warned of the spiritual chastisement in saying that the clergy will forget prayer and penance, some will fall under the influence of the devil As regards the material or physical punishments, Our Lady of La Salette said: “My people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … God will strike in an unprecedented way … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As regards the punishments on the spiritual side, Our Lady says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis.”
As regards the punishments on the material or physical side, Our Lady says: “Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens! The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to famines, plagues and infectious diseases ― which will be widespread! ... There will be bloody wars! … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy! … Men will kill and massacre each other, even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling. Paris will burn [fire from sky?] and Marseilles will be engulfed [flooding by oceans]. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes! There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, and earthquakes which will swallow up countries! It will rain with a fearful hail of animals! Voices will be heard in the air! Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment!”
Response to the Private Revelation Doubters and Naysayers
There are lot of people―a mixed bag of people―who choose to ignore Divine Private Revelations, saying: “It’s only a Private Revelation and we don’t have to believe Private Revelations!” Such people are ignoramuses of highest caliber! Most of them know “diddly-squat” about the relation or connection between what is called “Divine Public Revelation” and “Divine Private Revelation”. [click here for a full explanation]. Private revelations (i.e. apparitions and locutions with or without prophecies) are those which have been recorded since the death of Christ and His Apostles. Revelations which were recorded up to the death of Christ and His Apostles, are known as public, biblical, or scriptural revelations. This form of Divine Revelation (called Divine Public Revelation) ended with the death of the last of the Apostles, St. John, around 100 AD.
Divine Private Revelations do not belong to the deposit of Faith and, as such, are not binding upon our Faith. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that Almighty God often speaks to His servants in an unmistakable manner. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. One should thus beware of concluding, without any examination, that revelations are to be rejected; the prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them, unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and as a rule in unimportant matters only. If we reject Divine Private Revelations―out of hand and all across the board―then God, Our Lord and Our Lady are wasting their time appearing to us and talking to us! Which is totally preposterous and absurd! Many Catholic devotions are based solely on private revelations: the Rosary, the Sacred Heart, and the Scapular are cases in point. More recently, devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Fatima was accepted and encouraged by the Church.
The function of Divine Private Revelation is merely re-focus our minds on what is contained in Divine Public Revelation. It may make us do something that we should be doing, but are no longer doing; or it may command us to cease doing what we should not be doing, but have started to do through either malice or weakness. Thus at Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady reminds us by Private Revelation, what is already contained in Public Revelation, namely, the need for prayer and penance: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Therefore, Our Lady is adding nothing new, but simply reminding us what is commanded by Divine Public Revelation, in this case in the form of Holy Scripture.
The above example is clear and incontestable; for prayer and penance are both clearly mentioned and commanded in the pages of Holy Scripture. However, what are we to think of Private Revelations that command things that are not so clear―such as devotion to the Sacred Heart; devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary; devotion to the Holy Rosary, etc.? These things are not seen in Scripture, nor are they commanded by Scripture.
True, they are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, but they are there implicitly. Theology can arrive at conclusions that are certain by combing two or more principles—much as mathematics does. If you know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, then you know for certain that there has to be a number in between 2 and 4, which is the result of 1+1+1 or 1+2. That number is 3―you can call it what I want to call it, but it exists—for certain it exists. In this way the Church has arrived at many conclusions that have been embodied into the teaching of the Church. She has even pronounced dogmas on that same principle, such as the Immaculate Conception, which is not found explicitly anywhere in Holy Scripture. Yet when the Church pronounced the dogma in 1854, Our Lady appeared at Lourdes in 1858 and, in that Private Revelation, confirmed what the Church had done, by calling herself the Immaculate Conception. Similarly with the Person of Christ, being one Person with two natures―the divine nature and the human nature. We do not find that definition anywhere in Holy Scripture, but the teaching about the two natures of Christ is theologically reasoned and deduced from those principles and truths that are found in Holy Scripture.
That is why Holy Scripture says: “Despise not prophecies!” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). “For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time―but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). “And it shall come to pass, in the last days―saith the Lord―that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh―and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions” (Acts of Apostles 2:17).
Third Secret of Fatima in Book of Apocalypse
Sister Lucia, in reply to a question about the Third Secret of Fatima, said that it can be found in Holy Scripture―in the Book of the Apocalypse, chapters 8 to 13. Here are those 6 chapters:
We are made of body and soul. We sin with our body and we sin with our soul. We sin in the secular world and we sin in the Church. Therefore we need to be punished in both body and soul. As regards the Third Secret of Fatima―being, as it is, a description of God’s chastisements for our sinful world― it is only logical and just that it should speak of both non-religious and religious consequences, natural and supernatural chastisements, material and spiritual punishments as a just reward for our sins and our failure to obey Heaven’s commands.
In a syndicated radio broadcast, FR. MALACHI MARTIN stated that the Third Secret “doesn't make any sense unless we accept that there will be, or that there is in progress, a wholesale apostasy amongst clerics, and laity in the Catholic Church ... The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop, or the context, of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible! … Much worse” than a natural disaster, and it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts ... You see, there’s going to be a new form of energy. The important thing about this new form of energy is that it will be very cheap. So cheap that it could supply the needs of every man, woman, and child on Earth if it were in the right hands. But it is not in the right hands. It is in the hands of those who will use it to kill and destroy” (Father Malachi Martin on Coast to Coast AM, interviewed by Art Bell, on May 4th, 1998).
SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA had already stressed that there would be both spiritual and material punishments. In 1957 she said to Fr. Fuentes: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God, and what will gain the Devil the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … It is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.”
POPE BENEDICT XVI, when he was still a cardinal―Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger―revealed that the message of Fatima was essentially the same as Our Lady’s message at Akita. The former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, that Bishop Ito [the local bishop of Akita, Japan] was certain Akita apparitions of the Blessed Mother in the early 1970s was an extension of Fatima, and Howard Dee further stated that Cardinal Ratzinger had “personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same!” Let us then look at the message of Akita.
OUR LADY OF AKITA refers to terrible material chastisements befalling the world, as well as spiritual chastisements within the Church: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on ALL humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Here Our Lady speaks of fire falling from the sky―which adds fire to the floods that Pope John Paul II revealed as being part of the Third Secret of Fatima, as is seen in the paragraph below.
POPE JOHN PAUL II―when questioned about the Third Secret of Fatima in 1980, in Fulda, Germany―also spoke of material punishments mentioned in the Third Secret of Fatima, saying: “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this much―if there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the Earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish ... then there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message ... We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise!”
Thus we see that part of the Third Secret of Fatima involves worldwide floods, coming from the oceans, which will kill millions of people. Fr. Malachi Martin speaks of a billion or more, Our Lady of Akita speaks of “a great part of humanity” and Our Lady of Fatima says: “Various nations will be annihilated!” ― to which Sister Lucia of Fatima adds that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times, ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July of 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” All of these are reconcilable and non-contradictory.
OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE―It is at this point that we can bring in Our Lady of La Salette, whose warnings and prophecies dove-tail with all of the above. Our Lady of La Salette had already warned of the spiritual chastisement in saying that the clergy will forget prayer and penance, some will fall under the influence of the devil As regards the material or physical punishments, Our Lady of La Salette said: “My people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … God will strike in an unprecedented way … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As regards the punishments on the spiritual side, Our Lady says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis.”
As regards the punishments on the material or physical side, Our Lady says: “Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens! The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds ― in addition to famines, plagues and infectious diseases ― which will be widespread! ... There will be bloody wars! … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy! … Men will kill and massacre each other, even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling. Paris will burn [fire from sky?] and Marseilles will be engulfed [flooding by oceans]. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes! There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, and earthquakes which will swallow up countries! It will rain with a fearful hail of animals! Voices will be heard in the air! Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment!”
Response to the Private Revelation Doubters and Naysayers
There are lot of people―a mixed bag of people―who choose to ignore Divine Private Revelations, saying: “It’s only a Private Revelation and we don’t have to believe Private Revelations!” Such people are ignoramuses of highest caliber! Most of them know “diddly-squat” about the relation or connection between what is called “Divine Public Revelation” and “Divine Private Revelation”. [click here for a full explanation]. Private revelations (i.e. apparitions and locutions with or without prophecies) are those which have been recorded since the death of Christ and His Apostles. Revelations which were recorded up to the death of Christ and His Apostles, are known as public, biblical, or scriptural revelations. This form of Divine Revelation (called Divine Public Revelation) ended with the death of the last of the Apostles, St. John, around 100 AD.
Divine Private Revelations do not belong to the deposit of Faith and, as such, are not binding upon our Faith. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that Almighty God often speaks to His servants in an unmistakable manner. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. One should thus beware of concluding, without any examination, that revelations are to be rejected; the prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them, unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and as a rule in unimportant matters only. If we reject Divine Private Revelations―out of hand and all across the board―then God, Our Lord and Our Lady are wasting their time appearing to us and talking to us! Which is totally preposterous and absurd! Many Catholic devotions are based solely on private revelations: the Rosary, the Sacred Heart, and the Scapular are cases in point. More recently, devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Fatima was accepted and encouraged by the Church.
The function of Divine Private Revelation is merely re-focus our minds on what is contained in Divine Public Revelation. It may make us do something that we should be doing, but are no longer doing; or it may command us to cease doing what we should not be doing, but have started to do through either malice or weakness. Thus at Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady reminds us by Private Revelation, what is already contained in Public Revelation, namely, the need for prayer and penance: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Therefore, Our Lady is adding nothing new, but simply reminding us what is commanded by Divine Public Revelation, in this case in the form of Holy Scripture.
The above example is clear and incontestable; for prayer and penance are both clearly mentioned and commanded in the pages of Holy Scripture. However, what are we to think of Private Revelations that command things that are not so clear―such as devotion to the Sacred Heart; devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary; devotion to the Holy Rosary, etc.? These things are not seen in Scripture, nor are they commanded by Scripture.
True, they are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, but they are there implicitly. Theology can arrive at conclusions that are certain by combing two or more principles—much as mathematics does. If you know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, then you know for certain that there has to be a number in between 2 and 4, which is the result of 1+1+1 or 1+2. That number is 3―you can call it what I want to call it, but it exists—for certain it exists. In this way the Church has arrived at many conclusions that have been embodied into the teaching of the Church. She has even pronounced dogmas on that same principle, such as the Immaculate Conception, which is not found explicitly anywhere in Holy Scripture. Yet when the Church pronounced the dogma in 1854, Our Lady appeared at Lourdes in 1858 and, in that Private Revelation, confirmed what the Church had done, by calling herself the Immaculate Conception. Similarly with the Person of Christ, being one Person with two natures―the divine nature and the human nature. We do not find that definition anywhere in Holy Scripture, but the teaching about the two natures of Christ is theologically reasoned and deduced from those principles and truths that are found in Holy Scripture.
That is why Holy Scripture says: “Despise not prophecies!” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). “For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time―but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). “And it shall come to pass, in the last days―saith the Lord―that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh―and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions” (Acts of Apostles 2:17).
Third Secret of Fatima in Book of Apocalypse
Sister Lucia, in reply to a question about the Third Secret of Fatima, said that it can be found in Holy Scripture―in the Book of the Apocalypse, chapters 8 to 13. Here are those 6 chapters:
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DOUAY-RHEIMS BIBLE
Book of the Apocalypse ► CHAPTER 8 ― [1] And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven, as it were for half an hour. [2] And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. [3] And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. [4] And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. [5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the Earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great Earthquake. [6] And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpet. [7] And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the Earth, and the third part of the Earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. [8] And the second angel sounded the trumpet: and, as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood: [9] and the third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed. [10] And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from Heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: [11] and the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. [12] And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like manner. [13] And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle, flying through the midst of Heaven, saying with a loud voice: “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the Earth!” by reason of the rest of the voices of the three angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet. ► CHAPTER 9 ― [1] And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, and I saw a star fall from Heaven upon the Earth, and there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit. [2] And he opened the bottomless pit: and the smoke of the pit arose, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit. [3] And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts upon the Earth. And power was given to them, as the scorpions of the Earth have power: [4] And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the Earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree: but only the men who have not the sign of God on their foreheads. [5] And it was given unto them that they should not kill them; but that they should torment them five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. [6] And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it: and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. [7] And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle: and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold: and their faces were as the faces of men. [8] And they had hair as the hair of women; and their teeth were as lions: [9] And they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots and many horses running to battle. [10] And they had tails like to scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had over them [11] a king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon; in Latin Exterminans, [12] one woe is past, and behold there come yet two woes more hereafter. [13] And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the great altar, which is before the eyes of God, [14] saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: “Loose the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates!” [15] And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year: for to kill the third part of men. [16] And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of them. [17] And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions: and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone. [18] And by these three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. [19] For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For, their tails are like to serpents, and have heads: and with them they hurt. [20] And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these plagues, did not do penance from the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: [21] Neither did they penance from their murders, nor from their sorceries, nor from their fornication, nor from their thefts. ► CHAPTER 10 ― [1] And I saw another mighty angel come down from Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. [2] And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the Earth. [3] And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. [4] And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me: “Seal up the things which the seven thunders have spoken; and write them not!” [5] And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the Earth, lifted up his hand to Heaven, [6] and he swore―by Him that liveth for ever and ever, Who created Heaven, and the things which are therein; and the Earth, and the things which are in it; and the sea, and the things which are therein―that time shall be no longer. [7] But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished, as He hath declared by His servants, the prophets. [8] And I heard a voice from Heaven again speaking to me, and saying: “Go, and take the book that is open, from the hand of the angel who standeth upon the sea, and upon the Earth!” [9] And I went to the angel, saying unto him, that he should give me the book. And he said to me: “Take the book, and eat it up―and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey!” [10] And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up―and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. [11] And he said to me: “Thou must prophesy again to many nations, and peoples, and tongues, and kings!” ► CHAPTER 11 ― [1] And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and it was said to me: “Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar and them that adore therein. [2] But the court, which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not: because it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months: [3] And I will give unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. [4] These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks, that stand before the Lord of the Earth. [5] And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths, and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain. [6] These have power to shut Heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and they have power over waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. [7] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast, that ascendeth out of the abyss, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. [8] And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which is called spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord also was crucified. [9] And they of the tribes, and peoples, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies for three days and a half: and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchers. [10] And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry: and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth.” [11] And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them. And they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw them. [12] And they heard a great voice from Heaven, saying to them: Come up hither. And they went up to Heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them. [13] And at that hour there was made a great Earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell: and there were slain in the Earthquake names of men seven thousand: and the rest were cast into a fear, and gave glory to the God of Heaven. [14] The second woe is past: and behold the third woe will come quickly. [15] And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet: and there were great voices in Heaven, saying: “The kingdom of this world is become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ever and ever. Amen!” [16] And the four and twenty ancients, who sit on their seats in the sight of God, fell on their faces and adored God, saying: [17] “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who art, and who wast, and who art to come: because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and Thou hast reigned. [18] And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest render reward to Thy servants the prophets and the saints, and to them that fear Thy Name, little and great, and shouldest destroy them who have corrupted the Earth!” [19] And the temple of God was opened in Heaven: and the ark of His testament was seen in His temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an Earthquake, and great hail. ► CHAPTER 12 ― [1] And a great sign appeared in Heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: [2] And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. [3] And there was seen another sign in Heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems: [4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; so that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. [5] And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to His throne. [6] And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days. [7] And there was a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: [8] And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. [9] And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] And I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying: “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ―because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night. [11] And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. [12] Therefore rejoice, O Heavens, and you that dwell therein. Woe to the Earth, and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time!” [13] And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the Earth, he persecuted the woman, who brought forth the man child: [14] And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto her place, where she is nourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. [15] And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman, water as it were a river; that he might cause her to be carried away by the river. [16] And the Earth helped the woman, and the Earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. [17] And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. [18] And he stood upon the sand of the sea. ► CHAPTER 13 ― [1] And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. [2] And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength, and great power. [3] And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death: and his death’s wound was healed. And all the Earth was in admiration after the beast. [4] And they adored the dragon, which gave power to the beast: and they adored the beast, saying: “Who is like to the beast? And who shall be able to fight with him?” [5] And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies: and power was given to him to do two and forty months. [6] And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. [7] And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. [8] And all that dwell upon the Earth adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world. [9] If any man have an ear, let him hear. [10] He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. [11] And I saw another beast coming up out of the Earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. [12] And he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight; and he caused the Earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first beast, whose wound to death was healed. [13] And he did great signs, so that he made also fire to come down from Heaven unto the Earth in the sight of men. [14] And he seduced them that dwell on the Earth, for the signs, which were given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the Earth, that they should make the image of the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and lived. [15] And it was given him to give life to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast should speak; and should cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, should be slain. [16] And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads. [17] And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six. |
SIMPLIFIED TEXT IN MODERN ENGLISH
Book of the Apocalypse ► CHAPTER 8 ― 1 Then, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, and he held a gold bowl for burning incense. He was given a large amount of incense, in order to offer it on behalf of the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense offered for the prayers of the saints rose up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the incense container and filled it with fire from the altar. He threw it down to the Earth, and there were thunder, voices, lightning, and an Earthquake. 6 Then the seven angels who held the seven trumpets got ready to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood appeared, and was thrown down to the Earth. A third of the Earth was burned up. A third of the trees were burned up. All the green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown down into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, burning like a torch, fell from Heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The star’s name is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it became so bitter. 12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars so that a third of them became dark. The day lost a third of its light, and the night lost a third of its light too. 13 Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying high overhead. It said with a loud voice, “Horror, horror, oh! The horror for those who live on Earth because of the blasts of the remaining trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” ► CHAPTER 9 ― 1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from Heaven to Earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke rose up from the shaft, like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then locusts came forth from the smoke and onto the Earth. They were given power like the power that scorpions have on the Earth. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the Earth or any green plant or any tree. They could only hurt the people who didn’t have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 The locusts weren’t allowed to kill them, but only to make them suffer for five months—and the suffering they inflict is like that of a scorpion when it strikes a person. 6 In those days people will seek death, but they won’t find it. They will want to die, but death will run away from them. 7 The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads were what seemed to be gold crowns. Their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 In front they had what seemed to be iron armor upon their chests, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses racing into battle. 10 They also have tails with stingers, just like scorpions; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months. 11 Their king is an angel from the abyss, whose Hebrew name is Abaddon, and whose Greek name is Apollyon, and whose Latin name is Exterminator. 12 The first horror has passed. Look! Two horrors are still coming after this. 13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 Then the four angels who had been made ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of humankind. 16 The number of cavalry troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. 17 And this is the way I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: they had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The horses’ heads were like lions’ heads, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed: by the fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 The horses’ power is in their mouths and their tails, for their tails are like snakes with heads that inflict injuries. 20 The rest of humankind, who weren’t killed by these plagues, didn’t change their hearts and lives and turn from their handiwork. They didn’t stop worshipping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can’t see or hear or walk. 21 They didn’t turn away from their murders, their spells and drugs, their sexual immorality, or their stealing. ► CHAPTER 10 ― Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from Heaven. He was robed with a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet were like fiery pillars. 2 He held an open scroll in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 He called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he called out, the seven thunders raised their voices. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.” 5 Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to Heaven. 6 He swore by the one who lives forever and always, who created Heaven and what is in it, the Earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, and said, “The time is up. 7 In the days when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious purpose will be accomplished, fulfilling the good news he gave to his servants the prophets.” 8 Then the voice I heard from Heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make you sick to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 So I took the scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. And it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it made my stomach churn. 11 I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” ► CHAPTER 11 ― Then I was given a measuring rod, which was like a pole. And I was told, “Get up and measure God’s temple, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But don’t measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 “And I will allow my two witnesses to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing mourning clothes. 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the Earth. 5 If anyone wants to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouth and burns up their enemies. So if anyone wants to hurt them, they have to be killed in this way. 6 They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. They also have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the Earth with any plague, as often as they wish. 7 “When they have finished their witnessing, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them, gain victory over them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And for three and a half days, members of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies, but they won’t let their dead bodies be put in a tomb. 10 Those who live on Earth will rejoice over them. They will celebrate and give each other gifts, because these two prophets had brought such pain to those who live on Earth.” 11 But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear came over those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven say to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. 13 At that hour there was a great Earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed by the Earthquake, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of Heaven.” 14 The second horror is over. The third horror is coming soon. 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will rule forever and always.” 16 Then the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipped God. 17 They said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and was, for you have taken your great power and enforced your rule. 18 The nations were enraged, but your wrath came. The time came for the dead to be judged. The time came to reward your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the Earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and the chest containing his covenant appeared in his temple. There were lightning, voices, thunder, an Earthquake, and large hail. ► CHAPTER 12 ― Then a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant, and she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in Heaven: it was a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of Heaven’s stars and threw them to the Earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her. There she will be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days. 7 Then there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. 9 So the great dragon was thrown down. The old snake, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the Earth; and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say, “Now the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come. The accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down. 11 They gained the victory over him on account of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witness. Love for their own lives didn’t make them afraid to die. 12 Therefore, rejoice, you Heavens and you who dwell in them. But oh! The horror for the Earth and sea! The devil has come down to you with great rage, for he knows that he only has a short time.” 13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the Earth, he chased the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she could fly to her place in the desert. There she would be taken care of—out of the snake’s reach—for a time and times and half a time. 15 Then from his mouth the snake poured a river of water after the woman so that the river would sweep her away. 16 But the Earth helped the woman. The Earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was furious with the woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her children, on those who keep God’s commandments and hold firmly to the witness of Jesus. 18 Then the dragon stood on the seashore. ► CHAPTER 13 ― 1 and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. Each of its horns was decorated with a royal crown, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 The beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power, throne, and great authority. 3 One of its heads appeared to have been slain and killed, but its deadly wound was healed. So the whole Earth was amazed and followed the beast. 4 They worshipped the dragon because it had given the beast its authority. They worshipped the beast and said, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” 5 The beast was given a mouth that spoke boastful and blasphemous things, and it was given authority to act for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God. It blasphemed God’s name and his dwelling place (that is, those who dwell in Heaven). 7 It was also allowed to make war on the saints and to gain victory over them. It was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All who live on Earth worshipped it, all whose names hadn’t been written—from the time the Earth was made—in the scroll of life of the Lamb who was slain. 9 Whoever has ears must listen: 10 If any are to be taken captive, then into captivity they will go. If any are to be killed by the sword, then by the sword they will be killed. This calls for endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. 11 Then I saw another beast coming up from the Earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it was speaking like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence. It also makes the Earth and those who live in it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 It does great signs so that it even makes fire come down from Heaven to Earth in the presence of the people. 14 It deceives those who live on Earth by the signs that it was allowed to do in the presence of the beast. It told those who live on Earth to make an image for the beast who had been wounded by the sword and yet came to life again. 15 It was allowed to give breath to the beast’s image so that the beast’s image would even speak and cause anyone who didn’t worship the beast’s image to be put to death. 16 It forces everyone—the small and great, the rich and poor, the free and slaves—to have a mark put on their right hand or on their forehead. 17 It will not allow anyone to make a purchase or sell anything unless the person has the mark with the beast’s name or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom. Let the one who understands calculate the beast’s number, for it’s a human being’s number. Its number is six hundred sixty-six. |
Interpretation of the Above Text
There are certain elements that clearly tie into the above mentioned elements of the Third Secret of Fatima―namely, (1) fire falling from Heaven, (2) destructive thunder and lightning, (3) massive earthquakes, (4) the Earth being flooded, (5) the arrival of famine, plagues and pestilence; (6) the annihilation of many nations, (7) the death of a great part of humanity, (8) the lack of penance for sin, (9) the battle between Our Lady and Satan, (10) Satan taking over the world for a time, (11) the persecution of the Church, (12) that falling away from Faith by the hierarchy of the Church, (13) the “mark of the beast” without which one cannot buy or sell.
The Scriptural texts very closely resembles the pieces of Third Secret “jigsaw puzzle” that we have received from different people―Sr. Lucia, the popes and other persons who have read the Third Secret.
There are certain elements that clearly tie into the above mentioned elements of the Third Secret of Fatima―namely, (1) fire falling from Heaven, (2) destructive thunder and lightning, (3) massive earthquakes, (4) the Earth being flooded, (5) the arrival of famine, plagues and pestilence; (6) the annihilation of many nations, (7) the death of a great part of humanity, (8) the lack of penance for sin, (9) the battle between Our Lady and Satan, (10) Satan taking over the world for a time, (11) the persecution of the Church, (12) that falling away from Faith by the hierarchy of the Church, (13) the “mark of the beast” without which one cannot buy or sell.
The Scriptural texts very closely resembles the pieces of Third Secret “jigsaw puzzle” that we have received from different people―Sr. Lucia, the popes and other persons who have read the Third Secret.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 2nd & Tuesday August 3rd
Article 2
The Nitty-Gritty of the Third Secret of Fatima
Monday August 2nd & Tuesday August 3rd
Article 2
The Nitty-Gritty of the Third Secret of Fatima
WYAWTKBWATAAATH
What the heck? Okay―it stands for “What You Always Wanted To Know, But Were Afraid To Ask And Afraid To Hear.” It is much like the variety of Doctor-Patient jokes, where the doctor says to the patient after surgery: “I have some good news and some bad news! Which would you like to hear first?” The patient says: “Tell me the good news first!” The doctor says: “The surgery was a great success!” The patient then asks: “Well what’s the bad news then?” The doctor replies: “We amputated the wrong leg!”
You could apply that to the Third Secret of Fatima and say there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is, in the words of Our Lady herself: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” The bad news is that we will have to go through “Hell on Earth” to see to that triumph! Bitter-sweet, huh? For those living a “sugar-sweet” life, such a recipe is hard to swallow! Yet as they say: “Bitter is better!” This world is going to have to swallow a very bitter pill before it gets better! “It is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God” (Jeremias 2:19). “The great day of the Lord is near! It is near and exceeding swift! The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter! The mighty man shall there meet with tribulation!” (Sophonias 1:14).
Bitter Is Better!
Wouldn’t it be nice if the road to Heaven was made of asphalt or tarmac, and flat and even, or even going downhill instead of uphill! Wouldn’t it also be nice if the crosses that God sent us were made of feathers, or, if they were wooden, then it would be nice to have them made of bamboo, lined with fur and with a set of wheels on the back.
If you are in any way familiar with Old Testament history, then you will know that when things went “sweetly” for God’s Chosen People, then they inevitably became lukewarm and fell away from God. It was only when God sent them some form of “bitterness”―by means of a chastisement―that they turned back to God and begged His mercy and forgiveness. “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation! And I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head! And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day!” (Amos 8:10) … “And they shall shave themselves bald for Thee, and shall be girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping!” (Ezechiel 27:31). Penance is “bitter” ― yet sin, the root cause of penance, is even more bitter! If we do not want to do bitter penance, then we shall perish and find ourselves in bitter Hell. “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). As Our Lord warned: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Our Lady Prescribes Penance
Our Lady has always spoken along the same lines in her apparitions―penance has been a regular and staple diet in what she placed before us.
At LA SALETTE, in 1846, she lamented: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!”
At LOURDES, in 1858, she firmly commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance! … Do penance for sinners!”
At FATIMA, in 1917, she said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
At AKITA, in 1973, she adds: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
The ANGEL OF PORTUGAL, in his second apparition which took place during the summer of 1916, found Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house. The Angel suddenly appeared to them and rebuked them for playing and not praying: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
In 1957, SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA warned: “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret! … Material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance! … We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Part of the vision that Sr. Lucia describes as being part of the Secret of Fatima, is as follows: “At the left of Our Lady and a little above her, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand. Pointing to the Earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’”
Shortly before her death in 1920, the almost ten-year-old ST. JACINTA MARTO of Fatima pleaded: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!”
In the Grip of Satan
In case you fail to see it, then you need to be informed that the world is firmly in the grip of Satan. As Sister Lucia warned back in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and he knows what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time―that is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this leaves the field of the laity unprotected and the Devil can more easily seize them!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Holy Scripture bears this out: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). That is precisely what Our Lady of La Salette said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis! Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, confirms that, saying: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican! I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Something More Than “Talking the Talk” and “Walking the Walk”
We can write and talk about the problems in the Church and the world all we want―“talking the talk” is not going to solve those problems. Satan would like to talk and talk, write and write, and then talk and write some more―until you die! Ultimately, it is not men that we are fighting against (or are we even fighting?) ― but it is against Satan and his devils that we must fight. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). We are not here to merely “talk the talk”, not even to “walk the walk”―thought both of those things need to be done―but, more importantly, we are here to “fight the fight”! Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour― whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9) ... “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4) ... “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Put you on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil! … Take unto you the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the Gospel. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Digest some of those words once again: “Warfare! … Fight! … Wrestling! … Resist! … Resisted unto blood! … Suffereth violence! … Armor! … Shield! … Sword! … Fiery darts!” There is no mention of television, computers, smartphones, social media, sports, entertainment, movies, parties, wine, beer, burgers, ice-cream, coffee, donuts, etc. ― all of which constitutes the “armor” of modern man!
Fighting Satan and His Satanic World With God’s Weapons
You will not defeat Satan with a water-pistol―even it is a holy water pistol. More serious weapons are needed. Our Lord Himself, in speaking of casting out devils, says: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). One section of the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly speaks of Satan taking possession of some bishops, priests and religious―and if that be the case, then “this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
Exorcists Speak on Power of Prayer and Fasting
Back in 2019, as a result of Pope Francis’ diabolical Pachamama idolatry, placing the pagan idol in a Catholic church in Rome―FOUR CATHOLIC EXORCISTS issued a joint statement asking Catholics worldwide, to dedicate December 6th, 2019, as a day of fasting, prayer and reparation, “for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of recent events.” The exorcists, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their ministries, cited in a particular way the controversy that took place during the 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod, when statues of Pachamama, a goddess worshiped by indigenous Andeans, were incorporated into various synod events. “These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare,” they said in their statement, “and that warfare is happening with the Church itself.”
The full statement was as follows: “In light of recent events regarding the Pachamama ritual in the Vatican Gardens, the subsequent procession of the idol into St. Peter’s, as well as placing the idols in St. Maria in Traspontina church, we are reminded of the words of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:20): ‘Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is anything? Or, that the idol is anything? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.’ The Psalms (95:5) tell us that ‘All the gods of the Gentiles are devils!’ These events bring home the reality that (Ephesians 6:12): ‘Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.’ These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare and that warfare is happening within the Church, itself. We are, therefore, encouraging all Catholics, who recognize the evil of the events, to join us in a day of prayer and penance on December 6th, 2019, for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of these recent events — along with any other events. We are asking all of those who participate to do the following for this intention: (1) Pray the Rosary; (2) Take on some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification; (3) Offer the prayers to the Sacred Heart. Other recommended acts which we encourage others to do for this intention is make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament and attend Mass that day, offering the merits of the Mass for this intention.”
Just over 6 months later, on July 4th, 2020, the CATHOLIC PRIESTS FR. BILL PECKMAN, FR. JAMES ALTMAN, AND FR. RICHARD HEILMAN announced a call for 40 days of prayer and fasting to cast demonic influence from the USA. Part of their statement said: “Through acts of reparation, fasting, penance, charity, and prayer (both personal and sacramental), we call upon the power of God to release ourselves, our families, our parishes, our dioceses, and our nation from all demonic influence and oppression.” The event was called: “Let Freedom Ring: 40 Days to Freedom From the Devil” and began on July 7th and ended on August 15th 2020. The three priests provided a spiritual reflection for each of the 40 days, as well as a specific litany and prayer of exorcism. They also suggested additional acts of reparation.
With all due respect to those extremely well-intentioned and correctly acting priests in both of the above cited cases―the modern day Catholic is hardly a warrior in the areas of prayer and penance. For the modern Catholic just having to say (not even meditate) a Rosary (hurriedly said), is more than enough penance! The only “fasting” the modern day Catholic tends to do is to fast from saying prayers, fast from spiritual reading, fast from meditation, fast from a daily examination of conscience, fast from going to Confession, fast from attending extra Masses, and some are so “holy” as to be able to fast from attending Sunday Mass on top of all that! Consequently, what could and should have been a successful nationwide 40 days of prayer and fasting, brought little or no change to the diabolical direction upon which America has embarked for many decades now!
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, speaks of the importance of prayer, penance and sacrifice in the Christian life: “Our Lady insists so much on fasting, then why does the Church not speak? According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important―because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life … The Gospel of Mark says: ‘This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting’ (Mark 9:29). Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone! Jesus gives three tips to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine Apostles who failed to release a young man from demons. He said to them: ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … The devil is more tranquil if he does not have to live with prayer, fasting, the Eucharist, and the other sacramental practices.”
The Diabolical Disorientation Within The Church Minimizes Penance
The above quotes show the absolute importance of and crucial need for penance. Yet what does the modern Church do? The Church demotes, de-emphasizes and dismantles penance! Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966, which is on the subject of penance, reduces the Lenten fast of 40 days down to a mere two days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There is a lot of traditional “blah-blah-blah” in the document on the importance of penance, but the contradiction is that after all the “blah-blah-blah”, Lenten penance is reduced by 95%! What kind of message does that send to the Church in a time when sin is escalating exponentially and sky-rocketing?
SR. LUCIA allegedly speaks of the “diabolical orientation” within the hierarchy of the Church. Many Fatima experts believe that one part of the Third Secret is the element of the pope being under the control of the devil―this could mean one of several things. It could mean the pope being possessed by devils; or it could be to a lesser degree―as in demonic oppression and demonic obsession. It could also mean being controlled by Satanists within the ranks of the clergy. The link between Freemasonry and Satan is clear―and there are a lot of Freemasons who have infiltrated the ranks of the clergy.
POPE PAUL VI said on several occasions that Satan had penetrated the Church and was present in the highest ecclesial positions: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power―let us call him by his name: the Devil―it is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil!” A few years later, on October 13th, 1977, Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
MONSIGNOR MARIO MARINI (1937-2008), Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, worked nearly forty years in the Vatican. In 1996 Monsignor Marini told Fr. Paul Kramer, a personal friend for 35 years, with reference to the Roman Curia: “Our hands are tied―we can do nothing, because it is Masons who occupy the key positions!” The last time Fr. Kramer saw him before Marini died, in October 2008, the Monsignor told him: “We are under Masonic occupation!”
Here we can refer again to the exorcist FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, who affirmed: “Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … There are as cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the demon!”
OUR LADY OF AKITA corroborated these facts, when, in 1973, she said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops! The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres! ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God!” Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, stated that the messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same. In fact the former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, that Bishop Ito [the local bishop of Akita, Japan] was certain Akita apparitions of the Blessed Mother in the early 1970s was an extension of Fatima, and Howard Dee stated that Cardinal Ratzinger had “personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same!”
Our Lady had already said the same thing at Quito, as Our Lady of Good Success, and also at La Salette: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”, tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Fr. Malachi Martin also revealed certain things on a radio show hosted by Art Bell. Arthur William Bell (1945-2018) was an American broadcaster and author, as well as being the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which was syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. Father Malachi Martin was a guest on the show and was interview several times by Art Bell. On the show that aired on May 4th, 1998, Fr. Malachi Martin said: “The prophecy of Fatima is not a pleasant document to read ― not pleasant news. It implies ― it doesn’t make any sense unless we accept that there will be, or that there is in progress ― a wholesale apostasy amongst clerics and laity in the Catholic Church, that the institutional organization of the Roman Catholic Church ― that is, the organization of parishes, dioceses, archbishops and bishops and cardinals and the Roman bureaucracies and the chanceries throughout the world ― unless that is totally disrupted and rendered null and void, the Third Secret makes no sense, and number two, the other salient characteristic about it is that it means intense suffering for believers!”
A little over a month later, Father Malachi Martin was again interviewed on Art Bell’s Coast to Coast AM radio program on July 13th, 1998 (the very Anniversary of the Third Secret of Fatima). Here is an excerpt from that interview:
Art Bell: “Alright, here we go! Just a couple of things I want to quickly read. One from a friend in Australia, Father, who says: I had a Jesuit priest tell me more of the third secret of Fatima years ago in Perth. He said, among other things, the last pope would be under control of Satan. Pope John fainted thinking it might be him. We were interrupted before I could hear the rest.’ Any comment on that?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “Yes...it sounds as if they were reading ― or being told ― the text of the Third Secret!”
Art Bell: “Oh my!”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “It sounds like it. But it’s sufficiently vague to make one hesitate. It sounds like it.”
Art Bell: “Father, is there any circumstance under which you can imagine, that you would feel free to reveal the secret?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “Yes ― Yes, if there was a total collapse at the center.”
Art Bell: “And you anticipate that, don’t you?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “I anticipate it as a possibility. I can’t predict, but I anticipate it as a possibility! Certainly! Yes. I do!”
FR. PAUL KRAMER states: “Malachi [Martin[ personally confirmed to me in 1997 that the ‘pope’ who will lead the apostasy in the Church will be a HERETIC and an ANTIPOPE.” (Fr. Paul Kramer, May, 2016).
CARDINAL LUIGI CIAPPI, the personal theologian to Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, states in a 1995 personal letter to Professor Baumgartner of Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church begins at the top!” (Fr. Gerard Mura, “The Third Secret of Fatima: Has It Been Completely Revealed?”, the periodical Catholic, published by the Transalpine Redemptorists, Orkney Isles, Scotland, March 2002).
CARDINAL HENRY EDWARD MANNING, around 100 years before the Second Vatican Council, wrote: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist, may be thoughts so new to many Catholics, that I think it is well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states ― as being the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius ― that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church!” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, p. 88-90, p. 79).
CARDINAL ALFREDO OTTAVIANI, who read the Third Secret, made reference to one of its themes, during an allocution, to the members of the Marian International Academy, he declared: “It suffices to cast a rapid glance at what is happening at this moment in the world, in order to recognize that―without the intervention of the Mother of all mercy near the All-Powerful―the world risks becoming pagan once more, a paganism more deplorable than the first paganism, because it is aggravated by apostasy. We are witnessing a veritable deluge of sins, a deluge which leaves behind it a nauseating quagmire, infected by immorality, lies and blasphemy...” (December 15th, 1960 ― Allocution de S. Em. Le cardinal Ottaviani, à l’Académie Mariale Internationale, Documentation Catholique, 1961, col. 244).
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI warned: “The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against the apostasy in the Church … I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church: grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself...If we consider the grave crisis we have lived through since the Council, the signs that this prophecy has been fulfilled do not seem to be lacking...” (Cardinal Silvio Oddi, to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli in the journal, Il Sabato, Rome, March 17th, 1990).
ST. PADRE PIO, in 1963, in a public admonition to his spiritual sons, amidst the Second Vatican Council, said: “Due to the rampant injustice and abuse of power, we have reached a compromise with atheistic materialism [Communism], a denial of the rights of God. This is the punishment foretold at Fatima ... All the priests who support the possibility of a dialogue with the negators of God and with the Luciferian powers of the world [Freemasonry] are mad, have lost their Faith, no longer believe in the Gospel! In so doing they betray the word of God, because Christ came to bring on Earth perpetual covenant only to men of heart [good will], but did not join with the men thirsty for power and dominion over the brothers ... The flock is dispersed when the shepherds ally with the enemies of the Truth of Christ. All the forms of power made deaf to the will of the authority of the heart of God are rapacious wolves that renew the passion of Christ and make the Madonna shed tears.” (Published in Avvenire, August 19th, 1978; see also partial quote in The Fourth Secret of Fatima, 2006, by Antonio Socci).
Even the MODERNIST CATECHISM OF 1992 chimes in with the same message: “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the Faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on Earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’, in the form of a religious deception, offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messias come in the flesh” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1992, Paragraph #675 ― The Church’s ultimate trial).
“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.” (Selected excerpt taken from Our Lady of La Salette’s Secret to Mélanie Calvat, on September 19th, 1846. Final version published in 1879 at Lecce, Italy, with the imprimatur and approval of Bishop Salvatore Luigi Zola, C.R.L., the Bishop of Lecce).
“I cannot reveal anything about what I have learned at Fatima about the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: the one concerns the Pope. The other, logically - although I should say nothing - should be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’” (quote from Father Joseph Schweigl, 1952, whom Pope Pius XII sent to interview Sr. Lucia on September 2nd, 1952; reported by Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima: The Third Secret, Vol. III, p. 710, p. 337-338).
CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER, on November 11th, 1984, affirmed that the Third Secret concerns, “a radical call for conversion; the absolute importance of history; the dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore of the world. And then the importance of the ‘novissimi’ (the last events at the end of time). If it is not made public — at least for the time being — it is in order to prevent religious prophecy from being mistaken for a quest for the sensational (literally: ‘for sensationalism’). But the things contained in this ‘Third Secret’ correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions” ― (Ecco perche la fede e in crisi in the review, Jesus, p. 79).
FR. JOSE DOS SANTOS VALINHO, the nephew of Sr. Lucia, states: “I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the Faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.” (Father Jose dos Santos Valinho, nephew of Sr. Lucia). This public statement was made on the 14th of February, 2003, broadcast on the program ENIGMA, which was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the National TV Network of Italy, The Fatima Crusader, Issue 74, p.76
POPE BENEDICT XVI proclaimed the need for a “Year of Faith” that seeks to awaken humanity at a critical moment. “In vast areas of the Earth the Faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel,” the pope warned, “We are facing a profound crisis of Faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today … The renewal of Faith must, then, be a priority for the entire Church in our time!” (Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican City, January 27th, 2012, from his address to the participants in the plenary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, before he died, warned of the future: “Act bravely, my Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase.
“The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death.
“Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.
“There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God.
“Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect.
“Those who preserve their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy.
“Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi [London: R. Washbourne, 1882], pp. 248-250).
What the heck? Okay―it stands for “What You Always Wanted To Know, But Were Afraid To Ask And Afraid To Hear.” It is much like the variety of Doctor-Patient jokes, where the doctor says to the patient after surgery: “I have some good news and some bad news! Which would you like to hear first?” The patient says: “Tell me the good news first!” The doctor says: “The surgery was a great success!” The patient then asks: “Well what’s the bad news then?” The doctor replies: “We amputated the wrong leg!”
You could apply that to the Third Secret of Fatima and say there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is, in the words of Our Lady herself: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” The bad news is that we will have to go through “Hell on Earth” to see to that triumph! Bitter-sweet, huh? For those living a “sugar-sweet” life, such a recipe is hard to swallow! Yet as they say: “Bitter is better!” This world is going to have to swallow a very bitter pill before it gets better! “It is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God” (Jeremias 2:19). “The great day of the Lord is near! It is near and exceeding swift! The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter! The mighty man shall there meet with tribulation!” (Sophonias 1:14).
Bitter Is Better!
Wouldn’t it be nice if the road to Heaven was made of asphalt or tarmac, and flat and even, or even going downhill instead of uphill! Wouldn’t it also be nice if the crosses that God sent us were made of feathers, or, if they were wooden, then it would be nice to have them made of bamboo, lined with fur and with a set of wheels on the back.
If you are in any way familiar with Old Testament history, then you will know that when things went “sweetly” for God’s Chosen People, then they inevitably became lukewarm and fell away from God. It was only when God sent them some form of “bitterness”―by means of a chastisement―that they turned back to God and begged His mercy and forgiveness. “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation! And I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head! And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day!” (Amos 8:10) … “And they shall shave themselves bald for Thee, and shall be girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping!” (Ezechiel 27:31). Penance is “bitter” ― yet sin, the root cause of penance, is even more bitter! If we do not want to do bitter penance, then we shall perish and find ourselves in bitter Hell. “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). As Our Lord warned: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Our Lady Prescribes Penance
Our Lady has always spoken along the same lines in her apparitions―penance has been a regular and staple diet in what she placed before us.
At LA SALETTE, in 1846, she lamented: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!”
At LOURDES, in 1858, she firmly commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance! … Do penance for sinners!”
At FATIMA, in 1917, she said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
At AKITA, in 1973, she adds: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
The ANGEL OF PORTUGAL, in his second apparition which took place during the summer of 1916, found Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house. The Angel suddenly appeared to them and rebuked them for playing and not praying: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
In 1957, SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA warned: “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret! … Material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance! … We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Part of the vision that Sr. Lucia describes as being part of the Secret of Fatima, is as follows: “At the left of Our Lady and a little above her, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand. Pointing to the Earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’”
Shortly before her death in 1920, the almost ten-year-old ST. JACINTA MARTO of Fatima pleaded: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!”
In the Grip of Satan
In case you fail to see it, then you need to be informed that the world is firmly in the grip of Satan. As Sister Lucia warned back in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and he knows what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time―that is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this leaves the field of the laity unprotected and the Devil can more easily seize them!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Holy Scripture bears this out: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7). That is precisely what Our Lady of La Salette said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis! Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, confirms that, saying: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity ... The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican! I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Something More Than “Talking the Talk” and “Walking the Walk”
We can write and talk about the problems in the Church and the world all we want―“talking the talk” is not going to solve those problems. Satan would like to talk and talk, write and write, and then talk and write some more―until you die! Ultimately, it is not men that we are fighting against (or are we even fighting?) ― but it is against Satan and his devils that we must fight. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). We are not here to merely “talk the talk”, not even to “walk the walk”―thought both of those things need to be done―but, more importantly, we are here to “fight the fight”! Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour― whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9) ... “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4) ... “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Put you on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil! … Take unto you the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the Gospel. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Digest some of those words once again: “Warfare! … Fight! … Wrestling! … Resist! … Resisted unto blood! … Suffereth violence! … Armor! … Shield! … Sword! … Fiery darts!” There is no mention of television, computers, smartphones, social media, sports, entertainment, movies, parties, wine, beer, burgers, ice-cream, coffee, donuts, etc. ― all of which constitutes the “armor” of modern man!
Fighting Satan and His Satanic World With God’s Weapons
You will not defeat Satan with a water-pistol―even it is a holy water pistol. More serious weapons are needed. Our Lord Himself, in speaking of casting out devils, says: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20). One section of the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly speaks of Satan taking possession of some bishops, priests and religious―and if that be the case, then “this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20).
Exorcists Speak on Power of Prayer and Fasting
Back in 2019, as a result of Pope Francis’ diabolical Pachamama idolatry, placing the pagan idol in a Catholic church in Rome―FOUR CATHOLIC EXORCISTS issued a joint statement asking Catholics worldwide, to dedicate December 6th, 2019, as a day of fasting, prayer and reparation, “for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of recent events.” The exorcists, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their ministries, cited in a particular way the controversy that took place during the 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod, when statues of Pachamama, a goddess worshiped by indigenous Andeans, were incorporated into various synod events. “These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare,” they said in their statement, “and that warfare is happening with the Church itself.”
The full statement was as follows: “In light of recent events regarding the Pachamama ritual in the Vatican Gardens, the subsequent procession of the idol into St. Peter’s, as well as placing the idols in St. Maria in Traspontina church, we are reminded of the words of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:20): ‘Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is anything? Or, that the idol is anything? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.’ The Psalms (95:5) tell us that ‘All the gods of the Gentiles are devils!’ These events bring home the reality that (Ephesians 6:12): ‘Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.’ These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare and that warfare is happening within the Church, itself. We are, therefore, encouraging all Catholics, who recognize the evil of the events, to join us in a day of prayer and penance on December 6th, 2019, for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of these recent events — along with any other events. We are asking all of those who participate to do the following for this intention: (1) Pray the Rosary; (2) Take on some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification; (3) Offer the prayers to the Sacred Heart. Other recommended acts which we encourage others to do for this intention is make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament and attend Mass that day, offering the merits of the Mass for this intention.”
Just over 6 months later, on July 4th, 2020, the CATHOLIC PRIESTS FR. BILL PECKMAN, FR. JAMES ALTMAN, AND FR. RICHARD HEILMAN announced a call for 40 days of prayer and fasting to cast demonic influence from the USA. Part of their statement said: “Through acts of reparation, fasting, penance, charity, and prayer (both personal and sacramental), we call upon the power of God to release ourselves, our families, our parishes, our dioceses, and our nation from all demonic influence and oppression.” The event was called: “Let Freedom Ring: 40 Days to Freedom From the Devil” and began on July 7th and ended on August 15th 2020. The three priests provided a spiritual reflection for each of the 40 days, as well as a specific litany and prayer of exorcism. They also suggested additional acts of reparation.
With all due respect to those extremely well-intentioned and correctly acting priests in both of the above cited cases―the modern day Catholic is hardly a warrior in the areas of prayer and penance. For the modern Catholic just having to say (not even meditate) a Rosary (hurriedly said), is more than enough penance! The only “fasting” the modern day Catholic tends to do is to fast from saying prayers, fast from spiritual reading, fast from meditation, fast from a daily examination of conscience, fast from going to Confession, fast from attending extra Masses, and some are so “holy” as to be able to fast from attending Sunday Mass on top of all that! Consequently, what could and should have been a successful nationwide 40 days of prayer and fasting, brought little or no change to the diabolical direction upon which America has embarked for many decades now!
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, speaks of the importance of prayer, penance and sacrifice in the Christian life: “Our Lady insists so much on fasting, then why does the Church not speak? According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important―because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life … The Gospel of Mark says: ‘This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting’ (Mark 9:29). Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone! Jesus gives three tips to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine Apostles who failed to release a young man from demons. He said to them: ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … The devil is more tranquil if he does not have to live with prayer, fasting, the Eucharist, and the other sacramental practices.”
The Diabolical Disorientation Within The Church Minimizes Penance
The above quotes show the absolute importance of and crucial need for penance. Yet what does the modern Church do? The Church demotes, de-emphasizes and dismantles penance! Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966, which is on the subject of penance, reduces the Lenten fast of 40 days down to a mere two days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There is a lot of traditional “blah-blah-blah” in the document on the importance of penance, but the contradiction is that after all the “blah-blah-blah”, Lenten penance is reduced by 95%! What kind of message does that send to the Church in a time when sin is escalating exponentially and sky-rocketing?
SR. LUCIA allegedly speaks of the “diabolical orientation” within the hierarchy of the Church. Many Fatima experts believe that one part of the Third Secret is the element of the pope being under the control of the devil―this could mean one of several things. It could mean the pope being possessed by devils; or it could be to a lesser degree―as in demonic oppression and demonic obsession. It could also mean being controlled by Satanists within the ranks of the clergy. The link between Freemasonry and Satan is clear―and there are a lot of Freemasons who have infiltrated the ranks of the clergy.
POPE PAUL VI said on several occasions that Satan had penetrated the Church and was present in the highest ecclesial positions: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power―let us call him by his name: the Devil―it is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil!” A few years later, on October 13th, 1977, Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
MONSIGNOR MARIO MARINI (1937-2008), Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, worked nearly forty years in the Vatican. In 1996 Monsignor Marini told Fr. Paul Kramer, a personal friend for 35 years, with reference to the Roman Curia: “Our hands are tied―we can do nothing, because it is Masons who occupy the key positions!” The last time Fr. Kramer saw him before Marini died, in October 2008, the Monsignor told him: “We are under Masonic occupation!”
Here we can refer again to the exorcist FR. GABRIELE AMORTH, who affirmed: “Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … There are as cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the demon!”
OUR LADY OF AKITA corroborated these facts, when, in 1973, she said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops! The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres! ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God!” Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, stated that the messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same. In fact the former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, that Bishop Ito [the local bishop of Akita, Japan] was certain Akita apparitions of the Blessed Mother in the early 1970s was an extension of Fatima, and Howard Dee stated that Cardinal Ratzinger had “personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same!”
Our Lady had already said the same thing at Quito, as Our Lady of Good Success, and also at La Salette: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”, tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Fr. Malachi Martin also revealed certain things on a radio show hosted by Art Bell. Arthur William Bell (1945-2018) was an American broadcaster and author, as well as being the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which was syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. Father Malachi Martin was a guest on the show and was interview several times by Art Bell. On the show that aired on May 4th, 1998, Fr. Malachi Martin said: “The prophecy of Fatima is not a pleasant document to read ― not pleasant news. It implies ― it doesn’t make any sense unless we accept that there will be, or that there is in progress ― a wholesale apostasy amongst clerics and laity in the Catholic Church, that the institutional organization of the Roman Catholic Church ― that is, the organization of parishes, dioceses, archbishops and bishops and cardinals and the Roman bureaucracies and the chanceries throughout the world ― unless that is totally disrupted and rendered null and void, the Third Secret makes no sense, and number two, the other salient characteristic about it is that it means intense suffering for believers!”
A little over a month later, Father Malachi Martin was again interviewed on Art Bell’s Coast to Coast AM radio program on July 13th, 1998 (the very Anniversary of the Third Secret of Fatima). Here is an excerpt from that interview:
Art Bell: “Alright, here we go! Just a couple of things I want to quickly read. One from a friend in Australia, Father, who says: I had a Jesuit priest tell me more of the third secret of Fatima years ago in Perth. He said, among other things, the last pope would be under control of Satan. Pope John fainted thinking it might be him. We were interrupted before I could hear the rest.’ Any comment on that?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “Yes...it sounds as if they were reading ― or being told ― the text of the Third Secret!”
Art Bell: “Oh my!”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “It sounds like it. But it’s sufficiently vague to make one hesitate. It sounds like it.”
Art Bell: “Father, is there any circumstance under which you can imagine, that you would feel free to reveal the secret?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “Yes ― Yes, if there was a total collapse at the center.”
Art Bell: “And you anticipate that, don’t you?”
Fr. Malachi Martin: “I anticipate it as a possibility. I can’t predict, but I anticipate it as a possibility! Certainly! Yes. I do!”
FR. PAUL KRAMER states: “Malachi [Martin[ personally confirmed to me in 1997 that the ‘pope’ who will lead the apostasy in the Church will be a HERETIC and an ANTIPOPE.” (Fr. Paul Kramer, May, 2016).
CARDINAL LUIGI CIAPPI, the personal theologian to Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, states in a 1995 personal letter to Professor Baumgartner of Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church begins at the top!” (Fr. Gerard Mura, “The Third Secret of Fatima: Has It Been Completely Revealed?”, the periodical Catholic, published by the Transalpine Redemptorists, Orkney Isles, Scotland, March 2002).
CARDINAL HENRY EDWARD MANNING, around 100 years before the Second Vatican Council, wrote: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist, may be thoughts so new to many Catholics, that I think it is well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states ― as being the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius ― that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church!” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, p. 88-90, p. 79).
CARDINAL ALFREDO OTTAVIANI, who read the Third Secret, made reference to one of its themes, during an allocution, to the members of the Marian International Academy, he declared: “It suffices to cast a rapid glance at what is happening at this moment in the world, in order to recognize that―without the intervention of the Mother of all mercy near the All-Powerful―the world risks becoming pagan once more, a paganism more deplorable than the first paganism, because it is aggravated by apostasy. We are witnessing a veritable deluge of sins, a deluge which leaves behind it a nauseating quagmire, infected by immorality, lies and blasphemy...” (December 15th, 1960 ― Allocution de S. Em. Le cardinal Ottaviani, à l’Académie Mariale Internationale, Documentation Catholique, 1961, col. 244).
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI warned: “The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against the apostasy in the Church … I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church: grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself...If we consider the grave crisis we have lived through since the Council, the signs that this prophecy has been fulfilled do not seem to be lacking...” (Cardinal Silvio Oddi, to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli in the journal, Il Sabato, Rome, March 17th, 1990).
ST. PADRE PIO, in 1963, in a public admonition to his spiritual sons, amidst the Second Vatican Council, said: “Due to the rampant injustice and abuse of power, we have reached a compromise with atheistic materialism [Communism], a denial of the rights of God. This is the punishment foretold at Fatima ... All the priests who support the possibility of a dialogue with the negators of God and with the Luciferian powers of the world [Freemasonry] are mad, have lost their Faith, no longer believe in the Gospel! In so doing they betray the word of God, because Christ came to bring on Earth perpetual covenant only to men of heart [good will], but did not join with the men thirsty for power and dominion over the brothers ... The flock is dispersed when the shepherds ally with the enemies of the Truth of Christ. All the forms of power made deaf to the will of the authority of the heart of God are rapacious wolves that renew the passion of Christ and make the Madonna shed tears.” (Published in Avvenire, August 19th, 1978; see also partial quote in The Fourth Secret of Fatima, 2006, by Antonio Socci).
Even the MODERNIST CATECHISM OF 1992 chimes in with the same message: “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the Faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on Earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’, in the form of a religious deception, offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messias come in the flesh” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1992, Paragraph #675 ― The Church’s ultimate trial).
“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.” (Selected excerpt taken from Our Lady of La Salette’s Secret to Mélanie Calvat, on September 19th, 1846. Final version published in 1879 at Lecce, Italy, with the imprimatur and approval of Bishop Salvatore Luigi Zola, C.R.L., the Bishop of Lecce).
“I cannot reveal anything about what I have learned at Fatima about the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: the one concerns the Pope. The other, logically - although I should say nothing - should be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’” (quote from Father Joseph Schweigl, 1952, whom Pope Pius XII sent to interview Sr. Lucia on September 2nd, 1952; reported by Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima: The Third Secret, Vol. III, p. 710, p. 337-338).
CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER, on November 11th, 1984, affirmed that the Third Secret concerns, “a radical call for conversion; the absolute importance of history; the dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore of the world. And then the importance of the ‘novissimi’ (the last events at the end of time). If it is not made public — at least for the time being — it is in order to prevent religious prophecy from being mistaken for a quest for the sensational (literally: ‘for sensationalism’). But the things contained in this ‘Third Secret’ correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions” ― (Ecco perche la fede e in crisi in the review, Jesus, p. 79).
FR. JOSE DOS SANTOS VALINHO, the nephew of Sr. Lucia, states: “I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the Faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.” (Father Jose dos Santos Valinho, nephew of Sr. Lucia). This public statement was made on the 14th of February, 2003, broadcast on the program ENIGMA, which was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the National TV Network of Italy, The Fatima Crusader, Issue 74, p.76
POPE BENEDICT XVI proclaimed the need for a “Year of Faith” that seeks to awaken humanity at a critical moment. “In vast areas of the Earth the Faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel,” the pope warned, “We are facing a profound crisis of Faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today … The renewal of Faith must, then, be a priority for the entire Church in our time!” (Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican City, January 27th, 2012, from his address to the participants in the plenary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, before he died, warned of the future: “Act bravely, my Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase.
“The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death.
“Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.
“There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God.
“Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect.
“Those who preserve their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy.
“Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi [London: R. Washbourne, 1882], pp. 248-250).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday July 31st & Sunday August 1st
Article 1
The Scary Third Secret of Fatima and YOU!
This article is still to be completed. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday July 31st & Sunday August 1st
Article 1
The Scary Third Secret of Fatima and YOU!
This article is still to be completed. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Scary, Huh?
Today―July 31st―we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who is famous for both founding the Jesuit Religious Order and also compiling the renowned Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. You could―at a pinch and with tongue in cheek―nominate St. Ignatius as the patron saint of horror movies, since, in his original 30-day-long retreat (the Spiritual Exercises), the first week is devoted to the horrors of Hell. Anyone who has had the grace to undergo the 30-day retreat, especially those who do it for the first time, will tell you that the first week on Hell can truly be called “Hell-Week”! The purpose of it is to clearly, bluntly, and forcefully put before the mind of the retreatant that there is only a choice of two permanent forwarding-addresses for life after death―Heaven or Hell. “Hell Week” is supposed to scare the Hell out of you―or to scare you away from Hell!
If people love “scary movies” so much, you would think that Hollywood would make a movie about the Third Secret of Fatima. Even though very few people know the ENTIRE secret, there is enough information out there to furnish more than enough material for a “scary movie” or a “horror movie”. Hey! They pull-out all the stops when it comes to creating a “fear narrative” about the Plannedemic virus in order to get people to do what they want them to do―so why not create a “fear narrative” about the Third Secret of Fatima in order to get people to do what God and Our Lady want them to do? While we are on the subject of “horror movies”―why not create a movie on Hell, in order to frighten people into changing their lives and avoid falling into Hell? Unfortunately, as we all know, Hollywood is not Holywood, in fact it is wood or forest of sin. A “Third Secret of Fatima” movie―with all the grisly parts―could do a lot of spiritual good, especially in a time where the vast majority of mankind is addicted to the screen, whether it be a movie screen, a television screen, a computer screen, or a smartphone screen.
Truly, there is nothing scarier than reality―we can watch scary movies knowing they are not reality, but merely virtual reality. Yet the Third Secret of Fatima is no movie that is coming to a cinema or movie house near you―it is a reality that is coming to a place near you very soon. It is not something that is going to happen decades in the future―it is something that has already started―the fuse has been lit and is burning down fast. The explosion and the “fireworks” cannot be too far ahead!
The Fuse Has Been Lit
The fact that “the fuse has already been lit” is borne out by words of Sr. Lucia herself. In an interview with Fr. Fuentes in 1957, she confided to him that Our Lady had revealed that “We are in the last times of the world.” For those who imagine that the Third Secret of Fatima is merely and only about spiritual things, Sr. Lucia added: “Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand.” Yet nations being wiped-off the face of the Earth is nowhere near as serious or catastrophic as souls being wiped-off the face of the Earth and being sent to eternal damnation in Hell! As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). That is why Sr. Lucia further explains: “For this reason, Father, it is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!”
O boy are we fixed in sin! Never has there been as much opportunity to sin as in this modern age of technology, convenience, comfort, ease and entertainment! Never has the world population being greater than it is today―which means the number of sins is sky-rocketing with the ever increasing number of people (sinners) inhabiting the world. The sinfulness of the world was berated by Our Lady when she spoke to the mystic and foundress of a religious order, Blessed Elena Aiello, back in 1956: : “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Sin is Expensive!
For some inexplicable reason, we have grown to minimize sin and brush off its consequences. Since the Second World War people have progressively lost the sense of sin―which has provoked one pope after another (both Traditional and Modernist popes) to lament the fact. Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope Pius XII said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin!” Pope John Paul II wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” Pope Benedict XVI stated: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” Pope Francis lamented: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
If we lose the “sense of sin”, then we also lose the notion of the “price of sin”! Holy Scripture says: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) ... “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) ... “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21) ... “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) ... “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) ... “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4) ... “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). We underestimate the effect and consequences of sin―ignoring what our Catechisms tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
It is this death being the deserved wage for sin that Our Lady warns us about at Fatima, saying: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father ... If people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church … Various nations will be annihilated!” On that latter point, Sr. Lucia told Fr. Fuentes: “Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!”
The Fatima Secret is Essentially the Same as Our Lady's Akita Message
Some years ago, before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger told Howard Dee, who was at that time the Ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See, that the Secret of Fatima corresponds to what is revealed by Our Lady in the Message of Akita in Japan. There Our Lady foretold a great chastisement that would be worse than the great deluge, the flood that is spoken of in the Book of Genesis: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Now that is something that would be truly sensational―a chastisement that is worse than the Great Flood in the time Noe. Pope John Paul II alluded to this aspect of the chastisement contained in the Third Secret of Fatima, when he said in Fulda, Germany, in 1980, of the contents of the “Third Secret” ― “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this―when you read that the oceans will flood entire continents, that from one moment to the next millions of people will suddenly perish, if you know this, it is not truly needed to ask for the publication of this ‘Secret’.” He added: “As on other occasions, the Church was reborn in blood―it will not be different this time!”
A Secret of Two Parts
The personal secretary of Pope John XXIII admitted that there are two envelopes and two texts pertaining to the Third Secret, one of which was lodged, not in the Holy Office archives where the text of the vision was kept, but in the papal apartment from the time of Pius XII through, at least the beginning of, the pontificate of John Paul II.
The Secret consists of two parts: (1) Lucia’s description of a vision of the execution of a Pope, bishops, clergy and other faithful by soldiers outside a city in ruins, and (2) Our Lady’s words explaining the vision and other matters concerning the Church and the world (including a prophecy of apostasy in the Church beginning just after the middle of the twentieth century), which begins with the phrase “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved…”
Father Schweigl, sent on mission by Pius XII to interrogate Sister Lucia concerning the contents of the Secret in 1952: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but can say that it has two parts: One concerns the Pope. The other, logically—although I must say nothing—would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’”
Lucia recorded Our Lady’s words in a letter to her bishop, and the wrote about the vision on notebook paper, which was not addressed to anyone. Lucia’s letter to her bishop containing Our Lady’s actual, verbalized words consists of about 25 lines, while the vision released by the Vatican is 62 lines; the letter was written on a single sheet of paper, separate from the notebook paper Lucia used to write the vision; the account of the vision was written in the notebook on January 3rd, 1944, while the words of Our Lady were written down a few days later―on, or shortly before, January 9th, 1944.
Few Have Read the Secret and a Few Give Us Some Clues
Both documents were placed in separately sealed envelopes, each containing Our Lady’s “express order” that both documents were to be made public in 1960. The envelope containing the vision was delivered on April 4th, 1957. Less than two weeks later the envelope containing the letter was delivered to the Vatican on April 16th, 1957. Subsequently, the envelope containing the letter with Our Lady’s words was stored in the papal apartment, but the account of the vision was stored in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office. Records show that Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II all read the Third Secret on two different dates―which also indicates and proves that there were two different texts on Third Secret. Pope John XXIII read both texts―the letter was read around August 20th, 1959; and the account of the vision was read in 1960. Pope Paul VI read also both texts―the letter on June 27th, 1963 and the account of the vision was read on March 27th, 1965. Pope John Paul II also read both texts―the letter in October 1978 and the account of the vision on July 18th, 1981.
A limited number of persons have read the Third Secret of Fatima―these are some select persons whom the popes have allowed to read the Secret for one reason or another. For example, Pope John XXIII chose to read the Secret in the presence of his confessor and spiritual director. Cardinal Ratzinger had read the Secret before he became Pope (Benedict XVI). Cardinals Bea, Ottaviani, Sodano, Bertone are among some of the cardinals who were allowed to read the Third Secret of Fatima―some of those were Modernists, others Traditional. The Modernist cardinals tried to cover it up, the Traditional cardinals wanted to reveal it―yet all were oblige to take an oath of secrecy before being allowed to read it.
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi — the personal theologian of John Paul II (and of the four popes before him) ― in a personal communication to Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria, reveals that: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
The Third Secret of Fatima was summed up best by Fr. Malachi Martin. The late Fr. Malachi Martin worked in the Vatican. He studied at the Biblicum. He was a vastly learned man. He was secretary to Cardinal Bea―and it was through Bea that he was given the opportunity to read the Secret. Without revealing the Third Secret in detail, Fr. Malachi Martin nevertheless drops some hints. He says: “I was shown a copy of the Third Secret at the time Pope John XXIII opened it and sought the advice of a group of Cardinals in 1960. One of those Cardinals was Augustin Cardinal Bea, and I was his assistant … Material chastisements are already predicted in the second part of the Secret … The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!” After revealing the Secret is “much worse” than a natural disaster, he said it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts.”
Fr. Martin spoke about the exchange he had had with Cardinal Bea, when the Cardinal emerged looking pale as a sheet from the meeting that Pope John XXIII was holding with his advisors: “ ‘What’s wrong, Your Eminence?’ I asked him. ‘We’ve just killed a billion people. Look at this!’ He handed me the single sheet of paper with those 26 lines of handwriting. Since that day, every word of this text has been imprinted indelibly in my mind.”
Cardinal Bea had made the statement about “a billion people” because the Pope had just made the decision not to release the Third Secret, and not to consecrate Russia.
When asked if he could reveal anything more about those “terrible” chastisements, which would kill a billion people, Father Martin explained that, before reading the Secret, he had been required to take an oath not to reveal it, but he did believe it should have been revealed, and that Our Lord and Our Lady wanted people to know about it.
Therefore, he mentioned the Third Secret whenever he could; he would talk around it, giving as much background information about it, and as many hints as he could about it, without revealing the actual text. Thus he proceeded to rattle off very quickly a list of possible calamities, and said that some of these were in the Secret.
Then he said, “You see, there’s going to be a new form of energy. The important thing about this new form of energy is that it will be very cheap. So cheap that it could supply the needs of every man, woman, and child on Earth if it were in the right hands. But it is not in the right hands. It is in the hands of those who will use it to kill and destroy.”
When asked: “You don’t mean our country (America), do you?” And he said: “No! America is evil. We are guilty of many sins. But we are not that evil. Not evil enough to deliberately kill a billion people. We wouldn’t do that. But THEY would!” When asked who are “they”? He wouldn’t say.
Which countries will be hit hardest? He said the chastisement would be worse in some places than in others, but that no one will be able to avoid it. And will it be possible to live through the chastisement? He said thoughtfully, “Yes, but in the greatest misery.” And how are we to tell when these things are about to happen?
“Keep your eyes on the skies,” he said, an admonition he would repeat many, many times. In 1997, he told interviewer Bernard Janzen, “... I think the big factor ... is what happens in the skies ... ‘Keep your eyes on the skies’ is a prudent motto. I think ... Our Lady’s sign is going to appear in the skies, soon. I think ... it is going to come as a shock to everybody. ... I think … the Church is going to be hit hard by what appears in the skies.” “Keep your eyes on the skies” was advice Father Martin gave often.
As a result of the papal refusal to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the specific manner in which it had been commanded, Father Martin said:
• “Cardinals, bishops, and priests are falling like leaves into Hell.”
• “Faith will disappear from countries and continents.”
• “Many of the elect will lose their Faith. Many people, who now believe, will give up in despair. Things will get so bad that if Our Lady did not step in, no one would be saved.”
Secret Summary
In this opening overview of the Third Secret of Fatima, before looking any deeper into the various possibilities and likelihoods of what might be the “nitty-gritty” of the Secret, where the “rubber-meets-the-road” so to speak, the following points can definitely summarize the overview or “big-picture” view of the Secret.
(1) The Third Secret has been written down, by Sr. Lucia, in two separate parts―one part was written in her notebook/spiritual diary, the other part was written in a letter.
(2) The notebook/spiritual diary part of the Secret tells of the vision the seers had of the Pope and the Church. The part of the Secret contained in the letter records the actual words Our Lady spoke on the matter.
(3) From what the witnesses say―those who have actually been privileged to read the Secret (or could we say “Secrets”―since they are in two separate documents)―and from what experts say, the part of the Secret that is found in the notebook/spiritual diary, takes up 62 lines of text. The other part of the Secret, contained in the letter, takes up about 25 lines of text.
(4) The events―or catastrophes, or chastisements―that are prophesied in the Third Secret speak of two kinds of punishment. One aspect is a material and physical punishment that will have many sides to it―for example, fire falling from the sky, floods, physical persecution, killings, wars, diseases, plagues, etc. This will result in various nations being annihilated and wiped-off the face of the Earth―with billions dying in the process (the population at the moment is just short of 8 billion, or 8,000 million). The other aspect is a spiritual aspect―which predominantly concerns the infiltration of the Church by Satan, division within the Church, cardinals turning against cardinals, bishops against bishops, a loss of Faith among the clergy, and a massive apostasy among the general laity of the Church, all of which leads to the greatest spiritual danger and greatest harm of all―which is the damnation of souls.
(5) All of this is not going to happen some time in the distant future―it is happening right now. Hence Our Lady wanted the Third Secret REVEALED TO EVERYONE in 1960. As Sr. Lucia said in 1957 ― (a) we have entered the so-called “Last Days” or “End Times”, and (b) the chastisement is imminent.
(6) This does not mean that the world will end any time soon. No ― this chastisement must come first, Communism must first take over the whole world without exception, all must seem to be lost, then we have to experience the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, after which there will be a time of peace and holiness, but human nature will abuse this time of “peace and plenty” and grow lukewarm and sinful once again, which will lead to another massive apostasy, and the coming of the Antichrist. So the end of the world is on the back-burner, but the chastisement for our day is not just simmering, but is brought to a boil by our sins.
Today―July 31st―we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who is famous for both founding the Jesuit Religious Order and also compiling the renowned Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. You could―at a pinch and with tongue in cheek―nominate St. Ignatius as the patron saint of horror movies, since, in his original 30-day-long retreat (the Spiritual Exercises), the first week is devoted to the horrors of Hell. Anyone who has had the grace to undergo the 30-day retreat, especially those who do it for the first time, will tell you that the first week on Hell can truly be called “Hell-Week”! The purpose of it is to clearly, bluntly, and forcefully put before the mind of the retreatant that there is only a choice of two permanent forwarding-addresses for life after death―Heaven or Hell. “Hell Week” is supposed to scare the Hell out of you―or to scare you away from Hell!
If people love “scary movies” so much, you would think that Hollywood would make a movie about the Third Secret of Fatima. Even though very few people know the ENTIRE secret, there is enough information out there to furnish more than enough material for a “scary movie” or a “horror movie”. Hey! They pull-out all the stops when it comes to creating a “fear narrative” about the Plannedemic virus in order to get people to do what they want them to do―so why not create a “fear narrative” about the Third Secret of Fatima in order to get people to do what God and Our Lady want them to do? While we are on the subject of “horror movies”―why not create a movie on Hell, in order to frighten people into changing their lives and avoid falling into Hell? Unfortunately, as we all know, Hollywood is not Holywood, in fact it is wood or forest of sin. A “Third Secret of Fatima” movie―with all the grisly parts―could do a lot of spiritual good, especially in a time where the vast majority of mankind is addicted to the screen, whether it be a movie screen, a television screen, a computer screen, or a smartphone screen.
Truly, there is nothing scarier than reality―we can watch scary movies knowing they are not reality, but merely virtual reality. Yet the Third Secret of Fatima is no movie that is coming to a cinema or movie house near you―it is a reality that is coming to a place near you very soon. It is not something that is going to happen decades in the future―it is something that has already started―the fuse has been lit and is burning down fast. The explosion and the “fireworks” cannot be too far ahead!
The Fuse Has Been Lit
The fact that “the fuse has already been lit” is borne out by words of Sr. Lucia herself. In an interview with Fr. Fuentes in 1957, she confided to him that Our Lady had revealed that “We are in the last times of the world.” For those who imagine that the Third Secret of Fatima is merely and only about spiritual things, Sr. Lucia added: “Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand.” Yet nations being wiped-off the face of the Earth is nowhere near as serious or catastrophic as souls being wiped-off the face of the Earth and being sent to eternal damnation in Hell! As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). That is why Sr. Lucia further explains: “For this reason, Father, it is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!”
O boy are we fixed in sin! Never has there been as much opportunity to sin as in this modern age of technology, convenience, comfort, ease and entertainment! Never has the world population being greater than it is today―which means the number of sins is sky-rocketing with the ever increasing number of people (sinners) inhabiting the world. The sinfulness of the world was berated by Our Lady when she spoke to the mystic and foundress of a religious order, Blessed Elena Aiello, back in 1956: : “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Sin is Expensive!
For some inexplicable reason, we have grown to minimize sin and brush off its consequences. Since the Second World War people have progressively lost the sense of sin―which has provoked one pope after another (both Traditional and Modernist popes) to lament the fact. Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope Pius XII said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin!” Pope John Paul II wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” Pope Benedict XVI stated: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” Pope Francis lamented: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
If we lose the “sense of sin”, then we also lose the notion of the “price of sin”! Holy Scripture says: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) ... “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) ... “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21) ... “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) ... “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) ... “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4) ... “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). We underestimate the effect and consequences of sin―ignoring what our Catechisms tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
It is this death being the deserved wage for sin that Our Lady warns us about at Fatima, saying: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father ... If people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church … Various nations will be annihilated!” On that latter point, Sr. Lucia told Fr. Fuentes: “Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret until 1960. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!”
The Fatima Secret is Essentially the Same as Our Lady's Akita Message
Some years ago, before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger told Howard Dee, who was at that time the Ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See, that the Secret of Fatima corresponds to what is revealed by Our Lady in the Message of Akita in Japan. There Our Lady foretold a great chastisement that would be worse than the great deluge, the flood that is spoken of in the Book of Genesis: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Now that is something that would be truly sensational―a chastisement that is worse than the Great Flood in the time Noe. Pope John Paul II alluded to this aspect of the chastisement contained in the Third Secret of Fatima, when he said in Fulda, Germany, in 1980, of the contents of the “Third Secret” ― “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this―when you read that the oceans will flood entire continents, that from one moment to the next millions of people will suddenly perish, if you know this, it is not truly needed to ask for the publication of this ‘Secret’.” He added: “As on other occasions, the Church was reborn in blood―it will not be different this time!”
A Secret of Two Parts
The personal secretary of Pope John XXIII admitted that there are two envelopes and two texts pertaining to the Third Secret, one of which was lodged, not in the Holy Office archives where the text of the vision was kept, but in the papal apartment from the time of Pius XII through, at least the beginning of, the pontificate of John Paul II.
The Secret consists of two parts: (1) Lucia’s description of a vision of the execution of a Pope, bishops, clergy and other faithful by soldiers outside a city in ruins, and (2) Our Lady’s words explaining the vision and other matters concerning the Church and the world (including a prophecy of apostasy in the Church beginning just after the middle of the twentieth century), which begins with the phrase “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved…”
Father Schweigl, sent on mission by Pius XII to interrogate Sister Lucia concerning the contents of the Secret in 1952: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but can say that it has two parts: One concerns the Pope. The other, logically—although I must say nothing—would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’”
Lucia recorded Our Lady’s words in a letter to her bishop, and the wrote about the vision on notebook paper, which was not addressed to anyone. Lucia’s letter to her bishop containing Our Lady’s actual, verbalized words consists of about 25 lines, while the vision released by the Vatican is 62 lines; the letter was written on a single sheet of paper, separate from the notebook paper Lucia used to write the vision; the account of the vision was written in the notebook on January 3rd, 1944, while the words of Our Lady were written down a few days later―on, or shortly before, January 9th, 1944.
Few Have Read the Secret and a Few Give Us Some Clues
Both documents were placed in separately sealed envelopes, each containing Our Lady’s “express order” that both documents were to be made public in 1960. The envelope containing the vision was delivered on April 4th, 1957. Less than two weeks later the envelope containing the letter was delivered to the Vatican on April 16th, 1957. Subsequently, the envelope containing the letter with Our Lady’s words was stored in the papal apartment, but the account of the vision was stored in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office. Records show that Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II all read the Third Secret on two different dates―which also indicates and proves that there were two different texts on Third Secret. Pope John XXIII read both texts―the letter was read around August 20th, 1959; and the account of the vision was read in 1960. Pope Paul VI read also both texts―the letter on June 27th, 1963 and the account of the vision was read on March 27th, 1965. Pope John Paul II also read both texts―the letter in October 1978 and the account of the vision on July 18th, 1981.
A limited number of persons have read the Third Secret of Fatima―these are some select persons whom the popes have allowed to read the Secret for one reason or another. For example, Pope John XXIII chose to read the Secret in the presence of his confessor and spiritual director. Cardinal Ratzinger had read the Secret before he became Pope (Benedict XVI). Cardinals Bea, Ottaviani, Sodano, Bertone are among some of the cardinals who were allowed to read the Third Secret of Fatima―some of those were Modernists, others Traditional. The Modernist cardinals tried to cover it up, the Traditional cardinals wanted to reveal it―yet all were oblige to take an oath of secrecy before being allowed to read it.
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi — the personal theologian of John Paul II (and of the four popes before him) ― in a personal communication to Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria, reveals that: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
The Third Secret of Fatima was summed up best by Fr. Malachi Martin. The late Fr. Malachi Martin worked in the Vatican. He studied at the Biblicum. He was a vastly learned man. He was secretary to Cardinal Bea―and it was through Bea that he was given the opportunity to read the Secret. Without revealing the Third Secret in detail, Fr. Malachi Martin nevertheless drops some hints. He says: “I was shown a copy of the Third Secret at the time Pope John XXIII opened it and sought the advice of a group of Cardinals in 1960. One of those Cardinals was Augustin Cardinal Bea, and I was his assistant … Material chastisements are already predicted in the second part of the Secret … The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!” After revealing the Secret is “much worse” than a natural disaster, he said it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts.”
Fr. Martin spoke about the exchange he had had with Cardinal Bea, when the Cardinal emerged looking pale as a sheet from the meeting that Pope John XXIII was holding with his advisors: “ ‘What’s wrong, Your Eminence?’ I asked him. ‘We’ve just killed a billion people. Look at this!’ He handed me the single sheet of paper with those 26 lines of handwriting. Since that day, every word of this text has been imprinted indelibly in my mind.”
Cardinal Bea had made the statement about “a billion people” because the Pope had just made the decision not to release the Third Secret, and not to consecrate Russia.
When asked if he could reveal anything more about those “terrible” chastisements, which would kill a billion people, Father Martin explained that, before reading the Secret, he had been required to take an oath not to reveal it, but he did believe it should have been revealed, and that Our Lord and Our Lady wanted people to know about it.
Therefore, he mentioned the Third Secret whenever he could; he would talk around it, giving as much background information about it, and as many hints as he could about it, without revealing the actual text. Thus he proceeded to rattle off very quickly a list of possible calamities, and said that some of these were in the Secret.
Then he said, “You see, there’s going to be a new form of energy. The important thing about this new form of energy is that it will be very cheap. So cheap that it could supply the needs of every man, woman, and child on Earth if it were in the right hands. But it is not in the right hands. It is in the hands of those who will use it to kill and destroy.”
When asked: “You don’t mean our country (America), do you?” And he said: “No! America is evil. We are guilty of many sins. But we are not that evil. Not evil enough to deliberately kill a billion people. We wouldn’t do that. But THEY would!” When asked who are “they”? He wouldn’t say.
Which countries will be hit hardest? He said the chastisement would be worse in some places than in others, but that no one will be able to avoid it. And will it be possible to live through the chastisement? He said thoughtfully, “Yes, but in the greatest misery.” And how are we to tell when these things are about to happen?
“Keep your eyes on the skies,” he said, an admonition he would repeat many, many times. In 1997, he told interviewer Bernard Janzen, “... I think the big factor ... is what happens in the skies ... ‘Keep your eyes on the skies’ is a prudent motto. I think ... Our Lady’s sign is going to appear in the skies, soon. I think ... it is going to come as a shock to everybody. ... I think … the Church is going to be hit hard by what appears in the skies.” “Keep your eyes on the skies” was advice Father Martin gave often.
As a result of the papal refusal to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the specific manner in which it had been commanded, Father Martin said:
• “Cardinals, bishops, and priests are falling like leaves into Hell.”
• “Faith will disappear from countries and continents.”
• “Many of the elect will lose their Faith. Many people, who now believe, will give up in despair. Things will get so bad that if Our Lady did not step in, no one would be saved.”
Secret Summary
In this opening overview of the Third Secret of Fatima, before looking any deeper into the various possibilities and likelihoods of what might be the “nitty-gritty” of the Secret, where the “rubber-meets-the-road” so to speak, the following points can definitely summarize the overview or “big-picture” view of the Secret.
(1) The Third Secret has been written down, by Sr. Lucia, in two separate parts―one part was written in her notebook/spiritual diary, the other part was written in a letter.
(2) The notebook/spiritual diary part of the Secret tells of the vision the seers had of the Pope and the Church. The part of the Secret contained in the letter records the actual words Our Lady spoke on the matter.
(3) From what the witnesses say―those who have actually been privileged to read the Secret (or could we say “Secrets”―since they are in two separate documents)―and from what experts say, the part of the Secret that is found in the notebook/spiritual diary, takes up 62 lines of text. The other part of the Secret, contained in the letter, takes up about 25 lines of text.
(4) The events―or catastrophes, or chastisements―that are prophesied in the Third Secret speak of two kinds of punishment. One aspect is a material and physical punishment that will have many sides to it―for example, fire falling from the sky, floods, physical persecution, killings, wars, diseases, plagues, etc. This will result in various nations being annihilated and wiped-off the face of the Earth―with billions dying in the process (the population at the moment is just short of 8 billion, or 8,000 million). The other aspect is a spiritual aspect―which predominantly concerns the infiltration of the Church by Satan, division within the Church, cardinals turning against cardinals, bishops against bishops, a loss of Faith among the clergy, and a massive apostasy among the general laity of the Church, all of which leads to the greatest spiritual danger and greatest harm of all―which is the damnation of souls.
(5) All of this is not going to happen some time in the distant future―it is happening right now. Hence Our Lady wanted the Third Secret REVEALED TO EVERYONE in 1960. As Sr. Lucia said in 1957 ― (a) we have entered the so-called “Last Days” or “End Times”, and (b) the chastisement is imminent.
(6) This does not mean that the world will end any time soon. No ― this chastisement must come first, Communism must first take over the whole world without exception, all must seem to be lost, then we have to experience the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, after which there will be a time of peace and holiness, but human nature will abuse this time of “peace and plenty” and grow lukewarm and sinful once again, which will lead to another massive apostasy, and the coming of the Antichrist. So the end of the world is on the back-burner, but the chastisement for our day is not just simmering, but is brought to a boil by our sins.
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH OF
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 29th & Friday July 30th
Article 15
The Three Fatima Secrets and YOU!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday July 29th & Friday July 30th
Article 15
The Three Fatima Secrets and YOU!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Secrets of Fatima and Your Life
It is highly unlikely that you have never heard of the Three Secrets of Fatima. You have probably heard a lot about the “Third Secret of Fatima” ― about which you probably know very little about. You should know what the first two Secrets of Fatima are about ― for they are no longer “secrets” ― but the chances are that you would stumble, mumble, “um-and-ah” if you were asked to name them! In fact, Our Lady’s intention was that the Third Secret of Fatima should have been revealed at the time of Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s death, or in the year 1960 ― whichever came first.
In all of this, you might well be tempted to use Our Lord’s words to Our Lady at the Marriage Feast of Cana: “What is that to me and to thee? My [The] hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). Just like most people, you might be of the opinion that the Fatima message in general and the Third Secret of Fatima in particular, is something that is of little or no concern to you―and that you have “bigger fish to fry” or more important things in your life that require you attention. Unfortunately―as hopefully this article will show―there are no “bigger fish to fry” than the “Fatima fish” and there are lot of “fishy” things going on as regards the Third Secret of Fatima. To pretend that the Third Secret of Fatima has no influence, effect or consequence on your life, would be like having cancer in one organ of the body and pretending that this has no effect upon the rest of the body.
We, as Catholics, are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ―disease in one organ automatically affects all the other parts of the Mystical Body in one way or another. Theology teaches that every sin you commit has an effect upon the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ and even the rest of the world―in that God in one way or another punishes everyone your sin (and punishes you more than others). Conversely, it is said that each act of virtue merits a reward for the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ and even the rest of the world.
Just look at the ONE SINGLE SIN of Adam and Eve―it brought death and disorder to the entire world for all time! Every single human being and all the rest of creation are still feeling the effects of Adam and Eve’s Original Sin―thousands of years afterwards.
Disease in the Head
There are many different kinds of diseases of the body. Head injuries are one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults. Within the head, the brain is especially important and also very fragile. The diseases that can affect the brain are many―they include infections, inflammations, seizures, traumas, tumors, strokes, neurodegenerative conditions, dementia, etc. Certain brain diseases and traumas can paralyze the body. This brings to mind the Scriptural quotes: “‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered!’” (Zacharias 13:7). Our Lord refers to this verse when He says: “All you shall be scandalized in Me this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). The head and the heart are the main vulnerable targets if someone is trying to shoot you. Even the Church, in evangelizing the world, knew that if you could convert the king, then it would easier to convert the people that he ruled over.
The enemies of the Church also know this―and so it is that they have sought to infiltrate the Church and seek the highest possible ranks within the Church, so as to destroy her from within. It took nearly two millennia for the enemies of the Catholic Church to realize they could not successfully attack the Church from the outside. Indeed, countless enemies throughout the centuries succeeded only in creating sympathy and martyrs for our Catholic Faith. That all changed in the mid-19th century, when clandestine societies populated by Masons, Modernists and Marxists hatched a plan to subvert the Catholic Church from within. Their goal was to change the Church’s doctrine, liturgy, and mission.
The Secrets of Fatima and Secret Societies
► THE WITNESS OF MONSIGNOR MARIO MARINI: The late Monsignor Mario Marini worked nearly forty years in the Vatican before he died in 2009. He was Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He had previously worked in the Secretariat of State and was office head of the Congregation for the Clergy. In 1996 Monsignor Marini told an old friend of 35 years acquaintance, Fr. Paul Kramer, that the Roman Curia was under Masonic control. He said: “Our hands are tied! We can do nothing―because it is Masons who occupy the key positions.” He reiterated the same thing to Fr. Kramer in October 2008: “We are under Masonic occupation!”
► THE WITNESS OF OUR LADY: Are you surprised? Are you shocked? Are you in disbelief? You shouldn’t be―since Our Lady explicitly told us: ““From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
► THE WITNESS OF POPE PAUL VI: Just to confirm this, remember what Pope Paul VI said on several occasions―that Satan had penetrated the Church and was present in the highest ecclesial positions. On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972, Pope Paul VI said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.”
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later, on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977, Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”, tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
► THE WITNESS OF FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH: Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, commenting upon Pope Paul VI’s statement about the “smoke of Satan” being present in the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972 ... If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … The Devil is gaining ground. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’”
What’s the Point?
Once again, you may protest: “What is that to me and to thee?” Well, it is simply this! Catholics usually get and take their “marching-orders” from up above―Catholics, like the sheep analogy that Our Lord loved to use, will follow their shepherds wherever they are led. If you can corrupt the shepherd, then you can corrupt the sheep. If you can blind the shepherd, then, in effect, you blind sheep―or at least create confused and chaotic sheep, ripe for the slaughter:
“My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains―they have gone from mountain to hill!” (Jeremias 50:6). “Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? … The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost―but you ruled over them with rigor and with a high hand. And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd! And they became the prey of all the beasts of the field and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:2-5). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Understand these things―lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22).
The Fatima Secrets ― 1-2-3
You could―if you wanted to―rename the Fatima “Secrets” and call them the Fatima “Visions”, because it was through those “visions” that the children saw what they saw and heard what they heard. This has to be said since some of the “secrets” were already known.
► FIRST SECRET OF FATIMA ― The first “secret” is not really what we could consider a “secret” in our common understanding of the word. The first secret, or vision, was of Hell. Now the existence of Hell is not really a secret, because we all know about Hell and its existence has been taught for centuries―even before the time of Christ. Yet, at the same time, not everyone has a correct idea or a true notion of Hell. We tend to marginalize Hell, minimize Hell, water-down Hell, underestimate Hell. Our Lady’s act of showing a vision of Hell to the three little children at Fatima, is a re-establishment of a reality that was being ignored, downplayed or forgotten. Lucia wrote that the Blessed Virgin showed the children what Hell was like, complete with the suffering experienced by the souls who are there. The vision lasted only brief moment, but the children say that it was almost unbearable and that they would have died on the spot had it not been for the grace of God keeping them alive.
How many parents regularly teach and remind their children about Hell? Very, very few! How many souls go to Hell? Very, very many! There is no excuse for failing to talk about and teach children about the reality of Hell and the reality that most souls end up going to Hell. Heck! If Our Lady not only talked about Hell, but actually gave three little children―aged 7, 9 and 10―a glimpse of the real Hell, then what excuse do we have for refusing to talk about Hell with our children? Listen to the words of Sr. Lucia herself on the matter: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
“Preach many great truths of salvation”, Blessed Pope Pius IX once told a French priest. “Preach especially about Hell! Let there be no hiding it! Tell the whole truth about Hell, very clearly and out loud! Nothing is more capable of making people think and of bringing poor sinners back to God!”
In her memoirs, Lucia describes the vision of Hell with great realism:
“Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the Earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”
“We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: ‘You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end ―but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father [Lucia presumed that the “extraordinary” aurora borealis during the night of 25th to 26th of January, 1938, was the sign given by God to announce the imminence of war]. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays’”
“Once again, the most Blessed Virgin recommended to us the practice of mortification, and ended by saying: ‘Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them!’”
“In my opinion, it would be pleasing to God and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that, in the book, “Jacinta”, one chapter would be devoted to the subject of Hell. The vision of Hell filled Jacinta with horror to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there [and how much do we complain when things go wrong, instead of offering at a sacrifice?]. Well, I am now going to answer the second question, one which has come to me from various quarters.”
“How is it that Jacinta, small as she was, let herself be possessed by such a spirit of mortification and penance, and understood it so well? I think the reason is this―firstly, God willed to bestow on her a special grace, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, it was because she had looked upon Hell, and had seen the ruin of souls who fall therein.
“Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
“Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: ‘Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!’ Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: ‘O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell! Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!” Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: ‘Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!’”
“At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people! You’ll see how they will be converted!’”
“Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’”
“‘I forgot,’ I answered.”
“‘I didn’t remember either!’ she said, looking very sad.”
“Sometimes, she also asked: ‘What are the sins people commit, for which they go to Hell?’”
“I don’t know! Perhaps the sin of not going to Mass on Sunday, of stealing, of saying ugly words, of cursing and of swearing.”
“So for just one word, then, people can go to Hell?”
“Well―it’s a sin!”
“It wouldn’t be hard for them to keep quiet, and to go to Mass! I’m so sorry for sinners! If only I could show them Hell!”
“Suddenly, she would seize hold of me and say: ‘I’m going to Heaven, but you are staying here! If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they won’t commit any more sins and not go to Hell.’”
“At other times, after thinking for a while, she said: ‘So many people falling into Hell! So many people in Hell!’”
“To quieten her, I said: ‘Don’t be afraid! You’re going to Heaven.’”
“‘Yes, I am,’ she said serenely, ‘but I want all those people to go there too!’”
“When, in a spirit of mortification, she did not want to eat, I said to her: ‘Listen, Jacinta! Come and eat now!’”
“No! I’m offering this sacrifice for sinners who eat too much!”
“When she was ill, and yet went to Mass on a week day, I urged her: ‘Jacinta, don’t come! You can’t, you’re not able. Besides, today is not a Sunday!’”
“That doesn’t matter! I’m going for sinners who don’t go on a Sunday.”
One day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
“Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: ‘Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.’”
“In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian! Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: ‘That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?’”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it – that’s how my mother used to explain it to me – and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?“
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?”
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?”
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?”
“They’re eternal, don’t you see! They never end.”
“That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: ‘But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?’”
“Or again: ‘Those people burning in Hell, don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners, won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!’” (The above italicized quotes were taken from the Memoirs, a book written Sr. Lucia).
Let us once again quote those striking words of Lucia: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
Here too, is the text of her conversation with a Liberal and Modernist priest on the subject of Hell. We are uncomfortable at the thought, much like Fr. Lombardi was uncomfortable, when interviewing Sr. Lucia in 1954, with the thought of many souls being lost in Hell. The interview was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica”, on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Sr. Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.” (Francis Johnston, Fatima—The Great Sign, p. 36).
Just look at how much the politicians, the mainstream media, the doctors, places of work, places of leisure and shopping places are incessantly putting the “dangers” of the Plannedemic before our eyes and up our noses! Not one single day has passed by in the last 20 months without the Plannedemic being covered in the mainstream media EVERY SINGLE DAY and MANY TIMES A DAY, not only in the USA, but THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE WORLD! People are even being threatened with loss of jobs if they do not toe the Plannedemic line by failing to keep the Ten Commandments of the Plannedemic! All of that is being done for a mere virus from which over 99% of people recover! Yet nothing is said of the real virus―the virus of mortal sin―which has infected just about every person on this planet, and from which perhaps only 1% recover, with 99% eventually being damned! Heck! Even if every Catholic was saved, then that would only mean the 16% of the world is saved! Yet the saints, such as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Hilary, St. Isidore, St. John Climacus, St. Bede, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Alphonsus Liguori ― all of whom are not just saints, but also either Fathers or Doctors of the Church―all of them telling us that MOST CATHOLIC SOULS ARE LOST. Therefore that ridiculously optimistic and unreal percentage of 16% is enormously reduced! Yes, it could well be as low as 1% or less of the entire world that is saved! YET NOTHING IS EVER SAID ABOUT IT. NOTHING IS REPORTED BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA THAT PRETENDS TO CARE!
Hey! If can daily―and even many times daily―read or listen, in the interests of our “well-being” and “safety”, to very dubious propaganda about the Plannedemic, about how to avoid catching the virus and dying, then why on earth―or, in view of the subject we are talking about―why the hell can’t we talk about a real danger that has real fatality rate that is out of this world? Let us once again quote those striking words of Lucia: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
► SECOND SECRET OF FATIMA ― The second secret is more along the lines of what we think a secret involves. In this vision, the Blessed Virgin shows the young children a vision in which they learn that the 1914-1918 First World War (which is going on during the time of the visions) will end, however another war, the Second World War (1939-1945), will begin under the papacy of Pope Pius XI (who reigned from 1922 until 1939), unless people stop offending God through sin and Russia is converted. The Blessed Virgin Mary said, in 1929, that the time had arrived for Russia to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. The pope did not do this and so the Second World War arrived as predicted by Our Lady.
There is connection between this Second Secret and the First Secret of Fatima. You could say that “War is Hell on Earth!” War is also a consequence of sin―just as Hell is consequence of sin. Here again, let us turn to the words of Sr. Lucia herself―who is one of the three children to the three secrets were given. Lucia writes in her Memoirs the following:
“God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … God wished to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart; and that to prevent a future war, she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and for the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. Our Lady said to us so sadly: ‘The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI ... To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!’”
“In 1929 Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!’”
“Later, in an intimate communication, Our Lord complained to me, saying: ‘They did not wish to heed my request! ... Like the King of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars, and persecutions of the Church―the Holy Father will have much to suffer!’”
“One day, I went to Jacinta’s house to spend a little while with her. I found her sitting on her bed, deep in thought.
‘Jacinta, what are you thinking about?’”
“About the war that is coming. [This is the Second World War. Jacinta experienced this part of the secret in a mystic way]. So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! Many homes will be destroyed, and many priests will be killed. Look, I am going to Heaven, and as for you, when you see the light which the Lady told us would come one night before the war, you run up there too!”
“Don’t you see that nobody can just run off to Heaven!?”
“That’s true, you cannot! But don’t be afraid! In Heaven I’ll be praying hard for you, for the Holy Father, for Portugal, so that the war will not come here, and for all priests.” [It must be noted that, although at times Portugal was in danger, it was actually spared throughout the entire Second World War].
“Your Excellency [she is writing to the bishop] is not unaware that, a few years ago, God manifested that sign, which astronomers chose to call an aurora borealis. I don’t know for certain, but I think if they investigated the matter, they would discover that, in the form in which it appeared, it could not possibly have been an aurora borealis. Be that as it may, God made use of this to make me understand that His justice was about to strike the guilty nations. For this reason, I began to plead insistently for the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays, and the consecration of Russia. My intention was to obtain mercy and pardon, not only for the whole world, but for Europe in particular.”
“When God, in His infinite mercy, made me feel that the terrible moment was drawing near, Your Excellency may recall how, whenever occasion offered, I took the opportunity of pointing it out. I still say that the prayers and penances, which have been done in Portugal, have not yet appeased the Divine Justice, for they have not been accompanied by either contrition or amendment. I hope that Jacinta is interceding for us in Heaven.
“As I said in the notes that I sent, concerning the book called “Jacinta”, she was most deeply impressed by some of the things revealed to us in the secret. Such was the case with the vision of Hell and the ruin of the many souls who go there, or again, the future war with all its horrors, which seemed to be always present to her mind. These made her tremble with fear. When I saw her deep in thought, and asked her: ‘Jacinta, what are you thinking about?’ she frequently replied: ‘About the war which is coming, and all the people who are going to die and go to Hell! How dreadful! If they would only stop offending God, then there wouldn’t be any war and they wouldn’t go to Hell!’”
In a nutshell―war is a punishment for sin, war is Hell on Earth, and war leads many to Hell because during a time of war the level of morals drops even further, giving way to hatred, killing, violence, rape, looting, and a whole host of other sinful behaviors. In other words, war raises the level of sin, and a higher rate of sin means a higher rate of damned souls. Furthermore, if the war is particularly severe, then many of the modern conveniences, pleasures and sources of sin are also often lost―with power outages, cities left in rubble, destruction of communication channels, shortage of food and water, increase of disease and its resulting death, lack of running water for toilets, no electricity or gas, no refrigeration, no security guarantees, reduced supplies (or no supplies) of gasoline, etc.
The fact that God’s Providence uses war as a punishment for sin. We see this especially in the case of God’s own Chosen People. Originally, the Twelve Tribes of Israel―once they entered the Promised Land―formed one single kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. With the passage of time―due to disagreements, squabbles, selfish self-interest and the like―the kingdom split into two parts. The majority consisted of the ten tribes to the north―which, since they were in the majority, kept the name “Kingdom of Israel”, which became the Northern Kingdom. The minority consisting of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin, became the Southern Kingdom, taking on the name of “Kingdom of Juda”. With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors.
The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers. By God’s punishing Providence, Assyria swallows the northern kingdom of Israel by 722 BC, deporting over 27,000 people from Samaria to far-flung places within the Assyrian Empire. The “10 lost tribes of Israel” officially get lost at this point, as the ten northern tribes find themselves forcefully dispersed. In their place, Assyria seeded the territory of Samaria with Babylonians and other Mesopotamian people, while many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The Jews and Jerusalem were once again punished in the New Testament era, when the Romans put down a Jewish rebellion against Rome in 70 AD, by laying siege to Jerusalem and eventually capturing the city and killing over 1 million Jews, crucifying tens of thousands of them, and totally destroying their Holy Temple to God. Our Lord had foretold that terrible plight for Jerusalem as a consequence of the Jews not knowing the hour of their visitation by God and thereby sinfully rejecting Him and having Him crucified on Calvary: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate ... Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … “For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Matthew 23:37-38; 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
As the saying goes: “He who does not know history, will have to learn it by repeating it!” There may be some debate about the origin of that statement, but there can be no argument over the truth of the statement. Irish statesman Edmund Burke is often misquoted as having said: “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it!” Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the aphorism: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”
If the Chosen People of old were thus chastised for their idolatry, the breaking of God’s Commandments, their forgetfulness of God, and their rejection of Christ and His teachings―then what awaits God’s Chosen People of the New Testament (Catholics)? Just as the Chosen People of old failed to listen to the prophets and their warnings, we, the Chosen People of today have failed to listen to the “Queen of Prophets” and her warnings! Just as God punished them, He has also promised to punish us! “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). As the “Queen of Prophets” said at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
Yes―those who have not learnt from history, will have learn its lessons by repeating history! O fools that we are, imaging ourselves able to ignore God, cast aside His requests, and sin with impunity (no consequences)! War is tied to sin, just like Hell is tied to sin―and War is a foretaste of Hell by creating a Hell on Earth! Is that what we really want? That is what we are going to get for having ignored the remedies offered by God. As Pope John Paul II said at Fulda, Germany, when questioned about the Third Secret of Fatima.
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves.”
“On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
WITH SPACE NOT PERMITTING THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA TO BE TREATED IN THIS ARTICLE, WE WILL WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW IN ORDER TO LOOK AT THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA AND HOW IT APPLIES TO YOU.
It is highly unlikely that you have never heard of the Three Secrets of Fatima. You have probably heard a lot about the “Third Secret of Fatima” ― about which you probably know very little about. You should know what the first two Secrets of Fatima are about ― for they are no longer “secrets” ― but the chances are that you would stumble, mumble, “um-and-ah” if you were asked to name them! In fact, Our Lady’s intention was that the Third Secret of Fatima should have been revealed at the time of Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s death, or in the year 1960 ― whichever came first.
In all of this, you might well be tempted to use Our Lord’s words to Our Lady at the Marriage Feast of Cana: “What is that to me and to thee? My [The] hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). Just like most people, you might be of the opinion that the Fatima message in general and the Third Secret of Fatima in particular, is something that is of little or no concern to you―and that you have “bigger fish to fry” or more important things in your life that require you attention. Unfortunately―as hopefully this article will show―there are no “bigger fish to fry” than the “Fatima fish” and there are lot of “fishy” things going on as regards the Third Secret of Fatima. To pretend that the Third Secret of Fatima has no influence, effect or consequence on your life, would be like having cancer in one organ of the body and pretending that this has no effect upon the rest of the body.
We, as Catholics, are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ―disease in one organ automatically affects all the other parts of the Mystical Body in one way or another. Theology teaches that every sin you commit has an effect upon the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ and even the rest of the world―in that God in one way or another punishes everyone your sin (and punishes you more than others). Conversely, it is said that each act of virtue merits a reward for the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ and even the rest of the world.
Just look at the ONE SINGLE SIN of Adam and Eve―it brought death and disorder to the entire world for all time! Every single human being and all the rest of creation are still feeling the effects of Adam and Eve’s Original Sin―thousands of years afterwards.
Disease in the Head
There are many different kinds of diseases of the body. Head injuries are one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults. Within the head, the brain is especially important and also very fragile. The diseases that can affect the brain are many―they include infections, inflammations, seizures, traumas, tumors, strokes, neurodegenerative conditions, dementia, etc. Certain brain diseases and traumas can paralyze the body. This brings to mind the Scriptural quotes: “‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered!’” (Zacharias 13:7). Our Lord refers to this verse when He says: “All you shall be scandalized in Me this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). The head and the heart are the main vulnerable targets if someone is trying to shoot you. Even the Church, in evangelizing the world, knew that if you could convert the king, then it would easier to convert the people that he ruled over.
The enemies of the Church also know this―and so it is that they have sought to infiltrate the Church and seek the highest possible ranks within the Church, so as to destroy her from within. It took nearly two millennia for the enemies of the Catholic Church to realize they could not successfully attack the Church from the outside. Indeed, countless enemies throughout the centuries succeeded only in creating sympathy and martyrs for our Catholic Faith. That all changed in the mid-19th century, when clandestine societies populated by Masons, Modernists and Marxists hatched a plan to subvert the Catholic Church from within. Their goal was to change the Church’s doctrine, liturgy, and mission.
The Secrets of Fatima and Secret Societies
► THE WITNESS OF MONSIGNOR MARIO MARINI: The late Monsignor Mario Marini worked nearly forty years in the Vatican before he died in 2009. He was Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He had previously worked in the Secretariat of State and was office head of the Congregation for the Clergy. In 1996 Monsignor Marini told an old friend of 35 years acquaintance, Fr. Paul Kramer, that the Roman Curia was under Masonic control. He said: “Our hands are tied! We can do nothing―because it is Masons who occupy the key positions.” He reiterated the same thing to Fr. Kramer in October 2008: “We are under Masonic occupation!”
► THE WITNESS OF OUR LADY: Are you surprised? Are you shocked? Are you in disbelief? You shouldn’t be―since Our Lady explicitly told us: ““From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
► THE WITNESS OF POPE PAUL VI: Just to confirm this, remember what Pope Paul VI said on several occasions―that Satan had penetrated the Church and was present in the highest ecclesial positions. On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972, Pope Paul VI said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.”
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later, on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977, Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”, tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
► THE WITNESS OF FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH: Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, commenting upon Pope Paul VI’s statement about the “smoke of Satan” being present in the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972 ... If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … The Devil is gaining ground. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’”
What’s the Point?
Once again, you may protest: “What is that to me and to thee?” Well, it is simply this! Catholics usually get and take their “marching-orders” from up above―Catholics, like the sheep analogy that Our Lord loved to use, will follow their shepherds wherever they are led. If you can corrupt the shepherd, then you can corrupt the sheep. If you can blind the shepherd, then, in effect, you blind sheep―or at least create confused and chaotic sheep, ripe for the slaughter:
“My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains―they have gone from mountain to hill!” (Jeremias 50:6). “Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? … The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost―but you ruled over them with rigor and with a high hand. And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd! And they became the prey of all the beasts of the field and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:2-5). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Understand these things―lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22).
The Fatima Secrets ― 1-2-3
You could―if you wanted to―rename the Fatima “Secrets” and call them the Fatima “Visions”, because it was through those “visions” that the children saw what they saw and heard what they heard. This has to be said since some of the “secrets” were already known.
► FIRST SECRET OF FATIMA ― The first “secret” is not really what we could consider a “secret” in our common understanding of the word. The first secret, or vision, was of Hell. Now the existence of Hell is not really a secret, because we all know about Hell and its existence has been taught for centuries―even before the time of Christ. Yet, at the same time, not everyone has a correct idea or a true notion of Hell. We tend to marginalize Hell, minimize Hell, water-down Hell, underestimate Hell. Our Lady’s act of showing a vision of Hell to the three little children at Fatima, is a re-establishment of a reality that was being ignored, downplayed or forgotten. Lucia wrote that the Blessed Virgin showed the children what Hell was like, complete with the suffering experienced by the souls who are there. The vision lasted only brief moment, but the children say that it was almost unbearable and that they would have died on the spot had it not been for the grace of God keeping them alive.
How many parents regularly teach and remind their children about Hell? Very, very few! How many souls go to Hell? Very, very many! There is no excuse for failing to talk about and teach children about the reality of Hell and the reality that most souls end up going to Hell. Heck! If Our Lady not only talked about Hell, but actually gave three little children―aged 7, 9 and 10―a glimpse of the real Hell, then what excuse do we have for refusing to talk about Hell with our children? Listen to the words of Sr. Lucia herself on the matter: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
“Preach many great truths of salvation”, Blessed Pope Pius IX once told a French priest. “Preach especially about Hell! Let there be no hiding it! Tell the whole truth about Hell, very clearly and out loud! Nothing is more capable of making people think and of bringing poor sinners back to God!”
In her memoirs, Lucia describes the vision of Hell with great realism:
“Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the Earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”
“We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: ‘You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end ―but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father [Lucia presumed that the “extraordinary” aurora borealis during the night of 25th to 26th of January, 1938, was the sign given by God to announce the imminence of war]. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays’”
“Once again, the most Blessed Virgin recommended to us the practice of mortification, and ended by saying: ‘Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them!’”
“In my opinion, it would be pleasing to God and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that, in the book, “Jacinta”, one chapter would be devoted to the subject of Hell. The vision of Hell filled Jacinta with horror to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there [and how much do we complain when things go wrong, instead of offering at a sacrifice?]. Well, I am now going to answer the second question, one which has come to me from various quarters.”
“How is it that Jacinta, small as she was, let herself be possessed by such a spirit of mortification and penance, and understood it so well? I think the reason is this―firstly, God willed to bestow on her a special grace, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, it was because she had looked upon Hell, and had seen the ruin of souls who fall therein.
“Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
“Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: ‘Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!’ Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: ‘O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell! Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need!” Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: ‘Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!’”
“At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people! You’ll see how they will be converted!’”
“Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’”
“‘I forgot,’ I answered.”
“‘I didn’t remember either!’ she said, looking very sad.”
“Sometimes, she also asked: ‘What are the sins people commit, for which they go to Hell?’”
“I don’t know! Perhaps the sin of not going to Mass on Sunday, of stealing, of saying ugly words, of cursing and of swearing.”
“So for just one word, then, people can go to Hell?”
“Well―it’s a sin!”
“It wouldn’t be hard for them to keep quiet, and to go to Mass! I’m so sorry for sinners! If only I could show them Hell!”
“Suddenly, she would seize hold of me and say: ‘I’m going to Heaven, but you are staying here! If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they won’t commit any more sins and not go to Hell.’”
“At other times, after thinking for a while, she said: ‘So many people falling into Hell! So many people in Hell!’”
“To quieten her, I said: ‘Don’t be afraid! You’re going to Heaven.’”
“‘Yes, I am,’ she said serenely, ‘but I want all those people to go there too!’”
“When, in a spirit of mortification, she did not want to eat, I said to her: ‘Listen, Jacinta! Come and eat now!’”
“No! I’m offering this sacrifice for sinners who eat too much!”
“When she was ill, and yet went to Mass on a week day, I urged her: ‘Jacinta, don’t come! You can’t, you’re not able. Besides, today is not a Sunday!’”
“That doesn’t matter! I’m going for sinners who don’t go on a Sunday.”
One day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
“Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: ‘Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.’”
“In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian! Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: ‘That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?’”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it – that’s how my mother used to explain it to me – and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?“
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?”
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?”
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?”
“They’re eternal, don’t you see! They never end.”
“That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: ‘But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?’”
“Or again: ‘Those people burning in Hell, don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners, won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!’” (The above italicized quotes were taken from the Memoirs, a book written Sr. Lucia).
Let us once again quote those striking words of Lucia: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
Here too, is the text of her conversation with a Liberal and Modernist priest on the subject of Hell. We are uncomfortable at the thought, much like Fr. Lombardi was uncomfortable, when interviewing Sr. Lucia in 1954, with the thought of many souls being lost in Hell. The interview was printed in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica”, on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Sr. Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.” (Francis Johnston, Fatima—The Great Sign, p. 36).
Just look at how much the politicians, the mainstream media, the doctors, places of work, places of leisure and shopping places are incessantly putting the “dangers” of the Plannedemic before our eyes and up our noses! Not one single day has passed by in the last 20 months without the Plannedemic being covered in the mainstream media EVERY SINGLE DAY and MANY TIMES A DAY, not only in the USA, but THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE WORLD! People are even being threatened with loss of jobs if they do not toe the Plannedemic line by failing to keep the Ten Commandments of the Plannedemic! All of that is being done for a mere virus from which over 99% of people recover! Yet nothing is said of the real virus―the virus of mortal sin―which has infected just about every person on this planet, and from which perhaps only 1% recover, with 99% eventually being damned! Heck! Even if every Catholic was saved, then that would only mean the 16% of the world is saved! Yet the saints, such as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Hilary, St. Isidore, St. John Climacus, St. Bede, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Alphonsus Liguori ― all of whom are not just saints, but also either Fathers or Doctors of the Church―all of them telling us that MOST CATHOLIC SOULS ARE LOST. Therefore that ridiculously optimistic and unreal percentage of 16% is enormously reduced! Yes, it could well be as low as 1% or less of the entire world that is saved! YET NOTHING IS EVER SAID ABOUT IT. NOTHING IS REPORTED BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA THAT PRETENDS TO CARE!
Hey! If can daily―and even many times daily―read or listen, in the interests of our “well-being” and “safety”, to very dubious propaganda about the Plannedemic, about how to avoid catching the virus and dying, then why on earth―or, in view of the subject we are talking about―why the hell can’t we talk about a real danger that has real fatality rate that is out of this world? Let us once again quote those striking words of Lucia: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
► SECOND SECRET OF FATIMA ― The second secret is more along the lines of what we think a secret involves. In this vision, the Blessed Virgin shows the young children a vision in which they learn that the 1914-1918 First World War (which is going on during the time of the visions) will end, however another war, the Second World War (1939-1945), will begin under the papacy of Pope Pius XI (who reigned from 1922 until 1939), unless people stop offending God through sin and Russia is converted. The Blessed Virgin Mary said, in 1929, that the time had arrived for Russia to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. The pope did not do this and so the Second World War arrived as predicted by Our Lady.
There is connection between this Second Secret and the First Secret of Fatima. You could say that “War is Hell on Earth!” War is also a consequence of sin―just as Hell is consequence of sin. Here again, let us turn to the words of Sr. Lucia herself―who is one of the three children to the three secrets were given. Lucia writes in her Memoirs the following:
“God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … God wished to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart; and that to prevent a future war, she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and for the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. Our Lady said to us so sadly: ‘The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI ... To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!’”
“In 1929 Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!’”
“Later, in an intimate communication, Our Lord complained to me, saying: ‘They did not wish to heed my request! ... Like the King of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars, and persecutions of the Church―the Holy Father will have much to suffer!’”
“One day, I went to Jacinta’s house to spend a little while with her. I found her sitting on her bed, deep in thought.
‘Jacinta, what are you thinking about?’”
“About the war that is coming. [This is the Second World War. Jacinta experienced this part of the secret in a mystic way]. So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! Many homes will be destroyed, and many priests will be killed. Look, I am going to Heaven, and as for you, when you see the light which the Lady told us would come one night before the war, you run up there too!”
“Don’t you see that nobody can just run off to Heaven!?”
“That’s true, you cannot! But don’t be afraid! In Heaven I’ll be praying hard for you, for the Holy Father, for Portugal, so that the war will not come here, and for all priests.” [It must be noted that, although at times Portugal was in danger, it was actually spared throughout the entire Second World War].
“Your Excellency [she is writing to the bishop] is not unaware that, a few years ago, God manifested that sign, which astronomers chose to call an aurora borealis. I don’t know for certain, but I think if they investigated the matter, they would discover that, in the form in which it appeared, it could not possibly have been an aurora borealis. Be that as it may, God made use of this to make me understand that His justice was about to strike the guilty nations. For this reason, I began to plead insistently for the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays, and the consecration of Russia. My intention was to obtain mercy and pardon, not only for the whole world, but for Europe in particular.”
“When God, in His infinite mercy, made me feel that the terrible moment was drawing near, Your Excellency may recall how, whenever occasion offered, I took the opportunity of pointing it out. I still say that the prayers and penances, which have been done in Portugal, have not yet appeased the Divine Justice, for they have not been accompanied by either contrition or amendment. I hope that Jacinta is interceding for us in Heaven.
“As I said in the notes that I sent, concerning the book called “Jacinta”, she was most deeply impressed by some of the things revealed to us in the secret. Such was the case with the vision of Hell and the ruin of the many souls who go there, or again, the future war with all its horrors, which seemed to be always present to her mind. These made her tremble with fear. When I saw her deep in thought, and asked her: ‘Jacinta, what are you thinking about?’ she frequently replied: ‘About the war which is coming, and all the people who are going to die and go to Hell! How dreadful! If they would only stop offending God, then there wouldn’t be any war and they wouldn’t go to Hell!’”
In a nutshell―war is a punishment for sin, war is Hell on Earth, and war leads many to Hell because during a time of war the level of morals drops even further, giving way to hatred, killing, violence, rape, looting, and a whole host of other sinful behaviors. In other words, war raises the level of sin, and a higher rate of sin means a higher rate of damned souls. Furthermore, if the war is particularly severe, then many of the modern conveniences, pleasures and sources of sin are also often lost―with power outages, cities left in rubble, destruction of communication channels, shortage of food and water, increase of disease and its resulting death, lack of running water for toilets, no electricity or gas, no refrigeration, no security guarantees, reduced supplies (or no supplies) of gasoline, etc.
The fact that God’s Providence uses war as a punishment for sin. We see this especially in the case of God’s own Chosen People. Originally, the Twelve Tribes of Israel―once they entered the Promised Land―formed one single kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. With the passage of time―due to disagreements, squabbles, selfish self-interest and the like―the kingdom split into two parts. The majority consisted of the ten tribes to the north―which, since they were in the majority, kept the name “Kingdom of Israel”, which became the Northern Kingdom. The minority consisting of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin, became the Southern Kingdom, taking on the name of “Kingdom of Juda”. With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors.
The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers. By God’s punishing Providence, Assyria swallows the northern kingdom of Israel by 722 BC, deporting over 27,000 people from Samaria to far-flung places within the Assyrian Empire. The “10 lost tribes of Israel” officially get lost at this point, as the ten northern tribes find themselves forcefully dispersed. In their place, Assyria seeded the territory of Samaria with Babylonians and other Mesopotamian people, while many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The Jews and Jerusalem were once again punished in the New Testament era, when the Romans put down a Jewish rebellion against Rome in 70 AD, by laying siege to Jerusalem and eventually capturing the city and killing over 1 million Jews, crucifying tens of thousands of them, and totally destroying their Holy Temple to God. Our Lord had foretold that terrible plight for Jerusalem as a consequence of the Jews not knowing the hour of their visitation by God and thereby sinfully rejecting Him and having Him crucified on Calvary: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate ... Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … “For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Matthew 23:37-38; 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
As the saying goes: “He who does not know history, will have to learn it by repeating it!” There may be some debate about the origin of that statement, but there can be no argument over the truth of the statement. Irish statesman Edmund Burke is often misquoted as having said: “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it!” Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the aphorism: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”
If the Chosen People of old were thus chastised for their idolatry, the breaking of God’s Commandments, their forgetfulness of God, and their rejection of Christ and His teachings―then what awaits God’s Chosen People of the New Testament (Catholics)? Just as the Chosen People of old failed to listen to the prophets and their warnings, we, the Chosen People of today have failed to listen to the “Queen of Prophets” and her warnings! Just as God punished them, He has also promised to punish us! “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). As the “Queen of Prophets” said at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
Yes―those who have not learnt from history, will have learn its lessons by repeating history! O fools that we are, imaging ourselves able to ignore God, cast aside His requests, and sin with impunity (no consequences)! War is tied to sin, just like Hell is tied to sin―and War is a foretaste of Hell by creating a Hell on Earth! Is that what we really want? That is what we are going to get for having ignored the remedies offered by God. As Pope John Paul II said at Fulda, Germany, when questioned about the Third Secret of Fatima.
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves.”
“On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
WITH SPACE NOT PERMITTING THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA TO BE TREATED IN THIS ARTICLE, WE WILL WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW IN ORDER TO LOOK AT THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA AND HOW IT APPLIES TO YOU.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday July 27th & Wednesday July 28th
Article 14
Want to Know a Secret? What's the Secret?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday July 27th & Wednesday July 28th
Article 14
Want to Know a Secret? What's the Secret?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Psst! Want to Know a Secret?
The definition of a “secret” is “something that is not known or seen and is not meant to be known or seen by others; kept from knowledge or view; something that is done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others; kept from the knowledge of anyone, except the initiated or the privileged; a piece of information that is only known by one person or a few people and should not be told to others, etc.”
People love secrets. Secrets make you feel special. They make the possessor of the secret feel privileged and powerful―they have something that most people do not have, they know something most people do not know. Secrets make you feel that you are worthy of other person’s trust―so it places you above other persons who are not worthy of being trusted. It puts a feather in your cap. It makes you feel that you have a non-superficial bond with someone. They make you feel competent in interpersonal relationships. In turn, you feel great about yourself. The sensitive and high value nature of information which becomes a secret also adds a little spices to your mental space.
Secret Life
The world and our lives are more secretive than we at first imagine! Governments keep things secret (hidden) from their own citizens and foreign governments. Spies are employed to uncover those secrets. Nations seek to undermine other nations in secret. Attorneys keep secret (hidden) things they know about their clients. Priests keep secret (hidden) the sins they hear in confession. A family keeps the sins of the family secret. Almost every individual person keeps their own personal sins secret. We keep our financial affairs a secret―at least to a large degree. We keep our best recipes a secret. We keep secret how we manage to do many things. Companies keep secrets from their competitors. Governments have intelligence agencies called the “Secret Service”. We have organizations, called “Secret Societies” (such as the Freemasons), which have been condemned by the Church and who also have their own devilish secrets.
The Secrets of God and Our Lord
In the religious domain, Holy Scripture also speaks of the “Secret things of the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29) and “the Lord God doth nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
► We speak of Our Lord’s “hidden life” (secret life) of 30 years in Nazareth, before the start of His public ministry. Even Christ kept secrets: “It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in His own power!” (Acts 1:7). “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away. But of that day or hour, no man knoweth―neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father! Take ye heed―watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:31-33). Yet Jesus did reveal some secrets to them: “Jesus said to them: ‘To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given!’” (Matthew 13:11).
► Jesus even acted in secret: “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. And the brethren of Jesus said to Him: ‘Go from here and go into Judea; so that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost! For no man who seeks to be known does anything in secret! If thou do these things, go and manifest thyself to the world!’ For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them: ‘My time is not yet come! Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day, because my time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up, then He also went up to the feast―not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:2-10).
► Our Lord also commands us to do good works in secret and to pray in secret: “When thou dost give an alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be given in secret, and thy Father, Who seeth in secret, will repay thee! … When thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber and, having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret―and thy Father, Who seeth in secret, will repay thee!” (Matthew 6:3-4).
Our Lady’s Secrets
► In 1846, the Blessed Virgin appeared at La Salette in France, to two little shepherds, Melanie and Maximin, giving them a “public message”. She then confided to each of the two children a further message―a special secret. These two secrets―which Melanie or Maximin never made known to each other―were eventually sent by them to Pius IX in 1851, on the advice of Mgr. de Bruillard. It is unknown what impressions these mysterious revelations made on the pope. Maximin’s secret is not known―for it was never published. Melanie’s secret was inserted in its entirety in brochure―which she herself had printed in 1879 at Lecce, Italy―with the approval of the bishop of that town.
► In 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, on 18 separate occasions―from February 11th to July 16th. The first secret that was entrusted to St. Bernadette was during the 7th Apparition on February 23th, 1858. This secret was only for her alone and was never revealed to anyone. On March 1st, during the 12th apparition, the Lady entrusted three more secrets to Bernadette with this express directive, “I forbid you to tell this to anyone!”
► In 1917, the Blessed Virgin appeared on 6 separate occasions to the three shepherd children of Fatima. During the apparitions of Fatima between May and October 1917, the Virgin Mary entrusted three child shepherds with three secrets. The first secret was a vision of Hell that deeply shocked the little children. Though the vision lasted for only a moment, it was enough to never forget. The second secret was prophetic. Our Lady told the three shepherd children that if men did not stop offending God, the Second World War would begin. She also announced the expansion of Communism throughout the world by means of Russia, and the consequent persecution of the Church and pope. To avoid these evils, the Blessed Mother asked for the devotion to her Immaculate Heart to be established throughout the world and for the pope himself to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The third secret is the most controversial of all of them. It was so horrific that Sr. Lucia―even as a grown woman―did not want to write down the contents of the third secret. It has never been revealed in its entirety and many educated Fatima experts are of the opinion that it concerns not only global catastrophes, but also a massive apostasy from the Catholic Church, which will have its beginnings at the very top of the Church.
Sharing Secrets
Coming back to the definition of a “secret” as being “something that is not known or seen and is not meant to be known or seen by others; kept from knowledge or view; something that is done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others; kept from the knowledge of anyone, except the initiated or the privileged; a piece of information that is only known by one person or a few people and should not be told to others, etc.” ― there is just no way that we can fully know what God has in store for the world right now, nor can we know to what extent mankind is sinning and what degree of punishment mankind deserves.
Yet Our Lady has divulged part of that secret to us through Blessed Elena Aiello, a mystic, stigmatist and founder of the Minim Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. On December 8th, 1956, Our Lady revealed to Elena that: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Additionally, Our Lord also revealed at Akita in Japan, in 1973, that: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
The Moral Collapse of the World is No Secret
That seems to answer any over-optimistic and delusional doubts we might have had about the moral and spiritual state of the world at the present time―for those words of Our Lady were spoken in 1956 and 1973, that is to say, 65 and 48 years ago. The world has become much worse in the meantime―for back then legalized abortion had not sprung onto the scene, divorces were nowhere near as high as they are today, pornography and the internet had not yet invaded the homes, homosexuality was not legally protected, etc. There is no secret in the fact that prince of this world―Satan―has succeeded in chaining most of mankind to himself. The celebrated and recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, is on record as saying:
“The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Satan’s Secret Staff
Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), is not doing his work dressed in a red costume, complete with tail and pointed beard, while carrying a pitchfork. Just as Christ works by the means and manpower of His Church on Earth, Satan and the devils work by the means and manpower of their stooges on Earth. As Fr. Amorth states above, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world … The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office” and “Yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican!” Do not, for one single second, imagine that the devils only work “part-time” in this world! They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have done so since they fell from grace into Hell. The devils are constantly seeking willing or naïve dupes that they can recruit to do their dirty work in the world. As Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). As Fr. Amorth says: “The demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry!” Secrecy is of paramount importance to the devils, so that they can carry out their work undetected.
Do not fool yourself―today’s world is almost exclusively Satan’s world! As Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette warned well in advance: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God [cf. Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
Our Lady of Akita adds: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.” Those words of Our Lady, spoken in 1973, were already confirmed by Pope Paul VI.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack―no, it is not mysterious―from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Are You Secretly Worried?
The question has to be asked: “Are you secretly worried about the state of the world? Or are you complacently munching away on your donuts, sipping your café-a-latte, or beer or wine, with TV remote in hand as you surf the channels or surf the web, and simply get on with the things that really interest you in life?” Sadly, such an attitude is not a rarity―for as Our Lady lamented: “The love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! People will think of nothing but amusement! … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God! There will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost! … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … And in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
Deafening Silence!
What an understatement! “Those who should speak will fall silent!” That silence is deafening! Silence in the pulpit! Silence in the Catholic school! Silence in the Catholic home and family! Silence in oneself! The preaching, the teaching, the conversations have all been sanitized and masked-up! You must socially-distance yourself from anyone who dares to speak the truth and point out the reality of the state that the world and souls find themselves in today! The world is approaching the greatest crisis it has even known―and that is what Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and prophets are telling us―and yet we live as though everything was “hunky-dory” and as if there was very little to worry about! Of such people Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, so that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:18). “Lift up your eyes [from your smartphones and computer screens] on high, and see!” (Isaias 40:26). “Be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see!” (Deuteronomy 28:34).
“Those who should speak will fall silent!” What are we talking about at table, at our socials and picnics, at school, in the workplace? Our Lady of Fatima indicated―already BACK IN 1917―that we have entered the “End-Times” or “Last-Days.” As Holy Scripture says: “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times!” (2 Timothy 3:1). Yet the words that we speak are all about fun, entertainment, movies and television shows, sports, fashions, hobbies, home-projects, etc. As Sister Lucia lamented in 1957: the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue without paying attention to this Message―for they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. The bad people―that is to say sinners―because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yadda! Yadda! Yadda! Blah! Blah! Blah! That is the response of most Catholics―either explicitly or implicitly.
Sounding the Trumpet!
Catholics should be sounding the proverbial trumpet―regardless of what other people might think or say. There is too much human respect amongst us, too much fear about rocking the boat, we are too worried about what others might think or say! As Our Lady of Good Success rebuked: “O cursed human respect! ― which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” Holy Scripture warns us about this neglect of “sounding the trumpet” when danger is present: “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him [YOU] a watchman over them, and he [YOU] see the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and so tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself―so his blood shall be upon him! But if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman [YOU] sees the sword coming, and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and then the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then that person indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman [YOU]. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it to them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:2-7).
We, Catholics, have been made to be the “watchmen” over the world ― “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, except to be cast out and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
Censorship of the Truth and Trumpets
There is already enough censorship at the present moment―and the obligatory Plannedemic masking policy merely reflects the underlying truth “masking” or truth “gagging” policy that seems to been implemented worldwide. With all this going on―why are we censoring ourselves, masking the truth from ourselves and others?
There are a whole lot of secrets and secretive actions going on that are not good, that are not of God, and that are not for the benefit of souls and eternal life, and not even beneficial to people in this life. With this recent “Plannedemic” the levels of secrecy have sky-rocketed. The evil “powers that be”―or call them the “Money Men”, or “The Elite”, or “The Puppet Masters” or whatever other name you would like call them―are hell-bent on keeping secret the real agenda behind the “Plannedemic”. To protect their secrets, they resort to tactics of confusion in order to throw people off the scent. Hence the secondary pandemic of lies, half-truths, exaggerations, partial truths, bad data, false claims, misrepresentations, censorship, counter-allegations, and a ton of other stuff that all leads to what could be called “information constipation”―meaning that the “powers that be” use the multiple mainstream media outlets they own in order to feed the gullible, naïve, information addicted public (or “sheeple”) a mountain of confusing information that is all taken in, but then just rots in the mind with no outlet or action possible―hence, “information constipation”. The mind merely gets bloated with all the incoming information and can no longer properly digest it.
For example, the best way to overcome truth is my mockery―and so they call it a “conspiracy theory”. In addition to that, the “powers that be” also arrange for some really whacky “conspiracy theories” to be created, which are deliberately made to sound ridiculous and totally crazy or absurd. They then publish these deliberately created crazy theories in order to discredit the truth (or true “conspiracy theories”) by the law of association―which seeks to convince the public that if “crazy conspiracy theories” A, B, C and D are ludicrous, crazy, insane, illogical, etc., then all conspiracy theories must likewise be ludicrous, crazy, insane, illogical, etc. This is akin to or similar to the so-called “false-flag” operations that seek to discredit an opponent or an enemy.
This has been the ploy on the internet in general and with social media in particular―where censorship is currently taking place by interfering with, or blocking, or eliminating those websites or social media platforms that refuse to “buy the lie” and insist on blowing the trumpet for truth. This is typical symptom of Communism, which seeks to rule by fear and by lies. As Our Lady warned, Communism will spread and will take over the WHOLE world. We are seeing that happen right now! Yet―like the proverbial frog in the slowly heated pan of water―we will not jump out, because the temperature is being increased ever so slowly. The world is gradually being forced to make one psychological submission after another. First you believe the virus propaganda―then you wear the mask―then you socially distance―then you self-isolate―then you accept lockdowns―then you believe the vaccine propaganda―then you accept the tactic of “no jab, no job”―then you accept the vaccine―and then the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one!
What is kept secret―or what they TRIED to keep secret―is the following:
(1) They hide the fact that over 99% of people recover from the virus with the help of their own God-given immune system.
(2) They hide the fact that masks IN NO WAY filter out the virus―it is like trying to catch mosquitoes with a basketball net.
(3) They hide the fact the ventilators make matters worse and not better, by severely damaging the lungs.
(4) They hide the fact that they misrepresented the cause of death on countless death certificates, blaming as much as possible on the virus―to the point where traditional numbers of deaths through cancer, heart disease, influenza, pneumonia, etc. plummeted dramatically, while the COVID numbers shot through the roof.
(5) They hide the fact that many existing medicines were already capable of handling the virus―because they have this worldwide vaccination agenda.
(6) They hide the fact that those who die from the virus are mainly over 80 years old)―anywhere from 80% to 90%, and most people over 65 have comorbidities (other major illnesses) which are already leading to their death. Bear in mind, the worldwide average life-expectancy, according to the World Health Organization, is 73 years of age―with Japan coming out top with 84 and the USA in 40th place with 78.
(7) They hide the fact that the annual death rates in most countries are pretty much the same as they have been for years on end.
(8) They hide what is actually put into the vaccine and the deadly consequences of it.
(9) They hide the real numbers of complications and deaths that have resulted from the vaccine.
The list could go on and on! All of the above is just a tiny extract, the “tip-of-the-iceberg”, on what could be written and what has been written in thousands of books and articles. We have been living in a highly organized, carefully planned, painstakingly executed, craftily covered-up era of disinformation, misinformation, hidden information and partial information―which you could proverbially call “smoke-and-mirrors”, or, to use a very common four-letter word, LIES. It has been going on and relentlessly increasing for many decades―you could even say for a century or more―to the point where modern technology has made it universal, easy to manufacture and even easier to control. It is in this light that you need to look and the famous (or infamous) statement made by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, when briefing the newly elected President Reagan in February of 1981. When asked about the general objectives of the CIA, Casey replied: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” That is merely another way of saying: “We will keep secret and hide the truth from the American public and feed them lies instead!”
“Fake news” did not begin when President Trump started labeling a lot of mainstream news with the label “fake”― “Fake News” has been around as long as the mainstream press has been around. Lies are part of the DNA of Satan and his devils―and lies are one of the first things that Satan contaminates us with, even from childhood. As Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4). The mainstream media is not God-centered, it is not “owned” by God, but by the enemies of God―which is the world, with its prince, the devil, and the worldly minions of the devil, the mega-rich. Riches are a danger sign! Christ speaks against riches when He says: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
The point is that they are keeping the truth secret and are peddling lies. Those who tell the truth are censored and labeled as being liars! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘You do the works of your father! … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 8:41-44).
Dark Secrets of Secret Plots Shall Be Trumpeted from Housetops!
We are afraid of the censorship, we are afraid of reprisals, we are afraid of being forcefully restricted, we are afraid of being ostracized and labeled! We are afraid of this clearly evident worldwide enemy, which is nothing other than the worldwide takeover by Communism foretold by Our Lady. We are afraid! Yet Our Lord says: “Fear them not! For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed: nor hid, that shall not be known. That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light: and that which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:26-29). “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees [Politicians] ― which is hypocrisy! For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor anything hidden, that shall not be known. For whatsoever things have been spoken in darkness, they shall be published in the light! And that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, that shall be preached on the housetops! And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, has the power to cast into Hell! Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:1-5).
The definition of a “secret” is “something that is not known or seen and is not meant to be known or seen by others; kept from knowledge or view; something that is done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others; kept from the knowledge of anyone, except the initiated or the privileged; a piece of information that is only known by one person or a few people and should not be told to others, etc.”
People love secrets. Secrets make you feel special. They make the possessor of the secret feel privileged and powerful―they have something that most people do not have, they know something most people do not know. Secrets make you feel that you are worthy of other person’s trust―so it places you above other persons who are not worthy of being trusted. It puts a feather in your cap. It makes you feel that you have a non-superficial bond with someone. They make you feel competent in interpersonal relationships. In turn, you feel great about yourself. The sensitive and high value nature of information which becomes a secret also adds a little spices to your mental space.
Secret Life
The world and our lives are more secretive than we at first imagine! Governments keep things secret (hidden) from their own citizens and foreign governments. Spies are employed to uncover those secrets. Nations seek to undermine other nations in secret. Attorneys keep secret (hidden) things they know about their clients. Priests keep secret (hidden) the sins they hear in confession. A family keeps the sins of the family secret. Almost every individual person keeps their own personal sins secret. We keep our financial affairs a secret―at least to a large degree. We keep our best recipes a secret. We keep secret how we manage to do many things. Companies keep secrets from their competitors. Governments have intelligence agencies called the “Secret Service”. We have organizations, called “Secret Societies” (such as the Freemasons), which have been condemned by the Church and who also have their own devilish secrets.
The Secrets of God and Our Lord
In the religious domain, Holy Scripture also speaks of the “Secret things of the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29) and “the Lord God doth nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
► We speak of Our Lord’s “hidden life” (secret life) of 30 years in Nazareth, before the start of His public ministry. Even Christ kept secrets: “It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in His own power!” (Acts 1:7). “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away. But of that day or hour, no man knoweth―neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father! Take ye heed―watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:31-33). Yet Jesus did reveal some secrets to them: “Jesus said to them: ‘To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given!’” (Matthew 13:11).
► Jesus even acted in secret: “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. And the brethren of Jesus said to Him: ‘Go from here and go into Judea; so that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost! For no man who seeks to be known does anything in secret! If thou do these things, go and manifest thyself to the world!’ For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them: ‘My time is not yet come! Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day, because my time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up, then He also went up to the feast―not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:2-10).
► Our Lord also commands us to do good works in secret and to pray in secret: “When thou dost give an alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be given in secret, and thy Father, Who seeth in secret, will repay thee! … When thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber and, having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret―and thy Father, Who seeth in secret, will repay thee!” (Matthew 6:3-4).
Our Lady’s Secrets
► In 1846, the Blessed Virgin appeared at La Salette in France, to two little shepherds, Melanie and Maximin, giving them a “public message”. She then confided to each of the two children a further message―a special secret. These two secrets―which Melanie or Maximin never made known to each other―were eventually sent by them to Pius IX in 1851, on the advice of Mgr. de Bruillard. It is unknown what impressions these mysterious revelations made on the pope. Maximin’s secret is not known―for it was never published. Melanie’s secret was inserted in its entirety in brochure―which she herself had printed in 1879 at Lecce, Italy―with the approval of the bishop of that town.
► In 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, on 18 separate occasions―from February 11th to July 16th. The first secret that was entrusted to St. Bernadette was during the 7th Apparition on February 23th, 1858. This secret was only for her alone and was never revealed to anyone. On March 1st, during the 12th apparition, the Lady entrusted three more secrets to Bernadette with this express directive, “I forbid you to tell this to anyone!”
► In 1917, the Blessed Virgin appeared on 6 separate occasions to the three shepherd children of Fatima. During the apparitions of Fatima between May and October 1917, the Virgin Mary entrusted three child shepherds with three secrets. The first secret was a vision of Hell that deeply shocked the little children. Though the vision lasted for only a moment, it was enough to never forget. The second secret was prophetic. Our Lady told the three shepherd children that if men did not stop offending God, the Second World War would begin. She also announced the expansion of Communism throughout the world by means of Russia, and the consequent persecution of the Church and pope. To avoid these evils, the Blessed Mother asked for the devotion to her Immaculate Heart to be established throughout the world and for the pope himself to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The third secret is the most controversial of all of them. It was so horrific that Sr. Lucia―even as a grown woman―did not want to write down the contents of the third secret. It has never been revealed in its entirety and many educated Fatima experts are of the opinion that it concerns not only global catastrophes, but also a massive apostasy from the Catholic Church, which will have its beginnings at the very top of the Church.
Sharing Secrets
Coming back to the definition of a “secret” as being “something that is not known or seen and is not meant to be known or seen by others; kept from knowledge or view; something that is done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others; kept from the knowledge of anyone, except the initiated or the privileged; a piece of information that is only known by one person or a few people and should not be told to others, etc.” ― there is just no way that we can fully know what God has in store for the world right now, nor can we know to what extent mankind is sinning and what degree of punishment mankind deserves.
Yet Our Lady has divulged part of that secret to us through Blessed Elena Aiello, a mystic, stigmatist and founder of the Minim Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. On December 8th, 1956, Our Lady revealed to Elena that: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Additionally, Our Lord also revealed at Akita in Japan, in 1973, that: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
The Moral Collapse of the World is No Secret
That seems to answer any over-optimistic and delusional doubts we might have had about the moral and spiritual state of the world at the present time―for those words of Our Lady were spoken in 1956 and 1973, that is to say, 65 and 48 years ago. The world has become much worse in the meantime―for back then legalized abortion had not sprung onto the scene, divorces were nowhere near as high as they are today, pornography and the internet had not yet invaded the homes, homosexuality was not legally protected, etc. There is no secret in the fact that prince of this world―Satan―has succeeded in chaining most of mankind to himself. The celebrated and recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, is on record as saying:
“The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Satan’s Secret Staff
Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), is not doing his work dressed in a red costume, complete with tail and pointed beard, while carrying a pitchfork. Just as Christ works by the means and manpower of His Church on Earth, Satan and the devils work by the means and manpower of their stooges on Earth. As Fr. Amorth states above, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world … The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office” and “Yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican!” Do not, for one single second, imagine that the devils only work “part-time” in this world! They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have done so since they fell from grace into Hell. The devils are constantly seeking willing or naïve dupes that they can recruit to do their dirty work in the world. As Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). As Fr. Amorth says: “The demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry!” Secrecy is of paramount importance to the devils, so that they can carry out their work undetected.
Do not fool yourself―today’s world is almost exclusively Satan’s world! As Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette warned well in advance: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God [cf. Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
Our Lady of Akita adds: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.” Those words of Our Lady, spoken in 1973, were already confirmed by Pope Paul VI.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack―no, it is not mysterious―from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Are You Secretly Worried?
The question has to be asked: “Are you secretly worried about the state of the world? Or are you complacently munching away on your donuts, sipping your café-a-latte, or beer or wine, with TV remote in hand as you surf the channels or surf the web, and simply get on with the things that really interest you in life?” Sadly, such an attitude is not a rarity―for as Our Lady lamented: “The love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth! People will think of nothing but amusement! … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God! There will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost! … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! … And in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
Deafening Silence!
What an understatement! “Those who should speak will fall silent!” That silence is deafening! Silence in the pulpit! Silence in the Catholic school! Silence in the Catholic home and family! Silence in oneself! The preaching, the teaching, the conversations have all been sanitized and masked-up! You must socially-distance yourself from anyone who dares to speak the truth and point out the reality of the state that the world and souls find themselves in today! The world is approaching the greatest crisis it has even known―and that is what Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and prophets are telling us―and yet we live as though everything was “hunky-dory” and as if there was very little to worry about! Of such people Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, so that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:18). “Lift up your eyes [from your smartphones and computer screens] on high, and see!” (Isaias 40:26). “Be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see!” (Deuteronomy 28:34).
“Those who should speak will fall silent!” What are we talking about at table, at our socials and picnics, at school, in the workplace? Our Lady of Fatima indicated―already BACK IN 1917―that we have entered the “End-Times” or “Last-Days.” As Holy Scripture says: “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times!” (2 Timothy 3:1). Yet the words that we speak are all about fun, entertainment, movies and television shows, sports, fashions, hobbies, home-projects, etc. As Sister Lucia lamented in 1957: the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue without paying attention to this Message―for they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. The bad people―that is to say sinners―because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yadda! Yadda! Yadda! Blah! Blah! Blah! That is the response of most Catholics―either explicitly or implicitly.
Sounding the Trumpet!
Catholics should be sounding the proverbial trumpet―regardless of what other people might think or say. There is too much human respect amongst us, too much fear about rocking the boat, we are too worried about what others might think or say! As Our Lady of Good Success rebuked: “O cursed human respect! ― which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” Holy Scripture warns us about this neglect of “sounding the trumpet” when danger is present: “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him [YOU] a watchman over them, and he [YOU] see the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and so tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself―so his blood shall be upon him! But if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman [YOU] sees the sword coming, and does not sound the trumpet, so that the people do not look to themselves, and then the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then that person indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman [YOU]. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it to them from Me!” (Ezechiel 33:2-7).
We, Catholics, have been made to be the “watchmen” over the world ― “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, except to be cast out and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
Censorship of the Truth and Trumpets
There is already enough censorship at the present moment―and the obligatory Plannedemic masking policy merely reflects the underlying truth “masking” or truth “gagging” policy that seems to been implemented worldwide. With all this going on―why are we censoring ourselves, masking the truth from ourselves and others?
There are a whole lot of secrets and secretive actions going on that are not good, that are not of God, and that are not for the benefit of souls and eternal life, and not even beneficial to people in this life. With this recent “Plannedemic” the levels of secrecy have sky-rocketed. The evil “powers that be”―or call them the “Money Men”, or “The Elite”, or “The Puppet Masters” or whatever other name you would like call them―are hell-bent on keeping secret the real agenda behind the “Plannedemic”. To protect their secrets, they resort to tactics of confusion in order to throw people off the scent. Hence the secondary pandemic of lies, half-truths, exaggerations, partial truths, bad data, false claims, misrepresentations, censorship, counter-allegations, and a ton of other stuff that all leads to what could be called “information constipation”―meaning that the “powers that be” use the multiple mainstream media outlets they own in order to feed the gullible, naïve, information addicted public (or “sheeple”) a mountain of confusing information that is all taken in, but then just rots in the mind with no outlet or action possible―hence, “information constipation”. The mind merely gets bloated with all the incoming information and can no longer properly digest it.
For example, the best way to overcome truth is my mockery―and so they call it a “conspiracy theory”. In addition to that, the “powers that be” also arrange for some really whacky “conspiracy theories” to be created, which are deliberately made to sound ridiculous and totally crazy or absurd. They then publish these deliberately created crazy theories in order to discredit the truth (or true “conspiracy theories”) by the law of association―which seeks to convince the public that if “crazy conspiracy theories” A, B, C and D are ludicrous, crazy, insane, illogical, etc., then all conspiracy theories must likewise be ludicrous, crazy, insane, illogical, etc. This is akin to or similar to the so-called “false-flag” operations that seek to discredit an opponent or an enemy.
This has been the ploy on the internet in general and with social media in particular―where censorship is currently taking place by interfering with, or blocking, or eliminating those websites or social media platforms that refuse to “buy the lie” and insist on blowing the trumpet for truth. This is typical symptom of Communism, which seeks to rule by fear and by lies. As Our Lady warned, Communism will spread and will take over the WHOLE world. We are seeing that happen right now! Yet―like the proverbial frog in the slowly heated pan of water―we will not jump out, because the temperature is being increased ever so slowly. The world is gradually being forced to make one psychological submission after another. First you believe the virus propaganda―then you wear the mask―then you socially distance―then you self-isolate―then you accept lockdowns―then you believe the vaccine propaganda―then you accept the tactic of “no jab, no job”―then you accept the vaccine―and then the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one!
What is kept secret―or what they TRIED to keep secret―is the following:
(1) They hide the fact that over 99% of people recover from the virus with the help of their own God-given immune system.
(2) They hide the fact that masks IN NO WAY filter out the virus―it is like trying to catch mosquitoes with a basketball net.
(3) They hide the fact the ventilators make matters worse and not better, by severely damaging the lungs.
(4) They hide the fact that they misrepresented the cause of death on countless death certificates, blaming as much as possible on the virus―to the point where traditional numbers of deaths through cancer, heart disease, influenza, pneumonia, etc. plummeted dramatically, while the COVID numbers shot through the roof.
(5) They hide the fact that many existing medicines were already capable of handling the virus―because they have this worldwide vaccination agenda.
(6) They hide the fact that those who die from the virus are mainly over 80 years old)―anywhere from 80% to 90%, and most people over 65 have comorbidities (other major illnesses) which are already leading to their death. Bear in mind, the worldwide average life-expectancy, according to the World Health Organization, is 73 years of age―with Japan coming out top with 84 and the USA in 40th place with 78.
(7) They hide the fact that the annual death rates in most countries are pretty much the same as they have been for years on end.
(8) They hide what is actually put into the vaccine and the deadly consequences of it.
(9) They hide the real numbers of complications and deaths that have resulted from the vaccine.
The list could go on and on! All of the above is just a tiny extract, the “tip-of-the-iceberg”, on what could be written and what has been written in thousands of books and articles. We have been living in a highly organized, carefully planned, painstakingly executed, craftily covered-up era of disinformation, misinformation, hidden information and partial information―which you could proverbially call “smoke-and-mirrors”, or, to use a very common four-letter word, LIES. It has been going on and relentlessly increasing for many decades―you could even say for a century or more―to the point where modern technology has made it universal, easy to manufacture and even easier to control. It is in this light that you need to look and the famous (or infamous) statement made by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, when briefing the newly elected President Reagan in February of 1981. When asked about the general objectives of the CIA, Casey replied: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” That is merely another way of saying: “We will keep secret and hide the truth from the American public and feed them lies instead!”
“Fake news” did not begin when President Trump started labeling a lot of mainstream news with the label “fake”― “Fake News” has been around as long as the mainstream press has been around. Lies are part of the DNA of Satan and his devils―and lies are one of the first things that Satan contaminates us with, even from childhood. As Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4). The mainstream media is not God-centered, it is not “owned” by God, but by the enemies of God―which is the world, with its prince, the devil, and the worldly minions of the devil, the mega-rich. Riches are a danger sign! Christ speaks against riches when He says: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
The point is that they are keeping the truth secret and are peddling lies. Those who tell the truth are censored and labeled as being liars! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘You do the works of your father! … You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!’” (John 8:41-44).
Dark Secrets of Secret Plots Shall Be Trumpeted from Housetops!
We are afraid of the censorship, we are afraid of reprisals, we are afraid of being forcefully restricted, we are afraid of being ostracized and labeled! We are afraid of this clearly evident worldwide enemy, which is nothing other than the worldwide takeover by Communism foretold by Our Lady. We are afraid! Yet Our Lord says: “Fear them not! For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed: nor hid, that shall not be known. That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light: and that which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:26-29). “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees [Politicians] ― which is hypocrisy! For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor anything hidden, that shall not be known. For whatsoever things have been spoken in darkness, they shall be published in the light! And that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, that shall be preached on the housetops! And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, has the power to cast into Hell! Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:1-5).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday July 25th & Monday July 26th
Article 13
What's Done? What's Coming? When?
Sunday July 25th & Monday July 26th
Article 13
What's Done? What's Coming? When?
Taking Inventory! Taking Stock!
In the previous article (Article 12: “Which End-Time Prophecies Are Being Fulfilled in Our Days?”), several prophecies―only the tip of an iceberg of prophecies―were quoted as pertaining to our present day and age. Essentially and in a nutshell, they outlined terrible and catastrophic times that are the consequence of the sins of mankind in general and the sins of the Catholic Church in particular. As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out in 1846: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” To which she added: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people ... There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!”
If you think all that was a thing of the past and that God had calmed down and changed His mind about all that, then think again. For just over 70 years later, at Fatima in 1917, Our Lady reiterated: “The war [First World War] is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out [Second World War] … God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Yet as the previous article showed, a Third World War has been prophesied―and that is only fair and just and to be expected since mankind is not sinning less, but considerably or exponentially more!
You might have hoped that by the time our modern age came around, God would have got over His anger with mankind―but no! Just under 60 years later, at Akita in 1973, Our Lady “turned the screws a little more”, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
So what happened after 1973? Did sins increase in number and in gravity? You bet they did! Abortion numbers exploded after its legalization in the USA after Roe versus Wade (1973). Divorce and remarriage number exploded. Television and movies got worse and worse―gradually leading to an explosion of pornography when the internet arrived in the mid-1990s. Promiscuity, fornication, cohabitation and immodest fashions increased with every year. Homosexuality soon followed, eventually leading to legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages being legalized. Now transgenderism is new kid on the block! The consequences are that our heads are on the chopping-block awaiting the axe of chastisement to fall.
Why are our heads on the block? Because we are Catholics! Because we are Soldiers of Christ! Because we are Catholic Soldiers of Christ who are AWOL (Absent Without Leave)! Our Lord points out to us: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― yet we want to waltz our way to Heaven rather than fight our way to Heaven! Our Lord says of us: “You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel!” (Matthew 5:14-15) ― yet we are hiding from the enemy (the world) and do not want to let our light shine before others! Our Lord tells us: “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13) ― yet we live as though He had said: “You are the sugar and honey of the world!” and consequently we are “sweet” towards the world, rather than being “salty” in face of the world. Our Lord says us: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) ― unfortunately, as one pope after another has said of this modern world, we have “lost the sense of sin” and so doing penance for sin is redundant, a moot point! All this accumulated negligence places our heads on the chopping-block, because “to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! … That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Are We Losing It?
The mess and the troubles in the world―regardless of what kind they are―ultimately are caused by sin. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” The trouble is that we don’t really much about sin anymore! The problem today is that we no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have agreed upon and complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The problem is―just as it was prophesied―that the Kingdom of God on Earth is crumbling rapidly! That demise goes hand-in-hand with our loss of the sense of sin. We sin fearlessly. We sin with impunity. We sin with joy. Unfortunately, the loss of the sense of sin ultimately leads to a loss of Faith, and then to a loss of soul.
Mutual Negligence―Mutual Punishment
There is nothing more common in the human race than the “Adam and Eve Syndrome”―meaning that when something goes wrong, or we even do something wrong ourselves, then we tend to “pass the buck”, “shift the blame”, “point the finger elsewhere”, etc. When we have been caught doing wrong, we come out with the usual “blame-shifting” clichés: “They told me it was okay! … She/he made me do it! … The devil made me do it! … Nobody told me! … Everyone else does it! … It wasn’t my fault! … It wasn’t me! … Somebody must have (Blah! Blah! Blah!) … etc.”
The doctors tell us that human body a wonderful example of mutual charity and unity―where all the parts of the body work together for their mutual benefit, even sacrificing themselves for the common good and preservation of life. Some parts work much harder than others, some, such as the heart and lungs, work day and night―yet there is no “in-fighting” among the body parts, there is no “complaining” amongst them, no “grievances” or “jealousies” are held.
Sadly, in the Mystical Body of Christ, we do not find the same cooperation, the same selflessness, the same sense of sacrifice, the same mutual caring and love. The mess that we find ourselves in is nothing other than a lack of a true lovre of God―which then automatically engenders a lack of mutual charity, a lack of mutual care for our fellow brethren, and even a lack of charity and concern for our enemies! We are failing badly in keeping the two greatest commandments of God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-40).
That love MUST extend to our enemies―as Our Lord Himself says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other!” (Matthew 5:38-39). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even sinners [publicans] do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not the heathens and pagans do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved―but cede place to the wrath of God, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head! Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:19-21). So little of that is seen these days―we have reverted to “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” and “hate thy enemy!” Forgiveness is not very high on our “to do list” ― unless, of course, it means forgiveness coming our way ― it is the “revenge list” that takes precedence over the “forgiveness list” in the case of most people!
We have all sinned and we all need the forgiveness of God―“For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Even when we sin against our neighbor, it is ultimately God that we sin against: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40). Whereas we could be helping each other with much prayer and sacrifice in a spirit of charity, instead we are often fighting each other in a spirit of animosity, hatred and revenge. Satan must be laughing us to scorn, for his age-old tactic of “Divide and Conquer” is reaping an abundant harvest today! A holy archbishop of the last century once said: “If the laity had been praying fervently for their priests and bishops, then I do think that the Second Vatican Council would have turned out as it did!” It was not for nothing that Our Lady kept repeating in her apparitions: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests!” (Our Lady of Akita, July 6th, 1973). “With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
The Heavenly Physician Prescribes Charity and Mercy
For the most part, all we do is point the finger at others in disgust, we cry for vengeance and we want to see justice done, we want blood, we want resignations, we want imprisonment, we want all this and a lot more. Yet this reminds us of the attitude of St. James and St. John, who, over a much more minor incident of a Samaritan city not accepting and receiving a visit from Our Lord, in a spirit of vengeance wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy that city: “Jesus sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [which Samaritans saw as being the ‘enemy city’]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56).
Our Lady reiterated this desire to save souls, from destruction and Hell, when she appeared at Fatima. She complained about the indifference and neglect of Catholics in praying and sacrificing for sinners―with the fatal consequence of many souls being damned. We are not on this Earth to have a good time―we have placed on this Earth to fight for salvation, our own salvation and that of our neighbors, enemies included. Hence Our Lady said to the children at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The Interests of Christ or Selfish Self-Interest?
We are not here to live for ourselves, merely enjoy ourselves, to enjoy the pleasures and treasures of the world. As Our Lord said, we cannot serve God and mammon. If Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), then we, being members of the Mystical Body of Christ, are obligated to have the same goals as our Divine Head. By the Sacrament of Confirmation―which we have, or should have, received―we were made to be Soldiers for Christ, to fight for the cause of Christ, to pursue the goals of Christ. That cause or those goals are quite simply the salvation of souls. Most souls are being lost and damned―and that is partially our fault! We are not praying and sacrificing ourselves for sinners―but we are playing and gratifying ourselves in the world.
We have a lame excuse like the murderer Cain―who, after killing his brother Abel, was asked by God the whereabouts of Abel. Cain lamely replied: “I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). We are the “keepers” of our brethren―even the sinners, especially the sinners―for Our Lord said: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “What man of you that hath an hundred sheep―and, if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing, and, coming home, call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: ‘Rejoice with me! Because I have found my sheep that was lost!’? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:4-7).
We should be in search of sinners―at least spiritually searching for them by our prayers and sacrifices―yet we are not. We prefer to pursue―not sinners―but our own personal pleasures and hobbies and such like things. We are like the priest and the Levite, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, who saw their countryman in need, but passed by: “And Jesus answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way, and seeing him, passed by! In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by!” (Luke 10:30-32).
Prophetic Mess Comes True
YES ― as prophesied, the Catholic world and Catholic Church is in mess all across the board. A mess in its doctrine. A mess in its liturgy. A mess in its morality. A mess in its culture. A mess in its general direction. A mess wherever you look!
YES ― the Second Vatican Council was a disaster, despite the lunatic protestations of some “Vatican II die-hards” who claim that the Council was misinterpreted! As St. John Bosco prophesied―exactly 100 years before the Council began in 1962―“There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century (20th century), after which there will be chaos in the Church.”
YES ― the priesthood is in a mess with estimates ranging from 70,000 to 100,000 as being the number of priests who have abandoned the priesthood since Vatican II. When you consider that the worldwide number of priests is never above the low 400,000s, then you realize what a massive defection that is. Most of the priests who remained, ended up being Liberalized and Modernized the “New” Church and increasingly teach novelties instead of the Church’s traditional doctrines. Those “lunatic” priests are making people believe that everyone goes to Heaven―there is no more mention of Hell or the devil, and very little mention of Purgatory. They are lying through their teeth and allowing hordes of Catholics to happily walk along the path to damnation!
YES ― the “New” Mass of the “New” Church is a banal disaster, a cheap “look-alike”, and a fruitless sacrifice―which is seen by the lack of fruit and rotten fruit that it has produced. As Our Lord says: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). The fruits of the “New” Mass are increasingly becoming more and more rotten with time. When the “New” Mass came out at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, around 70% of Catholics had been regularly attending the Traditional Mass in Latin. Those numbers began to plummet with the “New Mass” to a point where, before the Plannedemic, an average of only around 20% were attending Mass regularly. After the “doors were re-opened” after the temporary closure of churches, an average of only 10% of Catholics were seen to be attending Mass once the restrictions had been lifted.
YES ― An ever increasing number of Catholics hold perverse sinful views, such as accepting abortion, contraception, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, pornography, immodesty, etc. Those Catholics feel as though they can indulge in these things today because “things change” and what was once regarded as being sinful, is no longer sinful, because “society changes”, “culture changes”, “fashions change”, “viewpoints change” and so sin has changed from being sinful to now being non-sinful. Hence only a fraction of Catholics still go to Confession―the vast majority do not, even after having objectively committed mortal sin. They are no longer taught by the Church that “There shall not enter into Heaven anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). They are no longer taught that “fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like―of which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). The Church no longer teaches that “the cowardly, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone” (Apocalypse 21:8). Our Lord’s words are forgotten or hidden, when He warns: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). The people cannot stomach such things―so they are fed the “sweet stuff”, the “sugary stuff”, and the truth is hidden from them.
YES ― things are bad. You could write a list that would pages long about the catastrophe of the Church and the moral ailments of Catholics. Things are so bad because we are so selfish and negligent! We don’t really care who goes to Hell―as long as it isn’t us! We don’t give a damn about the damned! “Am I my brother’s keeper?” we protest. Yes we are, says Our Lady―that is why she asked three little children to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners! Three little children―aged ten, nine and seven! If children can do it―why can’t adults? Why can’t you? One prophecy after another is being fulfilled―but we must remember that these prophecies are conditional, they are warnings as to what will happen if we remain lethargic and indifferent, lazy and selfish. We can spitefully and stubbornly continue along that path and, if we do so, we can be sure that the prophecies will be fulfilled. If we choose to cooperate with God and Our Lady, then we can still mitigate the outcome, even though it might too late to prevent it entirely.
Do You Really Want This?
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in visions granted to her by God that “the local clergy grew lukewarm … The ecclesiastics looked insincere and lacking in zeal … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence … the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy … I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it.”
Marie-Julie Jahenny revealed that “because of the little respect it has for the apostles of God, the flock grows careless and ceases to observe the laws. The priest himself is responsible for this lack of respect―because he does not respect enough his holy ministry, and the place which he occupies in his sacred functions. The flock follows in the footsteps of its pastors; this is a great tragedy … The clergy will be severely punished on account of their inconceivable fickleness and great cowardice which is incompatible with their functions.”
Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, of Our Lady of Good Success fame: “Know that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments!”
The Maria Laach Monastery prophecy was long ago recorded in a German monastery in the 16th century: “The 20th century will bring apostasy from the Church, and discord in families, cities and governments!”
Sr. Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “Some bishops shall fall away from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children.”
Saint Columbcille, who lived between 521 and 597, pointed out in one of his prophecies that: of St. Columbcille seems to point to our present day and age: “In the latter ages of the world ... justice shall be outraged … Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and will be devoid of piety ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another.”
The Prophecy of St. Nilus, who lived around 400, states: “Toward the middle of the 20th century … There will be no respect for parents and elders, charity will disappear … The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all!”
St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, referring to the End Times, is an apocryphal work that dates back to the 1st century and has Our Lord speaking the following words: “My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
We Are Already There!
It would take a blind person, or an idiot, not to be able to see that many of the above prophetical elements have already been fulfilled and that we are on the verge of the others being fulfilled very soon. Let us just blend the key elements of the above prophetical extracts together and you will quickly see that we are living right in the middle of them: “The local clergy lukewarm … Ecclesiastics insincere and lacking in zeal … Priests allowing everything and saying Mass with much irreverence … Priests shall not have peace among themselves … The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted … Little respect from people for the apostles of God … The laity grows careless and ceases to observe the laws ... Priest do not respect enough their holy ministry … they degrade themselves … People departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world … The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred … Apostasy from the Church … they will completely lose their Faith … Discord in families, cities and governments … A great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children … Justice outraged … Justice not observed by people … Charity disappears … People are hard-hearted and lacking piety ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other ... People do not associate affectionately with each other … No respect for parents and elders … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another.”
How long will it take for the penny to drop? Lack of love towards God begets lack of love among men. Deceit towards God begets deceit among men. Lack of respect towards God begets lack of respect among men. Disagreeing with God begets disagreement among men, families and nations. Infidelity towards God begets infidelity among men in marriage and patriotism. Anger towards God begets anger among men. The principle behind all this is: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
No Getting Away With It!
If you imagine (stupidly) that we Catholics are going to “get-away” unpunished for the present state of the world, then think again! “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6) … “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47) ... “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Look how God treated His Chosen People when they were unfaithful, or disobeyed, or murmured against God!
(1) When the Chosen People, under Moses, refused to enter the Promised Land after having spied on it for 40 days, because they were scared to fight and conquer it, God said: “Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land―year shall be counted for a day. Thus for forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge!” (Numbers 14:34). As a result, millions died in the desert as a punishment.
(2) Later, after having finally settled in the Promised Land, the Chosen People became idolatrous. The result was that God arranged for the faithless tribes of Israel to be invaded by their enemies and led away as slaves into different parts of the Assyrian Empire―thus, in one fell swoop, ten tribes of Israel were dissolved by being scattered far and wide. We now refer to them as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel”. The tribe of Juda and its capital city, Jerusalem, would soon follow suit due their own infidelity to God and idolatry. The Babyolonians, in a series of three different invasions, led away all the elite of Juda―priests, nobles, teachers, etc. and totally destroyed the city of Jerusalem with its magnificent Temple to God. We call this “the Babyonian Captivity.”
(3) In the time of Christ, as a punishment for having refused Christ and crucified Him, God saw to it that Jerusalem would once again be destroyed and its inhabitants massacred―over 1 million of them―in the year 70, the Roman army captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed both the city and its Temple, just as Christ had prophesied: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate ... Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … “For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Matthew 23:37-38; 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
The Coming Physical Catastrophes
Those words of Our Lord find themselves ominously echoed in the prophetic words of Our Lady at her modern day apparitions as Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime ... … At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens ... During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds, in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed … Nations will be annihilated … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As recently as 1980, we have an account of a pope warning us of an imminent chastisement or catastrophe. The October 1981 issue of the German magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980, while on a visit to Fulda, Germany. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
Those words, spoken in 1980, are nothing other than a confirmation of what Sr. Lucia had said in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness without paying attention to this Message. The bad do not see God’s chastisement about to fall on them and continue on their sinful paths, also ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world, if the conversion of that poor nation is not obtained beforehand! … For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to also tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.” (Sr. Lucia had said in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Coming Religious Catastrophes
People underestimate the power and benefits of religion and the religious life. Our Lady of Good Success tells us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity!”
Once religion starts to fall into decay, everything decays with it. The following extracts from some prophecies outline how the clergy, the religious and the laity will fall into a religious decadence in our times and the consequences that this will bring upon us.
► THE MONK OF PREMOL, in his 5th century prophecy, speaks of the collapse of authority in the Church and a schism that arises between two men who are seemingly seen as popes, each of whom has his own followers, thus creating a schism in the Church: “The dragon has appeared in all countries and has brought terrible confusion everywhere. There is war everywhere. Individuals and nations rise against each other. Wars! Wars! Civil wars, foreign wars! What terrifying clashes! Everything is dead or in mourning; and famine stalks the Earth! … The general revolution has followed … I see the king of Rome [the Pope] abandon his staff and his triple crown and, shaking the dust of these ruins from his feet, make haste to flee toward other shores. And that is not all, O Lord―your Church is torn asunder by her own children!
► ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI (died 1226) prophesied at his death about our times, saying: “The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate (Papacy), who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, and many religious orders will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve in their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. The elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true pastor, but a destroyer!”
► BLESSED MARIA TAIGI (died 1837) prophesied: “Religious shall be persecuted, priests shall be massacred, the churches shall be closed, but only for a short time; the Holy Father shall be obliged to abandon Rome.”
► POPE ST. PIUS X (reigned 1903 to 1914) prophesied: “I saw one of my successors by name fleeing over the corpses of his brethren. He will flee to a place for a short respite where he is unknown, but he himself will die a cruel death.”
► POPE PIUS XI (reigned 1922 to 1939) gave an account of what he had been shown of the future: “The churches are destroyed, ruined from base to steeple, the religious and the consecrated virgins are expelled from their habitations, delivered to insults and bad treatment, and condemned to prison, multitudes of children and young women are torn from the bosom of the Church, their mother; they are incited to deny and blaspheme Christ; they are pushed to the worst excesses of luxury; the entire people of the faithful is terrorized, lost, under the constant menace that they must deny their Faith or perish, at times, under the most atrocious form of death. It is a spectacle so appalling!”
► ABBESS MARIA STEINER (died 1862) prophesied: “I see the Lord as He will be scourging the world and chastising it in a fearful manner, so that very few men and women will remain. The monks will have to leave their monasteries and the nuns will be driven from their convents! … The Holy Church will be persecuted! ... Unless people obtain pardon through their prayers, the time will come when they will see the sword and death, and Rome will be without a shepherd!”
► MOTHER ALPHONSA EPPINGER (1867) adds to the picture by her prophecy: “Many priests have lost their fervor for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Their hearts hang too much on the phantoms of this life. In many religious houses the spirit of poverty and simplicity is forgotten. It is indeed a sad thing to see religious houses desecrated … They look only for convenience, and they carry a scandalous splendor to satisfy their pride … Therefore must God, through a salutary remedy, restore the true religious spirit. God will, by chastisements, cure them thereof and so thereby change them ... It will be necessary in order to eradicate pride and worldly luxuries and to bring all things back to simplicity.”
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS AND LA SALETTE (1846) had already foretold of such things: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.
► BISHOP GEORGE MICHAEL WITTMAN (died 1833) prophesied that “sad days are at hand for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Jesus will be renewed in the most dolorous manner in the Church and also in her Supreme Head. In all parts of the world there will be wars and revolutions, and much blood will be spilled. Distress, disasters, and poverty will everywhere be great, since pestilential maladies, scarcity, and other misfortunes will follow one another. Violent hands will be laid on the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church; bishops and priests will be persecuted, and schisms will be provoked, and confusion will reign amid all classes. Times will come, so pre-eminently bad, that it will seem as if the enemies of Christ and of His Holy Church, which He founded with His blood, were about to triumph over her.” This fits with what was revealed by Our Lady of Fatima almost a century later: “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”
► BLESSED CATHERINE ANNE EMMERICH (1774-1824). “When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known ... I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the connection or relationship between the two Popes and the two churches ... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church ... There was nothing holy in it ... Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks spread everywhere! … Everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … It was as if people were splitting into two camps. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence … It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded ... I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away ... The Church is in great danger! There hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand!”
In the previous article (Article 12: “Which End-Time Prophecies Are Being Fulfilled in Our Days?”), several prophecies―only the tip of an iceberg of prophecies―were quoted as pertaining to our present day and age. Essentially and in a nutshell, they outlined terrible and catastrophic times that are the consequence of the sins of mankind in general and the sins of the Catholic Church in particular. As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out in 1846: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” To which she added: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people ... There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!”
If you think all that was a thing of the past and that God had calmed down and changed His mind about all that, then think again. For just over 70 years later, at Fatima in 1917, Our Lady reiterated: “The war [First World War] is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out [Second World War] … God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Yet as the previous article showed, a Third World War has been prophesied―and that is only fair and just and to be expected since mankind is not sinning less, but considerably or exponentially more!
You might have hoped that by the time our modern age came around, God would have got over His anger with mankind―but no! Just under 60 years later, at Akita in 1973, Our Lady “turned the screws a little more”, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
So what happened after 1973? Did sins increase in number and in gravity? You bet they did! Abortion numbers exploded after its legalization in the USA after Roe versus Wade (1973). Divorce and remarriage number exploded. Television and movies got worse and worse―gradually leading to an explosion of pornography when the internet arrived in the mid-1990s. Promiscuity, fornication, cohabitation and immodest fashions increased with every year. Homosexuality soon followed, eventually leading to legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages being legalized. Now transgenderism is new kid on the block! The consequences are that our heads are on the chopping-block awaiting the axe of chastisement to fall.
Why are our heads on the block? Because we are Catholics! Because we are Soldiers of Christ! Because we are Catholic Soldiers of Christ who are AWOL (Absent Without Leave)! Our Lord points out to us: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― yet we want to waltz our way to Heaven rather than fight our way to Heaven! Our Lord says of us: “You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel!” (Matthew 5:14-15) ― yet we are hiding from the enemy (the world) and do not want to let our light shine before others! Our Lord tells us: “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13) ― yet we live as though He had said: “You are the sugar and honey of the world!” and consequently we are “sweet” towards the world, rather than being “salty” in face of the world. Our Lord says us: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) ― unfortunately, as one pope after another has said of this modern world, we have “lost the sense of sin” and so doing penance for sin is redundant, a moot point! All this accumulated negligence places our heads on the chopping-block, because “to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! … That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Are We Losing It?
The mess and the troubles in the world―regardless of what kind they are―ultimately are caused by sin. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” The trouble is that we don’t really much about sin anymore! The problem today is that we no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have agreed upon and complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it. Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The problem is―just as it was prophesied―that the Kingdom of God on Earth is crumbling rapidly! That demise goes hand-in-hand with our loss of the sense of sin. We sin fearlessly. We sin with impunity. We sin with joy. Unfortunately, the loss of the sense of sin ultimately leads to a loss of Faith, and then to a loss of soul.
Mutual Negligence―Mutual Punishment
There is nothing more common in the human race than the “Adam and Eve Syndrome”―meaning that when something goes wrong, or we even do something wrong ourselves, then we tend to “pass the buck”, “shift the blame”, “point the finger elsewhere”, etc. When we have been caught doing wrong, we come out with the usual “blame-shifting” clichés: “They told me it was okay! … She/he made me do it! … The devil made me do it! … Nobody told me! … Everyone else does it! … It wasn’t my fault! … It wasn’t me! … Somebody must have (Blah! Blah! Blah!) … etc.”
The doctors tell us that human body a wonderful example of mutual charity and unity―where all the parts of the body work together for their mutual benefit, even sacrificing themselves for the common good and preservation of life. Some parts work much harder than others, some, such as the heart and lungs, work day and night―yet there is no “in-fighting” among the body parts, there is no “complaining” amongst them, no “grievances” or “jealousies” are held.
Sadly, in the Mystical Body of Christ, we do not find the same cooperation, the same selflessness, the same sense of sacrifice, the same mutual caring and love. The mess that we find ourselves in is nothing other than a lack of a true lovre of God―which then automatically engenders a lack of mutual charity, a lack of mutual care for our fellow brethren, and even a lack of charity and concern for our enemies! We are failing badly in keeping the two greatest commandments of God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-40).
That love MUST extend to our enemies―as Our Lord Himself says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other!” (Matthew 5:38-39). “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even sinners [publicans] do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not the heathens and pagans do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved―but cede place to the wrath of God, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head! Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:19-21). So little of that is seen these days―we have reverted to “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” and “hate thy enemy!” Forgiveness is not very high on our “to do list” ― unless, of course, it means forgiveness coming our way ― it is the “revenge list” that takes precedence over the “forgiveness list” in the case of most people!
We have all sinned and we all need the forgiveness of God―“For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Even when we sin against our neighbor, it is ultimately God that we sin against: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40). Whereas we could be helping each other with much prayer and sacrifice in a spirit of charity, instead we are often fighting each other in a spirit of animosity, hatred and revenge. Satan must be laughing us to scorn, for his age-old tactic of “Divide and Conquer” is reaping an abundant harvest today! A holy archbishop of the last century once said: “If the laity had been praying fervently for their priests and bishops, then I do think that the Second Vatican Council would have turned out as it did!” It was not for nothing that Our Lady kept repeating in her apparitions: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests!” (Our Lady of Akita, July 6th, 1973). “With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
The Heavenly Physician Prescribes Charity and Mercy
For the most part, all we do is point the finger at others in disgust, we cry for vengeance and we want to see justice done, we want blood, we want resignations, we want imprisonment, we want all this and a lot more. Yet this reminds us of the attitude of St. James and St. John, who, over a much more minor incident of a Samaritan city not accepting and receiving a visit from Our Lord, in a spirit of vengeance wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy that city: “Jesus sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [which Samaritans saw as being the ‘enemy city’]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56).
Our Lady reiterated this desire to save souls, from destruction and Hell, when she appeared at Fatima. She complained about the indifference and neglect of Catholics in praying and sacrificing for sinners―with the fatal consequence of many souls being damned. We are not on this Earth to have a good time―we have placed on this Earth to fight for salvation, our own salvation and that of our neighbors, enemies included. Hence Our Lady said to the children at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The Interests of Christ or Selfish Self-Interest?
We are not here to live for ourselves, merely enjoy ourselves, to enjoy the pleasures and treasures of the world. As Our Lord said, we cannot serve God and mammon. If Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), then we, being members of the Mystical Body of Christ, are obligated to have the same goals as our Divine Head. By the Sacrament of Confirmation―which we have, or should have, received―we were made to be Soldiers for Christ, to fight for the cause of Christ, to pursue the goals of Christ. That cause or those goals are quite simply the salvation of souls. Most souls are being lost and damned―and that is partially our fault! We are not praying and sacrificing ourselves for sinners―but we are playing and gratifying ourselves in the world.
We have a lame excuse like the murderer Cain―who, after killing his brother Abel, was asked by God the whereabouts of Abel. Cain lamely replied: “I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). We are the “keepers” of our brethren―even the sinners, especially the sinners―for Our Lord said: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “What man of you that hath an hundred sheep―and, if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing, and, coming home, call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: ‘Rejoice with me! Because I have found my sheep that was lost!’? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:4-7).
We should be in search of sinners―at least spiritually searching for them by our prayers and sacrifices―yet we are not. We prefer to pursue―not sinners―but our own personal pleasures and hobbies and such like things. We are like the priest and the Levite, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, who saw their countryman in need, but passed by: “And Jesus answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way, and seeing him, passed by! In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by!” (Luke 10:30-32).
Prophetic Mess Comes True
YES ― as prophesied, the Catholic world and Catholic Church is in mess all across the board. A mess in its doctrine. A mess in its liturgy. A mess in its morality. A mess in its culture. A mess in its general direction. A mess wherever you look!
YES ― the Second Vatican Council was a disaster, despite the lunatic protestations of some “Vatican II die-hards” who claim that the Council was misinterpreted! As St. John Bosco prophesied―exactly 100 years before the Council began in 1962―“There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century (20th century), after which there will be chaos in the Church.”
YES ― the priesthood is in a mess with estimates ranging from 70,000 to 100,000 as being the number of priests who have abandoned the priesthood since Vatican II. When you consider that the worldwide number of priests is never above the low 400,000s, then you realize what a massive defection that is. Most of the priests who remained, ended up being Liberalized and Modernized the “New” Church and increasingly teach novelties instead of the Church’s traditional doctrines. Those “lunatic” priests are making people believe that everyone goes to Heaven―there is no more mention of Hell or the devil, and very little mention of Purgatory. They are lying through their teeth and allowing hordes of Catholics to happily walk along the path to damnation!
YES ― the “New” Mass of the “New” Church is a banal disaster, a cheap “look-alike”, and a fruitless sacrifice―which is seen by the lack of fruit and rotten fruit that it has produced. As Our Lord says: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). The fruits of the “New” Mass are increasingly becoming more and more rotten with time. When the “New” Mass came out at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, around 70% of Catholics had been regularly attending the Traditional Mass in Latin. Those numbers began to plummet with the “New Mass” to a point where, before the Plannedemic, an average of only around 20% were attending Mass regularly. After the “doors were re-opened” after the temporary closure of churches, an average of only 10% of Catholics were seen to be attending Mass once the restrictions had been lifted.
YES ― An ever increasing number of Catholics hold perverse sinful views, such as accepting abortion, contraception, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, pornography, immodesty, etc. Those Catholics feel as though they can indulge in these things today because “things change” and what was once regarded as being sinful, is no longer sinful, because “society changes”, “culture changes”, “fashions change”, “viewpoints change” and so sin has changed from being sinful to now being non-sinful. Hence only a fraction of Catholics still go to Confession―the vast majority do not, even after having objectively committed mortal sin. They are no longer taught by the Church that “There shall not enter into Heaven anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). They are no longer taught that “fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partyings, and such like―of which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). The Church no longer teaches that “the cowardly, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone” (Apocalypse 21:8). Our Lord’s words are forgotten or hidden, when He warns: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). The people cannot stomach such things―so they are fed the “sweet stuff”, the “sugary stuff”, and the truth is hidden from them.
YES ― things are bad. You could write a list that would pages long about the catastrophe of the Church and the moral ailments of Catholics. Things are so bad because we are so selfish and negligent! We don’t really care who goes to Hell―as long as it isn’t us! We don’t give a damn about the damned! “Am I my brother’s keeper?” we protest. Yes we are, says Our Lady―that is why she asked three little children to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners! Three little children―aged ten, nine and seven! If children can do it―why can’t adults? Why can’t you? One prophecy after another is being fulfilled―but we must remember that these prophecies are conditional, they are warnings as to what will happen if we remain lethargic and indifferent, lazy and selfish. We can spitefully and stubbornly continue along that path and, if we do so, we can be sure that the prophecies will be fulfilled. If we choose to cooperate with God and Our Lady, then we can still mitigate the outcome, even though it might too late to prevent it entirely.
Do You Really Want This?
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in visions granted to her by God that “the local clergy grew lukewarm … The ecclesiastics looked insincere and lacking in zeal … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence … the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy … I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it.”
Marie-Julie Jahenny revealed that “because of the little respect it has for the apostles of God, the flock grows careless and ceases to observe the laws. The priest himself is responsible for this lack of respect―because he does not respect enough his holy ministry, and the place which he occupies in his sacred functions. The flock follows in the footsteps of its pastors; this is a great tragedy … The clergy will be severely punished on account of their inconceivable fickleness and great cowardice which is incompatible with their functions.”
Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, of Our Lady of Good Success fame: “Know that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments!”
The Maria Laach Monastery prophecy was long ago recorded in a German monastery in the 16th century: “The 20th century will bring apostasy from the Church, and discord in families, cities and governments!”
Sr. Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “Some bishops shall fall away from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children.”
Saint Columbcille, who lived between 521 and 597, pointed out in one of his prophecies that: of St. Columbcille seems to point to our present day and age: “In the latter ages of the world ... justice shall be outraged … Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and will be devoid of piety ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another.”
The Prophecy of St. Nilus, who lived around 400, states: “Toward the middle of the 20th century … There will be no respect for parents and elders, charity will disappear … The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all!”
St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, referring to the End Times, is an apocryphal work that dates back to the 1st century and has Our Lord speaking the following words: “My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
We Are Already There!
It would take a blind person, or an idiot, not to be able to see that many of the above prophetical elements have already been fulfilled and that we are on the verge of the others being fulfilled very soon. Let us just blend the key elements of the above prophetical extracts together and you will quickly see that we are living right in the middle of them: “The local clergy lukewarm … Ecclesiastics insincere and lacking in zeal … Priests allowing everything and saying Mass with much irreverence … Priests shall not have peace among themselves … The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted … Little respect from people for the apostles of God … The laity grows careless and ceases to observe the laws ... Priest do not respect enough their holy ministry … they degrade themselves … People departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world … The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred … Apostasy from the Church … they will completely lose their Faith … Discord in families, cities and governments … A great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children … Justice outraged … Justice not observed by people … Charity disappears … People are hard-hearted and lacking piety ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other ... People do not associate affectionately with each other … No respect for parents and elders … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another.”
How long will it take for the penny to drop? Lack of love towards God begets lack of love among men. Deceit towards God begets deceit among men. Lack of respect towards God begets lack of respect among men. Disagreeing with God begets disagreement among men, families and nations. Infidelity towards God begets infidelity among men in marriage and patriotism. Anger towards God begets anger among men. The principle behind all this is: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
No Getting Away With It!
If you imagine (stupidly) that we Catholics are going to “get-away” unpunished for the present state of the world, then think again! “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6) … “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47) ... “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Look how God treated His Chosen People when they were unfaithful, or disobeyed, or murmured against God!
(1) When the Chosen People, under Moses, refused to enter the Promised Land after having spied on it for 40 days, because they were scared to fight and conquer it, God said: “Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land―year shall be counted for a day. Thus for forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge!” (Numbers 14:34). As a result, millions died in the desert as a punishment.
(2) Later, after having finally settled in the Promised Land, the Chosen People became idolatrous. The result was that God arranged for the faithless tribes of Israel to be invaded by their enemies and led away as slaves into different parts of the Assyrian Empire―thus, in one fell swoop, ten tribes of Israel were dissolved by being scattered far and wide. We now refer to them as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel”. The tribe of Juda and its capital city, Jerusalem, would soon follow suit due their own infidelity to God and idolatry. The Babyolonians, in a series of three different invasions, led away all the elite of Juda―priests, nobles, teachers, etc. and totally destroyed the city of Jerusalem with its magnificent Temple to God. We call this “the Babyonian Captivity.”
(3) In the time of Christ, as a punishment for having refused Christ and crucified Him, God saw to it that Jerusalem would once again be destroyed and its inhabitants massacred―over 1 million of them―in the year 70, the Roman army captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed both the city and its Temple, just as Christ had prophesied: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate ... Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … “For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Matthew 23:37-38; 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
The Coming Physical Catastrophes
Those words of Our Lord find themselves ominously echoed in the prophetic words of Our Lady at her modern day apparitions as Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime ... … At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens ... During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds, in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed … Nations will be annihilated … There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As recently as 1980, we have an account of a pope warning us of an imminent chastisement or catastrophe. The October 1981 issue of the German magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980, while on a visit to Fulda, Germany. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication, so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray! Pray, and ask for nothing more! Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ! … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed! How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise! We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary!”
Those words, spoken in 1980, are nothing other than a confirmation of what Sr. Lucia had said in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness without paying attention to this Message. The bad do not see God’s chastisement about to fall on them and continue on their sinful paths, also ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! … Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world, if the conversion of that poor nation is not obtained beforehand! … For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to also tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.” (Sr. Lucia had said in 1957 to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Coming Religious Catastrophes
People underestimate the power and benefits of religion and the religious life. Our Lady of Good Success tells us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity!”
Once religion starts to fall into decay, everything decays with it. The following extracts from some prophecies outline how the clergy, the religious and the laity will fall into a religious decadence in our times and the consequences that this will bring upon us.
► THE MONK OF PREMOL, in his 5th century prophecy, speaks of the collapse of authority in the Church and a schism that arises between two men who are seemingly seen as popes, each of whom has his own followers, thus creating a schism in the Church: “The dragon has appeared in all countries and has brought terrible confusion everywhere. There is war everywhere. Individuals and nations rise against each other. Wars! Wars! Civil wars, foreign wars! What terrifying clashes! Everything is dead or in mourning; and famine stalks the Earth! … The general revolution has followed … I see the king of Rome [the Pope] abandon his staff and his triple crown and, shaking the dust of these ruins from his feet, make haste to flee toward other shores. And that is not all, O Lord―your Church is torn asunder by her own children!
► ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI (died 1226) prophesied at his death about our times, saying: “The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate (Papacy), who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, and many religious orders will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve in their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. The elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true pastor, but a destroyer!”
► BLESSED MARIA TAIGI (died 1837) prophesied: “Religious shall be persecuted, priests shall be massacred, the churches shall be closed, but only for a short time; the Holy Father shall be obliged to abandon Rome.”
► POPE ST. PIUS X (reigned 1903 to 1914) prophesied: “I saw one of my successors by name fleeing over the corpses of his brethren. He will flee to a place for a short respite where he is unknown, but he himself will die a cruel death.”
► POPE PIUS XI (reigned 1922 to 1939) gave an account of what he had been shown of the future: “The churches are destroyed, ruined from base to steeple, the religious and the consecrated virgins are expelled from their habitations, delivered to insults and bad treatment, and condemned to prison, multitudes of children and young women are torn from the bosom of the Church, their mother; they are incited to deny and blaspheme Christ; they are pushed to the worst excesses of luxury; the entire people of the faithful is terrorized, lost, under the constant menace that they must deny their Faith or perish, at times, under the most atrocious form of death. It is a spectacle so appalling!”
► ABBESS MARIA STEINER (died 1862) prophesied: “I see the Lord as He will be scourging the world and chastising it in a fearful manner, so that very few men and women will remain. The monks will have to leave their monasteries and the nuns will be driven from their convents! … The Holy Church will be persecuted! ... Unless people obtain pardon through their prayers, the time will come when they will see the sword and death, and Rome will be without a shepherd!”
► MOTHER ALPHONSA EPPINGER (1867) adds to the picture by her prophecy: “Many priests have lost their fervor for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Their hearts hang too much on the phantoms of this life. In many religious houses the spirit of poverty and simplicity is forgotten. It is indeed a sad thing to see religious houses desecrated … They look only for convenience, and they carry a scandalous splendor to satisfy their pride … Therefore must God, through a salutary remedy, restore the true religious spirit. God will, by chastisements, cure them thereof and so thereby change them ... It will be necessary in order to eradicate pride and worldly luxuries and to bring all things back to simplicity.”
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS AND LA SALETTE (1846) had already foretold of such things: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.
► BISHOP GEORGE MICHAEL WITTMAN (died 1833) prophesied that “sad days are at hand for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Jesus will be renewed in the most dolorous manner in the Church and also in her Supreme Head. In all parts of the world there will be wars and revolutions, and much blood will be spilled. Distress, disasters, and poverty will everywhere be great, since pestilential maladies, scarcity, and other misfortunes will follow one another. Violent hands will be laid on the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church; bishops and priests will be persecuted, and schisms will be provoked, and confusion will reign amid all classes. Times will come, so pre-eminently bad, that it will seem as if the enemies of Christ and of His Holy Church, which He founded with His blood, were about to triumph over her.” This fits with what was revealed by Our Lady of Fatima almost a century later: “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”
► BLESSED CATHERINE ANNE EMMERICH (1774-1824). “When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known ... I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the connection or relationship between the two Popes and the two churches ... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church! … They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church ... There was nothing holy in it ... Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks spread everywhere! … Everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … It was as if people were splitting into two camps. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence … It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded ... I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away ... The Church is in great danger! There hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand!”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 22nd, Friday July 23rd & Saturday July 24th
Article 12
Which End-Time Prophecies Are Being Fulfilled in Our Days?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday July 22nd, Friday July 23rd & Saturday July 24th
Article 12
Which End-Time Prophecies Are Being Fulfilled in Our Days?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Complacency About Prophecies
For some reason or other, we imagine that the prophecies about the catastrophes to befall the Church and the world are meant for some distant time in the future, when we are long gone out of this world. Such a complacency can and will be a fatal miscalculation and a terrible mistake on the part of Catholics―who should know better.
► Yet POPE PIUS XII (reigned 1939-1958) said. “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► Those words are seconded by SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA, who said in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► Not many years later, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, OUR LADY OF AKITA added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
The Signs Are There!
We speak of “the signs of the times” ― and Our Lord Himself also mentions “the signs of the times.” When the Apostles questioned Him about the date of the “End-Times” or “Last Days”, He says: “Now of the fig tree learn ye a parable! When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near. So you, also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very near, even at the doors! … But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:28-33). Our Lord is telling to watch carefully for the signs to appear that have already been foretold. Prophecy is act of mercy by God, much like a burglar alarm, or fire alarm, or a warning light on the dashboard of your car―which, if you pay attention to it and take appropriate measures and act in good time, could well save your life and a lot of needless expense or loss.
Let us then look at “the signs of the times” and see which prophecies have been fulfilled, which are yet to come, and where we perhaps stand on the timeline of their fulfillment.
We Have Entered the End Times
As Sister Lucia warned back in 1957, we have entered the “End Times” or the “Last Days”―which has also been confirmed by several popes, as well as Our Lady of Akita in 1973. That does not mean that the world is going to end any time soon―we still have to go through the Communist takeover of the world, a terrible persecution of the Church and Christianity, the Minor Apostasy, phenomenal amounts of bloodshed in secular wars and religious persecutions, an apparent or seeming destruction of the Church, Christians in hiding, a miraculous recovery, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a short period or time of “peace and plenty” which will engender laxity and lukewarmness, then a relapse into sin with the Major Apostasy, the advent of the Antichrist, once again the apparent destruction of the Church and the seeming triumph of evil, and then God’s destruction of the Antichrist and finally the end of the world! So the end of the world is at the end of that list―but that does not mean troubled times and terrible times are not going to be on our plate some time soon!
First of all, let us look at the comments of some of the popes:
► POPE ST. PIUS X (reigned 1903-1914). “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere; and after a short retirement he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► POPE PIUS XII (reigned 1939-1958). “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI (reigned 2005-2013) wrote in his book Faith and the Future, that “From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge ― a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices [buildings] that she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she loose many of her social privileges.”
► POPE JOHN XXIII said the very opposite at the opening of the Second Council of the Vatican: “We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world was at hand. In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men’s own efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed towards the fulfillment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church.” Sadly, Pope John XXIII―if he were to still be alive today―would have eat his own words! The exact opposite has happened to what he humanistically predicted! The Church is a mess―partially as a result of the direction taken by the Second Vatican Council.
Starting With the 20th Century ...
There are several prophecies that mark out the 20th century as the beginning of the woes for both the Church and world. The catastrophes within the Church are prophesied as essentially stemming from a 20th century Ecumenical Council within the Church and the introduction of novelties in Church teaching and a ‘marriage’ or compromise between the Church and the world:
► ST. JOHN BOSCO (1815-1888), in a well-known prophecy, made in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council started, predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (17th century). “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private.”
► SISTER BOUQUILLION (19th century). “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► MOTHER SHIPTON (16th century). “The great chastisement will come when carriages go without horses and many accidents fill the world with woe. It will come when ‘thoughts are flying round the Earth in the twinkling of an eye’ [i.e. radio-communications], when long tunnels are made for horseless machines, when men can fly in the air and ride under the sea, when ships are wholly made of metal, when fire and water ‘great marvels do’ [i.e. the steam engine], when even the poor can read books, when many taxes are levied for war.”
► BLESSED REMBORDT (18th century). “God will punish the world when men have devised marvelous inventions that will lead them to forgetting God. They will have horseless carriages, and they will fly like the birds. But they will laugh at the idea of God, thinking that they are ‘very clever.’ There will be signs from Heaven, but men, in their pride, will laugh them off. Men will indulge in voluptuousness, and lewd fashions will be seen … These things will come when they try to set up a new kingdom of Christ from which the true Faith will be banished.”
► ST. ANTHONY OF THE DESERT (4th century). “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, Faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day’s problems. When the Church and the World are one, then those days are at hand. Because our Divine Master placed a barrier between His things and the things of the world.”
► THE OBA PROPHECY. “It will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► BISHOP GEORGE WITTMAN made the following prediction in the 19th century: “Very sad times are coming for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Our Lord will be renewed in a most painful manner in the Church and in her supreme Head. Brutal hands will be laid upon his person. Secret societies will work great ruin, and they will exercise a great financial power.”
► BROTHER JOHN OF THE CLEFT ROCK (14th century). “Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history.”
► BISHOP CHRISTIANOS AGEDA (12th century). “In the 20th century there will be wars and fury which will last a long time; whole provinces shall be emptied of their inhabitants, and kingdoms shall be thrown into confusion. In many places the land shall be left untilled, and there shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left, and the north shall prevail over the south.”
► BROTHER LOUIS ROCCO (19th century). “Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
► JASPER: “When men indulge in sensuous pleasures and voluptuousness, when no one wishes to obey any more, when there is widespread discontent among the peoples of the earth, then Russia will pour out masses of soldiers, and they will reach the Rhone.”
► COUNTESS FRANCESCA DE BILLIANTE (20th century). “I see yellow warriors and red warriors marching against Europe. Europe will be completely covered with a yellow fog that will kill the cattle in the fields. Those nations which have rebelled against the law of Christ will perish by fire. Europe will then be too large for them who survive. May the Lord grant to my grand-children the grace of persevering in the true Faith.”
► SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA (1907-????) stated that Our Lady had revealed to her the Communism would take over the entire world―something which was largely disbelieved when Lucia revealed that in 1946. On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. Here are the pertinent extracts: “Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’ Dr. Walsh then asked Lucia: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia emphatically replied: “Yes!”
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Dr. William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book, The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’ Sister Lucia went on to say: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’”
Second Vatican Council and the Modern Church in Prophecy
There are a number of prophecies that explicitly concern the terrible state of the Church in general and the Second Vatican Council in particular. Let us piece those prophecies together―align them side by side―and see what they tell us. Let us once again quote St. John Bosco to get the ball rolling:
► ST. JOHN BOSCO (1815-1888), prophesied in 1862, exactly 100 years before the Second Vatican Council opened, that: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.” Do not take that lightly! He says THERE WILL BE CHAOS IN THE CHURCH! The word chaos means “a state of extreme disorder and confusion; a state of utter disorder and confusion; a state of complete disorder and confusion; a confused mass or mixture; a disorderly mass; a jumble; inherent unpredictability in behavior; etc.
A large amount of prophecy comes from Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who describes the Second Vatican Council in quite some detail, as well as the terrible consequences coming out of it, which she calls a “new church”, as well the situation of the “two popes”―which is what we can see in the case of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
► BLESSED CATHERINE ANNE EMMERICH (1774-1824). “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops [The Second Vatican Council had 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembles all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps. They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council]. Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of young teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church.”
“I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints, and other Christians. But there in the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … I saw deplorable things: they were gambling, drinking, and talking in church; they were also courting women. All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! ... The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness.”
“I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... I saw that many of the instruments in the new church, such as spears and darts, were meant to be used against the true living Church. Everyone dragged in something different―clubs, rods, pumps, cudgels, puppets, mirrors, trumpets, horns bellows―all sorts of things. The men, in the little mantles, brought wood to the steps of the pulpit to make a fire. They puffed and blew and labored hard, but the fire would not burn―all they produced was smoke and fumes. Then they broke a hole in the roof and ran up a pipe―but the smoke would not rise, and the whole place became black and suffocating. Some blew the horns so violently that the tears streamed from their eyes. People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion. All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth. All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome ... Then my Guide [Jesus] said: ‘This is Babel’ … I saw very clearly the errors, the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason. Priests were among them!”
“I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons]. It can be seen thereby that God ratifies the decrees, orders, and interdictions issued by the Head of the Church, and that He keeps them in force even though men show no concern for them, reject them, or laugh them to scorn.”
“I also saw the Holy Father — God-fearing and prayerful. I see the Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before [notice how Pope Benedict XVI still lives in Vatican City, but no longer lives in the Papal residence] and he admits only a limited number of friends near him. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies ... Nothing was left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he was falling asleep ... He was sitting in the dark and slept in a large arm chair. He was very ill and weak; he could no longer walk … He often fainted and seemed to be dying. But when he was praying, he was often comforted by apparitions from Heaven. Then, his head was erect, but as soon as it dropped again onto his chest, I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world … The ecclesiastics in the inner circle looked insincere and lacking in zeal … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … They want to take from the shepherd his own pasture grounds! They want to fill his place with one who will hand all over to the enemy! … He thought that the evil was inevitable and he should leave in order to save many things beside himself. He was very much inclined to leave Rome, and he was insistently urged to do so.”
“Last night I was taken to Rome where the Holy Father immersed in his sorrow, is still hiding to elude dangerous demands (made upon him). He is still very weak, and exhausted by sorrows, cares and prayers. He can now trust but few people. That is mainly why he is hiding. But he still has with him an aged priest who has much simplicity and godliness. He is his friend and, because of his simplicity, they did not think it would be worth removing him. But this man receives many graces from God. He sees and notices a great many things which he faithfully reports to the Holy Father. It was required of me to inform him while he was praying, of the traitors and evil doers who were to be found among the high ranking servants living close to him, so that he might be made aware of it.”
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the connection or relationship between the two Popes and the two churches. I was shown how weak the one had been in adherents and human support, but how strong in courage to overturn so many gods and to unite so many different forms of worship into one; and, on the contrary, how strong in numbers and yet how irresolute in action was the other since, in authorizing the erection of false temples, he had allowed the only true God, the only true religion to be lost among so many false gods and false religions.”
“I also saw the various regions of the Earth. My Guide [Jesus] named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia [East Germany], the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils.’ … I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms―even if it only be long enough to say three Our Fathers [this does not mean that we must only pray for the length of three Our Fathers, but that our arms must outstretched in the form of a cross for at least as long as it takes to say three Our Fathers―our prayers must be fervent, many and much longer than a mere three Our Fathers]. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … She [the Holy Mother] said a great many others things that it pains me to relate: she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters [that are to come].”
“I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest [Francis?] will do much harm to the Church. When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish.”
“Very bad times will come when non-Catholics will lead many people astray. A great confusion will result. I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
► MARIE-JULIE JAHENNY (19th century). “In their (priests’) aberration, they will break their oaths ... Because of the little respect it has for the apostles of God, the flock grows careless and ceases to observe the laws. The priest himself is responsible for this lack of respect―because he does not respect enough his holy ministry, and the place which he occupies in his sacred functions. The flock follows in the footsteps of its pastors; this is a great tragedy … The clergy will be severely punished on account of their inconceivable fickleness and great cowardice which is incompatible with their functions … A terrible chastisement has been provided for those who ascend, every morning, the steps of the Holy Sacrifice. I have not come on your altars to be tortured. I suffer a hundredfold more from such hearts than any of the others. I absolve you from your great sins, My children, but I cannot grant any pardon to these priests.”
The above prophecy echoes the words that Our Lord spoke to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) over 200 years earlier: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments!” He added that the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him: “To let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
► MARIA LAACH MONASTERY PROPHECY (16th century). The Maria Laach Monastery prophecy was long ago recorded in a German monastery in the 16th century: “The 20th century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments! It will be the century of three great wars, with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West. After a terrible defeat of Germany, there will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.” We have to ask ourselves―Was a third world war mitigated or avoided, or is it merely delayed and is yet to come at the start of this 21st century?
► JOHANNES FRIEDE (13th century). Johannes Friede was an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John who died in 1257. He prophesied as follows: “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence.” This is a striking beginning to this prophecy. Here Friede prophesies that these natural disturbances in nature will be not just the result of natural changes, but also changes brought on by the science and inventions of man, who is increasingly “penetrating into the bowels of the Earth” with mining and “reaching into the clouds” with satellites, missiles, electro-magnetic waves, and pollution. A pretty precise prophecy considering it was made over 750 years ago!
► LIBER MIRABILIS (16th century). The Liber Mirabilis is a collection of Medieval Latin prophecies that were translated by Jean de Vatiguerro and first published in the 1500s: “All elements will become altered, because it is necessary, that the whole condition of the Centuries becomes changed; The Earth, in many places, will be in a dreadful state of collapse and all living things will be swallowed up. Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes… The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole world. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men…The air will completely change and because of pestilence, illness through it will break out, and will completely spoiled. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► SR. ROSA COLUMBA OF TAGGIA (19th century). Sr. Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “A great revolution will spread over all of Europe. Not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics, shall have their property confiscated. Many shall be cast into prison. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme throughout all Europe. There will be a general overthrow. There shall be a great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms and beating of drums. The Russians and Prussians shall come to make war in Italy. They shall profane many churches. Some bishops shall fall away from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children. Priests and religious shall be butchered and the Earth shall be watered with their blood.”
► SAINT COLUMBCILLE (6th century). Saint Columbcille is a famous Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597. The following prophecy of St. Columbcille seems to point to our present day and age: “Hearken, thou, until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world ... Troublous shall be the latter ages of the world … Great carnage shall be made, justice shall be outraged, multitudinous evils, great suffering shall prevail, and many unjust laws will be administered. The time shall come when truth shall not remain in them. They will plunder the property of the Church … There will come times of dark affliction, of scarcity,. Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and penurious, and will be devoid of piety. Churches will be held in bondage by the all-powerful men of the day ... The regular festivals of the Church will not be observed … The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be considered powerless … Judges will administer injustice, under the sanction of powerful, outrageous rulers … The common people will adopt false principles … Wars and contentions shall range in the bosoms of every family ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other; they will live devoid of justice and rectitude, from the tender age of their youth up to the old age ... There will be no standard by which morals may be regulated … Young women will become unblushing, the aged people will be of irascible temper … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another ... The possessors of abundance shall fall through the multiplicity of their falsehoods; Covetousness shall take possession of every glutton, and, when satisfied, their arrogance shall know no bounds … Rulers will be addicted to falsehood … Leaders will become murderers … Inclement weather and famine shall come and the people will be oppressed for lack of food, and shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail. Every race of mankind will become wicked!”
► ST. HILDEGARD (12th century). St. Hildegard was born in 1098 AD. She made many prophecies, here is an extract concerning our times: “The time is coming when princes and people will renounce the authority of the Pope. Individual countries will prefer their own church rulers to the Pope ... Heretics will preach their false doctrines undisturbed, resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic Faith … Church property will be secularized. Priests will be persecuted. The clergy, who will be robbed of all property. When the clergy has adopted a simple manner of living, conditions will improve.”
► ST. NILUS (5th century). The Prophecy of St. Nilus, who lived around 400, features some unique imagery. “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. All this will result from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give depraved wisdom to an unhappy man so that he will discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the Earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit of the Antichrist!”
► ST. THOMAS’ APOCALYPSE (1st century). St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, referring to the End Times, is an apocryphal work that dates back to the 1st century and has Our Lord speaking the following words: “Every man shall speak that which pleaseth him, and My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
► THE ECSTATIC OF TOURS (19th century). “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
Assessment of the Above Prophecies
“Despise not prophecies!” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). “For prophecy came not by the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost!” (2 Peter 1:21). “Blessed is he that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy; and keepeth those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand” (Apocalypse 1:3).
Unfortunately, once we see that “Prophecy is become to us a fear and destruction!” (Lamentations 3:47), then we dismiss the prophecy as being “merely private revelation” which does not oblige belief―just because it is not favorable to us, or is not according to our liking, or does not fit with our plans or agenda in life. Hence Our Lord’s words to the Jews also apply to us: “Behold I send to you prophets and wise men―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city!” (Matthew 23:34).
He can well add: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not; and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:13-16). Do we see? Do we hear?
The following article will try to superimpose those prophecies upon our present day and try to evaluate how far along we are on the road of our impending chastisement, which will then be followed by the triumph of the Church through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
For some reason or other, we imagine that the prophecies about the catastrophes to befall the Church and the world are meant for some distant time in the future, when we are long gone out of this world. Such a complacency can and will be a fatal miscalculation and a terrible mistake on the part of Catholics―who should know better.
► Yet POPE PIUS XII (reigned 1939-1958) said. “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► Those words are seconded by SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA, who said in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► Not many years later, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, OUR LADY OF AKITA added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful! The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
The Signs Are There!
We speak of “the signs of the times” ― and Our Lord Himself also mentions “the signs of the times.” When the Apostles questioned Him about the date of the “End-Times” or “Last Days”, He says: “Now of the fig tree learn ye a parable! When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near. So you, also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very near, even at the doors! … But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:28-33). Our Lord is telling to watch carefully for the signs to appear that have already been foretold. Prophecy is act of mercy by God, much like a burglar alarm, or fire alarm, or a warning light on the dashboard of your car―which, if you pay attention to it and take appropriate measures and act in good time, could well save your life and a lot of needless expense or loss.
Let us then look at “the signs of the times” and see which prophecies have been fulfilled, which are yet to come, and where we perhaps stand on the timeline of their fulfillment.
We Have Entered the End Times
As Sister Lucia warned back in 1957, we have entered the “End Times” or the “Last Days”―which has also been confirmed by several popes, as well as Our Lady of Akita in 1973. That does not mean that the world is going to end any time soon―we still have to go through the Communist takeover of the world, a terrible persecution of the Church and Christianity, the Minor Apostasy, phenomenal amounts of bloodshed in secular wars and religious persecutions, an apparent or seeming destruction of the Church, Christians in hiding, a miraculous recovery, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a short period or time of “peace and plenty” which will engender laxity and lukewarmness, then a relapse into sin with the Major Apostasy, the advent of the Antichrist, once again the apparent destruction of the Church and the seeming triumph of evil, and then God’s destruction of the Antichrist and finally the end of the world! So the end of the world is at the end of that list―but that does not mean troubled times and terrible times are not going to be on our plate some time soon!
First of all, let us look at the comments of some of the popes:
► POPE ST. PIUS X (reigned 1903-1914). “I saw one of my successors taking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in disguise somewhere; and after a short retirement he will die a cruel death. The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world.”
► POPE PIUS XII (reigned 1939-1958). “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI (reigned 2005-2013) wrote in his book Faith and the Future, that “From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge ― a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices [buildings] that she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she loose many of her social privileges.”
► POPE JOHN XXIII said the very opposite at the opening of the Second Council of the Vatican: “We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world was at hand. In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men’s own efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed towards the fulfillment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church.” Sadly, Pope John XXIII―if he were to still be alive today―would have eat his own words! The exact opposite has happened to what he humanistically predicted! The Church is a mess―partially as a result of the direction taken by the Second Vatican Council.
Starting With the 20th Century ...
There are several prophecies that mark out the 20th century as the beginning of the woes for both the Church and world. The catastrophes within the Church are prophesied as essentially stemming from a 20th century Ecumenical Council within the Church and the introduction of novelties in Church teaching and a ‘marriage’ or compromise between the Church and the world:
► ST. JOHN BOSCO (1815-1888), in a well-known prophecy, made in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council started, predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (17th century). “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private.”
► SISTER BOUQUILLION (19th century). “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”
► MOTHER SHIPTON (16th century). “The great chastisement will come when carriages go without horses and many accidents fill the world with woe. It will come when ‘thoughts are flying round the Earth in the twinkling of an eye’ [i.e. radio-communications], when long tunnels are made for horseless machines, when men can fly in the air and ride under the sea, when ships are wholly made of metal, when fire and water ‘great marvels do’ [i.e. the steam engine], when even the poor can read books, when many taxes are levied for war.”
► BLESSED REMBORDT (18th century). “God will punish the world when men have devised marvelous inventions that will lead them to forgetting God. They will have horseless carriages, and they will fly like the birds. But they will laugh at the idea of God, thinking that they are ‘very clever.’ There will be signs from Heaven, but men, in their pride, will laugh them off. Men will indulge in voluptuousness, and lewd fashions will be seen … These things will come when they try to set up a new kingdom of Christ from which the true Faith will be banished.”
► ST. ANTHONY OF THE DESERT (4th century). “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, Faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day’s problems. When the Church and the World are one, then those days are at hand. Because our Divine Master placed a barrier between His things and the things of the world.”
► THE OBA PROPHECY. “It will come when the Church authorities issue directives to promote a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the higher positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions.”
► BISHOP GEORGE WITTMAN made the following prediction in the 19th century: “Very sad times are coming for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. The Passion of Our Lord will be renewed in a most painful manner in the Church and in her supreme Head. Brutal hands will be laid upon his person. Secret societies will work great ruin, and they will exercise a great financial power.”
► BROTHER JOHN OF THE CLEFT ROCK (14th century). “Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history.”
► BISHOP CHRISTIANOS AGEDA (12th century). “In the 20th century there will be wars and fury which will last a long time; whole provinces shall be emptied of their inhabitants, and kingdoms shall be thrown into confusion. In many places the land shall be left untilled, and there shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left, and the north shall prevail over the south.”
► BROTHER LOUIS ROCCO (19th century). “Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
► JASPER: “When men indulge in sensuous pleasures and voluptuousness, when no one wishes to obey any more, when there is widespread discontent among the peoples of the earth, then Russia will pour out masses of soldiers, and they will reach the Rhone.”
► COUNTESS FRANCESCA DE BILLIANTE (20th century). “I see yellow warriors and red warriors marching against Europe. Europe will be completely covered with a yellow fog that will kill the cattle in the fields. Those nations which have rebelled against the law of Christ will perish by fire. Europe will then be too large for them who survive. May the Lord grant to my grand-children the grace of persevering in the true Faith.”
► SR. LUCIA OF FATIMA (1907-????) stated that Our Lady had revealed to her the Communism would take over the entire world―something which was largely disbelieved when Lucia revealed that in 1946. On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his popular book, Our Lady of Fatima. Here are the pertinent extracts: “Finally we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’ Dr. Walsh then asked Lucia: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia emphatically replied: “Yes!”
Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview between Dr. William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book, The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was: ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding: ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’ Sister Lucia went on to say: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’”
Second Vatican Council and the Modern Church in Prophecy
There are a number of prophecies that explicitly concern the terrible state of the Church in general and the Second Vatican Council in particular. Let us piece those prophecies together―align them side by side―and see what they tell us. Let us once again quote St. John Bosco to get the ball rolling:
► ST. JOHN BOSCO (1815-1888), prophesied in 1862, exactly 100 years before the Second Vatican Council opened, that: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.” Do not take that lightly! He says THERE WILL BE CHAOS IN THE CHURCH! The word chaos means “a state of extreme disorder and confusion; a state of utter disorder and confusion; a state of complete disorder and confusion; a confused mass or mixture; a disorderly mass; a jumble; inherent unpredictability in behavior; etc.
A large amount of prophecy comes from Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who describes the Second Vatican Council in quite some detail, as well as the terrible consequences coming out of it, which she calls a “new church”, as well the situation of the “two popes”―which is what we can see in the case of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
► BLESSED CATHERINE ANNE EMMERICH (1774-1824). “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops [The Second Vatican Council had 2,000 and 2,500 bishops in daily attendance]. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [the Second Vatican Council assembles all the bishops in the world], but only a small number were perfectly sound. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps. They were building a large, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights―Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description [all of which describes the current false spirit of Ecumenism that invaded the Church at the Council]. Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering, but false knowledge of young teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction. I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church.”
“I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints, and other Christians. But there in the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I did not see a single angel, nor a single saint helping in the work. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great circle of darkness ever widening … I saw deplorable things: they were gambling, drinking, and talking in church; they were also courting women. All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly priests ... I saw some good pious bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … The Church is in great danger! The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere! I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand! … It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word! ... The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness.”
“I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... I saw that many of the instruments in the new church, such as spears and darts, were meant to be used against the true living Church. Everyone dragged in something different―clubs, rods, pumps, cudgels, puppets, mirrors, trumpets, horns bellows―all sorts of things. The men, in the little mantles, brought wood to the steps of the pulpit to make a fire. They puffed and blew and labored hard, but the fire would not burn―all they produced was smoke and fumes. Then they broke a hole in the roof and ran up a pipe―but the smoke would not rise, and the whole place became black and suffocating. Some blew the horns so violently that the tears streamed from their eyes. People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own―and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus―were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion. All in this church belonged to the Earth, returned to the Earth. All was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man’s invention like the new heterodox church in Rome ... Then my Guide [Jesus] said: ‘This is Babel’ … I saw very clearly the errors, the aberrations and the countless sins of men. I saw the folly and the wickedness of their actions, against all truth and all reason. Priests were among them!”
“I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate with enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast [i.e. become Freemasons]. It can be seen thereby that God ratifies the decrees, orders, and interdictions issued by the Head of the Church, and that He keeps them in force even though men show no concern for them, reject them, or laugh them to scorn.”
“I also saw the Holy Father — God-fearing and prayerful. I see the Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before [notice how Pope Benedict XVI still lives in Vatican City, but no longer lives in the Papal residence] and he admits only a limited number of friends near him. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies ... Nothing was left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he was falling asleep ... He was sitting in the dark and slept in a large arm chair. He was very ill and weak; he could no longer walk … He often fainted and seemed to be dying. But when he was praying, he was often comforted by apparitions from Heaven. Then, his head was erect, but as soon as it dropped again onto his chest, I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world … The ecclesiastics in the inner circle looked insincere and lacking in zeal … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … They want to take from the shepherd his own pasture grounds! They want to fill his place with one who will hand all over to the enemy! … He thought that the evil was inevitable and he should leave in order to save many things beside himself. He was very much inclined to leave Rome, and he was insistently urged to do so.”
“Last night I was taken to Rome where the Holy Father immersed in his sorrow, is still hiding to elude dangerous demands (made upon him). He is still very weak, and exhausted by sorrows, cares and prayers. He can now trust but few people. That is mainly why he is hiding. But he still has with him an aged priest who has much simplicity and godliness. He is his friend and, because of his simplicity, they did not think it would be worth removing him. But this man receives many graces from God. He sees and notices a great many things which he faithfully reports to the Holy Father. It was required of me to inform him while he was praying, of the traitors and evil doers who were to be found among the high ranking servants living close to him, so that he might be made aware of it.”
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the connection or relationship between the two Popes and the two churches. I was shown how weak the one had been in adherents and human support, but how strong in courage to overturn so many gods and to unite so many different forms of worship into one; and, on the contrary, how strong in numbers and yet how irresolute in action was the other since, in authorizing the erection of false temples, he had allowed the only true God, the only true religion to be lost among so many false gods and false religions.”
“I also saw the various regions of the Earth. My Guide [Jesus] named Europe and pointing to a small and sandy region, He uttered these words: ‘Here is Prussia [East Germany], the enemy.’ Then He showed me another place, to the north, and He said: ‘This is Moskva, the land of Moscow, bringing many evils.’ … I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, harassed, restricted, and deprived of freedom, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
“Then I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms―even if it only be long enough to say three Our Fathers [this does not mean that we must only pray for the length of three Our Fathers, but that our arms must outstretched in the form of a cross for at least as long as it takes to say three Our Fathers―our prayers must be fervent, many and much longer than a mere three Our Fathers]. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … She [the Holy Mother] said a great many others things that it pains me to relate: she said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same disposition as the Apostles, then he could avert all the disasters [that are to come].”
“I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest [Francis?] will do much harm to the Church. When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish.”
“Very bad times will come when non-Catholics will lead many people astray. A great confusion will result. I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs!”
► MARIE-JULIE JAHENNY (19th century). “In their (priests’) aberration, they will break their oaths ... Because of the little respect it has for the apostles of God, the flock grows careless and ceases to observe the laws. The priest himself is responsible for this lack of respect―because he does not respect enough his holy ministry, and the place which he occupies in his sacred functions. The flock follows in the footsteps of its pastors; this is a great tragedy … The clergy will be severely punished on account of their inconceivable fickleness and great cowardice which is incompatible with their functions … A terrible chastisement has been provided for those who ascend, every morning, the steps of the Holy Sacrifice. I have not come on your altars to be tortured. I suffer a hundredfold more from such hearts than any of the others. I absolve you from your great sins, My children, but I cannot grant any pardon to these priests.”
The above prophecy echoes the words that Our Lord spoke to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) over 200 years earlier: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments!” He added that the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him: “To let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
► MARIA LAACH MONASTERY PROPHECY (16th century). The Maria Laach Monastery prophecy was long ago recorded in a German monastery in the 16th century: “The 20th century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments! It will be the century of three great wars, with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West. After a terrible defeat of Germany, there will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.” We have to ask ourselves―Was a third world war mitigated or avoided, or is it merely delayed and is yet to come at the start of this 21st century?
► JOHANNES FRIEDE (13th century). Johannes Friede was an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John who died in 1257. He prophesied as follows: “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence.” This is a striking beginning to this prophecy. Here Friede prophesies that these natural disturbances in nature will be not just the result of natural changes, but also changes brought on by the science and inventions of man, who is increasingly “penetrating into the bowels of the Earth” with mining and “reaching into the clouds” with satellites, missiles, electro-magnetic waves, and pollution. A pretty precise prophecy considering it was made over 750 years ago!
► LIBER MIRABILIS (16th century). The Liber Mirabilis is a collection of Medieval Latin prophecies that were translated by Jean de Vatiguerro and first published in the 1500s: “All elements will become altered, because it is necessary, that the whole condition of the Centuries becomes changed; The Earth, in many places, will be in a dreadful state of collapse and all living things will be swallowed up. Numerous strong towns and cities will be shattered and collapse in earthquakes… The sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole world. The air will be dirty and be polluted because of the grossness and discord of men…The air will completely change and because of pestilence, illness through it will break out, and will completely spoiled. Men will become like animals from the various new diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible famine and will torment men. It will be such great suffering in the whole world, and there is nowhere that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the world there has been nothing as horrible as this.”
► SR. ROSA COLUMBA OF TAGGIA (19th century). Sr. Rosa Columba of Taggia, who died in 1847, received this vision of the future: “A great revolution will spread over all of Europe. Not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics, shall have their property confiscated. Many shall be cast into prison. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme throughout all Europe. There will be a general overthrow. There shall be a great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms and beating of drums. The Russians and Prussians shall come to make war in Italy. They shall profane many churches. Some bishops shall fall away from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children. Priests and religious shall be butchered and the Earth shall be watered with their blood.”
► SAINT COLUMBCILLE (6th century). Saint Columbcille is a famous Irish saint and seer who lived between 521 and 597. The following prophecy of St. Columbcille seems to point to our present day and age: “Hearken, thou, until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world ... Troublous shall be the latter ages of the world … Great carnage shall be made, justice shall be outraged, multitudinous evils, great suffering shall prevail, and many unjust laws will be administered. The time shall come when truth shall not remain in them. They will plunder the property of the Church … There will come times of dark affliction, of scarcity,. Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and penurious, and will be devoid of piety. Churches will be held in bondage by the all-powerful men of the day ... The regular festivals of the Church will not be observed … The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be considered powerless … Judges will administer injustice, under the sanction of powerful, outrageous rulers … The common people will adopt false principles … Wars and contentions shall range in the bosoms of every family ... All classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other; they will live devoid of justice and rectitude, from the tender age of their youth up to the old age ... There will be no standard by which morals may be regulated … Young women will become unblushing, the aged people will be of irascible temper … Young people will despise those who have gray hair … Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist … and blood-relatives shall become cool towards each other … Neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another ... The possessors of abundance shall fall through the multiplicity of their falsehoods; Covetousness shall take possession of every glutton, and, when satisfied, their arrogance shall know no bounds … Rulers will be addicted to falsehood … Leaders will become murderers … Inclement weather and famine shall come and the people will be oppressed for lack of food, and shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail. Every race of mankind will become wicked!”
► ST. HILDEGARD (12th century). St. Hildegard was born in 1098 AD. She made many prophecies, here is an extract concerning our times: “The time is coming when princes and people will renounce the authority of the Pope. Individual countries will prefer their own church rulers to the Pope ... Heretics will preach their false doctrines undisturbed, resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic Faith … Church property will be secularized. Priests will be persecuted. The clergy, who will be robbed of all property. When the clergy has adopted a simple manner of living, conditions will improve.”
► ST. NILUS (5th century). The Prophecy of St. Nilus, who lived around 400, features some unique imagery. “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time―they will completely lose their Faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. All this will result from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give depraved wisdom to an unhappy man so that he will discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the Earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit of the Antichrist!”
► ST. THOMAS’ APOCALYPSE (1st century). St. Thomas’ Apocalypse, referring to the End Times, is an apocryphal work that dates back to the 1st century and has Our Lord speaking the following words: “Every man shall speak that which pleaseth him, and My priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto Me with deceitful minds. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the House of the Lord and turning to the world. The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars will be abhorred. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, and the priesthood polluted.”
► THE ECSTATIC OF TOURS (19th century). “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out. For some time the Church will be without a Pope.”
Assessment of the Above Prophecies
“Despise not prophecies!” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). “For prophecy came not by the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost!” (2 Peter 1:21). “Blessed is he that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy; and keepeth those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand” (Apocalypse 1:3).
Unfortunately, once we see that “Prophecy is become to us a fear and destruction!” (Lamentations 3:47), then we dismiss the prophecy as being “merely private revelation” which does not oblige belief―just because it is not favorable to us, or is not according to our liking, or does not fit with our plans or agenda in life. Hence Our Lord’s words to the Jews also apply to us: “Behold I send to you prophets and wise men―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city!” (Matthew 23:34).
He can well add: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not; and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:13-16). Do we see? Do we hear?
The following article will try to superimpose those prophecies upon our present day and try to evaluate how far along we are on the road of our impending chastisement, which will then be followed by the triumph of the Church through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday July 19th & Tuesday July 20th
Article 11
Cold Blooded, Cold Hearted and Cold Footed Catholics
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday July 19th & Tuesday July 20th
Article 11
Cold Blooded, Cold Hearted and Cold Footed Catholics
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Global Warming? Climate Change? The World Grows Colder!
There is a lot of bumf (American spelling) or bumpf (British spelling), also bumph, being spread about “global warming” and “climate change.” For the uninitiated, the word “bumf” or “bumpf” or “bumph” means “obvious or blatant propaganda”. The origins is usually taken to be the much older expression of “bum-fodder” ― where the word “bum” refers to one’s “backside, bottom, rear-end, or ass.” The expression “bum-fodder” referred to all the useless or tedious printed information or documents — material whose only conceivable use was to be torn up, hung up on a nail in the privy (toilet) and used as toilet paper.
There is more and more bumf by the day and people just seem to lap it up like they lap up junk food―bumf about viruses, bumf about infection rates, bumf about death rates, bumf about mask-wearing, bumf about social-distancing, bumf about vaccines―all of which deserves to be treated like “bum-fodder”, hung on a nail in the bathroom (toilet), and used to wipe the bum and then be thrown into the toilet and flushed away for good!
Talking of viruses and infections―the world seems to be infected by bumf and even seems to like bumf, with some even being addicted to bumf and unable to live without bumf! Junk food begins to taste pleasant with time, once you get used to the taste of the garbage. Likewise, lies sound true after a while, if you can only repeat them enough times to brainwash the mind. The more puny and dumb the mind is, then the faster and more easily it is brainwashed! That is where we find ourselves today―with billions of puny dumb minds having been fed bumf for decades, who now look upon the bumf as being “Gospel truth”! They are now even wearing bumf masks and getting themselves injected with two doses of liquid bumf!
The global warming bumf will always find adherents and opponents―likewise for the Plannedemic Con-all-a-virus―and that will never change, for when you stop believing in God, then you will believe anything you are told. There will always be a line drawn in the sand that will divide the adherents to God from the adherents of the world; the adherents to truth from the adherents to lies. Conspiracy theories will be accepted by one side and denied by other―and it will remain so until the world ends. Some things are so clear that they need no evidence, yet for some people, even if you gave them all the evidence in the world they would still not believe and would remain in denial.
Fear Not Global Climate Changes―Fear Catholic Climate Changes
It is not global warming and climate change that should worry us the most―it is the “climate change” among Catholics that is most worrying. Catholic “climate change” has seen Catholics become increasingly cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed. As Our Lord warned: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Likewise with the Faith: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) and “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). The more technology has advanced, the less interest and time there has been for the Faith. Faith gives us a knowledge about God and we are meant to “know, love and serve God in this life” (Catechism)―you cannot love what you do not know, and you will not serve for very long someone whom you do not love―and we are supposed to “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Yet Faith must not stop at mere knowledge; neither does Charity stop are mere “lip-service” ― as Holy Scripture warns: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). Likewise with Charity―telling God that we love Him is not enough! Our Lord Himself said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6-9) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Amid Climate Change, Catholics Grow Cold
Never mind global warning―Catholics should be warming! The problem is that Catholics are growing cold! Cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed! Back in 1674-1675, the Sacred Heart of Jesus already complained to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque about our coldness and lukewarmness towards Him, saying: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love! And in return, from the greater part of men, I receive nothing but ingratitude―by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love! … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavours to do them good!” If Our Lord complained about the state of affairs back in the 1670s, what would He say today?!!!
Our Lord has already said things we could be repeated today, but only ten times more strongly: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) ... “O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16; Mark 9:18) ... “I been so long a time with you―and you have not known Me!” (John 14:9) … “Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “Amen, I say to you, that hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24) …
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36) ... “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23) … “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7) … “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “How canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother! Let me pull the splinter out of thy eye!’― when thou thyself seest not the plank in thy own eye? Hypocrite! Cast first the plank out of thy own eye―and then thou shalt see clearly to take out the splinter from thy brother’s eye!” (Luke 6:42) ... “And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:55-56) … “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … Again I say to you; except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5) ... “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you do!” (John 8:44) … “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28) … “[You] ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
All of the above will comfortably fit into the categories of cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed Catholics―and all of those three categories are a result of a lack of true charity towards God and neighbor. They are the result of failing to take heed of and live out fully the two greatest commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-40). “The love of our neighbor worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).
Love Who? Who is My Neighbor?
Just like the lawyer who tempted Christ, we might well be tempted to ask: “Who is my neighbor?” The passage in Holy Scripture reads as follows: “And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Jesus, and saying: ‘Master! What must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right! This do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:25-37).
The Samaritans
Since less and less people read the Bible these days―never mind studying the Bible―as a consequence, more and more people are more or less clueless about who the Samaritans were and why Our Lord specifically chose a Samaritan as a key player for His parable.
At the time of Jesus the land of Palestine was ruled by the Romans. It was split up into different areas. Most Samaritans lived in Samaria. The Samaritans were different from the Jewish people who lived in the surrounding areas in Palestine. Samaria was between Galilee in the north and Judea and Jerusalem in the south. The shortest way for Jewish people to go north from Jerusalem or south from Galilee was to travel through Samaria. However, for hundreds of years the Jews and the people of Samaria had been enemies. They did not agree about where God’s people should worship. Jews worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans had made another place for worship. It was in their land, on the top of a mountain. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Most Jews would not travel through Samaria. They went by a longer route to avoid Samaria and any contact with Samaritans.
Hence, in His parable, Our Lord is clearly indicating that your “neighbor” includes your enemies. As regards our enemies, we don’t even have to think! Our attitude is both emotional and instinctive. Whatever comes from our enemies, we we are against it. Whatever it is they are saying, it’s wrong. Whatever they want is bad. Whatever they’re doing must be stopped. This negative attitude spills over into the behavior of many followers of sports teams; it spills over into the workplace, into parish life and even into the life of the nation. Any of our formal opponents, work-rivals, or business rivals, political adversaries, or even neighbors and family members who press our buttons and bug us. Nothing these people are up to can be good. It would help if they would just disappear. In biblical times, that same mindset sums up the relationship between Jews and Samaritans.
Originally, the Twelve Tribes of Israel―once they entered the Promised Land―formed one single kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. With the passage of time―due to disagreements, squabbles, selfish self-interest and the like―the kingdom split into two parts. The majority consisted of the ten tribes to the north―which, since they were in the majority, kept the name “Kingdom of Israel”, which became the Northern Kingdom. The minority consisting of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin, became the Southern Kingdom, taking on the name of “Kingdom of Juda”. The Northern Kingdom chose a new capital in place of Jerusalem (which was in Juda) and name its capital “Samaria”. The Southern Kingdom retained Jerusalem as its capital city. The distance between Samaria and Jerusalem was only 35 miles.
With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors. The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers. By God’s punishing Providence, Assyria swallows the northern kingdom of Israel by 722 BC, deporting over 27,000 people from Samaria to far-flung places within the Assyrian Empire. The “10 lost tribes of Israel” officially get lost at this point, as the ten northern tribes find themselves forcefully dispersed. In their place, Assyria seeded the territory of Samaria with Babylonians and other Mesopotamian people. The city of Samaria, in the northern Kingdom of Israel became the headquarters of the Assyrian province―which they then called “Samarina”. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The people who now inhabited the former northern Kingdom—the Samaritans, offspring of intermarriages of Jews and foreigners—vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation. For their part, the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins. So walls of bitterness were erected on both sides and did nothing but harden for the next 550 years.
Tensions increased when the Samaritans built their own Temple for worship on Mount Garizim, and stated that their mountain was the dwelling place of the Lord, not the Temple in Jerusalem. A Jew named Manasses, of priestly lineage in Juda, married a Samaritan and was expelled around 432 BC by the Jewish governor Nehemias―who was a strict separatist, adhering to “Juda is only for Jews” policy. Manasses went to Samaria and became high priest of the temple built on Mount Garizim where the Samaritans offered sacrifices of the Law. In their nationalistic zeal they claimed that both their temple and their copy of the Law were greater than those at Jerusalem. On the other hand, Jewish animosity was so entrenched that a traveler went around Samaria on his journey from Judaea to Galilee. With that, any hope of reconciliation between the two peoples was lost.
The Samaritans later allied themselves with the Seleucids against the Jews, in the Machabean wars. Then, in 128 BC, the leader of Juda, John Hyrcanus, completely destroyed the Samaritan capital. The Samaritans rebuilt it a hundred years later and continued their blasphemous sacrifices. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a band of Samaritans profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by scattering the bones of dead people in the sanctuary.
Both Jewish and Samaritan priests taught their people that it was sinful to have any contact with the other. Jews were to avoid the impure land of the Samaritans and Samaritans were not to speak to Jews. In addition, Samaritans and the Jews fed their mutual hatred with insult and injury. Jews called the Samaritans a ‘herd’, not a nation. A widely used Jewish proverb stated that “a piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.” Sometime early in the first century, Samaritans threw human bones into the Temple in Jerusalem on the day of Passover. This heinous act, according to the Jews, defiled the sanctuary making it impossible to celebrate the most important feast of the year. The worst insult that a Jew could use was to call someone a Samaritan, such as in John 8:48 when the hostile Pharisees answered Jesus by saying, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?” (John 8:48).
Samaritans were known to lie in wait for Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the feast days. Sometimes these attacks escalated into death, and in at least one instance Rome intervened. As a result, Galileans (except Jesus) used the longer route on the other side of the Jordan when traveling from the north (Galilee) to the south (Judea and Jerusalem).
The ruling Roman legions could hardly distinguish Jews from Samaritans, but that didn’t keep the two groups from using Rome against each other. Some Samaritan men would enlist in the Roman auxiliary troops for a chance to legally harass their Jewish neighbors. Both groups are said to have bribed Roman soldiers to persecute the other.
The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) such force! It also shows the volatility and provocation of Jesus’ Parable, where Jesus (a Jew) makes the Samaritan a hero, and makes the Jews in the Parable look like bad men―for Jesus has the Samaritan rise above centuries of mutual bigotry and prejudice and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew―his enemy―after the Jew’s own countrymen pass him by! Here endeth the history lesson!
Our Lord Rebukes Enmity
We have the benefit of 2,000 years of “digesting” the doctrine of Our Lord―so it is nothing “new” to us as it was for those who first heard His teachings. If you were to go back to Our Lord’s day, He would have come across as a quite a “radical” to most of his listeners. He claimed to be God! He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood! He told people to sell all that they had, give away their money to the poor and to come and follow Him wandering around the Holy Land. He said that you could not serve God and mammon (pleasures and treasures of the world) and that hardly any rich men would get to Heaven. He told people to be happy in poverty. He said that if your eye or hand caused you to sin, you should pluck it out or cut it off, rather than go to Hell. He stated that had not come to give peace of Earth, but a sword and separation―so that “there shall be, from henceforth, five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! … And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Luke 12:51-53; Matthew 10:34-37).
Then, on the one hand, He says: “As for My enemies, those who would not have Me reign over them, bring them hither, and kill them before Me!” (Luke 19:27). Yet on the other hand, He says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not the heathens and pagans do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48). Both statements must have been shocking to His listeners―to bring and kill His enemies right in from of Him, and then to love enemies!
Heaven is full of charity because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―while Hell is full of hatred and “gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42), because Satan and the devils are full of hatred. Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)―whereas “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The name “Jesus” means “Savior” and He comes to forgive us our sins if we are properly disposed to receive forgiveness―where the name “Devil” comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate”, whereby the devils seek to accuse us of sin rather than forgive sin.
Our Lord forgave many of His enemies. Now just stop and think for a moment― “What makes someone an enemy of Christ, an enemy of God?” There is one thing alone that makes us an enemy of God―and that is SIN. God hates sin and sin hates God. Sin says to God: “I will not serve!” (Jeremias 2:20) and “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19) … “God hateth iniquity” (Judith 5:21). SIN is the greatest evil in the world―it is the only real evil in the world―as our Catechisms tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Do Unto Others as God Has Done to You
When YOU sin, YOU commit the GREATEST EVIL in the world―yet, if you a properly disposed, sufficiently contrite, willing to make amends, desiring to sin no more, then God will forgive YOU for having committed the GREATEST EVIL in the world. Yet we are sometimes so cold-hearted and cold-blooded that we are not prepared to forgive others when they sin against us or against somebody else. Scripture so truly rebukes such an attitude, saying: “Do you not judge within yourselves, and are become judges of unjust thoughts?” (James 2:4). We scream for blood, we want revenge, we want lightning-bolts to come from Heaven and strike those who have offended us―much like St. James and St. John wanted to call fire from Heaven to a destroy a Samaritan city that refused to receive Our Lord: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [and the Samaritans hated Jews and Jerusalem]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
This cold-heartedness and cold-bloodedness is clearly shown in the parable of the Merciless Servant: “Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents [1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million]. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence [the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325]: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Truly, as the Psalm says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9).
If you forgive others God will forgive you: “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man; so that your Father, Who is in Heaven, may also forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). In the prayer, the Our Father, we say every time “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” Are we lying when we say that again, and again, and again? “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore!” (Romans 14:13).
The Danger in Judging
Like Christ, we should seek mercy for the sinner and not vengeance! We are not God and so there is just no way that we can judge anyone with total fairness and total justice. Even with God, mercy is always mixed-in with justice―He is never just without also being merciful, and He is never merciful without also being just. Do not judge rashly! Do not judge as though you were God, or as if you are playing at being God. “Do you endeavor to judge for God?” (Job 13:8). God gathers all the tiniest details and evidence in everyone’s life: “God be judge!” (Judith 7:13). “For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9). “The Lord searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels” (Proverbs 20:27). “God knoweth all things” (1 John 3:20). “For the Lord knoweth all knowledge―the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and hidden things” (Ecclesiasticus 42:19).
Do you think that you can add anything to God’s judgments? Do you think that if you do not judge someone, then they will escape unpunished? O proud, foolish and naïve judge! Nothing escapes the sight and knowledge of God! It is an infantile, imbecilic and irreverent attitude to imagine oneself as being able to do something better than God. To think that you can judge and inflict justice better than God is like a 5-year-old thinking that they do a better job at brain surgery than the experienced brain surgeon! “Do you endeavor to judge for God?” (Job 13:8). “For God is judge!” (Psalm 49:6). “The Lord judgeth the people! … God is a just judge! … And He shall judge the world in equity, He shall judge the people in justice!” (Psalms 7:9; 7:12; 9:9). “He shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people!” (Isaias 2:4). “He shall judge many people and rebuke strong nations!” (Micheas 4:3). “He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears!” (Isaias 11:3). “He will judge the people with justice!” (Psalm 95:10). “The Lord is judge, and with Him there is no respect of person!” (Ecclesiasticus 35:15). “‘I will judge thee according to thy ways, and according to thy doings!’ saith the Lord” (Ezechiel 24:14). “And the Lord said: ‘I judge not according to the look of man―for man only seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Even Our Lord says: “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47). “You judge according to the flesh! I judge not any man! And if I do judge, then My judgment is true!” (John 8:15-16). “So I judge and My judgment is just!” (John 5:30).
Hence Holy Scripture warns us: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged!” (Matthew 7:1-2). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful! Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged!” (1 Corinthians 11:31). And if we are placed by God in a position that requires that we must judge, then Scripture warns: “Thou shalt not judge unjustly. But judge thy neighbor according to justice!” (Leviticus 19:15). “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment!” (John 7:24).
Scripture is full of references and examples of God’s vengeance on sinners―but it is in due time. “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time!” says the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:35). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; for it is written: ‘Revenge is Mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). By saying “in due time” refers to the fact that every sinner is given time to convert, repent, amend his ways and make reparation to God and others. Who knows if the sinner will convert or not? Who knows when the sinner will convert? Today? Tomorrow? In a month or a year or ten years? Or at the very end of his life with his last breath? You do not know that―God does! Do not judge before time! The parable of the Cockle and Wheat reflects that point: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming, said to him: ‘Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’ And the servants said to him: ‘Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No! Lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!’” (Matthew 13:24-30). We, like the servants in the parable, are only too ready to judge and act too hastily, demanding immediate intervention and action―which can often be too imprudent and open to failure.
The end time chastisements―which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said are imminent―will not only be a just revenge upon the sins of sinners, but the chastisements will also be acts of mercy that will hope to provoke repentance is sinners and thus save their souls! Do not judge before time! Remember the cockle and the wheat being allowed to grow alongside each other until harvest time! “Therefore judge not before the time!” (1 Corinthians 4:5). In the meantime: “I will judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin!” (Ezechiel 18:30).
Cold Feet Lead to Hot Coals
When it comes to fighting for the Faith, most Catholics have “cold-feet”. Their cold feet stem from their cold-heart and cold-bloodedness. You will not fight―or fight half-heartedly―for something that you do not really love. Therefore it is hardly surprising to see the massive retreat from God, from the Church, from the Faith, from the commandments of God, and teachings of the Church, on the part of the vast majority of Catholics. Faced by the relentless pressure of the world―and do not forget that the world primarily is controlled by the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), Satan―these half-hearted, lip-service, mammon-loving Catholics quickly raise their hands in the air and surrender, and refuse to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). If they do any fighting, then it either over worldly things, or they fight among fellow Catholics―usually targeting the true Catholics and calling them “fanatics”, “radicals”, etc. In the words of Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette, “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” will find themselves greatly outnumbered by those who will be addicted to the “unbridled luxury which will ensnare the rest into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … and people will think of nothing but amusement.”
There is a lot of bumf (American spelling) or bumpf (British spelling), also bumph, being spread about “global warming” and “climate change.” For the uninitiated, the word “bumf” or “bumpf” or “bumph” means “obvious or blatant propaganda”. The origins is usually taken to be the much older expression of “bum-fodder” ― where the word “bum” refers to one’s “backside, bottom, rear-end, or ass.” The expression “bum-fodder” referred to all the useless or tedious printed information or documents — material whose only conceivable use was to be torn up, hung up on a nail in the privy (toilet) and used as toilet paper.
There is more and more bumf by the day and people just seem to lap it up like they lap up junk food―bumf about viruses, bumf about infection rates, bumf about death rates, bumf about mask-wearing, bumf about social-distancing, bumf about vaccines―all of which deserves to be treated like “bum-fodder”, hung on a nail in the bathroom (toilet), and used to wipe the bum and then be thrown into the toilet and flushed away for good!
Talking of viruses and infections―the world seems to be infected by bumf and even seems to like bumf, with some even being addicted to bumf and unable to live without bumf! Junk food begins to taste pleasant with time, once you get used to the taste of the garbage. Likewise, lies sound true after a while, if you can only repeat them enough times to brainwash the mind. The more puny and dumb the mind is, then the faster and more easily it is brainwashed! That is where we find ourselves today―with billions of puny dumb minds having been fed bumf for decades, who now look upon the bumf as being “Gospel truth”! They are now even wearing bumf masks and getting themselves injected with two doses of liquid bumf!
The global warming bumf will always find adherents and opponents―likewise for the Plannedemic Con-all-a-virus―and that will never change, for when you stop believing in God, then you will believe anything you are told. There will always be a line drawn in the sand that will divide the adherents to God from the adherents of the world; the adherents to truth from the adherents to lies. Conspiracy theories will be accepted by one side and denied by other―and it will remain so until the world ends. Some things are so clear that they need no evidence, yet for some people, even if you gave them all the evidence in the world they would still not believe and would remain in denial.
Fear Not Global Climate Changes―Fear Catholic Climate Changes
It is not global warming and climate change that should worry us the most―it is the “climate change” among Catholics that is most worrying. Catholic “climate change” has seen Catholics become increasingly cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed. As Our Lord warned: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Likewise with the Faith: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) and “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). The more technology has advanced, the less interest and time there has been for the Faith. Faith gives us a knowledge about God and we are meant to “know, love and serve God in this life” (Catechism)―you cannot love what you do not know, and you will not serve for very long someone whom you do not love―and we are supposed to “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Yet Faith must not stop at mere knowledge; neither does Charity stop are mere “lip-service” ― as Holy Scripture warns: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). Likewise with Charity―telling God that we love Him is not enough! Our Lord Himself said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6-9) … “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24).
Amid Climate Change, Catholics Grow Cold
Never mind global warning―Catholics should be warming! The problem is that Catholics are growing cold! Cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed! Back in 1674-1675, the Sacred Heart of Jesus already complained to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque about our coldness and lukewarmness towards Him, saying: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love! And in return, from the greater part of men, I receive nothing but ingratitude―by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love! … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavours to do them good!” If Our Lord complained about the state of affairs back in the 1670s, what would He say today?!!!
Our Lord has already said things we could be repeated today, but only ten times more strongly: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26) … “O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) ... “O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16; Mark 9:18) ... “I been so long a time with you―and you have not known Me!” (John 14:9) … “Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) … “Amen, I say to you, that hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24) …
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36) ... “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23) … “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7) … “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “How canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother! Let me pull the splinter out of thy eye!’― when thou thyself seest not the plank in thy own eye? Hypocrite! Cast first the plank out of thy own eye―and then thou shalt see clearly to take out the splinter from thy brother’s eye!” (Luke 6:42) ... “And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:55-56) … “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … Again I say to you; except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5) ... “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you do!” (John 8:44) … “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28) … “[You] ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
All of the above will comfortably fit into the categories of cold-hearted, cold-blooded and cold-footed Catholics―and all of those three categories are a result of a lack of true charity towards God and neighbor. They are the result of failing to take heed of and live out fully the two greatest commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-40). “The love of our neighbor worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).
Love Who? Who is My Neighbor?
Just like the lawyer who tempted Christ, we might well be tempted to ask: “Who is my neighbor?” The passage in Holy Scripture reads as follows: “And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Jesus, and saying: ‘Master! What must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right! This do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:25-37).
The Samaritans
Since less and less people read the Bible these days―never mind studying the Bible―as a consequence, more and more people are more or less clueless about who the Samaritans were and why Our Lord specifically chose a Samaritan as a key player for His parable.
At the time of Jesus the land of Palestine was ruled by the Romans. It was split up into different areas. Most Samaritans lived in Samaria. The Samaritans were different from the Jewish people who lived in the surrounding areas in Palestine. Samaria was between Galilee in the north and Judea and Jerusalem in the south. The shortest way for Jewish people to go north from Jerusalem or south from Galilee was to travel through Samaria. However, for hundreds of years the Jews and the people of Samaria had been enemies. They did not agree about where God’s people should worship. Jews worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans had made another place for worship. It was in their land, on the top of a mountain. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Most Jews would not travel through Samaria. They went by a longer route to avoid Samaria and any contact with Samaritans.
Hence, in His parable, Our Lord is clearly indicating that your “neighbor” includes your enemies. As regards our enemies, we don’t even have to think! Our attitude is both emotional and instinctive. Whatever comes from our enemies, we we are against it. Whatever it is they are saying, it’s wrong. Whatever they want is bad. Whatever they’re doing must be stopped. This negative attitude spills over into the behavior of many followers of sports teams; it spills over into the workplace, into parish life and even into the life of the nation. Any of our formal opponents, work-rivals, or business rivals, political adversaries, or even neighbors and family members who press our buttons and bug us. Nothing these people are up to can be good. It would help if they would just disappear. In biblical times, that same mindset sums up the relationship between Jews and Samaritans.
Originally, the Twelve Tribes of Israel―once they entered the Promised Land―formed one single kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. With the passage of time―due to disagreements, squabbles, selfish self-interest and the like―the kingdom split into two parts. The majority consisted of the ten tribes to the north―which, since they were in the majority, kept the name “Kingdom of Israel”, which became the Northern Kingdom. The minority consisting of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin, became the Southern Kingdom, taking on the name of “Kingdom of Juda”. The Northern Kingdom chose a new capital in place of Jerusalem (which was in Juda) and name its capital “Samaria”. The Southern Kingdom retained Jerusalem as its capital city. The distance between Samaria and Jerusalem was only 35 miles.
With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors. The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers. By God’s punishing Providence, Assyria swallows the northern kingdom of Israel by 722 BC, deporting over 27,000 people from Samaria to far-flung places within the Assyrian Empire. The “10 lost tribes of Israel” officially get lost at this point, as the ten northern tribes find themselves forcefully dispersed. In their place, Assyria seeded the territory of Samaria with Babylonians and other Mesopotamian people. The city of Samaria, in the northern Kingdom of Israel became the headquarters of the Assyrian province―which they then called “Samarina”. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The people who now inhabited the former northern Kingdom—the Samaritans, offspring of intermarriages of Jews and foreigners—vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation. For their part, the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins. So walls of bitterness were erected on both sides and did nothing but harden for the next 550 years.
Tensions increased when the Samaritans built their own Temple for worship on Mount Garizim, and stated that their mountain was the dwelling place of the Lord, not the Temple in Jerusalem. A Jew named Manasses, of priestly lineage in Juda, married a Samaritan and was expelled around 432 BC by the Jewish governor Nehemias―who was a strict separatist, adhering to “Juda is only for Jews” policy. Manasses went to Samaria and became high priest of the temple built on Mount Garizim where the Samaritans offered sacrifices of the Law. In their nationalistic zeal they claimed that both their temple and their copy of the Law were greater than those at Jerusalem. On the other hand, Jewish animosity was so entrenched that a traveler went around Samaria on his journey from Judaea to Galilee. With that, any hope of reconciliation between the two peoples was lost.
The Samaritans later allied themselves with the Seleucids against the Jews, in the Machabean wars. Then, in 128 BC, the leader of Juda, John Hyrcanus, completely destroyed the Samaritan capital. The Samaritans rebuilt it a hundred years later and continued their blasphemous sacrifices. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a band of Samaritans profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by scattering the bones of dead people in the sanctuary.
Both Jewish and Samaritan priests taught their people that it was sinful to have any contact with the other. Jews were to avoid the impure land of the Samaritans and Samaritans were not to speak to Jews. In addition, Samaritans and the Jews fed their mutual hatred with insult and injury. Jews called the Samaritans a ‘herd’, not a nation. A widely used Jewish proverb stated that “a piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.” Sometime early in the first century, Samaritans threw human bones into the Temple in Jerusalem on the day of Passover. This heinous act, according to the Jews, defiled the sanctuary making it impossible to celebrate the most important feast of the year. The worst insult that a Jew could use was to call someone a Samaritan, such as in John 8:48 when the hostile Pharisees answered Jesus by saying, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?” (John 8:48).
Samaritans were known to lie in wait for Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the feast days. Sometimes these attacks escalated into death, and in at least one instance Rome intervened. As a result, Galileans (except Jesus) used the longer route on the other side of the Jordan when traveling from the north (Galilee) to the south (Judea and Jerusalem).
The ruling Roman legions could hardly distinguish Jews from Samaritans, but that didn’t keep the two groups from using Rome against each other. Some Samaritan men would enlist in the Roman auxiliary troops for a chance to legally harass their Jewish neighbors. Both groups are said to have bribed Roman soldiers to persecute the other.
The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) such force! It also shows the volatility and provocation of Jesus’ Parable, where Jesus (a Jew) makes the Samaritan a hero, and makes the Jews in the Parable look like bad men―for Jesus has the Samaritan rise above centuries of mutual bigotry and prejudice and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew―his enemy―after the Jew’s own countrymen pass him by! Here endeth the history lesson!
Our Lord Rebukes Enmity
We have the benefit of 2,000 years of “digesting” the doctrine of Our Lord―so it is nothing “new” to us as it was for those who first heard His teachings. If you were to go back to Our Lord’s day, He would have come across as a quite a “radical” to most of his listeners. He claimed to be God! He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood! He told people to sell all that they had, give away their money to the poor and to come and follow Him wandering around the Holy Land. He said that you could not serve God and mammon (pleasures and treasures of the world) and that hardly any rich men would get to Heaven. He told people to be happy in poverty. He said that if your eye or hand caused you to sin, you should pluck it out or cut it off, rather than go to Hell. He stated that had not come to give peace of Earth, but a sword and separation―so that “there shall be, from henceforth, five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! … And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Luke 12:51-53; Matthew 10:34-37).
Then, on the one hand, He says: “As for My enemies, those who would not have Me reign over them, bring them hither, and kill them before Me!” (Luke 19:27). Yet on the other hand, He says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you that is more? Do not the heathens and pagans do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48). Both statements must have been shocking to His listeners―to bring and kill His enemies right in from of Him, and then to love enemies!
Heaven is full of charity because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―while Hell is full of hatred and “gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42), because Satan and the devils are full of hatred. Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)―whereas “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The name “Jesus” means “Savior” and He comes to forgive us our sins if we are properly disposed to receive forgiveness―where the name “Devil” comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate”, whereby the devils seek to accuse us of sin rather than forgive sin.
Our Lord forgave many of His enemies. Now just stop and think for a moment― “What makes someone an enemy of Christ, an enemy of God?” There is one thing alone that makes us an enemy of God―and that is SIN. God hates sin and sin hates God. Sin says to God: “I will not serve!” (Jeremias 2:20) and “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19) … “God hateth iniquity” (Judith 5:21). SIN is the greatest evil in the world―it is the only real evil in the world―as our Catechisms tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Do Unto Others as God Has Done to You
When YOU sin, YOU commit the GREATEST EVIL in the world―yet, if you a properly disposed, sufficiently contrite, willing to make amends, desiring to sin no more, then God will forgive YOU for having committed the GREATEST EVIL in the world. Yet we are sometimes so cold-hearted and cold-blooded that we are not prepared to forgive others when they sin against us or against somebody else. Scripture so truly rebukes such an attitude, saying: “Do you not judge within yourselves, and are become judges of unjust thoughts?” (James 2:4). We scream for blood, we want revenge, we want lightning-bolts to come from Heaven and strike those who have offended us―much like St. James and St. John wanted to call fire from Heaven to a destroy a Samaritan city that refused to receive Our Lord: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [and the Samaritans hated Jews and Jerusalem]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
This cold-heartedness and cold-bloodedness is clearly shown in the parable of the Merciless Servant: “Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents [1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million]. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence [the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325]: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Truly, as the Psalm says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9).
If you forgive others God will forgive you: “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man; so that your Father, Who is in Heaven, may also forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). In the prayer, the Our Father, we say every time “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” Are we lying when we say that again, and again, and again? “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore!” (Romans 14:13).
The Danger in Judging
Like Christ, we should seek mercy for the sinner and not vengeance! We are not God and so there is just no way that we can judge anyone with total fairness and total justice. Even with God, mercy is always mixed-in with justice―He is never just without also being merciful, and He is never merciful without also being just. Do not judge rashly! Do not judge as though you were God, or as if you are playing at being God. “Do you endeavor to judge for God?” (Job 13:8). God gathers all the tiniest details and evidence in everyone’s life: “God be judge!” (Judith 7:13). “For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9). “The Lord searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels” (Proverbs 20:27). “God knoweth all things” (1 John 3:20). “For the Lord knoweth all knowledge―the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and hidden things” (Ecclesiasticus 42:19).
Do you think that you can add anything to God’s judgments? Do you think that if you do not judge someone, then they will escape unpunished? O proud, foolish and naïve judge! Nothing escapes the sight and knowledge of God! It is an infantile, imbecilic and irreverent attitude to imagine oneself as being able to do something better than God. To think that you can judge and inflict justice better than God is like a 5-year-old thinking that they do a better job at brain surgery than the experienced brain surgeon! “Do you endeavor to judge for God?” (Job 13:8). “For God is judge!” (Psalm 49:6). “The Lord judgeth the people! … God is a just judge! … And He shall judge the world in equity, He shall judge the people in justice!” (Psalms 7:9; 7:12; 9:9). “He shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people!” (Isaias 2:4). “He shall judge many people and rebuke strong nations!” (Micheas 4:3). “He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears!” (Isaias 11:3). “He will judge the people with justice!” (Psalm 95:10). “The Lord is judge, and with Him there is no respect of person!” (Ecclesiasticus 35:15). “‘I will judge thee according to thy ways, and according to thy doings!’ saith the Lord” (Ezechiel 24:14). “And the Lord said: ‘I judge not according to the look of man―for man only seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Even Our Lord says: “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47). “You judge according to the flesh! I judge not any man! And if I do judge, then My judgment is true!” (John 8:15-16). “So I judge and My judgment is just!” (John 5:30).
Hence Holy Scripture warns us: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged!” (Matthew 7:1-2). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful! Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37). “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged!” (1 Corinthians 11:31). And if we are placed by God in a position that requires that we must judge, then Scripture warns: “Thou shalt not judge unjustly. But judge thy neighbor according to justice!” (Leviticus 19:15). “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment!” (John 7:24).
Scripture is full of references and examples of God’s vengeance on sinners―but it is in due time. “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time!” says the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:35). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; for it is written: ‘Revenge is Mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). By saying “in due time” refers to the fact that every sinner is given time to convert, repent, amend his ways and make reparation to God and others. Who knows if the sinner will convert or not? Who knows when the sinner will convert? Today? Tomorrow? In a month or a year or ten years? Or at the very end of his life with his last breath? You do not know that―God does! Do not judge before time! The parable of the Cockle and Wheat reflects that point: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house, coming, said to him: ‘Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’ And the servants said to him: ‘Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No! Lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!’” (Matthew 13:24-30). We, like the servants in the parable, are only too ready to judge and act too hastily, demanding immediate intervention and action―which can often be too imprudent and open to failure.
The end time chastisements―which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said are imminent―will not only be a just revenge upon the sins of sinners, but the chastisements will also be acts of mercy that will hope to provoke repentance is sinners and thus save their souls! Do not judge before time! Remember the cockle and the wheat being allowed to grow alongside each other until harvest time! “Therefore judge not before the time!” (1 Corinthians 4:5). In the meantime: “I will judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin!” (Ezechiel 18:30).
Cold Feet Lead to Hot Coals
When it comes to fighting for the Faith, most Catholics have “cold-feet”. Their cold feet stem from their cold-heart and cold-bloodedness. You will not fight―or fight half-heartedly―for something that you do not really love. Therefore it is hardly surprising to see the massive retreat from God, from the Church, from the Faith, from the commandments of God, and teachings of the Church, on the part of the vast majority of Catholics. Faced by the relentless pressure of the world―and do not forget that the world primarily is controlled by the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), Satan―these half-hearted, lip-service, mammon-loving Catholics quickly raise their hands in the air and surrender, and refuse to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). If they do any fighting, then it either over worldly things, or they fight among fellow Catholics―usually targeting the true Catholics and calling them “fanatics”, “radicals”, etc. In the words of Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette, “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” will find themselves greatly outnumbered by those who will be addicted to the “unbridled luxury which will ensnare the rest into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … and people will think of nothing but amusement.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday July 17th & Sunday July 18th
Article 10
Why Is Your Blood Not Boiling?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday July 17th & Sunday July 18th
Article 10
Why Is Your Blood Not Boiling?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What Will It Take?
Everyone has their “breaking-point” ― a point at which they are either triggered to fight or to flee, a point of confrontation or capitulation. You can imagine a scenario in the workplace, where a person is continuously and relentlessly “needled” and provoked to a point where they finally react by either launching themselves against the “enemy” party to silence them once and for all, or they will react by an eventual total breakdown, a humiliating surrender, a permanent retreat by quitting their job and leaving the workplace.
What is true for a single person, is also true for a community of persons―such as a family, a business, a town, a state, and a nation. In the case of nations, either war breaks out, or the aggressor nation either occupies, or controls from the outside, the victim nation―such as was seen by the Communist Russia’s 20th century occupation of the nations that surrounded it. We see a similar scenario where aggressive corporations force smaller competitors into submission or collapse in the business sector. Likewise gangs that “rule the roost” in neighborhoods or schools, etc. The “Big Guy” usually “takes-out” the “Little Guy” all across the board ― whether it is in finance, in business, in politics, in war and in gang warfare.
Temperaments and Temper
You will have possibly heard of and read about the classical Four Temperaments―the choleric, the sanguine, the melancholic and the phlegmatic. Each of them varies in characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Each of them has its own Achilles Heel or weak-point. Each reacts to stress and aggression in different ways.
The choleric and sanguine are the extrovert types and the melancholic and phlegmatic are the introvert types. When it comes to emotions, then they change partners―the sanguine and melancholic are the emotional types, while the choleric and phlegmatic are the unemotional types―thus the sanguine-melancholic mix is a perfect caregiver, while the choleric-phlegmatic mix is the perfect assassin. The angry temperaments are the sanguine (emotional anger) and the choleric (cold anger). The fearful temperaments are the melancholic and phlegmatic, while the fearless ones are the choleric and sanguine. In dealing with opposition and stress, the choleric and phlegmatic tend to overcome opposition better than the sanguine and melancholic―the choleric deals with opposition by attacking back, while the phlegmatic deals with opposition with passivity, absorbing the punches and trying to wear down the attacker by driving him to exasperation―that is why phlegmatics can sometimes outlast and overcome cholerics. The shortest fuse belongs to the sanguine, followed by the melancholic, then the choleric and finally the phlegmatic. The sharpest minds are the melancholics but they often spin their wheels in their theorizing thoughts and often go nowhere in the practical sense. The cholerics are logical but skimp on details―the big picture is enough for them, but ignoring the details can also lead them into big trouble. The phlegmatics are somewhat orderly but reluctant to take action―hoping someone else will do what needs doing.
The list goes on and on―it is well worth your while to study the temperaments in order to know yourself better and to know others better. There is no perfect temperament, for each temperament is better than others in certain tasks and weaker than others in certain tasks. Everyone probably is a mixture of all four temperaments, with usually two dominant temperaments and two minor temperaments―so, for example, some could be 55% choleric, 30% sanguine, 12% melancholic and 3% phlegmatic. The permutations are endless.
Advertisers, Politics, Psychologists Manipulate the Temperaments
Predicting how people will react is super-highly-honed art these days! The “system” sometimes knows you better than you know yourself―and this will only increase with the advent of the latest technology―especially “AI” or Artificial Intelligence. The super computers have records of every single phone call you make; your computer is accessible by the government any time it wants; Google and other similar organizations keep records of every internet search you have ever made; in certain cases every single keystroke that you type is recorded. As one insider said, if you knew what the “system” knows about you, then you would have a heart attack! The super computers that are dedicated to this surveillance can pretty much guess how you would react in any given circumstance.
Propaganda Goes Back a Long Way
A book published in 2020, entitled, Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda, by John Maxwell Hamilton, tells the story of the enduring threat to American “democracy” that arose out of the First World War (1914-1918): the establishment of widespread, systematic propaganda as an instrument of the state. During the Great War of 1914-1918, the federal government exercised unprecedented power to shape the views and attitudes of American citizens. Its tool for this was the Committee on Public Information (CPI), established by President Woodrow Wilson one week after the United States entered the war in April 1917.
The Committee on Public Information reached every crook and cranny of the nation, every day, and even extended its influence widely abroad. It established the first national newspaper, made prepackaged news a daily aspect of governing, and pioneered the concept of public diplomacy. It spread the Wilson administration’s messages through articles, cartoons, books, advertisements in newspapers and magazines; and through movies where propaganda was fed during the intermission; it used posters plastered on buildings and along highways; and pamphlets distributed by the millions. It enlisted the nation’s leading progressive journalists, advertising executives, and artists. It harnessed American universities and their professors to create propaganda and add legitimacy to its mission.
Even though it was claimed Committee on Public Information was a channel for reliable, fact-based information―it was clear that the office regularly sanitized news, distorted facts, and played on emotions. The Committee on Public Information claimed transparency, but established front organizations. Overseas, the Committee on Public Information secretly subsidized news organs and bribed journalists. At home, it challenged the loyalty of those who occasionally questioned its tactics. Working closely with federal intelligence agencies eager to sniff out subversives and stifle dissent, the Committee on Public Information was an accomplice to the Wilson administration’s trampling of civil liberties. Every element of contemporary government propaganda has antecedents in the Committee on Public Information. It is the ideal vehicle for understanding the rise of propaganda, its methods of operation, and the threat it poses to democracy.
Enter the Propagandist of the Century― Edward Bernays
Edward Bernays (1891-1995, died aged 104), was the nephew of the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud and a pioneering mind behind advertising, modern propaganda and the field of public relations. Edward Bernays, the so-called “Father of Public Relations”, which is a euphemism or disguised phrase of the “dirty word” of “propaganda” ― so you could call him the “Father of Propaganda” in the modern day. Bernays’ influence was enormous. Relying heavily on the insights of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, he developed highly successful manipulation techniques which are still used today, not only in the business field, but also by “the powers that be” in order to, in the words of Bernays, “control and regiment the masses.” Drawing on the insights of his Uncle Sigmund Freud ― a relationship Bernays was always quick to mention ― he developed an approach he dubbed “the engineering of consent.” He provided leaders the means to “control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it.” To do so, it was necessary to appeal, not to the rational part of the mind, but the unconscious part of the mind―which today we might call “subliminal”. Bernays touted the idea that the “masses” are driven by factors outside their conscious understanding, and therefore that their minds can and should be manipulated by the capable few. “Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos.”
After the USA entered the war, the Committee on Public Information (see above) hired Edward Bernays to work for its Bureau of Latin-American Affairs, based in an office in New York. Bernays focused on building support for war―both domestically and abroad. Bernays referred to this work as “psychological warfare.” Bernays pioneered the public relations industry’s use of mass psychology and other social sciences to design its public persuasion campaigns: “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits.” He later called this scientific technique of opinion-molding “the engineering of consent.”
In his book, entitled Propaganda, Bernays wrote: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of … in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.” (Edward Bernays, Propaganda).
In the 1930s, as the leading figure in public relations and a notorious advocate of “propaganda”, Bernays was compared to European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and his Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Bernays himself wrote in his 1965 autobiography that Goebbels read and used his books.
Propaganda of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler believed he could apply the lessons of propaganda he learned painfully from the Allies during First World War and apply those lessons to benefit Germany thereafter. The following points offer helpful insight into his thinking behind his on-stage performances to mesmerize, captivate and brainwash his listeners:
● Appeal to the Masses: “[Propaganda] must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses”, rather than the “scientifically trained intelligentsia.”
● Target the Emotions: “[Propaganda] must be aimed at the emotions and only to a very limited degree at the so-called intellect.”
● Keep Your Message Simple: “It is a mistake to make propaganda many-sided…The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous.”
● Prepare Your Audience for The Worst-Case Scenario: “[Prepare] the individual soldier for the terrors of war, and thus [help] to preserve him from disappointments. After this, the most terrible weapon that was used against him seemed only to confirm what his propagandists had told him; it likewise reinforced his faith in the truth of his government's assertions, while on the other hand it increased his rage and hatred against the vile enemy.”
● Make No Half-Statements: “…emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.”
● Repeat Your Message Constantly: “[Propagandist technique] must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success.”
Media Manipulation―10 Strategies the Media Uses to Manipulate Us
In 2002, the French writer, Sylvain Timsit, created a list of 10 strategies of media manipulation used by political and economic powers to control the public. And although it’s been almost 20 years since its publication, his list is still a very powerful, valid argument to consider. The list is a ranking of methods of mass manipulation. The purpose of these strategies, according to the author, is to create docile, submissive, and obedient individuals. According to Timsit, the 10 ways that the media manipulates the masses are:
(1) Distraction
The primary element of social control is the strategy of distraction consists of deviating the public’s attention from important issues. One way they do it is by flooding the news with stories on trivial issues. The objective is to distract the people and keep their minds occupied. The result is that people stop questioning why the media isn’t talking about certain issues; the people forget the real issues.
(2) Problem – Reaction – Solution
This method is the equivalent of doing a “poll” in politics. That is, it consists of testing the population by spreading rumors or ideas in order to evaluate how the population would receive them. It is creating a problem in order to later solve it. Then the public sees the manipulators as heroes.
(3) Gradualism
Gradualism manipulates the people by getting them to accept socially unjust decisions. The key is to do it progressively, slowly, over the course of years.
For example, say the objective is to fire 80% of the staff of a large high-profile company. The media would begin to incorporate negative news about the company: sales drops, stock market crashes, rumors, etc. Slowly, it would create awareness and begin preparing people for the “big news.“ If the layoffs had been made known at the beginning, there would have been a public uproar.
(4) Differing
Another strategy in media manipulation is that of presenting unpopular decisions as “necessary”, “for a better future”, or “for our own good.” They make the public genuinely believe that their sacrifices will lead things being significantly better later on. So the citizens get used to a lower quality of life. They start seeing it as normal. Ultimately, the people will resign themselves to the current state of things and will stop demanding what they were demanding.
(5) Treating the People Like Children
The more the media wants to manipulate the public, the more they will talk to the public like they are children. Sugarcoated arguments, characters, and intonations are used, as if the people were too weak or immature to handle the truth. The goal is also a submissive, docile reaction. The idea is to keep the people from thinking critically like adults.
(6) Appealing to Emotions
Emotional appeals are much more powerful than sterile, purely objective ones. The media knows it, and so they appeal to the public’s emotions. Again, they try to keep people from thinking critically; they try to control their thoughts. Remember how powerful fear can be.
(7) Keeping the Public Ignorant and Mediocre
The media prefers an ignorant, uncultured public. Keeping them isolated from real and true knowledge makes them easier to manipulate. It also keeps insubordination and rebellion away. Information is power. The role of censorship helps keep the real truth away from the majority of people, thus keeping them in their ignorance.
(8) Encouraging People to Contribute to Mediocrity
This point and the previous one are very similar, and this one is one of the most subtle strategies of media manipulation. Do the shows that are offered on TV match what the general public wants? Or are they imposed on us by the media? In other words, do we actually watch what we want to watch, or what they want us to watch? The answer is clear. Consumerism and banality are hypnotizing us. Therefore, we don’t care about our surroundings, having been trained to be mediocre.
(9) Self-Blame
At the same time that the media is encouraging our ignorance, they are also making us believe that we’re the only ones responsible for our misfortunes. The media tells us that our scarce skills will make us miserable and unsuccessful. In essence they seek self-incrimination through self-exculpation and keep the public from mobilizing. In other words, “You deserve what you are getting! It’s all your fault in the first place! So don’t complain―just suck it up!”
(10) Complete Knowledge of the Public
In order to exert control over someone, you need to know them. Unfortunately, our modern oligarchies have taken care of this perfectly. Psychological, social, and technological advances now allow large companies to know everything about every single individual. The “system” knows us and that means it can manipulate us exactly where we are weak.
Do You See The Picture?
All of the above is just a tiny extract, the “tip-of-the-iceberg”, on what could be written and what has been written in thousands of books and articles. We have been living in a highly organized, carefully planned, painstakingly executed, craftily covered-up era of disinformation, misinformation, hidden information and partial information―which you could proverbially call “smoke-and-mirrors”, or, to use a very common four-letter word, LIES. It has been going on and relentlessly increasing for many decades―you could even say for a century or more―to the point where modern technology has made it universal, easy to manufacture and even easier to control. It is in this light that you need to look and the famous (or infamous) statement made by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, when briefing the newly elected President Reagan in February of 1981. When asked about the general objectives of the CIA, Casey replied: ““We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
“Fake news” did not begin when President Trump started labeling a lot of mainstream news with the label “fake”― “Fake News” has been around as long as the mainstream press has been around. Lies are part of the DNA of Satan and his devils―and lies are one of the first things that Satan contaminates us with, even from childhood. As Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4). The mainstream media is not God-centered, it is not “owned” by God, but by the enemies of God―which is the world, with its prince the devil, and the worldly minions of the devil, the mega-rich, of whom Christ speaks when He says: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
The mega-rich are not interested in God, but in money―their false idol. They do not listen to God’s truth, but to the “truth” (false truth) of money, riches, possessions, etc. Of them Our Lord says: “From God I proceeded and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:42-47; 8:23).
2020―The Year of the Lie
Looking back at the year 2020, it has to be incontestably called “The Year of the Lie”. Yes―lies are told all the time from the beginning of time―but last year would have made a lie-detector short-circuit and explode. There are little lies, big lies and whopper lies―but last year saw the birth of “The Mega-Lie”―or should that be “Mega-Lies”―for it was not just single birth, not even a birth of twins, nor triplets, nor quadruplets―you cannot even count the “mega-lies” that the “father of lies” spawned, conceived and gave birth to! All over world there were born “mega-lies” that came from the family of Satan, who “was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
The world happily lives in lies―there is no God, there was no creation but a ‘big-bang’, the Bible is largely made-up stories, miracles never happened and can be explained naturally, Christ was not God, there was no virgin-birth, there was no resurrection, some even say there was no Christ and that his existence was made up, etc. On the moral side of things the lies go on and on―abortion is not murder, contraception is okay, divorce and remarriage is fine, cohabitation is acceptable, same-sex marriages are permissible, there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, change your gender if you want, pornography is okay, drunkenness is fun, drug use is good, etc. Every year―or even more often―another lie gets added to the list, or one of the existing lies is pushed to greater extremes.
“There are six things, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detests―haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that utters lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren!” (Proverbs 6:16-20). This last year―2020―has seen all of things on a worldwide scale and it has spilled over into 2021. The haughtiness of governments, medics and media in ramming blatant lies down our throats, blaming natural deaths from other diseases upon Covid, devising wicked plots to swiftly herd all of mankind into a dangerous and fatal vaccination ploy, which caters to their wicked of shedding innocent blood for the sake of the depopulation plan and blaming it all on an overblown disease (or man-made biological weapon), while causing division among people in multiple areas― such as disease fearers vs. disease non-fearers; media believers vs. media disbelievers; lunatic law compliers vs. lunatic law non-compliers; wearers vs. non-mask wearers; vaxxers vs. non-vaxxers; mask etc.
God is Truth itself, “the God of truth” (Psalm 30:6), and Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan is the prince of this world and it is the worldlings, his followers, “who changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25). Satan’s implicit or explicit followers―the world and the worldly―will spread their lies to everyone else and “will turn away their hearing from the truth, [who] will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:4). There is just no doubt that these people are doing the work of Satan―implicitly or explicitly―so that we can say of them what Our Lord said of them: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
Who Are You Fighting For? Are You Even Fighting?
We are in a war―always have been and always will―“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)―always has been and always will be. There is no exemption from the fight: “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). If you do not want to fight, then you can go to Hell―like the vast majority of mankind―for “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-26).
Once again―O Soldier of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation― if you do not want to fight, then you will go to Hell, like the vast majority of mankind: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-22). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
You―having received the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation―are called to the fight! “Fight who? Fight what? Who or what is the enemy?” you might ask. If you do not know the answer by now, then God help you! The enemy is the devil! The enemy is the world! They enemy is even your own self on the level of sin! The enemy is sin! The enemies are lies, falsehoods, untruths, half-truths, misrepresentations, exaggerations, false principles, false religions―all of which attack and deform the truth of God. God could not have stated it any clearer in Holy Scripture:
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Everyone has their “breaking-point” ― a point at which they are either triggered to fight or to flee, a point of confrontation or capitulation. You can imagine a scenario in the workplace, where a person is continuously and relentlessly “needled” and provoked to a point where they finally react by either launching themselves against the “enemy” party to silence them once and for all, or they will react by an eventual total breakdown, a humiliating surrender, a permanent retreat by quitting their job and leaving the workplace.
What is true for a single person, is also true for a community of persons―such as a family, a business, a town, a state, and a nation. In the case of nations, either war breaks out, or the aggressor nation either occupies, or controls from the outside, the victim nation―such as was seen by the Communist Russia’s 20th century occupation of the nations that surrounded it. We see a similar scenario where aggressive corporations force smaller competitors into submission or collapse in the business sector. Likewise gangs that “rule the roost” in neighborhoods or schools, etc. The “Big Guy” usually “takes-out” the “Little Guy” all across the board ― whether it is in finance, in business, in politics, in war and in gang warfare.
Temperaments and Temper
You will have possibly heard of and read about the classical Four Temperaments―the choleric, the sanguine, the melancholic and the phlegmatic. Each of them varies in characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Each of them has its own Achilles Heel or weak-point. Each reacts to stress and aggression in different ways.
The choleric and sanguine are the extrovert types and the melancholic and phlegmatic are the introvert types. When it comes to emotions, then they change partners―the sanguine and melancholic are the emotional types, while the choleric and phlegmatic are the unemotional types―thus the sanguine-melancholic mix is a perfect caregiver, while the choleric-phlegmatic mix is the perfect assassin. The angry temperaments are the sanguine (emotional anger) and the choleric (cold anger). The fearful temperaments are the melancholic and phlegmatic, while the fearless ones are the choleric and sanguine. In dealing with opposition and stress, the choleric and phlegmatic tend to overcome opposition better than the sanguine and melancholic―the choleric deals with opposition by attacking back, while the phlegmatic deals with opposition with passivity, absorbing the punches and trying to wear down the attacker by driving him to exasperation―that is why phlegmatics can sometimes outlast and overcome cholerics. The shortest fuse belongs to the sanguine, followed by the melancholic, then the choleric and finally the phlegmatic. The sharpest minds are the melancholics but they often spin their wheels in their theorizing thoughts and often go nowhere in the practical sense. The cholerics are logical but skimp on details―the big picture is enough for them, but ignoring the details can also lead them into big trouble. The phlegmatics are somewhat orderly but reluctant to take action―hoping someone else will do what needs doing.
The list goes on and on―it is well worth your while to study the temperaments in order to know yourself better and to know others better. There is no perfect temperament, for each temperament is better than others in certain tasks and weaker than others in certain tasks. Everyone probably is a mixture of all four temperaments, with usually two dominant temperaments and two minor temperaments―so, for example, some could be 55% choleric, 30% sanguine, 12% melancholic and 3% phlegmatic. The permutations are endless.
Advertisers, Politics, Psychologists Manipulate the Temperaments
Predicting how people will react is super-highly-honed art these days! The “system” sometimes knows you better than you know yourself―and this will only increase with the advent of the latest technology―especially “AI” or Artificial Intelligence. The super computers have records of every single phone call you make; your computer is accessible by the government any time it wants; Google and other similar organizations keep records of every internet search you have ever made; in certain cases every single keystroke that you type is recorded. As one insider said, if you knew what the “system” knows about you, then you would have a heart attack! The super computers that are dedicated to this surveillance can pretty much guess how you would react in any given circumstance.
Propaganda Goes Back a Long Way
A book published in 2020, entitled, Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda, by John Maxwell Hamilton, tells the story of the enduring threat to American “democracy” that arose out of the First World War (1914-1918): the establishment of widespread, systematic propaganda as an instrument of the state. During the Great War of 1914-1918, the federal government exercised unprecedented power to shape the views and attitudes of American citizens. Its tool for this was the Committee on Public Information (CPI), established by President Woodrow Wilson one week after the United States entered the war in April 1917.
The Committee on Public Information reached every crook and cranny of the nation, every day, and even extended its influence widely abroad. It established the first national newspaper, made prepackaged news a daily aspect of governing, and pioneered the concept of public diplomacy. It spread the Wilson administration’s messages through articles, cartoons, books, advertisements in newspapers and magazines; and through movies where propaganda was fed during the intermission; it used posters plastered on buildings and along highways; and pamphlets distributed by the millions. It enlisted the nation’s leading progressive journalists, advertising executives, and artists. It harnessed American universities and their professors to create propaganda and add legitimacy to its mission.
Even though it was claimed Committee on Public Information was a channel for reliable, fact-based information―it was clear that the office regularly sanitized news, distorted facts, and played on emotions. The Committee on Public Information claimed transparency, but established front organizations. Overseas, the Committee on Public Information secretly subsidized news organs and bribed journalists. At home, it challenged the loyalty of those who occasionally questioned its tactics. Working closely with federal intelligence agencies eager to sniff out subversives and stifle dissent, the Committee on Public Information was an accomplice to the Wilson administration’s trampling of civil liberties. Every element of contemporary government propaganda has antecedents in the Committee on Public Information. It is the ideal vehicle for understanding the rise of propaganda, its methods of operation, and the threat it poses to democracy.
Enter the Propagandist of the Century― Edward Bernays
Edward Bernays (1891-1995, died aged 104), was the nephew of the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud and a pioneering mind behind advertising, modern propaganda and the field of public relations. Edward Bernays, the so-called “Father of Public Relations”, which is a euphemism or disguised phrase of the “dirty word” of “propaganda” ― so you could call him the “Father of Propaganda” in the modern day. Bernays’ influence was enormous. Relying heavily on the insights of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, he developed highly successful manipulation techniques which are still used today, not only in the business field, but also by “the powers that be” in order to, in the words of Bernays, “control and regiment the masses.” Drawing on the insights of his Uncle Sigmund Freud ― a relationship Bernays was always quick to mention ― he developed an approach he dubbed “the engineering of consent.” He provided leaders the means to “control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it.” To do so, it was necessary to appeal, not to the rational part of the mind, but the unconscious part of the mind―which today we might call “subliminal”. Bernays touted the idea that the “masses” are driven by factors outside their conscious understanding, and therefore that their minds can and should be manipulated by the capable few. “Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos.”
After the USA entered the war, the Committee on Public Information (see above) hired Edward Bernays to work for its Bureau of Latin-American Affairs, based in an office in New York. Bernays focused on building support for war―both domestically and abroad. Bernays referred to this work as “psychological warfare.” Bernays pioneered the public relations industry’s use of mass psychology and other social sciences to design its public persuasion campaigns: “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits.” He later called this scientific technique of opinion-molding “the engineering of consent.”
In his book, entitled Propaganda, Bernays wrote: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of … in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.” (Edward Bernays, Propaganda).
In the 1930s, as the leading figure in public relations and a notorious advocate of “propaganda”, Bernays was compared to European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and his Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Bernays himself wrote in his 1965 autobiography that Goebbels read and used his books.
Propaganda of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler believed he could apply the lessons of propaganda he learned painfully from the Allies during First World War and apply those lessons to benefit Germany thereafter. The following points offer helpful insight into his thinking behind his on-stage performances to mesmerize, captivate and brainwash his listeners:
● Appeal to the Masses: “[Propaganda] must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses”, rather than the “scientifically trained intelligentsia.”
● Target the Emotions: “[Propaganda] must be aimed at the emotions and only to a very limited degree at the so-called intellect.”
● Keep Your Message Simple: “It is a mistake to make propaganda many-sided…The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous.”
● Prepare Your Audience for The Worst-Case Scenario: “[Prepare] the individual soldier for the terrors of war, and thus [help] to preserve him from disappointments. After this, the most terrible weapon that was used against him seemed only to confirm what his propagandists had told him; it likewise reinforced his faith in the truth of his government's assertions, while on the other hand it increased his rage and hatred against the vile enemy.”
● Make No Half-Statements: “…emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.”
● Repeat Your Message Constantly: “[Propagandist technique] must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success.”
Media Manipulation―10 Strategies the Media Uses to Manipulate Us
In 2002, the French writer, Sylvain Timsit, created a list of 10 strategies of media manipulation used by political and economic powers to control the public. And although it’s been almost 20 years since its publication, his list is still a very powerful, valid argument to consider. The list is a ranking of methods of mass manipulation. The purpose of these strategies, according to the author, is to create docile, submissive, and obedient individuals. According to Timsit, the 10 ways that the media manipulates the masses are:
(1) Distraction
The primary element of social control is the strategy of distraction consists of deviating the public’s attention from important issues. One way they do it is by flooding the news with stories on trivial issues. The objective is to distract the people and keep their minds occupied. The result is that people stop questioning why the media isn’t talking about certain issues; the people forget the real issues.
(2) Problem – Reaction – Solution
This method is the equivalent of doing a “poll” in politics. That is, it consists of testing the population by spreading rumors or ideas in order to evaluate how the population would receive them. It is creating a problem in order to later solve it. Then the public sees the manipulators as heroes.
(3) Gradualism
Gradualism manipulates the people by getting them to accept socially unjust decisions. The key is to do it progressively, slowly, over the course of years.
For example, say the objective is to fire 80% of the staff of a large high-profile company. The media would begin to incorporate negative news about the company: sales drops, stock market crashes, rumors, etc. Slowly, it would create awareness and begin preparing people for the “big news.“ If the layoffs had been made known at the beginning, there would have been a public uproar.
(4) Differing
Another strategy in media manipulation is that of presenting unpopular decisions as “necessary”, “for a better future”, or “for our own good.” They make the public genuinely believe that their sacrifices will lead things being significantly better later on. So the citizens get used to a lower quality of life. They start seeing it as normal. Ultimately, the people will resign themselves to the current state of things and will stop demanding what they were demanding.
(5) Treating the People Like Children
The more the media wants to manipulate the public, the more they will talk to the public like they are children. Sugarcoated arguments, characters, and intonations are used, as if the people were too weak or immature to handle the truth. The goal is also a submissive, docile reaction. The idea is to keep the people from thinking critically like adults.
(6) Appealing to Emotions
Emotional appeals are much more powerful than sterile, purely objective ones. The media knows it, and so they appeal to the public’s emotions. Again, they try to keep people from thinking critically; they try to control their thoughts. Remember how powerful fear can be.
(7) Keeping the Public Ignorant and Mediocre
The media prefers an ignorant, uncultured public. Keeping them isolated from real and true knowledge makes them easier to manipulate. It also keeps insubordination and rebellion away. Information is power. The role of censorship helps keep the real truth away from the majority of people, thus keeping them in their ignorance.
(8) Encouraging People to Contribute to Mediocrity
This point and the previous one are very similar, and this one is one of the most subtle strategies of media manipulation. Do the shows that are offered on TV match what the general public wants? Or are they imposed on us by the media? In other words, do we actually watch what we want to watch, or what they want us to watch? The answer is clear. Consumerism and banality are hypnotizing us. Therefore, we don’t care about our surroundings, having been trained to be mediocre.
(9) Self-Blame
At the same time that the media is encouraging our ignorance, they are also making us believe that we’re the only ones responsible for our misfortunes. The media tells us that our scarce skills will make us miserable and unsuccessful. In essence they seek self-incrimination through self-exculpation and keep the public from mobilizing. In other words, “You deserve what you are getting! It’s all your fault in the first place! So don’t complain―just suck it up!”
(10) Complete Knowledge of the Public
In order to exert control over someone, you need to know them. Unfortunately, our modern oligarchies have taken care of this perfectly. Psychological, social, and technological advances now allow large companies to know everything about every single individual. The “system” knows us and that means it can manipulate us exactly where we are weak.
Do You See The Picture?
All of the above is just a tiny extract, the “tip-of-the-iceberg”, on what could be written and what has been written in thousands of books and articles. We have been living in a highly organized, carefully planned, painstakingly executed, craftily covered-up era of disinformation, misinformation, hidden information and partial information―which you could proverbially call “smoke-and-mirrors”, or, to use a very common four-letter word, LIES. It has been going on and relentlessly increasing for many decades―you could even say for a century or more―to the point where modern technology has made it universal, easy to manufacture and even easier to control. It is in this light that you need to look and the famous (or infamous) statement made by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, when briefing the newly elected President Reagan in February of 1981. When asked about the general objectives of the CIA, Casey replied: ““We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
“Fake news” did not begin when President Trump started labeling a lot of mainstream news with the label “fake”― “Fake News” has been around as long as the mainstream press has been around. Lies are part of the DNA of Satan and his devils―and lies are one of the first things that Satan contaminates us with, even from childhood. As Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4). The mainstream media is not God-centered, it is not “owned” by God, but by the enemies of God―which is the world, with its prince the devil, and the worldly minions of the devil, the mega-rich, of whom Christ speaks when He says: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).
The mega-rich are not interested in God, but in money―their false idol. They do not listen to God’s truth, but to the “truth” (false truth) of money, riches, possessions, etc. Of them Our Lord says: “From God I proceeded and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:42-47; 8:23).
2020―The Year of the Lie
Looking back at the year 2020, it has to be incontestably called “The Year of the Lie”. Yes―lies are told all the time from the beginning of time―but last year would have made a lie-detector short-circuit and explode. There are little lies, big lies and whopper lies―but last year saw the birth of “The Mega-Lie”―or should that be “Mega-Lies”―for it was not just single birth, not even a birth of twins, nor triplets, nor quadruplets―you cannot even count the “mega-lies” that the “father of lies” spawned, conceived and gave birth to! All over world there were born “mega-lies” that came from the family of Satan, who “was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
The world happily lives in lies―there is no God, there was no creation but a ‘big-bang’, the Bible is largely made-up stories, miracles never happened and can be explained naturally, Christ was not God, there was no virgin-birth, there was no resurrection, some even say there was no Christ and that his existence was made up, etc. On the moral side of things the lies go on and on―abortion is not murder, contraception is okay, divorce and remarriage is fine, cohabitation is acceptable, same-sex marriages are permissible, there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, change your gender if you want, pornography is okay, drunkenness is fun, drug use is good, etc. Every year―or even more often―another lie gets added to the list, or one of the existing lies is pushed to greater extremes.
“There are six things, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detests―haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that utters lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren!” (Proverbs 6:16-20). This last year―2020―has seen all of things on a worldwide scale and it has spilled over into 2021. The haughtiness of governments, medics and media in ramming blatant lies down our throats, blaming natural deaths from other diseases upon Covid, devising wicked plots to swiftly herd all of mankind into a dangerous and fatal vaccination ploy, which caters to their wicked of shedding innocent blood for the sake of the depopulation plan and blaming it all on an overblown disease (or man-made biological weapon), while causing division among people in multiple areas― such as disease fearers vs. disease non-fearers; media believers vs. media disbelievers; lunatic law compliers vs. lunatic law non-compliers; wearers vs. non-mask wearers; vaxxers vs. non-vaxxers; mask etc.
God is Truth itself, “the God of truth” (Psalm 30:6), and Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan is the prince of this world and it is the worldlings, his followers, “who changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25). Satan’s implicit or explicit followers―the world and the worldly―will spread their lies to everyone else and “will turn away their hearing from the truth, [who] will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:4). There is just no doubt that these people are doing the work of Satan―implicitly or explicitly―so that we can say of them what Our Lord said of them: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
Who Are You Fighting For? Are You Even Fighting?
We are in a war―always have been and always will―“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)―always has been and always will be. There is no exemption from the fight: “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). If you do not want to fight, then you can go to Hell―like the vast majority of mankind―for “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-26).
Once again―O Soldier of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation― if you do not want to fight, then you will go to Hell, like the vast majority of mankind: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-22). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
You―having received the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation―are called to the fight! “Fight who? Fight what? Who or what is the enemy?” you might ask. If you do not know the answer by now, then God help you! The enemy is the devil! The enemy is the world! They enemy is even your own self on the level of sin! The enemy is sin! The enemies are lies, falsehoods, untruths, half-truths, misrepresentations, exaggerations, false principles, false religions―all of which attack and deform the truth of God. God could not have stated it any clearer in Holy Scripture:
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Friday July 16th
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Article 9
Have You Scrapped Your Scapular?
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Article 9
Have You Scrapped Your Scapular?
Fashionable Clothes or Practical Clothes?
Here are some extracts from some articles on the psychology of clothing and fashion: “In early civilizations, the key purpose of clothing was to help us survive―by keeping us warm and relatively dry, shielding and protecting the body from external threats. Today, central heating warms our homes, reducing our dependence on clothes alone to help us to survive. Clothes have developed from being a practical asset to a social marker―they affect the way we see ourselves. They help us to be seen in the light that we wish to be, and also exude our personalities and social status. In many societies, dress sense embodies personal wealth and taste ...
“An array of psychological surveys have revealed the true impact of clothing choices on the way in which we perceive and judge each other … and how our unconscious clothing choices are interpreted by those around us … We need to understand the significance of clothing choices … The type of clothes you wear – and the kinds of accessories you use to either jazz them up or tone them down – says a lot about who you are, where you’re from, what you do and how you feel about yourself and others. In fact, dress scholars find that dress is one of the main ways we send social signals because what we wear shows our identity. Dress is a systematic means of transmission of information about the wearer. A person’s choice of clothing can heavily influence the impression they transmit and is therefore a powerful communication tool. What you wear sends nonverbal cues to other people. The question is, what signals are you sending?”
The Scapular―Not Fashionable, But Practical
“What has all this psychology of clothing and fashion got to do with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel?” you might ask. Well, quite simply and quite logically, the Brown Scapular is technically a form or mode of clothing―though in miniature form. The scapular was a broad band of cloth over the shoulders, falling below the knees toward the feet, both front and back, as an apron―and is still worn as part of the religious habit by a number of orders of monks and friars. Not intending to be disrespectful, but it is a mini-scapular of a full size scapular, just like the (immodest) mini-skirt is a miniature version of a skirt.
As Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959) writes in his booklet on the Scapular: “Since the rise of monasticism a Scapular, consisting of two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down back and breast, has been a part of the monastic Habit … The Friars were―by profession if not by origin―poor men, who identified themselves with the poorer classes and worked among them. Their Habit―even though similar to that of the monk―was that of the common folk … The religious ceremony of receiving the Habit, although different in meaning, was the same as that of feudal investiture. Just as the vassal placed his hands in or between his lord’s hands and pronounced his oath of fealty [allegiance and loyalty] or homage, so did the friar present himself before a Superior―who took the place of God―to make his vows. The Scapular―hanging from the shoulders―was an outward sign that the friar was ‘God’s man,’ that he belonged entirely to Him and that he would pay Him the homage of his whole life.”
“It is in this medieval setting that one must see the Brown Scapular which is the Habit of the Carmelite Friars in miniature form. Before they entered the European scene, the Carmelites were a group of hermits living on Mt. Carmel in Palestine. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of Elias the Prophet, and the life they led on Mt. Carmel was patterned on Elias’ life of contemplation. The Elian tradition, however, was not the only one to influence them, for, long before they came to Europe, they were known for their devotion to God’s Mother. So devoted were they to her that they became known as “The Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,” a title they cherished and defended down through the years. The earliest documents we have, bear eloquent witness to their love for Mary―for in her they found the fulfillment of the Elian ideal. She, too, kept all the things that God said to her, pondering them in her heart and making her life their incarnation―and it was by following her that they found the clean heart that sees God even in this life. When they made their profession, they vowed their lives to God and to Mary, and it was in her honor that the homage of their lives of contemplation was offered to their Lord. Mary was the Queen and Mistress of the holy Mount; Carmel was her land, her vineyard, where they worked in the hope of her guidance and protection.”
Mary's Uniform
Therefore, in essence, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is clothing that we wear―like a uniform we might wear―that shows that we belong to her, that we work for her, that we fight for her. You could even say that the Brown Scapular is like a layperson’s “religious habit” that reminds us of Pope Pius XII’s letter to the Carmelite Order in 1950, wherein he writes: “May they behold in this same Garment … a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin!”
Pope Pius XII goes on to write: “There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed―a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits. For not with a light or passing matter are we here concerned, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of that Promise of the Most Blessed Virgin which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely. For the Holy Scapular, which may be called the habit or Garment of Mary, is a sign and a pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: “In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
“May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself a mirror of humility and purity: may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day night and day, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended. And certainly this most gentle Mother will not delay to open, as soon as possible, through her intercession with God, the gates of Heaven for her children who are expiating their faults in Purgatory ― trust based on that Promise known as the Sabbatine Privilege.” (Pope Pius XII, written at Rome on the Feast of the Apparition at Lourdes, February 11th, 1950).
How the Scapular Came to the Laity
As a result of the Saracen invasion of the Holy Land, the Carmelites finally decided to leave Mt. Carmel for safety. Some Carmelites settled in Cyprus, others in Italy, while others continued their journey to France and England. The English group of Carmelites found a benefactor in Lord de Grey, who gave them property in Aylesford in Kent. Although the Carmelites found many who were favorably disposed to them in the West, they also encountered much opposition, so much so that, about the middle of the 13th century, it looked as though their days were numbered as a Religious Order. In Europe they were entering a hostile world cluttered with many new religious families. The arrival of strangers from Mount Carmel was not well received, and they were frowned upon. Internally, they were divided as to whether they should cling to their tradition and background as being hermits, or adapt to a newly evolving and popular status of begging friars (mendicant friars).
However, in 1246, at a Chapter held in Aylesford, they elected Simon Stock as their General. As he saw the waves of opposition mounting higher and higher, Simon realized that Our Lady was his only hope. The Carmelite Habit he wore spoke for itself―for it was in Our Lady’s honor that he had taken it. It had always reminded him that he was hers, and the long years of his life were an act of homage to her. Carmel was not his, but hers―and, now that it was in danger of being destroyed forever, he went to her, as the vassal would go to his lord, and asked her to give it her protection. Saluting her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea, he asked Our Lady for the “privilegium,” that is, the protection a lord would give his vassals.
In answer to his fervent prayer, Our Lady appeared to Simon Stock, and, giving him the Scapular of his Carmelite Order, she said: “This shall be a sign to you and to all Carmelites―whosoever dies wearing this, shall not suffer eternal fire!” The Promise Mary attached to the Scapular went far beyond Simon’s expectations. It saved the Order, confirmed its Marian character and made Mary more of a Mother than a Queen to it. One has to merely glance at the history of the Order, from the 13th century down to the present day, to see how the Scapular Vision served to strengthen its devotion to Mary. And the external sign of that love and devotion through the years has been the Brown Scapular.
Some people are inclined to exaggerate the importance of visions and private revelations and, in assessing the spiritual value of the Scapular Devotion, one must keep in mind the teaching of the Church regarding them. It is the constant teaching and practice of the Church that devotions must be founded on revealed truth, and that visions and private revelations only have relative value―that is to say, they only serve to focus attention on some truth God has already revealed in Divine Public Revelation and must be interpreted in the light of it. The popular devotion to the Sacred Heart is not based on the revelations to St. Margaret Mary, but on the Incarnation of the Word. The same must be said about the Lourdes and Fatima devotions. The visions of Our Lady called attention to her role in the economy of Redemption and to the old Christian doctrine of prayer and penance that we already see revealed in Holy Scripture. It is in this context that one must see the Scapular Devotion. It is based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary, but in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood, than a garment. When Our Lady brought gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.
For a long time the Habit was the exclusive property of the Order, a sign of profession in it and of the life totally consecrated to her but in the 14th century we find a bridge appearing between Carmel and the world. Lay Catholics, living in the world, became anxious to live its Marian-form of life and to share in its spiritual treasury of prayer and good works; and as a visible sign of their affiliation to the Order they were given the Scapular. This was the beginning of the Third Order of Carmel and of the Confraternity. These good people were often generous benefactors and in return for their help the Order granted them a share in all its Masses, prayers and good works. With the lapse of time this participation was given without any financial assistance. Here we find the two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion, Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order.
In a comparatively short time, the wearing of the Scapular spread to the whole Church and became the unmistakable mark of the good Catholic. Popes, kings, princes, nobles and humble folk alike lived and died in the hope of the promise made to St. Simon, and the Scapular devotion grew to be one of the leading devotions to the Mother of God. As a Marian devotion it has stood the test of time, and the seven centuries that have elapsed since the Vision have served to reveal its beauty. It has kept generation after generation aware of its duty to call Mary blessed, and in the homage paid to her, countless saints have come to realize that to find her is to find life in her Son and to draw salvation from Him.
Fashions Change―Beliefs Change
As the Carmelite, Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., writes: “After the Second Vatican Council, the Scapular devotion suffered the same “crisis of rejection” that so many other practices and teachings within the Catholic Church underwent. First, it was said that St. Simon Stock never even existed. As a consequence, his feast day, which had been celebrated on May 16th, the date of his death, was expunged from the liturgical calendar. Second, if he never existed, then we must do away with the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Scapular devotion. The effort was then made by a liturgical committee to expunge Our Lady of Mount Carmel from the liturgical calendar, but the Latin American bishops protested so vehemently that the feast was kept; however, on condition that nothing be mentioned about the Scapular.”
The Second Vatican Council was a disaster that was foretold in prophecy by St. John Bosco in the 19th century: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century (20th century), after which there will be chaos in the Church.” There was only ONE Ecumenical Council in the 20th century and that was the Second Vatican Council―anyone who is still sane and logical can clearly see the disastrous fruits of the Second Vatican Council by only making minimal research! Vatican II was the triumph of Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and Humanism within the Church. The result was an almost knee-jerk, automatic, universal casting of doubt on many supernatural and miraculous elements within the Church. Everything was liable to come under suspicion as being false, made-up or exaggerated―even the Resurrection of Christ and the Virgin Birth and the Holy Eucharist and Sacrifice of the Mass came under scrutiny, questioning and doubt.
It does not take very much encouragement to get Catholics to abandon their religious practices in this modern era Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and Humanism within the Church. “At the drop of a hat”, or the drop of a doubt, they will put aside one religious practice after another, one doctrine after another, and throw them all on the scrap heap! This has been the fate of the Rosary and the Scapular―among many other devotions, practices and teachings.
There are no real statistics available on how many still wear the Brown Scapular. CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) statistics for the year 2008 show that only 9% of USA Catholics wore the Scapular―you can bet your salvation on the fact that this number has not risen over the last 13 years! What would it be today? Perhaps around 5% to 7% at the very best. In the “good old days”, every child was enrolled in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the occasion of their First Holy Communion. Today, that is no longer the practice―it hasn’t been a regular practice for decades. Even those “oldsters” who were enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular of Carmel, at the time of their first Holy Communion―you will find that most of them no longer wear it. All too soon after those joyful days of youthful innocence, the blessed Scapular of Carmel is one day taken off, then lost, and so never worn again by the vast majority of the faithful.
Here are some extracts from some articles on the psychology of clothing and fashion: “In early civilizations, the key purpose of clothing was to help us survive―by keeping us warm and relatively dry, shielding and protecting the body from external threats. Today, central heating warms our homes, reducing our dependence on clothes alone to help us to survive. Clothes have developed from being a practical asset to a social marker―they affect the way we see ourselves. They help us to be seen in the light that we wish to be, and also exude our personalities and social status. In many societies, dress sense embodies personal wealth and taste ...
“An array of psychological surveys have revealed the true impact of clothing choices on the way in which we perceive and judge each other … and how our unconscious clothing choices are interpreted by those around us … We need to understand the significance of clothing choices … The type of clothes you wear – and the kinds of accessories you use to either jazz them up or tone them down – says a lot about who you are, where you’re from, what you do and how you feel about yourself and others. In fact, dress scholars find that dress is one of the main ways we send social signals because what we wear shows our identity. Dress is a systematic means of transmission of information about the wearer. A person’s choice of clothing can heavily influence the impression they transmit and is therefore a powerful communication tool. What you wear sends nonverbal cues to other people. The question is, what signals are you sending?”
The Scapular―Not Fashionable, But Practical
“What has all this psychology of clothing and fashion got to do with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel?” you might ask. Well, quite simply and quite logically, the Brown Scapular is technically a form or mode of clothing―though in miniature form. The scapular was a broad band of cloth over the shoulders, falling below the knees toward the feet, both front and back, as an apron―and is still worn as part of the religious habit by a number of orders of monks and friars. Not intending to be disrespectful, but it is a mini-scapular of a full size scapular, just like the (immodest) mini-skirt is a miniature version of a skirt.
As Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959) writes in his booklet on the Scapular: “Since the rise of monasticism a Scapular, consisting of two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down back and breast, has been a part of the monastic Habit … The Friars were―by profession if not by origin―poor men, who identified themselves with the poorer classes and worked among them. Their Habit―even though similar to that of the monk―was that of the common folk … The religious ceremony of receiving the Habit, although different in meaning, was the same as that of feudal investiture. Just as the vassal placed his hands in or between his lord’s hands and pronounced his oath of fealty [allegiance and loyalty] or homage, so did the friar present himself before a Superior―who took the place of God―to make his vows. The Scapular―hanging from the shoulders―was an outward sign that the friar was ‘God’s man,’ that he belonged entirely to Him and that he would pay Him the homage of his whole life.”
“It is in this medieval setting that one must see the Brown Scapular which is the Habit of the Carmelite Friars in miniature form. Before they entered the European scene, the Carmelites were a group of hermits living on Mt. Carmel in Palestine. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of Elias the Prophet, and the life they led on Mt. Carmel was patterned on Elias’ life of contemplation. The Elian tradition, however, was not the only one to influence them, for, long before they came to Europe, they were known for their devotion to God’s Mother. So devoted were they to her that they became known as “The Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,” a title they cherished and defended down through the years. The earliest documents we have, bear eloquent witness to their love for Mary―for in her they found the fulfillment of the Elian ideal. She, too, kept all the things that God said to her, pondering them in her heart and making her life their incarnation―and it was by following her that they found the clean heart that sees God even in this life. When they made their profession, they vowed their lives to God and to Mary, and it was in her honor that the homage of their lives of contemplation was offered to their Lord. Mary was the Queen and Mistress of the holy Mount; Carmel was her land, her vineyard, where they worked in the hope of her guidance and protection.”
Mary's Uniform
Therefore, in essence, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is clothing that we wear―like a uniform we might wear―that shows that we belong to her, that we work for her, that we fight for her. You could even say that the Brown Scapular is like a layperson’s “religious habit” that reminds us of Pope Pius XII’s letter to the Carmelite Order in 1950, wherein he writes: “May they behold in this same Garment … a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin!”
Pope Pius XII goes on to write: “There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed―a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits. For not with a light or passing matter are we here concerned, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of that Promise of the Most Blessed Virgin which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely. For the Holy Scapular, which may be called the habit or Garment of Mary, is a sign and a pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: “In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
“May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself a mirror of humility and purity: may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day night and day, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended. And certainly this most gentle Mother will not delay to open, as soon as possible, through her intercession with God, the gates of Heaven for her children who are expiating their faults in Purgatory ― trust based on that Promise known as the Sabbatine Privilege.” (Pope Pius XII, written at Rome on the Feast of the Apparition at Lourdes, February 11th, 1950).
How the Scapular Came to the Laity
As a result of the Saracen invasion of the Holy Land, the Carmelites finally decided to leave Mt. Carmel for safety. Some Carmelites settled in Cyprus, others in Italy, while others continued their journey to France and England. The English group of Carmelites found a benefactor in Lord de Grey, who gave them property in Aylesford in Kent. Although the Carmelites found many who were favorably disposed to them in the West, they also encountered much opposition, so much so that, about the middle of the 13th century, it looked as though their days were numbered as a Religious Order. In Europe they were entering a hostile world cluttered with many new religious families. The arrival of strangers from Mount Carmel was not well received, and they were frowned upon. Internally, they were divided as to whether they should cling to their tradition and background as being hermits, or adapt to a newly evolving and popular status of begging friars (mendicant friars).
However, in 1246, at a Chapter held in Aylesford, they elected Simon Stock as their General. As he saw the waves of opposition mounting higher and higher, Simon realized that Our Lady was his only hope. The Carmelite Habit he wore spoke for itself―for it was in Our Lady’s honor that he had taken it. It had always reminded him that he was hers, and the long years of his life were an act of homage to her. Carmel was not his, but hers―and, now that it was in danger of being destroyed forever, he went to her, as the vassal would go to his lord, and asked her to give it her protection. Saluting her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea, he asked Our Lady for the “privilegium,” that is, the protection a lord would give his vassals.
In answer to his fervent prayer, Our Lady appeared to Simon Stock, and, giving him the Scapular of his Carmelite Order, she said: “This shall be a sign to you and to all Carmelites―whosoever dies wearing this, shall not suffer eternal fire!” The Promise Mary attached to the Scapular went far beyond Simon’s expectations. It saved the Order, confirmed its Marian character and made Mary more of a Mother than a Queen to it. One has to merely glance at the history of the Order, from the 13th century down to the present day, to see how the Scapular Vision served to strengthen its devotion to Mary. And the external sign of that love and devotion through the years has been the Brown Scapular.
Some people are inclined to exaggerate the importance of visions and private revelations and, in assessing the spiritual value of the Scapular Devotion, one must keep in mind the teaching of the Church regarding them. It is the constant teaching and practice of the Church that devotions must be founded on revealed truth, and that visions and private revelations only have relative value―that is to say, they only serve to focus attention on some truth God has already revealed in Divine Public Revelation and must be interpreted in the light of it. The popular devotion to the Sacred Heart is not based on the revelations to St. Margaret Mary, but on the Incarnation of the Word. The same must be said about the Lourdes and Fatima devotions. The visions of Our Lady called attention to her role in the economy of Redemption and to the old Christian doctrine of prayer and penance that we already see revealed in Holy Scripture. It is in this context that one must see the Scapular Devotion. It is based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary, but in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood, than a garment. When Our Lady brought gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.
For a long time the Habit was the exclusive property of the Order, a sign of profession in it and of the life totally consecrated to her but in the 14th century we find a bridge appearing between Carmel and the world. Lay Catholics, living in the world, became anxious to live its Marian-form of life and to share in its spiritual treasury of prayer and good works; and as a visible sign of their affiliation to the Order they were given the Scapular. This was the beginning of the Third Order of Carmel and of the Confraternity. These good people were often generous benefactors and in return for their help the Order granted them a share in all its Masses, prayers and good works. With the lapse of time this participation was given without any financial assistance. Here we find the two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion, Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order.
In a comparatively short time, the wearing of the Scapular spread to the whole Church and became the unmistakable mark of the good Catholic. Popes, kings, princes, nobles and humble folk alike lived and died in the hope of the promise made to St. Simon, and the Scapular devotion grew to be one of the leading devotions to the Mother of God. As a Marian devotion it has stood the test of time, and the seven centuries that have elapsed since the Vision have served to reveal its beauty. It has kept generation after generation aware of its duty to call Mary blessed, and in the homage paid to her, countless saints have come to realize that to find her is to find life in her Son and to draw salvation from Him.
Fashions Change―Beliefs Change
As the Carmelite, Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., writes: “After the Second Vatican Council, the Scapular devotion suffered the same “crisis of rejection” that so many other practices and teachings within the Catholic Church underwent. First, it was said that St. Simon Stock never even existed. As a consequence, his feast day, which had been celebrated on May 16th, the date of his death, was expunged from the liturgical calendar. Second, if he never existed, then we must do away with the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Scapular devotion. The effort was then made by a liturgical committee to expunge Our Lady of Mount Carmel from the liturgical calendar, but the Latin American bishops protested so vehemently that the feast was kept; however, on condition that nothing be mentioned about the Scapular.”
The Second Vatican Council was a disaster that was foretold in prophecy by St. John Bosco in the 19th century: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century (20th century), after which there will be chaos in the Church.” There was only ONE Ecumenical Council in the 20th century and that was the Second Vatican Council―anyone who is still sane and logical can clearly see the disastrous fruits of the Second Vatican Council by only making minimal research! Vatican II was the triumph of Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and Humanism within the Church. The result was an almost knee-jerk, automatic, universal casting of doubt on many supernatural and miraculous elements within the Church. Everything was liable to come under suspicion as being false, made-up or exaggerated―even the Resurrection of Christ and the Virgin Birth and the Holy Eucharist and Sacrifice of the Mass came under scrutiny, questioning and doubt.
It does not take very much encouragement to get Catholics to abandon their religious practices in this modern era Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and Humanism within the Church. “At the drop of a hat”, or the drop of a doubt, they will put aside one religious practice after another, one doctrine after another, and throw them all on the scrap heap! This has been the fate of the Rosary and the Scapular―among many other devotions, practices and teachings.
There are no real statistics available on how many still wear the Brown Scapular. CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) statistics for the year 2008 show that only 9% of USA Catholics wore the Scapular―you can bet your salvation on the fact that this number has not risen over the last 13 years! What would it be today? Perhaps around 5% to 7% at the very best. In the “good old days”, every child was enrolled in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the occasion of their First Holy Communion. Today, that is no longer the practice―it hasn’t been a regular practice for decades. Even those “oldsters” who were enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular of Carmel, at the time of their first Holy Communion―you will find that most of them no longer wear it. All too soon after those joyful days of youthful innocence, the blessed Scapular of Carmel is one day taken off, then lost, and so never worn again by the vast majority of the faithful.
Do your own “grass roots” research and ask around who wears the Brown Scapular―you will find that even in Traditional Catholic and Conservative Catholic circles it will not be everyone (as it should be). If you enquire among the Modernist and Liberal Catholics, you will more often than not be met with a blank stare and a puzzled comment: “Brown what?” Even those who do wear it―when it comes to wearing a particular kind of dress, blouse, t-shirt or other kind of clothing that would reveal the presence of the Brown Scapular, then you will often find that the Scapular is sacrificed and removed. Human respect causes them to lose respect for Our Lady and they hide or remove the very thing that they should be proud about―the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They are afraid of what others might think or say! Our Lady of Good Success rebuked this kind of human respect when she said: “Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” The words of Our Lord come to mind here: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Throughout history the Brown Scapular has helped innumerable souls and has proven to be a powerful defense against Satan. In the booklet, Garment of Grace, evidence for this claim is found in the life of Venerable Francis Ypes. According to the story: “One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, ‘Take off that habit which snatches so many souls from us!’ Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel.” The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, related that the devil said to him during an exorcism: “I am more afraid when you say the Madonna’s name―because I am more humiliated by being beaten by a simple creature, than by Him.”
Our Lady Wants Us to Wear the Scapular
Sr. Lucia of Fatima insisted that Our Lady wants everyone to wear the Brown Scapular―explaining that this was the reason why, at her final apparition at Fatima on October 13th 1917, she appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel while the Child Jesus Whom she was holding on her arm, held out to the world the Brown Scapular. Here is a short story that shows how, if we wear the Brown Scapular and are refuse to lead a holy life, we will not be found wearing it when we die:
During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, seven Spanish Communists, who had been baptized as Catholics, were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tried to prepare the men for death―but they refused his help. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes, food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion. In a short while, they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed―one refused. Soon all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continued to refuse. Only to please them, he put on a Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and as the moment of execution drew near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for the priest. Although wearing the Scapular, he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously, a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died WITHOUT the Scapular. St. Claude Colombiere gives us the solution to the mystery of the missing Scapular: “You ask, ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’ I answer, ‘Then you will die in your sins, BUT YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SCAPULAR.’” St. Claude Colombiere tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times on three separate occasions. He was rescued each time against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish, and died in his sins. (quoted from the booklet, Garment of Grace).
Let us quote once again the words of Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959) from his booklet on the Scapular: “St. Alphonsus Liguori says: ‘It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection!’ Let us not conclude, however, that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of supernatural power which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin. We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: ‘When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost!’”
Scrap the Scapular and You Might Well Be Scrapped Yourself!
Let us play at being independent mercenaries when we should be obedient Soldiers of Christ. Soldiers are meant to obey and not “do their own thing”! As Our Lady―who is our general―said at La Salette: ““If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!” At Fatima she says: “If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” ― and that includes your soul! Yet, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima laments: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!”
If you wear the Brown Scapular―then that is a beginning, but as with all things in life, it can be improved upon. There is the danger that we wear it like spiritual “good luck charm” or look upon it as “guarantee of Heaven” regardless of how much we sin! Such an attitude is an abusive attitude, since it seeks to abuse God while expecting Him to save us regardless of what we do! That is a mortal sin of presumption!
Or, we might wear the Scapular and doing nothing more than that! That is a very selfish attitude, especially in view of what you are hoping to gain in return―the salvation of your soul! What price can you put on salvation? You are putting more effort into earthly things than you are putting into the wearing of your Scapular! There are many ways in which we improve upon this selfish minimalist attitude. Do you reverently kiss your Scapular are certain times during the day? For example, when you rise in the morning; before going to sleep at night; before setting off on a journey; or when you have avoided some danger or an accident; or when you have received a blessing from God by something good happening to you―these are just a handful of the many different ways and instances in which you can bring the Scapular into a more prominent role in your life.
Additionally, there are various prayers and litanies dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel―you will find some of them HERE. On the occasion of her annual feast day (July 16th), you could read some book or article about her―you will find such material HERE and HERE. Or at any time of the year you could make a novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and especially in preparation for her feast on July 16th―you will find that HERE. Or read the Most Frequently Asked Questions about the Scapular HERE.
These are just some of the ways in which you can raise yourself from the mire of being a lukewarm Scapular wearer, into becoming a fervent Scapular wearer. Remember that, “what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Our Lady Wants Us to Wear the Scapular
Sr. Lucia of Fatima insisted that Our Lady wants everyone to wear the Brown Scapular―explaining that this was the reason why, at her final apparition at Fatima on October 13th 1917, she appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel while the Child Jesus Whom she was holding on her arm, held out to the world the Brown Scapular. Here is a short story that shows how, if we wear the Brown Scapular and are refuse to lead a holy life, we will not be found wearing it when we die:
During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, seven Spanish Communists, who had been baptized as Catholics, were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tried to prepare the men for death―but they refused his help. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes, food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion. In a short while, they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed―one refused. Soon all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continued to refuse. Only to please them, he put on a Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and as the moment of execution drew near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for the priest. Although wearing the Scapular, he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously, a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died WITHOUT the Scapular. St. Claude Colombiere gives us the solution to the mystery of the missing Scapular: “You ask, ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’ I answer, ‘Then you will die in your sins, BUT YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SCAPULAR.’” St. Claude Colombiere tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times on three separate occasions. He was rescued each time against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish, and died in his sins. (quoted from the booklet, Garment of Grace).
Let us quote once again the words of Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959) from his booklet on the Scapular: “St. Alphonsus Liguori says: ‘It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection!’ Let us not conclude, however, that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of supernatural power which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin. We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: ‘When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost!’”
Scrap the Scapular and You Might Well Be Scrapped Yourself!
Let us play at being independent mercenaries when we should be obedient Soldiers of Christ. Soldiers are meant to obey and not “do their own thing”! As Our Lady―who is our general―said at La Salette: ““If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!” At Fatima she says: “If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” ― and that includes your soul! Yet, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima laments: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!”
If you wear the Brown Scapular―then that is a beginning, but as with all things in life, it can be improved upon. There is the danger that we wear it like spiritual “good luck charm” or look upon it as “guarantee of Heaven” regardless of how much we sin! Such an attitude is an abusive attitude, since it seeks to abuse God while expecting Him to save us regardless of what we do! That is a mortal sin of presumption!
Or, we might wear the Scapular and doing nothing more than that! That is a very selfish attitude, especially in view of what you are hoping to gain in return―the salvation of your soul! What price can you put on salvation? You are putting more effort into earthly things than you are putting into the wearing of your Scapular! There are many ways in which we improve upon this selfish minimalist attitude. Do you reverently kiss your Scapular are certain times during the day? For example, when you rise in the morning; before going to sleep at night; before setting off on a journey; or when you have avoided some danger or an accident; or when you have received a blessing from God by something good happening to you―these are just a handful of the many different ways and instances in which you can bring the Scapular into a more prominent role in your life.
Additionally, there are various prayers and litanies dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel―you will find some of them HERE. On the occasion of her annual feast day (July 16th), you could read some book or article about her―you will find such material HERE and HERE. Or at any time of the year you could make a novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and especially in preparation for her feast on July 16th―you will find that HERE. Or read the Most Frequently Asked Questions about the Scapular HERE.
These are just some of the ways in which you can raise yourself from the mire of being a lukewarm Scapular wearer, into becoming a fervent Scapular wearer. Remember that, “what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly―and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Thursday July 15th
Article 8
It Is Time To Resist Unto Blood!
Article 8
It Is Time To Resist Unto Blood!
War―Fighting―Bloodshed
Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He also stated: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). We are told to “Fight the good fight of Faith! … [in order to] … Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Scripture adds: “Laying aside every burden and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us! Looking on Jesus, who endured the cross, despising the shame … think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners; so that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:1-4).
Who Wants to Fight? Nobody!
Such words are unpleasant words for our comfort-driven society where political correctness and human respect are far more attractive and popular than fighting for the Faith against sin and sinners! Nobody wants to “rock the boat” and disturb or ruffle the feathers of sinful majority. The words of God that tell us to “Cry! Cease not! Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their wicked doings!” (Isaias 58:1), are ignored as we much prefer to hear the words: “Judge not, that you may not be judged!” (Matthew 7:1) and “Follow peace with all men!” (Hebrews 12:14) and “Love your enemies!” (Matthew 5:44). Likewise, we turn a deaf ear to injunctions: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Light, Salt and Watchmen
Yet we have been made to be “the light of the world” and the “salt of the Earth” (Matthew 5:13-14) for the purpose of “fighting the good fight of the Faith” against the world. God says: “If the people of the land take a man and make him a watchman over them, and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself, then if the sword come and cut him off, his blood shall be upon his own head. For he heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, so his blood shall be upon himself―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming, and sounds not the trumpet, so that the people cannot look to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel!” (Ezechiel 33:2-7).
We, likewise, as Catholics, are the “watchmen” over the world, the “light of the world” and the “salt of the Earth” and we cannot try to excuse ourselves as Cain tried to excuse himself when God asked about the whereabouts of his brother Abel: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!” (Genesis 4:9-10).
Courage and Fortitude Needed
We speak of the courage, in the hearts of soldiers, that leads them to fight and shed their blood for their country. Even outside of war and the battlefield, in the modern battlefield of sports, the same courage of heart leads sportsmen and sportswomen into combat against an individual opponent or a team, that will sometimes see blood flow. The love of others, may lead them to donate their blood for the saving of lives. The shedding or giving of blood is still seen to be important even in our days of false “peace” ― for the world is always at war with the Faith, because the prince of the world (Satan) is always at war with God.
Fatality Rates in Physical and Spiritual Warfare
Of the past 3,400 years, it is estimated as far as we can tell, that the human-race has been entirely at peace worldwide for only 268 of those 3,400 years―which is around 8% of recorded history. The 20th century has been the bloodiest century in history with at least 108 million people being killed in wars. How many people have been killed in the history of war? Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1,000 million (1 billion). Therefore, if 1,000 million were killed in wars over the period of 34 centuries, then the 20th century alone accounts for more that 10% of those deaths.
Yet those numbers pale into insignificance when you consider the numbers killed in spiritual warfare by mortal sin. An estimate on the total number of people who have ever lived, as of 1995, was calculated by Haub (1995) and was estimated to be about 100,825,272,791 (or 10.8 billion, or 10,825 million) births since the dawn of the human race. The fact that the vast majority of people are damned, clearly tells us that the potential number of the damned could be as high as 9 to 10 billion (which would mean 9 out 10 are damned, or 1 out 10 are saved) which is far worse than the maximum calculation of deaths through physical warfare (1 billion)―which comes out to 1 in every 10 persons being killed in physical warfare compared to 9 out of 10 persons being killed (damned) in spiritual warfare!
Now, of course, both those sets of numbers―fatalities in physical warfare and spiritual warfare―are merely arbitrary numbers. Yet, they are not inconceivable, nor unbelievable, nor unlikely numbers―Our Lord Himself warned us as to their likely reality. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). As for what the saints thought, you can read more on that subject HERE.
Seeds of Capitulation or Seeds of Confrontation?
As Scripture says: “What things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). Our Lord puts it similarly: “Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
The present-day Catholic problem is that very few are prepared to “confess” Christ in the face of the world. Christ has become a “closet Christ” who is taken out of the closet on Sundays (but only by 20% of Catholics) and then is stuffed back in the closet right after Sunday Mass. If He is lucky, He might be taken out of the closet for an occasional Rosary (only 2% pray it daily), or for morning or night prayers, or some other “token gesture” of lip-service throughout the day, but for the rest of the time He is relegated to His family place of the “tabernacle of the closet”. How true are His words: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Yet we happily watch worldly TV programs and movies for hours on end, we browse the internet or social media for hours on end―but when it comes to Christ, we cannot wait for the hour to end! As we sow, so shall we reap―and we are currently on the verge of reaping our rewards by what the Plannedemic is heaping upon us! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) and “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Blinded by the Darkness
We are living at a time when Our Lord could say: “This is your hour and the power of darkness!” (Luke 22:53). A time foretold by Our Lady, when “the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
“For behold darkness shall cover the Earth” (Isaias 60:2). God is Light and virtue, Satan is darkness and sin. “Error and darkness are created with sinners” (Ecclesiasticus 11:16). “The way of sinners is Hell and darkness” (Ecclesiasticus 21:11). Because of rampant sin, “the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12). Today, most people are blind to God, they are like those “who sit in darkness and see not the light of Heaven” (Tobias 5:12) … “They walk in darkness as if it were in light” (Job 24:17). “They have not known nor understood―they walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5). For most people today, sin is part and parcel of daily life and little attention is paid to avoiding―in fact, many find sin to be fun! “All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, in many cares, in misery, and sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 5:16). They fail to see that by “being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and shut up in their houses, they lay there exiled from the eternal providence” (Wisdom 17:2) … They “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death―bound in want and in iron― they were all bound together with one chain of darkness―because they had exasperated the words of God and provoked the most High!” (Psalm 106:10-11; Wisdom 17:17). “He hath led me into darkness, and not into light!” (Lamentations 3:2).
The Darkness of Sins Provokes God’s Anger and Justice
Yes―we certainly have exasperated and provoked God! Not just recently, but for a long, long time! Already back in 1846, at La Salette, Our Lady warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” How right she was―we “think very little” of what she is doing to prevent our chastisement, and at the same time we “do not wish to submit” to her requests for betterment! How blind we are in our darkness of worldliness!
At Fatima, just under 70 years later in 1917, Our Lady adds: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart ... Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father!” Who paid attention? Who is paying attention? In 1957 Sister Lucia of Fatima sadly announced: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
A year before Sr. Lucia’s lament about Our Lady’s message being ignored for the most part, Our Lady had appeared to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956, telling her that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Heck! Who cared and who cares! We were being rapidly immersed in the “Age of the Screen” with television sets starting to enter more and more homes! With fun like that―who cares about Our Lady’s apparitions!!? Within very years those televisions were being watched for hours on end in most homes and Our Lady’s boring messages were relegated to the closet! Yet those television sets merely increased the darkness in the minds of the people―that is to say, it increased their spiritual darkness while enlightening them about worldliness.
If Our Lady’s 1956 message seemed tough and harsh, by 1973―the time of her apparition at Akita in Japan―Our Lady was obliged to say: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
What happened? Well DIVORCE was legalized divorce in the Catholic countries of Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991; from 1976 was allowed only for non-Catholics), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). ABORTION was also legalized throughout the world― in the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act of 1967 made abortions legal up to 28 weeks. Other countries soon followed, including Canada (1969), the United States (1973), Tunisia (1973), Denmark (1973), Austria (1974), France (1975), Sweden (1975), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), the Netherlands (1984), and Belgium (1990). Though CONTRACEPTION has always been practiced, it was in the early 1960s that the “Pill” broke onto the scene and spread throughout the world like wildfire! By 1990 80% of Catholic women in the USA practiced contraception and 70% of Catholic priests in the USA thought there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the practice! It is estimated that over 90% of Catholic women in the USA have practiced contraception at some point in their lives. This list on the increasingly popularity and gravity of sin could go on and on―the main point to retain is that nobody paid attention to, nor cared about Our Lady’s Akita warning: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
On the spiritual side of things, the Church lost unprecedented numbers of Catholics in other countries in Europe in 2019. Bishops in Switzerland lamented a record exodus in 2019. The new figures revealed that the Catholic Church lost 31,772 members in 2019 ― which is equivalent to 1.1% of the total membership of the Catholic Church in Switzerland. A record number of Catholics also formally left the Church in Germany in 2019, according to official figures released in June, 2020. The statistics showed that 272,771 people exited the Catholic Church in 2019, a significant increase on the 2018 figure of 216,078 ― which amounts to almost half-a-million in only two years! Meanwhile in Austria, the number of people leaving the Church rose by 15% in 2019, compared to the previous year. A total of 67,583 people left in 2019, while 58,807 left in 2018. The same story is repeated from country to country.
As regards regular weekly attendance at Sunday Mass (which binds a Catholic under the pain of mortal sin), in 1957 in the USA it was around 75%―which is not very good, but today that seems like “winning the jackpot” compared to current numbers! Today, pre-pandemic lockdown attendance was only around 20% and post-lockdown attendance is anywhere from 10% to 15%. In Europe, it seems that in recent years Poland has been the flagship (but nothing to shout about), showing a regular Sunday Mass attendance of 60% from 2005 to 2009; which then dropped to 55% from 2010 to 2014; and today stands at 37%. France, on the other hand, known as the “Eldest daughter of the Church”, only sees around 2% of Catholics regularly attending Mass on Sundays―back in 2005 to 2009 it was a “whopping” 12% of Catholics who regularly attended Sunday Mass! It is pretty much the same story throughout the world―except for the African Catholic countries where numbers are at a level what we experienced in the 1950s. Nevertheless, most of the Catholic world has “fallen-away” from practicing the Faith and are living in mortal sin! “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
How true are the words of Holy Scripture: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life! … I am come a light into the world―that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 8:12; 12:46). “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Yet a little while, the light is among you! Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not! And he that walks in darkness, knows not where he goes!’” (John 12:35). “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it! … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 1:15; 3:19).
Days of Darkness
We have to make a choice―there can no neutrality, no spectators. We cannot serve God and mammon―we cannot serve Light and darkness―we cannot serve the Church and the world. “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Yet a little while, the light is among you! Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not! And he that walks in darkness, knows not where he goes!’” (John 12:35). “He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness!” (1 Kings 2:9). It shall be a darkness that foreshadows the darkness of Hell―which reminds us of the so-called “Three Days of Darkness” during which all the evil people in the world will be slaughtered. “There came horrible darkness in all the land” (Exodus 10:22) … “Let darkness and the shadow of death cover it” (Job 3:5) ... “That was a day of darkness and danger, of tribulation and distress, and great fear upon the Earth” (Esther 11:8). “God hath surrounded him with darkness” (Job 3:23). “We are wrapped up in darkness” (Job 37:19). “They shall meet with darkness in the day, and grope at noonday as in the night” (Job 5:14). “I expected good things, and evils are come upon me! I waited for light, and darkness broke out!” (Job 30:26). “Fear and trembling are come upon me, and darkness hath covered me!” (Psalm 54:6). “Darkness shall cover me, and night shall be my light!” (Psalm 138:11). “He shall not depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own mouth” (Job 15:30).
Cleansing and Rejuvenating by Bloodshed
Unfortunately, it seems that only way left to save souls is by shedding blood―because all the words of warning and presentations of solutions have mostly fallen on deaf ears. “For my foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “The people and the priests have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, and from their abominations!” (1 Esdras 9:1). Where, today, will you find a child or a young person who is not trying to serve both God and mammon, the Faith and the world at the same time? They are few and far between! Perhaps 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 5,000. Parents have allowed the Catholic children to “marry” the world because they themselves have already done the same. It is all merely a matter of degree―some more, others less―but the reality stares you in the face wherever you turn. You will even find large doses of worldliness in seminaries, monasteries, convents and presbyteries!
With all this happening, how can we smugly and comfortably sit in our armchairs, watch television, browse the internet, go partying to socials, and live life as though there was nothing wrong in the world or in the Faith? “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Unfortunately, since we have neglected the easier and less painful remedy prayer and penance―especially the Holy Rosary―in trying to turn back the suicidal world from its headlong dive into Hell, then God has no other option than to impose the painful remedy, which means a horrendous chastisement and a massive loss of life. We cannot plead ignorance in the matter, nor can we complain―for Our Lady has told us enough times what we must do, but we have neglected to obey, either through indifference, stubbornness, selfishness, lukewarmness or complacency. If the patient refuses or neglects to take the medicine for his gangrene, then the only option left to the doctor is to amputate the limb. That is the predicament that is facing us right now. At the very best, we have contented ourselves by doing the very minimal possible―we might say (but not pray) a Rosary daily and thus qualify to be counted among the 2% of Catholics who do that. Yet Our Lady demanded far more. Here are her own words:
“Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! ... The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
If we fail to heed those words, then the double-edged bloody remedy must follow ― Our Lady paints a grim picture of what is to come as result of our negligence: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … For Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. ... How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
These events will be, both at the same time, a punishment and an act of mercy. The punishment side of it is not hard to understand―only a lunatic could think we do not deserve a punishment. The act of mercy by the punishment is harder to understand―but it will be through a horrendous punishment that the stubbornness of many will be broken or blindness of many will be cured, and, a result, many will repent, convert and emerge from the darkness of sin in which they were sitting. As Our Lady says: “Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere!”
Emerging From Darkness
Light and darkness are opposites―like day and night. You cannot have both at the same time. “God saw that the light was good and He divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord. Bear not the yoke with unbelievers!” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them! For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord! Walk then as children of the light!” (Ephesians 5:6-8). “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12).
Our Lord said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He also stated: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). We are told to “Fight the good fight of Faith! … [in order to] … Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Scripture adds: “Laying aside every burden and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us! Looking on Jesus, who endured the cross, despising the shame … think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners; so that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:1-4).
Who Wants to Fight? Nobody!
Such words are unpleasant words for our comfort-driven society where political correctness and human respect are far more attractive and popular than fighting for the Faith against sin and sinners! Nobody wants to “rock the boat” and disturb or ruffle the feathers of sinful majority. The words of God that tell us to “Cry! Cease not! Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their wicked doings!” (Isaias 58:1), are ignored as we much prefer to hear the words: “Judge not, that you may not be judged!” (Matthew 7:1) and “Follow peace with all men!” (Hebrews 12:14) and “Love your enemies!” (Matthew 5:44). Likewise, we turn a deaf ear to injunctions: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Light, Salt and Watchmen
Yet we have been made to be “the light of the world” and the “salt of the Earth” (Matthew 5:13-14) for the purpose of “fighting the good fight of the Faith” against the world. God says: “If the people of the land take a man and make him a watchman over them, and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people―then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself, then if the sword come and cut him off, his blood shall be upon his own head. For he heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, so his blood shall be upon himself―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming, and sounds not the trumpet, so that the people cannot look to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel!” (Ezechiel 33:2-7).
We, likewise, as Catholics, are the “watchmen” over the world, the “light of the world” and the “salt of the Earth” and we cannot try to excuse ourselves as Cain tried to excuse himself when God asked about the whereabouts of his brother Abel: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!” (Genesis 4:9-10).
Courage and Fortitude Needed
We speak of the courage, in the hearts of soldiers, that leads them to fight and shed their blood for their country. Even outside of war and the battlefield, in the modern battlefield of sports, the same courage of heart leads sportsmen and sportswomen into combat against an individual opponent or a team, that will sometimes see blood flow. The love of others, may lead them to donate their blood for the saving of lives. The shedding or giving of blood is still seen to be important even in our days of false “peace” ― for the world is always at war with the Faith, because the prince of the world (Satan) is always at war with God.
Fatality Rates in Physical and Spiritual Warfare
Of the past 3,400 years, it is estimated as far as we can tell, that the human-race has been entirely at peace worldwide for only 268 of those 3,400 years―which is around 8% of recorded history. The 20th century has been the bloodiest century in history with at least 108 million people being killed in wars. How many people have been killed in the history of war? Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1,000 million (1 billion). Therefore, if 1,000 million were killed in wars over the period of 34 centuries, then the 20th century alone accounts for more that 10% of those deaths.
Yet those numbers pale into insignificance when you consider the numbers killed in spiritual warfare by mortal sin. An estimate on the total number of people who have ever lived, as of 1995, was calculated by Haub (1995) and was estimated to be about 100,825,272,791 (or 10.8 billion, or 10,825 million) births since the dawn of the human race. The fact that the vast majority of people are damned, clearly tells us that the potential number of the damned could be as high as 9 to 10 billion (which would mean 9 out 10 are damned, or 1 out 10 are saved) which is far worse than the maximum calculation of deaths through physical warfare (1 billion)―which comes out to 1 in every 10 persons being killed in physical warfare compared to 9 out of 10 persons being killed (damned) in spiritual warfare!
Now, of course, both those sets of numbers―fatalities in physical warfare and spiritual warfare―are merely arbitrary numbers. Yet, they are not inconceivable, nor unbelievable, nor unlikely numbers―Our Lord Himself warned us as to their likely reality. “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). As for what the saints thought, you can read more on that subject HERE.
Seeds of Capitulation or Seeds of Confrontation?
As Scripture says: “What things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:8). Our Lord puts it similarly: “Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
The present-day Catholic problem is that very few are prepared to “confess” Christ in the face of the world. Christ has become a “closet Christ” who is taken out of the closet on Sundays (but only by 20% of Catholics) and then is stuffed back in the closet right after Sunday Mass. If He is lucky, He might be taken out of the closet for an occasional Rosary (only 2% pray it daily), or for morning or night prayers, or some other “token gesture” of lip-service throughout the day, but for the rest of the time He is relegated to His family place of the “tabernacle of the closet”. How true are His words: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). Yet we happily watch worldly TV programs and movies for hours on end, we browse the internet or social media for hours on end―but when it comes to Christ, we cannot wait for the hour to end! As we sow, so shall we reap―and we are currently on the verge of reaping our rewards by what the Plannedemic is heaping upon us! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) and “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Blinded by the Darkness
We are living at a time when Our Lord could say: “This is your hour and the power of darkness!” (Luke 22:53). A time foretold by Our Lady, when “the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
“For behold darkness shall cover the Earth” (Isaias 60:2). God is Light and virtue, Satan is darkness and sin. “Error and darkness are created with sinners” (Ecclesiasticus 11:16). “The way of sinners is Hell and darkness” (Ecclesiasticus 21:11). Because of rampant sin, “the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12). Today, most people are blind to God, they are like those “who sit in darkness and see not the light of Heaven” (Tobias 5:12) … “They walk in darkness as if it were in light” (Job 24:17). “They have not known nor understood―they walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5). For most people today, sin is part and parcel of daily life and little attention is paid to avoiding―in fact, many find sin to be fun! “All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, in many cares, in misery, and sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 5:16). They fail to see that by “being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and shut up in their houses, they lay there exiled from the eternal providence” (Wisdom 17:2) … They “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death―bound in want and in iron― they were all bound together with one chain of darkness―because they had exasperated the words of God and provoked the most High!” (Psalm 106:10-11; Wisdom 17:17). “He hath led me into darkness, and not into light!” (Lamentations 3:2).
The Darkness of Sins Provokes God’s Anger and Justice
Yes―we certainly have exasperated and provoked God! Not just recently, but for a long, long time! Already back in 1846, at La Salette, Our Lady warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” How right she was―we “think very little” of what she is doing to prevent our chastisement, and at the same time we “do not wish to submit” to her requests for betterment! How blind we are in our darkness of worldliness!
At Fatima, just under 70 years later in 1917, Our Lady adds: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart ... Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father!” Who paid attention? Who is paying attention? In 1957 Sister Lucia of Fatima sadly announced: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
A year before Sr. Lucia’s lament about Our Lady’s message being ignored for the most part, Our Lady had appeared to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956, telling her that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Heck! Who cared and who cares! We were being rapidly immersed in the “Age of the Screen” with television sets starting to enter more and more homes! With fun like that―who cares about Our Lady’s apparitions!!? Within very years those televisions were being watched for hours on end in most homes and Our Lady’s boring messages were relegated to the closet! Yet those television sets merely increased the darkness in the minds of the people―that is to say, it increased their spiritual darkness while enlightening them about worldliness.
If Our Lady’s 1956 message seemed tough and harsh, by 1973―the time of her apparition at Akita in Japan―Our Lady was obliged to say: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
What happened? Well DIVORCE was legalized divorce in the Catholic countries of Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991; from 1976 was allowed only for non-Catholics), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). ABORTION was also legalized throughout the world― in the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act of 1967 made abortions legal up to 28 weeks. Other countries soon followed, including Canada (1969), the United States (1973), Tunisia (1973), Denmark (1973), Austria (1974), France (1975), Sweden (1975), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), the Netherlands (1984), and Belgium (1990). Though CONTRACEPTION has always been practiced, it was in the early 1960s that the “Pill” broke onto the scene and spread throughout the world like wildfire! By 1990 80% of Catholic women in the USA practiced contraception and 70% of Catholic priests in the USA thought there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the practice! It is estimated that over 90% of Catholic women in the USA have practiced contraception at some point in their lives. This list on the increasingly popularity and gravity of sin could go on and on―the main point to retain is that nobody paid attention to, nor cared about Our Lady’s Akita warning: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
On the spiritual side of things, the Church lost unprecedented numbers of Catholics in other countries in Europe in 2019. Bishops in Switzerland lamented a record exodus in 2019. The new figures revealed that the Catholic Church lost 31,772 members in 2019 ― which is equivalent to 1.1% of the total membership of the Catholic Church in Switzerland. A record number of Catholics also formally left the Church in Germany in 2019, according to official figures released in June, 2020. The statistics showed that 272,771 people exited the Catholic Church in 2019, a significant increase on the 2018 figure of 216,078 ― which amounts to almost half-a-million in only two years! Meanwhile in Austria, the number of people leaving the Church rose by 15% in 2019, compared to the previous year. A total of 67,583 people left in 2019, while 58,807 left in 2018. The same story is repeated from country to country.
As regards regular weekly attendance at Sunday Mass (which binds a Catholic under the pain of mortal sin), in 1957 in the USA it was around 75%―which is not very good, but today that seems like “winning the jackpot” compared to current numbers! Today, pre-pandemic lockdown attendance was only around 20% and post-lockdown attendance is anywhere from 10% to 15%. In Europe, it seems that in recent years Poland has been the flagship (but nothing to shout about), showing a regular Sunday Mass attendance of 60% from 2005 to 2009; which then dropped to 55% from 2010 to 2014; and today stands at 37%. France, on the other hand, known as the “Eldest daughter of the Church”, only sees around 2% of Catholics regularly attending Mass on Sundays―back in 2005 to 2009 it was a “whopping” 12% of Catholics who regularly attended Sunday Mass! It is pretty much the same story throughout the world―except for the African Catholic countries where numbers are at a level what we experienced in the 1950s. Nevertheless, most of the Catholic world has “fallen-away” from practicing the Faith and are living in mortal sin! “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
How true are the words of Holy Scripture: “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life! … I am come a light into the world―that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 8:12; 12:46). “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Yet a little while, the light is among you! Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not! And he that walks in darkness, knows not where he goes!’” (John 12:35). “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it! … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil!” (John 1:15; 3:19).
Days of Darkness
We have to make a choice―there can no neutrality, no spectators. We cannot serve God and mammon―we cannot serve Light and darkness―we cannot serve the Church and the world. “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Yet a little while, the light is among you! Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not! And he that walks in darkness, knows not where he goes!’” (John 12:35). “He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness!” (1 Kings 2:9). It shall be a darkness that foreshadows the darkness of Hell―which reminds us of the so-called “Three Days of Darkness” during which all the evil people in the world will be slaughtered. “There came horrible darkness in all the land” (Exodus 10:22) … “Let darkness and the shadow of death cover it” (Job 3:5) ... “That was a day of darkness and danger, of tribulation and distress, and great fear upon the Earth” (Esther 11:8). “God hath surrounded him with darkness” (Job 3:23). “We are wrapped up in darkness” (Job 37:19). “They shall meet with darkness in the day, and grope at noonday as in the night” (Job 5:14). “I expected good things, and evils are come upon me! I waited for light, and darkness broke out!” (Job 30:26). “Fear and trembling are come upon me, and darkness hath covered me!” (Psalm 54:6). “Darkness shall cover me, and night shall be my light!” (Psalm 138:11). “He shall not depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own mouth” (Job 15:30).
Cleansing and Rejuvenating by Bloodshed
Unfortunately, it seems that only way left to save souls is by shedding blood―because all the words of warning and presentations of solutions have mostly fallen on deaf ears. “For my foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “The people and the priests have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, and from their abominations!” (1 Esdras 9:1). Where, today, will you find a child or a young person who is not trying to serve both God and mammon, the Faith and the world at the same time? They are few and far between! Perhaps 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 5,000. Parents have allowed the Catholic children to “marry” the world because they themselves have already done the same. It is all merely a matter of degree―some more, others less―but the reality stares you in the face wherever you turn. You will even find large doses of worldliness in seminaries, monasteries, convents and presbyteries!
With all this happening, how can we smugly and comfortably sit in our armchairs, watch television, browse the internet, go partying to socials, and live life as though there was nothing wrong in the world or in the Faith? “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Unfortunately, since we have neglected the easier and less painful remedy prayer and penance―especially the Holy Rosary―in trying to turn back the suicidal world from its headlong dive into Hell, then God has no other option than to impose the painful remedy, which means a horrendous chastisement and a massive loss of life. We cannot plead ignorance in the matter, nor can we complain―for Our Lady has told us enough times what we must do, but we have neglected to obey, either through indifference, stubbornness, selfishness, lukewarmness or complacency. If the patient refuses or neglects to take the medicine for his gangrene, then the only option left to the doctor is to amputate the limb. That is the predicament that is facing us right now. At the very best, we have contented ourselves by doing the very minimal possible―we might say (but not pray) a Rosary daily and thus qualify to be counted among the 2% of Catholics who do that. Yet Our Lady demanded far more. Here are her own words:
“Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! ... The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
If we fail to heed those words, then the double-edged bloody remedy must follow ― Our Lady paints a grim picture of what is to come as result of our negligence: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … For Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. ... How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
These events will be, both at the same time, a punishment and an act of mercy. The punishment side of it is not hard to understand―only a lunatic could think we do not deserve a punishment. The act of mercy by the punishment is harder to understand―but it will be through a horrendous punishment that the stubbornness of many will be broken or blindness of many will be cured, and, a result, many will repent, convert and emerge from the darkness of sin in which they were sitting. As Our Lady says: “Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere!”
Emerging From Darkness
Light and darkness are opposites―like day and night. You cannot have both at the same time. “God saw that the light was good and He divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord. Bear not the yoke with unbelievers!” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them! For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord! Walk then as children of the light!” (Ephesians 5:6-8). “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday July 10th & Monday July 12th
Article 7
Are You Being Led Like a Lamb to the Slaughter?
Sunday July 10th & Monday July 12th
Article 7
Are You Being Led Like a Lamb to the Slaughter?
Meek as a Lamb Led to Slaughter
In the Old Testament we read of this prophecy concerning Our Lord: “He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth! He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and He shall not open His mouth” (Isaias 53:7). In its entire context, the prophecy about Our Lord’s Passion and Death reads as follows: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness! We have seen Him and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him! Despised, and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity―and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows―and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted! But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins―the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, everyone hath turned aside into his own way―and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth! He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and He shall not open his mouth!” (Isaias 53:2-7).
As regards this slaughter of lambs, Psalm 43 states: “For Thy sake, O Lord, we are killed all the day long! We are counted as sheep for the slaughter!” (Psalm 43:22). The Christian―from the time of Christ―has been targeted as a “sheep” for slaughter. “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:16-23; 24:9-10).
Our Version of Christianity
That kind of Christianity is “not our cup of tea” is it? We want the deluxe version of Christianity, don’t we? Little or no suffering; a comfortable life; if we really must carry a cross, then we want a fur-lined or padded cross of small proportions; a microwavable rather than a slow-cooker Rosary; fast-track Masses; express sermons; painless confessions; half-a-dropperful thanksgivings once a week after Communion; and above all, peace with the world and acceptance of its culture. That is the Christianity that most people seek and practice!
On top of all that, their favorite Scriptural quotes are: “God is charity!” (1 John 4:8) … “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47) … “I judge not any man!” (John 8:15) … “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18) … “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God … As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked!” (Ezechiel 18:23; 33:11).
The Imitation of Christ aptly sums it up when speaking of the cross in the lives of Christians: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Christ’s Version of Christianity
Our Lord rejects the above “soft” version or “deluxe” version of Christianity and bluntly states that suffering is an integral part of salvation and the only means of reaching Heaven: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
The Imitation of Christ echoes those words of Christ―the following passage ought be read out aloud weekly or monthly in every Catholic family, especially in these days of fur-lined, padded, mini pocket-sized plastic crosses:
“To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This Sign of the Cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
“Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory. Behold, in the cross is everything. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
“Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the Passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the same himself.
“The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
“The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
“To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
“Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
“When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
“No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings. If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12, “The Royal Road of the Cross”).
The Slaughter of Christ Brought Victory for Christ
God does think like we think―and we do not think like God thinks. God Himself tells us in Holy Scripture: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Even the Apostles―who were so close to Christ―had trouble in thinking His way and accepting His ways.
St. Peter is a prime example of this―first of all, when Our Lord tells the Apostles that He must go to Jerusalem and be arrested, tortured and killed, St. Peter is scandalized and protests that this will not happen: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee! This shall not happen unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:21-24).
Christ's Way of Doing Things Is Not Our Way of Doing Things
Then, when time came for Jesus’ prophecy to be fulfilled in the Garden of Gethsemane, as the Temple police and Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus and lead Him away, like a lamb to the slaughter, St. Peter again shows that Jesus’ way is not Peter’s way and that the thoughts of Peter are not the thoughts of Jesus. At the moment of the arrest, St. Peter draws his sword and―though outnumbered―seeks to fight his way out the situation and ‘rescue’ Jesus from arrest and death: “And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword, and, striking the servant of the high priest, cut-off his ear. Then Jesus said to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place! For all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [to defend and deliver Me] How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:51-54) … “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. Jesus therefore said to Peter: ‘Put up thy sword into the scabbard! The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’ Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him, and they led Him away” (John 18:10-13). “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer ye thus far!’ And when He had touched his ear, He healed him” (Luke 22:49-51). Truly Christ’s thoughts and ways were not the thoughts and ways of His Apostles―and even more so they are nor our thoughts and our ways! It is for us to align and conform ourselves with His thoughts and ways and not to seek to make Him align and conform Himself to our thoughts and our ways!
After Christ had been arrested, tried, tortured and slaughtered―we see the two disciples of Christ disconsolately walking away from the “scene of the crime” in Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Christ appears to them in an unrecognizable form and asks them why they are so sad and depressed: “And behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs [about 7 miles] from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art Thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom Jesus said: ‘What things?’ And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel! And now, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done! Yea and certain women, also of our company, affrighted us, who, before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’ Then Jesus said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him” (Luke 24:13-27). Once again Christ shows His followers that His thoughts and ways are not their thoughts and ways! It was His slaughter that brought victory over His enemies and Hell.
Poor old St. Peter was not off the hook as regards having contradictory ideas to those of Jesus. You may have heard or read of the St. Peter’s “Quo vadis Domine” encounter with Our Lord just outside Rome around 30 years after the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord. The Quo Vadis legend comes from the apocryphal book, The Acts of St. Peter, and is the story of St. Peter’s flight from Rome to escape from the Emperor Nero’s persecution of Roman Christians in the first century. As legend has it, St. Peter had been persuaded to flee from Rome at the outbreak of the persecution, on the argument that he, being “the rock” of the Church, should be somewhere safe for the benefit of the whole Church. Obeying the voice of his brethren, Peter took flight alone, saying: “Let none of you come away with me, but I will go away alone, having changed the fashion of my clothing.” Heading out of Rome on the road named Via Appia, Peter meets Jesus, where the Via Appia intersects with another road, the Via Ardeatina. Jesus is going in the opposite direction and is heading into the city of Rome to face the persecution. “Quo vadis, Domine?” asks Peter ― which means “Lord, where are You going?” Our Lord replies: “I am going to Rome to be crucified!” And Peter says to him: “Lord, are You being crucified again?” The Lord replies: “Yes, Peter, I am being crucified again!” and then He disappears. Peter again realizes, through Our Lord subtle hint, that he has once again made the wrong choice by seeking to flee Emperor Nero’s persecution. At which point Peter turns back and re-enters Rome to embrace martyrdom. At that very spot where Peter encountered Our Lord, there is now a church (St. Mary in Palmis) familiarly known as Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis. The end of the story, of course, is the end of Peter. He turns around and heads back towards Vatican Hill and martyrdom. This is the last time he would need to be redirected and corrected by Our Lord. Peter gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, where he is martyred by being crucified upside-down.
Christianity is Turned Upside Down and Crucified
The longest running and growing persecution in the history of the world is the persecution of Christians. According to the International Society for Human Rights, Christians are estimated to make up 80% of those who are persecuted for their religion. Since the time of Christ, when His own people―brethren in both blood and religion ― persecuted and crucified Him, there has been a constant stream of persecution that has grown into raging river of persecution in our present day. You may not know this, but according to David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, two of the world’s leading religious demographers, the number of Christian martyrs in the 20th century beats the combined total of Christian martyrs in all the previous 19 centuries COMBINED TOGETHER! The average church-going Christian is not likely to know that of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ over the centuries, 45.5 million did so in the last century. The 21st century is predicted to beat those 20th century numbers!
According to the Pew Forum, between 2006 and 2010, Christians faced some form of discrimination, either de jure or de facto, in a staggering total of 139 nations―which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed each year for the past decade. That works out to 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their Faith.
Those statistics totally support the prophecies made by Our Lady for our current day and age: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God …
“How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... Blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph! … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette).
The Dark Night of the 21st Century
Our Lady of Good Success warned that we “will suffer during this dark night” ― and we can surely say that the “dark night” has already begun. In the night it is hard to see the reality of things as all things are shrouded in darkness―in our current “dark night” it is hard to make out the reality of things, or the truth of things, since everything is shrouded in the darkness of lies and propaganda. You can clearly call our age “The Age of Lies” since never before has the “Father of Lies”―Satan himself―ruled so powerfully as he does today through modern technology and modern media. Without a doubt Our Lord could to the modern mainstream media the exact same words that He said to the Scribes and Pharisees:
“I am the Truth! … For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, hears My voice! … He that sent Me is true, and the things I have heard from Him, these same things I speak in the world … If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” (John 14:6; 18:37; 8:26; 8:42-47).
The fact that these words are just applicable to the modern mainstream media and most politicians (the modern day Scribes and Pharisees) is borne out by the testimony of the former (1981 to 1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, who told the newly elected President Reagan, in a cabinet and agency briefing meeting, that the goal was to fool the American public into believing false propaganda. His words were: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― was present at that meeting, and says: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote―[“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”], which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
Like Lambs Led to the Slaughter Through Lies and Propaganda
They say “You are what you eat!” What does that make those people who constantly swallow the never-ending stew of lies that they are being fed by today’s media and politicians? A leading American political scientist and communications theorist, Harold Dwight Lasswell, who provided a broad definition of the term propaganda, writing it as: “the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influencing the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends and through psychological manipulations.”
The first large-scale and organized propagation of government propaganda was during the First World War in 1914. After the defeat of Germany, military officials were of the opinion that British propaganda had been instrumental in their defeat. Adolf Hitler also held this view, believing that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918. Historian Robert Ensor states that “Hitler...puts no limit on what can be done by propaganda; people will believe anything, provided they are told it often enough and emphatically enough, and that contradicters are either silenced or smothered in calumny.”
The following quote is often attributed to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Hitler himself wrote on the subject of the “Big Lie”, saying: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted, in the deeper strata of their emotional nature, than consciously or voluntarily; and thus, in the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie―since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters, but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.”
Tied to the Pied Piper of Propaganda
Normally, if you mention the words “Pied Piper”, then everyone would know what you are talking about! Sadly, we do not live in normal times and what you would normally expect of people, they are no longer able to deliver! Some might have a vague idea of the “Pied Piper”, some might even know the story of the “Pied Piper”, but most have little or no clue. So, to avoid talking about and building upon something that is not there―here is a brief account of the story without the frills, bells and whistles:
The people of Hamelin, Germany, find their town overrun with rats. They try all kinds of solutions, but nothing works. A A piper, from out of town, turn up and offers to do the job for a financial reward. The townspeople agree, and the piper successfully lures the rats to the tune of his pipe. He comes back for his reward―which the townspeople refuse to pay. He then plays a different tune on his pipe and now lures all the children―130 or so―to follow him out of town and they are never seen again.
The “Pied Piper” can be squeezed into many different roles and personalities―for both good and for evil. The luring of the rats to their death was for good―the luring of the children to their probable death was an evil. Likewise today, many things can be used for good or for evil―a gun can be used for protection or for murder; red wine is good for the heart, but it can also lead to drunkenness; food is good for our health, but food can also lead to gluttony and obesity; kind words can be used to comfort or to seduce; a person’s speech can be truthful or full of lies; etc.
Modern technology in general, and the internet in particular, has become the “Pied Piper” of today. The tune they play is mesmerizing, hypnotic, constant, attractive, alluring, seductive and irresistible. People are so enchanted with technology in general and the internet in particular, that they spend many hours daily “following” the paths that are offered. Social Media especially, has taken over the lives of so many people today. It would be no exaggeration to say that Social Media influences the lives of more Catholics than does the Church! What they read online affects, guides and controls them far more than what they hear from the pulpit or other religious sources. The same can be said for television, internet blogs and sites, and the mainstream media―they have all become “Pied Pipers”, not pipers or pipes for goodness and truth, but pipers or pipes for evil and lies.
As the saying goes: “He who pays the piper calls the tune!” meaning that whoever is financing, or footing the bill for something, gets to decide what is done and how it’s done. When you follow the threads of ownership and finance, then all the major networks, internet giants, media giants are all owned by a very small number of people. You can call them the “Elites”, or “Money-Men”, or whatever else you want to call them―the reality is the very few people control the vast majority of the world’s useful organizations, banks, corporations, news and media outlets―and, you can also add governments to that list of being controlled from behind the scenes. “He who pays the piper calls the tune!” Here we can again repeat what cannot be repeated often enough―the quote of the former (1981 to 1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, who told the newly elected President Reagan, in a cabinet and agency briefing meeting, that the goal was to fool the American public into believing false propaganda. His words were: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Pied Pipers of Prevarication
In case you did not know, “to prevaricate” means “to lie”. It can also mean skirting around the truth, being vague about the truth, or even delaying giving someone an answer, especially to avoid telling them the whole truth. The ultimate “Pied Piper” of Prevarication is Satan, whom Our Lord calls a “murderer”, a “liar” and “the father of lies” ― “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). Yet “Pied Piper” Satan is also the conductor of an incredibly large orchestra of subsidiary “pipers” of lies―this orchestra “pipes” the tunes that Satan wants to play, tunes that he know will mesmerize, hypnotize and enchant the vast majority of the world. The typical orchestra is divided into four groups of instruments―strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Satan’s orchestra is divided into various groups too―his fellow devils, humans who are Satanists, humans who sinners, and humans who are gullible and naïve.
There is a reason that polls consistently show that Americans are showing a surging distrust in the mainstream news media. The American mainstream news media the last several decades in a tailspin of mistrust thanks to its various and regular lies. Opinion polls, from many different sources, consistently rank the mainstream media among the least trusted institutions of American public life―which should present a bit of a problem for an industry whose motto is, essentially, “Trust us!”
As one website posts: “As a 38-year-old American, I cannot recall a time in my adult life when the mainstream media peddled such blatant lies on a daily basis. As an amateur historian, I am also unaware of any period in modern American history in which the so-called news media routinely and unapologetically perpetuated falsehoods on such a grand scale. Most Americans realize the mainstream media are biased. According to recent polls, Americans’ trust in mass media has hit all-time lows. Perhaps we should review a few of the many lies perpetuated by the mainstream media over just the past few years. Remember the years-long Russian collusion story that dominated the airwaves of CNN and MSNBC and the front pages of prominent newspapers such as The New York Times and USA Today? Fake news. Never happened. Remember the Covington Catholic High School story about a bunch of racist teenagers harassing an angelic Native American in Washington, DC a few years ago? Fake news. The opposite occurred. Remember the bold-faced lie about Brian Sicknick being bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher by a rabid mob of white supremacist insurrectionists? Fake news. Sicknick died of natural causes, due to two strokes, hours after the so-called insurrection. He was never hit with a fire extinguisher. One more. Remember the tall tale about Georgia’s recently passed “Jim Crow 2.0” voting law? Fake news, again. The Georgia voting law has absolutely nothing do with Jim Crow and racism, but everything to do with ensuring electoral integrity. I could go on and on, but the point is made. So, why has the mainstream media abandoned all pretenses of political neutrality in favor of pushing lies?”
If you have been living with your head buried in the sands on naivety or gullibility, then you may have missed the obvious lies or prevarication spewed forth by the mainstream media and politicians and medics on the issue of Plannedemic over the last 18 months. There is no time nor space in this article to address those lies―but if you need to be informed, then read more about it HERE. This has been more a Plannedemic of Prevarication or Lies than anything else! Our Lord could and will rightfully say to its perpetrators: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! (John 8:43-44). The truth is questioned, maligned, called into question―while lies are passed-off as being the truth. “There shall be a time, when they will … turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). “The wicked have told me fables!” (Psalm 118:85).
In the Old Testament we read of this prophecy concerning Our Lord: “He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth! He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and He shall not open His mouth” (Isaias 53:7). In its entire context, the prophecy about Our Lord’s Passion and Death reads as follows: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness! We have seen Him and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him! Despised, and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity―and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows―and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted! But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins―the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, everyone hath turned aside into his own way―and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth! He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and He shall not open his mouth!” (Isaias 53:2-7).
As regards this slaughter of lambs, Psalm 43 states: “For Thy sake, O Lord, we are killed all the day long! We are counted as sheep for the slaughter!” (Psalm 43:22). The Christian―from the time of Christ―has been targeted as a “sheep” for slaughter. “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:16-23; 24:9-10).
Our Version of Christianity
That kind of Christianity is “not our cup of tea” is it? We want the deluxe version of Christianity, don’t we? Little or no suffering; a comfortable life; if we really must carry a cross, then we want a fur-lined or padded cross of small proportions; a microwavable rather than a slow-cooker Rosary; fast-track Masses; express sermons; painless confessions; half-a-dropperful thanksgivings once a week after Communion; and above all, peace with the world and acceptance of its culture. That is the Christianity that most people seek and practice!
On top of all that, their favorite Scriptural quotes are: “God is charity!” (1 John 4:8) … “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47) … “I judge not any man!” (John 8:15) … “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18) … “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God … As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked!” (Ezechiel 18:23; 33:11).
The Imitation of Christ aptly sums it up when speaking of the cross in the lives of Christians: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Christ’s Version of Christianity
Our Lord rejects the above “soft” version or “deluxe” version of Christianity and bluntly states that suffering is an integral part of salvation and the only means of reaching Heaven: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
The Imitation of Christ echoes those words of Christ―the following passage ought be read out aloud weekly or monthly in every Catholic family, especially in these days of fur-lined, padded, mini pocket-sized plastic crosses:
“To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This Sign of the Cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
“Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory. Behold, in the cross is everything. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
“Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the Passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the same himself.
“The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
“The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
“To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
“Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
“When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
“No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings. If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12, “The Royal Road of the Cross”).
The Slaughter of Christ Brought Victory for Christ
God does think like we think―and we do not think like God thinks. God Himself tells us in Holy Scripture: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Even the Apostles―who were so close to Christ―had trouble in thinking His way and accepting His ways.
St. Peter is a prime example of this―first of all, when Our Lord tells the Apostles that He must go to Jerusalem and be arrested, tortured and killed, St. Peter is scandalized and protests that this will not happen: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee! This shall not happen unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:21-24).
Christ's Way of Doing Things Is Not Our Way of Doing Things
Then, when time came for Jesus’ prophecy to be fulfilled in the Garden of Gethsemane, as the Temple police and Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus and lead Him away, like a lamb to the slaughter, St. Peter again shows that Jesus’ way is not Peter’s way and that the thoughts of Peter are not the thoughts of Jesus. At the moment of the arrest, St. Peter draws his sword and―though outnumbered―seeks to fight his way out the situation and ‘rescue’ Jesus from arrest and death: “And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword, and, striking the servant of the high priest, cut-off his ear. Then Jesus said to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place! For all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [to defend and deliver Me] How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:51-54) … “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. Jesus therefore said to Peter: ‘Put up thy sword into the scabbard! The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’ Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him, and they led Him away” (John 18:10-13). “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer ye thus far!’ And when He had touched his ear, He healed him” (Luke 22:49-51). Truly Christ’s thoughts and ways were not the thoughts and ways of His Apostles―and even more so they are nor our thoughts and our ways! It is for us to align and conform ourselves with His thoughts and ways and not to seek to make Him align and conform Himself to our thoughts and our ways!
After Christ had been arrested, tried, tortured and slaughtered―we see the two disciples of Christ disconsolately walking away from the “scene of the crime” in Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Christ appears to them in an unrecognizable form and asks them why they are so sad and depressed: “And behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs [about 7 miles] from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art Thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom Jesus said: ‘What things?’ And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel! And now, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done! Yea and certain women, also of our company, affrighted us, who, before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’ Then Jesus said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him” (Luke 24:13-27). Once again Christ shows His followers that His thoughts and ways are not their thoughts and ways! It was His slaughter that brought victory over His enemies and Hell.
Poor old St. Peter was not off the hook as regards having contradictory ideas to those of Jesus. You may have heard or read of the St. Peter’s “Quo vadis Domine” encounter with Our Lord just outside Rome around 30 years after the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord. The Quo Vadis legend comes from the apocryphal book, The Acts of St. Peter, and is the story of St. Peter’s flight from Rome to escape from the Emperor Nero’s persecution of Roman Christians in the first century. As legend has it, St. Peter had been persuaded to flee from Rome at the outbreak of the persecution, on the argument that he, being “the rock” of the Church, should be somewhere safe for the benefit of the whole Church. Obeying the voice of his brethren, Peter took flight alone, saying: “Let none of you come away with me, but I will go away alone, having changed the fashion of my clothing.” Heading out of Rome on the road named Via Appia, Peter meets Jesus, where the Via Appia intersects with another road, the Via Ardeatina. Jesus is going in the opposite direction and is heading into the city of Rome to face the persecution. “Quo vadis, Domine?” asks Peter ― which means “Lord, where are You going?” Our Lord replies: “I am going to Rome to be crucified!” And Peter says to him: “Lord, are You being crucified again?” The Lord replies: “Yes, Peter, I am being crucified again!” and then He disappears. Peter again realizes, through Our Lord subtle hint, that he has once again made the wrong choice by seeking to flee Emperor Nero’s persecution. At which point Peter turns back and re-enters Rome to embrace martyrdom. At that very spot where Peter encountered Our Lord, there is now a church (St. Mary in Palmis) familiarly known as Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis. The end of the story, of course, is the end of Peter. He turns around and heads back towards Vatican Hill and martyrdom. This is the last time he would need to be redirected and corrected by Our Lord. Peter gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, where he is martyred by being crucified upside-down.
Christianity is Turned Upside Down and Crucified
The longest running and growing persecution in the history of the world is the persecution of Christians. According to the International Society for Human Rights, Christians are estimated to make up 80% of those who are persecuted for their religion. Since the time of Christ, when His own people―brethren in both blood and religion ― persecuted and crucified Him, there has been a constant stream of persecution that has grown into raging river of persecution in our present day. You may not know this, but according to David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, two of the world’s leading religious demographers, the number of Christian martyrs in the 20th century beats the combined total of Christian martyrs in all the previous 19 centuries COMBINED TOGETHER! The average church-going Christian is not likely to know that of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ over the centuries, 45.5 million did so in the last century. The 21st century is predicted to beat those 20th century numbers!
According to the Pew Forum, between 2006 and 2010, Christians faced some form of discrimination, either de jure or de facto, in a staggering total of 139 nations―which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed each year for the past decade. That works out to 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their Faith.
Those statistics totally support the prophecies made by Our Lady for our current day and age: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God …
“How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... Blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph! … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette).
The Dark Night of the 21st Century
Our Lady of Good Success warned that we “will suffer during this dark night” ― and we can surely say that the “dark night” has already begun. In the night it is hard to see the reality of things as all things are shrouded in darkness―in our current “dark night” it is hard to make out the reality of things, or the truth of things, since everything is shrouded in the darkness of lies and propaganda. You can clearly call our age “The Age of Lies” since never before has the “Father of Lies”―Satan himself―ruled so powerfully as he does today through modern technology and modern media. Without a doubt Our Lord could to the modern mainstream media the exact same words that He said to the Scribes and Pharisees:
“I am the Truth! … For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, hears My voice! … He that sent Me is true, and the things I have heard from Him, these same things I speak in the world … If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” (John 14:6; 18:37; 8:26; 8:42-47).
The fact that these words are just applicable to the modern mainstream media and most politicians (the modern day Scribes and Pharisees) is borne out by the testimony of the former (1981 to 1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, who told the newly elected President Reagan, in a cabinet and agency briefing meeting, that the goal was to fool the American public into believing false propaganda. His words were: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― was present at that meeting, and says: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote―[“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”], which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
Like Lambs Led to the Slaughter Through Lies and Propaganda
They say “You are what you eat!” What does that make those people who constantly swallow the never-ending stew of lies that they are being fed by today’s media and politicians? A leading American political scientist and communications theorist, Harold Dwight Lasswell, who provided a broad definition of the term propaganda, writing it as: “the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influencing the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends and through psychological manipulations.”
The first large-scale and organized propagation of government propaganda was during the First World War in 1914. After the defeat of Germany, military officials were of the opinion that British propaganda had been instrumental in their defeat. Adolf Hitler also held this view, believing that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918. Historian Robert Ensor states that “Hitler...puts no limit on what can be done by propaganda; people will believe anything, provided they are told it often enough and emphatically enough, and that contradicters are either silenced or smothered in calumny.”
The following quote is often attributed to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Hitler himself wrote on the subject of the “Big Lie”, saying: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted, in the deeper strata of their emotional nature, than consciously or voluntarily; and thus, in the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie―since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters, but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.”
Tied to the Pied Piper of Propaganda
Normally, if you mention the words “Pied Piper”, then everyone would know what you are talking about! Sadly, we do not live in normal times and what you would normally expect of people, they are no longer able to deliver! Some might have a vague idea of the “Pied Piper”, some might even know the story of the “Pied Piper”, but most have little or no clue. So, to avoid talking about and building upon something that is not there―here is a brief account of the story without the frills, bells and whistles:
The people of Hamelin, Germany, find their town overrun with rats. They try all kinds of solutions, but nothing works. A A piper, from out of town, turn up and offers to do the job for a financial reward. The townspeople agree, and the piper successfully lures the rats to the tune of his pipe. He comes back for his reward―which the townspeople refuse to pay. He then plays a different tune on his pipe and now lures all the children―130 or so―to follow him out of town and they are never seen again.
The “Pied Piper” can be squeezed into many different roles and personalities―for both good and for evil. The luring of the rats to their death was for good―the luring of the children to their probable death was an evil. Likewise today, many things can be used for good or for evil―a gun can be used for protection or for murder; red wine is good for the heart, but it can also lead to drunkenness; food is good for our health, but food can also lead to gluttony and obesity; kind words can be used to comfort or to seduce; a person’s speech can be truthful or full of lies; etc.
Modern technology in general, and the internet in particular, has become the “Pied Piper” of today. The tune they play is mesmerizing, hypnotic, constant, attractive, alluring, seductive and irresistible. People are so enchanted with technology in general and the internet in particular, that they spend many hours daily “following” the paths that are offered. Social Media especially, has taken over the lives of so many people today. It would be no exaggeration to say that Social Media influences the lives of more Catholics than does the Church! What they read online affects, guides and controls them far more than what they hear from the pulpit or other religious sources. The same can be said for television, internet blogs and sites, and the mainstream media―they have all become “Pied Pipers”, not pipers or pipes for goodness and truth, but pipers or pipes for evil and lies.
As the saying goes: “He who pays the piper calls the tune!” meaning that whoever is financing, or footing the bill for something, gets to decide what is done and how it’s done. When you follow the threads of ownership and finance, then all the major networks, internet giants, media giants are all owned by a very small number of people. You can call them the “Elites”, or “Money-Men”, or whatever else you want to call them―the reality is the very few people control the vast majority of the world’s useful organizations, banks, corporations, news and media outlets―and, you can also add governments to that list of being controlled from behind the scenes. “He who pays the piper calls the tune!” Here we can again repeat what cannot be repeated often enough―the quote of the former (1981 to 1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, who told the newly elected President Reagan, in a cabinet and agency briefing meeting, that the goal was to fool the American public into believing false propaganda. His words were: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Pied Pipers of Prevarication
In case you did not know, “to prevaricate” means “to lie”. It can also mean skirting around the truth, being vague about the truth, or even delaying giving someone an answer, especially to avoid telling them the whole truth. The ultimate “Pied Piper” of Prevarication is Satan, whom Our Lord calls a “murderer”, a “liar” and “the father of lies” ― “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). Yet “Pied Piper” Satan is also the conductor of an incredibly large orchestra of subsidiary “pipers” of lies―this orchestra “pipes” the tunes that Satan wants to play, tunes that he know will mesmerize, hypnotize and enchant the vast majority of the world. The typical orchestra is divided into four groups of instruments―strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Satan’s orchestra is divided into various groups too―his fellow devils, humans who are Satanists, humans who sinners, and humans who are gullible and naïve.
There is a reason that polls consistently show that Americans are showing a surging distrust in the mainstream news media. The American mainstream news media the last several decades in a tailspin of mistrust thanks to its various and regular lies. Opinion polls, from many different sources, consistently rank the mainstream media among the least trusted institutions of American public life―which should present a bit of a problem for an industry whose motto is, essentially, “Trust us!”
As one website posts: “As a 38-year-old American, I cannot recall a time in my adult life when the mainstream media peddled such blatant lies on a daily basis. As an amateur historian, I am also unaware of any period in modern American history in which the so-called news media routinely and unapologetically perpetuated falsehoods on such a grand scale. Most Americans realize the mainstream media are biased. According to recent polls, Americans’ trust in mass media has hit all-time lows. Perhaps we should review a few of the many lies perpetuated by the mainstream media over just the past few years. Remember the years-long Russian collusion story that dominated the airwaves of CNN and MSNBC and the front pages of prominent newspapers such as The New York Times and USA Today? Fake news. Never happened. Remember the Covington Catholic High School story about a bunch of racist teenagers harassing an angelic Native American in Washington, DC a few years ago? Fake news. The opposite occurred. Remember the bold-faced lie about Brian Sicknick being bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher by a rabid mob of white supremacist insurrectionists? Fake news. Sicknick died of natural causes, due to two strokes, hours after the so-called insurrection. He was never hit with a fire extinguisher. One more. Remember the tall tale about Georgia’s recently passed “Jim Crow 2.0” voting law? Fake news, again. The Georgia voting law has absolutely nothing do with Jim Crow and racism, but everything to do with ensuring electoral integrity. I could go on and on, but the point is made. So, why has the mainstream media abandoned all pretenses of political neutrality in favor of pushing lies?”
If you have been living with your head buried in the sands on naivety or gullibility, then you may have missed the obvious lies or prevarication spewed forth by the mainstream media and politicians and medics on the issue of Plannedemic over the last 18 months. There is no time nor space in this article to address those lies―but if you need to be informed, then read more about it HERE. This has been more a Plannedemic of Prevarication or Lies than anything else! Our Lord could and will rightfully say to its perpetrators: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! (John 8:43-44). The truth is questioned, maligned, called into question―while lies are passed-off as being the truth. “There shall be a time, when they will … turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). “The wicked have told me fables!” (Psalm 118:85).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday July 9th & Saturday July 10th
Article 6
Bishops and Priests No Longer Bark!
Friday July 9th & Saturday July 10th
Article 6
Bishops and Priests No Longer Bark!
Shepherds Are As Old As Time!
Heaven has always given us shepherds to shepherd the Chosen People of old (Israelites) and the new Chosen People (Catholics) in this world. Sheep and shepherds have been the theme from the beginning of time. Abel was a shepherd until he was murdered by Cain. Many other biblical figures were shepherds―among them the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The sons of Jacob, who formed the twelve tribes of Israel, were also shepherds (see Genesis 46:31-47:12). Lot and Laban were shepherds. The prophet Moses was a shepherd of sheep before he became shepherd of millions of Israelites, leading them to the Promised Land. The first two kings whom God chose to rule over the Israelites―King Saul and King David―were both shepherds. The Old Testament prophets Zacharias and Amos were also shepherds.
Christ the Good Shepherd
Our Lord even said of Himself: “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees and the wolf catches, and scatters the sheep! And the hireling flees, because he is a hireling―and he does not care for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me―and I lay down My life for my sheep!” (John 10:11-15).
God the Shepherd
Yet it is not just with the time of Our Lord that God represents Himself as a shepherd―we already see numerous references in the Old Testament of God portraying Himself as a shepherd. Many of the prophets also spoke of God as a shepherd who feeds, guides and protects his flock: “Behold the Lord God shall come with strength … He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young” (Isaias 40:10-11). “Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep!” (Psalm 79:1). “He is the Lord our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand!” (Psalm 94:7). “We Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture, will give thanks to Thee for ever!” (Psalm 78:13). God likens His Chosen People to sheep and likens Himself to a shepherd: “My sheep were scattered … They became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered … My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill, and my flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth, and there was none that sought them … My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field … I will deliver my flock … I myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visits his flock, so will I visit my sheep and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered … I will feed them in the mountains … I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains … There shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains … I will feed my sheep!” (Ezechiel 34:5-15). “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young” (Isaias 40:11).
Subsidiary Shepherds or Sub-contracted Shepherds
God―whether as the Father, or Son, or Holy Ghost―is the Good Shepherd, yet He has subcontracted subsidiary shepherds, employed other shepherds to help in His shepherding work (not that God needs help, but He allows us to ‘help’ Him just as father might allow his 5 year old son to help fix the car by handing him this or that tool, and other odd-jobs). To help shepherd the human race in general, or the Chosen People of old (Israelites) and today’s Chosen People (Catholics) in particular, God has appointed shepherds: “I will give you pastors according to My own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine!” (Jeremias 3:15). “Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God” (Acts 20:28) ... “Jesus said to Simon Peter: ‘Feed my lambs! … Feed my sheep!’” (John 21:15-17) … “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it … And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory!” (1 Peter 5:2-4). Our Lord commands St. Peter to be the chief pastor or shepherd of Christ’s flock: “I say to thee that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church! … And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19) … “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20) … “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16).
It is not just bishops and priests that can be categorized as being pastors or shepherds, but also parents of a family, as well as anyone in legitimate authority over other persons―such as teachers, employers, etc. These shepherds―appointed by the Providence of God―should above all teach and lead their flocks to love and serve God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:15-16). “Fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, so that thy days may be prolonged … These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:2-7).
Like shepherds, they should “be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks” (Proverbs 27:23). “Be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger! For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God!” (James 1:19-20). “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). “He that spares the rod hates his son―but he that loveth him, will correct him in good time” (Proverbs 13:24). As for the ‘sheep’, God says: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Honor thy father and thy mother, so that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon Earth” (Ephesians 6:1-3).
St. Paul speaks of “the church that is in their house” when writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:19). He uses the same term when writing to the Romans: “The church which is in their house” (Romans 16:5). Likewise when writing to the Colossians: “the church that is in his house” (Colossians 4:15). Being baptized in Christ does not mean being a Christian only on Sundays, the divine life of grace must penetrate the home and all that we do: “All whatsoever you do― in word or in work―do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17)―which therefore means that the family household takes on an ecclesial dimension. The phrase “domestic church”, or some equivalent term, was used by many Church Fathers, especially St. Augustine of Hippo. He preached that fathers of families, like bishops and clergy, have an ecclesial role, being responsible for the care of the souls under them. St. John Chrysostom does not use the term “domestic church” but does call the home a “little church.” In a commentary on Genesis, St. John Chrysostom encourages parents to “make your home a church in order to put the devil to flight” and to work towards the conformation of the family to Christ. Unlike St. Augustine―who thought that the domestic church flows from Baptism―St. John Chrysostom stresses the effort parents need to take to turn their homes into little churches. The practical recommendations the Church Fathers offered―on how to make the home a little church―are still relevant and pertinent today, especially their insistence on reading Scripture as a family. Sadly, the understanding of the family as a “little church” that is being called to holiness, fell by the wayside after the 300s, with consecrated religious life with its monasteries and convents increasingly becoming the primary model for a “little church” that leads to holiness.
Learning to Shepherd from Shepherds and Sheep
If God thought it so important to incorporate shepherds and sheep into His teaching, then we should take a closer look and shepherds and sheep to see why God would have chosen this path. There is much for us to learn from the subject―whether we be bishops, priests, religious, fathers, mothers, teachers or in any other role of authority that has to take care of and guide those under us.
► DAY-TO-DAY CARE OF THE FLOCK ― A shepherd’s primary responsibility is the safety and welfare of the flock. Some flocks may include as many as 1,000 sheep. A shepherd provides the basics; food, water, shelter, and protection. He knows what food is best for his flock in every season and where to find it. The shepherd will graze the animals, herding them to areas of good forage, and keeping a watchful eye out for poisonous plants. These days, shepherds often live in trailers or other mobile quarters. As the sheep eat all the forage in an area, the shepherd will move both the sheep and his living quarters to fresh range. In most cases, the shepherd and his dogs will move the sheep out to fresh grazing each day and bring them back to bed down in the same area each night.
► CARING FOR HIS FLOCK ― The flock is the primary focus of the shepherd. He is responsible for their physical well-being. So he sets the pace, aware of the particular needs of each sheep. There are the ewes who are heavy with carrying new life. Then there are the new born lambs who are inexperienced and frisky. The young rams can be stubborn and territorial (always pushing). The aged and sickly sheep needing extra attention. Finally, the wayward sheep who oppose everything (even their own best interests). Shepherds study the breed. He learns the strengths, weaknesses, and personality of each one. Whether his flock is only few in number or in the thousands, the shepherd’s responsibilities never let up. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, year in and year out; the shepherd cares and shares the life of the sheep. It is a lonely occupation. He must be gentle, but he must also be firm, confident, resourceful, and decisive.
► LEADING AND GUIDING THE FLOCK ― Since sheep tend to overgraze, the shepherd moves them on to fresh pastures. To do this, he may have to lead them through many potential dangers―enemies from within (pests) and without (marauders), hazards wind and weather, and many obstacles such mountains and gorges. Here his experience is a prime factor. He has been this way before and is not surprised by danger. He knows what to do and how to proceed in dangerous situations.
► PROTECTING FROM PREDATORS ― The shepherd trains the flock to know and follow his voice. This is his first line of defense. To wayward sheep, he administers discipline and takes preventative measures to correct fatal tendencies. To protect the sheep under his care, a shepherd may use guard dogs or other guard animals. Sheep predators include coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, bears and domestic dogs. Domestic dogs are more of a threat than many larger predators, because they may chase sheep to exhaustion and cause the ewes to abort their lambs. In addition to using guard animals, these days many shepherds carry rifles to shoot predators that are attacking the sheep. Cell phones and radios may also be used to call for assistance when necessary.
► PROTECTING HEALTH ― Like other animals, sheep are susceptible to diseases, and they must also be monitored during the lambing process. They may also be bothered by insects, some of which carry disease. Shepherds are often responsible for minor injuries or basic medical treatment, especially since they work in isolated areas far from veterinary services. In addition, shepherds may administer worming medication or vaccines and apply insecticides. During lambing season, the shepherd will make frequent checks on the ewes at all hours of the day and night, and may assist the ewe if birthing problems occur. Shepherds may also dock, or cut off, the tails of young lambs.
► SHEARING THE FLOCK ― Unlike other animals that shed their hair in the spring, many breeds of sheep must be shorn – have their fleece cut off with shears or clippers. This task may be assigned to sheepshearers, whose primary occupation is shearing, or it may be the responsibility of the shepherd. Sheep may be sheared in the open or in holding pens. An experienced shepherd is expected to shear up to 125 ewes a day without nicking or cutting the skin, and to remove the fleece intact.
Flocks Like Families and Parishes
A flock of sheep can contain as few as two sheep up to many thousands of sheep―just like a spiritual flock can range from a family with two children to a parish of thousands of parishioners. In New Zealand shepherds are simply called farmers. New Zealand has an estimated 27 million sheep and around 4,800 people working on sheep farms. That works out to around 5,600 sheep per worker, on average. A sheep farmer with up to about 3,000 sheep will look after them on his own. Once you get above this number they will have assistant shepherd’s working for them―either part time or full time. Large farms with over 10,000 sheep will probably have 3 or 4 shepherds. So the rough average will be about 3,000 sheep per shepherd.
France customarily has shepherds caring for far fewer sheep. As one modern day shepherd in France writes: “If you want to know how many sheep one person can be in charge of for their care all year round, it depends on how the sheep are kept and what installations are available. Here in France sheep farms are labor intensive and one person can usually manage around 400 sheep. In the United Kingdom sheep are often outside all year long, even for lambing, and the ewes often have only one lamb each. In farms like that, one person can care for around 1000 sheep, often with a bit of help over lambing though. If you wonder how many sheep one shepherd can oversee while they are grazing, for example up in the mountains, this of course depends on the landscape but 1000 is common. If you want to know how many sheep one shepherd can move alone, it depends more on how many (good) dogs you have than how many persons. I move my different flocks weekly during the summer season, and unless I have to take them through a big city, I always manage on my own. I can move a few hundred adult ewes with one dog, and with more sheep, young lambs or more complicated routes, I use up to 6 dogs.”
Another shepherd, an American in Virginia, writes about the need and benefits of good sheep dogs: “Many people keep dogs as pets, and the adage ― ‘man’s best friend’ ― is shared by almost all. However, there is something quite different when your dog is a working dog. We use border collies to assist us with all of our sheep chores. As I write this, my #1 dog, now retired, Jake, is at my feet. My most loyal and loving friend. But we are also partners. Jake has done the work of four farm hands. Together we could move a thousand sheep from our farm up the road to our mountain pasture. My dog, Jake, has brought new mothers, ever so protective of their new born lambs, into the barn from the pasture, often having to go nose-to-nose with the ornery ewe. He has rounded up cattle 40 times his size. He was worked in the heat of the summer and in the bitter cold of winter nights. This is not a hobby for my dogs or for me. This is a partnership where a job must get done. We share in the misery of bad weather, bad sheep and bad circumstance. But we end each day with a shared appreciation for a job well done. Pets are wonderful. Working dogs are one of nature’s true wonders and my life has been blessed with the most loyal of friends and working partners. My dogs have been responsible for my livelihood, my contentment in farming and for my joy to have them at my side day and night.”
Shepherds and Dogs―Bishops and Priests
As stated above, to care for a large flock of sheep, a shepherd needs one or more sheepdogs. Likewise, for a bishop to shepherd his diocese, he needs the help of priests. Only the bishop has the fullness of the priesthood―priests, as it says in their ordination, are collaborators of the bishop―meaning that they labor with bishop, under his guidance, in caring for the flock of sheep (the Catholics in the diocese) that have been entrusted by the Church to the bishop. Thus, in a sense, they are the “sheepdogs” of the “shepherd”. A sheepdog is useless if he fails to obey the commands of the shepherd. The clergy should not imagine themselves as independent shepherds, but as sheepdogs working under the shepherd. Like the sheep, sheepdogs know the sound of the shepherd’s voice. They work tirelessly at the service of the shepherd―you could say that they have to “work like dogs”! Perhaps that is where we get the expression that calls the priest’s white collar by the name “dog-collar”! Sheepdogs do their best to keep the sometimes wandering sheep moving together, in the direction the shepherd intends. They use whatever means necessary, frantically running and barking and nipping at the feet of the sheep to encourage, motivate, and guide. Sheepdogs attempt to continuously remind the sheep of the will of the shepherd. And if one sheep wanders, the sheepdog will temporarily divert attention from the others to encourage the stray back into the flock. When necessary, the sheepdog will face the inevitable wolves that threaten the flock, even if it means laying down its life. The sheepdog serves the shepherd, but not out of blind obedience. Because every sheep is important and valuable to the shepherd, every sheep is important to the sheepdog. Ideally, the shepherd and sheepdog are of one mind and one will―having the same goals, which are the sanctification and salvation of souls.
The “sheepdog-priest” or “sheepdog-parent” or “sheepdog-teacher” might run and bark and nip at your feet―but it should be done, and usually is done, with your spiritual safety and salvation in mind. They are called to recognize and respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow. They are called to orient their lives in the direction and will of the Good Shepherd, and in service to the flock of the shepherd. They should love and care for each and every sheep, understanding that the shepherd’s flock extends far beyond the people and family of this community. They are called to resist following false shepherds. These pretenders may be people, but they might also be power, money, self-promotion, or other worldly temptations. They are called to face the wolves of the world and proclaim God’s truth and His love and wishes for His flock. They are called to lay down their lives as the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the flock. This does not necessarily mean facing bodily harm or death. They are called to lay down the life that they might be tempted to live where all they think and focus on is themselves.
Gone to the Dogs!
Regardless of whether we paint priests, parents, teachers and employers as shepherds or sheepdogs, the reality is that true shepherding “has gone to the dogs”―a phrase which means that things have deteriorated, are ruined, have gone badly wrong and have lost all the good things it once possessed. We are currently experiencing―and have been experiencing for a long time now―a shepherding crisis in both quantity and quality. There are less and less shepherds (or sheepdogs) available to care for the flock of Christ in both Church and in the home.
Imagine being in a gigantic supermarket, with a cartload of items, and going to the checkout, only to discover that out of 20 checkout points, only 1 is operating! The line of people that is waiting to checkout is over 30 carts long! You think to yourself: “What the heck is going on? Where are all the checkout assistants?”
An average of 23 students fill the typical American primary school classroom. Many people remember being in a class of 40 students! The ideal teacher-student ratio is said to be at around 1 teacher to 10 or 12 students—I guess Our Lord was right on the button with Twelve Apostles! Yet imagine the drop in level of education you will get when the teacher has to move from teaching 10 students per class to 40 students per class!
Imagine having twice or three times the number of chores to do daily—and being told that they MUST be done! Do you think they will be done very well? No way! Just to fit them all in to your schedule, you would have to race through them at speed, permitting little time to do things well—much like speeding through prayers which results in them having been said badly.
The same is true for the priesthood and other religious vocations. The shepherd will do a better job looking after a small flock than if he has four or five times the number of sheep to shepherd. This brings us to drastic fall in the number of ‘shepherds’ in the Church. Sometimes a picture says a thousand words—an infographic or stat chart is not too far behind. Look at those below—they clearly show the shepherding crisis that we have gradually fallen into. The sad thing is—not many people care—but then, as a result of the fall in numbers, not many people are cared for well!
Heaven has always given us shepherds to shepherd the Chosen People of old (Israelites) and the new Chosen People (Catholics) in this world. Sheep and shepherds have been the theme from the beginning of time. Abel was a shepherd until he was murdered by Cain. Many other biblical figures were shepherds―among them the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The sons of Jacob, who formed the twelve tribes of Israel, were also shepherds (see Genesis 46:31-47:12). Lot and Laban were shepherds. The prophet Moses was a shepherd of sheep before he became shepherd of millions of Israelites, leading them to the Promised Land. The first two kings whom God chose to rule over the Israelites―King Saul and King David―were both shepherds. The Old Testament prophets Zacharias and Amos were also shepherds.
Christ the Good Shepherd
Our Lord even said of Himself: “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees and the wolf catches, and scatters the sheep! And the hireling flees, because he is a hireling―and he does not care for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me―and I lay down My life for my sheep!” (John 10:11-15).
God the Shepherd
Yet it is not just with the time of Our Lord that God represents Himself as a shepherd―we already see numerous references in the Old Testament of God portraying Himself as a shepherd. Many of the prophets also spoke of God as a shepherd who feeds, guides and protects his flock: “Behold the Lord God shall come with strength … He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young” (Isaias 40:10-11). “Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep!” (Psalm 79:1). “He is the Lord our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand!” (Psalm 94:7). “We Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture, will give thanks to Thee for ever!” (Psalm 78:13). God likens His Chosen People to sheep and likens Himself to a shepherd: “My sheep were scattered … They became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered … My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill, and my flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth, and there was none that sought them … My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field … I will deliver my flock … I myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visits his flock, so will I visit my sheep and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered … I will feed them in the mountains … I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains … There shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains … I will feed my sheep!” (Ezechiel 34:5-15). “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young” (Isaias 40:11).
Subsidiary Shepherds or Sub-contracted Shepherds
God―whether as the Father, or Son, or Holy Ghost―is the Good Shepherd, yet He has subcontracted subsidiary shepherds, employed other shepherds to help in His shepherding work (not that God needs help, but He allows us to ‘help’ Him just as father might allow his 5 year old son to help fix the car by handing him this or that tool, and other odd-jobs). To help shepherd the human race in general, or the Chosen People of old (Israelites) and today’s Chosen People (Catholics) in particular, God has appointed shepherds: “I will give you pastors according to My own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine!” (Jeremias 3:15). “Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God” (Acts 20:28) ... “Jesus said to Simon Peter: ‘Feed my lambs! … Feed my sheep!’” (John 21:15-17) … “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it … And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory!” (1 Peter 5:2-4). Our Lord commands St. Peter to be the chief pastor or shepherd of Christ’s flock: “I say to thee that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church! … And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19) … “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20) … “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16).
It is not just bishops and priests that can be categorized as being pastors or shepherds, but also parents of a family, as well as anyone in legitimate authority over other persons―such as teachers, employers, etc. These shepherds―appointed by the Providence of God―should above all teach and lead their flocks to love and serve God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:15-16). “Fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, so that thy days may be prolonged … These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:2-7).
Like shepherds, they should “be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks” (Proverbs 27:23). “Be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger! For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God!” (James 1:19-20). “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). “He that spares the rod hates his son―but he that loveth him, will correct him in good time” (Proverbs 13:24). As for the ‘sheep’, God says: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Honor thy father and thy mother, so that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon Earth” (Ephesians 6:1-3).
St. Paul speaks of “the church that is in their house” when writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:19). He uses the same term when writing to the Romans: “The church which is in their house” (Romans 16:5). Likewise when writing to the Colossians: “the church that is in his house” (Colossians 4:15). Being baptized in Christ does not mean being a Christian only on Sundays, the divine life of grace must penetrate the home and all that we do: “All whatsoever you do― in word or in work―do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17)―which therefore means that the family household takes on an ecclesial dimension. The phrase “domestic church”, or some equivalent term, was used by many Church Fathers, especially St. Augustine of Hippo. He preached that fathers of families, like bishops and clergy, have an ecclesial role, being responsible for the care of the souls under them. St. John Chrysostom does not use the term “domestic church” but does call the home a “little church.” In a commentary on Genesis, St. John Chrysostom encourages parents to “make your home a church in order to put the devil to flight” and to work towards the conformation of the family to Christ. Unlike St. Augustine―who thought that the domestic church flows from Baptism―St. John Chrysostom stresses the effort parents need to take to turn their homes into little churches. The practical recommendations the Church Fathers offered―on how to make the home a little church―are still relevant and pertinent today, especially their insistence on reading Scripture as a family. Sadly, the understanding of the family as a “little church” that is being called to holiness, fell by the wayside after the 300s, with consecrated religious life with its monasteries and convents increasingly becoming the primary model for a “little church” that leads to holiness.
Learning to Shepherd from Shepherds and Sheep
If God thought it so important to incorporate shepherds and sheep into His teaching, then we should take a closer look and shepherds and sheep to see why God would have chosen this path. There is much for us to learn from the subject―whether we be bishops, priests, religious, fathers, mothers, teachers or in any other role of authority that has to take care of and guide those under us.
► DAY-TO-DAY CARE OF THE FLOCK ― A shepherd’s primary responsibility is the safety and welfare of the flock. Some flocks may include as many as 1,000 sheep. A shepherd provides the basics; food, water, shelter, and protection. He knows what food is best for his flock in every season and where to find it. The shepherd will graze the animals, herding them to areas of good forage, and keeping a watchful eye out for poisonous plants. These days, shepherds often live in trailers or other mobile quarters. As the sheep eat all the forage in an area, the shepherd will move both the sheep and his living quarters to fresh range. In most cases, the shepherd and his dogs will move the sheep out to fresh grazing each day and bring them back to bed down in the same area each night.
► CARING FOR HIS FLOCK ― The flock is the primary focus of the shepherd. He is responsible for their physical well-being. So he sets the pace, aware of the particular needs of each sheep. There are the ewes who are heavy with carrying new life. Then there are the new born lambs who are inexperienced and frisky. The young rams can be stubborn and territorial (always pushing). The aged and sickly sheep needing extra attention. Finally, the wayward sheep who oppose everything (even their own best interests). Shepherds study the breed. He learns the strengths, weaknesses, and personality of each one. Whether his flock is only few in number or in the thousands, the shepherd’s responsibilities never let up. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, year in and year out; the shepherd cares and shares the life of the sheep. It is a lonely occupation. He must be gentle, but he must also be firm, confident, resourceful, and decisive.
► LEADING AND GUIDING THE FLOCK ― Since sheep tend to overgraze, the shepherd moves them on to fresh pastures. To do this, he may have to lead them through many potential dangers―enemies from within (pests) and without (marauders), hazards wind and weather, and many obstacles such mountains and gorges. Here his experience is a prime factor. He has been this way before and is not surprised by danger. He knows what to do and how to proceed in dangerous situations.
► PROTECTING FROM PREDATORS ― The shepherd trains the flock to know and follow his voice. This is his first line of defense. To wayward sheep, he administers discipline and takes preventative measures to correct fatal tendencies. To protect the sheep under his care, a shepherd may use guard dogs or other guard animals. Sheep predators include coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, bears and domestic dogs. Domestic dogs are more of a threat than many larger predators, because they may chase sheep to exhaustion and cause the ewes to abort their lambs. In addition to using guard animals, these days many shepherds carry rifles to shoot predators that are attacking the sheep. Cell phones and radios may also be used to call for assistance when necessary.
► PROTECTING HEALTH ― Like other animals, sheep are susceptible to diseases, and they must also be monitored during the lambing process. They may also be bothered by insects, some of which carry disease. Shepherds are often responsible for minor injuries or basic medical treatment, especially since they work in isolated areas far from veterinary services. In addition, shepherds may administer worming medication or vaccines and apply insecticides. During lambing season, the shepherd will make frequent checks on the ewes at all hours of the day and night, and may assist the ewe if birthing problems occur. Shepherds may also dock, or cut off, the tails of young lambs.
► SHEARING THE FLOCK ― Unlike other animals that shed their hair in the spring, many breeds of sheep must be shorn – have their fleece cut off with shears or clippers. This task may be assigned to sheepshearers, whose primary occupation is shearing, or it may be the responsibility of the shepherd. Sheep may be sheared in the open or in holding pens. An experienced shepherd is expected to shear up to 125 ewes a day without nicking or cutting the skin, and to remove the fleece intact.
Flocks Like Families and Parishes
A flock of sheep can contain as few as two sheep up to many thousands of sheep―just like a spiritual flock can range from a family with two children to a parish of thousands of parishioners. In New Zealand shepherds are simply called farmers. New Zealand has an estimated 27 million sheep and around 4,800 people working on sheep farms. That works out to around 5,600 sheep per worker, on average. A sheep farmer with up to about 3,000 sheep will look after them on his own. Once you get above this number they will have assistant shepherd’s working for them―either part time or full time. Large farms with over 10,000 sheep will probably have 3 or 4 shepherds. So the rough average will be about 3,000 sheep per shepherd.
France customarily has shepherds caring for far fewer sheep. As one modern day shepherd in France writes: “If you want to know how many sheep one person can be in charge of for their care all year round, it depends on how the sheep are kept and what installations are available. Here in France sheep farms are labor intensive and one person can usually manage around 400 sheep. In the United Kingdom sheep are often outside all year long, even for lambing, and the ewes often have only one lamb each. In farms like that, one person can care for around 1000 sheep, often with a bit of help over lambing though. If you wonder how many sheep one shepherd can oversee while they are grazing, for example up in the mountains, this of course depends on the landscape but 1000 is common. If you want to know how many sheep one shepherd can move alone, it depends more on how many (good) dogs you have than how many persons. I move my different flocks weekly during the summer season, and unless I have to take them through a big city, I always manage on my own. I can move a few hundred adult ewes with one dog, and with more sheep, young lambs or more complicated routes, I use up to 6 dogs.”
Another shepherd, an American in Virginia, writes about the need and benefits of good sheep dogs: “Many people keep dogs as pets, and the adage ― ‘man’s best friend’ ― is shared by almost all. However, there is something quite different when your dog is a working dog. We use border collies to assist us with all of our sheep chores. As I write this, my #1 dog, now retired, Jake, is at my feet. My most loyal and loving friend. But we are also partners. Jake has done the work of four farm hands. Together we could move a thousand sheep from our farm up the road to our mountain pasture. My dog, Jake, has brought new mothers, ever so protective of their new born lambs, into the barn from the pasture, often having to go nose-to-nose with the ornery ewe. He has rounded up cattle 40 times his size. He was worked in the heat of the summer and in the bitter cold of winter nights. This is not a hobby for my dogs or for me. This is a partnership where a job must get done. We share in the misery of bad weather, bad sheep and bad circumstance. But we end each day with a shared appreciation for a job well done. Pets are wonderful. Working dogs are one of nature’s true wonders and my life has been blessed with the most loyal of friends and working partners. My dogs have been responsible for my livelihood, my contentment in farming and for my joy to have them at my side day and night.”
Shepherds and Dogs―Bishops and Priests
As stated above, to care for a large flock of sheep, a shepherd needs one or more sheepdogs. Likewise, for a bishop to shepherd his diocese, he needs the help of priests. Only the bishop has the fullness of the priesthood―priests, as it says in their ordination, are collaborators of the bishop―meaning that they labor with bishop, under his guidance, in caring for the flock of sheep (the Catholics in the diocese) that have been entrusted by the Church to the bishop. Thus, in a sense, they are the “sheepdogs” of the “shepherd”. A sheepdog is useless if he fails to obey the commands of the shepherd. The clergy should not imagine themselves as independent shepherds, but as sheepdogs working under the shepherd. Like the sheep, sheepdogs know the sound of the shepherd’s voice. They work tirelessly at the service of the shepherd―you could say that they have to “work like dogs”! Perhaps that is where we get the expression that calls the priest’s white collar by the name “dog-collar”! Sheepdogs do their best to keep the sometimes wandering sheep moving together, in the direction the shepherd intends. They use whatever means necessary, frantically running and barking and nipping at the feet of the sheep to encourage, motivate, and guide. Sheepdogs attempt to continuously remind the sheep of the will of the shepherd. And if one sheep wanders, the sheepdog will temporarily divert attention from the others to encourage the stray back into the flock. When necessary, the sheepdog will face the inevitable wolves that threaten the flock, even if it means laying down its life. The sheepdog serves the shepherd, but not out of blind obedience. Because every sheep is important and valuable to the shepherd, every sheep is important to the sheepdog. Ideally, the shepherd and sheepdog are of one mind and one will―having the same goals, which are the sanctification and salvation of souls.
The “sheepdog-priest” or “sheepdog-parent” or “sheepdog-teacher” might run and bark and nip at your feet―but it should be done, and usually is done, with your spiritual safety and salvation in mind. They are called to recognize and respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow. They are called to orient their lives in the direction and will of the Good Shepherd, and in service to the flock of the shepherd. They should love and care for each and every sheep, understanding that the shepherd’s flock extends far beyond the people and family of this community. They are called to resist following false shepherds. These pretenders may be people, but they might also be power, money, self-promotion, or other worldly temptations. They are called to face the wolves of the world and proclaim God’s truth and His love and wishes for His flock. They are called to lay down their lives as the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the flock. This does not necessarily mean facing bodily harm or death. They are called to lay down the life that they might be tempted to live where all they think and focus on is themselves.
Gone to the Dogs!
Regardless of whether we paint priests, parents, teachers and employers as shepherds or sheepdogs, the reality is that true shepherding “has gone to the dogs”―a phrase which means that things have deteriorated, are ruined, have gone badly wrong and have lost all the good things it once possessed. We are currently experiencing―and have been experiencing for a long time now―a shepherding crisis in both quantity and quality. There are less and less shepherds (or sheepdogs) available to care for the flock of Christ in both Church and in the home.
Imagine being in a gigantic supermarket, with a cartload of items, and going to the checkout, only to discover that out of 20 checkout points, only 1 is operating! The line of people that is waiting to checkout is over 30 carts long! You think to yourself: “What the heck is going on? Where are all the checkout assistants?”
An average of 23 students fill the typical American primary school classroom. Many people remember being in a class of 40 students! The ideal teacher-student ratio is said to be at around 1 teacher to 10 or 12 students—I guess Our Lord was right on the button with Twelve Apostles! Yet imagine the drop in level of education you will get when the teacher has to move from teaching 10 students per class to 40 students per class!
Imagine having twice or three times the number of chores to do daily—and being told that they MUST be done! Do you think they will be done very well? No way! Just to fit them all in to your schedule, you would have to race through them at speed, permitting little time to do things well—much like speeding through prayers which results in them having been said badly.
The same is true for the priesthood and other religious vocations. The shepherd will do a better job looking after a small flock than if he has four or five times the number of sheep to shepherd. This brings us to drastic fall in the number of ‘shepherds’ in the Church. Sometimes a picture says a thousand words—an infographic or stat chart is not too far behind. Look at those below—they clearly show the shepherding crisis that we have gradually fallen into. The sad thing is—not many people care—but then, as a result of the fall in numbers, not many people are cared for well!
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In a Time magazine article on the priesthood, from June 2017, we read: “The Church also faces an overall priest shortage in the U.S. The number of priests in the country has dropped from 58,600 to 37,200 over the past 50 years, and a whopping 3,500 parishes did not have their own pastor in 2016, according to CARA. That means that while young priests like O’Donnell might in the past have worked for a decade or two as an assistant before leading their own congregation, young priests now must take on more responsibility sooner and with fewer resources.” The USA is increasingly recruiting aspiring priests from overseas to ease its own shortfall, worsening shortages in developing countries. In 1999, 22% (over 1 in 5) of newly ordained priests in the US were born overseas; by 2008, 33% (just over 3 out 10) were foreign-born. The average age for the priests in the U.S.A. is 67 years old.
In the Philippines, for example, where nearly 80% of the population is Catholic, there is only one priest for every 10,000 Catholics, despite recent increases in the number enrolled in seminaries.
One of the “power-houses” of Catholicism—Spain—has seen a large fall in numbers of priests and vocations to replace older and deceased priests. The total number of parish priests shrank from 24,300 in 1975 to 18,500 in 2018. The average age of Spanish priests has risen to over 68, while in some regions it has reached 74. In Spain, the usual retirement age for men is 65. The most extreme case, according to El País newspaper, is a 47-year-old priest in a remote rural region of Cantabria who is responsible for 22 parishes. And a recent Church-funded study has shown that in 2007, of the 23,286 parishes in Spain, no fewer than 10,615 had no priest in permanent residence.
Cardinal Rouco of Spain, conceded: “There are fewer of us and we are older than in previous years, and it’s a trend that looks set to continue.” Miguel Angel Morell, the head of one of three seminaries in the southern city of Granada, said: “There’s been a huge drop in the number of [priestly] vocations in recent years. There are a few more young seminarians, and the ones we take, are more sure of their decision, but overall the total is definitely down.”
The situation here mirrors that in some other countries. In the United States, 40 years ago (just after the Second Vatican Council), there was one priest for every 772 Catholics, now it is one priest per 1,603 Catholics. In 1970, there were 8,000 students in US seminaries, today it is around 1,300―and remember, most seminarians decide to leave before taking the final step into the priesthood. Scotland’s only seminary has announced it will close, and in Ireland the average age of priests is 70. The archdiocese of Dublin has 46 priests over 80 years of age, but only two under 35.
The Catholic Church in Australia is struggling to find its next generation of priests, as country dioceses are forced to slash popular Masses due to a shortage of priests in regional areas. The number of men who have taken up studies to become a Catholic priest has been decreasing for the past three decades, and now the effects are being felt in rural towns across Australia. Father Morgan Batt said, the director of vocations at the Brisbane Diocese says: "For country dioceses they have huge distances to travel, and where there used to be three parishes with a priest in each, there is now only one parish combining all those churches together. Some years there were very, very low numbers of new priests. For some reason the country areas are experiencing an even bigger difficulty in trying to get people to come to the seminary.” Father Matthew Maloney said the decline in priest numbers was partly because Australians were becoming less religious.
This shortage has a “knock-on” effect upon the laity throughout the world. Looking at one of the most supposedly Catholic countries of the world—Spain—although the Easter festivals remain immensely popular, and 74% (over 7 out of 10) of Spaniards, in a nationwide study in 2008, described themselves as Catholics, but less than 20% (less than 1 in 5) said they still attended Mass at least once a week; and a hefty 47% (almost 5 out of 10) per cent said they never went at all.
God’s Scathing Criticism of Shepherds
Today, God could just as well use the same words as in the Old Testament, when God scathingly chastised the shepherds of His Chosen People, saying that the “watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! Impudent dogs, they never had enough! The shepherds themselves knew no understanding! All have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last, saying: ‘Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more!’” (Isaias 56:10-12) … “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished and you shall fall like precious vessels. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves! A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock―because the Lord hath laid waste to their pastures, because of the fierce anger of the Lord!” (Jeremias 25:34-37). “My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place! All that found them, have devoured them! And their enemies said: ‘We have not sinned in so doing―because they have sinned against the Lord!’” (Jeremias 50:6-7). “They were led away as a flock because they have no shepherd. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds!” (Zacharias 10:2-3).
“Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat! But My flock you did not feed! The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost! But you ruled over them with rigor, and with a heavy hand! And My sheep were scattered―because there was no shepherd! And they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered! My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth―and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd! For My shepherds did not seek after My flock―but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them!’” (Ezechiel 34:2-10).
Woe to Bishops! Woe to Priests! Woe to Parents! Woe to Teachers!
The shepherds have lost their zeal for the flock! The sheepdogs no longer bark at the sheep, nor nip at the feet of the sheep to encourage, motivate, and guide! The “watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! Impudent dogs! The shepherds themselves knew no understanding! All have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last, saying: ‘Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more!’” (Isaias 56:10-12).
This is exactly what Our Lady predicted: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Akita).
A fraction of what Our Lady warns about is well expressed by the graphic below, which verifies Our Lady’s prediction and shows the collapse of Catholic values and Catholic teaching.
In the Philippines, for example, where nearly 80% of the population is Catholic, there is only one priest for every 10,000 Catholics, despite recent increases in the number enrolled in seminaries.
One of the “power-houses” of Catholicism—Spain—has seen a large fall in numbers of priests and vocations to replace older and deceased priests. The total number of parish priests shrank from 24,300 in 1975 to 18,500 in 2018. The average age of Spanish priests has risen to over 68, while in some regions it has reached 74. In Spain, the usual retirement age for men is 65. The most extreme case, according to El País newspaper, is a 47-year-old priest in a remote rural region of Cantabria who is responsible for 22 parishes. And a recent Church-funded study has shown that in 2007, of the 23,286 parishes in Spain, no fewer than 10,615 had no priest in permanent residence.
Cardinal Rouco of Spain, conceded: “There are fewer of us and we are older than in previous years, and it’s a trend that looks set to continue.” Miguel Angel Morell, the head of one of three seminaries in the southern city of Granada, said: “There’s been a huge drop in the number of [priestly] vocations in recent years. There are a few more young seminarians, and the ones we take, are more sure of their decision, but overall the total is definitely down.”
The situation here mirrors that in some other countries. In the United States, 40 years ago (just after the Second Vatican Council), there was one priest for every 772 Catholics, now it is one priest per 1,603 Catholics. In 1970, there were 8,000 students in US seminaries, today it is around 1,300―and remember, most seminarians decide to leave before taking the final step into the priesthood. Scotland’s only seminary has announced it will close, and in Ireland the average age of priests is 70. The archdiocese of Dublin has 46 priests over 80 years of age, but only two under 35.
The Catholic Church in Australia is struggling to find its next generation of priests, as country dioceses are forced to slash popular Masses due to a shortage of priests in regional areas. The number of men who have taken up studies to become a Catholic priest has been decreasing for the past three decades, and now the effects are being felt in rural towns across Australia. Father Morgan Batt said, the director of vocations at the Brisbane Diocese says: "For country dioceses they have huge distances to travel, and where there used to be three parishes with a priest in each, there is now only one parish combining all those churches together. Some years there were very, very low numbers of new priests. For some reason the country areas are experiencing an even bigger difficulty in trying to get people to come to the seminary.” Father Matthew Maloney said the decline in priest numbers was partly because Australians were becoming less religious.
This shortage has a “knock-on” effect upon the laity throughout the world. Looking at one of the most supposedly Catholic countries of the world—Spain—although the Easter festivals remain immensely popular, and 74% (over 7 out of 10) of Spaniards, in a nationwide study in 2008, described themselves as Catholics, but less than 20% (less than 1 in 5) said they still attended Mass at least once a week; and a hefty 47% (almost 5 out of 10) per cent said they never went at all.
God’s Scathing Criticism of Shepherds
Today, God could just as well use the same words as in the Old Testament, when God scathingly chastised the shepherds of His Chosen People, saying that the “watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! Impudent dogs, they never had enough! The shepherds themselves knew no understanding! All have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last, saying: ‘Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more!’” (Isaias 56:10-12) … “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished and you shall fall like precious vessels. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves! A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock―because the Lord hath laid waste to their pastures, because of the fierce anger of the Lord!” (Jeremias 25:34-37). “My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place! All that found them, have devoured them! And their enemies said: ‘We have not sinned in so doing―because they have sinned against the Lord!’” (Jeremias 50:6-7). “They were led away as a flock because they have no shepherd. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds!” (Zacharias 10:2-3).
“Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat! But My flock you did not feed! The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost! But you ruled over them with rigor, and with a heavy hand! And My sheep were scattered―because there was no shepherd! And they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered! My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth―and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd! For My shepherds did not seek after My flock―but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them!’” (Ezechiel 34:2-10).
Woe to Bishops! Woe to Priests! Woe to Parents! Woe to Teachers!
The shepherds have lost their zeal for the flock! The sheepdogs no longer bark at the sheep, nor nip at the feet of the sheep to encourage, motivate, and guide! The “watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams! Impudent dogs! The shepherds themselves knew no understanding! All have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last, saying: ‘Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more!’” (Isaias 56:10-12).
This is exactly what Our Lady predicted: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Akita).
A fraction of what Our Lady warns about is well expressed by the graphic below, which verifies Our Lady’s prediction and shows the collapse of Catholic values and Catholic teaching.
Soft Shepherds, Silent Shepherds, Slipping Shepherds, Satanic Shepherds
Little by little one goes far! Little by little one makes more and more compromises! Little by little one teaching after another is changed! Little by little one moves away from the Faith towards the world! Little by little one loses the Faith and fall into the clutches of Satan! “Little by little, Lucifer and demons will put an end to Faith―even in those dedicated to God!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Little by little bishops and priests have ceased pointing-out that the world is our enemy and have made peace with the world in more and more areas―betraying Christ in the process. “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). The Second Vatican Council was gung-ho for opening the Church doors and windows to the world―we are now reaping the bitter fruit of that policy―for the world belongs to its prince, the devil, and so they opened the Church doors and windows to the devil. “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30) ― yet that does not seem to be acknowledged and taught by the bishops and priests of the modern-day Church, except for some obvious grave areas such as abortion. To such bishops and priests Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Jesus points out the basic requirement of His followers, saying: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
So why are bishops, priests, parents and teachers comfortable with the world? “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Most of the bishops and priests are the product of the Second Vatican Council and totally in favor of it. Yet, in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council started, St. John Bosco predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion is of his prophecy is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.”
Likewise, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was granted visions by God concerning our times in general and the Second Vatican Council in particular. Here are the relevant extracts from those visions: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new ‘church’ ... Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... . It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it ... I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion―for it was only bread. Then my Guide (Jesus) said: ‘This is Babel!’”
O what a catastrophe! What a mess! What a travesty! What a disastrous loss of souls! Yet most bishops, priests, parents and teachers say little or nothing! Hey! “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48). Pay attention! You have been given the Catholic Faith! You have been given far more than most people in this world―only 1 in 8 has been given the Faith! If you are a Traditional Catholic, then you are 1 among 1,400 Catholics, or 1 in 8,000 people in the entire world! Estimates of the number of traditionalist Catholics vary. Catholic World News reported that the Vatican estimated the number of those served by the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Society of St. Pius X and similar groups at close to 1 million. Other sources estimate it to be nearer to 2 million―which makes you to be 1 among every 700 Catholics, or 1 in 4,000 people in the whole world. How can you say you have not been given far more than anyone else in the world, even more than most other Catholics of the Liberal or Modernist taint?
Yet when you look at most Traditional Catholics and most Conservative Catholics, then you have to sadly admit that around 50 years ago―pre-Vatican II days―they would be looked upon as being rabid Liberals! Immodest clothing, worldly preoccupations, minimal prayer, no real interest in the spiritual life, addiction to television, internet, social media, modern music, etc. Back in those days, in 1956, Our Lady complained: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1956).
Most bishops and priests have been “conceived” and “begotten” by Second Vatican Council Liberalism and Modernism―their “parents” are Liberalism and Modernism, and so they will not speak against their “parents”. As for the laity―especially today’s parents and teachers, they too are the offspring of the Second Vatican Council and have been formed and raised by in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council ― “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Consequently, whatever children those parents have brought into this world, and whatever children have been taught by those teachers, all of those children are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council and its spouse, the World. For the Second Vatican Council implicitly married the World.
Even the few Conservative and Traditionalist bishops, priests, parents and teachers that still remain in the world, very, very few have any real understanding of the current crisis, and offer little or nothing by way of solutions to the crisis―even though Our Lady has often clearly pointed out those solutions to us. The history, progress, consequences and current direction of both the religious, cultural, and political crises―that have enveloped the globe and are strangulating the world―are not regularly preached from the pulpit, are not regularly discussed at home, and are not taught in the classroom. Woe to those bishops, priests, parents and teachers―to whom much has been given and from whom much is expected, but, like the man in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), have buried their talent in the ground! The same fate awaits as that unprofitable servant: “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
In the Offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we pray: “I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences…” You could create an almost irrefutable case proving that the damnation of most souls is largely due to their negligences! Even though they may have sinned mortally, they must have NEGLECTED to confess all of those sins, or they NEGLECTED to confess them correctly by fudging, understating, misrepresenting or lying about them, or they NEGLECTED to make reparation for those sins, or they NEGLECTED to form a firm purpose of amendment―any and all of which make their confessions invalid. Or they NEGLECTED to make changes in their lives, or NEGLECTED to avoid temptations and near occasions of sin. Perhaps the majority of their sins in life were sins of neglect! Likewise, they NEGLECTED to speak out against the world from the pulpit, or in the home, or in the classroom; they NEGLECTED to speak against sin, NEGLECTED to speak out against Liberalism and Modernism, NEGLECTED to speak out against the bad spirit and bad fruits of the Second Vatican Council, NEGLECTED to correct and punish those under their charge when they did sin, when they indulged in worldliness, when they showed Liberal or Modernist traits, etc. O what a mountain of sin! O what a mountain of neglect! As Our Lady of La Salette, Akita and Good Success lamented: “People will only think of amusements … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … and those who should speak out will be silent!”
Little by little one goes far! Little by little one makes more and more compromises! Little by little one teaching after another is changed! Little by little one moves away from the Faith towards the world! Little by little one loses the Faith and fall into the clutches of Satan! “Little by little, Lucifer and demons will put an end to Faith―even in those dedicated to God!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Little by little bishops and priests have ceased pointing-out that the world is our enemy and have made peace with the world in more and more areas―betraying Christ in the process. “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). The Second Vatican Council was gung-ho for opening the Church doors and windows to the world―we are now reaping the bitter fruit of that policy―for the world belongs to its prince, the devil, and so they opened the Church doors and windows to the devil. “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30) ― yet that does not seem to be acknowledged and taught by the bishops and priests of the modern-day Church, except for some obvious grave areas such as abortion. To such bishops and priests Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Jesus points out the basic requirement of His followers, saying: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
So why are bishops, priests, parents and teachers comfortable with the world? “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Most of the bishops and priests are the product of the Second Vatican Council and totally in favor of it. Yet, in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council started, St. John Bosco predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion is of his prophecy is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.”
Likewise, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was granted visions by God concerning our times in general and the Second Vatican Council in particular. Here are the relevant extracts from those visions: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new ‘church’ ... Everything was being done according to human reason ... I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ... I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... . It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it ... I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the Body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion―for it was only bread. Then my Guide (Jesus) said: ‘This is Babel!’”
O what a catastrophe! What a mess! What a travesty! What a disastrous loss of souls! Yet most bishops, priests, parents and teachers say little or nothing! Hey! “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48). Pay attention! You have been given the Catholic Faith! You have been given far more than most people in this world―only 1 in 8 has been given the Faith! If you are a Traditional Catholic, then you are 1 among 1,400 Catholics, or 1 in 8,000 people in the entire world! Estimates of the number of traditionalist Catholics vary. Catholic World News reported that the Vatican estimated the number of those served by the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Society of St. Pius X and similar groups at close to 1 million. Other sources estimate it to be nearer to 2 million―which makes you to be 1 among every 700 Catholics, or 1 in 4,000 people in the whole world. How can you say you have not been given far more than anyone else in the world, even more than most other Catholics of the Liberal or Modernist taint?
Yet when you look at most Traditional Catholics and most Conservative Catholics, then you have to sadly admit that around 50 years ago―pre-Vatican II days―they would be looked upon as being rabid Liberals! Immodest clothing, worldly preoccupations, minimal prayer, no real interest in the spiritual life, addiction to television, internet, social media, modern music, etc. Back in those days, in 1956, Our Lady complained: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1956).
Most bishops and priests have been “conceived” and “begotten” by Second Vatican Council Liberalism and Modernism―their “parents” are Liberalism and Modernism, and so they will not speak against their “parents”. As for the laity―especially today’s parents and teachers, they too are the offspring of the Second Vatican Council and have been formed and raised by in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council ― “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Consequently, whatever children those parents have brought into this world, and whatever children have been taught by those teachers, all of those children are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council and its spouse, the World. For the Second Vatican Council implicitly married the World.
Even the few Conservative and Traditionalist bishops, priests, parents and teachers that still remain in the world, very, very few have any real understanding of the current crisis, and offer little or nothing by way of solutions to the crisis―even though Our Lady has often clearly pointed out those solutions to us. The history, progress, consequences and current direction of both the religious, cultural, and political crises―that have enveloped the globe and are strangulating the world―are not regularly preached from the pulpit, are not regularly discussed at home, and are not taught in the classroom. Woe to those bishops, priests, parents and teachers―to whom much has been given and from whom much is expected, but, like the man in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), have buried their talent in the ground! The same fate awaits as that unprofitable servant: “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
In the Offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we pray: “I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences…” You could create an almost irrefutable case proving that the damnation of most souls is largely due to their negligences! Even though they may have sinned mortally, they must have NEGLECTED to confess all of those sins, or they NEGLECTED to confess them correctly by fudging, understating, misrepresenting or lying about them, or they NEGLECTED to make reparation for those sins, or they NEGLECTED to form a firm purpose of amendment―any and all of which make their confessions invalid. Or they NEGLECTED to make changes in their lives, or NEGLECTED to avoid temptations and near occasions of sin. Perhaps the majority of their sins in life were sins of neglect! Likewise, they NEGLECTED to speak out against the world from the pulpit, or in the home, or in the classroom; they NEGLECTED to speak against sin, NEGLECTED to speak out against Liberalism and Modernism, NEGLECTED to speak out against the bad spirit and bad fruits of the Second Vatican Council, NEGLECTED to correct and punish those under their charge when they did sin, when they indulged in worldliness, when they showed Liberal or Modernist traits, etc. O what a mountain of sin! O what a mountain of neglect! As Our Lady of La Salette, Akita and Good Success lamented: “People will only think of amusements … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … and those who should speak out will be silent!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday July 7th & Thursday July 8th
Article 5
Blind as a Bat! Timid as a Cat! What Could It Be?
Wednesday July 7th & Thursday July 8th
Article 5
Blind as a Bat! Timid as a Cat! What Could It Be?
What is Going On?
We are probably in the greatest mess and crisis that the human race has ever faced and yet everyone seems to be as blind as a bat, as timid as a cat, as quiet as a mouse, as dumb as an elephant, as lazy as a sloth, as stubborn as a mule, and as paralyzed as a deer in the headlights! Already back in 1956, Our Lady warned: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1895-1961, on December 8th, 1956).
We Just Won’t Listen!
That was said back in 1956―when television had barely come onto the scene, there was no internet, no computers, no smartphones, no social media, no widespread abortion, no explosion of contraception, relatively little divorce compared to today, no legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages, etc. What would Our Lady say today? Yet all of that goes in one ear and out the other. Nobody wants to see it, or criticize it, or fight against it through prayer and sacrifice. As God so truly says: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! … The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:13-15). “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost!” (Acts 7:51). “Why do you not know my speech? Because you cannot hear my word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! … if I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:43-47).
Reaching Breaking Point!
Don’t we get exasperated with children or work colleagues or employees when we have to tell them ten or more times to do something―yet our instructions just go in one ear and out the other? Sometimes the situation results in an inevitable punishment or sacking! The same is true of Our Lady’s instructions to mankind in general and Catholics in particular. How many times does she have to tell us? We are still not doing what she asks for! As she said in 1846 at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” At Fatima, 1917, she adds: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” Whereas in 1973, at Akita in Japan, she further warns: “order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
The solutions to the imminent chastisement have been clearly stated―it is the Rosary, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (including Holy Communion and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar) and the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Yet each of these devotions have become more of a scarcity and are not widely practiced. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary every day, less than 20% go to Sunday Mass regularly, less than 5% wear the Scapular. Only 2% of Catholics go regularly to confession. What do you expect will happen if the Catholic world rejects the solutions offered by Heaven?
Hiding Behind Others?
With over 7,800 million people in the world and almost 1,400 million Catholics, you may be tempted to think that your refusal to comply fully (not just partially) with Our Lady’s requests will allow to fade into the background and go unnoticed! We stupidly imagine our indifference, negligence and refusal in obeying will be much like a million cars speeding past a single traffic-cop armed with only one speed-radar-gun! He might catch one-in-a-million and that’s it! That might be possible in a human environment, but it is totally impossible in a heavenly environment. “The eyes of the Lord in every place” (Proverbs 15:3). “For His eyes are upon the ways of men, and He considers all their steps! There is no darkness and there is no shadow where they may be hid!” (Job 34:21-22). “For God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! Neither is there any creature invisible in His sight―but all things are naked and open to His eyes!” (Hebrews 4:12-13). “For He beholds the ends of the world and looks on all things that are under Heaven!” (Job 28:24). “Man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “He searches the hearts” (Romans 8:27). “I am the Lord who searches the heart and who gives to everyone according to his way!” (Jeremias 17:10). “For My eyes are upon all their ways―they are not hid from My face and their iniquity hath not been hid from My eyes!” (Jeremias 16:17). “‘Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him?’ saith the Lord?” (Jeremias 23:24).
Face-Up To Your Responsibility!
Looking around at the Catholics in the world, the last thing that they would remind you of is soldiers. They forget that Confirmation made them Soldiers of Christ and that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). They have become soft, they have no spine, no steel, no fire in the belly―just donuts in the belly and a flabby big belly! “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:19). They have no fight in their heart to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). They forget that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood [and fellow Catholics]; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Instead, Catholics fight among themselves and wrestle to be the first out the church door in order to get to the front of the line for coffee and donuts after Mass (that is if they even go to Mass)! Instead of holding and praying their Rosaries for hours each day, they hold and surf the channels with their TV remote control, or hold their smartphones and surf social media. Instead of spending an hour in front of the tabernacle, they spend many hours a day sitting in front of the worldly tabernacles of the television and computer. Instead of being devoted the Immaculate Heart of Mary, they are devoted to sports, or movies, or video-games, or social media! These―and many more things―have become the modern-day idols that have replaced God as being the focal point of attention in the lives of Catholics. They can no longer remember and list the Ten Commandments in order―but they can remember and list the last 10 Super Bowl winners, or Major League Baseball winners, or whatever sport they idolize! They cannot remember the holy days of obligation―but they have memorized numerous food recipes, or their favorite sports team’s fixture list, or the dates of all the parish socials, or barbeques of friends and family! They cannot tell you what the Seven Sacraments are―but they will tell you what are the seven best pubs or restaurants in town. They will not fast as a penance for their sins―but they will fast to lose weight and try and achieve a ‘beautiful’ body! They are incapable of debating and defending the Faith―but they are capable of debating for hours about sports, movies, cars, etc. and defending their own sinful actions!
Keepers of the World
According to the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, on the Day of Judgment you will be judged for everything that happened in the world during the course of your life. You might object: “I am not God! How can I take care of the whole world? That is ridiculous!” Yet through prayer and sacrifice you CAN reach the whole world without even leaving your house! The problem is that you tell yourself that you do not have any spare time to focus, pray and sacrifice for the world―you have enough on your plate with your family and work life! You might protest and complain like Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). God will answer as He did to Cain: “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10-11). Cain was guilty of physical murder―you will be guilty of spiritual murder, because the souls of sinners were lacing grace, starving of grace, and you did not share God’s grace with them by praying and sacrificing in order to purchase from God the grace of their conversion. That was the whole point of Our Lady’s message at Fatima―so many souls “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done … many souls will be saved!”
No Escaping Your Responsibility
So many Catholics live as though these requests and demands of Heaven are an optional thing or a negotiable thing! You are a Soldier of Christ and soldiers do not and cannot pick and choose which orders they would like to follow and which orders they will ignore! For some perverse reason we have lost this sense of responsibility and accountability with regard to God. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
A Soldier of Christ must bear his weapons, carry his own weapons into battle. One of the chief weapons is the cross―as pointed out by The Imitation of Christ, in the chapters entitled “Few Love The Cross Of Jesus” and “The Royal Road of the Cross”, in which we read:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection … To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapters 11 & 12).
Our Lady echoes the same idea in her words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside ... Worldlings, in their lukewarmness, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature for the flesh … Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!” (Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Letting the Gold of Salvation Slip Through Your Fingers
How blind we are―blind as bats―not to see the gold beneath the surface of the cross! How stubborn we are―as stubborn as a mule―in refusing to accept the cross that God loads upon our back! How lazy we are in carrying (or should we say “dragging” instead of carrying) our crosses―as lazy as a sloth hanging listlessly from its branch, taking 30 days to digest one leaf! How you ever really stopped to think and seriously meditate why it is that most souls are damned―and that is not just most souls within the whole world of pagans, but most Catholics being damned? If you were really serious about your salvation, one would think that this would be one of the most concerning points that you research, read about, talk about, think about, etc. Heck! If God wants all souls to be saved―yet most souls end up being damned―does that not disturb your complacency? Does that not motivate you to find out what mistakes they are making?
The general answer to the conundrum of why most souls are lost is pretty easy―they lose and live outside the grace of God. That is to say, there is no sanctifying grace in their souls. It is impossible to be damned if you die with sanctifying grace in your soul. Pretty easy answer, huh? You then have to ask: “Why is there no sanctifying grace in their souls?” The answer to that is not a simple as the first answer above, but it is still pretty logical. You can have sanctifying grace and lose it―or it might also be that a soul does not even have sanctifying grace in the first place. Sanctifying grace normally comes to us through the Sacrament of Baptism. When someone is baptized, they receive God’s free gift of sanctifying grace, which they are supposed to treasure, nourish and grow. Even Protestant baptisms―if they are correctly done by saying the words: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)” while pouring water over the person being baptized or immersing them in water. That is the easy part! Keeping in a state of sanctifying grace is the hard part―which is proved by the damnation of most souls. It is impossible to be damned if you are in a state of sanctifying grace! What loses, what destroys, what expels sanctifying grace? It is one thing and one thing only―mortal sin. Most souls are damned and the thing they all have in common with each other is that they died with at least one unrepented or unconfessed or badly confessed mortal sin on their soul. It is as simple as that! There is no rocket science to figuring-out why most souls are damned.
That brings us to the next question: “Did they not know that they were in state of mortal sin? Or does everyone know that they are in state of mortal sin?” The answer to that question is a little more nuanced or subtle. Some clearly know that they are in mortal sin―others know but rationalize their situation and try and hide behind a variety of excuses―while some do not explicitly know and are ignorant to a degree; they should have known but they were gravely negligent in learning about such things due to their deliberate indifference, lack of interest, and neglect in studying the Catholic Faith. Anyone who is serious about getting to Heaven must learn about God, seek out the true religion that God has given us, and find out the laws, regulations, customs, and practices of that religion. If you want to be a doctor―you must study, learn and practice true medicine and not make up your own version of medicine.
Unfortunately, most Catholics have their own version of the Catholic Faith―some have tweaked it to a grave degree, others to a lesser degree. Those who have tweaked their Faith to a grave degree are those who accept abortion, or contraception, or divorce with remarriage, or fornication, or homosexual relations, or same-sex marriages, or impurity with self or others, or immodesty, or adultery, or any other grave sins. As Holy Scripture says:
“The sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God!” (Psalm 9:17-18) … “For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, then there is left no sacrifice for sins, but only a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume!” (Hebrews 10:26-27) … “God will give vengeance in a flame of fire to them who know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord!” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) … “If God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower Hell … and spared not the original world … Then the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented. And especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, audacious, self willed, they fear not to bring in sects, blaspheming!” (2 Peter 2:4, 2:9-10) … “For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5) … “Know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself!” (1 John 3:15) … “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, impurity, immodesty, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, jealousy, fits of rage, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envies, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 21:8) … “For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment! For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:36-37).
Loss of Sense of Sin Lead to Loss of Soul
One recent pope after another―from Pope Pius XII onwards―has complained about the loss of the sense of sin in both the world at large and in the Catholic Church. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
We are probably in the greatest mess and crisis that the human race has ever faced and yet everyone seems to be as blind as a bat, as timid as a cat, as quiet as a mouse, as dumb as an elephant, as lazy as a sloth, as stubborn as a mule, and as paralyzed as a deer in the headlights! Already back in 1956, Our Lady warned: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1895-1961, on December 8th, 1956).
We Just Won’t Listen!
That was said back in 1956―when television had barely come onto the scene, there was no internet, no computers, no smartphones, no social media, no widespread abortion, no explosion of contraception, relatively little divorce compared to today, no legalized homosexuality and same-sex marriages, etc. What would Our Lady say today? Yet all of that goes in one ear and out the other. Nobody wants to see it, or criticize it, or fight against it through prayer and sacrifice. As God so truly says: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! … The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:13-15). “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost!” (Acts 7:51). “Why do you not know my speech? Because you cannot hear my word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! … if I say the truth, you believe me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:43-47).
Reaching Breaking Point!
Don’t we get exasperated with children or work colleagues or employees when we have to tell them ten or more times to do something―yet our instructions just go in one ear and out the other? Sometimes the situation results in an inevitable punishment or sacking! The same is true of Our Lady’s instructions to mankind in general and Catholics in particular. How many times does she have to tell us? We are still not doing what she asks for! As she said in 1846 at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” At Fatima, 1917, she adds: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” Whereas in 1973, at Akita in Japan, she further warns: “order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
The solutions to the imminent chastisement have been clearly stated―it is the Rosary, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (including Holy Communion and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar) and the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Yet each of these devotions have become more of a scarcity and are not widely practiced. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary every day, less than 20% go to Sunday Mass regularly, less than 5% wear the Scapular. Only 2% of Catholics go regularly to confession. What do you expect will happen if the Catholic world rejects the solutions offered by Heaven?
Hiding Behind Others?
With over 7,800 million people in the world and almost 1,400 million Catholics, you may be tempted to think that your refusal to comply fully (not just partially) with Our Lady’s requests will allow to fade into the background and go unnoticed! We stupidly imagine our indifference, negligence and refusal in obeying will be much like a million cars speeding past a single traffic-cop armed with only one speed-radar-gun! He might catch one-in-a-million and that’s it! That might be possible in a human environment, but it is totally impossible in a heavenly environment. “The eyes of the Lord in every place” (Proverbs 15:3). “For His eyes are upon the ways of men, and He considers all their steps! There is no darkness and there is no shadow where they may be hid!” (Job 34:21-22). “For God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! Neither is there any creature invisible in His sight―but all things are naked and open to His eyes!” (Hebrews 4:12-13). “For He beholds the ends of the world and looks on all things that are under Heaven!” (Job 28:24). “Man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). “He searches the hearts” (Romans 8:27). “I am the Lord who searches the heart and who gives to everyone according to his way!” (Jeremias 17:10). “For My eyes are upon all their ways―they are not hid from My face and their iniquity hath not been hid from My eyes!” (Jeremias 16:17). “‘Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him?’ saith the Lord?” (Jeremias 23:24).
Face-Up To Your Responsibility!
Looking around at the Catholics in the world, the last thing that they would remind you of is soldiers. They forget that Confirmation made them Soldiers of Christ and that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). They have become soft, they have no spine, no steel, no fire in the belly―just donuts in the belly and a flabby big belly! “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:19). They have no fight in their heart to “fight the good fight of Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). They forget that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood [and fellow Catholics]; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Instead, Catholics fight among themselves and wrestle to be the first out the church door in order to get to the front of the line for coffee and donuts after Mass (that is if they even go to Mass)! Instead of holding and praying their Rosaries for hours each day, they hold and surf the channels with their TV remote control, or hold their smartphones and surf social media. Instead of spending an hour in front of the tabernacle, they spend many hours a day sitting in front of the worldly tabernacles of the television and computer. Instead of being devoted the Immaculate Heart of Mary, they are devoted to sports, or movies, or video-games, or social media! These―and many more things―have become the modern-day idols that have replaced God as being the focal point of attention in the lives of Catholics. They can no longer remember and list the Ten Commandments in order―but they can remember and list the last 10 Super Bowl winners, or Major League Baseball winners, or whatever sport they idolize! They cannot remember the holy days of obligation―but they have memorized numerous food recipes, or their favorite sports team’s fixture list, or the dates of all the parish socials, or barbeques of friends and family! They cannot tell you what the Seven Sacraments are―but they will tell you what are the seven best pubs or restaurants in town. They will not fast as a penance for their sins―but they will fast to lose weight and try and achieve a ‘beautiful’ body! They are incapable of debating and defending the Faith―but they are capable of debating for hours about sports, movies, cars, etc. and defending their own sinful actions!
Keepers of the World
According to the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, on the Day of Judgment you will be judged for everything that happened in the world during the course of your life. You might object: “I am not God! How can I take care of the whole world? That is ridiculous!” Yet through prayer and sacrifice you CAN reach the whole world without even leaving your house! The problem is that you tell yourself that you do not have any spare time to focus, pray and sacrifice for the world―you have enough on your plate with your family and work life! You might protest and complain like Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). God will answer as He did to Cain: “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10-11). Cain was guilty of physical murder―you will be guilty of spiritual murder, because the souls of sinners were lacing grace, starving of grace, and you did not share God’s grace with them by praying and sacrificing in order to purchase from God the grace of their conversion. That was the whole point of Our Lady’s message at Fatima―so many souls “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done … many souls will be saved!”
No Escaping Your Responsibility
So many Catholics live as though these requests and demands of Heaven are an optional thing or a negotiable thing! You are a Soldier of Christ and soldiers do not and cannot pick and choose which orders they would like to follow and which orders they will ignore! For some perverse reason we have lost this sense of responsibility and accountability with regard to God. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
A Soldier of Christ must bear his weapons, carry his own weapons into battle. One of the chief weapons is the cross―as pointed out by The Imitation of Christ, in the chapters entitled “Few Love The Cross Of Jesus” and “The Royal Road of the Cross”, in which we read:
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection … To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapters 11 & 12).
Our Lady echoes the same idea in her words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside ... Worldlings, in their lukewarmness, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature for the flesh … Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!” (Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Letting the Gold of Salvation Slip Through Your Fingers
How blind we are―blind as bats―not to see the gold beneath the surface of the cross! How stubborn we are―as stubborn as a mule―in refusing to accept the cross that God loads upon our back! How lazy we are in carrying (or should we say “dragging” instead of carrying) our crosses―as lazy as a sloth hanging listlessly from its branch, taking 30 days to digest one leaf! How you ever really stopped to think and seriously meditate why it is that most souls are damned―and that is not just most souls within the whole world of pagans, but most Catholics being damned? If you were really serious about your salvation, one would think that this would be one of the most concerning points that you research, read about, talk about, think about, etc. Heck! If God wants all souls to be saved―yet most souls end up being damned―does that not disturb your complacency? Does that not motivate you to find out what mistakes they are making?
The general answer to the conundrum of why most souls are lost is pretty easy―they lose and live outside the grace of God. That is to say, there is no sanctifying grace in their souls. It is impossible to be damned if you die with sanctifying grace in your soul. Pretty easy answer, huh? You then have to ask: “Why is there no sanctifying grace in their souls?” The answer to that is not a simple as the first answer above, but it is still pretty logical. You can have sanctifying grace and lose it―or it might also be that a soul does not even have sanctifying grace in the first place. Sanctifying grace normally comes to us through the Sacrament of Baptism. When someone is baptized, they receive God’s free gift of sanctifying grace, which they are supposed to treasure, nourish and grow. Even Protestant baptisms―if they are correctly done by saying the words: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)” while pouring water over the person being baptized or immersing them in water. That is the easy part! Keeping in a state of sanctifying grace is the hard part―which is proved by the damnation of most souls. It is impossible to be damned if you are in a state of sanctifying grace! What loses, what destroys, what expels sanctifying grace? It is one thing and one thing only―mortal sin. Most souls are damned and the thing they all have in common with each other is that they died with at least one unrepented or unconfessed or badly confessed mortal sin on their soul. It is as simple as that! There is no rocket science to figuring-out why most souls are damned.
That brings us to the next question: “Did they not know that they were in state of mortal sin? Or does everyone know that they are in state of mortal sin?” The answer to that question is a little more nuanced or subtle. Some clearly know that they are in mortal sin―others know but rationalize their situation and try and hide behind a variety of excuses―while some do not explicitly know and are ignorant to a degree; they should have known but they were gravely negligent in learning about such things due to their deliberate indifference, lack of interest, and neglect in studying the Catholic Faith. Anyone who is serious about getting to Heaven must learn about God, seek out the true religion that God has given us, and find out the laws, regulations, customs, and practices of that religion. If you want to be a doctor―you must study, learn and practice true medicine and not make up your own version of medicine.
Unfortunately, most Catholics have their own version of the Catholic Faith―some have tweaked it to a grave degree, others to a lesser degree. Those who have tweaked their Faith to a grave degree are those who accept abortion, or contraception, or divorce with remarriage, or fornication, or homosexual relations, or same-sex marriages, or impurity with self or others, or immodesty, or adultery, or any other grave sins. As Holy Scripture says:
“The sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God!” (Psalm 9:17-18) … “For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, then there is left no sacrifice for sins, but only a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume!” (Hebrews 10:26-27) … “God will give vengeance in a flame of fire to them who know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord!” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) … “If God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower Hell … and spared not the original world … Then the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented. And especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, audacious, self willed, they fear not to bring in sects, blaspheming!” (2 Peter 2:4, 2:9-10) … “For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5) … “Know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself!” (1 John 3:15) … “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, impurity, immodesty, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, jealousy, fits of rage, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envies, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone!” (Apocalypse 21:8) … “For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment! For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:36-37).
Loss of Sense of Sin Lead to Loss of Soul
One recent pope after another―from Pope Pius XII onwards―has complained about the loss of the sense of sin in both the world at large and in the Catholic Church. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday July 5th & Tuesday July 6th
Article 4
From the Illusion of Independence, Back to the Reality of Dependence
Monday July 5th & Tuesday July 6th
Article 4
From the Illusion of Independence, Back to the Reality of Dependence
The Dream is Over! Time to Wake-Up!
Independence Day came and went! Nothing changed! We are still slaves of the world! We are no more independent today than we were yesterday! Independence is an illusion, a fairy tale, an illogical state that has been hyped-up to seem real, but is no more real than Superman, Batman, Bigfoot, Dracula, Frankenstein and Mickey Mouse! Independence is just as possible as it is for a cow to jump over the moon! Independence is merely wishful thinking, a vain dream, a non-reality. For anyone to claim that they are independent is as foolish and brash as it would be for anyone to claim that they are God! In fact, only God is independent―the rest of creation is dependent upon God!
There is nobody in this world―even in the natural sphere―who is independent, even though they will brashly argue that they are! There is nobody who can do everything without the need of anyone else. The billionaires are not independent―for they need doctors to cure them or at least maintain their health; they need servants to clean their mansions and palaces; gardeners to cut the acres and acres of lawns and tend to the trees and plants; they need security guards to guard them; they need advisers to guide them; they need lawyers to defend them or look after legal issues; they need friends to socialize with; they need plumbers, electricians, maintenance crews, mechanics to fix their luxurious cars and perhaps clean them too; etc. All of that consists of human dependence―but those billionaires also depend on non-human things, such as their smartphones, computers, expensive wristwatches, cars, household appliances, central-heating, air-conditioning, solar panels, and supplies of gas, electricity and water, etc. So not even billionaires are independent―even though they act as though they are.
Go On! Try Being Truly Independent!
If you want independence, then go tell your doctor to get lost, tell your plumber, electrician, car mechanic that you will no longer need them―for you are independent of them and will no longer depend on them. Take you phone back to the phone company and cancel your account and have them shutdown your internet service―because you are independent of them and will no longer depend on them. Throw out your television, because you will not depend on anyone or anything for entertainment, since you are independent. Stop going to the stores for food, clothes, medicine and household goods―you are independent now, and you will be growing your own food, making your own clothes, and making all your households goods and furniture from scratch. Cut-off you gas, electricity and water supplies, for your now independent and you will find your own gas, make your electricity and find your own water. Cancel your trash collection contract and tell them that you are now independent and will be disposing of your own trash. Since you will have no running water coming out of your pipes, you will have to find alternative ways to wash the dishes, wash your laundry, wash yourself and dispose of your excrement and urine―because you are now independent. Take the children out of school and tell the teachers that you are independent now, and that you will no longer depend on them for the education of your children.
Wake-Up to Reality!
“Without Me, you can do nothing!” said Our Lord (John 5:15)―so where is independence to found in that statement? What is it about the word “nothing” that we do not understand? “Nothing” means “not-a-single-thing, zero, zilch, nichts, niets, nada, ništa, nic, nekas” ― or whatever other language may be your native tongue. When Our Lord says “Without Me, you can do nothing!” He means “You cannot be independent from Me!” As Scripture says: “For in Him we live, and move, and are!” (Acts 17:28).
“Jesus said: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!’” (John 14:6)―to which Scripture adds: “There is no other name, under Heaven, given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself said: “For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24). So how are you going to save your soul independently of Him?
All that we have comes from God―as Holy Scripture testifies many times: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made!” (John 1:1-3). All things were made by Him―where does man find independence in all of that? Nowhere! There is only dependence to be found―dependence upon God. As Scripture says: “Know ye that the Lord He is God! He made us, and not we ourselves!” (Psalm 99:3).
Again Scripture adds: “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17).
We Are Servants―Not Independent Operators
“A vain man is lifted up into pride and thinks himself born free” (Job 11:12). We are not independent, but we are servants or even slaves! We must choose whom we wish to serve―to serve God and Heaven, or to serve Satan and his princedom, the world. Our Lord speaks of us as being servants and not independent beings―telling us that, as servants, we cannot serve two masters: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
As Christians and Catholics, we should seek to be free and independent from the world, so that we can be servants or slaves of God―yet the worldly folk seek to be free and independent from God, so that they can be servants and slaves of the world. And who rules the world? Who is prince of this world? Satan. As Jesus said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” … The prince of this world is already judged! … Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 14:30; 16:11; 12:31). Our Lord seeks to give us happiness in Heaven, not on Earth: “Know the difference between My service, and the service of a kingdom of the Earth!” (2 Paralipomenon 12:8) … “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36).
Satan tempts us away from the service of God by dangling in front of us the power, pleasures and treasures that world can offer―Satan tried to tempt Our Lord the same way: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him” (Matthew 4:8-10). Yes, “Him only shalt thou serve” ― which rules out all independence. Likewise, in response to the questions “Who made you?” and “Why did God make you?” the Catechism answers: “God made me!” and “God made me to know Him, love Him and SERVE Him in this world!”
Yes, God made us! We did not make ourselves! “Know ye that the Lord, He is God! He made us, and not we ourselves! We are his people!” (Psalm 99:3). Having made us, He owns us―we are not independent of Him. We live in the world that He created―we did not create the world. We breathe the air that He created―we do make our own air. We drink the water that He created and continuously recycles―we cannot do that ourselves. He made the bodies that we walk around in―making them able to propagate. He made each and every soul that inhabits those bodies. He made the soil, the plants, the trees and all other things that supply our food. He made the sun that enables those things to grow.
We are SERVANTS of God and not independent operators. If we choose to become independent to God (which can never really happen anyway― except through the illusion and delusion of our illogical minds), then we automatically become servants or slaves of the world and its prince, Satan. Our Lord has clearly indicated that implication, by saying: “He that is not with Me, is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Just as Our Lord says: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” ― we could apply that to the prayer, the Our Father, which we should be praying many times daily. “Why do you call Me ‘Father’ and why do you say to Me, ‘Thy will be done!’ and then go and ignore My will and fail to obey Me, your ‘Father’?” The Our Father is a prayer that admits dependence, pledges obedience and service―it is the very anti-thesis of independence.
Likewise with the Hail Mary―we shown our dependence upon Our Lady when we say: “Pray for us sinners!” Hey! If we are independent―then we have no need of Mary! But independently of her, we have little hope of Mercy―for she is the Mother of Mercy, of whom the saints say the following. St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants [that is to say, “independent”, for a servant is dependent], O Mary, shall perish.” St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service [in other words, those who choose to be independent] of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through [and not independently of] the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
The Liturgy of Dependence
A quick overview of the Liturgy of Holy Mother Church will clearly show a constant spirit of dependence upon God. Here are some excerpts―for brevity’s sake, they are only a line, even though many lines could have been quoted from each day.
“O Lord, come that we may be rescued by Thy protection from the threatening dangers” (1st Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Give ear, O Thou that rulest” (2nd Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Enlighten the darkness of our minds!” (3rd Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Grant us the help of Thy heavenly power!” (Ember Wednesday in Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O almighty God, Who dost govern all things!” (2nd Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O almighty God, look mercifully upon our weakness and protect us!” (3rd Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O God, Who knowest the frailty of our nature, grant us health of mind and body!” (4th Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord, keep safe Thy household, since their only hope is to lean on Thy grace!” (5th Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“Thou art a helper in time of tribulation!” (Septuagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“We put not our trust in anything we do!” (Sexagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Be a protector and a house of refuge, O God!” (Quinquagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Grant us help, O Lord!” (Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee!” (Thursday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“The Lord became my helper … Thou hast upheld me!” (Friday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Serve the Lord with fear and embrace discipline!” (Saturday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Abide under the protection of the God of Heaven!” (1st Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Thou hast been our refuge!” (Tuesday after 1st Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Deliver from all our necessities, O God! Forgive us our sins and guide our wayward hearts!” (Ember Wednesday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Deliver me from my necessities, O Lord!” (Ember Friday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord, in Thee have I put my trust―save me!” (Ember Saturday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul! In Thee I put my trust!” (2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Be Thou my helper and deliver, O Lord!” (Monday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Cast thy care upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee!” (Tuesday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord my God, do not depart from me, come and help me!” (Wednesday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O God, come to my assistance! O Lord make haste to help me!” (Thursday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“In my trouble I cried to the Lord!” (Friday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Pluck my feet out of the snare and have mercy on me―for I am alone and poor!” (3rd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
We will stop here―at the 3rd Sunday of Lent, which not even the halfway point of the Liturgical year. So where is INDEPENDENCE? Only in Hell! In Heaven there will only be TOTAL DEPENDENCE! So we had better start getting used to DEPENDENCE here below! What have been the fruits of independence? You would have to be a liar of gross proportions to try and pass-off independence as having many good fruits! Independence is a virus that creates more and more independence―thus breaking up more and more the unity that comes from God. Adam and Eve chose to be independent from God and rebelled against His commands―the result was that nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and the harmony that once existed to perfection, was now seriously damaged. Parents rebel against authority, only to find that soon their children rebel against them. As you sow, so shall you reap!
The Mass of the Dependence
What is true of the Liturgy is also true of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is daily offered as means of help to the independent and fallen human race. From the very beginning of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and right to the very end of Mass, we state our DEPENDENCE upon God. Here are just a few extracts from the Ordinary of the Mass:
“Thou, O God, art my strength!” (Prayers at the Foot of the Altar). If we were independent then we would not need God to give us strength―we would have sufficient strength of ourselves.
“Our help is in the Name of the Lord!” (Prayers at the Foot of the Altar). If you are independent, then you don’t need any help.
“Grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins … and grant us Thy salvation” (Confiteor). The word “grant” implies dependence. An independent person would not depend upon God to grant these things. How can you obtain pardon, mercy and salvation independently of God?
“Lord have mercy, etc. Christ have mercy, etc. Lord have mercy, etc.” (Kyrie). We depend on God’s compassion and mercy for our salvation―an independent person cannot forgive themselves and grant themselves mercy.
“We give Thee thanks…” (Gloria). We give thanks for having receive something we did not have and for something we need. We need God and we need His mercy, no matter how independent we think we are.
“I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things, visible and invisible … Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from Heaven.” (Credo). We live in a world that is God’s creation and not our own creation. All the things in the world that we use were ultimately made by God, or made by someone else who used the things that God had already made. That is called dependence upon God and not independence from God.
“Accept, almighty and eternal God, this unspotted host … for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences … that it may avail me for salvation unto life everlasting.” (Offertory). No matter how independent we may imagine ourselves to be, we cannot forgive our own sins, nor can we hope for salvation by our own independent efforts.
“Grant that … we may be made partakers of His divine nature” (Offertory). Once again the word “grant” implies a dependence and need for something we do not have.
“We offer Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching Thy clemency … for our salvation!” (Offertory). What chalice? A chalice of our deeds and merits? No! The chalice of Christ’s Passion and Death which has earned for us a chance―not a guarantee―of salvation. Independently of Christ’s Passion and Death there is no salvation for us.
“Receive this oblation which we make to Thee, in memory of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ … that it may avail unto our salvation!” (Offertory). Once again―the “oblation” is not OUR oblation, but the oblation of Christ made on our behalf―which obviously points to dependence, not independence.
“Accept and bless these gifts, presents, holy unspotted Sacrifices, which in the first place we offer Thee for Thy holy Catholic Church to which vouchsafe to grant peace, as also to preserve, unite, and govern it throughout the world” (Canon of the Mass). Not even the Church is independent, but it is governed by God and is dependent upon God for peace and unity.
“That we may in all things be defended by the help of Thy protection … Dispose our days in Thy peace” (Canon of the Mass). An independent person needs no protection, especially not in “all things”! Asking God to “dispose” means asking Him to arrange things, which obviously means dependence.
“We offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty of Thine own gifts, bestowed upon us” (Canon of the Mass). Notice that we are not offering our own independent gifts, but gifts that God given us to offer―which, again, shows a dependence on God.
“Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!” (Our Father). We are saying that we prefer doing His will rather than doing our own independent will.
“Forgive us our trespasses!” (Our Father). No matter how independent we think we are, we are incapable of forgiving ourselves.
“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil … Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present, and to come! … Through the assistance of Thy mercy may we be always free from sin, and secure from all disturbance!”” (Our Father and the prayer that follows it). Neither can we overcome temptation and evil without depending upon the help of God’s Providence and His grace.
“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!” (Agnus Dei). We cannot take away our own sins, even less so the sins of the whole world! It is upon Christ that hope and depend upon for that mercy!
“Look not upon my sins, but the Faith of Thy Church … deliver me by this Thy most sacred Body and Blood, from all my iniquities and from all evils; and make me always cleave to Thy commandments, and suffer me never to be separated from Thee … Let not the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but let it, through Thy mercy, become a safeguard and remedy, both for soul and body” (Prayers after the Agnus Dei). These are not the words of an independent person, but of someone greatly dependent on God’s help and mercy.
“I confess to almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!” (Confiteor before Communion). For the second time in the Mass we once again confess our guilt before God! For an independent person that is hard to do―for independence almost invariably is accompanied by pride.
“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world!” (Before the Domine non sum dingus). Yes, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, takes away the sins of the world and not we ourselves. We are dependent upon Christ for forgiveness and mercy! When it comes to sin, that is what independence achieves by itself―all that we are capable of doing with God’s help and assistance and preservation is to sin, sin and sin again. That is ultimate fruit of “going it alone”.
Finally, the Last Gospel, is like a crowning moment as a reminder of our dependence upon God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made! In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men; and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was the true Light, which enlightens every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them He gave power to become sons of God, to them that believe in His Name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Our Lord Wants Our Dependence
In that wonderful little book by Fr. Robert Gottemoller, Words of Love, which is a compilation of extracts from three other biographers of three mystic souls―Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923), Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity (1901-1942)and Sr. Consolata Betrone (1903-1946)―we read of Our Lord’s desire to be “center-stage” and being “allowed to act” in our lives, with ourselves taking a secondary role of just loving Him, suffering for Him, and allowing Him to run things according to His will and not our will. Here are some of those extracts:
“As you are very small, you must let yourself be controlled and guided by My fatherly hand which is powerful and infinitely strong .... I will mold you as is best for My glory and for souls .... Do not fear, for I am looking after you with jealous care, such care as the tenderest of mothers takes of her little child.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 180).
“Rely on Me with closed eyes, without anxiety, content ... yes, like a babe sleeping in its mother’s arms. Are you not like babes carried in the arms of God?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 265).
“Consolata, you know that I am thinking of everything, that I am providing for everything down to the smallest detail. Therefore, do not let one thought enter your mind, not one outside interest.... Have no fear! I am taking care of you! You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … You see, Consolata, sanctity means self-forgetfulness in everything, in thoughts, desires, words ... You have only one duty―to obey Me. I require a docile will which permits Me to act … Let Me do everything! You will see that I will do everything, and do it well! … I delight to work in a soul. You see, I love to do everything Myself; and from this soul I ask only that she love Me … Allow Me to do it all! I will do everything; but you should, at every moment, give Me what I ask for with much love!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 109, 153-154).
“Do not worry, Josefa, about what you can and what you cannot do. You know very well that you can do nothing. But I am He who can and will do all. Yes, I will do all, even what seems to you impossible.... I will supply for all that you lack or cannot do. I ask you only for your liberty. All I need is to possess your will, for this I cannot find a substitute.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 401, 1st ed.).
[Words of St. Madeleine-Sophie Barat to Josefa]: “I come to tell you this from Him ... Jesus Himself is arranging everything, and difficult as it may appear to creatures, He ordains each event in the way best for His plans.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 433).
“I want what you do not want, but I can do what you cannot do. It is not for you to choose, but to surrender.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 78).
“Remember this: Everything is a means in My Hands; I make all work together to fulfill My will.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 132).
“Let Me act; you are not competent to do anything―it is not your province.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 114).
“The most important work is not that which you do, it is that which you allow Me to do among you … Your value does not lie in your personal capabilities, however brilliant they may be, but in your capacity to receive your Creator and allow Him to live and shine through you! … “Oh, if you would leave Me to act; I would splendidly transform each one of your lives. But you oppose Me by your desires, your tastes, your resistance. My omnipotent Love is limited by the limit of your generosity! … All souls could rapidly attain to the plenitude of their sanctity if they allowed Me to act, without resisting! … Most religious give Me their work and their talents—I have sufficient talents at My disposal; what I desire is the soul, to make it My place of rest and of work, to live anew in it in humanity. Yes―My place of work―because a soul that would give herself to Me without reserve, how I would use her for the glory of God and of the Church, for the salvation of other souls, to a degree that you cannot imagine!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 31, 90, 99, 608, 308).
[Sr. Josefa Menendez herself says]: “There is but one thing to do―love and abandon oneself! Jesus Himself will take charge of all the rest!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 27).
Independence Day came and went! Nothing changed! We are still slaves of the world! We are no more independent today than we were yesterday! Independence is an illusion, a fairy tale, an illogical state that has been hyped-up to seem real, but is no more real than Superman, Batman, Bigfoot, Dracula, Frankenstein and Mickey Mouse! Independence is just as possible as it is for a cow to jump over the moon! Independence is merely wishful thinking, a vain dream, a non-reality. For anyone to claim that they are independent is as foolish and brash as it would be for anyone to claim that they are God! In fact, only God is independent―the rest of creation is dependent upon God!
There is nobody in this world―even in the natural sphere―who is independent, even though they will brashly argue that they are! There is nobody who can do everything without the need of anyone else. The billionaires are not independent―for they need doctors to cure them or at least maintain their health; they need servants to clean their mansions and palaces; gardeners to cut the acres and acres of lawns and tend to the trees and plants; they need security guards to guard them; they need advisers to guide them; they need lawyers to defend them or look after legal issues; they need friends to socialize with; they need plumbers, electricians, maintenance crews, mechanics to fix their luxurious cars and perhaps clean them too; etc. All of that consists of human dependence―but those billionaires also depend on non-human things, such as their smartphones, computers, expensive wristwatches, cars, household appliances, central-heating, air-conditioning, solar panels, and supplies of gas, electricity and water, etc. So not even billionaires are independent―even though they act as though they are.
Go On! Try Being Truly Independent!
If you want independence, then go tell your doctor to get lost, tell your plumber, electrician, car mechanic that you will no longer need them―for you are independent of them and will no longer depend on them. Take you phone back to the phone company and cancel your account and have them shutdown your internet service―because you are independent of them and will no longer depend on them. Throw out your television, because you will not depend on anyone or anything for entertainment, since you are independent. Stop going to the stores for food, clothes, medicine and household goods―you are independent now, and you will be growing your own food, making your own clothes, and making all your households goods and furniture from scratch. Cut-off you gas, electricity and water supplies, for your now independent and you will find your own gas, make your electricity and find your own water. Cancel your trash collection contract and tell them that you are now independent and will be disposing of your own trash. Since you will have no running water coming out of your pipes, you will have to find alternative ways to wash the dishes, wash your laundry, wash yourself and dispose of your excrement and urine―because you are now independent. Take the children out of school and tell the teachers that you are independent now, and that you will no longer depend on them for the education of your children.
Wake-Up to Reality!
“Without Me, you can do nothing!” said Our Lord (John 5:15)―so where is independence to found in that statement? What is it about the word “nothing” that we do not understand? “Nothing” means “not-a-single-thing, zero, zilch, nichts, niets, nada, ništa, nic, nekas” ― or whatever other language may be your native tongue. When Our Lord says “Without Me, you can do nothing!” He means “You cannot be independent from Me!” As Scripture says: “For in Him we live, and move, and are!” (Acts 17:28).
“Jesus said: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!’” (John 14:6)―to which Scripture adds: “There is no other name, under Heaven, given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself said: “For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24). So how are you going to save your soul independently of Him?
All that we have comes from God―as Holy Scripture testifies many times: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made!” (John 1:1-3). All things were made by Him―where does man find independence in all of that? Nowhere! There is only dependence to be found―dependence upon God. As Scripture says: “Know ye that the Lord He is God! He made us, and not we ourselves!” (Psalm 99:3).
Again Scripture adds: “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17).
We Are Servants―Not Independent Operators
“A vain man is lifted up into pride and thinks himself born free” (Job 11:12). We are not independent, but we are servants or even slaves! We must choose whom we wish to serve―to serve God and Heaven, or to serve Satan and his princedom, the world. Our Lord speaks of us as being servants and not independent beings―telling us that, as servants, we cannot serve two masters: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
As Christians and Catholics, we should seek to be free and independent from the world, so that we can be servants or slaves of God―yet the worldly folk seek to be free and independent from God, so that they can be servants and slaves of the world. And who rules the world? Who is prince of this world? Satan. As Jesus said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” … The prince of this world is already judged! … Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 14:30; 16:11; 12:31). Our Lord seeks to give us happiness in Heaven, not on Earth: “Know the difference between My service, and the service of a kingdom of the Earth!” (2 Paralipomenon 12:8) … “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36).
Satan tempts us away from the service of God by dangling in front of us the power, pleasures and treasures that world can offer―Satan tried to tempt Our Lord the same way: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him” (Matthew 4:8-10). Yes, “Him only shalt thou serve” ― which rules out all independence. Likewise, in response to the questions “Who made you?” and “Why did God make you?” the Catechism answers: “God made me!” and “God made me to know Him, love Him and SERVE Him in this world!”
Yes, God made us! We did not make ourselves! “Know ye that the Lord, He is God! He made us, and not we ourselves! We are his people!” (Psalm 99:3). Having made us, He owns us―we are not independent of Him. We live in the world that He created―we did not create the world. We breathe the air that He created―we do make our own air. We drink the water that He created and continuously recycles―we cannot do that ourselves. He made the bodies that we walk around in―making them able to propagate. He made each and every soul that inhabits those bodies. He made the soil, the plants, the trees and all other things that supply our food. He made the sun that enables those things to grow.
We are SERVANTS of God and not independent operators. If we choose to become independent to God (which can never really happen anyway― except through the illusion and delusion of our illogical minds), then we automatically become servants or slaves of the world and its prince, Satan. Our Lord has clearly indicated that implication, by saying: “He that is not with Me, is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Just as Our Lord says: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” ― we could apply that to the prayer, the Our Father, which we should be praying many times daily. “Why do you call Me ‘Father’ and why do you say to Me, ‘Thy will be done!’ and then go and ignore My will and fail to obey Me, your ‘Father’?” The Our Father is a prayer that admits dependence, pledges obedience and service―it is the very anti-thesis of independence.
Likewise with the Hail Mary―we shown our dependence upon Our Lady when we say: “Pray for us sinners!” Hey! If we are independent―then we have no need of Mary! But independently of her, we have little hope of Mercy―for she is the Mother of Mercy, of whom the saints say the following. St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants [that is to say, “independent”, for a servant is dependent], O Mary, shall perish.” St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service [in other words, those who choose to be independent] of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through [and not independently of] the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
The Liturgy of Dependence
A quick overview of the Liturgy of Holy Mother Church will clearly show a constant spirit of dependence upon God. Here are some excerpts―for brevity’s sake, they are only a line, even though many lines could have been quoted from each day.
“O Lord, come that we may be rescued by Thy protection from the threatening dangers” (1st Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Give ear, O Thou that rulest” (2nd Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Enlighten the darkness of our minds!” (3rd Sunday Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Grant us the help of Thy heavenly power!” (Ember Wednesday in Advent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O almighty God, Who dost govern all things!” (2nd Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O almighty God, look mercifully upon our weakness and protect us!” (3rd Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O God, Who knowest the frailty of our nature, grant us health of mind and body!” (4th Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord, keep safe Thy household, since their only hope is to lean on Thy grace!” (5th Sunday after Epiphany). Is that independence or dependence?
“Thou art a helper in time of tribulation!” (Septuagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“We put not our trust in anything we do!” (Sexagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Be a protector and a house of refuge, O God!” (Quinquagesima Sunday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Grant us help, O Lord!” (Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee!” (Thursday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“The Lord became my helper … Thou hast upheld me!” (Friday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Serve the Lord with fear and embrace discipline!” (Saturday after Ash Wednesday). Is that independence or dependence?
“Abide under the protection of the God of Heaven!” (1st Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Thou hast been our refuge!” (Tuesday after 1st Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Deliver from all our necessities, O God! Forgive us our sins and guide our wayward hearts!” (Ember Wednesday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Deliver me from my necessities, O Lord!” (Ember Friday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord, in Thee have I put my trust―save me!” (Ember Saturday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul! In Thee I put my trust!” (2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Be Thou my helper and deliver, O Lord!” (Monday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Cast thy care upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee!” (Tuesday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O Lord my God, do not depart from me, come and help me!” (Wednesday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“O God, come to my assistance! O Lord make haste to help me!” (Thursday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“In my trouble I cried to the Lord!” (Friday after 2nd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
“Pluck my feet out of the snare and have mercy on me―for I am alone and poor!” (3rd Sunday of Lent). Is that independence or dependence?
We will stop here―at the 3rd Sunday of Lent, which not even the halfway point of the Liturgical year. So where is INDEPENDENCE? Only in Hell! In Heaven there will only be TOTAL DEPENDENCE! So we had better start getting used to DEPENDENCE here below! What have been the fruits of independence? You would have to be a liar of gross proportions to try and pass-off independence as having many good fruits! Independence is a virus that creates more and more independence―thus breaking up more and more the unity that comes from God. Adam and Eve chose to be independent from God and rebelled against His commands―the result was that nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and the harmony that once existed to perfection, was now seriously damaged. Parents rebel against authority, only to find that soon their children rebel against them. As you sow, so shall you reap!
The Mass of the Dependence
What is true of the Liturgy is also true of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is daily offered as means of help to the independent and fallen human race. From the very beginning of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and right to the very end of Mass, we state our DEPENDENCE upon God. Here are just a few extracts from the Ordinary of the Mass:
“Thou, O God, art my strength!” (Prayers at the Foot of the Altar). If we were independent then we would not need God to give us strength―we would have sufficient strength of ourselves.
“Our help is in the Name of the Lord!” (Prayers at the Foot of the Altar). If you are independent, then you don’t need any help.
“Grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins … and grant us Thy salvation” (Confiteor). The word “grant” implies dependence. An independent person would not depend upon God to grant these things. How can you obtain pardon, mercy and salvation independently of God?
“Lord have mercy, etc. Christ have mercy, etc. Lord have mercy, etc.” (Kyrie). We depend on God’s compassion and mercy for our salvation―an independent person cannot forgive themselves and grant themselves mercy.
“We give Thee thanks…” (Gloria). We give thanks for having receive something we did not have and for something we need. We need God and we need His mercy, no matter how independent we think we are.
“I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things, visible and invisible … Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from Heaven.” (Credo). We live in a world that is God’s creation and not our own creation. All the things in the world that we use were ultimately made by God, or made by someone else who used the things that God had already made. That is called dependence upon God and not independence from God.
“Accept, almighty and eternal God, this unspotted host … for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences … that it may avail me for salvation unto life everlasting.” (Offertory). No matter how independent we may imagine ourselves to be, we cannot forgive our own sins, nor can we hope for salvation by our own independent efforts.
“Grant that … we may be made partakers of His divine nature” (Offertory). Once again the word “grant” implies a dependence and need for something we do not have.
“We offer Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching Thy clemency … for our salvation!” (Offertory). What chalice? A chalice of our deeds and merits? No! The chalice of Christ’s Passion and Death which has earned for us a chance―not a guarantee―of salvation. Independently of Christ’s Passion and Death there is no salvation for us.
“Receive this oblation which we make to Thee, in memory of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ … that it may avail unto our salvation!” (Offertory). Once again―the “oblation” is not OUR oblation, but the oblation of Christ made on our behalf―which obviously points to dependence, not independence.
“Accept and bless these gifts, presents, holy unspotted Sacrifices, which in the first place we offer Thee for Thy holy Catholic Church to which vouchsafe to grant peace, as also to preserve, unite, and govern it throughout the world” (Canon of the Mass). Not even the Church is independent, but it is governed by God and is dependent upon God for peace and unity.
“That we may in all things be defended by the help of Thy protection … Dispose our days in Thy peace” (Canon of the Mass). An independent person needs no protection, especially not in “all things”! Asking God to “dispose” means asking Him to arrange things, which obviously means dependence.
“We offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty of Thine own gifts, bestowed upon us” (Canon of the Mass). Notice that we are not offering our own independent gifts, but gifts that God given us to offer―which, again, shows a dependence on God.
“Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!” (Our Father). We are saying that we prefer doing His will rather than doing our own independent will.
“Forgive us our trespasses!” (Our Father). No matter how independent we think we are, we are incapable of forgiving ourselves.
“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil … Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present, and to come! … Through the assistance of Thy mercy may we be always free from sin, and secure from all disturbance!”” (Our Father and the prayer that follows it). Neither can we overcome temptation and evil without depending upon the help of God’s Providence and His grace.
“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!” (Agnus Dei). We cannot take away our own sins, even less so the sins of the whole world! It is upon Christ that hope and depend upon for that mercy!
“Look not upon my sins, but the Faith of Thy Church … deliver me by this Thy most sacred Body and Blood, from all my iniquities and from all evils; and make me always cleave to Thy commandments, and suffer me never to be separated from Thee … Let not the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but let it, through Thy mercy, become a safeguard and remedy, both for soul and body” (Prayers after the Agnus Dei). These are not the words of an independent person, but of someone greatly dependent on God’s help and mercy.
“I confess to almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!” (Confiteor before Communion). For the second time in the Mass we once again confess our guilt before God! For an independent person that is hard to do―for independence almost invariably is accompanied by pride.
“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world!” (Before the Domine non sum dingus). Yes, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, takes away the sins of the world and not we ourselves. We are dependent upon Christ for forgiveness and mercy! When it comes to sin, that is what independence achieves by itself―all that we are capable of doing with God’s help and assistance and preservation is to sin, sin and sin again. That is ultimate fruit of “going it alone”.
Finally, the Last Gospel, is like a crowning moment as a reminder of our dependence upon God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made! In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men; and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was the true Light, which enlightens every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them He gave power to become sons of God, to them that believe in His Name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Our Lord Wants Our Dependence
In that wonderful little book by Fr. Robert Gottemoller, Words of Love, which is a compilation of extracts from three other biographers of three mystic souls―Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923), Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity (1901-1942)and Sr. Consolata Betrone (1903-1946)―we read of Our Lord’s desire to be “center-stage” and being “allowed to act” in our lives, with ourselves taking a secondary role of just loving Him, suffering for Him, and allowing Him to run things according to His will and not our will. Here are some of those extracts:
“As you are very small, you must let yourself be controlled and guided by My fatherly hand which is powerful and infinitely strong .... I will mold you as is best for My glory and for souls .... Do not fear, for I am looking after you with jealous care, such care as the tenderest of mothers takes of her little child.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 180).
“Rely on Me with closed eyes, without anxiety, content ... yes, like a babe sleeping in its mother’s arms. Are you not like babes carried in the arms of God?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 265).
“Consolata, you know that I am thinking of everything, that I am providing for everything down to the smallest detail. Therefore, do not let one thought enter your mind, not one outside interest.... Have no fear! I am taking care of you! You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … You see, Consolata, sanctity means self-forgetfulness in everything, in thoughts, desires, words ... You have only one duty―to obey Me. I require a docile will which permits Me to act … Let Me do everything! You will see that I will do everything, and do it well! … I delight to work in a soul. You see, I love to do everything Myself; and from this soul I ask only that she love Me … Allow Me to do it all! I will do everything; but you should, at every moment, give Me what I ask for with much love!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 109, 153-154).
“Do not worry, Josefa, about what you can and what you cannot do. You know very well that you can do nothing. But I am He who can and will do all. Yes, I will do all, even what seems to you impossible.... I will supply for all that you lack or cannot do. I ask you only for your liberty. All I need is to possess your will, for this I cannot find a substitute.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 401, 1st ed.).
[Words of St. Madeleine-Sophie Barat to Josefa]: “I come to tell you this from Him ... Jesus Himself is arranging everything, and difficult as it may appear to creatures, He ordains each event in the way best for His plans.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 433).
“I want what you do not want, but I can do what you cannot do. It is not for you to choose, but to surrender.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 78).
“Remember this: Everything is a means in My Hands; I make all work together to fulfill My will.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 132).
“Let Me act; you are not competent to do anything―it is not your province.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 114).
“The most important work is not that which you do, it is that which you allow Me to do among you … Your value does not lie in your personal capabilities, however brilliant they may be, but in your capacity to receive your Creator and allow Him to live and shine through you! … “Oh, if you would leave Me to act; I would splendidly transform each one of your lives. But you oppose Me by your desires, your tastes, your resistance. My omnipotent Love is limited by the limit of your generosity! … All souls could rapidly attain to the plenitude of their sanctity if they allowed Me to act, without resisting! … Most religious give Me their work and their talents—I have sufficient talents at My disposal; what I desire is the soul, to make it My place of rest and of work, to live anew in it in humanity. Yes―My place of work―because a soul that would give herself to Me without reserve, how I would use her for the glory of God and of the Church, for the salvation of other souls, to a degree that you cannot imagine!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 31, 90, 99, 608, 308).
[Sr. Josefa Menendez herself says]: “There is but one thing to do―love and abandon oneself! Jesus Himself will take charge of all the rest!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 27).
Sunday July 4th
Article 3
Independence Day or Sindependence Day?
Article 3
Independence Day or Sindependence Day?
An Independent Month!
Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Divide and Conquer
The Latin phrase “Divide et impera” ― “Divide and Conquer” or “Divide and Rule” ― is as old as politics and war. The “divide-your-enemy-so-you-can-rule” approach is attributed to Julius Caesar — he successfully applied it to conquer Gaul (France) twenty-two centuries ago. But Julius Caesar wasn’t the first, nor was he the last, to use it. You could even say the “divide-your-enemy-so-you-can-rule” approach is as old as Satan himself―for that was Satan’s tactic against God in dragging innumerable angels with him into Hell, and it was his tactic against Adam and Eve, in creating a division between them and God, thus conquering them and getting them to fall into sin. You could say that Satan was the prototype of modern-day politician―full of lies while pretending to speak the truth. The “Catholic” Italian historian, politician and diplomat, Nicolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), famously (or infamously) said: “Politics has no relationship with morality” ― and Machiavelli put that theory into practice in his own life. Perhaps Machiavelli could be cast in the role of patron “saint” of modern-day politicians
The ultimate objective of the “divide-and-conquer” approach is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up groups into smaller and less powerful ones―thus divide the opinion of people in a nation; divide the opinion of people within a state; divide the opinion of people in Church, or in the parish, or in the family, or the workplace, etc. Conquerors will do whatever it takes to win. Creating a common enemy is the most usual way to divide people. Create a mutual enemy (like Covid) and lead a crusade to conquer it. Turn it into a life or death situation and the resulting sense of urgency or panic unleashes unconditional support for your plans to conquer it. Conquering is all that matters―morality doesn’t matter―you can lie, cheat, exaggerate, misrepresent, threaten, bully, blackmail, etc. ― winning at-any-cost is the goal. Does that sound familiar? Just look at the Plannedemic rhetoric and manipulation!
Hitler said: “Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself.” The delusional Hitler used the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ approach as an excuse to invade most European countries — thus showing that conquerors succeed when they create opposition and antagonism between people. Communism employs the same tactic, time and time again!
Divisions are usually an illusion for both the leader and their followers―they create a fictional reality. Conquerors and tyrants are compulsive storytellers — they use every opportunity to feed fear, panic, anger and violence. However, even though deceiving tactics work in the short-term — in the long run, people end up separating fiction from reality ― but by then it might be too late! They have already been conquered and enslaved―or fooled and jabbed! To again quote the so-called “Catholic”, Nicolò Machiavelli: “One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.”
That is how most of the revolutions began―by creating division and conflict within a nation, a state, a city, or group. That is also how the Protestant Reformation (actually, Protestant Revolution) began. The “Catholic” Italian historian, politician and diplomat, Nicolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), famously (or infamously) said: “Politics has no relationship with morality.” His own political life reflected what he said―since he showed great moral laxity as a politician. Machiavelli believed that religion was man-made, and that the value of religion only lay in its contribution to social order, but insisted that the rules of morality must be put aside if security or politics requires it. Machiavelli had a special dislike for the Holy See as a temporal power, as he saw in it the greatest obstacle to Italian unity. He did not disguise his dislike for Christianity which―by exalting humility, meekness, and patience―had, he said, weakened the social and patriotic instincts of mankind. Machiavelli’s concern with Christianity as a sect was that it makes men weak and inactive, delivering politics into the hands of cruel and wicked men without a fight. The term “Machiavellian” became a synonym for facts marked by cunning or bad faith.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the Church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa.
It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). This is enticement and allure to independence: “In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so of course we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites wanted independence from God. From the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (theocracy means God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen the royal office and subjected its clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science? Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of whom?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, which is a part of the package of Original Sin and all sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences! The ultimate bad consequence of the bad idea of independence is Hell—as the independently minded Lucifer and his independent minded angels found out.
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
The Independence of Liberalism
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
The Cure for Modern Independence is Christ’s Yoke of Dependence
As the famous religious axiom says: “Servire est Regnare” meaning “To Serve is to Reign”. The only real, lasting solution is to take up, once again, the yoke of Christ. “Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light” (Matthew 11:29-30). The ultimate yoke or dependence is that of the religious life (if properly lived) and Our Lady makes this clear to us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
It is difficult for us to grasp the concept of obedience because we have been educated in a tradition that glorifies independence.
Ever since the South America’s nations gained independence from Spain, governments have struggled with the Catholic hierarchy over the role of the church in relation to the state. Throughout the nineteenth century, liberal politicians and intellectuals—emboldened by Enlightenment ideas about the separation of church and state—tried to restrict the powers, property, and privileges that the clergy had held since the colonial period. Conservatives, by contrast, tried to preserve a central role for the church in the public sphere, especially in education. As a result, the institutional church tended to support conservative governments in the nineteenth century, even though the majority of the Catholic populus—and often, the lower-level Catholic clergy—were more Liberal.
Since the 1990s, Latin Americans have become more socially liberal on issues such as same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and Uruguay in 2013. Mexico City, which hosts an enormous gay-pride parade every year, legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay all allow same-sex marriages, while Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama are in various stages of discussions that will inevitably lead to the acceptance of same-sex marriages. Of the other major South American countries, only Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela still reject same-sex marriages in their legislation―but they are experiencing increased protests and demonstrations against their godly stance.
Although abortion is still widely restricted across the region (and is completely banned in five countries), Mexico City legalized abortion in 2007, and Uruguay voted to legalize abortion in 2012. Argentina came close to legalizing abortion, but it held off for the time being. Guatemala, Venezuela, and Paraguay allow abortion to save the life of the pregnant person; Brazil, Chile, and Panama have similar laws, but also allow abortion in the case of rape. Finally, the Church’s position on contraception is widely ignored in most countries, some of which have initiated state-sponsored programs that distribute contraceptives.
Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Divide and Conquer
The Latin phrase “Divide et impera” ― “Divide and Conquer” or “Divide and Rule” ― is as old as politics and war. The “divide-your-enemy-so-you-can-rule” approach is attributed to Julius Caesar — he successfully applied it to conquer Gaul (France) twenty-two centuries ago. But Julius Caesar wasn’t the first, nor was he the last, to use it. You could even say the “divide-your-enemy-so-you-can-rule” approach is as old as Satan himself―for that was Satan’s tactic against God in dragging innumerable angels with him into Hell, and it was his tactic against Adam and Eve, in creating a division between them and God, thus conquering them and getting them to fall into sin. You could say that Satan was the prototype of modern-day politician―full of lies while pretending to speak the truth. The “Catholic” Italian historian, politician and diplomat, Nicolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), famously (or infamously) said: “Politics has no relationship with morality” ― and Machiavelli put that theory into practice in his own life. Perhaps Machiavelli could be cast in the role of patron “saint” of modern-day politicians
The ultimate objective of the “divide-and-conquer” approach is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up groups into smaller and less powerful ones―thus divide the opinion of people in a nation; divide the opinion of people within a state; divide the opinion of people in Church, or in the parish, or in the family, or the workplace, etc. Conquerors will do whatever it takes to win. Creating a common enemy is the most usual way to divide people. Create a mutual enemy (like Covid) and lead a crusade to conquer it. Turn it into a life or death situation and the resulting sense of urgency or panic unleashes unconditional support for your plans to conquer it. Conquering is all that matters―morality doesn’t matter―you can lie, cheat, exaggerate, misrepresent, threaten, bully, blackmail, etc. ― winning at-any-cost is the goal. Does that sound familiar? Just look at the Plannedemic rhetoric and manipulation!
Hitler said: “Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself.” The delusional Hitler used the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ approach as an excuse to invade most European countries — thus showing that conquerors succeed when they create opposition and antagonism between people. Communism employs the same tactic, time and time again!
Divisions are usually an illusion for both the leader and their followers―they create a fictional reality. Conquerors and tyrants are compulsive storytellers — they use every opportunity to feed fear, panic, anger and violence. However, even though deceiving tactics work in the short-term — in the long run, people end up separating fiction from reality ― but by then it might be too late! They have already been conquered and enslaved―or fooled and jabbed! To again quote the so-called “Catholic”, Nicolò Machiavelli: “One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.”
That is how most of the revolutions began―by creating division and conflict within a nation, a state, a city, or group. That is also how the Protestant Reformation (actually, Protestant Revolution) began. The “Catholic” Italian historian, politician and diplomat, Nicolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), famously (or infamously) said: “Politics has no relationship with morality.” His own political life reflected what he said―since he showed great moral laxity as a politician. Machiavelli believed that religion was man-made, and that the value of religion only lay in its contribution to social order, but insisted that the rules of morality must be put aside if security or politics requires it. Machiavelli had a special dislike for the Holy See as a temporal power, as he saw in it the greatest obstacle to Italian unity. He did not disguise his dislike for Christianity which―by exalting humility, meekness, and patience―had, he said, weakened the social and patriotic instincts of mankind. Machiavelli’s concern with Christianity as a sect was that it makes men weak and inactive, delivering politics into the hands of cruel and wicked men without a fight. The term “Machiavellian” became a synonym for facts marked by cunning or bad faith.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the Church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa.
It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). This is enticement and allure to independence: “In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so of course we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites wanted independence from God. From the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (theocracy means God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen the royal office and subjected its clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science? Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of whom?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, which is a part of the package of Original Sin and all sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences! The ultimate bad consequence of the bad idea of independence is Hell—as the independently minded Lucifer and his independent minded angels found out.
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
The Independence of Liberalism
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
The Cure for Modern Independence is Christ’s Yoke of Dependence
As the famous religious axiom says: “Servire est Regnare” meaning “To Serve is to Reign”. The only real, lasting solution is to take up, once again, the yoke of Christ. “Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light” (Matthew 11:29-30). The ultimate yoke or dependence is that of the religious life (if properly lived) and Our Lady makes this clear to us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
It is difficult for us to grasp the concept of obedience because we have been educated in a tradition that glorifies independence.
Ever since the South America’s nations gained independence from Spain, governments have struggled with the Catholic hierarchy over the role of the church in relation to the state. Throughout the nineteenth century, liberal politicians and intellectuals—emboldened by Enlightenment ideas about the separation of church and state—tried to restrict the powers, property, and privileges that the clergy had held since the colonial period. Conservatives, by contrast, tried to preserve a central role for the church in the public sphere, especially in education. As a result, the institutional church tended to support conservative governments in the nineteenth century, even though the majority of the Catholic populus—and often, the lower-level Catholic clergy—were more Liberal.
Since the 1990s, Latin Americans have become more socially liberal on issues such as same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and Uruguay in 2013. Mexico City, which hosts an enormous gay-pride parade every year, legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay all allow same-sex marriages, while Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama are in various stages of discussions that will inevitably lead to the acceptance of same-sex marriages. Of the other major South American countries, only Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela still reject same-sex marriages in their legislation―but they are experiencing increased protests and demonstrations against their godly stance.
Although abortion is still widely restricted across the region (and is completely banned in five countries), Mexico City legalized abortion in 2007, and Uruguay voted to legalize abortion in 2012. Argentina came close to legalizing abortion, but it held off for the time being. Guatemala, Venezuela, and Paraguay allow abortion to save the life of the pregnant person; Brazil, Chile, and Panama have similar laws, but also allow abortion in the case of rape. Finally, the Church’s position on contraception is widely ignored in most countries, some of which have initiated state-sponsored programs that distribute contraceptives.
Saturday July 3rd
Article 2
Blood on Our Hands?
Article 2
Blood on Our Hands?
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat
During the Second World War, on May 10th, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England. When he met his Cabinet on May 13th, he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terrors — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill was a Freemason. He became interested in Freemasonry in 1901―since many of his family had been Masons. At the age of 26, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was made a Freemason at his initiation into Studholme Lodge 1591, on May 24th, 1901. Today, Churchill's Masonic apron is on public display at the Museum of Freemasonry at the United Grand Lodge of England. The above words of Churchill could just as easily be applied, not just to the war against Germany, but also to the Masonic war against the Church.
Bloody Plot
The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is a document, originally published in Italian in 1859, produced by the highest lodge of the Italian Carbonari and written by “Piccolo Tigre” (“Little Tiger”), which, according to Fr. George F. Dillon, was the pseudonym of a Jewish Freemason. The Alta Vendita was a lodge of the Italian Carbonari―an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy. The Carbonari had strong similarities and ties to Freemasonry. Consequently, it is regarded as a Masonic document. Many participants, in the plans of the Permanent Instruction, posed as various Catholic figures in order to try make their way into, or infiltrate the Church. The book, The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, was issued to every Carbonari lodge, who then used the principles, plots and plans outlined in the book to further their objective of overthrowing the Papacy by means of a long, slow, protracted and relentless war against the Faith in general, and against the papacy in particular. Both Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) and Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) asked that this book be published and distributed among Catholics, in order to show the seriousness and insidiousness of the plots against the Church. This document describes the diabolical strategy of the Masons to destroy the Church by infecting her leaders with Liberal ideas. It also reveals how they do not desire a Masonic Pope, but rather a Pope infected with Masonic ideas. Those Masonic ideas have evolved into the Liberal and Modernist and Rationalist viruses that have infected almost all Catholics today.
Squeezing-Out the Life-Blood of the Church
The audacity and cunning strategy of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is far-sighted and relentless in its conception. From the start, the document clearly states that this subversive process that will certainly take many decades to accomplish―they knew this as they drew up their plans. Their plans would be carried on by one generation after another. As it states in the document: “In our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on!” It is not an attempt at a decapitation of the Church, but a slow, progressive, relentless squeezing-out of the life-blood of Holy Mother Church. They say that the best way to lose weight is to lose it gradually―for then it is most likely to stay off and be regained. That, too, is the strategy of the enemies of the Church―make Catholics lose their Faith gradually, and it highly likely that it will not be regained.
That was their “game-plan” and it has gone according to plan! Freemasonry, in its current organized form, originated in London in 1717. Very soon afterwards, out of Freemasonry, came the period of “Freethinkers”― Freethinkers are often defined by their rejection of religion, or at least of any organized form of religion. Freethinkers are those 17th-, 18th- and 19th- century philosophers and scientists, who maintained that the teachings of Christianity—as contained in Scripture, in the writings of approved theologians, and in the pronouncements of the various churches—were an impediment to the progress of science and enlightened morality. In France, those who assumed this attitude were called libres penseurs, libertins, esprits forts, or franc-pensants; in Germany, the term was Freigeister or Freidenker. In French, the root “libre” means “free” and “liberté” means “freedom”―in German, the prefix “frei” also means “free”.
Out of the freethinking anti-Catholic and anti-religious philosophies that were planted in Europe in the 17th century―which could be said to be the “theoretical” part of the plan to overthrow the Church and its influence―came the “practical” part of the plan, which took the form of the 1789 French Revolution, which went beyond merely “talking the talk” of the Freethinker philosophers and scientists, and embodied that “talk” in a practical way by “walking the walk” of revolution against the Church and her conservative allies in the secular field, especially the monarchies and the nobility within European kingdoms. The conservative monarchies were overthrown by the virus of the French Revolution (exported by Bonaparte in his conquests of many European kingdoms).
All throughout the 19th and 20th centuries―the revolutionary virus spread from country to country―contaminating more and more minds, and consequently overthrowing kingdoms and the nobility and replacing them with democracies. Satan, through the ever spreading and increasing Freemasonic lodges, brought more and more people under his Satanic banner of “I will not serve!” or, to call it by the flip-side of the coin, “Independence.” Just as Satan had said to Eve in the Garden of Eden: “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5) ― now Satan was saying to the people: “Take a bite of the apple of Democracy and Independence―and you will be like kings and rulers!” The dangling of that Satanic fruit of Democracy and Independence proved to be too irresistible for most people―they took a bite and craved for more of the same. The result has been an ever increasing split from God and His Church―whereby everyone thinks and acts like they were God Himself! “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5).
As they say, “Little by little one goes far!” ― and little by little Catholics have gone further and further away from the Church. Even though in the 19th and early 20th centuries statistics were not kept in the way they are kept today―it can still be said that the vast majority of Catholics practiced their Faith far more than they do today. It was especially the First World War and the Second World War that indirectly contributed to the erosion of many Catholic practices. Half of Catholics attending Mass 28 years ago no longer do so today. By the 1950s, regular Sunday attendance had dropped to 75%. The chart below shows the continued fall in the years that followed.
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 (post-Covid)
54.9% 42.0% 42.2% 39.9% 32.5% 26.4% 30.8% 25.6% 24.2% 23.4% 20.5% 10%
The drop in Mass attendance also reflects the drop in numbers of Catholics who fully accept the teaching of the Church.
The words of Our Lady should be inserted here, who had already foretold and forewarned us of what was to come: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect! Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Silence Is No Cure
We should also add to Our Lady’s words ― “Those who should speak will fall silent” ― a slight paraphrase that says: “Those who should pray will fall silent” ― for prayer is a manner of speaking with Heaven. No matter how great the evils are in the world, if sufficient prayer was said, then the graces those prayers would draw down upon the world would suffice to stop, reverse and even cure those evils: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound!” (Romans 5:20). Today, evil abounds, but the Catholic mouths are largely silent―they neither speak out against the evil, nor do they pray against the evil. “Because I was silent my bones grew old!” (Psalm 31:3). “‘Her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silent in that day!’ saith the Lord of hosts” (Jeremias 49:26). We need that severe Hand of the Lord to fall upon us and rouse us to battle―by words and especially the words of prayer. “The hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, and He opened my mouth, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more!” (Ezechiel 33:22).
Liberalism is a ‘Blood’ Draining Tool
As already stated above, the goal of the enemies of the Church is to contaminate the Church with the virus of Liberalism. What is Liberalism? Liberalism―if you directly take the Latin root “liber” meaning “free, open, unrestricted” ― the Liberalism is, to make up some new words, a “free-ism” or “unrestrictedism” ― in other words, independence from constraint or control, an independence to think what you want, to say what you want, and to do what you want, with there being any control or constraint from anyone else. Protestantism is Liberalism in the field of religion. Protestantism rejects any outside control or constraint upon one’s own personal opinions and actions.
As Fr. Felix Salvany writes in his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, Liberalism has taken over―not only the Protestant world, but ever increasingly the Catholic world also:
“Hence we find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
(1) The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
(2) The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
(3) Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion, other than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
(4) Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.
“Such are the radical principles of Liberalism. In the assumption of the absolute sovereignty of the individual, that is, his entire independence of God, we find the common source of all the others principles. To express them all in one term, they are, in the order of ideas, RATIONALISM, or the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of human reason. Here human reason is made to be the measure and sum of all truth. Hence we have individual, social, and political Rationalism, the corrupt fountainhead of liberalist principles which are: absolute freedom of worship, the supremacy of the State, secular education repudiating any connection with religion, marriage sanctioned and legitimatized by the State alone, etc. In one word, which synthesizes all, we have SECULARIZATION, which denies religion any active intervention in the concerns of public and of private life, whatever they be. This is veritable social atheism.
“Such is the source of Liberalism in the order of ideas; such, in consequence of our Protestant and infidel surroundings, is the intellectual atmosphere which we are perpetually breathing into our souls. Nor do these principles remain simply in the speculative order, poised forever in the region of thought―doctrines and beliefs inevitably throw themselves into action. The speculation of today becomes the deed of tomorrow, for men are ever acting-out what they think. Rationalism, therefore, takes concrete shape in the order of facts. It finds its expression and action in the press, in legislation, and in social life.
“The secular press reeks with it, proclaiming absolute division between public life and religion. In secularized marriage and in our divorce laws, it cuts the very roots of domestic society; in the secularized education of our public school system, it reproduces itself in the hearts of the future citizens and the future parents; in compulsory school laws, it forces in the wedge of socialism; in the speech and communication of social life, it is constantly asserting itself with growing repetition; in secret societies, it is organized to be a spirit destructive of religion and often for the express purpose of exterminating Catholicity, it menaces our institutions and places the country in the hands of conspirators, whose methods and designs, beyond the reach of the public eye, constitute a tyranny of darkness. In a thousand ways does the principle of Rationalism find its action and expression in social and civil life, and however diversified be its manifestation, there is in it always a unity and a system of opposition to Catholicity. Wherever found, whatever its uniform, Liberalism in its practical action is ever a systematic warfare upon the Church. Whether it intrigue, whether it legislate, whether it orate or assassinate, whether it call itself Liberty or Government or the State or Humanity or Reason, or whatnot―its fundamental characteristic is an uncompromising opposition to the Church. Liberalism is a world complete in itself; it has its maxims, its fashions, its art, its literature, its diplomacy, its laws, its conspiracies, its ambuscades. It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ.” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 2).
The Tsunami of Liberalism
Fr. Salvany then paints a picture of the tsunami of Liberalism in the United States of America―and he was writing in the late 1800s! The population numbers that Fr. Salvany gives in his book are from the census nearest his time―the census being that of 1890. In the following text of Fr. Salvany, we have updated those numbers to reflect the current numbers of the U.S. population―that is the only change made to Fr. Salvany’s text.
“As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life, and as the spiritual and moral conditions which obtain in this country make up the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we have our being, it is in the relation of our surroundings to ourselves as well as of ourselves to our surroundings that we shall find the answer to our question. Let us then consider these surroundings in a general way for the moment. First, as to some patent facts:
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 330 million [2020 estimates]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 140 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 120 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all [2020 estimates]. Amongst the 140 million Protestants, every shade and variety of belief in the Christian dispensation find easy lodgment, from the belief in the Incarnation and Consubstantiation to the rejection of the Divinity of Christ altogether, in the vacuous creed of Unitarianism. In this scale of heresy, the adjustments of creeds are loose and easy. Lack of any decisive authority renders any exact standard of belief impossible. A Protestant may freely range from one end of the scale to the other and still be considered orthodox according to Protestant estimates. A loose indefinite belief in Christ, either as God redeeming the world, or even as a great ethical teacher, not God Himself, but sent by God, suffices to place the Protestant within the compass of his own standard of orthodoxy. Any specific expression of dogma, or of particular truths, bound up in the acceptance of Christianity, is not required; or, if required by any one sect or denomination, can find no authoritative exaction, for the differences between the sects, in the last resort, become mere differences of private opinion, dependent upon nothing but the caprice or choice of the individual.
“Outside of these various bodies of loosely professed Christians, stands a still larger mass of our population, who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed, or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little importance whether they hold themselves merely indifferent, or are positively hostile. In other words, we have here to reckon with a body, to all practical purposes, that is infidel. This mass comprises over 35% of our population, holding itself aloof from Christianity, and in some instances virulently antagonistic to it.
[When you add together the Protestants with the non-believers, it produces a total in excess of 78 percent of our population, but currently enhanced to an even more frightening percentage by the vast majority of Catholics today—2017—around 80% (or 56 million) of the 70 million Catholics, who either do not practice their Faith at all, or irregularly, or who are ignorant of its teachings (especially with regard to morality) or in practice simply disregard those teachings—bringing the total of practical non-believing and infidel people, including bad Catholics, to around 97%, if we can presume there to be today approximately 14 million believing, regularly practicing Catholics in the USA out of a population of 330 million (2020 stats)].
“In distinct religious opposition to this mass of infidelity (non-believers) and Protestantism Catholics find themselves sharply and radically opposed. Heresy and infidelity are irreconcilable with Catholicity. “He that is not with me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30) are the words of Our Lord Himself, for denial of Catholic truth is the radical and common element of both heresy and infidelity. The difference between them is merely a matter of degree. One denies less, the other more. Protestantism, with its sliding scale of creeds, is simply an inclined plane into the abyss of positive unbelief. It is always virtual infidelity, its final outcome open infidelity, as the [2020 stats] 120 million unbelievers in this country stand witness.
“We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2020 stats] 260 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst a heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our [2020 stats] 260 million non-Catholic population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper [and today you can add television, internet and radio] they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise. And it is under this aspect that we wish to consider it. For it is as Liberalism that Protestantism and Infidelity make their most devastating inroads upon the domain of the Faith. Out of these non-Catholic and anti-Catholic conditions thus predominating amongst us springs this monster of our times, Liberalism!” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
Thus you can the masterstroke of the The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, originally published in Italian in 1859―for in less than 40 years, by the time Fr. Salvany writes his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, he is reporting that the vast majority of America has succumbed to Liberalism in both the religious and secular fields.
During the Second World War, on May 10th, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England. When he met his Cabinet on May 13th, he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terrors — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill was a Freemason. He became interested in Freemasonry in 1901―since many of his family had been Masons. At the age of 26, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was made a Freemason at his initiation into Studholme Lodge 1591, on May 24th, 1901. Today, Churchill's Masonic apron is on public display at the Museum of Freemasonry at the United Grand Lodge of England. The above words of Churchill could just as easily be applied, not just to the war against Germany, but also to the Masonic war against the Church.
Bloody Plot
The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is a document, originally published in Italian in 1859, produced by the highest lodge of the Italian Carbonari and written by “Piccolo Tigre” (“Little Tiger”), which, according to Fr. George F. Dillon, was the pseudonym of a Jewish Freemason. The Alta Vendita was a lodge of the Italian Carbonari―an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy. The Carbonari had strong similarities and ties to Freemasonry. Consequently, it is regarded as a Masonic document. Many participants, in the plans of the Permanent Instruction, posed as various Catholic figures in order to try make their way into, or infiltrate the Church. The book, The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, was issued to every Carbonari lodge, who then used the principles, plots and plans outlined in the book to further their objective of overthrowing the Papacy by means of a long, slow, protracted and relentless war against the Faith in general, and against the papacy in particular. Both Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) and Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) asked that this book be published and distributed among Catholics, in order to show the seriousness and insidiousness of the plots against the Church. This document describes the diabolical strategy of the Masons to destroy the Church by infecting her leaders with Liberal ideas. It also reveals how they do not desire a Masonic Pope, but rather a Pope infected with Masonic ideas. Those Masonic ideas have evolved into the Liberal and Modernist and Rationalist viruses that have infected almost all Catholics today.
Squeezing-Out the Life-Blood of the Church
The audacity and cunning strategy of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is far-sighted and relentless in its conception. From the start, the document clearly states that this subversive process that will certainly take many decades to accomplish―they knew this as they drew up their plans. Their plans would be carried on by one generation after another. As it states in the document: “In our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on!” It is not an attempt at a decapitation of the Church, but a slow, progressive, relentless squeezing-out of the life-blood of Holy Mother Church. They say that the best way to lose weight is to lose it gradually―for then it is most likely to stay off and be regained. That, too, is the strategy of the enemies of the Church―make Catholics lose their Faith gradually, and it highly likely that it will not be regained.
That was their “game-plan” and it has gone according to plan! Freemasonry, in its current organized form, originated in London in 1717. Very soon afterwards, out of Freemasonry, came the period of “Freethinkers”― Freethinkers are often defined by their rejection of religion, or at least of any organized form of religion. Freethinkers are those 17th-, 18th- and 19th- century philosophers and scientists, who maintained that the teachings of Christianity—as contained in Scripture, in the writings of approved theologians, and in the pronouncements of the various churches—were an impediment to the progress of science and enlightened morality. In France, those who assumed this attitude were called libres penseurs, libertins, esprits forts, or franc-pensants; in Germany, the term was Freigeister or Freidenker. In French, the root “libre” means “free” and “liberté” means “freedom”―in German, the prefix “frei” also means “free”.
Out of the freethinking anti-Catholic and anti-religious philosophies that were planted in Europe in the 17th century―which could be said to be the “theoretical” part of the plan to overthrow the Church and its influence―came the “practical” part of the plan, which took the form of the 1789 French Revolution, which went beyond merely “talking the talk” of the Freethinker philosophers and scientists, and embodied that “talk” in a practical way by “walking the walk” of revolution against the Church and her conservative allies in the secular field, especially the monarchies and the nobility within European kingdoms. The conservative monarchies were overthrown by the virus of the French Revolution (exported by Bonaparte in his conquests of many European kingdoms).
All throughout the 19th and 20th centuries―the revolutionary virus spread from country to country―contaminating more and more minds, and consequently overthrowing kingdoms and the nobility and replacing them with democracies. Satan, through the ever spreading and increasing Freemasonic lodges, brought more and more people under his Satanic banner of “I will not serve!” or, to call it by the flip-side of the coin, “Independence.” Just as Satan had said to Eve in the Garden of Eden: “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5) ― now Satan was saying to the people: “Take a bite of the apple of Democracy and Independence―and you will be like kings and rulers!” The dangling of that Satanic fruit of Democracy and Independence proved to be too irresistible for most people―they took a bite and craved for more of the same. The result has been an ever increasing split from God and His Church―whereby everyone thinks and acts like they were God Himself! “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5).
As they say, “Little by little one goes far!” ― and little by little Catholics have gone further and further away from the Church. Even though in the 19th and early 20th centuries statistics were not kept in the way they are kept today―it can still be said that the vast majority of Catholics practiced their Faith far more than they do today. It was especially the First World War and the Second World War that indirectly contributed to the erosion of many Catholic practices. Half of Catholics attending Mass 28 years ago no longer do so today. By the 1950s, regular Sunday attendance had dropped to 75%. The chart below shows the continued fall in the years that followed.
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 (post-Covid)
54.9% 42.0% 42.2% 39.9% 32.5% 26.4% 30.8% 25.6% 24.2% 23.4% 20.5% 10%
The drop in Mass attendance also reflects the drop in numbers of Catholics who fully accept the teaching of the Church.
The words of Our Lady should be inserted here, who had already foretold and forewarned us of what was to come: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect! Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Silence Is No Cure
We should also add to Our Lady’s words ― “Those who should speak will fall silent” ― a slight paraphrase that says: “Those who should pray will fall silent” ― for prayer is a manner of speaking with Heaven. No matter how great the evils are in the world, if sufficient prayer was said, then the graces those prayers would draw down upon the world would suffice to stop, reverse and even cure those evils: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound!” (Romans 5:20). Today, evil abounds, but the Catholic mouths are largely silent―they neither speak out against the evil, nor do they pray against the evil. “Because I was silent my bones grew old!” (Psalm 31:3). “‘Her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silent in that day!’ saith the Lord of hosts” (Jeremias 49:26). We need that severe Hand of the Lord to fall upon us and rouse us to battle―by words and especially the words of prayer. “The hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, and He opened my mouth, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more!” (Ezechiel 33:22).
Liberalism is a ‘Blood’ Draining Tool
As already stated above, the goal of the enemies of the Church is to contaminate the Church with the virus of Liberalism. What is Liberalism? Liberalism―if you directly take the Latin root “liber” meaning “free, open, unrestricted” ― the Liberalism is, to make up some new words, a “free-ism” or “unrestrictedism” ― in other words, independence from constraint or control, an independence to think what you want, to say what you want, and to do what you want, with there being any control or constraint from anyone else. Protestantism is Liberalism in the field of religion. Protestantism rejects any outside control or constraint upon one’s own personal opinions and actions.
As Fr. Felix Salvany writes in his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, Liberalism has taken over―not only the Protestant world, but ever increasingly the Catholic world also:
“Hence we find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
(1) The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
(2) The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
(3) Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion, other than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
(4) Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.
“Such are the radical principles of Liberalism. In the assumption of the absolute sovereignty of the individual, that is, his entire independence of God, we find the common source of all the others principles. To express them all in one term, they are, in the order of ideas, RATIONALISM, or the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of human reason. Here human reason is made to be the measure and sum of all truth. Hence we have individual, social, and political Rationalism, the corrupt fountainhead of liberalist principles which are: absolute freedom of worship, the supremacy of the State, secular education repudiating any connection with religion, marriage sanctioned and legitimatized by the State alone, etc. In one word, which synthesizes all, we have SECULARIZATION, which denies religion any active intervention in the concerns of public and of private life, whatever they be. This is veritable social atheism.
“Such is the source of Liberalism in the order of ideas; such, in consequence of our Protestant and infidel surroundings, is the intellectual atmosphere which we are perpetually breathing into our souls. Nor do these principles remain simply in the speculative order, poised forever in the region of thought―doctrines and beliefs inevitably throw themselves into action. The speculation of today becomes the deed of tomorrow, for men are ever acting-out what they think. Rationalism, therefore, takes concrete shape in the order of facts. It finds its expression and action in the press, in legislation, and in social life.
“The secular press reeks with it, proclaiming absolute division between public life and religion. In secularized marriage and in our divorce laws, it cuts the very roots of domestic society; in the secularized education of our public school system, it reproduces itself in the hearts of the future citizens and the future parents; in compulsory school laws, it forces in the wedge of socialism; in the speech and communication of social life, it is constantly asserting itself with growing repetition; in secret societies, it is organized to be a spirit destructive of religion and often for the express purpose of exterminating Catholicity, it menaces our institutions and places the country in the hands of conspirators, whose methods and designs, beyond the reach of the public eye, constitute a tyranny of darkness. In a thousand ways does the principle of Rationalism find its action and expression in social and civil life, and however diversified be its manifestation, there is in it always a unity and a system of opposition to Catholicity. Wherever found, whatever its uniform, Liberalism in its practical action is ever a systematic warfare upon the Church. Whether it intrigue, whether it legislate, whether it orate or assassinate, whether it call itself Liberty or Government or the State or Humanity or Reason, or whatnot―its fundamental characteristic is an uncompromising opposition to the Church. Liberalism is a world complete in itself; it has its maxims, its fashions, its art, its literature, its diplomacy, its laws, its conspiracies, its ambuscades. It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ.” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 2).
The Tsunami of Liberalism
Fr. Salvany then paints a picture of the tsunami of Liberalism in the United States of America―and he was writing in the late 1800s! The population numbers that Fr. Salvany gives in his book are from the census nearest his time―the census being that of 1890. In the following text of Fr. Salvany, we have updated those numbers to reflect the current numbers of the U.S. population―that is the only change made to Fr. Salvany’s text.
“As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life, and as the spiritual and moral conditions which obtain in this country make up the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we have our being, it is in the relation of our surroundings to ourselves as well as of ourselves to our surroundings that we shall find the answer to our question. Let us then consider these surroundings in a general way for the moment. First, as to some patent facts:
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 330 million [2020 estimates]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 140 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 120 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all [2020 estimates]. Amongst the 140 million Protestants, every shade and variety of belief in the Christian dispensation find easy lodgment, from the belief in the Incarnation and Consubstantiation to the rejection of the Divinity of Christ altogether, in the vacuous creed of Unitarianism. In this scale of heresy, the adjustments of creeds are loose and easy. Lack of any decisive authority renders any exact standard of belief impossible. A Protestant may freely range from one end of the scale to the other and still be considered orthodox according to Protestant estimates. A loose indefinite belief in Christ, either as God redeeming the world, or even as a great ethical teacher, not God Himself, but sent by God, suffices to place the Protestant within the compass of his own standard of orthodoxy. Any specific expression of dogma, or of particular truths, bound up in the acceptance of Christianity, is not required; or, if required by any one sect or denomination, can find no authoritative exaction, for the differences between the sects, in the last resort, become mere differences of private opinion, dependent upon nothing but the caprice or choice of the individual.
“Outside of these various bodies of loosely professed Christians, stands a still larger mass of our population, who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed, or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little importance whether they hold themselves merely indifferent, or are positively hostile. In other words, we have here to reckon with a body, to all practical purposes, that is infidel. This mass comprises over 35% of our population, holding itself aloof from Christianity, and in some instances virulently antagonistic to it.
[When you add together the Protestants with the non-believers, it produces a total in excess of 78 percent of our population, but currently enhanced to an even more frightening percentage by the vast majority of Catholics today—2017—around 80% (or 56 million) of the 70 million Catholics, who either do not practice their Faith at all, or irregularly, or who are ignorant of its teachings (especially with regard to morality) or in practice simply disregard those teachings—bringing the total of practical non-believing and infidel people, including bad Catholics, to around 97%, if we can presume there to be today approximately 14 million believing, regularly practicing Catholics in the USA out of a population of 330 million (2020 stats)].
“In distinct religious opposition to this mass of infidelity (non-believers) and Protestantism Catholics find themselves sharply and radically opposed. Heresy and infidelity are irreconcilable with Catholicity. “He that is not with me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30) are the words of Our Lord Himself, for denial of Catholic truth is the radical and common element of both heresy and infidelity. The difference between them is merely a matter of degree. One denies less, the other more. Protestantism, with its sliding scale of creeds, is simply an inclined plane into the abyss of positive unbelief. It is always virtual infidelity, its final outcome open infidelity, as the [2020 stats] 120 million unbelievers in this country stand witness.
“We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2020 stats] 260 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst a heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our [2020 stats] 260 million non-Catholic population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper [and today you can add television, internet and radio] they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise. And it is under this aspect that we wish to consider it. For it is as Liberalism that Protestantism and Infidelity make their most devastating inroads upon the domain of the Faith. Out of these non-Catholic and anti-Catholic conditions thus predominating amongst us springs this monster of our times, Liberalism!” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
Thus you can the masterstroke of the The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, originally published in Italian in 1859―for in less than 40 years, by the time Fr. Salvany writes his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, he is reporting that the vast majority of America has succumbed to Liberalism in both the religious and secular fields.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 1st & Friday July 2nd
Article 1
Washed by Blood!
Thursday July 1st & Friday July 2nd
Article 1
Washed by Blood!
Flowing from June to July
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxtapositioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus.
What analogy or likeness can we put forth to show the intimate spiritual relationship that springs forth from this co-relation of the Heart and the Blood of Jesus? From a mere physical viewpoint, an immediate relationship jumps to mind—for own bodies testify to the close connection between heart and blood. The two go hand in hand, like body and soul, parents and children, etc. One needs the other; they work together. The Sacred Heart symbolizes the love He has for us and the love we should have for Him; whereas the Precious Blood symbolizes the courageous reparation by Christ in shedding His Precious Blood for our potential salvation. The Heart speaks of love, the Blood speaks of sacrifice. The Sacred Heart is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Precious Blood being shed is the proof of that love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13), said Jesus, “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5) … also adding: “My Blood shall be shed for you!” (Luke 22:20) … “This is My Blood which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28) … “My Blood shall be shed for many!” (Mark 14:24).
The Sacred Heart represents Jesus Himself, and His Precious Blood represents Divine Grace that flows from Him, and which gives life to the Mystical Body just as blood gives life to the human body: “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11) … “The blood is for the soul” (Deuteronomy 12:23). It is the shedding of that Precious Blood that brings life and salvation― “which He hath purchased with His own Blood” (Acts 20:28) ... “And, through Him, to reconcile all things unto Himself―making peace through the Blood of His cross―both as to the things that are on Earth, and the things that are in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20) ... “That He might sanctify the people by His own Blood!” (Hebrews 13:12) ... “Christ died for us … [and we are] … now justified by His Blood” (Romans 5:9) … “We have the remission of sins and redemption through His Blood” (Ephesians 1:7) … “We have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins!” (Colossians 1:14) ... “Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own blood [He] obtained eternal redemption … For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away” (Hebrews 9:12; 10:4).
The Precious Blood is the only blood that can bring salvation, for mere human blood, not matter what the quantity, would never suffice to win salvation―that is why we call it the “Precious Blood”―for what is more precious than salvation. You may object that the blood of martyrs wins them their salvation―but this is not independently of the Blood of Christ. It is the Passion and Death of Christ―which entails the shedding of His Precious Blood―that brings salvation, the martyr merely ‘mingles’ or ‘joins’ his blood to that of Christ, without which he could never be saved.
Blood Helps Clean the Body
Blood plays a crucial role in the body, throughout which it transports vital oxygen, nutrients, and hormones. At the same time, the blood is also responsible for carrying waste products away from the cells. Your blood carries oxygen to trillions of cells in the human body. It also carries hormones, fats and nutrients, from the food that you eat, to every single cell in the body. As blood carries nutrients to our cells, the cells then put their waste products back into the blood to be carried to the detoxfication organs, and finally out of our system. Your blood is made up of liquid and solids that work together to nourish, clean and heal your body. The liquid part, called plasma, is made of water, salts, and protein. Over half of your blood is plasma and over 90% of that blood plasma is water. The solid part of your blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Red blood cells (RBC) deliver oxygen from your lungs to your tissues and organs. White blood cells (WBC) fight infection and are part of your immune system. Water is also necessary to keep blood vessels open and maintain the flow of blood through the body.
Similarly, in the spiritual life, blood cleanses and purifies the Mystical Body in general and our own souls in particular. From the readings in the Mass of the Precious Blood, it says: “If the blood of goats and bulls sanctify the unclean unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the Blood of Christ cleanse your conscience?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Elsewhere we read: “This is He that came by water and blood―Jesus Christ―not by water only, but by water and blood!” (1 John 5:6) ... “He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood―and His Name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:13) … “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). “The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Satan and Sin are Unclean
Sin has no place in Heaven―neither can the unrepentant sinner find a place in Heaven. In Holy Scripture, Satan and sin are given the same description―the word “unclean” being attached to both.
► In relation to SATAN or DEVILS, Scripture speaks of them as being unclean spirits: “I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits” (Apocalypse 16:13) ... “I will take away the unclean spirit” (Zacharias 13:2). “Having called His twelve disciples together, Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out” (Matthew 10:1) … “Many of them had unclean spirits” (Acts 8:7) … “Jesus said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’” (Mark 5:8) … “A woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet” (Mark 7:25) … “Jesus threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: ‘Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him and enter not any more into him!’” (Mark 9:24).
“And the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and they cried out, saying: ‘Thou art the Son of God!’ And He strictly charged them that they should not make Him known” (Mark 3:11-12).
“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying: ‘What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know who Thou art―the Holy One of God. And Jesus threatened him, saying: ‘Speak no more and go out of the man!’ And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: ‘What thing is this? What is this new doctrine? For with power He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!’” (Mark 1:23-27).
“In the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying: ‘Leave us alone! What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know Thee and who Thou art―the holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying: ‘Hold thy peace, and go out of him! And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all. And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:33-36).
“When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he says: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there―and the last state of that man is made worse than the first!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding rest, he says: ‘I will return into my house whence I came out!’ And when he is come, he finds it swept and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and, entering in, they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first!” (Luke 11:24-26).
► In relation to SIN, Scripture also uses the term “unclean” on numerous occasions: “Do not defile your souls, lest you be unclean!” (Leviticus 11:43). Jesus, speaking to His Apostles at the Last Supper, refers to the sinful Judas without actually mentioning his name, when He says: “You are not all clean!” (John 13:11). Scripture speaks of a “soul clean from all lust” (Tobias 3:16)―therefore meaning that a lustful soul is unclean. Scripture also speak of “a man of unclean lips” (Isaias 6:5) … “We are all become as one unclean, and our iniquities have taken us away” (Isaias 64:6) … “Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean!” (Isaias 65:5). “The man that hath an issue of seed [sperm], shall be unclean … And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean … He shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, for sacrifice, and he shall come before the Lord, and shall give them to the priest―who shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed of the issue of his seed … ” (Leviticus 15:2, 10, 14, 15).
“The man from whom the seed [sperm] of copulation goes out, shall be unclean … The woman, with whom he copulates, shall be unclean … Every one that touches her, shall be unclean … He that touches her bed shall be unclean … If a man copulates with her he shall be unclean” (Leviticus 15:16-24).
Hence Holy Scripture warns: “Understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, hath inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5).
We Need to Be Cleansed
“Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). Who dare say: “I am clean, and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9) ― only Our Lady can lay a claim to that! “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Wash me even more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 50:4).
“Almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood―and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Hence God says: “I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities!” (Ezechiel 36:33). “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me!” (Jeremias 33:8) ... “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols!” (Ezechiel 36:25) … “Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations, nor with all their iniquities! And I will save them out of all the ways in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them! And they shall be My people, and I will be their God!” (Ezechiel 37:23) … “‘If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow―and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 1:18). “Turn away from sin and cleanse thy heart from all offences!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:10). “Thou shalt cleanse and expiate!” (Ezechiel 43:20) … “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit!” (2 Corinthians 7:1) … “If any man therefore shall cleanse himself from these, then he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and profitable to the Lord!” (2 Timothy 2:21) … “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just―to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9).
Cleansing is a Two-Way Process
As they say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink!” Likewise, you can lead a sinner to the cleansing Blood of Christ, but you cannot make the sinner clean without the sinner cooperating with the cleansing process. As said above: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just―to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9)―the key words there are: “IF we confess our sins…”
St. Alphonsus Liguori warns against the many delusions that keep sinners away from confessing their sins. He encourages priests to “often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent―especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell.” Here is an extract from his sermon on the subject of not confessing sins or confessing them badly:
The devil brings sinners to Hell by closing their eyes to the dangers of perdition … He first blinds them, and then leads them with himself to eternal torments … To understand these delusions better, let us imagine the case of a young man who, seized by some passion, lives in sin, the slave of Satan, and never thinks of his eternal salvation. My son, I say to him, what sort of life do you lead? If you continue to live in this manner, how will you be able to save your soul? But, behold, the devil, on the other hand, says to him: “Why should you be afraid of being lost? Indulge your passions for the present: you will afterwards confess your sins, and thus all shall be remedied.” Behold the net by which the devil drags so many souls into Hell.
Satan says: “Indulge your passions! You will make a good confession later!” But, in reply, I say, that in the meantime you lose your soul. Tell me―if you had a jewel worth an enormous amount of money, would you throw it into a river with the hope of afterwards finding it again? My God! You hold in your hand the invaluable jewel of your soul, which Jesus Christ has purchased with His own blood, and you cast it into Hell! Yes! You cast it into Hell―because for every mortal sin you commit, your name is written among the number of the damned. But you will say: “I hope to recover God’s grace by making a good confession.” And if you should not recover grace, what shall be the consequences? To make a good confession, a true sorrow for sin is necessary―and this sorrow is the gift of God! If He does not give it, will you not be lost forever? You answer: “I am still young! God has compassion for youth! I will give myself to God later!” Behold another delusion! You are young―but do you not know that God counts, not the years, but the sins of each individual? You are young―but how many sins have you committed? Perhaps there are many persons of a very advanced age, who have not been guilty of a quarter of the sins which you have committed. And do you not know that God has fixed for each of us the number of sins which He will pardon? God has patience, and waits for a while―but, when the measure of the sins, which He has determined to pardon, is filled up, then He pardons no more, but chastises the sinner, by suddenly depriving him of life in the miserable state of sin, or by abandoning him in his sin.
You say: “I cannot at present resist this passion.” Behold the third delusion of the devil, by which he makes you believe that, at the present moment, you have not strength to overcome certain temptations. But St. Paul tells us that God is faithful, and that He never permits us to be tempted above our strength. “And God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that which you are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13). I ask, if you are not now able to resist the temptation, how can you expect to resist it later? If you give in to it, the devil will become stronger, and you shall become weaker! And if you be not now able to extinguish this flame of passion, how can you hope to be able to extinguish it when it shall have grown more violent?
You say: “God will give me his aid.” But this aid God is ready to give at present if you ask it. Why then do you not implore his assistance? Perhaps you expect that, without now taking the trouble of invoking his aid, you will receive from him increased helps and graces, after you shall have multiplied the number of your sins? Perhaps you doubt the veracity of God, who has promised to give whatever we ask of Him? “Ask,” he says, “and it shall be given you.” (Matthew 7:7). God cannot violate his promises. “God is not as man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed. Hath He said, then, and will He not do?” (Numbers 23:19). Have recourse to Him, and He will give you the strength necessary to resist the temptation. God commands you to resist it, and you say: “I have not strength.” Does God, then, command impossibilities? No! The Council of Trent has declared that “God does not command impossibilities; but, by His commands, He admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask for what you cannot do; and He assists, that you may be able to do it.” (Session 6; canon xiii). When you see that you have not sufficient strength to resist temptation with the ordinary assistance of God, ask of Him the additional help which you require, and He will give it to you; and thus you shall be able to conquer all temptations, however violent they may be.
But you will not pray; and you say that at present time you will commit this sin, and then afterwards you will confess it. But, I ask, how do you know that God will give you time to confess it? You say: “I will go to confession before the week is over!” And who has promised you this week? Well, then you say: “I will go to confession tomorrow”, you say. And who promises you tomorrow? St. Augustine says: “God has not promised you tomorrow. Perhaps He will give it, and perhaps He will refuse it to you!”— as He has refused so many others. How many have gone to bed in good health, and have been found dead in the morning! How many―in the very act of sin―has the Lord struck dead and sent to Hell! Should this happen to you, how will you repair your eternal ruin?
The devil tells you: “Commit this sin, and confess it afterwards.” Behold the deceitful artifice by which the devil has brought so many thousands of Christians to Hell. We scarcely ever find a Christian so sunk in despair as to intend to damn himself. All the wicked sin with the hope of afterwards going to confession. But, by this illusion, how many have brought themselves to damnation! For them there is now no time for confession, no remedy for their damnation. They fell, but failed to rise. They fell once too often.
“But God is merciful!” you protest. Behold another common delusion by which the devil encourages sinners to persevere in a life of sin! A certain author has said, that more souls have been sent to Hell by the mercy of God than by His justice. This is indeed the case; for men are induced by the deceits of the devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in God’s mercy; and thus they are lost. “God is merciful.” Who denies it? But, great as His mercy, how many does He every day send to Hell? God is merciful, but He is also just, and is, therefore, obliged to punish those who offend Him. “And His mercy,” says the divine Mother, “to them that fear Him.” (Luke 1:50). But with regard to those who abuse His mercy and despise Him, He exercises justice. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon the determination to commit sin. St. Augustine says, that he who sins, with the intention of repenting after his sins, is not a penitent but a scoffer. But the Apostle tells us that God will not be mocked. “Be not deceived! God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). It would be a mockery of God to insult Him as often and as much as you pleased, and afterwards to expect eternal glory.
“But,” you say, “since God has shown me so many mercies until now, I am hopeful that He will continue to do so for the future.” Behold another delusion! Then, because God has not as yet chastised your sins, that does not mean that He will never punish them! On the contrary, the greater have been His mercies, the more you should tremble, lest, if you offend Him again, He should pardon you no more, and should take vengeance on your sins.
Behold the advice of the Holy Ghost: “Say not: ‘I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the Most High is a patient rewarder.” (Ecclesiasticus 5:4). Do not say: “I have sinned, and no chastisement has fallen upon me.” God bears for a time, but not forever. He waits for a certain time; but when that arrives, He then chastises the sinner for all His past iniquities: and the longer He has waited for repentance, the more severe the chastisement. Then, my brother, since you know that you have frequently offended God, and that he has not sent you to Hell, you should exclaim: “O the mercies of the Lord, that we have not been consumed” (Lamentations 3:22).
Lord, I thank you for not having sent me to Hell, which I have so often deserved. And therefore you ought to give yourself entirely to God, at least through gratitude, and should consider that, for less sins than you have committed, many are now in that pit of fire, without the smallest hope of being ever released from it. The patience of God in bearing with you, should teach you not to despise him still more, but to love and serve him with greater fervour, and to atone, by penitential austerities and by other holy works, for the insults you have offered to him. You know that he has shown mercies to you, which he has not shown to others. “He hath not done in like manner to every nation” (Psalm 147:20). Hence you should tremble, lest, if you commit a single additional mortal sin, God should abandon you, and cast you into Hell.
Let us come to the next illusion. “It is true that, by this sin, I lose the grace of God; but, even after committing this sin, I may be saved!” You may, indeed, be saved―but it cannot be denied that if, after having committed so many sins, and after having received so many graces from God, you again offend him, there is great reason to fear that you shall be lost. Attend to the words of the Sacred Scripture: “A hard heart shall fare evil at the last!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The obstinate sinner shall die an unhappy death. “Evil doers shall be cut off!” (Psalm 36:9). The wicked shall be cut off by the divine justice. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). He that sows in sin, shall reap eternal torments. “Because I called and you refused, I also will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.” (Proverbs 1:24, 26). I called, says the Lord, and you mocked me; but I will mock you at the hour of death. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). The chastisement of sins belongs to me, and I will execute vengeance on them when the time of vengeance shall arrive. “The man that, with a stiff neck, despises him that reproves him, shall suddenly be destroyed, and health shall not follow him!” (Proverbs 29:1). The man who obstinately despises those who correct him, shall be punished with a sudden death, and for him there shall be no hope of salvation.
Now, brethren, what think you of these divine threats against sinners? Is it easy, or is it not very difficult, to save your souls, if, after so many divine calls, and after so many mercies, you continue to offend God? You say: “But after all―it may happen that I will save my soul!” I answer: What folly is it to trust your salvation to a perhaps? How many souls who also thought ― “perhaps I may be saved,” ― are now in Hell? Do you wish to be one of their unhappy companions? Dearly beloved Christians, enter into yourselves, and tremble! Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He places limits on the number of graces which He dispenses, as well as a limit on the number of sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.
God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offence? St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. “Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Say not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will also pardon me this one if I commit it!” Do not say this! For, if to the sin which has been forgiven, you then add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number of sins will have the passed the limit fixed by God, and that you shall be abandoned.
The first means of salvation, then, is to recommend ourselves continually to God, that He may keep His hands over us, and preserve us from offending Him. The next is, to cleanse the soul from all past sins by making a general confession. A general confession is a powerful help to a change of life. St. Augustine says, that to prevent the sheep from seeking assistance by her cries the wolf seizes her by the neck, and thus securely carries her away and devours her. The devil acts in a similar manner with the sheep of Jesus Christ. After having induced them to yield to sin, he seizes them by the throat, that they may not confess their guilt; and thus he securely brings them to Hell. For those who have sinned grievously, there is no means of salvation but the confession of their sins. But, what hope of salvation can he have who goes to confession and conceals his sins, and makes use of the tribunal of penance to offend God, and to make himself doubly the slave of Satan? What hope would you entertain of the recovery of the man who, instead of taking the medicine prescribed by his physician, drank a cup of poison?
What can the Sacrament of Penance be to those who conceal their sins, but a deadly poison, which adds to their guilt the malice of sacrilege? In giving absolution, the confessor dispenses to his patient the blood of Jesus Christ; for it is through the merits of that blood that he absolves from sin. What, then, does the sinner do, when he conceals his sins in confession? He tramples underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ. And should he afterwards receive the Holy Communion in a state of sin, he is, according to St. John Chrysostom, as guilty as if he threw the consecrated Host into a sink. Accursed shame! How many poor souls do you bring to Hell? Unhappy souls! They think only of the shame of confessing their sins, and do not reflect that, if they conceal them, they shall be certainly damned.
Some penitents ask: “What will my confessor say when he hears that I have committed such a sin?” What will he say? He will say that you are, like all persons living on this Earth, miserable and prone to sin: he will say that, if you have done evil, you have also performed a glorious action in overcoming shame, and in candidly confessing your fault. “But I am afraid to confess this sin!” they say. To how many confessors, I ask, must you confess your sin? It is enough to mention it to one priest―who hears many sins of the same kind from others. It is enough to confess it once: the confessor will give you penance and absolution, and your conscience shall be tranquillized. If, then, brethren, there be a single soul among you who has ever concealed a sin, through shame, in the tribunal of penance, let him take courage, and make a full confession of all his faults. Courage, then! Expel this viper which you harbour in your soul, and which continually corrodes your heart and destroys your peace. O what a Hell does a Christian suffer, who keeps in his heart a sin concealed through shame in confession! He suffers an anticipation of Hell.
And, that you may not entertain groundless scruples, I think it is right to tell you, that if the sin, which you are ashamed to tell, be not mortal, or if you never considered it to be a mortal sin, you are not obliged to confess it; for we are bound only to confess mortal sins. Moreover, if you have doubts whether you ever confessed a certain sin of your former life, but know that, in preparing for confession, you always carefully examined your conscience, and that you never concealed a sin through shame; in this case, even though the sin, about the confession of which you are doubtful, had been a grievous fault, you are not obliged to confess it, because it is presumed to be morally certain that you have already confessed it. But, if you know that the sin was grievous, and that you never accused yourself of it in confession, then there is no remedy—you must confess it, or you must be damned for it. If you have the misfortune of having contracted a habit of mortal sin, make, as soon as possible, a general confession―for your past confessions can scarcely have been valid. Go forth instantly from the slavery of the devil.
But, lost sheep, go instantly to confession. Jesus Christ is waiting for you; He stands with arms open to pardon and embrace you, if you acknowledge your guilt. Go to confession as soon as possible, and make a firm resolution to change your lives. It is useless to confess your sins, if you afterwards return to your former vices. To make a good confession of your sins, you must have true sorrow of the heart, and a firm purpose to sin no more. If, then, you wish to save your soul, do immediately what you must one day do. Go to confession as soon as possible, and tremble lest every delay may be the eternal ruin of your soul. And should you have the misfortune of falling thereafter into any mortal sin, go immediately to confession again, even on the same day or the same night, if you can.
If you do not comprehend the value of your soul, learn it from Jesus Christ, Who has redeemed you with His own Blood. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus Christ could save us without dying on the cross, and without suffering. One drop of His Blood would be sufficient for our redemption. Yet in His Passion, the Blood of Jesus Christ was poured forth even to the last drop. To show how much He loved us, He wished to shed not only a part of His Blood, but the entire amount of it. The Son of God has shed all His Blood for the love of us, to wash away the sins of our souls. “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). (Sermon of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxtapositioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus.
What analogy or likeness can we put forth to show the intimate spiritual relationship that springs forth from this co-relation of the Heart and the Blood of Jesus? From a mere physical viewpoint, an immediate relationship jumps to mind—for own bodies testify to the close connection between heart and blood. The two go hand in hand, like body and soul, parents and children, etc. One needs the other; they work together. The Sacred Heart symbolizes the love He has for us and the love we should have for Him; whereas the Precious Blood symbolizes the courageous reparation by Christ in shedding His Precious Blood for our potential salvation. The Heart speaks of love, the Blood speaks of sacrifice. The Sacred Heart is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Precious Blood being shed is the proof of that love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13), said Jesus, “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5) … also adding: “My Blood shall be shed for you!” (Luke 22:20) … “This is My Blood which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28) … “My Blood shall be shed for many!” (Mark 14:24).
The Sacred Heart represents Jesus Himself, and His Precious Blood represents Divine Grace that flows from Him, and which gives life to the Mystical Body just as blood gives life to the human body: “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11) … “The blood is for the soul” (Deuteronomy 12:23). It is the shedding of that Precious Blood that brings life and salvation― “which He hath purchased with His own Blood” (Acts 20:28) ... “And, through Him, to reconcile all things unto Himself―making peace through the Blood of His cross―both as to the things that are on Earth, and the things that are in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20) ... “That He might sanctify the people by His own Blood!” (Hebrews 13:12) ... “Christ died for us … [and we are] … now justified by His Blood” (Romans 5:9) … “We have the remission of sins and redemption through His Blood” (Ephesians 1:7) … “We have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins!” (Colossians 1:14) ... “Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own blood [He] obtained eternal redemption … For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away” (Hebrews 9:12; 10:4).
The Precious Blood is the only blood that can bring salvation, for mere human blood, not matter what the quantity, would never suffice to win salvation―that is why we call it the “Precious Blood”―for what is more precious than salvation. You may object that the blood of martyrs wins them their salvation―but this is not independently of the Blood of Christ. It is the Passion and Death of Christ―which entails the shedding of His Precious Blood―that brings salvation, the martyr merely ‘mingles’ or ‘joins’ his blood to that of Christ, without which he could never be saved.
Blood Helps Clean the Body
Blood plays a crucial role in the body, throughout which it transports vital oxygen, nutrients, and hormones. At the same time, the blood is also responsible for carrying waste products away from the cells. Your blood carries oxygen to trillions of cells in the human body. It also carries hormones, fats and nutrients, from the food that you eat, to every single cell in the body. As blood carries nutrients to our cells, the cells then put their waste products back into the blood to be carried to the detoxfication organs, and finally out of our system. Your blood is made up of liquid and solids that work together to nourish, clean and heal your body. The liquid part, called plasma, is made of water, salts, and protein. Over half of your blood is plasma and over 90% of that blood plasma is water. The solid part of your blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Red blood cells (RBC) deliver oxygen from your lungs to your tissues and organs. White blood cells (WBC) fight infection and are part of your immune system. Water is also necessary to keep blood vessels open and maintain the flow of blood through the body.
Similarly, in the spiritual life, blood cleanses and purifies the Mystical Body in general and our own souls in particular. From the readings in the Mass of the Precious Blood, it says: “If the blood of goats and bulls sanctify the unclean unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the Blood of Christ cleanse your conscience?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Elsewhere we read: “This is He that came by water and blood―Jesus Christ―not by water only, but by water and blood!” (1 John 5:6) ... “He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood―and His Name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:13) … “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). “The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Satan and Sin are Unclean
Sin has no place in Heaven―neither can the unrepentant sinner find a place in Heaven. In Holy Scripture, Satan and sin are given the same description―the word “unclean” being attached to both.
► In relation to SATAN or DEVILS, Scripture speaks of them as being unclean spirits: “I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits” (Apocalypse 16:13) ... “I will take away the unclean spirit” (Zacharias 13:2). “Having called His twelve disciples together, Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out” (Matthew 10:1) … “Many of them had unclean spirits” (Acts 8:7) … “Jesus said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’” (Mark 5:8) … “A woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet” (Mark 7:25) … “Jesus threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: ‘Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him and enter not any more into him!’” (Mark 9:24).
“And the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and they cried out, saying: ‘Thou art the Son of God!’ And He strictly charged them that they should not make Him known” (Mark 3:11-12).
“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying: ‘What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know who Thou art―the Holy One of God. And Jesus threatened him, saying: ‘Speak no more and go out of the man!’ And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: ‘What thing is this? What is this new doctrine? For with power He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!’” (Mark 1:23-27).
“In the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying: ‘Leave us alone! What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know Thee and who Thou art―the holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying: ‘Hold thy peace, and go out of him! And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all. And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:33-36).
“When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he says: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there―and the last state of that man is made worse than the first!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding rest, he says: ‘I will return into my house whence I came out!’ And when he is come, he finds it swept and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and, entering in, they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first!” (Luke 11:24-26).
► In relation to SIN, Scripture also uses the term “unclean” on numerous occasions: “Do not defile your souls, lest you be unclean!” (Leviticus 11:43). Jesus, speaking to His Apostles at the Last Supper, refers to the sinful Judas without actually mentioning his name, when He says: “You are not all clean!” (John 13:11). Scripture speaks of a “soul clean from all lust” (Tobias 3:16)―therefore meaning that a lustful soul is unclean. Scripture also speak of “a man of unclean lips” (Isaias 6:5) … “We are all become as one unclean, and our iniquities have taken us away” (Isaias 64:6) … “Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean!” (Isaias 65:5). “The man that hath an issue of seed [sperm], shall be unclean … And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean … He shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, for sacrifice, and he shall come before the Lord, and shall give them to the priest―who shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed of the issue of his seed … ” (Leviticus 15:2, 10, 14, 15).
“The man from whom the seed [sperm] of copulation goes out, shall be unclean … The woman, with whom he copulates, shall be unclean … Every one that touches her, shall be unclean … He that touches her bed shall be unclean … If a man copulates with her he shall be unclean” (Leviticus 15:16-24).
Hence Holy Scripture warns: “Understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, hath inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5).
We Need to Be Cleansed
“Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). Who dare say: “I am clean, and without sin! I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me!” (Job 33:9) ― only Our Lady can lay a claim to that! “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Wash me even more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 50:4).
“Almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood―and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Hence God says: “I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities!” (Ezechiel 36:33). “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me!” (Jeremias 33:8) ... “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols!” (Ezechiel 36:25) … “Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations, nor with all their iniquities! And I will save them out of all the ways in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them! And they shall be My people, and I will be their God!” (Ezechiel 37:23) … “‘If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow―and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 1:18). “Turn away from sin and cleanse thy heart from all offences!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:10). “Thou shalt cleanse and expiate!” (Ezechiel 43:20) … “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit!” (2 Corinthians 7:1) … “If any man therefore shall cleanse himself from these, then he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and profitable to the Lord!” (2 Timothy 2:21) … “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just―to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9).
Cleansing is a Two-Way Process
As they say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink!” Likewise, you can lead a sinner to the cleansing Blood of Christ, but you cannot make the sinner clean without the sinner cooperating with the cleansing process. As said above: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just―to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9)―the key words there are: “IF we confess our sins…”
St. Alphonsus Liguori warns against the many delusions that keep sinners away from confessing their sins. He encourages priests to “often speak against bad confessions, in which sins are concealed through shame. This is an evil not of rare occurrence, but frequent―especially in small country districts, which consigns innumerable souls to Hell.” Here is an extract from his sermon on the subject of not confessing sins or confessing them badly:
The devil brings sinners to Hell by closing their eyes to the dangers of perdition … He first blinds them, and then leads them with himself to eternal torments … To understand these delusions better, let us imagine the case of a young man who, seized by some passion, lives in sin, the slave of Satan, and never thinks of his eternal salvation. My son, I say to him, what sort of life do you lead? If you continue to live in this manner, how will you be able to save your soul? But, behold, the devil, on the other hand, says to him: “Why should you be afraid of being lost? Indulge your passions for the present: you will afterwards confess your sins, and thus all shall be remedied.” Behold the net by which the devil drags so many souls into Hell.
Satan says: “Indulge your passions! You will make a good confession later!” But, in reply, I say, that in the meantime you lose your soul. Tell me―if you had a jewel worth an enormous amount of money, would you throw it into a river with the hope of afterwards finding it again? My God! You hold in your hand the invaluable jewel of your soul, which Jesus Christ has purchased with His own blood, and you cast it into Hell! Yes! You cast it into Hell―because for every mortal sin you commit, your name is written among the number of the damned. But you will say: “I hope to recover God’s grace by making a good confession.” And if you should not recover grace, what shall be the consequences? To make a good confession, a true sorrow for sin is necessary―and this sorrow is the gift of God! If He does not give it, will you not be lost forever? You answer: “I am still young! God has compassion for youth! I will give myself to God later!” Behold another delusion! You are young―but do you not know that God counts, not the years, but the sins of each individual? You are young―but how many sins have you committed? Perhaps there are many persons of a very advanced age, who have not been guilty of a quarter of the sins which you have committed. And do you not know that God has fixed for each of us the number of sins which He will pardon? God has patience, and waits for a while―but, when the measure of the sins, which He has determined to pardon, is filled up, then He pardons no more, but chastises the sinner, by suddenly depriving him of life in the miserable state of sin, or by abandoning him in his sin.
You say: “I cannot at present resist this passion.” Behold the third delusion of the devil, by which he makes you believe that, at the present moment, you have not strength to overcome certain temptations. But St. Paul tells us that God is faithful, and that He never permits us to be tempted above our strength. “And God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that which you are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13). I ask, if you are not now able to resist the temptation, how can you expect to resist it later? If you give in to it, the devil will become stronger, and you shall become weaker! And if you be not now able to extinguish this flame of passion, how can you hope to be able to extinguish it when it shall have grown more violent?
You say: “God will give me his aid.” But this aid God is ready to give at present if you ask it. Why then do you not implore his assistance? Perhaps you expect that, without now taking the trouble of invoking his aid, you will receive from him increased helps and graces, after you shall have multiplied the number of your sins? Perhaps you doubt the veracity of God, who has promised to give whatever we ask of Him? “Ask,” he says, “and it shall be given you.” (Matthew 7:7). God cannot violate his promises. “God is not as man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed. Hath He said, then, and will He not do?” (Numbers 23:19). Have recourse to Him, and He will give you the strength necessary to resist the temptation. God commands you to resist it, and you say: “I have not strength.” Does God, then, command impossibilities? No! The Council of Trent has declared that “God does not command impossibilities; but, by His commands, He admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask for what you cannot do; and He assists, that you may be able to do it.” (Session 6; canon xiii). When you see that you have not sufficient strength to resist temptation with the ordinary assistance of God, ask of Him the additional help which you require, and He will give it to you; and thus you shall be able to conquer all temptations, however violent they may be.
But you will not pray; and you say that at present time you will commit this sin, and then afterwards you will confess it. But, I ask, how do you know that God will give you time to confess it? You say: “I will go to confession before the week is over!” And who has promised you this week? Well, then you say: “I will go to confession tomorrow”, you say. And who promises you tomorrow? St. Augustine says: “God has not promised you tomorrow. Perhaps He will give it, and perhaps He will refuse it to you!”— as He has refused so many others. How many have gone to bed in good health, and have been found dead in the morning! How many―in the very act of sin―has the Lord struck dead and sent to Hell! Should this happen to you, how will you repair your eternal ruin?
The devil tells you: “Commit this sin, and confess it afterwards.” Behold the deceitful artifice by which the devil has brought so many thousands of Christians to Hell. We scarcely ever find a Christian so sunk in despair as to intend to damn himself. All the wicked sin with the hope of afterwards going to confession. But, by this illusion, how many have brought themselves to damnation! For them there is now no time for confession, no remedy for their damnation. They fell, but failed to rise. They fell once too often.
“But God is merciful!” you protest. Behold another common delusion by which the devil encourages sinners to persevere in a life of sin! A certain author has said, that more souls have been sent to Hell by the mercy of God than by His justice. This is indeed the case; for men are induced by the deceits of the devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in God’s mercy; and thus they are lost. “God is merciful.” Who denies it? But, great as His mercy, how many does He every day send to Hell? God is merciful, but He is also just, and is, therefore, obliged to punish those who offend Him. “And His mercy,” says the divine Mother, “to them that fear Him.” (Luke 1:50). But with regard to those who abuse His mercy and despise Him, He exercises justice. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon the determination to commit sin. St. Augustine says, that he who sins, with the intention of repenting after his sins, is not a penitent but a scoffer. But the Apostle tells us that God will not be mocked. “Be not deceived! God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). It would be a mockery of God to insult Him as often and as much as you pleased, and afterwards to expect eternal glory.
“But,” you say, “since God has shown me so many mercies until now, I am hopeful that He will continue to do so for the future.” Behold another delusion! Then, because God has not as yet chastised your sins, that does not mean that He will never punish them! On the contrary, the greater have been His mercies, the more you should tremble, lest, if you offend Him again, He should pardon you no more, and should take vengeance on your sins.
Behold the advice of the Holy Ghost: “Say not: ‘I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the Most High is a patient rewarder.” (Ecclesiasticus 5:4). Do not say: “I have sinned, and no chastisement has fallen upon me.” God bears for a time, but not forever. He waits for a certain time; but when that arrives, He then chastises the sinner for all His past iniquities: and the longer He has waited for repentance, the more severe the chastisement. Then, my brother, since you know that you have frequently offended God, and that he has not sent you to Hell, you should exclaim: “O the mercies of the Lord, that we have not been consumed” (Lamentations 3:22).
Lord, I thank you for not having sent me to Hell, which I have so often deserved. And therefore you ought to give yourself entirely to God, at least through gratitude, and should consider that, for less sins than you have committed, many are now in that pit of fire, without the smallest hope of being ever released from it. The patience of God in bearing with you, should teach you not to despise him still more, but to love and serve him with greater fervour, and to atone, by penitential austerities and by other holy works, for the insults you have offered to him. You know that he has shown mercies to you, which he has not shown to others. “He hath not done in like manner to every nation” (Psalm 147:20). Hence you should tremble, lest, if you commit a single additional mortal sin, God should abandon you, and cast you into Hell.
Let us come to the next illusion. “It is true that, by this sin, I lose the grace of God; but, even after committing this sin, I may be saved!” You may, indeed, be saved―but it cannot be denied that if, after having committed so many sins, and after having received so many graces from God, you again offend him, there is great reason to fear that you shall be lost. Attend to the words of the Sacred Scripture: “A hard heart shall fare evil at the last!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The obstinate sinner shall die an unhappy death. “Evil doers shall be cut off!” (Psalm 36:9). The wicked shall be cut off by the divine justice. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). He that sows in sin, shall reap eternal torments. “Because I called and you refused, I also will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.” (Proverbs 1:24, 26). I called, says the Lord, and you mocked me; but I will mock you at the hour of death. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). The chastisement of sins belongs to me, and I will execute vengeance on them when the time of vengeance shall arrive. “The man that, with a stiff neck, despises him that reproves him, shall suddenly be destroyed, and health shall not follow him!” (Proverbs 29:1). The man who obstinately despises those who correct him, shall be punished with a sudden death, and for him there shall be no hope of salvation.
Now, brethren, what think you of these divine threats against sinners? Is it easy, or is it not very difficult, to save your souls, if, after so many divine calls, and after so many mercies, you continue to offend God? You say: “But after all―it may happen that I will save my soul!” I answer: What folly is it to trust your salvation to a perhaps? How many souls who also thought ― “perhaps I may be saved,” ― are now in Hell? Do you wish to be one of their unhappy companions? Dearly beloved Christians, enter into yourselves, and tremble! Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He places limits on the number of graces which He dispenses, as well as a limit on the number of sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.
God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offence? St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. “Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Say not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will also pardon me this one if I commit it!” Do not say this! For, if to the sin which has been forgiven, you then add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number of sins will have the passed the limit fixed by God, and that you shall be abandoned.
The first means of salvation, then, is to recommend ourselves continually to God, that He may keep His hands over us, and preserve us from offending Him. The next is, to cleanse the soul from all past sins by making a general confession. A general confession is a powerful help to a change of life. St. Augustine says, that to prevent the sheep from seeking assistance by her cries the wolf seizes her by the neck, and thus securely carries her away and devours her. The devil acts in a similar manner with the sheep of Jesus Christ. After having induced them to yield to sin, he seizes them by the throat, that they may not confess their guilt; and thus he securely brings them to Hell. For those who have sinned grievously, there is no means of salvation but the confession of their sins. But, what hope of salvation can he have who goes to confession and conceals his sins, and makes use of the tribunal of penance to offend God, and to make himself doubly the slave of Satan? What hope would you entertain of the recovery of the man who, instead of taking the medicine prescribed by his physician, drank a cup of poison?
What can the Sacrament of Penance be to those who conceal their sins, but a deadly poison, which adds to their guilt the malice of sacrilege? In giving absolution, the confessor dispenses to his patient the blood of Jesus Christ; for it is through the merits of that blood that he absolves from sin. What, then, does the sinner do, when he conceals his sins in confession? He tramples underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ. And should he afterwards receive the Holy Communion in a state of sin, he is, according to St. John Chrysostom, as guilty as if he threw the consecrated Host into a sink. Accursed shame! How many poor souls do you bring to Hell? Unhappy souls! They think only of the shame of confessing their sins, and do not reflect that, if they conceal them, they shall be certainly damned.
Some penitents ask: “What will my confessor say when he hears that I have committed such a sin?” What will he say? He will say that you are, like all persons living on this Earth, miserable and prone to sin: he will say that, if you have done evil, you have also performed a glorious action in overcoming shame, and in candidly confessing your fault. “But I am afraid to confess this sin!” they say. To how many confessors, I ask, must you confess your sin? It is enough to mention it to one priest―who hears many sins of the same kind from others. It is enough to confess it once: the confessor will give you penance and absolution, and your conscience shall be tranquillized. If, then, brethren, there be a single soul among you who has ever concealed a sin, through shame, in the tribunal of penance, let him take courage, and make a full confession of all his faults. Courage, then! Expel this viper which you harbour in your soul, and which continually corrodes your heart and destroys your peace. O what a Hell does a Christian suffer, who keeps in his heart a sin concealed through shame in confession! He suffers an anticipation of Hell.
And, that you may not entertain groundless scruples, I think it is right to tell you, that if the sin, which you are ashamed to tell, be not mortal, or if you never considered it to be a mortal sin, you are not obliged to confess it; for we are bound only to confess mortal sins. Moreover, if you have doubts whether you ever confessed a certain sin of your former life, but know that, in preparing for confession, you always carefully examined your conscience, and that you never concealed a sin through shame; in this case, even though the sin, about the confession of which you are doubtful, had been a grievous fault, you are not obliged to confess it, because it is presumed to be morally certain that you have already confessed it. But, if you know that the sin was grievous, and that you never accused yourself of it in confession, then there is no remedy—you must confess it, or you must be damned for it. If you have the misfortune of having contracted a habit of mortal sin, make, as soon as possible, a general confession―for your past confessions can scarcely have been valid. Go forth instantly from the slavery of the devil.
But, lost sheep, go instantly to confession. Jesus Christ is waiting for you; He stands with arms open to pardon and embrace you, if you acknowledge your guilt. Go to confession as soon as possible, and make a firm resolution to change your lives. It is useless to confess your sins, if you afterwards return to your former vices. To make a good confession of your sins, you must have true sorrow of the heart, and a firm purpose to sin no more. If, then, you wish to save your soul, do immediately what you must one day do. Go to confession as soon as possible, and tremble lest every delay may be the eternal ruin of your soul. And should you have the misfortune of falling thereafter into any mortal sin, go immediately to confession again, even on the same day or the same night, if you can.
If you do not comprehend the value of your soul, learn it from Jesus Christ, Who has redeemed you with His own Blood. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus Christ could save us without dying on the cross, and without suffering. One drop of His Blood would be sufficient for our redemption. Yet in His Passion, the Blood of Jesus Christ was poured forth even to the last drop. To show how much He loved us, He wished to shed not only a part of His Blood, but the entire amount of it. The Son of God has shed all His Blood for the love of us, to wash away the sins of our souls. “Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). (Sermon of St. Alphonsus Liguori).
Wednesday June 30th
Article 15
St. Paul―A Saint for Today
Article 15
St. Paul―A Saint for Today
Your Patron Saint!
Have you ever sinned? Have you ever ignored, put aside, twisted or tweaked some teaching of the Church? Have you ever acted in a proud and haughty manner towards fellow Catholics? Have you been guilty of “finger-pointing” and “finger-wagging” at others? Have you ever exaggerated the faults of others? Have you ever falsely accused them? Have you ever threatened fellow Catholics? Have you ever got on your high horse and gone on a crusade against the perceived failings of others? Have you ever persecuted anyone in one way or another? Have you ever wished for or even taken revenge, vengeance or inflicted punishment of some kind on others unjustly? Have you ever killed anyone or tried to kill anyone―either physically or spiritually (leading them into mortal sin)? St. Paul (or should we say Saul) did all these things and more besides! Judging by the way the world acts today, you could say that world is full of Sauls whom God would like to convert into Pauls!
Saul the Pharisee
Saul was a Pharisee, born to a Pharisee, and studied under one of the most renowned Pharisees of that time―“a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, respected by all the people” (Acts 5:34). We might not have been born into the Pharisee sect, nor to a Pharisee father―but we most certainly have been born into Pharisee world, a world of hypocrisy, a masquerading self-righteousness that seeks to hide that fact that “all have sinned … and every man is a liar” (Romans 3:23; 3:4). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8). You could that today’s world―like the Pharisees of old―is a “finger-pointer” and “finger-wagger”―seeing the speck in the eyes of others, but ignoring the plank in its own eye! The Pharisees on Mount Calvary, watching Christ die, “blasphemed him, wagging their heads” (Matthew 27:39). God says: “Cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not!” (Isaias 58:9). Incidentally, the word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work―it comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.”
Pharisaical Condemnation by Our Lord
They say “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions” and the Pharisees were certainly full of good intentions! Pharisees were people whom sought to maintain the fervor and the fidelity to the Law of God. St. Paul declares himself to be a Pharisee before the Sanhedrin: “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6). The Pharisees were not in principle bad people―but not every Pharisee followed the correct principles. They were pious, observant of the Law of God, and sought to please Him. They were so observant of the Law that they became legalists. Much like Catholics today, they would tweak, twist, elaborate the Law of God to suit their own preferences. They had the principles to be good, but they did not use their principles correctly. They made an absolute of outer or external rites of worship, carried out meticulously to the tiniest detail. This led them to leave aside more important things, like the charity and mercy. Sounds like our world today, huh?
As the defenders of the living Word of God—which they insisted should be made available to all—the Pharisees became, by common consent, the unofficial spiritual leaders of Judaism, at a time when the official leadership of the priesthood had become almost entirely materialistic and was soon to be obliterated. However, in assuming this leadership there was of course a danger of smugness and complacency. It would be a mistake to make the whole of Pharisaism a scapegoat for the faults of a few Pharisees. St. Paul was a Pharisee, and was proud of it. So too were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and no doubt many others who received the teaching of Christ with open arms.
The Talmud lists seven different types of Pharisee ― just as we could list different types of Catholics―under the following specific characteristics:
(1) the “Sichem-Pharisee,” who is a Pharisee because of the material advantages involved;
(2) the “niqpi-Pharisee,” that is, the “pussyfoot” Pharisee who, with the labored artificiality of his hunched and shuffling gait, makes a great show of his humility;
(3) the “bleeding-Pharisee,” who frequently causes himself bloody injuries by running into walls with closed eyes in avoiding the sight of women;
(4) the “pestle-Pharisee,” who walks all bent over, so that he looks like the pestle in the mortar;
(5) the “what-is-my-duty-that-I-may-do-it Pharisee,” that is, one who no longer shows himself ready to perform all his duties, but rather declares that he can do no more since he is already extremely busy;
(6) the “Pharisee-for-love,” who is motivated not by love of God, but love of money and good business;
(7) the “Pharisee-through-fear,” whose actions are inspired by the fear of God, that is, by true religious feeling.
Of the seven types, therefore, only the last type merits praise, and certainly each type had numerous representatives. Jesus’ invectives were directed against these different types of Pharisaical behavior rather than their teachings, at least in general. Jesus approved some of what the Pharisees taught, but found many of their actions were hypocritical. Likewise for us, Jesus would approve of some aspects of Catholic life today, but would find many aspects of our lives as being hypocritical.
From Saul the Pharisee to Paul the Christian
Saul―later to become Paul―was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. At his circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, he received the name of Saul. His father was, by sect, a Pharisee, and an inhabitant of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia―a city which had shown a particular support for the cause of the Caesars and had been rewarded for this support by being many privileges and the freedom of Rome. Hence St. Paul, being born at Tarsus, was by privilege also a Roman citizen, to whom several exemptions were granted by the laws of the Roman Empire. His parents sent him as a youth to Jerusalem, where he was educated and instructed in the strictest observance of the law of Moses, by Gamaliel, a learned and noble Jew, a member of the Sanhedrin and a most scrupulous observer of the Jewish law in every point.
Saul happily embraced the sect of the Pharisees, which was of all others the most severe, though, by its pride, it was also the most opposite to the humility of the Gospel. Saul, surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their traditions―which he thought were all for the cause of God―became thereby a blasphemer, a persecutor, and the most outrageous enemy of Christ. St. Augustine says that Paul was one of those who combined together to murder St. Stephen, and by keeping the garments of all who stoned that holy martyr, Paul is said to have stoned him through the hands of all the rest. St Augustine adds that St. Stephen’s prayers for his enemies brought about the conversion of St. Paul: “If Stephen,” said he, “had not prayed, the church would never have had St. Paul.”
After the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the priests and magistrates of the Jews raised a violent persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, in which Saul stood above all others. By virtue of the power he had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of their houses, loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison. He brought them to be scourged in the synagogues, and tried by torments to compel them to blaspheme the Name of Christ. And as our Savior had always been painted, by the leading men of the Jews, as an enemy to their law, it was no wonder that this rigorous Pharisee fully persuaded himself that “he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
By the violence he committed, his name became everywhere a terror to the faithful. The persecutors not only raged against their persons, but also seized their estates and what they possessed in common, and left them in such extreme poverty, that the remotest churches afterwards thought it their duty to join in charitable contributions for the relief of those poor persons. All this could not satisfy the fury of Saul: “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). In the fury of his zeal, he applied to the high priest and Sanhedrin for a commission to take up all Jews at Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, arrest them and bring them tied or bound in chains to Jerusalem, so that they might serve as public examples for the terror of others. Thinking that he was serving God, Saul became the worst enemy of Christians. He hunted them down and dragged them out of their homes, imprisoning them and even having them killed. At this point, you would be tempted to call Saul the patron “saint” of the enemies of the Church that surround us today―who are seeking to do the exact the same thing that Saul was doing around 2,000 years ago!
STILL TO BE FINISHED
Have you ever sinned? Have you ever ignored, put aside, twisted or tweaked some teaching of the Church? Have you ever acted in a proud and haughty manner towards fellow Catholics? Have you been guilty of “finger-pointing” and “finger-wagging” at others? Have you ever exaggerated the faults of others? Have you ever falsely accused them? Have you ever threatened fellow Catholics? Have you ever got on your high horse and gone on a crusade against the perceived failings of others? Have you ever persecuted anyone in one way or another? Have you ever wished for or even taken revenge, vengeance or inflicted punishment of some kind on others unjustly? Have you ever killed anyone or tried to kill anyone―either physically or spiritually (leading them into mortal sin)? St. Paul (or should we say Saul) did all these things and more besides! Judging by the way the world acts today, you could say that world is full of Sauls whom God would like to convert into Pauls!
Saul the Pharisee
Saul was a Pharisee, born to a Pharisee, and studied under one of the most renowned Pharisees of that time―“a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, respected by all the people” (Acts 5:34). We might not have been born into the Pharisee sect, nor to a Pharisee father―but we most certainly have been born into Pharisee world, a world of hypocrisy, a masquerading self-righteousness that seeks to hide that fact that “all have sinned … and every man is a liar” (Romans 3:23; 3:4). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8). You could that today’s world―like the Pharisees of old―is a “finger-pointer” and “finger-wagger”―seeing the speck in the eyes of others, but ignoring the plank in its own eye! The Pharisees on Mount Calvary, watching Christ die, “blasphemed him, wagging their heads” (Matthew 27:39). God says: “Cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not!” (Isaias 58:9). Incidentally, the word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work―it comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.”
Pharisaical Condemnation by Our Lord
They say “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions” and the Pharisees were certainly full of good intentions! Pharisees were people whom sought to maintain the fervor and the fidelity to the Law of God. St. Paul declares himself to be a Pharisee before the Sanhedrin: “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6). The Pharisees were not in principle bad people―but not every Pharisee followed the correct principles. They were pious, observant of the Law of God, and sought to please Him. They were so observant of the Law that they became legalists. Much like Catholics today, they would tweak, twist, elaborate the Law of God to suit their own preferences. They had the principles to be good, but they did not use their principles correctly. They made an absolute of outer or external rites of worship, carried out meticulously to the tiniest detail. This led them to leave aside more important things, like the charity and mercy. Sounds like our world today, huh?
As the defenders of the living Word of God—which they insisted should be made available to all—the Pharisees became, by common consent, the unofficial spiritual leaders of Judaism, at a time when the official leadership of the priesthood had become almost entirely materialistic and was soon to be obliterated. However, in assuming this leadership there was of course a danger of smugness and complacency. It would be a mistake to make the whole of Pharisaism a scapegoat for the faults of a few Pharisees. St. Paul was a Pharisee, and was proud of it. So too were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and no doubt many others who received the teaching of Christ with open arms.
The Talmud lists seven different types of Pharisee ― just as we could list different types of Catholics―under the following specific characteristics:
(1) the “Sichem-Pharisee,” who is a Pharisee because of the material advantages involved;
(2) the “niqpi-Pharisee,” that is, the “pussyfoot” Pharisee who, with the labored artificiality of his hunched and shuffling gait, makes a great show of his humility;
(3) the “bleeding-Pharisee,” who frequently causes himself bloody injuries by running into walls with closed eyes in avoiding the sight of women;
(4) the “pestle-Pharisee,” who walks all bent over, so that he looks like the pestle in the mortar;
(5) the “what-is-my-duty-that-I-may-do-it Pharisee,” that is, one who no longer shows himself ready to perform all his duties, but rather declares that he can do no more since he is already extremely busy;
(6) the “Pharisee-for-love,” who is motivated not by love of God, but love of money and good business;
(7) the “Pharisee-through-fear,” whose actions are inspired by the fear of God, that is, by true religious feeling.
Of the seven types, therefore, only the last type merits praise, and certainly each type had numerous representatives. Jesus’ invectives were directed against these different types of Pharisaical behavior rather than their teachings, at least in general. Jesus approved some of what the Pharisees taught, but found many of their actions were hypocritical. Likewise for us, Jesus would approve of some aspects of Catholic life today, but would find many aspects of our lives as being hypocritical.
From Saul the Pharisee to Paul the Christian
Saul―later to become Paul―was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. At his circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, he received the name of Saul. His father was, by sect, a Pharisee, and an inhabitant of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia―a city which had shown a particular support for the cause of the Caesars and had been rewarded for this support by being many privileges and the freedom of Rome. Hence St. Paul, being born at Tarsus, was by privilege also a Roman citizen, to whom several exemptions were granted by the laws of the Roman Empire. His parents sent him as a youth to Jerusalem, where he was educated and instructed in the strictest observance of the law of Moses, by Gamaliel, a learned and noble Jew, a member of the Sanhedrin and a most scrupulous observer of the Jewish law in every point.
Saul happily embraced the sect of the Pharisees, which was of all others the most severe, though, by its pride, it was also the most opposite to the humility of the Gospel. Saul, surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their traditions―which he thought were all for the cause of God―became thereby a blasphemer, a persecutor, and the most outrageous enemy of Christ. St. Augustine says that Paul was one of those who combined together to murder St. Stephen, and by keeping the garments of all who stoned that holy martyr, Paul is said to have stoned him through the hands of all the rest. St Augustine adds that St. Stephen’s prayers for his enemies brought about the conversion of St. Paul: “If Stephen,” said he, “had not prayed, the church would never have had St. Paul.”
After the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the priests and magistrates of the Jews raised a violent persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, in which Saul stood above all others. By virtue of the power he had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of their houses, loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison. He brought them to be scourged in the synagogues, and tried by torments to compel them to blaspheme the Name of Christ. And as our Savior had always been painted, by the leading men of the Jews, as an enemy to their law, it was no wonder that this rigorous Pharisee fully persuaded himself that “he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
By the violence he committed, his name became everywhere a terror to the faithful. The persecutors not only raged against their persons, but also seized their estates and what they possessed in common, and left them in such extreme poverty, that the remotest churches afterwards thought it their duty to join in charitable contributions for the relief of those poor persons. All this could not satisfy the fury of Saul: “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). In the fury of his zeal, he applied to the high priest and Sanhedrin for a commission to take up all Jews at Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, arrest them and bring them tied or bound in chains to Jerusalem, so that they might serve as public examples for the terror of others. Thinking that he was serving God, Saul became the worst enemy of Christians. He hunted them down and dragged them out of their homes, imprisoning them and even having them killed. At this point, you would be tempted to call Saul the patron “saint” of the enemies of the Church that surround us today―who are seeking to do the exact the same thing that Saul was doing around 2,000 years ago!
STILL TO BE FINISHED
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday June 28th & Tuesday June 29th
Article 14
Why on Earth Can't People See What is Happening?
Monday June 28th & Tuesday June 29th
Article 14
Why on Earth Can't People See What is Happening?
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Eyes That Don’t See! Ears That Don’t Hear! Minds That Don’t Understand!
“The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). We all know how exasperating it is when you are trying to communicate with someone, but you know that what you are saying is “going in one ear and out the other.” It happens “all across the board”―with children, spouses, parents, relatives, friends and work colleagues. It does not matter how good the advice is, or how good, knowledgeable or skilled the giver of the advice is―the ultimate result is in the lap (or eyes, ears and mind) of the listener. In Latin, there is a phrase ― quidquid recipitur secundum modis recipientis recipitur ― meaning, “whatever is received, is received according to the mode of the receiver.” In other words, what we say to someone is not always the same thing as what they hear―in that their selective listening will filter-out the things they do not want to hear, and retain only those things that they like or are willing to hear, and will tweak and change what we have said to fit what they are prepared to accept. We have all been guilty of that and have also been the victims of that―which is why we often have to point out: “That is not what I said! You were not listening!” You have been offering advice, or giving instructions on how to complete a task, but the other person’s mind has already made up beforehand, or the other person thinks his or her way is the best way and refuses to entertain any other points of view. Or it may be a case of your instructions or advice not being given in a clear manner―which then can open the door to misinterpretations. Sometimes it might be attributable to such things as arrogance, pride, stubbornness, defensiveness, or an unwillingness to admit to mistakes. When any of these things happen, you can either throw your hands up in the air and walk away, or you can be patient and persevere, persistently repeating your advice, and even proving its viability, so as to ensure the other person eventually takes your message on board. Failing to See, Hear and Understand Our Lady’s Messages That is exactly what Our Lady has been trying to do for last couple of centuries or so, she has repeatedly advised us to decrease the number of sins in the world, to penance for our sins, and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Yet, sadly, the Catholic world has largely ignored her advice and warnings. Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” |
Our Lady of La Salette had already advised us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … No one wishes to grant it to me! … Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … the people of God have neglected prayer and penance! … People will think of nothing but amusement!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady says: “The Lord considers the forgetting and the neglecting of the doctrines contained in the Gospels, as a great injury done to Him by the children of the Church in our times. For there are many who do not listen or pay attention to them, and who make no more of them than if they were pagan writings, or as if they did not contain in them the light of Faith. All these and innumerable other favors, which are pointed out by Faith, offered by the Church and presented before their very eyes, men forget and despise; as if blind, they love the darkness and deliver themselves up to the fury and rage of those cruel enemies. They listen to his lies, obey his wicked suggestions and confide in his snares; they trust and give themselves up to the unquenchable fire of his wrath. He seeks to destroy them and consign them to eternal death.”
“The arrogance of the dragon is great, his cunning and malice far exceed that of mortals, it is not advisable to allow the soul to exchange words with him―whether he is present invisibly or visibly―for from his darksome mind, as from a smoking furnace, issue the shadows of confusion, obscuring the judgments of mortals; if they listen to him, he will fill their minds with deceits and darkness, so that they will neither recognize the truth and the beauty of virtue, nor the vileness of his poisonous falsehoods. Thus the souls will be made unable to distinguish the precious from the worthless, life from death, truth from error (Jeremias 15:19), and they easily fall into the clutches of this fierce and wicked dragon.
“In temptation let it be your invariable course of action not to pay attention to anything which he proposes, not to listen, not to argue with him concerning anything. If you can withdraw and place yourself at a distance, so as not to perceive or recognize his wicked attempts, so much the more secure you will be by thus looking upon him only at a distance. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits, especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison, concealed in the golden cup, in order to diminish the horror of the soul … If they listen to him, he will fill their minds with deceits and darkness, so that they will neither recognize the truth and the beauty of virtue, nor the vileness of his poisonous falsehoods ... Many make themselves unworthy by delivering themselves over to the enemy and listening to his deceits and his malicious and cunning advice!”
Upside Down World―Upside Down Mind
Woe to us! For we have reached a time where evil is called good, and good is called evil. Where stupidity is thought to be intelligence, and real intelligence is looked upon as stupidity! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil! That put darkness for light, and light for darkness! That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Today, most people think that contraception, abortion, fornication, cohabitation, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, divorce, etc. are all good things and that to oppose these things is an evil, a punishable hate crime. Even many Catholics are now of this opinion―or at least with some of the above mentioned sins (Oops! Sorry! Should that be “virtues”? Got to be politically correct, don’t we?). Anyone seen or heard to be adhering to Christian values is increasingly being seen as a “radical”, a “fanatic”, a “social-terrorist”, a danger to humanity!
One of the hallmarks of Satan is his desire to reverse true values―to make excuses for evil and try to portray evil as a good; to cast doubt over what is good or true and to try portray it as questionable, false or evil. Thus he has achieved in casting doubts over the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Our Lady, the existence of miracles, the Real Presence in Holy Eucharist, the reality of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the origins of the Bible, the Catholic Church being the sole ark of salvation, the dogmatic teaching of the Church, etc. We have now reached the point where Catholics are literally divided over so many moral issues, where there should be no argument at all―such as contraception, abortion, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, cohabitation, immodesty, pornography, drug use, drunkenness, etc. Catholics are so divided over these issues that the percentages are often in the 50% versus 50% range―sometimes 60% versus 40% or 40% versus 60% ranges. Satan has also created an indifference to the Faith and the authority of the Faith―which is clearly shown and seen in the 80% of Catholics who are totally comfortable in failing to fulfill their obligation of regularly attending Sunday Mass―with many offenders being of the opinion that you can still be a good Catholic even you don’t attend Sunday Mass. Furthermore, statistics show that over 92% of youth stop regularly practicing the Faith once they graduate from high-school or college.
Why is all of this happening? How can it happen? How could God let it happen? Our Lady of La Salette gives us the answer: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lord said the same thing implicitly at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
In other words, if we keep God’s commandments, then we will abide in His love―we will abide in a state of sanctifying grace. Serious breaches of those commandments cause us to lose sanctifying grace and place us in a state of mortal sin. Just as sanctifying grace perfects nature, mortal sin (and to some extent venial sin) corrupts and weakens nature.
“The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of Christ should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “The light [Christ] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved” (John 3:19-20). “Walk not as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind― having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who have given themselves up to lust, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness!” (Ephesians 4:17-18). “They have not known nor understood―they walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5).
Sin Blinds the Mind
In the hymn to Our Lady, the Ave Maris Stella, we read: “Solve vincla reis! Profer lumen caecis! ― meaning “Break the chains of the guilty! Grant light to the blind!” Holy Scripture clearly tells us―both implicitly and explicitly―that sin blinds the mind and darkens the understanding: “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1). “They shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord!” (Sophonias 1:17). “Their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Woe to you blind guides! … Ye foolish and blind!” (Matthew 23:16-17). “O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18).
The Pharisees were lost in profound spiritual blindness. Their minds were utterly darkened. What lead to this blindness? Where does blindness of the mind come from or originate? Blindness of mind is the vice opposed to the gift of understanding. Blindness of mind (this profound spiritual blindness) indicates not merely a certain weakness of the mind in relation to the consideration of spiritual things, but implies the complete privation of knowledge of supernatural realities. In this way, blindness of mind is more than a mere dulling of the intellect, but goes further to make a man hate and utterly reject spiritual truths. The one who is spiritual blind (like the Pharisees of John 9) cannot in any way begin to understand, apprehend, or penetrate the inner nature of spiritual realities; but, instead, turns away completely from supernatural truth. On account of blindness of mind, the spiritual light of grace in a man’s soul is lost and the light in him becomes darkness.
What Sins Lead to Blindness of the Mind?
Certainly, by any mortal sin, the gift of understanding is lost – since, when a man loses charity, he loses also all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless ― though there are many mortal sins which cause the lost of understanding and, therefore, lead to spiritual blindness ― there are two chief sins which are directly opposed to understanding and leads immediately to blindness of mind. It is from these sins that we may most accurately say blindness of mind proceeds.
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the sins which directly cause spiritual blindness are all mortal sins pertaining to gluttony and lust. In fact, gluttony is a seedbed for lust. In this matter, the Angelic Doctor follows Pope St. Gregory the Great. But what is it about sins of the flesh―gluttony and lust―which causes spiritual blindness? The more a man’s intellect is fixed on the sensible realities, the less he will be able to understand the true essence of things―since the essence of things is invisible, spiritual and immaterial.
St. Thomas continues: “Now it is evident that pleasure fixes a man’s attention on that which he takes pleasure in. Now carnal vices, namely gluttony and lust, are concerned with pleasures of touch in matters of food and sex; and these are the most impetuous of all pleasures of the body. For this reason these vices cause man’s attention to be firmly fixed on corporeal things, so that in consequence man’s operation in regard to the intelligible things is weakened; more, however, by lust than by gluttony, forasmuch as sexual pleasures are more vehement than those of the table. Wherefore lust gives rise to blindness of mind, which excludes almost entirely the knowledge of spiritual things.” (Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q.15, art. 3). Thus, it is precisely the sins of gluttony and lust that lead to this spiritual blindness ― for gluttony and lust direct all our attention to the pleasures of Earth and makes us blind to the pleasures of Heaven. “Walk not according to the flesh! … For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is death! … The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God! … And they who live according to the flesh, cannot please God! … For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die!” (Romans 8:1-13).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes: “Since the commission of Original Sin, man's intellect is wounded. This wound is called that of ignorance; because of it, the intellect, instead of inclining spontaneously toward the true, and especially toward supreme Truth, has difficulty in attaining it and tends to be absorbed in the consideration of earthly things without rising to their cause ... The concupiscence of the flesh is the inordinate desire of what is, or seems to be, useful to the preservation of the individual and of the species―from this inordinate or sensual love arise GLUTTONY and LUST. Voluptuousness can thus become an idol and blind us more and more. The concupiscence of the eyes is the inordinate desire of all that can please the sight: of luxury, wealth, money which makes it possible for us to procure worldly goods … This seeking after unlawful things manifests itself by the externalization of life, by curiosity, loquacity, uneasiness, instability, and fruitless agitation. Thus a person arrives at spiritual blindness and the progressive weakening of the will … Consequently intellect easily falls into error … It is negligent and slothful in the search for our true last end and the means leading to it and lets itself be darkened by the prejudices which come from inordinate passions. It may finally reach the state that is called spiritual blindness. Gluttony and sensuality leads to blindness of spirit, to hardness of heart, to attachment to the present life even to the loss of hope of eternal life, and to love of self even to hatred of God, and to final impenitence …
“The saints tell us that SPIRITUALLY RETARDED, LUKEWARM and TEPID SOULS may reach such a state of blindness of spirit and hardness of heart that it is very difficult to reform them. In her Dialogue, St. Catherine of Siena says that PRIDE obscures the knowledge of the truth, nourishes self-love, and is the enemy of obedience, and that its pith is impatience. In chapter 128 she writes the words of God spoken to her: ‘O cursed pride, based on self-love! How hast thou blinded the eye of their intellect? ... They are really in the greatest poverty and misery! For they have fallen from the heights of grace into the depths of mortal sin. They seem to see―but are blind―for they know neither themselves nor Me.’ Pride is truly like a bandage over the eyes of the soul. Consequently it perverts judgment.
“Defects, especially PRIDE, may finally lead us to spiritual blindness, which is the direct opposite of the contemplation of Divine things ... There are sinners who, by reason of repeated sins, no longer recognize the signified will of God … They no longer understand that the evils which befall them are actually punishments of God, and they do not turn to Him. They see in them only the result of certain economic factors, such as the development of machinery and over-production which results from it. They no longer take into account that these disorders have above all a moral cause and come from the fact that many men place their last end where it is not―not in God Who would unite us, but in material goods which divide us. Spiritual blindness leads the sinner to prefer, in everything, goods that are temporal rather than eternal goods … Spiritual blindness is a punishment of God which takes away the Divine light because of repeated sins … It hinders us from seeing the proximity of death and the judgment. It takes all penetration away from us and leaves us in a state of spiritual dullness, which is like the loss of all higher intelligence”
“Among the other capital sins, there is SPIRITUAL SLOTH, which is directly opposed to the love of God and generosity in His service. Sloth in general, is a voluntary and culpable repugnance to work, to effort, and consequently creates a tendency to idleness, or at least to negligence … Sloth fears and refuses effort, wishes to avoid all trouble, and seeks a sweet life ... This vice begins with a lack of concern and negligence in work, and manifests itself by a progressive dislike for all serious, physical and mental labor. It is the cause of lukewarmness or tepidity … Then it reaches a voluntary disgust for spiritual things, because they demand too much effort and self-discipline … Spiritual sloth weighs down and crushes the soul and ends by causing it to find the yoke of the Lord unbearable and to flee the divine light, which reminds it of its duties. St. Augustine says: ‘Light which is so pleasant to pure eyes, becomes hateful to infirm eyes which can no longer bear it!’ Distractions soon invade prayer almost completely; the examination of conscience, which has become annoying, is suppressed; sins are no longer accounted for; and the soul descends farther and farther along the slope of lukewarmness or tepidity. It falls into spiritual anemia.”
St. John of the Cross gives an excellent description of spiritual sloth: “As to spiritual sloth, beginners tend to find their most spiritual occupations irksome, and avoid them as repugnant to their taste―for, being so given to sweetness in spiritual things, they hate such occupations when they find no sweetness. If they miss once this sweetness in prayer, they will not resume it―at other times they omit it, or return to it with a bad grace. Thus, under the influence of sloth they neglect the way of perfection ― which is the denial of their will and pleasure for God ― for the gratification of their own will, which they serve rather than the will of God. Many of these desire that God should will what they will, and are afflicted when they must will what He wills―reluctantly having to submit their own will to the will of God. As a result, they often imagine that, what is not according to their will, is also not according to the will of God―and, on the other hand, when they are pleased, they believe that God is pleased. They measure Him by themselves, and not themselves by Him. They also find it wearisome to obey when they are commanded to do what they do not like―and because they walk in the way of consolation and spiritual sweetness, they are too weak for the rough trials of perfection. They are like persons, who are delicately nurtured, who avoid with heavy hearts all that is hard and rugged, and are offended at the least cross. The more spiritual the work they have to do, the more irksome do they feel it to be. And because they insist on having their own way and will in spiritual things, they enter on the ‘strait way that leadeth unto life’ (Matthew 16:25), of which Christ speaks, with repugnance and heaviness of heart!”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange continues: “Spiritual sloth is gravely sinful when it reaches the point of giving up the religious duties that are necessary for our salvation and sanctification―for example, when that sloth goes so far as to omit the hearing of Mass on Sunday. When it leads us to omit religious acts of lesser importance, without a reason, then the sin is only venial. But if we do not struggle against this negligence, it soon becomes more serious, placing us in a genuine state of lukewarmness or spiritual relaxation. This state is a sort of moral anemia, in which evil tendencies awaken, little by little, and seek to prevail―and manifest themselves by numerous deliberate venial sins, which dispose us to still graver faults. Spiritual sloth is, as St. Gregory and St. Thomas show, a capital sin and the root of many others. Consequently, disastrous results follow disgust for spiritual things and for the work of sanctification, a sin which is directly opposed to the love of God and to the holy joy resulting therefrom. When life does not rise toward God, it descends or falls into evil sadness which oppresses the soul. From this evil sadness, says St. Gregory, are born malice ― and no longer only weakness ― rancor toward one's neighbor, pusillanimity in the face of duty to be accomplished, discouragement, lack of spiritual energy even to the point of forgetting of the commandments of God, and finally, dissipation of spirit and the seeking after forbidden things. This seeking after unlawful things manifests itself by the externalization of life, by curiosity, loquacity, uneasiness, instability, and fruitless agitation. Thus a person arrives at spiritual blindness and the progressive weakening of the will.”
“Descending this slope, many have lost sight of the grandeur of the Christian vocation, have forgotten the promises they made to God, and have taken the descending road, which at first seems broad, but which grows narrower and narrower, whereas the narrow road, which leads upward, becomes ever wider, immense as God Himself to whom it leads.”
In The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St. John of the Cross says on this subject: “Dissipation of the mind engenders in its turn spiritual sloth and lukewarmness, which grow into weariness and sadness in divine things, so that in the end we come to hate them.” O how much our minds are dissipated today, with the abundance of entertainment being dangled in front of it through the television, the internet, computers, tablets, smartphones, video games, music players, etc. That explains why we are so lukewarm, tepid, slothful and blind in spiritual matters! That is the reason why we cannot see! We cannot see what we really are like! We cannot see where we are headed! Is ignorance bliss? Perhaps at first, but not when you eventually fall into the pit! “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady says: “The Lord considers the forgetting and the neglecting of the doctrines contained in the Gospels, as a great injury done to Him by the children of the Church in our times. For there are many who do not listen or pay attention to them, and who make no more of them than if they were pagan writings, or as if they did not contain in them the light of Faith. All these and innumerable other favors, which are pointed out by Faith, offered by the Church and presented before their very eyes, men forget and despise; as if blind, they love the darkness and deliver themselves up to the fury and rage of those cruel enemies. They listen to his lies, obey his wicked suggestions and confide in his snares; they trust and give themselves up to the unquenchable fire of his wrath. He seeks to destroy them and consign them to eternal death.”
“The arrogance of the dragon is great, his cunning and malice far exceed that of mortals, it is not advisable to allow the soul to exchange words with him―whether he is present invisibly or visibly―for from his darksome mind, as from a smoking furnace, issue the shadows of confusion, obscuring the judgments of mortals; if they listen to him, he will fill their minds with deceits and darkness, so that they will neither recognize the truth and the beauty of virtue, nor the vileness of his poisonous falsehoods. Thus the souls will be made unable to distinguish the precious from the worthless, life from death, truth from error (Jeremias 15:19), and they easily fall into the clutches of this fierce and wicked dragon.
“In temptation let it be your invariable course of action not to pay attention to anything which he proposes, not to listen, not to argue with him concerning anything. If you can withdraw and place yourself at a distance, so as not to perceive or recognize his wicked attempts, so much the more secure you will be by thus looking upon him only at a distance. The demon always seeks to prepare the way for his deceits, especially in souls which he fears will resist his entrance, unless he can thus facilitate his approach. He is accustomed to begin by causing sorrow or dejection of heart, or he makes use of other trickery or snares, by which he diverts or withdraws the soul from the love of the Lord; then he comes with his poison, concealed in the golden cup, in order to diminish the horror of the soul … If they listen to him, he will fill their minds with deceits and darkness, so that they will neither recognize the truth and the beauty of virtue, nor the vileness of his poisonous falsehoods ... Many make themselves unworthy by delivering themselves over to the enemy and listening to his deceits and his malicious and cunning advice!”
Upside Down World―Upside Down Mind
Woe to us! For we have reached a time where evil is called good, and good is called evil. Where stupidity is thought to be intelligence, and real intelligence is looked upon as stupidity! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil! That put darkness for light, and light for darkness! That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Today, most people think that contraception, abortion, fornication, cohabitation, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, transgenderism, divorce, etc. are all good things and that to oppose these things is an evil, a punishable hate crime. Even many Catholics are now of this opinion―or at least with some of the above mentioned sins (Oops! Sorry! Should that be “virtues”? Got to be politically correct, don’t we?). Anyone seen or heard to be adhering to Christian values is increasingly being seen as a “radical”, a “fanatic”, a “social-terrorist”, a danger to humanity!
One of the hallmarks of Satan is his desire to reverse true values―to make excuses for evil and try to portray evil as a good; to cast doubt over what is good or true and to try portray it as questionable, false or evil. Thus he has achieved in casting doubts over the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Our Lady, the existence of miracles, the Real Presence in Holy Eucharist, the reality of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the origins of the Bible, the Catholic Church being the sole ark of salvation, the dogmatic teaching of the Church, etc. We have now reached the point where Catholics are literally divided over so many moral issues, where there should be no argument at all―such as contraception, abortion, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, cohabitation, immodesty, pornography, drug use, drunkenness, etc. Catholics are so divided over these issues that the percentages are often in the 50% versus 50% range―sometimes 60% versus 40% or 40% versus 60% ranges. Satan has also created an indifference to the Faith and the authority of the Faith―which is clearly shown and seen in the 80% of Catholics who are totally comfortable in failing to fulfill their obligation of regularly attending Sunday Mass―with many offenders being of the opinion that you can still be a good Catholic even you don’t attend Sunday Mass. Furthermore, statistics show that over 92% of youth stop regularly practicing the Faith once they graduate from high-school or college.
Why is all of this happening? How can it happen? How could God let it happen? Our Lady of La Salette gives us the answer: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lord said the same thing implicitly at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
In other words, if we keep God’s commandments, then we will abide in His love―we will abide in a state of sanctifying grace. Serious breaches of those commandments cause us to lose sanctifying grace and place us in a state of mortal sin. Just as sanctifying grace perfects nature, mortal sin (and to some extent venial sin) corrupts and weakens nature.
“The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of Christ should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “The light [Christ] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved” (John 3:19-20). “Walk not as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind― having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who have given themselves up to lust, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness!” (Ephesians 4:17-18). “They have not known nor understood―they walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5).
Sin Blinds the Mind
In the hymn to Our Lady, the Ave Maris Stella, we read: “Solve vincla reis! Profer lumen caecis! ― meaning “Break the chains of the guilty! Grant light to the blind!” Holy Scripture clearly tells us―both implicitly and explicitly―that sin blinds the mind and darkens the understanding: “The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1). “They shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord!” (Sophonias 1:17). “Their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Woe to you blind guides! … Ye foolish and blind!” (Matthew 23:16-17). “O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18).
The Pharisees were lost in profound spiritual blindness. Their minds were utterly darkened. What lead to this blindness? Where does blindness of the mind come from or originate? Blindness of mind is the vice opposed to the gift of understanding. Blindness of mind (this profound spiritual blindness) indicates not merely a certain weakness of the mind in relation to the consideration of spiritual things, but implies the complete privation of knowledge of supernatural realities. In this way, blindness of mind is more than a mere dulling of the intellect, but goes further to make a man hate and utterly reject spiritual truths. The one who is spiritual blind (like the Pharisees of John 9) cannot in any way begin to understand, apprehend, or penetrate the inner nature of spiritual realities; but, instead, turns away completely from supernatural truth. On account of blindness of mind, the spiritual light of grace in a man’s soul is lost and the light in him becomes darkness.
What Sins Lead to Blindness of the Mind?
Certainly, by any mortal sin, the gift of understanding is lost – since, when a man loses charity, he loses also all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless ― though there are many mortal sins which cause the lost of understanding and, therefore, lead to spiritual blindness ― there are two chief sins which are directly opposed to understanding and leads immediately to blindness of mind. It is from these sins that we may most accurately say blindness of mind proceeds.
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the sins which directly cause spiritual blindness are all mortal sins pertaining to gluttony and lust. In fact, gluttony is a seedbed for lust. In this matter, the Angelic Doctor follows Pope St. Gregory the Great. But what is it about sins of the flesh―gluttony and lust―which causes spiritual blindness? The more a man’s intellect is fixed on the sensible realities, the less he will be able to understand the true essence of things―since the essence of things is invisible, spiritual and immaterial.
St. Thomas continues: “Now it is evident that pleasure fixes a man’s attention on that which he takes pleasure in. Now carnal vices, namely gluttony and lust, are concerned with pleasures of touch in matters of food and sex; and these are the most impetuous of all pleasures of the body. For this reason these vices cause man’s attention to be firmly fixed on corporeal things, so that in consequence man’s operation in regard to the intelligible things is weakened; more, however, by lust than by gluttony, forasmuch as sexual pleasures are more vehement than those of the table. Wherefore lust gives rise to blindness of mind, which excludes almost entirely the knowledge of spiritual things.” (Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q.15, art. 3). Thus, it is precisely the sins of gluttony and lust that lead to this spiritual blindness ― for gluttony and lust direct all our attention to the pleasures of Earth and makes us blind to the pleasures of Heaven. “Walk not according to the flesh! … For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is death! … The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God! … And they who live according to the flesh, cannot please God! … For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die!” (Romans 8:1-13).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes: “Since the commission of Original Sin, man's intellect is wounded. This wound is called that of ignorance; because of it, the intellect, instead of inclining spontaneously toward the true, and especially toward supreme Truth, has difficulty in attaining it and tends to be absorbed in the consideration of earthly things without rising to their cause ... The concupiscence of the flesh is the inordinate desire of what is, or seems to be, useful to the preservation of the individual and of the species―from this inordinate or sensual love arise GLUTTONY and LUST. Voluptuousness can thus become an idol and blind us more and more. The concupiscence of the eyes is the inordinate desire of all that can please the sight: of luxury, wealth, money which makes it possible for us to procure worldly goods … This seeking after unlawful things manifests itself by the externalization of life, by curiosity, loquacity, uneasiness, instability, and fruitless agitation. Thus a person arrives at spiritual blindness and the progressive weakening of the will … Consequently intellect easily falls into error … It is negligent and slothful in the search for our true last end and the means leading to it and lets itself be darkened by the prejudices which come from inordinate passions. It may finally reach the state that is called spiritual blindness. Gluttony and sensuality leads to blindness of spirit, to hardness of heart, to attachment to the present life even to the loss of hope of eternal life, and to love of self even to hatred of God, and to final impenitence …
“The saints tell us that SPIRITUALLY RETARDED, LUKEWARM and TEPID SOULS may reach such a state of blindness of spirit and hardness of heart that it is very difficult to reform them. In her Dialogue, St. Catherine of Siena says that PRIDE obscures the knowledge of the truth, nourishes self-love, and is the enemy of obedience, and that its pith is impatience. In chapter 128 she writes the words of God spoken to her: ‘O cursed pride, based on self-love! How hast thou blinded the eye of their intellect? ... They are really in the greatest poverty and misery! For they have fallen from the heights of grace into the depths of mortal sin. They seem to see―but are blind―for they know neither themselves nor Me.’ Pride is truly like a bandage over the eyes of the soul. Consequently it perverts judgment.
“Defects, especially PRIDE, may finally lead us to spiritual blindness, which is the direct opposite of the contemplation of Divine things ... There are sinners who, by reason of repeated sins, no longer recognize the signified will of God … They no longer understand that the evils which befall them are actually punishments of God, and they do not turn to Him. They see in them only the result of certain economic factors, such as the development of machinery and over-production which results from it. They no longer take into account that these disorders have above all a moral cause and come from the fact that many men place their last end where it is not―not in God Who would unite us, but in material goods which divide us. Spiritual blindness leads the sinner to prefer, in everything, goods that are temporal rather than eternal goods … Spiritual blindness is a punishment of God which takes away the Divine light because of repeated sins … It hinders us from seeing the proximity of death and the judgment. It takes all penetration away from us and leaves us in a state of spiritual dullness, which is like the loss of all higher intelligence”
“Among the other capital sins, there is SPIRITUAL SLOTH, which is directly opposed to the love of God and generosity in His service. Sloth in general, is a voluntary and culpable repugnance to work, to effort, and consequently creates a tendency to idleness, or at least to negligence … Sloth fears and refuses effort, wishes to avoid all trouble, and seeks a sweet life ... This vice begins with a lack of concern and negligence in work, and manifests itself by a progressive dislike for all serious, physical and mental labor. It is the cause of lukewarmness or tepidity … Then it reaches a voluntary disgust for spiritual things, because they demand too much effort and self-discipline … Spiritual sloth weighs down and crushes the soul and ends by causing it to find the yoke of the Lord unbearable and to flee the divine light, which reminds it of its duties. St. Augustine says: ‘Light which is so pleasant to pure eyes, becomes hateful to infirm eyes which can no longer bear it!’ Distractions soon invade prayer almost completely; the examination of conscience, which has become annoying, is suppressed; sins are no longer accounted for; and the soul descends farther and farther along the slope of lukewarmness or tepidity. It falls into spiritual anemia.”
St. John of the Cross gives an excellent description of spiritual sloth: “As to spiritual sloth, beginners tend to find their most spiritual occupations irksome, and avoid them as repugnant to their taste―for, being so given to sweetness in spiritual things, they hate such occupations when they find no sweetness. If they miss once this sweetness in prayer, they will not resume it―at other times they omit it, or return to it with a bad grace. Thus, under the influence of sloth they neglect the way of perfection ― which is the denial of their will and pleasure for God ― for the gratification of their own will, which they serve rather than the will of God. Many of these desire that God should will what they will, and are afflicted when they must will what He wills―reluctantly having to submit their own will to the will of God. As a result, they often imagine that, what is not according to their will, is also not according to the will of God―and, on the other hand, when they are pleased, they believe that God is pleased. They measure Him by themselves, and not themselves by Him. They also find it wearisome to obey when they are commanded to do what they do not like―and because they walk in the way of consolation and spiritual sweetness, they are too weak for the rough trials of perfection. They are like persons, who are delicately nurtured, who avoid with heavy hearts all that is hard and rugged, and are offended at the least cross. The more spiritual the work they have to do, the more irksome do they feel it to be. And because they insist on having their own way and will in spiritual things, they enter on the ‘strait way that leadeth unto life’ (Matthew 16:25), of which Christ speaks, with repugnance and heaviness of heart!”
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange continues: “Spiritual sloth is gravely sinful when it reaches the point of giving up the religious duties that are necessary for our salvation and sanctification―for example, when that sloth goes so far as to omit the hearing of Mass on Sunday. When it leads us to omit religious acts of lesser importance, without a reason, then the sin is only venial. But if we do not struggle against this negligence, it soon becomes more serious, placing us in a genuine state of lukewarmness or spiritual relaxation. This state is a sort of moral anemia, in which evil tendencies awaken, little by little, and seek to prevail―and manifest themselves by numerous deliberate venial sins, which dispose us to still graver faults. Spiritual sloth is, as St. Gregory and St. Thomas show, a capital sin and the root of many others. Consequently, disastrous results follow disgust for spiritual things and for the work of sanctification, a sin which is directly opposed to the love of God and to the holy joy resulting therefrom. When life does not rise toward God, it descends or falls into evil sadness which oppresses the soul. From this evil sadness, says St. Gregory, are born malice ― and no longer only weakness ― rancor toward one's neighbor, pusillanimity in the face of duty to be accomplished, discouragement, lack of spiritual energy even to the point of forgetting of the commandments of God, and finally, dissipation of spirit and the seeking after forbidden things. This seeking after unlawful things manifests itself by the externalization of life, by curiosity, loquacity, uneasiness, instability, and fruitless agitation. Thus a person arrives at spiritual blindness and the progressive weakening of the will.”
“Descending this slope, many have lost sight of the grandeur of the Christian vocation, have forgotten the promises they made to God, and have taken the descending road, which at first seems broad, but which grows narrower and narrower, whereas the narrow road, which leads upward, becomes ever wider, immense as God Himself to whom it leads.”
In The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St. John of the Cross says on this subject: “Dissipation of the mind engenders in its turn spiritual sloth and lukewarmness, which grow into weariness and sadness in divine things, so that in the end we come to hate them.” O how much our minds are dissipated today, with the abundance of entertainment being dangled in front of it through the television, the internet, computers, tablets, smartphones, video games, music players, etc. That explains why we are so lukewarm, tepid, slothful and blind in spiritual matters! That is the reason why we cannot see! We cannot see what we really are like! We cannot see where we are headed! Is ignorance bliss? Perhaps at first, but not when you eventually fall into the pit! “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday June 25th & Saturday June 26th & Sunday June 27th
Article 13
Repairing & Maintaining Your Spirtual Weapons , Part 3
(The Miracles Your Weapons Can Produce)
Friday June 25th & Saturday June 26th & Sunday June 27th
Article 13
Repairing & Maintaining Your Spirtual Weapons , Part 3
(The Miracles Your Weapons Can Produce)
The Importance of Spiritual Weapons
Even in this life, weapons are important. No war can won without them and even personal defense at home is compromised without them in this day and age. The same is true―and even more importantly so―in the case of our spiritual weapons! For we are in a war and we are always being attacked spiritually. Yes, we are in a war: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:60). “We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded!” (Deuteronomy 1:41). We must “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As regards weapons for fighting in this war, Holy Scripture says: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God!” (2 Corinthians 10:4), because “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). That is why our weapons and our armor must be predominantly spiritual, as Scripture states: “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8).
Yes! “Call upon the Name of the Lord!” ― for He is our ultimate weapon, even though He might place some of His own God-made weapons in our hands. He is our ultimate weapon for He said: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). What is it about the word “NOTHING” that we do not understand? What is OUR interpretation of the word “NOTHING”? If you exclude Our Lord Jesus Christ and His weapons and His tactics, then ultimately all will result in failure or partial failure―which will bring you dissatisfaction, frustration and sadness. What weapons are you fighting with? Are your weapons and tactics your own thoughts, your own words, your own opinions, your own actions, your own methods? Well God says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him!” (Job 13:15).
Who Is The Enemy?
Before dealing with the spiritual weapons at more length―you need to know who you are fighting and why you are fighting? What is that you are fighting for? More money? A pay rise? A bigger house? A better car? Fighting to lose weight? Fighting with your spouse, or children, or parents, or relatives, or neighbors, or parishioners, or priest, or employer, or work colleagues? Who are you fighting against? “Every man’s sword was turned upon his neighbor, and there was a very great slaughter!” (1 Kings 14:20).
In a sense, we may have to fight against our family members and neighbors in certain cases, for Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53). But this fight against mother, father, brother, sister, child, etc. ― that Our Lord speaks of ― is a fight for the Faith against family members, relatives, friends, etc. who will not accept the Faith, or reject parts of the Faith, or will not practice the Faith. It is essentially a fight against sin and causes and temptations of sin.
Yet this “internal fighting”―against parents, children, brothers and sisters―is not a worldly fighting over worldly grievances, but in matters to do with the Faith―such as fighting sinfulness, heresy, apostasy and the like. Our fight is against the so-called “triple enemy” consisting of (1) the devils, (2) the world, and (3) our own flesh or body with its unruly passions.
► ENEMY #1: DEVILS ― From the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan has been the vowed and bitter enemy of mankind. “The enemy is the devil” (Matthew 13:39). To the Serpent ― “that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world” (Apocalypse 12:9) ― God Himself said to the Serpent: “Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed ! I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Holy Scripture speaks of our life on Earth as being a fight against the evil spirits: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
Our Lord’s words to St. Peter are equally applicable to ourselves: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31)―which is why Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:14). “Be not overreached by Satan! For we are not ignorant of his devices!” (2 Corinthians 2:11) ... “For some are already turned aside after Satan!” (1 Timothy 5:15) … “who have not known the depths of Satan!” (Apocalypse 2:24).
Our Lord refers to enmity of Satan in the Parable of the Sower of the Seed: “Behold, the sower went out to sow. He that soweth, soweth the word of God. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up … And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:3-4, 14-15).
Our Lord Himself “was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan … Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Mark 1:13; Matthew 4:10).
► ENEMY #2: WORLD ― “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life―which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Our Lord points out: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
► ENEMY #3: FLESH OR BODY ― “All that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8).
Elsewhere we read: “Concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind!” (Wisdom 4:12), with St. Paul writing: “Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence!” (Romans 7:8), further adding: “We know that the law is spiritual―but I am carnal, sold under sin! For I do not that good which I want to do; but the evil which I hate, that I do! For I know that there dwells not in my flesh that which is good. For to desire good is present with me―but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not―but the evil which I do not want, that I do! I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man [in my soul], but I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:14-25). While St. James adds: “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured! Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:14-15). St. Peter also mentions “the corruption of concupiscence which is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4).
Spiritual Weapons for the Fight
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
The Holy Name of Jesus
“But Jesus emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a Name which is above all names! That in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow―of those that are in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth! And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:7-11).
Did you notice what this passage is saying? The Name of Jesus is above every other name. Though many people might tolerate you using the word “God”, you will ruffle more feathers and create a reaction if you use the Name of “Jesus”. In that name is incredible power! The Name of Jesus is used in exorcisms against the devils: “In My Name they shall cast out devils!” (Mark 16:17). What human being or human power is more powerful than the devils? None! So if the Name of Jesus is used as a weapon by exorcists against the greater power of the devils, it should also have an effect on the lesser powers of the world!
It was in the Name of Jesus that Peter and John cured the lame man: “Peter and John went up into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man, who was lame from his mother’s womb, was every day carried to and laid at the gate of the Temple, so that he might ask alms of them that went into the Temple. He, when he had seen Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked to receive an alms. But Peter with John, fastening his eyes upon him, said: ‘Look upon us!’ But he looked earnestly upon them, hoping that he should receive something of them. But Peter said: ‘Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee! In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk! And taking him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forthwith his feet and soles received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and walked, and went in with them into the Temple―walking, and leaping, and praising God!” (Acts 3:1-7). “And it came to pass on the next day, that the princes, and ancients, and scribes, were gathered together in Jerusalem. And Annas, the high priest, and Caiphas, and many realtives of the high priest. And setting them in the midst, they asked: ‘By what power, or by what name, have you done this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth … this man stands here before you whole!’” (Acts 4:5-10).
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Doctor of the Church, tirelessly promoted the Holy Name of Jesus. He writes: “The Name of Jesus is light, and food, and medicine. It is light, when it is preached to us; it is food, when we think upon it; it is the medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it… For when I pronounce this Name, I bring before my mind the Man, Who, by excellence, is meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful, and filled with everything that is good and holy, nay, Who is the very God almighty—Whose example heals me, and Whose assistance strengthens me. I say all this, when I say Jesus!”
The Name “Jesus” literally means “He saves” or “Savior”. It is thus a saving name, or rather a name full of saving power. Invoking the Name of Jesus has power—power we cannot always see or fully understand. As St. Paul wrote, “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). If we desire salvation for ourselves and our loved ones; if we desire victory over the enemies of the Church and mankind, then we need to understand and use the power of that Holy Name of Jesus.
Father Paul O’Sullivan writes that the “Holy Name of Jesus fills our souls with a peace and a joy we never had before.” He adds that the “Name of Jesus is the shortest, the easiest and the most powerful of prayers. Everyone can say it, even in the midst of his daily work. God cannot refuse to hear it. The frequent repetition of this Divine Name [Jesus] will save you from much suffering and great dangers.” It seems to me the key to this devotion is to say Jesus’ name with great reverence and love, calling to mind – without even having to think about it ― all that Jesus is and means to us. This is a formula which will clearly increase our love for Jesus and will maintain us in a spirit of Faith. We should never forget that Faith is one of the most important virtues in the spiritual life― “and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
Father O’Sullivan encourages us to “understand clearly the meaning and value of the Name of Jesus.” He adds that the “Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil, who is constantly seeking to do us harm.” He says that “every time we say ‘Jesus,’ we are saying a fervent prayer for…all that we need.”
The Holy Name of Mary
“And the virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:27). Ave Maria! If many of God’s servants―such as St. John the Baptist―received their names from God, the Mother of the Redeemer, who surpasses them all in dignity, surely received her name directly from God [read more on the Holy Name of Mary here]. There can be no doubt that the name of Mary must possess, as much as the name of the Redeemer, a meaning by virtue of divine inspiration, which corresponds to the dignity and position of her who bears it. The most holy Names of Jesus and Mary possess a hidden power which puts to flight the demon and fills the soul of him who utters them in loving faith with consolation and hope. It is certain that God has attached a wonderful power of sanctification and life to the devout uttering of these two Names by the faithful, because Jesus and Mary are the desired objects of His love. Hence one of the reasons why we should pray, like little Francisco of Fatima, many Rosaries daily—to shield ourselves from the attacks of the devil and to repel those attacks―for, in each Hail Mary, we invoke the holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Pondering the Meaning of “Mary” we see that, in Hebrew, the name Mary is Miryam. In Our Lady’s time, Aramaic was the spoken language, and the form of the name then in use was Mariam. Derived from the root, merur, the name signifies “bitterness.” Throughout the centuries, Saints and scholars have put forth different interpretations for the name “Mary.” A mixture of etymology and devotion has combined to produce an interesting array of meanings:
“Mary means enlightener, because she brought forth the Light of the world. In the Syriac tongue, Mary signifies Lady” (St. Isidore of Seville +636).
“Let me say something concerning this name also, which is interpreted to mean Star of the sea, and admirably suits the Virgin Mother” (St. Bernard +1153).
“Mary means Star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary’s maternal intercession.” (St. Thomas Aquinas +1274).
“This most holy, sweet and worthy name was ‘eminently fitted to so holy, sweet and worthy a virgin. For Mary means a bitter sea, star of the sea, the illuminated or illuminatrix. Mary is interpreted Lady. Mary is a bitter sea to the demons; to men, she is the Star of the sea; to the angels, she is Illuminatrix; and to all creatures, she is Lady.” (St. Bonaventure +1274).
“God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the seas or ‘maria’ [Latin for’ sea’]. He gathered all His grace together and called it Mary or Maria ... This immense treasury is none other than Mary whom the Saints call the ‘treasury of the Lord.’ From her fullness all men are made rich” (St. Louis de Montfort +1716).
It is not difficult to see why these various interpretations of the name “Mary” should have been proposed and cherished, for they encapsulate many of our Marian doctrines and beliefs. “Bitter sea” (mara = bitter; yam = sea), for instance, in addition to the interpretation given by St. Bonaventure, also calls to mind Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows and the sword which “pierced” her soul on Calvary, recalling the lamentation of the mother-in-law of Ruth, who had lost a husband and two sons: “Call me not Noemi [meaning, beautiful], but call me Mara, [meaning, bitter] for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness: (Ruth 1:20). Maror are “bitter herbs,” such as are found on the seder plate at a Passover meal.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in speaking of the power of the Holy Name of Mary, writes:
“Richard of St. Laurence states “there is not such powerful help in any name, nor is there any other name given to men, after that of Jesus, from which so much salvation is poured forth upon men as from the name of Mary.” He continues, “that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name, leads to the acquisition of superabundant graces in this life, and a very high degree of glory in the next.”
“After the most sacred Name of Jesus, the name of Mary is so rich in every good thing, that on Earth and in Heaven there is no other from which devout souls receive so much grace, hope, and sweetness.
“Hence Richard of St. Laurence encourages sinners to have recourse to this great name, “because it alone will suffice to cure them of all their evils;” and “there is no disorder, however malignant, that does not immediately yield to the power of the name of Mary.” The Blessed Raymond Jordano says, “that however hardened and diffident a heart may be, the name of this most Blessed Virgin has such efficacy, that if it is only pronounced that heart will be wonderfully softened.” Moreover, it is well known, and is daily experienced by the clients of Mary, that her powerful name gives the particular strength necessary to overcome temptations against purity.
“In fine, “thy name, O Mother of God, is filled with divine graces and blessings,” as St. Methodius says. So much so, that St. Bonaventure declares, “that thy name, O Mary, cannot be pronounced without bringing some grace to him who does so devoutly.” Grant, O Lady, that we may often remember to name thee with love and confidence; for this practice either shows the possession of divine grace, or else is a pledge that we shall soon recover it.
“On the other hand, Thomas a Kempis affirms “that the devils fear the Queen of Heaven to such a degree, that only on hearing her great name pronounced, they fly from him who does so, as from a burning fire.” The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget “that there is not on Earth a sinner, however devoid he may be of the love of God, from whom the devil is not obliged immediately to fly, if he invokes her holy name with a determination to repent.” On another occasion she repeated the same thing to the saint, saying, “that all the devils venerate and fear her name to such a degree, that, on hearing it, they immediately loosen the claws with which they hold the soul captive.” Our Blessed Lady also told St. Bridget, “that in the same way as the rebel angels fly from sinners, who invoke the name of Mary, so also do the good angels approach nearer to just souls, who pronounce her name with devotion.”
“Consoling indeed are the promises of help, made by Jesus Christ, to those who have devotion to the name of Mary; for one day in the hearing of St. Bridget, He promised His Most Holy Mother that He would grant three special graces to those who invoke that holy name with confidence: first, that He would grant them perfect sorrow for their sins; secondly, that their crimes should be atoned for; and, thirdly, that He would give them strength to attain perfection, and at length the glory of paradise. And then our Divine Savior added: “For thy words, O My Mother, are so sweet and agreeable to Me, that I cannot deny what thou askest.”
“St. Ephrem goes so far as to say, “that the name of Mary is the key of the gates of Heaven,” in the hands of those who devoutly invoke it. And thus it is not without reason that St. Bonaventure says “that Mary is the salvation of all who call upon her.” Blessed Henry Suso exclaims: “O most sweet name! O Mary, what must thou thyself be, since thy name alone is thus amiable and gracious!”
“Let us, therefore, always take advantage of the beautiful advice given us by St. Bernard, in these words: “In dangers, in perplexities, in doubtful cases, think of Mary, call on Mary; let her not leave thy lips; let her not depart from thy heart.”
“In every danger of forfeiting divine grace, we should think of Mary, and invoke her name, together with that of Jesus; for these two names always go together. O, then, never let us permit these two most sweet names to leave our hearts, or be off our lips; for they will give us strength, not only not to yield, but to conquer all our temptations.
“The invocation of the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary,” says Thomas a Kempis, “is a short prayer, which is as sweet to the mind, and as powerful to protect those who use it against the enemies of their salvation, as it is easy to remember.”
“Thus we see that the most holy name of Mary is sweet indeed to her clients during life, on account of the very great graces that she obtains for them. But sweeter still will it be to them in death, on account of the tranquil and holy end that it will insure them.
“Let us then beg God to grant us, that, at death, the name of Mary may be the last word on our lips. This was the prayer of St. Germanus: “May the last movement of my tongue be to pronounce the name of the Mother of God;” O sweet, O safe is that death, which is accompanied and protected by so saying a name; for God only grants the grace of invoking it to those whom He is about to save.
“Father Sertorius Caputo, of the Society of Jesus, exhorted all, who assist the dying, frequently to pronounce the name of Mary; for this name of life and hope, when repeated at the hour of death, suffices to put the devils to flight, and to comfort such persons in their sufferings.
“St. Bonaventure exclaims: “Blessed is the man who loves thy name, O Mary! Yes, truly blessed is he who loves thy sweet name, O Mother of God! For, thy name is so glorious and admirable, that no one, who remembers it, has any fears at the hour of death.” Such is its power, that none of those, who invoke it at the hour of death, fear the assaults of their enemies. St. Camillus de Lellis urged the members of his community to remind the dying often to utter the holy names of Jesus and Mary. Such was his custom when assisting people in their last hour.
“Oh, that we may end our lives as did the Capuchin Father, Fulgentius of Ascoli, who expired singing, “O Mary, O Mary, the most beautiful of creatures! Let us depart together.”
“Let us conclude with the tender prayer of St. Bonaventure: “I ask thee, O Mary, for the glory of thy name, to come and meet my soul, when it is departing from this world, and to take it in thine arms.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori on the Power of the Holy Name of Mary).
As a final thought on the power of the Holy Name of Mary, here are the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, which Holy Mother Church has enshrined in the liturgical readings for the feast of the Holy Name of Mary on September 12th:
“It is said: And the Virgin’s name was Mary. Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifieth, being interpreted, Star of the Sea, and suiteth very well the Maiden Mother, who may very fittingly be likened unto a star. A star giveth forth her rays, without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any hurt to her virginity. The light of a star taketh nothing away from the Virginity of Mary. She is that noble star, which was to come out of Jacob, whose brightness still sheddeth lustre upon all the Earth, whose rays are most brilliant in Heaven, and shine even unto Hell, lighting up Earth midway, and warming souls, rather than bodies, fostering good and scaring away evil. She, I say, is a clear and shining star, twinkling with excellencies, and resplendent with example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and wide sea.
“O thou, whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here, not so much walking upon firm ground, as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life’s ocean, if thou wouldest not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thine eyes fixed upon this star’s clear shining. If the hurricanes of temptation rise against thee, or thou art running upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy toss thee, look to the star, call on Mary. If the billows of anger, or avarice, or the enticements of the flesh beat against thy soul’s bark, look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgment appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair, think of Mary.
“In danger, in difficulty, or in doubt, think on Mary, call on Mary. Let her not be away from thy mouth, or from thine heart, and that thou mayest not lack the help of her prayers, turn not aside from the example of her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray. If thou pray to her, thou wilt never have need to despair. If thou keep her in mind, thou wilt never fall. If she lead thee, thou wilt never be weary. If she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe at the last — and so thou wilt prove, in thyself, how fittingly it is said: ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’” (Excerpts from the Breviary for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, September 12th).
The Holy Rosary
The power of the Holy Rosary is grossly underestimated and underused. St. Padre Pio said: “Prayer is the best weapon we have!” Pope Adrian VI says: “The Rosary is the scourge of the devil!” Other popes follow with similar opinions. Pope Leo XIII said: “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer. There is no more excellent way of praying!” Pope Pius XI states: “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin!” Blessed Pope Pius IX inisted: “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!” St. Padre Pio says: “The Rosary is the weapon for these times!” St. Francis de Sales adds: “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary!” The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen also says: “The power of the Rosary is beyond description!” St. Alphonsus Liguori says the same: “Prayer, without doubt, is the most powerful weapon that Our Lord gives us to conquer evil! But we must really put ourselves into the prayer! It is not enough to just say the words, it must come from the heart!” While St. Padre Pio adds: “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother! Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!”
All of the above quotes are summed up by Sister Lucia who tells us what Our Lady revealed to her concerning the Holy Rosary: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July & October 1917). While at Akita in Japan, in 1973, she added: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Unfortunately and sadly for us, we do not follow the above advice, we do not really use “the best weapon we have ... the scourge of the devil ... to put the demons to flight!” Nor do we seek to “an army saying the Rosary [to] conquer the world!” We do not really believe that the “the power of the Rosary is beyond description.” Nor do we “really put ourselves into the prayer”, nor do we “Always say the Rosary. Say it well,” nor “say it as often as we can.” Nor do we see “her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.” How little do we hear priests preach on the Rosary―not just during the Rosary month of October, but regularly throughout the year! How few families pray the daily Rosary! In the USA, the daily Rosary prayer percentage is as low as 2% to3%. Even if you we do SAY the Rosary, we rarely PRAY it and SAY it TOO QUICKLY. Those are the chief reasons why our Rosaries are so ineffective, impotent and even sinful. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, speaks of some of the deficiencies:
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.“It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §126-§127).
In times of sickness, we need more medicine―not less medicine. The world has never been as sick as it is today―and yet less and less medicinal Rosaries are being prayed. As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet around the same time, in 1957, Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!”
The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
A prophecy attributed to Saint Dominic further underlines this importance: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.” In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia) the author of this book found the following account:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. AND ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
The following words of Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), written in more Catholic days than we see today, sadly express words about devotion for the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that are no longer true today―or are only true for a minority of Catholics. In a 2008 survey, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University conducted a survey of adult Catholics in the United States. With regard to the Brown Scapular, back in the 1940s, it was estimated that around 40% of Catholics wore the Brown Scapular. Today, only 9% of Catholics said that they would wear or carry one around with them―and they are probably oblivious to the fact that merely carrying it around with you, in pocket or purse, does not qualify you for the Scapular promises! How many young Catholics today wear a Brown Scapular? The percentage must be close to 0% ― especially in view of the fact that statistics show that in recent times, 92% of Catholic youth will cease practicing the Faith regularly once they graduate from high-school or college.
Anyway, here is what Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General, wrote in 1950 in his booklet entitled The Scapular of Carmel.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that the Scapular devotion is as universal as the Church. It would be difficult to find a Catholic who has not at least heard of it for, as Pius XII says, it is in the ‘first rank’ of popular devotions to the Blessed Mother. And yet how many there are who know little or nothing about the origin of the Scapular … The Scapular is a sign of our special adoption by the Mother of God … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady … Through the alliance of the Scapular Our Lady has called us the “sons of her choice,” that our souls may live and we may be well used for her sake. The dazzling splendor of her holiness makes her the terror of demons. She is ‘terrible as an army in battle array’ against all the forces of evil that would molest us or attempt to snatch us from under the mantle of her maternal protection … As long as we live our lives and finish our course under the sweet protection of her mantle, we have nothing to fear. Our path to Heaven is made easy by her who crushed the serpent’s head … The ever-vigilant eye of our Blessed Mother is always upon those who wear her Habit, and where her eye is there also is the love of her Heart to save and defend us …
“One of the greatest means of final perseverance we have is devotion to our Blessed Mother. It is the constant teaching of the Church that devotion to God’s Mother is not only a means but a pledge of eternal salvation … To whom shall we go for an assurance of salvation if not to her who, in order to save us, offered both her Only-Begotten and herself to the cruel death of the Cross? ‘It is not near the Cross,” says St. Bernard, “that Mary is found but on it, nailed to its beams as Jesus is!’ … Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation … If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation … Let us not conclude, however, that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of supernatural power which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin. We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: ‘When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.’”
“It is clear from the words of St. Alphonsus that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is in itself an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen … The constant, daily practice of wearing the Scapular is, therefore, an act of faithful homage to Our Lady but, as St. Alphonsus adds, the desire to amend one’s life is also necessary before we can be morally certain that she will be the cause of our eternal salvation.” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General from 1947-1959, extracts from his booklet entitled The Scapular of Carmel, 1950).
Scapular and Rosary Miracles
If you have any doubts about the power of the Rosary and Scapular, then recall some of miracles that God has performed through those two Sacramentals.
► Saved from Shipwreck
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, with his wife and children and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Among the crew was a young Irishman, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, the youth opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed over the deck, bringing with it the Scapular which came back to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the minister (a Mr. Fisher) had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin and her Scapular. Mr. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after landing in Australia.
► Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The religiously devout inhabitants of a home in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged, amidst all the destruction, was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people who came to see the place Our Lady had saved are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
► Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
► Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular, and called on Mary for help. She suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames―and she was the only survivor.
► Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
► Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
► Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.
► Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
► Modern-Day Miracle
A priest relayed the following account: “There was a man in Baltimore who told me this himself, in about 1990. As he was driving down the highway, someone threw a stone through his open window. He didn’t know where from. It knocked his glasses, that were in his shirt-pocket, onto the seat beside him. He didn’t need the glasses, so he left them where they landed. When he arrived home, he remembered his glasses. He went to pick them up to put them back in his pocket, but they wouldn’t go in. He thought it was because the stone was still in his pocket. So he pulled the stone out, but it wasn’t a stone. It was a bullet. He had been shot at. He was uninjured. He was wearing his Scapular.”
► Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima, Japan — August 6th, 1945
When the Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a house, the parish rectory, eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the house survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
► Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll. the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
► Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed the Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary! Ave Maria!
Have Confidence in Your Weapons! Learn to Use Your Weapons!
A weapon is only as good as the soldier using it! A weapon in the hands of a dummy can lead to him shooting himself in the foot! Most people use Heaven’s spiritual weapons badly! If only the Mass would be offered as it should be offered! If only Holy Communions would be made as they should be made! If only the Rosary would be prayed as it should be prayed! If only the Brown Scapular would be worn and appreciated as it should be worn and appreciated! We are shooting ourselves in the foot by misusing or abusing these weapons!
What St. Louis de Montfort says about the common faults of people praying the Rosary, can also be applied to other aspects of the spiritual life―such as how we assist at or hear Mass; how we prepare for and make our Holy Communions; how we pray in general; and all other aspects of the spiritual life. St. Louis writes:
“There are two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if people were asked what their Rosary intention was, they would not know what to say. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!”
What we sow, we will also reap: “He who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). When only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―which is what Our Lady has always demanded―and less that 20% of Catholics attending Sunday Mass regularly―then that is sowing sparingly and it is hardly a surprise that we are reaping poor results and benefits from our “sparingly sown” prayers and “sparing” assistance at Mass.
Unless something changes soon, then we are sadly heading down the ominous avenue that has been described in countless foreboding prophecies of Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and mystics! The first step in changing has to be that of changing ourselves first―as individuals―regardless of what other are doing or not doing. Then we need to work at changing the indifferent, lukewarm, lazy, worldly attitudes of our family, our relatives, friends and acquaintances.
Even in this life, weapons are important. No war can won without them and even personal defense at home is compromised without them in this day and age. The same is true―and even more importantly so―in the case of our spiritual weapons! For we are in a war and we are always being attacked spiritually. Yes, we are in a war: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?” (Numbers 32:60). “We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded!” (Deuteronomy 1:41). We must “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). As regards weapons for fighting in this war, Holy Scripture says: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God!” (2 Corinthians 10:4), because “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). That is why our weapons and our armor must be predominantly spiritual, as Scripture states: “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8).
Yes! “Call upon the Name of the Lord!” ― for He is our ultimate weapon, even though He might place some of His own God-made weapons in our hands. He is our ultimate weapon for He said: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). What is it about the word “NOTHING” that we do not understand? What is OUR interpretation of the word “NOTHING”? If you exclude Our Lord Jesus Christ and His weapons and His tactics, then ultimately all will result in failure or partial failure―which will bring you dissatisfaction, frustration and sadness. What weapons are you fighting with? Are your weapons and tactics your own thoughts, your own words, your own opinions, your own actions, your own methods? Well God says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him!” (Job 13:15).
Who Is The Enemy?
Before dealing with the spiritual weapons at more length―you need to know who you are fighting and why you are fighting? What is that you are fighting for? More money? A pay rise? A bigger house? A better car? Fighting to lose weight? Fighting with your spouse, or children, or parents, or relatives, or neighbors, or parishioners, or priest, or employer, or work colleagues? Who are you fighting against? “Every man’s sword was turned upon his neighbor, and there was a very great slaughter!” (1 Kings 14:20).
In a sense, we may have to fight against our family members and neighbors in certain cases, for Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53). But this fight against mother, father, brother, sister, child, etc. ― that Our Lord speaks of ― is a fight for the Faith against family members, relatives, friends, etc. who will not accept the Faith, or reject parts of the Faith, or will not practice the Faith. It is essentially a fight against sin and causes and temptations of sin.
Yet this “internal fighting”―against parents, children, brothers and sisters―is not a worldly fighting over worldly grievances, but in matters to do with the Faith―such as fighting sinfulness, heresy, apostasy and the like. Our fight is against the so-called “triple enemy” consisting of (1) the devils, (2) the world, and (3) our own flesh or body with its unruly passions.
► ENEMY #1: DEVILS ― From the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan has been the vowed and bitter enemy of mankind. “The enemy is the devil” (Matthew 13:39). To the Serpent ― “that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world” (Apocalypse 12:9) ― God Himself said to the Serpent: “Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed ! I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Holy Scripture speaks of our life on Earth as being a fight against the evil spirits: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
Our Lord’s words to St. Peter are equally applicable to ourselves: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31)―which is why Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:14). “Be not overreached by Satan! For we are not ignorant of his devices!” (2 Corinthians 2:11) ... “For some are already turned aside after Satan!” (1 Timothy 5:15) … “who have not known the depths of Satan!” (Apocalypse 2:24).
Our Lord refers to enmity of Satan in the Parable of the Sower of the Seed: “Behold, the sower went out to sow. He that soweth, soweth the word of God. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up … And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:3-4, 14-15).
Our Lord Himself “was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan … Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Mark 1:13; Matthew 4:10).
► ENEMY #2: WORLD ― “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life―which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Our Lord points out: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
► ENEMY #3: FLESH OR BODY ― “All that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8).
Elsewhere we read: “Concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind!” (Wisdom 4:12), with St. Paul writing: “Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence!” (Romans 7:8), further adding: “We know that the law is spiritual―but I am carnal, sold under sin! For I do not that good which I want to do; but the evil which I hate, that I do! For I know that there dwells not in my flesh that which is good. For to desire good is present with me―but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not―but the evil which I do not want, that I do! I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man [in my soul], but I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:14-25). While St. James adds: “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured! Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:14-15). St. Peter also mentions “the corruption of concupiscence which is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4).
Spiritual Weapons for the Fight
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
The Holy Name of Jesus
“But Jesus emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a Name which is above all names! That in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow―of those that are in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth! And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:7-11).
Did you notice what this passage is saying? The Name of Jesus is above every other name. Though many people might tolerate you using the word “God”, you will ruffle more feathers and create a reaction if you use the Name of “Jesus”. In that name is incredible power! The Name of Jesus is used in exorcisms against the devils: “In My Name they shall cast out devils!” (Mark 16:17). What human being or human power is more powerful than the devils? None! So if the Name of Jesus is used as a weapon by exorcists against the greater power of the devils, it should also have an effect on the lesser powers of the world!
It was in the Name of Jesus that Peter and John cured the lame man: “Peter and John went up into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man, who was lame from his mother’s womb, was every day carried to and laid at the gate of the Temple, so that he might ask alms of them that went into the Temple. He, when he had seen Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked to receive an alms. But Peter with John, fastening his eyes upon him, said: ‘Look upon us!’ But he looked earnestly upon them, hoping that he should receive something of them. But Peter said: ‘Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee! In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk! And taking him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forthwith his feet and soles received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and walked, and went in with them into the Temple―walking, and leaping, and praising God!” (Acts 3:1-7). “And it came to pass on the next day, that the princes, and ancients, and scribes, were gathered together in Jerusalem. And Annas, the high priest, and Caiphas, and many realtives of the high priest. And setting them in the midst, they asked: ‘By what power, or by what name, have you done this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth … this man stands here before you whole!’” (Acts 4:5-10).
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Doctor of the Church, tirelessly promoted the Holy Name of Jesus. He writes: “The Name of Jesus is light, and food, and medicine. It is light, when it is preached to us; it is food, when we think upon it; it is the medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it… For when I pronounce this Name, I bring before my mind the Man, Who, by excellence, is meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful, and filled with everything that is good and holy, nay, Who is the very God almighty—Whose example heals me, and Whose assistance strengthens me. I say all this, when I say Jesus!”
The Name “Jesus” literally means “He saves” or “Savior”. It is thus a saving name, or rather a name full of saving power. Invoking the Name of Jesus has power—power we cannot always see or fully understand. As St. Paul wrote, “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). If we desire salvation for ourselves and our loved ones; if we desire victory over the enemies of the Church and mankind, then we need to understand and use the power of that Holy Name of Jesus.
Father Paul O’Sullivan writes that the “Holy Name of Jesus fills our souls with a peace and a joy we never had before.” He adds that the “Name of Jesus is the shortest, the easiest and the most powerful of prayers. Everyone can say it, even in the midst of his daily work. God cannot refuse to hear it. The frequent repetition of this Divine Name [Jesus] will save you from much suffering and great dangers.” It seems to me the key to this devotion is to say Jesus’ name with great reverence and love, calling to mind – without even having to think about it ― all that Jesus is and means to us. This is a formula which will clearly increase our love for Jesus and will maintain us in a spirit of Faith. We should never forget that Faith is one of the most important virtues in the spiritual life― “and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
Father O’Sullivan encourages us to “understand clearly the meaning and value of the Name of Jesus.” He adds that the “Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil, who is constantly seeking to do us harm.” He says that “every time we say ‘Jesus,’ we are saying a fervent prayer for…all that we need.”
The Holy Name of Mary
“And the virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:27). Ave Maria! If many of God’s servants―such as St. John the Baptist―received their names from God, the Mother of the Redeemer, who surpasses them all in dignity, surely received her name directly from God [read more on the Holy Name of Mary here]. There can be no doubt that the name of Mary must possess, as much as the name of the Redeemer, a meaning by virtue of divine inspiration, which corresponds to the dignity and position of her who bears it. The most holy Names of Jesus and Mary possess a hidden power which puts to flight the demon and fills the soul of him who utters them in loving faith with consolation and hope. It is certain that God has attached a wonderful power of sanctification and life to the devout uttering of these two Names by the faithful, because Jesus and Mary are the desired objects of His love. Hence one of the reasons why we should pray, like little Francisco of Fatima, many Rosaries daily—to shield ourselves from the attacks of the devil and to repel those attacks―for, in each Hail Mary, we invoke the holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Pondering the Meaning of “Mary” we see that, in Hebrew, the name Mary is Miryam. In Our Lady’s time, Aramaic was the spoken language, and the form of the name then in use was Mariam. Derived from the root, merur, the name signifies “bitterness.” Throughout the centuries, Saints and scholars have put forth different interpretations for the name “Mary.” A mixture of etymology and devotion has combined to produce an interesting array of meanings:
“Mary means enlightener, because she brought forth the Light of the world. In the Syriac tongue, Mary signifies Lady” (St. Isidore of Seville +636).
“Let me say something concerning this name also, which is interpreted to mean Star of the sea, and admirably suits the Virgin Mother” (St. Bernard +1153).
“Mary means Star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary’s maternal intercession.” (St. Thomas Aquinas +1274).
“This most holy, sweet and worthy name was ‘eminently fitted to so holy, sweet and worthy a virgin. For Mary means a bitter sea, star of the sea, the illuminated or illuminatrix. Mary is interpreted Lady. Mary is a bitter sea to the demons; to men, she is the Star of the sea; to the angels, she is Illuminatrix; and to all creatures, she is Lady.” (St. Bonaventure +1274).
“God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the seas or ‘maria’ [Latin for’ sea’]. He gathered all His grace together and called it Mary or Maria ... This immense treasury is none other than Mary whom the Saints call the ‘treasury of the Lord.’ From her fullness all men are made rich” (St. Louis de Montfort +1716).
It is not difficult to see why these various interpretations of the name “Mary” should have been proposed and cherished, for they encapsulate many of our Marian doctrines and beliefs. “Bitter sea” (mara = bitter; yam = sea), for instance, in addition to the interpretation given by St. Bonaventure, also calls to mind Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows and the sword which “pierced” her soul on Calvary, recalling the lamentation of the mother-in-law of Ruth, who had lost a husband and two sons: “Call me not Noemi [meaning, beautiful], but call me Mara, [meaning, bitter] for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness: (Ruth 1:20). Maror are “bitter herbs,” such as are found on the seder plate at a Passover meal.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in speaking of the power of the Holy Name of Mary, writes:
“Richard of St. Laurence states “there is not such powerful help in any name, nor is there any other name given to men, after that of Jesus, from which so much salvation is poured forth upon men as from the name of Mary.” He continues, “that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name, leads to the acquisition of superabundant graces in this life, and a very high degree of glory in the next.”
“After the most sacred Name of Jesus, the name of Mary is so rich in every good thing, that on Earth and in Heaven there is no other from which devout souls receive so much grace, hope, and sweetness.
“Hence Richard of St. Laurence encourages sinners to have recourse to this great name, “because it alone will suffice to cure them of all their evils;” and “there is no disorder, however malignant, that does not immediately yield to the power of the name of Mary.” The Blessed Raymond Jordano says, “that however hardened and diffident a heart may be, the name of this most Blessed Virgin has such efficacy, that if it is only pronounced that heart will be wonderfully softened.” Moreover, it is well known, and is daily experienced by the clients of Mary, that her powerful name gives the particular strength necessary to overcome temptations against purity.
“In fine, “thy name, O Mother of God, is filled with divine graces and blessings,” as St. Methodius says. So much so, that St. Bonaventure declares, “that thy name, O Mary, cannot be pronounced without bringing some grace to him who does so devoutly.” Grant, O Lady, that we may often remember to name thee with love and confidence; for this practice either shows the possession of divine grace, or else is a pledge that we shall soon recover it.
“On the other hand, Thomas a Kempis affirms “that the devils fear the Queen of Heaven to such a degree, that only on hearing her great name pronounced, they fly from him who does so, as from a burning fire.” The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget “that there is not on Earth a sinner, however devoid he may be of the love of God, from whom the devil is not obliged immediately to fly, if he invokes her holy name with a determination to repent.” On another occasion she repeated the same thing to the saint, saying, “that all the devils venerate and fear her name to such a degree, that, on hearing it, they immediately loosen the claws with which they hold the soul captive.” Our Blessed Lady also told St. Bridget, “that in the same way as the rebel angels fly from sinners, who invoke the name of Mary, so also do the good angels approach nearer to just souls, who pronounce her name with devotion.”
“Consoling indeed are the promises of help, made by Jesus Christ, to those who have devotion to the name of Mary; for one day in the hearing of St. Bridget, He promised His Most Holy Mother that He would grant three special graces to those who invoke that holy name with confidence: first, that He would grant them perfect sorrow for their sins; secondly, that their crimes should be atoned for; and, thirdly, that He would give them strength to attain perfection, and at length the glory of paradise. And then our Divine Savior added: “For thy words, O My Mother, are so sweet and agreeable to Me, that I cannot deny what thou askest.”
“St. Ephrem goes so far as to say, “that the name of Mary is the key of the gates of Heaven,” in the hands of those who devoutly invoke it. And thus it is not without reason that St. Bonaventure says “that Mary is the salvation of all who call upon her.” Blessed Henry Suso exclaims: “O most sweet name! O Mary, what must thou thyself be, since thy name alone is thus amiable and gracious!”
“Let us, therefore, always take advantage of the beautiful advice given us by St. Bernard, in these words: “In dangers, in perplexities, in doubtful cases, think of Mary, call on Mary; let her not leave thy lips; let her not depart from thy heart.”
“In every danger of forfeiting divine grace, we should think of Mary, and invoke her name, together with that of Jesus; for these two names always go together. O, then, never let us permit these two most sweet names to leave our hearts, or be off our lips; for they will give us strength, not only not to yield, but to conquer all our temptations.
“The invocation of the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary,” says Thomas a Kempis, “is a short prayer, which is as sweet to the mind, and as powerful to protect those who use it against the enemies of their salvation, as it is easy to remember.”
“Thus we see that the most holy name of Mary is sweet indeed to her clients during life, on account of the very great graces that she obtains for them. But sweeter still will it be to them in death, on account of the tranquil and holy end that it will insure them.
“Let us then beg God to grant us, that, at death, the name of Mary may be the last word on our lips. This was the prayer of St. Germanus: “May the last movement of my tongue be to pronounce the name of the Mother of God;” O sweet, O safe is that death, which is accompanied and protected by so saying a name; for God only grants the grace of invoking it to those whom He is about to save.
“Father Sertorius Caputo, of the Society of Jesus, exhorted all, who assist the dying, frequently to pronounce the name of Mary; for this name of life and hope, when repeated at the hour of death, suffices to put the devils to flight, and to comfort such persons in their sufferings.
“St. Bonaventure exclaims: “Blessed is the man who loves thy name, O Mary! Yes, truly blessed is he who loves thy sweet name, O Mother of God! For, thy name is so glorious and admirable, that no one, who remembers it, has any fears at the hour of death.” Such is its power, that none of those, who invoke it at the hour of death, fear the assaults of their enemies. St. Camillus de Lellis urged the members of his community to remind the dying often to utter the holy names of Jesus and Mary. Such was his custom when assisting people in their last hour.
“Oh, that we may end our lives as did the Capuchin Father, Fulgentius of Ascoli, who expired singing, “O Mary, O Mary, the most beautiful of creatures! Let us depart together.”
“Let us conclude with the tender prayer of St. Bonaventure: “I ask thee, O Mary, for the glory of thy name, to come and meet my soul, when it is departing from this world, and to take it in thine arms.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori on the Power of the Holy Name of Mary).
As a final thought on the power of the Holy Name of Mary, here are the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, which Holy Mother Church has enshrined in the liturgical readings for the feast of the Holy Name of Mary on September 12th:
“It is said: And the Virgin’s name was Mary. Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifieth, being interpreted, Star of the Sea, and suiteth very well the Maiden Mother, who may very fittingly be likened unto a star. A star giveth forth her rays, without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any hurt to her virginity. The light of a star taketh nothing away from the Virginity of Mary. She is that noble star, which was to come out of Jacob, whose brightness still sheddeth lustre upon all the Earth, whose rays are most brilliant in Heaven, and shine even unto Hell, lighting up Earth midway, and warming souls, rather than bodies, fostering good and scaring away evil. She, I say, is a clear and shining star, twinkling with excellencies, and resplendent with example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and wide sea.
“O thou, whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here, not so much walking upon firm ground, as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life’s ocean, if thou wouldest not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thine eyes fixed upon this star’s clear shining. If the hurricanes of temptation rise against thee, or thou art running upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy toss thee, look to the star, call on Mary. If the billows of anger, or avarice, or the enticements of the flesh beat against thy soul’s bark, look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgment appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair, think of Mary.
“In danger, in difficulty, or in doubt, think on Mary, call on Mary. Let her not be away from thy mouth, or from thine heart, and that thou mayest not lack the help of her prayers, turn not aside from the example of her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray. If thou pray to her, thou wilt never have need to despair. If thou keep her in mind, thou wilt never fall. If she lead thee, thou wilt never be weary. If she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe at the last — and so thou wilt prove, in thyself, how fittingly it is said: ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’” (Excerpts from the Breviary for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, September 12th).
The Holy Rosary
The power of the Holy Rosary is grossly underestimated and underused. St. Padre Pio said: “Prayer is the best weapon we have!” Pope Adrian VI says: “The Rosary is the scourge of the devil!” Other popes follow with similar opinions. Pope Leo XIII said: “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer. There is no more excellent way of praying!” Pope Pius XI states: “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin!” Blessed Pope Pius IX inisted: “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!” St. Padre Pio says: “The Rosary is the weapon for these times!” St. Francis de Sales adds: “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary!” The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen also says: “The power of the Rosary is beyond description!” St. Alphonsus Liguori says the same: “Prayer, without doubt, is the most powerful weapon that Our Lord gives us to conquer evil! But we must really put ourselves into the prayer! It is not enough to just say the words, it must come from the heart!” While St. Padre Pio adds: “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother! Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!”
All of the above quotes are summed up by Sister Lucia who tells us what Our Lady revealed to her concerning the Holy Rosary: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July & October 1917). While at Akita in Japan, in 1973, she added: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Unfortunately and sadly for us, we do not follow the above advice, we do not really use “the best weapon we have ... the scourge of the devil ... to put the demons to flight!” Nor do we seek to “an army saying the Rosary [to] conquer the world!” We do not really believe that the “the power of the Rosary is beyond description.” Nor do we “really put ourselves into the prayer”, nor do we “Always say the Rosary. Say it well,” nor “say it as often as we can.” Nor do we see “her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.” How little do we hear priests preach on the Rosary―not just during the Rosary month of October, but regularly throughout the year! How few families pray the daily Rosary! In the USA, the daily Rosary prayer percentage is as low as 2% to3%. Even if you we do SAY the Rosary, we rarely PRAY it and SAY it TOO QUICKLY. Those are the chief reasons why our Rosaries are so ineffective, impotent and even sinful. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book The Secret of the Rosary, speaks of some of the deficiencies:
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will.“It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §126-§127).
In times of sickness, we need more medicine―not less medicine. The world has never been as sick as it is today―and yet less and less medicinal Rosaries are being prayed. As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet around the same time, in 1957, Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!”
The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
A prophecy attributed to Saint Dominic further underlines this importance: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.” In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia) the author of this book found the following account:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. AND ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
The following words of Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), written in more Catholic days than we see today, sadly express words about devotion for the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that are no longer true today―or are only true for a minority of Catholics. In a 2008 survey, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University conducted a survey of adult Catholics in the United States. With regard to the Brown Scapular, back in the 1940s, it was estimated that around 40% of Catholics wore the Brown Scapular. Today, only 9% of Catholics said that they would wear or carry one around with them―and they are probably oblivious to the fact that merely carrying it around with you, in pocket or purse, does not qualify you for the Scapular promises! How many young Catholics today wear a Brown Scapular? The percentage must be close to 0% ― especially in view of the fact that statistics show that in recent times, 92% of Catholic youth will cease practicing the Faith regularly once they graduate from high-school or college.
Anyway, here is what Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General, wrote in 1950 in his booklet entitled The Scapular of Carmel.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that the Scapular devotion is as universal as the Church. It would be difficult to find a Catholic who has not at least heard of it for, as Pius XII says, it is in the ‘first rank’ of popular devotions to the Blessed Mother. And yet how many there are who know little or nothing about the origin of the Scapular … The Scapular is a sign of our special adoption by the Mother of God … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady … Through the alliance of the Scapular Our Lady has called us the “sons of her choice,” that our souls may live and we may be well used for her sake. The dazzling splendor of her holiness makes her the terror of demons. She is ‘terrible as an army in battle array’ against all the forces of evil that would molest us or attempt to snatch us from under the mantle of her maternal protection … As long as we live our lives and finish our course under the sweet protection of her mantle, we have nothing to fear. Our path to Heaven is made easy by her who crushed the serpent’s head … The ever-vigilant eye of our Blessed Mother is always upon those who wear her Habit, and where her eye is there also is the love of her Heart to save and defend us …
“One of the greatest means of final perseverance we have is devotion to our Blessed Mother. It is the constant teaching of the Church that devotion to God’s Mother is not only a means but a pledge of eternal salvation … To whom shall we go for an assurance of salvation if not to her who, in order to save us, offered both her Only-Begotten and herself to the cruel death of the Cross? ‘It is not near the Cross,” says St. Bernard, “that Mary is found but on it, nailed to its beams as Jesus is!’ … Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation … If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation … Let us not conclude, however, that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of supernatural power which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin. We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: ‘When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.’”
“It is clear from the words of St. Alphonsus that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is in itself an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen … The constant, daily practice of wearing the Scapular is, therefore, an act of faithful homage to Our Lady but, as St. Alphonsus adds, the desire to amend one’s life is also necessary before we can be morally certain that she will be the cause of our eternal salvation.” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General from 1947-1959, extracts from his booklet entitled The Scapular of Carmel, 1950).
Scapular and Rosary Miracles
If you have any doubts about the power of the Rosary and Scapular, then recall some of miracles that God has performed through those two Sacramentals.
► Saved from Shipwreck
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, with his wife and children and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Among the crew was a young Irishman, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, the youth opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed over the deck, bringing with it the Scapular which came back to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the minister (a Mr. Fisher) had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin and her Scapular. Mr. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after landing in Australia.
► Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The religiously devout inhabitants of a home in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged, amidst all the destruction, was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people who came to see the place Our Lady had saved are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
► Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
► Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular, and called on Mary for help. She suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames―and she was the only survivor.
► Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
► Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
► Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.
► Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
► Modern-Day Miracle
A priest relayed the following account: “There was a man in Baltimore who told me this himself, in about 1990. As he was driving down the highway, someone threw a stone through his open window. He didn’t know where from. It knocked his glasses, that were in his shirt-pocket, onto the seat beside him. He didn’t need the glasses, so he left them where they landed. When he arrived home, he remembered his glasses. He went to pick them up to put them back in his pocket, but they wouldn’t go in. He thought it was because the stone was still in his pocket. So he pulled the stone out, but it wasn’t a stone. It was a bullet. He had been shot at. He was uninjured. He was wearing his Scapular.”
► Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima, Japan — August 6th, 1945
When the Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a house, the parish rectory, eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the house survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
► Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll. the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
► Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed the Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary! Ave Maria!
Have Confidence in Your Weapons! Learn to Use Your Weapons!
A weapon is only as good as the soldier using it! A weapon in the hands of a dummy can lead to him shooting himself in the foot! Most people use Heaven’s spiritual weapons badly! If only the Mass would be offered as it should be offered! If only Holy Communions would be made as they should be made! If only the Rosary would be prayed as it should be prayed! If only the Brown Scapular would be worn and appreciated as it should be worn and appreciated! We are shooting ourselves in the foot by misusing or abusing these weapons!
What St. Louis de Montfort says about the common faults of people praying the Rosary, can also be applied to other aspects of the spiritual life―such as how we assist at or hear Mass; how we prepare for and make our Holy Communions; how we pray in general; and all other aspects of the spiritual life. St. Louis writes:
“There are two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if people were asked what their Rosary intention was, they would not know what to say. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!”
What we sow, we will also reap: “He who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). When only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―which is what Our Lady has always demanded―and less that 20% of Catholics attending Sunday Mass regularly―then that is sowing sparingly and it is hardly a surprise that we are reaping poor results and benefits from our “sparingly sown” prayers and “sparing” assistance at Mass.
Unless something changes soon, then we are sadly heading down the ominous avenue that has been described in countless foreboding prophecies of Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and mystics! The first step in changing has to be that of changing ourselves first―as individuals―regardless of what other are doing or not doing. Then we need to work at changing the indifferent, lukewarm, lazy, worldly attitudes of our family, our relatives, friends and acquaintances.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday June 23rd & Thursday June 24th
Article 12
Your Spirtual Shotshell
Wednesday June 23rd & Thursday June 24th
Article 12
Your Spirtual Shotshell
ABOVE: the exterior shotshell casing that contains pellets
ABOVE: Two different kinds of shellshot. On the left is the buckshot shell containing pellets or balls, on the right is the slug shot, which a single projectile like a single bullet.
ABOVE: Four different sizes of shellshot cartridges. The variations can either have different sizes of pellets, or they can different quantities of the same sized pellet.
ABOVE: The three different types of shellshot (1) Birdshot (2) Buckshot and (3) Slug, can be compared to three differnet kinds of spiritual weapons we can use. The tiny Birdshot pellets can be likened to short prayer ejaculations, the bigger Buckshot pellets can be likened to the longer prayers of the Rosary, with its Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory be. While the much larger slug shot can be likened to the Holy Eucharist, under its triple aspect of (1) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, (2) Holy Communion, and (3) the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
ABOVE: An "over-and-under" double barreled shotgun
BELOW: A "side-by-side" double barrel shotgun 
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What is Shotshell?
Before going further with the spiritual aspect and connotations of this article, it is important to clarify in the first place what “shotshell” actually is! Some of you will know and some will not know. It is pointless starting out on the subject if we do not know what we are talking about. “Shotshell” is an abbreviation of two words: “shotgun” and “shell”. Basically, shotgun shells are of three types: (1) Birdshot shells, (2) Buckshot shells, and (3) Slug shells. ► BIRDSHOT is a type of shotgun ammunition that is designed for hunting birds in the wild. Inside the shotgun shell contains tiny metal spheres or pellets that are all the same size. This allows them to be packed together nicely into a shell, so that many pellets can fit in there. Once the shell full of pellets is loaded into the shotgun and fired out, the pellets separate from the shell and spread outwards. The spreading of the pellets makes it easier to hit a flying target, such as a bird―hence the name “birdshot”. Birdshot contains the smallest pellets out of all the other shotgun ammunition types. They also cause the least amount of damage because of their small size, but they are still strong enough to kill birds and small animals. However, the birds don’t always die right away if there are not enough pellets in the gun to destroy them. ► BUCKSHOT is the standard type of shotgun ammunition that hunters use. Buckshot is shotgun ammunition that uses large metal spheres or pellets in the shotgun shells. When the buckshot is fired from the shotgun the pellets scatter outward―just like the birdshot. The only difference is the buckshot does more damage than the birdshot, because it uses larger pellets. The bigger the pellets, the more impact it will have on the target. That is why buckshot is typically used to hunt bigger animals than birds, such as deer. Buckshot can also be used to kill bears as well. ► SLUGSHOT OR SLUGS are the most powerful type of shotgun ammunition that you can purchase. Slugs are different than birdshot and buckshot shells because they are actually bullets. Since it is a single shot bullet, it won’t spread around and shoot off target like with the buckshot and birdshot. Birdshot and buckshot are just small or large metal pellets inside of a shell that burst and spread-out when fired. When you shoot a shotgun filled with slugs, it will fire single direct projectiles that go straight into the target just like a normal bullet. You can stand as far as 75 yards from your target and hit it straight on with slugs. You wouldn’t be able to do that with buckshot or birdshot because the pellets scatter as soon as they come out of the barrel. Slugs are made of lead or filled with lead covered in copper. Sometimes they have a plastic tip which inflicts additional cuts and damage into the target. If you want to go hunting and kill a deer with one shot then slugs are definitely the best ammo. Slugs will provide a much cleaner kill because it will go straight through the skin and puncture the internal organs of the target. Spiritual Shotshell Having understood the above, we can now easily link the spiritual with the material. You could say that the Birdshot, Buckshot and Slugshot represent three different levels of spiritual weapons―ranging from lightweight, through middleweight to heavyweight. The Birdshot could be said to be tiny prayers and sacrifices―such as ejaculations like “Jesus have mercy! Mary help!”, or the tolerating of little inconvenciences such as delayed by a traffic light, a buzzing fly, a pen that won’t write, etc. The Buckshot could be said to be longer prayers―such as the Rosary, or novenas, and heavier sacrifices such as being on the receiving end of insults, lies, detractions, losing your reputation, losing your job, losing family, relatives or friends, receiving a notable injury, losing your wallet, having something stolen or damaged, etc. The slug or slugshot could be said to be heavyweight weapons―such as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar―all of which greatly surpass all of the previous mentioned prayers―and, on the level of sacrifice, it could range from the pinnacle of martyrdom all the way down to serious persecution for the Faith. All such prayers and sufferings can be powerful spiritual weapons if we would only say prayers well and with great fervor―which is like the gunpowder that launches the bullets or pellets; and if we would properly process our sufferings that can be recycled to fire at the enemy rather than shooting ourselves in the foot by complaining about our sufferings! Spiritual Double-Barreled Shotguns There are many ways of depicting a “double-barreled spiritual shotgun”. As stated in the previous article, the overriding and ultimate analogy would be the double-barrel of Jesus and Mary, or the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart. Yet other subsidiary elements also present themselves for a double-barrel depiction. For example, the Prayer and Penance, or Prayer and Sacrifice―for Sister Lucia of Fatima states: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world!” Our Lady of Fatima came asking for many prayers and sacrifices to save souls from Hell: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” Another double-barreled spiritual depiction would be that of the Rosary and the Scapular―for it was prophesied in the Middle Ages that, one day, Our Lady would save the world through the Rosary and Scapular―hence they are both suitable barrels for the double-barreled spiritual shotgun. Another suitable example would be attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving Holy Communion worthily at Mass. The Holy Eucharist is double-barreled in the sense that it is both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice. The Rosary Weapon St. Padre Pio said: “Prayer is the best weapon we have―it is the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact, on certain occasions, you should only speak to Him with your heart!” St. Alphonsus Liguori says the same: “Prayer, without doubt, is the most powerful weapon that Our Lord gives us to conquer evil. But we must really put ourselves into the prayer! It is not enough to just say the words, it must come from the heart!” The popes and saints, the blessed and theologians, all echo those sentiments―as you will see from the following quotes: “The Rosary is the scourge of the devil!” (Pope Adrian VI). “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying!” (Pope Leo XIII). “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!” (Blessed Pope Pius IX). “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors!” (Pope Pius XI). “We put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times!” (Pope Pius XII). “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary!” (St. Francis de Sales). “The Rosary is the weapon for these times!” (St. Padre Pio). “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother! Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!” (St. Padre Pio). “The power of the Rosary is beyond description!” (Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen). “No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary―either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary” (Bishop Hugh Doyle). “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July & October 1917). While at Akita in Japan, in 1973, she added: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able to save you from the calamities which approach!” |
The Power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion
Even greater that the power of the Holy Rosary is the power of the Holy Eucharist―in all of its three aspects: (1) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, (2) in Holy Communion, and (3) in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. All three aspects obviously contain Jesus. In the Mass He is Priest and Victim; in Holy Communion He is Physician and Friend; in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar He is King in His Tabernacle Palace on the Altar.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is same thing as the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary―which defeated Satan. The Holy Mass is a perpetuation and re-enactment of that Sacrifice on Calvary extended throughout all ages, times and places. St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751) states: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary―with this sole difference that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice, which can be repeated an infinite number of times, and was instituted in order to apply in detail that universal ransom which Jesus paid for us on Calvary.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Doctor of the Church, says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.” Pope St. Gregory the Great (reigned 590-604), a Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice adds: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base! … What graces, gifts and virtues the Holy Mass calls down ... repentance for sin ... victory over temptation ... holy inspirations which dispositions to shake off tepidity ... the grace of final perseverance, upon which depends our salvation ... temporal blessings, such as peace, abundance and health!”
St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, (1786-1859) says: “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.” To which St. Padre Pio adds: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice laments: “O you deluded people, what are you doing? Why do you not hasten to the churches to hear as many Masses as you can?”
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, once said: “How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions―but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I tell them: ‘I do not blame that! That is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints, but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass!’”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
Weapons Are Only As Good As Their Users
You can have the most powerful weapon in the world at your disposal, but if you do not know how to use it, then it becomes as useless as you are―it is still potentially powerful, but you are clueless as to how to activate that power and benefit from it! You can give the best software and best laptop in the world to someone, but if all they know is how to type on it and merely use it as a typewriter, then you have a massive waste of power.
Here as several examples of how lay people used the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to great effect. The following 12 paragraphs are the words of Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
“Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE. The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls so dear to you. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom―hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass with sacrifice; then you are apostles, paying the ransom for the Sacred Heart.
“I remember long years ago, a lady ― she had her own unconverted mother, and that old lady was dying. Nothing, nothing to be done. Her daughter, a wonderful Catholic, said to her: ‘Mother, you are baptized; you are supposed to be a Catholic.’ But the mother would not listen. ‘Nonsense! Allow me to die as I have lived! I do not need God! I am 78 years old!’ The daughter came to me, asking what should be done. I said to her: ‘Pay the ransom! You are a Catholic. Go to Mass, daily Mass!’ She was wonderfully faithful. She was not at all healthy, the church was at a distance, yet she never missed one Mass.
“It seemed fruitless. She said to her mother one day: ‘Mother, please, you are dying! Shall I not call a priest?’ ‘No! No!’ Then the daughter brought a picture of the Sacred Heart, which she held up for her mother to see. ‘Here, Mother, is the King of Love. Please, Mother, let Him come to you in Holy Communion. I have prayed and gone to Mass daily, in order that you may not die without making your peace with Jesus, Who has loved you so much. The Chalice has been offered every day for you, that your soul may be washed in the Precious Blood.’ So the daughter pleaded, until finally the mother turned to her and said: ‘I do not know how, but I have changed completely! A priest! O get me a priest at once!’ And the mother died praising the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“Then the husband, a man living with hate in his heart toward God ― an actual apostle of Satan. He also asked for a priest, for he was sick, very sick. He asked for Father Mateo. I heard his confession four times, and he received Holy Communion as often. He called in fifteen or twenty of his former friends, also living in hate, and said to them: ‘Kneel down and adore Christ the King, the King of Love. That is the only thing worth while.’ He died praising the Sacred Heart. Then the third one in the same family, gone astray ― the youngest brother, twenty-five years old, also returned to the Sacraments. And why? The Mass, daily Mass, the Chalice, the greatest power of redemption.
“May I relate to you something personal, with real emotion? I am the son of a Protestant. My father was an Anglican. One of my uncles was a missionary in India, the other a Canon in Westminster Abbey in London for thirty years. Yet I have seen my father, 58 years old, kneeling for his first confession and first Communion, weeping out of joy, the great Anglican, over powered by grace. Who converted him? The grace of God. But who was the instrument? A great preacher? Yes ― that preacher was my mother. How did she succeed? Speaking generally, you know that husbands do not like sermons at home. Then how did she convert my father? She never missed Mass, her daily Mass, except when sick and dying, and even then the priest came to give her Holy Communion.
“When I left home for school in the morning, she was already back from church ― and we were eleven children. She knew her first duty was to the home, to attend to her family; and yet in spite of that she found time to go every morning to Holy Mass and to receive Holy Communion. She paid the ransom. Our Lord was obliged to grant her the favor, for He is justice as well as truth. I venerate my mother. She died in 1935, when I was preaching in Japan. She is saying, as I am saying, that it is the Chalice, the Chalice, the CHALICE!
“A saintly soul said one day to Our Lord who appeared to her: ‘O Lord, what could I offer to Thee, for Thy glory, for my sanctification, for the salvation of many, many souls?’ And Our Lord replied: ‘For My Father, for yourself and for souls, give Me one more Mass!’ Where there is a will there is a way; where there is love, there is a way. When you love Him, come! Come! Come! With sacrifice prove your love, by giving Him, one, two, three Masses during the week, if possible daily Mass. If you make the effort, you will be blessed a thousand times and you will praise Him one day.
“I remember preaching in Scotland, when it was very cold. The pastor asked me to speak to a large number of little ones, six, seven, eight and nine years old, about to make their first Communion. I said to them: ‘Tell Mama that I am preaching the reign of the Sacred Heart ― that you are going to become missionaries.’ After I had finished speaking to the children, one little girl came to me and said: ‘My daddy never goes to church; he never goes to church. I am going to say to Mama what you have said, and I am never going to miss one Mass.’ You see, I had preached the Sacred Heart, and asked them to help me save souls with one more Mass. The child told her mother she was going to attend daily Mass for her father. The mother thought it was too cold, but the child insisted she must save her father's soul. So the mother, at length, consented to allow her to attend daily Mass. Three months later I met this child, and she said to me:
“‘Father, do you remember what I told you about my daddy not going to church? Well, I have never missed one Mass since then. It has been cold and I am often sleepy, for it is early. And do you know what I say to Jesus when I have Him here (in her heart)? I tell Him I am going to Mass and Communion every morning. It is for my daddy, for my daddy. I am paying the ransom. I am taking his place here every morning, so that You may save his soul, here at the altar rail, my loving Jesus.’ Wonderful!
“When the precious moment of Consecration has arrived, imagine yourself on Calvary, standing beneath the Cross with Mary, and, united with her sentiments, offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood and Wounds of Jesus, for the conversion of sinners and unbelievers and the poor souls in purgatory. And now, united with Jesus and Mary, look at your crucifix and make your offering by saying: ‘Eternal Father. I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls. My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Sacred Wounds.’ Renew this offering for every wound of Jesus. You will also have time to see Him in spirit, in pain and suffering, in the first, second, and third fall under the heavy weight of the Cross. Do not forget the adorable Face of Jesus, the seat of all wisdom, crowned for us with thorns. God promised a great reward for those who honor His holy Face. In this offering, we are offering Heaven to Heaven. This is not all; we are following the Master, the Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan, to heal the wounds of our Savior who has loved us so much.
“Let us trust Jesus in our temporal needs and especially in our spiritual needs. When saying in the ‘Our Father’ … ‘give us this day our daily bread’ (the Holy Eucharist), let us be mindful to plead for our neighbor, the lukewarm, and ourselves.
“Never miss Mass through your own fault. Sometimes you cannot attend; but make the effort never to miss one Mass and Communion, in spite of difficulties. You will bless me when dying, if you do this. May God grant you the grace to attend Mass daily, and to receive daily Communion with the intention of saving souls from Hell, and thereby glorifying God in Heaven for all eternity. There is no greater love.” (Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, 1879-1960, SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus).
Even greater that the power of the Holy Rosary is the power of the Holy Eucharist―in all of its three aspects: (1) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, (2) in Holy Communion, and (3) in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. All three aspects obviously contain Jesus. In the Mass He is Priest and Victim; in Holy Communion He is Physician and Friend; in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar He is King in His Tabernacle Palace on the Altar.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is same thing as the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary―which defeated Satan. The Holy Mass is a perpetuation and re-enactment of that Sacrifice on Calvary extended throughout all ages, times and places. St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751) states: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary―with this sole difference that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice, which can be repeated an infinite number of times, and was instituted in order to apply in detail that universal ransom which Jesus paid for us on Calvary.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Doctor of the Church, says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.” Pope St. Gregory the Great (reigned 590-604), a Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice adds: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base! … What graces, gifts and virtues the Holy Mass calls down ... repentance for sin ... victory over temptation ... holy inspirations which dispositions to shake off tepidity ... the grace of final perseverance, upon which depends our salvation ... temporal blessings, such as peace, abundance and health!”
St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, (1786-1859) says: “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.” To which St. Padre Pio adds: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice laments: “O you deluded people, what are you doing? Why do you not hasten to the churches to hear as many Masses as you can?”
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, once said: “How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions―but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I tell them: ‘I do not blame that! That is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints, but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass!’”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
Weapons Are Only As Good As Their Users
You can have the most powerful weapon in the world at your disposal, but if you do not know how to use it, then it becomes as useless as you are―it is still potentially powerful, but you are clueless as to how to activate that power and benefit from it! You can give the best software and best laptop in the world to someone, but if all they know is how to type on it and merely use it as a typewriter, then you have a massive waste of power.
Here as several examples of how lay people used the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to great effect. The following 12 paragraphs are the words of Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1879-1960), SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
“Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE. The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls so dear to you. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom―hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass with sacrifice; then you are apostles, paying the ransom for the Sacred Heart.
“I remember long years ago, a lady ― she had her own unconverted mother, and that old lady was dying. Nothing, nothing to be done. Her daughter, a wonderful Catholic, said to her: ‘Mother, you are baptized; you are supposed to be a Catholic.’ But the mother would not listen. ‘Nonsense! Allow me to die as I have lived! I do not need God! I am 78 years old!’ The daughter came to me, asking what should be done. I said to her: ‘Pay the ransom! You are a Catholic. Go to Mass, daily Mass!’ She was wonderfully faithful. She was not at all healthy, the church was at a distance, yet she never missed one Mass.
“It seemed fruitless. She said to her mother one day: ‘Mother, please, you are dying! Shall I not call a priest?’ ‘No! No!’ Then the daughter brought a picture of the Sacred Heart, which she held up for her mother to see. ‘Here, Mother, is the King of Love. Please, Mother, let Him come to you in Holy Communion. I have prayed and gone to Mass daily, in order that you may not die without making your peace with Jesus, Who has loved you so much. The Chalice has been offered every day for you, that your soul may be washed in the Precious Blood.’ So the daughter pleaded, until finally the mother turned to her and said: ‘I do not know how, but I have changed completely! A priest! O get me a priest at once!’ And the mother died praising the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“Then the husband, a man living with hate in his heart toward God ― an actual apostle of Satan. He also asked for a priest, for he was sick, very sick. He asked for Father Mateo. I heard his confession four times, and he received Holy Communion as often. He called in fifteen or twenty of his former friends, also living in hate, and said to them: ‘Kneel down and adore Christ the King, the King of Love. That is the only thing worth while.’ He died praising the Sacred Heart. Then the third one in the same family, gone astray ― the youngest brother, twenty-five years old, also returned to the Sacraments. And why? The Mass, daily Mass, the Chalice, the greatest power of redemption.
“May I relate to you something personal, with real emotion? I am the son of a Protestant. My father was an Anglican. One of my uncles was a missionary in India, the other a Canon in Westminster Abbey in London for thirty years. Yet I have seen my father, 58 years old, kneeling for his first confession and first Communion, weeping out of joy, the great Anglican, over powered by grace. Who converted him? The grace of God. But who was the instrument? A great preacher? Yes ― that preacher was my mother. How did she succeed? Speaking generally, you know that husbands do not like sermons at home. Then how did she convert my father? She never missed Mass, her daily Mass, except when sick and dying, and even then the priest came to give her Holy Communion.
“When I left home for school in the morning, she was already back from church ― and we were eleven children. She knew her first duty was to the home, to attend to her family; and yet in spite of that she found time to go every morning to Holy Mass and to receive Holy Communion. She paid the ransom. Our Lord was obliged to grant her the favor, for He is justice as well as truth. I venerate my mother. She died in 1935, when I was preaching in Japan. She is saying, as I am saying, that it is the Chalice, the Chalice, the CHALICE!
“A saintly soul said one day to Our Lord who appeared to her: ‘O Lord, what could I offer to Thee, for Thy glory, for my sanctification, for the salvation of many, many souls?’ And Our Lord replied: ‘For My Father, for yourself and for souls, give Me one more Mass!’ Where there is a will there is a way; where there is love, there is a way. When you love Him, come! Come! Come! With sacrifice prove your love, by giving Him, one, two, three Masses during the week, if possible daily Mass. If you make the effort, you will be blessed a thousand times and you will praise Him one day.
“I remember preaching in Scotland, when it was very cold. The pastor asked me to speak to a large number of little ones, six, seven, eight and nine years old, about to make their first Communion. I said to them: ‘Tell Mama that I am preaching the reign of the Sacred Heart ― that you are going to become missionaries.’ After I had finished speaking to the children, one little girl came to me and said: ‘My daddy never goes to church; he never goes to church. I am going to say to Mama what you have said, and I am never going to miss one Mass.’ You see, I had preached the Sacred Heart, and asked them to help me save souls with one more Mass. The child told her mother she was going to attend daily Mass for her father. The mother thought it was too cold, but the child insisted she must save her father's soul. So the mother, at length, consented to allow her to attend daily Mass. Three months later I met this child, and she said to me:
“‘Father, do you remember what I told you about my daddy not going to church? Well, I have never missed one Mass since then. It has been cold and I am often sleepy, for it is early. And do you know what I say to Jesus when I have Him here (in her heart)? I tell Him I am going to Mass and Communion every morning. It is for my daddy, for my daddy. I am paying the ransom. I am taking his place here every morning, so that You may save his soul, here at the altar rail, my loving Jesus.’ Wonderful!
“When the precious moment of Consecration has arrived, imagine yourself on Calvary, standing beneath the Cross with Mary, and, united with her sentiments, offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood and Wounds of Jesus, for the conversion of sinners and unbelievers and the poor souls in purgatory. And now, united with Jesus and Mary, look at your crucifix and make your offering by saying: ‘Eternal Father. I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls. My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Sacred Wounds.’ Renew this offering for every wound of Jesus. You will also have time to see Him in spirit, in pain and suffering, in the first, second, and third fall under the heavy weight of the Cross. Do not forget the adorable Face of Jesus, the seat of all wisdom, crowned for us with thorns. God promised a great reward for those who honor His holy Face. In this offering, we are offering Heaven to Heaven. This is not all; we are following the Master, the Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan, to heal the wounds of our Savior who has loved us so much.
“Let us trust Jesus in our temporal needs and especially in our spiritual needs. When saying in the ‘Our Father’ … ‘give us this day our daily bread’ (the Holy Eucharist), let us be mindful to plead for our neighbor, the lukewarm, and ourselves.
“Never miss Mass through your own fault. Sometimes you cannot attend; but make the effort never to miss one Mass and Communion, in spite of difficulties. You will bless me when dying, if you do this. May God grant you the grace to attend Mass daily, and to receive daily Communion with the intention of saving souls from Hell, and thereby glorifying God in Heaven for all eternity. There is no greater love.” (Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, 1879-1960, SS.CC., apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday June 20th & Monday June 21st & Tuesday June 22nd
Article 11
A Double-Barreled Heartgun!
Sunday June 20th & Monday June 21st & Tuesday June 22nd
Article 11
A Double-Barreled Heartgun!
Weapons & Heaven’s Weapons
Thousands of books have been written on weapons. Hundreds of thousands of persons think they are qualified experts on weapons. There are millions of pinions on which weapon is the best in which scenario. There are billions of weapons that have been produced―and many more billions are the times weapons have been used. Nobody knows the number of persons who have been wounded, incapacitated, maimed or killed with these weapons―some unjustly, some justly. Yet weapons exist and weapons are necessary. Holy Scripture even speaks of God having prepared His weapons to punish those who will not convert: “God is just, strong and patient! Unless you will be converted, He will brandish His sword! He hath bent His bow and made it ready! And in it He hath prepared the instruments of death, He hath made ready His arrows!” (Psalm 7:12-14). “I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the killer to destroy!’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 54:16). In other words, I have created the smith who blows on the burning coals and forges weapons. “The Lord hath opened His armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of His wrath!” (Jeremias 50:25).
Fighting Talk!
Holy Scripture is full of references of God as a warrior, a fighter, a help in battle: “Who is this King of Glory? The Lord― who is strong and mighty! The Lord, mighty in battle!” (Psalm 23:8). “Fear them not! For the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “The Lord thy God will fight for His people!” (Isaias 51:22). “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “They shall fight, because the Lord is with them!” (Zacharias10:5). “We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded” (Deuteronomy 1:41) … “for it is the battle of the Lord” (1 Paralipomenon 5:22). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
God Himself is full of “fighting talk” in how will He will punish the proud Babylon―which is a symbol of the world, whose prince is the devil. The entire 51st chapter of Jeremias is dedicated to this―here is only around half of it: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon [a symbol of the evil world] and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against Me. And I will send to Babylon foreigners, and they shall scatter her, and shall destroy her land―for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction … Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let everyone save his own life! Be not silent upon her iniquity! For it is the time of revenge from the Lord―He will I render unto her what she hath deserved! Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk―the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered! Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed! Howl for her! Take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed. I would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed!
“Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers―the mind of the Lord is against Babylon―to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple. Every man is become foolish by his knowledge! Every producer is confounded by his idol that he has produced―for what he hath made is a lie and there is no breath of life in his idols. They are vain works and worthy to be laughed at―in the time of their visitation by the Lord they shall perish! Make for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms! And with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and him that gets up into it! And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman; and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces governors and rulers. And I will bring upon Babylon all the evil that they have done, saith the Lord.
“Behold I come against thee, O corrupt mountain Babylon, saith the Lord, which corrupts the whole Earth! And I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the cornerstone, nor stone for foundations―but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord. The land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled―for the designs of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of Babylon a desert and uninhabitable! The valiant men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they have dwelt in their strongholds, their strength hath failed, and they are become as women!
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: ‘The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, hath eaten Me up! He hath devoured Me! He hath made Me as an empty vessel! He hath swallowedMe up like a dragon! He hath filled his belly with My delicate meats and he hath cast me out! The wrong done to Me and My flesh, will fall upon Babylon! I will make her sea desolate, and will dry up her springs. And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing―because there are no inhabitants. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter. Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.
“Behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labors of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish. Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed!” (Jeremias 51:1-64).
So Let’s Go Fight!
With all this rousing fighting-talk, you are no doubt ready to drop everything and go out and fight! Yes? No? Probably not―though some are always ready for a fight! Yet before we pull guns off the rack, we should pay heed to the words of God―Who is our Leader and Who will fight for us: “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). The words we should pay attention to are: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our way might be with human weapons, God’s way is not quite that―though human weapons are not ruled out as a last resort. God also has His weapons. If we have our weapons and God has His weapons―whose weapons do you think God would like us to use?
God’s Way of Fighting
► CONQUERING THE PROMISED LAND ― We can see, of course, God’s use of man and his weapons in many instances. For example, Moses was told that to obtain the Promised Land, the Israelites would have to fight with human weapons and conquer it. The Israelites “spied-out” the Promised Land and the majority were too scared to try and conquer―a refusal that was punished by 40 years of wandering in the desert wilderness with the death of millions.
We also see God use Judas Machabeus and the Machabeans with their human weapons to fight against the foreign invaders and occupiers of Judea.
► AGAINST THE MADIANITES ― On the other hand, a classic case of “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!” (Isaias 55:8) is seen in the case of the Israelite leader Gedeon, who came before the Lord with a meager 32,000 soldiers in order to be given God’s blessing before taking-on a much larger army of Madianites numbering 135,000 soldiers. God refused to accept those 32,000 Israelites and eventually reduced their number to 10,000, and then further reducing Gedeon’s army from 10,000 to only 300 soldiers! Cutting the fighting-force by about 99% and increasing the ratio of being outnumbered from the original 4 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 32,000 Israelites) to a far more frightening ratio of being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 32,000 Israelites) and then increasing the ratio even further to being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 300 Israelites).
Then, Gedeon’s three hundred soldiers went up against Madian with torches and empty jars, not with ordinary weapons. They broke the jars and held aloft the torches when , Gedeon blew the trumpet, creating such a confusion that the panicking Madianites fought with one another in darkness of the night. God delivered Madian into the hands of Israel―yet Israel won not because of any superior battle prowess, nor by weight of numbers, but because the Lord made the Madianites use their swords against each other in the darkness of the night, killing each other―without the Israelites having to raise a sword. By bring about such an unimaginable and unexpected victory―according to human reasoning and human expectations―proved that God Himself was fighting for Israel and that God was reason for victory and not their own power, strength, skill or tactics, but God’s power and tactics. That is how it will be with the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart” when Our Lady will triumph miraculously, against all the odds.
We should always ask ourselves before entering a “fight” against the Babylon of today―the world―whether we are being led by our own human will, ideas and tactics―or whether we are following God’s will, ideas and tactics! As stated above, God warns us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
► CONQUERING JERICHO ― The Book of Josue is the story of how Israel conquered Canaan, the first city of Canaan that they decided to conquer, on their way to obtaining the Promised Land. The Battle of Jericho is the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. Josue, the leader of the Israelites, sent two spies to Jericho. The two spies from the Israelites crept into the walled city of Jericho and hid at the house of Rahab, noted as a prostitute. Rahab had faith in God and informed the Israelites of Jericho's fear saying “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all, who live in this country, are melting in fear because of you!” She helped the spies hide from the king's soldiers, then leave out a window since her house was located next to the city wall. Rahab demanded the spies affirm an oath as she swore not to give their plans away, and congruently, they vowed to spare Rahab and her family when the battle of Jericho occurred. She was to fasten a scarlet rope in her window as the symbol of their protection.
According to Josue 6:1–27, the Israelites marched around the walls once every day for six days with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day they marched seven times around the walls, then the priests blew their ram’s horns, the Israelites raised a great shout, and the walls of the city fell. Following God’s command, they killed every man and woman of every age, as well as the oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
God instructed Josue with an unusual strategy for the battle of Jericho. He told Josue to have his army march around the city once a day for six consecutive days. While marching, the soldiers played their trumpets, as the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant around the city walls of Jericho. On the seventh day, Josue assured them that by God’s order, everyone in the city must be slain, except Rahab and her family. All items of silver, gold, bronze, and iron were to go into the Lord's depository. The Israelites then proceeded to marched around the walls of Jericho seven times. Once these seven laps had been completed, at Josue’s order, the men produced a powerful roar, and the city walls of Jericho miraculously fell down. The Israelite army raced in quickly conquering the city and, as promised, only Rahab and her family were spared.
Holy Scripture gives the following account of the fall of Jericho: “Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children of Israel, and no man dared go out or come in. And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. Go round about the city, all ye fighting men, once a day―so shall ye do for six days. And on the seventh day, the priests shall take the seven trumpets and shall go before the Ark of the Covenant, and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand!’
“Then Josue called the priests, and said to them: ‘Take the Ark of the Covenant and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the Ark of the Lord!’ And he said to the people: ‘Go, and surround the city, armed, marching before the Ark of the Lord!’ And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the Ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides. But Josue had commanded the people, saying: ‘You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth―until the day come wherein I shall say to you: “Cry, and shout!”’
“So the Ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, remained there. And Josue rising before dawn, the priests took the Ark of the Lord, and seven of them seven trumpets, and they went before the Ark of the Lord walking and sounding the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the common people followed the Ark, and they blew the trumpets. And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: ‘Shout! For the Lord hath delivered the city to you! And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord. Let only Rahab the harlot live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent. But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin, and be troubled. But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in His treasures!’
So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: and they took the city, and killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the sword. But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: ‘Go into the harlot’s house and bring her out, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath!’ And the young men went in and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also and all her goods and her kindred, and made them to stay without the camp. But they burned the city, and all things that were therein; except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated into the treasury of the Lord” (Josue 6:1-24).
God’s Way of Fighting is not Our Way of Fighting
From the above examples―and more examples could be provided―we see that God does not primarily rely upon man and man’s weapons, even though they do often play a secondary role. From a human rational perspective, attacking an army of 135,000 men with trumpets and pots would seem totally ludicrous and ridiculous! Likewise six days of marching once around a city in a religious procession, following the Ark of Covenant and occasionally blowing trumpets―followed by seven laps of the city walls on the seventh day, again blowing trumpets followed by a loud roar or cry from the people―to a humanistic rational mind, all of this would again seem ludicrous and ridiculous. Yet God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We are too naturalistic, too humanistic, too materialistic, too worldly―and so it is only natural that our instinctive mode of fighting will be along those same lines. If we were only more spiritual, with a supernatural outlook and more God-centered, then we would adopt God’s way of fighting―which, when all is said and done, is infinitely more effective than our puny, myopic, passion-regulated way of fighting. Our approach to the battle lacks sufficient Faith, is low on Hope and certainly lacks Charity. The only way that most Catholics envisage a resurrection from the mess that we are in, and a victory in face of almost imminent defeat, is to in with guns blazing, taking no prisoners, and crushing the enemy while spitting in his face and hoping he goes to Hell! It was this kind of spirit that Our Lord condemned―and this aggressive and violent spirit was even found among His Apostles. The occasion of it manifesting itself was when Our Lord had been badly received in a certain Samaritan city on account of His intention to go to Jerusalem in Juda (the Jews of Juda and the Samaritans were long-standing bitter enemies). The brothers, St. James and St. John asked Our Lord if they should call down fire from Heaven to destroy that Samaritan city. Our Lord condemned their attitude. Here is the account:
“Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Similarly, when the time for “battle” arrived―that is to say the beginning of His Passion and the first battle in the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―when the soldiers and temple guard came to arrest Him, St. Peter and Our Lord had two diametrically opposing ways of how to handle that first “battle” of the “war”. Peter took the naturalistic and humanistic approach of pulling-out his sword and attacking the Roman soldiers and Temple guard, cutting-off the ear of one of them with his sword. “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: Lord, shall we strike with the sword? … Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus” (Luke 22:49; Mark 18:10). Again, Our Lord had to rebuke such a spirit―as He formerly did with James and John―saying to Peter: “Put up thy sword into the scabbard! For all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels [to protect Me and rescue Me]? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done? The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? And when He had touched the ear of Malchus, He healed him” (Matthew 26:51-54; Mark 18:11; Luke 22:51).
The reaction of the other Apostles was not to fight―like Peter―but to flee. Part of the problem―as we see with Peter, James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane―is that they should have been praying, they were sleeping. Our Lord had warned them beforehand, saying: “Stay you here, and watch [pray] with Me! … Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:38, 41). “Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!” (Luke 22:40). They did not pray and when temptation came, they fell and fled. When they saw that they were outnumbered and that Jesus was arrested, “Then the disciples all leaving Him, fled!” (Matthew 26:56). Since that time there has been no shortage of Catholics who have fled from truly living the Faith, and have hidden themselves behind the bushes of compromise, or have hidden from view by clothing themselves with the trappings of worldliness. Today, statistics show that 92% of Catholics no longer practice the Faith regularly once they graduate from high-school or from college. They flee from the Faith and Christ. They do not want to fight for the Faith. “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). They are afraid of the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
David versus Goliath
The Israelites [or Catholics today] were in terror of the Philistines [the world today] on account of Goliath. They were, so to speak, paralyzed with fear. The Philistine soldier, Goliath, was massive man, ‘armed-to-the-teeth’ with the best weapons, a renowned warrior, who boasted of his strength and skill―whereas the Israelite, David, was only a youth―biblical scholars say that he was anywhere between 15 to 22 years old when he slew Goliath. He was a shepherd not a soldier, his only weapon being a sling, and he was a mere “nobody” in the eyes of others. The actual age of David when he slew Goliath is not specified in the Scriptures. This is much like the situation that Catholics find themselves in this current political, immoral, irreligious climate―and just like the Israelites back then, Catholics tremble in the face of the enemy [the devil and the world], seemingly feeling helpless and hopeless. Yet that is now God seems to want it to be―so that we are forced to turn to Him for help and acknowledge that our own power is insufficient.
“Little David” came from the “Little Town of Bethlehem” of which the prophet Micheas said: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda―out of thee shall he come forth unto Me that is to be the ruler in Israel” (Micheas 5:2). It would be “Little Bethlehem” that God would choose as the birthplace for His Only-begotten Son―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“Doth not the Scripture say that ‘Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?” (John 7:42).
“David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Juda, whose name was Isai” (1 Kings 17:12). “Now the Philistines were gathering together their troops to battle … and Saul, and the children of Israel, being gathered together came to the valley of Terebinth, and they set the army in array to fight against the Philistines … And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a man named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span [1 cubit - 18 inches; so he was 9 feet 6 inches tall]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass [around 125 lbs]. And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron [around 15 lbs], and his armor-bearer went before him.
“And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel and said to them: ‘Why are you come out prepared to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand! If he is able to fight with me and kills me, then we will be servants to you! But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be servants and shall serve us! Give me a man, and let him fight with me hand to hand!’
“And Saul, and all the Israelites, hearing these words of the Philistine, were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now the Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
[Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem] Isai said to David his son: ‘Take food for thy brothers and run to the camp of thy brothers. Go see thy brothers, if they are well!’ David, therefore, arose in the morning, and went away loaded as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala, and to the army, which was going out to fight, and shouted for the battle. And as David talked with them, Goliath the Philistine, showed himself and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the Israelites, when they saw Goliath, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the words which David spoke were heard, and repeated before Saul.
“And when David was brought to Saul, he said to him: ‘Let not any man’s heart be dismayed in him: I, thy servant, will go, and will fight against the Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him―for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth!’ And David said to Saul: ‘Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock. And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I, thy servant, have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!’
“And Saul said to David: ‘Go, and the Lord be with thee!’ And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of chain-mail. And David, having girded his sword upon his armor, began to try if he could walk in armor: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: ‘I cannot like this, for I am not used to it!’ And he laid aside the sword and armor. And he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s pouch, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine.
“And the Philistine came forward, and drew nearer to David, and his armor-bearer before him. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. And the Philistine said to David: ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And he said to David: ‘Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth!’ And David said to the Philistine: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield―but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and, this day, I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth: that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear―for it is His battle, and He will deliver you into our hands!’
“And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew closer to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And, as David had no sword in his hand, he ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away!” (1 Kings 18:1-51).
The fight between David and Goliath the Philistine is symbolic of the fight that the Church has on Her hands today―with the Philistines being the world in general. The hatred and the odds are incredibly stacked against the Church ―and just as there were “no-takers” amongst the Israelites in “taking-on” Goliath in combat, likewise there are few Catholics who want to fight the world. The few who do wish to fight and the fewer still who go beyond mere talking and do some actual fighting―are, like Saul and the Israelites, relying on the wrong means or weapons.
You Can Keep Your Worldly Weapons―David Has a Better Idea
As God said to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Saul’s thoughts and ways of how to overcome Goliath were not David’s thoughts and ways of overcoming Goliath. Saul’s principal thoughts and ways were on a solely or primarily on a human and material level. David’s thoughts and ways were primarily on a supernatural and divine level. David threw-off the armor and weapons that Saul wished to give him. Instead―in what everyone thought was sheer insanity―he chose to go into the fight armed with only a sling and five pebbles. It was not that David put his trust in the sling and pebbles―but his trust was in God, knowing that “with men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26).
The Double-Barreled HeartGun
Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Our Lady says of herself: “Our Lady of the Rosary―only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917) and “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Akita, 1973). That is pretty clear, isn’t it? “Without Me, nothing! Only she can help! I alone am able to save you!” What do we not understand about those statements? What more could even want? The Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart! Jesus and Mary! God and His greatest “general”. “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). “There is none that can resist Thy majesty!” (Esther 13:11). “Thou art terrible and who shall resist Thee?” (Psalm 75:8). “Who shall resist the strength of Thy arm?” (Wisdom 11:22). “Whose wrath no man can resist!” (Job 9:13). “Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:6). “No one can resist Thee!” (2 Paralipomenon 20:6). “None can resist His hand!” (Daniel 4:32). “No one can resist Thy voice!” (Judith 16:17). “There is none that can resist Thy will!” (Esther 13:9). “All that resist Him shall be confounded!” (Isaias 45:25). “They that resist, purchase to themselves damnation!” (Romans 13:2). “The Almighty Lord, Who with a wave of His hand can utterly destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day!” (Ephesians 6:13).
Holy Scripture elaborates on this, saying: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Satan Fears the Double-Barreled HeartGun
There is no doubt that Satan fears Jesus―after all, Jesus is God and Satan is a mere creature of His. Yet the other barrel of the double-barreled HeartGun is Mary―whom Satan fears and hates, in a sense, even more than Jesus. For Mary is not the all-powerful God, but a mere creature of God’s. Furthermore, strictly speaking, angels are superior to humans―and so Satan imagines himself to be superior to Mary. So it is more humiliating to Satan when he is defeated by Mary (who he sees as inferior to himself) than being by God (Whom Satan knows is superior to himself). St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes:
“God has never made and formed but one … It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. Not that the anger, the hatred and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin, for the perfections of Mary are limited; but first, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
St. Louis further explains: “God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other.
“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God, who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body.
“They shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. We know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts.” (True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort).
God Does Not Need Your Weapons―You Need God’s Weapons!
It would be the height of folly and stupidity to think that God has any need of us―least of all our puny weapons! “Is there anything hard to God?” (Genesis 18:14). “No word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). “God is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand” (Ephesians 3:20). “With God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). “The Lord God, your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30).
Yet God will not fight in our manner, but according His own designs: “The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector! Come and behold the works of the Lord! What wonders He hath done upon Earth! Making wars to cease―even to the end of the Earth! He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire!” (Psalms 45:8-10). “No weapon that is formed against Thee shall prosper” (Isaias 54:17). Holy Scripture also speaks of those sinners that “went down to Hell with their weapons” (Ezechiel 32:27). “I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen! I will save them by the Lord their God!” (Osee 1:7). “The horse is prepared for the day of battle―but the Lord giveth safety!” (Proverbs 21:31). “Better is wisdom, than weapons of war!” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not make war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels [plans]!” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
The Spiritual Weapons for Our Age in Time
At first glance, there might be some confusion as to what weapons we are meant to be using in this current crisis besetting the Church and the world. Some say it is double-barreled devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart. Others will insist it is the double-barreled devotion to the Rosary and the Scapular. While some point to Our Lady of Akita’s reference to the Rosary and the “sign left by my Son”. Yet, upon some reflection, all of these can be reconciled under the umbrellas of Jesus and Mary. They are all a subsection of devotion to Jesus and Mary.
Under the banner of Jesus we have devotion to the Sacred Heart, devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, devotion to Holy Communion, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and devotion to the cross that we should all happily carry each day.
Under the banner of Mary we have devotion to the Immaculate Heart, devotion to the Sorrowful Heart, devotion to the Holy Rosary, devotion to the Brown Scapular, devotion to the other Sacramentals of Our Lady (the other scapulars and the Miraculous Medal) and the making and practice of the True Devotion to Mary as explained by St. Louis de Montfort.
If you like, analogically speaking, the double-barreled spiritual shotgun, that we have in our hands, consists of the “barrel” of Jesus and the “barrel” of Mary. All the other subsections of devotion to Jesus and Mary are like the “shotshell” that is fired by the shotgun. A shotgun (also known as a scattergun) shoots a straight-walled cartridge known as a “shotshell”, which usually contains and discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called “shot” that spread out as they leave the shotgun’s barrel.
In the next article, we shall examine the “spiritual shotshell” that Heaven has given us, as well a looking at the some of the miraculous results that “spiritual shotshell” has produced in the past.
Thousands of books have been written on weapons. Hundreds of thousands of persons think they are qualified experts on weapons. There are millions of pinions on which weapon is the best in which scenario. There are billions of weapons that have been produced―and many more billions are the times weapons have been used. Nobody knows the number of persons who have been wounded, incapacitated, maimed or killed with these weapons―some unjustly, some justly. Yet weapons exist and weapons are necessary. Holy Scripture even speaks of God having prepared His weapons to punish those who will not convert: “God is just, strong and patient! Unless you will be converted, He will brandish His sword! He hath bent His bow and made it ready! And in it He hath prepared the instruments of death, He hath made ready His arrows!” (Psalm 7:12-14). “I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the killer to destroy!’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 54:16). In other words, I have created the smith who blows on the burning coals and forges weapons. “The Lord hath opened His armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of His wrath!” (Jeremias 50:25).
Fighting Talk!
Holy Scripture is full of references of God as a warrior, a fighter, a help in battle: “Who is this King of Glory? The Lord― who is strong and mighty! The Lord, mighty in battle!” (Psalm 23:8). “Fear them not! For the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “The Lord thy God will fight for His people!” (Isaias 51:22). “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “They shall fight, because the Lord is with them!” (Zacharias10:5). “We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded” (Deuteronomy 1:41) … “for it is the battle of the Lord” (1 Paralipomenon 5:22). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
God Himself is full of “fighting talk” in how will He will punish the proud Babylon―which is a symbol of the world, whose prince is the devil. The entire 51st chapter of Jeremias is dedicated to this―here is only around half of it: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon [a symbol of the evil world] and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against Me. And I will send to Babylon foreigners, and they shall scatter her, and shall destroy her land―for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction … Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let everyone save his own life! Be not silent upon her iniquity! For it is the time of revenge from the Lord―He will I render unto her what she hath deserved! Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk―the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered! Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed! Howl for her! Take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed. I would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed!
“Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers―the mind of the Lord is against Babylon―to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple. Every man is become foolish by his knowledge! Every producer is confounded by his idol that he has produced―for what he hath made is a lie and there is no breath of life in his idols. They are vain works and worthy to be laughed at―in the time of their visitation by the Lord they shall perish! Make for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms! And with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and him that gets up into it! And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman; and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces governors and rulers. And I will bring upon Babylon all the evil that they have done, saith the Lord.
“Behold I come against thee, O corrupt mountain Babylon, saith the Lord, which corrupts the whole Earth! And I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the cornerstone, nor stone for foundations―but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord. The land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled―for the designs of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of Babylon a desert and uninhabitable! The valiant men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they have dwelt in their strongholds, their strength hath failed, and they are become as women!
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: ‘The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, hath eaten Me up! He hath devoured Me! He hath made Me as an empty vessel! He hath swallowedMe up like a dragon! He hath filled his belly with My delicate meats and he hath cast me out! The wrong done to Me and My flesh, will fall upon Babylon! I will make her sea desolate, and will dry up her springs. And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing―because there are no inhabitants. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter. Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.
“Behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labors of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish. Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed!” (Jeremias 51:1-64).
So Let’s Go Fight!
With all this rousing fighting-talk, you are no doubt ready to drop everything and go out and fight! Yes? No? Probably not―though some are always ready for a fight! Yet before we pull guns off the rack, we should pay heed to the words of God―Who is our Leader and Who will fight for us: “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). The words we should pay attention to are: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our way might be with human weapons, God’s way is not quite that―though human weapons are not ruled out as a last resort. God also has His weapons. If we have our weapons and God has His weapons―whose weapons do you think God would like us to use?
God’s Way of Fighting
► CONQUERING THE PROMISED LAND ― We can see, of course, God’s use of man and his weapons in many instances. For example, Moses was told that to obtain the Promised Land, the Israelites would have to fight with human weapons and conquer it. The Israelites “spied-out” the Promised Land and the majority were too scared to try and conquer―a refusal that was punished by 40 years of wandering in the desert wilderness with the death of millions.
We also see God use Judas Machabeus and the Machabeans with their human weapons to fight against the foreign invaders and occupiers of Judea.
► AGAINST THE MADIANITES ― On the other hand, a classic case of “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!” (Isaias 55:8) is seen in the case of the Israelite leader Gedeon, who came before the Lord with a meager 32,000 soldiers in order to be given God’s blessing before taking-on a much larger army of Madianites numbering 135,000 soldiers. God refused to accept those 32,000 Israelites and eventually reduced their number to 10,000, and then further reducing Gedeon’s army from 10,000 to only 300 soldiers! Cutting the fighting-force by about 99% and increasing the ratio of being outnumbered from the original 4 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 32,000 Israelites) to a far more frightening ratio of being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 32,000 Israelites) and then increasing the ratio even further to being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 Madianites versus 300 Israelites).
Then, Gedeon’s three hundred soldiers went up against Madian with torches and empty jars, not with ordinary weapons. They broke the jars and held aloft the torches when , Gedeon blew the trumpet, creating such a confusion that the panicking Madianites fought with one another in darkness of the night. God delivered Madian into the hands of Israel―yet Israel won not because of any superior battle prowess, nor by weight of numbers, but because the Lord made the Madianites use their swords against each other in the darkness of the night, killing each other―without the Israelites having to raise a sword. By bring about such an unimaginable and unexpected victory―according to human reasoning and human expectations―proved that God Himself was fighting for Israel and that God was reason for victory and not their own power, strength, skill or tactics, but God’s power and tactics. That is how it will be with the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart” when Our Lady will triumph miraculously, against all the odds.
We should always ask ourselves before entering a “fight” against the Babylon of today―the world―whether we are being led by our own human will, ideas and tactics―or whether we are following God’s will, ideas and tactics! As stated above, God warns us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
► CONQUERING JERICHO ― The Book of Josue is the story of how Israel conquered Canaan, the first city of Canaan that they decided to conquer, on their way to obtaining the Promised Land. The Battle of Jericho is the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. Josue, the leader of the Israelites, sent two spies to Jericho. The two spies from the Israelites crept into the walled city of Jericho and hid at the house of Rahab, noted as a prostitute. Rahab had faith in God and informed the Israelites of Jericho's fear saying “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all, who live in this country, are melting in fear because of you!” She helped the spies hide from the king's soldiers, then leave out a window since her house was located next to the city wall. Rahab demanded the spies affirm an oath as she swore not to give their plans away, and congruently, they vowed to spare Rahab and her family when the battle of Jericho occurred. She was to fasten a scarlet rope in her window as the symbol of their protection.
According to Josue 6:1–27, the Israelites marched around the walls once every day for six days with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day they marched seven times around the walls, then the priests blew their ram’s horns, the Israelites raised a great shout, and the walls of the city fell. Following God’s command, they killed every man and woman of every age, as well as the oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
God instructed Josue with an unusual strategy for the battle of Jericho. He told Josue to have his army march around the city once a day for six consecutive days. While marching, the soldiers played their trumpets, as the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant around the city walls of Jericho. On the seventh day, Josue assured them that by God’s order, everyone in the city must be slain, except Rahab and her family. All items of silver, gold, bronze, and iron were to go into the Lord's depository. The Israelites then proceeded to marched around the walls of Jericho seven times. Once these seven laps had been completed, at Josue’s order, the men produced a powerful roar, and the city walls of Jericho miraculously fell down. The Israelite army raced in quickly conquering the city and, as promised, only Rahab and her family were spared.
Holy Scripture gives the following account of the fall of Jericho: “Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children of Israel, and no man dared go out or come in. And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. Go round about the city, all ye fighting men, once a day―so shall ye do for six days. And on the seventh day, the priests shall take the seven trumpets and shall go before the Ark of the Covenant, and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand!’
“Then Josue called the priests, and said to them: ‘Take the Ark of the Covenant and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the Ark of the Lord!’ And he said to the people: ‘Go, and surround the city, armed, marching before the Ark of the Lord!’ And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the Ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides. But Josue had commanded the people, saying: ‘You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth―until the day come wherein I shall say to you: “Cry, and shout!”’
“So the Ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, remained there. And Josue rising before dawn, the priests took the Ark of the Lord, and seven of them seven trumpets, and they went before the Ark of the Lord walking and sounding the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the common people followed the Ark, and they blew the trumpets. And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: ‘Shout! For the Lord hath delivered the city to you! And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord. Let only Rahab the harlot live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent. But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin, and be troubled. But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in His treasures!’
So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: and they took the city, and killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the sword. But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: ‘Go into the harlot’s house and bring her out, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath!’ And the young men went in and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also and all her goods and her kindred, and made them to stay without the camp. But they burned the city, and all things that were therein; except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated into the treasury of the Lord” (Josue 6:1-24).
God’s Way of Fighting is not Our Way of Fighting
From the above examples―and more examples could be provided―we see that God does not primarily rely upon man and man’s weapons, even though they do often play a secondary role. From a human rational perspective, attacking an army of 135,000 men with trumpets and pots would seem totally ludicrous and ridiculous! Likewise six days of marching once around a city in a religious procession, following the Ark of Covenant and occasionally blowing trumpets―followed by seven laps of the city walls on the seventh day, again blowing trumpets followed by a loud roar or cry from the people―to a humanistic rational mind, all of this would again seem ludicrous and ridiculous. Yet God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We are too naturalistic, too humanistic, too materialistic, too worldly―and so it is only natural that our instinctive mode of fighting will be along those same lines. If we were only more spiritual, with a supernatural outlook and more God-centered, then we would adopt God’s way of fighting―which, when all is said and done, is infinitely more effective than our puny, myopic, passion-regulated way of fighting. Our approach to the battle lacks sufficient Faith, is low on Hope and certainly lacks Charity. The only way that most Catholics envisage a resurrection from the mess that we are in, and a victory in face of almost imminent defeat, is to in with guns blazing, taking no prisoners, and crushing the enemy while spitting in his face and hoping he goes to Hell! It was this kind of spirit that Our Lord condemned―and this aggressive and violent spirit was even found among His Apostles. The occasion of it manifesting itself was when Our Lord had been badly received in a certain Samaritan city on account of His intention to go to Jerusalem in Juda (the Jews of Juda and the Samaritans were long-standing bitter enemies). The brothers, St. James and St. John asked Our Lord if they should call down fire from Heaven to destroy that Samaritan city. Our Lord condemned their attitude. Here is the account:
“Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Similarly, when the time for “battle” arrived―that is to say the beginning of His Passion and the first battle in the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―when the soldiers and temple guard came to arrest Him, St. Peter and Our Lord had two diametrically opposing ways of how to handle that first “battle” of the “war”. Peter took the naturalistic and humanistic approach of pulling-out his sword and attacking the Roman soldiers and Temple guard, cutting-off the ear of one of them with his sword. “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: Lord, shall we strike with the sword? … Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus” (Luke 22:49; Mark 18:10). Again, Our Lord had to rebuke such a spirit―as He formerly did with James and John―saying to Peter: “Put up thy sword into the scabbard! For all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels [to protect Me and rescue Me]? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done? The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? And when He had touched the ear of Malchus, He healed him” (Matthew 26:51-54; Mark 18:11; Luke 22:51).
The reaction of the other Apostles was not to fight―like Peter―but to flee. Part of the problem―as we see with Peter, James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane―is that they should have been praying, they were sleeping. Our Lord had warned them beforehand, saying: “Stay you here, and watch [pray] with Me! … Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:38, 41). “Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!” (Luke 22:40). They did not pray and when temptation came, they fell and fled. When they saw that they were outnumbered and that Jesus was arrested, “Then the disciples all leaving Him, fled!” (Matthew 26:56). Since that time there has been no shortage of Catholics who have fled from truly living the Faith, and have hidden themselves behind the bushes of compromise, or have hidden from view by clothing themselves with the trappings of worldliness. Today, statistics show that 92% of Catholics no longer practice the Faith regularly once they graduate from high-school or from college. They flee from the Faith and Christ. They do not want to fight for the Faith. “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). They are afraid of the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
David versus Goliath
The Israelites [or Catholics today] were in terror of the Philistines [the world today] on account of Goliath. They were, so to speak, paralyzed with fear. The Philistine soldier, Goliath, was massive man, ‘armed-to-the-teeth’ with the best weapons, a renowned warrior, who boasted of his strength and skill―whereas the Israelite, David, was only a youth―biblical scholars say that he was anywhere between 15 to 22 years old when he slew Goliath. He was a shepherd not a soldier, his only weapon being a sling, and he was a mere “nobody” in the eyes of others. The actual age of David when he slew Goliath is not specified in the Scriptures. This is much like the situation that Catholics find themselves in this current political, immoral, irreligious climate―and just like the Israelites back then, Catholics tremble in the face of the enemy [the devil and the world], seemingly feeling helpless and hopeless. Yet that is now God seems to want it to be―so that we are forced to turn to Him for help and acknowledge that our own power is insufficient.
“Little David” came from the “Little Town of Bethlehem” of which the prophet Micheas said: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda―out of thee shall he come forth unto Me that is to be the ruler in Israel” (Micheas 5:2). It would be “Little Bethlehem” that God would choose as the birthplace for His Only-begotten Son―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“Doth not the Scripture say that ‘Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?” (John 7:42).
“David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Juda, whose name was Isai” (1 Kings 17:12). “Now the Philistines were gathering together their troops to battle … and Saul, and the children of Israel, being gathered together came to the valley of Terebinth, and they set the army in array to fight against the Philistines … And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a man named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span [1 cubit - 18 inches; so he was 9 feet 6 inches tall]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass [around 125 lbs]. And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron [around 15 lbs], and his armor-bearer went before him.
“And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel and said to them: ‘Why are you come out prepared to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand! If he is able to fight with me and kills me, then we will be servants to you! But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be servants and shall serve us! Give me a man, and let him fight with me hand to hand!’
“And Saul, and all the Israelites, hearing these words of the Philistine, were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now the Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
[Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem] Isai said to David his son: ‘Take food for thy brothers and run to the camp of thy brothers. Go see thy brothers, if they are well!’ David, therefore, arose in the morning, and went away loaded as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala, and to the army, which was going out to fight, and shouted for the battle. And as David talked with them, Goliath the Philistine, showed himself and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the Israelites, when they saw Goliath, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the words which David spoke were heard, and repeated before Saul.
“And when David was brought to Saul, he said to him: ‘Let not any man’s heart be dismayed in him: I, thy servant, will go, and will fight against the Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him―for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth!’ And David said to Saul: ‘Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock. And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I, thy servant, have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!’
“And Saul said to David: ‘Go, and the Lord be with thee!’ And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of chain-mail. And David, having girded his sword upon his armor, began to try if he could walk in armor: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: ‘I cannot like this, for I am not used to it!’ And he laid aside the sword and armor. And he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s pouch, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine.
“And the Philistine came forward, and drew nearer to David, and his armor-bearer before him. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. And the Philistine said to David: ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And he said to David: ‘Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth!’ And David said to the Philistine: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield―but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and, this day, I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth: that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear―for it is His battle, and He will deliver you into our hands!’
“And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew closer to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And, as David had no sword in his hand, he ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away!” (1 Kings 18:1-51).
The fight between David and Goliath the Philistine is symbolic of the fight that the Church has on Her hands today―with the Philistines being the world in general. The hatred and the odds are incredibly stacked against the Church ―and just as there were “no-takers” amongst the Israelites in “taking-on” Goliath in combat, likewise there are few Catholics who want to fight the world. The few who do wish to fight and the fewer still who go beyond mere talking and do some actual fighting―are, like Saul and the Israelites, relying on the wrong means or weapons.
You Can Keep Your Worldly Weapons―David Has a Better Idea
As God said to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Saul’s thoughts and ways of how to overcome Goliath were not David’s thoughts and ways of overcoming Goliath. Saul’s principal thoughts and ways were on a solely or primarily on a human and material level. David’s thoughts and ways were primarily on a supernatural and divine level. David threw-off the armor and weapons that Saul wished to give him. Instead―in what everyone thought was sheer insanity―he chose to go into the fight armed with only a sling and five pebbles. It was not that David put his trust in the sling and pebbles―but his trust was in God, knowing that “with men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26).
The Double-Barreled HeartGun
Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Our Lady says of herself: “Our Lady of the Rosary―only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917) and “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Akita, 1973). That is pretty clear, isn’t it? “Without Me, nothing! Only she can help! I alone am able to save you!” What do we not understand about those statements? What more could even want? The Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart! Jesus and Mary! God and His greatest “general”. “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). “There is none that can resist Thy majesty!” (Esther 13:11). “Thou art terrible and who shall resist Thee?” (Psalm 75:8). “Who shall resist the strength of Thy arm?” (Wisdom 11:22). “Whose wrath no man can resist!” (Job 9:13). “Who can stand before the face of His indignation? And who shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His indignation is poured out like fire and the rocks are melted by Him!” (Nahum 1:6). “No one can resist Thee!” (2 Paralipomenon 20:6). “None can resist His hand!” (Daniel 4:32). “No one can resist Thy voice!” (Judith 16:17). “There is none that can resist Thy will!” (Esther 13:9). “All that resist Him shall be confounded!” (Isaias 45:25). “They that resist, purchase to themselves damnation!” (Romans 13:2). “The Almighty Lord, Who with a wave of His hand can utterly destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day!” (Ephesians 6:13).
Holy Scripture elaborates on this, saying: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Satan Fears the Double-Barreled HeartGun
There is no doubt that Satan fears Jesus―after all, Jesus is God and Satan is a mere creature of His. Yet the other barrel of the double-barreled HeartGun is Mary―whom Satan fears and hates, in a sense, even more than Jesus. For Mary is not the all-powerful God, but a mere creature of God’s. Furthermore, strictly speaking, angels are superior to humans―and so Satan imagines himself to be superior to Mary. So it is more humiliating to Satan when he is defeated by Mary (who he sees as inferior to himself) than being by God (Whom Satan knows is superior to himself). St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes:
“God has never made and formed but one … It is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil—between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin, and the children and tools of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary. He has inspired her with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself. Not that the anger, the hatred and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin, for the perfections of Mary are limited; but first, because Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power; and secondly, because God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
St. Louis further explains: “God has not only set an enmity, but enmities, not simply between Mary and the devil, but between the race of the holy Virgin and the race of the devil; that is to say, God has set enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of Mary and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love for each other. They have no sympathy for each other.
“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God, who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body.
“They shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.
“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. We know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts.” (True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort).
God Does Not Need Your Weapons―You Need God’s Weapons!
It would be the height of folly and stupidity to think that God has any need of us―least of all our puny weapons! “Is there anything hard to God?” (Genesis 18:14). “No word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). “God is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand” (Ephesians 3:20). “With God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). “The Lord God, your leader, Himself will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 1:30).
Yet God will not fight in our manner, but according His own designs: “The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector! Come and behold the works of the Lord! What wonders He hath done upon Earth! Making wars to cease―even to the end of the Earth! He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire!” (Psalms 45:8-10). “No weapon that is formed against Thee shall prosper” (Isaias 54:17). Holy Scripture also speaks of those sinners that “went down to Hell with their weapons” (Ezechiel 32:27). “I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen! I will save them by the Lord their God!” (Osee 1:7). “The horse is prepared for the day of battle―but the Lord giveth safety!” (Proverbs 21:31). “Better is wisdom, than weapons of war!” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not make war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels [plans]!” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
The Spiritual Weapons for Our Age in Time
At first glance, there might be some confusion as to what weapons we are meant to be using in this current crisis besetting the Church and the world. Some say it is double-barreled devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart. Others will insist it is the double-barreled devotion to the Rosary and the Scapular. While some point to Our Lady of Akita’s reference to the Rosary and the “sign left by my Son”. Yet, upon some reflection, all of these can be reconciled under the umbrellas of Jesus and Mary. They are all a subsection of devotion to Jesus and Mary.
Under the banner of Jesus we have devotion to the Sacred Heart, devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, devotion to Holy Communion, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and devotion to the cross that we should all happily carry each day.
Under the banner of Mary we have devotion to the Immaculate Heart, devotion to the Sorrowful Heart, devotion to the Holy Rosary, devotion to the Brown Scapular, devotion to the other Sacramentals of Our Lady (the other scapulars and the Miraculous Medal) and the making and practice of the True Devotion to Mary as explained by St. Louis de Montfort.
If you like, analogically speaking, the double-barreled spiritual shotgun, that we have in our hands, consists of the “barrel” of Jesus and the “barrel” of Mary. All the other subsections of devotion to Jesus and Mary are like the “shotshell” that is fired by the shotgun. A shotgun (also known as a scattergun) shoots a straight-walled cartridge known as a “shotshell”, which usually contains and discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called “shot” that spread out as they leave the shotgun’s barrel.
In the next article, we shall examine the “spiritual shotshell” that Heaven has given us, as well a looking at the some of the miraculous results that “spiritual shotshell” has produced in the past.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday June 17th & Friday June 18th & Saturday June 19th
Article 10
A Weak Heart! A Powerful Cure!
Thursday June 17th & Friday June 18th & Saturday June 19th
Article 10
A Weak Heart! A Powerful Cure!
Weak Hearts Become Lost Hearts
There is no doubt that the Catholic world is weak of heart! They have no heart for the fight! The enemy―over the last few decades―has clearly shown its stripes. The enemy is so confident that it barely hides its intentions, agendas, plots and plans―as though laughingly and tauntingly waving them in the face of the Catholic world as if to say: “This is what we are going to do and you can do nothing to stop us!”
To make matters even worse, Catholics―or should it be said “True Catholics”―can no longer rely on their own fellow Catholics for support. Catholicism has long since been infiltrated―just as Our Lord describes in His parable of cockle being sown among the wheat. Already over a century ago, Masonry had managed to get the “thin-end-of-the-wedge” infiltrated into the Church.
In the 1950s, a former high ranking member the Communist Party in America, Dr. Bella Dodd, testified to the US House Un-American Activities Committee, about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the Roman Catholic seminaries to attain priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Furthermore, Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism―like an internal cancer―have gradually increased over the last two centuries to take over the minds and hearts of the vast majority of Catholics in the world today. There is so much Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism in the Church today―of varying degrees―that it feels like being hit by a tsunami, with water, water, water everywhere, seeping into everything and ruining everything. You feel isolated like a person who, to escape, has climbed to the top of mountain or hill, but, with the ever rising water level, that mountain or hill now looks like a tiny island surrounded by the waters of Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism. One can be seriously discouraged and even tempted to despair of any resolution or solution!
“X-Rated” Prophecies to the Faint-Hearted
Our Lord “pulls-no-punches” when speaking of the “Last Days” or “End Times”, Our Lord says in Holy Scripture: “When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet present. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake … And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves! Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved!” (Luke 21:9-26).
Yet despite all that, Our Lord encourages us (to “encourage” means to “give courage”), saying: “Fear ye not! For such things must needs be!”(Mark 13:7) … “Be not terrified!―These things must come to pass!” (Luke 21:10) … “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul! But rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5). “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer! Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you may be tried―and you shall have tribulation. Be thou faithful until death and I will give thee the crown of life!” (Apocalypse 2:10). The only real thing to fear is the commission of sin, the loss of God and eternal damnation. Which is why, to the above words of Christ, Holy Scripture adds: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady indicated that we were entered those “Last Days” or “End Times” ― for Sister Lucia of Fatima stated: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons: The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sister Lucia to Father Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Healthy Fear and Unhealthy Fear
God has placed in man the gift of fear―but there can be a healthy fear as well as an unhealthy fear. More often than not―due to our lack of Faith, or lack of Hope, or lack of Love of God―we fear the wrong things and fail to fear what we should fear. When we read the Gospels, we find that fear was not uncommon―even with Jesus and Mary, the Apostles and saints:
Our Lord was struck with fear prior to His Passion: “Jesus began to fear and to be heavy[hearted]” (Mark 14:33). Our Lady was troubled at the words of the Archangel Gabriel, which prompted him to say: “Fear not, Mary!” (Luke 1:30). St. Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife after discovering she was pregnant, which needed the apparition of an angel to tell him: “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife!” (Matthew 1:20). The Apostles were afraid at the sight of Jesus walking on water: “They [the Apostles] cried out for fear” (Matthew 14:26) … “They were struck with fear” (Mark 9:5). Saints Peter, James and John were struck with fear at the Transfiguration of Our Lord: “A trembling and fear had seized them and they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). St. Zachary, the father of St. John the Baptist was afraid when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him: “Zachary was troubled and fear fell upon him” (Luke 1:12). When Jesus rose from the dead and came out of His tomb, the guards were terrified: “For fear of Him the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:4). The holy women who came to the sepulcher after the death of Jesus were struck with fear: “The angel said to the women: ‘Fear not! For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified! He is not here, for He is risen!’ … And they went out quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, running to tell His disciples” (Matthew 285-8).
The Gospels and Epistles alone―never mind the Old Testament―are filled with references of fear in people: “And fear came upon all their neighbors” (Luke 1:65) … “They feared with a great fear” (Luke 2:9) … “There came fear upon all” (Luke 4:36) … “They were filled with fear” (Luke 5:26) … “They were taken with great fear” (Luke 8:37) … “Men withering away for fear” (Luke 21:26) … “They were in fear of the Jews” (John 7:13) ... “Fear came upon every soul and there was great fear in all” (Acts 2:43) … “There came great fear upon all” (Acts 5:5) … “There came great fear upon the whole church” (Acts 5:11) … “Seized with fear” (Acts 10:4) … “Fear fell on them all” (Acts 19:17) … “In weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3) … “Great fear fell upon them” (Apocalypse 11:11) … “Standing afar off for fear” (Apocalypse 18:10).
As already stated above, healthy fear is a filial (loving) fear of God, a fear of sin, a fear of losing God’s grace, a fear of missing out on eternal life in Heaven and a fear of eternal damnation in Hell. Those are the essential healthy fears that should animate every soul. Alas! This is not the case!
Losing Fear Leads to Losing Eternal Life
Today, for the most part, there is no fear of God: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). The Commandments of God are ignored and broken. The Natural Law that God has placed in the hearts of all men is broken, overturned, twisted and modified―which can clearly be seen in the practice of abortion, contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, euthanasia, and other immoral medical practices and experiments.
There is no fear of sin―as testified by Pope Pius XII and even the Liberal and Modernist popes that followed him. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil, because He is Love and Justice.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Today the Slogan is “No Fear”
Fear is passion that God has wisely placed in our human nature. Yet of all the armory that God has given us, fear is not king, but only a servant. All our passions are meant to be governed by our intellect (mind) and our will (heart)―just like children are meant to governed by their father and mother.
In one of His parables, Our Lord says: “There was a judge, in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man” (Luke 18:2). Today, most people, in every city, do not fear God have little respect for others! There is no time in history more qualified than our own days to which the following words of Scripture are applicable: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
How true those last words are ― “There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” ― people are afraid of losing their jobs, but not of losing their souls! They are more afraid of what other people think of them than what God thinks of them! They are more afraid of getting a speeding ticket than they are of getting a ticket to Hell! They are more afraid of losing their wallet than losing sanctifying grace! They are more fearful of damaging their car than damaging their soul! Yes―“there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!”
More and more people are living as if there is no God! Logically, if there is no God, then there should be no fear of God. So what happens when the fear of God is missing? Sin increases, because there is no fear of a non-existent God punishing you, and where there is no fear of God in the hearts of people, there is also no limit to the evil they will commit. “God looked down from heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good. They have not called upon God!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
Fear of God or Love of God?
The fear of God is not only misunderstood by those outside of the Church, but even some Catholics within the Church. The fear of God should not be a fear of being struck down by God when you sin, or of having the dread of Hell hanging over your head―although, if nothing else works, than that is extremely useful―but rather, the fear of God should be a deep, holy, reverential, loving respect and awe for God, for God’s Word, and for obeying God’s commands. Catholics should not be obeying God out of fear, but out of love. Fearing the punishments of God is called “servile fear” as when a servant fears being punished by his master. The love we should have is called “filial fear” as in the love a son or daughter has for their parents and seek to obey them out of love, not fear of punishment. Our Lord says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
Fearing and loving God means living in obedience to God. Holy Scripture tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7), and fearing God means hating sin: “The fear of the Lord hateth evil: I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13). If we learn anything about fear from Scripture, we learn that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and hating sin. Sadly, however, every nation on Earth has essentially turned its back on God―apart from some hypocritical facades of lip-service that “speak with forked tongue”! Of them it can be said: “They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom” (Deuteronomy 32:28).
Unfortunately, the world today does not fear God, does not hate evil, and barely fears being caught doing that evil! Sadly, that includes Catholics too! To a greater or lesser extent, their hearts are corrupted and their minds are corrupted. “The imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth!” (Genesis 8:21). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). Catholics―even if they do not love evil―increasingly tolerate evil; and if you continually tolerate evil without actively trying to overcome it (at least by constant prayer and sacrifice), then you eventually accept the evil and even start to partake in some of that evil.
Evil Erodes and Crumbles Weak Hearts
We know that certain conditions, such as narrowed arteries [too little time being given to God] in your heart, or high blood pressure [the pressure of world and its culture], gradually leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently. When the heart muscle is weak, your heart muscle doesn’t pump blood [prayers] as well as it should. Blood [prayer] cannot be pumped efficiently enough to get oxygen [grace] to all of the cells [parts and needs of your life]. Over time, the heart cannot keep up with its workload and becomes weaker and weaker―likewise, the Catholic does not keep up with his or her spiritual exercises and duties and becomes weaker and weaker.
The evil world―yes, it is evil, as Our Lord said: “The world hates Me because I give testimony that its works are evil” (John 7:7)―the evil world gradually, increasingly and relentlessly erodes what little resistance there is in the Catholic heart, firstly causing it to become “double-hearted” or “two-faced”, trying to serve God and the world―and finally resulting in an almost total conversion to the world while retaining a “lip-service” of God. “In the perverseness of their heart, they have gone after strange gods to serve them and to adore them … whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jeremias 13:10; 17:5). “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28).
Our Lord has condemned this on two counts: (1) “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6), and (2) “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). It is blatantly obvious that most Catholics have laid their treasures on Earth―which cannot be denied and is clearly proved by the amount of time, money and wholehearted effort they expend upon material things each day, in relation to meager, halfhearted, fraction of that time spent on spiritual things.
How Can You Strengthen Your Heart?
The first consoling factor is that God wants to cure your weak, brittle, underperforming and stony heart: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more!” (Deuteronomy 10:16). “I will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Yet God already gave you a heart of flesh once before and things went wrong! So the mere fact that God gives you a “new heart” does not guarantee that the same thing will not happen again. Once again, God teaches us through nature how to act supernaturally, the physical elements of life often teach us about the spiritual life. How does a physically weak heart become stronger? Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death worldwide, and it is mostly preventable by changing your lifestyle and managing risk factors. Doctors tell us the following:
(1) Look at the Food You Eat ― Cooking with nutrient-rich foods and avoiding junk foods is one of several easy ways to improve your heart health. Likewise, “eating” more of the Holy Eucharist (daily if possible) and avoiding the sinful junk of the world strengthens our spiritual heart.
(2) Get Moving! Exercise! ― Your heart is a muscle and, as with any muscle, exercise is what strengthens it. Likewise with spiritual exercise―if you don’t use it, you will lose it, meaning that you will lose your soul!
(3) Quit Smoking ― Stop breathing in the “smoke and mirrors” propaganda that the world deceptively blows into your face. The world is full of the “smoke-screen” of lies created by its prince, the devil. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything! … Now shall the prince of this world be cast out! …The prince of this world is already judged! … He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 14:30; 12:31; 16:11; 8:44).
(4) Lose Weight ― We carry too much worldly baggage with us! It weighs us down spiritually! It is like trying to walk around all with two shopping bags filled to brim with cans of food (cans of worldliness). We need to shed the weight of worldliness―if not, then as Heaven has prophesied, God will arrange for it to be forcibly taken away from us―either by others in this world, or directly through Divine Providence. “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing. And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31).
(5) Do Not Overeat ― Eating a lot of food at once leads to blood shifting from the heart to the digestive system, which then causes faster and irregular heart rhythms, which can lead to heart attack or heart failure. Likewise in the spiritual life―“overeating” or “binging” on the world shifts attention of thought away from God onto the world, which causes a faster and irregular prayer life, where prayers are only occasionally said and said hurriedly, so that we can get back to what really excites us―the world.
(6) Do Not Stress ― Stress is the ultimate major cause (or major accomplice) to all disease. Stress attacks and weakens the immune system, which is our primary defender against disease. There are more than 1,400 biochemical responses caused by stress, including a rise in blood pressure and a faster heart rate. Our Lord warns us against unnecessary worry and stress: “Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And as for clothing, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even King Solomon, in all his glory, was clothed as one of these! And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for tomorrow will be solicitous for itself! Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof!” (Matthew 6:26-34).
On that point of stress, God will, of course, deliberately place us under stress―just look at the age of the martyrs―just look at His own Son! Hey! Look at the stress of the fires of Purgatory! Our Lord even said to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep [be stressed out], but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful [be stressed], but your sorrow [stress] shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Yet that stress, with the help of God’s grace, produced marvelous results! You cannot avoid stress when you are a Christian―for Our Lord warned us of great stresses to come: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars … nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places … Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-21). Clearly not a time for the weak-hearted and faint-hearted. Yet stress―handled correctly―is the only road to Heaven: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [stress] daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “He that shall persevere [under that stress] to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13).
Heaven Isn’t for the Faint-Hearted or Weak-Hearted!
Too many people expect to waltz into Heaven, but only end up dancing with the devil. Heaven is not, cannot, must not and will not be cheap! Just think of what you are getting―a resurrection of your body from the dead (what would that cost medically if they could do it?), not only that, but the resurrected body will be in a state of total perfection and beauty (surgery for breast augmentation, lift or reduction costs $4,000/$4,700/$5,500; calf augmentation cost $3,700; an implant for sagging cheeks costs $3,000; a tummy tuck costs $6,000; a facelift costs $7,500; a lower body lift costs $8,000; a post-pregnancy “mommy-makeover” cost from $10,000 to $20,000, etc.); in Heaven there will be no more suffering of any kind―neither, mental, emotional, physical, external; there will be no tiredness, fatigue, lack of energy, etc.; the “weather” will be perfect; there are no “rent” or “mortgage” payments; there will be no threats and dangers; no enemies, no hatred, no suspicions, no accusations, no grudges, no fighting and feuding, no insults and mockeries―everyone will truly and sincerely love each other and totally get along with each other! The list is endless!
And you want all that FOR FREE, WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS EFFORT ON YOUR PART?!!! You must be insane! Try getting a fraction of that for free in this life!!! At $100,000 per night (and not eternity), the Empathy Suite, at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort, is considered the most expensive hotel room in the world. The penthouse suite at The Mark in New York costs $75,000 per night (which is a far cry from eternity). Costing $1.4 million new, the Ferrari LaFerrari, or the Pagani Huayra, or the Aston Martin One-77, are among the most affordable supercars. If you want to pay $1.6 million, then you have a Zenvo TSR-S. For those who don’t know what to do with their money, you can get a Koenigsegg One:1 or a Hennessey Venom F5, or a Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, or a McLaren Speedtail for $2 million to $2.2 million. There are eight cars in the $3 million range; 2 cars in the $5 million range; then a jump to $8 million and $9 million with one car in each category; the next level sees 2 cars in the $12 million range and finally the daddy of them all, the Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta costing you $17.5 million. Those are mere worldly toys! They cannot compare to Heaven! Yet we want Heaven for a hop-skip-and-a-jump. Madness!
Fighting the Triple Enemy to Conquer Heaven
After their Exodus from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were obliged to fight and conquer the Promised Land―God was not going to give it to them without an effort on their part―likewise with the “Promised Land” of Heaven, we have to fight and conquer it by fighting and conquering the enemies that stand between us and Heaven, namely the devil, the world and our own flesh. That is why Our Lord paints a picture of a battle scene, saying: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). And what is the will of the Father, that we fight the devil, the world and the flesh. Holy Scripture explains it thus:
THE DEVIL ― “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith― knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day!” (Ephesians 6:12-13).
THE WORLD ― “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world― therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
THE FLESH ― “They that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partying, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21).
As You Sow, So You Reap!
We should remember the words of Holy Scripture that tell us that we will only receive in proportion to the efforts we have made: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Yet true Catholics might be disheartened at seeing their fellow Catholics licking the boots of the world and liking its offerings and loving its seduction. Only 20% of Catholics still attend Sunday Mass regularly. Only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily. Worse still, a large number of those 20% of regular Sunday Mass attendees are very likely in a state of mortal sin because of having succumbed to some of the propaganda spewed out by the world. A large number of that 20% accept and condone at least one or more behaviors that are mortal sins: abortion, contraception, same-sex marriages, same-sex sexual relations, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage after divorce, drunkenness, drug use, pornography, immodest dress and behavior, adultery, etc.
The “Catholic Army” is truly decimated and discouraged and demoralized (in the sense of morals being corrupted). There are few Soldiers of Christ willing to fight―and many of few who are willing to fight, are themselves wounded by sin. Already in the best case scenario, the odds are attacked against us! How many fighters or true Soldiers of Christ do we have? Even if every Catholic was a true, good and zealous Catholic, the world would outnumber us by 6 to 1 ― with only 1.3 billion Catholics in a world population of around 7.9 billion. However, around 80% of those 1.3 billion Catholics do not regularly attend Sunday Mass, therefore placing themselves in a state of mortal sin. If you are in mortal sin, all your prayers (if you even pray at all) are worthless for any other cause except your own conversion―just like a seriously wounded soldier is useless for battle. This suddenly gives you 1.04 billion Catholic casualties and only 260 million Catholics fit for battle ― making the odds drop from being outnumbered by 6 to 1 to now being outnumbered by 30 to 1.
However, that presumes that every single Catholic who regularly attends Mass on Sunday is in a state of grace! It is not only missing Sunday Mass that puts you into mortal sin―there are hundreds of variants of sins that also lose the grace of God. Let’s face it―the lines for confession are not at all long! You might have a parish of thousands and only a handful are seen going to confession! Are they all saints? Far from it! They have merely lost the sense of sin―as one pope after another has repeatedly stressed―and so they live in mortal sin without paying much if any attention to it, while attending Mass and going to (sacrilegious) Communion. How many of those 20% regular Mass goers are in this state? Your guess is as good as anybody’s―but St. Alphonsus Liguori―a Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confess badly in Confession, mainly due to shame and human respect, which leads to ‘fudging’ or being vague about mortal sins, which automatically nullifies the validity of their confession and therefore they habitually live in a state of mortal sin. So that overly optimistic hope of 20% of Catholics being in a state of grace is more likely to be anywhere between 5% and 10% in a state of grace. 5% would be only 65 million Catholics in a world population of 7.9 billion (7,900 million)―which means being outnumbered by 121 to 1. If it is 10% then we would outnumbered by 60 to 1. In either case―the odds going into battle against the world are not very good.
God Loves Fighting Against the Odds!
What we might think to be impossible odds to overcome―it is not so with God! He tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
We see this disregard by God for the odds in the case of Gedeon. Gedeon―the fifth of the Judges who were the leaders of Israel at the time―found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites: with 135,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—who were outnumbered by more than 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors. However, without God we can do nothing, and it might be that, after the victory that the Lord would give them, the soldiers might think it had been by their own strength and ability that they had won the victory.
So, the Lord commanded Gedeon, not to recruit soldiers, but to further reduce the number under his command: “lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength” (Judges 7:2). Any who were “afraid and trembling” were told they could go home. Some 22,000 departed, leaving only 10,000 to fight the 135,000 Madianites. So, they went from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1.
No doubt Gedeon was surprised to hear what the Lord said next: “The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them” (Judges 7:4). At the site to which the Lord had directed Gideon’s army there was drinkable water. The army stopped to drink and 9,700 knelt down on their knees, so they might drink directly from the stream. The other 300 cupped their hands and took water into them, drinking it from their hands as a dog would lap water from his bowl. “By the 300 hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place” (Judges 7:7). And so it was!
God likes to do with the minimum. He likes to have everything stacked against Him and His Chosen Ones. He delights in bringing off the seemingly impossible. With “Gedeon’s Three Hundred”, God kept increasing the odds against them―from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000); to more than 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000); and finally to a ridiculous and seemingly impossible situation of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God wanted the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God Himself could claim the eventual victory against those impossible odds.
“The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and He delivered them into the hand of Madianites for seven years. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist. And when Israel had sown [their crops], Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up and pitching their tents among them, wasted all things and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of the Madianites. And they cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites … And an angel of the Lord came and appeared to Gedeon, and said: ‘The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men ... Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian! Know that I have sent thee!’” (Judges 6:1-14).
“Then Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
The result was that the 300 soldiers under Gedeon―by the grace and help of God―slew 120,000 Madianites and only 15,000 remained, therefore indicating that the Madianite army totaled 135,000 men: “For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were slain” (Judges 8:10).
Similarly, God only chose 12 Apostles and 72 disciples and commanded them to go into the world and “teach ye all nations baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19): “And when day was come, He called unto Him His disciples; and He chose twelve of them―whom also He named Apostles” (Luke 6:13). “He called unto Him whom He would Himself and they came to Him. And He made that Twelve should be with Him” (Mark 3:13-14). “Having called His Twelve disciples [the Apostles]…” (Matthew 10:1), “the Lord appointed another seventy-two [disciples], and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-2), “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22). Scholars and scientists and mathematicians estimate the world’s population at the time of Christ was, to round off the number, around 300 million―so his 84 followers (12 Apostles plus 72 disciples) would be outnumbered by around 3.5 million to 1. Even if you take the number of disciples at the time of Pentecost, at the descent of the Holy Ghost, “the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:15)―which would mean being outnumbered by the world at a ratio of 2.3 million to 1. God rarely makes things easy! So there is no need to lose heart when the odds are stacked against you!
What Chance Have We Got?
Humanly speaking―we have no chance at all! Left to our own initiative and resources, we would be slaughtered. We cannot match the numbers nor technological weaponry of our adversaries. Yet we must remember the words of Jesus: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― and find ourselves in this mess because we have, for the mostpart, chosen to “go it alone”, full of bravado, “talking the talk” while uncertain of being able to “walk the walk”. We blow a lot of “hot-air” but have very little spiritual muscle―and you had better believe it that it is going to be spiritual victory in the end, and not a material, physical, man-power victory. It is going to be the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and not some human triumph.
As Our Lady herself said: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay … A general war will follow which will be appalling … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Grim, huh? Yet Our Lord had already said in the Gospels: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars … nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places … Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. Many shall betray one another, and shall hate one another!” (Matthew 24:6-21). However, in speaking of the “End Times” or “Last Days” (which Our Lady of Fatima revealed we have now entered), Our Lord adds: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet!” (Matthew 24:6) … “When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7) … “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9). Suffer we will, suffer we must―the cross we have to carry is not a fur-lined cross, but a real cross. Yet as Scripture says: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18).
The Soul Solution
The solutions to the terrible state of the world today are to be found in the soul. It is said that all disease ultimately stems from the soul―even the ultimate disease: death. As Scripture says: ““By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death!” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). Furthermore, after Our Lord had cured the sick man by the Pool of Bethsaida, he implied that his sickness was due to his sins―and warned him: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14). Our Lady of La Salette also stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lady of Fatima added: “If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” While Our Lady of Akita said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
If the sinful soul is the “cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette), then a virtuous soul can be the solution to the “all the troubles on this Earth!” We already see this in the Old Testament, where God was prepared to spare Sodom and Gomorrha if only ten just men could be found―unfortunately for them, there were not even ten just men! We all know the result! God was prepared to destroy all the Israelites in the desert in one swell swoop―but one just man, Moses, interceded for them and God spared them. At Akita, Japan, Our Lady has also indicated the need for some virtuous souls to placate the wrath of God today: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together!”
We see the children of Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―called to this role of praying and suffering for sinners. Our Lady asked them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Thy mercy!’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
If a 10-year old, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old are capable of this―then why not you? Being outnumbered might be frightening to us―but it a “walk-in-the-park” for God! Additionally, as Our Lady told the Fatima children: “Do not lose heart! I will never forsake you! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God!”
There is no doubt that the Catholic world is weak of heart! They have no heart for the fight! The enemy―over the last few decades―has clearly shown its stripes. The enemy is so confident that it barely hides its intentions, agendas, plots and plans―as though laughingly and tauntingly waving them in the face of the Catholic world as if to say: “This is what we are going to do and you can do nothing to stop us!”
To make matters even worse, Catholics―or should it be said “True Catholics”―can no longer rely on their own fellow Catholics for support. Catholicism has long since been infiltrated―just as Our Lord describes in His parable of cockle being sown among the wheat. Already over a century ago, Masonry had managed to get the “thin-end-of-the-wedge” infiltrated into the Church.
In the 1950s, a former high ranking member the Communist Party in America, Dr. Bella Dodd, testified to the US House Un-American Activities Committee, about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations ... In the 1930s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the Roman Catholic seminaries to attain priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Furthermore, Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism―like an internal cancer―have gradually increased over the last two centuries to take over the minds and hearts of the vast majority of Catholics in the world today. There is so much Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism in the Church today―of varying degrees―that it feels like being hit by a tsunami, with water, water, water everywhere, seeping into everything and ruining everything. You feel isolated like a person who, to escape, has climbed to the top of mountain or hill, but, with the ever rising water level, that mountain or hill now looks like a tiny island surrounded by the waters of Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism. One can be seriously discouraged and even tempted to despair of any resolution or solution!
“X-Rated” Prophecies to the Faint-Hearted
Our Lord “pulls-no-punches” when speaking of the “Last Days” or “End Times”, Our Lord says in Holy Scripture: “When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet present. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake … And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves! Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved!” (Luke 21:9-26).
Yet despite all that, Our Lord encourages us (to “encourage” means to “give courage”), saying: “Fear ye not! For such things must needs be!”(Mark 13:7) … “Be not terrified!―These things must come to pass!” (Luke 21:10) … “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul! But rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5). “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer! Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you may be tried―and you shall have tribulation. Be thou faithful until death and I will give thee the crown of life!” (Apocalypse 2:10). The only real thing to fear is the commission of sin, the loss of God and eternal damnation. Which is why, to the above words of Christ, Holy Scripture adds: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady indicated that we were entered those “Last Days” or “End Times” ― for Sister Lucia of Fatima stated: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons: The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sister Lucia to Father Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Healthy Fear and Unhealthy Fear
God has placed in man the gift of fear―but there can be a healthy fear as well as an unhealthy fear. More often than not―due to our lack of Faith, or lack of Hope, or lack of Love of God―we fear the wrong things and fail to fear what we should fear. When we read the Gospels, we find that fear was not uncommon―even with Jesus and Mary, the Apostles and saints:
Our Lord was struck with fear prior to His Passion: “Jesus began to fear and to be heavy[hearted]” (Mark 14:33). Our Lady was troubled at the words of the Archangel Gabriel, which prompted him to say: “Fear not, Mary!” (Luke 1:30). St. Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife after discovering she was pregnant, which needed the apparition of an angel to tell him: “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife!” (Matthew 1:20). The Apostles were afraid at the sight of Jesus walking on water: “They [the Apostles] cried out for fear” (Matthew 14:26) … “They were struck with fear” (Mark 9:5). Saints Peter, James and John were struck with fear at the Transfiguration of Our Lord: “A trembling and fear had seized them and they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). St. Zachary, the father of St. John the Baptist was afraid when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him: “Zachary was troubled and fear fell upon him” (Luke 1:12). When Jesus rose from the dead and came out of His tomb, the guards were terrified: “For fear of Him the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:4). The holy women who came to the sepulcher after the death of Jesus were struck with fear: “The angel said to the women: ‘Fear not! For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified! He is not here, for He is risen!’ … And they went out quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, running to tell His disciples” (Matthew 285-8).
The Gospels and Epistles alone―never mind the Old Testament―are filled with references of fear in people: “And fear came upon all their neighbors” (Luke 1:65) … “They feared with a great fear” (Luke 2:9) … “There came fear upon all” (Luke 4:36) … “They were filled with fear” (Luke 5:26) … “They were taken with great fear” (Luke 8:37) … “Men withering away for fear” (Luke 21:26) … “They were in fear of the Jews” (John 7:13) ... “Fear came upon every soul and there was great fear in all” (Acts 2:43) … “There came great fear upon all” (Acts 5:5) … “There came great fear upon the whole church” (Acts 5:11) … “Seized with fear” (Acts 10:4) … “Fear fell on them all” (Acts 19:17) … “In weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3) … “Great fear fell upon them” (Apocalypse 11:11) … “Standing afar off for fear” (Apocalypse 18:10).
As already stated above, healthy fear is a filial (loving) fear of God, a fear of sin, a fear of losing God’s grace, a fear of missing out on eternal life in Heaven and a fear of eternal damnation in Hell. Those are the essential healthy fears that should animate every soul. Alas! This is not the case!
Losing Fear Leads to Losing Eternal Life
Today, for the most part, there is no fear of God: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). The Commandments of God are ignored and broken. The Natural Law that God has placed in the hearts of all men is broken, overturned, twisted and modified―which can clearly be seen in the practice of abortion, contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, euthanasia, and other immoral medical practices and experiments.
There is no fear of sin―as testified by Pope Pius XII and even the Liberal and Modernist popes that followed him. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil, because He is Love and Justice.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Today the Slogan is “No Fear”
Fear is passion that God has wisely placed in our human nature. Yet of all the armory that God has given us, fear is not king, but only a servant. All our passions are meant to be governed by our intellect (mind) and our will (heart)―just like children are meant to governed by their father and mother.
In one of His parables, Our Lord says: “There was a judge, in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man” (Luke 18:2). Today, most people, in every city, do not fear God have little respect for others! There is no time in history more qualified than our own days to which the following words of Scripture are applicable: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
How true those last words are ― “There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” ― people are afraid of losing their jobs, but not of losing their souls! They are more afraid of what other people think of them than what God thinks of them! They are more afraid of getting a speeding ticket than they are of getting a ticket to Hell! They are more afraid of losing their wallet than losing sanctifying grace! They are more fearful of damaging their car than damaging their soul! Yes―“there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!”
More and more people are living as if there is no God! Logically, if there is no God, then there should be no fear of God. So what happens when the fear of God is missing? Sin increases, because there is no fear of a non-existent God punishing you, and where there is no fear of God in the hearts of people, there is also no limit to the evil they will commit. “God looked down from heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good. They have not called upon God!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
Fear of God or Love of God?
The fear of God is not only misunderstood by those outside of the Church, but even some Catholics within the Church. The fear of God should not be a fear of being struck down by God when you sin, or of having the dread of Hell hanging over your head―although, if nothing else works, than that is extremely useful―but rather, the fear of God should be a deep, holy, reverential, loving respect and awe for God, for God’s Word, and for obeying God’s commands. Catholics should not be obeying God out of fear, but out of love. Fearing the punishments of God is called “servile fear” as when a servant fears being punished by his master. The love we should have is called “filial fear” as in the love a son or daughter has for their parents and seek to obey them out of love, not fear of punishment. Our Lord says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
Fearing and loving God means living in obedience to God. Holy Scripture tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7), and fearing God means hating sin: “The fear of the Lord hateth evil: I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13). If we learn anything about fear from Scripture, we learn that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and hating sin. Sadly, however, every nation on Earth has essentially turned its back on God―apart from some hypocritical facades of lip-service that “speak with forked tongue”! Of them it can be said: “They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom” (Deuteronomy 32:28).
Unfortunately, the world today does not fear God, does not hate evil, and barely fears being caught doing that evil! Sadly, that includes Catholics too! To a greater or lesser extent, their hearts are corrupted and their minds are corrupted. “The imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth!” (Genesis 8:21). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). Catholics―even if they do not love evil―increasingly tolerate evil; and if you continually tolerate evil without actively trying to overcome it (at least by constant prayer and sacrifice), then you eventually accept the evil and even start to partake in some of that evil.
Evil Erodes and Crumbles Weak Hearts
We know that certain conditions, such as narrowed arteries [too little time being given to God] in your heart, or high blood pressure [the pressure of world and its culture], gradually leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently. When the heart muscle is weak, your heart muscle doesn’t pump blood [prayers] as well as it should. Blood [prayer] cannot be pumped efficiently enough to get oxygen [grace] to all of the cells [parts and needs of your life]. Over time, the heart cannot keep up with its workload and becomes weaker and weaker―likewise, the Catholic does not keep up with his or her spiritual exercises and duties and becomes weaker and weaker.
The evil world―yes, it is evil, as Our Lord said: “The world hates Me because I give testimony that its works are evil” (John 7:7)―the evil world gradually, increasingly and relentlessly erodes what little resistance there is in the Catholic heart, firstly causing it to become “double-hearted” or “two-faced”, trying to serve God and the world―and finally resulting in an almost total conversion to the world while retaining a “lip-service” of God. “In the perverseness of their heart, they have gone after strange gods to serve them and to adore them … whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jeremias 13:10; 17:5). “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28).
Our Lord has condemned this on two counts: (1) “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6), and (2) “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). It is blatantly obvious that most Catholics have laid their treasures on Earth―which cannot be denied and is clearly proved by the amount of time, money and wholehearted effort they expend upon material things each day, in relation to meager, halfhearted, fraction of that time spent on spiritual things.
How Can You Strengthen Your Heart?
The first consoling factor is that God wants to cure your weak, brittle, underperforming and stony heart: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more!” (Deuteronomy 10:16). “I will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Yet God already gave you a heart of flesh once before and things went wrong! So the mere fact that God gives you a “new heart” does not guarantee that the same thing will not happen again. Once again, God teaches us through nature how to act supernaturally, the physical elements of life often teach us about the spiritual life. How does a physically weak heart become stronger? Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death worldwide, and it is mostly preventable by changing your lifestyle and managing risk factors. Doctors tell us the following:
(1) Look at the Food You Eat ― Cooking with nutrient-rich foods and avoiding junk foods is one of several easy ways to improve your heart health. Likewise, “eating” more of the Holy Eucharist (daily if possible) and avoiding the sinful junk of the world strengthens our spiritual heart.
(2) Get Moving! Exercise! ― Your heart is a muscle and, as with any muscle, exercise is what strengthens it. Likewise with spiritual exercise―if you don’t use it, you will lose it, meaning that you will lose your soul!
(3) Quit Smoking ― Stop breathing in the “smoke and mirrors” propaganda that the world deceptively blows into your face. The world is full of the “smoke-screen” of lies created by its prince, the devil. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything! … Now shall the prince of this world be cast out! …The prince of this world is already judged! … He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 14:30; 12:31; 16:11; 8:44).
(4) Lose Weight ― We carry too much worldly baggage with us! It weighs us down spiritually! It is like trying to walk around all with two shopping bags filled to brim with cans of food (cans of worldliness). We need to shed the weight of worldliness―if not, then as Heaven has prophesied, God will arrange for it to be forcibly taken away from us―either by others in this world, or directly through Divine Providence. “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing. And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31).
(5) Do Not Overeat ― Eating a lot of food at once leads to blood shifting from the heart to the digestive system, which then causes faster and irregular heart rhythms, which can lead to heart attack or heart failure. Likewise in the spiritual life―“overeating” or “binging” on the world shifts attention of thought away from God onto the world, which causes a faster and irregular prayer life, where prayers are only occasionally said and said hurriedly, so that we can get back to what really excites us―the world.
(6) Do Not Stress ― Stress is the ultimate major cause (or major accomplice) to all disease. Stress attacks and weakens the immune system, which is our primary defender against disease. There are more than 1,400 biochemical responses caused by stress, including a rise in blood pressure and a faster heart rate. Our Lord warns us against unnecessary worry and stress: “Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns―and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And as for clothing, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even King Solomon, in all his glory, was clothed as one of these! And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for tomorrow will be solicitous for itself! Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof!” (Matthew 6:26-34).
On that point of stress, God will, of course, deliberately place us under stress―just look at the age of the martyrs―just look at His own Son! Hey! Look at the stress of the fires of Purgatory! Our Lord even said to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep [be stressed out], but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful [be stressed], but your sorrow [stress] shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Yet that stress, with the help of God’s grace, produced marvelous results! You cannot avoid stress when you are a Christian―for Our Lord warned us of great stresses to come: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars … nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places … Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-21). Clearly not a time for the weak-hearted and faint-hearted. Yet stress―handled correctly―is the only road to Heaven: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [stress] daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “He that shall persevere [under that stress] to the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 24:13).
Heaven Isn’t for the Faint-Hearted or Weak-Hearted!
Too many people expect to waltz into Heaven, but only end up dancing with the devil. Heaven is not, cannot, must not and will not be cheap! Just think of what you are getting―a resurrection of your body from the dead (what would that cost medically if they could do it?), not only that, but the resurrected body will be in a state of total perfection and beauty (surgery for breast augmentation, lift or reduction costs $4,000/$4,700/$5,500; calf augmentation cost $3,700; an implant for sagging cheeks costs $3,000; a tummy tuck costs $6,000; a facelift costs $7,500; a lower body lift costs $8,000; a post-pregnancy “mommy-makeover” cost from $10,000 to $20,000, etc.); in Heaven there will be no more suffering of any kind―neither, mental, emotional, physical, external; there will be no tiredness, fatigue, lack of energy, etc.; the “weather” will be perfect; there are no “rent” or “mortgage” payments; there will be no threats and dangers; no enemies, no hatred, no suspicions, no accusations, no grudges, no fighting and feuding, no insults and mockeries―everyone will truly and sincerely love each other and totally get along with each other! The list is endless!
And you want all that FOR FREE, WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS EFFORT ON YOUR PART?!!! You must be insane! Try getting a fraction of that for free in this life!!! At $100,000 per night (and not eternity), the Empathy Suite, at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort, is considered the most expensive hotel room in the world. The penthouse suite at The Mark in New York costs $75,000 per night (which is a far cry from eternity). Costing $1.4 million new, the Ferrari LaFerrari, or the Pagani Huayra, or the Aston Martin One-77, are among the most affordable supercars. If you want to pay $1.6 million, then you have a Zenvo TSR-S. For those who don’t know what to do with their money, you can get a Koenigsegg One:1 or a Hennessey Venom F5, or a Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, or a McLaren Speedtail for $2 million to $2.2 million. There are eight cars in the $3 million range; 2 cars in the $5 million range; then a jump to $8 million and $9 million with one car in each category; the next level sees 2 cars in the $12 million range and finally the daddy of them all, the Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta costing you $17.5 million. Those are mere worldly toys! They cannot compare to Heaven! Yet we want Heaven for a hop-skip-and-a-jump. Madness!
Fighting the Triple Enemy to Conquer Heaven
After their Exodus from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were obliged to fight and conquer the Promised Land―God was not going to give it to them without an effort on their part―likewise with the “Promised Land” of Heaven, we have to fight and conquer it by fighting and conquering the enemies that stand between us and Heaven, namely the devil, the world and our own flesh. That is why Our Lord paints a picture of a battle scene, saying: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). And what is the will of the Father, that we fight the devil, the world and the flesh. Holy Scripture explains it thus:
THE DEVIL ― “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith― knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day!” (Ephesians 6:12-13).
THE WORLD ― “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world― therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4).
THE FLESH ― “They that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, partying, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21).
As You Sow, So You Reap!
We should remember the words of Holy Scripture that tell us that we will only receive in proportion to the efforts we have made: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Yet true Catholics might be disheartened at seeing their fellow Catholics licking the boots of the world and liking its offerings and loving its seduction. Only 20% of Catholics still attend Sunday Mass regularly. Only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily. Worse still, a large number of those 20% of regular Sunday Mass attendees are very likely in a state of mortal sin because of having succumbed to some of the propaganda spewed out by the world. A large number of that 20% accept and condone at least one or more behaviors that are mortal sins: abortion, contraception, same-sex marriages, same-sex sexual relations, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage after divorce, drunkenness, drug use, pornography, immodest dress and behavior, adultery, etc.
The “Catholic Army” is truly decimated and discouraged and demoralized (in the sense of morals being corrupted). There are few Soldiers of Christ willing to fight―and many of few who are willing to fight, are themselves wounded by sin. Already in the best case scenario, the odds are attacked against us! How many fighters or true Soldiers of Christ do we have? Even if every Catholic was a true, good and zealous Catholic, the world would outnumber us by 6 to 1 ― with only 1.3 billion Catholics in a world population of around 7.9 billion. However, around 80% of those 1.3 billion Catholics do not regularly attend Sunday Mass, therefore placing themselves in a state of mortal sin. If you are in mortal sin, all your prayers (if you even pray at all) are worthless for any other cause except your own conversion―just like a seriously wounded soldier is useless for battle. This suddenly gives you 1.04 billion Catholic casualties and only 260 million Catholics fit for battle ― making the odds drop from being outnumbered by 6 to 1 to now being outnumbered by 30 to 1.
However, that presumes that every single Catholic who regularly attends Mass on Sunday is in a state of grace! It is not only missing Sunday Mass that puts you into mortal sin―there are hundreds of variants of sins that also lose the grace of God. Let’s face it―the lines for confession are not at all long! You might have a parish of thousands and only a handful are seen going to confession! Are they all saints? Far from it! They have merely lost the sense of sin―as one pope after another has repeatedly stressed―and so they live in mortal sin without paying much if any attention to it, while attending Mass and going to (sacrilegious) Communion. How many of those 20% regular Mass goers are in this state? Your guess is as good as anybody’s―but St. Alphonsus Liguori―a Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of moral theologians―was of the opinion that most Catholics confess badly in Confession, mainly due to shame and human respect, which leads to ‘fudging’ or being vague about mortal sins, which automatically nullifies the validity of their confession and therefore they habitually live in a state of mortal sin. So that overly optimistic hope of 20% of Catholics being in a state of grace is more likely to be anywhere between 5% and 10% in a state of grace. 5% would be only 65 million Catholics in a world population of 7.9 billion (7,900 million)―which means being outnumbered by 121 to 1. If it is 10% then we would outnumbered by 60 to 1. In either case―the odds going into battle against the world are not very good.
God Loves Fighting Against the Odds!
What we might think to be impossible odds to overcome―it is not so with God! He tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
We see this disregard by God for the odds in the case of Gedeon. Gedeon―the fifth of the Judges who were the leaders of Israel at the time―found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites: with 135,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—who were outnumbered by more than 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors. However, without God we can do nothing, and it might be that, after the victory that the Lord would give them, the soldiers might think it had been by their own strength and ability that they had won the victory.
So, the Lord commanded Gedeon, not to recruit soldiers, but to further reduce the number under his command: “lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength” (Judges 7:2). Any who were “afraid and trembling” were told they could go home. Some 22,000 departed, leaving only 10,000 to fight the 135,000 Madianites. So, they went from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1.
No doubt Gedeon was surprised to hear what the Lord said next: “The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them” (Judges 7:4). At the site to which the Lord had directed Gideon’s army there was drinkable water. The army stopped to drink and 9,700 knelt down on their knees, so they might drink directly from the stream. The other 300 cupped their hands and took water into them, drinking it from their hands as a dog would lap water from his bowl. “By the 300 hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place” (Judges 7:7). And so it was!
God likes to do with the minimum. He likes to have everything stacked against Him and His Chosen Ones. He delights in bringing off the seemingly impossible. With “Gedeon’s Three Hundred”, God kept increasing the odds against them―from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000); to more than 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000); and finally to a ridiculous and seemingly impossible situation of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God wanted the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God Himself could claim the eventual victory against those impossible odds.
“The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and He delivered them into the hand of Madianites for seven years. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist. And when Israel had sown [their crops], Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up and pitching their tents among them, wasted all things and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of the Madianites. And they cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites … And an angel of the Lord came and appeared to Gedeon, and said: ‘The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men ... Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian! Know that I have sent thee!’” (Judges 6:1-14).
“Then Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
The result was that the 300 soldiers under Gedeon―by the grace and help of God―slew 120,000 Madianites and only 15,000 remained, therefore indicating that the Madianite army totaled 135,000 men: “For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were slain” (Judges 8:10).
Similarly, God only chose 12 Apostles and 72 disciples and commanded them to go into the world and “teach ye all nations baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19): “And when day was come, He called unto Him His disciples; and He chose twelve of them―whom also He named Apostles” (Luke 6:13). “He called unto Him whom He would Himself and they came to Him. And He made that Twelve should be with Him” (Mark 3:13-14). “Having called His Twelve disciples [the Apostles]…” (Matthew 10:1), “the Lord appointed another seventy-two [disciples], and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-2), “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22). Scholars and scientists and mathematicians estimate the world’s population at the time of Christ was, to round off the number, around 300 million―so his 84 followers (12 Apostles plus 72 disciples) would be outnumbered by around 3.5 million to 1. Even if you take the number of disciples at the time of Pentecost, at the descent of the Holy Ghost, “the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:15)―which would mean being outnumbered by the world at a ratio of 2.3 million to 1. God rarely makes things easy! So there is no need to lose heart when the odds are stacked against you!
What Chance Have We Got?
Humanly speaking―we have no chance at all! Left to our own initiative and resources, we would be slaughtered. We cannot match the numbers nor technological weaponry of our adversaries. Yet we must remember the words of Jesus: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― and find ourselves in this mess because we have, for the mostpart, chosen to “go it alone”, full of bravado, “talking the talk” while uncertain of being able to “walk the walk”. We blow a lot of “hot-air” but have very little spiritual muscle―and you had better believe it that it is going to be spiritual victory in the end, and not a material, physical, man-power victory. It is going to be the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and not some human triumph.
As Our Lady herself said: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay … A general war will follow which will be appalling … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Grim, huh? Yet Our Lord had already said in the Gospels: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars … nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places … Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. Many shall betray one another, and shall hate one another!” (Matthew 24:6-21). However, in speaking of the “End Times” or “Last Days” (which Our Lady of Fatima revealed we have now entered), Our Lord adds: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet!” (Matthew 24:6) … “When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7) … “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified―these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet presently!” (Luke 21:9). Suffer we will, suffer we must―the cross we have to carry is not a fur-lined cross, but a real cross. Yet as Scripture says: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18).
The Soul Solution
The solutions to the terrible state of the world today are to be found in the soul. It is said that all disease ultimately stems from the soul―even the ultimate disease: death. As Scripture says: ““By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death!” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). Furthermore, after Our Lord had cured the sick man by the Pool of Bethsaida, he implied that his sickness was due to his sins―and warned him: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14). Our Lady of La Salette also stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Our Lady of Fatima added: “If people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out!” While Our Lady of Akita said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
If the sinful soul is the “cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette), then a virtuous soul can be the solution to the “all the troubles on this Earth!” We already see this in the Old Testament, where God was prepared to spare Sodom and Gomorrha if only ten just men could be found―unfortunately for them, there were not even ten just men! We all know the result! God was prepared to destroy all the Israelites in the desert in one swell swoop―but one just man, Moses, interceded for them and God spared them. At Akita, Japan, Our Lady has also indicated the need for some virtuous souls to placate the wrath of God today: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together!”
We see the children of Fatima―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―called to this role of praying and suffering for sinners. Our Lady asked them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Thy mercy!’ … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
If a 10-year old, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old are capable of this―then why not you? Being outnumbered might be frightening to us―but it a “walk-in-the-park” for God! Additionally, as Our Lady told the Fatima children: “Do not lose heart! I will never forsake you! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday June 15th & Wednesday June 16th
Article 9
A World of Broken Hearts!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday June 15th & Wednesday June 16th
Article 9
A World of Broken Hearts!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What is a Broken Heart?
As is the case with so many things, they apply to both the spiritual and physical domain, producing many instructive analogies. Why does Our Lord choose the “heart” as a symbol of Himself. Why does God use the word “heart” so often in the Bible? Why do we speak of the “Sacred Heart”, the “Immaculate Heart”, the “Sorrowful Heart”, etc. Read-on and you will get to the “heart of the matter” and see. Just as Our Lord used so many things of this world to teach about spiritual truths, so too you can take scientific information about the heart and learn a lot spiritually from that information.
We usually associate a broken hearts to broken relationships. The definitions and synonyms for a “broken heart” are as follows:
● when a person is emotionally sad or grief-stricken, then it’s broken hearted
● it is primarily used to specify the loss of a loved one
● it refers to a romantic loss or breaks up
● often when a romantic relationship is ended, we use the phrase “broken heart”
● it is an idiom which is used to express the sadness when someone beloved leaves you
● inconsolable
● forlorn
● without hope
● despairing
● dejected
The Science Behind a Broken Heart
Ever wondered if emotional heartbreak can actually, physically break your heart? Cardiomyopathy is the medical name for a syndrome that can be caused by heartbreak, or more accurately, the stress of a heartbreaking situation. It can strike even if you are perfectly healthy.
Broken heart syndrome is a temporary heart condition that is often brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions. The condition can also be triggered by a serious physical illness or surgery. It may also be called stress cardiomyopathy.
People with broken heart syndrome may have sudden chest pain, or think they are having a heart attack. Broken heart syndrome affects just one part of the heart, temporarily disrupting your heart’s normal pumping function. The rest of the heart continues to function normally, or may even have more forceful contractions.
Acute emotional stress, positive or negative, can cause the left ventricle of the heart to be ‘stunned’ or paralyzed, causing heart attack-like symptoms including strong chest, arm or shoulder pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, loss of consciousness, nausea and vomiting.
Causes
The exact cause of broken heart syndrome is unclear. It’s thought that a surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, might temporarily damage the hearts of some people. How these hormones might hurt the heart or whether something else is responsible isn’t completely clear.
A temporary constriction of the large or small arteries of the heart has been suspected to play a role. People who have broken heart syndrome may also have a difference in the structure of the heart muscle.
Broken heart syndrome is often preceded by an intense physical or emotional event. Some potential triggers of broken heart syndrome are:
● The death of a loved one
● A frightening medical diagnosis
● Domestic abuse
● Losing — or even winning — a lot of money
● Strong arguments
● Unexpected serious news
● Public speaking
● Job loss or financial difficulty
● Divorce
● Physical stressors, such as a sudden serious injury, a broken bone, a serious wound, or major surgery, an asthma attack, a life-threatening situation.
Heartbreak is an unfortunately common part of the human experience, and it really, really pains. Most people have been there, and it’s safe to say everyone wants to avoid experiencing heartbreak ever again.
We feel heart broken when we lose someone or something we loved or wanted very much, like a romantic relationship or a friendship, a family member, a pet, or a job or opportunity that was very important to us.
Heartbreak can cause a large amount of stress, especially if the loss is a sudden one. This stress can affect how we feel emotionally and physically, and may take weeks, months or even years to recover from.
While there is still a lot to uncover concerning the reasons why we experience love heartbreak and the effect these have on our bodies, nevertheless, scientific study has provided us with some clues about why heartbreak makes a person feel so lousy.
Symptoms of a Broken Heart
Broken heart syndrome symptoms can mimic a heart attack. In rare cases, broken heart syndrome is fatal. However, most people who experience broken heart syndrome quickly recover and don’t have long-lasting effects. Common symptoms include:
● Chest pain
● Shortness of breath
● long-lasting or persistent chest pain could be a sign of a heart attack, so it’s important to take it seriously and call 911 if you experience chest pain.
Other complications of broken heart syndrome include:
● Backup of fluid into your lungs (pulmonary edema)
● Low blood pressure (hypotension)
● Disruptions in your heartbeat
● Heart failure
How is broken heart syndrome different from a heart attack?
Heart attacks are generally caused by a complete or near complete blockage of a heart artery. This blockage is due to a blood clot forming at the site of narrowing from fatty buildup (atherosclerosis) in the wall of the artery. In broken heart syndrome, the heart arteries are not blocked, although blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced.
Why does it hurt so much?
Studies show that your brain registers the emotional pain of heartbreak in the same way as physical pain, which is why you might feel like your heartbreak is causing actual physical hurt. The language we use to describe heartbreak – “I feel like my heart’s been ripped out”, “it was gut wrenching”, “like a slap in the face” ― all hint at the way we associate physical pain with emotional pain.
Heartbreak hormones
Hormones aren’t just for the sexual domain ― our bodies produce a long list of hormones every day for different purposes, including falling in and out of love. Love can be addictive―like a drug―because of the hormones our brain releases when we become really attached to someone or something. Dopamine, and oxytocin in particular, are hormones which make us feel good and want to repeat those behaviors that brought about that feeling, and these hormones are released at elevated levels when we are in love with someone or something.
Then, when heartbreak happens, these hormone levels drop and are replaced with the stress hormone cortisol. Designed to support your body’s fight-or-flight response, too much cortisol over a period of time can contribute to anxiety, nausea, acne and weight gain ― all those unpleasant mental and physical symptoms associated with heartbreak.
Our Lord Expresses His Heartbreak
If we take heartbreak―as stated above―as meaning a person being emotionally sad or grief-stricken over the loss of a loved one; as an idiom which is used to express the sadness when someone beloved leaves you―then we can say that Our Lord and Our Lady are heartbroken over the loss of so many souls that they love, but who do not return that love to Jesus and Mary. Even Holy Scripture speaks of heartbreak ― “The broken in heart” (Psalm 108:17) … “My heart is broken within me!” (Jeremias 23:9) ... “The Lord healeth the broken of heart and bindeth up their bruises!” (Psalm 146:2-3).
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque recounts what the Sacred Heart of Jesus said to her during the “Four Great Apparitions” from 1673 to 1675: “He said to me: ‘My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … to hold them back from the abyss of ruin!’ … Opening it, He showed me His loving and lovable Heart as the living source of those flames. Then He revealed to me all the unspeakable marvels of His pure love, and the excess of love He had conceived for men, from whom He received nothing but ingratitude and contempt. ‘This is more grievous to Me,’ He said, ‘than all that I endured in My Passion. If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavours to do them good. Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!’”
Similar words were spoken by Our Lord earlier in the late 1500s and early 1600s to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared. Our Lord set the scene for what He would later say to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque―to Mother Mariana He said that the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “To let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me, who belong to Me, reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful. Such communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened.”
Our Lord warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered the many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank and He especially condemned the lukewarm religious. Mother Mariana saw that the greatest interior torments of the Sacred Heart were the ingratitude and indifference of those souls who, chosen among millions to be His spouses and ministers, left Him in the most absolute solitude. And this despite the fact that in the Holy Eucharist, He would live under the same roof with His spouses, and come into the hands of His priests at the simple call of their voices at the most solemn moment of the Consecration.
He warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
The Sacred Heart further expresses Its heartbrokenness closer to our time―to three mystics, Sister Josefa Menedez, St. Mary of the Trinity and Sister Consolata Betrone―words which have be aptly recorded by Fr. Bartholomew Gottemoller, O.C.S.O., in his book Words of Love. Here are some of those quotes that you could classify as being in the category of “heartbroken.” The references shown are not from Fr. Gottemoller’s book, but the original sources from which Fr. Gottemoller gathered his material.
“Ah! If only they [souls] knew My Heart...mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness―that is My greatest sorrow!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 82).
“Ah, if souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand ... and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 109).
“Ah, if you knew what a Friend you have in Heaven!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 459).
“I am not known, and because I am not known, people do not know how to love Me, I who have so loved men!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 361).
“I ask only for love! Ah, what are you doing about it?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 44).
“Oh, if people would only love Me, what happiness would reign in this unhappy world!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 107).
“Love Me more—oh, much more!—than human beings love one another.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 134).
“Yes, what I want is love! I am in search of love. I love souls and I look for a response of love .... I am Love and desire only love!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 196).
“Do not leave Me, My poor little creature! If you only knew how much you need Me!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 18).
Our Lady Expresses Her Heartbreak
Just as her Son came to seek and save that which was lost ― “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10) ― and to bring sinners back into His fold through penance ― “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) ― so, too, does Our Lady concern herself with sinners and the desire to save them. Our Lady laments “the perdition of so many souls, so dear to Jesus Christ and to me!” (Our Lady of Good Success). At Fatima, in 1917, she says: “Many souls go to Hell!” At Akita, in 1973, she adds that “the thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness” (Our Lady of Akita).
It is not with joy, but great sadness that Our Lady has to say: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Barely 8 years after her apparition at LA SALETTE, Our Lady comes to Lourdes and demands: “Pray for sinners! … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!”
At FATIMA, 63 years later, she still had the same concern and desire of seeking the salvation of those sinful souls, who have replaced a love of God in their hearts, with a love for the world and a love of sin. Thus she reveals to three young children at Fatima (aged 10, 9 and 7) a vision of Hell, saying: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
At AKITA, the message is still the same: “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful!” (Our Lady of Akita).
In her REVELATIONS TO THE VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA, Our Lady laments with sorrow: “You live in evil times―and in order that you avoid being included in the damnation of so many souls, bewail it in the bitterness of your heart! … Forgetful of the last things and of eternal torment, men give themselves over, like brute beasts, to sensual pleasures, and consume their lives in the pursuit of apparent good, until they suddenly fall a prey to eternal damnation. Such is in reality the fate of countless foolish men! … I will not tell you how many are thus lost, in order that your sincere love of God may not cause you to die of sorrow at this great loss. And since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the damned should also be uncountable. May the eternal God preserve you from such a misfortune; and weep and deplore over your brethren, continually asking for their salvation, as far as is possible.
“I have already told you that the number of those doomed is so great, and of those that save themselves is so small, that it is not expedient to say more on this matter. For if you had the sentiments of a true daughter of the Church, you would die at seeing such misfortune. What you should know is that all the loss and misfortune originates and flows from the forgetfulness and contempt of the works of Christ and of the works of His Redemption. If there were a way of rousing them to a sense of thankfulness, and to a sense of their duty as children of their Creator and Redeemer―and of me, who am their Intercessor―then the wrath of the divine Judge would be appeased, and there would be some decrease of the widespread ruin and damnation among Catholics. The eternal Father―Who is justly zealous for the honor of His Son and rigorously chastises the servants, who know the will of their Lord and refuse to fulfill it―would again be reconciled.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
Spiritual Divorce―Spiritual Heartbreak
The world has effectively “divorced” itself from its Creator God. A verse from Holy Scripture sums it up perfectly: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). In other words, “We no longer want to be ruled by God! We are happy in the world! We don’t need God to make us happy! The world has everything we need!”
In essence, that is root of all sin ― “Don’t obey God, but obey your own desires! Don’t follow God’s commandments―follow your own desires! Seek pleasure, not God!” Ultimately, it falls under the umbrella of Original Sin, where Satan deceived Eve into thinking that she could be like God: “For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:5). When we sin, we play at being God ― we become gods unto ourselves, implicitly or explicitly mimicking Satan’s cry of “I will not serve!” ― thus “divorcing” ourselves from God by sin.
As is the case with so many things, they apply to both the spiritual and physical domain, producing many instructive analogies. Why does Our Lord choose the “heart” as a symbol of Himself. Why does God use the word “heart” so often in the Bible? Why do we speak of the “Sacred Heart”, the “Immaculate Heart”, the “Sorrowful Heart”, etc. Read-on and you will get to the “heart of the matter” and see. Just as Our Lord used so many things of this world to teach about spiritual truths, so too you can take scientific information about the heart and learn a lot spiritually from that information.
We usually associate a broken hearts to broken relationships. The definitions and synonyms for a “broken heart” are as follows:
● when a person is emotionally sad or grief-stricken, then it’s broken hearted
● it is primarily used to specify the loss of a loved one
● it refers to a romantic loss or breaks up
● often when a romantic relationship is ended, we use the phrase “broken heart”
● it is an idiom which is used to express the sadness when someone beloved leaves you
● inconsolable
● forlorn
● without hope
● despairing
● dejected
The Science Behind a Broken Heart
Ever wondered if emotional heartbreak can actually, physically break your heart? Cardiomyopathy is the medical name for a syndrome that can be caused by heartbreak, or more accurately, the stress of a heartbreaking situation. It can strike even if you are perfectly healthy.
Broken heart syndrome is a temporary heart condition that is often brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions. The condition can also be triggered by a serious physical illness or surgery. It may also be called stress cardiomyopathy.
People with broken heart syndrome may have sudden chest pain, or think they are having a heart attack. Broken heart syndrome affects just one part of the heart, temporarily disrupting your heart’s normal pumping function. The rest of the heart continues to function normally, or may even have more forceful contractions.
Acute emotional stress, positive or negative, can cause the left ventricle of the heart to be ‘stunned’ or paralyzed, causing heart attack-like symptoms including strong chest, arm or shoulder pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, loss of consciousness, nausea and vomiting.
Causes
The exact cause of broken heart syndrome is unclear. It’s thought that a surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, might temporarily damage the hearts of some people. How these hormones might hurt the heart or whether something else is responsible isn’t completely clear.
A temporary constriction of the large or small arteries of the heart has been suspected to play a role. People who have broken heart syndrome may also have a difference in the structure of the heart muscle.
Broken heart syndrome is often preceded by an intense physical or emotional event. Some potential triggers of broken heart syndrome are:
● The death of a loved one
● A frightening medical diagnosis
● Domestic abuse
● Losing — or even winning — a lot of money
● Strong arguments
● Unexpected serious news
● Public speaking
● Job loss or financial difficulty
● Divorce
● Physical stressors, such as a sudden serious injury, a broken bone, a serious wound, or major surgery, an asthma attack, a life-threatening situation.
Heartbreak is an unfortunately common part of the human experience, and it really, really pains. Most people have been there, and it’s safe to say everyone wants to avoid experiencing heartbreak ever again.
We feel heart broken when we lose someone or something we loved or wanted very much, like a romantic relationship or a friendship, a family member, a pet, or a job or opportunity that was very important to us.
Heartbreak can cause a large amount of stress, especially if the loss is a sudden one. This stress can affect how we feel emotionally and physically, and may take weeks, months or even years to recover from.
While there is still a lot to uncover concerning the reasons why we experience love heartbreak and the effect these have on our bodies, nevertheless, scientific study has provided us with some clues about why heartbreak makes a person feel so lousy.
Symptoms of a Broken Heart
Broken heart syndrome symptoms can mimic a heart attack. In rare cases, broken heart syndrome is fatal. However, most people who experience broken heart syndrome quickly recover and don’t have long-lasting effects. Common symptoms include:
● Chest pain
● Shortness of breath
● long-lasting or persistent chest pain could be a sign of a heart attack, so it’s important to take it seriously and call 911 if you experience chest pain.
Other complications of broken heart syndrome include:
● Backup of fluid into your lungs (pulmonary edema)
● Low blood pressure (hypotension)
● Disruptions in your heartbeat
● Heart failure
How is broken heart syndrome different from a heart attack?
Heart attacks are generally caused by a complete or near complete blockage of a heart artery. This blockage is due to a blood clot forming at the site of narrowing from fatty buildup (atherosclerosis) in the wall of the artery. In broken heart syndrome, the heart arteries are not blocked, although blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced.
Why does it hurt so much?
Studies show that your brain registers the emotional pain of heartbreak in the same way as physical pain, which is why you might feel like your heartbreak is causing actual physical hurt. The language we use to describe heartbreak – “I feel like my heart’s been ripped out”, “it was gut wrenching”, “like a slap in the face” ― all hint at the way we associate physical pain with emotional pain.
Heartbreak hormones
Hormones aren’t just for the sexual domain ― our bodies produce a long list of hormones every day for different purposes, including falling in and out of love. Love can be addictive―like a drug―because of the hormones our brain releases when we become really attached to someone or something. Dopamine, and oxytocin in particular, are hormones which make us feel good and want to repeat those behaviors that brought about that feeling, and these hormones are released at elevated levels when we are in love with someone or something.
Then, when heartbreak happens, these hormone levels drop and are replaced with the stress hormone cortisol. Designed to support your body’s fight-or-flight response, too much cortisol over a period of time can contribute to anxiety, nausea, acne and weight gain ― all those unpleasant mental and physical symptoms associated with heartbreak.
Our Lord Expresses His Heartbreak
If we take heartbreak―as stated above―as meaning a person being emotionally sad or grief-stricken over the loss of a loved one; as an idiom which is used to express the sadness when someone beloved leaves you―then we can say that Our Lord and Our Lady are heartbroken over the loss of so many souls that they love, but who do not return that love to Jesus and Mary. Even Holy Scripture speaks of heartbreak ― “The broken in heart” (Psalm 108:17) … “My heart is broken within me!” (Jeremias 23:9) ... “The Lord healeth the broken of heart and bindeth up their bruises!” (Psalm 146:2-3).
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque recounts what the Sacred Heart of Jesus said to her during the “Four Great Apparitions” from 1673 to 1675: “He said to me: ‘My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … to hold them back from the abyss of ruin!’ … Opening it, He showed me His loving and lovable Heart as the living source of those flames. Then He revealed to me all the unspeakable marvels of His pure love, and the excess of love He had conceived for men, from whom He received nothing but ingratitude and contempt. ‘This is more grievous to Me,’ He said, ‘than all that I endured in My Passion. If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavours to do them good. Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!’”
Similar words were spoken by Our Lord earlier in the late 1500s and early 1600s to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared. Our Lord set the scene for what He would later say to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque―to Mother Mariana He said that the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “To let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me, who belong to Me, reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful. Such communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened.”
Our Lord warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered the many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank and He especially condemned the lukewarm religious. Mother Mariana saw that the greatest interior torments of the Sacred Heart were the ingratitude and indifference of those souls who, chosen among millions to be His spouses and ministers, left Him in the most absolute solitude. And this despite the fact that in the Holy Eucharist, He would live under the same roof with His spouses, and come into the hands of His priests at the simple call of their voices at the most solemn moment of the Consecration.
He warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
The Sacred Heart further expresses Its heartbrokenness closer to our time―to three mystics, Sister Josefa Menedez, St. Mary of the Trinity and Sister Consolata Betrone―words which have be aptly recorded by Fr. Bartholomew Gottemoller, O.C.S.O., in his book Words of Love. Here are some of those quotes that you could classify as being in the category of “heartbroken.” The references shown are not from Fr. Gottemoller’s book, but the original sources from which Fr. Gottemoller gathered his material.
“Ah! If only they [souls] knew My Heart...mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness―that is My greatest sorrow!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 82).
“Ah, if souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand ... and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 109).
“Ah, if you knew what a Friend you have in Heaven!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 459).
“I am not known, and because I am not known, people do not know how to love Me, I who have so loved men!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 361).
“I ask only for love! Ah, what are you doing about it?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 44).
“Oh, if people would only love Me, what happiness would reign in this unhappy world!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 107).
“Love Me more—oh, much more!—than human beings love one another.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 134).
“Yes, what I want is love! I am in search of love. I love souls and I look for a response of love .... I am Love and desire only love!” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 196).
“Do not leave Me, My poor little creature! If you only knew how much you need Me!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, no. 18).
Our Lady Expresses Her Heartbreak
Just as her Son came to seek and save that which was lost ― “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10) ― and to bring sinners back into His fold through penance ― “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) ― so, too, does Our Lady concern herself with sinners and the desire to save them. Our Lady laments “the perdition of so many souls, so dear to Jesus Christ and to me!” (Our Lady of Good Success). At Fatima, in 1917, she says: “Many souls go to Hell!” At Akita, in 1973, she adds that “the thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness” (Our Lady of Akita).
It is not with joy, but great sadness that Our Lady has to say: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Barely 8 years after her apparition at LA SALETTE, Our Lady comes to Lourdes and demands: “Pray for sinners! … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!”
At FATIMA, 63 years later, she still had the same concern and desire of seeking the salvation of those sinful souls, who have replaced a love of God in their hearts, with a love for the world and a love of sin. Thus she reveals to three young children at Fatima (aged 10, 9 and 7) a vision of Hell, saying: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
At AKITA, the message is still the same: “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful!” (Our Lady of Akita).
In her REVELATIONS TO THE VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA, Our Lady laments with sorrow: “You live in evil times―and in order that you avoid being included in the damnation of so many souls, bewail it in the bitterness of your heart! … Forgetful of the last things and of eternal torment, men give themselves over, like brute beasts, to sensual pleasures, and consume their lives in the pursuit of apparent good, until they suddenly fall a prey to eternal damnation. Such is in reality the fate of countless foolish men! … I will not tell you how many are thus lost, in order that your sincere love of God may not cause you to die of sorrow at this great loss. And since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the damned should also be uncountable. May the eternal God preserve you from such a misfortune; and weep and deplore over your brethren, continually asking for their salvation, as far as is possible.
“I have already told you that the number of those doomed is so great, and of those that save themselves is so small, that it is not expedient to say more on this matter. For if you had the sentiments of a true daughter of the Church, you would die at seeing such misfortune. What you should know is that all the loss and misfortune originates and flows from the forgetfulness and contempt of the works of Christ and of the works of His Redemption. If there were a way of rousing them to a sense of thankfulness, and to a sense of their duty as children of their Creator and Redeemer―and of me, who am their Intercessor―then the wrath of the divine Judge would be appeased, and there would be some decrease of the widespread ruin and damnation among Catholics. The eternal Father―Who is justly zealous for the honor of His Son and rigorously chastises the servants, who know the will of their Lord and refuse to fulfill it―would again be reconciled.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God).
Spiritual Divorce―Spiritual Heartbreak
The world has effectively “divorced” itself from its Creator God. A verse from Holy Scripture sums it up perfectly: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). In other words, “We no longer want to be ruled by God! We are happy in the world! We don’t need God to make us happy! The world has everything we need!”
In essence, that is root of all sin ― “Don’t obey God, but obey your own desires! Don’t follow God’s commandments―follow your own desires! Seek pleasure, not God!” Ultimately, it falls under the umbrella of Original Sin, where Satan deceived Eve into thinking that she could be like God: “For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:5). When we sin, we play at being God ― we become gods unto ourselves, implicitly or explicitly mimicking Satan’s cry of “I will not serve!” ― thus “divorcing” ourselves from God by sin.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday June 12th & Sunday June 13th & Monday June 14th
Article 8
The Solution to Salvation is in Your Heart!
Saturday June 12th & Sunday June 13th & Monday June 14th
Article 8
The Solution to Salvation is in Your Heart!
- Salvation Solution
Yes, “the kingdom of God is within you” when you abide in God’s sanctifying grace―and you abide in God’s sanctifying grace by keeping God’s word and keeping God’s commandments. When you abide in sanctifying grace, then God abides in you through that grace―we call this the indwelling of the Holy Trinity―and Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is your Redeemer, your Savior, your salvation. Therefore, when you abide in Him and His sanctifying grace, He―the Redeemer and Savior―abides in your soul. Furthermore, each time you receive Holy Communion worthily, in a state of sanctifying, that same Redeemer and Savior comes into your soul. Hence salvation abides in soul―providing you keep yourself in a state of sanctifying grace.
Grace is a Gift of God’s Mercy
There can be no salvation without sanctifying grace. “The wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting” (Romans 6:23). As St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Man can do nothing unless moved by God, according to John 15:5: ‘Without Me, you can do nothing.’ The gift of grace surpasses every capability of created nature, since it is nothing short of a partaking of the Divine Nature, which exceeds every other nature. And thus it is impossible that any creature should cause grace” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, questions 109 to 114). “Grace is a supernatural gift of God, freely bestowed on us for our sanctification and salvation” says the Penny Catechism.
Salvation is a Mercy
Who is there that can say: “I have a right to be saved!” Only a fool could and would say that! Nobody has a right to salvation―that is the whole purpose of the Incarnation and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem and save us. If you have a “right” to be saved, then you do not need a Savior―you are your own savior. “For by grace you are saved and not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). All we can boast of is the fact that we are sinners and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) ... “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21) ... “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) ... “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12).
St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “Original sin incurs everlasting punishment by reason of a human being deprived of grace, without which there is no remission of sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 87, art. 5). Everyone―apart from Our Lady―has been born in Original and has committed personal sins: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23).
As St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “By sinning man deserves everlasting damnation … So, too, the guilt of eternal punishment can be remitted by God alone, against Whom the offense was committed and Who is man's Judge … Man by himself can in no way rise from sin without the help of grace.” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, questions 109 to 114). St. Thomas adds: “It is manifest that no one can obtain salvation but through Christ … For this end is Baptism conferred on a man, that being regenerated by Baptism, he may be incorporated in Christ, by becoming His member [a member of His Mystical Body]―wherefore it is written (Galatians 3:27): ‘As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ.’ Consequently it is clear that all are bound to be baptized: and that without Baptism there is no salvation for men” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 68, art. 1). St. Thomas adds that there are three things necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do―these three things loosely relate to the theological virtues of Faith (what to believe), Hope (what to desire), and Charity (what to do).
The Kingdom of God and Salvation Are Within You
When you were baptized, the seed of the Kingdom of God was planted within you together with sanctifying grace, the seeds of the Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity), the seeds of the Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude), and the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost (Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom). That was your seed bed of sanctity that you were meant to nurture, nourish and grow―like the mustard seed that Our Lord refers to: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof!” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Is salvation important to you? Where is it on your list of priorities to which you pay attention? Is in Number One? Top of list? It should be―for this life will soon end and where will you go then? What will you do then? Unfortunately, for most people, salvation is not “top of list”, but somewhere “down the list”! We give more importance to passing, temporary, short-lived things than we to do eternity and salvation.
Words of One of the Greatest 20th Century Theologians
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964) has some striking and profound comments on this subject. Before examining them, it serves the reader well to understand the extraordinary caliber of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange. In brief, French born Fr. Réginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange was a major beacon and leading light in the Catholic Church as a Thomistic theologian disciple of St. Thomas Aquinas). He has been widely acknowledged as a leading neo-Thomist of the 20th century. He taught in Rome for over 20 years at the Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, commonly known as the “Angelicum”, from 1909 to 1960. He is best known for his spiritual theology. He produced 28 books and hundreds of articles. His most important work in the field of spirituality and mysticism is The Three Ages of the Interior Life, written in 1938, in which he propounded the thesis that infused contemplation and the resulting mystical life are in the normal way of holiness of Christian perfection. He is also said to be the drafter of Pope Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical Humani generis, subtitled “Concerning Some False Opinions Threatening to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine”. The Osservatore Romano of 9th-10th December, 1950, lists Garrigou-Lagrange among the names of the preparatory commission for the definition of the Assumption of Mary. So, as you can see from this very brief overview, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange possesses the highest theological credentials. Here is what he has to say on the importance of our spiritual life with regards to salvation:
The Self-Centered Man of Senses
“As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation, which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to speak with his fellow men, man speaks interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life. If he is young, he often thinks of his future; if he is old, he thinks of the past and his happy or unhappy experience of life makes him usually judge persons and events very differently. If a man is fundamentally egotistical, his intimate conversation with himself is inspired by sensuality or pride. He converses with himself about the object of his desires, of his envy; finding therein sadness and death, he tries to flee from himself, to live outside of himself, to distract himself in order to forget the emptiness and the nothingness of his life. In this intimate conversation of the egoist with himself there is a certain very inferior self-knowledge and a no less inferior self-love.
“He is especially acquainted with the sensitive or sensual part of his soul, that part which is common to man and to the animal. Thus he has sensible joys, sensible sorrows, according as the weather is pleasant or unpleasant, as he wins money or loses it. He has desires and aversions of the same sensible order; and when he is opposed, he has moments of impatience and anger prompted by inordinate self-love. But the egoist knows little about the spiritual part of his soul, that which is common to the angel and to man. Even if he believes in the spirituality of the soul and of the higher faculties, intellect and will―he does not live in this spiritual order. His thoughts almost always fall back on what is inferior in him, and though he often shows intelligence and cleverness, which may even become craftiness and cunning, his intellect, instead of rising, always inclines toward what is inferior to it.
“The intimate conversation of the egoist with himself proceeds in this manner to death and is therefore not an interior life. His self-love leads him to wish to make himself the center of everything, to draw everything to himself, both persons and things. Since this is impossible, he frequently ends in disillusionment and disgust; he becomes unbearable to himself and to others, and ends by hating himself, because he wished to love himself excessively. At times he ends by hating life, because he desired too greatly what is inferior in it.
The Conversion of the Self-Centered Person
“If a man, who is not in the state of grace, begins to seek goodness, his intimate conversation with himself is already quite different. He converses with himself, for example, about what is necessary to live becomingly and to support his family. This at times preoccupies him greatly; he feels his weakness and the need of placing his confidence no longer in himself alone, but in God.
“While still in the state of mortal sin, this man may have Christian Faith and Hope, which remain in us even after the loss of charity—as long as we have not sinned mortally, by disbelief, despair, or presumption. When this is so, this man’s intimate conversation with himself is occasionally illumined by the supernatural light of Faith; now and then he thinks of eternal life and desires it, although this desire remains weak. He is sometimes led by a special inspiration to enter a church to pray.
“Finally, if this man has at least attrition for his sins (attrition is sorrow through fear of God’s punishments) and receives absolution for them, he recovers the state of grace and charity, the love of God and neighbor. Thenceforth, when he is alone, his intimate conversation with himself changes. He begins to love himself in a holy manner, not for himself but for God, and to love his own for God; he begins to understand that he must pardon his enemies and love them, and to wish eternal life for them as he does for himself. Often, however, the intimate conversation of a man in the state of grace continues to be tainted with egoism, self-love, sensuality, and pride. These sins are no longer mortal in him, they are venial―but if they are repeated, they incline him to fall into a serious sin, that is, to fall back into spiritual death. Should this happen, this man tends again to flee from himself, because what he finds in himself is no longer life, but death. Instead of making a profitable reflection on this subject, he may throw himself back farther into death, by casting himself into pleasure, into the satisfactions of sensuality or of pride.
The Nagging Conscience
“In a man’s hours of solitude, this intimate conversation begins again in spite of everything, as if to prove to him that it cannot stop. He would like to interrupt it, yet he cannot do so. The center of the soul has an irrestrainable need which demands satisfaction. In reality, God alone can answer this need, and the only solution is straightway to take the road leading to Him. The soul must converse with someone other than itself. Why? Because it is not its own last end; because its end is the living God, and it cannot rest entirely except in Him. As St. Augustine puts it: ‘Our heart is restless, until it reposes in Thee.’
The God-Centered Spiritual Man
“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man now starts to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism, love of God and love of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary—which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary--consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
“This is expressed thus, by St. Alphonsus Liguori, in The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, who writes: “One thing is necessary! The salvation of our souls. It is not necessary to be great, noble, or rich in this world, or to enjoy uninterrupted health; but it is necessary to save our souls, For this has God placed us here: not to acquire honors, riches, or pleasures, but to acquire by our good works that eternal kingdom which is prepared for those who, during this present life, fight against and overcome the enemies of their eternal salvation” (The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, Part 1, Meditation 17).
“The interior life―which presupposes being in the state of sanctifying grace―consists, is a generous tendency of the soul toward God, in which, little by little, each one’s intimate conversation with himself is elevated, is transformed, and becomes an intimate conversation of the soul with God. Therefore, the interior life is in a soul that is in the state of grace, especially a life of humility, abnegation, Faith, Hope, and Charity, with the peace that comes from the progressive subordination of our feelings and wishes to the love of God, who will be the object of our beatitude. Hence, to have an interior life, an exceedingly active exterior apostolate does not suffice, nor does great theological knowledge. Nor is the latter necessary. A generous beginner, who already has a genuine spirit of abnegation and prayer, already possesses a true interior life which ought to continue developing.
“Man thus becomes more and more the child of God; he recognizes more profoundly that God is his Father, and he even becomes more and more a little child in his relations with God. He understands what Christ meant when He told Nicodemus that a man must return to the bosom of God that he may be spiritually reborn. Thus it was said that St. Dominic knew how to speak only of God or with God; this is what made it possible for him to be always charitable toward men and at the same time prudent, strong, and just.
The Interior Life is the Most Important of Lives
“The interior life is for all the ‘one thing necessary’ [mentioned by Christ in the Gospels]. It ought to be constantly developing in our souls; more so than what we call our intellectual life, more so than our scientific, artistic or literary life … The pressing need of devoting ourselves to the consideration of the ‘one thing necessary’ is especially manifest in these days of general chaos and unrest, when so many men and nations, neglecting their true destiny, give themselves up entirely to acquiring earthly possessions, failing to realize how inferior these are to the everlasting riches of the spirit.
“Looked upon in this way, the interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, more profound than artistic or literary life, more profound than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity, which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation.
I Don’t Need to be a Saint!
“There are some who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be only venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man—who tends toward God and who already lives by Him—is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture, nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: ‘For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? ‘Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’ (Mark 8:37) Our Lord adds. ‘One thing is necessary,’ He tells us. To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary: to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul even though it should lose everything else.
“St. Alphonsus says: ‘Every one desires to die the death of the saints, but it is scarcely possible for the Christian to make a holy end who has led a disorderly life until the time of his death; to die united with God, after having always lived at a distance from Him. The saints, in order to secure a happy death, renounced all the riches, the delights, and all the hopes which this world held out to them, and embraced poor and mortified lives. They buried themselves alive in this world, to avoid, when dead, being buried forever in Hell’ (The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, Part 1, Meditation 22).
Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday June 11th
Article 7
A Heart of Mercy!
Article 7
A Heart of Mercy!
Charity Leads to Mercy
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). The only begotten Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sacred Heart, reminds us: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … They that are whole, need not the physician―but they that are sick! I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Luke 19:10; 5:31-32; Matthew 9:13). Holy Scripture tells us: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
Hypocritical Culture
We are currently living in a very hypocritical culture where mercy is for me, but not so much for others. We are selective with our mercy―where like looks after like. Habitual sinners are merciful to fellow habitual sinners, but show little mercy to habitually virtuous people who fall into sin―while the habitually righteous show mercy to their own kind if they fall into sin, but show little or no mercy to habitually sinners.
Furthermore, the hypocrisy in public life beggars belief! People clamor for blood and the head of those in public office who have committed some sin, even though it might have been 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago! They demand the resignation of those persons, regardless of the gravity of the sin, regardless of a “sin-free” period of time since their past misdemeanor. Yet the very people crying for blood are sinners themselves: “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
That is why Our Lord says to those pointing the finger and crying for blood: “Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). Which is why Our Lord says to those who wanted to stone to death the woman caught in adultery: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7).
The hypocrisy of our culture is clearly seen by the inversion or even corruption of values. Doctors who are abortionists are not struck-off the medical register for murdering babies, but the public clamor for the resignation of someone who once made a racist comment decades ago! Questioning God’s existence and God’s laws is allowed―but questioning today’s governmental and medical edicts is censored and even punished! Truth has become hypocritically subjective―with people only accepting the truth if it suits their agenda. Morality has followed the same path―with certain sins now being classified as being non-sinful and good; while certain morally upright behaviors and opinions now being classified as being evil―especially when you try to “call-out” sin. Questioning and doubting that God made the universe is quite acceptable, but questioning and doubting the science behind the latest vaccines is unacceptable. Homosexuality and practicing homosexual politicians or married homosexual politicians is acceptable and they are allowed to continue in office, but someone who has an affair is condemned and asked to resign. Killing babies in the name of abortion sees no legal repercussions, but killing someone who has broken into your home at night risks you facing a jail sentence. Furthermore, there have been cases where the burglar or robber has sued the homeowner for injuring them! As God says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
We Want and Expect More Mercy Than We Give to Others
It is a common human trait―a symptom of pride―that we expect more mercy than we are prepared to give. We are loaded with excuses and explanations for our own sins, misdemeanors and mistakes―but we will rarely or begrudgingly accept the excuses, explanations and mistakes of others. Mercy is sweet when it is being shown to us―but when we have to show it towards others, then it is a little or a lot more bitter! Our Lord typifies this perfectly in one of His parables:
“Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35). The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Jesus spoke that parable immediately after being asked by St. Peter as to how many times we should forgive someone. Peter was probably basing his question on a verse of Holy Scripture from the Old Testament: “A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again!” (Proverbs 24:16). The reply that Jesus gave to his question must have “blown his mind” ― “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him?’ Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!” (Matthew 18:21-22).
Elsewhere, Jesus said: “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him―and if he do penance, forgive him! And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’ then forgive him!” (Luke 17:3-4). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26).
The Old Testament already pointed this out in part: “He that is inclined to mercy shall be blessed” (Proverbs 22:9). “He that showeth mercy shall be blessed” (Proverbs 14:21). Since God does not change, neither does His truth change, and so Our Lord reiterates the same message in the New Testament, saying: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment!” (James 2:13).
The Merciful Samaritan
Our Lord related a parable which today we know by the title of “The Good Samaritan”―but it could also be called “The Merciful Samaritan. Before looking at the parable, it is important to know that the man in the parable who was robbed and beaten was a Jew, and his helper turned out to be a Samaritan. The Jews and Samaritans were historical enemies. Hatred between Jews and Samaritans was fierce and long-standing. The original single nation of Israel ended up being divided into two nations in the days of Roboam (3 Kings 12). The northern kingdom of Israel was composed of the ten tribes to the north, and the kingdom of Juda was made up of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin. The animosity between the Jews (inhabitants of the Juda, the new southern kingdom) and Israelites (the ten tribes of the northern kingdom) began immediately after the division, as Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom with Jeroboam as its first king. Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the northern kingdom of Israelites and set up idols in the cities of Dan and Bethel, so that the people no longer traveled to Jerusalem to worship God in the Temple of Jerusalem. Later, after Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, they began to intermarry with the Assyrians, contrary to Deuteronomy 7:3-5. This is why the Jews hated the Samaritans as “dogs,” or “half-breeds.” Eventually, the religion of the Samaritans evolved to the point that they held only the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) as being the law of God, rejecting all the other books of the Old Testament. This was the background to the animosity and hatred that existed between the Jews and the newly-named “Samaritans” after Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Here now is Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, or we could say, Merciful Samaritan―because he was merciful to his enemy, the Jew: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’ Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37).
Spare Me, Lord, But Slaughter My Enemies!
Unfortunately―as our current days so clearly reveal―we are not very merciful. Those who are merciful, more often than not, tend to be overly merciful to the point of being tolerant of sin and crime, which then leads to sin and crime being committed with impunity (lack of punishment). For the most part, we are always ready to say: “Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from Me” (Psalms 65:20). But when it comes to our neighbor (and even the sinner or an enemy is a neighbor, as Our Lord points out in the parable of the Good Samaritan—the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews, as explained above), then we become like the Sons of Thunder: “Jesus sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [to the ‘enemy’ city’]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56). He also said this elsewhere: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and insisted: “Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Those who are disposed to contumely [insulting language or treatment], whether through having been contemned [insulted or treated badly], or because they wish to contemn [insult] others, are incited to anger… so that while they are disposed in that way, they are pitiless, according to Proverbs 27:4: ‘Anger hath no mercy, nor fury when it breaks forth!’ For the same reason the proud are without pity, because they despise others, and think them wicked, so that they account them as suffering deservedly whatever they suffer. Hence Pope St. Gregory the Grate says that ‘false godliness,’ i.e. the godliness of the proud, ‘is not compassionate but disdainful’” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 30, art. 2).
The Works of Mercy Are Works of Charity
Coming back to the parable about Good Samaritan or Merciful Samaritan―Our Lord, at the end of the parable, asked the lawyer who had previously questioned Jesus as to was his neighbor: “‘Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But the lawyer said: ‘He that showed mercy to him.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37). Mercy, in this context, is said to be a virtue influencing someone to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another’s misfortune. It is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that although mercy is, as it were, the spontaneous product of charity, yet it is to be reckoned a special virtue that is distinguishable from charity. For Mercy is also linked to justice, because it softens justice. Obviously the necessity or need of others can be either of body or soul. Hence it is customary to list both corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy. The traditional enumeration of the Corporal Works of Mercy is as follows:
The Corporal Works of Mercy are :
To feed the hungry;
To give drink to the thirsty;
To clothe the naked;
To shelter the homeless;
To visit the sick;
To ransom the captive;
To bury the dead.
The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:
To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted;
To pray for the living and the dead.
It All Comes Down to Giving Alms—Materially or Spiritually
It will be seen from these divisions that the Works of Mercy practically coincide with the various forms of almsgiving. It is thus that St. Thomas regards them. The word “alms”, of course, is a corruption of the Greek eleemosyne (mercy). The doing of Works of Mercy is not merely a matter of suggestion; there is also a strict precept imposed, both by the Natural Law and the Divine law, commanding their performance. The Natural Law commands Works of Mercy based upon the principle that we are to do to others as we would have them do to us. The Divine command is seen in the most strict words of Christ, who points out that failure to comply with it, will bring about the supreme penalty of eternal damnation (see Matthew 25:41 above): Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:45-46).
In the parable of Our Lord about the Sheep and the Goats, it is true, there is only direct and explicit mention of only the Corporal Works of Mercy: “I was hungry, and you gave me to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink! I was a stranger, and you took me in! I was naked, and you covered me! I was sick, and you visited Me! I was in prison, and you came to Me!” (Matthew 25:35-36). However, since the Spiritual Works of Mercy deal with a need or a distress whose relief is even more important as well as more effective for the grand purpose of man’s creation, the term “Works of Mercy” must be extended into the spiritual realm also. Besides there are the obvious references of Christ to such works as fraternal correction (Matthew 18:15) as well as the forgiveness of injuries (Matthew 6:14).
Modern Spirituality is often a Selfish Spirituality
The modern spiritual life has become very much a cocooned spiritual life, a life of private devotion, which ultimately leads to a “Me, Me, Me” spirituality. Yet we are only one tiny part of the Mystical Body of Christ and what happens to and in the Body at large, affects us to a greater or lesser degree. The Scriptural quote concerning Cain and Abel comes to mind: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered, ‘I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9). Many know not the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ, many do not even care to know! But we are our “brother’s keeper” as witnessed by the words of Our Lady at Fatima, who said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.” Let us take these words to heart and do for others as we would wish others to do unto us!
This Time of Mercy Needs the Mother of Mercy
Though we might be very selfish with our mercy, Our Lady most certainly is not! Today is both a time of mercy and a time of Mary―and Mary is our Mother of Mercy! Our Lady, in the prayer and hymn Salve Regina, is called the “Mother of Mercy”―“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book, The Glories of Mary, quotes the words addressed by Our Lady herself to St. Bridget, by which Our Lady stresses her mercy:
“The Blessed Virgin herself revealed this to St. Bridget, saying: ‘As a mother who sees her son exposed to the sword of the enemy, makes every effort to save him, thus do I, and will I ever do for my children, sinful though they be, if they come to me for help’” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable―and for ever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus adds: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and, no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners―who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices―that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
“St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned mud vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. O, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
It’s a Mercy Family―Are You Part of the Family?
It is blatantly clear that God’s family is a family of mercy. In every litany that we pray, we ask God the Father for mercy, God the Son for mercy and God the Holy Ghost for mercy! It is a Holy Trinity of mercy. It is blatantly clear that God’s family is a family of mercy. In the Old Testament we read of God the Father saying: “I am the Lord thy God ... showing mercy unto thousands to them that love Me and keep My commandments! … I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me!” (Genesis 20:5-6; Exodus 33:19).
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was mercy incarnate― “God sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “And He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2) … “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4) … “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Christ Himself says: “If you knew what this means: ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’, then you would never have condemned the innocent” (Matthew 12:7). Mercy was the reason He entered this world. Mercy was why He forgave sins. Mercy was why He cured people of their physical ailments. Mercy was why He cast out demons. Mercy was why He suffered and died for us. Mercy for others was what He asked of His Father from the cross. Mercy was what flowed from His pierced side in the form of blood and water. Mercy was why He sent His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of the members of His Mystical Body, the Church. Mercy was the reason for the sending of His Spirit at Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit is the Fountain of Mercy. He is our Advocate―He pleads for mercy on our behalf. He is the Spouse of the Mother of God, through Whom she conceived Mercy Incarnate, Jesus Christ: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God!” (Luke 1:35). By becoming the Mother of God, she also became the Mother of Mercy. Mary “married” into the Family of Mercy and gave birth to Mercy Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
When you were baptized, you were baptized into the “Family of Mercy” and, in that very same Baptism, you were shown mercy with Original Sin being removed from your soul by the grace of God being poured into your soul. If you were baptized as an adult, then all you personal sins were mercifully removed together with Original Sin. Yet have we grown in that mercy? Have we shared that mercy? “From my infancy mercy grew up with me and it came out with me from my mother's womb” (Job 31:18). “The just are merciful, and show mercy!” (Proverbs 13:13). If you happened to fall into sin―mortal or venial―after your Baptism, then God mercifully removed the guilt of those sins in His Sacrament of Confession. Are you just as willing to forgive the guilt of others when you encounter their sins?
Every day―hopefully many, many times a day―you say the words of the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” ― God will take us on word! It is a “verbal contract” we have made hundreds of thousands of times, as many times as we have prayed the Our Father. In the Collect and Secret of the Mass for Our Enemies, we pray: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles” (Collect); and “Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins” (Secret).
From the altar of His Cross on Calvary, as He was dying, Our Lord prayed for His enemies, conspirators, betrayers, torturers and murderers, saying: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). He could have had the attitude of His two Apostles, James and John, who wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy the Samaritan city that had rejected and turned its back on Christ’s preaching there: “And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” ― even the souls of His enemies (Luke 9:54-56).
Mercy makes us similar to God, a lack of mercy makes us similar to the devil, who is merciless. “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), the devil is hatred personified. God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18). The devil says: “If your sins be as scarlet, then I’ll will never let them go! If they as red as crimson, I’ll nail them to your skull!” Who do we want to resemble? God or the devil? The litmus test is seen in the mercy that you show, or refuse to show! As St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Of all the virtues which relate to our neighbor, mercy is the greatest” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q.30, art. 4).
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). The only begotten Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sacred Heart, reminds us: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … They that are whole, need not the physician―but they that are sick! I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Luke 19:10; 5:31-32; Matthew 9:13). Holy Scripture tells us: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
Hypocritical Culture
We are currently living in a very hypocritical culture where mercy is for me, but not so much for others. We are selective with our mercy―where like looks after like. Habitual sinners are merciful to fellow habitual sinners, but show little mercy to habitually virtuous people who fall into sin―while the habitually righteous show mercy to their own kind if they fall into sin, but show little or no mercy to habitually sinners.
Furthermore, the hypocrisy in public life beggars belief! People clamor for blood and the head of those in public office who have committed some sin, even though it might have been 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago! They demand the resignation of those persons, regardless of the gravity of the sin, regardless of a “sin-free” period of time since their past misdemeanor. Yet the very people crying for blood are sinners themselves: “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23) … “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
That is why Our Lord says to those pointing the finger and crying for blood: “Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). Which is why Our Lord says to those who wanted to stone to death the woman caught in adultery: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7).
The hypocrisy of our culture is clearly seen by the inversion or even corruption of values. Doctors who are abortionists are not struck-off the medical register for murdering babies, but the public clamor for the resignation of someone who once made a racist comment decades ago! Questioning God’s existence and God’s laws is allowed―but questioning today’s governmental and medical edicts is censored and even punished! Truth has become hypocritically subjective―with people only accepting the truth if it suits their agenda. Morality has followed the same path―with certain sins now being classified as being non-sinful and good; while certain morally upright behaviors and opinions now being classified as being evil―especially when you try to “call-out” sin. Questioning and doubting that God made the universe is quite acceptable, but questioning and doubting the science behind the latest vaccines is unacceptable. Homosexuality and practicing homosexual politicians or married homosexual politicians is acceptable and they are allowed to continue in office, but someone who has an affair is condemned and asked to resign. Killing babies in the name of abortion sees no legal repercussions, but killing someone who has broken into your home at night risks you facing a jail sentence. Furthermore, there have been cases where the burglar or robber has sued the homeowner for injuring them! As God says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Isaias 5:20).
We Want and Expect More Mercy Than We Give to Others
It is a common human trait―a symptom of pride―that we expect more mercy than we are prepared to give. We are loaded with excuses and explanations for our own sins, misdemeanors and mistakes―but we will rarely or begrudgingly accept the excuses, explanations and mistakes of others. Mercy is sweet when it is being shown to us―but when we have to show it towards others, then it is a little or a lot more bitter! Our Lord typifies this perfectly in one of His parables:
“Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35). The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Jesus spoke that parable immediately after being asked by St. Peter as to how many times we should forgive someone. Peter was probably basing his question on a verse of Holy Scripture from the Old Testament: “A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again!” (Proverbs 24:16). The reply that Jesus gave to his question must have “blown his mind” ― “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him?’ Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!” (Matthew 18:21-22).
Elsewhere, Jesus said: “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him―and if he do penance, forgive him! And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’ then forgive him!” (Luke 17:3-4). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26).
The Old Testament already pointed this out in part: “He that is inclined to mercy shall be blessed” (Proverbs 22:9). “He that showeth mercy shall be blessed” (Proverbs 14:21). Since God does not change, neither does His truth change, and so Our Lord reiterates the same message in the New Testament, saying: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment!” (James 2:13).
The Merciful Samaritan
Our Lord related a parable which today we know by the title of “The Good Samaritan”―but it could also be called “The Merciful Samaritan. Before looking at the parable, it is important to know that the man in the parable who was robbed and beaten was a Jew, and his helper turned out to be a Samaritan. The Jews and Samaritans were historical enemies. Hatred between Jews and Samaritans was fierce and long-standing. The original single nation of Israel ended up being divided into two nations in the days of Roboam (3 Kings 12). The northern kingdom of Israel was composed of the ten tribes to the north, and the kingdom of Juda was made up of the tribes of Juda and Benjamin. The animosity between the Jews (inhabitants of the Juda, the new southern kingdom) and Israelites (the ten tribes of the northern kingdom) began immediately after the division, as Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom with Jeroboam as its first king. Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the northern kingdom of Israelites and set up idols in the cities of Dan and Bethel, so that the people no longer traveled to Jerusalem to worship God in the Temple of Jerusalem. Later, after Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, they began to intermarry with the Assyrians, contrary to Deuteronomy 7:3-5. This is why the Jews hated the Samaritans as “dogs,” or “half-breeds.” Eventually, the religion of the Samaritans evolved to the point that they held only the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) as being the law of God, rejecting all the other books of the Old Testament. This was the background to the animosity and hatred that existed between the Jews and the newly-named “Samaritans” after Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Here now is Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan, or we could say, Merciful Samaritan―because he was merciful to his enemy, the Jew: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’ Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37).
Spare Me, Lord, But Slaughter My Enemies!
Unfortunately―as our current days so clearly reveal―we are not very merciful. Those who are merciful, more often than not, tend to be overly merciful to the point of being tolerant of sin and crime, which then leads to sin and crime being committed with impunity (lack of punishment). For the most part, we are always ready to say: “Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from Me” (Psalms 65:20). But when it comes to our neighbor (and even the sinner or an enemy is a neighbor, as Our Lord points out in the parable of the Good Samaritan—the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews, as explained above), then we become like the Sons of Thunder: “Jesus sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [to the ‘enemy’ city’]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56). He also said this elsewhere: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and insisted: “Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Those who are disposed to contumely [insulting language or treatment], whether through having been contemned [insulted or treated badly], or because they wish to contemn [insult] others, are incited to anger… so that while they are disposed in that way, they are pitiless, according to Proverbs 27:4: ‘Anger hath no mercy, nor fury when it breaks forth!’ For the same reason the proud are without pity, because they despise others, and think them wicked, so that they account them as suffering deservedly whatever they suffer. Hence Pope St. Gregory the Grate says that ‘false godliness,’ i.e. the godliness of the proud, ‘is not compassionate but disdainful’” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 30, art. 2).
The Works of Mercy Are Works of Charity
Coming back to the parable about Good Samaritan or Merciful Samaritan―Our Lord, at the end of the parable, asked the lawyer who had previously questioned Jesus as to was his neighbor: “‘Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But the lawyer said: ‘He that showed mercy to him.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37). Mercy, in this context, is said to be a virtue influencing someone to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another’s misfortune. It is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that although mercy is, as it were, the spontaneous product of charity, yet it is to be reckoned a special virtue that is distinguishable from charity. For Mercy is also linked to justice, because it softens justice. Obviously the necessity or need of others can be either of body or soul. Hence it is customary to list both corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy. The traditional enumeration of the Corporal Works of Mercy is as follows:
The Corporal Works of Mercy are :
To feed the hungry;
To give drink to the thirsty;
To clothe the naked;
To shelter the homeless;
To visit the sick;
To ransom the captive;
To bury the dead.
The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:
To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted;
To pray for the living and the dead.
It All Comes Down to Giving Alms—Materially or Spiritually
It will be seen from these divisions that the Works of Mercy practically coincide with the various forms of almsgiving. It is thus that St. Thomas regards them. The word “alms”, of course, is a corruption of the Greek eleemosyne (mercy). The doing of Works of Mercy is not merely a matter of suggestion; there is also a strict precept imposed, both by the Natural Law and the Divine law, commanding their performance. The Natural Law commands Works of Mercy based upon the principle that we are to do to others as we would have them do to us. The Divine command is seen in the most strict words of Christ, who points out that failure to comply with it, will bring about the supreme penalty of eternal damnation (see Matthew 25:41 above): Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:45-46).
In the parable of Our Lord about the Sheep and the Goats, it is true, there is only direct and explicit mention of only the Corporal Works of Mercy: “I was hungry, and you gave me to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink! I was a stranger, and you took me in! I was naked, and you covered me! I was sick, and you visited Me! I was in prison, and you came to Me!” (Matthew 25:35-36). However, since the Spiritual Works of Mercy deal with a need or a distress whose relief is even more important as well as more effective for the grand purpose of man’s creation, the term “Works of Mercy” must be extended into the spiritual realm also. Besides there are the obvious references of Christ to such works as fraternal correction (Matthew 18:15) as well as the forgiveness of injuries (Matthew 6:14).
Modern Spirituality is often a Selfish Spirituality
The modern spiritual life has become very much a cocooned spiritual life, a life of private devotion, which ultimately leads to a “Me, Me, Me” spirituality. Yet we are only one tiny part of the Mystical Body of Christ and what happens to and in the Body at large, affects us to a greater or lesser degree. The Scriptural quote concerning Cain and Abel comes to mind: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered, ‘I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9). Many know not the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ, many do not even care to know! But we are our “brother’s keeper” as witnessed by the words of Our Lady at Fatima, who said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.” Let us take these words to heart and do for others as we would wish others to do unto us!
This Time of Mercy Needs the Mother of Mercy
Though we might be very selfish with our mercy, Our Lady most certainly is not! Today is both a time of mercy and a time of Mary―and Mary is our Mother of Mercy! Our Lady, in the prayer and hymn Salve Regina, is called the “Mother of Mercy”―“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book, The Glories of Mary, quotes the words addressed by Our Lady herself to St. Bridget, by which Our Lady stresses her mercy:
“The Blessed Virgin herself revealed this to St. Bridget, saying: ‘As a mother who sees her son exposed to the sword of the enemy, makes every effort to save him, thus do I, and will I ever do for my children, sinful though they be, if they come to me for help’” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable―and for ever miserable in another life―who, in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus adds: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and, no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners―who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices―that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
“St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned mud vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. O, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
It’s a Mercy Family―Are You Part of the Family?
It is blatantly clear that God’s family is a family of mercy. In every litany that we pray, we ask God the Father for mercy, God the Son for mercy and God the Holy Ghost for mercy! It is a Holy Trinity of mercy. It is blatantly clear that God’s family is a family of mercy. In the Old Testament we read of God the Father saying: “I am the Lord thy God ... showing mercy unto thousands to them that love Me and keep My commandments! … I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me!” (Genesis 20:5-6; Exodus 33:19).
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was mercy incarnate― “God sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “And He is the propitiation for our sins―and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2) … “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4) … “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Christ Himself says: “If you knew what this means: ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’, then you would never have condemned the innocent” (Matthew 12:7). Mercy was the reason He entered this world. Mercy was why He forgave sins. Mercy was why He cured people of their physical ailments. Mercy was why He cast out demons. Mercy was why He suffered and died for us. Mercy for others was what He asked of His Father from the cross. Mercy was what flowed from His pierced side in the form of blood and water. Mercy was why He sent His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of the members of His Mystical Body, the Church. Mercy was the reason for the sending of His Spirit at Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit is the Fountain of Mercy. He is our Advocate―He pleads for mercy on our behalf. He is the Spouse of the Mother of God, through Whom she conceived Mercy Incarnate, Jesus Christ: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God!” (Luke 1:35). By becoming the Mother of God, she also became the Mother of Mercy. Mary “married” into the Family of Mercy and gave birth to Mercy Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
When you were baptized, you were baptized into the “Family of Mercy” and, in that very same Baptism, you were shown mercy with Original Sin being removed from your soul by the grace of God being poured into your soul. If you were baptized as an adult, then all you personal sins were mercifully removed together with Original Sin. Yet have we grown in that mercy? Have we shared that mercy? “From my infancy mercy grew up with me and it came out with me from my mother's womb” (Job 31:18). “The just are merciful, and show mercy!” (Proverbs 13:13). If you happened to fall into sin―mortal or venial―after your Baptism, then God mercifully removed the guilt of those sins in His Sacrament of Confession. Are you just as willing to forgive the guilt of others when you encounter their sins?
Every day―hopefully many, many times a day―you say the words of the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” ― God will take us on word! It is a “verbal contract” we have made hundreds of thousands of times, as many times as we have prayed the Our Father. In the Collect and Secret of the Mass for Our Enemies, we pray: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles” (Collect); and “Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins” (Secret).
From the altar of His Cross on Calvary, as He was dying, Our Lord prayed for His enemies, conspirators, betrayers, torturers and murderers, saying: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). He could have had the attitude of His two Apostles, James and John, who wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy the Samaritan city that had rejected and turned its back on Christ’s preaching there: “And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” ― even the souls of His enemies (Luke 9:54-56).
Mercy makes us similar to God, a lack of mercy makes us similar to the devil, who is merciless. “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), the devil is hatred personified. God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18). The devil says: “If your sins be as scarlet, then I’ll will never let them go! If they as red as crimson, I’ll nail them to your skull!” Who do we want to resemble? God or the devil? The litmus test is seen in the mercy that you show, or refuse to show! As St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “Of all the virtues which relate to our neighbor, mercy is the greatest” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q.30, art. 4).
Thursday June 10th
Article 6
Does Your Heart Need a Jab or a Vaccination?
Article 6
Does Your Heart Need a Jab or a Vaccination?
Sometimes You Need a Jab to Get Started Again!
Sometimes, when the heart stops―cardiac arrest―emergency procedures are necessary to restart the heart. One such procedure is known as “intracardiac injections” (intracardiac means “into the heart”), whereby certain elements are injected directly into the heart muscles or heart ventricles. The practice of intracardiac injection originated in the 1800s. It was commonly performed during the 1960s, as it was considered the fastest way to get medication to the heart. Intracardiac injection requires the tip of the needle to be inserted through the myocardium (the muscular tissue wall of the heart) and into a cardiac chamber. The practice began declining during the 1970s as more reliable delivery methods of medications came into use―such as intravenous (through the veins), endotracheal (through the trachea or windpipe), and intraosseous (through the bone).
As the candidates for this route of medicinal delivery have undergone a cardiac arrest, there are no absolute or relative contraindications to performing this procedure. These direct injections into the heart can still be and still are used in emergencies, although they more and more rarely used in modern practice. Studies have revealed that intravenous injections were equally effective and were less prone to risks and complications. The probability of complications can be reduced by using a narrow gauge of needle―thus creating a smaller hole in the heart.
At the Heart of Life!
Loosely speaking, the heart and the brain represent our two powers of the soul―the heart representing the will, and the brain representing the intellect. The heart and brain are not part of the soul―though they do symbolize the soul. The soul is the life of the body―and this is symbolized by the heart and the brain. We can be “brain-dead” or “heart-dead”. No heartbeat, no life! Poor heart, poor energy! Weak heart, weak courage! The heart stands at the heart of life, energy and courage. Hence all those many idioms or phrases that use the word “heart” ― “a heart of gold” … “kind-hearted” … “big-hearted” … “lion-hearted” … “brave-hearted” … “strong-hearted” … “faint-hearted” … “didn’t have the heart” … “warm-hearted” … “cold-hearted” … “a heart of stone” … “stone-hearted” … “a heart of evil” … “heartless” … “heartening” … “gave it all his heart” … “was at the heart of the project” … “lost heart” … “down-hearted” … “etc.
The Book of the Heart
The notion of the heart as a “book” ― as in the phrase “book of the heart” ― containing a person’s thoughts, feelings, or memories, is one of most prominent forms of heart symbolism in the Middle Ages. In romances, lovers’ hearts were inscribed with the name or image of their beloved, while the legends of saints celebrated martyrs whose hearts received marks of special divine favor. Clergy were told to let their “inner scribe” copy God’s commands onto the “pages of their hearts”, and ordinary believers prayed for Christ to write the memory of His Passion in the “book of their heart.” Artists portrayed authors holding a heart in one hand and a pen in the other, and some late-medieval paintings depicted the sitter as a scribe, or reader, holding a heart-shaped book. Medieval artisans even produced actual heart-shaped manuscript books, some of which still survive!
The metaphor of an “inner book of the heart” appears in both classical and biblical tradition and may ultimately go as far back to ancient Egyptian sources. The classical and biblical metaphors combined in early Christian theology, which pictured the heart (representing the soul, mind, conscience, memory, etc.) as a “book” containing a record of the individual’s life—every thought, word, and deed. The book of the heart was known only to God during one’s earthly life, but would be opened and read aloud to all at the Last Judgment.
We see many references―explicit and implicit―to this idea of the heart being a inner book within us. In the Old Testament we find such phrases as: “They shall speak to thee and utter words out of their hearts!” (Job 8:10) … “Lay up these My words in your hearts” (Deuteronomy 11:18) ... “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify to you this day!” (Deuteronomy 32:46) … “They will think upon His words in their hearts” (Ecclesiasticus 21:20).
While in the New Testament Scriptures we find Jesus reading the “book of the heart” with phrases such as: “Thou, Lord, knowest the hearts of all men” (Acts 1:24) … “God knoweth the hearts” (Acts 15:8) … “The law written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15) … “I will give my laws in their hearts, and on their minds will I write them” (Hebrews 10:16) … “Lay you up in your hearts these words!” (Luke 9:44) … “The word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:15) … “Thoughts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38) … “All were thinking in their hearts” (Luke 3:15) … “Out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35) … “There were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts” (Mark 2:6) “Jesus, knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, said to them: ‘Why think you these things in your hearts?’” (Mark 2:8) … “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: ‘What is it you think in your hearts?’” (Luke 5:22) … “Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Matthew 9:4) … “Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22) .… “You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).
As for its “format” as a book, the “book of the heart” was originally imagined as a tablet or scroll, and not until the birth of the codex (codex means an ancient manuscript text in book form) in the years 200-400, did the “book of the heart” assume the familiar shape of the book, as we still know it today. The early Christian theologian Origen (around 250), for example, still pictured the inner book of the heart as a scroll “rolled up” in each person’s heart, while Saint Basil (329-379) compared the heart to a wax writing-tablet, that was erased and rewritten as a result of religious conversion.
Saint Augustine (354-430) was a pivotal figure in the evolution of the book of the heart. His spiritual autobiography, the Confessions, is essentially the story of his heart, and his famous conversion story closely identifies his heart with the codex in particular. Artists would later depict Augustine sitting at his desk with an open book, holding a pen in one hand and his heart in the other.
In later centuries, monks and scholars developed the “book of the heart” concept. In the priestly and religious culture, the “book of the heart” usually contained divine truths, devotional feelings, or a personal moral record. According to one twelfth-century (1100s) scholar, “Each person carries in his heart a written record, as it were, whereby his conscience accuses or defends him.” The inner book of the heart, thus represented, not only the unique human individual, but also the secret or private self—which was a crucial contribution to the modern concept of the person under the symbol of the heart, whereby the “heart” symbolizes all that a person is.
The Symbol of Love
The heart is not just a symbol of life―it is also a symbol of love and always has been. The association between heart and love can be seen in the writings of all civilizations, especially in their poetic writings. The same is true in art―we have the popular St. Valentine’s Day where the heart is absolutely central to the expression of love. We have T-shirts and bumper-stickers with the symbol of the heart, preceded by the word “I” or “We” and followed by the word that expresses what we love―thus (keeping things religious and not worldly), you could have “We♥Jesus” or “I♥Mary”, etc.
In European art, the heart symbol seems to have assumed the now-familiar shape sometime in the 15th century. The human heart has symbolized love and passion since ancient times, but it was during the Middle Ages (800s to the 1500s) that it acquired its familiar “heart shape” with its meaning, which it still has today as the universal logo of love that appears everywhere from Valentine cards and candy boxes to bumper stickers and popular songs. Medieval poets enshrined the heart as a symbol of human passion and popularized many metaphors that we now think of as clichés—the “wounded heart”, the “broken heart”, the “stolen heart”, the “brave heart” and so forth. By the year 1400, artists had given the heart its now-familiar form as a symmetrical red emblem, depicting the “heart” in paintings and other visual art as a gift or token exchanged between lovers. For example, a French tapestry dating from around 1400, “The Offering of the Heart” (exhibited in the Musée de Cluny, Paris), shows an elegantly attired couple in a pleasure garden, where the man offers his “heart” to a woman as a symbol of his love and devotion to her.
Our Lord Himself Follows Suit
Is this all too worldly? Not so! Almost 300 years later, in the 1670s, Our Lord did the very same thing in his apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, as she herself descriptively relates in her own words: “One day, being before the Blessed Sacrament, I was so overwhelmed by this Divine presence as to forget myself and the place where I was. I abandoned myself to this Divine Spirit, surrendering my heart to the might of His love. Our Lord allowed me to recline for a long time on His divine breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of His love and the unutterable secrets of His Sacred Heart … He said to me: ‘My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures, which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin.’
“Thereupon He demanded my heart, which I entreated Him to take. He took it from my breast and plunged it into His own adorable Heart, where it appeared as but an atom in the midst of an immense ocean of fire. Then drawing it forth, in appearance like a flame in the shape of a heart, He replaced it in my breast, saying as He did so: ‘Behold, My beloved, a precious pledge of My love; it contains within your breast a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment. . . . Hitherto you have taken but the name of My slave; I give you now the title of the beloved disciple of My Sacred Heart.’
“After that, this Divine Heart … showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin, into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which It contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the source. He should be honored under the figure of this Heart of flesh, and Its image should be exposed. He wished me to wear this image on my own heart, that He might impress in it His love and fill it with all the gifts with which His Heart is replete, and destroy in it all inordinate affections.
“He promised me that wherever this image should be exposed with a view to showing It special honor, He would pour forth His blessings and graces. This devotion was the last effort of His love that He would grant to men in these latter ages, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion.” (Words of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).
Our Lord’s Injection of Love
As Our Lord said, He has come to heal and give life―He is our Divine Physician: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) ... “And you will not come to me that you may have life!” (John 5:40) … “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17) ... “I am the Bread of life … I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world!” (John 6:35, 51).
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and you could say that God “injected” His charity into the world by sending His Son to redeem us: “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). Christ Himself, so to speak, “injected” His divinity into human flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … In Him was life … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 4, 14).
Our Lord sought to “inject” that love and charity into mankind―as is clearly seen from His words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-38). Our Lord then adds: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another … This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you … These things I command you, that you love one another! … By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another! Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 13:34; 15:12, 17; 13:35; 15:13).
The Apostles earnestly echoed the words of their Master and Lord. St. Peter writes: “With a brotherly love, from a sincere heart love one another earnestly!” (1 Peter 1:22). St. John, known as “the Apostle of Love” writes at length on the matter:
“Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God!” (1 John 4:7). “My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:11). “This is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning―that you should love one another!” (1 John 3:11). “This is His commandment, that we should believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us!” (1 John 3:23). St. Paul adds: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbor, hath fulfilled the law!” (Romans 13:8).
The injection of love or charity is a powerful medicine―Our Lord Himself states of the “sick” sinner, Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils (Mark 16:9), that her charity brought a remedy for her many sins, saying: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―a truth that is echoed elsewhere in the Old and New Testaments: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12) and St. Peter writes: “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). St. Paul is so insistent upon this that he effectively says that there cannot be any “cure” or “remedy” without the injection of charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Today, we live―not in a culture of charity―but in a culture of hate, fuelled by an exaggerated love and esteem of self. Our charity is diseased, our love is watered down or just plain fake. Sin and the loss of a sense of sin is the virus that has contaminated our charity: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Just as some people need a blood transfusion, we need a charity transfusion. There is no better day than the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus―this Friday―to approach the Sacred Heart and beg for an injection of charity, a transfusion of charity! Do it! As Our Lord said: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:7).
Sometimes, when the heart stops―cardiac arrest―emergency procedures are necessary to restart the heart. One such procedure is known as “intracardiac injections” (intracardiac means “into the heart”), whereby certain elements are injected directly into the heart muscles or heart ventricles. The practice of intracardiac injection originated in the 1800s. It was commonly performed during the 1960s, as it was considered the fastest way to get medication to the heart. Intracardiac injection requires the tip of the needle to be inserted through the myocardium (the muscular tissue wall of the heart) and into a cardiac chamber. The practice began declining during the 1970s as more reliable delivery methods of medications came into use―such as intravenous (through the veins), endotracheal (through the trachea or windpipe), and intraosseous (through the bone).
As the candidates for this route of medicinal delivery have undergone a cardiac arrest, there are no absolute or relative contraindications to performing this procedure. These direct injections into the heart can still be and still are used in emergencies, although they more and more rarely used in modern practice. Studies have revealed that intravenous injections were equally effective and were less prone to risks and complications. The probability of complications can be reduced by using a narrow gauge of needle―thus creating a smaller hole in the heart.
At the Heart of Life!
Loosely speaking, the heart and the brain represent our two powers of the soul―the heart representing the will, and the brain representing the intellect. The heart and brain are not part of the soul―though they do symbolize the soul. The soul is the life of the body―and this is symbolized by the heart and the brain. We can be “brain-dead” or “heart-dead”. No heartbeat, no life! Poor heart, poor energy! Weak heart, weak courage! The heart stands at the heart of life, energy and courage. Hence all those many idioms or phrases that use the word “heart” ― “a heart of gold” … “kind-hearted” … “big-hearted” … “lion-hearted” … “brave-hearted” … “strong-hearted” … “faint-hearted” … “didn’t have the heart” … “warm-hearted” … “cold-hearted” … “a heart of stone” … “stone-hearted” … “a heart of evil” … “heartless” … “heartening” … “gave it all his heart” … “was at the heart of the project” … “lost heart” … “down-hearted” … “etc.
The Book of the Heart
The notion of the heart as a “book” ― as in the phrase “book of the heart” ― containing a person’s thoughts, feelings, or memories, is one of most prominent forms of heart symbolism in the Middle Ages. In romances, lovers’ hearts were inscribed with the name or image of their beloved, while the legends of saints celebrated martyrs whose hearts received marks of special divine favor. Clergy were told to let their “inner scribe” copy God’s commands onto the “pages of their hearts”, and ordinary believers prayed for Christ to write the memory of His Passion in the “book of their heart.” Artists portrayed authors holding a heart in one hand and a pen in the other, and some late-medieval paintings depicted the sitter as a scribe, or reader, holding a heart-shaped book. Medieval artisans even produced actual heart-shaped manuscript books, some of which still survive!
The metaphor of an “inner book of the heart” appears in both classical and biblical tradition and may ultimately go as far back to ancient Egyptian sources. The classical and biblical metaphors combined in early Christian theology, which pictured the heart (representing the soul, mind, conscience, memory, etc.) as a “book” containing a record of the individual’s life—every thought, word, and deed. The book of the heart was known only to God during one’s earthly life, but would be opened and read aloud to all at the Last Judgment.
We see many references―explicit and implicit―to this idea of the heart being a inner book within us. In the Old Testament we find such phrases as: “They shall speak to thee and utter words out of their hearts!” (Job 8:10) … “Lay up these My words in your hearts” (Deuteronomy 11:18) ... “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify to you this day!” (Deuteronomy 32:46) … “They will think upon His words in their hearts” (Ecclesiasticus 21:20).
While in the New Testament Scriptures we find Jesus reading the “book of the heart” with phrases such as: “Thou, Lord, knowest the hearts of all men” (Acts 1:24) … “God knoweth the hearts” (Acts 15:8) … “The law written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15) … “I will give my laws in their hearts, and on their minds will I write them” (Hebrews 10:16) … “Lay you up in your hearts these words!” (Luke 9:44) … “The word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:15) … “Thoughts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38) … “All were thinking in their hearts” (Luke 3:15) … “Out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35) … “There were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts” (Mark 2:6) “Jesus, knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, said to them: ‘Why think you these things in your hearts?’” (Mark 2:8) … “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: ‘What is it you think in your hearts?’” (Luke 5:22) … “Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Matthew 9:4) … “Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22) .… “You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).
As for its “format” as a book, the “book of the heart” was originally imagined as a tablet or scroll, and not until the birth of the codex (codex means an ancient manuscript text in book form) in the years 200-400, did the “book of the heart” assume the familiar shape of the book, as we still know it today. The early Christian theologian Origen (around 250), for example, still pictured the inner book of the heart as a scroll “rolled up” in each person’s heart, while Saint Basil (329-379) compared the heart to a wax writing-tablet, that was erased and rewritten as a result of religious conversion.
Saint Augustine (354-430) was a pivotal figure in the evolution of the book of the heart. His spiritual autobiography, the Confessions, is essentially the story of his heart, and his famous conversion story closely identifies his heart with the codex in particular. Artists would later depict Augustine sitting at his desk with an open book, holding a pen in one hand and his heart in the other.
In later centuries, monks and scholars developed the “book of the heart” concept. In the priestly and religious culture, the “book of the heart” usually contained divine truths, devotional feelings, or a personal moral record. According to one twelfth-century (1100s) scholar, “Each person carries in his heart a written record, as it were, whereby his conscience accuses or defends him.” The inner book of the heart, thus represented, not only the unique human individual, but also the secret or private self—which was a crucial contribution to the modern concept of the person under the symbol of the heart, whereby the “heart” symbolizes all that a person is.
The Symbol of Love
The heart is not just a symbol of life―it is also a symbol of love and always has been. The association between heart and love can be seen in the writings of all civilizations, especially in their poetic writings. The same is true in art―we have the popular St. Valentine’s Day where the heart is absolutely central to the expression of love. We have T-shirts and bumper-stickers with the symbol of the heart, preceded by the word “I” or “We” and followed by the word that expresses what we love―thus (keeping things religious and not worldly), you could have “We♥Jesus” or “I♥Mary”, etc.
In European art, the heart symbol seems to have assumed the now-familiar shape sometime in the 15th century. The human heart has symbolized love and passion since ancient times, but it was during the Middle Ages (800s to the 1500s) that it acquired its familiar “heart shape” with its meaning, which it still has today as the universal logo of love that appears everywhere from Valentine cards and candy boxes to bumper stickers and popular songs. Medieval poets enshrined the heart as a symbol of human passion and popularized many metaphors that we now think of as clichés—the “wounded heart”, the “broken heart”, the “stolen heart”, the “brave heart” and so forth. By the year 1400, artists had given the heart its now-familiar form as a symmetrical red emblem, depicting the “heart” in paintings and other visual art as a gift or token exchanged between lovers. For example, a French tapestry dating from around 1400, “The Offering of the Heart” (exhibited in the Musée de Cluny, Paris), shows an elegantly attired couple in a pleasure garden, where the man offers his “heart” to a woman as a symbol of his love and devotion to her.
Our Lord Himself Follows Suit
Is this all too worldly? Not so! Almost 300 years later, in the 1670s, Our Lord did the very same thing in his apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, as she herself descriptively relates in her own words: “One day, being before the Blessed Sacrament, I was so overwhelmed by this Divine presence as to forget myself and the place where I was. I abandoned myself to this Divine Spirit, surrendering my heart to the might of His love. Our Lord allowed me to recline for a long time on His divine breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of His love and the unutterable secrets of His Sacred Heart … He said to me: ‘My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures, which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin.’
“Thereupon He demanded my heart, which I entreated Him to take. He took it from my breast and plunged it into His own adorable Heart, where it appeared as but an atom in the midst of an immense ocean of fire. Then drawing it forth, in appearance like a flame in the shape of a heart, He replaced it in my breast, saying as He did so: ‘Behold, My beloved, a precious pledge of My love; it contains within your breast a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment. . . . Hitherto you have taken but the name of My slave; I give you now the title of the beloved disciple of My Sacred Heart.’
“After that, this Divine Heart … showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin, into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which It contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the source. He should be honored under the figure of this Heart of flesh, and Its image should be exposed. He wished me to wear this image on my own heart, that He might impress in it His love and fill it with all the gifts with which His Heart is replete, and destroy in it all inordinate affections.
“He promised me that wherever this image should be exposed with a view to showing It special honor, He would pour forth His blessings and graces. This devotion was the last effort of His love that He would grant to men in these latter ages, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion.” (Words of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).
Our Lord’s Injection of Love
As Our Lord said, He has come to heal and give life―He is our Divine Physician: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) ... “And you will not come to me that you may have life!” (John 5:40) … “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17) ... “I am the Bread of life … I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world!” (John 6:35, 51).
“God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and you could say that God “injected” His charity into the world by sending His Son to redeem us: “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). Christ Himself, so to speak, “injected” His divinity into human flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … In Him was life … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 4, 14).
Our Lord sought to “inject” that love and charity into mankind―as is clearly seen from His words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-38). Our Lord then adds: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another … This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you … These things I command you, that you love one another! … By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another! Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 13:34; 15:12, 17; 13:35; 15:13).
The Apostles earnestly echoed the words of their Master and Lord. St. Peter writes: “With a brotherly love, from a sincere heart love one another earnestly!” (1 Peter 1:22). St. John, known as “the Apostle of Love” writes at length on the matter:
“Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God!” (1 John 4:7). “My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:11). “This is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning―that you should love one another!” (1 John 3:11). “This is His commandment, that we should believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us!” (1 John 3:23). St. Paul adds: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbor, hath fulfilled the law!” (Romans 13:8).
The injection of love or charity is a powerful medicine―Our Lord Himself states of the “sick” sinner, Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils (Mark 16:9), that her charity brought a remedy for her many sins, saying: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―a truth that is echoed elsewhere in the Old and New Testaments: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12) and St. Peter writes: “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). St. Paul is so insistent upon this that he effectively says that there cannot be any “cure” or “remedy” without the injection of charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Today, we live―not in a culture of charity―but in a culture of hate, fuelled by an exaggerated love and esteem of self. Our charity is diseased, our love is watered down or just plain fake. Sin and the loss of a sense of sin is the virus that has contaminated our charity: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Just as some people need a blood transfusion, we need a charity transfusion. There is no better day than the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus―this Friday―to approach the Sacred Heart and beg for an injection of charity, a transfusion of charity! Do it! As Our Lord said: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you!” (John 15:7).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday June 8th & Wednesday June 9th
Article 5
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
Tuesday June 8th & Wednesday June 9th
Article 5
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
Is There a Problem?
Do you have a problem? Does the world have problems? Does the Church have problems? Can you even see the problems? Can you admit to the problems? The first step in solving any problem is seeing and admitting there is one. A problem will not be solved until you admit you have one. Many people tend to ignore a problem in the hope that it might just go away by itself? But be honest, how often does a problem just go away of itself? You can ignore a problem, but that does not mean it has been resolved.
The DE-adly Sins! Denial & Excuses!
There is a double-barreled shotgun that many people pull out when faced by a problem. One barrel is DENIAL and the other barrel is EXCUSES. The first trigger to be pulled on the double-barreled shotgun is for the barrel of DENIAL. When the problem is still standing there in front of you, then the second trigger is pulled for the barrel of EXCUSES. It comes down to denying there is a problem until you can no longer ignore it or refute its existence, and then begin to make excuses for why the problem exists. But denial and excuses bring you no closer to solving the problem.
Seeing is Not Enough!
However, admitting to a problem does not, of itself, solve the problem. It is merely the first step of many successive steps that have to be taken. Similarly, admitting to a sin in the Sacrament of Confession is not enough by itself―there are other required steps that must be fulfilled―just like saying “Sorry!” to someone you have just shot, does not heal the wound! If you confess your sin, you must also be truly sorry for it, or at least fear God’s punishments for that sin. Additionally, you have a firm purpose of amendment―and the word “firm” means firm, and not a vague, half-baked, purpose of amendment―in other words: What is your plan going to be? What changes are you going to make and enforce? What are you going to avoid that perhaps leads you into sin? If you have stolen something, then you must also give the thing back, or restore the money somehow! Saying “Sorry!” is not enough, confessing your sin is not enough―all these other things must be part and parcel of it.
Honesty and Humility Required
Adam and Eve had a problem―they had sinned! Yet they refused to face the problem with honesty and humility. Adam and Eve do not seek out God and say: “We have sinned! We have done what you commanded us not to do!” Instead they tried to hide from God. When God finally addresses the problem, Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. Mankind has been doing the same ever since! Go ahead! Raise your hand if you’ve never made a mistake!
Paul Ratner, in an article entitled “Why It’s Important To Admit When You’re Wrong” quotes several psychologists on the problem people have in admitting their mistakes. Even psychology―which has become a false god today―tells us the truth from time to time: “We've all done something which might have seemed good at the time but turned out to be flat wrong. And then came the dread of admitting the mistake. Why is that part always so challenging? We never want to be the one who didn’t get it right, who needs to grovel in defeat and suffer the ignominy of apologizing. Psychologists think that while hard, learning to deal with admitting fault is extremely important to sustaining relationships and personal growth. What are some reactions you can have to a mistake? For one, you first need to become aware of it. Some people, you might have noticed, do not possess the self-awareness necessary to know they have wronged people or have misjudged a situation in a key way. Another impediment to admitting mistakes ― when their self-image is at stake, when they are afraid of looking weak and vulnerable ― is that people often tend to double down. Their confirmation bias may make them overcompensate, refusing to acknowledge fault and consider only the evidence that supports their beliefs.
“What happens next is cognitive dissonance [Cognitive dissonance is an unconscious defense system were we refuse ownership of our mistakes in order to protect our ego]. That’s the psychological stress experienced by a person who gets confronted by having two contradictory ideas or beliefs. They get very confused upon having their world views and values challenged by actions going against them. Social psychologist Carol Tavris, who wrote the aptly-named book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), said that the problem comes when our sense of self is under attack. She adds: ‘Cognitive dissonance is what we feel when the self-concept — “I'm smart, I'm kind, I'm convinced this belief is true!” — is threatened by evidence that we did something that wasn't smart, that we did something that hurt another person, that the belief isn’t true.’ How do you reduce this cognitive dissonance? You need to alter your concept of self, start coming to grips with the evidence presented―if not, then you will try to justify your mistake. We all know which approaches we tend to take. Learning to incorporate reality can be quite painful to the ego”―which is what takes place in a honest and humble confession of one’s sins in the Sacrament of Confession.
Behavioral health therapist Jane Permoto Ehrman, of the Cleveland Clinic, explained that “resistance is engrained into our culture and brains from a young age. Everyone has some form of inner rebel that likes to question or do the opposite of what we're told [We Catholics would call that “inner rebel resistance” by the name of Original Sin―which in essence was a sin of Pride and Disobedience―and which is “engrained” in all of us at our conception]. As adults, it's important to recognize when our rebellious self is acting out in a way that's not in our best interest or if it might be harmful to those around us. When we feel a powerful surge of resistance, it’s usually us trying to protect our ego, because we don't want to look vulnerable!”
Learning Humility of Heart from Alcoholics Anonymous
Sometimes sinners can teach us a thing or two. You could say that Alcoholics Anonymous is a “club of sinners” who desire to change―each member being different to others in both degree of sin and degree of desire to change. “What on earth can we learn from them?” you might protest. That attitude is a little like the attitude of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee (the righteous man) and the Publican (the sinner). The Pharisee actually thanks God for making him a good man―but he looks down upon and despises the sinner:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, he spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” [Then Jesus said]: ‘I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-12).
Perhaps it was this parable that gave birth to the expression: “I would rather follow God as a humble sinner than a proud saint!” You could say that most of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous are “humble sinners” or at least on the way to becoming “humble sinners” and we, the onlookers―looking down upon them―risk being the “proud saints”!
Whether you are a sinner or a saint, you need to be humble and humility is usually acquired through many humiliations. Our Lord Himself said: “Learn of Me, because I am humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29) and Our Lady adds in her canticle, the Magnificat: “He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid … He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:48-52). Humility of heart is looked upon as being the very foundation of the spiritual and sanctity―even though charity is the greatest of all virtues.
Twelve Steps to Sobriety―Twelve Steps to Humility?
The Publican had something to teach the Pharisee―even though the Publican was a sinner. Mary Magdalen taught the Apostles a thing or two―even though she had been a great sinner. Likewise we have much we can learn from Alcoholics Anonymous―even though we might not be addicts. The 12-Step approach of Alcoholics Anonymous follows a set of guidelines designed as “steps” toward recovery from addiction, and members can revisit these steps at any time. You will see that they are permeated with honesty and humility. The 12 Steps are as follows:
(1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
(2) We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
(3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
(4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
(5) We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
(6) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
(7) We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
(8) We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
(9) We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
(10) We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
(11) We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The World is Like Alcohol
Over time, the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous were applied to the many different areas of addiction. Yet there is one kind of general addiction―the granddaddy of them all―that is usually overlooked. What is it? It is addiction to the world. The world―and its side-effect of worldliness―has destroyed and damned many souls by corrupting their hearts in drawing them away from God. In fact, so seductive and addictive is the world that Our Lord singled it out and warned against it several times in discourses. In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord points out the world chokes the word of God and makes it fruitless: “And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” … “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless!” … (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19).
Elsewhere Our Lord says: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” … “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?” (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25). “Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek!” (Luke 12:29-30). “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47). “I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, the spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him!” (John 14:16-17). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He points out the division between the world and Himself: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “He that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
Holy Scripture further testifies against the world: “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:17) ― if there is nothing wrong with the world, why does it need saving? “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not!” (John 1:10). To which Our Lord adds: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 7:7). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Can you be given a clearer warning against the seduction and addiction of the world? Those words are strikingly clear! Yet it seems there are few persons who take this to heart. Their hearts are besotted by the world, the world is ensconced in their heart, they are addicted to the world and could not imagine living without the world and all that it offers. It was exactly that with which Satan tried to tempt Our Lord in the desert: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). Our Lord, of course, refused and having overcome the temptation Himself, He warns us: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” … “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?” (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25).
Who Will Admit Their Addiction to the World?
Let’s be honest―never before in the history of the world have the common people “had it so good” as they have it now! If the kings of old could witness how the “commoners” (regular working folk) live today, they would pine to come back and live in our day. The world today is “dressed to kill” ― with every compartment of life promising that you will be filled and thrilled.
Comfort, ease, variety, speed, instant gratification, instant information, real reality and virtual reality, worldwide instant access. The stores are filled with what kings of old could not even dream up―never mind buy and own! Food from every corner of the globe available locally all year round! Food ready to eat without having to plant, grow, harvest, process and prepare! Clothing of such a variety that you could wear something new every day until the day you died! Furniture of all kinds―even water beds, body adjusting mattresses, reclining chairs, massaging chairs, etc. Cars, buses, trains and planes―no longer horses, buggies and wagons. Power tools for house and garden maintenance. Throw into the mix things like computers, smartphones, tablets, videos, television, etc. Refrigeration, ovens, microwaves, electrical kitchen appliances. Central heating and air-conditioning. Now we are in the age of getting your own electricity through solar panels. Furthermore, electrical engineers and microbiologists have developed a have created a device they call an “Air-gen” or air-powered generator―a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air―literally making electricity out of thin air.
The latest portable music players (the size of a cellphone) can store a minimum of 8,000 songs to a maximum of 16,000 songs on 32 gigabytes―depending on the length of the song. Get a portable 2 terabyte hard-drive, the size of a business card, and you can store 250 movies, or 500 hours of HD video, or 6.5 million document pages, or 1,300 physical filing cabinets of paper. Currently, your portable storage can go up to 4 terabytes―so multiply the numbers above by 4 and you will have 5,200 full filing cabinets in a matchbox sized electronic storage device.
The GPS has replaced memory and intelligence while driving. Google’s “Assistant” … Amazon’s “Alexa” … Microsoft’s “Cortona” … Apple’s “Siri” … Samsung’s “Bixby” are some of the most popular personal assistant apps that use Artificial Intelligence! Who needs to be intelligent or even think anymore when you have an Artificial Intelligence app sitting on your desktop, or on your laptop or smartphone―just ask you app for the answer and in split second you have it! They will tell you that not even God answers your prayers that quickly! And there you have the crunch, there is the snare―much of what the modern world gives us implicitly draws us away from God, makes us rely less and less on God, makes the need for God more and more unnecessary. The world gives you everything on a plate!
Addicted More Than We Care to Admit
The problem with most people is that they are “split-personalities”―split between theory and practice, split between “all talk and no action”, split between “talking the talk” and “walking the walk”, split between “do as I say, not as I do”, split between being “Sunday Catholics” and “Weekday Worldlings”. We are increasingly morphing or changing into Catholics who believe there is a God, but live like there is no God. We might know the Ten Commandments, but we also know we don’t keep them―except in our memory. We know that God, as Christ, is in the tabernacle, but we genuflect before Him as though He wasn’t there. It is really a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. On the other hand, the world is not out of sight, and therefore it is rarely out of mind―perhaps only while we sleep!
We spend many hours every day in front of a screen (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, video-game, etc), but we cannot find time to spend an extra hour a week for prayer, or in front of the tabernacle. We “talk” the world all day long―news, politics, sports, fashion, experiences, home life, work life, social life, relationships, personal happenings, etc. and God is barely or rarely allowed into those conversations. The famous saying: “Don’t talk politics or religion!” has become “Don’t talk religion!” We will scour the various news media outlets for the latest news, we will pore over social media postings to satisfy our curiosity―but we will rarely pore over spiritual books, or books that could increase our knowledge of the Faith and its history. We will spend hours preparing meals in the kitchen―but will barely spend a few minutes preparing to receive the Bread of Life in Holy Communion. The comparisons could go on for page after page―the point is that we are most certainly addicted to the world far more than we are addicted to God. That is a problem! That is a sin! And Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Addiction is a sin. Addiction causes problems. Addiction brings trouble. The Catholic addiction to the world is sinful and is at the root of the troubles in both the Church and the world. If we are to see any changes in the both crises―in the Church and in the world―then we had better stop being addicted to the world and start being addicted to God.
God Made Us to be Addicts
It may sound like a controversial statement ― “God made us to be addicts” ― but is it? What is addiction? Here are some definitions of “addiction” taken from dictionaries and government agencies: “Addiction is a term that means compulsive physiological need for and use of something, characterized by tolerance and well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal … People with addiction use things or engage in behaviors that become an uncontrollable habit and then compulsive habits and often continue despite harmful consequences … Addiction is an inability to stop using a thing or stop engaging in a behavior even though it is causing psychological and physical harm … Addiction is the repeated involvement with a thing or activity, despite the substantial harm it now causes, because that involvement was (and may continue to be) pleasurable and/or valuable.”
What emerges from those various definitions of addiction is:
(1) a habit that becomes an uncontrollable habit and leads to compulsion.
(2) the goal of addiction is the seeking of some pleasure
(3) the addiction is strong enough to endure all kinds of harmful consequences.
This fits perfectly with what Christ has told us of our duties to God.
(1) A habit that becomes an uncontrollable habit and leads to compulsion. Our Lord tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Being the first and greatest commandment, it is not an option, it is not an afterthought, it is not one of many things on your “to do” list that you will get round to sooner or later―it is the first thing that has to be done and it has to be so intensive and time consuming that you could call it an addiction. What would you call someone who devotes all their time, with all their heart, and all their mind, and all their soul and strength in the pursuance of something? You would call them a “fanatic” or an “addict”―he is addicted to his job, he is addicted to the sport, he is addicted to the TV, etc. Well, God expects us to be addicted to Him―that is what that first commandment is about: addiction to God―this is the first and greatest commandment. If that wasn’t enough to picture addiction―Our Lord and Holy Scripture add: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Is that not addiction? Of course it is―but it is a good addiction, just like breathing, which is why some of the Fathers of Church compare prayer to breathing―it must take place ceaselessly. Furthermore, to add fire to the addictive compulsion of having to turn to God, Our Lord Himself says: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5)―the flip side of the coin therefore means: “You need to bring Me into EVERYTHING that you think, say or do!” If that is not addiction, then what is?
(2) The goal of addiction is the seeking of some pleasure. The ultimate pleasure has to be the eternal joys of everlasting life in Heaven. “God had planted a paradise of pleasure wherein He placed man whom He had formed!” (Genesis 2:8). Sin lost that “paradise of pleasure”, but we can gain something even greater than Adam’s “paradise of pleasure” ― we can gain Heaven. Of this heavenly paradise of pleasure Holy Scripture speaks, when it says: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:20).
(3) The addiction is strong enough to endure all kinds of harmful consequences. Our Lord foretold that addiction to God would bring harmful consequences: “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake!” (Mark 13:9). “They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake!” (Luke 21:12). “They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake! … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere [in his addiction to God] unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
Our Heart is Sick!
Our heart has become sick, just like a child becomes sick from eating too much candy, chocolates, cookies and cakes. The world has fed us so much sugar that our heart is danger of death. You may not realize it―but sugar is the cause behind hundreds of different diseases. Disease thrives in an acidic environment―and sugar is acidic and addictive. Hence the saying “bitter is better” ― for bitter things tend to be alkaline, and disease cannot thrive in an alkaline environment. That is why God has made our body chemistry to be slightly on the alkaline side. However, if we stubbornly refuse to accept this law of nature, and feed our bodies more and more sugar because it tastes nice, then we have to face the consequences of increased disease and earlier death.
Our Lord insists upon a similar “sugarless” principle for the spiritual life, insisting that “bitter is bitter” as He seeks to share with us a “bit” of His “bitter” cross―or should we say “bitter-sweet” cross, for through the cross comes salvation: “In cruce salus” (meaning “in the cross is salvation”). To anyone who seeks salvation, Our Lord says: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
If those words ever needed reinforcing, then Our Lord did so when He said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
You have to admit that our present day age is one that clearly reflects that “coldness, indifference, spineless imperfections and lack of confidence” that Our Lord mentions and denounces. We are―or have been―guilty of being “two-faced” with God―as Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). Our lips might be hot―but our hearts are in cold-storage. Our hearts have turned, or are in the process of turning, to stone through our coldness and indifference and lack of interest and lack of courage. “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10). They “have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord God” (Baruch 1:22).
Our Lady sums it up this way: “Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and that this insane love would pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God. Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering …
“Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. In this life any punishment or tribulation fills mortals with fear and dread, merely because it affects the senses and brings them in close touch with it through them, but the guilt of sin does not affect them nor fill them with dread. Men are entirely taken up by that which is visible, and they therefore do not look upon the ultimate consequences of sin, which is the eternal punishment of Hell. Though this is imbibed and inseparably connected with sin, the human heart becomes so heavy and remiss that it remains as if it were stupefied in its wickedness, because it does not feel it present in its senses. Though it could see and feel it by Faith, this itself remains listless and dead, as if it were wanting entirely. O most unhappy blindness of mortals!” (Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
God Offers a Change of Heart―A New Heart
First of all, we need to admit our heart is sick! We need to admit our addiction to the world. We need to admit that our heart is chained down by its attachment to the world. God knows that―but we have to admit that: “I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12) … “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) ... “Turn away from sin and cleanse thy heart from all offence!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:10) ... “Be converted to me with all your heart―in fasting, in weeping, and in mourning” (Joel 2:12).
Just as the old western cowboy saying goes: “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us!”―likewise does God say: “Your heart isn’t big enough for both God and the world!” We are of divided heart―of which Our Lord says: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25), so too, every heart that is divided shall not stand: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other―or he will sustain the one and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon [the world]!” (Matthew 6:24). Sister Lucia of Fatima also issued a similar warning from Our Lady: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We have to reassess our position, make a definitive choice on who to serve and then stick by that choice―come what may! As God says: “You shall seek Me and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart!” (Jeremias 29:13).
If you decide upon a change of heart, then know that God will help you―as He has already stated many times: “I will give them one heart, and one way, so that they may fear Me all days! … I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me!” (Jeremias 32:39-40) … “I am the Lord their God; and I will give them a heart and they shall understand; and ears and they shall hear!” (Baruch 2:31) ... “I will give them a heart and they shall understand” (Baruch 2:31) ... “A wise and understanding heart” (3 Kings 3:12) ... “I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord! … They shall return to me with their whole heart!” (Jeremias 24:7) … “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels, and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19).
Do you have a problem? Does the world have problems? Does the Church have problems? Can you even see the problems? Can you admit to the problems? The first step in solving any problem is seeing and admitting there is one. A problem will not be solved until you admit you have one. Many people tend to ignore a problem in the hope that it might just go away by itself? But be honest, how often does a problem just go away of itself? You can ignore a problem, but that does not mean it has been resolved.
The DE-adly Sins! Denial & Excuses!
There is a double-barreled shotgun that many people pull out when faced by a problem. One barrel is DENIAL and the other barrel is EXCUSES. The first trigger to be pulled on the double-barreled shotgun is for the barrel of DENIAL. When the problem is still standing there in front of you, then the second trigger is pulled for the barrel of EXCUSES. It comes down to denying there is a problem until you can no longer ignore it or refute its existence, and then begin to make excuses for why the problem exists. But denial and excuses bring you no closer to solving the problem.
Seeing is Not Enough!
However, admitting to a problem does not, of itself, solve the problem. It is merely the first step of many successive steps that have to be taken. Similarly, admitting to a sin in the Sacrament of Confession is not enough by itself―there are other required steps that must be fulfilled―just like saying “Sorry!” to someone you have just shot, does not heal the wound! If you confess your sin, you must also be truly sorry for it, or at least fear God’s punishments for that sin. Additionally, you have a firm purpose of amendment―and the word “firm” means firm, and not a vague, half-baked, purpose of amendment―in other words: What is your plan going to be? What changes are you going to make and enforce? What are you going to avoid that perhaps leads you into sin? If you have stolen something, then you must also give the thing back, or restore the money somehow! Saying “Sorry!” is not enough, confessing your sin is not enough―all these other things must be part and parcel of it.
Honesty and Humility Required
Adam and Eve had a problem―they had sinned! Yet they refused to face the problem with honesty and humility. Adam and Eve do not seek out God and say: “We have sinned! We have done what you commanded us not to do!” Instead they tried to hide from God. When God finally addresses the problem, Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. Mankind has been doing the same ever since! Go ahead! Raise your hand if you’ve never made a mistake!
Paul Ratner, in an article entitled “Why It’s Important To Admit When You’re Wrong” quotes several psychologists on the problem people have in admitting their mistakes. Even psychology―which has become a false god today―tells us the truth from time to time: “We've all done something which might have seemed good at the time but turned out to be flat wrong. And then came the dread of admitting the mistake. Why is that part always so challenging? We never want to be the one who didn’t get it right, who needs to grovel in defeat and suffer the ignominy of apologizing. Psychologists think that while hard, learning to deal with admitting fault is extremely important to sustaining relationships and personal growth. What are some reactions you can have to a mistake? For one, you first need to become aware of it. Some people, you might have noticed, do not possess the self-awareness necessary to know they have wronged people or have misjudged a situation in a key way. Another impediment to admitting mistakes ― when their self-image is at stake, when they are afraid of looking weak and vulnerable ― is that people often tend to double down. Their confirmation bias may make them overcompensate, refusing to acknowledge fault and consider only the evidence that supports their beliefs.
“What happens next is cognitive dissonance [Cognitive dissonance is an unconscious defense system were we refuse ownership of our mistakes in order to protect our ego]. That’s the psychological stress experienced by a person who gets confronted by having two contradictory ideas or beliefs. They get very confused upon having their world views and values challenged by actions going against them. Social psychologist Carol Tavris, who wrote the aptly-named book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), said that the problem comes when our sense of self is under attack. She adds: ‘Cognitive dissonance is what we feel when the self-concept — “I'm smart, I'm kind, I'm convinced this belief is true!” — is threatened by evidence that we did something that wasn't smart, that we did something that hurt another person, that the belief isn’t true.’ How do you reduce this cognitive dissonance? You need to alter your concept of self, start coming to grips with the evidence presented―if not, then you will try to justify your mistake. We all know which approaches we tend to take. Learning to incorporate reality can be quite painful to the ego”―which is what takes place in a honest and humble confession of one’s sins in the Sacrament of Confession.
Behavioral health therapist Jane Permoto Ehrman, of the Cleveland Clinic, explained that “resistance is engrained into our culture and brains from a young age. Everyone has some form of inner rebel that likes to question or do the opposite of what we're told [We Catholics would call that “inner rebel resistance” by the name of Original Sin―which in essence was a sin of Pride and Disobedience―and which is “engrained” in all of us at our conception]. As adults, it's important to recognize when our rebellious self is acting out in a way that's not in our best interest or if it might be harmful to those around us. When we feel a powerful surge of resistance, it’s usually us trying to protect our ego, because we don't want to look vulnerable!”
Learning Humility of Heart from Alcoholics Anonymous
Sometimes sinners can teach us a thing or two. You could say that Alcoholics Anonymous is a “club of sinners” who desire to change―each member being different to others in both degree of sin and degree of desire to change. “What on earth can we learn from them?” you might protest. That attitude is a little like the attitude of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee (the righteous man) and the Publican (the sinner). The Pharisee actually thanks God for making him a good man―but he looks down upon and despises the sinner:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, he spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” [Then Jesus said]: ‘I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-12).
Perhaps it was this parable that gave birth to the expression: “I would rather follow God as a humble sinner than a proud saint!” You could say that most of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous are “humble sinners” or at least on the way to becoming “humble sinners” and we, the onlookers―looking down upon them―risk being the “proud saints”!
Whether you are a sinner or a saint, you need to be humble and humility is usually acquired through many humiliations. Our Lord Himself said: “Learn of Me, because I am humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29) and Our Lady adds in her canticle, the Magnificat: “He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid … He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:48-52). Humility of heart is looked upon as being the very foundation of the spiritual and sanctity―even though charity is the greatest of all virtues.
Twelve Steps to Sobriety―Twelve Steps to Humility?
The Publican had something to teach the Pharisee―even though the Publican was a sinner. Mary Magdalen taught the Apostles a thing or two―even though she had been a great sinner. Likewise we have much we can learn from Alcoholics Anonymous―even though we might not be addicts. The 12-Step approach of Alcoholics Anonymous follows a set of guidelines designed as “steps” toward recovery from addiction, and members can revisit these steps at any time. You will see that they are permeated with honesty and humility. The 12 Steps are as follows:
(1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
(2) We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
(3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
(4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
(5) We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
(6) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
(7) We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
(8) We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
(9) We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
(10) We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
(11) We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The World is Like Alcohol
Over time, the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous were applied to the many different areas of addiction. Yet there is one kind of general addiction―the granddaddy of them all―that is usually overlooked. What is it? It is addiction to the world. The world―and its side-effect of worldliness―has destroyed and damned many souls by corrupting their hearts in drawing them away from God. In fact, so seductive and addictive is the world that Our Lord singled it out and warned against it several times in discourses. In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord points out the world chokes the word of God and makes it fruitless: “And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” … “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless!” … (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19).
Elsewhere Our Lord says: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” … “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?” (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25). “Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek!” (Luke 12:29-30). “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” (John 12:47). “I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, the spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him!” (John 14:16-17). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He points out the division between the world and Himself: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “He that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
Holy Scripture further testifies against the world: “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him!” (John 3:17) ― if there is nothing wrong with the world, why does it need saving? “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not!” (John 1:10). To which Our Lord adds: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works of the world are evil!” (John 7:7). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Can you be given a clearer warning against the seduction and addiction of the world? Those words are strikingly clear! Yet it seems there are few persons who take this to heart. Their hearts are besotted by the world, the world is ensconced in their heart, they are addicted to the world and could not imagine living without the world and all that it offers. It was exactly that with which Satan tried to tempt Our Lord in the desert: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’” (Matthew 4:8-9). Our Lord, of course, refused and having overcome the temptation Himself, He warns us: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” … “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?” (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25).
Who Will Admit Their Addiction to the World?
Let’s be honest―never before in the history of the world have the common people “had it so good” as they have it now! If the kings of old could witness how the “commoners” (regular working folk) live today, they would pine to come back and live in our day. The world today is “dressed to kill” ― with every compartment of life promising that you will be filled and thrilled.
Comfort, ease, variety, speed, instant gratification, instant information, real reality and virtual reality, worldwide instant access. The stores are filled with what kings of old could not even dream up―never mind buy and own! Food from every corner of the globe available locally all year round! Food ready to eat without having to plant, grow, harvest, process and prepare! Clothing of such a variety that you could wear something new every day until the day you died! Furniture of all kinds―even water beds, body adjusting mattresses, reclining chairs, massaging chairs, etc. Cars, buses, trains and planes―no longer horses, buggies and wagons. Power tools for house and garden maintenance. Throw into the mix things like computers, smartphones, tablets, videos, television, etc. Refrigeration, ovens, microwaves, electrical kitchen appliances. Central heating and air-conditioning. Now we are in the age of getting your own electricity through solar panels. Furthermore, electrical engineers and microbiologists have developed a have created a device they call an “Air-gen” or air-powered generator―a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air―literally making electricity out of thin air.
The latest portable music players (the size of a cellphone) can store a minimum of 8,000 songs to a maximum of 16,000 songs on 32 gigabytes―depending on the length of the song. Get a portable 2 terabyte hard-drive, the size of a business card, and you can store 250 movies, or 500 hours of HD video, or 6.5 million document pages, or 1,300 physical filing cabinets of paper. Currently, your portable storage can go up to 4 terabytes―so multiply the numbers above by 4 and you will have 5,200 full filing cabinets in a matchbox sized electronic storage device.
The GPS has replaced memory and intelligence while driving. Google’s “Assistant” … Amazon’s “Alexa” … Microsoft’s “Cortona” … Apple’s “Siri” … Samsung’s “Bixby” are some of the most popular personal assistant apps that use Artificial Intelligence! Who needs to be intelligent or even think anymore when you have an Artificial Intelligence app sitting on your desktop, or on your laptop or smartphone―just ask you app for the answer and in split second you have it! They will tell you that not even God answers your prayers that quickly! And there you have the crunch, there is the snare―much of what the modern world gives us implicitly draws us away from God, makes us rely less and less on God, makes the need for God more and more unnecessary. The world gives you everything on a plate!
Addicted More Than We Care to Admit
The problem with most people is that they are “split-personalities”―split between theory and practice, split between “all talk and no action”, split between “talking the talk” and “walking the walk”, split between “do as I say, not as I do”, split between being “Sunday Catholics” and “Weekday Worldlings”. We are increasingly morphing or changing into Catholics who believe there is a God, but live like there is no God. We might know the Ten Commandments, but we also know we don’t keep them―except in our memory. We know that God, as Christ, is in the tabernacle, but we genuflect before Him as though He wasn’t there. It is really a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. On the other hand, the world is not out of sight, and therefore it is rarely out of mind―perhaps only while we sleep!
We spend many hours every day in front of a screen (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, video-game, etc), but we cannot find time to spend an extra hour a week for prayer, or in front of the tabernacle. We “talk” the world all day long―news, politics, sports, fashion, experiences, home life, work life, social life, relationships, personal happenings, etc. and God is barely or rarely allowed into those conversations. The famous saying: “Don’t talk politics or religion!” has become “Don’t talk religion!” We will scour the various news media outlets for the latest news, we will pore over social media postings to satisfy our curiosity―but we will rarely pore over spiritual books, or books that could increase our knowledge of the Faith and its history. We will spend hours preparing meals in the kitchen―but will barely spend a few minutes preparing to receive the Bread of Life in Holy Communion. The comparisons could go on for page after page―the point is that we are most certainly addicted to the world far more than we are addicted to God. That is a problem! That is a sin! And Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Addiction is a sin. Addiction causes problems. Addiction brings trouble. The Catholic addiction to the world is sinful and is at the root of the troubles in both the Church and the world. If we are to see any changes in the both crises―in the Church and in the world―then we had better stop being addicted to the world and start being addicted to God.
God Made Us to be Addicts
It may sound like a controversial statement ― “God made us to be addicts” ― but is it? What is addiction? Here are some definitions of “addiction” taken from dictionaries and government agencies: “Addiction is a term that means compulsive physiological need for and use of something, characterized by tolerance and well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal … People with addiction use things or engage in behaviors that become an uncontrollable habit and then compulsive habits and often continue despite harmful consequences … Addiction is an inability to stop using a thing or stop engaging in a behavior even though it is causing psychological and physical harm … Addiction is the repeated involvement with a thing or activity, despite the substantial harm it now causes, because that involvement was (and may continue to be) pleasurable and/or valuable.”
What emerges from those various definitions of addiction is:
(1) a habit that becomes an uncontrollable habit and leads to compulsion.
(2) the goal of addiction is the seeking of some pleasure
(3) the addiction is strong enough to endure all kinds of harmful consequences.
This fits perfectly with what Christ has told us of our duties to God.
(1) A habit that becomes an uncontrollable habit and leads to compulsion. Our Lord tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). Being the first and greatest commandment, it is not an option, it is not an afterthought, it is not one of many things on your “to do” list that you will get round to sooner or later―it is the first thing that has to be done and it has to be so intensive and time consuming that you could call it an addiction. What would you call someone who devotes all their time, with all their heart, and all their mind, and all their soul and strength in the pursuance of something? You would call them a “fanatic” or an “addict”―he is addicted to his job, he is addicted to the sport, he is addicted to the TV, etc. Well, God expects us to be addicted to Him―that is what that first commandment is about: addiction to God―this is the first and greatest commandment. If that wasn’t enough to picture addiction―Our Lord and Holy Scripture add: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Is that not addiction? Of course it is―but it is a good addiction, just like breathing, which is why some of the Fathers of Church compare prayer to breathing―it must take place ceaselessly. Furthermore, to add fire to the addictive compulsion of having to turn to God, Our Lord Himself says: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5)―the flip side of the coin therefore means: “You need to bring Me into EVERYTHING that you think, say or do!” If that is not addiction, then what is?
(2) The goal of addiction is the seeking of some pleasure. The ultimate pleasure has to be the eternal joys of everlasting life in Heaven. “God had planted a paradise of pleasure wherein He placed man whom He had formed!” (Genesis 2:8). Sin lost that “paradise of pleasure”, but we can gain something even greater than Adam’s “paradise of pleasure” ― we can gain Heaven. Of this heavenly paradise of pleasure Holy Scripture speaks, when it says: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven!” (Matthew 6:20).
(3) The addiction is strong enough to endure all kinds of harmful consequences. Our Lord foretold that addiction to God would bring harmful consequences: “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake!” (Mark 13:9). “They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake!” (Luke 21:12). “They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake! … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere [in his addiction to God] unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
Our Heart is Sick!
Our heart has become sick, just like a child becomes sick from eating too much candy, chocolates, cookies and cakes. The world has fed us so much sugar that our heart is danger of death. You may not realize it―but sugar is the cause behind hundreds of different diseases. Disease thrives in an acidic environment―and sugar is acidic and addictive. Hence the saying “bitter is better” ― for bitter things tend to be alkaline, and disease cannot thrive in an alkaline environment. That is why God has made our body chemistry to be slightly on the alkaline side. However, if we stubbornly refuse to accept this law of nature, and feed our bodies more and more sugar because it tastes nice, then we have to face the consequences of increased disease and earlier death.
Our Lord insists upon a similar “sugarless” principle for the spiritual life, insisting that “bitter is bitter” as He seeks to share with us a “bit” of His “bitter” cross―or should we say “bitter-sweet” cross, for through the cross comes salvation: “In cruce salus” (meaning “in the cross is salvation”). To anyone who seeks salvation, Our Lord says: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
If those words ever needed reinforcing, then Our Lord did so when He said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
You have to admit that our present day age is one that clearly reflects that “coldness, indifference, spineless imperfections and lack of confidence” that Our Lord mentions and denounces. We are―or have been―guilty of being “two-faced” with God―as Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). Our lips might be hot―but our hearts are in cold-storage. Our hearts have turned, or are in the process of turning, to stone through our coldness and indifference and lack of interest and lack of courage. “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10). They “have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord God” (Baruch 1:22).
Our Lady sums it up this way: “Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and that this insane love would pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God. Their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering …
“Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. In this life any punishment or tribulation fills mortals with fear and dread, merely because it affects the senses and brings them in close touch with it through them, but the guilt of sin does not affect them nor fill them with dread. Men are entirely taken up by that which is visible, and they therefore do not look upon the ultimate consequences of sin, which is the eternal punishment of Hell. Though this is imbibed and inseparably connected with sin, the human heart becomes so heavy and remiss that it remains as if it were stupefied in its wickedness, because it does not feel it present in its senses. Though it could see and feel it by Faith, this itself remains listless and dead, as if it were wanting entirely. O most unhappy blindness of mortals!” (Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
God Offers a Change of Heart―A New Heart
First of all, we need to admit our heart is sick! We need to admit our addiction to the world. We need to admit that our heart is chained down by its attachment to the world. God knows that―but we have to admit that: “I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12) … “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) ... “Turn away from sin and cleanse thy heart from all offence!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:10) ... “Be converted to me with all your heart―in fasting, in weeping, and in mourning” (Joel 2:12).
Just as the old western cowboy saying goes: “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us!”―likewise does God say: “Your heart isn’t big enough for both God and the world!” We are of divided heart―of which Our Lord says: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25), so too, every heart that is divided shall not stand: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other―or he will sustain the one and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon [the world]!” (Matthew 6:24). Sister Lucia of Fatima also issued a similar warning from Our Lady: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We have to reassess our position, make a definitive choice on who to serve and then stick by that choice―come what may! As God says: “You shall seek Me and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart!” (Jeremias 29:13).
If you decide upon a change of heart, then know that God will help you―as He has already stated many times: “I will give them one heart, and one way, so that they may fear Me all days! … I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me!” (Jeremias 32:39-40) … “I am the Lord their God; and I will give them a heart and they shall understand; and ears and they shall hear!” (Baruch 2:31) ... “I will give them a heart and they shall understand” (Baruch 2:31) ... “A wise and understanding heart” (3 Kings 3:12) ... “I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord! … They shall return to me with their whole heart!” (Jeremias 24:7) … “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels, and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday June 6th & Monday June 7th
Article 4
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
Sunday June 6th & Monday June 7th
Article 4
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
Heart to Heart Info
As Holy Scripture says, we can get to know God through His creation, and we can learn much spiritually from God’s physical creation: “The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Thus, nature can teach us lot about God and the spiritual life―which was one of the major ways in which the Early Fathers of the Church contemplated God, that is to say, by observing and examining God’s creation and creatures.
Our Lord has similarly chosen to give us the devotion to the Sacred Heart, in that the physical heart has much to teach us about the “supernatural” or “spiritual” heart, especially the Heart of Jesus. So let us refresh our knowledge (or perhaps learn for the first time) on how the heart works and fails and then apply that to our spiritual life.
Your heart is the most important muscle in your body. In the simplest of terms, the heart is a pump made up of muscle tissue. To put it another way, the heart is a muscle, which beats to pump blood through the body. The atria and ventricles work together, alternately contracting and relaxing to pump blood through your heart. The electrical system of your heart is the power source that makes this possible. You may be surprised to know that the heart works on electricity. Like every other muscle, the heart muscle runs on electrical impulses. Those impulses tell it when and how to beat and control the pace of your heartbeat. The heart generates its own electrical signal. Your heartbeat is triggered by electrical impulses that travel down a special pathway through your heart. The heart’s pumping action is controlled by a special electrical conduction system that coordinates the contraction of the heart chambers. A network of specialized muscle cells is found in the walls of the heart. These muscle cells generate and send electric signals (electrical impulses) to the rest of the heart muscle, causing a contraction of the heart. An electrical signal starts in the right atrium in the sinus node. The sinus node tells the top of the heart (atria) when and how fast to pump. It is the “pacemaker” of the heart. A normal, regular or organized electrical impulse rhythm, through the heart, is necessary for the muscle to contract and pump blood to the body.
The heart’s electrical signal controls the heartbeat in two ways. First, each electrical impulse generates one heartbeat, and the number of electrical impulses sent by heart determines the heart rate. The rhythm of our heartbeat is controlled by these electric impulses. Secondly, as the electrical signal “spreads” across the heart, it triggers the heart muscle to contract in the correct sequence. Normally, when you are at rest, the heart normally contracts about 50 to 100 times a minute―depending on your age. In general, your heart rate slows as you age. Exercise, emotions, fever and some medications can cause your heart to beat faster, sometimes to well over 100 beats per minute. How fast the heart beats depends on the body’s need for oxygen-rich blood. During activity, stress or excitement, your body needs more oxygen-rich blood; to supply you with that extra oxygen, the heart rate rises to well over 100 beats per minute.
What Can Go Wrong With The Heart’s Electrical System?
When those electrical impulses of the heart get out of sync, then problems start to occur. Under some abnormal conditions, certain heart tissue is capable of starting a heartbeat, or becoming the “pacemaker” for the heartbeat. Such an abnormal heartbeat (technically called “arrhythmia”) may occur when:
(1) The heart’s natural pacemaker (the sinus node) becomes diseased and slows down.
(2) The normal electrical conduction pathway is interrupted
(3) Another part of the heart takes over from the sinus node the role of pacemaker. This causes a faster or slower heartbeat.
Irregular heartbeat, or cardiac arrhythmia, is a problem with your heart rhythm. The heart may beat too fast or too slowly, or may skip beats. You may feel palpitations (a feeling that your heart is fluttering), a rapid heart rate, skipped beats, thumping or pounding in your chest. Cardiac arrhythmias may make you feel anxious, nervous, dizzy, faint or short of breath.
A heart attack occurs when part of the heart is starved of oxygen. A heart attack can ‘stun’ the heart and interrupt its rhythm and ability to pump. This is because the heart does not receive enough oxygen and cannot pump blood around the body. There is no heartbeat (pulse) because the heart is not working. When the blood stops circulating, the brain is starved of oxygen and the person quickly becomes unconscious and stops breathing. Without treatment, the person will die.
When a person’s heart stops, it is known as being in ‘cardiac arrest’. When a person’s heart stops beating or beats abnormally, it is an indication that they have either no electrical current, or a disorganized electrical rhythm or current, with a rapid rhythm that is so fast that it doesn't allow for the heart pumping chambers to fill properly which means very little blood can be pumped out to the body. This abnormality of the heart can be stopped with an electric shock to restore normal heart rhythm and circulation to the body. This is called either cardioversion or defibrillation.
Technology has given us the “automated external defibrillator” (AED). This is a small, lightweight, battery operated, portable defibrillator. You may see these devices in schools and public buildings, airports, malls, sports arenas, health clubs, golf courses, and some businesses. They can be life-savers for the heart!
Problems with the cardiovascular system are common. More than 76 million Americans of all ages―from the elderly, the middle-aged, young adults and all the way down to children―have some type of cardiac problem.
Limp Analogies or Limping Analogies
Drawing spiritual parallels, we have said that a “spiritual heart attack” can be applied to just a single person, or even to a larger body of people—even to the entire Mystical Body of Christ. Analogies are, at best, notoriously handicapped methods of reasoning and understanding—it is said that all analogies always end up limping at some point. This is because similarities are just that — “similarities”; that rules out the word “identical”. Principles may be the same, but they are frequently applied differently. Having said that, let us go back to our “spiritual heart attack.” We must first understand how the circulatory system works and then try to see what it could symbolize.
Circulatory system
In order for the body to work correctly, it needs nutrients and oxygen. These vital nutrients and oxygen are carried in the blood that is pumped throughout the body by the heart in its circulatory system. The circulatory system is composed of the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins. This remarkable system transports oxygenated blood from the lungs and heart throughout the body via the arteries.
Arteries
Arteries are part of the efferent wing of the circulatory system. (“Efferent” from the Latin “ex”, meaning “out” or “from” + “ferre”, meaning “to bear” or “to carry”. What the arteries are carrying is blood away from the heart). As the heart pumps, oxygenated blood flows out through the aorta, the largest artery in the body. All other arteries (see red arteries in diagrams) branch out of the aorta and carry blood to the billions of cells in the body. These arteries feed the blood to the capillaries which are situated between the arteries and veins. Once the blood has delivered the oxygen and nutrients to the body, the oxygen depleted blood is then sent to the lungs (see blue channels in diagrams below) to (1) pick up more oxygen, (2) give the lungs the carbon dioxide waste to breathe out, and (3) is returned to the heart with a fresh supply of oxygen where it is sent out to the body again. The movement of blood through the heart, lungs, and body is called “The Circulatory System.”
The circulatory system could be likened to the intercommunication that goes on within the Church and the teaching process of the Church, and the Sacramental system of the Church. Rome is the heart of the Church and it uses various means to teach, govern and sanctify its members (the cells of the body). This teaching, governing and sanctification passes through the cardinals, bishops and priests of the Church (the arteries).
Coronary Arteries
One specific kind of arteries are the coronary arteries. They are called the coronary arteries because they encircle the heart in the manner of a crown. The word “coronary” comes from the Latin “corona” and Greek “koron” meaning crown. Because the heart is a muscle, it needs oxygen and nutrients to work at optimum levels. The arteries that provide blood to the heart are called “Coronary Arteries” and are located directly on the heart. If these arteries become narrowed or blocked, treatment is necessary to restore blood flow. Like other arteries, the coronaries may be subject to arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Other Arteries
Coronary arteries aren’t the only arterial system susceptible to narrowing or blockage. Outside the heart is the peripheral vascular system, which includes:
(1) Arteries which supply blood to the brain
(2) Arteries which supply blood to the kidneys
(3) Arteries which supply blood to the lower abdomen
(4) Arteries which supply blood to the legs
The arterial blood system branches extensively to deliver blood to over a billion capillaries in the body. The extensiveness of these branches is much more readily appreciated by knowing that the capillaries provide a total surface area of 1,000 square miles for exchanges of gases, waste, and nutrients between blood and tissue fluid.
The capillaries carry oxygen and nutrients to all the individual cells in the body. Capillaries are the smallest of blood vessels. Unlike the arteries and veins, capillaries are very thin and fragile. Capillaries have very thin walls with holes in them, so fluid and small molecules like sugar and waste can move in and out.
The capillaries are actually only one epithelial cell thick. They are so thin that blood cells can only pass through them in single file. This is the site where the actual exchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients occurs. They serve to distribute oxygenated blood from arteries to the individual cells of the body and to feed deoxygenated blood from the tissues back into the veins. The capillaries are thus a central component in the circulatory system, essentially between the arteries and the veins. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place through the thin capillary wall.
Veins
A blood vessel that carries blood that is low in oxygen content from the body back to the heart. The deoxygenated form of hemoglobin (deoxy-hemoglobin) in venous blood makes it appear dark. Veins are part of the afferent wing of the circulatory system, which returns blood to the heart. In contrast, an artery is a vessel that carries blood that is high in oxygen away from the heart to the body.
Comparing All This to the Church
Let us say that the heart is Rome, the coronary arteries (that surround the heart) are the cardinals, while the lesser arteries are the bishops, the capillaries that deliver the blood to each individual cell are the priests, and the individual cells that receive the blood are, of course, the people within the Mystical Body of Christ—the members of the Church. This leaves us with the veins that carry back the waste, or “take care of the trash”, so to speak, carrying it from the cells to the appropriate organs to be eliminated. The veins could be said to be the contemplative orders in the Church, who sacrifice themselves for sins of others—much in line with Our Lady’s demands at Fatima, that we pray and sacrifice ourselves for sinners. The priests also supply material for the veins to carry away by their continual hearing of confessions, whereby sins are disposed of and thrown in the garbage, so to speak.
Our Lord and Our Lady speak of the importance of these “veins” of the Church. At Quito, Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord added: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
Red and Blue, Reminds of Who?
Most medical diagrams show arteries with the color red, and veins with the color blue. On a broader level, we could say that Our Lord concerns Himself with sending out the blood through the arteries—which are indicated by the color red in most diagrams; whereas Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy and Refuge of Sinners, concerns herself with eliminating the trash, or sins, and so could be related to the veins, which are indicated by the color blue in most diagrams. Coincidentally, red is the color associated with Our Lord and blue is the color of Our Lady!
Can I Cell You Something?
The body is made up of cells, just like the Church or a nation is made of people. Cells are the smallest building block of the body, just as each individual person is the smallest building block of the Church or nation. Cells are the fundamental units of life, the bricks from which all your tissues and organs are made, and are the smallest components considered to be living organisms in your body.
Cells and Cents! What the Cell is Going On?
Your cells are constantly communicating with each other—in the Church we have the reality called “The Communion of Saints”, whereby the Church Militant on Earth can communicate with the Church Suffering in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant in Heaven. Your cells are constantly communicating and responding to your environment and to the signals they receive from what you touch and how you move. If your cells cannot operate efficiently, the functioning of your tissues and organs, which are built of your cells, will become compromised, and you can experience a diminishment of physical functioning and the onset of a host of health conditions and diseases. So, by keeping your cells well nourished, you are keeping yourself well nourished. The economic animal might say: “Look after the cents, and the dollars will look after themselves.”
Locked in Your Cell
Inside each cell is DNA—your body has in excess of 100 billion cells, yet the DNA is the same for each. DNA is essential for the life of the human cell. Some call it a manual for each cell, that controls how the cell operates. It could be likened to the soul in relation to our body. We have multiple body parts with different functions, but only one soul that extends to all of them. Of the many important roles your cells play in your life every day, keeping your DNA safe from damage and providing energy for everything you do are two of the most important. Likewise, of all the things that you must do each day, keeping your soul in a state of grace is the most important action of all—like Our Lord said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Your DNA is stored within your cell in the nucleus, and your cell has many ways to keep it safe (it keeps it safely locked in the cell!!); however, research has shown that a poor diet and environmental exposure to toxins, like pesticides, can cause your DNA to become damaged. Likewise, a bad diet of worldliness and the toxins and pesticides of worldly friends and acquaintances damages the soul. This damage (called a mutation) can affect the ability of your cells to produce energy, can cause your cells to die early. Likewise, this damage by worldliness affects the spiritual energy of your soul.
The average adult has around 30 trillion cells in his or her body—a whole nation of cells—and every day thousands of new cells are replicated from old ones—just like thousands of people die each day and are replaced by the birth of new persons. New cells are made to replace the old cells that become worn-out or damaged.
Internal Cell Phones
Your cells must constantly communicate with each other, taking in nutrients from your bloodstream, and excreting wastes. Your cells do this by having proteins that respond to signals from your body stuck into each their membranes. These proteins acts as channels that can be opened or closed when your cell gets a signal to do so, or as information transporters, like a telegraph line across your membrane, to communicate what’s going on outside or inside neighboring cells. This communication is vital for your ability to function as a whole body with all your cells working together.
Eating In Your Cell For Cell-Energy
All parts of the body (muscles, brain, heart, and liver) need energy to work. This energy comes from the food we eat. All these body parts are made up cells and they need feeding in order to stay alive and create new cells—just like the Church on a spiritual level, or a nation on a material level. Providing the raw materials for the sustenance and creation of these new cells, from the nutrients you get in your food, is one way that nutrition plays an important role in sustaining your cellular, and therefore your overall health. Supporting healthy cells involves a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as other dietary components. Providing all these nutrients to your cells means eating whole foods since they contain the fullest complement of these nutrients.
Few Have Cell Energy
Spiritual energy requires spiritual food. We cannot give what we have not got. If you do not have a spiritual diet, you will have no spiritual energy. Fast foods are convenience foods—ready made, processed and available at the drop of the hat, without much effort or time required in their preparation—but these are not the best foods for the body: they are the worst. Good food requires time and effort in preparation, rather than quickly opening a package and adding water. The same is true spiritually. There are ready made prayers pre-packaged—you can use them routinely and say them mechanically, but they have minimal benefits. Our Lord complains of such, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
Our bodies digest the food we eat by mixing it with fluids (acids and enzymes) in the stomach. When the stomach digests food, the carbohydrate (sugars and starches) in the food breaks down into another type of sugar, called glucose. The stomach and small intestines absorb the glucose and then release it into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, glucose can be used immediately for energy or stored in our bodies, to be used later. Our spiritual diet should also be well-digested—this entails reflecting, meditating and assimilating the spiritual food that we have read or heard. If this is done correctly, then we obtain a great spiritual energy and can apply what we have assimilated.
Oxygen in You Cell—Grace in Your Soul
All cells need oxygen to live—just like our souls need the grace of God in order to stay alive spiritually. Freely available in the air around us, oxygen is the essential fuel to help cells stay alive and carry out their jobs. Grace is also freely available and is essential for the correct functioning of the soul. When we breathe, oxygen gets into our bodies. When we pray and correctly use the Sacraments, sanctifying grace and actual grace enter the soul. Every day about 2,000 gallons of circulating blood travel through an estimated 60,000 miles of blood vessels which link all the cells and organs of our body. Likewise, we would be amazed and the quantity of grace that God sends our way daily. How does oxygen reach our body’s cells? It follows a systematic transportation route which depends on another substance called hemoglobin.
Getting oxygen to the body’s cells requires three major events:
(1) Drawing the oxygen from the air to the lungs;
(2) Transporting that oxygen in the blood; and
(3) Delivering the oxygen to cells throughout the body.
This could be compared to the three forms of actual grace, which theologians call (1) gratia praevenies,(2) gratia concommitans and (3) gratia perseverans. Which loosely translated into modern everyday language could be said to mean: (1) the initial grace that shouts ”Hey, why don’t you try this?” (2) the “kick-start” or “spark” grace that helps get you started and (3) the grace that helps you “see-it-through”. These actual graces come from a variety of sources—books, sermons, spiritual direction, conversations, examples of others, human assistance of others or directly from God. All of this is like the energy giving oxygen for the cell.
Absorb Oxygen—Use Grace
Every part of your body needs oxygen from the air you breathe in order to survive. The lungs are designed to absorb oxygen from the air and transfer it into the bloodstream. How does a person’s body absorb oxygen into the blood? The inside of your lungs looks like a giant sponge. It is a mass of fine tubes, the smallest of which end in tiny air sacs called alveoli. These air sacs have very thin walls which are criss-crossed with hundreds of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. There are 200 million or so of these air sacs, and if they were to spread out they would cover a piece of ground roughly the size of a tennis court. Blood flows through our bodies via fine capillaries in the walls of our lungs’ air sacs. It is there that blood meets oxygen.
Breathe-In the Good—Breathe-Out the Bad
When you breathe, the air passes down the bronchi—which, like tree branches off the trunk, divide another 15 to 25 times into thousands of smaller and smaller airways, called bronchioles—until the air reaches the alveoli. Inside the alveoli, oxygen moves across the paper thin walls of tiny blood vessels, called capillaries, and into the blood, where it is picked up by chemicals in the red blood cells ready to be carried around the body. At the same time, a waste product from the body called carbon dioxide, comes out of the capillaries back into the alveoli, ready to be breathed out. This reminds us of the Sacrament of Confession, where we ‘breathe-out’ sin and ‘breathe-in’ grace.
The oxygen molecules undergo a change once they are inside the body. They change from gas molecules, which circulate in the air, to dissolving into a solution within the blood’s plasma located within the capillaries of the alveoli. Once those dissolved oxygen molecules are in the solution of the blood, 98% of the dissolved oxygen is taken-up by red blood cells which are passing by. Freshly oxygenated blood is carried from the lungs to the heart which pumps blood around the body through the arteries. Once the oxygen has been used up in the tissues of the body, the blood returns, through the veins, to the heart. It is then pumped to the lungs so that the carbon dioxide can be removed and more oxygen taken up.
Short on Oxygen—Short on Grace
In order to function properly, your body needs a certain level of oxygen circulating in the blood to cells and tissues. When this level of oxygen falls below a certain amount, a ‘domino effect’ of problems begins to occur. A persistent scarcity of oxygen in body tissues can create a defect of red blood cells that exacerbate things by constricting or narrowing blood vessels in the lung. In other words, the arteries and veins become narrower. Narrower arteries means higher blood pressure, less energy and more chance of clotting occurring from plaque forming due to bad diet—big danger—next stop heart attack!!
Spiritual Junk Food and Satanic Plaque
Likewise, a shortage of grace presents problems too! As the theologians say: “Grace perfects nature.” A shortage or reduction in grace, will lead to a shortage or reduction in perfection. Less grace will result in less spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is absolutely essential in combating temptations, avoid the diet of sin, and forcing oneself to acquire and practice virtue. With less energy, less resistance can be given against temptation and sin, and less energy is available to energetically and fervently perform our daily spiritual exercises. This leads to the soul absorbing the world’s and the devil’s “junk-food” which, once absorbed into the ‘bloodstream’ of the soul, starts to form worldly and satanic ‘plague’ in our spiritual arteries, hindering and even nullifying the work of grace. The spiritual arteries and veins narrow and the spiritual heart attack draws ever closer. We experience various symptoms that make us feel uncomfortable, but some are so drugged by the world, that they feel nothing at all!
The link between oxygen and cancer is clear. In fact, an underlying cause of cancer is low cellular oxygenation levels. In newly formed cells, low levels of oxygen damage respiration enzymes so that the cells cannot produce energy using oxygen. These cells can then turn cancerous. Poor oxygenation comes from a buildup of carcinogens and other toxins within and around cells, which blocks and then damages the cellular oxygen respiration mechanism. Clumping up of red blood cells slows down the bloodstream, and restricts flow into capillaries. This also causes poor oxygenation. Low oxygen levels in cells may be a fundamental cause of cancer.
There are several reasons cells become poorly oxygenated. An overload of toxins clogging up the cells, poor quality cell walls that don’t allow nutrients into the cells, the lack of nutrients needed for respiration, poor circulation and perhaps even low levels of oxygen in the air we breathe. You can see the spiritual parallels quite clearly. An overload of worldliness; the lack of spiritual nutrients like Holy Mass, many Holy Communions, many Holy Rosaries, much spiritual reading, much penance, etc., and poorly or hastily said prayers that result in a low level of grace intake.
Low Levels of Grace in the Mystical Body
That the Church is suffering heart attacks is no surprise considering the low levels of grace (spiritual oxygen) circulating throughout the Church. The necessary supplies of Sanctifying Grace come chiefly from the Sacraments, prayer, sacrifices and good works. Given the fact that the practice of these things has fallen, or is rapidly falling, into disuse—then the levels of grace must be extremely low, which in turn have reduced spiritually energy and allowed the junk of the devil and the world to enter the spiritual bloodstream. As lack of oxygen causes cells to die, a lack of grace leads many souls in the Mystical Body to spiritual death--“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). No breathing, no oxygen—no praying, no grace. Prayer, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, is “the breath of the soul.” St. John Eudes writes: “The air which we breathe is not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.” St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.”
This reminds us of what Our Lady said to St. Catherine Labouré when she showed her the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady had beams of light streaming from the jeweled rings on her fingers. However, some of the rings gave-off no rays of light. As St. Catherine was wondering why some jewels gave-off no light, the Blessed Virgin turned her eyes on her and made her understand with what generosity and great joy she dispensed grace. But she indicated that there are graces for which she is not asked, and it is for this reason that some of the gemstones did not send forth rays of light: “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems, from which rays do not fall, are the graces for which souls neglect to ask.” It is through prayer that we ask—those who neglect to pray, neglect to ask. St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” Therefore, those who pray least, receive the least.
Neglect of Spiritual Health
There is absolutely no doubt that the spiritual life is fatally neglected today. Few pray. Most of those who still do pray, pray badly. We are all part of the same Mystical Body, and therefore we are all affected in one way or another by this grave neglect. It may be the heart that primarily suffers the heart attack, but the repercussions fall on the entire body. Our Lady at La Salette indicated this spiritual neglect and its fatal repercussions at her modern day apparitions:
“Woe to the Princes of the Church [arteries] who think only of piling riches upon riches [toxins and pesticides within the arteries and blood], to protect their authority and dominate with pride [inflammation within the arteries]. The Vicar of my Son [the heart] will suffer a great deal, because for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis [spiritual heart attack]. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [the heart and the arteries], have neglected prayer and penance [breathing oxygen and exercise], and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence [dizziness due to lack of oxygen]. They have become wandering stars [staggering under a heart attack] which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish [cardiac arrest]... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures [toxic diet brings toxins into the blood and arteries], the priests have become cesspools of impurity [diseased arteries and capillaries]…
“A large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God [increasing blockage of the arteries]… and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts [poisoned blood in the heart and arteries]. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders [the plaque building up and blocking the arteries], for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith [totally blocked arteries] and will lose many souls” [many cells will die]. (Our Lady of La Salette).
Many Souls Have Been Lost
At Quito, Our Lady of Good Success warns that in our time there shall be “innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.” At La Salette Our Lady says that some religious institutions “will lose all Faith” and that “Rome will lose the Faith” and as a consequence “will lose many souls.” At Fatima she says that “many souls go to Hell.” At Akita she says: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.”
Our Lord Himself warned that most souls would be lost: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14).
The fact that the vast majority is lost is not an unavoidable thing—God wishes to save all men: “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), which is why St. Paul writes: “I became all things to all men, that I might save all” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Yet, sadly, all will not be saved—in fact most will not be saved. Not that they don’t know what they must do to be saved—no, they do know, but they don’t want to do what it takes to be saved. The same is true of heart disease and heart attacks.
They Know, But Don’t Care!
Americans suffer 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes each year. Cardiovascular disease—including heart disease and stroke—is the leading cause of death in the United States. Every day, 2,200 people die from cardiovascular diseases—that’s nearly 800,000 Americans each year, or 1 in every 3 deaths. If you were to ask most people what is good for the heart and what is bad—most would have a surprisingly good grasp of the cause of cardiovascular disease. Most of the 1 in 3 Americans who die from heart disease would have known that many of the things they were doing were not good for their health—but they did them anyway! Most Catholics know what is a danger to their Faith and what is forbidden by the Faith, but they do it anyway. This is why Our Lady of Good Success said: “They will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces”, which will lead to “apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me.”
Resuscitating the Church
If the Church were a human person, then it would be declared to be comatose. Only 20% of the Mystical Body is functioning somewhat normally, though not perfectly. The rest of the Body is varying states of disease—with some parts having shut down altogether. It is no longer “thinking straight”, nor is it “acting right” or normally. If some well-founded and well-researched reports are to be believed, then the very heart of the Church is sorely damaged—with the diseases of homosexuality, other sexual perversions, smatterings of Satanism, infiltration by secret societies—not to mention Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and false Ecumenism (which seem tame compared to the former). The Church has suffered a massive heart attack. Who can help? What can help?
CPR is Needed
Just as a patient needs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a heart attack, so does the Church need CPR. She also needs the best doctors available to be able to survive. The CPR that is needed is a spiritual CPR—not cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but another kind of CPR—Communion, Penance and Rosary. This is the medical procedure recommended by the doctors of Heaven.
Spiritual CPR and the Two Doctors
St. John Bosco had a vision of the Church in a crisis—call it a heart attack if you will. The vision showed the Church as a ship on a stormy sea, attacked on all sides by pirates. The hull was holed repeatedly, but the holes were miraculously healed each time. On the deck of the ship, the Pope stood at the helm, but he was killed. Another Pope took his place and sailed the ship to safety between two pillars that miraculously emerged out of the sea—on one pillar was the Holy Eucharist, on the other the Blessed Virgin Mary. We see an echo of this at Fatima—the children first were shown visions of the Holy Eucharist by the angel, who even gave them Communion. Then they had the visions of Our Lady. Similarly at Akita, before Our Lady appeared, they had just opened the tabernacle for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, when a very strong light came from it and filled the entire chapel. This happened for three days. Later, Our Lady began her apparitions. Communion (Jesus) and Our Lady (Rosary) are the common denominators here.
Communion and Rosary
The Rosary was prayed at Lourdes by Our Lady. The Rosary was demanded at Fatima by Our Lady: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” The Rosary was demanded at Akita by Our Lady: “The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son ... Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach.” The “sign left by my Son” can well be thought to be the Holy Eucharist—which is a Sacramental sign of His Real Presence and the Holy Eucharist is also integral to Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the unbloody re-enactment of Calvary.
Penance
The Penance factor in the CPR—Communion, Penance, Rosary—is also a common denominator in Our Lady’s apparitions. During the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lord appeared and warned: “Communities can only be preserved — while they exist — at the cost of much penance!” At La Salette Our Lady complained that Church leaders had “neglected prayer and penance,” which would have dire consequences, for “the righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven.” At Lourdes, Our Lady demanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” The same theme was repeated by the angel at Fatima, who said to the children: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended.” Our Lady of Fatima continued this idea, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?”
Sr. Lucia further explains: “We should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima stated: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!”
While at Akita Our Lady said: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger.”
All of this is nothing else than a re-assertion of Our Lord’s words in Holy Scripture: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
CPR is available to anyone and everyone—without it, we can only fear the worst for our times. Spiritual cardiac arrest may well be around the corner. Of course, the Church will survive as a whole and in the long-run, but that does not rule out most souls being lost in the meantime. You can a lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You can give a patient a prescription, but you can’t make him take it. As you sow, so shall you reap. What we do will certainly determine our fate. CPR—Communion-Penance-Rosary is a life saver, or should we say a soul saver. Will we use it and use it correctly and well? “Ours is not to reason why—ours is but to do, or die!”
As Holy Scripture says, we can get to know God through His creation, and we can learn much spiritually from God’s physical creation: “The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Thus, nature can teach us lot about God and the spiritual life―which was one of the major ways in which the Early Fathers of the Church contemplated God, that is to say, by observing and examining God’s creation and creatures.
Our Lord has similarly chosen to give us the devotion to the Sacred Heart, in that the physical heart has much to teach us about the “supernatural” or “spiritual” heart, especially the Heart of Jesus. So let us refresh our knowledge (or perhaps learn for the first time) on how the heart works and fails and then apply that to our spiritual life.
Your heart is the most important muscle in your body. In the simplest of terms, the heart is a pump made up of muscle tissue. To put it another way, the heart is a muscle, which beats to pump blood through the body. The atria and ventricles work together, alternately contracting and relaxing to pump blood through your heart. The electrical system of your heart is the power source that makes this possible. You may be surprised to know that the heart works on electricity. Like every other muscle, the heart muscle runs on electrical impulses. Those impulses tell it when and how to beat and control the pace of your heartbeat. The heart generates its own electrical signal. Your heartbeat is triggered by electrical impulses that travel down a special pathway through your heart. The heart’s pumping action is controlled by a special electrical conduction system that coordinates the contraction of the heart chambers. A network of specialized muscle cells is found in the walls of the heart. These muscle cells generate and send electric signals (electrical impulses) to the rest of the heart muscle, causing a contraction of the heart. An electrical signal starts in the right atrium in the sinus node. The sinus node tells the top of the heart (atria) when and how fast to pump. It is the “pacemaker” of the heart. A normal, regular or organized electrical impulse rhythm, through the heart, is necessary for the muscle to contract and pump blood to the body.
The heart’s electrical signal controls the heartbeat in two ways. First, each electrical impulse generates one heartbeat, and the number of electrical impulses sent by heart determines the heart rate. The rhythm of our heartbeat is controlled by these electric impulses. Secondly, as the electrical signal “spreads” across the heart, it triggers the heart muscle to contract in the correct sequence. Normally, when you are at rest, the heart normally contracts about 50 to 100 times a minute―depending on your age. In general, your heart rate slows as you age. Exercise, emotions, fever and some medications can cause your heart to beat faster, sometimes to well over 100 beats per minute. How fast the heart beats depends on the body’s need for oxygen-rich blood. During activity, stress or excitement, your body needs more oxygen-rich blood; to supply you with that extra oxygen, the heart rate rises to well over 100 beats per minute.
What Can Go Wrong With The Heart’s Electrical System?
When those electrical impulses of the heart get out of sync, then problems start to occur. Under some abnormal conditions, certain heart tissue is capable of starting a heartbeat, or becoming the “pacemaker” for the heartbeat. Such an abnormal heartbeat (technically called “arrhythmia”) may occur when:
(1) The heart’s natural pacemaker (the sinus node) becomes diseased and slows down.
(2) The normal electrical conduction pathway is interrupted
(3) Another part of the heart takes over from the sinus node the role of pacemaker. This causes a faster or slower heartbeat.
Irregular heartbeat, or cardiac arrhythmia, is a problem with your heart rhythm. The heart may beat too fast or too slowly, or may skip beats. You may feel palpitations (a feeling that your heart is fluttering), a rapid heart rate, skipped beats, thumping or pounding in your chest. Cardiac arrhythmias may make you feel anxious, nervous, dizzy, faint or short of breath.
A heart attack occurs when part of the heart is starved of oxygen. A heart attack can ‘stun’ the heart and interrupt its rhythm and ability to pump. This is because the heart does not receive enough oxygen and cannot pump blood around the body. There is no heartbeat (pulse) because the heart is not working. When the blood stops circulating, the brain is starved of oxygen and the person quickly becomes unconscious and stops breathing. Without treatment, the person will die.
When a person’s heart stops, it is known as being in ‘cardiac arrest’. When a person’s heart stops beating or beats abnormally, it is an indication that they have either no electrical current, or a disorganized electrical rhythm or current, with a rapid rhythm that is so fast that it doesn't allow for the heart pumping chambers to fill properly which means very little blood can be pumped out to the body. This abnormality of the heart can be stopped with an electric shock to restore normal heart rhythm and circulation to the body. This is called either cardioversion or defibrillation.
Technology has given us the “automated external defibrillator” (AED). This is a small, lightweight, battery operated, portable defibrillator. You may see these devices in schools and public buildings, airports, malls, sports arenas, health clubs, golf courses, and some businesses. They can be life-savers for the heart!
Problems with the cardiovascular system are common. More than 76 million Americans of all ages―from the elderly, the middle-aged, young adults and all the way down to children―have some type of cardiac problem.
Limp Analogies or Limping Analogies
Drawing spiritual parallels, we have said that a “spiritual heart attack” can be applied to just a single person, or even to a larger body of people—even to the entire Mystical Body of Christ. Analogies are, at best, notoriously handicapped methods of reasoning and understanding—it is said that all analogies always end up limping at some point. This is because similarities are just that — “similarities”; that rules out the word “identical”. Principles may be the same, but they are frequently applied differently. Having said that, let us go back to our “spiritual heart attack.” We must first understand how the circulatory system works and then try to see what it could symbolize.
Circulatory system
In order for the body to work correctly, it needs nutrients and oxygen. These vital nutrients and oxygen are carried in the blood that is pumped throughout the body by the heart in its circulatory system. The circulatory system is composed of the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins. This remarkable system transports oxygenated blood from the lungs and heart throughout the body via the arteries.
Arteries
Arteries are part of the efferent wing of the circulatory system. (“Efferent” from the Latin “ex”, meaning “out” or “from” + “ferre”, meaning “to bear” or “to carry”. What the arteries are carrying is blood away from the heart). As the heart pumps, oxygenated blood flows out through the aorta, the largest artery in the body. All other arteries (see red arteries in diagrams) branch out of the aorta and carry blood to the billions of cells in the body. These arteries feed the blood to the capillaries which are situated between the arteries and veins. Once the blood has delivered the oxygen and nutrients to the body, the oxygen depleted blood is then sent to the lungs (see blue channels in diagrams below) to (1) pick up more oxygen, (2) give the lungs the carbon dioxide waste to breathe out, and (3) is returned to the heart with a fresh supply of oxygen where it is sent out to the body again. The movement of blood through the heart, lungs, and body is called “The Circulatory System.”
The circulatory system could be likened to the intercommunication that goes on within the Church and the teaching process of the Church, and the Sacramental system of the Church. Rome is the heart of the Church and it uses various means to teach, govern and sanctify its members (the cells of the body). This teaching, governing and sanctification passes through the cardinals, bishops and priests of the Church (the arteries).
Coronary Arteries
One specific kind of arteries are the coronary arteries. They are called the coronary arteries because they encircle the heart in the manner of a crown. The word “coronary” comes from the Latin “corona” and Greek “koron” meaning crown. Because the heart is a muscle, it needs oxygen and nutrients to work at optimum levels. The arteries that provide blood to the heart are called “Coronary Arteries” and are located directly on the heart. If these arteries become narrowed or blocked, treatment is necessary to restore blood flow. Like other arteries, the coronaries may be subject to arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Other Arteries
Coronary arteries aren’t the only arterial system susceptible to narrowing or blockage. Outside the heart is the peripheral vascular system, which includes:
(1) Arteries which supply blood to the brain
(2) Arteries which supply blood to the kidneys
(3) Arteries which supply blood to the lower abdomen
(4) Arteries which supply blood to the legs
The arterial blood system branches extensively to deliver blood to over a billion capillaries in the body. The extensiveness of these branches is much more readily appreciated by knowing that the capillaries provide a total surface area of 1,000 square miles for exchanges of gases, waste, and nutrients between blood and tissue fluid.
The capillaries carry oxygen and nutrients to all the individual cells in the body. Capillaries are the smallest of blood vessels. Unlike the arteries and veins, capillaries are very thin and fragile. Capillaries have very thin walls with holes in them, so fluid and small molecules like sugar and waste can move in and out.
The capillaries are actually only one epithelial cell thick. They are so thin that blood cells can only pass through them in single file. This is the site where the actual exchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients occurs. They serve to distribute oxygenated blood from arteries to the individual cells of the body and to feed deoxygenated blood from the tissues back into the veins. The capillaries are thus a central component in the circulatory system, essentially between the arteries and the veins. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place through the thin capillary wall.
Veins
A blood vessel that carries blood that is low in oxygen content from the body back to the heart. The deoxygenated form of hemoglobin (deoxy-hemoglobin) in venous blood makes it appear dark. Veins are part of the afferent wing of the circulatory system, which returns blood to the heart. In contrast, an artery is a vessel that carries blood that is high in oxygen away from the heart to the body.
Comparing All This to the Church
Let us say that the heart is Rome, the coronary arteries (that surround the heart) are the cardinals, while the lesser arteries are the bishops, the capillaries that deliver the blood to each individual cell are the priests, and the individual cells that receive the blood are, of course, the people within the Mystical Body of Christ—the members of the Church. This leaves us with the veins that carry back the waste, or “take care of the trash”, so to speak, carrying it from the cells to the appropriate organs to be eliminated. The veins could be said to be the contemplative orders in the Church, who sacrifice themselves for sins of others—much in line with Our Lady’s demands at Fatima, that we pray and sacrifice ourselves for sinners. The priests also supply material for the veins to carry away by their continual hearing of confessions, whereby sins are disposed of and thrown in the garbage, so to speak.
Our Lord and Our Lady speak of the importance of these “veins” of the Church. At Quito, Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord added: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
Red and Blue, Reminds of Who?
Most medical diagrams show arteries with the color red, and veins with the color blue. On a broader level, we could say that Our Lord concerns Himself with sending out the blood through the arteries—which are indicated by the color red in most diagrams; whereas Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy and Refuge of Sinners, concerns herself with eliminating the trash, or sins, and so could be related to the veins, which are indicated by the color blue in most diagrams. Coincidentally, red is the color associated with Our Lord and blue is the color of Our Lady!
Can I Cell You Something?
The body is made up of cells, just like the Church or a nation is made of people. Cells are the smallest building block of the body, just as each individual person is the smallest building block of the Church or nation. Cells are the fundamental units of life, the bricks from which all your tissues and organs are made, and are the smallest components considered to be living organisms in your body.
Cells and Cents! What the Cell is Going On?
Your cells are constantly communicating with each other—in the Church we have the reality called “The Communion of Saints”, whereby the Church Militant on Earth can communicate with the Church Suffering in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant in Heaven. Your cells are constantly communicating and responding to your environment and to the signals they receive from what you touch and how you move. If your cells cannot operate efficiently, the functioning of your tissues and organs, which are built of your cells, will become compromised, and you can experience a diminishment of physical functioning and the onset of a host of health conditions and diseases. So, by keeping your cells well nourished, you are keeping yourself well nourished. The economic animal might say: “Look after the cents, and the dollars will look after themselves.”
Locked in Your Cell
Inside each cell is DNA—your body has in excess of 100 billion cells, yet the DNA is the same for each. DNA is essential for the life of the human cell. Some call it a manual for each cell, that controls how the cell operates. It could be likened to the soul in relation to our body. We have multiple body parts with different functions, but only one soul that extends to all of them. Of the many important roles your cells play in your life every day, keeping your DNA safe from damage and providing energy for everything you do are two of the most important. Likewise, of all the things that you must do each day, keeping your soul in a state of grace is the most important action of all—like Our Lord said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Your DNA is stored within your cell in the nucleus, and your cell has many ways to keep it safe (it keeps it safely locked in the cell!!); however, research has shown that a poor diet and environmental exposure to toxins, like pesticides, can cause your DNA to become damaged. Likewise, a bad diet of worldliness and the toxins and pesticides of worldly friends and acquaintances damages the soul. This damage (called a mutation) can affect the ability of your cells to produce energy, can cause your cells to die early. Likewise, this damage by worldliness affects the spiritual energy of your soul.
The average adult has around 30 trillion cells in his or her body—a whole nation of cells—and every day thousands of new cells are replicated from old ones—just like thousands of people die each day and are replaced by the birth of new persons. New cells are made to replace the old cells that become worn-out or damaged.
Internal Cell Phones
Your cells must constantly communicate with each other, taking in nutrients from your bloodstream, and excreting wastes. Your cells do this by having proteins that respond to signals from your body stuck into each their membranes. These proteins acts as channels that can be opened or closed when your cell gets a signal to do so, or as information transporters, like a telegraph line across your membrane, to communicate what’s going on outside or inside neighboring cells. This communication is vital for your ability to function as a whole body with all your cells working together.
Eating In Your Cell For Cell-Energy
All parts of the body (muscles, brain, heart, and liver) need energy to work. This energy comes from the food we eat. All these body parts are made up cells and they need feeding in order to stay alive and create new cells—just like the Church on a spiritual level, or a nation on a material level. Providing the raw materials for the sustenance and creation of these new cells, from the nutrients you get in your food, is one way that nutrition plays an important role in sustaining your cellular, and therefore your overall health. Supporting healthy cells involves a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as other dietary components. Providing all these nutrients to your cells means eating whole foods since they contain the fullest complement of these nutrients.
Few Have Cell Energy
Spiritual energy requires spiritual food. We cannot give what we have not got. If you do not have a spiritual diet, you will have no spiritual energy. Fast foods are convenience foods—ready made, processed and available at the drop of the hat, without much effort or time required in their preparation—but these are not the best foods for the body: they are the worst. Good food requires time and effort in preparation, rather than quickly opening a package and adding water. The same is true spiritually. There are ready made prayers pre-packaged—you can use them routinely and say them mechanically, but they have minimal benefits. Our Lord complains of such, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
Our bodies digest the food we eat by mixing it with fluids (acids and enzymes) in the stomach. When the stomach digests food, the carbohydrate (sugars and starches) in the food breaks down into another type of sugar, called glucose. The stomach and small intestines absorb the glucose and then release it into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, glucose can be used immediately for energy or stored in our bodies, to be used later. Our spiritual diet should also be well-digested—this entails reflecting, meditating and assimilating the spiritual food that we have read or heard. If this is done correctly, then we obtain a great spiritual energy and can apply what we have assimilated.
Oxygen in You Cell—Grace in Your Soul
All cells need oxygen to live—just like our souls need the grace of God in order to stay alive spiritually. Freely available in the air around us, oxygen is the essential fuel to help cells stay alive and carry out their jobs. Grace is also freely available and is essential for the correct functioning of the soul. When we breathe, oxygen gets into our bodies. When we pray and correctly use the Sacraments, sanctifying grace and actual grace enter the soul. Every day about 2,000 gallons of circulating blood travel through an estimated 60,000 miles of blood vessels which link all the cells and organs of our body. Likewise, we would be amazed and the quantity of grace that God sends our way daily. How does oxygen reach our body’s cells? It follows a systematic transportation route which depends on another substance called hemoglobin.
Getting oxygen to the body’s cells requires three major events:
(1) Drawing the oxygen from the air to the lungs;
(2) Transporting that oxygen in the blood; and
(3) Delivering the oxygen to cells throughout the body.
This could be compared to the three forms of actual grace, which theologians call (1) gratia praevenies,(2) gratia concommitans and (3) gratia perseverans. Which loosely translated into modern everyday language could be said to mean: (1) the initial grace that shouts ”Hey, why don’t you try this?” (2) the “kick-start” or “spark” grace that helps get you started and (3) the grace that helps you “see-it-through”. These actual graces come from a variety of sources—books, sermons, spiritual direction, conversations, examples of others, human assistance of others or directly from God. All of this is like the energy giving oxygen for the cell.
Absorb Oxygen—Use Grace
Every part of your body needs oxygen from the air you breathe in order to survive. The lungs are designed to absorb oxygen from the air and transfer it into the bloodstream. How does a person’s body absorb oxygen into the blood? The inside of your lungs looks like a giant sponge. It is a mass of fine tubes, the smallest of which end in tiny air sacs called alveoli. These air sacs have very thin walls which are criss-crossed with hundreds of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. There are 200 million or so of these air sacs, and if they were to spread out they would cover a piece of ground roughly the size of a tennis court. Blood flows through our bodies via fine capillaries in the walls of our lungs’ air sacs. It is there that blood meets oxygen.
Breathe-In the Good—Breathe-Out the Bad
When you breathe, the air passes down the bronchi—which, like tree branches off the trunk, divide another 15 to 25 times into thousands of smaller and smaller airways, called bronchioles—until the air reaches the alveoli. Inside the alveoli, oxygen moves across the paper thin walls of tiny blood vessels, called capillaries, and into the blood, where it is picked up by chemicals in the red blood cells ready to be carried around the body. At the same time, a waste product from the body called carbon dioxide, comes out of the capillaries back into the alveoli, ready to be breathed out. This reminds us of the Sacrament of Confession, where we ‘breathe-out’ sin and ‘breathe-in’ grace.
The oxygen molecules undergo a change once they are inside the body. They change from gas molecules, which circulate in the air, to dissolving into a solution within the blood’s plasma located within the capillaries of the alveoli. Once those dissolved oxygen molecules are in the solution of the blood, 98% of the dissolved oxygen is taken-up by red blood cells which are passing by. Freshly oxygenated blood is carried from the lungs to the heart which pumps blood around the body through the arteries. Once the oxygen has been used up in the tissues of the body, the blood returns, through the veins, to the heart. It is then pumped to the lungs so that the carbon dioxide can be removed and more oxygen taken up.
Short on Oxygen—Short on Grace
In order to function properly, your body needs a certain level of oxygen circulating in the blood to cells and tissues. When this level of oxygen falls below a certain amount, a ‘domino effect’ of problems begins to occur. A persistent scarcity of oxygen in body tissues can create a defect of red blood cells that exacerbate things by constricting or narrowing blood vessels in the lung. In other words, the arteries and veins become narrower. Narrower arteries means higher blood pressure, less energy and more chance of clotting occurring from plaque forming due to bad diet—big danger—next stop heart attack!!
Spiritual Junk Food and Satanic Plaque
Likewise, a shortage of grace presents problems too! As the theologians say: “Grace perfects nature.” A shortage or reduction in grace, will lead to a shortage or reduction in perfection. Less grace will result in less spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is absolutely essential in combating temptations, avoid the diet of sin, and forcing oneself to acquire and practice virtue. With less energy, less resistance can be given against temptation and sin, and less energy is available to energetically and fervently perform our daily spiritual exercises. This leads to the soul absorbing the world’s and the devil’s “junk-food” which, once absorbed into the ‘bloodstream’ of the soul, starts to form worldly and satanic ‘plague’ in our spiritual arteries, hindering and even nullifying the work of grace. The spiritual arteries and veins narrow and the spiritual heart attack draws ever closer. We experience various symptoms that make us feel uncomfortable, but some are so drugged by the world, that they feel nothing at all!
The link between oxygen and cancer is clear. In fact, an underlying cause of cancer is low cellular oxygenation levels. In newly formed cells, low levels of oxygen damage respiration enzymes so that the cells cannot produce energy using oxygen. These cells can then turn cancerous. Poor oxygenation comes from a buildup of carcinogens and other toxins within and around cells, which blocks and then damages the cellular oxygen respiration mechanism. Clumping up of red blood cells slows down the bloodstream, and restricts flow into capillaries. This also causes poor oxygenation. Low oxygen levels in cells may be a fundamental cause of cancer.
There are several reasons cells become poorly oxygenated. An overload of toxins clogging up the cells, poor quality cell walls that don’t allow nutrients into the cells, the lack of nutrients needed for respiration, poor circulation and perhaps even low levels of oxygen in the air we breathe. You can see the spiritual parallels quite clearly. An overload of worldliness; the lack of spiritual nutrients like Holy Mass, many Holy Communions, many Holy Rosaries, much spiritual reading, much penance, etc., and poorly or hastily said prayers that result in a low level of grace intake.
Low Levels of Grace in the Mystical Body
That the Church is suffering heart attacks is no surprise considering the low levels of grace (spiritual oxygen) circulating throughout the Church. The necessary supplies of Sanctifying Grace come chiefly from the Sacraments, prayer, sacrifices and good works. Given the fact that the practice of these things has fallen, or is rapidly falling, into disuse—then the levels of grace must be extremely low, which in turn have reduced spiritually energy and allowed the junk of the devil and the world to enter the spiritual bloodstream. As lack of oxygen causes cells to die, a lack of grace leads many souls in the Mystical Body to spiritual death--“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). No breathing, no oxygen—no praying, no grace. Prayer, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, is “the breath of the soul.” St. John Eudes writes: “The air which we breathe is not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.” St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.”
This reminds us of what Our Lady said to St. Catherine Labouré when she showed her the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady had beams of light streaming from the jeweled rings on her fingers. However, some of the rings gave-off no rays of light. As St. Catherine was wondering why some jewels gave-off no light, the Blessed Virgin turned her eyes on her and made her understand with what generosity and great joy she dispensed grace. But she indicated that there are graces for which she is not asked, and it is for this reason that some of the gemstones did not send forth rays of light: “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems, from which rays do not fall, are the graces for which souls neglect to ask.” It is through prayer that we ask—those who neglect to pray, neglect to ask. St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” Therefore, those who pray least, receive the least.
Neglect of Spiritual Health
There is absolutely no doubt that the spiritual life is fatally neglected today. Few pray. Most of those who still do pray, pray badly. We are all part of the same Mystical Body, and therefore we are all affected in one way or another by this grave neglect. It may be the heart that primarily suffers the heart attack, but the repercussions fall on the entire body. Our Lady at La Salette indicated this spiritual neglect and its fatal repercussions at her modern day apparitions:
“Woe to the Princes of the Church [arteries] who think only of piling riches upon riches [toxins and pesticides within the arteries and blood], to protect their authority and dominate with pride [inflammation within the arteries]. The Vicar of my Son [the heart] will suffer a great deal, because for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis [spiritual heart attack]. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [the heart and the arteries], have neglected prayer and penance [breathing oxygen and exercise], and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence [dizziness due to lack of oxygen]. They have become wandering stars [staggering under a heart attack] which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish [cardiac arrest]... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures [toxic diet brings toxins into the blood and arteries], the priests have become cesspools of impurity [diseased arteries and capillaries]…
“A large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God [increasing blockage of the arteries]… and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts [poisoned blood in the heart and arteries]. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders [the plaque building up and blocking the arteries], for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith [totally blocked arteries] and will lose many souls” [many cells will die]. (Our Lady of La Salette).
Many Souls Have Been Lost
At Quito, Our Lady of Good Success warns that in our time there shall be “innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.” At La Salette Our Lady says that some religious institutions “will lose all Faith” and that “Rome will lose the Faith” and as a consequence “will lose many souls.” At Fatima she says that “many souls go to Hell.” At Akita she says: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.”
Our Lord Himself warned that most souls would be lost: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14).
The fact that the vast majority is lost is not an unavoidable thing—God wishes to save all men: “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), which is why St. Paul writes: “I became all things to all men, that I might save all” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Yet, sadly, all will not be saved—in fact most will not be saved. Not that they don’t know what they must do to be saved—no, they do know, but they don’t want to do what it takes to be saved. The same is true of heart disease and heart attacks.
They Know, But Don’t Care!
Americans suffer 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes each year. Cardiovascular disease—including heart disease and stroke—is the leading cause of death in the United States. Every day, 2,200 people die from cardiovascular diseases—that’s nearly 800,000 Americans each year, or 1 in every 3 deaths. If you were to ask most people what is good for the heart and what is bad—most would have a surprisingly good grasp of the cause of cardiovascular disease. Most of the 1 in 3 Americans who die from heart disease would have known that many of the things they were doing were not good for their health—but they did them anyway! Most Catholics know what is a danger to their Faith and what is forbidden by the Faith, but they do it anyway. This is why Our Lady of Good Success said: “They will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces”, which will lead to “apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me.”
Resuscitating the Church
If the Church were a human person, then it would be declared to be comatose. Only 20% of the Mystical Body is functioning somewhat normally, though not perfectly. The rest of the Body is varying states of disease—with some parts having shut down altogether. It is no longer “thinking straight”, nor is it “acting right” or normally. If some well-founded and well-researched reports are to be believed, then the very heart of the Church is sorely damaged—with the diseases of homosexuality, other sexual perversions, smatterings of Satanism, infiltration by secret societies—not to mention Modernism, Liberalism, Rationalism and false Ecumenism (which seem tame compared to the former). The Church has suffered a massive heart attack. Who can help? What can help?
CPR is Needed
Just as a patient needs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a heart attack, so does the Church need CPR. She also needs the best doctors available to be able to survive. The CPR that is needed is a spiritual CPR—not cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but another kind of CPR—Communion, Penance and Rosary. This is the medical procedure recommended by the doctors of Heaven.
Spiritual CPR and the Two Doctors
St. John Bosco had a vision of the Church in a crisis—call it a heart attack if you will. The vision showed the Church as a ship on a stormy sea, attacked on all sides by pirates. The hull was holed repeatedly, but the holes were miraculously healed each time. On the deck of the ship, the Pope stood at the helm, but he was killed. Another Pope took his place and sailed the ship to safety between two pillars that miraculously emerged out of the sea—on one pillar was the Holy Eucharist, on the other the Blessed Virgin Mary. We see an echo of this at Fatima—the children first were shown visions of the Holy Eucharist by the angel, who even gave them Communion. Then they had the visions of Our Lady. Similarly at Akita, before Our Lady appeared, they had just opened the tabernacle for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, when a very strong light came from it and filled the entire chapel. This happened for three days. Later, Our Lady began her apparitions. Communion (Jesus) and Our Lady (Rosary) are the common denominators here.
Communion and Rosary
The Rosary was prayed at Lourdes by Our Lady. The Rosary was demanded at Fatima by Our Lady: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” The Rosary was demanded at Akita by Our Lady: “The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son ... Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach.” The “sign left by my Son” can well be thought to be the Holy Eucharist—which is a Sacramental sign of His Real Presence and the Holy Eucharist is also integral to Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the unbloody re-enactment of Calvary.
Penance
The Penance factor in the CPR—Communion, Penance, Rosary—is also a common denominator in Our Lady’s apparitions. During the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lord appeared and warned: “Communities can only be preserved — while they exist — at the cost of much penance!” At La Salette Our Lady complained that Church leaders had “neglected prayer and penance,” which would have dire consequences, for “the righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven.” At Lourdes, Our Lady demanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” The same theme was repeated by the angel at Fatima, who said to the children: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended.” Our Lady of Fatima continued this idea, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?”
Sr. Lucia further explains: “We should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima stated: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!”
While at Akita Our Lady said: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger.”
All of this is nothing else than a re-assertion of Our Lord’s words in Holy Scripture: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
CPR is available to anyone and everyone—without it, we can only fear the worst for our times. Spiritual cardiac arrest may well be around the corner. Of course, the Church will survive as a whole and in the long-run, but that does not rule out most souls being lost in the meantime. You can a lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You can give a patient a prescription, but you can’t make him take it. As you sow, so shall you reap. What we do will certainly determine our fate. CPR—Communion-Penance-Rosary is a life saver, or should we say a soul saver. Will we use it and use it correctly and well? “Ours is not to reason why—ours is but to do, or die!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday June 4th & Saturday June 5th
Article 3
Heartless Devotion to the Sacred Heart!
Friday June 4th & Saturday June 5th
Article 3
Heartless Devotion to the Sacred Heart!
What’s So Important About the Heart?
Why on earth did Our Lord choose to start this devotion to the Sacred Heart? Why did He not pick another part of the body? His Head? His Brain? His Eyes? His Mouth? His Hands? Why even isolate one part of His body? Why not have a devotion to the whole body? Why not devotion to Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus?
Well, the heart seems to be at the heart of our life and language! Poetically, the heart is a symbol of the human center — which includes all our emotions, loves, passions, desires, and the force and power of the will. There are so many expressions in our language that invoke the heart:
Heartfelt, heart-rending, heart-breaking, heartless, hearty, warm-hearted and cold-hearted, soft-hearted and hard-hearted, open-hearted and closed-hearted, down-hearted, fainthearted, brave-hearted, strong-hearted, etc.
We say to others that we “love with all our heart”. Of our loved ones, we say they are “close/dear/near to our heart”. When we make someone happy, we “gladden the/(one’s) heart”. When we bring laughter we are “light-hearted”, but when we bring sadness we are “down-hearted” and can cause “heartaches”. When you do not really want to do something and you “do not have your heart in it”, you may be told to “stop being halfhearted” and “put some heart into it”, and “do it with all your heart”. When we take something seriously, we are said “to take something to heart”. When memorizing things, you say that you “know or learn something off by heart”. When we feel great sympathy or compassion for someone, we say that our “heart bleeds for them” or our “heart goes out to them” or “our heart melts”. When we show generosity and mercy, we show a “big heart” and are said to have “a heart of gold” ― but when we refuse to be generous or merciful, we are said to be “heartless”, “cold-hearted” and to have “a heart of stone”. When we openly express our feelings and emotions, we are said to “wear our heart on our sleeve” and are “showing our true heart”. When nervous, startled or alarmed, you might say that your “heart leaps” or your “heart missed or skipped a beat”. When facing difficulties, we can show various reactions―we can be “faint of heart” or “weak-hearted” and “lose heart”, or we can “take-heart” and be “stout-hearted”, “brave-hearted” and “strong-hearted”, having the “heart of a lion” ― to the point where we “strike fear into the hearts” of our enemies. Or, in grave fear, someone’s “heart is in one’s mouth”, the “heart sinks”, they become “disheartened”, and the “heart goes into meltdown”.
We can “break the heart of someone” and leave them “heartbroken”. We can be inquisitive and want “to get to heart of the matter” ― or we can make mistakes that lead us “eat our heart out”. We can change our attitude to someone or something by having “a change of heart” ― or when wanted to resolve some issues, we have “a heart-to-heart talk” in which we sometimes “pour our heart out” and “speak from the bottom of the heart”. When wanting to get someone’s help we “tug at someone’s heart strings” to appeal to someone’s emotions, to make someone feel sad, guilty, or sympathetic. When we have to give someone some bad news, we do so with “a heavy heart”. When uncertain as to what to do or what direction to take, we sometimes “follow our heart”. Depending upon whether we want or do not want something, we are said to “set our heart on something” or “set our heart against something”. Whenever someone is full of energy and infectious enthusiasm, they are said to be the “heart and soul” of the party or project. When we are willing to do something for others, we enthuse that we will do it “in a heartbeat”. When you are being told something true that you do not want to believe, you may “know in your heart of hearts” that it is true. Of someone who is well intentioned, but might make a mistake, we say that “their heart was in the right place”.
Heart in Holy Scripture
Our Lord and Holy Scripture also make ample use of the “language of the heart” and its many expressions―both in the Old and New Testaments, showing the importance of the heart in God’s eyes.
“Blessed are the clean of heart―for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8) ... “Create a clean heart in me, O God!” (Psalm 50:12) ... “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean and I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9) … “The heart is perverse above all things!” (Jeremias 17:9) ... “From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19) … “The imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth!” (Genesis 8:21) ... “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly, with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-7).
“How long will you be dull of heart?” (Psalm 4:3) … “The heart of this people is grown gross!” (Matthew 13:15) … “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10) …. “Their heart was not right with Him!” (Psalm 77:37) … “Their heart was blinded!” (Mark 6:52) ... “They made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law” (Zacharias 7:12) … “Thou shalt not harden thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 15:7) … “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost!” (Acts 7:51) ... “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more!” (Deuteronomy 10:16) … “God will circumcise thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 30:6) … “Thy heart is not right in the sight of God!” (Acts 8:21) ... “They always err in heart! They have not known My ways!” (Hebrews 3:10). “Their heart is divided” (Osee 10:2) … “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28) … “With a double heart have they spoken!” (Psalm 11:3) … “They blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart” (Psalm 61:5) … “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8) ... “If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain!” (James 1:26) ... “I know thy pride and the wickedness of thy heart!” (1 Kings 17:28) ... “Wash thy heart from wickedness!” (Jeremias 4:14) … “Tell all that is in thy heart!” (1 Kings 9:19) ... “Do penance in the heart and be converted!” (3 Kings 8:47) … “The Lord shall be touched with repentance of thy heart” (Deuteronomy 30:1) ... “Afflict thy heart!” (1 Kings 1:8) … “A heart full of grief” (1 Kings 1:10) … “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!” (Psalm 50:19) … “A contrite heart He will save” (Psalm 33:19) … “Therefore saith the Lord: ‘Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning!” (Joel 2:12).
“I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12) … “God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things!” (1 John 3:20) ... “He that trusts in his own heart is a fool!” (Proverbs 28:26) ... “I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord! … They shall return to me with their whole heart!” (Jeremias 24:7) ... “You shall seek Me and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart!” (Jeremias 29:13) ... “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) ... “I will give them one heart, and one way, so that they may fear Me all days! … I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me!” (Jeremias 32:39-40) … “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels, and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19) ... “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26) ... “God gave unto him another heart” (1 Kings 10:9) ... “I will give them a heart and they shall understand” (Baruch 2:31) ... “A wise and understanding heart” (3 Kings 3:12).
“Think in thy heart that the Lord He is God and there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5) … “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:21) … “Obey His commandments with all thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 30:2) … “Serve Him with all your heart!” (Deuteronomy 11:13) … “Serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart!” (Deuteronomy 28:47) … “My heart hath been glad!” (Psalm 15:9) … “Rich or poor, if his heart is good, his countenance shall be cheerful at all times” (Ecclesiasticus 26:4) … “There is no pleasure above the joy of the heart! … The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:16, 23) ... “The eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
There are hundreds upon hundreds more references to the “heart” in Holy Scripture, painting pictures of good hearts and evil hearts, upright hearts and double hearts, truthful hearts and deceitful hearts. All of this goes to show the importance of the “language of the heart” in both the spiritual and secular domains.
The Language of the Heart is a Language of Love
Why would Jesus ask us to adore His Heart, His Sacred Heart? Because the heart, in all cultures, chiefly symbolizes love and God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God has shown His love for us: “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). “I live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “If God hath so loved us―then we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:11) “If any man say: ‘I love God!’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21). “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him!” (1 John 4:16).
At the Last Supper, Our Lord―the Sacred Heart―said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
The whole soul of Our Lord’s teaching is that of charity or love. He states that love forgives sins―as seen in the case of the great sinner St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils ― “Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9) ― of whom Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). This was later echoed by St. Peter, who wrote: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)―which was not only an echo of Our Lord, but also an echo of the Old Testament Scriptures: “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12).
This is why the Holy Ghost―the Spirit of Love and true and ultimate Author of all the Holy Scriptures―says through St. Paul: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Our Lord’s Words of Love
► ST. MARGARET MARY ― In the 1674 to 1675 apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, whereby Our Lord formally asked for devotion to His Sacred Heart, Jesus spoke of His love for mankind and the meager return of that love towards Him: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men and not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, so that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
► MOTHER MARIANA DE JESUS TORRES ― Our Lord had already made a similar complaint to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Our Lady of Good Success fame (1563-1635), decades beforehand, saying: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
► MODERN-DAY MYSTICS ― Those words of Our Lord, spoken in the 16th and 17th centuries, are equally true today as shown by Our Lord’s apparitions to various mystics of recent times. Father Bartholomew Gottemoller, O.C.S.O., has selected some of Our Lord’s statements in his book Words of Love, wherein he focuses on three modern-day mystics: Sister Josefa Menendez (1890-1923); Sister Mary of the Trinity (1901-1942); and Sister Consolata Betrone (1903-1946), taking his quotes from authors who wrote the biographies of those saintly sisters. Here are just a few excerpts from Fr. Gottemoller’s book, which also refer to original sources that he consulted:
“Remember this: the value of your existence is not in what you have done, or said, or suffered: it is in the part of your being that you have given to your Savior; in what you have allowed Me to do with you. Give Me your heart—and your heart is your whole life! … It is with coal that I make diamonds! What would I not do with a soul, however black she might be, who would give herself to Me! … With ruins and on ruins, I can build magnificently! … Yes, I can transform all ugliness into beauty―all poverty into spiritual wealth―all sin into a source of grace―all rancor into forgiveness―all bitterness into sweetness―all sadness into joy―all suffering into Redemption ... when you give them to Me and let Me act! … If you could see My disappointment in the lives of religious who flounder in selfishness, then you would die! Lack of sincerity paralyzes so many souls because they will not acknowledge to themselves their most hidden intentions―such as carelessness; ignorance due to laziness; agitation, disorder; noise: noise of words, noise of selfish desires, the noise that men invent to distract themselves and to forget Me!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 349, 278, 559, 313, 532, 92).
“Do not make Me out to be a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’; for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle! … Remember, Consolata, that I am kind; do not distort this fact! You see, the world likes to represent sanctity by pictures of austerities, flagellations, chains ... But it is not like that. If sacrifice and penance do enter into the life of a saint, they are not, on that account, the whole of his life. The saint, or the soul who gives herself to Me with generosity, is the most fortunate being on Earth, for I am kind, altogether kind! … A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so; to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy, My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me; on the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful. The souls are Mine―for them I have given all My Blood! Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted; It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 33, 74, 36, 40-41).
“Consolata, I am in need of victim-souls! The world is going to its ruin, but I wish to save it! (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 33). “My justice will be restrained as long as I find victims who will make reparation.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 190). “I desire a great army of victim souls who will join Me in the apostolate of My Eucharistic life, who will bind themselves to Me, by the vow of victim, to choose the methods which I chose.” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 363).
“Josefa, do you not know that I and the Cross are inseparable? If you meet Me, you meet the Cross, and when you find the Cross, it is I whom you have found! Suffering is necessary for all! ... It purifies them, and I am thus able to make use of them to snatch many from Hell fire! … I yearn for souls! I thirst for them and want to save them! … Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, pp. 328, 230, 377, 237). “Horrors of the war are a small thing compared with the loss of souls!” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 159).
“Love is sanctity. The more you love Me, the more you will become holy!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 106). “Give Me love and give Me souls!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 196).
Where is the Love?
As Our Lord said: “Love is sanctity” ― which is only logical since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “the Lord our God is holy!” (Psalm 98:9). You cannot love what you do not know―and our Faith is all about knowing God so that we can love Him. As the Catechism tells us: “God made me to KNOW Him, LOVE Him and serve Him in this world!” Knowledge comes before love, because we have know something or someone before we can love them. When Faith grows weak, it naturally follows that love grows weak as a consequence. At the moment, we are most certainly living in the time that Our Lord spoke of when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―and because there is little Faith, there is little love: “The charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
We see the truth of Our Lord’s words everywhere around us. ! Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). Less than 20% of Catholics obey the commandment of the Church to attend Mass regularly on Sundays. Likewise it is a commandment of the Church to go to Confession at least once a year if you are in a state of mortal sin. Do you really think most Catholics are in a state of grace? 80% or more commit mortal sin by missing Mass on Sundays―yet confessions lines are not even worthy of being called “lines” in most places, for only a handful go to Confession―yet most go to Holy Communion!
Almost 1 in 4 of Catholic marriages end in divorce. Less than half of all U.S. Catholics say remarrying after a divorce without an annulment is a sin―while 53% of U.S. Catholics are of the opinion that the mortal sin of remarriage divorce without an annulment is no longer a sin in their eyes! The United States, with 6% of the world’s Catholics, accounts for 60% percent of the Church’s annulments. The number of annulments granted annually in the United States soared from 338 in 1968, to 28,918 in 1974, to 34,484 in 1980, and to a peak of 63,933 in 1991. By 2004 the number had fallen to 46,330, and it fell even further, to 35,009, in 2007, to 24,010 in 2012—a remarkable decline. The real reason for the fall in applications for annulments (and consequently the granting of annulments) was very few Catholics cared anymore about the law of the Church, and also due to the fact that large numbers of Catholics had fallen away from the Faith and did not give a damn about seeking an annulment from a Church they no longer attended―they merely divorced and remarried as they liked.
In a 2015 survey, when asked if the following behaviors are sins, most Catholics said that they no longer thought these sins were sinful today.
● CONTRACEPTION―66% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 74% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN..
● COHABITATION―in 2015, 54% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2019, 75% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
● REMARRIAGE AFTER DIVORCE WITHOUT AN ANNULMENT― in 2015, 49% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 53% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
● ENGAGE IN HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR―in 2015, 40% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 54% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
The above numbers are for Catholics overall, practicing and not practicing―but even among those who faithfully attend Mass every single Sunday, 57% believe that contraception is NOT SINFUL; 30% believe that homosexual relations are NOT SINFUL; and 10% believe that abortion is NOT SINFUL.
A sign of a love of God? No way! “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). Rather, Our Lord would have repeat another statement He made: “I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “He that hath My commandments and keepeth them―he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
We Have Lost the Sense of Sin and Love
It is hardly surprising that not only the Traditional popes, but also the Liberal and Modernist popes have lamented that Catholics have lost the “sense of sin”―and once you lose the sense of sin, you automatically lose whatever love of God you had.
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil ― because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The Real Virus and the Real Variant
It is amazing how people can fall for the hype and propaganda concerning the Plannedemic virus―but won’t “buy into” the truth and reality of one virus that really and truly matters―the Virus of Sin. As our Catechism says: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; and My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
No matter what disease you might catch and contract here on Earth―the disease ends when your life ends. Yet with the disease of sin―it rarely ends when you life ends, but its merited pains and punishments that you contracted by committing sin, will accompany you after death to Purgatory or even Hell. In the case of Hell, the pains will never end! Hence sin really is the greatest evil on Earth. “He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul!” (Psalm 10:6). “He that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul!” (Proverbs 8:36). “They that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul!” (Tobias 12:10). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). But a condition of being saved is to abandon sin: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11).
Infectious Variants Lead to Deadlier Strains!
As the Church teaches―there is no standing-still or “treading-water” in the spiritual life―we are always either going forwards or going backwards. It is like swimming upstream―if you stop swimming for a moment and try to “tread-water”, you will be instantly carried backwards downstream. Venial sins, if not combated, inevitably lead to mortal sins. Much as there are four main stages of drug addiction: (1) experimentation, (3) regular use, (3) high-risk use, and (4) addiction or dependency―so too with sin in general. Experimentation with venial sins (“Because,” the sinner says, “they won’t send me to Hell!”) leads to “regular use” of venial sins. Of course venial sin won’t lead you to Hell―but it will lead to an addiction to venial and a “regular use” of venial. The more you commit venial sin, the less you fear venial sin and the less you fear God and the less you love God. When a drug is used repeatedly and the body adapts to the continued presence of the drug and larger and larger doses must be taken to produce the same effect―or the person moves onto a more powerful drug. Similarly, when a person becomes accustomed to certain venial sins and thinks little of them, they will tend to move onto greater and greater venial sins until they reach the boundaries or borders of mortal sin―with really noticing or caring. For example, a check-out clerk in a store begins by stealing dollar bills and, after a while, thinks little of it. Then $5 bills become the focus, and after a time, $10 bills and then $20 bills, etc. They get used to a certain amount and calmly move onto a larger amount. The same phenomenon applies to any sin you wish to mention. It all begins with lukewarmness, indifference towards venial sin and then taking the first little step down the slippery slope to …. eventually to Hell, for some, or should it be said for most.
Love Disease or Love Health
You would imagine that people would prefer health over disease, life over death. That might be the case in natural or physical life, but it is not always the case in the supernatural or spiritual life. There are those “who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways. Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things” (Proverbs 2:13-14), for whom “evil shall be sweet in his mouth, and he will hide it under his tongue. He will spare it and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat” (Job 20:12-13).
The Rejection of the Divine Physician
Our Lord is our Divine Physician Who has come to cure the world of sin: “Jesus said: ‘They that are whole, need not the physician: but they that are sick! … They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!’” (Luke 5:31; Mark 2:17). “And they brought to Him many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with His word―and all that were sick He healed!” (Matthew 8:16). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men … the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, so that his works may not be reproved!” (John 1:2-11; 3:19-20). Jesus adds: “The world hates Me because I give testimony of it, that its works are evil!” (John 7:7).
These “evil works” and the rejection of God are amply described in Holy Scripture: “They have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which ought not to be done―being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death―and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them!” (Romans 1:21-32).
A Heart Transplant?
In the natural physical medical world, a heart transplant is a mortal sin, for it requires the killing of the donor while the donor’s heart is still alive and beating. Yet in the supernatural spiritual ‘medical’ world, Our Lord has already died for us and given His Heart to us so that we may have life―eternal life.
To St. Margaret Mary Our Lord said: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad through your means, and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin!”
St. Margaret Mary then relates: “Thereupon He demanded my heart, which I entreated Him to take. He took it from my breast and plunged it into His own adorable Heart, where it appeared as but an atom in the midst of an immense ocean of fire. Then drawing it forth, in appearance like a flame in the shape of a heart, He replaced it in my breast, saying as He did so: ‘Behold, My beloved, a precious pledge of My love―it contains within your breast a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment!’”
That is what our hearts need today―a divine spark of a true, divine love from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A spark of love that will enable to lay down our lives for the conversion of sinners and for a halt to attacks being made by the enemies of the Church and mankind today.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends! You are my friends!” (John 15:13-14). “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly! … I lay down my life for my sheep! … I lay down my life, that I may take it again!” (John 10:10-17). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16).
Saint Gertrude asked Saint John the Evangelist why he had rested his head upon the chest of Jesus during the Last Supper but had not written anything for us about of the depths and movements of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Saint John answered her, “My ministry in that time in which the Church was being formed consisted in speaking solely upon the Incarnate Word of God. The grace of hearing the eloquent voice of the Heart of Jesus has been reserved for those in the end times. When this voice is heard, the world, being weak in the Love of God, will be renewed, will be lifted from its lethargy, and will be enflamed in the flame of divine love once more.”
As God says in Holy Scripture: “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you! And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels! And I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19).
The Lord told us through St. Gertrude that the renewal of the world ― which then would be tired, sluggish and without fire in the heart ― would come by listening to the beating Heart of Jesus ― His beats of love.
Those times, which were prophesized by Saint John to Saint Gertrude, are here now. Jesus Himself has revealed the devotion to His Divine Heart. In this final attempt of His love, He has given it to the world in these last centuries in order to warm the frozen world; to save souls that are being lost; to be a sure means of calming divine justice and of reaching the mercy of God; and to serve as an abundant fountain of blessings (Jesus to St. Margaret Mary).
“The Church and society,” said Pius IX on September 9th, 1860, “have no other hope than that of the Heart of Jesus; He alone will cure them of all their aches … We are living difficult times. Everything is in danger, both in the spiritual order as well as in the temporal. In the midst of such great calamities which weigh upon the world, it is absolutely necessary that we immediately revive our devotion and together pray that the Divine Blood that flows from His Heart may protect us, may attract us to Him with the bonds of the most ardent charity, may inflame all men with the sacred fire that consumes Him, may inspire in us the sentiments that motivate Him in order that they may be made pleasing to God with a life full of good works and merits” (cf. Audience with Fr. Jules Chevalier, 1824 –1907, a French Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart).
Why on earth did Our Lord choose to start this devotion to the Sacred Heart? Why did He not pick another part of the body? His Head? His Brain? His Eyes? His Mouth? His Hands? Why even isolate one part of His body? Why not have a devotion to the whole body? Why not devotion to Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus?
Well, the heart seems to be at the heart of our life and language! Poetically, the heart is a symbol of the human center — which includes all our emotions, loves, passions, desires, and the force and power of the will. There are so many expressions in our language that invoke the heart:
Heartfelt, heart-rending, heart-breaking, heartless, hearty, warm-hearted and cold-hearted, soft-hearted and hard-hearted, open-hearted and closed-hearted, down-hearted, fainthearted, brave-hearted, strong-hearted, etc.
We say to others that we “love with all our heart”. Of our loved ones, we say they are “close/dear/near to our heart”. When we make someone happy, we “gladden the/(one’s) heart”. When we bring laughter we are “light-hearted”, but when we bring sadness we are “down-hearted” and can cause “heartaches”. When you do not really want to do something and you “do not have your heart in it”, you may be told to “stop being halfhearted” and “put some heart into it”, and “do it with all your heart”. When we take something seriously, we are said “to take something to heart”. When memorizing things, you say that you “know or learn something off by heart”. When we feel great sympathy or compassion for someone, we say that our “heart bleeds for them” or our “heart goes out to them” or “our heart melts”. When we show generosity and mercy, we show a “big heart” and are said to have “a heart of gold” ― but when we refuse to be generous or merciful, we are said to be “heartless”, “cold-hearted” and to have “a heart of stone”. When we openly express our feelings and emotions, we are said to “wear our heart on our sleeve” and are “showing our true heart”. When nervous, startled or alarmed, you might say that your “heart leaps” or your “heart missed or skipped a beat”. When facing difficulties, we can show various reactions―we can be “faint of heart” or “weak-hearted” and “lose heart”, or we can “take-heart” and be “stout-hearted”, “brave-hearted” and “strong-hearted”, having the “heart of a lion” ― to the point where we “strike fear into the hearts” of our enemies. Or, in grave fear, someone’s “heart is in one’s mouth”, the “heart sinks”, they become “disheartened”, and the “heart goes into meltdown”.
We can “break the heart of someone” and leave them “heartbroken”. We can be inquisitive and want “to get to heart of the matter” ― or we can make mistakes that lead us “eat our heart out”. We can change our attitude to someone or something by having “a change of heart” ― or when wanted to resolve some issues, we have “a heart-to-heart talk” in which we sometimes “pour our heart out” and “speak from the bottom of the heart”. When wanting to get someone’s help we “tug at someone’s heart strings” to appeal to someone’s emotions, to make someone feel sad, guilty, or sympathetic. When we have to give someone some bad news, we do so with “a heavy heart”. When uncertain as to what to do or what direction to take, we sometimes “follow our heart”. Depending upon whether we want or do not want something, we are said to “set our heart on something” or “set our heart against something”. Whenever someone is full of energy and infectious enthusiasm, they are said to be the “heart and soul” of the party or project. When we are willing to do something for others, we enthuse that we will do it “in a heartbeat”. When you are being told something true that you do not want to believe, you may “know in your heart of hearts” that it is true. Of someone who is well intentioned, but might make a mistake, we say that “their heart was in the right place”.
Heart in Holy Scripture
Our Lord and Holy Scripture also make ample use of the “language of the heart” and its many expressions―both in the Old and New Testaments, showing the importance of the heart in God’s eyes.
“Blessed are the clean of heart―for they shall see God!” (Matthew 5:8) ... “Create a clean heart in me, O God!” (Psalm 50:12) ... “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean and I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9) … “The heart is perverse above all things!” (Jeremias 17:9) ... “From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19) … “The imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth!” (Genesis 8:21) ... “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly, with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-7).
“How long will you be dull of heart?” (Psalm 4:3) … “The heart of this people is grown gross!” (Matthew 13:15) … “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10) …. “Their heart was not right with Him!” (Psalm 77:37) … “Their heart was blinded!” (Mark 6:52) ... “They made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law” (Zacharias 7:12) … “Thou shalt not harden thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 15:7) … “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost!” (Acts 7:51) ... “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more!” (Deuteronomy 10:16) … “God will circumcise thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 30:6) … “Thy heart is not right in the sight of God!” (Acts 8:21) ... “They always err in heart! They have not known My ways!” (Hebrews 3:10). “Their heart is divided” (Osee 10:2) … “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28) … “With a double heart have they spoken!” (Psalm 11:3) … “They blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart” (Psalm 61:5) … “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8) ... “If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain!” (James 1:26) ... “I know thy pride and the wickedness of thy heart!” (1 Kings 17:28) ... “Wash thy heart from wickedness!” (Jeremias 4:14) … “Tell all that is in thy heart!” (1 Kings 9:19) ... “Do penance in the heart and be converted!” (3 Kings 8:47) … “The Lord shall be touched with repentance of thy heart” (Deuteronomy 30:1) ... “Afflict thy heart!” (1 Kings 1:8) … “A heart full of grief” (1 Kings 1:10) … “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!” (Psalm 50:19) … “A contrite heart He will save” (Psalm 33:19) … “Therefore saith the Lord: ‘Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning!” (Joel 2:12).
“I am the Lord Who searches the heart!” (Jeremias 17:10) … “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12) … “God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things!” (1 John 3:20) ... “He that trusts in his own heart is a fool!” (Proverbs 28:26) ... “I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord! … They shall return to me with their whole heart!” (Jeremias 24:7) ... “You shall seek Me and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart!” (Jeremias 29:13) ... “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit!” (Ezechiel 18:31) ... “I will give them one heart, and one way, so that they may fear Me all days! … I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me!” (Jeremias 32:39-40) … “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels, and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19) ... “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26) ... “God gave unto him another heart” (1 Kings 10:9) ... “I will give them a heart and they shall understand” (Baruch 2:31) ... “A wise and understanding heart” (3 Kings 3:12).
“Think in thy heart that the Lord He is God and there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5) … “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:21) … “Obey His commandments with all thy heart!” (Deuteronomy 30:2) … “Serve Him with all your heart!” (Deuteronomy 11:13) … “Serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart!” (Deuteronomy 28:47) … “My heart hath been glad!” (Psalm 15:9) … “Rich or poor, if his heart is good, his countenance shall be cheerful at all times” (Ecclesiasticus 26:4) … “There is no pleasure above the joy of the heart! … The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:16, 23) ... “The eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
There are hundreds upon hundreds more references to the “heart” in Holy Scripture, painting pictures of good hearts and evil hearts, upright hearts and double hearts, truthful hearts and deceitful hearts. All of this goes to show the importance of the “language of the heart” in both the spiritual and secular domains.
The Language of the Heart is a Language of Love
Why would Jesus ask us to adore His Heart, His Sacred Heart? Because the heart, in all cultures, chiefly symbolizes love and God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God has shown His love for us: “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son―so that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting!” (John 3:16). “I live in the Faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20). “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “If God hath so loved us―then we also ought to love one another!” (1 John 4:11) “If any man say: ‘I love God!’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21). “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him!” (1 John 4:16).
At the Last Supper, Our Lord―the Sacred Heart―said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
The whole soul of Our Lord’s teaching is that of charity or love. He states that love forgives sins―as seen in the case of the great sinner St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils ― “Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9) ― of whom Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). This was later echoed by St. Peter, who wrote: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)―which was not only an echo of Our Lord, but also an echo of the Old Testament Scriptures: “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12).
This is why the Holy Ghost―the Spirit of Love and true and ultimate Author of all the Holy Scriptures―says through St. Paul: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Our Lord’s Words of Love
► ST. MARGARET MARY ― In the 1674 to 1675 apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, whereby Our Lord formally asked for devotion to His Sacred Heart, Jesus spoke of His love for mankind and the meager return of that love towards Him: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men and not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, so that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
► MOTHER MARIANA DE JESUS TORRES ― Our Lord had already made a similar complaint to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Our Lady of Good Success fame (1563-1635), decades beforehand, saying: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
► MODERN-DAY MYSTICS ― Those words of Our Lord, spoken in the 16th and 17th centuries, are equally true today as shown by Our Lord’s apparitions to various mystics of recent times. Father Bartholomew Gottemoller, O.C.S.O., has selected some of Our Lord’s statements in his book Words of Love, wherein he focuses on three modern-day mystics: Sister Josefa Menendez (1890-1923); Sister Mary of the Trinity (1901-1942); and Sister Consolata Betrone (1903-1946), taking his quotes from authors who wrote the biographies of those saintly sisters. Here are just a few excerpts from Fr. Gottemoller’s book, which also refer to original sources that he consulted:
“Remember this: the value of your existence is not in what you have done, or said, or suffered: it is in the part of your being that you have given to your Savior; in what you have allowed Me to do with you. Give Me your heart—and your heart is your whole life! … It is with coal that I make diamonds! What would I not do with a soul, however black she might be, who would give herself to Me! … With ruins and on ruins, I can build magnificently! … Yes, I can transform all ugliness into beauty―all poverty into spiritual wealth―all sin into a source of grace―all rancor into forgiveness―all bitterness into sweetness―all sadness into joy―all suffering into Redemption ... when you give them to Me and let Me act! … If you could see My disappointment in the lives of religious who flounder in selfishness, then you would die! Lack of sincerity paralyzes so many souls because they will not acknowledge to themselves their most hidden intentions―such as carelessness; ignorance due to laziness; agitation, disorder; noise: noise of words, noise of selfish desires, the noise that men invent to distract themselves and to forget Me!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 349, 278, 559, 313, 532, 92).
“Do not make Me out to be a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’; for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle! … Remember, Consolata, that I am kind; do not distort this fact! You see, the world likes to represent sanctity by pictures of austerities, flagellations, chains ... But it is not like that. If sacrifice and penance do enter into the life of a saint, they are not, on that account, the whole of his life. The saint, or the soul who gives herself to Me with generosity, is the most fortunate being on Earth, for I am kind, altogether kind! … A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so; to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy, My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me; on the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful. The souls are Mine―for them I have given all My Blood! Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted; It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 33, 74, 36, 40-41).
“Consolata, I am in need of victim-souls! The world is going to its ruin, but I wish to save it! (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 33). “My justice will be restrained as long as I find victims who will make reparation.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 190). “I desire a great army of victim souls who will join Me in the apostolate of My Eucharistic life, who will bind themselves to Me, by the vow of victim, to choose the methods which I chose.” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 363).
“Josefa, do you not know that I and the Cross are inseparable? If you meet Me, you meet the Cross, and when you find the Cross, it is I whom you have found! Suffering is necessary for all! ... It purifies them, and I am thus able to make use of them to snatch many from Hell fire! … I yearn for souls! I thirst for them and want to save them! … Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, pp. 328, 230, 377, 237). “Horrors of the war are a small thing compared with the loss of souls!” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 159).
“Love is sanctity. The more you love Me, the more you will become holy!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 106). “Give Me love and give Me souls!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 196).
Where is the Love?
As Our Lord said: “Love is sanctity” ― which is only logical since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “the Lord our God is holy!” (Psalm 98:9). You cannot love what you do not know―and our Faith is all about knowing God so that we can love Him. As the Catechism tells us: “God made me to KNOW Him, LOVE Him and serve Him in this world!” Knowledge comes before love, because we have know something or someone before we can love them. When Faith grows weak, it naturally follows that love grows weak as a consequence. At the moment, we are most certainly living in the time that Our Lord spoke of when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―and because there is little Faith, there is little love: “The charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
We see the truth of Our Lord’s words everywhere around us. ! Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). Less than 20% of Catholics obey the commandment of the Church to attend Mass regularly on Sundays. Likewise it is a commandment of the Church to go to Confession at least once a year if you are in a state of mortal sin. Do you really think most Catholics are in a state of grace? 80% or more commit mortal sin by missing Mass on Sundays―yet confessions lines are not even worthy of being called “lines” in most places, for only a handful go to Confession―yet most go to Holy Communion!
Almost 1 in 4 of Catholic marriages end in divorce. Less than half of all U.S. Catholics say remarrying after a divorce without an annulment is a sin―while 53% of U.S. Catholics are of the opinion that the mortal sin of remarriage divorce without an annulment is no longer a sin in their eyes! The United States, with 6% of the world’s Catholics, accounts for 60% percent of the Church’s annulments. The number of annulments granted annually in the United States soared from 338 in 1968, to 28,918 in 1974, to 34,484 in 1980, and to a peak of 63,933 in 1991. By 2004 the number had fallen to 46,330, and it fell even further, to 35,009, in 2007, to 24,010 in 2012—a remarkable decline. The real reason for the fall in applications for annulments (and consequently the granting of annulments) was very few Catholics cared anymore about the law of the Church, and also due to the fact that large numbers of Catholics had fallen away from the Faith and did not give a damn about seeking an annulment from a Church they no longer attended―they merely divorced and remarried as they liked.
In a 2015 survey, when asked if the following behaviors are sins, most Catholics said that they no longer thought these sins were sinful today.
● CONTRACEPTION―66% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 74% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN..
● COHABITATION―in 2015, 54% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2019, 75% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
● REMARRIAGE AFTER DIVORCE WITHOUT AN ANNULMENT― in 2015, 49% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 53% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
● ENGAGE IN HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR―in 2015, 40% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN―in 2020, 54% of Catholics said it is NOT A SIN.
The above numbers are for Catholics overall, practicing and not practicing―but even among those who faithfully attend Mass every single Sunday, 57% believe that contraception is NOT SINFUL; 30% believe that homosexual relations are NOT SINFUL; and 10% believe that abortion is NOT SINFUL.
A sign of a love of God? No way! “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). Rather, Our Lord would have repeat another statement He made: “I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “He that hath My commandments and keepeth them―he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
We Have Lost the Sense of Sin and Love
It is hardly surprising that not only the Traditional popes, but also the Liberal and Modernist popes have lamented that Catholics have lost the “sense of sin”―and once you lose the sense of sin, you automatically lose whatever love of God you had.
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil ― because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The Real Virus and the Real Variant
It is amazing how people can fall for the hype and propaganda concerning the Plannedemic virus―but won’t “buy into” the truth and reality of one virus that really and truly matters―the Virus of Sin. As our Catechism says: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; and My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
No matter what disease you might catch and contract here on Earth―the disease ends when your life ends. Yet with the disease of sin―it rarely ends when you life ends, but its merited pains and punishments that you contracted by committing sin, will accompany you after death to Purgatory or even Hell. In the case of Hell, the pains will never end! Hence sin really is the greatest evil on Earth. “He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul!” (Psalm 10:6). “He that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul!” (Proverbs 8:36). “They that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul!” (Tobias 12:10). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). But a condition of being saved is to abandon sin: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11).
Infectious Variants Lead to Deadlier Strains!
As the Church teaches―there is no standing-still or “treading-water” in the spiritual life―we are always either going forwards or going backwards. It is like swimming upstream―if you stop swimming for a moment and try to “tread-water”, you will be instantly carried backwards downstream. Venial sins, if not combated, inevitably lead to mortal sins. Much as there are four main stages of drug addiction: (1) experimentation, (3) regular use, (3) high-risk use, and (4) addiction or dependency―so too with sin in general. Experimentation with venial sins (“Because,” the sinner says, “they won’t send me to Hell!”) leads to “regular use” of venial sins. Of course venial sin won’t lead you to Hell―but it will lead to an addiction to venial and a “regular use” of venial. The more you commit venial sin, the less you fear venial sin and the less you fear God and the less you love God. When a drug is used repeatedly and the body adapts to the continued presence of the drug and larger and larger doses must be taken to produce the same effect―or the person moves onto a more powerful drug. Similarly, when a person becomes accustomed to certain venial sins and thinks little of them, they will tend to move onto greater and greater venial sins until they reach the boundaries or borders of mortal sin―with really noticing or caring. For example, a check-out clerk in a store begins by stealing dollar bills and, after a while, thinks little of it. Then $5 bills become the focus, and after a time, $10 bills and then $20 bills, etc. They get used to a certain amount and calmly move onto a larger amount. The same phenomenon applies to any sin you wish to mention. It all begins with lukewarmness, indifference towards venial sin and then taking the first little step down the slippery slope to …. eventually to Hell, for some, or should it be said for most.
Love Disease or Love Health
You would imagine that people would prefer health over disease, life over death. That might be the case in natural or physical life, but it is not always the case in the supernatural or spiritual life. There are those “who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways. Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things” (Proverbs 2:13-14), for whom “evil shall be sweet in his mouth, and he will hide it under his tongue. He will spare it and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat” (Job 20:12-13).
The Rejection of the Divine Physician
Our Lord is our Divine Physician Who has come to cure the world of sin: “Jesus said: ‘They that are whole, need not the physician: but they that are sick! … They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!’” (Luke 5:31; Mark 2:17). “And they brought to Him many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with His word―and all that were sick He healed!” (Matthew 8:16). “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men … the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, so that his works may not be reproved!” (John 1:2-11; 3:19-20). Jesus adds: “The world hates Me because I give testimony of it, that its works are evil!” (John 7:7).
These “evil works” and the rejection of God are amply described in Holy Scripture: “They have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which ought not to be done―being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death―and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them!” (Romans 1:21-32).
A Heart Transplant?
In the natural physical medical world, a heart transplant is a mortal sin, for it requires the killing of the donor while the donor’s heart is still alive and beating. Yet in the supernatural spiritual ‘medical’ world, Our Lord has already died for us and given His Heart to us so that we may have life―eternal life.
To St. Margaret Mary Our Lord said: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad through your means, and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin!”
St. Margaret Mary then relates: “Thereupon He demanded my heart, which I entreated Him to take. He took it from my breast and plunged it into His own adorable Heart, where it appeared as but an atom in the midst of an immense ocean of fire. Then drawing it forth, in appearance like a flame in the shape of a heart, He replaced it in my breast, saying as He did so: ‘Behold, My beloved, a precious pledge of My love―it contains within your breast a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment!’”
That is what our hearts need today―a divine spark of a true, divine love from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A spark of love that will enable to lay down our lives for the conversion of sinners and for a halt to attacks being made by the enemies of the Church and mankind today.
“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends! You are my friends!” (John 15:13-14). “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly! … I lay down my life for my sheep! … I lay down my life, that I may take it again!” (John 10:10-17). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren!” (1 John 3:16).
Saint Gertrude asked Saint John the Evangelist why he had rested his head upon the chest of Jesus during the Last Supper but had not written anything for us about of the depths and movements of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Saint John answered her, “My ministry in that time in which the Church was being formed consisted in speaking solely upon the Incarnate Word of God. The grace of hearing the eloquent voice of the Heart of Jesus has been reserved for those in the end times. When this voice is heard, the world, being weak in the Love of God, will be renewed, will be lifted from its lethargy, and will be enflamed in the flame of divine love once more.”
As God says in Holy Scripture: “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you! And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). “I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels! And I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19).
The Lord told us through St. Gertrude that the renewal of the world ― which then would be tired, sluggish and without fire in the heart ― would come by listening to the beating Heart of Jesus ― His beats of love.
Those times, which were prophesized by Saint John to Saint Gertrude, are here now. Jesus Himself has revealed the devotion to His Divine Heart. In this final attempt of His love, He has given it to the world in these last centuries in order to warm the frozen world; to save souls that are being lost; to be a sure means of calming divine justice and of reaching the mercy of God; and to serve as an abundant fountain of blessings (Jesus to St. Margaret Mary).
“The Church and society,” said Pius IX on September 9th, 1860, “have no other hope than that of the Heart of Jesus; He alone will cure them of all their aches … We are living difficult times. Everything is in danger, both in the spiritual order as well as in the temporal. In the midst of such great calamities which weigh upon the world, it is absolutely necessary that we immediately revive our devotion and together pray that the Divine Blood that flows from His Heart may protect us, may attract us to Him with the bonds of the most ardent charity, may inflame all men with the sacred fire that consumes Him, may inspire in us the sentiments that motivate Him in order that they may be made pleasing to God with a life full of good works and merits” (cf. Audience with Fr. Jules Chevalier, 1824 –1907, a French Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart).
Feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday June 3rd
Article 2
Feed On His Heart & Survive the Crisis!
Article 2
Feed On His Heart & Survive the Crisis!
Modern Catholics On Wrong Diet!
The Feast of the Holy Trinity has come and gone! It’s now business as usual! We now return to the farce, famine and fight found in our faithless, futile and fake world. Dumbed-down, deluded and duped ― it is amazing how low Catholics have stooped. They’ve stopped fighting the world and have made peace with the world. Instead of going to the fight, in the world we take delight! The enemy has become a friend as our Faith we no longer defend! The prince of the world, with his banner unfurled, countless souls into Hell has hurled!
You are a Catholic! You are a member of the Militant Church on Earth! You are a soldier―not a tourist! Your are a soldier of Christ! You were created for the fight, not for the fun! “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1). Your soul is not your own! Your time is not your own! Your vocation on Earth is to battle for Heaven! The life of man on Earth is warfare, not software! The weapons we must own are not laptop and smartphone! While we sit in our armchairs, the world is being taken over! While we surf the internet, the devil catches souls in his infernal net! Instead of praying for sinners, we are playing with sinners. While we seek gratification, souls fall to their damnation! The Sacred Heart seeks our salvation, but we live as though on vacation! We want to live in peace, but the Sacred Heart has not come to bring peace!
A soldier must eat in order to fight―he must draw energy and strength from the food that he eats. Likewise must a solider of Christ eat for the fight―except that his food is not only earthly food, but heavenly food―the “Bread of Angels”, the “Bread of Life”, the “Bread of Heaven”.
The Holy Eucharist is the source of Holiness―its title even contains holiness: “The HOLY Eucharist” and not just “The Eucharist”. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith―yet, by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times. How much Faith is found today—when most do not attend Mass on regular basis? How much Faith is manifested today—when most Catholics do not even believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist? How much love of God is shown today—when the VAST majority of Catholics cannot even visit God at Mass each Sunday?
Even among those who do assist at Mass regularly—the vast majority are there only on “auto-pilot”—there is no real fervor and burning desire for the Holy Eucharist, it is just something they “have to do” on Sundays and nothing more. There is little or no preparation before Mass—either by praying in the car on the way to Mass, or by arriving early to spend time before Mass with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, nor any lengthy and fervent thanksgiving after Mass for having received the greatest Treasure we have on Earth! All is automatic, auto-piloted, routine and mechanical—with nowhere near the interest, fervor or excitement that they will manifest on social media, or sitting in front of the earthly tabernacle of the TV or computer or tablet or smartphone screen! Maybe Our Lord needs to change His tactics and go on social media—maybe them more people will visit and “like” and “follow” Him!
We revisit again the words that Sister Lucia wrote in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
The Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist―God or Just Bread?
Jesus Christ is really and truly present, with His Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity, under the external appearance of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist. This is a dogma of the Catholic Church, a belief which binds under pain of mortal sin. In 2001, only 63% believed in the Real Presence; in 2008, the number fell even more, down to only 57% believing in the Real Presence. Many held the belief the Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present. This was the opinion of 37% in 2001; and this erroneous opinion had increased to 43% by 2008. Today, it is estimated that only around 40% (four out ten) still believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist—the other 60% (six out of ten) merely think there is only a symbolic presence, but not a real one. This explains why most Catholics will go to Holy Communion while never or rarely going to Confession—it is not that they are free from mortal sin, but that they have lost the true sense of sin and their belief in the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence. They see no sacrilege in going to receive—what they think is a piece of bread symbolizing Jesus—when they are formally (knowingly) or materially (unknowingly) in a state of mortal sin.
Recent statistics from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) that show the U.S. Catholic population peaked in 2010. The report also found that in 2016 some 74.2 million people in the United States claimed to be Catholic, but almost 80% of them (8 out of 10) don't attend Sunday Mass regularly. Why attend Mass if all there is there is a piece of bread? If you do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, then you are less likely to go to Mass and less likely to prepare for Holy Communion and less likely to make a good thanksgiving after Communion—there are better things to do than talk to a piece of bread! This has to be the sad link between belief in the Real Presence and attendance at Mass. The less you believe, the less you will attend.
Similar statistics from Pew Research Center in 2015 showed that more than half of all Catholics have left the Church, and only one in 10 have returned. CARA also put out a report in 2009 that found 60% of practicing Catholics were over the age of 40. There are now more Catholics attending Mass over the age of 65 than there are under 65.
Jesus’ Eucharistic Sermon Shocks
Earlier, in the famous Eucharistic sermon recorded by St. John the Evangelist, Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him’” (John 6:54-57).
Shocked by Jesus’ words, the Jews said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:53). Many of Jesus’ disciples were also scandalized. “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” they objected. Knowing that the truth of the Eucharist was a shock and a scandal to many of His listeners, Jesus responded, not by retracting His words, but by raising the stakes: “Doth this scandalize you? The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life” (John 6: 62-63). Many refused to believe Him: “After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:67).
Today, we see a repeat of both the incredulity and disbelief in the Real Presence—with anywhere from 65% to 80% of Catholics no longer believing that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist—as well as a repeat of “many walked no more with Him”—as only around 20% to 25% come to Mass regularly on Sundays, for the rest it ends up being a Sinday.
Jesus Throws Down the Gauntlet
Our Lord throws down the gauntlet of Faith before His Apostles, as He does before us: “Then Jesus said to the Twelve: Will you also go away?” (John 6:68). St. Peter replies for them, and for us, with words of Faith—not understanding but believing nevertheless—”Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” Here Jesus goes to the heart of the mystery, the “Eucharistic Heart” of the mystery and that “Eucharistic Heart” we still have with us in our tabernacles! But though Jesus is really in the tabernacle, is Faith really in our hearts?
Not all Jesus’ listeners accepted His teaching of the Eucharist. Thus He turned to them, saying, “But there are some of you that believe not.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray Him” (John 6:65). Judas’ betrayal began with his rejection of Jesus’ teaching about His real presence in the Eucharist. In confirmation of this fact, Jesus said, “‘Have not I chosen you Twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now He meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray Him, whereas he was one of the Twelve.” (John 6:71-72).
Lack of Faith Today
How many today have not betrayed their Faith in Christ by refusing to believe in His Real Presence—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—in the Holy Eucharist? How many refuse to believe that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is more than just a commemoration of the Last Supper, but is also, and more importantly, the unbloody re-offering of Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary—in a way, a kind prolongation of that Sacrifice of Calvary through time.
The Eucharist is our Pillar of Faith. It is our strengthener and comfort in these increasingly evil days. The Eucharist is the Risen Jesus Himself in His glorified, and thus invisible, humanity. This is the essence of His teaching of the Eucharist (John 6:62-63). By its death and resurrection, the humanity of Jesus takes on a divine nature; it assumes a new order of existence: “For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity, bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In His glorified humanity, the Risen Jesus, becoming omnipresent, gives of Himself in the gift of the Eucharist. He shares with us, not only His life of suffering, but also His resurrected life and divine love, so that we may, even here on Earth, experience the reality of Heaven and partake of the life of the Holy Trinity.
Your Transubstantiation
He wishes to work a ‘transubstantiation’ of sorts in our minds and hearts—as He changes the Bread and Wine into Himself, so too does He wish to change us Body and Soul into Himself. Like He said to so many people while He walked upon this Earth: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28). We have to reply with the leper: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst!” (Luke 5:11). Confronting the mystery of the Eucharist, human reason feels its impotence and limitations. Yet St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are His Body and His Blood: Faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”
To the Eucharist, then, we should go. To Jesus we should turn—to Jesus, who wishes to make Himself ours in order to make us His by rendering us "godlike." "O Jesus, Food of strong souls," St. Gemma Galgani used to say, "strengthen me, purify me, make me godlike." Let us receive the Eucharist with a pure and ardent heart. That is what the saints have done. In doing so, we will find that Jesus transforms us into Himself. When we eat food, it is our bodies that transform the food into ourselves, so to speak. Food gives us energy and life. Yet when we “eat” Jesus as “food” in Holy Communion, then the opposite happens―Jesus begins to transform us into Himself.
Transforming Our Heart into a New Heart
“But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity” (Apocalypse 2:4). “Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart” (Ecclesiasticus 7:5). “The imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). “Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance” (Apocalypse 2:4-5). “Return to the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 30:10). “Not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but, as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). “Covet ye therefore my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction” (Wisdom 6:12).
“Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels” (Psalm 50:12). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26). “God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me” (Job 23:16). “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 50:19). “God gave unto him another heart” (1 Kings 10:9).
Let us take the words of God to heart! Let us beg Him to give us new heart! Let us admit that our present hearts are more often than not like stone, cold and hard! He who can change bread into His Flesh, can also change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Ask, and you shall receive!
Heart Full of Junk
If we eat certain wrong foods, they will eventually provoke heart failure and a heart attack. The following quote is from the American Heart Association (AHA) or should that be Aha!
“Added sugar was not a significant component of the human diet until the advent of modern food-processing methods. Since then, the intake of sugar has risen steadily. The average US sugar utilization per capita on the basis of food disappearance data was 120 lbs per year in 1970, and it reached 150 lbs per year in 1995 (almost half-a-pound per day)… Sugar has no nutritional value other than to provide calories. To improve the overall nutrient density of the diet and to help reduce the intake of excess calories, individuals should be sure foods high in added sugar are not displacing foods with essential nutrients or increasing calorie intake.” Their studies and research go on to irrefutably link a high sugar intake with cardio-vascular disease.
The World Serves Junk for the Soul
Similarly, if we replace the good ‘spiritual food’ that our ‘spiritual’ hearts were made for, with the highly sweetened junk ‘food’ offered by the world, we will eventually suffer a ‘spiritual-cardiac-arrest’! By highly sweetened junk food we mean the pleasures, amusements, distractions and fun that world offers, which is meant to displace the spirit of mortification and sacrifice that Heaven wants us to feed our souls upon.
Holy Scripture tells us this: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (1 John 4:9). “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11).
Good Daily Food
This charity we can find daily in Holy Communion, through which “God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him.” But, sadly, He is not wanted nor received in Holy Communion--“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Instead, souls seek out and stuff themselves upon the vanities of the world—the word “vanity” comes from the Latin word “vanus” which means “empty, fruitless, futile, idle, ineffectual, useless, vain.” Holy Scripture asks us the question: “Why do you love vanity” (Psalm 4:3). The Imitation of Christ, adds:
“For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone. This is the greatest wisdom—to seek the Kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 1).
By Their Fruits You Shall Know...
How much Faith is found today—when most do not attend Mass on regular basis? How much Faith is manifested today—when most Catholics do not even believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist? How much love of God is shown today—when the VAST majority of Catholics cannot even visit God at Mass each Sunday? How much love of God is shown towards God today—when many of the Ten Commandments of God and the Chief Commandments of the Church are disregarded and broken? Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) and to the Church He said “Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Luke 16:19) … “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me” (Luke 10:16). Finally, how much do we even care about such an abysmal and tragic state of affairs? Honestly, we don’t really care! It is at best (if we are even aware of the fact) a mere statistic—we read it, take note, and file it away in the “not important” filing cabinet of our minds. There are more important things to see to than that! As long as things are going okay for us, the rest of the world can—if you pardon the expression—go to Hell! Our attitude—even if we don’t exactly use the words of Cain—is one of: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
“I’m Alright Jack!”―”Me? I’m Doing Fine!”
Today, most of us live like kings and queens, but we don’t even realize it! How many kings and queens had access to the variety of food and drink that modern man can find in any supermarket? How many had the medical support that is available today? How many had such a comfortable and economical life, with modern conveniences like central heating and air-conditioning? They would have jumped at the chance to trade-in their horse and carriage for one of our cars! They could not even imagine the communications and electronic appliances available to us today, with their possibilities of instant communications with anyone anywhere in the world. The list of advantages that we have over the kings and queens of old is endless.
The following words were written by a newspaper columnist, and they essentially echo what has just been said: “We live in largely peaceful times, with better access to medicine and education — the world is easily in the best place it’s ever been. Humanity as a whole is doing better than it ever has: the world is becoming more prosperous, cleaner, increasingly peaceful and healthier. We are living longer, better lives. Virtually all of our existing problems are less bad than at any previous time in history.”
Who Is Your Insurance God? The Materialistic God or the Eucharistic God?
The problem with all this is that when we have so much available; when we enjoy so much relative security; when we can rely on the insurance gods to look after our health, wealth and loved ones, then the danger is that we can led into a neglect, an indifference, a laxity or lukewarmness with regard to our heavenly provider, almighty God and His Divine Providence. We pay thousands of dollars annually to the insurance gods, but how much do pay by way of prayers and attention to the real God? The real God, Jesus, has said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)—yet that is what the insurance gods tell us and we pay more homage and trust to them than we do to our God in the Holy Eucharist. God has a heavenly insurance branch in every tabernacle, but few want His policies. They prefer to trust in men rather than God.
What on Earth do we need God for now? We have health insurance; we have car accident insurance to replace the car or pay for its repair; we have house insurance to guarantee the replacement of certain things; we can even have insurance on the gas, electricity and water supplies and the repair of their pipes and lines; we have the possibility of insurance on the multitude of appliances and articles that we buy for ourselves and our homes; we have the insurance of welfare if we lose our jobs; we have life insurance to care for our loved ones from beyond the grave! What a bevy of assurance through insurance! God is almost redundant and unnecessary! All that we need Him for is insurance against Hell!
This attitude of complacency hits everyone without exception. It was also the underlying feature of the relationship between God and His Chosen People in the Old Testament. When things were going well for them, they forgot about God and at times even took on board false idols. So God had to do something about the cause of this neglect, indifference and idolatry. God’s solution was always to make things go badly for His fallen away Chosen People; this would bring them to their knees and their senses, and they would come pleading to God for help and mercy.
No Interest, No Faith, No practice, No Insurance!
Sadly, that is the case with an increasing number of people today, either explicitly or at least implicitly. The current statistics show that over 90% of graduates will cease to practicing their Faith on a regular basis once their schooling is over. In other words, once school is finished, God is finished (unless they live at home and are made to practice by their parents).
But it is not just youngsters that offend and irritate God; the oldsters are at it too! Only 24% of Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass. Most (90%) of the weekly Mass goers (24%) believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; whole among those who only attend a few times a year, only 40% believe in the Real Presence. The words of Jesus come hauntingly back to mind: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8), “and because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
It is clear that plenty of goods does not beget plenty of Faith; not does an abundance of comfort beget abundant Charity. Earthly riches impoverish spirituality, and ultimately greatly handicap our chances of salvation. Our Lord Himself said: “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
In the words of Our Lord, God and His Providence seems to be the best insurance policy we can have (not that we should quit paying insurance, but our primary agent should be God and not man). “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [riches, worldly interest]. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little Faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying, ‘What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:24-33).
The Holy Eucharist and the Holy Rosary Insurance Policy
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is, without any doubt, the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
The Holy Eucharist is the most important Sacrament of the Church, but never has it been as important as in these days of impending apostasy. Notice the Eucharistic adoration that took place at Fatima, before Our Lady even appeared. Notice how Divine Providence reserved the prodigious scientific discoveries about the Holy Eucharist from the Miracle of Lanziano Italy, to be uncovered in 1969/1970 at a time when God knew that belief in the Eucharistic would dwindle in the world. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith; yet by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times.
We are reminded of this double “Insurance Policy”—the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Rosary—by the vision of St. John Bosco, wherein he saw a pope sail the Bark of Peter (the ship of the Church) to safety between two pillars, upon which were the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady.
The Dream
Imagine yourselves to be with me on the seashore, or better, on an isolated rock and not to see any patch of land other than what is under your feet. On the whole of that vast sheet of water you see an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array. The prows of the ships are formed into sharp, spear-like points so that wherever they are thrust they pierce and completely destroy. These ships are armed with cannons, with lots of rifles, with incendiary materials, with other arms of all kinds, and also with books, and they advance against a ship very much bigger and higher than themselves and try to dash against it with the prows or to burn it or in some way to do it every possible harm.
The Ship of the Church
As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship, there are many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet.
The Two Columns
In the midst of the immense expanse of sea, two mighty columns of great height arise a little distance the one from the other. On the top of one, there is the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hangs a large placard with this inscription: “Auxilium Christianorum—Help of Christians.” On the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the words: “Salus Credentium—Salvation of Believers.”
The Holy Father
The supreme commander on the big ship is the Sovereign Pontiff. He, on seeing the fury of the enemies and the evils among which his faithful find themselves, determines to summon around himself the captains of the smaller ships to hold a council and decide on what is to be done.
In Conclave
All the captains come aboard and gather around the Pope. They hold a meeting, but meanwhile the wind and the waves gather in storm, so they are sent back to control their own ships.
There comes a short lull; for a second time the Pope gathers the captains together around him, while the flag-ship goes on its course. But the frightful storm returns.
The Pope stands at the helm and all his energies are directed to steering the ship towards those two columns, from the top of which and from every side of which are hanging numerous anchors and big hooks, fastened to chains.
The Battle
All the enemy ships move to attack it, and they try in every way to stop it and to sink it: some with writings or books or inflammable materials, of which they are full; others with guns, with rifles and with rams. The battle rages ever more relentlessly.
The enemy prows (battering rams on the front of the ships) thrust violently, but their efforts and impact prove useless. They make attempts in vain and waste all their labor and ammunition; the big ship goes safely and smoothly on its way. Sometimes it happens that, struck by formidable blows, it gets large, deep gaps in its sides; but no sooner is the harm done than a gentle breeze blows from the two columns and the cracks close up and the gaps are stopped immediately.
Destruction of the Enemy
Meanwhile, the guns of the assailants are blown up, the rifles and other arms and prows are broken; many ships are shattered and sink into the sea. Then, the frenzied enemies strive to fight hand to hand, with fists, with blows, with blasphemy and with curses.
All at once the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and of joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises.
A New Pope
But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another Pope takes his place. The pilots, having met together, have elected the Pope so promptly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage.
Haven of Rest
The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
Rout of the Enemy
Then a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until then had fought against the Pope's ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces one against another. Some sink and try to sink others. Several small ships that had fought gallantly for the Pope race to be the first to bind themselves to those two columns.
Many other ships, having retreated through fear of the battle, cautiously watch from far away; the wrecks of the broken ships having been scattered in the whirlpools of the sea, they in their turn sail in good earnest to those two columns, and, having reached them, they make themselves fast to the hooks hanging down from them and there they remain safe, together with the principal ship, on which is the Pope. Over the sea there reigns a great calm.
Don Bosco Explains
At this point Don Bosco asked Don Rua: “What do you think of the story?” Don Rua answered: “It seems to me that the Pope's ship might mean the Church, of which he is the head: the ships, men; the sea, this world. Those who defend the big ship are the good, lovingly attached to the Holy See; the others are her enemies, who try with every kind of weapon to annihilate her. The two columns of salvation seem to be devotion to Mary Most Holy and to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Don Rua did not speak of the Pope who fell and died, and Don Bosco also was silent about him. He simply added: “You are right! Only I ought to correct one expression. The enemy ships are persecutions. The most serious trials for the Church are near at hand. That which has been so far is almost nothing in the face of that which must befall. Her enemies are represented by the ships that tried to sink the principal ship if they could.
“Only two means are left to save her amidst so much confusion: DEVOTION TO MARY MOST HOLY and FREQUENT COMMUNION, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody.”
The Feast of the Holy Trinity has come and gone! It’s now business as usual! We now return to the farce, famine and fight found in our faithless, futile and fake world. Dumbed-down, deluded and duped ― it is amazing how low Catholics have stooped. They’ve stopped fighting the world and have made peace with the world. Instead of going to the fight, in the world we take delight! The enemy has become a friend as our Faith we no longer defend! The prince of the world, with his banner unfurled, countless souls into Hell has hurled!
You are a Catholic! You are a member of the Militant Church on Earth! You are a soldier―not a tourist! Your are a soldier of Christ! You were created for the fight, not for the fun! “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1). Your soul is not your own! Your time is not your own! Your vocation on Earth is to battle for Heaven! The life of man on Earth is warfare, not software! The weapons we must own are not laptop and smartphone! While we sit in our armchairs, the world is being taken over! While we surf the internet, the devil catches souls in his infernal net! Instead of praying for sinners, we are playing with sinners. While we seek gratification, souls fall to their damnation! The Sacred Heart seeks our salvation, but we live as though on vacation! We want to live in peace, but the Sacred Heart has not come to bring peace!
A soldier must eat in order to fight―he must draw energy and strength from the food that he eats. Likewise must a solider of Christ eat for the fight―except that his food is not only earthly food, but heavenly food―the “Bread of Angels”, the “Bread of Life”, the “Bread of Heaven”.
The Holy Eucharist is the source of Holiness―its title even contains holiness: “The HOLY Eucharist” and not just “The Eucharist”. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith―yet, by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times. How much Faith is found today—when most do not attend Mass on regular basis? How much Faith is manifested today—when most Catholics do not even believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist? How much love of God is shown today—when the VAST majority of Catholics cannot even visit God at Mass each Sunday?
Even among those who do assist at Mass regularly—the vast majority are there only on “auto-pilot”—there is no real fervor and burning desire for the Holy Eucharist, it is just something they “have to do” on Sundays and nothing more. There is little or no preparation before Mass—either by praying in the car on the way to Mass, or by arriving early to spend time before Mass with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, nor any lengthy and fervent thanksgiving after Mass for having received the greatest Treasure we have on Earth! All is automatic, auto-piloted, routine and mechanical—with nowhere near the interest, fervor or excitement that they will manifest on social media, or sitting in front of the earthly tabernacle of the TV or computer or tablet or smartphone screen! Maybe Our Lord needs to change His tactics and go on social media—maybe them more people will visit and “like” and “follow” Him!
We revisit again the words that Sister Lucia wrote in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
The Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist―God or Just Bread?
Jesus Christ is really and truly present, with His Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity, under the external appearance of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist. This is a dogma of the Catholic Church, a belief which binds under pain of mortal sin. In 2001, only 63% believed in the Real Presence; in 2008, the number fell even more, down to only 57% believing in the Real Presence. Many held the belief the Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present. This was the opinion of 37% in 2001; and this erroneous opinion had increased to 43% by 2008. Today, it is estimated that only around 40% (four out ten) still believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist—the other 60% (six out of ten) merely think there is only a symbolic presence, but not a real one. This explains why most Catholics will go to Holy Communion while never or rarely going to Confession—it is not that they are free from mortal sin, but that they have lost the true sense of sin and their belief in the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence. They see no sacrilege in going to receive—what they think is a piece of bread symbolizing Jesus—when they are formally (knowingly) or materially (unknowingly) in a state of mortal sin.
Recent statistics from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) that show the U.S. Catholic population peaked in 2010. The report also found that in 2016 some 74.2 million people in the United States claimed to be Catholic, but almost 80% of them (8 out of 10) don't attend Sunday Mass regularly. Why attend Mass if all there is there is a piece of bread? If you do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, then you are less likely to go to Mass and less likely to prepare for Holy Communion and less likely to make a good thanksgiving after Communion—there are better things to do than talk to a piece of bread! This has to be the sad link between belief in the Real Presence and attendance at Mass. The less you believe, the less you will attend.
Similar statistics from Pew Research Center in 2015 showed that more than half of all Catholics have left the Church, and only one in 10 have returned. CARA also put out a report in 2009 that found 60% of practicing Catholics were over the age of 40. There are now more Catholics attending Mass over the age of 65 than there are under 65.
Jesus’ Eucharistic Sermon Shocks
Earlier, in the famous Eucharistic sermon recorded by St. John the Evangelist, Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him’” (John 6:54-57).
Shocked by Jesus’ words, the Jews said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:53). Many of Jesus’ disciples were also scandalized. “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” they objected. Knowing that the truth of the Eucharist was a shock and a scandal to many of His listeners, Jesus responded, not by retracting His words, but by raising the stakes: “Doth this scandalize you? The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life” (John 6: 62-63). Many refused to believe Him: “After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:67).
Today, we see a repeat of both the incredulity and disbelief in the Real Presence—with anywhere from 65% to 80% of Catholics no longer believing that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist—as well as a repeat of “many walked no more with Him”—as only around 20% to 25% come to Mass regularly on Sundays, for the rest it ends up being a Sinday.
Jesus Throws Down the Gauntlet
Our Lord throws down the gauntlet of Faith before His Apostles, as He does before us: “Then Jesus said to the Twelve: Will you also go away?” (John 6:68). St. Peter replies for them, and for us, with words of Faith—not understanding but believing nevertheless—”Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” Here Jesus goes to the heart of the mystery, the “Eucharistic Heart” of the mystery and that “Eucharistic Heart” we still have with us in our tabernacles! But though Jesus is really in the tabernacle, is Faith really in our hearts?
Not all Jesus’ listeners accepted His teaching of the Eucharist. Thus He turned to them, saying, “But there are some of you that believe not.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray Him” (John 6:65). Judas’ betrayal began with his rejection of Jesus’ teaching about His real presence in the Eucharist. In confirmation of this fact, Jesus said, “‘Have not I chosen you Twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now He meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray Him, whereas he was one of the Twelve.” (John 6:71-72).
Lack of Faith Today
How many today have not betrayed their Faith in Christ by refusing to believe in His Real Presence—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—in the Holy Eucharist? How many refuse to believe that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is more than just a commemoration of the Last Supper, but is also, and more importantly, the unbloody re-offering of Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary—in a way, a kind prolongation of that Sacrifice of Calvary through time.
The Eucharist is our Pillar of Faith. It is our strengthener and comfort in these increasingly evil days. The Eucharist is the Risen Jesus Himself in His glorified, and thus invisible, humanity. This is the essence of His teaching of the Eucharist (John 6:62-63). By its death and resurrection, the humanity of Jesus takes on a divine nature; it assumes a new order of existence: “For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity, bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In His glorified humanity, the Risen Jesus, becoming omnipresent, gives of Himself in the gift of the Eucharist. He shares with us, not only His life of suffering, but also His resurrected life and divine love, so that we may, even here on Earth, experience the reality of Heaven and partake of the life of the Holy Trinity.
Your Transubstantiation
He wishes to work a ‘transubstantiation’ of sorts in our minds and hearts—as He changes the Bread and Wine into Himself, so too does He wish to change us Body and Soul into Himself. Like He said to so many people while He walked upon this Earth: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28). We have to reply with the leper: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst!” (Luke 5:11). Confronting the mystery of the Eucharist, human reason feels its impotence and limitations. Yet St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are His Body and His Blood: Faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”
To the Eucharist, then, we should go. To Jesus we should turn—to Jesus, who wishes to make Himself ours in order to make us His by rendering us "godlike." "O Jesus, Food of strong souls," St. Gemma Galgani used to say, "strengthen me, purify me, make me godlike." Let us receive the Eucharist with a pure and ardent heart. That is what the saints have done. In doing so, we will find that Jesus transforms us into Himself. When we eat food, it is our bodies that transform the food into ourselves, so to speak. Food gives us energy and life. Yet when we “eat” Jesus as “food” in Holy Communion, then the opposite happens―Jesus begins to transform us into Himself.
Transforming Our Heart into a New Heart
“But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity” (Apocalypse 2:4). “Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart” (Ecclesiasticus 7:5). “The imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin!’?” (Proverbs 20:9). “Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance” (Apocalypse 2:4-5). “Return to the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 30:10). “Not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but, as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). “Covet ye therefore my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction” (Wisdom 6:12).
“Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels” (Psalm 50:12). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26). “God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me” (Job 23:16). “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 50:19). “God gave unto him another heart” (1 Kings 10:9).
Let us take the words of God to heart! Let us beg Him to give us new heart! Let us admit that our present hearts are more often than not like stone, cold and hard! He who can change bread into His Flesh, can also change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Ask, and you shall receive!
Heart Full of Junk
If we eat certain wrong foods, they will eventually provoke heart failure and a heart attack. The following quote is from the American Heart Association (AHA) or should that be Aha!
“Added sugar was not a significant component of the human diet until the advent of modern food-processing methods. Since then, the intake of sugar has risen steadily. The average US sugar utilization per capita on the basis of food disappearance data was 120 lbs per year in 1970, and it reached 150 lbs per year in 1995 (almost half-a-pound per day)… Sugar has no nutritional value other than to provide calories. To improve the overall nutrient density of the diet and to help reduce the intake of excess calories, individuals should be sure foods high in added sugar are not displacing foods with essential nutrients or increasing calorie intake.” Their studies and research go on to irrefutably link a high sugar intake with cardio-vascular disease.
The World Serves Junk for the Soul
Similarly, if we replace the good ‘spiritual food’ that our ‘spiritual’ hearts were made for, with the highly sweetened junk ‘food’ offered by the world, we will eventually suffer a ‘spiritual-cardiac-arrest’! By highly sweetened junk food we mean the pleasures, amusements, distractions and fun that world offers, which is meant to displace the spirit of mortification and sacrifice that Heaven wants us to feed our souls upon.
Holy Scripture tells us this: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (1 John 4:9). “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11).
Good Daily Food
This charity we can find daily in Holy Communion, through which “God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him.” But, sadly, He is not wanted nor received in Holy Communion--“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Instead, souls seek out and stuff themselves upon the vanities of the world—the word “vanity” comes from the Latin word “vanus” which means “empty, fruitless, futile, idle, ineffectual, useless, vain.” Holy Scripture asks us the question: “Why do you love vanity” (Psalm 4:3). The Imitation of Christ, adds:
“For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone. This is the greatest wisdom—to seek the Kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 1).
By Their Fruits You Shall Know...
How much Faith is found today—when most do not attend Mass on regular basis? How much Faith is manifested today—when most Catholics do not even believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist? How much love of God is shown today—when the VAST majority of Catholics cannot even visit God at Mass each Sunday? How much love of God is shown towards God today—when many of the Ten Commandments of God and the Chief Commandments of the Church are disregarded and broken? Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) and to the Church He said “Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Luke 16:19) … “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me” (Luke 10:16). Finally, how much do we even care about such an abysmal and tragic state of affairs? Honestly, we don’t really care! It is at best (if we are even aware of the fact) a mere statistic—we read it, take note, and file it away in the “not important” filing cabinet of our minds. There are more important things to see to than that! As long as things are going okay for us, the rest of the world can—if you pardon the expression—go to Hell! Our attitude—even if we don’t exactly use the words of Cain—is one of: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
“I’m Alright Jack!”―”Me? I’m Doing Fine!”
Today, most of us live like kings and queens, but we don’t even realize it! How many kings and queens had access to the variety of food and drink that modern man can find in any supermarket? How many had the medical support that is available today? How many had such a comfortable and economical life, with modern conveniences like central heating and air-conditioning? They would have jumped at the chance to trade-in their horse and carriage for one of our cars! They could not even imagine the communications and electronic appliances available to us today, with their possibilities of instant communications with anyone anywhere in the world. The list of advantages that we have over the kings and queens of old is endless.
The following words were written by a newspaper columnist, and they essentially echo what has just been said: “We live in largely peaceful times, with better access to medicine and education — the world is easily in the best place it’s ever been. Humanity as a whole is doing better than it ever has: the world is becoming more prosperous, cleaner, increasingly peaceful and healthier. We are living longer, better lives. Virtually all of our existing problems are less bad than at any previous time in history.”
Who Is Your Insurance God? The Materialistic God or the Eucharistic God?
The problem with all this is that when we have so much available; when we enjoy so much relative security; when we can rely on the insurance gods to look after our health, wealth and loved ones, then the danger is that we can led into a neglect, an indifference, a laxity or lukewarmness with regard to our heavenly provider, almighty God and His Divine Providence. We pay thousands of dollars annually to the insurance gods, but how much do pay by way of prayers and attention to the real God? The real God, Jesus, has said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)—yet that is what the insurance gods tell us and we pay more homage and trust to them than we do to our God in the Holy Eucharist. God has a heavenly insurance branch in every tabernacle, but few want His policies. They prefer to trust in men rather than God.
What on Earth do we need God for now? We have health insurance; we have car accident insurance to replace the car or pay for its repair; we have house insurance to guarantee the replacement of certain things; we can even have insurance on the gas, electricity and water supplies and the repair of their pipes and lines; we have the possibility of insurance on the multitude of appliances and articles that we buy for ourselves and our homes; we have the insurance of welfare if we lose our jobs; we have life insurance to care for our loved ones from beyond the grave! What a bevy of assurance through insurance! God is almost redundant and unnecessary! All that we need Him for is insurance against Hell!
This attitude of complacency hits everyone without exception. It was also the underlying feature of the relationship between God and His Chosen People in the Old Testament. When things were going well for them, they forgot about God and at times even took on board false idols. So God had to do something about the cause of this neglect, indifference and idolatry. God’s solution was always to make things go badly for His fallen away Chosen People; this would bring them to their knees and their senses, and they would come pleading to God for help and mercy.
No Interest, No Faith, No practice, No Insurance!
Sadly, that is the case with an increasing number of people today, either explicitly or at least implicitly. The current statistics show that over 90% of graduates will cease to practicing their Faith on a regular basis once their schooling is over. In other words, once school is finished, God is finished (unless they live at home and are made to practice by their parents).
But it is not just youngsters that offend and irritate God; the oldsters are at it too! Only 24% of Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass. Most (90%) of the weekly Mass goers (24%) believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; whole among those who only attend a few times a year, only 40% believe in the Real Presence. The words of Jesus come hauntingly back to mind: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8), “and because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
It is clear that plenty of goods does not beget plenty of Faith; not does an abundance of comfort beget abundant Charity. Earthly riches impoverish spirituality, and ultimately greatly handicap our chances of salvation. Our Lord Himself said: “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
In the words of Our Lord, God and His Providence seems to be the best insurance policy we can have (not that we should quit paying insurance, but our primary agent should be God and not man). “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [riches, worldly interest]. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little Faith? Be not solicitous therefore, saying, ‘What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:24-33).
The Holy Eucharist and the Holy Rosary Insurance Policy
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is, without any doubt, the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
The Holy Eucharist is the most important Sacrament of the Church, but never has it been as important as in these days of impending apostasy. Notice the Eucharistic adoration that took place at Fatima, before Our Lady even appeared. Notice how Divine Providence reserved the prodigious scientific discoveries about the Holy Eucharist from the Miracle of Lanziano Italy, to be uncovered in 1969/1970 at a time when God knew that belief in the Eucharistic would dwindle in the world. The Holy Eucharist is there, among other things, to feed and strengthen our Faith; yet by neglecting to frequently visit, adore and eat this Bread of Heaven, we indirectly weaken our Faith and lose the necessary strength that is required in fighting the apostasy of our times.
We are reminded of this double “Insurance Policy”—the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Rosary—by the vision of St. John Bosco, wherein he saw a pope sail the Bark of Peter (the ship of the Church) to safety between two pillars, upon which were the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady.
The Dream
Imagine yourselves to be with me on the seashore, or better, on an isolated rock and not to see any patch of land other than what is under your feet. On the whole of that vast sheet of water you see an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array. The prows of the ships are formed into sharp, spear-like points so that wherever they are thrust they pierce and completely destroy. These ships are armed with cannons, with lots of rifles, with incendiary materials, with other arms of all kinds, and also with books, and they advance against a ship very much bigger and higher than themselves and try to dash against it with the prows or to burn it or in some way to do it every possible harm.
The Ship of the Church
As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship, there are many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet.
The Two Columns
In the midst of the immense expanse of sea, two mighty columns of great height arise a little distance the one from the other. On the top of one, there is the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hangs a large placard with this inscription: “Auxilium Christianorum—Help of Christians.” On the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the words: “Salus Credentium—Salvation of Believers.”
The Holy Father
The supreme commander on the big ship is the Sovereign Pontiff. He, on seeing the fury of the enemies and the evils among which his faithful find themselves, determines to summon around himself the captains of the smaller ships to hold a council and decide on what is to be done.
In Conclave
All the captains come aboard and gather around the Pope. They hold a meeting, but meanwhile the wind and the waves gather in storm, so they are sent back to control their own ships.
There comes a short lull; for a second time the Pope gathers the captains together around him, while the flag-ship goes on its course. But the frightful storm returns.
The Pope stands at the helm and all his energies are directed to steering the ship towards those two columns, from the top of which and from every side of which are hanging numerous anchors and big hooks, fastened to chains.
The Battle
All the enemy ships move to attack it, and they try in every way to stop it and to sink it: some with writings or books or inflammable materials, of which they are full; others with guns, with rifles and with rams. The battle rages ever more relentlessly.
The enemy prows (battering rams on the front of the ships) thrust violently, but their efforts and impact prove useless. They make attempts in vain and waste all their labor and ammunition; the big ship goes safely and smoothly on its way. Sometimes it happens that, struck by formidable blows, it gets large, deep gaps in its sides; but no sooner is the harm done than a gentle breeze blows from the two columns and the cracks close up and the gaps are stopped immediately.
Destruction of the Enemy
Meanwhile, the guns of the assailants are blown up, the rifles and other arms and prows are broken; many ships are shattered and sink into the sea. Then, the frenzied enemies strive to fight hand to hand, with fists, with blows, with blasphemy and with curses.
All at once the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and of joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises.
A New Pope
But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another Pope takes his place. The pilots, having met together, have elected the Pope so promptly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage.
Haven of Rest
The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
Rout of the Enemy
Then a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until then had fought against the Pope's ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces one against another. Some sink and try to sink others. Several small ships that had fought gallantly for the Pope race to be the first to bind themselves to those two columns.
Many other ships, having retreated through fear of the battle, cautiously watch from far away; the wrecks of the broken ships having been scattered in the whirlpools of the sea, they in their turn sail in good earnest to those two columns, and, having reached them, they make themselves fast to the hooks hanging down from them and there they remain safe, together with the principal ship, on which is the Pope. Over the sea there reigns a great calm.
Don Bosco Explains
At this point Don Bosco asked Don Rua: “What do you think of the story?” Don Rua answered: “It seems to me that the Pope's ship might mean the Church, of which he is the head: the ships, men; the sea, this world. Those who defend the big ship are the good, lovingly attached to the Holy See; the others are her enemies, who try with every kind of weapon to annihilate her. The two columns of salvation seem to be devotion to Mary Most Holy and to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Don Rua did not speak of the Pope who fell and died, and Don Bosco also was silent about him. He simply added: “You are right! Only I ought to correct one expression. The enemy ships are persecutions. The most serious trials for the Church are near at hand. That which has been so far is almost nothing in the face of that which must befall. Her enemies are represented by the ships that tried to sink the principal ship if they could.
“Only two means are left to save her amidst so much confusion: DEVOTION TO MARY MOST HOLY and FREQUENT COMMUNION, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday June 1st & Wednesday June 2nd
Article 1
Are We Losing Heart?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday June 1st & Wednesday June 2nd
Article 1
Are We Losing Heart?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Fearing the Wrong Things
Fear makes us faint and lose heart! As the saying goes: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself!” Fear is a fearsome weapon―as we have seen in our day with the fear-mongering and fear-generating propaganda about the global threat of disease that is being rammed-down the throats of every man, woman and child―a fear that is being injected into everyone who is stupid enough to believe the mass media, governments and fraudulent and fact-twisting medics. How true are the words of God for our godless age, where most people have abandoned God:
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6).
Fear makes us faint and lose heart! As the saying goes: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself!” Fear is a fearsome weapon―as we have seen in our day with the fear-mongering and fear-generating propaganda about the global threat of disease that is being rammed-down the throats of every man, woman and child―a fear that is being injected into everyone who is stupid enough to believe the mass media, governments and fraudulent and fact-twisting medics. How true are the words of God for our godless age, where most people have abandoned God:
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6).
Yes, we are trembling for fear where there is no fear―we are fearful when we should not be fearful. Yet, on the other hand, we are not fearful when we should be fearful! The human race is facing a massive threat today―not from naturally occurring disease, but from man-made, man-manipulated, man-distributed disease! Once God is forgotten, then His Commandments are forgotten―and so, “Thou shalt not kill” no longer means anything and the godless are not afraid to kill. If they have had no problems killing babies in the womb ― then they will have no problems killing those fully-grown adults who are outside the womb.
How ridiculous is the wording of this news clipping: “The number and rate of abortions across the United States have plunged to their lowest levels since the procedure became legal nationwide in 1973, according to new figures released Wednesday. The report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, counted 862,000 abortions in the U.S. in 2017. That’s down from 926,000 tallied in the group’s previous report for 2014, and from just over 1 million counted for 2011.” What a joke! Reading the words, “abortions have plunged to their lowest levels since the procedure became legal” makes you imagine some kind of very low number ― yet then it states that the “low” number to which it has “plunged” is a massive 862,000 ― which is not too far short of 1 million!!! Since when was 862,000 a low number? Heck! The official CDC website states that as of May 26th, 2021, a total of 589,547 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since it all really started to roll in April 2020. Everyone one is saying that the USA number of COVID 589,547 deaths is HIGH ― yet 862,000 abortion deaths are deemed to “have plunged to their lowest levels”!!! Slightly fewer than 4 million babies are born in the United States each year―therefore, for every 5 babies that are conceived, 4 are born and 1 is aborted―meaning that 20% of all conceived babies are aborted. If 20% of all Americans were dying of COVID each year―would that be classified as “lowest levels”? On top of that, the COVID death numbers have been inflated and overstated, whereas the abortion numbers are only the officially recorded numbers and are therefore obviously understated. What a web of lies and exaggerations is being spun―and the majority of people are fooled and caught in that web. “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Once again, Scripture should be quoted in view of this: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not even one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood [abortion and medical killing]. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour My people [abortion and depopulation by medical killing] as they eat bread? They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Too Much Earthly Fear―Not Enough Divine Fear
If you were to survey all the people of the world, the vast, vast majority would―if they were honest―tell you that they fear the things of this world and potential events in this world, far more than they fear God―that is if they even have any fear of God! Yet the words of Our Lord seek to sow some realism and objectivity into our earthly fears: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28) … “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
With all the mass-media, governmental and medical hype and propaganda being spewed-out left-right-and-center, one can clearly see the growing, gnawing cancer of fear taking over sane and sound minds. As the truthful saying about lies so correctly states: “Repeat a lie often enough and it will be believed!” Tell people enough times that they should be afraid of something, that in reality they should be afraid of, and they will start to fear what should not be feared. The Plannedemic hysteria―a cleverly coordinated and orchestrated hysteria―has succeeded in fooling people by the millions into wearing masks that are largely useless, and fooled as many millions into accepting vaccinations that are dangerous! They frantically fear an overhyped disease, yet fearlessly accept a frighteningly dangerous vaccine! Only a godless fool can manage to denaturize fear and turn-it-inside-out, and upside-down―with the result that what should be feared is not feared, and what should not be feared is feared!
Losing Their Mind―Losing Heart
The result of all this mass-media, governmental and medical hype and propaganda has caused many people to lose their minds and others to lose heart. Most people have lost their minds―that is to say, they have lost the ability to think logically and to research objectively. They believe most lies because they have lost the ability to think, analyze, research, parse, substantiate and form a correct judgment of what they are being told. In the same mindless way as people buy and eat junk food just because it is cheap and on the store shelf―likewise do people “eat” and “swallow” junk information just because it free, on the mainstream media “shelf”, and “advertized” (or rammed down your throat) every single day. Hitler’s propagandist, Joseph Goebbels said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” In this context, you just cannot quote too often the words of the CIA Director, William Casey, that were spoken to President Reagan during a presidential briefing soon after Reagan took Office: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”
Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― was one of the witnesses and the source that communicated that statement to others. She writes: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote―[“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”], which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent, Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan). Not only does Barbara Honegger state William Casey said it, but apparently he said it in response to what he saw as his goal as CIA Director!
Shocked? Doesn’t Holy Scripture say “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4) … “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “The sons of men are liars―that they may together deceive!” (Psalm 61:10). Once you abandon the God of truth, you automatically become a slave of the world and its prince―the devil. To such persons Our Lord says: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). “O ye sons of men, how long will you seek after lying?” (Psalm 4:3)? Do you think Holy Scripture is lying? “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord!” (Proverbs 12:22). We have come to the point where we trust liars far more than the God of truth! “Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you! … Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:8, 4). “Indeed the lying pen of the scribes [politicians, medics and media] hath wrought falsehood!” (Jeremias 8:8). “Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor!” (Ephesians 4:25).
Others, who can clearly see what is going, gradually fall into discouragement, a sense of helplessness and then hopelessness, despairing of getting out of the hole that is being dug for them by Satan and his minions and stooges in government, the media and medical field. As Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century … the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … This will make it easy for everyone to live in sin … Depraved priests will scandalize the Christian people … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed.” All of this can easily lead good-willed souls to lose heart and fall into discouragement, and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
The Battle Lines Are Drawn!
We are at the point described in Holy Scripture: “The Gentiles rage and the people meditate vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” (Acts 4:25-26). This New Testament verse echoes the Old Testament: “The Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things! The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwells in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
This nothing other than what Holy Scripture and Our Lord describe in a composite picture of the “Last Days” or “End Times” ― which Our Lady of Fatima said that we have now entered:
“Now the Spirit clearly says that, in the last times, some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy and having their conscience seared [mind blinded]” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God. Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Know this first, that in the Last Days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). “In the Last Times there will come mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodliness. These are they, who are sensual men, who separate themselves, having not the Spirit” (Jude 1:18-19).
“Now the works of the flesh are clear―which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling [partying], and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:16-21).
“And when Jesus was sitting on Mount Olivet, the disciples came to Him privately, saying: ‘Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of Heaven shall be moved. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath! For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened!
“But look to yourselves. Before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another! And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold … But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors!’” (Matthew 24:3-33; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-16, 25-26). Can you not see the signs?
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds the “icing on the cake” of tribulation when she says that Our Lady revealed to her that we have entered the “Final Battle” that Satan will wage against Our Lady: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them! … it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin. Our Lady told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The problem is that most Catholics are comfortable sitting in the “middle ground”―with a beer in one hand, a TV remote control in the other hand, and plate of preferred comfort-food in front of them. Fighting is the last thing on their mind! The only fighting they will get into is fighting over the TV remote control, or who is next on the computer!
What Hope of Victory?
The odds are attacked against us! How many fighters or true Soldiers of Christ do we have? Even if every Catholic was a true, good and zealous Catholic, the world would outnumber us by 6 to 1 ― with only 1.3 billion Catholics in a world population of around 7.9 billion. However, around 80% of those 1.3 billion Catholics do not regularly attend Sunday Mass, therefore placing themselves in a state of mortal sin. If you are in mortal sin, all your prayers (if you even pray at all) are worthless for any other cause except your own conversion―just like a seriously wounded soldier is useless for battle. This suddenly gives you 1.04 billion Catholic casualties and only 260 million Catholics fit for battle ― making the odds drop from being outnumbered by 6 to 1 to now being outnumbered by 30 to 1.
However, that presumes that every single Catholic who regularly attends Mass on Sunday is in a state of grace! It is not only missing Sunday Mass that puts you into mortal sin―there are hundreds of variants of sins that also lose the grace of God. Let’s face it―the lines for confession are not at all long! You might have a parish of thousands and only a handful are seen going to confession! Are they all saints? Far from it! They have merely lost the sense of sin―as one pope after another has repeatedly stressed―and so they live in mortal sin without paying much if any attention to it, while attending Mass and going to (sacrilegious) Communion. How many of those 20% regular Mass goers are in this state? Your guess is as good as anybody’s―but St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion (in days less tempting that ours) that most Catholics make bad confessions and therefore habitually live in a state of mortal sin. So that optimistic number of 20% of Catholics being in a state of grace is more likely to be anywhere between 5% and 10% in a state of grace. 5% would be only 65 million Catholics in a world population of 7.9 billion (7,900 million)―which means being outnumbered by 121 to 1. If it is 10% then we would outnumbered by 60 to 1. In either case―the odds going into battle are not very good.
If you think that is unbelievable, implausible, ridiculous, etc., then just think why―according to Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints―most Catholics end up being damned! How you be damned if you are making good confessions? Impossible! Therefore…
God Loves Fighting Against the Odds!
What we might think to be impossible odds to overcome―it is not so with God! He tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
We see this disregard by God for the odds in the case of Gedeon. Gedeon―the fifth of the Judges who were the leaders of Israel at the time―found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites: with 135,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—who were outnumbered by more than 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors. However, without God we can do nothing, and it might be that, after the victory that the Lord would give them, the soldiers might think it had been by their own strength and ability that they had won the victory.
So, the Lord commanded Gedeon, not to recruit soldiers, but to further reduce the number under his command: “lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength” (Judges 7:2). Any who were “afraid and trembling” were told they could go home. Some 22,000 departed, leaving only 10,000 to fight the 135,000 Madianites. So, they went from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1.
No doubt Gedeon was surprised to hear what the Lord said next: “The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them” (Judges 7:4). At the site to which the Lord had directed Gideon’s army there was drinkable water. The army stopped to drink and 9,700 knelt down on their knees, so they might drink directly from the stream. The other 300 cupped their hands and took water into them, drinking it from their hands as a dog would lap water from his bowl. “By the 300 hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place” (Judges 7:7). And so it was!
God likes to do with the minimum. He likes to have everything stacked against Him and His Chosen Ones. He delights in bringing off the seemingly impossible. With “Gedeon’s Three Hundred”, God kept increasing the odds against them―from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000); to more than 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000); and finally to a ridiculous and seemingly impossible situation of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God wanted the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God Himself could claim the eventual victory against those impossible odds. Here is the account in abbreviated form:
“The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and He delivered them into the hand of Madianites for seven years. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist. And when Israel had sown [their crops], Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up and pitching their tents among them, wasted all things and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of the Madianites. And they cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites … And an angel of the Lord came and appeared to Gedeon, and said: ‘The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men ... Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian! Know that I have sent thee!’” (Judges 6:1-14).
“Then Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
The result was that the 300 soldiers under Gedeon―by the grace and help of God―slew 120,000 Madianites and only 15,000 remained, therefore indicating that the Madianite army totaled 135,000 men: “For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were slain” (Judges 8:10).
Similarly, God only chose 12 Apostles and 72 disciples and commanded them to go into the world and “teach ye all nations baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19): “And when day was come, He called unto Him His disciples; and He chose twelve of them―whom also He named Apostles” (Luke 6:13). “He called unto Him whom He would Himself and they came to Him. And He made that Twelve should be with Him” (Mark 3:13-14). “Having called His Twelve disciples [the Apostles]…” (Matthew 10:1), “the Lord appointed another seventy-two [disciples], and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-2), “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22). Scholars and scientists and mathematicians estimate the world’s population at the time of Christ was, to round off the number, around 300 million―so his 84 followers (12 Apostles plus 72 disciples) would be outnumbered by around 3.5 million to 1. Even if you take the number of disciples at the time of Pentecost, at the descent of the Holy Ghost, “the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:15)―which would mean being outnumbered by the world at a ratio of 2.3 million to 1. God rarely makes things easy! So there is no need to lose heart when the odds are stacked against you!
God Has No Problems Wiping the Slate Clean and Starting Afresh
Most of us, when things are not working out like we would like, tend to make the best of the situation because suffering the dysfunction is perhaps less stressful than “going back to the drawing board”, “wiping the slate clean” and “starting all over again!” As for God―even though He shows incredible patience with sinners (which means all of us)―God is not averse to “going back to the drawing board”, “wiping the slate clean” and “starting all over again!” We see this on a large worldwide scale in the time of Noe―where, with the Great Flood, God destroyed the ever increasingly sinful human race and started all over again with Noe and his family. On a lesser scale, we see how God chose and then ultimately rejected His “Chosen People”―even after a short time in the desert, God was exasperated with His “Chosen People” to the point that He was prepared to destroy them all and start all over again with Moses and his family. In fact, for having rejected to enter and conquer the Promised Land at the first time of asking, God chose to wipe-out all the adults who originally left Egypt in the Exodus―which would have been well over 1 million in number: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, so that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them―and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Exodus 32:9-10). Then, after having led the remnant into the “Promised Land”, God saw that they were gradually and increasingly falling into sin and idolatry. Things became so bad that God destroyed most of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and caused the Tribe of Juda to be led into captivity, while having their capital, Jerusalem with glorious Temple to God totally destroyed and ransacked! God has no problem knocking everything down and starting all over again!
► Our Lady the Queen of Prophets, warned that God has promised more of the same treatment to our own day and age, if we do not decrease sin: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! … It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima, Akita).
What makes the above divine threats even more likely is that we are indifferent and complacent in face of them―even if we might not quite have a “You wouldn’t dare do that!” attitude, for most people those warnings just “go-in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”, as they file it away in their “it won’t happen in my lifetime” filing cabinet. The current developments in the world would seem to indicate that it is all nearer to happening than most people think!
► Sister Lucia of Fatima, however, said almost 64 years ago to Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
No Need to Lose Heart―Unless You Fail to Take Heaven Seriously
Ultimately, God is in charge. Nothing can happen without God “rubber-stamping” it―either by directly wanting it, or allowing it for our punishment as a corrective medicine. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). If we obediently follow Heaven’s commands and recommendations, then we have little to fear. However, in most cases, Our Lord would have to say: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Yes―we are living in precarious times! Yet ignoring the reality of things will not make that reality go away! We have made our bed and we have to lie in it. We have neglected, to a large extent, Heavens commands and solutions―therefore the price is to be paid, “God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Yet chastisement does not necessarily mean damnation―just as surgery does not necessarily lead to death. The purpose of surgery―let us say, for example, the amputation of a limb―is intended to preserve life and not bring death. “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).
Our Lady herself has said that God will look after His own―but that does not mean that God will not chastise His own while still saving their souls! The crucial point is― “Can we really say we are among the number whom God can call His own?”
► Our Lady of Good Success said that “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” for “will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast … they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent [you could also add: those who do speak out will be silenced] … Luxury, which will ensnare into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … Oh, if mortals, and in particular religious souls, could know what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live! Nor would they spare themselves any sacrifice in order to possess Him!”
► Our Lady of La Salette adds: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will …
It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! … Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … The fire of Heaven will fall … Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified!”
Fear makes us faint and lose heart! As the saying goes: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself!” Fear is a fearsome weapon―as we have seen in our day with the fear-mongering and fear-generating propaganda about the global threat of disease that is being rammed-down the throats of every man, woman and child―a fear that is being injected into everyone who is stupid enough to believe the mass media, governments and fraudulent and fact-twisting medics. How true are the words of God for our godless age, where most people have abandoned God:
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6).
Fear makes us faint and lose heart! As the saying goes: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself!” Fear is a fearsome weapon―as we have seen in our day with the fear-mongering and fear-generating propaganda about the global threat of disease that is being rammed-down the throats of every man, woman and child―a fear that is being injected into everyone who is stupid enough to believe the mass media, governments and fraudulent and fact-twisting medics. How true are the words of God for our godless age, where most people have abandoned God:
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6).
Yes, we are trembling for fear where there is no fear―we are fearful when we should not be fearful. Yet, on the other hand, we are not fearful when we should be fearful! The human race is facing a massive threat today―not from naturally occurring disease, but from man-made, man-manipulated, man-distributed disease! Once God is forgotten, then His Commandments are forgotten―and so, “Thou shalt not kill” no longer means anything and the godless are not afraid to kill. If they have had no problems killing babies in the womb ― then they will have no problems killing those fully-grown adults who are outside the womb.
How ridiculous is the wording of this news clipping: “The number and rate of abortions across the United States have plunged to their lowest levels since the procedure became legal nationwide in 1973, according to new figures released Wednesday. The report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, counted 862,000 abortions in the U.S. in 2017. That’s down from 926,000 tallied in the group’s previous report for 2014, and from just over 1 million counted for 2011.” What a joke! Reading the words, “abortions have plunged to their lowest levels since the procedure became legal” makes you imagine some kind of very low number ― yet then it states that the “low” number to which it has “plunged” is a massive 862,000 ― which is not too far short of 1 million!!! Since when was 862,000 a low number? Heck! The official CDC website states that as of May 26th, 2021, a total of 589,547 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since it all really started to roll in April 2020. Everyone one is saying that the USA number of COVID 589,547 deaths is HIGH ― yet 862,000 abortion deaths are deemed to “have plunged to their lowest levels”!!! Slightly fewer than 4 million babies are born in the United States each year―therefore, for every 5 babies that are conceived, 4 are born and 1 is aborted―meaning that 20% of all conceived babies are aborted. If 20% of all Americans were dying of COVID each year―would that be classified as “lowest levels”? On top of that, the COVID death numbers have been inflated and overstated, whereas the abortion numbers are only the officially recorded numbers and are therefore obviously understated. What a web of lies and exaggerations is being spun―and the majority of people are fooled and caught in that web. “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Once again, Scripture should be quoted in view of this: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not even one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood [abortion and medical killing]. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour My people [abortion and depopulation by medical killing] as they eat bread? They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Too Much Earthly Fear―Not Enough Divine Fear
If you were to survey all the people of the world, the vast, vast majority would―if they were honest―tell you that they fear the things of this world and potential events in this world, far more than they fear God―that is if they even have any fear of God! Yet the words of Our Lord seek to sow some realism and objectivity into our earthly fears: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28) … “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
With all the mass-media, governmental and medical hype and propaganda being spewed-out left-right-and-center, one can clearly see the growing, gnawing cancer of fear taking over sane and sound minds. As the truthful saying about lies so correctly states: “Repeat a lie often enough and it will be believed!” Tell people enough times that they should be afraid of something, that in reality they should be afraid of, and they will start to fear what should not be feared. The Plannedemic hysteria―a cleverly coordinated and orchestrated hysteria―has succeeded in fooling people by the millions into wearing masks that are largely useless, and fooled as many millions into accepting vaccinations that are dangerous! They frantically fear an overhyped disease, yet fearlessly accept a frighteningly dangerous vaccine! Only a godless fool can manage to denaturize fear and turn-it-inside-out, and upside-down―with the result that what should be feared is not feared, and what should not be feared is feared!
Losing Their Mind―Losing Heart
The result of all this mass-media, governmental and medical hype and propaganda has caused many people to lose their minds and others to lose heart. Most people have lost their minds―that is to say, they have lost the ability to think logically and to research objectively. They believe most lies because they have lost the ability to think, analyze, research, parse, substantiate and form a correct judgment of what they are being told. In the same mindless way as people buy and eat junk food just because it is cheap and on the store shelf―likewise do people “eat” and “swallow” junk information just because it free, on the mainstream media “shelf”, and “advertized” (or rammed down your throat) every single day. Hitler’s propagandist, Joseph Goebbels said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” In this context, you just cannot quote too often the words of the CIA Director, William Casey, that were spoken to President Reagan during a presidential briefing soon after Reagan took Office: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”
Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan ― was one of the witnesses and the source that communicated that statement to others. She writes: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote―[“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!”], which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent, Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan). Not only does Barbara Honegger state William Casey said it, but apparently he said it in response to what he saw as his goal as CIA Director!
Shocked? Doesn’t Holy Scripture say “God is true; and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4) … “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) … “The sons of men are liars―that they may together deceive!” (Psalm 61:10). Once you abandon the God of truth, you automatically become a slave of the world and its prince―the devil. To such persons Our Lord says: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). “O ye sons of men, how long will you seek after lying?” (Psalm 4:3)? Do you think Holy Scripture is lying? “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord!” (Proverbs 12:22). We have come to the point where we trust liars far more than the God of truth! “Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you! … Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:8, 4). “Indeed the lying pen of the scribes [politicians, medics and media] hath wrought falsehood!” (Jeremias 8:8). “Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor!” (Ephesians 4:25).
Others, who can clearly see what is going, gradually fall into discouragement, a sense of helplessness and then hopelessness, despairing of getting out of the hole that is being dug for them by Satan and his minions and stooges in government, the media and medical field. As Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century … the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … This will make it easy for everyone to live in sin … Depraved priests will scandalize the Christian people … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed.” All of this can easily lead good-willed souls to lose heart and fall into discouragement, and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
The Battle Lines Are Drawn!
We are at the point described in Holy Scripture: “The Gentiles rage and the people meditate vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” (Acts 4:25-26). This New Testament verse echoes the Old Testament: “The Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things! The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwells in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
This nothing other than what Holy Scripture and Our Lord describe in a composite picture of the “Last Days” or “End Times” ― which Our Lady of Fatima said that we have now entered:
“Now the Spirit clearly says that, in the last times, some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy and having their conscience seared [mind blinded]” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God. Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Know this first, that in the Last Days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). “In the Last Times there will come mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodliness. These are they, who are sensual men, who separate themselves, having not the Spirit” (Jude 1:18-19).
“Now the works of the flesh are clear―which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling [partying], and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:16-21).
“And when Jesus was sitting on Mount Olivet, the disciples came to Him privately, saying: ‘Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of Heaven shall be moved. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath! For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened!
“But look to yourselves. Before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another! And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold … But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors!’” (Matthew 24:3-33; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-16, 25-26). Can you not see the signs?
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds the “icing on the cake” of tribulation when she says that Our Lady revealed to her that we have entered the “Final Battle” that Satan will wage against Our Lady: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them! … it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin. Our Lady told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The problem is that most Catholics are comfortable sitting in the “middle ground”―with a beer in one hand, a TV remote control in the other hand, and plate of preferred comfort-food in front of them. Fighting is the last thing on their mind! The only fighting they will get into is fighting over the TV remote control, or who is next on the computer!
What Hope of Victory?
The odds are attacked against us! How many fighters or true Soldiers of Christ do we have? Even if every Catholic was a true, good and zealous Catholic, the world would outnumber us by 6 to 1 ― with only 1.3 billion Catholics in a world population of around 7.9 billion. However, around 80% of those 1.3 billion Catholics do not regularly attend Sunday Mass, therefore placing themselves in a state of mortal sin. If you are in mortal sin, all your prayers (if you even pray at all) are worthless for any other cause except your own conversion―just like a seriously wounded soldier is useless for battle. This suddenly gives you 1.04 billion Catholic casualties and only 260 million Catholics fit for battle ― making the odds drop from being outnumbered by 6 to 1 to now being outnumbered by 30 to 1.
However, that presumes that every single Catholic who regularly attends Mass on Sunday is in a state of grace! It is not only missing Sunday Mass that puts you into mortal sin―there are hundreds of variants of sins that also lose the grace of God. Let’s face it―the lines for confession are not at all long! You might have a parish of thousands and only a handful are seen going to confession! Are they all saints? Far from it! They have merely lost the sense of sin―as one pope after another has repeatedly stressed―and so they live in mortal sin without paying much if any attention to it, while attending Mass and going to (sacrilegious) Communion. How many of those 20% regular Mass goers are in this state? Your guess is as good as anybody’s―but St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion (in days less tempting that ours) that most Catholics make bad confessions and therefore habitually live in a state of mortal sin. So that optimistic number of 20% of Catholics being in a state of grace is more likely to be anywhere between 5% and 10% in a state of grace. 5% would be only 65 million Catholics in a world population of 7.9 billion (7,900 million)―which means being outnumbered by 121 to 1. If it is 10% then we would outnumbered by 60 to 1. In either case―the odds going into battle are not very good.
If you think that is unbelievable, implausible, ridiculous, etc., then just think why―according to Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints―most Catholics end up being damned! How you be damned if you are making good confessions? Impossible! Therefore…
God Loves Fighting Against the Odds!
What we might think to be impossible odds to overcome―it is not so with God! He tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
We see this disregard by God for the odds in the case of Gedeon. Gedeon―the fifth of the Judges who were the leaders of Israel at the time―found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites: with 135,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—who were outnumbered by more than 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors. However, without God we can do nothing, and it might be that, after the victory that the Lord would give them, the soldiers might think it had been by their own strength and ability that they had won the victory.
So, the Lord commanded Gedeon, not to recruit soldiers, but to further reduce the number under his command: “lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength” (Judges 7:2). Any who were “afraid and trembling” were told they could go home. Some 22,000 departed, leaving only 10,000 to fight the 135,000 Madianites. So, they went from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by more than 13 to 1.
No doubt Gedeon was surprised to hear what the Lord said next: “The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them” (Judges 7:4). At the site to which the Lord had directed Gideon’s army there was drinkable water. The army stopped to drink and 9,700 knelt down on their knees, so they might drink directly from the stream. The other 300 cupped their hands and took water into them, drinking it from their hands as a dog would lap water from his bowl. “By the 300 hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place” (Judges 7:7). And so it was!
God likes to do with the minimum. He likes to have everything stacked against Him and His Chosen Ones. He delights in bringing off the seemingly impossible. With “Gedeon’s Three Hundred”, God kept increasing the odds against them―from being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000); to more than 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000); and finally to a ridiculous and seemingly impossible situation of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God wanted the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God Himself could claim the eventual victory against those impossible odds. Here is the account in abbreviated form:
“The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and He delivered them into the hand of Madianites for seven years. And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist. And when Israel had sown [their crops], Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up and pitching their tents among them, wasted all things and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of the Madianites. And they cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites … And an angel of the Lord came and appeared to Gedeon, and said: ‘The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men ... Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian! Know that I have sent thee!’” (Judges 6:1-14).
“Then Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
The result was that the 300 soldiers under Gedeon―by the grace and help of God―slew 120,000 Madianites and only 15,000 remained, therefore indicating that the Madianite army totaled 135,000 men: “For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were slain” (Judges 8:10).
Similarly, God only chose 12 Apostles and 72 disciples and commanded them to go into the world and “teach ye all nations baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19): “And when day was come, He called unto Him His disciples; and He chose twelve of them―whom also He named Apostles” (Luke 6:13). “He called unto Him whom He would Himself and they came to Him. And He made that Twelve should be with Him” (Mark 3:13-14). “Having called His Twelve disciples [the Apostles]…” (Matthew 10:1), “the Lord appointed another seventy-two [disciples], and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-2), “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22). Scholars and scientists and mathematicians estimate the world’s population at the time of Christ was, to round off the number, around 300 million―so his 84 followers (12 Apostles plus 72 disciples) would be outnumbered by around 3.5 million to 1. Even if you take the number of disciples at the time of Pentecost, at the descent of the Holy Ghost, “the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:15)―which would mean being outnumbered by the world at a ratio of 2.3 million to 1. God rarely makes things easy! So there is no need to lose heart when the odds are stacked against you!
God Has No Problems Wiping the Slate Clean and Starting Afresh
Most of us, when things are not working out like we would like, tend to make the best of the situation because suffering the dysfunction is perhaps less stressful than “going back to the drawing board”, “wiping the slate clean” and “starting all over again!” As for God―even though He shows incredible patience with sinners (which means all of us)―God is not averse to “going back to the drawing board”, “wiping the slate clean” and “starting all over again!” We see this on a large worldwide scale in the time of Noe―where, with the Great Flood, God destroyed the ever increasingly sinful human race and started all over again with Noe and his family. On a lesser scale, we see how God chose and then ultimately rejected His “Chosen People”―even after a short time in the desert, God was exasperated with His “Chosen People” to the point that He was prepared to destroy them all and start all over again with Moses and his family. In fact, for having rejected to enter and conquer the Promised Land at the first time of asking, God chose to wipe-out all the adults who originally left Egypt in the Exodus―which would have been well over 1 million in number: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, so that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them―and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Exodus 32:9-10). Then, after having led the remnant into the “Promised Land”, God saw that they were gradually and increasingly falling into sin and idolatry. Things became so bad that God destroyed most of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and caused the Tribe of Juda to be led into captivity, while having their capital, Jerusalem with glorious Temple to God totally destroyed and ransacked! God has no problem knocking everything down and starting all over again!
► Our Lady the Queen of Prophets, warned that God has promised more of the same treatment to our own day and age, if we do not decrease sin: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! … It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima, Akita).
What makes the above divine threats even more likely is that we are indifferent and complacent in face of them―even if we might not quite have a “You wouldn’t dare do that!” attitude, for most people those warnings just “go-in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”, as they file it away in their “it won’t happen in my lifetime” filing cabinet. The current developments in the world would seem to indicate that it is all nearer to happening than most people think!
► Sister Lucia of Fatima, however, said almost 64 years ago to Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
No Need to Lose Heart―Unless You Fail to Take Heaven Seriously
Ultimately, God is in charge. Nothing can happen without God “rubber-stamping” it―either by directly wanting it, or allowing it for our punishment as a corrective medicine. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). If we obediently follow Heaven’s commands and recommendations, then we have little to fear. However, in most cases, Our Lord would have to say: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Yes―we are living in precarious times! Yet ignoring the reality of things will not make that reality go away! We have made our bed and we have to lie in it. We have neglected, to a large extent, Heavens commands and solutions―therefore the price is to be paid, “God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Yet chastisement does not necessarily mean damnation―just as surgery does not necessarily lead to death. The purpose of surgery―let us say, for example, the amputation of a limb―is intended to preserve life and not bring death. “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).
Our Lady herself has said that God will look after His own―but that does not mean that God will not chastise His own while still saving their souls! The crucial point is― “Can we really say we are among the number whom God can call His own?”
► Our Lady of Good Success said that “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” for “will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast … they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent [you could also add: those who do speak out will be silenced] … Luxury, which will ensnare into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost! … Oh, if mortals, and in particular religious souls, could know what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live! Nor would they spare themselves any sacrifice in order to possess Him!”
► Our Lady of La Salette adds: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will …
It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! … Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … The fire of Heaven will fall … Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified!”
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE SEASON OF PENTECOST
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday May 30th & Monday May 31st
Article 29
No Wisdom in Wise Guys!
Sunday May 30th & Monday May 31st
Article 29
No Wisdom in Wise Guys!
Wisdom
“Learn where is wisdom! … Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom! … “Get wisdom! … Study wisdom! … Learn wisdom!
… For wisdom is better than all the most precious things! … Get wisdom, because it is better than gold! … What good are riches to a fool if he cannot buy wisdom? … Wisdom is too high for a fool! … Wisdom is better than strength! … Better is wisdom, than weapons of war! … Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a strong man!” (Baruch 3:14; Proverbs 3:13; 4:5; 6:6; 27:11; 8:11; 16:16; 17:16; 24:7; Ecclesiastes 9:16-18; Wisdom 6:1).
Here, of course, Holy Scripture is principally referring to supernatural wisdom―a wisdom that focuses upon Heaven, heavenly things, and salvation. There is a human wisdom that does not reach that high―and focuses on the things and actions of this world. “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19) … “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20) … "Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise!” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “The wisdom of the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6). “The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be!” (Romans 8:7).
As Our Lord wisely said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Luke 12:31; Matthew 6:19-25; 16:26). Words of wisdom from Our Lord!
Wisdom is the peak or pinnacle of our intellect or mind―just as Charity is the peak or pinnacle of the heart or will. You could call them a “husband and wife team”―for we say that “the husband is the head of the family and the woman is the heart of the family”―and it is the “head” that guides the “heart”, it is the mind that guides the will. The mind or intellect “sees” things logically and informs the blind will or blind heart what to love and what to hate―likewise, Wisdom (in the mind) tells Charity or Love (in the heart) what it should love or not love. If the reasoning or logic is wrong, then the heart will end up loving the wrong things. The Gift of Wisdom perfects charity, in order to see, judge and love divine things in the same way as God sees, judges and loves them.
Little Wisdom, Little Love
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of Jesus Christ as being the Eternal Incarnate Wisdom of God in his little book, Love of Eternal Wisdom, in which he writes: “Is it possible for man to love that which he does not know? Can he love ardently that which he knows but imperfectly? Why then is the adorable Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, loved so little? Because He is not known, or known but little! Very few of us, like St. Paul, make a sincere study of the supereminent science of Jesus, which is nevertheless the most noble, the most consoling, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences in Heaven and on Earth. This is the most noble of all sciences because its object, the Uncreated and Incarnate Wisdom, is most noble and most sublime. He contains in Himself all the plenitude of the Divinity and of humanity, all that is great in Heaven and on Earth, all creatures visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal. St. John Chrysostom tells us that Our Lord is a summary of all the works of God; an epitome of all God’s perfections and of all the perfections of His creatures, in these words: ‘Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is all that you can and should wish for. Long for Him, seek Him; He is the most precious pearl you should wish to acquire, even at the cost of selling all that you possess.’ Furthermore, the Prophet Jeremias warns: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the strong man glory in his strength, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me’ and not in the fact that he knoweth anything else!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
We Prefer Worldly Wisdom―We Are Worldly Wise!
O how we love the world! O how pursue worldly activities! If only our spiritual life was anywhere near as zealous as our worldly life! That is not a wise thing to do! Holy Scripture warns: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). If we love the world, then we are not wise, but fools―as well as being enemies of God!
The modern day culture is a culture of “knowing” ― with the advent of the Internet, then Artificial Intelligence, the availability of knowledge today is matched by the thirst and quest for knowledge. Sadly, that thirst, that quest, that knowledge remains mainly on the superficial level! The old proverb ― “Jack of all trades, but master of none!” ― is very applicable to our knowledge levels today. We know a little about a lot―and we know a lot about very little. As they say: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” and it certainly isn’t wisdom! Today’s pygmies or dwarfs of knowledge seek to pass themselves off as being “wise” ― but at best they are merely “wise-guys” in the derogatory sense of the word, meaning: “one who is annoyingly full-of-himself; a person who speaks and behaves as if they know more than others; one who is always trying to seem more clever than anyone else in a way that is annoying; one who makes snide, sardonic and conceited comments and generally acts like an insolent person; an arrogant person who is always making sarcastic comments thinking they are funny”―other synonyms for “wise-guy” are know-it-all, smarty, smarty-pants, smart-ass, smart aleck, etc. As Holy Scripture says: “Knowledge puffs up!” (! Corinthians 8:1) ― and it seems that a little knowledge, like yeast, puffs up a lot!
Wise Advice from the Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ has a few words to offer on the subject: “Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? … It is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers, if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come … Indeed a humble rustic, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well, becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men. If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me, before God, Who will judge me by my deeds?
“Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. This is the greatest wisdom — to seek the kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish! … If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else, when many are more learned, more cultured than you? … To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom ... If you rely more upon your intelligence or industry than upon the virtue of submission to Jesus Christ, you will hardly, and in any case slowly, become an enlightened man. God wants us to be completely subject to Him and, through ardent love, to rise above all human wisdom … There is great difference between the wisdom of an enlightened and devout man and the learning of a well-read and brilliant scholar, for the knowledge which flows down from divine sources is much nobler than that laboriously acquired by human industry … Put aside earthly wisdom!” (The Imitation of Christ Book 1, Chapters 1 & 2 & 14; Book 3, Chapter 31).
Worldly Wise-Guys
There are plenty of worldly wise-guys, but very few spiritual wise-guys. There are many who know how to achieve lots of things in this world, but very few who know how to achieve salvation―which is probably why most souls end up being damned. Worldly wisdom and worldly achievement is piffling when compared to the achievement of salvation and the reaching of Heaven. Not many people have climbed Mount Everest, but, there again, not many people climb to top of God’s mountain―Heaven. As Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
In other words, you could have a person who is extremely wise in earthly matters, but who ends up in Hell! Is that wisdom, or is that stupidity? As The Imitation of Christ says: “Indeed a humble rustic, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars!” There are many such fools in the world today―and always have been―who are full of earthly, worldly wisdom, but who are stupid fools with regard to their salvation!
The Seat of Wisdom Speaks Words of Wisdom
Our Lady, in her Litany―the Litany of Loreto―is called the “Seat of Wisdom”. In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort writes: “God the Son consented that she should hardly ever speak, though He had communicated His wisdom to her … [and] her divine wisdom … [is one of] the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin.” Let us then listen to some wise words of the Seat of Wisdom, as spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, which you can find in The Mystical City of God.
Our Lady says: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the Way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this Divine Science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and true delights. Many times I shall repeat to you the lesson containing the greatest wisdom for souls, which consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience … In this Science of Suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows?
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation.
“And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. The presumption and pride of worldly wisdom is more powerful in its devotees, than humility and true self-knowledge is in the children of light.
“Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world more than against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. Worldly wisdom looks upon the person, not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward ostentation. Each one ordinarily seeks to advance his honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned and those who think themselves wise, wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approbation of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshipped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings as if they had not received them from God. How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces, being blind themselves, follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish. All these vices arise from the pride rooted in human nature.
“Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation, suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant; for it does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and that this insane love would pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life for you must be a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified. Accept then, my dearest, this doctrine and engrave it deeply into your heart. Understand that as a daughter of the Most High, as a spouse of my Son, and as my disciple, even if from no other motive, thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to your Lord and Spouse. I exhort you to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts, and rather embrace afflictions than desire to be visited with caresses―for in choosing favors and delights you might be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, you can be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights, wherever it can be done without sin, what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
“With this wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
“All goods are estimated according to the appreciation in which creatures hold them: in so far they value them, as they know them to be good. But since there is only one true Good, and all the others merely fictitious and apparent, it follows, that only the highest Good is to be appreciated and recognized. Then only shall you give Him true appreciation and love, when you shall enjoy and esteem Him above all created things. By this appreciation and love will also be measured the sorrow of losing Him. Imagine then, what ought to be the grief of really losing God by sin. But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. How easily charity is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death! The sons of darkness live as if they had only a counterfeit or doubtful connection with eternity.
“If you obey the instructions and counsels of your spiritual guides―for without them thou must do nothing―if you wish to proceed with docile discretion, then be assured that the Most High will give you plentiful wisdom―for a pure, submissive, and docile heart will draw from Him superabundant aid. Keep in mind always the misfortune of the imprudent and foolish virgins, who, in their thoughtless negligence, rejected wise counsel and cast aside fear, instead of being solicitous; and when afterwards they sought to make up for it, they found the door of salvation closed against them (Matthew 25:12).
“The foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God, whose Wisdom finds no place in the malevolent heart (Wisdom 1:4), nor in a body subject to sin. Give way to the force of the divine light, by which you can rise above all sensible things, rise to the highest knowledge of the hidden secrets of divine Wisdom and distinguish between the things of the new and of the old man. Then will you be made capable of partaking of this Wisdom!” (Our Lady’s words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Jesus―The Eternal Wisdom
St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom, to the subject of Jesus Christ being the Eternal Wisdom of God becoming incarnate in the flesh as a man, who lived amongst us and shared His wisdom with us.
“This is the most noble of all sciences because its object, the Uncreated and Incarnate Wisdom, is most noble and most sublime … St. John Chrysostom tells us that: ‘Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is all that you can and should wish for. Long for Him, seek Him; He is the most precious pearl you should wish to acquire, even at the cost of selling all that you possess!’ … To know Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is to know enough; to know everything and not to know Him, is to know nothing … St. Paul was a man of varied knowledge and well versed in human sciences, yet he said: ‘I judge not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!’ Let us say with him, then: ‘The things that were given to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. I count all things to be but dung in comparison to the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord!’ I now see and appreciate that this knowledge is so excellent, so delightful, so profitable and so admirable that I take no account of all that pleased me before. All else is void of meaning, absurd and a waste of time!” (St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
True and False Wisdom
St. Louis de Montfort goes on to say: “Wisdom taken in general and according to the meaning of the word, is a ‘delectable knowledge’; it is a taste for God and His truth. There are several kinds of Wisdom. First there is true and false wisdom. True wisdom is fondness of truth, without guile or dissimulation. False wisdom is fondness of falsehood, disguised under the appearance of truth. This false wisdom is the wisdom of the world which according to the Holy Spirit is threefold ― earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom.
“True wisdom is natural and supernatural. Natural wisdom is knowledge, in an eminent degree, of natural things in their principles; supernatural wisdom is knowledge of supernatural and divine things in their origin. This supernatural wisdom is divided into substantial or uncreated wisdom, and accidental or created wisdom. Accidental and created wisdom is a share of Uncreated Wisdom communicated to men. In other words, it is the Gift of Wisdom. Substantial or Uncreated Wisdom is the Son of God, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Eternal Wisdom in eternity, or Jesus Christ in the course of time.” (St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
Aquinas on Wisdom
In brief, St. Thomas tells us that to be wise is to know the deepest causes in that area of knowledge and conduct in which one is said to be wise. A wise physician must know the fundamental principles of medicine. The term wisdom, taken simply, means the knowledge of the highest cause of all―that is, God. Out of this knowledge comes clear judgment about all things―with judgments being made due the assistance of divine light in knowledge. We attain this judgment through the Holy Ghost. Wisdom is, therefore, a gift of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, as a Gift of the Holy Ghost, enables a person to judge rightly of divine things. Whoever is free from mortal sin and is in the state of sanctifying grace has charity, and also has divine Gift of Wisdom. This divine Gift of Wisdom can be expelled from our soul by mortal sin. Folly is the opposite of wisdom. Folly is the contrary of wisdom, whereas fatuity is the sheer absence of wisdom. Folly is dullness in judging, especially in matters that relate to God and the good of the soul. When folly results from inordinate love and use of earthly things, it is a sin.
The actual quotes from St. Thomas are: “The higher part of human reason is the province of wisdom, while the lower part of human reason is the domain of knowledge … Wisdom as a Gift of the Holy Ghost is more excellent than wisdom as an intellectual virtue, since it attains to God more intimately by a kind of union of the soul with Him … It belongs to wisdom to consider the highest cause … He who knows the highest cause, which is God, is said to be wise, because he is able to judge and set in order all things according to Divine rules … The Wisdom which is called a Gift of the Holy Ghost, differs from that wisdom which is an acquired intellectual virtue, for the latter is attained by human effort, whereas the former is “descending from above” (James 3:15) … Wisdom denotes a certain rectitude of judgment according to the Eternal Law … The Wisdom which is a Gift of the Holy Ghost, enables us to judge correctly of Divine things, or of other things according to Divine rules … Whoever is without mortal sin, is beloved of God; since he has Charity, whereby he loves God, and God loves them that love Him (Proverbs 8:17). Now it is written (Wisdom 7:28) that “God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom.” Therefore Wisdom is in all those who have Charity and are without mortal sin … It is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’”
Thus, the Gift of Wisdom―which is not the same kind of wisdom as mere human wisdom―focuses on God and the things of God. The Gift of Wisdom is not human reasoning, it is not we that do the thinking and arrive at a judgment, but it is the Holy Ghost Who does the thinking and infuses those thoughts into our minds by way of inspirations. Sometimes those inspirations may seem imprudent to our mere human wisdom―but we have to remember the words of God and not try to make God think like we think: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps!” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“Learn where is wisdom! … Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom! … “Get wisdom! … Study wisdom! … Learn wisdom!
… For wisdom is better than all the most precious things! … Get wisdom, because it is better than gold! … What good are riches to a fool if he cannot buy wisdom? … Wisdom is too high for a fool! … Wisdom is better than strength! … Better is wisdom, than weapons of war! … Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a strong man!” (Baruch 3:14; Proverbs 3:13; 4:5; 6:6; 27:11; 8:11; 16:16; 17:16; 24:7; Ecclesiastes 9:16-18; Wisdom 6:1).
Here, of course, Holy Scripture is principally referring to supernatural wisdom―a wisdom that focuses upon Heaven, heavenly things, and salvation. There is a human wisdom that does not reach that high―and focuses on the things and actions of this world. “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19) … “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20) … "Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise!” (1 Corinthians 3:18). “The wisdom of the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6). “The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be!” (Romans 8:7).
As Our Lord wisely said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life and what you shall eat, nor for your body and what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? … For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Luke 12:31; Matthew 6:19-25; 16:26). Words of wisdom from Our Lord!
Wisdom is the peak or pinnacle of our intellect or mind―just as Charity is the peak or pinnacle of the heart or will. You could call them a “husband and wife team”―for we say that “the husband is the head of the family and the woman is the heart of the family”―and it is the “head” that guides the “heart”, it is the mind that guides the will. The mind or intellect “sees” things logically and informs the blind will or blind heart what to love and what to hate―likewise, Wisdom (in the mind) tells Charity or Love (in the heart) what it should love or not love. If the reasoning or logic is wrong, then the heart will end up loving the wrong things. The Gift of Wisdom perfects charity, in order to see, judge and love divine things in the same way as God sees, judges and loves them.
Little Wisdom, Little Love
St. Louis de Montfort speaks of Jesus Christ as being the Eternal Incarnate Wisdom of God in his little book, Love of Eternal Wisdom, in which he writes: “Is it possible for man to love that which he does not know? Can he love ardently that which he knows but imperfectly? Why then is the adorable Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, loved so little? Because He is not known, or known but little! Very few of us, like St. Paul, make a sincere study of the supereminent science of Jesus, which is nevertheless the most noble, the most consoling, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences in Heaven and on Earth. This is the most noble of all sciences because its object, the Uncreated and Incarnate Wisdom, is most noble and most sublime. He contains in Himself all the plenitude of the Divinity and of humanity, all that is great in Heaven and on Earth, all creatures visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal. St. John Chrysostom tells us that Our Lord is a summary of all the works of God; an epitome of all God’s perfections and of all the perfections of His creatures, in these words: ‘Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is all that you can and should wish for. Long for Him, seek Him; He is the most precious pearl you should wish to acquire, even at the cost of selling all that you possess.’ Furthermore, the Prophet Jeremias warns: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the strong man glory in his strength, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me’ and not in the fact that he knoweth anything else!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
We Prefer Worldly Wisdom―We Are Worldly Wise!
O how we love the world! O how pursue worldly activities! If only our spiritual life was anywhere near as zealous as our worldly life! That is not a wise thing to do! Holy Scripture warns: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). If we love the world, then we are not wise, but fools―as well as being enemies of God!
The modern day culture is a culture of “knowing” ― with the advent of the Internet, then Artificial Intelligence, the availability of knowledge today is matched by the thirst and quest for knowledge. Sadly, that thirst, that quest, that knowledge remains mainly on the superficial level! The old proverb ― “Jack of all trades, but master of none!” ― is very applicable to our knowledge levels today. We know a little about a lot―and we know a lot about very little. As they say: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” and it certainly isn’t wisdom! Today’s pygmies or dwarfs of knowledge seek to pass themselves off as being “wise” ― but at best they are merely “wise-guys” in the derogatory sense of the word, meaning: “one who is annoyingly full-of-himself; a person who speaks and behaves as if they know more than others; one who is always trying to seem more clever than anyone else in a way that is annoying; one who makes snide, sardonic and conceited comments and generally acts like an insolent person; an arrogant person who is always making sarcastic comments thinking they are funny”―other synonyms for “wise-guy” are know-it-all, smarty, smarty-pants, smart-ass, smart aleck, etc. As Holy Scripture says: “Knowledge puffs up!” (! Corinthians 8:1) ― and it seems that a little knowledge, like yeast, puffs up a lot!
Wise Advice from the Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ has a few words to offer on the subject: “Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? … It is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers, if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come … Indeed a humble rustic, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well, becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men. If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me, before God, Who will judge me by my deeds?
“Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. This is the greatest wisdom — to seek the kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish! … If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else, when many are more learned, more cultured than you? … To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom ... If you rely more upon your intelligence or industry than upon the virtue of submission to Jesus Christ, you will hardly, and in any case slowly, become an enlightened man. God wants us to be completely subject to Him and, through ardent love, to rise above all human wisdom … There is great difference between the wisdom of an enlightened and devout man and the learning of a well-read and brilliant scholar, for the knowledge which flows down from divine sources is much nobler than that laboriously acquired by human industry … Put aside earthly wisdom!” (The Imitation of Christ Book 1, Chapters 1 & 2 & 14; Book 3, Chapter 31).
Worldly Wise-Guys
There are plenty of worldly wise-guys, but very few spiritual wise-guys. There are many who know how to achieve lots of things in this world, but very few who know how to achieve salvation―which is probably why most souls end up being damned. Worldly wisdom and worldly achievement is piffling when compared to the achievement of salvation and the reaching of Heaven. Not many people have climbed Mount Everest, but, there again, not many people climb to top of God’s mountain―Heaven. As Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
In other words, you could have a person who is extremely wise in earthly matters, but who ends up in Hell! Is that wisdom, or is that stupidity? As The Imitation of Christ says: “Indeed a humble rustic, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars!” There are many such fools in the world today―and always have been―who are full of earthly, worldly wisdom, but who are stupid fools with regard to their salvation!
The Seat of Wisdom Speaks Words of Wisdom
Our Lady, in her Litany―the Litany of Loreto―is called the “Seat of Wisdom”. In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort writes: “God the Son consented that she should hardly ever speak, though He had communicated His wisdom to her … [and] her divine wisdom … [is one of] the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin.” Let us then listen to some wise words of the Seat of Wisdom, as spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, which you can find in The Mystical City of God.
Our Lady says: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the Way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this Divine Science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and true delights. Many times I shall repeat to you the lesson containing the greatest wisdom for souls, which consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience … In this Science of Suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows?
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation.
“And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion. The presumption and pride of worldly wisdom is more powerful in its devotees, than humility and true self-knowledge is in the children of light.
“Guard yourself against those living in darkness and the lovers of the world more than against fire―for the wisdom of the sons of this world is carnal and diabolical, and their ways lead to death. Worldly wisdom looks upon the person, not at the state of the souls, nor at virtue, but at outward ostentation. Each one ordinarily seeks to advance his honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned and those who think themselves wise, wish to be applauded and looked up to, bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approbation of the wealthy. The powerful seek to be feared, worshipped and obeyed. All of them are pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. The learned and wise, and the powerful of this world, so reluctantly correct and amend their lives. They play-down their faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the goods and the blessings as if they had not received them from God. How many men whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have thrown themselves, on account of the lack of light of Faith, from the darkness of their unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of Hell! How many kingdoms and provinces, being blind themselves, follow these still more blind leaders, until they together fall into the abyss of eternal pains, and they are followed by the bad Christians! Infinite is the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish. They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become known as foolish. All these vices arise from the pride rooted in human nature.
“Be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Abhor human ostentation, suffer in silence and let the world consider you to be ignorant; for it does not know where true wisdom dwells. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. The Creator cannot hate the beings which He has created; but He knows, in His wisdom, the boundless damage caused in mortals by avarice and covetousness of visible things; and that this insane love would pervert the greater part of the human nature. The wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life for you must be a most rigid Cross on which thou must remain crucified. Accept then, my dearest, this doctrine and engrave it deeply into your heart. Understand that as a daughter of the Most High, as a spouse of my Son, and as my disciple, even if from no other motive, thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to your Lord and Spouse. I exhort you to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts, and rather embrace afflictions than desire to be visited with caresses―for in choosing favors and delights you might be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, you can be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights, wherever it can be done without sin, what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
“With this wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Choose for yourself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was the Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation conjointly with my Son―yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this teaching was not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness, loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
“All goods are estimated according to the appreciation in which creatures hold them: in so far they value them, as they know them to be good. But since there is only one true Good, and all the others merely fictitious and apparent, it follows, that only the highest Good is to be appreciated and recognized. Then only shall you give Him true appreciation and love, when you shall enjoy and esteem Him above all created things. By this appreciation and love will also be measured the sorrow of losing Him. Imagine then, what ought to be the grief of really losing God by sin. But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men―for, with a most perverse blindness, they continue to make much of the visible and fictitious good, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste or recognize the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or appreciation of it. How easily charity is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death! The sons of darkness live as if they had only a counterfeit or doubtful connection with eternity.
“If you obey the instructions and counsels of your spiritual guides―for without them thou must do nothing―if you wish to proceed with docile discretion, then be assured that the Most High will give you plentiful wisdom―for a pure, submissive, and docile heart will draw from Him superabundant aid. Keep in mind always the misfortune of the imprudent and foolish virgins, who, in their thoughtless negligence, rejected wise counsel and cast aside fear, instead of being solicitous; and when afterwards they sought to make up for it, they found the door of salvation closed against them (Matthew 25:12).
“The foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God, whose Wisdom finds no place in the malevolent heart (Wisdom 1:4), nor in a body subject to sin. Give way to the force of the divine light, by which you can rise above all sensible things, rise to the highest knowledge of the hidden secrets of divine Wisdom and distinguish between the things of the new and of the old man. Then will you be made capable of partaking of this Wisdom!” (Our Lady’s words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Jesus―The Eternal Wisdom
St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom, to the subject of Jesus Christ being the Eternal Wisdom of God becoming incarnate in the flesh as a man, who lived amongst us and shared His wisdom with us.
“This is the most noble of all sciences because its object, the Uncreated and Incarnate Wisdom, is most noble and most sublime … St. John Chrysostom tells us that: ‘Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is all that you can and should wish for. Long for Him, seek Him; He is the most precious pearl you should wish to acquire, even at the cost of selling all that you possess!’ … To know Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is to know enough; to know everything and not to know Him, is to know nothing … St. Paul was a man of varied knowledge and well versed in human sciences, yet he said: ‘I judge not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!’ Let us say with him, then: ‘The things that were given to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. I count all things to be but dung in comparison to the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord!’ I now see and appreciate that this knowledge is so excellent, so delightful, so profitable and so admirable that I take no account of all that pleased me before. All else is void of meaning, absurd and a waste of time!” (St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
True and False Wisdom
St. Louis de Montfort goes on to say: “Wisdom taken in general and according to the meaning of the word, is a ‘delectable knowledge’; it is a taste for God and His truth. There are several kinds of Wisdom. First there is true and false wisdom. True wisdom is fondness of truth, without guile or dissimulation. False wisdom is fondness of falsehood, disguised under the appearance of truth. This false wisdom is the wisdom of the world which according to the Holy Spirit is threefold ― earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom.
“True wisdom is natural and supernatural. Natural wisdom is knowledge, in an eminent degree, of natural things in their principles; supernatural wisdom is knowledge of supernatural and divine things in their origin. This supernatural wisdom is divided into substantial or uncreated wisdom, and accidental or created wisdom. Accidental and created wisdom is a share of Uncreated Wisdom communicated to men. In other words, it is the Gift of Wisdom. Substantial or Uncreated Wisdom is the Son of God, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Eternal Wisdom in eternity, or Jesus Christ in the course of time.” (St. Louis de Montfort devotes a whole book, Love of Eternal Wisdom).
Aquinas on Wisdom
In brief, St. Thomas tells us that to be wise is to know the deepest causes in that area of knowledge and conduct in which one is said to be wise. A wise physician must know the fundamental principles of medicine. The term wisdom, taken simply, means the knowledge of the highest cause of all―that is, God. Out of this knowledge comes clear judgment about all things―with judgments being made due the assistance of divine light in knowledge. We attain this judgment through the Holy Ghost. Wisdom is, therefore, a gift of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, as a Gift of the Holy Ghost, enables a person to judge rightly of divine things. Whoever is free from mortal sin and is in the state of sanctifying grace has charity, and also has divine Gift of Wisdom. This divine Gift of Wisdom can be expelled from our soul by mortal sin. Folly is the opposite of wisdom. Folly is the contrary of wisdom, whereas fatuity is the sheer absence of wisdom. Folly is dullness in judging, especially in matters that relate to God and the good of the soul. When folly results from inordinate love and use of earthly things, it is a sin.
The actual quotes from St. Thomas are: “The higher part of human reason is the province of wisdom, while the lower part of human reason is the domain of knowledge … Wisdom as a Gift of the Holy Ghost is more excellent than wisdom as an intellectual virtue, since it attains to God more intimately by a kind of union of the soul with Him … It belongs to wisdom to consider the highest cause … He who knows the highest cause, which is God, is said to be wise, because he is able to judge and set in order all things according to Divine rules … The Wisdom which is called a Gift of the Holy Ghost, differs from that wisdom which is an acquired intellectual virtue, for the latter is attained by human effort, whereas the former is “descending from above” (James 3:15) … Wisdom denotes a certain rectitude of judgment according to the Eternal Law … The Wisdom which is a Gift of the Holy Ghost, enables us to judge correctly of Divine things, or of other things according to Divine rules … Whoever is without mortal sin, is beloved of God; since he has Charity, whereby he loves God, and God loves them that love Him (Proverbs 8:17). Now it is written (Wisdom 7:28) that “God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom.” Therefore Wisdom is in all those who have Charity and are without mortal sin … It is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’”
Thus, the Gift of Wisdom―which is not the same kind of wisdom as mere human wisdom―focuses on God and the things of God. The Gift of Wisdom is not human reasoning, it is not we that do the thinking and arrive at a judgment, but it is the Holy Ghost Who does the thinking and infuses those thoughts into our minds by way of inspirations. Sometimes those inspirations may seem imprudent to our mere human wisdom―but we have to remember the words of God and not try to make God think like we think: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps!” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Saturday May 29th
Article 28
A Lack of Understanding
Article 28
A Lack of Understanding
“Know Alls” But Not “Understand Alls”
We are living in a culture of constant information, a culture of knowledge, in which they claim: “Knowledge is Power!” Unfortunately, we all know much more than we understand. Knowing is easier than understanding. Knowledge mainly deals with the surface matters―understanding penetrates that surface and seeks deeper knowledge―understanding seeks what stands under the surface. We see an object and we know it is a car ― but do we understand how all parts of that car work together? We know that we are sick ― but do we understand what is causing that disease? We know how to use a computer ― but do we understand how the computer software or hardware works? We hear a Frenchman speak and we know he is speaking French ― but we do not understand what he is saying? “Nations of a strange speech and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand” (Ezechiel 3:6). “A nation whose language thou shalt not understand!” (Jeremias 5:15). Knowledge is a beginning, but understanding is a deeper knowledge, a progression of knowledge, a step beyond knowledge, a perfection of knowledge. “Then Jesus opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45)―in other words, they already KNEW the Scriptures, but did not yet fully UNDERSTAND them.
We can see this notion of hearing and knowing, but not understanding and perceiving, loosely exemplified in Holy Scripture: “By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive! For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:14-15). “With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!” (Acts 28:26).
But, even before we try to form a clear idea of this crucial Gift of Understanding, it would be well to have some definite notion of what the word means. In other words, whenever we say: “I understand!” what is that we mean? One of the most common expressions used in our daily life with our fellow-men, concerns this understanding: “Do you understand? Don’t you understand? Can you understand? I understand! I don’t understand!” What, then, do we wish to convey by these words? To understand a thing is nothing more than to have a true and sufficient idea of it, to have more than a mere surface knowledge of something. We often do things without fully understanding what we are doing, nor do we fully understand the consequences of what we are doing. This is especially true of sin―“Who can understand sins?” (Psalm 18:13)―many people sin without fully understanding what that sin will bring to us down the road―“None of the wicked shall understand” (Daniel 12:10). They “did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death … For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 1:32; 6:23). “He would not understand that he might do well” (Psalm 35:4)―who only “afterwards shall understand their sin” (Leviticus 4:14). It is better to understand beforehand what sin will bring! “Understand all that you do!” (Deuteronomy 29:9). “Direct thy way and understand it!” (Josue 1:8). “Understand these things―you that forget God―lest He snatch you away and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22).
Let us try to be more precise. The Latins called understanding an “inner reading”--which is another way of saying that which “stands under” or “stands beneath” the surface of things; therefore, a “deeper” knowledge, a knowledge of what stand under the surface, rather than a mere surface or superficial knowledge. Understanding, then, is that power of the human soul or mind, to descend beneath the surface of things, to pry into the hidden reality―it is that which breaks through the surface-shell, to reach the real substance enclosed beneath.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Understanding implies an intimate knowledge, for ‘intellegere’, meaning ‘to understand’, is the same as ‘intus legere’, meaning ‘to read inwardly’ ... There are many kinds of things that are hidden within, to find which, human knowledge has to penetrate within so to speak … Since, however, human knowledge begins with the outside of things, as it were, it is evident that the stronger the light of the understanding, then the further can it penetrate into the heart of things. Now, the natural light of our understanding is of finite power; wherefore it can reach to a certain fixed point. Consequently, man needs a supernatural light in order to penetrate further still, so as to know what it cannot know by its natural light: and this supernatural light which is bestowed on man is called the Gift of Understanding.”
The Apostles and disciples of Christ did not fully KNOW Him, even though they had followed Him for three years―but even less did they UNDERSTAND Him. At the Last Supper “Jesus said to Philip: ‘Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known Me?’” (John 14:9). On another occasion Our Lord said to His Apostles: “Do you not understand?” (Matthew 15:17). “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:9) … “Do you not yet know nor understand? Is your heart still blinded? Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? … How do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:17-21). “Why do you not understand?” (Matthew 16:11). The Apostles heard Our Lord preach a parable, they knew its contents, but they did not understand them: “He taught them many things in parables, and said: ‘Behold, the sower went out to sow. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth, etc.’ … And when He was alone, the Twelve, that were with Him, asked Him [to explain] the parable” (Mark 4:2-10).
The Gift of Understanding
Man is created for a supernatural end―for Heaven―and the means given him by God are contained in Divine Revelation. They are a set of truths far exceeding the natural capacity of the understanding. Now, if these are really means to our final end, then we must use them, and to use them we must first know them; but as they are above the power of the human mind, we need some supernatural aid, some Heavenly light in order to not only know them superficially, but to also penetrate them. This supernatural light which the Holy Ghost gives to man is called the Gift of Understanding. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord … They that trust in Him, shall understand the truth! … But who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24; Wisdom 3:9).
Among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, there are a variety of Gifts that work upon, work with and perfect the intellect―these are, in ascending order, the Gifts of Knowledge, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom. They perfect our intellectual virtues. The Gift of Knowledge perfects the virtue of hope. The Gift of Counsel perfects prudence. The Gift of Understanding gives an intuitive penetration into truth. The Gift of Wisdom perfects charity, in order to see and judge divine things in the same way as God sees and judges them. Very loosely speaking, you say that knowledge is the baby, counsel in the child, understanding is the adolescent and wisdom is the adult.
The gift of penetration, the gift of intuition, is the Gift of Understanding. By means of it we go deep into the meaning of supernatural truths, of the Christian mysteries, of the dogmas of our Faith. This is the work of the Gift of Understanding―by it the Holy Ghost moves us, so that we can penetrate the depths of all supernatural truths and thus attain our eternal salvation. It is the Gift of Understanding―given to every Christian in the Sacrament of Baptism and reinforced in the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes the Christian apprehend and comprehend supernatural truths, especially when this is necessary for the attainment of his salvation. And the more developed is this Gift of Understanding in our soul, then the more profound will be our vision, the more penetrating our intuition. Not that by this Gift we contemplate supernatural truth in all its splendor and fullness. Only in Heaven shall we be able to have a clear and unshadowed vision of divine things. Only in Heaven, when with the light of glory we see God face to face and know in our own hearts His beatific love, will our vision of divine things be positive, radiant, and full.
Know and Understand Thyself!
St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his renowned Spiritual Exercises, advises us to “know thyself” ― not in a narcissistic manner (which only leads to pride), but to know ourselves in a way that leads to humility, because we usually imagine ourselves to be far better than we really are―which is a result of superficial knowledge of ourselves. Everyone like to “look good”―whether that be physically, intellectually or morally good―hence the preoccupation with cosmetics, gyms, “make-overs”, plastic surgery, edited photos, and lies and exaggerations on social media! We hate seeing ourselves as we really are!
You can take Our Lord’s advice in that context: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). To which you could add: “Anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:18)―the “eye-salve” being truth.
The plank of wood in our own eye, to which Jesus refers, is a hint that the Gift of Understanding will reveal to us the basic character of our nothingness. This is not a depressive disaster, but simply a humbling truth. We are created out of nothing. Given who we are, we have no basis whatever to judge anyone else. The reference to the splinter in our neighbor’s eye and the plank in our own eye, is a humorous way of inviting us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and enabling us to see ourselves as we are―whatever that may be―and then to change ourselves by removing the “plank”. Thus we should often pray: “Lord, that I may see!” (Luke 18:41). “Open Thou my eyes and I will consider the wondrous things of Thy law!” (Psalm 118:18). “Give to thy servant an understanding heart!” (3 Kings 3:9).
It should be added that not only should we know ourselves, but we should also understand ourselves! The supernatural light of the Gift of Understanding helps us to know ourselves deeply and to discover the depth of our misery. Sometimes the humility of the saints seems excessive―as when St. Francis of Assisi wished to be trodden on and called the outcast of the people. We ask ourselves, “How can saints, whose life is admirable, filled with virtue and holiness, men and women actually canonized by the Church, have had such a low idea of themselves?” It is simply because they were filled with the light of God and that light led them to understand the real truth of things. Yes―they might have done many great things―but, it is God and His grace that has done those things in them―as Our Lady said: “He that is mighty, hath done great things to me!” (Luke 1:49) and as Our Lord warns: “So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants―we have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
It is in this light that Holy Scripture says of all men―saints included―“The sons of men are liars” (Psalm 61:10). “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11). “All have sinned, and do need the glory [and mercy] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 52:4). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8).
When a room is in semi-darkness we may have the illusion that it is clean; but when there is a very bright light, we perceive even the tiniest speck of dirt. That is what happens to us when we have the light of God. Then we feel our smallness and our misery; before God we are all very small.
Know Your Place―Understand Your Limits
Man’s intelligence, be it ever so powerful and penetrating, is nevertheless merely a created power; hence it is a limited power, and, by itself, it can never overstep the limits set down to it by God. This is too obvious to need any proof. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).
Thus, an ordinary mind can understand that man is a reasoning being; the more gifted intelligence will see that God is one and cannot be but one, true, immutable and eternal; but even the greatest mind that ever enlightened the field of intellectual activity can never understand how God being one can be three, or how God could become man, exist as God and as man, and still be only one person; these are truths, the depths of which the human mind can never fathom.
Man is created for a supernatural end―for Heaven―and the means given him by God are contained in Divine Revelation. They are a set of truths far exceeding the natural capacity of the understanding. Now, if these are really means to our final end, then we must use them, and to use them we must first know them; but as they are above the power of the human mind, we need some supernatural aid, some Heavenly light in order to not only know them superficially, but to also penetrate them. This supernatural light which the Holy Ghost gives to man is called the Gift of Understanding. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord―but who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).
This supernatural light does not come from the natural understanding; because no amount of reasoning of the most intelligent mind that the world ever saw or will see, could prove that God is one and at the same time three. This supernatural light perfects our natural reason―just as grace perfects nature―and has the same relation to truths of a higher order, as the relation our natural understanding has to truths in the order of nature. Or, just as it is by reason that we grasp all natural truths, such for example, as that man is a being endowed with an intellect, so it is by the Gift of Understanding we know those truths which exceed the power of our reason, such as the truth of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, or the Redemption, etc.
Effects of the Gift of Understanding
This Gift is most useful for theologians, and St. Thomas Aquinas possessed it to an extraordinary degree. It enables the theologian to penetrate into the depths of the revealed truth and to deduce later, by means of theological discursus, the conclusions that are implicit in these truths. St. Thomas himself points out six different ways in which the Gift of Understanding enables us to penetrate into the depths and mystery of the truths of Faith (Cf. Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 8, art. 1).
(1) It enables us to see the substance of things hidden under their accidental manifestations. In virtue of this divine instinct, the mystics perceive the Divine reality that is hidden under the Eucharistic veils. From this follows their obsession with the Eucharist, an obsession that becomes in them a veritable martyrdom of hunger and thirst. In their visits to the tabernacle they do not pray or meditate, but merely contemplate the Divine Prisoner of Love with a simple and penetrating gaze that fills their souls with infinite peace and tenderness. When St. John Vianney asked an old peasant what he would do when spending hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament each and every day, the simple peasant, possessed by the Holy Ghost, simply told St. John Vianney: “I look at Him and He looks at me!”
(2) It discloses the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture. This is what the Lord effected in regard to the disciples at Emmaus when “He opened their understanding so that they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). All the mystics have experienced this phenomenon. Without any discursus (interior discussion or reasoning), or study, or any human assistance, the Holy Ghost suddenly disclosed to them with a most vivid intensity the profound meaning of some statement in Scripture, that then immersed them in a deluge of light and understanding. There, in this profound understanding of the passage, many of the saints found the theme of their whole spiritual life: “The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever” of St. Teresa of Avila (Psalm 88:1); “whosoever is a little one, let him come to me” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Proverbs 9:4); “the praise of glory” of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity (Ephesians 1:6). For that reason, also, these great mystics are not at all moved by books written by men. They reach a point in which they find satisfaction only in the inspired words that come from Scripture, and especially in those that come from the lips of Christ Himself (“As for me, with the exception of the Gospels, I no longer find anything in books. The Gospels are enough.” (St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations, May 15th, p. 44).
(3) It reveals to us the mysterious significance of symbols and figures. Thus St. Paul saw Christ in the rock that gushed forth with living water to appease the thirst of the Israelites in the desert: “And the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). St. John of the Cross reveals to us, with a startling mystical intuition, the moral, analogical and parabolic meaning of many of the symbols and figures of the Old Testament that reached their full realization in the New Testament or in the life of grace.
(4) It reveals spiritual realities to us under sensible appearances. The Liturgy of the Church is filled with sublime symbolism that for the most part escapes the notice of superficial souls. But the saints experience a great veneration and respect for the “smallest ceremony of the Church” (St. Teresa of Avila, The Life, p. 226, chap. 33, n. 5), which floods their soul with devotion and tenderness. The Gift of Understanding enables them to see the sublime realities that are hidden beneath those symbols and sensible signs.
(5) It enables us to contemplate the effects that are contained in causes. As Father Philipon writes: “There is another aspect of the Gift of Understanding that is particularly noticeable in the case of contemplative theologians. After the hard work of human study, everything suddenly becomes luminous, under an impulse of the Spirit. A new world is seen in a principle or in a universal cause: Christ-the-Priest, the One Mediator between Heaven and Earth, or Mary the Virgin Co-Redemptrix, bearing spiritually in her womb all the members of the Mystical Body; or again the mystery of identification of God’s innumerable attributes in His sovereign simplicity, and the conciliation of the Unity of Essence with the Trinity of Persons, in a Godhead infinitely surpassing the most probing research of all created intelligence. All are truths which the Gift of Understanding can penetrate effortlessly and fruitfully in the beatifying delight of an eternal life begun on Earth, in the very light of God” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, p. 180-181, chap. 8, n. 7).13
(6) It makes us see causes through their effects. Father Philipon continues: “Inversely, the Gift of Understanding reveals God and His almighty causality of effects, without working the long, discursive journeyings of human thought left to its own resources, but by a simple, comparative gaze and by intuition, “after the manner of God.” In almost imperceptible signs and in the smallest events of its life, a soul that is attentive to the Holy Ghost suddenly discovers God’s providential plan in its regard. Without dialectic reasoning upon causes, the simple sight of the effect of the justice or the mercy of God lets it perceive the whole mystery of Divine predestination, the ‘exceeding Charity’ (Ephesians 2:4) which pursues souls in order to unite them to the beatifying Trinity. Through all, God leads to God” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, p.180-181, chap. 8, n. 7).
Such are the principal effects that the actuation of the Gift of Understanding produces in the soul. One can see that, perfected by this Gift, the virtue of Faith reaches an astounding intensity. The veils of mystery are never parted in this life—“we see now through a glass in a dark manner” (1 Corinthians 13:12)―but its unfathomable depths are penetrated by the soul with an experience that is so clear and deep that it approaches the intuitive vision. St. Thomas, a model of serenity and reserve in all his statements, writes the following words: “In this very life, when the eye of the spirit is purified by the Gift of Understanding, one can in a certain way see God” (Summa, Ia-IIae, q. 69, art. 2, ad 3).
Vices Opposed to the Gift of Understanding
“The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
St. Thomas dedicates an entire question to the study of these vices (Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 15). They are mainly two: spiritual blindness and dullness of the spiritual sense. The first is the complete lack of vision (blindness); the second is a notable weakening of vision (myopia). Both of them proceed from carnal sins (lust and gluttony), and because of that there is nothing that is such an impediment to the flight of the intellect—even naturally speaking—as the vehement attachment to corporal things that are contrary to it. For that reason, lust, with its greater vehemence, produces spiritual blindness, which excludes almost completely the knowledge and appreciation of spiritual goods, and gluttony produces dullness of the spiritual sense, which weakens man as regards this knowledge and appreciation in a way similar to the blunting or dulling of a sharp and pointed object—a nail, for example—that should easily penetrate a wall (Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 15, art. 3).
A contemporary spiritual author writes: “This blindness of mind is that which is suffered by all lukewarm souls; for they possess the Gift of Understanding, but their mind is engulfed with the things of this world. They are lacking in interior recollection and the spirit of prayer; they are constantly pouring themselves out through the channels of the senses, without any attentive or constant consideration of divine truths. Hence they never arrive at discovering the exalted clarity that is hidden in their obscurity. For that reason we see that very frequently they are easily deceived and mistaken when they speak of spiritual things, of the delicacy and fine points of divine love, of the first stages of the mystical life, of the heights of sanctity, and that sometimes they engage themselves in external works that are covered with the veil of human evaluations, and they consider as exaggerations or eccentricities the delicacies that the Holy Ghost asks of souls.
“These are the souls who wish ‘to go by the cow-path,’ as one says rustically. They are attached to the earth, and for that reason the Holy Ghost cannot raise them into the air with His divine motion and breathing. They are busy making sand-piles by which they think they can reach Heaven. They suffer that spiritual blindness that prevents them from seeing the infinite holiness of God, the marvel that grace works in souls, the heroism of abnegation that He asks of souls to correspond to His immense love, the foolishness of love by which the soul is led to the folly of the Cross. Such lukewarm souls think nothing of venial sins and perceive only those sins that are more serious; as a result, they ignore what are commonly called imperfections. They are blind because they never take into their hands the torch that would give light in this dark space (2 Peter 1:19), and many times in their presumption they attempt to guide others who are blind (Matthew 15:14).
“He who suffers such a blindness or shortsightedness in his interior vision, which prevents him from penetrating the things of Faith, cannot be free of fault because of his negligence and carelessness or because of the tedium that he experiences in regard to spiritual things, since he loves more those things that appeal to the senses” (Fr. Menendez-Reigada, O.P., Los dones del Espiritu Santo y la perfeccion cristiana, pp. 593-94).
Ways to Foster This Gift of Understanding
The actuation or “kick-starting” of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost depends entirely on the Divine Spirit Himself. However, the soul can do much by disposing itself, with the help of grace, for this divine actuation or “kick-starting.” As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man called out to Him. The Apostles did not wish the Lord to be bothered by this suppliant, but the more they tried to keep him away, the more the blind man cried out. Jesus went up to him and said: “What wouldst thou have Me do for thee?” And the answer came: “Rabboni, that I may see!” (Cf. Mark 10:51-52).
In these words, the blind man expressed his greatest desire, the pressing need of his soul. Is it not true that this is one of the great necessities of our heart and that it should be one of our great desires? So sad and painful is blindness — so rich and beautiful is light! Every day let us say to the Lord, as did Bartimeus, the blind man of the Gospel: “Lord, that I may see!” (Luke 18:41).
“Although this work is performed by the Lord, and we can do nothing to make His Majesty grant us this favor, we can do a great deal to prepare ourselves for it” (St. Teresa, Interior Castle, Fifth Mansions, chap. 2, n. 1).
The following are the principal means of disposing oneself for the influence of the Gift of Understanding:
(a) To enliven Faith with the help of ordinary grace. The infused virtues are perfected by the increasingly intense practice of their proper acts. And although it is true that unless they go beyond the human (ascetal mode of operation they can never reach their perfection, it is nevertheless an excellent disposition so that the Holy Ghost will perfect the virtues with His Gifts if the soul does all that it can by the ascetic practices within its reach. It is a fact that God, according to His ordinary providence, gives His graces to those who are best disposed.
St. Teresa of Avila speaks beautifully on this point in many ways. “Unless you have omitted to prepare yourselves for your work, you need have no fear that it will be lost” (The Way of Perfection, chap. 18, n. 3). “Their disposition [exercise of virtues] is such that He will grant them any favor” (Interior Castle, Third Mansions, chap. 1, n. 5). “Oh, God help me! How true are these words and how well the soul understands them, for in this state it can actually see their truth for itself. And how well we should all understand them were it not for our own fault! ... but because we ourselves fail by not preparing ourselves ... we do not see ourselves in this mirror into which we are gazing,” p. 337 (Seventh Mansions, chap. 2, n. 8).
(b) Perfect purity of soul and body. The sixth beatitude―“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8)―corresponds to the Gift of Understanding. Only through perfect cleanness of soul and body is one made capable of seeing God: in this life, by the profound illumination of the Gift of Understanding in the obscurity of Faith; in the next life, through the clear vision of glory. Impurity is incompatible with either one.
(c) Interior recollection. The Holy Ghost is the friend of recollection and solitude. Only there does He speak in silence to souls. “I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart” (Osee 2:14). The soul that is a friend of dissipation and worldliness will never perceive the word of God in its interior. It is necessary to empty oneself of all created things, to retire to the cell of one’s own heart, in order to live there with the Divine Guest, until the soul gradually succeeds in always preserving the sense of God’s presence, even amidst the most absorbing occupations. When the soul has done all that it can to be recollected and detached from the world, the Holy Ghost will do the rest.
(d) Fidelity to grace. The soul must be always attentive and careful not to deny the Holy Ghost any sacrifice that He may ask. “Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 94:8). Not only must the soul avoid every voluntary thought, however small, that would sadden the Holy Ghost—according to the mysterious expression of St. Paul: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30)—but it must positively second all His divine movements until it can say with Christ: “I do always the things that please Him” (John 8:29). It does not matter if sometimes the sacrifices that He asks of us seem to be beyond our strength. With God’s grace, all things are possible. “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). And there is always left to us the recourse of prayer, to ask the Lord, in advance, that which He wishes us to give to Him: “Grant what Thou dost command and command what Thou wilt” (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 10, chapter 29). In any case, in order to avoid anxiety in the matter of positive fidelity to grace, we should always rely on the rule and counsel of a wise and experienced spiritual director.
(e) Invoking the Holy Ghost. We cannot practice any of these methods without the help and prevenient actual grace of the Holy Ghost. For that reason we must invoke Him frequently and with the greatest possible fervor, remembering the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Ghost to us (John 14:16-17). The Sequence of Pentecost (Veni, Sancte Spiritus), the hymn of Tierce (Veni, Creator Spiritus), and the liturgical prayer for the feast of Pentecost (Deus, qui corda fidelium) should be, after the Our Father and the Hail Mary, the favorite prayers of interior souls. We should repeat them often until we attain that recta sapere (correct understanding) that only the Holy Ghost can give us. And in imitation of the Apostles when they retired to the Cenacle to await the coming of the Paraclete, we should associate our supplications with those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary— “All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with … Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14)—the Virgin most faithful and the Heavenly spouse of the Holy Ghost.
The beautiful invocation of the litany of the Blessed Virgin, “Virgin most faithful, pray for us,” should be one of the favorite ejaculations of the souls that thirst for God. The Divine Spirit will be communicated to us in the measure of our fidelity to grace, and this fidelity must be obtained through Mary, the universal Mediatrix of all graces by will
of God.
We are living in a culture of constant information, a culture of knowledge, in which they claim: “Knowledge is Power!” Unfortunately, we all know much more than we understand. Knowing is easier than understanding. Knowledge mainly deals with the surface matters―understanding penetrates that surface and seeks deeper knowledge―understanding seeks what stands under the surface. We see an object and we know it is a car ― but do we understand how all parts of that car work together? We know that we are sick ― but do we understand what is causing that disease? We know how to use a computer ― but do we understand how the computer software or hardware works? We hear a Frenchman speak and we know he is speaking French ― but we do not understand what he is saying? “Nations of a strange speech and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand” (Ezechiel 3:6). “A nation whose language thou shalt not understand!” (Jeremias 5:15). Knowledge is a beginning, but understanding is a deeper knowledge, a progression of knowledge, a step beyond knowledge, a perfection of knowledge. “Then Jesus opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45)―in other words, they already KNEW the Scriptures, but did not yet fully UNDERSTAND them.
We can see this notion of hearing and knowing, but not understanding and perceiving, loosely exemplified in Holy Scripture: “By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive! For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:14-15). “With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!” (Acts 28:26).
But, even before we try to form a clear idea of this crucial Gift of Understanding, it would be well to have some definite notion of what the word means. In other words, whenever we say: “I understand!” what is that we mean? One of the most common expressions used in our daily life with our fellow-men, concerns this understanding: “Do you understand? Don’t you understand? Can you understand? I understand! I don’t understand!” What, then, do we wish to convey by these words? To understand a thing is nothing more than to have a true and sufficient idea of it, to have more than a mere surface knowledge of something. We often do things without fully understanding what we are doing, nor do we fully understand the consequences of what we are doing. This is especially true of sin―“Who can understand sins?” (Psalm 18:13)―many people sin without fully understanding what that sin will bring to us down the road―“None of the wicked shall understand” (Daniel 12:10). They “did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death … For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 1:32; 6:23). “He would not understand that he might do well” (Psalm 35:4)―who only “afterwards shall understand their sin” (Leviticus 4:14). It is better to understand beforehand what sin will bring! “Understand all that you do!” (Deuteronomy 29:9). “Direct thy way and understand it!” (Josue 1:8). “Understand these things―you that forget God―lest He snatch you away and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalm 49:22).
Let us try to be more precise. The Latins called understanding an “inner reading”--which is another way of saying that which “stands under” or “stands beneath” the surface of things; therefore, a “deeper” knowledge, a knowledge of what stand under the surface, rather than a mere surface or superficial knowledge. Understanding, then, is that power of the human soul or mind, to descend beneath the surface of things, to pry into the hidden reality―it is that which breaks through the surface-shell, to reach the real substance enclosed beneath.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Understanding implies an intimate knowledge, for ‘intellegere’, meaning ‘to understand’, is the same as ‘intus legere’, meaning ‘to read inwardly’ ... There are many kinds of things that are hidden within, to find which, human knowledge has to penetrate within so to speak … Since, however, human knowledge begins with the outside of things, as it were, it is evident that the stronger the light of the understanding, then the further can it penetrate into the heart of things. Now, the natural light of our understanding is of finite power; wherefore it can reach to a certain fixed point. Consequently, man needs a supernatural light in order to penetrate further still, so as to know what it cannot know by its natural light: and this supernatural light which is bestowed on man is called the Gift of Understanding.”
The Apostles and disciples of Christ did not fully KNOW Him, even though they had followed Him for three years―but even less did they UNDERSTAND Him. At the Last Supper “Jesus said to Philip: ‘Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known Me?’” (John 14:9). On another occasion Our Lord said to His Apostles: “Do you not understand?” (Matthew 15:17). “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:9) … “Do you not yet know nor understand? Is your heart still blinded? Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? … How do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:17-21). “Why do you not understand?” (Matthew 16:11). The Apostles heard Our Lord preach a parable, they knew its contents, but they did not understand them: “He taught them many things in parables, and said: ‘Behold, the sower went out to sow. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth, etc.’ … And when He was alone, the Twelve, that were with Him, asked Him [to explain] the parable” (Mark 4:2-10).
The Gift of Understanding
Man is created for a supernatural end―for Heaven―and the means given him by God are contained in Divine Revelation. They are a set of truths far exceeding the natural capacity of the understanding. Now, if these are really means to our final end, then we must use them, and to use them we must first know them; but as they are above the power of the human mind, we need some supernatural aid, some Heavenly light in order to not only know them superficially, but to also penetrate them. This supernatural light which the Holy Ghost gives to man is called the Gift of Understanding. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord … They that trust in Him, shall understand the truth! … But who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24; Wisdom 3:9).
Among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, there are a variety of Gifts that work upon, work with and perfect the intellect―these are, in ascending order, the Gifts of Knowledge, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom. They perfect our intellectual virtues. The Gift of Knowledge perfects the virtue of hope. The Gift of Counsel perfects prudence. The Gift of Understanding gives an intuitive penetration into truth. The Gift of Wisdom perfects charity, in order to see and judge divine things in the same way as God sees and judges them. Very loosely speaking, you say that knowledge is the baby, counsel in the child, understanding is the adolescent and wisdom is the adult.
The gift of penetration, the gift of intuition, is the Gift of Understanding. By means of it we go deep into the meaning of supernatural truths, of the Christian mysteries, of the dogmas of our Faith. This is the work of the Gift of Understanding―by it the Holy Ghost moves us, so that we can penetrate the depths of all supernatural truths and thus attain our eternal salvation. It is the Gift of Understanding―given to every Christian in the Sacrament of Baptism and reinforced in the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes the Christian apprehend and comprehend supernatural truths, especially when this is necessary for the attainment of his salvation. And the more developed is this Gift of Understanding in our soul, then the more profound will be our vision, the more penetrating our intuition. Not that by this Gift we contemplate supernatural truth in all its splendor and fullness. Only in Heaven shall we be able to have a clear and unshadowed vision of divine things. Only in Heaven, when with the light of glory we see God face to face and know in our own hearts His beatific love, will our vision of divine things be positive, radiant, and full.
Know and Understand Thyself!
St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his renowned Spiritual Exercises, advises us to “know thyself” ― not in a narcissistic manner (which only leads to pride), but to know ourselves in a way that leads to humility, because we usually imagine ourselves to be far better than we really are―which is a result of superficial knowledge of ourselves. Everyone like to “look good”―whether that be physically, intellectually or morally good―hence the preoccupation with cosmetics, gyms, “make-overs”, plastic surgery, edited photos, and lies and exaggerations on social media! We hate seeing ourselves as we really are!
You can take Our Lord’s advice in that context: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). To which you could add: “Anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:18)―the “eye-salve” being truth.
The plank of wood in our own eye, to which Jesus refers, is a hint that the Gift of Understanding will reveal to us the basic character of our nothingness. This is not a depressive disaster, but simply a humbling truth. We are created out of nothing. Given who we are, we have no basis whatever to judge anyone else. The reference to the splinter in our neighbor’s eye and the plank in our own eye, is a humorous way of inviting us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and enabling us to see ourselves as we are―whatever that may be―and then to change ourselves by removing the “plank”. Thus we should often pray: “Lord, that I may see!” (Luke 18:41). “Open Thou my eyes and I will consider the wondrous things of Thy law!” (Psalm 118:18). “Give to thy servant an understanding heart!” (3 Kings 3:9).
It should be added that not only should we know ourselves, but we should also understand ourselves! The supernatural light of the Gift of Understanding helps us to know ourselves deeply and to discover the depth of our misery. Sometimes the humility of the saints seems excessive―as when St. Francis of Assisi wished to be trodden on and called the outcast of the people. We ask ourselves, “How can saints, whose life is admirable, filled with virtue and holiness, men and women actually canonized by the Church, have had such a low idea of themselves?” It is simply because they were filled with the light of God and that light led them to understand the real truth of things. Yes―they might have done many great things―but, it is God and His grace that has done those things in them―as Our Lady said: “He that is mighty, hath done great things to me!” (Luke 1:49) and as Our Lord warns: “So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants―we have only done that which we ought to do!’” (Luke 17:10).
It is in this light that Holy Scripture says of all men―saints included―“The sons of men are liars” (Psalm 61:10). “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11). “All have sinned, and do need the glory [and mercy] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 52:4). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8).
When a room is in semi-darkness we may have the illusion that it is clean; but when there is a very bright light, we perceive even the tiniest speck of dirt. That is what happens to us when we have the light of God. Then we feel our smallness and our misery; before God we are all very small.
Know Your Place―Understand Your Limits
Man’s intelligence, be it ever so powerful and penetrating, is nevertheless merely a created power; hence it is a limited power, and, by itself, it can never overstep the limits set down to it by God. This is too obvious to need any proof. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).
Thus, an ordinary mind can understand that man is a reasoning being; the more gifted intelligence will see that God is one and cannot be but one, true, immutable and eternal; but even the greatest mind that ever enlightened the field of intellectual activity can never understand how God being one can be three, or how God could become man, exist as God and as man, and still be only one person; these are truths, the depths of which the human mind can never fathom.
Man is created for a supernatural end―for Heaven―and the means given him by God are contained in Divine Revelation. They are a set of truths far exceeding the natural capacity of the understanding. Now, if these are really means to our final end, then we must use them, and to use them we must first know them; but as they are above the power of the human mind, we need some supernatural aid, some Heavenly light in order to not only know them superficially, but to also penetrate them. This supernatural light which the Holy Ghost gives to man is called the Gift of Understanding. “The steps of man are guided by the Lord―but who is the man that can understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).
This supernatural light does not come from the natural understanding; because no amount of reasoning of the most intelligent mind that the world ever saw or will see, could prove that God is one and at the same time three. This supernatural light perfects our natural reason―just as grace perfects nature―and has the same relation to truths of a higher order, as the relation our natural understanding has to truths in the order of nature. Or, just as it is by reason that we grasp all natural truths, such for example, as that man is a being endowed with an intellect, so it is by the Gift of Understanding we know those truths which exceed the power of our reason, such as the truth of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, or the Redemption, etc.
Effects of the Gift of Understanding
This Gift is most useful for theologians, and St. Thomas Aquinas possessed it to an extraordinary degree. It enables the theologian to penetrate into the depths of the revealed truth and to deduce later, by means of theological discursus, the conclusions that are implicit in these truths. St. Thomas himself points out six different ways in which the Gift of Understanding enables us to penetrate into the depths and mystery of the truths of Faith (Cf. Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 8, art. 1).
(1) It enables us to see the substance of things hidden under their accidental manifestations. In virtue of this divine instinct, the mystics perceive the Divine reality that is hidden under the Eucharistic veils. From this follows their obsession with the Eucharist, an obsession that becomes in them a veritable martyrdom of hunger and thirst. In their visits to the tabernacle they do not pray or meditate, but merely contemplate the Divine Prisoner of Love with a simple and penetrating gaze that fills their souls with infinite peace and tenderness. When St. John Vianney asked an old peasant what he would do when spending hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament each and every day, the simple peasant, possessed by the Holy Ghost, simply told St. John Vianney: “I look at Him and He looks at me!”
(2) It discloses the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture. This is what the Lord effected in regard to the disciples at Emmaus when “He opened their understanding so that they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). All the mystics have experienced this phenomenon. Without any discursus (interior discussion or reasoning), or study, or any human assistance, the Holy Ghost suddenly disclosed to them with a most vivid intensity the profound meaning of some statement in Scripture, that then immersed them in a deluge of light and understanding. There, in this profound understanding of the passage, many of the saints found the theme of their whole spiritual life: “The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever” of St. Teresa of Avila (Psalm 88:1); “whosoever is a little one, let him come to me” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Proverbs 9:4); “the praise of glory” of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity (Ephesians 1:6). For that reason, also, these great mystics are not at all moved by books written by men. They reach a point in which they find satisfaction only in the inspired words that come from Scripture, and especially in those that come from the lips of Christ Himself (“As for me, with the exception of the Gospels, I no longer find anything in books. The Gospels are enough.” (St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations, May 15th, p. 44).
(3) It reveals to us the mysterious significance of symbols and figures. Thus St. Paul saw Christ in the rock that gushed forth with living water to appease the thirst of the Israelites in the desert: “And the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). St. John of the Cross reveals to us, with a startling mystical intuition, the moral, analogical and parabolic meaning of many of the symbols and figures of the Old Testament that reached their full realization in the New Testament or in the life of grace.
(4) It reveals spiritual realities to us under sensible appearances. The Liturgy of the Church is filled with sublime symbolism that for the most part escapes the notice of superficial souls. But the saints experience a great veneration and respect for the “smallest ceremony of the Church” (St. Teresa of Avila, The Life, p. 226, chap. 33, n. 5), which floods their soul with devotion and tenderness. The Gift of Understanding enables them to see the sublime realities that are hidden beneath those symbols and sensible signs.
(5) It enables us to contemplate the effects that are contained in causes. As Father Philipon writes: “There is another aspect of the Gift of Understanding that is particularly noticeable in the case of contemplative theologians. After the hard work of human study, everything suddenly becomes luminous, under an impulse of the Spirit. A new world is seen in a principle or in a universal cause: Christ-the-Priest, the One Mediator between Heaven and Earth, or Mary the Virgin Co-Redemptrix, bearing spiritually in her womb all the members of the Mystical Body; or again the mystery of identification of God’s innumerable attributes in His sovereign simplicity, and the conciliation of the Unity of Essence with the Trinity of Persons, in a Godhead infinitely surpassing the most probing research of all created intelligence. All are truths which the Gift of Understanding can penetrate effortlessly and fruitfully in the beatifying delight of an eternal life begun on Earth, in the very light of God” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, p. 180-181, chap. 8, n. 7).13
(6) It makes us see causes through their effects. Father Philipon continues: “Inversely, the Gift of Understanding reveals God and His almighty causality of effects, without working the long, discursive journeyings of human thought left to its own resources, but by a simple, comparative gaze and by intuition, “after the manner of God.” In almost imperceptible signs and in the smallest events of its life, a soul that is attentive to the Holy Ghost suddenly discovers God’s providential plan in its regard. Without dialectic reasoning upon causes, the simple sight of the effect of the justice or the mercy of God lets it perceive the whole mystery of Divine predestination, the ‘exceeding Charity’ (Ephesians 2:4) which pursues souls in order to unite them to the beatifying Trinity. Through all, God leads to God” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, p.180-181, chap. 8, n. 7).
Such are the principal effects that the actuation of the Gift of Understanding produces in the soul. One can see that, perfected by this Gift, the virtue of Faith reaches an astounding intensity. The veils of mystery are never parted in this life—“we see now through a glass in a dark manner” (1 Corinthians 13:12)―but its unfathomable depths are penetrated by the soul with an experience that is so clear and deep that it approaches the intuitive vision. St. Thomas, a model of serenity and reserve in all his statements, writes the following words: “In this very life, when the eye of the spirit is purified by the Gift of Understanding, one can in a certain way see God” (Summa, Ia-IIae, q. 69, art. 2, ad 3).
Vices Opposed to the Gift of Understanding
“The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
St. Thomas dedicates an entire question to the study of these vices (Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 15). They are mainly two: spiritual blindness and dullness of the spiritual sense. The first is the complete lack of vision (blindness); the second is a notable weakening of vision (myopia). Both of them proceed from carnal sins (lust and gluttony), and because of that there is nothing that is such an impediment to the flight of the intellect—even naturally speaking—as the vehement attachment to corporal things that are contrary to it. For that reason, lust, with its greater vehemence, produces spiritual blindness, which excludes almost completely the knowledge and appreciation of spiritual goods, and gluttony produces dullness of the spiritual sense, which weakens man as regards this knowledge and appreciation in a way similar to the blunting or dulling of a sharp and pointed object—a nail, for example—that should easily penetrate a wall (Summa, IIa-IIae, q. 15, art. 3).
A contemporary spiritual author writes: “This blindness of mind is that which is suffered by all lukewarm souls; for they possess the Gift of Understanding, but their mind is engulfed with the things of this world. They are lacking in interior recollection and the spirit of prayer; they are constantly pouring themselves out through the channels of the senses, without any attentive or constant consideration of divine truths. Hence they never arrive at discovering the exalted clarity that is hidden in their obscurity. For that reason we see that very frequently they are easily deceived and mistaken when they speak of spiritual things, of the delicacy and fine points of divine love, of the first stages of the mystical life, of the heights of sanctity, and that sometimes they engage themselves in external works that are covered with the veil of human evaluations, and they consider as exaggerations or eccentricities the delicacies that the Holy Ghost asks of souls.
“These are the souls who wish ‘to go by the cow-path,’ as one says rustically. They are attached to the earth, and for that reason the Holy Ghost cannot raise them into the air with His divine motion and breathing. They are busy making sand-piles by which they think they can reach Heaven. They suffer that spiritual blindness that prevents them from seeing the infinite holiness of God, the marvel that grace works in souls, the heroism of abnegation that He asks of souls to correspond to His immense love, the foolishness of love by which the soul is led to the folly of the Cross. Such lukewarm souls think nothing of venial sins and perceive only those sins that are more serious; as a result, they ignore what are commonly called imperfections. They are blind because they never take into their hands the torch that would give light in this dark space (2 Peter 1:19), and many times in their presumption they attempt to guide others who are blind (Matthew 15:14).
“He who suffers such a blindness or shortsightedness in his interior vision, which prevents him from penetrating the things of Faith, cannot be free of fault because of his negligence and carelessness or because of the tedium that he experiences in regard to spiritual things, since he loves more those things that appeal to the senses” (Fr. Menendez-Reigada, O.P., Los dones del Espiritu Santo y la perfeccion cristiana, pp. 593-94).
Ways to Foster This Gift of Understanding
The actuation or “kick-starting” of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost depends entirely on the Divine Spirit Himself. However, the soul can do much by disposing itself, with the help of grace, for this divine actuation or “kick-starting.” As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man called out to Him. The Apostles did not wish the Lord to be bothered by this suppliant, but the more they tried to keep him away, the more the blind man cried out. Jesus went up to him and said: “What wouldst thou have Me do for thee?” And the answer came: “Rabboni, that I may see!” (Cf. Mark 10:51-52).
In these words, the blind man expressed his greatest desire, the pressing need of his soul. Is it not true that this is one of the great necessities of our heart and that it should be one of our great desires? So sad and painful is blindness — so rich and beautiful is light! Every day let us say to the Lord, as did Bartimeus, the blind man of the Gospel: “Lord, that I may see!” (Luke 18:41).
“Although this work is performed by the Lord, and we can do nothing to make His Majesty grant us this favor, we can do a great deal to prepare ourselves for it” (St. Teresa, Interior Castle, Fifth Mansions, chap. 2, n. 1).
The following are the principal means of disposing oneself for the influence of the Gift of Understanding:
(a) To enliven Faith with the help of ordinary grace. The infused virtues are perfected by the increasingly intense practice of their proper acts. And although it is true that unless they go beyond the human (ascetal mode of operation they can never reach their perfection, it is nevertheless an excellent disposition so that the Holy Ghost will perfect the virtues with His Gifts if the soul does all that it can by the ascetic practices within its reach. It is a fact that God, according to His ordinary providence, gives His graces to those who are best disposed.
St. Teresa of Avila speaks beautifully on this point in many ways. “Unless you have omitted to prepare yourselves for your work, you need have no fear that it will be lost” (The Way of Perfection, chap. 18, n. 3). “Their disposition [exercise of virtues] is such that He will grant them any favor” (Interior Castle, Third Mansions, chap. 1, n. 5). “Oh, God help me! How true are these words and how well the soul understands them, for in this state it can actually see their truth for itself. And how well we should all understand them were it not for our own fault! ... but because we ourselves fail by not preparing ourselves ... we do not see ourselves in this mirror into which we are gazing,” p. 337 (Seventh Mansions, chap. 2, n. 8).
(b) Perfect purity of soul and body. The sixth beatitude―“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8)―corresponds to the Gift of Understanding. Only through perfect cleanness of soul and body is one made capable of seeing God: in this life, by the profound illumination of the Gift of Understanding in the obscurity of Faith; in the next life, through the clear vision of glory. Impurity is incompatible with either one.
(c) Interior recollection. The Holy Ghost is the friend of recollection and solitude. Only there does He speak in silence to souls. “I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart” (Osee 2:14). The soul that is a friend of dissipation and worldliness will never perceive the word of God in its interior. It is necessary to empty oneself of all created things, to retire to the cell of one’s own heart, in order to live there with the Divine Guest, until the soul gradually succeeds in always preserving the sense of God’s presence, even amidst the most absorbing occupations. When the soul has done all that it can to be recollected and detached from the world, the Holy Ghost will do the rest.
(d) Fidelity to grace. The soul must be always attentive and careful not to deny the Holy Ghost any sacrifice that He may ask. “Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 94:8). Not only must the soul avoid every voluntary thought, however small, that would sadden the Holy Ghost—according to the mysterious expression of St. Paul: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30)—but it must positively second all His divine movements until it can say with Christ: “I do always the things that please Him” (John 8:29). It does not matter if sometimes the sacrifices that He asks of us seem to be beyond our strength. With God’s grace, all things are possible. “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). And there is always left to us the recourse of prayer, to ask the Lord, in advance, that which He wishes us to give to Him: “Grant what Thou dost command and command what Thou wilt” (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 10, chapter 29). In any case, in order to avoid anxiety in the matter of positive fidelity to grace, we should always rely on the rule and counsel of a wise and experienced spiritual director.
(e) Invoking the Holy Ghost. We cannot practice any of these methods without the help and prevenient actual grace of the Holy Ghost. For that reason we must invoke Him frequently and with the greatest possible fervor, remembering the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Ghost to us (John 14:16-17). The Sequence of Pentecost (Veni, Sancte Spiritus), the hymn of Tierce (Veni, Creator Spiritus), and the liturgical prayer for the feast of Pentecost (Deus, qui corda fidelium) should be, after the Our Father and the Hail Mary, the favorite prayers of interior souls. We should repeat them often until we attain that recta sapere (correct understanding) that only the Holy Ghost can give us. And in imitation of the Apostles when they retired to the Cenacle to await the coming of the Paraclete, we should associate our supplications with those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary— “All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with … Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14)—the Virgin most faithful and the Heavenly spouse of the Holy Ghost.
The beautiful invocation of the litany of the Blessed Virgin, “Virgin most faithful, pray for us,” should be one of the favorite ejaculations of the souls that thirst for God. The Divine Spirit will be communicated to us in the measure of our fidelity to grace, and this fidelity must be obtained through Mary, the universal Mediatrix of all graces by will
of God.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday May 27th & Friday May 28th
Article 27
Counsel—Advice of the Holy Ghost
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday May 27th & Friday May 28th
Article 27
Counsel—Advice of the Holy Ghost
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Good Advice―Bad Advice
Ever been given bad advice? Sure you have! Ever given bad advice? Sure you have! Nobody is God but God―and only God is right all of the time! God is Truth itself! Truth is a perfection―errors, lies or half-truths are imperfections. God is all perfect―otherwise He could be God. Being all-perfect, there can be no error or lie coming from Him. Holy Scripture testifies to this:
“The beginning of Thy words is truth! … All thy ways are truth! … Thy law is the truth! … All thy statutes are truth! In Thy truth Thou hast humbled me!” (Psalm 118: verses 160, 151, 142, 86, 75). “O Lord God, Thou art God, and Thy words shall be true” (2 Kings 7:28). “The words of the Lord are fire tried!” (Psalm 18:31). “Every word of God is fire tried!” (Proverbs 30:5). “The judgments of the Lord are true!” (Psalms 18:10) “All Thy works are true, and Thy ways right, and all Thy judgments true!” (Daniel 3:27). “The judgment of God is according to truth” (Romans 2:2). “God is true and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
At the Last Supper, in speaking to His Father, Our Lord says to Him: “Sanctify them in truth! Thy word is truth!” (John 17:17). At that same supper Our Lord speaks of the Holy Ghost being Truth ― “The Father shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, nor knows Him … When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me … When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth!” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13).
Even the enemies of Our Lord―the Scribes and the Pharisees―addressed Him as being truthful: “Master, we know that Thou speakest and teachest rightly, and teachest the way of God in truth!” (Luke 20:21).
“Pilate saith to Jesus: ‘What is truth?’” (John 18:37-38). Our Lord said of Himself: “I am the Truth! … For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, hears My voice! … He that sent Me is true, and the things I have heard from Him, these same things I speak in the world … If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” (John 14:6; 18:37; 8:26; 8:42-47).
Who Are You Going to Listen to?
When we are in need of advice, we usually seek out the best adviser we know. When we want to find out the truth, we usually consult a truthful person and not a habitual liar. When we seek to restore our health or save our life, we usually go to the best affordable doctor that we know. When you want to solve a spiritual problem, you seek out the priest and not the local electrician. If you have an electrical problem, you consult the electrician and not the priest. There are billions of people in this world who all have millions of problems. Nobody has the answer to all those problems―except God!
Right now we are living in a very miserable world! Why is that? Whose advice are we following to have got into the mess that we are in? Who the heck has been giving the advice? That’s not the only point! The other point is this: How can we be so dumb to follow advice that continually gets us deeper and deeper into the hole―or hell-hole? How can we be so dumb to believe some of the statements being made by some of the most important, or most influential or richest people in the world―when what they say defies logic and common sense? One has to think of the words of Holy Scripture in this instance:
“The world, by wisdom, knew not God! … The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 1:21; 3:19). “This is not wisdom, descending from above―but earthly, sensual, devilish!” (James 3:15). “Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ!” (Colossians 2:8). “The word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject!’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:18-20). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches―but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, for I am the Lord that exercises mercy, and judgment, and justice on Earth!’” (Jeremias 9:23-24). “Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may discover what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God!” (Romans 12:2).
What is the Gift of Counsel?
There is a natural virtue of counsel and a supernatural virtue of counsel―yet they have much in common. Counsel, in general, is a piece of advice, which is the result of our own, or of another person’s, reflection and which influences the determination of some event, or issue of our lives, or of some special undertaking. We may even say that counsel is advice given by somebody. It could even be said to be an “intellectual almsgiving”. This is truly a noble and a useful acquisition. How often in our lives are we not in serious doubt! Our minds are harassed and propagandized from every side―and no matter where we turn we are greeted by indecision and uncertainty. We long for some ray of light to guide us in a serious undertaking, but it is not forthcoming.
That dark cloud and thick shadow of doubt must be laid aside! Especially today, at this very hour―and how can we do so? How can enter into the sunlight of certitude and leave behind the darkness of doubt? What is our usual everyday solution? We ask advice, we seek counsel. If we are young, we consult those placed over us, our parents or our guides, and we cast away all anxious doubt by relying on their decision; in religion we seek the advice of our superiors, and in the world we ask counsel from our dearest friend, or some expert whose advice has always proven trustworthy.
At all events, whenever we are in doubt as to the course to follow, we seek counsel. Moreover, this is what Holy Scripture tells us to do: “Seek counsel always of a good wise man” (Tobias 4:19). Our fortune, honor or even life may depend upon receiving good counsel! How many a soul has been saved from degradation by some kind and solid advice! And if we had―how happy and contented we should be to seek counsel from others! But sadly, in many cases, our souls are so disposed to pride that we are too proud to ask for counsel! How many useless regrets! How many bitter tears it would spare us!
Counsel and Obedience
Obedience to God is at one and the same time, the greatest of human sacrifices and its most clear-cut perfection. Complete obedience is the work of the Gift of Counsel. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are ultimately there to help us find the correct path to God. God is love ― “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and God expects to be loved ― “Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38) ― and this love of God is proved by the keeping of the Commandments ― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21) ― the keeping of God’s commandments obviously entails obedience, and, as stated above, complete obedience is the work of the Gift of Counsel. “If thou wilt receive My words, and will hide My commandments within thee, so that thy ear may hearken to wisdom, then incline thy heart to know prudence! If thou shalt call for wisdom, incline thy heart to prudence!” (Proverbs 2:2-3).
Counsel and Prudence
Furthermore, the keeping of God’s commandments obviously means thinking, speaking and acting correctly, that is to say, in line with God’s commandments. There is a moral virtue that helps us act correctly―and that is the virtue of Prudence, which is succinctly defined by St. Thomas as “recta ratio agibilium” ― a Latin phrase meaning “right reasoning in acting” ― for our reason (mind/intellect/thoughts) should be in line with God’s Law and, as St. Thomas further states, to act against “right reason” is a sin, whether mortal or venial. The natural virtue of counsel presupposes the existence of natural prudence. How can you give good counsel if you do not know how to act correctly―which is the purpose of prudence: “right reasoning in acting.”
St. Thomas explains: “Prudence is the knowledge of what to seek and what to avoid … Prudence does not merely consist in thought, but in its application to action … It belongs to prudence to apply right reason to action … Prudence is wisdom about human affairs … A prudent man is one who sees, as it were, from afar―for his sight is keen, and he foresees the event of uncertainties … Prudence seeks to obtain knowledge of the future from knowledge of the present or past … Prudence correctly discerns that which helps from that which hinders us in tending to God … It belongs to prudence to counsel, judge, and command rightly concerning the means of obtaining a due end … Prudence helps all the virtues, and works in all of them … It does not mean that prudence itself should be moderate, but that moderation must be imposed on other things according to prudence … A prudent man is one who is capable of taking good counsel … A prudent man takes [learns from] good counsel [and then is able to give good counsel] ... One should be quick in carrying out the counsel taken, but slow in taking counsel … Prudence keeps most careful watch and guard, in case, by degrees, we be deceived unawares by evil counsel … To prudence belongs only the application of right reason in matters of counsel, which are those wherein there is no fixed way of obtaining the end or goal … It belongs to prudence to command about what has been already counseled and judged in matters of action. Choice presupposes counsel [to have been given beforehand], since choice is the desire for what has been already counseled, it follows that choice can also be ascribed to prudence indirectly, in so far as prudence directs the choice by means of counsel.” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 47).
If that sounds a bit heavy and hard to digest, then let us try simplify it a little (though some things are often weakened in simplification). Every person must LEARN how to act correctly―it is not talent that we are born with. The process of natural learning involves “taking counsel” or taking advice from others who should be PRUDENT―that is to say, those who know what should and what should not be done, those who possess the skill of “right reasoning in acting.” Those persons also had to learn that skill from others. Once we have acquired the skill of knowing what we should and what we should not do, we are then capable of manifesting “right reasoning in acting” ― meaning our actions are in agreement with right reasoning, with logical thought, in agreement with truth. It is then that we are able to give GOOD counsel to others, passing on the way of acting correctly that we ourselves have learnt from others.
The same process can also be seen to work in the giving of BAD counsel. Bad counsel is acting in opposition to what is true and morally correct. Bad counsel comes from IMPRUDENCE, which could be defined as “wrong reasoning in acting”, meaning that our actions are no longer in line with true reasoning, or moral reasoning, or good reasoning, and that we have chosen a path that leads away from truth, goodness and morality. Today, the world is vastly imprudent―while pretending to be prudent. “A fool receiveth not the words of prudence!” (Proverbs 18:2). “A foolish man knoweth not the lips of prudence!” (Proverbs 14:7). “Forsake childishness, and live and walk by the ways of prudence!” (Proverbs 9:6). “Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee” (Proverbs 2:11). “Incline thy heart to know prudence” (Proverbs 2:2). The worldly prudence is not a godly prudence―it is a way of acting in line with worldly opinions and fashions, but not in line with God’s opinions and commandments. “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own [natural] prudence” (Proverbs 3:5).
Prudence and Prudence
To help us determine what should be done in a particular case, we have the virtue of prudence in the natural order, and also the infused virtue of Prudence, which bears the same name in the supernatural order. This supernatural virtue of Prudence paves the way the for Holy Ghost's Gift of Counsel.
Prudence is not the theoretical or speculative knowledge of ordinary spiritual things; it is the application of this knowledge and these general principles to concrete cases with their special circumstances of time, place, manner, etc. Prudence is a difficult virtue to practice — not only the prudence needed to direct others, but even that prudence which is absolutely necessary in guiding and governing ourselves. It is difficult because, while we must look upward in order to work according to higher principles and rules, we must look downward and remain in touch with this Earth in order to be aware of each one of the circumstances that surround the act we are thinking of doing.
Choir Director Prudence
It can be helpful to think of prudence as the director of a great chorus of many voices, each carrying its own melody. The director must mark, with his baton, precisely the moment when every voice must enter, and the tones for every melody. In a word, he must harmonize all those voices to produce a unified whole. This is the work of prudence. Prudence directs, in a certain manner, the other virtues; it marks for each one of them its opportunity, its degree, and tells how and when it should be exercised. Prudence gives wonderful harmony to our life.
But in this matter, as in all others in the spiritual life, the virtue is not enough. Timidity and uncertainty are the usual characteristics of the natural or human virtue of prudence. How difficult it is to unite prudence and boldness! There are bold men who ignore prudence (they are uncautious fools), and there are men who seem prudent, yet who do not dare to do the bold things they should (they are overcautious fools). This is typical of human work. Our decisions are uncertain; and in many matters, especially spiritual matters, we find it difficult to arrive at stability and security! We plan and arrange things without having the assurance that they will attain the desired result; our procedures are unsure and do not always bring about what we have intended. Human life is so complicated, so difficult, the ways by which we reach perfection are so painful, we find so many troubles, so many contradictions in our life, that if we had no other direction, we would never attain our end.
It is no easy thing to determine what should be done in difficult matters, and to know what should be known about the lawfulness, the appropriateness, and the opportuneness of an act. We analyze, reflect, and recall the past to guide us in the present and to foresee the future — and how many times, after we have reflected and analyzed at great length, we still do not know what to do in a given circumstance, but have to go to a wiser, more experienced person for advice.
The Counsels of God
But God, who never fails us in our needs, has given us a Gift by which the Holy Spirit becomes our guide. As the Archangel Raphael led Tobias on his journey, so the Spirit who lives in our souls guides us along the winding and troublesome paths of this life, until we reach our perfection in the inexpressibly loving embrace of God.
The Gift of Counsel is a Gift of the Holy Ghost that directs the Gifts of Fear, Fortitude, and Piety—like a captain directs his company. Before performing any deliberate action, we go through a mental process with the purpose of examining carefully, not only the lawfulness of what we intend to do, but also its convenience, its timeliness. Ordinarily we are not aware of this process, just as we are not aware of what happens when our food goes through the digestive tract to be assimilated by the entire organism. Because we are accustomed to use our intelligence to regulate our actions, the procedure goes by unnoticed. But on certain occasions, in more difficult and complicated activities, when we do not see our way clearly and immediately, then, because of our greater concentration on the matter, we are aware of the process of our deliberation.
Furthermore, we sometimes find that the Gift of Counsel pushes us in a direction that we think is “imprudent” or “reckless” or downright “impossible” ― yet we forget that it is not “WE” that have come up with the plan, but God! Our puny mind, our flimsy knowledge, our inexperience and impotence are no match for the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God of whom we have been told: “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27) and “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). God, through the Gift of Counsel, tries to raise us up to His way of seeing things and His way of thinking and acting―whereas we, with our puny natural prudence and counsel, try to lower God to our way of seeing things, and our way of thinking and acting. God’s reply is: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Thus it is that God sometimes calls us to a heroic courage that we feel is impossible to us―and at other times we feel that we can and should do more than what God is commanding, imagining that God is making “cowards” out of us! In this vein, we see in the situation where, when King Herod wanted to kill Jesus, the result was an apparent cowardice, with Joseph being told by the angel to “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt” (Matthew 2:15). Think about it for a moment―Christ was the almighty God, even as a baby! He could have thwarted Herod in a million different ways―yet He chooses to turn His back on Herod and FLEE!???! Is that not cowardice?
Then there was the time when Our Lord was afraid to go to Jerusalem for fear of the plotting Scribes and Pharisees: “After these things Jesus walked [only] in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him!” (John 7:1). Our Lord would later give similar advice: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another! Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man come!” (Matthew 10:23). Huh? Eh? Flee?
What about those other “fighting” words: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)? And again, “Fight the good fight of faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1). Our Lord’s reply would be: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We also see the opposite, where God’s Counsel calls for unimaginable courage. In the spirit of the Scripture verse: “I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me!” (Psalm 3:7), God chose only 300 men out of 32,000 men, for Gedeon to use in the defeat of the 120,000 Madianites (Judges, chapter 7). Jesus chose 12 Apostles, not 12,000 Apostles to conquer the world. Gedeon, the fifth of the Judges (the leaders of Israel at the time), found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites―120,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—outnumbered by almost 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors if possible. God counseled the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God could rightfully claim the eventual victory against impossible odds:
“The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs like to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
Gedeon’s army of 32,000—outnumbered by almost 4 to 1, by the 120,000 Madianites―was now reduced to a mere 300 men! His army had been reduced to being over 100 times less. Gedeon went from being outnumbered by 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by 400 to 1. There you have a clear example the Counsel of God taking a path that is totally opposed to human prudence and human counsel. Yet God was right―the 300 men totally routed the 120,000. Why? Because God was the planner, God was the fighter, God was the victor!
Counsel, the Prudence Par Excellence
That superior Prudence, that divine Prudence, which comes from the Holy Spirit, is the Gift of Counsel. It does not have the same name as the virtue, because the prudence we receive, from the Gift of Counsel, does not spring from the depths of our intelligence; it comes to us from above, from a superior Being: it is communicated to us by the Spirit. Just as, in a particular case of doubt, we seek someone more informed than ourselves to advise us, so does the Spirit counsel us by means of this Gift. But His counsel is not a passing thing, like the advice of human beings; no, it is a light that we receive, it is a Gift. Through it, the Spirit moves and guides us in a definite way along the difficult paths that lead to God.
Prudence, ruled by reason, gives a human mode to our actions: which result in uncertainty and timidity; whereas the Holy Spirit puts a divine character on the acts that proceed from the Gift of Counsel. The virtue of prudence and the Gift of Counsel have different norms. The virtue of prudence acts according to right reason, enlightened by Faith, which helps us to judge whether we should perform such and such an action at a certain time. The Gift of Counsel is higher reason; it is divine, it is eternal reason, the reason of God.
Amazing Saints
At times the saints have been able to do things that fill us with amazement. For example, St. Catherine of Siena spent entire Lenten periods without any other food than Holy Communion. In the light of human prudence, there is no justification for doing this. Right reason demands that we give our bodies the necessary food; it prohibits such excesses, though, at the same time, it does not tolerate neglect of mortification, for the middle way must always prevail in the practice of virtue. But St. Catherine accomplished this amazing thing because of a superior instinct, a divine instinct, acting according to divine reasoning, not human reasoning. She did not see the usual rule of reason; she saw the exalted rule of the will of God.
Looking into God’s Mind
Let us imagine that we could look into God’s mind, in order to discover the proper thing to do in every circumstance; as we might look, here on Earth, into the brilliant mind of a learned man to find the correct answer to a problem. This is the way of the Gift of Counsel. When we work under its direction our decisions will be quick, sure and audacious. With what boldness do the saints proceed, with what security, and with what rapidity! They do not follow the counsels of men, nor the dictates of their own reason. They have a higher norm: eternal reason, the mind of God, that illuminates their spirit and lays before them the road they should follow.
The Gift of Counsel does not act according to human prudence. What it suggests is not usually a well thought-out plan of action. It might suggest a course that contradicts what has been a great source of support or success in one’s own spiritual journey. The Gift of Counsel is flexible and free of preconceived ideas. That is perhaps what characterizes it as a Gift. Practices that we think are essential for our carefully laid plans for holiness tend to get shot through with holes by divine providence. We need to be sensitive to the divine impulse. The “counseling” is not normally a direct message. It is not a “word of wisdom,” which is a charismatic gift in which we are convinced that God is talking to us. The Gift of Counsel is normally a delicate attraction that is peaceful even when it is quite surprising. Everyone who is on the spiritual journey has this Gift. Its activity is not the result of our planning or reasoning. In particular incidents, the fact that it was the right thing to do is only revealed somewhere down the road.
A classical example is Our Lord’s sending of the seventy-two disciples to heal the sick and to prepare the way for Him to come to various towns. The mission was obviously intended to make an impression, so that when Jesus came, He would be well received. The disciples were not prepared for this mission by any standard. They had not been to a seminary. They did not know much Scripture. Their nets were scarcely dry on the banks of the lake when Jesus gathered most of them together. These were not the fully matured Apostles. They did not have a long experience with Him. They were merely a group of men who had been following Jesus for a short time. Jesus said in effect: “Go out now and heal the sick, cast out demons.”
How would you respond if such a course of action were suggested to you? Jesus sent them out two by two to give them a little mutual support. But He Himself did not go; He sent them off on their own. When they came back, they were full of enthusiasm. The mission was a smashing success. They were excited and thrilled. When the disciples reported their success to Jesus, He told them not to be so excited about their power to work miracles. He put the lid on their enthusiasm, pointing out that they should be more excited about having their names written in Heaven—meaning, that they were part of the divine plan. These are words that might be addressed to us. We are part of a plan that we do not know much about. We are trying to follow it and need the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Gift of Counsel.
Actually, nothing fails more than success, especially for beginners. Jesus sent the disciples out without preparation, knowing that they would enjoy stunning success and come back with feelings of vanity and pride. That was their failure. He would have to instruct them that their idea of success was not what He meant by success. Apparent success, whether it be in ministry or in a vocation suggested by the Holy Spirit, is not what success is. Rather, the humiliation of seeming failure makes certain the triumph of grace. It may not be what you hoped for, but it will be much more successful in the long run than anything you could have imagined.
In numerous instances we can discover the influence, the effect, of this Gift upon the saints. For example, how could St. Vincent Ferrer have performed miracles with such naturalness if he had not been guided by the Gift of Counsel? The saint would speak a few words from the Gospel, then add: “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are now healed”; and he worked these miracles just in passing, as any ordinary act of his life. Now, if one of us should try to imitate St. Vincent and perform miracles, he would commit a gravely imprudent act. St. Vincent could perform them because the Holy Spirit moved him; because he was, in a special manner, under the direction of the Spirit.
First Degree of Counsel
In this Gift, as in all the others, there are degrees. In the first, the soul succeeds rapidly in doing the will of God in things that are immediately necessary to the spiritual life. While the known will of God is by no means always easy to fulfill, yet it is often more difficult to know what God’s will is, than to fulfill that will. The doing of something might be easy, but we might have no idea what we are meant to do! Have we not all found ourselves in situations in which we could not exactly say what our obligation was? What did God want us to do in such cases? The Gift of Counsel helps us to answer that question in a quick and certain manner.
The Gifts work in us simultaneously, or rather, the Holy Spirit makes us work and advance under the influence of His Gifts, and on some occasions several of them cooperate in the work of our spiritual life, just as many organs cooperate in our body, and many faculties in our soul. But in this world of the Gifts, the actions that proceed from them have to be ruled by the Gift of Counsel.
Now this Gift also influences the actions of our everyday life, those actions that are ruled by the ordinary virtue of prudence. As in a battle the general who has the responsibility of a special division works with freedom in it, but receives orders from a higher chief, so the virtue of prudence rules our actions, but receives directives from another, more excellent supernatural arbiter, the Gift of Counsel.
Second Degree of Counsel
In the second degree, the Gift of Counsel shows us the will of God, our designated way, not only in the necessary things of our spiritual life, but also in the things of counsel; in the things that, while not absolutely obligatory, are very beneficial and useful for helping us to reach God.
Third Degree of Counsel
In the third degree, the soul seems to rise from the Earth and to live in another, higher world. The hand of God guides it with security, without mishap, and without timidity. The soul goes along the path that our Lord indicates, until it arrives at that height of perfection to which it has been called by God.
Listen, Follow, Be Happy!
Happy the souls that yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance! What peace, what security, and what tranquility are theirs! They do not experience the uncertainties of human life those uncertainties which are among our greatest miseries. At each step we find a difficulty. As the Wise Man has said: “All things are hard.” And they are especially so in the spiritual order. How are we to get out of these troubles that we find everywhere we turn? What ought we to do about them?
The Holy Scriptures tell us that there is a time for speaking and a time for keeping still — are we to speak or remain quiet in this moment of vexation? There is a time for rejoicing and a time for suffering — how can we know exactly what to do at some precise juncture? How many uncertainties in this life, how many hesitations, especially when our spirit and intention are right and we do not wish to stray from the paths marked out for us by God! Happy the souls that are led by the Holy Spirit in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, among the winding pathways of Earth! The hand of God guides them in a sure manner, they have tranquility and peace because they have light; because the Holy Spirit moves them; because they go under the shadow of His wings, traveling triumphantly along the paths of life that are to take them to eternal joy.
Ever been given bad advice? Sure you have! Ever given bad advice? Sure you have! Nobody is God but God―and only God is right all of the time! God is Truth itself! Truth is a perfection―errors, lies or half-truths are imperfections. God is all perfect―otherwise He could be God. Being all-perfect, there can be no error or lie coming from Him. Holy Scripture testifies to this:
“The beginning of Thy words is truth! … All thy ways are truth! … Thy law is the truth! … All thy statutes are truth! In Thy truth Thou hast humbled me!” (Psalm 118: verses 160, 151, 142, 86, 75). “O Lord God, Thou art God, and Thy words shall be true” (2 Kings 7:28). “The words of the Lord are fire tried!” (Psalm 18:31). “Every word of God is fire tried!” (Proverbs 30:5). “The judgments of the Lord are true!” (Psalms 18:10) “All Thy works are true, and Thy ways right, and all Thy judgments true!” (Daniel 3:27). “The judgment of God is according to truth” (Romans 2:2). “God is true and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
At the Last Supper, in speaking to His Father, Our Lord says to Him: “Sanctify them in truth! Thy word is truth!” (John 17:17). At that same supper Our Lord speaks of the Holy Ghost being Truth ― “The Father shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, nor knows Him … When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me … When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth!” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13).
Even the enemies of Our Lord―the Scribes and the Pharisees―addressed Him as being truthful: “Master, we know that Thou speakest and teachest rightly, and teachest the way of God in truth!” (Luke 20:21).
“Pilate saith to Jesus: ‘What is truth?’” (John 18:37-38). Our Lord said of Himself: “I am the Truth! … For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, hears My voice! … He that sent Me is true, and the things I have heard from Him, these same things I speak in the world … If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him! When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” (John 14:6; 18:37; 8:26; 8:42-47).
Who Are You Going to Listen to?
When we are in need of advice, we usually seek out the best adviser we know. When we want to find out the truth, we usually consult a truthful person and not a habitual liar. When we seek to restore our health or save our life, we usually go to the best affordable doctor that we know. When you want to solve a spiritual problem, you seek out the priest and not the local electrician. If you have an electrical problem, you consult the electrician and not the priest. There are billions of people in this world who all have millions of problems. Nobody has the answer to all those problems―except God!
Right now we are living in a very miserable world! Why is that? Whose advice are we following to have got into the mess that we are in? Who the heck has been giving the advice? That’s not the only point! The other point is this: How can we be so dumb to follow advice that continually gets us deeper and deeper into the hole―or hell-hole? How can we be so dumb to believe some of the statements being made by some of the most important, or most influential or richest people in the world―when what they say defies logic and common sense? One has to think of the words of Holy Scripture in this instance:
“The world, by wisdom, knew not God! … The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God! For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 1:21; 3:19). “This is not wisdom, descending from above―but earthly, sensual, devilish!” (James 3:15). “Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ!” (Colossians 2:8). “The word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject!’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:18-20). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches―but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, for I am the Lord that exercises mercy, and judgment, and justice on Earth!’” (Jeremias 9:23-24). “Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may discover what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God!” (Romans 12:2).
What is the Gift of Counsel?
There is a natural virtue of counsel and a supernatural virtue of counsel―yet they have much in common. Counsel, in general, is a piece of advice, which is the result of our own, or of another person’s, reflection and which influences the determination of some event, or issue of our lives, or of some special undertaking. We may even say that counsel is advice given by somebody. It could even be said to be an “intellectual almsgiving”. This is truly a noble and a useful acquisition. How often in our lives are we not in serious doubt! Our minds are harassed and propagandized from every side―and no matter where we turn we are greeted by indecision and uncertainty. We long for some ray of light to guide us in a serious undertaking, but it is not forthcoming.
That dark cloud and thick shadow of doubt must be laid aside! Especially today, at this very hour―and how can we do so? How can enter into the sunlight of certitude and leave behind the darkness of doubt? What is our usual everyday solution? We ask advice, we seek counsel. If we are young, we consult those placed over us, our parents or our guides, and we cast away all anxious doubt by relying on their decision; in religion we seek the advice of our superiors, and in the world we ask counsel from our dearest friend, or some expert whose advice has always proven trustworthy.
At all events, whenever we are in doubt as to the course to follow, we seek counsel. Moreover, this is what Holy Scripture tells us to do: “Seek counsel always of a good wise man” (Tobias 4:19). Our fortune, honor or even life may depend upon receiving good counsel! How many a soul has been saved from degradation by some kind and solid advice! And if we had―how happy and contented we should be to seek counsel from others! But sadly, in many cases, our souls are so disposed to pride that we are too proud to ask for counsel! How many useless regrets! How many bitter tears it would spare us!
Counsel and Obedience
Obedience to God is at one and the same time, the greatest of human sacrifices and its most clear-cut perfection. Complete obedience is the work of the Gift of Counsel. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are ultimately there to help us find the correct path to God. God is love ― “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and God expects to be loved ― “Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38) ― and this love of God is proved by the keeping of the Commandments ― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21) ― the keeping of God’s commandments obviously entails obedience, and, as stated above, complete obedience is the work of the Gift of Counsel. “If thou wilt receive My words, and will hide My commandments within thee, so that thy ear may hearken to wisdom, then incline thy heart to know prudence! If thou shalt call for wisdom, incline thy heart to prudence!” (Proverbs 2:2-3).
Counsel and Prudence
Furthermore, the keeping of God’s commandments obviously means thinking, speaking and acting correctly, that is to say, in line with God’s commandments. There is a moral virtue that helps us act correctly―and that is the virtue of Prudence, which is succinctly defined by St. Thomas as “recta ratio agibilium” ― a Latin phrase meaning “right reasoning in acting” ― for our reason (mind/intellect/thoughts) should be in line with God’s Law and, as St. Thomas further states, to act against “right reason” is a sin, whether mortal or venial. The natural virtue of counsel presupposes the existence of natural prudence. How can you give good counsel if you do not know how to act correctly―which is the purpose of prudence: “right reasoning in acting.”
St. Thomas explains: “Prudence is the knowledge of what to seek and what to avoid … Prudence does not merely consist in thought, but in its application to action … It belongs to prudence to apply right reason to action … Prudence is wisdom about human affairs … A prudent man is one who sees, as it were, from afar―for his sight is keen, and he foresees the event of uncertainties … Prudence seeks to obtain knowledge of the future from knowledge of the present or past … Prudence correctly discerns that which helps from that which hinders us in tending to God … It belongs to prudence to counsel, judge, and command rightly concerning the means of obtaining a due end … Prudence helps all the virtues, and works in all of them … It does not mean that prudence itself should be moderate, but that moderation must be imposed on other things according to prudence … A prudent man is one who is capable of taking good counsel … A prudent man takes [learns from] good counsel [and then is able to give good counsel] ... One should be quick in carrying out the counsel taken, but slow in taking counsel … Prudence keeps most careful watch and guard, in case, by degrees, we be deceived unawares by evil counsel … To prudence belongs only the application of right reason in matters of counsel, which are those wherein there is no fixed way of obtaining the end or goal … It belongs to prudence to command about what has been already counseled and judged in matters of action. Choice presupposes counsel [to have been given beforehand], since choice is the desire for what has been already counseled, it follows that choice can also be ascribed to prudence indirectly, in so far as prudence directs the choice by means of counsel.” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 47).
If that sounds a bit heavy and hard to digest, then let us try simplify it a little (though some things are often weakened in simplification). Every person must LEARN how to act correctly―it is not talent that we are born with. The process of natural learning involves “taking counsel” or taking advice from others who should be PRUDENT―that is to say, those who know what should and what should not be done, those who possess the skill of “right reasoning in acting.” Those persons also had to learn that skill from others. Once we have acquired the skill of knowing what we should and what we should not do, we are then capable of manifesting “right reasoning in acting” ― meaning our actions are in agreement with right reasoning, with logical thought, in agreement with truth. It is then that we are able to give GOOD counsel to others, passing on the way of acting correctly that we ourselves have learnt from others.
The same process can also be seen to work in the giving of BAD counsel. Bad counsel is acting in opposition to what is true and morally correct. Bad counsel comes from IMPRUDENCE, which could be defined as “wrong reasoning in acting”, meaning that our actions are no longer in line with true reasoning, or moral reasoning, or good reasoning, and that we have chosen a path that leads away from truth, goodness and morality. Today, the world is vastly imprudent―while pretending to be prudent. “A fool receiveth not the words of prudence!” (Proverbs 18:2). “A foolish man knoweth not the lips of prudence!” (Proverbs 14:7). “Forsake childishness, and live and walk by the ways of prudence!” (Proverbs 9:6). “Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee” (Proverbs 2:11). “Incline thy heart to know prudence” (Proverbs 2:2). The worldly prudence is not a godly prudence―it is a way of acting in line with worldly opinions and fashions, but not in line with God’s opinions and commandments. “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own [natural] prudence” (Proverbs 3:5).
Prudence and Prudence
To help us determine what should be done in a particular case, we have the virtue of prudence in the natural order, and also the infused virtue of Prudence, which bears the same name in the supernatural order. This supernatural virtue of Prudence paves the way the for Holy Ghost's Gift of Counsel.
Prudence is not the theoretical or speculative knowledge of ordinary spiritual things; it is the application of this knowledge and these general principles to concrete cases with their special circumstances of time, place, manner, etc. Prudence is a difficult virtue to practice — not only the prudence needed to direct others, but even that prudence which is absolutely necessary in guiding and governing ourselves. It is difficult because, while we must look upward in order to work according to higher principles and rules, we must look downward and remain in touch with this Earth in order to be aware of each one of the circumstances that surround the act we are thinking of doing.
Choir Director Prudence
It can be helpful to think of prudence as the director of a great chorus of many voices, each carrying its own melody. The director must mark, with his baton, precisely the moment when every voice must enter, and the tones for every melody. In a word, he must harmonize all those voices to produce a unified whole. This is the work of prudence. Prudence directs, in a certain manner, the other virtues; it marks for each one of them its opportunity, its degree, and tells how and when it should be exercised. Prudence gives wonderful harmony to our life.
But in this matter, as in all others in the spiritual life, the virtue is not enough. Timidity and uncertainty are the usual characteristics of the natural or human virtue of prudence. How difficult it is to unite prudence and boldness! There are bold men who ignore prudence (they are uncautious fools), and there are men who seem prudent, yet who do not dare to do the bold things they should (they are overcautious fools). This is typical of human work. Our decisions are uncertain; and in many matters, especially spiritual matters, we find it difficult to arrive at stability and security! We plan and arrange things without having the assurance that they will attain the desired result; our procedures are unsure and do not always bring about what we have intended. Human life is so complicated, so difficult, the ways by which we reach perfection are so painful, we find so many troubles, so many contradictions in our life, that if we had no other direction, we would never attain our end.
It is no easy thing to determine what should be done in difficult matters, and to know what should be known about the lawfulness, the appropriateness, and the opportuneness of an act. We analyze, reflect, and recall the past to guide us in the present and to foresee the future — and how many times, after we have reflected and analyzed at great length, we still do not know what to do in a given circumstance, but have to go to a wiser, more experienced person for advice.
The Counsels of God
But God, who never fails us in our needs, has given us a Gift by which the Holy Spirit becomes our guide. As the Archangel Raphael led Tobias on his journey, so the Spirit who lives in our souls guides us along the winding and troublesome paths of this life, until we reach our perfection in the inexpressibly loving embrace of God.
The Gift of Counsel is a Gift of the Holy Ghost that directs the Gifts of Fear, Fortitude, and Piety—like a captain directs his company. Before performing any deliberate action, we go through a mental process with the purpose of examining carefully, not only the lawfulness of what we intend to do, but also its convenience, its timeliness. Ordinarily we are not aware of this process, just as we are not aware of what happens when our food goes through the digestive tract to be assimilated by the entire organism. Because we are accustomed to use our intelligence to regulate our actions, the procedure goes by unnoticed. But on certain occasions, in more difficult and complicated activities, when we do not see our way clearly and immediately, then, because of our greater concentration on the matter, we are aware of the process of our deliberation.
Furthermore, we sometimes find that the Gift of Counsel pushes us in a direction that we think is “imprudent” or “reckless” or downright “impossible” ― yet we forget that it is not “WE” that have come up with the plan, but God! Our puny mind, our flimsy knowledge, our inexperience and impotence are no match for the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God of whom we have been told: “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27) and “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). God, through the Gift of Counsel, tries to raise us up to His way of seeing things and His way of thinking and acting―whereas we, with our puny natural prudence and counsel, try to lower God to our way of seeing things, and our way of thinking and acting. God’s reply is: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Thus it is that God sometimes calls us to a heroic courage that we feel is impossible to us―and at other times we feel that we can and should do more than what God is commanding, imagining that God is making “cowards” out of us! In this vein, we see in the situation where, when King Herod wanted to kill Jesus, the result was an apparent cowardice, with Joseph being told by the angel to “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt” (Matthew 2:15). Think about it for a moment―Christ was the almighty God, even as a baby! He could have thwarted Herod in a million different ways―yet He chooses to turn His back on Herod and FLEE!???! Is that not cowardice?
Then there was the time when Our Lord was afraid to go to Jerusalem for fear of the plotting Scribes and Pharisees: “After these things Jesus walked [only] in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him!” (John 7:1). Our Lord would later give similar advice: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another! Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man come!” (Matthew 10:23). Huh? Eh? Flee?
What about those other “fighting” words: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)? And again, “Fight the good fight of faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1). Our Lord’s reply would be: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
We also see the opposite, where God’s Counsel calls for unimaginable courage. In the spirit of the Scripture verse: “I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me!” (Psalm 3:7), God chose only 300 men out of 32,000 men, for Gedeon to use in the defeat of the 120,000 Madianites (Judges, chapter 7). Jesus chose 12 Apostles, not 12,000 Apostles to conquer the world. Gedeon, the fifth of the Judges (the leaders of Israel at the time), found the Israelite army greatly outnumbered by the Madianites―120,000 Madianites against Gedeon’s army of 32,000—outnumbered by almost 4 to 1. Human wisdom and prudence, seeing oneself so sorely outnumbered, would see this as a time to go out and recruit more warriors if possible. God counseled the Israelites to go into battle heavily outnumbered, so that God could rightfully claim the eventual victory against impossible odds:
“The Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all—“Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return!”‘ So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.
“And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, “This shall go with thee!” Let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return.’
And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs like to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place’” (Judges 7:2-7).
Gedeon’s army of 32,000—outnumbered by almost 4 to 1, by the 120,000 Madianites―was now reduced to a mere 300 men! His army had been reduced to being over 100 times less. Gedeon went from being outnumbered by 4 to 1, to now being outnumbered by 400 to 1. There you have a clear example the Counsel of God taking a path that is totally opposed to human prudence and human counsel. Yet God was right―the 300 men totally routed the 120,000. Why? Because God was the planner, God was the fighter, God was the victor!
Counsel, the Prudence Par Excellence
That superior Prudence, that divine Prudence, which comes from the Holy Spirit, is the Gift of Counsel. It does not have the same name as the virtue, because the prudence we receive, from the Gift of Counsel, does not spring from the depths of our intelligence; it comes to us from above, from a superior Being: it is communicated to us by the Spirit. Just as, in a particular case of doubt, we seek someone more informed than ourselves to advise us, so does the Spirit counsel us by means of this Gift. But His counsel is not a passing thing, like the advice of human beings; no, it is a light that we receive, it is a Gift. Through it, the Spirit moves and guides us in a definite way along the difficult paths that lead to God.
Prudence, ruled by reason, gives a human mode to our actions: which result in uncertainty and timidity; whereas the Holy Spirit puts a divine character on the acts that proceed from the Gift of Counsel. The virtue of prudence and the Gift of Counsel have different norms. The virtue of prudence acts according to right reason, enlightened by Faith, which helps us to judge whether we should perform such and such an action at a certain time. The Gift of Counsel is higher reason; it is divine, it is eternal reason, the reason of God.
Amazing Saints
At times the saints have been able to do things that fill us with amazement. For example, St. Catherine of Siena spent entire Lenten periods without any other food than Holy Communion. In the light of human prudence, there is no justification for doing this. Right reason demands that we give our bodies the necessary food; it prohibits such excesses, though, at the same time, it does not tolerate neglect of mortification, for the middle way must always prevail in the practice of virtue. But St. Catherine accomplished this amazing thing because of a superior instinct, a divine instinct, acting according to divine reasoning, not human reasoning. She did not see the usual rule of reason; she saw the exalted rule of the will of God.
Looking into God’s Mind
Let us imagine that we could look into God’s mind, in order to discover the proper thing to do in every circumstance; as we might look, here on Earth, into the brilliant mind of a learned man to find the correct answer to a problem. This is the way of the Gift of Counsel. When we work under its direction our decisions will be quick, sure and audacious. With what boldness do the saints proceed, with what security, and with what rapidity! They do not follow the counsels of men, nor the dictates of their own reason. They have a higher norm: eternal reason, the mind of God, that illuminates their spirit and lays before them the road they should follow.
The Gift of Counsel does not act according to human prudence. What it suggests is not usually a well thought-out plan of action. It might suggest a course that contradicts what has been a great source of support or success in one’s own spiritual journey. The Gift of Counsel is flexible and free of preconceived ideas. That is perhaps what characterizes it as a Gift. Practices that we think are essential for our carefully laid plans for holiness tend to get shot through with holes by divine providence. We need to be sensitive to the divine impulse. The “counseling” is not normally a direct message. It is not a “word of wisdom,” which is a charismatic gift in which we are convinced that God is talking to us. The Gift of Counsel is normally a delicate attraction that is peaceful even when it is quite surprising. Everyone who is on the spiritual journey has this Gift. Its activity is not the result of our planning or reasoning. In particular incidents, the fact that it was the right thing to do is only revealed somewhere down the road.
A classical example is Our Lord’s sending of the seventy-two disciples to heal the sick and to prepare the way for Him to come to various towns. The mission was obviously intended to make an impression, so that when Jesus came, He would be well received. The disciples were not prepared for this mission by any standard. They had not been to a seminary. They did not know much Scripture. Their nets were scarcely dry on the banks of the lake when Jesus gathered most of them together. These were not the fully matured Apostles. They did not have a long experience with Him. They were merely a group of men who had been following Jesus for a short time. Jesus said in effect: “Go out now and heal the sick, cast out demons.”
How would you respond if such a course of action were suggested to you? Jesus sent them out two by two to give them a little mutual support. But He Himself did not go; He sent them off on their own. When they came back, they were full of enthusiasm. The mission was a smashing success. They were excited and thrilled. When the disciples reported their success to Jesus, He told them not to be so excited about their power to work miracles. He put the lid on their enthusiasm, pointing out that they should be more excited about having their names written in Heaven—meaning, that they were part of the divine plan. These are words that might be addressed to us. We are part of a plan that we do not know much about. We are trying to follow it and need the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Gift of Counsel.
Actually, nothing fails more than success, especially for beginners. Jesus sent the disciples out without preparation, knowing that they would enjoy stunning success and come back with feelings of vanity and pride. That was their failure. He would have to instruct them that their idea of success was not what He meant by success. Apparent success, whether it be in ministry or in a vocation suggested by the Holy Spirit, is not what success is. Rather, the humiliation of seeming failure makes certain the triumph of grace. It may not be what you hoped for, but it will be much more successful in the long run than anything you could have imagined.
In numerous instances we can discover the influence, the effect, of this Gift upon the saints. For example, how could St. Vincent Ferrer have performed miracles with such naturalness if he had not been guided by the Gift of Counsel? The saint would speak a few words from the Gospel, then add: “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are now healed”; and he worked these miracles just in passing, as any ordinary act of his life. Now, if one of us should try to imitate St. Vincent and perform miracles, he would commit a gravely imprudent act. St. Vincent could perform them because the Holy Spirit moved him; because he was, in a special manner, under the direction of the Spirit.
First Degree of Counsel
In this Gift, as in all the others, there are degrees. In the first, the soul succeeds rapidly in doing the will of God in things that are immediately necessary to the spiritual life. While the known will of God is by no means always easy to fulfill, yet it is often more difficult to know what God’s will is, than to fulfill that will. The doing of something might be easy, but we might have no idea what we are meant to do! Have we not all found ourselves in situations in which we could not exactly say what our obligation was? What did God want us to do in such cases? The Gift of Counsel helps us to answer that question in a quick and certain manner.
The Gifts work in us simultaneously, or rather, the Holy Spirit makes us work and advance under the influence of His Gifts, and on some occasions several of them cooperate in the work of our spiritual life, just as many organs cooperate in our body, and many faculties in our soul. But in this world of the Gifts, the actions that proceed from them have to be ruled by the Gift of Counsel.
Now this Gift also influences the actions of our everyday life, those actions that are ruled by the ordinary virtue of prudence. As in a battle the general who has the responsibility of a special division works with freedom in it, but receives orders from a higher chief, so the virtue of prudence rules our actions, but receives directives from another, more excellent supernatural arbiter, the Gift of Counsel.
Second Degree of Counsel
In the second degree, the Gift of Counsel shows us the will of God, our designated way, not only in the necessary things of our spiritual life, but also in the things of counsel; in the things that, while not absolutely obligatory, are very beneficial and useful for helping us to reach God.
Third Degree of Counsel
In the third degree, the soul seems to rise from the Earth and to live in another, higher world. The hand of God guides it with security, without mishap, and without timidity. The soul goes along the path that our Lord indicates, until it arrives at that height of perfection to which it has been called by God.
Listen, Follow, Be Happy!
Happy the souls that yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance! What peace, what security, and what tranquility are theirs! They do not experience the uncertainties of human life those uncertainties which are among our greatest miseries. At each step we find a difficulty. As the Wise Man has said: “All things are hard.” And they are especially so in the spiritual order. How are we to get out of these troubles that we find everywhere we turn? What ought we to do about them?
The Holy Scriptures tell us that there is a time for speaking and a time for keeping still — are we to speak or remain quiet in this moment of vexation? There is a time for rejoicing and a time for suffering — how can we know exactly what to do at some precise juncture? How many uncertainties in this life, how many hesitations, especially when our spirit and intention are right and we do not wish to stray from the paths marked out for us by God! Happy the souls that are led by the Holy Spirit in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, among the winding pathways of Earth! The hand of God guides them in a sure manner, they have tranquility and peace because they have light; because the Holy Spirit moves them; because they go under the shadow of His wings, traveling triumphantly along the paths of life that are to take them to eternal joy.
Wednesday May 26th
Article 26
Fortitude Falling? Fortitude Failing?
Article 26
Fortitude Falling? Fortitude Failing?
Will the Real Fortitude Please Step Forward!
A “trinity” of fortitudes? Huh? Isn’t there just one kind of fortitude? To complicate matters, there are three fortitudes that look alike at first glance―there is the natural virtue of fortitude that any person can possess, whether baptized or not, Christian or not. Then there is the supernatural, grace assisted, Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude―which is one the Cardinal Virtue Quadruplets (the others being Prudence, Justice and Temperance)―that we receive at our Baptism. Finally, there is the Holy Ghost’s Gift of the Fortitude that we also receive at Baptism, but which is usually activated in a much more pronounced manner when we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation (but which can also come into play before our Confirmation).
We will not say much about the natural virtue of fortitude―since that is pretty obvious in itself―for it is a natural human power that helps us overcome our natural fears. But of the “three fortitudes”, it is obviously the weakest―since it is only natural and something supernatural is above the level of the natural.
The second of the “three fortitudes”―the supernatural, grace assisted, Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, received at Baptism―is a step above the natural virtue of fortitude. The sanctifying grace that we receive at Baptism perfects and elevates the natural virtue of fortitude―for, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells, grace perfects nature. With this grace assisted Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, man perseveres in doing good, advances along the steep and slippery path to Heaven, guarded against the illicit pleasures of life on the one hand, and undaunted by its difficulties on the other. But even here, man has a certain limit beyond which he cannot go. There are times when things will seem to be impossible, even for his grace assisted Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude.
The third of the “three fortitudes”―which is one of the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Gift of Fortitude―is even more powerful than the grace assisted and grace perfected Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, for, in essence, it is the Holy Ghost, God Himself, that works in our soul, taking it over, so to speak―and once that happens, then nothing is impossible to God: “Jesus said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27) … “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37).
The Gift of Fortitude
The Gift of Fortitude is a supernatural habit that strengthens the soul for the practice, under the movement of the Holy Ghost, of every type of heroic virtue, with invincible confidence of overcoming any dangers or difficulties that may arise. The operation of this gift, as of the other gifts, is always under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in such way that the soul does not reason or discourse within itself, but the soul acts by a kind of instinctive interior impulse that proceeds directly from the Holy Ghost. The Gift of Fortitude is far superior to the natural virtue of fortitude or the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude.
Father Louis Lallemant (1578–1635) writes of this Gift of Fortitude that it is: “An habitual disposition which the Holy Spirit communicates to the soul and to the body both to do and to suffer extraordinary things; to undertake the most arduous actions; to expose ourselves to the most formidable dangers; to undergo the most toilsome labors; to endure the most grievous pains, and that with constancy and heroism.”
Father Arrighini writes: “Despite the similarity of the definition, the Gift of Fortitude should not be confused with the Cardinal Virtue of the same name. Although both suppose a certain firmness and energy of spirit, the virtue of Fortitude has its limits in human power, which it cannot surpass; the Gift of Fortitude, on the contrary, relies on the Divine power, according to the words of the Prophet: ‘Through my God I shall go over a wall’ (Psalm 17:30), that is, I will overcome all obstacles in order to reach the final end.
“Secondly, if the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude gives enough courage to face such obstacles in general, it does not infuse the confidence to face and overcome all of them, as the analogous Gift of the Holy Ghost does.
“Moreover, the virtue of Fortitude, precisely because it is limited by human power, does not extend equally to all kinds of difficulties. For this reason, there are people who easily overcome the temptations of pride, but not those of the flesh; or who avoid a certain kind of danger, but not another, and so on. The Gift of Fortitude, on the other hand, relying completely on the Divine omnipotence, extends to everything, suffices for everything, and makes one exclaim with Job: ‘Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside Thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me’ (Job 17:3).
Finally, the virtue of Fortitude does not always attain its object, as it is not proper to man to overcome all dangers and win all battles. But God can easily do this, and since the Gift of Fortitude infuses in us the Divine power, with it man can readily overcome all dangers and enemies, fight and win every battle, and repeat with the Apostle: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Easier Said Than Done!
What a difference between theory and practice! What a Chasm between our inner thoughts and our outward actions! How easy it is to know, but how difficult it is to do! How shining clear is our knowledge of our duty, how difficult, often almost impossible, is its accomplishment! It is easy to know the right path, but always difficult is the following of that right path.
St. Paul describes the above dilemma perfectly: “I know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal―sold under sin! For that which I do, I do not understand! For I do not that good which I want to do―but the evil which I hate, that I do! There is within me the desire to do good; but the things to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not do―but the evil which I do not want to do, that I do! I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:14-24).
The Gift of Knowledge is necessary to know the truths of salvation, God’s law, and counsels, but where do we get the power to observe them? We need courage for that! We need strength to live in conformity with our convictions! Virtue requires brutal combat, it demands difficult sacrifices, it calls for courage and fortitude!
There is a virtue called Fortitude―a grace assisted Cardinal Virtue―by which man perseveres in doing good, advances along the steep and slippery path to Heaven, guarded against the illicit pleasures of life on the one hand, and undaunted by its difficulties on the other. But even here, man has a certain limit beyond which he cannot go.
How well St. Paul knew it, when he cried for help to our Lord against the attacks of Satan! “There was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me!” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Yes, God alone is all-powerful―but man, even at his best, has a limited sphere of action. A strong man may lift a weight of five hundred pounds, but he will not raise a ton. If this be true in everyday life, in the natural order of things, how much more so where there is question of things and deeds beyond all created power, how much more so where there is question of reaching Heaven by the steep and thorny paths of life, of seeing God “face to face,” Whom “no one ever saw,” of contemplating Him Whom “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to know”?
In this strife, which, unlike earthly warfare, is not measured by hours and days, in this battle where each day dawns only to bring to light new and more terrible temptations―“The [whole] life of man upon earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―in this contest where at every move we are hindered by the flesh, the world and the devil―human strength is like weakness; human daring is like fear; human valor is like cowardice; human endeavor is like impotence.
Help! Help!
Man needs special assistance from on high. He needs more than a grace assisted natural fortitude or Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude. He needs the Gift of Fortitude. By means of this Gift the soul overcomes all the obstacles in the pathway of salvation, it avoids all the allurements of the world to evil, it overcomes the almost invincible passions that threaten its eternal happiness even at the very latest breath. It is a Gift beyond human strength, often even it would seem to perform actions contrary to those which human nature tends to perform, such, for instance, as martyrdom. It is not content with doing what is easy, it seeks what is more difficult. Action and suffering are the effects of this Gift; action and suffering in the cause of extraordinary undertakings are its characteristic notes.
Since the Gift of Fortitude primarily deals with threats, dangers and fears, then it will have to face the heights and depths of hope and despair, the recklessness of daring, the terrors of fear, and the battering violence of anger. By the Gift of Fortitude, something divine appears in the midst of the trouble and turbulence of man’s dealing with hard, threatening and dangerous things―this “something divine” is much deeper than mere calmness, stronger than tranquility; something, indeed, of the assured confidence of the Omnipotent God Himself. By the help of this Gift of Fortitude, we see man transformed into something of a divine soldier, much like the divine Governor, God Himself, looking out over the world’s turbulence, turmoil and wars that are wrought by the rebellious will of men attempting to overthrow His divine government. Man’s natural virtue of fortitude is thereby perfected by the divine Gift of Fortitude―which will even cause a fearful man to willingly and readily accept martyrdom.
The Gift of Fortitude is not a selective or specialized or limited Gift―its field of operation is almost as wide as the life of a man―for it reaches out to conquer all that is hard. In that whole field, the Gift of Fortitude steadily and divinely conquers fear and nourishes confidence. As a result a man’s soul, under the influence of this Gift, enjoys complete tranquility in regard to all fear and agitation, a serene confidence of completing all good works and avoiding all dangers, and in dealing with those dangers it cannot avoid.
Fortitude Against the World
Next to the flesh come the false pretenses and glaring fascinations of the world constitute another enemy that we have to battle courageously. The world coaxes us to incline to its follies, to cast ourselves into its outstretched arms, to go with it to taste all the many pleasures and treasures it dangles in front of us. We refuse, but the world protests its uprightness and sincerity―again we refuse, and then the world will say that there is something radically wrong with us and that we are unfit for human society. The world of pleasure is ever tantalizing us. We have to live in the midst of a furnace of luxury without being burned, a world of fascinating things without being bewitched; we must conquer these things without even giving the world one inch.
The Gift of Fortitude is also to be seen in the minority that still wish to adhere to truth and morality in face of the tsunami of lies and immorality that overflows the world today―despite the seeming ‘hopelessness’ of fighting against that tsunami. We are living in an age for the Gift of Fortitude, where, as is any age, the world howls again for Barabbas rather than Christ and blasphemously calls down on itself the blood of God.
It is not easy to rise far above the surface chaos of lies, immorality, presumption, ambition, greed, abuses, vanity, and pettiness. It demands great depths of courage to have in our hearts the same visions of godliness that produced the great cathedrals, to use money in a godly way, to refuse to cringe in face of the threat of economic sanctions and monetary penalties because we want to follow God and do what is godly. In face of all this we must work patiently, perseveringly and full of hope―all of which rely upon, not only the natural virtue of fortitude, but even more so on the Gift of Fortitude, where patience is much more than the dogged refusal to surrender to an enemy against whom we are helpless to strike a blow in retaliation for the battering we have received because our natural fortitude now flows from a superb divine confidence; where perseverance is raised to heights where blow after blow can be endured without losing hope of ultimate victory over the evil we face.
Fortitude to Martrydom
In view of this, the necessity of the Gift of Fortitude for every person has to be obvious. Since every person must practice virtue, every person has their own particularly difficult virtues, every person must, each day of their life, act decisively and courageously, or flee from the battle in doing what is right or good. The necessity of the Gift of Fortitude equips a man to endure the extreme of danger and difficulty, even the danger of death. We have no record of the early Christian martyrs running in terror from the lions; yet it was not uncommon for the lions to retreat from so tough a specimen as an early Christian―to whom death was no longer a danger, but an invitation to eternal life. Likewise in the modern day “arena of martyrdom” under Communist regimes―which Our Lady of Fatima said would take over the whole world (as we are seeing happen before own eyes today)―the Gift of Fortitude led many fearlessly into death despite the threats, tortures, repression and persecution of the Communists.
Fortitude in Personal Spiritual Growth
The Gift of Fortitude also helps us in the growth and strengthening of virtue. The saints tell us that virtue is hard. Thus St. Augustine insists: “Those who desire to enjoy true goods, and wish to avoid loving earthly and material things, must toil!” St. Thomas Aquinas is more explicit when he says that virtue is hard, and that it is very hard to do virtuous deeds with an insatiable desire, without being distracted and lured into the bypaths that take us away from the ultimate goal of virtue, which is God. Each of our acts has its own difficulties of uneasiness, uncertainty, and timidity. We indeed need something of the courage of God. Without this divine help of the Gift of Fortitude, everyone has to admit that it is not easy to keep the Ten Commandments. We all know, from long experience, that some virtues are easier to acquire than others―and this fact is largely dictated by our individual temperament, with each temperament differing in what virtues it finds easy and which virtues it finds hard.
It is truly an extraordinary undertaking and a difficult one, that of bringing man back through the highways of sin to his original state of friendship with God, thereby freeing him from the chains of Satan. Man, once a king crowned with grace, has fallen through sin and has thrown himself into the mire. It is not an easy task to cleans and reinstate him on his throne of grace.
Yet, it is a task that must needs be accomplished before the great day of reckoning. He has to act, and vigorously, against his own flesh—that part of his being which is always hankering after pleasure, always courting its ease, always hungry, always thirsty, always craving to be pampered. Each and every one of these is a serious disorder; each draws man away from the path to Heaven.
If there is one thing more than another, that the saints themselves found nearest to the realms of impossibility, it was that of keeping the body in subjection―not by stifling its natural wants, but by curbing its unruly unnatural whims. It cost the saints years of labor, many a sacrifice and many a drop of blood. And they were saints! What, then, might not be said of the difficulty of the work for ordinary Catholics who are called upon to do the same in virtue of their religion? What of inordinate love, lust, greed, gluttony, vanity, anger, insubordination, rebelliousness?
Even sorrows that patience meets, by the mysterious touch of the divine Gift of Fortitude, become much more opportunities for the proof and expression of love, instead of being weights tied to a drowning sorrowful heart. Those sorrows become occasions for filling up the sufferings of Christ: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24); those sorrows become apostolic weapons against the woes of the world; invitations to return the divine caress of God which those sorrows undoubtedly are.
Here the suffering Catholic heart could enlighten us. Look around you and see. It is not necessary to turn to the pages of the Acts of the Martyrs. Thousands there are who are bent down with suffering; they fill the wards of our hospitals, they hide in the recesses of wealthy homes; speak with them, or be so imprudent as to offer your sympathy, a fountain of sweet and sublime Faith gushes up in the reply. “I suffer nothing in comparison with what Jesus suffered for me. I rejoice in my suffering now, for God chastises whom He loves, and as long as I suffer I am sure of my salvation.”
There surely is a strength beyond human strength. Without this superior strength, suffering is unbearable, but with it life is sweet. “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me,” says St. Paul; it was that Gift which enabled him to fight the good fight of his apostolate and to win the glorious crown of justice. The Apostle’s words are, moreover, a true expression of the nature of Fortitude; overcome all obstacles and that with a positive assurance of final success.
The Gift of Fortitude, then, is a divine power, a perfection of the will, enabling the faithful soul to follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, with full confidence in Him in the hour of temptation, with magnanimous steadfastness in difficulties and with patient endurance of sufferings, and all this to the term of life’s journey, to the end of the road which leads to Heaven.
God Will Not Coddle Us!
We have to remember that God will not coddle our weaknesses and fears―a basic courage within a man’s own soul is essential, a courage that is prepared to take the first step, despite the presence of obstacles and fears. Our Lord’s words―“Fear not!”―was not at a divine coddling of the weakness of men. Those words―“Fear not!”― are inescapably linked to His words that promised that His followers would have to face terrifying violence, persecution, exile, suffering, and death. They would meet violence as inevitably and as consistently as a man faces bad weather each year. His followers would have to travel with violence as a close companion, they would not only meet violence, but bring it to bear on the world. His followers have to stand up under suffering, they were to be the violent ones before whom the powers of evil would flinch and flee. For it was His own clear statement that told them He had come to bring the sword into play, that the kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, that it would be the violent who would bear it away:
“Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword” (Apocalypse 19:11-6). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword!” (Matthew 10:34). “The sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:17). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no! I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49-51). “They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
His followers in every age would have to be ‘violent’ men whose suffering would come, not only from the violence that enemies would inflict upon them, but they would also have to suffer the ‘violence’ of a divine fire raging within them purifying them from their sins, and the ‘violence’ that has to be suffered from them spreading the Faith to set the world afire. To have the fortitude or courage to endure and overcome those sufferings, a courage that is greater than man’s courage would have to come within his soul, to be able to live-up-to or measure-up-to what Christ demanded from His followers.
Fortitude and Cowardice
The Gift of Fortitude is most obviously thwarted when cowardice takes over and surrenders the fortress of our soul to the challenge of fear. How do we do this? By seeing the negative side first and refusing to look at the positive side of what faces us―we see and judge the glass to be half-empty instead of half-full. Since we are negligent in exercising and thereby strengthening our virtues, and thanks to long and relentless propaganda by the world, our minds readily surrenders to cowardice. We attempt to hide―instead of striding confidently against the threatened evil―by such pitiful stratagems as over-exaggerating the danger or difficulty, whining, deceit, slyness, or evasion. This sort of cowardice becomes worse when we deliberately deny or try to hide the truth of things from our own mind―in other words, we know the truth of things, but we deny the truth. We create a lie and prefer our lie to the truth. For example, we give murder or abortion a longer, more melodious name (a euphemism), so as to disguise it and accept it―so we have “euthanasia” or “pro-choice”, etc. By the same trick, we create approval for having multiple spouses by creating “divorce” for ever increasingly trivial reasons. We let selfish lust, fornication and adultery parade under the pretentious trappings of ‘love’, cohabitation, and love-affairs. Cheating is called “good business”, lying becomes “diplomacy”, and compromise of principles is called “the triumph of statesmanship”. All of which shows a lack of fortitude in facing and accepting reality with all its difficulties.
Courage also collapsed when our answer to the challenge of danger, difficulty or truth is a mindless brutal blow of anger, or revengeful thoughts, or unkind speech, or the rasping impatience. We stand paralyzed through lack of courage in all the manifestations of our wavering indecisions and procrastinations, or our hand-wringing and whining helplessness of pettiness of soul. Habitual vices are obviously a complete surrender to the enemy, as is collapse and despair in the face of sorrow. Among other more obvious evidences of the triumph, at least to some degree, of cowardice are the flight from the labors required by virtue―which is seen by our instability in doing good, our ever smoldering bitterness, our plain laziness, our deliberate neglect.
The triumphs of cowardice make a sorry picture, especially in this modern-age which demands a courage worthy of martyrs, or even a courage beyond that of martyrs; a courage that will not only face death confidently, but will dare to walk confidently through the days, months, and years of a life submerged in difficulty, sorrow and persecution―which is like a slow martyrdom.
The peculiar danger of this surrender to cowardice lies in the fact that we drift slowly, almost imperceptibly, into it. We are not so perverse as to plunge deliberately into its most degrading depths―but we don’t mind descending into those degrading depths an inch at a time. The worrisome, sad or even shocking this is that we know what should be our supernatural motives for confidence. We know of the omnipotence of God, His infinite love, the living Christ among us, the unwavering loyalty of Mary, and the almost incredible help of the huge family of the saints. We know, too, the virtues and gifts that God has poured into our souls, the courage He has given us as our very own, over and above the extrinsic helps that are so ready to our hands. Yet we still slowly and steadily slip into cowardice.
Fortitude and Meekness? Is Not Meekness Weakness?
The Gift of Fortitude Gift of Fortitude is stupendously strong in holding in check the most violent and rebellious of all the passions―which is the passion of anger. The Gift of Fortitude helps the virtue of meekness in the face of provocation and persecution―as seen in Our Lord during His Passion. Unfortunately, meekness has degenerated into weakness for most people―as their timidity leads them into cowardice and not fortitude. Our Lord did not flee when His enemies care to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, nor did He show anger against those enemies―He remained resolute, strong, and meek. It was meekness, not weakness, in Christ that held back the twelve legions of angels who could so easily have rescued Him and destroyed His murderers; nor is it weakness, but meekness, in almighty God that withholds the divine thunderbolts as the sinner hurls his puny defiance through sin in the face of the Omnipotent. St. Paul was not weak, but meek, even though he bowed his neck to a Roman sword at his martyrdom; nor was St. Dominic weak, but meek, when he struck no blow at the attacking assassins. “Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon Earth” (Numbers 12:3)―and it was meek old Moses that God chose to lead His Chosen People out of the Egypt of the angry mean old Pharao.
Control of this violent passion of anger is a matter of strength and of courage―it is a virtue. This is a hard thing to do. Under the Gift of Fortitude, meekness is not only in control; but the rebellion of anger does not get to the point of staging an uprising and taking over control. Rather, in the face of injury there is a serene tranquility which, for want of a better word, we call sweetness―a quality that wins men’s hearts instead of cracking their skulls, that meets the injurious blow with a divine confidence and looking upon the blow as a welcome caress. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land!” (Matthew 5:4). “Blessed are they who suffer persecution for the sake of justice [meekly], for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:10). St. Thomas says that the chief delight in the Gift of Fortitude is the complete and undisturbed confidence; the security of the possession and enjoyment of the vision of God in Heaven as a reward for practicing the Gift of Fortitude during life.
St. Thomas puts forth many reasons showing how much more strength is required for suffering or endurance than for action. To attack is to throw oneself into peril, but to support the shock is more noble, more difficult, more perfect. It is the strong who attack, the more feeble who endure. Again he who receives the attack, he who suffers, feels the actual danger, whilst he who gives fight sees it only in the future. Hence, it is commonly said, that the best army is not the one most ardent in combat, but the one most enduring in fatigue.
Fortitude for Our Times
Action and suffering are the effects of this Gift of Fortitude―action and suffering in the cause of extraordinary undertakings are its characteristic notes. St. Thomas Aquinas says that the natural virtue of “fortitude implies a certain firmness of mind ... in doing good and in enduring evil, especially concerning goods and evils which are difficult. Fortitude as a virtue perfects the mind in the endurance of all dangers of any kind, but it does not suffice to give confidence of overcoming all dangers which may threaten … This surpasses human nature, because at times it is not in a man’s power to obtain the end of his work or to avoid evils and perils, because these may overwhelm him by death . This belongs to the Fortitude which is a Gift of the Holy Ghost … The mind of a man is moved by the Holy Spirit so that he may attain to the end of each work begun and avoid whatever dangers may threaten. The Holy Spirit, however, accomplishes this in a man by bringing him to everlasting life, which is the end of all good actions, and freedom from all dangers. A kind of confidence is infused into the mind by the Holy Ghost, Who drives out any fear of the contrary.” (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 139).
We are too often blind to the need of this high Christian courage in the ordinary, humdrum days of our life. We are quite sure that were our Faith suddenly challenged by a ruthless persecutor, we would unhesitatingly die for that Faith―perhaps we would―but our slow and steady drift into cowardice by making one concession and compromise after another, gives very little encouragement for being able to face martyrdom.
Ours is an age for courage, it is an age for martyrs, it is an age for splendid Catholic living―but big things usually grow out of little things. If you are afraid to make the Sign of the Cross and say your “Grace Before Meals” and “Thanksgiving After Meals” in a public restaurant―what makes you think you will not be afraid and hide or flee when faced by a real persecution?
Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself!
The biggest thing to fear is unreasonable fear. There are things that we should fear and things that we should not fear. The greatest thing to fear is sin. The next greatest thing that we should fear is a fear of fear! Our Lord was continually telling His followers not to be afraid: “Fear not, only believe” … “Be of good heart, it is I, fear ye not!” … “Fear not, little flock!” … “Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid!” … “Be of good heart.”
Elsewhere Holy Scripture echoes Our Lord’s words: “Fear not, Mary!” says the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady. “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies!” (Isaias 51:7). “Fear not, for I am with thee!” (Isaias 41:10). They would be echoed again and again in the Psalms: “I will not fear thousands” … “For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me” … “The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear, . . . of whom shall I be afraid, . . . my heart shall not fear”; “Therefore we shall not fear when the Earth shall be troubled, . . . the God of Jacob is our protector” … “I will not fear what flesh can do against me.”
A “trinity” of fortitudes? Huh? Isn’t there just one kind of fortitude? To complicate matters, there are three fortitudes that look alike at first glance―there is the natural virtue of fortitude that any person can possess, whether baptized or not, Christian or not. Then there is the supernatural, grace assisted, Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude―which is one the Cardinal Virtue Quadruplets (the others being Prudence, Justice and Temperance)―that we receive at our Baptism. Finally, there is the Holy Ghost’s Gift of the Fortitude that we also receive at Baptism, but which is usually activated in a much more pronounced manner when we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation (but which can also come into play before our Confirmation).
We will not say much about the natural virtue of fortitude―since that is pretty obvious in itself―for it is a natural human power that helps us overcome our natural fears. But of the “three fortitudes”, it is obviously the weakest―since it is only natural and something supernatural is above the level of the natural.
The second of the “three fortitudes”―the supernatural, grace assisted, Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, received at Baptism―is a step above the natural virtue of fortitude. The sanctifying grace that we receive at Baptism perfects and elevates the natural virtue of fortitude―for, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells, grace perfects nature. With this grace assisted Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, man perseveres in doing good, advances along the steep and slippery path to Heaven, guarded against the illicit pleasures of life on the one hand, and undaunted by its difficulties on the other. But even here, man has a certain limit beyond which he cannot go. There are times when things will seem to be impossible, even for his grace assisted Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude.
The third of the “three fortitudes”―which is one of the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Gift of Fortitude―is even more powerful than the grace assisted and grace perfected Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, for, in essence, it is the Holy Ghost, God Himself, that works in our soul, taking it over, so to speak―and once that happens, then nothing is impossible to God: “Jesus said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27) … “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37).
The Gift of Fortitude
The Gift of Fortitude is a supernatural habit that strengthens the soul for the practice, under the movement of the Holy Ghost, of every type of heroic virtue, with invincible confidence of overcoming any dangers or difficulties that may arise. The operation of this gift, as of the other gifts, is always under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in such way that the soul does not reason or discourse within itself, but the soul acts by a kind of instinctive interior impulse that proceeds directly from the Holy Ghost. The Gift of Fortitude is far superior to the natural virtue of fortitude or the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude.
Father Louis Lallemant (1578–1635) writes of this Gift of Fortitude that it is: “An habitual disposition which the Holy Spirit communicates to the soul and to the body both to do and to suffer extraordinary things; to undertake the most arduous actions; to expose ourselves to the most formidable dangers; to undergo the most toilsome labors; to endure the most grievous pains, and that with constancy and heroism.”
Father Arrighini writes: “Despite the similarity of the definition, the Gift of Fortitude should not be confused with the Cardinal Virtue of the same name. Although both suppose a certain firmness and energy of spirit, the virtue of Fortitude has its limits in human power, which it cannot surpass; the Gift of Fortitude, on the contrary, relies on the Divine power, according to the words of the Prophet: ‘Through my God I shall go over a wall’ (Psalm 17:30), that is, I will overcome all obstacles in order to reach the final end.
“Secondly, if the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude gives enough courage to face such obstacles in general, it does not infuse the confidence to face and overcome all of them, as the analogous Gift of the Holy Ghost does.
“Moreover, the virtue of Fortitude, precisely because it is limited by human power, does not extend equally to all kinds of difficulties. For this reason, there are people who easily overcome the temptations of pride, but not those of the flesh; or who avoid a certain kind of danger, but not another, and so on. The Gift of Fortitude, on the other hand, relying completely on the Divine omnipotence, extends to everything, suffices for everything, and makes one exclaim with Job: ‘Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside Thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me’ (Job 17:3).
Finally, the virtue of Fortitude does not always attain its object, as it is not proper to man to overcome all dangers and win all battles. But God can easily do this, and since the Gift of Fortitude infuses in us the Divine power, with it man can readily overcome all dangers and enemies, fight and win every battle, and repeat with the Apostle: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Easier Said Than Done!
What a difference between theory and practice! What a Chasm between our inner thoughts and our outward actions! How easy it is to know, but how difficult it is to do! How shining clear is our knowledge of our duty, how difficult, often almost impossible, is its accomplishment! It is easy to know the right path, but always difficult is the following of that right path.
St. Paul describes the above dilemma perfectly: “I know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal―sold under sin! For that which I do, I do not understand! For I do not that good which I want to do―but the evil which I hate, that I do! There is within me the desire to do good; but the things to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not do―but the evil which I do not want to do, that I do! I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:14-24).
The Gift of Knowledge is necessary to know the truths of salvation, God’s law, and counsels, but where do we get the power to observe them? We need courage for that! We need strength to live in conformity with our convictions! Virtue requires brutal combat, it demands difficult sacrifices, it calls for courage and fortitude!
There is a virtue called Fortitude―a grace assisted Cardinal Virtue―by which man perseveres in doing good, advances along the steep and slippery path to Heaven, guarded against the illicit pleasures of life on the one hand, and undaunted by its difficulties on the other. But even here, man has a certain limit beyond which he cannot go.
How well St. Paul knew it, when he cried for help to our Lord against the attacks of Satan! “There was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me!” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Yes, God alone is all-powerful―but man, even at his best, has a limited sphere of action. A strong man may lift a weight of five hundred pounds, but he will not raise a ton. If this be true in everyday life, in the natural order of things, how much more so where there is question of things and deeds beyond all created power, how much more so where there is question of reaching Heaven by the steep and thorny paths of life, of seeing God “face to face,” Whom “no one ever saw,” of contemplating Him Whom “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to know”?
In this strife, which, unlike earthly warfare, is not measured by hours and days, in this battle where each day dawns only to bring to light new and more terrible temptations―“The [whole] life of man upon earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―in this contest where at every move we are hindered by the flesh, the world and the devil―human strength is like weakness; human daring is like fear; human valor is like cowardice; human endeavor is like impotence.
Help! Help!
Man needs special assistance from on high. He needs more than a grace assisted natural fortitude or Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude. He needs the Gift of Fortitude. By means of this Gift the soul overcomes all the obstacles in the pathway of salvation, it avoids all the allurements of the world to evil, it overcomes the almost invincible passions that threaten its eternal happiness even at the very latest breath. It is a Gift beyond human strength, often even it would seem to perform actions contrary to those which human nature tends to perform, such, for instance, as martyrdom. It is not content with doing what is easy, it seeks what is more difficult. Action and suffering are the effects of this Gift; action and suffering in the cause of extraordinary undertakings are its characteristic notes.
Since the Gift of Fortitude primarily deals with threats, dangers and fears, then it will have to face the heights and depths of hope and despair, the recklessness of daring, the terrors of fear, and the battering violence of anger. By the Gift of Fortitude, something divine appears in the midst of the trouble and turbulence of man’s dealing with hard, threatening and dangerous things―this “something divine” is much deeper than mere calmness, stronger than tranquility; something, indeed, of the assured confidence of the Omnipotent God Himself. By the help of this Gift of Fortitude, we see man transformed into something of a divine soldier, much like the divine Governor, God Himself, looking out over the world’s turbulence, turmoil and wars that are wrought by the rebellious will of men attempting to overthrow His divine government. Man’s natural virtue of fortitude is thereby perfected by the divine Gift of Fortitude―which will even cause a fearful man to willingly and readily accept martyrdom.
The Gift of Fortitude is not a selective or specialized or limited Gift―its field of operation is almost as wide as the life of a man―for it reaches out to conquer all that is hard. In that whole field, the Gift of Fortitude steadily and divinely conquers fear and nourishes confidence. As a result a man’s soul, under the influence of this Gift, enjoys complete tranquility in regard to all fear and agitation, a serene confidence of completing all good works and avoiding all dangers, and in dealing with those dangers it cannot avoid.
Fortitude Against the World
Next to the flesh come the false pretenses and glaring fascinations of the world constitute another enemy that we have to battle courageously. The world coaxes us to incline to its follies, to cast ourselves into its outstretched arms, to go with it to taste all the many pleasures and treasures it dangles in front of us. We refuse, but the world protests its uprightness and sincerity―again we refuse, and then the world will say that there is something radically wrong with us and that we are unfit for human society. The world of pleasure is ever tantalizing us. We have to live in the midst of a furnace of luxury without being burned, a world of fascinating things without being bewitched; we must conquer these things without even giving the world one inch.
The Gift of Fortitude is also to be seen in the minority that still wish to adhere to truth and morality in face of the tsunami of lies and immorality that overflows the world today―despite the seeming ‘hopelessness’ of fighting against that tsunami. We are living in an age for the Gift of Fortitude, where, as is any age, the world howls again for Barabbas rather than Christ and blasphemously calls down on itself the blood of God.
It is not easy to rise far above the surface chaos of lies, immorality, presumption, ambition, greed, abuses, vanity, and pettiness. It demands great depths of courage to have in our hearts the same visions of godliness that produced the great cathedrals, to use money in a godly way, to refuse to cringe in face of the threat of economic sanctions and monetary penalties because we want to follow God and do what is godly. In face of all this we must work patiently, perseveringly and full of hope―all of which rely upon, not only the natural virtue of fortitude, but even more so on the Gift of Fortitude, where patience is much more than the dogged refusal to surrender to an enemy against whom we are helpless to strike a blow in retaliation for the battering we have received because our natural fortitude now flows from a superb divine confidence; where perseverance is raised to heights where blow after blow can be endured without losing hope of ultimate victory over the evil we face.
Fortitude to Martrydom
In view of this, the necessity of the Gift of Fortitude for every person has to be obvious. Since every person must practice virtue, every person has their own particularly difficult virtues, every person must, each day of their life, act decisively and courageously, or flee from the battle in doing what is right or good. The necessity of the Gift of Fortitude equips a man to endure the extreme of danger and difficulty, even the danger of death. We have no record of the early Christian martyrs running in terror from the lions; yet it was not uncommon for the lions to retreat from so tough a specimen as an early Christian―to whom death was no longer a danger, but an invitation to eternal life. Likewise in the modern day “arena of martyrdom” under Communist regimes―which Our Lady of Fatima said would take over the whole world (as we are seeing happen before own eyes today)―the Gift of Fortitude led many fearlessly into death despite the threats, tortures, repression and persecution of the Communists.
Fortitude in Personal Spiritual Growth
The Gift of Fortitude also helps us in the growth and strengthening of virtue. The saints tell us that virtue is hard. Thus St. Augustine insists: “Those who desire to enjoy true goods, and wish to avoid loving earthly and material things, must toil!” St. Thomas Aquinas is more explicit when he says that virtue is hard, and that it is very hard to do virtuous deeds with an insatiable desire, without being distracted and lured into the bypaths that take us away from the ultimate goal of virtue, which is God. Each of our acts has its own difficulties of uneasiness, uncertainty, and timidity. We indeed need something of the courage of God. Without this divine help of the Gift of Fortitude, everyone has to admit that it is not easy to keep the Ten Commandments. We all know, from long experience, that some virtues are easier to acquire than others―and this fact is largely dictated by our individual temperament, with each temperament differing in what virtues it finds easy and which virtues it finds hard.
It is truly an extraordinary undertaking and a difficult one, that of bringing man back through the highways of sin to his original state of friendship with God, thereby freeing him from the chains of Satan. Man, once a king crowned with grace, has fallen through sin and has thrown himself into the mire. It is not an easy task to cleans and reinstate him on his throne of grace.
Yet, it is a task that must needs be accomplished before the great day of reckoning. He has to act, and vigorously, against his own flesh—that part of his being which is always hankering after pleasure, always courting its ease, always hungry, always thirsty, always craving to be pampered. Each and every one of these is a serious disorder; each draws man away from the path to Heaven.
If there is one thing more than another, that the saints themselves found nearest to the realms of impossibility, it was that of keeping the body in subjection―not by stifling its natural wants, but by curbing its unruly unnatural whims. It cost the saints years of labor, many a sacrifice and many a drop of blood. And they were saints! What, then, might not be said of the difficulty of the work for ordinary Catholics who are called upon to do the same in virtue of their religion? What of inordinate love, lust, greed, gluttony, vanity, anger, insubordination, rebelliousness?
Even sorrows that patience meets, by the mysterious touch of the divine Gift of Fortitude, become much more opportunities for the proof and expression of love, instead of being weights tied to a drowning sorrowful heart. Those sorrows become occasions for filling up the sufferings of Christ: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24); those sorrows become apostolic weapons against the woes of the world; invitations to return the divine caress of God which those sorrows undoubtedly are.
Here the suffering Catholic heart could enlighten us. Look around you and see. It is not necessary to turn to the pages of the Acts of the Martyrs. Thousands there are who are bent down with suffering; they fill the wards of our hospitals, they hide in the recesses of wealthy homes; speak with them, or be so imprudent as to offer your sympathy, a fountain of sweet and sublime Faith gushes up in the reply. “I suffer nothing in comparison with what Jesus suffered for me. I rejoice in my suffering now, for God chastises whom He loves, and as long as I suffer I am sure of my salvation.”
There surely is a strength beyond human strength. Without this superior strength, suffering is unbearable, but with it life is sweet. “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me,” says St. Paul; it was that Gift which enabled him to fight the good fight of his apostolate and to win the glorious crown of justice. The Apostle’s words are, moreover, a true expression of the nature of Fortitude; overcome all obstacles and that with a positive assurance of final success.
The Gift of Fortitude, then, is a divine power, a perfection of the will, enabling the faithful soul to follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, with full confidence in Him in the hour of temptation, with magnanimous steadfastness in difficulties and with patient endurance of sufferings, and all this to the term of life’s journey, to the end of the road which leads to Heaven.
God Will Not Coddle Us!
We have to remember that God will not coddle our weaknesses and fears―a basic courage within a man’s own soul is essential, a courage that is prepared to take the first step, despite the presence of obstacles and fears. Our Lord’s words―“Fear not!”―was not at a divine coddling of the weakness of men. Those words―“Fear not!”― are inescapably linked to His words that promised that His followers would have to face terrifying violence, persecution, exile, suffering, and death. They would meet violence as inevitably and as consistently as a man faces bad weather each year. His followers would have to travel with violence as a close companion, they would not only meet violence, but bring it to bear on the world. His followers have to stand up under suffering, they were to be the violent ones before whom the powers of evil would flinch and flee. For it was His own clear statement that told them He had come to bring the sword into play, that the kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, that it would be the violent who would bear it away:
“Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword” (Apocalypse 19:11-6). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword!” (Matthew 10:34). “The sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:17). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no! I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49-51). “They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
His followers in every age would have to be ‘violent’ men whose suffering would come, not only from the violence that enemies would inflict upon them, but they would also have to suffer the ‘violence’ of a divine fire raging within them purifying them from their sins, and the ‘violence’ that has to be suffered from them spreading the Faith to set the world afire. To have the fortitude or courage to endure and overcome those sufferings, a courage that is greater than man’s courage would have to come within his soul, to be able to live-up-to or measure-up-to what Christ demanded from His followers.
Fortitude and Cowardice
The Gift of Fortitude is most obviously thwarted when cowardice takes over and surrenders the fortress of our soul to the challenge of fear. How do we do this? By seeing the negative side first and refusing to look at the positive side of what faces us―we see and judge the glass to be half-empty instead of half-full. Since we are negligent in exercising and thereby strengthening our virtues, and thanks to long and relentless propaganda by the world, our minds readily surrenders to cowardice. We attempt to hide―instead of striding confidently against the threatened evil―by such pitiful stratagems as over-exaggerating the danger or difficulty, whining, deceit, slyness, or evasion. This sort of cowardice becomes worse when we deliberately deny or try to hide the truth of things from our own mind―in other words, we know the truth of things, but we deny the truth. We create a lie and prefer our lie to the truth. For example, we give murder or abortion a longer, more melodious name (a euphemism), so as to disguise it and accept it―so we have “euthanasia” or “pro-choice”, etc. By the same trick, we create approval for having multiple spouses by creating “divorce” for ever increasingly trivial reasons. We let selfish lust, fornication and adultery parade under the pretentious trappings of ‘love’, cohabitation, and love-affairs. Cheating is called “good business”, lying becomes “diplomacy”, and compromise of principles is called “the triumph of statesmanship”. All of which shows a lack of fortitude in facing and accepting reality with all its difficulties.
Courage also collapsed when our answer to the challenge of danger, difficulty or truth is a mindless brutal blow of anger, or revengeful thoughts, or unkind speech, or the rasping impatience. We stand paralyzed through lack of courage in all the manifestations of our wavering indecisions and procrastinations, or our hand-wringing and whining helplessness of pettiness of soul. Habitual vices are obviously a complete surrender to the enemy, as is collapse and despair in the face of sorrow. Among other more obvious evidences of the triumph, at least to some degree, of cowardice are the flight from the labors required by virtue―which is seen by our instability in doing good, our ever smoldering bitterness, our plain laziness, our deliberate neglect.
The triumphs of cowardice make a sorry picture, especially in this modern-age which demands a courage worthy of martyrs, or even a courage beyond that of martyrs; a courage that will not only face death confidently, but will dare to walk confidently through the days, months, and years of a life submerged in difficulty, sorrow and persecution―which is like a slow martyrdom.
The peculiar danger of this surrender to cowardice lies in the fact that we drift slowly, almost imperceptibly, into it. We are not so perverse as to plunge deliberately into its most degrading depths―but we don’t mind descending into those degrading depths an inch at a time. The worrisome, sad or even shocking this is that we know what should be our supernatural motives for confidence. We know of the omnipotence of God, His infinite love, the living Christ among us, the unwavering loyalty of Mary, and the almost incredible help of the huge family of the saints. We know, too, the virtues and gifts that God has poured into our souls, the courage He has given us as our very own, over and above the extrinsic helps that are so ready to our hands. Yet we still slowly and steadily slip into cowardice.
Fortitude and Meekness? Is Not Meekness Weakness?
The Gift of Fortitude Gift of Fortitude is stupendously strong in holding in check the most violent and rebellious of all the passions―which is the passion of anger. The Gift of Fortitude helps the virtue of meekness in the face of provocation and persecution―as seen in Our Lord during His Passion. Unfortunately, meekness has degenerated into weakness for most people―as their timidity leads them into cowardice and not fortitude. Our Lord did not flee when His enemies care to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, nor did He show anger against those enemies―He remained resolute, strong, and meek. It was meekness, not weakness, in Christ that held back the twelve legions of angels who could so easily have rescued Him and destroyed His murderers; nor is it weakness, but meekness, in almighty God that withholds the divine thunderbolts as the sinner hurls his puny defiance through sin in the face of the Omnipotent. St. Paul was not weak, but meek, even though he bowed his neck to a Roman sword at his martyrdom; nor was St. Dominic weak, but meek, when he struck no blow at the attacking assassins. “Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon Earth” (Numbers 12:3)―and it was meek old Moses that God chose to lead His Chosen People out of the Egypt of the angry mean old Pharao.
Control of this violent passion of anger is a matter of strength and of courage―it is a virtue. This is a hard thing to do. Under the Gift of Fortitude, meekness is not only in control; but the rebellion of anger does not get to the point of staging an uprising and taking over control. Rather, in the face of injury there is a serene tranquility which, for want of a better word, we call sweetness―a quality that wins men’s hearts instead of cracking their skulls, that meets the injurious blow with a divine confidence and looking upon the blow as a welcome caress. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land!” (Matthew 5:4). “Blessed are they who suffer persecution for the sake of justice [meekly], for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:10). St. Thomas says that the chief delight in the Gift of Fortitude is the complete and undisturbed confidence; the security of the possession and enjoyment of the vision of God in Heaven as a reward for practicing the Gift of Fortitude during life.
St. Thomas puts forth many reasons showing how much more strength is required for suffering or endurance than for action. To attack is to throw oneself into peril, but to support the shock is more noble, more difficult, more perfect. It is the strong who attack, the more feeble who endure. Again he who receives the attack, he who suffers, feels the actual danger, whilst he who gives fight sees it only in the future. Hence, it is commonly said, that the best army is not the one most ardent in combat, but the one most enduring in fatigue.
Fortitude for Our Times
Action and suffering are the effects of this Gift of Fortitude―action and suffering in the cause of extraordinary undertakings are its characteristic notes. St. Thomas Aquinas says that the natural virtue of “fortitude implies a certain firmness of mind ... in doing good and in enduring evil, especially concerning goods and evils which are difficult. Fortitude as a virtue perfects the mind in the endurance of all dangers of any kind, but it does not suffice to give confidence of overcoming all dangers which may threaten … This surpasses human nature, because at times it is not in a man’s power to obtain the end of his work or to avoid evils and perils, because these may overwhelm him by death . This belongs to the Fortitude which is a Gift of the Holy Ghost … The mind of a man is moved by the Holy Spirit so that he may attain to the end of each work begun and avoid whatever dangers may threaten. The Holy Spirit, however, accomplishes this in a man by bringing him to everlasting life, which is the end of all good actions, and freedom from all dangers. A kind of confidence is infused into the mind by the Holy Ghost, Who drives out any fear of the contrary.” (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 139).
We are too often blind to the need of this high Christian courage in the ordinary, humdrum days of our life. We are quite sure that were our Faith suddenly challenged by a ruthless persecutor, we would unhesitatingly die for that Faith―perhaps we would―but our slow and steady drift into cowardice by making one concession and compromise after another, gives very little encouragement for being able to face martyrdom.
Ours is an age for courage, it is an age for martyrs, it is an age for splendid Catholic living―but big things usually grow out of little things. If you are afraid to make the Sign of the Cross and say your “Grace Before Meals” and “Thanksgiving After Meals” in a public restaurant―what makes you think you will not be afraid and hide or flee when faced by a real persecution?
Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself!
The biggest thing to fear is unreasonable fear. There are things that we should fear and things that we should not fear. The greatest thing to fear is sin. The next greatest thing that we should fear is a fear of fear! Our Lord was continually telling His followers not to be afraid: “Fear not, only believe” … “Be of good heart, it is I, fear ye not!” … “Fear not, little flock!” … “Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid!” … “Be of good heart.”
Elsewhere Holy Scripture echoes Our Lord’s words: “Fear not, Mary!” says the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady. “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies!” (Isaias 51:7). “Fear not, for I am with thee!” (Isaias 41:10). They would be echoed again and again in the Psalms: “I will not fear thousands” … “For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me” … “The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear, . . . of whom shall I be afraid, . . . my heart shall not fear”; “Therefore we shall not fear when the Earth shall be troubled, . . . the God of Jacob is our protector” … “I will not fear what flesh can do against me.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday May 24th & Tuesday May 25th
Article 25
The Knowledge Very Few Have
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday May 24th & Tuesday May 25th
Article 25
The Knowledge Very Few Have
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Knowledge―the Beginning of Our Troubles!
“Well, whad’ya know!” All our troubles began with “knowledge”! Once God had created Adam and Eve, He commanded them: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:17). Death spells trouble and Adam and Eve ate their way into trouble and passed their troubles onto us through the “DNA” of Original Sin. They ate of the tree of knowledge and knowingly brought death into the world: “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death―and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Made to Know―But Know What?
As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “There resides in every man a natural desire to know … Life is shown principally by two actions―knowledge and movement … The human soul, which is called the intellect or the mind, is … the means of the intellect man can have knowledge … The intellect is a power of the soul” ― that is why we call man a “rational animal”, because he has the power of reasoning, to think, to understand and to know. St. Thomas goes on to say that the intellect (or mind, or understanding) receives its knowledge and does not make it up. But the intellect is not passive in a lifeless fashion―like a piece of marble is passive under the chisel of the sculptor. The intellect is not the source of knowledge, it does not act to make knowledge, but it re-acts to the impression of knowledge that comes from outside the intellect. It receives knowledge or information and expresses and uses that information within itself in its own way.
St. Thomas further explains that the intellect in the strict sense, is the intellect which actually understands. The intellect retains or remembers what it understands. Memory is not something separate from reason―like two separate houses next to each other, but memory is like a room in the house of the intellect―in which there are the other rooms of understanding and reasoning. Therefore the memory is an act or operation of the intellect, and not a special faculty.
Furthermore, St. Thomas states that the intellect often grasps or understands by a connected series of points or steps. It can think things out. In modern language we even speak of someone being able to “join the dots.” This operation of the intellect is called reasoning. The work of reasoning―which consists of moving in connected steps of thought to reach a conclusion―is called discursive thought. The human reason or human reasoning is not a special faculty; it is the act or operation of the intellect. So just like memory, human reasoning is a room in the house of the intellect. St. Augustine points out the existence of the “higher-reason” which contemplates eternal truths, and the “lower-reason” which thinks about temporal and material things.
Raise-Up Your Knowledge
“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). “O Lord, Who hast the knowledge of all things!” (Esther 14:14). “The Lord is a God of all knowledge and to Him are thoughts prepared!” (1 Kings 2:3). “The Lord knoweth all knowledge” (Ecclesiasticus 42:19). That is why we call God “omniscient”, meaning “all-knowing” or “knowing all things”. “God created man to the image of His own likeness” (Wisdom 2:23). If we have been made in God’s “image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26), then that “image and likeness” to God should also be present in our knowledge. “God gave knowledge and understanding” (Daniel 1:17). “We know that we all have knowledge!” (1 Corinthians 8:1). “The most High hath given knowledge to men, so that He may be honored in His wonders” (Ecclesiasticus 38:6). “But there is not knowledge in every one! … For some have not the knowledge of God, I speak it to your shame!” (1 Corinthians 8:7; 15:34).
Wrong Kind of Knowledge
Just as there are good actions and evil actions; good food and bad food; good health and bad health; good weather and bad weather―so too there is good knowledge and evil knowledge, or useful knowledge and useless knowledge; profitable and unprofitable knowledge; virtuous and sinful knowledge. God wants “all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). St. Paul says: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord―for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ! … In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!” (Philippians 3:8; Colossians 2:3). St. Peter adds: “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 3:18).
As St. Paul says, the knowledge of things of this world is like dung compared to the knowledge of higher things―the things of God and the things of Heaven. Sadly, today, most people pride themselves upon earthly, worldly, temporal knowledge and look down with disdain on heavenly, spiritual and supernatural knowledge. These people are “ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth!” (2 Timothy 3:7). “Every man is become a fool for knowledge! … Every man is become foolish by his knowledge!” (Jeremias 10:14; 51:17). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisdom 13:1). “Neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27). “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge! Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6).
God tells us to “have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean!” (Leviticus 10:10). Yet today that knowledge of good and evil has been corrupted, whereby sins such as divorce, abortion, contraception, same sex marriages and homosexual relationships, pornography, impurity, immodesty, etc. are seen as being good and acceptable. Most Catholics accept these sins today! Yet the speaking of truth and the condemnation of sin is now looked upon as being a “hate crime”! Since when is the hatred of sin a crime? God warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). “There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1).
No Desire to Really Know God
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no not one! They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities! The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’” (Psalm 52:1-4).
The sad thing is that we don’t really care if the world wants to know God or not! We are quite happy in our “Catholic cocoon” ― saying, like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:11-12). That is more or less the attitude of Catholics today—a presumptuous complacency as to their standing with God, ever comparing themselves favorably with the multitude of sinners below them, whilst treating the Sacraments with a routine indifference as they auto-pilot through them. They fail to heed the requests, commands and warnings of Our Lady—which are in reality the requests, commands and warnings of God for whom she is merely the messenger.
These Catholics have no real desire to know God—for a true knowledge of God would cause a storm and rock the luxury yacht on which they are trying to sail to Heaven on hopefully ever-calm waters and blue sunny skies. There is no cross on the yacht apart from a vaguely cross-shaped anchor, which they cast overboard to hold their yacht in place while they go sight-seeing in some of the worldly harbors they have on their itinerary.
Know God―No Cross!
Knowledge of God has become a buffet-dinner in which we nibble on the bits that we like! We pick and choose what we want to eat at His banquet of knowledge—and, invariably, that means leaving aside the woody tasting cross of Christ. As The Imitation of Christ so aptly puts it: “Why do you look for rest when you were born to work? Resign yourself to patience rather than to comfort, to carrying your cross rather than to enjoyment! … Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapters 10 & 11).
If You Only Knew!
If the natural order in this world can be so beautiful and so magnificent, we cannot doubt that the supernatural order is even more so; just as the statue surpasses in beauty the pedestal on which it rests, just as the jewel is richer than its setting. If, in the natural order, there is a great wealth of intellectual gifts which combine together to form the riches of our human knowledge, then, in the supernatural order, there are also multiple and exceedingly rich gifts of the Spirit which enable us to have profound and perfect knowledge in the divine order. Let us then speak of the Gift of Knowledge.
To Know is Wonderful
Among the most precious of the treasures that make up our intellectual wealth is the capacity to know. Knowledge scrutinizes the world, probes into the depths of all phenomena, of all beings, and, recognizing the wonders God has placed in the natural order, leads us, especially in our own times, to astonishing discoveries.
In the supernatural order, there is a very profound science that also makes wonderful discoveries: it is what the Scriptures call “the science of the saints.” We read in the Book of Wisdom: “She guided him [the just man] in direct ways.... and gave him knowledge of holy things” (Wisdom 10:10). This Knowledge of the saints is divine Knowledge, it is the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is Knowing and knowing
There is another science in the supernatural order: theology, in which are found the great principles of Faith, supported by the solid arguments of human reason. But this is not the science of the saints, for even a sinner can be a theologian. The Knowledge of the saints is the Knowledge of those who possess the grace of God, and therefore bear the Holy Spirit in their souls; who are moved, led, and guided by Him to a divine mode of understanding.
Gift of Knowledge
The Gift of Knowledge has some points in common with human knowledge and with the Gift of Wisdom, but it also possesses entirely distinctive marks. Human knowledge is that which makes things known through their immediate causes. To say this more simply, it is a man’s natural understanding of creatures. The Gift of Wisdom, as we shall later see, looks deep into the very bosom of the divine, and from that high vantage point contemplates creatures—Wisdom sees things from God’s persepective. The Gift of Knowledge follows a different course: it gives us an understanding of creatures from an earthly perspective so that we may be able to lift ourselves above them to focus on God.
Human Knowledge
Human knowledge is discursive. It passes from one truth to another, and thus covers the whole field of learning. Our intelligence naturally proceeds in a slow and laborious manner. By reasoning, it researches and assembles all available truths until it arrives at a systematic and more or less complete whole. The Gift of Knowledge does not reason in this human way: It is intuitive; it has the divine character proper to the action of the Holy Spirit; it gives us an insight into the mysterious relationships between creatures, and particularly into the great all-transcending relationship that creatures have with God.
Superior Manner of Knowing
Under the influence of the Gift of Knowledge, we do not have the same knowledge as acquired through human science. Human science gives all things their proper name; it exposes their behavior, their properties, and the laws that govern them. The divine Gift of Knowledge does not teach us the properties of creatures, but considers them in a broader, more profound manner in the relation to God. It gives answers to the questions: “Do they lead me to God, or do they lead me away from God? What can they teach me about God?” Someone has happily said that before creatures had their present names, they had a common name: they were called “reflections of the divine bounty, resplendent stairs by which we mount to God.”
The Gift of Knowledge also gives creatures this common name; in the light of the gift, all are more or less reflections of divine goodness, heavenly beauty; at the same time, they are adequate means of helping us to God, luminous ladders by which we ascend to Heaven.
Creatures of this Earth, looked upon in this way, in their intimate relationship with God, have two distinct characteristics: their own nothingness, and the stamp of divinity upon them. A deep insight into this double aspect is a necessary condition of any understanding of them, and such insight is had through the Gift of Knowledge.
All is Vanity
What is created is vain. Solomon said in the Book of Ecclesiastes, in a transcendent and profound phrase, “Vanity of vanities.... all things are vanity” (Ecclesiasticus 1:2). God had endowed him with deep wisdom, and covered him with glory that had no equal in those times. He himself tells us that his heart was denied nothing it desired. And when he had contemplated everything, experienced everything, tasted of all Earth’s fountains of delight, he came to this heartbreaking conclusion: All things are vanity.
In reality this is true, for no creature can satisfy the immense capacity of our heart, its infinite thirst: God made it for Himself alone. No matter how much we strive to fill our heart with creatures, this will never be. They are vain; they are not for us: we were born for greater, higher satisfactions.
But how difficult it is for us to comprehend the vanity of things! They dazzle us with their brilliance. They attract and ensnare us with their charms. How frequently they take us away from God! Therefore does the psalm ask, “How long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?” (Psalm 4:3).
Vain Warnings of Vanity
How many times creatures seduce us and entice us away from our path, the straight and sure path that leads to Heaven! We look for vanity and we love the lie, the pleasure that debases us, the honor that inebriates us, the material goods that enchain us. It is vanity that makes us prisoners; it is the creature that gets possession of our heart, that attracts our soul, and separates us from God, who alone can give us peace and happiness.
Vainly are we warned against the vanity of creatures; vainly do we read learned treatises on the same subject. Many times not even a sad and unfortunate experience is enough to tear the blindfold from our eyes. We let ourselves be carried away by the bewitchment of vanity, we fasten our heart on some creature.
Sooner or later we find emptiness and bitterness, and the experience should be sufficient to send us back to God. But no; very shortly the brilliance and the charm of creatures seduces us again, and we fall once more into the old entanglement. How many of these lapses and how much of God’s grace do we need to understand at last the vanity of created things?
The Saints Saw Correctly
A keen sense of that truth has been characteristic of all outstanding conversions. It was St. Francis Borgia who exclaimed when contemplating his dead sovereign: “Never again will I serve a master who can die!” St. Sylvester was also turned from all created things by the sight of a corpse. How often a word or a deed has revealed the truth to men! Then is accomplished in them that complete transformation known in Christian language as “conversion.” That sudden and profound conviction of the vanity of things is the fruit of the Gift of Knowledge.
Leave Things and Follow Me!
Merely to consider these things is not enough. We read the pages of Scripture that treat of the vanity of things. We read the immortal words of the Gospel: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me.” It is the divine lesson on the vanity of things of Earth: sell all you have, for everything is vain. We believe in the Scriptures and in the word of God. Yet our belief remains ineffective; it does not cause a profound transformation. But one day, a word, an incident, a light from God, reveals the truth to us, and then our conversion takes place.
Workings of the Gift of Knowledge
The first action of the Gift of Knowledge is to reveal in a profoundly intuitive manner, and with irresistible conviction, the vanity of things. After this vision, we turn earnestly to God and begin to walk the road of Christian perfection.
Spiritual writers speak at times of a second conversion, in addition to that first one by which we leave sin and enter upon the way of grace. In the second conversion, when the soul takes a new route in the spiritual life, when God calls it to a higher perfection, the Gift of Knowledge produces an even deeper and more perfect conviction that the things of the Earth are vain. At times this effect is bitter, painful, even terrible. Virtue is not always sweet: sometimes it seems cruel.
Dark Night of the Senses
There are virtues that tear the heart to pieces, that disconcert us, that disillusion us; but that is the way the Gift of Knowledge fills us with complete scorn for the things of Earth. Here is the “dark night of the senses” of which St. John of the Cross speaks, the long and tremendous purification to which God subjects a soul when He wishes to lift it up to great heights.
To such a soul, all creatures have suddenly lost their charm; their former allure is gone. No longer does the soul find rest in the old delights. It is night, a dark night in which shines not a single star — a blessed night, for the soul has been preserved from the charm of creatures, to find itself on the straight and sure way that leads to God.
Divine Spark
But if it is true that there is vanity in creatures, it is also certain that there is in them a certain divine spark. Each creature might seem the crude wrapping that encloses a heavenly pearl. The created thing is vain because it is deficient, because it is limited, because it will never be able to fill our heart. But there is also in every creature, from the highest of the seraphim to the lowest atom of matter, a flash of divinity. In a magnificent poetic figure already quoted, St. John of the Cross describes God as He passes through the universe, showering graces, and covering all created things with His light as His divine countenance is reflected in them.
All things have upon them the mark of God; they are made to His likeness. The Book of Genesis says that when God beheld His creation, He saw that it was good. Yes, all things are good because they all have something from God; they all bear a reflection of His goodness, and in all of them the beauty of the Creator is portrayed in a manner more or less distinct.
Ordinarily we do not see that beauty in its true light; what it holds of physical beauty dazzles us. But when the Gift of Knowledge has made us see the vanity of earthly things and has purified our souls, then we contemplate the things of Earth in a new way.
Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi was the saint who possessed in magnificent abundance the Gift of Knowledge. Let us recall the stages of his extraordinarily beautiful life. First, there was his dissipation in creatures. He dreamed, like most men of his time, of attaining great glory as a knight. When God revealed to him the vanity of earthly things, he felt the necessity of getting rid of everything. He threw his rich clothing into the hands of his father, saying: “Now I can say more truly, ‘Our Father who art in Heaven.”‘ Then, clad in coarse sacking, he set off to Portiuncula to wed the Lady Poverty.
The first stage in the life of Francis ended in scorn for the things of Earth. The Gift of Knowledge made him get rid of everything and fall in love with poverty, because poverty is truth, because it is the ladder that leads to God, and because he knew, in consequence, that poverty is the greatest wealth.
Francis Saw Differently
Henceforth his gaze was transformed and he saw creatures in a new manner. With what depth of love did Francis look at all the things of Earth! The flowers, the birds, the water, the sun — all had a divine meaning for him; all spoke to him of God, and he felt a deep, immense and rare fraternity with all.
Do you recall how he referred to creatures? — sister water, brother fire, brother sun, brother wolf ? With what tenderness he protected the little worms that crawled along the road so that travelers would not step on them? How he objected to the putting of narrow enclosures around trees by which their growth would be limited?
He Must be Crazy!
And with that profound knowledge of nature, with that divine way of looking at creatures, he did things that, to ordinary men, seemed like madness. Do you remember the occasion on which he spoke to the birds — how, when he started to preach to them, the little creatures gathered around him to listen? Madness, they will say, those who judge only by human standards. Divine sublimity, we must say, who are initiated in the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. He looked at creatures with different eyes, not with the poor human vision that sees only the transitory and superficial; he looked at them profoundly and saw in each one a reflection of God; each was like a very clear crystal in which he contemplated the Creator.
The Other Francis
It is possible to find this fruit of the Gift of Knowledge in the life of many other saints. We remember that St. Francis de Sales made use of anything whatsoever that he observed in nature in order to lift himself up to God. When he looked at the fields and the flowers, he said to them: “Quiet, quiet — don’t tell me that I may love, for I am dying of love!”
For him, creatures had a mysterious language. All spoke to him of God, just as a picture, a flower, a perfume, can be for us a reminder of one we love. That is why he told the flowers to be quiet, for it seemed to him that all creatures were inviting him to love God, and he could no longer support the ardor of his soul.
The Knowledge of Adam and Eve
In the high degree of the Gift of Knowledge, we enjoy a vision similar to the beautiful and profound one Adam and Eve must have had in paradise before the fall. The Scriptures tell us that Adam gave each thing its proper name, which indicates that he had a deep and perfect knowledge of everything around him.
When his virgin nature had just come forth, fresh and beautiful, from the omnipotent hands of the Creator, when his spirit was clothed in grace, when the Holy Spirit, by means of His gifts, moved him, with what insight Adam must have looked upon all creatures; with what penetration he must have contemplated the universe; with what appreciation he must have beheld the splendid verdure of paradise!
Gift of Knowledge Detaches Us
In the perfection of the Gift of Knowledge is found complete detachment. Souls that are not subject to the thrall of creatures discover the holy liberty of the children of God, the joy of freedom, the deep happiness of perfection. At the same time their outlook becomes celestial and they behold the world differently — with a divine glance.
Seeing Sorrows Differently
Let us not end these considerations without indicating another excellent and apparently strange effect of the Gift of Knowledge in its higher degrees. Souls that possess it look at suffering and humiliation differently than others. This unusual and, at first sight, inexplicable love of suffering is noticeable in the lives of the saints.
We have spoken of St. Teresa’s alternatives — pain or death: both things from which we ordinarily flee, but for Teresa of Jesus, the only two things worth having. St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi modified the expression of St. Teresa thus: “Not to die, but to suffer.” St. John of the Cross, when Jesus asked him, “What recompense do you desire for all that you have done for Me?” replied, “To suffer and be despised for Thee!”
Does it not seem strange to ask for sacrifice and humiliation as a reward? Yet, in the light of the Gift of Knowledge, sacrifice and humiliation have a supernatural significance. We, imperfect as we are, recognize nothing but the superficial; the saints, with the light of God, look into the depths of things.
Sacrifice and humiliation are precious; they are the opposite of the “witchery of paltry things.” By suffering and humiliation we resemble Jesus Christ, and nothing is so divine as that which pertains to Jesus Christ and makes us like unto Him.
If They Did It, So Can We
Talking of these things, it seems as if one were standing in a deep valley and looking up at a very lofty peak, immaculately white with snow, a glorious height that it may seem impossible to reach. On the other hand is it not sweet and beautiful to contemplate from the depths .of our misery those great summits of sanctity to which our brothers have attained — the dwelling place of God? What must the life of a saint be like — that looking at things in the light of truth, that penetrating into the depths of them, that experiencing of new desires and impressions together with peace of soul and joy of spirit: a feast of light, a feast of love, a feast of peace! Even if we do not have the strength to scale these soaring heights, the celestial vision can enkindle in us the desire of living a more perfect Christian life.
When we contemplate a splendid mansion, the desire comes to us to make our own poor house more beautiful and comfortable; and when we hear a sublime musical composition, even though we do not pretend to produce anything like it, we feel a greater love for music and, according to our talent, we try to become more proficient in it.
Even so, contemplating the marvels which the Holy Spirit produces in souls, our heart is thrilled, our spirit encouraged, although we ourselves journey with such slow steps toward Him who is Light, who is Love, who is Happiness; toward Him who bathes all loving souls in splendid light, in most sweet love, in infinite peace.
“Well, whad’ya know!” All our troubles began with “knowledge”! Once God had created Adam and Eve, He commanded them: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:17). Death spells trouble and Adam and Eve ate their way into trouble and passed their troubles onto us through the “DNA” of Original Sin. They ate of the tree of knowledge and knowingly brought death into the world: “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death―and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Made to Know―But Know What?
As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “There resides in every man a natural desire to know … Life is shown principally by two actions―knowledge and movement … The human soul, which is called the intellect or the mind, is … the means of the intellect man can have knowledge … The intellect is a power of the soul” ― that is why we call man a “rational animal”, because he has the power of reasoning, to think, to understand and to know. St. Thomas goes on to say that the intellect (or mind, or understanding) receives its knowledge and does not make it up. But the intellect is not passive in a lifeless fashion―like a piece of marble is passive under the chisel of the sculptor. The intellect is not the source of knowledge, it does not act to make knowledge, but it re-acts to the impression of knowledge that comes from outside the intellect. It receives knowledge or information and expresses and uses that information within itself in its own way.
St. Thomas further explains that the intellect in the strict sense, is the intellect which actually understands. The intellect retains or remembers what it understands. Memory is not something separate from reason―like two separate houses next to each other, but memory is like a room in the house of the intellect―in which there are the other rooms of understanding and reasoning. Therefore the memory is an act or operation of the intellect, and not a special faculty.
Furthermore, St. Thomas states that the intellect often grasps or understands by a connected series of points or steps. It can think things out. In modern language we even speak of someone being able to “join the dots.” This operation of the intellect is called reasoning. The work of reasoning―which consists of moving in connected steps of thought to reach a conclusion―is called discursive thought. The human reason or human reasoning is not a special faculty; it is the act or operation of the intellect. So just like memory, human reasoning is a room in the house of the intellect. St. Augustine points out the existence of the “higher-reason” which contemplates eternal truths, and the “lower-reason” which thinks about temporal and material things.
Raise-Up Your Knowledge
“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). “O Lord, Who hast the knowledge of all things!” (Esther 14:14). “The Lord is a God of all knowledge and to Him are thoughts prepared!” (1 Kings 2:3). “The Lord knoweth all knowledge” (Ecclesiasticus 42:19). That is why we call God “omniscient”, meaning “all-knowing” or “knowing all things”. “God created man to the image of His own likeness” (Wisdom 2:23). If we have been made in God’s “image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26), then that “image and likeness” to God should also be present in our knowledge. “God gave knowledge and understanding” (Daniel 1:17). “We know that we all have knowledge!” (1 Corinthians 8:1). “The most High hath given knowledge to men, so that He may be honored in His wonders” (Ecclesiasticus 38:6). “But there is not knowledge in every one! … For some have not the knowledge of God, I speak it to your shame!” (1 Corinthians 8:7; 15:34).
Wrong Kind of Knowledge
Just as there are good actions and evil actions; good food and bad food; good health and bad health; good weather and bad weather―so too there is good knowledge and evil knowledge, or useful knowledge and useless knowledge; profitable and unprofitable knowledge; virtuous and sinful knowledge. God wants “all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). St. Paul says: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord―for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ! … In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!” (Philippians 3:8; Colossians 2:3). St. Peter adds: “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!” (2 Peter 3:18).
As St. Paul says, the knowledge of things of this world is like dung compared to the knowledge of higher things―the things of God and the things of Heaven. Sadly, today, most people pride themselves upon earthly, worldly, temporal knowledge and look down with disdain on heavenly, spiritual and supernatural knowledge. These people are “ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth!” (2 Timothy 3:7). “Every man is become a fool for knowledge! … Every man is become foolish by his knowledge!” (Jeremias 10:14; 51:17). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisdom 13:1). “Neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27). “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge! Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6).
God tells us to “have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean!” (Leviticus 10:10). Yet today that knowledge of good and evil has been corrupted, whereby sins such as divorce, abortion, contraception, same sex marriages and homosexual relationships, pornography, impurity, immodesty, etc. are seen as being good and acceptable. Most Catholics accept these sins today! Yet the speaking of truth and the condemnation of sin is now looked upon as being a “hate crime”! Since when is the hatred of sin a crime? God warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). “There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land!” (Osee 4:1).
No Desire to Really Know God
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no not one! They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities! The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’” (Psalm 52:1-4).
The sad thing is that we don’t really care if the world wants to know God or not! We are quite happy in our “Catholic cocoon” ― saying, like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:11-12). That is more or less the attitude of Catholics today—a presumptuous complacency as to their standing with God, ever comparing themselves favorably with the multitude of sinners below them, whilst treating the Sacraments with a routine indifference as they auto-pilot through them. They fail to heed the requests, commands and warnings of Our Lady—which are in reality the requests, commands and warnings of God for whom she is merely the messenger.
These Catholics have no real desire to know God—for a true knowledge of God would cause a storm and rock the luxury yacht on which they are trying to sail to Heaven on hopefully ever-calm waters and blue sunny skies. There is no cross on the yacht apart from a vaguely cross-shaped anchor, which they cast overboard to hold their yacht in place while they go sight-seeing in some of the worldly harbors they have on their itinerary.
Know God―No Cross!
Knowledge of God has become a buffet-dinner in which we nibble on the bits that we like! We pick and choose what we want to eat at His banquet of knowledge—and, invariably, that means leaving aside the woody tasting cross of Christ. As The Imitation of Christ so aptly puts it: “Why do you look for rest when you were born to work? Resign yourself to patience rather than to comfort, to carrying your cross rather than to enjoyment! … Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapters 10 & 11).
If You Only Knew!
If the natural order in this world can be so beautiful and so magnificent, we cannot doubt that the supernatural order is even more so; just as the statue surpasses in beauty the pedestal on which it rests, just as the jewel is richer than its setting. If, in the natural order, there is a great wealth of intellectual gifts which combine together to form the riches of our human knowledge, then, in the supernatural order, there are also multiple and exceedingly rich gifts of the Spirit which enable us to have profound and perfect knowledge in the divine order. Let us then speak of the Gift of Knowledge.
To Know is Wonderful
Among the most precious of the treasures that make up our intellectual wealth is the capacity to know. Knowledge scrutinizes the world, probes into the depths of all phenomena, of all beings, and, recognizing the wonders God has placed in the natural order, leads us, especially in our own times, to astonishing discoveries.
In the supernatural order, there is a very profound science that also makes wonderful discoveries: it is what the Scriptures call “the science of the saints.” We read in the Book of Wisdom: “She guided him [the just man] in direct ways.... and gave him knowledge of holy things” (Wisdom 10:10). This Knowledge of the saints is divine Knowledge, it is the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is Knowing and knowing
There is another science in the supernatural order: theology, in which are found the great principles of Faith, supported by the solid arguments of human reason. But this is not the science of the saints, for even a sinner can be a theologian. The Knowledge of the saints is the Knowledge of those who possess the grace of God, and therefore bear the Holy Spirit in their souls; who are moved, led, and guided by Him to a divine mode of understanding.
Gift of Knowledge
The Gift of Knowledge has some points in common with human knowledge and with the Gift of Wisdom, but it also possesses entirely distinctive marks. Human knowledge is that which makes things known through their immediate causes. To say this more simply, it is a man’s natural understanding of creatures. The Gift of Wisdom, as we shall later see, looks deep into the very bosom of the divine, and from that high vantage point contemplates creatures—Wisdom sees things from God’s persepective. The Gift of Knowledge follows a different course: it gives us an understanding of creatures from an earthly perspective so that we may be able to lift ourselves above them to focus on God.
Human Knowledge
Human knowledge is discursive. It passes from one truth to another, and thus covers the whole field of learning. Our intelligence naturally proceeds in a slow and laborious manner. By reasoning, it researches and assembles all available truths until it arrives at a systematic and more or less complete whole. The Gift of Knowledge does not reason in this human way: It is intuitive; it has the divine character proper to the action of the Holy Spirit; it gives us an insight into the mysterious relationships between creatures, and particularly into the great all-transcending relationship that creatures have with God.
Superior Manner of Knowing
Under the influence of the Gift of Knowledge, we do not have the same knowledge as acquired through human science. Human science gives all things their proper name; it exposes their behavior, their properties, and the laws that govern them. The divine Gift of Knowledge does not teach us the properties of creatures, but considers them in a broader, more profound manner in the relation to God. It gives answers to the questions: “Do they lead me to God, or do they lead me away from God? What can they teach me about God?” Someone has happily said that before creatures had their present names, they had a common name: they were called “reflections of the divine bounty, resplendent stairs by which we mount to God.”
The Gift of Knowledge also gives creatures this common name; in the light of the gift, all are more or less reflections of divine goodness, heavenly beauty; at the same time, they are adequate means of helping us to God, luminous ladders by which we ascend to Heaven.
Creatures of this Earth, looked upon in this way, in their intimate relationship with God, have two distinct characteristics: their own nothingness, and the stamp of divinity upon them. A deep insight into this double aspect is a necessary condition of any understanding of them, and such insight is had through the Gift of Knowledge.
All is Vanity
What is created is vain. Solomon said in the Book of Ecclesiastes, in a transcendent and profound phrase, “Vanity of vanities.... all things are vanity” (Ecclesiasticus 1:2). God had endowed him with deep wisdom, and covered him with glory that had no equal in those times. He himself tells us that his heart was denied nothing it desired. And when he had contemplated everything, experienced everything, tasted of all Earth’s fountains of delight, he came to this heartbreaking conclusion: All things are vanity.
In reality this is true, for no creature can satisfy the immense capacity of our heart, its infinite thirst: God made it for Himself alone. No matter how much we strive to fill our heart with creatures, this will never be. They are vain; they are not for us: we were born for greater, higher satisfactions.
But how difficult it is for us to comprehend the vanity of things! They dazzle us with their brilliance. They attract and ensnare us with their charms. How frequently they take us away from God! Therefore does the psalm ask, “How long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?” (Psalm 4:3).
Vain Warnings of Vanity
How many times creatures seduce us and entice us away from our path, the straight and sure path that leads to Heaven! We look for vanity and we love the lie, the pleasure that debases us, the honor that inebriates us, the material goods that enchain us. It is vanity that makes us prisoners; it is the creature that gets possession of our heart, that attracts our soul, and separates us from God, who alone can give us peace and happiness.
Vainly are we warned against the vanity of creatures; vainly do we read learned treatises on the same subject. Many times not even a sad and unfortunate experience is enough to tear the blindfold from our eyes. We let ourselves be carried away by the bewitchment of vanity, we fasten our heart on some creature.
Sooner or later we find emptiness and bitterness, and the experience should be sufficient to send us back to God. But no; very shortly the brilliance and the charm of creatures seduces us again, and we fall once more into the old entanglement. How many of these lapses and how much of God’s grace do we need to understand at last the vanity of created things?
The Saints Saw Correctly
A keen sense of that truth has been characteristic of all outstanding conversions. It was St. Francis Borgia who exclaimed when contemplating his dead sovereign: “Never again will I serve a master who can die!” St. Sylvester was also turned from all created things by the sight of a corpse. How often a word or a deed has revealed the truth to men! Then is accomplished in them that complete transformation known in Christian language as “conversion.” That sudden and profound conviction of the vanity of things is the fruit of the Gift of Knowledge.
Leave Things and Follow Me!
Merely to consider these things is not enough. We read the pages of Scripture that treat of the vanity of things. We read the immortal words of the Gospel: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me.” It is the divine lesson on the vanity of things of Earth: sell all you have, for everything is vain. We believe in the Scriptures and in the word of God. Yet our belief remains ineffective; it does not cause a profound transformation. But one day, a word, an incident, a light from God, reveals the truth to us, and then our conversion takes place.
Workings of the Gift of Knowledge
The first action of the Gift of Knowledge is to reveal in a profoundly intuitive manner, and with irresistible conviction, the vanity of things. After this vision, we turn earnestly to God and begin to walk the road of Christian perfection.
Spiritual writers speak at times of a second conversion, in addition to that first one by which we leave sin and enter upon the way of grace. In the second conversion, when the soul takes a new route in the spiritual life, when God calls it to a higher perfection, the Gift of Knowledge produces an even deeper and more perfect conviction that the things of the Earth are vain. At times this effect is bitter, painful, even terrible. Virtue is not always sweet: sometimes it seems cruel.
Dark Night of the Senses
There are virtues that tear the heart to pieces, that disconcert us, that disillusion us; but that is the way the Gift of Knowledge fills us with complete scorn for the things of Earth. Here is the “dark night of the senses” of which St. John of the Cross speaks, the long and tremendous purification to which God subjects a soul when He wishes to lift it up to great heights.
To such a soul, all creatures have suddenly lost their charm; their former allure is gone. No longer does the soul find rest in the old delights. It is night, a dark night in which shines not a single star — a blessed night, for the soul has been preserved from the charm of creatures, to find itself on the straight and sure way that leads to God.
Divine Spark
But if it is true that there is vanity in creatures, it is also certain that there is in them a certain divine spark. Each creature might seem the crude wrapping that encloses a heavenly pearl. The created thing is vain because it is deficient, because it is limited, because it will never be able to fill our heart. But there is also in every creature, from the highest of the seraphim to the lowest atom of matter, a flash of divinity. In a magnificent poetic figure already quoted, St. John of the Cross describes God as He passes through the universe, showering graces, and covering all created things with His light as His divine countenance is reflected in them.
All things have upon them the mark of God; they are made to His likeness. The Book of Genesis says that when God beheld His creation, He saw that it was good. Yes, all things are good because they all have something from God; they all bear a reflection of His goodness, and in all of them the beauty of the Creator is portrayed in a manner more or less distinct.
Ordinarily we do not see that beauty in its true light; what it holds of physical beauty dazzles us. But when the Gift of Knowledge has made us see the vanity of earthly things and has purified our souls, then we contemplate the things of Earth in a new way.
Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi was the saint who possessed in magnificent abundance the Gift of Knowledge. Let us recall the stages of his extraordinarily beautiful life. First, there was his dissipation in creatures. He dreamed, like most men of his time, of attaining great glory as a knight. When God revealed to him the vanity of earthly things, he felt the necessity of getting rid of everything. He threw his rich clothing into the hands of his father, saying: “Now I can say more truly, ‘Our Father who art in Heaven.”‘ Then, clad in coarse sacking, he set off to Portiuncula to wed the Lady Poverty.
The first stage in the life of Francis ended in scorn for the things of Earth. The Gift of Knowledge made him get rid of everything and fall in love with poverty, because poverty is truth, because it is the ladder that leads to God, and because he knew, in consequence, that poverty is the greatest wealth.
Francis Saw Differently
Henceforth his gaze was transformed and he saw creatures in a new manner. With what depth of love did Francis look at all the things of Earth! The flowers, the birds, the water, the sun — all had a divine meaning for him; all spoke to him of God, and he felt a deep, immense and rare fraternity with all.
Do you recall how he referred to creatures? — sister water, brother fire, brother sun, brother wolf ? With what tenderness he protected the little worms that crawled along the road so that travelers would not step on them? How he objected to the putting of narrow enclosures around trees by which their growth would be limited?
He Must be Crazy!
And with that profound knowledge of nature, with that divine way of looking at creatures, he did things that, to ordinary men, seemed like madness. Do you remember the occasion on which he spoke to the birds — how, when he started to preach to them, the little creatures gathered around him to listen? Madness, they will say, those who judge only by human standards. Divine sublimity, we must say, who are initiated in the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. He looked at creatures with different eyes, not with the poor human vision that sees only the transitory and superficial; he looked at them profoundly and saw in each one a reflection of God; each was like a very clear crystal in which he contemplated the Creator.
The Other Francis
It is possible to find this fruit of the Gift of Knowledge in the life of many other saints. We remember that St. Francis de Sales made use of anything whatsoever that he observed in nature in order to lift himself up to God. When he looked at the fields and the flowers, he said to them: “Quiet, quiet — don’t tell me that I may love, for I am dying of love!”
For him, creatures had a mysterious language. All spoke to him of God, just as a picture, a flower, a perfume, can be for us a reminder of one we love. That is why he told the flowers to be quiet, for it seemed to him that all creatures were inviting him to love God, and he could no longer support the ardor of his soul.
The Knowledge of Adam and Eve
In the high degree of the Gift of Knowledge, we enjoy a vision similar to the beautiful and profound one Adam and Eve must have had in paradise before the fall. The Scriptures tell us that Adam gave each thing its proper name, which indicates that he had a deep and perfect knowledge of everything around him.
When his virgin nature had just come forth, fresh and beautiful, from the omnipotent hands of the Creator, when his spirit was clothed in grace, when the Holy Spirit, by means of His gifts, moved him, with what insight Adam must have looked upon all creatures; with what penetration he must have contemplated the universe; with what appreciation he must have beheld the splendid verdure of paradise!
Gift of Knowledge Detaches Us
In the perfection of the Gift of Knowledge is found complete detachment. Souls that are not subject to the thrall of creatures discover the holy liberty of the children of God, the joy of freedom, the deep happiness of perfection. At the same time their outlook becomes celestial and they behold the world differently — with a divine glance.
Seeing Sorrows Differently
Let us not end these considerations without indicating another excellent and apparently strange effect of the Gift of Knowledge in its higher degrees. Souls that possess it look at suffering and humiliation differently than others. This unusual and, at first sight, inexplicable love of suffering is noticeable in the lives of the saints.
We have spoken of St. Teresa’s alternatives — pain or death: both things from which we ordinarily flee, but for Teresa of Jesus, the only two things worth having. St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi modified the expression of St. Teresa thus: “Not to die, but to suffer.” St. John of the Cross, when Jesus asked him, “What recompense do you desire for all that you have done for Me?” replied, “To suffer and be despised for Thee!”
Does it not seem strange to ask for sacrifice and humiliation as a reward? Yet, in the light of the Gift of Knowledge, sacrifice and humiliation have a supernatural significance. We, imperfect as we are, recognize nothing but the superficial; the saints, with the light of God, look into the depths of things.
Sacrifice and humiliation are precious; they are the opposite of the “witchery of paltry things.” By suffering and humiliation we resemble Jesus Christ, and nothing is so divine as that which pertains to Jesus Christ and makes us like unto Him.
If They Did It, So Can We
Talking of these things, it seems as if one were standing in a deep valley and looking up at a very lofty peak, immaculately white with snow, a glorious height that it may seem impossible to reach. On the other hand is it not sweet and beautiful to contemplate from the depths .of our misery those great summits of sanctity to which our brothers have attained — the dwelling place of God? What must the life of a saint be like — that looking at things in the light of truth, that penetrating into the depths of them, that experiencing of new desires and impressions together with peace of soul and joy of spirit: a feast of light, a feast of love, a feast of peace! Even if we do not have the strength to scale these soaring heights, the celestial vision can enkindle in us the desire of living a more perfect Christian life.
When we contemplate a splendid mansion, the desire comes to us to make our own poor house more beautiful and comfortable; and when we hear a sublime musical composition, even though we do not pretend to produce anything like it, we feel a greater love for music and, according to our talent, we try to become more proficient in it.
Even so, contemplating the marvels which the Holy Spirit produces in souls, our heart is thrilled, our spirit encouraged, although we ourselves journey with such slow steps toward Him who is Light, who is Love, who is Happiness; toward Him who bathes all loving souls in splendid light, in most sweet love, in infinite peace.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday May 22nd & Pentecost Sunday May 23rd
Article 24
The Gift of Piety Misunderstood, Mocked, Maligned!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday May 22nd & Pentecost Sunday May 23rd
Article 24
The Gift of Piety Misunderstood, Mocked, Maligned!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Pusillanimous Piety and Pretentiously Pious
What is piety? What is pious? In this modern age of impiety, “piety” and being “pious” seem like more of a joke or an insult. “Oh, she’s putting on her piety again!” … “Hey! Here comes pious Pete the holy roller!” The word “pious” can be used positively to describe those who are dutiful, religious or virtuous―and it can be used negatively to describe hypocrisy. The dictionary will define “piety” as “the quality of being religious or reverent; a fidelity to natural obligations (as to parents), or a dutifulness towards God.” While “pious” is defined as being “devoutly religious; having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations.” The dictionary also gives the negative sense of “piety” as “characterized by a hypocritical concern with virtue or religious devotion; sanctimonious; pretended religious motives; falsely earnest or falsely sincere.”
Since “piety” and “piousness” is mainly associated with religion, most people these days dislike being labeled as being “pious” because being “religious” is seen as being a “soft-touch”, something for ‘softies’ but not ‘real men’, or as a “weakness” that is unsuitable for the ‘macho-man’ of today, as something “pusillanimous” showing “a lack of courage or determination; timid” ― thus the word “piety” or “pious” is more often used in mocking way, more so than a word of sincere praise. Its use seems to convey more of a hypocrisy than religiosity. The reason for this is generally the fact that most people are grossly lacking in piety towards God and, consequently, their consciences are feel uncomfortable when faced by true piety.
Piety is seen as a petty virtue―but petty piety does not exclude courage, fortitude and manliness. Just as meek does not mean weak, neither is piety petty. In fact, some of the most pious people have been among the most fearsome warriors for the Faith―often seeing their piety lead them through tortures to martyrdom. Christ is the best example of the virtue of piety harnessed to manliness, or “machoness” if you want a more modern label.
Piety Goes Back a Long Way
Despite the modern world seeing the word “piety” a largely being associated with being religious―which is true to certain degree―its original meaning was far wider and richer. The English word “piety” comes from the Latin “pietas”, which meant a dutiful conduct, a sense of duty―to the gods, to the country, and to one’s family members (parents, children, siblings, relatives) and friends. In short, the Latina “pietas” which we translate as “piety” in English, speaks of duty, dutifulness, affection, love, loyalty, patriotism, gratitude, gentleness, kindness, tenderness, pity and compassion. It speaks of family love, and, by extension, love for one’s ancestors, of one’s country, and surely of God. Cicero defined “pietas” as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.”
For the ancient Romans piety was one of the highest virtues―since it was the virtue that knit families and ultimately all society together in love, loyalty and a shared, reciprocal duty. Piety also extends and shoots its roots into our past by giving proper reverence to ancestors. Cicero ― the statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher and academic of Ancient Rome ― said: “Piety is justice toward the gods,” and “the foundation of all virtues.”
In Ancient Greece, piety was a favorite virtue of the philosopher, Socrates. Far from considering himself a self-made man, Socrates gave full credit for whatever civility he enjoyed to those who preceded him. Today, there is a tendency is to cut oneself off from the past and attribute all success to oneself―the cult of the “self-made-man.” Modern thinkers speak of the man of self-reliance, “the sovereign individual, free, self-reliant, and alone in his greatness.” Their belief in the “greatness” of the individual is a dangerous illusion. It is a false presumption that naturally leads to pride―and, as Holy Scripture warns: “Pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15).
The basis of piety is the sober realization that we owe our existence and our substance to powers beyond ourselves―in both the supernatural and natural spheres―to God and to our parents, and, by extension, to our teachers of all kinds to whom we owe our knowledge, our training and our skills. We are social, communal beings. We are not islands―we are part of the mainland, so to speak.
“Greatness” ― the apple of modern man’s eye ― is never a purely individual accomplishment. Christ hits the nail on the head when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), to which Holy Scripture adds: “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17). “Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
Its roots are always in others and in times past. Our beginning in life coincides with a debt for life. Piety requires us to be grateful to those who begot us and gave birth to us. It also evokes in us a duty to give what we have so that we can give to our descendents as our ancestors gave to us. Piety―by honoring what was poured out from the past to become our own living substance―enlarges and enriches us and pays back in some little way the debt we owe for our existence and upbringing. It disposes us to give thanks and to live in such a manner that we ourselves may one day become worthy objects for the thanks of others.
The Enemy of Piety is “Me”
The great enemy of piety is individualism. Individualism is the illusion that we are somehow self-made, self-reliant, and self-sufficient. It is essentially an anti-social form of thinking that belongs to Nietzsche, Rousseau, Sartre, and Ayn Rand rather than to Socrates, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and many other sane and sound “pious” thinkers and theologians.
The soul or driving force of individualism is unrestrained choice. Abortion, for example, is presumed to be a private affair. Magically, as its advocates allege, it affects neither the child, its father, the family, nor society! “Individuality” is the result of a fall from grace. Adam and Eve behaved as persons until sin reduced them to individuals. As individuals, they began lusting after each other. The aprons of fig leaves they fashioned indicated that they were profoundly ashamed of their new identities as self-centered and self-absorbed individuals.
Yes, individualism leaves us largely closed in our closet of self and pathetically self-conscious―and, as a consequence, not very pious, but impious―in the sense that we think very little or nothing of others, only of ourselves. “Me” comes first!
So many of our struggles in this modern era center on a loss of piety, a loss of love and duty owed to God, our families, our community, the Church and nation. God no longer comes first―He is usually placed somewhere down the ladder of importance. Our families and our duties to them and the wider community are sacrificed on the “altar” of self-love and self-aggrandizement. Divorce and cohabitation stab at the heart of families ties and family loyalty. We indulge our sexual passions and selfishly cling to our supposed right to be happy―at the high cost of a devastated family structure, and a heavy-laden community. Yet despite this impious self-indulgence, Church and nation are somehow supposed to carry the weight of our imprudent and selfish choices. We speak incessantly of rights―but almost never of duties. Love of me, and what I “owe myself” is alive and well―but love and duty toward God, Church, family, community, and nation has grown cold.
Impiously Cutting Ourselves Off From the Past and Ancestors
We have significantly cut our ties with the past. Our ancestors and antiquity have little to say to us since we have closed our eyes and ears to them. This is especially true in the Church with regard to Tradition―the only authority is modern authority, which the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and what came after. The rich heritage, lessons and wisdom from the past―which the famous Catholic author, G.K. Chesterton called the “Democracy of the Dead”― has been cut off from modern times by a “Berlin Wall” of modern pride. Our love and respect for our ancestors and the duty we have to honor their wisdom is, to a large extent, gone. We imagine ourselves as having “come of age” and are arrogantly dismissive of past ages. As such our continuity with our ancestors and with the wisdom they accumulated is ruptured, and our mistakes are both predictable and often downright silly. As we indulge our passions, and are largely lacking in self-control, we, who pride ourselves as “come of age”, look more like silly and immature teenagers, than the technical titans we boast of being.
Some love to point to the errors of the past, such as slavery, in order to dismiss the past as one big package―with both its good and bad things. But this misses the point that we learn, not only from the good things of the past, but also from the errors of the past. How many of us have learnt much from the struggles, faults and failures of our parents―just as much as we have learnt their strengths and successes. We do not honor our ancestors because they are perfect. Rather we honor the collected wisdom they have handed on to us, some of which was discovered in the cauldron of struggle and sin.
Loss of Piety Leads to Loss of Learning and Intelligence
An inevitable consequence of the loss of piety is a noticeable loss of learning―despite the incredible advances in technology. In fact, the advances in technology stupefy and stupidify modern man. Faced with a problem, the brain is stupefied (paralyzed) and needs the help of some electronic app to solve the problem. The constant reliance on technology weakens, deadens and destroys the ability of man to think as well he would, could and should. Mental math is dead because of a total reliance on calculators and other mathematical tools. The ability to write correctly is lost with a reliance on spell-checkers. The ability to read is lost with software that will read out loud to you whatever printed text you put before it. Memory becomes unemployed and is destroyed by using things like the GPS in the car, or search engines, etc. Now you almost no longer need to think for yourself with advent of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”).
Without showing respect and honor to parents, teachers and ancestors, there can be no learning. If you do not respect them, then you cannot or will not learn from them. Is it a surprise in this modern culture―which rejoices in youthful rebellion―that learning, tradition and Faith are in a grave crisis? With this constantly glorified rebellion in modern culture, teachers spend more time disciplining students or trying to keep order, than they spend giving quality learning time. The little quality teaching that takes place, is an inevitable cause of the little intelligence found in those rebellious students. Popular music and television end up doing more teaching than teachers do in the classroom! The general modern message is that “adults are stupid” and “out of touch”―so ignore them! Where there is no respect, there can be no learning.
In case you never realized this, the Fourth Commandment―“Honor thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayest live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land” (Deuteronomy 15:16)―is a commandment to piety, that is to say, a respect for parents. For God knows only too well that if a generation lacks piety, it cuts itself off from, not only from wise secular traditions, but also from Sacred Tradition. Without reverence, without piety, there is no learning and there is no Faith. We are cut off from the glorious wisdom God entrusted to our ancestors―such as the Father and Doctors of the Church, and the perennial teaching Magisterium of the Church. It is hardly surprising that in our present times of independence and individualism, that the Faith is seen to be secondary, trivial or even irrelevant to many Catholics, and, as a reflection of this spirit, the churches are increasingly empty―empty minds and empty churches, due to the emptying out of piety.
Lack of Piety Spells Doom
We need a resurrection of piety―a restoration of piety―or we are doomed. Pray for piety. Learn about piety. Study piety. Understand piety. Pray for the gift of strong and abiding love for God, for the Faith, for the Church, for your family, for the community and the nation. Pray too for a deep love and respect for the ancestors who have gone before us, stretching back into antiquity. We owe a great debt to our family, nation, Church and ancestors. They have much to teach us, not only by their strengths, but also by their struggles. Scripture says: “Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange new doctrines!” (Hebrews 13:7-9). “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)―those times with those fables are upon us! No piety leads to no respect. No piety leads to no appreciation. No piety leads to pride and kills humility. If we do not recapture and practice the virtue of piety more fully in the modern world, then our culture is doomed―so too is our spiritual life doomed! Piety is like a glue that holds us together. Without its precious effects, we fall apart into factions, our families dissolve, and the “weave” of our culture gives way to being torn and dry rot.
Piety Party Part 2
Reading all of the above, you might think that you have a pretty good grasp on piety! Think again! The above information deals mainly with piety as a NATURAL VIRTUE. The natural virtue of piety is not the same thing as the SUPERNATURAL Gift of Piety that comes from the Holy Ghost! Huh? Yes! In the same way as the natural virtue of fortitude is not the same as the supernatural Gift of Fortitude that also comes the Holy Ghost. The same applies to all the Gifts of the Holy Ghost ― Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom ― even though those things obviously exist on a natural level (even pagans can have those virtues), there are differences between the NATURAL versions and the SUPERNATURAL versions―even though they go by the same name.
According to tradition and St. Thomas Aquinas, the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost are present in every soul that is in the state of sanctifying grace. It is the common opinion of the Doctors of the Church that without the Gifts of the Holy Ghost it is impossible to reach high levels in practicing the Moral Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude being the four chief ones) and the Theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity). The gifts of the Holy Ghost make us act in a superhuman, or supra-human manner―that is to say, in a more spiritual and supernatural manner.
The following table shows which Virtues are influenced by which Gifts:
The Theological Virtue of CHARITY is perfected by the GIFT OF WISDOM
The Theological Virtue of FAITH is perfected by the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
The Theological Virtue of HOPE is perfected by the GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE and the GIFT OF FEAR
The Moral Virtue of PRUDENCE is perfected by the GIFT OF COUNSEL
The Moral Virtue of JUSTICE (with its sub-virtues of RELIGION, PENANCE & OBEDIENCE) is perfected by the GIFT OF PIETY
The Moral Virtue of FORTITUDE (with its sub-virtue of PATIENCE) is perfected by the GIFT OF FORTITUDE
The Moral Virtue of TEMPERANCE (with its sub-virtues of HUMILITY, MEEKNESS & CHASTITY) is perfected by the GIFT OF FEAR
POPE LEO XIII, in his 1897 encyclical on the Holy Ghost, Divinum illud munus, declares that to complete our supernatural life, we need the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. He writes: “The just man―that is to say, he who lives the life of divine grace and acts by virtue―has need of those seven gifts, which are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means of the Gifts, the soul is furnished and strengthened so as to be able to obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. Wherefore these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to the highest degree of sanctity; and these Gifts are of such an excellence that they continue to exist even in Heaven, though in a more perfect way. By means of these gifts the soul is excited and encouraged to seek after and attain eternal beatitude .... These sublime truths, which so clearly show forth the infinite goodness of the Holy Ghost towards us, certainly demand that we should direct towards Him the highest homage of our love and devotion. Christians may do this most effectually if they will daily strive to know Him, to love Him, and to implore Him more earnestly.... What should be chiefly dwelt dwelt upon and clearly explained is the multitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and are constantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver.... We owe to the Holy Ghost love, because He is God .... He is also to be loved because He is the substantial, eternal, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than love .... In the second place it will obtain for us a still more abundant supply of heavenly gifts; for whilst a narrow heart contracts the hand of the giver, a grateful and mindful heart causes it to expand .... Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His Charity: for, thus inspired with Faith and Love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since ‘He is the pledge of our inheritance.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS teaches that the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, while being different from the Infused Virtues, are found in all the just, for they are connected with charity. The seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, being connected with charity, are part of our spiritual organism and are necessary for our perfection. Furthermore, St. Thomas says that the Gifts are necessary for salvation, because a just man may find himself in difficult circumstances, where even the Infused Virtues would not suffice and where he would need a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to Whom the Gifts make us docile. St. Thomas likewise considers that the Gifts of the Holy Ghost intervene rather frequently in ordinary circumstances of our lives, in order to give to the acts of virtue, in generous interior souls, an increased perfection―which is an impulse, and a promptness which would not exist without the superior intervention of the Holy Ghost.
For the next four paragraphs, let us get a little “technical” or “theological” and turn to Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, and his book, The Spiritual Life, for some brief examples and explanations as to how the Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Ghost work:
The Roles of Virtues and Gifts
FR. ADOLPHE TANQUEREY writes: “The Gifts of the Holy Ghost, if cultivated with care, give the soul a certain docility that makes it more submissive to the inspirations of God’s grace … Fostering the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, develops a marvelous responsiveness to the least touch of grace, and becoming each day more and more like its Father in Heaven … The Gifts of the Holy Ghost perfect our faculties and endow us with the immediate power of performing Godlike, supernatural, meritorious acts … Without the Gifts, the union of the soul with God … remains veiled and obscure, its growth is gradual, its effects are perceived more and more clearly in proportion as we make efforts to cultivate Faith and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Fervent souls, who long for this divine union, are ever possessed of an urgent desire to advance further each day in the practice of virtue and the use of these Gifts.
“In order to act and develop, the supernatural life―that is given to our souls by habitual grace (sanctifying grace)―requires within us faculties that are likewise of a supernatural character. These supernatural faculties or powers have been given to us by God in the form of Infused Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude) and Gifts of the Holy Ghost (Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding, Wisdom). As Pope Leo XIII tells us: ‘The just man, living the life of grace and acting through the Infused Virtues that fulfill the function of faculties, also stands in need of the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost.’ In fact, it is only appropriate that our natural faculties which of themselves can produce but natural acts, should be perfected and deified by supernatural infused habits to place them on a supernatural plane and enable them to act supernaturally. Because God’s generosity knows no bounds, He has given us twofold benefits: first, the Infused Virtues (see list above) which, directed by Prudence, enable us to act supernaturally with the help of Actual Grace (a temporary, passing grace); then, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost making us so docile to the influence of the Holy Ghost that we are, so to speak, moved and directed by that divine Spirit, guided by a sort of divine instinct. Here it must be noted that these Gifts―conferred as they are together with the Virtues and Habitual Grace [Sanctifying Grace]―do not exert a frequent or an intensive action―except in the case of truly mortified souls, who have, by a prolonged practice of the Moral and Theological Virtues, acquired that supernatural docility and ease, that renders those souls completely obedient to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.”
“The essential difference between the Infused Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude) and Gifts of the Holy Ghost (Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding, Wisdom) consists in their different mode of action within us. In the practice of Virtue, grace lets us act under the influence of Prudence. In the use of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, once those Gifts have reached their full development, grace demands of us a docility rather than activity. A comparison will help us to understand this: When a mother teaches her child to walk, she at times simply leads him while supporting him at the same time, so that he may not fall; at other times she takes him in her arms to help him over some obstacle in the way, or to allow him to rest a while. The first case illustrates the influence of the Virtues, the second case shows the influence of the Gifts. From this it follows that, normally, the acts performed under the influence of the Gifts are more perfect than those accomplished under the sole influence of the Virtues―precisely because, in the former case, the operation of the Holy Ghost is more active and also more fruitful.”
“The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are in no way superior to the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This is evident if we but think of divine Charity. The function of the Gifts is that of perfecting the exercise of the Virtues. By the Gift of Understanding we can penetrate farther into the truths of Faith to discover the hidden treasures and discern the mysterious harmony therein contained. The Gift of Knowledge makes us look upon creatures from the point of view of their relation to their Maker. The Gift of Fear, by weaning us from the false goods of Earth that might allure us into sin, fortifies the Theological Virtue of Hope and intensifies our desire for the happiness of Heaven. The Gift of Wisdom makes us relish divine things, which then increases our love of God. The Gift of Counsel crowns the Virtue of Prudence by showing us, in exceptional or difficult cases, what should do or not do. The Gift of Piety perfects the Virtue of Religion, making us recognize in God a Father whom we delight in glorifying by love. The Gift of Fortitude perfects the natural virtue of fortitude, which bears the same name, by urging us on to what is more heroic in endurance and in daring. The Gift of Fear, besides rendering easy the practice of Hope, also perfects the Virtue of Temperance by inspiring in us a dread of the penalty of sin and of the ills issuing from the illicit love of pleasure.”
The Gift of Piety and the Natural Virtue of Piety―Cousins, Not Brothers
They both have the same last name―Piety―but they come from different families. One comes from a natural family, the other comes from a supernatural family―yet they both have roots in the same “ancestor”―God.
The natural virtue of piety demands that we repay our parents for the benefits received from them―benefits which, in fact, can never be fully repaid! For how can we fittingly repay them for the life they have given us? But the supernatural Gift of Piety goes way beyond that into the realm of the infinite―for the maker and giver this Gift is the infinite God the Father Himself.
The natural virtue of religion produces in us gratitude to God for numberless benefits received in the natural and the supernatural order, and honor and devotion to Him who has sovereignty over our being. It prompts us to respond to His kindness and mercy, and to fulfill our duties toward Him as our Supreme Ruler, by means of the acts of religion. But the Gift of Piety is not concerned with what is owed to God―it does not measure the honor due to Him by weighing-up the benefits that have been received from Him. The Gift of Piety is inspired by the Spirit of adoption, by which we have become adopted children of God and thus we call upon God as our Father. Since He is our Father, we should have a deep filial affection for Him in our hearts, because it is proper that children love their Father. The Gift of Piety, or rather, the Holy Spirit through the Gift of Piety, develops in us this filial affection; and thus we are concerned about the honor and glory of our Father because we are His children.
The natural virtue of religion sees God as the Supreme Ruler of the Universe; whereas the Gift of Piety sees Him as Father of a loving family. The virtue of religion takes account of benefits received from God, the Gift of Piety leads the soul to say: “He is my Father; therefore I must bear in mind His honor, His glory, and His greatness.”
Piety, in the natural order and in the order of the virtues, refers principally to our parents and, as a logical consequence, to the fulfillment of our duties toward all our relatives, toward all who make up our family, even to love of country.
Piety, as the Gift of the Holy Spirit, leads us to knowledge of God the Father, and to a sense of our fraternity with all men; for all men are our brothers if God is our Father. The Gift of Piety communicates the spirit of the family of God to us. It places in the soul a truly filial tenderness toward our Heavenly Father.
This is the primary and fundamental effect of the Gift of Piety. It arouses in the soul a filial abandonment in the arms of the Heavenly Father. It makes us see in our neighbor a son of God and a brother in Jesus Christ. It moves us to love and devotion for the persons and things related to the Fatherhood of God or Christian brotherhood. The Gift of Piety perfects and intensifies the soul’s filial love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom it considers as a tender Mother and in whom it has all the confidence that a child has in the best of mothers. The soul tenderly loves the angels and the saints, whom it considers as its older brothers. It wishes to see its country imbued with the spirit of Jesus Christ in its laws and customs.
Supernatural Piety Towards Our Spiritual Brothers and Sisters
The Gift of Piety through sanctifying grace, arouses in the will, through the motion of the Holy Ghost, a filial affection and love for God considered as a Father, and a sentiment of universal brotherhood for all men as our brothers and as children of the same heavenly Father. The Gift of Piety extends to all men so far as they are children of the same heavenly Father. It also extends to everything pertaining to the worship of God―perfecting the virtue of religion to the highest degree―or to justice and the other virtues related to it, fulfilling all their demands and obligations because of a nobler reason and a higher formality: It considers them as duties toward one’s brethren, who are children and family of God.
Just as the virtue of piety is the family virtue par excellence, on a higher and more universal level, it is the Gift of Piety that unites and congregates, under the loving gaze of the heavenly Father, the great family of the children of God. The Gift of Piety is absolutely necessary in order to perfect, to a heroic degree, all that is related to the virtue of justice and the other virtues related to justice, especially those of religion and piety. What a difference there is, for example, in practicing the worship of God only under the impulse of the virtue of religion, which presents God to us as Creator and Supreme Lord, from practicing the same worship under the movement of the Gift of Piety, which enables us to see God as a most loving Father! The things pertaining to the service of God (worship, adoration, prayer, sacrifice, and the like) are then fulfilled almost without effort and with exquisite perfection and delicacy―because they are not done with the attitude of a servant, but are done with the attitude of a loving child in the service of the Father, and no longer just the God of tremendous majesty.
According to St. Thomas, there are three beatitudes that flow from the Gift of Piety:
(a) Blessed are the meek, because meekness removes the impediments to the exercise of piety;
(b) Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, because the Gift of Piety perfects the works of the virtue of justice and all derived from it;
(c) Blessed are the merciful, because piety is exercised in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 121, art. 2).
Goodness and benignity are the fruits of the Holy Ghost that should be attributed directly to the Gift of Piety, and the fruit of meekness should be attributed indirectly, inasmuch as it removes the impediments to the acts of
piety (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 121, art. 2, ad 3).
Opposed Vices―Hardness of Heart
The vices opposed to the Gift of Piety can be grouped under the general name of “impiety” because, as it belongs to the Gift of Piety to offer to God with filial affection whatever pertains to Him as our Father, anything that in one form or another involves a deliberate avoidance of this duty deserves to be called impious. Pope St. Gregory the Great names hardness of heart as opposed to the Gift of Piety―since it is born of a disorderly love of self.
The great French Jesuit theologian, Father Lallemant (1578–1635), has this to say on hardness of heart:
“The vice that is opposed to the Gift of Piety is hardness of heart, which springs out of an ill-regulated love of ourselves; for this love makes us naturally sensible only to our own interests, so that nothing affects us except in reference to ourselves. We behold the offences done against God without tears, and the miseries of our neighbor without compassion; we are unwilling to incommode ourselves to oblige others; we cannot put up with their faults; we inveigh against them on the slightest ground, and harbor in our hearts feelings of bitterness and resentment, hatred and antipathy, against them.”
This hardness is worst in the great ones of the world, in rich misers and greedy materialists, and in those who never soften their hearts by exercises of piety and familiarity with spiritual things. It is also often to be found amongst men of learning―who do not join devotion to knowledge and who, to disguise this fault from themselves, call it “strength of mind”; but the truly learned have always been the most pious, such as St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernard; St. Robert Bellarmine, etc. A soul which cannot weep for its sins―at least with tears of the heart―is full either of impiety or of impurity, one or the other, as is generally the case with those whose heart is hardened.
It is a great misfortune when natural and acquired talents are more esteemed in religion than piety. You will sometimes see religious, and perhaps superiors, who will loudly declare that they attach much more value to a practical active mind than to all those petty devotions, which, they say, are all very well for women, but are unbecoming in a “strong mind”, meaning by “strength of mind” a hardness of heart, which is so opposed to the spirit of piety. They ought to bear in mind that devotion is an act of religion, or a fruit of religion and of Charity, and consequently that it is to be preferred to all the moral virtues, religion following immediately in order of dignity the theological virtues.
A “God-Touching” Piety! Is This You?
Here is the account of a clear incident involving the Gift of Piety, as witnessed by a priest: “Passing a country Church one day I entered; a few devout worshippers were kneeling in quiet prayer. Some were praying on their Rosary beads before the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mother; others were reading an indulgenced prayer, copies of which were conveniently placed in every seat. Suddenly a little child of five summers came, knelt and prayed before the tabernacle. Her little companions departed―swiftly as is their tendency―and smiling benignly; but she, having made a perfect genuflection, arose and, in the tenderest, most loving way, waved her tiny hand to the Blessed Sacrament after the manner of parting friends. She repeated it at intervals until she reached the door; then, after another genuflection and she withdrew, her countenance bearing marks of intense grief. Poets and painters, I thought, hunt the globe for subjects for pen and brush, whilst the piety of this little peasant girl, worthy to be immortalized, falls like good seed upon a bleak, barren rock. God is a simple Being; our holy Religion is that of little children, a Religion all of love-love of God our Father, of Jesus our Brother and Friend. That was an example of Catholic Piety, and of that Gift which makes us love Him.”
What is piety? What is pious? In this modern age of impiety, “piety” and being “pious” seem like more of a joke or an insult. “Oh, she’s putting on her piety again!” … “Hey! Here comes pious Pete the holy roller!” The word “pious” can be used positively to describe those who are dutiful, religious or virtuous―and it can be used negatively to describe hypocrisy. The dictionary will define “piety” as “the quality of being religious or reverent; a fidelity to natural obligations (as to parents), or a dutifulness towards God.” While “pious” is defined as being “devoutly religious; having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations.” The dictionary also gives the negative sense of “piety” as “characterized by a hypocritical concern with virtue or religious devotion; sanctimonious; pretended religious motives; falsely earnest or falsely sincere.”
Since “piety” and “piousness” is mainly associated with religion, most people these days dislike being labeled as being “pious” because being “religious” is seen as being a “soft-touch”, something for ‘softies’ but not ‘real men’, or as a “weakness” that is unsuitable for the ‘macho-man’ of today, as something “pusillanimous” showing “a lack of courage or determination; timid” ― thus the word “piety” or “pious” is more often used in mocking way, more so than a word of sincere praise. Its use seems to convey more of a hypocrisy than religiosity. The reason for this is generally the fact that most people are grossly lacking in piety towards God and, consequently, their consciences are feel uncomfortable when faced by true piety.
Piety is seen as a petty virtue―but petty piety does not exclude courage, fortitude and manliness. Just as meek does not mean weak, neither is piety petty. In fact, some of the most pious people have been among the most fearsome warriors for the Faith―often seeing their piety lead them through tortures to martyrdom. Christ is the best example of the virtue of piety harnessed to manliness, or “machoness” if you want a more modern label.
Piety Goes Back a Long Way
Despite the modern world seeing the word “piety” a largely being associated with being religious―which is true to certain degree―its original meaning was far wider and richer. The English word “piety” comes from the Latin “pietas”, which meant a dutiful conduct, a sense of duty―to the gods, to the country, and to one’s family members (parents, children, siblings, relatives) and friends. In short, the Latina “pietas” which we translate as “piety” in English, speaks of duty, dutifulness, affection, love, loyalty, patriotism, gratitude, gentleness, kindness, tenderness, pity and compassion. It speaks of family love, and, by extension, love for one’s ancestors, of one’s country, and surely of God. Cicero defined “pietas” as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.”
For the ancient Romans piety was one of the highest virtues―since it was the virtue that knit families and ultimately all society together in love, loyalty and a shared, reciprocal duty. Piety also extends and shoots its roots into our past by giving proper reverence to ancestors. Cicero ― the statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher and academic of Ancient Rome ― said: “Piety is justice toward the gods,” and “the foundation of all virtues.”
In Ancient Greece, piety was a favorite virtue of the philosopher, Socrates. Far from considering himself a self-made man, Socrates gave full credit for whatever civility he enjoyed to those who preceded him. Today, there is a tendency is to cut oneself off from the past and attribute all success to oneself―the cult of the “self-made-man.” Modern thinkers speak of the man of self-reliance, “the sovereign individual, free, self-reliant, and alone in his greatness.” Their belief in the “greatness” of the individual is a dangerous illusion. It is a false presumption that naturally leads to pride―and, as Holy Scripture warns: “Pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15).
The basis of piety is the sober realization that we owe our existence and our substance to powers beyond ourselves―in both the supernatural and natural spheres―to God and to our parents, and, by extension, to our teachers of all kinds to whom we owe our knowledge, our training and our skills. We are social, communal beings. We are not islands―we are part of the mainland, so to speak.
“Greatness” ― the apple of modern man’s eye ― is never a purely individual accomplishment. Christ hits the nail on the head when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), to which Holy Scripture adds: “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17). “Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
Its roots are always in others and in times past. Our beginning in life coincides with a debt for life. Piety requires us to be grateful to those who begot us and gave birth to us. It also evokes in us a duty to give what we have so that we can give to our descendents as our ancestors gave to us. Piety―by honoring what was poured out from the past to become our own living substance―enlarges and enriches us and pays back in some little way the debt we owe for our existence and upbringing. It disposes us to give thanks and to live in such a manner that we ourselves may one day become worthy objects for the thanks of others.
The Enemy of Piety is “Me”
The great enemy of piety is individualism. Individualism is the illusion that we are somehow self-made, self-reliant, and self-sufficient. It is essentially an anti-social form of thinking that belongs to Nietzsche, Rousseau, Sartre, and Ayn Rand rather than to Socrates, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and many other sane and sound “pious” thinkers and theologians.
The soul or driving force of individualism is unrestrained choice. Abortion, for example, is presumed to be a private affair. Magically, as its advocates allege, it affects neither the child, its father, the family, nor society! “Individuality” is the result of a fall from grace. Adam and Eve behaved as persons until sin reduced them to individuals. As individuals, they began lusting after each other. The aprons of fig leaves they fashioned indicated that they were profoundly ashamed of their new identities as self-centered and self-absorbed individuals.
Yes, individualism leaves us largely closed in our closet of self and pathetically self-conscious―and, as a consequence, not very pious, but impious―in the sense that we think very little or nothing of others, only of ourselves. “Me” comes first!
So many of our struggles in this modern era center on a loss of piety, a loss of love and duty owed to God, our families, our community, the Church and nation. God no longer comes first―He is usually placed somewhere down the ladder of importance. Our families and our duties to them and the wider community are sacrificed on the “altar” of self-love and self-aggrandizement. Divorce and cohabitation stab at the heart of families ties and family loyalty. We indulge our sexual passions and selfishly cling to our supposed right to be happy―at the high cost of a devastated family structure, and a heavy-laden community. Yet despite this impious self-indulgence, Church and nation are somehow supposed to carry the weight of our imprudent and selfish choices. We speak incessantly of rights―but almost never of duties. Love of me, and what I “owe myself” is alive and well―but love and duty toward God, Church, family, community, and nation has grown cold.
Impiously Cutting Ourselves Off From the Past and Ancestors
We have significantly cut our ties with the past. Our ancestors and antiquity have little to say to us since we have closed our eyes and ears to them. This is especially true in the Church with regard to Tradition―the only authority is modern authority, which the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and what came after. The rich heritage, lessons and wisdom from the past―which the famous Catholic author, G.K. Chesterton called the “Democracy of the Dead”― has been cut off from modern times by a “Berlin Wall” of modern pride. Our love and respect for our ancestors and the duty we have to honor their wisdom is, to a large extent, gone. We imagine ourselves as having “come of age” and are arrogantly dismissive of past ages. As such our continuity with our ancestors and with the wisdom they accumulated is ruptured, and our mistakes are both predictable and often downright silly. As we indulge our passions, and are largely lacking in self-control, we, who pride ourselves as “come of age”, look more like silly and immature teenagers, than the technical titans we boast of being.
Some love to point to the errors of the past, such as slavery, in order to dismiss the past as one big package―with both its good and bad things. But this misses the point that we learn, not only from the good things of the past, but also from the errors of the past. How many of us have learnt much from the struggles, faults and failures of our parents―just as much as we have learnt their strengths and successes. We do not honor our ancestors because they are perfect. Rather we honor the collected wisdom they have handed on to us, some of which was discovered in the cauldron of struggle and sin.
Loss of Piety Leads to Loss of Learning and Intelligence
An inevitable consequence of the loss of piety is a noticeable loss of learning―despite the incredible advances in technology. In fact, the advances in technology stupefy and stupidify modern man. Faced with a problem, the brain is stupefied (paralyzed) and needs the help of some electronic app to solve the problem. The constant reliance on technology weakens, deadens and destroys the ability of man to think as well he would, could and should. Mental math is dead because of a total reliance on calculators and other mathematical tools. The ability to write correctly is lost with a reliance on spell-checkers. The ability to read is lost with software that will read out loud to you whatever printed text you put before it. Memory becomes unemployed and is destroyed by using things like the GPS in the car, or search engines, etc. Now you almost no longer need to think for yourself with advent of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”).
Without showing respect and honor to parents, teachers and ancestors, there can be no learning. If you do not respect them, then you cannot or will not learn from them. Is it a surprise in this modern culture―which rejoices in youthful rebellion―that learning, tradition and Faith are in a grave crisis? With this constantly glorified rebellion in modern culture, teachers spend more time disciplining students or trying to keep order, than they spend giving quality learning time. The little quality teaching that takes place, is an inevitable cause of the little intelligence found in those rebellious students. Popular music and television end up doing more teaching than teachers do in the classroom! The general modern message is that “adults are stupid” and “out of touch”―so ignore them! Where there is no respect, there can be no learning.
In case you never realized this, the Fourth Commandment―“Honor thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayest live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land” (Deuteronomy 15:16)―is a commandment to piety, that is to say, a respect for parents. For God knows only too well that if a generation lacks piety, it cuts itself off from, not only from wise secular traditions, but also from Sacred Tradition. Without reverence, without piety, there is no learning and there is no Faith. We are cut off from the glorious wisdom God entrusted to our ancestors―such as the Father and Doctors of the Church, and the perennial teaching Magisterium of the Church. It is hardly surprising that in our present times of independence and individualism, that the Faith is seen to be secondary, trivial or even irrelevant to many Catholics, and, as a reflection of this spirit, the churches are increasingly empty―empty minds and empty churches, due to the emptying out of piety.
Lack of Piety Spells Doom
We need a resurrection of piety―a restoration of piety―or we are doomed. Pray for piety. Learn about piety. Study piety. Understand piety. Pray for the gift of strong and abiding love for God, for the Faith, for the Church, for your family, for the community and the nation. Pray too for a deep love and respect for the ancestors who have gone before us, stretching back into antiquity. We owe a great debt to our family, nation, Church and ancestors. They have much to teach us, not only by their strengths, but also by their struggles. Scripture says: “Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange new doctrines!” (Hebrews 13:7-9). “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)―those times with those fables are upon us! No piety leads to no respect. No piety leads to no appreciation. No piety leads to pride and kills humility. If we do not recapture and practice the virtue of piety more fully in the modern world, then our culture is doomed―so too is our spiritual life doomed! Piety is like a glue that holds us together. Without its precious effects, we fall apart into factions, our families dissolve, and the “weave” of our culture gives way to being torn and dry rot.
Piety Party Part 2
Reading all of the above, you might think that you have a pretty good grasp on piety! Think again! The above information deals mainly with piety as a NATURAL VIRTUE. The natural virtue of piety is not the same thing as the SUPERNATURAL Gift of Piety that comes from the Holy Ghost! Huh? Yes! In the same way as the natural virtue of fortitude is not the same as the supernatural Gift of Fortitude that also comes the Holy Ghost. The same applies to all the Gifts of the Holy Ghost ― Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom ― even though those things obviously exist on a natural level (even pagans can have those virtues), there are differences between the NATURAL versions and the SUPERNATURAL versions―even though they go by the same name.
According to tradition and St. Thomas Aquinas, the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost are present in every soul that is in the state of sanctifying grace. It is the common opinion of the Doctors of the Church that without the Gifts of the Holy Ghost it is impossible to reach high levels in practicing the Moral Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude being the four chief ones) and the Theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity). The gifts of the Holy Ghost make us act in a superhuman, or supra-human manner―that is to say, in a more spiritual and supernatural manner.
The following table shows which Virtues are influenced by which Gifts:
The Theological Virtue of CHARITY is perfected by the GIFT OF WISDOM
The Theological Virtue of FAITH is perfected by the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
The Theological Virtue of HOPE is perfected by the GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE and the GIFT OF FEAR
The Moral Virtue of PRUDENCE is perfected by the GIFT OF COUNSEL
The Moral Virtue of JUSTICE (with its sub-virtues of RELIGION, PENANCE & OBEDIENCE) is perfected by the GIFT OF PIETY
The Moral Virtue of FORTITUDE (with its sub-virtue of PATIENCE) is perfected by the GIFT OF FORTITUDE
The Moral Virtue of TEMPERANCE (with its sub-virtues of HUMILITY, MEEKNESS & CHASTITY) is perfected by the GIFT OF FEAR
POPE LEO XIII, in his 1897 encyclical on the Holy Ghost, Divinum illud munus, declares that to complete our supernatural life, we need the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. He writes: “The just man―that is to say, he who lives the life of divine grace and acts by virtue―has need of those seven gifts, which are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means of the Gifts, the soul is furnished and strengthened so as to be able to obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. Wherefore these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to the highest degree of sanctity; and these Gifts are of such an excellence that they continue to exist even in Heaven, though in a more perfect way. By means of these gifts the soul is excited and encouraged to seek after and attain eternal beatitude .... These sublime truths, which so clearly show forth the infinite goodness of the Holy Ghost towards us, certainly demand that we should direct towards Him the highest homage of our love and devotion. Christians may do this most effectually if they will daily strive to know Him, to love Him, and to implore Him more earnestly.... What should be chiefly dwelt dwelt upon and clearly explained is the multitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and are constantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver.... We owe to the Holy Ghost love, because He is God .... He is also to be loved because He is the substantial, eternal, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than love .... In the second place it will obtain for us a still more abundant supply of heavenly gifts; for whilst a narrow heart contracts the hand of the giver, a grateful and mindful heart causes it to expand .... Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His Charity: for, thus inspired with Faith and Love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since ‘He is the pledge of our inheritance.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS teaches that the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, while being different from the Infused Virtues, are found in all the just, for they are connected with charity. The seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, being connected with charity, are part of our spiritual organism and are necessary for our perfection. Furthermore, St. Thomas says that the Gifts are necessary for salvation, because a just man may find himself in difficult circumstances, where even the Infused Virtues would not suffice and where he would need a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to Whom the Gifts make us docile. St. Thomas likewise considers that the Gifts of the Holy Ghost intervene rather frequently in ordinary circumstances of our lives, in order to give to the acts of virtue, in generous interior souls, an increased perfection―which is an impulse, and a promptness which would not exist without the superior intervention of the Holy Ghost.
For the next four paragraphs, let us get a little “technical” or “theological” and turn to Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, and his book, The Spiritual Life, for some brief examples and explanations as to how the Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Ghost work:
The Roles of Virtues and Gifts
FR. ADOLPHE TANQUEREY writes: “The Gifts of the Holy Ghost, if cultivated with care, give the soul a certain docility that makes it more submissive to the inspirations of God’s grace … Fostering the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, develops a marvelous responsiveness to the least touch of grace, and becoming each day more and more like its Father in Heaven … The Gifts of the Holy Ghost perfect our faculties and endow us with the immediate power of performing Godlike, supernatural, meritorious acts … Without the Gifts, the union of the soul with God … remains veiled and obscure, its growth is gradual, its effects are perceived more and more clearly in proportion as we make efforts to cultivate Faith and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Fervent souls, who long for this divine union, are ever possessed of an urgent desire to advance further each day in the practice of virtue and the use of these Gifts.
“In order to act and develop, the supernatural life―that is given to our souls by habitual grace (sanctifying grace)―requires within us faculties that are likewise of a supernatural character. These supernatural faculties or powers have been given to us by God in the form of Infused Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude) and Gifts of the Holy Ghost (Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding, Wisdom). As Pope Leo XIII tells us: ‘The just man, living the life of grace and acting through the Infused Virtues that fulfill the function of faculties, also stands in need of the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost.’ In fact, it is only appropriate that our natural faculties which of themselves can produce but natural acts, should be perfected and deified by supernatural infused habits to place them on a supernatural plane and enable them to act supernaturally. Because God’s generosity knows no bounds, He has given us twofold benefits: first, the Infused Virtues (see list above) which, directed by Prudence, enable us to act supernaturally with the help of Actual Grace (a temporary, passing grace); then, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost making us so docile to the influence of the Holy Ghost that we are, so to speak, moved and directed by that divine Spirit, guided by a sort of divine instinct. Here it must be noted that these Gifts―conferred as they are together with the Virtues and Habitual Grace [Sanctifying Grace]―do not exert a frequent or an intensive action―except in the case of truly mortified souls, who have, by a prolonged practice of the Moral and Theological Virtues, acquired that supernatural docility and ease, that renders those souls completely obedient to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.”
“The essential difference between the Infused Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude) and Gifts of the Holy Ghost (Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding, Wisdom) consists in their different mode of action within us. In the practice of Virtue, grace lets us act under the influence of Prudence. In the use of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, once those Gifts have reached their full development, grace demands of us a docility rather than activity. A comparison will help us to understand this: When a mother teaches her child to walk, she at times simply leads him while supporting him at the same time, so that he may not fall; at other times she takes him in her arms to help him over some obstacle in the way, or to allow him to rest a while. The first case illustrates the influence of the Virtues, the second case shows the influence of the Gifts. From this it follows that, normally, the acts performed under the influence of the Gifts are more perfect than those accomplished under the sole influence of the Virtues―precisely because, in the former case, the operation of the Holy Ghost is more active and also more fruitful.”
“The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are in no way superior to the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This is evident if we but think of divine Charity. The function of the Gifts is that of perfecting the exercise of the Virtues. By the Gift of Understanding we can penetrate farther into the truths of Faith to discover the hidden treasures and discern the mysterious harmony therein contained. The Gift of Knowledge makes us look upon creatures from the point of view of their relation to their Maker. The Gift of Fear, by weaning us from the false goods of Earth that might allure us into sin, fortifies the Theological Virtue of Hope and intensifies our desire for the happiness of Heaven. The Gift of Wisdom makes us relish divine things, which then increases our love of God. The Gift of Counsel crowns the Virtue of Prudence by showing us, in exceptional or difficult cases, what should do or not do. The Gift of Piety perfects the Virtue of Religion, making us recognize in God a Father whom we delight in glorifying by love. The Gift of Fortitude perfects the natural virtue of fortitude, which bears the same name, by urging us on to what is more heroic in endurance and in daring. The Gift of Fear, besides rendering easy the practice of Hope, also perfects the Virtue of Temperance by inspiring in us a dread of the penalty of sin and of the ills issuing from the illicit love of pleasure.”
The Gift of Piety and the Natural Virtue of Piety―Cousins, Not Brothers
They both have the same last name―Piety―but they come from different families. One comes from a natural family, the other comes from a supernatural family―yet they both have roots in the same “ancestor”―God.
The natural virtue of piety demands that we repay our parents for the benefits received from them―benefits which, in fact, can never be fully repaid! For how can we fittingly repay them for the life they have given us? But the supernatural Gift of Piety goes way beyond that into the realm of the infinite―for the maker and giver this Gift is the infinite God the Father Himself.
The natural virtue of religion produces in us gratitude to God for numberless benefits received in the natural and the supernatural order, and honor and devotion to Him who has sovereignty over our being. It prompts us to respond to His kindness and mercy, and to fulfill our duties toward Him as our Supreme Ruler, by means of the acts of religion. But the Gift of Piety is not concerned with what is owed to God―it does not measure the honor due to Him by weighing-up the benefits that have been received from Him. The Gift of Piety is inspired by the Spirit of adoption, by which we have become adopted children of God and thus we call upon God as our Father. Since He is our Father, we should have a deep filial affection for Him in our hearts, because it is proper that children love their Father. The Gift of Piety, or rather, the Holy Spirit through the Gift of Piety, develops in us this filial affection; and thus we are concerned about the honor and glory of our Father because we are His children.
The natural virtue of religion sees God as the Supreme Ruler of the Universe; whereas the Gift of Piety sees Him as Father of a loving family. The virtue of religion takes account of benefits received from God, the Gift of Piety leads the soul to say: “He is my Father; therefore I must bear in mind His honor, His glory, and His greatness.”
Piety, in the natural order and in the order of the virtues, refers principally to our parents and, as a logical consequence, to the fulfillment of our duties toward all our relatives, toward all who make up our family, even to love of country.
Piety, as the Gift of the Holy Spirit, leads us to knowledge of God the Father, and to a sense of our fraternity with all men; for all men are our brothers if God is our Father. The Gift of Piety communicates the spirit of the family of God to us. It places in the soul a truly filial tenderness toward our Heavenly Father.
This is the primary and fundamental effect of the Gift of Piety. It arouses in the soul a filial abandonment in the arms of the Heavenly Father. It makes us see in our neighbor a son of God and a brother in Jesus Christ. It moves us to love and devotion for the persons and things related to the Fatherhood of God or Christian brotherhood. The Gift of Piety perfects and intensifies the soul’s filial love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom it considers as a tender Mother and in whom it has all the confidence that a child has in the best of mothers. The soul tenderly loves the angels and the saints, whom it considers as its older brothers. It wishes to see its country imbued with the spirit of Jesus Christ in its laws and customs.
Supernatural Piety Towards Our Spiritual Brothers and Sisters
The Gift of Piety through sanctifying grace, arouses in the will, through the motion of the Holy Ghost, a filial affection and love for God considered as a Father, and a sentiment of universal brotherhood for all men as our brothers and as children of the same heavenly Father. The Gift of Piety extends to all men so far as they are children of the same heavenly Father. It also extends to everything pertaining to the worship of God―perfecting the virtue of religion to the highest degree―or to justice and the other virtues related to it, fulfilling all their demands and obligations because of a nobler reason and a higher formality: It considers them as duties toward one’s brethren, who are children and family of God.
Just as the virtue of piety is the family virtue par excellence, on a higher and more universal level, it is the Gift of Piety that unites and congregates, under the loving gaze of the heavenly Father, the great family of the children of God. The Gift of Piety is absolutely necessary in order to perfect, to a heroic degree, all that is related to the virtue of justice and the other virtues related to justice, especially those of religion and piety. What a difference there is, for example, in practicing the worship of God only under the impulse of the virtue of religion, which presents God to us as Creator and Supreme Lord, from practicing the same worship under the movement of the Gift of Piety, which enables us to see God as a most loving Father! The things pertaining to the service of God (worship, adoration, prayer, sacrifice, and the like) are then fulfilled almost without effort and with exquisite perfection and delicacy―because they are not done with the attitude of a servant, but are done with the attitude of a loving child in the service of the Father, and no longer just the God of tremendous majesty.
According to St. Thomas, there are three beatitudes that flow from the Gift of Piety:
(a) Blessed are the meek, because meekness removes the impediments to the exercise of piety;
(b) Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, because the Gift of Piety perfects the works of the virtue of justice and all derived from it;
(c) Blessed are the merciful, because piety is exercised in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 121, art. 2).
Goodness and benignity are the fruits of the Holy Ghost that should be attributed directly to the Gift of Piety, and the fruit of meekness should be attributed indirectly, inasmuch as it removes the impediments to the acts of
piety (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 121, art. 2, ad 3).
Opposed Vices―Hardness of Heart
The vices opposed to the Gift of Piety can be grouped under the general name of “impiety” because, as it belongs to the Gift of Piety to offer to God with filial affection whatever pertains to Him as our Father, anything that in one form or another involves a deliberate avoidance of this duty deserves to be called impious. Pope St. Gregory the Great names hardness of heart as opposed to the Gift of Piety―since it is born of a disorderly love of self.
The great French Jesuit theologian, Father Lallemant (1578–1635), has this to say on hardness of heart:
“The vice that is opposed to the Gift of Piety is hardness of heart, which springs out of an ill-regulated love of ourselves; for this love makes us naturally sensible only to our own interests, so that nothing affects us except in reference to ourselves. We behold the offences done against God without tears, and the miseries of our neighbor without compassion; we are unwilling to incommode ourselves to oblige others; we cannot put up with their faults; we inveigh against them on the slightest ground, and harbor in our hearts feelings of bitterness and resentment, hatred and antipathy, against them.”
This hardness is worst in the great ones of the world, in rich misers and greedy materialists, and in those who never soften their hearts by exercises of piety and familiarity with spiritual things. It is also often to be found amongst men of learning―who do not join devotion to knowledge and who, to disguise this fault from themselves, call it “strength of mind”; but the truly learned have always been the most pious, such as St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernard; St. Robert Bellarmine, etc. A soul which cannot weep for its sins―at least with tears of the heart―is full either of impiety or of impurity, one or the other, as is generally the case with those whose heart is hardened.
It is a great misfortune when natural and acquired talents are more esteemed in religion than piety. You will sometimes see religious, and perhaps superiors, who will loudly declare that they attach much more value to a practical active mind than to all those petty devotions, which, they say, are all very well for women, but are unbecoming in a “strong mind”, meaning by “strength of mind” a hardness of heart, which is so opposed to the spirit of piety. They ought to bear in mind that devotion is an act of religion, or a fruit of religion and of Charity, and consequently that it is to be preferred to all the moral virtues, religion following immediately in order of dignity the theological virtues.
A “God-Touching” Piety! Is This You?
Here is the account of a clear incident involving the Gift of Piety, as witnessed by a priest: “Passing a country Church one day I entered; a few devout worshippers were kneeling in quiet prayer. Some were praying on their Rosary beads before the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mother; others were reading an indulgenced prayer, copies of which were conveniently placed in every seat. Suddenly a little child of five summers came, knelt and prayed before the tabernacle. Her little companions departed―swiftly as is their tendency―and smiling benignly; but she, having made a perfect genuflection, arose and, in the tenderest, most loving way, waved her tiny hand to the Blessed Sacrament after the manner of parting friends. She repeated it at intervals until she reached the door; then, after another genuflection and she withdrew, her countenance bearing marks of intense grief. Poets and painters, I thought, hunt the globe for subjects for pen and brush, whilst the piety of this little peasant girl, worthy to be immortalized, falls like good seed upon a bleak, barren rock. God is a simple Being; our holy Religion is that of little children, a Religion all of love-love of God our Father, of Jesus our Brother and Friend. That was an example of Catholic Piety, and of that Gift which makes us love Him.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday May 20th & Friday May 21st
Article 23
A Ghost That Leads From Fear to Love!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday May 20th & Friday May 21st
Article 23
A Ghost That Leads From Fear to Love!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Where Do Ghosts Come From?
Ghosts are spirits or bodiless souls. The English word “ghost” owes its origins to its Germanic cousins, whose language partially influenced the evolution of the English language. The English “ghost” comes from the Germanic “geist” (pronounced “guyst” as in “guys” with a “t” added on the end). The German word “geist” means “spirit”. In reference to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the old English translation of “Spiritus Sanctus” (or “Sanctus Spiritus” if you want to change the word order to fit English) is “Holy Ghost” ― though, as anyone can see, the original Latin has the word “spiritus”. Hence we use, correctly and interchangeably, both “Holy Spirit” and “Holy Ghost”.
Scared of Ghosts?
Are you scared of ghosts? Do you even believe in ghosts? Should we be afraid of ghosts? Interesting questions―complicated answers! If we are using the word “ghost” interchangeably with the word “spirit”―and not just in the modern-day sensationalized sense of “ghost” conjuring up ideas of “haunted-houses”―then we see (if you pardon the pun) many kinds of spirits. There is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Then we have all the angels, who are also spirits―for “spirit” as our first Catechism taught us, is a being without a body: “A spirit is a living being which is not material in its nature and which therefore cannot he seen or handled or made contact with by any of the senses. God is a Spirit; and an angel is a spirit; the human soul is a spirit. God and the angels are called pure spirits since they have no body. Man, on the contrary, is not a pure spirit; he is composed of body as well as soul. Man's body and the whole of the material creation must bear some remote likeness to God, for God must reflect His truth” (Fr. Cafferata, The Catechism Simply Explained, Question 5).
In addition to the spirits of God, angels and souls of human beings, there are also the evil spirits, that is to say the devils. Furthermore, all the souls of the deceased are also spirits ― separated from their dead bodies and awaiting the resurrection of those dead bodies at the end of time.
Should we be scared of these different spirits? Well, yes and no. Why yes and no? Because some kinds of fear can be said to be healthy forms of fear, and other kinds of fear can be said to be unhealthy kinds of fear. Holy Scripture frequently tells us both “fear” and “do not fear” ― depending upon a variety of circumstances. The bottom-line, the simplistic answer, is that there is no need to fear good things, but plenty of reasons to fear bad or evil things. Yet even when it comes to evil things―such as the evil spirits, that is the devils―there is no need to fear them per se, but we must fear cooperating with them.
Fear the Ghost of God
Of all the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Gift of Wisdom is the highest and the Gift of the Fear of the Lord is the lowest―being the “foundation of the building”, so to speak, much like humility is the foundation upon which all our virtues have to be built and charity has to be the soul, or moving power of all our virtues. Humility among the virtues can be said to be the spouse of or correspond to the “Fear of the Lord” among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―“The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 22:4). Whereas Charity among the virtues can be said to be the spouse or correspond to the “Wisdom” among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―for both are the “King” and “Queen” of the soul, with Wisdom being the pinnacle for the powers of the mind, and Charity being the pinnacle for the powers of the heart.
Yet just as we cannot build without laying solid foundations, likewise, God does not build without foundations―and the foundation of all the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost is the Gift of Fear of the Lord. It is the beginning or foundation of the Gift of Wisdom―and all the other gifts for that matter. “The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord!” (Ecclesiasticus 1:25). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction!” (Proverbs 1:7). “The fear of the Lord is the lesson of wisdom” (Proverbs 15:33). “To fear God is the fullness of wisdom” (Ecclesiasticus 1:20). “The fear of God is all wisdom!” (Ecclesiasticus 19:18). “The perfection of the fear of God is wisdom and understanding” (Ecclesiasticus 21:13). “Let thy glory be in the fear of God!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:22).
We must fear God and fear participating in evil―that is the very beginning of anyone’s and everyone’s relationship with God. “Fear God, and depart from evil!” (Proverbs 3:7). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord―that is wisdom! And to depart from evil―is understanding!” (Job 28:28). “By the fear of the Lord everyone declineth from evil” (Proverbs 15:27).
No Fear of God Leads to No Fear of Sin
One of the main reasons why sin has exploded exponentially is due to the fact that mankind has lost the sense of humility and a fear of God in both mind and heart. Original Sin was essentially a sin of pride―like that of the devils. Pride wears down and dissolves humility―which is a foundation for the Fear of the Lord―and pride turns the mind away from fearing God by making a god out of oneself, as Satan said to Eve, suggesting that she fear not God nor obey His commandments “No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods” (Genesis 3:4-5). Have no fear of God, Eve, and you will be a goddess for yourself! Eve lost her fear―and, as a result, she lost her sanctifying grace through sin.
The same is true today―that temptation of Satan has worked for thousands of years, and man gets no wiser! Because of our pride there is little humility, and with little or no humility, there is no fear of God, and with no fear of God there is sin galore―to the point where Our Lady had to say BACK IN 1956, which was far less sinful than 2021: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1895-1961, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956).
How few parents follow the example of Tobias of the Old Testament, who taught his son―also named Tobias―to avoid sin from his infancy: “From his infancy he taught him to fear God and to abstain from all sin” (Tobias 1:10). “Fear not, my son! We lead indeed a poor life―but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good!” (Tobias 4:23). “It shall be well with them that fear God, who dread His face!” (Ecclesiastes 8:12). Parents should be saying: “Come, children, listen to me―I will teach you the fear of the Lord!” (Psalm 33:12). Sadly, however―as the philosophical axiom says: “You cannot give what you have not got!”―most parents have themselves lost the Fear of the Lord, which is proved by the fact that over 80% no longer go Sunday Mass regularly, over 95% have practiced contraception, around 50% accept same sex marriages and same sex relationships, around 40% are accepting of abortion, etc.
Instead, the following words are more appropriately addressed to most families today―even Catholic families: “I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God!” (Exodus 9:30). “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalms 13:3). “They have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:29). “They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalms 13:3).
Sure―every Catholic received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in their seed form at their Baptism, the Fear of the Lord was among them. Furthermore, every Catholic, who later received the Sacrament of Confirmation, had those Gifts “activated”, so to speak. Yet those Gifts do not work automatically, nor do they override our deliberate indifference and lukewarmness―they require our cooperation through desire and efforts―without which they merely become unappreciated gifts that get stuffed in the closet―out of sight and out of mind. To recover our spiritual compass, to restore some kind of spiritual desire, to pull out of this fatal dive towards Hell that the “aeroplane” of most souls has entered, there needs to be a restoration of Humility and a Fear of the Lord.
Restoring the Fear of the Lord
We can Our Lady trying to produce (or restore) that Fear of the Lord during her apparitions at Fatima―especially by the vision of Hell shown to the three little children, as well as the horrific “Secrets of Fatima” that she revealed to them―the most terrible of which is “The Third Secret of Fatima”, of which Fr. Malachi Martin (who read the Secret) said: ““I was shown a copy of the Third Secret at the time Pope John XXIII opened it and sought the advice of a group of Cardinals in 1960 … The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!” After revealing the Secret is “much worse” than a natural disaster, he said it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts.”
We see the wonderful and powerful effects of the Fear of the Lord produced in the souls of the three little children of Fatima―aged 10 (Lucia), 9 (Francisco) and 7 (Jacinta)―by the vision of Hell. In her memoirs, Sister Lucia of Fatima writes (the following text of Lucia, since it is long, will not be italicized―italics will only be given to actual reported speech, that is to say the actual words spoken by Our Lady, or Jacinta, etc.):
Vision of Hell
Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the Earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
The Impressions Made by the Vision of Hell
Some of the things revealed in the secret made a very strong impression on her. This was indeed the case. The vision of Hell filled her with horror to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there. Well, I am now going to answer the second question, one which has come to me from various quarters.
How is it that Jacinta, small as she was, let herself be possessed by such a spirit of mortification and penance, and understood it so well? I think the reason is this: firstly, God willed to bestow on her a special grace, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, it was because she had looked upon Hell, and had seen the ruin of souls who fall therein.
False Fears of People Who Refuse to Speak About Hell
Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.
Jacinta’s Life Changed by Vision of Hell
Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”
Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: “Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!”
► At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: “Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?”
“I forgot,” I answered.
“I didn’t remember either!” she said, looking very sad.
► Sometimes, she also asked: “What are the sins people commit, for which they go to Hell?”
“I don’t know! Perhaps the sin of not going to Mass on Sunday, of stealing, of saying ugly words, of cursing and of swearing.”
“So for just one word, then, people can go to Hell?”
“Well―it’s a sin!”
“It wouldn’t be hard for them to keep quiet, and to go to Mass! I’m so sorry for sinners! If only I could show them Hell!”
► Suddenly, she would seize hold of me and say: “I’m going to Heaven, but you are staying here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they won’t commit any more sins and not go to Hell.”
At other times, after thinking for a while, she said: “So many people falling into Hell! So many people in Hell!”
To quieten her, I said: “Don’t be afraid! You’re going to Heaven.”
“Yes, I am,” she said serenely, “but I want all those people to go there too!”
► When, in a spirit of mortification, she did not want to eat, I said to her: “Listen, Jacinta! Come and eat now!”
“No! I’m offering this sacrifice for sinners who eat too much!”
When she was ill, and yet went to Mass on a week day, I urged her: “Jacinta, don’t come! You can’t, you’re not able. Besides, today is not a Sunday!”
“That doesn’t matter! I’m going for sinners who don’t go on a Sunday.”
► If she happened to hear any of those expressions which some people make a show of uttering, she covered her face with her hands and said: “Oh, my God, don’t those people realize that they can go to Hell for saying those things? My Jesus, forgive them and convert them. They certainly don’t know that they are offending God by all this! What a pity, my Jesus! I’ll pray for them.” There and then, she repeated the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “Oh, my Jesus, forgive us...”
► One day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian!
► Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: “That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it – that’s how my mother used to explain it to me – and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?“
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?”
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?”
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?”
“They’re eternal, don’t you see! They never end.”
► That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: “But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?”
Or again: “Those people burning in Hell, don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners, won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!”
Then she went on: “How good that Lady is! She has already promised to take us to Heaven!”
► There was a woman in our neighborhood who insulted us every time we met her. We came upon her one day, as she was leaving a tavern, somewhat the worse for drink. Not satisfied with mere insults, she went still further. When she had finished, Jacinta said to me: “We have to plead with Our Lady and offer sacrifices for the conversion of this woman. She says so many sinful things that if she doesn’t go to confession, she’ll go to Hell.”
A few days later, we were running past this woman’s door when suddenly Jacinta stopped dead, and turning round, she asked: “Listen! Is it tomorrow that we’re going to see the Lady?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then let’s not play anymore. We can make this sacrifice for the conversion of sinners.”
Without realizing that someone might be watching her, she raised her hands and eyes to Heaven, and made her offering. The woman, meanwhile, was peeping through a shutter in the house. She told my mother, afterwards, that what Jacinta did, made such an impression on her, that she needed no other proof to make her believe in the reality of the apparitions; henceforth, she would not only not insult us anymore, but would constantly ask us to pray to Our Lady, that her sins might be forgiven.
► At other times, as she gathered wild flowers, she sang a little tune that she made up herself as she went along: “Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation! Immaculate Heart of Mary, convert sinners, save souls from Hell!”
To Fear Fear or Not to Fear Fear?
In his 1933 inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) spoke of fear, saying: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” So―should we fear fear, that is to say, be afraid of fear? Fear is a tricky human emotion. It can paralyze you. It can keep you from your dreams. It can keep you small. It can also keep you safe. Fear tells us we are in danger. But oftentimes it is imagined, not real. Fear can be your friend in just the right doses, but too much of it can kill you. Fear is not a judge of situations―it is a merely “thermometer” of potential danger that does not know why the “temperature of danger” is rising or falling. Fear MUST rely on right-reason most of the time, even though INSTINCTIVE FEAR sometimes goes against our reasoning and is proved at times to be right! There are two kinds of fear―good fear and bad fear.
We are afraid to talk about Hell―but we are not afraid to watch terrifying movies. We refuse to talk to children about the devil―but will tell them all kind of spooky stories. We are afraid and carefully avoid, and tell our children to avoid, all kinds of things that are dangerous or detrimental to our health and well-being―but we are less afraid of and do not carefully avoid sins that could lead us to Hell! What a paradox! What a screwed-up sense of values!
Fear can be healthy. It is programmed into your nervous system, and gives you the survival instincts you need to keep yourself safe from danger. Fear is unhealthy when it makes you more cautious than you really need to be to stay safe, and when it prevents you from doing morally good things you would otherwise enjoy, or things that are truly good for you and your health. Evil people will often employ fear as a weapon to prevent you from doing what you should be doing or could be doing. In such cases they will use a “fear propaganda” and spread lies about persons, places, things or circumstances to create an unnecessary fear in your mind and draw you away from what would be good for you.
Our Lord vaguely touches on this when He says: “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). So Our Lord recommends one kind of fear―which is the fear of God―and shoots down another kind of fear―which is the fear of men.
To this Holy Scripture adds: “Serve ye the Lord with fear and rejoice unto Him with trembling!” (Psalm 2:11). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10).
Unwrapping the Gifts―What’s in the Box of Fear of the Lord?
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are seven in number, as enumerated by Isaias (11:1-3), where the prophet sees and describes them as existing in the future Messias, which is Jesus Christ. They are the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety (godliness), and fear of the Lord: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him―the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears!” (Isaias 11:1-3).
So what are―in a nutshell―these seven Gifts of the Spirit?
► The Gift of Wisdom, helps us see things from a higher viewpoint—as God sees them; it detaches us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of Heaven.
► The Gift of Understanding helps us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary.
► The Gift of Counsel springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation.
► The Gift of Fortitude gives courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice of our religious duties.
► The Gift of Knowledge points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach Heaven.
► The Gift of Piety, by inspiring us with a tender and filial confidence in God, makes us joyfully embrace all that pertains to His service.
► The Gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him through sin.
Before we even enter into any kind of depth on these Gifts of the Holy Ghost, DRILL THIS INTO YOUR MIND―these Gifts may sound like capacities, faculties, skills that we ALREADY POSSESS. This confuses and derails many people. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are movements of grace that “take-over” our puny faculties or skills of the same name and raise them to a height that we could not possibly have reached without the help of those Gifts―IF WE PLACE NO OBSTACLES IN THE WAY.
These Gifts will not always operate the way you would expect them to operate, nor work in the way you want them to work. That is because these Gifts are from the SPIRIT OF GOD and not of your own making, design or programming. As God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). You are merely a puny apprentice in the ways of salvation―thus you should leave the direction to the One Who has kindly offered to “lend you a hand” in saving your soul! In view of the fact that most souls are damned, you should be glad and extremely cooperative in following His directions, inspirations and lead! As Christ said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―well the same is true of the Holy Spirit, you will not save your soul without His help, guidance, wisdom and strength! Sure―you can do it your way, if you want―but since most people have chosen that path and lost their souls, is that really the wisest thing to do? “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
These Gifts are not temporary passing helps―for instance some advice you may get from an expert in a phone call―the Gifts are HABITUAL HELPS, meaning the Holy Ghost does not simply “give you a phone call now and then”, but He moves in with you! He knows what is best for you―you need to “shut-up and put-up” with the guidance and inspirations He will give you. Who are you to tell God what to do? Humility, please!! Yet the paths He will tread might seem a little “off-the-road” and “too bumpy” for your liking! His way of getting things done might clash with your preferences! Though He is a Gentle God, nevertheless “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). Ignore Him and He will give you less and less advice, help and guidance and will eventually “shut-up”―the worst punishment God can give to anybody is to leave them to themselves! If you want to go to Hell, then go do what the hell you want! If you want to go Heaven, then do what the “Boss” wants!
Fear of the Lord
It is with the lowest Gift on the totem pole that we will begin—Fear of the Lord. For many today, fear is seen as being weakness or even cowardice! Some pride themselves as having no fear―as is sometimes seen with the words “NO FEAR” boldly emblazoned on T-Shirts! Having no fear is like having no brains! Fear is an in-built, God-designed and God-given tool, or sensor, or alarm that is meant to prevent us from doing stupid things! If you have no fear, then your alarm system is not working!
St. Thomas Aquinas is not afraid to tackle fear in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q.125), where he first of all quotes Holy Scripture telling us not to be afraid: “Our Lord said (Matthew 10:28): ‘Fear ye not them that kill the body,’ and it is written (Ezekiel 2:6): ‘Fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words!’” St. Thomas then goes on to qualify those statements by pointing out that fear―like all virtues―has to strike a middle balance, by not being excessive and also by not being absent.
On the Sinfulness of Fear
St. Thomas writes: “A human act is said to be a sin on account of its being inordinate [out of order by excess or neglect] … Due order [right order] requires that the [passion of fear] be subject to the ruling of reason. And reason dictates that certain things should be shunned and some things should be sought after. Among things to be shunned, reason dictates that some things are to be shunned more than others; and among things to be sought after, that some things are to be sought after more than others. Moreover, the more a good is to be sought after, then the more the opposite evil is to be shunned. The result is that reason dictates that certain goods are to be sought after more than certain evils are to be avoided. Accordingly, when the [passion of fear] shuns what the reason dictates that we should endure, then fear becomes inordinate and sinful. On the other hand, when the [passion of fear] fears so as to shun what reason requires to be shunned, then the [passion of fear] is neither inordinate nor sinful.”
Continuing with the same line of thought on the morality of fear, St. Thomas states: “Fear is a sin through being inordinate [out of order by excess or neglect], that is to say, through shunning what ought not to be shunned according to reason. Now sometimes this inordinateness of fear is confined to the [overwhelming passions] sensitive appetites, without the agreement of the rational appetite’s [mind’s] consent―and then it cannot be a mortal, but only a venial sin. But sometimes this inordinateness of fear reaches the will, which deliberately shuns something against the dictate of reason―and this inordinateness of fear is sometimes a mortal, sometimes a venial sin. For if a man through fear of the danger of death, or of any other temporal evil, is so disposed as to do what is forbidden [e.g. commit sin to avoid death], or to omit what is commanded by the Divine law, such fear is a mortal sin: otherwise it is a venial sin.”
In other words, fear must be controlled by right-reason [correct thinking], if fear acts and behaves according to the dictates of right-reason [the commands of correct thinking], then fear is virtuous and not sinful―but if fear goes against right-reason [correct thinking], then fear acts wrong and becomes sinful. St. Thomas then points out that the passion of fear that God has given us, does not contain its own in-built sensor that can separate right from wrong, good from evil―fear has to depend upon the commands coming from the “control-tower” of the human intellect [mind]: “Fear, in its generic acceptation, denotes avoidance in general. Hence in this way it does not include the notion of good or evil … Passions [and fear is a passion] call for neither praise nor blame, because we neither praise nor blame those who are angry or afraid, but only praise those who behave in an ordinate and blame those who behave in an inordinate manner.”
Fear and Love
Holy Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of his love” and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). Our two faculties of the soul are the intellect (mind) and the will (heart). The highest level or pinnacle for each of them is love for the heart (will) and wisdom for the mind (intellect). Fear is the necessary foundation or platform for both love and wisdom.
God is love—“He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8)—and we must fear losing that love or charity of God: “The Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Call together the people unto Me, that they may hear My words, and may learn to fear Me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children!’” (Deuteronomy 4:10). “That thou mayest fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts … Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:2; 6:13). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Thus St. Thomas writes: “It belongs to a brave man to expose himself to danger of death for the sake of a good. But a man who exposes himself to danger of death in order to escape from slavery or hardships is overcome by fear, which is contrary to fortitude. Hence the Philosopher Aristotle says (Ethics. iii, 7), that ‘to die in order to escape poverty, lust, or something disagreeable is an act not of fortitude but of cowardice: for to shun hardships is a mark of effeminacy.’ Fear is the beginning of despair even as hope is the beginning of daring.”
Various Kinds of Fear
How can there be a Gift of Fear? Is not charity at the root of all the Gifts? And do not the Scriptures say that perfect love excludes fear? How is it possible, then, that fear of God can come from the profound and divine root of charity?
In order to understand this we must do a little analyzing. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that fear comes out of love―and that our type of fear depends upon what it is that we love: “All fear arises from love―since no one fears except what is contrary to something he loves. Now love [can include] virtue or vice … Every virtuous man loves the good proper to his virtue; while inordinate love is [the love of the sinner for] every sin, because inordinate love gives use to inordinate desire. Hence, in like manner, inordinate fear [fear that is out of order] is included in every sin; thus the covetous man fears the loss of money, the intemperate man fears the loss of pleasure, and so on. But the greatest fear of all is that which has the danger of death for its object.”
Thus there are various kinds of fear: there is fear of pain and fear of blame; there is also a fear of the world that makes us conform to the world and forget the holy Commandments of God and commit sin — fear, that is, of some earthly, temporal evil. How many there are, sadly, who separate themselves from God through such earthly fear, which is an inordinate fear, or a fear that is out of order, a fear that has lost control, a fear that sounds the alarm over the wrong thing!
► Worldly Fear
Worldly or mundane fear is that which dreads the loss of temporal goods, such as riches and honors. Innocent in itself, it becomes injurious when we prefer to sin rather than lose these goods. History is replete with cruelties that worldly fear has caused. It is the fear of a Pilate who condemned Jesus to death because he feared to lose the esteem of Caesar. It is the fear of a Herod who put the Holy Innocents to death, because he feared for his crown. It is the fear of a Pharao who dreads the multiplication of the Israelites in Egypt. It is the fear of thousands of young men and women today, who deny their religion and abandon their most sacred duties, the frequentation of the Sacraments and the sanctification of Sunday, on account of human respect.
► Carnal Fear
Carnal fear is that, of bodily inconveniences, fear of sickness or of death carried to the extent of losing the goods of the soul. It is the fear of a Peter denying his Master, lest he meet the same fate. Ah, how many Peters has the course of ages not seen? It is indeed lamentable how the sight of torture, or the fear of death, turns the mind from the thought of Heaven, and to preserve the body, the soul is lost: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). This is a common fear. Do we not see it every day dictating recourse to sinful means in order to avoid the ordinary inconveniences of life? We witness it many times daily—perhaps from ourselves too! A lie here and there to avoid something, or to get an advantage; afraid to correct others for fear of reprisals or fear of losing one’s popularity; sleeping on the job and misusing our employer’s time; conforming to the world for fear of being an outcast, etc., etc.
► Servile Fear
There is another fear that keeps us from sin and brings us close to God, but which is imperfect: theologians call it “servile fear,” the fear of punishment. Servile fear is the fear of God because of the punishment He dishes out to sinners; it is the avoiding of sin purely and simply because there is a Hell. There is no doubt that this fear keeps us many times from falling into sin; but the motive is of an inferior order, and without the nobility proper to love. Servile fear is not the Gift of Fear of God.
► Filial Fear
There is another fear that is called filial. It consists in the repugnance that the soul feels at the thought of being separated from God. This fear comes from love. It is true that perfect love casts out a certain type of fear, but there is also a fear that is, we might say, the basis of love. Whosoever desires, whosoever loves, experiences a profound fear of being separated from the loved one, of displeasing him. Love cannot be conceived of without this fear. One who loves deeply has a fear that is above all other fears — fear of separation from the beloved. This is the Gift of Fear which is directed by the Holy Ghost. In a more perfect sense filial fear is the beginning of wisdom, because, in order to possess divine wisdom, we need to unite ourselves so closely to God that nothing can separate us from Him. The Gift of Fear unites us with God in this way. It hinders us from ever separating ourselves from the Beloved, and in that sense it is the beginning of wisdom.
Fear of the Lord Delivers From Fears
The Fear of the Lord is necessary that we may work out our salvation; it is necessary for us lest we degrade ourselves to the level of brute creation. It is the only guardian of our liberty and of our honor, because it alone is capable of delivering us from all other fear, from servile, worldly and carnal fear.
The first service rendered by the Gift of Holy Fear is to deliver us from this shameful tyranny. Servile gives way to filial fear, that fear to offend God because He is so good; it is always accompanied by confidence and love. As for worldly and carnal fear they no longer possess an illegitimate dominion, as filial fear either absorbs or banishes them. It regrets, deplores one and only one thing—sin.
This Fear of the Lord is, moreover, the only safeguard of that for which the whole world strives, liberty. Man cannot live without fear. If he does not fear God, he fears creatures, and if he fears a creature he is a creature’s slave; for, his freedom and his dignity belong to him whom he fears. To fear aught else except God, is to be under the yoke of tyranny. This is not understood by those who pretend to freedom by shaking off the yoke of God. In vain are revolutions begun; they but plunge their slaves into deeper distress. He alone is free who fears God; for, where the Spirit of God is, there, too, is liberty. Hence, we should only “fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
The Spirit of God unites us to Himself in such a way that He infuses in us an instinctive, profound, efficacious horror of being separated from God. This fear overrides all other fears.
The Gift of Fear in the Saints
Many of the great deeds in the lives of the saints were inspired by the Gift of Fear. St. Louis Gonzaga wept and scourged himself when he had to confess some little faults that we find it hard to believe were really sins. Why such tears from the saint? Why such grief? Because he examined so closely, under the influence of the Gift of Fear, the magnitude of those faults which to us seem insignificant; because he saw evil in them, a sign of separation from God. They were certainly very slight, but is anything really insignificant in love? When one loves passionately, does not the slightest danger of being removed from the beloved tear the heart to pieces?
This same Gift of Fear influenced St. Juliana of Falconieri, who trembled on hearing the word “sin,” and who would faint when she heard of a crime being committed. In our present sinful world, we should be fainting all the time―but we have all lost the sense of sin, because we have also lost (or stifled) the Fear of the Lord within ourselves. This reaction to sin―as shown by St. Juliana Falconieri―is something higher, something deeper, something much more perfect, than we are able to attain by our natural faculties; it is a supernatural effect which the Holy Ghost produces in souls so that they can look with horror at sin, and thus cling with intensity to God. The fact that we are no longer in horror at sin shows that we are no longer (or never have been) truly in love with God and so have no fear in offending Him.
Degrees of Fear of the Lord
Of course there are degrees in the Gifts, as there are degrees in the Virtues. In the natural order, any faculty can be developed by practice, the acts performed by it becoming all the while stronger, more perfect. The intelligence of a student on the threshold of knowledge is not of the same degree as that of one who has spent his whole life in serious and profound study. The natural faculties grow with exercise, and as they grow we distinguish new degrees of them. The same thing happens in the supernatural order. The Virtues have their degrees, and so do the Gifts.
► The gift of the fear of God, in the first degree, produces horror for sin and strength to overcome temptations. By means of the virtue we keep away from sin and conquer temptations, but with many struggles, many failures. We know from sad experience that our spiritual efforts do not always result in victory. How many times we are overcome; and even when we finally come out victorious, how conscious we are of deficiencies, hesitations, effort! With the Gift of Fear, victory is rapid and perfect. How often have we known this experience in the depths of our souls — the quick, instinctive impulse in the presence of temptation to leave the danger at once! It was the Holy Ghost moving us with His Gift of Fear.
► In the second degree of this gift, the soul not only stays away from sin, but clings to God with profound reverence, avoiding even insignificant acts that are signs of imperfection. The profound respect of the saints for everything sacred — the Church, the Gospel, the priest — is the effect of the Gift of Fear. Everything divine is reverenced. The soul under the power of this gift does not want to fail in the least detail in respect and veneration for God.
► A marvelous effect is produced in the third degree of this gift: total detachment from the things of this earth. That is why theologians say that this gift produces the first of the beatitudes: that of poverty of spirit. When we cling to God and avoid all that could separate us from Him, in such a way that exterior things lose their fascination for us, then the soul knows it is free, and it experiences the divine detachment characteristic of this stage of the spiritual life; it reaches the glorious height of which Jesus Christ spoke when He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The disinterestedness of St. Francis of Assisi, who considered all the things of earth as nothing; the disinterestedness to which Christ counseled the young man of the Gospel — “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21. Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22): such disinterestedness as this is the fruit of the divine Gift of Fear.
Summary and Conclusion
The Fear of the Lord paves the way for the rest of the Gifts by leading us to revere God and avoid anything that might alienate us from Him. The Fear of the Lord is not a matter of anxiety or terror. Rather, it is a calm yet eager resolve to please God, do good and avoid evil. St. Thomas Aquinas points out that before people can begin to do good, they must first withdraw from evil. As we know from our own experience, fear always involves turning away from something that we consider a threat to our well-being. If we are thinking correctly, then the threat of Hell should outweigh any threat or torment that we might here on Earth! However, many people are myopic or short-sighted and cannot see much beyond the end of their nose, let alone seeing beyond the end of their life! Thus most people stumble into Hell because they were not farsighted enough to see the future consequences of their actions.
► In our relationship with God, fear can play a role in two ways. First, fear can be a fear of punishment―especially fearing the punishment of Hell. We can and should turn us away from evil, run to God, and stay close to Him whenever we feel intimidated by the reality of punishment. St. Thomas refers to this kind of fear as “servile” fear, or the fear of one who obeys the master because of the possibility of punishment. Servile fear, however, does not involve the full range of freedom and grace that Our Lord wants us to enjoy. There is a second and holier kind of fear that has to do not with punishment, but with the wonderful good of communion with God.
► This second kind of fear is not afraid of punishment, but of losing God. St. Thomas calls this “filial” fear, the fear of sons, since it is the kind of fear a good son should have about ever violating or losing his relationship with his father. To have filial fear means to be eager to avoid the evil of offending God, or doing anything that might damage our relationship with Him.
► The Holy Ghost’s Gift, Fear of the Lord, is a Gift of filial fear. By this Gift, we respond to the Holy Ghost’s guidance in withdrawing from evil pleasures out of love for God, not simply out of a fear of punishment. In fact, this Gift transforms the way we regard God. St. Thomas goes so far as to say that the charity which informs the Gift of Fear enables us to look upon God as at once our Father, and even our Spouse! In other words, the Charity (love) active in Fear of the Lord is one that makes us keenly sensitive to how God loves us and to how we need to answer that love. Through Fear of the Lord, we become deeply sensitive to anything that might diminish our life of loving God and of enjoying His love.
► There is, then, something quite ironic about Fear of the Lord. This fear is produced by love. As St. Thomas explains, love is the mother of which fear is born, for a person fears to lose only what he loves. When our desires get firmly fixed on something, we loathe ever losing it. To be deprived of the object of our affections is something we fear as an evil. In this respect, then, fear of its very nature arises from love. This insight urges us to ask ourselves the question: “What do I really fear losing?” If we see what we are afraid to lose, then we will see what we really love in life. With this understanding of fear, we can see why it is right to say that even Jesus Himself had the Gift of Fear of the Lord. For when we fear another person with filial fear―even a divine person, like God the Father―we are fearing the loss of some overwhelming good. What Christ feared— what He was eager never to lose—was what is most overwhelming in God, in particular His infinite love. In His Agony in the Garden, Jesus was afraid of dying― “He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad … and He began to fear and to be heavy” (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33). Yet as much as in His human nature He feared His imminent Passion and Death, to the point of asking His Father to “remove this chalice” (Mark 14:36), His even greater fear of offending His Father overruled and overcame His fear of suffering and death, for Jesus adds: “…but not what I will, but what thou wilt!” (Mark 14:36). The human side of Jesus was moved by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost to act upon His profoundly awed reverence of God. St. Thomas comments that, as man, Christ had a deeper sense of reverence for God than anyone else ever had.
Because of this holy, loving fear, Jesus did not turn away from His agony or the anguish of the Passion. Something greater than the torment of torture overwhelmed Him and moved Him to reject utterly any deed that would have separated Him in the slightest way from doing the will of His Father. Thus it was precisely the evil of violence and punishment—the evil that was meant to discourage Jesus―as when Pontius Pilate said: “Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and I have power to release Thee?” (John 19:10)—that urged Him on! For by faithfully responding to the Gift of Fear in His human soul, Jesus provided the way for the servile fear of others to be transformed into authentic filial fear. By His own suffering and love, Jesus teaches us and enables us to seek reconciliation and unending communion with God above all things. That is why He said: “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
► In Jesus’ Fear of the Lord we come to understand how we can expect the Gift of Fear will be active in our own souls. As we see in the Passion, one chief effect of Fear of the Lord is a total and pure humility. With Fear of the Lord, we are not only willing, but even eager and joyful, at the prospect of enduring suffering for the sake of God and His plan of salvation. Holy Fear disciplines us, so that we stop seeking glory for ourselves, but instead seek God’s glory and our own happiness in Him. Fear of the Lord reveres and loves God, and so uproots the very beginnings of human pride. Fear is a remedy for all pride and arrogance of spirit, which are the evils most likely to lead us away from the Lord.
► This effect of humility increases in proportion to our charity. The more we love God, the more we fear to offend Him and to be separated from Him. Yet the more we love God, the less we fear punishment—true love saves us from being preoccupied with our own welfare, and makes us pay attention, not to punishment, but to the awesome love of God that we cannot afford to lose. The humble love that securely attaches us to God also causes us to have greater confidence of reward, and consequently less fear of punishment.
► A second effect of Fear of the Lord, then, is the enhancement of Hope. St. Thomas notes that Fear humbles the spirit, so that it will not grow proud about present things. And it strengthens us with the Bread of Hope as we look forward to things yet to be. The Holy Ghost’s Gift does not make us worry about whether God will save us, but makes us eager to avoid any disregard or sin or neglect on our part, that would reject or diminish the effectiveness of that divine help. This way, Fear and Hope work together. Hope is confident that God will do great things for us, while Fear keeps us pure and humble, in the perfect state to receive the loving graces of God. In a sense, Hope even makes Fear more intense, since the more we confidently hope for something from another (from God, in this case), the more eager we will be not to forfeit that gift by offending our benefactor, or by separating ourselves from Him.
► Fear of the Lord also enables us to live the Beatitude, “How blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), in a more authentic way. For the Gift of Fear does not only liberate us from seeking the self-exaltation of pride; it also saves us from craving the fame that can be gained through exterior goods, such as honors and wealth. Thus, through Fear we become eager for God alone, and are set free from the pride and greed that would send us racing after treasures other than God Himself.
► Fear of the Lord also strengthens the virtue of temperance (that virtue that keeps us free and reasonable about things that are pleasurable to the body). Because the Gift of Fear of the Lord prompts us to look to God first of all while shunning everything that could offend or separate us from Him, this Gift also readily restrains us from giving ourselves up to bodily delights. When we love God above all, and are lead by the Holy Ghost to prize His love absolutely, then we are more easily going to avoid sins related to bodily desire and pleasure.
St. Thomas tells us that, of all the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Fear of the Lord comes first in the order of need, last in the order of nobility. Fear of the Lord opens a door for doing good. It is the foundation or beginning for the activity of all the other Gifts. In this way, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10)—it is where wisdom has its roots, and where it first begins to come alive.
In Heaven, when love is perfect, there will be no room for fear of punishment (1 John 4:18) and no possibility of offending God. Nevertheless, we can still say that the holiest part of fear—reverence for God—will remain even in the glory of Heaven. There, Fear will not involve any anxiety or concern about sinning, but will be perfect in complete peace, in the absolutely firm and final rejection of evil, and in the total tranquility in loving God above all and in all.
Ghosts are spirits or bodiless souls. The English word “ghost” owes its origins to its Germanic cousins, whose language partially influenced the evolution of the English language. The English “ghost” comes from the Germanic “geist” (pronounced “guyst” as in “guys” with a “t” added on the end). The German word “geist” means “spirit”. In reference to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the old English translation of “Spiritus Sanctus” (or “Sanctus Spiritus” if you want to change the word order to fit English) is “Holy Ghost” ― though, as anyone can see, the original Latin has the word “spiritus”. Hence we use, correctly and interchangeably, both “Holy Spirit” and “Holy Ghost”.
Scared of Ghosts?
Are you scared of ghosts? Do you even believe in ghosts? Should we be afraid of ghosts? Interesting questions―complicated answers! If we are using the word “ghost” interchangeably with the word “spirit”―and not just in the modern-day sensationalized sense of “ghost” conjuring up ideas of “haunted-houses”―then we see (if you pardon the pun) many kinds of spirits. There is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Then we have all the angels, who are also spirits―for “spirit” as our first Catechism taught us, is a being without a body: “A spirit is a living being which is not material in its nature and which therefore cannot he seen or handled or made contact with by any of the senses. God is a Spirit; and an angel is a spirit; the human soul is a spirit. God and the angels are called pure spirits since they have no body. Man, on the contrary, is not a pure spirit; he is composed of body as well as soul. Man's body and the whole of the material creation must bear some remote likeness to God, for God must reflect His truth” (Fr. Cafferata, The Catechism Simply Explained, Question 5).
In addition to the spirits of God, angels and souls of human beings, there are also the evil spirits, that is to say the devils. Furthermore, all the souls of the deceased are also spirits ― separated from their dead bodies and awaiting the resurrection of those dead bodies at the end of time.
Should we be scared of these different spirits? Well, yes and no. Why yes and no? Because some kinds of fear can be said to be healthy forms of fear, and other kinds of fear can be said to be unhealthy kinds of fear. Holy Scripture frequently tells us both “fear” and “do not fear” ― depending upon a variety of circumstances. The bottom-line, the simplistic answer, is that there is no need to fear good things, but plenty of reasons to fear bad or evil things. Yet even when it comes to evil things―such as the evil spirits, that is the devils―there is no need to fear them per se, but we must fear cooperating with them.
Fear the Ghost of God
Of all the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Gift of Wisdom is the highest and the Gift of the Fear of the Lord is the lowest―being the “foundation of the building”, so to speak, much like humility is the foundation upon which all our virtues have to be built and charity has to be the soul, or moving power of all our virtues. Humility among the virtues can be said to be the spouse of or correspond to the “Fear of the Lord” among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―“The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 22:4). Whereas Charity among the virtues can be said to be the spouse or correspond to the “Wisdom” among the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―for both are the “King” and “Queen” of the soul, with Wisdom being the pinnacle for the powers of the mind, and Charity being the pinnacle for the powers of the heart.
Yet just as we cannot build without laying solid foundations, likewise, God does not build without foundations―and the foundation of all the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost is the Gift of Fear of the Lord. It is the beginning or foundation of the Gift of Wisdom―and all the other gifts for that matter. “The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord!” (Ecclesiasticus 1:25). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction!” (Proverbs 1:7). “The fear of the Lord is the lesson of wisdom” (Proverbs 15:33). “To fear God is the fullness of wisdom” (Ecclesiasticus 1:20). “The fear of God is all wisdom!” (Ecclesiasticus 19:18). “The perfection of the fear of God is wisdom and understanding” (Ecclesiasticus 21:13). “Let thy glory be in the fear of God!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:22).
We must fear God and fear participating in evil―that is the very beginning of anyone’s and everyone’s relationship with God. “Fear God, and depart from evil!” (Proverbs 3:7). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord―that is wisdom! And to depart from evil―is understanding!” (Job 28:28). “By the fear of the Lord everyone declineth from evil” (Proverbs 15:27).
No Fear of God Leads to No Fear of Sin
One of the main reasons why sin has exploded exponentially is due to the fact that mankind has lost the sense of humility and a fear of God in both mind and heart. Original Sin was essentially a sin of pride―like that of the devils. Pride wears down and dissolves humility―which is a foundation for the Fear of the Lord―and pride turns the mind away from fearing God by making a god out of oneself, as Satan said to Eve, suggesting that she fear not God nor obey His commandments “No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods” (Genesis 3:4-5). Have no fear of God, Eve, and you will be a goddess for yourself! Eve lost her fear―and, as a result, she lost her sanctifying grace through sin.
The same is true today―that temptation of Satan has worked for thousands of years, and man gets no wiser! Because of our pride there is little humility, and with little or no humility, there is no fear of God, and with no fear of God there is sin galore―to the point where Our Lady had to say BACK IN 1956, which was far less sinful than 2021: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1895-1961, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956).
How few parents follow the example of Tobias of the Old Testament, who taught his son―also named Tobias―to avoid sin from his infancy: “From his infancy he taught him to fear God and to abstain from all sin” (Tobias 1:10). “Fear not, my son! We lead indeed a poor life―but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good!” (Tobias 4:23). “It shall be well with them that fear God, who dread His face!” (Ecclesiastes 8:12). Parents should be saying: “Come, children, listen to me―I will teach you the fear of the Lord!” (Psalm 33:12). Sadly, however―as the philosophical axiom says: “You cannot give what you have not got!”―most parents have themselves lost the Fear of the Lord, which is proved by the fact that over 80% no longer go Sunday Mass regularly, over 95% have practiced contraception, around 50% accept same sex marriages and same sex relationships, around 40% are accepting of abortion, etc.
Instead, the following words are more appropriately addressed to most families today―even Catholic families: “I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God!” (Exodus 9:30). “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men, they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:3-6). “There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalms 13:3). “They have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:29). “They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalms 13:3).
Sure―every Catholic received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in their seed form at their Baptism, the Fear of the Lord was among them. Furthermore, every Catholic, who later received the Sacrament of Confirmation, had those Gifts “activated”, so to speak. Yet those Gifts do not work automatically, nor do they override our deliberate indifference and lukewarmness―they require our cooperation through desire and efforts―without which they merely become unappreciated gifts that get stuffed in the closet―out of sight and out of mind. To recover our spiritual compass, to restore some kind of spiritual desire, to pull out of this fatal dive towards Hell that the “aeroplane” of most souls has entered, there needs to be a restoration of Humility and a Fear of the Lord.
Restoring the Fear of the Lord
We can Our Lady trying to produce (or restore) that Fear of the Lord during her apparitions at Fatima―especially by the vision of Hell shown to the three little children, as well as the horrific “Secrets of Fatima” that she revealed to them―the most terrible of which is “The Third Secret of Fatima”, of which Fr. Malachi Martin (who read the Secret) said: ““I was shown a copy of the Third Secret at the time Pope John XXIII opened it and sought the advice of a group of Cardinals in 1960 … The apostasy in the Church forms the backdrop or the context of the Third Secret. The apostasy is just beginning now. But the chastisements foretold in the Secret are very real, physical chastisements, and they are terrible!” After revealing the Secret is “much worse” than a natural disaster, he said it “would give a shock, would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts.”
We see the wonderful and powerful effects of the Fear of the Lord produced in the souls of the three little children of Fatima―aged 10 (Lucia), 9 (Francisco) and 7 (Jacinta)―by the vision of Hell. In her memoirs, Sister Lucia of Fatima writes (the following text of Lucia, since it is long, will not be italicized―italics will only be given to actual reported speech, that is to say the actual words spoken by Our Lady, or Jacinta, etc.):
Vision of Hell
Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the Earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
The Impressions Made by the Vision of Hell
Some of the things revealed in the secret made a very strong impression on her. This was indeed the case. The vision of Hell filled her with horror to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there. Well, I am now going to answer the second question, one which has come to me from various quarters.
How is it that Jacinta, small as she was, let herself be possessed by such a spirit of mortification and penance, and understood it so well? I think the reason is this: firstly, God willed to bestow on her a special grace, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, it was because she had looked upon Hell, and had seen the ruin of souls who fall therein.
False Fears of People Who Refuse to Speak About Hell
Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.
Jacinta’s Life Changed by Vision of Hell
Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”
Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: “Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!”
► At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: “Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?”
“I forgot,” I answered.
“I didn’t remember either!” she said, looking very sad.
► Sometimes, she also asked: “What are the sins people commit, for which they go to Hell?”
“I don’t know! Perhaps the sin of not going to Mass on Sunday, of stealing, of saying ugly words, of cursing and of swearing.”
“So for just one word, then, people can go to Hell?”
“Well―it’s a sin!”
“It wouldn’t be hard for them to keep quiet, and to go to Mass! I’m so sorry for sinners! If only I could show them Hell!”
► Suddenly, she would seize hold of me and say: “I’m going to Heaven, but you are staying here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they won’t commit any more sins and not go to Hell.”
At other times, after thinking for a while, she said: “So many people falling into Hell! So many people in Hell!”
To quieten her, I said: “Don’t be afraid! You’re going to Heaven.”
“Yes, I am,” she said serenely, “but I want all those people to go there too!”
► When, in a spirit of mortification, she did not want to eat, I said to her: “Listen, Jacinta! Come and eat now!”
“No! I’m offering this sacrifice for sinners who eat too much!”
When she was ill, and yet went to Mass on a week day, I urged her: “Jacinta, don’t come! You can’t, you’re not able. Besides, today is not a Sunday!”
“That doesn’t matter! I’m going for sinners who don’t go on a Sunday.”
► If she happened to hear any of those expressions which some people make a show of uttering, she covered her face with her hands and said: “Oh, my God, don’t those people realize that they can go to Hell for saying those things? My Jesus, forgive them and convert them. They certainly don’t know that they are offending God by all this! What a pity, my Jesus! I’ll pray for them.” There and then, she repeated the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “Oh, my Jesus, forgive us...”
► One day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian!
► Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: “That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it – that’s how my mother used to explain it to me – and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?“
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?”
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?”
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?”
“They’re eternal, don’t you see! They never end.”
► That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: “But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?”
Or again: “Those people burning in Hell, don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners, won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!”
Then she went on: “How good that Lady is! She has already promised to take us to Heaven!”
► There was a woman in our neighborhood who insulted us every time we met her. We came upon her one day, as she was leaving a tavern, somewhat the worse for drink. Not satisfied with mere insults, she went still further. When she had finished, Jacinta said to me: “We have to plead with Our Lady and offer sacrifices for the conversion of this woman. She says so many sinful things that if she doesn’t go to confession, she’ll go to Hell.”
A few days later, we were running past this woman’s door when suddenly Jacinta stopped dead, and turning round, she asked: “Listen! Is it tomorrow that we’re going to see the Lady?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then let’s not play anymore. We can make this sacrifice for the conversion of sinners.”
Without realizing that someone might be watching her, she raised her hands and eyes to Heaven, and made her offering. The woman, meanwhile, was peeping through a shutter in the house. She told my mother, afterwards, that what Jacinta did, made such an impression on her, that she needed no other proof to make her believe in the reality of the apparitions; henceforth, she would not only not insult us anymore, but would constantly ask us to pray to Our Lady, that her sins might be forgiven.
► At other times, as she gathered wild flowers, she sang a little tune that she made up herself as she went along: “Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation! Immaculate Heart of Mary, convert sinners, save souls from Hell!”
To Fear Fear or Not to Fear Fear?
In his 1933 inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) spoke of fear, saying: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” So―should we fear fear, that is to say, be afraid of fear? Fear is a tricky human emotion. It can paralyze you. It can keep you from your dreams. It can keep you small. It can also keep you safe. Fear tells us we are in danger. But oftentimes it is imagined, not real. Fear can be your friend in just the right doses, but too much of it can kill you. Fear is not a judge of situations―it is a merely “thermometer” of potential danger that does not know why the “temperature of danger” is rising or falling. Fear MUST rely on right-reason most of the time, even though INSTINCTIVE FEAR sometimes goes against our reasoning and is proved at times to be right! There are two kinds of fear―good fear and bad fear.
We are afraid to talk about Hell―but we are not afraid to watch terrifying movies. We refuse to talk to children about the devil―but will tell them all kind of spooky stories. We are afraid and carefully avoid, and tell our children to avoid, all kinds of things that are dangerous or detrimental to our health and well-being―but we are less afraid of and do not carefully avoid sins that could lead us to Hell! What a paradox! What a screwed-up sense of values!
Fear can be healthy. It is programmed into your nervous system, and gives you the survival instincts you need to keep yourself safe from danger. Fear is unhealthy when it makes you more cautious than you really need to be to stay safe, and when it prevents you from doing morally good things you would otherwise enjoy, or things that are truly good for you and your health. Evil people will often employ fear as a weapon to prevent you from doing what you should be doing or could be doing. In such cases they will use a “fear propaganda” and spread lies about persons, places, things or circumstances to create an unnecessary fear in your mind and draw you away from what would be good for you.
Our Lord vaguely touches on this when He says: “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). So Our Lord recommends one kind of fear―which is the fear of God―and shoots down another kind of fear―which is the fear of men.
To this Holy Scripture adds: “Serve ye the Lord with fear and rejoice unto Him with trembling!” (Psalm 2:11). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “His salvation is near to them that fear Him” (Psalm 84:10).
Unwrapping the Gifts―What’s in the Box of Fear of the Lord?
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are seven in number, as enumerated by Isaias (11:1-3), where the prophet sees and describes them as existing in the future Messias, which is Jesus Christ. They are the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety (godliness), and fear of the Lord: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him―the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears!” (Isaias 11:1-3).
So what are―in a nutshell―these seven Gifts of the Spirit?
► The Gift of Wisdom, helps us see things from a higher viewpoint—as God sees them; it detaches us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of Heaven.
► The Gift of Understanding helps us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary.
► The Gift of Counsel springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation.
► The Gift of Fortitude gives courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice of our religious duties.
► The Gift of Knowledge points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach Heaven.
► The Gift of Piety, by inspiring us with a tender and filial confidence in God, makes us joyfully embrace all that pertains to His service.
► The Gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him through sin.
Before we even enter into any kind of depth on these Gifts of the Holy Ghost, DRILL THIS INTO YOUR MIND―these Gifts may sound like capacities, faculties, skills that we ALREADY POSSESS. This confuses and derails many people. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are movements of grace that “take-over” our puny faculties or skills of the same name and raise them to a height that we could not possibly have reached without the help of those Gifts―IF WE PLACE NO OBSTACLES IN THE WAY.
These Gifts will not always operate the way you would expect them to operate, nor work in the way you want them to work. That is because these Gifts are from the SPIRIT OF GOD and not of your own making, design or programming. As God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). You are merely a puny apprentice in the ways of salvation―thus you should leave the direction to the One Who has kindly offered to “lend you a hand” in saving your soul! In view of the fact that most souls are damned, you should be glad and extremely cooperative in following His directions, inspirations and lead! As Christ said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―well the same is true of the Holy Spirit, you will not save your soul without His help, guidance, wisdom and strength! Sure―you can do it your way, if you want―but since most people have chosen that path and lost their souls, is that really the wisest thing to do? “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
These Gifts are not temporary passing helps―for instance some advice you may get from an expert in a phone call―the Gifts are HABITUAL HELPS, meaning the Holy Ghost does not simply “give you a phone call now and then”, but He moves in with you! He knows what is best for you―you need to “shut-up and put-up” with the guidance and inspirations He will give you. Who are you to tell God what to do? Humility, please!! Yet the paths He will tread might seem a little “off-the-road” and “too bumpy” for your liking! His way of getting things done might clash with your preferences! Though He is a Gentle God, nevertheless “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). Ignore Him and He will give you less and less advice, help and guidance and will eventually “shut-up”―the worst punishment God can give to anybody is to leave them to themselves! If you want to go to Hell, then go do what the hell you want! If you want to go Heaven, then do what the “Boss” wants!
Fear of the Lord
It is with the lowest Gift on the totem pole that we will begin—Fear of the Lord. For many today, fear is seen as being weakness or even cowardice! Some pride themselves as having no fear―as is sometimes seen with the words “NO FEAR” boldly emblazoned on T-Shirts! Having no fear is like having no brains! Fear is an in-built, God-designed and God-given tool, or sensor, or alarm that is meant to prevent us from doing stupid things! If you have no fear, then your alarm system is not working!
St. Thomas Aquinas is not afraid to tackle fear in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q.125), where he first of all quotes Holy Scripture telling us not to be afraid: “Our Lord said (Matthew 10:28): ‘Fear ye not them that kill the body,’ and it is written (Ezekiel 2:6): ‘Fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words!’” St. Thomas then goes on to qualify those statements by pointing out that fear―like all virtues―has to strike a middle balance, by not being excessive and also by not being absent.
On the Sinfulness of Fear
St. Thomas writes: “A human act is said to be a sin on account of its being inordinate [out of order by excess or neglect] … Due order [right order] requires that the [passion of fear] be subject to the ruling of reason. And reason dictates that certain things should be shunned and some things should be sought after. Among things to be shunned, reason dictates that some things are to be shunned more than others; and among things to be sought after, that some things are to be sought after more than others. Moreover, the more a good is to be sought after, then the more the opposite evil is to be shunned. The result is that reason dictates that certain goods are to be sought after more than certain evils are to be avoided. Accordingly, when the [passion of fear] shuns what the reason dictates that we should endure, then fear becomes inordinate and sinful. On the other hand, when the [passion of fear] fears so as to shun what reason requires to be shunned, then the [passion of fear] is neither inordinate nor sinful.”
Continuing with the same line of thought on the morality of fear, St. Thomas states: “Fear is a sin through being inordinate [out of order by excess or neglect], that is to say, through shunning what ought not to be shunned according to reason. Now sometimes this inordinateness of fear is confined to the [overwhelming passions] sensitive appetites, without the agreement of the rational appetite’s [mind’s] consent―and then it cannot be a mortal, but only a venial sin. But sometimes this inordinateness of fear reaches the will, which deliberately shuns something against the dictate of reason―and this inordinateness of fear is sometimes a mortal, sometimes a venial sin. For if a man through fear of the danger of death, or of any other temporal evil, is so disposed as to do what is forbidden [e.g. commit sin to avoid death], or to omit what is commanded by the Divine law, such fear is a mortal sin: otherwise it is a venial sin.”
In other words, fear must be controlled by right-reason [correct thinking], if fear acts and behaves according to the dictates of right-reason [the commands of correct thinking], then fear is virtuous and not sinful―but if fear goes against right-reason [correct thinking], then fear acts wrong and becomes sinful. St. Thomas then points out that the passion of fear that God has given us, does not contain its own in-built sensor that can separate right from wrong, good from evil―fear has to depend upon the commands coming from the “control-tower” of the human intellect [mind]: “Fear, in its generic acceptation, denotes avoidance in general. Hence in this way it does not include the notion of good or evil … Passions [and fear is a passion] call for neither praise nor blame, because we neither praise nor blame those who are angry or afraid, but only praise those who behave in an ordinate and blame those who behave in an inordinate manner.”
Fear and Love
Holy Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of his love” and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). Our two faculties of the soul are the intellect (mind) and the will (heart). The highest level or pinnacle for each of them is love for the heart (will) and wisdom for the mind (intellect). Fear is the necessary foundation or platform for both love and wisdom.
God is love—“He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8)—and we must fear losing that love or charity of God: “The Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Call together the people unto Me, that they may hear My words, and may learn to fear Me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children!’” (Deuteronomy 4:10). “That thou mayest fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts … Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:2; 6:13). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Thus St. Thomas writes: “It belongs to a brave man to expose himself to danger of death for the sake of a good. But a man who exposes himself to danger of death in order to escape from slavery or hardships is overcome by fear, which is contrary to fortitude. Hence the Philosopher Aristotle says (Ethics. iii, 7), that ‘to die in order to escape poverty, lust, or something disagreeable is an act not of fortitude but of cowardice: for to shun hardships is a mark of effeminacy.’ Fear is the beginning of despair even as hope is the beginning of daring.”
Various Kinds of Fear
How can there be a Gift of Fear? Is not charity at the root of all the Gifts? And do not the Scriptures say that perfect love excludes fear? How is it possible, then, that fear of God can come from the profound and divine root of charity?
In order to understand this we must do a little analyzing. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that fear comes out of love―and that our type of fear depends upon what it is that we love: “All fear arises from love―since no one fears except what is contrary to something he loves. Now love [can include] virtue or vice … Every virtuous man loves the good proper to his virtue; while inordinate love is [the love of the sinner for] every sin, because inordinate love gives use to inordinate desire. Hence, in like manner, inordinate fear [fear that is out of order] is included in every sin; thus the covetous man fears the loss of money, the intemperate man fears the loss of pleasure, and so on. But the greatest fear of all is that which has the danger of death for its object.”
Thus there are various kinds of fear: there is fear of pain and fear of blame; there is also a fear of the world that makes us conform to the world and forget the holy Commandments of God and commit sin — fear, that is, of some earthly, temporal evil. How many there are, sadly, who separate themselves from God through such earthly fear, which is an inordinate fear, or a fear that is out of order, a fear that has lost control, a fear that sounds the alarm over the wrong thing!
► Worldly Fear
Worldly or mundane fear is that which dreads the loss of temporal goods, such as riches and honors. Innocent in itself, it becomes injurious when we prefer to sin rather than lose these goods. History is replete with cruelties that worldly fear has caused. It is the fear of a Pilate who condemned Jesus to death because he feared to lose the esteem of Caesar. It is the fear of a Herod who put the Holy Innocents to death, because he feared for his crown. It is the fear of a Pharao who dreads the multiplication of the Israelites in Egypt. It is the fear of thousands of young men and women today, who deny their religion and abandon their most sacred duties, the frequentation of the Sacraments and the sanctification of Sunday, on account of human respect.
► Carnal Fear
Carnal fear is that, of bodily inconveniences, fear of sickness or of death carried to the extent of losing the goods of the soul. It is the fear of a Peter denying his Master, lest he meet the same fate. Ah, how many Peters has the course of ages not seen? It is indeed lamentable how the sight of torture, or the fear of death, turns the mind from the thought of Heaven, and to preserve the body, the soul is lost: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). This is a common fear. Do we not see it every day dictating recourse to sinful means in order to avoid the ordinary inconveniences of life? We witness it many times daily—perhaps from ourselves too! A lie here and there to avoid something, or to get an advantage; afraid to correct others for fear of reprisals or fear of losing one’s popularity; sleeping on the job and misusing our employer’s time; conforming to the world for fear of being an outcast, etc., etc.
► Servile Fear
There is another fear that keeps us from sin and brings us close to God, but which is imperfect: theologians call it “servile fear,” the fear of punishment. Servile fear is the fear of God because of the punishment He dishes out to sinners; it is the avoiding of sin purely and simply because there is a Hell. There is no doubt that this fear keeps us many times from falling into sin; but the motive is of an inferior order, and without the nobility proper to love. Servile fear is not the Gift of Fear of God.
► Filial Fear
There is another fear that is called filial. It consists in the repugnance that the soul feels at the thought of being separated from God. This fear comes from love. It is true that perfect love casts out a certain type of fear, but there is also a fear that is, we might say, the basis of love. Whosoever desires, whosoever loves, experiences a profound fear of being separated from the loved one, of displeasing him. Love cannot be conceived of without this fear. One who loves deeply has a fear that is above all other fears — fear of separation from the beloved. This is the Gift of Fear which is directed by the Holy Ghost. In a more perfect sense filial fear is the beginning of wisdom, because, in order to possess divine wisdom, we need to unite ourselves so closely to God that nothing can separate us from Him. The Gift of Fear unites us with God in this way. It hinders us from ever separating ourselves from the Beloved, and in that sense it is the beginning of wisdom.
Fear of the Lord Delivers From Fears
The Fear of the Lord is necessary that we may work out our salvation; it is necessary for us lest we degrade ourselves to the level of brute creation. It is the only guardian of our liberty and of our honor, because it alone is capable of delivering us from all other fear, from servile, worldly and carnal fear.
The first service rendered by the Gift of Holy Fear is to deliver us from this shameful tyranny. Servile gives way to filial fear, that fear to offend God because He is so good; it is always accompanied by confidence and love. As for worldly and carnal fear they no longer possess an illegitimate dominion, as filial fear either absorbs or banishes them. It regrets, deplores one and only one thing—sin.
This Fear of the Lord is, moreover, the only safeguard of that for which the whole world strives, liberty. Man cannot live without fear. If he does not fear God, he fears creatures, and if he fears a creature he is a creature’s slave; for, his freedom and his dignity belong to him whom he fears. To fear aught else except God, is to be under the yoke of tyranny. This is not understood by those who pretend to freedom by shaking off the yoke of God. In vain are revolutions begun; they but plunge their slaves into deeper distress. He alone is free who fears God; for, where the Spirit of God is, there, too, is liberty. Hence, we should only “fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
The Spirit of God unites us to Himself in such a way that He infuses in us an instinctive, profound, efficacious horror of being separated from God. This fear overrides all other fears.
The Gift of Fear in the Saints
Many of the great deeds in the lives of the saints were inspired by the Gift of Fear. St. Louis Gonzaga wept and scourged himself when he had to confess some little faults that we find it hard to believe were really sins. Why such tears from the saint? Why such grief? Because he examined so closely, under the influence of the Gift of Fear, the magnitude of those faults which to us seem insignificant; because he saw evil in them, a sign of separation from God. They were certainly very slight, but is anything really insignificant in love? When one loves passionately, does not the slightest danger of being removed from the beloved tear the heart to pieces?
This same Gift of Fear influenced St. Juliana of Falconieri, who trembled on hearing the word “sin,” and who would faint when she heard of a crime being committed. In our present sinful world, we should be fainting all the time―but we have all lost the sense of sin, because we have also lost (or stifled) the Fear of the Lord within ourselves. This reaction to sin―as shown by St. Juliana Falconieri―is something higher, something deeper, something much more perfect, than we are able to attain by our natural faculties; it is a supernatural effect which the Holy Ghost produces in souls so that they can look with horror at sin, and thus cling with intensity to God. The fact that we are no longer in horror at sin shows that we are no longer (or never have been) truly in love with God and so have no fear in offending Him.
Degrees of Fear of the Lord
Of course there are degrees in the Gifts, as there are degrees in the Virtues. In the natural order, any faculty can be developed by practice, the acts performed by it becoming all the while stronger, more perfect. The intelligence of a student on the threshold of knowledge is not of the same degree as that of one who has spent his whole life in serious and profound study. The natural faculties grow with exercise, and as they grow we distinguish new degrees of them. The same thing happens in the supernatural order. The Virtues have their degrees, and so do the Gifts.
► The gift of the fear of God, in the first degree, produces horror for sin and strength to overcome temptations. By means of the virtue we keep away from sin and conquer temptations, but with many struggles, many failures. We know from sad experience that our spiritual efforts do not always result in victory. How many times we are overcome; and even when we finally come out victorious, how conscious we are of deficiencies, hesitations, effort! With the Gift of Fear, victory is rapid and perfect. How often have we known this experience in the depths of our souls — the quick, instinctive impulse in the presence of temptation to leave the danger at once! It was the Holy Ghost moving us with His Gift of Fear.
► In the second degree of this gift, the soul not only stays away from sin, but clings to God with profound reverence, avoiding even insignificant acts that are signs of imperfection. The profound respect of the saints for everything sacred — the Church, the Gospel, the priest — is the effect of the Gift of Fear. Everything divine is reverenced. The soul under the power of this gift does not want to fail in the least detail in respect and veneration for God.
► A marvelous effect is produced in the third degree of this gift: total detachment from the things of this earth. That is why theologians say that this gift produces the first of the beatitudes: that of poverty of spirit. When we cling to God and avoid all that could separate us from Him, in such a way that exterior things lose their fascination for us, then the soul knows it is free, and it experiences the divine detachment characteristic of this stage of the spiritual life; it reaches the glorious height of which Jesus Christ spoke when He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The disinterestedness of St. Francis of Assisi, who considered all the things of earth as nothing; the disinterestedness to which Christ counseled the young man of the Gospel — “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21. Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22): such disinterestedness as this is the fruit of the divine Gift of Fear.
Summary and Conclusion
The Fear of the Lord paves the way for the rest of the Gifts by leading us to revere God and avoid anything that might alienate us from Him. The Fear of the Lord is not a matter of anxiety or terror. Rather, it is a calm yet eager resolve to please God, do good and avoid evil. St. Thomas Aquinas points out that before people can begin to do good, they must first withdraw from evil. As we know from our own experience, fear always involves turning away from something that we consider a threat to our well-being. If we are thinking correctly, then the threat of Hell should outweigh any threat or torment that we might here on Earth! However, many people are myopic or short-sighted and cannot see much beyond the end of their nose, let alone seeing beyond the end of their life! Thus most people stumble into Hell because they were not farsighted enough to see the future consequences of their actions.
► In our relationship with God, fear can play a role in two ways. First, fear can be a fear of punishment―especially fearing the punishment of Hell. We can and should turn us away from evil, run to God, and stay close to Him whenever we feel intimidated by the reality of punishment. St. Thomas refers to this kind of fear as “servile” fear, or the fear of one who obeys the master because of the possibility of punishment. Servile fear, however, does not involve the full range of freedom and grace that Our Lord wants us to enjoy. There is a second and holier kind of fear that has to do not with punishment, but with the wonderful good of communion with God.
► This second kind of fear is not afraid of punishment, but of losing God. St. Thomas calls this “filial” fear, the fear of sons, since it is the kind of fear a good son should have about ever violating or losing his relationship with his father. To have filial fear means to be eager to avoid the evil of offending God, or doing anything that might damage our relationship with Him.
► The Holy Ghost’s Gift, Fear of the Lord, is a Gift of filial fear. By this Gift, we respond to the Holy Ghost’s guidance in withdrawing from evil pleasures out of love for God, not simply out of a fear of punishment. In fact, this Gift transforms the way we regard God. St. Thomas goes so far as to say that the charity which informs the Gift of Fear enables us to look upon God as at once our Father, and even our Spouse! In other words, the Charity (love) active in Fear of the Lord is one that makes us keenly sensitive to how God loves us and to how we need to answer that love. Through Fear of the Lord, we become deeply sensitive to anything that might diminish our life of loving God and of enjoying His love.
► There is, then, something quite ironic about Fear of the Lord. This fear is produced by love. As St. Thomas explains, love is the mother of which fear is born, for a person fears to lose only what he loves. When our desires get firmly fixed on something, we loathe ever losing it. To be deprived of the object of our affections is something we fear as an evil. In this respect, then, fear of its very nature arises from love. This insight urges us to ask ourselves the question: “What do I really fear losing?” If we see what we are afraid to lose, then we will see what we really love in life. With this understanding of fear, we can see why it is right to say that even Jesus Himself had the Gift of Fear of the Lord. For when we fear another person with filial fear―even a divine person, like God the Father―we are fearing the loss of some overwhelming good. What Christ feared— what He was eager never to lose—was what is most overwhelming in God, in particular His infinite love. In His Agony in the Garden, Jesus was afraid of dying― “He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad … and He began to fear and to be heavy” (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33). Yet as much as in His human nature He feared His imminent Passion and Death, to the point of asking His Father to “remove this chalice” (Mark 14:36), His even greater fear of offending His Father overruled and overcame His fear of suffering and death, for Jesus adds: “…but not what I will, but what thou wilt!” (Mark 14:36). The human side of Jesus was moved by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost to act upon His profoundly awed reverence of God. St. Thomas comments that, as man, Christ had a deeper sense of reverence for God than anyone else ever had.
Because of this holy, loving fear, Jesus did not turn away from His agony or the anguish of the Passion. Something greater than the torment of torture overwhelmed Him and moved Him to reject utterly any deed that would have separated Him in the slightest way from doing the will of His Father. Thus it was precisely the evil of violence and punishment—the evil that was meant to discourage Jesus―as when Pontius Pilate said: “Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and I have power to release Thee?” (John 19:10)—that urged Him on! For by faithfully responding to the Gift of Fear in His human soul, Jesus provided the way for the servile fear of others to be transformed into authentic filial fear. By His own suffering and love, Jesus teaches us and enables us to seek reconciliation and unending communion with God above all things. That is why He said: “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
► In Jesus’ Fear of the Lord we come to understand how we can expect the Gift of Fear will be active in our own souls. As we see in the Passion, one chief effect of Fear of the Lord is a total and pure humility. With Fear of the Lord, we are not only willing, but even eager and joyful, at the prospect of enduring suffering for the sake of God and His plan of salvation. Holy Fear disciplines us, so that we stop seeking glory for ourselves, but instead seek God’s glory and our own happiness in Him. Fear of the Lord reveres and loves God, and so uproots the very beginnings of human pride. Fear is a remedy for all pride and arrogance of spirit, which are the evils most likely to lead us away from the Lord.
► This effect of humility increases in proportion to our charity. The more we love God, the more we fear to offend Him and to be separated from Him. Yet the more we love God, the less we fear punishment—true love saves us from being preoccupied with our own welfare, and makes us pay attention, not to punishment, but to the awesome love of God that we cannot afford to lose. The humble love that securely attaches us to God also causes us to have greater confidence of reward, and consequently less fear of punishment.
► A second effect of Fear of the Lord, then, is the enhancement of Hope. St. Thomas notes that Fear humbles the spirit, so that it will not grow proud about present things. And it strengthens us with the Bread of Hope as we look forward to things yet to be. The Holy Ghost’s Gift does not make us worry about whether God will save us, but makes us eager to avoid any disregard or sin or neglect on our part, that would reject or diminish the effectiveness of that divine help. This way, Fear and Hope work together. Hope is confident that God will do great things for us, while Fear keeps us pure and humble, in the perfect state to receive the loving graces of God. In a sense, Hope even makes Fear more intense, since the more we confidently hope for something from another (from God, in this case), the more eager we will be not to forfeit that gift by offending our benefactor, or by separating ourselves from Him.
► Fear of the Lord also enables us to live the Beatitude, “How blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), in a more authentic way. For the Gift of Fear does not only liberate us from seeking the self-exaltation of pride; it also saves us from craving the fame that can be gained through exterior goods, such as honors and wealth. Thus, through Fear we become eager for God alone, and are set free from the pride and greed that would send us racing after treasures other than God Himself.
► Fear of the Lord also strengthens the virtue of temperance (that virtue that keeps us free and reasonable about things that are pleasurable to the body). Because the Gift of Fear of the Lord prompts us to look to God first of all while shunning everything that could offend or separate us from Him, this Gift also readily restrains us from giving ourselves up to bodily delights. When we love God above all, and are lead by the Holy Ghost to prize His love absolutely, then we are more easily going to avoid sins related to bodily desire and pleasure.
St. Thomas tells us that, of all the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Fear of the Lord comes first in the order of need, last in the order of nobility. Fear of the Lord opens a door for doing good. It is the foundation or beginning for the activity of all the other Gifts. In this way, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10)—it is where wisdom has its roots, and where it first begins to come alive.
In Heaven, when love is perfect, there will be no room for fear of punishment (1 John 4:18) and no possibility of offending God. Nevertheless, we can still say that the holiest part of fear—reverence for God—will remain even in the glory of Heaven. There, Fear will not involve any anxiety or concern about sinning, but will be perfect in complete peace, in the absolutely firm and final rejection of evil, and in the total tranquility in loving God above all and in all.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday May 18th & Wednesday May 19th
Article 22
A Gentle Guiding Ghost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday May 18th & Wednesday May 19th
Article 22
A Gentle Guiding Ghost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Will the Real Holy Ghost Please Stand Up!
Is the Holy Ghost tough or mild? Is He loud or quiet? Reading Holy Scripture can be a little confusing―for it seems contradictory, or is it that God is a little bit of everything? God is God―whether it be God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Ghost. The three members of the Holy Trinity think alike and act alike―there is no disagreement between them. They may have different roles―Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier―but the Spirit is the same. But what Spirit is it that rules and drives Them all? Trying to find out can be a little confusing as we read seemingly contradictory indications in Holy Scripture:
“Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord! And behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces―the Lord is not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake―the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire―the Lord is not in the fire―and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air” (3 Kings 19:11-12).
“And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4).
The Different Sides to God
Whether it be God the Father, or God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost―they all have the same Spirit, they are in concord―if you like, they all have the same character and characteristics. They all have “all the necessary tools in the toolbox” and will use whatever “tool” is needed for the many varying circumstances that arise. We are much the same―since we are all made in the image and likeness of God―we have many “tools” in our “toolbox” and some of them we prefer to use more than others, but, if required, we will use the ones we do not like to use.
So it is with God―whether it the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. God prefers to love and be kind, because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “I love them that love Me” (Proverbs 8:17). God says He will lavish His love upon us “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people” (Leviticus 26:3-12).
Yet, with those who do not love Him, or even hate Him, God will reach into His “toolbox” and use other tools that He does not like to use, but will use when necessary: “I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay them that hate Me!” (Deuteronomy 32:41). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will destroy your land. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-41).
The Life You Lead Dictates the God You Get
As Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “With the holy one Thou wilt be holy, and with the valiant, perfect. With the elect Thou wilt be elect, and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. And the poor people Thou wilt save. And with Thy eyes Thou wilt humble the haughty!” (2 Kings 22:26-28). “With the holy, Thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man Thou wilt be innocent. And with the elect Thou wilt be elect and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. For Thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud!” (Psalm 17:26-28). In other words―God will be tough or kind, heavy-handed or gentle, depending on what we are “asking for” or what we deserve. As the New Testament says: “See then the goodness and the severity of God―towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, if thou abide in goodness, the goodness of God―otherwise thou also shalt be cut off!” (Romans 11:22).
“And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, He is a strong and faithful God, keeping His covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments, unto a thousand generations―and also repaying them that hate Him, so as to destroy them, without further delay, immediately rendering to them what they deserve” (Deuteronomy 7:9-10). So if you choose to keep the commandments of God and follow His will, then “the God of peace and of love shall be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11). To those who reject the commandments and will God, they will soon see that “the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice” (Romans 1:18). “I hated them for the wickedness of their devices―I will cast them forth out of My house, I will love them no more―all their princes are revolters!” (Osee 9:15). What you sow is what you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) and the kind of life you lead dictates the kind of God you will meet. “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to My Name, saith the Lord of hosts, then I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings―yes I will curse them―because you have not laid it to heart! Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it” (Malachias 2:2-3).
You Get the God You Deserve
No doubt you have heard it said: “We get the leaders we deserve!” Similarly, “We get the God we deserve!” Modern-day Christians are ceaselessly enthusing about God being “Love” and “Mercy” and all you have to do is believe in Him and you are “saved”. God is love, that is true, but God is not ONLY love. You would have thought that simple common sense would have told them that there is something wrong with their theory when scrutinized under the light of most souls ending up damned―but, of course, they refuse to look at and consider that part of reality!
The Kindness of God
The reality is that God wants to save everyone―but it has to be on His terms and not on their terms. God’s love excludes nobody―the excluding is done by a lack of love towards God. There are sufficient Scriptural quotes that confirm that God loves sinners, has compassion upon those sinners, and wishes to save those sinners―regardless of how sinful they are or may have been: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?’ (Ezechiel 33:11). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-22). “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Beautiful, huh? Those quotes are only the tip of the iceberg!
As a further “dip the big toe in the water” reflection or meditation, Holy Scripture not only tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but Scripture also unpacks or gives a brief description of that charity: “Charity is patient, is kind. Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
The Toughness of God
Yet, on the other hand, God also says: “But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity―according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work―shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and, in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, then he shall die therein―in the injustice, that he hath wrought, he shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:24-26).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9).
The Holy Ghost Will Convict the World of Sin
At the Last Supper, when speaking of the future coming of the Holy Ghost, Our Lord said: “I tell you the truth―it is expedient to you that I go―for if I go not, the Paraclete [the Holy Ghost] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin―because they believed not in Me. And of justice―because I go to the Father and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgment―because the prince [Satan] of this world is already judged!” (John 16:7-11).
Our Lord, in His farewell discourses, explicitly declares that by the Holy Ghost’s coming we should learn what sin is, saying: “When He is come, He will convict the world of sin.” (John 16:8). Both in the old creation and in the new, both before the Incarnation of the Son of God, and after His Ascension into Heaven, it has been, it is, and it will be to the end of the world, the work and the office of the Holy Ghost, to convince the world of sin; that is to say, to convince the intellect, and to illuminate the reason of man to understand what sin is, and also to convince the consciences of men of their sinfulness and make them conscious that they are guilty before God.
As in the beginning, before the Fall of man, man, in the light of the Holy Ghost, knew God, His perfections and holiness, so after the Fall, God, in His mercy, has by His Spirit taught men to know, in some measure at least, His perfections and their own sinfulness; but it was only like the twilight preceding the noonday. We are in the noonday and if, in the noonday light, we are blind to the perfections of God and to our own sinfulness, then woe to us in the Day of Judgment.
Sadly―in the noonday light that came with the Incarnation, Birth, Ministry, Passion and Death of Christ, and that noonday light still shines today―the human race has been blinded to its sins. Since the time of Pope Pius XII, one pope after another has lamented that modern-man has “lost the sense of sin.” In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In homily on March 13th, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin.”
The Sin Against the Holy Ghost
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q. 14) speaks of three interpretations concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost that is mentioned specifically in Scripture (Matthew 12:31). The first interpretation is that it is the sin of final impenitence, by which a person rejects grace and pardon, up to and including the moment of death. Another interpretation is sins against the Holy Ghost are sins of weakness is a sin against God the Father; or a sins of ignorance against God the Son; or sins of malice (deliberately entrenched in sin) against God the Holy Ghost.
St. Thomas, speaking of the latter mentioned sins of malice against the Holy Ghost, lists six chief sins of malice. These are: (1) despair, (2) presumption, (3) impenitence, (4) obstinacy, (5) resisting the known truth, and (5) envy of another person’s spiritual good. He adds that if the sin against the Holy Ghost is any sin of malice, then it is unforgivable in itself, although God may forgive it none the less. It may be incurable, as a disease is incurable; yet God can cure an incurable disease. He further adds that the sin against the Holy Ghost is regularly the outcome of many previous sins, and comes of a gradual turning of the mind and will to contempt for the means that God has given us for our salvation.
Is the Holy Ghost Gentle?
“O how good and sweet is Thy spirit, O Lord, in all things!” (Wisdom 12:1). “The Lord is sweet!” (1 Peter 2:3). Scripture speaks of “the goodness and kindness of God our Savior” (Titus 3:4). Just like any parent, the Holy Ghost is gentle if the “child” listens, obeys and is good. If we decide not to listen, not to obey and are bad, then, like any parent would do, the Holy Ghost has to take “corrective measures” and even “punitive measures.” Heck! We even treat pets the same way! Or even a pen that won’t write when it is needed to write, we tend to throw it aside and get one that will write! If you disobey God, ignore God, neglect God―even though He is patient and merciful―you will pay! Hey! Even those who are in Hell are experiencing the mercy of God―because they are not being punished as severely as they actually deserve to be punished.
Modern-man seems to ignore this truth. You have to get this straight―you do not mess with God just because He does not react immediately! “The Lord delayeth not His promise [to punish], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Yes, “the Lord is sweet and righteous” (Psalm 24:8). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet! Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him!” (Psalm 33:9). “Thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me!” (Psalm 108:21). When sweetness and kindness is merited, then God will give it―but He is also righteous, which means “acting in accord with divine or moral law”, and if man decides to break God’s law, then that righteous God will do what is right and His justice will be invoked. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
“The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). “He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaias 53:4). “Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee!” (Psalms 85:5). Yet merely “calling” on the Lord is not enough―we must “change” our ways if we seek and hope to obtain His “plenteous mercy”. There are too many who expect mercy without amending their sinful ways, who treat the Sacrament of Confession like a weekly “car-wash” or a revolving door, but drive back into the mud of sin immediately afterwards, just “as a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Jesus warns us, saying: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier
The Church Fathers, Doctors and theologians usually attribute different roles to each Member of the Holy Trinity―even though They all participate in everything. You could, so to speak, say that each Member of the Trinity gets to be the “Foreman” of the “three man crew” or “Three Person Crew” in which all work together. These “roles” are that of the Creator for God the Father, the Redeemer for God the Son, and the Sanctifier for God the Holy Ghost―we even call the third Person of the Trinity the “Holy” Ghost, the “Holy” Spirit, which literally means the “Spirit of Holiness.”
Holy Scripture is full of references of the holiness of God and our obligation to be holy like God is holy: “Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, Who sanctify them!” (Leviticus 21:8). “I am the Lord who sanctify you!” (Leviticus 22:32). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself, if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “And you shall be to Me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “And they shall call them, ‘The Holy People’, the redeemed of the Lord!” (Isaias 62:12). “Thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and He chose thee to be His peculiar people of all nations that are upon the Earth!” (Deuteronomy 14:2). “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 20:7). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “Be a holy people of the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 26:19). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). “They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name … therefore they shall be holy!” (Leviticus 21:6).
You might think that this only applied in the Old Testament times, but St. Peter and St. Paul repeat the command in the New Testament: “But according to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy―for it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4).
Hence it is that role of the Holy Ghost is to sanctify us and thereby make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, this following passage that states that holiness is our main vocation: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
God is Charity―Charity Sanctifies
It is only logical that if “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God is holy” (Psalm 98:9), then Charity must have a major and crucial part to play in holiness. In fact, Holy Scripture tells us that without Charity, all that we might do will be useless, pointless and worthless without Charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). “Above all have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14).
“We are of God. Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us” (1 John 4:6-12).
Is the Holy Ghost tough or mild? Is He loud or quiet? Reading Holy Scripture can be a little confusing―for it seems contradictory, or is it that God is a little bit of everything? God is God―whether it be God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Ghost. The three members of the Holy Trinity think alike and act alike―there is no disagreement between them. They may have different roles―Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier―but the Spirit is the same. But what Spirit is it that rules and drives Them all? Trying to find out can be a little confusing as we read seemingly contradictory indications in Holy Scripture:
“Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord! And behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces―the Lord is not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake―the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire―the Lord is not in the fire―and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air” (3 Kings 19:11-12).
“And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4).
The Different Sides to God
Whether it be God the Father, or God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost―they all have the same Spirit, they are in concord―if you like, they all have the same character and characteristics. They all have “all the necessary tools in the toolbox” and will use whatever “tool” is needed for the many varying circumstances that arise. We are much the same―since we are all made in the image and likeness of God―we have many “tools” in our “toolbox” and some of them we prefer to use more than others, but, if required, we will use the ones we do not like to use.
So it is with God―whether it the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. God prefers to love and be kind, because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “I love them that love Me” (Proverbs 8:17). God says He will lavish His love upon us “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people” (Leviticus 26:3-12).
Yet, with those who do not love Him, or even hate Him, God will reach into His “toolbox” and use other tools that He does not like to use, but will use when necessary: “I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay them that hate Me!” (Deuteronomy 32:41). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will destroy your land. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-41).
The Life You Lead Dictates the God You Get
As Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “With the holy one Thou wilt be holy, and with the valiant, perfect. With the elect Thou wilt be elect, and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. And the poor people Thou wilt save. And with Thy eyes Thou wilt humble the haughty!” (2 Kings 22:26-28). “With the holy, Thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man Thou wilt be innocent. And with the elect Thou wilt be elect and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. For Thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud!” (Psalm 17:26-28). In other words―God will be tough or kind, heavy-handed or gentle, depending on what we are “asking for” or what we deserve. As the New Testament says: “See then the goodness and the severity of God―towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, if thou abide in goodness, the goodness of God―otherwise thou also shalt be cut off!” (Romans 11:22).
“And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, He is a strong and faithful God, keeping His covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments, unto a thousand generations―and also repaying them that hate Him, so as to destroy them, without further delay, immediately rendering to them what they deserve” (Deuteronomy 7:9-10). So if you choose to keep the commandments of God and follow His will, then “the God of peace and of love shall be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11). To those who reject the commandments and will God, they will soon see that “the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice” (Romans 1:18). “I hated them for the wickedness of their devices―I will cast them forth out of My house, I will love them no more―all their princes are revolters!” (Osee 9:15). What you sow is what you reap: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8) and the kind of life you lead dictates the kind of God you will meet. “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to My Name, saith the Lord of hosts, then I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings―yes I will curse them―because you have not laid it to heart! Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it” (Malachias 2:2-3).
You Get the God You Deserve
No doubt you have heard it said: “We get the leaders we deserve!” Similarly, “We get the God we deserve!” Modern-day Christians are ceaselessly enthusing about God being “Love” and “Mercy” and all you have to do is believe in Him and you are “saved”. God is love, that is true, but God is not ONLY love. You would have thought that simple common sense would have told them that there is something wrong with their theory when scrutinized under the light of most souls ending up damned―but, of course, they refuse to look at and consider that part of reality!
The Kindness of God
The reality is that God wants to save everyone―but it has to be on His terms and not on their terms. God’s love excludes nobody―the excluding is done by a lack of love towards God. There are sufficient Scriptural quotes that confirm that God loves sinners, has compassion upon those sinners, and wishes to save those sinners―regardless of how sinful they are or may have been: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?’ (Ezechiel 33:11). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-22). “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). “Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Beautiful, huh? Those quotes are only the tip of the iceberg!
As a further “dip the big toe in the water” reflection or meditation, Holy Scripture not only tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but Scripture also unpacks or gives a brief description of that charity: “Charity is patient, is kind. Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
The Toughness of God
Yet, on the other hand, God also says: “But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity―according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work―shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and, in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, then he shall die therein―in the injustice, that he hath wrought, he shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:24-26).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9).
The Holy Ghost Will Convict the World of Sin
At the Last Supper, when speaking of the future coming of the Holy Ghost, Our Lord said: “I tell you the truth―it is expedient to you that I go―for if I go not, the Paraclete [the Holy Ghost] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin―because they believed not in Me. And of justice―because I go to the Father and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgment―because the prince [Satan] of this world is already judged!” (John 16:7-11).
Our Lord, in His farewell discourses, explicitly declares that by the Holy Ghost’s coming we should learn what sin is, saying: “When He is come, He will convict the world of sin.” (John 16:8). Both in the old creation and in the new, both before the Incarnation of the Son of God, and after His Ascension into Heaven, it has been, it is, and it will be to the end of the world, the work and the office of the Holy Ghost, to convince the world of sin; that is to say, to convince the intellect, and to illuminate the reason of man to understand what sin is, and also to convince the consciences of men of their sinfulness and make them conscious that they are guilty before God.
As in the beginning, before the Fall of man, man, in the light of the Holy Ghost, knew God, His perfections and holiness, so after the Fall, God, in His mercy, has by His Spirit taught men to know, in some measure at least, His perfections and their own sinfulness; but it was only like the twilight preceding the noonday. We are in the noonday and if, in the noonday light, we are blind to the perfections of God and to our own sinfulness, then woe to us in the Day of Judgment.
Sadly―in the noonday light that came with the Incarnation, Birth, Ministry, Passion and Death of Christ, and that noonday light still shines today―the human race has been blinded to its sins. Since the time of Pope Pius XII, one pope after another has lamented that modern-man has “lost the sense of sin.” In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In homily on March 13th, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin.”
The Sin Against the Holy Ghost
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q. 14) speaks of three interpretations concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost that is mentioned specifically in Scripture (Matthew 12:31). The first interpretation is that it is the sin of final impenitence, by which a person rejects grace and pardon, up to and including the moment of death. Another interpretation is sins against the Holy Ghost are sins of weakness is a sin against God the Father; or a sins of ignorance against God the Son; or sins of malice (deliberately entrenched in sin) against God the Holy Ghost.
St. Thomas, speaking of the latter mentioned sins of malice against the Holy Ghost, lists six chief sins of malice. These are: (1) despair, (2) presumption, (3) impenitence, (4) obstinacy, (5) resisting the known truth, and (5) envy of another person’s spiritual good. He adds that if the sin against the Holy Ghost is any sin of malice, then it is unforgivable in itself, although God may forgive it none the less. It may be incurable, as a disease is incurable; yet God can cure an incurable disease. He further adds that the sin against the Holy Ghost is regularly the outcome of many previous sins, and comes of a gradual turning of the mind and will to contempt for the means that God has given us for our salvation.
Is the Holy Ghost Gentle?
“O how good and sweet is Thy spirit, O Lord, in all things!” (Wisdom 12:1). “The Lord is sweet!” (1 Peter 2:3). Scripture speaks of “the goodness and kindness of God our Savior” (Titus 3:4). Just like any parent, the Holy Ghost is gentle if the “child” listens, obeys and is good. If we decide not to listen, not to obey and are bad, then, like any parent would do, the Holy Ghost has to take “corrective measures” and even “punitive measures.” Heck! We even treat pets the same way! Or even a pen that won’t write when it is needed to write, we tend to throw it aside and get one that will write! If you disobey God, ignore God, neglect God―even though He is patient and merciful―you will pay! Hey! Even those who are in Hell are experiencing the mercy of God―because they are not being punished as severely as they actually deserve to be punished.
Modern-man seems to ignore this truth. You have to get this straight―you do not mess with God just because He does not react immediately! “The Lord delayeth not His promise [to punish], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Yes, “the Lord is sweet and righteous” (Psalm 24:8). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet! Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him!” (Psalm 33:9). “Thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me!” (Psalm 108:21). When sweetness and kindness is merited, then God will give it―but He is also righteous, which means “acting in accord with divine or moral law”, and if man decides to break God’s law, then that righteous God will do what is right and His justice will be invoked. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
“The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). “He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaias 53:4). “Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee!” (Psalms 85:5). Yet merely “calling” on the Lord is not enough―we must “change” our ways if we seek and hope to obtain His “plenteous mercy”. There are too many who expect mercy without amending their sinful ways, who treat the Sacrament of Confession like a weekly “car-wash” or a revolving door, but drive back into the mud of sin immediately afterwards, just “as a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Jesus warns us, saying: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier
The Church Fathers, Doctors and theologians usually attribute different roles to each Member of the Holy Trinity―even though They all participate in everything. You could, so to speak, say that each Member of the Trinity gets to be the “Foreman” of the “three man crew” or “Three Person Crew” in which all work together. These “roles” are that of the Creator for God the Father, the Redeemer for God the Son, and the Sanctifier for God the Holy Ghost―we even call the third Person of the Trinity the “Holy” Ghost, the “Holy” Spirit, which literally means the “Spirit of Holiness.”
Holy Scripture is full of references of the holiness of God and our obligation to be holy like God is holy: “Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, Who sanctify them!” (Leviticus 21:8). “I am the Lord who sanctify you!” (Leviticus 22:32). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself, if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “And you shall be to Me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation!” (Exodus 19:6). “And they shall call them, ‘The Holy People’, the redeemed of the Lord!” (Isaias 62:12). “Thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and He chose thee to be His peculiar people of all nations that are upon the Earth!” (Deuteronomy 14:2). “Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy!” (Leviticus 19:2). “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 20:7). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31). “Be a holy people of the Lord thy God!” (Deuteronomy 26:19). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). “They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane His Name … therefore they shall be holy!” (Leviticus 21:6).
You might think that this only applied in the Old Testament times, but St. Peter and St. Paul repeat the command in the New Testament: “But according to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy―for it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4).
Hence it is that role of the Holy Ghost is to sanctify us and thereby make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why St. Louis de Montfort writes, in his booklet, The Secret of Mary, this following passage that states that holiness is our main vocation: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
God is Charity―Charity Sanctifies
It is only logical that if “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8) and “God is holy” (Psalm 98:9), then Charity must have a major and crucial part to play in holiness. In fact, Holy Scripture tells us that without Charity, all that we might do will be useless, pointless and worthless without Charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). “Above all have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14).
“We are of God. Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us” (1 John 4:6-12).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday May 16th & Monday May 17th
Article 21
A Gift-Giving Ghost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday May 16th & Monday May 17th
Article 21
A Gift-Giving Ghost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Scared of Ghosts?
Are you scared of ghosts? Whether or not you are―here is a Ghost that strikes fear into the heart! It is the Holy Ghost and the first of His gifts is the Gift of Fear of the Lord! The Holy Ghost is a gift-giving Ghost and we find the names and the number of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in the classic passage from the prophet Isaias: “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness [piety]. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isaias 11:1-3).
What Isaias calls “Spirit,” the technical language of theology calls “Gifts.” These “Gifts” no money can buy! They are supernatural powers that are meant to help us rise to superhuman levels in order to gain Heaven and salvation―which again, money cannot buy! As the Baltimore Catechism tells us: “The chief supernatural powers that are bestowed on our souls with sanctifying grace are the three theological virtues and the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.” (Question/Answer #119).
A Gift-Giving God
All through history, God has revealed himself as the supreme Gift-Giver. Creation is a gift. Life is a gift. The Lord gave His covenants (“agreements” or “contracts”) as gifts, and called Abraham, Moses, and the Chosen People to Himself ― all out of sheer generosity. Moreover, God sent His Son to us as a gift, and Christ won for us all the gift of eternal life. God wants nothing more than to share His own life with us in Heaven―which is a gift, since nobody has a right to Heaven.
Not only are we naturally undeserving of a Heaven which is way above our natural powers, we make ourselves evne more unworthy through committing sin. As a consequence we stand in need of another gift―the mercy of God―so that we can be cleansed, prepared and elevated by God before we can be perfectly united with Him in Heaven. In a word, we must be changed. Part of our transformation into the holiness that God requires us to have for Heaven, is the cooperation with His grace that makes us virtuous. To be virtuous means not only to do right, but to be the kind of person who does what is good readily, spontaneously, and with joy. The life of the virtues prevents evils from poisoning the love in our hearts, and frees us to advance in godliness. But besides strengthening us in goodness, God also infuses into our souls the gifts of Faith, Hope and Charity—the “theological virtues” or God focused virtues―which are nothing less than a sharing in God’s own divine knowledge and love. Through Faith, Hope and Charity we are brought to live in union with the Holy Trinity even during our life on Earth. In giving us the theological virtues, the Ghost makes His dwelling within us and enlivens us with rich blessings of every description, making us daily more like Christ and guiding us to the life of perfection in Heaven.
A Guiding Ghost!
St. Thomas Aquinas, in speaking of the differences between the “Virtues” and the “Gifts”, writes: “The gifts should be held as being different from the virtues … Human virtues perfect man according as it is natural for him to be moved by his reason in his interior and exterior actions. Consequently man needs yet higher perfections, whereby to be disposed to be moved by God. These perfections are called gifts, not only because they are infused by God, but also because by them man is disposed to become amenable to the Divine inspiration … The gifts are perfections of man, whereby he is disposed so as to be amenable to the promptings of God … For those who are moved by Divine instinct, there is no need to take counsel according to human reason, but only to follow their inner promptings, since they are moved by a principle higher than human reason … Man can work through the judgment of his reason. If, however, even in these things man receive help in the shape of special promptings from God, this will be out of God's superabundant goodness … The gifts surpass the ordinary perfection of the virtues … The gifts are bestowed to assist the virtues and to remedy certain defects, so that they accomplish what the virtues cannot. Therefore the gifts are more excellent than the virtues … The gifts perfect man for acts which are higher than acts of virtue” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 68).
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are blessings given to our souls, to enhance and refine the natural powers that our souls possess. God the Holy Ghost is always at work prompting us and leading us to greater purity, greater love, and greater holiness. However, even with the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, our hearts can remain insensitive to the Holy Ghost. The seven Gifts are the remedy for this dullness. They enhance the powers of the soul and make our hearts more sensitive to God, so that we can easily and consistently follow the movements and inspirations of the Holy Ghost
Not a Scary Ghost―But Sweet Guest!
The Holy Ghost―Who dwells in us when we possess the grace of God, this sweet and not scary Guest, Ghost or Spirit of our soul, Who masterfully directs our spiritual life―has desired to establish in the different parts of our souls those mysterious realities, the Gifts by which He communicates with us and influences each and every one of our human faculties or powers.
Therefore the first relationship that the Holy Ghost has with souls is that of being the delightful Guest — “dulcis Hospes animae” — as the Church calls Him in the inspired prose of the Mass of Pentecost. Without doubt, the entire Blessed Trinity dwells within the soul living the life of grace, as it is to dwell eternally within the soul living the life of glory, which is the full and joyous expansion of the life of grace. Thus Jesus taught us on the night before His death, that night of intimate secrets and sweet effusions: “If anyone love Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).
Fortunately, this consoling doctrine is familiar to the faithful of our times. But attention should be given to the fact that the Scriptures attribute, in a special manner, this indwelling to the Holy Ghost.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Without this dwelling of the Holy Ghost in us we cannot “become Christ.” “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). Grace and charity, that are the life of our souls, have relationship with the Spirit who dwells in us, because “the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5).
Even the resurrection of the flesh is a consequence of this indwelling of the Holy Ghost, who converts our bodies into His temple. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). And the Holy Ghost does not come to us in a transitory manner; infinite Love is not a passing visitor who pays us a call and then goes away. He establishes in us His permanent dwelling and lives in intimate union with our souls as their eternal Guest.
Jesus promised this to us on the last night of His mortal life: “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you shall know Him because He will dwell with you, and be in you” (John 14:16-17).
Undoubtedly, as we have already said, this permanent and intimate dwelling in our souls which is attributed by appropriation to the Holy Ghost pertains to all the divine Persons; but the appropriation is made by the Scriptures, by Jesus Christ Himself, so we know that it is perfectly founded and admirably efficacious for revealing the Blessed Trinity to us. And why is this indwelling in souls attributed to the Holy Spirit? Because it is a work of love. God is in our souls in a most particular manner because He loves us.
What delight in the thought! It is not because of the exigencies of His immensity, nor only because our wretchedness demands it, that God establishes His dwelling in souls; love, which attracts, allures, and makes one overcome all difficulties, makes the God of heaven, who is in love with souls, come down to them and unite Himself to them in an intimate and permanent manner. This is love: union or desire of union; and as the Holy Ghost is the infinite Love of God, to Him is appropriated this happy name: “the soul’s delightful Guest.”
A Loving Ghost
The Holy Books give us a foundation for exploring this mystery of love. We have already seen St. Paul establish a close bond between the Holy Ghost and charity. And St. John, the master of love, completes in a wonderful way the teachings of St. Paul. In his First Epistle, the Beloved Disciple explains the intimate relation that exists between the Holy Ghost and charity.
This virtue is the image of God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16); and for this reason charity accomplishes the prodigy that “he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). But the unmistakable sign of the mutual and sweet possession is that we have received the Holy Ghost: “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
The first gift of love is love itself, and all the other gifts emanate from this supreme gift, as from their source. Therefore, the Gift of the love of God is the Holy Ghost. Loving us with the love of friendship and giving us His Spirit is for God one and the same thing. And through His Gift, He gives us all the gifts of His munificence. “Through the Gift, which is the Holy Ghost, are distributed many gifts proper to the members of Christ,” says St. Augustine. But of all the gifts which God gives us through His Gift, the most excellent and precious, the created gift which cannot be separated from the uncreated, is charity, the image of the Holy Ghost.
The love of friendship is mutual. God loves us through the Holy Ghost; and that we may correspond to that infinite love with a love created, to be sure, but also supernatural and divine, the Holy Ghost when giving Himself to us pours into our souls the likeness of Himself, which is charity; and this can become so perfect that it can be said that God and we form one same love, one same spirit, as St. Paul teaches: “He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).
There is, then, a very close union between the Holy Ghost and charity: the Holy Ghost does not give Himself to us without pouring charity into our hearts, nor can there be the love of charity in us without the Holy Ghost’s coming to us by the very act of loving.
Consequently, the basic reason why God dwells in us, why He remains in us and we in Him, is love. The love of God that descends to the depths of our souls, our love which by its irresistible needs attracts the God of heaven and captivates Him in the bonds of charity — these are two loves that seek each other, find each other, and fuse together in a divine unity. On the part of God it is the Holy Ghost who gives Himself to us, and on our part it is charity, the image of the Holy Ghost, that cannot be separated from the divine Original. Therefore the inspired expression of the Church, “delightful Guest of the soul,” encloses a mystery of love.
Undoubtedly, knowledge also makes God dwell in us as in His temple: though not knowledge as such, even of the supernatural order, but only that knowledge called wisdom, which is, as it were, experienced, and which proceeds from love and produces love. “The Son,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “is the Word; not any sort of word, but one who breathes forth Love.” Thus too, St. Augustine says that the Son is sent “when He is known and perceived by someone. But the perception signifies experimental knowledge. And this is properly called wisdom.”
Some profound considerations result from this doctrine, revealing to us the important part played by the Holy Ghost in the spiritual life. The divine gifts that belong to the understanding make us resemble the Word of God, who is Wisdom engendered by the understanding of the Father, and the gifts that pertain to the will make us resemble the Holy Ghost, who is infinite Love.
Now, on Earth, the most perfect gift is charity; consequently, our assimilation with the Holy Ghost is more perfect than our assimilation with the Word of God. But from charity, by which the gifts of the Holy Ghost are ordered in their progress and development, springs that loving wisdom which, according to St. Thomas, accomplishes our resemblance to the Word of God, our transformation into Christ, which is the work of light, and consummates holiness on earth.
In the supernatural order love leads to light; the Holy Ghost leads us to the Word, and through the Word we go to the Father, in whom all life is completed and all movement is converted into rest. And in Him every creature finds its perfection and its happiness, because all things are completed when they return to their principle.
The development of these ideas will reveal to us the economy of the work of sanctification; but for the moment it is sufficient to establish upon a firm foundation this consoling doctrine: that the Holy Ghost is, in a unique sense, the soul’s delightful Guest.
These Seven Gifts sound very much like virtues that we may have—but they are not virtues. Their role is to perfect those virtues, to strengthen them, to raise them to superhuman levels. They are superior to and more perfect than our virtues, but they work in harmony with them—often pushing them beyond imagined limits.
Who needs the Gifts?
We all need the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, since without God’s help it is impossible for us to find our way to Him―for we naturally only know natural things and not supernatural things. Besides needing forgiveness for our sins, we need God to overcome our vices, foolishness, ignorance, mental dullness, and other defects of mind and soul. God does this in a magnificent way by giving the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, since these more than compensate for the weaknesses of our fallen nature and can remedy the spiritual sicknesses that keep us from full communion with God. The Gifts are more than just a remedy―they strengthen and confirm us in following the good inspirations and guidance of the Holy Ghost. The Gifts lead and inspire us to hear and obey God readily, and they make doing His will our supreme delight.
Who Wants These Gifts? Gimme Worldly Gifts Instead!
Casting pearls before swine―that is what it is a case of today. “Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine―lest perhaps they trample them under their feet!” (Matthew 7:6). The “swine” no longer treasure the “pearls” of God―that is to say, the worldly folk do not treasure spiritual gifts. “If thou didst know the gift of God!” (John 4:10). Do you remember the short parable of a man who discovered a pearl of great value and went and sold all that he had in order to buy that pearl― “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:45-46).
How do we obtain the Gifts?
The seven Gifts―just like the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―are given to us in Holy Baptism. They are present in the soul in “seed form” so to speak, and will reach “maturity” when further activated by receiving the Holy Ghost in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Once given they enhance the soul and exist as new, supernatural faculties or powers.
Unlike the natural faculties, however, the Gifts depend directly upon God for their exercise. We have by nature the power to think and reason (for example), but when we are brought to life by God’s grace we are endowed with the Gifts as supernatural faculties, senses (as it were) that make possible our life as new spiritual creatures. The real action or operation of the Gifts—and thus their benefits—depend upon the further working of God. In fact, the operation of the Gifts is often hidden to us. It is not unusual for them to be revealed only in retrospect, through an enlightened examination of our actions. This is not surprising since at the time of the Gifts’ activity our attention will be on God and on other objects as they relate to Him.
The operation of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost depends primarily and essentially upon the grace of God. For our part, we can cultivate them by avoiding sin and by exercising the moral and intellectual virtues. Full of ready obedience, we must disown whatever could impede or offer resistance to the movement of the Holy Ghost. For instance, if we are stubborn, selfish, or self-indulgent, we are creating obstacles in our souls and are impeding the work of grace. We cannot enjoy the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in a stable or lasting way as long as we remain willing to sin, or unresolved in our determination never to offend God. “No one,” Christ reminds us in the Gospel, “can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost appear when we are living in true, divine Charity. When we love God above all things, and when we love all things for His sake, then that same spiritual fire of love makes us keenly sensitive to His direction. Thus the Gifts appear with Charity, and in turn they lead back to greater holiness and to greater love.
The Gifts are always present all together, since in the life of divine love they form an organic, integral whole. This is so even though, in particular cases, the operation of a particular Gift is needed and evident. In Charity, the Gifts cannot be disconnected or parceled out separately, and they work in such a way that they reinforce, complement, and replenish each other inasmuch as they act together to keep us attuned to doing whatever God wants.
The Gifts make us like Christ
Since the Gifts bring about exquisite sensitivity and responsiveness to God, we can say that they are, in a sense, the crowning dignity of our human nature. Even Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as true man, was endowed with the Gifts. In His infinite and loving wisdom, God has ordained that it is only through the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that souls should be made fully attentive, alert, and heedful to the Spirit’s urgings. In receiving the Gifts, we are brought into a deeper conformity to Christ, who, in His perfect humanity, was supremely and perfectly sensitive and subject to the inspirations of God.
Our sharing in the glory of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost is not limited to the time of our short life on Earth. It is true that, in this present life, the Gifts assist us in those areas that purify and perfect our relationship with God. They especially protect us against temptation and the trials brought about by evil. But in Heaven, our entire life will be one of following the movements and life of the Holy Ghost. The Gifts will enable us to participate in the very life of the Holy Trinity, in a way that only God Himself can teach us. In their essence, then, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost will continue to last and be active in Heaven. There they will be fully permanent and perfect, enabling us to enjoy total communion with God and with all the angels and saints in Him. Together we will exult in God’s own love and beauty, and will share in them together as His beloved children for ever.
Are you scared of ghosts? Whether or not you are―here is a Ghost that strikes fear into the heart! It is the Holy Ghost and the first of His gifts is the Gift of Fear of the Lord! The Holy Ghost is a gift-giving Ghost and we find the names and the number of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in the classic passage from the prophet Isaias: “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness [piety]. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isaias 11:1-3).
What Isaias calls “Spirit,” the technical language of theology calls “Gifts.” These “Gifts” no money can buy! They are supernatural powers that are meant to help us rise to superhuman levels in order to gain Heaven and salvation―which again, money cannot buy! As the Baltimore Catechism tells us: “The chief supernatural powers that are bestowed on our souls with sanctifying grace are the three theological virtues and the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.” (Question/Answer #119).
A Gift-Giving God
All through history, God has revealed himself as the supreme Gift-Giver. Creation is a gift. Life is a gift. The Lord gave His covenants (“agreements” or “contracts”) as gifts, and called Abraham, Moses, and the Chosen People to Himself ― all out of sheer generosity. Moreover, God sent His Son to us as a gift, and Christ won for us all the gift of eternal life. God wants nothing more than to share His own life with us in Heaven―which is a gift, since nobody has a right to Heaven.
Not only are we naturally undeserving of a Heaven which is way above our natural powers, we make ourselves evne more unworthy through committing sin. As a consequence we stand in need of another gift―the mercy of God―so that we can be cleansed, prepared and elevated by God before we can be perfectly united with Him in Heaven. In a word, we must be changed. Part of our transformation into the holiness that God requires us to have for Heaven, is the cooperation with His grace that makes us virtuous. To be virtuous means not only to do right, but to be the kind of person who does what is good readily, spontaneously, and with joy. The life of the virtues prevents evils from poisoning the love in our hearts, and frees us to advance in godliness. But besides strengthening us in goodness, God also infuses into our souls the gifts of Faith, Hope and Charity—the “theological virtues” or God focused virtues―which are nothing less than a sharing in God’s own divine knowledge and love. Through Faith, Hope and Charity we are brought to live in union with the Holy Trinity even during our life on Earth. In giving us the theological virtues, the Ghost makes His dwelling within us and enlivens us with rich blessings of every description, making us daily more like Christ and guiding us to the life of perfection in Heaven.
A Guiding Ghost!
St. Thomas Aquinas, in speaking of the differences between the “Virtues” and the “Gifts”, writes: “The gifts should be held as being different from the virtues … Human virtues perfect man according as it is natural for him to be moved by his reason in his interior and exterior actions. Consequently man needs yet higher perfections, whereby to be disposed to be moved by God. These perfections are called gifts, not only because they are infused by God, but also because by them man is disposed to become amenable to the Divine inspiration … The gifts are perfections of man, whereby he is disposed so as to be amenable to the promptings of God … For those who are moved by Divine instinct, there is no need to take counsel according to human reason, but only to follow their inner promptings, since they are moved by a principle higher than human reason … Man can work through the judgment of his reason. If, however, even in these things man receive help in the shape of special promptings from God, this will be out of God's superabundant goodness … The gifts surpass the ordinary perfection of the virtues … The gifts are bestowed to assist the virtues and to remedy certain defects, so that they accomplish what the virtues cannot. Therefore the gifts are more excellent than the virtues … The gifts perfect man for acts which are higher than acts of virtue” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 68).
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are blessings given to our souls, to enhance and refine the natural powers that our souls possess. God the Holy Ghost is always at work prompting us and leading us to greater purity, greater love, and greater holiness. However, even with the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, our hearts can remain insensitive to the Holy Ghost. The seven Gifts are the remedy for this dullness. They enhance the powers of the soul and make our hearts more sensitive to God, so that we can easily and consistently follow the movements and inspirations of the Holy Ghost
Not a Scary Ghost―But Sweet Guest!
The Holy Ghost―Who dwells in us when we possess the grace of God, this sweet and not scary Guest, Ghost or Spirit of our soul, Who masterfully directs our spiritual life―has desired to establish in the different parts of our souls those mysterious realities, the Gifts by which He communicates with us and influences each and every one of our human faculties or powers.
Therefore the first relationship that the Holy Ghost has with souls is that of being the delightful Guest — “dulcis Hospes animae” — as the Church calls Him in the inspired prose of the Mass of Pentecost. Without doubt, the entire Blessed Trinity dwells within the soul living the life of grace, as it is to dwell eternally within the soul living the life of glory, which is the full and joyous expansion of the life of grace. Thus Jesus taught us on the night before His death, that night of intimate secrets and sweet effusions: “If anyone love Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).
Fortunately, this consoling doctrine is familiar to the faithful of our times. But attention should be given to the fact that the Scriptures attribute, in a special manner, this indwelling to the Holy Ghost.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Without this dwelling of the Holy Ghost in us we cannot “become Christ.” “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). Grace and charity, that are the life of our souls, have relationship with the Spirit who dwells in us, because “the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5).
Even the resurrection of the flesh is a consequence of this indwelling of the Holy Ghost, who converts our bodies into His temple. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). And the Holy Ghost does not come to us in a transitory manner; infinite Love is not a passing visitor who pays us a call and then goes away. He establishes in us His permanent dwelling and lives in intimate union with our souls as their eternal Guest.
Jesus promised this to us on the last night of His mortal life: “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you shall know Him because He will dwell with you, and be in you” (John 14:16-17).
Undoubtedly, as we have already said, this permanent and intimate dwelling in our souls which is attributed by appropriation to the Holy Ghost pertains to all the divine Persons; but the appropriation is made by the Scriptures, by Jesus Christ Himself, so we know that it is perfectly founded and admirably efficacious for revealing the Blessed Trinity to us. And why is this indwelling in souls attributed to the Holy Spirit? Because it is a work of love. God is in our souls in a most particular manner because He loves us.
What delight in the thought! It is not because of the exigencies of His immensity, nor only because our wretchedness demands it, that God establishes His dwelling in souls; love, which attracts, allures, and makes one overcome all difficulties, makes the God of heaven, who is in love with souls, come down to them and unite Himself to them in an intimate and permanent manner. This is love: union or desire of union; and as the Holy Ghost is the infinite Love of God, to Him is appropriated this happy name: “the soul’s delightful Guest.”
A Loving Ghost
The Holy Books give us a foundation for exploring this mystery of love. We have already seen St. Paul establish a close bond between the Holy Ghost and charity. And St. John, the master of love, completes in a wonderful way the teachings of St. Paul. In his First Epistle, the Beloved Disciple explains the intimate relation that exists between the Holy Ghost and charity.
This virtue is the image of God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16); and for this reason charity accomplishes the prodigy that “he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). But the unmistakable sign of the mutual and sweet possession is that we have received the Holy Ghost: “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
The first gift of love is love itself, and all the other gifts emanate from this supreme gift, as from their source. Therefore, the Gift of the love of God is the Holy Ghost. Loving us with the love of friendship and giving us His Spirit is for God one and the same thing. And through His Gift, He gives us all the gifts of His munificence. “Through the Gift, which is the Holy Ghost, are distributed many gifts proper to the members of Christ,” says St. Augustine. But of all the gifts which God gives us through His Gift, the most excellent and precious, the created gift which cannot be separated from the uncreated, is charity, the image of the Holy Ghost.
The love of friendship is mutual. God loves us through the Holy Ghost; and that we may correspond to that infinite love with a love created, to be sure, but also supernatural and divine, the Holy Ghost when giving Himself to us pours into our souls the likeness of Himself, which is charity; and this can become so perfect that it can be said that God and we form one same love, one same spirit, as St. Paul teaches: “He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).
There is, then, a very close union between the Holy Ghost and charity: the Holy Ghost does not give Himself to us without pouring charity into our hearts, nor can there be the love of charity in us without the Holy Ghost’s coming to us by the very act of loving.
Consequently, the basic reason why God dwells in us, why He remains in us and we in Him, is love. The love of God that descends to the depths of our souls, our love which by its irresistible needs attracts the God of heaven and captivates Him in the bonds of charity — these are two loves that seek each other, find each other, and fuse together in a divine unity. On the part of God it is the Holy Ghost who gives Himself to us, and on our part it is charity, the image of the Holy Ghost, that cannot be separated from the divine Original. Therefore the inspired expression of the Church, “delightful Guest of the soul,” encloses a mystery of love.
Undoubtedly, knowledge also makes God dwell in us as in His temple: though not knowledge as such, even of the supernatural order, but only that knowledge called wisdom, which is, as it were, experienced, and which proceeds from love and produces love. “The Son,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “is the Word; not any sort of word, but one who breathes forth Love.” Thus too, St. Augustine says that the Son is sent “when He is known and perceived by someone. But the perception signifies experimental knowledge. And this is properly called wisdom.”
Some profound considerations result from this doctrine, revealing to us the important part played by the Holy Ghost in the spiritual life. The divine gifts that belong to the understanding make us resemble the Word of God, who is Wisdom engendered by the understanding of the Father, and the gifts that pertain to the will make us resemble the Holy Ghost, who is infinite Love.
Now, on Earth, the most perfect gift is charity; consequently, our assimilation with the Holy Ghost is more perfect than our assimilation with the Word of God. But from charity, by which the gifts of the Holy Ghost are ordered in their progress and development, springs that loving wisdom which, according to St. Thomas, accomplishes our resemblance to the Word of God, our transformation into Christ, which is the work of light, and consummates holiness on earth.
In the supernatural order love leads to light; the Holy Ghost leads us to the Word, and through the Word we go to the Father, in whom all life is completed and all movement is converted into rest. And in Him every creature finds its perfection and its happiness, because all things are completed when they return to their principle.
The development of these ideas will reveal to us the economy of the work of sanctification; but for the moment it is sufficient to establish upon a firm foundation this consoling doctrine: that the Holy Ghost is, in a unique sense, the soul’s delightful Guest.
These Seven Gifts sound very much like virtues that we may have—but they are not virtues. Their role is to perfect those virtues, to strengthen them, to raise them to superhuman levels. They are superior to and more perfect than our virtues, but they work in harmony with them—often pushing them beyond imagined limits.
Who needs the Gifts?
We all need the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, since without God’s help it is impossible for us to find our way to Him―for we naturally only know natural things and not supernatural things. Besides needing forgiveness for our sins, we need God to overcome our vices, foolishness, ignorance, mental dullness, and other defects of mind and soul. God does this in a magnificent way by giving the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, since these more than compensate for the weaknesses of our fallen nature and can remedy the spiritual sicknesses that keep us from full communion with God. The Gifts are more than just a remedy―they strengthen and confirm us in following the good inspirations and guidance of the Holy Ghost. The Gifts lead and inspire us to hear and obey God readily, and they make doing His will our supreme delight.
Who Wants These Gifts? Gimme Worldly Gifts Instead!
Casting pearls before swine―that is what it is a case of today. “Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine―lest perhaps they trample them under their feet!” (Matthew 7:6). The “swine” no longer treasure the “pearls” of God―that is to say, the worldly folk do not treasure spiritual gifts. “If thou didst know the gift of God!” (John 4:10). Do you remember the short parable of a man who discovered a pearl of great value and went and sold all that he had in order to buy that pearl― “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:45-46).
How do we obtain the Gifts?
The seven Gifts―just like the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―are given to us in Holy Baptism. They are present in the soul in “seed form” so to speak, and will reach “maturity” when further activated by receiving the Holy Ghost in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Once given they enhance the soul and exist as new, supernatural faculties or powers.
Unlike the natural faculties, however, the Gifts depend directly upon God for their exercise. We have by nature the power to think and reason (for example), but when we are brought to life by God’s grace we are endowed with the Gifts as supernatural faculties, senses (as it were) that make possible our life as new spiritual creatures. The real action or operation of the Gifts—and thus their benefits—depend upon the further working of God. In fact, the operation of the Gifts is often hidden to us. It is not unusual for them to be revealed only in retrospect, through an enlightened examination of our actions. This is not surprising since at the time of the Gifts’ activity our attention will be on God and on other objects as they relate to Him.
The operation of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost depends primarily and essentially upon the grace of God. For our part, we can cultivate them by avoiding sin and by exercising the moral and intellectual virtues. Full of ready obedience, we must disown whatever could impede or offer resistance to the movement of the Holy Ghost. For instance, if we are stubborn, selfish, or self-indulgent, we are creating obstacles in our souls and are impeding the work of grace. We cannot enjoy the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in a stable or lasting way as long as we remain willing to sin, or unresolved in our determination never to offend God. “No one,” Christ reminds us in the Gospel, “can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost appear when we are living in true, divine Charity. When we love God above all things, and when we love all things for His sake, then that same spiritual fire of love makes us keenly sensitive to His direction. Thus the Gifts appear with Charity, and in turn they lead back to greater holiness and to greater love.
The Gifts are always present all together, since in the life of divine love they form an organic, integral whole. This is so even though, in particular cases, the operation of a particular Gift is needed and evident. In Charity, the Gifts cannot be disconnected or parceled out separately, and they work in such a way that they reinforce, complement, and replenish each other inasmuch as they act together to keep us attuned to doing whatever God wants.
The Gifts make us like Christ
Since the Gifts bring about exquisite sensitivity and responsiveness to God, we can say that they are, in a sense, the crowning dignity of our human nature. Even Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as true man, was endowed with the Gifts. In His infinite and loving wisdom, God has ordained that it is only through the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that souls should be made fully attentive, alert, and heedful to the Spirit’s urgings. In receiving the Gifts, we are brought into a deeper conformity to Christ, who, in His perfect humanity, was supremely and perfectly sensitive and subject to the inspirations of God.
Our sharing in the glory of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost is not limited to the time of our short life on Earth. It is true that, in this present life, the Gifts assist us in those areas that purify and perfect our relationship with God. They especially protect us against temptation and the trials brought about by evil. But in Heaven, our entire life will be one of following the movements and life of the Holy Ghost. The Gifts will enable us to participate in the very life of the Holy Trinity, in a way that only God Himself can teach us. In their essence, then, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost will continue to last and be active in Heaven. There they will be fully permanent and perfect, enabling us to enjoy total communion with God and with all the angels and saints in Him. Together we will exult in God’s own love and beauty, and will share in them together as His beloved children for ever.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday May 13th to Saturday May 15th
Article 20
Laugh Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday May 13th to Saturday May 15th
Article 20
Laugh Your Way to Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What is There to Laugh About?
We are currently living in a time of disease and fear! Regardless of whether or not the disease is as serious as they make it out to be―or whether or not what is being said is true or not about the disease and its solutions. Talk of disease is often a serious thing. It can inspire fear and dread if death is possibility. Somehow fear and disease seem to be inseparable Siamese twins, or flip sides of the same coin. They almost seem to feed off each other. We know that disease can cause fear―but are we aware that fear can cause disease? When you look at the words carefully, you should get a clue! The word “fear” means that you have anxiety, that you are not at ease, that you feel uneasy, and when you are not at ease, you could say that you are in dis-ease, you are dis-turbed.
It is a similar feeling when we commit sin and contract the disease of sin―we at dis-ease, we are uneasy, our conscience is no longer at ease, but it is disturbed and agitated. Sin―like a cancer―attacks the peace and joy of the soul. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) and, in Holy Scripture, sickness and disease were looked upon as a punishment for sin. Unless our conscience is totally dead, when we sin we no longer feel like laughing―and if we do, then the laugh is often hollow, put-on, fake and false. We can more easily imagine people laughing joyfully in Heaven rather than laughing joyfully in Hell. What the hell is there to laugh about in Hell? Nothing! It is hell, hatred and misery for eternity!
Furthermore, as we say in the prayer Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen), “we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears” ―here on Earth we are living in a “valley of tears” and not a valley of laughs! This also reminds us of the words of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Those words merely echo Our Lord’s words to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20).
Yet, as Holy Scripture says: “All things have their season ... A time to be born and a time to die. A time to kill, and a time to heal ... A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4). Laughter is a gift from God. None of His other creatures have the wonderful ability to laugh―though you might be tempted to point to the “laughing hyena”, but that is not a true laugh. Hyenas do indeed make loud barking noises that sound like cackling laughter, but it's not because they're amused by anything. Instead, a hyena's “laughter” is actually a form of communication used to convey frustration, excitement, or fear. Since Holy Scripture speaks of “a time to laugh”, we can deduce from this that a good sense of humor is a gift that God has given us to help lighten the burden that life can sometimes bring―and that burden is especially upon us today.
There are many ways to define humor. Humor can be wit, sarcasm, irony, poking fun at ourselves or others, etc. In other words, humor can be virtue or it can be a sin―it depends upon the motive behind it and whether or not it is insulting, or a character assassination, or reveals the sins of others, destroys reputations, etc. Archbishop Fulton Sheen summed it up well: “The only time laughter is wicked is when it is turned against Him [God] Who gave it.” In other words, we are not to laugh about God, or make God the brunt of a joke.
One of the best ways to describe humor, especially in the Christian sense, comes through humility: not taking ourselves so seriously. So, a humble person could have a great sense of humor without much wit. On the other hand, a proud person with all kinds of “one-liners” could have a poor sense of humor. The Jesuit priest, Father Daniel Lord (1888-1955), once prayed: “Let me have too deep a sense of humor ever to be proud. Let me know my absurdity before I act absurdly. Let me realize that when I am humble I am most human, most truthful, and most worthy of your consideration.”
Archbishop Sheen adds: “A divine sense of humor belongs to poets and saints―because they have been richly endowed with a ‘sense of the invisible’, and can look out upon the same phenomena, that other mortals take seriously, and see in them something of the divine.”
The saints gave differing opinions on humor and laughter. St. Paul warned in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:4) to avoid “foolish talking, which is to no purpose!” St. Clement of Alexandria spoke out against “humorous and unbecoming words.” And St. Ambrose said: “Joking should be avoided even in small talk.” St. Augustine, on the other hand, recommended occasional joking, and St. Thomas Aquinas recommended play, saying that there is a virtue in playfulness, since it leads to relaxation and that man cannot be serious and tense all the time―comparing man to a bow (as in bow and arrow), that needs to be unstrung when not used, so as not lose its tenseness when required for use. St. Thomas argued that a man with no sense of humor is actually deficient, lacking something that ought to be present in a man fully alive.
St. Thomas Aquinas Gives Serious Advice on Humor!
St. Thomas writes: “It becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work. Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it is becoming for a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times ... Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work, since his power is finite and equal to a certain fixed amount of labor, so too is it with his soul … Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul: and the soul’s rest is pleasure … The remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study … It is related of St. John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence the St. John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed … Now such like words or deeds wherein nothing further is sought than the soul’s delight, are called playful or humorous. Hence it is necessary at times to make use of them, in order to give rest, as it were, to the soul.
“Nevertheless it would seem that in this matter there are three points which require especial caution. The first and chief is that the pleasure in question should not be sought in indecent or injurious deeds or words … for one kind of joke is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, obscene. Another thing to be observed is that one does not altogether lose the balance of one’s mind … Our fun should reflect something of an upright mind. Thirdly, we must be careful, as in all other human actions, to conform ourselves to persons, time, and place, and take due account of other circumstances, so that our fun ‘befits the hour and the man.’ … Therefore there can be a virtue about games … inasmuch as this virtue restrains a man from immoderate fun, it is comprised under modesty. St. Ambrose does not altogether exclude fun from human speech, but from the sacred doctrine; hence he begins by saying: ‘Although jokes are at times fitting and pleasant, nevertheless they are incompatible with the ecclesiastical rule; since how can we have recourse to things which are not to be found in Holy Scripture?’ … Now there is inordinate laughter and inordinate joy in excessive play …
“In all things guided by reason, the excessive is that which goes beyond, and the deficient is that which falls short of the rule of reason. Playful or jesting words or deeds are to be guided according to reason ... To cheer the heart of man, is not unlawful in itself; nor are they in a state of sin provided that their playing be moderated, namely that they use no unlawful words or deeds in order to amuse, and that they do not introduce play into undue matters and seasons ... Excessive play is that which goes beyond the rule of reason: and this happens in two ways.
“Firstly, on account of the very species of the acts employed for the purpose of fun, and this kind of jesting, according to Tully (De Offic. i, 29), is stated to be “discourteous, insolent, scandalous, and obscene,” when to wit a man, for the purpose of jesting, employs indecent words or deeds, or such as are injurious to his neighbor, these being of themselves mortal sins. And thus it is evident that excessive play is a mortal sin.
“Secondly, there may be excess in play, through lack of due circumstances: for instance when people make use of fun at undue times or places, or out of keeping with the matter in hand, or persons. This may be sometimes a mortal sin on account of the strong attachment to play, when a man prefers the pleasure he derives therefrom to the love of God, so as to be willing to disobey a commandment of God or of the Church rather than forego, such like amusements. Sometimes, however, it is a venial sin, for instance where a man is not so attached to amusement as to be willing for its sake to do anything in disobedience to God.”
St. Thomas then presents himself with the objection that it is not sinful to be lacking in humor: “It would seem that there is no sin in lack of mirth … Some persons are praised for having refrained from mirth; for it is written (Jeremias 15:17): ‘I sat not in the assembly of jesters,’ and (Tobias 3:17): ‘Never have I joined myself with them that play; neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness!’ Therefore there can be no sin in the lack of mirth.”
St. Thomas then answers this objection in the following manner: “The Philosopher, Aristotle, reckons the lack of mirth to be a vice. I answer that, in human affairs, whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others, by offering no pleasure to others, and by hindering their enjoyment ... A man is said to be pleasant through having a happy turn of mind, whereby he gives his words and deeds a cheerful turn … Now a man who is without mirth [humor], not only is lacking in playful speech, but is also burdensome to others, since he is deaf to the moderate mirth [moderate humor] of others … Since mirth [humor] is useful for the sake of the rest and pleasures it affords; and since, in human life, pleasure and rest are not in sought for their own sake, but for the sake of recuperation, it follows that lack of mirth [humor] is less sinful than excess of mirth [humor]. Hence we should make few friends for the sake of pleasure, but since a little sweetness suffices to season life, just as little salt suffices for our meat [a little mirth or moderate humor is not sinful]. Austerity, as a virtue, does not exclude all pleasures, but only such as are excessive and inordinate.”
St. Thomas’ Take-Away!
So, in summary, humor is like good food or tasty spices―it should be taken in moderation. Just as we become sick by eating too much, we can become sick of humor by excessively indulging in humor―to the point where we lose the taste for humor, it loses its taste―for humor, as St. Thomas says, is like salt―and Holy Scripture adds: “But if the salt lose its savor… it is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). Humor or laughter is like a vacation from work―it is a break from what burdens us, it is a momentary respite from our daily drudgery―but it is the cross of daily drudgery and our daily burdens that sanctifies us, humor merely helps us persevere in carrying our cross, or even seeing the funny side of it.
Laughing With The Saints!
It has been said: “Good humor is nine-tenths of Christianity”―which, of course, is an exaggeration, but it is a “smart saying” whose value is not in the ‘truth’ of the saying, but in its smartness. Humor is a part of Christianity, but a sense of humor has an important part to play in the spiritual life. Fr. Robert Hugh Benson, author of Lord of the World, did not hesitate to call St. Teresa of Avila’s gift of humor “a divine gift.” Wisdom is from above, and it is the gift of the Holy Spirit; and humor is part and parcel of wisdom. Humor is the salt of life, and to some extent it is the salt of the religious life, preserving it from decay. G. K. Chesterton says of St. Francis of Assisi, “The sense of humor salts all his escapades.” Is that what Our Lord meant when He said: “You are the salt of the Earth!” (Matthew 5:13)? Was He talking about humor and laughter? Of course not! Nevertheless, the history of many of the heresies is largely a history of the breakdown of the sense of humor. Their deviations and absurdities can, apart from Satan’s involvement, hardly be accounted for otherwise. It is significant, surely, that one of the most commonsense saints―St. Teresa of Avila―was distinguished by a playful wit and a keen sense of humor. How many have prayed as St. Teresa prayed: “From silly devotions, and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!” ?
► St. Francis de Sales ― Playful humor was a characteristic of St. Francis de Sales. St. Francis de Sales has said that a saint who is sad is indeed a sad (poor) saint. A religious complained to him that his new superior was even worse than the old. “Instead of a horse, we now have an ass.” “But,” said St. Francis de Sales, “was not Balaam well instructed by an ass?” He also rebuked an acquaintance for making fun of a hunchback. “The works of God are perfect,” Francis said. “What! Perfect, and yet deformed?” replied the acquaintance. St. Francis de Sales fired back: “Yes, perhaps he is a perfect hunchback!”
In conversation and even in the pulpit, he was fond of telling amusing stories. For example: “A certain woman who always made a point of contradicting her husband, fell into a river and was drowned. The husband, in searching for the body, went upstream instead of downstream. When the bystanders pointed out to him that the current must surely have carried her body downstream, his answer was: ‘Do you imagine that even her dead body could do anything except contradict me?’”
St. Francis de Sales also knew how to use a joke to good effect in correcting others. He was, for example, a great friend of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a French noblewoman, and together, in 1610, they founded a religious order for women―the Sisters of the Visitation. After Jane had initially decided to follow a strict religious life and remain unmarried after being widowed, she nevertheless continued to wear the fashionable low-cut dresses showing off her cleavage. On the night of their first meeting, St. Francis de Sales took a look at her dress and quipped: “Madame, those who do not mean to entertain guests should take down their advertizing board!”
► St. Thomas More ― St. Thomas More (1477-1535)—who was Sir Thomas More at the time—was a lawyer and the Lord Chancellor of England when his sense of humor began to get him into very hot water. He was, perhaps typically of Englishmen, a master of “dry-wit” or dry-humor. He wrote a witty satire on the political and religious hypocrisies of his time. The book, Utopia, was well read in England and was not overlooked by King Henry VIII whom Thomas served. Later, however, Thomas, a Catholic and a family man, was forced to tell the king that he did not condone his divorce from Queen Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn. The king saw Thomas as a traitor and ordered his beheading. Playfulness of wit is a very striking feature of the English martyrs. Indeed, it is surprising how full the Acts of their martyrdom show the evidence of it. Of course, St. Thomas More is conspicuous among them all, and he has rather eclipsed the others. His sense of humor never deserted him, right up to the moment of his execution. As the loyal and faithful saint was led to the block, his sense of humor had the final word. As he approached the platform where the executioner waited, he asked a few bystanders: ““Assist me up safely, and as for my coming down, let me shift for myself.” The crowd laughed and then wept. Right before his death, as Thomas laid his head on the block, he moved his beard out of the way, advising the executioner: “My beard has done no harm.”
When busybodies took liberties with his good name, he would say, “I hear co-and-so has been clipping my beard for me; but still, God somehow seems to make it grow again.” This reminds us of the beard of St. Thomas More, which he protected from the axe, saying: “At any rate, my beard has committed no treason.”
St. Thomas More married twice and both of his wives were short in stature. When asked the reason for this, Thomas More replied: “Of two evils one should choose the less!”
Thomas More had written against the renegade and heretical Catholic priest, Fr. William Tyndale, who fell under the influence of Martin Luther and broke with Rome, later translating the Bible into English in a Protestant style: “I marvel that Tyndale denies Purgatory—except that he intends to go to Hell!” So reads a selection from the “witty sayings” of Thomas More.
The Prayer for Good Humor by St. Thomas More, reads as follows: “Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress―because of that obstructing thing called “I.” Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. Amen.”
► St. Lawrence ― St. Lawrence was the archdeacon of Rome, under Pope St. Sixtus II, during the persecution of Emperor Valerian. As an archdeacon, St. Lawrence was in a position of great trust. It was his responsibility to dispense help from the Church to the poor, sick and needy. When the Pope was arrested by Roman authorities while saying Mass, St. Lawrence wanted very much to be lead away with his holy father. “In three days, you will follow me,” Pope Sixtus assured him.
Lawrence began to give away all the wealth at his disposal. When Christians were executed, all their goods were confiscated for the emperor’s treasury. Therefore, Lawrence even sold some objects in order to be able to give even more to the poor. Valuable vessels (not in terms of money but in sentiments), he sent away for safekeeping. When the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence gather all the treasure of the church to lay before him, St. Lawrence asked for three days’ time, noting that “the Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.” When his time was up, Lawrence appeared before the prefect with the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans of Rome. “This is the Church’s treasure!” he declared.
Apparently the prefect did not have the wisdom or sense of humor to appreciate Lawrence’s gesture. Instead, for his insolence towards the Roman Emperor, Lawrence was sentence to be roasted “little by little” on the gridiron, as opposed to beheaded as was the custom. Still, with his sense of humor on the gridiron, after, literally, facing the fire for a good long time, Lawrence declared: “I am well-done on this side! You can turn me over!” The incredible trust in God’s Providence and the burning fire of love inside him allowed Lawrence to laugh even as he was being tortured! A miracle of great grace. After praying for the conversion of Rome, St. Lawrence said, “It is cooked enough now,” and died a martyr’s death.
The great saints, who in their lives reflected the life of the Lord, knew the value of laughter and good humor. Only those inclined to a pessimistic spirituality would condemn laughter. The saints knew the value of laughter and joy.
► St. Bernard of Clairvaux ― St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), founder of the Cistercians, liked to laugh at his overly serious monks. One day, when opening a new abbey near Foigny, France, the monks found a swarm of pesky flies filling the church that was about to be dedicated. Bernard watched his monks swatting, shooing, coaxing—all with no success. Finally, he fixed his eyes on the swarming flies and loudly declared: “I hereby excommunicate all of you!” Bernard’s monks laughed with him but found hundreds of dead flies all over the floor the next morning. St. Bernard was focused on God (instead of the flies!), which made him free to ease the anxiety of his brothers by making a joke. Sometimes we get upset over things that would be easier to handle if we looked for the humor in them.
► St. Philip Neri ― Cardinal Capacelatro says of St. Philip Neri: “There was one feature in his character that never fails to fascinate the young―he was always mirthful and humorous. Like all the Florentines of his time, he was noted for a vein of pleasantry.” “I eat little,” he said once, “because I don’t want to grow fat like our friend, Francesco Scarlatti.” He was a vegetarian and if, when walking with his friends, a butcher’s cart passed, he would say: “Thank God, I don’t need any of that stuff!”
St. Philip Neri first realized his vocation through contact with the sick and diseased of the Roman alleys and gutters. He visited the hospitals and brought food and gifts to the destitute patients, always joking and laughing with them to build up their morale.
Much of St. Philip Neri’s humor was a way of keeping him humble, as he engaged in what could only be called acts of public silliness, like wearing a cushion on his head like a turban and wearing a foxtail coat in the middle of the summer.
When a young priest asked Philip what prayer would be the most appropriate to say for a couple after a wedding Mass, the future saint said: “A prayer for peace!”
Once, when a scholarly Bishop, who was used to the stoic seriousness of his office, attended Philip’s Mass, to lighten the atmosphere, Philip committed every possible error in pronunciation during his homily. The congregation did not know whether to laugh or remain in mortified silence. Philip maintained his mispronouncing manner all throughout the entire sermon.
These humorous antics were done to remind himself of his own imperfections. St. Philip wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or uncharitable, but to keep his prideful nature in check. St. Philip Neri also hung a sign on his door that said: “The House of Christian Mirth.” In all things Neri maintained a light-hearted view of the world, using humor to keep him from being too prideful or vain.
Philip went to incredible lengths to prevent these good opinions of himself. He walked around in large white shoes; dressed in bizarre “get-ups” whenever he thought he would meet any of the Cardinals; wore all his clothes turned inside out; often wore a fur cloak through the streets of Rome to make people think he was vain; carried a pack of brooms and stopped every once in awhile and smelled them, as though they were scented flowers; shaved his beard on one side only; wore his biretta cocked sideways. He wanted to be the fool for Christ.
In a certain way, his life can be best summarized by an oft-cited quote of his: “A heart filled with joy is more easily made perfect than one that is sad.” This proved true in the life of St. Philip Neri and was also a reason why many were attracted to him. Others saw the joy he had and wanted to know the source of that joy.
The Big Debate―Did Jesus Laugh?
Believe it or not, there are contrasting opinions about whether or not Jesus laughed! It is not just a debate between Catholics and Protestants―but the debate exists among fellow Catholics and among fellow Protestants. As one Protestant minister writes: “Did Jesus have a sense of humor? In one church I pastored, when I arrived, there was a portrait of Jesus laughing. Is it legitimate to picture him this way? Some people say no. They’ll tell you that the Bible explicitly says he wept, but not that he laughed! Besides, they add, he was here for pretty serious reasons and did not have time to play around. I don’t buy this gloomy assessment. Of course Jesus laughed!” Therefore he admits that even Protestants debate the matter.
Catholics are equally divided on the matter of Jesus laughing! They also point to the lack of evidence in Holy Scripture of Jesus laughing. There is virtually no mention of Jesus laughing among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church―and, at the end of the day, those are good points. You could add that Jesus said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). Scripture says of Him: “Thou shalt call His Name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins!” (Matthew 1:21). In the Gospels that record His Sermon on the Mount, no jokes are on record as being told by Our Lord. When you read about the lives of famous people, you mainly read about the facts that made them famous. Our Lord’s mission was serious and no joking matter―He came to suffer and die, and not to tell jokes and roll around laughing! He was a Savior, not a Joker! Whether He laughed or not is no real importance―it was not through laughing that He saved us, but by suffering and dying for us that He saved us―and that was no laughing matter! Yet, almost paradoxically, even though it was not laughing matter―it was, nevertheless, a matter that brings us great joy and happiness!
A Divine Sense of Humor?
Yet does that mean that Jesus did not have a sense of humor? Laughter seems to come from humor, just like babies come from a mother’s womb―you cannot have a baby without a mother, you cannot have laughter without humor. Having a sense of humor is not just laughing out loud like a horse―having a sense of humor also includes creating that humorous situation, seeing something funny in a person, place or thing. The person who laughs is the recipient of humor, the person who points out the funny side of things is the creator of humor. Would it not be fitting for Our Lord to more of a Creator than a mere receiver? Besides―as serious students of funny humor will tell you―laughter is a by-product of being surprised by something unexpected in what you hear or see―and Our Lord, being God, could not be surprised by anything unexpected because He saw all things coming―so, you could say, He knew every “punch-line” to every possible joke! Is it not true that when have “heard that joke a thousand times” we can barely muster a smile, never mind a laugh?
The reason why laughter is always spontaneous is that it is a consequence of the unexpected. Laughter is the expression of an intellectual insight of a kind that most other people miss or cannot see for themselves. A joke which is expected is no joke. This is the reason why true wit is such a rare gift. The witty mind is the one which can instantly “lift” a detail of the common place, which others simply overlook. Only man laughs―for man is an intellectual, that is to say, a rational being, a person with an intellect that can reason and think in the abstract―thus man can see all kinds of connections and possibilities that are not actually present in the “here and now”.
All Laughter Is Not Made Equal―All Laughter Is Not Good
Laughter can be outright sinful if it occurs in inappropriate circumstances. To laugh at certain moments would be unfitting and even insulting. Such a moment would be one in which the situation or the company demand a serious and meditative atmosphere. To laugh is in some way to “let yourself go,” there are certain persons and situations before whom we ought not “let ourselves go.” In this way, we avoid, as St. Thomas says, “losing the balance of one’s mind altogether.” We must first notice an essential feature of laughter. When a man is overcome with honest laughter, his laughter is always spontaneous. Laughter which is calculated and prejudged is not true laughter, it is especially not that “abandon” which we call hilarity.
Understanding the Toolbox of Humor
There are several tools in the toolbox that we need to examine to better understand how all the tools work together for the same goal, target or end―much like a car mechanic uses many different tools for end goal of fixing the car for his customer. Likewise, a chef uses many ingredients to produce a meal for his customer―the diner in the restaurant. Similarly, there are many musical notes and many musicians with different instruments that go into making a musical composition that delights the hearer or listener in the audience.
As W.C. Fields famously quipped: “Comedy is a serious business. A serious business with only one purpose―to make people laugh!” That seriously funny quote conveys the make-up of humor―there is usually one who sees the humorous side in something and then communicates that funny aspect to others―in short, the “joke-teller” and the “listeners”. In a sense, humor is a “two-way-street”―much like the mechanic and his customers, the chef and his diners, the musician and his listeners. One side is the supplier and the other side is the consumer.
Furthermore, just as there are different problems with cars that a mechanic has to fix, and different meals a chef has to prepare, and different styles of music that a musician can play―so too there different kinds, different tastes, and different flavors of humor. Some experts list over 20 different kinds of humor―some of the better known ones are: slapstick or farcical comedy, dry humor, deadpan humor, one-liner humor, black or dark comedy, burlesque, improvisational comedy, insult comedy, self-deprecating humor, spoofs, parodies, sketches, word-play humor, etc. Since we are of different temperaments, different races, different cultural backgrounds, etc. What one culture deems to be funny, can be the exact opposite in another culture ― our tastes in styles of humor will differ and vary greatly ― to the point where “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”, that is to say, what one person finds to be funny, will not be funny at all to another person.
We are currently living in a time of disease and fear! Regardless of whether or not the disease is as serious as they make it out to be―or whether or not what is being said is true or not about the disease and its solutions. Talk of disease is often a serious thing. It can inspire fear and dread if death is possibility. Somehow fear and disease seem to be inseparable Siamese twins, or flip sides of the same coin. They almost seem to feed off each other. We know that disease can cause fear―but are we aware that fear can cause disease? When you look at the words carefully, you should get a clue! The word “fear” means that you have anxiety, that you are not at ease, that you feel uneasy, and when you are not at ease, you could say that you are in dis-ease, you are dis-turbed.
It is a similar feeling when we commit sin and contract the disease of sin―we at dis-ease, we are uneasy, our conscience is no longer at ease, but it is disturbed and agitated. Sin―like a cancer―attacks the peace and joy of the soul. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23) and, in Holy Scripture, sickness and disease were looked upon as a punishment for sin. Unless our conscience is totally dead, when we sin we no longer feel like laughing―and if we do, then the laugh is often hollow, put-on, fake and false. We can more easily imagine people laughing joyfully in Heaven rather than laughing joyfully in Hell. What the hell is there to laugh about in Hell? Nothing! It is hell, hatred and misery for eternity!
Furthermore, as we say in the prayer Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen), “we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears” ―here on Earth we are living in a “valley of tears” and not a valley of laughs! This also reminds us of the words of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Those words merely echo Our Lord’s words to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20).
Yet, as Holy Scripture says: “All things have their season ... A time to be born and a time to die. A time to kill, and a time to heal ... A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4). Laughter is a gift from God. None of His other creatures have the wonderful ability to laugh―though you might be tempted to point to the “laughing hyena”, but that is not a true laugh. Hyenas do indeed make loud barking noises that sound like cackling laughter, but it's not because they're amused by anything. Instead, a hyena's “laughter” is actually a form of communication used to convey frustration, excitement, or fear. Since Holy Scripture speaks of “a time to laugh”, we can deduce from this that a good sense of humor is a gift that God has given us to help lighten the burden that life can sometimes bring―and that burden is especially upon us today.
There are many ways to define humor. Humor can be wit, sarcasm, irony, poking fun at ourselves or others, etc. In other words, humor can be virtue or it can be a sin―it depends upon the motive behind it and whether or not it is insulting, or a character assassination, or reveals the sins of others, destroys reputations, etc. Archbishop Fulton Sheen summed it up well: “The only time laughter is wicked is when it is turned against Him [God] Who gave it.” In other words, we are not to laugh about God, or make God the brunt of a joke.
One of the best ways to describe humor, especially in the Christian sense, comes through humility: not taking ourselves so seriously. So, a humble person could have a great sense of humor without much wit. On the other hand, a proud person with all kinds of “one-liners” could have a poor sense of humor. The Jesuit priest, Father Daniel Lord (1888-1955), once prayed: “Let me have too deep a sense of humor ever to be proud. Let me know my absurdity before I act absurdly. Let me realize that when I am humble I am most human, most truthful, and most worthy of your consideration.”
Archbishop Sheen adds: “A divine sense of humor belongs to poets and saints―because they have been richly endowed with a ‘sense of the invisible’, and can look out upon the same phenomena, that other mortals take seriously, and see in them something of the divine.”
The saints gave differing opinions on humor and laughter. St. Paul warned in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:4) to avoid “foolish talking, which is to no purpose!” St. Clement of Alexandria spoke out against “humorous and unbecoming words.” And St. Ambrose said: “Joking should be avoided even in small talk.” St. Augustine, on the other hand, recommended occasional joking, and St. Thomas Aquinas recommended play, saying that there is a virtue in playfulness, since it leads to relaxation and that man cannot be serious and tense all the time―comparing man to a bow (as in bow and arrow), that needs to be unstrung when not used, so as not lose its tenseness when required for use. St. Thomas argued that a man with no sense of humor is actually deficient, lacking something that ought to be present in a man fully alive.
St. Thomas Aquinas Gives Serious Advice on Humor!
St. Thomas writes: “It becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work. Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it is becoming for a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times ... Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work, since his power is finite and equal to a certain fixed amount of labor, so too is it with his soul … Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul: and the soul’s rest is pleasure … The remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study … It is related of St. John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence the St. John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed … Now such like words or deeds wherein nothing further is sought than the soul’s delight, are called playful or humorous. Hence it is necessary at times to make use of them, in order to give rest, as it were, to the soul.
“Nevertheless it would seem that in this matter there are three points which require especial caution. The first and chief is that the pleasure in question should not be sought in indecent or injurious deeds or words … for one kind of joke is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, obscene. Another thing to be observed is that one does not altogether lose the balance of one’s mind … Our fun should reflect something of an upright mind. Thirdly, we must be careful, as in all other human actions, to conform ourselves to persons, time, and place, and take due account of other circumstances, so that our fun ‘befits the hour and the man.’ … Therefore there can be a virtue about games … inasmuch as this virtue restrains a man from immoderate fun, it is comprised under modesty. St. Ambrose does not altogether exclude fun from human speech, but from the sacred doctrine; hence he begins by saying: ‘Although jokes are at times fitting and pleasant, nevertheless they are incompatible with the ecclesiastical rule; since how can we have recourse to things which are not to be found in Holy Scripture?’ … Now there is inordinate laughter and inordinate joy in excessive play …
“In all things guided by reason, the excessive is that which goes beyond, and the deficient is that which falls short of the rule of reason. Playful or jesting words or deeds are to be guided according to reason ... To cheer the heart of man, is not unlawful in itself; nor are they in a state of sin provided that their playing be moderated, namely that they use no unlawful words or deeds in order to amuse, and that they do not introduce play into undue matters and seasons ... Excessive play is that which goes beyond the rule of reason: and this happens in two ways.
“Firstly, on account of the very species of the acts employed for the purpose of fun, and this kind of jesting, according to Tully (De Offic. i, 29), is stated to be “discourteous, insolent, scandalous, and obscene,” when to wit a man, for the purpose of jesting, employs indecent words or deeds, or such as are injurious to his neighbor, these being of themselves mortal sins. And thus it is evident that excessive play is a mortal sin.
“Secondly, there may be excess in play, through lack of due circumstances: for instance when people make use of fun at undue times or places, or out of keeping with the matter in hand, or persons. This may be sometimes a mortal sin on account of the strong attachment to play, when a man prefers the pleasure he derives therefrom to the love of God, so as to be willing to disobey a commandment of God or of the Church rather than forego, such like amusements. Sometimes, however, it is a venial sin, for instance where a man is not so attached to amusement as to be willing for its sake to do anything in disobedience to God.”
St. Thomas then presents himself with the objection that it is not sinful to be lacking in humor: “It would seem that there is no sin in lack of mirth … Some persons are praised for having refrained from mirth; for it is written (Jeremias 15:17): ‘I sat not in the assembly of jesters,’ and (Tobias 3:17): ‘Never have I joined myself with them that play; neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness!’ Therefore there can be no sin in the lack of mirth.”
St. Thomas then answers this objection in the following manner: “The Philosopher, Aristotle, reckons the lack of mirth to be a vice. I answer that, in human affairs, whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others, by offering no pleasure to others, and by hindering their enjoyment ... A man is said to be pleasant through having a happy turn of mind, whereby he gives his words and deeds a cheerful turn … Now a man who is without mirth [humor], not only is lacking in playful speech, but is also burdensome to others, since he is deaf to the moderate mirth [moderate humor] of others … Since mirth [humor] is useful for the sake of the rest and pleasures it affords; and since, in human life, pleasure and rest are not in sought for their own sake, but for the sake of recuperation, it follows that lack of mirth [humor] is less sinful than excess of mirth [humor]. Hence we should make few friends for the sake of pleasure, but since a little sweetness suffices to season life, just as little salt suffices for our meat [a little mirth or moderate humor is not sinful]. Austerity, as a virtue, does not exclude all pleasures, but only such as are excessive and inordinate.”
St. Thomas’ Take-Away!
So, in summary, humor is like good food or tasty spices―it should be taken in moderation. Just as we become sick by eating too much, we can become sick of humor by excessively indulging in humor―to the point where we lose the taste for humor, it loses its taste―for humor, as St. Thomas says, is like salt―and Holy Scripture adds: “But if the salt lose its savor… it is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). Humor or laughter is like a vacation from work―it is a break from what burdens us, it is a momentary respite from our daily drudgery―but it is the cross of daily drudgery and our daily burdens that sanctifies us, humor merely helps us persevere in carrying our cross, or even seeing the funny side of it.
Laughing With The Saints!
It has been said: “Good humor is nine-tenths of Christianity”―which, of course, is an exaggeration, but it is a “smart saying” whose value is not in the ‘truth’ of the saying, but in its smartness. Humor is a part of Christianity, but a sense of humor has an important part to play in the spiritual life. Fr. Robert Hugh Benson, author of Lord of the World, did not hesitate to call St. Teresa of Avila’s gift of humor “a divine gift.” Wisdom is from above, and it is the gift of the Holy Spirit; and humor is part and parcel of wisdom. Humor is the salt of life, and to some extent it is the salt of the religious life, preserving it from decay. G. K. Chesterton says of St. Francis of Assisi, “The sense of humor salts all his escapades.” Is that what Our Lord meant when He said: “You are the salt of the Earth!” (Matthew 5:13)? Was He talking about humor and laughter? Of course not! Nevertheless, the history of many of the heresies is largely a history of the breakdown of the sense of humor. Their deviations and absurdities can, apart from Satan’s involvement, hardly be accounted for otherwise. It is significant, surely, that one of the most commonsense saints―St. Teresa of Avila―was distinguished by a playful wit and a keen sense of humor. How many have prayed as St. Teresa prayed: “From silly devotions, and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!” ?
► St. Francis de Sales ― Playful humor was a characteristic of St. Francis de Sales. St. Francis de Sales has said that a saint who is sad is indeed a sad (poor) saint. A religious complained to him that his new superior was even worse than the old. “Instead of a horse, we now have an ass.” “But,” said St. Francis de Sales, “was not Balaam well instructed by an ass?” He also rebuked an acquaintance for making fun of a hunchback. “The works of God are perfect,” Francis said. “What! Perfect, and yet deformed?” replied the acquaintance. St. Francis de Sales fired back: “Yes, perhaps he is a perfect hunchback!”
In conversation and even in the pulpit, he was fond of telling amusing stories. For example: “A certain woman who always made a point of contradicting her husband, fell into a river and was drowned. The husband, in searching for the body, went upstream instead of downstream. When the bystanders pointed out to him that the current must surely have carried her body downstream, his answer was: ‘Do you imagine that even her dead body could do anything except contradict me?’”
St. Francis de Sales also knew how to use a joke to good effect in correcting others. He was, for example, a great friend of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a French noblewoman, and together, in 1610, they founded a religious order for women―the Sisters of the Visitation. After Jane had initially decided to follow a strict religious life and remain unmarried after being widowed, she nevertheless continued to wear the fashionable low-cut dresses showing off her cleavage. On the night of their first meeting, St. Francis de Sales took a look at her dress and quipped: “Madame, those who do not mean to entertain guests should take down their advertizing board!”
► St. Thomas More ― St. Thomas More (1477-1535)—who was Sir Thomas More at the time—was a lawyer and the Lord Chancellor of England when his sense of humor began to get him into very hot water. He was, perhaps typically of Englishmen, a master of “dry-wit” or dry-humor. He wrote a witty satire on the political and religious hypocrisies of his time. The book, Utopia, was well read in England and was not overlooked by King Henry VIII whom Thomas served. Later, however, Thomas, a Catholic and a family man, was forced to tell the king that he did not condone his divorce from Queen Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn. The king saw Thomas as a traitor and ordered his beheading. Playfulness of wit is a very striking feature of the English martyrs. Indeed, it is surprising how full the Acts of their martyrdom show the evidence of it. Of course, St. Thomas More is conspicuous among them all, and he has rather eclipsed the others. His sense of humor never deserted him, right up to the moment of his execution. As the loyal and faithful saint was led to the block, his sense of humor had the final word. As he approached the platform where the executioner waited, he asked a few bystanders: ““Assist me up safely, and as for my coming down, let me shift for myself.” The crowd laughed and then wept. Right before his death, as Thomas laid his head on the block, he moved his beard out of the way, advising the executioner: “My beard has done no harm.”
When busybodies took liberties with his good name, he would say, “I hear co-and-so has been clipping my beard for me; but still, God somehow seems to make it grow again.” This reminds us of the beard of St. Thomas More, which he protected from the axe, saying: “At any rate, my beard has committed no treason.”
St. Thomas More married twice and both of his wives were short in stature. When asked the reason for this, Thomas More replied: “Of two evils one should choose the less!”
Thomas More had written against the renegade and heretical Catholic priest, Fr. William Tyndale, who fell under the influence of Martin Luther and broke with Rome, later translating the Bible into English in a Protestant style: “I marvel that Tyndale denies Purgatory—except that he intends to go to Hell!” So reads a selection from the “witty sayings” of Thomas More.
The Prayer for Good Humor by St. Thomas More, reads as follows: “Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress―because of that obstructing thing called “I.” Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. Amen.”
► St. Lawrence ― St. Lawrence was the archdeacon of Rome, under Pope St. Sixtus II, during the persecution of Emperor Valerian. As an archdeacon, St. Lawrence was in a position of great trust. It was his responsibility to dispense help from the Church to the poor, sick and needy. When the Pope was arrested by Roman authorities while saying Mass, St. Lawrence wanted very much to be lead away with his holy father. “In three days, you will follow me,” Pope Sixtus assured him.
Lawrence began to give away all the wealth at his disposal. When Christians were executed, all their goods were confiscated for the emperor’s treasury. Therefore, Lawrence even sold some objects in order to be able to give even more to the poor. Valuable vessels (not in terms of money but in sentiments), he sent away for safekeeping. When the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence gather all the treasure of the church to lay before him, St. Lawrence asked for three days’ time, noting that “the Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.” When his time was up, Lawrence appeared before the prefect with the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans of Rome. “This is the Church’s treasure!” he declared.
Apparently the prefect did not have the wisdom or sense of humor to appreciate Lawrence’s gesture. Instead, for his insolence towards the Roman Emperor, Lawrence was sentence to be roasted “little by little” on the gridiron, as opposed to beheaded as was the custom. Still, with his sense of humor on the gridiron, after, literally, facing the fire for a good long time, Lawrence declared: “I am well-done on this side! You can turn me over!” The incredible trust in God’s Providence and the burning fire of love inside him allowed Lawrence to laugh even as he was being tortured! A miracle of great grace. After praying for the conversion of Rome, St. Lawrence said, “It is cooked enough now,” and died a martyr’s death.
The great saints, who in their lives reflected the life of the Lord, knew the value of laughter and good humor. Only those inclined to a pessimistic spirituality would condemn laughter. The saints knew the value of laughter and joy.
► St. Bernard of Clairvaux ― St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), founder of the Cistercians, liked to laugh at his overly serious monks. One day, when opening a new abbey near Foigny, France, the monks found a swarm of pesky flies filling the church that was about to be dedicated. Bernard watched his monks swatting, shooing, coaxing—all with no success. Finally, he fixed his eyes on the swarming flies and loudly declared: “I hereby excommunicate all of you!” Bernard’s monks laughed with him but found hundreds of dead flies all over the floor the next morning. St. Bernard was focused on God (instead of the flies!), which made him free to ease the anxiety of his brothers by making a joke. Sometimes we get upset over things that would be easier to handle if we looked for the humor in them.
► St. Philip Neri ― Cardinal Capacelatro says of St. Philip Neri: “There was one feature in his character that never fails to fascinate the young―he was always mirthful and humorous. Like all the Florentines of his time, he was noted for a vein of pleasantry.” “I eat little,” he said once, “because I don’t want to grow fat like our friend, Francesco Scarlatti.” He was a vegetarian and if, when walking with his friends, a butcher’s cart passed, he would say: “Thank God, I don’t need any of that stuff!”
St. Philip Neri first realized his vocation through contact with the sick and diseased of the Roman alleys and gutters. He visited the hospitals and brought food and gifts to the destitute patients, always joking and laughing with them to build up their morale.
Much of St. Philip Neri’s humor was a way of keeping him humble, as he engaged in what could only be called acts of public silliness, like wearing a cushion on his head like a turban and wearing a foxtail coat in the middle of the summer.
When a young priest asked Philip what prayer would be the most appropriate to say for a couple after a wedding Mass, the future saint said: “A prayer for peace!”
Once, when a scholarly Bishop, who was used to the stoic seriousness of his office, attended Philip’s Mass, to lighten the atmosphere, Philip committed every possible error in pronunciation during his homily. The congregation did not know whether to laugh or remain in mortified silence. Philip maintained his mispronouncing manner all throughout the entire sermon.
These humorous antics were done to remind himself of his own imperfections. St. Philip wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or uncharitable, but to keep his prideful nature in check. St. Philip Neri also hung a sign on his door that said: “The House of Christian Mirth.” In all things Neri maintained a light-hearted view of the world, using humor to keep him from being too prideful or vain.
Philip went to incredible lengths to prevent these good opinions of himself. He walked around in large white shoes; dressed in bizarre “get-ups” whenever he thought he would meet any of the Cardinals; wore all his clothes turned inside out; often wore a fur cloak through the streets of Rome to make people think he was vain; carried a pack of brooms and stopped every once in awhile and smelled them, as though they were scented flowers; shaved his beard on one side only; wore his biretta cocked sideways. He wanted to be the fool for Christ.
In a certain way, his life can be best summarized by an oft-cited quote of his: “A heart filled with joy is more easily made perfect than one that is sad.” This proved true in the life of St. Philip Neri and was also a reason why many were attracted to him. Others saw the joy he had and wanted to know the source of that joy.
The Big Debate―Did Jesus Laugh?
Believe it or not, there are contrasting opinions about whether or not Jesus laughed! It is not just a debate between Catholics and Protestants―but the debate exists among fellow Catholics and among fellow Protestants. As one Protestant minister writes: “Did Jesus have a sense of humor? In one church I pastored, when I arrived, there was a portrait of Jesus laughing. Is it legitimate to picture him this way? Some people say no. They’ll tell you that the Bible explicitly says he wept, but not that he laughed! Besides, they add, he was here for pretty serious reasons and did not have time to play around. I don’t buy this gloomy assessment. Of course Jesus laughed!” Therefore he admits that even Protestants debate the matter.
Catholics are equally divided on the matter of Jesus laughing! They also point to the lack of evidence in Holy Scripture of Jesus laughing. There is virtually no mention of Jesus laughing among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church―and, at the end of the day, those are good points. You could add that Jesus said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). Scripture says of Him: “Thou shalt call His Name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins!” (Matthew 1:21). In the Gospels that record His Sermon on the Mount, no jokes are on record as being told by Our Lord. When you read about the lives of famous people, you mainly read about the facts that made them famous. Our Lord’s mission was serious and no joking matter―He came to suffer and die, and not to tell jokes and roll around laughing! He was a Savior, not a Joker! Whether He laughed or not is no real importance―it was not through laughing that He saved us, but by suffering and dying for us that He saved us―and that was no laughing matter! Yet, almost paradoxically, even though it was not laughing matter―it was, nevertheless, a matter that brings us great joy and happiness!
A Divine Sense of Humor?
Yet does that mean that Jesus did not have a sense of humor? Laughter seems to come from humor, just like babies come from a mother’s womb―you cannot have a baby without a mother, you cannot have laughter without humor. Having a sense of humor is not just laughing out loud like a horse―having a sense of humor also includes creating that humorous situation, seeing something funny in a person, place or thing. The person who laughs is the recipient of humor, the person who points out the funny side of things is the creator of humor. Would it not be fitting for Our Lord to more of a Creator than a mere receiver? Besides―as serious students of funny humor will tell you―laughter is a by-product of being surprised by something unexpected in what you hear or see―and Our Lord, being God, could not be surprised by anything unexpected because He saw all things coming―so, you could say, He knew every “punch-line” to every possible joke! Is it not true that when have “heard that joke a thousand times” we can barely muster a smile, never mind a laugh?
The reason why laughter is always spontaneous is that it is a consequence of the unexpected. Laughter is the expression of an intellectual insight of a kind that most other people miss or cannot see for themselves. A joke which is expected is no joke. This is the reason why true wit is such a rare gift. The witty mind is the one which can instantly “lift” a detail of the common place, which others simply overlook. Only man laughs―for man is an intellectual, that is to say, a rational being, a person with an intellect that can reason and think in the abstract―thus man can see all kinds of connections and possibilities that are not actually present in the “here and now”.
All Laughter Is Not Made Equal―All Laughter Is Not Good
Laughter can be outright sinful if it occurs in inappropriate circumstances. To laugh at certain moments would be unfitting and even insulting. Such a moment would be one in which the situation or the company demand a serious and meditative atmosphere. To laugh is in some way to “let yourself go,” there are certain persons and situations before whom we ought not “let ourselves go.” In this way, we avoid, as St. Thomas says, “losing the balance of one’s mind altogether.” We must first notice an essential feature of laughter. When a man is overcome with honest laughter, his laughter is always spontaneous. Laughter which is calculated and prejudged is not true laughter, it is especially not that “abandon” which we call hilarity.
Understanding the Toolbox of Humor
There are several tools in the toolbox that we need to examine to better understand how all the tools work together for the same goal, target or end―much like a car mechanic uses many different tools for end goal of fixing the car for his customer. Likewise, a chef uses many ingredients to produce a meal for his customer―the diner in the restaurant. Similarly, there are many musical notes and many musicians with different instruments that go into making a musical composition that delights the hearer or listener in the audience.
As W.C. Fields famously quipped: “Comedy is a serious business. A serious business with only one purpose―to make people laugh!” That seriously funny quote conveys the make-up of humor―there is usually one who sees the humorous side in something and then communicates that funny aspect to others―in short, the “joke-teller” and the “listeners”. In a sense, humor is a “two-way-street”―much like the mechanic and his customers, the chef and his diners, the musician and his listeners. One side is the supplier and the other side is the consumer.
Furthermore, just as there are different problems with cars that a mechanic has to fix, and different meals a chef has to prepare, and different styles of music that a musician can play―so too there different kinds, different tastes, and different flavors of humor. Some experts list over 20 different kinds of humor―some of the better known ones are: slapstick or farcical comedy, dry humor, deadpan humor, one-liner humor, black or dark comedy, burlesque, improvisational comedy, insult comedy, self-deprecating humor, spoofs, parodies, sketches, word-play humor, etc. Since we are of different temperaments, different races, different cultural backgrounds, etc. What one culture deems to be funny, can be the exact opposite in another culture ― our tastes in styles of humor will differ and vary greatly ― to the point where “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”, that is to say, what one person finds to be funny, will not be funny at all to another person.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday May 11th & Wednesday May 12th
Article 19
It's Getting Late! Is It Too Late?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday May 11th & Wednesday May 12th
Article 19
It's Getting Late! Is It Too Late?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Just In Case…
In case you only just got back from your trip to Mars and are totally unaware of what has been happening on Earth these last 18 months―there has been a powerfully propagandized Plannedemic that has duped dimwits into accepting a noose to be placed around their neck, a swab to be shoved up their nose, and a needle to be rammed into their arm. The world has been in a paranoid lockdown over a virus from which 99.9% people recover. The stupid sheeple have fallen for the mask propaganda which tries to tell them that they can keep out the virus with a useless mask―which is akin to trying to catch a mosquito with a basketball net! They have swallowed one lie after another as the governments, dishonest doctors and mainstream media have bludgeoned and beaten them over the head with the baton of fear that merely prepares the dupes for the forthcoming totalitarianism and total control of every human being. They have been starved of their sources of entertainment with bars, pubs, restaurants, movie theaters, sports stadia, etc. being closed or severely restricted. For the tiny minority who still seek God, they found their churches closed or limits being put on how few a number would be graciously allowed to enter the church wearing a mask and socially distancing from each other―which has led to massive numbers socially distancing themselves from God as a result!
The governments and their medical staff (or medical stooges) have gained such a great knowledge of the virus that they could even predict at what time of the day the virus would strike―presumably that is why they told bars and restaurants to close by 8:00 pm, or 9:00 pm, or 10:00 pm―perhaps the different times were for different strains or mutations of the virus! Amazing! What incredible medical knowledge our doctors possess! Even better! They have in record time managed to create Messianic Vaccines that will be the ‘salvation’ of the human race! Just roll-up your sleeves, grit your teeth, take the jab and you are saved! Get a job with a jab! No jab, no job! Job the man, not the job, but the Old Testament character, got sick too! “Satan struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head. And Job took a potsherd [a broken piece of pottery] and scraped the corrupt matter off his body, sitting on a dunghill” (Job 2:7-8). Today, we have allowed “Satan”―or should we say “Satan’s Minions in this world”―to strike us with a virus and create for us a dunghill on which we are now sitting! Furthermore, in the USA, a rigged or stolen election has taken us a step closer to a totalitarian state―if you fail to see that, then your cookies, candies, chocolates, cakes and coca-colas have not only expanded your waistline, but also dulled or even blinded your mind! You are―whether you see it or not, believe it or not, like it or not―being led like a lamb to the slaughter!
A Day Late and a Dollar Short!
What―if anything―are we going to do about it? Will we do anything about it? Do we want to do anything about it? Or will we wash our hands―like Pontius Pilate―of the innocent lives that will be lost? It is getting to be very late! Is it getting to be too late? The parable of the wise and foolish virgins comes to mind―where the foolish virgins were well-intentioned but insufficiently prepared, which led to them being “a day late and dollar short”, or should we say several hours late because they were not a dollar short, but short of oil―and for them, late was too late!
“Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish ones, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them! But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil―for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’ Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13).
Pope Says: Too Late to Avoid It
During the conference of Pope John Paul II, in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, in 1981, the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Is It Too Late for People to Change?
It is not as though we are not aware of all these facts, all these warnings of Our Lady, the warnings of the popes, the warnings of various priest and laymen―yet nothing ever happens, it is more of the same-old, same-old. Same-old lethargy, indifference, complacency or even stubbornness towards these warnings. You have to wonder how Heaven―God, Christ and Our Lady―feel about this? They are trying to help us―even though, realistically and honestly, we are past the point of deserving any help―and we just blankly look them in the face, or, even worse, spit out the message and turn our backs on them!
Consider again the words Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, said in 1956―yes, 1956, when there was no legalized abortion, relatively little divorce and contraception, barely any television or internet, hardly any pornography, with 75% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass and six years before the Second Vatican Council―compare that to today and you be cringing at these words of Our Lady: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Because of our refusal or negligence in cooperating, Our Lady further said at Akita―17 years later in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Despite those words, there were still “no takers” and we stubbornly and complacently continued in our indifference and refusal to take heed of her warnings! Why, O why? Nobody can turn their back on Our Lady without incurring unpleasant consequences! As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Problem is Not the Eyes, Ears or Mind―But in the Heart and Will
Let’s face it―most people have heard or read and know about the problems in the Church and world today. That is not the problem. Our eyes, ears and minds are working fine! The problem is in the heart, or, as it is sometimes called, the “will”―that is to say the will-power. We might be strong in mind, but weak in will―and will only get us into big trouble. “That servant who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). It is another way of saying: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20)―with “Faith” being “knowledge” and “works” being “actions commanded by the will”. In other words, we know what we should be doing―but we will not do it. We know what Heaven wants―but we are not going to do it. When you measure that by Our Lord’s “litmus test” of “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15)―then we do not measure up very well! Obedience is a proof of love―lip service love is merely superficial:“Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). Our minds and lips are more active than our heart and will-power when it comes to God! We “talk-the-talk” without much problem―but when it comes to “walking-the-walk”, then there is a lot to be desired because we are “just not up to scratch” in that department. There is widespread divorce between theory and practice among Catholics.
As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda―who died in 1665 and whose body was still incorruptible when her casket was opened in 1989: “My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? … Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment ... It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … to love those that persecute thee! …
“As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments―so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful! In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others expect to be pardoned without penance, others expect to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.”
“Remember that to suffer and to be afflicted, with or without one’s fault, is a benefit of which one cannot be worthy without special and great mercy of the Almighty. To be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice. Behold the great insanity of people nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves, that which is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. Men fear what is not to be feared, and rejoice in that which is not profitable. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited, yet they strive by all means to avoid them, even when merited.
Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness and in disgrace before the Almighty? In addition to this the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions which are the paths left open for returning to God.
“Such is the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise suffering in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty sends thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among souls, whom We can instruct in this divine science of suffering and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. To be Our disciple, enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross, with which the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible.”
The Only Way Out of Our Predicament is Suffering with Love
How did Christ defeat Satan and evil in His day? Through suffering! How do nations win wars and battles? Through suffering! How do we overcome a disease? Through suffering! How do athletes win races? Through suffering! How do we study and learn to the degree of obtaining a university degree or even a doctorate? Through suffering! How does a marriage and a family become holy and successful? How do we pay for our sins? Through suffering! How do we gain entrance to Heaven? Through suffering! How will we overcome the present evils that are weekly closing in on us more and more? Through suffering! Though the hour is late―it is never too late to suffer! What did Our Lady ask of three little children―aged 10, 9 and 7―at Fatima? Suffering! She said to them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” (Fatima, May 13th, 1917). What did Our Lady say at Akita? She asked for suffering: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful” (August 3rd, 1973).
All of this can be summed up by Our Lord’s own words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13)―and the laying down of one’s life entails suffering. You could say that “Love burns”―as we pray to the Holy Ghost: “Enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” You could also say that “God burns”, since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―we even see God representing Himself as a “burning fire” in the burning bush that Moses saw: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt!” (Exodus 3:2). Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). As the Sacred Heart, Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, that not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It needs to spread them abroad … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
Similarly, we were made to burn―we will either burn with love and love our sufferings here on Earth in order to pay for our sins; or we will be burn with love in Purgatory and love the sufferings of Purgatory in order to pay for our sins; or we will burn with hatred in Hell and hate the sufferings of Hell on account of our sins! It is our choice! If we are of sane mind, the choice is obvious― burn with love and love our sufferings here on Earth in order to pay for our sins! It is never too late to start burning! However, it is better so start burning soon―before Satan burns down most of the remnant of true Christianity. As they say: “Fight fire with fire!” We must fight the fires of hatred with the fires of love.
Cannot Even Graduate Out of the Kindergarten of Suffering
Our Lady, in speaking with Venerable Mary of Agreda, talks of a school of suffering: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science ― the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross … If the passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, the soul begins to esteem affliction at its proper value … This is the teaching of the school of the Redeemer, hidden from those living in the world and from those who love vanity! … For the world does not know, nor does it merit to know, this science ... This philosophy consists in recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity ... In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance! … This school my most holy and loving Son established in His Church, when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes. Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches! … There are but few and scattered souls who enter into this school, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught!”
Stupid Question―Here’s the Answer!
One of most stupid questions asked about God usually goes along the lines of something like this (everyone has their own slightly modified version): “If God is good, why does He allow suffering?” Duh! Can you believe that someone could ask such a dumb question? Has that person ever read Holy Scripture? It would seem not! The bottom-line answer―that even a child should understand―is that suffering comes as a result of sin. There are NUMEROUS Scriptural passages that clearly and unambiguously state that truth. Here is a mere “tip of the iceberg” of those numerous quotes. The simplest and shortest of them all is probably this: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). What suffering is there that is greater than death? Death is the “icing on the cake” of suffering. Death is the ultimate ‘reward’ for sin, and an ‘escape’ door to suffering―but is also a suffering in its own right. Similar to that quote are these: “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) … “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:15). All other degrees of suffering for sin must line-up below or behind the suffering of death.
► If you want a longer, more comprehensive explanation of the relation between sin and suffering―then here is what God has to say on the matter. He first of all points out the pleasant consequences of obeying God and keeping His commandments:
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
► God then goes on to post a warning on what will happen if He is not obeyed and His commandments are not kept―the result is SUFFERING:
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
In case you only just got back from your trip to Mars and are totally unaware of what has been happening on Earth these last 18 months―there has been a powerfully propagandized Plannedemic that has duped dimwits into accepting a noose to be placed around their neck, a swab to be shoved up their nose, and a needle to be rammed into their arm. The world has been in a paranoid lockdown over a virus from which 99.9% people recover. The stupid sheeple have fallen for the mask propaganda which tries to tell them that they can keep out the virus with a useless mask―which is akin to trying to catch a mosquito with a basketball net! They have swallowed one lie after another as the governments, dishonest doctors and mainstream media have bludgeoned and beaten them over the head with the baton of fear that merely prepares the dupes for the forthcoming totalitarianism and total control of every human being. They have been starved of their sources of entertainment with bars, pubs, restaurants, movie theaters, sports stadia, etc. being closed or severely restricted. For the tiny minority who still seek God, they found their churches closed or limits being put on how few a number would be graciously allowed to enter the church wearing a mask and socially distancing from each other―which has led to massive numbers socially distancing themselves from God as a result!
The governments and their medical staff (or medical stooges) have gained such a great knowledge of the virus that they could even predict at what time of the day the virus would strike―presumably that is why they told bars and restaurants to close by 8:00 pm, or 9:00 pm, or 10:00 pm―perhaps the different times were for different strains or mutations of the virus! Amazing! What incredible medical knowledge our doctors possess! Even better! They have in record time managed to create Messianic Vaccines that will be the ‘salvation’ of the human race! Just roll-up your sleeves, grit your teeth, take the jab and you are saved! Get a job with a jab! No jab, no job! Job the man, not the job, but the Old Testament character, got sick too! “Satan struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head. And Job took a potsherd [a broken piece of pottery] and scraped the corrupt matter off his body, sitting on a dunghill” (Job 2:7-8). Today, we have allowed “Satan”―or should we say “Satan’s Minions in this world”―to strike us with a virus and create for us a dunghill on which we are now sitting! Furthermore, in the USA, a rigged or stolen election has taken us a step closer to a totalitarian state―if you fail to see that, then your cookies, candies, chocolates, cakes and coca-colas have not only expanded your waistline, but also dulled or even blinded your mind! You are―whether you see it or not, believe it or not, like it or not―being led like a lamb to the slaughter!
A Day Late and a Dollar Short!
What―if anything―are we going to do about it? Will we do anything about it? Do we want to do anything about it? Or will we wash our hands―like Pontius Pilate―of the innocent lives that will be lost? It is getting to be very late! Is it getting to be too late? The parable of the wise and foolish virgins comes to mind―where the foolish virgins were well-intentioned but insufficiently prepared, which led to them being “a day late and dollar short”, or should we say several hours late because they were not a dollar short, but short of oil―and for them, late was too late!
“Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish ones, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them! But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil―for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’ Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13).
Pope Says: Too Late to Avoid It
During the conference of Pope John Paul II, in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, in 1981, the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Is It Too Late for People to Change?
It is not as though we are not aware of all these facts, all these warnings of Our Lady, the warnings of the popes, the warnings of various priest and laymen―yet nothing ever happens, it is more of the same-old, same-old. Same-old lethargy, indifference, complacency or even stubbornness towards these warnings. You have to wonder how Heaven―God, Christ and Our Lady―feel about this? They are trying to help us―even though, realistically and honestly, we are past the point of deserving any help―and we just blankly look them in the face, or, even worse, spit out the message and turn our backs on them!
Consider again the words Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, said in 1956―yes, 1956, when there was no legalized abortion, relatively little divorce and contraception, barely any television or internet, hardly any pornography, with 75% of Catholics regularly attending Sunday Mass and six years before the Second Vatican Council―compare that to today and you be cringing at these words of Our Lady: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Because of our refusal or negligence in cooperating, Our Lady further said at Akita―17 years later in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Despite those words, there were still “no takers” and we stubbornly and complacently continued in our indifference and refusal to take heed of her warnings! Why, O why? Nobody can turn their back on Our Lady without incurring unpleasant consequences! As Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Problem is Not the Eyes, Ears or Mind―But in the Heart and Will
Let’s face it―most people have heard or read and know about the problems in the Church and world today. That is not the problem. Our eyes, ears and minds are working fine! The problem is in the heart, or, as it is sometimes called, the “will”―that is to say the will-power. We might be strong in mind, but weak in will―and will only get us into big trouble. “That servant who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). It is another way of saying: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20)―with “Faith” being “knowledge” and “works” being “actions commanded by the will”. In other words, we know what we should be doing―but we will not do it. We know what Heaven wants―but we are not going to do it. When you measure that by Our Lord’s “litmus test” of “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15)―then we do not measure up very well! Obedience is a proof of love―lip service love is merely superficial:“Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8). Our minds and lips are more active than our heart and will-power when it comes to God! We “talk-the-talk” without much problem―but when it comes to “walking-the-walk”, then there is a lot to be desired because we are “just not up to scratch” in that department. There is widespread divorce between theory and practice among Catholics.
As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda―who died in 1665 and whose body was still incorruptible when her casket was opened in 1989: “My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? … Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment ... It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it! … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … to love those that persecute thee! …
“As for those who are forgetful of this truth and are so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments―so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart―these inclinations and this blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their worldliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … worldlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful! In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others expect to be pardoned without penance, others expect to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.”
“Remember that to suffer and to be afflicted, with or without one’s fault, is a benefit of which one cannot be worthy without special and great mercy of the Almighty. To be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice. Behold the great insanity of people nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves, that which is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. Men fear what is not to be feared, and rejoice in that which is not profitable. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited, yet they strive by all means to avoid them, even when merited.
Why do mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness and in disgrace before the Almighty? In addition to this the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions which are the paths left open for returning to God.
“Such is the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise suffering in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty sends thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among souls, whom We can instruct in this divine science of suffering and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. To be Our disciple, enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross, with which the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible.”
The Only Way Out of Our Predicament is Suffering with Love
How did Christ defeat Satan and evil in His day? Through suffering! How do nations win wars and battles? Through suffering! How do we overcome a disease? Through suffering! How do athletes win races? Through suffering! How do we study and learn to the degree of obtaining a university degree or even a doctorate? Through suffering! How does a marriage and a family become holy and successful? How do we pay for our sins? Through suffering! How do we gain entrance to Heaven? Through suffering! How will we overcome the present evils that are weekly closing in on us more and more? Through suffering! Though the hour is late―it is never too late to suffer! What did Our Lady ask of three little children―aged 10, 9 and 7―at Fatima? Suffering! She said to them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” (Fatima, May 13th, 1917). What did Our Lady say at Akita? She asked for suffering: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful” (August 3rd, 1973).
All of this can be summed up by Our Lord’s own words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13)―and the laying down of one’s life entails suffering. You could say that “Love burns”―as we pray to the Holy Ghost: “Enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” You could also say that “God burns”, since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―we even see God representing Himself as a “burning fire” in the burning bush that Moses saw: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt!” (Exodus 3:2). Our Lord Himself said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). As the Sacred Heart, Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, that not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It needs to spread them abroad … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
Similarly, we were made to burn―we will either burn with love and love our sufferings here on Earth in order to pay for our sins; or we will be burn with love in Purgatory and love the sufferings of Purgatory in order to pay for our sins; or we will burn with hatred in Hell and hate the sufferings of Hell on account of our sins! It is our choice! If we are of sane mind, the choice is obvious― burn with love and love our sufferings here on Earth in order to pay for our sins! It is never too late to start burning! However, it is better so start burning soon―before Satan burns down most of the remnant of true Christianity. As they say: “Fight fire with fire!” We must fight the fires of hatred with the fires of love.
Cannot Even Graduate Out of the Kindergarten of Suffering
Our Lady, in speaking with Venerable Mary of Agreda, talks of a school of suffering: “My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science ― the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross … If the passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, the soul begins to esteem affliction at its proper value … This is the teaching of the school of the Redeemer, hidden from those living in the world and from those who love vanity! … For the world does not know, nor does it merit to know, this science ... This philosophy consists in recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity ... In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance! … This school my most holy and loving Son established in His Church, when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes. Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches! … There are but few and scattered souls who enter into this school, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught!”
Stupid Question―Here’s the Answer!
One of most stupid questions asked about God usually goes along the lines of something like this (everyone has their own slightly modified version): “If God is good, why does He allow suffering?” Duh! Can you believe that someone could ask such a dumb question? Has that person ever read Holy Scripture? It would seem not! The bottom-line answer―that even a child should understand―is that suffering comes as a result of sin. There are NUMEROUS Scriptural passages that clearly and unambiguously state that truth. Here is a mere “tip of the iceberg” of those numerous quotes. The simplest and shortest of them all is probably this: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). What suffering is there that is greater than death? Death is the “icing on the cake” of suffering. Death is the ultimate ‘reward’ for sin, and an ‘escape’ door to suffering―but is also a suffering in its own right. Similar to that quote are these: “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) … “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Sin, when it is completed, begets death!” (James 1:15). All other degrees of suffering for sin must line-up below or behind the suffering of death.
► If you want a longer, more comprehensive explanation of the relation between sin and suffering―then here is what God has to say on the matter. He first of all points out the pleasant consequences of obeying God and keeping His commandments:
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
► God then goes on to post a warning on what will happen if He is not obeyed and His commandments are not kept―the result is SUFFERING:
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday May 9th & Monday May 10th
Article 18
Rekindle Your Embers of Love and Mercy
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday May 9th & Monday May 10th
Article 18
Rekindle Your Embers of Love and Mercy
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
God Loves Us and Desires Our Love and Salvation
We all want to be liked and loved! Yet we will never find true love in this world―which is why Our Lady of Lourdes said to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next.” Heaven is the place of perfect and true love. Hell is the place of true and perfect hatred. Everyone loves each other in Heaven. Everyone hates each other in Hell. Why the hell do most people end up in Hell if they are seeking true and perfect love? Especially since “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). “God hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins … The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world!” (1 John 4:14). Yet most of the world ends up being damned! “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’ … Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13). Why is this? Who is to blame? What is to blame?
Our Lady Loves Us and Desires Our Salvation
Not only that, but Our Lady also seeks our salvation―as she has repeatedly said in her apparitions:
► QUITO: “Let men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► LA SALETTE: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
► FATIMA: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
► AKITA: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita).
To those words of Our Lady, the saints add the following:
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
Yet, the saints also warn us:
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
That Damned Disease! A Spiritual Diagnosis and Prognosis
People often confuse the two terms “diagnosis” and “prognosis” or perhaps only vaguely know what each one means. A “diagnosis” is an identification of a disease via examination. A diagnosis is used to identify a present disease, illness, problem, etc., by examination and observation (of signs and symptoms) and determining why the disease is there in the first place. After the “diagnosis” comes the “prognosis”, which is determining the treatment that needs to be given, and the likely results and outcome that will come from the course of the diagnosed disease, illness, problem, etc.
So what diagnosis can be offered for this “damned disease”―the mass damnation of souls? Let us start with a brief diagnosis and then explain and develop it. Briefly, in a nutshell, souls are damned because of a lack of love―not a lack of love on the part of God, or Our Lady, or Heaven―but a lack of love in the soul that ends up being damned. No love, no chance.
Let us explain and develop that point a little more. Love is key to salvation. Why? Because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). In other words God is love. Our Lord tells us to be like our heavenly Father, Who is love itself: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48) and charity is the most perfect virtue, it is the bond of perfection: “Above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity!” (1 John 4:7-8). “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The Medicine of Mercy
Within this mansion of charity the greatest and biggest room is the “Room of Mercy”―for mercy is a sub-section of Charity. That is why Holy Scripture says of God, who it Charity itself: “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Thus Our Lord says: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “Be ye kind one to another―merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:32). Our Lord again adds: “Forgive if you have anything against any man, so that your Father, Who is in Heaven, may also forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26).
“Be ye therefore followers of God and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us!” (Ephesians 5:1-2). “We have known and have believed the charity which God hath to us. God is charity and he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment” (1 John 4:16-17).
Loving, Faithful, Hopeful and Merciful or Loveless, Faithless, Hopeless and Merciless?
We have read the above words many times, we have heard them many times, perhaps we have even preached them many times! Yet, another diagnosis tells us that most Catholics have a “split personality”―which is split between the theory of the Faith and the practice of the Faith. We believe many things in theory, but perform very few of those in practice! As Our Lord said: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). To which God adds: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house! Who have eyes to see, and see not! And ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
We read and hear the Faith preached―but, like at a buffet dinner―we take what we like to “eat” (usually the sweet things) and leave the “bitter” bits behind! We like the sweetness of mercy for ourselves, but we become bitter if we have show mercy to those whom we do not like (we have no problem showing mercy to those whom we like!). Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32) … “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also” (Colossians 3:13). Our Lord adds: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences! But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Mercy Linked to Charity
As the American exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger says, “If we have true charity, that is, if we really love God, and we love our neighbor for the sake of God, then we desire to forgive people! We will actually want for them not to have to suffer some detriment in order to pay us back―but that they are forgiven of the debt, that their reconciliation occurs, and that we move on. In other words, we desire this for their betterment. Christ said to do it to preserve charity―and that is in order that the wounding doesn’t perpetuate, doesn’t continue between people. That is why it is important to be in the habit of forgiving people. God wants you to excel in the virtue of charity―particularly in the virtue of clemency, which is forgiveness. That’s what He wants you to excel in … Demons will pick at our wounds, they will tempt to re-wound ourselves, cause us to think about the things that wounded us―because, as long as our soul is disordered in some way, as long as there is some defect in us, then they can make use of that and hold on to that inside of us, and they constantly keep picking at us ... to get a foothold in your heart. You must be willing to suffer and forgive―for this willingness to suffer and forgive will crush them, because they never want you to forgive someone, but want things to keep cutting and getting deeper and deeper, so that their hold on you gets stronger and stronger. They will drive you harbor injuries or wounds so as to slowly destroy you. So we have to the opposite! We have to be willing to forgive and to suffer―we have to fight them … Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and the wounds of her heart―if we have that, then she will shower our heart with graces to heal, to help to bear the suffering and to give us a willingness to suffer. In seeing her own heart wounded, it will give us a sort of tenderness and our wound will become of a different kind … Most people are wounded because they are not willing to suffer for God” (Sermon on Healing Wounds, January 26th, 2020).
St. Peter and Limited Forgiveness
“Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble: Not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing―for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing!” (1 Peter 3:8-9). St. Peter had learned about mercy after once asking Our Lord about forgiveness―seeking to find out what were the limits to forgiving others:
“Then came Peter unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Mary is the Mother of Mercy! Are We Her Children of Mercy?
As the proverb says: “Like father, like son; like mother like daughter!”―which is actually based on the following verse from Holy Scripture: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). So―are we like Mary? Are we like Our Lady? Are we like the Mother of Mercy? Do we show the “family” traits of mercy? Are we the children of mercy of the Mother of Mercy? If Our Lord can say to us: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart!” (Matthew 11:29), then Our Lady can say to us: “Learn of me, for I am compassionate and merciful of Heart!”
Instead, our modern-age has developed a culture of selective hate―which means that you hate the sinner, but not every sinner (especially yourself!). The finger pointing, the outrage, the anger, the thirst for blood in ‘justice’, the rabid calls for resignation because of sin, etc. All of this smacks of Satan―for the word Satan comes from Late Latin word “Satan”, which comes from the Greek word “Satanas” and from the Hebrew noun “satan” meaning “accuser, adversary, one who plots against another,” and from Hebrew verb “satan” meaning “to accuse, to show enmity to, to oppose, to plot against.” That sums up perfectly our current culture―thus we can fairly call it a “satanic” culture―a culture of hate and not mercy; a culture that screams for blood and not forgiveness―except for oneself and those who commit the same sins you do.
This culture has been aptly described in Holy Scripture: “In the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, haughty, proud, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, slanderers, unmerciful, without kindness, and lovers of pleasures more than of God― indeed having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Actually, that is not only a perfect description of the world today, but it is also a perfect description of Satan! The DNA of most of the world today is satanic! No mercy (except for your own ilk) and lots of hate (except for your own preferred circle). That is the typical trait of sinners―attack others to distract attention away from your own sins! Attack is the best form of defense. Satan―whose name means “accuser, adversary, one who plots against another”―is only too ready to pour fuel on the fire, stirring-up you imagination, emotions and anger!
But we easily forget that “all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). That is why Our Lord said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). When the Scribes and Pharisees brought before Him the woman caught in adultery, Our Lord said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). Those words should be “vaccinated” into everyone in the whole world today! That is the vaccine that we all need―the vaccine of mercy, which will fight against the virus of hate!
Sin Attracts the Mercy of God
Love attracts mercy, hatred begets condemnation. Sin attracts mercy, hatred attracts punishment. You might say: “Hey! We have to hate evil!” Yes―that is true―but we must, at the same time as destroying that evil, seek to save the sinner and not hate the sinner. We hate the sin, but not the sinner. We do not seek to save the sin, but save the sinner. The doctor, while amputating a limb, seeks to save the life of the sick person. The sinner is a sick person. The sickness of sin must be removed to restore spiritual health to the person. As the Catechism teaches―the soul is of far greater importance than the body. Our Lord says something similar: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). He goes on to say: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). We have almost totally lost the spirit of Christ in our culture of accusation and hatred.
Love and Hate
Love will get us much further than hatred! Our Lord did not come on Earth to command us to hate―He came to command us to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Yes, He did speak of hatred―but the hatred He mentioned was the hatred of the world and the worldly towards Him, His teachings and His followers. He said that His teaching would cause division everywhere―even in families―and that this hatred would even lead to some of us being put to death for His Name’s sake:
“If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
So yes―hatred is a part and parcel of Christianity―but it is something that we receive rather than something that we should be giving to others: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:11-12). Sin is the only true evil and we must hate sin like we hate disease―but we do not hate the diseased sinner, just like we do not hate a diseased patient but seek his cure. Charity works more good than hatred can ever do. That is why Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 4:43-48).
Love Brings Forgiveness―Forgiveness Begets Love
There are essentially two ways to pay for sin―you can pay by the pain of penance, or you can pay by the pain of love. In fact, you can pay in both ways! Holy Scripture speaks of paying for sin by painful penance when it says: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Knowest thou not that God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Yet Holy Scripture also speaks of charity or love as means for paying for sin: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
Love Begets Mercy
In the book, Moral Theology ― A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities, by the Dominican theologians Fr. McHugh and Fr. Callan, it says:
“Charity is preeminent among the virtues of this life … ‘The greatest of these is charity’ (1 Corinthians 13:13) … The other virtues require charity for their perfection … Without charity the other virtues are either false virtues, or true but imperfect virtues … With charity the other virtues become true and perfect virtues … Charity causes the other virtues … Direction is given by charity to the other virtues … It forbids that one harm one’s own soul by thoughts or desires of wrong: ‘Charity thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity’ …
“From charity results mercy, for he who loves his neighbor as a friend in God, must grieve over the latter’s sorrows as if they were his own. Our Lord commands: ‘Be ye merciful, as your Heavenly Father is also merciful’ (Luke 6:36) … Whether an offender asks pardon or not, one is obliged to forgive the offense―that is, to put aside all aversion, indignation and hatred: ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us’ (Matthew 6:12) … Should we love with charity those who are sinners and enemies of God? … If sinners be considered precisely as they are enemies of God, is it lawful to hate them and wish evil to them? It is lawful to hate the evil that is in sinners, but not their persons ... It is lawful to wish that the sinfulness that is in them may be destroyed, that they themselves may be saved ... Thus, a judge sentences a criminal, not because he hates the man before him, but because he wishes to reform him, or to protect society, or to do an act of justice ... The evils of punishment or of destruction of sin are, in a broader view, not evils, but goods.
“The following examples of love of one’s enemies are found in the Bible: (a) in the Old Testament, Joseph forgave his brethren who had sold him into Egypt, David spared the life of his persecutor Saul and wept over the ungrateful Absalom, and Moses prayed for the people who had rebelled against him; (b) in the New Testament Our Lord mourned over Jerusalem which had rejected Him, and on the Cross prayed for His enemies.
“What kind of love must we entertain for enemies? (a) A general love of enemies is that which extends to all neighbors for the love of God, no exception being made as regards enemies. (b) A special love of enemies is that which extends to them in particular, not as included in the human race or the community, but as individuals, as when one expressly mentions the name of an enemy in his act of love. This kind of love of enemies is not required at all times ... The principles just given as to internal love of enemies apply also to external love, or to the signs by which internal love is manifested. For St. John says: ‘Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!’ (1 John 3:18).
(a) Hence, it is not lawful to deny to an enemy the common signs of charity (i.e., such benefits as are bestowed on his community or class as a whole), for to do so would be to signify a desire for revenge (Leviticus 19:18). Consequently, he who excludes his enemies from prayers offered for his neighbor sins against charity.
(b) In cases of necessity, as when an enemy is in great need as to life, fame, fortune or salvation, one is bound to show special signs of charity, such as salutation, conversation, assistance, etc. Thus, we are told: ‘If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he be thirsty, give him to drink’ (Proverbs 25:21).
(c) Outside of cases of necessity, one is bound to be ready to assist an enemy, should there be need.
(d) Outside of necessity, one is not bound actually to manifest particular love for an enemy, by speaking to him, trading with him, visiting him, etc.
“In God, mercy is an extension of the love God has towards His own creatures, and is greater than charity: ‘The mercy of God is above all His works’ (Psalm 144:9). The divine law commands mercy, especially in the New Testament. Assistance of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the captives, the slaves and other unfortunates is everywhere insisted on: ‘I will show thee what the Lord requireth of thee: verily to do justice, and to love mercy’ (Micheas 6:8).” (Fr. McHugh, O.P. and Fr. Callan, O.P., Moral Theology ― A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities).
Faith Without Works Is Dead―Love Without Mercy Is Dead
You are no doubt familiar with the Scriptural quote: “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20)―it is part of the following passage: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
You could transpose that to apply to Love and Mercy or Charity and Mercy―for as stated above, Mercy comes out of Charity, like works should come forth from Faith: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Charity, but showeth no Mercy? Shall Charity without Mercy be able to save him? … Charity, if it have not Mercy, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Mercy, but I have Charity!’ Show me thy Charity without Mercy; and I will show thee, by Mercy, my Charity! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Charity without Mercy is dead? Do you see that by Mercy a man shows Charity? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Charity without Mercy is dead!”
To one of His mystics, Our Lord revealed: “No soul will enter My paradise without having forgiven at least once ... It is when a soul forgives and is silent that she most resembles My Mother!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 309 & 259). To another, Jesus said: “Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted; It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 40-41). And again, “When I say that you must forgive one another, it is not a duty that I impose on you―can one impose love? It is a joy that I offer you; it is a share in My way of acting, a share in My Spirit!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 323). “I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 174).
We all want to be liked and loved! Yet we will never find true love in this world―which is why Our Lady of Lourdes said to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next.” Heaven is the place of perfect and true love. Hell is the place of true and perfect hatred. Everyone loves each other in Heaven. Everyone hates each other in Hell. Why the hell do most people end up in Hell if they are seeking true and perfect love? Especially since “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). “God hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins … The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world!” (1 John 4:14). Yet most of the world ends up being damned! “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’ … Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13). Why is this? Who is to blame? What is to blame?
Our Lady Loves Us and Desires Our Salvation
Not only that, but Our Lady also seeks our salvation―as she has repeatedly said in her apparitions:
► QUITO: “Let men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► LA SALETTE: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
► FATIMA: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
► AKITA: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita).
To those words of Our Lady, the saints add the following:
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
Yet, the saints also warn us:
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
That Damned Disease! A Spiritual Diagnosis and Prognosis
People often confuse the two terms “diagnosis” and “prognosis” or perhaps only vaguely know what each one means. A “diagnosis” is an identification of a disease via examination. A diagnosis is used to identify a present disease, illness, problem, etc., by examination and observation (of signs and symptoms) and determining why the disease is there in the first place. After the “diagnosis” comes the “prognosis”, which is determining the treatment that needs to be given, and the likely results and outcome that will come from the course of the diagnosed disease, illness, problem, etc.
So what diagnosis can be offered for this “damned disease”―the mass damnation of souls? Let us start with a brief diagnosis and then explain and develop it. Briefly, in a nutshell, souls are damned because of a lack of love―not a lack of love on the part of God, or Our Lady, or Heaven―but a lack of love in the soul that ends up being damned. No love, no chance.
Let us explain and develop that point a little more. Love is key to salvation. Why? Because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). In other words God is love. Our Lord tells us to be like our heavenly Father, Who is love itself: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48) and charity is the most perfect virtue, it is the bond of perfection: “Above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14). “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity!” (1 John 4:7-8). “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The Medicine of Mercy
Within this mansion of charity the greatest and biggest room is the “Room of Mercy”―for mercy is a sub-section of Charity. That is why Holy Scripture says of God, who it Charity itself: “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Thus Our Lord says: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “Be ye kind one to another―merciful, forgiving one another―even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:32). Our Lord again adds: “Forgive if you have anything against any man, so that your Father, Who is in Heaven, may also forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25-26).
“Be ye therefore followers of God and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us!” (Ephesians 5:1-2). “We have known and have believed the charity which God hath to us. God is charity and he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment” (1 John 4:16-17).
Loving, Faithful, Hopeful and Merciful or Loveless, Faithless, Hopeless and Merciless?
We have read the above words many times, we have heard them many times, perhaps we have even preached them many times! Yet, another diagnosis tells us that most Catholics have a “split personality”―which is split between the theory of the Faith and the practice of the Faith. We believe many things in theory, but perform very few of those in practice! As Our Lord said: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). To which God adds: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house! Who have eyes to see, and see not! And ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
We read and hear the Faith preached―but, like at a buffet dinner―we take what we like to “eat” (usually the sweet things) and leave the “bitter” bits behind! We like the sweetness of mercy for ourselves, but we become bitter if we have show mercy to those whom we do not like (we have no problem showing mercy to those whom we like!). Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32) … “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also” (Colossians 3:13). Our Lord adds: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences! But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Mercy Linked to Charity
As the American exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger says, “If we have true charity, that is, if we really love God, and we love our neighbor for the sake of God, then we desire to forgive people! We will actually want for them not to have to suffer some detriment in order to pay us back―but that they are forgiven of the debt, that their reconciliation occurs, and that we move on. In other words, we desire this for their betterment. Christ said to do it to preserve charity―and that is in order that the wounding doesn’t perpetuate, doesn’t continue between people. That is why it is important to be in the habit of forgiving people. God wants you to excel in the virtue of charity―particularly in the virtue of clemency, which is forgiveness. That’s what He wants you to excel in … Demons will pick at our wounds, they will tempt to re-wound ourselves, cause us to think about the things that wounded us―because, as long as our soul is disordered in some way, as long as there is some defect in us, then they can make use of that and hold on to that inside of us, and they constantly keep picking at us ... to get a foothold in your heart. You must be willing to suffer and forgive―for this willingness to suffer and forgive will crush them, because they never want you to forgive someone, but want things to keep cutting and getting deeper and deeper, so that their hold on you gets stronger and stronger. They will drive you harbor injuries or wounds so as to slowly destroy you. So we have to the opposite! We have to be willing to forgive and to suffer―we have to fight them … Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and the wounds of her heart―if we have that, then she will shower our heart with graces to heal, to help to bear the suffering and to give us a willingness to suffer. In seeing her own heart wounded, it will give us a sort of tenderness and our wound will become of a different kind … Most people are wounded because they are not willing to suffer for God” (Sermon on Healing Wounds, January 26th, 2020).
St. Peter and Limited Forgiveness
“Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble: Not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing―for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing!” (1 Peter 3:8-9). St. Peter had learned about mercy after once asking Our Lord about forgiveness―seeking to find out what were the limits to forgiving others:
“Then came Peter unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money).
Mary is the Mother of Mercy! Are We Her Children of Mercy?
As the proverb says: “Like father, like son; like mother like daughter!”―which is actually based on the following verse from Holy Scripture: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter!” (Ezechiel 16:44). So―are we like Mary? Are we like Our Lady? Are we like the Mother of Mercy? Do we show the “family” traits of mercy? Are we the children of mercy of the Mother of Mercy? If Our Lord can say to us: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart!” (Matthew 11:29), then Our Lady can say to us: “Learn of me, for I am compassionate and merciful of Heart!”
Instead, our modern-age has developed a culture of selective hate―which means that you hate the sinner, but not every sinner (especially yourself!). The finger pointing, the outrage, the anger, the thirst for blood in ‘justice’, the rabid calls for resignation because of sin, etc. All of this smacks of Satan―for the word Satan comes from Late Latin word “Satan”, which comes from the Greek word “Satanas” and from the Hebrew noun “satan” meaning “accuser, adversary, one who plots against another,” and from Hebrew verb “satan” meaning “to accuse, to show enmity to, to oppose, to plot against.” That sums up perfectly our current culture―thus we can fairly call it a “satanic” culture―a culture of hate and not mercy; a culture that screams for blood and not forgiveness―except for oneself and those who commit the same sins you do.
This culture has been aptly described in Holy Scripture: “In the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, haughty, proud, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, slanderers, unmerciful, without kindness, and lovers of pleasures more than of God― indeed having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Actually, that is not only a perfect description of the world today, but it is also a perfect description of Satan! The DNA of most of the world today is satanic! No mercy (except for your own ilk) and lots of hate (except for your own preferred circle). That is the typical trait of sinners―attack others to distract attention away from your own sins! Attack is the best form of defense. Satan―whose name means “accuser, adversary, one who plots against another”―is only too ready to pour fuel on the fire, stirring-up you imagination, emotions and anger!
But we easily forget that “all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy and grace] of God!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). That is why Our Lord said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). When the Scribes and Pharisees brought before Him the woman caught in adultery, Our Lord said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). Those words should be “vaccinated” into everyone in the whole world today! That is the vaccine that we all need―the vaccine of mercy, which will fight against the virus of hate!
Sin Attracts the Mercy of God
Love attracts mercy, hatred begets condemnation. Sin attracts mercy, hatred attracts punishment. You might say: “Hey! We have to hate evil!” Yes―that is true―but we must, at the same time as destroying that evil, seek to save the sinner and not hate the sinner. We hate the sin, but not the sinner. We do not seek to save the sin, but save the sinner. The doctor, while amputating a limb, seeks to save the life of the sick person. The sinner is a sick person. The sickness of sin must be removed to restore spiritual health to the person. As the Catechism teaches―the soul is of far greater importance than the body. Our Lord says something similar: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). He goes on to say: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). We have almost totally lost the spirit of Christ in our culture of accusation and hatred.
Love and Hate
Love will get us much further than hatred! Our Lord did not come on Earth to command us to hate―He came to command us to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Yes, He did speak of hatred―but the hatred He mentioned was the hatred of the world and the worldly towards Him, His teachings and His followers. He said that His teaching would cause division everywhere―even in families―and that this hatred would even lead to some of us being put to death for His Name’s sake:
“If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37; Luke 12:49-53).
So yes―hatred is a part and parcel of Christianity―but it is something that we receive rather than something that we should be giving to others: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:11-12). Sin is the only true evil and we must hate sin like we hate disease―but we do not hate the diseased sinner, just like we do not hate a diseased patient but seek his cure. Charity works more good than hatred can ever do. That is why Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 4:43-48).
Love Brings Forgiveness―Forgiveness Begets Love
There are essentially two ways to pay for sin―you can pay by the pain of penance, or you can pay by the pain of love. In fact, you can pay in both ways! Holy Scripture speaks of paying for sin by painful penance when it says: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Knowest thou not that God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Yet Holy Scripture also speaks of charity or love as means for paying for sin: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47).
Love Begets Mercy
In the book, Moral Theology ― A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities, by the Dominican theologians Fr. McHugh and Fr. Callan, it says:
“Charity is preeminent among the virtues of this life … ‘The greatest of these is charity’ (1 Corinthians 13:13) … The other virtues require charity for their perfection … Without charity the other virtues are either false virtues, or true but imperfect virtues … With charity the other virtues become true and perfect virtues … Charity causes the other virtues … Direction is given by charity to the other virtues … It forbids that one harm one’s own soul by thoughts or desires of wrong: ‘Charity thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity’ …
“From charity results mercy, for he who loves his neighbor as a friend in God, must grieve over the latter’s sorrows as if they were his own. Our Lord commands: ‘Be ye merciful, as your Heavenly Father is also merciful’ (Luke 6:36) … Whether an offender asks pardon or not, one is obliged to forgive the offense―that is, to put aside all aversion, indignation and hatred: ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us’ (Matthew 6:12) … Should we love with charity those who are sinners and enemies of God? … If sinners be considered precisely as they are enemies of God, is it lawful to hate them and wish evil to them? It is lawful to hate the evil that is in sinners, but not their persons ... It is lawful to wish that the sinfulness that is in them may be destroyed, that they themselves may be saved ... Thus, a judge sentences a criminal, not because he hates the man before him, but because he wishes to reform him, or to protect society, or to do an act of justice ... The evils of punishment or of destruction of sin are, in a broader view, not evils, but goods.
“The following examples of love of one’s enemies are found in the Bible: (a) in the Old Testament, Joseph forgave his brethren who had sold him into Egypt, David spared the life of his persecutor Saul and wept over the ungrateful Absalom, and Moses prayed for the people who had rebelled against him; (b) in the New Testament Our Lord mourned over Jerusalem which had rejected Him, and on the Cross prayed for His enemies.
“What kind of love must we entertain for enemies? (a) A general love of enemies is that which extends to all neighbors for the love of God, no exception being made as regards enemies. (b) A special love of enemies is that which extends to them in particular, not as included in the human race or the community, but as individuals, as when one expressly mentions the name of an enemy in his act of love. This kind of love of enemies is not required at all times ... The principles just given as to internal love of enemies apply also to external love, or to the signs by which internal love is manifested. For St. John says: ‘Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!’ (1 John 3:18).
(a) Hence, it is not lawful to deny to an enemy the common signs of charity (i.e., such benefits as are bestowed on his community or class as a whole), for to do so would be to signify a desire for revenge (Leviticus 19:18). Consequently, he who excludes his enemies from prayers offered for his neighbor sins against charity.
(b) In cases of necessity, as when an enemy is in great need as to life, fame, fortune or salvation, one is bound to show special signs of charity, such as salutation, conversation, assistance, etc. Thus, we are told: ‘If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he be thirsty, give him to drink’ (Proverbs 25:21).
(c) Outside of cases of necessity, one is bound to be ready to assist an enemy, should there be need.
(d) Outside of necessity, one is not bound actually to manifest particular love for an enemy, by speaking to him, trading with him, visiting him, etc.
“In God, mercy is an extension of the love God has towards His own creatures, and is greater than charity: ‘The mercy of God is above all His works’ (Psalm 144:9). The divine law commands mercy, especially in the New Testament. Assistance of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the captives, the slaves and other unfortunates is everywhere insisted on: ‘I will show thee what the Lord requireth of thee: verily to do justice, and to love mercy’ (Micheas 6:8).” (Fr. McHugh, O.P. and Fr. Callan, O.P., Moral Theology ― A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities).
Faith Without Works Is Dead―Love Without Mercy Is Dead
You are no doubt familiar with the Scriptural quote: “Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:20)―it is part of the following passage: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
You could transpose that to apply to Love and Mercy or Charity and Mercy―for as stated above, Mercy comes out of Charity, like works should come forth from Faith: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Charity, but showeth no Mercy? Shall Charity without Mercy be able to save him? … Charity, if it have not Mercy, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Mercy, but I have Charity!’ Show me thy Charity without Mercy; and I will show thee, by Mercy, my Charity! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Charity without Mercy is dead? Do you see that by Mercy a man shows Charity? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Charity without Mercy is dead!”
To one of His mystics, Our Lord revealed: “No soul will enter My paradise without having forgiven at least once ... It is when a soul forgives and is silent that she most resembles My Mother!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 309 & 259). To another, Jesus said: “Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted; It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 40-41). And again, “When I say that you must forgive one another, it is not a duty that I impose on you―can one impose love? It is a joy that I offer you; it is a share in My way of acting, a share in My Spirit!” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 323). “I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 174).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday May 7th & Saturday May 8th
Article 17
The Promises of Our Lady
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday May 7th & Saturday May 8th
Article 17
The Promises of Our Lady
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What’s in a Promise?
Many people (though the number is becoming less and less) pride themselves on keeping their promises―it is considered a measure of one’s worth—we prize being “as good as our word.” Yet everyone has struggled to keep some of the promises they have made. If we are sincere, honest and upright folk, then we are very pained at not being able to keep a promise. Likewise, we usually feel emotional pain when other people fail to keep the promises they made to us.
Promises should not be made and taken lightly. A promise is much like a vow. Promises are solemn avowals or declarations of intent―in big and small matters―that involve a wide range of interpersonal events—from marriage, to specific behavior toward another person, and to the completion of tasks at home or at work. Promises require us to declare a conscious objective: We will love our partner for life! We will never do the thing the other person does not want us to do (or always do the thing they want us to do)! We will get the job done!
Yet sometimes, while we still remain sincere in the promise we made, certain circumstances can occur over time which end up making us break our promise. Oftentimes, there are some commonly accepted reasons as to why the promise is broken―the arrival of an incapacitating disease, or the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, financial losses, moving away from the area, the birth of a child, to list but a few. All of these are things that can affect our ability to keep a promise.
Promises and Vows
The modern Catholic Dictionary makes the following distinctions between a “promise” and a “vow”:
► PROMISE: A declaration telling God, or another person, that one will or will not do something. A promise made to God is equivalent to a vow, and it binds in conscience according to the gravity of the promise and the intention to obligate oneself under pain of sin. Promises made to people must be kept, and they oblige in justice or charity, with more or less seriousness depending on one’s ability to fulfill a promise and the harm caused to another by not keeping one's word.
► VOW: A free, deliberate promise, made to God, to do something that is good and that is more pleasing to God than its omission would be. The one vowing must realize that a special sin is committed by violating the promise. A vow binds under pain of sin (some grave, some slight), according to the intention of the one taking the vow. If one takes a vow with regard to a grave matter, then one is presumed to intend to bind oneself under pain of serious sin. Vows enhance the moral value of human actions on several counts. They unite the soul to God by a new bond of religion, and so the acts included under the vow become also acts of religion. Hence they are more meritorious. By taking a vow, a person surrenders to God the moral freedom of acting otherwise, like the one who, not only gives at times the fruit of the tree, but gives up the tree itself. And vows forestall human weakness, since they do not leave matters to the indecision or a momentary whim. Their very purpose is to invoke divine grace to sustain one’s resolution until the vow expires or, in the case of perpetual vows, even until death. (Etymology: “vow” comes from the Latin verb “vovere”, meaning “to pledge, to promise”).
As Holy Scripture adds: “They shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them!” (Isaias 19:21). “If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath―then he shall not make his word void, but shall fulfill all that he promised” (Numbers 30:3). “When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it―because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin!” (Deuteronomy 23:21). “If thou hast vowed anything to God, defer not to pay it―for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth Him―but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it!” (Ecclesiastes 5:3). “It is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised!” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). “I will pay whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord!” (Jonas 2:10). “Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven!” (Jeremias 44:25).
Vows and Promises in Our Lives
For most persons, the only vows they profess are marriage vows. The word “vow” tends to evoke thoughts of a wedding day more than anything else. Possibly, for most people, the “marriage vows” are perhaps seen to be the pinnacle of all possible promises. Yet there are also religious vows―these vocational vows to the religious life, or priestly life, also carry a lot of weight! Another form of “vows” or “promises” ― forgotten by most ― are the so-called “Baptismal Promises” which are taken during the baptismal ceremony. For infant baptisms, it is the God parents who take the vows on behalf of the child, whereas in an adult baptism the baptismal candidate makes and takes those promises personally. In any case―we should not be forgetting those “Baptismal Promises”, because we renew them at every Paschal Vigil ceremony (Eve of Easter) year after year!
In the secular field, an oath is taken in the court of law to tell the truth: “I swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God!” Additionally, there are a variety of “Oaths of Office” that are taken before commencing public office―we call it “being sworn in”. All federal employees swear the following oath: “I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Abandoning Vows and Promises
Barring certain excusable and unforeseeable circumstances―as listed above―our commitment to our promises and vows shows what kind of a person we really are. It is saddening―not only for us on Earth, but in Heaven too―to see ever increasing numbers of people (Catholics included) who think very little of vows and promises―they make them easily and break them just as easily. This is seen and reflected in the vast numbers of divorces that increase year after year. It is also seen in the large numbers of priests and religious (monks, brothers, nuns, sisters) who left the priesthood and religious life in wake of the Second Vatican Council. In the years after the Council around 100,000 priests left the priesthood worldwide (this number does not include deaths, but solely those who abandoned the priesthood)―which gives an average of around 2,000 per year―remember that the total number of priests was in lower 400,000s! A similar number of religious nuns and sisters also abandoned their vows―with the number being also around 100,000―remember, that number does not include deaths, but only abandoned vows!
The Vows and Promises of Our Lady
Our Lady took vows―she had vowed to remain a virgin for life. The Gospel text recounting the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary contains the biblical evidence and proof that she had made a vow of virginity prior to her conception of the Christ Child. Further, as we consider the historical circumstances of her betrothal to Joseph, it will become quite clear that he also had vowed perpetual continence as the spouse of Our Lady. Furthermore, we read in the universal and emphatic teachings of the Fathers of the Church, that all of them assert that Mary had made a vow of virginity.
Yet despite all that, Our Lady’s resolve is tested by God―His Divine Providence arranges for Mary to be given in marriage to St. Joseph. The initial reaction must have been one of confusion and apprehension―why would God make her break her vow? The Fathers of the Church are of the opinion that very quickly Mary communicated the existence of her vow to Joseph―who had also chosen to remain celibate (even though some are of opinion that Joseph had already fathered a child or children in an earlier marriage, and was at this point a widower, his wife having died).
The Archangel Gabriel brings a disconcerting message from God: “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His Name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High!” (Luke 1:31-32). When Our Lady replies to the Archangel Gabriel’s message that she will conceive and bear a Child, Who will be the Son of God, she asks: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” ― to “know” someone in the language of Holy Scripture, not only means to recognize and know things about people, but also to have sexual relations―as in the case of “Adam knew Eve his wife―who conceived and brought forth Cain” (Genesis 4:1) and “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Henoch” (Genesis 4:17) and “Adam also knew his wife again―and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth” (Genesis 4:25) and “Elcana knew Anna his wife: and Anna conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel” (1 Kings 1:19-20), etc.
Rosary Promises
The Blessed Virgin told Saint Dominic that the Rosary was the weapon to be used for reforming the world. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, explains: It was only in the year 1214 that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensian heretics and other sinners. The story of how he received it is found in the very well‑known book De Dignitate Psalterii, by Blessed Alan de la Roche. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said: “Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the words of the Archangel Gabriel, which form the first part of the Hail Mary], which is the foundation‑stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”
The Fifteen Promises to those who pray the Rosary, were given by Our Lady to Blessed Alanus de Rupe―which is his name in Latin, in the French language it is Alain de la Roche, or in English it would literally mean, Alan of the Rock. He was a 15th-century Dominican preacher who was best known for his efforts to promote the Holy Rosary and share its meaning and power with Catholics everywhere. Since the time of St. Dominic (1170-1221), to whom Our Lady gave the Rosary, there had been a gradual falling-away from praying the Rosary. Alain de la Roche lived during the 1400s―(1428 to 1475)―a time that was permeated by the Albigensian heresy, which caused him to become even more dedicated in his devotion to the Rosary by using it as a means of countering this heresy―Our Lady herself had told his predecessor, St. Dominic, that the Rosary was the weapon to overcome heresy―especially the Albigensian Heresy, centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France between the 12th and 14th centuries. Followers were described as Cathars and also Albigensians.
Here are those 15 Promises!
► ROSARY PROMISE #1 ― Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
The first and foremost promise refers to people who choose to recite the Rosary―not occasionally, but faithfully. This faithfulness will be later rewarded with signal graces. These graces are meant to give people guidance in the sanctification in their lives, as well as protection against threats to their holiness and salvation―and even their physical well-being where necessary. This may be the most important of all the promises because it introduces people to the world of union with Our Lord and Our Lady. St. Louis de Montfort emphatically states that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is through Our Lady.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary can be pursued through the faithful recitation of the Rosary. The recitation of the Rosary could be said to be the “seed of devotion”―which, if persevered in faithfully, will make that “seed of devotion” grow into a “tree of devotion”―much like Our Lord says in the parable of the mustard seed: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Luke 13:31-32). So, too, is the praying of the Rosary merely and only a BEGINNING of a “True Devotion” to Mary―we should not mistake it as being the pinnacle of devotion to Mary―it is only the kindergarten class, or “Lower School” at best―we still need our devotion to pass through “Middle School”, “High School”, “College” or “University”! We can look upon this first promise as the “Title of the Book of Promises”―the remaining promises 14 Promises are like chapter headings in that book and will furnish an explanation of the broad spectrum of these “Signal Graces.”
► ROSARY PROMISE #2 ― I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
As a continuation of the first promise, this second promise reassures people that, while they recite the Rosary, they will receive special protection. This makes those who faithfully pray the Rosary, direct beneficiaries of the Virgin Mary’s role as an advocate for God’s grace and protection. Those who take a piece of their time and dedicate it to reciting the Rosary―especially by meditating on the mysteries (see #6 below)―will be blessed with special care from Virgin Mary, as she will focus and apply her God-given power on those who pray the Rosary. This protection of the planted “seedling of devotion” as it grows into a “tree of devotion”, is again a “Signal Grace” by which the beginnings of a true devotion are fully rewarded. Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God’s Grace to us―Mediatrix of All Grace. Our Lady is simply highlighting that she will watch especially over those who pray the Rosary. A greater, more detailed account on this topic, is available in chapter four of the book, True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort.
► ROSARY PROMISE #3 ― The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against Hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
The third promise goes even deeper when compared to the first. For those who fear death and the place they will be assigned to afterwards; for those who fear they might be governed by vice, sin or struggling with heresies, this promise erases any and all terrifying thoughts by saying that those who pray the Rosary will be protected against all these evil threats. This promise has a root connection with the next one (#4), which promises to pull us away from the dangerous vanities and temptations of the world. This promise, along with the next (#4), is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially by power and excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). Our Lady is reminding us as to why she gave us the Rosary in the first place — to combat falsehood. If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! St. Louis de Montfort states “Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)...” (True Devotion to Mary, #167).
► ROSARY PROMISE #4 ― The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. O that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part―which is to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. This promise is meant to give people the power to carry on with their lives, by receiving the mercy of God for past sins and the graces necessary for future growth in virtue and holiness. Even though men are flawed and attracted by vanities, once they open their eyes and truly see the meaning of the mysteries of the Rosary, they will develop an appetite for sanctification and eternal things―thus rising in virtue.
► ROSARY PROMISE #5 ― The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
In other words, anyone who faithfully seeks Mary’s intercession through the Rosary will be saved from the fires of Hell. That is a mighty promise! Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, she always assists those who call on her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, “... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ...” Those who respect and pray the Rosary will never be left singlehanded. This is the conclusion that people can extract from the fifth promise, which says that whoever recites the Rosary, won’t be forced to beg for help at the last minute to avoid perishing―because they will have been begging for help all their lives in praying the Rosary―especially the words: “Pray for us sinners now and the hour our death!” All those who recite the Rosary will be assisted with Our Lady’s special protection―now and at the hour of their death―and, as any exorcist will tell you, when Our Lady “arrives on the scene” it is all over for the devil!
► ROSARY PROMISE #6 ― Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; and if he be just, then he shall remain in the grace of God and become worthy of eternal life.
This promise has a strong connection with the previous ones. It says that the men who are devoted to reciting the Rosary will be granted with protection against misfortune. They will draw God’s mercy upon them, thus not being overcome and conquered by hard luck, misfortune and tribulations. The promise can also be analyzed in the Sacred Scripture, where the burden is described as lighter for those who go to Christ: “Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you!” (Matthew 11:28). Likewise, if we go to Our Lady by the recitation of the Rosary, we will not fall under our burdens nor be conquered by misfortune.
An unprovided death means dying while not in a state of grace (that is, in dying with unconfessed and/or unrepented mortal sin(s) in the soul). The Blessed Mother promises that anyone who regularly prays the Rosary, and earnestly tries to live according to God’s will, will be spiritually prepared when their time of death comes. This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whoever prays it. One will draw down God’s Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle whatever misfortunes may arise (i.e. carry the crosses allowed by God’s Providence) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us: “For My yoke is sweet and My burden light!” (Matthew 11:30). The promise states that we are to pray it devoutly as she asked, and that we meditate on the mysteries ― without merely flying or racing through it distractedly and praying in sloppy ways.
► ROSARY PROMISE #7 ― Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
In connection to the previous promise, this one states that those devoted to the Rosary will be given the grace and chance to repent, no matter what. Those who pray the Rosary properly, cannot be deprived of salvation, for they will providentially be granted the opportunity to receive the Sacraments of the Church. Regardless of what happens, the ones who recite the Rosary properly, faithfully, sincerely and devotedly, will get the grace of final repentance. Our Blessed Mother promises that the soul will receive sanctifying grace through the Sacraments prior to its departure from the body. This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death, ensures one’s salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance will be made possible.
But remember―the promise speaks of “a true devotion for the Rosary”! If you are not sure what that means―then look around you and see how devoted some people are to their family, or their job, or a hobby, or a sport, etc. Devotion is a way above the average. The word “devotion” comes from the Latin verb “devovere” ― which means “to vow, to promise, to devote, to consecrate, to sacrifice.” The English definition of “devote” is “give all or a large part of one’s time or resources to a person, activity, or cause.”
► ROSARY PROMISE #8 ― Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary, shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
This promise is an echo of previous promises―for it promises help and grace both during life and in death. Not only will those souls be enlightened by God in many ways throughout their lives, but, more importantly, they will receive grace and enlightenment at the hour of death―which is the most important time of all, for, as Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). By praying the Rosary, souls will get the chance to share in and enjoy the life of God, not only during life, but also after death. The death of a person who recites the Rosary will be holy. Our Lady highlights the great quantity of graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. By simply devoting yourself to the promises of the Rosary, you are granted access to a tremendous quantity of graces, including this one―that of enjoying the merits of the saints in paradise. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God’s rewards to those persons who responded to and cooperated with His Grace during life on Earth, and so Our Lady indicates that she will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
► ROSARY PROMISE #9 ― I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
In the likely event of being required to undergo a Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our speedy release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate. Our Lady will fight and intercede for those who prayed the Rosary during their lives. While they suffer and wait in the Purgatory, the Virgin Mary will direct all her efforts towards getting them out of the fires of Purgatory and leading them into the afterlife of holiness and eternal joy.
► ROSARY PROMISE #10 ― The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
Derived from the very first promises, the tenth promise says that those who pray the Rosary will reach a high level of glory and appreciation in Heaven, where they will receive the holiest places. By reciting the Rosary, people draw closer to God on Earth and will consequently also be closer to God in Heaven. The glory mentioned in this promise is a spiritual glory and not a materialistic glory that we tend to imagine on Earth. This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4―since anyone who truly lives a holier life on Earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on Earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven.
► ROSARY PROMISE #11 ― You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
This promise depicts Virgin Mary as the true Mediatrix of the Graces. This promise emphasizes Our Lady’s role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. As St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, writes: “God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness … The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary … It was His will to begin His miracles by Mary. He sanctified St. John in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth, but it was by Mary’s word. At the marriage of Cana He changed the water into wine, but it was at Mary’s humble prayer; and this was His first miracle of nature … God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary (Maria). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, including even His own Son―and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §16-§19; §23-§25).
Those who recite the Rosary will have their wishes granted, as long as they respect God’s will. The spiritual requests that are truly good for the soul and meet the goals of salvation, will be granted by Our Lady when we pray the Rosary. Of course, all requests are subject to God’s Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation.
► ROSARY PROMISE #12 ― All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes her maternal care for us by obtaining many graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (but neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course. Those who promote and propagate reciting the Holy Rosary as a good practice will be aided by Our Lady in all necessities, including material ones. If the requests are made according to the will of God, Virgin Mary will respect them. Everyone who dedicates time to propagating the Holy Rosary is a true example of those who the Holy Mother protects.
In St. Louis de Montfort’s book, The Secret of the Rosary, we read of a “not-so-good” king whose life was spared and extended by Our Lady, because he had propagated her Rosary―but he was warned to use that time well in the performance of penances and the recitation of prayers, especially the Rosary that he had promoted but personally neglected:
“Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, very much wanted all his servants to honor the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary, so he used to hang a large Rosary on his belt, even though he never said it himself. Nevertheless, his wearing it encouraged his courtiers to say the Rosary devoutly. One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in spirit, before the Judgment‑Seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed, and Our Lord was about to condemn him, when Our Lady came forward to speak in his favor. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances, while she put the large Rosary which he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said through his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins. Looking at him with great kindness, Our Lady said: ‘As a reward for the little service you did for me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend those years wisely, and do penance.’ When the King regained consciousness he cried out: ‘Blessed be the Rosary of the most holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!’ After he had recovered his health, he spent the rest of his life in spreading devotion to the Rosary, and said it faithfully every day” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §29).
► ROSARY PROMISE #13 ― I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
Since Our Lady is our Advocate, she brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). Our Lady promises, to those souls who pray the Holy Rosary, protection during both life and death. Moreover, Virgin Mary promises her assistance in having all saints in the Heaven to contribute to their well-being in the afterlife, as they are part of the celestial court.
► ROSARY PROMISE #14 ― All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer, focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. By praying the Holy Rosary, people are made to become part of the history of Jesus Christ’s salvation. Without reciting the Rosary, people stray further away from Our Lord and Our Lady. Through praying, Our Lady increasingly becomes our Holy Mother and Jesus Christ, our Holy Brother.
► ROSARY PROMISE #15 ― Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
What this means is that a commitment to the Rosary is a good sign that the one who prays the Rosary faithfully and devotedly is on the path to Heaven. Yet, once again, take note! The promise speaks of “devotion” to the Rosary, which is more than a mere mechanical distracted grudging recitation of the Rosary. Reciting the Rosary with devotion means that you were predestined to encounter salvation somewhere along your path through life―for not everyone is born with a love of the Rosary. By dedicating your life to the Rosary means that you receive God’s grace both during life and death. Devotion to the Rosary ensures living a life that increasingly draws further and further away from sin, thus bringing people closer to God and sending their souls to the road to salvation. Remember the warning words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). The same could be said of the Rosary with the narrow path being the “devoted souls” who pray sincerely, faithfully and devotedly, and the broad wide gate that leads to destruction being the “lips-but-no-heart Rosary folk”. Just as Our Lord said: ““Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Likewise, Our Lady could say: “Not everyone that saith the Rosary shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that saith the Rosary with devotion shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Predestination, in this context, means that, from the action of faithfully and devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Yet, at the same time, we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). For absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient grace during life, our salvation depends upon our continual and persevering response to and cooperation with God’s grace. To put it another way, if God has guaranteed a person’s salvation, but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and graces obtained through it. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation ― by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that “an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God’s true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady...” (True Devotion to Mary, §30).
All the above Rosary promises are not automatic guarantees, but conditional promises that depend upon you devoting your life to faithfully living up to and meriting those promises. This way, you will gain direction in your life and you will obtain God’s graces to help you act according to His will in everything you do. Those who focus on these words of these promises will find themselves being led closer and closer to God and to a holier life. Our Holy Mother will guide you through anything as long as you pray the Rosary faithfully and devotedly (not mechanically and halfheartedly).
Our Lady’s consoling words to Juan Diego―in summary―were: “Trust in me! I am your Mother! I am your merciful mother―to you and all who love me, invoke and confide in me! I listen to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows ... Nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.” Yet she is also a demanding and a stern Mother―we see this when she says things like “Rigorously I command you! … With sternness I command!…”
Mary’s Apparition Promises
Among her modern-day apparitions―Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador (late 16th & early 17th centuries)―Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, France (1830)―Our Lady of La Salette, France (1846)―Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal (1917)―Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973)―Our Lady has made several promises with regard to what she will do to help us in our present modern-day crisis (singular) or crises (plural). Yet those promises are not guarantees, but only conditional promises that depend upon our cooperation and efforts―for as Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
► QUITO 16th & 17th Centuries: Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador, intermittently from 1594 to 1634. The seer of those apparitions was Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. Here are some extracts of the many things that Our Lady revealed to her: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... It will need heroic souls to sustain it in face of so many public and private calamities … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... To free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss … You should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears … Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times! … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils. No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents! … Commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie!”
Notice that Our Lady promises victory over the world and the devil―but not without our efforts. We are meant to be the “Church Militant on Earth” ― the Fighting Church on Earth. Even though Our Lady promises an eventual victory, she stresses that we must have a “great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God” and that we must “clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears” and “Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times!”
► PARIS 1830: At the convent of the Daughters of Charity, on the Rue du Bac in Paris, France, Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830, and through her Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady said to St. Catherine: “My child, the good God wishes to entrust to you a mission! You will have much to suffer, but you will rise above those sufferings by reflecting that what you do is for the glory of God. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Have confidence, do not be afraid!” Strictly speaking, Heaven does not really need our cooperation to achieve its goals―but, as St. Augustine says: “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Hence Our Lady says: “God wishes to entrust to you a mission!”
St. Catherine Labouré then adds: “There now formed around the Blessed Virgin a frame rather oval in shape on which were written in letters of gold these words: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!’ Then a voice said to me: ‘Have a medal struck upon this model! All those who wear it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces―especially if they wear it round the neck! Those who repeat this prayer with devotion, will be, in a special manner, under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence!’” Again, we see Our Lady promise protection and an abundance of graces―but it is conditional upon the wearing the miraculous medal around the neck and devoutly (not mechanically) saying the short prayer: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!”
► LA SALETTE 1846: Similarly, at La Salette, Our Lady requires our cooperation and efforts to fight the devil and the world which the devil rules: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … The spirits of darkness spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … There is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people! There are no more generous souls! … People think of nothing but amusement! … I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Once again, we see the need for participating in Heaven’s plans. The Church on Earth is called the Church Militant―which literally means the Church Fighting. God could wipe out His and our enemies in an instant, without our participation―but, as St. Augustine says: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” Similarly, God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary could easily destroy their and our enemies without us―but they will not do so without us! We are soldiers of Christ and “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), so, let us “fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12).
► FATIMA 1917: Our Lady also stresses the conditional aspect of her promises at Fatima, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?” Notice that the willingness on our part to bear sufferings, that God will allow and send, has to come first before any reward comes from Heaven. This statement of Our Lady’s “puts the ball in our court” ― basically saying that “we have to take the ball and run with it”! The same conditional aspect is seen when Our Lady further says: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” Notice that “Jesus wants to use you…” to establish devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. The promise of salvation is conditional upon someone embracing that devotion: “I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!”
Our Lady also makes another conditional statement―that is not a guarantee, but dependent upon our cooperation and our efforts: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”
► AKITA 1973: Even though Our Lady of Akita does fleetingly, briefly and implicitly promises her eventual triumph, the “negative promises” far outweigh any “positive promises”―this being obviously due to the fact that sinfulness was spiraling out of control by 1973. Our Lady spends more time promising chastisements than promising victories! She says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Shocking indeed! But―if you pardon the “French”―who the hell cares? There is too much fun to be had! To hell with such “prophets of doom … What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy!” as the Liberal organizer of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII, said in his speech at the opening of the Council in 1962: “We hear certain opinions which disturb Us—opinions expressed by people who, though fired with a commendable zeal for religion, are lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours, in comparison with past ages, is definitely deteriorating … We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand! ... Here we are assembled in this Vatican Basilica at a turning-point in the history of the Church! … Present indications are that the human family is on the threshold of a new era! ... What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy! … For with the opening of this Council a new day is dawning on the Church, bathing her in radiant splendor. It is yet the dawn, but the sun in its rising has already set our hearts aglow. All around is the fragrance of holiness and joy.”
Turn in your grave Pope John XXIII! Yes, the human family certainly is on the threshold of a new era―the era of the New World Order, the Great Reset, the Communist or Totalitarian conquest of the world that you―having read the Third Secret of Fatima―were totally aware of, but chose to dismiss it, along with the three seers―Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco―as seeing “nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world” saying that “We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand!” Yes, turn and toss in your grave Pope John XXIII―for it was your interpretation that was, to use your own words, “lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events!”
Our Lady’s apparition and message at Akita pretty much shot-down the sentimental, wishy-washy, over-optimistic, totally unreal and ‘out-of-step’ with reality statement of Pope John XXIII regarding the “prophets of doom”―for Our Lady herself is not only the “Queen of Prophets” as we say in her litany, but she also the “Queen of Prophets of Doom”! She is the prophetess of doom par excellence―as any reading of her messages in her modern-day apparitions clearly shows. Just like all her other apparitions, at Akita she asks for our cooperation and efforts in order to prevent these “prophecies of doom” from being fulfilled. She implores:
“I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master! The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
The sad thing is―we are not praying the Rosary VERY MUCH! We barely get 5 decades said―and then it is not meditated, but merely said! Oh, well! Looks like we will have to take the “bitter promises” of chastisement before we get to the “sweet promise” of victory! Some people just have to learn the hard way!
Many people (though the number is becoming less and less) pride themselves on keeping their promises―it is considered a measure of one’s worth—we prize being “as good as our word.” Yet everyone has struggled to keep some of the promises they have made. If we are sincere, honest and upright folk, then we are very pained at not being able to keep a promise. Likewise, we usually feel emotional pain when other people fail to keep the promises they made to us.
Promises should not be made and taken lightly. A promise is much like a vow. Promises are solemn avowals or declarations of intent―in big and small matters―that involve a wide range of interpersonal events—from marriage, to specific behavior toward another person, and to the completion of tasks at home or at work. Promises require us to declare a conscious objective: We will love our partner for life! We will never do the thing the other person does not want us to do (or always do the thing they want us to do)! We will get the job done!
Yet sometimes, while we still remain sincere in the promise we made, certain circumstances can occur over time which end up making us break our promise. Oftentimes, there are some commonly accepted reasons as to why the promise is broken―the arrival of an incapacitating disease, or the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, financial losses, moving away from the area, the birth of a child, to list but a few. All of these are things that can affect our ability to keep a promise.
Promises and Vows
The modern Catholic Dictionary makes the following distinctions between a “promise” and a “vow”:
► PROMISE: A declaration telling God, or another person, that one will or will not do something. A promise made to God is equivalent to a vow, and it binds in conscience according to the gravity of the promise and the intention to obligate oneself under pain of sin. Promises made to people must be kept, and they oblige in justice or charity, with more or less seriousness depending on one’s ability to fulfill a promise and the harm caused to another by not keeping one's word.
► VOW: A free, deliberate promise, made to God, to do something that is good and that is more pleasing to God than its omission would be. The one vowing must realize that a special sin is committed by violating the promise. A vow binds under pain of sin (some grave, some slight), according to the intention of the one taking the vow. If one takes a vow with regard to a grave matter, then one is presumed to intend to bind oneself under pain of serious sin. Vows enhance the moral value of human actions on several counts. They unite the soul to God by a new bond of religion, and so the acts included under the vow become also acts of religion. Hence they are more meritorious. By taking a vow, a person surrenders to God the moral freedom of acting otherwise, like the one who, not only gives at times the fruit of the tree, but gives up the tree itself. And vows forestall human weakness, since they do not leave matters to the indecision or a momentary whim. Their very purpose is to invoke divine grace to sustain one’s resolution until the vow expires or, in the case of perpetual vows, even until death. (Etymology: “vow” comes from the Latin verb “vovere”, meaning “to pledge, to promise”).
As Holy Scripture adds: “They shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them!” (Isaias 19:21). “If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath―then he shall not make his word void, but shall fulfill all that he promised” (Numbers 30:3). “When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it―because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin!” (Deuteronomy 23:21). “If thou hast vowed anything to God, defer not to pay it―for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth Him―but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it!” (Ecclesiastes 5:3). “It is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised!” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). “I will pay whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord!” (Jonas 2:10). “Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven!” (Jeremias 44:25).
Vows and Promises in Our Lives
For most persons, the only vows they profess are marriage vows. The word “vow” tends to evoke thoughts of a wedding day more than anything else. Possibly, for most people, the “marriage vows” are perhaps seen to be the pinnacle of all possible promises. Yet there are also religious vows―these vocational vows to the religious life, or priestly life, also carry a lot of weight! Another form of “vows” or “promises” ― forgotten by most ― are the so-called “Baptismal Promises” which are taken during the baptismal ceremony. For infant baptisms, it is the God parents who take the vows on behalf of the child, whereas in an adult baptism the baptismal candidate makes and takes those promises personally. In any case―we should not be forgetting those “Baptismal Promises”, because we renew them at every Paschal Vigil ceremony (Eve of Easter) year after year!
In the secular field, an oath is taken in the court of law to tell the truth: “I swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God!” Additionally, there are a variety of “Oaths of Office” that are taken before commencing public office―we call it “being sworn in”. All federal employees swear the following oath: “I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Abandoning Vows and Promises
Barring certain excusable and unforeseeable circumstances―as listed above―our commitment to our promises and vows shows what kind of a person we really are. It is saddening―not only for us on Earth, but in Heaven too―to see ever increasing numbers of people (Catholics included) who think very little of vows and promises―they make them easily and break them just as easily. This is seen and reflected in the vast numbers of divorces that increase year after year. It is also seen in the large numbers of priests and religious (monks, brothers, nuns, sisters) who left the priesthood and religious life in wake of the Second Vatican Council. In the years after the Council around 100,000 priests left the priesthood worldwide (this number does not include deaths, but solely those who abandoned the priesthood)―which gives an average of around 2,000 per year―remember that the total number of priests was in lower 400,000s! A similar number of religious nuns and sisters also abandoned their vows―with the number being also around 100,000―remember, that number does not include deaths, but only abandoned vows!
The Vows and Promises of Our Lady
Our Lady took vows―she had vowed to remain a virgin for life. The Gospel text recounting the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary contains the biblical evidence and proof that she had made a vow of virginity prior to her conception of the Christ Child. Further, as we consider the historical circumstances of her betrothal to Joseph, it will become quite clear that he also had vowed perpetual continence as the spouse of Our Lady. Furthermore, we read in the universal and emphatic teachings of the Fathers of the Church, that all of them assert that Mary had made a vow of virginity.
Yet despite all that, Our Lady’s resolve is tested by God―His Divine Providence arranges for Mary to be given in marriage to St. Joseph. The initial reaction must have been one of confusion and apprehension―why would God make her break her vow? The Fathers of the Church are of the opinion that very quickly Mary communicated the existence of her vow to Joseph―who had also chosen to remain celibate (even though some are of opinion that Joseph had already fathered a child or children in an earlier marriage, and was at this point a widower, his wife having died).
The Archangel Gabriel brings a disconcerting message from God: “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His Name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High!” (Luke 1:31-32). When Our Lady replies to the Archangel Gabriel’s message that she will conceive and bear a Child, Who will be the Son of God, she asks: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” ― to “know” someone in the language of Holy Scripture, not only means to recognize and know things about people, but also to have sexual relations―as in the case of “Adam knew Eve his wife―who conceived and brought forth Cain” (Genesis 4:1) and “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Henoch” (Genesis 4:17) and “Adam also knew his wife again―and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth” (Genesis 4:25) and “Elcana knew Anna his wife: and Anna conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel” (1 Kings 1:19-20), etc.
Rosary Promises
The Blessed Virgin told Saint Dominic that the Rosary was the weapon to be used for reforming the world. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, explains: It was only in the year 1214 that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensian heretics and other sinners. The story of how he received it is found in the very well‑known book De Dignitate Psalterii, by Blessed Alan de la Roche. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said: “Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the words of the Archangel Gabriel, which form the first part of the Hail Mary], which is the foundation‑stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”
The Fifteen Promises to those who pray the Rosary, were given by Our Lady to Blessed Alanus de Rupe―which is his name in Latin, in the French language it is Alain de la Roche, or in English it would literally mean, Alan of the Rock. He was a 15th-century Dominican preacher who was best known for his efforts to promote the Holy Rosary and share its meaning and power with Catholics everywhere. Since the time of St. Dominic (1170-1221), to whom Our Lady gave the Rosary, there had been a gradual falling-away from praying the Rosary. Alain de la Roche lived during the 1400s―(1428 to 1475)―a time that was permeated by the Albigensian heresy, which caused him to become even more dedicated in his devotion to the Rosary by using it as a means of countering this heresy―Our Lady herself had told his predecessor, St. Dominic, that the Rosary was the weapon to overcome heresy―especially the Albigensian Heresy, centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France between the 12th and 14th centuries. Followers were described as Cathars and also Albigensians.
Here are those 15 Promises!
► ROSARY PROMISE #1 ― Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
The first and foremost promise refers to people who choose to recite the Rosary―not occasionally, but faithfully. This faithfulness will be later rewarded with signal graces. These graces are meant to give people guidance in the sanctification in their lives, as well as protection against threats to their holiness and salvation―and even their physical well-being where necessary. This may be the most important of all the promises because it introduces people to the world of union with Our Lord and Our Lady. St. Louis de Montfort emphatically states that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is through Our Lady.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary can be pursued through the faithful recitation of the Rosary. The recitation of the Rosary could be said to be the “seed of devotion”―which, if persevered in faithfully, will make that “seed of devotion” grow into a “tree of devotion”―much like Our Lord says in the parable of the mustard seed: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Luke 13:31-32). So, too, is the praying of the Rosary merely and only a BEGINNING of a “True Devotion” to Mary―we should not mistake it as being the pinnacle of devotion to Mary―it is only the kindergarten class, or “Lower School” at best―we still need our devotion to pass through “Middle School”, “High School”, “College” or “University”! We can look upon this first promise as the “Title of the Book of Promises”―the remaining promises 14 Promises are like chapter headings in that book and will furnish an explanation of the broad spectrum of these “Signal Graces.”
► ROSARY PROMISE #2 ― I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
As a continuation of the first promise, this second promise reassures people that, while they recite the Rosary, they will receive special protection. This makes those who faithfully pray the Rosary, direct beneficiaries of the Virgin Mary’s role as an advocate for God’s grace and protection. Those who take a piece of their time and dedicate it to reciting the Rosary―especially by meditating on the mysteries (see #6 below)―will be blessed with special care from Virgin Mary, as she will focus and apply her God-given power on those who pray the Rosary. This protection of the planted “seedling of devotion” as it grows into a “tree of devotion”, is again a “Signal Grace” by which the beginnings of a true devotion are fully rewarded. Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God’s Grace to us―Mediatrix of All Grace. Our Lady is simply highlighting that she will watch especially over those who pray the Rosary. A greater, more detailed account on this topic, is available in chapter four of the book, True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort.
► ROSARY PROMISE #3 ― The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against Hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
The third promise goes even deeper when compared to the first. For those who fear death and the place they will be assigned to afterwards; for those who fear they might be governed by vice, sin or struggling with heresies, this promise erases any and all terrifying thoughts by saying that those who pray the Rosary will be protected against all these evil threats. This promise has a root connection with the next one (#4), which promises to pull us away from the dangerous vanities and temptations of the world. This promise, along with the next (#4), is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially by power and excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). Our Lady is reminding us as to why she gave us the Rosary in the first place — to combat falsehood. If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! St. Louis de Montfort states “Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)...” (True Devotion to Mary, #167).
► ROSARY PROMISE #4 ― The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. O that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part―which is to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. This promise is meant to give people the power to carry on with their lives, by receiving the mercy of God for past sins and the graces necessary for future growth in virtue and holiness. Even though men are flawed and attracted by vanities, once they open their eyes and truly see the meaning of the mysteries of the Rosary, they will develop an appetite for sanctification and eternal things―thus rising in virtue.
► ROSARY PROMISE #5 ― The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
In other words, anyone who faithfully seeks Mary’s intercession through the Rosary will be saved from the fires of Hell. That is a mighty promise! Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, she always assists those who call on her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, “... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ...” Those who respect and pray the Rosary will never be left singlehanded. This is the conclusion that people can extract from the fifth promise, which says that whoever recites the Rosary, won’t be forced to beg for help at the last minute to avoid perishing―because they will have been begging for help all their lives in praying the Rosary―especially the words: “Pray for us sinners now and the hour our death!” All those who recite the Rosary will be assisted with Our Lady’s special protection―now and at the hour of their death―and, as any exorcist will tell you, when Our Lady “arrives on the scene” it is all over for the devil!
► ROSARY PROMISE #6 ― Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; and if he be just, then he shall remain in the grace of God and become worthy of eternal life.
This promise has a strong connection with the previous ones. It says that the men who are devoted to reciting the Rosary will be granted with protection against misfortune. They will draw God’s mercy upon them, thus not being overcome and conquered by hard luck, misfortune and tribulations. The promise can also be analyzed in the Sacred Scripture, where the burden is described as lighter for those who go to Christ: “Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you!” (Matthew 11:28). Likewise, if we go to Our Lady by the recitation of the Rosary, we will not fall under our burdens nor be conquered by misfortune.
An unprovided death means dying while not in a state of grace (that is, in dying with unconfessed and/or unrepented mortal sin(s) in the soul). The Blessed Mother promises that anyone who regularly prays the Rosary, and earnestly tries to live according to God’s will, will be spiritually prepared when their time of death comes. This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whoever prays it. One will draw down God’s Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle whatever misfortunes may arise (i.e. carry the crosses allowed by God’s Providence) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us: “For My yoke is sweet and My burden light!” (Matthew 11:30). The promise states that we are to pray it devoutly as she asked, and that we meditate on the mysteries ― without merely flying or racing through it distractedly and praying in sloppy ways.
► ROSARY PROMISE #7 ― Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
In connection to the previous promise, this one states that those devoted to the Rosary will be given the grace and chance to repent, no matter what. Those who pray the Rosary properly, cannot be deprived of salvation, for they will providentially be granted the opportunity to receive the Sacraments of the Church. Regardless of what happens, the ones who recite the Rosary properly, faithfully, sincerely and devotedly, will get the grace of final repentance. Our Blessed Mother promises that the soul will receive sanctifying grace through the Sacraments prior to its departure from the body. This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, the Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death, ensures one’s salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance will be made possible.
But remember―the promise speaks of “a true devotion for the Rosary”! If you are not sure what that means―then look around you and see how devoted some people are to their family, or their job, or a hobby, or a sport, etc. Devotion is a way above the average. The word “devotion” comes from the Latin verb “devovere” ― which means “to vow, to promise, to devote, to consecrate, to sacrifice.” The English definition of “devote” is “give all or a large part of one’s time or resources to a person, activity, or cause.”
► ROSARY PROMISE #8 ― Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary, shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
This promise is an echo of previous promises―for it promises help and grace both during life and in death. Not only will those souls be enlightened by God in many ways throughout their lives, but, more importantly, they will receive grace and enlightenment at the hour of death―which is the most important time of all, for, as Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). By praying the Rosary, souls will get the chance to share in and enjoy the life of God, not only during life, but also after death. The death of a person who recites the Rosary will be holy. Our Lady highlights the great quantity of graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. By simply devoting yourself to the promises of the Rosary, you are granted access to a tremendous quantity of graces, including this one―that of enjoying the merits of the saints in paradise. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God’s rewards to those persons who responded to and cooperated with His Grace during life on Earth, and so Our Lady indicates that she will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
► ROSARY PROMISE #9 ― I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
In the likely event of being required to undergo a Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our speedy release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate. Our Lady will fight and intercede for those who prayed the Rosary during their lives. While they suffer and wait in the Purgatory, the Virgin Mary will direct all her efforts towards getting them out of the fires of Purgatory and leading them into the afterlife of holiness and eternal joy.
► ROSARY PROMISE #10 ― The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
Derived from the very first promises, the tenth promise says that those who pray the Rosary will reach a high level of glory and appreciation in Heaven, where they will receive the holiest places. By reciting the Rosary, people draw closer to God on Earth and will consequently also be closer to God in Heaven. The glory mentioned in this promise is a spiritual glory and not a materialistic glory that we tend to imagine on Earth. This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4―since anyone who truly lives a holier life on Earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on Earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven.
► ROSARY PROMISE #11 ― You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
This promise depicts Virgin Mary as the true Mediatrix of the Graces. This promise emphasizes Our Lady’s role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. As St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, writes: “God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness … The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary … It was His will to begin His miracles by Mary. He sanctified St. John in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth, but it was by Mary’s word. At the marriage of Cana He changed the water into wine, but it was at Mary’s humble prayer; and this was His first miracle of nature … God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary (Maria). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, including even His own Son―and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, §16-§19; §23-§25).
Those who recite the Rosary will have their wishes granted, as long as they respect God’s will. The spiritual requests that are truly good for the soul and meet the goals of salvation, will be granted by Our Lady when we pray the Rosary. Of course, all requests are subject to God’s Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation.
► ROSARY PROMISE #12 ― All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes her maternal care for us by obtaining many graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (but neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course. Those who promote and propagate reciting the Holy Rosary as a good practice will be aided by Our Lady in all necessities, including material ones. If the requests are made according to the will of God, Virgin Mary will respect them. Everyone who dedicates time to propagating the Holy Rosary is a true example of those who the Holy Mother protects.
In St. Louis de Montfort’s book, The Secret of the Rosary, we read of a “not-so-good” king whose life was spared and extended by Our Lady, because he had propagated her Rosary―but he was warned to use that time well in the performance of penances and the recitation of prayers, especially the Rosary that he had promoted but personally neglected:
“Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, very much wanted all his servants to honor the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary, so he used to hang a large Rosary on his belt, even though he never said it himself. Nevertheless, his wearing it encouraged his courtiers to say the Rosary devoutly. One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in spirit, before the Judgment‑Seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed, and Our Lord was about to condemn him, when Our Lady came forward to speak in his favor. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances, while she put the large Rosary which he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said through his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins. Looking at him with great kindness, Our Lady said: ‘As a reward for the little service you did for me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend those years wisely, and do penance.’ When the King regained consciousness he cried out: ‘Blessed be the Rosary of the most holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!’ After he had recovered his health, he spent the rest of his life in spreading devotion to the Rosary, and said it faithfully every day” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §29).
► ROSARY PROMISE #13 ― I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
Since Our Lady is our Advocate, she brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). Our Lady promises, to those souls who pray the Holy Rosary, protection during both life and death. Moreover, Virgin Mary promises her assistance in having all saints in the Heaven to contribute to their well-being in the afterlife, as they are part of the celestial court.
► ROSARY PROMISE #14 ― All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer, focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. By praying the Holy Rosary, people are made to become part of the history of Jesus Christ’s salvation. Without reciting the Rosary, people stray further away from Our Lord and Our Lady. Through praying, Our Lady increasingly becomes our Holy Mother and Jesus Christ, our Holy Brother.
► ROSARY PROMISE #15 ― Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
What this means is that a commitment to the Rosary is a good sign that the one who prays the Rosary faithfully and devotedly is on the path to Heaven. Yet, once again, take note! The promise speaks of “devotion” to the Rosary, which is more than a mere mechanical distracted grudging recitation of the Rosary. Reciting the Rosary with devotion means that you were predestined to encounter salvation somewhere along your path through life―for not everyone is born with a love of the Rosary. By dedicating your life to the Rosary means that you receive God’s grace both during life and death. Devotion to the Rosary ensures living a life that increasingly draws further and further away from sin, thus bringing people closer to God and sending their souls to the road to salvation. Remember the warning words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). The same could be said of the Rosary with the narrow path being the “devoted souls” who pray sincerely, faithfully and devotedly, and the broad wide gate that leads to destruction being the “lips-but-no-heart Rosary folk”. Just as Our Lord said: ““Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Likewise, Our Lady could say: “Not everyone that saith the Rosary shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that saith the Rosary with devotion shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Predestination, in this context, means that, from the action of faithfully and devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Yet, at the same time, we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). For absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient grace during life, our salvation depends upon our continual and persevering response to and cooperation with God’s grace. To put it another way, if God has guaranteed a person’s salvation, but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and graces obtained through it. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation ― by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that “an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God’s true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady...” (True Devotion to Mary, §30).
All the above Rosary promises are not automatic guarantees, but conditional promises that depend upon you devoting your life to faithfully living up to and meriting those promises. This way, you will gain direction in your life and you will obtain God’s graces to help you act according to His will in everything you do. Those who focus on these words of these promises will find themselves being led closer and closer to God and to a holier life. Our Holy Mother will guide you through anything as long as you pray the Rosary faithfully and devotedly (not mechanically and halfheartedly).
Our Lady’s consoling words to Juan Diego―in summary―were: “Trust in me! I am your Mother! I am your merciful mother―to you and all who love me, invoke and confide in me! I listen to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows ... Nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.” Yet she is also a demanding and a stern Mother―we see this when she says things like “Rigorously I command you! … With sternness I command!…”
Mary’s Apparition Promises
Among her modern-day apparitions―Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador (late 16th & early 17th centuries)―Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, France (1830)―Our Lady of La Salette, France (1846)―Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal (1917)―Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973)―Our Lady has made several promises with regard to what she will do to help us in our present modern-day crisis (singular) or crises (plural). Yet those promises are not guarantees, but only conditional promises that depend upon our cooperation and efforts―for as Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8) … “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly!” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
► QUITO 16th & 17th Centuries: Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador, intermittently from 1594 to 1634. The seer of those apparitions was Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. Here are some extracts of the many things that Our Lady revealed to her: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... It will need heroic souls to sustain it in face of so many public and private calamities … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... To free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss … You should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears … Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times! … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils. No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents! … Commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie!”
Notice that Our Lady promises victory over the world and the devil―but not without our efforts. We are meant to be the “Church Militant on Earth” ― the Fighting Church on Earth. Even though Our Lady promises an eventual victory, she stresses that we must have a “great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God” and that we must “clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears” and “Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times!”
► PARIS 1830: At the convent of the Daughters of Charity, on the Rue du Bac in Paris, France, Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830, and through her Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady said to St. Catherine: “My child, the good God wishes to entrust to you a mission! You will have much to suffer, but you will rise above those sufferings by reflecting that what you do is for the glory of God. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Have confidence, do not be afraid!” Strictly speaking, Heaven does not really need our cooperation to achieve its goals―but, as St. Augustine says: “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Hence Our Lady says: “God wishes to entrust to you a mission!”
St. Catherine Labouré then adds: “There now formed around the Blessed Virgin a frame rather oval in shape on which were written in letters of gold these words: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!’ Then a voice said to me: ‘Have a medal struck upon this model! All those who wear it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces―especially if they wear it round the neck! Those who repeat this prayer with devotion, will be, in a special manner, under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence!’” Again, we see Our Lady promise protection and an abundance of graces―but it is conditional upon the wearing the miraculous medal around the neck and devoutly (not mechanically) saying the short prayer: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!”
► LA SALETTE 1846: Similarly, at La Salette, Our Lady requires our cooperation and efforts to fight the devil and the world which the devil rules: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … The spirits of darkness spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … There is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people! There are no more generous souls! … People think of nothing but amusement! … I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Once again, we see the need for participating in Heaven’s plans. The Church on Earth is called the Church Militant―which literally means the Church Fighting. God could wipe out His and our enemies in an instant, without our participation―but, as St. Augustine says: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” Similarly, God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary could easily destroy their and our enemies without us―but they will not do so without us! We are soldiers of Christ and “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1), so, let us “fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12).
► FATIMA 1917: Our Lady also stresses the conditional aspect of her promises at Fatima, saying: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?” Notice that the willingness on our part to bear sufferings, that God will allow and send, has to come first before any reward comes from Heaven. This statement of Our Lady’s “puts the ball in our court” ― basically saying that “we have to take the ball and run with it”! The same conditional aspect is seen when Our Lady further says: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” Notice that “Jesus wants to use you…” to establish devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. The promise of salvation is conditional upon someone embracing that devotion: “I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!”
Our Lady also makes another conditional statement―that is not a guarantee, but dependent upon our cooperation and our efforts: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”
► AKITA 1973: Even though Our Lady of Akita does fleetingly, briefly and implicitly promises her eventual triumph, the “negative promises” far outweigh any “positive promises”―this being obviously due to the fact that sinfulness was spiraling out of control by 1973. Our Lady spends more time promising chastisements than promising victories! She says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Shocking indeed! But―if you pardon the “French”―who the hell cares? There is too much fun to be had! To hell with such “prophets of doom … What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy!” as the Liberal organizer of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII, said in his speech at the opening of the Council in 1962: “We hear certain opinions which disturb Us—opinions expressed by people who, though fired with a commendable zeal for religion, are lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours, in comparison with past ages, is definitely deteriorating … We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand! ... Here we are assembled in this Vatican Basilica at a turning-point in the history of the Church! … Present indications are that the human family is on the threshold of a new era! ... What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy! … For with the opening of this Council a new day is dawning on the Church, bathing her in radiant splendor. It is yet the dawn, but the sun in its rising has already set our hearts aglow. All around is the fragrance of holiness and joy.”
Turn in your grave Pope John XXIII! Yes, the human family certainly is on the threshold of a new era―the era of the New World Order, the Great Reset, the Communist or Totalitarian conquest of the world that you―having read the Third Secret of Fatima―were totally aware of, but chose to dismiss it, along with the three seers―Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco―as seeing “nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world” saying that “We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand!” Yes, turn and toss in your grave Pope John XXIII―for it was your interpretation that was, to use your own words, “lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events!”
Our Lady’s apparition and message at Akita pretty much shot-down the sentimental, wishy-washy, over-optimistic, totally unreal and ‘out-of-step’ with reality statement of Pope John XXIII regarding the “prophets of doom”―for Our Lady herself is not only the “Queen of Prophets” as we say in her litany, but she also the “Queen of Prophets of Doom”! She is the prophetess of doom par excellence―as any reading of her messages in her modern-day apparitions clearly shows. Just like all her other apparitions, at Akita she asks for our cooperation and efforts in order to prevent these “prophecies of doom” from being fulfilled. She implores:
“I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master! The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
The sad thing is―we are not praying the Rosary VERY MUCH! We barely get 5 decades said―and then it is not meditated, but merely said! Oh, well! Looks like we will have to take the “bitter promises” of chastisement before we get to the “sweet promise” of victory! Some people just have to learn the hard way!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday May 5th & Thursday May 6th
Article 16
Are You Fighting For Mary?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday May 5th & Thursday May 6th
Article 16
Are You Fighting For Mary?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Our Lord Came to Start a Fight!
In the Prayers of the Legion of Mary, which are said daily by the Legionaries and at every Legion of Mary Meeting, the very opening line, after making the Sign of the Cross, is: “Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!” This mention of “fire” and “kindling” immediately brings to mind the words of Our Lord which show that He was no pacifist with world, but came to start a fight:
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
We Are Meant to be Fighters!
Sure―when we received the Sacrament of Baptism, we became the adopted “children of God”―a “chosen person” among the “Chosen People” who are the other baptized members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Yet that “childhood” was not meant to last forever―we soon graduated into the “army of God” by being made “Soldiers of Christ” by the Sacrament of Confirmation―where we received a slap on the cheek to remind us of the fights we would have to undergo.
In case the occasion slipped out of our memory, there are certain passages of Holy Scripture that remind of our soldierly promotion and call to the fight: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Lord will fight for you!” (Exodus 14:14). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord God, Who is your Leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7). “After a hard fight, by the help of God, they got the victory!” (2 Machabees 12:11).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Unfortunately, we have become mere “toy soldiers”, or “couch-potato” soldiers, or “armchair soldiers” ― we play at being soldiers, we talk a good fight, but usually we end up fighting each other rather than the enemy. Of us Holy Scripture says: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4). Instead, “they agreed not among themselves” (Acts 28:25). “They have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another!” (4 Kings 3:23). “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand! And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24-25). Like a filthy tsunami, sin has burst through the decayed sea wall and has surrounded us―but we do very little or nothing to “clean-up” the world. “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house!” (Matthew 5:13-15).
“What can I do?” you say, “What good is one person against the whole world?” If everyone has such a defeatist attitude, then nothing will be done! Yet that is not an excuse―at your Final Judgment, God will not judge you upon what success you had, but upon what efforts you made! Too many people make the mistake of thinking that this current crisis―in the world and also in the Church―can only, will only, and must only be tackled with human, physical, material, and electronic means. This problem is beyond a human problem―it is a Satanic problem―and Our Lord has said that Satan “is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20) … “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). That same message has been conveyed to us repeatedly by Our Lady in her modern-day apparitions―just one quote from many sums it all up: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … [and therefore] … People will think of nothing but amusement! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... Unbridled luxury will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette). All of which brings to mind Our Lord’s warning: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Is Our Lady a Fighter?
In Holy Scripture we have the verse that the Church has applied to Our Lady: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” (Canticles 6:9) ― in case you did not know, “set in array” means armed for battle, “set in battle array”. The Marian lay organization, The Legion of Mary, includes that same verse as part of its daily Legion of Mary prayers for its members. It is given the place of an antiphon that immediately precedes and follows (hence sandwiches) the Magnificat: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?”
Even before Our Lady was conceived and born, God predestined her to fight the perpetual battle with Satan. It was after the Original Sin of Adam and Eve that “the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing … I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Within 40 days of giving birth to Our Lord, the sword of battle enters her life through the prophecy of St. Simeon at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. She is told: “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His Mother: ‘Behold this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted! And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed!’” (Luke 2:34-35).
We see, as a consequence, the swords of sorrow that pierced Our Lady’s soul of which Holy Mother Church has chosen merely Seven Sorrows to form part of the devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary. Wars, battles, fights are sorrows that have to be fought in order to obtain peace. There will be no true and lasting peace in this world until we reach the eternal rest of Heaven.
Our Lady was not exempt from the general rule, truth and principle that is stated in Holy Scripture: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). She would have to fight the devil, the world and the flesh: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12) ― and of her fight against the devil, sin and temptation, God had prophesied: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Our Lady Seeks Warriors for Her Army
Let’s face it―fighting means pain! To fight means carrying burdens and suffering! This is exactly what Our Lord required: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Our Lady recruits both young and old! At Fatima, she “signed-up” a ten-year-old, a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old. Her “recruiting pitch” was pretty blunt and honest: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Our Lady had already revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda that: “There are many who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh! Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that flee from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said that Our Lady had revealed to her that “the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady needs spiritual warriors who will fight for the Faith with the Faith―as she explained at La Salette: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady echoes this call to arms at Akita, Japan, in 1973: “I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary!”
Is Our Lady Worth Fighting For?
Aside from the Persons of the Holy Trinity, there is no greater “general” than Our Lady. Today’s exorcists will tell you that when Our Lady arrives on the scene of the exorcism, then it is all over for the devil. St. Louis de Montfort gives an account of an exorcism wherein the devils were made to reveal things about Our Lady―here is that account as given in St. Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary:
When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people. The devils, who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said that there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man; they also said that by the Rosary which St. Dominic preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary. St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men.
At this they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer. The devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way, but St. Dominic was not in the least moved, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer in such a way that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders. So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.” St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, “Answer my servant Dominic at once!”
Then the devils started screaming: “Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction! Why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin! Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness!
“Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants.
“Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §104 to §104).
Powerful Echo of the Saints
The above truths are echoed by many saints. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation. Here is just a small selection of quotes referring to her power in leading us through the battle of life to salvation:
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Who Will Save The Church?
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen asked the question: “Who is going to save our Church? It is not our bishops, it is not our priests and it is not the religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that the priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious.” Why would he even say that? Well, because Our Lady had already foretold that! In her various modern-day apparitions she warned:
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities …
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church, in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ...
“The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity.
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” But the monasteries and convents are dwindling as the vocations dwindle! So what now?
Keeping Your Head Screwed-On During the Fight
You have to keep a level head and sound theology with all this talk of “The laity will save the Church!” Some careful distinctions have to be made to avoid falling into the democratic error that Satan would love us to fall into―a spirit of independence, which is essentially the spirit of Satan. Regardless of what Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, the truth remains that without Our Lord and His Grace we cannot do anything: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Our Lord goes on to add: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches―he that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
The consequence of this is, as the Church teaches, we have to be in a state of sanctifying grace in order to be fruitful. Any ‘good’ that we do while in a state of mortal sin, will receive no supernatural and eternal reward―it might milk the applause and praises of men, but after this life, we will have nothing to show for it. Likewise with our prayers―if we are in a state of mortal sin, then our prayers for others―whether for family, relatives, friends, benefactors, or anyone else, even for the conversion of other sinners―all those prayers will not be heard or answered, God will simply make those rebound and fall back upon ourselves for the purpose of bringing about our own conversion from mortal sin and a return to God and sanctifying grace.
Unfortunately, most Catholics today are in a state of habitual mortal sin―because 80% no longer fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance obligation that binds them under pain of mortal sin, plus a multitude of other mortal sins that are so prevalent today, such as impurity in thought, word or action, which Our Lady of Fatima revealed is the most common kind of sin that damns so many (and that was back in 1917!!! ― with no TV and internet). Furthermore, take into account that anywhere from 50% to 80% of Catholics accept and believe in abortion, contraception, divorce, cohabitation, same-sex marriages and same-sex relations, immodesty, pornography, drug use, drunkenness, etc. Then add to that sorry state the fact that St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion that most Catholics who even went to Confession―today that is a tiny minority―most of them, he said, made bad confessions for one reason or another! So with the vast majority of Catholics living habitually in a state of mortal sin, how on earth is the laity going to save the Church? It requires a massive turnaround in the religious beliefs, practices and spirituality of those Catholics for that to happen!
Before getting carried away with the idea that the laity will come―like the U.S. Cavalry―galloping to the rescue of a Church huddling behind its circle of wagons, do not forget that there is supposed to be a “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”―of which Our Lady has said that when all will seem paralyzed and lost, she, in a miraculous way, will conquer Satan and restore a Christian order to the world, of a kind that will surpass the holiness of all previous centuries. “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed” (Our Lady of Good Success). “People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (La Salette) … “You should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe!” (Our Lady of Good Success). “This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration! … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss! Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Just as there is a hierarchy in Heaven, and also a hierarchy in the Church, so too will there be a hierarchy in the battle to save the Church. Yet no soldier will be of any use―in fact, they will be useless―unless they are in a state of sanctifying grace. Sadly, there are very few soldiers of Christ and His Mother who are in the state of grace today―and those who are in a state of grace, are not fighting according to the instructions and tactics being issued from up above―in Heaven! Everyone seems to be “doing their own thing” and disregarding the tactics coming from God, through Our Lady.
Know Your Place!
Just as there is a hierarchy in Heaven, and also a hierarchy in the Church, so too will there be a hierarchy in the battle to save the Church. Yet no soldier will be of any use―in fact, they will be useless―unless they are in a state of sanctifying grace. Sadly, there are very few soldiers of Christ and His Mother who are in the state of grace today―and those who are in a state of grace, are not fighting according to the instructions and tactics being issued from up above―in Heaven! Everyone seems to be “doing their own thing” and disregarding the tactics coming from God, through Our Lady. This why Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
Use the Right Weapons!
We are ignoring some fundamental conditions that must be fulfilled in order to obtain Divine intervention in our pitiful plight today. Two of those conditions involve (1) a devotion to Mary, and (2) the praying of many Rosaries. As for devotion, Our Lady says: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! (Our Lady of Fatima, June & July 1917). As for the Rosaries, Our Lady adds: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Similarly, Our Lady could easily triumph without you―but it has been decided by God that she will not triumph without your cooperation and your efforts, no matter how insignificant they be when placed next to her efforts. As she herself has said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) and “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Mary Already Has an Army!
As they say, “Why re-invent the wheel?” There already is a worldwide Marian Army that providentially came into existence 100 years ago, on September 7th, 1921. It is The Legion of Mary or Legio Mariae. You can read more about it by clicking on this link [Legion of Mary]. We will not go into any depth on the Legion―as you can read about the history of the Legion of Mary by following the link. The Legion of Mary embodies all that has been mentioned above―devotion to Our Lady, the Rosary, and works of Catholic Action. Briefly, the Legion of Mary is basically divided into two groups―the Active Members and the Auxiliary Members. These can loosely be compared to the Active Religious Orders that went out among the people, and the Contemplative Religious Orders that remained cloistered within the walls of the convent or monastery. The Active Orders would be supported by the intense prayers and sacrifices of the Cloistered Contemplative Religious Orders. Likewise, in the Legion of Mary, the Active Members receive the support of the graces earned by the Auxiliary Members―one fires the bullets, the other makes the bullets, so to speak.
It is worth noting the fighting spirit that shines forth from one of the Legion prayers that members say daily. The daily Legion prayer leaflet is called the Tessera―and is issued to every member―both Active and Auxiliary. In Latin, “tessera” had the particular meaning of a tally or token which was distributed amongst friends, in order that they, or their descendants, might always recognize each other. As a military expression, it signified the square tablet upon which the watchword was written and circulated through the Roman Legion. The Legion of Mary applies the word “Tessera” to the three groupings of prayers that the Legionary will pray daily―the Opening Prayers, the Catena Legionis, and the Concluding Prayers. The middle grouping of prayers, the Catena Legionis, is composed principally of the Magnificat and an unchanging antiphon, which sets a military tone and encourages the soul for the fight. It reads: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?”
The concluding prayers include the following extracts: “Confer, O Lord, on us, who serve beneath the standard of Mary, that fullness of faith in Thee and trust in her, to which it is given to conquer the world. Grant us a lively faith, animated by charity, which will enable us to perform all our actions from the motive of pure love of Thee, and ever to see Thee and serve Thee in our neighbor! A Faith, firm and immovable as a rock―through which we shall rest tranquil and steadfast amid the crosses, toils and disappointments of life! A courageous Faith―which will inspire us to undertake and carry out, without hesitation, great things for God and for the salvation of souls! A Faith which will be our Legion’s Pillar of Fire—to lead us forth united—to kindle everywhere the fires of Divine Love—to enlighten those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death—to inflame those who are lukewarm—to bring back life to those who are dead in sin; and which will guide our own feet in the Way of Peace; so that—the battle of life over—our Legion may reassemble, without the loss of any one, in the Kingdom of Thy Love and Glory.”
Such a prayer, if said daily with sincerity and devotion, cannot fail to draw from Heaven the graces that are being asked for! Sadly, however, much of the modern-day Legion of Mary has lost the “fire in the belly” and a “belly for the fight”―which is true of most Catholics! Yet, in its hey-day, it was seen to produce marvelous fruits in a wide variety of Catholic Action works. You could say that it is like a “sleeping giant” awaiting its awakening and to be put to use as a “lay army” in the hands of the Church. Read the section The Legion in China [click here] and you will see what such an army can do in face of Communism and Totalitarianism!
A Fighting Spirit for the Spiritual Fight
Holy Scripture tries to instill in our hearts a zeal for the spiritual warfare we all must undergo for our own salvation and also the defense and promotion of the Faith: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). In 1619, Our Lord said to Mother Mariana (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) “In all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world!” Our Lord then added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!” To that rebuke of Our Lord, you could also add the rebuking words of Moses to those who did not want to fight: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6).
Our Lady of Victory and the Weapon of Victory
Our Lady has pointed the way to victory―it remains for us to walk down that path. St. Louis de Montfort writes:
“In the very well‑known book, De Dignitate Psalterii, by Blessed Alan de la Roche, we read that Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said: ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’
“‘Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, ‘you know far better than I do, because, next to your Son Jesus Christ, you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.’
“Then Our Lady replied: ‘I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Rosary], which is the foundation‑stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter! [the Rosary]’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §11).
St. Louis de Montfort goes on to speak of our weapons for the fight: “This life is a continual war and a series of temptations; we do not have to contend with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the very powers of Hell. What better weapon could we possibly use to combat them than the prayer which our great Leader has taught us, than the Angelic Salutation which has put the devils to flight, destroyed sin and renewed the world? What better weapon could we use than meditation on the life and passion of Jesus Christ? For, as Saint Peter tells us, it is with this thought that we must arm ourselves, in order to defend ourselves against the very same enemies whom he has conquered and who molest us every day.
“Cardinal Hugues says: ‘Ever since the devil was crushed by the humility and the passion of Jesus Christ, he has been practically unable to attack a soul that is armed with meditation on the mysteries of Our Lord’s life, and, if he does trouble such a soul, he is sure to be shamefully defeated. Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’
“So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.
“Blessed Alan de la Roche relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, §84 to §86).
We all know the message! We all carry the weapon around with us! Yet, as with any weapon, it is only as good as the person using it! One person might shoot the enemy with the rifle, another might shoot himself in the foot with the same rifle! The time has come to take very seriously our obligation received in the Sacrament of Confirmation to be soldiers for Christ! Are we fighting for the Faith, or are we fighting among ourselves, or fighting for the last beer in the fridge?
In the Prayers of the Legion of Mary, which are said daily by the Legionaries and at every Legion of Mary Meeting, the very opening line, after making the Sign of the Cross, is: “Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!” This mention of “fire” and “kindling” immediately brings to mind the words of Our Lord which show that He was no pacifist with world, but came to start a fight:
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
We Are Meant to be Fighters!
Sure―when we received the Sacrament of Baptism, we became the adopted “children of God”―a “chosen person” among the “Chosen People” who are the other baptized members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Yet that “childhood” was not meant to last forever―we soon graduated into the “army of God” by being made “Soldiers of Christ” by the Sacrament of Confirmation―where we received a slap on the cheek to remind us of the fights we would have to undergo.
In case the occasion slipped out of our memory, there are certain passages of Holy Scripture that remind of our soldierly promotion and call to the fight: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). “The Lord will fight for you!” (Exodus 14:14). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord God, Who is your Leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7). “After a hard fight, by the help of God, they got the victory!” (2 Machabees 12:11).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ... Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Unfortunately, we have become mere “toy soldiers”, or “couch-potato” soldiers, or “armchair soldiers” ― we play at being soldiers, we talk a good fight, but usually we end up fighting each other rather than the enemy. Of us Holy Scripture says: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” ― and all the other true enemies of God (Hebrews 12:4). Instead, “they agreed not among themselves” (Acts 28:25). “They have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another!” (4 Kings 3:23). “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand! And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24-25). Like a filthy tsunami, sin has burst through the decayed sea wall and has surrounded us―but we do very little or nothing to “clean-up” the world. “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house!” (Matthew 5:13-15).
“What can I do?” you say, “What good is one person against the whole world?” If everyone has such a defeatist attitude, then nothing will be done! Yet that is not an excuse―at your Final Judgment, God will not judge you upon what success you had, but upon what efforts you made! Too many people make the mistake of thinking that this current crisis―in the world and also in the Church―can only, will only, and must only be tackled with human, physical, material, and electronic means. This problem is beyond a human problem―it is a Satanic problem―and Our Lord has said that Satan “is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20) … “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). That same message has been conveyed to us repeatedly by Our Lady in her modern-day apparitions―just one quote from many sums it all up: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … [and therefore] … People will think of nothing but amusement! … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... Unbridled luxury will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette). All of which brings to mind Our Lord’s warning: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Is Our Lady a Fighter?
In Holy Scripture we have the verse that the Church has applied to Our Lady: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” (Canticles 6:9) ― in case you did not know, “set in array” means armed for battle, “set in battle array”. The Marian lay organization, The Legion of Mary, includes that same verse as part of its daily Legion of Mary prayers for its members. It is given the place of an antiphon that immediately precedes and follows (hence sandwiches) the Magnificat: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?”
Even before Our Lady was conceived and born, God predestined her to fight the perpetual battle with Satan. It was after the Original Sin of Adam and Eve that “the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing … I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Within 40 days of giving birth to Our Lord, the sword of battle enters her life through the prophecy of St. Simeon at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. She is told: “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His Mother: ‘Behold this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted! And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed!’” (Luke 2:34-35).
We see, as a consequence, the swords of sorrow that pierced Our Lady’s soul of which Holy Mother Church has chosen merely Seven Sorrows to form part of the devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary. Wars, battles, fights are sorrows that have to be fought in order to obtain peace. There will be no true and lasting peace in this world until we reach the eternal rest of Heaven.
Our Lady was not exempt from the general rule, truth and principle that is stated in Holy Scripture: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). She would have to fight the devil, the world and the flesh: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12) ― and of her fight against the devil, sin and temptation, God had prophesied: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed! She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:14-15).
Our Lady Seeks Warriors for Her Army
Let’s face it―fighting means pain! To fight means carrying burdens and suffering! This is exactly what Our Lord required: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Our Lady recruits both young and old! At Fatima, she “signed-up” a ten-year-old, a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old. Her “recruiting pitch” was pretty blunt and honest: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Our Lady had already revealed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda that: “There are many who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh! Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If you wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that flee from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said that Our Lady had revealed to her that “the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady needs spiritual warriors who will fight for the Faith with the Faith―as she explained at La Salette: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady echoes this call to arms at Akita, Japan, in 1973: “I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary!”
Is Our Lady Worth Fighting For?
Aside from the Persons of the Holy Trinity, there is no greater “general” than Our Lady. Today’s exorcists will tell you that when Our Lady arrives on the scene of the exorcism, then it is all over for the devil. St. Louis de Montfort gives an account of an exorcism wherein the devils were made to reveal things about Our Lady―here is that account as given in St. Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary:
When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people. The devils, who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said that there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man; they also said that by the Rosary which St. Dominic preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary. St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men.
At this they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer. The devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way, but St. Dominic was not in the least moved, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer in such a way that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders. So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.” St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, “Answer my servant Dominic at once!”
Then the devils started screaming: “Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction! Why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin! Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness!
“Then listen, you Christians! This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants.
“Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §104 to §104).
Powerful Echo of the Saints
The above truths are echoed by many saints. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation. Here is just a small selection of quotes referring to her power in leading us through the battle of life to salvation:
St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Who Will Save The Church?
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen asked the question: “Who is going to save our Church? It is not our bishops, it is not our priests and it is not the religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that the priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious.” Why would he even say that? Well, because Our Lady had already foretold that! In her various modern-day apparitions she warned:
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities …
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church, in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ...
“The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity.
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” But the monasteries and convents are dwindling as the vocations dwindle! So what now?
Keeping Your Head Screwed-On During the Fight
You have to keep a level head and sound theology with all this talk of “The laity will save the Church!” Some careful distinctions have to be made to avoid falling into the democratic error that Satan would love us to fall into―a spirit of independence, which is essentially the spirit of Satan. Regardless of what Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, the truth remains that without Our Lord and His Grace we cannot do anything: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Our Lord goes on to add: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away: and every one that bears fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches―he that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
The consequence of this is, as the Church teaches, we have to be in a state of sanctifying grace in order to be fruitful. Any ‘good’ that we do while in a state of mortal sin, will receive no supernatural and eternal reward―it might milk the applause and praises of men, but after this life, we will have nothing to show for it. Likewise with our prayers―if we are in a state of mortal sin, then our prayers for others―whether for family, relatives, friends, benefactors, or anyone else, even for the conversion of other sinners―all those prayers will not be heard or answered, God will simply make those rebound and fall back upon ourselves for the purpose of bringing about our own conversion from mortal sin and a return to God and sanctifying grace.
Unfortunately, most Catholics today are in a state of habitual mortal sin―because 80% no longer fulfill their Sunday Mass attendance obligation that binds them under pain of mortal sin, plus a multitude of other mortal sins that are so prevalent today, such as impurity in thought, word or action, which Our Lady of Fatima revealed is the most common kind of sin that damns so many (and that was back in 1917!!! ― with no TV and internet). Furthermore, take into account that anywhere from 50% to 80% of Catholics accept and believe in abortion, contraception, divorce, cohabitation, same-sex marriages and same-sex relations, immodesty, pornography, drug use, drunkenness, etc. Then add to that sorry state the fact that St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion that most Catholics who even went to Confession―today that is a tiny minority―most of them, he said, made bad confessions for one reason or another! So with the vast majority of Catholics living habitually in a state of mortal sin, how on earth is the laity going to save the Church? It requires a massive turnaround in the religious beliefs, practices and spirituality of those Catholics for that to happen!
Before getting carried away with the idea that the laity will come―like the U.S. Cavalry―galloping to the rescue of a Church huddling behind its circle of wagons, do not forget that there is supposed to be a “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”―of which Our Lady has said that when all will seem paralyzed and lost, she, in a miraculous way, will conquer Satan and restore a Christian order to the world, of a kind that will surpass the holiness of all previous centuries. “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed” (Our Lady of Good Success). “People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (La Salette) … “You should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe!” (Our Lady of Good Success). “This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration! … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss! Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Just as there is a hierarchy in Heaven, and also a hierarchy in the Church, so too will there be a hierarchy in the battle to save the Church. Yet no soldier will be of any use―in fact, they will be useless―unless they are in a state of sanctifying grace. Sadly, there are very few soldiers of Christ and His Mother who are in the state of grace today―and those who are in a state of grace, are not fighting according to the instructions and tactics being issued from up above―in Heaven! Everyone seems to be “doing their own thing” and disregarding the tactics coming from God, through Our Lady.
Know Your Place!
Just as there is a hierarchy in Heaven, and also a hierarchy in the Church, so too will there be a hierarchy in the battle to save the Church. Yet no soldier will be of any use―in fact, they will be useless―unless they are in a state of sanctifying grace. Sadly, there are very few soldiers of Christ and His Mother who are in the state of grace today―and those who are in a state of grace, are not fighting according to the instructions and tactics being issued from up above―in Heaven! Everyone seems to be “doing their own thing” and disregarding the tactics coming from God, through Our Lady. This why Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
Use the Right Weapons!
We are ignoring some fundamental conditions that must be fulfilled in order to obtain Divine intervention in our pitiful plight today. Two of those conditions involve (1) a devotion to Mary, and (2) the praying of many Rosaries. As for devotion, Our Lady says: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! (Our Lady of Fatima, June & July 1917). As for the Rosaries, Our Lady adds: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation. Similarly, Our Lady could easily triumph without you―but it has been decided by God that she will not triumph without your cooperation and your efforts, no matter how insignificant they be when placed next to her efforts. As she herself has said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) and “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Mary Already Has an Army!
As they say, “Why re-invent the wheel?” There already is a worldwide Marian Army that providentially came into existence 100 years ago, on September 7th, 1921. It is The Legion of Mary or Legio Mariae. You can read more about it by clicking on this link [Legion of Mary]. We will not go into any depth on the Legion―as you can read about the history of the Legion of Mary by following the link. The Legion of Mary embodies all that has been mentioned above―devotion to Our Lady, the Rosary, and works of Catholic Action. Briefly, the Legion of Mary is basically divided into two groups―the Active Members and the Auxiliary Members. These can loosely be compared to the Active Religious Orders that went out among the people, and the Contemplative Religious Orders that remained cloistered within the walls of the convent or monastery. The Active Orders would be supported by the intense prayers and sacrifices of the Cloistered Contemplative Religious Orders. Likewise, in the Legion of Mary, the Active Members receive the support of the graces earned by the Auxiliary Members―one fires the bullets, the other makes the bullets, so to speak.
It is worth noting the fighting spirit that shines forth from one of the Legion prayers that members say daily. The daily Legion prayer leaflet is called the Tessera―and is issued to every member―both Active and Auxiliary. In Latin, “tessera” had the particular meaning of a tally or token which was distributed amongst friends, in order that they, or their descendants, might always recognize each other. As a military expression, it signified the square tablet upon which the watchword was written and circulated through the Roman Legion. The Legion of Mary applies the word “Tessera” to the three groupings of prayers that the Legionary will pray daily―the Opening Prayers, the Catena Legionis, and the Concluding Prayers. The middle grouping of prayers, the Catena Legionis, is composed principally of the Magnificat and an unchanging antiphon, which sets a military tone and encourages the soul for the fight. It reads: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?”
The concluding prayers include the following extracts: “Confer, O Lord, on us, who serve beneath the standard of Mary, that fullness of faith in Thee and trust in her, to which it is given to conquer the world. Grant us a lively faith, animated by charity, which will enable us to perform all our actions from the motive of pure love of Thee, and ever to see Thee and serve Thee in our neighbor! A Faith, firm and immovable as a rock―through which we shall rest tranquil and steadfast amid the crosses, toils and disappointments of life! A courageous Faith―which will inspire us to undertake and carry out, without hesitation, great things for God and for the salvation of souls! A Faith which will be our Legion’s Pillar of Fire—to lead us forth united—to kindle everywhere the fires of Divine Love—to enlighten those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death—to inflame those who are lukewarm—to bring back life to those who are dead in sin; and which will guide our own feet in the Way of Peace; so that—the battle of life over—our Legion may reassemble, without the loss of any one, in the Kingdom of Thy Love and Glory.”
Such a prayer, if said daily with sincerity and devotion, cannot fail to draw from Heaven the graces that are being asked for! Sadly, however, much of the modern-day Legion of Mary has lost the “fire in the belly” and a “belly for the fight”―which is true of most Catholics! Yet, in its hey-day, it was seen to produce marvelous fruits in a wide variety of Catholic Action works. You could say that it is like a “sleeping giant” awaiting its awakening and to be put to use as a “lay army” in the hands of the Church. Read the section The Legion in China [click here] and you will see what such an army can do in face of Communism and Totalitarianism!
A Fighting Spirit for the Spiritual Fight
Holy Scripture tries to instill in our hearts a zeal for the spiritual warfare we all must undergo for our own salvation and also the defense and promotion of the Faith: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be of good courage, and let us fight for the city of our God!” (2 Kings 10:12). In 1619, Our Lord said to Mother Mariana (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) “In all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world!” Our Lord then added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!” To that rebuke of Our Lord, you could also add the rebuking words of Moses to those who did not want to fight: “And Moses answered them: ‘What! Shall your brethren go to fight, and will you just sit here?’” (Numbers 32:6).
Our Lady of Victory and the Weapon of Victory
Our Lady has pointed the way to victory―it remains for us to walk down that path. St. Louis de Montfort writes:
“In the very well‑known book, De Dignitate Psalterii, by Blessed Alan de la Roche, we read that Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said: ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’
“‘Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, ‘you know far better than I do, because, next to your Son Jesus Christ, you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.’
“Then Our Lady replied: ‘I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Rosary], which is the foundation‑stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter! [the Rosary]’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §11).
St. Louis de Montfort goes on to speak of our weapons for the fight: “This life is a continual war and a series of temptations; we do not have to contend with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the very powers of Hell. What better weapon could we possibly use to combat them than the prayer which our great Leader has taught us, than the Angelic Salutation which has put the devils to flight, destroyed sin and renewed the world? What better weapon could we use than meditation on the life and passion of Jesus Christ? For, as Saint Peter tells us, it is with this thought that we must arm ourselves, in order to defend ourselves against the very same enemies whom he has conquered and who molest us every day.
“Cardinal Hugues says: ‘Ever since the devil was crushed by the humility and the passion of Jesus Christ, he has been practically unable to attack a soul that is armed with meditation on the mysteries of Our Lord’s life, and, if he does trouble such a soul, he is sure to be shamefully defeated. Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’
“So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.
“Blessed Alan de la Roche relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, §84 to §86).
We all know the message! We all carry the weapon around with us! Yet, as with any weapon, it is only as good as the person using it! One person might shoot the enemy with the rifle, another might shoot himself in the foot with the same rifle! The time has come to take very seriously our obligation received in the Sacrament of Confirmation to be soldiers for Christ! Are we fighting for the Faith, or are we fighting among ourselves, or fighting for the last beer in the fridge?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday May 3rd & Tuesday May 4th
Article 15
Recharge Your Spiritual Batteries in This Month of
Merry Mary May!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday May 3rd & Tuesday May 4th
Article 15
Recharge Your Spiritual Batteries in This Month of
Merry Mary May!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Merry Mary Month of May
Who doesn’t like being merry!!? In a sense, God made us to be merry―if you take “merry” and “happy” to be synonyms, or words with similar meanings. The answer to the Catechism question: “Why did God make you?” is “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next life!” ― you could just as well say: “…to be merry with Him in the next life!” Though the word “happy” seems to suggest more of a quiet contentment and the word “merry” suggest something of a revelry―making merry would seem to include festive activities such as dancing, eating rich foods, and playing games with friends. Or again, “happy” could be said to be more of a personal feeling, whereas merry might be said to be a communal expression of happiness.
That aside, the question naturally arises to any inquisitive mind: “Why do call May the ‘merry’ month of May?” What is special about May? Why not the merry month of January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November or December? Hey! Shouldn’t December be the “merry month”―since we all go around wishing each other a ‘Merry Christmas’?”
Well, before getting to the “Merry” month of May, let us first look at the “Mary” month of May―for “Mary” is the reason for the “Merry”.
May for Mary
Though it has nothing at all to do with the question nor the answer to why May is the Month of Mary―you can immediately see that the word “Mary” contains all the letters from the word “May”! Just a digression!
For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the entire month of Mary to honor Mary, Mother of God. Not just a day in May, mind you, but the entire month. A number of traditions link the month of May to Mary. There are many different factors that contributed to this association. First of all, in ancient Greece and Rome the month of May was dedicated to pagan goddesses connected to fertility and springtime (Artemis and Flora, respectively). They celebrated ludi florals, or floral games, at the end of April and asked the intercession of Flora for all that blooms.
In medieval times, similar customs abounded, all centering around the practice of expelling winter, as May 1st was considered the start of new growth. This, combined with other European rituals commemorating the new season of spring, led many Western cultures to view May as a month of life and motherhood. This was long before “Mother’s Day” was ever conceived, though the modern celebration is closely related to this innate desire to honor maternity during the spring months.
The Catholic Church has often taken a pagan festival and “trumped-it” with one of its own Catholic feasts―in order to break the hold that paganism had on people. Thus the pagan goddesses were “trumped” by the Mother of God by giving her a feast day within the month of May.
In the early Church there is evidence of a major feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated on the 15th of May each year, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that May received a particular association with the Virgin Mary. Alfonso, in the 13th century wrote, in his Cantigas de Santa Maria, about the special honoring of Mary during specific dates in May. Eventually, the entire month was filled with special observances and devotions to Mary. This possibly was inspired by a very old tradition known as Tricesimum (or: Thirty-Day Devotion to Mary; also called Lady Month) which was originally held from August 15th to September 14th. Although it wasn’t held during May, Mary Month included thirty daily spiritual exercises honoring Mary. The centerpiece of the devotion was the recitation of the Rosary, but the Tricesimum was celebrated at different times of the year in different places. The exact dates or origin of this devotion are unknown, though it came into existence during the Middle-Ages, but the custom is still practiced here and there.
The origin of the conventional May devotion is still relatively unknown. The renowned Church liturgist, Fr. Herbert Thurston, identifies the seventeenth century as the earliest instance of the adoption of the custom of consecrating the whole month of May to the Blessed Virgin by special observances. It is certain that this form of Marian devotion began in Italy. Around 1739, witnesses speak of a particular form of Marian devotion in May in Grezzano near Verona. In 1747 the Archbishop of Genoa recommended the May devotion as a devotion for the home. Specific prayers for them were promulgated in Rome in 1838.
Between 1883 and 1899, Pope Leo XIII published a dozen encyclicals and several Apostolic Letters on the Rosary, in which he encouraged Catholics to set aside May as Mary’s month. Thus it became firmly established in the Catholic imagination and remains in practice until today.
According to Frederick Holweck, the May devotion in its present form originated at Rome at the end of the 18th century, where Father Latomia, of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, made a vow, to devote the month of May to Mary to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students. From Rome, the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin Rite. In Roe by 1813, May devotions were held in as many as twenty churches. From Italy, May devotions soon spread to France. In Belgium, the May devotions, at least as a private devotion, were already known by 1803. The tradition of honoring Mary in a month-long May devotion spread eventually throughout the Roman Catholic world in the 19th century following in the already earlier established traditions of a month-long devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June and month-long devotion to the Holy Rosary in October.
A Mayday Prayer?
During the month of May, the particular focus in on prayers to Mary. Strangely enough, or providentially, there is the universal distress call that incorporates the word “May” in it: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” It is the call that no airplane pilot or ship’s captain ever wants to have to make. Why? Because it means trouble! Big trouble! “Mayday” is the word used around the world to make a distress call via radio communications. Mayday signals a life-threatening emergency, usually on a ship or a plane, although it may be used in a variety of other situations.
Procedure calls for the mayday distress signal to be said three times in a row — “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” — so that it won’t be mistaken for another word or phrase that sounds similar under noisy conditions. A typical distress call will start with “Mayday” repeated three times, followed by all the relevant information that potential rescuers would need, including type and identity of craft involved, nature of the emergency, location or last known location, current weather, fuel remaining, what type of help is needed and number of people in danger.
“Mayday” got its start as an international distress call in 1923. It was made official in 1948. It was the idea of Frederick Mockford, who was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, England. He came up with the idea for “Mayday” because it sounded like the French word m’aider (which is pronounced―mayday), which means “help me.”
Sometimes a “Mayday” distress call is sent by one vessel on behalf of another vessel in danger. This is known as a “Mayday” relay. A “Mayday” relay is sometimes necessary if the vessel in danger loses radio communications. If a “Mayday” call is repeated and not acknowledged, another vessel hearing the call may attempt to relay it again and again until help is reached. A “Mayday” call is not something to be taken lightly. In the United States, it’s illegal to make a fake distress call. Doing so can land you in jail for up to six years and subject you to a $250,000 fine!
Maydays or Mayhem!
Perhaps this “Merry Month of May” should incorporate a few, or lots and lots of, spiritual “Maydays” in the sense of distress signals sent to Heaven in view of our current plight here on Earth!!! The state of world right now is a direct consequence of sin―in turn, sin is a consequence of a lack of grace; and grace is a consequence of prayer. If we neglect or refuse to pray, then grace will not be given, and without the protection of grace sin will abound, and the more sin abounds the worse the state of the world becomes. That is why Our Lady came at Fatima asking for prayers and sacrifices―two of the chief sources of grace. She implored: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). You could stretch that a bit further and say that because there are so few who pray and sacrifice, life is becoming Hell on Earth! We need far more “maydays” (prayers) to avoid that “mayhem” (Hell on Earth).
Over the last 60 years or so―since Pope Pius XII, in addressing a conference in America, complained that the world had lost the sense of sin―one pope after another has echoed the same complaint. It is true that we have lost sense of sin―but even worse than that, we lost the sense of the power of prayer and the need for prayer! The ever-present, underlying, insidious spirit of independence has undermined, weakened and almost destroyed the fiber of the spiritual life―we are left, as it were, precariously hanging by a spiritual thread as we dangle above the chasm of Hell. Our Lady spoke of this thin thread in her warning to Blessed Elena Aiello back in 1957:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Sixteen years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady held out a slender thread of a lifeline, as well as repeating her warning: “Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
If there will be no longer pardon for sins―they there will be mayhem of the kind that the world has never witnessed before―as shown by the above quotes of Our Lady. The problem or the risk is that we try “pass the buck” of responsibility and try to “wash our hands” of this tsunami of sinfulness―but that is a vain and invalid excuse, because we have not prayed and sacrificed enough for the conversion of those sinners who are committing those sins. The three little children of Fatima―being merely 10-, 9- and 7-years-old―put our lethargy and indifference to shame by the quantity and quality of prayers and sacrifices they poured forth to Heaven. If such young children can do it―why can’t we? Why don’t we? Why won’t we?
It is clearly evident that we are not doing what we should be doing―we are too complacent in our Faith and don’t really care very much spiritually for those who do not have the Faith, nor do we really care much about the tsunami of sin in the world. Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed the thoughts of Our Lady on that matter: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently―they continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
A Way to End the Mayhem
What is Heaven looking for? Our Lady summarizes it under two headings: PRAYER and PENANCE ― with SACRIFICES falling under the heading of Penance. Sister Lucia of Fatima has spoken of Satan entering into a FINAL BATTLE WITH THE VIRGIN―and, when it comes to the devil, Our Lord points out: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20)―and the devils most certainly need casting out today, as they have truly invaded the world: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)
Unfortunately, Catholics fail to realize that Satan is in control of the world right now―they are living in some kind of oblivion, mesmerized by entertainment and materialism, oblivious to the fact that net of Satan is gradually closing in on them. We sleep peacefully and complacently as Satan comes ever closer and closer. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God!” ― which is what we are doing, obeying the sinful dictates of Satan, while disobeying the Commandments of God. This is proved by the fact that so, so many sins have now been incorporated as binding laws or receive the protection of law―abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same sex marriages, LGBT rights, gender changing, recreational drug use―and even Satanism being legally recognized as a religion in the USA! Yet, at the same time, insisting upon the Commandments of God are almost looked upon as being “hate crimes” that infringe upon the “liberties” and “choices” of people!
Fr. Amorth continues: “Every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. When I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist!” ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
Our Lady’s Message versus the Covid Message
Just imagine how much more prayer and penance there might be in combating the virus of sin if Our Lady and Heaven took the approach that worldwide governments have take with regard to pushing masks and vaccination in combating the Covid virus! Every day, no matter where you turn, the pushy propaganda is in your face! WEAR YOUR MASK! KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! GET VACCINATED! Satan is certainly getting his message across! Imagine how much the world and the media would protest if Catholics were exerting the same intense, daily, relentless and constant pressure about the (true) dangers of sin and the ways to protect ourselves and others from sin―namely by DAILY PRAYER, DAILY SACRIFICE, SOCIAL DISTANCING FROM SINNERS, “VACCINATION” BY BAPTISM, and DAILY TOP-UP VACCINATIONS OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST BY DAILY HOLY COMMUNION, plus BEING CHECKED WEEKLY FOR THE VIRUS OF SIN IN THE CONFESSIONAL! There would a massive outcry from the world, from governments, from media and everyone else!
How to Send a “Mayday” to Heaven this May
There are many things that we can start or resurrect during this month of May―all of which actually fall under the umbrella of what can be called a general “Devotion to Mary”. It is precisely that which Our Lady insisted upon at Fatima, saying: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June & July, 1917).
The ways of showing “Devotion to Mary” or “Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary” are numerous―just as there numerous ways of manifesting your love for somebody. What really matters is that you perform these things OUT OF LOVE and NOT OUT OF ROUTINE! The following words of Holy Scripture should be enough to drive that point home:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Add to those words the words of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Our Lady seeks to see our hearts in our devotions―and not just a mechanical performance of the devotions. That general principle is revealed by these words that Our Lady spoke to St. Dominic, as recorded by St. Louis de Montfort in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he writes: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying the Rosary and ordered him to preach it far and wide―so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people SAY 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while MEDITATING on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer!’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation, would almost be a body without a soul―excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §61).
Sending-Out Your May “Maydays”
The ways Mary is honored in May is as varied as the people who honor her. Take these suggestions and make them your own by customizing and tailoring them to your own circumstances and family requirements and schedule possibilities.
1. PRAY THE ROSARY DAILY OR PRAY MORE ROSARIES DAILY
The Holy Rosary is a Sacramental of the Church. This means that it is an official source of grace of Holy Mother Church. Yet the power and efficacy of Sacramentals are not as “automatic” as the power and efficacy of the Sacraments. The Sacramentals depend upon the degree and intensity of our Faith and devotion in using them. The greater the degree of intensity in our Faith and devotion, then the more graces we will get. Thus it is important to go beyond merely SAYING the Rosary and graduate to PRAYING the Rosary.
Our Lady’s wishes, encouragements and commands should be enough for us: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
When Lucia then asked Our Lady of Fatima if they would go to Heaven and she was told yes, she and Jacinta would go to Heaven, but Francisco would need to say many Rosaries first: “He must say many Rosaries!” If a relatively innocent young boy, aged only 9, was told to pray many Rosaries before being deemed worthy enough of Heaven―then how much more should we, far older and far more sinful, be praying lots of Rosaries in order to increase our worthiness and decrease our debt for sins committed?
St. Louis de Montfort adds that Our Lady “said to Blessed Alan de la Roche: ‘I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, (1) free from serious sin [that means, being in a state of sanctifying grace], (2) say them with devotion, (3) on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it―I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life. And let this not seem incredible to you! It is easy for me―because I am the Mother of the King of Heaven, and He calls me full of grace. And being filled with grace, I am able to dispense it freely to my dear children!’”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, spoke of the devil admitting to the power of the Rosary. Fr. Amorth said: “During an exorcism, Satan told me, through the possessed person, ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me; if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’” To help increase your appreciation for the power of the Holy Rosary, frequently read, throughout the month of May, the Fifteen Promises of Our Lady to those who pray the Holy Rosary [click here]. You could also read the relatively short book of St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary. You could also add a Scriptural verse before each of the ten Hail Mary’s of each mystery [click here]. You could have a brief discussion in family (or in class at school) on each of the mysteries before praying them―thus helping and teaching others on how to meditate the mystery [click here].
2. GET ENROLLED IN THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL [click here for the enrollment prayers]
Another powerful Sacramental of Holy Mother Church is the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. You may have heard of the prophecy from the Middle-Ages which states that one day Our Lady will save the world through the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular. There used to be a time when it was the custom for every child to be enrolled in the Brown Scapular at the time of making their First Holy Communion. Today, that custom has fallen into disuse and very few persons are actually enrolled in the Brown Scapular―and those who once were, no longer choose to wear the Scapular daily. Our Lady has promised salvation to those who die while wearing the Scapular―not many die with it on these days! Read more about the history, promises and miracles of the Brown Scapular by clicking on these links.
[History of the Scapular] & [Miracles of the Scapular] & [Frequently Asked Questions]
3. GET ENROLLED IN THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE MIRACUOUS MEDAL [click here]
Yet another powerful Sacramental well worthy of your attention in this Month of Mary is that of the Miraculous Medal. When Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré at her convent on the Rue du Bac, in Paris, France, and gave her the vision of the Miraculous Medal in 1830 [click here for the history], she promised great graces to those who would wear the medal around their neck. It was called “Miraculous” by the faithful for good reason, as it became the means of conversion for even the most hardened of atheists to the truth of the Catholic Faith. It has also brought about “miraculous” results by being “planted” in various places―bringing about protection, conversion and even destruction of plots, plans and attacks. Consider buying a pack of Miraculous Medals, have them blessed with this Blessing of the Miraculous Medal [click here], and then distribute them as the Holy Spirit leads you. Mary changes lives through the power of her Sacramentals!
4. VISIT A SHRINE OF OUR LADY
You might be fortunate enough to live in the proximity of one of Our Lady’s many shrines. Do some research on the internet to see which shrines of Our Lady are within traveling distance of your home. If that is not possible, then consider making visits to all the churches named after Our Lady in your town or even in your diocese. Simply find the website for your diocese on the internet―they all have one―and then write down all the churches and addresses that are dedicated to Our Lady. Visit as many as you can!
5. SET-UP AND DECORATE AN ALTAR TO OUR LADY IN YOUR HOME
There is no better way to give Our Lady a “high-profile” during this Month of Mary than by setting-up an altar in a prominent part of the house―where all can gather to pray the usual family prayers. The altar could have a larger statue or picture of Our Lady, with the option of also surrounding or accompanying it with smaller pictures, icons or statues. Let everyone do what befits their creativity, taste and imagination.
6. PLAY MUSIC AND HYMNS IN HONOR OF OUR LADY
Whether it be recorded music and hymns or music and hymns performed or sung by the family―either way it enhances and underlines the devotional aspect towards Our Lady. The occasions for the music or hymns will naturally vary according each person’s or family’s repertoire and schedule―but since it is not an ordinary family activity, it will greatly enhance the Marian Month of May. The music and hymns need not be limited to “prayer-times” alone―but can be indulged in spontaneously throughout the day.
7. INTRODUCE NEW DAILY PRAYERS TO OUR LADY
The Marian Month of May is a good time to break our automatic, routine, auto-pilot, mindless, thoughtless, heartless prayers to Our Lady. Routine is the killer of devotion. Introducing some new prayers is a wonderful way to refocus our minds and hearts away from having become over-familiar with our spiritual exercises. As they say, “Familiarity breeds contempt”―let then break that chain of over-familiarity by selecting and praying a wider range of prayers. You will find many such prayer to Mary in the “drop-down-menu” under the PRAYERS tab. Also, each of the Novenas to Our Lady under the NOVENA tab (which is found as part of the PRAYERS tab) has its own particular prayer. The number of prayers to Our Lady on this website is very large. Copy and paste the ones that you like into whatever software program you use for typing and editing and then print out your own personal favorites.
8. CROWN YOUR STATUE OF MARY
May crownings are one of the most popular ways to celebrate the month of Mary. Make a Crown of Flowers for your Statue of Mary and adorn your indoor and outdoor Mary statues with fresh blooming flowers this month. Add a candle or two for an extra touch. If you don’t have a statue of Mary, then this month of Mary would be a good time to get one. We celebrate the feast of the Queenship on its traditional date of May 31st―which would be an ideal time to crown Our Lady’s statue with a crown of flowers. Some churches like to do that on Mothers’ Day―which has already passed (being the first Sunday in May). However, why not reserve a more solemn crowning for May 31st―but then have “minor” crowning on each Saturday (Our Lady’s day of the week) or Sunday throughout May? Or, if you wish, have a different member of the family crown the statue of Mary each day of the week!
9. PRAY A NOVENA TO OUR LADY
Sometime during the month of May, pray a novena to Our Lady for a particular intention that you want to entrust to her―whether for yourself or for someone else. If you don’t already have a favorite novena to Our Lady, then you will find 17 novenas to Our Lady under one title or another, for one feast or another, under the NOVENAS tab, which drops down when you hover over the PRAYERS tab.
10. PERFORM PENANCES OR SACRIFICES IN HONOR OF OUR LADY AND IN REPARATION FOR OFFENCES AGAINST HER
On December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus, appeared to Sister Lucia of Fatima in her convent cell. The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.” Then Our Lady said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me … with the intention of making reparation to me!”
On the night of May 29th-30th, 1930; Lucia received an interior locution explaining why it was necessary to have a Communion of reparation on five Saturdays. She explained later that this related to the five main types of blasphemies and offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: that is against the Immaculate Conception; against Mary’s Virginity; against her Divine Maternity and her spiritual motherhood of mankind; for the offences of those who encourage in the hearts of children indifference, contempt and even hatred of her, and finally as reparation for those who outrage her in her holy images.
11. READ A BOOK ABOUT MARY
The best way to increase your devotion to the Blessed Mother is simply by reading more about her. The more we know about her, then the more we should love her. There is no shortage of great Catholic books on Mary that unpack the mysteries of her life, virtues, and perfect union with her son, Jesus, and the treasures of grace this unfolds in the life of every Christian who turns to her in Faith. Make a goal to read one this month. Some of the classics are:
True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Secret of Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda
The World’s First Love by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
The Life of Mary As Seen By the Mystics by Raphael Brown
See How She Loves Us: 50 Approved Apparitions of Our Lady by Joan Carroll Cruz
Miraculous Images of Our Lady: 100 Famous Catholic Portraits and Statues by Joan Carroll Cruz
12. LEARN ABOUT A NEW MARIAN DEVOTION
Our Lady is the Mother of the Universal Church. There are many ways she has affected Christians in various times and places during these nearly 2,000 years since she walked the Earth. It is fascinating to read the stories behind each one, and many are associated with miracles, apparitions, saints, and holy images. This month consider researching and adopting a special devotion to Mary under one of her many titles―here is just a “tip-of-the-iceberg” list of her titles:
Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Mary Untier of Knots
Our Lady of Akita
Our Lady of Compassion
Our Lady of Czestochowa
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Grace
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Knock
Our Lady of La Salette
Our Lady of Loreto
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Mercy
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of the Atonement
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris)
This could become an annual tradition for you and your family to learn about a new Marian devotion each May. There are more of them than years in your life!
Who doesn’t like being merry!!? In a sense, God made us to be merry―if you take “merry” and “happy” to be synonyms, or words with similar meanings. The answer to the Catechism question: “Why did God make you?” is “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next life!” ― you could just as well say: “…to be merry with Him in the next life!” Though the word “happy” seems to suggest more of a quiet contentment and the word “merry” suggest something of a revelry―making merry would seem to include festive activities such as dancing, eating rich foods, and playing games with friends. Or again, “happy” could be said to be more of a personal feeling, whereas merry might be said to be a communal expression of happiness.
That aside, the question naturally arises to any inquisitive mind: “Why do call May the ‘merry’ month of May?” What is special about May? Why not the merry month of January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November or December? Hey! Shouldn’t December be the “merry month”―since we all go around wishing each other a ‘Merry Christmas’?”
Well, before getting to the “Merry” month of May, let us first look at the “Mary” month of May―for “Mary” is the reason for the “Merry”.
May for Mary
Though it has nothing at all to do with the question nor the answer to why May is the Month of Mary―you can immediately see that the word “Mary” contains all the letters from the word “May”! Just a digression!
For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the entire month of Mary to honor Mary, Mother of God. Not just a day in May, mind you, but the entire month. A number of traditions link the month of May to Mary. There are many different factors that contributed to this association. First of all, in ancient Greece and Rome the month of May was dedicated to pagan goddesses connected to fertility and springtime (Artemis and Flora, respectively). They celebrated ludi florals, or floral games, at the end of April and asked the intercession of Flora for all that blooms.
In medieval times, similar customs abounded, all centering around the practice of expelling winter, as May 1st was considered the start of new growth. This, combined with other European rituals commemorating the new season of spring, led many Western cultures to view May as a month of life and motherhood. This was long before “Mother’s Day” was ever conceived, though the modern celebration is closely related to this innate desire to honor maternity during the spring months.
The Catholic Church has often taken a pagan festival and “trumped-it” with one of its own Catholic feasts―in order to break the hold that paganism had on people. Thus the pagan goddesses were “trumped” by the Mother of God by giving her a feast day within the month of May.
In the early Church there is evidence of a major feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated on the 15th of May each year, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that May received a particular association with the Virgin Mary. Alfonso, in the 13th century wrote, in his Cantigas de Santa Maria, about the special honoring of Mary during specific dates in May. Eventually, the entire month was filled with special observances and devotions to Mary. This possibly was inspired by a very old tradition known as Tricesimum (or: Thirty-Day Devotion to Mary; also called Lady Month) which was originally held from August 15th to September 14th. Although it wasn’t held during May, Mary Month included thirty daily spiritual exercises honoring Mary. The centerpiece of the devotion was the recitation of the Rosary, but the Tricesimum was celebrated at different times of the year in different places. The exact dates or origin of this devotion are unknown, though it came into existence during the Middle-Ages, but the custom is still practiced here and there.
The origin of the conventional May devotion is still relatively unknown. The renowned Church liturgist, Fr. Herbert Thurston, identifies the seventeenth century as the earliest instance of the adoption of the custom of consecrating the whole month of May to the Blessed Virgin by special observances. It is certain that this form of Marian devotion began in Italy. Around 1739, witnesses speak of a particular form of Marian devotion in May in Grezzano near Verona. In 1747 the Archbishop of Genoa recommended the May devotion as a devotion for the home. Specific prayers for them were promulgated in Rome in 1838.
Between 1883 and 1899, Pope Leo XIII published a dozen encyclicals and several Apostolic Letters on the Rosary, in which he encouraged Catholics to set aside May as Mary’s month. Thus it became firmly established in the Catholic imagination and remains in practice until today.
According to Frederick Holweck, the May devotion in its present form originated at Rome at the end of the 18th century, where Father Latomia, of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, made a vow, to devote the month of May to Mary to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students. From Rome, the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin Rite. In Roe by 1813, May devotions were held in as many as twenty churches. From Italy, May devotions soon spread to France. In Belgium, the May devotions, at least as a private devotion, were already known by 1803. The tradition of honoring Mary in a month-long May devotion spread eventually throughout the Roman Catholic world in the 19th century following in the already earlier established traditions of a month-long devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June and month-long devotion to the Holy Rosary in October.
A Mayday Prayer?
During the month of May, the particular focus in on prayers to Mary. Strangely enough, or providentially, there is the universal distress call that incorporates the word “May” in it: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” It is the call that no airplane pilot or ship’s captain ever wants to have to make. Why? Because it means trouble! Big trouble! “Mayday” is the word used around the world to make a distress call via radio communications. Mayday signals a life-threatening emergency, usually on a ship or a plane, although it may be used in a variety of other situations.
Procedure calls for the mayday distress signal to be said three times in a row — “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” — so that it won’t be mistaken for another word or phrase that sounds similar under noisy conditions. A typical distress call will start with “Mayday” repeated three times, followed by all the relevant information that potential rescuers would need, including type and identity of craft involved, nature of the emergency, location or last known location, current weather, fuel remaining, what type of help is needed and number of people in danger.
“Mayday” got its start as an international distress call in 1923. It was made official in 1948. It was the idea of Frederick Mockford, who was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, England. He came up with the idea for “Mayday” because it sounded like the French word m’aider (which is pronounced―mayday), which means “help me.”
Sometimes a “Mayday” distress call is sent by one vessel on behalf of another vessel in danger. This is known as a “Mayday” relay. A “Mayday” relay is sometimes necessary if the vessel in danger loses radio communications. If a “Mayday” call is repeated and not acknowledged, another vessel hearing the call may attempt to relay it again and again until help is reached. A “Mayday” call is not something to be taken lightly. In the United States, it’s illegal to make a fake distress call. Doing so can land you in jail for up to six years and subject you to a $250,000 fine!
Maydays or Mayhem!
Perhaps this “Merry Month of May” should incorporate a few, or lots and lots of, spiritual “Maydays” in the sense of distress signals sent to Heaven in view of our current plight here on Earth!!! The state of world right now is a direct consequence of sin―in turn, sin is a consequence of a lack of grace; and grace is a consequence of prayer. If we neglect or refuse to pray, then grace will not be given, and without the protection of grace sin will abound, and the more sin abounds the worse the state of the world becomes. That is why Our Lady came at Fatima asking for prayers and sacrifices―two of the chief sources of grace. She implored: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). You could stretch that a bit further and say that because there are so few who pray and sacrifice, life is becoming Hell on Earth! We need far more “maydays” (prayers) to avoid that “mayhem” (Hell on Earth).
Over the last 60 years or so―since Pope Pius XII, in addressing a conference in America, complained that the world had lost the sense of sin―one pope after another has echoed the same complaint. It is true that we have lost sense of sin―but even worse than that, we lost the sense of the power of prayer and the need for prayer! The ever-present, underlying, insidious spirit of independence has undermined, weakened and almost destroyed the fiber of the spiritual life―we are left, as it were, precariously hanging by a spiritual thread as we dangle above the chasm of Hell. Our Lady spoke of this thin thread in her warning to Blessed Elena Aiello back in 1957:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Sixteen years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady held out a slender thread of a lifeline, as well as repeating her warning: “Pray very much! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
If there will be no longer pardon for sins―they there will be mayhem of the kind that the world has never witnessed before―as shown by the above quotes of Our Lady. The problem or the risk is that we try “pass the buck” of responsibility and try to “wash our hands” of this tsunami of sinfulness―but that is a vain and invalid excuse, because we have not prayed and sacrificed enough for the conversion of those sinners who are committing those sins. The three little children of Fatima―being merely 10-, 9- and 7-years-old―put our lethargy and indifference to shame by the quantity and quality of prayers and sacrifices they poured forth to Heaven. If such young children can do it―why can’t we? Why don’t we? Why won’t we?
It is clearly evident that we are not doing what we should be doing―we are too complacent in our Faith and don’t really care very much spiritually for those who do not have the Faith, nor do we really care much about the tsunami of sin in the world. Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed the thoughts of Our Lady on that matter: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently―they continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
A Way to End the Mayhem
What is Heaven looking for? Our Lady summarizes it under two headings: PRAYER and PENANCE ― with SACRIFICES falling under the heading of Penance. Sister Lucia of Fatima has spoken of Satan entering into a FINAL BATTLE WITH THE VIRGIN―and, when it comes to the devil, Our Lord points out: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20)―and the devils most certainly need casting out today, as they have truly invaded the world: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)
Unfortunately, Catholics fail to realize that Satan is in control of the world right now―they are living in some kind of oblivion, mesmerized by entertainment and materialism, oblivious to the fact that net of Satan is gradually closing in on them. We sleep peacefully and complacently as Satan comes ever closer and closer. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one! … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God!” ― which is what we are doing, obeying the sinful dictates of Satan, while disobeying the Commandments of God. This is proved by the fact that so, so many sins have now been incorporated as binding laws or receive the protection of law―abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same sex marriages, LGBT rights, gender changing, recreational drug use―and even Satanism being legally recognized as a religion in the USA! Yet, at the same time, insisting upon the Commandments of God are almost looked upon as being “hate crimes” that infringe upon the “liberties” and “choices” of people!
Fr. Amorth continues: “Every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. When I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist!” ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
Our Lady’s Message versus the Covid Message
Just imagine how much more prayer and penance there might be in combating the virus of sin if Our Lady and Heaven took the approach that worldwide governments have take with regard to pushing masks and vaccination in combating the Covid virus! Every day, no matter where you turn, the pushy propaganda is in your face! WEAR YOUR MASK! KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! GET VACCINATED! Satan is certainly getting his message across! Imagine how much the world and the media would protest if Catholics were exerting the same intense, daily, relentless and constant pressure about the (true) dangers of sin and the ways to protect ourselves and others from sin―namely by DAILY PRAYER, DAILY SACRIFICE, SOCIAL DISTANCING FROM SINNERS, “VACCINATION” BY BAPTISM, and DAILY TOP-UP VACCINATIONS OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST BY DAILY HOLY COMMUNION, plus BEING CHECKED WEEKLY FOR THE VIRUS OF SIN IN THE CONFESSIONAL! There would a massive outcry from the world, from governments, from media and everyone else!
How to Send a “Mayday” to Heaven this May
There are many things that we can start or resurrect during this month of May―all of which actually fall under the umbrella of what can be called a general “Devotion to Mary”. It is precisely that which Our Lady insisted upon at Fatima, saying: “Jesus wants to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June & July, 1917).
The ways of showing “Devotion to Mary” or “Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary” are numerous―just as there numerous ways of manifesting your love for somebody. What really matters is that you perform these things OUT OF LOVE and NOT OUT OF ROUTINE! The following words of Holy Scripture should be enough to drive that point home:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Add to those words the words of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Our Lady seeks to see our hearts in our devotions―and not just a mechanical performance of the devotions. That general principle is revealed by these words that Our Lady spoke to St. Dominic, as recorded by St. Louis de Montfort in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wherein he writes: “Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying the Rosary and ordered him to preach it far and wide―so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people SAY 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while MEDITATING on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer!’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation, would almost be a body without a soul―excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §61).
Sending-Out Your May “Maydays”
The ways Mary is honored in May is as varied as the people who honor her. Take these suggestions and make them your own by customizing and tailoring them to your own circumstances and family requirements and schedule possibilities.
1. PRAY THE ROSARY DAILY OR PRAY MORE ROSARIES DAILY
The Holy Rosary is a Sacramental of the Church. This means that it is an official source of grace of Holy Mother Church. Yet the power and efficacy of Sacramentals are not as “automatic” as the power and efficacy of the Sacraments. The Sacramentals depend upon the degree and intensity of our Faith and devotion in using them. The greater the degree of intensity in our Faith and devotion, then the more graces we will get. Thus it is important to go beyond merely SAYING the Rosary and graduate to PRAYING the Rosary.
Our Lady’s wishes, encouragements and commands should be enough for us: “Say many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (Fatima, September 1917). “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much! … Be faithful and fervent in prayer! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Akita, 1973).
When Lucia then asked Our Lady of Fatima if they would go to Heaven and she was told yes, she and Jacinta would go to Heaven, but Francisco would need to say many Rosaries first: “He must say many Rosaries!” If a relatively innocent young boy, aged only 9, was told to pray many Rosaries before being deemed worthy enough of Heaven―then how much more should we, far older and far more sinful, be praying lots of Rosaries in order to increase our worthiness and decrease our debt for sins committed?
St. Louis de Montfort adds that Our Lady “said to Blessed Alan de la Roche: ‘I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, (1) free from serious sin [that means, being in a state of sanctifying grace], (2) say them with devotion, (3) on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it―I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life. And let this not seem incredible to you! It is easy for me―because I am the Mother of the King of Heaven, and He calls me full of grace. And being filled with grace, I am able to dispense it freely to my dear children!’”
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, spoke of the devil admitting to the power of the Rosary. Fr. Amorth said: “During an exorcism, Satan told me, through the possessed person, ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me; if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’” To help increase your appreciation for the power of the Holy Rosary, frequently read, throughout the month of May, the Fifteen Promises of Our Lady to those who pray the Holy Rosary [click here]. You could also read the relatively short book of St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary. You could also add a Scriptural verse before each of the ten Hail Mary’s of each mystery [click here]. You could have a brief discussion in family (or in class at school) on each of the mysteries before praying them―thus helping and teaching others on how to meditate the mystery [click here].
2. GET ENROLLED IN THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL [click here for the enrollment prayers]
Another powerful Sacramental of Holy Mother Church is the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. You may have heard of the prophecy from the Middle-Ages which states that one day Our Lady will save the world through the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular. There used to be a time when it was the custom for every child to be enrolled in the Brown Scapular at the time of making their First Holy Communion. Today, that custom has fallen into disuse and very few persons are actually enrolled in the Brown Scapular―and those who once were, no longer choose to wear the Scapular daily. Our Lady has promised salvation to those who die while wearing the Scapular―not many die with it on these days! Read more about the history, promises and miracles of the Brown Scapular by clicking on these links.
[History of the Scapular] & [Miracles of the Scapular] & [Frequently Asked Questions]
3. GET ENROLLED IN THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE MIRACUOUS MEDAL [click here]
Yet another powerful Sacramental well worthy of your attention in this Month of Mary is that of the Miraculous Medal. When Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré at her convent on the Rue du Bac, in Paris, France, and gave her the vision of the Miraculous Medal in 1830 [click here for the history], she promised great graces to those who would wear the medal around their neck. It was called “Miraculous” by the faithful for good reason, as it became the means of conversion for even the most hardened of atheists to the truth of the Catholic Faith. It has also brought about “miraculous” results by being “planted” in various places―bringing about protection, conversion and even destruction of plots, plans and attacks. Consider buying a pack of Miraculous Medals, have them blessed with this Blessing of the Miraculous Medal [click here], and then distribute them as the Holy Spirit leads you. Mary changes lives through the power of her Sacramentals!
4. VISIT A SHRINE OF OUR LADY
You might be fortunate enough to live in the proximity of one of Our Lady’s many shrines. Do some research on the internet to see which shrines of Our Lady are within traveling distance of your home. If that is not possible, then consider making visits to all the churches named after Our Lady in your town or even in your diocese. Simply find the website for your diocese on the internet―they all have one―and then write down all the churches and addresses that are dedicated to Our Lady. Visit as many as you can!
5. SET-UP AND DECORATE AN ALTAR TO OUR LADY IN YOUR HOME
There is no better way to give Our Lady a “high-profile” during this Month of Mary than by setting-up an altar in a prominent part of the house―where all can gather to pray the usual family prayers. The altar could have a larger statue or picture of Our Lady, with the option of also surrounding or accompanying it with smaller pictures, icons or statues. Let everyone do what befits their creativity, taste and imagination.
6. PLAY MUSIC AND HYMNS IN HONOR OF OUR LADY
Whether it be recorded music and hymns or music and hymns performed or sung by the family―either way it enhances and underlines the devotional aspect towards Our Lady. The occasions for the music or hymns will naturally vary according each person’s or family’s repertoire and schedule―but since it is not an ordinary family activity, it will greatly enhance the Marian Month of May. The music and hymns need not be limited to “prayer-times” alone―but can be indulged in spontaneously throughout the day.
7. INTRODUCE NEW DAILY PRAYERS TO OUR LADY
The Marian Month of May is a good time to break our automatic, routine, auto-pilot, mindless, thoughtless, heartless prayers to Our Lady. Routine is the killer of devotion. Introducing some new prayers is a wonderful way to refocus our minds and hearts away from having become over-familiar with our spiritual exercises. As they say, “Familiarity breeds contempt”―let then break that chain of over-familiarity by selecting and praying a wider range of prayers. You will find many such prayer to Mary in the “drop-down-menu” under the PRAYERS tab. Also, each of the Novenas to Our Lady under the NOVENA tab (which is found as part of the PRAYERS tab) has its own particular prayer. The number of prayers to Our Lady on this website is very large. Copy and paste the ones that you like into whatever software program you use for typing and editing and then print out your own personal favorites.
8. CROWN YOUR STATUE OF MARY
May crownings are one of the most popular ways to celebrate the month of Mary. Make a Crown of Flowers for your Statue of Mary and adorn your indoor and outdoor Mary statues with fresh blooming flowers this month. Add a candle or two for an extra touch. If you don’t have a statue of Mary, then this month of Mary would be a good time to get one. We celebrate the feast of the Queenship on its traditional date of May 31st―which would be an ideal time to crown Our Lady’s statue with a crown of flowers. Some churches like to do that on Mothers’ Day―which has already passed (being the first Sunday in May). However, why not reserve a more solemn crowning for May 31st―but then have “minor” crowning on each Saturday (Our Lady’s day of the week) or Sunday throughout May? Or, if you wish, have a different member of the family crown the statue of Mary each day of the week!
9. PRAY A NOVENA TO OUR LADY
Sometime during the month of May, pray a novena to Our Lady for a particular intention that you want to entrust to her―whether for yourself or for someone else. If you don’t already have a favorite novena to Our Lady, then you will find 17 novenas to Our Lady under one title or another, for one feast or another, under the NOVENAS tab, which drops down when you hover over the PRAYERS tab.
10. PERFORM PENANCES OR SACRIFICES IN HONOR OF OUR LADY AND IN REPARATION FOR OFFENCES AGAINST HER
On December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus, appeared to Sister Lucia of Fatima in her convent cell. The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.” Then Our Lady said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me … with the intention of making reparation to me!”
On the night of May 29th-30th, 1930; Lucia received an interior locution explaining why it was necessary to have a Communion of reparation on five Saturdays. She explained later that this related to the five main types of blasphemies and offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: that is against the Immaculate Conception; against Mary’s Virginity; against her Divine Maternity and her spiritual motherhood of mankind; for the offences of those who encourage in the hearts of children indifference, contempt and even hatred of her, and finally as reparation for those who outrage her in her holy images.
11. READ A BOOK ABOUT MARY
The best way to increase your devotion to the Blessed Mother is simply by reading more about her. The more we know about her, then the more we should love her. There is no shortage of great Catholic books on Mary that unpack the mysteries of her life, virtues, and perfect union with her son, Jesus, and the treasures of grace this unfolds in the life of every Christian who turns to her in Faith. Make a goal to read one this month. Some of the classics are:
True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Secret of Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda
The World’s First Love by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
The Life of Mary As Seen By the Mystics by Raphael Brown
See How She Loves Us: 50 Approved Apparitions of Our Lady by Joan Carroll Cruz
Miraculous Images of Our Lady: 100 Famous Catholic Portraits and Statues by Joan Carroll Cruz
12. LEARN ABOUT A NEW MARIAN DEVOTION
Our Lady is the Mother of the Universal Church. There are many ways she has affected Christians in various times and places during these nearly 2,000 years since she walked the Earth. It is fascinating to read the stories behind each one, and many are associated with miracles, apparitions, saints, and holy images. This month consider researching and adopting a special devotion to Mary under one of her many titles―here is just a “tip-of-the-iceberg” list of her titles:
Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Mary Untier of Knots
Our Lady of Akita
Our Lady of Compassion
Our Lady of Czestochowa
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Grace
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Knock
Our Lady of La Salette
Our Lady of Loreto
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Mercy
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of the Atonement
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris)
This could become an annual tradition for you and your family to learn about a new Marian devotion each May. There are more of them than years in your life!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday April 30th & Saturday May 1st
Article 14
How Are Your Hopes? High or Low?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday April 30th & Saturday May 1st
Article 14
How Are Your Hopes? High or Low?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What or Who is Your Hope?
Ask anyone to define hope and you will most likely leave them scratching their head! We all “kind of” know what words mean―but when asked to define them, we often falter and fail. Do you have to define hope in order to have it? No―but it helps. You can have disease without knowing much about it―but it helps if you do know something about it―for then you have an increased hope of overcoming it. Speaking of knowledge―hope has to be based on knowledge, knowledge must precede hope, like a branch precedes a leaf or a fruit, or like the trunk of a tree precedes the branches of a tree. You cannot have hope without knowing what you are hoping for or hoping in or who you are hoping in!
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, tells us: “An appropriate symbol for the theological virtues is a living tree. Faith is the root, Hope is the trunk, and charity is the fruit. The root and trunk are valueless if they do not find completion in the fruit.” (Chapter 41: The Theological Virtues). Hence St. Thomas states: “Absolutely speaking, Faith precedes Hope … The act of hope presupposes the act of Faith … An act of Faith is expressed in the act of Hope.” In other words, Faith precedes Hope, it comes before Hope―for you cannot hope in what you do not know.
St. Thomas Aquinas defines hope as seeking “a future good, difficult but possible to attain ... by means of the Divine Assistance ... on Whose help it leans … Hope, to obtain happiness, does not flow from our merits, but from grace alone.” As a short digression or an aside―Our Lord indirectly links into hope by saying: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), which refers to the “Divine Assistance on Whose help it leans” part of St. Thomas’ definition. We need the help of Christ, without Whom we can do nothing. Without His help, there is no real hope.
That is why Holy Scripture also says: “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28). “Trust not in a prince!” (Micheas 7:5). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “Never trust thy enemy!” (Ecclesiasticus 12:10). “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). “The hope of the hypocrite shall perish!” (Job 8:13). “Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men … and He knew what was in man” (John 2:24). “Let him not trust in any brother of his―for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully” (Jeremias 9:4). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). Neither should we trust in evil methods and means: “Trust not in iniquity!” (Psalm 61:11). “You put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you!” (Jeremias 7:8). “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4). “Trust not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Hope in the “New God on the Block”
Today, many―if not most―place their hopes and trust in the new god of science! This is becoming all the more evident since the arrival of the “new god on the block” ― Artificial Intelligence (AI). People seem to more reliant upon science than God. Science will overcome the pandemic! Science will lead to a longer life! Science will guide you and tell you what to do! Science will save your life! Trust science! Hope in science! Follow the science! How many times have not heard catchphrase during this Plannedemic: “Follow the science!” ― and that has been coming out of the mouths of many churchmen!
It is easy to “buy into the hype” and put one’s hopes and trust in this “new god on the block” ― but Holy Scripture counsels otherwise: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8). “They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!” (Isaias 40:31). “In Thee, O my God, I put my trust!” (Psalm 24:2). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened!” (Psalm 25:1). “O Lord my God, in Thee have I put my trust! Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me!” (Psalm 7:2). “In God I have put my trust! I will not fear what flesh can do against me!” (Psalm 55:5). “Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put my trust in Thee!” (Psalm 15:1). “Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him!” (Job 13:15). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Hope for victory from the Almighty!” (2 Machabees 15:8). “‘I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword―but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put thy trust in Me!’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 39:18).
Hopes on Target―Hopes Missing the Target
Just as they say: “Tell me what read and I will tell you what you are!” or “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” ― likewise, you could also say: “Tell what your hopes are and I will tell you what you are!” Holy Scripture indirectly echoes this when it says: “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Similarly, the worldly person will mainly have worldly hopes and goals―whereas the spiritual person will mainly have spiritual hopes and goals.
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, explains: “Hope directs the will to its supernatural last end―as to something that requires effort and cooperation with grace, but as something attainable. Virtue is a word formed from the Latin ‘virtus’ ― which means power or strength or valor or manliness. ‘Do ye manfully and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!’ (Psalm 30:25). Hope is the virtue by which we firmly trust that God―Who is all-powerful and faithful to His promises―will, in His mercy, give us eternal happiness and the means to obtain it. God promised to give man eternal life, and the means to obtain it. In this promise is our hope. ‘He that putteth his trust in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess My holy mount’ (Isaias 57:13). Hope is necessary for salvation. Our hope must be firmly founded in God, Who Promised to give us the means for salvation. Such firm hope, however, would not exclude reasonable fear of the loss of our soul. Very often we fall far short of the proper use of the means of salvation granted us.”
Hope Is Not “Easy-Street”
It is probably unlikely―or perhaps certainly unlikely―that many souls are living in true Hope. Most Catholics tend to gravitate to one extreme or the other―that is to say, they lean towards Presumption, or they lean towards Despair. True Hope primarily relies upon God―but it also acknowledges that we must cooperate with God with our own feeble efforts. St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation.
The Dominican theologian, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964), one of the greatest theologians of our times, writes:
“The theological virtue of Hope makes us to desire Heaven as something which can really be attained through God’s grace and our effort – this is what merit is, our cooperation with God’s grace. Now, the virtue of Hope has two opposing vices―they are mutually opposed one to the other, and both are opposed to Hope. The deficiency of Hope is called Despair, the excess of Hope is called Presumption―though, it is true, in one respect there is no “excess” properly so-called, since the Divine Mercy is in itself infinite, and cannot be hoped in too much.
“It is probably easier for us to recognize what Despair is and how it differs from Hope. Despair can either be of God or of ourselves – either, we do not believe that God is strong or loving enough to save us, or we do not believe that we can be converted. Despair is to abandon Heaven, as something which is unattainable. Like Hope, Despair is not an emotion or a feeling – Despair (together with Hope and Presumption) is the result of a choice which a man makes. Depression or hard times do not lead to Despair – the only thing which leads to Despair is the choice to abandon Hope. This is surely a terrible sin.
“And then there is the vice of Presumption. It is probably more difficult for us to recognize what exactly constitutes Presumption. On the one hand, we know that Hope is supposed to be certain and sure – how, then, can we have an “excess” of Hope? If Hope is already 100% certain, how can Presumption go beyond the proper boundaries and make us too hopeful?
“The truth is that the sin of Presumption (like that of Despair) can be twofold: The first form of Presumption is when we presume either on God or on ourselves. To presume upon ourselves is to believe that we can attain to Heaven by our own powers ― it is to put our hope in “horse and chariot” (i.e. in our own abilities) rather than in the Name of the Lord (cf. Psalm 19:8). This sort of Presumption will usually lead to Despair, since it will eventually become clear that our own powers will not save us.
“The second form of Presumption is the worse. It is to presume upon God’s Mercy as being opposed to the Divine Justice. This is the sin of Presumption whereby a man admits that he is a sinner and does not have any right to Heaven (nor any means of getting to Heaven, by his own powers), but then simply considers the Divine Mercy and ignores the demands of Divine Justice. This is a very prevalent sin in our day. A man who sins by presuming upon God, will say something like this: ‘Sure, I know that I am a sinner, but I am certain that God will save me anyway!’ To think that God will save us and forgive us even if we do not convert, is to commit the sin of Presumption. There are some things God cannot do: He cannot make a rock so big that He can’t lift it, He cannot forgive an unrepentant sinner, and He cannot make someone who dies in mortal sin to go to Heaven.
“Hope, on the other hand, takes the mean between Despair and Presumption. Theological Hope admits that God’s mercy is omnipotent and that the Good Lord desires our salvation―in fact, He desires it even more than we do―but Hope then also admits that God’s Mercy works in us to bring about, not only our salvation, but also our conversion ― such that, without conversion, there can be no salvation. Hope admits that we are sinners, but also admits that God’s grace is sufficient to bring about true contrition and conversion in our souls.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange).
Why Can’t We Hope Like the Protestants Hope?
For many Protestants, hope is the absolute certitude of being saved―no matter what! Once you accept Jesus as your Savior―you are guaranteed salvation regardless of what you might do in the future. That would be wonderful, huh? Nothing more to worry about! Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange answers: “But isn’t Hope certain? How can Hope be certain, if we know that the Protestants are wrong to say, ‘Once saved, always saved’? Here we see another important aspect in which Christian Hope differs from Protestant Presumption―Theological Hope, being contrary to the Protestant errors, does not so much make us certain that we are to be saved, but rather makes us to be certain that we are on the path of salvation. Christian Hope tells us that, if only we continue in the life of virtue―especially in the life of Charity―then we will most certainly be saved. Hope tells us that we are not yet saved, but that we will most certainly be saved if only we do not abandon the grace which God continues to give us. Hope assures us that the grace of Christ will be with us to the end, if only we continue to cooperate with that grace.
“In other words, by certain Hope we do not yet have the certitude of our future salvation―which is not revealed to us, for that we would need a special revelation―but that we certainly tend toward salvation, under the infallible direction of Faith and according to the promises of God […] Therefore, the certitude of Christian Hope is not the certitude of salvation, but it is the firmest kind of certitude that we are tending toward salvation.
“From this admirable doctrine it follows that Christian Hope should have two qualities or properties: it should be laborious to avoid the Presumption―which expects the divine reward without working for it; and it should be firm, invincible―to avoid discouragement.” (by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Hoping Against Hope―Hoping Against Despair
The way that things have been and still are unfolding in the world these days is a cause for much concern and much sadness. There are two ways of looking at the same thing―one is from a positive perspective, the other is from a negative perspective―as they say: “Some see the glass as being half-full, while others see the glass as being half-empty.” St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Hope causes joy! … Hope is the certain expectation of future happiness.” We easily understand the opposite―where there is no hope, there is sadness and sorrow―“Be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope!” (1 Thessalonians 4:12). “Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not fallen from his hope!” (Ecclesiasticus 14:2). But what is our hope? Who is our hope? Today we hope too much in man and man-made solutions and not enough in God and Heaven sent solutions!
Who or What to Trust and Hope In?
“Trust not in iniquity!” (Psalm 61:11). “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4). “Trust not in riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Trust not in a prince! … It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Micheas 7:5; Psalm 117:9). “Let him not trust in any brother of his!” (Jeremias 9:4). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Trust not thyself! … We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28; 2 Corinthians 1:9).
“The hope of the hypocrite shall perish … His hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down!” (Job 8:13; 40:28). “For his hope vain earth!” (Wisdom 15:10). “The hope of the wicked shall perish!” (Proverbs 10:28). “The hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind!” (Wisdom 5:15). “The hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter’s ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water” (Wisdom 16:29).
“What is my hope? Is it not the Lord?” (Psalm 38:8). “Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 30:25). “If thou lose hope by being weary in the day of distress, then thy strength shall be diminished” (Proverbs 24:10). “Hope in God!” (Psalm 42:6). “He is a shield to them that hope in Him!” (Proverbs 30:5). “For Thou hast been my hope―a tower of strength against the face of the enemy!” (Psalm 60:4). “Many shall see, and shall fear―and they shall hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 39:4). “In the shadow of Thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away” (Psalm 56:2). “A tree hath hope―if it be cut, it groweth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout!” (Job 14:7). “After darkness I hope for light again!” (Job 17:12). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Let all them be glad that hope in Thee! They shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them! And all they that love Thy Name shall glory in Thee!” (Psalm 5:12).
Hoping With Our Lady and Hoping Through Our Lady
In this modern day and age, God has willed that we should place our Hope in Our Lady―or rather, that we should Hope in God through Our Lady and with Our Lady. In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady revealed: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence [hope] in me, will be saved.” If you have problems with Akita―then Our Lady said much the same thing at Fatima, 56 years earlier: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
Speaking of Our Lady’s virtue of Hope, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Her Hope, by which she tended to the possession of God Whom she did not as yet fully possess, was a perfect confidence and trust which relied, not on self, but on the Divine Mercy and omnipotence. It was, therefore, a sure Hope!… It was increased also by the fact that Mary was confirmed in grace and preserved free from every shortcoming ― lack of confidence as well as presumption. Some of the occasions for the exercise of Hope in Mary’s life spring at once to the mind. She exercised it when, yet a child, she awaited the coming of the Messias and the salvation of all peoples; again, when she awaited the time that the secret of the virginal conception would be revealed to St. Joseph; again, when she fled into Egypt; again ― and most of all ― when on Calvary all seemed lost, but she awaited the victory which her Son had foretold He would win over death. Finally, her confidence, her unshaken Hope, sustained the Apostles in their ceaseless labors for the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of the pagan world.”
Holy Mother Church has chosen the following passage from Holy Scripture, as one of the readings in the Masses of Our Lady―it is full of hope: “I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded; and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24-31). This reading is found in the Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), the Mass of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th). It can be summed-up by the above quotes of Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence [hope] in me, will be saved!” … “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!”
Words of Our Lady on Hope
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, found in The Mystical City of God, Our speaks of the virtue of Hope in the following words:
“As with two indefatigable wings, my spirit raised its flight, by means of Faith and Hope, toward the endless and the highest good, until it rested in union with God through intimate and perfect love. Many times I tasted and enjoyed the clear vision and fruition of Him; but, as these blessings were not continuous in my state of pilgrimage, I supplied their place by the exercise of Faith and Hope. They remained with me during my visions and fruitions and immediately became active during their absence, preventing any cessation in my high aspirations. The effects of these virtues―the love, the efforts and the desires which they excited in my soul toward the possession of the eternal fruition of God―cannot be adequately comprehended by the created mind in its present limited state, but they shall be known in God and cause eternal praise in those who will be worthy to see Him in Heaven.
“Having received such great enlightenment concerning the excellence of this virtue and the works which I practiced by its help, thou shouldst work, without ceasing, to imitate me according to the assistance of divine grace. Renew continually and confer within thyself the promises of the Most High and, with unshaken confidence in their divine truthfulness, raise thy heart to ardent desires and longings for their attainment. In this firm Hope thou canst assure thyself of arriving through the merits of my most holy Son, at the blessed cohabitation in the celestial fatherland, and at the companionship of all those who there see, in immortal glory, the face of the Most High. With the help of Hope thou canst raise thy heart above earthly things and fix thy mind upon the immutable Good, to which thou aspires. All visible things will appear to thee burdensome and disagreeable, and thou wilt esteem them as vile and contemptible; nothing wilt thou strive after except that most lovable and delightful object of thy desires. In my soul there was an ardor of Hope, such as is possible only to those who have apprehended its object in Faith and tasted it by experience; no tongue and no words can describe or express its intensity.
“Besides this, in order to spur thee on still more, consider and deplore with heartfelt sorrow the unhappiness of so many souls who are images of God and capable of His glory, and who, through their own fault, are deprived of the true hope of enjoying it. If the children of the Holy Church would pause in their vain occupations and would take time to consider and weigh the blessings of unerring Faith and Hope―which separates them from darkness and which, without their merit, distinguishes them from the followers of blind unbelief―then they would, without doubt, be ashamed of their torpid forgetfulness and repudiate their vile ingratitude. But let them be undeceived―for most terrible punishments await them; they are most detestable in the sight of God and the saints, because they despise the Precious Blood shed by Christ for the very purpose of gaining them these blessings. As if all were only a fiction, they treat with contempt the blessings of truth, rushing about during their whole life without spending even one day―and many of them not even an hour―in the consideration of their duties and of their danger. Weep, O soul, over this lamentable evil, and according to thy power work and pray for its extirpation through my most holy Son. Believe me that whatever exertion and attempt thou makest toward this purpose shall be rewarded by his Majesty.”
Hoping for the Impossible
With every passing year, our hopes seem to grow more and more unlikely, even impossible! We hope for a return to spiritual and theological sanity in the Church! It seems impossible! We hope for a stop and a reversal to the totalitarian takeover of the world today! It seems impossible! We hope for the conversion of the USA to Catholicism! It seems impossible! We hope for an end to abortion! It seems impossible! We hope for a reversal of divorce laws! It seems impossible! We hope for a reversal of LGBT legislation! It seems impossible! You could add hundreds, even thousands, of similar hopes to those―and all of them seem impossible!
Where is your Faith? Do you not know that you serve in the army of the God of Impossibility? Our God is a God of Miracles, a God of the Impossible and a God of Impossible Miracles! As Holy Scripture says: “And Jesus looking on them, saith: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
Mary the Mother of the Possible Impossibles
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book, The Glories of Mary, writes: “I consider it is indubitably so―that all graces are dispensed by Mary, and that all, who are saved, are saved only by the means of this divine Mother. It is a necessary consequence that the salvation of all depends upon preaching Mary, and exciting all to confidence in her intercession … Mary is a Queen―but, for our common consolation, be it known that she is a Queen so sweet, clement, and so ready to help us in our miseries, that the holy Church wills that we should salute her in the prayer, Salve Regina, under the title of Queen of Mercy. Mary, although a Queen, is not a Queen of Justice, intent on the punishment of the wicked, but a Queen of Mercy, intent only on commiserating and pardoning sinners. And this is the reason for which the Church requires that we should expressly call her ‘the Queen of Mercy’. When the Blessed Virgin conceived the Eternal Word in her womb, and brought Him forth, she obtained half the kingdom of God―so that she is Queen of Mercy, as Jesus is King of Justice …
“This was revealed by our Blessed Lady herself to St. Bridget, saying: ‘I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the door through which sinners are brought to God. There is no sinner on Earth so accursed as to be deprived of my mercy; for all, if they receive nothing else through my intercession, receive the grace of being less tempted by the devils than they would otherwise have been! No one, unless the irrevocable sentence has been pronounced (that is, the one pronounced upon the damned), is so cast off by God that he will not return to Him, and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid! I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of my Son towards men has made me thus merciful towards them! Therefore, miserable will he be, and miserable will he be to all eternity, who, in this life, having it in his power to invoke me―who am so compassionate to all, and so desirous to assist sinners―is miserable enough not to invoke me, and so is damned!’”
Mary is Our Hope
In the prayer, Salve Regina, we pray: “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope…!” Protestants would reject the notion that Mary is our hope―they protest that God alone is our hope! They will quote the words of the prophet Jeremias, who warns that God will curse those who hope in anything but Him: “Cursed be the man that trusteth [hopes] in man! … Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence [hope]” (Jeremias 17:5-7).
St. Thomas Aquinas, says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways: as a principal cause, and as an intermediate one. We do this all the time―and so do Protestants―when our car breaks down, we hope the mechanic can fix it, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). When you or a loved one is sick, you (and even the Protestant) turn to the doctor for a cure, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” When you are short of money, you (and even the Protestant) ask a friend or the bank for a loan, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” God’s Divine Providence has provided mechanics, doctors and charitable people to help us in our need. Our Lord even did the same with the ten lepers, who came to Him asking for a cure: “And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus, master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean” (Luke 17:12-13).
Those who place their hopes in creatures alone―independently of God, as pagans and sinners do, and in order to obtain the friendship and favor of a man―fear not to outrage his divine Majesty, and are most certainly cursed by God, as the prophet Jeremias says. But those who hope in Mary, as Mother of God―who is able to obtain graces and eternal life for them―are truly blessed and acceptable to the heart of God, who desires to see that greatest of His creatures―Mary―is honored; for she loved and honored Him in this world more than all men and angels put together. It is, then, not without reason that the holy Church, in the words of Ecclesiasticus, called Mary the Mother of holy Hope (Ecclesiasticus 24:24). She is the mother who gives birth to holy hope in our hearts; not to the hope of the vain and transitory goods of this life, but of the immense and eternal goods of Heaven.
And therefore we rightly and reasonably call the Blessed Virgin “our hope”―trusting, as the Cardinal of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine says, “that we shall obtain, through her intercession, that which we should not obtain by our own unaided prayers.” The renowned and learned theologian Suarez says: “We pray to her in order that the dignity of the intercessor may supply for our own unworthiness; so that to implore the Blessed Virgin in such a spirit, is not mistrust in the mercy of God, but a fear of our own unworthiness.”
“Hail, then, O hope of my soul!” exclaims St. Ephrem, addressing this divine Mother; “Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” (De Laud. Dei Gen.). Other saints remind us, that after God, our only hope is Mary; and therefore they call her, “after God, their only hope” (Cant. p. Psalt).
St. Ephrem, referring to the present order of Providence, by which God wills that all who are saved should be saved by the means of Mary, thus addresses her: “O Lady, cease not to watch over us; preserve and guard us under the wings of thy compassion and mercy―for, after God, we have no hope but in thee! … Hail, then, O hope of my soul! Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” (De Laud. Dei Gen.). St. Thomas of Villanova repeats the same thing, calling her “our only refuge, help, and asylum” (In Nat. B. V. Conc. 3). St. Bernard seems to give the reason for this when he says, “See, O man, the designs of God,—designs by which he is able to dispense his mercy more abundantly to us; for, desiring to redeem the whole human race, he has placed the whole price of redemption in the hands of Mary, that she may dispense it at will” (De Aquaed).
Mary is the Hope of Sinners
One of the titles, which is the most encouraging to poor sinners and under which the Church teaches us to invoke Mary in the Litany of Loreto, is that of “Refuge of Sinners.” Pope Innocent III states: “Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon, let him implore Mary.”
In Judea in ancient times there were cities of refuge, called sanctuaries, in which criminals who fled there for protection were exempt from the punishments which they had deserved. Nowadays such cities are a rarity―there there is still one that exists, and that is Mary, of whom the Psalmist says: “Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God!” (Psalm 86:3).
But this city Mary differs from the ancient ones in this respect—in those cities of old, not all kinds of criminals could find refuge, nor was the protection extended to every class of crime. Yet under the mantle of Mary, all sinners, without exception, find refuge for every sin that they may have committed, provided only that they go there to seek out this protection. St. John Damascene, in the name of our Queen, puts these words into Mary’s mouth: “I am the city of refuge to all who fly to me!” The prophet Jeremias says: “Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there!” (Jeremias 8:14). This city, says St. Albert the Great, is the most holy Virgin fenced in with grace and glory, adding: “And let us be silent there, because we dare not invoke the Lord, whom we have offended, she will invoke and ask!” For if we do not presume to ask Our Lord to forgive us, it will suffice to enter this city and be silent, for Mary will speak and ask all that we require.
And for this reason, a devout author exhorts all sinners to take refuge under the mantle of Mary, exclaiming, “Fly, O Adam and Eve, and all you their children, who have outraged God; fly, and take refuge in the bosom of this good mother; know you not that she is our only city of refuge?” (B. Fernandes in Gen. c 3, s. 22) “the only hope of sinners” (Serm. 194, E. B. app.), as she is also called in a sermon by an ancient writer, found in the works of St. Augustine.
St. Ephrem, addressing this Blessed Virgin, says, “Thou art the only advocate of sinners, and of all who are unprotected.” And then he salutes her in the following words: “Hail, refuge and hospital of sinners!”—true refuge, in which alone they can hope for reception and liberty. St. Basil of Seleucia remarks, “that if God granted to some who were only his servants such power, that not only their touch, but even their shadows healed the sick, who were placed for this purpose in the public streets, how much greater power must we suppose that he has granted to her who was not only his handmaid but his Mother?” We may indeed say that Our Lord has given us Mary as a public infirmary, in which all who are sick, poor, and destitute can be received. But now I ask, in hospitals erected expressly for the poor, who have the greatest claim to admission? Certainly the most infirm, and those who are in the greatest need.
Noe’s Ark was a true figure of Mary; for as in it all kinds of beasts were saved, so under the mantle of Mary all sinners, who by their vices and sensuality are already like beasts, find refuge; but with this difference, as a pious author remarks, that “while the brutes that entered the ark remained brutes, the wolf remaining a wolf, and a tiger a tiger—under the mantle of Mary, on the other hand, the wolf becomes a lamb, and the tiger a dove.” One day St. Gertrude saw Mary with her mantle open, and under it there were many wild beasts of different kinds—leopards, lions, and bears; and she saw that not only our Blessed Lady did not drive them away, but that she welcomed and caressed them with her benign hand. The saint understood that these wild beasts were miserable sinners, who are welcomed by Mary with sweetness and love the moment they had recourse to her. For this reason should any one find himself devoid of merit and overwhelmed with spiritual infirmities, that is to say, sin, he can thus address Mary: “O Lady, thou art the refuge of the sick poor: reject me not; for as I am the poorest and the most infirm of all, I have the greatest right to be welcomed by thee!”
Let us then cry out with St. Thomas of Vallanova, “O Mary, we poor sinners know no other refuge than thee, for thou art our only hope, and on thee we rely for our salvation!” St. Bonaventure, in order to revive the confidence of sinners in the protection of Mary, places before them the picture of a tempestuous sea, into which sinners have already fallen from the ship of divine grace; they are already dashed about on every side by remorse of conscience and by fear of the judgments of God; they are without light or guide, and are on the point of losing the last breath of hope and falling into despair; then it is that Our Lord, pointing out Mary to them, who is commonly called the “Star of the Sea,” raises his voice and says, “O poor lost sinners, despair not; raise up your eyes, and cast them on this beautiful star; breathe again with confidence, for it will save you from this tempest, and will guide you into the port of salvation” (“Psal. B. V. ps. 18). St. Bernard says the same thing: “If thou wouldst not be lost in the tempest, cast thine eyes on the star, and invoke Mary.”
The 16th century mystic and spiritual writer Blosius (Abbot Louis de Blois, O.S.B.) declares that “she is the only refuge of those who have offended God, the asylum of all who are oppressed by temptation, calamity, or persecution. This Mother is all mercy, benignity, and sweetness, not only to the just, but also to despairing sinners; so that no sooner does she perceive them coming to her, and seeking her health from their hearts, than she aids them, welcomes them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She does not know how to despise anyone, however unworthy he may be of mercy, and therefore denies her protection to none. She consoles all, and is no sooner called upon, than she helps whoever it may be that invokes her. She by her sweetness often awakens and draws sinners to her devotion who are the most at enmity with God and the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of sin; and then, by the same means, she excites them effectually, and prepares them for grace, and thus renders them fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. God has created this his beloved daughter of so compassionate and sweet a disposition, that no one can fear to have recourse to her.” Blosius concludes in these words: “It is impossible for anyone to perish who attentively, and with humility, cultivates devotion towards this divine Mother.”
No Mary? No Hope! No Chance!
Hence it is that great saints insist that without Mary we have no hope of salvation. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Ask anyone to define hope and you will most likely leave them scratching their head! We all “kind of” know what words mean―but when asked to define them, we often falter and fail. Do you have to define hope in order to have it? No―but it helps. You can have disease without knowing much about it―but it helps if you do know something about it―for then you have an increased hope of overcoming it. Speaking of knowledge―hope has to be based on knowledge, knowledge must precede hope, like a branch precedes a leaf or a fruit, or like the trunk of a tree precedes the branches of a tree. You cannot have hope without knowing what you are hoping for or hoping in or who you are hoping in!
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, tells us: “An appropriate symbol for the theological virtues is a living tree. Faith is the root, Hope is the trunk, and charity is the fruit. The root and trunk are valueless if they do not find completion in the fruit.” (Chapter 41: The Theological Virtues). Hence St. Thomas states: “Absolutely speaking, Faith precedes Hope … The act of hope presupposes the act of Faith … An act of Faith is expressed in the act of Hope.” In other words, Faith precedes Hope, it comes before Hope―for you cannot hope in what you do not know.
St. Thomas Aquinas defines hope as seeking “a future good, difficult but possible to attain ... by means of the Divine Assistance ... on Whose help it leans … Hope, to obtain happiness, does not flow from our merits, but from grace alone.” As a short digression or an aside―Our Lord indirectly links into hope by saying: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), which refers to the “Divine Assistance on Whose help it leans” part of St. Thomas’ definition. We need the help of Christ, without Whom we can do nothing. Without His help, there is no real hope.
That is why Holy Scripture also says: “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28). “Trust not in a prince!” (Micheas 7:5). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “Never trust thy enemy!” (Ecclesiasticus 12:10). “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). “The hope of the hypocrite shall perish!” (Job 8:13). “Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men … and He knew what was in man” (John 2:24). “Let him not trust in any brother of his―for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully” (Jeremias 9:4). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). Neither should we trust in evil methods and means: “Trust not in iniquity!” (Psalm 61:11). “You put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you!” (Jeremias 7:8). “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4). “Trust not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Hope in the “New God on the Block”
Today, many―if not most―place their hopes and trust in the new god of science! This is becoming all the more evident since the arrival of the “new god on the block” ― Artificial Intelligence (AI). People seem to more reliant upon science than God. Science will overcome the pandemic! Science will lead to a longer life! Science will guide you and tell you what to do! Science will save your life! Trust science! Hope in science! Follow the science! How many times have not heard catchphrase during this Plannedemic: “Follow the science!” ― and that has been coming out of the mouths of many churchmen!
It is easy to “buy into the hype” and put one’s hopes and trust in this “new god on the block” ― but Holy Scripture counsels otherwise: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalm 19:8). “They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!” (Isaias 40:31). “In Thee, O my God, I put my trust!” (Psalm 24:2). “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust!” (Psalm 17:3). “I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened!” (Psalm 25:1). “O Lord my God, in Thee have I put my trust! Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me!” (Psalm 7:2). “In God I have put my trust! I will not fear what flesh can do against me!” (Psalm 55:5). “Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put my trust in Thee!” (Psalm 15:1). “Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him!” (Job 13:15). “They trust in their weapons and in their boldness―but we trust in the Almighty Lord, Who, at a beck, can utterly destroy both them that come against us and the whole world!” (2 Machabees 8:18). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Hope for victory from the Almighty!” (2 Machabees 15:8). “‘I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword―but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put thy trust in Me!’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 39:18).
Hopes on Target―Hopes Missing the Target
Just as they say: “Tell me what read and I will tell you what you are!” or “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” ― likewise, you could also say: “Tell what your hopes are and I will tell you what you are!” Holy Scripture indirectly echoes this when it says: “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Similarly, the worldly person will mainly have worldly hopes and goals―whereas the spiritual person will mainly have spiritual hopes and goals.
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, explains: “Hope directs the will to its supernatural last end―as to something that requires effort and cooperation with grace, but as something attainable. Virtue is a word formed from the Latin ‘virtus’ ― which means power or strength or valor or manliness. ‘Do ye manfully and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!’ (Psalm 30:25). Hope is the virtue by which we firmly trust that God―Who is all-powerful and faithful to His promises―will, in His mercy, give us eternal happiness and the means to obtain it. God promised to give man eternal life, and the means to obtain it. In this promise is our hope. ‘He that putteth his trust in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess My holy mount’ (Isaias 57:13). Hope is necessary for salvation. Our hope must be firmly founded in God, Who Promised to give us the means for salvation. Such firm hope, however, would not exclude reasonable fear of the loss of our soul. Very often we fall far short of the proper use of the means of salvation granted us.”
Hope Is Not “Easy-Street”
It is probably unlikely―or perhaps certainly unlikely―that many souls are living in true Hope. Most Catholics tend to gravitate to one extreme or the other―that is to say, they lean towards Presumption, or they lean towards Despair. True Hope primarily relies upon God―but it also acknowledges that we must cooperate with God with our own feeble efforts. St. Augustine―a Father and Doctor of the Church―tells us that “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us!” Some translate the Latin into the singular: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you!” In other words, God created you without your cooperation, but God will not save you without your cooperation.
The Dominican theologian, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964), one of the greatest theologians of our times, writes:
“The theological virtue of Hope makes us to desire Heaven as something which can really be attained through God’s grace and our effort – this is what merit is, our cooperation with God’s grace. Now, the virtue of Hope has two opposing vices―they are mutually opposed one to the other, and both are opposed to Hope. The deficiency of Hope is called Despair, the excess of Hope is called Presumption―though, it is true, in one respect there is no “excess” properly so-called, since the Divine Mercy is in itself infinite, and cannot be hoped in too much.
“It is probably easier for us to recognize what Despair is and how it differs from Hope. Despair can either be of God or of ourselves – either, we do not believe that God is strong or loving enough to save us, or we do not believe that we can be converted. Despair is to abandon Heaven, as something which is unattainable. Like Hope, Despair is not an emotion or a feeling – Despair (together with Hope and Presumption) is the result of a choice which a man makes. Depression or hard times do not lead to Despair – the only thing which leads to Despair is the choice to abandon Hope. This is surely a terrible sin.
“And then there is the vice of Presumption. It is probably more difficult for us to recognize what exactly constitutes Presumption. On the one hand, we know that Hope is supposed to be certain and sure – how, then, can we have an “excess” of Hope? If Hope is already 100% certain, how can Presumption go beyond the proper boundaries and make us too hopeful?
“The truth is that the sin of Presumption (like that of Despair) can be twofold: The first form of Presumption is when we presume either on God or on ourselves. To presume upon ourselves is to believe that we can attain to Heaven by our own powers ― it is to put our hope in “horse and chariot” (i.e. in our own abilities) rather than in the Name of the Lord (cf. Psalm 19:8). This sort of Presumption will usually lead to Despair, since it will eventually become clear that our own powers will not save us.
“The second form of Presumption is the worse. It is to presume upon God’s Mercy as being opposed to the Divine Justice. This is the sin of Presumption whereby a man admits that he is a sinner and does not have any right to Heaven (nor any means of getting to Heaven, by his own powers), but then simply considers the Divine Mercy and ignores the demands of Divine Justice. This is a very prevalent sin in our day. A man who sins by presuming upon God, will say something like this: ‘Sure, I know that I am a sinner, but I am certain that God will save me anyway!’ To think that God will save us and forgive us even if we do not convert, is to commit the sin of Presumption. There are some things God cannot do: He cannot make a rock so big that He can’t lift it, He cannot forgive an unrepentant sinner, and He cannot make someone who dies in mortal sin to go to Heaven.
“Hope, on the other hand, takes the mean between Despair and Presumption. Theological Hope admits that God’s mercy is omnipotent and that the Good Lord desires our salvation―in fact, He desires it even more than we do―but Hope then also admits that God’s Mercy works in us to bring about, not only our salvation, but also our conversion ― such that, without conversion, there can be no salvation. Hope admits that we are sinners, but also admits that God’s grace is sufficient to bring about true contrition and conversion in our souls.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange).
Why Can’t We Hope Like the Protestants Hope?
For many Protestants, hope is the absolute certitude of being saved―no matter what! Once you accept Jesus as your Savior―you are guaranteed salvation regardless of what you might do in the future. That would be wonderful, huh? Nothing more to worry about! Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange answers: “But isn’t Hope certain? How can Hope be certain, if we know that the Protestants are wrong to say, ‘Once saved, always saved’? Here we see another important aspect in which Christian Hope differs from Protestant Presumption―Theological Hope, being contrary to the Protestant errors, does not so much make us certain that we are to be saved, but rather makes us to be certain that we are on the path of salvation. Christian Hope tells us that, if only we continue in the life of virtue―especially in the life of Charity―then we will most certainly be saved. Hope tells us that we are not yet saved, but that we will most certainly be saved if only we do not abandon the grace which God continues to give us. Hope assures us that the grace of Christ will be with us to the end, if only we continue to cooperate with that grace.
“In other words, by certain Hope we do not yet have the certitude of our future salvation―which is not revealed to us, for that we would need a special revelation―but that we certainly tend toward salvation, under the infallible direction of Faith and according to the promises of God […] Therefore, the certitude of Christian Hope is not the certitude of salvation, but it is the firmest kind of certitude that we are tending toward salvation.
“From this admirable doctrine it follows that Christian Hope should have two qualities or properties: it should be laborious to avoid the Presumption―which expects the divine reward without working for it; and it should be firm, invincible―to avoid discouragement.” (by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Hoping Against Hope―Hoping Against Despair
The way that things have been and still are unfolding in the world these days is a cause for much concern and much sadness. There are two ways of looking at the same thing―one is from a positive perspective, the other is from a negative perspective―as they say: “Some see the glass as being half-full, while others see the glass as being half-empty.” St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Hope causes joy! … Hope is the certain expectation of future happiness.” We easily understand the opposite―where there is no hope, there is sadness and sorrow―“Be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope!” (1 Thessalonians 4:12). “Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not fallen from his hope!” (Ecclesiasticus 14:2). But what is our hope? Who is our hope? Today we hope too much in man and man-made solutions and not enough in God and Heaven sent solutions!
Who or What to Trust and Hope In?
“Trust not in iniquity!” (Psalm 61:11). “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4). “Trust not in riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “Trust not in a prince! … It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Micheas 7:5; Psalm 117:9). “Let him not trust in any brother of his!” (Jeremias 9:4). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me” (Psalm 43:7). “Trust not thyself! … We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28; 2 Corinthians 1:9).
“The hope of the hypocrite shall perish … His hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down!” (Job 8:13; 40:28). “For his hope vain earth!” (Wisdom 15:10). “The hope of the wicked shall perish!” (Proverbs 10:28). “The hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind!” (Wisdom 5:15). “The hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter’s ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water” (Wisdom 16:29).
“What is my hope? Is it not the Lord?” (Psalm 38:8). “Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 30:25). “If thou lose hope by being weary in the day of distress, then thy strength shall be diminished” (Proverbs 24:10). “Hope in God!” (Psalm 42:6). “He is a shield to them that hope in Him!” (Proverbs 30:5). “For Thou hast been my hope―a tower of strength against the face of the enemy!” (Psalm 60:4). “Many shall see, and shall fear―and they shall hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 39:4). “In the shadow of Thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away” (Psalm 56:2). “A tree hath hope―if it be cut, it groweth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout!” (Job 14:7). “After darkness I hope for light again!” (Job 17:12). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Let all them be glad that hope in Thee! They shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them! And all they that love Thy Name shall glory in Thee!” (Psalm 5:12).
Hoping With Our Lady and Hoping Through Our Lady
In this modern day and age, God has willed that we should place our Hope in Our Lady―or rather, that we should Hope in God through Our Lady and with Our Lady. In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady revealed: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence [hope] in me, will be saved.” If you have problems with Akita―then Our Lady said much the same thing at Fatima, 56 years earlier: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
Speaking of Our Lady’s virtue of Hope, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Her Hope, by which she tended to the possession of God Whom she did not as yet fully possess, was a perfect confidence and trust which relied, not on self, but on the Divine Mercy and omnipotence. It was, therefore, a sure Hope!… It was increased also by the fact that Mary was confirmed in grace and preserved free from every shortcoming ― lack of confidence as well as presumption. Some of the occasions for the exercise of Hope in Mary’s life spring at once to the mind. She exercised it when, yet a child, she awaited the coming of the Messias and the salvation of all peoples; again, when she awaited the time that the secret of the virginal conception would be revealed to St. Joseph; again, when she fled into Egypt; again ― and most of all ― when on Calvary all seemed lost, but she awaited the victory which her Son had foretold He would win over death. Finally, her confidence, her unshaken Hope, sustained the Apostles in their ceaseless labors for the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of the pagan world.”
Holy Mother Church has chosen the following passage from Holy Scripture, as one of the readings in the Masses of Our Lady―it is full of hope: “I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded; and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24-31). This reading is found in the Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), the Mass of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th). It can be summed-up by the above quotes of Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence [hope] in me, will be saved!” … “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!”
Words of Our Lady on Hope
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, found in The Mystical City of God, Our speaks of the virtue of Hope in the following words:
“As with two indefatigable wings, my spirit raised its flight, by means of Faith and Hope, toward the endless and the highest good, until it rested in union with God through intimate and perfect love. Many times I tasted and enjoyed the clear vision and fruition of Him; but, as these blessings were not continuous in my state of pilgrimage, I supplied their place by the exercise of Faith and Hope. They remained with me during my visions and fruitions and immediately became active during their absence, preventing any cessation in my high aspirations. The effects of these virtues―the love, the efforts and the desires which they excited in my soul toward the possession of the eternal fruition of God―cannot be adequately comprehended by the created mind in its present limited state, but they shall be known in God and cause eternal praise in those who will be worthy to see Him in Heaven.
“Having received such great enlightenment concerning the excellence of this virtue and the works which I practiced by its help, thou shouldst work, without ceasing, to imitate me according to the assistance of divine grace. Renew continually and confer within thyself the promises of the Most High and, with unshaken confidence in their divine truthfulness, raise thy heart to ardent desires and longings for their attainment. In this firm Hope thou canst assure thyself of arriving through the merits of my most holy Son, at the blessed cohabitation in the celestial fatherland, and at the companionship of all those who there see, in immortal glory, the face of the Most High. With the help of Hope thou canst raise thy heart above earthly things and fix thy mind upon the immutable Good, to which thou aspires. All visible things will appear to thee burdensome and disagreeable, and thou wilt esteem them as vile and contemptible; nothing wilt thou strive after except that most lovable and delightful object of thy desires. In my soul there was an ardor of Hope, such as is possible only to those who have apprehended its object in Faith and tasted it by experience; no tongue and no words can describe or express its intensity.
“Besides this, in order to spur thee on still more, consider and deplore with heartfelt sorrow the unhappiness of so many souls who are images of God and capable of His glory, and who, through their own fault, are deprived of the true hope of enjoying it. If the children of the Holy Church would pause in their vain occupations and would take time to consider and weigh the blessings of unerring Faith and Hope―which separates them from darkness and which, without their merit, distinguishes them from the followers of blind unbelief―then they would, without doubt, be ashamed of their torpid forgetfulness and repudiate their vile ingratitude. But let them be undeceived―for most terrible punishments await them; they are most detestable in the sight of God and the saints, because they despise the Precious Blood shed by Christ for the very purpose of gaining them these blessings. As if all were only a fiction, they treat with contempt the blessings of truth, rushing about during their whole life without spending even one day―and many of them not even an hour―in the consideration of their duties and of their danger. Weep, O soul, over this lamentable evil, and according to thy power work and pray for its extirpation through my most holy Son. Believe me that whatever exertion and attempt thou makest toward this purpose shall be rewarded by his Majesty.”
Hoping for the Impossible
With every passing year, our hopes seem to grow more and more unlikely, even impossible! We hope for a return to spiritual and theological sanity in the Church! It seems impossible! We hope for a stop and a reversal to the totalitarian takeover of the world today! It seems impossible! We hope for the conversion of the USA to Catholicism! It seems impossible! We hope for an end to abortion! It seems impossible! We hope for a reversal of divorce laws! It seems impossible! We hope for a reversal of LGBT legislation! It seems impossible! You could add hundreds, even thousands, of similar hopes to those―and all of them seem impossible!
Where is your Faith? Do you not know that you serve in the army of the God of Impossibility? Our God is a God of Miracles, a God of the Impossible and a God of Impossible Miracles! As Holy Scripture says: “And Jesus looking on them, saith: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27).
Mary the Mother of the Possible Impossibles
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book, The Glories of Mary, writes: “I consider it is indubitably so―that all graces are dispensed by Mary, and that all, who are saved, are saved only by the means of this divine Mother. It is a necessary consequence that the salvation of all depends upon preaching Mary, and exciting all to confidence in her intercession … Mary is a Queen―but, for our common consolation, be it known that she is a Queen so sweet, clement, and so ready to help us in our miseries, that the holy Church wills that we should salute her in the prayer, Salve Regina, under the title of Queen of Mercy. Mary, although a Queen, is not a Queen of Justice, intent on the punishment of the wicked, but a Queen of Mercy, intent only on commiserating and pardoning sinners. And this is the reason for which the Church requires that we should expressly call her ‘the Queen of Mercy’. When the Blessed Virgin conceived the Eternal Word in her womb, and brought Him forth, she obtained half the kingdom of God―so that she is Queen of Mercy, as Jesus is King of Justice …
“This was revealed by our Blessed Lady herself to St. Bridget, saying: ‘I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the door through which sinners are brought to God. There is no sinner on Earth so accursed as to be deprived of my mercy; for all, if they receive nothing else through my intercession, receive the grace of being less tempted by the devils than they would otherwise have been! No one, unless the irrevocable sentence has been pronounced (that is, the one pronounced upon the damned), is so cast off by God that he will not return to Him, and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid! I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of my Son towards men has made me thus merciful towards them! Therefore, miserable will he be, and miserable will he be to all eternity, who, in this life, having it in his power to invoke me―who am so compassionate to all, and so desirous to assist sinners―is miserable enough not to invoke me, and so is damned!’”
Mary is Our Hope
In the prayer, Salve Regina, we pray: “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope…!” Protestants would reject the notion that Mary is our hope―they protest that God alone is our hope! They will quote the words of the prophet Jeremias, who warns that God will curse those who hope in anything but Him: “Cursed be the man that trusteth [hopes] in man! … Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence [hope]” (Jeremias 17:5-7).
St. Thomas Aquinas, says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways: as a principal cause, and as an intermediate one. We do this all the time―and so do Protestants―when our car breaks down, we hope the mechanic can fix it, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). When you or a loved one is sick, you (and even the Protestant) turn to the doctor for a cure, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” When you are short of money, you (and even the Protestant) ask a friend or the bank for a loan, even though Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” God’s Divine Providence has provided mechanics, doctors and charitable people to help us in our need. Our Lord even did the same with the ten lepers, who came to Him asking for a cure: “And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus, master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean” (Luke 17:12-13).
Those who place their hopes in creatures alone―independently of God, as pagans and sinners do, and in order to obtain the friendship and favor of a man―fear not to outrage his divine Majesty, and are most certainly cursed by God, as the prophet Jeremias says. But those who hope in Mary, as Mother of God―who is able to obtain graces and eternal life for them―are truly blessed and acceptable to the heart of God, who desires to see that greatest of His creatures―Mary―is honored; for she loved and honored Him in this world more than all men and angels put together. It is, then, not without reason that the holy Church, in the words of Ecclesiasticus, called Mary the Mother of holy Hope (Ecclesiasticus 24:24). She is the mother who gives birth to holy hope in our hearts; not to the hope of the vain and transitory goods of this life, but of the immense and eternal goods of Heaven.
And therefore we rightly and reasonably call the Blessed Virgin “our hope”―trusting, as the Cardinal of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine says, “that we shall obtain, through her intercession, that which we should not obtain by our own unaided prayers.” The renowned and learned theologian Suarez says: “We pray to her in order that the dignity of the intercessor may supply for our own unworthiness; so that to implore the Blessed Virgin in such a spirit, is not mistrust in the mercy of God, but a fear of our own unworthiness.”
“Hail, then, O hope of my soul!” exclaims St. Ephrem, addressing this divine Mother; “Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” (De Laud. Dei Gen.). Other saints remind us, that after God, our only hope is Mary; and therefore they call her, “after God, their only hope” (Cant. p. Psalt).
St. Ephrem, referring to the present order of Providence, by which God wills that all who are saved should be saved by the means of Mary, thus addresses her: “O Lady, cease not to watch over us; preserve and guard us under the wings of thy compassion and mercy―for, after God, we have no hope but in thee! … Hail, then, O hope of my soul! Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” (De Laud. Dei Gen.). St. Thomas of Villanova repeats the same thing, calling her “our only refuge, help, and asylum” (In Nat. B. V. Conc. 3). St. Bernard seems to give the reason for this when he says, “See, O man, the designs of God,—designs by which he is able to dispense his mercy more abundantly to us; for, desiring to redeem the whole human race, he has placed the whole price of redemption in the hands of Mary, that she may dispense it at will” (De Aquaed).
Mary is the Hope of Sinners
One of the titles, which is the most encouraging to poor sinners and under which the Church teaches us to invoke Mary in the Litany of Loreto, is that of “Refuge of Sinners.” Pope Innocent III states: “Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon, let him implore Mary.”
In Judea in ancient times there were cities of refuge, called sanctuaries, in which criminals who fled there for protection were exempt from the punishments which they had deserved. Nowadays such cities are a rarity―there there is still one that exists, and that is Mary, of whom the Psalmist says: “Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God!” (Psalm 86:3).
But this city Mary differs from the ancient ones in this respect—in those cities of old, not all kinds of criminals could find refuge, nor was the protection extended to every class of crime. Yet under the mantle of Mary, all sinners, without exception, find refuge for every sin that they may have committed, provided only that they go there to seek out this protection. St. John Damascene, in the name of our Queen, puts these words into Mary’s mouth: “I am the city of refuge to all who fly to me!” The prophet Jeremias says: “Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there!” (Jeremias 8:14). This city, says St. Albert the Great, is the most holy Virgin fenced in with grace and glory, adding: “And let us be silent there, because we dare not invoke the Lord, whom we have offended, she will invoke and ask!” For if we do not presume to ask Our Lord to forgive us, it will suffice to enter this city and be silent, for Mary will speak and ask all that we require.
And for this reason, a devout author exhorts all sinners to take refuge under the mantle of Mary, exclaiming, “Fly, O Adam and Eve, and all you their children, who have outraged God; fly, and take refuge in the bosom of this good mother; know you not that she is our only city of refuge?” (B. Fernandes in Gen. c 3, s. 22) “the only hope of sinners” (Serm. 194, E. B. app.), as she is also called in a sermon by an ancient writer, found in the works of St. Augustine.
St. Ephrem, addressing this Blessed Virgin, says, “Thou art the only advocate of sinners, and of all who are unprotected.” And then he salutes her in the following words: “Hail, refuge and hospital of sinners!”—true refuge, in which alone they can hope for reception and liberty. St. Basil of Seleucia remarks, “that if God granted to some who were only his servants such power, that not only their touch, but even their shadows healed the sick, who were placed for this purpose in the public streets, how much greater power must we suppose that he has granted to her who was not only his handmaid but his Mother?” We may indeed say that Our Lord has given us Mary as a public infirmary, in which all who are sick, poor, and destitute can be received. But now I ask, in hospitals erected expressly for the poor, who have the greatest claim to admission? Certainly the most infirm, and those who are in the greatest need.
Noe’s Ark was a true figure of Mary; for as in it all kinds of beasts were saved, so under the mantle of Mary all sinners, who by their vices and sensuality are already like beasts, find refuge; but with this difference, as a pious author remarks, that “while the brutes that entered the ark remained brutes, the wolf remaining a wolf, and a tiger a tiger—under the mantle of Mary, on the other hand, the wolf becomes a lamb, and the tiger a dove.” One day St. Gertrude saw Mary with her mantle open, and under it there were many wild beasts of different kinds—leopards, lions, and bears; and she saw that not only our Blessed Lady did not drive them away, but that she welcomed and caressed them with her benign hand. The saint understood that these wild beasts were miserable sinners, who are welcomed by Mary with sweetness and love the moment they had recourse to her. For this reason should any one find himself devoid of merit and overwhelmed with spiritual infirmities, that is to say, sin, he can thus address Mary: “O Lady, thou art the refuge of the sick poor: reject me not; for as I am the poorest and the most infirm of all, I have the greatest right to be welcomed by thee!”
Let us then cry out with St. Thomas of Vallanova, “O Mary, we poor sinners know no other refuge than thee, for thou art our only hope, and on thee we rely for our salvation!” St. Bonaventure, in order to revive the confidence of sinners in the protection of Mary, places before them the picture of a tempestuous sea, into which sinners have already fallen from the ship of divine grace; they are already dashed about on every side by remorse of conscience and by fear of the judgments of God; they are without light or guide, and are on the point of losing the last breath of hope and falling into despair; then it is that Our Lord, pointing out Mary to them, who is commonly called the “Star of the Sea,” raises his voice and says, “O poor lost sinners, despair not; raise up your eyes, and cast them on this beautiful star; breathe again with confidence, for it will save you from this tempest, and will guide you into the port of salvation” (“Psal. B. V. ps. 18). St. Bernard says the same thing: “If thou wouldst not be lost in the tempest, cast thine eyes on the star, and invoke Mary.”
The 16th century mystic and spiritual writer Blosius (Abbot Louis de Blois, O.S.B.) declares that “she is the only refuge of those who have offended God, the asylum of all who are oppressed by temptation, calamity, or persecution. This Mother is all mercy, benignity, and sweetness, not only to the just, but also to despairing sinners; so that no sooner does she perceive them coming to her, and seeking her health from their hearts, than she aids them, welcomes them, and obtains their pardon from her Son. She does not know how to despise anyone, however unworthy he may be of mercy, and therefore denies her protection to none. She consoles all, and is no sooner called upon, than she helps whoever it may be that invokes her. She by her sweetness often awakens and draws sinners to her devotion who are the most at enmity with God and the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of sin; and then, by the same means, she excites them effectually, and prepares them for grace, and thus renders them fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. God has created this his beloved daughter of so compassionate and sweet a disposition, that no one can fear to have recourse to her.” Blosius concludes in these words: “It is impossible for anyone to perish who attentively, and with humility, cultivates devotion towards this divine Mother.”
No Mary? No Hope! No Chance!
Hence it is that great saints insist that without Mary we have no hope of salvation. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
► ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
► ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
► ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
► ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
► ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday April 27th & Wednesday April 28th
Article 13
Resurrect Your Faith, or Bury It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday April 27th & Wednesday April 28th
Article 13
Resurrect Your Faith, or Bury It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Are You a Faithful Pushover?
Even a lukewarm Catholic should be able to see that the Faith is under attack today in a way that indicates things are going to get a lot worse as time goes on. Our Lady could say: “I told you so!” ― for she has been warning us of these times for a long time now! As the proverb goes: “Forewarned is forearmed!” But are we armed? Have we taken notice of the warnings? Have we been strengthening our Faith? Are we “walking the walk” of the Faith―or are were merely “talking the talk” of the Faith? Perhaps we know our Faith so little that we can’t even “talk the talk”!
Our Faith―even though it is not the most important of the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―it is nevertheless the most fundamental of them, it is the foundation of them, it is the beginning of them. Faith is essentially about knowing about God and then believing what God reveals to us. Without knowledge about God, we cannot hope in God, nor can we love God―you cannot love what you do not know. How can you say you love a particular person, place or thing if you have not seen it and know nothing about it?
God wants everyone to have the Faith: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). For “without Faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). “How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of whom they have not heard? … Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17). Are you listening? Are you watching? No―not the television or the internet―but the things of Faith! “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13).
Are You Full of Faith, or Full of What?
Today’s faithful and not full of Faith―they are full of other things! “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak!” (1 John 4:5). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). Most of the faithful are not full of Faith―but full of the world, which Holy Scripture “dung”: “His glory is full of dung!” (1 Machabees 2:62) and St. Paul, in speaking of these things of the world, adds: “I count all things to be but a loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8).
Our Lord has essentially told us to put our Faith first: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―for where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice [meaning: what is owed to Him], and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:33).
Heaven Impossible Without Faith
“This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). You cannot be saved without Faith: “You are saved through Faith!” (Ephesians 2:8), but Faith is a seed that should grow and produce fruits: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that for the virtue of Faith to be operative―to be living and active―it must be suffused with Charity. Hence, it is often said that “Charity is the form of Faith” or Charity is soul of Faith. When Charity―which is the grace, love, and friendship of God―is not in the soul, Faith is not operative; it is lifeless; it is without its activating form or soul. Such Faith is called formless. You could also call it a “soulless Faith” or a “lifeless Faith”. Thus, when a person commits a mortal sin, and so deprives his soul of Charity and sanctifying grace―he does not lose the Faith, but he makes it powerless to get him on to Heaven; he makes the Faith in him “formless.” Lifeless or formless Faith is not a virtue and will not get a person to Heaven. It would not be a rash judgment to estimate that most Catholics today have a formless, lifeless, soulless Faith―because they are in a state of mortal sin. Heck! That has been the case through all the centuries―since the saints tell us that most souls are lost!
The ‘Faith’ of the Devil
Such a formless, lifeless, soulless Faith is the kind of Faith the devils have―St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “‘The devils also believe and tremble!’ (James 2:19). Faith, which is a gift of grace, inclines man to believe, by giving him a certain affection for the good, even when that faith is lifeless. Consequently the faith which the demons have, is not a gift of grace. Rather are they compelled to believe through their natural intellectual acumen. The demons are, in a way, compelled to believe, by the evidence of signs, and so their will deserves no praise for their belief. The very fact that the signs of Faith are so evident that the demons are compelled to believe, is displeasing to them, so that their malice is by no means diminished by their belief.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 5, art. 2).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “I have never, in my 45,000 exorcisms, come across a devil who does not believe in God. Believing doesn’t mean anything; instead, it is necessary to do what Jesus has told us to do!”
You could, in a funny sort of way, say that the Faith to the demons is like pesky mosquito that won’t go away and perpetually stings them! They furiously take swipes at it in order to try and crush it―but it just won’t go away! Those swipes at the Faith include trying to destroy the Faith in us―“Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16). Sadly, the “shield of Faith” of most people has lots of holes in it―and the “fiery darts of the most wicked one” are all too easily finding their way through!
Little Faith―Little Hope―Little Chance of Salvation
The exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows ... In this terrible retreat of the Faith, when we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... Exorcism is a prayer. Like all the prayers, it is the more efficacious the stronger the Faith is. Faith has a fundamental importance … Every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God ...
“Today, priests in general believe very little in the extraordinary action of Satan … and in the seminaries the devil’s existence is ignored. I would say that 99% of bishops do not believe in the extraordinary action of the devil! … Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Now we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society ...
“The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress.”
Satan Enters Through Doors of Lukewarmness
Fr. Gabriele Amorth also warned against half-heartedness, or lukewarmness, which he says is the most formidable diabolical trap―and you have to say that most Catholics have fallen into that trap. The remedies, he says, have been known for 2,000 years: “Humility, Faith, prayer (the Rosary), frequenting the Sacraments―the Holy Mass, the Sacrament of Confession―living a Christian life in conformity with the Gospel, doing works of charity and forgiving our enemies. The more we fight Satan, the more he is afraid of us!”
Lukewarmness, in a sense, makes God ‘sick” and causes Him to “throw-up” ― “Because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold, nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16). Fr. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), commenting on that disgusting phrase of Scripture in his book, Growth In Holiness, writes: “This passage is without any parallel in Scripture. God not only prefers coldness, but He rejects tepidity. It turns Him sick who is eternal love. The charity of the Heart of Jesus, our only home, cannot retain us. His disgust is too strong for Him to resist it; and He rejects us with an unconquerable nausea which even redeeming love cannot temper or allay. It is a most awful figure, and one which, but for His own word, we should not dare to have mentioned in the same breath with His adorable majesty. How much He must have meant to teach us by the singularity of that terrific language! Now God is infinitely just, therefore His hatred of this state cannot be too great. It is not in His majesty to exaggerate. But He is also infinitely forbearing, so that His punishment must be, if anything, short of its horrible deserts. What then must its real horror be? But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him secondhand. Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy. It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly. It profanes grace by the indifference with which it misuses it. It takes it as a right, and misapplies it, as a dishonest man spends money on purposes for which it was not trusted to him. It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do. It were better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart!”
The Spiritual Disease That Favors Satan
Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, writes “Lukewarmness is a most dangerous spiritual disease … Lukewarmness is a spiritual malady that may attack beginners or even perfect souls, but which manifests itself especially in the course of the Illuminative Way. It presupposes, in fact, that a soul has already reached a certain degree of fervor, and that it gradually allows itself to become lax. Lukewarmness consists in a sort of spiritual languor which saps the energies of the will, inspires one with a horror for effort and thus leads to the decline of the Christian life. It is a kind of sluggishness, a species of torpor which, though not death as yet, insensibly leads to it through a gradual weakening of our moral forces. One may compare it to those slow-working diseases, such as consumption, which little by little prey upon some vital organ.”
Fr. Faber also describes lukewarmness as a spiritual malady of sickness: “The diseases and evils of the body are, as might be expected, seeing they are the immediate out-flowings of sin, in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all. It is usual to consider that this blindness is owing principally to three causes, (i) the frequency of venial sins, (ii) habitual dissipation of mind and (iii) the ruling passion (e.g. anger, or laziness, greed, gluttony, envy, pride, lust, etc.).”
Yes―as Fr. Tanquerey so rightly says, lukewarmness is malady, a spiritual disease―and everybody who has ever lost the Faith began that loss of Faith by contracting the spiritual disease of lukewarmness. Fr. Faber worryingly states: “I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!”
Pulling Out of the Dive
What are the remedies for this life-sapping, Faith-sapping disease of lukewarmness? If we don’t seek and apply those remedies, we will sooner or later placing our debilitated Faith into the tomb where countless souls have gone before us! As Fr. Faber says: “It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” There are innumerable souls pleasantly tingling with lukewarmness in the world today―totally oblivious as to where it will finally lead them!
Fr. Faber, though he paints a dire picture as regards the cure―he nevertheless puts forward some indispensible remedies that should be taken. Fr. Faber writes:
“A few words on its remedies, and the hateful subject may be dismissed. Its cure is immensely difficult; St. Bernard would make us almost despair of its being curable at all. Only, we made up our minds at the beginning to hold this all through, that nothing is incurable, though many things in the spiritual life are nearly so; and neither doctor, nor father, nor saint, but only the Pope, shall drive us from this doctrine. St. Bernard therefore will be satisfied if we say that its cure is immensely difficult, because all the Saints have said so, because the evil is unsuspected, because even the good is mixed with evil, because men do not realize the possible forfeiture of grace to keep precepts when they have been playing fast and loose with counsels, and because, as St. Teresa teaches, for some souls perfection is accidentally necessary even for their salvation! How absurd it seems to mention the feeble remedies!
“The first is to quicken faith by meditation on eternal truths, so as to possess our minds habitually with their overwhelming importance and their exacting purity.
“The second is, not having so many things to do. It is no use. The times are busy. But we cannot save our souls if we have so many things to do. But the remedy? Good soul! There are some knots in life which cannot be untied; the thing is to cut them, and leave the consequences to help themselves. If you have more duties to do than you can do well, you must boldly neglect some of them. Only have faith, and God will spirit the consequences away, so that you will see nothing more of them.
“The third remedy is the practice of silence, not in any offensive or singular way, but proportionably to our state of life.
“The fourth is to persevere in our spiritual exercises in spite of dryness and distractions;
“And the fifth, which is nearer a specific than any of the others, is a habit of mortification, not interior, but exterior. The interior will look out for itself when its time comes. Just now I want the flesh to suffer. If you turn away from this I give you up.”
Even a lukewarm Catholic should be able to see that the Faith is under attack today in a way that indicates things are going to get a lot worse as time goes on. Our Lady could say: “I told you so!” ― for she has been warning us of these times for a long time now! As the proverb goes: “Forewarned is forearmed!” But are we armed? Have we taken notice of the warnings? Have we been strengthening our Faith? Are we “walking the walk” of the Faith―or are were merely “talking the talk” of the Faith? Perhaps we know our Faith so little that we can’t even “talk the talk”!
Our Faith―even though it is not the most important of the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―it is nevertheless the most fundamental of them, it is the foundation of them, it is the beginning of them. Faith is essentially about knowing about God and then believing what God reveals to us. Without knowledge about God, we cannot hope in God, nor can we love God―you cannot love what you do not know. How can you say you love a particular person, place or thing if you have not seen it and know nothing about it?
God wants everyone to have the Faith: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). For “without Faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). “How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of whom they have not heard? … Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17). Are you listening? Are you watching? No―not the television or the internet―but the things of Faith! “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13).
Are You Full of Faith, or Full of What?
Today’s faithful and not full of Faith―they are full of other things! “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak!” (1 John 4:5). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). Most of the faithful are not full of Faith―but full of the world, which Holy Scripture “dung”: “His glory is full of dung!” (1 Machabees 2:62) and St. Paul, in speaking of these things of the world, adds: “I count all things to be but a loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8).
Our Lord has essentially told us to put our Faith first: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―for where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice [meaning: what is owed to Him], and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:33).
Heaven Impossible Without Faith
“This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). You cannot be saved without Faith: “You are saved through Faith!” (Ephesians 2:8), but Faith is a seed that should grow and produce fruits: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that for the virtue of Faith to be operative―to be living and active―it must be suffused with Charity. Hence, it is often said that “Charity is the form of Faith” or Charity is soul of Faith. When Charity―which is the grace, love, and friendship of God―is not in the soul, Faith is not operative; it is lifeless; it is without its activating form or soul. Such Faith is called formless. You could also call it a “soulless Faith” or a “lifeless Faith”. Thus, when a person commits a mortal sin, and so deprives his soul of Charity and sanctifying grace―he does not lose the Faith, but he makes it powerless to get him on to Heaven; he makes the Faith in him “formless.” Lifeless or formless Faith is not a virtue and will not get a person to Heaven. It would not be a rash judgment to estimate that most Catholics today have a formless, lifeless, soulless Faith―because they are in a state of mortal sin. Heck! That has been the case through all the centuries―since the saints tell us that most souls are lost!
The ‘Faith’ of the Devil
Such a formless, lifeless, soulless Faith is the kind of Faith the devils have―St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “‘The devils also believe and tremble!’ (James 2:19). Faith, which is a gift of grace, inclines man to believe, by giving him a certain affection for the good, even when that faith is lifeless. Consequently the faith which the demons have, is not a gift of grace. Rather are they compelled to believe through their natural intellectual acumen. The demons are, in a way, compelled to believe, by the evidence of signs, and so their will deserves no praise for their belief. The very fact that the signs of Faith are so evident that the demons are compelled to believe, is displeasing to them, so that their malice is by no means diminished by their belief.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 5, art. 2).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “I have never, in my 45,000 exorcisms, come across a devil who does not believe in God. Believing doesn’t mean anything; instead, it is necessary to do what Jesus has told us to do!”
You could, in a funny sort of way, say that the Faith to the demons is like pesky mosquito that won’t go away and perpetually stings them! They furiously take swipes at it in order to try and crush it―but it just won’t go away! Those swipes at the Faith include trying to destroy the Faith in us―“Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16). Sadly, the “shield of Faith” of most people has lots of holes in it―and the “fiery darts of the most wicked one” are all too easily finding their way through!
Little Faith―Little Hope―Little Chance of Salvation
The exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith ... Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows ... In this terrible retreat of the Faith, when we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... Exorcism is a prayer. Like all the prayers, it is the more efficacious the stronger the Faith is. Faith has a fundamental importance … Every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God ...
“Today, priests in general believe very little in the extraordinary action of Satan … and in the seminaries the devil’s existence is ignored. I would say that 99% of bishops do not believe in the extraordinary action of the devil! … Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Now we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society ...
“The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress.”
Satan Enters Through Doors of Lukewarmness
Fr. Gabriele Amorth also warned against half-heartedness, or lukewarmness, which he says is the most formidable diabolical trap―and you have to say that most Catholics have fallen into that trap. The remedies, he says, have been known for 2,000 years: “Humility, Faith, prayer (the Rosary), frequenting the Sacraments―the Holy Mass, the Sacrament of Confession―living a Christian life in conformity with the Gospel, doing works of charity and forgiving our enemies. The more we fight Satan, the more he is afraid of us!”
Lukewarmness, in a sense, makes God ‘sick” and causes Him to “throw-up” ― “Because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold, nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16). Fr. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), commenting on that disgusting phrase of Scripture in his book, Growth In Holiness, writes: “This passage is without any parallel in Scripture. God not only prefers coldness, but He rejects tepidity. It turns Him sick who is eternal love. The charity of the Heart of Jesus, our only home, cannot retain us. His disgust is too strong for Him to resist it; and He rejects us with an unconquerable nausea which even redeeming love cannot temper or allay. It is a most awful figure, and one which, but for His own word, we should not dare to have mentioned in the same breath with His adorable majesty. How much He must have meant to teach us by the singularity of that terrific language! Now God is infinitely just, therefore His hatred of this state cannot be too great. It is not in His majesty to exaggerate. But He is also infinitely forbearing, so that His punishment must be, if anything, short of its horrible deserts. What then must its real horror be? But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him secondhand. Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy. It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly. It profanes grace by the indifference with which it misuses it. It takes it as a right, and misapplies it, as a dishonest man spends money on purposes for which it was not trusted to him. It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do. It were better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart!”
The Spiritual Disease That Favors Satan
Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, writes “Lukewarmness is a most dangerous spiritual disease … Lukewarmness is a spiritual malady that may attack beginners or even perfect souls, but which manifests itself especially in the course of the Illuminative Way. It presupposes, in fact, that a soul has already reached a certain degree of fervor, and that it gradually allows itself to become lax. Lukewarmness consists in a sort of spiritual languor which saps the energies of the will, inspires one with a horror for effort and thus leads to the decline of the Christian life. It is a kind of sluggishness, a species of torpor which, though not death as yet, insensibly leads to it through a gradual weakening of our moral forces. One may compare it to those slow-working diseases, such as consumption, which little by little prey upon some vital organ.”
Fr. Faber also describes lukewarmness as a spiritual malady of sickness: “The diseases and evils of the body are, as might be expected, seeing they are the immediate out-flowings of sin, in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all. It is usual to consider that this blindness is owing principally to three causes, (i) the frequency of venial sins, (ii) habitual dissipation of mind and (iii) the ruling passion (e.g. anger, or laziness, greed, gluttony, envy, pride, lust, etc.).”
Yes―as Fr. Tanquerey so rightly says, lukewarmness is malady, a spiritual disease―and everybody who has ever lost the Faith began that loss of Faith by contracting the spiritual disease of lukewarmness. Fr. Faber worryingly states: “I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!”
Pulling Out of the Dive
What are the remedies for this life-sapping, Faith-sapping disease of lukewarmness? If we don’t seek and apply those remedies, we will sooner or later placing our debilitated Faith into the tomb where countless souls have gone before us! As Fr. Faber says: “It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” There are innumerable souls pleasantly tingling with lukewarmness in the world today―totally oblivious as to where it will finally lead them!
Fr. Faber, though he paints a dire picture as regards the cure―he nevertheless puts forward some indispensible remedies that should be taken. Fr. Faber writes:
“A few words on its remedies, and the hateful subject may be dismissed. Its cure is immensely difficult; St. Bernard would make us almost despair of its being curable at all. Only, we made up our minds at the beginning to hold this all through, that nothing is incurable, though many things in the spiritual life are nearly so; and neither doctor, nor father, nor saint, but only the Pope, shall drive us from this doctrine. St. Bernard therefore will be satisfied if we say that its cure is immensely difficult, because all the Saints have said so, because the evil is unsuspected, because even the good is mixed with evil, because men do not realize the possible forfeiture of grace to keep precepts when they have been playing fast and loose with counsels, and because, as St. Teresa teaches, for some souls perfection is accidentally necessary even for their salvation! How absurd it seems to mention the feeble remedies!
“The first is to quicken faith by meditation on eternal truths, so as to possess our minds habitually with their overwhelming importance and their exacting purity.
“The second is, not having so many things to do. It is no use. The times are busy. But we cannot save our souls if we have so many things to do. But the remedy? Good soul! There are some knots in life which cannot be untied; the thing is to cut them, and leave the consequences to help themselves. If you have more duties to do than you can do well, you must boldly neglect some of them. Only have faith, and God will spirit the consequences away, so that you will see nothing more of them.
“The third remedy is the practice of silence, not in any offensive or singular way, but proportionably to our state of life.
“The fourth is to persevere in our spiritual exercises in spite of dryness and distractions;
“And the fifth, which is nearer a specific than any of the others, is a habit of mortification, not interior, but exterior. The interior will look out for itself when its time comes. Just now I want the flesh to suffer. If you turn away from this I give you up.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday April 25th & Monday April 26th
Article 12
From Sorrow to Joy―Earth to Heaven
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday April 25th & Monday April 26th
Article 12
From Sorrow to Joy―Earth to Heaven
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What’s Your Preference? What Are Your Tastes Like?
What do you prefer to eat―lemons or oranges? Regardless of which of the two you prefer―do you prefer to eat the soft flesh of lemons or oranges, or the peel and pith of lemons and oranges? The flesh of the orange is sweet, but the peel and pith are bitter! Have you ever heard the saying: “Bitter is better!” Well, there are more vitamins in just the pith as you will get from all of the flesh in an orange. The pith is also rich in flavonoids―a type of antioxidant that boosts the immune system―it is also anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial. In fact, just 1 tablespoon of orange peel provides 14% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C — which is nearly 3 times more than the inner fruit. The same serving also packs about 4 times more fiber. Most nutrients in fruits and vegetables, such as apples, are found in the skin or peel. The skins or peels of fruits and vegetables are generally higher in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals than the flesh. Unpeeled fruits and vegetables may have up to 33% more fiber than those without the peel. And antioxidant levels in the skins of some fruits could be over 300 times higher than those found in the flesh! Yet, usually, the skins, peels and piths of fruits and vegetables taste more bitter than the flesh or central part of those fruits and vegetables.
“Bitter is better!” Although bitter foods may not rank as the most popular or flavorful ingredients in a blind taste test, they are certainly some of the most nutritious. A health-conscious person will find joy in eating the bitter parts of those fruits and vegetables―whereas as “sugar-tooth” person will be repulsed and will recoil at eating those bitter parts. We see that especially in the case of babies―they seem to love sweet things, but wince and recoil at the taste of bitter things―which is why a nursing mother will try wean a baby off breast feeding by placing bitter things on the nipple or areola―such as a little dab of aloe juice, from a fresh aloe leaf, or ginger extract to give off a bitter taste, encouraging the child to self-wean.
Spiritually Sweet or Bitter?
The same is true for the spiritual life―hardly anybody wants their spiritual life to experience (never mind being filled with) bitterness. People imagine the way to Heaven has to sweet and pleasant―because Heaven is sweet and pleasant―the land of milk and honey: “I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Leviticus 20:24) … “If the Lord be favorable, he will bring us into it and give us a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Numbers 14:8) … “The Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Deuteronomy 6:3). Such statements can be misleading―for Our Lord also tells us that if we wish to follow Him to Heaven, then we must necessarily follow Him through His Passion and Death by daily carrying the cross and dying to our own sweet selves: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The “land of milk and honey” is like the sweet flesh of the orange, but to get to the flesh, we must first eat our way through the bitter peel and pith.
The Imitation of Christ, speaks in a similar vein when it says: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom―but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation―but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table―but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him―few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread―but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles―few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints, or into deep dejection!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Bittersweet Words of Our Lady!
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks of the cross and suffering: “My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … But the worldlings, in their laziness and lukewarmness, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … How persistently they forget that their Teacher and Master accepted sufferings! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son suffered for them … Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, you must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings … Desire to be despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find some soul, whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them, which could raise them above their wordliness, and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. Unlike the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these wordlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion … Little do mortals heed this mystery! Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again! The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
Bittersweet Words of Our Lord!
You would have thought that at the Last Supper―knowing that He was about to be tortured and crucified to death―Our Lord would have had some comforting words for His Apostles and disciples! Well, He did―but among those comforting words He also injected a dose of sorrow, saying: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow―because her hour is come―but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
With this truth in view, The Imitation of Christ urges and encourages us in a way that has long since been forgotten, ignored and swept under the rug―it gives us the rugged truth: “In all things consider the end; how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses. It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning. For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. Every vice will have its own proper punishment. One hour of suffering there will be more bitter than a hundred years of the most severe penance here. In this life men sometimes rest from work and enjoy the comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or consolation. You must, therefore, take care and repent of your sins now so that on the Day of Judgment you may rest secure with the blessed.
“In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will Hell fire do? In truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24, “The Judgment and Punishment of Sin”).
The sweet victory of salvation does not come from a sweet and comfortable life―it comes as a result of a bitter struggle against the enemies of salvation, which are the devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is along these lines that Our Lord describes the “fighter” St. John Baptist: “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen, among them that are born of women, a greater than John the Baptist!’” (Matthew 11:7-11).
Candied Catholics and Candid Christ
You have to admit that the vast majority of Catholics are “Candy Catholics” ― who prefer a “chocolate cross” to a real cross. They prefer a “sweet sermon” to a “stinging sermon” or a “sharp sermon”. Rather than live their Faith as it should be lived―which is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long―they prefer to merely dip their big-toe in the Faith once or twice a day in addition to weekly immersion for an hour during Sunday Mass. God is not in their heart, but in the closet―as they close their heart to God for most of the day and open it to the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8).
In our materialistic and scientific world―where everything has to be tangibly and visibly measured in order to find acceptance and belief―you could measure love by the amount of time spent doing something. Someone who does not love physical exercise, will spend little or no time exercising―while someone who does love physical exercise, will spend hours each week exercising. Likewise with television―someone who loves watching television will watch for hours each day, whereas someone who does not love watching television will only watch a few minutes a day, or not at all. Similarly, we can measure someone’s love for something by how much they talk about the subject.
We Don’t Even Talk the Talk!
Never mind “walking the walk”―we don’t even “talk the talk” anymore! Catholicism was already in a bad way when Catholics would only “talk the talk” but not “walk the walk”―nowadays they are not even “talking the talk”, that is to say, talking about Christ and talking about the Faith (except perhaps scandals of the Faith).
What do you prefer to eat―lemons or oranges? Regardless of which of the two you prefer―do you prefer to eat the soft flesh of lemons or oranges, or the peel and pith of lemons and oranges? The flesh of the orange is sweet, but the peel and pith are bitter! Have you ever heard the saying: “Bitter is better!” Well, there are more vitamins in just the pith as you will get from all of the flesh in an orange. The pith is also rich in flavonoids―a type of antioxidant that boosts the immune system―it is also anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial. In fact, just 1 tablespoon of orange peel provides 14% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C — which is nearly 3 times more than the inner fruit. The same serving also packs about 4 times more fiber. Most nutrients in fruits and vegetables, such as apples, are found in the skin or peel. The skins or peels of fruits and vegetables are generally higher in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals than the flesh. Unpeeled fruits and vegetables may have up to 33% more fiber than those without the peel. And antioxidant levels in the skins of some fruits could be over 300 times higher than those found in the flesh! Yet, usually, the skins, peels and piths of fruits and vegetables taste more bitter than the flesh or central part of those fruits and vegetables.
“Bitter is better!” Although bitter foods may not rank as the most popular or flavorful ingredients in a blind taste test, they are certainly some of the most nutritious. A health-conscious person will find joy in eating the bitter parts of those fruits and vegetables―whereas as “sugar-tooth” person will be repulsed and will recoil at eating those bitter parts. We see that especially in the case of babies―they seem to love sweet things, but wince and recoil at the taste of bitter things―which is why a nursing mother will try wean a baby off breast feeding by placing bitter things on the nipple or areola―such as a little dab of aloe juice, from a fresh aloe leaf, or ginger extract to give off a bitter taste, encouraging the child to self-wean.
Spiritually Sweet or Bitter?
The same is true for the spiritual life―hardly anybody wants their spiritual life to experience (never mind being filled with) bitterness. People imagine the way to Heaven has to sweet and pleasant―because Heaven is sweet and pleasant―the land of milk and honey: “I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Leviticus 20:24) … “If the Lord be favorable, he will bring us into it and give us a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Numbers 14:8) … “The Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey!” (Deuteronomy 6:3). Such statements can be misleading―for Our Lord also tells us that if we wish to follow Him to Heaven, then we must necessarily follow Him through His Passion and Death by daily carrying the cross and dying to our own sweet selves: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The “land of milk and honey” is like the sweet flesh of the orange, but to get to the flesh, we must first eat our way through the bitter peel and pith.
The Imitation of Christ, speaks in a similar vein when it says: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom―but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation―but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table―but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him―few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread―but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles―few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints, or into deep dejection!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11, “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Bittersweet Words of Our Lady!
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, speaks of the cross and suffering: “My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and His sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … But the worldlings, in their laziness and lukewarmness, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings … How persistently they forget that their Teacher and Master accepted sufferings! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son suffered for them … Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him―for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross, they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh … When the occasion of tasting the Chalice and the Cross of suffering is at hand, you must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings … Desire to be despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the Cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the Cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find some soul, whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be Our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering―our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them, which could raise them above their wordliness, and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things, detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. Unlike the saints, who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these wordlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion … Little do mortals heed this mystery! Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas―in his malice and treachery―has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again! The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
Bittersweet Words of Our Lord!
You would have thought that at the Last Supper―knowing that He was about to be tortured and crucified to death―Our Lord would have had some comforting words for His Apostles and disciples! Well, He did―but among those comforting words He also injected a dose of sorrow, saying: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow―because her hour is come―but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
With this truth in view, The Imitation of Christ urges and encourages us in a way that has long since been forgotten, ignored and swept under the rug―it gives us the rugged truth: “In all things consider the end; how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses. It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning. For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. Every vice will have its own proper punishment. One hour of suffering there will be more bitter than a hundred years of the most severe penance here. In this life men sometimes rest from work and enjoy the comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or consolation. You must, therefore, take care and repent of your sins now so that on the Day of Judgment you may rest secure with the blessed.
“In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will Hell fire do? In truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24, “The Judgment and Punishment of Sin”).
The sweet victory of salvation does not come from a sweet and comfortable life―it comes as a result of a bitter struggle against the enemies of salvation, which are the devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is along these lines that Our Lord describes the “fighter” St. John Baptist: “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen, among them that are born of women, a greater than John the Baptist!’” (Matthew 11:7-11).
Candied Catholics and Candid Christ
You have to admit that the vast majority of Catholics are “Candy Catholics” ― who prefer a “chocolate cross” to a real cross. They prefer a “sweet sermon” to a “stinging sermon” or a “sharp sermon”. Rather than live their Faith as it should be lived―which is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long―they prefer to merely dip their big-toe in the Faith once or twice a day in addition to weekly immersion for an hour during Sunday Mass. God is not in their heart, but in the closet―as they close their heart to God for most of the day and open it to the world. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8).
In our materialistic and scientific world―where everything has to be tangibly and visibly measured in order to find acceptance and belief―you could measure love by the amount of time spent doing something. Someone who does not love physical exercise, will spend little or no time exercising―while someone who does love physical exercise, will spend hours each week exercising. Likewise with television―someone who loves watching television will watch for hours each day, whereas someone who does not love watching television will only watch a few minutes a day, or not at all. Similarly, we can measure someone’s love for something by how much they talk about the subject.
We Don’t Even Talk the Talk!
Never mind “walking the walk”―we don’t even “talk the talk” anymore! Catholicism was already in a bad way when Catholics would only “talk the talk” but not “walk the walk”―nowadays they are not even “talking the talk”, that is to say, talking about Christ and talking about the Faith (except perhaps scandals of the Faith).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday April 23rd & Saturday April 24th
Article 11
Serious versus Joke!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday April 23rd & Saturday April 24th
Article 11
Serious versus Joke!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
A Religious Oxymoron!
That sounds like a personal insult, doesn’t it? “Hey, you! You religious oxymoron!” You could mistake the word “oxymoron” for being a compound word (a combination of two words) that uses “ox” and “moron” ― which would make it look like a “stupid cow” or “dumb-ox”, which, incidentally, was the insulting nickname given to St. Thomas Aquinas by his fellow students because he was built like an ox and barely said a word―hence, “dumb-ox”.
The word “oxymoron” is not something you can call a stupid person who can’t grasp or understand something―the real meaning of “oxymoron” is “a figure of speech that combines two seemingly contradictory or opposite ideas to create a certain rhetorical or poetic effect and reveal a deeper truth.” Some examples would be: “deafening silence” … “falsely true” … “faithfully unfaithful” … “happily sad” … “heavenly hellish” … “living death” … “rich poverty” … “pridefully humble” … “beautifully ugly” … etc.
You might’ve heard of another literary device called the “paradox”, which is similar, but not identical, to the “oxymoron”. While an oxymoron is the combination of two contradictory or opposite words in a single sentence, a paradox is an entire phrase or sentence that appears contradictory at first, but, upon further investigation, could be true or plausible. One of the most famous examples of a paradox is the sentence, “This statement is false.” If this statement is indeed false as it says, then this would actually make it true. But if the statement is true, then it can’t be false, despite the fact it claims to be! Wow! The brain is overheating and hurting!!! Stop!! Enough of this digression and explanation! You are now clearly confused or confusedly clear about the meaning of an “oxymoron”! Let us get back to the point: “A Religious Oxymoron”.
Holy Scripture contains quite a lot of oxymorons and paradoxes. Some are blatantly obvious, others are a bit more subtle.
● Powerful Weakness: “When I am weak, then am I powerful!” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
● Faithless Faith: We see an example of the man with the faithless Faith, “the father of the [possessed] boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
● Senseless Senses: Jesus speaks of those who see but don’t see: “Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not!” (Matthew 13:13). “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’” (Acts 28:26).
● Die to Live: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit! He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). On two different occasions St. Matthew reports the same: “He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:39) … “For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25)
● Losing Winners & Winning Losers: “And many that are first, shall be last―and the last shall be first! … So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 19:30; 20:16). “And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last!” (Luke 13:30).
● Sadly Joyful and Joyfully Sad: Our Lord, Who came to preach the joyful “Good News” to the world, tells His Apostles at the Last Supper that His enemies will be joyful and His followers will be sad: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). On the same note, St. James later writes: “Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow!” (James 4:9).
● Humble Pride: “Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you!” (James 4:10). While Our Lady says of God: “He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away” (Luke 1:52-53).
● Richness of Poverty: “Better is the poor man, than a rich man!” (Proverbs 19:1). “Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in Faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:5). No amount of money can buy a place in Heaven, but poverty can purchase it: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven!” (Matthew 19:21). “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
● Hateful Love: God and our Faith is all about love: “God is charity! The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, to be a propitiation for our sins. If God hath so loved us, then we also ought to love one another! … If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? … Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer!” (1 John 4:8-11, 20; 3:15). We are also told to love ourselves: “Love thy friend as thyself!” (Leviticus 19:18) ... “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). Yet Our Lord seems to say the contrary, when He says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:26).
Are You a Religious Oxymoron
Are you a faithfully unfaithful Catholic? Or perhaps unfaithfully faithful? Are you part of the unfaithful faithful, or the faithfully unfaithful? Are you fervently lukewarm, or lukewarmly fervent? Are you knowingly ignorant, is you knowledge ignorance? Are you a practicing non-practicing Catholic? Do you hate having to love your neighbor, do you love hating your neighbor? These―and many more similar oxyomorons of the Faith―are only too common these days. In these days of the “faithless faithful” or “unfaithful faithful”, a Catholic is extremely likely to be a “religious oxymoron” in one or more areas of their religious or spiritual life. As we most certainly enter the times that are prophesied as being the time of “The Minor Apostasy”, the faithful are becoming more faithless by showing themselves to be increasingly unfaithful faithful. “The Minor Apostasy” will not be “minor” because few will apostatize (many will apostatize), but only “minor” in relation to the later “Greater Apostasy” in the time of the Antichrist.
We are also living in and witnessing first-hand a kind of “Spiritually Political Oxymoronity” ― or could it be called “Spiritually Political Hypocrisy” ― whereby we sing “God bless America” and protest that “In God we trust” (official motto of the United States of America). The Declaration of Independence speaks of “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” while “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” also affirming that there are “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” ― which today they increasingly ignore, reject or even change. The Declaration of Independence goes on to speak of the people being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” ― which today are being severely curtailed or even removed. Another phrase, “All aspects of our lives, spiritual and political, are in God’s hands”, today sounds so hypocritical―because nothing could be further from the truth, because the Laws of God and counsels of Scripture are ignored, while the government of men usurp all control from God and introduce their own sinful laws to replace the Commandments, Laws and counsels of God. Our Lord’s words are very applicable in these godless days: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Is It All Serious or a Joke?
All of this brings us to question the religiosity, the sincerity, the reality of the Faith among those “claiming” to be with God: “Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights … All aspects of our lives, spiritual and political, are in God’s hands … In God we trust … a firm reliance of the protection of Divine Providence … appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, etc.” Really? Are you serious? Is this just a big joke? Professing to be with God while breaking most of His commandments? Is that not an obvious oxymoron, a clear paradox?
Is “Catholic” Biden doing the bidding of his God? Why does God allow Biden to ignore His bidding? God is simply biding His time until Biden dies and will judged for ignoring the bidding of God. The same applies to all the other “Catholic” politicians who have compromised, or “oxymoronized” their Faith, by legislating for blatant sin, which is directly opposed to God’s bidding through His commandments. They are longer bearing witness to God, but have chosen to bear witness to the world and its prince, the devil. As Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me! … He that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:33) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Ultimately―as any honest Catholic can see―the “Faith” of many of these politicians is a sham and shame! Yes―Biden can certainly sound Catholic saying he enjoys going to Holy Mass and praying the Rosary, but he destroys any potential Catholicity by his support child murder (abortion) and homosexuality (he himself presided as the minister in a “marriage” between two men in the White House under the Obama Administration when he was Vice-President). Yet Biden (and the other “Catholic” politicians) are merely a reflection of the so-called “Catholics” running loose and at large throughout America today! Catholicism today has become an oxymoron by having evolved into a “Protestant Catholicism” or a “Catholic Protestantism” ― it tries to serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24) ― which is the pleasures and treasures of the world), and in reality comes down to trying to serve God and Satan, for, as Our Lord says, Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31). Everyone has their own version of Catholicism―not just the laity, but priests also―they pick and choose what they want to follow, practice or believe and to the degree they will follow, practice or believe. Ultimately, everyone caters to their own tastes and personal comfort zone―but our Faith is not about comfort zones but crosses! “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Our Lord is No Joker! Neither is Our Lady!
For some folk, life is supposed to be fun―for Our Lord life is meant to be a cross! That is why He said to His Apostles and disciples: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” in Heaven (John 16:20). Our Lady essentially said the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” It is an oxymoron for Catholics to primarily put most of their efforts into having “fun” in this life! God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Warfare and fights are not a joke, but very serious things!
We are called to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14) ― not the joker in the pack! We are called to resist the world, the devil and the flesh with serious intensity ― “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― you will not overcome the devil with a joke! You will not cast-out the devil from a possessed person by tickling them!
There is much debate on whether or not Jesus ever laughed―we will dedicate an entire article to that subject at a future date. With regard to Our Lady, Divine Private Revelations reveal to us that she did smile―as was the case at Lourdes on some occasions―yet the general purpose of her apparitions was not laughing matter. At La Salette, 1846, she appears weeping. At her 1917 apparitions in Fatima, St. Lucia reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). By the time her 1973 apparitions at Akita in Japan, come along, her statue is weeping tears of blood!
One would think that Our Lady would smile to such young children at Fatima―aged only 10, 9 and 7―yet she did not. Why not? No doubt because of the grave state of the world and massive loss of souls to Hell. That does not mean to say there is no joy in Heaven―on the contrary, Heaven is full of perfect joy, but Heaven will not show that joy to us in the Church Militant who should be fighting hard to save our souls and those of many others in the world. Notice, that at Fatima, Our Lady did not give the three children a vision of Heaven, but vision of Hell! Think about that! No smiles and all Hell! Was it just that Our Lady was “having a bad day”? Did she forget to take her “joke book” with her from Heaven? No, Our Lady is deadly serious because damnation is deadly serious and most people are being damned! That’s no joke! It’s not worth laughing about―unless you are some kind of sadist!
Furthermore, what’s not funny is that most Catholics don’t give a damn about the damned! Never have―never will do! For centuries the Church and the Saints have been telling us, warning us, that most souls are lost! In one ear and out the other! Our Lady finally has to come and show three young children a vision of the real Hell―not just talk about it, but actually show them it! She has to get three children to do what adults refuse to do―pray for the conversion of the countless sinners who are damning themselves! As Holy Scripture says, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―right now, with the enormous daily loss of souls, it is not time for laughing and dancing, but more a time of mourning and weeping! Heck―don’t we say (hopefully at least once a day) in the prayer, Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, the words: “…we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears…”? In her apparitions, Our Lady herself―though she is perfectly happy in Heaven―showed herself as being sad, sorrowful and weeping, whilst lamenting the loss of souls: “The perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me … “Innumerable frivolous souls will be lost! … [Only a] small number of souls will preserve the treasure of the Faith!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima) … “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Akita).
As Our Lady says to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “O insanity―never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life long they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition―as if all were a mere joke and as if Christ had not come down from Heaven to die on a Cross for their rescue! Let them but look upon the price, and consider how much God Himself, Who knew the full value of it, paid for this happiness! … You should weep in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation, for such weeping is the most legitimate occupation of the true spouses of my most holy Son! Let them seek their delight only in the tears, which they pour out on account of their sins and those of the ignorant world! Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness! … Like animals, some follow after the horrors of sensuality. Gluttony degrades others. Some follow after pleasures of play and vanity. Others are dominated by pride and presumption. Many are entangled in avarice and the desire of gain. They all follow the impulse of passions, seeking in this life only pleasure, while in the life to come they pile up for themselves eternal torments and incur the loss of the beatific vision of their God and Lord!” (The Mystical City of God).
Catholics Run on Jokes and Fun
Paradoxically, the worse the situation grows, the more Catholics resort to jokes and fun! Even some members of the clergy have lost their “gravitas” or seriousness since the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has often been seen to incorporate what could only be described as a “comedy act” ― with some priests almost feeling obliged to lightheartedly crack one joke after another, sometimes walking up and down the aisle with a microphone, others venturing as far to change the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a “Clown Mass”, wearing clown costumes, painted faces, big red noses, and clown hats, with balloons galore floating all around! This makes the seriousness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a joke! A sacrilegious joke! Our Lady of Good Success warned what would come after the middle of the 20th century: “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry!”
Instead of telling jokes and acting and dressing like clowns―the clergy could and should be preaching on the exact same things that Our Lady has repeatedly come to tell and warn us about―with Hell and the loss of souls being at the forefront. Yet who hears a sermon on Hell these days? Who hears a sermon on the great number of souls that are damned these days? The modern-day Church almost looks upon the preaching of such subjects as though it were mortal sin! They are afraid of shocking sensitive souls! They are afraid of scaring people! They are afraid of losing people who put money into the collection basket―but they are not afraid of losing people to Hell! They don’t want to “overdo” the “negative” aspects of the Faith―so they shut up! As Our Lady ominously forewarned: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Priests refuse to speak out on Hell. Parents refuse to speak out Hell. Teachers refuse to speak out on Hell. Yet Sister Lucia of Fatima―who was shown the real Hell as a 10-year-old―says: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear! … The vision of Hell filled Jacinta with horror, to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there … At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people! You’ll see how they will be converted!’ Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Fatima In Lucia’s Own Words).
So―Is Joking and Laughter Wrong?
From reading the above, one might be tempted to imagine that joking and laughter is wrong, perhaps even sinful. No―that is not what is being said―for, as already quoted several paragraphs earlier, Holy Scripture says there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). If laughter (which presumes joking to be a part of it) is wrong and sinful, then why would Holy Scripture speak of “a time to laugh”? As already stated, a future article will deal in greater depth with laughter, jokes and humor―for now it suffices to say that these things―like all virtues―must stand in the middle between neglect and over-exaggeration.
Hence Scripture also says: “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “Laughter I counted error and to mirth I said: ‘Why art thou vainly deceived?’” (Ecclesiastes 2:2). “Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold of the end of joy!” (Proverbs 14:13). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “Their laughter is at the pleasures of sin” (Ecclesiasticus 27:14). “Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:10). So yes―there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which is why the Fathers of the Church tell us that the time for laughing should be appropriate to the circumstances and appropriate for the person.
Several of the early Fathers of the Church speak on this subject, and their counsel is that humor, jokes and laughter should be used in moderation―much like spice or seasoning is used with bland food in order to make it more palatable. Life without humor, jokes and laughter can sometimes be unpalatable―but we do not eat one single French-fry drenched with a bottle of tomato ketchup, but instead we have a plate of French-fries drizzled with some tomato ketchup.
It would not be appropriate for a judge or an attorney, or even the defendant to be cracking jokes during a murder trial, nor finding humor in the alleged crime that was committed. Nor would it be appropriate for paramedics to crack jokes after arriving on the scene of a massive accident, nor to find humor in some aspect of the accident. Nor would it be appropriate for a surgeon to start cracking jokes while performing a difficult and delicate surgery. Neither would it be appropriate to crack jokes about the unfortunate deaths of people in a fire, flood, tsunami or earthquake, based on their race or their religion. As Holy Scripture says, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). We do not laugh and dance on the graves of our enemies or those whom we do not like! Neither is the present climate―which is a time of mass damnation―a time for laughing and dancing, instead it should a time of prayer and sacrifice. If we would only pray and sacrifice as much as we laughed and danced―then many, many more souls would be saved! As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “You should weep in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation, for such weeping is the most legitimate occupation of the true spouses of my most holy Son! Let them seek their delight only in the tears, which they pour out on account of their sins and those of the ignorant world!”
“A saint can be defined as one who has a Divine Sense of Humor, for a saint never takes this world seriously as the lasting city. To him the world is like a scaffolding up through which souls climb to the Kingdom of Heaven, and when the last soul shall have climbed up through it, then it shall be torn down and burned with a fervent fire, not because it is base, but simply because it has done its work ― it has brought souls back again to God.
“A saint is one who looks out upon this world as a nursery to the Father’s heavenly mansion and a stepping-stone to that Kingdom of Heaven. A saint is one to whom everything in the world is a sacrament. … A saint is one who never complains about the particular duty of his state in life, for he knows full well that ‘all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ … A saint is one who has learned to spiritualize and sacramentalize and ennoble everything in the world, and make of it a prayer.
“When our Blessed Lord came to this Earth, He had the divine sense of humor. There was nothing in this world that He ever took seriously except the salvation of the soul. That is why He said: ‘What does it profit man to gain the universe, lose a soul?’ Everything He said, everything He did could be summed up in these words: ‘Nothing in this world is to be taken seriously, nothing ― except the salvation of a soul.’ … They who pass through this life with that sense of humor, which is Faith, will one day be rewarded by the one thing that will make heaven Heaven ― His Smile!” (Venerable Fulton J, Sheen; The Divine Sense of Humor, 1932).
Let us put a sheen on the article by finishing with a joke by Sheen:
“Everybody takes the story about Jonas and the whale very seriously … I might tell you that one day I was talking on this subject and somebody interrupted me and said: ‘Tell me! How could Jonas be in the belly of the whale for three days?’
“I said, ‘I don't know! When I go to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonas.’
“He said: ‘Suppose Jonas isn’t there?’
“So I said: ‘Then you ask him!’”
That sounds like a personal insult, doesn’t it? “Hey, you! You religious oxymoron!” You could mistake the word “oxymoron” for being a compound word (a combination of two words) that uses “ox” and “moron” ― which would make it look like a “stupid cow” or “dumb-ox”, which, incidentally, was the insulting nickname given to St. Thomas Aquinas by his fellow students because he was built like an ox and barely said a word―hence, “dumb-ox”.
The word “oxymoron” is not something you can call a stupid person who can’t grasp or understand something―the real meaning of “oxymoron” is “a figure of speech that combines two seemingly contradictory or opposite ideas to create a certain rhetorical or poetic effect and reveal a deeper truth.” Some examples would be: “deafening silence” … “falsely true” … “faithfully unfaithful” … “happily sad” … “heavenly hellish” … “living death” … “rich poverty” … “pridefully humble” … “beautifully ugly” … etc.
You might’ve heard of another literary device called the “paradox”, which is similar, but not identical, to the “oxymoron”. While an oxymoron is the combination of two contradictory or opposite words in a single sentence, a paradox is an entire phrase or sentence that appears contradictory at first, but, upon further investigation, could be true or plausible. One of the most famous examples of a paradox is the sentence, “This statement is false.” If this statement is indeed false as it says, then this would actually make it true. But if the statement is true, then it can’t be false, despite the fact it claims to be! Wow! The brain is overheating and hurting!!! Stop!! Enough of this digression and explanation! You are now clearly confused or confusedly clear about the meaning of an “oxymoron”! Let us get back to the point: “A Religious Oxymoron”.
Holy Scripture contains quite a lot of oxymorons and paradoxes. Some are blatantly obvious, others are a bit more subtle.
● Powerful Weakness: “When I am weak, then am I powerful!” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
● Faithless Faith: We see an example of the man with the faithless Faith, “the father of the [possessed] boy crying out, with tears said: ‘I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23).
● Senseless Senses: Jesus speaks of those who see but don’t see: “Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not!” (Matthew 13:13). “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’” (Acts 28:26).
● Die to Live: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit! He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). On two different occasions St. Matthew reports the same: “He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:39) … “For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25)
● Losing Winners & Winning Losers: “And many that are first, shall be last―and the last shall be first! … So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 19:30; 20:16). “And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last!” (Luke 13:30).
● Sadly Joyful and Joyfully Sad: Our Lord, Who came to preach the joyful “Good News” to the world, tells His Apostles at the Last Supper that His enemies will be joyful and His followers will be sad: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). On the same note, St. James later writes: “Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow!” (James 4:9).
● Humble Pride: “Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you!” (James 4:10). While Our Lady says of God: “He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away” (Luke 1:52-53).
● Richness of Poverty: “Better is the poor man, than a rich man!” (Proverbs 19:1). “Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in Faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:5). No amount of money can buy a place in Heaven, but poverty can purchase it: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven!” (Matthew 19:21). “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
● Hateful Love: God and our Faith is all about love: “God is charity! The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, to be a propitiation for our sins. If God hath so loved us, then we also ought to love one another! … If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? … Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer!” (1 John 4:8-11, 20; 3:15). We are also told to love ourselves: “Love thy friend as thyself!” (Leviticus 19:18) ... “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). Yet Our Lord seems to say the contrary, when He says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:26).
Are You a Religious Oxymoron
Are you a faithfully unfaithful Catholic? Or perhaps unfaithfully faithful? Are you part of the unfaithful faithful, or the faithfully unfaithful? Are you fervently lukewarm, or lukewarmly fervent? Are you knowingly ignorant, is you knowledge ignorance? Are you a practicing non-practicing Catholic? Do you hate having to love your neighbor, do you love hating your neighbor? These―and many more similar oxyomorons of the Faith―are only too common these days. In these days of the “faithless faithful” or “unfaithful faithful”, a Catholic is extremely likely to be a “religious oxymoron” in one or more areas of their religious or spiritual life. As we most certainly enter the times that are prophesied as being the time of “The Minor Apostasy”, the faithful are becoming more faithless by showing themselves to be increasingly unfaithful faithful. “The Minor Apostasy” will not be “minor” because few will apostatize (many will apostatize), but only “minor” in relation to the later “Greater Apostasy” in the time of the Antichrist.
We are also living in and witnessing first-hand a kind of “Spiritually Political Oxymoronity” ― or could it be called “Spiritually Political Hypocrisy” ― whereby we sing “God bless America” and protest that “In God we trust” (official motto of the United States of America). The Declaration of Independence speaks of “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” while “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” also affirming that there are “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” ― which today they increasingly ignore, reject or even change. The Declaration of Independence goes on to speak of the people being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” ― which today are being severely curtailed or even removed. Another phrase, “All aspects of our lives, spiritual and political, are in God’s hands”, today sounds so hypocritical―because nothing could be further from the truth, because the Laws of God and counsels of Scripture are ignored, while the government of men usurp all control from God and introduce their own sinful laws to replace the Commandments, Laws and counsels of God. Our Lord’s words are very applicable in these godless days: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me! And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Is It All Serious or a Joke?
All of this brings us to question the religiosity, the sincerity, the reality of the Faith among those “claiming” to be with God: “Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights … All aspects of our lives, spiritual and political, are in God’s hands … In God we trust … a firm reliance of the protection of Divine Providence … appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, etc.” Really? Are you serious? Is this just a big joke? Professing to be with God while breaking most of His commandments? Is that not an obvious oxymoron, a clear paradox?
Is “Catholic” Biden doing the bidding of his God? Why does God allow Biden to ignore His bidding? God is simply biding His time until Biden dies and will judged for ignoring the bidding of God. The same applies to all the other “Catholic” politicians who have compromised, or “oxymoronized” their Faith, by legislating for blatant sin, which is directly opposed to God’s bidding through His commandments. They are longer bearing witness to God, but have chosen to bear witness to the world and its prince, the devil. As Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me! … He that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:33) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Ultimately―as any honest Catholic can see―the “Faith” of many of these politicians is a sham and shame! Yes―Biden can certainly sound Catholic saying he enjoys going to Holy Mass and praying the Rosary, but he destroys any potential Catholicity by his support child murder (abortion) and homosexuality (he himself presided as the minister in a “marriage” between two men in the White House under the Obama Administration when he was Vice-President). Yet Biden (and the other “Catholic” politicians) are merely a reflection of the so-called “Catholics” running loose and at large throughout America today! Catholicism today has become an oxymoron by having evolved into a “Protestant Catholicism” or a “Catholic Protestantism” ― it tries to serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24) ― which is the pleasures and treasures of the world), and in reality comes down to trying to serve God and Satan, for, as Our Lord says, Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31). Everyone has their own version of Catholicism―not just the laity, but priests also―they pick and choose what they want to follow, practice or believe and to the degree they will follow, practice or believe. Ultimately, everyone caters to their own tastes and personal comfort zone―but our Faith is not about comfort zones but crosses! “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Our Lord is No Joker! Neither is Our Lady!
For some folk, life is supposed to be fun―for Our Lord life is meant to be a cross! That is why He said to His Apostles and disciples: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” in Heaven (John 16:20). Our Lady essentially said the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” It is an oxymoron for Catholics to primarily put most of their efforts into having “fun” in this life! God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Warfare and fights are not a joke, but very serious things!
We are called to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14) ― not the joker in the pack! We are called to resist the world, the devil and the flesh with serious intensity ― “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― you will not overcome the devil with a joke! You will not cast-out the devil from a possessed person by tickling them!
There is much debate on whether or not Jesus ever laughed―we will dedicate an entire article to that subject at a future date. With regard to Our Lady, Divine Private Revelations reveal to us that she did smile―as was the case at Lourdes on some occasions―yet the general purpose of her apparitions was not laughing matter. At La Salette, 1846, she appears weeping. At her 1917 apparitions in Fatima, St. Lucia reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). By the time her 1973 apparitions at Akita in Japan, come along, her statue is weeping tears of blood!
One would think that Our Lady would smile to such young children at Fatima―aged only 10, 9 and 7―yet she did not. Why not? No doubt because of the grave state of the world and massive loss of souls to Hell. That does not mean to say there is no joy in Heaven―on the contrary, Heaven is full of perfect joy, but Heaven will not show that joy to us in the Church Militant who should be fighting hard to save our souls and those of many others in the world. Notice, that at Fatima, Our Lady did not give the three children a vision of Heaven, but vision of Hell! Think about that! No smiles and all Hell! Was it just that Our Lady was “having a bad day”? Did she forget to take her “joke book” with her from Heaven? No, Our Lady is deadly serious because damnation is deadly serious and most people are being damned! That’s no joke! It’s not worth laughing about―unless you are some kind of sadist!
Furthermore, what’s not funny is that most Catholics don’t give a damn about the damned! Never have―never will do! For centuries the Church and the Saints have been telling us, warning us, that most souls are lost! In one ear and out the other! Our Lady finally has to come and show three young children a vision of the real Hell―not just talk about it, but actually show them it! She has to get three children to do what adults refuse to do―pray for the conversion of the countless sinners who are damning themselves! As Holy Scripture says, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―right now, with the enormous daily loss of souls, it is not time for laughing and dancing, but more a time of mourning and weeping! Heck―don’t we say (hopefully at least once a day) in the prayer, Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, the words: “…we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears…”? In her apparitions, Our Lady herself―though she is perfectly happy in Heaven―showed herself as being sad, sorrowful and weeping, whilst lamenting the loss of souls: “The perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me … “Innumerable frivolous souls will be lost! … [Only a] small number of souls will preserve the treasure of the Faith!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima) … “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Akita).
As Our Lady says to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “O insanity―never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life long they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition―as if all were a mere joke and as if Christ had not come down from Heaven to die on a Cross for their rescue! Let them but look upon the price, and consider how much God Himself, Who knew the full value of it, paid for this happiness! … You should weep in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation, for such weeping is the most legitimate occupation of the true spouses of my most holy Son! Let them seek their delight only in the tears, which they pour out on account of their sins and those of the ignorant world! Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness! … Like animals, some follow after the horrors of sensuality. Gluttony degrades others. Some follow after pleasures of play and vanity. Others are dominated by pride and presumption. Many are entangled in avarice and the desire of gain. They all follow the impulse of passions, seeking in this life only pleasure, while in the life to come they pile up for themselves eternal torments and incur the loss of the beatific vision of their God and Lord!” (The Mystical City of God).
Catholics Run on Jokes and Fun
Paradoxically, the worse the situation grows, the more Catholics resort to jokes and fun! Even some members of the clergy have lost their “gravitas” or seriousness since the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has often been seen to incorporate what could only be described as a “comedy act” ― with some priests almost feeling obliged to lightheartedly crack one joke after another, sometimes walking up and down the aisle with a microphone, others venturing as far to change the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a “Clown Mass”, wearing clown costumes, painted faces, big red noses, and clown hats, with balloons galore floating all around! This makes the seriousness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a joke! A sacrilegious joke! Our Lady of Good Success warned what would come after the middle of the 20th century: “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry!”
Instead of telling jokes and acting and dressing like clowns―the clergy could and should be preaching on the exact same things that Our Lady has repeatedly come to tell and warn us about―with Hell and the loss of souls being at the forefront. Yet who hears a sermon on Hell these days? Who hears a sermon on the great number of souls that are damned these days? The modern-day Church almost looks upon the preaching of such subjects as though it were mortal sin! They are afraid of shocking sensitive souls! They are afraid of scaring people! They are afraid of losing people who put money into the collection basket―but they are not afraid of losing people to Hell! They don’t want to “overdo” the “negative” aspects of the Faith―so they shut up! As Our Lady ominously forewarned: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Priests refuse to speak out on Hell. Parents refuse to speak out Hell. Teachers refuse to speak out on Hell. Yet Sister Lucia of Fatima―who was shown the real Hell as a 10-year-old―says: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear! … The vision of Hell filled Jacinta with horror, to such a degree, that every penance and mortification was as nothing in her eyes, if it could only prevent souls from going there … At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people! You’ll see how they will be converted!’ Afterwards, unsatisfied, she asked me: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Fatima In Lucia’s Own Words).
So―Is Joking and Laughter Wrong?
From reading the above, one might be tempted to imagine that joking and laughter is wrong, perhaps even sinful. No―that is not what is being said―for, as already quoted several paragraphs earlier, Holy Scripture says there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). If laughter (which presumes joking to be a part of it) is wrong and sinful, then why would Holy Scripture speak of “a time to laugh”? As already stated, a future article will deal in greater depth with laughter, jokes and humor―for now it suffices to say that these things―like all virtues―must stand in the middle between neglect and over-exaggeration.
Hence Scripture also says: “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “Laughter I counted error and to mirth I said: ‘Why art thou vainly deceived?’” (Ecclesiastes 2:2). “Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold of the end of joy!” (Proverbs 14:13). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “Their laughter is at the pleasures of sin” (Ecclesiasticus 27:14). “Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:10). So yes―there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which is why the Fathers of the Church tell us that the time for laughing should be appropriate to the circumstances and appropriate for the person.
Several of the early Fathers of the Church speak on this subject, and their counsel is that humor, jokes and laughter should be used in moderation―much like spice or seasoning is used with bland food in order to make it more palatable. Life without humor, jokes and laughter can sometimes be unpalatable―but we do not eat one single French-fry drenched with a bottle of tomato ketchup, but instead we have a plate of French-fries drizzled with some tomato ketchup.
It would not be appropriate for a judge or an attorney, or even the defendant to be cracking jokes during a murder trial, nor finding humor in the alleged crime that was committed. Nor would it be appropriate for paramedics to crack jokes after arriving on the scene of a massive accident, nor to find humor in some aspect of the accident. Nor would it be appropriate for a surgeon to start cracking jokes while performing a difficult and delicate surgery. Neither would it be appropriate to crack jokes about the unfortunate deaths of people in a fire, flood, tsunami or earthquake, based on their race or their religion. As Holy Scripture says, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). We do not laugh and dance on the graves of our enemies or those whom we do not like! Neither is the present climate―which is a time of mass damnation―a time for laughing and dancing, instead it should a time of prayer and sacrifice. If we would only pray and sacrifice as much as we laughed and danced―then many, many more souls would be saved! As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “You should weep in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation, for such weeping is the most legitimate occupation of the true spouses of my most holy Son! Let them seek their delight only in the tears, which they pour out on account of their sins and those of the ignorant world!”
“A saint can be defined as one who has a Divine Sense of Humor, for a saint never takes this world seriously as the lasting city. To him the world is like a scaffolding up through which souls climb to the Kingdom of Heaven, and when the last soul shall have climbed up through it, then it shall be torn down and burned with a fervent fire, not because it is base, but simply because it has done its work ― it has brought souls back again to God.
“A saint is one who looks out upon this world as a nursery to the Father’s heavenly mansion and a stepping-stone to that Kingdom of Heaven. A saint is one to whom everything in the world is a sacrament. … A saint is one who never complains about the particular duty of his state in life, for he knows full well that ‘all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ … A saint is one who has learned to spiritualize and sacramentalize and ennoble everything in the world, and make of it a prayer.
“When our Blessed Lord came to this Earth, He had the divine sense of humor. There was nothing in this world that He ever took seriously except the salvation of the soul. That is why He said: ‘What does it profit man to gain the universe, lose a soul?’ Everything He said, everything He did could be summed up in these words: ‘Nothing in this world is to be taken seriously, nothing ― except the salvation of a soul.’ … They who pass through this life with that sense of humor, which is Faith, will one day be rewarded by the one thing that will make heaven Heaven ― His Smile!” (Venerable Fulton J, Sheen; The Divine Sense of Humor, 1932).
Let us put a sheen on the article by finishing with a joke by Sheen:
“Everybody takes the story about Jonas and the whale very seriously … I might tell you that one day I was talking on this subject and somebody interrupted me and said: ‘Tell me! How could Jonas be in the belly of the whale for three days?’
“I said, ‘I don't know! When I go to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonas.’
“He said: ‘Suppose Jonas isn’t there?’
“So I said: ‘Then you ask him!’”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday April 21st & Thursday April 22nd
Article 10
It's The Only Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday April 21st & Thursday April 22nd
Article 10
It's The Only Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Ears That Won’t Listen
On several occasions Our Lord said: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15; 13:19; 13:43; Mark 4:9; 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35). Holy Scripture laments the stupidity of those who hear the word of God in vain, without letting the word of God transform their lives: “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not, and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
Our Lord complained of those who would listen to His words without bearing any fruit: “Therefore do I speak to them in parables―because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:13-16).
St. Paul, following Christ’s example, also repeated the words of the prophecy of Isaias: “Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our fathers by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘Go to this people, and say to them: “With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!”’” (Acts 28:25-27).
Our Lord even rebuked His Apostles, saying: “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). St. John tells us that Our Lord―the Light of the world―Who came to enlighten the world as to its sinfulness and Who came to save the world ― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32) ― but it seems that most do not want to be saved, or, at least, not saved according to terms imposed by God: “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil!” (John 3:19). “They would not listen, and they turned away the shoulder to depart, and they stopped their ears, not to hear!” (Zacharias 7:11). “The Lord hath sent to you all His servants, the prophets, and you have not listened, nor inclined your ears to hear!” (Jeremias 25:4). “Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear! Behold, the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach and they will not receive it!” (Jeremias 6:10). “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!’” (Romans 11:8).
The Itchy Deaf Ears of Modern Man
Yes, “until this present day”, as St. Paul wrote―that “present day” of his days has to be extended to the “present day” of our modern days. “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). St. Paul speaks of the future years when men will turn to novelties (fables) rather than keep to the age-old truths. He goes on to say that if “an angel from Heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema!” (Galatians 1:8) … “keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words!” (1 Timothy 6:20).
Yet the same old truths become “boring” and “dull” to the modern man―who, following the spirit of change and novelty of the world, finds delight and joy in change and new ways of seeing and doing things. Hence he looks for new ways of getting to Heaven―and easier ways of getting to Heaven, for, like modern technology makes everything easier, modern man thinks that getting to Heaven should also be easier. We see this today in the modern clergy, who, at funerals, seem to preach that almost everybody goes to Heaven, as though there was no longer a Purgatory, no longer a Hell, and no longer and need for penance―since God is so good, loving and kind, anyone can walk into Heaven. This attitude was exemplified by Pope Paul VI, in his February 1966 Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, which gave every Catholic a 95% discount on their Lenten penance by reducing 40 days of fasting to merely two days of fasting―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! What happened to the teaching of Our Lord: “Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3-5).
Our Lady of La Salette herself lamented that we do not listen to Heaven: “The people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!”
How true that is―we think so little of this! We think so little of our Faith, we think so little of God, we think so little of our salvation, we think so little of our sins, we think so little of our lukewarmness, we think so little of the dangers of damnation, we think so little of Hell, we think so little of prayer and penance!
The Stupidity of Modern Man
As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Although the number of fools is so great and the vices are become so measureless, there are those who think that also the perfect are numerous―there are fewer than one thinks, and many less than there should be! The foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God! In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices. They are surrounded by innumerable enemies, who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men? It is most lamentable that while the rich might purchase eternal life with their possessions, they abuse them, and draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures! This evil is common among the children of Adam! Men give themselves over, like brute beasts, to sensual pleasures, and consume their lives in the pursuit of apparent good, until they suddenly fall a prey to eternal perdition. Such is in reality the fate of innumerable foolish men! Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self-deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. Live in constant and holy fear of losing eternal life and rejoice in nothing except in the Lord until you obtain full possession of Him in Heaven!”
A lot of our modern-day stupidity comes from the fact that modern-day Catholics (for the most part) are both proud and ignorant―or call it selfish and spiritually lazy if you wish. The whole modern-day worldly culture encourages man to be a mini-god, a self-focused navel-gazer, a selfish, self-centered, self-esteemed brat. Pride―which is essentially a love of self―has little room for love of God. At best, God merely gets the tidbits of our day―while we cater and pamper to our humanistic, materialistic, bodily and sensual needs. We gladly spend hours and hours on self and the world―and begrudgingly throw God a few minutes of hasty, distracted, mechanical, routine prayer. As for all the other spiritual exercises that we should be doing aside from prayer―daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc. ― well, those are seen as being “optional” or “fanatical” and unimportant and unnecessary. Heck! We don’t need all that “stuff” to get to Heaven, do we? Or do we?
Christ Demands More Than Half-Heartedness!
The Scribes and Pharisees were very serious and assiduous in the practice of their religion―what made them go wrong was their pride and hypocrisy. Our Lord does not condemn the seriousness with which they applied themselves to studying, knowing, meditating, and practicing their religion. In the parable about the Pharisee and the Publican, the Pharisee was not only performing all his religious duties, but was going way beyond that by tithing of ALL that he possessed―the Law only required tithes on a handful of things, not everything! Jesus even said: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). Not that the Scribes and Pharisees were all perfect―for Our Lord also said: “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do―but according to their works do ye not―for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but, with a finger of their own, they will not move them! And all their works they do for to be seen of men … They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi’ [meaning “Master”].” (Matthew 23:3-7). Yet that is true of many Catholics today―just like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable, they think (or even say to others), “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers! I fast twice in a week [or abstain from meat on Fridays], I give tithes of all that I possess! [I contribute generously to my parish], etc.” (Luke 18:11-12).
Coming back to “all that stuff” mentioned above―daily prayer, daily Rosary, daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc. Is all this unimportant and unnecessary, or is really important and really necessary? Personally, it seems as all these things are part and parcel of fulfilling the greatest commandment that God has given us―namely, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). How the heck can someone claim that they are loving God with their whole mind, whole heart, whole soul and whole strength without practicing daily prayer, daily Rosary, daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc.? It would be a false and hypocritical to neglect these things and to still hypocritically claim that we “loved” God! Our Lord says of such an attitude: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord Himself revealed to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Part-Time Catholicism Is Not Enough
You would think that most Catholics would not be so stupid as to think that they get to Heaven by loving God partially, being “part-time Catholics”, fitting-in their Faith “between jobs” so to speak―their main job being focused on loving the world with their whole mind, whole heart, whole soul and whole strength! Yet such stupidity is all too common these days, as common-sense is no longer all that common. If these stupid Catholics would only read Holy Scripture, then the scales would fall from their eyes and they would see that their life leaves a lot more to be expected! If they would only wake up to the reality that most souls are damned―not just today, but that has always been the case―and then try to figure why that could be! The saints give them a clue, or even the answer, with comments like: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.” … If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Appreciate and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
● St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) points out: “God wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation … Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! … ... Everyone desires to be saved, but the greater part is lost! He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by Him … God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner!”
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church warns: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church insists: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) advises: “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost!”
● St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) affirms: “Yes, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames and horrors of Hell, which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
● Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588) notes that: “A greater number is lost through false confidence, rather than through excessive fear!”
● St. John Vianney (1786-1859), the Curé of Ars, asks: “Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter ... We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion!” For you cannot love what you do not know―and you will only love a little what you know little about!
Even Our Lady of La Salette speaks of “…the few who can see!” Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls who will preserve the treasures of the Faith.” Do we see these truths―or have we made-up our own Disneyland version of the Faith? Are we preserving the treasures of the Faith―or has our knowledge of the Faith become a dilapidated vague remembrance of a few “two-bit” snippets of the Faith? It has to be said that most Catholics could no longer give the answers to all the questions in a child’s First Holy Communion Catechism―and the child’s Confirmation Catechism would seem like “rocket-science” to most Catholics! Is that something to be proud of? Does that reflect the power and vigor and zeal of a soldier of Christ―which is what the Sacrament of Confirmation makes us to be? One would dread to think what such Catholics would make of a truly adult-level Catechism! Do they even have the strength to pull it off the shelf and remove the years of accumulated dust? It is shameful to see so many Catholics trying to pass-off a half-baked Catholicism as the “real thing”! Once again, St. John Vianney warns: “We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion!” How can you follow what you do not know? How can you keep commandments that you have forgotten or know only in superficial depth? How can you love a God you know next to nothing about? How can you desire a Heaven that you are clueless about? How can you practice virtues when you know nothing about them or how to acquire them? Thus we can, perhaps, better understand the Scriptural verses: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) … and “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4).
There Is Only One Way!
Of course―and understandably so―all of the above is a little depressing and discouraging, isn’t it? Yet all of the above is also perfectly true. We are not going to make God change His ways and Laws by pouting about it, stamping our feet, and protesting: “This is not fair!” The Chosen People already tried that―and it didn’t work! “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). As Holy Scripture says: “Know ye that the Lord, He is God―He made us, and not we ourselves! We are His people!” (Psalm 99:3). God Himself says: “Behold all souls are mine! As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “Who hath given Me anything beforehand that I should repay him? All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2).
Let us not imagine ourselves to be above our station! We cannot barter with God on the price of admission to Heaven! If we neglect, or regard as unimportant, or reject, or even despise the terms for eternal life―then there is only one place that we are headed, the same place where most people have gone before us! Yes, as the Bible says, God wants to save us ― God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), and Christ came to die and pay for the sins of those who wish to be saved: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17) … “When as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) ― but that salvation is on God’s terms, not our terms. To most souls Our Lord would say: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Instinctively, we really do know that we are not at the level where we should be at―we know that are compromised, that we are trying to serve both God and mammon, following some dictates of God and many dictates of the world with its culture and fashions. We know that God is probably (hmm, not probably, but certainly) not too pleased with us―yet for some insane reason we do change―we do not make any serious efforts to change―somehow hoping against hope that everything will work out right in the end. That is not the virtue of Hope, it is the sin of Presumption. We have all heard and read the word of God many times, year after year―so all that is left for Our Lord to say is: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). The only thing left is to start doing what He says―not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Or, as Holy Scripture says ― start producing “works” and “fruit.”
“Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by my works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. (Matthew 7:16-19).
On several occasions Our Lord said: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15; 13:19; 13:43; Mark 4:9; 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35). Holy Scripture laments the stupidity of those who hear the word of God in vain, without letting the word of God transform their lives: “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not, and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
Our Lord complained of those who would listen to His words without bearing any fruit: “Therefore do I speak to them in parables―because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand! And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear!” (Matthew 13:13-16).
St. Paul, following Christ’s example, also repeated the words of the prophecy of Isaias: “Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our fathers by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘Go to this people, and say to them: “With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!”’” (Acts 28:25-27).
Our Lord even rebuked His Apostles, saying: “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). St. John tells us that Our Lord―the Light of the world―Who came to enlighten the world as to its sinfulness and Who came to save the world ― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 19:10; 5:32) ― but it seems that most do not want to be saved, or, at least, not saved according to terms imposed by God: “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil!” (John 3:19). “They would not listen, and they turned away the shoulder to depart, and they stopped their ears, not to hear!” (Zacharias 7:11). “The Lord hath sent to you all His servants, the prophets, and you have not listened, nor inclined your ears to hear!” (Jeremias 25:4). “Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear! Behold, the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach and they will not receive it!” (Jeremias 6:10). “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!’” (Romans 11:8).
The Itchy Deaf Ears of Modern Man
Yes, “until this present day”, as St. Paul wrote―that “present day” of his days has to be extended to the “present day” of our modern days. “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). St. Paul speaks of the future years when men will turn to novelties (fables) rather than keep to the age-old truths. He goes on to say that if “an angel from Heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema!” (Galatians 1:8) … “keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words!” (1 Timothy 6:20).
Yet the same old truths become “boring” and “dull” to the modern man―who, following the spirit of change and novelty of the world, finds delight and joy in change and new ways of seeing and doing things. Hence he looks for new ways of getting to Heaven―and easier ways of getting to Heaven, for, like modern technology makes everything easier, modern man thinks that getting to Heaven should also be easier. We see this today in the modern clergy, who, at funerals, seem to preach that almost everybody goes to Heaven, as though there was no longer a Purgatory, no longer a Hell, and no longer and need for penance―since God is so good, loving and kind, anyone can walk into Heaven. This attitude was exemplified by Pope Paul VI, in his February 1966 Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, which gave every Catholic a 95% discount on their Lenten penance by reducing 40 days of fasting to merely two days of fasting―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! What happened to the teaching of Our Lord: “Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3-5).
Our Lady of La Salette herself lamented that we do not listen to Heaven: “The people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!”
How true that is―we think so little of this! We think so little of our Faith, we think so little of God, we think so little of our salvation, we think so little of our sins, we think so little of our lukewarmness, we think so little of the dangers of damnation, we think so little of Hell, we think so little of prayer and penance!
The Stupidity of Modern Man
As Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Although the number of fools is so great and the vices are become so measureless, there are those who think that also the perfect are numerous―there are fewer than one thinks, and many less than there should be! The foolishness of men makes them stupid and deaf, their impious malice makes them scoffers, and their unbelieving perversity turns them away from God! In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and care not where they walk, even if to the most dangerous precipices. They are surrounded by innumerable enemies, who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the reprobate should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men? It is most lamentable that while the rich might purchase eternal life with their possessions, they abuse them, and draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures! This evil is common among the children of Adam! Men give themselves over, like brute beasts, to sensual pleasures, and consume their lives in the pursuit of apparent good, until they suddenly fall a prey to eternal perdition. Such is in reality the fate of innumerable foolish men! Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self-deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. Live in constant and holy fear of losing eternal life and rejoice in nothing except in the Lord until you obtain full possession of Him in Heaven!”
A lot of our modern-day stupidity comes from the fact that modern-day Catholics (for the most part) are both proud and ignorant―or call it selfish and spiritually lazy if you wish. The whole modern-day worldly culture encourages man to be a mini-god, a self-focused navel-gazer, a selfish, self-centered, self-esteemed brat. Pride―which is essentially a love of self―has little room for love of God. At best, God merely gets the tidbits of our day―while we cater and pamper to our humanistic, materialistic, bodily and sensual needs. We gladly spend hours and hours on self and the world―and begrudgingly throw God a few minutes of hasty, distracted, mechanical, routine prayer. As for all the other spiritual exercises that we should be doing aside from prayer―daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc. ― well, those are seen as being “optional” or “fanatical” and unimportant and unnecessary. Heck! We don’t need all that “stuff” to get to Heaven, do we? Or do we?
Christ Demands More Than Half-Heartedness!
The Scribes and Pharisees were very serious and assiduous in the practice of their religion―what made them go wrong was their pride and hypocrisy. Our Lord does not condemn the seriousness with which they applied themselves to studying, knowing, meditating, and practicing their religion. In the parable about the Pharisee and the Publican, the Pharisee was not only performing all his religious duties, but was going way beyond that by tithing of ALL that he possessed―the Law only required tithes on a handful of things, not everything! Jesus even said: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). Not that the Scribes and Pharisees were all perfect―for Our Lord also said: “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do―but according to their works do ye not―for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but, with a finger of their own, they will not move them! And all their works they do for to be seen of men … They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi’ [meaning “Master”].” (Matthew 23:3-7). Yet that is true of many Catholics today―just like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable, they think (or even say to others), “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers! I fast twice in a week [or abstain from meat on Fridays], I give tithes of all that I possess! [I contribute generously to my parish], etc.” (Luke 18:11-12).
Coming back to “all that stuff” mentioned above―daily prayer, daily Rosary, daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc. Is all this unimportant and unnecessary, or is really important and really necessary? Personally, it seems as all these things are part and parcel of fulfilling the greatest commandment that God has given us―namely, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). How the heck can someone claim that they are loving God with their whole mind, whole heart, whole soul and whole strength without practicing daily prayer, daily Rosary, daily spiritual reading, daily meditation, studying the Catechism and other books on the Faith, daily examination of conscience, daily sacrifices, daily penances, extra-Masses besides just Sunday, frequent Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc.? It would be a false and hypocritical to neglect these things and to still hypocritically claim that we “loved” God! Our Lord says of such an attitude: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Our Lord Himself revealed to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Part-Time Catholicism Is Not Enough
You would think that most Catholics would not be so stupid as to think that they get to Heaven by loving God partially, being “part-time Catholics”, fitting-in their Faith “between jobs” so to speak―their main job being focused on loving the world with their whole mind, whole heart, whole soul and whole strength! Yet such stupidity is all too common these days, as common-sense is no longer all that common. If these stupid Catholics would only read Holy Scripture, then the scales would fall from their eyes and they would see that their life leaves a lot more to be expected! If they would only wake up to the reality that most souls are damned―not just today, but that has always been the case―and then try to figure why that could be! The saints give them a clue, or even the answer, with comments like: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.” … If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Appreciate and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
● St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) points out: “God wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation … Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! … ... Everyone desires to be saved, but the greater part is lost! He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by Him … God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner!”
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church warns: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church insists: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) advises: “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost!”
● St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) affirms: “Yes, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames and horrors of Hell, which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
● Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588) notes that: “A greater number is lost through false confidence, rather than through excessive fear!”
● St. John Vianney (1786-1859), the Curé of Ars, asks: “Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter ... We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion!” For you cannot love what you do not know―and you will only love a little what you know little about!
Even Our Lady of La Salette speaks of “…the few who can see!” Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls who will preserve the treasures of the Faith.” Do we see these truths―or have we made-up our own Disneyland version of the Faith? Are we preserving the treasures of the Faith―or has our knowledge of the Faith become a dilapidated vague remembrance of a few “two-bit” snippets of the Faith? It has to be said that most Catholics could no longer give the answers to all the questions in a child’s First Holy Communion Catechism―and the child’s Confirmation Catechism would seem like “rocket-science” to most Catholics! Is that something to be proud of? Does that reflect the power and vigor and zeal of a soldier of Christ―which is what the Sacrament of Confirmation makes us to be? One would dread to think what such Catholics would make of a truly adult-level Catechism! Do they even have the strength to pull it off the shelf and remove the years of accumulated dust? It is shameful to see so many Catholics trying to pass-off a half-baked Catholicism as the “real thing”! Once again, St. John Vianney warns: “We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion!” How can you follow what you do not know? How can you keep commandments that you have forgotten or know only in superficial depth? How can you love a God you know next to nothing about? How can you desire a Heaven that you are clueless about? How can you practice virtues when you know nothing about them or how to acquire them? Thus we can, perhaps, better understand the Scriptural verses: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6) … and “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4).
There Is Only One Way!
Of course―and understandably so―all of the above is a little depressing and discouraging, isn’t it? Yet all of the above is also perfectly true. We are not going to make God change His ways and Laws by pouting about it, stamping our feet, and protesting: “This is not fair!” The Chosen People already tried that―and it didn’t work! “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). As Holy Scripture says: “Know ye that the Lord, He is God―He made us, and not we ourselves! We are His people!” (Psalm 99:3). God Himself says: “Behold all souls are mine! As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “Who hath given Me anything beforehand that I should repay him? All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2).
Let us not imagine ourselves to be above our station! We cannot barter with God on the price of admission to Heaven! If we neglect, or regard as unimportant, or reject, or even despise the terms for eternal life―then there is only one place that we are headed, the same place where most people have gone before us! Yes, as the Bible says, God wants to save us ― God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), and Christ came to die and pay for the sins of those who wish to be saved: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17) … “When as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) ― but that salvation is on God’s terms, not our terms. To most souls Our Lord would say: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Instinctively, we really do know that we are not at the level where we should be at―we know that are compromised, that we are trying to serve both God and mammon, following some dictates of God and many dictates of the world with its culture and fashions. We know that God is probably (hmm, not probably, but certainly) not too pleased with us―yet for some insane reason we do change―we do not make any serious efforts to change―somehow hoping against hope that everything will work out right in the end. That is not the virtue of Hope, it is the sin of Presumption. We have all heard and read the word of God many times, year after year―so all that is left for Our Lord to say is: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). The only thing left is to start doing what He says―not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Or, as Holy Scripture says ― start producing “works” and “fruit.”
“Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by my works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. (Matthew 7:16-19).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday, April 19th & Tuesday April 20th
Article 9
The Devil's Scorecard
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Monday, April 19th & Tuesday April 20th
Article 9
The Devil's Scorecard
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What’s the Score?
“Huh?” you say, “What’s the score? What do you mean? Who’s playing?” Well, first of all, nobody is playing―this is not a game, but a war! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― life is not a game, but a war, a fight for survival and salvation. Holy Scripture rouses us to battle, saying: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Talking of fighting―Sister Lucia of Fatima says: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain the Devil the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Our Lord had already told us that there can be no “middle ground” ― “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Unfortunately, most Catholics play right into the Devil’s hands by imagining that there is a “middle ground” that they can take―like spectators who watch two teams battling it out on the sport’s field―and so these Catholics spectate in front of the televisions, computer screens and on their smartphones. They are chiefly spectators of the world and all it contains―rather than being Soldiers of Christ, which is a duty and obligation they were assigned when they received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Their Confirmation has merely confirmed that these soldiers have made peace with the world, which is the enemy of Christ: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Who is Winning the Fight?
In a game of sport, racking-up the points or goals usually leads to victory―but in the battle for salvation and damnation, racking-up the number of souls in Hell is not going to win the war for the Satan. It is more like a boxing match―where one boxer is on the end of a continuous pounding and pummeling, taking one punishing blow after another to the body and head, and is starting to wobble and wane, while finding himself way behind his opponent on points on the scorecards of the three ringside judges―yet he still somehow manages to pull-out of nowhere the knock-out punch that wins for him the fight which everyone thought he was certain to lose. That was the case of Christ on Calvary―He had taken all the “punches” that Satan and his human minions could possibly throw at Him, and it seemed as though His death was the final “knockout punch” that floored Him, but He rose again off the floor (out of the tomb) at the “count of three” ― on the third day.
Our Lady too―though not a boxer, but nevertheless a great fighter―speaks of Holy Mother Church being pummeled and pounding with punishing blows to the point where all will lost, all will seem to be over, staring defeat in the eyes―and then, with and through her, Holy Mother Church will rise up off the floor before the “count of ten” and deliver a “knockout blow” to Satan and his minions, who will have presumed that they had won the fight. Our Lady describes the decisive battle or final fight thus:
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities ... Nations will be annihilated … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan). Our Lady thus describes the battle with Satan―round after round, blow by blow―showing clearly how Holy Mother Church will be battered and bruised, pummeled and pounded, cracking and collapsing.
Yet, Our Lady is not to be underestimated―much like her Son should not have been underestimated. After taking all that punishing pounding and pummeling, she says: “At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” In other words, only Our Lady can deliver the knockout blow to Satan―those are the tactics for the fight that God has planned, which will finally bring about what God had said to Satan after he had successfully tempted Adam and Eve: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:15).
Yet―as already stated above―there is no room for spectators in this “decisive battle” between Our Lady and Satan, between Heaven and Hell, between the followers of God and the followers of the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) … “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:3-4). Hence Our Lady comes out with fighting-talk herself: “I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Who Are We Fighting?
This brings up the question: “Who on earth are we fighting?” Holy Scripture and Holy Mother Church teach us that we have 3 essential enemies: (1) the Devil, (2) the world, and (3) our own flesh, or rather, our human nature with its tendency to incline towards sin―a scar of Original Sin, which was essentially a sin of Pride and Disobedience. Thus we find ourselves contaminated with these viruses―Pride and Disobedience, for which the cures are Humility and Obedience (or, Charity―for Our Lord says: “If you love Me, then keep My commandments!” (John 14:15)―since without Charity, or a love of God, we will find it very hard to be obedient to God). So these enemies―the devil, the world, and our flesh―should never be trusted and should always be fought.
Our Lord Himself says that He expects us to fight―as He insists that He did not come on Earth to bring peace, but the sword―which is a symbol of fighting: Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
What exactly does Our Lord mean by His causing separation and division amongst members of the same family? He means that some will accept His teachings and others will not―some will keep the commandments that He requires be kept and others will refuse to keep those commandments. You can clearly see that today with the division within many families, where more and more family members are accepting viewpoints and practices that go against Christ and the Commandments. Today, anywhere from 40% to 80% of Catholics reject the traditional teachings and commandments taught by the Church, preferring to accept things like abortion, contraception, remarriage after divorce, cohabitation, same sex marriages, masturbation, drunkenness, drug use and abuse, while also rejecting teachings such as the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Holy Mass, the need for regular Sunday attendance at Mass, the need for Confession, the teaching on what constitutes mortal sin―these sinful practices are increasingly accepted those and many more teachings are increasingly rejected.
Thus families are divided over Christ and His teachings―with the added insult to Christ that the family members who still follow Him are too afraid (or too ignorant) to correct and discipline those who rebel against Him―thus invoking the warning of Christ: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth! … Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:32-33).
This uncomfortable and repulsive talk for the typical Catholic “couch potato” or “toy soldier” of Christ, who prefers to spend life in front of a screen rather than on the battlefield of life; who prefers to be at peace with the enemies of God rather than fight them; who prefers to be hours being entertained while entertaining the enemy he should be fighting against. Their reaction to all this fighting-talk is much like the reaction of many of Jesus’ disciples when they were told they would have to eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ if they were to obtain eternal life: “Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! Who can hear it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (John 6:61-67).
Many Have Walked Away From Christ and God
Instead of fighting the enemy of the Devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations, many have chosen to make implicit or even explicit peace with the enemy. This leads to increased in-fighting within the Catholic Church―for the worldly Catholics can no longer tolerate the traditional Catholics; while the traditional Catholics “wash their hands” of their compromising fellow Catholics, neglecting to pray and sacrifice for their conversion back to true Catholicism, preferring, instead, to attack and criticize them; others―the majority of ‘true’ Catholics, just say nothing and get on with life in this world―which reminds us of the words of Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette: “Those who should speak out will be silent! … There will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement!”
Such is the lukewarm state of Catholicism today―and lukewarmness is a sin, or, if you like, a “spiritual virus” that has reached pandemic proportions. A virus has to be eliminated from the body. Though we shall not enter into the matter here and now―it is well worth studying how the body deals with viruses and infections, for it bears a close resemblance as to how we should deal with the virus and infections in the Mystical Body of Christ. In simplistic terms, the cells that have been infected need to be neutralized or killed and expelled. God speaks of the virus of lukewarmness in the same manner: “Because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16) ― just as we vomit out any threatening substance. Vomiting is the body’s way of protecting you from threats. When it detects a harmful substance or something irritating, your body actually thinks you are being poisoned. The body’s natural reaction is to rid the body of that threat, causing it to expel the contents of the stomach.
Man Vomits Out the Teachings of God
The problem is that these lukewarm Catholics are not being vomited-out, but they themselves are vomiting-out the traditional teachings and practices of Holy Mother Church and Christ! It is a case of “kill or be killed” ― and we have become so pacifist (peace-loving) and Liberal (which allows everyone to think and act like they want to) that we no longer have the stomach for vomiting-out error, lies, deceit and innovations! Thus we let the viruses of lukewarmness, Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Hedonism (pleasure-seeking) and Utilitarianism (actions are right if they are useful) to invade the Mystical Body of Christ as a whole, which then results in ourselves becoming infected over time. Heresy is the ultimate virus―and the Church will then vomit-out (excommunicate) the heretic from the Mystical Body of Christ. By not seeking to cure the Mystical Body with the medicine of prayer and penance, or prayer and sacrifices, we allow the virus to slowly take over the Mystical Body of Christ like a cancer.
The medical method of describing the growth of cancer entails in a series of stages―0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. You could equally apply it to stages by which sin advances in the Mystical Body of Christ as a whole, or in each individual Catholic in particular. As you read, just replace the word “cancer” with the word “sin”, and “parts of the body” with either “other Catholics” or “other areas of my life”.
● Stage 0 ― This stage describes cancer “in situ”, which means “in place.” Stage 0 cancers are still located in the place and have not yet grown and have not started to spread to nearby tissues. This stage of cancer is often highly curable.
● Stage 1 ― This stage is often called early-stage cancer. The cancer has grown but is still small and hasn't spread anywhere else.
● Stage 2 ― The stage indicates that the cancer has grown beyond being small, but still hasn't spread to surrounding tissues.
● Stage 3 ― The cancer is even larger and has grown deeply into nearby tissues spread but has not yet spread to other parts of the body.
● Stage 4 ― This stage means that the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body. It may also be called “advanced”, or “secondary”, or “metastatic” cancer.
Below, you can see how that cancer has advanced, especially in the years after the ill-fated Second Vatican Council―which began in 1962 and ended in 1965.
The Devil’s Score-Card for the USA
Satan takes the Catholic Faith very seriously―even if Catholics do not! Satan knows the Faith better than any Catholic―be it layman or theologian. Satan knows the truth of the words: “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith” (1 John 5:4) and that “without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Satan is most certainly not here to please God! So, if he can decrease Faith in the world, he knows that he is petulantly striking a blow against God by robbing Him of souls. He has been especially successful since the Second Vatican Council―which was a masterstroke of Satan, for as Pope Paul VI said afterwards: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God!” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world! The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit! Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Here are just a few statistics that show the “Devil’s Scorecard” in the years since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
► PRIESTS:
In 1965 there were 58,632 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 41,212 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States= a 30% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 37,302 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States = a 37% fall from the 1965 numbers.
Since most are 65 years or older, the % drop could reach 85% in 7 to 10 years leaving less than 12,000 priests. And most of these are in aging categories. By 2025 it is estimated that religious sisters, brothers and religious order priests over 70 years of age will outnumber those under age 70 by nearly 4 to 1.
► SEMINARIANS:
In 1965 there were 48,992 Seminarians in the United States seminaries.
In 2004 there were only 4,719 Seminarians in the United States seminaries= a 91% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 the numbers are still very low at 4,856 Seminarians in the United States seminaries= a 90% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► RELIGIOUS BROTHERS:
In 1965 there were 12,271 Religious Brothers in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 5,505 Religious Brothers in the United States = a 55% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 3,953 Religious Brothers in the United States = a 68% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► RELIGIOUS SISTERS:
In 1965 there were 179,954 Religious Sisters in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 71,468 Religious Sisters in the United States = a 61% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 45,100 Religious Sisters in the United States = a 75% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLS:
In 1965 there were 1,566 Catholic High Schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 1,325 Catholic High Schools in the United States = a 16% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 1,169 Catholic High Schools in the United States = a 26% fall on the 1965 numbers
► CATHOLIC GRADE SCHOOLS:
In 1965 there were 10,503 Grade Schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 6,623 Grade Schools in the United States = a 37% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 4,812 Grade Schools in the United States = a 54% fall on the 1965 numbers
► TEACHING SISTERS:
In 1965 there were 104,314 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 8,233 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States = a 92% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 2,466 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States = a 98% fall on the 1965 numbers
► TEACHING PRIESTS:
In 1965 there were 12,346 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 1,897 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States = a 85% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 840 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States = a 94% fall on the 1965 numbers
► WEEKLY MASS ATTENDANCE:
In 1965 approximately 67% of American Catholics would REGULARLY attend Sunday Mass each week (In the late 1950s it was 75%).
In 2004 only 25% of Catholics would REGULARLY attend Sunday Mass each week = a 42% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 only 21% American Catholics attending Mass every week = a 46% fall from the 1965 numbers.
After COVID-19 made its devastating presence felt, the 21% of American Catholics attending Mass every week, dropped drastically to around 10% according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) statistics = a 57% fall from the 1965 numbers. The projected regular Sunday attendance for the post-COVID era is estimated to be around 12%.
► WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE (OR DON’T BELIEVE)!
77% believe it is not necessary to attend Sunday Mass
65% believe Divorce and Remarriage is acceptable
53% believe abortion is acceptable
74% believe artificial birth control is acceptable
66% believe the Eucharist is only symbolic and not the Body and Blood of Christ.
These are all mortal sins that can lead to eternal suffering for those who practice these beliefs.
► OUR CATHOLIC SHEPHERDS IN SCHOOLS
Among Catholic Elementary School Teachers:
90% disagree with the Church’s condemnation of birth control
74% disagree with the Church’s condemnation of abortion
73% disagree with the Church’s teaching on Papal Infallibility
37% disagree with the Church teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist
There are many dogmas and teachings of the Catholic Church that these teachers disagree with, the above mentioned are only a sample of the whole. A prime example is you don’t have to believe in the official Catechism. It’s subjective. Let your conscience be your guide. (What about the dogmatic sections of the Catechism?)
These are some of the “Shepherds” who are teaching and guiding your children. Now you know why most Catholic elementary school students quit going to Mass after they leave our schools.
The figures are far worse at Catholic High Schools and most Universities are a disgrace in what they do and do not teach about our Faith.
► DECLINE OF CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES between 1965 and 2000
Jesuit Priests declined 50%; Jesuit Seminarians declined 89%.
Franciscan Priests declined 41%; Franciscan Seminarians declined 97%
Benedictine Priests declined 40%; Benedictine Seminarians declined 93%
Dominican Priests declined 40%; Dominican Seminarians declined 89%
And so on for all communities. Most of the remaining priests will be gone in the near future, because of their advanced ages. And there increasingly fewer and fewer replacements, because there are so few seminarians; made worse by the fact that only a small percentage of these seminarians graduate.
For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 down to a paltry 84 in 2000. Those numbers are from 20 years ago! Without doubt matters are even worse today―though precise numbers could not be found―because, to cover up the decline, the religious orders now tend to give total numbers (priests, brothers, seminarians) which makes things look bigger and better than what they really are.
► DECLINE WITHIN PARISHES ACROSS THE USA
In 1995―around 25 years ago―there were 19,331 parishes in the United States, but over 3,000 of them had no priest to serve them. In those last 25 years the Catholic Church has closed and sold (or torn down) 2,417 parishes leaving a decreased total of 16,914 parishes―but each year that number of closures increases. The number of parishes without priests could easily triple to 9,000 in a few short years because of the rapidly decreasing number of priests and so few replacements. This is largely due to the lack of vocations coming into the priesthood combined with an aging Catholic priests, with more and more of them become “inactive” with each passing year. For example, the percentage of priests who were active in the ministry has fallen from 92% in 1965 down to 68% in 2019 ― a fall of 24%. You can see the gradual fall in the number of active priests below:
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019
90% 90% 88% 85% 84% 80% 76% 74% 70% 68% 66% 68%
We have a Mess! We have a Crisis! We Have No Faith!
Folks! We have a “Crisis of Shepherds”! No surprise, for Our Lady already foretold it, but the world would not listen, nor take the remedies Our Lady offered. We may be tempted to bury our heads in the sand, with a spirit of hopelessness, muttering with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9) ... “I am only the sheep, I am not the shepherd!” ... “What can I do? I am only one among over a billion who inhabit this Earth!”
This is both a lack of Faith and desertion of obligation. The Apostles were only twelve; the disciples barely a hundred. Yet they were commanded to convert all nations and baptize all creatures. Our sense of desperation is only a natural human emotion and not supernatural response. Our Lord performed miracles and promised that we would do even greater ones, IF WE HAD THE FAITH! The devil said to St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, that if there were only four like him in France, then the devil would “be out of business”! St. Louis Marie de Montfort speaks of the greatest saints being formed and raised up by Our Lady at the end times.
If we look upon and rely upon our own powers, then we are lost; for we but sinful dust and ashes, to whom Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, if we tap into the vines, that Our Lord and Our Lady are, then nothing is impossible: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) ... “For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19). We lack Faith today―and, “without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). May this season of Easter―the season of the Resurrection―be a time where we take the necessary steps to resurrect our Faith and start moving mountains!
“Huh?” you say, “What’s the score? What do you mean? Who’s playing?” Well, first of all, nobody is playing―this is not a game, but a war! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― life is not a game, but a war, a fight for survival and salvation. Holy Scripture rouses us to battle, saying: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Talking of fighting―Sister Lucia of Fatima says: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain the Devil the greatest number of souls in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them … It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Our Lord had already told us that there can be no “middle ground” ― “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Unfortunately, most Catholics play right into the Devil’s hands by imagining that there is a “middle ground” that they can take―like spectators who watch two teams battling it out on the sport’s field―and so these Catholics spectate in front of the televisions, computer screens and on their smartphones. They are chiefly spectators of the world and all it contains―rather than being Soldiers of Christ, which is a duty and obligation they were assigned when they received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Their Confirmation has merely confirmed that these soldiers have made peace with the world, which is the enemy of Christ: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Who is Winning the Fight?
In a game of sport, racking-up the points or goals usually leads to victory―but in the battle for salvation and damnation, racking-up the number of souls in Hell is not going to win the war for the Satan. It is more like a boxing match―where one boxer is on the end of a continuous pounding and pummeling, taking one punishing blow after another to the body and head, and is starting to wobble and wane, while finding himself way behind his opponent on points on the scorecards of the three ringside judges―yet he still somehow manages to pull-out of nowhere the knock-out punch that wins for him the fight which everyone thought he was certain to lose. That was the case of Christ on Calvary―He had taken all the “punches” that Satan and his human minions could possibly throw at Him, and it seemed as though His death was the final “knockout punch” that floored Him, but He rose again off the floor (out of the tomb) at the “count of three” ― on the third day.
Our Lady too―though not a boxer, but nevertheless a great fighter―speaks of Holy Mother Church being pummeled and pounding with punishing blows to the point where all will lost, all will seem to be over, staring defeat in the eyes―and then, with and through her, Holy Mother Church will rise up off the floor before the “count of ten” and deliver a “knockout blow” to Satan and his minions, who will have presumed that they had won the fight. Our Lady describes the decisive battle or final fight thus:
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities ... Nations will be annihilated … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan). Our Lady thus describes the battle with Satan―round after round, blow by blow―showing clearly how Holy Mother Church will be battered and bruised, pummeled and pounded, cracking and collapsing.
Yet, Our Lady is not to be underestimated―much like her Son should not have been underestimated. After taking all that punishing pounding and pummeling, she says: “At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” In other words, only Our Lady can deliver the knockout blow to Satan―those are the tactics for the fight that God has planned, which will finally bring about what God had said to Satan after he had successfully tempted Adam and Eve: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!” (Genesis 3:15).
Yet―as already stated above―there is no room for spectators in this “decisive battle” between Our Lady and Satan, between Heaven and Hell, between the followers of God and the followers of the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) … “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:3-4). Hence Our Lady comes out with fighting-talk herself: “I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Who Are We Fighting?
This brings up the question: “Who on earth are we fighting?” Holy Scripture and Holy Mother Church teach us that we have 3 essential enemies: (1) the Devil, (2) the world, and (3) our own flesh, or rather, our human nature with its tendency to incline towards sin―a scar of Original Sin, which was essentially a sin of Pride and Disobedience. Thus we find ourselves contaminated with these viruses―Pride and Disobedience, for which the cures are Humility and Obedience (or, Charity―for Our Lord says: “If you love Me, then keep My commandments!” (John 14:15)―since without Charity, or a love of God, we will find it very hard to be obedient to God). So these enemies―the devil, the world, and our flesh―should never be trusted and should always be fought.
Our Lord Himself says that He expects us to fight―as He insists that He did not come on Earth to bring peace, but the sword―which is a symbol of fighting: Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
What exactly does Our Lord mean by His causing separation and division amongst members of the same family? He means that some will accept His teachings and others will not―some will keep the commandments that He requires be kept and others will refuse to keep those commandments. You can clearly see that today with the division within many families, where more and more family members are accepting viewpoints and practices that go against Christ and the Commandments. Today, anywhere from 40% to 80% of Catholics reject the traditional teachings and commandments taught by the Church, preferring to accept things like abortion, contraception, remarriage after divorce, cohabitation, same sex marriages, masturbation, drunkenness, drug use and abuse, while also rejecting teachings such as the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Holy Mass, the need for regular Sunday attendance at Mass, the need for Confession, the teaching on what constitutes mortal sin―these sinful practices are increasingly accepted those and many more teachings are increasingly rejected.
Thus families are divided over Christ and His teachings―with the added insult to Christ that the family members who still follow Him are too afraid (or too ignorant) to correct and discipline those who rebel against Him―thus invoking the warning of Christ: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth! … Therefore, everyone that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:32-33).
This uncomfortable and repulsive talk for the typical Catholic “couch potato” or “toy soldier” of Christ, who prefers to spend life in front of a screen rather than on the battlefield of life; who prefers to be at peace with the enemies of God rather than fight them; who prefers to be hours being entertained while entertaining the enemy he should be fighting against. Their reaction to all this fighting-talk is much like the reaction of many of Jesus’ disciples when they were told they would have to eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ if they were to obtain eternal life: “Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! Who can hear it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (John 6:61-67).
Many Have Walked Away From Christ and God
Instead of fighting the enemy of the Devil, the world and our own sinful inclinations, many have chosen to make implicit or even explicit peace with the enemy. This leads to increased in-fighting within the Catholic Church―for the worldly Catholics can no longer tolerate the traditional Catholics; while the traditional Catholics “wash their hands” of their compromising fellow Catholics, neglecting to pray and sacrifice for their conversion back to true Catholicism, preferring, instead, to attack and criticize them; others―the majority of ‘true’ Catholics, just say nothing and get on with life in this world―which reminds us of the words of Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette: “Those who should speak out will be silent! … There will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement!”
Such is the lukewarm state of Catholicism today―and lukewarmness is a sin, or, if you like, a “spiritual virus” that has reached pandemic proportions. A virus has to be eliminated from the body. Though we shall not enter into the matter here and now―it is well worth studying how the body deals with viruses and infections, for it bears a close resemblance as to how we should deal with the virus and infections in the Mystical Body of Christ. In simplistic terms, the cells that have been infected need to be neutralized or killed and expelled. God speaks of the virus of lukewarmness in the same manner: “Because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:16) ― just as we vomit out any threatening substance. Vomiting is the body’s way of protecting you from threats. When it detects a harmful substance or something irritating, your body actually thinks you are being poisoned. The body’s natural reaction is to rid the body of that threat, causing it to expel the contents of the stomach.
Man Vomits Out the Teachings of God
The problem is that these lukewarm Catholics are not being vomited-out, but they themselves are vomiting-out the traditional teachings and practices of Holy Mother Church and Christ! It is a case of “kill or be killed” ― and we have become so pacifist (peace-loving) and Liberal (which allows everyone to think and act like they want to) that we no longer have the stomach for vomiting-out error, lies, deceit and innovations! Thus we let the viruses of lukewarmness, Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Hedonism (pleasure-seeking) and Utilitarianism (actions are right if they are useful) to invade the Mystical Body of Christ as a whole, which then results in ourselves becoming infected over time. Heresy is the ultimate virus―and the Church will then vomit-out (excommunicate) the heretic from the Mystical Body of Christ. By not seeking to cure the Mystical Body with the medicine of prayer and penance, or prayer and sacrifices, we allow the virus to slowly take over the Mystical Body of Christ like a cancer.
The medical method of describing the growth of cancer entails in a series of stages―0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. You could equally apply it to stages by which sin advances in the Mystical Body of Christ as a whole, or in each individual Catholic in particular. As you read, just replace the word “cancer” with the word “sin”, and “parts of the body” with either “other Catholics” or “other areas of my life”.
● Stage 0 ― This stage describes cancer “in situ”, which means “in place.” Stage 0 cancers are still located in the place and have not yet grown and have not started to spread to nearby tissues. This stage of cancer is often highly curable.
● Stage 1 ― This stage is often called early-stage cancer. The cancer has grown but is still small and hasn't spread anywhere else.
● Stage 2 ― The stage indicates that the cancer has grown beyond being small, but still hasn't spread to surrounding tissues.
● Stage 3 ― The cancer is even larger and has grown deeply into nearby tissues spread but has not yet spread to other parts of the body.
● Stage 4 ― This stage means that the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body. It may also be called “advanced”, or “secondary”, or “metastatic” cancer.
Below, you can see how that cancer has advanced, especially in the years after the ill-fated Second Vatican Council―which began in 1962 and ended in 1965.
The Devil’s Score-Card for the USA
Satan takes the Catholic Faith very seriously―even if Catholics do not! Satan knows the Faith better than any Catholic―be it layman or theologian. Satan knows the truth of the words: “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith” (1 John 5:4) and that “without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Satan is most certainly not here to please God! So, if he can decrease Faith in the world, he knows that he is petulantly striking a blow against God by robbing Him of souls. He has been especially successful since the Second Vatican Council―which was a masterstroke of Satan, for as Pope Paul VI said afterwards: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God!” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world! The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit! Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church!” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Here are just a few statistics that show the “Devil’s Scorecard” in the years since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
► PRIESTS:
In 1965 there were 58,632 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 41,212 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States= a 30% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 37,302 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States = a 37% fall from the 1965 numbers.
Since most are 65 years or older, the % drop could reach 85% in 7 to 10 years leaving less than 12,000 priests. And most of these are in aging categories. By 2025 it is estimated that religious sisters, brothers and religious order priests over 70 years of age will outnumber those under age 70 by nearly 4 to 1.
► SEMINARIANS:
In 1965 there were 48,992 Seminarians in the United States seminaries.
In 2004 there were only 4,719 Seminarians in the United States seminaries= a 91% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 the numbers are still very low at 4,856 Seminarians in the United States seminaries= a 90% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► RELIGIOUS BROTHERS:
In 1965 there were 12,271 Religious Brothers in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 5,505 Religious Brothers in the United States = a 55% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 3,953 Religious Brothers in the United States = a 68% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► RELIGIOUS SISTERS:
In 1965 there were 179,954 Religious Sisters in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 71,468 Religious Sisters in the United States = a 61% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 45,100 Religious Sisters in the United States = a 75% fall from the 1965 numbers.
► CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLS:
In 1965 there were 1,566 Catholic High Schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 1,325 Catholic High Schools in the United States = a 16% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 1,169 Catholic High Schools in the United States = a 26% fall on the 1965 numbers
► CATHOLIC GRADE SCHOOLS:
In 1965 there were 10,503 Grade Schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 6,623 Grade Schools in the United States = a 37% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 4,812 Grade Schools in the United States = a 54% fall on the 1965 numbers
► TEACHING SISTERS:
In 1965 there were 104,314 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 8,233 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States = a 92% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 2,466 teaching Religious Sisters in the United States = a 98% fall on the 1965 numbers
► TEACHING PRIESTS:
In 1965 there were 12,346 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States.
In 2004 there were only 1,897 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States = a 85% fall on the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 there were only 840 Priests teaching in Catholic schools in the United States = a 94% fall on the 1965 numbers
► WEEKLY MASS ATTENDANCE:
In 1965 approximately 67% of American Catholics would REGULARLY attend Sunday Mass each week (In the late 1950s it was 75%).
In 2004 only 25% of Catholics would REGULARLY attend Sunday Mass each week = a 42% fall from the 1965 numbers.
In 2018 only 21% American Catholics attending Mass every week = a 46% fall from the 1965 numbers.
After COVID-19 made its devastating presence felt, the 21% of American Catholics attending Mass every week, dropped drastically to around 10% according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) statistics = a 57% fall from the 1965 numbers. The projected regular Sunday attendance for the post-COVID era is estimated to be around 12%.
► WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE (OR DON’T BELIEVE)!
77% believe it is not necessary to attend Sunday Mass
65% believe Divorce and Remarriage is acceptable
53% believe abortion is acceptable
74% believe artificial birth control is acceptable
66% believe the Eucharist is only symbolic and not the Body and Blood of Christ.
These are all mortal sins that can lead to eternal suffering for those who practice these beliefs.
► OUR CATHOLIC SHEPHERDS IN SCHOOLS
Among Catholic Elementary School Teachers:
90% disagree with the Church’s condemnation of birth control
74% disagree with the Church’s condemnation of abortion
73% disagree with the Church’s teaching on Papal Infallibility
37% disagree with the Church teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist
There are many dogmas and teachings of the Catholic Church that these teachers disagree with, the above mentioned are only a sample of the whole. A prime example is you don’t have to believe in the official Catechism. It’s subjective. Let your conscience be your guide. (What about the dogmatic sections of the Catechism?)
These are some of the “Shepherds” who are teaching and guiding your children. Now you know why most Catholic elementary school students quit going to Mass after they leave our schools.
The figures are far worse at Catholic High Schools and most Universities are a disgrace in what they do and do not teach about our Faith.
► DECLINE OF CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES between 1965 and 2000
Jesuit Priests declined 50%; Jesuit Seminarians declined 89%.
Franciscan Priests declined 41%; Franciscan Seminarians declined 97%
Benedictine Priests declined 40%; Benedictine Seminarians declined 93%
Dominican Priests declined 40%; Dominican Seminarians declined 89%
And so on for all communities. Most of the remaining priests will be gone in the near future, because of their advanced ages. And there increasingly fewer and fewer replacements, because there are so few seminarians; made worse by the fact that only a small percentage of these seminarians graduate.
For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 down to a paltry 84 in 2000. Those numbers are from 20 years ago! Without doubt matters are even worse today―though precise numbers could not be found―because, to cover up the decline, the religious orders now tend to give total numbers (priests, brothers, seminarians) which makes things look bigger and better than what they really are.
► DECLINE WITHIN PARISHES ACROSS THE USA
In 1995―around 25 years ago―there were 19,331 parishes in the United States, but over 3,000 of them had no priest to serve them. In those last 25 years the Catholic Church has closed and sold (or torn down) 2,417 parishes leaving a decreased total of 16,914 parishes―but each year that number of closures increases. The number of parishes without priests could easily triple to 9,000 in a few short years because of the rapidly decreasing number of priests and so few replacements. This is largely due to the lack of vocations coming into the priesthood combined with an aging Catholic priests, with more and more of them become “inactive” with each passing year. For example, the percentage of priests who were active in the ministry has fallen from 92% in 1965 down to 68% in 2019 ― a fall of 24%. You can see the gradual fall in the number of active priests below:
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019
90% 90% 88% 85% 84% 80% 76% 74% 70% 68% 66% 68%
We have a Mess! We have a Crisis! We Have No Faith!
Folks! We have a “Crisis of Shepherds”! No surprise, for Our Lady already foretold it, but the world would not listen, nor take the remedies Our Lady offered. We may be tempted to bury our heads in the sand, with a spirit of hopelessness, muttering with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9) ... “I am only the sheep, I am not the shepherd!” ... “What can I do? I am only one among over a billion who inhabit this Earth!”
This is both a lack of Faith and desertion of obligation. The Apostles were only twelve; the disciples barely a hundred. Yet they were commanded to convert all nations and baptize all creatures. Our sense of desperation is only a natural human emotion and not supernatural response. Our Lord performed miracles and promised that we would do even greater ones, IF WE HAD THE FAITH! The devil said to St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, that if there were only four like him in France, then the devil would “be out of business”! St. Louis Marie de Montfort speaks of the greatest saints being formed and raised up by Our Lady at the end times.
If we look upon and rely upon our own powers, then we are lost; for we but sinful dust and ashes, to whom Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, if we tap into the vines, that Our Lord and Our Lady are, then nothing is impossible: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) ... “For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19). We lack Faith today―and, “without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). May this season of Easter―the season of the Resurrection―be a time where we take the necessary steps to resurrect our Faith and start moving mountains!
Sunday, April 18th
Article 8
Shepherdless Sheeple!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 8
Shepherdless Sheeple!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Beautiful Image of Shepherd and Sheep
During Paschal tide the Church puts before us the symbolism of the Shepherd and the sheep. During the Easter season we are presented with what is commonly and popularly called “Good Shepherd Sunday” which contains the famous quote of Our Lord’s: “I am the Good Shepherd! And I know Mine, and Mine know Me.”
This phrase opens the door to some of the most beautiful contemplations possible! It can lead us to think of our relationship with Christ; of the role we have in that relationship. It can lead us into broader pastures of our personal vocation—for we are all either ‘shepherds’ or ‘sheep’ and often both at the same time.
We Are Both Shepherds and Sheep
Parents shepherd the sheep that are their children, while at the same time being themselves the ‘sheep’ of the parish or the Church at large. Employers are the shepherds of the employees, while being ‘sheep’ of a larger economic community themselves; teachers shepherd their students while they are themselves just the ‘sheep’ of the school as a whole; the principal shepherds the teachers while being under the shepherding of the parish priest; priests shepherd their parish, while being the ‘sheep’ of the diocese and their bishop, and so forth.
We are called, in the broad sense, to be both shepherds and sheep. Therefore, it would be well not to pass by the topic too hastily or superficially—since we will all be judged on how we have ‘shepherded’ others and also on how ‘sheepish’ we ourselves were! First of all, let us look at what we should always look at first—the word of God! Holy Scripture and the Divine Liturgy have some beautiful passages concerning the shepherd and the sheep—not least the passage where Our Lord calls Himself the “Good Shepherd.” So let us begin with that:
Christ the Good Shepherd
In chapter 10 of St. John’s Gospel, we read the following words of Jesus, Our Good Shepherd:
“‘Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter [gatekeeper] openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.”
“This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke to them. Jesus therefore said to them again: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.
“‘But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep! And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd!’” (John 10:1-16).
Laying Down His Life for His Sheep
Can we think of a more beautiful image than that of a good, caring shepherd, looking after and protecting his sheep? Our Lord says: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me!” It was in the role of the “Good Shepherd,” that Christ accompanied us during the weeks preceding and following Easter. On Holy Saturday the Church in her liturgy prayed: “Our Shepherd has departed, the fount of living water, at whose death the sun was darkened...”
Then two days later the Church joyfully prayed: “Risen is the Good Shepherd, Who laid down His life for His sheep. And deigned to die for His flock, alleluia! Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed.”
There are a couple of notable Old Testament texts that form the background of this Good Shepherd discourse of Our Lord from the Gospel of St. John.
The Lord is My Shepherd...
We think first of all of Psalm 22 (Psalm 23): “The Lord is my shepherd: and I shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for His own Name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice, which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! And Thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.”
This psalm was extremely popular among the Fathers of the Church as a source for sacramental catechesis. This reminds us that the sacraments are key moments when the Good Shepherd touches us and cares for us.
Old Testament Shepherds
Another less prominent, but no less important, Old Testament background text is found in chapter 34 of the Book of Ezechiel, concerning Ezechiel’s prophecy of the future Good Shepherd. In this passage God criticizes the failings of the ‘shepherds’ of Israel, who have not truly fed the flock of God, but themselves. The same was to be true of the Sadducees (the priests in Jesus’ time), the Scribes and the Pharisees. The same could be said to be true of those shepherds of the Church today, who are Liberals and Modernists (again, the verse numbers will be in parentheses):
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel [that is, princes, magistrates, chief priests, and scribes]: prophesy and say to the shepherds: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat: but My flock you did not feed. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand. And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them.
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd: for My shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them!
“For thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My sheep: and I will cause them to lie down,’ saith the Lord God. ‘I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment.’
“‘And as for you, O my flocks,’ thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of male goats. Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? But you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures: and when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet. And My sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean. Because you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad. I will save my flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God: and My servant David the prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken it.” (Ezechiel 34:1-24)
Shepherd Warnings for Our Day!
Here we have a real ‘dressing-down’ of the shepherds of the day! We have to ask ourselves the same questions, though! Are we feeding our ‘sheep’ what God wants them to be fed with, or are we feeding them ‘junk food’? We have to turn to the prophecies and warnings of Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador), to see that there will be a time (and it seems we are in it) where the Faith will no longer be fed as it ought to be.
“The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” (Our Lady of La Salette). “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador, 17th century).
We are in the Time of Crisis
We have entered the period of Church History that we could well call “The Crisis of the Shepherd.” It is no secret that the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” speaks of an apostasy or falling-away from the Faith, which is supposed to start at the “top”—meaning that it will start with the clergy or pastors within the Catholic Church and it will affect even those in the highest positions within the Church.
Repeated Warnings from Our Lady
It is not a though all this is a shock and a surprise—Our Lady has given the world ample time and wonderful remedies to avoid what is happening and will continue to worsen. Yet the world, apart from a very small number of souls, seems indifferent at best and scornful at worst with regard to her warnings. Our Lady of Fatima would complain that even the good are not listening to her message and are blindly carrying on with their own ‘good’ projects while ignoring what Heaven wants to be done.
Our Lady of Good Success at Quito, Ecuador
The warnings that have come from Our Lady are unmistakably clear and dire—the terrible times she foretells include a “Crisis of the Shepherd.” Already back in the 1600s, during her apparitions at Quito, in Ecuador, she warned us of these calamities. The Blessed Virgin under the glorious title of Our Lady of Good Success told Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, that this battle would reach its most acute stage because of various unfaithful religious, who, Our Lady says, “under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, would turn upon Religion.” She goes on to say: “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. The effects of secular education will increase, which will be one reason for the lack of priestly and religious vocations...”
Our Lady of Good Success continues: “The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.” … “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
During this time, Our Lady foretold, “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of my hour.”
Our Lady of La Salette
Though we have often quoted extracts from Our Lady’s La Salette message, we will do so again—following the words of wisdom from Holy Scripture: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Sadly, many today do “indeed turn away their hearing from the truth”—but as Our Lady never tires of repeating her message, we will not tire in repeating it in unison with her.
La Salette’s message takes up the same theme of Quito, Ecuador. Our Lady had the following tragic things to say: “Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.”
Our Lady of Fatima
In Sister Lucia’s fourth memoir, which was written from October-December 1941, Sister Lucia copied the first two parts of the Secret from the text of her third memoir, but added a sentence that is not found there. Sister Lucia gave us the first sentence of the Third Secret when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This sentence had not appeared in her previous memoir. Sister Lucia purposely inserted it into her fourth memoir to indicate to us what the final part of the Third Secret is about.
In 1943, after having been asked by Bishop da Silva to write down the text of the Third Secret, Sister Lucia was finding the task difficult. She declared to the bishop that it was not absolutely necessary to write out the text, “since in a certain manner she had said it.” Sister Lucia was very likely referring to the additional phrase she had inserted into her fourth memoir, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
Honest Members of the Church Admit to a Crisis in the Church and Among Her Shepherds
► Cardinal Manning: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90). For Cardinal Manning to speak about apostasy in his day, would seem to be scandalous — yet Manning was alive at the time of Our Lady’s warnings at La Salette. He heard; he understood and he believed.
► Pope Pius XII, while still a cardinal, said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
The clergy are so focused on mankind that they are neglecting God―as Our Lady lamented: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!” The shepherds are riddled with various viruses of sin! As the philosophical axiom says: “You cannot give what you have not got!” ― and that is why so few of the clergy today are able to communicate a true doctrinal and spiritual teaching ― they simply haven’t got it; they are little interested in it. The world and the things of man take precedence over the things of God.
► Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► Fr. J. Schweigle, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
► Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Sister Lucia: In a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
► Sister Lucia: In an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, Lucia said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence…. Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26th, 1957).
Bad Shepherds Produce Bad Sheep―Blind Shepherds Produce Blind Sheep
Most shepherds within the Church today have caught the fatal viruses of Liberalism and/or Modernism. This essentially means that they think what they want to think―irrespective of what the Church has always taught in her past―they preach and teach what they want to preach and teach; and they do and worship as they want to do and worship. Such shepherds are rebuked and condemned by Our Lord and Holy Scripture: “Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and make them dumb in the mouth, so that they cannot correct” (Ecclesiasticus 20:31). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10) … “They shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord! And their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung!” (Sophonias 1:17). “For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests …They have wandered as blind men in the streets! … Depart, get ye hence, touch not!” (Lamentations 4:13-15) … “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
We are in a predicament! “Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch?” (Luke 6:39). The bottom line is that we are ultimately guided by our Faith―therefore we really need to know our Faith. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). St. Peter tells us that our knowledge of the Faith should be good enough to be “always ready to satisfy everyone that asks you for a reason of that hope which is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). St. Paul tells us that our knowledge of the Faith should be so good that “There are some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: ‘If any one preach to you a Gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema!’” (Galatians 1:7-9) and “And no wonder―for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:14). In other words, in the current crisis of Faith we are all, by default, placed in a temporary position of being shepherds. If the clergy of the Church are not leading the sheep along the path of salvation, then we must pull away from the flock of perdition and seek the true, narrow path that leads to Heaven and not to Hell. “Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch?” (Luke 6:39). The words of warning so often repeated by the saints―the true shepherds of old―are of even greater significance and importance in these days of increasing apostasy and non-practice of the Faith.
If the most of the “shepherds” of the Church―the popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and religious―found themselves damned in all ages of the Church, then how much worse are things today!
● St. John Chrysostom (247-407)―a Father and Doctor of the Church―lamented that, in his opinion, most of the bishops and priests ended up in Hell: “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.”
If you think that there is therefore a greater safety and likelihood of being saved by being in the pews rather than being at the altar―then think again. The same opinion is given by “good shepherds of old”―the saints―as regards the laity or secular Catholics.
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, laments: “It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!”
● St. Regimius (437-533) says: “Among adults there are few saved because of sins of the flesh … With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned!”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church warns: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church insists: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588) notes that: “A greater number is lost through false confidence, rather than through excessive fear!”
● St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) states: “So vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!”
● St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) advises: “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way! The number of the elect is so small ― so small ― that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief!”
● St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) affirms: “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames and horrors of Hell, which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
● Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837) laments: “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter!”
● St. John Vianney (1786-1859), the Curé of Ars, asks: “Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter ... We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion”
● St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Despite assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved―it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever!”
● Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima (1907-1958?): “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved … many will be lost!”
● St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima (1910-1920): “So many people are going to die. And almost all of them are going to Hell!”
● St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) points out: “God will have all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation … Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! … He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by Him … God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner ... Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost! … All persons desire to be saved, but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commandments, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost! … The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few! O my God! Too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be! … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved―but these cases are very rare! Ordinarily, he that leads a bad life, dies a bad death! … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge―not of water but of sins―continually floods the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved―especially among seculars! …
“St. Teresa of Avila, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin―but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, if she had not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned! … To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble―not so much at the thought of Hell―but tremble of sin, which alone can send us there. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace―he who acts thus will be saved! But for him who lives not in this manner, it is morally impossible to be saved! … It is certain that we absolutely require the divine assistance, in order to overcome temptations … Whoever prays obtains this grace; but whoever prays not, obtains it not, and is lost. And this is more especially the case with regard to the grace of final perseverance, of dying in the grace of God, which is the grace absolutely necessary for our salvation, and without which we should be lost forever. St. Augustine says of this grace, that God only bestows it on those who pray. And this is the reason why so few are saved, because few indeed are mindful to beg of God this grace of perseverance.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, compilation of multiple quotes from different sources).
So Where Do the Shepherdless Sheep Go?
With the shepherds collapsing―where can the sheep go? To whom or what can they turn to? “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaves to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered―and I will turn My hand to the little ones!’” (Zacharias 13:7) … “And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd―and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:5). “I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd―and the Lord said: ‘These have no masters! Let every man return to his own house in peace!’” (2 Paralipomenon 18:16). “Then Jesus said to them: ‘It is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!”’” (Matthew 26:31). “As the shepherd visits his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day!” (Ezechiel 34:12).
The days are becoming cloudier and darker! Nations, states and governments all have emergency measures that are ready to be invoked in times of serious crises. The same is true of families―if a father dies, then there are many things that fall upon the shoulders of the mother. She, though being a female, has to take on certain male responsibilities. In an aircraft, where for one reason or another the pilot is some way incapacitated or injured, then the co-pilot, or in the absence of a co-pilot, then a member of the crew or a passenger must take control of the plane and perhaps with radio assistance from the ground, that person must seek to land the plane as safely as possible. We are facing something similar in the current crisis in the Church―the Pope, many cardinals and bishops, and the vast majority of priests have spiritually and mentally incapacitated and the plane is danger of crashing.
Has this ever happened before? Yes―you can take a look at Arian heresy and you will see striking resemblances to what we going through today! Hence the importance of knowing your history―for, as the saying goes: “He who does not know his history will be bound to repeat it!” There are many variations on the repeating-history theme. The Irish statesman, Edmund Burke, is often misquoted as having said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, is credited with the statement: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman, Winston Churchill, wrote: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!” In any event―whoever said it―it is true. Sadly, Catholic Church History is sorely neglected to the detriment of Catholics―both clergy and laity.
During Paschal tide the Church puts before us the symbolism of the Shepherd and the sheep. During the Easter season we are presented with what is commonly and popularly called “Good Shepherd Sunday” which contains the famous quote of Our Lord’s: “I am the Good Shepherd! And I know Mine, and Mine know Me.”
This phrase opens the door to some of the most beautiful contemplations possible! It can lead us to think of our relationship with Christ; of the role we have in that relationship. It can lead us into broader pastures of our personal vocation—for we are all either ‘shepherds’ or ‘sheep’ and often both at the same time.
We Are Both Shepherds and Sheep
Parents shepherd the sheep that are their children, while at the same time being themselves the ‘sheep’ of the parish or the Church at large. Employers are the shepherds of the employees, while being ‘sheep’ of a larger economic community themselves; teachers shepherd their students while they are themselves just the ‘sheep’ of the school as a whole; the principal shepherds the teachers while being under the shepherding of the parish priest; priests shepherd their parish, while being the ‘sheep’ of the diocese and their bishop, and so forth.
We are called, in the broad sense, to be both shepherds and sheep. Therefore, it would be well not to pass by the topic too hastily or superficially—since we will all be judged on how we have ‘shepherded’ others and also on how ‘sheepish’ we ourselves were! First of all, let us look at what we should always look at first—the word of God! Holy Scripture and the Divine Liturgy have some beautiful passages concerning the shepherd and the sheep—not least the passage where Our Lord calls Himself the “Good Shepherd.” So let us begin with that:
Christ the Good Shepherd
In chapter 10 of St. John’s Gospel, we read the following words of Jesus, Our Good Shepherd:
“‘Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter [gatekeeper] openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.”
“This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke to them. Jesus therefore said to them again: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.
“‘But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep! And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd!’” (John 10:1-16).
Laying Down His Life for His Sheep
Can we think of a more beautiful image than that of a good, caring shepherd, looking after and protecting his sheep? Our Lord says: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me!” It was in the role of the “Good Shepherd,” that Christ accompanied us during the weeks preceding and following Easter. On Holy Saturday the Church in her liturgy prayed: “Our Shepherd has departed, the fount of living water, at whose death the sun was darkened...”
Then two days later the Church joyfully prayed: “Risen is the Good Shepherd, Who laid down His life for His sheep. And deigned to die for His flock, alleluia! Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed.”
There are a couple of notable Old Testament texts that form the background of this Good Shepherd discourse of Our Lord from the Gospel of St. John.
The Lord is My Shepherd...
We think first of all of Psalm 22 (Psalm 23): “The Lord is my shepherd: and I shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for His own Name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice, which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! And Thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.”
This psalm was extremely popular among the Fathers of the Church as a source for sacramental catechesis. This reminds us that the sacraments are key moments when the Good Shepherd touches us and cares for us.
Old Testament Shepherds
Another less prominent, but no less important, Old Testament background text is found in chapter 34 of the Book of Ezechiel, concerning Ezechiel’s prophecy of the future Good Shepherd. In this passage God criticizes the failings of the ‘shepherds’ of Israel, who have not truly fed the flock of God, but themselves. The same was to be true of the Sadducees (the priests in Jesus’ time), the Scribes and the Pharisees. The same could be said to be true of those shepherds of the Church today, who are Liberals and Modernists (again, the verse numbers will be in parentheses):
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel [that is, princes, magistrates, chief priests, and scribes]: prophesy and say to the shepherds: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat: but My flock you did not feed. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand. And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the Earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them.
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd: for My shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them!
“For thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My sheep: and I will cause them to lie down,’ saith the Lord God. ‘I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment.’
“‘And as for you, O my flocks,’ thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of male goats. Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? But you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures: and when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet. And My sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean. Because you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad. I will save my flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God: and My servant David the prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken it.” (Ezechiel 34:1-24)
Shepherd Warnings for Our Day!
Here we have a real ‘dressing-down’ of the shepherds of the day! We have to ask ourselves the same questions, though! Are we feeding our ‘sheep’ what God wants them to be fed with, or are we feeding them ‘junk food’? We have to turn to the prophecies and warnings of Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador), to see that there will be a time (and it seems we are in it) where the Faith will no longer be fed as it ought to be.
“The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” (Our Lady of La Salette). “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador, 17th century).
We are in the Time of Crisis
We have entered the period of Church History that we could well call “The Crisis of the Shepherd.” It is no secret that the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” speaks of an apostasy or falling-away from the Faith, which is supposed to start at the “top”—meaning that it will start with the clergy or pastors within the Catholic Church and it will affect even those in the highest positions within the Church.
Repeated Warnings from Our Lady
It is not a though all this is a shock and a surprise—Our Lady has given the world ample time and wonderful remedies to avoid what is happening and will continue to worsen. Yet the world, apart from a very small number of souls, seems indifferent at best and scornful at worst with regard to her warnings. Our Lady of Fatima would complain that even the good are not listening to her message and are blindly carrying on with their own ‘good’ projects while ignoring what Heaven wants to be done.
Our Lady of Good Success at Quito, Ecuador
The warnings that have come from Our Lady are unmistakably clear and dire—the terrible times she foretells include a “Crisis of the Shepherd.” Already back in the 1600s, during her apparitions at Quito, in Ecuador, she warned us of these calamities. The Blessed Virgin under the glorious title of Our Lady of Good Success told Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, that this battle would reach its most acute stage because of various unfaithful religious, who, Our Lady says, “under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, would turn upon Religion.” She goes on to say: “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. The effects of secular education will increase, which will be one reason for the lack of priestly and religious vocations...”
Our Lady of Good Success continues: “The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.” … “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.”
During this time, Our Lady foretold, “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of my hour.”
Our Lady of La Salette
Though we have often quoted extracts from Our Lady’s La Salette message, we will do so again—following the words of wisdom from Holy Scripture: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Sadly, many today do “indeed turn away their hearing from the truth”—but as Our Lady never tires of repeating her message, we will not tire in repeating it in unison with her.
La Salette’s message takes up the same theme of Quito, Ecuador. Our Lady had the following tragic things to say: “Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … The devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.”
Our Lady of Fatima
In Sister Lucia’s fourth memoir, which was written from October-December 1941, Sister Lucia copied the first two parts of the Secret from the text of her third memoir, but added a sentence that is not found there. Sister Lucia gave us the first sentence of the Third Secret when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This sentence had not appeared in her previous memoir. Sister Lucia purposely inserted it into her fourth memoir to indicate to us what the final part of the Third Secret is about.
In 1943, after having been asked by Bishop da Silva to write down the text of the Third Secret, Sister Lucia was finding the task difficult. She declared to the bishop that it was not absolutely necessary to write out the text, “since in a certain manner she had said it.” Sister Lucia was very likely referring to the additional phrase she had inserted into her fourth memoir, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.”
The phrase, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” is a promise that the true Faith will be preserved in that country, although in its vagueness it does not state by whom. Yet, if in Portugal the true Faith will be preserved, what does that imply about the rest of the world? The Portuguese Father Messias de Coelho concluded that, “this allusion, so positive about what will happen among us, suggests to us that it will be different around us.”
Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.”
Honest Members of the Church Admit to a Crisis in the Church and Among Her Shepherds
► Cardinal Manning: “The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the Earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90). For Cardinal Manning to speak about apostasy in his day, would seem to be scandalous — yet Manning was alive at the time of Our Lady’s warnings at La Salette. He heard; he understood and he believed.
► Pope Pius XII, while still a cardinal, said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul …. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939. Here Pope Pius XII speaks of a future humanism that we are currently witnessing; and one that is increasing. “The Rights of Man” … “Human Dignity” … “the Human Person” are all phrases and ideas that have flooded the Church like never before. We are so focused on man, that we are forgetting God. Look at all the socials and activities organized by churches everywhere and compare those attendances to the attendances in visiting and adoring the Blessed Sacrament, where God Himself resides in our midst!
The clergy are so focused on mankind that they are neglecting God―as Our Lady lamented: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!” The shepherds are riddled with various viruses of sin! As the philosophical axiom says: “You cannot give what you have not got!” ― and that is why so few of the clergy today are able to communicate a true doctrinal and spiritual teaching ― they simply haven’t got it; they are little interested in it. The world and the things of man take precedence over the things of God.
► Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► Fr. J. Schweigle, Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► Fr. J. Alonso, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► Cardinal Silvio Oddi said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
► Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► Sister Lucia: In a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
► Sister Lucia: In an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, Lucia said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence…. Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26th, 1957).
Bad Shepherds Produce Bad Sheep―Blind Shepherds Produce Blind Sheep
Most shepherds within the Church today have caught the fatal viruses of Liberalism and/or Modernism. This essentially means that they think what they want to think―irrespective of what the Church has always taught in her past―they preach and teach what they want to preach and teach; and they do and worship as they want to do and worship. Such shepherds are rebuked and condemned by Our Lord and Holy Scripture: “Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and make them dumb in the mouth, so that they cannot correct” (Ecclesiasticus 20:31). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10) … “They shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord! And their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung!” (Sophonias 1:17). “For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests …They have wandered as blind men in the streets! … Depart, get ye hence, touch not!” (Lamentations 4:13-15) … “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
We are in a predicament! “Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch?” (Luke 6:39). The bottom line is that we are ultimately guided by our Faith―therefore we really need to know our Faith. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God!” (Hebrews 11:6). St. Peter tells us that our knowledge of the Faith should be good enough to be “always ready to satisfy everyone that asks you for a reason of that hope which is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). St. Paul tells us that our knowledge of the Faith should be so good that “There are some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: ‘If any one preach to you a Gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema!’” (Galatians 1:7-9) and “And no wonder―for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:14). In other words, in the current crisis of Faith we are all, by default, placed in a temporary position of being shepherds. If the clergy of the Church are not leading the sheep along the path of salvation, then we must pull away from the flock of perdition and seek the true, narrow path that leads to Heaven and not to Hell. “Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch?” (Luke 6:39). The words of warning so often repeated by the saints―the true shepherds of old―are of even greater significance and importance in these days of increasing apostasy and non-practice of the Faith.
If the most of the “shepherds” of the Church―the popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and religious―found themselves damned in all ages of the Church, then how much worse are things today!
● St. John Chrysostom (247-407)―a Father and Doctor of the Church―lamented that, in his opinion, most of the bishops and priests ended up in Hell: “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.”
If you think that there is therefore a greater safety and likelihood of being saved by being in the pews rather than being at the altar―then think again. The same opinion is given by “good shepherds of old”―the saints―as regards the laity or secular Catholics.
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, laments: “It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!”
● St. Regimius (437-533) says: “Among adults there are few saved because of sins of the flesh … With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned!”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church warns: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church insists: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind!”
● Venerable Louis de Granada (1505-1588) notes that: “A greater number is lost through false confidence, rather than through excessive fear!”
● St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) states: “So vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!”
● St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) advises: “Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way! The number of the elect is so small ― so small ― that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief!”
● St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783) affirms: “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames and horrors of Hell, which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin … I was watching souls falling down into the abyss like snowflakes falling thick and fast in the winter!”
● Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837) laments: “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter!”
● St. John Vianney (1786-1859), the Curé of Ars, asks: “Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter ... We shall find out at the Day of Judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion”
● St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Despite assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved―it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever!”
● Sister Lucia Santos of Fatima (1907-1958?): “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved … many will be lost!”
● St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima (1910-1920): “So many people are going to die. And almost all of them are going to Hell!”
● St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) points out: “God will have all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation … Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! … He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by Him … God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner ... Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost! … All persons desire to be saved, but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commandments, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost! … The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few! O my God! Too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be! … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved―but these cases are very rare! Ordinarily, he that leads a bad life, dies a bad death! … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge―not of water but of sins―continually floods the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved―especially among seculars! …
“St. Teresa of Avila, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin―but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, if she had not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned! … To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble―not so much at the thought of Hell―but tremble of sin, which alone can send us there. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace―he who acts thus will be saved! But for him who lives not in this manner, it is morally impossible to be saved! … It is certain that we absolutely require the divine assistance, in order to overcome temptations … Whoever prays obtains this grace; but whoever prays not, obtains it not, and is lost. And this is more especially the case with regard to the grace of final perseverance, of dying in the grace of God, which is the grace absolutely necessary for our salvation, and without which we should be lost forever. St. Augustine says of this grace, that God only bestows it on those who pray. And this is the reason why so few are saved, because few indeed are mindful to beg of God this grace of perseverance.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, compilation of multiple quotes from different sources).
So Where Do the Shepherdless Sheep Go?
With the shepherds collapsing―where can the sheep go? To whom or what can they turn to? “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaves to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered―and I will turn My hand to the little ones!’” (Zacharias 13:7) … “And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd―and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:5). “I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd―and the Lord said: ‘These have no masters! Let every man return to his own house in peace!’” (2 Paralipomenon 18:16). “Then Jesus said to them: ‘It is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!”’” (Matthew 26:31). “As the shepherd visits his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day!” (Ezechiel 34:12).
The days are becoming cloudier and darker! Nations, states and governments all have emergency measures that are ready to be invoked in times of serious crises. The same is true of families―if a father dies, then there are many things that fall upon the shoulders of the mother. She, though being a female, has to take on certain male responsibilities. In an aircraft, where for one reason or another the pilot is some way incapacitated or injured, then the co-pilot, or in the absence of a co-pilot, then a member of the crew or a passenger must take control of the plane and perhaps with radio assistance from the ground, that person must seek to land the plane as safely as possible. We are facing something similar in the current crisis in the Church―the Pope, many cardinals and bishops, and the vast majority of priests have spiritually and mentally incapacitated and the plane is danger of crashing.
Has this ever happened before? Yes―you can take a look at Arian heresy and you will see striking resemblances to what we going through today! Hence the importance of knowing your history―for, as the saying goes: “He who does not know his history will be bound to repeat it!” There are many variations on the repeating-history theme. The Irish statesman, Edmund Burke, is often misquoted as having said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, is credited with the statement: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman, Winston Churchill, wrote: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!” In any event―whoever said it―it is true. Sadly, Catholic Church History is sorely neglected to the detriment of Catholics―both clergy and laity.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday & Saturday, April 16th & 17th
Article 7
Rotting Faith! ... Stop the Rot!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday & Saturday, April 16th & 17th
Article 7
Rotting Faith! ... Stop the Rot!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
A Life and Death Matter!
Without a basic knowledge of how to live and survive, you would be dead in no time at all. Knowledge is essential for life and we spend our life acquiring knowledge on how to live our life better and better. Aside from the fact that, in the Old Testament, God shortened the life-span of man from living to almost 1,000 years or so, down to a mere 120 years. The reason for this massive reduction was quite simply sin! “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) Man’s days, which, before the Great Flood in the time of Noe, were usually 900 years, would now be reduced to 120 years. Or rather, that God would allow men this life-span of 120 years as an opportunity for their repentance and conversion, before He would send the deluge and wipe out sinful man. Up to that point, we read in the Bible that men lived to be at least 500 years old to almost 1,000 years old! From just the Bible reports alone we see the following “top-ten” life-spans mentioned:
1. Mathusala (Methuselah) – 969 years old. See Genesis 5:21-27.
2. Jared – 962 years old. See Genesis 5:18-21
3. Noe (Noah) – 950 years old. See Genesis chapters 5 to 10.
4. Adam – 930 years old. See Genesis 1; Genesis 2:4 to 3:24; Genesis 4; and Genesis 5
5. Seth – 912 years old. See Genesis 4; Genesis 5; 1 Paralipomenon (Chronicles) 1:1-3.
6. Cainan (Kenan) – 910 years old. See Genesis 5:9-14.
7. Enos – 905 years old. See Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:6-11.
8. Malaleel (Mahalalel) – 895 years old. See Genesis 5:12-17.
9. Lamech – 777 years old. See Genesis Chapter 5.
10. Sem (Shem) – 600 years old. See Genesis 11:10-11.
This gift of a long-life from God would be no longer! Man abused that gift and filled up those long years with sin. Therefore, “God said: ‘My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years!’ And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, and the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me! The Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:3-13).
Little Faith―Little Life Expectancy
Why did death and destruction replace life and construction? Because of a lack of Faith in God, which automatically leads to a lack of Hope in God and a lack of Love of God. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). The world had relatively quickly lost Faith in God, they did not know God as well as they should have know Him. Therefore, they did not seek God, nor did they believe God (even though they may have believe IN HIM, they did not believe all that He had said). Neither did they see God as being a rewarder Who rewarded both the just and sinful―“Evil pursueth sinners and to the just good shall be repaid” (Proverbs 13:21). To that faithless world at the time of Noe, you can apply the following Scripture verses:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Hence, God took away from them what they loved most―life in general, and, in particular, a life of sin. God cut short their sinful life because they did not know how to lead it and abused it. The same has to be said of today―as Our Lady herself has said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956).
At Akita, Our Lady also makes reference to the Great Flood, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
In other words, God will abruptly shorten the life-span of most of the world when all of the above happens. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). As The Imitation of Christ so rightly says: “Very soon your life here will end; consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere. Today we live; tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten … What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt!” (Book 1, Chapter 23).
Sin shortens our life―as we see from the above quotes. It is therefore interesting to see how much shorter man’s life has become over the centuries since the time that God shortened man’s life from almost 1,000 years to around merely 120 years. The longest verified lifespan for any human in our present age is that of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who is verified as having lived to age 122 years, between 1875 and 1997. Clearly, reaching 120 years today is seen as almost a miraculous exception and not the rule. Until the middle of the 20th century, infant mortality was approximately 40–60% of the total mortality of the population. If we do not take into account child mortality in total mortality, then the average life expectancy in the 12th–14th centuries (the peak of Christendom) was approximately 55 years. If a medieval person was able to survive childhood, then he had about a 50% chance of living up to 50–55 years. From the 1500s onward, till around the year 1800, life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age. As a whole―regardless of what century you look at―the rich lived longer than the poor, just as life was longer in the wealthier nations than the poorer nations. Over the past 160 years, life expectancy (from birth) in the United States has risen from 40 years in 1860, to 79 years in 2020. Does that mean we are becoming less and less sinful? Sadly, no! It means that man is using modern technology to avoid what he deserves in justice―which is an early death sentence. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23).
The Life of Faith―Faith for Life
Similarly to life-expectancy is salvation expectancy. Just as sound and sufficient knowledge can lead to a longer life, so too does a sound and sufficient knowledge of the Faith lead to increased chances of salvation. Holy Scripture puts it bluntly: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Now, as you of course know, of the three Theological Virtues (which are our connection and communication with God), Faith is not the most important of the three, but it is fundamental―meaning that it is the foundation for the other two: Hope and Charity. Faith is mainly about knowing and believing―now if you do not know about God or do not believe Him, then this affects or handicaps your Hope―for how can you hope in something if you do not know it exists, or do not know what it can do? Likewise with Charity―how can you love what you know nothing about, or very little about? Little or no knowledge leads to little or no love. That is why Faith is fundamental and, though it does not come first in the order of importance (Charity is the greatest), it does come first in the order of necessity. Thus, without Faith, there can be no salvation―and the quality and degree of your Faith will dictate the degree of your chances of salvation. As you sow, so you get! “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Today, it seems like everyone is sparingly sowing the Faith―they use God sparingly, they pray sparingly, they go to Mass sparingly, they go to Confession sparingly, they talk about God sparingly―and yet they expect to be spared by God! “Please spare me, God! I was so sparing towards you!” There you have the problem! We have used our Faith sparingly, far too sparingly, and yet we have the audacity to EXPECT salvation! Hey! Even in this world it is true that if you do not do your work, do not do your job, then you will not get paid and will even lose your job! Nobody can complain about that! The same applies to your soul. Faith without works is dead and leads to eternal “death” and not eternal life! “What shall it profit a man if says he has Faith, but has not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself! But some man will say: ‘You have Faith, and I have works!’ Show me your Faith without works; and I will show you, by my works, my Faith. You believe that there is one God. You do well! But the devils also believe and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The Rotten Tree of Faith
You have to be an idiot not to see that the Faith today has become a rotten tree bearing rotten fruits! If you look at the fruits of Faith today―for the most part they do not exist, or, if they exist, then they are rotten. Already before the “lockdowns” only 20% of Catholics (worldwide average) regularly went to Sunday Mass―which is a fundamental obligation of the Faith binding a Catholic under the pain of mortal sin. After the “lockdowns” that figure of 20% had fallen in many places to around 10% ― which, to put in terms of fruit, means that 90% of the fruit of Faith is rotten. Remember that for something to be classified as “rotten”, does not mean that every little bit of it is rotten―just like a poisonous drink does not have to be 100% poison, but merely has tiny bit of poison put into it. If a person merely commits just one mortal sin during their entire life―if it remains unrepented and unconfessed―then it will send that person to Hell. That person’s soul has been made “rotten” by just one mortal sin.
Our Lord’s rhetorical question―which gives the answer while asking the question ― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lady would later give an even clearer answer to Our Lord’s question: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
The trees of Faith, planted at Baptism, will become unfruitful trees―to which you could apply the following encounter of Our Lord with unfruitful fig tree: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19). Why are we cursed like the fig tree? Because “the Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
This is similar to what Our Lady said at Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! ... Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Yet all of these words and warnings seem to only go in one ear and then go out the other! Yes―we have heard them many times before―but the scary thing is we do little or nothing about it, just the above quote from the Psalms says: “They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 13). Which is what Our Lady essentially said at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Our Lady of Fatima merely echoes what she had said at La Salette―that there are no longer generous souls to beg mercy and forgiveness for sinners in the world: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people ... There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Rotten Soil, Rotten Farming Produces Rotten Fruit
How much longer will God tolerate this state of affairs? In all honesty, it cannot be for much longer! As Our Lady says, “vengeance is at their [our] door!” Our neglect to obey and cooperate with Heaven brings to mind this parable of Our Lord: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Therefore cut it down! Why does encumber the ground?” But he answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And if happily it bear fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-9).
“Stop! Stop!” you scream, “I’ve all this many times before!” Well why haven’t you done very much about it? If are tired of hearing this while still on Earth, then―pardon the “French”―how the hell are you going to take hearing the same message as a taunt in Hell for all eternity? If you have heard it often and done very little about it―in both praying much and doing much penance, as well as spreading the message to family, relatives, friends and parishioners―then you are risking your salvation, because you fall into the category of “the servant, who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes … and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). The words, warnings and commands of Heaven are not an optional thing―that we can choose to accept, ignore or tweak to our own preferences. Our life on Earth is not a vacation during which we might go and give God a helping hand for a few minutes each day, or every other day! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … You are your brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9) … “He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).
You have the substance of the Faith―not just for yourself, but for the influence, conversion and salvation of others! If you are not using it for that purpose, then you will lose it or have it taken away from you― “Use it, or lose it!” as the saying goes! Your Faith can be compared to the “talents” in Our Lord’s parable―wherein the servant who buried his talent and did nothing with it, had it taken away from him and was cast out.
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one―to everyone according to his proper ability―and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.
“And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ And he that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou delivered two talents to me! Behold, I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man! Thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed! And being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! Behold, here thou hast that which is thine!’
“And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Therefore, thou should have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury!’ Then the Lord said to his servants: ‘Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath, shall be given more, and he shall abound! But from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away! And cast ye the unprofitable servant out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:24-30).
Don’t Become a Gnasher! Stop the Rot!
Most folk end up weeping and gnashing their teeth for eternity because they do not take God and salvation seriously enough―they take things far too lightly! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail! For in due time we shall reap, not failing! Therefore, whilst we have time, let us do good to all men―but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith!” (Galatians 6:7-10).
The Imitation of Christ has a chapter that is very pertinent to this point: “Very soon your life here will end! Consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere! Today we live! Tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten! Oh, what dullness and hardness of a heart which looks only to the present, instead of preparing for that which is to come! Therefore, in every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day. If you had a good conscience you would not fear death very much. It is better to avoid sin than to fear death. If you are not prepared today, how will you be prepared tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; how do you know you will have a tomorrow?
“What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. If only we could say that in this world we had lived well throughout just one single day! Many count up the years they have spent in the Faith, but find their lives are barely a little holier. If it is so terrifying to die, nevertheless it is possible that to live longer is even more dangerous! Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day.
“If you have ever seen a man die, remember that you, too, must go the same way. In the morning consider that you may not live till evening, and when evening comes do not dare to promise yourself the dawn. Be always ready, therefore, and so live that death will never take you unprepared. Many die suddenly and unexpectedly, for in the unexpected hour the Son of God will come. When that last moment arrives you will begin to have a quite different opinion of the life that is now entirely past, and you will regret very much that you were so careless and remiss.
“How happy and prudent is he who tries, now in life, to be what he wants to be found in death. Perfect contempt of the world, a lively desire to advance in virtue, a love for discipline, the works of penance, readiness to obey, self-denial, and the endurance of every hardship for the love of Christ, these will give a man great expectations of a happy death.
“You can do many good works when in good health; but what can you do when you are ill? Few are made better by sickness. Likewise they who undertake many pilgrimages seldom become holy. Do not put your trust in the prayers and sacrifices of friends and relatives―for men will forget you more quickly than you think! Do not put off the care of your soul till later. It is better to provide now, while you have time. If you do not care for your own welfare now, who will care when you are gone?
“The present is very precious! These are the days of salvation! Now is the acceptable time! How sad that you do not spend the time―in which you might purchase everlasting life―in a better way. The time will come when you will want just one more day, just one more hour in which to make amends―and are you sure whether you will obtain it?
“See, then, the great danger from which you can free yourself and the great fear from which you can be saved, if only you will always be wary and mindful of death. Try to live now in such a manner that, at the moment of death, you may be glad rather than fearful. Learn to die to the world now, so that you may begin to live with Christ. Learn to spurn all things now, that then you may freely go to Him. Chastise your body in penance now, that then you may have the confidence born of certainty.
“Ah, foolish man! Why do you plan to live long, when you are not sure of living even a day? How many have been deceived and suddenly snatched away! How often have you heard of persons being killed by drownings, by fatal falls from high places, of persons dying at meals, at play, in fires, by the sword, in pestilence, or at the hands of robbers! Death is the end of everyone and the life of man quickly passes away like a shadow!
“Who will remember you when you are dead? Who will pray for you? Do now, beloved, what you can, because you do not know when you will die, nor what your fate will be after death. Gather for yourself the riches of immortality while you have time. Think of nothing but your salvation. Care only for the things of God. Make friends for yourself now by honoring the saints of God, by imitating their actions, so that when you depart this life they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
“Keep yourself as a stranger here on Earth, a pilgrim whom its affairs do not concern at all. Keep your heart free and raise it up to God, for you have not here a lasting home. To Him direct your daily prayers, your sighs and tears, that your soul may merit, after death, to pass in happiness to the Lord.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 23).
Opinions Without Deeds―Knowledge Without Works
Today, with the widespread access to the internet, social media and other media, everyone has suddenly become very opinionated about everything. We have a world of “Jacks of all trades, but masters of none”! We have Catholics being opinionated about the crisis in the Church, and who is and who is not pope―but some of those opinionated Catholics could not even repeat from memory the Ten Commandments, or the conditions required for a good Confession or Holy Communion, or the Holy Days of Obligation for their particular country! They daily spend hours browsing and scouring the internet and social media―but cannot spend one hour in prayer. They spend hours watching many movies, but have hardly read a serious book on the Faith or the spiritual life! They indiscriminately read all kinds of rumors on the internet without digging deeper to verify the likelihood of truth―preferring, instead, to “run with the story” and pass on the tidbits to other unsuspecting, naïve and opinionated Catholics.
This is all a grave danger for the soul―one single serious rash judgment, one single detraction (revealing the unknown sins of others), one single serious calumny (a serious lie), or any other kind of similar mortal sin is enough to damn a soul―especially those who think little of them and make excuses for committing those sins. Too great a curiosity is a dangerous thing! It is the child of pride and “pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). It is pride that makes our good fruit rotten, it is pride that makes our spiritual tree rotten.
Again, The Imitation of Christ, gives counsels that can puncture the boil or remove the ‘bacteria’ from the wound of pride before spiritual sepsis sets in: “Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble peasant, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well, becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men. If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me, before God, Who will judge me by my deeds?
“Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things, than those which lead to salvation, is very unwise. Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God. The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also all the more holy.
“Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear, because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. If you wish to learn and appreciate something worthwhile, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself!
“Our opinions, our senses often deceive us and we discern very little. What good is much discussion of involved and obscure matters when our ignorance of them will not be held against us on Judgment Day? Neglect of things which are profitable and necessary and undue concern with those which are irrelevant and harmful, are great folly. We have eyes and do not see. Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it, and no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish little or nothing, because they try to become learned rather than to live well. This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.
“If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations. On the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how well we have lived. How many there are who perish because of vain worldly knowledge and too little care for serving God. They became vain in their own conceits. He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly, so that he may gain Christ. He who does God’s will and renounces his own is truly very learned” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapters 2 & 3).
Stop the Rot with Charity
Ultimately, spiritual solutions can end up being pretty simple solutions. The solution for all our ailments today is simply charity. First and foremost―as it always should be―a charity towards God, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). That is why Our Lord pointed out to us that the greatest commandment of all―the greatest duty that we have―is to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). The love of neighbor should be motivated by our love for God―and not for any profit, advantage or influence we might gain by showing our neighbor charity.
Our life is worthless without charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Charity is the motive power that gives movement or the soul that gives life to all other virtues. It is at the heart of all virtues and makes those virtues godly through charity―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Charity attracts God and it attracts us. We all seek to be loved more than anything else―unless we are warped and twisted and seek satisfaction and happiness in other things―such as power, money, food, drink, alcohol, drugs, sexual sins, etc. God has “hard-wired” us for charity―unless we tinker with wiring and rewire ourselves for some other purpose. God loves us and we were made to love God―it is “a match made in Heaven”, as they say. “The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Romans 5:8). Unlike us, God still loves the sinner―that was the whole purpose of the coming of Christ: to show His love for the sinner and to die for the sinner so that the sinner could be reconciled with God: “The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. Not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.”
Therefore, just as God has shown His charity towards us―sinners that we all are―we should likewise show charity to our fellow sinners. Holy Scripture points this out repeatedly: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly―lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:13-18) … “If any man says, ‘I love God!’ and hates his brother―then he is a liar. For he that does not love his brother whom he sees, how then can he love God Whom he cannot see?” (1 John 4:20). “This is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked and his brother’s just” (1 John 3:11-12). “He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, he is in darkness even until now. He that loves his brother, abides in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hates his brother, is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes―because the darkness has blinded his eyes!” (1 John 2:9-11).
Forgiveness, or mercy, could be said to be one of the rooms in the “Mansion of Charity”―and even the Apostles found this forgiveness of enemies very hard to understand and even harder to practice. St. Peter, wanting to find out what the limits to showing mercy to his neighbor were, asked Our Lord: “‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22).
Even the “Apostle of Love”, St. John, and his brother James were inclined to punish rather than show mercy―as we see in this account: Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Our Lack of Mercy Begets a Lack of Mercy
Today, there is an increasing and perverted tendency of a refusal to show mercy―or, to be more precise, a refusal to show mercy to certain types, while showering endless mercy on other types. For example, otherwise good people are shown little or no mercy when they sin, but regular and confirmed sinners―such as the LGBT members or persons seeking or supplying abortions, or divorcees, or one of the many other sinful life-style adherents―all of them are given tons of mercy and guaranteed legal protection! Whereas one-time offenders―often from 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago―are dragged over the coals, hung-drawn-and-quartered in the media, and forced to resign whatever positions they currently hold in government, church, business, education, etc.
Our Lord has strong words and condemnations for such an attitude and for persons who show little or no mercy: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man; that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25-26). For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:12-15). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).
Thus, mercy begets mercy and a refusal to show mercy causes God to refuse His mercy upon the unmerciful: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
We would do well to seriously contemplate and digest the parable of Our Lord about the man who refused to show mercy: “Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Does the understanding of the values of a talent and a penny now help you understand what Our Lord is saying? Are we not like the merciless servant? If we ourselves are not―most of the world certainly is!
On the opposite side of the fence, Our Lord relates the parable of the Good Samaritan. It must be understood, as mentioned above, that the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Yet in His parable, Our Lord has robbed, beaten and dying Jew ignored by two of his fellow Jews, but finds himself helped by his enemy the Samaritan! You can imagine how that parable was received by the Jews! “Jesus said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and, seeing him, passed by! In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by! But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host and said: “Take care of him! And whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37).
A Letter of Love
Just as chapter 13 of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians could be called “A Litany of Charity”, then the First Letter of St. John the Evangelist and Apostle could be called “A Letter of Love”―especially so since St. John was the most loved by Christ and is sometimes called “The Apostle of Love”. Here are some key extracts from his letter to inflame your heart:
“Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us!”
“And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment―because as He is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in charity―but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us. If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God, love also his brother! … He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goes―because the darkness hath blinded his eyes!”
“This is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked and his brother's just. Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 4:7-12, 4:16-21; 5:2-3; 3:11-18; 2:9-11).
Without a basic knowledge of how to live and survive, you would be dead in no time at all. Knowledge is essential for life and we spend our life acquiring knowledge on how to live our life better and better. Aside from the fact that, in the Old Testament, God shortened the life-span of man from living to almost 1,000 years or so, down to a mere 120 years. The reason for this massive reduction was quite simply sin! “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16) Man’s days, which, before the Great Flood in the time of Noe, were usually 900 years, would now be reduced to 120 years. Or rather, that God would allow men this life-span of 120 years as an opportunity for their repentance and conversion, before He would send the deluge and wipe out sinful man. Up to that point, we read in the Bible that men lived to be at least 500 years old to almost 1,000 years old! From just the Bible reports alone we see the following “top-ten” life-spans mentioned:
1. Mathusala (Methuselah) – 969 years old. See Genesis 5:21-27.
2. Jared – 962 years old. See Genesis 5:18-21
3. Noe (Noah) – 950 years old. See Genesis chapters 5 to 10.
4. Adam – 930 years old. See Genesis 1; Genesis 2:4 to 3:24; Genesis 4; and Genesis 5
5. Seth – 912 years old. See Genesis 4; Genesis 5; 1 Paralipomenon (Chronicles) 1:1-3.
6. Cainan (Kenan) – 910 years old. See Genesis 5:9-14.
7. Enos – 905 years old. See Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:6-11.
8. Malaleel (Mahalalel) – 895 years old. See Genesis 5:12-17.
9. Lamech – 777 years old. See Genesis Chapter 5.
10. Sem (Shem) – 600 years old. See Genesis 11:10-11.
This gift of a long-life from God would be no longer! Man abused that gift and filled up those long years with sin. Therefore, “God said: ‘My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years!’ And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, and the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me! The Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:3-13).
Little Faith―Little Life Expectancy
Why did death and destruction replace life and construction? Because of a lack of Faith in God, which automatically leads to a lack of Hope in God and a lack of Love of God. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). The world had relatively quickly lost Faith in God, they did not know God as well as they should have know Him. Therefore, they did not seek God, nor did they believe God (even though they may have believe IN HIM, they did not believe all that He had said). Neither did they see God as being a rewarder Who rewarded both the just and sinful―“Evil pursueth sinners and to the just good shall be repaid” (Proverbs 13:21). To that faithless world at the time of Noe, you can apply the following Scripture verses:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Hence, God took away from them what they loved most―life in general, and, in particular, a life of sin. God cut short their sinful life because they did not know how to lead it and abused it. The same has to be said of today―as Our Lady herself has said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956).
At Akita, Our Lady also makes reference to the Great Flood, saying: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
In other words, God will abruptly shorten the life-span of most of the world when all of the above happens. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). As The Imitation of Christ so rightly says: “Very soon your life here will end; consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere. Today we live; tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten … What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt!” (Book 1, Chapter 23).
Sin shortens our life―as we see from the above quotes. It is therefore interesting to see how much shorter man’s life has become over the centuries since the time that God shortened man’s life from almost 1,000 years to around merely 120 years. The longest verified lifespan for any human in our present age is that of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who is verified as having lived to age 122 years, between 1875 and 1997. Clearly, reaching 120 years today is seen as almost a miraculous exception and not the rule. Until the middle of the 20th century, infant mortality was approximately 40–60% of the total mortality of the population. If we do not take into account child mortality in total mortality, then the average life expectancy in the 12th–14th centuries (the peak of Christendom) was approximately 55 years. If a medieval person was able to survive childhood, then he had about a 50% chance of living up to 50–55 years. From the 1500s onward, till around the year 1800, life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age. As a whole―regardless of what century you look at―the rich lived longer than the poor, just as life was longer in the wealthier nations than the poorer nations. Over the past 160 years, life expectancy (from birth) in the United States has risen from 40 years in 1860, to 79 years in 2020. Does that mean we are becoming less and less sinful? Sadly, no! It means that man is using modern technology to avoid what he deserves in justice―which is an early death sentence. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23).
The Life of Faith―Faith for Life
Similarly to life-expectancy is salvation expectancy. Just as sound and sufficient knowledge can lead to a longer life, so too does a sound and sufficient knowledge of the Faith lead to increased chances of salvation. Holy Scripture puts it bluntly: “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Now, as you of course know, of the three Theological Virtues (which are our connection and communication with God), Faith is not the most important of the three, but it is fundamental―meaning that it is the foundation for the other two: Hope and Charity. Faith is mainly about knowing and believing―now if you do not know about God or do not believe Him, then this affects or handicaps your Hope―for how can you hope in something if you do not know it exists, or do not know what it can do? Likewise with Charity―how can you love what you know nothing about, or very little about? Little or no knowledge leads to little or no love. That is why Faith is fundamental and, though it does not come first in the order of importance (Charity is the greatest), it does come first in the order of necessity. Thus, without Faith, there can be no salvation―and the quality and degree of your Faith will dictate the degree of your chances of salvation. As you sow, so you get! “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Today, it seems like everyone is sparingly sowing the Faith―they use God sparingly, they pray sparingly, they go to Mass sparingly, they go to Confession sparingly, they talk about God sparingly―and yet they expect to be spared by God! “Please spare me, God! I was so sparing towards you!” There you have the problem! We have used our Faith sparingly, far too sparingly, and yet we have the audacity to EXPECT salvation! Hey! Even in this world it is true that if you do not do your work, do not do your job, then you will not get paid and will even lose your job! Nobody can complain about that! The same applies to your soul. Faith without works is dead and leads to eternal “death” and not eternal life! “What shall it profit a man if says he has Faith, but has not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself! But some man will say: ‘You have Faith, and I have works!’ Show me your Faith without works; and I will show you, by my works, my Faith. You believe that there is one God. You do well! But the devils also believe and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
The Rotten Tree of Faith
You have to be an idiot not to see that the Faith today has become a rotten tree bearing rotten fruits! If you look at the fruits of Faith today―for the most part they do not exist, or, if they exist, then they are rotten. Already before the “lockdowns” only 20% of Catholics (worldwide average) regularly went to Sunday Mass―which is a fundamental obligation of the Faith binding a Catholic under the pain of mortal sin. After the “lockdowns” that figure of 20% had fallen in many places to around 10% ― which, to put in terms of fruit, means that 90% of the fruit of Faith is rotten. Remember that for something to be classified as “rotten”, does not mean that every little bit of it is rotten―just like a poisonous drink does not have to be 100% poison, but merely has tiny bit of poison put into it. If a person merely commits just one mortal sin during their entire life―if it remains unrepented and unconfessed―then it will send that person to Hell. That person’s soul has been made “rotten” by just one mortal sin.
Our Lord’s rhetorical question―which gives the answer while asking the question ― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lady would later give an even clearer answer to Our Lord’s question: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
The trees of Faith, planted at Baptism, will become unfruitful trees―to which you could apply the following encounter of Our Lord with unfruitful fig tree: “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19). Why are we cursed like the fig tree? Because “the Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
This is similar to what Our Lady said at Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! ... Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Yet all of these words and warnings seem to only go in one ear and then go out the other! Yes―we have heard them many times before―but the scary thing is we do little or nothing about it, just the above quote from the Psalms says: “They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one!” (Psalm 13). Which is what Our Lady essentially said at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Our Lady of Fatima merely echoes what she had said at La Salette―that there are no longer generous souls to beg mercy and forgiveness for sinners in the world: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people ... There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Rotten Soil, Rotten Farming Produces Rotten Fruit
How much longer will God tolerate this state of affairs? In all honesty, it cannot be for much longer! As Our Lady says, “vengeance is at their [our] door!” Our neglect to obey and cooperate with Heaven brings to mind this parable of Our Lord: “He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Therefore cut it down! Why does encumber the ground?” But he answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And if happily it bear fruit―but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”’” (Luke 13:6-9).
“Stop! Stop!” you scream, “I’ve all this many times before!” Well why haven’t you done very much about it? If are tired of hearing this while still on Earth, then―pardon the “French”―how the hell are you going to take hearing the same message as a taunt in Hell for all eternity? If you have heard it often and done very little about it―in both praying much and doing much penance, as well as spreading the message to family, relatives, friends and parishioners―then you are risking your salvation, because you fall into the category of “the servant, who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes … and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48). The words, warnings and commands of Heaven are not an optional thing―that we can choose to accept, ignore or tweak to our own preferences. Our life on Earth is not a vacation during which we might go and give God a helping hand for a few minutes each day, or every other day! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … You are your brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9) … “He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).
You have the substance of the Faith―not just for yourself, but for the influence, conversion and salvation of others! If you are not using it for that purpose, then you will lose it or have it taken away from you― “Use it, or lose it!” as the saying goes! Your Faith can be compared to the “talents” in Our Lord’s parable―wherein the servant who buried his talent and did nothing with it, had it taken away from him and was cast out.
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one―to everyone according to his proper ability―and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.
“And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ And he that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou delivered two talents to me! Behold, I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man! Thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed! And being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! Behold, here thou hast that which is thine!’
“And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Therefore, thou should have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury!’ Then the Lord said to his servants: ‘Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath, shall be given more, and he shall abound! But from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have, shall be taken away! And cast ye the unprofitable servant out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:24-30).
Don’t Become a Gnasher! Stop the Rot!
Most folk end up weeping and gnashing their teeth for eternity because they do not take God and salvation seriously enough―they take things far too lightly! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail! For in due time we shall reap, not failing! Therefore, whilst we have time, let us do good to all men―but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith!” (Galatians 6:7-10).
The Imitation of Christ has a chapter that is very pertinent to this point: “Very soon your life here will end! Consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere! Today we live! Tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten! Oh, what dullness and hardness of a heart which looks only to the present, instead of preparing for that which is to come! Therefore, in every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day. If you had a good conscience you would not fear death very much. It is better to avoid sin than to fear death. If you are not prepared today, how will you be prepared tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; how do you know you will have a tomorrow?
“What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. If only we could say that in this world we had lived well throughout just one single day! Many count up the years they have spent in the Faith, but find their lives are barely a little holier. If it is so terrifying to die, nevertheless it is possible that to live longer is even more dangerous! Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day.
“If you have ever seen a man die, remember that you, too, must go the same way. In the morning consider that you may not live till evening, and when evening comes do not dare to promise yourself the dawn. Be always ready, therefore, and so live that death will never take you unprepared. Many die suddenly and unexpectedly, for in the unexpected hour the Son of God will come. When that last moment arrives you will begin to have a quite different opinion of the life that is now entirely past, and you will regret very much that you were so careless and remiss.
“How happy and prudent is he who tries, now in life, to be what he wants to be found in death. Perfect contempt of the world, a lively desire to advance in virtue, a love for discipline, the works of penance, readiness to obey, self-denial, and the endurance of every hardship for the love of Christ, these will give a man great expectations of a happy death.
“You can do many good works when in good health; but what can you do when you are ill? Few are made better by sickness. Likewise they who undertake many pilgrimages seldom become holy. Do not put your trust in the prayers and sacrifices of friends and relatives―for men will forget you more quickly than you think! Do not put off the care of your soul till later. It is better to provide now, while you have time. If you do not care for your own welfare now, who will care when you are gone?
“The present is very precious! These are the days of salvation! Now is the acceptable time! How sad that you do not spend the time―in which you might purchase everlasting life―in a better way. The time will come when you will want just one more day, just one more hour in which to make amends―and are you sure whether you will obtain it?
“See, then, the great danger from which you can free yourself and the great fear from which you can be saved, if only you will always be wary and mindful of death. Try to live now in such a manner that, at the moment of death, you may be glad rather than fearful. Learn to die to the world now, so that you may begin to live with Christ. Learn to spurn all things now, that then you may freely go to Him. Chastise your body in penance now, that then you may have the confidence born of certainty.
“Ah, foolish man! Why do you plan to live long, when you are not sure of living even a day? How many have been deceived and suddenly snatched away! How often have you heard of persons being killed by drownings, by fatal falls from high places, of persons dying at meals, at play, in fires, by the sword, in pestilence, or at the hands of robbers! Death is the end of everyone and the life of man quickly passes away like a shadow!
“Who will remember you when you are dead? Who will pray for you? Do now, beloved, what you can, because you do not know when you will die, nor what your fate will be after death. Gather for yourself the riches of immortality while you have time. Think of nothing but your salvation. Care only for the things of God. Make friends for yourself now by honoring the saints of God, by imitating their actions, so that when you depart this life they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
“Keep yourself as a stranger here on Earth, a pilgrim whom its affairs do not concern at all. Keep your heart free and raise it up to God, for you have not here a lasting home. To Him direct your daily prayers, your sighs and tears, that your soul may merit, after death, to pass in happiness to the Lord.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 23).
Opinions Without Deeds―Knowledge Without Works
Today, with the widespread access to the internet, social media and other media, everyone has suddenly become very opinionated about everything. We have a world of “Jacks of all trades, but masters of none”! We have Catholics being opinionated about the crisis in the Church, and who is and who is not pope―but some of those opinionated Catholics could not even repeat from memory the Ten Commandments, or the conditions required for a good Confession or Holy Communion, or the Holy Days of Obligation for their particular country! They daily spend hours browsing and scouring the internet and social media―but cannot spend one hour in prayer. They spend hours watching many movies, but have hardly read a serious book on the Faith or the spiritual life! They indiscriminately read all kinds of rumors on the internet without digging deeper to verify the likelihood of truth―preferring, instead, to “run with the story” and pass on the tidbits to other unsuspecting, naïve and opinionated Catholics.
This is all a grave danger for the soul―one single serious rash judgment, one single detraction (revealing the unknown sins of others), one single serious calumny (a serious lie), or any other kind of similar mortal sin is enough to damn a soul―especially those who think little of them and make excuses for committing those sins. Too great a curiosity is a dangerous thing! It is the child of pride and “pride is the beginning of all sin―he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). It is pride that makes our good fruit rotten, it is pride that makes our spiritual tree rotten.
Again, The Imitation of Christ, gives counsels that can puncture the boil or remove the ‘bacteria’ from the wound of pride before spiritual sepsis sets in: “Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble peasant, who serves God, is better than a proud intellectual, who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well, becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men. If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me, before God, Who will judge me by my deeds?
“Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things, than those which lead to salvation, is very unwise. Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God. The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also all the more holy.
“Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear, because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. If you wish to learn and appreciate something worthwhile, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself!
“Our opinions, our senses often deceive us and we discern very little. What good is much discussion of involved and obscure matters when our ignorance of them will not be held against us on Judgment Day? Neglect of things which are profitable and necessary and undue concern with those which are irrelevant and harmful, are great folly. We have eyes and do not see. Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it, and no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish little or nothing, because they try to become learned rather than to live well. This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.
“If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations. On the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how well we have lived. How many there are who perish because of vain worldly knowledge and too little care for serving God. They became vain in their own conceits. He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly, so that he may gain Christ. He who does God’s will and renounces his own is truly very learned” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapters 2 & 3).
Stop the Rot with Charity
Ultimately, spiritual solutions can end up being pretty simple solutions. The solution for all our ailments today is simply charity. First and foremost―as it always should be―a charity towards God, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). That is why Our Lord pointed out to us that the greatest commandment of all―the greatest duty that we have―is to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). The love of neighbor should be motivated by our love for God―and not for any profit, advantage or influence we might gain by showing our neighbor charity.
Our life is worthless without charity: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Charity is the motive power that gives movement or the soul that gives life to all other virtues. It is at the heart of all virtues and makes those virtues godly through charity―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Charity attracts God and it attracts us. We all seek to be loved more than anything else―unless we are warped and twisted and seek satisfaction and happiness in other things―such as power, money, food, drink, alcohol, drugs, sexual sins, etc. God has “hard-wired” us for charity―unless we tinker with wiring and rewire ourselves for some other purpose. God loves us and we were made to love God―it is “a match made in Heaven”, as they say. “The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Romans 5:8). Unlike us, God still loves the sinner―that was the whole purpose of the coming of Christ: to show His love for the sinner and to die for the sinner so that the sinner could be reconciled with God: “The charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. Not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.”
Therefore, just as God has shown His charity towards us―sinners that we all are―we should likewise show charity to our fellow sinners. Holy Scripture points this out repeatedly: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly―lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:13-18) … “If any man says, ‘I love God!’ and hates his brother―then he is a liar. For he that does not love his brother whom he sees, how then can he love God Whom he cannot see?” (1 John 4:20). “This is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked and his brother’s just” (1 John 3:11-12). “He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, he is in darkness even until now. He that loves his brother, abides in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hates his brother, is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes―because the darkness has blinded his eyes!” (1 John 2:9-11).
Forgiveness, or mercy, could be said to be one of the rooms in the “Mansion of Charity”―and even the Apostles found this forgiveness of enemies very hard to understand and even harder to practice. St. Peter, wanting to find out what the limits to showing mercy to his neighbor were, asked Our Lord: “‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22).
Even the “Apostle of Love”, St. John, and his brother James were inclined to punish rather than show mercy―as we see in this account: Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Our Lack of Mercy Begets a Lack of Mercy
Today, there is an increasing and perverted tendency of a refusal to show mercy―or, to be more precise, a refusal to show mercy to certain types, while showering endless mercy on other types. For example, otherwise good people are shown little or no mercy when they sin, but regular and confirmed sinners―such as the LGBT members or persons seeking or supplying abortions, or divorcees, or one of the many other sinful life-style adherents―all of them are given tons of mercy and guaranteed legal protection! Whereas one-time offenders―often from 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago―are dragged over the coals, hung-drawn-and-quartered in the media, and forced to resign whatever positions they currently hold in government, church, business, education, etc.
Our Lord has strong words and condemnations for such an attitude and for persons who show little or no mercy: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man; that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25-26). For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:12-15). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).
Thus, mercy begets mercy and a refusal to show mercy causes God to refuse His mercy upon the unmerciful: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
We would do well to seriously contemplate and digest the parable of Our Lord about the man who refused to show mercy: “Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $26 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $195,000,000 or $195 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be $325): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:23-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $195 million in today’s money) was 600,000 times more than the 100 pence ($325 in today’s money). Does the understanding of the values of a talent and a penny now help you understand what Our Lord is saying? Are we not like the merciless servant? If we ourselves are not―most of the world certainly is!
On the opposite side of the fence, Our Lord relates the parable of the Good Samaritan. It must be understood, as mentioned above, that the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Yet in His parable, Our Lord has robbed, beaten and dying Jew ignored by two of his fellow Jews, but finds himself helped by his enemy the Samaritan! You can imagine how that parable was received by the Jews! “Jesus said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and, seeing him, passed by! In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by! But a certain Samaritan, being on his journey, came near him and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host and said: “Take care of him! And whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:30-37).
A Letter of Love
Just as chapter 13 of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians could be called “A Litany of Charity”, then the First Letter of St. John the Evangelist and Apostle could be called “A Letter of Love”―especially so since St. John was the most loved by Christ and is sometimes called “The Apostle of Love”. Here are some key extracts from his letter to inflame your heart:
“Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us!”
“And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment―because as He is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in charity―but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us. If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God, love also his brother! … He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goes―because the darkness hath blinded his eyes!”
“This is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked and his brother's just. Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 4:7-12, 4:16-21; 5:2-3; 3:11-18; 2:9-11).
MULTIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday to Thursday, April 12th & 15th
Article 6
Heaven Will Be Like ... Well, Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday to Thursday, April 12th & 15th
Article 6
Heaven Will Be Like ... Well, Heaven!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
At a Loss for Words!
In the Old Testament we read: “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, nor hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee!” (Isaias 64:4). The New Testament echoes the same truth: “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Before treating of these in things in more detail, here they are in a nutshell. In Heaven …
(1) We will see God as He really is―but not everyone will be given equal knowledge.
(2) We will live for eternity.
(3) We will still be ourselves, but perfect―however, we shall all have differing degrees of perfection.
(4) We shall be reunited to our bodies―but our bodies will have such a perfection that we cannot now imagine.
(5) There will no more suffering of any kind―neither from ourselves, nor from others.
(6) We will retain certain memories of this life―though not of everything.
(7) We will not miss our old lives, nor the Earth, nor our possessions, nor the things of Earth.
(8) If our loved ones are in Hell, we will not miss them and will happily accept God’s justice in their regard.
(9) All our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wounds will be perfectly healed―any ‘scars’ will be seen as glorious.
(10) We will have work to do in Heaven―the most important of which is giving glory, adoration and thanksgiving to God.
(11) We will continue to learn and grow in knowledge in Heaven―though nobody will know everything.
(12) We will continue to grow in joy
(13) Your sense of belonging and longing for a true home will finally be fulfilled.
(14) Friendships will be perfect friendships―with no more anxieties, fears, misapprehensions, misunderstandings, etc.
(15) We will still experience emotions―but only the positive ones. Love, not hatred. Joy, not sadness. Hope, not despair, etc.
(16) There will be no evil of any kind―for evil is lack of a good that is due to something or someone. There is lack in Heaven.
(17) There will be no temptation and no sin.
(1) We Will See God as He Really Is
This is the “biggie”, the “icing on the cake”, the “top drawer” — otherwise known as “The Beatific Vision”! St. Thomas Aquinas defined the Beatific Vision as the “final end” of human beings in which one attains to a perfect happiness. St. Thomas argues that one is perfectly happy only when all one’s desires are perfectly satisfied, to the degree that happiness could not increase and could not be lost. In Heaven, the blessed will directly see the very essence of God. “We shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). God is supremely knowable or understandable, and is Himself the highest and greatest object that can be known by any creatural intellect. Yet, after the general resurrection when bodies and souls will be reunited, the blessed will not see God’s essence with their bodily eyes—because bodily eyes, even when they are glorified in Heaven, will only see bodily or physical things, and God is a spirit, not something bodily or physical or material. Those that see God in Heaven—before or after the resurrection of the body—will see him with the mind, which is the intellect—strengthened, elevated, and illumined by the Light of Glory. Even then, no finite creature can know an infinite God totally, so as to know all that God knows. This would mean the encompassing of the infinite by a finite understanding—which is utterly impossible. Therefore, when the blessed will see God in His essence, they will not see all that God sees, nor will they know all that God knows. Even the angels, who know all things in God, do not know all that God knows. Until the time that our puny, limited and limited minds are strengthened, elevated and enlightened by the Light of Glory, we wallow in a helpless mediocrity of knowledge and cannot even start to imagine what the knowledge of God in Heaven will be like—much like a baby cannot grasp the kind of knowledge it might have after years of school, college and university education. Or, it is like comparing a baby’s knowledge to that of an Einstein.
There is an all-too-easy tendency to imagine this knowledge of God as being some kind of overblown and over-exaggerated anti-climax. That is because we are too materialistic, too sensual, too human, too physical in our expectations and assessments of things. Yet, when you really stop to think about it, the ultimate goal and love of most people is to get to know, love and marry a person. We do not marry cars, houses, clothes, jewels, precious metals, electronic appliances, etc. — we marry people! We place people above things. Now, of course, we also fall out of love with people—but that is due to various faults that they carry and manifest. With God there are no faults, no weaknesses, no let-downs! When it comes to God, even the best, most kind, most lovable person in this world would be like a mere matchstick as compared to the bright and burning sun! “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee!” (Isaias 64:4). “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
(2) We Will Live For Eternity
Currently, in 2021, the average amount that a person spends on health care—in order to stay healthy and stay alive—is around $15,000 per year. Some pay far, far more—other pay less. Over 80 years that would be over $1 million. O how precious life is! O how much we want to stay alive an! What kind of money would people be prepared to pay to live forever, for eternity? Not just 80 years for $1 million—not even 80 billion years, or 80 trillion years, but eternally! You cannot put a price on that! O how much do people underestimate God’s offer of eternal life in Heaven! On the other hand, how much would people pay to avoid the torments of Hell—not just for 80 years, not even 80 billion years, or 80 trillion years, but eternally! We are not talking about billions, trillions, zillions of years of living in poverty, or disease, or in dysfunctional relationships, or any other negative environment. We are talking about life in Heaven, in absolute bliss and joy, peace and friendship, with optimal health of body and soul! We have the worldly expression: “When you are having fun, you want it to never end!” Well that can be applied to Heaven a zillionfold! Heaven will never end! Joy will not grow dull! Think about that! How sad and how insulting is our lack of appreciation for the eternal life that God offers to those who love Him!
(3) We Will Still Be Ourselves, But Perfect―However, We Shall All Have Differing Degrees Of Perfection
We vainly spend a lifetime trying to perfect ourselves—but really spend that lifetime trying to cover-up, hide and excuse our defects! We vainly imagine that there can be some kind of natural perfection on Earth, while ignoring the possibility of striving for a supernatural perfection in Heaven. We expend much effort—but in the wrong direction! Which is just one of many reasons why most souls fail to attain their God-given goal of Heaven and end up in the gaol (jail) of Hell. As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It is not so much earthly perfection that we should be searching for, but heavenly perfection. Our Lord told us to seek perfection of a heavenly kind: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). For a relative spiritual perfection is required to enter Heaven in the first place—it is spiritual things that get us into Heaven, not material things or riches! “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24).
Yet not everyone will be equal in Heaven, as indicated by Our Lord: “He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19). All the saints and angels are as happy as they can possibly be, but some are happier than others. Take, for example, three cups of unequal sizes. If all three are filled to the top with water, then they are equally full. Yet, the largest will have more water than the middle, which will in turn contain more water than the smallest. Heaven will be something like this! It is during our life on Earth that we have to make the most of our chance to make the biggest cup possible.
(4) We Shall be Reunited to Our Bodies―But Our Bodies Will Have Unimaginable Perfections
There are millions or billions of people in this world vainly dreaming of and seeking for the perfect body! They spend tons of time and money—exercising in gyms, following a multitude of diets, etc. There is nothing wrong with seeking to maintain the good health of one’s own body—and thus following a sensible dietary and exercise regimen. Yet most people go beyond this reasonable aspect and seek to acquire a perfect body that they can then flaunt and parade in front of others. Yet nobody has ever achieved anything near to or like the bodies that we shall have in Heaven!
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that in the resurrection, each soul will be united with its own body—since, for a resurrection to be a real resurrection, that which dies has to be that which rises again. If the soul be not joined with its own body, then there is not a resurrection, but the assuming of a new body. Hence it will be the selfsame man who dies that will rise again. For, by the resurrection, a man is to live again, not to be turned into someone else. However, it is the soul that gives to the material element of man his living body and gives that body its own personal identity in the body-soul composition that we call a man. By uniting with matter, the soul makes that matter to be its own body, holding it in continuous identity, despite the flow and change of bodily particles all through life.
The human body will rise complete and perfect with all its members and organs. In the elect, the perfected soul will animate its body and cause that body to be perfect. Even in such things as belong to the body more as ornaments rather than necessary members—such as hair and nails—the risen body will be perfectly complete. Man’s risen body will lack nothing that belongs to the integrity (that is, the complete and all round perfection) of human nature. The risen body will need none of the processes that merely preserve it, or make it grow, or propagate—therefore there will be no need for food, drink, medicine, or sexual relations. But the body will have all that makes it enduring, mature, and perfect. The risen body will have all that belongs to a true human bodily nature; it will have all this in the most perfect and suitable manner and degree.
Those who rise will not have the imperfections of immaturity or old age. All will rise in the most perfect stage of human nature, which is the age of youth; that is, of youth just arrived at maturity and full development. However, all arisen bodies will not be the same in size. Variety on this point is no defect in nature. We know only that risen bodies will not be deficient in any natural perfection. Each person’s body will be of the size most suitable to him. Human beings, then, will rise with perfect bodies, all in full maturity, none with infantile or childish imperfection, none bent with age. They will be perfect men and perfect women, with bodies of suitable size perfectly proportioned. Risen bodies will not require the things they needed on earth to sustain them, preserve them, and move them to development or further perfection. Risen bodies will not eat, or drink, or sleep, or beget offspring, or feel the pull of fleshly appetites or passions.
The risen body will be, in all actions, perfectly subject to the soul, and instantly responsive to the will. This spirit-like quality of the risen body is called subtlety or subtility. The subtlety of a glorified body will not enable it to occupy the same place with another body, unless this be done by a miracle. Now, there is no contradiction in the thought of two bodies being in the same place simultaneously, even though there is nothing in the nature of a body capable of producing this effect. What keeps bodies from compenetration is their external extension, and this is not of the essence or nature of bodies, but is an effect of quantity, which, in turn, is only a proper accidental of bodies and not their essence. Hence, there is no conflict or contradiction in the notion of compenetration of bodies; therefore, since the thing is conceivable, it might be done by a miracle. However, the subtlety of the glorified body does not make this compenetration possible without a miracle. Besides, in Heaven, distinctness of bodily being will be a perfection; if several bodies were to occupy the same place, this distinctness of being would be obscured. The glorified body, just as the natural body on Earth, will occupy space, and will be in a place according to its dimensions. There will be nothing ghost-like in the risen body. It will be a true body. But it will have spiritual or spirit-like qualities. It will be something that can be touched and felt. When Our Lord in His risen and glorified body came in, through closed-doors, to His disciples, He told them He was not a spirit or ghost, and said: “Handle and see! For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have!” (Luke 24:39).
The glorified body will be able to move with the quickness of thought from place to place under the direction of the soul and the command of the free will. This quality of the risen body is called agility. The risen body in heaven will move about. Scripture says: “They shall run and not be weary” (Isaias 40:31) and “[The just] shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds” (Wisdom 3:7). But this swift and untiring movement will not deprive the just of the beatific vision or diminish their happiness. The movement of the glorified body will not be strictly instantaneous; it will take a moment of time, yet this moment will be so short as to be imperceptible.
The risen body in glory will have a measure of lightsomeness and splendor, according to the soul’s degree of glory. Says Scripture: “The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). This shining and splendid quality of the risen body is called its clarity. The clarity of the blessed in heaven will be visible to the non-glorified eye of the damned. For clarity is naturally visible, as it was to the eyes of the three apostles who beheld it in Our Lord’s body at the time of the Transfiguration. Yet the glorified body is not necessarily always visible; it will appear or disappear as the soul wills. It will be like Our Lord’s glorified body at Emmaus, that is, capable of being seen, but also capable of being withdrawn from the sight of men. (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, questions 79 to 85).
(5) There Will No More Suffering Of Any Kind―Neither From Ourselves, Nor From Others
The risen body will be impassible—which is to be immune to suffering and change. The bodies of the just will not be capable of suffering any pain whatsoever, nor will they ever undergo substantial change. The bodies of the damned will endure pains in Hell, and hence are not free from suffering; yet these bodies will not undergo substantial change. St. Paul says: “The body is sown in corruption, but it shall rise in incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:42). Impassibility in the risen bodies of the just does not mean numbness or insensibility. It means immunity to what is contrary to human nature and painful to it. The risen body will have sensation (that is, its senses will operate and bring in sense-findings or sense-knowledge), and it will have movement; these things belong to the perfection of the body. The senses of the risen bodies of the just will find in the overflow of glory, which comes upon them from the soul, their complete and enduring perfection. The senses will be perfectly and satisfyingly in operation, and they will possess their objects, and not merely tend to these objects, or be in a state of readiness to perceive them.
(6) We Will Retain Certain Memories of This Life―Though Not Everything
In Heaven, however, we will not live in the past—we will have no regrets; nor will we live in the future—we will have no fears; but like God, we will live in the eternal present. As regards painful, sad and bad memories― God will wipe our memories clean―or He will enlighten us as to the benefits that we gained from those painful incidents, which will then transform the pain and sadness into an understanding joy. As regards our past sins that we committed on Earth, in his article “Whether After the Resurrection Everyone Will Know What Sins He Has Committed?”, St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Those demerits which are not blotted out by repentance remain in the debt of punishment due to them [in Purgatory or Hell], while those which have been blotted out by repentance [that is to say, paid for by penance on Earth or in Purgatory] remain in the remembrance of repentance, which they will recall together with their other merits ...The saints in Heaven will be so full of joy, that they will have no room for sorrow; and so they will not grieve for their sins, but rather will they rejoice in the Divine mercy, whereby their sins are forgiven them” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 87, art. 1, ad 1 & 3). As Scripture says: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall come with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away!” (Isaias 35:10) ... “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be anymore―for the former things are passed away” (Apocalypse 21:4). In extremely simplistic terms you could say that they will see the glass as being half-full rather than half-empty―they will have a positive (and therefore joyful) outlook, rather than a negative (and therefore sorrowful) outlook―much as Adam’s Original Sin is called a “happy fault” in the sense that it brought Christ and His Redemption into this world. At the Easter Vigil, when the Exultet is sung, we hear the words “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” Reflecting on these words gives to us a joy in what Christ has done for us by His death and resurrection, a joy which is greater than our sadness and sorrow over our sins. Similarly, in Heaven, the focus will be on the redemption of sin and not the commission of sin.
(7) We Will Not Miss Our Old Lives, Nor the Earth, Nor Our Possessions, Nor the Things of Earth
Have you ever bought an economy ticket for a flight, but because of overbooking, been upgraded to first class? Did you regret the upgrade? Did you spend your time wondering, “What am I missing by not being in the back of the plane?” The upgrade from Earth to Heaven will be vastly superior to that from economy to first class. If we would miss something from our old lives that is good was good and not sinful or mistakenly “good”, then it would be available to us in Heaven. Why? Because there can be no good that is lacking in Heaven―otherwise it would not be Heaven. We will experience all God intends for us―and He has fashioned us to want precisely what He will give us. Therefore, what He gives us will be exactly what we want! It is only in Heaven that we will realize what is really good for us―as opposed to life on Earth where we so often mistakenly imagine that certain things will be “good” for, but are really not good for us―even non-sinful things can actually not be good for us.
(8) If Our Loved Ones Are in Hell, We Will Not Miss Them and Will Happily Accept God’s Justice in Their Regard
If there is someone you love and identify with so deeply, that you cannot imagine being happy in eternity without him or her, but right now that person (or persons) seems to be in peril of being damned, then tell God that He has to arrange for this person’s salvation, just as He has arranged for your salvation: “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4) … “‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways―and why will you die!” (Ezechiel 33:11). Tell God that this person is [these persons are] a real part of you, and for you, as a whole, to be saved, this person has [these persons have] to come along, just as your own body and emotions have to come along. It need not be a “wheedling” or “blackmail” prayer―it can be a simple presentation of the facts, like Mary’s “They have no more wine.” Let God do His thing―it is always more loving, more gracious, and more effective than our thing, more than we can ever imagine or desire.
We know there is no sadness in Heaven: God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:17). Hence we will not be sad about the damned for the same reason God is not. According to the Sermon on the Mount, He will say to them, “I never knew you” (Mathew 7:23). God will wipe our memories clean of those who are damned. This is not falsehood or ignorance, but truth, for in a sense, the damned no longer are—that is to say, they no longer are in the most real place of all, Heaven. They no longer count. They are like ashes, not like wood. They once were fully human, fully alive, real men and women. But Hell is a place not of eternal life, but of eternal death. We do not love or weep over ashes; we only love or weep over the thing that existed before it was burnt. In Heaven we will see clearly that God granted sufficient grace to each person for their salvation. We will see in Heaven that God gave everyone the opportunity to seek and respond to Him (Romans 1:18-2:16). Everyone deserves Hell―nobody deserves Heaven. Our Lord died on the cross to offer salvation to all (1 John 2:2). God absolutely does not desire anyone to perish (1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9). Yet many will perish in their unbelief and disobedience: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13).
In Heaven, we will understand, accept, embrace and love God’s holiness and justice. God will be our source of joy. Hell, with its small and distant shadow, will not interfere with God’s greatness or our joy in Him―even if we have family, relatives and friends in Hell. Our love of God will obliterate all lesser loves in love: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). In Heaven, however, we will not live in the past—we will have no regrets; nor will we live in the future—we will have no fears; but like God, we will live in the eternal present. Our heavenly emotions will be appropriate to present reality, not past reality.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Nothing should be denied the blessed that belongs to the perfection of their beatitude. Now everything is known the more for being compared with its contrary, because when contraries are placed beside one another they become more conspicuous. Wherefore in order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned … so that they may be urged all the more to praise God” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 94, art. 1).
(9) All Physical, Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Wounds Will Be Perfectly Healed―‘Scars’ Will Be Seen As Glorious
Christ still had His wounds and scars after His resurrection―but they were badges of glory, not sources of suffering and sadness. Everything—in the body, in the soul, and in the person’s world—that was offered to God will be preserved and transformed and glorified in Heaven. But everything that was not—everything that was not the work of God, or of the sanctified soul, but instead was of the world, the flesh, or the devil—will be left outside Heaven’s gate. The wounds of martyrs will glow like gold (so to speak), but the amputee’s limb will be restored as well glowing like gold, and so will the brain-damaged person’s intelligence. God’s justice and mercy are perfect, and so is His style. Similarly with our mental anguish and sufferings―whether from disease or persecution or any other negative source―will be beautified and glorified in Heaven. For in all wounds and sufferings of body and soul, we will find joy―because rather than being mere negatives, they actually paid for our sins and bought for us Heaven! “Blessed are they that mourn―for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice―for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:5-12).
(10) We Will Have Work To Do In Heaven
Yeah―they say “Eternal Rest”―but saints are not heavenly “couch-potatoes” in a land of “milk and honey”―laying on couches, drinking milk-and-honey smoothies, and popping grapes all day long! We will have work to do in Heaven―the most important of which will be giving glory, adoration and thanksgiving to God. We are so naturalistic, so humanistic, so materialistic―that the only kind of work we imagine is physical work. Yet St. Thomas Aquinas lists three kinds of work that increase in difficulty from one to another. The easiest kind of work is physical work. He then states that above physical work there is a more difficult work―that is intellectual work. Finally, above both physical and intellectual work, comes the most difficult work of all―spiritual work.
St. Thomas says that in Heaven, plants and animals will no longer exist: “If plants and animals are to remain, either all of them will, or some of them. If all of them, then dumb animals, which had previously died, will have to rise again just as men will rise again. But this cannot be asserted for since their form comes to nothing, they cannot resume the same identical form. On the other hand if not all but some of them remain, since there is no more reason for one of them remaining for ever rather than another, it would seem that none of them will. But whatever remains after the world has been renewed will remain for ever, generation and corruption being done away. Therefore plants and animals will altogether cease after the renewal of the world.” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 91, art. 5). So there will no snacking on berries and fruits in Heaven, no pets allowed (because there won’t be any animals), and therefore, no snakes, no scorpions, no mosquitoes, no poisonous spiders, no barking dogs, etc. Consequently, there will no farming, neither agricultural nor livestock! Enjoy your bacon and eggs while still on Earth! Likewise with your tea, coffee, beer and wine. The only spirits in Heaven will be the angels!
Holy Scripture seems to say that there will be no work in Heaven: “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow them” (Apocalypse 14:13). How, then, can we accept those clear words that speak of rest from labors with the claim that there will be work in Heaven? Well, the word translated “labor” in that passage is the Greek word, kopos, and the Latin “labor, laboribus” which is always used to emphasize the negative aspects of work. Kopos is the word New Testament authors used when they wanted to emphasize the fatigue of work. In most places it shows up in the New Testament, English translations render it as “trouble” or “labor” or “toil”—all words with a negative connotation. In fact earlier in the Book of the Apocalypse, St. John uses the same word and the Douay-Rheims translates it as “labors” (Apocalypse 2:2). This was the same word Paul used to describe his suffering for the ministry: “In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27). The fatigue, toil, and pain―which so characterize our experience of work now―are not elements associated with work before the Original Sin by Adam and Eve―fatigue, toil, and pain are rather consequences of God’s curse that He placed on Adam and Eve as a consequence of their sin: “And to Adam he said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life!’” (Genesis 3:17). Up to that point with the concept of work did not include the negative aspects of fatigue, toil, and pain. Work was restful, a pleasure and a joy.
Holy Scripture speaks of the work of “serving” God in Heaven: “There shall be no curse anymore―but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him” (Apocalypse 22:3). “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them” (Apocalypse 7:14-15). Our Lord speaks of His Father always working: “My Father worketh until now; and I work” (John 5:17)―if we are to part of that Family of workers, we can be expect to be put to work! The idea of God’s children working in heaven should come as no surprise, since the Lord Himself works, and “we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). The saints will have “jobs” in Heaven, just as the angels have special jobs that they carry out in worship and adoration. Angels are “servants” or “ministers” who do God’s bidding: “He that maketh His angels spirits and His ministers … Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister?” (Hebrews 1:7, 14). The angel who spoke to John called himself “thy fellow servant” (Apocalypse 22:9). There are no unemployed angels in Heaven, and there will be no unemployed saints. Heaven will not only be a place of eternal enjoyment, but also of eternal employment.
Every true Christian serves Christ or at least seeks to serve Him, but nobody serves Him as we would like to serve Him, or ought to serve Him. All who love Christ worship and adore Him, but nobody worships and adores as we would like to worship and adore. Our minds are so lazy, our hearts are so sluggish! Our response to the grace of God so restrained, so calculating, so selfish! Every true Christian wants to serve Christ, but we find ourselves in conflict: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). We throw ourselves into serving Christ and into living for Christ, and then we get tired, or we become discouraged. We get bogged-down in our unsolved problems and our unanswered questions. But it will not always be so. In Heaven, you will serve God as you always wished you could. “Day and night” they serve Him. No tiredness there! On Earth we pass through seasons of feeling distant from God, and we want to have a new and fresh experience of God. But in Heaven, you will be before His throne. You will be with Him, and you will enjoy Him forever!
(11) We Will Continue to Learn and Grow in Knowledge in Heaven―Though Nobody Will Know Everything
God “hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, that He might show, in the ages to come, the abundant riches of His grace” (Ephesians 2:6-7). The word show means “to reveal.” The phrase about the coming ages ― “in the ages to come” ― clearly indicates there will be a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God’s grace and His workings.
In his book The Happiness of Heaven, Fr. Boudreaux, S.J., writes: “We are active by nature. Action, therefore, both of mind and body, is a law of our being, which cannot be changed, without radically changing, or rather destroying, our whole nature. As glory perfects our whole nature, instead of destroying it, it follows that in Heaven we shall be far more active than we can possibly be here below, for there all our powers will exist in their highest perfection. Therefore, the intellect, elevated and strengthened by the light of glory, will continue to think and to contemplate the truth, for such is the natural action of the human intellect. Thus, also, the will, which is the loving power of the soul, shall continue forever to love, for its natural action is to love the good, the beautiful, and the perfect. The memory, also, will forever continue to recall the many graces received from God, thus keeping alive a deep sense of gratitude for His benefits, while the imagination will still continue to make to itself new and captivating pictures of beauty. In the same way, the eye will continue to see material objects, for such is the natural action of that organ. The ear will continue to hear delightful sounds, and the whole body will continue to receive pleasurable sensations, and to perform all other actions which are natural to it, if we except those that belong merely to the natural life of man, for, as we have already seen, such actions are incompatible with a life and state of incorruption.”
(12) We Will Continue to Grow in Joy
Joy naturally follows after knowledge. We cannot find joy is something we do not know―just as we cannot love what we do not know. If, as stated in the previous point (#11), we will grow in knowledge in Heaven, then we must necessarily grow in loving what we discover and finding joy in what we discover by learning new things. The chief and essential joy of Heaven is the “Beatific Vision” of God, which is composed of three Latin words: beatus, happy; facio, I make; and visio, a sight — all of which, taken together, make up and mean a happy-making or joyous sight. Therefore, in its very etymology, Beatific Vision means a sight which contains in itself the power of banishing all pain and all sorrow from the beholder, and of infusing, in their stead, joy and happiness. Theologians tell us that the Beatific Vision consists of three acts, which are essential to its integrity and perfection: (1) the sight, or vision, of God; (2) the love of God; and (3) the enjoyment of God.
Charity cannot be increased in Heaven, but the level of charity we have in Heaven can be perfected. To help you understand the nuance in that statement, you must first understand that the degree of charity we have, while still on Earth, can continue to grow and grow until the day we die―at that point, it is, so to speak, “set-in-stone” or fixed. This would, by analogy, be like building an imaginary house of charity while we still alive―we can keep adding floors to that house of charity as much as we want or are able―it could be merely a one-story house or it could have 100 floors, or even more. Once we die, we cannot add any more floors―but we can continually make each floor more and more perfect with non-essential decorations, enhancements, etc. Or you could look upon the “increase and perfection” of charity as having a love of learning―you can keep adding more and subjects that you study and learn about until the day you die―at which point additional subjects cannot be taken on board, but you can deepen your knowledge of each subject that you have been studying and learning about. Or again, you can look upon it as the many different favorite places you in which you have spent your vacations―while you are alive, you can keep adding on new locations, but when you die, it all stops―then you can only keep going back to the old places, and over the years, you get to know them better and better without being allowed to add any more new locations. In this way our knowledge, love and joy will be perfected in Heaven.
(13) Your Sense of Belonging and Longing for a True Home Will Finally Be Fulfilled
Psychologists tell us that the need to belong to someone or something is a fundamental human need. In many cases, people are reluctant to dissolve even destructive relationships. A sense of belongingness is crucial to our well-being. A lack of belongingness causes various undesirable effects―including a decrease in the levels of health, happiness, and adjustment. People who lack belongingness suffer higher levels of mental and physical illness and are more prone to a broad range of behavioral problems, ranging from traffic accidents to criminality to suicide. The sense of belonging is indeed significant to a meaningful life. Many have lost, or never had, a true sense of belonging. For all our great advances in technology, with its social media, online conferencing, messaging, e-mails, etc., modern Americans are more distracted, disconnected and isolated than ever before. Despite this constant, always-online connectivity, we are lonelier than any other human group in history. All is not well with us! Today’s consumer mentality has entered our human relationships―people are being increasingly treated as commodities. At one moment we like someone or something at first glance―then when that someone or something loses its appeal, then that person or object, job or pastime is ditched. A sense of belonging involves more than simply being acquainted with other people. It is instead centered on gaining acceptance, attention, and support from members of the group as well as providing the same attention to other members.
If you have made something, with your own materials and skill, then that object belongs to you. Taking this to the next logical conclusion―the Catechism question: “Who made you?” has the answer: “God made me!” We also read in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth ... And God made light ... And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament … And God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done ... And God made two great lights―a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night―and the stars … God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven ... And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind ... And God made the beasts of the Earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and everything that creepeth on the Earth after its kind … And God created man to His own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them … And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good.” (Genesis 1:1-31). “Know ye that the Lord He is God. He made us, and not we ourselves! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 99:3). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him―and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:1-3).
From the above it is unmistakably and irrefutably clear that we belong to God, we are His ‘property’ for He made our souls, and we live on His ‘property’ which is the world that He made. “Whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8). “Behold all souls are mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine” (Ezechiel 18:4). “If therefore you will hear My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be My peculiar possession above all peoples―for all the Earth is Mine” (Exodus 19:5). “All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). We are not only God’s by creation, in that He made us and so we belong to Him―but we are also God’s by redemption, for He has redeemed us from sin and death: “I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine!” (Isaias 43:1).
St. John Vianney said: “Our home is Heaven. On Earth we are like travelers staying at a hotel. When one is away, one is always thinking of going home!” Heaven is our real home, it is the home that God has ultimately intended for everyone, but has guaranteed to nobody. We have to fight for our home: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Hence, ““The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―because the devil, the world and even our own fallen nature will try to prevent from taking and successfully navigating the dangerous path that leads home.
One of the many reasons why so many souls are damned and never make it home to Heaven, but fall in battle and fall into Hell, is the fact that Catholic homes do not reflect Heaven―which is what they should do! For a young child growing up, the father of the family should reflect Christ and God the Father; the mother of the family should reflect the Blessed Virgin Mary; and all the members of the family should be striving to be saints before striving for anything else. “Assemble together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates, so that hearing the word of the Lord, they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and keep and fulfill all the words of the law, so that their children, who now are ignorant, may hear the word, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live! … These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart―and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13; 6:6-7). Sadly, Catholic families are too busy striving for the things of this world (mammon) rather than the things of Heaven―which totally goes against what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
What a child observes being practiced in the family is usually what that same child will practice as an adult! “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!” (Proverbs 22:6)―which applies for better or for worse. A badly trained child will become a bad adult. A well trained child will become good adult. A worldly child will become a worldly adult. A spiritual child will become a spiritual adult. If a child does experience spirituality in the home―by a regular SINCERE (not mechanical) family prayer life; reading Holy Scripture regularly; conversations about the spiritual life and the Faith; a visible and obvious practice of virtues; a hatred of sin; etc. ― then that child will not feel as though it belongs to God, to Heaven, to the Faith―but will feel more as though it belongs to the world.
Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule―but, as Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). There are many Catholic families that merely give lip-service to God and their Faith ― “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts [fashions and customs] of men!’ For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups [too concerned about worldly things]: and many other things you do like to these!” (Mark 7:6-9). The children within a family quickly pick-up on the fact that God comes second―and they therefore gladly imitate their parents. With such families there is very little sense of belonging to God and the Faith, they feel as they belong in the world more than in Heaven. Our Lord warns such parents, saying: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me―it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6).
O to how many parents could Jesus say today what He said the Scribes and Pharisees in His own day: “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘You do the works of your father! If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me! For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!’” (John 8:41-47). Parents would make their homes more “heavenly” if they followed the words of Christ, who says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things [your needs in this world] shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31). The Kingdom of God is being sought as it should be sought―and that is why souls are not being saved as they should be saved! It is a simple mathematical case of what you sow is what you reap! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
(14) Friendships Will Be Perfect Friendships―No More Anxieties, Fears, Misapprehensions, Misunderstandings, etc.
On Earth, no matter who it might be, there can be no perfect friendship. Yes, there can be some wonderful friendships―but nothing near the kind of friendships that we will experience in Heaven. Original Sin―the fountain head of all our many different kinds of sins―is the virus which, at one point or another, contaminates our friendships to a greater or lesser degree. Even the best friendships are, at times, plagued by misunderstandings, misgivings, misapprehensions, suspicions, selfishness, pride, anger and a host of other sins―some petty, some serious―that severely test and often wound our friendships on Earth.
Just as in so many other things, there can be positive and negative sides to a friendship. Holy Scripture warns us of some of those negative aspects or dangers: “Be not a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man―lest perhaps thou learn his ways, and take scandal to thy soul!” (Proverbs 22:24-25). Scripture also warns us of the false and dangerous friendship with the world: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4-5).
Even though we cannot attain a perfect friendship here on Earth, nevertheless, this life is a beginning or an apprenticeship to the friendship that we will experience in Heaven. Friendship is intimately entwined with the virtue of charity―and God is charity (1 John 4:8). Therefore Holy Scripture reminds us: “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. If God hath so loved us―we also ought to love one another! If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us … If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? … In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how does the charity of God abide in him? Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 4:7-20; 3:16-18).
Our Lord does not want to be a ruler and a lord over us―but He wants to be our Friend, our best Friend. Even a child―such as was St. Dominic Savio―can understand this. One of St. Dominic Savio’s four resolutions on the day of the First Holy Communion, was: “My best friends will be Jesus and Mary!” Our Lord Himself said: “I will not now call you servants―for the servant knows not what his lord does. But I have called you friends―because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you!” (John 15:15). In other words―friends share things! By these words our Lord has given the model of friendship for us to copy. We must reveal to our friends all the secrets of our hearts, and we must not remain in ignorance of theirs. A friend conceals nothing. If he is sincere, he opens his mind as our Savior disclosed the mysteries of His Father. Our Lord shares the knowledge of God with us and He wants to share Heaven with us! Too many people look upon Our Lord are harsh, rigorous, punishing Master―not that He cannot be harsh, rigorous and punishing if He needs to be―but He first and foremost loves us and wants our love in return. That is true friendship―a mutual, reciprocal love. “As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner!” (Luke 6:31). “He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsakes the fear of the Lord!” (Job 6:14). “Forsake not thy own friend, nor thy father’s friend!” (Proverbs 27:10). Sometimes our friends might say things that are unpleasant, but truthful―in such cases Scripture reminds us: “Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy!” (Proverbs 27:6).
St. Jerome, a Father and Doctor of the Church, tells us that “the friendship that can have an end, was never true!” The friendship that cannot be eternal, has no real existence, and true friendship survives all separations of death, to reunite at a later time, in Heaven, those whom friendship united on Earth. Here are the thoughts of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), another Doctor of the Church, describing true friendship as the prelude and foretaste of Heaven:
“If your reciprocal communication is made up of charity, and devotion, and Christian perfection―then how precious will your friendship be! It will be excellent―because it came from God; and also excellent because it leads to God; excellent, because its bond is God; excellent, because it will last forever in God. How pleasant it is to love on Earth as they love in Heaven and to learn how to mutually cherish one another in this world as we shall do throughout eternity in the next! The delicious balm of devotion distills from heart to heart by continual participation―and so it may be said that God has extended His blessings and the life of ages upon ages over such friendship. Never did so chaste a tie change but into a union of spirits more perfect and more pure — a living image of the blessed friendships to exist in Heaven!”
The sincerity, depth, humility, intimacy, strength, selflessness and love of our heavenly friendships are at this moment in time unimaginable! There will no envy, no jealousy, no selfishness, no pride, no anger, no fault-finding, no finger-pointing, no suspicion, no fear of rejection, no falsehood, no false flattery, no backbiting, no calumny, no detraction, no shame, no superiority, no mockery, no double-speak, no sarcasm, no recrimination, no seeking of vengeance, no shunning, no haughtiness, no pretense, or any other element that was destructive in friendships here on Earth! In addition to that, EVERYBODY will be your friend and you will have NO ENEMIES! Even if your worst enemy on Earth gets to Heaven―you will be the best of friends, regardless of how much harm they might have done to you―perhaps even killed you! Such is the love of God that we will share! Just as God will accept us with wholehearted love―regardless of how sinful we may have been―we will likewise accept others, regardless of how much evil they may have done. Everyone will have paid for their sins through the just punishments of God. Unbelievable, but happily true!
(15) We Will Still Experience Emotions―But Not All Possible Emotions
If we are to resurrect from the dead and be reunited with our bodies, then we will also possess all the “working parts” of our bodies. The emotions or passions are more a part of the body than they are of the soul―even though they have an impact on the soul and find expression in the soul. Since our thinking and our feeling are equal functions of the heart, we will retain our feeling in Heaven just as we will retain our thinking. In Heaven, all our humanity is perfected, not diminished. Thus we will have emotions in Heaven, for they are part of God’s design for our humanity, and not only a result of the Fall―but our emotions will not drive us or control us. They will be no less passionate, but they will be less passive. St. Augustine is of the opinion that in Heaven the joy, that we receive from God in our souls, will “overflow” into our resurrected bodies in a “voluptuous torrent” of pleasure.
What are the chief emotions or passions that we possess here on Earth? St. Thomas Aquinas lists the following eleven God-given passions of the soul:
Love and Hate
Desire and Aversion
Joy and Sorrow
Hope and Despair
Confidence and Fear
Anger
In Heaven, of course, there will be no hatred, no aversion, no fear, no anger, no sorrow, no despair (and no more need for hope and desire―for you now have what you once hoped for and desired, namely salvation). So all the “negative” emotions will no longer exist. Yet love and joy and the other emotions will remain―though they will be modified and perfected.
In the following excerpt, St. Thomas says that When a good man dies, do moral virtues remain in theseparated soul? Justice remains, for “Justice is perpetual and immortal” (Wisdom 1:15). The moral virtues which regulated the passions and emotions remain in the separated soul in their essence as perfections of the soul, but they no longer regulate irregularities of appetite; because in the resurrected person there are no more irregularities of any kind. “In the future life there will be no concupiscences and pleasures in matters of food and sex; nor fear and daring about dangers of death; nor distributions and commutations of things used in this present life. But, as regards the formal element, in the Blessed they will remain most perfect after this life, in as much as each person’s reason will have most perfect rectitude in regard to things concerning him in respect of that state of life: and his [passions and emotions] will be moved entirely according to the order [control] of reason. Hence St. Augustine says that prudence will be there without any danger of error; fortitude, without the anxiety of bearing with evil; temperance, without the rebellion of the desires: so that prudence will neither prefer nor equal any good to God; fortitude will adhere to Him most steadfastly; and temperance will delight in Him Who knows no imperfection. As to justice, it is yet more evident what will be its act in that life, that is to say, ‘to be subject to God’―because even in this life subjection to a superior is part of justice … After the resurrection, when the souls will be reunited to their bodies. In this state of resurrection, the irrational powers will be in the bodily organs, just as they now are. Hence it will be possible for fortitude to be in the irascible, and temperance in the concupiscible part, in so far as each power will be perfectly disposed to obey the reason.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 67, art. 1).
(16) There Will Be No Evil Of Any Kind
When we think of the word “evil”, we imagine terrible evils like murder, violence, etc. ― and of course there will be no such thing in Heaven. Yet in the strict sense, the philosophical sense, evil is the lack of a good that is due to something or someone, the lack of a good that should be present but is not present―that is what evil means strictly speaking. Even in this sense of the word, there will be no lack of any good in Heaven, no matter how small―for all our imperfections or lack of goodness will have been punished, purified and perfected before we are admitted into Heaven. Heaven is truly a place of perfection and goodness.
“The former distresses are forgotten … For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart. But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create―for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying … They shall not hurt nor kill in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord!” (Isaias 65:16-19, 25).
“What an exquisite consolation it is to us to be assured that none of this poison will follow us into Heaven! Yes, the day
will come—blessed and glorious day—when all that perversity of will, all that inclination to evil, and all the passions of our depraved nature will be no more! All these will die in our temporal death and be buried—never to rise again in our glorified bodies. The Beatific Vision will glorify our will and change us, as it were, into new creatures. Then shall we find ourselves joyfully willing to do what God wills, as He wills it, and because He so wills it—without the least repugnance on our part. We shall no longer have peculiar views, private interests, or natural inclinations that clash with the will and interests of God. His divine will and our will shall become so totally one that we shall seem to have no will of our own — so completely and, at the same time, so sweetly, shall it be identified with the will and good pleasure of God” (Fr. Boudreaux, The Happiness of Heaven).
(17) There Will Be No Temptation and No Sin
What a joy to be finally liberated from all temptations and all sin! Whether it be the burden of our own temptations and sins, or the burden of enduring the sins of others. All that will have purged by penance on Earth or purifying punishment in Purgatory. For eternity sin will no longer cast its shadow or rear its ugly head. In Heaven we will finally realize the true gravity of sin―something which we found so hard to grasp here on Earth, despite our Catechism telling us that sin was the greatest evil in the world―even venial sin! “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
All of the above 17 points are merely the tip of the iceberg of what will constitute the happiness of Heaven. We would do well to meditate more and more on the beauty and happiness of Heaven that awaits those who love God!
In the Old Testament we read: “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, nor hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee!” (Isaias 64:4). The New Testament echoes the same truth: “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Before treating of these in things in more detail, here they are in a nutshell. In Heaven …
(1) We will see God as He really is―but not everyone will be given equal knowledge.
(2) We will live for eternity.
(3) We will still be ourselves, but perfect―however, we shall all have differing degrees of perfection.
(4) We shall be reunited to our bodies―but our bodies will have such a perfection that we cannot now imagine.
(5) There will no more suffering of any kind―neither from ourselves, nor from others.
(6) We will retain certain memories of this life―though not of everything.
(7) We will not miss our old lives, nor the Earth, nor our possessions, nor the things of Earth.
(8) If our loved ones are in Hell, we will not miss them and will happily accept God’s justice in their regard.
(9) All our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wounds will be perfectly healed―any ‘scars’ will be seen as glorious.
(10) We will have work to do in Heaven―the most important of which is giving glory, adoration and thanksgiving to God.
(11) We will continue to learn and grow in knowledge in Heaven―though nobody will know everything.
(12) We will continue to grow in joy
(13) Your sense of belonging and longing for a true home will finally be fulfilled.
(14) Friendships will be perfect friendships―with no more anxieties, fears, misapprehensions, misunderstandings, etc.
(15) We will still experience emotions―but only the positive ones. Love, not hatred. Joy, not sadness. Hope, not despair, etc.
(16) There will be no evil of any kind―for evil is lack of a good that is due to something or someone. There is lack in Heaven.
(17) There will be no temptation and no sin.
(1) We Will See God as He Really Is
This is the “biggie”, the “icing on the cake”, the “top drawer” — otherwise known as “The Beatific Vision”! St. Thomas Aquinas defined the Beatific Vision as the “final end” of human beings in which one attains to a perfect happiness. St. Thomas argues that one is perfectly happy only when all one’s desires are perfectly satisfied, to the degree that happiness could not increase and could not be lost. In Heaven, the blessed will directly see the very essence of God. “We shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). God is supremely knowable or understandable, and is Himself the highest and greatest object that can be known by any creatural intellect. Yet, after the general resurrection when bodies and souls will be reunited, the blessed will not see God’s essence with their bodily eyes—because bodily eyes, even when they are glorified in Heaven, will only see bodily or physical things, and God is a spirit, not something bodily or physical or material. Those that see God in Heaven—before or after the resurrection of the body—will see him with the mind, which is the intellect—strengthened, elevated, and illumined by the Light of Glory. Even then, no finite creature can know an infinite God totally, so as to know all that God knows. This would mean the encompassing of the infinite by a finite understanding—which is utterly impossible. Therefore, when the blessed will see God in His essence, they will not see all that God sees, nor will they know all that God knows. Even the angels, who know all things in God, do not know all that God knows. Until the time that our puny, limited and limited minds are strengthened, elevated and enlightened by the Light of Glory, we wallow in a helpless mediocrity of knowledge and cannot even start to imagine what the knowledge of God in Heaven will be like—much like a baby cannot grasp the kind of knowledge it might have after years of school, college and university education. Or, it is like comparing a baby’s knowledge to that of an Einstein.
There is an all-too-easy tendency to imagine this knowledge of God as being some kind of overblown and over-exaggerated anti-climax. That is because we are too materialistic, too sensual, too human, too physical in our expectations and assessments of things. Yet, when you really stop to think about it, the ultimate goal and love of most people is to get to know, love and marry a person. We do not marry cars, houses, clothes, jewels, precious metals, electronic appliances, etc. — we marry people! We place people above things. Now, of course, we also fall out of love with people—but that is due to various faults that they carry and manifest. With God there are no faults, no weaknesses, no let-downs! When it comes to God, even the best, most kind, most lovable person in this world would be like a mere matchstick as compared to the bright and burning sun! “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee!” (Isaias 64:4). “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
(2) We Will Live For Eternity
Currently, in 2021, the average amount that a person spends on health care—in order to stay healthy and stay alive—is around $15,000 per year. Some pay far, far more—other pay less. Over 80 years that would be over $1 million. O how precious life is! O how much we want to stay alive an! What kind of money would people be prepared to pay to live forever, for eternity? Not just 80 years for $1 million—not even 80 billion years, or 80 trillion years, but eternally! You cannot put a price on that! O how much do people underestimate God’s offer of eternal life in Heaven! On the other hand, how much would people pay to avoid the torments of Hell—not just for 80 years, not even 80 billion years, or 80 trillion years, but eternally! We are not talking about billions, trillions, zillions of years of living in poverty, or disease, or in dysfunctional relationships, or any other negative environment. We are talking about life in Heaven, in absolute bliss and joy, peace and friendship, with optimal health of body and soul! We have the worldly expression: “When you are having fun, you want it to never end!” Well that can be applied to Heaven a zillionfold! Heaven will never end! Joy will not grow dull! Think about that! How sad and how insulting is our lack of appreciation for the eternal life that God offers to those who love Him!
(3) We Will Still Be Ourselves, But Perfect―However, We Shall All Have Differing Degrees Of Perfection
We vainly spend a lifetime trying to perfect ourselves—but really spend that lifetime trying to cover-up, hide and excuse our defects! We vainly imagine that there can be some kind of natural perfection on Earth, while ignoring the possibility of striving for a supernatural perfection in Heaven. We expend much effort—but in the wrong direction! Which is just one of many reasons why most souls fail to attain their God-given goal of Heaven and end up in the gaol (jail) of Hell. As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It is not so much earthly perfection that we should be searching for, but heavenly perfection. Our Lord told us to seek perfection of a heavenly kind: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). For a relative spiritual perfection is required to enter Heaven in the first place—it is spiritual things that get us into Heaven, not material things or riches! “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23-24).
Yet not everyone will be equal in Heaven, as indicated by Our Lord: “He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19). All the saints and angels are as happy as they can possibly be, but some are happier than others. Take, for example, three cups of unequal sizes. If all three are filled to the top with water, then they are equally full. Yet, the largest will have more water than the middle, which will in turn contain more water than the smallest. Heaven will be something like this! It is during our life on Earth that we have to make the most of our chance to make the biggest cup possible.
(4) We Shall be Reunited to Our Bodies―But Our Bodies Will Have Unimaginable Perfections
There are millions or billions of people in this world vainly dreaming of and seeking for the perfect body! They spend tons of time and money—exercising in gyms, following a multitude of diets, etc. There is nothing wrong with seeking to maintain the good health of one’s own body—and thus following a sensible dietary and exercise regimen. Yet most people go beyond this reasonable aspect and seek to acquire a perfect body that they can then flaunt and parade in front of others. Yet nobody has ever achieved anything near to or like the bodies that we shall have in Heaven!
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that in the resurrection, each soul will be united with its own body—since, for a resurrection to be a real resurrection, that which dies has to be that which rises again. If the soul be not joined with its own body, then there is not a resurrection, but the assuming of a new body. Hence it will be the selfsame man who dies that will rise again. For, by the resurrection, a man is to live again, not to be turned into someone else. However, it is the soul that gives to the material element of man his living body and gives that body its own personal identity in the body-soul composition that we call a man. By uniting with matter, the soul makes that matter to be its own body, holding it in continuous identity, despite the flow and change of bodily particles all through life.
The human body will rise complete and perfect with all its members and organs. In the elect, the perfected soul will animate its body and cause that body to be perfect. Even in such things as belong to the body more as ornaments rather than necessary members—such as hair and nails—the risen body will be perfectly complete. Man’s risen body will lack nothing that belongs to the integrity (that is, the complete and all round perfection) of human nature. The risen body will need none of the processes that merely preserve it, or make it grow, or propagate—therefore there will be no need for food, drink, medicine, or sexual relations. But the body will have all that makes it enduring, mature, and perfect. The risen body will have all that belongs to a true human bodily nature; it will have all this in the most perfect and suitable manner and degree.
Those who rise will not have the imperfections of immaturity or old age. All will rise in the most perfect stage of human nature, which is the age of youth; that is, of youth just arrived at maturity and full development. However, all arisen bodies will not be the same in size. Variety on this point is no defect in nature. We know only that risen bodies will not be deficient in any natural perfection. Each person’s body will be of the size most suitable to him. Human beings, then, will rise with perfect bodies, all in full maturity, none with infantile or childish imperfection, none bent with age. They will be perfect men and perfect women, with bodies of suitable size perfectly proportioned. Risen bodies will not require the things they needed on earth to sustain them, preserve them, and move them to development or further perfection. Risen bodies will not eat, or drink, or sleep, or beget offspring, or feel the pull of fleshly appetites or passions.
The risen body will be, in all actions, perfectly subject to the soul, and instantly responsive to the will. This spirit-like quality of the risen body is called subtlety or subtility. The subtlety of a glorified body will not enable it to occupy the same place with another body, unless this be done by a miracle. Now, there is no contradiction in the thought of two bodies being in the same place simultaneously, even though there is nothing in the nature of a body capable of producing this effect. What keeps bodies from compenetration is their external extension, and this is not of the essence or nature of bodies, but is an effect of quantity, which, in turn, is only a proper accidental of bodies and not their essence. Hence, there is no conflict or contradiction in the notion of compenetration of bodies; therefore, since the thing is conceivable, it might be done by a miracle. However, the subtlety of the glorified body does not make this compenetration possible without a miracle. Besides, in Heaven, distinctness of bodily being will be a perfection; if several bodies were to occupy the same place, this distinctness of being would be obscured. The glorified body, just as the natural body on Earth, will occupy space, and will be in a place according to its dimensions. There will be nothing ghost-like in the risen body. It will be a true body. But it will have spiritual or spirit-like qualities. It will be something that can be touched and felt. When Our Lord in His risen and glorified body came in, through closed-doors, to His disciples, He told them He was not a spirit or ghost, and said: “Handle and see! For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have!” (Luke 24:39).
The glorified body will be able to move with the quickness of thought from place to place under the direction of the soul and the command of the free will. This quality of the risen body is called agility. The risen body in heaven will move about. Scripture says: “They shall run and not be weary” (Isaias 40:31) and “[The just] shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds” (Wisdom 3:7). But this swift and untiring movement will not deprive the just of the beatific vision or diminish their happiness. The movement of the glorified body will not be strictly instantaneous; it will take a moment of time, yet this moment will be so short as to be imperceptible.
The risen body in glory will have a measure of lightsomeness and splendor, according to the soul’s degree of glory. Says Scripture: “The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). This shining and splendid quality of the risen body is called its clarity. The clarity of the blessed in heaven will be visible to the non-glorified eye of the damned. For clarity is naturally visible, as it was to the eyes of the three apostles who beheld it in Our Lord’s body at the time of the Transfiguration. Yet the glorified body is not necessarily always visible; it will appear or disappear as the soul wills. It will be like Our Lord’s glorified body at Emmaus, that is, capable of being seen, but also capable of being withdrawn from the sight of men. (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, questions 79 to 85).
(5) There Will No More Suffering Of Any Kind―Neither From Ourselves, Nor From Others
The risen body will be impassible—which is to be immune to suffering and change. The bodies of the just will not be capable of suffering any pain whatsoever, nor will they ever undergo substantial change. The bodies of the damned will endure pains in Hell, and hence are not free from suffering; yet these bodies will not undergo substantial change. St. Paul says: “The body is sown in corruption, but it shall rise in incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:42). Impassibility in the risen bodies of the just does not mean numbness or insensibility. It means immunity to what is contrary to human nature and painful to it. The risen body will have sensation (that is, its senses will operate and bring in sense-findings or sense-knowledge), and it will have movement; these things belong to the perfection of the body. The senses of the risen bodies of the just will find in the overflow of glory, which comes upon them from the soul, their complete and enduring perfection. The senses will be perfectly and satisfyingly in operation, and they will possess their objects, and not merely tend to these objects, or be in a state of readiness to perceive them.
(6) We Will Retain Certain Memories of This Life―Though Not Everything
In Heaven, however, we will not live in the past—we will have no regrets; nor will we live in the future—we will have no fears; but like God, we will live in the eternal present. As regards painful, sad and bad memories― God will wipe our memories clean―or He will enlighten us as to the benefits that we gained from those painful incidents, which will then transform the pain and sadness into an understanding joy. As regards our past sins that we committed on Earth, in his article “Whether After the Resurrection Everyone Will Know What Sins He Has Committed?”, St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Those demerits which are not blotted out by repentance remain in the debt of punishment due to them [in Purgatory or Hell], while those which have been blotted out by repentance [that is to say, paid for by penance on Earth or in Purgatory] remain in the remembrance of repentance, which they will recall together with their other merits ...The saints in Heaven will be so full of joy, that they will have no room for sorrow; and so they will not grieve for their sins, but rather will they rejoice in the Divine mercy, whereby their sins are forgiven them” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 87, art. 1, ad 1 & 3). As Scripture says: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall come with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away!” (Isaias 35:10) ... “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be anymore―for the former things are passed away” (Apocalypse 21:4). In extremely simplistic terms you could say that they will see the glass as being half-full rather than half-empty―they will have a positive (and therefore joyful) outlook, rather than a negative (and therefore sorrowful) outlook―much as Adam’s Original Sin is called a “happy fault” in the sense that it brought Christ and His Redemption into this world. At the Easter Vigil, when the Exultet is sung, we hear the words “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” Reflecting on these words gives to us a joy in what Christ has done for us by His death and resurrection, a joy which is greater than our sadness and sorrow over our sins. Similarly, in Heaven, the focus will be on the redemption of sin and not the commission of sin.
(7) We Will Not Miss Our Old Lives, Nor the Earth, Nor Our Possessions, Nor the Things of Earth
Have you ever bought an economy ticket for a flight, but because of overbooking, been upgraded to first class? Did you regret the upgrade? Did you spend your time wondering, “What am I missing by not being in the back of the plane?” The upgrade from Earth to Heaven will be vastly superior to that from economy to first class. If we would miss something from our old lives that is good was good and not sinful or mistakenly “good”, then it would be available to us in Heaven. Why? Because there can be no good that is lacking in Heaven―otherwise it would not be Heaven. We will experience all God intends for us―and He has fashioned us to want precisely what He will give us. Therefore, what He gives us will be exactly what we want! It is only in Heaven that we will realize what is really good for us―as opposed to life on Earth where we so often mistakenly imagine that certain things will be “good” for, but are really not good for us―even non-sinful things can actually not be good for us.
(8) If Our Loved Ones Are in Hell, We Will Not Miss Them and Will Happily Accept God’s Justice in Their Regard
If there is someone you love and identify with so deeply, that you cannot imagine being happy in eternity without him or her, but right now that person (or persons) seems to be in peril of being damned, then tell God that He has to arrange for this person’s salvation, just as He has arranged for your salvation: “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4) … “‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways―and why will you die!” (Ezechiel 33:11). Tell God that this person is [these persons are] a real part of you, and for you, as a whole, to be saved, this person has [these persons have] to come along, just as your own body and emotions have to come along. It need not be a “wheedling” or “blackmail” prayer―it can be a simple presentation of the facts, like Mary’s “They have no more wine.” Let God do His thing―it is always more loving, more gracious, and more effective than our thing, more than we can ever imagine or desire.
We know there is no sadness in Heaven: God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:17). Hence we will not be sad about the damned for the same reason God is not. According to the Sermon on the Mount, He will say to them, “I never knew you” (Mathew 7:23). God will wipe our memories clean of those who are damned. This is not falsehood or ignorance, but truth, for in a sense, the damned no longer are—that is to say, they no longer are in the most real place of all, Heaven. They no longer count. They are like ashes, not like wood. They once were fully human, fully alive, real men and women. But Hell is a place not of eternal life, but of eternal death. We do not love or weep over ashes; we only love or weep over the thing that existed before it was burnt. In Heaven we will see clearly that God granted sufficient grace to each person for their salvation. We will see in Heaven that God gave everyone the opportunity to seek and respond to Him (Romans 1:18-2:16). Everyone deserves Hell―nobody deserves Heaven. Our Lord died on the cross to offer salvation to all (1 John 2:2). God absolutely does not desire anyone to perish (1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9). Yet many will perish in their unbelief and disobedience: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13).
In Heaven, we will understand, accept, embrace and love God’s holiness and justice. God will be our source of joy. Hell, with its small and distant shadow, will not interfere with God’s greatness or our joy in Him―even if we have family, relatives and friends in Hell. Our love of God will obliterate all lesser loves in love: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). In Heaven, however, we will not live in the past—we will have no regrets; nor will we live in the future—we will have no fears; but like God, we will live in the eternal present. Our heavenly emotions will be appropriate to present reality, not past reality.
St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Nothing should be denied the blessed that belongs to the perfection of their beatitude. Now everything is known the more for being compared with its contrary, because when contraries are placed beside one another they become more conspicuous. Wherefore in order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned … so that they may be urged all the more to praise God” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 94, art. 1).
(9) All Physical, Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Wounds Will Be Perfectly Healed―‘Scars’ Will Be Seen As Glorious
Christ still had His wounds and scars after His resurrection―but they were badges of glory, not sources of suffering and sadness. Everything—in the body, in the soul, and in the person’s world—that was offered to God will be preserved and transformed and glorified in Heaven. But everything that was not—everything that was not the work of God, or of the sanctified soul, but instead was of the world, the flesh, or the devil—will be left outside Heaven’s gate. The wounds of martyrs will glow like gold (so to speak), but the amputee’s limb will be restored as well glowing like gold, and so will the brain-damaged person’s intelligence. God’s justice and mercy are perfect, and so is His style. Similarly with our mental anguish and sufferings―whether from disease or persecution or any other negative source―will be beautified and glorified in Heaven. For in all wounds and sufferings of body and soul, we will find joy―because rather than being mere negatives, they actually paid for our sins and bought for us Heaven! “Blessed are they that mourn―for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice―for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:5-12).
(10) We Will Have Work To Do In Heaven
Yeah―they say “Eternal Rest”―but saints are not heavenly “couch-potatoes” in a land of “milk and honey”―laying on couches, drinking milk-and-honey smoothies, and popping grapes all day long! We will have work to do in Heaven―the most important of which will be giving glory, adoration and thanksgiving to God. We are so naturalistic, so humanistic, so materialistic―that the only kind of work we imagine is physical work. Yet St. Thomas Aquinas lists three kinds of work that increase in difficulty from one to another. The easiest kind of work is physical work. He then states that above physical work there is a more difficult work―that is intellectual work. Finally, above both physical and intellectual work, comes the most difficult work of all―spiritual work.
St. Thomas says that in Heaven, plants and animals will no longer exist: “If plants and animals are to remain, either all of them will, or some of them. If all of them, then dumb animals, which had previously died, will have to rise again just as men will rise again. But this cannot be asserted for since their form comes to nothing, they cannot resume the same identical form. On the other hand if not all but some of them remain, since there is no more reason for one of them remaining for ever rather than another, it would seem that none of them will. But whatever remains after the world has been renewed will remain for ever, generation and corruption being done away. Therefore plants and animals will altogether cease after the renewal of the world.” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, Supplement, q. 91, art. 5). So there will no snacking on berries and fruits in Heaven, no pets allowed (because there won’t be any animals), and therefore, no snakes, no scorpions, no mosquitoes, no poisonous spiders, no barking dogs, etc. Consequently, there will no farming, neither agricultural nor livestock! Enjoy your bacon and eggs while still on Earth! Likewise with your tea, coffee, beer and wine. The only spirits in Heaven will be the angels!
Holy Scripture seems to say that there will be no work in Heaven: “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow them” (Apocalypse 14:13). How, then, can we accept those clear words that speak of rest from labors with the claim that there will be work in Heaven? Well, the word translated “labor” in that passage is the Greek word, kopos, and the Latin “labor, laboribus” which is always used to emphasize the negative aspects of work. Kopos is the word New Testament authors used when they wanted to emphasize the fatigue of work. In most places it shows up in the New Testament, English translations render it as “trouble” or “labor” or “toil”—all words with a negative connotation. In fact earlier in the Book of the Apocalypse, St. John uses the same word and the Douay-Rheims translates it as “labors” (Apocalypse 2:2). This was the same word Paul used to describe his suffering for the ministry: “In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27). The fatigue, toil, and pain―which so characterize our experience of work now―are not elements associated with work before the Original Sin by Adam and Eve―fatigue, toil, and pain are rather consequences of God’s curse that He placed on Adam and Eve as a consequence of their sin: “And to Adam he said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life!’” (Genesis 3:17). Up to that point with the concept of work did not include the negative aspects of fatigue, toil, and pain. Work was restful, a pleasure and a joy.
Holy Scripture speaks of the work of “serving” God in Heaven: “There shall be no curse anymore―but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him” (Apocalypse 22:3). “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them” (Apocalypse 7:14-15). Our Lord speaks of His Father always working: “My Father worketh until now; and I work” (John 5:17)―if we are to part of that Family of workers, we can be expect to be put to work! The idea of God’s children working in heaven should come as no surprise, since the Lord Himself works, and “we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). The saints will have “jobs” in Heaven, just as the angels have special jobs that they carry out in worship and adoration. Angels are “servants” or “ministers” who do God’s bidding: “He that maketh His angels spirits and His ministers … Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister?” (Hebrews 1:7, 14). The angel who spoke to John called himself “thy fellow servant” (Apocalypse 22:9). There are no unemployed angels in Heaven, and there will be no unemployed saints. Heaven will not only be a place of eternal enjoyment, but also of eternal employment.
Every true Christian serves Christ or at least seeks to serve Him, but nobody serves Him as we would like to serve Him, or ought to serve Him. All who love Christ worship and adore Him, but nobody worships and adores as we would like to worship and adore. Our minds are so lazy, our hearts are so sluggish! Our response to the grace of God so restrained, so calculating, so selfish! Every true Christian wants to serve Christ, but we find ourselves in conflict: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). We throw ourselves into serving Christ and into living for Christ, and then we get tired, or we become discouraged. We get bogged-down in our unsolved problems and our unanswered questions. But it will not always be so. In Heaven, you will serve God as you always wished you could. “Day and night” they serve Him. No tiredness there! On Earth we pass through seasons of feeling distant from God, and we want to have a new and fresh experience of God. But in Heaven, you will be before His throne. You will be with Him, and you will enjoy Him forever!
(11) We Will Continue to Learn and Grow in Knowledge in Heaven―Though Nobody Will Know Everything
God “hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, that He might show, in the ages to come, the abundant riches of His grace” (Ephesians 2:6-7). The word show means “to reveal.” The phrase about the coming ages ― “in the ages to come” ― clearly indicates there will be a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God’s grace and His workings.
In his book The Happiness of Heaven, Fr. Boudreaux, S.J., writes: “We are active by nature. Action, therefore, both of mind and body, is a law of our being, which cannot be changed, without radically changing, or rather destroying, our whole nature. As glory perfects our whole nature, instead of destroying it, it follows that in Heaven we shall be far more active than we can possibly be here below, for there all our powers will exist in their highest perfection. Therefore, the intellect, elevated and strengthened by the light of glory, will continue to think and to contemplate the truth, for such is the natural action of the human intellect. Thus, also, the will, which is the loving power of the soul, shall continue forever to love, for its natural action is to love the good, the beautiful, and the perfect. The memory, also, will forever continue to recall the many graces received from God, thus keeping alive a deep sense of gratitude for His benefits, while the imagination will still continue to make to itself new and captivating pictures of beauty. In the same way, the eye will continue to see material objects, for such is the natural action of that organ. The ear will continue to hear delightful sounds, and the whole body will continue to receive pleasurable sensations, and to perform all other actions which are natural to it, if we except those that belong merely to the natural life of man, for, as we have already seen, such actions are incompatible with a life and state of incorruption.”
(12) We Will Continue to Grow in Joy
Joy naturally follows after knowledge. We cannot find joy is something we do not know―just as we cannot love what we do not know. If, as stated in the previous point (#11), we will grow in knowledge in Heaven, then we must necessarily grow in loving what we discover and finding joy in what we discover by learning new things. The chief and essential joy of Heaven is the “Beatific Vision” of God, which is composed of three Latin words: beatus, happy; facio, I make; and visio, a sight — all of which, taken together, make up and mean a happy-making or joyous sight. Therefore, in its very etymology, Beatific Vision means a sight which contains in itself the power of banishing all pain and all sorrow from the beholder, and of infusing, in their stead, joy and happiness. Theologians tell us that the Beatific Vision consists of three acts, which are essential to its integrity and perfection: (1) the sight, or vision, of God; (2) the love of God; and (3) the enjoyment of God.
Charity cannot be increased in Heaven, but the level of charity we have in Heaven can be perfected. To help you understand the nuance in that statement, you must first understand that the degree of charity we have, while still on Earth, can continue to grow and grow until the day we die―at that point, it is, so to speak, “set-in-stone” or fixed. This would, by analogy, be like building an imaginary house of charity while we still alive―we can keep adding floors to that house of charity as much as we want or are able―it could be merely a one-story house or it could have 100 floors, or even more. Once we die, we cannot add any more floors―but we can continually make each floor more and more perfect with non-essential decorations, enhancements, etc. Or you could look upon the “increase and perfection” of charity as having a love of learning―you can keep adding more and subjects that you study and learn about until the day you die―at which point additional subjects cannot be taken on board, but you can deepen your knowledge of each subject that you have been studying and learning about. Or again, you can look upon it as the many different favorite places you in which you have spent your vacations―while you are alive, you can keep adding on new locations, but when you die, it all stops―then you can only keep going back to the old places, and over the years, you get to know them better and better without being allowed to add any more new locations. In this way our knowledge, love and joy will be perfected in Heaven.
(13) Your Sense of Belonging and Longing for a True Home Will Finally Be Fulfilled
Psychologists tell us that the need to belong to someone or something is a fundamental human need. In many cases, people are reluctant to dissolve even destructive relationships. A sense of belongingness is crucial to our well-being. A lack of belongingness causes various undesirable effects―including a decrease in the levels of health, happiness, and adjustment. People who lack belongingness suffer higher levels of mental and physical illness and are more prone to a broad range of behavioral problems, ranging from traffic accidents to criminality to suicide. The sense of belonging is indeed significant to a meaningful life. Many have lost, or never had, a true sense of belonging. For all our great advances in technology, with its social media, online conferencing, messaging, e-mails, etc., modern Americans are more distracted, disconnected and isolated than ever before. Despite this constant, always-online connectivity, we are lonelier than any other human group in history. All is not well with us! Today’s consumer mentality has entered our human relationships―people are being increasingly treated as commodities. At one moment we like someone or something at first glance―then when that someone or something loses its appeal, then that person or object, job or pastime is ditched. A sense of belonging involves more than simply being acquainted with other people. It is instead centered on gaining acceptance, attention, and support from members of the group as well as providing the same attention to other members.
If you have made something, with your own materials and skill, then that object belongs to you. Taking this to the next logical conclusion―the Catechism question: “Who made you?” has the answer: “God made me!” We also read in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth ... And God made light ... And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament … And God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done ... And God made two great lights―a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night―and the stars … God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven ... And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind ... And God made the beasts of the Earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and everything that creepeth on the Earth after its kind … And God created man to His own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them … And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good.” (Genesis 1:1-31). “Know ye that the Lord He is God. He made us, and not we ourselves! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 99:3). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him―and without Him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:1-3).
From the above it is unmistakably and irrefutably clear that we belong to God, we are His ‘property’ for He made our souls, and we live on His ‘property’ which is the world that He made. “Whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8). “Behold all souls are mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine” (Ezechiel 18:4). “If therefore you will hear My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be My peculiar possession above all peoples―for all the Earth is Mine” (Exodus 19:5). “All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). We are not only God’s by creation, in that He made us and so we belong to Him―but we are also God’s by redemption, for He has redeemed us from sin and death: “I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine!” (Isaias 43:1).
St. John Vianney said: “Our home is Heaven. On Earth we are like travelers staying at a hotel. When one is away, one is always thinking of going home!” Heaven is our real home, it is the home that God has ultimately intended for everyone, but has guaranteed to nobody. We have to fight for our home: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Hence, ““The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―because the devil, the world and even our own fallen nature will try to prevent from taking and successfully navigating the dangerous path that leads home.
One of the many reasons why so many souls are damned and never make it home to Heaven, but fall in battle and fall into Hell, is the fact that Catholic homes do not reflect Heaven―which is what they should do! For a young child growing up, the father of the family should reflect Christ and God the Father; the mother of the family should reflect the Blessed Virgin Mary; and all the members of the family should be striving to be saints before striving for anything else. “Assemble together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates, so that hearing the word of the Lord, they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and keep and fulfill all the words of the law, so that their children, who now are ignorant, may hear the word, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live! … These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart―and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.” (Deuteronomy 31:12-13; 6:6-7). Sadly, Catholic families are too busy striving for the things of this world (mammon) rather than the things of Heaven―which totally goes against what Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
What a child observes being practiced in the family is usually what that same child will practice as an adult! “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!” (Proverbs 22:6)―which applies for better or for worse. A badly trained child will become a bad adult. A well trained child will become good adult. A worldly child will become a worldly adult. A spiritual child will become a spiritual adult. If a child does experience spirituality in the home―by a regular SINCERE (not mechanical) family prayer life; reading Holy Scripture regularly; conversations about the spiritual life and the Faith; a visible and obvious practice of virtues; a hatred of sin; etc. ― then that child will not feel as though it belongs to God, to Heaven, to the Faith―but will feel more as though it belongs to the world.
Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule―but, as Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). There are many Catholic families that merely give lip-service to God and their Faith ― “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts [fashions and customs] of men!’ For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups [too concerned about worldly things]: and many other things you do like to these!” (Mark 7:6-9). The children within a family quickly pick-up on the fact that God comes second―and they therefore gladly imitate their parents. With such families there is very little sense of belonging to God and the Faith, they feel as they belong in the world more than in Heaven. Our Lord warns such parents, saying: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me―it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6).
O to how many parents could Jesus say today what He said the Scribes and Pharisees in His own day: “Jesus therefore said to them: ‘You do the works of your father! If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me! For from God I proceeded, and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!’” (John 8:41-47). Parents would make their homes more “heavenly” if they followed the words of Christ, who says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things [your needs in this world] shall be added unto you!’” (Luke 12:16-31). The Kingdom of God is being sought as it should be sought―and that is why souls are not being saved as they should be saved! It is a simple mathematical case of what you sow is what you reap! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
(14) Friendships Will Be Perfect Friendships―No More Anxieties, Fears, Misapprehensions, Misunderstandings, etc.
On Earth, no matter who it might be, there can be no perfect friendship. Yes, there can be some wonderful friendships―but nothing near the kind of friendships that we will experience in Heaven. Original Sin―the fountain head of all our many different kinds of sins―is the virus which, at one point or another, contaminates our friendships to a greater or lesser degree. Even the best friendships are, at times, plagued by misunderstandings, misgivings, misapprehensions, suspicions, selfishness, pride, anger and a host of other sins―some petty, some serious―that severely test and often wound our friendships on Earth.
Just as in so many other things, there can be positive and negative sides to a friendship. Holy Scripture warns us of some of those negative aspects or dangers: “Be not a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man―lest perhaps thou learn his ways, and take scandal to thy soul!” (Proverbs 22:24-25). Scripture also warns us of the false and dangerous friendship with the world: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4-5).
Even though we cannot attain a perfect friendship here on Earth, nevertheless, this life is a beginning or an apprenticeship to the friendship that we will experience in Heaven. Friendship is intimately entwined with the virtue of charity―and God is charity (1 John 4:8). Therefore Holy Scripture reminds us: “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. If God hath so loved us―we also ought to love one another! If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us … If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth not? … In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us―and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how does the charity of God abide in him? Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 4:7-20; 3:16-18).
Our Lord does not want to be a ruler and a lord over us―but He wants to be our Friend, our best Friend. Even a child―such as was St. Dominic Savio―can understand this. One of St. Dominic Savio’s four resolutions on the day of the First Holy Communion, was: “My best friends will be Jesus and Mary!” Our Lord Himself said: “I will not now call you servants―for the servant knows not what his lord does. But I have called you friends―because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you!” (John 15:15). In other words―friends share things! By these words our Lord has given the model of friendship for us to copy. We must reveal to our friends all the secrets of our hearts, and we must not remain in ignorance of theirs. A friend conceals nothing. If he is sincere, he opens his mind as our Savior disclosed the mysteries of His Father. Our Lord shares the knowledge of God with us and He wants to share Heaven with us! Too many people look upon Our Lord are harsh, rigorous, punishing Master―not that He cannot be harsh, rigorous and punishing if He needs to be―but He first and foremost loves us and wants our love in return. That is true friendship―a mutual, reciprocal love. “As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner!” (Luke 6:31). “He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsakes the fear of the Lord!” (Job 6:14). “Forsake not thy own friend, nor thy father’s friend!” (Proverbs 27:10). Sometimes our friends might say things that are unpleasant, but truthful―in such cases Scripture reminds us: “Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy!” (Proverbs 27:6).
St. Jerome, a Father and Doctor of the Church, tells us that “the friendship that can have an end, was never true!” The friendship that cannot be eternal, has no real existence, and true friendship survives all separations of death, to reunite at a later time, in Heaven, those whom friendship united on Earth. Here are the thoughts of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), another Doctor of the Church, describing true friendship as the prelude and foretaste of Heaven:
“If your reciprocal communication is made up of charity, and devotion, and Christian perfection―then how precious will your friendship be! It will be excellent―because it came from God; and also excellent because it leads to God; excellent, because its bond is God; excellent, because it will last forever in God. How pleasant it is to love on Earth as they love in Heaven and to learn how to mutually cherish one another in this world as we shall do throughout eternity in the next! The delicious balm of devotion distills from heart to heart by continual participation―and so it may be said that God has extended His blessings and the life of ages upon ages over such friendship. Never did so chaste a tie change but into a union of spirits more perfect and more pure — a living image of the blessed friendships to exist in Heaven!”
The sincerity, depth, humility, intimacy, strength, selflessness and love of our heavenly friendships are at this moment in time unimaginable! There will no envy, no jealousy, no selfishness, no pride, no anger, no fault-finding, no finger-pointing, no suspicion, no fear of rejection, no falsehood, no false flattery, no backbiting, no calumny, no detraction, no shame, no superiority, no mockery, no double-speak, no sarcasm, no recrimination, no seeking of vengeance, no shunning, no haughtiness, no pretense, or any other element that was destructive in friendships here on Earth! In addition to that, EVERYBODY will be your friend and you will have NO ENEMIES! Even if your worst enemy on Earth gets to Heaven―you will be the best of friends, regardless of how much harm they might have done to you―perhaps even killed you! Such is the love of God that we will share! Just as God will accept us with wholehearted love―regardless of how sinful we may have been―we will likewise accept others, regardless of how much evil they may have done. Everyone will have paid for their sins through the just punishments of God. Unbelievable, but happily true!
(15) We Will Still Experience Emotions―But Not All Possible Emotions
If we are to resurrect from the dead and be reunited with our bodies, then we will also possess all the “working parts” of our bodies. The emotions or passions are more a part of the body than they are of the soul―even though they have an impact on the soul and find expression in the soul. Since our thinking and our feeling are equal functions of the heart, we will retain our feeling in Heaven just as we will retain our thinking. In Heaven, all our humanity is perfected, not diminished. Thus we will have emotions in Heaven, for they are part of God’s design for our humanity, and not only a result of the Fall―but our emotions will not drive us or control us. They will be no less passionate, but they will be less passive. St. Augustine is of the opinion that in Heaven the joy, that we receive from God in our souls, will “overflow” into our resurrected bodies in a “voluptuous torrent” of pleasure.
What are the chief emotions or passions that we possess here on Earth? St. Thomas Aquinas lists the following eleven God-given passions of the soul:
Love and Hate
Desire and Aversion
Joy and Sorrow
Hope and Despair
Confidence and Fear
Anger
In Heaven, of course, there will be no hatred, no aversion, no fear, no anger, no sorrow, no despair (and no more need for hope and desire―for you now have what you once hoped for and desired, namely salvation). So all the “negative” emotions will no longer exist. Yet love and joy and the other emotions will remain―though they will be modified and perfected.
In the following excerpt, St. Thomas says that When a good man dies, do moral virtues remain in theseparated soul? Justice remains, for “Justice is perpetual and immortal” (Wisdom 1:15). The moral virtues which regulated the passions and emotions remain in the separated soul in their essence as perfections of the soul, but they no longer regulate irregularities of appetite; because in the resurrected person there are no more irregularities of any kind. “In the future life there will be no concupiscences and pleasures in matters of food and sex; nor fear and daring about dangers of death; nor distributions and commutations of things used in this present life. But, as regards the formal element, in the Blessed they will remain most perfect after this life, in as much as each person’s reason will have most perfect rectitude in regard to things concerning him in respect of that state of life: and his [passions and emotions] will be moved entirely according to the order [control] of reason. Hence St. Augustine says that prudence will be there without any danger of error; fortitude, without the anxiety of bearing with evil; temperance, without the rebellion of the desires: so that prudence will neither prefer nor equal any good to God; fortitude will adhere to Him most steadfastly; and temperance will delight in Him Who knows no imperfection. As to justice, it is yet more evident what will be its act in that life, that is to say, ‘to be subject to God’―because even in this life subjection to a superior is part of justice … After the resurrection, when the souls will be reunited to their bodies. In this state of resurrection, the irrational powers will be in the bodily organs, just as they now are. Hence it will be possible for fortitude to be in the irascible, and temperance in the concupiscible part, in so far as each power will be perfectly disposed to obey the reason.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 67, art. 1).
(16) There Will Be No Evil Of Any Kind
When we think of the word “evil”, we imagine terrible evils like murder, violence, etc. ― and of course there will be no such thing in Heaven. Yet in the strict sense, the philosophical sense, evil is the lack of a good that is due to something or someone, the lack of a good that should be present but is not present―that is what evil means strictly speaking. Even in this sense of the word, there will be no lack of any good in Heaven, no matter how small―for all our imperfections or lack of goodness will have been punished, purified and perfected before we are admitted into Heaven. Heaven is truly a place of perfection and goodness.
“The former distresses are forgotten … For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart. But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create―for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying … They shall not hurt nor kill in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord!” (Isaias 65:16-19, 25).
“What an exquisite consolation it is to us to be assured that none of this poison will follow us into Heaven! Yes, the day
will come—blessed and glorious day—when all that perversity of will, all that inclination to evil, and all the passions of our depraved nature will be no more! All these will die in our temporal death and be buried—never to rise again in our glorified bodies. The Beatific Vision will glorify our will and change us, as it were, into new creatures. Then shall we find ourselves joyfully willing to do what God wills, as He wills it, and because He so wills it—without the least repugnance on our part. We shall no longer have peculiar views, private interests, or natural inclinations that clash with the will and interests of God. His divine will and our will shall become so totally one that we shall seem to have no will of our own — so completely and, at the same time, so sweetly, shall it be identified with the will and good pleasure of God” (Fr. Boudreaux, The Happiness of Heaven).
(17) There Will Be No Temptation and No Sin
What a joy to be finally liberated from all temptations and all sin! Whether it be the burden of our own temptations and sins, or the burden of enduring the sins of others. All that will have purged by penance on Earth or purifying punishment in Purgatory. For eternity sin will no longer cast its shadow or rear its ugly head. In Heaven we will finally realize the true gravity of sin―something which we found so hard to grasp here on Earth, despite our Catechism telling us that sin was the greatest evil in the world―even venial sin! “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
All of the above 17 points are merely the tip of the iceberg of what will constitute the happiness of Heaven. We would do well to meditate more and more on the beauty and happiness of Heaven that awaits those who love God!
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, April 9th, 10th & 11th
Article 5
What Will Heaven Be Like?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, April 9th, 10th & 11th
Article 5
What Will Heaven Be Like?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What on Earth is Heaven Like?
Some people picture Heaven as a never-ending church service in the sky. Or they think we will all become angels who float around on clouds playing harps for eternity. Others get depressed when they hear rumors that in Heaven there will no food and no sleep. Some start to yawn in boredom at thought of having to look at God for eternity in the Beatific Vision. The thought of never-ending prayers and bowing-down eternally before God turns other off. Then there are the endless nervous and fearful questions: “Will I be recognized by everyone? Will everybody know all my sins? They say there is no food and no eating in Heaven―is this true? Is the rumor true that there is no sleeping in Heaven? With no sleeping being done in Heaven, will I have to work 24 hours a day for eternity? Will I get paid for any work I do? Are there no vacations? What if my family and friends are in Hell―can I go visit them? Will I miss them? Will they miss me? Is Hell more fun than Heaven? What if I want to sin in Heaven? What’s the housing accommodation like in Heaven? Will I have to pay rent for my accommodation? What’s the weather like in Heaven? Do they have four seasons or is all one long summer?”
Heavens Above! There’s Hardly Anyone Here!
People usually do well at things that they love. The player who loves his or her sport, will try harder, play more, and most likely achieve more than someone who does not like that sport. Someone who loves cooking will probably end up being a more successful cook than someone who hates cooking. Someone who loves exercise will probably become a fitter and healthier person than the couch potato. As the secular quote states: “If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” Or again: “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.” Or again: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will” ― take note that love resides in the will.
This, in simplistic terms, summarizes the reason why so few souls make it to Heaven. It is not because God does not want them there―that would be stupid and blasphemous statement, for God (Christ) died to give everyone the chance of getting to Heaven. The fault lies on the side of man, not God. The reason why there are so few souls in Heaven (in relation to those who are damned), is a lack of love, a lack of will, a lack of desire for Heaven.
It is all pretty logical when you stop to think about it and analyze it. Love is not something that proverbially makes the world go around―love is what makes Heaven go around! What is it that makes Heaven so heavenly? Is it the scenery? Is it the weather? Is the real estate? Is the people―the saints? No! It is God that makes Heaven so special and heavenly! What is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―therefore Heaven is all about charity, about love, about loving God. Charity is first foremost a love of God, only secondarily is it about a love of neighbor―and, take note of this, for love of neighbor to be supernatural (and therefore deserving of a supernatural reward, namely Heaven), that neighbor has to be loved for God’s sake―as a creature created and loved by God―and therefore we love our neighbor, not for personal advantage, but because God loves our neighbor. Yet, despite this, love of God comes first. Hence Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Without that charity for or love of God, everything is worthless, everything turns to dust: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
No Time to Love God! Hence No Desire for Heaven!
The problem today―or perhaps every age in history―is not that people do not know something about God, for even in our ever increasing neo-pagan days most people still believe that there is some kind of God. The problem is that people have no time for God. Not having time for God leads to knowing very little about God. Knowing little about God naturally produces little or no love for God―because, as the philosophical axiom goes: “One cannot love what one does not know!” How can you say that you love a particular country if you know next to nothing about that country? It would be a lie, it would be hypocrisy―which is what Our Lord says about His false followers: Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8).
You would have to say that vast majority of today’s Catholic world―even among the Traditional and Conservative Catholic world―those words of rebuke by Our Lord most certainly apply. They might practice their Faith―but their heart is not in it. They might say the Rosary―but they don’t pray it, they don’t meditate it, their heart is just not in it; they are content to merely mumble the words―often as fast as they can, just to “get it over and done with”! They go to Holy Communion―but their hearts are just not in it, for their Communions are routine, with mechanically said prayers on auto-pilot. They might genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament―but their genuflections are routine, automatic, loveless because their heart is just not in it. They go to Confession―but their confessions are also routine, mechanical, auto-pilot confessions regurgitating pretty much the same old list of sins with little or improvement to report―because their hearts are just not in it. “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7-8).
Minds Minding Mammon and Unimportant Things
St. Paul speaks of the attainment of Heaven being much like a race, where many run, but only one or a few get the prize: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). This is so true today―many people exert unbelievable efforts to obtain all kinds of worldly honors or riches―but they won’t lift a finger to attain Heaven. They will spend many hours at work, or many hours in the gym, or hours training and practicing skills for a sport, or go through all kinds of non-supernatural “mortification” and “fasting” to lose weight and become “beautiful”―but they neglect to put in the same efforts for something far more important―their salvation and the attaining of Heaven. Coming back to St. Paul’s analogy about the race―you could say these people are running like crazy, running with all their might, running way ahead of everyone else―but they are sadly running in the wrong direction. What is worse, is that the example that they give to their children, eventually has their children running in the same wrong direction―which is away from God and Heaven, and into the hands of the Satan and the world, of which Satan is the prince. They are the modern-day example of the kind of person Our Lord spoke about when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). … “I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42).
Cannot Love What You Do Not Know
You cannot love what do not know―and you will love only a little what you only know a little about. How true that is with God in general and Heaven in particular. We spend many hours researching, reading, studying and finding out about so many unimportant, or, at best, secondary things―that we leave the primary things, such as God and salvation, aside. How true are the words of Holy Scripture in this regard: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5). “All men are vain in whom there is not the knowledge of God!” (Wisdom 13:1). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22) … “They profess that they know God―but in their works they deny Him!” (Titus 1:16). “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us! We desire not the knowledge of thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge―because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6). “And as they did not like to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense” (Romans 1:28). “The Lord chose them not, neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27).
St. Paul, on the contrary, says: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8). He then tells to “walk worthy of God … increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10), “being instructed in the fullness of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus” (Colossians 2:2) … “and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) … “flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 2:20) … so as to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).
Learning from the Children of this World
We can learn a lot from the children of this world by way of the efforts they put into achieving their worldly goals―as Our Lord lamented: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). What Our Lord means by this is that the “children of this world”―meaning the worldly people―put far more effort into their worldly pursuits than the “children of light”―that is to say, Catholics or Christians―put efforts into living their Faith. Just look at the hours that are put into non-essential activities and pastimes―unbelievable!
You will not believe the amount of time that the average American adult spends sitting in front of and gazing at their modern tabernacle―the screen. The television, computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone screen has become the “go-to-god” of our day―especially since the advent of the almighty Artificial Intelligence! Ask Google instead of God and your prayers are answered and your ignorance is removed within seconds! Christ says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―and the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistants, such as Google Assistant (or Alexa, or Siri, or Cortana, or Bixby, etc.) will leave you with the same feeling: “Without Google, Alexa, Siri, Cortana or Bixby & Co., you can do nothing, you know nothing, you can learn nothing!” Just as the universe could not exist without God, there are many people who cannot exist without their preferred god or “screen”. As we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass, concerning Our Lord, “through Him, with Him, and in Him…” ― the same is now true of the modern-day idol, the smartphone: “Through it, with it, in it” we can do all things!
Our Lord tells us pray without ceasing: “And He spoke also a parable to them, saying that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Today, the electronic media moguls want us to “browse without ceasing!” On average, adults spend about 11 hours a day staring at some kind of screen, which includes multi-tasking, such as being on the smartphone for an hour while watching television for an hour at the same time, which is counted as two hours―and teenagers spend over 7 hours a day doing the same thing. Most people check their smartphone first thing you check in the morning and it is also the last thing you check before going to sleep. They access the internet with their smartphone, they read the news on their smartphone, they watch movies on their smartphone, they send photos and videos with their smartphone, they record music and interviews on their smartphone, they drive to destinations being guided by their smartphone, they have their appointments on their smartphone, they are sent reminders by their smartphone, they cook from recipes from their smartphone, etc. Their smartphone has become Paradise on Earth! Who wants to think about Heaven when you have a smartphone!!! The same can said, more or less, of all the other electronic devices that have flooded the world today. For the worldly minded it is truly a Heaven on Earth! Instant gratification at the click on a button or icon or a swipe on the screen! A god in the hand is worth more than the God in Heaven! Such is the attitude of most people. They might believe in God―but they have no time for Him! They have better and more exciting things to do with the god in their hand! Who wants to know anything about Heaven when there are so many goodies to enjoy here of Earth?!!!
Let the Children of this World Teach You About Failure!
Before looking at what Heaven is like, it well worth finishing up Our Lord’s quote of “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8) with some lessons from the “children of this world” on the reasons and causes for failure―since most souls fail to reach Heaven. Since our body and soul are intimately connected, and since the physical and spiritual life is connected―it should logically follow that the reasons and causes for failure in one domain are likely to be the same for the other domain. Furthermore, since most people fall into the category of being worldly rather spiritual (though most people are a mix of the two), then let us turn to worldly advice and worldly analyses for worldly failure, in the hope of applying those reasons and causes to our spiritual life and seeing why we fail spiritually. Below are ten things people do in this world, in their materialistic enterprises, that commonly leads to failure.
(1) They do not understand the value of time
Unsuccessful people do not value their time. They are everywhere, anywhere, anytime―because they lack the ability to dedicate their time towards their goals. And year after year they make new promises which never come to fruition simply because they couldn’t be bothered to put in the time required towards their goals. Time management skills, learning how to say no to unnecessary things and knowing what commitments to focus on and undertake, is a step towards great success in any area of our lives. Does that not ring true of the spiritual life and our pursuit of salvation and Heaven? Of course it does! We do not value the time and opportunities that God gives us, instead wasting our time on secondary, unimportant, unnecessary things. “Know ye this―that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open!” (Luke 12:39). “Watch and do penance! If thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee!” (Apocalypse 3:3). Watch your time! Organize your time! Use your time well. Use it or lose it―and perhaps lose your soul with all that lost time!
(2) They don’t do things that are in alignment with their goals
The more important a goal is, the higher it will be on your hierarchy of values and the more discipline and order you will have associated with it―and what can be more important than salvation and the attainment of Heaven? “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The less important a goal is, the lower it will be on your hierarchy of values and the less discipline and more disorder you will have associated with it. Unsuccessful people have mistaken busyness with productivity. They are a part of everything―but nothing which they do is in alignment with their highest values and their highest goals. Writing down in a journal what your goals are and implementing strategies which can get you there will help you identify things that are not on par with where you are going. The same is true in the spiritual―every single day is a step closer to Heaven, or a step closer to Hell. As the spiritual masters and saints tell us―there is no standing-still or treading-water in the spiritual life―we are either going forwards or backwards!
(3) They never step up to the plate
So your boss [parish priest] is a louse and you really hate your job [parish] but this is no reason to slack and produce mediocre work [lukewarm work]. You’re getting paid to be there so do it right―you were made to become a saints, even if everyone around you chooses to live like a devil! Life has this universal law of giving you what you put in―or as Holy Scripture puts it: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). It is a sign of maturity and wisdom to pursue excellence, no matter the circumstances―as Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Unsuccessful people and “losers” are the ones who are okay with getting bad grades and won’t bother finding an effective studying method that will help their learning ability. Furthermore, if most of the world are losers―then you, as a loser, won’t stand out like a sore thumb. Yet the saints tell us: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).
(4) They have self-imposed limitations
Unsuccessful people and “losers” tend to say things like “I’m just not good with numbers!” or “I just really hate studying!” and “I just don’t think I can run a successful business!” Their spiritual counterparts says things like: “I’m just not a praying kind of person!” or “I just really hate the idea of spiritual reading or meditating!” and “I just cannot see myself becoming a saint!” They put limits on themselves and excuse their behavior―but it is really just a way of underachieving and aiming low enough to not miss. They want to get to Heaven―but they want to pay the cheapest possible price and are content to scrape in by the seat of their pants! Get rid of the idea that you only have a specific set of skills and talents for specific tasks, stop thinking that you’re not as intelligent as the next person. What life requires of you is to make the most of yourself, for yourself, and for others. Taking that advice to the spiritual level means that you are expected to be a saint―it might not be a saint as high as St. Peter or St. Joseph, but a saint nevertheless. You have to fully fill the receptacle of your soul with grace and sanctity―ever saint’s soul has to be like Our Lady’s―“full of grace”―but some souls have a thimble to fill, others have a glass to fill, others might have a bucket to fill, others might have a bathtub to fill, others might have a reservoir to fill―but, at the end of the day, you have to fill what has been given to YOU and not anyone else. God blueprint and idea of our holiness is far, far higher than the measly idea of sanctity we concoct for ourselves!
(5) They are good at making excuses
These are the people who will find reasons and logic as to why they can’t and why they shouldn’t. They sometimes mistake this abhorrent tendency of making excuses as “just being realistic”. They lack imagination and always find ways to justify why something shouldn’t be, or why something won’t or can’t happen―but they never really try. The best remedy for this is to stop your mind when it’s about to start making the excuses and re-ignite the engine that has started it all. We see Our Lord speak of this on a spiritual level. In the parable of the banquet, those who were invited make excuses for not coming to the banquet: “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24).
(6) They lack class
Unsuccessful people usually tend to have no social IQ. They say things like “well at least I’m being honest” or “this is how I am, deal with it”. They don’t know how to treat other people and tend to be arrogant, for no apparent reasons most of the time. Nobody likes a big mouth, a show off, a humble boaster, or people who don’t know how to just say thank you when given a compliment. These traits are unbecoming and are not what true class acts are made of. Being nice and polite to people you like is easy, being nice and polite to someone you cannot tolerate, or who you are in constant disagreement with ― that is strong character. Learning how to speak to people is a skill only few have mastered. It has been said the best way to test a man’s character is by watching how he acts when standing in a very long queue and is met with bad service, and his reaction when you ruin their expensive items. Likewise, Our Lord said: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29) … “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake―be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:10-12; 5:44).
(7) They are procrastinators
The funny thing about this one is that they are usually self-proclaimed procrastinators! They see no shame in it! This goes back to them never understanding the value of time. They are okay with living a life that keeps up with yesterday, or even yesteryear! They live life as though they just have another one in the bank. Let’s just see how “round one” goes and if all else fails we press the “next” button or “rewind” or “pause”. Understanding that you start dying the moment you are born and wisdom to realize that every day is a gift and you owe it to yourself to do everything you can do in those twenty four hours―because nothing is ever promised today regarding tomorrow. “Boast not for tomorrow, for thou knowest not what the day to come may bring forth!” (Proverbs 27:1). “For yourselves, know that the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night!” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). “Be wise―redeeming the time―because the days are evil!” (Ephesians 5:16). In a similar vein is the parable that Our Lord told about the rich man: “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
(8) They don’t take action
The simplicity of this rule of life may be the reason why they disregard the magnitude of its effects. Unsuccessful people tend to ponder and leave footprints in the sands of time. They can talk a great game and they dream really big―but they lack the courage to just go forth and do what it takes. Stop dreaming about what will be, dreams in themselves are not bad but get up, show up and DO something. Stop with the coffee and donut meetings and go do something! Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk! Our Lord says something similar in Holy Scripture: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Holy Scripture adds: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
(9) They can’t face adversity
Surprisingly, the author of these 10 reasons for secular and materialistic failure, borrows an example from Holy Scripture for this ninth point. You will immediately recognize the characters he speaks about. There was a shepherd boy, he was not a warrior and he was small in size. He looked at a giant and said “I will strike you down and cut off your head!” and that is exactly what he did. The thing with challenges is, they are only as big as we make them seem, and they are only as strong as our weakness will allow them to be. Unsuccessful people have not understood this and they give up all too quickly because things got uncomfortable, things got a little bit rough, they want roses without the thorns, babies without labor and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow without bearing the storm. Overcoming challenges not only bring us closer to our goals, but they turn us into someone we never imagined existed. Don’t be afraid to conquer fears and to enter new territory, step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. In the midst of adversity courage is born. You’ll never know how strong you are if you’ve never had to fight and sometimes you might fail but at least you failed and proved to Goliath that he wasn’t quite the Giant he thought he was. Our Lord pulls no punches when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― meaning that we have to fight to get to Heaven, which is also echoed elsewhere in Scripture: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!”(Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
(10) They are apathetic
Yes there are natural fence-sitters. They never have an opinion about anything, they can’t make decisions, and are over the border plain ignorant! They can’t hold smart conversations and are not open-minded if it isn’t directly in relation to what they know. They think everyone should view life the way they view it―but they are indifferent about everything and stand for nothing! They don’t read, they don’t educate themselves above and past the “formal education” they received at school. If they never achieve their highest potential―this is okay with them. Even in a world so full of wonder and curiosity―they have managed to find a way to be bored. Apathy is a silent killer. Find something that you are passionate about, even if you don’t get paid for it. Put your gift to use. The classic quote that corresponds to this in Holy Scripture is the one about lukewarmness: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Our Lord also hits out against such an attitude in His parable about the Talents: “a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. He that received the five talents, went his way and traded with the five talents, and gained other five. And he that had received the two talents, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way, dug a hole into the earth and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. He that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ And he that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me! Behold, I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewn! And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! Behold, here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewn! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and, at my coming, I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound! But from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
First Thing to Know About Heaven
The first thing to know about Heaven, then, is God wants you there―but you have to fight to get there! Just as the above secular and materialistic quotes show about success in business or in any other secular field―whether it be sports, arts, marriage, etc. ― there are more “losers” than “winners”, there are more wannabes than “will-bes”, more talkers than walkers! The world does not owe anyone success―and God does not owe anyone Heaven. You not only to talk about Heaven, you also have to WANT Heaven―and, as the philosophical axiom states so truly: “He who desires the end (the goal, the target), must also necessarily desire the means to that end.” The path to Heaven is both a race and a battle―we race away from the world and we must battle the world, because the world, being the princedom of Satan, is an enemy to God. Hence we, paradoxically, both flee and fight, we race away from the world and, at the same time, fight the world as we try to shake loose of its shackles.
The above is proven by many quotes of Our Lord’s (and Holy Scripture) on the need to fight and focus on Heaven, and the need to separate ourselves from the world. The knowledge, acknowledgment and acceptance of those truths is the pre-requisite foundation for our race to Heaven and our battle for Heaven.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls―who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes, which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good fishes into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire―and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:44-50).
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and had brought forth fruit, then there appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest. I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn―but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
To wake us up out of our complacency, lukewarmness and presumptuousness, Our Lord further warns: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16) which, as the same Gospel of St. Matthew reports, He repeats again at another time: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Our Lord seems to have a habit on insisting on that truth, for St. Luke reports an occasion where “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! When the Master of the house shall be gone in and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). To which St. Matthew adds: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Those are some of the things you need to know about Heaven, or the gaining of Heaven, before you even decide to set out on the journey. Know this―that there are many today who imagine that they are walking on the path to Heaven, but in actual reality it is the path to Hell. As St. Louis de Montfort says in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross: “Are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?” Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604) adds: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom!” St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church, elaborates on this point: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
Some people picture Heaven as a never-ending church service in the sky. Or they think we will all become angels who float around on clouds playing harps for eternity. Others get depressed when they hear rumors that in Heaven there will no food and no sleep. Some start to yawn in boredom at thought of having to look at God for eternity in the Beatific Vision. The thought of never-ending prayers and bowing-down eternally before God turns other off. Then there are the endless nervous and fearful questions: “Will I be recognized by everyone? Will everybody know all my sins? They say there is no food and no eating in Heaven―is this true? Is the rumor true that there is no sleeping in Heaven? With no sleeping being done in Heaven, will I have to work 24 hours a day for eternity? Will I get paid for any work I do? Are there no vacations? What if my family and friends are in Hell―can I go visit them? Will I miss them? Will they miss me? Is Hell more fun than Heaven? What if I want to sin in Heaven? What’s the housing accommodation like in Heaven? Will I have to pay rent for my accommodation? What’s the weather like in Heaven? Do they have four seasons or is all one long summer?”
Heavens Above! There’s Hardly Anyone Here!
People usually do well at things that they love. The player who loves his or her sport, will try harder, play more, and most likely achieve more than someone who does not like that sport. Someone who loves cooking will probably end up being a more successful cook than someone who hates cooking. Someone who loves exercise will probably become a fitter and healthier person than the couch potato. As the secular quote states: “If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” Or again: “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.” Or again: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will” ― take note that love resides in the will.
This, in simplistic terms, summarizes the reason why so few souls make it to Heaven. It is not because God does not want them there―that would be stupid and blasphemous statement, for God (Christ) died to give everyone the chance of getting to Heaven. The fault lies on the side of man, not God. The reason why there are so few souls in Heaven (in relation to those who are damned), is a lack of love, a lack of will, a lack of desire for Heaven.
It is all pretty logical when you stop to think about it and analyze it. Love is not something that proverbially makes the world go around―love is what makes Heaven go around! What is it that makes Heaven so heavenly? Is it the scenery? Is it the weather? Is the real estate? Is the people―the saints? No! It is God that makes Heaven so special and heavenly! What is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―therefore Heaven is all about charity, about love, about loving God. Charity is first foremost a love of God, only secondarily is it about a love of neighbor―and, take note of this, for love of neighbor to be supernatural (and therefore deserving of a supernatural reward, namely Heaven), that neighbor has to be loved for God’s sake―as a creature created and loved by God―and therefore we love our neighbor, not for personal advantage, but because God loves our neighbor. Yet, despite this, love of God comes first. Hence Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Without that charity for or love of God, everything is worthless, everything turns to dust: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
No Time to Love God! Hence No Desire for Heaven!
The problem today―or perhaps every age in history―is not that people do not know something about God, for even in our ever increasing neo-pagan days most people still believe that there is some kind of God. The problem is that people have no time for God. Not having time for God leads to knowing very little about God. Knowing little about God naturally produces little or no love for God―because, as the philosophical axiom goes: “One cannot love what one does not know!” How can you say that you love a particular country if you know next to nothing about that country? It would be a lie, it would be hypocrisy―which is what Our Lord says about His false followers: Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8).
You would have to say that vast majority of today’s Catholic world―even among the Traditional and Conservative Catholic world―those words of rebuke by Our Lord most certainly apply. They might practice their Faith―but their heart is not in it. They might say the Rosary―but they don’t pray it, they don’t meditate it, their heart is just not in it; they are content to merely mumble the words―often as fast as they can, just to “get it over and done with”! They go to Holy Communion―but their hearts are just not in it, for their Communions are routine, with mechanically said prayers on auto-pilot. They might genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament―but their genuflections are routine, automatic, loveless because their heart is just not in it. They go to Confession―but their confessions are also routine, mechanical, auto-pilot confessions regurgitating pretty much the same old list of sins with little or improvement to report―because their hearts are just not in it. “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7-8).
Minds Minding Mammon and Unimportant Things
St. Paul speaks of the attainment of Heaven being much like a race, where many run, but only one or a few get the prize: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). This is so true today―many people exert unbelievable efforts to obtain all kinds of worldly honors or riches―but they won’t lift a finger to attain Heaven. They will spend many hours at work, or many hours in the gym, or hours training and practicing skills for a sport, or go through all kinds of non-supernatural “mortification” and “fasting” to lose weight and become “beautiful”―but they neglect to put in the same efforts for something far more important―their salvation and the attaining of Heaven. Coming back to St. Paul’s analogy about the race―you could say these people are running like crazy, running with all their might, running way ahead of everyone else―but they are sadly running in the wrong direction. What is worse, is that the example that they give to their children, eventually has their children running in the same wrong direction―which is away from God and Heaven, and into the hands of the Satan and the world, of which Satan is the prince. They are the modern-day example of the kind of person Our Lord spoke about when He said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). … “I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!” (John 5:42).
Cannot Love What You Do Not Know
You cannot love what do not know―and you will love only a little what you only know a little about. How true that is with God in general and Heaven in particular. We spend many hours researching, reading, studying and finding out about so many unimportant, or, at best, secondary things―that we leave the primary things, such as God and salvation, aside. How true are the words of Holy Scripture in this regard: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5). “All men are vain in whom there is not the knowledge of God!” (Wisdom 13:1). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22) … “They profess that they know God―but in their works they deny Him!” (Titus 1:16). “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us! We desire not the knowledge of thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge―because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6). “And as they did not like to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense” (Romans 1:28). “The Lord chose them not, neither did they find the way of knowledge―therefore did they perish!” (Baruch 3:27).
St. Paul, on the contrary, says: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8). He then tells to “walk worthy of God … increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10), “being instructed in the fullness of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus” (Colossians 2:2) … “and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) … “flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 2:20) … so as to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).
Learning from the Children of this World
We can learn a lot from the children of this world by way of the efforts they put into achieving their worldly goals―as Our Lord lamented: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). What Our Lord means by this is that the “children of this world”―meaning the worldly people―put far more effort into their worldly pursuits than the “children of light”―that is to say, Catholics or Christians―put efforts into living their Faith. Just look at the hours that are put into non-essential activities and pastimes―unbelievable!
You will not believe the amount of time that the average American adult spends sitting in front of and gazing at their modern tabernacle―the screen. The television, computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone screen has become the “go-to-god” of our day―especially since the advent of the almighty Artificial Intelligence! Ask Google instead of God and your prayers are answered and your ignorance is removed within seconds! Christ says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―and the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistants, such as Google Assistant (or Alexa, or Siri, or Cortana, or Bixby, etc.) will leave you with the same feeling: “Without Google, Alexa, Siri, Cortana or Bixby & Co., you can do nothing, you know nothing, you can learn nothing!” Just as the universe could not exist without God, there are many people who cannot exist without their preferred god or “screen”. As we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass, concerning Our Lord, “through Him, with Him, and in Him…” ― the same is now true of the modern-day idol, the smartphone: “Through it, with it, in it” we can do all things!
Our Lord tells us pray without ceasing: “And He spoke also a parable to them, saying that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Today, the electronic media moguls want us to “browse without ceasing!” On average, adults spend about 11 hours a day staring at some kind of screen, which includes multi-tasking, such as being on the smartphone for an hour while watching television for an hour at the same time, which is counted as two hours―and teenagers spend over 7 hours a day doing the same thing. Most people check their smartphone first thing you check in the morning and it is also the last thing you check before going to sleep. They access the internet with their smartphone, they read the news on their smartphone, they watch movies on their smartphone, they send photos and videos with their smartphone, they record music and interviews on their smartphone, they drive to destinations being guided by their smartphone, they have their appointments on their smartphone, they are sent reminders by their smartphone, they cook from recipes from their smartphone, etc. Their smartphone has become Paradise on Earth! Who wants to think about Heaven when you have a smartphone!!! The same can said, more or less, of all the other electronic devices that have flooded the world today. For the worldly minded it is truly a Heaven on Earth! Instant gratification at the click on a button or icon or a swipe on the screen! A god in the hand is worth more than the God in Heaven! Such is the attitude of most people. They might believe in God―but they have no time for Him! They have better and more exciting things to do with the god in their hand! Who wants to know anything about Heaven when there are so many goodies to enjoy here of Earth?!!!
Let the Children of this World Teach You About Failure!
Before looking at what Heaven is like, it well worth finishing up Our Lord’s quote of “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8) with some lessons from the “children of this world” on the reasons and causes for failure―since most souls fail to reach Heaven. Since our body and soul are intimately connected, and since the physical and spiritual life is connected―it should logically follow that the reasons and causes for failure in one domain are likely to be the same for the other domain. Furthermore, since most people fall into the category of being worldly rather spiritual (though most people are a mix of the two), then let us turn to worldly advice and worldly analyses for worldly failure, in the hope of applying those reasons and causes to our spiritual life and seeing why we fail spiritually. Below are ten things people do in this world, in their materialistic enterprises, that commonly leads to failure.
(1) They do not understand the value of time
Unsuccessful people do not value their time. They are everywhere, anywhere, anytime―because they lack the ability to dedicate their time towards their goals. And year after year they make new promises which never come to fruition simply because they couldn’t be bothered to put in the time required towards their goals. Time management skills, learning how to say no to unnecessary things and knowing what commitments to focus on and undertake, is a step towards great success in any area of our lives. Does that not ring true of the spiritual life and our pursuit of salvation and Heaven? Of course it does! We do not value the time and opportunities that God gives us, instead wasting our time on secondary, unimportant, unnecessary things. “Know ye this―that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open!” (Luke 12:39). “Watch and do penance! If thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee!” (Apocalypse 3:3). Watch your time! Organize your time! Use your time well. Use it or lose it―and perhaps lose your soul with all that lost time!
(2) They don’t do things that are in alignment with their goals
The more important a goal is, the higher it will be on your hierarchy of values and the more discipline and order you will have associated with it―and what can be more important than salvation and the attainment of Heaven? “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The less important a goal is, the lower it will be on your hierarchy of values and the less discipline and more disorder you will have associated with it. Unsuccessful people have mistaken busyness with productivity. They are a part of everything―but nothing which they do is in alignment with their highest values and their highest goals. Writing down in a journal what your goals are and implementing strategies which can get you there will help you identify things that are not on par with where you are going. The same is true in the spiritual―every single day is a step closer to Heaven, or a step closer to Hell. As the spiritual masters and saints tell us―there is no standing-still or treading-water in the spiritual life―we are either going forwards or backwards!
(3) They never step up to the plate
So your boss [parish priest] is a louse and you really hate your job [parish] but this is no reason to slack and produce mediocre work [lukewarm work]. You’re getting paid to be there so do it right―you were made to become a saints, even if everyone around you chooses to live like a devil! Life has this universal law of giving you what you put in―or as Holy Scripture puts it: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). It is a sign of maturity and wisdom to pursue excellence, no matter the circumstances―as Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Unsuccessful people and “losers” are the ones who are okay with getting bad grades and won’t bother finding an effective studying method that will help their learning ability. Furthermore, if most of the world are losers―then you, as a loser, won’t stand out like a sore thumb. Yet the saints tell us: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).
(4) They have self-imposed limitations
Unsuccessful people and “losers” tend to say things like “I’m just not good with numbers!” or “I just really hate studying!” and “I just don’t think I can run a successful business!” Their spiritual counterparts says things like: “I’m just not a praying kind of person!” or “I just really hate the idea of spiritual reading or meditating!” and “I just cannot see myself becoming a saint!” They put limits on themselves and excuse their behavior―but it is really just a way of underachieving and aiming low enough to not miss. They want to get to Heaven―but they want to pay the cheapest possible price and are content to scrape in by the seat of their pants! Get rid of the idea that you only have a specific set of skills and talents for specific tasks, stop thinking that you’re not as intelligent as the next person. What life requires of you is to make the most of yourself, for yourself, and for others. Taking that advice to the spiritual level means that you are expected to be a saint―it might not be a saint as high as St. Peter or St. Joseph, but a saint nevertheless. You have to fully fill the receptacle of your soul with grace and sanctity―ever saint’s soul has to be like Our Lady’s―“full of grace”―but some souls have a thimble to fill, others have a glass to fill, others might have a bucket to fill, others might have a bathtub to fill, others might have a reservoir to fill―but, at the end of the day, you have to fill what has been given to YOU and not anyone else. God blueprint and idea of our holiness is far, far higher than the measly idea of sanctity we concoct for ourselves!
(5) They are good at making excuses
These are the people who will find reasons and logic as to why they can’t and why they shouldn’t. They sometimes mistake this abhorrent tendency of making excuses as “just being realistic”. They lack imagination and always find ways to justify why something shouldn’t be, or why something won’t or can’t happen―but they never really try. The best remedy for this is to stop your mind when it’s about to start making the excuses and re-ignite the engine that has started it all. We see Our Lord speak of this on a spiritual level. In the parable of the banquet, those who were invited make excuses for not coming to the banquet: “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24).
(6) They lack class
Unsuccessful people usually tend to have no social IQ. They say things like “well at least I’m being honest” or “this is how I am, deal with it”. They don’t know how to treat other people and tend to be arrogant, for no apparent reasons most of the time. Nobody likes a big mouth, a show off, a humble boaster, or people who don’t know how to just say thank you when given a compliment. These traits are unbecoming and are not what true class acts are made of. Being nice and polite to people you like is easy, being nice and polite to someone you cannot tolerate, or who you are in constant disagreement with ― that is strong character. Learning how to speak to people is a skill only few have mastered. It has been said the best way to test a man’s character is by watching how he acts when standing in a very long queue and is met with bad service, and his reaction when you ruin their expensive items. Likewise, Our Lord said: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29) … “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake―be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:10-12; 5:44).
(7) They are procrastinators
The funny thing about this one is that they are usually self-proclaimed procrastinators! They see no shame in it! This goes back to them never understanding the value of time. They are okay with living a life that keeps up with yesterday, or even yesteryear! They live life as though they just have another one in the bank. Let’s just see how “round one” goes and if all else fails we press the “next” button or “rewind” or “pause”. Understanding that you start dying the moment you are born and wisdom to realize that every day is a gift and you owe it to yourself to do everything you can do in those twenty four hours―because nothing is ever promised today regarding tomorrow. “Boast not for tomorrow, for thou knowest not what the day to come may bring forth!” (Proverbs 27:1). “For yourselves, know that the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night!” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). “Be wise―redeeming the time―because the days are evil!” (Ephesians 5:16). In a similar vein is the parable that Our Lord told about the rich man: “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
(8) They don’t take action
The simplicity of this rule of life may be the reason why they disregard the magnitude of its effects. Unsuccessful people tend to ponder and leave footprints in the sands of time. They can talk a great game and they dream really big―but they lack the courage to just go forth and do what it takes. Stop dreaming about what will be, dreams in themselves are not bad but get up, show up and DO something. Stop with the coffee and donut meetings and go do something! Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk! Our Lord says something similar in Holy Scripture: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Holy Scripture adds: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
(9) They can’t face adversity
Surprisingly, the author of these 10 reasons for secular and materialistic failure, borrows an example from Holy Scripture for this ninth point. You will immediately recognize the characters he speaks about. There was a shepherd boy, he was not a warrior and he was small in size. He looked at a giant and said “I will strike you down and cut off your head!” and that is exactly what he did. The thing with challenges is, they are only as big as we make them seem, and they are only as strong as our weakness will allow them to be. Unsuccessful people have not understood this and they give up all too quickly because things got uncomfortable, things got a little bit rough, they want roses without the thorns, babies without labor and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow without bearing the storm. Overcoming challenges not only bring us closer to our goals, but they turn us into someone we never imagined existed. Don’t be afraid to conquer fears and to enter new territory, step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. In the midst of adversity courage is born. You’ll never know how strong you are if you’ve never had to fight and sometimes you might fail but at least you failed and proved to Goliath that he wasn’t quite the Giant he thought he was. Our Lord pulls no punches when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― meaning that we have to fight to get to Heaven, which is also echoed elsewhere in Scripture: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!”(Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
(10) They are apathetic
Yes there are natural fence-sitters. They never have an opinion about anything, they can’t make decisions, and are over the border plain ignorant! They can’t hold smart conversations and are not open-minded if it isn’t directly in relation to what they know. They think everyone should view life the way they view it―but they are indifferent about everything and stand for nothing! They don’t read, they don’t educate themselves above and past the “formal education” they received at school. If they never achieve their highest potential―this is okay with them. Even in a world so full of wonder and curiosity―they have managed to find a way to be bored. Apathy is a silent killer. Find something that you are passionate about, even if you don’t get paid for it. Put your gift to use. The classic quote that corresponds to this in Holy Scripture is the one about lukewarmness: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16).
Our Lord also hits out against such an attitude in His parable about the Talents: “a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. He that received the five talents, went his way and traded with the five talents, and gained other five. And he that had received the two talents, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way, dug a hole into the earth and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. He that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ And he that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me! Behold, I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’ But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewn! And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth! Behold, here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewn! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and, at my coming, I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound! But from him that hath not, that also which he seems to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
First Thing to Know About Heaven
The first thing to know about Heaven, then, is God wants you there―but you have to fight to get there! Just as the above secular and materialistic quotes show about success in business or in any other secular field―whether it be sports, arts, marriage, etc. ― there are more “losers” than “winners”, there are more wannabes than “will-bes”, more talkers than walkers! The world does not owe anyone success―and God does not owe anyone Heaven. You not only to talk about Heaven, you also have to WANT Heaven―and, as the philosophical axiom states so truly: “He who desires the end (the goal, the target), must also necessarily desire the means to that end.” The path to Heaven is both a race and a battle―we race away from the world and we must battle the world, because the world, being the princedom of Satan, is an enemy to God. Hence we, paradoxically, both flee and fight, we race away from the world and, at the same time, fight the world as we try to shake loose of its shackles.
The above is proven by many quotes of Our Lord’s (and Holy Scripture) on the need to fight and focus on Heaven, and the need to separate ourselves from the world. The knowledge, acknowledgment and acceptance of those truths is the pre-requisite foundation for our race to Heaven and our battle for Heaven.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls―who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes, which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good fishes into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire―and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:44-50).
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and had brought forth fruit, then there appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it! Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest. I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn―but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
To wake us up out of our complacency, lukewarmness and presumptuousness, Our Lord further warns: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16) which, as the same Gospel of St. Matthew reports, He repeats again at another time: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Our Lord seems to have a habit on insisting on that truth, for St. Luke reports an occasion where “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! When the Master of the house shall be gone in and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). To which St. Matthew adds: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction―and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Those are some of the things you need to know about Heaven, or the gaining of Heaven, before you even decide to set out on the journey. Know this―that there are many today who imagine that they are walking on the path to Heaven, but in actual reality it is the path to Hell. As St. Louis de Montfort says in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross: “Are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death?” Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604) adds: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom!” St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church, elaborates on this point: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday and Thursday in Easter Week, April 7th & 8th
Article 4
A Joy That Saves & A Joy That Damns!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday and Thursday in Easter Week, April 7th & 8th
Article 4
A Joy That Saves & A Joy That Damns!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Who Wants Happiness?
Who wants to be happy? Everybody! Saints want happiness; sinners want happiness; the fervent and devout seek happiness; the slothful and lukewarm seek happiness! In fact, God made us for happiness―even the First Catechism for children starting school tells teaches this―QUESTION: “Why did God make you?” ANSWER: “God made me to be happy!” Yet everyone disagrees about what makes them happy and in what happiness consists. Not everyone wants God’s version of happiness―which is shown in the full answer to the question above: “Why did God make you?” … “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life, so that I can be happy with Him in the next life!” Even Our Lady echoes that catechetical answer in the words she addresses to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!”
Where Can We Find Happiness?
St. Thomas Aquinas also says the same thing in his Summa Theologica, in a special section on happiness, what it is, what its requirements are and how to attain it (Ia-IIae, questions 2 to 5). He begins by examining where happiness is to be found. Then, one-by-one, he rules out all the false sources of happiness.
Man’s happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves his normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth which can provide the items of natural wealth, that is, money. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Hence it cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him enduringly and completely happy.
Nor can man’s full happiness consist in honors bestowed because of some excellence in him. Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore honors cannot themselves be the constituting elements of perfect happiness.
Nor can man’s happiness be found in fame and glory. These, like honors bestowed, presuppose some degree of happiness already attained, and this they publicize and praise. Fame and glory are consequent upon an imperfect happiness, and are, in some sense, the product of it. They cannot, therefore, be the essential elements of perfect happiness.
Man’s perfect happiness cannot consist in the possession of power, for power is not a complete end, but a means; power is valuable according to the use to which it may be put. In a word, power looks on to something further; it cannot itself be the ultimate goal.
Man’s ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body ― life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. ― for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Goods of the body are to be used by reason (intellect and will) somewhat as a ship is used by its master; the master does not use the ship merely to preserve the ship, but to carry profitable cargoes to desired ports. Thus it appears that the goods of the body are means, not complete ends. Besides, man is a rational being as well as a bodily being; he can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods.
Pleasures, whether bodily or intellectual, cannot bring a man ultimate happiness. We have just seen that bodily things cannot be man’s perfect fulfillment. And mental enjoyments presuppose the end already attained; enjoyment follows upon possession of some good or end; what is consequent upon the end cannot itself be the end.
The goods of the soul ― its essence, faculties, acts, habits, perfections ― cannot constitute man’s ultimate end. Happiness is for the soul, and to be attained by the soul. The objective ultimate happiness is something outside the soul, which the soul seeks to bring into itself and possess subjectively. Hence this ultimate end is not the soul itself, nor the goods belonging to the soul.
Finally, St. Thomas concludes that no created good can give man perfect happiness. Only the essential, universal, and boundless good can bring man complete and unfading fulfillment. No created good is universal, essential, and boundless; only the uncreated good can be the ultimate end of man. And this uncreated good is God.
Joy or Happiness? What’s the Difference? Is There a Difference?
Many people use the words “joy” and “happiness” interchangeably―but do they really have the same meaning? The modern world―as part of its being “dumbed-down” process―quickly loses sight of nuances, distinctions and definitions, instead preferring to clump everything together in a “easy-for-all”, “no thinking required”, “one-size-fits-all” bag. This leads to misconceptions and deformations of the true notions and meanings of “joy” and “happiness” ― whereby one person will say: “This beer/wine makes me happy, or brings me joy!” Another will say: “Exercise makes me happy and joyful!” A third will say: “Watching television makes me happy and joyful!” A fourth will say: “Reading books makes me happy and brings me joy!” A fifth will say: “I am happiest when I am in church, because it brings me great joy!”
All of this requires a refresher or reminder of the faculties that God has placed in our souls. We have a capacity to KNOW and capacity to LOVE. It is what we call our intellect, or mind, or human reason that is assigned the task of KNOWING―and it is what we call our will, or heart, or drive that is assigned the task of LOVING. The intellect, or mind, or our human reason is tasked with all the sub-tasks that are associated with KNOWING―such as research, reading, analyzing, evaluating, comparing, memorizing, synthesizing, summarizing, judging, ordering, etc. The will, or heart, is assigned the task of mobilizing, moving, commanding, persevering, driving on, etc.
Another way of looking at the intellect and will (mind and heart) is by using an analogy with the modern day labels of “NERDS” and “JOCKS”. The “nerd” by definition is someone who is very intelligent and good at academic subjects, especially math and science, while, at the same time, being pretty useless at sports or duties requiring great physical efforts. The “jock” is someone with an abundance of physical skills and physical strength, but who are often pretty dumb and not too bright. The INTELLECT, by analogy, can be compared to the NERD, and the WILL can be compared to the JOCK. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the WILL IS BLIND (kinda dumb) and needs to be informed and guided by the intellect. Yet the strength of the will is required by the intellect to be able to persevere and see things through to fruition. When the will is weak, we might KNOW what we ought to do, but do not have the strength of will to go ahead and do it.
You could also compare it to a general and his army―the general might come up with the tactics, but he needs the power and strength of his army to them into practice. Or, again, an architect and the builders―the architect might draw up the plans and have a deep understanding of design and construction possibilities and handicaps, but he needs the more physical builders to bring his plans to fulfillment. In relation to our MIND (intellect) and HEART (will), it is the MIND that is the general, the architect, while the HEART is the army or building construction crew that gets it done. Both have to be strong―the mind or intellect has to be strong in its department; and the heart or will has to be strong in its department. You are only as strong or good as your weakest link!
Answer the Question!!!
This still hasn’t answered the question: “What is the difference between happiness and joy?” If you consult modern dictionaries, then you will see that all they do is sow confusion and ambiguity. They, depending on which dictionary you consult, will define JOY as being “happiness, pleasure, or delight”; then they define HAPPINESS as being “pleasure, joy, delight”; then DELIGHT is defined as “pleasure, joy, happiness”; and PLEASURE is defined as “joy, happiness, delight”. Running round in circles and getting nowhere fast, huh? Only one dictionary came close to St. Thomas Aquinas’ idea of joy―that dictionary defined JOY as being “the emotion evoked by possessing what one desires.”
St. Thomas points-out that joy is more than happiness, just as happiness is more than pleasure, and pleasure is more than delight. St. Thomas says: “We do not speak of joy in irrational animals; whereas we do speak of delight in them. Therefore joy is not the same as delight.” Delight is merely a part of our animal nature or animal appetite. Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind and feelings. Joy is deep in the heart, the spirit, the center of the self. Everyone wants pleasure (bodily pleasure). More deeply, everyone wants happiness (mental and emotional happiness). Most deeply, everyone wants joy (spiritual joy, which can only be complete joy by possessing God)―but even though everyone instinctively desires God (or their idea of God), very few make serious and persevering efforts to attain that joy and possess God.
● St. Thomas Aquinas says that happiness is one of the foundational characteristics of the MIND’s assent to God. “The essence of happiness consists in an act of the intellect―but the delight [joy] that results from happiness pertains to the will.” He says that true HAPPINESS can only be found in KNOWLEDGE of God―knowledge concerns the MIND or the INTELLECT―hence we can infer that HAPPINESS pertains to the MIND or INTELLECT.
● St. Thomas says that “charity is a cause of joy” … “joy is caused by love” … “desire and joy follow from love” … “joy is an effect of charity” … “charity is love of God” … “therefore spiritual joy, which is about God, is caused by charity.” St. Thomas goes on to say that when the ultimate good has been attained, it means that the WILL is completely at rest and in JOY―thus he equates JOY with the WILL or HEART. Hence we can say that JOY pertains to the MIND or HEART.
St. Thomas also makes the distinction between the HAPPINESS of KNOWING God, and the JOY of POSSESING God in the HEART: “However, there is a fullness of KNOWLEDGE on the part of the KNOWER, just as we have said of joy” and that fullness of knowledge in the knowing mind of the knower is happiness, while, on the other hand, the possession of God by the loving heart gives joy. The mind is happy knower, the heart is the joyful lover.
Once this is pointed out to you, then you will better understand the simple Children’s Catechism answer to the question: “Why did God make you?” To which the answer is given: “God made me to KNOW Him, LOVE Him and SERVE Him in this world, so that we can be HAPPY with Him in Heaven.” We KNOW with our MIND or INTELLECT, we LOVE with our HEART or WILL. St. Thomas says that in Heaven the HAPPINESS of CONTEMPLATING God (with our MIND or INTELLECT) will be greater than the JOY of possessing God in our HEARTS or WILL.
You could it is much like a husband and wife―the husband is called the “HEAD” of the family and is usually thought to be more logical, who looks at the whole forest and not just a tree; whereas the wife is called the “HEART” of the family and is usually more sensitive to individual trees and sometimes “cannot see the forest because of the tree”, thus failing to see the big picture at the expense of the “here-and-now” needs that she is more concerned about. Yet when something good happens to the family―both husband and wife react in their own way. You could, for the sake of this argument, say that the head of the family is happy, while the heart of the family is in joy. Likewise, it could be argued that the mind experiences happiness and the will experiences joy.
Another analogy could be that of “Faith and Works”, whereby both are required, just as knowing and loving are both required. “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). Faith is the moving power, or guiding power behind our actions―just as the intellect is the guiding power to our will. If we carefully and exactly follow the wise and knowing guidance of the chef who happily wrote down his recipe (the intellect or mind), then we ourselves (the will or heart) will experience the joy in seeing our labors come to a very tasty fruition!
Enough! No More!
In bored exasperation you cry out: “Enough’s enough! I’ve had enough of all theoretical blabber about happiness and joy, pleasure and delight! I’ll tell what happiness and joy is! Happiness and joy is having a beer in my hand, a burger and fries on my plate, food in fridge, a wife in the kitchen, a car in the garage, money in the bank, a credit card in my wallet, a job in town, a television in each room, a smartphone in my hand, a laptop on the table, a swimming-pool out back and lots of parties throughout the year! That’s my happiness and joy! You can keep all the other psycho-babble and highfalutin blabber to yourself! I already know what happiness and joy is when I see it!”
The current epidemics of Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism allow everyone to see things the way they want to see things! Everyone is their own little god, with their own little truth, with their own personally tweaked religion, with their own views on what is good and bad, sinful or not sinful! Who needs God when you have a god living inside of yourself? Just like Satan said to Eve: “‘In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened―and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold [to look at]. And she took of the fruit and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:5-7). The problem was that what their “opened eyes” saw did not bring them any happiness or joy! Instead what they desired with their eyes brought them unhappiness, sorrow and ultimately DEATH!
How Good is Your Eyesight?
There is no doubt that our eyes can bring us great joy and happiness. While we are awake, you could say that our eyes are up there with our heart and lungs in the amount of work they do. The eyes are always looking, while the heart is always beating and the lungs are always pumping and breathing. Yet not everybody has good eyes, nor a healthy heart, nor efficient lungs! The same is true with our eyes from the spiritual standpoint. Of themselves, the eyes are neutral―they can look at what is good and what is bad. They eyes were made by God: “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye―the Lord hath made them both” (Proverbs 20:12). “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8)―meaning they have insatiable appetites that need to be controlled and even corrected (did you ever hear of the phrase “corrected vision”?). “The eye of the envious is wicked, and he turns away his face, and despises his own soul. The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of iniquity, and he will not be satisfied till he consume his own soul, drying it up. An evil eye is turned towards evil things … Remember that a wicked eye is evil! What is created more wicked than an eye?” (Ecclesiasticus 14:8-10; 31:14-15).
Even Our Lord speaks of spiritual truths by referring to “eyesight” or how we “see” things, saying that our “eye” can eventually lead us to Hell: “The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!” (Matthew 6:22-23). “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee! For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! … It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire!” (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).
“Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ and, behold, there is a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:305).
Out of Focus Blurred Vision Eyes
There is much in the world today that blinds us to God―that gets in the way of the line of vision to God. We lose sight of God―and, as they say: “Out of sight, out of mind!”―and God is certainly out of the mind of most people today. That is where we have our problem! Once we cut ties with God and God’s objective truth and wisdom, we naturally open a “can of worms” whereby our thoughts are cut loose and allowed to roam in the wild without any real supervision, restriction or correction. Thus “joy” and “happiness” are no longer ideas that, like God, are unchangeable―they are allowed to graze on whatever they wish to graze on, regardless of whether it be healthy or unhealthy, life-giving or poisonous. In fact, instead of becoming wiser, we become more foolish―we no longer discern with our minds what is good and bad, instead, we becomes like babies who will reach out and grab anything and everything and put those things in their mouth without the least bit of discernment. “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8).
The once popular computer jargon of “WYSISWYG” or “What You See Is What You Get” almost becomes like a motto of one’s life, except that it is twisted and tweaked a little in its meaning, in the sense of “What I See Is What I Want!” regardless if it be good for me or bad for me; regardless of whether it is sinful or not― “I see it; I like what I see; I want what I see; I’m gonna get what I see!”
It is our eyes that perhaps influence us the most these days―more than the remainder of our five senses. Our eyes are working every minute of the waking day―constantly looking at something. St. Thomas Aquinas says that there is nothing in our intellect that has not come through the pathway of at least one of our senses. Yet all our information providing senses are meant to do just that―PROVIDE INFORMATION, but not to MAKE JUDGEMENTS. The senses are like children that relay information of various sorts to their parents (the INTELLECT and the WILL, also known as MIND and HEART). You do not let little children analyze, make assessments, interpretations and judgments about what they see, hear, taste, smell and touch. That is role of the parents (especially the INTELLECT).
Our vision, or what we see, floods our thoughts, desires, interests, ideals, imagination, feelings and emotions. Our vision, or what we see, is our personal worldview, our personal sense of life, our basic personal orientation towards reality. Our vision of things (or our view of things) gives rise to our character, our style of life, to the tone of our being in the world. Vision is always the way in which we grasp the complexity of life; it is the way we relate ourselves to the things of life; it involves the meaning and value that we attach to the complexity of life as a whole and to the things of life in particular. In the spiritual sphere, each person incarnates a definite vision of God, world, humankind, and salvation. Each person is a unique relationship to God, a metaphor for God, world, humankind, and salvation. Within varying degrees of truth and falsity, each person embodies a kind of judgment about the God, world, humankind, and salvation which he or she experiences within the consciousness of his or her vision. Inevitably, each person communicates the effects of all that is given to him or her in the experience of that vision. St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that only the pure of heart see God without distortion. Sometimes we cannot see something very clearly―it is all blurred to our vision―so we ask someone with a better vision than ours to tell us what that thing is in the distance, or to read to us what is on the paper. So too, by sharing the vision, mind and heart of Christ, we share the eternal happiness of His vision.
We Have Been Blinded
As the ophthalmologists (eye-doctor) tell us, nearsightedness may develop gradually or rapidly, often worsening during childhood and adolescence. Nearsightedness tends to run in families. Nearsightedness is often first detected during childhood and is commonly diagnosed between the early school years through the teens. This is also true of spiritual blindness―it runs in families and it starts early, because the family is out of focus with God, it does not focus on God, the family’s focus is almost totally on worldly things. If the parents do not primarily focus on God, then neither will the children―it then deserves the words of rebuke that Our Lord addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9) … “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
As Our Lady already warned: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which will ensnare into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Amazing!
What is most amazing is the most people live as though there was no death, no last judgment, no penalty for sin, no Heaven or Hell or Purgatory, and, ultimately, no God―even though they might admit in theory that God exists, they nevertheless live as though God does not exist. Truly can the words of Holy Scripture be applied to today: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ There is no fear of God before their eyes! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 13:1-3; Psalm 52:1-6).
You would imagine that the Church’s teaching that few souls are saved and most souls are lost―would spur them into some kind of panicky reaction! But no! They are content to wallow in the waters of worldliness, comforting themselves with the words of some Liberal Modernist theologian or priest who imagines that everybody goes to Heaven, because “God is love! God is kind! God is spiritual doormat! God understands! God is so good He would not even dream of sending you to Hell!” Or as St. Louis de Montfort describes: “Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross). Amazing! Truly amazing! What amazing foolishness! “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh [worldliness], of the flesh [worldliness] also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We need to detach ourselves from the world if we are to even enter the race for Heaven―never mind winning the prize! “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:1-16) … “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Who wants to be happy? Everybody! Saints want happiness; sinners want happiness; the fervent and devout seek happiness; the slothful and lukewarm seek happiness! In fact, God made us for happiness―even the First Catechism for children starting school tells teaches this―QUESTION: “Why did God make you?” ANSWER: “God made me to be happy!” Yet everyone disagrees about what makes them happy and in what happiness consists. Not everyone wants God’s version of happiness―which is shown in the full answer to the question above: “Why did God make you?” … “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life, so that I can be happy with Him in the next life!” Even Our Lady echoes that catechetical answer in the words she addresses to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!”
Where Can We Find Happiness?
St. Thomas Aquinas also says the same thing in his Summa Theologica, in a special section on happiness, what it is, what its requirements are and how to attain it (Ia-IIae, questions 2 to 5). He begins by examining where happiness is to be found. Then, one-by-one, he rules out all the false sources of happiness.
Man’s happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves his normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth which can provide the items of natural wealth, that is, money. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Hence it cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him enduringly and completely happy.
Nor can man’s full happiness consist in honors bestowed because of some excellence in him. Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore honors cannot themselves be the constituting elements of perfect happiness.
Nor can man’s happiness be found in fame and glory. These, like honors bestowed, presuppose some degree of happiness already attained, and this they publicize and praise. Fame and glory are consequent upon an imperfect happiness, and are, in some sense, the product of it. They cannot, therefore, be the essential elements of perfect happiness.
Man’s perfect happiness cannot consist in the possession of power, for power is not a complete end, but a means; power is valuable according to the use to which it may be put. In a word, power looks on to something further; it cannot itself be the ultimate goal.
Man’s ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body ― life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. ― for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Goods of the body are to be used by reason (intellect and will) somewhat as a ship is used by its master; the master does not use the ship merely to preserve the ship, but to carry profitable cargoes to desired ports. Thus it appears that the goods of the body are means, not complete ends. Besides, man is a rational being as well as a bodily being; he can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods.
Pleasures, whether bodily or intellectual, cannot bring a man ultimate happiness. We have just seen that bodily things cannot be man’s perfect fulfillment. And mental enjoyments presuppose the end already attained; enjoyment follows upon possession of some good or end; what is consequent upon the end cannot itself be the end.
The goods of the soul ― its essence, faculties, acts, habits, perfections ― cannot constitute man’s ultimate end. Happiness is for the soul, and to be attained by the soul. The objective ultimate happiness is something outside the soul, which the soul seeks to bring into itself and possess subjectively. Hence this ultimate end is not the soul itself, nor the goods belonging to the soul.
Finally, St. Thomas concludes that no created good can give man perfect happiness. Only the essential, universal, and boundless good can bring man complete and unfading fulfillment. No created good is universal, essential, and boundless; only the uncreated good can be the ultimate end of man. And this uncreated good is God.
Joy or Happiness? What’s the Difference? Is There a Difference?
Many people use the words “joy” and “happiness” interchangeably―but do they really have the same meaning? The modern world―as part of its being “dumbed-down” process―quickly loses sight of nuances, distinctions and definitions, instead preferring to clump everything together in a “easy-for-all”, “no thinking required”, “one-size-fits-all” bag. This leads to misconceptions and deformations of the true notions and meanings of “joy” and “happiness” ― whereby one person will say: “This beer/wine makes me happy, or brings me joy!” Another will say: “Exercise makes me happy and joyful!” A third will say: “Watching television makes me happy and joyful!” A fourth will say: “Reading books makes me happy and brings me joy!” A fifth will say: “I am happiest when I am in church, because it brings me great joy!”
All of this requires a refresher or reminder of the faculties that God has placed in our souls. We have a capacity to KNOW and capacity to LOVE. It is what we call our intellect, or mind, or human reason that is assigned the task of KNOWING―and it is what we call our will, or heart, or drive that is assigned the task of LOVING. The intellect, or mind, or our human reason is tasked with all the sub-tasks that are associated with KNOWING―such as research, reading, analyzing, evaluating, comparing, memorizing, synthesizing, summarizing, judging, ordering, etc. The will, or heart, is assigned the task of mobilizing, moving, commanding, persevering, driving on, etc.
Another way of looking at the intellect and will (mind and heart) is by using an analogy with the modern day labels of “NERDS” and “JOCKS”. The “nerd” by definition is someone who is very intelligent and good at academic subjects, especially math and science, while, at the same time, being pretty useless at sports or duties requiring great physical efforts. The “jock” is someone with an abundance of physical skills and physical strength, but who are often pretty dumb and not too bright. The INTELLECT, by analogy, can be compared to the NERD, and the WILL can be compared to the JOCK. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the WILL IS BLIND (kinda dumb) and needs to be informed and guided by the intellect. Yet the strength of the will is required by the intellect to be able to persevere and see things through to fruition. When the will is weak, we might KNOW what we ought to do, but do not have the strength of will to go ahead and do it.
You could also compare it to a general and his army―the general might come up with the tactics, but he needs the power and strength of his army to them into practice. Or, again, an architect and the builders―the architect might draw up the plans and have a deep understanding of design and construction possibilities and handicaps, but he needs the more physical builders to bring his plans to fulfillment. In relation to our MIND (intellect) and HEART (will), it is the MIND that is the general, the architect, while the HEART is the army or building construction crew that gets it done. Both have to be strong―the mind or intellect has to be strong in its department; and the heart or will has to be strong in its department. You are only as strong or good as your weakest link!
Answer the Question!!!
This still hasn’t answered the question: “What is the difference between happiness and joy?” If you consult modern dictionaries, then you will see that all they do is sow confusion and ambiguity. They, depending on which dictionary you consult, will define JOY as being “happiness, pleasure, or delight”; then they define HAPPINESS as being “pleasure, joy, delight”; then DELIGHT is defined as “pleasure, joy, happiness”; and PLEASURE is defined as “joy, happiness, delight”. Running round in circles and getting nowhere fast, huh? Only one dictionary came close to St. Thomas Aquinas’ idea of joy―that dictionary defined JOY as being “the emotion evoked by possessing what one desires.”
St. Thomas points-out that joy is more than happiness, just as happiness is more than pleasure, and pleasure is more than delight. St. Thomas says: “We do not speak of joy in irrational animals; whereas we do speak of delight in them. Therefore joy is not the same as delight.” Delight is merely a part of our animal nature or animal appetite. Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind and feelings. Joy is deep in the heart, the spirit, the center of the self. Everyone wants pleasure (bodily pleasure). More deeply, everyone wants happiness (mental and emotional happiness). Most deeply, everyone wants joy (spiritual joy, which can only be complete joy by possessing God)―but even though everyone instinctively desires God (or their idea of God), very few make serious and persevering efforts to attain that joy and possess God.
● St. Thomas Aquinas says that happiness is one of the foundational characteristics of the MIND’s assent to God. “The essence of happiness consists in an act of the intellect―but the delight [joy] that results from happiness pertains to the will.” He says that true HAPPINESS can only be found in KNOWLEDGE of God―knowledge concerns the MIND or the INTELLECT―hence we can infer that HAPPINESS pertains to the MIND or INTELLECT.
● St. Thomas says that “charity is a cause of joy” … “joy is caused by love” … “desire and joy follow from love” … “joy is an effect of charity” … “charity is love of God” … “therefore spiritual joy, which is about God, is caused by charity.” St. Thomas goes on to say that when the ultimate good has been attained, it means that the WILL is completely at rest and in JOY―thus he equates JOY with the WILL or HEART. Hence we can say that JOY pertains to the MIND or HEART.
St. Thomas also makes the distinction between the HAPPINESS of KNOWING God, and the JOY of POSSESING God in the HEART: “However, there is a fullness of KNOWLEDGE on the part of the KNOWER, just as we have said of joy” and that fullness of knowledge in the knowing mind of the knower is happiness, while, on the other hand, the possession of God by the loving heart gives joy. The mind is happy knower, the heart is the joyful lover.
Once this is pointed out to you, then you will better understand the simple Children’s Catechism answer to the question: “Why did God make you?” To which the answer is given: “God made me to KNOW Him, LOVE Him and SERVE Him in this world, so that we can be HAPPY with Him in Heaven.” We KNOW with our MIND or INTELLECT, we LOVE with our HEART or WILL. St. Thomas says that in Heaven the HAPPINESS of CONTEMPLATING God (with our MIND or INTELLECT) will be greater than the JOY of possessing God in our HEARTS or WILL.
You could it is much like a husband and wife―the husband is called the “HEAD” of the family and is usually thought to be more logical, who looks at the whole forest and not just a tree; whereas the wife is called the “HEART” of the family and is usually more sensitive to individual trees and sometimes “cannot see the forest because of the tree”, thus failing to see the big picture at the expense of the “here-and-now” needs that she is more concerned about. Yet when something good happens to the family―both husband and wife react in their own way. You could, for the sake of this argument, say that the head of the family is happy, while the heart of the family is in joy. Likewise, it could be argued that the mind experiences happiness and the will experiences joy.
Another analogy could be that of “Faith and Works”, whereby both are required, just as knowing and loving are both required. “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). Faith is the moving power, or guiding power behind our actions―just as the intellect is the guiding power to our will. If we carefully and exactly follow the wise and knowing guidance of the chef who happily wrote down his recipe (the intellect or mind), then we ourselves (the will or heart) will experience the joy in seeing our labors come to a very tasty fruition!
Enough! No More!
In bored exasperation you cry out: “Enough’s enough! I’ve had enough of all theoretical blabber about happiness and joy, pleasure and delight! I’ll tell what happiness and joy is! Happiness and joy is having a beer in my hand, a burger and fries on my plate, food in fridge, a wife in the kitchen, a car in the garage, money in the bank, a credit card in my wallet, a job in town, a television in each room, a smartphone in my hand, a laptop on the table, a swimming-pool out back and lots of parties throughout the year! That’s my happiness and joy! You can keep all the other psycho-babble and highfalutin blabber to yourself! I already know what happiness and joy is when I see it!”
The current epidemics of Rationalism, Liberalism and Modernism allow everyone to see things the way they want to see things! Everyone is their own little god, with their own little truth, with their own personally tweaked religion, with their own views on what is good and bad, sinful or not sinful! Who needs God when you have a god living inside of yourself? Just like Satan said to Eve: “‘In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened―and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold [to look at]. And she took of the fruit and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:5-7). The problem was that what their “opened eyes” saw did not bring them any happiness or joy! Instead what they desired with their eyes brought them unhappiness, sorrow and ultimately DEATH!
How Good is Your Eyesight?
There is no doubt that our eyes can bring us great joy and happiness. While we are awake, you could say that our eyes are up there with our heart and lungs in the amount of work they do. The eyes are always looking, while the heart is always beating and the lungs are always pumping and breathing. Yet not everybody has good eyes, nor a healthy heart, nor efficient lungs! The same is true with our eyes from the spiritual standpoint. Of themselves, the eyes are neutral―they can look at what is good and what is bad. They eyes were made by God: “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye―the Lord hath made them both” (Proverbs 20:12). “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8)―meaning they have insatiable appetites that need to be controlled and even corrected (did you ever hear of the phrase “corrected vision”?). “The eye of the envious is wicked, and he turns away his face, and despises his own soul. The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of iniquity, and he will not be satisfied till he consume his own soul, drying it up. An evil eye is turned towards evil things … Remember that a wicked eye is evil! What is created more wicked than an eye?” (Ecclesiasticus 14:8-10; 31:14-15).
Even Our Lord speaks of spiritual truths by referring to “eyesight” or how we “see” things, saying that our “eye” can eventually lead us to Hell: “The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!” (Matthew 6:22-23). “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee! For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! … It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire!” (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).
“Why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ and, behold, there is a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:305).
Out of Focus Blurred Vision Eyes
There is much in the world today that blinds us to God―that gets in the way of the line of vision to God. We lose sight of God―and, as they say: “Out of sight, out of mind!”―and God is certainly out of the mind of most people today. That is where we have our problem! Once we cut ties with God and God’s objective truth and wisdom, we naturally open a “can of worms” whereby our thoughts are cut loose and allowed to roam in the wild without any real supervision, restriction or correction. Thus “joy” and “happiness” are no longer ideas that, like God, are unchangeable―they are allowed to graze on whatever they wish to graze on, regardless of whether it be healthy or unhealthy, life-giving or poisonous. In fact, instead of becoming wiser, we become more foolish―we no longer discern with our minds what is good and bad, instead, we becomes like babies who will reach out and grab anything and everything and put those things in their mouth without the least bit of discernment. “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8).
The once popular computer jargon of “WYSISWYG” or “What You See Is What You Get” almost becomes like a motto of one’s life, except that it is twisted and tweaked a little in its meaning, in the sense of “What I See Is What I Want!” regardless if it be good for me or bad for me; regardless of whether it is sinful or not― “I see it; I like what I see; I want what I see; I’m gonna get what I see!”
It is our eyes that perhaps influence us the most these days―more than the remainder of our five senses. Our eyes are working every minute of the waking day―constantly looking at something. St. Thomas Aquinas says that there is nothing in our intellect that has not come through the pathway of at least one of our senses. Yet all our information providing senses are meant to do just that―PROVIDE INFORMATION, but not to MAKE JUDGEMENTS. The senses are like children that relay information of various sorts to their parents (the INTELLECT and the WILL, also known as MIND and HEART). You do not let little children analyze, make assessments, interpretations and judgments about what they see, hear, taste, smell and touch. That is role of the parents (especially the INTELLECT).
Our vision, or what we see, floods our thoughts, desires, interests, ideals, imagination, feelings and emotions. Our vision, or what we see, is our personal worldview, our personal sense of life, our basic personal orientation towards reality. Our vision of things (or our view of things) gives rise to our character, our style of life, to the tone of our being in the world. Vision is always the way in which we grasp the complexity of life; it is the way we relate ourselves to the things of life; it involves the meaning and value that we attach to the complexity of life as a whole and to the things of life in particular. In the spiritual sphere, each person incarnates a definite vision of God, world, humankind, and salvation. Each person is a unique relationship to God, a metaphor for God, world, humankind, and salvation. Within varying degrees of truth and falsity, each person embodies a kind of judgment about the God, world, humankind, and salvation which he or she experiences within the consciousness of his or her vision. Inevitably, each person communicates the effects of all that is given to him or her in the experience of that vision. St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that only the pure of heart see God without distortion. Sometimes we cannot see something very clearly―it is all blurred to our vision―so we ask someone with a better vision than ours to tell us what that thing is in the distance, or to read to us what is on the paper. So too, by sharing the vision, mind and heart of Christ, we share the eternal happiness of His vision.
We Have Been Blinded
As the ophthalmologists (eye-doctor) tell us, nearsightedness may develop gradually or rapidly, often worsening during childhood and adolescence. Nearsightedness tends to run in families. Nearsightedness is often first detected during childhood and is commonly diagnosed between the early school years through the teens. This is also true of spiritual blindness―it runs in families and it starts early, because the family is out of focus with God, it does not focus on God, the family’s focus is almost totally on worldly things. If the parents do not primarily focus on God, then neither will the children―it then deserves the words of rebuke that Our Lord addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9) … “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
As Our Lady already warned: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which will ensnare into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Amazing!
What is most amazing is the most people live as though there was no death, no last judgment, no penalty for sin, no Heaven or Hell or Purgatory, and, ultimately, no God―even though they might admit in theory that God exists, they nevertheless live as though God does not exist. Truly can the words of Holy Scripture be applied to today: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ There is no fear of God before their eyes! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 13:1-3; Psalm 52:1-6).
You would imagine that the Church’s teaching that few souls are saved and most souls are lost―would spur them into some kind of panicky reaction! But no! They are content to wallow in the waters of worldliness, comforting themselves with the words of some Liberal Modernist theologian or priest who imagines that everybody goes to Heaven, because “God is love! God is kind! God is spiritual doormat! God understands! God is so good He would not even dream of sending you to Hell!” Or as St. Louis de Montfort describes: “Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross). Amazing! Truly amazing! What amazing foolishness! “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh [worldliness], of the flesh [worldliness] also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We need to detach ourselves from the world if we are to even enter the race for Heaven―never mind winning the prize! “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:1-16) … “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that hears these My words, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that hears these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Tuesday in Easter Week, April 6th
Article 3
No Room For Easter Bunnies!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 3
No Room For Easter Bunnies!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Game of Attraction and Distraction
The devil of distraction never sleeps and keeps attracting souls away from God by distracting them with trivial, secondary and unimportant secular attractions. Sometimes we get so used to these secular distractions that we totally fail to see the deviousness behind them. Some people might call the pointing-out of these “harmless” and “cute” distractions as “over-reacting” or “religious bigotry” or “fanaticism” or whatever other descriptive insult they might come up with―but the fact is observable to each and every human being who is willing to impartially, objectively, logically and critically observe―the fact being that the seasonal (Christmas, Easter, etc.) secular distractions are far greater attractions than their religious counterparts.
They say that Satan loves to “ape” God―meaning that he loves to imitate God in a way that will draw souls away from God. You could, at a pinch, say that Satan tries to outdo God by offering more fun and entertainment that God would ever offer. God offers the cross―Satan offers fun. In other words, Satan offers “more bang for your buck”, or offers everything a discount price, or even gives it away for free. Why buy gas at God’s gas station at those high prices, when Satan’s gas station is almost giving away for free! Why wait for eternal joy and happiness, when you can get now, right away―instant entertainment, instant fun, instant joy! No wonder Satan’s “supermarkets” and “stores” are packed and popular!
Satan, as the saints and spiritual masters tell us, will endure and reluctantly accept nine truths just so that he can slip in his LIE for the tenth “truth”. Satan will reluctantly suggest and allow many good things to happen, just so that at the end he can ensnare you―having lulled you into a false sense of security and complacency by being very orthodox from the beginning, only to become unorthodox at the end. That is one of many reasons why St. Thomas Aquinas―and many other saints―tell us to look beyond the “here-and-now” and to “look to the end” in all things. In other words, stop and look where all this could be leading to―and do not just focus on what is happening right now!
Since the Easter season is the primary concern, there is no point in making this essay of Satanic distraction in all areas of the Faith. A look at just a few chief ones will suffice, before shaking-off all those distractions and getting to heart and the real purpose of the Easter season. The most obvious distractions that mimic or mock or manipulate the religious elements in the Liturgical Year of the Church can be typified by Halloween, Santa Claus and Easter Bunnies. Some of them contain satanic elements, others contain remote religious undertones, and others are simply secular or even pagan.
Halloween
Ask a child―or even a parent for that matter―what the word “Halloween” means, and you will probably be met with silence, open-mouthed stupor, or head-scratching. Barely anyone will be able to tell you that Halloween is supposed to be religiously connected to the feast of All Saints Day and the word “Halloween” is a corruption of “Hallowed Evening”―referring to the Vigil of the Feast of All Saints Day. Talking about Satan “aping” God, Halloween is a major feast day for Satanists upon which they indulge in human sacrifice, often child sacrifice. Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). For the Satanists, greater love no Satanist has than when the Satanist can take the life of another!
Santa Claus
Historians will claim―and seemingly rightly so―that Santa Claus is derived from the fourth-century bishop Saint Niklaus, whose name is abbreviated from Niklaus to Klaus―and in English, Claus. All well and good, fine and dandy, hunky-dory! Yet go and ask any child about those origins of Santa Claus and they will give you a blank bewildered stare―tell them about those origins and it will just go “over-their-heads” or “in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”―who cares about the origins, they just care about the material presents and gifts associated with Santa Claus. Their parents are no better―or even pour fuel onto the fire by speaking of a Santa Claus devoid of all religious connection and religious meaning. Rather than thinking of the spiritual gifts and joys associated with the Nativity of the Infant Jesus―it is all about a big-fat, unmortified, seemingly gluttonous, Father Christmas, who can barely squeeze his fat body down the chimney to leave under the Christmas Tree all those material gifts that were being lusted after, before squirming his fat body back up the chimney and riding off on his reindeer pulled sleigh! Don’t kid yourself into imagining that children are thinking more of the spiritual gifts rather than material gifts, nor imagine that they are more focused on Christ than Santa Claus! Mention Jesus and no joy comes over the faces―mention Santa Claus and their reaction is totally different.
Easter Bunny
Like Santa Claus and Christmas, the mysterious figure of the Easter Bunny has no obvious connections to the Christian post-Lenten holy day of Easter Sunday and the Easter season. So why then has it become such a prevalent symbol in our modern day celebrations? Well, nothing! There is no story in the Bible about a long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny. Neither is there a passage about young children painting eggs or hunting for baskets overflowing with scrumptious Easter goodies. And real rabbits certainly don't lay eggs. Bunnies, eggs, fluffy yellow chicks in gardening hats, all stem from pagan roots. They were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It dates back to 13th Century Germany where they worshiped pagan gods and goddesses, including the pagan goddess Eostra or Ostara, who was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit―because of the animal’s high reproduction rate. The pagan goddess Eostra, or Ostara, transformed a bird into a rabbit. This rabbit had the unique ability to lay eggs. There was also something special about these eggs—they were colorful, like a rainbow. Maybe the LGBT crowd can adopt the rainbow-colored egg laying Easter Bunny as their patron “saint”. A festival was held each spring ― the festival of Ostara/Eostre ― that celebrated the pagan goddess. On this day, the transformed rabbit, now a hybrid rabbit-bird ― perhaps the trangenderists will take it for their patron “saint” ― would lay its colorful eggs for the children. Inspired by the pagan goddess’s name, the festival of Ostara eventually was shortened to “Easter.” The first Easter bunny legends were documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Children would make nests for Oschter Haws (meaning the “Easter Hare”) to leave behind eggs. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts. The custom spread across the U.S.A. and the fabled pagan rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries included all the things that the Church had “forbidden” during Lent―chocolates, candies and gifts. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping. Can you find the risen Christ with the triumphant scars of His redeeming wounds in all of this? Of course not! No place for Christ in the Easter Bunny’s nest! Besides, Christ brings no material, tasty gifts at Easter―but the Easter Bunny does! Hurray for the Easter Bunny! Long-live the Easter Bunny! We love the Easter Bunny! Who needs Christ?
Dolls versus Statues
You could, at a pinch, see the same distraction with the modern day dolls. What is a doll? A doll is like a statue―it is meant to bring some other reality to mind. A statue of Our Lord, Our Lady or a an angel or saint, is not the person itself, but reminds us of that person. Modern day dolls could be said to be the secular competitors for the religious statues, or the modern-day distraction that takes attention away from the religious and focuses on the secular. There are literally hundreds―if not thousands―of dolls available for young children. Many of them are lifelike, non-rigid, body parts that move, and are even made to speak by sound recordings inside the doll, etc. They are now branching out into the “Smart-Doll” ― a doll that speaks to you, tells the time, reminds you of things, and contains an eternal charge battery! Yet where are the equivalent Baby Jesus dolls? There are hardly any―never mind hundreds or thousands―and most of them are rigid or even mini-statues for the Christmas crib and not really dolls at all! Think of the benefits an infant or young child could get from a religious doll―a Baby Jesus smartdoll, or a patron saint smartdoll, or an Our Lady smartdoll―that would speak religious things to them, remind of the Commandments, teach them to pray, give basic religious advice, do simple Catechism, give their (the saint’s) life story, or tell a Bible story, or anything else you want to program them to say! But there is no way that the doll-moguls are going to “Christianize” their secular and pagan dolls! Who wants religious dolls anyway? It’s not worth the time and the effort! But―hey―a Satan doll? Mmm! That’s a thought! It would sell like hotcakes at Halloween! The money-merchants might certainly buy into that idea!! Sad, huh?
Increasingly Distracted From God
All the above is merely the proverbial “tip of the iceberg” of the total mass of distraction available. Even though less and less people believe in God these days―which is symptomatic and indicative of the apostasy that has been prophesied for our times―with many people it is not that disbelieve in God, but simply the fact that they little time for God and fail to see God as a major component and crucial factor in their lives. For example, the season of Easter―how many people are carrying Easter beyond Easter Sunday? What does the Easter season mean to most people? Is there even an Easter season in their lives? For many, Easter is a “one-day-wonder”, that quickly comes and goes―leaving little or no impact on their lives, except, perhaps, the chocolates, candies, cookies, parties or socials! Even for most Catholics, Easter is left behind in the church. What must rub salt into the wounds of the Lamb of God is the fact that most Catholics loathe fasting during Lent, but love feasting during Easter! Almost like drawing a full-week’s pay for having worked only a few hours!
Easter Idols
Spring not quite the time when Christ springs to mind for most people! Lent is finished; the weather is improving; the outdoors beckon; Easter gives plenty of excuses for celebrations by way of socials, food and drink. The “forbidden fruits” that were given up for Lent are now invitingly clamoring to be devoured with a passion―all of this naturally (though not supernaturally) speaks of self-gratifying indulgence and pleasure. The danger is―or should it be said that the REALITY is―that they fall back into to lukewarm levels they were wallowing in before Lent started! Yes―Easter is a time of joy, but of spiritual joy rather than the joy of stuffing yourself with all the things you missed out on during Lent! The following words of Holy Scripture can all too easily be applied to most Catholics these days: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). Lent was meant to be a time of mortifying―which literally means “putting to death”―our worldly appetites, our worldly old-self, and putting-on a new person: “Knowing this―that our old man is crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6) … “stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9) … “to put off the old man, who is corrupted” (Ephesians 4:22) … “not to return now any more to corruption” (Acts 13:34) … “If, flying from the pollutions of the world, they be again entangled in them and overcome by them, then their latter state is become worse than the former! … For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog is returned to his vomit!’ and, ‘The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire!’” (2 Peter 2:20-22). For such folk, Lent might well be “three steps forward”, but when Easter comes and Lent disappears, then it is often a case of “three steps backwards”―thus, from year to year, there is no real spiritual progress, but only spiritual stagnation. Our Lord describes it thus: “When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man [let’s say, during Lent, for example] he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits―more wicked than himself―and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is made worse than the first!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
The True Spirit of Easter
It is often said that the mother of a family embodies the family spirit―she is the heart of the family. Likewise, Holy Mother Church embodies the spirit of the family of the Mystical Body of Christ―and she daily tries to communicate Her spirit to us through Her words―which we find in the Liturgy. It is sad to see how few of Her children turn to Holy Mother Church for Her wisdom and encouragement! Every single Sunday Holy Mother Church organizes a “family reunion” (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) and commands all Her children to come to it―so that She can address them, teach them and feed them. Most of Her children no longer attend―and the few that do, often can’t wait to get out of there and Her words of wisdom “go-in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”. Yet, if you take time to look at the various prayers (Collects, Secrets, Post-Communions) and readings (Epistles and Gospels) that Holy Mother Church communicates to us during this Easter season, then the spirit of Easter comes through very clearly.
“She gives them the water of wholesome wisdom to drink” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Tuesday in Easter Week). “Attend, O my people, to My law! Incline your ears to the words of My mouth” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Friday in Easter Week). “Christ died for our sins―the just for the unjust―that He might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit!” (Epistle, Friday in Easter Week). “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps―He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, did not revile! When He suffered, He threatened not, but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly! Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice. By whose stripes you were healed! For you were as sheep going astray―but you are now converted to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls!” (Epistle, 2nd Sunday after Easter).
“Christ our Pasch was sacrificed! For He is the Lamb Who hath taken away the sins of the world! Who, by dying, hath destroyed our death; and, by rising again, hath restored us to life!” (Easter Preface at Mass). “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above―not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to sin]; and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” [Though not in Epistle at Mass, the next verse reads:] “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols!” (Colossians 3:1-4, 5; Epistle at Midnight Mass). “Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, so that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened! For Christ our Pasch is sacrificed! Therefore let us feast―not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness―but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Epistle at the Day Mass on Easter Sunday). “Wherefore laying away all malice, and all guile, and dissimulations, and envies, and all detractions, desire the rational milk without guile as newborn babes, that thereby you may grow unto salvation … Be you also as living stones built up into a spiritual house” (Epistle, Saturday in Easter Week). “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world―and this is the victory, which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (Epistle, 1st Sunday after Easter).
“O Lord, we beseech Thee, that we, reverently receiving thy Sacrament, may be cleansed from all our former defilement, and become a new creature in Thee” (Post-Communion, Wednesday in Easter Week). “You are a chosen generation, a purchased people ― He hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!” (Communion, Thursday in Easter Week). “Give glory to the Lord, and call upon His Name! Declare His deeds among the Gentiles … The law of the Lord be always in thy mouth!” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Monday in Easter Week).
Perpetual Conversion
The spiritual life is a road of perpetual conversion, until the day we die. There is a famous axiom of the spiritual life, quoted by many saints and spiritual writers, that says: “There is not standing still in the spiritual life—we are either going forwards or backwards—he who makes not progress, regresses.” This is something that we instinctively dislike. We would prefer to reach a goal and then put up our feet and rest. This can never be so in the spiritual life. It has to be a life of perpetual spiritual motion, always working. How else can you interpret Scriptural quotes like: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “We also give thanks to God without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Our Lord Himself says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Let nothing hinder thee from praying always” (Ecclesiasticus 18:22).
The Joys of Heaven Require Pain on Earth
If we want to follow Jesus into the joys of Heaven, we must first labor with Him under the pains of this life: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Our Lady implies the same thing, when she says to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!” This recalls Our Lord’s own words at the Last Supper, before He embarked upon His own painful road to joy: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead did not take away all the future sorrows, sufferings and martyrdom that His Apostles would undergo. The whole purpose was that they should learn to suffer and die as Christ suffered and died―so that they might rise with Christ from the dead to a life of eternal joy in Heaven.
The Wrong Joy and the Right Joy
We can have a joy that leads us to Hell, or a joy that leads us to Heaven. The sinner will find temporary joy in his sins, which will eventually lead him to the pains of Purgatory, or even Hell. The saint will take pains to find joy in pain, which will eventually lead him to the joys of Heaven.
Neither is the joy of Easter a joy over the fact that we no longer have to fast from food and abstain from meat! We are not meant to go back to what we once were when Lent began. We are meant to be at a higher level and to remain at that higher level. Otherwise we have the senseless situation of the two factories, where one factory takes stones and grinds them into powder and then ships the powder to the other factory. The other factory takes the powder and makes it into stones and ships it back to the first factory, which then makes it into powder again, etc.
The devil of distraction never sleeps and keeps attracting souls away from God by distracting them with trivial, secondary and unimportant secular attractions. Sometimes we get so used to these secular distractions that we totally fail to see the deviousness behind them. Some people might call the pointing-out of these “harmless” and “cute” distractions as “over-reacting” or “religious bigotry” or “fanaticism” or whatever other descriptive insult they might come up with―but the fact is observable to each and every human being who is willing to impartially, objectively, logically and critically observe―the fact being that the seasonal (Christmas, Easter, etc.) secular distractions are far greater attractions than their religious counterparts.
They say that Satan loves to “ape” God―meaning that he loves to imitate God in a way that will draw souls away from God. You could, at a pinch, say that Satan tries to outdo God by offering more fun and entertainment that God would ever offer. God offers the cross―Satan offers fun. In other words, Satan offers “more bang for your buck”, or offers everything a discount price, or even gives it away for free. Why buy gas at God’s gas station at those high prices, when Satan’s gas station is almost giving away for free! Why wait for eternal joy and happiness, when you can get now, right away―instant entertainment, instant fun, instant joy! No wonder Satan’s “supermarkets” and “stores” are packed and popular!
Satan, as the saints and spiritual masters tell us, will endure and reluctantly accept nine truths just so that he can slip in his LIE for the tenth “truth”. Satan will reluctantly suggest and allow many good things to happen, just so that at the end he can ensnare you―having lulled you into a false sense of security and complacency by being very orthodox from the beginning, only to become unorthodox at the end. That is one of many reasons why St. Thomas Aquinas―and many other saints―tell us to look beyond the “here-and-now” and to “look to the end” in all things. In other words, stop and look where all this could be leading to―and do not just focus on what is happening right now!
Since the Easter season is the primary concern, there is no point in making this essay of Satanic distraction in all areas of the Faith. A look at just a few chief ones will suffice, before shaking-off all those distractions and getting to heart and the real purpose of the Easter season. The most obvious distractions that mimic or mock or manipulate the religious elements in the Liturgical Year of the Church can be typified by Halloween, Santa Claus and Easter Bunnies. Some of them contain satanic elements, others contain remote religious undertones, and others are simply secular or even pagan.
Halloween
Ask a child―or even a parent for that matter―what the word “Halloween” means, and you will probably be met with silence, open-mouthed stupor, or head-scratching. Barely anyone will be able to tell you that Halloween is supposed to be religiously connected to the feast of All Saints Day and the word “Halloween” is a corruption of “Hallowed Evening”―referring to the Vigil of the Feast of All Saints Day. Talking about Satan “aping” God, Halloween is a major feast day for Satanists upon which they indulge in human sacrifice, often child sacrifice. Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). For the Satanists, greater love no Satanist has than when the Satanist can take the life of another!
Santa Claus
Historians will claim―and seemingly rightly so―that Santa Claus is derived from the fourth-century bishop Saint Niklaus, whose name is abbreviated from Niklaus to Klaus―and in English, Claus. All well and good, fine and dandy, hunky-dory! Yet go and ask any child about those origins of Santa Claus and they will give you a blank bewildered stare―tell them about those origins and it will just go “over-their-heads” or “in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”―who cares about the origins, they just care about the material presents and gifts associated with Santa Claus. Their parents are no better―or even pour fuel onto the fire by speaking of a Santa Claus devoid of all religious connection and religious meaning. Rather than thinking of the spiritual gifts and joys associated with the Nativity of the Infant Jesus―it is all about a big-fat, unmortified, seemingly gluttonous, Father Christmas, who can barely squeeze his fat body down the chimney to leave under the Christmas Tree all those material gifts that were being lusted after, before squirming his fat body back up the chimney and riding off on his reindeer pulled sleigh! Don’t kid yourself into imagining that children are thinking more of the spiritual gifts rather than material gifts, nor imagine that they are more focused on Christ than Santa Claus! Mention Jesus and no joy comes over the faces―mention Santa Claus and their reaction is totally different.
Easter Bunny
Like Santa Claus and Christmas, the mysterious figure of the Easter Bunny has no obvious connections to the Christian post-Lenten holy day of Easter Sunday and the Easter season. So why then has it become such a prevalent symbol in our modern day celebrations? Well, nothing! There is no story in the Bible about a long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny. Neither is there a passage about young children painting eggs or hunting for baskets overflowing with scrumptious Easter goodies. And real rabbits certainly don't lay eggs. Bunnies, eggs, fluffy yellow chicks in gardening hats, all stem from pagan roots. They were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It dates back to 13th Century Germany where they worshiped pagan gods and goddesses, including the pagan goddess Eostra or Ostara, who was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit―because of the animal’s high reproduction rate. The pagan goddess Eostra, or Ostara, transformed a bird into a rabbit. This rabbit had the unique ability to lay eggs. There was also something special about these eggs—they were colorful, like a rainbow. Maybe the LGBT crowd can adopt the rainbow-colored egg laying Easter Bunny as their patron “saint”. A festival was held each spring ― the festival of Ostara/Eostre ― that celebrated the pagan goddess. On this day, the transformed rabbit, now a hybrid rabbit-bird ― perhaps the trangenderists will take it for their patron “saint” ― would lay its colorful eggs for the children. Inspired by the pagan goddess’s name, the festival of Ostara eventually was shortened to “Easter.” The first Easter bunny legends were documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Children would make nests for Oschter Haws (meaning the “Easter Hare”) to leave behind eggs. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts. The custom spread across the U.S.A. and the fabled pagan rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries included all the things that the Church had “forbidden” during Lent―chocolates, candies and gifts. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping. Can you find the risen Christ with the triumphant scars of His redeeming wounds in all of this? Of course not! No place for Christ in the Easter Bunny’s nest! Besides, Christ brings no material, tasty gifts at Easter―but the Easter Bunny does! Hurray for the Easter Bunny! Long-live the Easter Bunny! We love the Easter Bunny! Who needs Christ?
Dolls versus Statues
You could, at a pinch, see the same distraction with the modern day dolls. What is a doll? A doll is like a statue―it is meant to bring some other reality to mind. A statue of Our Lord, Our Lady or a an angel or saint, is not the person itself, but reminds us of that person. Modern day dolls could be said to be the secular competitors for the religious statues, or the modern-day distraction that takes attention away from the religious and focuses on the secular. There are literally hundreds―if not thousands―of dolls available for young children. Many of them are lifelike, non-rigid, body parts that move, and are even made to speak by sound recordings inside the doll, etc. They are now branching out into the “Smart-Doll” ― a doll that speaks to you, tells the time, reminds you of things, and contains an eternal charge battery! Yet where are the equivalent Baby Jesus dolls? There are hardly any―never mind hundreds or thousands―and most of them are rigid or even mini-statues for the Christmas crib and not really dolls at all! Think of the benefits an infant or young child could get from a religious doll―a Baby Jesus smartdoll, or a patron saint smartdoll, or an Our Lady smartdoll―that would speak religious things to them, remind of the Commandments, teach them to pray, give basic religious advice, do simple Catechism, give their (the saint’s) life story, or tell a Bible story, or anything else you want to program them to say! But there is no way that the doll-moguls are going to “Christianize” their secular and pagan dolls! Who wants religious dolls anyway? It’s not worth the time and the effort! But―hey―a Satan doll? Mmm! That’s a thought! It would sell like hotcakes at Halloween! The money-merchants might certainly buy into that idea!! Sad, huh?
Increasingly Distracted From God
All the above is merely the proverbial “tip of the iceberg” of the total mass of distraction available. Even though less and less people believe in God these days―which is symptomatic and indicative of the apostasy that has been prophesied for our times―with many people it is not that disbelieve in God, but simply the fact that they little time for God and fail to see God as a major component and crucial factor in their lives. For example, the season of Easter―how many people are carrying Easter beyond Easter Sunday? What does the Easter season mean to most people? Is there even an Easter season in their lives? For many, Easter is a “one-day-wonder”, that quickly comes and goes―leaving little or no impact on their lives, except, perhaps, the chocolates, candies, cookies, parties or socials! Even for most Catholics, Easter is left behind in the church. What must rub salt into the wounds of the Lamb of God is the fact that most Catholics loathe fasting during Lent, but love feasting during Easter! Almost like drawing a full-week’s pay for having worked only a few hours!
Easter Idols
Spring not quite the time when Christ springs to mind for most people! Lent is finished; the weather is improving; the outdoors beckon; Easter gives plenty of excuses for celebrations by way of socials, food and drink. The “forbidden fruits” that were given up for Lent are now invitingly clamoring to be devoured with a passion―all of this naturally (though not supernaturally) speaks of self-gratifying indulgence and pleasure. The danger is―or should it be said that the REALITY is―that they fall back into to lukewarm levels they were wallowing in before Lent started! Yes―Easter is a time of joy, but of spiritual joy rather than the joy of stuffing yourself with all the things you missed out on during Lent! The following words of Holy Scripture can all too easily be applied to most Catholics these days: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). Lent was meant to be a time of mortifying―which literally means “putting to death”―our worldly appetites, our worldly old-self, and putting-on a new person: “Knowing this―that our old man is crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6) … “stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9) … “to put off the old man, who is corrupted” (Ephesians 4:22) … “not to return now any more to corruption” (Acts 13:34) … “If, flying from the pollutions of the world, they be again entangled in them and overcome by them, then their latter state is become worse than the former! … For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog is returned to his vomit!’ and, ‘The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire!’” (2 Peter 2:20-22). For such folk, Lent might well be “three steps forward”, but when Easter comes and Lent disappears, then it is often a case of “three steps backwards”―thus, from year to year, there is no real spiritual progress, but only spiritual stagnation. Our Lord describes it thus: “When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man [let’s say, during Lent, for example] he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits―more wicked than himself―and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is made worse than the first!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
The True Spirit of Easter
It is often said that the mother of a family embodies the family spirit―she is the heart of the family. Likewise, Holy Mother Church embodies the spirit of the family of the Mystical Body of Christ―and she daily tries to communicate Her spirit to us through Her words―which we find in the Liturgy. It is sad to see how few of Her children turn to Holy Mother Church for Her wisdom and encouragement! Every single Sunday Holy Mother Church organizes a “family reunion” (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) and commands all Her children to come to it―so that She can address them, teach them and feed them. Most of Her children no longer attend―and the few that do, often can’t wait to get out of there and Her words of wisdom “go-in-one-ear-and-out-the-other”. Yet, if you take time to look at the various prayers (Collects, Secrets, Post-Communions) and readings (Epistles and Gospels) that Holy Mother Church communicates to us during this Easter season, then the spirit of Easter comes through very clearly.
“She gives them the water of wholesome wisdom to drink” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Tuesday in Easter Week). “Attend, O my people, to My law! Incline your ears to the words of My mouth” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Friday in Easter Week). “Christ died for our sins―the just for the unjust―that He might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit!” (Epistle, Friday in Easter Week). “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps―He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, did not revile! When He suffered, He threatened not, but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly! Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice. By whose stripes you were healed! For you were as sheep going astray―but you are now converted to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls!” (Epistle, 2nd Sunday after Easter).
“Christ our Pasch was sacrificed! For He is the Lamb Who hath taken away the sins of the world! Who, by dying, hath destroyed our death; and, by rising again, hath restored us to life!” (Easter Preface at Mass). “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above―not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to sin]; and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” [Though not in Epistle at Mass, the next verse reads:] “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols!” (Colossians 3:1-4, 5; Epistle at Midnight Mass). “Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, so that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened! For Christ our Pasch is sacrificed! Therefore let us feast―not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness―but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Epistle at the Day Mass on Easter Sunday). “Wherefore laying away all malice, and all guile, and dissimulations, and envies, and all detractions, desire the rational milk without guile as newborn babes, that thereby you may grow unto salvation … Be you also as living stones built up into a spiritual house” (Epistle, Saturday in Easter Week). “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world―and this is the victory, which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (Epistle, 1st Sunday after Easter).
“O Lord, we beseech Thee, that we, reverently receiving thy Sacrament, may be cleansed from all our former defilement, and become a new creature in Thee” (Post-Communion, Wednesday in Easter Week). “You are a chosen generation, a purchased people ― He hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!” (Communion, Thursday in Easter Week). “Give glory to the Lord, and call upon His Name! Declare His deeds among the Gentiles … The law of the Lord be always in thy mouth!” (Introit or Entrance Hymn, Monday in Easter Week).
Perpetual Conversion
The spiritual life is a road of perpetual conversion, until the day we die. There is a famous axiom of the spiritual life, quoted by many saints and spiritual writers, that says: “There is not standing still in the spiritual life—we are either going forwards or backwards—he who makes not progress, regresses.” This is something that we instinctively dislike. We would prefer to reach a goal and then put up our feet and rest. This can never be so in the spiritual life. It has to be a life of perpetual spiritual motion, always working. How else can you interpret Scriptural quotes like: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “We also give thanks to God without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Our Lord Himself says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Let nothing hinder thee from praying always” (Ecclesiasticus 18:22).
The Joys of Heaven Require Pain on Earth
If we want to follow Jesus into the joys of Heaven, we must first labor with Him under the pains of this life: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Our Lady implies the same thing, when she says to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!” This recalls Our Lord’s own words at the Last Supper, before He embarked upon His own painful road to joy: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead did not take away all the future sorrows, sufferings and martyrdom that His Apostles would undergo. The whole purpose was that they should learn to suffer and die as Christ suffered and died―so that they might rise with Christ from the dead to a life of eternal joy in Heaven.
The Wrong Joy and the Right Joy
We can have a joy that leads us to Hell, or a joy that leads us to Heaven. The sinner will find temporary joy in his sins, which will eventually lead him to the pains of Purgatory, or even Hell. The saint will take pains to find joy in pain, which will eventually lead him to the joys of Heaven.
Neither is the joy of Easter a joy over the fact that we no longer have to fast from food and abstain from meat! We are not meant to go back to what we once were when Lent began. We are meant to be at a higher level and to remain at that higher level. Otherwise we have the senseless situation of the two factories, where one factory takes stones and grinds them into powder and then ships the powder to the other factory. The other factory takes the powder and makes it into stones and ships it back to the first factory, which then makes it into powder again, etc.
Monday in Easter Week, April 5th
Article 2
Same Old, Same Old ― Or Something New?
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Article 2
Same Old, Same Old ― Or Something New?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Same Old Jesus or Something New? Same Old You or Something New?
From the moment Jesus rose from the dead He was unrecognizable! Even His nearest and dearest failed to recognize Him, or at least had a very hard time recognizing Him. Mary Magdalen fails to recognize Him; the Apostles fail to recognize Him; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus fail to recognize Him. That is also how it should be with our sinful selves―we should, as Christians and followers of Christ, be continually changing―becoming less and less worldly and more and more Christ-like:
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to the world] and your life is hid with Christ in God. Therefore, mortify your members which are upon the Earth―fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. Put you also away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another! Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10). You should become unrecognizable to the person that you once were! Christ was unrecognizable when He rose from the dead―and should you be unrecognizable as you rise from the “death” of sin!
Mary Magdalen Does Not Recognize Him
The first recorded encounter with the resurrected Jesus is that concerning Mary Magdalen: “But Mary stood at the outside the sepulcher, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She saith to them: ‘Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him!’ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him: ‘Sir, if Thou hast taken him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away!’ Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to Him: ‘Rabboni!’ –which is to say, ‘Master’” (John 20:11-16).
The Emmaus Bound Disciples Do Not Recognize Him
The next recorded account is that of two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They were disconsolate and saddened at the apparent failure of Jesus’ mission, which had been ended by His death.
“Behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves,Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him.
“And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom He said: ‘What things?’
"And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’
“Then He said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him.
"And they drew near to the town, where they were going: and He made as though He would go farther. But they constrained Him; saying: ‘Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent!’ And He went in with them. And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:13-31).
Our Lord Appears to Peter
The two disciples, in their excitement, high-tailed back to Jerusalem, to tell all the other followers of Jesus that they had seen Jesus alive—only to have their balloon burst by being told that Jesus had already appeared to St. Peter—though in this case we do not know whether or not Peter recognized Him: “They went back to Jerusalem: and they found the Eleven gathered together, and those that were staying with them, saying: ‘The Lord is risen indeed! And hath appeared to Simon!’” (Luke 24:33-34).
Our Lord ‘Gate-Crashes’
While they were busy exchanging stories of how Our Lord had appeared to (Simon) Peter and then to the two disciples, Our Lord suddenly appears in their midst! “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit … And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But they yet believed not, and wondered for joy” (Luke 24:36-41).
Jesus and Doubting Thomas
While they were still in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared twice to His Apostles—once in the absence of Thomas (see above paragraph), and the second time in the presence of Thomas. “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
“And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:24-29).
Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias
The third time that Jesus appeared to a group of His disciples was in Galilee. Again, they did not recognize Jesus, though some sensed that the person that they saw could possibly be Jesus. It is John, the beloved Apostle of Love, who first senses it might be Jesus. Love somehow knows these things!
“Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And He showed Himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter saith to them: ‘I go a fishing!’ They say to him: ‘We also come with thee!’ And they went forth, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Children, have you any meat?’ They answered Him: ‘No!’ He saith to them: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find!’ They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes.
“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him, (for he was naked,) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship, (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: ‘Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught!’ Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: ‘Come, and dine!’ And none of them who were at meat, dared ask Him: ‘Who art thou?’ knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21:1-12).
A Mountain in Galilee
While they were in Galilee, Jesus also appeared to them upon a mountain. However, not all His disciples believed that what they were seeing was truly Jesus: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored: but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). Once again, in some way, Jesus is unrecognizable.
Why Does Jesus Do This?
Why does Jesus make Himself unrecognizable? Why doesn't He appear to His followers in a way that they can easily recognize Him? What is the point of all this?
Sitting in Darkness
“The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). When we first come out of a room that was in total darkness, we cannot see things clearly in the bright light of the sun. It takes time for our eyes to get used to the light. Likewise, when one emerges from a life of mortal sin to a life of grace, the bright light of a fully vibrant spiritual life is too great for us—we can only perceive vague outlines and little or no detail. The more naturalistic and materialistic we are, then the greater is the darkness that enshrouds us. When faced with the brilliancy of the spiritual, we cannot see it properly and, dazzled by its splendor, we often prefer to retreat back into our comfortable darkness to escape the pain of dazzling spiritual light that hurts the eyes of our soul.
Failure to See Christ
Why on earth did Jesus appear to be different after His Resurrection? We know that He had changed because everyone whom He encountered or appeared to after the Resurrection, failed to recognize Him, even among His nearest and dearest—the Apostles, Mary Magdalen, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and many others. Prior to His Passion and Death, Our Lord had conformed Himself largely to our way of doing things—after His Resurrection He seems to expect that we should now conform more to His way of doing things. The apprenticeship is over, now we have to really get down to work! So far there has been more watching than doing. Now there has to be more doing than watching. “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29).“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”(James 1:22).
How Was Jesus Different?
After the Resurrection, Jesus was somehow different. As God He cannot change: “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration”(James 1:17). If God could change, then He wouldn’t be all-perfect—He would either be changing for the better (which means He wasn’t yet perfect in the first place) or He would be changing for the worse (which means He is not all-perfect, nor all-powerful after all). Yet as God-Man, Jesus did change.
As God-Man, He changed physically—growing from a childhood, through adolescence to manhood. We even see Holy Scripture testifying to His intellectual and spiritual growth: “The Child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in Him” (Luke 2:40). “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:52). This is how we should change also—advancing in wisdom, age and grace with God and men.
Our Lord Comes to Change Us
As one saint put it: “Jesus became like man, in order to make us like unto God.” In other words, He became human that He might lead humans to something superhuman. He entered our natural world so that He might elevate it to a supernatural level. He came to change us for the better. Our Lord Himself said: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The mountain is a symbol of God and the mountain was intimately woven into the life of Jesus. We see Him give sermons on the mount; He goes alone to pray on the mount; He is transfigured on a mountain; He suffers His agony on the Mount of Olives; He dies on Mount Calvary; He ascends to Heaven from a mountain.
As we ascend a mountain, the air becomes rarefied. The air in high elevations has less oxygen. This rarefied air can be challenging to mountain climbers. It's difficult to breathe in the rarefied air near the mountain's peak. High mountain air is dry and may be drier in the winter. Cold air has a reduced capacity to hold water vapor. The dry air requires increased consumption of water (water being a symbol of grace). Due to the cold, most persons do not consume enough water (grace) and must be encouraged to consciously increase their fluid intake.
As you climb the mountain, you have to change your approach and methods at different heights and levels. Refusal to change and adapt to the increasingly difficult terrain can lead to failure or death.
Changes in Life
In the Preface used for the Mass of the Dead, the Church speaks of life being “changed” not ended. Likewise, even here on earth, our life is in a process of constantly changing—either for the better or for the worse. As the spiritual masters say, "He who is not making progress, is really going backwards." The development of the interior life has often been compared to the three periods or stages of physical life: childhood, youth, and adulthood. St. Thomas Aquinas himself uses this analogy: and it is an analogy which is worth pursuing.
It is generally admitted that childhood lasts until the age of puberty, about fourteen. Youth, or adolescence, lasts from the age of fourteen to around twenty. Then follows adulthood, in which we may distinguish the period which precedes full maturity, about the age of thirty-five, and that which follows it, before the decline of old age sets in.
A person’s mentality changes with the development of the body: the activity of the child, it has been said, is not that of a adult in miniature form, or of a fatigued adult; the dominant element in childhood is different. The child has as yet no discernment, it is unable to organize in a rational manner; it follows the lead of the imagination and the impulses of sense. And even when the child’s reason begins to awaken, it still remains to a great extent dependent upon the senses.
Then there is the transition from childhood to adolescence and from youth to adulthood. The period of puberty, which is the end of childhood, about the age of fourteen, is characterized by a transformation which is not only physical, but also psychological, intellectual and moral. The adolescents, or youths, are no longer content to follow their imagination, as the child was; they begins to reflect on the things of life, on the need to prepare himself for some career or occupation in the future. They no longer have a child’s attitude towards family, social and religious matters; their moral personality begins to take shape, and they acquire the sense of honor and of good repute. Or else, on the contrary, if they pass unsuccessfully through this difficult period, the adolescents change for the worse and follows evil paths.
The law of nature dictates that the transition from childhood to adolescence or youth, must follow a normal development; otherwise the person will remain a half-wit, perhaps even a complete idiot, for the rest of his life. As the saying goes: “He who makes no progress loses ground.” St. Paul writes: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child” (1 Corinthians 13:10-11).
It is at this point that the analogy becomes enlightening for the spiritual life. We shall see that the beginner who fails to become a proficient (make progress), either turns to sin, or else presents an example of arrested spiritual development. Here, too, it is true that “he who makes no progress loses ground,” as the Fathers of the Church have so often pointed out. Spiritual change is a strict necessity.
Spiritual Changes
The first level of change is that of bringing us out of mortal sin:
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came to call sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:17)—namely, mortal sin. This kind of sin must be avoided if we are to love God with our whole, heart, mind, soul and strength. The membership cost for this basic level is that of keeping the Commandments and paying for past sin through penance: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). In this level, the soul is still very naturalistic, materially orientated, tending more to the physical than the spiritual. Analogically speaking, let us pluck an imaginary ratio from the sky and say that the soul might be anywhere from 10% to 30% spiritual, but 90% to 70% naturalistic.
This first level of change, changes us from enemies of God into servants of God.
The second level of change, after leaving mortal sin behind, is that of bringing us out of deliberate venial sin.
Whereas mortal sin leads to death of grace in the soul, venial sin does not lead to the death of grace in the soul, but increasingly weakens the soul and paves the way for mortal sin. Venial sin is “a sin which is not to death” (1 John 5:16). Nevertheless, it is an attack upon God and it, too, must be eliminated. Once mortal sin is eradicated, venial sin must follow suit—otherwise we cannot truly claim to love God.
Analogically speaking, let us once again put an imaginary ratio forward and say that the soul, at this level, could be anywhere from 30% to 70% spiritual, and 70% to 30% naturalistic. In other words, the soul has become less materialistic and more spiritual, without being able to relinquish materialism and naturalism altogether. They are in the continued process of change, becoming less human in tendencies and more divine. They are starting to become unrecognizable to what they once were.
This second level of change, changes us from servants of God into friends of God. Our Lord says this to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends” (John 15:15). It is natural for friends to talk and communicate—this is why souls in this second level of change, begin to communicate with God more and more. Prayer is the usual way we communicate with God and these souls now begin to pray more and more—not just saying more prayers, but saying with more quality too. They begin to fulfill the Scriptural commands of: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Our Lord’s command “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). They start to become increasingly unrecognizable to the worldlings that surround them, who will make comments like: “What’s come over you? You’re not the person I used to know!”
The third level of change, after relinquishing mortal and venial sin, is the elimination of imperfections.
The third level of change takes us from a spiritual friendship with God, to a total union to God (as much as that is possible here below), much like a marriage. So that we have now passed from being servants, to being friends and now to being a spouse of sorts. Though this is a goal that God sets for everybody, very few souls are generous enough to achieve this kind of union here below—of the few souls that go to Heaven, most have to reach that level of unity in Purgatory, where nothing else matters but God and His Divine Will.
“The Apostles were prepared for their third level of change, or transformation, by the fact that from the time of the Ascension they were deprived of the perceptible presence of Jesus Himself. When Our Lord forever deprived His Apostles of the sight of His sacred Humanity, they must have suffered a distress which we do not perhaps sufficiently realize. When we consider that Our Lord had become their very life—as St. Paul says: “For to me, to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21)—and that they had become daily more and more intimate with Him, they must have had a feeling of the greatest loneliness, like a feeling of desolation, even of death. And their desolation must have been the more intense since Our Lord Himself had foretold all the sufferings that were in store. We experience something of the same dismay when, after having lived on a higher plane during the time of retreat, under the guidance of a priestly soul full of the spirit of God, we are plunged once again into our everyday life which seems to deprive us suddenly of this fullness” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
It was at the coming of the Holy Ghost—the Spirit of Love—that the Apostles rose to an even higher spiritual level. Thereby they entered into the Way of Perfection, of Mystical Union with God, the Unitive Way. Gone were mortal and venial sin, perfection in all things was now rooting-out any and all imperfections. As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “The Holy Ghost already dwelt in the souls of the Apostles, but, by this visible mission, He came into them to increase the treasures of His grace, of the virtues and the gifts, giving them light and strength in order that they might be capable of witnessing to Christ even to the ends of the earth, and at the peril of their lives. The tongues of fire are a sign that the Holy Spirit enkindled in their souls that living flame of Love of which St. John of the Cross speaks” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Unrecognizable Apostles
“Such was their third conversion; it was a complete transformation of their souls. Their first conversion had made them disciples of the Master, attracted by the sublime beauty of His teaching; the second, at the end of the Passion, had enabled them to divine the fecundity of the mystery of the Cross, enlightened as it was by the Resurrection which followed it; the third conversion fills them with the profound conviction of this mystery, a mystery which they will constantly live until their martyrdom” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
“The transformation, which the Apostles had undergone, is shown also in their sanctifying influence, in the transport of intense fervor which they communicated to the first Christians. As the Acts of Apostles show, the life of the infant Church was a life of marvelous sanctity; ‘the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul;’ they had all things in common, they sold their goods and brought the price of them to the Apostles that they might distribute to each according to his needs. They met together every day to pray, to hear the preaching of the Apostles, and to celebrate the Eucharist. They were often seen assembled together in prayer, and men wondered to see the charity that reigned among them. ‘By this,’ Our Lord had said, ‘shall all men know that you are My disciples.’” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Bossuet has given an admirable description of the fervor of the first Christians, in his third sermon for the feast of Pentecost: “They are strong in the face of peril, but they are tender in the love of their brethren; the almighty Spirit who guides them well knows the secret of reconciling the most opposite tensions.... He gives them a heart of flesh... made tender by charity... and He makes them hard as iron or steel in the face of peril.... He strengthens and He softens, but in a manner all His own. For these are the same hearts of the disciples, which seem as diamonds in their invincible firmness, and which yet become human hearts and hearts of flesh by brotherly love. This is the effect of the heavenly fire that rests upon them this day. It has softened the hearts of the faithful, it has, so to speak, melted them into one....
“The Apostles of the Son of God had once disputed concerning who was the greatest among them; but now, that the Holy Ghost has made them of one heart and one soul, they are no longer jealous or quarrelsome. It seems to them that through Peter they all speak, that with him they all preside, and if his shadow heals the sick the whole Church has its part in this gift and praises our Lord for it”(Bossuet).
Unrecognizable Christians
Our Lord and the Holy Ghost, Fatih and grace, drastically changed so many of the early Christians that they were unrecognizable when compared to their earlier selves. This is also God’s plan for us—if we would only accept it and cooperate with it! Jesus rose from death to a new life, a better life, a higher life—and was thereby unrecognizable, even to His own.
God is prepared to give us a new heart—“And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 11:19) … “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezechiel 18:31) …“And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence.
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ stresses this need for a “new self” ― “As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he, who turns completely to God, is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man. When a man begins to grow lax, he fears a little toil and welcomes external comfort, but when he begins perfectly to conquer himself and to walk bravely in the ways of God, then he thinks those things less difficult which he thought so hard before” (Book 2, chapter 4). “You must put on the new man. You must be changed into another man. You must often do the things you do not wish to do and forego those you do wish” (Book 3, chapter 49). “Do not lose heart, then, my brother, in pursuing your spiritual life. There is yet time, and your hour is not past. Why delay your purpose? Arise! Begin at once and say: ‘Now is the time to act! Now is the time to fight! Now is the proper time to amend!’” (Book 1, chapter 22). “What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. Would that in this world we had lived well throughout one single day. If it is so terrifying to die, it is, nevertheless, possible that to live longer is more dangerous. Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day” (Book 1, chapter 23).
The Changing Mechanism of Grace
Grace does not make us like God in the strict sense, by changing our human nature into a divine nature, but it perfects our human nature, raising it above the mere natural to the supernatural. Grace does not make us the equals of God, but it changes us into Godlike beings, it makes us more like God. It only changes our nature by perfecting our human nature.
“Full of Grace”?
In Holy Scripture, the Angel Gabriel says to Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” (Luke 1:28) and Holy Scripture says of St. Stpehen, the first martyr: “And Stephen, full of grace…” (Acts 6:8). We see both Our Lady and St. Stephen being called “full of grace”--yet we know that there is a massive difference between Our Lady and St. Stephen. The idea of being “full of grace” can be applied to each stage of spiritual development as well the different capacities of each person. By analogy, we can say that, in the realm of small containers, a male hiker, a female hiker and a child hiker are all carrying a full load if their backpacks are filled to the brim. All the backpacks are full. Yet the male hiker may be carrying 80 lbs; the female is carrying only 40 lbs; while the child hiker is carrying only 25 lbs—nevertheless all have full loads.
Likewise, a student may attain 100% in their math exam in every grade—from Kindergarten to 12th Grade—yet the level of math and the difficulty of the exam changes with each year and becomes harder and harder. An athlete may win his local school’s annual cross-country race—but each year he cuts more and more minutes off the winning-time for the previous year.
We can be full of grace here on earth just as we can be full of grace in Heaven. The capacity of each person is different, some are designed to contain more grace, others to contain less grace—but everyone's capacity can be filled to the brim, and everyone can be fully satisfied, even though others may have more.
Post-Resurrection Appearances
Following the classification of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as listed in his Spiritual Exercises, we see that Our Lord’s first three apparitions were to three classes of women—then He appears to three classes of disciples.
He first appears to Our Lady, then the women who had come to the tomb, then Mary Magdalen. Our Lady represents the pinnacle of the spiritual life—the Way of Perfection or the Unitive Way. The women represent the stage below this perfection—namely, the Way of Progress or the Illuminative Way. Mary Magdalen represents the lowest stage—the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way.
Similarly for the men. Our Lord appears to (1) Simon-Peter, (2) to the Apostles (minus Thomas) and (3) the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. St. Peter could be said to represent the Way of Perfection or the Unitive Way; the Apostles could be said to represent those making progress. The disciples (who were not as close to Our Lord and beneath the Apostles) could be said to represent the Beginners.
To get to Heaven, we have to go through all three stages—just like a person has to go through all the stages of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In other words, to get to Heaven, we must become unrecognizable to what we once were! The “same old, same old” will just not do! There has to be something new!
From the moment Jesus rose from the dead He was unrecognizable! Even His nearest and dearest failed to recognize Him, or at least had a very hard time recognizing Him. Mary Magdalen fails to recognize Him; the Apostles fail to recognize Him; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus fail to recognize Him. That is also how it should be with our sinful selves―we should, as Christians and followers of Christ, be continually changing―becoming less and less worldly and more and more Christ-like:
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead [to the world] and your life is hid with Christ in God. Therefore, mortify your members which are upon the Earth―fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. Put you also away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another! Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10). You should become unrecognizable to the person that you once were! Christ was unrecognizable when He rose from the dead―and should you be unrecognizable as you rise from the “death” of sin!
Mary Magdalen Does Not Recognize Him
The first recorded encounter with the resurrected Jesus is that concerning Mary Magdalen: “But Mary stood at the outside the sepulcher, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She saith to them: ‘Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him!’ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him: ‘Sir, if Thou hast taken him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away!’ Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to Him: ‘Rabboni!’ –which is to say, ‘Master’” (John 20:11-16).
The Emmaus Bound Disciples Do Not Recognize Him
The next recorded account is that of two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They were disconsolate and saddened at the apparent failure of Jesus’ mission, which had been ended by His death.
“Behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves,Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him.
“And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom He said: ‘What things?’
"And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’
“Then He said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him.
"And they drew near to the town, where they were going: and He made as though He would go farther. But they constrained Him; saying: ‘Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent!’ And He went in with them. And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:13-31).
Our Lord Appears to Peter
The two disciples, in their excitement, high-tailed back to Jerusalem, to tell all the other followers of Jesus that they had seen Jesus alive—only to have their balloon burst by being told that Jesus had already appeared to St. Peter—though in this case we do not know whether or not Peter recognized Him: “They went back to Jerusalem: and they found the Eleven gathered together, and those that were staying with them, saying: ‘The Lord is risen indeed! And hath appeared to Simon!’” (Luke 24:33-34).
Our Lord ‘Gate-Crashes’
While they were busy exchanging stories of how Our Lord had appeared to (Simon) Peter and then to the two disciples, Our Lord suddenly appears in their midst! “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit … And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But they yet believed not, and wondered for joy” (Luke 24:36-41).
Jesus and Doubting Thomas
While they were still in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared twice to His Apostles—once in the absence of Thomas (see above paragraph), and the second time in the presence of Thomas. “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
“And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:24-29).
Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias
The third time that Jesus appeared to a group of His disciples was in Galilee. Again, they did not recognize Jesus, though some sensed that the person that they saw could possibly be Jesus. It is John, the beloved Apostle of Love, who first senses it might be Jesus. Love somehow knows these things!
“Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And He showed Himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter saith to them: ‘I go a fishing!’ They say to him: ‘We also come with thee!’ And they went forth, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Children, have you any meat?’ They answered Him: ‘No!’ He saith to them: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find!’ They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes.
“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him, (for he was naked,) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship, (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: ‘Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught!’ Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: ‘Come, and dine!’ And none of them who were at meat, dared ask Him: ‘Who art thou?’ knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21:1-12).
A Mountain in Galilee
While they were in Galilee, Jesus also appeared to them upon a mountain. However, not all His disciples believed that what they were seeing was truly Jesus: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored: but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). Once again, in some way, Jesus is unrecognizable.
Why Does Jesus Do This?
Why does Jesus make Himself unrecognizable? Why doesn't He appear to His followers in a way that they can easily recognize Him? What is the point of all this?
Sitting in Darkness
“The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). When we first come out of a room that was in total darkness, we cannot see things clearly in the bright light of the sun. It takes time for our eyes to get used to the light. Likewise, when one emerges from a life of mortal sin to a life of grace, the bright light of a fully vibrant spiritual life is too great for us—we can only perceive vague outlines and little or no detail. The more naturalistic and materialistic we are, then the greater is the darkness that enshrouds us. When faced with the brilliancy of the spiritual, we cannot see it properly and, dazzled by its splendor, we often prefer to retreat back into our comfortable darkness to escape the pain of dazzling spiritual light that hurts the eyes of our soul.
Failure to See Christ
Why on earth did Jesus appear to be different after His Resurrection? We know that He had changed because everyone whom He encountered or appeared to after the Resurrection, failed to recognize Him, even among His nearest and dearest—the Apostles, Mary Magdalen, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and many others. Prior to His Passion and Death, Our Lord had conformed Himself largely to our way of doing things—after His Resurrection He seems to expect that we should now conform more to His way of doing things. The apprenticeship is over, now we have to really get down to work! So far there has been more watching than doing. Now there has to be more doing than watching. “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29).“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”(James 1:22).
How Was Jesus Different?
After the Resurrection, Jesus was somehow different. As God He cannot change: “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration”(James 1:17). If God could change, then He wouldn’t be all-perfect—He would either be changing for the better (which means He wasn’t yet perfect in the first place) or He would be changing for the worse (which means He is not all-perfect, nor all-powerful after all). Yet as God-Man, Jesus did change.
As God-Man, He changed physically—growing from a childhood, through adolescence to manhood. We even see Holy Scripture testifying to His intellectual and spiritual growth: “The Child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in Him” (Luke 2:40). “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:52). This is how we should change also—advancing in wisdom, age and grace with God and men.
Our Lord Comes to Change Us
As one saint put it: “Jesus became like man, in order to make us like unto God.” In other words, He became human that He might lead humans to something superhuman. He entered our natural world so that He might elevate it to a supernatural level. He came to change us for the better. Our Lord Himself said: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The mountain is a symbol of God and the mountain was intimately woven into the life of Jesus. We see Him give sermons on the mount; He goes alone to pray on the mount; He is transfigured on a mountain; He suffers His agony on the Mount of Olives; He dies on Mount Calvary; He ascends to Heaven from a mountain.
As we ascend a mountain, the air becomes rarefied. The air in high elevations has less oxygen. This rarefied air can be challenging to mountain climbers. It's difficult to breathe in the rarefied air near the mountain's peak. High mountain air is dry and may be drier in the winter. Cold air has a reduced capacity to hold water vapor. The dry air requires increased consumption of water (water being a symbol of grace). Due to the cold, most persons do not consume enough water (grace) and must be encouraged to consciously increase their fluid intake.
As you climb the mountain, you have to change your approach and methods at different heights and levels. Refusal to change and adapt to the increasingly difficult terrain can lead to failure or death.
Changes in Life
In the Preface used for the Mass of the Dead, the Church speaks of life being “changed” not ended. Likewise, even here on earth, our life is in a process of constantly changing—either for the better or for the worse. As the spiritual masters say, "He who is not making progress, is really going backwards." The development of the interior life has often been compared to the three periods or stages of physical life: childhood, youth, and adulthood. St. Thomas Aquinas himself uses this analogy: and it is an analogy which is worth pursuing.
It is generally admitted that childhood lasts until the age of puberty, about fourteen. Youth, or adolescence, lasts from the age of fourteen to around twenty. Then follows adulthood, in which we may distinguish the period which precedes full maturity, about the age of thirty-five, and that which follows it, before the decline of old age sets in.
A person’s mentality changes with the development of the body: the activity of the child, it has been said, is not that of a adult in miniature form, or of a fatigued adult; the dominant element in childhood is different. The child has as yet no discernment, it is unable to organize in a rational manner; it follows the lead of the imagination and the impulses of sense. And even when the child’s reason begins to awaken, it still remains to a great extent dependent upon the senses.
Then there is the transition from childhood to adolescence and from youth to adulthood. The period of puberty, which is the end of childhood, about the age of fourteen, is characterized by a transformation which is not only physical, but also psychological, intellectual and moral. The adolescents, or youths, are no longer content to follow their imagination, as the child was; they begins to reflect on the things of life, on the need to prepare himself for some career or occupation in the future. They no longer have a child’s attitude towards family, social and religious matters; their moral personality begins to take shape, and they acquire the sense of honor and of good repute. Or else, on the contrary, if they pass unsuccessfully through this difficult period, the adolescents change for the worse and follows evil paths.
The law of nature dictates that the transition from childhood to adolescence or youth, must follow a normal development; otherwise the person will remain a half-wit, perhaps even a complete idiot, for the rest of his life. As the saying goes: “He who makes no progress loses ground.” St. Paul writes: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child” (1 Corinthians 13:10-11).
It is at this point that the analogy becomes enlightening for the spiritual life. We shall see that the beginner who fails to become a proficient (make progress), either turns to sin, or else presents an example of arrested spiritual development. Here, too, it is true that “he who makes no progress loses ground,” as the Fathers of the Church have so often pointed out. Spiritual change is a strict necessity.
Spiritual Changes
The first level of change is that of bringing us out of mortal sin:
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came to call sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:17)—namely, mortal sin. This kind of sin must be avoided if we are to love God with our whole, heart, mind, soul and strength. The membership cost for this basic level is that of keeping the Commandments and paying for past sin through penance: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). In this level, the soul is still very naturalistic, materially orientated, tending more to the physical than the spiritual. Analogically speaking, let us pluck an imaginary ratio from the sky and say that the soul might be anywhere from 10% to 30% spiritual, but 90% to 70% naturalistic.
This first level of change, changes us from enemies of God into servants of God.
The second level of change, after leaving mortal sin behind, is that of bringing us out of deliberate venial sin.
Whereas mortal sin leads to death of grace in the soul, venial sin does not lead to the death of grace in the soul, but increasingly weakens the soul and paves the way for mortal sin. Venial sin is “a sin which is not to death” (1 John 5:16). Nevertheless, it is an attack upon God and it, too, must be eliminated. Once mortal sin is eradicated, venial sin must follow suit—otherwise we cannot truly claim to love God.
Analogically speaking, let us once again put an imaginary ratio forward and say that the soul, at this level, could be anywhere from 30% to 70% spiritual, and 70% to 30% naturalistic. In other words, the soul has become less materialistic and more spiritual, without being able to relinquish materialism and naturalism altogether. They are in the continued process of change, becoming less human in tendencies and more divine. They are starting to become unrecognizable to what they once were.
This second level of change, changes us from servants of God into friends of God. Our Lord says this to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends” (John 15:15). It is natural for friends to talk and communicate—this is why souls in this second level of change, begin to communicate with God more and more. Prayer is the usual way we communicate with God and these souls now begin to pray more and more—not just saying more prayers, but saying with more quality too. They begin to fulfill the Scriptural commands of: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Our Lord’s command “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). They start to become increasingly unrecognizable to the worldlings that surround them, who will make comments like: “What’s come over you? You’re not the person I used to know!”
The third level of change, after relinquishing mortal and venial sin, is the elimination of imperfections.
The third level of change takes us from a spiritual friendship with God, to a total union to God (as much as that is possible here below), much like a marriage. So that we have now passed from being servants, to being friends and now to being a spouse of sorts. Though this is a goal that God sets for everybody, very few souls are generous enough to achieve this kind of union here below—of the few souls that go to Heaven, most have to reach that level of unity in Purgatory, where nothing else matters but God and His Divine Will.
“The Apostles were prepared for their third level of change, or transformation, by the fact that from the time of the Ascension they were deprived of the perceptible presence of Jesus Himself. When Our Lord forever deprived His Apostles of the sight of His sacred Humanity, they must have suffered a distress which we do not perhaps sufficiently realize. When we consider that Our Lord had become their very life—as St. Paul says: “For to me, to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21)—and that they had become daily more and more intimate with Him, they must have had a feeling of the greatest loneliness, like a feeling of desolation, even of death. And their desolation must have been the more intense since Our Lord Himself had foretold all the sufferings that were in store. We experience something of the same dismay when, after having lived on a higher plane during the time of retreat, under the guidance of a priestly soul full of the spirit of God, we are plunged once again into our everyday life which seems to deprive us suddenly of this fullness” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
It was at the coming of the Holy Ghost—the Spirit of Love—that the Apostles rose to an even higher spiritual level. Thereby they entered into the Way of Perfection, of Mystical Union with God, the Unitive Way. Gone were mortal and venial sin, perfection in all things was now rooting-out any and all imperfections. As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “The Holy Ghost already dwelt in the souls of the Apostles, but, by this visible mission, He came into them to increase the treasures of His grace, of the virtues and the gifts, giving them light and strength in order that they might be capable of witnessing to Christ even to the ends of the earth, and at the peril of their lives. The tongues of fire are a sign that the Holy Spirit enkindled in their souls that living flame of Love of which St. John of the Cross speaks” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Unrecognizable Apostles
“Such was their third conversion; it was a complete transformation of their souls. Their first conversion had made them disciples of the Master, attracted by the sublime beauty of His teaching; the second, at the end of the Passion, had enabled them to divine the fecundity of the mystery of the Cross, enlightened as it was by the Resurrection which followed it; the third conversion fills them with the profound conviction of this mystery, a mystery which they will constantly live until their martyrdom” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
“The transformation, which the Apostles had undergone, is shown also in their sanctifying influence, in the transport of intense fervor which they communicated to the first Christians. As the Acts of Apostles show, the life of the infant Church was a life of marvelous sanctity; ‘the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul;’ they had all things in common, they sold their goods and brought the price of them to the Apostles that they might distribute to each according to his needs. They met together every day to pray, to hear the preaching of the Apostles, and to celebrate the Eucharist. They were often seen assembled together in prayer, and men wondered to see the charity that reigned among them. ‘By this,’ Our Lord had said, ‘shall all men know that you are My disciples.’” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life).
Bossuet has given an admirable description of the fervor of the first Christians, in his third sermon for the feast of Pentecost: “They are strong in the face of peril, but they are tender in the love of their brethren; the almighty Spirit who guides them well knows the secret of reconciling the most opposite tensions.... He gives them a heart of flesh... made tender by charity... and He makes them hard as iron or steel in the face of peril.... He strengthens and He softens, but in a manner all His own. For these are the same hearts of the disciples, which seem as diamonds in their invincible firmness, and which yet become human hearts and hearts of flesh by brotherly love. This is the effect of the heavenly fire that rests upon them this day. It has softened the hearts of the faithful, it has, so to speak, melted them into one....
“The Apostles of the Son of God had once disputed concerning who was the greatest among them; but now, that the Holy Ghost has made them of one heart and one soul, they are no longer jealous or quarrelsome. It seems to them that through Peter they all speak, that with him they all preside, and if his shadow heals the sick the whole Church has its part in this gift and praises our Lord for it”(Bossuet).
Unrecognizable Christians
Our Lord and the Holy Ghost, Fatih and grace, drastically changed so many of the early Christians that they were unrecognizable when compared to their earlier selves. This is also God’s plan for us—if we would only accept it and cooperate with it! Jesus rose from death to a new life, a better life, a higher life—and was thereby unrecognizable, even to His own.
God is prepared to give us a new heart—“And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 11:19) … “Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezechiel 18:31) …“And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence.
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ stresses this need for a “new self” ― “As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he, who turns completely to God, is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man. When a man begins to grow lax, he fears a little toil and welcomes external comfort, but when he begins perfectly to conquer himself and to walk bravely in the ways of God, then he thinks those things less difficult which he thought so hard before” (Book 2, chapter 4). “You must put on the new man. You must be changed into another man. You must often do the things you do not wish to do and forego those you do wish” (Book 3, chapter 49). “Do not lose heart, then, my brother, in pursuing your spiritual life. There is yet time, and your hour is not past. Why delay your purpose? Arise! Begin at once and say: ‘Now is the time to act! Now is the time to fight! Now is the proper time to amend!’” (Book 1, chapter 22). “What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. Would that in this world we had lived well throughout one single day. If it is so terrifying to die, it is, nevertheless, possible that to live longer is more dangerous. Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day” (Book 1, chapter 23).
The Changing Mechanism of Grace
Grace does not make us like God in the strict sense, by changing our human nature into a divine nature, but it perfects our human nature, raising it above the mere natural to the supernatural. Grace does not make us the equals of God, but it changes us into Godlike beings, it makes us more like God. It only changes our nature by perfecting our human nature.
“Full of Grace”?
In Holy Scripture, the Angel Gabriel says to Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” (Luke 1:28) and Holy Scripture says of St. Stpehen, the first martyr: “And Stephen, full of grace…” (Acts 6:8). We see both Our Lady and St. Stephen being called “full of grace”--yet we know that there is a massive difference between Our Lady and St. Stephen. The idea of being “full of grace” can be applied to each stage of spiritual development as well the different capacities of each person. By analogy, we can say that, in the realm of small containers, a male hiker, a female hiker and a child hiker are all carrying a full load if their backpacks are filled to the brim. All the backpacks are full. Yet the male hiker may be carrying 80 lbs; the female is carrying only 40 lbs; while the child hiker is carrying only 25 lbs—nevertheless all have full loads.
Likewise, a student may attain 100% in their math exam in every grade—from Kindergarten to 12th Grade—yet the level of math and the difficulty of the exam changes with each year and becomes harder and harder. An athlete may win his local school’s annual cross-country race—but each year he cuts more and more minutes off the winning-time for the previous year.
We can be full of grace here on earth just as we can be full of grace in Heaven. The capacity of each person is different, some are designed to contain more grace, others to contain less grace—but everyone's capacity can be filled to the brim, and everyone can be fully satisfied, even though others may have more.
Post-Resurrection Appearances
Following the classification of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as listed in his Spiritual Exercises, we see that Our Lord’s first three apparitions were to three classes of women—then He appears to three classes of disciples.
He first appears to Our Lady, then the women who had come to the tomb, then Mary Magdalen. Our Lady represents the pinnacle of the spiritual life—the Way of Perfection or the Unitive Way. The women represent the stage below this perfection—namely, the Way of Progress or the Illuminative Way. Mary Magdalen represents the lowest stage—the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way.
Similarly for the men. Our Lord appears to (1) Simon-Peter, (2) to the Apostles (minus Thomas) and (3) the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. St. Peter could be said to represent the Way of Perfection or the Unitive Way; the Apostles could be said to represent those making progress. The disciples (who were not as close to Our Lord and beneath the Apostles) could be said to represent the Beginners.
To get to Heaven, we have to go through all three stages—just like a person has to go through all the stages of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In other words, to get to Heaven, we must become unrecognizable to what we once were! The “same old, same old” will just not do! There has to be something new!
Easter Sunday, April 4th
Article 1
Don't Waste His Death! Rise to a New Life!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 1
Don't Waste His Death! Rise to a New Life!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Life―Not Death!
Why mention “death” on this joyous feast of the resurrection? Well, there would be no resurrection with death in the first place, would there? “Okay, okay!” you say, “but isn’t it a little morose to speak of death on this day?” Not at all―for Christ’s Passion and Death paid the price for our being able rejoice on this day of His resurrection. Furthermore, did you ever notice or think about the fact that Christ rose from the dead with His wounds still visible on His body! Isn’t that a little morose on the part of Christ? Why on earth would He want to rise from dead and keep His scars and wounds―when, being the omnipotent God, He could have healed and removed them! Who likes walking around with ugly scars being visible! People pay “big money” to have plastic surgery and have their scars removed!
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 54, art. 4) gives us five reasons why Christ kept His scars and wounds after His resurrection. These reasons are all essentially “rooted” in the Cross and the Passion. We often say to people who have been praised or raised to high levels: “Keep your feet on the ground! Remember your roots!” Well, the roots of Christ’s glory are to be found in the wounds and scars of His Passion and Death. We are not asked to live the life of the glorified Christ here on Earth, but we are asked to live the life of His Passion and Death. He does not say to us: “Live gloriously!” but He tells us carry our cross and accept persecution and sufferings―the “glory” part only comes in Heaven. Our Lady said much the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but I the next!” Hence St. Thomas says of Christ and His wounds and scars after the resurrection, that they remained for these reasons:
“It was fitting for Christ’s soul at His Resurrection to resume the body with its scars.
(1) In the first place, for Christ’s own glory. For Bede says on Luke 24:40 that He kept His scars not from inability to heal them, ‘but to wear them as an everlasting trophy of His victory.’ Hence St. Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii): ‘Perhaps in that Kingdom we shall see on the bodies of the Martyrs the traces of the wounds which they bore for Christ’s Name―because it will not be a deformity, but a dignity in them; and a certain kind of beauty will shine in them, in the body, though not of the body.’
(2) Secondly, to confirm the hearts of the disciples as to "the faith in His Resurrection" (Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(3) Thirdly, ‘that when He pleads for us with the Father, He may always show the manner of death He endured for us’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(4) Fourthly, ‘that He may convince those redeemed in His blood, how mercifully they have been helped, as He exposes before them the traces of the same death’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(5) Lastly, ‘that in the Judgment-day He may upbraid them with their just condemnation’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
Hence, as St. Augustine says: ‘Christ knew why He kept the scars in His body. For, as He showed them to St. Thomas, who would not believe unless he could touch and see them, so will He show His wounds to His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them, saying: “Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted; recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for you, yet you would not enter.”’ The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory, inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the wounds. Although those openings of the wounds break the continuity of the tissue, still the greater beauty of glory compensates for all this, so that the body is not less entire, but more perfected. Christ willed the scars of His wounds to remain on His body, not only to confirm the faith of His disciples, but for other reasons also. From these it seems that those scars will always remain on His body; because, as Augustine says: ‘I believe our Lord's body to be in heaven, such as it was when He ascended into heaven.’ It is evident that the scars which Christ showed on His body after His Resurrection, have never since been removed from His body.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 54, art. 4).
The “Loser” Triumphs
In sports, everyone loves to see a spectacular comeback―where the player or team, that looked almost certain to lose, ends up winning after an unforeseen and dramatic “come-back”. That is exactly what Christ did by His resurrection from the dead. While He was dying on the cross, His enemies mocked Him, saying: “And they that passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads, and saying: ‘Vah! Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it up again! Save thyself now, coming down from the cross! In like manner were also the Chief Priests mocking, who, with the Scribes, said one to another [sarcastically]: ‘He saved others; himself he cannot save! Let Christ the King of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe!’” (Mark 15:29-32).
Hah! What is easier and what is harder? Is it harder to save yourself by coming down from the cross while you are still alive? Or is it harder rising up from the dead once you have been murdered? Christ chose the harder option―rising from the dead―and not the easier option of coming down from cross. Coming out of the tomb was harder than coming down from the cross! Just as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier? To say to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee!’ or to say: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk’?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option. He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead!
The Multiform Victory of Christ
Attacked from all sides—the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love no man hath than he who lay down his life for his friends.”
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days:”And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake!’ “ (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands. … But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence.
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Earth is All About Suffering―Heaven is All About Glory
The fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible and also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion―tells us something about our life on Earth. Our Lord says that if we wish to follow Him into His glory, then we must first follow Him in His sufferings: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!”(Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Celebrate we must, but our celebration is more spiritual (to satisfy the soul) than it is carnal (to satisfy the body). We do not see Our Lord ‘living-it-up’ after His resurrection by indulging in joys of the body, but we see Him giving much spiritual joy to His disciples. Let us imitate Our Lord! A happy, holy and joyous Easter to all!
Why mention “death” on this joyous feast of the resurrection? Well, there would be no resurrection with death in the first place, would there? “Okay, okay!” you say, “but isn’t it a little morose to speak of death on this day?” Not at all―for Christ’s Passion and Death paid the price for our being able rejoice on this day of His resurrection. Furthermore, did you ever notice or think about the fact that Christ rose from the dead with His wounds still visible on His body! Isn’t that a little morose on the part of Christ? Why on earth would He want to rise from dead and keep His scars and wounds―when, being the omnipotent God, He could have healed and removed them! Who likes walking around with ugly scars being visible! People pay “big money” to have plastic surgery and have their scars removed!
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 54, art. 4) gives us five reasons why Christ kept His scars and wounds after His resurrection. These reasons are all essentially “rooted” in the Cross and the Passion. We often say to people who have been praised or raised to high levels: “Keep your feet on the ground! Remember your roots!” Well, the roots of Christ’s glory are to be found in the wounds and scars of His Passion and Death. We are not asked to live the life of the glorified Christ here on Earth, but we are asked to live the life of His Passion and Death. He does not say to us: “Live gloriously!” but He tells us carry our cross and accept persecution and sufferings―the “glory” part only comes in Heaven. Our Lady said much the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but I the next!” Hence St. Thomas says of Christ and His wounds and scars after the resurrection, that they remained for these reasons:
“It was fitting for Christ’s soul at His Resurrection to resume the body with its scars.
(1) In the first place, for Christ’s own glory. For Bede says on Luke 24:40 that He kept His scars not from inability to heal them, ‘but to wear them as an everlasting trophy of His victory.’ Hence St. Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii): ‘Perhaps in that Kingdom we shall see on the bodies of the Martyrs the traces of the wounds which they bore for Christ’s Name―because it will not be a deformity, but a dignity in them; and a certain kind of beauty will shine in them, in the body, though not of the body.’
(2) Secondly, to confirm the hearts of the disciples as to "the faith in His Resurrection" (Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(3) Thirdly, ‘that when He pleads for us with the Father, He may always show the manner of death He endured for us’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(4) Fourthly, ‘that He may convince those redeemed in His blood, how mercifully they have been helped, as He exposes before them the traces of the same death’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
(5) Lastly, ‘that in the Judgment-day He may upbraid them with their just condemnation’ (St. Bede, on Luke 24:40).
Hence, as St. Augustine says: ‘Christ knew why He kept the scars in His body. For, as He showed them to St. Thomas, who would not believe unless he could touch and see them, so will He show His wounds to His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them, saying: “Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted; recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for you, yet you would not enter.”’ The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory, inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the wounds. Although those openings of the wounds break the continuity of the tissue, still the greater beauty of glory compensates for all this, so that the body is not less entire, but more perfected. Christ willed the scars of His wounds to remain on His body, not only to confirm the faith of His disciples, but for other reasons also. From these it seems that those scars will always remain on His body; because, as Augustine says: ‘I believe our Lord's body to be in heaven, such as it was when He ascended into heaven.’ It is evident that the scars which Christ showed on His body after His Resurrection, have never since been removed from His body.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 54, art. 4).
The “Loser” Triumphs
In sports, everyone loves to see a spectacular comeback―where the player or team, that looked almost certain to lose, ends up winning after an unforeseen and dramatic “come-back”. That is exactly what Christ did by His resurrection from the dead. While He was dying on the cross, His enemies mocked Him, saying: “And they that passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads, and saying: ‘Vah! Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it up again! Save thyself now, coming down from the cross! In like manner were also the Chief Priests mocking, who, with the Scribes, said one to another [sarcastically]: ‘He saved others; himself he cannot save! Let Christ the King of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe!’” (Mark 15:29-32).
Hah! What is easier and what is harder? Is it harder to save yourself by coming down from the cross while you are still alive? Or is it harder rising up from the dead once you have been murdered? Christ chose the harder option―rising from the dead―and not the easier option of coming down from cross. Coming out of the tomb was harder than coming down from the cross! Just as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier? To say to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee!’ or to say: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk’?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option. He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead!
The Multiform Victory of Christ
Attacked from all sides—the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love no man hath than he who lay down his life for his friends.”
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days:”And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake!’ “ (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands. … But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence.
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Earth is All About Suffering―Heaven is All About Glory
The fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible and also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion―tells us something about our life on Earth. Our Lord says that if we wish to follow Him into His glory, then we must first follow Him in His sufferings: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!”(Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Celebrate we must, but our celebration is more spiritual (to satisfy the soul) than it is carnal (to satisfy the body). We do not see Our Lord ‘living-it-up’ after His resurrection by indulging in joys of the body, but we see Him giving much spiritual joy to His disciples. Let us imitate Our Lord! A happy, holy and joyous Easter to all!
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Article 28
Don't Waste His Death
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Article 28
Don't Waste His Death
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Thursday within Holy Week, April 1st
Article 27
The Holy Eucharist
A Cause of Salvation and Damnation, a Medicine and a Poison
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Article 27
The Holy Eucharist
A Cause of Salvation and Damnation, a Medicine and a Poison
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Our Greatest Treasure―Our Greatest Danger
The Holy Eucharist stands at the heart and at the pinnacle of all the Sacraments. The difference is that the Sacraments give us the grace of God, but the Holy Eucharist gives us not only grace, but God Himself. The Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread. It is God Himself! What greater treasure can you imagine? Daily access to God! Having God enter your body and soul through Holy Communion! Yet, at the same time, there is a great danger attached to this! How so? Well, you know well the popular proverb: “Familiarity breeds contempt!” The more we get used to something, the less we start to esteem and respect it.
This is precisely what Holy Mother Church and St. Paul put before us in the Epistle from the Mass for Holy Thursday. The passage from St. Paul that Holy Mother Church has selected is the one where St. Paul rebukes those Christians at Corinth who are guilty of abusing the Holy Eucharist. He warns the Corinthians against the unworthy reception of Holy Communion (11:27–30), because the Eucharist is Jesus Himself: “Whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord … For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the Body eats and drinks condemnation upon himself” (11:27, 29). Paul says that we must examine ourselves before we receive (11:28). These three verses (11:27–29) — which concern a matter so important that salvation or damnation hinges on it — are read at least three times each year in the traditional Latin Mass. They were, however, systematically excluded and never read in the Novus Ordo Mass (the New Mass that came out at the end of the 1960s and continued to be changed at the start of the 1970s).
The Apostle also points out that unworthy reception of Communion can lead to physical sickness and death (11:30). St. Paul’s advice that Christians should first eat at home and then come later on to the Mass (11:34), emphasizing its proper dignity as a heavenly banquet, shows the remote origins of the discipline of the Eucharistic fast. Here is the entire passage:
“First of all, I hear that when you come together in the church, there are schisms among you―and in part I believe it. When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord's Supper. [He speaks of them mixing together their secular meals with Lord’s Supper, that is Holy Mass]. For every one taketh before his own supper to eat. And one indeed is hungry and another is drunk! What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God; and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not! [He then reminds them that the Lord’s Supper is not a common meal, but a sacrifice―which we today call the Sacrifice of the Mass]. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. And giving thanks, broke, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body, which shall be delivered for you! Do this for the commemoration of Me!’ In like manner also the Chalice, after He had supped, saying: ‘This Chalice is the New Testament in My Blood! Do ye this, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of Me!’ For as often as you shall eat this Bread, and drink the Chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come! Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord! But let a man prove himself―and so let him eat of that Bread, and drink of the Chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord. Therefore there are many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep. But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If any man be hungry, let him eat at home [before coming to the Lord’s Supper or Holy Mass]; that you come not together unto judgment” (1 Corinthians 11:18-33).
The Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice
The Holy Eucharist is inextricably tied to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―it is during the Holy Sacrifice that the Holy Eucharist is produced through transubstantiation, whereby the substances of bread and wine are changed into the substances of the Body and Blood of Christ, whilst miraculously retaining the appearance of bread and wine. You cannot get the Holy Eucharist without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―much like you cannot beget a child without parents. That is why the Church teaches that the Holy Eucharist is NOT JUST a Sacrament, but a SACRAMENT and a SACRIFICE.
Fr. Stefano M. Manelli, in his book Jesus Our Eucharistic Love, writes: “Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23). The Faith of the Church, Pope Pius XII teaches us, is this: That one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary, Who suffered on the Cross, Who is present in the Eucharist, and Who rules in Heaven. The Eucharistic Jesus is here with us as a brother, as a friend, as spouse of our souls. He wishes to enter within us to be our food for eternal life, our love, our support. He wants to make us part of His mystical Body in which He would redeem us and save us, and then take us into the kingdom of Heaven”
Christ came to “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He said of Himself: “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9) … “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He then explains how we achieve that eternal life: “He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life. I am the Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life―and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:47-59).
The Only Way to Heaven
As Holy Scripture says: “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). Our Lord said of Himself: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). If that is the case, then you had better go find Him and find that door! Where is He? Where is that door? He is in the Holy Eucharist, behind the door of every tabernacle!
God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). To find God is to find love. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love: It signifies Love, It produces love.” Without that Love we shall never make Heaven―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Lack of Eucharistic Love
The image of a heart is a symbol of charity and love. It is no coincidence that when Jesus came to St. Margaret Mary to sow the seeds of devotion to His Sacred Heart, it was during the octave of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), a Eucharistic feast. We even have a votive Mass dedicated to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. You could also call it the Eucharistic Love of Jesus―for the Heart of Jesus is all about love, and God is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). You can also correctly say that Holy Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus―especially since scientists discovered that 1,200 year old remains of a Host from the Eucharistic miracle at Lanciano, was actually a fragment of a human heart! [click here to read about it]. This “Heart” or “Loving Heart” of the Holy Eucharist is further amplified and proven by the words of the Sacred Heart, spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … and is not able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
In the parable of the wedding feast (isn’t marriage supposed to be all about love?), Our Lord mentions that the man without a wedding-garment (which biblical commentators say signifies a garment of love or charity) is cast out of the wedding banquet: “The marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 22:10-13).
Our Lord is in the Eucharist―the Sacrament of Love―out of love for us. He expects us to come to Him with love―dressed in a wedding-garment, a garment of love. Yet too many come to Him stained with sins, even unconfessed mortal sins, for which they have no repentance, or they lack love and are lukewarm―of these He says: “Thou art neither cold, nor hot [that is to say, you neither hate Me nor love Me]. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire tried [that is to say, charity which is symbolized by gold and fire], that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments [garments of grace and purity], and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Words of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Holy Eucharist
Let us turn to the Mother of the Holy Eucharist, Mother of the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, who understood better than anyone the greatness of the Holy Eucharist, to learn from her what our dispositions ought to be. Here is what Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:
“O if only the believers in the Catholic Faith would open their hardened and stony hearts in order to attain to a true understanding of the sacred and mysterious blessing of the Holy Eucharist! If they would only detach themselves, root out and reject their earthly inclinations, and, by restraining their passions, apply themselves with living Faith to study their great happiness in thus possessing their eternal God in the Holy Sacrament. If they would only appreciate being able, by its reception and constant communication, to participate in the effects of this heavenly Manna! If they would only worthily esteem this precious Gift, begin to taste its sweetness, and share in the hidden power of their omnipotent God! Then nothing would ever be lacking to them in their exile. Mortals have no reason to complain of their weakness and their passions―since in this Bread of Heaven they have at hand strength and health.
“It matters not that they are tempted and persecuted by the demons―for, by receiving this Sacrament frequently, they are enabled to overcome the demons gloriously. The faithful are themselves to blame for all their poverty and labors, because they pay no attention to this divine mystery, nor avail themselves of the divine powers, thus placed at their disposal by my most holy Son. I tell you truly, that Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the most Holy Eucharist, that to approach it, causes them more torments than to remain in Hell itself. Although they do enter churches in order to tempt souls, they enter them with aversion, forcing themselves to endure cruel pains in the hope of destroying a soul and drawing it into sin, especially in the holy places and in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. Their wrath against the Lord and against the souls alone could induce them to expose themselves to the torment of His Real Sacramental Presence.
“Whenever He is carried through the streets, the demons usually fly and disperse in all haste; and they would not dare to approach those that accompany Him, if it were not by their long experience they know that they will succeed in inducing some persons to forget the reverence due to their Lord. Therefore they make special efforts to tempt the faithful in the churches―for they know what great offence they can do to the Lord Himself, Who in His sacramental love is there waiting to sanctify men and to receive the return of His sweetest and untiring love.
“Hence you can also understand the strength of those who prepare themselves to partake of this Bread of the angels and how the demons fear the souls, who receive the Lord worthily and devoutly, and who strive to preserve themselves in this purity until the next Holy Communion. But there are few who live with this intention, and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference, so that he may not be obliged to encounter such powerful weapons in the hands of men.
“Write this admonition in your heart! And since the Almighty has ordained, without any merit on your part, that you can receive Holy Communion daily, seek by all possible means to preserve yourself in good dispositions from one Holy Communion to the other. It is the will of the Lord and my own, that with this sword of daily Communion you fight the battles of the Almighty, in the name of the Holy Church, against the invisible enemies.
“But while the omnipotent and just Judge, Who is so greatly incensed against sinful Catholics for having outraged His justice by their immeasurable and continual sins, none are found to consider and weigh the fearful damage of their sins, nor do any approach the easy remedy of receiving the Holy Eucharist with a contrite and humble heart; nor does anyone ask for my intercession. Though all the children of the Church are generally guilty of this fault, yet more to be blamed are the unworthy and wicked priests―because, by the irreverence with which they treat the Blessed Sacrament, other Catholics have been drawn, by this bad example, to undervalue the Blessed Sacrament. If the people see their priests approach the divine mysteries with holy fear and trembling, then they learn to treat and receive their God in the same manner. Those that so honor Him shall shine in Heaven like the sun among the stars―for my divine Son will reward, in a special manner, those who have behaved well toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament and have received Him with all reverence; whereas this will not happen to those who have not come this holy table with devotion.
“Moreover, those who were devout towards the Holy Eucharist, will bear on their breast, where they have so often harbored the Holy Eucharist, most beautiful and resplendent inscriptions, showing that they were most worthy tabernacles of the Holy Sacrament. This will be a great reward for them and a source of jubilation and admiration for the holy angels and the rest of the blessed. They will also enjoy the special favor of being able to penetrate deeper into the mystery of the presence of the Lord in this Sacrament, and to understand all the rest of the wonders hidden therein. This will be such a privilege, that it alone would suffice for their eternal happiness, even if there were no other enjoyment in Heaven. Moreover, the essential glory of those, who have worthily and devoutly received the Holy Eucharist, will in several respects exceed the glory of many martyrs who have not received the Blood of the Lord.
“I wish you to also hear, from my own mouth, what were my sentiments when in mortal life I was about to receive Holy Communion. I was preserved from Original Sin and, at the instant of my Conception, received the knowledge and vision of the Divinity. I knew more than all saints; I surpassed the highest seraphim in love; I never committed any fault; I constantly practiced all the virtues in a heroic degree and in the least of them I was greater than all the saints in their highest perfection; the intention and object of my actions were most exalted and my habits and gifts were noble without measure; I imitated my most holy Son most closely; I labored faithfully; I suffered with eagerness and co-operated with the doings of the Lord exactly as was becoming to me; I ceased not to exercise my love and gain new supereminent merits of grace. Yet I thought myself to have been fully repaid by being allowed to receive Him even once in the Holy Eucharist―though I did not consider myself worthy of this one favor.
“Reflect then what should be your sentiments, and those of the rest of the children of Adam, on being admitted to the reception of this admirable Sacrament. And if, for the greatest of saints, one Holy Communion is a superabundant reward, what must the priests and the faithful think, when they are allowed to receive it so frequently? Open your eyes in the deep darkness and blindness which overwhelm men around you, and raise them up to the divine brightness in order to understand these mysteries. Look upon all your works as insufficient, all your sufferings as most insignificant, all your thanksgiving as falling far short of what you owe to God for such an exquisite blessing as that of possessing in the Holy Church, Christ my divine Son, present in the Holy Sacrament, in order to enrich all the faithful. If you have nothing with which to show your thanks for this and the other blessings which you have received, then at least humiliate yourself to the dust and remain prostrate upon it; confess yourself as being unworthy with all the sincerity of your heart.”
Love One―Love the Other
You cannot have one without the other! You cannot love one without the other! They are inseparable―just like the Jesus and Mary, Son and Mother, are inseparable. If you want to love the Holy Eucharist, then you have to love the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In fact, if you follow the Jewish standard of time-keeping or day-keeping, then the Last Supper and the Crucifixion were on the same day―because it was at sunset that the next day was calculated as having its beginning. The Catholic Church also adheres to this custom, because a first class feast begins on the eve of the feast―so, for example, the First Vespers of the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas) are sung after sunset on December 24th, even though we consider Christmas Day to begin at midnight, at the end of December 24th. So, coming back to the point, in following this method of counting days, the Last Supper was technically at the start of the Pasch and Sabbath, you then have the Last Supper and the Crucifixion taking place on the same day―with Thursday night (as we call it) already being a part of Friday, because the sun had already set. Thus the inseparability of the Last Supper and Christ’s crucifixion, or, if you like, the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary re-enacted in Holy Mass. We live-out this truth when we both, (1) attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and (2) receive Holy Communion at that same Mass―both events, attending Mass and receiving Communion, occurring on the same day.
Just stop and think for a moment! The greatest thing that you can do is to love God. The first thing that you MUST do is to love God―Our Lord Himself tells us this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Where will you find God so as to be able to love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength? The answer is so blatantly obvious―in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Holy Eucharist, and, once Mass is over, you will find God in the Holy Eucharist as the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in the tabernacle. God (Jesus) is found in the Holy Eucharist on the altar during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God (Jesus) comes to us in the Holy Eucharist when it is usually distributed to the faithful at the end of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God (Jesus) remains with us after the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Holy Eucharist in the tabernacle, which we call the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Nobody can claim that they did not know where to find God IN PERSON, and not just represented by a picture or a statue! It is God in the Holy Eucharist―whether in the Sacrifice of the Mass, or in Holy Communion, or in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar―that “Thou shalt love with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Our Greatest Treasure―Our Greatest Neglect
As the Imitation of Christ says: “What great devotion ought not I and all Christian people now show in the presence of this Sacrament; what reverence in receiving the most excellent Body of Christ! Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels! Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received. To this, indeed, we are not drawn by levity, or curiosity, or sensuality―but by firm faith, devout hope, and sincere love.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 1).
The Imitation of Christ continues: “You, my Lord God, invite the poor and needy to receive Your most holy Body! Who am I, Lord, that I should presume to approach You? Behold, the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You, and yet You say: “Come, all of you, to Me.” What this most gracious honor and this friendly invitation mean? How shall I dare to come―I who am conscious of no good on which to presume? How shall I lead You into my house―I who have so often offended in Your most kindly sight? Angels and archangels revere You, the holy and the just fear You, and You say: “Come to Me: all of you!” If You, Lord, had not said it, who would have believed it to be true? And if You had not commanded, who would dare approach?
“Behold, Noe, a just man, worked a hundred years building the ark that he and a few others might be saved―how, then, can I prepare myself in one hour to receive with reverence the Maker of the world? Moses, Your great servant and special friend, made an ark of incorruptible wood, which he covered with purest gold wherein to place the tables of Your law―shall I, a creature of corruption, dare so easily to receive You, the Maker of law and the Giver of life? Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, spent seven years building a magnificent temple in praise of Your Name, and celebrated its dedication with a feast of eight days. He offered a thousand victims in Your honor and solemnly bore the Ark of the Covenant with trumpeting and jubilation to the place prepared for it―and I, unhappy and poorest of men, how shall I lead You into my house, I who scarcely can spend a half-hour devoutly — would that I could spend even that as I ought!
“O my God, how hard these men tried to please You! Alas, how little is all that I do! How short the time I spend in preparing for Communion! I am seldom wholly recollected, and very seldom, indeed, entirely free from distraction. Yet surely, in the presence of Your life-giving Godhead, no unbecoming thought should arise and no creature possess my heart―for I am about to receive as my guest, not an angel, but the very Lord of angels. Why, then, do I not long more ardently for Your adorable Presence? Why do I not prepare myself with greater care to receive Your sacred Gifts, since those holy patriarchs and prophets of old, as well as kings and princes with all their people, have shown such affectionate devotion for the worship of God?
“Our neglect and coldness is much to be deplored and pitied, when we are not moved to receive with greater fervor Christ, in Whom is the hope and merit of all who will be saved. He is our sanctification and redemption. He is our consolation in this life and the eternal joy of the blessed in Heaven. This being true, it is lamentable that many pay so little heed to the salutary Mystery which fills the heavens with joy and maintains the whole universe in being.
“Oh, the blindness and the hardness of the heart of man that does not show more regard for so wonderful a gift, but rather falls into carelessness from its daily use! If this most holy Sacrament were celebrated in only one place and consecrated by only one priest in the whole world, with what great desire, do you think, would men be attracted to that place, to that priest of God, in order to witness the celebration of the divine Mysteries! But now there are many priests and Mass is offered in many places, that God’s grace and love for men may appear the more clearly as the Sacred Communion is spread more widely through the world.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 1).
Receiving Christ Worthily and Humbly
“When I consider Your dignity, O Lord, and my own meanness, I become very much frightened and confused. For if I do not receive, I fly from Life―and if I intrude unworthily, I incur Your displeasure. What, then, shall I do, my God? Teach me the right way. Place before me some exercise suitable for Holy Communion, for it is good to know in what manner I ought to make my heart ready devoutly and fervently for You, to receive Your Sacrament for the good of my soul, or even to celebrate so great and divine a sacrifice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 6).
The Voice of Christ answers: “Carefully examine your conscience, then. Cleanse and purify it to the best of your power by true contrition and humble confession, that you may have no burden, know of no remorse, and thus be free to come near. Let the memory of all your sins grieve you, and especially lament and bewail your daily transgressions. Then, if time permits, confess to God in the secret depths of your heart all the miseries your passions have caused.
“Lament and grieve because you are still so worldly, so carnal, so passionate and unmortified, so full of roving lust, so careless in guarding the external senses, so often occupied in many vain fancies, so inclined to exterior things and so heedless of what lies within, so prone to laughter and dissipation and so indisposed to sorrow and tears, so inclined to ease and the pleasures of the flesh and so cool to austerity and zeal, so curious to hear what is new and to see the beautiful and so slow to embrace humiliation and dejection, so covetous of abundance, so niggardly in giving and so tenacious in keeping, so inconsiderate in speech, so reluctant in silence, so undisciplined in character, so disordered in action, so greedy at meals, so deaf to the Word of God, so prompt to rest and so slow to labor, so awake to empty conversation, so sleepy in keeping sacred vigils and so eager to end them, so wandering in your attention, so careless in saying the office, so lukewarm in celebrating, so heartless in receiving, so quickly distracted, so seldom fully recollected, so quickly moved to anger, so apt to take offense at others, so prone to judge, so severe in condemning, so happy in prosperity and so weak in adversity, so often making good resolutions and carrying so few of them into action.
“When you have confessed and deplored these and other faults with sorrow and great displeasure because of your weakness, be firmly determined to amend your life day by day and to advance in goodness. Then, with complete resignation and with your entire will offer yourself upon the altar of your heart as an everlasting sacrifice to the honor of My Name, by entrusting with Faith both body and soul to My care, that thus you may be considered worthy to draw near and offer sacrifice to God and profitably receive the Sacrament of My Body. For there is no more worthy offering, no greater satisfaction for washing away sin, than to offer yourself purely and entirely to God with the offering of the Body of Christ in Mass and Communion.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 7).
Do You Love?
The Imitation of Christ has a beautiful chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love”―which could be effects that we might feel in our souls if we would only receive Christ in Holy Communion with much greater desire, greater respect and greater fervor. Of course, as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―and without His inspiring, stirring, moving grace, we could not even desire to receive Him in such a manner. Yet we can be absolutely sure that such a grace will be given to everyone who asks: “Ask, and it shall be given you ― seek, and you shall find ― knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Matthew 7:7). If Christ has told us to love God with our whole soul, heart, mind and strength―then He must be prepared to give the graces required to fulfill that command. Here are some extracts from that beautiful chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love.” Just think―you too could feel those effects in your soul from receiving Holy Communion in a more fervent manner!
“Ah, Lord God, when You come into my heart, all that is within me will rejoice. You are my glory and the exultation of my heart. But, because my love is as yet weak and my virtue imperfect, I must be strengthened and comforted by You. Visit me often, therefore, and teach me Your holy discipline. Free me from evil passions and cleanse my heart of all disorderly affection so that, healed and purified within, I may be fit to love, strong to suffer, and firm to persevere.
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity.
“Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, or higher, or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift, but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much, where he, who does not love, fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.
“Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself, there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter, for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5, “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love”).
Love and Leave Things to Our Lord
Who needs God anymore, when we have science and technology? “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no, not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Another Psalm says much the same thing: “God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no, not one. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities―there is none that doth good. They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
Yes― “They have not called upon God!” Modern man has an especial difficulty with Our Lord’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). In fact, modern man is pretty much trying to do everything without Christ! Even Catholics fall into this category. They will rely upon self first and foremost―and then, if things are not working out, they MIGHT POSSIBLY turn to God in prayer, though, for many or most people, that “prayer” might well be a blasphemy―as they use Our Lord’s Name in anger, in phrases such as: “Jesus Christ! Why the hell is everything going wrong?” or “O God! I’ve had enough of this!” or even adding some four-letter words to their “prayer”. It has almost come to a point where the idol of science can do everything and we need God for nothing! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We need to humble ourselves―before God forcefully humbles us in a manner far more humiliating than any willing self-humiliation―and recognize and return to the God Who can do all things: “Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26) … “He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27) … “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27) … “Because no word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37).
In the book, Words of Love, by Fr. Robert Gottemuller, which is a summary compiled from three other books by different authors, we read of the words of Jesus spoken to three different mystics―Sr. Consolata Betrone, Sr. Mary of the Trinity and Sr. Josefa Menendez. Though many different topics are covered, here are some extracts that pertain to our need to rely upon Jesus for all things:
“I love to do everything Myself; and from this soul I ask only that she love Me … You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … Know that I am thinking of everything, that I am providing for everything down to the smallest detail. Therefore, do not let one thought enter your mind, not one outside interest.... Have no fear! I am taking care of you! … Allow Me to do it all! I will do everything; but you should, at every moment, give Me what I ask for with much love! … Place no limits on your confidence in Me, then I will place no limits on My graces for you! … Let Me do everything! You will see that I will do everything, and do it well!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pages 153-154, 109, 59).
“The future is Mine, what do you fear? … Remember this: Everything is a means in My Hands; I make all work together to fulfill My will … To love Me is to have confidence in Me, not to doubt Me; it is to rely on Me … You oppose Me by your desires, your tastes, your resistance! … All souls could rapidly attain to the plenitude of their sanctity if they allowed Me to act, without resisting. Oh, the unacknowledged reserves of selfishness which paralyze the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit within you! … Most religious give Me their work and their talents—I have sufficient talents at My disposal … Let Me act! You are not competent to do anything―it is not your province! … Not one of those who have trusted in Me has ever been disappointed. My little daughter, you would be the first to whom that would happen: why do you doubt?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 9, 132, 99, 608, 114, 432).
“Do you think that anything happens without My permission? I dispose all things for the good of each and every soul … Do not worry, Josefa, about what you can and what you cannot do. You know very well that you can do nothing. But I am He who can and will do all. Yes, I will do all, even what seems to you impossible.... I will supply for all that you lack or cannot do. I ask you only for your liberty. All I need is to possess your will [love resides in the will―so He is essentially saying: “I need your love”], for this I cannot find a substitute.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, pages 331 & 401).
The Holy Eucharist stands at the heart and at the pinnacle of all the Sacraments. The difference is that the Sacraments give us the grace of God, but the Holy Eucharist gives us not only grace, but God Himself. The Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread. It is God Himself! What greater treasure can you imagine? Daily access to God! Having God enter your body and soul through Holy Communion! Yet, at the same time, there is a great danger attached to this! How so? Well, you know well the popular proverb: “Familiarity breeds contempt!” The more we get used to something, the less we start to esteem and respect it.
This is precisely what Holy Mother Church and St. Paul put before us in the Epistle from the Mass for Holy Thursday. The passage from St. Paul that Holy Mother Church has selected is the one where St. Paul rebukes those Christians at Corinth who are guilty of abusing the Holy Eucharist. He warns the Corinthians against the unworthy reception of Holy Communion (11:27–30), because the Eucharist is Jesus Himself: “Whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord … For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the Body eats and drinks condemnation upon himself” (11:27, 29). Paul says that we must examine ourselves before we receive (11:28). These three verses (11:27–29) — which concern a matter so important that salvation or damnation hinges on it — are read at least three times each year in the traditional Latin Mass. They were, however, systematically excluded and never read in the Novus Ordo Mass (the New Mass that came out at the end of the 1960s and continued to be changed at the start of the 1970s).
The Apostle also points out that unworthy reception of Communion can lead to physical sickness and death (11:30). St. Paul’s advice that Christians should first eat at home and then come later on to the Mass (11:34), emphasizing its proper dignity as a heavenly banquet, shows the remote origins of the discipline of the Eucharistic fast. Here is the entire passage:
“First of all, I hear that when you come together in the church, there are schisms among you―and in part I believe it. When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord's Supper. [He speaks of them mixing together their secular meals with Lord’s Supper, that is Holy Mass]. For every one taketh before his own supper to eat. And one indeed is hungry and another is drunk! What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God; and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not! [He then reminds them that the Lord’s Supper is not a common meal, but a sacrifice―which we today call the Sacrifice of the Mass]. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. And giving thanks, broke, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body, which shall be delivered for you! Do this for the commemoration of Me!’ In like manner also the Chalice, after He had supped, saying: ‘This Chalice is the New Testament in My Blood! Do ye this, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of Me!’ For as often as you shall eat this Bread, and drink the Chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come! Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord! But let a man prove himself―and so let him eat of that Bread, and drink of the Chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord. Therefore there are many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep. But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If any man be hungry, let him eat at home [before coming to the Lord’s Supper or Holy Mass]; that you come not together unto judgment” (1 Corinthians 11:18-33).
The Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice
The Holy Eucharist is inextricably tied to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―it is during the Holy Sacrifice that the Holy Eucharist is produced through transubstantiation, whereby the substances of bread and wine are changed into the substances of the Body and Blood of Christ, whilst miraculously retaining the appearance of bread and wine. You cannot get the Holy Eucharist without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―much like you cannot beget a child without parents. That is why the Church teaches that the Holy Eucharist is NOT JUST a Sacrament, but a SACRAMENT and a SACRIFICE.
Fr. Stefano M. Manelli, in his book Jesus Our Eucharistic Love, writes: “Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23). The Faith of the Church, Pope Pius XII teaches us, is this: That one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary, Who suffered on the Cross, Who is present in the Eucharist, and Who rules in Heaven. The Eucharistic Jesus is here with us as a brother, as a friend, as spouse of our souls. He wishes to enter within us to be our food for eternal life, our love, our support. He wants to make us part of His mystical Body in which He would redeem us and save us, and then take us into the kingdom of Heaven”
Christ came to “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He said of Himself: “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9) … “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He then explains how we achieve that eternal life: “He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life. I am the Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life―and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:47-59).
The Only Way to Heaven
As Holy Scripture says: “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). Our Lord said of Himself: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). If that is the case, then you had better go find Him and find that door! Where is He? Where is that door? He is in the Holy Eucharist, behind the door of every tabernacle!
God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). To find God is to find love. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love: It signifies Love, It produces love.” Without that Love we shall never make Heaven―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Lack of Eucharistic Love
The image of a heart is a symbol of charity and love. It is no coincidence that when Jesus came to St. Margaret Mary to sow the seeds of devotion to His Sacred Heart, it was during the octave of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), a Eucharistic feast. We even have a votive Mass dedicated to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. You could also call it the Eucharistic Love of Jesus―for the Heart of Jesus is all about love, and God is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). You can also correctly say that Holy Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus―especially since scientists discovered that 1,200 year old remains of a Host from the Eucharistic miracle at Lanciano, was actually a fragment of a human heart! [click here to read about it]. This “Heart” or “Loving Heart” of the Holy Eucharist is further amplified and proven by the words of the Sacred Heart, spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … and is not able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
In the parable of the wedding feast (isn’t marriage supposed to be all about love?), Our Lord mentions that the man without a wedding-garment (which biblical commentators say signifies a garment of love or charity) is cast out of the wedding banquet: “The marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 22:10-13).
Our Lord is in the Eucharist―the Sacrament of Love―out of love for us. He expects us to come to Him with love―dressed in a wedding-garment, a garment of love. Yet too many come to Him stained with sins, even unconfessed mortal sins, for which they have no repentance, or they lack love and are lukewarm―of these He says: “Thou art neither cold, nor hot [that is to say, you neither hate Me nor love Me]. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire tried [that is to say, charity which is symbolized by gold and fire], that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments [garments of grace and purity], and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
As Our Lord said to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example ― for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Words of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Holy Eucharist
Let us turn to the Mother of the Holy Eucharist, Mother of the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, who understood better than anyone the greatness of the Holy Eucharist, to learn from her what our dispositions ought to be. Here is what Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:
“O if only the believers in the Catholic Faith would open their hardened and stony hearts in order to attain to a true understanding of the sacred and mysterious blessing of the Holy Eucharist! If they would only detach themselves, root out and reject their earthly inclinations, and, by restraining their passions, apply themselves with living Faith to study their great happiness in thus possessing their eternal God in the Holy Sacrament. If they would only appreciate being able, by its reception and constant communication, to participate in the effects of this heavenly Manna! If they would only worthily esteem this precious Gift, begin to taste its sweetness, and share in the hidden power of their omnipotent God! Then nothing would ever be lacking to them in their exile. Mortals have no reason to complain of their weakness and their passions―since in this Bread of Heaven they have at hand strength and health.
“It matters not that they are tempted and persecuted by the demons―for, by receiving this Sacrament frequently, they are enabled to overcome the demons gloriously. The faithful are themselves to blame for all their poverty and labors, because they pay no attention to this divine mystery, nor avail themselves of the divine powers, thus placed at their disposal by my most holy Son. I tell you truly, that Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the most Holy Eucharist, that to approach it, causes them more torments than to remain in Hell itself. Although they do enter churches in order to tempt souls, they enter them with aversion, forcing themselves to endure cruel pains in the hope of destroying a soul and drawing it into sin, especially in the holy places and in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. Their wrath against the Lord and against the souls alone could induce them to expose themselves to the torment of His Real Sacramental Presence.
“Whenever He is carried through the streets, the demons usually fly and disperse in all haste; and they would not dare to approach those that accompany Him, if it were not by their long experience they know that they will succeed in inducing some persons to forget the reverence due to their Lord. Therefore they make special efforts to tempt the faithful in the churches―for they know what great offence they can do to the Lord Himself, Who in His sacramental love is there waiting to sanctify men and to receive the return of His sweetest and untiring love.
“Hence you can also understand the strength of those who prepare themselves to partake of this Bread of the angels and how the demons fear the souls, who receive the Lord worthily and devoutly, and who strive to preserve themselves in this purity until the next Holy Communion. But there are few who live with this intention, and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference, so that he may not be obliged to encounter such powerful weapons in the hands of men.
“Write this admonition in your heart! And since the Almighty has ordained, without any merit on your part, that you can receive Holy Communion daily, seek by all possible means to preserve yourself in good dispositions from one Holy Communion to the other. It is the will of the Lord and my own, that with this sword of daily Communion you fight the battles of the Almighty, in the name of the Holy Church, against the invisible enemies.
“But while the omnipotent and just Judge, Who is so greatly incensed against sinful Catholics for having outraged His justice by their immeasurable and continual sins, none are found to consider and weigh the fearful damage of their sins, nor do any approach the easy remedy of receiving the Holy Eucharist with a contrite and humble heart; nor does anyone ask for my intercession. Though all the children of the Church are generally guilty of this fault, yet more to be blamed are the unworthy and wicked priests―because, by the irreverence with which they treat the Blessed Sacrament, other Catholics have been drawn, by this bad example, to undervalue the Blessed Sacrament. If the people see their priests approach the divine mysteries with holy fear and trembling, then they learn to treat and receive their God in the same manner. Those that so honor Him shall shine in Heaven like the sun among the stars―for my divine Son will reward, in a special manner, those who have behaved well toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament and have received Him with all reverence; whereas this will not happen to those who have not come this holy table with devotion.
“Moreover, those who were devout towards the Holy Eucharist, will bear on their breast, where they have so often harbored the Holy Eucharist, most beautiful and resplendent inscriptions, showing that they were most worthy tabernacles of the Holy Sacrament. This will be a great reward for them and a source of jubilation and admiration for the holy angels and the rest of the blessed. They will also enjoy the special favor of being able to penetrate deeper into the mystery of the presence of the Lord in this Sacrament, and to understand all the rest of the wonders hidden therein. This will be such a privilege, that it alone would suffice for their eternal happiness, even if there were no other enjoyment in Heaven. Moreover, the essential glory of those, who have worthily and devoutly received the Holy Eucharist, will in several respects exceed the glory of many martyrs who have not received the Blood of the Lord.
“I wish you to also hear, from my own mouth, what were my sentiments when in mortal life I was about to receive Holy Communion. I was preserved from Original Sin and, at the instant of my Conception, received the knowledge and vision of the Divinity. I knew more than all saints; I surpassed the highest seraphim in love; I never committed any fault; I constantly practiced all the virtues in a heroic degree and in the least of them I was greater than all the saints in their highest perfection; the intention and object of my actions were most exalted and my habits and gifts were noble without measure; I imitated my most holy Son most closely; I labored faithfully; I suffered with eagerness and co-operated with the doings of the Lord exactly as was becoming to me; I ceased not to exercise my love and gain new supereminent merits of grace. Yet I thought myself to have been fully repaid by being allowed to receive Him even once in the Holy Eucharist―though I did not consider myself worthy of this one favor.
“Reflect then what should be your sentiments, and those of the rest of the children of Adam, on being admitted to the reception of this admirable Sacrament. And if, for the greatest of saints, one Holy Communion is a superabundant reward, what must the priests and the faithful think, when they are allowed to receive it so frequently? Open your eyes in the deep darkness and blindness which overwhelm men around you, and raise them up to the divine brightness in order to understand these mysteries. Look upon all your works as insufficient, all your sufferings as most insignificant, all your thanksgiving as falling far short of what you owe to God for such an exquisite blessing as that of possessing in the Holy Church, Christ my divine Son, present in the Holy Sacrament, in order to enrich all the faithful. If you have nothing with which to show your thanks for this and the other blessings which you have received, then at least humiliate yourself to the dust and remain prostrate upon it; confess yourself as being unworthy with all the sincerity of your heart.”
Love One―Love the Other
You cannot have one without the other! You cannot love one without the other! They are inseparable―just like the Jesus and Mary, Son and Mother, are inseparable. If you want to love the Holy Eucharist, then you have to love the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In fact, if you follow the Jewish standard of time-keeping or day-keeping, then the Last Supper and the Crucifixion were on the same day―because it was at sunset that the next day was calculated as having its beginning. The Catholic Church also adheres to this custom, because a first class feast begins on the eve of the feast―so, for example, the First Vespers of the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas) are sung after sunset on December 24th, even though we consider Christmas Day to begin at midnight, at the end of December 24th. So, coming back to the point, in following this method of counting days, the Last Supper was technically at the start of the Pasch and Sabbath, you then have the Last Supper and the Crucifixion taking place on the same day―with Thursday night (as we call it) already being a part of Friday, because the sun had already set. Thus the inseparability of the Last Supper and Christ’s crucifixion, or, if you like, the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary re-enacted in Holy Mass. We live-out this truth when we both, (1) attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and (2) receive Holy Communion at that same Mass―both events, attending Mass and receiving Communion, occurring on the same day.
Just stop and think for a moment! The greatest thing that you can do is to love God. The first thing that you MUST do is to love God―Our Lord Himself tells us this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Where will you find God so as to be able to love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength? The answer is so blatantly obvious―in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Holy Eucharist, and, once Mass is over, you will find God in the Holy Eucharist as the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in the tabernacle. God (Jesus) is found in the Holy Eucharist on the altar during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God (Jesus) comes to us in the Holy Eucharist when it is usually distributed to the faithful at the end of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God (Jesus) remains with us after the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Holy Eucharist in the tabernacle, which we call the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Nobody can claim that they did not know where to find God IN PERSON, and not just represented by a picture or a statue! It is God in the Holy Eucharist―whether in the Sacrifice of the Mass, or in Holy Communion, or in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar―that “Thou shalt love with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Our Greatest Treasure―Our Greatest Neglect
As the Imitation of Christ says: “What great devotion ought not I and all Christian people now show in the presence of this Sacrament; what reverence in receiving the most excellent Body of Christ! Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels! Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received. To this, indeed, we are not drawn by levity, or curiosity, or sensuality―but by firm faith, devout hope, and sincere love.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 1).
The Imitation of Christ continues: “You, my Lord God, invite the poor and needy to receive Your most holy Body! Who am I, Lord, that I should presume to approach You? Behold, the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You, and yet You say: “Come, all of you, to Me.” What this most gracious honor and this friendly invitation mean? How shall I dare to come―I who am conscious of no good on which to presume? How shall I lead You into my house―I who have so often offended in Your most kindly sight? Angels and archangels revere You, the holy and the just fear You, and You say: “Come to Me: all of you!” If You, Lord, had not said it, who would have believed it to be true? And if You had not commanded, who would dare approach?
“Behold, Noe, a just man, worked a hundred years building the ark that he and a few others might be saved―how, then, can I prepare myself in one hour to receive with reverence the Maker of the world? Moses, Your great servant and special friend, made an ark of incorruptible wood, which he covered with purest gold wherein to place the tables of Your law―shall I, a creature of corruption, dare so easily to receive You, the Maker of law and the Giver of life? Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, spent seven years building a magnificent temple in praise of Your Name, and celebrated its dedication with a feast of eight days. He offered a thousand victims in Your honor and solemnly bore the Ark of the Covenant with trumpeting and jubilation to the place prepared for it―and I, unhappy and poorest of men, how shall I lead You into my house, I who scarcely can spend a half-hour devoutly — would that I could spend even that as I ought!
“O my God, how hard these men tried to please You! Alas, how little is all that I do! How short the time I spend in preparing for Communion! I am seldom wholly recollected, and very seldom, indeed, entirely free from distraction. Yet surely, in the presence of Your life-giving Godhead, no unbecoming thought should arise and no creature possess my heart―for I am about to receive as my guest, not an angel, but the very Lord of angels. Why, then, do I not long more ardently for Your adorable Presence? Why do I not prepare myself with greater care to receive Your sacred Gifts, since those holy patriarchs and prophets of old, as well as kings and princes with all their people, have shown such affectionate devotion for the worship of God?
“Our neglect and coldness is much to be deplored and pitied, when we are not moved to receive with greater fervor Christ, in Whom is the hope and merit of all who will be saved. He is our sanctification and redemption. He is our consolation in this life and the eternal joy of the blessed in Heaven. This being true, it is lamentable that many pay so little heed to the salutary Mystery which fills the heavens with joy and maintains the whole universe in being.
“Oh, the blindness and the hardness of the heart of man that does not show more regard for so wonderful a gift, but rather falls into carelessness from its daily use! If this most holy Sacrament were celebrated in only one place and consecrated by only one priest in the whole world, with what great desire, do you think, would men be attracted to that place, to that priest of God, in order to witness the celebration of the divine Mysteries! But now there are many priests and Mass is offered in many places, that God’s grace and love for men may appear the more clearly as the Sacred Communion is spread more widely through the world.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 1).
Receiving Christ Worthily and Humbly
“When I consider Your dignity, O Lord, and my own meanness, I become very much frightened and confused. For if I do not receive, I fly from Life―and if I intrude unworthily, I incur Your displeasure. What, then, shall I do, my God? Teach me the right way. Place before me some exercise suitable for Holy Communion, for it is good to know in what manner I ought to make my heart ready devoutly and fervently for You, to receive Your Sacrament for the good of my soul, or even to celebrate so great and divine a sacrifice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 6).
The Voice of Christ answers: “Carefully examine your conscience, then. Cleanse and purify it to the best of your power by true contrition and humble confession, that you may have no burden, know of no remorse, and thus be free to come near. Let the memory of all your sins grieve you, and especially lament and bewail your daily transgressions. Then, if time permits, confess to God in the secret depths of your heart all the miseries your passions have caused.
“Lament and grieve because you are still so worldly, so carnal, so passionate and unmortified, so full of roving lust, so careless in guarding the external senses, so often occupied in many vain fancies, so inclined to exterior things and so heedless of what lies within, so prone to laughter and dissipation and so indisposed to sorrow and tears, so inclined to ease and the pleasures of the flesh and so cool to austerity and zeal, so curious to hear what is new and to see the beautiful and so slow to embrace humiliation and dejection, so covetous of abundance, so niggardly in giving and so tenacious in keeping, so inconsiderate in speech, so reluctant in silence, so undisciplined in character, so disordered in action, so greedy at meals, so deaf to the Word of God, so prompt to rest and so slow to labor, so awake to empty conversation, so sleepy in keeping sacred vigils and so eager to end them, so wandering in your attention, so careless in saying the office, so lukewarm in celebrating, so heartless in receiving, so quickly distracted, so seldom fully recollected, so quickly moved to anger, so apt to take offense at others, so prone to judge, so severe in condemning, so happy in prosperity and so weak in adversity, so often making good resolutions and carrying so few of them into action.
“When you have confessed and deplored these and other faults with sorrow and great displeasure because of your weakness, be firmly determined to amend your life day by day and to advance in goodness. Then, with complete resignation and with your entire will offer yourself upon the altar of your heart as an everlasting sacrifice to the honor of My Name, by entrusting with Faith both body and soul to My care, that thus you may be considered worthy to draw near and offer sacrifice to God and profitably receive the Sacrament of My Body. For there is no more worthy offering, no greater satisfaction for washing away sin, than to offer yourself purely and entirely to God with the offering of the Body of Christ in Mass and Communion.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 7).
Do You Love?
The Imitation of Christ has a beautiful chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love”―which could be effects that we might feel in our souls if we would only receive Christ in Holy Communion with much greater desire, greater respect and greater fervor. Of course, as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―and without His inspiring, stirring, moving grace, we could not even desire to receive Him in such a manner. Yet we can be absolutely sure that such a grace will be given to everyone who asks: “Ask, and it shall be given you ― seek, and you shall find ― knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Matthew 7:7). If Christ has told us to love God with our whole soul, heart, mind and strength―then He must be prepared to give the graces required to fulfill that command. Here are some extracts from that beautiful chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love.” Just think―you too could feel those effects in your soul from receiving Holy Communion in a more fervent manner!
“Ah, Lord God, when You come into my heart, all that is within me will rejoice. You are my glory and the exultation of my heart. But, because my love is as yet weak and my virtue imperfect, I must be strengthened and comforted by You. Visit me often, therefore, and teach me Your holy discipline. Free me from evil passions and cleanse my heart of all disorderly affection so that, healed and purified within, I may be fit to love, strong to suffer, and firm to persevere.
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity.
“Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, or higher, or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on Earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift, but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits, but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much, where he, who does not love, fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.
“Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself, there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter, for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5, “The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love”).
Love and Leave Things to Our Lord
Who needs God anymore, when we have science and technology? “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no, not one! The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Another Psalm says much the same thing: “God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no, not one. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities―there is none that doth good. They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
Yes― “They have not called upon God!” Modern man has an especial difficulty with Our Lord’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). In fact, modern man is pretty much trying to do everything without Christ! Even Catholics fall into this category. They will rely upon self first and foremost―and then, if things are not working out, they MIGHT POSSIBLY turn to God in prayer, though, for many or most people, that “prayer” might well be a blasphemy―as they use Our Lord’s Name in anger, in phrases such as: “Jesus Christ! Why the hell is everything going wrong?” or “O God! I’ve had enough of this!” or even adding some four-letter words to their “prayer”. It has almost come to a point where the idol of science can do everything and we need God for nothing! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We need to humble ourselves―before God forcefully humbles us in a manner far more humiliating than any willing self-humiliation―and recognize and return to the God Who can do all things: “Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26) … “He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27) … “And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27) … “Because no word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37).
In the book, Words of Love, by Fr. Robert Gottemuller, which is a summary compiled from three other books by different authors, we read of the words of Jesus spoken to three different mystics―Sr. Consolata Betrone, Sr. Mary of the Trinity and Sr. Josefa Menendez. Though many different topics are covered, here are some extracts that pertain to our need to rely upon Jesus for all things:
“I love to do everything Myself; and from this soul I ask only that she love Me … You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … Know that I am thinking of everything, that I am providing for everything down to the smallest detail. Therefore, do not let one thought enter your mind, not one outside interest.... Have no fear! I am taking care of you! … Allow Me to do it all! I will do everything; but you should, at every moment, give Me what I ask for with much love! … Place no limits on your confidence in Me, then I will place no limits on My graces for you! … Let Me do everything! You will see that I will do everything, and do it well!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pages 153-154, 109, 59).
“The future is Mine, what do you fear? … Remember this: Everything is a means in My Hands; I make all work together to fulfill My will … To love Me is to have confidence in Me, not to doubt Me; it is to rely on Me … You oppose Me by your desires, your tastes, your resistance! … All souls could rapidly attain to the plenitude of their sanctity if they allowed Me to act, without resisting. Oh, the unacknowledged reserves of selfishness which paralyze the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit within you! … Most religious give Me their work and their talents—I have sufficient talents at My disposal … Let Me act! You are not competent to do anything―it is not your province! … Not one of those who have trusted in Me has ever been disappointed. My little daughter, you would be the first to whom that would happen: why do you doubt?” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., nos. 9, 132, 99, 608, 114, 432).
“Do you think that anything happens without My permission? I dispose all things for the good of each and every soul … Do not worry, Josefa, about what you can and what you cannot do. You know very well that you can do nothing. But I am He who can and will do all. Yes, I will do all, even what seems to you impossible.... I will supply for all that you lack or cannot do. I ask you only for your liberty. All I need is to possess your will [love resides in the will―so He is essentially saying: “I need your love”], for this I cannot find a substitute.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, pages 331 & 401).
Wednesday within Holy Week, March 31st
Article 26
Woeful Wednesday Lessons
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 26
Woeful Wednesday Lessons
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Why Woeful Wednesday?
We can call Wednesday in Holy Week “Woeful Wednesday” because it was on Wednesday that Judas made the final arrangements and plans for betraying Christ to His enemies―the priests (Sadducees), Scribes and Pharisees―all of whom carried great grievances against Jesus and who had for a long time sought to apprehend and kill Him, but were afraid of turning the people against themselves, for Jesus had gained widespread popularity and support.
On Monday and Tuesday―after His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on what we today call “Palm Sunday”―Our Lord remained at Bethany (a few miles to the east of Jerusalem, on the other side of the Mount of Olives), without going to Jerusalem, and on this day the Scribes and Pharisees met at the house of the High-Priest, Caiphas, in order to plan the death of their Savior. They had already resolved to take away his life under the false pretext of the public good, as Caiphas had prophesied:
“The chief priests therefore, and the Pharisees, gathered a council, and said: ‘What do we do? For this Man doth many miracles! If we leave Him alone―all will believe in Him; and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation!’ But one of them, named Caiphas, being the high priest that year, said to them: ‘You know nothing! Neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not!’ And this he spoke not of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation” (John 11:47-51).
Ruling Classes Reject God
Between them, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees “ruled” the Jewish nation even though the Romans had occupied Judea. Though they were opponents to each other in some areas of law and religion, they nevertheless were all members of the Sanhedrin―which could loosely be compared to the Senate―a body of 71 men who were a political and judicial council headed by the high priest (in his role as civil ruler). Politically, it could appoint the king and the high priest, declare war, and expand the territory of Jerusalem and the Temple. Judicially, it could try a high priest, a false prophet, a rebellious elder, or an errant tribe. Religiously, it supervised certain rituals.
To them we can apply the words of Holy Scripture concerning “kings” and “princes” ― “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). The Sanhedrin, despite hearing of and witnessing many of the miracles Jesus had performed, refused to accept Him and decided, instead, to arrest Him and put Him on trial in front of the Sanhedrin. God judged by man! O what a nerve! What audacity! What hypocrisy! A power struggle between man and God―reminiscent of Lucifer’s desire to impose his will on the will of God, refusing to accept God’s will with the cry: “I will not serve!” Which, incidentally, is the attitude of the Liberal, who seeks to be a mini-god unto himself or herself―thinking what they want to think, believing what they want to believe, saying what they want to say, and doing what they want to do―even if it at odds with what God wants them to think, believe, say and do. The Sanhedrin’s treatment of Christ (God) is a perfect example of how Christ (God) is viewed by governments today―God is put in a position of subservience to man. Man is the judge of God and not the other way round. Man decides which laws of God to accept and which laws are to be rejected, changed or modified.
You can add to that equation Judas―or the modern day Judases, who are members of the clergy, of whom Our Lady predicted: ““Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... By their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Those Damned Bishops and Priests!!!
If you think it is a scary thought that most souls are damned―then how much scarier is it to think that most bishops and priests are damned―and they are supposed to the leaders and guides of Christ’s flock! Yet that is the opinion of St. John Chrysostom, who says: “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.” As regards priests, he says: “Do you not perceive how many qualities a priest must have that he may be strong in his teaching, patient, and hold fast to the faithful word which is according to doctrine? What care and pains does this require! Moreover, he is answerable for the sins of others. To pass over everything else―if only one soul dies without Baptism, does it not entirely endanger his own salvation? For the loss of one soul is so great an evil that it is impossible to express it in words! And if the salvation of that soul was of such value, that the Son of God became man and suffered so much, then just think of how great a punishment must await the one who loses that soul!” St. Teresa of Avila said most priests go to Hell. St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his sermon on The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved, says: “I am horror-struck when I hear St. Jerome declaring that although the world is full of priests, barely one in a hundred is living in a manner in conformity with state; when I hear a servant of God attesting that he has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell each day is so great; when I hear St. John Chrysostom exclaiming: ‘I do not believe that many priests are saved! I believe the contrary, that the number of those who are damned is greater!’”
“Yikes!” you say, “I certainly don’t want to become a priest! It seems like there is almost no chance of salvation! I think I will stay in the ranks of the laity!” The problem with that kind of false reasoning is that it ignores the fact that most laity are damned too! The problem is NOT that salvation is impossible―for Holy Scripture tells that us that “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4)―but the problem is that “the light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). Christ “was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11).
That is exactly what Judas, the Sadducees, the Scribes and the Pharisees were guilty of―they were His own people, yet they chose to “know Him not”, they were of the Chosen People, yet they “received Him not”. They had their own ideas about how religion should be―they, in a sense, had already made their own version of God’s religion―which is what most of the world is guilty of today, even among the Conservatives and Traditionalists―but they will deny it vehemently, just as the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees resented and refused Christ’s criticism of how they approached and lived their religion. Instead of removing the obstacles that Christ pointed-out to them, they saw Christ as the obstacle and chose to remove Him. What a bunch of woeful wrongheaded wretches! Woeful Wednesday is their day!
But never mind “Woeful Wednesday”―woe to us today! The clergy, for the most part, have gone down the same fatal path that was taken by the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees! They no longer like the ancient teachings of the Church (Tradition), just like the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees had departed from the ancient teachings of God (the Mosaic Law). Many priests no longer believe that the Holy Mass is a real sacrifice, preferring to call a meal, a commemoration, a community remembrance of the death of Jesus. Likewise, increasing numbers of priests no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Nor do they see the need for much prayer and penance. Nor do they see sin anymore in many sinful actions. Hence it is that their Catholic flock today holds views that are contrary to the Faith of old―today they accept contraception, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation before marriage, same sex relationships, masturbation, sodomy, transgenderism, abortion, immodesty, pornography, drunkenness, drug-use, false ecumenism, heretical views, etc.
As both Traditional and Liberal and Modernist popes have (strangely agreed and) said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin” (Pope Pius XII) … “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin” (Pope John Paul II) … “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many” (Pope Benedict XVI) … “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost” (Pope Francis). As Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
From Sanhedrin to Senate! From Sadducee to Senator! Pharisee to Politician! Scribe to Legislator!
Yet that is what is happening today! As Holy Scripture says: “What is it that hath been? The same thing that shall be! What is it that hath been done? The same that shall be done! Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: ‘Behold this is new!’ ― for it hath already gone before, in the ages that were before us!” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). Is this not just as true today―or even more true today than ever before? It has to be―for Our Lady said back in 1956: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello). Sin is a rejection of God, a rejection of the yoke of God, a desire to break the bonds that tie us to God. “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Which is why the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said that at this moment in time the devil is in control of the world.
Satan loves to possess world leaders and business leaders. There is no doubt that Satan was behind all that Judas, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees plotted and did―“He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Judas himself was eventually possessed by the devil: “The devil put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, to betray Him … Jesus said: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, one of you shall betray Me!’ The disciples therefore looked one upon another, doubting of whom he spoke. Now [John] leaning on the breast of Jesus, said to Him: ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered: ‘He it is to whom I shall reach the dipped bread. And when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the morsel, Satan entered into him” (John 13:2; 13:21-26).
Earlier, in speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said to them: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning!” (John 8:43-47). Our Lord accuses those religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees, of belonging to the devil.
Just as the religious leaders―Scribes and Pharisees―were in clutches of Satan back then, so too is the Vatican and the Church at large today. The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, says: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ Nothing mattered to him, however terrifying, except for the great apostasy within the Church. This was the issue that really tormented him and for which he prayed and offered a great part of his suffering, crucified out of love.”
“Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … It is not surprising that priests and bishops don’t believe, as they’ve never seen an exorcism, or heard speak about it, and in the seminaries the devil’s existence is ignored ... for some time the seminaries have no longer been teaching on angels and devils, nothing on exorcism … Unfortunately nowadays there are priests and Bishops who do not believe in the devil and that is why it is often very difficult to find exorcists … I would say that 99% of bishops do not believe in the extraordinary action of the devil ... We need many more exorcists, but the bishops won’t appoint them! … We, exorcists, are very badly treated. We are treated as though we are crazy fanatics. Generally speaking exorcist are scarcely even tolerated by the bishops who have appointed them!”
A Weak Church Cannot Resist Satan
As Fr. Amorth said above: “If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed.” That is why exorcisms―which would free a person from the devil in just a few sessions―today are taking many months, if not several years, to achieve the same liberation from the devil.
According to one exorcist working in Italy, the average time needed for a person to be freed from demonic influence in an exorcism is taking much longer than it did in even the recent past. Fr. Francois Dermine, O.P., an exorcist of nearly 30 years since 1994, says that whereas before it was common for a person to be liberated in one session, even if the exorcism or blessing lasted several hours, today, on average, sessions are growing longer and multiple meetings are required for a person to be completely freed from the devil’s grasp: “Some people can be liberated with very few blessings, though many require months.” Full-blown cases of possession, “can take a year.” He explains that these longer sessions were not really needed until recently, that is to say after the 1960s: “One blessing was enough – a blessing of one hour, two hours, three hours, six hours, but one blessing was enough to liberate one person of a possession. But now it’s different. It’s becoming very long. I think the reason for that is our society is becoming more and more atheistic, people are going away from prayer and the Sacraments … so there are fewer defenses against the devil.” He adds that another important, but “abnormal” factor, is a lack of Faith within the members of the Church itself, because during an exorcism, “the exorcist prays in the name of the Church. If, within the Church, you have the clergy and also a certain number of bishops who do not believe in the devil or his actions, then the exorcist is deprived of the power of the prayer of the Church.” Because of this, “the exorcist is liberating people more slowly. Before it was not the case. So it’s a sign that, within the Church, Faith in these things is not as strong as it was before.”
People, today, are more “full of themselves” than they are full of God. Satan has succeeded with the same ploy that he used on Adam and Eve, whom he convinced that by disobeying God they could become like Gods themselves: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any … And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? … For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:1-5). What worked for Satan back then, works equally well for him today―as Fr. Gabriele Amorth points-out: “Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men … Satan takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima has said that in the so-called “final battle” between Satan and Our Lady, the devil will primarily focus on destroying families―which are the basic building-block of the Church and the ultimate foundation for religious vocations and holy marriages.
“Nah! It won’t happen to me!”
How can families resist Satan if they are weak in the Faith, or worse still, if they rarely or barely practice the Faith? They are “sitting-ducks” for Satan―sitting in front of their television and computer and smartphone screens, instead of sitting in front of the tabernacle, or reading spiritual books, or ‘texting’ Heaven through their prayers. Most of the Catholic world today has “lost-it” and even Traditional and Conservative Catholics are “losing-it” ― the Faith is getting weaker and weaker as Satan gets stronger and stronger. “Nah! It won’t happen to me and my family!” you say. That is what you think! People far stronger in the Faith than you, ended up falling. Judas―an Apostle―fell. He betrayed Christ and was a key figure in bringing about His death. St. Peter―the Prince of Apostles―fell. He denied Christ three times. The other Apostles fell ― “Then the disciples all leaving Him, fled” (Matthew 26:56) … “Then His disciples leaving Him, all fled away” (Mark 14:50).
Satan Will Focus on Children
Today, statistics show that over 90% of young Catholic people will flee and abandon the regular practice of their Faith by the time they finish high-school or college! They will flee―leaving Our Lord alone! Even those who do still practice their Faith regularly, practice it badly in most cases―they pray very little, or pray badly; they do very little penance and perform few sacrifices; they are more worldly than they are spiritual; they know more about things of the world than they know about their Faith, its history, its doctrine, its spirituality, its moral laws, its liturgy, etc. They spend hours and hours on worldly things, and very little on spiritual things―and that includes Traditional and Conservative Catholic youth! How can that be said to be loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Is such a lifestyle not contrary to the advice Christ gave: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Fr. Gabriel Amorth reveals: “I was with Padre Pio for 26 years and remember how furious he was about the invention of television: ‘You will see what it will do!’ he said. It has also allowed good things. But I’m very much in the midst of people and see how many people have been ruined by television and the Internet.”
Unfortunately, young people (and oldsters too) disregard Our Lord’s words, and instead spend hours and hours in front of their electronic idols or gods―to which Our Lord would say, as He said to Peter, James and John during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). No! No time! There are better and more fun things to do! As Scripture says: “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6) ― meaning that, the child will grow up as it has been trained (or not trained). God is insistent upon children being taught the rudiments of religion: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart! And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7) … “If you obey My commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul, then He will give [here many blessgins are listed] … Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them [Today, that would be the television, computers, smartphones, tablets, i-Pads, internet, social media, fashions, sports, etc.] and the Lord, being angry, shut up Heaven, and you perish quickly … Lay up these My words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walk on the road, and when thou lie down and rise up. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house” [nowadays, post them on door of the refrigerator!] (Deuteronomy 11:13-20).
Parents―as well as parishes and schools―are guilty of minimalizing or even totally neglecting religious instruction and a profound spiritual life within the home (school and parish). The problem is that today there is little or no religious training of children, especially on the side of the parents. When children notice that God and the things of God are barely, rarely or never talked about―then they understand that to mean that God is not really all that important. When they see parents rely upon their own abilities, strength and knowledge in doing things, then they understand that you can and should do things without reference to God and without the help of God―totally disregarding Christ’s statement: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). When God is rarely or never the focal point of conversation at the dinner table or at other times, then the children will imitate that example as they grow up and will pass on that bad example to their own children: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―which is where we get our proverb of “Like father, like son!” Sadly, though, in most cases the son ends up in Hell just like the father!
Do the Math!
At the end of the day, this modern-day religious independence from God has fatal consequences. As the exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works … when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society … Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism … [COMMENT: In the USA it is estimated that around 80% of children in public schools have at some time or another, dabbled in some Satanic activity―some of carrying on for long periods!] … According to polls, 37% of students [in “Catholic” Italy] have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass [the Ouija Board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school, where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher!”
As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... During these unfortunate times, evil will invade childhood innocence ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
For or Against Christ?
So where do you stand? With Christ―or with Judas, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees? Is the state of your souls wonderful, or woeful? Naturally, most Catholics will reply indignantly: “Of course I am with Christ! How dare you suggest otherwise?” Yet those same Catholics are equally at home and friendly with the world and its worldliness―thus contradicting Christ’s words: “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:21-24). Yet these “split-personality” Catholics, or “double-agent” Catholics will protest: “Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? … We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets” (Matthew 7:22; Luke 13:26). To which Jesus replies: “And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! I know you not, nor whence you are! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity! … Why call you Me, Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say? … Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 7:22; Luke 13:27; 6:46; Mark 7:6).
Why? O Why? Why This Betrayal?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth knows better than most how Satan works―as do all exorcists. He tells us that “the devil has a double way of acting―the ordinary way and the extraordinary way. The ordinary way is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to lead man towards evil, to push him to break divine law, to make him fall into sin … The devil prefers this way and we are all subject to it from our birth until our death! … We are all tempted by the devil, and will be for as long as we live! … The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and ‘works’ on it, creating his next sinful occasion … The most frequent weak points in man are, from time to time, always the same: pride, power, money, and lust ... [The Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees fell to pride and a desire for power. Judas, the holder of the purse for Christ and the Apostles, had become a petty thief, stealing from the donations given to Christ, and finally “sold” Christ for money]. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex ….” Our Lady of Fatima told St. Jacinta Marto that the sin that most commonly leads souls to Hell is the sin of impurity―a sexual sin.
Satan takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful …
We can call Wednesday in Holy Week “Woeful Wednesday” because it was on Wednesday that Judas made the final arrangements and plans for betraying Christ to His enemies―the priests (Sadducees), Scribes and Pharisees―all of whom carried great grievances against Jesus and who had for a long time sought to apprehend and kill Him, but were afraid of turning the people against themselves, for Jesus had gained widespread popularity and support.
On Monday and Tuesday―after His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on what we today call “Palm Sunday”―Our Lord remained at Bethany (a few miles to the east of Jerusalem, on the other side of the Mount of Olives), without going to Jerusalem, and on this day the Scribes and Pharisees met at the house of the High-Priest, Caiphas, in order to plan the death of their Savior. They had already resolved to take away his life under the false pretext of the public good, as Caiphas had prophesied:
“The chief priests therefore, and the Pharisees, gathered a council, and said: ‘What do we do? For this Man doth many miracles! If we leave Him alone―all will believe in Him; and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation!’ But one of them, named Caiphas, being the high priest that year, said to them: ‘You know nothing! Neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not!’ And this he spoke not of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation” (John 11:47-51).
Ruling Classes Reject God
Between them, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees “ruled” the Jewish nation even though the Romans had occupied Judea. Though they were opponents to each other in some areas of law and religion, they nevertheless were all members of the Sanhedrin―which could loosely be compared to the Senate―a body of 71 men who were a political and judicial council headed by the high priest (in his role as civil ruler). Politically, it could appoint the king and the high priest, declare war, and expand the territory of Jerusalem and the Temple. Judicially, it could try a high priest, a false prophet, a rebellious elder, or an errant tribe. Religiously, it supervised certain rituals.
To them we can apply the words of Holy Scripture concerning “kings” and “princes” ― “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). The Sanhedrin, despite hearing of and witnessing many of the miracles Jesus had performed, refused to accept Him and decided, instead, to arrest Him and put Him on trial in front of the Sanhedrin. God judged by man! O what a nerve! What audacity! What hypocrisy! A power struggle between man and God―reminiscent of Lucifer’s desire to impose his will on the will of God, refusing to accept God’s will with the cry: “I will not serve!” Which, incidentally, is the attitude of the Liberal, who seeks to be a mini-god unto himself or herself―thinking what they want to think, believing what they want to believe, saying what they want to say, and doing what they want to do―even if it at odds with what God wants them to think, believe, say and do. The Sanhedrin’s treatment of Christ (God) is a perfect example of how Christ (God) is viewed by governments today―God is put in a position of subservience to man. Man is the judge of God and not the other way round. Man decides which laws of God to accept and which laws are to be rejected, changed or modified.
You can add to that equation Judas―or the modern day Judases, who are members of the clergy, of whom Our Lady predicted: ““Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... By their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Those Damned Bishops and Priests!!!
If you think it is a scary thought that most souls are damned―then how much scarier is it to think that most bishops and priests are damned―and they are supposed to the leaders and guides of Christ’s flock! Yet that is the opinion of St. John Chrysostom, who says: “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.” As regards priests, he says: “Do you not perceive how many qualities a priest must have that he may be strong in his teaching, patient, and hold fast to the faithful word which is according to doctrine? What care and pains does this require! Moreover, he is answerable for the sins of others. To pass over everything else―if only one soul dies without Baptism, does it not entirely endanger his own salvation? For the loss of one soul is so great an evil that it is impossible to express it in words! And if the salvation of that soul was of such value, that the Son of God became man and suffered so much, then just think of how great a punishment must await the one who loses that soul!” St. Teresa of Avila said most priests go to Hell. St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his sermon on The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved, says: “I am horror-struck when I hear St. Jerome declaring that although the world is full of priests, barely one in a hundred is living in a manner in conformity with state; when I hear a servant of God attesting that he has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell each day is so great; when I hear St. John Chrysostom exclaiming: ‘I do not believe that many priests are saved! I believe the contrary, that the number of those who are damned is greater!’”
“Yikes!” you say, “I certainly don’t want to become a priest! It seems like there is almost no chance of salvation! I think I will stay in the ranks of the laity!” The problem with that kind of false reasoning is that it ignores the fact that most laity are damned too! The problem is NOT that salvation is impossible―for Holy Scripture tells that us that “God wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4)―but the problem is that “the light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). Christ “was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11).
That is exactly what Judas, the Sadducees, the Scribes and the Pharisees were guilty of―they were His own people, yet they chose to “know Him not”, they were of the Chosen People, yet they “received Him not”. They had their own ideas about how religion should be―they, in a sense, had already made their own version of God’s religion―which is what most of the world is guilty of today, even among the Conservatives and Traditionalists―but they will deny it vehemently, just as the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees resented and refused Christ’s criticism of how they approached and lived their religion. Instead of removing the obstacles that Christ pointed-out to them, they saw Christ as the obstacle and chose to remove Him. What a bunch of woeful wrongheaded wretches! Woeful Wednesday is their day!
But never mind “Woeful Wednesday”―woe to us today! The clergy, for the most part, have gone down the same fatal path that was taken by the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees! They no longer like the ancient teachings of the Church (Tradition), just like the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees had departed from the ancient teachings of God (the Mosaic Law). Many priests no longer believe that the Holy Mass is a real sacrifice, preferring to call a meal, a commemoration, a community remembrance of the death of Jesus. Likewise, increasing numbers of priests no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Nor do they see the need for much prayer and penance. Nor do they see sin anymore in many sinful actions. Hence it is that their Catholic flock today holds views that are contrary to the Faith of old―today they accept contraception, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation before marriage, same sex relationships, masturbation, sodomy, transgenderism, abortion, immodesty, pornography, drunkenness, drug-use, false ecumenism, heretical views, etc.
As both Traditional and Liberal and Modernist popes have (strangely agreed and) said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin” (Pope Pius XII) … “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin” (Pope John Paul II) … “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many” (Pope Benedict XVI) … “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost” (Pope Francis). As Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. They will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
From Sanhedrin to Senate! From Sadducee to Senator! Pharisee to Politician! Scribe to Legislator!
Yet that is what is happening today! As Holy Scripture says: “What is it that hath been? The same thing that shall be! What is it that hath been done? The same that shall be done! Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: ‘Behold this is new!’ ― for it hath already gone before, in the ages that were before us!” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). Is this not just as true today―or even more true today than ever before? It has to be―for Our Lady said back in 1956: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello). Sin is a rejection of God, a rejection of the yoke of God, a desire to break the bonds that tie us to God. “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Which is why the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said that at this moment in time the devil is in control of the world.
Satan loves to possess world leaders and business leaders. There is no doubt that Satan was behind all that Judas, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees plotted and did―“He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Judas himself was eventually possessed by the devil: “The devil put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, to betray Him … Jesus said: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, one of you shall betray Me!’ The disciples therefore looked one upon another, doubting of whom he spoke. Now [John] leaning on the breast of Jesus, said to Him: ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered: ‘He it is to whom I shall reach the dipped bread. And when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the morsel, Satan entered into him” (John 13:2; 13:21-26).
Earlier, in speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said to them: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning!” (John 8:43-47). Our Lord accuses those religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees, of belonging to the devil.
Just as the religious leaders―Scribes and Pharisees―were in clutches of Satan back then, so too is the Vatican and the Church at large today. The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, says: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ Nothing mattered to him, however terrifying, except for the great apostasy within the Church. This was the issue that really tormented him and for which he prayed and offered a great part of his suffering, crucified out of love.”
“Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … It is not surprising that priests and bishops don’t believe, as they’ve never seen an exorcism, or heard speak about it, and in the seminaries the devil’s existence is ignored ... for some time the seminaries have no longer been teaching on angels and devils, nothing on exorcism … Unfortunately nowadays there are priests and Bishops who do not believe in the devil and that is why it is often very difficult to find exorcists … I would say that 99% of bishops do not believe in the extraordinary action of the devil ... We need many more exorcists, but the bishops won’t appoint them! … We, exorcists, are very badly treated. We are treated as though we are crazy fanatics. Generally speaking exorcist are scarcely even tolerated by the bishops who have appointed them!”
A Weak Church Cannot Resist Satan
As Fr. Amorth said above: “If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed.” That is why exorcisms―which would free a person from the devil in just a few sessions―today are taking many months, if not several years, to achieve the same liberation from the devil.
According to one exorcist working in Italy, the average time needed for a person to be freed from demonic influence in an exorcism is taking much longer than it did in even the recent past. Fr. Francois Dermine, O.P., an exorcist of nearly 30 years since 1994, says that whereas before it was common for a person to be liberated in one session, even if the exorcism or blessing lasted several hours, today, on average, sessions are growing longer and multiple meetings are required for a person to be completely freed from the devil’s grasp: “Some people can be liberated with very few blessings, though many require months.” Full-blown cases of possession, “can take a year.” He explains that these longer sessions were not really needed until recently, that is to say after the 1960s: “One blessing was enough – a blessing of one hour, two hours, three hours, six hours, but one blessing was enough to liberate one person of a possession. But now it’s different. It’s becoming very long. I think the reason for that is our society is becoming more and more atheistic, people are going away from prayer and the Sacraments … so there are fewer defenses against the devil.” He adds that another important, but “abnormal” factor, is a lack of Faith within the members of the Church itself, because during an exorcism, “the exorcist prays in the name of the Church. If, within the Church, you have the clergy and also a certain number of bishops who do not believe in the devil or his actions, then the exorcist is deprived of the power of the prayer of the Church.” Because of this, “the exorcist is liberating people more slowly. Before it was not the case. So it’s a sign that, within the Church, Faith in these things is not as strong as it was before.”
People, today, are more “full of themselves” than they are full of God. Satan has succeeded with the same ploy that he used on Adam and Eve, whom he convinced that by disobeying God they could become like Gods themselves: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any … And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? … For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:1-5). What worked for Satan back then, works equally well for him today―as Fr. Gabriele Amorth points-out: “Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men … Satan takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima has said that in the so-called “final battle” between Satan and Our Lady, the devil will primarily focus on destroying families―which are the basic building-block of the Church and the ultimate foundation for religious vocations and holy marriages.
“Nah! It won’t happen to me!”
How can families resist Satan if they are weak in the Faith, or worse still, if they rarely or barely practice the Faith? They are “sitting-ducks” for Satan―sitting in front of their television and computer and smartphone screens, instead of sitting in front of the tabernacle, or reading spiritual books, or ‘texting’ Heaven through their prayers. Most of the Catholic world today has “lost-it” and even Traditional and Conservative Catholics are “losing-it” ― the Faith is getting weaker and weaker as Satan gets stronger and stronger. “Nah! It won’t happen to me and my family!” you say. That is what you think! People far stronger in the Faith than you, ended up falling. Judas―an Apostle―fell. He betrayed Christ and was a key figure in bringing about His death. St. Peter―the Prince of Apostles―fell. He denied Christ three times. The other Apostles fell ― “Then the disciples all leaving Him, fled” (Matthew 26:56) … “Then His disciples leaving Him, all fled away” (Mark 14:50).
Satan Will Focus on Children
Today, statistics show that over 90% of young Catholic people will flee and abandon the regular practice of their Faith by the time they finish high-school or college! They will flee―leaving Our Lord alone! Even those who do still practice their Faith regularly, practice it badly in most cases―they pray very little, or pray badly; they do very little penance and perform few sacrifices; they are more worldly than they are spiritual; they know more about things of the world than they know about their Faith, its history, its doctrine, its spirituality, its moral laws, its liturgy, etc. They spend hours and hours on worldly things, and very little on spiritual things―and that includes Traditional and Conservative Catholic youth! How can that be said to be loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Is such a lifestyle not contrary to the advice Christ gave: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Fr. Gabriel Amorth reveals: “I was with Padre Pio for 26 years and remember how furious he was about the invention of television: ‘You will see what it will do!’ he said. It has also allowed good things. But I’m very much in the midst of people and see how many people have been ruined by television and the Internet.”
Unfortunately, young people (and oldsters too) disregard Our Lord’s words, and instead spend hours and hours in front of their electronic idols or gods―to which Our Lord would say, as He said to Peter, James and John during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). No! No time! There are better and more fun things to do! As Scripture says: “A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6) ― meaning that, the child will grow up as it has been trained (or not trained). God is insistent upon children being taught the rudiments of religion: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart! And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7) … “If you obey My commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul, then He will give [here many blessgins are listed] … Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them [Today, that would be the television, computers, smartphones, tablets, i-Pads, internet, social media, fashions, sports, etc.] and the Lord, being angry, shut up Heaven, and you perish quickly … Lay up these My words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walk on the road, and when thou lie down and rise up. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house” [nowadays, post them on door of the refrigerator!] (Deuteronomy 11:13-20).
Parents―as well as parishes and schools―are guilty of minimalizing or even totally neglecting religious instruction and a profound spiritual life within the home (school and parish). The problem is that today there is little or no religious training of children, especially on the side of the parents. When children notice that God and the things of God are barely, rarely or never talked about―then they understand that to mean that God is not really all that important. When they see parents rely upon their own abilities, strength and knowledge in doing things, then they understand that you can and should do things without reference to God and without the help of God―totally disregarding Christ’s statement: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). When God is rarely or never the focal point of conversation at the dinner table or at other times, then the children will imitate that example as they grow up and will pass on that bad example to their own children: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―which is where we get our proverb of “Like father, like son!” Sadly, though, in most cases the son ends up in Hell just like the father!
Do the Math!
At the end of the day, this modern-day religious independence from God has fatal consequences. As the exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works … when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society … Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses―through satanic rock and celebrities. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism … [COMMENT: In the USA it is estimated that around 80% of children in public schools have at some time or another, dabbled in some Satanic activity―some of carrying on for long periods!] … According to polls, 37% of students [in “Catholic” Italy] have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass [the Ouija Board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school, where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher!”
As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... During these unfortunate times, evil will invade childhood innocence ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
For or Against Christ?
So where do you stand? With Christ―or with Judas, the Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees? Is the state of your souls wonderful, or woeful? Naturally, most Catholics will reply indignantly: “Of course I am with Christ! How dare you suggest otherwise?” Yet those same Catholics are equally at home and friendly with the world and its worldliness―thus contradicting Christ’s words: “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:21-24). Yet these “split-personality” Catholics, or “double-agent” Catholics will protest: “Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? … We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets” (Matthew 7:22; Luke 13:26). To which Jesus replies: “And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! I know you not, nor whence you are! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity! … Why call you Me, Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say? … Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 7:22; Luke 13:27; 6:46; Mark 7:6).
Why? O Why? Why This Betrayal?
Fr. Gabriele Amorth knows better than most how Satan works―as do all exorcists. He tells us that “the devil has a double way of acting―the ordinary way and the extraordinary way. The ordinary way is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to lead man towards evil, to push him to break divine law, to make him fall into sin … The devil prefers this way and we are all subject to it from our birth until our death! … We are all tempted by the devil, and will be for as long as we live! … The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and ‘works’ on it, creating his next sinful occasion … The most frequent weak points in man are, from time to time, always the same: pride, power, money, and lust ... [The Sadducees, Scribes and Pharisees fell to pride and a desire for power. Judas, the holder of the purse for Christ and the Apostles, had become a petty thief, stealing from the donations given to Christ, and finally “sold” Christ for money]. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex ….” Our Lady of Fatima told St. Jacinta Marto that the sin that most commonly leads souls to Hell is the sin of impurity―a sexual sin.
Satan takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful …
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday & Tuesday within Holy Week, March 29th & 30th
Article 25
A Passion for the Passion
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday & Tuesday within Holy Week, March 29th & 30th
Article 25
A Passion for the Passion
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tell Me…
We all know the usual “Tell me…” phrases ― “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell what kind of a person you are!” … “Tell me what you (love, like, eat, read, watch), and I will tell you what you are!” These phrases are somewhat akin to Our Lord’s statement: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Elsewhere, Our Lord says to the worldlings: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). If the works or fruits of the world are evil, then the world (the tree that bears those evil fruits) must also be evil: “The evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.”
Along the same lines, Holy Scripture adds: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The God and Lord of Unity―Or the God and Lord of Division?
The above words of Holy Scripture seem to be divisive: “‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” Yet, elsewhere, Scripture says: “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The same sentiment is seen in various other books of the Bible: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus!” (Galatians 3:8). “Be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. Let nothing be done through contention” (Philippians 2:2-3). “Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling―one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:3-6). Our Lord, in speaking to His Father in Heaven at the Last Supper, adds: “I have manifested Thy Name to the men whom Thou hast given Me … I pray for them because they are Thine … And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me, so that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee; may they also be one in Us … that they may be one, as We also are one―I in them, and Thou in Me; so that they may be made perfect in oneness” (John 17:6-23).
All of this bespeaks and oozes unity! Yet it can all be taken out of context and other parts of Scripture that show the contrary can be deliberately ignored and set aside. This is much like only seeing God’s mercy without equally seeing God’s justice―it is being selective and taking what suits your personal preferences, ideology or outlook. Yes, God and Christ seek unity―but it is their version of unity and not the world’s false version of unity. God seeks that we be united in Him―following His teachings and commandments. The world will allow any kind of unity―do what the hell you want and we will unite in agreeing to disagree―everything is permissible, both sin and virtue, error and truth, paganism and Christianity.
If you have read a decent portion of the Bible, then you will have realized―consciously or unconsciously―that God the Father and God the Son are also Gods of division―in the sense of “It is My way, or the highway!” There can only be unity in God under God’s Law and Commandments―God will not tolerate or accept a false unity that rejects part or all of His Law or commandments. Our Lord also says at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
At the Last Supper, despite speaking about a desired unity, Our Lord also speaks of division―He places that division or draws that dividing-line between Himself and world: “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them; and they have kept Thy word … I pray for them―I pray not for the world―but for them whom Thou hast given Me, because they are Thine! … They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-9, 16).
Born to Divide
This divisiveness of Christ was prophesied by St. Simeon at Our Lord’s Presentation in the Temple―which is both the 4th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary and 1st Mystery in the Rosary of Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows. “There was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And when His parents brought in the Child Jesus … Siemon took Him into his arms, and said: ‘O Lord … my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples! A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel! … Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted” (Luke 2:25-34). Almost immediately afterwards, the 2,000 year long acceptance and rejection of Christ began―for the Three Kings came from the East to adore, while King Herod sought to kill Him. When Our Lord began His public ministry at the age of 30, after 30 years of hidden life, the same phenomenon was to be seen―some accepted Him and loved Him, other rejected Him and hated Him.
Long before the Last Supper, Our Lord had clearly stated that He had come to cause division: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37).
The Real Cause of Division
God is not the cause of division―it is Satan, the devils and mankind that choose division by separating themselves from God and His Law: “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5). “These are they, who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit!” (Jude 1:19). “Whosoever revolts and continues not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continues in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine―then receive him not into the house, nor say to him, ‘God speed you!’ For he that says unto him: ‘God speed you!’ communicates with his wicked works” (2 John 1:9-11).
This is why Christ and Holy Scripture recommends division, in the sense of separation, meaning that we separate ourselves from anyone and everyone who is opposed to Christ and His teachings in any way, shape or form. The world as a whole falls into this category―for Our Lord said concerning His followers: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Are you of the world? Or are you not of this world? Are you comfortable with the world? Or are you uncomfortable with the world? Do you follow the fashions, maxims and opinions of the world? Or do you oppose them? “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” (Colossians 3:1-3). Alas, so many do the exact opposite―and that is one of the many reasons why most souls end up being lost. They refuse to play accord to the rule book―they create their own rule book, their own version of God’s religion!
Preferring One’s Own Religion to God’s Religion
This is what the Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of―even though they claimed to be the upholders of God Laws and Traditions, they had succumbed to tweaking God’s religion according their own opinions. Our Lord often condemned them for that with words such as: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? … Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:3, 7-9). Our Lord’s clashes with the Scribes and Pharisees came to a head in the Temple, on the Tuesday before His crucifixion (Tuesday of Holy Week as we call it today), when He “let them have it” with a tirade not seen elsewhere in the Gospels. Here are just some of the angry criticisms Our Lord made against them:
“They bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. All their works they do for to be seen of men ... They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi [Master, Teacher] … Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves. Woe to you blind guides! … Ye foolish and blind! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites― because you [focus on less important things] and ignore the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you are like to whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men to be just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―that build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just, whereas you are witnesses against yourselves, because you are the sons of them that killed the prophets! You serpents, generation of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city! Therefore upon you shall come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the Earth!” (Matthew 23:4-35). [to read more about the Scribes and Pharisees, click on each of the following word links SCRIBES and PHARISEES]
Even the Apostles felt the wrath and indignation of Christ at times―especially when they too tried to “change” Christ’s religion, that is to say, to suggest another way of doing things to Christ’s way of doing things. One incident was where the brothers, St. James and St. John―known as the “Sons of Thunder”―asked Our Lord if they could pray for fire and brimstone to fall upon a Samaritan city that had just rejected Jesus: “And it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56). It’s Our Lord’s way or the highway!
St. Peter received an even greater rebuke, where Jesus called him “Satan” for trying to prevent Our Lord from fulfilling His mission to suffer and die at the hands of His enemies: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). It’s Our Lord’s way or the highway!
Our Lord’s Passion for the Passion Misunderstood
Human thinking rarely aligns itself with Divine thinking―as God Himself says to us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). We tend to be minimalists by nature―seeking to get the maximum possible by making minimal efforts. Our Lord was the opposite―He sought to give the maximum when the minimal would have sufficed. He did not have to go through torture and death in order to earn for us the possibility of salvation―any minimal kind of suffering or even act of charity would have sufficed―because, while being human, He was also Divine, He was God and therefore infinite, and any action, however small, had infinite value. Yet He chose to “go all the way”, “to the very limit”, in order to show and prove His compassion and love for us. We do the minimal, while expecting maximum―Jesus did the maximum, while knowing His efforts would only have minimal results―because most souls are lost and damned as a result of not cooperating with and profiting from the graces of potential salvation earned by Christ.
Jesus, from the very beginning―since He was not only a man, but God―knew what was awaiting Him, even in His infancy. He knew His purpose on Earth: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I am come that they may have life” [meaning, eternal life] (John 10:10). St. Peter adds: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Peter 3:18) … “Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―by Whose stripes you were healed!” (1 Peter 2:24). Old Testament prophecy spoke of the future Christ and Savior: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness―and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness that we should be desirous of Him. Despised and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity. And His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows―and we have thought of Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins―the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:2-5).
To Our Lady, at the marriage feast at Cana, Our Lord, knowing the future, said: “My hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). When still in Galilee, “Jesus said: ‘My time is not yet come!’” (John 7:6). Later, when He had taken His public ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem, He came up against the envy and anger of the Scribes and Pharisees, who eventually decided that Jesus must be apprehended and killed, which led Jesus to ask them: “‘Why seek you to kill Me?’ … They then sought to apprehend Him, but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 7:20 & 30). Again, in the next chapter of John, we read that “No man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 8:20). As the time for His Passion drew closer, “it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again!” (Matthew 16:21). Jesus then spoke of the arrival of the hour for which He had come into this world: “Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone!” (John 16:32). “All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour!’ But for this cause I came unto this hour!” (John 12:27). “Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father―having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). Though Our Lord was heavily tormented by His forthcoming Passion and Death during His Agony in Garden, He nevertheless overcame His repugnance and revulsion for He had to suffer: “‘My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt!’ … Again the second time, He went and prayed, saying: ‘My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done!’” (Matthew 26:39-42). Then, after His struggles, when He was finally arrested, St. Peter drew his sword to protect and rescue Jesus―but Jesus again rebuked him, saying: “The chalice, which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).
Get a Passion for the Passion―Seek to Suffer for Christ!
St. Paul traces the path of suffering for us: “I judge myself to not know anything among you―except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19). “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “Knowing this―that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6). “Christ died for our sins―the Just for the unjust―so that He might offer us to God, that we being put to death in the flesh, may enlivened in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). “The fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death” (Philippians 3:10). “For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Philippians 1:29). “We suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:17-18). “In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not! Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies!” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
“Christ, therefore, having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought―for he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sins, so that he may now live the rest of his time in his body, not according to the desires of men, but according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2). “The wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace! … If you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if you live by the Spirit―mortifying the deeds of the flesh―then you shall live!” (Romans 8:6 & 13).
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says much the same thing: “I understood, by divine light, that the incarnate Lord was to suffer a most cruel death and was to be bound most shamefully … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much and that He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and his sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … He it was who gave His own life and subjected Himself to sufferings for the good of His creatures without waiting for any merits on their part … for whom, as man, He had suffered and died … But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by his declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in his sufferings and that his sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief … How persistently they forget, that their Teacher and Master has first accepted sufferings, and has honored and sanctified them in his own Person! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Ponder and meditate without intermission upon that, which my most holy Son suffered, so that thy soul be a participant in His sorrows. Let the pious memory of His sufferings engender in thee such a disgust and abhorrence of all earthly pleasures that thou despise and forget all that is visible, and instead, follow the Author of eternal life.
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his Master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering, our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart; these inclinations and blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their wordliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these wordlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider in thy heart the image of my Son and Lord full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of his sacred body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains … By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that next to ascending to the right hand of his eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas, in his malice and treachery, has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
We all know the usual “Tell me…” phrases ― “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell what kind of a person you are!” … “Tell me what you (love, like, eat, read, watch), and I will tell you what you are!” These phrases are somewhat akin to Our Lord’s statement: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Elsewhere, Our Lord says to the worldlings: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). If the works or fruits of the world are evil, then the world (the tree that bears those evil fruits) must also be evil: “The evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.”
Along the same lines, Holy Scripture adds: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The God and Lord of Unity―Or the God and Lord of Division?
The above words of Holy Scripture seem to be divisive: “‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” Yet, elsewhere, Scripture says: “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The same sentiment is seen in various other books of the Bible: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus!” (Galatians 3:8). “Be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. Let nothing be done through contention” (Philippians 2:2-3). “Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling―one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:3-6). Our Lord, in speaking to His Father in Heaven at the Last Supper, adds: “I have manifested Thy Name to the men whom Thou hast given Me … I pray for them because they are Thine … And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me, so that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee; may they also be one in Us … that they may be one, as We also are one―I in them, and Thou in Me; so that they may be made perfect in oneness” (John 17:6-23).
All of this bespeaks and oozes unity! Yet it can all be taken out of context and other parts of Scripture that show the contrary can be deliberately ignored and set aside. This is much like only seeing God’s mercy without equally seeing God’s justice―it is being selective and taking what suits your personal preferences, ideology or outlook. Yes, God and Christ seek unity―but it is their version of unity and not the world’s false version of unity. God seeks that we be united in Him―following His teachings and commandments. The world will allow any kind of unity―do what the hell you want and we will unite in agreeing to disagree―everything is permissible, both sin and virtue, error and truth, paganism and Christianity.
If you have read a decent portion of the Bible, then you will have realized―consciously or unconsciously―that God the Father and God the Son are also Gods of division―in the sense of “It is My way, or the highway!” There can only be unity in God under God’s Law and Commandments―God will not tolerate or accept a false unity that rejects part or all of His Law or commandments. Our Lord also says at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
At the Last Supper, despite speaking about a desired unity, Our Lord also speaks of division―He places that division or draws that dividing-line between Himself and world: “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them; and they have kept Thy word … I pray for them―I pray not for the world―but for them whom Thou hast given Me, because they are Thine! … They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-9, 16).
Born to Divide
This divisiveness of Christ was prophesied by St. Simeon at Our Lord’s Presentation in the Temple―which is both the 4th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary and 1st Mystery in the Rosary of Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows. “There was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And when His parents brought in the Child Jesus … Siemon took Him into his arms, and said: ‘O Lord … my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples! A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel! … Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted” (Luke 2:25-34). Almost immediately afterwards, the 2,000 year long acceptance and rejection of Christ began―for the Three Kings came from the East to adore, while King Herod sought to kill Him. When Our Lord began His public ministry at the age of 30, after 30 years of hidden life, the same phenomenon was to be seen―some accepted Him and loved Him, other rejected Him and hated Him.
Long before the Last Supper, Our Lord had clearly stated that He had come to cause division: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:17-22; 10:32-37).
The Real Cause of Division
God is not the cause of division―it is Satan, the devils and mankind that choose division by separating themselves from God and His Law: “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5). “These are they, who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit!” (Jude 1:19). “Whosoever revolts and continues not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continues in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine―then receive him not into the house, nor say to him, ‘God speed you!’ For he that says unto him: ‘God speed you!’ communicates with his wicked works” (2 John 1:9-11).
This is why Christ and Holy Scripture recommends division, in the sense of separation, meaning that we separate ourselves from anyone and everyone who is opposed to Christ and His teachings in any way, shape or form. The world as a whole falls into this category―for Our Lord said concerning His followers: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Are you of the world? Or are you not of this world? Are you comfortable with the world? Or are you uncomfortable with the world? Do you follow the fashions, maxims and opinions of the world? Or do you oppose them? “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above―where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” (Colossians 3:1-3). Alas, so many do the exact opposite―and that is one of the many reasons why most souls end up being lost. They refuse to play accord to the rule book―they create their own rule book, their own version of God’s religion!
Preferring One’s Own Religion to God’s Religion
This is what the Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of―even though they claimed to be the upholders of God Laws and Traditions, they had succumbed to tweaking God’s religion according their own opinions. Our Lord often condemned them for that with words such as: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? … Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:3, 7-9). Our Lord’s clashes with the Scribes and Pharisees came to a head in the Temple, on the Tuesday before His crucifixion (Tuesday of Holy Week as we call it today), when He “let them have it” with a tirade not seen elsewhere in the Gospels. Here are just some of the angry criticisms Our Lord made against them:
“They bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. All their works they do for to be seen of men ... They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi [Master, Teacher] … Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves. Woe to you blind guides! … Ye foolish and blind! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites― because you [focus on less important things] and ignore the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―because you are like to whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men to be just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites―that build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just, whereas you are witnesses against yourselves, because you are the sons of them that killed the prophets! You serpents, generation of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city! Therefore upon you shall come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the Earth!” (Matthew 23:4-35). [to read more about the Scribes and Pharisees, click on each of the following word links SCRIBES and PHARISEES]
Even the Apostles felt the wrath and indignation of Christ at times―especially when they too tried to “change” Christ’s religion, that is to say, to suggest another way of doing things to Christ’s way of doing things. One incident was where the brothers, St. James and St. John―known as the “Sons of Thunder”―asked Our Lord if they could pray for fire and brimstone to fall upon a Samaritan city that had just rejected Jesus: “And it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56). It’s Our Lord’s way or the highway!
St. Peter received an even greater rebuke, where Jesus called him “Satan” for trying to prevent Our Lord from fulfilling His mission to suffer and die at the hands of His enemies: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). It’s Our Lord’s way or the highway!
Our Lord’s Passion for the Passion Misunderstood
Human thinking rarely aligns itself with Divine thinking―as God Himself says to us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). We tend to be minimalists by nature―seeking to get the maximum possible by making minimal efforts. Our Lord was the opposite―He sought to give the maximum when the minimal would have sufficed. He did not have to go through torture and death in order to earn for us the possibility of salvation―any minimal kind of suffering or even act of charity would have sufficed―because, while being human, He was also Divine, He was God and therefore infinite, and any action, however small, had infinite value. Yet He chose to “go all the way”, “to the very limit”, in order to show and prove His compassion and love for us. We do the minimal, while expecting maximum―Jesus did the maximum, while knowing His efforts would only have minimal results―because most souls are lost and damned as a result of not cooperating with and profiting from the graces of potential salvation earned by Christ.
Jesus, from the very beginning―since He was not only a man, but God―knew what was awaiting Him, even in His infancy. He knew His purpose on Earth: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I am come that they may have life” [meaning, eternal life] (John 10:10). St. Peter adds: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Peter 3:18) … “Who, His own self, bore our sins in His body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―by Whose stripes you were healed!” (1 Peter 2:24). Old Testament prophecy spoke of the future Christ and Savior: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness―and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness that we should be desirous of Him. Despised and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity. And His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows―and we have thought of Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins―the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:2-5).
To Our Lady, at the marriage feast at Cana, Our Lord, knowing the future, said: “My hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). When still in Galilee, “Jesus said: ‘My time is not yet come!’” (John 7:6). Later, when He had taken His public ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem, He came up against the envy and anger of the Scribes and Pharisees, who eventually decided that Jesus must be apprehended and killed, which led Jesus to ask them: “‘Why seek you to kill Me?’ … They then sought to apprehend Him, but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 7:20 & 30). Again, in the next chapter of John, we read that “No man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 8:20). As the time for His Passion drew closer, “it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again!” (Matthew 16:21). Jesus then spoke of the arrival of the hour for which He had come into this world: “Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone!” (John 16:32). “All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour!’ But for this cause I came unto this hour!” (John 12:27). “Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father―having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). Though Our Lord was heavily tormented by His forthcoming Passion and Death during His Agony in Garden, He nevertheless overcame His repugnance and revulsion for He had to suffer: “‘My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt!’ … Again the second time, He went and prayed, saying: ‘My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done!’” (Matthew 26:39-42). Then, after His struggles, when He was finally arrested, St. Peter drew his sword to protect and rescue Jesus―but Jesus again rebuked him, saying: “The chalice, which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).
Get a Passion for the Passion―Seek to Suffer for Christ!
St. Paul traces the path of suffering for us: “I judge myself to not know anything among you―except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19). “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “Knowing this―that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer!” (Romans 6:6). “Christ died for our sins―the Just for the unjust―so that He might offer us to God, that we being put to death in the flesh, may enlivened in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). “The fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death” (Philippians 3:10). “For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Philippians 1:29). “We suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:17-18). “In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not! Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies!” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
“Christ, therefore, having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought―for he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sins, so that he may now live the rest of his time in his body, not according to the desires of men, but according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2). “The wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace! … If you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if you live by the Spirit―mortifying the deeds of the flesh―then you shall live!” (Romans 8:6 & 13).
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says much the same thing: “I understood, by divine light, that the incarnate Lord was to suffer a most cruel death and was to be bound most shamefully … In order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much … My Son and Lord could have redeemed the human race without suffering so much and that He wished to increase His sufferings only on account of the immensity of His love for souls … He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and his sufferings continued until He died on the Cross … He it was who gave His own life and subjected Himself to sufferings for the good of His creatures without waiting for any merits on their part … for whom, as man, He had suffered and died … But the worldlings in their torpidity are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by his declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in his sufferings and that his sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief … How persistently they forget, that their Teacher and Master has first accepted sufferings, and has honored and sanctified them in his own Person! It is a great shame―nay, a great boldness―on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them … Ponder and meditate without intermission upon that, which my most holy Son suffered, so that thy soul be a participant in His sorrows. Let the pious memory of His sufferings engender in thee such a disgust and abhorrence of all earthly pleasures that thou despise and forget all that is visible, and instead, follow the Author of eternal life.
“Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light … If passing labors and sufferings are accepted with joy and with serenity of heart, then they spiritualize the creature, they elevate it and furnish it with a divine insight―by which the soul begins to appreciate and esteem affliction at its proper value, and soon finds consolation in the blessings of mortification and finds freedom from disorderly passions … When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried ... The divine influence will urge and draw thee on to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest … seeking only to love and to suffer … Be willing to bear and suffer, forgive and love all who offend thee … When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created … Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refuse to embrace the cross and rejoice in it!
“Understand the ignorance and error of mortals, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering, but they make their recovery impossible―since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering … Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights … In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures―those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science, are foolish! … Earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible with this wisdom; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors!”
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him―nor is he a good disciple, who does not follow his Master―nor is he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord―nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. As for those who are forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering, our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart; these inclinations and blindness rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which could raise them above their wordliness … They do not seek the medicine of suffering … Hence it is that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, these wordlings desire none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this ignorance goes still farther―for some of them expect to be distinguished by God’s most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not wish to imitate Him and follow Him in His Passion.
“Therefore, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this life … Life must be for thee a most rigid cross on which thou must remain crucified … in such a way that thou canst not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with Christ … Keep in thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it … Contemplate and consider in thy heart the image of my Son and Lord full of blood, torments, sorrows, and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of his sacred body being exempt from wounds and excruciating pains … By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion, you will attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an eyewitness, assure thee, that next to ascending to the right hand of his eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. Lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas, in his malice and treachery, has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him again!
“The Lord and I suffered and endured such bitter sorrows, in order that mortals might be encouraged not to refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward Heaven and gain an eternal happiness.”
Palm Sunday, March 28th
Article 24
Salvation in the Palm in Your Hand!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 24
Salvation in the Palm in Your Hand!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Great, Painful and Holy!
The “Great Week” ... “The Painful Week” ... “Holy Week!” The only week that really matters! This is it! If, at the start of Lent, Holy Mother Church, in her liturgy, quoted St. Paul’s words: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), then all the more is Holy Week this “acceptable time” and this “day of salvation.” They say “pride comes before a fall” and here we could say “triumph comes before humiliation.” Our Lord was not proud during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we call “Palm Sunday”―but His Apostles most certainly were! Our Lord chose to enter Jerusalem on an ass or donkey, not a horse. All four evangelists write of Jesus entering Jerusalem to a great welcome—not riding on a majestic horse that a king or warrior might ride, but riding on an ass or donkey. In our day it would be like a world leader, instead of coming on a private jet welcomed by military bands and ribboned officials, putt-putting in an old faithful station wagon. Or like the pope rejecting fine limousines and driving a humble compact instead.
Nevertheless, the crowds thronged all around Him, throwing palms, boughs of trees and their garments in front of the advancing ass or donkey carrying Jesus. The boughs and branches of trees that were chopped-off and thrown before Our Lord as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: “And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way” (Mark 11:8). Faced with this mass, universal adulation, the Apostles imagined that their time of triumph had arrived and that Jesus would be crowned king and would expel the invading, conquering, ruling Romans. How sadly mistaken they were and how greatly they fell when their expectations were not met and Christ was arrested: “Then His disciples, leaving Him, all fled away” (Mark 14:50). The palms of apparent victory of the triumphal Sunday procession were long forgotten on the night of Our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Let’s Do Some Palm Reading!
Have you ever taken time to do some palm-reading? No―not that kind of palm-reading that is related to fortune-telling! Such palm-reading―otherwise known as palmistry or fortune-telling―is against the First Commandment. In the Old Testament God commanded that any person who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning: “A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: their blood be upon them” (Leviticus 20:27) … “Neither let there be found among you anyone that consults soothsayers, or observes dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeks the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhors all these things, and for these abominations He will destroy them!” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). While God can choose to reveal the future to His prophets or saints by means of private revelations, we, as individuals, must always have trust in His Divine Providence.
The palm-reading we are speaking about is reading into the meaning, symbolism, implications and consequences of what could be called “The Doctrine of Palms” or lessons to be learnt by digging deeper beyond the surface superficiality with which most people view the palms they have received from Holy Mother Church on this Palm Sunday, which is the gateway and triumphant entry into Holy Week and the Passion and Death of Christ. There is more to the palm than you think! It is sad that we superficially accept our palms on Palm Sunday without having any desire to learn more about them, their symbolism, their purpose in being given to us, and also their power (for they are blessed objects and therefore Sacramentals of the Church). According to the Code of Canon Law, blessed items are to be treated with reverence (Canon 1171). If there is a need to dispose of Sacramentals, they must be buried or burned―not discarded in the trash. So many Catholics are pitifully ignorant on palms and need to do some palm-reading to enlighten their darkness. So many Catholics are pitifully ignorant on palms and need to do some palm-reading to enlighten their darkness.
Fruit of the Palm Tree
Our Lord said: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). So what do you know of the “fruits” of the palm tree? Of course you know that coconuts comes from palm trees―but what others “fruits” or good uses can come from the palm tree? It is one of the most widely used trees on the planet. There are over 2,600 different kinds of palm trees growing in hot climates all over the world, from rainforests to deserts. Though most palm trees grow in tropical regions (symbol of charity), there are some species that can survive sub-zero temperatures. A “cold hardy” palm tree can tolerate cold weather―but not forever. Eventually, photosynthesis stops and the leaves start falling off. Slowly the plant freezes and becomes a plant statue. If we, as Catholics, are not planted in the “tropics” of charity, then we risk becoming lukewarm and even “freezing”, to the point where grace (photosynthesis) can no longer work and our “leaves” (virtues and spiritual exercises) start dropping off―and we become “plant statues”, that is to say “Catholics in name only.” Palm trees are among the most beneficial plants in tropical countries and have many uses. Here are just six of many uses:
(1) Palm Tree Fruit ― Palm trees are large fruit producers, the 2 main edible ones are, of course, coconuts and dates. All fruits borne by the palm tree are not edible. While dates and coconuts are edible, sago is poisonous to humans and animals. Coconut trees can produce fruit for upwards of 70 years, before the farmers replace them. The coconut we see and buy in the store, does not resemble the coconut you find growing on a coconut palm. An untouched coconut has three layers―just as the spiritual life has three different stages, all of which must be passed through. The outermost layer of the true coconut, which is typically smooth with a greenish color, is called the exocarp. The next layer is the fibrous husk, or mesocarp, which ultimately surrounds the hard woody layer called the endocarp. The endocarp surrounds the seed. In other words, to get to the fruit and milk of the coconut, you have to go through three layers―likewise, to get to the land of milk and honey (Heaven), you have to go through three stages―the Way of Beginners is like the smooth exocarp; the Way of Proficiency is like the slightly harder fibrous husk, the mesocarp; and the Way of the Perfect is like the very hard coconut shell, the endocarp. Let’s face it―to be holy (the Way of the Perfect), you have to be a tough nut to crack! Generally speaking, when you buy a coconut at the supermarket the exocarp and the mesocarp are removed and what you see is the endocarp.
Coconut Oil is extremely healthy, having many medicinal properties. Around half of the fatty acids in coconut oil are lauric acid. Lauric acid is particularly good at killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When you eat coconut oil, it reacts with enzymes to forms monolaurin, which is great for killing harmful pathogens. Both of these substances― lauric acid and monolaurin―have been shown to kill the bacteria and very dangerous pathogen, Staphylococcus Aureus and the yeast Candida Albicans, which is a common source of yeast infections. 2004 study published in the journal of Neurobiology of Aging demonstrated that the MCTs found in coconut oil improved the memory problems their older subjects were experiencing. According to an Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine study, coconut oil increases the healthy cholesterol (known as HDL) in your body. By increasing the HDL in the body and changing the ratio of HDL to LDL, the saturated fat in coconut oil helps promote heart health and lower the risk of heart disease. Ever heard of oil pulling? Well, before the invention of toothpaste, the act of swishing oil around the mouth was a method of cleansing the mouth of bacteria and for helping to heal the nasty ravages of periodontal disease. An abundance of MCTs is the reason why coconut oil is one of the many effective oils to pull with. The oil lifts the bacteria from the surfaces within the mouth and that's great because removing oral bacteria greatly reduces your risk of disease around your gums. These are just a small handful of the many benefits of the palm tree’s coconut oil.
(2) Palm Oil ― is a widely-used edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. Coconut Oil is and its versatile uses make it often referred to as a ‘miracle ingredient’ for so many products. Accounting for one-third of global plant oil production, you can find palm oil in just about anything, from pizza dough to washing detergent. It is also a major ingredient in beauty products including palm kernel oil for body lotions, or bleached palm oil for soap. One major beneficial use of the oil, however, is its frequent use as a base for mixing medicine such as cough syrups. It has also been associated with high vitamin A, lowering the body’s cholesterol and reducing the likelihood of major illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Drawing spiritual analogies―you could say that this is akin to healing, beautifying and sanctifying the soul.
(3) Palm Beverages ― Now we come to palm tree trunks. There are cultures that make sugar out of the sap of the sugar palm tree. It is collected in very similar way to how we get sap for maple syrup from maple trees. Some use it as a sweetener―but it can also be fermented into the sugary drink called “palm wine” or “toddy.” This is a sweet and milky alcoholic beverage produced from the fermentation of sap of different palm tree species, including palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. Using a knife or machete, an incision is made between the tree’s kernels, allowing for the sap to ooze out. Fermentation begins soon after the sap begins flowing, and within just 1-2 hours, the alcohol content can reach up to 4%. Not only is it a tasty and popular beverage choice in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, it also poses major health benefits, from increased eye health with thanks to the Vitamin C content, and the prevention of cancer cells with the presence of riboflavin (B2).
(4) Construction and Crafts ― Palm trees are regularly used as constructive building material for house walls, rafters and roofing. The wood is extremely hard once cured, or dried. Harder than oak, by far. The fibrous wood can also be pulled apart and woven together to produce thatch for roof coverings, and logs for bridges. The fiber can also be woven to make carpet and wall coverings, as well as practical household items such as brooms, baskets and even furniture.
(5) Palm Wax ― Some of the best wax available for scented candles come from palms. This is because palm wax is an all-natural, renewable and environmentally-friendly resource that offers more choice for candle makers who are looking to market more sustainable products. Not only that, it makes for excellent results. Due to the palm tree’s growth in naturally hot climates, palm wax resists melting in hot weather, has a high contraction, and takes colors easily. Best of all, it holds and emits fragrances well for up to 50% longer, compared to candles made of paraffin wax.
(6) Palm Leaves ― Forget the oil, the wood and fruit―palm leaves (or palm fronds) have a diverse range of uses alone, from roof thatch, garden fencing and weaving to fuel and nutritional feed for livestock. The decaying leaves, wood from the stems and fiber can also be put to one side to be used as mulch. Yet palm tree leaves are also used to produce a different kinds of oil and wax than those made from the palm tree fruits.
Palms and Religion
In Assyria, the palm was one of the trees identified as a sacred tree connecting Heaven and Earth. Reliefs from the 9th Century BC, show winged creatures holding palm fronds in the presence of the sacred palm tree. In Egypt, the palm represented immortality, and was carried in funeral processions to represent eternal life. In Judaism the palm is part of the Feast of Tabernacles, hearkening back to the temporary dwellings in which farmers lived during harvesting, and to the fragile dwellings built of palms that the Israelites lived in during their 40 years in the desert. In their religious festivals, Israelites used palm branches for rejoicing. Palms were often depicted on coins and important buildings. King Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls and doors of the Temple: “And all the walls of the Temple round about, he carved with divers figures and carvings. And he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall” (3 Kings 6:29). Holy Scripture links the palm tree with goodness and holiness: “The just shall flourish like the palm tree” (Psalm 91:13).
Palm of Victory
In ancient times, palm branches symbolized goodness, victory, triumph, peace and eternal life. Palms were symbols of life among the nomadic tribes, who, when crossing the desert, rejoiced at seeing the palm tree, because it indicated an oasis with life-giving water was near: “And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters” (Exodus 15:27). In pre-Christian times the palm was regarded as a symbol of victory. It was common practice in the ancient world to welcome home a king or war hero by laying out a path of palm branches for him to ride on or walk on – similar to rolling out the red carpet today. In ancient Greece a palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes, and in ancient Rome the Latin word “palma”, was a substitute word for victory ― a victory of any kind. A lawyer who won his case in the Roman Forum would decorate his front door with palm leaves. After the time of Christ, palms were adopted by the early Christians and became a symbol of the victory of the faithful over the enemies of the soul. Origen (Commentary on John 10:18) says the palm is the symbol of victory in that war waged by the spirit against the flesh. Ultimately, the palm is the symbol of eternal victory―in the sense of winning eternal life in Heaven.
“For us too, they [palms] must be symbols of triumph, indicative of the victory to be won in our battle against the evil in ourselves and against the evil which roams about us. As we receive the blessed palm, let us renew our pledge to conquer with Jesus, but let us not forget that it was on the cross that He conquered” (Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy, pp. 392-393).
Palm of Martyrdom
In this sense it was especially applicable to martyrs, the victors par excellence over the spiritual foes of mankind; hence the frequent occurrence in the Acts of the martyrs of such expressions as “he received the palm of martyrdom.” A martyr goes straight to Heaven at his death, without passing through Purgatory. Pope Innocent III says: “We should be doing injustice to a martyr, if we were to pray for him.” A martyr possesses the love of God in the highest degree, since he despises life―the greatest of all earthly goods―for God’s sake. Every martyr is a conqueror, and is therefore depicted with a palm in his hand, since the palm is the mark of victory. Martyrdom is a victory of Faith over the world and sin―St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Martyrdom is conducive to the acquisition of the martyr’s palm” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 124, art. 1, ad 1). Martyrdom―in the eyes of the world―is a humiliation of the person being martyred. Yet, by confessing Christ in the face of death, they gain the martyr’s palm of eternal life. “He that findeth his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).
From Palms to Ashes
The palms that the Church distributes on Palm Sunday, in one sense, represent the life of a Christian on Earth. If everything is done as suggested by liturgical rules, then the palms of today become the ashes of tomorrow. This means that palms that the Holy Mother Church hands to you today (Palm Sunday, March 28th, 2021), she wants you to return them to Holy Mother Church before next Ash Wednesday (March 2nd, 2022). By that time, your fairly fresh (though dried) palm will have withered and “grown old” and will be taken and burned to make the ashes for next Ash Wednesday. This brings to mind the words of God to Adam: “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 3:19). Holy Scripture further adds: “In the morning, man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away. In the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass” (Psalm 101:1). “I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered―because I forgot to eat my bread” (Psalm 101:5). “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away” (1 Peter 1:24). “Mortal man shall wither away like grass” (Isaias 51:12). Therefore, while the palm that you were given is a sign of victory, it is at the same time a symbol of humility. Inevitably, like grass, you will wither and die―but, hopefully, your life and death will merit the palm of victory and eternal life.
From Palm to Cross
The palm, in a certain sense, leads to the cross. The procession of Jesus into Jerusalem, with palms being thrown in honor before Him, ultimately led to the Cross of Calvary. The very people who applaud Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem that morning, shouting out “Hosanna” and words of adoration will, within a week, be crying, “Crucify Him.” They will go from acclaiming Him as the new King of Israel to urging His life be traded in favor of a convicted criminal; they will first praise Him and then mock Him. Even friends entering Jerusalem at His side will desert Jesus. It is, in a certain sense, a blueprint for the life of a Christian. All this discord will take place during one week beginning on what we call Palm Sunday.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) offered a homily about Christ’s entry into Jerusalem: “How different the cries, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him,’ and then, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna, in the highest!’ How different the cries are that now are calling him ‘King of Israel’ and then in a few days’ time will be saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon, and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them.”
The palm comes from a tree―the hardwood palm tree―and it leads to the “Tree of the Cross”―another “hardwood” tree. On Palm Sunday, as we pick up our palms, we share our joy in the triumphant Christ. Yet, at the same time, we pick up the cross―for it was on the Cross of Calvary that Christ triumphed, far more than in triumphant procession into Jerusalem. In the Byzantine liturgy, as the people pick up the palms they sing: “Today we all take up Thy cross!” There is no other way to Heaven―as Our Lord Himself stated: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Palm Sunday Through the Ages
In the very early days of the new-born Church, Christians visited the sites of Christ’s Passion and Death―and even re-enacted certain events that had taken place―for example, Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Yet, due the on-and-off persecution of Christianity, such gatherings were rarely possible until the Roman Emperor Constantine ended all religious persecution in the early 4th century. Later in that century, a Spanish pilgrim named Eigera visited Jerusalem. In her diary, she recorded how Christians re-created the events of Holy Week. She wrote that they gathered outside the city on the Sunday before Easter and listened to one of the Gospels telling of Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Then they marched together through the city gates while carrying olive or palm branches. Our Palm Sunday processions are akin to what Eigera witnessed 17 centuries ago.
By the ninth century, the procession with blessed palms had expanded beyond Jerusalem and during the Middle Ages became widespread throughout Europe. In the 17th century Christians were not only processing into church with palms but, during Mass, holding the palms while the Passion was being read.
Through the centuries, Palm Sunday and the procession of people holding palms would be celebrated in a variety of ways. In some locations the Blessed Sacrament was part of the procession, in other places the congregation started in the parish cemetery and then went into the church. Palms were sometimes blessed in one church and the people, carrying the palms, marched to another church for Mass. Most typical was the blessing of the people and the palms at a place outside the church and then processing in. For some time, until the Vatican II changes in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the priest wore red vestments during the palm blessing and procession and then changed to a violet garment for Mass.
The “Great Week” ... “The Painful Week” ... “Holy Week!” The only week that really matters! This is it! If, at the start of Lent, Holy Mother Church, in her liturgy, quoted St. Paul’s words: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), then all the more is Holy Week this “acceptable time” and this “day of salvation.” They say “pride comes before a fall” and here we could say “triumph comes before humiliation.” Our Lord was not proud during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we call “Palm Sunday”―but His Apostles most certainly were! Our Lord chose to enter Jerusalem on an ass or donkey, not a horse. All four evangelists write of Jesus entering Jerusalem to a great welcome—not riding on a majestic horse that a king or warrior might ride, but riding on an ass or donkey. In our day it would be like a world leader, instead of coming on a private jet welcomed by military bands and ribboned officials, putt-putting in an old faithful station wagon. Or like the pope rejecting fine limousines and driving a humble compact instead.
Nevertheless, the crowds thronged all around Him, throwing palms, boughs of trees and their garments in front of the advancing ass or donkey carrying Jesus. The boughs and branches of trees that were chopped-off and thrown before Our Lord as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: “And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way” (Mark 11:8). Faced with this mass, universal adulation, the Apostles imagined that their time of triumph had arrived and that Jesus would be crowned king and would expel the invading, conquering, ruling Romans. How sadly mistaken they were and how greatly they fell when their expectations were not met and Christ was arrested: “Then His disciples, leaving Him, all fled away” (Mark 14:50). The palms of apparent victory of the triumphal Sunday procession were long forgotten on the night of Our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Let’s Do Some Palm Reading!
Have you ever taken time to do some palm-reading? No―not that kind of palm-reading that is related to fortune-telling! Such palm-reading―otherwise known as palmistry or fortune-telling―is against the First Commandment. In the Old Testament God commanded that any person who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning: “A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: their blood be upon them” (Leviticus 20:27) … “Neither let there be found among you anyone that consults soothsayers, or observes dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeks the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhors all these things, and for these abominations He will destroy them!” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). While God can choose to reveal the future to His prophets or saints by means of private revelations, we, as individuals, must always have trust in His Divine Providence.
The palm-reading we are speaking about is reading into the meaning, symbolism, implications and consequences of what could be called “The Doctrine of Palms” or lessons to be learnt by digging deeper beyond the surface superficiality with which most people view the palms they have received from Holy Mother Church on this Palm Sunday, which is the gateway and triumphant entry into Holy Week and the Passion and Death of Christ. There is more to the palm than you think! It is sad that we superficially accept our palms on Palm Sunday without having any desire to learn more about them, their symbolism, their purpose in being given to us, and also their power (for they are blessed objects and therefore Sacramentals of the Church). According to the Code of Canon Law, blessed items are to be treated with reverence (Canon 1171). If there is a need to dispose of Sacramentals, they must be buried or burned―not discarded in the trash. So many Catholics are pitifully ignorant on palms and need to do some palm-reading to enlighten their darkness. So many Catholics are pitifully ignorant on palms and need to do some palm-reading to enlighten their darkness.
Fruit of the Palm Tree
Our Lord said: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). So what do you know of the “fruits” of the palm tree? Of course you know that coconuts comes from palm trees―but what others “fruits” or good uses can come from the palm tree? It is one of the most widely used trees on the planet. There are over 2,600 different kinds of palm trees growing in hot climates all over the world, from rainforests to deserts. Though most palm trees grow in tropical regions (symbol of charity), there are some species that can survive sub-zero temperatures. A “cold hardy” palm tree can tolerate cold weather―but not forever. Eventually, photosynthesis stops and the leaves start falling off. Slowly the plant freezes and becomes a plant statue. If we, as Catholics, are not planted in the “tropics” of charity, then we risk becoming lukewarm and even “freezing”, to the point where grace (photosynthesis) can no longer work and our “leaves” (virtues and spiritual exercises) start dropping off―and we become “plant statues”, that is to say “Catholics in name only.” Palm trees are among the most beneficial plants in tropical countries and have many uses. Here are just six of many uses:
(1) Palm Tree Fruit ― Palm trees are large fruit producers, the 2 main edible ones are, of course, coconuts and dates. All fruits borne by the palm tree are not edible. While dates and coconuts are edible, sago is poisonous to humans and animals. Coconut trees can produce fruit for upwards of 70 years, before the farmers replace them. The coconut we see and buy in the store, does not resemble the coconut you find growing on a coconut palm. An untouched coconut has three layers―just as the spiritual life has three different stages, all of which must be passed through. The outermost layer of the true coconut, which is typically smooth with a greenish color, is called the exocarp. The next layer is the fibrous husk, or mesocarp, which ultimately surrounds the hard woody layer called the endocarp. The endocarp surrounds the seed. In other words, to get to the fruit and milk of the coconut, you have to go through three layers―likewise, to get to the land of milk and honey (Heaven), you have to go through three stages―the Way of Beginners is like the smooth exocarp; the Way of Proficiency is like the slightly harder fibrous husk, the mesocarp; and the Way of the Perfect is like the very hard coconut shell, the endocarp. Let’s face it―to be holy (the Way of the Perfect), you have to be a tough nut to crack! Generally speaking, when you buy a coconut at the supermarket the exocarp and the mesocarp are removed and what you see is the endocarp.
Coconut Oil is extremely healthy, having many medicinal properties. Around half of the fatty acids in coconut oil are lauric acid. Lauric acid is particularly good at killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When you eat coconut oil, it reacts with enzymes to forms monolaurin, which is great for killing harmful pathogens. Both of these substances― lauric acid and monolaurin―have been shown to kill the bacteria and very dangerous pathogen, Staphylococcus Aureus and the yeast Candida Albicans, which is a common source of yeast infections. 2004 study published in the journal of Neurobiology of Aging demonstrated that the MCTs found in coconut oil improved the memory problems their older subjects were experiencing. According to an Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine study, coconut oil increases the healthy cholesterol (known as HDL) in your body. By increasing the HDL in the body and changing the ratio of HDL to LDL, the saturated fat in coconut oil helps promote heart health and lower the risk of heart disease. Ever heard of oil pulling? Well, before the invention of toothpaste, the act of swishing oil around the mouth was a method of cleansing the mouth of bacteria and for helping to heal the nasty ravages of periodontal disease. An abundance of MCTs is the reason why coconut oil is one of the many effective oils to pull with. The oil lifts the bacteria from the surfaces within the mouth and that's great because removing oral bacteria greatly reduces your risk of disease around your gums. These are just a small handful of the many benefits of the palm tree’s coconut oil.
(2) Palm Oil ― is a widely-used edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. Coconut Oil is and its versatile uses make it often referred to as a ‘miracle ingredient’ for so many products. Accounting for one-third of global plant oil production, you can find palm oil in just about anything, from pizza dough to washing detergent. It is also a major ingredient in beauty products including palm kernel oil for body lotions, or bleached palm oil for soap. One major beneficial use of the oil, however, is its frequent use as a base for mixing medicine such as cough syrups. It has also been associated with high vitamin A, lowering the body’s cholesterol and reducing the likelihood of major illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Drawing spiritual analogies―you could say that this is akin to healing, beautifying and sanctifying the soul.
(3) Palm Beverages ― Now we come to palm tree trunks. There are cultures that make sugar out of the sap of the sugar palm tree. It is collected in very similar way to how we get sap for maple syrup from maple trees. Some use it as a sweetener―but it can also be fermented into the sugary drink called “palm wine” or “toddy.” This is a sweet and milky alcoholic beverage produced from the fermentation of sap of different palm tree species, including palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. Using a knife or machete, an incision is made between the tree’s kernels, allowing for the sap to ooze out. Fermentation begins soon after the sap begins flowing, and within just 1-2 hours, the alcohol content can reach up to 4%. Not only is it a tasty and popular beverage choice in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, it also poses major health benefits, from increased eye health with thanks to the Vitamin C content, and the prevention of cancer cells with the presence of riboflavin (B2).
(4) Construction and Crafts ― Palm trees are regularly used as constructive building material for house walls, rafters and roofing. The wood is extremely hard once cured, or dried. Harder than oak, by far. The fibrous wood can also be pulled apart and woven together to produce thatch for roof coverings, and logs for bridges. The fiber can also be woven to make carpet and wall coverings, as well as practical household items such as brooms, baskets and even furniture.
(5) Palm Wax ― Some of the best wax available for scented candles come from palms. This is because palm wax is an all-natural, renewable and environmentally-friendly resource that offers more choice for candle makers who are looking to market more sustainable products. Not only that, it makes for excellent results. Due to the palm tree’s growth in naturally hot climates, palm wax resists melting in hot weather, has a high contraction, and takes colors easily. Best of all, it holds and emits fragrances well for up to 50% longer, compared to candles made of paraffin wax.
(6) Palm Leaves ― Forget the oil, the wood and fruit―palm leaves (or palm fronds) have a diverse range of uses alone, from roof thatch, garden fencing and weaving to fuel and nutritional feed for livestock. The decaying leaves, wood from the stems and fiber can also be put to one side to be used as mulch. Yet palm tree leaves are also used to produce a different kinds of oil and wax than those made from the palm tree fruits.
Palms and Religion
In Assyria, the palm was one of the trees identified as a sacred tree connecting Heaven and Earth. Reliefs from the 9th Century BC, show winged creatures holding palm fronds in the presence of the sacred palm tree. In Egypt, the palm represented immortality, and was carried in funeral processions to represent eternal life. In Judaism the palm is part of the Feast of Tabernacles, hearkening back to the temporary dwellings in which farmers lived during harvesting, and to the fragile dwellings built of palms that the Israelites lived in during their 40 years in the desert. In their religious festivals, Israelites used palm branches for rejoicing. Palms were often depicted on coins and important buildings. King Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls and doors of the Temple: “And all the walls of the Temple round about, he carved with divers figures and carvings. And he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall” (3 Kings 6:29). Holy Scripture links the palm tree with goodness and holiness: “The just shall flourish like the palm tree” (Psalm 91:13).
Palm of Victory
In ancient times, palm branches symbolized goodness, victory, triumph, peace and eternal life. Palms were symbols of life among the nomadic tribes, who, when crossing the desert, rejoiced at seeing the palm tree, because it indicated an oasis with life-giving water was near: “And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters” (Exodus 15:27). In pre-Christian times the palm was regarded as a symbol of victory. It was common practice in the ancient world to welcome home a king or war hero by laying out a path of palm branches for him to ride on or walk on – similar to rolling out the red carpet today. In ancient Greece a palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes, and in ancient Rome the Latin word “palma”, was a substitute word for victory ― a victory of any kind. A lawyer who won his case in the Roman Forum would decorate his front door with palm leaves. After the time of Christ, palms were adopted by the early Christians and became a symbol of the victory of the faithful over the enemies of the soul. Origen (Commentary on John 10:18) says the palm is the symbol of victory in that war waged by the spirit against the flesh. Ultimately, the palm is the symbol of eternal victory―in the sense of winning eternal life in Heaven.
“For us too, they [palms] must be symbols of triumph, indicative of the victory to be won in our battle against the evil in ourselves and against the evil which roams about us. As we receive the blessed palm, let us renew our pledge to conquer with Jesus, but let us not forget that it was on the cross that He conquered” (Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy, pp. 392-393).
Palm of Martyrdom
In this sense it was especially applicable to martyrs, the victors par excellence over the spiritual foes of mankind; hence the frequent occurrence in the Acts of the martyrs of such expressions as “he received the palm of martyrdom.” A martyr goes straight to Heaven at his death, without passing through Purgatory. Pope Innocent III says: “We should be doing injustice to a martyr, if we were to pray for him.” A martyr possesses the love of God in the highest degree, since he despises life―the greatest of all earthly goods―for God’s sake. Every martyr is a conqueror, and is therefore depicted with a palm in his hand, since the palm is the mark of victory. Martyrdom is a victory of Faith over the world and sin―St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Martyrdom is conducive to the acquisition of the martyr’s palm” (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 124, art. 1, ad 1). Martyrdom―in the eyes of the world―is a humiliation of the person being martyred. Yet, by confessing Christ in the face of death, they gain the martyr’s palm of eternal life. “He that findeth his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).
From Palms to Ashes
The palms that the Church distributes on Palm Sunday, in one sense, represent the life of a Christian on Earth. If everything is done as suggested by liturgical rules, then the palms of today become the ashes of tomorrow. This means that palms that the Holy Mother Church hands to you today (Palm Sunday, March 28th, 2021), she wants you to return them to Holy Mother Church before next Ash Wednesday (March 2nd, 2022). By that time, your fairly fresh (though dried) palm will have withered and “grown old” and will be taken and burned to make the ashes for next Ash Wednesday. This brings to mind the words of God to Adam: “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!” (Genesis 3:19). Holy Scripture further adds: “In the morning, man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away. In the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass” (Psalm 101:1). “I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered―because I forgot to eat my bread” (Psalm 101:5). “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away” (1 Peter 1:24). “Mortal man shall wither away like grass” (Isaias 51:12). Therefore, while the palm that you were given is a sign of victory, it is at the same time a symbol of humility. Inevitably, like grass, you will wither and die―but, hopefully, your life and death will merit the palm of victory and eternal life.
From Palm to Cross
The palm, in a certain sense, leads to the cross. The procession of Jesus into Jerusalem, with palms being thrown in honor before Him, ultimately led to the Cross of Calvary. The very people who applaud Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem that morning, shouting out “Hosanna” and words of adoration will, within a week, be crying, “Crucify Him.” They will go from acclaiming Him as the new King of Israel to urging His life be traded in favor of a convicted criminal; they will first praise Him and then mock Him. Even friends entering Jerusalem at His side will desert Jesus. It is, in a certain sense, a blueprint for the life of a Christian. All this discord will take place during one week beginning on what we call Palm Sunday.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) offered a homily about Christ’s entry into Jerusalem: “How different the cries, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him,’ and then, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna, in the highest!’ How different the cries are that now are calling him ‘King of Israel’ and then in a few days’ time will be saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon, and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them.”
The palm comes from a tree―the hardwood palm tree―and it leads to the “Tree of the Cross”―another “hardwood” tree. On Palm Sunday, as we pick up our palms, we share our joy in the triumphant Christ. Yet, at the same time, we pick up the cross―for it was on the Cross of Calvary that Christ triumphed, far more than in triumphant procession into Jerusalem. In the Byzantine liturgy, as the people pick up the palms they sing: “Today we all take up Thy cross!” There is no other way to Heaven―as Our Lord Himself stated: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Palm Sunday Through the Ages
In the very early days of the new-born Church, Christians visited the sites of Christ’s Passion and Death―and even re-enacted certain events that had taken place―for example, Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Yet, due the on-and-off persecution of Christianity, such gatherings were rarely possible until the Roman Emperor Constantine ended all religious persecution in the early 4th century. Later in that century, a Spanish pilgrim named Eigera visited Jerusalem. In her diary, she recorded how Christians re-created the events of Holy Week. She wrote that they gathered outside the city on the Sunday before Easter and listened to one of the Gospels telling of Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Then they marched together through the city gates while carrying olive or palm branches. Our Palm Sunday processions are akin to what Eigera witnessed 17 centuries ago.
By the ninth century, the procession with blessed palms had expanded beyond Jerusalem and during the Middle Ages became widespread throughout Europe. In the 17th century Christians were not only processing into church with palms but, during Mass, holding the palms while the Passion was being read.
Through the centuries, Palm Sunday and the procession of people holding palms would be celebrated in a variety of ways. In some locations the Blessed Sacrament was part of the procession, in other places the congregation started in the parish cemetery and then went into the church. Palms were sometimes blessed in one church and the people, carrying the palms, marched to another church for Mass. Most typical was the blessing of the people and the palms at a place outside the church and then processing in. For some time, until the Vatican II changes in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the priest wore red vestments during the palm blessing and procession and then changed to a violet garment for Mass.
Friday & Saturday in the First Week of Passiontide, March 26th & 27th
Article 23
Sink or Swim in the Tide of the Passion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 23
Sink or Swim in the Tide of the Passion!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Troubled Waters and No Plain-Sailing With Jesus
A true Christian will never find a smooth path, nor calm sailing, nor a flight without turbulence on their way to Heaven. Not even God’s favorites are granted such a pipe-dream. Holy Scripture tells us: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6). That is an unpalatable and repulsive thought to those who have been raised on “Cotton-Candy Catholicism” (“Candy-Floss Catholicism) and who prefer the Hollywood or Fairy-Tale version of the Faith in place of the real Faith. Not even Christ’s personally chosen and favored Apostles were spared the chastising and scourging, but were frequently tested and tried by events that God’s Providence thrust upon them. The fact that they were chosen Apostles did not guarantee them plain-sailing―as the following passages amply indicate:
Dangers of Sinking
“And forthwith Jesus obliged His disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before Him over the water, while He dismissed the people. And having dismissed the multitude, He went into a mountain, alone, to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat, in the midst of the sea, was tossed with the waves―for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea. And they, seeing Him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: ‘It is an apparition! [a ghost]’ And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart! It is I―fear ye not! And Peter, making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be Thou, then bid me come to Thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter, going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing that the wind strong, he was afraid. And when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord! Save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little faith! Why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased. And they that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: ‘Indeed Thou art the Son of God!’” (Matthew 14:22-33).
At another time, “when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And when they were sailing, Jesus slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake and behold a great tempest arose in the lake, so that the boat was covered with waves and they were in danger―but He was asleep. And they came and awakened Him, saying: ‘Master! Lord! Save us! We perish!’ Then, rising up, He rebuked and commanded the winds and the rage of the sea water― and it ceased and there came a great calm. And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Where is your Faith? O ye of little Faith!’ Who, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another: ‘Who is this? What manner of Man do you think this is? He commandeth both the winds and the sea―and they obey Him?’” (Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:23-25).
A Contrary Current or Tide
An incident in the life of St. Teresa of Avila illustrates the same hallmark of troubled waters for God’s saints. The Life of St. Teresa, a 1912 translation by Alice Lady Lovat, taken from the French version by ‘A Carmelite’ Nun, gives the following story on page 548. In January, of the last year of her life, 1582, Teresa left Ávila to establish convents in Burgos and Grenada, and Teresa describes the journey and what befell her along the way:
“We had to run many dangers. At no part of the road were the risks greater than within a few leagues of Burgos, at a place called Los Pontes. The rivers were so high that the water in places covered everything, neither road nor the smallest footpath could be seen, only water everywhere, and two abysses on each side. It seemed foolhardiness to advance, especially in a carriage, for if one strayed ever so little off the road (then invisible), one must have perished.”
The saint is silent on her share of the adventure, but her companions relate that, seeing their alarm, Teresa turned to them and encouraged them, saying that “as they were engaged in doing God’s work, how could they die in a better cause?” She then led the way on foot. The current was so strong that she lost her footing, and was on the point of being carried away by the current when Our Lord sustained her.
“Oh, my Lord!” she exclaimed, with her usual loving familiarity, “When will You stop scattering obstacles in our path?”
“Do not complain, daughter!” the Divine Master answered, “For I always I treat My friends in this way!”
“Ah, Lord! It is also the reason why You have so few of them!” was her reply. Ouch!
As St. Elizebeth Ann Seton said: “We must often draw the comparison between time and eternity. This is the remedy of all our troubles. How small will the present moment appear when we enter that great ocean!”
Yes, life is messy, life is hard, and everyone suffers. We don’t like that―that is only natural, but perhaps too natural and not supernatural enough. St. Francis de Sales points out that “Many would be willing to have afflictions provided that they not be inconvenienced by them!”
Walking On Water―Or Drowning In It?
The above miraculous incident, where St. Peter found himself being able to walk on water for a short period of time, before beginning to sink beneath the waves, is very instructive. We might not be able to “walk on water” like St. Peter, but we most certainly would like to “walk on air” ― meaning that we want to feel extremely excited or happy. Who doesn’t? Yet Our Lady said to St. Bernadette, whom she had favored with many apparitions at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next life!” Ouch! Our Lord had said the same things to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” … in Heaven (John 16:20).
All that Our Lord is saying―and Our Lady too, for that matter―is that for anyone hoping to get to Heaven, the cross is the daily staple diet―you can take it or leave it. Most people did not take it and they now have an even bigger cross in either in the fires of Hell, or, if they got lucky, in the fires of Purgatory. There is no other way! Cotton-Candy Catholicism is doomed to fail. You may well complain about the “negativity” of the message―but, as Holy Scripture says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Painting a false picture of the small numbers that are saved does nobody any good. Sure, you can lie about it, create an over-optimistic picture of it (which is most people have always done)―but it is a lie that will lead many more to their damnation. Just because they believe a lie, does nothing to increase their chances of salvation. Tell them the truth, and there is at least a hope that some will change their lives to embrace that truth. If anyone could have painted a sweet picture of salvation and glossed-over the horrors of Hell―then that person would have been Our Lord, Who is Truth itself―but He didn’t, did He? He told the truth―He had to―He was the Truth.
Sure, nobody likes to hear negativity―but neither does God like the negativity of sin. Negativity deserves and begets negativity. If you disobey God, you lose Heaven. As you sow, so shall you reap. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit―as Our Lord Himself says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). So “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree evil and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known!” (Matthew 12:33).
The Tide of Passiontide
Each year the Church presents to us―not only 40 Day of Lent in order to do penance―but within those 40 days we have 2 whole weeks that we call “Passiontide” which are dedicated to the Cross, Suffering, Passion and Death of Our Lord. The word “Passiontide” means “Passion time”, yet we can also think of the word “tide” as being the alternate rising and falling of the sea, or something that fluctuates like the tides of the sea. EACH YEAR the tide of the Passion invades our souls and immerses them in its bitter waters. EACH YEAR the Church, so to speak, “rubs our sinful noses” in the horrific tortures, mental agony, brutal persecution and ignominious death of Our Lord. It is, of course, not pleasant to look and contemplate―if we do so correctly, without sweetening the pot, or superficially making light of what Our Lord underwent. It is all the more unpleasant when we realize that we are the cause of all those sufferings and that death through the callous and frequent commission of our personal sins. Is the Church cruel for rubbing our noses in these bitter waters of Passiontide? No―far from it! It is in these bitter waters that we learn about the bitterness of sin and its bitter consequences. As St. Paul writes: “For although I made you sorrowful by my epistle, I do not repent! And even if I did repent, seeing that the epistle did make you sorrowful― although but for a time―now I am glad! Not because you were made sorrowful―but because you were made sorrowful unto doing penance!” (2 Corinthians 7:8-9).
The words that the Church places on the lips of Our Lord in the Good Friday liturgy should haunt our shame: “O My people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer Me! Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior! Because I led thee out through the desert forty years and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good―thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior. What more ought I have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou hast become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink, and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.” How superficially are those words sung or read on Good Friday―paying more attention to superficially singing it well, or admiring how well the choir is singing, rather than letting the meaning of those words penetrate our souls like Our Lord’s side and heart was penetrated by the lance!
Back to the Lake!
Let us go back to the lake! Not to swim, paddle or sunbathe―but to immerse ourselves into the teachings that can be pulled out of the above waters of grace in the Gospel accounts of the Apostles on the lake. There are many things to be learnt that are floating on the top of the waters or that lie deep beneath the waters. God and Our Lord used water on many occasions as either part of their miracles or as a means of teaching. For example, already in the very second line of the Bible, we read that “the spirit of God moved over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). Then in sixth verse we read: “Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters!” (Genesis 1:6). Again, “And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10).
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #1: God later used that water to cleanse and purify the world which had grown sinful: “The wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times. It repented God that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth … for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’ And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity ... But Noe found grace before the Lord … And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! Make thee an ark … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh … All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed … I will rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the Earth … And the flood was forty days upon the Earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the Earth. For they overflowed exceedingly and filled all on the face of the Earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters. And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the Earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered … And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the Earth―fowl, cattle, beasts, all creeping things and all men. And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the Earth, died. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth … and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the Earth a hundred and fifty days … And the waters returned from off the Earth, going and coming, and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested upon the mountains of Armenia in the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month. And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month―for in the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared” (Genesis 6:5-17; 7:4; 7:17-24; 8:3-5).
When the days of the flood are all totaled we find that Noe and his family, as well as the animals, were in the ark a total of 371 days―a massive cleansing operation had taken place. The scary part is found in the words of Our Lady in 1956 and 1973, where she mentions the Great Flood and compares the state of the world back then to the state of the modern-day world. To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Whereas, at her apparition at Akita in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #2: God would later use the water of the river to save Moses from the mass slaughter of all male babies by the Egyptians, whom the Pharao ordered to be killed by thrown into and drowned in the waters of the river: “There arose a new king over Egypt, that knew not Joseph, and he said to his people: ‘Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than we! Come, let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply: and if any war shall rise against us, join with our enemies!’ … And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them. And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service. But the more they oppressed them, the more they were multiplied, and increased … And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews, commanding them: ‘When you shall do the office of midwives to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery is come―if it be a man child, then kill it; if a woman, then keep it alive!’ … Pharao also charged all his people, saying: ‘Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river; but whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive!’ [A certain Hebrew woman] conceived and bore a son; and hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges on the river’s bank [Sedges are a kind and tall grass growing in the shallow water at the edge of the river―hence the basket containing Moses was floating on water, at the river bank, amidst the tall grasses]. The daughter of Pharao and her maids walked by the river’s bank, for she came down to wash herself in the river. And when she saw the basket, she sent one of her maids for it. And when it was brought, she opened it and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it she said: ‘This is one of the babes of the Hebrews!’ And the child’s sister said to her: ‘Shall I go and call to thee a Hebrew woman, to nurse the babe?’ She answered: ‘Go!’ The maid went and called her mother. And Pharao’s daughter said to her. ‘Take this child and nurse him for me! I will give thee thy wages!’ The woman took, and nursed the child: and when he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharao’s daughter. And she adopted him for a son, and called him Moses, saying: ‘Because I took him out of the water!’” (Exodus 1:8-10; 1:12-16; 2:2-10). “Moses” or, in the Egyptian tongue, “Moyses”, signifies one taken or saved out of the water.
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #3: God would later use water to save His Chosen People from the Egyptians, when God parted the water of the Red Sea for Moses to lead the Israelites to safety, whilst using the same waters to drown all of Pharao’s army who were in hot pursuit of them. This, as you can see for yourself, is a macrocosm of the microcosm―meaning that just as God’s Providence saved Moses in the basket floating on water, when male Hebrews were meant to be drowned in the river―here God’s Providence drowns the Egyptians in the water of the Red Sea, while saving the Israelites by miraculously parting those waters and allowing them to cross to safety.
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go and speak to Pharao, the king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land!’” (Exodus 6:10-11). Of course, we all know that Pharao was duplicitous in his speech―speaking from both corners of his mouth―telling Moses that the Israelites could go, but then reneging on his word. Thus God inflicted the Ten Plagues on Pharao and Egypt―one of which was the waters of Egypt into blood: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Say to Aaron: “Take thy rod and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone!”’ And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded―and lifting up the rod he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants and it was turned into blood. And the fishes that were in the river died; and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt … And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink―for they could not drink of the water of the river” (Exodus 7:19-24).
Finally “when Pharao had sent out the people [released the Israelites], the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines―which is near, thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt―but He led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt … And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled. And the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: ‘What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us?’ So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt, and the captains of the whole army. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel … The Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side … And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea … And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen!’ And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned to the former place and, as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left. And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians” (Exodus 13:17-18; 14:5-9; 14:21-30).
The Filthy Waters of Sin
You can see here, in the above details, God’s use of water―to either destroy or to save. Some are destroyed through water and some are saved through water. Yet in all the above cases, there is much tribulation and suffering experienced. The same is true for the waters of Baptism―not all baptized persons end up being saved, in fact, the majority are damned. It is not the waters of Baptism that damn them―for the waters of Baptism are meant to save―but it their own pig-headed stubbornness in sin that damns them―they do not ‘drown’ in the waters of Baptism, but they ‘drown’ in the filthy waters of sin. Our Lady of Good Success makes some reference to this “filthy ocean” of sin when she speaks of our modern-day era, saying: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … the spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
The Waters of Retribution for Sin
In the conference of Pope John Paul II, in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, in 1981, the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Water into Wine―Wine into Blood―Sinners into Saints
Water, wine and blood―what have they got in common? We drink all three! Water and wine―well that is pretty obvious―but blood? Yes, we drink the Blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Furthermore, Our Lord changed water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana; God changed water into blood in the time of Moses (see above), and Christ changed wine into blood at the Last Supper. On Calvary, when the soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, blood and water flowed out His side: “One of the soldiers with a spear, opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). As Holy Scripture says: “There are three that give testimony on earth―the spirit, and the water, and the blood―and these three are one” (1 John 5:8).
● WATER symbolizes grace in general, and, in particular, the sanctifying grace received through the waters of Baptism: “Here is water! What doth hinder me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36).
● WINE symbolizes charity or love in general―and since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), wine also symbolizes God in general, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) in particular, to whom we pray: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!”
● BLOOD symbolizes suffering in general, and, in particular, the Blood of Christ shed in His Passion and Death for our redemption and salvation: “This is My Blood, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28).
Which brings us to the whole point of Christ’s incarnation and coming upon Earth―that is, the redemption and salvation of souls: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “The Lamb shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life” (Apocalypse 7:17). “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! The water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14). “I baptize you in the water unto penance” (Matthew 3:11). “I have baptized you with water; but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark 1:8).
As a side note on that―at Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples in the form of tongues of fire, it resulted in them going out to preach in the streets, at which point the listeners thought that they were drunk on wine! “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? … And they were all astonished and wondered, saying one to another: ‘What meaneth this?’ But others, mocking, said: ‘These men are full of new wine!’ [14] But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: ‘These are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day! But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh!” … Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins―and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!’ … They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:1-41).
Which brings us to the whole point of Christ’s incarnation and coming upon Earth―that is, the redemption and salvation of souls: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “The Lamb shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life” (Apocalypse 7:17). “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! The water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14). “I baptize you in the water unto penance” (Matthew 3:11). “I have baptized you with water; but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark 1:8).
As a side note on that―at Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples in the form of tongues of fire, it resulted in them going out to preach in the streets, at which point the listeners thought that they were drunk on wine! “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? … And they were all astonished and wondered, saying one to another: ‘What meaneth this?’ But others, mocking, said: ‘These men are full of new wine!’ [14] But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: ‘These are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day! But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh!” … Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins―and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!’ … They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:1-41). Similarly, it was said of St. John the Baptist that “he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink―and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Who needs wine when you have “wine” or “spirit” of the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)?!! Holy Scripture says: “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury―but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit!” (Ephesians 5:18). Wine symbolizes the Holy Spirit, because being full of the Holy Spirit is being full of joy.
Water, Wine and Blood―The Three Levels of Love of God
As the spiritual masters and authors tell us, there are three stages of the spiritual life that we have to pass through before we will be admitted into Heaven―these are: (1) The Purgative Way or the Way of Beginners; (2) The Illuminative Way or the Way of Progress or Proficiency; and (3) The Unitive Way or the Way of Perfection. Water, wine and blood could be said to correspond to these three stages. Water being applied to the Purgative Way or the Way of Beginners. Wine being applicable to the Illuminative Way or the Way of Progress or Proficiency. Blood being applicable to the Unitive Way or the Way of Perfection.
● WATER: Even the economic side of things indicates the same order―water is cheap, wine is expensive, blood is priceless. With water we wash our dirty bodies―hence the Purgative Way. Water is also the staple drink of everyone―babies and children included. Water is cheap and it costs little or nothing to give someone else a cup of water: “Whosoever shall give to drink, to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water … he shall not lose his reward!” (Matthew 10:42).
● WINE: Wine is not given to babies and children, but only to those who have advanced in age and maturity―hence it is linked to the Way of Proficiency. Furthermore, from the point of view of friendship, a friend is someone with whom our relationship has progressed and passed from the beginnings of a mere stranger or an acquaintance, into a relationship of friendship. We will give water to strangers without much of a fuss―but wine we reserve for friends. This is also seen to be case with Our Lord, Who speaks of His ever growing relationship with His Apostles as having passed from mere acquaintance level, or “employer and employee”, or “master and servant” relationship, into a blossoming relationship called “friendship.” Our Lord says to them: “I will not now call you servants … But I have called you friends!” (John 15:15), going on to say that He there is a superior “wine” that He will drink with them in the Kingdom of Heaven: “And I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the Kingdom of My Father” (Matthew 26:29).
● BLOOD: To give your water to someone is a basic act of kindness. To give your wine to another is an even greater act of kindness―for it is more expensive. Yet to give your blood for someone is the supreme act of charity―as Our Lord Himself says (and also does): “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Therefore doth the Father love Me―because I lay down My life” (John 10:17). “I lay down My life for My sheep” (John 10:15). “Jesus said to Peter: ‘Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me?’ Peter said to him: ‘I will lay down my life for Thee!’” (John 13:37-38) ― and we say, in the Stations of the Cross: “Jesus! You died for love of me! Let me die for love of Thee!” ― but do we really mean it? Have we really reached that level of love? Passiontide is all about that level of love―loving unto blood! Suffering unto blood! For most persons, that is terrifying―yet Holy Scripture speaks of this need, saying: “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Our Lord also implies this when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, then itself remaineth alone. But if it die, then it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
Swimming or Sailing Safely Through Suffering
The only way to Heaven is through the cross of suffering―there is no other way. “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). This is why the Church, in Her Liturgy, exults: “In cruce salus” ― “In the cross is salvation” ― and “Ave crux, spes unica!” ― “Hail O cross, sole hope!” The saints understood this so well that, if they ever noticed that they were without a cross at some point in their lives, then they would beg God to send one!
When Christopher Columbus sailed on his expedition to the Americas, his three ships―Pinta, Niña and Santa Maria―all had massive red crosses on their sails. The crosses on the sails were there for a double reason―firstly as a mark of Faith, which showed their Christian Faith; secondly, as a kind of a sacramental, which would invoke the protection of Heaven during the sea voyages. Just like the Christian life, those sea voyages were not fun and games―but a real cross! Small caravels, like the Niña and Pinta, were relatively small and very open with little shelter against the elements. They could only carry between 40 and 50 tons and usually had a crew of around 30 sailors each. Unlike the Santa Maria, which at least had tiny cabins where sailors could sleep between eight-hour shifts, the Niña and Pinta had a single small deck at the rear of the ship with only one cramped cabin reserved for the captain. The sailors on a caravels had to live and sleep on the deck―for there is almost no private space. Furthermore, work was relentless on any 15th-century ship. The 20 sailors on the Niña and the 26 sailors on the Pinta would have been constantly engaged with adjusting the rigging, trimming the sails, inspecting for leaks and plugging them with spongy scraps of old rope called oakum. The round-the-clock workload meant that even if you were off-duty, there was little or no chance of getting some good sleep on the deck while the other sailors stomped around. Hammocks weren’t yet in use on ships in the 15th century.
On top of that, there was much trouble and problems with the food on board the ships. Columbus stocked a full year’s worth of food for the journey, not knowing how long it would be before they could return to Spain. For food to last at sea, it needed to be dry. Staples included dried and salted anchovies and cod, pickled or salted beef and pork, dried grains like chickpeas, lentils and beans, and, of course, hardtack biscuits. Hardtack biscuits were so rock solid that they could only be eaten if softened with water or dipped in the communal slurry served every meal in a large wooden trough. Yet tooth-breaking, dry biscuits were still preferable to those that had been spoiled by exposure to water in their storage barrel. Ferdinand Columbus, the explorer’s 14-year-old son, reported on the conditions on Columbus’s fourth voyage to the Americas: “What with the heat and dampness, our ship biscuit had become so wormy that, God help me, I saw many who waited for darkness to eat porridge made of it, that they might not see the maggots,” wrote young Ferdinand, “and others were so used to eating them that they didn't even trouble to pick them out because they might lose their supper had they been so fastidious.”
Swimming Across the Atlantic Ocean
Benoit Lecomte (born 1967) is a French-born long-distance swimmer (now a naturalized American citizen) who claimed to be the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean without a kick board in 1998. From July 16th (Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) to September 25th 1998, Lecomte undertook a swim in stages from Massachusetts to Brittany, France. During his 73-day, 3,716-mile swim, Lecomte was accompanied by a 40-foot (about half the length of Christopher Columbus’ Niña and Pinta) sailboat that had an electromagnetic field for 25 ft to ward off sharks. He was accompanied by a crew of three aboard the sailboat, where he could rest and eat between each swimming period. Lecomte typically spent eight hours swimming each day in sessions of two to four hours.
Where Lecomte succeeded, another Atlantic swimmer failed. Ben Hooper, a 38-year-old former English policeman, waded into the Atlantic Ocean from a beach in Dakar, Senegal hoping to swim across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, 1,879 miles away. He was hoping to swim around 12 miles a day for over 140 days straight. On the very first day, as the adrenaline wore off and the magnitude of the task began to sink in, he swam against currents that made it difficult to achieve his desired daily mileage of 12 miles. All he could manage was 4.5 miles. A fierce wind drove across the water and at times the swell rose so high Hooper lost sight of his support boat. On day two, Hooper’s crew lost contact with a second support boat, whose captain had returned to Dakar, refusing to continue with the expedition. A couple of days later, Hooper again faced unusually strong currents, limiting his mileage. Clouds stretched across the vast horizon, sometimes bringing rain, and the ocean became dark and choppy. Hooper began to spend more and more time on the boat, waiting for moments of calm. By day seven he was down on his targets. Fatigue mounted. Low moments became commonplace. His body was under attack. Small jellyfish stings were regular and sapped energy. While swimming through seaweed, lice nipped at his torso. When the ocean was choppy, waves battered his back, arms and legs, pushing him under, exacerbating exhaustion. In poor conditions, Hooper was in danger of injuring himself getting on and off the boat, and every now and then he would take a hit from a kayak that glided alongside him for support.
During day 17, he was sick, twice. On day 18, he began to complain of neuralgia. On day 21, Hooper swam blindly into the half-eaten remains of a Portuguese-man-of-war, a jellyfish whose venom paralyses its victims. Hooper began to writhe in pain, unaware of the cause. When he was retrieved from the water, the crew discovered stings up and down the right side of his body. A section of tentacle was still attached to his shoulder and had to be removed. Every now and then his eyes would roll into the back of his head and, as his speech began to slur and his blood pressure plummeted, he struggled to remain conscious. Hooper later told me that, at one point, he was “on my way out”, and that the ship’s medic, Pamela Mackie, “brought me back” to life. For hours, Hooper remained in significant danger. Pain coursed through his body like an electric current. For support, Mackie reached a British trauma surgeon by satellite, who told her that renal failure was an acute possibility. If his kidney packed up, Hooper would not survive. Hooper spent the next four days on the boat, recuperating. On day 26, he re-entered the water and swam two miles, still sore from the attack. Three days later, in stormy seas, a steering cable snapped and required repair. The storm built. Waves rose to 30ft, crashing around the crew. Now clouds covered the sky and everything appeared eerie. The rain poured. The wind grew in speed and force. The catamaran, perhaps betraying its age, creaked and groaned. Finally, on December 15th, Hooper put out a press release, announcing the expedition’s end.
All of this brings to mind the words of St. Paul, that Holy Mother Church placed before at the beginning of Lent: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
On the Stormy Sea of Persecution
St. John Bosco’s vision of the crisis in the Church is also well worth considering here, since we are talking about water, sailing, swimming and sinking! Don Bosco relates his vision:
“Imagine yourselves to be with me on the seashore, or better still, on an isolated rock and not to see any patch of land except what is under your feet. On the whole of that vast sheet of water, you see an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array. The prows of the ships are formed into sharp, spear-like points so that whatever they are thrust-into, they pierce and completely destroy. These ships are armed with cannons, with lots of rifles, with incendiary materials, with other arms of all kinds, and also with books, and they advance against a ship very much bigger and higher than themselves and try to ram it with the prows, or to burn it, or in some way to do it every possible harm. As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship, there are many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet.
“In the midst of the immense expanse of sea, two mighty columns of great height arise, a little distance the one from the other. On the top of one, there is the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hangs a large placard with this inscription: “Auxilium Christianorum—Help of Christians.” On the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the words: “Salus Credentium—Salvation of Believers.”
“The supreme commander on the big ship is the Sovereign Pontiff. He, on seeing the fury of the enemies and the evils among which his faithful find themselves, determines to summon around himself the captains of the smaller ships, to hold a council and decide on what is to be done. All the captains come aboard and gather around the Pope. They hold a meeting, but meanwhile the wind and the waves gather in storm, so they are sent back to control their own ships.
“There comes a short lull; for a second time the Pope gathers the captains together around him, while the flagship goes on its course. But the frightful storm returns. The Pope stands at the helm and all his energies are directed to steering the ship towards those two columns, from the top of which and from every side of which are hanging numerous anchors and big hooks, fastened to chains.
“All the enemy ships move to attack it, and they try in every way to stop it and to sink it: some with writings or books or inflammable materials, of which they are full; others with guns, with rifles and with rams. The battle rages ever more relentlessly. The enemy prows (battering rams on the front of the ships) thrust violently, but their efforts and impact prove useless. They make attempts in vain and waste all their labor and ammunition; the big ship goes safely and smoothly on its way. Sometimes it happens that, when struck by formidable blows, it gets large, deep gaps in its sides; but no sooner is the harm done than a gentle breeze blows from the two columns and the cracks close up and the gaps are stopped immediately.
“Meanwhile, the guns of the assailants are blown up, the rifles and other arms and prows are broken; many ships are shattered and sink into the sea. Then, the frenzied enemies strive to fight hand to hand, with fists, with blows, with blasphemy and with curses. All at once the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and of joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises. But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another Pope takes his place. The pilots of the ships, having met together, have elected the Pope so quickly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage. The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
“Then a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until then had fought against the Pope’s ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces one against another. Some sink and try to sink others. Several small ships that had fought gallantly for the Pope race to be the first to bind themselves to those two columns. Many other ships, having retreated through fear of the battle, cautiously watch from far away; the wrecks of the broken ships having been scattered in the whirlpools of the sea, they in their turn sail in good earnest to those two columns, and, having reached them, they make themselves fast to the hooks hanging down from them and there they remain safe, together with the principal ship, on which is the Pope. Over the sea there reigns a great calm.”
At this point Don Bosco asked one of his fellow priests, Fr. Rua: “What do you think of the story?” Fr. Rua answered: “It seems to me that the Pope’s ship might mean the Church, of which he is the head: the ships, men; the sea, this world. Those who defend the big ship are the good, lovingly attached to the Holy See; the others are her enemies, who try with every kind of weapon to annihilate her. The two columns of salvation seem to be devotion to Mary Most Holy and to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Fr. Rua did not speak of the Pope who fell and died, and Don Bosco also was silent about him. He simply added: “You are right! Only I ought to correct one expression. The enemy ships are persecutions. The most serious trials for the Church are near at hand. That which has been so far is almost nothing in the face of that which must befall. Her enemies are represented by the ships that tried to sink the principal ship if they could. Only two means are left to save her amidst so much confusion: DEVOTION TO MARY MOST HOLY and FREQUENT COMMUNION, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody.” Don Bosco did not give any other explanations about this dream.
Nevertheless, it is very clear that we are now living the days that St. John Bosco foresaw in his vision. The persecution of the Church is the ultimate and underlying agenda that hides behind the current Satanic “smoke and mirrors” that we are seeing all throughout the world today. As Sister of Lucia of Fatima clearly stated, Our Lady has said that we have now entered the period commonly called “The Last Days” or “The End Times”―not that the world is going to end any time soon, for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed by a period of peace and holiness, before the Antichrist appears, must all come first before the end of the world. Nevertheless, before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary there has to be a time of terrible persecution of the Church, a time of localized wars and also a Third World War, where―as Our Lady says―“all will seem lost.” If we are not building our “ark” as these storm clouds gather and if we imitate the complacent Chosen People, who “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7), then we risk sinking and drowning in ocean of sin that is invading what is left of “Christian Dry Land”.
As St. Paul warns in the text presented to us at the beginning of Lent: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized―in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them―and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come! Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Just as the Israelites had to spend many years in the desert of suffering before being allowed into the Promised Land, so, too, do we have to spend many years on the sea of suffering here below, before we can have a chance of entering the Promised Land of Heaven. It is not what we suffer that matters the most―but how we suffer. That is why St. Augustine says that the same sufferings, the same crosses, lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell. Suffering requires love. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
A true Christian will never find a smooth path, nor calm sailing, nor a flight without turbulence on their way to Heaven. Not even God’s favorites are granted such a pipe-dream. Holy Scripture tells us: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6). That is an unpalatable and repulsive thought to those who have been raised on “Cotton-Candy Catholicism” (“Candy-Floss Catholicism) and who prefer the Hollywood or Fairy-Tale version of the Faith in place of the real Faith. Not even Christ’s personally chosen and favored Apostles were spared the chastising and scourging, but were frequently tested and tried by events that God’s Providence thrust upon them. The fact that they were chosen Apostles did not guarantee them plain-sailing―as the following passages amply indicate:
Dangers of Sinking
“And forthwith Jesus obliged His disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before Him over the water, while He dismissed the people. And having dismissed the multitude, He went into a mountain, alone, to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat, in the midst of the sea, was tossed with the waves―for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea. And they, seeing Him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: ‘It is an apparition! [a ghost]’ And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart! It is I―fear ye not! And Peter, making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be Thou, then bid me come to Thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter, going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing that the wind strong, he was afraid. And when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord! Save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little faith! Why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased. And they that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: ‘Indeed Thou art the Son of God!’” (Matthew 14:22-33).
At another time, “when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And when they were sailing, Jesus slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake and behold a great tempest arose in the lake, so that the boat was covered with waves and they were in danger―but He was asleep. And they came and awakened Him, saying: ‘Master! Lord! Save us! We perish!’ Then, rising up, He rebuked and commanded the winds and the rage of the sea water― and it ceased and there came a great calm. And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful? Where is your Faith? O ye of little Faith!’ Who, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another: ‘Who is this? What manner of Man do you think this is? He commandeth both the winds and the sea―and they obey Him?’” (Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:23-25).
A Contrary Current or Tide
An incident in the life of St. Teresa of Avila illustrates the same hallmark of troubled waters for God’s saints. The Life of St. Teresa, a 1912 translation by Alice Lady Lovat, taken from the French version by ‘A Carmelite’ Nun, gives the following story on page 548. In January, of the last year of her life, 1582, Teresa left Ávila to establish convents in Burgos and Grenada, and Teresa describes the journey and what befell her along the way:
“We had to run many dangers. At no part of the road were the risks greater than within a few leagues of Burgos, at a place called Los Pontes. The rivers were so high that the water in places covered everything, neither road nor the smallest footpath could be seen, only water everywhere, and two abysses on each side. It seemed foolhardiness to advance, especially in a carriage, for if one strayed ever so little off the road (then invisible), one must have perished.”
The saint is silent on her share of the adventure, but her companions relate that, seeing their alarm, Teresa turned to them and encouraged them, saying that “as they were engaged in doing God’s work, how could they die in a better cause?” She then led the way on foot. The current was so strong that she lost her footing, and was on the point of being carried away by the current when Our Lord sustained her.
“Oh, my Lord!” she exclaimed, with her usual loving familiarity, “When will You stop scattering obstacles in our path?”
“Do not complain, daughter!” the Divine Master answered, “For I always I treat My friends in this way!”
“Ah, Lord! It is also the reason why You have so few of them!” was her reply. Ouch!
As St. Elizebeth Ann Seton said: “We must often draw the comparison between time and eternity. This is the remedy of all our troubles. How small will the present moment appear when we enter that great ocean!”
Yes, life is messy, life is hard, and everyone suffers. We don’t like that―that is only natural, but perhaps too natural and not supernatural enough. St. Francis de Sales points out that “Many would be willing to have afflictions provided that they not be inconvenienced by them!”
Walking On Water―Or Drowning In It?
The above miraculous incident, where St. Peter found himself being able to walk on water for a short period of time, before beginning to sink beneath the waves, is very instructive. We might not be able to “walk on water” like St. Peter, but we most certainly would like to “walk on air” ― meaning that we want to feel extremely excited or happy. Who doesn’t? Yet Our Lady said to St. Bernadette, whom she had favored with many apparitions at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next life!” Ouch! Our Lord had said the same things to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” … in Heaven (John 16:20).
All that Our Lord is saying―and Our Lady too, for that matter―is that for anyone hoping to get to Heaven, the cross is the daily staple diet―you can take it or leave it. Most people did not take it and they now have an even bigger cross in either in the fires of Hell, or, if they got lucky, in the fires of Purgatory. There is no other way! Cotton-Candy Catholicism is doomed to fail. You may well complain about the “negativity” of the message―but, as Holy Scripture says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Painting a false picture of the small numbers that are saved does nobody any good. Sure, you can lie about it, create an over-optimistic picture of it (which is most people have always done)―but it is a lie that will lead many more to their damnation. Just because they believe a lie, does nothing to increase their chances of salvation. Tell them the truth, and there is at least a hope that some will change their lives to embrace that truth. If anyone could have painted a sweet picture of salvation and glossed-over the horrors of Hell―then that person would have been Our Lord, Who is Truth itself―but He didn’t, did He? He told the truth―He had to―He was the Truth.
Sure, nobody likes to hear negativity―but neither does God like the negativity of sin. Negativity deserves and begets negativity. If you disobey God, you lose Heaven. As you sow, so shall you reap. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit―as Our Lord Himself says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21). So “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree evil and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known!” (Matthew 12:33).
The Tide of Passiontide
Each year the Church presents to us―not only 40 Day of Lent in order to do penance―but within those 40 days we have 2 whole weeks that we call “Passiontide” which are dedicated to the Cross, Suffering, Passion and Death of Our Lord. The word “Passiontide” means “Passion time”, yet we can also think of the word “tide” as being the alternate rising and falling of the sea, or something that fluctuates like the tides of the sea. EACH YEAR the tide of the Passion invades our souls and immerses them in its bitter waters. EACH YEAR the Church, so to speak, “rubs our sinful noses” in the horrific tortures, mental agony, brutal persecution and ignominious death of Our Lord. It is, of course, not pleasant to look and contemplate―if we do so correctly, without sweetening the pot, or superficially making light of what Our Lord underwent. It is all the more unpleasant when we realize that we are the cause of all those sufferings and that death through the callous and frequent commission of our personal sins. Is the Church cruel for rubbing our noses in these bitter waters of Passiontide? No―far from it! It is in these bitter waters that we learn about the bitterness of sin and its bitter consequences. As St. Paul writes: “For although I made you sorrowful by my epistle, I do not repent! And even if I did repent, seeing that the epistle did make you sorrowful― although but for a time―now I am glad! Not because you were made sorrowful―but because you were made sorrowful unto doing penance!” (2 Corinthians 7:8-9).
The words that the Church places on the lips of Our Lord in the Good Friday liturgy should haunt our shame: “O My people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer Me! Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior! Because I led thee out through the desert forty years and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good―thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior. What more ought I have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou hast become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink, and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.” How superficially are those words sung or read on Good Friday―paying more attention to superficially singing it well, or admiring how well the choir is singing, rather than letting the meaning of those words penetrate our souls like Our Lord’s side and heart was penetrated by the lance!
Back to the Lake!
Let us go back to the lake! Not to swim, paddle or sunbathe―but to immerse ourselves into the teachings that can be pulled out of the above waters of grace in the Gospel accounts of the Apostles on the lake. There are many things to be learnt that are floating on the top of the waters or that lie deep beneath the waters. God and Our Lord used water on many occasions as either part of their miracles or as a means of teaching. For example, already in the very second line of the Bible, we read that “the spirit of God moved over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). Then in sixth verse we read: “Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters!” (Genesis 1:6). Again, “And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10).
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #1: God later used that water to cleanse and purify the world which had grown sinful: “The wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times. It repented God that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth … for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’ And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity ... But Noe found grace before the Lord … And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! Make thee an ark … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh … All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed … I will rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the Earth … And the flood was forty days upon the Earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the Earth. For they overflowed exceedingly and filled all on the face of the Earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters. And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the Earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered … And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the Earth―fowl, cattle, beasts, all creeping things and all men. And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the Earth, died. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth … and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the Earth a hundred and fifty days … And the waters returned from off the Earth, going and coming, and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested upon the mountains of Armenia in the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month. And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month―for in the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared” (Genesis 6:5-17; 7:4; 7:17-24; 8:3-5).
When the days of the flood are all totaled we find that Noe and his family, as well as the animals, were in the ark a total of 371 days―a massive cleansing operation had taken place. The scary part is found in the words of Our Lady in 1956 and 1973, where she mentions the Great Flood and compares the state of the world back then to the state of the modern-day world. To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Whereas, at her apparition at Akita in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #2: God would later use the water of the river to save Moses from the mass slaughter of all male babies by the Egyptians, whom the Pharao ordered to be killed by thrown into and drowned in the waters of the river: “There arose a new king over Egypt, that knew not Joseph, and he said to his people: ‘Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than we! Come, let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply: and if any war shall rise against us, join with our enemies!’ … And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them. And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service. But the more they oppressed them, the more they were multiplied, and increased … And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews, commanding them: ‘When you shall do the office of midwives to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery is come―if it be a man child, then kill it; if a woman, then keep it alive!’ … Pharao also charged all his people, saying: ‘Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river; but whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive!’ [A certain Hebrew woman] conceived and bore a son; and hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges on the river’s bank [Sedges are a kind and tall grass growing in the shallow water at the edge of the river―hence the basket containing Moses was floating on water, at the river bank, amidst the tall grasses]. The daughter of Pharao and her maids walked by the river’s bank, for she came down to wash herself in the river. And when she saw the basket, she sent one of her maids for it. And when it was brought, she opened it and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it she said: ‘This is one of the babes of the Hebrews!’ And the child’s sister said to her: ‘Shall I go and call to thee a Hebrew woman, to nurse the babe?’ She answered: ‘Go!’ The maid went and called her mother. And Pharao’s daughter said to her. ‘Take this child and nurse him for me! I will give thee thy wages!’ The woman took, and nursed the child: and when he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharao’s daughter. And she adopted him for a son, and called him Moses, saying: ‘Because I took him out of the water!’” (Exodus 1:8-10; 1:12-16; 2:2-10). “Moses” or, in the Egyptian tongue, “Moyses”, signifies one taken or saved out of the water.
► SAVING AND DESTRUCTIVE WATERS #3: God would later use water to save His Chosen People from the Egyptians, when God parted the water of the Red Sea for Moses to lead the Israelites to safety, whilst using the same waters to drown all of Pharao’s army who were in hot pursuit of them. This, as you can see for yourself, is a macrocosm of the microcosm―meaning that just as God’s Providence saved Moses in the basket floating on water, when male Hebrews were meant to be drowned in the river―here God’s Providence drowns the Egyptians in the water of the Red Sea, while saving the Israelites by miraculously parting those waters and allowing them to cross to safety.
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go and speak to Pharao, the king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land!’” (Exodus 6:10-11). Of course, we all know that Pharao was duplicitous in his speech―speaking from both corners of his mouth―telling Moses that the Israelites could go, but then reneging on his word. Thus God inflicted the Ten Plagues on Pharao and Egypt―one of which was the waters of Egypt into blood: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Say to Aaron: “Take thy rod and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone!”’ And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded―and lifting up the rod he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants and it was turned into blood. And the fishes that were in the river died; and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt … And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink―for they could not drink of the water of the river” (Exodus 7:19-24).
Finally “when Pharao had sent out the people [released the Israelites], the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines―which is near, thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt―but He led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt … And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled. And the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: ‘What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us?’ So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt, and the captains of the whole army. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel … The Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side … And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea … And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen!’ And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned to the former place and, as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left. And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians” (Exodus 13:17-18; 14:5-9; 14:21-30).
The Filthy Waters of Sin
You can see here, in the above details, God’s use of water―to either destroy or to save. Some are destroyed through water and some are saved through water. Yet in all the above cases, there is much tribulation and suffering experienced. The same is true for the waters of Baptism―not all baptized persons end up being saved, in fact, the majority are damned. It is not the waters of Baptism that damn them―for the waters of Baptism are meant to save―but it their own pig-headed stubbornness in sin that damns them―they do not ‘drown’ in the waters of Baptism, but they ‘drown’ in the filthy waters of sin. Our Lady of Good Success makes some reference to this “filthy ocean” of sin when she speaks of our modern-day era, saying: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … the spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
The Waters of Retribution for Sin
In the conference of Pope John Paul II, in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, in 1981, the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Water into Wine―Wine into Blood―Sinners into Saints
Water, wine and blood―what have they got in common? We drink all three! Water and wine―well that is pretty obvious―but blood? Yes, we drink the Blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Furthermore, Our Lord changed water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana; God changed water into blood in the time of Moses (see above), and Christ changed wine into blood at the Last Supper. On Calvary, when the soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, blood and water flowed out His side: “One of the soldiers with a spear, opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). As Holy Scripture says: “There are three that give testimony on earth―the spirit, and the water, and the blood―and these three are one” (1 John 5:8).
● WATER symbolizes grace in general, and, in particular, the sanctifying grace received through the waters of Baptism: “Here is water! What doth hinder me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36).
● WINE symbolizes charity or love in general―and since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), wine also symbolizes God in general, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) in particular, to whom we pray: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!”
● BLOOD symbolizes suffering in general, and, in particular, the Blood of Christ shed in His Passion and Death for our redemption and salvation: “This is My Blood, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28).
Which brings us to the whole point of Christ’s incarnation and coming upon Earth―that is, the redemption and salvation of souls: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “The Lamb shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life” (Apocalypse 7:17). “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! The water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14). “I baptize you in the water unto penance” (Matthew 3:11). “I have baptized you with water; but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark 1:8).
As a side note on that―at Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples in the form of tongues of fire, it resulted in them going out to preach in the streets, at which point the listeners thought that they were drunk on wine! “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? … And they were all astonished and wondered, saying one to another: ‘What meaneth this?’ But others, mocking, said: ‘These men are full of new wine!’ [14] But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: ‘These are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day! But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh!” … Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins―and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!’ … They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:1-41).
Which brings us to the whole point of Christ’s incarnation and coming upon Earth―that is, the redemption and salvation of souls: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “The Lamb shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life” (Apocalypse 7:17). “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! The water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14). “I baptize you in the water unto penance” (Matthew 3:11). “I have baptized you with water; but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark 1:8).
As a side note on that―at Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples in the form of tongues of fire, it resulted in them going out to preach in the streets, at which point the listeners thought that they were drunk on wine! “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? … And they were all astonished and wondered, saying one to another: ‘What meaneth this?’ But others, mocking, said: ‘These men are full of new wine!’ [14] But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: ‘These are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day! But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh!” … Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins―and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!’ … They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:1-41). Similarly, it was said of St. John the Baptist that “he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink―and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Who needs wine when you have “wine” or “spirit” of the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)?!! Holy Scripture says: “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury―but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit!” (Ephesians 5:18). Wine symbolizes the Holy Spirit, because being full of the Holy Spirit is being full of joy.
Water, Wine and Blood―The Three Levels of Love of God
As the spiritual masters and authors tell us, there are three stages of the spiritual life that we have to pass through before we will be admitted into Heaven―these are: (1) The Purgative Way or the Way of Beginners; (2) The Illuminative Way or the Way of Progress or Proficiency; and (3) The Unitive Way or the Way of Perfection. Water, wine and blood could be said to correspond to these three stages. Water being applied to the Purgative Way or the Way of Beginners. Wine being applicable to the Illuminative Way or the Way of Progress or Proficiency. Blood being applicable to the Unitive Way or the Way of Perfection.
● WATER: Even the economic side of things indicates the same order―water is cheap, wine is expensive, blood is priceless. With water we wash our dirty bodies―hence the Purgative Way. Water is also the staple drink of everyone―babies and children included. Water is cheap and it costs little or nothing to give someone else a cup of water: “Whosoever shall give to drink, to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water … he shall not lose his reward!” (Matthew 10:42).
● WINE: Wine is not given to babies and children, but only to those who have advanced in age and maturity―hence it is linked to the Way of Proficiency. Furthermore, from the point of view of friendship, a friend is someone with whom our relationship has progressed and passed from the beginnings of a mere stranger or an acquaintance, into a relationship of friendship. We will give water to strangers without much of a fuss―but wine we reserve for friends. This is also seen to be case with Our Lord, Who speaks of His ever growing relationship with His Apostles as having passed from mere acquaintance level, or “employer and employee”, or “master and servant” relationship, into a blossoming relationship called “friendship.” Our Lord says to them: “I will not now call you servants … But I have called you friends!” (John 15:15), going on to say that He there is a superior “wine” that He will drink with them in the Kingdom of Heaven: “And I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the Kingdom of My Father” (Matthew 26:29).
● BLOOD: To give your water to someone is a basic act of kindness. To give your wine to another is an even greater act of kindness―for it is more expensive. Yet to give your blood for someone is the supreme act of charity―as Our Lord Himself says (and also does): “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Therefore doth the Father love Me―because I lay down My life” (John 10:17). “I lay down My life for My sheep” (John 10:15). “Jesus said to Peter: ‘Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me?’ Peter said to him: ‘I will lay down my life for Thee!’” (John 13:37-38) ― and we say, in the Stations of the Cross: “Jesus! You died for love of me! Let me die for love of Thee!” ― but do we really mean it? Have we really reached that level of love? Passiontide is all about that level of love―loving unto blood! Suffering unto blood! For most persons, that is terrifying―yet Holy Scripture speaks of this need, saying: “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Our Lord also implies this when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, then itself remaineth alone. But if it die, then it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
Swimming or Sailing Safely Through Suffering
The only way to Heaven is through the cross of suffering―there is no other way. “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). This is why the Church, in Her Liturgy, exults: “In cruce salus” ― “In the cross is salvation” ― and “Ave crux, spes unica!” ― “Hail O cross, sole hope!” The saints understood this so well that, if they ever noticed that they were without a cross at some point in their lives, then they would beg God to send one!
When Christopher Columbus sailed on his expedition to the Americas, his three ships―Pinta, Niña and Santa Maria―all had massive red crosses on their sails. The crosses on the sails were there for a double reason―firstly as a mark of Faith, which showed their Christian Faith; secondly, as a kind of a sacramental, which would invoke the protection of Heaven during the sea voyages. Just like the Christian life, those sea voyages were not fun and games―but a real cross! Small caravels, like the Niña and Pinta, were relatively small and very open with little shelter against the elements. They could only carry between 40 and 50 tons and usually had a crew of around 30 sailors each. Unlike the Santa Maria, which at least had tiny cabins where sailors could sleep between eight-hour shifts, the Niña and Pinta had a single small deck at the rear of the ship with only one cramped cabin reserved for the captain. The sailors on a caravels had to live and sleep on the deck―for there is almost no private space. Furthermore, work was relentless on any 15th-century ship. The 20 sailors on the Niña and the 26 sailors on the Pinta would have been constantly engaged with adjusting the rigging, trimming the sails, inspecting for leaks and plugging them with spongy scraps of old rope called oakum. The round-the-clock workload meant that even if you were off-duty, there was little or no chance of getting some good sleep on the deck while the other sailors stomped around. Hammocks weren’t yet in use on ships in the 15th century.
On top of that, there was much trouble and problems with the food on board the ships. Columbus stocked a full year’s worth of food for the journey, not knowing how long it would be before they could return to Spain. For food to last at sea, it needed to be dry. Staples included dried and salted anchovies and cod, pickled or salted beef and pork, dried grains like chickpeas, lentils and beans, and, of course, hardtack biscuits. Hardtack biscuits were so rock solid that they could only be eaten if softened with water or dipped in the communal slurry served every meal in a large wooden trough. Yet tooth-breaking, dry biscuits were still preferable to those that had been spoiled by exposure to water in their storage barrel. Ferdinand Columbus, the explorer’s 14-year-old son, reported on the conditions on Columbus’s fourth voyage to the Americas: “What with the heat and dampness, our ship biscuit had become so wormy that, God help me, I saw many who waited for darkness to eat porridge made of it, that they might not see the maggots,” wrote young Ferdinand, “and others were so used to eating them that they didn't even trouble to pick them out because they might lose their supper had they been so fastidious.”
Swimming Across the Atlantic Ocean
Benoit Lecomte (born 1967) is a French-born long-distance swimmer (now a naturalized American citizen) who claimed to be the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean without a kick board in 1998. From July 16th (Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) to September 25th 1998, Lecomte undertook a swim in stages from Massachusetts to Brittany, France. During his 73-day, 3,716-mile swim, Lecomte was accompanied by a 40-foot (about half the length of Christopher Columbus’ Niña and Pinta) sailboat that had an electromagnetic field for 25 ft to ward off sharks. He was accompanied by a crew of three aboard the sailboat, where he could rest and eat between each swimming period. Lecomte typically spent eight hours swimming each day in sessions of two to four hours.
Where Lecomte succeeded, another Atlantic swimmer failed. Ben Hooper, a 38-year-old former English policeman, waded into the Atlantic Ocean from a beach in Dakar, Senegal hoping to swim across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, 1,879 miles away. He was hoping to swim around 12 miles a day for over 140 days straight. On the very first day, as the adrenaline wore off and the magnitude of the task began to sink in, he swam against currents that made it difficult to achieve his desired daily mileage of 12 miles. All he could manage was 4.5 miles. A fierce wind drove across the water and at times the swell rose so high Hooper lost sight of his support boat. On day two, Hooper’s crew lost contact with a second support boat, whose captain had returned to Dakar, refusing to continue with the expedition. A couple of days later, Hooper again faced unusually strong currents, limiting his mileage. Clouds stretched across the vast horizon, sometimes bringing rain, and the ocean became dark and choppy. Hooper began to spend more and more time on the boat, waiting for moments of calm. By day seven he was down on his targets. Fatigue mounted. Low moments became commonplace. His body was under attack. Small jellyfish stings were regular and sapped energy. While swimming through seaweed, lice nipped at his torso. When the ocean was choppy, waves battered his back, arms and legs, pushing him under, exacerbating exhaustion. In poor conditions, Hooper was in danger of injuring himself getting on and off the boat, and every now and then he would take a hit from a kayak that glided alongside him for support.
During day 17, he was sick, twice. On day 18, he began to complain of neuralgia. On day 21, Hooper swam blindly into the half-eaten remains of a Portuguese-man-of-war, a jellyfish whose venom paralyses its victims. Hooper began to writhe in pain, unaware of the cause. When he was retrieved from the water, the crew discovered stings up and down the right side of his body. A section of tentacle was still attached to his shoulder and had to be removed. Every now and then his eyes would roll into the back of his head and, as his speech began to slur and his blood pressure plummeted, he struggled to remain conscious. Hooper later told me that, at one point, he was “on my way out”, and that the ship’s medic, Pamela Mackie, “brought me back” to life. For hours, Hooper remained in significant danger. Pain coursed through his body like an electric current. For support, Mackie reached a British trauma surgeon by satellite, who told her that renal failure was an acute possibility. If his kidney packed up, Hooper would not survive. Hooper spent the next four days on the boat, recuperating. On day 26, he re-entered the water and swam two miles, still sore from the attack. Three days later, in stormy seas, a steering cable snapped and required repair. The storm built. Waves rose to 30ft, crashing around the crew. Now clouds covered the sky and everything appeared eerie. The rain poured. The wind grew in speed and force. The catamaran, perhaps betraying its age, creaked and groaned. Finally, on December 15th, Hooper put out a press release, announcing the expedition’s end.
All of this brings to mind the words of St. Paul, that Holy Mother Church placed before at the beginning of Lent: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
On the Stormy Sea of Persecution
St. John Bosco’s vision of the crisis in the Church is also well worth considering here, since we are talking about water, sailing, swimming and sinking! Don Bosco relates his vision:
“Imagine yourselves to be with me on the seashore, or better still, on an isolated rock and not to see any patch of land except what is under your feet. On the whole of that vast sheet of water, you see an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array. The prows of the ships are formed into sharp, spear-like points so that whatever they are thrust-into, they pierce and completely destroy. These ships are armed with cannons, with lots of rifles, with incendiary materials, with other arms of all kinds, and also with books, and they advance against a ship very much bigger and higher than themselves and try to ram it with the prows, or to burn it, or in some way to do it every possible harm. As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship, there are many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet.
“In the midst of the immense expanse of sea, two mighty columns of great height arise, a little distance the one from the other. On the top of one, there is the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hangs a large placard with this inscription: “Auxilium Christianorum—Help of Christians.” On the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the words: “Salus Credentium—Salvation of Believers.”
“The supreme commander on the big ship is the Sovereign Pontiff. He, on seeing the fury of the enemies and the evils among which his faithful find themselves, determines to summon around himself the captains of the smaller ships, to hold a council and decide on what is to be done. All the captains come aboard and gather around the Pope. They hold a meeting, but meanwhile the wind and the waves gather in storm, so they are sent back to control their own ships.
“There comes a short lull; for a second time the Pope gathers the captains together around him, while the flagship goes on its course. But the frightful storm returns. The Pope stands at the helm and all his energies are directed to steering the ship towards those two columns, from the top of which and from every side of which are hanging numerous anchors and big hooks, fastened to chains.
“All the enemy ships move to attack it, and they try in every way to stop it and to sink it: some with writings or books or inflammable materials, of which they are full; others with guns, with rifles and with rams. The battle rages ever more relentlessly. The enemy prows (battering rams on the front of the ships) thrust violently, but their efforts and impact prove useless. They make attempts in vain and waste all their labor and ammunition; the big ship goes safely and smoothly on its way. Sometimes it happens that, when struck by formidable blows, it gets large, deep gaps in its sides; but no sooner is the harm done than a gentle breeze blows from the two columns and the cracks close up and the gaps are stopped immediately.
“Meanwhile, the guns of the assailants are blown up, the rifles and other arms and prows are broken; many ships are shattered and sink into the sea. Then, the frenzied enemies strive to fight hand to hand, with fists, with blows, with blasphemy and with curses. All at once the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and of joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises. But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another Pope takes his place. The pilots of the ships, having met together, have elected the Pope so quickly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage. The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
“Then a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until then had fought against the Pope’s ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces one against another. Some sink and try to sink others. Several small ships that had fought gallantly for the Pope race to be the first to bind themselves to those two columns. Many other ships, having retreated through fear of the battle, cautiously watch from far away; the wrecks of the broken ships having been scattered in the whirlpools of the sea, they in their turn sail in good earnest to those two columns, and, having reached them, they make themselves fast to the hooks hanging down from them and there they remain safe, together with the principal ship, on which is the Pope. Over the sea there reigns a great calm.”
At this point Don Bosco asked one of his fellow priests, Fr. Rua: “What do you think of the story?” Fr. Rua answered: “It seems to me that the Pope’s ship might mean the Church, of which he is the head: the ships, men; the sea, this world. Those who defend the big ship are the good, lovingly attached to the Holy See; the others are her enemies, who try with every kind of weapon to annihilate her. The two columns of salvation seem to be devotion to Mary Most Holy and to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Fr. Rua did not speak of the Pope who fell and died, and Don Bosco also was silent about him. He simply added: “You are right! Only I ought to correct one expression. The enemy ships are persecutions. The most serious trials for the Church are near at hand. That which has been so far is almost nothing in the face of that which must befall. Her enemies are represented by the ships that tried to sink the principal ship if they could. Only two means are left to save her amidst so much confusion: DEVOTION TO MARY MOST HOLY and FREQUENT COMMUNION, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody.” Don Bosco did not give any other explanations about this dream.
Nevertheless, it is very clear that we are now living the days that St. John Bosco foresaw in his vision. The persecution of the Church is the ultimate and underlying agenda that hides behind the current Satanic “smoke and mirrors” that we are seeing all throughout the world today. As Sister of Lucia of Fatima clearly stated, Our Lady has said that we have now entered the period commonly called “The Last Days” or “The End Times”―not that the world is going to end any time soon, for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed by a period of peace and holiness, before the Antichrist appears, must all come first before the end of the world. Nevertheless, before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary there has to be a time of terrible persecution of the Church, a time of localized wars and also a Third World War, where―as Our Lady says―“all will seem lost.” If we are not building our “ark” as these storm clouds gather and if we imitate the complacent Chosen People, who “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7), then we risk sinking and drowning in ocean of sin that is invading what is left of “Christian Dry Land”.
As St. Paul warns in the text presented to us at the beginning of Lent: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized―in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them―and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come! Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Just as the Israelites had to spend many years in the desert of suffering before being allowed into the Promised Land, so, too, do we have to spend many years on the sea of suffering here below, before we can have a chance of entering the Promised Land of Heaven. It is not what we suffer that matters the most―but how we suffer. That is why St. Augustine says that the same sufferings, the same crosses, lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell. Suffering requires love. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday & Thursday in the First Week of Passiontide, March 24th & March 25th
Article 22
Your Annunciation!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday & Thursday in the First Week of Passiontide, March 24th & March 25th
Article 22
Your Annunciation!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Announcing the Annunciation!
Today’s feast is known as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord. The word “Annunciation” comes from the Latin verb “annuntiare” meaning “to bring news, announce, say, make known, prophesy” from which we get the Latin noun, “annuntiatio” meaning “an announcement, a declaration, a message, a prediction or prophecy.”
The word “annunciation” is not exclusively reserved to the event where the Archangel Gabriel announces to Our Lady that she will conceive a Son by the power of the Holy Ghost. We see the word―in its original Latin form―appear many times and it is applied to everyday people. Here is just a sampling―the Latin root “annunti–” is in bold letters and underlined, with the English translation following:
► “Nolite annuntiare in Geth, neque annuntietis in compitis Ascalonis” (2 Kings 1:20). “Tell it not in Geth, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon” (2 Kings 1:20).
► “In Geth nolite annuntiare…” (Micheas 1:10). “Declare ye it not in Geth...” (Micheas 1:10).
► “... annuntiatio, quam audivimus ab eo, et annuntiamus vobis…” (1 John 1:5). “... the declaration which we have heard from Him, and declare unto you...” (1 John 1:5).
► “Quoniam haec est annuntiatio, quam audistis ab initio...” (1 John 3:11). “For this is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning…” (1 John 3:11).
► “Annuntio ergo tibi…” (1 Paralipomenon 17:10). “And I declare to thee…” (1 Paralipomenon 17:10).
► “Nova quoque ego annuntio…” (Isaias 42:9). “And new things do I declare…” (Isaias 42:9).
► “Hic est Jesus Christus, quem ego annuntio vobis.” (Acts 17:3). “This is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to you.”
► “Ego annuntio vobis.” (Acts of 17:23). “I preach to you” (Acts of 17:23).
► “Numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio?” (Isaias 40:21). “Hath it not been told you from the beginning?” (Isaias 40:21).
► “Quibus non est annuntiatum de eo, videbunt” (Romans 15:21). “They, to whom he was not spoken of, shall see” (Romans 15:21).
► “…et ii, quibus prioribus annuntiatum est…” (Hebrews 4:6). “… to whom it was first preached…” (Hebrews 4:6).
► “Sol in aspectu annuntians in exitu.” (Ecclesiasticus 43:2). “The sun when he appeareth showing forth at his rising.” (Ecclesiasticus 43:2).
► “Quis annuntiavit ab exordio … Non est neque annuntians ...” (Isaias 41:26). “Who hath declared from the beginning … There is none that showeth …” (Isaias 41:26).
► “… annuntians recta.” (Isaias 45:19). “… that declare right things.” (Isaias 45:19).
► “Annuntians ab exordio novissimum, et ab initio quae necdum facta sunt” (Isaias 46:10). “Who show from the beginning the things that shall be at last” (Isaias 46:10).
► “… et annuntians homini eloquium suum…” (Amos 4:13). “… and declareth His word to man” (Amos 4:13).
► “… annuntians duplicia reddam tibi.” (Zacharias 9:12). “… I will render thee double as I declare today” (Zacharias 9:12).
► “Venit Maria Magdalene annuntians discipulis.” (John 20:18). “Mary Magdalen cometh, and telleth the disciples” (John 20:18).
► “… annuntians pacem per Jesum Christum.” (Acts 10:36). “… preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).
► “… annuntians expletionem dierum purificationis.” (Acts 21:26). “… giving notice of the accomplishment of the days of purification.” (Acts 21:26).
► “… annuntians vobis testimonium Christi.” (1 Corinthians 2:1). “declaring unto you the testimony of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:1).
You Have Had Many Annunciations
In view of the above definitions of “annunciation” and the usage of the word in Holy Scripture, it is clear that the “Annunciation” was not a “one-time event”, but simply one of many announcements made by God―directly Himself, or indirectly through angels or prophets. We have all received similar announcements from Heaven―especially through Our Lady and many saints. Our Lady has been frequently “annuntians” (announcing, declaring, telling, giving notice and preaching) to us messages from God―just as St. Gabriel the Archangel announced God’s message to Mary.
Our Lady has been announcing, giving notice, declaring to you many, many messages in her many different apparitions. Have you taken them to heart as she herself took to heart the message announced to her by St. Gabriel? Have you taken those messages as meant for you―or have you “returned them to sender” protesting that they must have been sent to the wrong address, for the content of the message does not apply to you. This was the stupid attitude of Pope John XXIII, when he read the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima”, saying that the contents of the message did not apply to his pontificate! Likewise with the popes that followed. Our Lady wanted the contents of the “Third Secret of Fatima” to be revealed by 1960―yet no pope paid attention to her requests.
The false argument that these messages were not meant for us is easily shot-down by both the content and the reaction of the Church. Our Lady says at Fatima that so many souls go to Hell because there is barely anyone to pray and offer sacrifices for them. Do we really think that THREE CHILDREN are going to achieve what the whole Catholic world is failing to achieve? Will a mere THREE CHILDREN stop most souls from falling into Hell? Will a mere THREE CHILDREN stop a world war from occurring? Of course not! The Fatima “announcement, message, declaration, giving of notice” was intended for the whole Catholic world―for the whole Catholic world was negligent and hence in danger of damning itself through its gross negligence. Furthermore, Our Lady asked for a worldwide devotion to her Immaculate Heart: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world… God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” (Fatima, June and July 1917). This truth of the public worldwide relevance of Fatima is borne out by the fact that Church did promote the Fatima message―to some degree―therefore affirming and underlining the public element of Our Lady’s message.
At La Salette, at the end of her message, Our Lady said: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to ALL my people!” and then she REPEATED THE SAME WORDS AGAIN: “You will pass this on to ALL my people!” Lourdes was the same―the apparitions of Our Lady and miracles (especially those of the miraculous water springing out of the ground and the successive cures of many people) were not just for the benefit of St. Bernadette alone, but for all people. Our Lady’s apparition at Akita was not focused on Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa and her sins, but upon the whole world and its sins: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” After saying these things, Our Lady did not add: “Shhh! Tell no one! This is just a secret between you and me!”
Neglect of Others
What is your response? “Oh, all that must apply to someone else! It can’t possibly apply to me!” To think that, to say that, is almost being as callous as Cain, who after he had murdered his brother Abel, was asked by God: “‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And God said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). Most Catholics have the same attitude ― “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ― to which Holy Scripture replies: “This is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. [12] Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother ... Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself! … He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? ... He that loveth not his brother is not of God!” (1 John 3:11-17). “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20).
We see this epitomized in Our Lord’s parable about the Sheep and the Goats: “And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
The Annunciation Transposed Into Our Lives
The Annunciation―even though (sadly) it is not a holy day of obligation―is nevertheless a central and crucial mystery in our Redemption by Christ. In the Annunciation, Christ becomes incarnate―meaning that He takes on our flesh, He becomes man whilst remaining God―so that as man He can pay for the sins of men whom He represents, but as God He is able to pay the INFINITE debt contracted by sin, because sin offends an INFINITE God and hence the debt is INFINITE and only an INFINITE Person (Christ) is capable of paying an INFINITE debt.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, gives us some insight as to the importance of the Annunciation and Incarnation in our own personal lives: “The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent … The conduct which the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity have deigned to pursue in the Incarnation and the first coming of Jesus Christ, They still pursue daily, in an invisible manner, throughout the whole Church; and They will still pursue it even to the consummation of ages in the last coming of Jesus Christ. God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (in Latin “mare” in the singular, “maria” in the plural). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary (the Latin word “Maria” means “seas”). [Which brings to mind the Latin hymn to Our Lady―“Ave Maris Stella”, meaning “Hail Star of the Sea”]. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all His infinite merits and His admirable virtues. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces … God the Holy Ghost has chosen her to be the dispenser of all His gifts and graces … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … When the Holy Ghost has found Mary in a soul, He flies there. He enters there in His fullness; He communicates Himself to that soul abundantly, and in proportion to which that soul makes room for His spouse, Mary. One of the greatest reasons why the Holy Ghost does not today do startling wonders in our souls, is because He does not find there a sufficiently great union with Mary.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
The Annunciation and Incarnation is about the Cross
In another of his books, The Love of the Eternal Wisdom, St. Louis de Montfort adds: “He wishes to become incarnate in order to convince man of His friendship. He wishes to come down upon Earth in order to make man ascend into Heaven … With delight He espoused the Cross in His Incarnation … The Incarnate Wisdom loved the Cross from His infancy … During His life He eagerly sought after the Cross … With unutterable joy He looked for it and bore it during His whole life, which was but one continuous Cross … Loaded with infamy, He was attached to the Cross, fixed to it, and joyfully died in the embrace of His dear friend, the Cross, as though He was upon a couch of honor and triumph … Their bond is indissoluble; their union is eternal. NEVER THE CROSS WITHOUT JESUS; NOR JESUS WITHOUT THE CROSS.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Love of the Eternal Wisdom).
That is exactly what Christ Himself said: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Our Lord came to carry His Cross and to die on His Cross for our sins―it is a mockery of Christ if we are not prepared to co-pay for the sins we ourselves have committed, but for which debt we are unable to totally pay―for even one sin against God is an infinite sin, and we are mere finite creatures, hence Christ, being infinite, pays the infinite debt, but we, as the guilty party for whom He is paying, should pay what we can―even though it seems trivial when compared to what the innocent Christ paid.
The cross is the backbone of our spiritual life―without it, the spiritual life would be merely the feathers without the bird, or leaves without a tree, or the Faith without works: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). You could just as easily rephrase to read: “Faith without the cross is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have a cross!’ Show me thy Faith without cross; and I will show thee, by the cross, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without the cross is dead? … Do you see that by the cross that a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without the cross is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The Annunciation, Incarnation and the Cross is all about Love
Yet the cross alone is not enough for salvation. St. Augustine tells us the SAME KIND OF CROSS leads some souls to their salvation and others to their damnation! The two thieves on Calvary are a perfect example of this―both are sinners, both are condemned to die on the cross, yet for one that cross will lead to salvation, for the other it will lead to his damnation. What ultimately matters is, not so much what kind of cross we carry, but the love that we carry it with. Without love, without charity, no cross will get you to Heaven by itself. Holy Scripture states this clearly and perfectly: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Even though the carrying the cross makes us Christlike―the cross, nevertheless, is only an accessory to Christ, but it is not Christ Himself. Who is Christ? Christ is God! What is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―therefore Christ is charity. Hence it is “charity” that carries the cross―and we, too, must carry the cross with charity, that is to say, with a love of God―knowing that the crosses that God sends us are loving gifts, that help us pay, at a massive discount, the debt for our sins, as well purchasing many other graces for benefit of other sinners in the world. Hence the Angel of Portugal of Fatima says to the three seers―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―when he finds them playing games: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
Today’s feast is known as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord. The word “Annunciation” comes from the Latin verb “annuntiare” meaning “to bring news, announce, say, make known, prophesy” from which we get the Latin noun, “annuntiatio” meaning “an announcement, a declaration, a message, a prediction or prophecy.”
The word “annunciation” is not exclusively reserved to the event where the Archangel Gabriel announces to Our Lady that she will conceive a Son by the power of the Holy Ghost. We see the word―in its original Latin form―appear many times and it is applied to everyday people. Here is just a sampling―the Latin root “annunti–” is in bold letters and underlined, with the English translation following:
► “Nolite annuntiare in Geth, neque annuntietis in compitis Ascalonis” (2 Kings 1:20). “Tell it not in Geth, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon” (2 Kings 1:20).
► “In Geth nolite annuntiare…” (Micheas 1:10). “Declare ye it not in Geth...” (Micheas 1:10).
► “... annuntiatio, quam audivimus ab eo, et annuntiamus vobis…” (1 John 1:5). “... the declaration which we have heard from Him, and declare unto you...” (1 John 1:5).
► “Quoniam haec est annuntiatio, quam audistis ab initio...” (1 John 3:11). “For this is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning…” (1 John 3:11).
► “Annuntio ergo tibi…” (1 Paralipomenon 17:10). “And I declare to thee…” (1 Paralipomenon 17:10).
► “Nova quoque ego annuntio…” (Isaias 42:9). “And new things do I declare…” (Isaias 42:9).
► “Hic est Jesus Christus, quem ego annuntio vobis.” (Acts 17:3). “This is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to you.”
► “Ego annuntio vobis.” (Acts of 17:23). “I preach to you” (Acts of 17:23).
► “Numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio?” (Isaias 40:21). “Hath it not been told you from the beginning?” (Isaias 40:21).
► “Quibus non est annuntiatum de eo, videbunt” (Romans 15:21). “They, to whom he was not spoken of, shall see” (Romans 15:21).
► “…et ii, quibus prioribus annuntiatum est…” (Hebrews 4:6). “… to whom it was first preached…” (Hebrews 4:6).
► “Sol in aspectu annuntians in exitu.” (Ecclesiasticus 43:2). “The sun when he appeareth showing forth at his rising.” (Ecclesiasticus 43:2).
► “Quis annuntiavit ab exordio … Non est neque annuntians ...” (Isaias 41:26). “Who hath declared from the beginning … There is none that showeth …” (Isaias 41:26).
► “… annuntians recta.” (Isaias 45:19). “… that declare right things.” (Isaias 45:19).
► “Annuntians ab exordio novissimum, et ab initio quae necdum facta sunt” (Isaias 46:10). “Who show from the beginning the things that shall be at last” (Isaias 46:10).
► “… et annuntians homini eloquium suum…” (Amos 4:13). “… and declareth His word to man” (Amos 4:13).
► “… annuntians duplicia reddam tibi.” (Zacharias 9:12). “… I will render thee double as I declare today” (Zacharias 9:12).
► “Venit Maria Magdalene annuntians discipulis.” (John 20:18). “Mary Magdalen cometh, and telleth the disciples” (John 20:18).
► “… annuntians pacem per Jesum Christum.” (Acts 10:36). “… preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).
► “… annuntians expletionem dierum purificationis.” (Acts 21:26). “… giving notice of the accomplishment of the days of purification.” (Acts 21:26).
► “… annuntians vobis testimonium Christi.” (1 Corinthians 2:1). “declaring unto you the testimony of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:1).
You Have Had Many Annunciations
In view of the above definitions of “annunciation” and the usage of the word in Holy Scripture, it is clear that the “Annunciation” was not a “one-time event”, but simply one of many announcements made by God―directly Himself, or indirectly through angels or prophets. We have all received similar announcements from Heaven―especially through Our Lady and many saints. Our Lady has been frequently “annuntians” (announcing, declaring, telling, giving notice and preaching) to us messages from God―just as St. Gabriel the Archangel announced God’s message to Mary.
Our Lady has been announcing, giving notice, declaring to you many, many messages in her many different apparitions. Have you taken them to heart as she herself took to heart the message announced to her by St. Gabriel? Have you taken those messages as meant for you―or have you “returned them to sender” protesting that they must have been sent to the wrong address, for the content of the message does not apply to you. This was the stupid attitude of Pope John XXIII, when he read the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima”, saying that the contents of the message did not apply to his pontificate! Likewise with the popes that followed. Our Lady wanted the contents of the “Third Secret of Fatima” to be revealed by 1960―yet no pope paid attention to her requests.
The false argument that these messages were not meant for us is easily shot-down by both the content and the reaction of the Church. Our Lady says at Fatima that so many souls go to Hell because there is barely anyone to pray and offer sacrifices for them. Do we really think that THREE CHILDREN are going to achieve what the whole Catholic world is failing to achieve? Will a mere THREE CHILDREN stop most souls from falling into Hell? Will a mere THREE CHILDREN stop a world war from occurring? Of course not! The Fatima “announcement, message, declaration, giving of notice” was intended for the whole Catholic world―for the whole Catholic world was negligent and hence in danger of damning itself through its gross negligence. Furthermore, Our Lady asked for a worldwide devotion to her Immaculate Heart: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world… God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” (Fatima, June and July 1917). This truth of the public worldwide relevance of Fatima is borne out by the fact that Church did promote the Fatima message―to some degree―therefore affirming and underlining the public element of Our Lady’s message.
At La Salette, at the end of her message, Our Lady said: “And so, my children, you will pass this on to ALL my people!” and then she REPEATED THE SAME WORDS AGAIN: “You will pass this on to ALL my people!” Lourdes was the same―the apparitions of Our Lady and miracles (especially those of the miraculous water springing out of the ground and the successive cures of many people) were not just for the benefit of St. Bernadette alone, but for all people. Our Lady’s apparition at Akita was not focused on Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa and her sins, but upon the whole world and its sins: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” After saying these things, Our Lady did not add: “Shhh! Tell no one! This is just a secret between you and me!”
Neglect of Others
What is your response? “Oh, all that must apply to someone else! It can’t possibly apply to me!” To think that, to say that, is almost being as callous as Cain, who after he had murdered his brother Abel, was asked by God: “‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And God said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). Most Catholics have the same attitude ― “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ― to which Holy Scripture replies: “This is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. [12] Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother ... Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself! … He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? ... He that loveth not his brother is not of God!” (1 John 3:11-17). “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20).
We see this epitomized in Our Lord’s parable about the Sheep and the Goats: “And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
The Annunciation Transposed Into Our Lives
The Annunciation―even though (sadly) it is not a holy day of obligation―is nevertheless a central and crucial mystery in our Redemption by Christ. In the Annunciation, Christ becomes incarnate―meaning that He takes on our flesh, He becomes man whilst remaining God―so that as man He can pay for the sins of men whom He represents, but as God He is able to pay the INFINITE debt contracted by sin, because sin offends an INFINITE God and hence the debt is INFINITE and only an INFINITE Person (Christ) is capable of paying an INFINITE debt.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, True Devotion to Mary, gives us some insight as to the importance of the Annunciation and Incarnation in our own personal lives: “The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent … The conduct which the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity have deigned to pursue in the Incarnation and the first coming of Jesus Christ, They still pursue daily, in an invisible manner, throughout the whole Church; and They will still pursue it even to the consummation of ages in the last coming of Jesus Christ. God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (in Latin “mare” in the singular, “maria” in the plural). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary (the Latin word “Maria” means “seas”). [Which brings to mind the Latin hymn to Our Lady―“Ave Maris Stella”, meaning “Hail Star of the Sea”]. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all His infinite merits and His admirable virtues. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces … God the Holy Ghost has chosen her to be the dispenser of all His gifts and graces … God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … When the Holy Ghost has found Mary in a soul, He flies there. He enters there in His fullness; He communicates Himself to that soul abundantly, and in proportion to which that soul makes room for His spouse, Mary. One of the greatest reasons why the Holy Ghost does not today do startling wonders in our souls, is because He does not find there a sufficiently great union with Mary.” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
The Annunciation and Incarnation is about the Cross
In another of his books, The Love of the Eternal Wisdom, St. Louis de Montfort adds: “He wishes to become incarnate in order to convince man of His friendship. He wishes to come down upon Earth in order to make man ascend into Heaven … With delight He espoused the Cross in His Incarnation … The Incarnate Wisdom loved the Cross from His infancy … During His life He eagerly sought after the Cross … With unutterable joy He looked for it and bore it during His whole life, which was but one continuous Cross … Loaded with infamy, He was attached to the Cross, fixed to it, and joyfully died in the embrace of His dear friend, the Cross, as though He was upon a couch of honor and triumph … Their bond is indissoluble; their union is eternal. NEVER THE CROSS WITHOUT JESUS; NOR JESUS WITHOUT THE CROSS.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Love of the Eternal Wisdom).
That is exactly what Christ Himself said: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Our Lord came to carry His Cross and to die on His Cross for our sins―it is a mockery of Christ if we are not prepared to co-pay for the sins we ourselves have committed, but for which debt we are unable to totally pay―for even one sin against God is an infinite sin, and we are mere finite creatures, hence Christ, being infinite, pays the infinite debt, but we, as the guilty party for whom He is paying, should pay what we can―even though it seems trivial when compared to what the innocent Christ paid.
The cross is the backbone of our spiritual life―without it, the spiritual life would be merely the feathers without the bird, or leaves without a tree, or the Faith without works: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). You could just as easily rephrase to read: “Faith without the cross is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have a cross!’ Show me thy Faith without cross; and I will show thee, by the cross, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without the cross is dead? … Do you see that by the cross that a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without the cross is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The Annunciation, Incarnation and the Cross is all about Love
Yet the cross alone is not enough for salvation. St. Augustine tells us the SAME KIND OF CROSS leads some souls to their salvation and others to their damnation! The two thieves on Calvary are a perfect example of this―both are sinners, both are condemned to die on the cross, yet for one that cross will lead to salvation, for the other it will lead to his damnation. What ultimately matters is, not so much what kind of cross we carry, but the love that we carry it with. Without love, without charity, no cross will get you to Heaven by itself. Holy Scripture states this clearly and perfectly: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Even though the carrying the cross makes us Christlike―the cross, nevertheless, is only an accessory to Christ, but it is not Christ Himself. Who is Christ? Christ is God! What is God? “God is charity” (1 John 4:8)―therefore Christ is charity. Hence it is “charity” that carries the cross―and we, too, must carry the cross with charity, that is to say, with a love of God―knowing that the crosses that God sends us are loving gifts, that help us pay, at a massive discount, the debt for our sins, as well purchasing many other graces for benefit of other sinners in the world. Hence the Angel of Portugal of Fatima says to the three seers―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―when he finds them playing games: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday & Tuesday in the First Week of Passiontide, March 22nd & 23rd
Article 21
Don't You Just Love It?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday & Tuesday in the First Week of Passiontide, March 22nd & 23rd
Article 21
Don't You Just Love It?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What is There to Love?
“There remain faith, hope, and charity―these three―but the greatest of these is charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the greatest thing we have―yet we cannot love what we do not know! If love is the greatest thing we have, then God is the greatest thing to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). St. Thomas Aquinas says that God is to be loved for Himself and as the cause of all happiness―and not as Someone from Whom we seek personal profit and advantages. Hence, God is to be loved more than our neighbor, who is loved, not for himself, but for God’s sake, Who made our neighbor. St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus of Lisieux, the “Little Flower”, points out why we love God so little―she says that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known―we cannot love what we do not know, and we will only love a little what we only know a little about. Our Lord goes on to speak about loving others, loving our neighbor: “Jesus said to him: ‘And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these! On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-40).
From our earliest childhood years, already in the first children’s Catechism, in reply to the question: “Why did God make you?” ― the reply was: “God made me to know Him, to love Him and serve Him in this life, so that I can be happy with Him in the next life in Heaven!” The Church did not choose the three points―know, love, serve―at random, nor was that the order in which they were drawn out of the hat―as in a lottery. There is logical and reasonable connection between those three elements―know, love, and serve. We cannot love what we do not know and we will not serve very well or for very long someone whom we do not love. Today’s marriage failures prove that. They say that “Love is blind”―meaning that love blinds us to the faults of others. Well, all those persons who married in a “Love is blind” state, quickly fell out of love and divorced once they were cured of their blindness and did not like what they saw!
Does Knowledge Guarantee Love?
But does “knowledge” always lead to “love”? Will finding out information about things always lead to a love of those things? The more we find out about our good God, then the more we should love Him. Knowledge, in its search for truth, will eventually reach God as ultimate Truth. Love, in its pursuit of what is good, will finally arrive at God as infinite Good. Love and knowledge are thus inextricably bound together in man’s very nature and if we live according to our nature, they will lead us to God―and, consequently, to Heaven and salvation. If we do not follow this natural path of love and knowledge, we will only find emptiness, despair and damnation.
Loving God―Hating Evil
Yet what if I get to find out and know that something is poisonous―do I love that poison? If I discover that certain foods or drinks can cause cancer, or some other disease―do I continue to love those things? If I find out some thought, word or action is sinful―do I love that thought, word or action? Holy Scripture makes this distinction: “Hate evil and love good” (Amos 5:15). “He that loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul.” (Psalm 10:6) and “He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul” (Proverbs 29:24). St. Thomas Aquinas explains that we cannot love anything that is not good. In his De Caritate (“Concerning Charity”), Aquinas wrote that “a thing is lovable according as it is good.” It is impossible to love evil, and no one consciously chooses what he thinks to be evil for himself. Love and knowledge must have a fundamental unity. Knowledge without love cannot act, and love without knowledge cannot know what is really good. In order to love, we must have knowledge of what is really good. Evil people also love what is good―but they have a warped mind and warped knowledge, whereby they imagine some evil to actually be good for them―at least in the short-run. There are so many people, these days, who have a mistaken idea of what it good―they falsely imagine many evils to be good. Holy Scripture warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Should We Love or Hate Evil People
So what about “evil people”? Are they to be hated? Here, Our Lord “throws a spanner or wrench in the spokes”, for He says: “You have heard that it has been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:43-44). As He died on the Cross on Calvary, Our Lord did just that―He did not hate His enemies, but He prayed for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Why would He say that about his enemies and murderers? He said that because God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). That is why Our Lord said: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
Yet that does not mean that throw ourselves into the arms of our enemies! For Our Lord separates Himself from this world, and tells us to do likewise: “I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:9-14). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
If “the works of the world are evil”―as Our Lord says―then we should be doing two things:
(1) We should be separating ourselves from the world: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). St. Thomas Aquinas comments that we should not be on familiar terms with those who sinfully reject the Faith. Nor can we have any part in the false worship of apostates or heretics.
(2) We should be praying and sacrificing for the conversion of the world―as Our Lady has amply indicated at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them … sacrifice yourselves for sinners … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary” (Our Lady of Fatima, May and July 1917).
Hell! Why Should We Separate? Why Pray? God is Good!
The world seems to be filled with insane optimists! Heaven tells us one thing―we do something else, or believe something else―thinking that Heaven is “only kidding.” This stupid optimism is epitomized by the Liberal Italian Jesuit priest, Father Lombardi, who, after much insistence, managed to speak with Sister Lucia in the parlor of the Carmelite convent in Coimbra. The following is an excerpt of the interview, as was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be condemned!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many, many will be lost!”
In his booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, St. Louis de Montfort paints a picture of the same complacent attitude:
“Friends of the Cross, crusaders united to fight against the world, brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow. ; the avaricious hoard up gold and silver, combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross; reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer ... A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand who only have reason and sense for their only guide. He is raised above reason and thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true faith and burns with love for the Cross. A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering.
“Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? Do you really know the voice of God and grace from the voice of the world and human nature? … There are two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead … only a handful of people who follow Him. To the left is the world’s group―the devil’s in fact―which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver.
“To the right, the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things … Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
So Who or What Do You Love Most?
As Sister Lucia is quoted as saying above: “Only a limited number of the human race will be saved! … Many will be condemned! … Many, many will be lost!” Will you be among those few? “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), a Doctor and Father of the Church, says regarding the Day of your Judgment, that you will be primarily judged upon your love, your charity. What or whom did you love the most in your life? Our Lord says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:21) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). What is the greatest and first commandment? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Is your life in sync with this commandment? Very few live their lives in this manner―yet, as the saints say, we need to live like the few if we wished to be saved with the few!
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, warns: “It is certain that few are saved! Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment! If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate. The Apostle commands us to rejoice―but to rejoice in the Lord, not in the world!”
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, adds: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many! And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few! … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church advises: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, insists: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow … Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church, laments: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
God desires your salvation―there is no doubt about that. The only doubt is do you desire your salvation? Do you desire it strongly enough? Do you show the necessary violence in fighting against the obstacles to salvation? Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Holy Scripture adds: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Merely having the Faith is not enough―“What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
God is Not Rigorous―But We Are Blind and Stubborn
Despite all of the foreboding and perhaps depressing truths stated above, it must not be forgotten that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and that “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Jesus Himself, in private revelation, said: “Do not make Me out to be a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’ ― for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Words of Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36). Yet that same gentle Jesus laments the damnation of so many souls: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me! That is My great sorrow―that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven!” (Words of Our Lord to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
These poor eternally damned and miserable souls are those PRESUMPTUOUS souls of whom Our Lord says in the Gospel: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
So where on earth, or where the hell are we going wrong? Why are souls falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard: I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes! (St. Teresa of Avila). “Those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in mid-winter!” (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, mystic). “I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist!” (St. Benedict Joseph Labre, mystic). The children of Fatima were shown a vision of Hell by the Virgin Mary, where souls were falling into Hell like snowflakes in a snowstorm. Amongst those snowflakes a large number of black snowflakes were seen falling. The children asked the Our Lady why they were black. The Blessed Virgin told them they were the souls of her priests falling into Hell. So where on earth, or where the hell are we going wrong?
The Last Kid on the Block―Spoiled and Independent
Psychologists speak a Youngest Child Syndrome. In larger families, parents tend to let things slide once the last child comes along—they are no longer the nervous, first-time parents anymore. The youngest child often experiences less strict parenting because the parents have learned what works through their other children. This lenience can make the baby more carefree and easygoing, as well as more sociable. The youngest child usually demands more attention from their parents. They shoulder less responsibility within the family―compared their older siblings―so the youngest child traits tend to be carefree, easygoing, fun-loving, affectionate, and sociable. They like to be the center of attention and will try make people laugh to achieve this, or will make people notice what they are doing, or, if that doesn’t work, they will get attention by being bad. They are too used to and too bored with walking in the footsteps of their older siblings and that makes them want to break free, be independent, prove to the world that they are different and can lead to them being a bit of a rebel. As a result of all this, last-borns usually do get away with more than their siblings do.
Now let us compare the above to our present plight―as being “last-born” children of Holy Mother Church in a period of time which Our Lady of Fatima indicated was the start of the “Last Days” or “End Times”. Our spiritual “parents” in Holy Mother Church―the clergy and the religious―have become lax and less-disciplined over time. For example, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 1966, reduced Lenten penance by 95% by slashing the 40 days of obligatory Lenten fasting down to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The New Order (Novus Ordo) Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has become less disciplined and less formal since its introduction in 1969-1970, with the result that the Mass became, like the spoiled child, focused on being carefree, easygoing, fun-loving, affectionate, and sociable, with “upbeat” priests trying to entertain their congregations and even make them laugh. The “children born of the Second Vatican Council” have been born into a spirit of novelty and independence. They are bored with walking in the footsteps of the older siblings, the Traditional Catholics, and want to break free, be independent, be different, even to point of being rebellious. As a result, the Post-Conciliar (Post-Second Vatican Council) Catholics have become “foot loose and fancy free”, sometimes going into areas where “angels fear to tread”.
“There remain faith, hope, and charity―these three―but the greatest of these is charity!” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the greatest thing we have―yet we cannot love what we do not know! If love is the greatest thing we have, then God is the greatest thing to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). St. Thomas Aquinas says that God is to be loved for Himself and as the cause of all happiness―and not as Someone from Whom we seek personal profit and advantages. Hence, God is to be loved more than our neighbor, who is loved, not for himself, but for God’s sake, Who made our neighbor. St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus of Lisieux, the “Little Flower”, points out why we love God so little―she says that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known―we cannot love what we do not know, and we will only love a little what we only know a little about. Our Lord goes on to speak about loving others, loving our neighbor: “Jesus said to him: ‘And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these! On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-40).
From our earliest childhood years, already in the first children’s Catechism, in reply to the question: “Why did God make you?” ― the reply was: “God made me to know Him, to love Him and serve Him in this life, so that I can be happy with Him in the next life in Heaven!” The Church did not choose the three points―know, love, serve―at random, nor was that the order in which they were drawn out of the hat―as in a lottery. There is logical and reasonable connection between those three elements―know, love, and serve. We cannot love what we do not know and we will not serve very well or for very long someone whom we do not love. Today’s marriage failures prove that. They say that “Love is blind”―meaning that love blinds us to the faults of others. Well, all those persons who married in a “Love is blind” state, quickly fell out of love and divorced once they were cured of their blindness and did not like what they saw!
Does Knowledge Guarantee Love?
But does “knowledge” always lead to “love”? Will finding out information about things always lead to a love of those things? The more we find out about our good God, then the more we should love Him. Knowledge, in its search for truth, will eventually reach God as ultimate Truth. Love, in its pursuit of what is good, will finally arrive at God as infinite Good. Love and knowledge are thus inextricably bound together in man’s very nature and if we live according to our nature, they will lead us to God―and, consequently, to Heaven and salvation. If we do not follow this natural path of love and knowledge, we will only find emptiness, despair and damnation.
Loving God―Hating Evil
Yet what if I get to find out and know that something is poisonous―do I love that poison? If I discover that certain foods or drinks can cause cancer, or some other disease―do I continue to love those things? If I find out some thought, word or action is sinful―do I love that thought, word or action? Holy Scripture makes this distinction: “Hate evil and love good” (Amos 5:15). “He that loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul.” (Psalm 10:6) and “He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul” (Proverbs 29:24). St. Thomas Aquinas explains that we cannot love anything that is not good. In his De Caritate (“Concerning Charity”), Aquinas wrote that “a thing is lovable according as it is good.” It is impossible to love evil, and no one consciously chooses what he thinks to be evil for himself. Love and knowledge must have a fundamental unity. Knowledge without love cannot act, and love without knowledge cannot know what is really good. In order to love, we must have knowledge of what is really good. Evil people also love what is good―but they have a warped mind and warped knowledge, whereby they imagine some evil to actually be good for them―at least in the short-run. There are so many people, these days, who have a mistaken idea of what it good―they falsely imagine many evils to be good. Holy Scripture warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Should We Love or Hate Evil People
So what about “evil people”? Are they to be hated? Here, Our Lord “throws a spanner or wrench in the spokes”, for He says: “You have heard that it has been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:43-44). As He died on the Cross on Calvary, Our Lord did just that―He did not hate His enemies, but He prayed for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Why would He say that about his enemies and murderers? He said that because God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance!” (2 Peter 3:9). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). That is why Our Lord said: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
Yet that does not mean that throw ourselves into the arms of our enemies! For Our Lord separates Himself from this world, and tells us to do likewise: “I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:9-14). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
If “the works of the world are evil”―as Our Lord says―then we should be doing two things:
(1) We should be separating ourselves from the world: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). St. Thomas Aquinas comments that we should not be on familiar terms with those who sinfully reject the Faith. Nor can we have any part in the false worship of apostates or heretics.
(2) We should be praying and sacrificing for the conversion of the world―as Our Lady has amply indicated at Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them … sacrifice yourselves for sinners … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary” (Our Lady of Fatima, May and July 1917).
Hell! Why Should We Separate? Why Pray? God is Good!
The world seems to be filled with insane optimists! Heaven tells us one thing―we do something else, or believe something else―thinking that Heaven is “only kidding.” This stupid optimism is epitomized by the Liberal Italian Jesuit priest, Father Lombardi, who, after much insistence, managed to speak with Sister Lucia in the parlor of the Carmelite convent in Coimbra. The following is an excerpt of the interview, as was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be condemned!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many, many will be lost!”
In his booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, St. Louis de Montfort paints a picture of the same complacent attitude:
“Friends of the Cross, crusaders united to fight against the world, brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow. ; the avaricious hoard up gold and silver, combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross; reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer ... A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand who only have reason and sense for their only guide. He is raised above reason and thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true faith and burns with love for the Cross. A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering.
“Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? Do you really know the voice of God and grace from the voice of the world and human nature? … There are two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead … only a handful of people who follow Him. To the left is the world’s group―the devil’s in fact―which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver.
“To the right, the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things … Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!” And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
So Who or What Do You Love Most?
As Sister Lucia is quoted as saying above: “Only a limited number of the human race will be saved! … Many will be condemned! … Many, many will be lost!” Will you be among those few? “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), a Doctor and Father of the Church, says regarding the Day of your Judgment, that you will be primarily judged upon your love, your charity. What or whom did you love the most in your life? Our Lord says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:21) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). What is the greatest and first commandment? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Is your life in sync with this commandment? Very few live their lives in this manner―yet, as the saints say, we need to live like the few if we wished to be saved with the few!
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, warns: “It is certain that few are saved! Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment! If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate. The Apostle commands us to rejoice―but to rejoice in the Lord, not in the world!”
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, adds: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many! And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few! … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church advises: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, insists: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow … Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church, laments: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
God desires your salvation―there is no doubt about that. The only doubt is do you desire your salvation? Do you desire it strongly enough? Do you show the necessary violence in fighting against the obstacles to salvation? Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Holy Scripture adds: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Merely having the Faith is not enough―“What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
God is Not Rigorous―But We Are Blind and Stubborn
Despite all of the foreboding and perhaps depressing truths stated above, it must not be forgotten that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and that “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). Jesus Himself, in private revelation, said: “Do not make Me out to be a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’ ― for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Words of Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36). Yet that same gentle Jesus laments the damnation of so many souls: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me! That is My great sorrow―that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven!” (Words of Our Lord to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
These poor eternally damned and miserable souls are those PRESUMPTUOUS souls of whom Our Lord says in the Gospel: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
So where on earth, or where the hell are we going wrong? Why are souls falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard: I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes! (St. Teresa of Avila). “Those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in mid-winter!” (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, mystic). “I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist!” (St. Benedict Joseph Labre, mystic). The children of Fatima were shown a vision of Hell by the Virgin Mary, where souls were falling into Hell like snowflakes in a snowstorm. Amongst those snowflakes a large number of black snowflakes were seen falling. The children asked the Our Lady why they were black. The Blessed Virgin told them they were the souls of her priests falling into Hell. So where on earth, or where the hell are we going wrong?
The Last Kid on the Block―Spoiled and Independent
Psychologists speak a Youngest Child Syndrome. In larger families, parents tend to let things slide once the last child comes along—they are no longer the nervous, first-time parents anymore. The youngest child often experiences less strict parenting because the parents have learned what works through their other children. This lenience can make the baby more carefree and easygoing, as well as more sociable. The youngest child usually demands more attention from their parents. They shoulder less responsibility within the family―compared their older siblings―so the youngest child traits tend to be carefree, easygoing, fun-loving, affectionate, and sociable. They like to be the center of attention and will try make people laugh to achieve this, or will make people notice what they are doing, or, if that doesn’t work, they will get attention by being bad. They are too used to and too bored with walking in the footsteps of their older siblings and that makes them want to break free, be independent, prove to the world that they are different and can lead to them being a bit of a rebel. As a result of all this, last-borns usually do get away with more than their siblings do.
Now let us compare the above to our present plight―as being “last-born” children of Holy Mother Church in a period of time which Our Lady of Fatima indicated was the start of the “Last Days” or “End Times”. Our spiritual “parents” in Holy Mother Church―the clergy and the religious―have become lax and less-disciplined over time. For example, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 1966, reduced Lenten penance by 95% by slashing the 40 days of obligatory Lenten fasting down to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The New Order (Novus Ordo) Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has become less disciplined and less formal since its introduction in 1969-1970, with the result that the Mass became, like the spoiled child, focused on being carefree, easygoing, fun-loving, affectionate, and sociable, with “upbeat” priests trying to entertain their congregations and even make them laugh. The “children born of the Second Vatican Council” have been born into a spirit of novelty and independence. They are bored with walking in the footsteps of the older siblings, the Traditional Catholics, and want to break free, be independent, be different, even to point of being rebellious. As a result, the Post-Conciliar (Post-Second Vatican Council) Catholics have become “foot loose and fancy free”, sometimes going into areas where “angels fear to tread”.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday March 20th & Passion Sunday, March 21st
Article 20
Passiontide! No Place to Hide!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday March 20th & Passion Sunday, March 21st
Article 20
Passiontide! No Place to Hide!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Focal Point of History, Life, Lent, and the Liturgy
Passiontide! Or Passion-hide? There are times when we have to make a choice! Times when we can no longer pretend and insist on being neutral spectators. Times of an “either, or”! Our Lord puts it this way: “He that is not with Me, is against me!” (Matthew 12:30). “No servant can serve two masters―for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the world, pleasures, treasures, etc.]” (Luke 16:13). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Which is why St. Paul writes: “God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ―by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world! … With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 6:14; 2:19).
Passiontide is the time of the cross. Passiontide is the time where “the rubber meets the road” or the cross meets shoulder, or reality stares you in the face. The reality is that we have all sinned―and the basic way to pay for sin is to carry the cross of our rebellion against God. The penalty of the cross can be a direct consequence of our sin―for example, you get drunk, drive your car, have an accident and must suffer the crosses that come from that accident while driving under the influence of alcohol―you may lose your driver’s license, be sued by the person you knocked over, face a prison sentence, or perhaps you were left paralyzed by the accident. All of these are direct consequences, or direct crosses coming from your sinfulness in getting drunk and driving while drunk. Other crosses are indirect consequences for your sinfulness, which are usually events arranged by Divine Providence, to make you pay, or help you pay for your sins if you have not done sufficient penance for them, or are not sufficiently sorry for them.
Glorious Passiontide or Hideous Passiontide?
Some see Passiontide as being glorious as they embrace the glory of the cross. Others see Passiontide as being hideous as they seek to avoid and hide from the cross. A few see the benefits of the cross, but most see benefits in the absence of a cross. For most souls, the cross makes them cross and they reject it―yet for a few, the cross crosses out their debt for sin and they accept it. We either have a love for the cross, or a dislike (or even hatred) of the cross. Some accept the need for the cross in theory, but them complain, moan and groan when God’s Providence imposes some crosses upon them―even tiny ones! Of such Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
In the same vein, The Imitation of Christ tells us: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11: “Few Love The Cross Of Jesus”).
Our Lady Glorifies the Cross
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says: “Estimate then, and weigh within thy soul, how important is the eternal predestination or reprobation of the souls―since my most holy Son looked upon it with such great anxiety, that the difficulty or impossibility of saving all men added such immense bitterness to the death which He was about to suffer for all. What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to procure it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16). Fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation! Thou drawest upon thyself (and upon mortals) a severe judgment, if thou dost not overcome thy pusillanimity, ingratitude and baseness by meditating day and night on the Passion and Death of Jesus crucified. This is the great science of the saints, so little heeded by the worldly and the lack of which starves the lovers of this proud world. In this science I wish thee to be studious and wise. My Son and Lord taught us this science. Tell me then, if my Lord and Master has made Himself the life and the way for men through his Passion and Death, is it not evident that, in order to go that way and live up to this truth, they must follow Christ crucified, afflicted, scourged and affronted? To abhor earthly vanities, to desire being despised by creatures, to suffering joyfully, to love the cross and have an earnest and generous acceptation of it.
“Consider the ignorance of men who wish to come to the Father without following Christ, since they expect to reign with God without suffering or imitating his Passion, yea without even a thought of accepting any part of his suffering and Death, or of thanking Him for it. They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by his example how they are to find the way of light. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and struggle merely for terrestrial consolations; scarcely any love justice, or loyally pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice’s sake, yea not even the least of the many torments and pains, which they have so justly merited.
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him, nor he a good disciple, who does not follow his Master, nor he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord; nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. But our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us, who see them forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering, to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart; they rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which might raise them above themselves and above created things. Hence it comes, that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For―altogether different from the saints who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires―they desire none of it and abhor all that is painful.
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those, who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. The lesson containing the greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly worldly grandeur. The followers of this world and its vain pleasures deprive themselves of assistance and protection―since they hate the way of the Cross. Therefore embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this mortal life. By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion thou wilt attain the summit of perfection. Thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to thy Lord. I exhort thee to select the sufferings of His Cross, in preference to His favors and gifts; and to rather embrace afflictions, than to desire to be visited with caresses! When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings. For thou canst not follow Christ if thou refusest to embrace the cross and rejoice in it” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
The Season of the Cross
Even though we could rightly say Passiontide is the “season of the cross”, it would be wrong to label Passiontide (or even Lent for that matter) as the only season of the cross―for, in reality, the “season of the cross” spans all the four seasons of the year. There is never a day that goes by without many crosses coming our way. The cross is like the Barahmasia Mango Tree, which can be counted on to on to bear fruit throughout the year. The specialty of the tree is that its branches bear the fruits in different stages from flowering to ripening at the same time. While one branch has flowers, the others have matured mangoes. So, too, with the “tree of the cross” that God plants in our lives―the fruit of the “tree of the cross” is found on the tree all year round and we can harvest the fruit of the cross daily, every day, all throughout the year. Some crosses are in fully ripe, while others are merely beginning to bloom. This reminds of the biblical “tree of life” ― “In the midst … was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month” (Apocalypse 22:2). Our Lord Himself speaks of this DAILY cross: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his CROSS DAILY, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
In some parts of the world, mango is called the “king of fruits.” It is a “drupe”, or stone fruit, which means that it has a large seed in the middle. However, the mango fruit can be difficult to cut―due to its tough skin and large pit (seed, kernel)―which speaks volumes symbolically, for Catholics should have a “tough skin” to face the “cuts” of persecution and a large heart (kernel, seed, pit). Mango is low in calories (worldliness) but full of nutrients (grace and virtues)―particularly vitamin C, which aids immunity, iron absorption and growth and repair. However, the health benefits are not just limited to the fruit―there numerous benefits from its seed, flower and the bark of the mango tree. Studies indicate that, overall, mangoes possesses the following properties―they are anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-tumor, anti-spasmodic, anti-diarrheal, cardiotonic, immuno-modulating, and gastro-protective. Mango seeds help eliminate dandruff, reduces the risk of diarrhea, keeps cardiovascular disease at bay, ensures a healthy skin, is good for diabetics, etc. Mango stem bark, leaves and flowers have been used in traditional medicine to treat anemia, cutaneous infections, diabetes, diarrhea, scabies, syphilis, and malignant tumors and many, many other ailments. It is well worth researching―this article is not meant to be a full exposure of the benefits. The point of briefly mentioning the benefits is to create an analogy to the many benefits of the cross.
Tree-Talk
The liturgy for Passiontide is clearly, unashamedly and unapologetically focused on the “Tree of the Cross”, the life-giving tree, the “Tree of Life”. The Preface of the Holy Cross, that is said during Passiontide, says: “We give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the Cross; that whence death came, thence also life might arise again, and that he (the devil), who overcame (Adam and Eve) by the tree, by the tree (of the Cross) also might be overcome!” That is the theme throughout Passiontide―the redemption of mankind upon the “Tree of the Cross”. Here are just a few extracts from two of the liturgical hymns for Passiontide―the Pange Lingua and Vexilla Regis:
Passiontide! Or Passion-hide? There are times when we have to make a choice! Times when we can no longer pretend and insist on being neutral spectators. Times of an “either, or”! Our Lord puts it this way: “He that is not with Me, is against me!” (Matthew 12:30). “No servant can serve two masters―for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the world, pleasures, treasures, etc.]” (Luke 16:13). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Which is why St. Paul writes: “God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ―by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world! … With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 6:14; 2:19).
Passiontide is the time of the cross. Passiontide is the time where “the rubber meets the road” or the cross meets shoulder, or reality stares you in the face. The reality is that we have all sinned―and the basic way to pay for sin is to carry the cross of our rebellion against God. The penalty of the cross can be a direct consequence of our sin―for example, you get drunk, drive your car, have an accident and must suffer the crosses that come from that accident while driving under the influence of alcohol―you may lose your driver’s license, be sued by the person you knocked over, face a prison sentence, or perhaps you were left paralyzed by the accident. All of these are direct consequences, or direct crosses coming from your sinfulness in getting drunk and driving while drunk. Other crosses are indirect consequences for your sinfulness, which are usually events arranged by Divine Providence, to make you pay, or help you pay for your sins if you have not done sufficient penance for them, or are not sufficiently sorry for them.
Glorious Passiontide or Hideous Passiontide?
Some see Passiontide as being glorious as they embrace the glory of the cross. Others see Passiontide as being hideous as they seek to avoid and hide from the cross. A few see the benefits of the cross, but most see benefits in the absence of a cross. For most souls, the cross makes them cross and they reject it―yet for a few, the cross crosses out their debt for sin and they accept it. We either have a love for the cross, or a dislike (or even hatred) of the cross. Some accept the need for the cross in theory, but them complain, moan and groan when God’s Providence imposes some crosses upon them―even tiny ones! Of such Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
In the same vein, The Imitation of Christ tells us: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 11: “Few Love The Cross Of Jesus”).
Our Lady Glorifies the Cross
Our Lady, in her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, says: “Estimate then, and weigh within thy soul, how important is the eternal predestination or reprobation of the souls―since my most holy Son looked upon it with such great anxiety, that the difficulty or impossibility of saving all men added such immense bitterness to the death which He was about to suffer for all. What pretense or excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when my divine Son and I have desired and sought to procure it for them with such sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any excuse for their foolish negligence! Do not think that it is written in vain: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen!’ (Matthew 20:16). Fear this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation! Thou drawest upon thyself (and upon mortals) a severe judgment, if thou dost not overcome thy pusillanimity, ingratitude and baseness by meditating day and night on the Passion and Death of Jesus crucified. This is the great science of the saints, so little heeded by the worldly and the lack of which starves the lovers of this proud world. In this science I wish thee to be studious and wise. My Son and Lord taught us this science. Tell me then, if my Lord and Master has made Himself the life and the way for men through his Passion and Death, is it not evident that, in order to go that way and live up to this truth, they must follow Christ crucified, afflicted, scourged and affronted? To abhor earthly vanities, to desire being despised by creatures, to suffering joyfully, to love the cross and have an earnest and generous acceptation of it.
“Consider the ignorance of men who wish to come to the Father without following Christ, since they expect to reign with God without suffering or imitating his Passion, yea without even a thought of accepting any part of his suffering and Death, or of thanking Him for it. They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in order to enter Heaven and to show them by his example how they are to find the way of light. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and struggle merely for terrestrial consolations; scarcely any love justice, or loyally pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice’s sake, yea not even the least of the many torments and pains, which they have so justly merited.
“Eternal rest is incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him, nor he a good disciple, who does not follow his Master, nor he a good servant, who does not accompany his lord; nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer with me and my divine Son. But our love for the eternal salvation of men obliges us, who see them forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering, to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their inclinations and their blind love of visible things detains them and makes them hard and heavy of heart; they rob them of remembrance and affection toward these higher things, which might raise them above themselves and above created things. Hence it comes, that men do not find joy in their tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor any peace in adversities. For―altogether different from the saints who glory in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires―they desire none of it and abhor all that is painful.
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those, who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wish to be our disciple, then enter into this school―in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. The lesson containing the greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly worldly grandeur. The followers of this world and its vain pleasures deprive themselves of assistance and protection―since they hate the way of the Cross. Therefore embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this mortal life. By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion thou wilt attain the summit of perfection. Thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to thy Lord. I exhort thee to select the sufferings of His Cross, in preference to His favors and gifts; and to rather embrace afflictions, than to desire to be visited with caresses! When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings. For thou canst not follow Christ if thou refusest to embrace the cross and rejoice in it” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
The Season of the Cross
Even though we could rightly say Passiontide is the “season of the cross”, it would be wrong to label Passiontide (or even Lent for that matter) as the only season of the cross―for, in reality, the “season of the cross” spans all the four seasons of the year. There is never a day that goes by without many crosses coming our way. The cross is like the Barahmasia Mango Tree, which can be counted on to on to bear fruit throughout the year. The specialty of the tree is that its branches bear the fruits in different stages from flowering to ripening at the same time. While one branch has flowers, the others have matured mangoes. So, too, with the “tree of the cross” that God plants in our lives―the fruit of the “tree of the cross” is found on the tree all year round and we can harvest the fruit of the cross daily, every day, all throughout the year. Some crosses are in fully ripe, while others are merely beginning to bloom. This reminds of the biblical “tree of life” ― “In the midst … was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month” (Apocalypse 22:2). Our Lord Himself speaks of this DAILY cross: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his CROSS DAILY, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23).
In some parts of the world, mango is called the “king of fruits.” It is a “drupe”, or stone fruit, which means that it has a large seed in the middle. However, the mango fruit can be difficult to cut―due to its tough skin and large pit (seed, kernel)―which speaks volumes symbolically, for Catholics should have a “tough skin” to face the “cuts” of persecution and a large heart (kernel, seed, pit). Mango is low in calories (worldliness) but full of nutrients (grace and virtues)―particularly vitamin C, which aids immunity, iron absorption and growth and repair. However, the health benefits are not just limited to the fruit―there numerous benefits from its seed, flower and the bark of the mango tree. Studies indicate that, overall, mangoes possesses the following properties―they are anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-tumor, anti-spasmodic, anti-diarrheal, cardiotonic, immuno-modulating, and gastro-protective. Mango seeds help eliminate dandruff, reduces the risk of diarrhea, keeps cardiovascular disease at bay, ensures a healthy skin, is good for diabetics, etc. Mango stem bark, leaves and flowers have been used in traditional medicine to treat anemia, cutaneous infections, diabetes, diarrhea, scabies, syphilis, and malignant tumors and many, many other ailments. It is well worth researching―this article is not meant to be a full exposure of the benefits. The point of briefly mentioning the benefits is to create an analogy to the many benefits of the cross.
Tree-Talk
The liturgy for Passiontide is clearly, unashamedly and unapologetically focused on the “Tree of the Cross”, the life-giving tree, the “Tree of Life”. The Preface of the Holy Cross, that is said during Passiontide, says: “We give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the Cross; that whence death came, thence also life might arise again, and that he (the devil), who overcame (Adam and Eve) by the tree, by the tree (of the Cross) also might be overcome!” That is the theme throughout Passiontide―the redemption of mankind upon the “Tree of the Cross”. Here are just a few extracts from two of the liturgical hymns for Passiontide―the Pange Lingua and Vexilla Regis:
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PANGE LINGUA (Part 1)
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle Sing the last, the dread affray; O’er the cross, the victor’s trophy, Sound the high triumphal lay: Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer, As a victim won the day. Eating of the tree forbidden, Man had sunk in Satan's snare, When our pitying Creator did This second tree prepare; Destined, many ages later, That first evil to repair. Such the order God appointed When for sin He would atone; To the serpent thus opposing Schemes yet deeper than his own; Thence the remedy procuring, Whence the fatal wound had come. Thirty years among us dwelling, His appointed time fulfilled, Born for this, He meets His passion, For that this He freely willed: On the Cross the Lamb is lifted, Where His life-blood shall be spilled. He endured the nails, the spitting, Vinegar, and spear, and reed; From that holy body broken Blood and water forth proceed: Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean, By that flood from stain are free. |
PANGE LINGUA (Part 2)
Faithful cross! Above all other, One and only noble tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peers may be; Sweetest wood and sweetest iron! Sweetest weight is hung on thee. Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory! Thy relaxing sinews bend; For awhile the ancient rigor, That thy birth bestowed, suspend; And the King of heavenly beauty On thy bosom gently tend! Thou alone wast counted worthy This world’s Ransom to uphold; For a shipwrecked race preparing Harbor, like the ark of old; With the sacred blood anointed From the smitten Lamb that rolled. Blessing, honor, everlasting, To the immortal Deity; To the Father, Son, and Spirit, Equal praises ever be; Glory through the Earth and Heaven To Trinity in Unity. Amen. |
VEXILLA REGIS
Abroad the regal banners fly, Now shines the cross’s mystery; Upon it Life did death endure, And yet by death did life procure. Who, wounded with a direful spear, Did, purposely to wash us clear From stain of sin, pour out a flood Of precious water mixed with blood. That which the prophet-king of old Hath in mysterious verse foretold, Is now accomplished, whilst we see God ruling nations from a tree. O lovely and refulgent tree, Adorned with purpled majesty; Culled from a worthy stock, to bear Those limbs which sanctifièd were. Blest tree, whose happy branches bore The Wealth that did the world restore; The beam that did that Body weigh Which raised up Hell’s expected prey. O Cross, our one reliance, hail! This holy Passiontide avail To give fresh merit to the saint, And pardon to the penitent. Blest Trinity, salvation’s spring, May every soul thy praises sing; To those thou grantest conquest by The holy cross, rewards apply. Amen. |
The Apostles engage in “tree-talk” as they speak of Our Lord dying on a tree―the tree of the Cross: “We are witnesses of all things that Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, Whom they killed, hanging Him upon a tree!” (Acts 10:39) … “Who, His own self, bore our sins in His Body upon the tree―so that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice―and by Whose stripes you were healed!” (1 Peter 2:24) … “And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of Him, taking him down from the tree, they laid him in a sepulcher” (Acts 13:29) … “The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree” (Acts of Apostles 5:30).
Our Lord Himself was full of “tree talk” while He walked this Earth. Here are just some of His teachings that we would do well do ponder and plant in the garden of our soul: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known!” (Matthew 12:33). “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20). “For there is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns; nor from a bramble bush do they gather the grape!” (Luke 6:43-44). “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, Jesus came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19).
“He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit, but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9). To which Scripture adds: “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
“To what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but, when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs and becometh a great tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19).
Our Lord even compares Himself to a tree of sorts when He says: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away. And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! … Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches! He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
We even engage in “tree-talk” ourselves with our idiomatic expressions. We say someone is “planted in good soil”, or that someone is “shaking like a leaf”, or is “branching-out”, or “holding out an olive branch to someone”, or referring to family traits when we say “the apple never falls far from the tree”, or someone being “at the top of the tree” or “barking up the wrong tree”, or that someone “cannot see the forest because of the tree”, or that “money doesn’t grow on trees”, or someone being “dressed-up like a Christmas Tree”, etc.
Sun and Rain for the Cross
The cross is synonymous with the tree―the Tree of Life―which is Our Lord’s Death on Calvary, and which is perpetuated in each and every Sacrifice of the Mass, whose fruit is the Holy Eucharist, which we receive in Holy Communion. To receive Holy Communion, we need to be in a state of grace (symbolized by water) and the Holy Eucharist―the fire of love, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), and God is in the Holy Eucharist, hence you could just as well say: “The Holy Eucharist is charity.” Without sanctifying grace―whatever we might do or suffer―is supernaturally useless. The same is true of charity―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Charity and Sanctifying Grace are the “sun” and “rain” of our entire spiritual life―that includes the carrying of our crosses.
Understanding this, we can read the following passages with a clearer insight as to their meaning: “He shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters [symbol of grace], which shall bring forth its fruit [symbol of virtues], in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off; and all whatsoever he shall do, shall prosper” (Psalms 1:3). “The fruit of the just man is a tree of life” (Proverbs 11:30). “And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture―and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 17:8).
Just as each year a tree grows bigger, carries a heavier load of fruit and produces more fruit―likewise, the “tree of the cross”, that each of us has to be, must carry a “heavier load” with each successive year, and by carrying that load, “produce more and more fruit” with each successive year, by exercising all the various virtues needed to carry the cross with love for God. Anything that will increase the rainfall of grace and sunlight and heat of charity, must be actively sought by us―and we will essentially find that “rain” and “sunlight” in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Holy Eucharist. We must frequently place ourselves in the grace-full downpour of sanctifying grace by planting ourselves daily (if possible) in the “garden” of the Holy Mass―for one hour’s “rain” only once a week, on Sundays, is barely enough “water” for our tree to survive. Additionally, we need to expose ourselves to the “Sun” of God, the Son of God, in the Holy Eucharist, in order to make our “tree” grow―as Our Lord said: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me!” (John 15:4).
The Royal Road of the Cross
The Imitation of Christ has a most beautiful, yet hard-hitting passage, entitled: The Royal Road of the Cross, in which it lays down the need for carrying the cross if we wish to arrive at salvation and avoid damnation. Here is the entire passage―which is most suitable as we enter Passiontide, the “season of the cross”―or, more correctly, since the “season of the cross” is an all-year-round season, we could call Passiontide, the time when the cross matures, ripens and bears it fruit.
We will end with Book 2, Chapter 12 of The Imitation of Christ, “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”, which states:
To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross―who, during life, made themselves one with the Crucified―will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross.
Therefore, take up your cross and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, so that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily, as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake.
It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that, through fervor of spirit, our frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns. To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake.” To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
If you were but worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it. With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world. Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Here ends the passage from Book 2, Chapter 12 of The Imitation of Christ, “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Our Lord Himself was full of “tree talk” while He walked this Earth. Here are just some of His teachings that we would do well do ponder and plant in the garden of our soul: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known!” (Matthew 12:33). “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20). “For there is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns; nor from a bramble bush do they gather the grape!” (Luke 6:43-44). “And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, Jesus came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19).
“He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit, but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9). To which Scripture adds: “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
“To what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but, when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs and becometh a great tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19).
Our Lord even compares Himself to a tree of sorts when He says: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that bears not fruit, He will take away. And every one that bears fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! … Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches! He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
We even engage in “tree-talk” ourselves with our idiomatic expressions. We say someone is “planted in good soil”, or that someone is “shaking like a leaf”, or is “branching-out”, or “holding out an olive branch to someone”, or referring to family traits when we say “the apple never falls far from the tree”, or someone being “at the top of the tree” or “barking up the wrong tree”, or that someone “cannot see the forest because of the tree”, or that “money doesn’t grow on trees”, or someone being “dressed-up like a Christmas Tree”, etc.
Sun and Rain for the Cross
The cross is synonymous with the tree―the Tree of Life―which is Our Lord’s Death on Calvary, and which is perpetuated in each and every Sacrifice of the Mass, whose fruit is the Holy Eucharist, which we receive in Holy Communion. To receive Holy Communion, we need to be in a state of grace (symbolized by water) and the Holy Eucharist―the fire of love, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), and God is in the Holy Eucharist, hence you could just as well say: “The Holy Eucharist is charity.” Without sanctifying grace―whatever we might do or suffer―is supernaturally useless. The same is true of charity―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Charity and Sanctifying Grace are the “sun” and “rain” of our entire spiritual life―that includes the carrying of our crosses.
Understanding this, we can read the following passages with a clearer insight as to their meaning: “He shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters [symbol of grace], which shall bring forth its fruit [symbol of virtues], in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off; and all whatsoever he shall do, shall prosper” (Psalms 1:3). “The fruit of the just man is a tree of life” (Proverbs 11:30). “And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture―and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 17:8).
Just as each year a tree grows bigger, carries a heavier load of fruit and produces more fruit―likewise, the “tree of the cross”, that each of us has to be, must carry a “heavier load” with each successive year, and by carrying that load, “produce more and more fruit” with each successive year, by exercising all the various virtues needed to carry the cross with love for God. Anything that will increase the rainfall of grace and sunlight and heat of charity, must be actively sought by us―and we will essentially find that “rain” and “sunlight” in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Holy Eucharist. We must frequently place ourselves in the grace-full downpour of sanctifying grace by planting ourselves daily (if possible) in the “garden” of the Holy Mass―for one hour’s “rain” only once a week, on Sundays, is barely enough “water” for our tree to survive. Additionally, we need to expose ourselves to the “Sun” of God, the Son of God, in the Holy Eucharist, in order to make our “tree” grow―as Our Lord said: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me!” (John 15:4).
The Royal Road of the Cross
The Imitation of Christ has a most beautiful, yet hard-hitting passage, entitled: The Royal Road of the Cross, in which it lays down the need for carrying the cross if we wish to arrive at salvation and avoid damnation. Here is the entire passage―which is most suitable as we enter Passiontide, the “season of the cross”―or, more correctly, since the “season of the cross” is an all-year-round season, we could call Passiontide, the time when the cross matures, ripens and bears it fruit.
We will end with Book 2, Chapter 12 of The Imitation of Christ, “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”, which states:
To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross―who, during life, made themselves one with the Crucified―will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross.
Therefore, take up your cross and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, so that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily, as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this Earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on Earth knew the pain of His passion. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake.
It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that, through fervor of spirit, our frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns. To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on Earth — this is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on Earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
Although you were taken to the third Heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake.” To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
If you were but worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it. With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world. Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
No man is fit to enjoy Heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this Earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion — that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Here ends the passage from Book 2, Chapter 12 of The Imitation of Christ, “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Friday March 19th
The Feast of St. Joseph
Article 19
Can St. Joseph Help Us Today?
The Feast of St. Joseph
Article 19
Can St. Joseph Help Us Today?
Waiting in the Wings of Family Catastrophe
In his book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Blessings of Our Spiritual Father, Fr. Donald Calloway insists that “now is the time of St. Joseph.” Looking at the state of the world at large and Catholicism in particular, you have to admit that we are greatly in need of a “foster-father” to rescue us, as St. Joseph rescued the Child Jesus over 2,000 years ago. Sister Lucia of Fatima has said that the focus of Satan’s attack in these modern times will be on the family. Our Lady of Good Success, in forewarning us of our present times, warned that: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with the Sacrament of Matrimony, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, in what is today the Colony and then will be the Republic of Ecuador, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.”
Yes―how true that prophesy has turned out to be! The family, indeed, has become the focal point of attack by the Masonically infested governments of the world. Over the years divorce has become increasingly easy to obtain and is readily practiced. The only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines (population of 110 million), the Vatican City (one fifth of a square mile and a population of around 800) and the British Crown Dependency of Sark (population 500 and an area of 2.10 square miles). The Catholic countries have collapsed to divorce, one after another, often influenced by each other’s bad example. Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975, although from 1910 to 1940 was possible both for the civil and religious marriage), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991; from 1976 was allowed only for non-Catholics), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011).
Furthermore, cohabitation before marriage (living in sin) has reached unheard of levels―even among Catholics. Among Americans, 60% have cohabited and 70% agree with cohabitation even if there is no intention to eventually get married. Only 16% (1 in 6) feel that cohabitation is always wrong―whether or not the couple intend to get married. The offshoot or consequence of this is that the national average for the United States in the number of children born out of wedlock has rocketed. Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared. In 1965, 24% of black infants and 3% percent of white infants were born to single mothers. By 1990 the rates had risen to 64% for black infants, 18% for whites. In 2014, it increased to 71% for black infants, 53% for Hispanic infants, and 30% for white infants―the national overall average being 40% (4 in 10 children born out of wedlock). In 11 countries (Chile, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) more than 50% of children are born outside of marriage, with rates particularly high in Mexico (69%), Iceland (71%), and Chile (74%).
In the USA, an estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live in the absence of their biological father. Even if the biological father was present in the home, is it very likely that such a father would be a godly, spiritual and church-going father? As the philosophical axiom so truly states: “You cannot give what you have not got” ― and so those children are most certainly spiritually undernourished or even at a spiritual starvation level. Furthermore, the vast majority of Catholic children are raised in the absence of their spiritual fathers―the Church’s priests―since 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly. On top of that, those spiritual shepherds have lost the spirit of Christ and are more concerned about worldly and material matters. A minority have become a pack of wolves devouring souls―though the number of family members abusing children is even greater. Many young people are tragically confused about their sexual identity. Parents have no idea how to be sacrificial spouses. Our world has never needed a father more than now. The greatest human father, who ever lived, has been waiting quietly in the wings. The Gospels record no spoken words of St. Joseph. He received far less attention from the Church Fathers than Our Lady or even St. Paul. Like a quiet, hardworking father, he has waited in the background of history. Until now. St. Joseph’s time has come!
Forgotten Foster-Father
We speak a lot of Our Lord, we also speak a lot of Our Lady. We know a lot about Our Lord and we know a lot about Our Lady. Many prayers are addressed to Our Lord and many prayers are addressed to Our Lady. Yet how much do we know about St. Joseph? How much do we pray to St. Joseph? How much do we rely upon St. Joseph? How much are we interested in St. Joseph? How much do we research St. Joseph? Yet there is so little information about St. Joseph in comparison to the wealth of information on Jesus and Mary! With so little information about St. Joseph, it is no wonder that this quiet saint tends to be overlooked at times. It is almost as though St. Joseph is a mere accessory, just somebody that Jesus and Mary brought along with them, who doesn’t say anything and is a bit of a “wall-flower” who is always in the background. The Catholic Church has a patron saint for pretty much every occasion and situation, from lost causes (St. Jude) to lost objects (St. Anthony), travelers (St. Christopher), waiters and waitresses (St. Martha), penitents (St. Mary Magdalen), baldness (St. Bartholomew), and gum disease (St. Apollonia). What about St. Joseph? Yes―you might chip in “carpenters”―but is that all that St. Joseph is good for? That is like using a computer as a mere typewriter and nothing else! The litany of St. Joseph furnishes some clues as to his quiet multi-talented intercession and “behind-the-scenes” activities:
● Diligent protector of Christ ― you are a member of Christ, a member of Christ’s Mystical Body. Hence Joseph is your protector! Are you using him? Are you calling on his protection?
● Protector of Holy Church ― at a time when the Church is falling apart and sinking, and possibly taking you under with it, you need someone to protect your Faith. Even the family is called “the domestic church” ― and St. Joseph is there to help protect your “domestic church” at a time when so many “domestic churches” are losing the Faith.
● Terror of demons ― as the former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth has said on many occasions: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world.” It is insanity to disregard one of the weapons that God has given to us, not only to defend us against Satan, but also to terrorize demons. Neglect him at your own risk and peril. Yes―Our Lady unbeatable for the demons, St. Benedict is powerful too! But do not neglect St. Joseph!
● Head of the Holy Family ... Pillar of families ― If St. Joseph was good enough for God to be the head of the Holy Family, then he should be good enough for us to lead our own families! Don’t we turn to other human beings for advice and help in our own shortcomings? Well, why don’t we turn to St. Joseph to help us in our own family life―seeing as it is under attack from the devil and the world?
● Glory of home life ― Home life, which is family life, should be nothing other than a “lay religious life” ― if you could call it that. Is that an over-pious exaggeration? No! For the Church calls the family “The Domestic Church” and various saints compare a father of a family to a bishop in his diocese. In fact, there is no exemption from giving glory to God. We do not just give glory to God in church on Sundays, but we should be giving glory to God at all times: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Home life should a life of glorification of God. The parents need to show their children what it means to give glory to God by the way they live their Catholic Faith at home in the family. As the Preface at Holy Mass states: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God!”
● Foster father of the Son of God ― The term “foster-father” means not the real biological father, but a man who takes the place of the biological father in raising a child. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot give what you have not got.” God expects us to be holy: “I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls! … For I am the Lord … You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:44-46). Since most people fall woefully short of the level of holiness that should be present in parents in the raising of the children, we need the help of those holier than we are. Hence we turn to Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints for their help and intercession. If God chose St. Joseph to the be the foster-father of His only-begotten Son, then who will we find better than St. Joseph―apart from the two other members of the Holy Family, Jesus and Mary―to help us in our endeavors to sanctify and save ourselves and our family members?
● Spouse of the Mother of God ― With marriage collapsing all around us, with fidelity and charity sorely lacking within marriage, with spouses being pitifully deficient in spiritual training and knowledge, with temptations galore that seek to bring us into infidelity―what better prop or pillar or help can we find than a spouse who was the most faithful of all spouses?
● Joseph most chaste ... Chaste Guardian of the Virgin & Guardian of virgins ― Chastity has become a rarity in a world that explicitly or implicitly loves immodesty and impurity. As Our Lady of Good Success warned: From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and the Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals. … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.” We need special graces to resist this tsunami of impurity, which Our Lady of Fatima said was the most common cause of the damnation of souls. St. Joseph has been given to us as one of the several intercessors and protectors of our chastity in these times.
● Joseph most just ― Justice is defined as giving to others what is due to them. God is just towards us and will “render to every man according to his works” (Apocalypse 22:12). “With the elect Thou wilt be elect and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted” (Psalms 17:27). We also have to be just towards God and towards others. Our Lord says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31) Justice requires that we give God honor, praise, thanksgiving and obedience―these things are owed to God in justice. Likewise, we must show justice and a justness in our dealings with others. “All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them” (Matthew 7:12). Justice, as we see in God, does not exclude mercy: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:14-15). Today we are grossly lacking in both true justice and true mercy.
● Joseph most prudent ― In order to act well, we need to make good judgments about how we should behave and what we should do. This is what prudence does, which St. Thomas Aquinas defines as “wisdom concerning human affairs” or “right reason with respect to action.” In today’s world it seems that imprudence has the upper hand over prudence. This can readily be seen in Catholics by their imprudent speech and actions. We need the prudence of St. Joseph to handle the many precarious events and pressures that are being placed upon us these days.
● Joseph most strong ― Here we are not so much talking about physical strength, but spiritual strength, a strength of Faith―though Joseph is likely to have been physical strong also. Today there is a lack of spiritual strength and so we fall into temptation and sin very easily. We do not have the strength to turn away from temptations and resist them―especially the younger generation. Our Lord implies this strength when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Holy Scripture echoes this demand for a strong Faith: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Joseph had many temptations that he overcame successfully, though not always painlessly―we need his guidance, intercession and help to do the same.
● Joseph most obedient ― Joseph was asked to obey in some tough scenarios and he obey he did. He was told to take Mary for his wife when he saw that she was pregnant and he knew it was not his child. He was told to leave his country and all he had to go into the strange land of Egypt at a moment's notice―to save Jesus from the murderous designs of Herod. Sometimes the commands of God challenge our own personal view of things and our own personal desires. We must remember God’s words to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
● Joseph most faithful ― “It is required that a man be found faithful!” (1 Corinthians 4:2). “Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all that have pleased God, passed through many tribulations, remaining faithful” (Judith 8:23). Today, more and more Catholics are becoming unfaithful―unfaithful to God, unfaithful amongst themselves, and even unfaithful to themselves. “It is a perverse generation and unfaithful children” (Deuteronomy 32:20). St. Joseph can be a faithful intercessor for us to help us remain faithful while everyone else collapses around us: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand―but it shall not come near thee!” (Psalms 90:7).
● Mirror of patience ― “The patient man is better than the valiant” (Proverbs 16:32). “Be you therefore patient and strengthen your hearts” (James 5:8). “Better is the patient man than the presumptuous” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). “Charity is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). The modern world is far from patient! Impatience―whether secret, hidden and interior, or open, brash and violent, seems to be the norm for our days. We need St. Joseph to teach us that patience that comes from a true humility. Impatience comes from pride.
● Lover of poverty ― The modern world seeks to be rich―but Our Lord preferred to be poor. He even said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). To the rich young man, Our Lord said: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21). You could put the following words into the mouth of St. Joseph and Our Lady: “For poverty was sufficient for us, that we might account it as riches, that we saw our son!” (Tobias 5:25). You could well imagine God saying of Joseph: “Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty” (Isaias 48:10) … “The poor man shall not be forgotten to the end! The patience of the poor shall not perish for ever” (Psalm 9:19). “Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity, than a rich man that is perverse in his lips and unwise” (Proverbs 19:1). “Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways” (Proverbs 28:6). God made Joseph poor in material things, but rich in grace! We need St. Joseph to convince us that this is the safest path to Heaven.
● Model of workers ― Everyone must work. “Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labor until the evening” (Psalm 103:23). “Work your work before the time, and He will give you your reward in His time!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:38). Even God worked and still does work: “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2). Jesus also said: “My Father worketh until now; and I work! … I must work the works of Him that sent Me!” (John 5:17; 9:4). God commands us to imitate Him: “Six days you shall do work! The seventh day shall be holy unto you―the Sabbath and the rest of the Lord” (Exodus 35:2). “Six days shall ye do work! The seventh day, because it is the rest of the Sabbath, shall be called holy. You shall do no work on that day! It is the Sabbath of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:3). St. Joseph was given an extremely exalted and privileged position in God’s creation―yet God did not exempt him from work. He was to be a humble carpenter―not a great king living at ease in some palace―even though Joseph was greater than any king. The ultimate work of everyone, however, is the work of salvation: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). For as Jesus said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Even though Joseph was a carpenter (as was Jesus), the chief work that concerned Joseph was the work of God and the salvation of the world through Jesus.
● Comfort of the wretched ― We are more wretched than we imagine ourselves to be! What blinds us to our wretchedness is our complacency and lukewarmness. Fr. Faber, in his book, Growth in Holiness, writes of lukewarmness: “If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. A blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind.” Holy Scripture echoes this in speaking of the wretchedness of lukewarmness: “I know thy works―that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:15-18). Let us ask St. Joseph to help us see our true wretchedness and take-off the cosmetics that seek to hide it!
● Hope of the sick ― One of St. Joseph’s greatest attributes is his powerful intercession to heal the sick. Even today St. Joseph is working miracles of healing by the grace of God. Here are just two paltry examples. A man found his wife in the arms of another man, and he shot her and then shot himself. This couple were practicing Catholics with children. The wife was only wounded and survived, but the man went into a coma and with little hope of surviving according to the doctors. The children prayed a novena to St. Joseph and on the eighth day, he opened his eyes and asked for a priest to hear his confession. On the ninth day (March 19th) he received Holy Communion, and his wife repented of her adultery, plus the husband went on to fully recover. St. Joseph not only healed the husband, but he also healed the marriage.
Another paltry example of St. Joseph’s healing intercession was with a 71-year-old man who had developed pain in his knees (osteoarthritis) when walking, climbing stairs, etc. He suffered for four years―trying all kinds of medicines, dressings, radiation therapy, etc. The he came across a booklet where St. Thérèse of Lisieux says: “Bring your problems to St. Joseph! He will help you! Just try it!” He began a novena to St. Joseph and on the ninth day he was completely healed after four years of painful suffering.
● Patron of the dying ― Many Catholics might not be aware is that this humble carpenter from Nazareth is also the patron saint of departing souls – that is, the patron of a peaceful death. The obvious question that comes to mind is: “Why is St. Joseph the patron saint of a peaceful death?” St. Joseph died in the company of Jesus and Mary. What a glorious way to pass away! The Joseph connection then is that when we die, we could surely benefit by praying to have Jesus, Mary and Joseph at our bedside to help usher us to eternity. You may know the following prayer and you should pray it daily―especially when going to bed at night, or when seriously ill or in grave danger: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.”
Go to Joseph!
Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster (London, England), wrote: “Of old, it was said to the needy and suffering people in the kingdom of Egypt: ‘God to Joseph and do all that he shall say to you!’ (Genesis 41:55). The same is now said by the Sovereign Pontiff to all needy and suffering people in the Kingdom of the Church: ‘GO TO JOSEPH!’ What was truly said of the first Joseph―as to his future, and as to his goodness, his chastity, his patience, his wisdom, his influence with the king, his power over the people and his love for his brethren―is verified much more perfectly, even to this day, in the second Joseph.”
St. Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, had a great devotion and reliance upon St. Joseph, which she expresses thus in her Autobiography: “I took for my patron and lord, the glorious St. Joseph, and recommended myself entirely to him. I saw clearly that―both out of this my present trouble and out of others of greater importance, relating to my honor and loss of my soul―this, my father and lord, delivered me and tendered me greater services than I knew to ask for! I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at anytime for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favors which God has given me through this blessed saint; and the dangers from which he has delivered me―both of body and soul. To other saints, Our Lord seems to have given power to help us in some special necessity―but to this glorious saint, I know by experience, He has given power to help us in all things. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on Earth―for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could thus command Him―so now, in Heaven, Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience.” (St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 9).
St. Thomas Aquinas―another Doctor of the Church―adds: “Some saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others―but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.”
Let us end with St. Teresa of Avila’s words: “I wish I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious saint, St. Joseph, for I know, by long experience, what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone―who was truly devoted to him and who honored him by particular services―not to have advance greatly in virtue. For he helps, in a special way, those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast―and I have always received it. If my petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good … I ask, for the love of God, that anyone who does not believe me, that he will try for himself―then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him!” (St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 11-12).
In his book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Blessings of Our Spiritual Father, Fr. Donald Calloway insists that “now is the time of St. Joseph.” Looking at the state of the world at large and Catholicism in particular, you have to admit that we are greatly in need of a “foster-father” to rescue us, as St. Joseph rescued the Child Jesus over 2,000 years ago. Sister Lucia of Fatima has said that the focus of Satan’s attack in these modern times will be on the family. Our Lady of Good Success, in forewarning us of our present times, warned that: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with the Sacrament of Matrimony, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, in what is today the Colony and then will be the Republic of Ecuador, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.”
Yes―how true that prophesy has turned out to be! The family, indeed, has become the focal point of attack by the Masonically infested governments of the world. Over the years divorce has become increasingly easy to obtain and is readily practiced. The only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines (population of 110 million), the Vatican City (one fifth of a square mile and a population of around 800) and the British Crown Dependency of Sark (population 500 and an area of 2.10 square miles). The Catholic countries have collapsed to divorce, one after another, often influenced by each other’s bad example. Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975, although from 1910 to 1940 was possible both for the civil and religious marriage), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991; from 1976 was allowed only for non-Catholics), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011).
Furthermore, cohabitation before marriage (living in sin) has reached unheard of levels―even among Catholics. Among Americans, 60% have cohabited and 70% agree with cohabitation even if there is no intention to eventually get married. Only 16% (1 in 6) feel that cohabitation is always wrong―whether or not the couple intend to get married. The offshoot or consequence of this is that the national average for the United States in the number of children born out of wedlock has rocketed. Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared. In 1965, 24% of black infants and 3% percent of white infants were born to single mothers. By 1990 the rates had risen to 64% for black infants, 18% for whites. In 2014, it increased to 71% for black infants, 53% for Hispanic infants, and 30% for white infants―the national overall average being 40% (4 in 10 children born out of wedlock). In 11 countries (Chile, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) more than 50% of children are born outside of marriage, with rates particularly high in Mexico (69%), Iceland (71%), and Chile (74%).
In the USA, an estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live in the absence of their biological father. Even if the biological father was present in the home, is it very likely that such a father would be a godly, spiritual and church-going father? As the philosophical axiom so truly states: “You cannot give what you have not got” ― and so those children are most certainly spiritually undernourished or even at a spiritual starvation level. Furthermore, the vast majority of Catholic children are raised in the absence of their spiritual fathers―the Church’s priests―since 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly. On top of that, those spiritual shepherds have lost the spirit of Christ and are more concerned about worldly and material matters. A minority have become a pack of wolves devouring souls―though the number of family members abusing children is even greater. Many young people are tragically confused about their sexual identity. Parents have no idea how to be sacrificial spouses. Our world has never needed a father more than now. The greatest human father, who ever lived, has been waiting quietly in the wings. The Gospels record no spoken words of St. Joseph. He received far less attention from the Church Fathers than Our Lady or even St. Paul. Like a quiet, hardworking father, he has waited in the background of history. Until now. St. Joseph’s time has come!
Forgotten Foster-Father
We speak a lot of Our Lord, we also speak a lot of Our Lady. We know a lot about Our Lord and we know a lot about Our Lady. Many prayers are addressed to Our Lord and many prayers are addressed to Our Lady. Yet how much do we know about St. Joseph? How much do we pray to St. Joseph? How much do we rely upon St. Joseph? How much are we interested in St. Joseph? How much do we research St. Joseph? Yet there is so little information about St. Joseph in comparison to the wealth of information on Jesus and Mary! With so little information about St. Joseph, it is no wonder that this quiet saint tends to be overlooked at times. It is almost as though St. Joseph is a mere accessory, just somebody that Jesus and Mary brought along with them, who doesn’t say anything and is a bit of a “wall-flower” who is always in the background. The Catholic Church has a patron saint for pretty much every occasion and situation, from lost causes (St. Jude) to lost objects (St. Anthony), travelers (St. Christopher), waiters and waitresses (St. Martha), penitents (St. Mary Magdalen), baldness (St. Bartholomew), and gum disease (St. Apollonia). What about St. Joseph? Yes―you might chip in “carpenters”―but is that all that St. Joseph is good for? That is like using a computer as a mere typewriter and nothing else! The litany of St. Joseph furnishes some clues as to his quiet multi-talented intercession and “behind-the-scenes” activities:
● Diligent protector of Christ ― you are a member of Christ, a member of Christ’s Mystical Body. Hence Joseph is your protector! Are you using him? Are you calling on his protection?
● Protector of Holy Church ― at a time when the Church is falling apart and sinking, and possibly taking you under with it, you need someone to protect your Faith. Even the family is called “the domestic church” ― and St. Joseph is there to help protect your “domestic church” at a time when so many “domestic churches” are losing the Faith.
● Terror of demons ― as the former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth has said on many occasions: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world.” It is insanity to disregard one of the weapons that God has given to us, not only to defend us against Satan, but also to terrorize demons. Neglect him at your own risk and peril. Yes―Our Lady unbeatable for the demons, St. Benedict is powerful too! But do not neglect St. Joseph!
● Head of the Holy Family ... Pillar of families ― If St. Joseph was good enough for God to be the head of the Holy Family, then he should be good enough for us to lead our own families! Don’t we turn to other human beings for advice and help in our own shortcomings? Well, why don’t we turn to St. Joseph to help us in our own family life―seeing as it is under attack from the devil and the world?
● Glory of home life ― Home life, which is family life, should be nothing other than a “lay religious life” ― if you could call it that. Is that an over-pious exaggeration? No! For the Church calls the family “The Domestic Church” and various saints compare a father of a family to a bishop in his diocese. In fact, there is no exemption from giving glory to God. We do not just give glory to God in church on Sundays, but we should be giving glory to God at all times: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Home life should a life of glorification of God. The parents need to show their children what it means to give glory to God by the way they live their Catholic Faith at home in the family. As the Preface at Holy Mass states: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God!”
● Foster father of the Son of God ― The term “foster-father” means not the real biological father, but a man who takes the place of the biological father in raising a child. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot give what you have not got.” God expects us to be holy: “I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls! … For I am the Lord … You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:44-46). Since most people fall woefully short of the level of holiness that should be present in parents in the raising of the children, we need the help of those holier than we are. Hence we turn to Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints for their help and intercession. If God chose St. Joseph to the be the foster-father of His only-begotten Son, then who will we find better than St. Joseph―apart from the two other members of the Holy Family, Jesus and Mary―to help us in our endeavors to sanctify and save ourselves and our family members?
● Spouse of the Mother of God ― With marriage collapsing all around us, with fidelity and charity sorely lacking within marriage, with spouses being pitifully deficient in spiritual training and knowledge, with temptations galore that seek to bring us into infidelity―what better prop or pillar or help can we find than a spouse who was the most faithful of all spouses?
● Joseph most chaste ... Chaste Guardian of the Virgin & Guardian of virgins ― Chastity has become a rarity in a world that explicitly or implicitly loves immodesty and impurity. As Our Lady of Good Success warned: From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and the Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals. … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.” We need special graces to resist this tsunami of impurity, which Our Lady of Fatima said was the most common cause of the damnation of souls. St. Joseph has been given to us as one of the several intercessors and protectors of our chastity in these times.
● Joseph most just ― Justice is defined as giving to others what is due to them. God is just towards us and will “render to every man according to his works” (Apocalypse 22:12). “With the elect Thou wilt be elect and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted” (Psalms 17:27). We also have to be just towards God and towards others. Our Lord says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31) Justice requires that we give God honor, praise, thanksgiving and obedience―these things are owed to God in justice. Likewise, we must show justice and a justness in our dealings with others. “All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them” (Matthew 7:12). Justice, as we see in God, does not exclude mercy: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:14-15). Today we are grossly lacking in both true justice and true mercy.
● Joseph most prudent ― In order to act well, we need to make good judgments about how we should behave and what we should do. This is what prudence does, which St. Thomas Aquinas defines as “wisdom concerning human affairs” or “right reason with respect to action.” In today’s world it seems that imprudence has the upper hand over prudence. This can readily be seen in Catholics by their imprudent speech and actions. We need the prudence of St. Joseph to handle the many precarious events and pressures that are being placed upon us these days.
● Joseph most strong ― Here we are not so much talking about physical strength, but spiritual strength, a strength of Faith―though Joseph is likely to have been physical strong also. Today there is a lack of spiritual strength and so we fall into temptation and sin very easily. We do not have the strength to turn away from temptations and resist them―especially the younger generation. Our Lord implies this strength when He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Holy Scripture echoes this demand for a strong Faith: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Joseph had many temptations that he overcame successfully, though not always painlessly―we need his guidance, intercession and help to do the same.
● Joseph most obedient ― Joseph was asked to obey in some tough scenarios and he obey he did. He was told to take Mary for his wife when he saw that she was pregnant and he knew it was not his child. He was told to leave his country and all he had to go into the strange land of Egypt at a moment's notice―to save Jesus from the murderous designs of Herod. Sometimes the commands of God challenge our own personal view of things and our own personal desires. We must remember God’s words to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
● Joseph most faithful ― “It is required that a man be found faithful!” (1 Corinthians 4:2). “Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all that have pleased God, passed through many tribulations, remaining faithful” (Judith 8:23). Today, more and more Catholics are becoming unfaithful―unfaithful to God, unfaithful amongst themselves, and even unfaithful to themselves. “It is a perverse generation and unfaithful children” (Deuteronomy 32:20). St. Joseph can be a faithful intercessor for us to help us remain faithful while everyone else collapses around us: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand―but it shall not come near thee!” (Psalms 90:7).
● Mirror of patience ― “The patient man is better than the valiant” (Proverbs 16:32). “Be you therefore patient and strengthen your hearts” (James 5:8). “Better is the patient man than the presumptuous” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). “Charity is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). The modern world is far from patient! Impatience―whether secret, hidden and interior, or open, brash and violent, seems to be the norm for our days. We need St. Joseph to teach us that patience that comes from a true humility. Impatience comes from pride.
● Lover of poverty ― The modern world seeks to be rich―but Our Lord preferred to be poor. He even said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). To the rich young man, Our Lord said: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21). You could put the following words into the mouth of St. Joseph and Our Lady: “For poverty was sufficient for us, that we might account it as riches, that we saw our son!” (Tobias 5:25). You could well imagine God saying of Joseph: “Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty” (Isaias 48:10) … “The poor man shall not be forgotten to the end! The patience of the poor shall not perish for ever” (Psalm 9:19). “Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity, than a rich man that is perverse in his lips and unwise” (Proverbs 19:1). “Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways” (Proverbs 28:6). God made Joseph poor in material things, but rich in grace! We need St. Joseph to convince us that this is the safest path to Heaven.
● Model of workers ― Everyone must work. “Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labor until the evening” (Psalm 103:23). “Work your work before the time, and He will give you your reward in His time!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:38). Even God worked and still does work: “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2). Jesus also said: “My Father worketh until now; and I work! … I must work the works of Him that sent Me!” (John 5:17; 9:4). God commands us to imitate Him: “Six days you shall do work! The seventh day shall be holy unto you―the Sabbath and the rest of the Lord” (Exodus 35:2). “Six days shall ye do work! The seventh day, because it is the rest of the Sabbath, shall be called holy. You shall do no work on that day! It is the Sabbath of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:3). St. Joseph was given an extremely exalted and privileged position in God’s creation―yet God did not exempt him from work. He was to be a humble carpenter―not a great king living at ease in some palace―even though Joseph was greater than any king. The ultimate work of everyone, however, is the work of salvation: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). For as Jesus said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Even though Joseph was a carpenter (as was Jesus), the chief work that concerned Joseph was the work of God and the salvation of the world through Jesus.
● Comfort of the wretched ― We are more wretched than we imagine ourselves to be! What blinds us to our wretchedness is our complacency and lukewarmness. Fr. Faber, in his book, Growth in Holiness, writes of lukewarmness: “If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. A blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind.” Holy Scripture echoes this in speaking of the wretchedness of lukewarmness: “I know thy works―that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:15-18). Let us ask St. Joseph to help us see our true wretchedness and take-off the cosmetics that seek to hide it!
● Hope of the sick ― One of St. Joseph’s greatest attributes is his powerful intercession to heal the sick. Even today St. Joseph is working miracles of healing by the grace of God. Here are just two paltry examples. A man found his wife in the arms of another man, and he shot her and then shot himself. This couple were practicing Catholics with children. The wife was only wounded and survived, but the man went into a coma and with little hope of surviving according to the doctors. The children prayed a novena to St. Joseph and on the eighth day, he opened his eyes and asked for a priest to hear his confession. On the ninth day (March 19th) he received Holy Communion, and his wife repented of her adultery, plus the husband went on to fully recover. St. Joseph not only healed the husband, but he also healed the marriage.
Another paltry example of St. Joseph’s healing intercession was with a 71-year-old man who had developed pain in his knees (osteoarthritis) when walking, climbing stairs, etc. He suffered for four years―trying all kinds of medicines, dressings, radiation therapy, etc. The he came across a booklet where St. Thérèse of Lisieux says: “Bring your problems to St. Joseph! He will help you! Just try it!” He began a novena to St. Joseph and on the ninth day he was completely healed after four years of painful suffering.
● Patron of the dying ― Many Catholics might not be aware is that this humble carpenter from Nazareth is also the patron saint of departing souls – that is, the patron of a peaceful death. The obvious question that comes to mind is: “Why is St. Joseph the patron saint of a peaceful death?” St. Joseph died in the company of Jesus and Mary. What a glorious way to pass away! The Joseph connection then is that when we die, we could surely benefit by praying to have Jesus, Mary and Joseph at our bedside to help usher us to eternity. You may know the following prayer and you should pray it daily―especially when going to bed at night, or when seriously ill or in grave danger: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.”
Go to Joseph!
Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster (London, England), wrote: “Of old, it was said to the needy and suffering people in the kingdom of Egypt: ‘God to Joseph and do all that he shall say to you!’ (Genesis 41:55). The same is now said by the Sovereign Pontiff to all needy and suffering people in the Kingdom of the Church: ‘GO TO JOSEPH!’ What was truly said of the first Joseph―as to his future, and as to his goodness, his chastity, his patience, his wisdom, his influence with the king, his power over the people and his love for his brethren―is verified much more perfectly, even to this day, in the second Joseph.”
St. Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, had a great devotion and reliance upon St. Joseph, which she expresses thus in her Autobiography: “I took for my patron and lord, the glorious St. Joseph, and recommended myself entirely to him. I saw clearly that―both out of this my present trouble and out of others of greater importance, relating to my honor and loss of my soul―this, my father and lord, delivered me and tendered me greater services than I knew to ask for! I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at anytime for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favors which God has given me through this blessed saint; and the dangers from which he has delivered me―both of body and soul. To other saints, Our Lord seems to have given power to help us in some special necessity―but to this glorious saint, I know by experience, He has given power to help us in all things. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on Earth―for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could thus command Him―so now, in Heaven, Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience.” (St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 9).
St. Thomas Aquinas―another Doctor of the Church―adds: “Some saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others―but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.”
Let us end with St. Teresa of Avila’s words: “I wish I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious saint, St. Joseph, for I know, by long experience, what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone―who was truly devoted to him and who honored him by particular services―not to have advance greatly in virtue. For he helps, in a special way, those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast―and I have always received it. If my petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good … I ask, for the love of God, that anyone who does not believe me, that he will try for himself―then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him!” (St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 11-12).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday March 16th & Wednesday March 17th & Thursday March 18th
Article 18
Get Real! Or Get Lost!
Tuesday March 16th & Wednesday March 17th & Thursday March 18th
Article 18
Get Real! Or Get Lost!
What is Real?
Today we have a problem with realism! What used to be real, is no longer thought to be real! What was not real, is now said to be real! Truth is said to be a lie and lies are now said to be truths! This is all the way down the ladder of truths and realities―from God, down to our current events in the world. God―Who said of Himself to Moses: “I AM WHO AM!”―now no longer exists in the opinion of many. The One True Church―the Catholic Church―is no the One True Church, but merely one among many ‘true’ religions. For increasing numbers of Catholics (now well over 60% to 80%) the Holy Eucharist is no longer the Real Presence of Christ with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―it is merely a symbol of Christ and reminder of the Last Supper. What was once looked upon as being truly sinful, is no longer sinful. Homosexuality was an evil, now it is called a ‘good’ thing.
What the hell is going on in the world? Exactly that―Hell and Hell’s legions, the devils. Just as God is truth ― “I will be their God in truth” (Zacharias 8:8) ― the devil are the opposite of God and truth, they are liars, as many an exorcist will tell, and which Christ Himself told us: You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47).
Today, more than ever, it is increasingly clear and true that the world is not of God, the world is living a lie, the world promotes lies and the world believes lies―hence, as Our Lord said, they are of their father, the devil, for the desires of their devilish father they do. The world does not stand in truth, because it has rejected THE truth, Christ, who said: “I am the Truth! … The world hateth Me because I give testimony that the works thereof are evil” (John 14:6, 7:7). Speaking of Himself, Our Lord adds: “The light [of truth] is come into the world, and men loved darkness [lies and errors] rather than the light [of truth]―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). The words of the God of old, are still true today: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Lies have become one of the staple foods of modern man’s diet―whether it be in family life, in social life, in the media, or in the public life, especially in government. This brings to mind the words of William Casey, the former CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who allegedly said to President Ronald Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” This is confirmed by another person who was present at that meeting, Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan, who said: this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80 percent of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote, which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.”
What’s Real? Who’s Real?
The devils must think they have a “paradise on Earth” with all the lies, errors and doubts that they have managed to foment! They have created a cloud of doubt that encircles the whole globe! One of their foundational building blocks has been to cast doubt on whether truth can be known. You could even take Pontius Pilate’s sarcastic comment to Jesus and make it the catchphrase for today’s doubting world: “What is truth?” (John 18:38).
What is the truth? Today truth is doubted, or denied, or is at least uncertain and buried beneath a bombardment of misinformation, disinformation and deceitful propagandization. Those, whom you would rightfully expect to be the purveyors of truth―the government, the media, the medical establishment, the education establishment, and not least the Church―have become the peddlers of lies, deceit, disinformation, misinformation and falsification. Who on earth can you trust if you cannot trust your Church, your government, your teachers, your doctors and the press?
The virus and fever of lying and deceit is now seen through the symptoms that besiege the many in the world today! Daily injected with lies, misrepresentation, misinformation and falsification, people are experiencing the side effects of this constant vaccination with lies―so much so that they are in a delirium and uncertainty about truth and reality. Who is the president? Is the president really the president? Who is the pope? Is the pope really the pope? Who really rules America―or any country for that matter? Is it the politicians? Is the people? Or is it someone else behind the scenes? Are they telling us the truth about this “Con-all-a-virus” and “Plannedemic”? Or is it an exaggeration, or even a lie? Does the whole world―man, woman, child and baby―really need to be vaccinated? Or is it all a sinister lie? Does the wearing of masks really make a difference? Or is it a lie that is intended to create a worldwide psychological submission to the ‘masked’ puppet masters? On the religious front―What was the Second Vatican Council? Was it a valid council? Is the Church still teaching the truth? Or has it modified or even destroyed the truth? Is the media feeding us truth or lies? Do they win your confidence by admitting or reporting 9 truths, just so that they can slip in a lie in 10th place? The popular phrase “fake news” was rarely heard of until our day.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war!”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each Party is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.” (Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., Psychology Today).
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—which is what being done to the American public today—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Paul Joseph Goebbels as director of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda. Does that sound familiar? Are you seeing history repeating itself, once again?
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy, and now, most recently, the controversy over fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presindential Election―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed. Likewise, you can see most clearly the “limited” reporting by the mainstream media on the increasing number of controversies, scandals and fraud testimonies concerning the 2020 Presidential Election.
We might do well to “mull-over” and consider the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill’s Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender.
We Need to “Get Real”
We need to wake up to reality and get out of the “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” mentality and the false reality that is being fed to us by the world at large. The REAL reality is God’s reality, the FAKE reality is Satan’s reality. The problem is that when you start to lose your interest in God and lose sight of God, then you also lose sight of reality, because we pay little attention to God’s reality. The words of Sister Lucia of Fatima hit the nail on the head, when she says that people are not paying attention to the realities that Our Lady of Fatima has been trying to communicate to us:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Reality is that We Are in a Real Battle Against Satan
To “get real”, people must realize that we are in the middle of battle against Satan, and not just bad or evil men. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12) … “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). This is what was revealed to Sister Lucia by Our Lady: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Holy Scripture confirms this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
We live as though this battle is not happening and as if there was no danger to our complacent, comfortable life of ease, entertainment and pleasure. We are like the proverbial “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” who refuses to jump out of the gradually and increasingly heated pan of water because the frog quickly becomes used to every SLIGHT increase in heat. The result is that the frog ultimately boils to death―and we too will “boil to death” if we stubbornly refuse to jump into action and combat―with spiritual weapons―the Satanic agenda that has been “cooked-up” for us and the world.
The Catholic world has stupidly, negligently and naively laid down its spiritual weapons in exchange for a diet of fun and entertainment. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, tells us: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin … Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
“This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men … The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12)
Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident … Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity.”
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice!”
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.”
Stupid Tactics in a Satanic Struggle
Despite all the technology available, all the information available, you have to say that with regard to the present worldwide crises (plural), when it comes to tactics and solutions, it is clear that with most people “the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor”! It is true that more and more people are seeing through the “smoke and mirrors” that try to prevent us from seeing reality, but, sadly and stupidly, the “end-game” solution, or the “punch-line” are way off the mark. Even though many see―not only the corruption, cheating and conspiring that is going on, but also the ultimate pinnacle of Satanic orchestration―their solution is RIDICULOUSLY NAÏVE. The most frequent advice that they give―after having laid out very well the state of affairs that are taking place―is lame and impotent advice of “let everyone know”, or “pass on this video (or article) to everyone on your email address list”, or “write to your (corrupt and part of the gang) senator/congressman/etc.”
Satan laughs at the puny army of men. Satan has been fighting mere men for centuries―and it so happens that he now has most men (and women) in Hell right now! Great success, huh? But for who? Mankind or Hell? For mere man to fight Satan is like trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella! As the Church and the Saints teach us, ONE SINGLE ANGEL could destroy the entire created universe if God would allow it. Therefore GOD IS KEY and GOD IS CENTRAL to this battle―something that most people have overlooked, ignored or refused to accept. Yet Christ sums up each and every possibility when He says: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). What is it about the word “NOTHING” that we do not understand? What is it that is excluded from “NOTHING”? What stands outside of the idea of “NOTHING”? The answer is, of course, NOTHING―we can do NOTHING without God/Christ, of which the flip side of the coin is: We must do EVERYTHING through Him, with HIM and in HIM.
When an exorcist casts out the devil from a possessed person, it is NOT the exorcist who does, but CHRIST that does it through the exorcist―the exorcist is a mere tool in the hands of Christ. As the exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “Jesus reminds us it is He who sets people free, not the exorcists!”
Spiritual Weapons Are Needed in this Satanic Struggle
Fr. Amorth adds: “What is the greatest need of the Church today? The defense against that evil which we call the Devil ... Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day … Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God ... When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan … The letter of James says textually: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Jesus said to all believers ‘In My name they will cast out demons...’ (Mark 16:17). This power which Jesus gave to all His believers is completely valid ... The demon keeps his distance from the one who nurtures his Faith, who frequents the Sacraments, and who wishes to live devoutly. Why? Simply put, the devil hates God and is in terror of Him and anything that even has the odor of sanctity. Satan fears the sons of God, those seeking to conform their lives to Jesus. The devil is aware that he is stronger and more intelligent than we are, but he also knows that we are not alone in the struggle against him. One example suffices: toward the sunset of his life, Don Bosco, one of the greatest saints of the nineteenth century, liberated a girl from possession simply by entering the chapel dressed in sacred vestments to celebrate Mass. The devil is in fear of the saints and their sanctity ... The Gospel of Mark says: “This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29) ... I recommend three tips that Jesus gives to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine apostles who failed to release a young man from demons: ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone!”
Fr. Amorth continues: “Mary helps greatly. The devil is terrified of Our Lady. He is terrified because Our Lady crushes his head. I have often been asked if Mary was tempted by the devil. Definitely. From her birth until her death. But she always conquered. And the devil, on certain occasions, has praised Mary, because God obliges him to say the truth. On one occasion an exorcist friend of mine asked the devil what most hurts him of Our Lady, what most annoys him. He responded that ‘she is the purest of all creatures and that I am the filthiest; that she is the most obedient of all creatures and that I am the most rebellious; that she is the one who committed no sin and thus always conquered me!’ … I would add that the Rosary, being the prayer most appreciated by Our Lady, is an extremely powerful arm against the devil … During an exorcism Satan told me, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me; if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
Demons cannot stand the Name of Jesus, let alone be in His presence―especially in the Holy Eucharist―and, all the more so, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which produces the Holy Eucharist and repeats the Sacrifice of Calvary in which Satan was defeated. In fact, doing everything in the Name of Jesus is an effective way to cope with the presence of demons: “Paul being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit: ‘I command thee, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her!’ And he went out the same hour” (Acts 16:18). “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17). “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The same applies to Our Lady, we should be consecrating ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, according to the Total Consecration method recommended by St. Louis de Montfort, and offering to Jesus Christ all that we do through the hands of Our Lady. That is the way we should be fighting Satan and his earthly minions and stooges in the world today. Sadly, that is not what we are doing. It is hardly surprising that “Satan rules the world” as Fr. Amorth attests!
State of Sanctifying Grace is Essential in this Satanic Struggle
Furthermore, what is perhaps even more important, is that we NEED TO BE IN A STATE OF SANCTIFYING GRACE in order to be able to fight Satan and the world effectively. As Fr. Gabriele Amorth states: “What to do to avoid these evils? Conversion! The first thing that we ask from people who come to us is to live in the grace of God, to be faithful to an intense Sacramental life and to the life of prayer … The measures of prevention are to live in the grace of God … In reality, the devil is afraid of all of us, one only needs to live in God’s grace!” Unfortunately, today, you have to objectively and realistically say that very few people are living in a state of grace. A simple, logical, mathematical estimation proves that point. First of all, look at the phenomenal amount of temptation that floods the world today―whichever way you turn, wherever you go, there are temptations galore. Our Lady of Fatima stated that the most frequent mortal sin that damns souls these days is the sin of impurity. Our Lady of Good Success warned that in our present days, “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.”
How true is that today―immodesty is absolutely everywhere! You have to say that most women dress immodestly―though they would deny that, since they have lost all sense of modesty and, as the popes since the 1950s have complained, people have lost all sense of sin. Immodesty is the lowest level of mortal sin, but omnipresent. On top of that you have the temptation of impurity―from its lowest degrees to the highest degrees found in pornography. Worldwide, there are over 30,000 users are watching pornography every second, which translates to 180,000 every minute, or almost 2 million each hour! The other array of mortal sins are almost limitless―fornication, masturbation, sexual fantasies about others, impure glances, impure touches, adultery, same-sex relations, sodomy, contraception, etc. You can find fuel for all this on the television, on the internet, in social media, on radio shows, in music, in art, in fashion, in books and magazines, on billboards, etc. Truly―as Our Lady said―the spirit of impurity permeates the atmosphere and floods the world like a filthy ocean. How many persons resist this tsunami of impurity? Remember―a mortal sin is committed by merely looking and wishing or fantasizing! Our Lord said: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28).
How Many in a State of Grace?
How many in state of grace? Non-Catholics? Almost all of them are not in a state of grace. Those who are baptized into a Protestant sect most certainly start out in a state of grace―but will they pass their whole life without committing a mortal sin in such a temptation soaked world as we see today? Not a chance! Not a hope! And when they do commit a mortal sin―do they have the Sacrament of Confession to remedy it and return to a state of grace? No! Are they able to make an act of perfect contrition, which would restore sanctifying grace? You would have to “No!” in 99.99% of cases. Much worse is the plight of pagans! Yet even among Catholics―how many live habitually in state of sanctifying grace? Don’t fool yourself! Just one single mortal sin rules out over 80% of Catholics worldwide―and that is the mortal sin of failing to fulfill your Sunday Mass attendance obligation. Less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly each week as they should―which leaves over 80% in mortal sin and without sanctifying grace. How many of that 80% go to Confession and confess their mortal sins? Hardly anyone goes to confession anymore! What? Are they all living saints then? No way! Yet among that minority who do attend Mass every Sunday―how many of them are in mortal sin through some other means of sinning? You would have to say quite a lot―since, as pointed out above, sins of impurity (by thought, word, deed, desire, memory, sight, etc.) are very easy to commit today! Likewise with sins of detraction (revealing the hidden mortal sins of others), blasphemy, hatred―all of which are mortal sins. Lying or “fudging” when confessing your sins in the Sacrament of Confession also destroys sanctifying grace―and St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion that most Catholics confess badly, due to human respect and the fear of being badly thought of by the priest they are confessing to―so they “tweak”, adjust, camouflage, understate, twist and modify their sins to make them seem less shocking and serious―except that they come of out of Confession “blacker” than they were before they went in!
So if Catholics are roughly 1,400,000,000 (1.4 billion, or 1,400 million) souls in a world of 7,800,000,000 (7.8 billion, or 7,800 million) people―that makes for a rough ratio of 1 Catholic to 6 non-Catholics, or 100 Catholics to 600 non-Catholics. However, 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly (plus commit other mortal sins also), which reduces the potential number of Catholics in a state of grace to only 20 Catholics to 600 non-Catholics plus 80 mortally sinning Catholics (or a ration of 20 to 680, or 1 in 34). Yet, if you take other mortal sins into account―and not just the one single type of mortal sin of not attending Sunday Mass―then that number of 20 state of grace Catholics to a combined total of 600 non-Catholics and 80 mortally sinning Catholics changes even more. If St. Alphonsus Liguori is to be believed―as well the statements of the Doctors and Fathers and Saints of the Church―which holds that most Catholics confess their mortal sins badly or not at all, then you possibly fall as low as 1 in every 100 Catholics being in a state of grace in relation to zero in every 600 non-Catholics and 99 mortally sinning Catholics. Which then gives you a ratio of 1 in almost 700 (actually 699) persons being in a state of grace―or around 11 million souls out 7,800,000,000 (7,800 million) souls being in a state of grace. Since Paris (France) has a population of 11 million―it would be the equivalent of only Paris being in state of grace, while the rest of world was in mortal sin. That means that there is almost 700 times more sin being thrown at Heaven than there is virtue. What do you expect the consequences of that to be? REALISTICALLY? Our Lady has already hinted at the consequences.
Hell, O Hell!
At Fatima, Our Lady said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Then, in 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello, she added: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Then, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, she warned: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Of the three Fatima children who saw Hell, Jacinta was the most affected by this vision. The following are some of her words on Hell:
“Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell!” … “Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives.” … “If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.”
Often she would say to her brother: “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!”
At times she would ask of Lucia: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again.”
Finally she said: “Look, I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “There are people, even devout ones, who are afraid to speak about Hell to children, lest they frighten them, but God did not hesitate to show it to three children, one of whom was only seven years old. He knew she would be horrified to the point — I would say — of shriveling with fear. At other times Jacinta asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would never sin again and wouldn’t have to go there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all those people! [She meant the people staying in Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition]. You will see that they will be converted!’
“Some days later, a little despondent, she asked: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’
“‘I forgot!’ I answered.
“‘I didn’t remember, either!’ she said sadly. Sometimes, she also asked: ‘What sins are committed by those people to make them go to Hell?’
“‘I don’t know. Perhaps not going to Mass on Sundays, stealing, saying wicked words, cursing, swearing.’
“‘What would it cost them to keep quiet and go to Mass! I am sorry for sinners! Oh, if I could only let them see Hell!’
“Sometimes she hugged me and said: ‘I am going to Heaven, but you have to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they can escape it by not committing sins!’
“Other times, after thinking for a while, she said: ‘So many falling into Hell! So many in Hell!’
“To reassure her, I said: ‘Don’t be afraid! You are going to Heaven!’
“‘Yes, I am going there,’ she said calmly. ‘But I also want everyone to go there!’
Today we have a problem with realism! What used to be real, is no longer thought to be real! What was not real, is now said to be real! Truth is said to be a lie and lies are now said to be truths! This is all the way down the ladder of truths and realities―from God, down to our current events in the world. God―Who said of Himself to Moses: “I AM WHO AM!”―now no longer exists in the opinion of many. The One True Church―the Catholic Church―is no the One True Church, but merely one among many ‘true’ religions. For increasing numbers of Catholics (now well over 60% to 80%) the Holy Eucharist is no longer the Real Presence of Christ with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―it is merely a symbol of Christ and reminder of the Last Supper. What was once looked upon as being truly sinful, is no longer sinful. Homosexuality was an evil, now it is called a ‘good’ thing.
What the hell is going on in the world? Exactly that―Hell and Hell’s legions, the devils. Just as God is truth ― “I will be their God in truth” (Zacharias 8:8) ― the devil are the opposite of God and truth, they are liars, as many an exorcist will tell, and which Christ Himself told us: You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47).
Today, more than ever, it is increasingly clear and true that the world is not of God, the world is living a lie, the world promotes lies and the world believes lies―hence, as Our Lord said, they are of their father, the devil, for the desires of their devilish father they do. The world does not stand in truth, because it has rejected THE truth, Christ, who said: “I am the Truth! … The world hateth Me because I give testimony that the works thereof are evil” (John 14:6, 7:7). Speaking of Himself, Our Lord adds: “The light [of truth] is come into the world, and men loved darkness [lies and errors] rather than the light [of truth]―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). The words of the God of old, are still true today: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Lies have become one of the staple foods of modern man’s diet―whether it be in family life, in social life, in the media, or in the public life, especially in government. This brings to mind the words of William Casey, the former CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who allegedly said to President Ronald Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” This is confirmed by another person who was present at that meeting, Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan, who said: this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80 percent of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked [Casey] what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he [Casey] replied with this quote, which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.”
What’s Real? Who’s Real?
The devils must think they have a “paradise on Earth” with all the lies, errors and doubts that they have managed to foment! They have created a cloud of doubt that encircles the whole globe! One of their foundational building blocks has been to cast doubt on whether truth can be known. You could even take Pontius Pilate’s sarcastic comment to Jesus and make it the catchphrase for today’s doubting world: “What is truth?” (John 18:38).
What is the truth? Today truth is doubted, or denied, or is at least uncertain and buried beneath a bombardment of misinformation, disinformation and deceitful propagandization. Those, whom you would rightfully expect to be the purveyors of truth―the government, the media, the medical establishment, the education establishment, and not least the Church―have become the peddlers of lies, deceit, disinformation, misinformation and falsification. Who on earth can you trust if you cannot trust your Church, your government, your teachers, your doctors and the press?
The virus and fever of lying and deceit is now seen through the symptoms that besiege the many in the world today! Daily injected with lies, misrepresentation, misinformation and falsification, people are experiencing the side effects of this constant vaccination with lies―so much so that they are in a delirium and uncertainty about truth and reality. Who is the president? Is the president really the president? Who is the pope? Is the pope really the pope? Who really rules America―or any country for that matter? Is it the politicians? Is the people? Or is it someone else behind the scenes? Are they telling us the truth about this “Con-all-a-virus” and “Plannedemic”? Or is it an exaggeration, or even a lie? Does the whole world―man, woman, child and baby―really need to be vaccinated? Or is it all a sinister lie? Does the wearing of masks really make a difference? Or is it a lie that is intended to create a worldwide psychological submission to the ‘masked’ puppet masters? On the religious front―What was the Second Vatican Council? Was it a valid council? Is the Church still teaching the truth? Or has it modified or even destroyed the truth? Is the media feeding us truth or lies? Do they win your confidence by admitting or reporting 9 truths, just so that they can slip in a lie in 10th place? The popular phrase “fake news” was rarely heard of until our day.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war!”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each Party is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.” (Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., Psychology Today).
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—which is what being done to the American public today—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Paul Joseph Goebbels as director of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda. Does that sound familiar? Are you seeing history repeating itself, once again?
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy, and now, most recently, the controversy over fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presindential Election―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed. Likewise, you can see most clearly the “limited” reporting by the mainstream media on the increasing number of controversies, scandals and fraud testimonies concerning the 2020 Presidential Election.
We might do well to “mull-over” and consider the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill’s Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender.
We Need to “Get Real”
We need to wake up to reality and get out of the “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” mentality and the false reality that is being fed to us by the world at large. The REAL reality is God’s reality, the FAKE reality is Satan’s reality. The problem is that when you start to lose your interest in God and lose sight of God, then you also lose sight of reality, because we pay little attention to God’s reality. The words of Sister Lucia of Fatima hit the nail on the head, when she says that people are not paying attention to the realities that Our Lady of Fatima has been trying to communicate to us:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Reality is that We Are in a Real Battle Against Satan
To “get real”, people must realize that we are in the middle of battle against Satan, and not just bad or evil men. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12) … “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). This is what was revealed to Sister Lucia by Our Lady: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Holy Scripture confirms this: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
We live as though this battle is not happening and as if there was no danger to our complacent, comfortable life of ease, entertainment and pleasure. We are like the proverbial “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” who refuses to jump out of the gradually and increasingly heated pan of water because the frog quickly becomes used to every SLIGHT increase in heat. The result is that the frog ultimately boils to death―and we too will “boil to death” if we stubbornly refuse to jump into action and combat―with spiritual weapons―the Satanic agenda that has been “cooked-up” for us and the world.
The Catholic world has stupidly, negligently and naively laid down its spiritual weapons in exchange for a diet of fun and entertainment. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, tells us: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin … Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
“This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men … The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12)
Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident … Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity.”
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart―this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and Charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice!”
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [Fr. Amorth says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted―which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.”
Stupid Tactics in a Satanic Struggle
Despite all the technology available, all the information available, you have to say that with regard to the present worldwide crises (plural), when it comes to tactics and solutions, it is clear that with most people “the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor”! It is true that more and more people are seeing through the “smoke and mirrors” that try to prevent us from seeing reality, but, sadly and stupidly, the “end-game” solution, or the “punch-line” are way off the mark. Even though many see―not only the corruption, cheating and conspiring that is going on, but also the ultimate pinnacle of Satanic orchestration―their solution is RIDICULOUSLY NAÏVE. The most frequent advice that they give―after having laid out very well the state of affairs that are taking place―is lame and impotent advice of “let everyone know”, or “pass on this video (or article) to everyone on your email address list”, or “write to your (corrupt and part of the gang) senator/congressman/etc.”
Satan laughs at the puny army of men. Satan has been fighting mere men for centuries―and it so happens that he now has most men (and women) in Hell right now! Great success, huh? But for who? Mankind or Hell? For mere man to fight Satan is like trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella! As the Church and the Saints teach us, ONE SINGLE ANGEL could destroy the entire created universe if God would allow it. Therefore GOD IS KEY and GOD IS CENTRAL to this battle―something that most people have overlooked, ignored or refused to accept. Yet Christ sums up each and every possibility when He says: “Without Me―you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). What is it about the word “NOTHING” that we do not understand? What is it that is excluded from “NOTHING”? What stands outside of the idea of “NOTHING”? The answer is, of course, NOTHING―we can do NOTHING without God/Christ, of which the flip side of the coin is: We must do EVERYTHING through Him, with HIM and in HIM.
When an exorcist casts out the devil from a possessed person, it is NOT the exorcist who does, but CHRIST that does it through the exorcist―the exorcist is a mere tool in the hands of Christ. As the exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “Jesus reminds us it is He who sets people free, not the exorcists!”
Spiritual Weapons Are Needed in this Satanic Struggle
Fr. Amorth adds: “What is the greatest need of the Church today? The defense against that evil which we call the Devil ... Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day … Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God ... When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan … The letter of James says textually: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Jesus said to all believers ‘In My name they will cast out demons...’ (Mark 16:17). This power which Jesus gave to all His believers is completely valid ... The demon keeps his distance from the one who nurtures his Faith, who frequents the Sacraments, and who wishes to live devoutly. Why? Simply put, the devil hates God and is in terror of Him and anything that even has the odor of sanctity. Satan fears the sons of God, those seeking to conform their lives to Jesus. The devil is aware that he is stronger and more intelligent than we are, but he also knows that we are not alone in the struggle against him. One example suffices: toward the sunset of his life, Don Bosco, one of the greatest saints of the nineteenth century, liberated a girl from possession simply by entering the chapel dressed in sacred vestments to celebrate Mass. The devil is in fear of the saints and their sanctity ... The Gospel of Mark says: “This kind [of demon] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29) ... I recommend three tips that Jesus gives to heal the ills of evil, even without the need for exorcisms: (1) much Faith (2) much prayer and (3) fasting. I remember the advice that Jesus gave to nine apostles who failed to release a young man from demons: ‘Why do not you have Faith? It takes prayer and fasting to banish some demons!’ … Who ought to pray and fast? Everyone!”
Fr. Amorth continues: “Mary helps greatly. The devil is terrified of Our Lady. He is terrified because Our Lady crushes his head. I have often been asked if Mary was tempted by the devil. Definitely. From her birth until her death. But she always conquered. And the devil, on certain occasions, has praised Mary, because God obliges him to say the truth. On one occasion an exorcist friend of mine asked the devil what most hurts him of Our Lady, what most annoys him. He responded that ‘she is the purest of all creatures and that I am the filthiest; that she is the most obedient of all creatures and that I am the most rebellious; that she is the one who committed no sin and thus always conquered me!’ … I would add that the Rosary, being the prayer most appreciated by Our Lady, is an extremely powerful arm against the devil … During an exorcism Satan told me, through the possessed person: ‘Every Hail Mary of the Rosary is a blow to the head for me; if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’”
Demons cannot stand the Name of Jesus, let alone be in His presence―especially in the Holy Eucharist―and, all the more so, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which produces the Holy Eucharist and repeats the Sacrifice of Calvary in which Satan was defeated. In fact, doing everything in the Name of Jesus is an effective way to cope with the presence of demons: “Paul being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit: ‘I command thee, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her!’ And he went out the same hour” (Acts 16:18). “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17). “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The same applies to Our Lady, we should be consecrating ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, according to the Total Consecration method recommended by St. Louis de Montfort, and offering to Jesus Christ all that we do through the hands of Our Lady. That is the way we should be fighting Satan and his earthly minions and stooges in the world today. Sadly, that is not what we are doing. It is hardly surprising that “Satan rules the world” as Fr. Amorth attests!
State of Sanctifying Grace is Essential in this Satanic Struggle
Furthermore, what is perhaps even more important, is that we NEED TO BE IN A STATE OF SANCTIFYING GRACE in order to be able to fight Satan and the world effectively. As Fr. Gabriele Amorth states: “What to do to avoid these evils? Conversion! The first thing that we ask from people who come to us is to live in the grace of God, to be faithful to an intense Sacramental life and to the life of prayer … The measures of prevention are to live in the grace of God … In reality, the devil is afraid of all of us, one only needs to live in God’s grace!” Unfortunately, today, you have to objectively and realistically say that very few people are living in a state of grace. A simple, logical, mathematical estimation proves that point. First of all, look at the phenomenal amount of temptation that floods the world today―whichever way you turn, wherever you go, there are temptations galore. Our Lady of Fatima stated that the most frequent mortal sin that damns souls these days is the sin of impurity. Our Lady of Good Success warned that in our present days, “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.”
How true is that today―immodesty is absolutely everywhere! You have to say that most women dress immodestly―though they would deny that, since they have lost all sense of modesty and, as the popes since the 1950s have complained, people have lost all sense of sin. Immodesty is the lowest level of mortal sin, but omnipresent. On top of that you have the temptation of impurity―from its lowest degrees to the highest degrees found in pornography. Worldwide, there are over 30,000 users are watching pornography every second, which translates to 180,000 every minute, or almost 2 million each hour! The other array of mortal sins are almost limitless―fornication, masturbation, sexual fantasies about others, impure glances, impure touches, adultery, same-sex relations, sodomy, contraception, etc. You can find fuel for all this on the television, on the internet, in social media, on radio shows, in music, in art, in fashion, in books and magazines, on billboards, etc. Truly―as Our Lady said―the spirit of impurity permeates the atmosphere and floods the world like a filthy ocean. How many persons resist this tsunami of impurity? Remember―a mortal sin is committed by merely looking and wishing or fantasizing! Our Lord said: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28).
How Many in a State of Grace?
How many in state of grace? Non-Catholics? Almost all of them are not in a state of grace. Those who are baptized into a Protestant sect most certainly start out in a state of grace―but will they pass their whole life without committing a mortal sin in such a temptation soaked world as we see today? Not a chance! Not a hope! And when they do commit a mortal sin―do they have the Sacrament of Confession to remedy it and return to a state of grace? No! Are they able to make an act of perfect contrition, which would restore sanctifying grace? You would have to “No!” in 99.99% of cases. Much worse is the plight of pagans! Yet even among Catholics―how many live habitually in state of sanctifying grace? Don’t fool yourself! Just one single mortal sin rules out over 80% of Catholics worldwide―and that is the mortal sin of failing to fulfill your Sunday Mass attendance obligation. Less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly each week as they should―which leaves over 80% in mortal sin and without sanctifying grace. How many of that 80% go to Confession and confess their mortal sins? Hardly anyone goes to confession anymore! What? Are they all living saints then? No way! Yet among that minority who do attend Mass every Sunday―how many of them are in mortal sin through some other means of sinning? You would have to say quite a lot―since, as pointed out above, sins of impurity (by thought, word, deed, desire, memory, sight, etc.) are very easy to commit today! Likewise with sins of detraction (revealing the hidden mortal sins of others), blasphemy, hatred―all of which are mortal sins. Lying or “fudging” when confessing your sins in the Sacrament of Confession also destroys sanctifying grace―and St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion that most Catholics confess badly, due to human respect and the fear of being badly thought of by the priest they are confessing to―so they “tweak”, adjust, camouflage, understate, twist and modify their sins to make them seem less shocking and serious―except that they come of out of Confession “blacker” than they were before they went in!
So if Catholics are roughly 1,400,000,000 (1.4 billion, or 1,400 million) souls in a world of 7,800,000,000 (7.8 billion, or 7,800 million) people―that makes for a rough ratio of 1 Catholic to 6 non-Catholics, or 100 Catholics to 600 non-Catholics. However, 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly (plus commit other mortal sins also), which reduces the potential number of Catholics in a state of grace to only 20 Catholics to 600 non-Catholics plus 80 mortally sinning Catholics (or a ration of 20 to 680, or 1 in 34). Yet, if you take other mortal sins into account―and not just the one single type of mortal sin of not attending Sunday Mass―then that number of 20 state of grace Catholics to a combined total of 600 non-Catholics and 80 mortally sinning Catholics changes even more. If St. Alphonsus Liguori is to be believed―as well the statements of the Doctors and Fathers and Saints of the Church―which holds that most Catholics confess their mortal sins badly or not at all, then you possibly fall as low as 1 in every 100 Catholics being in a state of grace in relation to zero in every 600 non-Catholics and 99 mortally sinning Catholics. Which then gives you a ratio of 1 in almost 700 (actually 699) persons being in a state of grace―or around 11 million souls out 7,800,000,000 (7,800 million) souls being in a state of grace. Since Paris (France) has a population of 11 million―it would be the equivalent of only Paris being in state of grace, while the rest of world was in mortal sin. That means that there is almost 700 times more sin being thrown at Heaven than there is virtue. What do you expect the consequences of that to be? REALISTICALLY? Our Lady has already hinted at the consequences.
Hell, O Hell!
At Fatima, Our Lady said: “Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Then, in 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello, she added: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Then, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, she warned: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Of the three Fatima children who saw Hell, Jacinta was the most affected by this vision. The following are some of her words on Hell:
“Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell!” … “Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives.” … “If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.”
Often she would say to her brother: “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!”
At times she would ask of Lucia: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again.”
Finally she said: “Look, I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “There are people, even devout ones, who are afraid to speak about Hell to children, lest they frighten them, but God did not hesitate to show it to three children, one of whom was only seven years old. He knew she would be horrified to the point — I would say — of shriveling with fear. At other times Jacinta asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would never sin again and wouldn’t have to go there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all those people! [She meant the people staying in Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition]. You will see that they will be converted!’
“Some days later, a little despondent, she asked: ‘Why didn’t you tell Our Lady to show Hell to those people?’
“‘I forgot!’ I answered.
“‘I didn’t remember, either!’ she said sadly. Sometimes, she also asked: ‘What sins are committed by those people to make them go to Hell?’
“‘I don’t know. Perhaps not going to Mass on Sundays, stealing, saying wicked words, cursing, swearing.’
“‘What would it cost them to keep quiet and go to Mass! I am sorry for sinners! Oh, if I could only let them see Hell!’
“Sometimes she hugged me and said: ‘I am going to Heaven, but you have to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everybody what Hell is like, so that they can escape it by not committing sins!’
“Other times, after thinking for a while, she said: ‘So many falling into Hell! So many in Hell!’
“To reassure her, I said: ‘Don’t be afraid! You are going to Heaven!’
“‘Yes, I am going there,’ she said calmly. ‘But I also want everyone to go there!’
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday March 14th & Monday March 15th
Article 17
Laetare Sunday―A Day of Joy and Optimism
Sunday March 14th & Monday March 15th
Article 17
Laetare Sunday―A Day of Joy and Optimism
From Pessimism to Optimism―From Despair to Hope―From Sadness to Joy
The previous article dealt at length with the pessimism and pessimists―giving many biblical examples of such an attitude. Pessimism by itself―when not regulated by reasonable optimism and realism―is wrong and often very harmful. Though it can be loosely linked to caution, it is usually over-cautious and timorous―something that cannot “jive” or dovetail with a Christian outlook and philosophy that must put its faith, hope, trust and confidence in God, because, as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God” (Luke 18:27), and “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) or rather, if God is with us, who can stand against us, “because the Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised” (Josue 23:10). “This is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us! This is the Lord, we have patiently waited for Him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in His salvation!” (Isaias 25:9). “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God! For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; and with the robe of justice He hath covered me; as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels!” (Isaias 61:10).
No―I will not be pessimistic about my salvation! I will not be saddened at the sight of my sins! I will not despair of saving my soul! For God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow! And if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) ― provided, of course, that you wash your sins in the Blood of Christ (which pours over you in the “spiritual shower” of the confessional, which washes away your sins through the Sacrament of Confession): “I have acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin” (Psalm 31:5); and provided that you heal the wounds of sin performing worthy penance: “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance” (Luke 15:7).
“Laetare” Sunday
Today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is traditionally called “Laetare Sunday”—the word “laetare” being the Latin verb “to rejoice” ― hence literally meaning “To Rejoice Sunday” or, in phrased in better English, “A Sunday to Rejoice in” or “A Sunday for Rejoicing”. This particular title owes its origins to the opening words of the Introit or Entrance Hymn for today’s Mass, which say: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult…”
Objectively speaking, there can be no greater joy than knowing that your sins have been forgiven. On your deathbed, there is one thing that you will crave above all else―and that is mercy and the joy that comes from having been shown mercy! Money, possessions, jewels, gold, clothes, houses, electronics, computers, phones, entertainment, sports, fashions, food, drink or whatever might have given you pleasure in this life, will all seem like dung compared the preciousness and desirability of mercy! The words of the Introit from the Mass of Laetare Sunday ― “rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult” ― will describe the feelings of those who will exult in the mercy of God after having wallowed in the sorrows of sin.
Dom Guéranger, in his masterful multi-volume work, The Liturgical Year, states: “This Sunday, called, from the first word of the Introit for Laetare Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her Lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the subdeacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-colored vestments are allowed to be used.
"These same rites were practiced in Advent, on the third Sunday, called “Gaudete”. The Church’s motive for introducing this expression of joy into today’s liturgy is to encourage her children to persevere fervently to the end of this holy season. The real mid-Lent was last Thursday, but the Church, fearing lest the joy might lead to some infringement on the spirit of penance, has deferred her own notice of it to this Sunday, when she not only permits, but even bids, her children to rejoice!”
Yet there can only be true joy, true optimism, true hope on Laetare Sunday in proportion to the penance that we have been doing and will continue to do after this Sunday. If we are not prepared to suffer through the penance, then we shall not attain the joys of Heaven: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The sorrows of penance brings the joys of Heaven―for we are all sinners and we all need to do penance: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
A Liturgical Oxymoron?
Eh? An “oxymoron” is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words as “cruel kindness”, or “laborious idleness”. It would, at first glance, seem oxymoronic to combine “penance” with “joy”, for it would be akin to combining “pain” with “laughter”, or “suffering” and “happiness”.
Yet, looked at from another perspective—and above all, a supernatural perspective—we can see how true and fitting is that combination. Our Lord Himself uses the combination of these two words—penance and joy—when He says: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:7).
Joy Over A Sinner’s Return
We see a similar situation in the parable of the Prodigal Son—for the wayward, sinful son, after having wasted his father’s inheritance in debauchery, decides to return to his father, repentant and contrite, saying within himself: “I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: ‘Father! I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants!’” (Luke 15:18-19).
This repentance and return brings joy to his father, who, rightfully, could be extremely indignant and would be within his rights in punishing him severely for the scandal and harm he had perpetrated.
Our Lord, in telling this parable, says: “And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this, my son, was dead, and is come to life again! Was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
Wrong Kind of Joy
The world is the epitome of the wrong kind of joy. Whereas God loves the sinner and hates the sin, the world is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin. The world rejoices in what God condemns. Holy Scripture denounces this attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).
Our penances may be bitter, but they will lead to sweet things—hence, we can call them bittersweet.
Our Lord tells His Apostles, at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
Rejoice with the World—Perish with the World
Let us not be sucked-into the damning whirlpool of the world—its fate is inevitable! Our Lord and the Apostles in particular, and Holy Scripture in general, repeatedly warn us against the false and fateful joys of the world: “You that rejoice in a thing of nought…” (Amos 6:14) … Rejoice not, O Israel, rejoice not as the nations do!” (Osee 9:1). “Rejoice not in ungodly children, neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:1).
What Are We Rejoicing Over?
“Let the heart of them rejoice, that seek the Lord!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:10). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Rejoice over the greatest gift of God! What is that greatest gift? “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Let your soul rejoice in His mercy!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:37). “I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalm 12:6).
Rejoice Over Mercy!
What is it, above all things, that you will desire in your death throes and agony on your deathbed? It is mercy! Nothing else will matter. Nothing else will be worth anything if you fail to secure that mercy. All your future joy or misery will depend on one thing alone—whether or not you manage to secure the mercy of God. Our joy, on this day of rejoicing—Laetare Sunday—comes from the fact of God’s incredible mercy and pardon, which is to be used, but not abused.
Mercy—A Room in the Mansion of Charity
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
God Does Not Hate His Creation
God cannot hate what He has created—for all that He creates is good. Yet God does hate some things that man has created—and the chief focal point of hatred is sin. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “…the hatred of something does not befit God. For as love is to the good, so hatred is to evil; for to those we love we will good, and to those we hate, evil. If, then, the will of God cannot be inclined to evil, as has been shown, it is impossible that He should hate anything” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chapter 96: “God Hates Nothing, and the Hatred of No Thing Befits Him”).
This is stated in slightly different terms by Holy Scripture: “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). “The Lord has made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4). Thus mankind was made for God and not for itself. Yet, God’s human creation—mankind—turned away from God through sin.
Nevertheless, God in His infinite mercy, sought a remedy to that rebelliousness, as explained by Our Lord Himself: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18) … “Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:24). “For everyone that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light” (John 3:20).
Came to Save All—But All Will Not Be Saved
St. Thomas writes: “The power of the divine Incarnation is equal to the salvation ‘of all men, but the fact that some are not saved, thereby comes from their indisposition: they are unwilling to take unto themselves the fruit of the Incarnation; they do not cleave to the incarnate God by Faith and Love. For men were not intended to lose that freedom of choice, by which they are able to cleave or not to cleave to the incarnate God, lest the good of man be produced by coercion” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 4, chapter 55: “Arguments Against the Suitability of the Incarnation”).
Thus we are free to choose—and, ultimately, we choose our own salvation or damnation. There will be no coercion from God in that matter.
Abuse of Mercy
Most souls fail to do so and are irrevocably lost—says Our Lord and most theologians of the Church. Yet every soul is capable of securing it. “Christ died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). Yet everyone WILL NOT DO what it takes to be saved. “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
As St. Paul points out: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). So rejoice—mercy is yours if you choose to abide by it, use it and not abuse it! But woe to you if you abuse it!
Joy Though Pain
The joys of Heaven are not “freebies” but must be painfully earned on Earth or in Purgatory. Mercy, of course, brings joy—but mercy requires payment. This is something that mankind—especially modern man—fails to grasp. Modern man thinks the joys of Heaven are there for sinners, or the lukewarm, or the mediocre man.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange dispels this folly when he writes: “There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity.
"There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin, though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Going Cheap…! Cheap Joys!
Most people put a cheap price on sin and cheap admission price to Heaven. How foolish and stupid we are! This stupidity is perhaps one of the chief reasons why so many souls are lost! It does not help matters to see almost everyone around us, living-out this insane sense of values.
These idiots—let us at least hope they are idiots, for idiocy might excuse them somewhat from sin—want joy on Earth and joy in Heaven! They want to neither suffer in this life, nor in the next! They, as the proverb goes, “want their cake and they want to eat it”! Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)--“You can’t have your cake and eat it!”
Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?
This brings us to the way in which we can view a glass that contains 50% liquid and 50% air. Some see this glass as being half-full; others see it as being half-empty. The “half-full” people are being positive about it; the “half-empty” people are being negative about it.
The same applies to our Faith and religion. Some see the Faith and religion as being a foretaste of the fullness of joy we shall experience in Heaven. Others sees our Faith and religion as “cramping their style” and robbing of them of many joys they would like to experience here on Earth.
One group sees the Faith, and the practice of it, as being “half-full” and look forward to being fulfilled in Heaven. The other group sees the Faith, and practice of it, as being “half-emptied” of potential Earthly joys, and dread having to give up even more of them. Yet our soul—in which joy resides—was made by God and only God can truly fill it with true joy—“Who satisfieth thy desire with good things” (Psalms 102:5).
Cotton Candy Joys
To seek the joys of this world above the joys of Heaven; to seek material joys above spiritual joys—is like eating cotton-candy (candy-floss) in comparison to a highly nutritious and delicious seven course meal. The cotton-candy melts away in your mouth before you know it! On top of that, the high sugar content is the favorite nesting place for disease!
Our Lord puts it this way: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Different Ideas of Joy
You are, no doubt, familiar with the Scriptural quote: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). We could well paraphrase that into “My ideas of joy are not your ideas of joys: nor your joys My joys, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My joys exalted above your joys, and My ideas of joy above your ideas of joy!”
God is Joy Because God is Love
God is love and love is the cause of joy. For, we rejoice either because the object of our love is really present, or because we really find our own good existing, so to say, in the person, or in the object we love.
We rejoice because we find ourselves in the presence of one whom we cherish, or because we have good news from a friend or parent, separated from us by endless stretches of land, or by vast expanses of water; we find an unbounded joy when we know that son or brother called to serve his country's cause, in the gory battlefields of the world, is well, far removed from harm, or has been honored for his bravery.
Furthermore, our joy is enhanced by our love for the person from whom we receive the news, and is in proportion to it. We feel, for instance, little or no delight in our hearts when we read that a commander of a hostile force has escaped unscathed from battle. Our love is the cause of our joy.
To Find Joy, We Must Find and Love God
But, charity, in its highest object and point, is love of God, Whose good is infinite, unchanging and unchangeable, and, Who, by the very fact that He is loved, dwells in the person who loves Him. “God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in Him” (1 John 4:16). Hence joy is caused by love; hence, too, it follows charity.
What is this spiritual joy? It is not a virtue, separated from charity, spiritual joy is an action of the virtue charity, an effect, a result of charity. Joy of itself could not exist, it owes its very being to the virtue of charity, which is, for it, a fountainhead. Love is the first impulse of our will or heart, and from it proceed joy and desire. Thus joy is not a virtue distinct from charity, it is only an effect of charity, it is an action of charity.
Joy is that gratitude, that happy consciousness we have of the infinite goodness of God, the great object of our love, in Whom we live, move and have our being. Joy is the grand and consoling reward for the victories we have won in the battles with our passions.
A Religion of Joy
Since joy is a Fruit of the Holy Ghost, it follows that where the Holy Ghost is not, there is no joy. Now, the Divine Spirit is the vivifying principle of the Catholic Church and of her faithful. The Catholic Religion, is, then, essentially a religion of joy. Christ being the center of Christianity, there is no joy superior to that which He procures.
Down through the night of forgotten centuries and the fast highway of fleeting years, whatever holy joy was in the world was caused by Him. He was the unsurpassing joy of the patriarchs and prophets, of David, Isaias and Zachary, of Magdalene and John, of Peter and of Paul.
Faith itself is a joyous exposition of the truths that lead to Heaven; its precepts and commands are not merely a burden, but also a pleasure and a joy. Self-control in the service of the commandments makes us strong, and that is a source of joy. In sin we are downcast, and a load seems lifted from our hearts when grace, through the Sacrament of Penance, joy streams into our souls anew.
Once forgiven, we are children of God once again, perfect men and perfect Christians. Penance brings an entire Heaven of joy into our otherwise heavy hearts. “In thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly” (Psalm 20:2). “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: Thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness” (Psalm 29:12).
Purgatorial Joys
Penance brings joy to the souls in Purgatory, too! Even though they find themselves in the most unspeakably excruciating pains—which no tongue can describe nor imagination imagine—they are, nevertheless, also immersed in the most unspeakably great joys. They know that they are saved and that these horrendous pains are bringing Heaven and God closer with every excruciating moment. They are the perfect example of how the Catholic on Earth should find joy in suffering.
Those poor souls failed to learn how to suffer and do penance with joy on Earth, so now they have to learn that lesson in Purgatory. Yet their lesson is also a lesson for us—who, like the ill-fated Chosen People, are ever mumbling and grumbling, whining and whinging, moaning and groaning about the least suffering that we have to experience and suffer, by God’s Providence, here on Earth.
Worldly Joys Bring Sadness
At the Last Supper, Our Lord spoke of the two contrary lots that would befall His Apostles on the one hand, at the world on the other. He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). If we take this to the next stage—if the sorrow of His followers shall be turned to joy, then the joy of the world shall be turned to sorrow. This is proven to be the case by other passages in Holy Scripture that depict the rich and the poor.
We have the case of Our Lord’s parable about the beggar, Lazarus, and Rich Man: “There was a beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him. Moreover, the dogs came, and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:20-22).
In a real-life incident, we have the case of the rich young man—who you would have thought would be happy and joyful with all his riches, but he becomes sad and sorrowful because of them: “And behold a certain man running up and kneeling before Him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou knowest the commandments—keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Jesus: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27).
God Does Bestow Riches, But…
God has enriched many a man as well the Israelites as a nation—but it was always contingent upon their placing God before all riches and wealth. Once those riches and wealth became a hindrance to their love of God and led them down paths of infidelity, lukewarmness, infidelity and sin—God not only brutally removed or destroyed those riches and that wealth, but He also was not averse to slaying some or most of the wayward ones.
The Old Testament history of the Chosen People is a perpetual saga of God’s benefits leading them to forget God, which led God to acting in a way towards them that they would never forget! But forget they did—and foolishly repeated the same behavior.
God has to come first—Our Lord commands in the New Testament what had already been commanded in the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30), which merely repeats the Old Testament command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
This is what Job did in the Old Testament, and he was abundantly blessed by God. Yet, when God allowed all types of calamities to befall Job—losing his health, his children, his wealth and his properties and flocks—God never ceased to love and bless God, as much in calamity as in prosperity.
His famous quote—which we would well to take to heart—was: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). This eventual acceptance of the bitter with the sweet, led to God restoring all things to Job in an abundantly greater measure than he had possessed in the beginning: “And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
The Joys of Heaven
This doubling of Job’s possessions and wealth, after his tribulations at the hands of the devil, is symbolic of our tests and trials in this life, after which we shall be rewarded with Heaven—if we have been faithful.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “This vision will constitute eternal life. No one can express the joy and love that will be born in us of this vision. It will be so strong, so absolute a love of God, that, thenceforth, nothing will be able to destroy it, or even to diminish it. It will be a love by which we shall, above all, rejoice that God is God, infinitely holy, just, and merciful. We shall adore all the decrees of His providence in view of the manifestation of His goodness … We shall have entered into His beatitude, according to Christ's own words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
True Optimism―Not False Optimism
All of this should serve to boost of spiritual immune system’s optimism. Yet only a REALISTIC optimism can get us to Heaven. A FALSE optimism or PRESUMPTUOUS optimism is bound to end in failure and most likely damnation. Let’s face it―Hell is full of false optimists and true pessimists, whereas Heaven is full of true optimists and optimistic pessimists.
Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints tell us that most souls are lost and damned―but is reason for optimism or pessimism? If we REALISTIC about things, then that REALISM will lift up our sagging pessimism and hold back and hold in check our rampant false optimism or presumption. For REALISM stands in the middle ground between despairing pessimism and presumptuous optimism―just as virtue stands in the middle between neglect and excess. It is like walking a spiritual tightrope over the Niagara Falls that is our life in this world. The devil is always trying to get us to fall into the waters of neglect on one side, and the waters of excess on the other side―or you could say the waters of despairing pessimism on the one side, and the waters of presumptuous optimism on the other ride. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the end of the tightrope and walk the straight and narrow path of the tightrope that leads there.
Our Lord reminds us: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Our Lord does not say this to puncture our hope or destroy our optimism―He says this in order to ground our hope and optimism in REALITY and not in some fanciful presumptuous wishful thinking that we like to label as hope and optimism. St. Louis de Montfort paints a perfect picture of this presumptuous hope and false optimism in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, in which he writes in all REALISM:
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow; the avaricious are united to barter and hoard up gold and silver, combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross; reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer … Dear Brethren, there are two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world … To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” We see there the false optimism and fake hope, in the false belief that the can “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!”
Our Lord warns them: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). As a Psalm says: “Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way!” (Psalm 2:12). To follow Our Lord to Heaven, He does not say that we must “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!” ― but “He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). Comfortable Catholics and complacent Christians prefer not to carry the cross―but like to carry their smartphone instead, for it is smaller, lighter and more fun.
The Religious Role of Realism
The realist is stuck in the middle between the pessimist and the optimist―and is not liked very much, nor appreciated very much by either of them. To the pessimist, the realist looks like an optimist. To the optimist, the realist looks like a pessimist. Yet realism is the foundation of our Faith, so to speak. Our purpose is to see God and the Faith in the light of reality, and not colored by our negative pessimism, nor our presumptuous optimism. God says to Moses: “I AM WHO AM!” (Exodus 3:14) ― and not “I am who you want Me to be, or imagine Me to be!” Yet today, sadly, we live in a world where people “tailor-make” God and religion to suit their preferences and needs, rather than conform themselves to reality. The REAL religion has been largely replaced by a MAKE-BELIEVE religion, or could you say, a DISNEYLAND religion, or HOLLYWOOD religion―which is man-made “reality” or “virtual reality”, but which has less and less resemblance REAL REALITY. Naturally, everyone prefers to have God’s religion conform to their wishes, rather than them conforming to the wishes of God’s religion.
All of this is a gradual and natural progression of man’s rebellion against God―which began with Adam and Eve, and has never really stopped throughout all of history―it ebbs and flows, sometimes it drops in degree, at other times in increases in degree. Right now, we are reaching degrees of rebellion against God that have never been seen in the history of mankind, even at the time of the Great Flood―as Our Lady tells us: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956).
There are less and less Catholics who truly want to put in the effort required to REALLY know their Faith, to know the REALITIES of the Faith and not the superstitions, or man-made imaginations about the Faith. Everyone is becoming more and more SUBJECTIVE rather than OBJECTIVE. “Subjective” refers to information that is primarily and largely based on our own personal feelings, tastes, thoughts, opinions and biases. “Objective” refers to information that does not take into account our personal feelings, tastes, thoughts, opinions and biases, but is based on factual evidence that exists outside of our minds and opinions. It is the objective truth that exists OUTSIDE OF US that is meant to inform and create the subjective truth INSIDE OF US. In other words, it is the REALITY that that exists OUTSIDE OF US that is meant to inform and create the subjective knowledge of reality INSIDE OF US. We do not create reality. Reality exists independently of us and does not depend upon our knowledge for its existence. Australia, Japan, or some South Pacific island exists―whether I know it or not, and whether I believe it not. Our job is KNOW REALITY as it is, and NOT TO CREATE AN IMAGINED REALITY in our minds. You would think that with the current popularity of REALITY TV, that people would accept and adopt a REALITY RELIGION―which, ultimately, is the Catholic religion. Yet even Catholics are trying give their Faith a “face-lift” and “plastic surgery” to make it more appealing to the preferences of a godless world.
Realism Reworked
Living in age of “Reality TV” and “Virtual Reality”, it is only to be expected that Reality will ultimately undergo a “face-lift” or a “nip-and-tuck” procedure. It has be the irony of ironies that most “Reality TV” shows are fake! Although these shows are all about the real lives of real people, it must be noted that these are still “shows” and these still have to “sell”. Therefore, they are mostly scripted and acted and extremely exploitative, in order to serve the “greater need” of making the show successful. “Reality TV” shows now have “story” editors. Why would you want a “story” editor where you would expect “reality”? That is because they show what they want to show. They have hours upon hours of tape for a single episode and they can change the narrative of “reality” just as they wish. Thus reality is no longer “what is”―but reality becomes “what they want it to be.” Objectivity loses out to subjectivity. Truth and reality are “doctored” or “edited” and placed on the sacrificial altars of “popular demand” and “financial gain.” We all know that nowadays, it is all about the show ratings. They will do absolutely whatever it takes to get the ratings to go higher―even as far as “creating” or “scripting unreal scandals. The whole thing just reeks of falsehood and lies. Of course, not every single “Reality TV” show falls into that category, but enough of them are “unreal” or “untrue” in varying degrees, so that one generalize them as being “Unreal Reality” shows.
The previous article dealt at length with the pessimism and pessimists―giving many biblical examples of such an attitude. Pessimism by itself―when not regulated by reasonable optimism and realism―is wrong and often very harmful. Though it can be loosely linked to caution, it is usually over-cautious and timorous―something that cannot “jive” or dovetail with a Christian outlook and philosophy that must put its faith, hope, trust and confidence in God, because, as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God” (Luke 18:27), and “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) or rather, if God is with us, who can stand against us, “because the Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised” (Josue 23:10). “This is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us! This is the Lord, we have patiently waited for Him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in His salvation!” (Isaias 25:9). “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God! For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; and with the robe of justice He hath covered me; as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels!” (Isaias 61:10).
No―I will not be pessimistic about my salvation! I will not be saddened at the sight of my sins! I will not despair of saving my soul! For God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow! And if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) ― provided, of course, that you wash your sins in the Blood of Christ (which pours over you in the “spiritual shower” of the confessional, which washes away your sins through the Sacrament of Confession): “I have acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin” (Psalm 31:5); and provided that you heal the wounds of sin performing worthy penance: “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Knowest thou not, that the kindness of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance” (Luke 15:7).
“Laetare” Sunday
Today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is traditionally called “Laetare Sunday”—the word “laetare” being the Latin verb “to rejoice” ― hence literally meaning “To Rejoice Sunday” or, in phrased in better English, “A Sunday to Rejoice in” or “A Sunday for Rejoicing”. This particular title owes its origins to the opening words of the Introit or Entrance Hymn for today’s Mass, which say: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult…”
Objectively speaking, there can be no greater joy than knowing that your sins have been forgiven. On your deathbed, there is one thing that you will crave above all else―and that is mercy and the joy that comes from having been shown mercy! Money, possessions, jewels, gold, clothes, houses, electronics, computers, phones, entertainment, sports, fashions, food, drink or whatever might have given you pleasure in this life, will all seem like dung compared the preciousness and desirability of mercy! The words of the Introit from the Mass of Laetare Sunday ― “rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult” ― will describe the feelings of those who will exult in the mercy of God after having wallowed in the sorrows of sin.
Dom Guéranger, in his masterful multi-volume work, The Liturgical Year, states: “This Sunday, called, from the first word of the Introit for Laetare Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her Lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the subdeacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-colored vestments are allowed to be used.
"These same rites were practiced in Advent, on the third Sunday, called “Gaudete”. The Church’s motive for introducing this expression of joy into today’s liturgy is to encourage her children to persevere fervently to the end of this holy season. The real mid-Lent was last Thursday, but the Church, fearing lest the joy might lead to some infringement on the spirit of penance, has deferred her own notice of it to this Sunday, when she not only permits, but even bids, her children to rejoice!”
Yet there can only be true joy, true optimism, true hope on Laetare Sunday in proportion to the penance that we have been doing and will continue to do after this Sunday. If we are not prepared to suffer through the penance, then we shall not attain the joys of Heaven: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The sorrows of penance brings the joys of Heaven―for we are all sinners and we all need to do penance: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
A Liturgical Oxymoron?
Eh? An “oxymoron” is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words as “cruel kindness”, or “laborious idleness”. It would, at first glance, seem oxymoronic to combine “penance” with “joy”, for it would be akin to combining “pain” with “laughter”, or “suffering” and “happiness”.
Yet, looked at from another perspective—and above all, a supernatural perspective—we can see how true and fitting is that combination. Our Lord Himself uses the combination of these two words—penance and joy—when He says: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:7).
Joy Over A Sinner’s Return
We see a similar situation in the parable of the Prodigal Son—for the wayward, sinful son, after having wasted his father’s inheritance in debauchery, decides to return to his father, repentant and contrite, saying within himself: “I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: ‘Father! I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants!’” (Luke 15:18-19).
This repentance and return brings joy to his father, who, rightfully, could be extremely indignant and would be within his rights in punishing him severely for the scandal and harm he had perpetrated.
Our Lord, in telling this parable, says: “And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this, my son, was dead, and is come to life again! Was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
Wrong Kind of Joy
The world is the epitome of the wrong kind of joy. Whereas God loves the sinner and hates the sin, the world is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin. The world rejoices in what God condemns. Holy Scripture denounces this attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).
Our penances may be bitter, but they will lead to sweet things—hence, we can call them bittersweet.
Our Lord tells His Apostles, at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
Rejoice with the World—Perish with the World
Let us not be sucked-into the damning whirlpool of the world—its fate is inevitable! Our Lord and the Apostles in particular, and Holy Scripture in general, repeatedly warn us against the false and fateful joys of the world: “You that rejoice in a thing of nought…” (Amos 6:14) … Rejoice not, O Israel, rejoice not as the nations do!” (Osee 9:1). “Rejoice not in ungodly children, neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:1).
What Are We Rejoicing Over?
“Let the heart of them rejoice, that seek the Lord!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:10). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Rejoice over the greatest gift of God! What is that greatest gift? “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Let your soul rejoice in His mercy!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:37). “I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalm 12:6).
Rejoice Over Mercy!
What is it, above all things, that you will desire in your death throes and agony on your deathbed? It is mercy! Nothing else will matter. Nothing else will be worth anything if you fail to secure that mercy. All your future joy or misery will depend on one thing alone—whether or not you manage to secure the mercy of God. Our joy, on this day of rejoicing—Laetare Sunday—comes from the fact of God’s incredible mercy and pardon, which is to be used, but not abused.
Mercy—A Room in the Mansion of Charity
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
God Does Not Hate His Creation
God cannot hate what He has created—for all that He creates is good. Yet God does hate some things that man has created—and the chief focal point of hatred is sin. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “…the hatred of something does not befit God. For as love is to the good, so hatred is to evil; for to those we love we will good, and to those we hate, evil. If, then, the will of God cannot be inclined to evil, as has been shown, it is impossible that He should hate anything” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chapter 96: “God Hates Nothing, and the Hatred of No Thing Befits Him”).
This is stated in slightly different terms by Holy Scripture: “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). “The Lord has made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4). Thus mankind was made for God and not for itself. Yet, God’s human creation—mankind—turned away from God through sin.
Nevertheless, God in His infinite mercy, sought a remedy to that rebelliousness, as explained by Our Lord Himself: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18) … “Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:24). “For everyone that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light” (John 3:20).
Came to Save All—But All Will Not Be Saved
St. Thomas writes: “The power of the divine Incarnation is equal to the salvation ‘of all men, but the fact that some are not saved, thereby comes from their indisposition: they are unwilling to take unto themselves the fruit of the Incarnation; they do not cleave to the incarnate God by Faith and Love. For men were not intended to lose that freedom of choice, by which they are able to cleave or not to cleave to the incarnate God, lest the good of man be produced by coercion” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 4, chapter 55: “Arguments Against the Suitability of the Incarnation”).
Thus we are free to choose—and, ultimately, we choose our own salvation or damnation. There will be no coercion from God in that matter.
Abuse of Mercy
Most souls fail to do so and are irrevocably lost—says Our Lord and most theologians of the Church. Yet every soul is capable of securing it. “Christ died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). Yet everyone WILL NOT DO what it takes to be saved. “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
As St. Paul points out: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). So rejoice—mercy is yours if you choose to abide by it, use it and not abuse it! But woe to you if you abuse it!
Joy Though Pain
The joys of Heaven are not “freebies” but must be painfully earned on Earth or in Purgatory. Mercy, of course, brings joy—but mercy requires payment. This is something that mankind—especially modern man—fails to grasp. Modern man thinks the joys of Heaven are there for sinners, or the lukewarm, or the mediocre man.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange dispels this folly when he writes: “There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity.
"There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin, though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Going Cheap…! Cheap Joys!
Most people put a cheap price on sin and cheap admission price to Heaven. How foolish and stupid we are! This stupidity is perhaps one of the chief reasons why so many souls are lost! It does not help matters to see almost everyone around us, living-out this insane sense of values.
These idiots—let us at least hope they are idiots, for idiocy might excuse them somewhat from sin—want joy on Earth and joy in Heaven! They want to neither suffer in this life, nor in the next! They, as the proverb goes, “want their cake and they want to eat it”! Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)--“You can’t have your cake and eat it!”
Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?
This brings us to the way in which we can view a glass that contains 50% liquid and 50% air. Some see this glass as being half-full; others see it as being half-empty. The “half-full” people are being positive about it; the “half-empty” people are being negative about it.
The same applies to our Faith and religion. Some see the Faith and religion as being a foretaste of the fullness of joy we shall experience in Heaven. Others sees our Faith and religion as “cramping their style” and robbing of them of many joys they would like to experience here on Earth.
One group sees the Faith, and the practice of it, as being “half-full” and look forward to being fulfilled in Heaven. The other group sees the Faith, and practice of it, as being “half-emptied” of potential Earthly joys, and dread having to give up even more of them. Yet our soul—in which joy resides—was made by God and only God can truly fill it with true joy—“Who satisfieth thy desire with good things” (Psalms 102:5).
Cotton Candy Joys
To seek the joys of this world above the joys of Heaven; to seek material joys above spiritual joys—is like eating cotton-candy (candy-floss) in comparison to a highly nutritious and delicious seven course meal. The cotton-candy melts away in your mouth before you know it! On top of that, the high sugar content is the favorite nesting place for disease!
Our Lord puts it this way: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Different Ideas of Joy
You are, no doubt, familiar with the Scriptural quote: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). We could well paraphrase that into “My ideas of joy are not your ideas of joys: nor your joys My joys, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My joys exalted above your joys, and My ideas of joy above your ideas of joy!”
God is Joy Because God is Love
God is love and love is the cause of joy. For, we rejoice either because the object of our love is really present, or because we really find our own good existing, so to say, in the person, or in the object we love.
We rejoice because we find ourselves in the presence of one whom we cherish, or because we have good news from a friend or parent, separated from us by endless stretches of land, or by vast expanses of water; we find an unbounded joy when we know that son or brother called to serve his country's cause, in the gory battlefields of the world, is well, far removed from harm, or has been honored for his bravery.
Furthermore, our joy is enhanced by our love for the person from whom we receive the news, and is in proportion to it. We feel, for instance, little or no delight in our hearts when we read that a commander of a hostile force has escaped unscathed from battle. Our love is the cause of our joy.
To Find Joy, We Must Find and Love God
But, charity, in its highest object and point, is love of God, Whose good is infinite, unchanging and unchangeable, and, Who, by the very fact that He is loved, dwells in the person who loves Him. “God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in Him” (1 John 4:16). Hence joy is caused by love; hence, too, it follows charity.
What is this spiritual joy? It is not a virtue, separated from charity, spiritual joy is an action of the virtue charity, an effect, a result of charity. Joy of itself could not exist, it owes its very being to the virtue of charity, which is, for it, a fountainhead. Love is the first impulse of our will or heart, and from it proceed joy and desire. Thus joy is not a virtue distinct from charity, it is only an effect of charity, it is an action of charity.
Joy is that gratitude, that happy consciousness we have of the infinite goodness of God, the great object of our love, in Whom we live, move and have our being. Joy is the grand and consoling reward for the victories we have won in the battles with our passions.
A Religion of Joy
Since joy is a Fruit of the Holy Ghost, it follows that where the Holy Ghost is not, there is no joy. Now, the Divine Spirit is the vivifying principle of the Catholic Church and of her faithful. The Catholic Religion, is, then, essentially a religion of joy. Christ being the center of Christianity, there is no joy superior to that which He procures.
Down through the night of forgotten centuries and the fast highway of fleeting years, whatever holy joy was in the world was caused by Him. He was the unsurpassing joy of the patriarchs and prophets, of David, Isaias and Zachary, of Magdalene and John, of Peter and of Paul.
Faith itself is a joyous exposition of the truths that lead to Heaven; its precepts and commands are not merely a burden, but also a pleasure and a joy. Self-control in the service of the commandments makes us strong, and that is a source of joy. In sin we are downcast, and a load seems lifted from our hearts when grace, through the Sacrament of Penance, joy streams into our souls anew.
Once forgiven, we are children of God once again, perfect men and perfect Christians. Penance brings an entire Heaven of joy into our otherwise heavy hearts. “In thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly” (Psalm 20:2). “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: Thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness” (Psalm 29:12).
Purgatorial Joys
Penance brings joy to the souls in Purgatory, too! Even though they find themselves in the most unspeakably excruciating pains—which no tongue can describe nor imagination imagine—they are, nevertheless, also immersed in the most unspeakably great joys. They know that they are saved and that these horrendous pains are bringing Heaven and God closer with every excruciating moment. They are the perfect example of how the Catholic on Earth should find joy in suffering.
Those poor souls failed to learn how to suffer and do penance with joy on Earth, so now they have to learn that lesson in Purgatory. Yet their lesson is also a lesson for us—who, like the ill-fated Chosen People, are ever mumbling and grumbling, whining and whinging, moaning and groaning about the least suffering that we have to experience and suffer, by God’s Providence, here on Earth.
Worldly Joys Bring Sadness
At the Last Supper, Our Lord spoke of the two contrary lots that would befall His Apostles on the one hand, at the world on the other. He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). If we take this to the next stage—if the sorrow of His followers shall be turned to joy, then the joy of the world shall be turned to sorrow. This is proven to be the case by other passages in Holy Scripture that depict the rich and the poor.
We have the case of Our Lord’s parable about the beggar, Lazarus, and Rich Man: “There was a beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him. Moreover, the dogs came, and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:20-22).
In a real-life incident, we have the case of the rich young man—who you would have thought would be happy and joyful with all his riches, but he becomes sad and sorrowful because of them: “And behold a certain man running up and kneeling before Him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou knowest the commandments—keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Jesus: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27).
God Does Bestow Riches, But…
God has enriched many a man as well the Israelites as a nation—but it was always contingent upon their placing God before all riches and wealth. Once those riches and wealth became a hindrance to their love of God and led them down paths of infidelity, lukewarmness, infidelity and sin—God not only brutally removed or destroyed those riches and that wealth, but He also was not averse to slaying some or most of the wayward ones.
The Old Testament history of the Chosen People is a perpetual saga of God’s benefits leading them to forget God, which led God to acting in a way towards them that they would never forget! But forget they did—and foolishly repeated the same behavior.
God has to come first—Our Lord commands in the New Testament what had already been commanded in the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30), which merely repeats the Old Testament command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
This is what Job did in the Old Testament, and he was abundantly blessed by God. Yet, when God allowed all types of calamities to befall Job—losing his health, his children, his wealth and his properties and flocks—God never ceased to love and bless God, as much in calamity as in prosperity.
His famous quote—which we would well to take to heart—was: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). This eventual acceptance of the bitter with the sweet, led to God restoring all things to Job in an abundantly greater measure than he had possessed in the beginning: “And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
The Joys of Heaven
This doubling of Job’s possessions and wealth, after his tribulations at the hands of the devil, is symbolic of our tests and trials in this life, after which we shall be rewarded with Heaven—if we have been faithful.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “This vision will constitute eternal life. No one can express the joy and love that will be born in us of this vision. It will be so strong, so absolute a love of God, that, thenceforth, nothing will be able to destroy it, or even to diminish it. It will be a love by which we shall, above all, rejoice that God is God, infinitely holy, just, and merciful. We shall adore all the decrees of His providence in view of the manifestation of His goodness … We shall have entered into His beatitude, according to Christ's own words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
True Optimism―Not False Optimism
All of this should serve to boost of spiritual immune system’s optimism. Yet only a REALISTIC optimism can get us to Heaven. A FALSE optimism or PRESUMPTUOUS optimism is bound to end in failure and most likely damnation. Let’s face it―Hell is full of false optimists and true pessimists, whereas Heaven is full of true optimists and optimistic pessimists.
Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints tell us that most souls are lost and damned―but is reason for optimism or pessimism? If we REALISTIC about things, then that REALISM will lift up our sagging pessimism and hold back and hold in check our rampant false optimism or presumption. For REALISM stands in the middle ground between despairing pessimism and presumptuous optimism―just as virtue stands in the middle between neglect and excess. It is like walking a spiritual tightrope over the Niagara Falls that is our life in this world. The devil is always trying to get us to fall into the waters of neglect on one side, and the waters of excess on the other side―or you could say the waters of despairing pessimism on the one side, and the waters of presumptuous optimism on the other ride. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the end of the tightrope and walk the straight and narrow path of the tightrope that leads there.
Our Lord reminds us: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Our Lord does not say this to puncture our hope or destroy our optimism―He says this in order to ground our hope and optimism in REALITY and not in some fanciful presumptuous wishful thinking that we like to label as hope and optimism. St. Louis de Montfort paints a perfect picture of this presumptuous hope and false optimism in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, in which he writes in all REALISM:
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow; the avaricious are united to barter and hoard up gold and silver, combine your efforts in the pursuit of the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross; reprobates unite to make merry, but you, be united to suffer … Dear Brethren, there are two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world … To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” We see there the false optimism and fake hope, in the false belief that the can “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!”
Our Lord warns them: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). As a Psalm says: “Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way!” (Psalm 2:12). To follow Our Lord to Heaven, He does not say that we must “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!” ― but “He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). Comfortable Catholics and complacent Christians prefer not to carry the cross―but like to carry their smartphone instead, for it is smaller, lighter and more fun.
The Religious Role of Realism
The realist is stuck in the middle between the pessimist and the optimist―and is not liked very much, nor appreciated very much by either of them. To the pessimist, the realist looks like an optimist. To the optimist, the realist looks like a pessimist. Yet realism is the foundation of our Faith, so to speak. Our purpose is to see God and the Faith in the light of reality, and not colored by our negative pessimism, nor our presumptuous optimism. God says to Moses: “I AM WHO AM!” (Exodus 3:14) ― and not “I am who you want Me to be, or imagine Me to be!” Yet today, sadly, we live in a world where people “tailor-make” God and religion to suit their preferences and needs, rather than conform themselves to reality. The REAL religion has been largely replaced by a MAKE-BELIEVE religion, or could you say, a DISNEYLAND religion, or HOLLYWOOD religion―which is man-made “reality” or “virtual reality”, but which has less and less resemblance REAL REALITY. Naturally, everyone prefers to have God’s religion conform to their wishes, rather than them conforming to the wishes of God’s religion.
All of this is a gradual and natural progression of man’s rebellion against God―which began with Adam and Eve, and has never really stopped throughout all of history―it ebbs and flows, sometimes it drops in degree, at other times in increases in degree. Right now, we are reaching degrees of rebellion against God that have never been seen in the history of mankind, even at the time of the Great Flood―as Our Lady tells us: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956).
There are less and less Catholics who truly want to put in the effort required to REALLY know their Faith, to know the REALITIES of the Faith and not the superstitions, or man-made imaginations about the Faith. Everyone is becoming more and more SUBJECTIVE rather than OBJECTIVE. “Subjective” refers to information that is primarily and largely based on our own personal feelings, tastes, thoughts, opinions and biases. “Objective” refers to information that does not take into account our personal feelings, tastes, thoughts, opinions and biases, but is based on factual evidence that exists outside of our minds and opinions. It is the objective truth that exists OUTSIDE OF US that is meant to inform and create the subjective truth INSIDE OF US. In other words, it is the REALITY that that exists OUTSIDE OF US that is meant to inform and create the subjective knowledge of reality INSIDE OF US. We do not create reality. Reality exists independently of us and does not depend upon our knowledge for its existence. Australia, Japan, or some South Pacific island exists―whether I know it or not, and whether I believe it not. Our job is KNOW REALITY as it is, and NOT TO CREATE AN IMAGINED REALITY in our minds. You would think that with the current popularity of REALITY TV, that people would accept and adopt a REALITY RELIGION―which, ultimately, is the Catholic religion. Yet even Catholics are trying give their Faith a “face-lift” and “plastic surgery” to make it more appealing to the preferences of a godless world.
Realism Reworked
Living in age of “Reality TV” and “Virtual Reality”, it is only to be expected that Reality will ultimately undergo a “face-lift” or a “nip-and-tuck” procedure. It has be the irony of ironies that most “Reality TV” shows are fake! Although these shows are all about the real lives of real people, it must be noted that these are still “shows” and these still have to “sell”. Therefore, they are mostly scripted and acted and extremely exploitative, in order to serve the “greater need” of making the show successful. “Reality TV” shows now have “story” editors. Why would you want a “story” editor where you would expect “reality”? That is because they show what they want to show. They have hours upon hours of tape for a single episode and they can change the narrative of “reality” just as they wish. Thus reality is no longer “what is”―but reality becomes “what they want it to be.” Objectivity loses out to subjectivity. Truth and reality are “doctored” or “edited” and placed on the sacrificial altars of “popular demand” and “financial gain.” We all know that nowadays, it is all about the show ratings. They will do absolutely whatever it takes to get the ratings to go higher―even as far as “creating” or “scripting unreal scandals. The whole thing just reeks of falsehood and lies. Of course, not every single “Reality TV” show falls into that category, but enough of them are “unreal” or “untrue” in varying degrees, so that one generalize them as being “Unreal Reality” shows.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday March 11th & Friday March 12th & Saturday March 13th
Article 16
Optimist? Pessimist? Realist? What Are You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday March 11th & Friday March 12th & Saturday March 13th
Article 16
Optimist? Pessimist? Realist? What Are You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
One Person―Two Eyes―Three Possible Views
There are three men are sat in a bar looking at glass of beer that is half-filled. They start to argue about the level of the beer in the glass. The optimist argues that the glass is half-full. The pessimist disagrees―and argues that the glass is half-empty. The realist doesn’t bother to enter into the argument―he simply takes the glass of beer, drinks it, and walks away saying the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
What’s the difference between a pessimist and an optimist? The pessimist will say: “It can’t get any worse than this!” The optimist will reply: “Of course it can!”
George Bernard Shaw would say: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimists invents the plane. The pessimist invents the parachute!”
Three men are in a dark tunnel. The pessimist complains there is no light in the tunnel. The optimist see the light at the end of the tunnel. The realist sees that the light is an oncoming train. The train driver sees only three fools on the track.
Another three men fell of the top of 100-story building. As he passed the 20th floor, the pessimist was crying and cursing. The optimist was saying: “So far, so good!” While the realist was saying: “I might as well enjoy the experience while I can!”
Many a True Word Said in Jest
Joking aside―what is the difference between optimists, pessimists, and realists? Do you really know? Which one is the best one to be? Is there a best one? Can you be all three? Or are you stuck with being one of them for the rest of your life? Today, there is a tendency to look upon pessimists as being negative people that simply “turn people off”, whereas optimists are the “darlings” of society. Realists are looked upon as being “closet” pessimists, who are afraid of being labeled as pessimists and therefore call themselves “realists”! But is this a true characterization? Are pessimists always wrong and optimists always right?
Though you shouldn’t apply this too strictly, but, according to studies of the Four Temperaments (Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic and Phlegmatic), you could generally paint a picture of Melancholics being the pessimists, Sanguines being the optimistic, Cholerics being the realists―and Phlegmatics not wanting to think about it at all, or following one of the three other opinions.
Now, if you are going to follow the above allocations or divisions, then you must also realize that very rarely is a person just one single temperament―they are usually a mixture of two or more, with one predominating. So, for example, you could be 70% Choleric, 20% Melancholic and 10% Phlegmatic. Which, would then translate to 70% Realist, 20% Pessimist and 10% don’t want to give an opinion. Or you could be 60% Sanguine, 30% Melancholic and 10% Choleric―which would translate to 60% Optimist, 30% Pessimist, and 10% Realist. The permutations are endless. The point being, is that nobody is totally optimistic, nor totally pessimistic, nor totally realistic. Furthermore, there is a case to be made for saying that neither of these three attitudes is bad in itself―it only becomes harmful when one attitude habitually excludes the viewpoint of the other two attitudes. There should be an input from all sides and then the virtue of Prudence, which is also called the “Queen of Virtues”, should make the final decision. More on Prudence later. For now, let us have a brief look at each of these groups and also try to diagnose why each class―Optimists, Pessimists and Realists―thinks and acts like it does.
The Pessimistic Pessimist
The terms “pessimism” and “pessimist” come from the Latin word “pessimus” ― meaning “the worst”. A pessimist tends to see the worst in things. A pessimist is often viewed as a negative person, but in reality this isn’t the case. Most people confuse pessimism with fatalism―which is the root of this misconception. You cannot equate pessimism with fatalism―they are two different mindsets. Yes, you can have a pessimist who is also a fatalist, but it is wrong to say that pessimism = fatalism. Fatalism, the attitude of mind which accepts whatever happens as having been bound or decreed to happen. It states that certain things are going to happen, and no choices you make can change that. So, following this attitude, you are either going to Heaven or Hell―and there is nothing you can do to change that. This, of course is absurd. God Himself says: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―for in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication (lies), by which he hath prevaricated (lied), and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20-24). So, there is no unchangeable fatalism that will automatically take place regardless of what we do.
► PESSIMISM DEFINED: By definition a pessimistic person is a person who tends to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. They can have a defeatist mindset. They have a tendency to stress the negative, or stress the unfavorable side of things, or to take the gloomiest possible view. They have a general belief that things are mostly bad, that bad things will happen, that things will turn out badly. They can have a lack of hope or confidence in the future, or in the success of projects or suggestions. They have the tendency to expect misfortune or the worst outcome in any circumstances; they have a habit of always looking on the dark side of things. Pessimists will usually be skeptical or doubting. They may need serious proof before they agree to jump on board with any project. They prefer to proceed with caution and even suspicion. Whenever they hear something new, they are the first to scrutinize thoroughly it before they will accept it. This can be frustrating to some (especially optimists), but often they are the ones that facilitate the level of quality and change. Investigators and scientific people often represent this group.
► PESSIMISTS IN THE BIBLE: We find pessimism in the Bible from the very earliest times! In fact, there is so much pessimism and so many pessimists that you could write a whole book on the subject. We can only look at a handful.
► PESSIMISTIC CAIN: The first pessimist we see is Cain. “Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman. And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?’” (Genesis 4:2-7). Cain becomes negative and gloomy because God preferred Abel’s sacrifice over his. Negativity breeds negativity, and so Cain’s negative emotions lead to Cain negating the life of Abel by killing him. Rather than improve his own life―and thus be just as acceptable to God as Abel―he decides to take away Abel’s life to make himself feel better. “And God said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done?’ The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand! When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit! A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the Earth!’ And Cain said to the Lord: ‘My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon! [pessimistic response] Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the Earth, and I shall be hidden from Thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me!’ [even more pessimism]” (Genesis 4:10-14).
► PESSIMISTIC ABRAM: (He was originally called “Abram” until God later changed his name to “Abraham”). “And there came a famine in the country; and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there―for the famine was very grievous in the land. And when he was near to entering into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: ‘I know that thou art a beautiful woman, and that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: “She is his wife!” and they will kill me and keep thee. Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister―so that I may be well treated because of thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake’” (Genesis 12:10-13). Here we see a certain lack of trust in God’s protection. Abram becomes pessimistic about his safety and fears for his life because of the beauty of his wife, and so resorts to lying.
Another instance of Abram’s pessimism is shown when Abram reached the age of 99, and he still had not begotten a child through Sarai his wife. God appeared to him and changed the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sara and promised Abraham a child. Abraham interiorly laughed at this news through his pessimistic spirit. We read in Scripture: “And after Abraham began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said unto him: ‘I am the Almighty God … I will make thee increase, exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee … Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him!’ … Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: ‘Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth?’” (Genesis 17:1-17). Abraham’s wife, was also negative and skeptical when she heard the news: “Which when Sara heard, she laughed ... They were both old and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women. And she laughed secretly, saying: ‘Now that I am grown old and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?’ And the Lord said to Abraham: ‘Why did Sara laugh, saying: “Shall I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?” Is there anything hard for God?’” (Genesis 18:10-14).
After this, we a repeat of Abraham’s earlier pessimism (Genesis 12:10-13), where Abraham again fears for his life on account of his wife’s beauty, fearing that the King of Gerara would kill him in order to take his wife from him: “Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara. And he said of Sara his wife: ‘She is my sister!’ So Abimelech, the king of Gerara, sent and took her. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and He said to him: ‘Behold, thou shalt die because of the woman thou hast taken! For she hath a husband!’ Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: ‘Lord! Wilt thou slay a nation that is ignorant and just? Did not he [Abraham] say to me: “She is my sister!” and she [Sara] say: “He is my brother?” In the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this!’ And God said to him: ‘I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart! And therefore I withheld thee from sinning against Me, and I suffered thee not to touch her! Now, therefore, restore the man his wife―for he is a prophet: and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live―but if thou wilt not restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine!’” (Genesis 20:1-7).
► PESSIMISTIC ISRAELITES: Joseph―the son of Jacob, the grandson of Isaac, and the great grandson of Abraham―had been greatly popular in Egypt, having saved the Pharao and Egypt from famine. As a result of this, the Pharao installed Joseph as the “Number Two” man in Egypt. Joseph even saved his brothers―who had wanted to kill him and sold him into slavery―from the famine too. Thus, his father, Jacob and his brothers moved to Egypt. But after the death of Joseph, the Egyptians quickly forgot what Joseph had done for them and they gradually turned against the Israelites, eventually enslaving them. After 400 years of slavery under the Egyptians, God sent Moses to rescue them and the famous Exodus from Egypt took place. Yet they went with great pessimism, as is shown by this account: “And when Pharao [and his army that were pursuing the Israelites] drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord. And they said to Moses: ‘Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness!Wwhy wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to thee in Egypt, saying: ‘Depart from us, so that we may serve the Egyptians? For it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness!’” (Exodus 14:10-12). Of course, we know that God parted the waters of the Red Sea, so that the Israelites could escape Pharao’s army, and used those same waters to drown and destroy that army―yet what is manifest here is the pessimistic lack of trust in almighty God.
● Pessimistic About the Exodus from Egypt ― That same pessimism continued even after they were saved, for the Israelites were perpetually negative about the desert wilderness conditions: “All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them: ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full! Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?’” (Genesis 16:2-3). So God miraculously feeds the millions, yes MILLIONS, with manna in the desert! Yet the pessimism still continues, as we read in the next chapter: “Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. And they chided with Moses, and said: ‘Give us water, that we may drink!’ And Moses answered them: Why do you chide me? Why do you tempt the Lord?’ So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’ And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: ‘What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me!’” (Exodus 17:1-4).
● Pessimistic About the Guidance of God and Moses ― Not long afterwards, they were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, “And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Mount Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mountain. And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights” (Exodus 24:16-18) … “And the people seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, gathering together against Aaron, said: ‘Arise, make us gods, that may go before us! For as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him!’ And Aaron said to them: Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me. And when he had received them, he made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And Aaron built an altar before it, and they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. See how this people is stiff-necked! Leave Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:1-10). Even after all the miracles that God had performed in Egypt, and parting the waters of the Red Sea, feeding millions of people miraculously each day, bringing water out of a rock, seeing Mount Sinai all on fire with God’s glory―and now, with Moses gone for forty days up the mountain, they lose heart and become pessimistic once again―this time turning to false gods to save them.
● Pessimistic About Their Plight in the Desert Wilderness ― Eventually, the Israelites left Sinai and recommenced their march through the wilderness. “In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up. Then a mixed multitude of people [non-Israelites], that came up with them, the children of Israel also being joined with them, said: ‘Who shall give us meat to eat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt at no cost! The cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic! Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna!’ And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled. To Moses, also, the thing seemed insupportable. [Moses then became pessimistic himself] and he said to the Lord: ‘Why hast Thou afflicted thy servant? Why do I not find favor before Thee? And why hast Thou laid the weight of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that Thou shouldst say to me: “Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers!”? Where am I going to get meat to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying: “Give us flesh that we may eat!” I am not able to bear by myself all this people, because it is too heavy for me! But if it seems otherwise unto thee, then I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils!” (Number 11:1-2). All of this is what we encounter every day―either from those around us, or even ourselves― “I’ve had enough! I can’t take it anymore! I’m done with this! I tried! I did what I could! No more! I’m through! If there is a good God, why does He let all this happen? It’s not fair!” People with such an attitude ought to beware―for what God did to His Chosen People because of their complaining, murmuring and reluctance to fulfill His will, God might well do to you! What did God do? Read on!
● Pessimistic About Conquering the Promised Land ― Once the Israelites reached the borders of the Promised Land, Moses sent out the 12 spies to survey the Promised Land for a period of 40 days. When the spies returned, 10 of the 12 were pessimistic about the chances of conquering the Promised Land, only two were realistic and optimistic―Josue and Caleb. “Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them: ‘We were come into Cadesbarne, I said to you: “You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us! See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee! Go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers! Fear not, nor be any way discouraged!” And you all came to me, and said: “Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go!” And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men―one man from every tribe―who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land, taking of the fruits thereof, to show its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: “The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us!” And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God, you murmured in your tents, and said: “The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us! Why should we go up? The messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: “The multitude is very great, and taller than we! The cities are great and walled up to the sky!” And I said to you: “Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them! The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” And yet, for all this, you did not believe the Lord your God, Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night showing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud. And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, He was angry and swore, and said: “Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers―except for Caleb and Josue [the two spies who gave a favorable report about conquering the Promised Land]. Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in and to them I will give the [Promised] land, and they shall possess it. But you shall return and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea!” And you answered me: “We have sinned against the Lord! We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded!” And when you went ready armed unto the mountain, the Lord said to me: “Say to them: ‘Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you! Lest you fall before your enemies!’ I told you this, and you listened not―but, resisting the commandment of the Lord and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain. And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma. And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to; your voice!’” (Deuteronomy 1:3, 1:19-45).
● Pessimistic Soldiers in Facing Goliath ― The Israelites and King Saul were pessimistic when faced by Goliath and the Philistines. “The Philistines gathering together their troops to battle … And King Saul and the children of Israel set the army in array to fight against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And there went out a man from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, whose height was six cubits and a span [approximately nine feet, six inches]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass: He wore brass leg-coverings and a shield of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred pieces of iron, and his armor-bearer went before him. And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel, and said to them: ‘Why have you come out dressed and prepared to fight? Am not I a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be servants to you! But if I prevail against him and kill him, you shall be our servants and shall serve us. And King Saul and all the Israelites hearing these words of the Philistine were dismayed, and greatly afraid” (1 Kings 17:1-11). We all know the result―little David came on scene and slew Goliath―yet the point to be made here is once again the pessimism of the Israelites. We will deal with David in our “Optimist” and “Realist” sections.
► PESSIMISM OF ST. ZACHARY, FATHER OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST: You would have thought “Saints are not pessimists!” ― but you will find that many a saint was a pessimist at one time or another, or in one moment or another. They were not saints because they were pessimists―on the contrary, pessimism was a weakness that driven-out by a progressive growth in sanctity. We see this to be true in the case of St. Zachary―the father of St. John the Baptist. Holy Scripture gives us a clear picture of his pessimism: “There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary, and his wife was Elizabeth … And they had no son, for Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. And it came to pass, when Zachary executed the priestly function before God, according to the custom of the priestly office, it was his turn to offer incense in the Temple of the Lord … And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord … And Zachary, seeing him, was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: ‘Fear not, Zachary! For thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John! … And Zachary said to the angel: ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years!’ [Therefore doubting that they could beget a child at such an old age―much like Abraham and Sara doubted]. And the angel answering, said to him: ‘Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass, because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time!’ And the people were waiting for Zachary; and they wondered that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak to them―and they understood that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he made signs to them and remained dumb” (Luke 1:1-22).
► PESSIMISM OF ST. JOSEPH: Who would have dreamed that St. Joseph could have been pessimistic? Yet we see that even great saints succumb to pessimism from time to time. When Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant, he was struck with pessimism―or perhaps we should say he was struck with temptation to pessimism, to which he partly gave in―as shown by his reactions and behavior. He had to be brought out of his pessimism by an angel, who would tell him, in a dream, not to be afraid of taking Mary as his wife, for the Child that she was carrying was not of some other man, but of God. “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost!’” (Matthew 1:18-20).
► PESSIMISM OF THE APOSTLES: You might be surprised by the fact that pessimism is even found at the very top. We have many instances where the Apostles were shown to be pessimists―either as a whole group, or individually. Here are just a few of the many occasions where the Apostles were seen to be pessimistic.
● Pessimistic Peter ― Christ calls Simon Peter to follow Him, despite Simon Peter’s initial pessimistic attitude: “It came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Genesareth, and saw two ships standing by the lake―but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets [after an fruitless night on the lake, having caught no fish]. And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, Jesus desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting there, he taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when He had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch!’ And Simon, answering, said to Him: ‘Master! We have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word I will let down the net! [We see here a mixture of pessimism and perhaps a grain of optimism]. And when they had done this, they caught a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships―so that they were almost sinking. Which, when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying: ‘Depart from me! For I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ [He could just as well have said: “Depart from me for I am a pessimistic man!”]. For he was wholly astonished―and all that were with him―at the catch of the fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee―who were Simon’s partners” (Luke 5:1-10).
● The Feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 ― The Gospels mention two separate incidents where Christ miraculously fed 4,000 persons and then 5,000 persons―and, in each case, the pessimism of the Apostles can be seen. Our Lord would later rebuke this pessimism: “And Jesus said: ‘Why do you think within yourselves, O ye of little faith, that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves among four thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?’” (Matthew 16:8-10).
The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark give us the account of the feeding of the 4,000 men: “In those days, there was a great multitude, and had nothing to eat. And Jesus called together His disciples, and said: ‘I have compassion on the multitudes, because they continue with Me now three days, and have not what to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way―for some of them came from afar off!’ And His disciples answered Him: ‘From whence can anyone fill them here with bread in the wilderness? Whence then should we have so many loaves in the desert, as to fill so great a multitude?’ [Pessimism about how this could be possibly achieved]. And Jesus said to them: ‘How many loaves have you?’ But they said: ‘Seven, and a few little fishes!’ [an implicit pessimism that seems to say: “How on earth can we feed thousands with 7 loaves and few little fishes?”]. And He commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples for to set before the multitude; and they set them before the people. And they had a few little fishes; and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women” (Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9).
We then read of a similar miracle in the feeding of 5,000 men: “Jesus retired into a desert place apart, and the multitudes having heard of it, followed Him out of the cities. And He coming forth saw a great multitude, and had compassion on them, and healed their sick. And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying: ‘This is a desert place, and the hour is now past! Send away the multitudes, so that going into the towns, they may buy themselves food and provisions. But Jesus said to them: ‘They have no need to go! You give them to eat!’ They answered Him: ‘We have nothing here except five loaves and two fishes!’ [Again we seen the pessimism that fails to trust in Christ’s power of miracles]. He said to them: ‘Bring them here to Me!’ And when He had commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to Heaven, He blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples gave then to the multitudes. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up what remained, twelve full baskets of fragments. And the number of them that did eat, was five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:13-21).
● Pessimism on the Lake ― The Apostles had already witnessed many miracles of Our Lord and should have had a much greater faith and trust in Him―but they did not. This is seen in the incident of the storm on the lake, with Jesus sleeping and taking a nap on the boat during the storm―which led to an immense pessimism on the part of the Apostles, who screamed for help as they awoke Him: “Jesus entered into the boat and His disciples followed Him. And a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to him, and awakened him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26). How many times have we not been―and perhaps still are―in a similar mindset, thinking that everything is collapsing around us and Jesus seems to be sleeping and has no care for our predicament?
● Pessimism in the Passion ― We see a similar Apostolic pessimism during the Passion of Christ. When Our Lord speaks of His impending future Passion, the Apostles fall into a pessimistic dismay: “And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men! And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again!’ And they were troubled exceedingly” (Matthew 17:21-22).
In the case of the two disciples of Christ, dejectedly walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, we see just one of many instances of the tsunami of pessimism that swept over Christ’s Apostles and disciples after His death: “And behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself [now resurrected from the dead] also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art Thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom Jesus said: ‘What things?’ And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people! And how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him! But we hoped that it was He that should have redeemed Israel! And now, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. And certain women, also of our company, frightened us, who, before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and, not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive! And some of our people went to the sepulcher and found it so, as the women had said, but Him they found not!’ Then Jesus said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him” (Luke 24:13-27).
The Apostle, Thomas, whom we sometimes call “Doubting Thomas”, could also be called “Pessimistic Thomas”, in view of his pessimism when told by all the other Apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead: “The other disciples, therefore, said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side―I will not believe!’” (John 20:25).
Likewise just before Christ’s ascension into Heaven, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and, seeing Him, they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17).
Thus, as we can well see from all the above “tip of an iceberg” examples, pessimism was not a rare thing in Holy Scripture. On the whole―with regards to God―pessimism was rebuked by God and Christ as being a lack of trust in God. We shall now take a look at OPTIMISM under two aspects―FALSE OPTIMISM (which could be said to be an over-exaggerated or presumptuous optimism) and REAL or TRUE OPTIMISM (which is an optimism tempered by realism).
There are three men are sat in a bar looking at glass of beer that is half-filled. They start to argue about the level of the beer in the glass. The optimist argues that the glass is half-full. The pessimist disagrees―and argues that the glass is half-empty. The realist doesn’t bother to enter into the argument―he simply takes the glass of beer, drinks it, and walks away saying the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
What’s the difference between a pessimist and an optimist? The pessimist will say: “It can’t get any worse than this!” The optimist will reply: “Of course it can!”
George Bernard Shaw would say: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimists invents the plane. The pessimist invents the parachute!”
Three men are in a dark tunnel. The pessimist complains there is no light in the tunnel. The optimist see the light at the end of the tunnel. The realist sees that the light is an oncoming train. The train driver sees only three fools on the track.
Another three men fell of the top of 100-story building. As he passed the 20th floor, the pessimist was crying and cursing. The optimist was saying: “So far, so good!” While the realist was saying: “I might as well enjoy the experience while I can!”
Many a True Word Said in Jest
Joking aside―what is the difference between optimists, pessimists, and realists? Do you really know? Which one is the best one to be? Is there a best one? Can you be all three? Or are you stuck with being one of them for the rest of your life? Today, there is a tendency to look upon pessimists as being negative people that simply “turn people off”, whereas optimists are the “darlings” of society. Realists are looked upon as being “closet” pessimists, who are afraid of being labeled as pessimists and therefore call themselves “realists”! But is this a true characterization? Are pessimists always wrong and optimists always right?
Though you shouldn’t apply this too strictly, but, according to studies of the Four Temperaments (Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic and Phlegmatic), you could generally paint a picture of Melancholics being the pessimists, Sanguines being the optimistic, Cholerics being the realists―and Phlegmatics not wanting to think about it at all, or following one of the three other opinions.
Now, if you are going to follow the above allocations or divisions, then you must also realize that very rarely is a person just one single temperament―they are usually a mixture of two or more, with one predominating. So, for example, you could be 70% Choleric, 20% Melancholic and 10% Phlegmatic. Which, would then translate to 70% Realist, 20% Pessimist and 10% don’t want to give an opinion. Or you could be 60% Sanguine, 30% Melancholic and 10% Choleric―which would translate to 60% Optimist, 30% Pessimist, and 10% Realist. The permutations are endless. The point being, is that nobody is totally optimistic, nor totally pessimistic, nor totally realistic. Furthermore, there is a case to be made for saying that neither of these three attitudes is bad in itself―it only becomes harmful when one attitude habitually excludes the viewpoint of the other two attitudes. There should be an input from all sides and then the virtue of Prudence, which is also called the “Queen of Virtues”, should make the final decision. More on Prudence later. For now, let us have a brief look at each of these groups and also try to diagnose why each class―Optimists, Pessimists and Realists―thinks and acts like it does.
The Pessimistic Pessimist
The terms “pessimism” and “pessimist” come from the Latin word “pessimus” ― meaning “the worst”. A pessimist tends to see the worst in things. A pessimist is often viewed as a negative person, but in reality this isn’t the case. Most people confuse pessimism with fatalism―which is the root of this misconception. You cannot equate pessimism with fatalism―they are two different mindsets. Yes, you can have a pessimist who is also a fatalist, but it is wrong to say that pessimism = fatalism. Fatalism, the attitude of mind which accepts whatever happens as having been bound or decreed to happen. It states that certain things are going to happen, and no choices you make can change that. So, following this attitude, you are either going to Heaven or Hell―and there is nothing you can do to change that. This, of course is absurd. God Himself says: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―for in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication (lies), by which he hath prevaricated (lied), and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20-24). So, there is no unchangeable fatalism that will automatically take place regardless of what we do.
► PESSIMISM DEFINED: By definition a pessimistic person is a person who tends to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. They can have a defeatist mindset. They have a tendency to stress the negative, or stress the unfavorable side of things, or to take the gloomiest possible view. They have a general belief that things are mostly bad, that bad things will happen, that things will turn out badly. They can have a lack of hope or confidence in the future, or in the success of projects or suggestions. They have the tendency to expect misfortune or the worst outcome in any circumstances; they have a habit of always looking on the dark side of things. Pessimists will usually be skeptical or doubting. They may need serious proof before they agree to jump on board with any project. They prefer to proceed with caution and even suspicion. Whenever they hear something new, they are the first to scrutinize thoroughly it before they will accept it. This can be frustrating to some (especially optimists), but often they are the ones that facilitate the level of quality and change. Investigators and scientific people often represent this group.
► PESSIMISTS IN THE BIBLE: We find pessimism in the Bible from the very earliest times! In fact, there is so much pessimism and so many pessimists that you could write a whole book on the subject. We can only look at a handful.
► PESSIMISTIC CAIN: The first pessimist we see is Cain. “Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman. And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?’” (Genesis 4:2-7). Cain becomes negative and gloomy because God preferred Abel’s sacrifice over his. Negativity breeds negativity, and so Cain’s negative emotions lead to Cain negating the life of Abel by killing him. Rather than improve his own life―and thus be just as acceptable to God as Abel―he decides to take away Abel’s life to make himself feel better. “And God said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done?’ The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand! When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit! A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the Earth!’ And Cain said to the Lord: ‘My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon! [pessimistic response] Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the Earth, and I shall be hidden from Thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me!’ [even more pessimism]” (Genesis 4:10-14).
► PESSIMISTIC ABRAM: (He was originally called “Abram” until God later changed his name to “Abraham”). “And there came a famine in the country; and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there―for the famine was very grievous in the land. And when he was near to entering into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: ‘I know that thou art a beautiful woman, and that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: “She is his wife!” and they will kill me and keep thee. Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister―so that I may be well treated because of thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake’” (Genesis 12:10-13). Here we see a certain lack of trust in God’s protection. Abram becomes pessimistic about his safety and fears for his life because of the beauty of his wife, and so resorts to lying.
Another instance of Abram’s pessimism is shown when Abram reached the age of 99, and he still had not begotten a child through Sarai his wife. God appeared to him and changed the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sara and promised Abraham a child. Abraham interiorly laughed at this news through his pessimistic spirit. We read in Scripture: “And after Abraham began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said unto him: ‘I am the Almighty God … I will make thee increase, exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee … Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him!’ … Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: ‘Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth?’” (Genesis 17:1-17). Abraham’s wife, was also negative and skeptical when she heard the news: “Which when Sara heard, she laughed ... They were both old and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women. And she laughed secretly, saying: ‘Now that I am grown old and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?’ And the Lord said to Abraham: ‘Why did Sara laugh, saying: “Shall I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?” Is there anything hard for God?’” (Genesis 18:10-14).
After this, we a repeat of Abraham’s earlier pessimism (Genesis 12:10-13), where Abraham again fears for his life on account of his wife’s beauty, fearing that the King of Gerara would kill him in order to take his wife from him: “Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara. And he said of Sara his wife: ‘She is my sister!’ So Abimelech, the king of Gerara, sent and took her. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and He said to him: ‘Behold, thou shalt die because of the woman thou hast taken! For she hath a husband!’ Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: ‘Lord! Wilt thou slay a nation that is ignorant and just? Did not he [Abraham] say to me: “She is my sister!” and she [Sara] say: “He is my brother?” In the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this!’ And God said to him: ‘I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart! And therefore I withheld thee from sinning against Me, and I suffered thee not to touch her! Now, therefore, restore the man his wife―for he is a prophet: and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live―but if thou wilt not restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine!’” (Genesis 20:1-7).
► PESSIMISTIC ISRAELITES: Joseph―the son of Jacob, the grandson of Isaac, and the great grandson of Abraham―had been greatly popular in Egypt, having saved the Pharao and Egypt from famine. As a result of this, the Pharao installed Joseph as the “Number Two” man in Egypt. Joseph even saved his brothers―who had wanted to kill him and sold him into slavery―from the famine too. Thus, his father, Jacob and his brothers moved to Egypt. But after the death of Joseph, the Egyptians quickly forgot what Joseph had done for them and they gradually turned against the Israelites, eventually enslaving them. After 400 years of slavery under the Egyptians, God sent Moses to rescue them and the famous Exodus from Egypt took place. Yet they went with great pessimism, as is shown by this account: “And when Pharao [and his army that were pursuing the Israelites] drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord. And they said to Moses: ‘Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness!Wwhy wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to thee in Egypt, saying: ‘Depart from us, so that we may serve the Egyptians? For it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness!’” (Exodus 14:10-12). Of course, we know that God parted the waters of the Red Sea, so that the Israelites could escape Pharao’s army, and used those same waters to drown and destroy that army―yet what is manifest here is the pessimistic lack of trust in almighty God.
● Pessimistic About the Exodus from Egypt ― That same pessimism continued even after they were saved, for the Israelites were perpetually negative about the desert wilderness conditions: “All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them: ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full! Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?’” (Genesis 16:2-3). So God miraculously feeds the millions, yes MILLIONS, with manna in the desert! Yet the pessimism still continues, as we read in the next chapter: “Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. And they chided with Moses, and said: ‘Give us water, that we may drink!’ And Moses answered them: Why do you chide me? Why do you tempt the Lord?’ So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’ And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: ‘What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me!’” (Exodus 17:1-4).
● Pessimistic About the Guidance of God and Moses ― Not long afterwards, they were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, “And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Mount Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mountain. And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights” (Exodus 24:16-18) … “And the people seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, gathering together against Aaron, said: ‘Arise, make us gods, that may go before us! For as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him!’ And Aaron said to them: Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me. And when he had received them, he made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And Aaron built an altar before it, and they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. See how this people is stiff-necked! Leave Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:1-10). Even after all the miracles that God had performed in Egypt, and parting the waters of the Red Sea, feeding millions of people miraculously each day, bringing water out of a rock, seeing Mount Sinai all on fire with God’s glory―and now, with Moses gone for forty days up the mountain, they lose heart and become pessimistic once again―this time turning to false gods to save them.
● Pessimistic About Their Plight in the Desert Wilderness ― Eventually, the Israelites left Sinai and recommenced their march through the wilderness. “In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up. Then a mixed multitude of people [non-Israelites], that came up with them, the children of Israel also being joined with them, said: ‘Who shall give us meat to eat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt at no cost! The cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic! Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna!’ And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled. To Moses, also, the thing seemed insupportable. [Moses then became pessimistic himself] and he said to the Lord: ‘Why hast Thou afflicted thy servant? Why do I not find favor before Thee? And why hast Thou laid the weight of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that Thou shouldst say to me: “Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers!”? Where am I going to get meat to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying: “Give us flesh that we may eat!” I am not able to bear by myself all this people, because it is too heavy for me! But if it seems otherwise unto thee, then I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils!” (Number 11:1-2). All of this is what we encounter every day―either from those around us, or even ourselves― “I’ve had enough! I can’t take it anymore! I’m done with this! I tried! I did what I could! No more! I’m through! If there is a good God, why does He let all this happen? It’s not fair!” People with such an attitude ought to beware―for what God did to His Chosen People because of their complaining, murmuring and reluctance to fulfill His will, God might well do to you! What did God do? Read on!
● Pessimistic About Conquering the Promised Land ― Once the Israelites reached the borders of the Promised Land, Moses sent out the 12 spies to survey the Promised Land for a period of 40 days. When the spies returned, 10 of the 12 were pessimistic about the chances of conquering the Promised Land, only two were realistic and optimistic―Josue and Caleb. “Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them: ‘We were come into Cadesbarne, I said to you: “You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us! See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee! Go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers! Fear not, nor be any way discouraged!” And you all came to me, and said: “Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go!” And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men―one man from every tribe―who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land, taking of the fruits thereof, to show its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: “The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us!” And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God, you murmured in your tents, and said: “The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us! Why should we go up? The messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: “The multitude is very great, and taller than we! The cities are great and walled up to the sky!” And I said to you: “Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them! The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” And yet, for all this, you did not believe the Lord your God, Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night showing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud. And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, He was angry and swore, and said: “Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers―except for Caleb and Josue [the two spies who gave a favorable report about conquering the Promised Land]. Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in and to them I will give the [Promised] land, and they shall possess it. But you shall return and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea!” And you answered me: “We have sinned against the Lord! We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded!” And when you went ready armed unto the mountain, the Lord said to me: “Say to them: ‘Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you! Lest you fall before your enemies!’ I told you this, and you listened not―but, resisting the commandment of the Lord and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain. And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma. And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to; your voice!’” (Deuteronomy 1:3, 1:19-45).
● Pessimistic Soldiers in Facing Goliath ― The Israelites and King Saul were pessimistic when faced by Goliath and the Philistines. “The Philistines gathering together their troops to battle … And King Saul and the children of Israel set the army in array to fight against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And there went out a man from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, whose height was six cubits and a span [approximately nine feet, six inches]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass: He wore brass leg-coverings and a shield of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred pieces of iron, and his armor-bearer went before him. And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel, and said to them: ‘Why have you come out dressed and prepared to fight? Am not I a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be servants to you! But if I prevail against him and kill him, you shall be our servants and shall serve us. And King Saul and all the Israelites hearing these words of the Philistine were dismayed, and greatly afraid” (1 Kings 17:1-11). We all know the result―little David came on scene and slew Goliath―yet the point to be made here is once again the pessimism of the Israelites. We will deal with David in our “Optimist” and “Realist” sections.
► PESSIMISM OF ST. ZACHARY, FATHER OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST: You would have thought “Saints are not pessimists!” ― but you will find that many a saint was a pessimist at one time or another, or in one moment or another. They were not saints because they were pessimists―on the contrary, pessimism was a weakness that driven-out by a progressive growth in sanctity. We see this to be true in the case of St. Zachary―the father of St. John the Baptist. Holy Scripture gives us a clear picture of his pessimism: “There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary, and his wife was Elizabeth … And they had no son, for Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. And it came to pass, when Zachary executed the priestly function before God, according to the custom of the priestly office, it was his turn to offer incense in the Temple of the Lord … And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord … And Zachary, seeing him, was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: ‘Fear not, Zachary! For thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John! … And Zachary said to the angel: ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years!’ [Therefore doubting that they could beget a child at such an old age―much like Abraham and Sara doubted]. And the angel answering, said to him: ‘Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass, because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time!’ And the people were waiting for Zachary; and they wondered that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak to them―and they understood that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he made signs to them and remained dumb” (Luke 1:1-22).
► PESSIMISM OF ST. JOSEPH: Who would have dreamed that St. Joseph could have been pessimistic? Yet we see that even great saints succumb to pessimism from time to time. When Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant, he was struck with pessimism―or perhaps we should say he was struck with temptation to pessimism, to which he partly gave in―as shown by his reactions and behavior. He had to be brought out of his pessimism by an angel, who would tell him, in a dream, not to be afraid of taking Mary as his wife, for the Child that she was carrying was not of some other man, but of God. “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost!’” (Matthew 1:18-20).
► PESSIMISM OF THE APOSTLES: You might be surprised by the fact that pessimism is even found at the very top. We have many instances where the Apostles were shown to be pessimists―either as a whole group, or individually. Here are just a few of the many occasions where the Apostles were seen to be pessimistic.
● Pessimistic Peter ― Christ calls Simon Peter to follow Him, despite Simon Peter’s initial pessimistic attitude: “It came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Genesareth, and saw two ships standing by the lake―but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets [after an fruitless night on the lake, having caught no fish]. And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, Jesus desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting there, he taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when He had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch!’ And Simon, answering, said to Him: ‘Master! We have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word I will let down the net! [We see here a mixture of pessimism and perhaps a grain of optimism]. And when they had done this, they caught a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships―so that they were almost sinking. Which, when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying: ‘Depart from me! For I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ [He could just as well have said: “Depart from me for I am a pessimistic man!”]. For he was wholly astonished―and all that were with him―at the catch of the fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee―who were Simon’s partners” (Luke 5:1-10).
● The Feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 ― The Gospels mention two separate incidents where Christ miraculously fed 4,000 persons and then 5,000 persons―and, in each case, the pessimism of the Apostles can be seen. Our Lord would later rebuke this pessimism: “And Jesus said: ‘Why do you think within yourselves, O ye of little faith, that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves among four thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?’” (Matthew 16:8-10).
The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark give us the account of the feeding of the 4,000 men: “In those days, there was a great multitude, and had nothing to eat. And Jesus called together His disciples, and said: ‘I have compassion on the multitudes, because they continue with Me now three days, and have not what to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way―for some of them came from afar off!’ And His disciples answered Him: ‘From whence can anyone fill them here with bread in the wilderness? Whence then should we have so many loaves in the desert, as to fill so great a multitude?’ [Pessimism about how this could be possibly achieved]. And Jesus said to them: ‘How many loaves have you?’ But they said: ‘Seven, and a few little fishes!’ [an implicit pessimism that seems to say: “How on earth can we feed thousands with 7 loaves and few little fishes?”]. And He commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples for to set before the multitude; and they set them before the people. And they had a few little fishes; and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women” (Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9).
We then read of a similar miracle in the feeding of 5,000 men: “Jesus retired into a desert place apart, and the multitudes having heard of it, followed Him out of the cities. And He coming forth saw a great multitude, and had compassion on them, and healed their sick. And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying: ‘This is a desert place, and the hour is now past! Send away the multitudes, so that going into the towns, they may buy themselves food and provisions. But Jesus said to them: ‘They have no need to go! You give them to eat!’ They answered Him: ‘We have nothing here except five loaves and two fishes!’ [Again we seen the pessimism that fails to trust in Christ’s power of miracles]. He said to them: ‘Bring them here to Me!’ And when He had commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to Heaven, He blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples gave then to the multitudes. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up what remained, twelve full baskets of fragments. And the number of them that did eat, was five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:13-21).
● Pessimism on the Lake ― The Apostles had already witnessed many miracles of Our Lord and should have had a much greater faith and trust in Him―but they did not. This is seen in the incident of the storm on the lake, with Jesus sleeping and taking a nap on the boat during the storm―which led to an immense pessimism on the part of the Apostles, who screamed for help as they awoke Him: “Jesus entered into the boat and His disciples followed Him. And a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to him, and awakened him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26). How many times have we not been―and perhaps still are―in a similar mindset, thinking that everything is collapsing around us and Jesus seems to be sleeping and has no care for our predicament?
● Pessimism in the Passion ― We see a similar Apostolic pessimism during the Passion of Christ. When Our Lord speaks of His impending future Passion, the Apostles fall into a pessimistic dismay: “And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men! And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again!’ And they were troubled exceedingly” (Matthew 17:21-22).
In the case of the two disciples of Christ, dejectedly walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, we see just one of many instances of the tsunami of pessimism that swept over Christ’s Apostles and disciples after His death: “And behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself [now resurrected from the dead] also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art Thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom Jesus said: ‘What things?’ And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people! And how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him! But we hoped that it was He that should have redeemed Israel! And now, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. And certain women, also of our company, frightened us, who, before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and, not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive! And some of our people went to the sepulcher and found it so, as the women had said, but Him they found not!’ Then Jesus said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him” (Luke 24:13-27).
The Apostle, Thomas, whom we sometimes call “Doubting Thomas”, could also be called “Pessimistic Thomas”, in view of his pessimism when told by all the other Apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead: “The other disciples, therefore, said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side―I will not believe!’” (John 20:25).
Likewise just before Christ’s ascension into Heaven, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and, seeing Him, they adored―but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17).
Thus, as we can well see from all the above “tip of an iceberg” examples, pessimism was not a rare thing in Holy Scripture. On the whole―with regards to God―pessimism was rebuked by God and Christ as being a lack of trust in God. We shall now take a look at OPTIMISM under two aspects―FALSE OPTIMISM (which could be said to be an over-exaggerated or presumptuous optimism) and REAL or TRUE OPTIMISM (which is an optimism tempered by realism).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday March 8th, Tuesday March 9th & Wednesday March 10th
Article 15
Is God Tough or Kind?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday March 8th, Tuesday March 9th & Wednesday March 10th
Article 15
Is God Tough or Kind?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What’s Your Idea of God? Tough or Kind?
There are some who see God as being tough, hard, rigorous, full of justice and vengeful―and you can admittedly find Scriptural quotes that prove that. Others see God as being loving, kind, compassionate and merciful―and there are Scriptural quotes that also prove that. For example:
► THE TOUGH SIDE OF GOD: Not long after creating the world and all in it, “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And, being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth―from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air―for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’ … The Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-13). The rest is history―God flooded the entire Earth and wiped out all human life, except for Noe and the families of his three sons. God decreed: “Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life under Heaven. All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed … I will rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the Earth … And the rain fell upon the Earth forty days and forty nights … And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the Earth, died. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the Earth―and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 6:17; 7:4; 7:22-23). The scary part is that God’s attitudes never change! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
► Another example of widespread “toughness” or “vengefulness” ― which God Himself claims to have: “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time!” (Deuteronomy 32:35) ― is God’s treatment, in the time of Moses, of both His enemies and His Chosen People. We see God allow His Chosen People to be enslaved to the Egyptians: “the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them: [14] And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service” (Exodus 1:13-14)―perhaps He allowed that slavery as a fitting punishment for Israelites (Jacob’s tribe) for the fact that Joseph (the favorite son of Jacob) being sold into slavery by his envious brothers―for, as Scripture says: “The Lord … visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18). We see God inflict the Ten Plagues upon the Egyptians who refused to release God’s Chosen People from slavery in Egypt (Exodus, chapters 7 to 12), and then God destroys the Egyptian army that pursued the Chosen People once they did leave Egypt (Exodus, chapter 14). Nevertheless, very soon the Israelites fall into idolatry with Golden Calf and God says to Moses: “Thy people hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it! … Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:7-10). The Chosen People continue to moan and grumble―so God continues to punish them with fire from Heaven and plagues (Numbers chapter 11). Not long afterwards (Numbers chapters 13 & 14), the Chosen People again bear the brunt of God’s anger by refusing to enter into the Promised Land and fight its occupants in order to obtain the Promised Land (notice that God is not handing the Promised Land to them on “silver platter”, but is making them work and fight for it). As a consequence for refusing to obey God and battle for the Promised Land, God decrees:
“How long will this people detract Me? how long will they not believe Me for all the signs that I have wrought before them? Therefore I will strike them with pestilence, and will consume them! … All the men that have seen My majesty and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness have tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed My voice! They shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted Me behold it! … In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Josue. But your children will I bring in―so that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert! According to the number of the forty days, during which you viewed the land, year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities and shall know my revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die!” (Number 14:11-12; 14:22-23; 14:29-35). The scary part is that God’s attitudes never change! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17) ― and, as Scripture adds: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► You had better believe that “whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth” (Proverbs 3:12) ― for once the Chosen People had finally entered and conquered the Promised Land, after being punished by God in the desert wilderness, God again chastised them for having fallen into idolatry and sinfulness. First of all―after the Kingdom of Israel had been divided into the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes) and the Southern Kingdom (2 tribes)―the Northern Kingdom fell into more idolatry and began worshiping false gods. God’s response was to have all the 10 tribes fall into the hands of surrounding countries and be led away into slavery and racial assimilation―thus obliterating the identity and existence of those 10 tribes. Hence history refers to them as “Lost 10 Tribes of Israel”. Soon afterwards, however, the Southern Kingdom also fell into idolatry and the worship of false gods―God, who never changes, did not change His reaction. The Southern Kingdom also fell to its enemies―Babylon in this case―and many slaughtered or led away as captives to Babylon, for what is now known as the “Babylonian Captivity”. Jerusalem and glorious Temple of Solomon built in honor of God was utterly destroyed. Yes―“whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth” (Proverbs 3:12).
► A similar fate awaited the Jews in the New Testament, for having rejected and killed Christ. In the year 70 AD, Jerusalem fell to the Romans―as Christ had predicted―and over 1 million persons were killed, tens of thousands crucified, and around 100,000 taken away as captives for sport in Roman gladiatorial circus.
Those are just three major instances of God’s just anger punishing large numbers of persons―the entire world, the Egyptians and the Chosen People―for sinfulness of various kinds. There are many more occasions where God did the same to other nations in the Old Testament, and many, many more occasions when families or individuals were punished for the sinfulness, disobedience, rejection of God or idolatry. If you were to write a book on the subject and comment upon it―then it would have be a book of a thousand or more pages. Hopefully you get the idea. God can be tough, hard, rigorous, full of justice and vengeful―if He has to. Whether He does or not, depends upon us!
► THE KIND SIDE OF GOD: On the other hand, we also see the extreme kindness and mercy of God as reported by Holy Scripture. In one psalm, every single line ends with the words: “… for His mercy endureth for ever!” (Psalm 135:1-27). You can rightfully suppose that, by repeating this phrase 27 times in one single psalm, God is trying to tell us something! Likewise, in Psalm 144, we read: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, mercy is a subsection of the virtue of charity―and, as Scripture says: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8).
It is we―mankind―that are lacking in mercy and charity (except towards ourselves!). We are all too ready to point the finger at others; quick to cry for blood; quick to condemn and demand justice―so much so that Our Lord had to rebuke us many times with statements such as: “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!” (Matthew 18:21-22).
In the Old Testament God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). In the New Testament, Our Lord encountered a “scarlet woman” who had been caught in adultery, whom the Scribes and Pharisees had then brought before Our Lord to see what He would say and do—for according to God’s own law in the Old Testament, she deserved to be stoned to death. “And the Scribes and the Pharisees bring unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:3-11).
St. James and St. John wanted to see punishment and retribution happening right away when the inhabitants of a certain Samaritan city refused to accept Jesus. “And it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Later, we have the encounter of Our Lord with the Good Thief, as both were attached each to his own cross on Calvary. The thief was also undoubtedly also a robber and a murderer—otherwise he would not be sentenced to death for theft alone. Yet this thief also managed to steal Heaven in the last moments of his life. “And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’ And he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:39-43).
The thief had lived an evil life and had little interest in following God’s laws—whereas the Scribes and Pharisees were most certainly interested in God’s laws and tried to follow them. Yet to the Scribes and Pharisees Our Lord said: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of Heaven against men, but you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is converted, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! Woe to you blind guides! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes—and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the Earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar!” (Matthew 23:13-35).
What a tirade! We do not see anything like it elsewhere in Our Lord’s ministry! He said nothing of the sort to the Good Thief on the cross—nor to the other thief. He did not say anything like that to Pontius Pilate, nor King Herod. He could have said something like to the woman caught in adultery, or Mary Magdalen. Yet He did not! So what’s the deal? What is God like? Is God “two-faced” or what? No He isn’t—to think or say that would be blasphemous.
God Himself Answers the Question
God is like any true parent should be—or should we say any true parent should be like God. Our Lord puts its mildly when He says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). In the Old Testmament, God puts it even more clearly and bluntly:
Two Sides of God—Leviticus
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
Having God Be Tough On Us―Or Being Tough On Ourselves
You get to choose the kind of God you will get―tough or kind! The foundational principle is: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apocalypse 21:27). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20).
If you choose to sin, then you necessarily choose the punitive sufferings that will accompany your sins: “Thou wilt render to every man according to his works” (Psalm 61:13). “Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). “The just judgment of God will render to every man according to his works. To them who according to patience in good works, seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. [But to them that are contentious, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. But glory, and honor, and peace to everyone that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:5-11).
“The Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the cleanness of my hands He will render to me. Because I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments are in my sight and His precepts I have not removed from me. And I shall be perfect with Him and shall keep myself from my iniquity. And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of His eyes. With the holy one Thou wilt be holy; with the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted” (2 Kings 22:21-27).
We see the punitive consequences for sin present in the paralytic by the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem, who had suffered under his infirmity for 38 years―until Our Lord cured him and then warned him to sin no more, lest perhaps something even worse should happen to him! “Now there is, at Jerusalem, a pond called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these [porches] lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond, after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming down to the pond, another goes down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Thus, Our Lord shows him kindness by healing him, but warns that he will experience God’s “toughness” if he continues to sin. The same applies to all of us! Hence Holy Scripture warns: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9).
Thus Holy Scripture exhorts: “By charity of the spirit serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ But if you bite and devour one another, then take heed lest you be not consumed one of another. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh―for these are opposed one to another―so that you do not the things that you would like. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifestly obvious, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longsuffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences” (Galatians 5:13-24). “Therefore there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh” (Romans 8:1). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
“He that shall overcome [the flesh] shall possess these things [Heaven], and I will be his God; and he shall be My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars―they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:7-8).
If you desire Heaven, you must overcome its enemies―which are the world, the flesh and the devil who uses them to lure you into sin and your eventual damnation. “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
The problem is that too many Catholics love the world and pamper their flesh―thus giving the devil a “field day” and an “open house” for his damning work. No wonder so many souls are lost and so few are saved! What will you do? Among which group will you fall? “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16). As the saints say―if you wish to be saved with the few, you must live like the few.
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, says: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, adds: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
While St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, states: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
Therefore if we do not want God to be tough on us because of our sins, then we need to fight and abandon those sins now, and bring forth fruits worthy of penance for them! Then God will be kind and not tough―if not, then God will be “kinda” tough!
There are some who see God as being tough, hard, rigorous, full of justice and vengeful―and you can admittedly find Scriptural quotes that prove that. Others see God as being loving, kind, compassionate and merciful―and there are Scriptural quotes that also prove that. For example:
► THE TOUGH SIDE OF GOD: Not long after creating the world and all in it, “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And, being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth―from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air―for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’ … The Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-13). The rest is history―God flooded the entire Earth and wiped out all human life, except for Noe and the families of his three sons. God decreed: “Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life under Heaven. All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed … I will rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the Earth … And the rain fell upon the Earth forty days and forty nights … And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the Earth, died. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the Earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the Earth―and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 6:17; 7:4; 7:22-23). The scary part is that God’s attitudes never change! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
► Another example of widespread “toughness” or “vengefulness” ― which God Himself claims to have: “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time!” (Deuteronomy 32:35) ― is God’s treatment, in the time of Moses, of both His enemies and His Chosen People. We see God allow His Chosen People to be enslaved to the Egyptians: “the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them: [14] And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service” (Exodus 1:13-14)―perhaps He allowed that slavery as a fitting punishment for Israelites (Jacob’s tribe) for the fact that Joseph (the favorite son of Jacob) being sold into slavery by his envious brothers―for, as Scripture says: “The Lord … visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18). We see God inflict the Ten Plagues upon the Egyptians who refused to release God’s Chosen People from slavery in Egypt (Exodus, chapters 7 to 12), and then God destroys the Egyptian army that pursued the Chosen People once they did leave Egypt (Exodus, chapter 14). Nevertheless, very soon the Israelites fall into idolatry with Golden Calf and God says to Moses: “Thy people hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it! … Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:7-10). The Chosen People continue to moan and grumble―so God continues to punish them with fire from Heaven and plagues (Numbers chapter 11). Not long afterwards (Numbers chapters 13 & 14), the Chosen People again bear the brunt of God’s anger by refusing to enter into the Promised Land and fight its occupants in order to obtain the Promised Land (notice that God is not handing the Promised Land to them on “silver platter”, but is making them work and fight for it). As a consequence for refusing to obey God and battle for the Promised Land, God decrees:
“How long will this people detract Me? how long will they not believe Me for all the signs that I have wrought before them? Therefore I will strike them with pestilence, and will consume them! … All the men that have seen My majesty and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness have tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed My voice! They shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted Me behold it! … In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Josue. But your children will I bring in―so that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert! According to the number of the forty days, during which you viewed the land, year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities and shall know my revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die!” (Number 14:11-12; 14:22-23; 14:29-35). The scary part is that God’s attitudes never change! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17) ― and, as Scripture adds: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► You had better believe that “whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth” (Proverbs 3:12) ― for once the Chosen People had finally entered and conquered the Promised Land, after being punished by God in the desert wilderness, God again chastised them for having fallen into idolatry and sinfulness. First of all―after the Kingdom of Israel had been divided into the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes) and the Southern Kingdom (2 tribes)―the Northern Kingdom fell into more idolatry and began worshiping false gods. God’s response was to have all the 10 tribes fall into the hands of surrounding countries and be led away into slavery and racial assimilation―thus obliterating the identity and existence of those 10 tribes. Hence history refers to them as “Lost 10 Tribes of Israel”. Soon afterwards, however, the Southern Kingdom also fell into idolatry and the worship of false gods―God, who never changes, did not change His reaction. The Southern Kingdom also fell to its enemies―Babylon in this case―and many slaughtered or led away as captives to Babylon, for what is now known as the “Babylonian Captivity”. Jerusalem and glorious Temple of Solomon built in honor of God was utterly destroyed. Yes―“whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth” (Proverbs 3:12).
► A similar fate awaited the Jews in the New Testament, for having rejected and killed Christ. In the year 70 AD, Jerusalem fell to the Romans―as Christ had predicted―and over 1 million persons were killed, tens of thousands crucified, and around 100,000 taken away as captives for sport in Roman gladiatorial circus.
Those are just three major instances of God’s just anger punishing large numbers of persons―the entire world, the Egyptians and the Chosen People―for sinfulness of various kinds. There are many more occasions where God did the same to other nations in the Old Testament, and many, many more occasions when families or individuals were punished for the sinfulness, disobedience, rejection of God or idolatry. If you were to write a book on the subject and comment upon it―then it would have be a book of a thousand or more pages. Hopefully you get the idea. God can be tough, hard, rigorous, full of justice and vengeful―if He has to. Whether He does or not, depends upon us!
► THE KIND SIDE OF GOD: On the other hand, we also see the extreme kindness and mercy of God as reported by Holy Scripture. In one psalm, every single line ends with the words: “… for His mercy endureth for ever!” (Psalm 135:1-27). You can rightfully suppose that, by repeating this phrase 27 times in one single psalm, God is trying to tell us something! Likewise, in Psalm 144, we read: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, mercy is a subsection of the virtue of charity―and, as Scripture says: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8).
It is we―mankind―that are lacking in mercy and charity (except towards ourselves!). We are all too ready to point the finger at others; quick to cry for blood; quick to condemn and demand justice―so much so that Our Lord had to rebuke us many times with statements such as: “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times―but till seventy times seven times!” (Matthew 18:21-22).
In the Old Testament God says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). In the New Testament, Our Lord encountered a “scarlet woman” who had been caught in adultery, whom the Scribes and Pharisees had then brought before Our Lord to see what He would say and do—for according to God’s own law in the Old Testament, she deserved to be stoned to death. “And the Scribes and the Pharisees bring unto Him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: ‘Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery! Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest Thou?’ And this they said tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with His finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said to them: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:3-11).
St. James and St. John wanted to see punishment and retribution happening right away when the inhabitants of a certain Samaritan city refused to accept Jesus. “And it came to pass, when the days of His assumption were accomplishing, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Later, we have the encounter of Our Lord with the Good Thief, as both were attached each to his own cross on Calvary. The thief was also undoubtedly also a robber and a murderer—otherwise he would not be sentenced to death for theft alone. Yet this thief also managed to steal Heaven in the last moments of his life. “And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’ And he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:39-43).
The thief had lived an evil life and had little interest in following God’s laws—whereas the Scribes and Pharisees were most certainly interested in God’s laws and tried to follow them. Yet to the Scribes and Pharisees Our Lord said: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of Heaven against men, but you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is converted, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! Woe to you blind guides! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Thou blind Pharisee! First make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes—and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the Earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar!” (Matthew 23:13-35).
What a tirade! We do not see anything like it elsewhere in Our Lord’s ministry! He said nothing of the sort to the Good Thief on the cross—nor to the other thief. He did not say anything like that to Pontius Pilate, nor King Herod. He could have said something like to the woman caught in adultery, or Mary Magdalen. Yet He did not! So what’s the deal? What is God like? Is God “two-faced” or what? No He isn’t—to think or say that would be blasphemous.
God Himself Answers the Question
God is like any true parent should be—or should we say any true parent should be like God. Our Lord puts its mildly when He says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). In the Old Testmament, God puts it even more clearly and bluntly:
Two Sides of God—Leviticus
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
Having God Be Tough On Us―Or Being Tough On Ourselves
You get to choose the kind of God you will get―tough or kind! The foundational principle is: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apocalypse 21:27). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20).
If you choose to sin, then you necessarily choose the punitive sufferings that will accompany your sins: “Thou wilt render to every man according to his works” (Psalm 61:13). “Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). “The just judgment of God will render to every man according to his works. To them who according to patience in good works, seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. [But to them that are contentious, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. But glory, and honor, and peace to everyone that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:5-11).
“The Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the cleanness of my hands He will render to me. Because I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments are in my sight and His precepts I have not removed from me. And I shall be perfect with Him and shall keep myself from my iniquity. And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of His eyes. With the holy one Thou wilt be holy; with the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted” (2 Kings 22:21-27).
We see the punitive consequences for sin present in the paralytic by the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem, who had suffered under his infirmity for 38 years―until Our Lord cured him and then warned him to sin no more, lest perhaps something even worse should happen to him! “Now there is, at Jerusalem, a pond called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these [porches] lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond, after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming down to the pond, another goes down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Thus, Our Lord shows him kindness by healing him, but warns that he will experience God’s “toughness” if he continues to sin. The same applies to all of us! Hence Holy Scripture warns: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9).
Thus Holy Scripture exhorts: “By charity of the spirit serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ But if you bite and devour one another, then take heed lest you be not consumed one of another. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh―for these are opposed one to another―so that you do not the things that you would like. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifestly obvious, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longsuffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences” (Galatians 5:13-24). “Therefore there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh” (Romans 8:1). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
“He that shall overcome [the flesh] shall possess these things [Heaven], and I will be his God; and he shall be My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars―they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:7-8).
If you desire Heaven, you must overcome its enemies―which are the world, the flesh and the devil who uses them to lure you into sin and your eventual damnation. “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
The problem is that too many Catholics love the world and pamper their flesh―thus giving the devil a “field day” and an “open house” for his damning work. No wonder so many souls are lost and so few are saved! What will you do? Among which group will you fall? “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16). As the saints say―if you wish to be saved with the few, you must live like the few.
St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, says: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, adds: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
While St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, states: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
Therefore if we do not want God to be tough on us because of our sins, then we need to fight and abandon those sins now, and bring forth fruits worthy of penance for them! Then God will be kind and not tough―if not, then God will be “kinda” tough!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday March 6th & Sunday March 7th
Article 14
The Math of Salvation
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday March 6th & Sunday March 7th
Article 14
The Math of Salvation
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What’s Your Math Like?
How good are you are math? Is math necessary to get to Heaven? Are you counting on getting to Heaven without math? Are you miscalculating your chance of salvation? Does your life add-up to a life of sufficient holiness? Is math all that important for salvation? Read on and then add it all up at the end!
What is Math?
What is math? Some may answer: “Math is damn hard!” Yet it will even harder if we are damned by a faulty “math” that presumptuously “counted” on salvation! Yet joking aside, mathematics is the study of numbers, shapes and patterns. If you want a dictionary definition, then mathematics is “the abstract science of number, quantity, and space.” The word comes from the Greek word “máthema”, meaning “science, knowledge, or learning”, or “what one learns”, “what one gets to know”, hence also “study” and “science.” You might say: “If mathematics comes from the Greek word ‘máthema’ then that explains why math is all Greek to me!” Mathematics is sometimes shortened to “maths” (in England, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand) or “math” (in the United States and Canada).
Who Made Math?
At the top of the list of science’s unanswered questions, like what is consciousness and how did life begin, is the deepest mystery of all: “Why does the universe appear to follow mathematical laws?” The reason mathematics is the natural language of science, is that the universe is underpinned by the same order. The structures of mathematics are intrinsic to nature. Because the whole point of science is to describe the universe without invoking the supernatural, there is the nagging problem of the failure of scientists to rationally explain the origins and effectiveness of mathematics. As the physicist Eugene Wigner once put it, this failure of scientists is something of a scandal, an enormous gap in human understanding. Reuben Hersh, a mathematician emeritus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, wrote in his recent book, What Is Mathematics Really?, wrote: “We refuse to face this embarrassment!” Scientists usually use the notion of God metaphorically. But ultimately, most of them at least tacitly embrace the philosophy of Plato, who proposed, rather unscientifically, that numbers and mathematical laws are ethereal ideals, existing outside of space and time in a realm beyond the reach of humankind. For those unsure of the word “ethereal”, it is defined as: “(1) relating to the regions beyond the Earth, (2) celestial, heavenly, (3) not worldly, spiritual, (4) lacking material substance, immaterial, intangible.” So, broadly speaking, you could say “Mathematics comes from God”―Who is, after all, the creator of the universe and all the laws of the universe, whether they relate to physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics.
God created time―and time is based on mathematics. The seven days of the week comes from the seven periods of creation by God (Genesis chapter 1). The planets, the sun, the stars (more suns), the moon, with their resulting orbits gave the most primitive notion of time as in day and night―which providentially God intended to symbolize good and evil. We speak of the daylight hours and hours of darkness. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “They have not known nor understood! They walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5). “Who sit in darkness and see not the light of Heaven” (Tobias 5:12). “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5). “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). Jesus came “To open their eyes, that they may be converted from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a lot among the saints” (Acts 26:18).
God is Absolute Truth―Math is “Absolute Truth”
Without getting into the argument and debate among mathematicians on “mathematics being absolute truth”―we can still loosely compare mathematics as being absolute truth that never changes, in the sense of being absolutely true and eternally true when it states things like 2+2=4. This will always be true. God is the absolute truth and the eternal truth that never changes: “O Lord, the God of truth” (Psalm 30:6). Jesus said: “I am the Truth” (John 14:6). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Truth never changes―only our understanding of truth can change for the better or for the worse: “For I am the Lord .... the God of truth .... and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6; Psalm 30:6). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
You could, therefore, compare mathematics to dogma―for dogma is defined as “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.” The dogmas of the Church are immutable―meaning they are unchangeable and forever true.
God is Mathematical
Dr. Vernon Poythress is, by modern standards, a deeply and widely educated man. He has six academic degrees, a B.S. from CalTech and a PhD from Harvard in mathematics. An M Div, ThM, M Litt, and a ThD in various theological disciplines from Westminster Seminary, Cambridge University and the University of Stellenbosch respectively. He could said be a non-Catholic Christian Mathematician and Scientist. Today, the typical modern culture-war revolves around God versus the mathematical sciences. Take your choice: Faith or physics! God or science! Dr. Poythress puts forth an opinion that is rarely heard in modern debate. He says that God and science are neither enemies, nor partners, but rather that God is the necessary foundation for mathematics and therefore God has to be the foundation of every science which uses mathematics. The argument is that mathematical laws―in order to be properly relied upon―must have attributes which indicate an origin in God. That is to say that they are true everywhere (omnipresent), true always (eternal), cannot be defied or defeated (omnipotent), and are rational and have language characteristics (which makes them personal). Omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, personal…? Sounds like God! Math is an expression of the mind of God. Does that sound strange? It isn’t. Modern natural science was created by people who said that they were trying to “think God’s thoughts after Him.”
Numbers are part of the essentials of mathematics―and God is all about numbers―there is even a book in the Bible called “The Book of Numbers”. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book in the Old Testament. The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites, because at the start God ordered a counting of the people (a census) and ordering them into the twelve tribes of Israel. After counting all the men who are over twenty and fit to fight, the Israelites began to travel in well-ordered divisions, with God in the middle of the Ark of the Covenant. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary.
Yet way before the Book of Numbers, which came to be written in the time of Moses, God was all about numbers from the very beginning of time. We read in Genesis of the 7 days of creation. We see that God made one man and one woman―not two men and one woman, nor two women and one man, nor many men and women. Number was important to God. Much later, when God told Noe to build the ark which would save Noe’s family and preserve the human race, God was mathematical in giving Noe the exact mathematical dimensions for the ark―He did not merely say: “Hey Noe! Build yourself a boat! You’re gonna need it!” He said: “Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without. And thus shalt thou make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits [a cubit is thought to have been around 18 inches], the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side―with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it … And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with thee: of the male sex, and the female. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind; two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live” (Genesis 6:14-20).
God was even more mathematical is His instructions for the size and dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant in which God would dwell―a prototype of our tabernacle for the Holy Eucharist: “They shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them … and thus you shall make it: Frame an ark of setim wood, the length whereof shall be of two cubits and a half: the breadth, a cubit and a half: the height, likewise, a cubit and a half. And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold and over it thou shalt make a golden crown. And four golden rings, which thou shall put at the four corners of the ark―let two rings be on the one side, and two on the other. Thou shalt make bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put them in through the rings that are in the sides of the ark, that it may be carried on them. And they shall be always in the rings, neither shall they at any time be drawn out of them. Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half. Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered … Thou shalt make a table also of setim wood, of two cubits in length, and a cubit in breadth, and a cubit and half in height. And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold: and thou shalt make to it a golden ledge round about. And to the ledge itself a polished crown, four inches high: and over the same another little golden crown.” (Genesis 25:8-25). There are many more exact measures, instructions through to chapter 31.
The number 10 is viewed as a complete and perfect number, as is 3, 7 and 12. God specifically chose to smite the Egyptians with the “perfect” or “complete” punishment of 10 plagues in the time of Moses. Before leaving the slavery of Egypt―a symbol of slavery to sin―the Passover lamb was selected on 10th day of the 1st month (Exodus 12:3), which was a symbol or type or prefiguring of Jesus, the Lamb of God Who frees us from the slavery of sin and takes away the sins of the world (John 12:28-29; 1 Corinthians 5:7). God would later echo that number 10 when He would give Moses the Ten Commandments which will lead us to perfection―10 being a number of perfection. He did not give him 9 or 11 commandments, but 10.
Mentioned more than 140 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. God flooded the Earth by having it rain for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:12). That number 40 would frequently re-appear. After the patriarch Jacob (Israel) died in Egypt, the Egyptians spent forty days embalming his body (Genesis 50:3). During Moses’ life he lived forty years of Hebrew persecution in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead His Chosen People out of their slavery under the Egyptians, whereby he also spent another forty years in the desert. Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34). Likewise, God chooses the specific number of 40 years in punishing the disobedient Israelites, having them wander in the desert for 40 years before a new generation was allowed to possess the Promised Land. The prophet Jonas powerfully warned the ancient city of Ninive, that after forty days, its destruction would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezechiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Juda’s sins (Ezechiel 4:6). Elias went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus also 40 days and nights fasting and praying just before His ministry began. He also appeared to His disciples and others for 40 days after His resurrection from the dead. The same number is also applied to our 40 days of Lent whereby we punish ourselves in the desert of Lent by prayer and fasting.
Mathematical Christ
Christ is mathematical both in His actions and in His teachings and parables. Jesus speaks often of Faith as something that can be “measured” ― He cites people as having “little” Faith (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 16:8) or “much” Faith (Matthew 8:10, 15:28) ― all of which implies some kind of measurement of Faith. Since the Jews placed great importance on the meaning or symbolism of numbers, Christ―being a Jew of course―not only was aware of the meaning and symbolism of numbers, but also deliberately used those meanings and symbolism in His teachings and in the parables that He told. Our Lord tells us that with God, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). With the numbers 3, 7, 10 and 12 being viewed as a complete and perfect numbers, Our Lord left a Family of 3 (the Blessed Trinity) to become part of a family of 3 on Earth (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). He chose to pursue a public ministry for 3 years, after have lived a hidden life for 3 x 10 years (30 years), eventually dying at the age of 33. After His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―where he took with Him His 3 favorite Apostles―he went aside to pray 3 times and came back to His Apostles 3 times to find them asleep out of fear. He carried His cross to Calvary, and we commemorate, in the Stations of the Cross, Him falling 3 times. He died on Calvary at 3:00 p.m. at the end of a period of 3 hours of darkness, having been nailed by 3 nails to one of 3 crosses At the foot His cross stood the 3 Marys―Mary the Mother of God, Mary Magdalen, and Mary [Cleophas] the mother of James and Joseph (Matthew 27:56). He resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day. In His ministry, He had three favorite Apostles―Peter, James and John. He asked Peter 3 times if Peter loved Him―to make up for 3 times Peter had denied during the Passion. He invests Peter―and all his successors―with the triple power or 3 chief powers of (1) teaching, (2) governing and (3) legislating or making laws. These 3 powers are reflected in many governments, with their 3 branches of (1) the legislative, (2) judiciary and (3) executive branches of government. Similarly, the clergy, the bishops, and especially the pope, participate in the 3 roles of being (1) a prophet, (2) a priest, and (3) a king or ruler. The Church that Christ founded has 3 branches―the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in Heaven. Which brings us to the point that, after death, we all end up in one of 3 places―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell.
The number 2 is a symbol of division―hence we have light and darkness, good and evil, virtue and sin, winning and losing, salvation and damnation, Heaven and Hell, Christ and Satan. Our Lord uses the number two here to stress that division in the world over His teaching―those who accept it and comply with it, versus those who reject and act contrary to it―saying that such divisions will even be found in the bosoms of families. The number 3 is―as already stated―one of numbers that are viewed as being complete and perfect numbers―3, 7, 10 & 12. Hence in using the powerful number 3―which is representative of the Holy Trinity. As Holy Scripture says: “If a man prevail against one, then two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). If a triple cord is harder to break, likewise is the 3-sided triangle or pyramid hard to overturn. Likewise, the perfection of the number 3 is also reflected in the 3 ways or stages of the spiritual life that anyone and everyone must pass through if they wish to attain perfection and Heaven―the Way of Beginners, the Way of the Proficient, and the Way of the Perfect.
How’s Your Applied Mathematics?
As regards general “mathematical measuring”, Our Lord warns us about our calculations and dealings with others: “With what measure you measure to others, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:2). He then goes on to warn us about exaggerating a “speck” in another person’s eye, whilst ignoring or downplaying the “plank” that is in our own eye―which could be translated as being scandalized and shocked about the venial sins of others, whilst downplaying, ignoring or even hiding the mortal sins in our own life. One can easily understand here the implication that Christ expects fair and honest judgments, even in dealing with people. Jesus appears to warn that “what goes around comes around,” in the sense that when you use an unfair standard to judge others, it will eventually be used on you.
The Mathematics of Salvation
Likewise, Our Lord also warns about our calculations regarding our own salvation―telling us not to be over-confident and presumptuous about it. Even though Holy Scripture says: “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved!” (Romans 10:13), Our Lord says:“Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21), adding: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The numbers of those saved, He says, are not what most people imagine them to be: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). Elsewhere He says: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Elsewhere Our Lord warns on two different occasions: “For many are called, but few chosen.” The first occasion was in His parable about the workers called to the vineyard, which is also about numbers: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just! And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: ‘Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first!’ When therefore they were come, that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying: ‘These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats!’ But he, answering, said to one of them: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong! Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way! I will also give to this last even as to thee! Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?’ So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16).
The second occasion was when Jesus told the parable about the marriage feast, saying: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner! My calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready! Come ye to the marriage!”’ But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he said to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy! Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’ And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in here not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:2-14).
In a similar vein, Our Lord punctures our presumption when, in speaking of the end of the world, He says: “Of that day and hour, no one knoweth―not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone! And, as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage―even until that day in which Noe entered into the ark! And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. Then two shall be in the field―one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill―one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:36-42).
Our Lord mentioned the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! Is God pleased with mankind today? What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander and die in the desert so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions who had left Egypt actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Though we are not building a Tower of Babel, we should nevertheless be building a Tower of Sanctity, “a tower of strength against the face of the enemy” (Psalm 60:4). “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower―the just runneth to it” (Proverbs 18:10). Yet, as Our Lord warns: “For which of you having a mind to build a tower, does not first sit down, and reckon the costs that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it? Lest, after he hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it, and all that see it begin to mock him, saying: ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish!’” (Luke 14:28-30).
How good are you are math? Is math necessary to get to Heaven? Are you counting on getting to Heaven without math? Are you miscalculating your chance of salvation? Does your life add-up to a life of sufficient holiness? Is math all that important for salvation? Read on and then add it all up at the end!
What is Math?
What is math? Some may answer: “Math is damn hard!” Yet it will even harder if we are damned by a faulty “math” that presumptuously “counted” on salvation! Yet joking aside, mathematics is the study of numbers, shapes and patterns. If you want a dictionary definition, then mathematics is “the abstract science of number, quantity, and space.” The word comes from the Greek word “máthema”, meaning “science, knowledge, or learning”, or “what one learns”, “what one gets to know”, hence also “study” and “science.” You might say: “If mathematics comes from the Greek word ‘máthema’ then that explains why math is all Greek to me!” Mathematics is sometimes shortened to “maths” (in England, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand) or “math” (in the United States and Canada).
Who Made Math?
At the top of the list of science’s unanswered questions, like what is consciousness and how did life begin, is the deepest mystery of all: “Why does the universe appear to follow mathematical laws?” The reason mathematics is the natural language of science, is that the universe is underpinned by the same order. The structures of mathematics are intrinsic to nature. Because the whole point of science is to describe the universe without invoking the supernatural, there is the nagging problem of the failure of scientists to rationally explain the origins and effectiveness of mathematics. As the physicist Eugene Wigner once put it, this failure of scientists is something of a scandal, an enormous gap in human understanding. Reuben Hersh, a mathematician emeritus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, wrote in his recent book, What Is Mathematics Really?, wrote: “We refuse to face this embarrassment!” Scientists usually use the notion of God metaphorically. But ultimately, most of them at least tacitly embrace the philosophy of Plato, who proposed, rather unscientifically, that numbers and mathematical laws are ethereal ideals, existing outside of space and time in a realm beyond the reach of humankind. For those unsure of the word “ethereal”, it is defined as: “(1) relating to the regions beyond the Earth, (2) celestial, heavenly, (3) not worldly, spiritual, (4) lacking material substance, immaterial, intangible.” So, broadly speaking, you could say “Mathematics comes from God”―Who is, after all, the creator of the universe and all the laws of the universe, whether they relate to physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics.
God created time―and time is based on mathematics. The seven days of the week comes from the seven periods of creation by God (Genesis chapter 1). The planets, the sun, the stars (more suns), the moon, with their resulting orbits gave the most primitive notion of time as in day and night―which providentially God intended to symbolize good and evil. We speak of the daylight hours and hours of darkness. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “They have not known nor understood! They walk on in darkness!” (Psalm 81:5). “Who sit in darkness and see not the light of Heaven” (Tobias 5:12). “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5). “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). Jesus came “To open their eyes, that they may be converted from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a lot among the saints” (Acts 26:18).
God is Absolute Truth―Math is “Absolute Truth”
Without getting into the argument and debate among mathematicians on “mathematics being absolute truth”―we can still loosely compare mathematics as being absolute truth that never changes, in the sense of being absolutely true and eternally true when it states things like 2+2=4. This will always be true. God is the absolute truth and the eternal truth that never changes: “O Lord, the God of truth” (Psalm 30:6). Jesus said: “I am the Truth” (John 14:6). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Truth never changes―only our understanding of truth can change for the better or for the worse: “For I am the Lord .... the God of truth .... and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6; Psalm 30:6). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
You could, therefore, compare mathematics to dogma―for dogma is defined as “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.” The dogmas of the Church are immutable―meaning they are unchangeable and forever true.
God is Mathematical
Dr. Vernon Poythress is, by modern standards, a deeply and widely educated man. He has six academic degrees, a B.S. from CalTech and a PhD from Harvard in mathematics. An M Div, ThM, M Litt, and a ThD in various theological disciplines from Westminster Seminary, Cambridge University and the University of Stellenbosch respectively. He could said be a non-Catholic Christian Mathematician and Scientist. Today, the typical modern culture-war revolves around God versus the mathematical sciences. Take your choice: Faith or physics! God or science! Dr. Poythress puts forth an opinion that is rarely heard in modern debate. He says that God and science are neither enemies, nor partners, but rather that God is the necessary foundation for mathematics and therefore God has to be the foundation of every science which uses mathematics. The argument is that mathematical laws―in order to be properly relied upon―must have attributes which indicate an origin in God. That is to say that they are true everywhere (omnipresent), true always (eternal), cannot be defied or defeated (omnipotent), and are rational and have language characteristics (which makes them personal). Omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, personal…? Sounds like God! Math is an expression of the mind of God. Does that sound strange? It isn’t. Modern natural science was created by people who said that they were trying to “think God’s thoughts after Him.”
Numbers are part of the essentials of mathematics―and God is all about numbers―there is even a book in the Bible called “The Book of Numbers”. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book in the Old Testament. The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites, because at the start God ordered a counting of the people (a census) and ordering them into the twelve tribes of Israel. After counting all the men who are over twenty and fit to fight, the Israelites began to travel in well-ordered divisions, with God in the middle of the Ark of the Covenant. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary.
Yet way before the Book of Numbers, which came to be written in the time of Moses, God was all about numbers from the very beginning of time. We read in Genesis of the 7 days of creation. We see that God made one man and one woman―not two men and one woman, nor two women and one man, nor many men and women. Number was important to God. Much later, when God told Noe to build the ark which would save Noe’s family and preserve the human race, God was mathematical in giving Noe the exact mathematical dimensions for the ark―He did not merely say: “Hey Noe! Build yourself a boat! You’re gonna need it!” He said: “Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without. And thus shalt thou make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits [a cubit is thought to have been around 18 inches], the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side―with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it … And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with thee: of the male sex, and the female. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind; two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live” (Genesis 6:14-20).
God was even more mathematical is His instructions for the size and dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant in which God would dwell―a prototype of our tabernacle for the Holy Eucharist: “They shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them … and thus you shall make it: Frame an ark of setim wood, the length whereof shall be of two cubits and a half: the breadth, a cubit and a half: the height, likewise, a cubit and a half. And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold and over it thou shalt make a golden crown. And four golden rings, which thou shall put at the four corners of the ark―let two rings be on the one side, and two on the other. Thou shalt make bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put them in through the rings that are in the sides of the ark, that it may be carried on them. And they shall be always in the rings, neither shall they at any time be drawn out of them. Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half. Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered … Thou shalt make a table also of setim wood, of two cubits in length, and a cubit in breadth, and a cubit and half in height. And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold: and thou shalt make to it a golden ledge round about. And to the ledge itself a polished crown, four inches high: and over the same another little golden crown.” (Genesis 25:8-25). There are many more exact measures, instructions through to chapter 31.
The number 10 is viewed as a complete and perfect number, as is 3, 7 and 12. God specifically chose to smite the Egyptians with the “perfect” or “complete” punishment of 10 plagues in the time of Moses. Before leaving the slavery of Egypt―a symbol of slavery to sin―the Passover lamb was selected on 10th day of the 1st month (Exodus 12:3), which was a symbol or type or prefiguring of Jesus, the Lamb of God Who frees us from the slavery of sin and takes away the sins of the world (John 12:28-29; 1 Corinthians 5:7). God would later echo that number 10 when He would give Moses the Ten Commandments which will lead us to perfection―10 being a number of perfection. He did not give him 9 or 11 commandments, but 10.
Mentioned more than 140 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. God flooded the Earth by having it rain for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:12). That number 40 would frequently re-appear. After the patriarch Jacob (Israel) died in Egypt, the Egyptians spent forty days embalming his body (Genesis 50:3). During Moses’ life he lived forty years of Hebrew persecution in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead His Chosen People out of their slavery under the Egyptians, whereby he also spent another forty years in the desert. Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34). Likewise, God chooses the specific number of 40 years in punishing the disobedient Israelites, having them wander in the desert for 40 years before a new generation was allowed to possess the Promised Land. The prophet Jonas powerfully warned the ancient city of Ninive, that after forty days, its destruction would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezechiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Juda’s sins (Ezechiel 4:6). Elias went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus also 40 days and nights fasting and praying just before His ministry began. He also appeared to His disciples and others for 40 days after His resurrection from the dead. The same number is also applied to our 40 days of Lent whereby we punish ourselves in the desert of Lent by prayer and fasting.
Mathematical Christ
Christ is mathematical both in His actions and in His teachings and parables. Jesus speaks often of Faith as something that can be “measured” ― He cites people as having “little” Faith (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 16:8) or “much” Faith (Matthew 8:10, 15:28) ― all of which implies some kind of measurement of Faith. Since the Jews placed great importance on the meaning or symbolism of numbers, Christ―being a Jew of course―not only was aware of the meaning and symbolism of numbers, but also deliberately used those meanings and symbolism in His teachings and in the parables that He told. Our Lord tells us that with God, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). With the numbers 3, 7, 10 and 12 being viewed as a complete and perfect numbers, Our Lord left a Family of 3 (the Blessed Trinity) to become part of a family of 3 on Earth (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). He chose to pursue a public ministry for 3 years, after have lived a hidden life for 3 x 10 years (30 years), eventually dying at the age of 33. After His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane―where he took with Him His 3 favorite Apostles―he went aside to pray 3 times and came back to His Apostles 3 times to find them asleep out of fear. He carried His cross to Calvary, and we commemorate, in the Stations of the Cross, Him falling 3 times. He died on Calvary at 3:00 p.m. at the end of a period of 3 hours of darkness, having been nailed by 3 nails to one of 3 crosses At the foot His cross stood the 3 Marys―Mary the Mother of God, Mary Magdalen, and Mary [Cleophas] the mother of James and Joseph (Matthew 27:56). He resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day. In His ministry, He had three favorite Apostles―Peter, James and John. He asked Peter 3 times if Peter loved Him―to make up for 3 times Peter had denied during the Passion. He invests Peter―and all his successors―with the triple power or 3 chief powers of (1) teaching, (2) governing and (3) legislating or making laws. These 3 powers are reflected in many governments, with their 3 branches of (1) the legislative, (2) judiciary and (3) executive branches of government. Similarly, the clergy, the bishops, and especially the pope, participate in the 3 roles of being (1) a prophet, (2) a priest, and (3) a king or ruler. The Church that Christ founded has 3 branches―the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in Heaven. Which brings us to the point that, after death, we all end up in one of 3 places―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell.
The number 2 is a symbol of division―hence we have light and darkness, good and evil, virtue and sin, winning and losing, salvation and damnation, Heaven and Hell, Christ and Satan. Our Lord uses the number two here to stress that division in the world over His teaching―those who accept it and comply with it, versus those who reject and act contrary to it―saying that such divisions will even be found in the bosoms of families. The number 3 is―as already stated―one of numbers that are viewed as being complete and perfect numbers―3, 7, 10 & 12. Hence in using the powerful number 3―which is representative of the Holy Trinity. As Holy Scripture says: “If a man prevail against one, then two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). If a triple cord is harder to break, likewise is the 3-sided triangle or pyramid hard to overturn. Likewise, the perfection of the number 3 is also reflected in the 3 ways or stages of the spiritual life that anyone and everyone must pass through if they wish to attain perfection and Heaven―the Way of Beginners, the Way of the Proficient, and the Way of the Perfect.
How’s Your Applied Mathematics?
As regards general “mathematical measuring”, Our Lord warns us about our calculations and dealings with others: “With what measure you measure to others, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:2). He then goes on to warn us about exaggerating a “speck” in another person’s eye, whilst ignoring or downplaying the “plank” that is in our own eye―which could be translated as being scandalized and shocked about the venial sins of others, whilst downplaying, ignoring or even hiding the mortal sins in our own life. One can easily understand here the implication that Christ expects fair and honest judgments, even in dealing with people. Jesus appears to warn that “what goes around comes around,” in the sense that when you use an unfair standard to judge others, it will eventually be used on you.
The Mathematics of Salvation
Likewise, Our Lord also warns about our calculations regarding our own salvation―telling us not to be over-confident and presumptuous about it. Even though Holy Scripture says: “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved!” (Romans 10:13), Our Lord says:“Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21), adding: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The numbers of those saved, He says, are not what most people imagine them to be: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). Elsewhere He says: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Elsewhere Our Lord warns on two different occasions: “For many are called, but few chosen.” The first occasion was in His parable about the workers called to the vineyard, which is also about numbers: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just! And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: ‘Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first!’ When therefore they were come, that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying: ‘These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats!’ But he, answering, said to one of them: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong! Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way! I will also give to this last even as to thee! Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?’ So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16).
The second occasion was when Jesus told the parable about the marriage feast, saying: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner! My calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready! Come ye to the marriage!”’ But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he said to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy! Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’ And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in here not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:2-14).
In a similar vein, Our Lord punctures our presumption when, in speaking of the end of the world, He says: “Of that day and hour, no one knoweth―not the angels of Heaven, but the Father alone! And, as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage―even until that day in which Noe entered into the ark! And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. Then two shall be in the field―one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill―one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:36-42).
Our Lord mentioned the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! Is God pleased with mankind today? What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander and die in the desert so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions who had left Egypt actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Though we are not building a Tower of Babel, we should nevertheless be building a Tower of Sanctity, “a tower of strength against the face of the enemy” (Psalm 60:4). “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower―the just runneth to it” (Proverbs 18:10). Yet, as Our Lord warns: “For which of you having a mind to build a tower, does not first sit down, and reckon the costs that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it? Lest, after he hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it, and all that see it begin to mock him, saying: ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish!’” (Luke 14:28-30).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday March 3rd & Thursday March 4th & Friday March 5th
Article 13
Do Things Seem Helpless and Hopeless?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday March 3rd & Thursday March 4th & Friday March 5th
Article 13
Do Things Seem Helpless and Hopeless?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Hopeful or Hopeless?
From one “H” to another! From Heaven to Hell. From heavenly to horrendous. From hospitality to hostility. From harmless to harmful. From healing to hurting. From having heart to having hate. From hopeful to hopeless! From helpful to helpless. You may well ask: “What the ‘H’ are you getting at?”
We are harping-on about a hatched hypothetical hallucinatory health hoax by a heinous hypocritical health hierarchy. All we hear is a hypnotic hypermedia health-hazard hysteria, full of hygienic homilies about handwashing. Holistic health is hammered as being heretical homespun hearsay and highly harmful. Healthy humans are harassed and harrowed and even hospitalized. We are hard-handedly held hostage, huddling in our hermitage homes. Our health is heading headlong to Hell. The health hierarchy hammers a harmful hyper-immunizing health program for all humanity. Honest heroic questioning and hypercriticism is a hate-crime against humanity. The health-hangman’s noose of hyper-immunization hangs awaiting our hanging. If it wasn’t so heinous it would be hilarious. Have things become hopeless? Are we left helpless? Let us see.
Hell’s Noose Lets Loose
It seems as though all Hell is being let loose today! However, that statement is not just a mere figure of speech, but a reality―as foretold by Our Lady of La Salette: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God.” Take note that Our Lady says: “Lucifer with a large number of demons will be unloosed from Hell” ― she does not say: “Lucifer with a large number of demons will escape from Hell.” Who is “unloosing” them? God, of course, is unloosing them. Lucifer or Satan, or any devil, cannot do anything without the permission of God. Why is God “unloosing” them? Because of sin, of course! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We see all this coming to pass before our very own eyes today! Before the “planned-demic”, only 20% of Catholics (a very generous number) were regularly attending Sunday Mass―since the lockdown of the churches, and the current re-opening of churches, regular Sunday attendance has dropped from 20% to 10% ― and many are of the opinion that it will not climb back to the pitiful 20% in the foreseeable future. Throw into the mix the fact that most Catholics no longer believe what Catholics should believe―rejecting a whole variety of dogmas and teachings of the Church. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in Holy Eucharist. Most Catholics no longer go to Confession. Most Catholics accept or agree with contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex sexual relations, same-sex marriages, cohabitation before marriage, masturbation, etc. Many Catholics have no problems with immodest fashions. Many Catholics are addicted to pornography, alcohol and drugs. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics say the Rosary daily―but of that tiny number, hardly anyone actually meditates the mysteries―which is what Our Lady wants us to do. Yet everyone has time enough to spend hours and hours watching TV, browsing the internet and social-media, or using the smartphone, or socializing, or being preoccupied with favorite hobbies, sports, etc.
Chance? No Chance!
If you even remotely imagine that all the pandemic pandemonium, or any of those other things, are all down to chance―then you need to have both your eyes and your brain examined! St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that nothing happens by chance. You could possibly say that all this has been planned by Satan―but not even Satan can carry-out one single plan of his without the permission or agreement of God. It is God who is the ultimate cause of all things―even evil things. Sure―God is good and not evil, and Our Lord Himself said: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18).
In that wonderful book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything―with the exception of sin. “Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives” is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, “and God intervenes everywhere.” He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias: “I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things” (Isaias 45:6‑7). “It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them,” He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). “The Lord killeth and maketh alive,” it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, “He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, He humbleth and He exalteth” (1 Kings 2:6‑7). “Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?” asks the prophet Amos (Amos 3:6). “Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,” Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture.” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
“Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action―the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if―you will object―someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me―how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God Who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame―you will conclude―can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word, that, in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission. Let us see what the Scriptures say:
“He wishes to punish the murder and adultery committed by David and He expresses Himself as follows by the mouth of the prophet Nathan: “Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in My sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised Me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them to thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun!” (2 Kings 12:9‑12).
“Later when the Jews by their iniquities had grievously offended Him and provoked His wrath, He says: “The Assyrian is the rod and the staff of My anger, and My indignation is in his hands. I will send him to the deceitful nation, and I will give him charge against the people of My wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets!” (Isaias 10:5‑6).
“Could God more openly declare Himself to be responsible for the evils that Absalom caused his father and the King of Assyria the Jews? It would be easy to find other instances, but these are enough. Let us conclude, then, with St. Augustine: “All that happens to us in this world against our will (whether due to men or to other causes) happens to us only by the will of God, by the disposal of Providence, by His orders and under His guidance; and if, from the frailty of our understanding, we cannot grasp the reason for some event, let us attribute it to divine Providence, show Him respect by accepting it from His hand, believe firmly that He does not send it us without cause.”
“Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews, who attributed their captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes other than the will of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: “Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? Do not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a living man murmur, a man suffering for his sins? Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens, saying: ‘We have done wickedly and provoked Thee to wrath; therefore thou art inexorable!’” (Lamentations 3:37‑42). Are not these words clear enough? We should take them to heart for our own good. Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God and believe that all is guided by His paternal hand” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
How Can a Holy God Do Unholy Things?
“However, you will perhaps now say, there is sinfulness in all these actions. How, then, can God will them and take part in them, if He is all‑holy and can have nothing in common with sin? God, indeed, is not and cannot be the author of sin. But it must be remembered that in every sin there are two parts to be distinguished―one natural and the other moral. Thus, in the action of the man you think you have a grievance against there is, for example, the movement of the arm that strikes you, or the tongue that offends you, and the movement of the will that turns aside from right reason and the law of God. The physical action of the arm or the tongue, like all natural things, is quite good in itself, and there is nothing to prevent its being produced with and by God’s cooperation. What is evil, what God could not cooperate with, is the sinful intention which the will of man contributes to the act.
“When a man walks with a crippled leg, the movement he makes comes both from the soul and the leg, but the defect, which causes him to walk badly, is only in the leg. In the same way all evil actions must be attributed to God and to man―in so far as they are natural, physical acts―but they can be attributed only to the will of man in so far as they are sinful and blameworthy. If, then, someone strikes you, or slanders you―as the movement of the arm or tongue is in no way a sin, God can very well be, and actually is, the author of it; for existence and movement in man not less than in any other creature proceed not from himself, but from God, Who acts in him and by him. “For in Him” says St. Paul, “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). As for the malice of the intention, it proceeds entirely from man, and in it alone is the sinfulness in which God has no share, but which He yet permits in order not to interfere with our freedom of will. Moreover, when God cooperates with the person who attacks or robs you, He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul. But He does not intend that the attacker or robber should take them from you by a sin. That is the part of human malice, not God’s design.
“An example may make the matter clearer. A criminal is condemned to death by fair trial. But the executioner happens to be a personal enemy of his, and, instead of carrying out the judge’s sentence as a duty, he does so in a spirit of hate and revenge. Obviously the judge has no share in the executioner’s sin. The will and intention of the judge is not that this sin should be committed, but that justice should take its course and the criminal be punished.
In the same way, God has no share at all in the wickedness of the man who strikes or robs you. That is something particular to the man himself. God, as we have said, wishes to make you see your own faults, to humble you, deprive you of what you possess, in order to free you from vice and lead you to virtue; but this good and merciful design, which He could carry out in numerous other ways without any sin being involved, has nothing in common with the sin of the man, who acts as His instrument. And, in fact, it is not this man’s evil intention or sin that causes you to suffer, humiliates or impoverishes you, but the loss of your well-being, your good name or your possessions. The sin harms only the person who is guilty of it. This is the way we ought to separate the good from the evil in events of this kind, and distinguish what God operates through men, from what men add to the act by their own will” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
Practical Examples
“St. Gregory sets the same truth before us in another light. A doctor, he says, orders leeches to be applied. While these small creatures are drawing blood from the patient their only aim is to gorge themselves and suck up as much of it as they can. The doctor’s only intention is to have the impure blood drawn from the patient and to cure him in this manner. There is, therefore, no relation between the insatiable greed of the leeches and the intelligent purpose of the doctor in using them. The patient himself does not protest at their use. He does not regard the leeches as evildoers. Rather, he tries to overcome the repugnance the sight of their ugliness causes and help them in their action, in the knowledge that the doctor has judged it useful for his health. God makes use of men as the doctor does of leeches. Neither should we then stop to consider the evilness of those to whom God gives power to act on us, or be grieved at their wicked intentions, and we should keep ourselves from feelings of aversion towards them. Whatever their particular views may be in regard to us, they are only instruments of well-being, guided by the hand of an all‑good, all‑wise, all‑powerful God, Who will allow them to act on us only in so far as it is of use to us. It is in our interest to welcome, instead of trying to repel, their assaults, as, in very truth, they come from God. And it is the same with all creatures of whatever kind. Not one of them could act upon us unless the power were given it from above.”
“This truth has always been familiar to the minds of those truly enlightened by God. We have a celebrated example in Job. He loses his children and his possessions; he falls from the height of fortune to the depths of poverty―and he says: “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). “Note” observes St. Augustine, “Job does not say: ‘The Lord gave and the devil hath taken away’ but says, wise that he is: ‘The Lord gave me my children and my possessions, and it is He who has taken them away―it has been done as it has pleased the Lord.’”
“The example of Joseph is no less instructive. His brothers had sold him into slavery from malice and for a wicked purpose, and, nevertheless, the holy patriarch insists on attributing all to God’s providence. “God sent me,” he says, before you into Egypt to save life ... “God sent me before you, to preserve a remnant for you in the land, and to deliver you in a striking way. Not you, but God sent me here, and made me a father to Pharao, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:5‑8).”
“Let us now listen to Our Savior Himself, Who came down from Heaven to teach us by His word and example. In an excess of zeal Peter tries to turn Him aside from His purpose of submitting to His passion and prevent the soldiers laying their bands on Him. But Jesus said to him: “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given Me?” (John 18:11). In fact, He attributed the suffering and ignominy of His passion―not to the Jews who accused Him, not to Judas who betrayed Him, nor to Pilate who condemned Him, nor to the soldiers who ill‑treated and crucified Him, nor to the devil who incited them all, though they were the immediate causes of His sufferings―but to God, and to God, not considered as a strict judge, but as a loving and beloved Father.”
“Let us never, then, attribute our losses, our disappointments, our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men―but to God as their real source. “To act otherwise” says St. Dorothy, “would be to do the same as a dog, who vents his anger on the stone, instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him.” So let us be careful not to say “So‑and‑so is the cause of my misfortune.” Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person, but of God. And what should give you reassurance is that God, the sovereign good, is guided in all His actions by His most profound wisdom for holy and supernatural purposes” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
Who Are We Blaming?
In the present turbulent and escalating crises (plural) that we find ourselves in―who are we blaming, who do we see as being behind all that is happening? Yes―you could point the finger at the Democrats. Or you could point the finger at Deep-State. You could also point the finger at the secret and hidden Elites as being the “puppet-masters”. You could even point the finger at who is behind those “puppet-masters”―Satan himself. You could even―and more correctly―point to God. Yet God will then point the finger at OUR SINS. Yes―ultimately it is our sins that are the cause of all the turmoil and crises in the world. Yes―much of that turmoil and the hidden agendas are sinful. Yet we must remember that sin begets sins―our sins have begotten their sins―and God is using their sins to cure us from our sins.
“Plan A” or “Plan B” ― It is Up to Thee!
God essentially has two ways or two plans in dealing with mankind. You could call them “Plan A” and “Plan B”. In Holy Scripture, God clearly puts those two plans before us and leaves it up to us which one we want God to use. Here are those two basic plans:
Plan A
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then God turns to Plan B:
Plan B
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Mankind Forces God to Use “Plan B”
It looks as though most of mankind has voted for Plan B! The majority vote wins! The few that preferred Plan A and voted for Plan A will have to tough it out for the time being. Did someone rig the election? Satan most certainly did in fooling people to vote for him―except they did not realize they were voting for him. Satan is the puppet-master of the world―or, as Our Lord calls him―the prince of this world. He hides behind the attractions of the world and uses them to fool the fools into indirectly supporting him. They might not directly “love Satan”―but they most certainly “love his kingdom” and love living in his kingdom or princedom―which is what the exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth has repeatedly said:
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere! Everywhere! The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. Today Satan rules the world. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Today we live in a period of little Faith. The masses no longer believe in God. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, when we abandon God, then we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan … Satan continually tries to dominate the world―the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... When I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. Satan induces man to sin, saying: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … ‘Everything is permitted!’ … ‘You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you!’ … ‘You are the god of yourself!’ … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions upon which Satan relies.”
Fooled by Smoke and Mirrors
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere! Everywhere!” says Fr. Amorth, which could also be stated as: “The smoke and mirrors of Satan are everywhere!” ― meaning that Satan achieves his nefarious objectives by using the attractions and allurements of this world in order to draw souls away from God into damnation. The world is both Satan’s princedom and Satan’s weapon. The world surrounds us―and thus Satan surrounds us: “Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). The problem is that we are NOT strong in the Faith, but WEAK in the Faith―and, as Fr. Amorth points out: “Today we live in a period of little Faith … We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith … If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan … The demon keeps his distance from the one who nurtures his Faith, who frequents the Sacraments, and who wishes to live devoutly. Why? Simply put, the devil hates God and is in terror of Him and anything that even has the odor of sanctity.”
Yet who on earth wants sanctity when you can fun instead? Sanctity is hard―fun is easy! Satan’s “factories of fun” are working all round the clock, all year round, just to supply you with all the fun and entertainment you could ever want! One truly has to wonder if it is not the Satanic intelligence that is beyond today’s modern technology! Why so? Well, because, as Our Lord said: “Beware of false prophets [technology], who come to you in the clothing of sheep [harmless fun and entertainment], but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). What are fruits of modern technology? Does it make us draw closer to God? Or does it distract us from God? It does not take the proverbial “rocket-scientist” to know the answer!
Hooked on the World Means Being on the Devil's Hook
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, said: “Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness.” Satan’s “empire of evil” is nothing else than the world―with all its mammon, pleasures, treasures, attractions and distractions. Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet most people, Catholics included, have laid up their treasures on Earth! They have received the mark of Baptism making them children of God, and the mark of Confirmation making them soldiers of Christ―but they, by their own choice and preference, have become children of the world. They just love the world―far more than they love God, to whom they merely give lip-service, thus meriting the following words of Christ: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8)―their heart is well and truly immersed in the world and its worldliness.
Holy Scripture adds: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
Our Lord further says: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds, that the light of the Gospel should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
How often do we hear such words spoken in our families, or in our schools, or even in our parishes? Rarely―if ever!
Separate Yourself from the World if You Wish to be Saved
Heck! We are being told to separate ourselves from other people to avoid contracting the “Con-all-a-virus”―being told to self-isolate, self-quarantine, even having to endure lockdowns―but no virus ever sent a person to Hell, apart from the virus of sin! If we obey all these commands for a “Con-all-a-virus”, then why will we not do the same with regard to the virus of sin? “Depart from these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins!” (Numbers 16:26). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Jesus Himself said to God the Father: “I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me [out of the world], because they are Thine!” (John 17:9). “The Lord knoweth those who are His!” (2 Timothy 2:19).
Our separation from the world’s (Satan’s) worldliness should be all the more obvious in view of where the world is currently headed―which is towards both an implicit and explicit acceptance or even embrace of Satanism. It is widely and credibly alleged that many of the world’s leaders, politicians, financiers―and many who are involved in sports and the movie industry―are involved with Satanism to one degree or another. Father Amorth said. “Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact! … I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Yet that involvement with Satanism is not only prevalent at the “top of the ladder” ― but all the way down the ladder too! In fact, surveys have shown that as many as 75% of children in schools have dabbled in Satanism at one time or another, or have even gone on to become addicted to Satanism. Fr. Amorth is on record saying that over 50% of Italian schoolchildren fall into this category.
Scary Times!
Speaking of the “End Times” or “Last Days”, Our Lord said: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-8, 21)
St. Mark reports Jesus as saying: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake … For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be!” (Mark 13:7-9, 19).
St. Luke also has an account: “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you shall possess your souls. And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army; then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea, flee to the mountains; and those who are in the midst thereof, depart out: and those who are in the countries, not enter into it. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written. But woe to them that are with child, and give suck in those days―for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and shall be led away captives into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles; till the times of the nations be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:9-26).
Our Lady Echoes the Scary Times
If that is what Our Lord foretold about the “End Times” or “Last Days”, then Our Lady’s words merely confirm what Our Lord said―as well as adding some “latest news” to the narrative. First of all, we must note that Our Lady has confirmed that we have currently entered the period popularly called the “End Times” or “Last Days.” Sister Lucia of Fatima reveals: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons: The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason is because, in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Then, Sister Lucia adds: “In these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
At La Salette, Our Lady speaks explicitly of the “End Times” or “Last Days”, saying: “Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady’s Scary Bits
Now for Our Lady’s scary bits―which you have read before many times (but to what effect?). The “scary bits” are really “medicinal bytes” that are meant to stir the sick, lukewarm, indifferent soul into some kind of salutary action―and are not meant to be scary just because Heaven likes scaring people (which is false). If we can listen to the constant bombardment of the “Con-All-a-Virus Plannedemic” narrative day-in-day-out, week after week, for a whole year and more besides, then surely we can listen to truthful narrative of Our Lady who is warning us the terrible potential fatalities due to the increasingly contagious virus of sin that is a true pandemic! So, in order “needle” you, and puncture your “thick skin” with a vaccine of grace from Heaven, here again are the scary bits compiled from the revelations by Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―plus a guest appearance of Our Lady speaking to Blessed Elena Aiello:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains ... Nations will be annihilated … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
In speaking to the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aielo, in 1956 Our Lady added: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Scary Fairy Tales?
Some might “poo-poo” all of the above prophecies as being unworthy of serious consideration and being mere “doom and gloom”―which is what Pope John XXIII did when, in his opening speech that began the Second Vatican Council, he implicitly referred to the Third Secret of Fatima (which he had read) and the three child seers of Fatima: “In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse … We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand!” (Pope John XXIII, October 11th, 1962, his opening speech at the Second Vatican Council).
Pope John XXIII says that to his “regret”, he has had to listen “to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure” who “say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse” ― adding that “We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand!” Hence he disagrees with Our Lady, who merely 6 years beforehand had said to Blessed Elena Aiello that “These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
The optimism expressed by Pope John XXIII, in his opening speech, has been shown to have been a totally FALSE OPTIMISM. In his opening speech he said: “Illuminated by the light of this [Second Vatican] Council, the Church—we confidently trust—will become greater in spiritual riches and, gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future without fear. In fact, by bringing herself up to date where required … the Church will make men, families, and peoples really turn their minds to heavenly things.” Yeah, sure! That was a Liberal-Modernist pipedream that quickly resulted in thousands of priest abandoning their priesthood, and hundreds of thousands of Religious (monks, nuns, sisters, brothers) abandoning their religious vows and orders, and hundreds of millions of Catholics failing to practice their Sunday obligation of attending Mass, and hundreds of millions have apostatized from the Faith (left the Faith).
In the book, Forming Intentional Disciples, by Sherry Weddell there some alarming statistics listed. Here are some:
● Only 30% (3 out 10) of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing (p. 24).
● 10% (1 out 10) of all adults in America are ex-Catholics (p. 25).
● Nearly 80% (8 out of 10) of cradle Catholics are no longer Catholic by the age of 23 years (p. 33).
So where is Pope John XXIII’s optimism today? Results show that the Second Vatican Council, with all its reforms and changes, has led to an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of the Church. Reputedly, the once pro-Vatican II trumpet-blower Pope Benedict XVI, today deeply regrets the direction that it took! A case of bolting the barn door after the horse has bolted! As Our Lady of Akita said: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (October 13th, 1973).
Scared Enough to Do More Penance and Pray?
There is no better time than Lent to be scared to the point of wanting to pray more and do more penance! Will that be the case? If so, then good―for those extra prayers, penances, attendance at extra Masses, etc. will certainly bear some fruit―even if they might not totally stop what is about to occur (and what truly needs to occur) for a “spring cleaning” of this sinful world. Echoing her demands of “Penance! Penance! Penance!” as Our Lady of Lourdes, and her demand, as Our Lady of Fatima, for many prayers and sacrifices to save the countless sinners falling into Hell―Our Lady of Akita said: “Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
It would too optimistic to vainly imagine that a few extra prayers and few more easy penances is going to “mop-up” the tsunami of sin that has inundated the world, as Our Lady of Good Success described: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!” Nevertheless, we can slow down this “filthy ocean” of sin by our prayers and penances, and save, in the process, some souls that would otherwise be lost and damned. For as Pope John Paul II said of the forthcoming chastisements mentioned in the Third Secret of Fatima, in a 1981 conference in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Are Things Hopeless? Are We Helpless?
There is a dispute whether the phrase “While there is life, there is hope” came from a play by the Ancient Greek playwright Menander, who died in 290 BC, or whether it came from the Ancient Roman playwright, Terentius, who died in 159 BC. Sometime later, Roman orator and statesman Cicero (106-43 BC) is quoted as saying: “Aegroto, dum anima est, spes esse dicitur” meaning “For a sick man, while there is life, there is hope.” Regardless of who came up with the phrase, it is true―while we still live, we still have hope. Especially in relation to hoping in the help of God, Who tells us: ““The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:20-23). This mercy of God--if sin ceases and penance is done--is applicable to both individuals or communities or cities or nations.
We see this mercy of God shown to so-called “Good Thief” on Calvary, who, as the Fathers of Church like to say, stole Heaven at the very last moments of his life. Humanly speaking, one would be tempted to despair of the salvation of such a man (who, by being a thief and robber, was very likely a murderer of some of those whom he ambushed and robbed). Thankfully God is not human and does not think like we think: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Thus, to the repentant “Good Thief”, who willingly accepted the sentence of death as a penance for his crimes and begged Christ for mercy “and said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:42-43). Truly, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The Good News and the Bad News
For as God says: “When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, then he shall surely live, and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
This is why “Jesus said to them: ‘They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!’” (Mark 2:17). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
Therefore, we are told: “There is none that doth penance for his sin” (Jeremias 8:6). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it in his pride!” (Job 24:23). “If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men” (Ecclesiasticus 2:22). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Holy Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Hence, “There is no good for him that is always occupied in evil, and that giveth no alms―for the Highest hateth sinners, but hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Evil pursueth sinners and to the just man good shall be repaid” (Proverbs 13:21). “The Highest also hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly” (Ecclesiasticus 12:7).
We see this in the actions of God in the Old Testament―the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha are destroyed by fire and brimstone falling from Heaven, whereas a similar fate was avoided by the city of Nineve because they repented of their sins and did much penance.
“And the Lord said: ‘The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied and their sin is become exceedingly grievous!’ … And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city … And they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city―for we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’ … And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: ‘Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters, which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ … And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city … And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And He destroyed these cities and all the country round about, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace!” (Genesis 18:20; 19:1-28).
Ninive, on the other hand, took heed of God’s warning of destruction and all its inhabitants from the top down―from king to peasant to even the animal livestock―did much penance and was spared: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee!’ And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days’ journey (meaning it took three days to walk around its perimeter). And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried, and said: ‘Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not” (Jonas 3:1-10).
It is up to us which fate awaits us! We can ignore God and His laws like Sodom and Gomorrha and face the consequences―which Our Lady has said will also be fire from Heaven: “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita). Or we can repent and do penance and pray for mercy and forgiveness: “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this!” (Our Lady of Akita).
In the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, Abraham bargained with God, asking God to spare the cities if only a few just men could be found in them―first he said fifty men, but then bargained God down to merely ten just men―but not even ten could be found! So what will your answer be? Will you put yourself forward as one of the ten just men (or women) for whose sake God was prepared to spare Sodom and Gomorrha? Or will no volunteers be found and so we will be left to helplessly and hopelessly face the consequences of divine punishment? Help and hope are available―but only if we play our part in obtaining them.
From one “H” to another! From Heaven to Hell. From heavenly to horrendous. From hospitality to hostility. From harmless to harmful. From healing to hurting. From having heart to having hate. From hopeful to hopeless! From helpful to helpless. You may well ask: “What the ‘H’ are you getting at?”
We are harping-on about a hatched hypothetical hallucinatory health hoax by a heinous hypocritical health hierarchy. All we hear is a hypnotic hypermedia health-hazard hysteria, full of hygienic homilies about handwashing. Holistic health is hammered as being heretical homespun hearsay and highly harmful. Healthy humans are harassed and harrowed and even hospitalized. We are hard-handedly held hostage, huddling in our hermitage homes. Our health is heading headlong to Hell. The health hierarchy hammers a harmful hyper-immunizing health program for all humanity. Honest heroic questioning and hypercriticism is a hate-crime against humanity. The health-hangman’s noose of hyper-immunization hangs awaiting our hanging. If it wasn’t so heinous it would be hilarious. Have things become hopeless? Are we left helpless? Let us see.
Hell’s Noose Lets Loose
It seems as though all Hell is being let loose today! However, that statement is not just a mere figure of speech, but a reality―as foretold by Our Lady of La Salette: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God.” Take note that Our Lady says: “Lucifer with a large number of demons will be unloosed from Hell” ― she does not say: “Lucifer with a large number of demons will escape from Hell.” Who is “unloosing” them? God, of course, is unloosing them. Lucifer or Satan, or any devil, cannot do anything without the permission of God. Why is God “unloosing” them? Because of sin, of course! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We see all this coming to pass before our very own eyes today! Before the “planned-demic”, only 20% of Catholics (a very generous number) were regularly attending Sunday Mass―since the lockdown of the churches, and the current re-opening of churches, regular Sunday attendance has dropped from 20% to 10% ― and many are of the opinion that it will not climb back to the pitiful 20% in the foreseeable future. Throw into the mix the fact that most Catholics no longer believe what Catholics should believe―rejecting a whole variety of dogmas and teachings of the Church. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in Holy Eucharist. Most Catholics no longer go to Confession. Most Catholics accept or agree with contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex sexual relations, same-sex marriages, cohabitation before marriage, masturbation, etc. Many Catholics have no problems with immodest fashions. Many Catholics are addicted to pornography, alcohol and drugs. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics say the Rosary daily―but of that tiny number, hardly anyone actually meditates the mysteries―which is what Our Lady wants us to do. Yet everyone has time enough to spend hours and hours watching TV, browsing the internet and social-media, or using the smartphone, or socializing, or being preoccupied with favorite hobbies, sports, etc.
Chance? No Chance!
If you even remotely imagine that all the pandemic pandemonium, or any of those other things, are all down to chance―then you need to have both your eyes and your brain examined! St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that nothing happens by chance. You could possibly say that all this has been planned by Satan―but not even Satan can carry-out one single plan of his without the permission or agreement of God. It is God who is the ultimate cause of all things―even evil things. Sure―God is good and not evil, and Our Lord Himself said: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18).
In that wonderful book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything―with the exception of sin. “Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives” is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, “and God intervenes everywhere.” He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias: “I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things” (Isaias 45:6‑7). “It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them,” He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). “The Lord killeth and maketh alive,” it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, “He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, He humbleth and He exalteth” (1 Kings 2:6‑7). “Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?” asks the prophet Amos (Amos 3:6). “Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,” Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture.” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
“Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action―the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if―you will object―someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me―how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God Who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame―you will conclude―can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word, that, in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission. Let us see what the Scriptures say:
“He wishes to punish the murder and adultery committed by David and He expresses Himself as follows by the mouth of the prophet Nathan: “Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in My sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised Me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them to thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun!” (2 Kings 12:9‑12).
“Later when the Jews by their iniquities had grievously offended Him and provoked His wrath, He says: “The Assyrian is the rod and the staff of My anger, and My indignation is in his hands. I will send him to the deceitful nation, and I will give him charge against the people of My wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets!” (Isaias 10:5‑6).
“Could God more openly declare Himself to be responsible for the evils that Absalom caused his father and the King of Assyria the Jews? It would be easy to find other instances, but these are enough. Let us conclude, then, with St. Augustine: “All that happens to us in this world against our will (whether due to men or to other causes) happens to us only by the will of God, by the disposal of Providence, by His orders and under His guidance; and if, from the frailty of our understanding, we cannot grasp the reason for some event, let us attribute it to divine Providence, show Him respect by accepting it from His hand, believe firmly that He does not send it us without cause.”
“Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews, who attributed their captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes other than the will of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: “Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? Do not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a living man murmur, a man suffering for his sins? Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens, saying: ‘We have done wickedly and provoked Thee to wrath; therefore thou art inexorable!’” (Lamentations 3:37‑42). Are not these words clear enough? We should take them to heart for our own good. Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God and believe that all is guided by His paternal hand” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
How Can a Holy God Do Unholy Things?
“However, you will perhaps now say, there is sinfulness in all these actions. How, then, can God will them and take part in them, if He is all‑holy and can have nothing in common with sin? God, indeed, is not and cannot be the author of sin. But it must be remembered that in every sin there are two parts to be distinguished―one natural and the other moral. Thus, in the action of the man you think you have a grievance against there is, for example, the movement of the arm that strikes you, or the tongue that offends you, and the movement of the will that turns aside from right reason and the law of God. The physical action of the arm or the tongue, like all natural things, is quite good in itself, and there is nothing to prevent its being produced with and by God’s cooperation. What is evil, what God could not cooperate with, is the sinful intention which the will of man contributes to the act.
“When a man walks with a crippled leg, the movement he makes comes both from the soul and the leg, but the defect, which causes him to walk badly, is only in the leg. In the same way all evil actions must be attributed to God and to man―in so far as they are natural, physical acts―but they can be attributed only to the will of man in so far as they are sinful and blameworthy. If, then, someone strikes you, or slanders you―as the movement of the arm or tongue is in no way a sin, God can very well be, and actually is, the author of it; for existence and movement in man not less than in any other creature proceed not from himself, but from God, Who acts in him and by him. “For in Him” says St. Paul, “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). As for the malice of the intention, it proceeds entirely from man, and in it alone is the sinfulness in which God has no share, but which He yet permits in order not to interfere with our freedom of will. Moreover, when God cooperates with the person who attacks or robs you, He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul. But He does not intend that the attacker or robber should take them from you by a sin. That is the part of human malice, not God’s design.
“An example may make the matter clearer. A criminal is condemned to death by fair trial. But the executioner happens to be a personal enemy of his, and, instead of carrying out the judge’s sentence as a duty, he does so in a spirit of hate and revenge. Obviously the judge has no share in the executioner’s sin. The will and intention of the judge is not that this sin should be committed, but that justice should take its course and the criminal be punished.
In the same way, God has no share at all in the wickedness of the man who strikes or robs you. That is something particular to the man himself. God, as we have said, wishes to make you see your own faults, to humble you, deprive you of what you possess, in order to free you from vice and lead you to virtue; but this good and merciful design, which He could carry out in numerous other ways without any sin being involved, has nothing in common with the sin of the man, who acts as His instrument. And, in fact, it is not this man’s evil intention or sin that causes you to suffer, humiliates or impoverishes you, but the loss of your well-being, your good name or your possessions. The sin harms only the person who is guilty of it. This is the way we ought to separate the good from the evil in events of this kind, and distinguish what God operates through men, from what men add to the act by their own will” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
Practical Examples
“St. Gregory sets the same truth before us in another light. A doctor, he says, orders leeches to be applied. While these small creatures are drawing blood from the patient their only aim is to gorge themselves and suck up as much of it as they can. The doctor’s only intention is to have the impure blood drawn from the patient and to cure him in this manner. There is, therefore, no relation between the insatiable greed of the leeches and the intelligent purpose of the doctor in using them. The patient himself does not protest at their use. He does not regard the leeches as evildoers. Rather, he tries to overcome the repugnance the sight of their ugliness causes and help them in their action, in the knowledge that the doctor has judged it useful for his health. God makes use of men as the doctor does of leeches. Neither should we then stop to consider the evilness of those to whom God gives power to act on us, or be grieved at their wicked intentions, and we should keep ourselves from feelings of aversion towards them. Whatever their particular views may be in regard to us, they are only instruments of well-being, guided by the hand of an all‑good, all‑wise, all‑powerful God, Who will allow them to act on us only in so far as it is of use to us. It is in our interest to welcome, instead of trying to repel, their assaults, as, in very truth, they come from God. And it is the same with all creatures of whatever kind. Not one of them could act upon us unless the power were given it from above.”
“This truth has always been familiar to the minds of those truly enlightened by God. We have a celebrated example in Job. He loses his children and his possessions; he falls from the height of fortune to the depths of poverty―and he says: “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). “Note” observes St. Augustine, “Job does not say: ‘The Lord gave and the devil hath taken away’ but says, wise that he is: ‘The Lord gave me my children and my possessions, and it is He who has taken them away―it has been done as it has pleased the Lord.’”
“The example of Joseph is no less instructive. His brothers had sold him into slavery from malice and for a wicked purpose, and, nevertheless, the holy patriarch insists on attributing all to God’s providence. “God sent me,” he says, before you into Egypt to save life ... “God sent me before you, to preserve a remnant for you in the land, and to deliver you in a striking way. Not you, but God sent me here, and made me a father to Pharao, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:5‑8).”
“Let us now listen to Our Savior Himself, Who came down from Heaven to teach us by His word and example. In an excess of zeal Peter tries to turn Him aside from His purpose of submitting to His passion and prevent the soldiers laying their bands on Him. But Jesus said to him: “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given Me?” (John 18:11). In fact, He attributed the suffering and ignominy of His passion―not to the Jews who accused Him, not to Judas who betrayed Him, nor to Pilate who condemned Him, nor to the soldiers who ill‑treated and crucified Him, nor to the devil who incited them all, though they were the immediate causes of His sufferings―but to God, and to God, not considered as a strict judge, but as a loving and beloved Father.”
“Let us never, then, attribute our losses, our disappointments, our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men―but to God as their real source. “To act otherwise” says St. Dorothy, “would be to do the same as a dog, who vents his anger on the stone, instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him.” So let us be careful not to say “So‑and‑so is the cause of my misfortune.” Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person, but of God. And what should give you reassurance is that God, the sovereign good, is guided in all His actions by His most profound wisdom for holy and supernatural purposes” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Chapter 1, §1: “God Controls All Events, Whether Good Or Bad”).
Who Are We Blaming?
In the present turbulent and escalating crises (plural) that we find ourselves in―who are we blaming, who do we see as being behind all that is happening? Yes―you could point the finger at the Democrats. Or you could point the finger at Deep-State. You could also point the finger at the secret and hidden Elites as being the “puppet-masters”. You could even point the finger at who is behind those “puppet-masters”―Satan himself. You could even―and more correctly―point to God. Yet God will then point the finger at OUR SINS. Yes―ultimately it is our sins that are the cause of all the turmoil and crises in the world. Yes―much of that turmoil and the hidden agendas are sinful. Yet we must remember that sin begets sins―our sins have begotten their sins―and God is using their sins to cure us from our sins.
“Plan A” or “Plan B” ― It is Up to Thee!
God essentially has two ways or two plans in dealing with mankind. You could call them “Plan A” and “Plan B”. In Holy Scripture, God clearly puts those two plans before us and leaves it up to us which one we want God to use. Here are those two basic plans:
Plan A
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then God turns to Plan B:
Plan B
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Mankind Forces God to Use “Plan B”
It looks as though most of mankind has voted for Plan B! The majority vote wins! The few that preferred Plan A and voted for Plan A will have to tough it out for the time being. Did someone rig the election? Satan most certainly did in fooling people to vote for him―except they did not realize they were voting for him. Satan is the puppet-master of the world―or, as Our Lord calls him―the prince of this world. He hides behind the attractions of the world and uses them to fool the fools into indirectly supporting him. They might not directly “love Satan”―but they most certainly “love his kingdom” and love living in his kingdom or princedom―which is what the exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth has repeatedly said:
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere! Everywhere! The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. Today Satan rules the world. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Today we live in a period of little Faith. The masses no longer believe in God. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, when we abandon God, then we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan … Satan continually tries to dominate the world―the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19: ‘The whole world is seated in wickedness.’ Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God ... When I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. Satan induces man to sin, saying: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … ‘Everything is permitted!’ … ‘You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you!’ … ‘You are the god of yourself!’ … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions upon which Satan relies.”
Fooled by Smoke and Mirrors
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere! Everywhere!” says Fr. Amorth, which could also be stated as: “The smoke and mirrors of Satan are everywhere!” ― meaning that Satan achieves his nefarious objectives by using the attractions and allurements of this world in order to draw souls away from God into damnation. The world is both Satan’s princedom and Satan’s weapon. The world surrounds us―and thus Satan surrounds us: “Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). The problem is that we are NOT strong in the Faith, but WEAK in the Faith―and, as Fr. Amorth points out: “Today we live in a period of little Faith … We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith … If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we open the door to Satan … The demon keeps his distance from the one who nurtures his Faith, who frequents the Sacraments, and who wishes to live devoutly. Why? Simply put, the devil hates God and is in terror of Him and anything that even has the odor of sanctity.”
Yet who on earth wants sanctity when you can fun instead? Sanctity is hard―fun is easy! Satan’s “factories of fun” are working all round the clock, all year round, just to supply you with all the fun and entertainment you could ever want! One truly has to wonder if it is not the Satanic intelligence that is beyond today’s modern technology! Why so? Well, because, as Our Lord said: “Beware of false prophets [technology], who come to you in the clothing of sheep [harmless fun and entertainment], but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). What are fruits of modern technology? Does it make us draw closer to God? Or does it distract us from God? It does not take the proverbial “rocket-scientist” to know the answer!
Hooked on the World Means Being on the Devil's Hook
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, said: “Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness.” Satan’s “empire of evil” is nothing else than the world―with all its mammon, pleasures, treasures, attractions and distractions. Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet most people, Catholics included, have laid up their treasures on Earth! They have received the mark of Baptism making them children of God, and the mark of Confirmation making them soldiers of Christ―but they, by their own choice and preference, have become children of the world. They just love the world―far more than they love God, to whom they merely give lip-service, thus meriting the following words of Christ: ““Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-8)―their heart is well and truly immersed in the world and its worldliness.
Holy Scripture adds: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God!” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
Our Lord further says: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds, that the light of the Gospel should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. The wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―and they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
How often do we hear such words spoken in our families, or in our schools, or even in our parishes? Rarely―if ever!
Separate Yourself from the World if You Wish to be Saved
Heck! We are being told to separate ourselves from other people to avoid contracting the “Con-all-a-virus”―being told to self-isolate, self-quarantine, even having to endure lockdowns―but no virus ever sent a person to Hell, apart from the virus of sin! If we obey all these commands for a “Con-all-a-virus”, then why will we not do the same with regard to the virus of sin? “Depart from these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins!” (Numbers 16:26). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Jesus Himself said to God the Father: “I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me [out of the world], because they are Thine!” (John 17:9). “The Lord knoweth those who are His!” (2 Timothy 2:19).
Our separation from the world’s (Satan’s) worldliness should be all the more obvious in view of where the world is currently headed―which is towards both an implicit and explicit acceptance or even embrace of Satanism. It is widely and credibly alleged that many of the world’s leaders, politicians, financiers―and many who are involved in sports and the movie industry―are involved with Satanism to one degree or another. Father Amorth said. “Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact! … I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Yet that involvement with Satanism is not only prevalent at the “top of the ladder” ― but all the way down the ladder too! In fact, surveys have shown that as many as 75% of children in schools have dabbled in Satanism at one time or another, or have even gone on to become addicted to Satanism. Fr. Amorth is on record saying that over 50% of Italian schoolchildren fall into this category.
Scary Times!
Speaking of the “End Times” or “Last Days”, Our Lord said: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be!” (Matthew 24:6-8, 21)
St. Mark reports Jesus as saying: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake … For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be!” (Mark 13:7-9, 19).
St. Luke also has an account: “And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you shall possess your souls. And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army; then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea, flee to the mountains; and those who are in the midst thereof, depart out: and those who are in the countries, not enter into it. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written. But woe to them that are with child, and give suck in those days―for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and shall be led away captives into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles; till the times of the nations be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world!” (Luke 21:9-26).
Our Lady Echoes the Scary Times
If that is what Our Lord foretold about the “End Times” or “Last Days”, then Our Lady’s words merely confirm what Our Lord said―as well as adding some “latest news” to the narrative. First of all, we must note that Our Lady has confirmed that we have currently entered the period popularly called the “End Times” or “Last Days.” Sister Lucia of Fatima reveals: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this [implicitly] for three reasons: The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason is because, in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Then, Sister Lucia adds: “In these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
At La Salette, Our Lady speaks explicitly of the “End Times” or “Last Days”, saying: “Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady’s Scary Bits
Now for Our Lady’s scary bits―which you have read before many times (but to what effect?). The “scary bits” are really “medicinal bytes” that are meant to stir the sick, lukewarm, indifferent soul into some kind of salutary action―and are not meant to be scary just because Heaven likes scaring people (which is false). If we can listen to the constant bombardment of the “Con-All-a-Virus Plannedemic” narrative day-in-day-out, week after week, for a whole year and more besides, then surely we can listen to truthful narrative of Our Lady who is warning us the terrible potential fatalities due to the increasingly contagious virus of sin that is a true pandemic! So, in order “needle” you, and puncture your “thick skin” with a vaccine of grace from Heaven, here again are the scary bits compiled from the revelations by Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―plus a guest appearance of Our Lady speaking to Blessed Elena Aiello:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains ... Nations will be annihilated … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
In speaking to the mystic and stigmatic, Blessed Elena Aielo, in 1956 Our Lady added: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Scary Fairy Tales?
Some might “poo-poo” all of the above prophecies as being unworthy of serious consideration and being mere “doom and gloom”―which is what Pope John XXIII did when, in his opening speech that began the Second Vatican Council, he implicitly referred to the Third Secret of Fatima (which he had read) and the three child seers of Fatima: “In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse … We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand!” (Pope John XXIII, October 11th, 1962, his opening speech at the Second Vatican Council).
Pope John XXIII says that to his “regret”, he has had to listen “to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure” who “say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse” ― adding that “We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand!” Hence he disagrees with Our Lady, who merely 6 years beforehand had said to Blessed Elena Aiello that “These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
The optimism expressed by Pope John XXIII, in his opening speech, has been shown to have been a totally FALSE OPTIMISM. In his opening speech he said: “Illuminated by the light of this [Second Vatican] Council, the Church—we confidently trust—will become greater in spiritual riches and, gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future without fear. In fact, by bringing herself up to date where required … the Church will make men, families, and peoples really turn their minds to heavenly things.” Yeah, sure! That was a Liberal-Modernist pipedream that quickly resulted in thousands of priest abandoning their priesthood, and hundreds of thousands of Religious (monks, nuns, sisters, brothers) abandoning their religious vows and orders, and hundreds of millions of Catholics failing to practice their Sunday obligation of attending Mass, and hundreds of millions have apostatized from the Faith (left the Faith).
In the book, Forming Intentional Disciples, by Sherry Weddell there some alarming statistics listed. Here are some:
● Only 30% (3 out 10) of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing (p. 24).
● 10% (1 out 10) of all adults in America are ex-Catholics (p. 25).
● Nearly 80% (8 out of 10) of cradle Catholics are no longer Catholic by the age of 23 years (p. 33).
So where is Pope John XXIII’s optimism today? Results show that the Second Vatican Council, with all its reforms and changes, has led to an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of the Church. Reputedly, the once pro-Vatican II trumpet-blower Pope Benedict XVI, today deeply regrets the direction that it took! A case of bolting the barn door after the horse has bolted! As Our Lady of Akita said: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (October 13th, 1973).
Scared Enough to Do More Penance and Pray?
There is no better time than Lent to be scared to the point of wanting to pray more and do more penance! Will that be the case? If so, then good―for those extra prayers, penances, attendance at extra Masses, etc. will certainly bear some fruit―even if they might not totally stop what is about to occur (and what truly needs to occur) for a “spring cleaning” of this sinful world. Echoing her demands of “Penance! Penance! Penance!” as Our Lady of Lourdes, and her demand, as Our Lady of Fatima, for many prayers and sacrifices to save the countless sinners falling into Hell―Our Lady of Akita said: “Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
It would too optimistic to vainly imagine that a few extra prayers and few more easy penances is going to “mop-up” the tsunami of sin that has inundated the world, as Our Lady of Good Success described: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women!” Nevertheless, we can slow down this “filthy ocean” of sin by our prayers and penances, and save, in the process, some souls that would otherwise be lost and damned. For as Pope John Paul II said of the forthcoming chastisements mentioned in the Third Secret of Fatima, in a 1981 conference in Fulda, Germany, as reported by the German Catholic journal and magazine, Stimme des Glaubens. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Are Things Hopeless? Are We Helpless?
There is a dispute whether the phrase “While there is life, there is hope” came from a play by the Ancient Greek playwright Menander, who died in 290 BC, or whether it came from the Ancient Roman playwright, Terentius, who died in 159 BC. Sometime later, Roman orator and statesman Cicero (106-43 BC) is quoted as saying: “Aegroto, dum anima est, spes esse dicitur” meaning “For a sick man, while there is life, there is hope.” Regardless of who came up with the phrase, it is true―while we still live, we still have hope. Especially in relation to hoping in the help of God, Who tells us: ““The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:20-23). This mercy of God--if sin ceases and penance is done--is applicable to both individuals or communities or cities or nations.
We see this mercy of God shown to so-called “Good Thief” on Calvary, who, as the Fathers of Church like to say, stole Heaven at the very last moments of his life. Humanly speaking, one would be tempted to despair of the salvation of such a man (who, by being a thief and robber, was very likely a murderer of some of those whom he ambushed and robbed). Thankfully God is not human and does not think like we think: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Thus, to the repentant “Good Thief”, who willingly accepted the sentence of death as a penance for his crimes and begged Christ for mercy “and said to Jesus: ‘Lord! Remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:42-43). Truly, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The Good News and the Bad News
For as God says: “When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, then he shall surely live, and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
This is why “Jesus said to them: ‘They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!’” (Mark 2:17). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
Therefore, we are told: “There is none that doth penance for his sin” (Jeremias 8:6). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it in his pride!” (Job 24:23). “If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men” (Ecclesiasticus 2:22). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Holy Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Hence, “There is no good for him that is always occupied in evil, and that giveth no alms―for the Highest hateth sinners, but hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Evil pursueth sinners and to the just man good shall be repaid” (Proverbs 13:21). “The Highest also hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly” (Ecclesiasticus 12:7).
We see this in the actions of God in the Old Testament―the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha are destroyed by fire and brimstone falling from Heaven, whereas a similar fate was avoided by the city of Nineve because they repented of their sins and did much penance.
“And the Lord said: ‘The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied and their sin is become exceedingly grievous!’ … And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city … And they said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city―for we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’ … And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: ‘Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters, which thou hast―lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ … And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city … And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And He destroyed these cities and all the country round about, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace!” (Genesis 18:20; 19:1-28).
Ninive, on the other hand, took heed of God’s warning of destruction and all its inhabitants from the top down―from king to peasant to even the animal livestock―did much penance and was spared: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee!’ And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days’ journey (meaning it took three days to walk around its perimeter). And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried, and said: ‘Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not” (Jonas 3:1-10).
It is up to us which fate awaits us! We can ignore God and His laws like Sodom and Gomorrha and face the consequences―which Our Lady has said will also be fire from Heaven: “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita). Or we can repent and do penance and pray for mercy and forgiveness: “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this!” (Our Lady of Akita).
In the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, Abraham bargained with God, asking God to spare the cities if only a few just men could be found in them―first he said fifty men, but then bargained God down to merely ten just men―but not even ten could be found! So what will your answer be? Will you put yourself forward as one of the ten just men (or women) for whose sake God was prepared to spare Sodom and Gomorrha? Or will no volunteers be found and so we will be left to helplessly and hopelessly face the consequences of divine punishment? Help and hope are available―but only if we play our part in obtaining them.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday, February 28th, Monday March 1st, Tuesday March 2nd
Article 12
The Devil's Final Battle! Whose Side Are You On?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday, February 28th, Monday March 1st, Tuesday March 2nd
Article 12
The Devil's Final Battle! Whose Side Are You On?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Just In Case You Missed The News…
In case you slept through the news report―Heaven’s news report―we are in the midst or beginnings of what Sister Lucia called “a decisive battle” and “a final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
This dovetails with the vision granted to Pope Leo XIII in the 1880s―which resulted in him composing the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. The original prayer was much longer and more striking than the “microwaved”, “fast-tracked” and abbreviated remnant that we have today.
After Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, on October 13th, 1884, where he was attended by some Cardinals and other members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice of Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.”
The gentle voice of Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan replied: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord concluded: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
It was then that he saw the great role St. Michael was to play in this conflict, and that we should call upon his powerful intercession. As he had hurled Lucifer and the fallen Angels out of Heaven, after the “first revolt against God,” so, too, he would play a great part in the battle to come, and would eventually cast Satan again into Hell.
Today’s Exorcists Confirm We Are In That Final Battle
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... His ordinary activity is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to sin, to push him to break divine law ... The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and “works” on it, creating his next sinful occasion.”
Pope Says the Smoke of Satan in the Church
Pope Paul VI, on several occasions, stated that the “smoke of Satan has entered the Church.”
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Has the Smoke of Satan Entered Your Family and Your Parish?
You might say: “You’ve got a nerve saying that! The smoke of Satan in my family? Hmmph! You’ve got to be joking! There ain’t no devilish smoke in MY family!” An understandable reaction―but a prideful and illogical and totally erroneous reaction. The devils are everywhere. There has been at least one devil following you around since you were born! He does not stop at your doorstep and stay outside the house when you enter. The devils follow us everywhere―just as our Guardian Angels follow us everywhere. We are forever accompanied by the heavenly and hellish! Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “The devil has a double way of acting―the normal way and the extraordinary way. The normal way is to lead man towards evil to make him fall into sin … Satan hides and disguises himself in a thousand ways … The devil prefers this way and we are all subject to it from our birth until our death! … We are all tempted by the devil, and will be for as long as we live!”
Furthermore, sin places us under the temporary care of the devil―especially mortal sin. If anyone in your family is habitually in a state of mortal sin―then he or she is habitually chained to the devil, so to speak: “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin, without being thereto instigated by the devil, he nevertheless becomes a child of the devil thereby, insofar as he imitates him who was the first to sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2).
As Sister Lucia of Fatima had said, the main focus of the Satan’s attack would be the family. Our Lady of Good Success went a step further and said that Satan and his human minions would focus on the children of the family: “They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children!”
Yet each time we enter our homes, we are oblivious to the fact that the devil is there waiting for us―in fact the devil is always at our shoulder waiting for a moment that he can profit from by enticing, goading, or persuading us to sin. Think what care we would exercise in entering our home if we knew there was a poisonous snake there! Yet the devil is worse than any snake! The devil just loves our obliviousness to his presence within the family (or parish, or school, or workplace)―it gives him the “Freedom of the City” and allows to do his nefarious work unhindered. Talk about stupidity!
The hardest worker in any household is the devil (and our Guardian Angels). The devil has succeeded in getting us to fill our homes with “trinkets”, “toys” or “idols” that distract us from God and submerge us in worldliness―the televisions, the computers, the ipads, the tablets, the smartphones, the radios, the video games, the music, etc., etc. etc. Our Lord said that by their fruits you will be able distinguish a good tree from a bad tree―well the fruits of those “trinkets”, “toys” or “idols” are mainly bad, for the leave little or even no time for God, for spiritual exercises and for working out the salvation of our souls. It is a sad and sorry state of affairs when the thirst for entertainment and fun far outstrips our thirst for God and prayer! Truly―“by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16). The words that Our Lord speaks immediately afterwards, in the following verses, can be equally applied to families or parishes:
“By their fruits you shall know them [families]! Even so every good [family] tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree [family] bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree [family] cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree [family] bring forth good fruit. Every tree [family] that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone [every family] therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone [every family] that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:17-27).
Our Lady echoes the above statements to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, saying: “I wish to warn thee as a solicitous and loving Mother, of the cunning of Satan … Great is the cunning and sagacity which the serpent uses against thee, and thy insight is but small … From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things.”
Yet who bothers to listen to Our Lady anymore? As S. Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this message … Sinners keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the message!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). As Our Lady warned at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this!”
Trivializing the Supernatural
The greatest problem is trivialization of the problem! The world in general―and Catholics in particular―have fallen into the “sin of trivialization”, if you could call it that. They make important things to be trivial. God exists and must be obeyed and loved with all our mind, heart, soul and strength (Mark 12:30)―but this such a trivial thing and so they obey the world and love the world with their whole mind, heart, soul and strength! If you don’t believe that, then simply look at the hours in the day consecrated to what should in reality be trivial―the TV, the computer, the smartphone, the internet, social media posts, sports, shopping, socializing, etc. All of these “false idols” have long since overtaken God in the “rankings”. This is even true among Traditional Catholics and Conservative Catholics―whose title belies the fact that they are also becoming increasing worldly.
Do not forget that the “world” is an enemy of God and the “world” is the princedom of Satan! “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world!” (1 John 5:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Yet that message is also forgotten, or deliberately ignored, or even outright rejected. Catholics today pick and choose what they want to believe, despite Our Lord telling His Church: “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20), adding elsewhere: “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). “If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24) … “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46).
Trivializing Sin
Today, without any shadow of a doubt, the vast majority of Catholics DO NOT BELIEVE ALL that they were once taught about the Faith―and, worse still, today they are being taught things by ‘Catholic’ clergy that are not Catholic! Hence you have the current situation wherein most Catholics accept or agree with contraception, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation before marriage, the ‘right’ to choose abortion, same-sex sexual relations, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, masturbation, drug use, drunkenness, immodesty, impurity, pornography, detraction (revealing sins of others), calumny (telling lies or exaggerations), missing Sunday Mass, making sacrilegious Communions, making sacrilegious Confessions (lying about or hiding sins in Confessions), etc., etc., etc. These are not isolated incidents, all of the above mentioned sins are accepted, condoned or practiced by over 50% of Catholics―in some cases as much as 90% or more! These sins have been trivialized because worldliness has infected the world in general, and Catholics in particular, with a loss of the sense of sin. “Sin? What’s the big deal! Everyone does it―it can’t even be a sin! That’s old-fashioned!”
We no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―POPE PIUS XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” POPE JOHN PAUL II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, POPE BENEDICT XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” In a homily on January 31st, 2014, POPE FRANCIS also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!” Yes―the sense of the dignity of God has crumbled, the sense of the gravity of sin has crumbled, and that is why society in general, and Catholic families in particular, have also crumbled.
Trivializing Satan
Once we trivialize God and the teachings of the Faith, it is only to be expected that we will trivialize the existence of Satan and his dangers. Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Yet once that Faith becomes weak, then automatically our resistance becomes weak. This is what the chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said on that subject. The following has been compiled from many different interviews and writings of Fr. Amorth:
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great … The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him ... His strategy is always along the same lines ... The Devil does not like to be seen … Contemporary religious culture, while not negating the existence of Satan and the other rebellious angels, is inclined to diminish their influence over people. Discrediting this influence is almost compulsory and is considered a sign of wisdom. This mentality, which is completely wrong, is commonplace not only among lay people, but also among priests, theologians and even bishops, the practical consequences of which are far-reaching … When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest … I have told him this and he admits it ... He makes people believe that Hell does not exist, that sin does not exist, and that he is nothing but one more experience to try out ...
“The loss of a sense of sin, that characterizes our era, helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan.”
“This brings to mind a passage from the first letter of St. Peter: ‘Brothers and sisters, be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your Faith’ (cf. 1 Peter 5:8-9). My interpretation of this passage―on which various scholars are agreed―sounds like this: ‘Brothers and sisters, be vigilant. The devil wanders around each one of you, searching where to devour.’ That word―’where’―is important: the devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and ‘works’ on it, creating his next sinful occasion. It will be the targeted person himself, who, in his liberty, will commit the sin, after having been well “cooked” by Satan’s temptation … He makes us doubt the existence of sin and Hell and Paradise and of their eternity; or, for example, as in our times, where euthanasia and abortion are passed off as signs of humanity’s progress. The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful.”
“The most frequent weak points in man are, from time to time, always the same: pride, money, and lust. And, let us note well, there are no age limits for sinning. When I hear confessions, I often say to my penitents, somewhat jokingly, that their temptations will end only five minutes after they have exhaled their last breath. Therefore, we must not presume, or hope, that, at an advanced age, we shall be exempt from sin. A vice, that is cultivated in youth, will not lessen in old age without some work and intervention. Let us consider lust: when I hear confessions, it’s not uncommon for the elderly to confess to looking at pornography more often than the youth. The will to struggle against sin must be cultivated even to the end of our days.”
“Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows ... When Faith in God declines, idolatry and irrationality increase … What we do know is that the problem is getting worse. The Devil is gaining ground. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ Nothing mattered to him, however terrifying, except for the great apostasy within the Church. This was the issue that really tormented him and for which he prayed and offered a great part of his suffering, crucified out of love … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper ... Just one fact: in Italy we have thirteen million Italians who frequently go to fortune tellers and magicians [remember: Italy has a total population of 60 million ― so 22% or nearly 1 in 4 Italians do this]… According to polls, 37% of students [almost 4 in 10] have, on at least one occasion, played the game with letters and a glass [Ouija Board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.”
“There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex ... I always carry brochures with the Ten Commandments on me because people no longer know them.”
Dumbed-Down Catholics
That last point of Fr. Amorth’s―about people no longer knowing the Ten Commandments―strikes a chord. Personal experience dovetails with his comments. Of the many Conservative and Traditional Catholics personally encountered, very few of them actually know the Ten Commandments―which is, let’s face it, merely part of a First Communion Catechism that is taught to 6 and 7 year olds! These Catholics might have a hyper-knowledge concerning sensational things in the current Crisis in the Church―but God will not primarily judge you on how much you knew about the Crisis, but upon how well you knew and how you kept the Commandments―and you cannot keep what you do not know! How many of them know the six chief Commandments of the Church, or how many conditions (and what are they) for making a good and valid Confession, or what are rules governing the reception of Holy Communion? All of this is merely 6 and 7 year old knowledge. Never mind arguing with Protestants about the reasons why the Catholic Church is the one true Church, or who has the authority over the Bible and why? Some youngsters today could not even tell you how many Gospels there are and who wrote them! Other youngsters, in surveys, could not even name the number and the names of the members of the Holy Trinity! If you enter into Catholic History, then knowledge of most Catholics plummets like a lead-balloon! Most barely read the Bible―apart from the readings they get to hear at Holy Mass―yet only 20% (optimistic number) attend the Holy Mass on Sundays on a regular basis! Only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily―but most of them only say and don’t pray it―meaning that they only say the Our Fathers and Hail Marys but do not meditate the mysteries (it takes too long and they have better things to do!).
All of this only begs the question, do we really understand our Catholic Faith? Or is it also a matter of apathy and our unwillingness to do something about it? If so, Edmund Burke’s quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” definitely identifies part of our problem. Accompanying the decline of our Catholic Faith has been a proportionate lowering of our spiritual guard. As each successive generation fails to fully transfer the Catholic Faith to the next, knowledge, devotion, understanding and interest falls considerably and pitifully―for, as the philosophical axiom so truly states: “You cannot give what you do not have!”―and, today, Catholics simply don’t have it! They have little knowledge of God and the Faith―therefore they have little love of God and the Faith. As St. Thérèse of Lisieux (St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus, the “Little Flower”) so correctly said: “Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known!” People know more about thousands of trivial things than they know about Jesus. How many have even read a book on the life of Jesus? Very few! Jesus says: “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29)―but most cannot be bothered! It would be an interesting experiment to total-up the amount of minutes spent each day on the variety things that come our way―and how much time we dedicate to each of those things, talking about them, listening to, reading about, thinking about, watching, etc. You can bet a million dollars or even the salvation of your soul on the fact that Jesus, God, the Faith will be way, way down the list! Is such an attitude complying with and fulfilling the first and greatest of God’s Commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). If you are failing to keep the first and greatest Commandment―then what do think the consequences are going to be? “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Just In Case You Forgot…
Catholics have been so seduced, lulled to sleep and fooled by Satan―the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)―into loving the world while totally forgetting that Our Lord and the Holy Ghost through Holy Scripture have clearly and unmistakably called the world―and its prince, the devil―an enemy of God. That means that most Catholics are guilty of treason in fraternizing with the enemy! How else can you interpret these words?
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Pretty clear, huh? Not for most Catholics―because they live in exact opposition to those words! They are very happy being part of the world, they love the world, they sacrifice far more time to the world than they do to God! Is it any wonder that most souls end up being lost and damned? Anyone can see that―it is as easy as 2+2=4. As Our Lord said during His “Sermon on the Mount” ― “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the world]” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The Holy Ghost adds: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). To which Our Lord can add: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). “If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24).
In case you slept through the news report―Heaven’s news report―we are in the midst or beginnings of what Sister Lucia called “a decisive battle” and “a final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
This dovetails with the vision granted to Pope Leo XIII in the 1880s―which resulted in him composing the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. The original prayer was much longer and more striking than the “microwaved”, “fast-tracked” and abbreviated remnant that we have today.
After Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, on October 13th, 1884, where he was attended by some Cardinals and other members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice of Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.”
The gentle voice of Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan replied: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord concluded: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
It was then that he saw the great role St. Michael was to play in this conflict, and that we should call upon his powerful intercession. As he had hurled Lucifer and the fallen Angels out of Heaven, after the “first revolt against God,” so, too, he would play a great part in the battle to come, and would eventually cast Satan again into Hell.
Today’s Exorcists Confirm We Are In That Final Battle
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “Satanism is on the increase. Satanism is growing! Unfortunately it is being spread more and more! Satanism is spreading enormously! The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon especially tempts the authorities of the Church―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... His ordinary activity is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to sin, to push him to break divine law ... The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and “works” on it, creating his next sinful occasion.”
Pope Says the Smoke of Satan in the Church
Pope Paul VI, on several occasions, stated that the “smoke of Satan has entered the Church.”
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Has the Smoke of Satan Entered Your Family and Your Parish?
You might say: “You’ve got a nerve saying that! The smoke of Satan in my family? Hmmph! You’ve got to be joking! There ain’t no devilish smoke in MY family!” An understandable reaction―but a prideful and illogical and totally erroneous reaction. The devils are everywhere. There has been at least one devil following you around since you were born! He does not stop at your doorstep and stay outside the house when you enter. The devils follow us everywhere―just as our Guardian Angels follow us everywhere. We are forever accompanied by the heavenly and hellish! Fr. Gabriele Amorth says: “The devil has a double way of acting―the normal way and the extraordinary way. The normal way is to lead man towards evil to make him fall into sin … Satan hides and disguises himself in a thousand ways … The devil prefers this way and we are all subject to it from our birth until our death! … We are all tempted by the devil, and will be for as long as we live!”
Furthermore, sin places us under the temporary care of the devil―especially mortal sin. If anyone in your family is habitually in a state of mortal sin―then he or she is habitually chained to the devil, so to speak: “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin, without being thereto instigated by the devil, he nevertheless becomes a child of the devil thereby, insofar as he imitates him who was the first to sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2).
As Sister Lucia of Fatima had said, the main focus of the Satan’s attack would be the family. Our Lady of Good Success went a step further and said that Satan and his human minions would focus on the children of the family: “They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children!”
Yet each time we enter our homes, we are oblivious to the fact that the devil is there waiting for us―in fact the devil is always at our shoulder waiting for a moment that he can profit from by enticing, goading, or persuading us to sin. Think what care we would exercise in entering our home if we knew there was a poisonous snake there! Yet the devil is worse than any snake! The devil just loves our obliviousness to his presence within the family (or parish, or school, or workplace)―it gives him the “Freedom of the City” and allows to do his nefarious work unhindered. Talk about stupidity!
The hardest worker in any household is the devil (and our Guardian Angels). The devil has succeeded in getting us to fill our homes with “trinkets”, “toys” or “idols” that distract us from God and submerge us in worldliness―the televisions, the computers, the ipads, the tablets, the smartphones, the radios, the video games, the music, etc., etc. etc. Our Lord said that by their fruits you will be able distinguish a good tree from a bad tree―well the fruits of those “trinkets”, “toys” or “idols” are mainly bad, for the leave little or even no time for God, for spiritual exercises and for working out the salvation of our souls. It is a sad and sorry state of affairs when the thirst for entertainment and fun far outstrips our thirst for God and prayer! Truly―“by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16). The words that Our Lord speaks immediately afterwards, in the following verses, can be equally applied to families or parishes:
“By their fruits you shall know them [families]! Even so every good [family] tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree [family] bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree [family] cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree [family] bring forth good fruit. Every tree [family] that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone [every family] therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone [every family] that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:17-27).
Our Lady echoes the above statements to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, saying: “I wish to warn thee as a solicitous and loving Mother, of the cunning of Satan … Great is the cunning and sagacity which the serpent uses against thee, and thy insight is but small … From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things.”
Yet who bothers to listen to Our Lady anymore? As S. Lucia of Fatima lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this message … Sinners keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the message!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). As Our Lady warned at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this!”
Trivializing the Supernatural
The greatest problem is trivialization of the problem! The world in general―and Catholics in particular―have fallen into the “sin of trivialization”, if you could call it that. They make important things to be trivial. God exists and must be obeyed and loved with all our mind, heart, soul and strength (Mark 12:30)―but this such a trivial thing and so they obey the world and love the world with their whole mind, heart, soul and strength! If you don’t believe that, then simply look at the hours in the day consecrated to what should in reality be trivial―the TV, the computer, the smartphone, the internet, social media posts, sports, shopping, socializing, etc. All of these “false idols” have long since overtaken God in the “rankings”. This is even true among Traditional Catholics and Conservative Catholics―whose title belies the fact that they are also becoming increasing worldly.
Do not forget that the “world” is an enemy of God and the “world” is the princedom of Satan! “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world!” (1 John 5:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Yet that message is also forgotten, or deliberately ignored, or even outright rejected. Catholics today pick and choose what they want to believe, despite Our Lord telling His Church: “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20), adding elsewhere: “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). “If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24) … “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46).
Trivializing Sin
Today, without any shadow of a doubt, the vast majority of Catholics DO NOT BELIEVE ALL that they were once taught about the Faith―and, worse still, today they are being taught things by ‘Catholic’ clergy that are not Catholic! Hence you have the current situation wherein most Catholics accept or agree with contraception, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation before marriage, the ‘right’ to choose abortion, same-sex sexual relations, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, masturbation, drug use, drunkenness, immodesty, impurity, pornography, detraction (revealing sins of others), calumny (telling lies or exaggerations), missing Sunday Mass, making sacrilegious Communions, making sacrilegious Confessions (lying about or hiding sins in Confessions), etc., etc., etc. These are not isolated incidents, all of the above mentioned sins are accepted, condoned or practiced by over 50% of Catholics―in some cases as much as 90% or more! These sins have been trivialized because worldliness has infected the world in general, and Catholics in particular, with a loss of the sense of sin. “Sin? What’s the big deal! Everyone does it―it can’t even be a sin! That’s old-fashioned!”
We no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―POPE PIUS XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” POPE JOHN PAUL II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, POPE BENEDICT XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” In a homily on January 31st, 2014, POPE FRANCIS also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!” Yes―the sense of the dignity of God has crumbled, the sense of the gravity of sin has crumbled, and that is why society in general, and Catholic families in particular, have also crumbled.
Trivializing Satan
Once we trivialize God and the teachings of the Faith, it is only to be expected that we will trivialize the existence of Satan and his dangers. Holy Scripture warns: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Yet once that Faith becomes weak, then automatically our resistance becomes weak. This is what the chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said on that subject. The following has been compiled from many different interviews and writings of Fr. Amorth:
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great … The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him ... His strategy is always along the same lines ... The Devil does not like to be seen … Contemporary religious culture, while not negating the existence of Satan and the other rebellious angels, is inclined to diminish their influence over people. Discrediting this influence is almost compulsory and is considered a sign of wisdom. This mentality, which is completely wrong, is commonplace not only among lay people, but also among priests, theologians and even bishops, the practical consequences of which are far-reaching … When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest … I have told him this and he admits it ... He makes people believe that Hell does not exist, that sin does not exist, and that he is nothing but one more experience to try out ...
“The loss of a sense of sin, that characterizes our era, helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God: ‘Everything is lawful!’ ‘What is wrong there?’ ‘Everyone does it!’ … Everything is permitted and where your ego, or ‘I’, does not recognize any limits regarding pleasure or enjoyment … You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself … Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan.”
“This brings to mind a passage from the first letter of St. Peter: ‘Brothers and sisters, be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your Faith’ (cf. 1 Peter 5:8-9). My interpretation of this passage―on which various scholars are agreed―sounds like this: ‘Brothers and sisters, be vigilant. The devil wanders around each one of you, searching where to devour.’ That word―’where’―is important: the devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and ‘works’ on it, creating his next sinful occasion. It will be the targeted person himself, who, in his liberty, will commit the sin, after having been well “cooked” by Satan’s temptation … He makes us doubt the existence of sin and Hell and Paradise and of their eternity; or, for example, as in our times, where euthanasia and abortion are passed off as signs of humanity’s progress. The second subterfuge is to make evil appear good, a gain rather than a loss. The devil also makes evil appear interesting, positive, and beautiful.”
“The most frequent weak points in man are, from time to time, always the same: pride, money, and lust. And, let us note well, there are no age limits for sinning. When I hear confessions, I often say to my penitents, somewhat jokingly, that their temptations will end only five minutes after they have exhaled their last breath. Therefore, we must not presume, or hope, that, at an advanced age, we shall be exempt from sin. A vice, that is cultivated in youth, will not lessen in old age without some work and intervention. Let us consider lust: when I hear confessions, it’s not uncommon for the elderly to confess to looking at pornography more often than the youth. The will to struggle against sin must be cultivated even to the end of our days.”
“Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith ... We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing ... Young people receive everything from their parents―except the Faith ... It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows ... When Faith in God declines, idolatry and irrationality increase … What we do know is that the problem is getting worse. The Devil is gaining ground. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place ... When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan ... One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know what, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time he will come to rule a false Church!’ Nothing mattered to him, however terrifying, except for the great apostasy within the Church. This was the issue that really tormented him and for which he prayed and offered a great part of his suffering, crucified out of love … The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper ... Just one fact: in Italy we have thirteen million Italians who frequently go to fortune tellers and magicians [remember: Italy has a total population of 60 million ― so 22% or nearly 1 in 4 Italians do this]… According to polls, 37% of students [almost 4 in 10] have, on at least one occasion, played the game with letters and a glass [Ouija Board], which is a veritable spiritualist séance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.”
“There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex ... I always carry brochures with the Ten Commandments on me because people no longer know them.”
Dumbed-Down Catholics
That last point of Fr. Amorth’s―about people no longer knowing the Ten Commandments―strikes a chord. Personal experience dovetails with his comments. Of the many Conservative and Traditional Catholics personally encountered, very few of them actually know the Ten Commandments―which is, let’s face it, merely part of a First Communion Catechism that is taught to 6 and 7 year olds! These Catholics might have a hyper-knowledge concerning sensational things in the current Crisis in the Church―but God will not primarily judge you on how much you knew about the Crisis, but upon how well you knew and how you kept the Commandments―and you cannot keep what you do not know! How many of them know the six chief Commandments of the Church, or how many conditions (and what are they) for making a good and valid Confession, or what are rules governing the reception of Holy Communion? All of this is merely 6 and 7 year old knowledge. Never mind arguing with Protestants about the reasons why the Catholic Church is the one true Church, or who has the authority over the Bible and why? Some youngsters today could not even tell you how many Gospels there are and who wrote them! Other youngsters, in surveys, could not even name the number and the names of the members of the Holy Trinity! If you enter into Catholic History, then knowledge of most Catholics plummets like a lead-balloon! Most barely read the Bible―apart from the readings they get to hear at Holy Mass―yet only 20% (optimistic number) attend the Holy Mass on Sundays on a regular basis! Only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily―but most of them only say and don’t pray it―meaning that they only say the Our Fathers and Hail Marys but do not meditate the mysteries (it takes too long and they have better things to do!).
All of this only begs the question, do we really understand our Catholic Faith? Or is it also a matter of apathy and our unwillingness to do something about it? If so, Edmund Burke’s quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” definitely identifies part of our problem. Accompanying the decline of our Catholic Faith has been a proportionate lowering of our spiritual guard. As each successive generation fails to fully transfer the Catholic Faith to the next, knowledge, devotion, understanding and interest falls considerably and pitifully―for, as the philosophical axiom so truly states: “You cannot give what you do not have!”―and, today, Catholics simply don’t have it! They have little knowledge of God and the Faith―therefore they have little love of God and the Faith. As St. Thérèse of Lisieux (St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus, the “Little Flower”) so correctly said: “Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known!” People know more about thousands of trivial things than they know about Jesus. How many have even read a book on the life of Jesus? Very few! Jesus says: “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29)―but most cannot be bothered! It would be an interesting experiment to total-up the amount of minutes spent each day on the variety things that come our way―and how much time we dedicate to each of those things, talking about them, listening to, reading about, thinking about, watching, etc. You can bet a million dollars or even the salvation of your soul on the fact that Jesus, God, the Faith will be way, way down the list! Is such an attitude complying with and fulfilling the first and greatest of God’s Commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). If you are failing to keep the first and greatest Commandment―then what do think the consequences are going to be? “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Just In Case You Forgot…
Catholics have been so seduced, lulled to sleep and fooled by Satan―the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)―into loving the world while totally forgetting that Our Lord and the Holy Ghost through Holy Scripture have clearly and unmistakably called the world―and its prince, the devil―an enemy of God. That means that most Catholics are guilty of treason in fraternizing with the enemy! How else can you interpret these words?
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Pretty clear, huh? Not for most Catholics―because they live in exact opposition to those words! They are very happy being part of the world, they love the world, they sacrifice far more time to the world than they do to God! Is it any wonder that most souls end up being lost and damned? Anyone can see that―it is as easy as 2+2=4. As Our Lord said during His “Sermon on the Mount” ― “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the world]” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The Holy Ghost adds: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). To which Our Lord can add: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). “If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24).
Saturday, February 27th
Article 11
Satan Is Serious! Are You?
We Need To Get Serious or Things Will Be Serious!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 11
Satan Is Serious! Are You?
We Need To Get Serious or Things Will Be Serious!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Are You Serious?
The majority of the world likes upbeat people. Whether it be in political candidates, or in workplace rules and customs, or in social gatherings―cheeriness is rewarded, while seriousness is frowned upon, and the serious person is called a “Debbie Downer”, or “Negative Nancy”, “Dave Doom”, or “Armageddon Al.” Who loves a “Party-Pooper” when all we want to do is laugh and enjoy ourselves?
Yet Jesus was much more serious than He was jokey. We read in the Gospels of the many serious things He spoke about, but we cannot find Him telling one single joke! In fact, many scholars say that Jesus never laughed―for laughter is, as psychologists, thinkers and philosophers tell us, a sign of surprise at the unexpected―but Jesus was never surprised by anything, since He knew all things―even the punch-lines to all the jokes! He would have smiled politely, but not laughed.
Furthermore, Jesus did not come to joke around―He had a serious mission to accomplish and, personally, a frightening mission to accomplish―He was not laughing in the Garden of Gethsemane, while laughingly saying: “Hey! I’m God! I can handle all this coming torture! I will only feel as though I am being tickled to death!” No! He was seriously frightened and admitted it: “Saying: ‘Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me! But yet not My will, but Thine be done! … And being in an agony, He prayed all the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:42-44).
From Silliness to Seriousness
Everyone’s life―daily, hourly, even from minute to minute―is acted out on the sliding-scale that leads from “silliness” to “seriousness”. In general, in this present modern-age, there has been a tendency to slip into “silliness” more and more, and to practice “seriousness” less and less. If you browse through the classic and traditional translations of the Bible, you will not find the words “silliness” or “seriousness” in them―the closest you will come to “silliness” is “foolishness” and “fools”; and the closest words to “seriousness” will be “zeal” and “wisdom” ― as seen in the following examples:
► Silliness is the staple diet of fools
● “A fool lifts up his voice in laughter” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23).
● “The heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5).
● “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9).
● “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
● “Doctrine to a fool is as fetters on the feet, and like manacles on the right hand” (Ecclesiasticus 21:22).
● “For My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22).
● “You fools, be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
► Seriousness is akin to zeal:
● “I have had a zeal for good and shall not be confounded!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:24).
● “They have a zeal of God” (Romans 10:2).
● “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts!” (3 Kings 19:10).
● “He was full of zeal for the law” (1 Machabees 2:58).
● “See my zeal for the Lord!” (4 Kings 10:16).
● “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up!” (Psalm 68:10).
● “Being fervent in the zeal of God” (1 Machabees 2:54).
● “In the fire of my zeal I have spoken!” (Ezechiel 36:5).
● “I have spoken in my zeal and in my indignation!” (Ezechiel 36:6).
● “I have spoken in my zeal and in the fire of my anger” (Ezechiel 38:19).
● “I am zealous for Jerusalem and Sion with a great zeal!” (Zacharias 1:14).
► Similarly, the word “wise” seems to often imply “seriousness”, as is shown in the following examples:
● “Seek counsel always of a wise man” (Tobias 4:19).
● “A wise and industrious man” (Genesis 41:33).
● “Speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom” (Exodus 28:3).
● “Whosoever of you is wise, let him come and make that which the Lord hath commanded!” (Exodus 35:10).
● “Every wise man, to whom the Lord gave wisdom and understanding to know how to work, made the things that are necessary for the uses of the sanctuary, and which the Lord commanded ... And all the men that were wise of heart, accomplished the work of the tabernacle” (Exodus 36:1, 8).
● “My son, if thou wilt pay attention to me, thou shalt learn; and if thou wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be wise. If thou wilt incline thy ear, thou shalt receive instruction; and if thou love to hear, thou shalt be wise” (Ecclesiasticus 6:33-34).
● “Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, that I may appoint them your rulers!” (Deuteronomy 1:13).
► Then you have the verses of wisdom versus foolishness (or seriousness versus silliness):
● “The wise of heart receiveth precepts―but a fool is beaten with lips!” (Proverbs 10:8).
● “The heart of the wise seeketh instruction ― but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness!” (Proverbs 15:14).
● “Wise men lay up knowledge―but the mouth of the fool is next to confusion!” (Proverbs 10:14).
● “The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5).
● “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes―but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels” (Proverbs 12:15).
● “He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise―but a friend of fools shall become like to them” (Proverbs 13:20).
● “The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge: but the mouth of fools bubbleth out folly!” (Proverbs 15:2).
● “A fool uttereth all his mind―but a wise man deferreth and keepeth it till afterwards” (Proverbs 29:11).
● “A wise man feareth and declineth from evil―but the fool leapeth over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16).
● “Folly is joy to the fool―but the wise man maketh straight his steps” (Proverbs 15:21).
● “Wisdom shineth in the face of the wise―but the eyes of fools are in the ends of the Earth” (Proverbs 17:24).
● “The eyes of a wise man are in his head―but the fool walketh in darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:14).
● “The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong” (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
● “Honor and glory is in the word of the wise―but the tongue of the fool is his ruin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:15).
● “It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:6).
Serious About Sanctity or Serious About Secularism?
We have a serious God problem. Our society merely likes to dip their toe in the Faith, for, when it comes down to it, we would rather make our own decisions and carve our own path in this world, than to have our Faith carve our path and influence our decisions. We are a society of hypocrisy. In the United States the money might well say: “In God we trust”, and “God bless America”―but in reality one government after another has done everything in its power to take God out of the country―leaving only token gestures, pacifying symbols, passing mention of God. They like to call it “separation of Church and State” but in reality it is just making sure we have a secular society. “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks―but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).
Secularism Leads to Satanism
Father Francois Dermine―an exorcist for over 25 years for the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo in Italy―said the problems of society can be blamed on a rise in what he calls “aggressive Satanism” ― which is where young people are influenced by demonic energies because of secularism, demonic imagery in video games and a lack of true role models. “Secularization leaves a void,” Fr. Dermine said, for in a secular culture God is removed or marginalized and made to seem either unimportant or non-existent. He added that alongside it is a “sort of spiritual, ideological and also cultural void. Young people do not have anything to satisfy their spiritual and profound needs. They are thirsting for something, and the Church is not attractive anymore … Young people do not have anything to satisfy their spiritual and profound needs. They are thirsting for something, and the Church is not attractive anymore … so they try to find something elsewhere. This ‘something’ is, many times, the demonic world.”
Fr. Dermine lamented our present culture that celebrates the demonic, saying that our secular culture has a “Satanist mentality,” adding that those who are engaged with that secular culture “can become evil themselves very easily.” Pointing to the dangers of getting involved with the demonic at a young age, in which youth slowly become familiar with the demonic world, which, at a certain point, becomes normal. And when it does, “they risk passing from the culture to the acts. They can become evil themselves very easily.” Fr. Dermine warns that young people are in greater danger due to the increasing instability of modern families. He says that the “Education of young people is poorer and poorer. Couples are collapsing. Children are left alone; they are destabilized, and they don’t have any defenses. If they had received love in their own families, then it would be much more difficult to follow these kinds of ideologies. It would be much more difficult to penetrate their minds. If the adult world does not offer good alternatives, it is more difficult for younger generations to adopt a stable way of life.”
One example of the normalization of Satanism, he said, is the recent book, A Children’s Book of Demons, which was published in May of 2019, and is directed to children aged 5-10 years of age. Written by Aaron Leighton, an award-winning illustrator and known fan of occult practices, the book contains colorful images of some 20 different demons and teaches kids the sigil, or magical symbol, for the demons and how to summon them. Fr. Dermine stated: “Satanism is not always so explicit, but it is becoming more and more so, and the publication of this book is a sign of this,” noting that, just a few years ago, a book like this would have been inconceivable, “but now it’s not.”
On the matter of the above mentioned book, a group of international exorcists―The International Association of Exorcists―has spoken out in alarm against this new children’s book that is teaching children, aged 5 to 10 years of age, how to interact with and summon demons. The International Association of Exorcists warned that the publication is not only a spiritual threat, but is a disguised attempt to lure young people into Satanism. The exorcist further warned that “You don’t mess around with demons! Whoever invites a child to summon a demon is like a person who puts a grenade in their hands to play with. Sooner or later the child will pull the pin and the bomb will explode in their hands! Whoever invites a child to summon a demon is telling them that it’s possible to get help from a criminal to get something. Whoever invites a child to summon a demon, is causing them to lose their identity and to be morally, psychologically and spiritually destroyed,” adding that those who invite children to summon demons are already “an ‘ally’ of the demons.”
A description of the book speaks directly to children, saying: “Don’t want to take out the trash tonight? Maybe you’re swimming in homework? Perhaps that big bully is being a real drag? Well grab your colored pencils and sigil drawing skills and dial up some demons! This paranormal parody is filled to the brim with funny spirits more silly than scary! … Summoning demons has never been so fun!” Several websites, carrying the book, have described it as a “playful guide” that allows readers, most of whom will presumably be children, to conjure “gentle demons” by drawing their “sigil,” or magical symbol, after they wake up in the mornings. Decked with colorful images of some 20 different demons, the book urges children to summon these dark creatures in order to do everything from making themselves sick in order to get out of school and eat ice cream all day, to hypnotizing others and giving themselves “genius-level” smartness. After the description of each demon, some of which include disclaimers warning kids that allowing a specific demon into their head can be a bit “freaky,” children are instructed to draw the demon’s symbol in a specific color after they wake up in order to summon it. Coloring pages are also provided so kids can color in the demons they have been taught to summon. The concept of summoning is simplified so as to be understood by young children, with the symbols described as a “telephone number” through which they can contact the demons.
Secularism Not Shocked by Satanism
It is interesting and amazing how secularism is increasingly quasi-accepting of Satanism! In the USA there are now two chief Satanic organizations―the Church of Satan and the Temple of Satan. The US government has recognized the Satanic Temple as a tax-exempt organized religion ― which is hardly surprising in view of the allegations of widespread practice of Satanism among many of the top USA politicians on both a national and regional basis. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. He tempts every authority―those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
In October 2004 the British Royal Navy officially recognized its first registered Satanist, 24-year-old Chris Cranmer, as a technician on HMS Cumberland.
On June 6th, 2006 (6-6-06), the Church of Satan held the first public ritual Satanic Mass in 40 years at the Steve Allen Theater in the Center for Inquiry, in Los Angeles, to mark the Church’s fortieth birthday. The ritual, based on the rites outlined in The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals, was conducted by Reverend Bryan Moore and Priestess Heather Saenz.
In October of 2019, midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, who have beliefs associated with The Satanic Temple, now have a study group available to them, according to the military institution. A space for a study group at the academy, located in Annapolis, Maryland, was requested by students with “beliefs aligned with those practiced by The Satanic Temple”, so that they could gather and share their views, according to a statement by Cmdr. Alana Garas, a Naval Academy spokeswoman.
In academic circles, sociological discourse has generally represented Satanism as a harmless, law-abiding alternative religion, as stated by a joint study of the Southern Illinois University and the University of Kentucky. The Temple of Satan, founded in 2013, furthers this acceptance by stating that it exists: “to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.” They forgot to add the part about damning souls for eternity in Hell! The Temple of Satan hold Satanic after-school clubs for children who are taught about the Temple’s tenets which include:
● One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
● People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
This fits perfectly with Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s warning that―in the current battle Satan is waging against God, Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary―Satan would focus on attacking the family in general and children in particular. Our Lady of Good Success―in speaking of our times―also warned: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
They say that the greatest trick the devil could ever pull is convincing the world he didn’t exist. Yet 70% of Americans, according to a 2007 Gallup Poll, believe in his existence. The Temple of Satan, on the other hand, say that they are among the 30% who do not believe in Satan’s existence, freely admitting that none of them actually believe in Satan as an actual spiritual entity, leaning instead on the accurate translation of the Hebrew word Satan, which means “adversary”. That is like Catholics professing themselves as Christians, but not actually believing that Christ exists or existed!
Satanic Songs and Songsters
In the field of music, Satanism is rife and has been for decades―with increasing acceptance, or at least increasing indifference. Going back to the 1960s and 1970s, you had the birth of rock bands with clear Satanic connotations in their names―here is merely a handful of them: Black Sabbath, The Devil’s Blood, Blood Ceremony, Coven, Graveyard, Lucifer, Luciferian Light Orchestra, The Obsessed, Pagan Altar, Pentagram, The Skull, Witchcraft, Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Witch Mountain. This mere sampling indicates the wide-ranging acceptance by more and more godless youth today.
The songs or ‘tracks’ on their ‘albums’ are equally Satanic in their titling (the rock-band name comes first, followed by the title of the song):
Alice Cooper ― “Go To Hell!”
Kiss ― “Hotter Than Hell”
Cramps ― “Aloha From Hell”
Grim Reaper ― “See You In Hell!”
CJSS ― “Citizen Of Hell”
Rigor Mortis ― “Condemned To Hell”
AC/DC ― “Highway To Hell”
Twisted Sister ― “Burn In Hell!”
Cheap Trick ― “Gonna Raise Hell!”
Mercyful Fate ― “Princess of Hell”
Raven ― “Hell Patrol”
Even the Rolling Stones put out an album entitled “Goat’s Head Soup” ― the goat’s head is an accepted symbol of Satan ― which included the song “Dancing With Mr. D” ― “D” meaning the Devil. Another song they recorded was “Sympathy For The Devil.”
The actual lyrics to some of these songs by the Satanic related rock-bands is so explicit and shocking, or even blasphemous, that it is unprintable―it can only be left to your imagination. Yet there are plenty of followers of these rock-bands who happily listen to and sing along with those Satanic lyrics!
Serious Sin and Slavery to Satan
Too many take sin too lightly. As the Catechism teaches, sin is the greatest evil in the world―regardless of whether it is mortal sin or venial sin. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The devil entangles us by sin and he eventually chains us to himself by our sins. “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin, without being thereto instigated by the devil, he nevertheless becomes a child of the devil thereby, insofar as he imitates him who was the first to sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2).
It is through mortal sin that Satan can bring about our damnation―and each venial sin is, as the Church teaches, another step closer to mortal sin. St. Thomas says: “The demons incite man to all such things which seem to be venial that he may become used to them so as to lead him to mortal sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 89, art. 4, ad 3). He continues: “The devil does not straight away tempt the spiritual man to grave sins, but begins with lighter sins, so as gradually to lead him to those of greater magnitude ... Thus, did the devil also set about the temptation of the first man. For at first he enticed his mind to consent to eating of the forbidden fruit, saying (Gen. 3:1) ‘Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree in paradise?’ Secondly, the devil the mind to vainglory by saying (Gen. 3:1], ‘Your eyes shall be opened.’ Thirdly, he led the temptation to the extreme height of pride, saying, ‘You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’” (Summa Theologica III, q. 41, art. 4).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “There are three things to consider regarding the power which the devil exercised over men. The first is on man’s part, who, by his sin deserved to be delivered over to the devil’s power and was overcome by his tempting. Another point is on God’s part, whom man had offended by sinning and who with justice left man under the devil’s power. The third is on the devil’s part, who out of his most wicked will hindered him from securing his salvation” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 49, art. 2).
Exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth on Satanism
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “Satanism is growing. Unfortunately it is being spread more and more. When Faith decreases, superstition increases. Man cannot live without anything … Mortal beings, during their experience on the Earth, are blessed with freedom. They can choose between good and evil, between God and Satan ... If man rebels against God and falls into sin by his own fault, God gives him thousands of occasions to convert. It is not God who sends man to Hell; it is man who goes there by his own will … There is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex ... One thing is ‘sexual fun’; another is love. Today there is much talk of love, but there truly is none! Precisely in Fatima did Our Lady say to the young, seven-year old, Jacinta: ‘The sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin!’ ― the sin of the flesh ... Everything that seduces and enslaves souls leads to their death, which is Satan’s objective … Music can also be an instrument of the devil. It is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers …
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... His ordinary activity is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to sin, to push him to break divine law ... Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and “works” on it, creating his next sinful occasion. It will be the targeted person himself, who in his liberty, will commit the sin, after having been well “cooked” by Satan’s temptation … Angels and men, who follow Satan, base their existence on three principles and practical rules of life: you can do what you wish, that is, without subjugation to God’s laws; you obey no one; and you are the god of yourself.”
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger on Satan
Fr. Chad Ripperger, born in Casper, Wyoming, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1997. He was appointed an exorcist for the Diocese of Tulsa in Oklahoma from 2012 until 2016, and has since served as an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Denver―thus having experience with exorcisms for almost 10 years, having dealt with around 7,000 cases. Fr. Ripperger speaks of how mortal sin can ultimately lead to possession, not to mention the lesser degrees Satanic activity of oppression and obsession. Fr. Ripperger says:
“The demons are trying to get people to do [sinful] things and this is why mortal sin is so damaging, because it’s the door opener to demons getting in and I’m not talking about just the really wicked kinds of mortal sins, like killing people, although the more extremely disordered it is, usually the more of a door opener it is. People can become possessed, as I have seen, through a mortal sin of pride. That’s all it took was the mortal sin of pride. I’ve seen people possessed through fornication.”
“Also, if you use some other thing badly, it too is subject to Satan. What happens is―when women, men, or even children are raped or molested, or abused―the problem is you are using them in a disordered fashion, and it opens the door so that Satan can get into the woman herself. Most people, again, who show up on my doorstep who are in fact possessed are women who have been raped, molested, or abused.”
“They did a study and they found out that at least 25% of college age students have either been on therapy or are currently on some type of psychotropic drugs. 25%. Which actually fits my theory, that the percentage of people that are diabolically obsessed in this country is somewhere around 25%. It is that high because too many people are simply doing things that are opening doors to let the demons in to effect them. They are committing grave matter, I mean serious sins, mortal sins. The Church has a reason why they call it mortal sin but what most people don’t know is that the proper effect of every single mortal sin is possession. It’s just that God blocks it in 99.9% of the cases. Why? Because when you’re in the state of grace you’re actually subject to God, but the minute you commit a mortal sin, you reject God and there’s only one alternative. Either you are with God or you are with Satan. So you are placing yourself under him and usually you are using your body in such a way that gravely offends Our Lord and actually empowers the demons.”
Who the Hell Cares?
“So what? What is that to me? I’m doing just fine!” you might say. Yet the world finds itself if one Hell of a state! It has be said―on pure mathematical calculations alone―that most of the world is in hands of the devil. The vast majority of people in this world are not baptized. Yet the Church has traditionally taught that prior to Baptism, we are under the dominion of Satan. This equation of Original Sin with subjection to the dominion of the devil, has long been reflected and taught in the liturgy of Baptism, in the rites of both Rome and Constantinople. In the traditional Roman Baptismal liturgy, we find a sequence of exorcisms that directly represent baptism’s role as releasing us from the devil’s possession. Thus the priest says over the person to be baptized:
“Go forth from him (her), unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.”
And again
“I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father + and of the Son, + and of the Holy + Spirit, that thou goest out and depart from this servant of God, N. For He commands thee, accursed one, Who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His right hand to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge thy sentence, and give honour to the living and true God: give honor to Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Spirit; and depart from this servant of God, N. because God and our Lord Jesus Christ have vouchsafed to call him (her) to His holy grace and benediction and to the font of Baptism.”
And again
“And this sign of the holy Cross, which we make upon his (her) forehead, do thou, accursed devil, never dare to violate.”
And finally
“I exorcise thee, every unclean spirit, in the name of God the Father + Almighty, in the name of Jesus + Christ, His Son, our Lord and Judge, and in the power of the Holy + Spirit, that thou depart from this creature of God N, which our Lord hath deigned to call unto His holy temple, that it may be made the temple of the living God, and that the Holy Spirit may dwell therein.”
That does not mean that all of the unbaptized world is possessed in the strict sense of the word―but most of the world is under the influence of the devil. Nevertheless, the Church has always traditionally taught that “outside of the Church there is no salvation” and it is Baptism that gives us membership in the Church. If there is no salvation outside of the Church, then this automatically presents the “flip side of the coin” of salvation―which is damnation. You either choose to enter the Church of Christ or the “Synagogue of Satan”―there is no third option.
Yet even after Baptism, there is a danger of still falling into the clutches of Satan. As Holy Scripture―which is God speaking―tells us: “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin … he becomes a child of the devil thereby” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2). Never before has there been so much sin as we see today. Even back in “the good old days” (sarcasm) of 1956, Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
If mortal sin puts us into the hands of Satan―then how many are in his clutches today? Just do the math! Currently, there are around 7.8 billion (7,800 million) people in the world―of which approximately 1.2 billion (1,200 million) are Catholics. You have to presume that just about every unbaptized person is living in a state of mortal sin―especially these days when temptation is oozing out of every crook and cranny! Likewise, you have presume that almost all Protestants are in a state of mortal sin without the means to get out of it (the Sacrament of Confession)―remember that all it takes to lose the grace of God received in a valid Baptism is just one single mortal sin! Of the 1,200 million Catholics―less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly (an attendance which binds under the pain of mortal sin)―which means that only 240 million are attending Sunday Mass regularly―the rest you can presume are in mortal sin. Yet, of those 240 million―how many are in a state of grace? There are literally thousands of different kinds of mortal sin that they commit! Hardly anyone is seen going to Confession in the mainstream Church! Is it really possible that, at time when temptation and sin have become rampant, that Catholics are no longer sinning? St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion―even back in the “good old days” of the 18th century― that most Catholics confessed badly and invalidly and were thus in a state of mortal sin!
The majority of the world likes upbeat people. Whether it be in political candidates, or in workplace rules and customs, or in social gatherings―cheeriness is rewarded, while seriousness is frowned upon, and the serious person is called a “Debbie Downer”, or “Negative Nancy”, “Dave Doom”, or “Armageddon Al.” Who loves a “Party-Pooper” when all we want to do is laugh and enjoy ourselves?
Yet Jesus was much more serious than He was jokey. We read in the Gospels of the many serious things He spoke about, but we cannot find Him telling one single joke! In fact, many scholars say that Jesus never laughed―for laughter is, as psychologists, thinkers and philosophers tell us, a sign of surprise at the unexpected―but Jesus was never surprised by anything, since He knew all things―even the punch-lines to all the jokes! He would have smiled politely, but not laughed.
Furthermore, Jesus did not come to joke around―He had a serious mission to accomplish and, personally, a frightening mission to accomplish―He was not laughing in the Garden of Gethsemane, while laughingly saying: “Hey! I’m God! I can handle all this coming torture! I will only feel as though I am being tickled to death!” No! He was seriously frightened and admitted it: “Saying: ‘Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me! But yet not My will, but Thine be done! … And being in an agony, He prayed all the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:42-44).
From Silliness to Seriousness
Everyone’s life―daily, hourly, even from minute to minute―is acted out on the sliding-scale that leads from “silliness” to “seriousness”. In general, in this present modern-age, there has been a tendency to slip into “silliness” more and more, and to practice “seriousness” less and less. If you browse through the classic and traditional translations of the Bible, you will not find the words “silliness” or “seriousness” in them―the closest you will come to “silliness” is “foolishness” and “fools”; and the closest words to “seriousness” will be “zeal” and “wisdom” ― as seen in the following examples:
► Silliness is the staple diet of fools
● “A fool lifts up his voice in laughter” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23).
● “The heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5).
● “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9).
● “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
● “Doctrine to a fool is as fetters on the feet, and like manacles on the right hand” (Ecclesiasticus 21:22).
● “For My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22).
● “You fools, be wise at last!” (Psalm 93:8).
► Seriousness is akin to zeal:
● “I have had a zeal for good and shall not be confounded!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:24).
● “They have a zeal of God” (Romans 10:2).
● “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts!” (3 Kings 19:10).
● “He was full of zeal for the law” (1 Machabees 2:58).
● “See my zeal for the Lord!” (4 Kings 10:16).
● “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up!” (Psalm 68:10).
● “Being fervent in the zeal of God” (1 Machabees 2:54).
● “In the fire of my zeal I have spoken!” (Ezechiel 36:5).
● “I have spoken in my zeal and in my indignation!” (Ezechiel 36:6).
● “I have spoken in my zeal and in the fire of my anger” (Ezechiel 38:19).
● “I am zealous for Jerusalem and Sion with a great zeal!” (Zacharias 1:14).
► Similarly, the word “wise” seems to often imply “seriousness”, as is shown in the following examples:
● “Seek counsel always of a wise man” (Tobias 4:19).
● “A wise and industrious man” (Genesis 41:33).
● “Speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom” (Exodus 28:3).
● “Whosoever of you is wise, let him come and make that which the Lord hath commanded!” (Exodus 35:10).
● “Every wise man, to whom the Lord gave wisdom and understanding to know how to work, made the things that are necessary for the uses of the sanctuary, and which the Lord commanded ... And all the men that were wise of heart, accomplished the work of the tabernacle” (Exodus 36:1, 8).
● “My son, if thou wilt pay attention to me, thou shalt learn; and if thou wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be wise. If thou wilt incline thy ear, thou shalt receive instruction; and if thou love to hear, thou shalt be wise” (Ecclesiasticus 6:33-34).
● “Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, that I may appoint them your rulers!” (Deuteronomy 1:13).
► Then you have the verses of wisdom versus foolishness (or seriousness versus silliness):
● “The wise of heart receiveth precepts―but a fool is beaten with lips!” (Proverbs 10:8).
● “The heart of the wise seeketh instruction ― but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness!” (Proverbs 15:14).
● “Wise men lay up knowledge―but the mouth of the fool is next to confusion!” (Proverbs 10:14).
● “The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:5).
● “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes―but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels” (Proverbs 12:15).
● “He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise―but a friend of fools shall become like to them” (Proverbs 13:20).
● “The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge: but the mouth of fools bubbleth out folly!” (Proverbs 15:2).
● “A fool uttereth all his mind―but a wise man deferreth and keepeth it till afterwards” (Proverbs 29:11).
● “A wise man feareth and declineth from evil―but the fool leapeth over and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16).
● “Folly is joy to the fool―but the wise man maketh straight his steps” (Proverbs 15:21).
● “Wisdom shineth in the face of the wise―but the eyes of fools are in the ends of the Earth” (Proverbs 17:24).
● “The eyes of a wise man are in his head―but the fool walketh in darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:14).
● “The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong” (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
● “Honor and glory is in the word of the wise―but the tongue of the fool is his ruin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:15).
● “It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:6).
Serious About Sanctity or Serious About Secularism?
We have a serious God problem. Our society merely likes to dip their toe in the Faith, for, when it comes down to it, we would rather make our own decisions and carve our own path in this world, than to have our Faith carve our path and influence our decisions. We are a society of hypocrisy. In the United States the money might well say: “In God we trust”, and “God bless America”―but in reality one government after another has done everything in its power to take God out of the country―leaving only token gestures, pacifying symbols, passing mention of God. They like to call it “separation of Church and State” but in reality it is just making sure we have a secular society. “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks―but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).
Secularism Leads to Satanism
Father Francois Dermine―an exorcist for over 25 years for the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo in Italy―said the problems of society can be blamed on a rise in what he calls “aggressive Satanism” ― which is where young people are influenced by demonic energies because of secularism, demonic imagery in video games and a lack of true role models. “Secularization leaves a void,” Fr. Dermine said, for in a secular culture God is removed or marginalized and made to seem either unimportant or non-existent. He added that alongside it is a “sort of spiritual, ideological and also cultural void. Young people do not have anything to satisfy their spiritual and profound needs. They are thirsting for something, and the Church is not attractive anymore … Young people do not have anything to satisfy their spiritual and profound needs. They are thirsting for something, and the Church is not attractive anymore … so they try to find something elsewhere. This ‘something’ is, many times, the demonic world.”
Fr. Dermine lamented our present culture that celebrates the demonic, saying that our secular culture has a “Satanist mentality,” adding that those who are engaged with that secular culture “can become evil themselves very easily.” Pointing to the dangers of getting involved with the demonic at a young age, in which youth slowly become familiar with the demonic world, which, at a certain point, becomes normal. And when it does, “they risk passing from the culture to the acts. They can become evil themselves very easily.” Fr. Dermine warns that young people are in greater danger due to the increasing instability of modern families. He says that the “Education of young people is poorer and poorer. Couples are collapsing. Children are left alone; they are destabilized, and they don’t have any defenses. If they had received love in their own families, then it would be much more difficult to follow these kinds of ideologies. It would be much more difficult to penetrate their minds. If the adult world does not offer good alternatives, it is more difficult for younger generations to adopt a stable way of life.”
One example of the normalization of Satanism, he said, is the recent book, A Children’s Book of Demons, which was published in May of 2019, and is directed to children aged 5-10 years of age. Written by Aaron Leighton, an award-winning illustrator and known fan of occult practices, the book contains colorful images of some 20 different demons and teaches kids the sigil, or magical symbol, for the demons and how to summon them. Fr. Dermine stated: “Satanism is not always so explicit, but it is becoming more and more so, and the publication of this book is a sign of this,” noting that, just a few years ago, a book like this would have been inconceivable, “but now it’s not.”
On the matter of the above mentioned book, a group of international exorcists―The International Association of Exorcists―has spoken out in alarm against this new children’s book that is teaching children, aged 5 to 10 years of age, how to interact with and summon demons. The International Association of Exorcists warned that the publication is not only a spiritual threat, but is a disguised attempt to lure young people into Satanism. The exorcist further warned that “You don’t mess around with demons! Whoever invites a child to summon a demon is like a person who puts a grenade in their hands to play with. Sooner or later the child will pull the pin and the bomb will explode in their hands! Whoever invites a child to summon a demon is telling them that it’s possible to get help from a criminal to get something. Whoever invites a child to summon a demon, is causing them to lose their identity and to be morally, psychologically and spiritually destroyed,” adding that those who invite children to summon demons are already “an ‘ally’ of the demons.”
A description of the book speaks directly to children, saying: “Don’t want to take out the trash tonight? Maybe you’re swimming in homework? Perhaps that big bully is being a real drag? Well grab your colored pencils and sigil drawing skills and dial up some demons! This paranormal parody is filled to the brim with funny spirits more silly than scary! … Summoning demons has never been so fun!” Several websites, carrying the book, have described it as a “playful guide” that allows readers, most of whom will presumably be children, to conjure “gentle demons” by drawing their “sigil,” or magical symbol, after they wake up in the mornings. Decked with colorful images of some 20 different demons, the book urges children to summon these dark creatures in order to do everything from making themselves sick in order to get out of school and eat ice cream all day, to hypnotizing others and giving themselves “genius-level” smartness. After the description of each demon, some of which include disclaimers warning kids that allowing a specific demon into their head can be a bit “freaky,” children are instructed to draw the demon’s symbol in a specific color after they wake up in order to summon it. Coloring pages are also provided so kids can color in the demons they have been taught to summon. The concept of summoning is simplified so as to be understood by young children, with the symbols described as a “telephone number” through which they can contact the demons.
Secularism Not Shocked by Satanism
It is interesting and amazing how secularism is increasingly quasi-accepting of Satanism! In the USA there are now two chief Satanic organizations―the Church of Satan and the Temple of Satan. The US government has recognized the Satanic Temple as a tax-exempt organized religion ― which is hardly surprising in view of the allegations of widespread practice of Satanism among many of the top USA politicians on both a national and regional basis. As the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. He tempts every authority―those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
In October 2004 the British Royal Navy officially recognized its first registered Satanist, 24-year-old Chris Cranmer, as a technician on HMS Cumberland.
On June 6th, 2006 (6-6-06), the Church of Satan held the first public ritual Satanic Mass in 40 years at the Steve Allen Theater in the Center for Inquiry, in Los Angeles, to mark the Church’s fortieth birthday. The ritual, based on the rites outlined in The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals, was conducted by Reverend Bryan Moore and Priestess Heather Saenz.
In October of 2019, midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, who have beliefs associated with The Satanic Temple, now have a study group available to them, according to the military institution. A space for a study group at the academy, located in Annapolis, Maryland, was requested by students with “beliefs aligned with those practiced by The Satanic Temple”, so that they could gather and share their views, according to a statement by Cmdr. Alana Garas, a Naval Academy spokeswoman.
In academic circles, sociological discourse has generally represented Satanism as a harmless, law-abiding alternative religion, as stated by a joint study of the Southern Illinois University and the University of Kentucky. The Temple of Satan, founded in 2013, furthers this acceptance by stating that it exists: “to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.” They forgot to add the part about damning souls for eternity in Hell! The Temple of Satan hold Satanic after-school clubs for children who are taught about the Temple’s tenets which include:
● One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
● People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
This fits perfectly with Sr. Lucia of Fatima’s warning that―in the current battle Satan is waging against God, Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary―Satan would focus on attacking the family in general and children in particular. Our Lady of Good Success―in speaking of our times―also warned: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
They say that the greatest trick the devil could ever pull is convincing the world he didn’t exist. Yet 70% of Americans, according to a 2007 Gallup Poll, believe in his existence. The Temple of Satan, on the other hand, say that they are among the 30% who do not believe in Satan’s existence, freely admitting that none of them actually believe in Satan as an actual spiritual entity, leaning instead on the accurate translation of the Hebrew word Satan, which means “adversary”. That is like Catholics professing themselves as Christians, but not actually believing that Christ exists or existed!
Satanic Songs and Songsters
In the field of music, Satanism is rife and has been for decades―with increasing acceptance, or at least increasing indifference. Going back to the 1960s and 1970s, you had the birth of rock bands with clear Satanic connotations in their names―here is merely a handful of them: Black Sabbath, The Devil’s Blood, Blood Ceremony, Coven, Graveyard, Lucifer, Luciferian Light Orchestra, The Obsessed, Pagan Altar, Pentagram, The Skull, Witchcraft, Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Witch Mountain. This mere sampling indicates the wide-ranging acceptance by more and more godless youth today.
The songs or ‘tracks’ on their ‘albums’ are equally Satanic in their titling (the rock-band name comes first, followed by the title of the song):
Alice Cooper ― “Go To Hell!”
Kiss ― “Hotter Than Hell”
Cramps ― “Aloha From Hell”
Grim Reaper ― “See You In Hell!”
CJSS ― “Citizen Of Hell”
Rigor Mortis ― “Condemned To Hell”
AC/DC ― “Highway To Hell”
Twisted Sister ― “Burn In Hell!”
Cheap Trick ― “Gonna Raise Hell!”
Mercyful Fate ― “Princess of Hell”
Raven ― “Hell Patrol”
Even the Rolling Stones put out an album entitled “Goat’s Head Soup” ― the goat’s head is an accepted symbol of Satan ― which included the song “Dancing With Mr. D” ― “D” meaning the Devil. Another song they recorded was “Sympathy For The Devil.”
The actual lyrics to some of these songs by the Satanic related rock-bands is so explicit and shocking, or even blasphemous, that it is unprintable―it can only be left to your imagination. Yet there are plenty of followers of these rock-bands who happily listen to and sing along with those Satanic lyrics!
Serious Sin and Slavery to Satan
Too many take sin too lightly. As the Catechism teaches, sin is the greatest evil in the world―regardless of whether it is mortal sin or venial sin. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The devil entangles us by sin and he eventually chains us to himself by our sins. “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin, without being thereto instigated by the devil, he nevertheless becomes a child of the devil thereby, insofar as he imitates him who was the first to sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2).
It is through mortal sin that Satan can bring about our damnation―and each venial sin is, as the Church teaches, another step closer to mortal sin. St. Thomas says: “The demons incite man to all such things which seem to be venial that he may become used to them so as to lead him to mortal sin” (Summa Theologica, Ia-IIae, q. 89, art. 4, ad 3). He continues: “The devil does not straight away tempt the spiritual man to grave sins, but begins with lighter sins, so as gradually to lead him to those of greater magnitude ... Thus, did the devil also set about the temptation of the first man. For at first he enticed his mind to consent to eating of the forbidden fruit, saying (Gen. 3:1) ‘Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree in paradise?’ Secondly, the devil the mind to vainglory by saying (Gen. 3:1], ‘Your eyes shall be opened.’ Thirdly, he led the temptation to the extreme height of pride, saying, ‘You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’” (Summa Theologica III, q. 41, art. 4).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “There are three things to consider regarding the power which the devil exercised over men. The first is on man’s part, who, by his sin deserved to be delivered over to the devil’s power and was overcome by his tempting. Another point is on God’s part, whom man had offended by sinning and who with justice left man under the devil’s power. The third is on the devil’s part, who out of his most wicked will hindered him from securing his salvation” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 49, art. 2).
Exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth on Satanism
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome, said: “Satanism is growing. Unfortunately it is being spread more and more. When Faith decreases, superstition increases. Man cannot live without anything … Mortal beings, during their experience on the Earth, are blessed with freedom. They can choose between good and evil, between God and Satan ... If man rebels against God and falls into sin by his own fault, God gives him thousands of occasions to convert. It is not God who sends man to Hell; it is man who goes there by his own will … There is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex ... One thing is ‘sexual fun’; another is love. Today there is much talk of love, but there truly is none! Precisely in Fatima did Our Lady say to the young, seven-year old, Jacinta: ‘The sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin!’ ― the sin of the flesh ... Everything that seduces and enslaves souls leads to their death, which is Satan’s objective … Music can also be an instrument of the devil. It is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers …
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... His ordinary activity is to tempt man toward evil, to lead him to temptation, to sin, to push him to break divine law ... Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … The devil looks in each person precisely for his weak point and “works” on it, creating his next sinful occasion. It will be the targeted person himself, who in his liberty, will commit the sin, after having been well “cooked” by Satan’s temptation … Angels and men, who follow Satan, base their existence on three principles and practical rules of life: you can do what you wish, that is, without subjugation to God’s laws; you obey no one; and you are the god of yourself.”
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger on Satan
Fr. Chad Ripperger, born in Casper, Wyoming, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1997. He was appointed an exorcist for the Diocese of Tulsa in Oklahoma from 2012 until 2016, and has since served as an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Denver―thus having experience with exorcisms for almost 10 years, having dealt with around 7,000 cases. Fr. Ripperger speaks of how mortal sin can ultimately lead to possession, not to mention the lesser degrees Satanic activity of oppression and obsession. Fr. Ripperger says:
“The demons are trying to get people to do [sinful] things and this is why mortal sin is so damaging, because it’s the door opener to demons getting in and I’m not talking about just the really wicked kinds of mortal sins, like killing people, although the more extremely disordered it is, usually the more of a door opener it is. People can become possessed, as I have seen, through a mortal sin of pride. That’s all it took was the mortal sin of pride. I’ve seen people possessed through fornication.”
“Also, if you use some other thing badly, it too is subject to Satan. What happens is―when women, men, or even children are raped or molested, or abused―the problem is you are using them in a disordered fashion, and it opens the door so that Satan can get into the woman herself. Most people, again, who show up on my doorstep who are in fact possessed are women who have been raped, molested, or abused.”
“They did a study and they found out that at least 25% of college age students have either been on therapy or are currently on some type of psychotropic drugs. 25%. Which actually fits my theory, that the percentage of people that are diabolically obsessed in this country is somewhere around 25%. It is that high because too many people are simply doing things that are opening doors to let the demons in to effect them. They are committing grave matter, I mean serious sins, mortal sins. The Church has a reason why they call it mortal sin but what most people don’t know is that the proper effect of every single mortal sin is possession. It’s just that God blocks it in 99.9% of the cases. Why? Because when you’re in the state of grace you’re actually subject to God, but the minute you commit a mortal sin, you reject God and there’s only one alternative. Either you are with God or you are with Satan. So you are placing yourself under him and usually you are using your body in such a way that gravely offends Our Lord and actually empowers the demons.”
Who the Hell Cares?
“So what? What is that to me? I’m doing just fine!” you might say. Yet the world finds itself if one Hell of a state! It has be said―on pure mathematical calculations alone―that most of the world is in hands of the devil. The vast majority of people in this world are not baptized. Yet the Church has traditionally taught that prior to Baptism, we are under the dominion of Satan. This equation of Original Sin with subjection to the dominion of the devil, has long been reflected and taught in the liturgy of Baptism, in the rites of both Rome and Constantinople. In the traditional Roman Baptismal liturgy, we find a sequence of exorcisms that directly represent baptism’s role as releasing us from the devil’s possession. Thus the priest says over the person to be baptized:
“Go forth from him (her), unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.”
And again
“I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father + and of the Son, + and of the Holy + Spirit, that thou goest out and depart from this servant of God, N. For He commands thee, accursed one, Who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His right hand to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge thy sentence, and give honour to the living and true God: give honor to Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Spirit; and depart from this servant of God, N. because God and our Lord Jesus Christ have vouchsafed to call him (her) to His holy grace and benediction and to the font of Baptism.”
And again
“And this sign of the holy Cross, which we make upon his (her) forehead, do thou, accursed devil, never dare to violate.”
And finally
“I exorcise thee, every unclean spirit, in the name of God the Father + Almighty, in the name of Jesus + Christ, His Son, our Lord and Judge, and in the power of the Holy + Spirit, that thou depart from this creature of God N, which our Lord hath deigned to call unto His holy temple, that it may be made the temple of the living God, and that the Holy Spirit may dwell therein.”
That does not mean that all of the unbaptized world is possessed in the strict sense of the word―but most of the world is under the influence of the devil. Nevertheless, the Church has always traditionally taught that “outside of the Church there is no salvation” and it is Baptism that gives us membership in the Church. If there is no salvation outside of the Church, then this automatically presents the “flip side of the coin” of salvation―which is damnation. You either choose to enter the Church of Christ or the “Synagogue of Satan”―there is no third option.
Yet even after Baptism, there is a danger of still falling into the clutches of Satan. As Holy Scripture―which is God speaking―tells us: “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “When man commits sin … he becomes a child of the devil thereby” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 109, art. 2, ad 2). Never before has there been so much sin as we see today. Even back in “the good old days” (sarcasm) of 1956, Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge!”
If mortal sin puts us into the hands of Satan―then how many are in his clutches today? Just do the math! Currently, there are around 7.8 billion (7,800 million) people in the world―of which approximately 1.2 billion (1,200 million) are Catholics. You have to presume that just about every unbaptized person is living in a state of mortal sin―especially these days when temptation is oozing out of every crook and cranny! Likewise, you have presume that almost all Protestants are in a state of mortal sin without the means to get out of it (the Sacrament of Confession)―remember that all it takes to lose the grace of God received in a valid Baptism is just one single mortal sin! Of the 1,200 million Catholics―less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly (an attendance which binds under the pain of mortal sin)―which means that only 240 million are attending Sunday Mass regularly―the rest you can presume are in mortal sin. Yet, of those 240 million―how many are in a state of grace? There are literally thousands of different kinds of mortal sin that they commit! Hardly anyone is seen going to Confession in the mainstream Church! Is it really possible that, at time when temptation and sin have become rampant, that Catholics are no longer sinning? St. Alphonsus Liguori was of the opinion―even back in the “good old days” of the 18th century― that most Catholics confessed badly and invalidly and were thus in a state of mortal sin!
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday February 21st & Monday February 22nd & Tuesday February 23rd
Article 10
Desert Warfare!
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Sunday February 21st & Monday February 22nd & Tuesday February 23rd
Article 10
Desert Warfare!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Back to the Desert Again!
It is that time of the year again! Lent! If you hadn’t realized it―then this Sunday’s Gospel should have driven the point home. The Gospel sees Our Lord led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights! The idea of a desert immediately conjures up thoughts of no food, no water, no anything―which strangely enough is pretty much how Lent looks to most people. Yes―Lent is a desert of sorts, or at least it should be. There are several periods of “40” ― whether days or years ― that are associated with the desert. One, as mentioned above, is the 40 days and 40 nights that Our Lord spent in the desert praying and fasting. You also have the 40 years of penance in the desert imposed by God upon the Israelites for refusing to obey Him in conquering the Promised Land, because they were afraid. You have the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses spent on Mount Sinai in the desert, communicating with God.
The Laws of the Church concerning Lent used to require 40 days of fasting, with meat being allowed once a day except for Friday, when one had to both fast and abstain from meat. If you look at the Middle Ages, you see St. Thomas Aquinas describe Lenten penance thus:
● Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were “black fasts.” This means no food at all.
● Other days of Lent: no food until 3:00 p.m., the hour of Our Lord’s death. Water was allowed, and, due to sanitary concerns, watered-down beer and wine was also allowed.
● No animal meats or fats.
● No eggs.
● No dairy products – that is, eggs, milk, cheese, cream, butter, etc.
● Sundays were days of less liturgical discipline, but the fasting rules above remained.
Easy Meat Penance
The term or idiom “easy meat” means someone who is easily deceived or seduced, or something that is easy to get or easy to do. It is in this sense that Catholics have been deceived and seduced into being more worldly by doing less penance―for penance is essentially the price for sin―so, if you are reducing or removing penance, then it implies that less sin is being committed. Yet that is a pipedream and a deception. Yet, in 1966, that is what Pope Paul VI―the “Lenten Chopper”―did. He chopped Lenten penances to pieces, or two main pieces, by giving everyone a 95% discount from penance by reducing the days of fasting from 40 days to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Somehow, when you really think about it, such an action seems pretty ludicrous at a time when sin was beginning to explode exponentially with the advent of modern technology. Penance is meant to be a medicine for sin―so how can you and why do you reduce the dose of medicine by 95% when the patient is becoming more and more sick?
No Sense of the Need for Penance Leads to a Loss of the Sense of Sin
A series of popes from Pope Pius XII to Pope Francis have lamented that people have lost the sense of sin! Well, it seems that not only have people lost the sense of sin―but the Church has lost her senses by reducing penance when sin is increasing! Despite the over-generous (insane) Lenten fast reduction, not everyone practices the new laws of fasting only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! Yeah―officially the diocesan websites say: “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only two fast days required; though fasting is encouraged throughout Lent. All Catholics, 14 years or older, must abstain from meat on all the Fridays of Lent and on Ash Wednesday” ― but how many are doing that discounted Lenten penance?
According to a survey conducted in February by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, six in ten adult Catholics say they abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays. On the whole, three-quarters of Americans (76%) say they typically do not observe Lent. Catholics remain most likely to observe Lent (61% of Catholics), according to LifeWay’s survey. Protestants (only 20%) and those with evangelical beliefs (only 28%) show far lesser percentages of Lenten observers.
Penance or Perish
All of which makes a farce of today’s Catholic diocesan website recommendation: “Fasting is encouraged throughout Lent.” Sure it is―but who is doing it? Hardly anyone! Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Desert Penance―Desert Warfare
In reality, all the great saints were made saints in the heat of the desert―whether it was the physical desert terrains or the terrible deserts of temptation, or the self-created deserts of isolation from worldliness and worldly people.
► OUR LORD Himself entered the physical desert terrain for 40 days and 40 nights, and created an additional desert by “doing without things” as He fasted in that desert, while enduring another desert―the desert of temptation―through the tempting onslaughts of the devil. Even after those 40 days and nights at the start of His ministry, He would later also take “time-out” and go into the desert and pray: “And rising very early, going out, Jesus went into a desert place―and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). Our Lord even asks others to leave everything behind―which means having nothing, which is tantamount to being in a desert―and to follow Him: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). We see this call to the ‘desert’ of ‘nothingness’ in the case of the rich young man who wanted to attain Heaven:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). Our Lord would add: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head!” (Luke 9:58). The desert does not allow for much baggage!
► ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST also sanctified himself in the desert. Our Lord said of him: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11:11). What did John the Baptist do? We read that “The word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
“He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: ‘Ye offspring of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, “We have Abraham for our father.” For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire.’
“And the people asked him, saying: ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answering, said to them: ‘He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner.’ And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him: ‘Master, what shall we do?’ But he said to them: ‘Do nothing more than that which is appointed you.’ And the soldiers also asked him, saying: ‘And what shall we do?’ And he said to them: ‘Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay.’
“And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ; John answered, saying unto all: ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and He will purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And many other things exhorting, did he preach to the people” (Luke 3:1-18).
There was very little ‘baggage’ with St. John the Baptist in the desert: “John was clothed with camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6) and Jesus, speaking to others of John, said: “What went ye out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly clothing and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet! This is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.” For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist!’” (Luke 7:24-28).
► THE DESERT FATHERS likewise sanctified themselves in the physical desert terrain and created further deserts for themselves by living in isolation from each other, except for coming together for Holy Mass, as well enduring the desert of having little or no possessions in that physical desert terrain. They understood well the words of Holy Scripture, which say: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
► MOSES was also a desert man! “Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Madian, and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3:1-2). “And the Lord said to Aaron: ‘Go into the desert to meet Moses!’ And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God” (Exodus 4:27). Note that the mountain of God was in the desert too! It is interesting to note the role of the number “40” in the life of Moses―the major events of his whole life are divided into three sets of 40 years! He was forty when he fled from Egypt. Then he was in the desert wilderness, in Madian, for forty years, until age 80 when he led the Israelites out of Egypt into the desert. And he died 40 years later at the age of 120 at the very border of the Promised Land after 40 years wandering in the desert.
► THE ISRAELITES were both punished and sanctified in the desert by their penitential wandering for 40 years. When they had first arrived at the border of the Promised Land, Moses sent twelve spies, a group of twelve Israelite chieftains, one from each of the Twelve Tribes, to scout out the Land of Canaan for 40 days, which God had promised would be the future home for the Israelite people. God had promised Abraham that there would be a Promised Land for the nations to come out of his son, Isaac. The land of Chanaan which the spies were to explore was the same Promised Land. Moses asked for an assessment of the geographical features of the land, the strength and numbers of the population, the agricultural potential and actual performance of the land, civic organization (whether their cities were like camps or strongholds), and forestry conditions. He also asked them to be positive in their outlook and to return with samples of local produce.
Most of the twelve spies were discouraged and frightened by what they saw in Chanaan. When they returned, they reported: “And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country, and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel in the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they showed them the fruits of the land. And they related and said: ‘We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits! But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac!’ In the meantime Caleb, to quieten the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: ‘Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it!’ But the others, that had been with him, said: ‘No! We are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we are!’ And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: ‘The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld, are of a tall stature. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts!’” (Numbers 13:26-34). Upon hearing this information, the people of Israel cried out vociferously against God for leading them to such a dire situation, even to the point of considering a return to slavery in Egypt (Numbers 14:2).
When ten of the twelve spies showed little faith, in the doom and gloom report they gave about the land, they were slandering what they believed God had promised them. They did not believe that God could help them, and the people as a whole were persuaded that it was not possible to take the land. They were afraid to fight for the land that God had promised them. The problem was that they were merely looking at the task from natural viewpoint without counting on the intervention of God. As a result, the entire nation was made to wander in the desert for 40 years, until almost the entire generation of men had died. Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who brought back a good report and believed that God would help them succeed. They were the only men from their generation permitted to go into the Promised Land after the time of wandering.
“As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in My hearing, so will I do to you. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in―so that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert, according to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land―a year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know My revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against Me in this wilderness, shall it faint away and die!” (Numbers 14:28-35
► THE PROPHETS spent much of their lives in the desert, or at least apart from the rest of the world. Holy Scripture says: “Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts” (Ezechiel 13:4) … “wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the Earth” (Hebrews 11:38). One of great prophets―Elias―would end up spending much of his time in the desert, from where he would be sent on missions by God: “And he went forward, one day’s journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: ‘It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul! For I am no better than my fathers!’ And he cast himself down and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree. And behold, an angel of the Lord touched him and said to him: ‘Arise and eat!’ He looked and, behold, there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water. And he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: ‘Arise, eat! For thou hast yet a great way to go!’ And he arose and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb. And when he was come there, he abode in a cave. And behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and He said to him: ‘What dost thou here, Elias?’ And he answered: ‘With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts! For the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant! They have thrown down Thy altars, they have slain Thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away!” (3 Kings 19:4-10).
The Purpose of the Desert
Deserts are harsh for humans unprepared to deal with their extreme geographical features. Deserts lack water and, consequently, vegetation is sparse and the creatures that dwell in them are often predatory and poisonous. Our deserts can be literal or metaphorical―deserts for the body and deserts for the soul―but, as we see in the Bible, they can be the very places where God finally finds us and calls us back to life in Him. When all the toys and trinkets, technologies and televisions are forcibly removed―then we have more time on our hands and God is often the only thing left for us to focus upon―we are left with nothing but God. St. John of the Cross elaborates on this in his writings―describing our life as a journey that leaves the world behind, journeys through deserts and finally climbs up the mountain of God.
► ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542 - 1591), writing of the mystical life to which everyone is called, says that the last stage of the spiritual life entails entering into a desert where there is “Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!” ― “Nada! Nada! Nada!” The core of St. John of the Cross’ teaching is “Nada! Nada! Nada!” Basically, it means that “nothing, nothing, nothing” other than God will define us – as God alone is the true spring of life and source of all goodness and love and that that “nothing, nothing, nothing” must stand in the way of our finding God. If we encumbered with the trinkets, toys, televisions and technology of this world, then, due those distractions, we will never really find God, never really know Him and never really love Him. That is why God will often “create deserts” in our lives in order to brush away all that might distract us from God.
Along with St. Teresa of Avila, he helped renew the Order of Carmelites, challenging them to be true to the spring of life that is contemplative prayer. Many in the Order felt threatened by his challenge to truth. This led to St. John’s kidnapping and imprisonment by the fearful monks and priests―which for him was like being placed in a desert―with nothing, nothing, nothing. He spent nine months in a tiny cell, that was six feet by ten, with boards on the floor as his bed. There was no window, only a two-inch opening at the top of the wall facing the corridor. It was so cold during the winter that the skin on his toes came off from frostbite. His food was bread, water and sardines. During these nine months of imprisonment, he was he was verbally abused and whipped by the monks three times per week ― which was called a periodic “circular discipline”, so called because each of the eighty members of the community took turns in lashing his bare back. He bore through life the scars of this brutal punishment. During and after these nine months of dark solitude and torture, John uttered not a single complaint and bore no resentment toward his captors.
► FR. CONSTANT LOUIS-MARIE PEL (1876-1966), is not a name well-known among the souls who have been gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular and leave both it and the world desert-like. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls. In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts of France, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map.” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► FR. BERNARD MARIA CLAUSI (19th century) prophesied: “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night … A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible!”
► BLESSED JOHANNES AMADEUS DE SYLVA (15th century) prophesied: “In the Latter Days there shall be great wars and bloodshed. Whole provinces shall be left despoiled and uninhabited, and cities deserted by the people.”
Since we are so besotted with “things” and “pleasures” and “comfort”—it is only fitting that God will make of the Earth a vast “desert” as a just dessert for our sins. Not that all the Earth will be one big sand-dune—but it will be a “desert” more in the sense of being “deserted” with most life being killed-off. Our Lady of La Salette says: “Jesus Christ, by an act of His justice, will command His Angels to put all His enemies to death. At one blow the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all men given to sin, will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Then, there will be peace.” Our Lady of Akita adds: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
As God says: “Behold, at My rebuke, I will make the sea a desert! I will turn the rivers into dry land! The fishes shall rot for lack of water, and shall die from thirst!” (Isaias 50:2). “And the land shall become a desert and a wilderness―and they shall know that I am the Lord!” (Ezechiel 29:9) ... “And [I will] make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a place not passable, and as a desert” (Sophonias 2:13). “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will send forth a famine into the land―not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord! … In that day, the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst!” (Amos 8:11-13). “There is no one to help us, while we are cast down before their eyes―in thirst and sad destruction!” (Judith 7:14). “Therefore is My people led away captive―because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst” (Isaias 5:13).
Earthly Deserts and Spiritual Deserts
There are many different kinds of desert, but all of them share one thing―lack of water. Water―in the spiritual life―is a symbol of God’s grace. Lack of water means a certain lack of life―or, at least, a limited life. “The people were faint with hunger and thirst in the wilderness” (2 Kings 17:29). “And Thou gavest them bread from Heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst … Thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth, and Thou gavest them water for their thirst” (2 Esdras 9:15, 9:20).
Deserts in lower elevations are generally made up of grays and browns, mostly with low plants that can survive on little water. Deserts in higher elevations have more greenery—often short pine trees―but on close inspection they seem to be half dead. They remain green only because they can shut down some of their limbs during the many dry years they must endure. The desert is a harsh environment. It lacks the lush green grasses, myriad of flowering plants, and tall trees rich with green foliage and fruit.
The same is true of the spiritual life―a lack of God’s grace leaves the soul dry or even dead (as in the case of mortal sin). Grace is the irrigating water of the spiritual life―hence we have biblical expressions such as: “Jesus stood and cried, saying: ‘If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink!’” (John 7:37). “And Jesus said to them: ‘I am the bread of life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst!” (John 6:35). “They that eat Me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink Me, shall yet thirst!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:29). “Jesus said to [the Samaritan woman at the well]: ‘Whosoever drinketh of this [earthly] water [from the well], shall thirst again―but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever!’ The woman saith to him: ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw [water from the well]!” (John 4:13-15). “All you that thirst―come to the waters! And you that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat! Come ye! Buy wine and milk without money, and without any price!” (Isaias 55:1). “I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness; and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in My commandments.” (Ezechiel 36:25-27).
The Only Path to Heaven is Through the Desert
Just as the journey, undertaken by Moses and the Israelites, from Egypt to the Promised Land, led through the desert―so, too, does our journey from Earth to Heaven also lead through the desert. As the Israelites left Egypt, they could only take a certain limited amount of things with them―just as you can only take a limited amount of things with you when you travel somewhere (and you leave your house and almost all of your possessions behind), likewise in our journey to Heaven we must leave most things behind. This brings us back to the spiritual doctrine of St. John of the Cross, with his “Nada! Nada! Nada!” or “Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!” There is nothing that can be compared to God; there is nothing worth having apart from God; there is nothing we should be desiring as much as God; there is nothing we should be loving as much as God. This is what Christ means when He commands: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). To be able to truly do that, you have to let go of a lot of trivial or secondary things! Does that make you sad? It certainly made the well-intentioned, rich young man very sad, whom Our Lord encountered―and who really wanted to get to Heaven, but did not want to “let go” the things of this life, “for he was very rich and had great possessions.” Hence, “being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful.” (Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). “They who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:8) ― meaning that those who are too carnal, who are slaves of their passions, who pamper their bodies, etc.
That young man was a “good” young man―for, by his own admission, he had kept all the commandments of God since his youth. St. Paul―originally called “Saul”―was not such a “good” young man―for, by his own admission, he had persecuted the Church and was guilty of the shedding of blood of some Christians: “I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God!” (1 Corinthians 15:9) … “For you have heard how, beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it!” (Galatians 1:13). Yet St. Paul leaves all things behind and counts all things as dung in comparison to the greatness of God whom He seeks to find: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as mere dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8). He is like the man mentioned by Our Lord: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which, a man having found, hid it, and, for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field!” (Matthew 13:44). The reason most souls are lost and damned is that they do not have God and Heaven as their main focus―they put more time, effort and interest into the worldly things of this life, which will not save their souls: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Our Lord then adds: “Likewise, every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:33).
St. Paul then paints a picture of his own personal physical and spiritual ‘desert’ here on Earth, as he lists some of his sufferings and his efforts for the glory of God: “In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness!” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
Time to Wake-Up and Hit the Desert!
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little!’” (Mark 6:31) ― in other words, leave the tumult, noise, preoccupations and distractions of the world and retreat into a desert where there is nothing to distract you from God and the work of saving your soul. It is better to enter the desert of penance now, while you still have time, rather than wait for God to inflict upon us all the horrendous desert that will that will be the result of His forthcoming chastisement! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews 10:31). You will not get to Heaven by any other road except the desert road. If you refuse to take it, then you might just scrape into the fires of Purgatory by the “seat of your pants” or the “skin of your teeth”―but you will find Purgatory is infinitely hotter than any spiritual or physical desert you would have had to cross here on Earth! You will have jumped out the frying pan, only to find yourself jumping into the fire! As St. Paul says: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18) ... “What then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?” (Romans 8:35).
It is that time of the year again! Lent! If you hadn’t realized it―then this Sunday’s Gospel should have driven the point home. The Gospel sees Our Lord led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights! The idea of a desert immediately conjures up thoughts of no food, no water, no anything―which strangely enough is pretty much how Lent looks to most people. Yes―Lent is a desert of sorts, or at least it should be. There are several periods of “40” ― whether days or years ― that are associated with the desert. One, as mentioned above, is the 40 days and 40 nights that Our Lord spent in the desert praying and fasting. You also have the 40 years of penance in the desert imposed by God upon the Israelites for refusing to obey Him in conquering the Promised Land, because they were afraid. You have the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses spent on Mount Sinai in the desert, communicating with God.
The Laws of the Church concerning Lent used to require 40 days of fasting, with meat being allowed once a day except for Friday, when one had to both fast and abstain from meat. If you look at the Middle Ages, you see St. Thomas Aquinas describe Lenten penance thus:
● Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were “black fasts.” This means no food at all.
● Other days of Lent: no food until 3:00 p.m., the hour of Our Lord’s death. Water was allowed, and, due to sanitary concerns, watered-down beer and wine was also allowed.
● No animal meats or fats.
● No eggs.
● No dairy products – that is, eggs, milk, cheese, cream, butter, etc.
● Sundays were days of less liturgical discipline, but the fasting rules above remained.
Easy Meat Penance
The term or idiom “easy meat” means someone who is easily deceived or seduced, or something that is easy to get or easy to do. It is in this sense that Catholics have been deceived and seduced into being more worldly by doing less penance―for penance is essentially the price for sin―so, if you are reducing or removing penance, then it implies that less sin is being committed. Yet that is a pipedream and a deception. Yet, in 1966, that is what Pope Paul VI―the “Lenten Chopper”―did. He chopped Lenten penances to pieces, or two main pieces, by giving everyone a 95% discount from penance by reducing the days of fasting from 40 days to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Somehow, when you really think about it, such an action seems pretty ludicrous at a time when sin was beginning to explode exponentially with the advent of modern technology. Penance is meant to be a medicine for sin―so how can you and why do you reduce the dose of medicine by 95% when the patient is becoming more and more sick?
No Sense of the Need for Penance Leads to a Loss of the Sense of Sin
A series of popes from Pope Pius XII to Pope Francis have lamented that people have lost the sense of sin! Well, it seems that not only have people lost the sense of sin―but the Church has lost her senses by reducing penance when sin is increasing! Despite the over-generous (insane) Lenten fast reduction, not everyone practices the new laws of fasting only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! Yeah―officially the diocesan websites say: “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only two fast days required; though fasting is encouraged throughout Lent. All Catholics, 14 years or older, must abstain from meat on all the Fridays of Lent and on Ash Wednesday” ― but how many are doing that discounted Lenten penance?
According to a survey conducted in February by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, six in ten adult Catholics say they abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays. On the whole, three-quarters of Americans (76%) say they typically do not observe Lent. Catholics remain most likely to observe Lent (61% of Catholics), according to LifeWay’s survey. Protestants (only 20%) and those with evangelical beliefs (only 28%) show far lesser percentages of Lenten observers.
Penance or Perish
All of which makes a farce of today’s Catholic diocesan website recommendation: “Fasting is encouraged throughout Lent.” Sure it is―but who is doing it? Hardly anyone! Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Desert Penance―Desert Warfare
In reality, all the great saints were made saints in the heat of the desert―whether it was the physical desert terrains or the terrible deserts of temptation, or the self-created deserts of isolation from worldliness and worldly people.
► OUR LORD Himself entered the physical desert terrain for 40 days and 40 nights, and created an additional desert by “doing without things” as He fasted in that desert, while enduring another desert―the desert of temptation―through the tempting onslaughts of the devil. Even after those 40 days and nights at the start of His ministry, He would later also take “time-out” and go into the desert and pray: “And rising very early, going out, Jesus went into a desert place―and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). Our Lord even asks others to leave everything behind―which means having nothing, which is tantamount to being in a desert―and to follow Him: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). We see this call to the ‘desert’ of ‘nothingness’ in the case of the rich young man who wanted to attain Heaven:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). Our Lord would add: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head!” (Luke 9:58). The desert does not allow for much baggage!
► ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST also sanctified himself in the desert. Our Lord said of him: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11:11). What did John the Baptist do? We read that “The word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
“He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: ‘Ye offspring of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, “We have Abraham for our father.” For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire.’
“And the people asked him, saying: ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answering, said to them: ‘He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner.’ And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him: ‘Master, what shall we do?’ But he said to them: ‘Do nothing more than that which is appointed you.’ And the soldiers also asked him, saying: ‘And what shall we do?’ And he said to them: ‘Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay.’
“And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ; John answered, saying unto all: ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and He will purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And many other things exhorting, did he preach to the people” (Luke 3:1-18).
There was very little ‘baggage’ with St. John the Baptist in the desert: “John was clothed with camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6) and Jesus, speaking to others of John, said: “What went ye out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly clothing and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet! This is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.” For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist!’” (Luke 7:24-28).
► THE DESERT FATHERS likewise sanctified themselves in the physical desert terrain and created further deserts for themselves by living in isolation from each other, except for coming together for Holy Mass, as well enduring the desert of having little or no possessions in that physical desert terrain. They understood well the words of Holy Scripture, which say: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
► MOSES was also a desert man! “Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Madian, and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3:1-2). “And the Lord said to Aaron: ‘Go into the desert to meet Moses!’ And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God” (Exodus 4:27). Note that the mountain of God was in the desert too! It is interesting to note the role of the number “40” in the life of Moses―the major events of his whole life are divided into three sets of 40 years! He was forty when he fled from Egypt. Then he was in the desert wilderness, in Madian, for forty years, until age 80 when he led the Israelites out of Egypt into the desert. And he died 40 years later at the age of 120 at the very border of the Promised Land after 40 years wandering in the desert.
► THE ISRAELITES were both punished and sanctified in the desert by their penitential wandering for 40 years. When they had first arrived at the border of the Promised Land, Moses sent twelve spies, a group of twelve Israelite chieftains, one from each of the Twelve Tribes, to scout out the Land of Canaan for 40 days, which God had promised would be the future home for the Israelite people. God had promised Abraham that there would be a Promised Land for the nations to come out of his son, Isaac. The land of Chanaan which the spies were to explore was the same Promised Land. Moses asked for an assessment of the geographical features of the land, the strength and numbers of the population, the agricultural potential and actual performance of the land, civic organization (whether their cities were like camps or strongholds), and forestry conditions. He also asked them to be positive in their outlook and to return with samples of local produce.
Most of the twelve spies were discouraged and frightened by what they saw in Chanaan. When they returned, they reported: “And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country, and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel in the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they showed them the fruits of the land. And they related and said: ‘We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits! But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac!’ In the meantime Caleb, to quieten the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: ‘Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it!’ But the others, that had been with him, said: ‘No! We are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we are!’ And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: ‘The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld, are of a tall stature. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts!’” (Numbers 13:26-34). Upon hearing this information, the people of Israel cried out vociferously against God for leading them to such a dire situation, even to the point of considering a return to slavery in Egypt (Numbers 14:2).
When ten of the twelve spies showed little faith, in the doom and gloom report they gave about the land, they were slandering what they believed God had promised them. They did not believe that God could help them, and the people as a whole were persuaded that it was not possible to take the land. They were afraid to fight for the land that God had promised them. The problem was that they were merely looking at the task from natural viewpoint without counting on the intervention of God. As a result, the entire nation was made to wander in the desert for 40 years, until almost the entire generation of men had died. Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who brought back a good report and believed that God would help them succeed. They were the only men from their generation permitted to go into the Promised Land after the time of wandering.
“As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in My hearing, so will I do to you. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in―so that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert, according to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land―a year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know My revenge! For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against Me in this wilderness, shall it faint away and die!” (Numbers 14:28-35
► THE PROPHETS spent much of their lives in the desert, or at least apart from the rest of the world. Holy Scripture says: “Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts” (Ezechiel 13:4) … “wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the Earth” (Hebrews 11:38). One of great prophets―Elias―would end up spending much of his time in the desert, from where he would be sent on missions by God: “And he went forward, one day’s journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: ‘It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul! For I am no better than my fathers!’ And he cast himself down and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree. And behold, an angel of the Lord touched him and said to him: ‘Arise and eat!’ He looked and, behold, there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water. And he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: ‘Arise, eat! For thou hast yet a great way to go!’ And he arose and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb. And when he was come there, he abode in a cave. And behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and He said to him: ‘What dost thou here, Elias?’ And he answered: ‘With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts! For the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant! They have thrown down Thy altars, they have slain Thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away!” (3 Kings 19:4-10).
The Purpose of the Desert
Deserts are harsh for humans unprepared to deal with their extreme geographical features. Deserts lack water and, consequently, vegetation is sparse and the creatures that dwell in them are often predatory and poisonous. Our deserts can be literal or metaphorical―deserts for the body and deserts for the soul―but, as we see in the Bible, they can be the very places where God finally finds us and calls us back to life in Him. When all the toys and trinkets, technologies and televisions are forcibly removed―then we have more time on our hands and God is often the only thing left for us to focus upon―we are left with nothing but God. St. John of the Cross elaborates on this in his writings―describing our life as a journey that leaves the world behind, journeys through deserts and finally climbs up the mountain of God.
► ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542 - 1591), writing of the mystical life to which everyone is called, says that the last stage of the spiritual life entails entering into a desert where there is “Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!” ― “Nada! Nada! Nada!” The core of St. John of the Cross’ teaching is “Nada! Nada! Nada!” Basically, it means that “nothing, nothing, nothing” other than God will define us – as God alone is the true spring of life and source of all goodness and love and that that “nothing, nothing, nothing” must stand in the way of our finding God. If we encumbered with the trinkets, toys, televisions and technology of this world, then, due those distractions, we will never really find God, never really know Him and never really love Him. That is why God will often “create deserts” in our lives in order to brush away all that might distract us from God.
Along with St. Teresa of Avila, he helped renew the Order of Carmelites, challenging them to be true to the spring of life that is contemplative prayer. Many in the Order felt threatened by his challenge to truth. This led to St. John’s kidnapping and imprisonment by the fearful monks and priests―which for him was like being placed in a desert―with nothing, nothing, nothing. He spent nine months in a tiny cell, that was six feet by ten, with boards on the floor as his bed. There was no window, only a two-inch opening at the top of the wall facing the corridor. It was so cold during the winter that the skin on his toes came off from frostbite. His food was bread, water and sardines. During these nine months of imprisonment, he was he was verbally abused and whipped by the monks three times per week ― which was called a periodic “circular discipline”, so called because each of the eighty members of the community took turns in lashing his bare back. He bore through life the scars of this brutal punishment. During and after these nine months of dark solitude and torture, John uttered not a single complaint and bore no resentment toward his captors.
► FR. CONSTANT LOUIS-MARIE PEL (1876-1966), is not a name well-known among the souls who have been gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular and leave both it and the world desert-like. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls. In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and, in certain parts of France, survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map.” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► FR. BERNARD MARIA CLAUSI (19th century) prophesied: “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night … A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible!”
► BLESSED JOHANNES AMADEUS DE SYLVA (15th century) prophesied: “In the Latter Days there shall be great wars and bloodshed. Whole provinces shall be left despoiled and uninhabited, and cities deserted by the people.”
Since we are so besotted with “things” and “pleasures” and “comfort”—it is only fitting that God will make of the Earth a vast “desert” as a just dessert for our sins. Not that all the Earth will be one big sand-dune—but it will be a “desert” more in the sense of being “deserted” with most life being killed-off. Our Lady of La Salette says: “Jesus Christ, by an act of His justice, will command His Angels to put all His enemies to death. At one blow the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all men given to sin, will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Then, there will be peace.” Our Lady of Akita adds: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
As God says: “Behold, at My rebuke, I will make the sea a desert! I will turn the rivers into dry land! The fishes shall rot for lack of water, and shall die from thirst!” (Isaias 50:2). “And the land shall become a desert and a wilderness―and they shall know that I am the Lord!” (Ezechiel 29:9) ... “And [I will] make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a place not passable, and as a desert” (Sophonias 2:13). “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will send forth a famine into the land―not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord! … In that day, the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst!” (Amos 8:11-13). “There is no one to help us, while we are cast down before their eyes―in thirst and sad destruction!” (Judith 7:14). “Therefore is My people led away captive―because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst” (Isaias 5:13).
Earthly Deserts and Spiritual Deserts
There are many different kinds of desert, but all of them share one thing―lack of water. Water―in the spiritual life―is a symbol of God’s grace. Lack of water means a certain lack of life―or, at least, a limited life. “The people were faint with hunger and thirst in the wilderness” (2 Kings 17:29). “And Thou gavest them bread from Heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst … Thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth, and Thou gavest them water for their thirst” (2 Esdras 9:15, 9:20).
Deserts in lower elevations are generally made up of grays and browns, mostly with low plants that can survive on little water. Deserts in higher elevations have more greenery—often short pine trees―but on close inspection they seem to be half dead. They remain green only because they can shut down some of their limbs during the many dry years they must endure. The desert is a harsh environment. It lacks the lush green grasses, myriad of flowering plants, and tall trees rich with green foliage and fruit.
The same is true of the spiritual life―a lack of God’s grace leaves the soul dry or even dead (as in the case of mortal sin). Grace is the irrigating water of the spiritual life―hence we have biblical expressions such as: “Jesus stood and cried, saying: ‘If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink!’” (John 7:37). “And Jesus said to them: ‘I am the bread of life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst!” (John 6:35). “They that eat Me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink Me, shall yet thirst!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:29). “Jesus said to [the Samaritan woman at the well]: ‘Whosoever drinketh of this [earthly] water [from the well], shall thirst again―but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever!’ The woman saith to him: ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw [water from the well]!” (John 4:13-15). “All you that thirst―come to the waters! And you that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat! Come ye! Buy wine and milk without money, and without any price!” (Isaias 55:1). “I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness; and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in My commandments.” (Ezechiel 36:25-27).
The Only Path to Heaven is Through the Desert
Just as the journey, undertaken by Moses and the Israelites, from Egypt to the Promised Land, led through the desert―so, too, does our journey from Earth to Heaven also lead through the desert. As the Israelites left Egypt, they could only take a certain limited amount of things with them―just as you can only take a limited amount of things with you when you travel somewhere (and you leave your house and almost all of your possessions behind), likewise in our journey to Heaven we must leave most things behind. This brings us back to the spiritual doctrine of St. John of the Cross, with his “Nada! Nada! Nada!” or “Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!” There is nothing that can be compared to God; there is nothing worth having apart from God; there is nothing we should be desiring as much as God; there is nothing we should be loving as much as God. This is what Christ means when He commands: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). To be able to truly do that, you have to let go of a lot of trivial or secondary things! Does that make you sad? It certainly made the well-intentioned, rich young man very sad, whom Our Lord encountered―and who really wanted to get to Heaven, but did not want to “let go” the things of this life, “for he was very rich and had great possessions.” Hence, “being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful.” (Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25). “They who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:8) ― meaning that those who are too carnal, who are slaves of their passions, who pamper their bodies, etc.
That young man was a “good” young man―for, by his own admission, he had kept all the commandments of God since his youth. St. Paul―originally called “Saul”―was not such a “good” young man―for, by his own admission, he had persecuted the Church and was guilty of the shedding of blood of some Christians: “I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God!” (1 Corinthians 15:9) … “For you have heard how, beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it!” (Galatians 1:13). Yet St. Paul leaves all things behind and counts all things as dung in comparison to the greatness of God whom He seeks to find: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as mere dung, that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8). He is like the man mentioned by Our Lord: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which, a man having found, hid it, and, for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field!” (Matthew 13:44). The reason most souls are lost and damned is that they do not have God and Heaven as their main focus―they put more time, effort and interest into the worldly things of this life, which will not save their souls: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Our Lord then adds: “Likewise, every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:33).
St. Paul then paints a picture of his own personal physical and spiritual ‘desert’ here on Earth, as he lists some of his sufferings and his efforts for the glory of God: “In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness!” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
Time to Wake-Up and Hit the Desert!
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little!’” (Mark 6:31) ― in other words, leave the tumult, noise, preoccupations and distractions of the world and retreat into a desert where there is nothing to distract you from God and the work of saving your soul. It is better to enter the desert of penance now, while you still have time, rather than wait for God to inflict upon us all the horrendous desert that will that will be the result of His forthcoming chastisement! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews 10:31). You will not get to Heaven by any other road except the desert road. If you refuse to take it, then you might just scrape into the fires of Purgatory by the “seat of your pants” or the “skin of your teeth”―but you will find Purgatory is infinitely hotter than any spiritual or physical desert you would have had to cross here on Earth! You will have jumped out the frying pan, only to find yourself jumping into the fire! As St. Paul says: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come!” (Romans 8:18) ... “What then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?” (Romans 8:35).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday February 19th & Saturday February 20th
Article 9
The Many Crises in the World Need Serious Penance!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday February 19th & Saturday February 20th
Article 9
The Many Crises in the World Need Serious Penance!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Penance! Penance! Penance!
At Lourdes, in 1858, Our Lady firmly commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” How much worse has the world become since 1858? How much penance should be done today than way back in 1858! Almost 100 years after Lourdes, Our Lady, in 1956, lamented the sinful state of world to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Almost 17 years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! ... I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Understanding Penance
Our English word “penance” makes a long journey from its Greek and Latin origins, passing through the Old French term of the Middle Ages: “peneance” and Anglo-French “penaunce” later replaced by “penitence”. Ultimately the related words of “penance” and “pain” come from Greek mythology, where Poena (pronounced “pay-nah”) is the spirit of punishment. The Latin word “poena” similarly means “pain, punishment, penalty, sorrow, suffering”, and ultimately gave rise to English words such as “subpoena” (sub = under; peona = penalty) and pain. The original word is the Ancient Greek “poinḗ”, also meaning penalty. The Ancient Latin “pænitentia” or “poenitentia” and Medieval Latin noun “penitentia” and verb “pænitere” mean “to cause or feel regret.”
The Latin version of Holy Scripture, St. Jerome’s Vulgate translation, uses the Latin “poenitentia” for penance―as you can see below:
► “Agat poenitentiam pro peccato” (Leviticus 5:5) ― “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5).
► “Audite, quaeso, sermones meos, et agite poenitentiam!” (Job 21:2) ― “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2).
► “Venit Joannes Baptista praedicans in deserto Judaeae, et dicens: ‘Poenitentiam agite! Appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum!’” (Matthew 3:1-2) ― “In those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, And saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1-2).
► “Exinde coepit Jesus praedicare, et dicere: ‘Poenitentiam agite! Appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum!’” (Matthew 4:17) ― “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17).
► “Non veni vocare justos, sed peccatores ad poenitentiam!” (Luke 5:32) ― “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
► “Non, dico vobis―sed nisi poenitentiam habueritis, omnes similiter peribitis!” (Luke 13:3) ― “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Pay Now, or Pay Later―But Pay You Must and Will
Yes! Penance is a pain―but damnation in the perpetual penitentiary of Hell is a perpetual pain! Preferably painfully pay in the present by penance, rather than be futuristically found frying in the fires of Hell or Purgatory! You sin―you pay! There is no other way! You take something off the shelf in the store―you must pay for it! You deprive your body of sleep or food or water―you must pay for it! You decide to put your hand in the fire―you pay for it! You smash and trash someone else’s property―you pay for it! Sin is expensive! Sin is the most expensive thing in the world! Our Catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Perhaps a reading of the Old Testament would help to drive home that point. On many occasions, through the Old Testament Law, God commanded the death penalty for an extensive list of crimes including:
● Murder (Exodus 21:12-14; Leviticus 24:17, 21)
● Attacking or cursing a parent (Exodus 21:15, 17)
● Disobedience to parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
● Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16)
● Failure to confine a dangerous animal, resulting in death (Exodus 21:28-29)
● Witchcraft and sorcery (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 13:5; 1 Kings 28:9)
● Human sacrifice (Leviticus 20:2-5)
● Sex with an animal (Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 20:16)
● Doing work on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14, 35:2, Numbers 15:32-36)
● Incest (Leviticus 18:6-18, 20:11-12, 14, 17, 19-21)
● Adultery (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22)
● Homosexual acts (Leviticus 20:13)
● Prostitution by a priest's daughter (Leviticus 21:9)
● Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:14, 16, 23)
● False prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:20)
● Perjury in capital cases (Deuteronomy 19:16-19)
● Refusing to obey a decision of a judge or priest (Deuteronomy 17:12)
● False claim of a woman's virginity at time of marriage (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
● Sex between a woman pledged to be married and a man other than her betrothed (Deuteronomy 22:23-24)
Even at the beginning of time, God placed a death penalty over a particular act of disobedience, when He said to our First Parents, Adam and Eve: “Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat … Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat―but, of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 1:29; 2:16).
When God had led His Chosen People, the Israelites, to the borders of the Promised Land and told them to conquer its inhabitants, the Israelites became scared, refused and turned-back. For this act of disobedience, God decided to kill all the Israelites who had reached the age of maturity when leaving Egypt―and God carried out this death sentence by having them wander in the desert for 40 years until all those Israelites had progressively died, year after year. No Promised Land for them―only their children would enter it, in addition to the two survivors out of millions―Josue and Caleb.
Sin is GREATEST evil in the world! That means it has the GREATEST “price-tag” attached to it! Our Catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). That is why so many souls are lost and damned―because they failed to realize, acknowledge or accept that fact! They thought sin was cheap. They said to themselves (something like): “Hey! What’s the fuss? Why worry? I’ll commit all the sins I want and then merely confess them in confession the next time I go! The priest will give me a few Hail Marys to say and everything is fine! God is good! God is merciful! God understands!”
Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). When Jesus had cured the sick man by the pool, “Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
Sin has to be paid for―which is why Our Lord says: “I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite!” (Luke 12:59)―meaning that we shall not leave Purgatory until the debt for all our sins is paid-up. We can choose to pay in this life―at a huge discount―or we can choose to pay painfully in the next life―either in Purgatory, or, God forbid, in Hell.
Will You Pay for the Sins of Others?
The double question arises: “Will you be pay for the sins of others in this world?” and “Will you be paying for the sins of others when you die?” If that sounds confusing, then here is what those questions mean.
Our Lady of Fatima asked―not only the three children of Fatima (Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta), but all of us―to pray for the conversion of sinners, because so MANY souls end up in Hell because there is barely anybody who will pray and offer sacrifices for them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
We need to drive this point into our thick skulls and make it penetrate our elephant skins! Most souls are being damned and you can make a difference! You can try wheedle your away out of it and, like Cain, who killed his brother Abel, said, when God asked: “‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). In light of what Our Lady of Fatima said about so many sinners going to Hell because “there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” ― we could well apply the words of God to Cain as applying to ourselves: “Where is thy fellow man” asks God. We reply: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord says to us: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from Hell! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!”
Our Lord said that you must be “the salt of the Earth” and the “light of the world”―is that what you are doing? “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt loses its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid [neither a Catholic in the Church]. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
You are called to be―so to speak―one of the “ten just men” that Abraham was bargaining with in order to prevent God from chastising Sodom and Gomorrha: “And drawing near to the Lord, Abraham said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou, Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just men within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for forty-five destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five!’ And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ Abraham said: ‘Lord, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ Abraham replied: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?” The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there? And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after he had left speaking to Abraham and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:23-33).
Our Lady of Akita echoes this idea of the “ten just men” when she says: “I wish, together with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together.”
At Fatima, the Angel of Portugal made his second apparition during the summer of 1916, while the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house. The Angel suddenly appeared and scolded them for their preoccupation with games. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.” The dominant theme in this second apparition of the Angel was the importance of making offerings to God through every possible action and sacrifice, even the smallest, and of making the offerings with special intentions, especially for the conversion of sinners.
The Fathers of the Church, the various Saints, spiritual masters and theologians―besides Our Lord and Holy Scripture itself―tell us that our fellow man is our responsibility. This is what Our Lord implies in the Parable of the Good Samaritan―remember, that the Samaritans and Jews were arch-enemies―yet Our Lord’s parable has the Samaritan helping the Jew who had be ambushed, robbed, beaten, stripped and left for dead on the roadside. Again, Our Lord implies the same thing in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats―wherein the ‘goats’ are condemned to Hell for not caring for the neighbor: “Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you covered me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then he shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least brethren, neither did you do it to Me!’” (Matthew 25:35-45).
“In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
Let us not forget why on earth Christ came on Earth―He came to save sinners and therefore that should be the primary concern of every single Catholic if he or she is to be worthy of the name “Catholic”. If the salvation of souls is the main focus of Christ, then why on earth are Catholics focusing on something different? (Such as focusing on their TV screens, their computer screens, their smartphone screens, the world, entertainment, sports, fashions, socializing, etc.). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
If Christ―the Head of the Mystical Body―is concerned about sinners, should not the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ being following His lead? If your own head goes in one direction and your body goes in another direction―then you are dead! If Our Lord came to seek and save sinners―then what are WE doing about it? Our Lord wants to work through us and with and in us―but we are not letting that happen!
The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, comments: “Let us display proper solicitude for our brethren. I promise with all exactitude, and I guarantee you, that if all of you who are present here resolve to secure the salvation of all who inhabit this city, everything will speedily be restored to good order … Let us then take an interest in the salvation of our brothers and sisters. One man filled with zeal is sufficient to correct an entire city! Hence, when not one, or two, or three, but such a great multitude is capable of contributing in the correction of them who live carelessly, and yet the majority are perishing and falling, it is from no other cause other than our own laziness—not our weakness. Isn’t it irrational for us to hasten to lend a hand and help raise up an animal that has fallen, yet to neglect and show no concern for our fellow human beings who are perishing?”
At Lourdes, in 1858, Our Lady firmly commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” How much worse has the world become since 1858? How much penance should be done today than way back in 1858! Almost 100 years after Lourdes, Our Lady, in 1956, lamented the sinful state of world to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Almost 17 years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord! … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! ... I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Understanding Penance
Our English word “penance” makes a long journey from its Greek and Latin origins, passing through the Old French term of the Middle Ages: “peneance” and Anglo-French “penaunce” later replaced by “penitence”. Ultimately the related words of “penance” and “pain” come from Greek mythology, where Poena (pronounced “pay-nah”) is the spirit of punishment. The Latin word “poena” similarly means “pain, punishment, penalty, sorrow, suffering”, and ultimately gave rise to English words such as “subpoena” (sub = under; peona = penalty) and pain. The original word is the Ancient Greek “poinḗ”, also meaning penalty. The Ancient Latin “pænitentia” or “poenitentia” and Medieval Latin noun “penitentia” and verb “pænitere” mean “to cause or feel regret.”
The Latin version of Holy Scripture, St. Jerome’s Vulgate translation, uses the Latin “poenitentia” for penance―as you can see below:
► “Agat poenitentiam pro peccato” (Leviticus 5:5) ― “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5).
► “Audite, quaeso, sermones meos, et agite poenitentiam!” (Job 21:2) ― “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2).
► “Venit Joannes Baptista praedicans in deserto Judaeae, et dicens: ‘Poenitentiam agite! Appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum!’” (Matthew 3:1-2) ― “In those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, And saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1-2).
► “Exinde coepit Jesus praedicare, et dicere: ‘Poenitentiam agite! Appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum!’” (Matthew 4:17) ― “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17).
► “Non veni vocare justos, sed peccatores ad poenitentiam!” (Luke 5:32) ― “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32).
► “Non, dico vobis―sed nisi poenitentiam habueritis, omnes similiter peribitis!” (Luke 13:3) ― “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Pay Now, or Pay Later―But Pay You Must and Will
Yes! Penance is a pain―but damnation in the perpetual penitentiary of Hell is a perpetual pain! Preferably painfully pay in the present by penance, rather than be futuristically found frying in the fires of Hell or Purgatory! You sin―you pay! There is no other way! You take something off the shelf in the store―you must pay for it! You deprive your body of sleep or food or water―you must pay for it! You decide to put your hand in the fire―you pay for it! You smash and trash someone else’s property―you pay for it! Sin is expensive! Sin is the most expensive thing in the world! Our Catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Perhaps a reading of the Old Testament would help to drive home that point. On many occasions, through the Old Testament Law, God commanded the death penalty for an extensive list of crimes including:
● Murder (Exodus 21:12-14; Leviticus 24:17, 21)
● Attacking or cursing a parent (Exodus 21:15, 17)
● Disobedience to parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
● Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16)
● Failure to confine a dangerous animal, resulting in death (Exodus 21:28-29)
● Witchcraft and sorcery (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 13:5; 1 Kings 28:9)
● Human sacrifice (Leviticus 20:2-5)
● Sex with an animal (Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 20:16)
● Doing work on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14, 35:2, Numbers 15:32-36)
● Incest (Leviticus 18:6-18, 20:11-12, 14, 17, 19-21)
● Adultery (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22)
● Homosexual acts (Leviticus 20:13)
● Prostitution by a priest's daughter (Leviticus 21:9)
● Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:14, 16, 23)
● False prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:20)
● Perjury in capital cases (Deuteronomy 19:16-19)
● Refusing to obey a decision of a judge or priest (Deuteronomy 17:12)
● False claim of a woman's virginity at time of marriage (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
● Sex between a woman pledged to be married and a man other than her betrothed (Deuteronomy 22:23-24)
Even at the beginning of time, God placed a death penalty over a particular act of disobedience, when He said to our First Parents, Adam and Eve: “Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat … Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat―but, of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 1:29; 2:16).
When God had led His Chosen People, the Israelites, to the borders of the Promised Land and told them to conquer its inhabitants, the Israelites became scared, refused and turned-back. For this act of disobedience, God decided to kill all the Israelites who had reached the age of maturity when leaving Egypt―and God carried out this death sentence by having them wander in the desert for 40 years until all those Israelites had progressively died, year after year. No Promised Land for them―only their children would enter it, in addition to the two survivors out of millions―Josue and Caleb.
Sin is GREATEST evil in the world! That means it has the GREATEST “price-tag” attached to it! Our Catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). That is why so many souls are lost and damned―because they failed to realize, acknowledge or accept that fact! They thought sin was cheap. They said to themselves (something like): “Hey! What’s the fuss? Why worry? I’ll commit all the sins I want and then merely confess them in confession the next time I go! The priest will give me a few Hail Marys to say and everything is fine! God is good! God is merciful! God understands!”
Yet God says in Holy Scripture: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). When Jesus had cured the sick man by the pool, “Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14).
Sin has to be paid for―which is why Our Lord says: “I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite!” (Luke 12:59)―meaning that we shall not leave Purgatory until the debt for all our sins is paid-up. We can choose to pay in this life―at a huge discount―or we can choose to pay painfully in the next life―either in Purgatory, or, God forbid, in Hell.
Will You Pay for the Sins of Others?
The double question arises: “Will you be pay for the sins of others in this world?” and “Will you be paying for the sins of others when you die?” If that sounds confusing, then here is what those questions mean.
Our Lady of Fatima asked―not only the three children of Fatima (Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta), but all of us―to pray for the conversion of sinners, because so MANY souls end up in Hell because there is barely anybody who will pray and offer sacrifices for them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
We need to drive this point into our thick skulls and make it penetrate our elephant skins! Most souls are being damned and you can make a difference! You can try wheedle your away out of it and, like Cain, who killed his brother Abel, said, when God asked: “‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9-11). In light of what Our Lady of Fatima said about so many sinners going to Hell because “there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them” ― we could well apply the words of God to Cain as applying to ourselves: “Where is thy fellow man” asks God. We reply: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord says to us: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from Hell! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!”
Our Lord said that you must be “the salt of the Earth” and the “light of the world”―is that what you are doing? “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt loses its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid [neither a Catholic in the Church]. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16).
You are called to be―so to speak―one of the “ten just men” that Abraham was bargaining with in order to prevent God from chastising Sodom and Gomorrha: “And drawing near to the Lord, Abraham said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just men, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou, Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just men within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for forty-five destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five!’ And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ Abraham said: ‘Lord, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ Abraham replied: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?” The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ Abraham said: ‘I beseech Thee, be not angry Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there? And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after he had left speaking to Abraham and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:23-33).
Our Lady of Akita echoes this idea of the “ten just men” when she says: “I wish, together with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men! … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls … Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together.”
At Fatima, the Angel of Portugal made his second apparition during the summer of 1916, while the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house. The Angel suddenly appeared and scolded them for their preoccupation with games. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.” The dominant theme in this second apparition of the Angel was the importance of making offerings to God through every possible action and sacrifice, even the smallest, and of making the offerings with special intentions, especially for the conversion of sinners.
The Fathers of the Church, the various Saints, spiritual masters and theologians―besides Our Lord and Holy Scripture itself―tell us that our fellow man is our responsibility. This is what Our Lord implies in the Parable of the Good Samaritan―remember, that the Samaritans and Jews were arch-enemies―yet Our Lord’s parable has the Samaritan helping the Jew who had be ambushed, robbed, beaten, stripped and left for dead on the roadside. Again, Our Lord implies the same thing in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats―wherein the ‘goats’ are condemned to Hell for not caring for the neighbor: “Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you covered me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then he shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least brethren, neither did you do it to Me!’” (Matthew 25:35-45).
“In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
Let us not forget why on earth Christ came on Earth―He came to save sinners and therefore that should be the primary concern of every single Catholic if he or she is to be worthy of the name “Catholic”. If the salvation of souls is the main focus of Christ, then why on earth are Catholics focusing on something different? (Such as focusing on their TV screens, their computer screens, their smartphone screens, the world, entertainment, sports, fashions, socializing, etc.). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
If Christ―the Head of the Mystical Body―is concerned about sinners, should not the rest of the Mystical Body of Christ being following His lead? If your own head goes in one direction and your body goes in another direction―then you are dead! If Our Lord came to seek and save sinners―then what are WE doing about it? Our Lord wants to work through us and with and in us―but we are not letting that happen!
The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, comments: “Let us display proper solicitude for our brethren. I promise with all exactitude, and I guarantee you, that if all of you who are present here resolve to secure the salvation of all who inhabit this city, everything will speedily be restored to good order … Let us then take an interest in the salvation of our brothers and sisters. One man filled with zeal is sufficient to correct an entire city! Hence, when not one, or two, or three, but such a great multitude is capable of contributing in the correction of them who live carelessly, and yet the majority are perishing and falling, it is from no other cause other than our own laziness—not our weakness. Isn’t it irrational for us to hasten to lend a hand and help raise up an animal that has fallen, yet to neglect and show no concern for our fellow human beings who are perishing?”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Ash Wednesday February 17th & Thursday February 18th
Article 8
Lent―A Waste of Time?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Ash Wednesday February 17th & Thursday February 18th
Article 8
Lent―A Waste of Time?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Lent―A Waste of Time?
The time for penance has arrived! But is it a waste of time? Is it worth doing any penance at all? After all, didn’t Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution Pӕnitemini, of February 17th, 1966, eliminate the traditional Lenten observance of fasting and abstinence, by giving everyone a 95% discount on Lenten penance by reducing the days of fasting from 40 days to only two days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? It seems like penance is a thing of the past―outdated, outmoded, outcast. Pope Paul VI, in Pӕnitemini, shows some contradictions―he speaks of grave times and the need for penance, but then he reduces the Lenten penance! Here are some worrying extracts―most of which are good and traditional― but remember that rat-poison is 99% good food and only 1% poison, but it is that 1% poison that will kill you:
Pope Paul’s Pleasant Penance Package
Pope Paul opens by stating:
“Among the grave and urgent problems which summon our pastoral concern, it seems to us that not the least of those concerns is to remind our sons—and all religious men of our times—of the significance and importance of the divine precept of penitence ... We should like today to repeat to our sons the words spoken by Peter in his first speech after Pentecost: ‘Repent...then for the forgiveness of your sins!’ … The Church has noted with joy that almost everywhere and at all times penitence has held a place of great importance … Even though man generally has recourse to penitence in the aftermath of sin―to placate the wrath of God, or on the occasion of grave calamities, or when special dangers are imminent, or to obtain benefits from the Lord―we can nevertheless establish that external penitential practices are accompanied by an inner attitude of “conversion,” that is to say of condemnation of and detachment from sin and of striving toward God … One goes without food or gives away his property (fasting is generally accompanied, not only by prayer, but also by alms) even after sins have been forgiven and independently of a request for graces. One fasts or applies physical discipline to chastise one’s own soul, to humble oneself in the sight of his own God … Penance is a religious, personal act―which has as its aim, love and surrender to God―fasting for the sake of God, and not for one’s own self. We can further establish that penitence was represented even before Christ as a means and a sign of perfection and sanctity. Finally, we find among the just ones of the Old Testament those who offered themselves to satisfy with their own personal penitence for the sins of the community. This is what Moses did in the 40 days when he fasted to placate the Lord for the guilt of his unfaithful people. [so far, so good]
“True penitence, however, cannot ever detach itself from physical asceticism as well. Our whole being, in fact, body and soul, must participate actively in this religious act … Against the real and ever recurring danger of formalism and pharisaism, the Divine Master, in the New Covenant, openly condemned—and so have the Apostles, Fathers and supreme pontiffs—any form of penitence which is purely external. Therefore the Church—while it reaffirms the primacy of the religious and supernatural values of penitence― invites everyone to accompany the inner conversion of the spirit with the voluntary exercise of external acts of penitence. [so far, so good―are you being lulled into a false sense of security?]
Papal Magic Show―See How Penance Disappears―Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Pope Paul VI then transitions into his changes―leaving some things as they were, while changing (making easier) other things. In other words, “double-standards”, or “double-speak”, or “moving the goalposts”, or “fudging”, or “smoke and mirrors”―or, as Pope St. Pius X said of the writings of Modernists: “Hence in their books you find some things which might well be expressed by a Catholic, but in the next page you find other things which might have been dictated by a rationalist” (Pascendi―encyclical against Modernism). Thus, the next part of Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution on Fasting and Abstinence, Pӕnitemini, proceeds, very slowly and ambiguously, to introduce “voluntary” penance while, at the same time, it leads to the removal of “obligatory” penance―but it keeps stressing the former laws while introducing the new laws, a psychological disarming of the reader’s mind: “Don’t worry! Nothing is really going to change! Things will be as they were, but we are merely introducing new methods of penance, new ways of doing penance, making penance more desirable and accessible!” The next part is an incredible waffling around the subject―affirming contradictory things, using ambiguous phrases or words―which sets you up for knockout punch or punch-line of a 95% reduction in the Lenten penance of fasting!
The Pope continues: “Therefore the Church—while it reaffirms the primacy of the religious and supernatural values of penitence [he tries to cover himself by that phrase, like “nothing is changing essentially”]--invites everyone to accompany the inner conversion of the spirit with the voluntary [therefore not obligatory] exercise of external acts of penitence. [Instead of the powerful penance of fasting…] It insists first of all that the virtue of penitence be exercised in persevering faithfulness to the duties of one’s state in life, in the acceptance of the difficulties arising from one’s work and from human coexistence, in a patient bearing of the trials of earthly life and of the utter insecurity which pervades it. Those members of the Church who are stricken by infirmities, illnesses, poverty or misfortunes, or who are persecuted for the love of justice, are invited to unite their sorrows to the suffering of Christ, in such a way that they not only satisfy more thoroughly the precept of penitence, but also obtain for the brethren a life of grace and for themselves that beatitude which is promised in the Gospel to those who suffer. [But these things are ALWAYS present in our lives―the penance of fasting is something EXTRA to the habitual everyday sufferings we all undergo].
“The Church, however, invites all Christians without distinction to respond to the divine precept of penitence by some VOLUNTARY act [therefore not obligatory act], apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life [Yet he fails to indicate what kind of voluntary penances can be performed and if they are more powerful than those recommended by Our Lord in casting out the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” Matthew 17:20]. “To recall and urge all the faithful to the observance of the divine precept of penitence, the Apostolic See intends to reorganize penitential discipline with PRACTICES MORE SUITED TO OUR TIMES" [Aha! “Suited to our times!” The Church adapting to the world, rather than seeking to make the world adapt to the Church! Scripture tells us that the world is an enemy of God: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4)―so why adapt to the enemy of God?].
Notice how, when referring the traditional practices of penance, the wording is always clear and to the point―but when referring to his changes to penitential practices, he shifts into a more vague, ambiguous, fuzzy vocabularly that never really and clearly states what has to be stated:
“In the first place, Holy Mother Church―although it has always observed, in a special way, abstinence from meat and fasting [clear and to the point]―nevertheless Holy Mother Church wants to indicate, in the traditional triad of “prayer—fasting—charity”, the fundamental means of complying with the divine precepts of penitence. These means were the same throughout the centuries, but, IN OUR TIME, there are special reasons whereby, according to the demands of various localities, it is necessary to inculcate some special form of penitence in preference to others [what special forms?]. Therefore, where economic well-being is greater, so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given in order that the sons of the Church may not be involved in the spirit of the “world,” and, at the same time, the witness of charity will have to be given to the brethren who suffer poverty and hunger beyond any barrier of nation or continent. On the other hand, in countries where the standard of living is lower, it will be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the members of the Body of Christ, if Christians—while they seek in every way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ. [Why not just say― “Hey! You folks in rich countries, you need to fast more and give more away to the poor by your alms! You can afford it! You have an easy life all year round―unlike those folk who suffer poverty and hunger in “Third-World” countries and are thereby “fasting” all year round!” As Our Lord said: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Neverthless, fasting is still the norm for everyone over the age of 21].
“Therefore, WHILE PRESERVING—where it can be more readily observed—the custom of practicing penitence also through abstinence from meat and fasting [but he doesn’t preserve, but eliminates 95% of Lenten fasting, as you will see below], the Church intends to ratify with its prescriptions other forms of penitence as well, provided that it seems opportune to episcopal conferences to replace the observance of fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity." [What “other forms of penitence” are more powerful than prayer and fasting?].
“Therefore, the following is declared and established:
“By divine law all the faithful are required to do penance [good]. The time of Lent preserves its penitential character [good, but…]. The days of penitence to be observed under obligation, throughout the Church, are [only] all Fridays and Ash Wednesday [but not the other weekdays of Lent―not good]. Their substantial observance binds gravely [good, but not enough days of penance].
“Abstinence is to be observed on every Friday, which does not fall on a day of obligation, while abstinence and fast is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. To the law of abstinence those are bound who have completed their 14th year of age. To the law of fast those of the faithful are bound who have completed their 21st year and up until the beginning of their 60th year. As regards those of a lesser age, pastors of souls and parents should see to it with particular care that they are educated to a true sense of penitence.
“Episcopal conferences, for just cause, [are allowed to] transfer the days of penitence, … substitute abstinence and fast wholly, or in part, with other forms of penitence and especially works of charity and the exercises of piety ... Pastors also for just cause and in accordance with the prescriptions of the Ordinary may grant to individual faithful, as well as individual families, dispensation or commutation [meaning, a change, substitution or ‘trade-off’] of abstinence and fast into other pious practices.” (Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Paeinitemini, February 17th, 1966).
We Need More, Not Less Penance!
The “watering-down” of penance was already foreseen and foretold by Our Lady of La Salette: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence! They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” In a time of disease, the diseased person needs more medicine and nutrition than he needs when he is healthy. Our present age is severely diseased and, as Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette forewarned:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
There is no doubt that Satan―whom Our Lord calls the “prince of this world”―is in almost total control. This was already the case back in the time of Pope Paul VI. In 1957, Sr. Lucia warned: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Most of the World is in Mortal Sin! Do We Need Less Penance?
Mortal sin places us in hands of the devil―for mortal sin is implicitly a hatred for God and His laws―and Scripture says: “He that committeth sin is of the devil!” (1 John 3:8). Have you ever stopped to really think about the state of souls in the world today? How many do think are in mortal sin? They are all implicit enemies of God and implicit friends, servants or even slaves of Satan! There are over 7.8 billion (7,000 million) persons in the world at the moment. Of those, there are 1.4 billion (1,700 million) Catholics―which leaves 6.4 billion non-Catholics. On the whole―regardless of subjective feelings and imaginings―that body of 6.4 billion non-Catholics is outside the Church and thus outside salvation―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation―Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.” Yes, for one reason or another there might be some exceptions―we cannot read the mind of God, nor control the will of God. Yet they remain the EXCEPTION and NOT THE NORM! Of the 1.4 billion Catholics, the most optimistic estimate is that only 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly―and are thus, objectively speaking, in a state of mortal sin. More realistic estimates put the worldwide average for regular Sunday Mass attendance at nearer 10% ― in any case, that means that anywhere between 140,000,000 (140 million) and 280,000,000 (280 million) are regularly attending Sunday Mass.
However, not all of those regular attendees are in a state of grace. Surveys show that large percentages of regular Mass-goers have beliefs and acceptances that are mortally sinful―practicing contraception, being divorced and remarried, accepting same-sex marriages and abortion. Such are the sinful views of anywhere from 20% to over 50% of REGULAR MASS GOERS! Furthermore, how many people confess their mortal sins correctly in the Sacrament of Confession―in fact, how many even go to Confession after having committed mortal sin, or how many even know or believe in mortal sin? The recent popes have said that not only the world, but also Catholics have lost the sense of sin! Therefore, the number of regular Sunday Mass attending Catholics who are in a state of grace IS NOT 100% ― you could very, very, conservatively and optimistically put it at somewhere between 10% and 20%. That means that out of those 140 to 280 million regular Sunday Mass attendees, there are only between 28 million to 56 million at best, or 14 million to 28 million at worst, who are in a state of grace. On the whole, you are therefore talking of only 0.0012% (worst case scenario) to 0.007% (best case scenario) of the world’s population potentially being in a state of grace!
Yes, this is all estimation and conjecture, but it will not be too far away from the truth. The world is most certainly in the clutches of Satan and the Church, like Our Lord’s Apostles, is not having much success in fighting him: “There came to Jesus a man, falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord! Have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus, secretly, and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall remove ― and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind [of devil] is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
As OUR LADY OF AKITA warned in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Already at LOURDES, in 1858, Our Lady had demanded and commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!”
At Fatima, both Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal demanded penances to saves sinners.
THE ANGEL OF PORTUGAL said to the three YOUNG CHILDREN (aged 10, 9 and 7): “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners! Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
OUR LADY OF FATIMA added: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
Advice From Exorcists in Battling the Devil
GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, said in 2002 interview with Fr. Dario Dodig: “According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war … Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. For Christian life, except prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.”
In order to keep the devil at bay, exorcists recommend four chief ways that will keep a person’s soul at peace and in God’s hands:
(1) Frequent the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist
The most common way a demon can enter into someone’s life is through a habitual state of mortal sin. The more we divorce ourselves from God through sin, the more susceptible we are to a demon’s attack. Confession of sins, then, is the primary way we have to put an end to our life of sin and to start out on a new path. It is no coincidence that the devil relentlessly tried to scare Saint John Vianney away from hearing the confessions of hardened sinners. Confession has such power and grace that the devil must flee away from a person who frequents that sacrament.
Along with Confession, the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is even more powerful in driving away the influence of the devil. This makes perfect sense as the Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ and demons have absolutely zero power in front of God Himself. Especially when the Eucharist is received in a state of grace after Confession; the devil simply has no place to go but far away. Saint Thomas Aquinas confirmed this in his Summa Theologica, when he wrote, “[The Eucharist] repels all the assaults of demons. Hence Chrysostom says (Homily 46 on St. John): ‘Like lions breathing forth fire, thus do we depart from that table, being made terrible to the devil.’”
(2) Consistent Daily Prayer Life
A person who frequents the sacrament of Confession and the Eucharist must also abide by a consistent daily prayer life. The key-word is: consistent! This puts a person in a daily state of grace and relationship with God. A person who daily converses with God should never be afraid of the devil. Exorcists always suggest to possessed persons to abide by strong spiritual habits, such as frequent reading of Scripture, as well as praying the Rosary and saying other private prayers. Attending Mass every Sunday is an absolute must to remain close to God―and for staying in a state of grace―because missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin. Having a daily schedule of prayer would be most beneficial and has great power to keep demons at bay.
(3) Fasting
This advice comes straight from the Gospels, when Jesus says to His disciples: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). If we find difficulty with our Lenten fast, we should recall the souls undertaking severe fasts as the hermits, who live in the desert, and only eat bread and drink only water. For us who live in the world and have various responsibilities (such as our families) we cannot fast so rigorously as to neglect those responsibilities. However, we are encouraged to fast by eating only one meal a day, and, if necessary, then taking two small snacks.
(4) Sacramentals
Exorcists not only use Sacramentals (the Rite of Exorcism is a sacramental), but advise possessed persons to frequently use Sacramentals. They are a powerful weapon in the daily fight to keep the devil from ever coming back. Exorcists suggest such Sacramentals as blessed Salt and blessed Water to not only be kept at home, but to be brought along wherever a person goes. Likewise with the many other powerful Sacramentals such as a blessed Crucifix, blessed Rosary Beads, blessed Miraculous Medals, blessed St. Benedict Medals, blessed Brown Scapulars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, blessed Green Scapulars, etc.
The time for penance has arrived! But is it a waste of time? Is it worth doing any penance at all? After all, didn’t Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution Pӕnitemini, of February 17th, 1966, eliminate the traditional Lenten observance of fasting and abstinence, by giving everyone a 95% discount on Lenten penance by reducing the days of fasting from 40 days to only two days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? It seems like penance is a thing of the past―outdated, outmoded, outcast. Pope Paul VI, in Pӕnitemini, shows some contradictions―he speaks of grave times and the need for penance, but then he reduces the Lenten penance! Here are some worrying extracts―most of which are good and traditional― but remember that rat-poison is 99% good food and only 1% poison, but it is that 1% poison that will kill you:
Pope Paul’s Pleasant Penance Package
Pope Paul opens by stating:
“Among the grave and urgent problems which summon our pastoral concern, it seems to us that not the least of those concerns is to remind our sons—and all religious men of our times—of the significance and importance of the divine precept of penitence ... We should like today to repeat to our sons the words spoken by Peter in his first speech after Pentecost: ‘Repent...then for the forgiveness of your sins!’ … The Church has noted with joy that almost everywhere and at all times penitence has held a place of great importance … Even though man generally has recourse to penitence in the aftermath of sin―to placate the wrath of God, or on the occasion of grave calamities, or when special dangers are imminent, or to obtain benefits from the Lord―we can nevertheless establish that external penitential practices are accompanied by an inner attitude of “conversion,” that is to say of condemnation of and detachment from sin and of striving toward God … One goes without food or gives away his property (fasting is generally accompanied, not only by prayer, but also by alms) even after sins have been forgiven and independently of a request for graces. One fasts or applies physical discipline to chastise one’s own soul, to humble oneself in the sight of his own God … Penance is a religious, personal act―which has as its aim, love and surrender to God―fasting for the sake of God, and not for one’s own self. We can further establish that penitence was represented even before Christ as a means and a sign of perfection and sanctity. Finally, we find among the just ones of the Old Testament those who offered themselves to satisfy with their own personal penitence for the sins of the community. This is what Moses did in the 40 days when he fasted to placate the Lord for the guilt of his unfaithful people. [so far, so good]
“True penitence, however, cannot ever detach itself from physical asceticism as well. Our whole being, in fact, body and soul, must participate actively in this religious act … Against the real and ever recurring danger of formalism and pharisaism, the Divine Master, in the New Covenant, openly condemned—and so have the Apostles, Fathers and supreme pontiffs—any form of penitence which is purely external. Therefore the Church—while it reaffirms the primacy of the religious and supernatural values of penitence― invites everyone to accompany the inner conversion of the spirit with the voluntary exercise of external acts of penitence. [so far, so good―are you being lulled into a false sense of security?]
Papal Magic Show―See How Penance Disappears―Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Pope Paul VI then transitions into his changes―leaving some things as they were, while changing (making easier) other things. In other words, “double-standards”, or “double-speak”, or “moving the goalposts”, or “fudging”, or “smoke and mirrors”―or, as Pope St. Pius X said of the writings of Modernists: “Hence in their books you find some things which might well be expressed by a Catholic, but in the next page you find other things which might have been dictated by a rationalist” (Pascendi―encyclical against Modernism). Thus, the next part of Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution on Fasting and Abstinence, Pӕnitemini, proceeds, very slowly and ambiguously, to introduce “voluntary” penance while, at the same time, it leads to the removal of “obligatory” penance―but it keeps stressing the former laws while introducing the new laws, a psychological disarming of the reader’s mind: “Don’t worry! Nothing is really going to change! Things will be as they were, but we are merely introducing new methods of penance, new ways of doing penance, making penance more desirable and accessible!” The next part is an incredible waffling around the subject―affirming contradictory things, using ambiguous phrases or words―which sets you up for knockout punch or punch-line of a 95% reduction in the Lenten penance of fasting!
The Pope continues: “Therefore the Church—while it reaffirms the primacy of the religious and supernatural values of penitence [he tries to cover himself by that phrase, like “nothing is changing essentially”]--invites everyone to accompany the inner conversion of the spirit with the voluntary [therefore not obligatory] exercise of external acts of penitence. [Instead of the powerful penance of fasting…] It insists first of all that the virtue of penitence be exercised in persevering faithfulness to the duties of one’s state in life, in the acceptance of the difficulties arising from one’s work and from human coexistence, in a patient bearing of the trials of earthly life and of the utter insecurity which pervades it. Those members of the Church who are stricken by infirmities, illnesses, poverty or misfortunes, or who are persecuted for the love of justice, are invited to unite their sorrows to the suffering of Christ, in such a way that they not only satisfy more thoroughly the precept of penitence, but also obtain for the brethren a life of grace and for themselves that beatitude which is promised in the Gospel to those who suffer. [But these things are ALWAYS present in our lives―the penance of fasting is something EXTRA to the habitual everyday sufferings we all undergo].
“The Church, however, invites all Christians without distinction to respond to the divine precept of penitence by some VOLUNTARY act [therefore not obligatory act], apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life [Yet he fails to indicate what kind of voluntary penances can be performed and if they are more powerful than those recommended by Our Lord in casting out the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” Matthew 17:20]. “To recall and urge all the faithful to the observance of the divine precept of penitence, the Apostolic See intends to reorganize penitential discipline with PRACTICES MORE SUITED TO OUR TIMES" [Aha! “Suited to our times!” The Church adapting to the world, rather than seeking to make the world adapt to the Church! Scripture tells us that the world is an enemy of God: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4)―so why adapt to the enemy of God?].
Notice how, when referring the traditional practices of penance, the wording is always clear and to the point―but when referring to his changes to penitential practices, he shifts into a more vague, ambiguous, fuzzy vocabularly that never really and clearly states what has to be stated:
“In the first place, Holy Mother Church―although it has always observed, in a special way, abstinence from meat and fasting [clear and to the point]―nevertheless Holy Mother Church wants to indicate, in the traditional triad of “prayer—fasting—charity”, the fundamental means of complying with the divine precepts of penitence. These means were the same throughout the centuries, but, IN OUR TIME, there are special reasons whereby, according to the demands of various localities, it is necessary to inculcate some special form of penitence in preference to others [what special forms?]. Therefore, where economic well-being is greater, so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given in order that the sons of the Church may not be involved in the spirit of the “world,” and, at the same time, the witness of charity will have to be given to the brethren who suffer poverty and hunger beyond any barrier of nation or continent. On the other hand, in countries where the standard of living is lower, it will be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the members of the Body of Christ, if Christians—while they seek in every way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ. [Why not just say― “Hey! You folks in rich countries, you need to fast more and give more away to the poor by your alms! You can afford it! You have an easy life all year round―unlike those folk who suffer poverty and hunger in “Third-World” countries and are thereby “fasting” all year round!” As Our Lord said: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Neverthless, fasting is still the norm for everyone over the age of 21].
“Therefore, WHILE PRESERVING—where it can be more readily observed—the custom of practicing penitence also through abstinence from meat and fasting [but he doesn’t preserve, but eliminates 95% of Lenten fasting, as you will see below], the Church intends to ratify with its prescriptions other forms of penitence as well, provided that it seems opportune to episcopal conferences to replace the observance of fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity." [What “other forms of penitence” are more powerful than prayer and fasting?].
“Therefore, the following is declared and established:
“By divine law all the faithful are required to do penance [good]. The time of Lent preserves its penitential character [good, but…]. The days of penitence to be observed under obligation, throughout the Church, are [only] all Fridays and Ash Wednesday [but not the other weekdays of Lent―not good]. Their substantial observance binds gravely [good, but not enough days of penance].
“Abstinence is to be observed on every Friday, which does not fall on a day of obligation, while abstinence and fast is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. To the law of abstinence those are bound who have completed their 14th year of age. To the law of fast those of the faithful are bound who have completed their 21st year and up until the beginning of their 60th year. As regards those of a lesser age, pastors of souls and parents should see to it with particular care that they are educated to a true sense of penitence.
“Episcopal conferences, for just cause, [are allowed to] transfer the days of penitence, … substitute abstinence and fast wholly, or in part, with other forms of penitence and especially works of charity and the exercises of piety ... Pastors also for just cause and in accordance with the prescriptions of the Ordinary may grant to individual faithful, as well as individual families, dispensation or commutation [meaning, a change, substitution or ‘trade-off’] of abstinence and fast into other pious practices.” (Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Paeinitemini, February 17th, 1966).
We Need More, Not Less Penance!
The “watering-down” of penance was already foreseen and foretold by Our Lady of La Salette: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence! They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish!” In a time of disease, the diseased person needs more medicine and nutrition than he needs when he is healthy. Our present age is severely diseased and, as Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette forewarned:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
There is no doubt that Satan―whom Our Lord calls the “prince of this world”―is in almost total control. This was already the case back in the time of Pope Paul VI. In 1957, Sr. Lucia warned: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Most of the World is in Mortal Sin! Do We Need Less Penance?
Mortal sin places us in hands of the devil―for mortal sin is implicitly a hatred for God and His laws―and Scripture says: “He that committeth sin is of the devil!” (1 John 3:8). Have you ever stopped to really think about the state of souls in the world today? How many do think are in mortal sin? They are all implicit enemies of God and implicit friends, servants or even slaves of Satan! There are over 7.8 billion (7,000 million) persons in the world at the moment. Of those, there are 1.4 billion (1,700 million) Catholics―which leaves 6.4 billion non-Catholics. On the whole―regardless of subjective feelings and imaginings―that body of 6.4 billion non-Catholics is outside the Church and thus outside salvation―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation―Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.” Yes, for one reason or another there might be some exceptions―we cannot read the mind of God, nor control the will of God. Yet they remain the EXCEPTION and NOT THE NORM! Of the 1.4 billion Catholics, the most optimistic estimate is that only 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly―and are thus, objectively speaking, in a state of mortal sin. More realistic estimates put the worldwide average for regular Sunday Mass attendance at nearer 10% ― in any case, that means that anywhere between 140,000,000 (140 million) and 280,000,000 (280 million) are regularly attending Sunday Mass.
However, not all of those regular attendees are in a state of grace. Surveys show that large percentages of regular Mass-goers have beliefs and acceptances that are mortally sinful―practicing contraception, being divorced and remarried, accepting same-sex marriages and abortion. Such are the sinful views of anywhere from 20% to over 50% of REGULAR MASS GOERS! Furthermore, how many people confess their mortal sins correctly in the Sacrament of Confession―in fact, how many even go to Confession after having committed mortal sin, or how many even know or believe in mortal sin? The recent popes have said that not only the world, but also Catholics have lost the sense of sin! Therefore, the number of regular Sunday Mass attending Catholics who are in a state of grace IS NOT 100% ― you could very, very, conservatively and optimistically put it at somewhere between 10% and 20%. That means that out of those 140 to 280 million regular Sunday Mass attendees, there are only between 28 million to 56 million at best, or 14 million to 28 million at worst, who are in a state of grace. On the whole, you are therefore talking of only 0.0012% (worst case scenario) to 0.007% (best case scenario) of the world’s population potentially being in a state of grace!
Yes, this is all estimation and conjecture, but it will not be too far away from the truth. The world is most certainly in the clutches of Satan and the Church, like Our Lord’s Apostles, is not having much success in fighting him: “There came to Jesus a man, falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord! Have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus, secretly, and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: “Remove from here to there!” and it shall remove ― and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind [of devil] is not cast out except by prayer and fasting!’” (Matthew 17:14-20).
As OUR LADY OF AKITA warned in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Already at LOURDES, in 1858, Our Lady had demanded and commanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!”
At Fatima, both Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal demanded penances to saves sinners.
THE ANGEL OF PORTUGAL said to the three YOUNG CHILDREN (aged 10, 9 and 7): “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners! Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”
OUR LADY OF FATIMA added: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
Advice From Exorcists in Battling the Devil
GABRIELE AMORTH, the recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, said in 2002 interview with Fr. Dario Dodig: “According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war … Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. For Christian life, except prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.”
In order to keep the devil at bay, exorcists recommend four chief ways that will keep a person’s soul at peace and in God’s hands:
(1) Frequent the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist
The most common way a demon can enter into someone’s life is through a habitual state of mortal sin. The more we divorce ourselves from God through sin, the more susceptible we are to a demon’s attack. Confession of sins, then, is the primary way we have to put an end to our life of sin and to start out on a new path. It is no coincidence that the devil relentlessly tried to scare Saint John Vianney away from hearing the confessions of hardened sinners. Confession has such power and grace that the devil must flee away from a person who frequents that sacrament.
Along with Confession, the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is even more powerful in driving away the influence of the devil. This makes perfect sense as the Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ and demons have absolutely zero power in front of God Himself. Especially when the Eucharist is received in a state of grace after Confession; the devil simply has no place to go but far away. Saint Thomas Aquinas confirmed this in his Summa Theologica, when he wrote, “[The Eucharist] repels all the assaults of demons. Hence Chrysostom says (Homily 46 on St. John): ‘Like lions breathing forth fire, thus do we depart from that table, being made terrible to the devil.’”
(2) Consistent Daily Prayer Life
A person who frequents the sacrament of Confession and the Eucharist must also abide by a consistent daily prayer life. The key-word is: consistent! This puts a person in a daily state of grace and relationship with God. A person who daily converses with God should never be afraid of the devil. Exorcists always suggest to possessed persons to abide by strong spiritual habits, such as frequent reading of Scripture, as well as praying the Rosary and saying other private prayers. Attending Mass every Sunday is an absolute must to remain close to God―and for staying in a state of grace―because missing Sunday Mass is a mortal sin. Having a daily schedule of prayer would be most beneficial and has great power to keep demons at bay.
(3) Fasting
This advice comes straight from the Gospels, when Jesus says to His disciples: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). If we find difficulty with our Lenten fast, we should recall the souls undertaking severe fasts as the hermits, who live in the desert, and only eat bread and drink only water. For us who live in the world and have various responsibilities (such as our families) we cannot fast so rigorously as to neglect those responsibilities. However, we are encouraged to fast by eating only one meal a day, and, if necessary, then taking two small snacks.
(4) Sacramentals
Exorcists not only use Sacramentals (the Rite of Exorcism is a sacramental), but advise possessed persons to frequently use Sacramentals. They are a powerful weapon in the daily fight to keep the devil from ever coming back. Exorcists suggest such Sacramentals as blessed Salt and blessed Water to not only be kept at home, but to be brought along wherever a person goes. Likewise with the many other powerful Sacramentals such as a blessed Crucifix, blessed Rosary Beads, blessed Miraculous Medals, blessed St. Benedict Medals, blessed Brown Scapulars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, blessed Green Scapulars, etc.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Quinquagesima Sunday February 14th & Monday February 15th
Article 7
No Charity, No Lent!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Quinquagesima Sunday February 14th & Monday February 15th
Article 7
No Charity, No Lent!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Charity―The Soul of Lent
The Epistle reading for Quinquagesima Sunday gives us a roadmap for our Lent. It puts quality above quantity, love above works. It paints a picture that suggests that charity must be the soul in everything we do, the engine that moves and drives everything. The reading further states that without that charity, everything is worthless and we are nothing! “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, yet have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, yet have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, yet have not charity―then it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind, charity envies not, deals not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked to anger, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in imperfect shall be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass [mirror] in an obscure manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I have been known. So now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three―but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
The Old Testament, in a sense, summarizes the above when it says: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord repeats that quote in the New Testament, saying: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
St. Augustine, on the other hand, says that if we have charity in our hearts―then we can do what we want, because we will never do anything against the one that we love, namely God: “The deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity. For many things may be done that have a good appearance, and yet proceed not from the root of charity. For thorns also have flowers: some actions truly seem rough, seem savage; however they are done for discipline at the bidding of charity. Once and for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt―whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good” (St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, taken from his Seventh Homily on 1 John 4:4-12, #8). Notice that Augustine did not say: “Because God loves you, you can do whatever you please―even sin!” No! You must “love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and keep all His commandments, and cleave to Him, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Josue 22:5). As St. Thomas Aquinas says, one of the chief effects of love is a union of wills between the loved and the lover―therefore, if we love God, then we want what God wants and not what our selfish, self-loving self wants! “Wanting” or “desiring” is an action of the will―but the will is a blind faculty and relies on information from the intellect (also called “reason” or “mind”). The intellect guides the will to want, to desire and to pursue the good―according to “right reason” and not “false reasoning”. Yet God’s intellect far surpasses our intellect―and therefore God’s knowledge, understanding, foresight and instructions to the will, are far superior and much more correct that any instructions our fallible, weak and darkened intellect could ever come up with. Hence, you must “love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and keep all His commandments, and cleave to Him, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Josue 22:5).
Why is charity or love so important? Simply this―God is charity. “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). He created out of love, He sent His only-begotten to redeem us because of His love for us. “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). Christ died for us out of His love for us. He commanded us to love God above all with all our powers: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). He also commanded us to love one another as He loved us and as we love ourselves: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Mark 12:30-31). “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35).
As Our Lord said to one of His mystics: “You cannot live without being loved and without loving. When it is not God or some of your fellow creatures that you love, you love yourself. Love is as the breath of your soul. Love must be spoken of with respect because it comes from God. It must be received as a messenger from God, as His Spirit. It is an impulse which you receive, but which does not come from you, and which is divine in its source.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 291).
Everyone One Loves Love―Or Do They?
One would be tempted to say that everyone must love love! But is that true? Yes, of course, we all love being loved! Yet do we love loving others? Some perhaps, but everyone? Love is frequently proved by actions and not just words―which is the point behind Our Lord’s statement: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). As the proverb says: “Actions speak louder than words!” Just as Holy Scripture tells us that “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20), you can likewise say: “Works without charity are dead!” or “Charity without works is dead!” The following passage can also apply to charity: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Applying it to Charity instead of Faith, you could say: “Charity if it have not works, is dead in itself―and works without charity are dead in themselves. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Charity, and I have works!’ Show me thy Charity without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Charity! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Charity without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Charity only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Charity without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord sums it up: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7-9).
There are many who SAY they love God, but their ACTIONS seem to suggest otherwise―or least a mere partial love of God. But a PARTIAL love of God is not the TOTAL or WHOLE hearted love of God that He demands of us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Our Lord, in His comments to various mystics, drives home this necessity of loving God: “You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … I delight to work in a soul. You see, I love to do everything Myself―and from this soul I ask only that she love Me! … I prefer an act of love and a Communion of love to any other gift ... I thirst for love … Love Me, love Me alone! Love is everything, and so you will be giving Me everything. When you love Me, you give Jesus everything He desires from His creature: love, Love is everything! If you will now concentrate upon this one resolution, you will be giving everything to Jesus! … That soul is dearest to Me who loves Me the most!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 154, p. 109, p. 75, p. 97, p. 100).
“I am not known, and because I am not known, people do not know how to love Me―I who have so loved men … A love that does not exaggerate―is not love, it is affection! … Love Me more—oh, much more!—than human beings love one another! … I ask only for love. Ah! What are you doing about it?” (Our Lord to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 361, no. 544, no. 134, no. 44).
We, unfortunately, like the vast majority of mankind, at the very best, only love with part of our heart, part of soul, part of our mind and part of our strength. So many other things take precedence before God each and every day―yet Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:31) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet we ARE trying to serve God and mammon!
Have you ever wondered why most souls are lost and damned? It is a lack of love of God―and if we love God little, we will only keep His commandments a little―but Christ said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21). “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Do We Really Love Our Neighbor Like We Should?
We all pride ourselves―or fool ourselves―that we love our neighbor! What we really love is those who love us, or those who have done us no harm. Our Lord addresses this partial or false love when He says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asks of thee and from him, that would borrow of thee, turn not away. You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you―Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rain fall upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:38-48).
Our Lord repeats and confirms His Gospel message to various mystics: “Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted―It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice! … Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’―for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle! … Do not make Me out a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 40-41, p. 36).
“It is wrong to believe that one spoils souls and characters by too much kindness and by yielding to all their wishes. Kindness is the most powerful aid. It is absolutely necessary that you should be kind one towards another, that you should do to others what you would wish them to do to you. One spoils souls by concealing from them what God requires of them, His demands and His beauty. One spoils souls by hiding God from them … Your neighbor is always I―I who am asking of you or giving to you. The Holy Trinity is there in his soul. And if It has been driven out by sin, help your neighbor to receive It back by treating him as if I were already dwelling within him … To act against charity is an incalculable misfortune, difficult to repair, because the consequences live on—and it is depriving God, for all eternity, of a homage that should have been paid to Him―for every act of charity honors God and makes Him known, and makes Him loved … It is I―your Jesus―Whom you love in your neighbor! I, Who am hidden in each soul, that I may grow there, I have such need to meet a heart that desires Me there and loves Me … It is a small matter to be kind to those who are kind to you―but to be kind, very kind―for love of Me―to those who make you suffer, is really to belong to My family” (Our Lord to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 216, no. 143, no. 357, no. 17, no. 627).
Yikes! You could call that “Tough Love”! It is tough to love like that―tough to love your enemies! Yet, the Church in the Her liturgy, in the collects or prayers in the Mass For Enemies, prays: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles. Through Our Lord, etc.” (Collect from the Mass for Enemies). “Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins. Through Our Lord, etc.” (Secret from the Mass for Enemies). Just like our love of God―we can perhaps say those words with our lips, but do they come from the heart? In most cases, no! Instead, we easily and willingly fall into the finger-pointing mode with our enemies―to which Holy Scripture says: “Cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not!” (Isaias 58:9) “Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens! Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself! I am the Lord!” (Leviticus 19:18), to which Our Lord adds: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences! But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
Hatred of Sin, Not People
Moral Theology tells us that hatred of persons is a mortal sin in itself: “Hatred―whether of dislike or of enmity―is from its nature a mortal sin, since it is directly opposed to the virtue of charity, which is the life of the soul … Hatred is a graver sin than other internal sins against the neighbor―such as envy, anger―for, while envy or anger attacks some particular kind of good of the neighbor and to a limited degree, hatred may be directed against any good and knows no measure. Thus, covetousness is directed against the external goods or possessions of a neighbor, while hate may extend wider to include either internal or external goods. Envy is opposed to the neighbor’s good, in so far as it is considered an obstacle to one’s own glory, but hate detests another’s good absolutely. The hater finds his satisfaction―not in any profit derived for self―but in his aversion for another’s good and the harm that is wished his neighbor. Hatred of a neighbor is a more serious sin than external offenses done against him―for hatred sets the will wrong, and it is in the will that sin takes root: ‘He who hates his brother is a murderer’ (1 John 3:15)” (Moral Theology, Fr. McHugh, O.P., & Fr. Callan, O.P., §1312, §1313).
A doctor hates the disease and not the patient. A doctor seeks to kill the disease and not the patient. We are supposed to hate sin―and that includes our own sins and not just the sins of others―but we are supposed to love the sinner, in the sense that we truly and sincerely desire and work for the salvation of the sinner. Loving the sinner does not necessarily mean giving the sinner everything that we give to just and righteous person, or those whom we call our “nearest and dearest”―but it does mean trying to ensure is saved and damned. We might be tempted to say with Cain, when he was asked by God where his brother Abel was―whom Cain had murdered in hatred. “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Yes! We are the keepers of our other human beings―especially the sinful ones! Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly asked that we work for the salvation of sinners. At her very first apparition at Fatima, in May of 1917, she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” In her July apparition, she added: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” In August she reieterated: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
This is nothing new―for Our Lord came into this world, not to hate the sinner, but to save the sinner and bring the sinner to Heaven: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more―that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them―tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church―let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:11-17).
God also manifests His love for the sinner in the Old Testament: “I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live …. As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 18:32; 33:11). Yet God is not afraid to punish the sinner―sometimes very severely―not because He hates the sinner, but He is trying to make the sinner change his ways. If sweet words of warning will not achieve this, then God has no choice but to get tough in order to save the soul―just like a doctor will try to use medicine to save a diseased limb, but if that does not work, then he will not hesitate to amputate the diseased limb in order to save the life of the patient.
To His mystic Sr. Josefa Menendez, Our Lord says: “My Heart takes comfort in forgiving. I have no greater desire, no greater joy, than when I can pardon a soul. When a soul returns to Me after a fall, the comfort she gives Me is a gain for her, for I regard her with very great love … I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood … I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 94, p. 136, p. 174).
Lack of Charity is Ultimately the Root of Today’s Messes and Crises
It may sound too simplistic, but it is a lack of charity that is at the root of all the problems today―and, in fact, the problems of every age in history. Why so? How come? Well, as the above the quotes suggest―charity is of God, for God is charity. If there is a lack of God, then there is a lack of God’s helping, healing, strengthening and guiding grace―for Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and Christ is God, then Our Lord might as well be saying: “Without Me [that is Charity], you can do nothing!” To one of His mystics, Our Lord said: “Oh, if people would only love Me, what happiness would reign in this unhappy world!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 107).
Charity and mortal sin cannot co-exist. One will drive out the other. Charity is first of all a love of God―not just a love in words only, but also in action. Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Our Lady of La Salette tells us that sin (which is an implicit hatred of God) is the cause of all the troubles in this world: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth”
Chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus paints a clear picture of the different results produced in the world by (a) loving and obeying God, and (b) not-loving and disobeying God: “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not loving and not obeying Him, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
God could not have expressed Himself more clearly than that! What is there is the above passage from Leviticus that we cannot understand?
Now as Scripture says, charity is a cure all for sin: “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). However, as Scripture also points out, without charity we are as nothing and nothing we do has any supernatural value, nor will it receive a supernatural reward:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, yet have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, yet have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, yet have not charity―then it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
Today, the majority of the world is hell-bound because of its lack of charity and abundance of sin: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
Robotic Automaton Catholics
The modern world has increasingly become an “automatic” world, where machines are replacing humans in dispensing items and services. Machines have no human heart. Charity requires human interaction. It requires more than one person to be involved―you cannot be charitable to a computer, or a smartphone, or an ATM, or fuel pump, etc. We increasingly order things “online” with no human interaction whatsoever. We can buy our gasoline at the pump with no human interaction. We find more and more stores with “self-check-outs” which again means no human interaction. We ask questions and receive answers from “search engine” like Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo with no human interaction. The personally handed “wage packet”, that contained real dollars and coins, has long-since been replaced by payment by check, and now direct deposit, where your payroll checks are automatically deposited into your bank account with no human interaction. Especially during this “Con-all-a-virus” spectacle―with its lock-downs, quarantining and self-isolation―people are increasingly communicating with each other “online”, “onscreen” and on the phone with no real human interaction. We have so many “drive-thru” facilities that minimize human interaction and place ‘barriers’ between the seller and the buyer. You can pursue a university course and get your university degree “online” with minimal or no human interaction. It is not uncommon for people in the same office building―even in the same office―to send texts to each other rather than personally speak to each other “face-to-face”. Perhaps in families, the family members do the same thing when they are in the same house!
All of this creates an unreal world, a virtual world―we even have the growing popularity of “Virtual Reality” or “VR”― which is a simulated, feigned, artificial, non-genuine experience that can be created by computers to be similar to or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality (VR) include entertainment (e.g. video games) and education (e.g. medical or military training). Other distinct types of virtual reality-style technology include “augmented reality” and “mixed reality” (MR), sometimes referred to as “extended reality” (XR). Since the mid-1400s, “virtual” has had the meaning of “being something that exists only in essence or in effect, but does not actually exist nor exists in fact.” The term “virtual” has been used in the computer sense of “not physically existing, but made to appear by software” has been in use since 1959.
Virtual Reality Catholics
Virtual reality imitation of the real environment plays a vital role in various virtual reality applications―such as airplane simulation (used by pilots), construction modeling (used by architects), and robot navigation. Virtual reality systems have been gaining popularity in computer graphics and computer vision communities. Desktop-based virtual reality involves displaying a 3D virtual world on a regular desktop display to make the user feel as though they are in a virtual world. A common criticism of this form of immersion is that there is no sense of peripheral (side) vision, limiting the user’s view of “virtual reality” to only what is front of them, while “real-reality” still exists to the left and right of them through their peripheral (side) vision. To overcome this failure of “virtual reality” in become “total virtual reality” and not just “partial virtual reality”, a head-mounted display (HMD) that totally covers the eyes and blocks-out peripheral (side) vision, more fully immerses the user in a virtual world.
Why all this attention to “virtual reality”? Well, the reason is that “virtual reality” can alter the way we interact with things in this world. “Virtual reality” depersonalizes things and, in a sense, devalues things. For example, prior to advent of video-games, it was found that only around 15% to 25% of American soldiers, engaged in battles, actually shot to kill. Army psychologists say that in the previous wars, many soldiers wouldn’t shoot back when attacked. Most soldiers who fired their weapon aimed over the heads of their enemies to purposely miss, because they couldn’t handle killing another human being. To remedy this the American military has used video-games simulating battle conditions and train the soldier to be accustomed to see themselves “killing” the enemy on screen (which is less traumatic) and to endlessly have them repeat that process so that in battle “killing” will have become a second nature. They managed to raise the percentage of soldiers, actually shooting to kill, from the 15% to 25% to the 90%+ range.
Coming back to the definition of “virtual reality” as “being something that exists only in essence or in effect, but does not actually exist nor exists in fact” and “not physically existing, but made to appear by software” ― we should clearly be able to see the reality of “virtual reality” is that it is essentially a lie, an untruth, a misrepresentation, a concoction, a ‘make-believe’ with no actual existence in reality―even though it might truthfully show images of what really exists. This is often how we view God, ourselves and our spiritual life―it is a “virtual reality” and not a “real-reality”. Extending that a little further, we also tend to see the “real-reality” crises in this world through our “headset” or “programmed mindset” of “virtual reality”―we no longer see these crises as they really are, but as we would wish them to be in our own concocted “virtual reality” of our wishful thinking mind. This is merely a natural progression of mind from being objective to becoming increasingly subjective. Subjective information, thinking, analysis or writing is based on personal opinions, personal interpretations, personal points of view, personal emotions and personal judgment. Objective information, thinking, analysis or writing is fact-based, measurable and observable―it is focused on the truth that is outside of us, in the real world, and not on ‘truth’ that merely exists in our imagination with no connection to the truths in the outside world. Pushing the differences between “objective” and “subjective” to an extreme, you could say that objectivity is usually realistic and subjectivity is often unrealistic, or the difference between “fact” and “opinion”. Reality―which is outside of us―is supposed to program our minds, and not the other way around. Our opinions do not change reality. Most people see and evaluate and judge God, their Faith, their spirituality, their holiness, themselves, other people, circumstances and events in mainly a subjective fashion and barely or rarely in an objective fashion. In other words, their minds create a “virtual reality” that does not fully comply with “real reality”.
Virtual God, Virtual Lent, Virtual Penance, Virtual Love
This divorce between “virtual reality” and “real reality”, objectivity and subjectivity, fact and opinion, “what is” and “wishful thinking”, is easily and readily transferred into the religious sphere―namely our views of God, the Faith, the spiritual life and our own personal state of soul.
There are two extreme “virtual reality” views of God and many shades of grey “virtual reality” in between. One extreme is that God is all love and charity, that all you have to do is believe in Him and He will forgive anything and everything―not matter how many times you sin, and that all souls ultimately go to Heaven. The other extreme is that God is severe, that He will forget nothing about your sins, that it is incredibly hard to get to Heaven and that almost all souls are damned. Reality is found somewhere in between―with there being a certain amount of truth on both extreme sides. We find it hard to get our puny minds around the fact that God is―at one at the same time―extremely merciful and extremely just. To us, those two things seem like opposites―we think you can only have one or the other―yet not so with God. Perfection is defined as “extremely good” and since God is perfect and perfection itself, then God is necessarily “extreme” in every possible way. We can only bow our puny little minds in the face of that reality.
► Sadly, though, most people today fall into the false idea that God is ONLY loving, charitable, forgiving and ‘blind-eyed’ when it comes to sin. They TOTALLY ignore, fail to see, or even reject the idea of God ALSO being offended, angry, a judge, a punisher, a chastiser and a creator of Hell. If you pardon the “French”―why the hell did God create Hell if He wasn’t going to use it? It was not to roast sausages, barbecue meat and boil water for tea or coffee for those who are in Heaven! Our Lord―Who is also God―was not joking around when He told us to fear God: “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
► As regards the “virtual reality” of sin―or rather the “virtual reality” that there is no sin―recent popes have lamented this false idea among Catholics. The Protestant reformer and fallen-away Catholic, Martin Luther, epitomizes the mentality of today, with his “virtual reality” statement: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!” To which God replies in Holy Scripture: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8), while Our Lord adds: “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 14) and the Old Testament further adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity, then I will lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood” (Ezechiel 3:20).
Pope Pius XII hit the nail on the head, saying: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II said: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin!” Pope Benedict XVI added: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Thus the meaning of sin is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil―because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity.” While Pope Francis points out: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God!”
► As regards “virtual penance” ― Penance is a partial reparation for sin. Once you lose the “sense of sin”, then you will automatically loose the “sense of penance” or the need for doing penance. Why do penance if there is no sin? Why drink water if you are not thirsty? That is the general attitude of most people these days. Let’s face it, today, penance is almost non-existent. Yet the contrary is true―it is not that sin has disappeared or gone down in numbers―but it has sky-rocketed! Just think on these words of Our Lady―spoken in 1956―to the mystic and stigmatic Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
The degree of sinning has escalated enormously since 1956―television in the home only got going in the 1950s and, in comparison to the stuff being shown today, you could almost call 1950s TV shows ‘angelic’. Yet it was only just starting-out and was limited in scope and broadcasting hours. In 1956 there was no internet, no computers, no i-pads, tablets or smartphones. Fashions were―compared to today―fairly modest. Books and magazines did not contain the perversities that we see today. Abortion was limited and not yet legalized. Divorce was limited. When England’s divorce law was finally enacted in 1857, and the “floodgates” were opened, the number of divorces in English history stood at a mere 324. In the USA, by the mid- to late 1800s, divorce rates in the United States increased rapidly, and Americans obtained more divorces annually than were granted in all of Europe. In 2018, there were 2,132,853 marriages in the USA and 782,038 divorces―which means that there was 1 divorce for every 2.7 marriages (or 10 divorces for every 27 marriages). Pornography exploded with the coming of the internet. Though it is not yet officially “legal”―it enjoys a remarkable freedom and massive influence. 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. 57% of teens search out porn at least monthly. 90% of teens and 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral when they talk about porn with their friends. Just 55% of adults 25 and older believe porn is wrong. All of the above sins are just the tip of the iceberg of sin. The list grows each year―both in number and in gravity. This brings to mind Our Lady’s later warning at Akita, Japan, in 1973:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
The Epistle reading for Quinquagesima Sunday gives us a roadmap for our Lent. It puts quality above quantity, love above works. It paints a picture that suggests that charity must be the soul in everything we do, the engine that moves and drives everything. The reading further states that without that charity, everything is worthless and we are nothing! “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, yet have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, yet have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, yet have not charity―then it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind, charity envies not, deals not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked to anger, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in imperfect shall be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass [mirror] in an obscure manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I have been known. So now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three―but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
The Old Testament, in a sense, summarizes the above when it says: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). Our Lord repeats that quote in the New Testament, saying: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
St. Augustine, on the other hand, says that if we have charity in our hearts―then we can do what we want, because we will never do anything against the one that we love, namely God: “The deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity. For many things may be done that have a good appearance, and yet proceed not from the root of charity. For thorns also have flowers: some actions truly seem rough, seem savage; however they are done for discipline at the bidding of charity. Once and for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt―whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good” (St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, taken from his Seventh Homily on 1 John 4:4-12, #8). Notice that Augustine did not say: “Because God loves you, you can do whatever you please―even sin!” No! You must “love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and keep all His commandments, and cleave to Him, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Josue 22:5). As St. Thomas Aquinas says, one of the chief effects of love is a union of wills between the loved and the lover―therefore, if we love God, then we want what God wants and not what our selfish, self-loving self wants! “Wanting” or “desiring” is an action of the will―but the will is a blind faculty and relies on information from the intellect (also called “reason” or “mind”). The intellect guides the will to want, to desire and to pursue the good―according to “right reason” and not “false reasoning”. Yet God’s intellect far surpasses our intellect―and therefore God’s knowledge, understanding, foresight and instructions to the will, are far superior and much more correct that any instructions our fallible, weak and darkened intellect could ever come up with. Hence, you must “love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and keep all His commandments, and cleave to Him, and serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Josue 22:5).
Why is charity or love so important? Simply this―God is charity. “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). He created out of love, He sent His only-begotten to redeem us because of His love for us. “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). Christ died for us out of His love for us. He commanded us to love God above all with all our powers: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). He also commanded us to love one another as He loved us and as we love ourselves: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Mark 12:30-31). “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35).
As Our Lord said to one of His mystics: “You cannot live without being loved and without loving. When it is not God or some of your fellow creatures that you love, you love yourself. Love is as the breath of your soul. Love must be spoken of with respect because it comes from God. It must be received as a messenger from God, as His Spirit. It is an impulse which you receive, but which does not come from you, and which is divine in its source.” (Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 291).
Everyone One Loves Love―Or Do They?
One would be tempted to say that everyone must love love! But is that true? Yes, of course, we all love being loved! Yet do we love loving others? Some perhaps, but everyone? Love is frequently proved by actions and not just words―which is the point behind Our Lord’s statement: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). As the proverb says: “Actions speak louder than words!” Just as Holy Scripture tells us that “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20), you can likewise say: “Works without charity are dead!” or “Charity without works is dead!” The following passage can also apply to charity: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Applying it to Charity instead of Faith, you could say: “Charity if it have not works, is dead in itself―and works without charity are dead in themselves. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Charity, and I have works!’ Show me thy Charity without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Charity! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Charity without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Charity only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Charity without works is dead” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord sums it up: “This people honoureth Me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7-9).
There are many who SAY they love God, but their ACTIONS seem to suggest otherwise―or least a mere partial love of God. But a PARTIAL love of God is not the TOTAL or WHOLE hearted love of God that He demands of us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Our Lord, in His comments to various mystics, drives home this necessity of loving God: “You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details! … I delight to work in a soul. You see, I love to do everything Myself―and from this soul I ask only that she love Me! … I prefer an act of love and a Communion of love to any other gift ... I thirst for love … Love Me, love Me alone! Love is everything, and so you will be giving Me everything. When you love Me, you give Jesus everything He desires from His creature: love, Love is everything! If you will now concentrate upon this one resolution, you will be giving everything to Jesus! … That soul is dearest to Me who loves Me the most!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 154, p. 109, p. 75, p. 97, p. 100).
“I am not known, and because I am not known, people do not know how to love Me―I who have so loved men … A love that does not exaggerate―is not love, it is affection! … Love Me more—oh, much more!—than human beings love one another! … I ask only for love. Ah! What are you doing about it?” (Our Lord to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 361, no. 544, no. 134, no. 44).
We, unfortunately, like the vast majority of mankind, at the very best, only love with part of our heart, part of soul, part of our mind and part of our strength. So many other things take precedence before God each and every day―yet Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:31) … “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet we ARE trying to serve God and mammon!
Have you ever wondered why most souls are lost and damned? It is a lack of love of God―and if we love God little, we will only keep His commandments a little―but Christ said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21). “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Do We Really Love Our Neighbor Like We Should?
We all pride ourselves―or fool ourselves―that we love our neighbor! What we really love is those who love us, or those who have done us no harm. Our Lord addresses this partial or false love when He says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asks of thee and from him, that would borrow of thee, turn not away. You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you―Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who makes His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rain fall upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:38-48).
Our Lord repeats and confirms His Gospel message to various mystics: “Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand, is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy? You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make Me see only the good side of a guilty soul. I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it. If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice! You see, My Heart needs to be comforted―It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice! … Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’―for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle! … Do not make Me out a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., pp. 40-41, p. 36).
“It is wrong to believe that one spoils souls and characters by too much kindness and by yielding to all their wishes. Kindness is the most powerful aid. It is absolutely necessary that you should be kind one towards another, that you should do to others what you would wish them to do to you. One spoils souls by concealing from them what God requires of them, His demands and His beauty. One spoils souls by hiding God from them … Your neighbor is always I―I who am asking of you or giving to you. The Holy Trinity is there in his soul. And if It has been driven out by sin, help your neighbor to receive It back by treating him as if I were already dwelling within him … To act against charity is an incalculable misfortune, difficult to repair, because the consequences live on—and it is depriving God, for all eternity, of a homage that should have been paid to Him―for every act of charity honors God and makes Him known, and makes Him loved … It is I―your Jesus―Whom you love in your neighbor! I, Who am hidden in each soul, that I may grow there, I have such need to meet a heart that desires Me there and loves Me … It is a small matter to be kind to those who are kind to you―but to be kind, very kind―for love of Me―to those who make you suffer, is really to belong to My family” (Our Lord to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 216, no. 143, no. 357, no. 17, no. 627).
Yikes! You could call that “Tough Love”! It is tough to love like that―tough to love your enemies! Yet, the Church in the Her liturgy, in the collects or prayers in the Mass For Enemies, prays: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles. Through Our Lord, etc.” (Collect from the Mass for Enemies). “Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins. Through Our Lord, etc.” (Secret from the Mass for Enemies). Just like our love of God―we can perhaps say those words with our lips, but do they come from the heart? In most cases, no! Instead, we easily and willingly fall into the finger-pointing mode with our enemies―to which Holy Scripture says: “Cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not!” (Isaias 58:9) “Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens! Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself! I am the Lord!” (Leviticus 19:18), to which Our Lord adds: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences! But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
Hatred of Sin, Not People
Moral Theology tells us that hatred of persons is a mortal sin in itself: “Hatred―whether of dislike or of enmity―is from its nature a mortal sin, since it is directly opposed to the virtue of charity, which is the life of the soul … Hatred is a graver sin than other internal sins against the neighbor―such as envy, anger―for, while envy or anger attacks some particular kind of good of the neighbor and to a limited degree, hatred may be directed against any good and knows no measure. Thus, covetousness is directed against the external goods or possessions of a neighbor, while hate may extend wider to include either internal or external goods. Envy is opposed to the neighbor’s good, in so far as it is considered an obstacle to one’s own glory, but hate detests another’s good absolutely. The hater finds his satisfaction―not in any profit derived for self―but in his aversion for another’s good and the harm that is wished his neighbor. Hatred of a neighbor is a more serious sin than external offenses done against him―for hatred sets the will wrong, and it is in the will that sin takes root: ‘He who hates his brother is a murderer’ (1 John 3:15)” (Moral Theology, Fr. McHugh, O.P., & Fr. Callan, O.P., §1312, §1313).
A doctor hates the disease and not the patient. A doctor seeks to kill the disease and not the patient. We are supposed to hate sin―and that includes our own sins and not just the sins of others―but we are supposed to love the sinner, in the sense that we truly and sincerely desire and work for the salvation of the sinner. Loving the sinner does not necessarily mean giving the sinner everything that we give to just and righteous person, or those whom we call our “nearest and dearest”―but it does mean trying to ensure is saved and damned. We might be tempted to say with Cain, when he was asked by God where his brother Abel was―whom Cain had murdered in hatred. “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Yes! We are the keepers of our other human beings―especially the sinful ones! Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly asked that we work for the salvation of sinners. At her very first apparition at Fatima, in May of 1917, she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” In her July apparition, she added: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” In August she reieterated: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
This is nothing new―for Our Lord came into this world, not to hate the sinner, but to save the sinner and bring the sinner to Heaven: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more―that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them―tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church―let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:11-17).
God also manifests His love for the sinner in the Old Testament: “I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live …. As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 18:32; 33:11). Yet God is not afraid to punish the sinner―sometimes very severely―not because He hates the sinner, but He is trying to make the sinner change his ways. If sweet words of warning will not achieve this, then God has no choice but to get tough in order to save the soul―just like a doctor will try to use medicine to save a diseased limb, but if that does not work, then he will not hesitate to amputate the diseased limb in order to save the life of the patient.
To His mystic Sr. Josefa Menendez, Our Lord says: “My Heart takes comfort in forgiving. I have no greater desire, no greater joy, than when I can pardon a soul. When a soul returns to Me after a fall, the comfort she gives Me is a gain for her, for I regard her with very great love … I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood … I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 94, p. 136, p. 174).
Lack of Charity is Ultimately the Root of Today’s Messes and Crises
It may sound too simplistic, but it is a lack of charity that is at the root of all the problems today―and, in fact, the problems of every age in history. Why so? How come? Well, as the above the quotes suggest―charity is of God, for God is charity. If there is a lack of God, then there is a lack of God’s helping, healing, strengthening and guiding grace―for Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Since “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and Christ is God, then Our Lord might as well be saying: “Without Me [that is Charity], you can do nothing!” To one of His mystics, Our Lord said: “Oh, if people would only love Me, what happiness would reign in this unhappy world!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 107).
Charity and mortal sin cannot co-exist. One will drive out the other. Charity is first of all a love of God―not just a love in words only, but also in action. Our Lord said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me!” (John 14:15; 14:21). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Our Lady of La Salette tells us that sin (which is an implicit hatred of God) is the cause of all the troubles in this world: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth”
Chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus paints a clear picture of the different results produced in the world by (a) loving and obeying God, and (b) not-loving and disobeying God: “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not loving and not obeying Him, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
God could not have expressed Himself more clearly than that! What is there is the above passage from Leviticus that we cannot understand?
Now as Scripture says, charity is a cure all for sin: “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). However, as Scripture also points out, without charity we are as nothing and nothing we do has any supernatural value, nor will it receive a supernatural reward:
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, yet have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, yet have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, yet have not charity―then it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
Today, the majority of the world is hell-bound because of its lack of charity and abundance of sin: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
Robotic Automaton Catholics
The modern world has increasingly become an “automatic” world, where machines are replacing humans in dispensing items and services. Machines have no human heart. Charity requires human interaction. It requires more than one person to be involved―you cannot be charitable to a computer, or a smartphone, or an ATM, or fuel pump, etc. We increasingly order things “online” with no human interaction whatsoever. We can buy our gasoline at the pump with no human interaction. We find more and more stores with “self-check-outs” which again means no human interaction. We ask questions and receive answers from “search engine” like Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo with no human interaction. The personally handed “wage packet”, that contained real dollars and coins, has long-since been replaced by payment by check, and now direct deposit, where your payroll checks are automatically deposited into your bank account with no human interaction. Especially during this “Con-all-a-virus” spectacle―with its lock-downs, quarantining and self-isolation―people are increasingly communicating with each other “online”, “onscreen” and on the phone with no real human interaction. We have so many “drive-thru” facilities that minimize human interaction and place ‘barriers’ between the seller and the buyer. You can pursue a university course and get your university degree “online” with minimal or no human interaction. It is not uncommon for people in the same office building―even in the same office―to send texts to each other rather than personally speak to each other “face-to-face”. Perhaps in families, the family members do the same thing when they are in the same house!
All of this creates an unreal world, a virtual world―we even have the growing popularity of “Virtual Reality” or “VR”― which is a simulated, feigned, artificial, non-genuine experience that can be created by computers to be similar to or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality (VR) include entertainment (e.g. video games) and education (e.g. medical or military training). Other distinct types of virtual reality-style technology include “augmented reality” and “mixed reality” (MR), sometimes referred to as “extended reality” (XR). Since the mid-1400s, “virtual” has had the meaning of “being something that exists only in essence or in effect, but does not actually exist nor exists in fact.” The term “virtual” has been used in the computer sense of “not physically existing, but made to appear by software” has been in use since 1959.
Virtual Reality Catholics
Virtual reality imitation of the real environment plays a vital role in various virtual reality applications―such as airplane simulation (used by pilots), construction modeling (used by architects), and robot navigation. Virtual reality systems have been gaining popularity in computer graphics and computer vision communities. Desktop-based virtual reality involves displaying a 3D virtual world on a regular desktop display to make the user feel as though they are in a virtual world. A common criticism of this form of immersion is that there is no sense of peripheral (side) vision, limiting the user’s view of “virtual reality” to only what is front of them, while “real-reality” still exists to the left and right of them through their peripheral (side) vision. To overcome this failure of “virtual reality” in become “total virtual reality” and not just “partial virtual reality”, a head-mounted display (HMD) that totally covers the eyes and blocks-out peripheral (side) vision, more fully immerses the user in a virtual world.
Why all this attention to “virtual reality”? Well, the reason is that “virtual reality” can alter the way we interact with things in this world. “Virtual reality” depersonalizes things and, in a sense, devalues things. For example, prior to advent of video-games, it was found that only around 15% to 25% of American soldiers, engaged in battles, actually shot to kill. Army psychologists say that in the previous wars, many soldiers wouldn’t shoot back when attacked. Most soldiers who fired their weapon aimed over the heads of their enemies to purposely miss, because they couldn’t handle killing another human being. To remedy this the American military has used video-games simulating battle conditions and train the soldier to be accustomed to see themselves “killing” the enemy on screen (which is less traumatic) and to endlessly have them repeat that process so that in battle “killing” will have become a second nature. They managed to raise the percentage of soldiers, actually shooting to kill, from the 15% to 25% to the 90%+ range.
Coming back to the definition of “virtual reality” as “being something that exists only in essence or in effect, but does not actually exist nor exists in fact” and “not physically existing, but made to appear by software” ― we should clearly be able to see the reality of “virtual reality” is that it is essentially a lie, an untruth, a misrepresentation, a concoction, a ‘make-believe’ with no actual existence in reality―even though it might truthfully show images of what really exists. This is often how we view God, ourselves and our spiritual life―it is a “virtual reality” and not a “real-reality”. Extending that a little further, we also tend to see the “real-reality” crises in this world through our “headset” or “programmed mindset” of “virtual reality”―we no longer see these crises as they really are, but as we would wish them to be in our own concocted “virtual reality” of our wishful thinking mind. This is merely a natural progression of mind from being objective to becoming increasingly subjective. Subjective information, thinking, analysis or writing is based on personal opinions, personal interpretations, personal points of view, personal emotions and personal judgment. Objective information, thinking, analysis or writing is fact-based, measurable and observable―it is focused on the truth that is outside of us, in the real world, and not on ‘truth’ that merely exists in our imagination with no connection to the truths in the outside world. Pushing the differences between “objective” and “subjective” to an extreme, you could say that objectivity is usually realistic and subjectivity is often unrealistic, or the difference between “fact” and “opinion”. Reality―which is outside of us―is supposed to program our minds, and not the other way around. Our opinions do not change reality. Most people see and evaluate and judge God, their Faith, their spirituality, their holiness, themselves, other people, circumstances and events in mainly a subjective fashion and barely or rarely in an objective fashion. In other words, their minds create a “virtual reality” that does not fully comply with “real reality”.
Virtual God, Virtual Lent, Virtual Penance, Virtual Love
This divorce between “virtual reality” and “real reality”, objectivity and subjectivity, fact and opinion, “what is” and “wishful thinking”, is easily and readily transferred into the religious sphere―namely our views of God, the Faith, the spiritual life and our own personal state of soul.
There are two extreme “virtual reality” views of God and many shades of grey “virtual reality” in between. One extreme is that God is all love and charity, that all you have to do is believe in Him and He will forgive anything and everything―not matter how many times you sin, and that all souls ultimately go to Heaven. The other extreme is that God is severe, that He will forget nothing about your sins, that it is incredibly hard to get to Heaven and that almost all souls are damned. Reality is found somewhere in between―with there being a certain amount of truth on both extreme sides. We find it hard to get our puny minds around the fact that God is―at one at the same time―extremely merciful and extremely just. To us, those two things seem like opposites―we think you can only have one or the other―yet not so with God. Perfection is defined as “extremely good” and since God is perfect and perfection itself, then God is necessarily “extreme” in every possible way. We can only bow our puny little minds in the face of that reality.
► Sadly, though, most people today fall into the false idea that God is ONLY loving, charitable, forgiving and ‘blind-eyed’ when it comes to sin. They TOTALLY ignore, fail to see, or even reject the idea of God ALSO being offended, angry, a judge, a punisher, a chastiser and a creator of Hell. If you pardon the “French”―why the hell did God create Hell if He wasn’t going to use it? It was not to roast sausages, barbecue meat and boil water for tea or coffee for those who are in Heaven! Our Lord―Who is also God―was not joking around when He told us to fear God: “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
► As regards the “virtual reality” of sin―or rather the “virtual reality” that there is no sin―recent popes have lamented this false idea among Catholics. The Protestant reformer and fallen-away Catholic, Martin Luther, epitomizes the mentality of today, with his “virtual reality” statement: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!” To which God replies in Holy Scripture: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8), while Our Lord adds: “Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 14) and the Old Testament further adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity, then I will lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood” (Ezechiel 3:20).
Pope Pius XII hit the nail on the head, saying: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II said: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin!” Pope Benedict XVI added: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many … If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Thus the meaning of sin is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil―because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity.” While Pope Francis points out: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God!”
► As regards “virtual penance” ― Penance is a partial reparation for sin. Once you lose the “sense of sin”, then you will automatically loose the “sense of penance” or the need for doing penance. Why do penance if there is no sin? Why drink water if you are not thirsty? That is the general attitude of most people these days. Let’s face it, today, penance is almost non-existent. Yet the contrary is true―it is not that sin has disappeared or gone down in numbers―but it has sky-rocketed! Just think on these words of Our Lady―spoken in 1956―to the mystic and stigmatic Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
The degree of sinning has escalated enormously since 1956―television in the home only got going in the 1950s and, in comparison to the stuff being shown today, you could almost call 1950s TV shows ‘angelic’. Yet it was only just starting-out and was limited in scope and broadcasting hours. In 1956 there was no internet, no computers, no i-pads, tablets or smartphones. Fashions were―compared to today―fairly modest. Books and magazines did not contain the perversities that we see today. Abortion was limited and not yet legalized. Divorce was limited. When England’s divorce law was finally enacted in 1857, and the “floodgates” were opened, the number of divorces in English history stood at a mere 324. In the USA, by the mid- to late 1800s, divorce rates in the United States increased rapidly, and Americans obtained more divorces annually than were granted in all of Europe. In 2018, there were 2,132,853 marriages in the USA and 782,038 divorces―which means that there was 1 divorce for every 2.7 marriages (or 10 divorces for every 27 marriages). Pornography exploded with the coming of the internet. Though it is not yet officially “legal”―it enjoys a remarkable freedom and massive influence. 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. 57% of teens search out porn at least monthly. 90% of teens and 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral when they talk about porn with their friends. Just 55% of adults 25 and older believe porn is wrong. All of the above sins are just the tip of the iceberg of sin. The list grows each year―both in number and in gravity. This brings to mind Our Lady’s later warning at Akita, Japan, in 1973:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
THREE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday February 11th & Friday February 12th & Saturday February 13th
Article 6
Is Our Lady a Cure-All?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday February 11th & Friday February 12th & Saturday February 13th
Article 6
Is Our Lady a Cure-All?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Treatment or Cure?
The term “cure” means that, after medical treatment, the patient no longer has that particular condition anymore ― in other words, original health is restored. Some diseases can be cured. Others have no cure (known to man). The person will always have the condition, but medical treatments can help to manage the disease. Medical professionals use natural remedies, man-made medicines, dietary recommendations, exercise, therapy, surgery, and other treatments to help lessen the symptoms and effects of a disease. Sometimes these treatments lead to cures — in other words, they get rid of the disease. When a disease cannot be cured, doctors will often use treatments to help control it, or slow it down.
Yet―in a certain sense―a “cure” is not lasting or permanent if the person who is cured continues to do the same things that made that person sick in the first place! Cures require a cooperation between the sick person seeking the cure and person who is trying to cure the sick person―namely the patient and the doctor. Cures are not “one-sided” procedures, but interactive and cooperative procedures. For example, a person seeking a cure is evaluated, diagnosed and told to take this or that medicine (natural or man-made) for “x” number of days at a rate of “x” times a day. This requires an obedient cooperation on the part of the patient. The treatment that offers a cure will only work if the patient works at fulfilling the prescribed commands and instructions. Some patients obey and cooperate fully―and these will produce better results than those who only obey and cooperate partially. As you sow, so shall you reap!
In the Hospital of Our Lady
Since we are in season of Our Lady of Lourdes―whose feastday is February 11th―whose apparitions at Lourdes were the start of many miraculous cures due to the waters of a miraculous spring that Our Lady caused to appear, we can follow an analogy of looking upon ourselves in this world as being in the hospital of Our Lady. Every person born into this world is born sick. They are born with the wound of Original Sin―which is, technically speaking, an absence of sanctifying grace which sanctifies and perfects our human nature. We are born without something―like a baby might be born with a heart defect which may include holes in the wall of the heart, a heart that beats too quickly or too slowly, valve defects that prevent blood from flowing smoothly, or misplaced blood vessels that prevent the heart and circulatory system from functioning efficiently. Most heart defects can be corrected, or at least helped. In the USA, birth defects affect one in every 33 babies (about 3% of all babies)―but the Original Sin defect affects all babies, 100%.
In Our Lady’s hospital, there is no spiritual birth defect that cannot be cured―but it requires the cooperation, the total cooperation, of the sick patient with the heavenly doctor. Even the best doctor in the world cannot save the patient who ignores his instructions. Lucia of Fatima made some requests for sick people, to which Our Lady replied that she would cure some but not others, and that all must say the Rosary to obtain the graces of a cure―which could be said to be a prescription saying: “Take 50 to 150 beads every day until you are cured!” We recall Our Lady’s words at Fatima with regard to a certain person who had asked Lucia to beg Our Lady for a cure from a certain illness. Our Lady replied: “If he is converted, he will be cured during the year” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). In other words, the sick man had to first of all stop sinning and change his life―only then would Our Lady be able to cure him. Again, this is like saying: “If you want to be cured, then stop ‘eating’, ‘drinking’, ‘watching’, ‘thinking’ and ‘talking’ SIN!”
Our Lady, our Heaven-sent doctor, has been giving us advice for centuries on how to cure our spiritual ills (which are obviously more serious than any physical ailments we may have), yet her sinfully sick patients have paid little or even no attention to her prescriptions and advice. As the heavenly doctor, Our Lady herself, lamented at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima, as recently as 1957, bewailed a lack of cooperation on the part of Our Lady’s patients: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.”
Doctor-in-Chief
Our Lord is the “Doctor-in-Chief” who cured every patient who believed that He could cure them and who really wanted a cure. The key words here are “believed” and “wanted” ― two actions that correspond to the two powers of our souls, which are the intellect and the will―sometimes called “mind” and “heart”. “And as Jesus passed from thence, there followed Him two blind men, crying out and saying: ‘Have mercy on us, O Son of David!’ And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them: ‘Do you believe that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him: ‘Yes, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:27-30).
Similarly, “And when He was come to the multitude, there came to Him a man falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord! Have pity on my son―for he is a lunatic and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus, secretly, and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there, and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you! But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:14-20). The prescription that Our Lord prescribes is belief, prayer and fasting.
These were not a “one-off” occasions, as you well know, for the Gospels are filled with His many cures―some described in detail, others merely mentioned in passing: “And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they presented to Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy, and He cured them” (Matthew 4:24). Yet in some places Jesus did not cure all the sick persons: “Jesus said to them: ‘A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred!’ And He could not do any miracles there, only that he cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them. And he wondered because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:4-6). It was their lack of Faith, their “unbelief” and their lack of honor towards Him that restricted the number of miracles and cures that He could and would have performed.
When Scripture says: “He could not do any miracles there” ― it does mean due to any lack of power in Our Lord, but because there was no cooperation or believe in the persons, justly resulting in the fact that Our Lord would not work miracles in favor of obstinate and unbelieving people, who thereby made themselves unworthy of such favors.
Remove Yourself From All Toxicity
God does not reward sin. In fact, God punished sin―Holy Scripture is full that proof. If we want spiritual health or miraculous help to regain lost physical health―then we must remove ourselves from the toxicity of sin. Oftentimes, physical and mental sickness is the direct result of sin―as we see Our Lord point out: “Now there is, at Jerusalem, a pond called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these [porches] lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond, after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming down to the pond, another goes down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Sin and Death
There was no death until there was sin. Adam and Eve were made by God with possibility (not a guarantee) of not dying―provided that they obeyed God. What is sin, but a disobedience to God and God’s laws and commands? God warned Adam and Eve about the fatal, mortal consequences of sin: “And He commanded him, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam and Eve disobeyed God―thus, they sinned. We call it the Original Sin, for before that, man had not sinned (even though the bad angels had already sinned). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Initially, after God created the world and all in it, man used to live for hundreds of years because sin was rare. However, with time, sin, like a disease, grew and grew to the point where God would no longer tolerate it―and so he decided to shorten man’s life-span as a consequence. Originally, the age to which men lived was almost 1,000 years, as we see in the following list of some who are mentioned in the Bible:
1. Mathusala (Methuselah) – 969 years old. See Genesis 5:21-27.
2. Jared – 962 years old. See Genesis 5:18-21
3. Noe (Noah) – 950 years old. See Genesis chapters 5 to 10.
4. Adam – 930 years old. See Genesis 1; Genesis 2:4 to 3:24; Genesis 4; and Genesis 5
5. Seth – 912 years old. See Genesis 4; Genesis 5; 1 Paralipomenon (Chronicles) 1:1-3.
6. Cainan (Kenan) – 910 years old. See Genesis 5:9-14.
7. Enos – 905 years old. See Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:6-11.
8. Malaleel (Mahalalel) – 895 years old. See Genesis 5:12-17.
9. Lamech – 777 years old. See Genesis Chapter 5.
However, God withdrew His Providence―that guaranteed such a long life―and shortened man’s life-span because of sin. “And God said: ‘My spirit shall not remain in man forever―because he is flesh―and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years!’” (Genesis 6:3). Even though there is no explicit mention of sin as being the cause for the shortening of the lifespan of man, this is shown to be the case by the verses that follow: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-6). Hence came the Great Flood in the time of Noe.
Catastrophes are a kind of ‘sickness’ in nature or changes for the worse in nature that God uses to punish us―the most extreme being the Great Flood as a punishment for the world’s sins. From that ‘maximum degree’ of ‘sickness’ of nature―the Great Flood―there are endless lower degrees of ‘sickness’ of nature, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, local floods, severe weather, drought, heat-waves, freezing conditions, etc. Likewise things like pestilences, diseased crop failures, insect plagues, etc.
“We ought to conform to God’s will in all public calamities such as war, famine and pestilence, and reverence and adore His judgments with deep humility in the firm belief that, however severe they may seem, the God of infinite goodness would not send such disasters unless some great good were to result from them. Consider how many souls may be saved through tribulation which would otherwise be lost, how many persons through affliction are converted to God and die with sincere repentance for their sins. What may appear a scourge and punishment is often a sign of great grace and mercy” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 3, §2).
Sin and Disease
Generally speaking, all sickness is a result of Adam’s disobedience to God by committing the Original Sin. “By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death―and so death passed upon all men” (Romans 5:12). Sickness is part of the dying process―death is culmination or destination of sickness. We can lengthen or shorten our lives by how we live them. If we live against the “laws of nature” (which are ultimately the laws of God), then we will shorten our life considerably, by bring on disease, which eventually terminates in death. If you try to do things which go against nature or go against right reason―then your disregard for the laws of nature will result in some kind of punishment. Interestingly, St. Thomas Aquinas says that any action that goes against right reason is a sin. We sin more than we realize!
Jesus links sin to sickness when he says: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). In other words, “I have not come to call the just who are healthy, but I have come to call sinners who are sick!” We see something of this in the incident of Jesus curing the paralytic, wherein he directly associates sin with disease: “Jesus entered into Capharnaum after some days. And it was heard that He was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room―no, not even at the door―and He spoke to them the word. And they came to Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. And when they could not offer him unto Jesus because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where He was, and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus had seen their faith, He said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And there were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: ‘Why doth this Man speak thus? He blasphemeth! Who can forgive sins, but God only?’ Jesus, knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, said to them: ‘Why do you think these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: “Thy sins are forgiven thee” or to say “Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins’ ―He says to the sick of the palsy― ‘I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And immediately he arose and, taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all―so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:1-10). Notice how Jesus associates the man’s palsy with sin, because He says to the man: “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!” He does not say: “Son, you are healed!” The forgiveness of sins brings the healing―not only to the sinful soul, but as a “side-effect” also to the sick body.
Another passage also links sickness with sin: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15). Sin always has spiritual consequences, but we sometimes forget, ignore or even fail to see the mental and physical consequences.
Sin Cause All Sickness and Curses the Earth
All sickness is ultimately a result of sin. That is to say, all sickness is a result of the effects of sin. The reason for the existence of pain, sorrow, ailments, sickness and even death―is because of the effect of sin on the universe. When sin entered the world―as we read in Genesis chapter 3―the world became cursed and corrupted: “To Adam God said: ‘Because thou hast listened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree―whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat―cursed is the earth in thy work! With labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken! For dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’” (Genesis 3:17-19).
One day the world will be made “new” and there will no longer be any sickness at all: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes! And death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more―for the former things are passed away … And there shall be no curse anymore!” (Apocalypse 21:4; 22:3), but as long as we live in a world cursed and corrupted by sin, there will be sickness and death in proportion to the extent and degree of the world’s sinfulness. Most of the sickness we experience is merely a result of sin’s curse―either our own personal sins, or the sins of others―because our bodies are fallen and scarred by Original Sin. We do well to remember in this context the words of God: “I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous―visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me!” (Exodus 20:5) … “Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation!” (Exodus 34:7).
Whose Fault is It?
Holy Scripture teaches that sometimes sickness can be a result of sin in our lives―either individually or collectively, meaning that a person can become sick as a result of their own personal sin, or they can become sick because of the sins of others. For example, the single sin of Adam brought about punishment for the whole human race. In fact, Our Lord revealed to one of His mystics that whenever anyone commits a sin, then it has a negative effect upon the whole human race which only God has the power to bring about to the deserved degree―and, conversely, when anyone performs a good action, then God allows a positive effect to come upon the whole human race!
Sickness can be the result of committed sin in three ways: (1) Sickness can be the natural following consequence of having committed sin, (2) sickness can be the way God directly intervenes and disciplines when sin is committed, or (3) sickness can be what God uses as a means of judgment. Let us briefly look at these individually.
► Sickness can be the consequence of having committed sin. Some people get sick as a consequence of their actions. It does not mean that God is necessarily and directly punishing or disciplining them, the sickness is merely reality taking place according to the laws of nature. God punishes you indirectly through nature―or rather, you are punishing yourself by using nature unnaturally. For example, someone who gets blackout drunk cannot expect to be feel healthy and well the next morning! Or if you constantly eat junk food, then you are not going to be healthy. If you do not take care of your body, you will succumb to sickness more often. All of this follows the laws of nature without God having to intervene. You go against God’s nature and it automatically “bites you” with a sickness of some kind. Sometimes sickness is merely eating the fruit of your deeds. Fruit is a result of what is sown, and what kind of fruit you eat depends on what deeds you have sown. When you commit certain sins which will inevitably affect your health, you are the reason why sickness was brought upon you.
► Sickness can be the discipline of God. Sickness is one of the most severe forms of God’s discipline of His children. Sometimes it is the only thing that will get our attention, because we have ignored the gentle warnings of God. We see this in St. Paul’s criticism of the Corinthians and the manner in which approached “the Lord’s Supper” ― the Holy Eucharist. The Corinthians were misunderstanding and abusing the Lord’s Supper, and treating and receiving the Holy Eucharist in an unworthy manner:
“When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord’s Supper. And one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not! … The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: ‘Take ye and eat! This is My Body!’ … In like manner also the chalice, saying: ‘This chalice is the new testament in My Blood!’ For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord! But let a man prove himself―for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord. Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and some have died!” (1 Corinthians 11:20-30).
Because they wouldn’t stop doing so, St. Paul says, “Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and some have died!” (v. 30). God disciplined those sinful believers through weakness, illness, and even death. Sickness is usually one of the most severe forms of God’s discipline. If He has already tried to get your attention through other means and you still haven’t responded, repented and amended, then He may resort to a more severe method of discipline ― sickness.
► Sickness can be the means of the judgment of God. Finally, sometimes sickness can be the way God executes judgment upon an individual, or individuals, or communities, or even nations and the whole world. Perhaps a distinction needs to made with regard to the words “judgment” and “discipline”. Judgment refers to God’s angry punishment of sinners, discipline refers to God’s fatherly discipline of His children. The idea of a “judgment” portrays some kind of finality―like the passing of an irrevocable sentence. Whereas “discipline” seems to suggest that “point of no return” has not yet been reached and that there is still a hope and a chance of amendment. In “disciplining” God tries put the brakes on by some pain or other with regard to a person’s sinful way of living, without punishing to degree that is deserved, in the hope that they will stop sinning and change for the better―whereas “judging” seems to suggest that God “has had enough” of those sins and, seeing that earlier disciplining have been ignored, will now punish with “no holds barred.” And sometimes God will use sickness as manifestation of His judgment on the sinner or unbelievers. There are several examples of this in the Bible. One example is in Exodus, where God caused a plague of festering boils to come upon the Egyptians in an effort to free His people from slavery: “There shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts in the whole land of Egypt” (Exodus 9:9). Another example is in the Book of Daniel, where God struck King Nabuchodonosor with mental illness, changing his mind into the mind of an animal, whereby he would eat only the grass of the field for seven years (Daniel 4:29-30). The king completely lost his mind and began acting like an animal, until God brought him back to his senses (Daniel 4:31-33). When God deems it necessary, He will use sickness and other physical ailments as means of judgment.
Sins of Abortion and Disease
A study published in July of 2016 confirms that abortion is consistently associated with increased risk of mental health disorders and substance abuse in late adolescence and early adulthood. Dr. D. Paul Sullins of the Catholic University of America released the results of an analysis conducted on data collected from 8,005 women in the United States who were followed over the course of thirteen years. Abortion activists have repeatedly denounced attempts to link abortion with any adverse events. In medical schools across the country, students are taught that there are no long-term consequences of abortion, and that abortion is a safe procedure. However, these statements are misleading at best. The Sullins study followed 8,005 women and tracked them across three average age time points: age 15, age 22, and age 28. All 8,005 of these women were examined at all three time points. The conclusions of the Sullins study are that even after adjusting for over twenty demographic variables and covariates, there is still a clear, significantly increased relative risk of mental health disorders for women who have abortions. It’s not the first study to conclude that there’s a significant link between abortion and mental health disorders. Two examples of similar studies were Fergusson and colleagues’ New Zealand study and Pedersen’s Norway study, both of which followed cohorts of women from adolescence into their late 20s. Both of those studies also concluded that there was a clear connection between abortion and “affective and addictive disorders, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and abuse of marijuana, alcohol, or other illicit drugs.” Thus one sin leads to another, and so one illness or dysfunction also leads to another. How easy it is to get caught in the downward spiral or whirlpool of sin with its consequences!
Sins of Addiction and Disease
Modern man and modern medicine has now decided to call addiction a disease―which then leads to the next step of not blaming the addict for drug abuse or alcohol abuse because it is not their fault, but the fault of the ‘disease’. That is a very dangerous path to tread―a path that has led and will lead many souls to Hell. It is tantamount to saying that we are programmed for addiction and there is nothing we can do about―so enjoy your booze and drugs! One medical website writes:
“Many people don't understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. The stigma and shame of addiction has much to do with the perception that people with substance use disorders are weak, immoral, or simply out for a good time at society’s expense. Understanding that addiction impairs the brain in many important ways may reduce such stigma. What’s more, the specific type of brain dysfunction may help identify a range of effective interventions and preventions. For example, during adolescence, the brain is at its most plastic — and vulnerable. This is a time when caution and intervention may prove most valuable. The earlier the drug exposure or trauma to the brain, the greater the damage.”
Drug and alcohol addiction is most certainly linked to our soul with its powers of intellect and will (“mind and heart” in common parlance). God has given us an intellect to know things and a will to love or hate, command and control things. St. Thomas Aquinas says that choice is a function of the will in light of a judgment by the intellect. If the intellect or knowledge is flawed, insufficient or non-existent, the will has to make a “blind choice” ― for the will is blind in itself and needs the guidance of the intellect with its knowledge. Both the intellect and the will have to be regularly exercised so that they can remain in the control of a person’s inferior passions―much like parents need to be in control of their children. When the intellect and will are weak―the passions, desires and emotions of a person run wild; just like the children in a family run wild if the parents are weak in their knowledge and control in raising children. The fact that we have dumbed-down society that wallows in ease and comfort―indicates weak minds or intellects and weak wills, that find it hard to do things, persevere in doing things, and find it hard to say “NO!” We see this weakness overspill into marriages where couples cannot persevere and end up divorcing. We see it the work force, where people find it hard to hold down a job and leave for the most trivial hardships. We find it in sports, where fewer and fewer children have the drive and perseverance to succeed and who crumble emotionally at the slightest criticism, setback or failure. The list goes on and on in all the different areas of life which are weakened, hamstrung, or even paralyzed due to a gross negligence in forming and strengthening both the intellect (mind) and the will (will-power). Consequentially, when faced with sinful objects, behaviors, attractions, desires, inclinations, etc., the person crumbles and collapses in their resistance.
Our Catholic Faith―if lived correctly―advocates the strengthening of the mind and will of a child from the very earliest days. Sacrifice, mortification and penance must be as much a part of family life as anything else―even more so! Is it surprising that children grow up with weak minds and weak wills when parents pander to them and give them all they want from the earliest days of babyhood, whilst refraining from correcting and punishing children appropriately (which is the aspect of penance). When children are raised to have flabby minds and flabby wills, with no mental muscle and strength, then it is inevitable that they will fall into sins and addictions of all kinds―not just drug and alcohol abuse, but with food abuse (about one-third of all American children—25 million—are overweight); technology abuse (over half of US teens say they are addicted to the internet, saying they cannot function on a daily basis without it). Teens spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes on their phones each day, and tweens ― ages 8 to 12 ― are not far behind, at 4 hours and 44 minutes daily, according to a new report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that promotes safe technology and media for children. That is addiction! That comes from a weak mind and a weak will―that have been pampered, spoilt, indulged, gratified without any mortification or sacrifice on the horizon. You reap what you sow! With all those hours happily spent on the smartphone, Our Lord would lament: “What! Could you not watch one hour with Me? Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:40-41). Yes, today’s intellects and wills are truly weak!
The Doctor from Heaven
Nevertheless, there is hope for all children―as you will see in the following description by Sr. Lucia of the “original” Jacinta and what she was like before Our Lady got a hold of her: “I sometimes found Jacinta’s company quite disagreeable, on account of her oversensitive temperament. The slightest quarrel which arose among the children when at play was enough to send her pouting into a corner. Even the coaxing and caressing, that children know so well how to give on such occasions, were still not enough to bring her back to play; she herself had to be allowed to choose the game, and her partner as well. She was possessive! Jacinta chose which games we were to play. We were very fond of dancing, and any instrument we heard being played by the other shepherds was enough to set us off. Jacinta, tiny as she was, had a special aptitude for dancing. That is, more or less, how Jacinta spent the first seven years of her life, right up to that 13th day of May 1917. We had been told to say the Rosary after our lunch, but as the whole day seemed too short for our play, we worked out a fine way of getting through it quickly. We simply passed the beads through our fingers, saying nothing but ‘Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary...’ At the end of each mystery, we paused awhile, then simply said [only the two words] ‘Our Father” and so, in the twinkling of an eye, as they say, we had our Rosary finished!”
That description was of the “old” 7-year-old Jacinta, the “original” Jacinta, the “raw” Jacinta―a sanguine no doubt, also selfish, headstrong and stubborn, ultra-sensitive and touchy, addicted to games and her own will. Now read Sr. Lucia’s description of the “changed” Jacinta, the “improved” Jacinta, the “grace transformed” Jacinta as a result of Our Lady’s words at Fatima. Sr. Lucia writes:
“I remember this new period of Jacinta’s life … Jacinta imbibed such great love for Jesus, for suffering and for sinners, for whose salvation she sacrificed herself so generously … One day, when we reached the sheep pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play!”
“I don’t want to play today!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking! That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian!
Jacinta took this matter of making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners so much to heart, that she never let a single opportunity escape her. There were two families in a small village about half-a-mile from the place of the Apparitions) whose children used to go round begging from door to door. We met them one day, as we were going along with our sheep. As soon as she saw them, Jacinta said to us: “Let’s give our lunch to those poor children, for the conversion of sinners.” And she ran to take it to them. That afternoon, she told me she was hungry. There were holm-oaks and oak trees nearby. The acorns were still quite green. However, I told her we could eat them. Francisco climbed up a holm-oak to fill his pockets, but Jacinta remembered that we could eat the ones on the oak trees instead, and thus make a sacrifice by eating the bitter kind. So it was there, that afternoon, that we enjoyed this delicious repast! Jacinta made this one of her usual sacrifices, and often picked the acorns off the oaks or the olives off the trees.
One day I said to her: “Jacinta, don’t eat that; it’s too bitter!”
“But it’s because it’s bitter that I’m eating it, for the conversion of sinners.”
These were not the only times we fasted. We had agreed that whenever we met any poor children like these, we would give them our lunch. They were only too happy to receive such an alms, and they took good care to meet us; they used to wait for us along the road. We no sooner saw them than Jacinta ran to give them all the food we had for that day, as happy as if she had no need of it herself. On days like that, our only nourishment consisted of pine nuts, and little berries about the size of an olive which grow on the roots of yellow bell-flowers, as well as blackberries, mushrooms, and some other things we found on the roots of pine trees ― I can’t remember now what these were called. If there was fruit availabie on the land belonging to our parents, we used to eat that.
Jacinta’s thirst for making sacrifices seemed insatiable. One day a neighbor offered my mother a good pasture for our sheep. Though it was quite far away and we were at the height of summer, my mother accepted the offer made so generously, and sent me there. She told me that we should take our siesta in the shade of the trees, as there was a pond nearby where the flock could go and drink. On the way, we met our dear poor children, and Jacinta ran to give them our usual alms. It was a lovely day, but the sun was blazing, and in that arid, stony wasteland, it seemed as though it would burn everything up. We were parched with thirst, and there wasn’t a single drop of water for us to drink!
At first, we offered the sacrifice generously for the conversion of sinners, but after midday, we could hold out no longer. As there was a house quite near, I suggested to my companions that I should go and ask for a little water. They agreed to this, so I went and knocked on the door. A little old woman gave me not only a pitcher of water, but also some bread, which I accepted gratefully. I ran to share it with my little companions, and then offered the pitcher to Francisco, and told him to take a drink.
“I don’t want to.” he replied.
“Why?”
“I want to suffer for the conversion of sinners.”
“You have a drink, Jacinta!”
“But I want to offer this sacrifice for sinners too.”
Then I poured the water into a hollow in the rock, so that the sheep could drink it, and went to return the pitcher to its owner. The heat was getting more and more intense. The shrill singing of the crickets and grasshoppers coupled with the croaking of the frogs in the neighboring pond made an uproar that was almost unbearable. Jacinta, frail as she was, and weakened still more by the lack of food and drink, said to me with that simplicity which was natural to her:
“Tell the crickets and the frogs to keep quiet! I have such a terrible headache.”
Then Francisco asked her: “Don’t you want to suffer this for sinners?”
The poor child, clasping her head between her two little hands, replied: “Yes, I do. Let them sing!” (Testimony of Sr. Lucia of Fatima about her cousin, St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima). READ MORE HERE
The term “cure” means that, after medical treatment, the patient no longer has that particular condition anymore ― in other words, original health is restored. Some diseases can be cured. Others have no cure (known to man). The person will always have the condition, but medical treatments can help to manage the disease. Medical professionals use natural remedies, man-made medicines, dietary recommendations, exercise, therapy, surgery, and other treatments to help lessen the symptoms and effects of a disease. Sometimes these treatments lead to cures — in other words, they get rid of the disease. When a disease cannot be cured, doctors will often use treatments to help control it, or slow it down.
Yet―in a certain sense―a “cure” is not lasting or permanent if the person who is cured continues to do the same things that made that person sick in the first place! Cures require a cooperation between the sick person seeking the cure and person who is trying to cure the sick person―namely the patient and the doctor. Cures are not “one-sided” procedures, but interactive and cooperative procedures. For example, a person seeking a cure is evaluated, diagnosed and told to take this or that medicine (natural or man-made) for “x” number of days at a rate of “x” times a day. This requires an obedient cooperation on the part of the patient. The treatment that offers a cure will only work if the patient works at fulfilling the prescribed commands and instructions. Some patients obey and cooperate fully―and these will produce better results than those who only obey and cooperate partially. As you sow, so shall you reap!
In the Hospital of Our Lady
Since we are in season of Our Lady of Lourdes―whose feastday is February 11th―whose apparitions at Lourdes were the start of many miraculous cures due to the waters of a miraculous spring that Our Lady caused to appear, we can follow an analogy of looking upon ourselves in this world as being in the hospital of Our Lady. Every person born into this world is born sick. They are born with the wound of Original Sin―which is, technically speaking, an absence of sanctifying grace which sanctifies and perfects our human nature. We are born without something―like a baby might be born with a heart defect which may include holes in the wall of the heart, a heart that beats too quickly or too slowly, valve defects that prevent blood from flowing smoothly, or misplaced blood vessels that prevent the heart and circulatory system from functioning efficiently. Most heart defects can be corrected, or at least helped. In the USA, birth defects affect one in every 33 babies (about 3% of all babies)―but the Original Sin defect affects all babies, 100%.
In Our Lady’s hospital, there is no spiritual birth defect that cannot be cured―but it requires the cooperation, the total cooperation, of the sick patient with the heavenly doctor. Even the best doctor in the world cannot save the patient who ignores his instructions. Lucia of Fatima made some requests for sick people, to which Our Lady replied that she would cure some but not others, and that all must say the Rosary to obtain the graces of a cure―which could be said to be a prescription saying: “Take 50 to 150 beads every day until you are cured!” We recall Our Lady’s words at Fatima with regard to a certain person who had asked Lucia to beg Our Lady for a cure from a certain illness. Our Lady replied: “If he is converted, he will be cured during the year” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). In other words, the sick man had to first of all stop sinning and change his life―only then would Our Lady be able to cure him. Again, this is like saying: “If you want to be cured, then stop ‘eating’, ‘drinking’, ‘watching’, ‘thinking’ and ‘talking’ SIN!”
Our Lady, our Heaven-sent doctor, has been giving us advice for centuries on how to cure our spiritual ills (which are obviously more serious than any physical ailments we may have), yet her sinfully sick patients have paid little or even no attention to her prescriptions and advice. As the heavenly doctor, Our Lady herself, lamented at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima, as recently as 1957, bewailed a lack of cooperation on the part of Our Lady’s patients: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.”
Doctor-in-Chief
Our Lord is the “Doctor-in-Chief” who cured every patient who believed that He could cure them and who really wanted a cure. The key words here are “believed” and “wanted” ― two actions that correspond to the two powers of our souls, which are the intellect and the will―sometimes called “mind” and “heart”. “And as Jesus passed from thence, there followed Him two blind men, crying out and saying: ‘Have mercy on us, O Son of David!’ And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them: ‘Do you believe that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him: ‘Yes, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:27-30).
Similarly, “And when He was come to the multitude, there came to Him a man falling down on his knees before Him, saying: ‘Lord! Have pity on my son―for he is a lunatic and suffereth much! For he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water! And I brought him to Thy disciples and they could not cure him!’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me!’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus, secretly, and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief! For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there, and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you! But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:14-20). The prescription that Our Lord prescribes is belief, prayer and fasting.
These were not a “one-off” occasions, as you well know, for the Gospels are filled with His many cures―some described in detail, others merely mentioned in passing: “And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they presented to Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had palsy, and He cured them” (Matthew 4:24). Yet in some places Jesus did not cure all the sick persons: “Jesus said to them: ‘A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred!’ And He could not do any miracles there, only that he cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them. And he wondered because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:4-6). It was their lack of Faith, their “unbelief” and their lack of honor towards Him that restricted the number of miracles and cures that He could and would have performed.
When Scripture says: “He could not do any miracles there” ― it does mean due to any lack of power in Our Lord, but because there was no cooperation or believe in the persons, justly resulting in the fact that Our Lord would not work miracles in favor of obstinate and unbelieving people, who thereby made themselves unworthy of such favors.
Remove Yourself From All Toxicity
God does not reward sin. In fact, God punished sin―Holy Scripture is full that proof. If we want spiritual health or miraculous help to regain lost physical health―then we must remove ourselves from the toxicity of sin. Oftentimes, physical and mental sickness is the direct result of sin―as we see Our Lord point out: “Now there is, at Jerusalem, a pond called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these [porches] lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond, after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He said to him: ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming down to the pond, another goes down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise! Take up thy bed and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Sin and Death
There was no death until there was sin. Adam and Eve were made by God with possibility (not a guarantee) of not dying―provided that they obeyed God. What is sin, but a disobedience to God and God’s laws and commands? God warned Adam and Eve about the fatal, mortal consequences of sin: “And He commanded him, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam and Eve disobeyed God―thus, they sinned. We call it the Original Sin, for before that, man had not sinned (even though the bad angels had already sinned). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Initially, after God created the world and all in it, man used to live for hundreds of years because sin was rare. However, with time, sin, like a disease, grew and grew to the point where God would no longer tolerate it―and so he decided to shorten man’s life-span as a consequence. Originally, the age to which men lived was almost 1,000 years, as we see in the following list of some who are mentioned in the Bible:
1. Mathusala (Methuselah) – 969 years old. See Genesis 5:21-27.
2. Jared – 962 years old. See Genesis 5:18-21
3. Noe (Noah) – 950 years old. See Genesis chapters 5 to 10.
4. Adam – 930 years old. See Genesis 1; Genesis 2:4 to 3:24; Genesis 4; and Genesis 5
5. Seth – 912 years old. See Genesis 4; Genesis 5; 1 Paralipomenon (Chronicles) 1:1-3.
6. Cainan (Kenan) – 910 years old. See Genesis 5:9-14.
7. Enos – 905 years old. See Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:6-11.
8. Malaleel (Mahalalel) – 895 years old. See Genesis 5:12-17.
9. Lamech – 777 years old. See Genesis Chapter 5.
However, God withdrew His Providence―that guaranteed such a long life―and shortened man’s life-span because of sin. “And God said: ‘My spirit shall not remain in man forever―because he is flesh―and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years!’” (Genesis 6:3). Even though there is no explicit mention of sin as being the cause for the shortening of the lifespan of man, this is shown to be the case by the verses that follow: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-6). Hence came the Great Flood in the time of Noe.
Catastrophes are a kind of ‘sickness’ in nature or changes for the worse in nature that God uses to punish us―the most extreme being the Great Flood as a punishment for the world’s sins. From that ‘maximum degree’ of ‘sickness’ of nature―the Great Flood―there are endless lower degrees of ‘sickness’ of nature, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, local floods, severe weather, drought, heat-waves, freezing conditions, etc. Likewise things like pestilences, diseased crop failures, insect plagues, etc.
“We ought to conform to God’s will in all public calamities such as war, famine and pestilence, and reverence and adore His judgments with deep humility in the firm belief that, however severe they may seem, the God of infinite goodness would not send such disasters unless some great good were to result from them. Consider how many souls may be saved through tribulation which would otherwise be lost, how many persons through affliction are converted to God and die with sincere repentance for their sins. What may appear a scourge and punishment is often a sign of great grace and mercy” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 3, §2).
Sin and Disease
Generally speaking, all sickness is a result of Adam’s disobedience to God by committing the Original Sin. “By one man sin entered into this world, and, by sin, death―and so death passed upon all men” (Romans 5:12). Sickness is part of the dying process―death is culmination or destination of sickness. We can lengthen or shorten our lives by how we live them. If we live against the “laws of nature” (which are ultimately the laws of God), then we will shorten our life considerably, by bring on disease, which eventually terminates in death. If you try to do things which go against nature or go against right reason―then your disregard for the laws of nature will result in some kind of punishment. Interestingly, St. Thomas Aquinas says that any action that goes against right reason is a sin. We sin more than we realize!
Jesus links sin to sickness when he says: “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). In other words, “I have not come to call the just who are healthy, but I have come to call sinners who are sick!” We see something of this in the incident of Jesus curing the paralytic, wherein he directly associates sin with disease: “Jesus entered into Capharnaum after some days. And it was heard that He was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room―no, not even at the door―and He spoke to them the word. And they came to Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. And when they could not offer him unto Jesus because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where He was, and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus had seen their faith, He said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And there were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: ‘Why doth this Man speak thus? He blasphemeth! Who can forgive sins, but God only?’ Jesus, knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, said to them: ‘Why do you think these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: “Thy sins are forgiven thee” or to say “Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins’ ―He says to the sick of the palsy― ‘I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And immediately he arose and, taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all―so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:1-10). Notice how Jesus associates the man’s palsy with sin, because He says to the man: “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!” He does not say: “Son, you are healed!” The forgiveness of sins brings the healing―not only to the sinful soul, but as a “side-effect” also to the sick body.
Another passage also links sickness with sin: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15). Sin always has spiritual consequences, but we sometimes forget, ignore or even fail to see the mental and physical consequences.
Sin Cause All Sickness and Curses the Earth
All sickness is ultimately a result of sin. That is to say, all sickness is a result of the effects of sin. The reason for the existence of pain, sorrow, ailments, sickness and even death―is because of the effect of sin on the universe. When sin entered the world―as we read in Genesis chapter 3―the world became cursed and corrupted: “To Adam God said: ‘Because thou hast listened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree―whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat―cursed is the earth in thy work! With labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth! In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken! For dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return!’” (Genesis 3:17-19).
One day the world will be made “new” and there will no longer be any sickness at all: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes! And death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more―for the former things are passed away … And there shall be no curse anymore!” (Apocalypse 21:4; 22:3), but as long as we live in a world cursed and corrupted by sin, there will be sickness and death in proportion to the extent and degree of the world’s sinfulness. Most of the sickness we experience is merely a result of sin’s curse―either our own personal sins, or the sins of others―because our bodies are fallen and scarred by Original Sin. We do well to remember in this context the words of God: “I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous―visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me!” (Exodus 20:5) … “Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation!” (Exodus 34:7).
Whose Fault is It?
Holy Scripture teaches that sometimes sickness can be a result of sin in our lives―either individually or collectively, meaning that a person can become sick as a result of their own personal sin, or they can become sick because of the sins of others. For example, the single sin of Adam brought about punishment for the whole human race. In fact, Our Lord revealed to one of His mystics that whenever anyone commits a sin, then it has a negative effect upon the whole human race which only God has the power to bring about to the deserved degree―and, conversely, when anyone performs a good action, then God allows a positive effect to come upon the whole human race!
Sickness can be the result of committed sin in three ways: (1) Sickness can be the natural following consequence of having committed sin, (2) sickness can be the way God directly intervenes and disciplines when sin is committed, or (3) sickness can be what God uses as a means of judgment. Let us briefly look at these individually.
► Sickness can be the consequence of having committed sin. Some people get sick as a consequence of their actions. It does not mean that God is necessarily and directly punishing or disciplining them, the sickness is merely reality taking place according to the laws of nature. God punishes you indirectly through nature―or rather, you are punishing yourself by using nature unnaturally. For example, someone who gets blackout drunk cannot expect to be feel healthy and well the next morning! Or if you constantly eat junk food, then you are not going to be healthy. If you do not take care of your body, you will succumb to sickness more often. All of this follows the laws of nature without God having to intervene. You go against God’s nature and it automatically “bites you” with a sickness of some kind. Sometimes sickness is merely eating the fruit of your deeds. Fruit is a result of what is sown, and what kind of fruit you eat depends on what deeds you have sown. When you commit certain sins which will inevitably affect your health, you are the reason why sickness was brought upon you.
► Sickness can be the discipline of God. Sickness is one of the most severe forms of God’s discipline of His children. Sometimes it is the only thing that will get our attention, because we have ignored the gentle warnings of God. We see this in St. Paul’s criticism of the Corinthians and the manner in which approached “the Lord’s Supper” ― the Holy Eucharist. The Corinthians were misunderstanding and abusing the Lord’s Supper, and treating and receiving the Holy Eucharist in an unworthy manner:
“When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord’s Supper. And one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not! … The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: ‘Take ye and eat! This is My Body!’ … In like manner also the chalice, saying: ‘This chalice is the new testament in My Blood!’ For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord! But let a man prove himself―for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord. Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and some have died!” (1 Corinthians 11:20-30).
Because they wouldn’t stop doing so, St. Paul says, “Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and some have died!” (v. 30). God disciplined those sinful believers through weakness, illness, and even death. Sickness is usually one of the most severe forms of God’s discipline. If He has already tried to get your attention through other means and you still haven’t responded, repented and amended, then He may resort to a more severe method of discipline ― sickness.
► Sickness can be the means of the judgment of God. Finally, sometimes sickness can be the way God executes judgment upon an individual, or individuals, or communities, or even nations and the whole world. Perhaps a distinction needs to made with regard to the words “judgment” and “discipline”. Judgment refers to God’s angry punishment of sinners, discipline refers to God’s fatherly discipline of His children. The idea of a “judgment” portrays some kind of finality―like the passing of an irrevocable sentence. Whereas “discipline” seems to suggest that “point of no return” has not yet been reached and that there is still a hope and a chance of amendment. In “disciplining” God tries put the brakes on by some pain or other with regard to a person’s sinful way of living, without punishing to degree that is deserved, in the hope that they will stop sinning and change for the better―whereas “judging” seems to suggest that God “has had enough” of those sins and, seeing that earlier disciplining have been ignored, will now punish with “no holds barred.” And sometimes God will use sickness as manifestation of His judgment on the sinner or unbelievers. There are several examples of this in the Bible. One example is in Exodus, where God caused a plague of festering boils to come upon the Egyptians in an effort to free His people from slavery: “There shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts in the whole land of Egypt” (Exodus 9:9). Another example is in the Book of Daniel, where God struck King Nabuchodonosor with mental illness, changing his mind into the mind of an animal, whereby he would eat only the grass of the field for seven years (Daniel 4:29-30). The king completely lost his mind and began acting like an animal, until God brought him back to his senses (Daniel 4:31-33). When God deems it necessary, He will use sickness and other physical ailments as means of judgment.
Sins of Abortion and Disease
A study published in July of 2016 confirms that abortion is consistently associated with increased risk of mental health disorders and substance abuse in late adolescence and early adulthood. Dr. D. Paul Sullins of the Catholic University of America released the results of an analysis conducted on data collected from 8,005 women in the United States who were followed over the course of thirteen years. Abortion activists have repeatedly denounced attempts to link abortion with any adverse events. In medical schools across the country, students are taught that there are no long-term consequences of abortion, and that abortion is a safe procedure. However, these statements are misleading at best. The Sullins study followed 8,005 women and tracked them across three average age time points: age 15, age 22, and age 28. All 8,005 of these women were examined at all three time points. The conclusions of the Sullins study are that even after adjusting for over twenty demographic variables and covariates, there is still a clear, significantly increased relative risk of mental health disorders for women who have abortions. It’s not the first study to conclude that there’s a significant link between abortion and mental health disorders. Two examples of similar studies were Fergusson and colleagues’ New Zealand study and Pedersen’s Norway study, both of which followed cohorts of women from adolescence into their late 20s. Both of those studies also concluded that there was a clear connection between abortion and “affective and addictive disorders, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and abuse of marijuana, alcohol, or other illicit drugs.” Thus one sin leads to another, and so one illness or dysfunction also leads to another. How easy it is to get caught in the downward spiral or whirlpool of sin with its consequences!
Sins of Addiction and Disease
Modern man and modern medicine has now decided to call addiction a disease―which then leads to the next step of not blaming the addict for drug abuse or alcohol abuse because it is not their fault, but the fault of the ‘disease’. That is a very dangerous path to tread―a path that has led and will lead many souls to Hell. It is tantamount to saying that we are programmed for addiction and there is nothing we can do about―so enjoy your booze and drugs! One medical website writes:
“Many people don't understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. The stigma and shame of addiction has much to do with the perception that people with substance use disorders are weak, immoral, or simply out for a good time at society’s expense. Understanding that addiction impairs the brain in many important ways may reduce such stigma. What’s more, the specific type of brain dysfunction may help identify a range of effective interventions and preventions. For example, during adolescence, the brain is at its most plastic — and vulnerable. This is a time when caution and intervention may prove most valuable. The earlier the drug exposure or trauma to the brain, the greater the damage.”
Drug and alcohol addiction is most certainly linked to our soul with its powers of intellect and will (“mind and heart” in common parlance). God has given us an intellect to know things and a will to love or hate, command and control things. St. Thomas Aquinas says that choice is a function of the will in light of a judgment by the intellect. If the intellect or knowledge is flawed, insufficient or non-existent, the will has to make a “blind choice” ― for the will is blind in itself and needs the guidance of the intellect with its knowledge. Both the intellect and the will have to be regularly exercised so that they can remain in the control of a person’s inferior passions―much like parents need to be in control of their children. When the intellect and will are weak―the passions, desires and emotions of a person run wild; just like the children in a family run wild if the parents are weak in their knowledge and control in raising children. The fact that we have dumbed-down society that wallows in ease and comfort―indicates weak minds or intellects and weak wills, that find it hard to do things, persevere in doing things, and find it hard to say “NO!” We see this weakness overspill into marriages where couples cannot persevere and end up divorcing. We see it the work force, where people find it hard to hold down a job and leave for the most trivial hardships. We find it in sports, where fewer and fewer children have the drive and perseverance to succeed and who crumble emotionally at the slightest criticism, setback or failure. The list goes on and on in all the different areas of life which are weakened, hamstrung, or even paralyzed due to a gross negligence in forming and strengthening both the intellect (mind) and the will (will-power). Consequentially, when faced with sinful objects, behaviors, attractions, desires, inclinations, etc., the person crumbles and collapses in their resistance.
Our Catholic Faith―if lived correctly―advocates the strengthening of the mind and will of a child from the very earliest days. Sacrifice, mortification and penance must be as much a part of family life as anything else―even more so! Is it surprising that children grow up with weak minds and weak wills when parents pander to them and give them all they want from the earliest days of babyhood, whilst refraining from correcting and punishing children appropriately (which is the aspect of penance). When children are raised to have flabby minds and flabby wills, with no mental muscle and strength, then it is inevitable that they will fall into sins and addictions of all kinds―not just drug and alcohol abuse, but with food abuse (about one-third of all American children—25 million—are overweight); technology abuse (over half of US teens say they are addicted to the internet, saying they cannot function on a daily basis without it). Teens spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes on their phones each day, and tweens ― ages 8 to 12 ― are not far behind, at 4 hours and 44 minutes daily, according to a new report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that promotes safe technology and media for children. That is addiction! That comes from a weak mind and a weak will―that have been pampered, spoilt, indulged, gratified without any mortification or sacrifice on the horizon. You reap what you sow! With all those hours happily spent on the smartphone, Our Lord would lament: “What! Could you not watch one hour with Me? Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:40-41). Yes, today’s intellects and wills are truly weak!
The Doctor from Heaven
Nevertheless, there is hope for all children―as you will see in the following description by Sr. Lucia of the “original” Jacinta and what she was like before Our Lady got a hold of her: “I sometimes found Jacinta’s company quite disagreeable, on account of her oversensitive temperament. The slightest quarrel which arose among the children when at play was enough to send her pouting into a corner. Even the coaxing and caressing, that children know so well how to give on such occasions, were still not enough to bring her back to play; she herself had to be allowed to choose the game, and her partner as well. She was possessive! Jacinta chose which games we were to play. We were very fond of dancing, and any instrument we heard being played by the other shepherds was enough to set us off. Jacinta, tiny as she was, had a special aptitude for dancing. That is, more or less, how Jacinta spent the first seven years of her life, right up to that 13th day of May 1917. We had been told to say the Rosary after our lunch, but as the whole day seemed too short for our play, we worked out a fine way of getting through it quickly. We simply passed the beads through our fingers, saying nothing but ‘Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary...’ At the end of each mystery, we paused awhile, then simply said [only the two words] ‘Our Father” and so, in the twinkling of an eye, as they say, we had our Rosary finished!”
That description was of the “old” 7-year-old Jacinta, the “original” Jacinta, the “raw” Jacinta―a sanguine no doubt, also selfish, headstrong and stubborn, ultra-sensitive and touchy, addicted to games and her own will. Now read Sr. Lucia’s description of the “changed” Jacinta, the “improved” Jacinta, the “grace transformed” Jacinta as a result of Our Lady’s words at Fatima. Sr. Lucia writes:
“I remember this new period of Jacinta’s life … Jacinta imbibed such great love for Jesus, for suffering and for sinners, for whose salvation she sacrificed herself so generously … One day, when we reached the sheep pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play!”
“I don’t want to play today!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking! That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian!
Jacinta took this matter of making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners so much to heart, that she never let a single opportunity escape her. There were two families in a small village about half-a-mile from the place of the Apparitions) whose children used to go round begging from door to door. We met them one day, as we were going along with our sheep. As soon as she saw them, Jacinta said to us: “Let’s give our lunch to those poor children, for the conversion of sinners.” And she ran to take it to them. That afternoon, she told me she was hungry. There were holm-oaks and oak trees nearby. The acorns were still quite green. However, I told her we could eat them. Francisco climbed up a holm-oak to fill his pockets, but Jacinta remembered that we could eat the ones on the oak trees instead, and thus make a sacrifice by eating the bitter kind. So it was there, that afternoon, that we enjoyed this delicious repast! Jacinta made this one of her usual sacrifices, and often picked the acorns off the oaks or the olives off the trees.
One day I said to her: “Jacinta, don’t eat that; it’s too bitter!”
“But it’s because it’s bitter that I’m eating it, for the conversion of sinners.”
These were not the only times we fasted. We had agreed that whenever we met any poor children like these, we would give them our lunch. They were only too happy to receive such an alms, and they took good care to meet us; they used to wait for us along the road. We no sooner saw them than Jacinta ran to give them all the food we had for that day, as happy as if she had no need of it herself. On days like that, our only nourishment consisted of pine nuts, and little berries about the size of an olive which grow on the roots of yellow bell-flowers, as well as blackberries, mushrooms, and some other things we found on the roots of pine trees ― I can’t remember now what these were called. If there was fruit availabie on the land belonging to our parents, we used to eat that.
Jacinta’s thirst for making sacrifices seemed insatiable. One day a neighbor offered my mother a good pasture for our sheep. Though it was quite far away and we were at the height of summer, my mother accepted the offer made so generously, and sent me there. She told me that we should take our siesta in the shade of the trees, as there was a pond nearby where the flock could go and drink. On the way, we met our dear poor children, and Jacinta ran to give them our usual alms. It was a lovely day, but the sun was blazing, and in that arid, stony wasteland, it seemed as though it would burn everything up. We were parched with thirst, and there wasn’t a single drop of water for us to drink!
At first, we offered the sacrifice generously for the conversion of sinners, but after midday, we could hold out no longer. As there was a house quite near, I suggested to my companions that I should go and ask for a little water. They agreed to this, so I went and knocked on the door. A little old woman gave me not only a pitcher of water, but also some bread, which I accepted gratefully. I ran to share it with my little companions, and then offered the pitcher to Francisco, and told him to take a drink.
“I don’t want to.” he replied.
“Why?”
“I want to suffer for the conversion of sinners.”
“You have a drink, Jacinta!”
“But I want to offer this sacrifice for sinners too.”
Then I poured the water into a hollow in the rock, so that the sheep could drink it, and went to return the pitcher to its owner. The heat was getting more and more intense. The shrill singing of the crickets and grasshoppers coupled with the croaking of the frogs in the neighboring pond made an uproar that was almost unbearable. Jacinta, frail as she was, and weakened still more by the lack of food and drink, said to me with that simplicity which was natural to her:
“Tell the crickets and the frogs to keep quiet! I have such a terrible headache.”
Then Francisco asked her: “Don’t you want to suffer this for sinners?”
The poor child, clasping her head between her two little hands, replied: “Yes, I do. Let them sing!” (Testimony of Sr. Lucia of Fatima about her cousin, St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima). READ MORE HERE
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday February 9th & Wednesday February 10th
Article 5
Reseeding Your Family and Your Spiritual Life
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday February 9th & Wednesday February 10th
Article 5
Reseeding Your Family and Your Spiritual Life
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Christ Teaches Through Nature
Jesus appreciated the beauty of nature (Matthew 6:28-29) and showed respect for nature in His parables, which are rich in nature imagery. God’s Providence placed Christ His Son in rural Galilee, where He would daily live observing fruit trees, flowers, birds and fishermen. In his birth, he was laid upon the wood of the tree in the form of a crib; throughout His hidden life of 30 years He would work with the wood of the tree as a carpenter; in His public ministry He would sometimes preach from the wood of the tree in the form of a boat; and at the end of His life He would die on the wood of the tree in the form of a cross.
Our Lord Himself frequently uses plant life as an analogy for the spiritual life. His many parables often utilize nature to teach spiritual truths. Parables featuring seeds, weeds, wheat, yeast, fish and trees teach about the Kingdom of God (Mark 4; Matthew 13; Luke 13:6-9; 21:29-30). Varied results from sowing seed in different kinds of soils illustrate diverse responses to Jesus’ message (Mark 4:1-8, 13-20).
He speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven being like a grain of mustard seed and a treasure hidden in a field; He gives us the parable of the Sower and the Seed; He speaks of the Wheat and the Cockle; He compares us to good and bad trees, bearing good and bad fruit; He speaks of the workers in the vineyard; later He gives another parable about a vineyard where the owner’s servants and son are murdered. Speaking of the Kingdom of God, He says: “So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth, and should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not. For the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear. And when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-29).
In “real life” He curses the unfruitful fig tree and it immediately withers; He later uses a fig tree as a lesson: “from the fig tree learn a parable” (Matthew 24:32) about the end times; then again He chooses the fig tree as the focal point in the parable of the Unfruitful Fig Tree; He chooses a garden―the Garden of Gethsemane―as the launch-pad for His Passion; finally, His tomb would also be in a garden. “When Jesus had said these things, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples” (John 18:1). “Now there was, in the place where He was crucified, a garden; and, in the garden, a new sepulcher, wherein no man yet had been laid” (John 19:41). In a sense, Our Lord plants His dead Body in the garden tomb―like a ‘dead’ seed planted underground in the soil―which brings to mind His words: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Some days after His ‘planting’ in the garden tomb, Our Lord ‘sprouts’ up in His resurrection from the dead. Furthermore, when St. Mary Magdalen encounters Him in the garden after His resurrection, she thinks that He is the gardener: “Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him …” (John 20:15).
In the Old Testament book Canticle of Canticles, God uses the term “garden” as being a symbol of the soul―as these extracts from the dialogue between God and soul clearly show. God says: “My sister, My spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up!” (Canticles 4:12). “Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat the fruit of His apple trees!” [says the soul, and God replies] “I am come into My garden, O My sister, My spouse, My dearly beloved!” (Canticles 5:1). “My beloved is gone down into His garden” (Canticles 6:1). “I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded” (Canticles 6:10).
On a lighter note, you could well say that today’s world is truly a garden of “fruits and nuts”! “Fruit being slang for a gay or effeminate person, and “nut” for a crazy person! How many “fruits and nuts” do you know? On a side note, many biblical commentators are of the opinion that the Great Flood, in the days of Noe, was a punishment for widespread “fruity” fruits of that time―just as it was in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha. It looks like we have gone full circle and fruitiness is the fashion once again―which means a chastisement is imminent, for God’s attitudes and methods do not change: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) ... “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount also uses nature analogically: “Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe―how much more you, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 6:26-30).
In that same Sermon on the Mount, He adds: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Our Lord is the “good fruit” planted and raised in the “garden womb” of Mary. When Elizabeth was visited by Mary, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!’” (Luke 1:42). In the Old Testament, God refers to children as being the “fruit of the womb” and paints two possible scenarios for those children in life: “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:4). “Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:18). The conditions are as follows: “Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all His commandments … Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb” (Deuteronomy 28:1-4). “But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all His commandments … Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:15-18).
Elsewhere, Jesus says to His disciples: “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest!” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Our Lord further delves into the same field at the Last Supper, when He says: “I am the true Vine; and My Father is the husbandman [an ancient term for “farmer”]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away. And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
All of the above mentioned incidents, teachings and parables draw upon nature for their analogies. Nature, since it is created by God, contains many hidden lessons from which we can both understand something of God and learn about how God works, not to mention many signposts, indicators and instructions for our spiritual life.
God the Creator of Nature and Man
God made nature before He made man. Though man is different to nature―in the sense that he is a RATIONAL (thinking) creature and has an immortal soul―man also has some principles that are common with nature. Just like plant and animal natures, man comes from a seed. Likewise, the plant, animal and human natures all grow. Just like your hair on your head, the grass in your lawn becomes thinner with time. Likewise, in a certain broad sense, you can compare your family life to the life of your garden lawn and plants―spiritual writers even speak of “the garden of the soul”.
Another principle that man shares with plant and animal nature is that of decay and death: “Mortal man … shall wither away like grass” (Isaias 51:12). “As the flower of the grass shall he pass away!” (James 1:10). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away; in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither!” (Psalms 89:6). “All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field! The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass―the grass is withered and the flower is fallen―but the word of our Lord endureth for ever!” (Isaias 40:6-8). “They became like the grass of the field, and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity” (4 Kings 19:26). “They became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe” (Isaias 37:27). “They shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall” (Psalm 36:2). “Let them be as grass on the tops of houses―which withered before it be plucked up!” (Psalms 128:6).
The Garden of the Soul and Family
Our Lord also refers to Himself and His spiritual family as a vine: “I am the true vine … I am the vine and you are the branches” (John 15:1-5). God refers to His Chosen People as a vine: “Israel, a vine full of branches” (Osee 10:1). God refers to the family as plants in the garden: “Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table” (Psalm 127:3). “Thy mother is like a vine, planted by the water―her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters” (Ezechiel 19:10). “He shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season” (Psalm 1:3). “I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God” (Psalm 51:10) “I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honor and grace. As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor and my flowers are the fruit of honor and riches!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:22-23). “They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14).
Okay―enough of this flowery imagery and language! Let us now get down to the root of the matter and take a look at budding Christian families―to see if or not they are producing the fruit required by God today!
Each child that is born, enters life with much potential and promise. In fact, when God infused a living soul into the matter provided by the parents, He envisioned and programmed that soul for sanctity―yet each soul, because of free-will, has the power to short-circuit that programming and ruin God’s plan. The following words could well refer to our Baptism―both parents and their children―and the results of our Baptism in later life: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard?” (Jeremias 2:21). Likewise, we could also apply this parable of Our Lord to the family as whole, or any individual within that family:
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And, if happily it bear fruit, but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The Roots and Fruits of Your Family
Are you―and the members of your family―firmly attached branches to the Vine of Christ? Are you all enrooted in God? Is your vine a worldly vine or a godly vine? It cannot be both! “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). What are the fruits of your family? Our virtues are our fruits― virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do good. There are two main kinds of virtue―intellectual virtues and practical virtues―in other words “thinking” virtues and “doing” virtues. A virtue means an habitual way of thinking or doing things―it is not a “flash in the pan”, a “one-off” thing, but an habitual thing. If I only pray occasionally, I do not yet have the virtue of prayer, the habit of prayer―it is only a sporadic thing. Just as a side note, similarly, if I use foul language only occasionally―then I do not have the vice of foul language, because it is not an habitual thing with me. Virtue is habitual good―vice is habitual sin.
Coming back to the family fruits or virtues―are they godly, spiritual, religious fruits?―such as the keeping of the Ten Commandments and all the branches that come out of them. Or practicing the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost. Or using and strengthening the Moral Virtues. St. Gregory of Nyssa says that the goal of a virtuous life is to become like God, which is what Christ said: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
The most important virtues to cultivate are the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―for these three virtues encompass all our dealings with God.
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief.
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
The so-called human or moral virtues can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The cardinal virtues are four moral virtues that are the foundation for the others. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin “cardo”, which means “hinge.” All other human or moral virtues hinge on the four cardinal virtues:
Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.
Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due. This means we must praise and reward what is good in others, or criticize, correct and punish what is evil or sinful in others.
Fortitude ensures firmness in battling difficulties and evil, as well as a constancy in the pursuit of what is good.
Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.
Another point of reference for our individual or family virtues can be the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Benignity, Goodness, Longanimity (long-suffering), Mildness, Faith, Modesty, Continence, Chastity.
These twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost may be distinguished into three classes, not that they are separate, or that they do not interchange their relations; but in the main they may be regarded as follows:
(1) There are three that have their relation chiefly towards God, namely,
(a) Charity, by which we are united and conformed to Him. It is Charity towards God that kindles in us a zeal for His Name and His service.
(b) Joy, which, if it be not joy in God and godly things, is a false and deluding joy.
(c) Peace. There is no peace unless it begins in God, and rests in God.
Therefore St. Paul prays, “The God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). Joy is full of thankfulness, springing from a consciousness of God’s love and presence; and peace is the sense of His forgiveness, and of our own inward quiet of heart, free from the disturbance of desires, of dependence on creatures, and of murmuring against our lot.
(2) The next six relate to our neighbor:
(a) Patience with his faults;
(b) Benignity meaning kindness or tolerance towards his weakness;
(c) Goodness in act towards those who need;
(d) Longanimity meaning a patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offenses, bearing with provocations and disappointments, etc.
(e) Mildness when offended or when having to correct others;
(f) Faith or faithfulness and fidelity in all our promises, engagements, and duties to others.
(3) Finally, there are three that are related to ourselves:
(a) Modesty, which includes custody of the senses, delicacy of heart, and moderation in all lawful things;
(b) Continence, which controls passion, temper, desire, and love of pleasure;
(c) Chastity, in thought, word, and deed.
Weakest Links
We or our family―just like any nation or army―are only as strong as our weakest link. The devil knows our weak points better than we do―that is because we so little attention to them. Which virtues are your weakest virtues? It is those that you need to focus upon, work upon, exercise and strengthen. The same applies to your family―who is the weakest link in your family? The devil will attack your family more frequently through that weakness than any other. What are the particular weaknesses of that person? Which virtues are the weakest? Help them to strengthen those weak points. You must look upon the virtues as you do upon organs and other parts of the body―when one part gets sick, don’t you try to heal the sickness and restore health? Of course you do! Yet each virtue is, in a sense, far more important than this or that organ or part of the body!
Life or Death Matter
You should look upon as virtue (habitual good thoughts and actions) as being the equivalent of health and vice (habitual sinful thoughts and actions) as being the equivalent of disease. Likewise, Heaven as being eternal life―and Hell as eternal death. What do you want for yourself and your family? Today, you are living in the midst of a pandemic of sin―and people are plagued with sin and are dying in sin in their billions! As Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita said, in speaking of our days:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.
“The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Burying Heads in Sand Will Lead to Burying Souls in Hell
What has been said above is the truth―regardless of whether we like it or not. As Our Lord said: “If I say the truth to you―why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … Where I go, you cannot come … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world ... If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:46-47; 8:22-24).
As St. John writes: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6).
We cannot change truth by ignoring it! We cannot change truth by denying it! The truth is that most souls are lost―and they are lost because of their own negligence, apathy, indifference, half-heartedness and treason by trying to serve God while enjoying His enemy―the world. “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). ). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16 “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Is this how you and your family think? Is this how you and your family speak? Is this how you and your family act?
This is the foundation upon which every sincerely Catholic family should be built. These foundational principles or seeds need to re-sown. If necessary, the family principles need to rip-up the old lawn and reseed. Whatever worldly principles are ruling in the family, need to uprooted and cast on the fire to burn. As Our Lord says: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).
Catholic Garden a Real Mess!
► HOLY EUCHARIST: The Church teaches that the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Holy Eucharist and with it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are the greatest treasures of the Catholic Church―because it is Christ Himself, God Himself, present under the species of bread and wine with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity and Christ sacrifices Himself in a real but unbloody way in each Sacrifice of the Mass. Yet a recent 2017 study on the degree of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist showed that a majority of Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Pew Research Center study, issued in August of 2017, showed that 69% of all self-identified Catholics said they believed the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead merely symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The other 31% believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, known as transubstantiation.
Only six-in-ten (63%) ― among those regularly attending Sunday Mass ― accept the Church’s teaching about transubstantiation. The other 37% (almost four-in-ten) don’t believe that the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Christ. Among Catholics who do not attend Mass weekly ― which is now as many as 80% or eight-in-ten Catholics, large majorities say they believe the bread and wine are symbolic and do not actually become the Body and Blood of Christ. The survey also found that belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was most common among older Catholics ― which is sad indictment on younger Catholics, who will the parents and teachers of their children in the dismal future.
► SUNDAY MASS ATTENDANCE: The Catholic research organization CARA (Center For Applied Research In The Apostolate) conducted surveys on Catholic attendance at religious services, especially the Holy Mass. The correctly point out that Knowledge Network surveys which do not use a human interviewer, but computer screen based surveys, are less likely to fall into the trap of human respect that occurs in telephone or face-to-face surveys in which responses to questions regarding attendance at religious services are known to be biased toward estimates higher than actual attendance as measured by head counts. CARA’s surveys with Knowledge Networks consistently show lower levels of Mass attendance
than what is exhibited typically in CARA’s telephone polls. Thus, currently, CARA says that regular Sunday Mass attendance among Catholics has dropped to 20% or one-in-five. However, since the COVID-19 lockdowns, when many if not most churches were closed―once they reopened, the regular Sunday Mass attendance was seen to dropped down to a mere 10% or one-in-ten. Even the regular attendees had become used to no longer attending Mass on Sunday, but merely watching a live-stream of Mass on the internet.
► ABORTION: More than half of U.S. Catholics (56%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while roughly four-in-ten (42%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center survey. Although most Catholics generally approve of legalized abortion, the vast majority favor at least some restrictions. For example, while roughly one-third of Catholics (35%) said abortion should be legal in most cases, only around one-fifth (21%) said it should be legal in all cases. By the same token, 28% of Catholics said abortion should be illegal in most cases, while half as many (14%) said it should be illegal in all cases. Two-thirds of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often (67%) said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while one-in-three (33%) said it should be legal. The ratio is almost exactly reversed for those who attend less frequently: Among Catholics who attend Mass less than weekly, roughly two-thirds said abortion should be legal in all or most cases (65%), while approximately one-in-three (32%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Most Catholics who identify as Republican, or lean toward the Republican Party (63%), said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while an even larger share of Catholics who identify as Democrats or lean that way (77%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, the 2019 survey showed. Still, roughly one-third of Catholic Republicans (36%) favored legal abortion, while 17% of Catholic Democrats opposed it, reflecting some dissent within both parties on this issue.
Like U.S. adults overall, most Catholics said in the 2019 survey that they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. Roughly two-thirds of Catholics (68%) said they do not want the Supreme Court to completely overturn the landmark decision, while almost three-in-ten (28%) said the ruling should be overturned. This gap was almost identical to the division in the U.S. public overall (70% vs. 28%). But opinions varied widely by religious affiliation: 89% of unaffiliated Americans said Roe v. Wade should remain in place, compared with only 35% of White evangelical Protestants.
► CONTRACEPTION: A Pew Research Center report, released in September 2016, showed that most American Catholics, including those who go to church on a regular basis, have no moral problem with contraception. Just 8% (1-in-12) said contraception is morally wrong, with 89% (9-in-10) saying it was either morally acceptable, or not a moral issue at all.
► HOMOSEXUALITY: About two-thirds of all U.S. Catholics (64 percent) say that homosexual behavior is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all, while 32 percent say it’s morally wrong. But Catholics who attend Mass weekly are more evenly split, with half labeling homosexual behavior as morally wrong.
► DIVORCE: The majority of Catholics today think little of the gravity of divorce. Almost 50% of Catholics even favor the possibility of being allowed to remarry after divorce! The preservation and protection of the marriage bond has collapsed worldwide―not least in Catholic countries. The only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines (population 110 million), the Vatican City (less than a quarter of a square mile in size and a population of around 800) and the British Crown Dependency of Sark (an island 3 miles wide and 1½ miles long, with a population of around 600). In the Philippines, divorce for non-Muslim Filipinos is not legal unless the husband or wife is an alien and satisfies certain conditions. The Vatican City is an ecclesiastical state, which has no procedure for divorce. Catholic countries that have relatively recently collapsed and legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975, although from 1910 to 1940 was possible both for the civil and religious marriage), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). One can see from this the gradual erosion and almost total crumbling of Catholic principles regarding marriage and the family.
The info-graphics below summarize the toxic state of affairs that surround all Catholics today and which, by their very existence, slowly poison the minds and attitudes of good and well-intentioned Catholics.
Jesus appreciated the beauty of nature (Matthew 6:28-29) and showed respect for nature in His parables, which are rich in nature imagery. God’s Providence placed Christ His Son in rural Galilee, where He would daily live observing fruit trees, flowers, birds and fishermen. In his birth, he was laid upon the wood of the tree in the form of a crib; throughout His hidden life of 30 years He would work with the wood of the tree as a carpenter; in His public ministry He would sometimes preach from the wood of the tree in the form of a boat; and at the end of His life He would die on the wood of the tree in the form of a cross.
Our Lord Himself frequently uses plant life as an analogy for the spiritual life. His many parables often utilize nature to teach spiritual truths. Parables featuring seeds, weeds, wheat, yeast, fish and trees teach about the Kingdom of God (Mark 4; Matthew 13; Luke 13:6-9; 21:29-30). Varied results from sowing seed in different kinds of soils illustrate diverse responses to Jesus’ message (Mark 4:1-8, 13-20).
He speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven being like a grain of mustard seed and a treasure hidden in a field; He gives us the parable of the Sower and the Seed; He speaks of the Wheat and the Cockle; He compares us to good and bad trees, bearing good and bad fruit; He speaks of the workers in the vineyard; later He gives another parable about a vineyard where the owner’s servants and son are murdered. Speaking of the Kingdom of God, He says: “So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth, and should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not. For the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear. And when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-29).
In “real life” He curses the unfruitful fig tree and it immediately withers; He later uses a fig tree as a lesson: “from the fig tree learn a parable” (Matthew 24:32) about the end times; then again He chooses the fig tree as the focal point in the parable of the Unfruitful Fig Tree; He chooses a garden―the Garden of Gethsemane―as the launch-pad for His Passion; finally, His tomb would also be in a garden. “When Jesus had said these things, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples” (John 18:1). “Now there was, in the place where He was crucified, a garden; and, in the garden, a new sepulcher, wherein no man yet had been laid” (John 19:41). In a sense, Our Lord plants His dead Body in the garden tomb―like a ‘dead’ seed planted underground in the soil―which brings to mind His words: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Some days after His ‘planting’ in the garden tomb, Our Lord ‘sprouts’ up in His resurrection from the dead. Furthermore, when St. Mary Magdalen encounters Him in the garden after His resurrection, she thinks that He is the gardener: “Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him …” (John 20:15).
In the Old Testament book Canticle of Canticles, God uses the term “garden” as being a symbol of the soul―as these extracts from the dialogue between God and soul clearly show. God says: “My sister, My spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up!” (Canticles 4:12). “Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat the fruit of His apple trees!” [says the soul, and God replies] “I am come into My garden, O My sister, My spouse, My dearly beloved!” (Canticles 5:1). “My beloved is gone down into His garden” (Canticles 6:1). “I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded” (Canticles 6:10).
On a lighter note, you could well say that today’s world is truly a garden of “fruits and nuts”! “Fruit being slang for a gay or effeminate person, and “nut” for a crazy person! How many “fruits and nuts” do you know? On a side note, many biblical commentators are of the opinion that the Great Flood, in the days of Noe, was a punishment for widespread “fruity” fruits of that time―just as it was in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha. It looks like we have gone full circle and fruitiness is the fashion once again―which means a chastisement is imminent, for God’s attitudes and methods do not change: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) ... “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).
Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount also uses nature analogically: “Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe―how much more you, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 6:26-30).
In that same Sermon on the Mount, He adds: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Our Lord is the “good fruit” planted and raised in the “garden womb” of Mary. When Elizabeth was visited by Mary, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!’” (Luke 1:42). In the Old Testament, God refers to children as being the “fruit of the womb” and paints two possible scenarios for those children in life: “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:4). “Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:18). The conditions are as follows: “Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all His commandments … Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb” (Deuteronomy 28:1-4). “But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all His commandments … Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb!” (Deuteronomy 28:15-18).
Elsewhere, Jesus says to His disciples: “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest!” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Our Lord further delves into the same field at the Last Supper, when He says: “I am the true Vine; and My Father is the husbandman [an ancient term for “farmer”]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away. And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me, you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
All of the above mentioned incidents, teachings and parables draw upon nature for their analogies. Nature, since it is created by God, contains many hidden lessons from which we can both understand something of God and learn about how God works, not to mention many signposts, indicators and instructions for our spiritual life.
God the Creator of Nature and Man
God made nature before He made man. Though man is different to nature―in the sense that he is a RATIONAL (thinking) creature and has an immortal soul―man also has some principles that are common with nature. Just like plant and animal natures, man comes from a seed. Likewise, the plant, animal and human natures all grow. Just like your hair on your head, the grass in your lawn becomes thinner with time. Likewise, in a certain broad sense, you can compare your family life to the life of your garden lawn and plants―spiritual writers even speak of “the garden of the soul”.
Another principle that man shares with plant and animal nature is that of decay and death: “Mortal man … shall wither away like grass” (Isaias 51:12). “As the flower of the grass shall he pass away!” (James 1:10). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away; in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither!” (Psalms 89:6). “All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field! The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass―the grass is withered and the flower is fallen―but the word of our Lord endureth for ever!” (Isaias 40:6-8). “They became like the grass of the field, and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity” (4 Kings 19:26). “They became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe” (Isaias 37:27). “They shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall” (Psalm 36:2). “Let them be as grass on the tops of houses―which withered before it be plucked up!” (Psalms 128:6).
The Garden of the Soul and Family
Our Lord also refers to Himself and His spiritual family as a vine: “I am the true vine … I am the vine and you are the branches” (John 15:1-5). God refers to His Chosen People as a vine: “Israel, a vine full of branches” (Osee 10:1). God refers to the family as plants in the garden: “Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table” (Psalm 127:3). “Thy mother is like a vine, planted by the water―her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters” (Ezechiel 19:10). “He shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season” (Psalm 1:3). “I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God” (Psalm 51:10) “I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honor and grace. As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor and my flowers are the fruit of honor and riches!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:22-23). “They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14).
Okay―enough of this flowery imagery and language! Let us now get down to the root of the matter and take a look at budding Christian families―to see if or not they are producing the fruit required by God today!
Each child that is born, enters life with much potential and promise. In fact, when God infused a living soul into the matter provided by the parents, He envisioned and programmed that soul for sanctity―yet each soul, because of free-will, has the power to short-circuit that programming and ruin God’s plan. The following words could well refer to our Baptism―both parents and their children―and the results of our Baptism in later life: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard?” (Jeremias 2:21). Likewise, we could also apply this parable of Our Lord to the family as whole, or any individual within that family:
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And, if happily it bear fruit, but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
The Roots and Fruits of Your Family
Are you―and the members of your family―firmly attached branches to the Vine of Christ? Are you all enrooted in God? Is your vine a worldly vine or a godly vine? It cannot be both! “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). What are the fruits of your family? Our virtues are our fruits― virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do good. There are two main kinds of virtue―intellectual virtues and practical virtues―in other words “thinking” virtues and “doing” virtues. A virtue means an habitual way of thinking or doing things―it is not a “flash in the pan”, a “one-off” thing, but an habitual thing. If I only pray occasionally, I do not yet have the virtue of prayer, the habit of prayer―it is only a sporadic thing. Just as a side note, similarly, if I use foul language only occasionally―then I do not have the vice of foul language, because it is not an habitual thing with me. Virtue is habitual good―vice is habitual sin.
Coming back to the family fruits or virtues―are they godly, spiritual, religious fruits?―such as the keeping of the Ten Commandments and all the branches that come out of them. Or practicing the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost. Or using and strengthening the Moral Virtues. St. Gregory of Nyssa says that the goal of a virtuous life is to become like God, which is what Christ said: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48).
The most important virtues to cultivate are the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity―for these three virtues encompass all our dealings with God.
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief.
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
The so-called human or moral virtues can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The cardinal virtues are four moral virtues that are the foundation for the others. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin “cardo”, which means “hinge.” All other human or moral virtues hinge on the four cardinal virtues:
Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.
Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due. This means we must praise and reward what is good in others, or criticize, correct and punish what is evil or sinful in others.
Fortitude ensures firmness in battling difficulties and evil, as well as a constancy in the pursuit of what is good.
Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.
Another point of reference for our individual or family virtues can be the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Benignity, Goodness, Longanimity (long-suffering), Mildness, Faith, Modesty, Continence, Chastity.
These twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost may be distinguished into three classes, not that they are separate, or that they do not interchange their relations; but in the main they may be regarded as follows:
(1) There are three that have their relation chiefly towards God, namely,
(a) Charity, by which we are united and conformed to Him. It is Charity towards God that kindles in us a zeal for His Name and His service.
(b) Joy, which, if it be not joy in God and godly things, is a false and deluding joy.
(c) Peace. There is no peace unless it begins in God, and rests in God.
Therefore St. Paul prays, “The God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). Joy is full of thankfulness, springing from a consciousness of God’s love and presence; and peace is the sense of His forgiveness, and of our own inward quiet of heart, free from the disturbance of desires, of dependence on creatures, and of murmuring against our lot.
(2) The next six relate to our neighbor:
(a) Patience with his faults;
(b) Benignity meaning kindness or tolerance towards his weakness;
(c) Goodness in act towards those who need;
(d) Longanimity meaning a patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offenses, bearing with provocations and disappointments, etc.
(e) Mildness when offended or when having to correct others;
(f) Faith or faithfulness and fidelity in all our promises, engagements, and duties to others.
(3) Finally, there are three that are related to ourselves:
(a) Modesty, which includes custody of the senses, delicacy of heart, and moderation in all lawful things;
(b) Continence, which controls passion, temper, desire, and love of pleasure;
(c) Chastity, in thought, word, and deed.
Weakest Links
We or our family―just like any nation or army―are only as strong as our weakest link. The devil knows our weak points better than we do―that is because we so little attention to them. Which virtues are your weakest virtues? It is those that you need to focus upon, work upon, exercise and strengthen. The same applies to your family―who is the weakest link in your family? The devil will attack your family more frequently through that weakness than any other. What are the particular weaknesses of that person? Which virtues are the weakest? Help them to strengthen those weak points. You must look upon the virtues as you do upon organs and other parts of the body―when one part gets sick, don’t you try to heal the sickness and restore health? Of course you do! Yet each virtue is, in a sense, far more important than this or that organ or part of the body!
Life or Death Matter
You should look upon as virtue (habitual good thoughts and actions) as being the equivalent of health and vice (habitual sinful thoughts and actions) as being the equivalent of disease. Likewise, Heaven as being eternal life―and Hell as eternal death. What do you want for yourself and your family? Today, you are living in the midst of a pandemic of sin―and people are plagued with sin and are dying in sin in their billions! As Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita said, in speaking of our days:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.
“The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Burying Heads in Sand Will Lead to Burying Souls in Hell
What has been said above is the truth―regardless of whether we like it or not. As Our Lord said: “If I say the truth to you―why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … Where I go, you cannot come … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world ... If you believe not … you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:46-47; 8:22-24).
As St. John writes: “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them! We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6).
We cannot change truth by ignoring it! We cannot change truth by denying it! The truth is that most souls are lost―and they are lost because of their own negligence, apathy, indifference, half-heartedness and treason by trying to serve God while enjoying His enemy―the world. “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). ). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16 “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Is this how you and your family think? Is this how you and your family speak? Is this how you and your family act?
This is the foundation upon which every sincerely Catholic family should be built. These foundational principles or seeds need to re-sown. If necessary, the family principles need to rip-up the old lawn and reseed. Whatever worldly principles are ruling in the family, need to uprooted and cast on the fire to burn. As Our Lord says: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).
Catholic Garden a Real Mess!
► HOLY EUCHARIST: The Church teaches that the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Holy Eucharist and with it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are the greatest treasures of the Catholic Church―because it is Christ Himself, God Himself, present under the species of bread and wine with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity and Christ sacrifices Himself in a real but unbloody way in each Sacrifice of the Mass. Yet a recent 2017 study on the degree of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist showed that a majority of Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Pew Research Center study, issued in August of 2017, showed that 69% of all self-identified Catholics said they believed the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead merely symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The other 31% believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, known as transubstantiation.
Only six-in-ten (63%) ― among those regularly attending Sunday Mass ― accept the Church’s teaching about transubstantiation. The other 37% (almost four-in-ten) don’t believe that the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Christ. Among Catholics who do not attend Mass weekly ― which is now as many as 80% or eight-in-ten Catholics, large majorities say they believe the bread and wine are symbolic and do not actually become the Body and Blood of Christ. The survey also found that belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was most common among older Catholics ― which is sad indictment on younger Catholics, who will the parents and teachers of their children in the dismal future.
► SUNDAY MASS ATTENDANCE: The Catholic research organization CARA (Center For Applied Research In The Apostolate) conducted surveys on Catholic attendance at religious services, especially the Holy Mass. The correctly point out that Knowledge Network surveys which do not use a human interviewer, but computer screen based surveys, are less likely to fall into the trap of human respect that occurs in telephone or face-to-face surveys in which responses to questions regarding attendance at religious services are known to be biased toward estimates higher than actual attendance as measured by head counts. CARA’s surveys with Knowledge Networks consistently show lower levels of Mass attendance
than what is exhibited typically in CARA’s telephone polls. Thus, currently, CARA says that regular Sunday Mass attendance among Catholics has dropped to 20% or one-in-five. However, since the COVID-19 lockdowns, when many if not most churches were closed―once they reopened, the regular Sunday Mass attendance was seen to dropped down to a mere 10% or one-in-ten. Even the regular attendees had become used to no longer attending Mass on Sunday, but merely watching a live-stream of Mass on the internet.
► ABORTION: More than half of U.S. Catholics (56%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while roughly four-in-ten (42%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center survey. Although most Catholics generally approve of legalized abortion, the vast majority favor at least some restrictions. For example, while roughly one-third of Catholics (35%) said abortion should be legal in most cases, only around one-fifth (21%) said it should be legal in all cases. By the same token, 28% of Catholics said abortion should be illegal in most cases, while half as many (14%) said it should be illegal in all cases. Two-thirds of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often (67%) said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while one-in-three (33%) said it should be legal. The ratio is almost exactly reversed for those who attend less frequently: Among Catholics who attend Mass less than weekly, roughly two-thirds said abortion should be legal in all or most cases (65%), while approximately one-in-three (32%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Most Catholics who identify as Republican, or lean toward the Republican Party (63%), said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while an even larger share of Catholics who identify as Democrats or lean that way (77%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, the 2019 survey showed. Still, roughly one-third of Catholic Republicans (36%) favored legal abortion, while 17% of Catholic Democrats opposed it, reflecting some dissent within both parties on this issue.
Like U.S. adults overall, most Catholics said in the 2019 survey that they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. Roughly two-thirds of Catholics (68%) said they do not want the Supreme Court to completely overturn the landmark decision, while almost three-in-ten (28%) said the ruling should be overturned. This gap was almost identical to the division in the U.S. public overall (70% vs. 28%). But opinions varied widely by religious affiliation: 89% of unaffiliated Americans said Roe v. Wade should remain in place, compared with only 35% of White evangelical Protestants.
► CONTRACEPTION: A Pew Research Center report, released in September 2016, showed that most American Catholics, including those who go to church on a regular basis, have no moral problem with contraception. Just 8% (1-in-12) said contraception is morally wrong, with 89% (9-in-10) saying it was either morally acceptable, or not a moral issue at all.
► HOMOSEXUALITY: About two-thirds of all U.S. Catholics (64 percent) say that homosexual behavior is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all, while 32 percent say it’s morally wrong. But Catholics who attend Mass weekly are more evenly split, with half labeling homosexual behavior as morally wrong.
► DIVORCE: The majority of Catholics today think little of the gravity of divorce. Almost 50% of Catholics even favor the possibility of being allowed to remarry after divorce! The preservation and protection of the marriage bond has collapsed worldwide―not least in Catholic countries. The only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines (population 110 million), the Vatican City (less than a quarter of a square mile in size and a population of around 800) and the British Crown Dependency of Sark (an island 3 miles wide and 1½ miles long, with a population of around 600). In the Philippines, divorce for non-Muslim Filipinos is not legal unless the husband or wife is an alien and satisfies certain conditions. The Vatican City is an ecclesiastical state, which has no procedure for divorce. Catholic countries that have relatively recently collapsed and legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975, although from 1910 to 1940 was possible both for the civil and religious marriage), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991), Andorra (1995), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). One can see from this the gradual erosion and almost total crumbling of Catholic principles regarding marriage and the family.
The info-graphics below summarize the toxic state of affairs that surround all Catholics today and which, by their very existence, slowly poison the minds and attitudes of good and well-intentioned Catholics.
Modern Attitudes Have Poisoned the Faith and Damned Legions of Souls
The modern day Catholic cannot hold such attitudes with impunity―imagining they will not be punished. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). We have been amply warned of these times and if we fail to take heed of the warning, then we must pay the fatal consequences. “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God― indeed having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
The problem today is that we no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Pope Pius XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States, said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” Pope Benedict XVI, in homily on March 13th, 2011, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” Pope Francis also echoed the previous popes in a homily on January 31st, 2014: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
God makes it in abundantly clear through Holy Scripture: “Know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person―which is a serving of idols―hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor those men who copulate with other men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers (abusive language), nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Why, O Why?
Why is it that so many Catholics accept mortal sin as not being a sin―and therefore endangering their salvation and almost guaranteeing their damnation (unless they have a change of heart and confess their mortal sins in the Sacrament of Confession―which barely anyone uses anymore in the mainstream Church)? The chief reasons are:
(1) A LACK OF A PRAYER LIFE. Is that too simple or bland an answer? No! The relationship of the prayer life to the soul could be compared to the respiratory system or even the immune system of the body. St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer,” while St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) … “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).
This reminds us of what Our Lady said to St. Catherine Labouré when she showed her the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady had beams of light streaming from the jeweled rings on her fingers. However, some of the rings gave off no rays of light. As St. Catherine was wondering why some jewels gave off no light, the Blessed Virgin turned her eyes on her and made her understand with what generosity and great joy she dispensed grace. But she indicated that there are graces for which she is not asked, and it is for this reason that some of the gemstones did not send forth rays of light: “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems, from which rays do not fall, are the graces for which souls neglect to ask.” It is through prayer that we ask—those who neglect to pray, neglect to ask. St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.”
(2) A LACK OF A PENANCE, SACRIFICE & MORTIFICATION. Being the last born into the Catholic family of centuries―like most of the youngest children in a family―we have been spoilt rotten. Never have Catholics had it so easy and so good as they have it today. They are smothered by comfort, ease, appliances, technology, medical advances, high level of worldwide communication systems, a relative security, insurance policies to protect from dangers and disasters, etc. The average American lives far better and has far more possessions than the kings and queens of ancient times. For them to just see a supermarket, a mall, or any of the big stores―their eyes would pop out their heads and they would have a heart attack to see what we have available now for the common man! They had no access to hospitals, or the ranges of medicines and supplements that we have now! Back in those days there were no windows in their castles, no central heating, no air-conditioning, no humidifiers and dehumidifiers, no ovens, no refrigerators and freezers, no dishwashers, no washing machines and dryers, no electric appliances, no cars, trains, buses and planes, no motorcycles, no lawn-mowers, no tractors, bulldozers, diggers, tillers, seeders, combine harvesters, no power tools to cut-down trees or build houses, no guns, no telephones, no cameras, no music players, no computers, no internet, no televisions, no radios, etc., etc., etc. No online shopping, no overnight deliveries to the doorstep, no online banking, online payments, no email, no social media, no online conferences, no online libraries, no search engines, etc., etc., etc.
On top of all that, we want all those things to get better, faster, more comfortable, more efficient, more entertaining, more satisfying, or more whatever! Yet―after all that―we have the nerve and gall to complain! We murmur that things do not go as we would like them to go! We get angry over the most inconsequential trivialities and inconveniences!
There will be no Heaven without penance! Why? Because we have ALL sinned―and sin demands the payment of penance! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5) “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance!” (Luke 13:3, 8).
Our Lady has echoed this need for penance in all of her modern day apparitions: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” (O.L. of Lourdes) … Communities [families are communities] can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance!” (O.L. of Good Success) … “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [and that includes parents in a broad sense, who a chiefs and leaders of the family entrusted to them by God], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession (O.L. of La Salette)… Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (O.L. of Akita)
Even the Angel of Portugal ― who appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima ― chided the children for playing so much: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High … Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended!” Remember and take note that the children whom he was addressing and demanding this, were only 10, 9 and 7 years of age! Are you afraid to make such demands on your children? We readily expose children from their youngest years to fun, ease, comfort, entertainment and many similar things that merely soften and weaken the soul, distract the soul away from God, and place it on the precarious path to perdition! Yet when it comes to sacrifices, mortifications, penances and prayers, we refrain from encouraging them in these things and showing by our example how to do these things, as though it would harm and hurt them! Do you really and honestly think it is excessive and asking too much? If you pardon the “French” ― but who the hell said Heaven was cheap and easy to get to? Our Lord Himself said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “My cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices … It is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! … We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway [and first and foremost comes the salvation of the souls within your family] … The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima ― the cousin of Lucia of Fatima ― also said: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!” Sr. Lucia of Fatima writes of her cousin Jacinta: “The vision of Hell frightened her so much that she did all the penances and mortifications she could to prevent more souls from going there! … How had Jacinta, still a child, understood such a spirit of mortification and penance, and how had she conquered it? In my opinion, it was, first of all, through a special grace God granted her through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, through the vision of Hell and the unfortunate souls falling into it. There are people ― even devout people ― who are afraid to speak about Hell to children, in case they frighten them. But God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children ― one of whom was only seven years old. He knew she would be horrified to the point — I would say — of shriveling with fear.”
The question has to be asked―Is there a love, or at least an appreciation and acknowledgement of the need, for sacrifice, mortification and penance in our families? Or has the “grass worn thin”? Do we need to re-seed our families with the seeds of sacrifice, mortification and penance? That can only happen if we die to the world: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
(3) AN EVER-INCREASING LACK OF CHARITY. Charity is the soul or life-giver or engine to all that we do. Ultimately―though we tend to forget this, or maybe never even knew this―on the Day of Judgment we will primarily be judged upon our charity! Did charity―that is to say, a love of God and neighbor―motivate all that we did. The two following quotes emphasize this truth. First of all, Our Lord stresses: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). You cannot put it more clearly than that! Are we getting our families and children to love God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength? Our Lord says that this is the MOST IMPORTANT thing of all! Or do we feed our children worldly things that merely increase their natural addiction for the world and the ‘fun’ that it offers? Are we actually leading our families and children to God, or away from God?
Secondly, Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Immediately afterwards comes a description of some attributes of charity: “Charity is patient, is kind; Charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three: but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).
Does our family manifest that kind of charity? Do we live-out that charity? Do we “walk the walk” of charity, not merely “talk the talk” of charity? Our Lord even says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Charity must also be shown towards―not only our friends―but also our enemies. Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:43-45). “Love your enemies! Do good and lend―hoping for nothing thereby―and your reward shall be great and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is Mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry―give him to eat. If he thirst―give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (Romans 12:19-20).
Today, true charity is slowly dying ― “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12) ― and, if it is practiced, then it is only done so to a select few― only towards our favorites and those closest to us. Yet Our Lord says: “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans [sinners] do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:46-48). Is your family―are you―selective and biased in your charity? That kind of charity is ‘easy’ charity ― only a beginner’s charity, a kindergarten charity that lacks maturity and strength. Sadly, that is the ‘charity’ that we all around us today! We need to get beyond that, we need to sprout our seed of charity, grow and cultivate our charity―so that it not only encompasses those who are near and dear to us, but also those who are cold towards us, or even hate and persecute us―that is the true pedigree of charity!
As the spiritual masters teach―charity has three general levels, each of which will have varying degrees of intensity or ‘heat’. The very basic level of charity―kindergartener or lower school charity, if you like―is the keeping of the Commandments of God: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). How well do you and your family keep the Commandments of God? That is the basic "litmus test" for the lowest grade of love towards God.
The next level of charity is a desire to talk (pray) to God and to do things for God. Our Lord tells us “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). We talk to the one’s we love, don’t we? The more we love them, the more we want to talk to them! So, apply that to God―how much do you talk to Him? The time you spend talking to Him reflects the amount of love you have for Him. Yet that prayer must be sincere: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8) ― how many prayers, how many Rosaries have merely come from the lips and not from our hearts? Yet prayer is only part of the parcel or package: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). Prayer is good―it shows we have Faith―but Faith without works is dead and prayer without works is dead. It is mere lip-service―it “talks the talk” but does not “walk the walk”!
The third and highest level of charity is to suffer for God: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “For he that wants to save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25). This is love of the martyrs―a love that might well be demanded from us in these present days. Our Lady makes that abundantly clear when she says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Those who have tried in all sincerity to serve God in spirit and in truth: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him” (John 4:23), need fear nothing―for Our Lord says: “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “There shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from Heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore into your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer! For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish! In your patience you shall possess your souls!” (Luke 21:11-91).
The third and highest level of charity is to suffer for God: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “For he that wants to save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25). This is love of the martyrs―a love that might well be demanded from us in these present days. Our Lady makes that abundantly clear when she says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Those who have tried in all sincerity to serve God in spirit and in truth: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him” (John 4:23), need fear nothing―for Our Lord says: “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “There shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from Heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore into your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer! For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish! In your patience you shall possess your souls!” (Luke 21:11-91).
The modern day Catholic cannot hold such attitudes with impunity―imagining they will not be punished. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). We have been amply warned of these times and if we fail to take heed of the warning, then we must pay the fatal consequences. “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God― indeed having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
The problem today is that we no longer recognize the great dignity of being a Christian, nor do we recognize the great gravity of sin. Pope Pius XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States, said: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!” Pope Benedict XVI, in homily on March 13th, 2011, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.” Pope Francis also echoed the previous popes in a homily on January 31st, 2014: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
God makes it in abundantly clear through Holy Scripture: “Know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person―which is a serving of idols―hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God!” (Ephesians 5:5). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor those men who copulate with other men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers (abusive language), nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Why, O Why?
Why is it that so many Catholics accept mortal sin as not being a sin―and therefore endangering their salvation and almost guaranteeing their damnation (unless they have a change of heart and confess their mortal sins in the Sacrament of Confession―which barely anyone uses anymore in the mainstream Church)? The chief reasons are:
(1) A LACK OF A PRAYER LIFE. Is that too simple or bland an answer? No! The relationship of the prayer life to the soul could be compared to the respiratory system or even the immune system of the body. St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer,” while St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) … “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).
This reminds us of what Our Lady said to St. Catherine Labouré when she showed her the Miraculous Medal. Our Lady had beams of light streaming from the jeweled rings on her fingers. However, some of the rings gave off no rays of light. As St. Catherine was wondering why some jewels gave off no light, the Blessed Virgin turned her eyes on her and made her understand with what generosity and great joy she dispensed grace. But she indicated that there are graces for which she is not asked, and it is for this reason that some of the gemstones did not send forth rays of light: “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems, from which rays do not fall, are the graces for which souls neglect to ask.” It is through prayer that we ask—those who neglect to pray, neglect to ask. St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.”
(2) A LACK OF A PENANCE, SACRIFICE & MORTIFICATION. Being the last born into the Catholic family of centuries―like most of the youngest children in a family―we have been spoilt rotten. Never have Catholics had it so easy and so good as they have it today. They are smothered by comfort, ease, appliances, technology, medical advances, high level of worldwide communication systems, a relative security, insurance policies to protect from dangers and disasters, etc. The average American lives far better and has far more possessions than the kings and queens of ancient times. For them to just see a supermarket, a mall, or any of the big stores―their eyes would pop out their heads and they would have a heart attack to see what we have available now for the common man! They had no access to hospitals, or the ranges of medicines and supplements that we have now! Back in those days there were no windows in their castles, no central heating, no air-conditioning, no humidifiers and dehumidifiers, no ovens, no refrigerators and freezers, no dishwashers, no washing machines and dryers, no electric appliances, no cars, trains, buses and planes, no motorcycles, no lawn-mowers, no tractors, bulldozers, diggers, tillers, seeders, combine harvesters, no power tools to cut-down trees or build houses, no guns, no telephones, no cameras, no music players, no computers, no internet, no televisions, no radios, etc., etc., etc. No online shopping, no overnight deliveries to the doorstep, no online banking, online payments, no email, no social media, no online conferences, no online libraries, no search engines, etc., etc., etc.
On top of all that, we want all those things to get better, faster, more comfortable, more efficient, more entertaining, more satisfying, or more whatever! Yet―after all that―we have the nerve and gall to complain! We murmur that things do not go as we would like them to go! We get angry over the most inconsequential trivialities and inconveniences!
There will be no Heaven without penance! Why? Because we have ALL sinned―and sin demands the payment of penance! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5) “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance!” (Luke 13:3, 8).
Our Lady has echoed this need for penance in all of her modern day apparitions: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” (O.L. of Lourdes) … Communities [families are communities] can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance!” (O.L. of Good Success) … “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [and that includes parents in a broad sense, who a chiefs and leaders of the family entrusted to them by God], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession (O.L. of La Salette)… Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (O.L. of Akita)
Even the Angel of Portugal ― who appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima ― chided the children for playing so much: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High … Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended!” Remember and take note that the children whom he was addressing and demanding this, were only 10, 9 and 7 years of age! Are you afraid to make such demands on your children? We readily expose children from their youngest years to fun, ease, comfort, entertainment and many similar things that merely soften and weaken the soul, distract the soul away from God, and place it on the precarious path to perdition! Yet when it comes to sacrifices, mortifications, penances and prayers, we refrain from encouraging them in these things and showing by our example how to do these things, as though it would harm and hurt them! Do you really and honestly think it is excessive and asking too much? If you pardon the “French” ― but who the hell said Heaven was cheap and easy to get to? Our Lord Himself said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “My cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices … It is my mission, not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! … We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway [and first and foremost comes the salvation of the souls within your family] … The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima ― the cousin of Lucia of Fatima ― also said: “Men must do penance! If they amend their lives Our Lord will still pardon the world; but if they do not, the chastisement will come!” Sr. Lucia of Fatima writes of her cousin Jacinta: “The vision of Hell frightened her so much that she did all the penances and mortifications she could to prevent more souls from going there! … How had Jacinta, still a child, understood such a spirit of mortification and penance, and how had she conquered it? In my opinion, it was, first of all, through a special grace God granted her through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and secondly, through the vision of Hell and the unfortunate souls falling into it. There are people ― even devout people ― who are afraid to speak about Hell to children, in case they frighten them. But God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children ― one of whom was only seven years old. He knew she would be horrified to the point — I would say — of shriveling with fear.”
The question has to be asked―Is there a love, or at least an appreciation and acknowledgement of the need, for sacrifice, mortification and penance in our families? Or has the “grass worn thin”? Do we need to re-seed our families with the seeds of sacrifice, mortification and penance? That can only happen if we die to the world: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
(3) AN EVER-INCREASING LACK OF CHARITY. Charity is the soul or life-giver or engine to all that we do. Ultimately―though we tend to forget this, or maybe never even knew this―on the Day of Judgment we will primarily be judged upon our charity! Did charity―that is to say, a love of God and neighbor―motivate all that we did. The two following quotes emphasize this truth. First of all, Our Lord stresses: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment! This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). You cannot put it more clearly than that! Are we getting our families and children to love God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength? Our Lord says that this is the MOST IMPORTANT thing of all! Or do we feed our children worldly things that merely increase their natural addiction for the world and the ‘fun’ that it offers? Are we actually leading our families and children to God, or away from God?
Secondly, Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Immediately afterwards comes a description of some attributes of charity: “Charity is patient, is kind; Charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three: but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).
Does our family manifest that kind of charity? Do we live-out that charity? Do we “walk the walk” of charity, not merely “talk the talk” of charity? Our Lord even says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Charity must also be shown towards―not only our friends―but also our enemies. Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:43-45). “Love your enemies! Do good and lend―hoping for nothing thereby―and your reward shall be great and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is Mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry―give him to eat. If he thirst―give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (Romans 12:19-20).
Today, true charity is slowly dying ― “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12) ― and, if it is practiced, then it is only done so to a select few― only towards our favorites and those closest to us. Yet Our Lord says: “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans [sinners] do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:46-48). Is your family―are you―selective and biased in your charity? That kind of charity is ‘easy’ charity ― only a beginner’s charity, a kindergarten charity that lacks maturity and strength. Sadly, that is the ‘charity’ that we all around us today! We need to get beyond that, we need to sprout our seed of charity, grow and cultivate our charity―so that it not only encompasses those who are near and dear to us, but also those who are cold towards us, or even hate and persecute us―that is the true pedigree of charity!
As the spiritual masters teach―charity has three general levels, each of which will have varying degrees of intensity or ‘heat’. The very basic level of charity―kindergartener or lower school charity, if you like―is the keeping of the Commandments of God: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). How well do you and your family keep the Commandments of God? That is the basic "litmus test" for the lowest grade of love towards God.
The next level of charity is a desire to talk (pray) to God and to do things for God. Our Lord tells us “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). We talk to the one’s we love, don’t we? The more we love them, the more we want to talk to them! So, apply that to God―how much do you talk to Him? The time you spend talking to Him reflects the amount of love you have for Him. Yet that prayer must be sincere: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8) ― how many prayers, how many Rosaries have merely come from the lips and not from our hearts? Yet prayer is only part of the parcel or package: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). Prayer is good―it shows we have Faith―but Faith without works is dead and prayer without works is dead. It is mere lip-service―it “talks the talk” but does not “walk the walk”!
The third and highest level of charity is to suffer for God: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “For he that wants to save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25). This is love of the martyrs―a love that might well be demanded from us in these present days. Our Lady makes that abundantly clear when she says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Those who have tried in all sincerity to serve God in spirit and in truth: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him” (John 4:23), need fear nothing―for Our Lord says: “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “There shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from Heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore into your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer! For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish! In your patience you shall possess your souls!” (Luke 21:11-91).
The third and highest level of charity is to suffer for God: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “For he that wants to save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25). This is love of the martyrs―a love that might well be demanded from us in these present days. Our Lady makes that abundantly clear when she says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Those who have tried in all sincerity to serve God in spirit and in truth: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him” (John 4:23), need fear nothing―for Our Lord says: “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “There shall be great earthquakes in diverse places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from Heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name’s sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore into your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer! For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish! In your patience you shall possess your souls!” (Luke 21:11-91).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday February 7th & Monday February 8th
Article 4
Seedy Sunday and Seedy Soiled Souls!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday February 7th & Monday February 8th
Article 4
Seedy Sunday and Seedy Soiled Souls!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
A Seedy Life!
Life comes out of seeds! Whether it be plant life, animal life, or human life―all depend upon the sowing of seeds. This truth is already seen at the beginning of creation―when God made all things―as we read in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis: “And God said: ‘Let the Earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the Earth!’ And it was so done. And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good! … God said [to Adam and Eve]: ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat!’” (Genesis 1:11-12 & 29).
Just as the combination of soil and seed produce a living plant or tree, so too does the combination of egg and seed produce a living being, an embryo, in the womb (soil) of a woman. Holy Scripture speaks of “the seed of copulation” (Leviticus 15:16) and of “a woman, having received seed, shall bear a child” (Leviticus 12:2). God refers to future offspring as being “the seed”, as in the case when He says to Satan: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Genesis 3:15-16).
Likewise, we see Adam referring to human life as “seed”: “Adam also knew his wife again and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: ‘God hath given me another seed for Abel, whom Cain slew!’” (Genesis 4:25).
God also refers to the creation of animal life as “seed”, when He tells Noe to gather animals into the ark that He had commanded Noe to build: “And the Lord said to him: ‘Go in thou and all thy house into the ark … Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth!’” (Genesis 7:1-3) … “God also said to Noe, and to his sons with him: ‘Behold I will establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you!’” (Genesis 9:8-9).
“And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: ‘To thy seed will I give this land!’” (Genesis 12:7). Later, “the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: ‘Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:14-15). Later again, God says to Abraham: “I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore … And in thy seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice!” (Genesis 22:17-18).
When the Chosen People were sentenced by God to 40 years of desert wandering for failing to accept God’s plans concerning the conquering of the Promised Land, God nevertheless fed those several million wandering Israelites with manna, that was in the form of seed: “Now the manna was like coriander seed. And the people went about and, gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil” (Numbers 11:7-8).
Many times does Our Lord speak of seeds, plants, trees and fruits. We have the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (Matthew 13:3-23); the Wheat and the Cockle (Matthew 13:24-30); the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32); the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1-8); the barren Fig Tree (Matthew 21:19-22); the discourse about knowing a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:16-20), etc.
The Seed of Faith
The Church teaches that, in our Baptism, besides receiving sanctifying grace, we also receive―in seed form―the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, as well as the seeds of the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, and also the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. All these “seeds” are meant to become saplings, then trees, and finally, as a trees, they are expected to bear fruit. Likewise with the Faith, which has been planted in seed-form within each baptized soul―those souls have the obligation, like God’s farm laborers, to tend to that seed, water it and nourish it with the gradually increasing practice of the virtues as they grow older. The seed already contains in potential the roots, the trunk, the branches, twigs, leaves and fruits that it COULD one day realize by achieving its potential. Since Hope and Charity rest upon the foundation of Faith, and Faith concerns itself with the knowledge and belief of divine things, we must strive to cultivate a strong Faith. For we cannot hope in something we know nothing about, nor can we love what we do not know.
Faith Comes by Hearing
“Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “The Gentiles hearing it, were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:48). Jesus was the Word of God, the Word Who became man, Who came to plant the Word of God in our minds and hearts by His teaching: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).
Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Our Lord’s famous Parable of the Sower continues this line of thought, speaking of the “Word of God” as being the “seed” that God wants to sow in our souls: “Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow his seed. The seed is the Word of God. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. And other some fell upon good ground; and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold.
● They, by the way side, are they that hear the Word of the Kingdom and understandeth it not; then the devil, the wicked one, cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved.
● And they, upon the rock, are they that receive the seed upon stony ground, they hear the word, and immediately receive it with joy. Yet these have no roots, who when they hear, receive the word with joy, but only for a time; they believe for a while, and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution, in time of temptation they are scandalized by the Word, and fall away.
● That which fell among thorns, are they that receive the seed and hear the word, and going their way, are choked with the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit.
● But they that receive the seed upon good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, understand it and keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience, and yield the one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (combined texts from Matthew 13:18-23; Luke 8:5-15).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Cockle and Wheat
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
Faith is a Gift that Should Show Profits
The Catechism tells us that “Faith is a supernatural gift of God, freely given.” Just as, in the Parable of the Talents, servants were given talents with which they had to work in order to bring about a profit, we were given the Faith as a gift from God, to work with and to produce a profit that we can show Him upon His return. Woe to those who “bury their talent” or hide their gift of Faith and show no profit: “Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20)… “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (which we will look at below). Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism.
Essentially we water and nourish the soil of our souls by frequenting the Sacraments, praying, making sacrifices, giving alms and practicing virtues. This causes the seeds of Faith, Hope and Charity, the seeds Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost to sprout and grow proportionately to our efforts—“For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
Mustard Seed
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith, then we are told to leave it behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals and the Worldly Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism attacks the seed of Faith, the sapling of Faith and the tree of Faith. Liberalism is a pest that has penetrated almost every corner of the world, every soul in the world and every facet of daily life. We are all Liberals―as one holy archbishop used to say―the only difference is to what degree are we Liberal. Are we becoming more Liberal, or are we becoming less Liberal.
What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism Is A Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
Life comes out of seeds! Whether it be plant life, animal life, or human life―all depend upon the sowing of seeds. This truth is already seen at the beginning of creation―when God made all things―as we read in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis: “And God said: ‘Let the Earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the Earth!’ And it was so done. And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good! … God said [to Adam and Eve]: ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat!’” (Genesis 1:11-12 & 29).
Just as the combination of soil and seed produce a living plant or tree, so too does the combination of egg and seed produce a living being, an embryo, in the womb (soil) of a woman. Holy Scripture speaks of “the seed of copulation” (Leviticus 15:16) and of “a woman, having received seed, shall bear a child” (Leviticus 12:2). God refers to future offspring as being “the seed”, as in the case when He says to Satan: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Genesis 3:15-16).
Likewise, we see Adam referring to human life as “seed”: “Adam also knew his wife again and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: ‘God hath given me another seed for Abel, whom Cain slew!’” (Genesis 4:25).
God also refers to the creation of animal life as “seed”, when He tells Noe to gather animals into the ark that He had commanded Noe to build: “And the Lord said to him: ‘Go in thou and all thy house into the ark … Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth!’” (Genesis 7:1-3) … “God also said to Noe, and to his sons with him: ‘Behold I will establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you!’” (Genesis 9:8-9).
“And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: ‘To thy seed will I give this land!’” (Genesis 12:7). Later, “the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: ‘Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:14-15). Later again, God says to Abraham: “I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore … And in thy seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice!” (Genesis 22:17-18).
When the Chosen People were sentenced by God to 40 years of desert wandering for failing to accept God’s plans concerning the conquering of the Promised Land, God nevertheless fed those several million wandering Israelites with manna, that was in the form of seed: “Now the manna was like coriander seed. And the people went about and, gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil” (Numbers 11:7-8).
Many times does Our Lord speak of seeds, plants, trees and fruits. We have the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (Matthew 13:3-23); the Wheat and the Cockle (Matthew 13:24-30); the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32); the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1-8); the barren Fig Tree (Matthew 21:19-22); the discourse about knowing a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:16-20), etc.
The Seed of Faith
The Church teaches that, in our Baptism, besides receiving sanctifying grace, we also receive―in seed form―the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, as well as the seeds of the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, and also the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. All these “seeds” are meant to become saplings, then trees, and finally, as a trees, they are expected to bear fruit. Likewise with the Faith, which has been planted in seed-form within each baptized soul―those souls have the obligation, like God’s farm laborers, to tend to that seed, water it and nourish it with the gradually increasing practice of the virtues as they grow older. The seed already contains in potential the roots, the trunk, the branches, twigs, leaves and fruits that it COULD one day realize by achieving its potential. Since Hope and Charity rest upon the foundation of Faith, and Faith concerns itself with the knowledge and belief of divine things, we must strive to cultivate a strong Faith. For we cannot hope in something we know nothing about, nor can we love what we do not know.
Faith Comes by Hearing
“Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “The Gentiles hearing it, were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:48). Jesus was the Word of God, the Word Who became man, Who came to plant the Word of God in our minds and hearts by His teaching: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).
Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Our Lord’s famous Parable of the Sower continues this line of thought, speaking of the “Word of God” as being the “seed” that God wants to sow in our souls: “Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow his seed. The seed is the Word of God. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. And other some fell upon good ground; and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold.
● They, by the way side, are they that hear the Word of the Kingdom and understandeth it not; then the devil, the wicked one, cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved.
● And they, upon the rock, are they that receive the seed upon stony ground, they hear the word, and immediately receive it with joy. Yet these have no roots, who when they hear, receive the word with joy, but only for a time; they believe for a while, and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution, in time of temptation they are scandalized by the Word, and fall away.
● That which fell among thorns, are they that receive the seed and hear the word, and going their way, are choked with the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit.
● But they that receive the seed upon good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, understand it and keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience, and yield the one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (combined texts from Matthew 13:18-23; Luke 8:5-15).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Cockle and Wheat
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
Faith is a Gift that Should Show Profits
The Catechism tells us that “Faith is a supernatural gift of God, freely given.” Just as, in the Parable of the Talents, servants were given talents with which they had to work in order to bring about a profit, we were given the Faith as a gift from God, to work with and to produce a profit that we can show Him upon His return. Woe to those who “bury their talent” or hide their gift of Faith and show no profit: “Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20)… “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed (which we will look at below). Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism.
Essentially we water and nourish the soil of our souls by frequenting the Sacraments, praying, making sacrifices, giving alms and practicing virtues. This causes the seeds of Faith, Hope and Charity, the seeds Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost to sprout and grow proportionately to our efforts—“For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
Mustard Seed
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith, then we are told to leave it behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals and the Worldly Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism attacks the seed of Faith, the sapling of Faith and the tree of Faith. Liberalism is a pest that has penetrated almost every corner of the world, every soul in the world and every facet of daily life. We are all Liberals―as one holy archbishop used to say―the only difference is to what degree are we Liberal. Are we becoming more Liberal, or are we becoming less Liberal.
What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism Is A Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday February 5th & Saturday February 6th
Article 4
Analyzing the Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday February 5th & Saturday February 6th
Article 4
Analyzing the Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
What to Make of the “Three Days of Darkness”?
Now that we have had an in-depth look at the prophecies themselves, what are we to make of them? How are we to look upon them? How are we to react to them? Should we act upon them? If so, what should we do?
Prophetical Purpose
Divine Public Revelation ended with the death of the last of the Apostles—St. John the Evangelist. From that time there can be no new additions to the deposit of Faith. Divine Private Revelation cannot add one iota of a new teaching or dogma, but it can provide deeper insights into existing teachings and dogmas of Divine Public Revelation, or provide guidance as regards action to be taken at any particular point in time, or reminds us of crucial aspects of Divine Public Revelation that we are neglecting or have forgotten.
Thus, at Lourdes, for example, Our Lady asks for more penance—but the need for penance is contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At Fatima, Our Lady asks for more prayer and sacrifices—yet those too are contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At La Salette, she issues many warnings regarding neglect of prayer and penance, the dangers of being worldly, the chastisements to come upon the world—but those too can be found in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture).
The Essence of the Prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness”
The essence, or nutshell, or “bottom line” of the prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” are already contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). What are these essential elements?
(1) God punishes evil—this patently obvious. Holy Scripture is full of proof of this incontestable truth. God has always punished evil and always will. In Old Testament times, in New Testament times and in our times. The fire and brimstone that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, or the Great Flood are some of the more striking punishments. The punishment of evil is whole point of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
(2) God is not averse to wiping-out or destroying most of the world, as He did with the Great Flood in the days of Noe. The prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness” state that something similar and just as widespread will be coming in our days. Therefore, there is nothing new with regards to God’s ways of acting.
(3) God protects the just—the instances of this are too numerous to mention, it is patently obvious to anyone who has a basic knowledge of Holy Scripture. Just a few examples would include the Israelites during the Exodus; Daniel in the den of lions (Daniel chapter 6); the three young men in the fire (Daniel chapter 3); and angel of God destroys the army of the Assyrians (4 Kings, chapter 19), etc. The events of the “Three Days of Darkness”, besides being a punishment upon evil people, are also protection for those who are just.
(4) God uses natural elements or materials as part of His “protection plan”—like the smearing of the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites in the time of Moses, prior to their Exodus from Egypt, in order to protect them from the avenging angel of God that would pass throughout Egypt, slaughtering the first born humans and animals. Or the use of water (Red Sea) to overcome and drown the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing the Israelites during the Exodus. The use of candles during the “Three Days of Darkness” fall into a similar category.
(5) God is always seeking to bring good out of evil—This is part of the mercy of God. If God was not merciful, He would wipe everything out because of our sins and “call it a day.” Thankfully He is not like that! He seeks to restore things and bring some good out of the fall of Adam and Eve. He brings good out of the evil done to Joseph by his many brothers, when they sold him as a slave. He brings good out of Saul and converts the persecutor of Christians into the new St. Paul and makes him a pillar of the Church. The list is almost endless—every person can find many such situations in their own life. The “Three Days of Darkness” will being good out of the evil that brought about the punishment of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Our Lady and Three Days of Darkness
Though Our Lady does not explicitly mention the “Three Days of Darkness” by name, she certainly speaks of them implicitly, by describing the very same events, catastrophes, and punishments as are described in the prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness.” We will take the similar predictions that ‘dovetail’ from the various “Three Days of Darkness” prophecies quoted in the previous article, group them all together and then compare them to Our Lady’s prophecies.
The Sinfulness of the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “They will have stubbornly remained in their sins” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady constantly speaks of this sinfulness and the dangers of stubbornness in sin: “The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Quito).
► “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (La Salette).
► “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
The Devils Will Infest and Rule the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful!” (Palma Maria, born 1825, death unknown).
● “Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass. … The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard” (Words of Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
Our Lady Says:
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called resurrected dead—who will be nothing but the devil in this form—will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people.” (La Salette).
► “Others, impelled by the malice of the devil, will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church” (Quito).
► “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked” (Akita).
The Persecution of the Church
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Impious and heretical persons [will] desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima).
► “For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (La Salette).
► “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (La Salette).
God Will Punish the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases will destroy everything” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive. Storms will have more catastrophic effects. Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady speaks of the same: “The impious will rage a cruel war” (Quito).
► “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth!. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases!” (La Salette).
► “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before” (Akita).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
Punishment Shared by Good and Bad Alike
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted” (Words Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven ... The air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. “ (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful” (Akita).
Calamities Throughout the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “At that time there shall be such a terrible crisis that people, frightened by events, shall believe that the end of the world is come. Blood shall flow in several large cities. The very elements shall be convulsed. It will be like a little general judgment” (Fr. Nectou, died 1777).
● “All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Our Lady Says:
► “During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private” (Quito).
► “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds—in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (La Salette).
► “The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
All Will Seem Lost
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
Our Lady Says:
► “There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Quito).
► “The world will be in dismay … People will believe that all is lost!” (La Salette).
The World Will Be Like A Graveyard
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The entire Earth will … look like a huge graveyard” (Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “Only one-fourth of mankind will survive” (Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified, died 1878).
● “Three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. Religion shall be persecuted and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases. Of mankind there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
● “He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
Summary
Of course, all this is just Divine Private Revelation—yet, as was said in an earlier article, let us beware of rejecting all Divine Private Revelation as being inconsequential. Holy Scripture warns: “Despise not prophecies” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). What would be the point of Our Lady coming from Heaven with warnings if we were to ignore or even despise them? What an insult to God to pridefully ignore Our Lady or even the saints and mystics to whom God went to the trouble of passing on messages for our benefit!
Not that this means that we have to naively and gullibly accept all that SEEMS to come from Heaven. Holy Scripture tells us that the devil can and will try to fool us. St. Paul speaks of the devil as appearing as an angel of light—“Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Satan has mimicked or aped true apparitions many a time—He tried to appear in the form of Our Lady in vicinity of Lourdes, to draw way attention from the true apparition. The devil appeared as Our Lord to St. John of the Cross and as the spiritual director of St. Padre Pio.
Holy Scripture tells us be wary: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Nevertheless, it is folly to reject all Divine Private Revelations because some of them are false. Careful discernment and judgment is required, as well as avoiding a pride that rushes to pronounce things before the Church has even spoken on the matter!
Finally, it must be remembered that no matter how terrifying the “Three Days of Darkness” may seem, they are a merciful intervention of God in order to destroy the evildoers, who will have almost wrecked the world before God justly steps in. They are to be feared more by evildoers than feared by the just.
We have seen how the “Three Days of Darkness” dovetail with Holy Scripture and God’s ways of acting, as well as dovetailing with Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies at the chief Church approved apparitions of Our Lady. Let us remember that all such prophecies are CONDITIONAL and their ultimate arrival or their severity depends upon mankind’s response the warnings given. As we sow, so shall we reap!
However, Pope John Paul II said in 1980, at Fulda, in Germany, that we can no longer avoid what is coming—we can only mitigate or soften the blow.
Tomorrow we shall look at the prophecies concerning Blessed Candles during the “Three Days of Darkness.”
Now that we have had an in-depth look at the prophecies themselves, what are we to make of them? How are we to look upon them? How are we to react to them? Should we act upon them? If so, what should we do?
Prophetical Purpose
Divine Public Revelation ended with the death of the last of the Apostles—St. John the Evangelist. From that time there can be no new additions to the deposit of Faith. Divine Private Revelation cannot add one iota of a new teaching or dogma, but it can provide deeper insights into existing teachings and dogmas of Divine Public Revelation, or provide guidance as regards action to be taken at any particular point in time, or reminds us of crucial aspects of Divine Public Revelation that we are neglecting or have forgotten.
Thus, at Lourdes, for example, Our Lady asks for more penance—but the need for penance is contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At Fatima, Our Lady asks for more prayer and sacrifices—yet those too are contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). At La Salette, she issues many warnings regarding neglect of prayer and penance, the dangers of being worldly, the chastisements to come upon the world—but those too can be found in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture).
The Essence of the Prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness”
The essence, or nutshell, or “bottom line” of the prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” are already contained in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture). What are these essential elements?
(1) God punishes evil—this patently obvious. Holy Scripture is full of proof of this incontestable truth. God has always punished evil and always will. In Old Testament times, in New Testament times and in our times. The fire and brimstone that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, or the Great Flood are some of the more striking punishments. The punishment of evil is whole point of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
(2) God is not averse to wiping-out or destroying most of the world, as He did with the Great Flood in the days of Noe. The prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness” state that something similar and just as widespread will be coming in our days. Therefore, there is nothing new with regards to God’s ways of acting.
(3) God protects the just—the instances of this are too numerous to mention, it is patently obvious to anyone who has a basic knowledge of Holy Scripture. Just a few examples would include the Israelites during the Exodus; Daniel in the den of lions (Daniel chapter 6); the three young men in the fire (Daniel chapter 3); and angel of God destroys the army of the Assyrians (4 Kings, chapter 19), etc. The events of the “Three Days of Darkness”, besides being a punishment upon evil people, are also protection for those who are just.
(4) God uses natural elements or materials as part of His “protection plan”—like the smearing of the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites in the time of Moses, prior to their Exodus from Egypt, in order to protect them from the avenging angel of God that would pass throughout Egypt, slaughtering the first born humans and animals. Or the use of water (Red Sea) to overcome and drown the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing the Israelites during the Exodus. The use of candles during the “Three Days of Darkness” fall into a similar category.
(5) God is always seeking to bring good out of evil—This is part of the mercy of God. If God was not merciful, He would wipe everything out because of our sins and “call it a day.” Thankfully He is not like that! He seeks to restore things and bring some good out of the fall of Adam and Eve. He brings good out of the evil done to Joseph by his many brothers, when they sold him as a slave. He brings good out of Saul and converts the persecutor of Christians into the new St. Paul and makes him a pillar of the Church. The list is almost endless—every person can find many such situations in their own life. The “Three Days of Darkness” will being good out of the evil that brought about the punishment of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Our Lady and Three Days of Darkness
Though Our Lady does not explicitly mention the “Three Days of Darkness” by name, she certainly speaks of them implicitly, by describing the very same events, catastrophes, and punishments as are described in the prophecies of the “Three Days of Darkness.” We will take the similar predictions that ‘dovetail’ from the various “Three Days of Darkness” prophecies quoted in the previous article, group them all together and then compare them to Our Lady’s prophecies.
The Sinfulness of the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “They will have stubbornly remained in their sins” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady constantly speaks of this sinfulness and the dangers of stubbornness in sin: “The precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Quito).
► “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (La Salette).
► “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
The Devils Will Infest and Rule the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful!” (Palma Maria, born 1825, death unknown).
● “Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass. … The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard” (Words of Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
Our Lady Says:
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called resurrected dead—who will be nothing but the devil in this form—will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people.” (La Salette).
► “Others, impelled by the malice of the devil, will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church” (Quito).
► “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked” (Akita).
The Persecution of the Church
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Impious and heretical persons [will] desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima).
► “For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (La Salette).
► “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (La Salette).
God Will Punish the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases will destroy everything” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive. Storms will have more catastrophic effects. Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
Our Lady Says:
► Our Lady speaks of the same: “The impious will rage a cruel war” (Quito).
► “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth!. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases!” (La Salette).
► “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before” (Akita).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
Punishment Shared by Good and Bad Alike
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption … The entire Earth will be afflicted” (Words Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven ... The air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “The punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind” (Blessed Elena Aiello, 1895-1961).
Our Lady Says:
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. “ (La Salette).
► “The good will be martyred” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful” (Akita).
Calamities Throughout the World
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “At that time there shall be such a terrible crisis that people, frightened by events, shall believe that the end of the world is come. Blood shall flow in several large cities. The very elements shall be convulsed. It will be like a little general judgment” (Fr. Nectou, died 1777).
● “All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on Earth. The other will be sent from Heaven” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
Our Lady Says:
► “During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private” (Quito).
► “The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds—in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (La Salette).
► “The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
All Will Seem Lost
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “Nothing on the Earth shall be spared ... All nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
Our Lady Says:
► “There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … Native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Quito).
► “The world will be in dismay … People will believe that all is lost!” (La Salette).
The World Will Be Like A Graveyard
Prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” say:
● “The entire Earth will … look like a huge graveyard” (Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny, 1850-1941).
● “Only one-fourth of mankind will survive” (Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified, died 1878).
● “Three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map” (Father Constant Louis Marie Pel, 1876-1966).
● “This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.” (Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, 1774–1825).
● “All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. Religion shall be persecuted and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed” (Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, 1769-1837).
● “When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases. Of mankind there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars” (Johann Friede, 1204-1257).
● “He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).” (St. Caspar del Bufalo, 1786-1836).
Our Lady Says:
► “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like” (La Salette).
► “Various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima).
► “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
Summary
Of course, all this is just Divine Private Revelation—yet, as was said in an earlier article, let us beware of rejecting all Divine Private Revelation as being inconsequential. Holy Scripture warns: “Despise not prophecies” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). What would be the point of Our Lady coming from Heaven with warnings if we were to ignore or even despise them? What an insult to God to pridefully ignore Our Lady or even the saints and mystics to whom God went to the trouble of passing on messages for our benefit!
Not that this means that we have to naively and gullibly accept all that SEEMS to come from Heaven. Holy Scripture tells us that the devil can and will try to fool us. St. Paul speaks of the devil as appearing as an angel of light—“Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Satan has mimicked or aped true apparitions many a time—He tried to appear in the form of Our Lady in vicinity of Lourdes, to draw way attention from the true apparition. The devil appeared as Our Lord to St. John of the Cross and as the spiritual director of St. Padre Pio.
Holy Scripture tells us be wary: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Nevertheless, it is folly to reject all Divine Private Revelations because some of them are false. Careful discernment and judgment is required, as well as avoiding a pride that rushes to pronounce things before the Church has even spoken on the matter!
Finally, it must be remembered that no matter how terrifying the “Three Days of Darkness” may seem, they are a merciful intervention of God in order to destroy the evildoers, who will have almost wrecked the world before God justly steps in. They are to be feared more by evildoers than feared by the just.
We have seen how the “Three Days of Darkness” dovetail with Holy Scripture and God’s ways of acting, as well as dovetailing with Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies at the chief Church approved apparitions of Our Lady. Let us remember that all such prophecies are CONDITIONAL and their ultimate arrival or their severity depends upon mankind’s response the warnings given. As we sow, so shall we reap!
However, Pope John Paul II said in 1980, at Fulda, in Germany, that we can no longer avoid what is coming—we can only mitigate or soften the blow.
Tomorrow we shall look at the prophecies concerning Blessed Candles during the “Three Days of Darkness.”
Thursday February 4th
Article 3
The Actual Prophecies on the Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 3
The Actual Prophecies on the Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Actual Prophecies
Today, we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
The most spectacular aspect of the Act of God will be the three days of darkness over the whole earth. The Three Days have been announced by many mystics.
► From ITALY we have Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837), Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825), St. Casper del Bufalo (1786-1836), Sister Rosa-Colomba Asdente (1781-1847), Palma Maria d’ Oria (died 1863).
► From FRANCE we have Blessed Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau, (1846-1878); Père Jean Lamy or Fr. John Edward Lamy (1855-1931) a mystic and founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary; Sister Marie Baourdi, a Carmelite; Marie Martel, Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941).
► From GERMANY we have St. Hildegard (1098-1179).
► From AUSTRIA we have Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257).
This list is not exhaustive; many more Saints and mystics, such as St. Columba (died 597) have announced the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Prophecies and Credentials
We will first have a look at the various prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” after which we will direct you pages that will have the lives of the Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God, to show it no “crazy guy off the street” that made these prophecies.
(1) Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837, Italy)
Though an ordinary housewife and mother, Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi led an exemplary spiritual and Christian life that gained her the reputation as one of the greatest saints of all time. She experienced frequent ecstasies, performed miraculous cures, read hearts, foretold deaths, and predicted the coming of future events. She foretold the first two world wars that wreaked havoc in the twentieth century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained supple and incorrupt. Amid praises, Pope Benedict XV beatified her on May 20th, 1920.
The following is her revelation about Three Days of Darkness:
“God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy.”
“All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome.” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, 1973).
“After the three days of darkness, St. Peter and St. Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach in the whole world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and will settle upon the cardinal who is to become Pope. Christianity, then, will spread throughout the world. He is the Holy Pontiff, chosen by God to withstand the storm. At the end, he will have the gift of miracles, and his name shall be praised over the whole Earth. Whole nations will come back to the Church and the face of the Earth will be renewed. Russia, England, and China will come into the Church.”
(2) Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825, Italy)
Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora was born in 1774 and lived in Italy until her saintly death in 1825. Thanks to her confessor, her revelations were preserved in hundreds of pages of her own writings. Today, the Trinitarian Fathers at San Carlino, Rome hold her manuscripts for safekeeping in their archives. These writings were meticulously examined at length as a safeguard against doctrinal errors when Blessed Pope Pius IX authorized Elizabeth Canori Mora’s cause for canonization to proceed. The ecclesiastical censor commissioned by the Holy See released his official judgment on November 5th, 1900. It stated “there is nothing against faith and good customs, and no doctrinal innovation or deviation was found.” Elizabeth Canori Mora was beatified—pronounced “Blessed”—in 1994.
Some of her prophecies are as follows:
Here is an extract from Fr. Culleton, who, in his book The Prophets and Our Times, relates the following prophecy: “...the sky was covered with clouds so dense and dismal that it was impossible to look at them without dismay... the avenging arm of God will strike the wicked, and in his mighty power he will punish their pride and presumption. God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice... Nothing on the Earth shall be spared. After this frightful punishment I saw the heavens opening, and St. Peter coming down again upon Earth; he was vested in his pontifical robes, and surrounded by a great number of angels, who were chanting hymns in his honor, and they proclaimed him as sovereign of the Earth. I saw also St. Paul descending upon the Earth. By God’s command, he traversed the Earth and chained the demons, whom he brought before St. Peter, who commanded them to return into Hell, whence they had come.”
“Then a great light appeared upon the Earth which was the sign of the reconciliation of God with man. The angels conducted before the throne of the prince of the Apostles the small flock that had remained faithful to Jesus Christ. These good and zealous Christians testified to him the most profound respect, praising God and thanking the Apostles for having delivered them from the common destruction, and for having protected the Church of Jesus Christ by not permitting her to be infected with the false maxims of the world. St. Peter then chose the new pope. The Church was again organized ...” (Prophecy of Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora)
At Christmas, in 1816, Blessed Elizabeth saw Our Lady, who appeared extremely sad. Upon inquiring why, Our Lady answered: “Behold, my daughter, such great ungodliness.” Blessed Elizabeth then saw “apostates brazenly trying to rip her most holy Son from her arms. Confronted with such an outrage, the Mother of God ceased to ask mercy for the world, and instead requested justice from the Eternal Father. Clothed in His inexorable Justice and full of indignation, he turned to the world.
“At that moment all nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.”
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, 1820, she saw St. Peter descending from Heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of angels. With his crosier he drew great cross over the face of the Earth, separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and enveloped in magnificent light. All the good laity and religious fled for protection underneath these trees and were spared from the tremendous chastisement. “Woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy Rules. They will all perish in the terrible chastisement, together with all who give themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of their deplorable contemporary philosophy!
“The sky took on a morbid blue color which terrified everyone who looked at it. A dark wind blew everywhere. An impassioned and mournful shrieking filled the air, like the terrible roar of a fierce lion, and resounded all over the Earth in blood curdling echoes. All men and animals brimmed with terror. The entire world convulsed and everyone pitilessly slaughtered one another… When this bloody fight will arrive, the vengeful hand of God will weigh upon these fated ones and with His omnipotence He will chastise the proud for their rashness and shameless insolence. God will use the powers of darkness to exterminate these sectarian, iniquitous and criminal men, who plot to eradicate the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother, by tearing Her up by Her deepest roots, and casting Her on the ground.”
(3) St. Casper de Bufalo (Italy, 1786-1836)
St. Caspar del Bufalo was the Founder of the Missioners of the Precious Blood. Caspa was born in Rome in 1786, and was ordained a priest in 1808. Shortly after this, Rome was taken by Napoleon’s army, and he, with most of the clergy was exiled for refusing to abjure his allegiance to the Holy See. He returned after the fall of Napoleon to find a wide scope for work, as Rome had for nearly five years been almost entirely without priests and sacraments. In 1814 he founded the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. The houses of the congregation were opened to young clergy who wished to be trained specially as missioners. In his lifetime, their work covered the whole of Italy.
Del Bufalo’s biographer gives us a graphic account of a mission, describing its successive stages. Some of his methods were distinctly dramatic, e.g. the missioners took the discipline (scourging themselves) in the public plazza, which always resulted in many conversions. On the last day, forbidden firearms, obscene books, and anything else that might offend Almighty God, were publicly burnt. A cross was erected in memoriam of the mission, a solemn Te Deum sung, and the missioners went away quietly.
His last mission was preached in Rome at the Chiesa Nuova during the cholera outbreak of 1836. Feeling his strength failing, he returned at once to Albano, and made every preparation for death. He suffered terribly from cold, and at night from parching thirst, but he would not take anything to drink, so that he might be able to celebrate Mass. After the feast of St. Francis Xavier he went to Rome to die. On December 19th, the doctor forbade him to say Mass; he received the last sacraments on December 28th, and he died the same day. Various miracles had been worked by Fr. Caspar during his lifetime, and after his death many graces were obtained by his intercession. He was canonized in 1954.
Desmond Birch, in his book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph, quotes the following prophecy of St. Caspar: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness. He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).”
(4) Palma Maria (Italy, 19th century)
Palma Maria was an Italian woman, born in 1825. Widowed at the age of 28, she received the stigmata in her hands, feet and side on May 3rd, 1865. She lived only on the Holy Eucharist for the last ten years of her life. Palma Maria made many prophecies concerning local events, but she also had this to say on the “Three Days of Darkness”, indicating that they will come at the end of a period of great tribulation for the Church:
“There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils, who shall cause the death of large multitudes of unbelievers and wicked men … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful! But a grand cross shall appear and the triumph of the Church will make people quickly forget all evils.
“Blessed candles alone shall be able to give light and preserve the faithful Catholics from this impending scourge. Supernatural prodigies shall appear in the heavens. There is to be a short but furious war, during which the enemies of religion and of mankind shall be universally destroyed. A general purification of the world, and the universal triumph of the Church are to follow.”
(5) Blessed Elena Aiello (Italy, 1895-1961)
Blessed Elena Aiello was an Italian Catholic nun. Elena lived in an exemplary Christian family. Her extremely devout family, never were given over to the practice of any vanity or entertained anything of a worldly fashion. At a very young age, Elena lived a devout life and performed penances. Having contracted severe illness while still a child, she prayed to Our Lady of Pompei, promising her that she would become a nun if she was cured. And in fact, Our Lady of Pompei appeared to her during the night and assured her that she would be healed – which she was.
In 1920, she joined the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Before entering, she was prophetically told that she would not last in this Order because God had other plans in store for her. While in the Order she almost immediately contracted an intestinal pain and a severe pain on the left shoulder. Eventually her shoulder became one solid black mass. She was eventually operated on without any anesthetic while holding a small wooden cross and looking at a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows. The physician, well-intentioned but inept, in addition to cutting flesh also cut nerves that caused her lockjaw and a vomiting spell for 40 days.
What she feared would happen, did, she was asked to leave the convent and return home. Elena’s shoulder was getting worse. In fact, the doctor told her that gangrene was already setting in. After praying to St. Rita, she had a vision of St. Rita who told her that she would be cured, but the pain in her shoulder would remain because she had to suffer for the sins of the world.
Next on the list of sufferings was to be a mystical crown of thorns and the stigmata. On a First Friday, Our Lord appeared to her in a white garment and wearing a crown of thorns. On being assured of her consent, Our Lord removed the crown from His Head and placed it on Elena’s head. Then a large quantity of blood started to flow. Our Lord told her that He wished her to suffer for the conversion of sinners and for the many sins of impurity. He wanted her to be a victim in order to appease Divine Justice.
A few Fridays later, she was given the stigmata. Her body was now one mass of wounds, blood and pain. Yet God is also merciful—after some time in this horrendous suffering, through the intercession of St. Rita, she was miraculously cured of her cancer.
She was now free to try again in her pursuit of a religious vocation, and through a miraculous apparition of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, she was shown a house that would serve as a convent and she herself would be the foundress of a religious order.
On Good Friday, April 16th, 1954, Blessed Elena Aiello received the following message from Our Lady: “Clouds with lightning rays of fire and a tempest of fire will pass over the whole world, and the punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind. It will last 70 hours [three days]. The wicked will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost because they will have stubbornly remained in their sins. Then they will feel the force of light over darkness. The hours of darkness are near” (Public and Private Prophecies About the Last Times).
(6) Marie-Julie Jahenny (France, 1850-1941)
Marie-Julie Jahenny was a Breton mystic and stigmatist. She was born in a large peasant family, and later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced supernatural attacks from the devil, had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall first on France then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government; the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians; the destruction of Paris; a Day of Darkness that would come shortly before the Three Days of Darkness. The coming of the Great Monarch would also be announced by signs in the sky. She also had visions of the Angelic Pontiff who would reign at the same time of the Great Monarch, and that both these great leaders were destined to restore the Catholic Church. Her house has been transformed into a sanctuary, which bears her name, in Blain, near Nantes where she is buried in the cemetery.
Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding “The Warning” (June 15th, 1882)
Before the “Three Days of Darkness” actually occur, God will send a “Day of Warning” which will be similar to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny: “I forewarn you that a day will be found and it is already appointed when there will be little sun, few stars, and no light to take a step outside of your homes, the refuges of My people. The days will be beginning to increase. It will not be at the height of summer, nor during the longer days of the year, but when the days are still short. It will not be at the end of the year, but during the first months that I shall give My clear warnings. That [single] day of darkness and lightning will be the first that I shall send to convert the impious, and to see if a great number will return to Me, before the Great Storm which will closely follow … From one night to the next, the thunder will not cease to rumble. The fire from the lightning will do a lot of damage, even in the closed homes where someone will be living in sin. My children, that first day will not take away anything from the three others (the Three Day of Darkness) already pointed out and described.”
Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding the “Three Days of Darkness” (December 8th, 1882 & January 4th, 1884)
The prophecy continues: “The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed (this will be the beginning of the Three Days). Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.”
“As soon as you notice these signs, go indoors, lock all doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle holy water about the house and especially in the vicinity of doors and windows: the devils fear holy water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also. Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make acts of contrition, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Above all say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful mysteries.”
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated, more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days. The Earth will become like a vast cemetery. The bodies of the wicked and the just will cover the ground Three-quarters of the population of the globe will disappear.” (December 8th, 1882)
“The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption ...the three days of darkness will begin on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Days of the Most Holy Sacrament, of the Cross and Our Lady ... three days less one night. The defenders of the Faith will be protected from Heaven.” (January 4th, 1884)
(7) Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau (France, died 1878)
Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified stated that: “During a darkness, lasting three days, the people given to evil will perish so that only one-fourth of mankind will survive.”
(8) The Ecstatic of Tours (in France, 1800s)
All we know of The Ecstatic of Tours is that she was a French nun. In 1882 using her nom de plume (pen name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the eve of the Victory of Christ). The following prophecies were made in 1872-1873 and are taken from Yves Dupont’s book, Catholic Prophecy (p. 37):
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth.”
(9) Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966)
Father Constant Louis Marie Pel is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is in an abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything . . .
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
(10) Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257)
According to a vision received by Johann Friede, an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John, several extraordinary phenomena will give warning that the present order of civilization is about to end:
“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder …
“The nebula of the Greater Bear will arrive in the vicinity of Earth ... and will fill the space of five hundred suns at the horizon. It will more and more cover up the light of the sun until the days will be like nights at full moon ... By this time mankind will be stricken with terror. Birds will be like reptiles and will not use their wings. Animals of the ground, in fear and alarm, will raise such a clamor that it will make human hearts tremble. Men will flee their homes, in order not to see the weird occurrence. Finally, complete darkness will set in and last for three days and three nights.
“During this time, men, deprived of the power of light, will fall into a slumber-like sleep, from which many will not awaken, especially those who have no spark of spiritual life. When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases.
“Of mankind there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars. In the homes of the children of light, the Book of the Apocalypse will be read, and, in the palaces of the Church, they will await the arrival of the great comet. On the seventh day after the return of light, Earth will have absorbed the ashes and formed such a fertility as has not been experienced ever before.”
Summary
Even though Holy Scripture does not speak specifically about the “Three Days of Darkness” that are to come, we have nevertheless seen that Scripture speak of “Three Days of Darkness” in the past—namely, just prior to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, where the ninth plague that God sent was one of “Three Days of Darkness” (Exodus 10:22).
God speaks of something resembling the “Three Days of Darkness” when He announces through the prophet Ezechiel: “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: ‘I will spread out my net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my net. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption, and I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. I will make all the lights of Heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land” (Ezechiel 32:3-8).
A similar message does God send through His prophet Isaias: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaias 13:9-11).
Our Lord implicitly refers to something like days of darkness in His apocalyptic prophecies for our days, when He says: “And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be moved” (Matthew 24:29). He also says “Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40)—and there was no light for Jonas during his personal “Three Days of Darkness.”
Our Lady’s prophecies of later times also vaguely hint at something like the “Three Days of Darkness”—when she says: “The sun is darkening; only Faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the King of Kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady, in a sense, played with the sun—showing thereby that, for Heaven, nothing is impossible. Our Lady predicted that God would work a great miracle on October 13th, 1917 to prove the authenticity of her apparitions. A tremendous prodigy happened on that day just as Our Lady had promised. For four minutes, the noontime sun spun around giving off various colors, one after the other. If a person at Fatima that day had on a white shirt — it would turn red, green and blue as the sun spun around. It stopped and started again for four more minutes, this time giving off even more beautiful colors. Then it stopped again. Then it started again. This time it detached itself from its regular position and began to zigzag in the sky. It “danced” for about four minutes, then started to plummet to the Earth. It looked like it was the end of the world. Many people fell on their knees to ask for mercy of God. The sun then returned to its original position in the sky. It was witnessed by over 70,000 people who all, both believers and unbelievers, came away acknowledging that a great miracle had occurred. Several learned men present testified: “I have seen it but I cannot explain it.”
Likewise, the above prophets—ranging from saints, to blesseds, to venerables or just holy Catholics—have testified to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Like the learned men at Fatima, we have to say: “I have seen the testimonies an
d though I do not fully understand how this can be, I nevertheless believe!”
The reasons for accepting these prophecies and their imminent consequences for ourselves, we shall examine in tomorrow’s article.
Today, we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
The most spectacular aspect of the Act of God will be the three days of darkness over the whole earth. The Three Days have been announced by many mystics.
► From ITALY we have Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837), Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825), St. Casper del Bufalo (1786-1836), Sister Rosa-Colomba Asdente (1781-1847), Palma Maria d’ Oria (died 1863).
► From FRANCE we have Blessed Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau, (1846-1878); Père Jean Lamy or Fr. John Edward Lamy (1855-1931) a mystic and founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary; Sister Marie Baourdi, a Carmelite; Marie Martel, Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941).
► From GERMANY we have St. Hildegard (1098-1179).
► From AUSTRIA we have Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257).
This list is not exhaustive; many more Saints and mystics, such as St. Columba (died 597) have announced the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Prophecies and Credentials
We will first have a look at the various prophecies on the “Three Days of Darkness” after which we will direct you pages that will have the lives of the Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God, to show it no “crazy guy off the street” that made these prophecies.
(1) Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (1769-1837, Italy)
Though an ordinary housewife and mother, Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi led an exemplary spiritual and Christian life that gained her the reputation as one of the greatest saints of all time. She experienced frequent ecstasies, performed miraculous cures, read hearts, foretold deaths, and predicted the coming of future events. She foretold the first two world wars that wreaked havoc in the twentieth century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained supple and incorrupt. Amid praises, Pope Benedict XV beatified her on May 20th, 1920.
The following is her revelation about Three Days of Darkness:
“God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy.”
“All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome.” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, 1973).
“After the three days of darkness, St. Peter and St. Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach in the whole world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and will settle upon the cardinal who is to become Pope. Christianity, then, will spread throughout the world. He is the Holy Pontiff, chosen by God to withstand the storm. At the end, he will have the gift of miracles, and his name shall be praised over the whole Earth. Whole nations will come back to the Church and the face of the Earth will be renewed. Russia, England, and China will come into the Church.”
(2) Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora (1774–1825, Italy)
Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora was born in 1774 and lived in Italy until her saintly death in 1825. Thanks to her confessor, her revelations were preserved in hundreds of pages of her own writings. Today, the Trinitarian Fathers at San Carlino, Rome hold her manuscripts for safekeeping in their archives. These writings were meticulously examined at length as a safeguard against doctrinal errors when Blessed Pope Pius IX authorized Elizabeth Canori Mora’s cause for canonization to proceed. The ecclesiastical censor commissioned by the Holy See released his official judgment on November 5th, 1900. It stated “there is nothing against faith and good customs, and no doctrinal innovation or deviation was found.” Elizabeth Canori Mora was beatified—pronounced “Blessed”—in 1994.
Some of her prophecies are as follows:
Here is an extract from Fr. Culleton, who, in his book The Prophets and Our Times, relates the following prophecy: “...the sky was covered with clouds so dense and dismal that it was impossible to look at them without dismay... the avenging arm of God will strike the wicked, and in his mighty power he will punish their pride and presumption. God will employ the powers of Hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy its foundation. ....Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice... Nothing on the Earth shall be spared. After this frightful punishment I saw the heavens opening, and St. Peter coming down again upon Earth; he was vested in his pontifical robes, and surrounded by a great number of angels, who were chanting hymns in his honor, and they proclaimed him as sovereign of the Earth. I saw also St. Paul descending upon the Earth. By God’s command, he traversed the Earth and chained the demons, whom he brought before St. Peter, who commanded them to return into Hell, whence they had come.”
“Then a great light appeared upon the Earth which was the sign of the reconciliation of God with man. The angels conducted before the throne of the prince of the Apostles the small flock that had remained faithful to Jesus Christ. These good and zealous Christians testified to him the most profound respect, praising God and thanking the Apostles for having delivered them from the common destruction, and for having protected the Church of Jesus Christ by not permitting her to be infected with the false maxims of the world. St. Peter then chose the new pope. The Church was again organized ...” (Prophecy of Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora)
At Christmas, in 1816, Blessed Elizabeth saw Our Lady, who appeared extremely sad. Upon inquiring why, Our Lady answered: “Behold, my daughter, such great ungodliness.” Blessed Elizabeth then saw “apostates brazenly trying to rip her most holy Son from her arms. Confronted with such an outrage, the Mother of God ceased to ask mercy for the world, and instead requested justice from the Eternal Father. Clothed in His inexorable Justice and full of indignation, he turned to the world.
“At that moment all nature went into convulsions, the world lost its normal order and was filled with the most terrible calamity imaginable. This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the ultimate depths of desolation.”
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, 1820, she saw St. Peter descending from Heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of angels. With his crosier he drew great cross over the face of the Earth, separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and enveloped in magnificent light. All the good laity and religious fled for protection underneath these trees and were spared from the tremendous chastisement. “Woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy Rules. They will all perish in the terrible chastisement, together with all who give themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of their deplorable contemporary philosophy!
“The sky took on a morbid blue color which terrified everyone who looked at it. A dark wind blew everywhere. An impassioned and mournful shrieking filled the air, like the terrible roar of a fierce lion, and resounded all over the Earth in blood curdling echoes. All men and animals brimmed with terror. The entire world convulsed and everyone pitilessly slaughtered one another… When this bloody fight will arrive, the vengeful hand of God will weigh upon these fated ones and with His omnipotence He will chastise the proud for their rashness and shameless insolence. God will use the powers of darkness to exterminate these sectarian, iniquitous and criminal men, who plot to eradicate the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother, by tearing Her up by Her deepest roots, and casting Her on the ground.”
(3) St. Casper de Bufalo (Italy, 1786-1836)
St. Caspar del Bufalo was the Founder of the Missioners of the Precious Blood. Caspa was born in Rome in 1786, and was ordained a priest in 1808. Shortly after this, Rome was taken by Napoleon’s army, and he, with most of the clergy was exiled for refusing to abjure his allegiance to the Holy See. He returned after the fall of Napoleon to find a wide scope for work, as Rome had for nearly five years been almost entirely without priests and sacraments. In 1814 he founded the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. The houses of the congregation were opened to young clergy who wished to be trained specially as missioners. In his lifetime, their work covered the whole of Italy.
Del Bufalo’s biographer gives us a graphic account of a mission, describing its successive stages. Some of his methods were distinctly dramatic, e.g. the missioners took the discipline (scourging themselves) in the public plazza, which always resulted in many conversions. On the last day, forbidden firearms, obscene books, and anything else that might offend Almighty God, were publicly burnt. A cross was erected in memoriam of the mission, a solemn Te Deum sung, and the missioners went away quietly.
His last mission was preached in Rome at the Chiesa Nuova during the cholera outbreak of 1836. Feeling his strength failing, he returned at once to Albano, and made every preparation for death. He suffered terribly from cold, and at night from parching thirst, but he would not take anything to drink, so that he might be able to celebrate Mass. After the feast of St. Francis Xavier he went to Rome to die. On December 19th, the doctor forbade him to say Mass; he received the last sacraments on December 28th, and he died the same day. Various miracles had been worked by Fr. Caspar during his lifetime, and after his death many graces were obtained by his intercession. He was canonized in 1954.
Desmond Birch, in his book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph, quotes the following prophecy of St. Caspar: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the Three Days of Darkness. He who outlives the darkness and the fear of these three days, will think that he is alone on Earth, because the whole world will be covered with cadavers (corpses).”
(4) Palma Maria (Italy, 19th century)
Palma Maria was an Italian woman, born in 1825. Widowed at the age of 28, she received the stigmata in her hands, feet and side on May 3rd, 1865. She lived only on the Holy Eucharist for the last ten years of her life. Palma Maria made many prophecies concerning local events, but she also had this to say on the “Three Days of Darkness”, indicating that they will come at the end of a period of great tribulation for the Church:
“There shall be Three Days of Darkness. Not one demon shall be left in Hell … The atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils, who shall cause the death of large multitudes of unbelievers and wicked men … They shall all come out—either to excite the wicked, or to dishearten the just. This shall be frightful! Frightful! But a grand cross shall appear and the triumph of the Church will make people quickly forget all evils.
“Blessed candles alone shall be able to give light and preserve the faithful Catholics from this impending scourge. Supernatural prodigies shall appear in the heavens. There is to be a short but furious war, during which the enemies of religion and of mankind shall be universally destroyed. A general purification of the world, and the universal triumph of the Church are to follow.”
(5) Blessed Elena Aiello (Italy, 1895-1961)
Blessed Elena Aiello was an Italian Catholic nun. Elena lived in an exemplary Christian family. Her extremely devout family, never were given over to the practice of any vanity or entertained anything of a worldly fashion. At a very young age, Elena lived a devout life and performed penances. Having contracted severe illness while still a child, she prayed to Our Lady of Pompei, promising her that she would become a nun if she was cured. And in fact, Our Lady of Pompei appeared to her during the night and assured her that she would be healed – which she was.
In 1920, she joined the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Before entering, she was prophetically told that she would not last in this Order because God had other plans in store for her. While in the Order she almost immediately contracted an intestinal pain and a severe pain on the left shoulder. Eventually her shoulder became one solid black mass. She was eventually operated on without any anesthetic while holding a small wooden cross and looking at a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows. The physician, well-intentioned but inept, in addition to cutting flesh also cut nerves that caused her lockjaw and a vomiting spell for 40 days.
What she feared would happen, did, she was asked to leave the convent and return home. Elena’s shoulder was getting worse. In fact, the doctor told her that gangrene was already setting in. After praying to St. Rita, she had a vision of St. Rita who told her that she would be cured, but the pain in her shoulder would remain because she had to suffer for the sins of the world.
Next on the list of sufferings was to be a mystical crown of thorns and the stigmata. On a First Friday, Our Lord appeared to her in a white garment and wearing a crown of thorns. On being assured of her consent, Our Lord removed the crown from His Head and placed it on Elena’s head. Then a large quantity of blood started to flow. Our Lord told her that He wished her to suffer for the conversion of sinners and for the many sins of impurity. He wanted her to be a victim in order to appease Divine Justice.
A few Fridays later, she was given the stigmata. Her body was now one mass of wounds, blood and pain. Yet God is also merciful—after some time in this horrendous suffering, through the intercession of St. Rita, she was miraculously cured of her cancer.
She was now free to try again in her pursuit of a religious vocation, and through a miraculous apparition of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, she was shown a house that would serve as a convent and she herself would be the foundress of a religious order.
On Good Friday, April 16th, 1954, Blessed Elena Aiello received the following message from Our Lady: “Clouds with lightning rays of fire and a tempest of fire will pass over the whole world, and the punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind. It will last 70 hours [three days]. The wicked will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost because they will have stubbornly remained in their sins. Then they will feel the force of light over darkness. The hours of darkness are near” (Public and Private Prophecies About the Last Times).
(6) Marie-Julie Jahenny (France, 1850-1941)
Marie-Julie Jahenny was a Breton mystic and stigmatist. She was born in a large peasant family, and later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced supernatural attacks from the devil, had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall first on France then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government; the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians; the destruction of Paris; a Day of Darkness that would come shortly before the Three Days of Darkness. The coming of the Great Monarch would also be announced by signs in the sky. She also had visions of the Angelic Pontiff who would reign at the same time of the Great Monarch, and that both these great leaders were destined to restore the Catholic Church. Her house has been transformed into a sanctuary, which bears her name, in Blain, near Nantes where she is buried in the cemetery.
Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding “The Warning” (June 15th, 1882)
Before the “Three Days of Darkness” actually occur, God will send a “Day of Warning” which will be similar to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Jesus said to Marie-Julie Jahenny: “I forewarn you that a day will be found and it is already appointed when there will be little sun, few stars, and no light to take a step outside of your homes, the refuges of My people. The days will be beginning to increase. It will not be at the height of summer, nor during the longer days of the year, but when the days are still short. It will not be at the end of the year, but during the first months that I shall give My clear warnings. That [single] day of darkness and lightning will be the first that I shall send to convert the impious, and to see if a great number will return to Me, before the Great Storm which will closely follow … From one night to the next, the thunder will not cease to rumble. The fire from the lightning will do a lot of damage, even in the closed homes where someone will be living in sin. My children, that first day will not take away anything from the three others (the Three Day of Darkness) already pointed out and described.”
Revelations of Marie-Julie Jahenny regarding the “Three Days of Darkness” (December 8th, 1882 & January 4th, 1884)
The prophecy continues: “The wind will howl and roar. Lightning and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude will strike the Earth. The whole Earth will shake, heavenly bodies will be disturbed (this will be the beginning of the Three Days). Every Demon, every evil spirit will be released from Hell and allowed to roam the Earth. Terrifying apparitions will take place. Many will die from sheer fright. Fire will rain forth from the sky, all large cities will be destroyed, poisonous gases will fill the air, cries and lamentations everywhere. The unbelievers will burn in the open like withered grass. The entire Earth will be afflicted; it will look like a huge graveyard.”
“As soon as you notice these signs, go indoors, lock all doors and windows, pull down the blinds, stick adhesive paper on vents and around windows and doors. Do not answer calls from outside, do not look at the windows, or you will die on the spot: keep your eyes down to make sure you do not see the windows; the Wrath of God is mighty and no one should attempt to behold it. Light blessed wax candles; nothing else will burn, but the candles will not be extinguished once lit. Nothing will put them out in the houses of the faithful, but they will not burn in the houses of the godless. Sprinkle holy water about the house and especially in the vicinity of doors and windows: the devils fear holy water. Bless yourself with it and anoint your five senses with it: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and forehead. Keep on hand a sufficient supply of drinking water and, if possible, food also. Kneel down and pray incessantly with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor. Make acts of contrition, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Above all say the Rosary and meditate on the Sorrowful mysteries.”
“Some people, especially children, will be taken up to Heaven beforehand to spare them the horror of these days. People caught outdoors will die instantly. Three-quarters of the human race will be exterminated, more men than women. No one will escape the terror of these days. The Earth will become like a vast cemetery. The bodies of the wicked and the just will cover the ground Three-quarters of the population of the globe will disappear.” (December 8th, 1882)
“The crisis will explode suddenly; the punishments will be shared by all and will succeed one another without interruption ...the three days of darkness will begin on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Days of the Most Holy Sacrament, of the Cross and Our Lady ... three days less one night. The defenders of the Faith will be protected from Heaven.” (January 4th, 1884)
(7) Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified of Pau (France, died 1878)
Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified stated that: “During a darkness, lasting three days, the people given to evil will perish so that only one-fourth of mankind will survive.”
(8) The Ecstatic of Tours (in France, 1800s)
All we know of The Ecstatic of Tours is that she was a French nun. In 1882 using her nom de plume (pen name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the eve of the Victory of Christ). The following prophecies were made in 1872-1873 and are taken from Yves Dupont’s book, Catholic Prophecy (p. 37):
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth.”
(9) Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966)
Father Constant Louis Marie Pel is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is in an abbreviated form:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything . . .
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed ‘Eldest Daughter of the Church,’ because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
(10) Johann Friede (Austria, 1204-1257)
According to a vision received by Johann Friede, an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John, several extraordinary phenomena will give warning that the present order of civilization is about to end:
“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, Earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the Earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder …
“The nebula of the Greater Bear will arrive in the vicinity of Earth ... and will fill the space of five hundred suns at the horizon. It will more and more cover up the light of the sun until the days will be like nights at full moon ... By this time mankind will be stricken with terror. Birds will be like reptiles and will not use their wings. Animals of the ground, in fear and alarm, will raise such a clamor that it will make human hearts tremble. Men will flee their homes, in order not to see the weird occurrence. Finally, complete darkness will set in and last for three days and three nights.
“During this time, men, deprived of the power of light, will fall into a slumber-like sleep, from which many will not awaken, especially those who have no spark of spiritual life. When the sun will again rise and emerge, the Earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases.
“Of mankind there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars. In the homes of the children of light, the Book of the Apocalypse will be read, and, in the palaces of the Church, they will await the arrival of the great comet. On the seventh day after the return of light, Earth will have absorbed the ashes and formed such a fertility as has not been experienced ever before.”
Summary
Even though Holy Scripture does not speak specifically about the “Three Days of Darkness” that are to come, we have nevertheless seen that Scripture speak of “Three Days of Darkness” in the past—namely, just prior to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, where the ninth plague that God sent was one of “Three Days of Darkness” (Exodus 10:22).
God speaks of something resembling the “Three Days of Darkness” when He announces through the prophet Ezechiel: “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: ‘I will spread out my net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my net. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption, and I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. I will make all the lights of Heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land” (Ezechiel 32:3-8).
A similar message does God send through His prophet Isaias: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaias 13:9-11).
Our Lord implicitly refers to something like days of darkness in His apocalyptic prophecies for our days, when He says: “And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be moved” (Matthew 24:29). He also says “Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40)—and there was no light for Jonas during his personal “Three Days of Darkness.”
Our Lady’s prophecies of later times also vaguely hint at something like the “Three Days of Darkness”—when she says: “The sun is darkening; only Faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the King of Kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects … For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady, in a sense, played with the sun—showing thereby that, for Heaven, nothing is impossible. Our Lady predicted that God would work a great miracle on October 13th, 1917 to prove the authenticity of her apparitions. A tremendous prodigy happened on that day just as Our Lady had promised. For four minutes, the noontime sun spun around giving off various colors, one after the other. If a person at Fatima that day had on a white shirt — it would turn red, green and blue as the sun spun around. It stopped and started again for four more minutes, this time giving off even more beautiful colors. Then it stopped again. Then it started again. This time it detached itself from its regular position and began to zigzag in the sky. It “danced” for about four minutes, then started to plummet to the Earth. It looked like it was the end of the world. Many people fell on their knees to ask for mercy of God. The sun then returned to its original position in the sky. It was witnessed by over 70,000 people who all, both believers and unbelievers, came away acknowledging that a great miracle had occurred. Several learned men present testified: “I have seen it but I cannot explain it.”
Likewise, the above prophets—ranging from saints, to blesseds, to venerables or just holy Catholics—have testified to the “Three Days of Darkness.” Like the learned men at Fatima, we have to say: “I have seen the testimonies an
d though I do not fully understand how this can be, I nevertheless believe!”
The reasons for accepting these prophecies and their imminent consequences for ourselves, we shall examine in tomorrow’s article.
Wednesday February 3rd
Article 2
Candlemas Day & The Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 2
Candlemas Day & The Three Days of Darkness
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Candles, Candlemas and the Three Days of Darkness?
What on earth could be the connection between candles, the feast of Candlemas (February 2nd) and the so-called “Three Days of Darkness”? I believe in candles. I believe in Candlemas. Do I believe in the “Three Days of Darkness”? Much like St. Thomas Aquinas would do—which is what we all should do—let us look at the objections first and not try to run or hide from them. Let us look at the sources and then make some necessary distinctions as we try come to a conclusion.
Three Groups Sitting in Darkness
First of all, there are rabid objectors to the Catholic Faith who are not worth listening to and not worth wasting our breathe upon—these are outright enemies of the Church who will denigrate, ridicule, slander, question, dispute and cast doubt over as many teachings of the Catholic Faith and her actions as they can get away with. The fact that most Catholic today are grossly “dumbed-down” and know very little of their Faith, let alone having and understanding of it, makes their work very easy indeed.
Secondly, there are rational objectors—some of them Catholic, others non-Catholic—who also question, dispute and cast doubt over many teachings and actions of the Church, but they are less likely to be sensationalist, nor rabid, nor illogical in their doubts, disputes or attacks. Some may be in good faith, others in bad faith. The current day Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals in the Church fall into this category. They have grown to place more and more faith in science and human reason rather than in God. This Rationalism makes oneself the authority in judging truth—which leads to subjectivism and subjective truth. Truth becomes what I think it is, what I would like it to be, what favors my position, what brings me most advantage, etc.
Thirdly, there are those who are neither Rationalists, Modernists, nor Liberals, but sincere faithful members of the Catholic Church, who want to believe and do what is right—but who do not always know what is true and what ought to be done. Often this is due to a negligence on their part, in not studying the Faith sufficiently—which, had they done so, would eliminate many of the dilemmas they face.
All of these people—given any teaching or aspect of the Catholic Church and its actions, customs and practices, will have questions, incertitude, doubts, gaps in knowledge, misconceptions, etc., that should be addressed. The rabid objectors need to be put down and dismissed. The Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals need to be answered and proven wrong (in cases where they are wrong, for rarely is someone wrong in absolutely everything—just as nobody is right in absolutely everything). While the sincere Catholics needs to be enlightened—both as to the dangers of the two previous groups, as well as in their own personal ignorance, doubts and misconceptions.
An Example of Mental Darkness and Misconception
Before proceeding to the “Three Days of Darkness”, let us look how the mind can be darkened by misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations. Take for example the subject of Hell. There are some who hold that Hell does not exist. Others say that it exists, but that it is not permanent. While some say that it exists and that it is permanent.
The Church teaches, as a dogma of Faith, that Hell exists and that it is permanent. “The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell. (De fide) … The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity. (De fide). The Council fo Lyons I stated: ’If anyone without repentance dies in mortal sin, without a doubt he is tortured forever by the flames of eternal Hell’ [Denzinger §457] (Denzinger, Sources of Catholic Dogma).
Yet reputable theologians also teach that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine, writes: “Gregory says [The quotation is from St. Augustine (The City of God, 1:8)]: ‘Even as in the same fire gold glistens and straw smokes, so in the same fire the sinner burns and the elect is cleansed.’ Therefore the fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, Appendix 2, art. 2).
That it is the same fire that burns in Purgatory as in Hell is also testified to by Private Revelation—yes, we all know that Private Revelation is not dogma and does not hold the same obligations of belief, but I dare anyone to appear before God and reject the private revelations He has permitted and made! We shall not go into any detail here—a cursory glance at Fr. Schouppe’s two books on Hell and Purgatory will give you more than a clear insight into the private revelations of souls that have been allowed by God to appear and attest to the fires that burn them in both Purgatory and Hell.
Some of those revelations state—as many theologians also believe—that the fires of Purgatory are the same as the fires of Hell (that is to say in lowest, deepest parts of Purgatory). From this it is easy to see how some misinformed, irrational, superficial souls could come up with the idea that Hell is only temporary—because they look only at the aspect of fire and not place. To them being in the lowest, deepest confines of Purgatory is like being in Hell, only that this ‘Hell’ ends sooner or later. The truth is that the fires of Hell cease to burn them in Purgatory because they are in Purgatory and not Hell.
These misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations can come forth from both a weak-minded but well-intentioned soul, or they can emanate from a string-minded but evil-intentioned soul. From this digression, let us proceed to the “Three Days of Darkness” to see if we can find some light at the end of the tunnel.
Wikipedia in the Dark?
Let us first of all, in order to deal with objections, take the opinion given by Wikipedia, which is a non-Catholic source, which quite often (though not always) will show a bias against solid and ancient Catholic teaching, favoring more rational, Liberal or Modernistic interpretations. Its article on the subject reads thus:
“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism which parallels the Ten Plagues against Egypt in the Book of Exodus.
“Just as God punished the Egyptians with plagues including the “three days of darkness”, the theory states that God will chastise the world with darkness at the end of time. The earth will be enveloped by darkness lasting three days and three nights, the only light source that can be seen being blessed candles. Various Catholic visionaries agree that the faithful should stay within their homes during this period as most of the earth’s inhabitants shall die.
Advocates
“Many Catholic seers and mystics such as Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Gaspar del Bufalo, Padre Pio, Anna Maria Taigi, Elisabeth Canori Mora, Mariam Baouardi (Mary of Jesus Crucified), Rosa-Colomba Asdente, Palma d’Oria, Père Lamy, Marie Martel, and Marie Julie Jahenny, have prophesied the Three Days of Darkness. However it is not endorsed by the Holy See.
“Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the most known seer of the Three Days of Darkness and describes the event in this way: “There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941), known as the “Breton Stigmatist”, expanded upon the story of the Three Days of Darkness, saying that it will occur on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday when all of Hell will be let loose to strike at those outside their homes and those without a lit blessed candle of 100% pure wax.
Controversy
Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists. The latter group hopes that a “true pope” will be miraculously designated by an apparition of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; this tangential belief assumes that the most recent pontiffs of the Church are in fact “antipopes.” There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed.” (End of Wikipedia article).
The “Three WAYS of Darkness” by Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article very subtly denigrates and casts doubt upon the prophecies about the “Three Day of Darkness.” It must be said that whoever wrote the article has the honesty to state some of the facts (but an article that would lie about the facts would lose its credibility), but then casts doubt upon the veracity of the matter—“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism … This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See … There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed ... Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists.”
1. First of all it pits the “Three Days of Darkness” against the approbation of the Church, saying: This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See.” Yet it fails to mention that neither does the Church condemn the “Three Days of Darkness.” It is much like canonizing a saint—the Church may judge it too early to canonize somebody, but neither does it say the opposite. Or, for example, speaking of the fires of Purgatory, the Church does not make it a dogma, but it does forbid theologians of speaking of the fires of Purgatory—for the Church holds the teaching to be probably true, though not dogmatically true. To say that the Church does not endorse the “Three Days of Darkness”, does not mean the Church rejects the “Three Days of Darkness.” Subtle and clever sowing of doubt here!
2. Another way the article discredits “Three Days of Darkness” is the very crafty way it resorts to discreditation or guilt by association with ‘undesirables’—in this case “traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists [those who think there is no current valid pope]”—which implies that you are like them by implication in believing in the “Three Days of Darkness.” However, this ignores all the generations before today’s “traditional Catholics” (which fails to mention that all Catholics of bygone years were traditional Catholics for centuries before our current Modernism came around) and fails to mention that thousands of Catholics, way before the current problem sedevacantism, also adhered to the “Three Days of Darkness” – saints and theologians included.
3. Then the article goes on to cast doubt upon the authenticity of St. Padre Pio positively endorsing the “Three Days of Darkness” and stops there--without referring to the authenticity of many of other saints and blessed who DO ENDORSE the “Three Days of Darkness.” Though the authenticity of St. Padre Pio may rightfully be in question, that is not the case for the other saints and blesseds—but following this line of reasoning, it is tantamount to saying: “If St. Padre did not endorse the ‘Three Days of Darkness’—even though many think he did—then automatically you must doubt all the other saints and blessed too!” This is like saying, because one person is wrong, everyone must be wrong; or if a person is wrong once, they must automatically be always wrong; or if one person did not say something, nobody must have said it. Ridiculous!
Another Objection
On a website named ‘Brother Priests”, run by a Catholic priest, Fr. Joel Sember, who studied at St. John Vianney Seminary, Mundelein Seminary and the North American College. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay (WI), United States on June 30th, 2007. Fr. Joel Sember has a License degree in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University Santa Croce in Rome. He is pastor of three parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay, WI.
There is an article on his website that also denigrates and casts doubt over the “Three Days of Darkness”—and rhetorically asks “What should Catholics think?” before putting down and ridiculing any such belief in the “Three Days of Darkness.” Here are some key objections which we will proceed to answer immediately within the text (in red print):
“An end-times prophecy about three days of darkness is making the rounds of Catholic circles. This prophecy states that God’s last act of judgment on earth will be three days and three nights of total darkness. No light will shine during this time except blessed wax candles, and the enemies of the Church will die.
[COMMENT: Wrong! The prophecy DOES NOT state that it will be “God’s last act of judgment on earth” but that it will bring to an end the Minor Tribulation or Minor Apostasy, after which God will triumph and there will be peace on Earth with God being wonderfully served and worshiped. If the writer cannot get his facts write in the opening paragraph, then where else is erring?]
“According to some web searches I did, this same prophecy also makes the rounds in New Age circles—although without the references to the Church of course. On the internet you can find a purported Mayan legend about a time when the sun did not rise and there were three days of darkness until the people’s prayers brought the sun back.
[COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method—linking to New Age and pagan Mayan sources. In that case we can cast doubt on many aspects and teachings of the Catholic Faith just because Protestants or other religions believe the same thing—for example worshiping on Sundays rather than the Sabbath (nowhere in the Bible does it say we have to worship on Sunday). ].
“The Catholic version is far more terrifying than the New-Age version. The prophecy is attributed to Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi. I have not done any research to establish whether she really wrote this [COMMENT: Again subtle doubt casting. Have you done any research to see if Christ really existed, that Our Lady really existed, etc.], but here is the passage that you can find on the internet:
“God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed wax candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy.
“All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
This is the mild version of the prophecy. More serious versions tell you that all Hell will roam the earth during those three days, and just looking out a window will be fatal. You are warned to buy thick drapes or black plastic to cover all your windows. Also, it is said that during the three days you will hear people banging on your door and you will think that people you love are out in the darkness, but do not open the door because it will really be the demons trying to get you.
[COMMENT: Here again we have a subtle form of ridicule and denigration that seeks to make the reader disbelieve that God could be brutal. If you do not believe that, then simply read the Old Testament and look at the ‘brutality’ God commanded in retribution for sin! Oh, that is the Old Testament, you may say! Well look at the New Testament and see how God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Christ, where the city was razed to the ground and over a million Jews were slaughtered (men, women and children), and where some of the Jews were eating their own babies during the long siege, due to a lack of food. Pretty brutal, eh? And prophesied by Christ! So the brutality of the forthcoming chastisement should not surprise us!]
“What should Catholics think about this prophecy? They should think that it is probably wrong. There is no scriptural support for the idea that darkness will be the last punishment of mankind [COMMENT: Again, who says it is the last punishment of mankind? Only you! Facts wrong again!]. Although there are several scriptures which talk about the sun being darkened in the last days, the darkness is never the last and final judgment but it is only a sign of the judgment that is coming. This is true in the references in Matthew, Revelation, and the prophets. In Exodus 10:21-29, the only passage in the Bible that refers to three days of darkness, the darkness is the penultimate plague unleashed against Egypt. The last and final plague was the death of the firstborn.
[COMMENT: Again, wrong assumption and insinuation—the “Three Days of Darkness” will not be “the last and final” punishment. This is a good example of how to build castles on sand. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, if you are little off course in the beginning of your journey, then after many hours you will be a long way from your intended destination.].
The clearest reference in Scripture to the final judgment of the earth [the “Three Days of Darkness is not the final judgement] says that this judgment will happen by fire. Revelation 20:7-10 says this:
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.”
“Someone could claim that the fire that comes down from Heaven is really an intense darkness laden with pestilence and swarming with demons, but that does not make any sense. [COMMENT: If you reject the notion of true fire coming down from Heaven, then is Our Lady in error or lying when she says: “Without virginity, it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Quito) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity” (Akita).].
Second, the more you think about the prophecy, the less sense it makes. This is supposed to be God’s final act of punishment [No! It is not!] against evildoers and enemies of the Church, but many evil people are going to be spared [COMMENT: where do you get “many”? Some perhaps, but not many, and certainly not the majority], so that they can be converted by the Church after the great chastisement. Also, many good and holy persons will be among the dead, according to this prophecy.
“In Exodus, the Israelites were spared the darkness and the death of their firstborn, and these plagues only fell on Egyptians. This time God must be a lot more angry, because only the just people who stay in their homes, do not look out the windows, and light blessed candles will be spared.
[COMMENT: Here the author is being sarcastic—but God is more angry, as stated by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before.].
“This prophecy – and particularly the swarms of demons in the sky – seems to reflect the devil’s way of thinking and doing things much more than God’s way of doing things.
[COMMENT: If you reject the “swarms of demons”, then please explain Our Lady’s words at Quito, La Salette—or are those bogus too? “The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings” (Quito) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will have great power over nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests” (La Salette).].
Endnote: you should be careful to read the fine print. Most of the internet sites promoting this prophecy are connected to individuals and groups which believe that the Catholic Church is in apostasy right now and most Masses are not valid. [COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method]. Apostasy in the Catholic Church is the devil’s favorite end-time prophecy [COMMENT: Then you are condemning some of the greatest saints and mystics of the Church. Furthermore, you condemn Cardinal Manning, who wrote: “The writers of the Church tell us that in the latter days the city of Rome will probably become apostate from the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ; and that Rome will again be punished, for he will depart from it; and the judgment of God will fall on the place from which he once reigned over the nations of the world …. Rome shall apostatize from the faith and drive away the Vicar of Christ, and return to its ancient paganism.” And what of the current day cardinals who say that apostasy will start at the top?], something he has been dreaming about since 33 AD (the devil, like many politicians, believes that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true). During the Protestant Reformation he was telling everyone that the Pope in Rome was the Antichrist. The “alternate” version of the Third Secret of Fatima, the one supposedly hidden by the Vatican, proclaims that the papacy will be in apostasy and the true faith will not be preserved in Rome, but only in Portugal. Whenever you find people believing that the Catholic Church has become or will become unfaithful to Christ, the devil is not far away
[COMMENT: Was Our Lord the devil in disguise when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Was St. Paul the devil in disguise when he wrote that with most of the 2 to 3 million Israelites in the desert during the time of the Exodus, God was not well pleased? During the Arian heresy, most of the Church was unfaithful to the dogma of Christ being true God, denying that the Son is of one essence, nature, or substance with God. Hence the famous quote of St. Jerome, who complained that nearly all the world had become Arian!]
This is the typical denigrating and ridiculing attack that comes from the pens of many Modernists, Rationalists and Liberals within the Church itself. This requires vigilance and repudiation when encountered. For, as Our Lord said: “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Sifting the Prophecies
A lot has been written about the “Three Days of Darkness”—some of it exaggerated and sensational, some not—so one needs to sift through the material carefully for fear of falling into serious doctrinal errors. This separation of the chaff from the wheat is a difficult task.
The Catholic Church & Prophecies
The “Three Days of Darkness” is a prophecy—not from one single source, but from several sources from different time spheres. So it is first of all necessary to look at the principles of judgment concerning prophecies. Therefore, let us consult the Catholic Encyclopedia for some guidelines regarding prophecies—for this summarizes and presents these principles in a succinct manner. The Catholic Encyclopedia, as shown on the New Advent website, states:
● As the term is used in mystical theology, it applies both to the prophecies of canonical Scripture and to private prophecies.
● Understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events, of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things, which cannot be known by the natural light of reason.
● St. Paul, speaking of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14, does not confine its meaning to predictions of future events, but includes under it Divine inspirations, concerning what is secret, whether future or not.
● As, however, the manifestation of hidden present mysteries, or past events comes under revelation, we have here to understand by prophecy what is in its strict and proper sense, namely the revelation of future events.
● The knowledge must be supernatural and infused by God, because it concerns things beyond the natural power of created intelligence; and the knowledge must be manifested either by words or signs, because the gift of prophecy is given primarily for the good of others, and hence needs to be manifested.
● It is a Divine light by which God reveals things concerning the unknown future and by which these things are in some way represented to the mind of the prophet, whose duty it is to manifest them to others.
Prudent Discernment Needed
The Church considers the Book of Apocalypse as Divinely inspired and remains to be the last prophetic work that the Church acknowledges as such. Though the prophetic spirit has continued through the centuries, the Church has never promoted any other prophetic work—even if the Church proclaimed countless persons as saints who were gifted with prophesy. Thus the Church shows prudence—by neither absolutely accepting or absolutely denying the prophecies made by those saints. She will simply say that there is nothing in them that can be judged to be against Faith or Morals.
The Church prudently gives ample latitude as to the acceptance or rejection of particular or private prophecies based on evidence for or against them. The Catholic faithful’s attitude should be that of prudence and balance always being careful and slow in accepting or rejecting them—especially when they come from trustworthy sources and do not contradict Catholic doctrine and morals. Unfortunately there are many who are lovers and followers of the sensational, and bite the fruit before testing it.
How Can Prophecy Be Verified?
The only real way a prophecy can be absolutely verified as true is when it is fulfilled. It is much like the police holding a person in suspicion of criminal behavior—they cannot be sure or they cannot arrest the person until their suspicion (or ‘prophecy’) is fulfilled and the person is caught “red-handed” committing the crime. Veracity or accuracy of their fulfillment remains to be the litmus test to which all prophecies are to be judged.
The character of these prophecies covers a wide gamut ranging from pious anticipations of Providence; to events in the lives of saints; to the fate of nations; to the popes and the papacy; and to apocalyptic catastrophes leading to the end of the world. They may sometimes be realized in part and in part may even run contrary to events. Due to the conditional nature of some of them, they may or may not be fulfilled.
For example, Our Lady says at Fatima—if her demands are fulfilled then a certain thing will not happen, but if her demands are not fulfilled, then it will happen. So if we pray and do much penance, the terrible things she foretold at Fatima and also at La Salette and Akita would not happen. Because they would not happen, we cannot say the prophecy of a chastisement was false—it is simply that we took heed of her warnings and put into practice what would stop the prophecy coming true. In this way many prophecies are said to be “conditional”.
“End Time” Prophecies
First of all we must ask ourselves: “Are we in the end times?” Though we are most certainly not on the verge of the actual end of the world, we can almost certainly say that we are within a period that could well be called “The End Times” or “The Latter Days”.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in December 1957, speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions of Our Lady, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984 by Jesus magazine. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the Third Secret and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.”
In the build-up to Christmas 2015, Pope Francis just recently told crowds in St. Peter’s Square that this Christmas might be the last one for humanity. In a grim speech, the Pope said that the current chaotic state of the world marks the beginning of the “end times”, and that this time next year the world is likely to be unrecognizable.
The common and outstanding character among latter day prophecies seems to be the foreboding of a terrible destruction of the world due to an unrepentant mankind, the resurgence of the Church, and the conversion of the world. E.H. Thompson keenly pointed out in his “Life of Anna Maria Taigi” (chapter 18) that the revelations have the following features: “First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a revolution springing from most deep-rooted impiety, consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth, and resulting in the most formidable persecution to which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they all promise for the Church a victory more splendid than she has ever achieved here below.”
The Fatima prophecies fit exactly into this category when Our Lady spoke of a terrible chastisement if men do not repent and amend their lives—but she also gave hope by promising that in the end Her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
The Three Days of Darkness—Not A New Idea
The idea or fact of “days of darkness” is nothing new. Holy Scripture has many references to “days of darkness”—therefore this whole idea is not the invention of someone’s feverish imagination!
Firstly, at the very beginning of time, the whole world was enshrouded in darkness: “And the Earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep … And God said: Be light made. And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night” (Genesis 1:2-4).
Secondly, an event which could be said to resemble most the circumstances of the prophecy about the “Three days of Darkness, is found in the time of Moses and the ten plagues that God sends upon Pharaoh and Egypt, especially the ninth plague—which actually was three days of darkness:
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch out they hand towards Heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt!’ And Moses stretch forth his hand towards Heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was: but wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt there was light” (Exodus 10:21-23). This shows a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Once the Israelites left Egypt and were being pursued by the Egyptian soldiers, God again used darkness as weapon before destroying His enemies: “And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them” (Josue 24:7).
In another Old Testament instance, Isaias the prophet also spoke of a day of darkness: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty … I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things” (Isaias 13: 9-11; 45:7).
The Book of Job speaks of day being turned into darkness and death: “Let that day be turned into darkness and let not the light shine upon it. Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness … He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world” (Job 3:4-5; 18:18).
Coming to the New Testament, we have the “Three Hours of Darkness” that enveloped the whole world at the moment Our Lord died on the cross on Mount Calvary. Three of the Gospel writers mention this fact: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45) … “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33) … “And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour” (Luke 23:44). Again, a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”, showing that God is liable to operate in this way and that it is nothing new.
These and even more Scriptural references, provide a platform of reality and not mere fancy for the prophecies and revelations about days of darkness that would be made—by the saints, the blessed, the venerables, and mystics—after New Testament times and relating to our times.
Tomorrow we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
What on earth could be the connection between candles, the feast of Candlemas (February 2nd) and the so-called “Three Days of Darkness”? I believe in candles. I believe in Candlemas. Do I believe in the “Three Days of Darkness”? Much like St. Thomas Aquinas would do—which is what we all should do—let us look at the objections first and not try to run or hide from them. Let us look at the sources and then make some necessary distinctions as we try come to a conclusion.
Three Groups Sitting in Darkness
First of all, there are rabid objectors to the Catholic Faith who are not worth listening to and not worth wasting our breathe upon—these are outright enemies of the Church who will denigrate, ridicule, slander, question, dispute and cast doubt over as many teachings of the Catholic Faith and her actions as they can get away with. The fact that most Catholic today are grossly “dumbed-down” and know very little of their Faith, let alone having and understanding of it, makes their work very easy indeed.
Secondly, there are rational objectors—some of them Catholic, others non-Catholic—who also question, dispute and cast doubt over many teachings and actions of the Church, but they are less likely to be sensationalist, nor rabid, nor illogical in their doubts, disputes or attacks. Some may be in good faith, others in bad faith. The current day Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals in the Church fall into this category. They have grown to place more and more faith in science and human reason rather than in God. This Rationalism makes oneself the authority in judging truth—which leads to subjectivism and subjective truth. Truth becomes what I think it is, what I would like it to be, what favors my position, what brings me most advantage, etc.
Thirdly, there are those who are neither Rationalists, Modernists, nor Liberals, but sincere faithful members of the Catholic Church, who want to believe and do what is right—but who do not always know what is true and what ought to be done. Often this is due to a negligence on their part, in not studying the Faith sufficiently—which, had they done so, would eliminate many of the dilemmas they face.
All of these people—given any teaching or aspect of the Catholic Church and its actions, customs and practices, will have questions, incertitude, doubts, gaps in knowledge, misconceptions, etc., that should be addressed. The rabid objectors need to be put down and dismissed. The Rationalists, Modernists and Liberals need to be answered and proven wrong (in cases where they are wrong, for rarely is someone wrong in absolutely everything—just as nobody is right in absolutely everything). While the sincere Catholics needs to be enlightened—both as to the dangers of the two previous groups, as well as in their own personal ignorance, doubts and misconceptions.
An Example of Mental Darkness and Misconception
Before proceeding to the “Three Days of Darkness”, let us look how the mind can be darkened by misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations. Take for example the subject of Hell. There are some who hold that Hell does not exist. Others say that it exists, but that it is not permanent. While some say that it exists and that it is permanent.
The Church teaches, as a dogma of Faith, that Hell exists and that it is permanent. “The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell. (De fide) … The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity. (De fide). The Council fo Lyons I stated: ’If anyone without repentance dies in mortal sin, without a doubt he is tortured forever by the flames of eternal Hell’ [Denzinger §457] (Denzinger, Sources of Catholic Dogma).
Yet reputable theologians also teach that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine, writes: “Gregory says [The quotation is from St. Augustine (The City of God, 1:8)]: ‘Even as in the same fire gold glistens and straw smokes, so in the same fire the sinner burns and the elect is cleansed.’ Therefore the fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, Appendix 2, art. 2).
That it is the same fire that burns in Purgatory as in Hell is also testified to by Private Revelation—yes, we all know that Private Revelation is not dogma and does not hold the same obligations of belief, but I dare anyone to appear before God and reject the private revelations He has permitted and made! We shall not go into any detail here—a cursory glance at Fr. Schouppe’s two books on Hell and Purgatory will give you more than a clear insight into the private revelations of souls that have been allowed by God to appear and attest to the fires that burn them in both Purgatory and Hell.
Some of those revelations state—as many theologians also believe—that the fires of Purgatory are the same as the fires of Hell (that is to say in lowest, deepest parts of Purgatory). From this it is easy to see how some misinformed, irrational, superficial souls could come up with the idea that Hell is only temporary—because they look only at the aspect of fire and not place. To them being in the lowest, deepest confines of Purgatory is like being in Hell, only that this ‘Hell’ ends sooner or later. The truth is that the fires of Hell cease to burn them in Purgatory because they are in Purgatory and not Hell.
These misconceptions, misinterpretations and misrepresentations can come forth from both a weak-minded but well-intentioned soul, or they can emanate from a string-minded but evil-intentioned soul. From this digression, let us proceed to the “Three Days of Darkness” to see if we can find some light at the end of the tunnel.
Wikipedia in the Dark?
Let us first of all, in order to deal with objections, take the opinion given by Wikipedia, which is a non-Catholic source, which quite often (though not always) will show a bias against solid and ancient Catholic teaching, favoring more rational, Liberal or Modernistic interpretations. Its article on the subject reads thus:
“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism which parallels the Ten Plagues against Egypt in the Book of Exodus.
“Just as God punished the Egyptians with plagues including the “three days of darkness”, the theory states that God will chastise the world with darkness at the end of time. The earth will be enveloped by darkness lasting three days and three nights, the only light source that can be seen being blessed candles. Various Catholic visionaries agree that the faithful should stay within their homes during this period as most of the earth’s inhabitants shall die.
Advocates
“Many Catholic seers and mystics such as Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Gaspar del Bufalo, Padre Pio, Anna Maria Taigi, Elisabeth Canori Mora, Mariam Baouardi (Mary of Jesus Crucified), Rosa-Colomba Asdente, Palma d’Oria, Père Lamy, Marie Martel, and Marie Julie Jahenny, have prophesied the Three Days of Darkness. However it is not endorsed by the Holy See.
“Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the most known seer of the Three Days of Darkness and describes the event in this way: “There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
“Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941), known as the “Breton Stigmatist”, expanded upon the story of the Three Days of Darkness, saying that it will occur on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday when all of Hell will be let loose to strike at those outside their homes and those without a lit blessed candle of 100% pure wax.
Controversy
Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists. The latter group hopes that a “true pope” will be miraculously designated by an apparition of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; this tangential belief assumes that the most recent pontiffs of the Church are in fact “antipopes.” There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed.” (End of Wikipedia article).
The “Three WAYS of Darkness” by Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article very subtly denigrates and casts doubt upon the prophecies about the “Three Day of Darkness.” It must be said that whoever wrote the article has the honesty to state some of the facts (but an article that would lie about the facts would lose its credibility), but then casts doubt upon the veracity of the matter—“The Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological prophecy (based on private revelation) within Roman Catholicism … This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See … There is also controversy over whether the twentieth-century saint and stigmatist, Saint [Padre] Pio [of Pietrelcina], endorsed and taught on the future Three Days of Darkness as the authenticity of the alleged words of Saint Pio are disputed ... Adherents of the Three Days of Darkness are usually traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists.”
1. First of all it pits the “Three Days of Darkness” against the approbation of the Church, saying: This belief is not endorsed by the Holy See.” Yet it fails to mention that neither does the Church condemn the “Three Days of Darkness.” It is much like canonizing a saint—the Church may judge it too early to canonize somebody, but neither does it say the opposite. Or, for example, speaking of the fires of Purgatory, the Church does not make it a dogma, but it does forbid theologians of speaking of the fires of Purgatory—for the Church holds the teaching to be probably true, though not dogmatically true. To say that the Church does not endorse the “Three Days of Darkness”, does not mean the Church rejects the “Three Days of Darkness.” Subtle and clever sowing of doubt here!
2. Another way the article discredits “Three Days of Darkness” is the very crafty way it resorts to discreditation or guilt by association with ‘undesirables’—in this case “traditionalist Catholics or sedevacantists [those who think there is no current valid pope]”—which implies that you are like them by implication in believing in the “Three Days of Darkness.” However, this ignores all the generations before today’s “traditional Catholics” (which fails to mention that all Catholics of bygone years were traditional Catholics for centuries before our current Modernism came around) and fails to mention that thousands of Catholics, way before the current problem sedevacantism, also adhered to the “Three Days of Darkness” – saints and theologians included.
3. Then the article goes on to cast doubt upon the authenticity of St. Padre Pio positively endorsing the “Three Days of Darkness” and stops there--without referring to the authenticity of many of other saints and blessed who DO ENDORSE the “Three Days of Darkness.” Though the authenticity of St. Padre Pio may rightfully be in question, that is not the case for the other saints and blesseds—but following this line of reasoning, it is tantamount to saying: “If St. Padre did not endorse the ‘Three Days of Darkness’—even though many think he did—then automatically you must doubt all the other saints and blessed too!” This is like saying, because one person is wrong, everyone must be wrong; or if a person is wrong once, they must automatically be always wrong; or if one person did not say something, nobody must have said it. Ridiculous!
Another Objection
On a website named ‘Brother Priests”, run by a Catholic priest, Fr. Joel Sember, who studied at St. John Vianney Seminary, Mundelein Seminary and the North American College. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay (WI), United States on June 30th, 2007. Fr. Joel Sember has a License degree in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University Santa Croce in Rome. He is pastor of three parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay, WI.
There is an article on his website that also denigrates and casts doubt over the “Three Days of Darkness”—and rhetorically asks “What should Catholics think?” before putting down and ridiculing any such belief in the “Three Days of Darkness.” Here are some key objections which we will proceed to answer immediately within the text (in red print):
“An end-times prophecy about three days of darkness is making the rounds of Catholic circles. This prophecy states that God’s last act of judgment on earth will be three days and three nights of total darkness. No light will shine during this time except blessed wax candles, and the enemies of the Church will die.
[COMMENT: Wrong! The prophecy DOES NOT state that it will be “God’s last act of judgment on earth” but that it will bring to an end the Minor Tribulation or Minor Apostasy, after which God will triumph and there will be peace on Earth with God being wonderfully served and worshiped. If the writer cannot get his facts write in the opening paragraph, then where else is erring?]
“According to some web searches I did, this same prophecy also makes the rounds in New Age circles—although without the references to the Church of course. On the internet you can find a purported Mayan legend about a time when the sun did not rise and there were three days of darkness until the people’s prayers brought the sun back.
[COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method—linking to New Age and pagan Mayan sources. In that case we can cast doubt on many aspects and teachings of the Catholic Faith just because Protestants or other religions believe the same thing—for example worshiping on Sundays rather than the Sabbath (nowhere in the Bible does it say we have to worship on Sunday). ].
“The Catholic version is far more terrifying than the New-Age version. The prophecy is attributed to Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi. I have not done any research to establish whether she really wrote this [COMMENT: Again subtle doubt casting. Have you done any research to see if Christ really existed, that Our Lady really existed, etc.], but here is the passage that you can find on the internet:
“God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed wax candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy.
“All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
This is the mild version of the prophecy. More serious versions tell you that all Hell will roam the earth during those three days, and just looking out a window will be fatal. You are warned to buy thick drapes or black plastic to cover all your windows. Also, it is said that during the three days you will hear people banging on your door and you will think that people you love are out in the darkness, but do not open the door because it will really be the demons trying to get you.
[COMMENT: Here again we have a subtle form of ridicule and denigration that seeks to make the reader disbelieve that God could be brutal. If you do not believe that, then simply read the Old Testament and look at the ‘brutality’ God commanded in retribution for sin! Oh, that is the Old Testament, you may say! Well look at the New Testament and see how God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Christ, where the city was razed to the ground and over a million Jews were slaughtered (men, women and children), and where some of the Jews were eating their own babies during the long siege, due to a lack of food. Pretty brutal, eh? And prophesied by Christ! So the brutality of the forthcoming chastisement should not surprise us!]
“What should Catholics think about this prophecy? They should think that it is probably wrong. There is no scriptural support for the idea that darkness will be the last punishment of mankind [COMMENT: Again, who says it is the last punishment of mankind? Only you! Facts wrong again!]. Although there are several scriptures which talk about the sun being darkened in the last days, the darkness is never the last and final judgment but it is only a sign of the judgment that is coming. This is true in the references in Matthew, Revelation, and the prophets. In Exodus 10:21-29, the only passage in the Bible that refers to three days of darkness, the darkness is the penultimate plague unleashed against Egypt. The last and final plague was the death of the firstborn.
[COMMENT: Again, wrong assumption and insinuation—the “Three Days of Darkness” will not be “the last and final” punishment. This is a good example of how to build castles on sand. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, if you are little off course in the beginning of your journey, then after many hours you will be a long way from your intended destination.].
The clearest reference in Scripture to the final judgment of the earth [the “Three Days of Darkness is not the final judgement] says that this judgment will happen by fire. Revelation 20:7-10 says this:
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.”
“Someone could claim that the fire that comes down from Heaven is really an intense darkness laden with pestilence and swarming with demons, but that does not make any sense. [COMMENT: If you reject the notion of true fire coming down from Heaven, then is Our Lady in error or lying when she says: “Without virginity, it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Quito) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity” (Akita).].
Second, the more you think about the prophecy, the less sense it makes. This is supposed to be God’s final act of punishment [No! It is not!] against evildoers and enemies of the Church, but many evil people are going to be spared [COMMENT: where do you get “many”? Some perhaps, but not many, and certainly not the majority], so that they can be converted by the Church after the great chastisement. Also, many good and holy persons will be among the dead, according to this prophecy.
“In Exodus, the Israelites were spared the darkness and the death of their firstborn, and these plagues only fell on Egyptians. This time God must be a lot more angry, because only the just people who stay in their homes, do not look out the windows, and light blessed candles will be spared.
[COMMENT: Here the author is being sarcastic—but God is more angry, as stated by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before.].
“This prophecy – and particularly the swarms of demons in the sky – seems to reflect the devil’s way of thinking and doing things much more than God’s way of doing things.
[COMMENT: If you reject the “swarms of demons”, then please explain Our Lady’s words at Quito, La Salette—or are those bogus too? “The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings” (Quito) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God … the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … They will have great power over nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests” (La Salette).].
Endnote: you should be careful to read the fine print. Most of the internet sites promoting this prophecy are connected to individuals and groups which believe that the Catholic Church is in apostasy right now and most Masses are not valid. [COMMENT: Here again there is an attempt to denigrate using the “guilt by association” method]. Apostasy in the Catholic Church is the devil’s favorite end-time prophecy [COMMENT: Then you are condemning some of the greatest saints and mystics of the Church. Furthermore, you condemn Cardinal Manning, who wrote: “The writers of the Church tell us that in the latter days the city of Rome will probably become apostate from the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ; and that Rome will again be punished, for he will depart from it; and the judgment of God will fall on the place from which he once reigned over the nations of the world …. Rome shall apostatize from the faith and drive away the Vicar of Christ, and return to its ancient paganism.” And what of the current day cardinals who say that apostasy will start at the top?], something he has been dreaming about since 33 AD (the devil, like many politicians, believes that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true). During the Protestant Reformation he was telling everyone that the Pope in Rome was the Antichrist. The “alternate” version of the Third Secret of Fatima, the one supposedly hidden by the Vatican, proclaims that the papacy will be in apostasy and the true faith will not be preserved in Rome, but only in Portugal. Whenever you find people believing that the Catholic Church has become or will become unfaithful to Christ, the devil is not far away
[COMMENT: Was Our Lord the devil in disguise when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Was St. Paul the devil in disguise when he wrote that with most of the 2 to 3 million Israelites in the desert during the time of the Exodus, God was not well pleased? During the Arian heresy, most of the Church was unfaithful to the dogma of Christ being true God, denying that the Son is of one essence, nature, or substance with God. Hence the famous quote of St. Jerome, who complained that nearly all the world had become Arian!]
This is the typical denigrating and ridiculing attack that comes from the pens of many Modernists, Rationalists and Liberals within the Church itself. This requires vigilance and repudiation when encountered. For, as Our Lord said: “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Sifting the Prophecies
A lot has been written about the “Three Days of Darkness”—some of it exaggerated and sensational, some not—so one needs to sift through the material carefully for fear of falling into serious doctrinal errors. This separation of the chaff from the wheat is a difficult task.
The Catholic Church & Prophecies
The “Three Days of Darkness” is a prophecy—not from one single source, but from several sources from different time spheres. So it is first of all necessary to look at the principles of judgment concerning prophecies. Therefore, let us consult the Catholic Encyclopedia for some guidelines regarding prophecies—for this summarizes and presents these principles in a succinct manner. The Catholic Encyclopedia, as shown on the New Advent website, states:
● As the term is used in mystical theology, it applies both to the prophecies of canonical Scripture and to private prophecies.
● Understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events, of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things, which cannot be known by the natural light of reason.
● St. Paul, speaking of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14, does not confine its meaning to predictions of future events, but includes under it Divine inspirations, concerning what is secret, whether future or not.
● As, however, the manifestation of hidden present mysteries, or past events comes under revelation, we have here to understand by prophecy what is in its strict and proper sense, namely the revelation of future events.
● The knowledge must be supernatural and infused by God, because it concerns things beyond the natural power of created intelligence; and the knowledge must be manifested either by words or signs, because the gift of prophecy is given primarily for the good of others, and hence needs to be manifested.
● It is a Divine light by which God reveals things concerning the unknown future and by which these things are in some way represented to the mind of the prophet, whose duty it is to manifest them to others.
Prudent Discernment Needed
The Church considers the Book of Apocalypse as Divinely inspired and remains to be the last prophetic work that the Church acknowledges as such. Though the prophetic spirit has continued through the centuries, the Church has never promoted any other prophetic work—even if the Church proclaimed countless persons as saints who were gifted with prophesy. Thus the Church shows prudence—by neither absolutely accepting or absolutely denying the prophecies made by those saints. She will simply say that there is nothing in them that can be judged to be against Faith or Morals.
The Church prudently gives ample latitude as to the acceptance or rejection of particular or private prophecies based on evidence for or against them. The Catholic faithful’s attitude should be that of prudence and balance always being careful and slow in accepting or rejecting them—especially when they come from trustworthy sources and do not contradict Catholic doctrine and morals. Unfortunately there are many who are lovers and followers of the sensational, and bite the fruit before testing it.
How Can Prophecy Be Verified?
The only real way a prophecy can be absolutely verified as true is when it is fulfilled. It is much like the police holding a person in suspicion of criminal behavior—they cannot be sure or they cannot arrest the person until their suspicion (or ‘prophecy’) is fulfilled and the person is caught “red-handed” committing the crime. Veracity or accuracy of their fulfillment remains to be the litmus test to which all prophecies are to be judged.
The character of these prophecies covers a wide gamut ranging from pious anticipations of Providence; to events in the lives of saints; to the fate of nations; to the popes and the papacy; and to apocalyptic catastrophes leading to the end of the world. They may sometimes be realized in part and in part may even run contrary to events. Due to the conditional nature of some of them, they may or may not be fulfilled.
For example, Our Lady says at Fatima—if her demands are fulfilled then a certain thing will not happen, but if her demands are not fulfilled, then it will happen. So if we pray and do much penance, the terrible things she foretold at Fatima and also at La Salette and Akita would not happen. Because they would not happen, we cannot say the prophecy of a chastisement was false—it is simply that we took heed of her warnings and put into practice what would stop the prophecy coming true. In this way many prophecies are said to be “conditional”.
“End Time” Prophecies
First of all we must ask ourselves: “Are we in the end times?” Though we are most certainly not on the verge of the actual end of the world, we can almost certainly say that we are within a period that could well be called “The End Times” or “The Latter Days”.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in December 1957, speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses.”
Only months after Bishop Ito approved the Akita apparitions of Our Lady, Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) was interviewed on November 11th, 1984 by Jesus magazine. Within this 1984 interview (titled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis”), Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the Third Secret and that it speaks of “The dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore the world, and also the importance of the last times.”
In the build-up to Christmas 2015, Pope Francis just recently told crowds in St. Peter’s Square that this Christmas might be the last one for humanity. In a grim speech, the Pope said that the current chaotic state of the world marks the beginning of the “end times”, and that this time next year the world is likely to be unrecognizable.
The common and outstanding character among latter day prophecies seems to be the foreboding of a terrible destruction of the world due to an unrepentant mankind, the resurgence of the Church, and the conversion of the world. E.H. Thompson keenly pointed out in his “Life of Anna Maria Taigi” (chapter 18) that the revelations have the following features: “First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a revolution springing from most deep-rooted impiety, consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth, and resulting in the most formidable persecution to which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they all promise for the Church a victory more splendid than she has ever achieved here below.”
The Fatima prophecies fit exactly into this category when Our Lady spoke of a terrible chastisement if men do not repent and amend their lives—but she also gave hope by promising that in the end Her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
The Three Days of Darkness—Not A New Idea
The idea or fact of “days of darkness” is nothing new. Holy Scripture has many references to “days of darkness”—therefore this whole idea is not the invention of someone’s feverish imagination!
Firstly, at the very beginning of time, the whole world was enshrouded in darkness: “And the Earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep … And God said: Be light made. And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night” (Genesis 1:2-4).
Secondly, an event which could be said to resemble most the circumstances of the prophecy about the “Three days of Darkness, is found in the time of Moses and the ten plagues that God sends upon Pharaoh and Egypt, especially the ninth plague—which actually was three days of darkness:
“And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch out they hand towards Heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt!’ And Moses stretch forth his hand towards Heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was: but wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt there was light” (Exodus 10:21-23). This shows a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Once the Israelites left Egypt and were being pursued by the Egyptian soldiers, God again used darkness as weapon before destroying His enemies: “And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them” (Josue 24:7).
In another Old Testament instance, Isaias the prophet also spoke of a day of darkness: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of Heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty … I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things” (Isaias 13: 9-11; 45:7).
The Book of Job speaks of day being turned into darkness and death: “Let that day be turned into darkness and let not the light shine upon it. Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness … He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world” (Job 3:4-5; 18:18).
Coming to the New Testament, we have the “Three Hours of Darkness” that enveloped the whole world at the moment Our Lord died on the cross on Mount Calvary. Three of the Gospel writers mention this fact: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45) … “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33) … “And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour” (Luke 23:44). Again, a precedent for the “Three Days of Darkness”, showing that God is liable to operate in this way and that it is nothing new.
These and even more Scriptural references, provide a platform of reality and not mere fancy for the prophecies and revelations about days of darkness that would be made—by the saints, the blessed, the venerables, and mystics—after New Testament times and relating to our times.
Tomorrow we will begin to look at the various post-Biblical prophecies, those that are nearer our time, about the “Three Days of Darkness.”
CANDLEMAS DAY
Tuesday February 2nd
Article 2
Candles & Candlesmas Day
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday February 2nd
Article 2
Candles & Candlesmas Day
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
In the Beginning … was Darkness
“In the beginning God created Heaven, and earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day” (Genesis 1:1-5).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men ... That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world! ... And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ” (John 1:1-9).
“And when His parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, Simeon also took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: ‘Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace―because my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples―a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel’” (Luke 2:27-32).
“I am the light of the world―he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world!” (John 9:5).
“You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16).
February 2nd Known as “Candlemas Day” and the “Festival of Lights”
If you count 40 days after the celebration of Christmas, the fortieth day falls on February 2nd. Early on, the Church marked that day with a special feast and it is the final “Baby Jesus” day in the liturgical calendar before the celebration of Lent―for the Nativity Scenes are removed at the end of this day, bringing to an end Christmastide, the 40-day Christmas liturgical cycle― the Christmas–Epiphany season.
The feast that falls on February 2nd has many different names in the Catholic Church. It has been called the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, perhaps more familiarly, Candlemas or Candlemas Day (also spelled Candlemass). Each name highlights a different aspect of the feast that the Church celebrates.
The feast is based upon the Gospel account by St. Luke (2:22–40), of the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, which was an action in accordance with Leviticus 12, whereby a woman was to be purified by presenting lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy’s circumcision. The feast of Our Lord’s Circumcision was traditionally celebrated on January 1st and so, 33 days after the celebration of Our Lord’s Circumcision, falls on February 2nd, which is traditionally the 40th day of and the conclusion of the Christmas liturgical cycle.
The Gospel of St. Luke records St. Simeon as referring to Our Lord as the Light that will illumine the world. It is this context―being the “Light of the World”―that candles are blessed and used on this day, as well as being stored for use for the rest of the year in both church and home. Candle production would peak at this time, as everyone made as much as they could of their annual candle requirements for the coming year―remember, there was no electricity and no electric light bulbs until more than 1,900 years after the birth of Our Lord! People would bring their supplies of candles to the church to have them blessed on this day.
A Multi-Faceted Feast
The fact that this feast day is called Candlemas Day, owes itself not so much as to the candles themselves (which are blessed at Mass―hence “Candle” “Mass”), it is primarily a feast of “The Light of World” which the candle merely represents―which is Jesus Christ―and without Whom the candles would be meaningless.
February 2nd is called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on account of an ancient Mosaic law explained in Leviticus. “[If a woman conceives, and bears a child she shall be unclean] And when the days of her purification are expired, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, a lamb of a year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtle for sin, and shall deliver them to the priest―who shall offer them before the Lord, and shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that beareth a man-child, or a maid-child.” (Leviticus 12:6-7). Mary, being a faithful Jewess, abided by the Law and did what was required of her. After 40 days had passed from the time of her giving birth, she approached the priest with the proper offering to be declared “clean.”
The liturgical feast of February 2nd is also called the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and again corresponds to an ancient Jewish practice of presenting the first-born to God. “Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed” (Numbers 18:15). As a result, Mary and Joseph brought with them Jesus, as St. Luke narrates, “And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’)” (Luke 2:22-23).
The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“The days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished” (Luke 2:22). Forty days after the birth of the infant God, Mary and Joseph go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to comply with the requirements of the law. Let us contemplate them departing from the sacred cave which witnessed the birth of the Savior, and from the city of David, which their sojourn there had made one of the principal cities, not only of the kingdom of Juda, but of the whole world.
What sentiments penetrate their hearts during that journey! They carry, by turns, the divine Infant, on whom they lavish the most tender affections, while they adore Him with all the ardor of their souls. They know what a treasure they bear; that, even at that moment, these words of the prophet Isaiah could be repeated: “Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isaias 60:1).
Who can express the emotions that thrilled the Heart of the Most Blessed Virgin on approaching and beholding the Temple in which she was formerly presented to God, as her adorable Son is now about to present Himself, and in which she had passed, we may say, the whole of her youth? She returns there, and thus accomplishes what had been prefigured by the dove returning to the ark with the olive-branch (the symbol of that peace which Heaven gave to the Earth), for the Immaculate Virgin carries with her Him who gives peace to the world, Him over whose cradle the angels sang: “And on Earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14), and whom the prophet calls the “Prince of peace” (Isaias 9:6).
Yes, she returns to the Temple, but bearing in her arms the Messias, that Son of promise for whose coming she had there so fervently prayed, that holy victim of whom all the victims of the Mosaic law were but prophetic symbols, that Supreme Pontiff in whose footsteps all nations might enter into the Holy of Holies, and in whom all symbolical religion ended.
She returned there, but accompanied by that Angel of the Covenant announced by the prophet (Malachias 3:1), and who alone was to be the greatest glory of the Temple. Oh, what emotions possess her soul as she crosses the steps of the sacred edifice, entering therein as the triumphal bearer and carrier of the Divinity!
Mary enters into the Temple to perform there the ceremony of legal purification, and, at the same time, to present the Infant God to His heavenly Father.
The Purification of Mary was not Necessary―Yet She Humbly Undergoes It
She was not bound to observe the first of these ceremonies, for, as St. Bernard expresses it, she could say: “What need have I of purification? Why should I stop at the vestibule of the Temple, I whose virginal womb has become the Temple of the Holy Ghost Himself, and by whom has been given to the world the Lord God, who is the Master of the Temple?”
Does it not seem that she ought to have dispensed with this ceremony for the glory even of her Son? In confounding herself with other women did she not, in fact, confound Him with other infants, and thereby give cause for doubt as to His divine origin? “Assuredly, O Blessed Virgin,” adds St. Bernard: “you had no need of purification, and that law was not made for you. But had your Son need of circumcision? Ah! Be among women as one of them, since your Son has condescended to enroll Himself in the number of the children of men.”
Mary did not avail herself of that which, in the eyes of God, would have exempted her from the ceremony of the law. She knew that it was required of every mother, and, without stopping to ask whether she was bound by the law, she obeyed it at the proper time and in the manner prescribed. She does not seek for immunities. Laying aside her prerogative, she humbly mingles with the crowd. Setting before her mind her duties as a daughter of Juda, she simply fulfills them, without troubling herself about her privilege of Virgin Mother or of Mother of God.
As by His circumcision, her Son shows Himself a faithful observer of the most painful precept of the law, so she proves herself equally faithful in observing its most humiliating one. Besides, her desire is to be forgotten by men, and the ceremony of purification serves her as a means of concealing the wonderful gifts lavished upon her. Thus, as St. Augustine remarks: “Grace raises her above the law, but humility makes her obedient to it.”
The Purification of Humility
O prodigy of humility, which should fill men and angels with astonishment and admiration! Mary is purified! But, O Holy Virgin, are you not more pure than the azure of the heavens? You who, from your Immaculate Conception, have been endowed with grace more excellent than that of the Cherubim; you, whom the Holy of Holies, the Sun of Justice, has clothed with His own brightness; you to whom the Most High has said: “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee” (Canticles 4:7). O incomparable act of humility! The Mother of the King of Glory, of Him who was begotten before the morning star, appears as any other mother of the unhappy children of Adam! What an example does it not hold up for our imitation! What a condemnation of the refinements and pride of our self-love! What more effective lesson to teach us to observe not only what is commanded but also to hearken to the counsel we may receive?
In the ceremony of purification Mary presents her offering, but it is the offering of the poor. Nor is she ashamed of it. On the contrary, her humility and her Faith make her piously proud of it. Does she not know how great are the privileges which poverty procures? Does she not see that it is so highly esteemed by the Savior that He will make it His inseparable companion?
The Most Glorious Virgin appears, then, to us in this mystery a perfect model of obedience, humility, and poverty; that is to say, of the virtues which ought, in a special manner, to characterize us, who have renounced the world for a life of self-denial and obedience.
Let us resolve to walk faithfully in the footsteps of our good Mother, and to excite in our hearts those virtues which we admire in her. What motives appeal to us to do so, whether we are Christians, or, even more powerfully, if we are Priests or Religious. Let us then, in seriousness and at once, commence the good work.
Purification by the Law of God
Let us love the law of God and scrupulously observe it. Let us never forget that the rules of our family home life, or the rules of our workplace, or the rules of the school, or the civil laws―all of them must be an expression and reflection of the Laws of God and in agreement with the Laws of God― and that we should always yield to them with a willing and cheerful obedience. Let us submit to their yoke with willing hearts, for it is the yoke of Jesus Christ, which we ought to take upon ourselves, because by it, as our blessed Lord Himself assures us, we shall find rest for our souls.
Let us not badger our Superiors for dispensations and privileges, but rather guard against self-love, the love of lazy ease and comfort, which so often seeks out foolish pretexts and plausible reasons for exemptions from such or such an exercise, or for the omission of this or that duty. Oh, how we should here tremble at this illusion! It is on this account we should always take the safest course, and that is the path of doing more rather than less, praying more rather than less, thinking less of ourselves and more of our unworthiness, and, imitating Our Lady by an entire submission to God’s Law as expressed in human laws, rules and regulations―providing that they agree, conform and reflect God’ Law―for, as Holy Scripture says: “We ought to obey God, rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Let us be scrupulously obedient to our Superiors, and in this let us be actuated by motives of Faith. It is God who, by their ministry, makes known to us what He requires of us; let us perform, then, every duty with simplicity, earnestness, and love. Let us strive to acquire the practice of humility; let us always seek occasions to humble ourselves before God and men, remembering, alas, how full of misery we are and how much burdened with sin. Let us fervently ask, through the intercession of Mary, that our souls may be purified from every stain of sin, that we may persevere in the grace of God, advance daily in virtue, and approach more and more closely to the model of our good Mother, until we finally obtain in Heaven that glorious reward which God has prepared for those who, while living, conformed to that sublime model of sanctity.
Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple
“They carried Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22). In order to perpetuate among the Jews the remembrance of the passage of the destroying angel, who, for their deliverance, had struck with death the first-born of the Egyptians, the Lord had ordained that the first-born of the children of Israel should be offered to Him in the Temple, and afterwards ransomed with a sum of money.
To comply with this ordinance, Joseph and Mary, carrying the Divine Infant, repair to Jerusalem, to which might be addressed the words which the Church employs in her office: “Prepare thyself, O Sion, and receive the Christ, the Lord. Salute Mary, who carries the King of Glory, the new light! The Virgin tarries, bearing in her arms her Son, begotten before the morning star” (Liturgy: Procession for the feast of the Purification).
Accompanied by Joseph, her virginal spouse, Mary enters into the Temple. “She approaches the altar,” says St. Alphonsus Liguori: “and there, filled with modesty, humility, and devotion, she offers her Son to the Most High.”
How consoling to the pious soul, how sublime, is the aspect in which she now appears! Is she not herself a sacred altar, on which is placed the Divine Victim of our redemption? Does she not perform, as it were, the duties of a priest, offering to God, in her own name, and in behalf of all men, Him, through Whom alone Earth and Heaven are again reconciled? “No,” says St. Epiphanius: “I do not fear to give to Mary the name of Priest as well as that of Altar.”
Let us contemplate that Most Holy Mother of the Savior kneeling in prayer before the sacred altar, raising up toward Heaven her Divine Son―Who is the true victim of holocaust, of thanksgiving, of expiation, and of supplication―adoring, blessing, and imploring the Father through Him, Whom He has appointed the only Mediator between Him and the world. O sublime prayer and offering of Mary! Who can conceive its excellence? Who can estimate the treasures of grace which it brings down upon the Earth, and which furnish to mankind so just an occasion to exclaim with David: “We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple” (Psalm 47:10).
You Can Present Jesus to God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
In the meantime, the ceremony of presentation is finished by the ministry of the priest designated for that purpose. The Infant God is offered, or rather offers Himself, to His Father. Have we not here that sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem which was to be infinitely pleasing to the Lord? “And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years” (Malachias 3:4). Does not the Son of God, as the Victim, glorify His Heavenly Father in the most perfect manner? Is this not true of every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
He adores Him, and renders Him homage worthy of His supreme majesty and of His sovereign power. By His very humiliations He speaks the words of the royal prophet: “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain” (Psalm 47:2). He praises Him for all the blessings of nature, of grace, and of glory which He has bestowed, or shall bestow, upon angels and men―and particularly for the incomparable blessings which He has lavished upon Mary, His Most Holy Mother.
He implores mercy for sinners, whose Mediator He has become, and He asks their forgiveness through the merits of that divine blood of which He has already made an offering, to be completed by the grand sacrifice of Calvary. In like manner He prays for the establishment, the preservation, and the propagation of the Church, by means of which He will remedy all the evils of humanity here below, and in the world to come build up the city of the elect.
Yes, this is what the infant God does at this moment of grace; and Mary, whose Heart is so closely united to that of her adorable Son, offers Him to the Father for the same purposes that He offers Himself for, with sentiments of piety and fervor which delight the heavenly hosts.
A Mother Sacrifices Her Child
But let us here consider the greatness and the heroism of the sacrifice which Mary makes to the Lord. Other mothers, in presenting their first-born male child as a victim, know that it is a ceremony without any consequences to the child, and that he can be effectually ransomed by the prescribed gift. But this was not the case with Mary. She knew that none of the children offered, up to that day, was the victim that God would accept; that her divine Son was the only victim of propitiation that could satisfy for the sins of the world, and that He must give His life in order that men may be saved.
In offering Him, therefore, to God she consents to the bloody sacrifice of Calvary, and, through her love for us, she subscribes in advance the sentence which was to condemn Him to death. She has before her mind the reflection that when He will be given back it will be only as a deposit, and that she must again deliver Him when the half of that great week shall arrive in which, according to Daniel (Daniel 9:26-27), Christ was to be sacrificed; and thus in placing Him in the hands of the priest, she placed Him, in a certain sense, on the arms of the cross. As she gave, at the moment of the annunciation, her consent to the incarnation of the Messias, which was the subject of the angel’s visit, so, on the day of the presentation, she ratified, so to speak, the treaty of the Savior’s passion of which that day was in truth a figure, and, as it were, a first preparation (Bossuet).
The infant God is ransomed by Joseph and Mary, but the repurchase is only figurative; He remains the victim devoted to death. “A day will come,” says St. Bernard, when it will no longer be in the Temple nor in the arms of Simeon He will be offered, but outside the city and on the arms of the cross; when He will not only not be ransomed, but when He will ransom men by the effusion of His blood. That will be His evening sacrifice: this is only His morning oblation. But in both the words of the prophet will be realized: ‘He was offered because it was His own will’ (Isaias 53:7).”
Mary, like her Son, and from the same motives, wishes both sacrifices, and in the Temple, as later on Calvary, she delivers Him up to divine justice for the expiation of the sins of the world. In offering Him she also offers herself, that she may be, like Him and through Him, a victim of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and prayer. She unites herself with Him that she may share His labors, His sufferings, His griefs, and one day ascend with Him the altar of His bloody immolation.
O admirable Virgin, so justly called by the Fathers of the Church the restorer of the human race, how much you have loved us! You consent that for us, miserable sinners, the infant God whom you clasp in your arms, and whom you love with a tenderness incomprehensible even to the most affectionate of mothers, shall be a victim in our place, and wash with His blood the stains of our iniquities. Your Heart is an abyss of charity, generosity, and courage, and the most perfect image of that of your divine Son.
Let us honor with the most profound respect, and, with sentiments of the most lively gratitude, glorify Mary presenting her divine Son to the Lord, performing, in the name of the Church, that ministry of grace, the source of so many spiritual blessings. Let us admire her dispositions of piety, fervor, charity, and courage. Let us frequently recall them to our minds, and endeavor to excite similar dispositions in our own hearts, so that we may attain that degree of perfection to which, in our holy state, we should all aspire. In union with her, let us offer Jesus to God His Father, and let us offer ourselves with Him. Let us, in a special manner, have this intention when we recite the offerings of the Holy Childhood, when we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the mystery of the presentation was a figure, when we possess in our hearts, by Holy Communion, the same divine Infant that Mary had in her arms. Oh! Then, especially let us endeavor to pray as she prayed; let us adore, love, bless, and implore the Father through the Son, whom we possess in our hearts as on an altar, and from which He asks mercy for us.
“In the beginning God created Heaven, and earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made. And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day” (Genesis 1:1-5).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men ... That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world! ... And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ” (John 1:1-9).
“And when His parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, Simeon also took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: ‘Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace―because my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples―a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel’” (Luke 2:27-32).
“I am the light of the world―he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!” (John 8:12). “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world!” (John 9:5).
“You are the light of the world! A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid! Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16).
February 2nd Known as “Candlemas Day” and the “Festival of Lights”
If you count 40 days after the celebration of Christmas, the fortieth day falls on February 2nd. Early on, the Church marked that day with a special feast and it is the final “Baby Jesus” day in the liturgical calendar before the celebration of Lent―for the Nativity Scenes are removed at the end of this day, bringing to an end Christmastide, the 40-day Christmas liturgical cycle― the Christmas–Epiphany season.
The feast that falls on February 2nd has many different names in the Catholic Church. It has been called the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, perhaps more familiarly, Candlemas or Candlemas Day (also spelled Candlemass). Each name highlights a different aspect of the feast that the Church celebrates.
The feast is based upon the Gospel account by St. Luke (2:22–40), of the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, which was an action in accordance with Leviticus 12, whereby a woman was to be purified by presenting lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy’s circumcision. The feast of Our Lord’s Circumcision was traditionally celebrated on January 1st and so, 33 days after the celebration of Our Lord’s Circumcision, falls on February 2nd, which is traditionally the 40th day of and the conclusion of the Christmas liturgical cycle.
The Gospel of St. Luke records St. Simeon as referring to Our Lord as the Light that will illumine the world. It is this context―being the “Light of the World”―that candles are blessed and used on this day, as well as being stored for use for the rest of the year in both church and home. Candle production would peak at this time, as everyone made as much as they could of their annual candle requirements for the coming year―remember, there was no electricity and no electric light bulbs until more than 1,900 years after the birth of Our Lord! People would bring their supplies of candles to the church to have them blessed on this day.
A Multi-Faceted Feast
The fact that this feast day is called Candlemas Day, owes itself not so much as to the candles themselves (which are blessed at Mass―hence “Candle” “Mass”), it is primarily a feast of “The Light of World” which the candle merely represents―which is Jesus Christ―and without Whom the candles would be meaningless.
February 2nd is called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on account of an ancient Mosaic law explained in Leviticus. “[If a woman conceives, and bears a child she shall be unclean] And when the days of her purification are expired, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, a lamb of a year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtle for sin, and shall deliver them to the priest―who shall offer them before the Lord, and shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that beareth a man-child, or a maid-child.” (Leviticus 12:6-7). Mary, being a faithful Jewess, abided by the Law and did what was required of her. After 40 days had passed from the time of her giving birth, she approached the priest with the proper offering to be declared “clean.”
The liturgical feast of February 2nd is also called the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and again corresponds to an ancient Jewish practice of presenting the first-born to God. “Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed” (Numbers 18:15). As a result, Mary and Joseph brought with them Jesus, as St. Luke narrates, “And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’)” (Luke 2:22-23).
The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“The days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished” (Luke 2:22). Forty days after the birth of the infant God, Mary and Joseph go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to comply with the requirements of the law. Let us contemplate them departing from the sacred cave which witnessed the birth of the Savior, and from the city of David, which their sojourn there had made one of the principal cities, not only of the kingdom of Juda, but of the whole world.
What sentiments penetrate their hearts during that journey! They carry, by turns, the divine Infant, on whom they lavish the most tender affections, while they adore Him with all the ardor of their souls. They know what a treasure they bear; that, even at that moment, these words of the prophet Isaiah could be repeated: “Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isaias 60:1).
Who can express the emotions that thrilled the Heart of the Most Blessed Virgin on approaching and beholding the Temple in which she was formerly presented to God, as her adorable Son is now about to present Himself, and in which she had passed, we may say, the whole of her youth? She returns there, and thus accomplishes what had been prefigured by the dove returning to the ark with the olive-branch (the symbol of that peace which Heaven gave to the Earth), for the Immaculate Virgin carries with her Him who gives peace to the world, Him over whose cradle the angels sang: “And on Earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14), and whom the prophet calls the “Prince of peace” (Isaias 9:6).
Yes, she returns to the Temple, but bearing in her arms the Messias, that Son of promise for whose coming she had there so fervently prayed, that holy victim of whom all the victims of the Mosaic law were but prophetic symbols, that Supreme Pontiff in whose footsteps all nations might enter into the Holy of Holies, and in whom all symbolical religion ended.
She returned there, but accompanied by that Angel of the Covenant announced by the prophet (Malachias 3:1), and who alone was to be the greatest glory of the Temple. Oh, what emotions possess her soul as she crosses the steps of the sacred edifice, entering therein as the triumphal bearer and carrier of the Divinity!
Mary enters into the Temple to perform there the ceremony of legal purification, and, at the same time, to present the Infant God to His heavenly Father.
The Purification of Mary was not Necessary―Yet She Humbly Undergoes It
She was not bound to observe the first of these ceremonies, for, as St. Bernard expresses it, she could say: “What need have I of purification? Why should I stop at the vestibule of the Temple, I whose virginal womb has become the Temple of the Holy Ghost Himself, and by whom has been given to the world the Lord God, who is the Master of the Temple?”
Does it not seem that she ought to have dispensed with this ceremony for the glory even of her Son? In confounding herself with other women did she not, in fact, confound Him with other infants, and thereby give cause for doubt as to His divine origin? “Assuredly, O Blessed Virgin,” adds St. Bernard: “you had no need of purification, and that law was not made for you. But had your Son need of circumcision? Ah! Be among women as one of them, since your Son has condescended to enroll Himself in the number of the children of men.”
Mary did not avail herself of that which, in the eyes of God, would have exempted her from the ceremony of the law. She knew that it was required of every mother, and, without stopping to ask whether she was bound by the law, she obeyed it at the proper time and in the manner prescribed. She does not seek for immunities. Laying aside her prerogative, she humbly mingles with the crowd. Setting before her mind her duties as a daughter of Juda, she simply fulfills them, without troubling herself about her privilege of Virgin Mother or of Mother of God.
As by His circumcision, her Son shows Himself a faithful observer of the most painful precept of the law, so she proves herself equally faithful in observing its most humiliating one. Besides, her desire is to be forgotten by men, and the ceremony of purification serves her as a means of concealing the wonderful gifts lavished upon her. Thus, as St. Augustine remarks: “Grace raises her above the law, but humility makes her obedient to it.”
The Purification of Humility
O prodigy of humility, which should fill men and angels with astonishment and admiration! Mary is purified! But, O Holy Virgin, are you not more pure than the azure of the heavens? You who, from your Immaculate Conception, have been endowed with grace more excellent than that of the Cherubim; you, whom the Holy of Holies, the Sun of Justice, has clothed with His own brightness; you to whom the Most High has said: “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee” (Canticles 4:7). O incomparable act of humility! The Mother of the King of Glory, of Him who was begotten before the morning star, appears as any other mother of the unhappy children of Adam! What an example does it not hold up for our imitation! What a condemnation of the refinements and pride of our self-love! What more effective lesson to teach us to observe not only what is commanded but also to hearken to the counsel we may receive?
In the ceremony of purification Mary presents her offering, but it is the offering of the poor. Nor is she ashamed of it. On the contrary, her humility and her Faith make her piously proud of it. Does she not know how great are the privileges which poverty procures? Does she not see that it is so highly esteemed by the Savior that He will make it His inseparable companion?
The Most Glorious Virgin appears, then, to us in this mystery a perfect model of obedience, humility, and poverty; that is to say, of the virtues which ought, in a special manner, to characterize us, who have renounced the world for a life of self-denial and obedience.
Let us resolve to walk faithfully in the footsteps of our good Mother, and to excite in our hearts those virtues which we admire in her. What motives appeal to us to do so, whether we are Christians, or, even more powerfully, if we are Priests or Religious. Let us then, in seriousness and at once, commence the good work.
Purification by the Law of God
Let us love the law of God and scrupulously observe it. Let us never forget that the rules of our family home life, or the rules of our workplace, or the rules of the school, or the civil laws―all of them must be an expression and reflection of the Laws of God and in agreement with the Laws of God― and that we should always yield to them with a willing and cheerful obedience. Let us submit to their yoke with willing hearts, for it is the yoke of Jesus Christ, which we ought to take upon ourselves, because by it, as our blessed Lord Himself assures us, we shall find rest for our souls.
Let us not badger our Superiors for dispensations and privileges, but rather guard against self-love, the love of lazy ease and comfort, which so often seeks out foolish pretexts and plausible reasons for exemptions from such or such an exercise, or for the omission of this or that duty. Oh, how we should here tremble at this illusion! It is on this account we should always take the safest course, and that is the path of doing more rather than less, praying more rather than less, thinking less of ourselves and more of our unworthiness, and, imitating Our Lady by an entire submission to God’s Law as expressed in human laws, rules and regulations―providing that they agree, conform and reflect God’ Law―for, as Holy Scripture says: “We ought to obey God, rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Let us be scrupulously obedient to our Superiors, and in this let us be actuated by motives of Faith. It is God who, by their ministry, makes known to us what He requires of us; let us perform, then, every duty with simplicity, earnestness, and love. Let us strive to acquire the practice of humility; let us always seek occasions to humble ourselves before God and men, remembering, alas, how full of misery we are and how much burdened with sin. Let us fervently ask, through the intercession of Mary, that our souls may be purified from every stain of sin, that we may persevere in the grace of God, advance daily in virtue, and approach more and more closely to the model of our good Mother, until we finally obtain in Heaven that glorious reward which God has prepared for those who, while living, conformed to that sublime model of sanctity.
Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple
“They carried Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22). In order to perpetuate among the Jews the remembrance of the passage of the destroying angel, who, for their deliverance, had struck with death the first-born of the Egyptians, the Lord had ordained that the first-born of the children of Israel should be offered to Him in the Temple, and afterwards ransomed with a sum of money.
To comply with this ordinance, Joseph and Mary, carrying the Divine Infant, repair to Jerusalem, to which might be addressed the words which the Church employs in her office: “Prepare thyself, O Sion, and receive the Christ, the Lord. Salute Mary, who carries the King of Glory, the new light! The Virgin tarries, bearing in her arms her Son, begotten before the morning star” (Liturgy: Procession for the feast of the Purification).
Accompanied by Joseph, her virginal spouse, Mary enters into the Temple. “She approaches the altar,” says St. Alphonsus Liguori: “and there, filled with modesty, humility, and devotion, she offers her Son to the Most High.”
How consoling to the pious soul, how sublime, is the aspect in which she now appears! Is she not herself a sacred altar, on which is placed the Divine Victim of our redemption? Does she not perform, as it were, the duties of a priest, offering to God, in her own name, and in behalf of all men, Him, through Whom alone Earth and Heaven are again reconciled? “No,” says St. Epiphanius: “I do not fear to give to Mary the name of Priest as well as that of Altar.”
Let us contemplate that Most Holy Mother of the Savior kneeling in prayer before the sacred altar, raising up toward Heaven her Divine Son―Who is the true victim of holocaust, of thanksgiving, of expiation, and of supplication―adoring, blessing, and imploring the Father through Him, Whom He has appointed the only Mediator between Him and the world. O sublime prayer and offering of Mary! Who can conceive its excellence? Who can estimate the treasures of grace which it brings down upon the Earth, and which furnish to mankind so just an occasion to exclaim with David: “We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple” (Psalm 47:10).
You Can Present Jesus to God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
In the meantime, the ceremony of presentation is finished by the ministry of the priest designated for that purpose. The Infant God is offered, or rather offers Himself, to His Father. Have we not here that sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem which was to be infinitely pleasing to the Lord? “And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years” (Malachias 3:4). Does not the Son of God, as the Victim, glorify His Heavenly Father in the most perfect manner? Is this not true of every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
He adores Him, and renders Him homage worthy of His supreme majesty and of His sovereign power. By His very humiliations He speaks the words of the royal prophet: “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain” (Psalm 47:2). He praises Him for all the blessings of nature, of grace, and of glory which He has bestowed, or shall bestow, upon angels and men―and particularly for the incomparable blessings which He has lavished upon Mary, His Most Holy Mother.
He implores mercy for sinners, whose Mediator He has become, and He asks their forgiveness through the merits of that divine blood of which He has already made an offering, to be completed by the grand sacrifice of Calvary. In like manner He prays for the establishment, the preservation, and the propagation of the Church, by means of which He will remedy all the evils of humanity here below, and in the world to come build up the city of the elect.
Yes, this is what the infant God does at this moment of grace; and Mary, whose Heart is so closely united to that of her adorable Son, offers Him to the Father for the same purposes that He offers Himself for, with sentiments of piety and fervor which delight the heavenly hosts.
A Mother Sacrifices Her Child
But let us here consider the greatness and the heroism of the sacrifice which Mary makes to the Lord. Other mothers, in presenting their first-born male child as a victim, know that it is a ceremony without any consequences to the child, and that he can be effectually ransomed by the prescribed gift. But this was not the case with Mary. She knew that none of the children offered, up to that day, was the victim that God would accept; that her divine Son was the only victim of propitiation that could satisfy for the sins of the world, and that He must give His life in order that men may be saved.
In offering Him, therefore, to God she consents to the bloody sacrifice of Calvary, and, through her love for us, she subscribes in advance the sentence which was to condemn Him to death. She has before her mind the reflection that when He will be given back it will be only as a deposit, and that she must again deliver Him when the half of that great week shall arrive in which, according to Daniel (Daniel 9:26-27), Christ was to be sacrificed; and thus in placing Him in the hands of the priest, she placed Him, in a certain sense, on the arms of the cross. As she gave, at the moment of the annunciation, her consent to the incarnation of the Messias, which was the subject of the angel’s visit, so, on the day of the presentation, she ratified, so to speak, the treaty of the Savior’s passion of which that day was in truth a figure, and, as it were, a first preparation (Bossuet).
The infant God is ransomed by Joseph and Mary, but the repurchase is only figurative; He remains the victim devoted to death. “A day will come,” says St. Bernard, when it will no longer be in the Temple nor in the arms of Simeon He will be offered, but outside the city and on the arms of the cross; when He will not only not be ransomed, but when He will ransom men by the effusion of His blood. That will be His evening sacrifice: this is only His morning oblation. But in both the words of the prophet will be realized: ‘He was offered because it was His own will’ (Isaias 53:7).”
Mary, like her Son, and from the same motives, wishes both sacrifices, and in the Temple, as later on Calvary, she delivers Him up to divine justice for the expiation of the sins of the world. In offering Him she also offers herself, that she may be, like Him and through Him, a victim of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and prayer. She unites herself with Him that she may share His labors, His sufferings, His griefs, and one day ascend with Him the altar of His bloody immolation.
O admirable Virgin, so justly called by the Fathers of the Church the restorer of the human race, how much you have loved us! You consent that for us, miserable sinners, the infant God whom you clasp in your arms, and whom you love with a tenderness incomprehensible even to the most affectionate of mothers, shall be a victim in our place, and wash with His blood the stains of our iniquities. Your Heart is an abyss of charity, generosity, and courage, and the most perfect image of that of your divine Son.
Let us honor with the most profound respect, and, with sentiments of the most lively gratitude, glorify Mary presenting her divine Son to the Lord, performing, in the name of the Church, that ministry of grace, the source of so many spiritual blessings. Let us admire her dispositions of piety, fervor, charity, and courage. Let us frequently recall them to our minds, and endeavor to excite similar dispositions in our own hearts, so that we may attain that degree of perfection to which, in our holy state, we should all aspire. In union with her, let us offer Jesus to God His Father, and let us offer ourselves with Him. Let us, in a special manner, have this intention when we recite the offerings of the Holy Childhood, when we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the mystery of the presentation was a figure, when we possess in our hearts, by Holy Communion, the same divine Infant that Mary had in her arms. Oh! Then, especially let us endeavor to pray as she prayed; let us adore, love, bless, and implore the Father through the Son, whom we possess in our hearts as on an altar, and from which He asks mercy for us.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
for Septuagesima Sunday
Sunday January 30th & Monday February 1st
Article 1
The Race Begins! The Work Starts!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
for Septuagesima Sunday
Sunday January 30th & Monday February 1st
Article 1
The Race Begins! The Work Starts!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Confusion of Christmas
The further we go into the Church’s season of the Forty Days of Christmas (which ends with the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple and the Purification of His most Holy Mother on February 2nd), the more we accelerate through time, entering what could be called a ‘time-microwave’, and also the more confusing becomes the liturgical calendar!
We celebrate the birth of Our Lord on December 25th, and then, on the 8th day, we celebrate the Circumcision of the Lord (January 1st), keeping in line with the schedule of the Jewish law at that time, which commanded that a child be circumcised on the 8th day. Then we have the Epiphany on January 6th, which still falls into a chronological timeline, as does the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of His Holy Mother (February 2nd); for the Jewish law commanded that women giving birth, should be legally purified 40 days after giving birth―and February 2nd is 40 days after December 25th.
Fitting It All In
The problem is this: the Church has just one year in which it has to fit thirty-three years of Our Lord’s life. So something is going to have to ‘give’ somewhere. We have the birth of Our Lord on December 25th, and then, within a space of just a few weeks, the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima begins, by which time Our Lord is supposed to have fled to Egypt, lived there in exile a some years, come back His homeland, spent His childhood in Nazareth, grown into an adult, and entered His public ministry and performed a miracle or two! All in the space of a few weeks, or as little as 25 days. So His life is sadly microwaved; with many of its riches, open for our contemplation, being rushed through or hurried past, and so left untouched or barely examined.
A Christmas-Septuagesima Overlap
The earliest date on which Septuagesima Sunday can occur is January 18th (Easter falling on March 22nd in a non-leap year) and the latest is February 22nd (Easter falling on April 25th in a leap year). That means that the first 30 years of Our Lord’s life has to be squeezed into anything from a mere 25 days (if Septuagesima starts on January 18th) or 59 days if Septuagesima begins on the latest possible date!
Furthermore, when Septuagesima Sunday falls before February 2nd (the Fortieth Day of Christmas), then we have the weird and confusing experience of penitential purple being introduced into the liturgy before all the Forty Day of Christmas have been joyously celebrated! That is the case this year, 2021, with Septuagesima Sunday falling on January 31st. So what happens in that case? Is it still the Christmas season, or is the Septuagesima-Lenten season? Without trying to sound like Liberal fence-sitter―who tries to please everybody for fear of offending anybody―it has to be said that it is both the Christmas season and the Septuagesima season―one does not cancel out the other.
It is much like when a woman marries a man, but integrates her maiden name into her new married name. For example, if Hilary Rhodam Clinton was born with the surname “Rodham”, which she kept and integrated with her marital name “Clinton” ― hence Hilary Rhodam did not simply become Hilary Clinton, but Hilary Rhodam Clinton. So too with the current season―it was the Christmas season, but now (because of the movable date for Easter), Spetugesima Sunday comes early. In this case, neither season is eliminated, but Christmas still sees out its 40 days while the Septuagesima season begins. You could also compare it to the situation with the incoming and outgoing American President―though the election takes place in November, the inauguration of the new president only takes place in January, while the old president remains as president after losing an election all throughout the overlap period.
The Yardstick to Easter
The period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday is intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of Lent, while Lent is itself a period of spiritual preparation for Easter. In the pre-1970 Roman Rite liturgy, the Alleluia ceases to be said during the liturgy. At first Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday, two alleluias are added to the closing verse of Benedicamus Domino and its response, Deo gratias, as during the Easter Octave, and, starting at Compline, it is no longer used until Easter. Likewise, violet vestments are worn, except on feasts, from Septuagesima Sunday until Holy Thursday. As during Advent and Lent, the Gloria and Te Deum are no longer said on the three Sundays within the Septuagesima Season.
Catholic usage after 1969
The liturgical books revised after the Second Vatican Council no longer celebrate or keep Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which are found in the earlier versions, and treat this period as part of Ordinary Time, so that the use of violet vestments and the omission of “Alleluia” in the liturgy begin only on Ash Wednesday.
Polish National Catholic Church Usage
However, in 2014, the Polish National Catholic Church has officially reinstated the Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays throughout the entire Church. The celebration of this season as a preparation for Holy Lent is now highlighted as a part of the Liturgical Year.
In addition to Poland, there are still many religious communities that still keep the traditional Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which is a good thing—for it shows a healthy respect for the ancient traditions of the Church, which were in place for century after century. It is perhaps no small coincidence, that, since the throwing out of most of the traditional customs, they found that they had thrown out the “baby with the bathwater.” The unprecedented collapse in numbers of practicing Catholics over the last 50 years is not a chance phenomenon, but, like every disease, has to have its own causes. Our Lady’s apparitions and warnings have quite a few things to say on that matter.
The Math of Septuagesima
The season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of the liturgical year, and is itself divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: the first is called Septuagesima; the second, Sexagesima; the third, Quinquagesima.
Countdown Sundays
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of the Church, is called Quadragesima, that is, Forty, because the great feast of Easter is prepared for by the holy exercises of forty days. The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tell us of the same great solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which the Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion. Septuagesima comes from the Latin word for “seventieth.” Likewise, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima, and Quadragesima mean “sixtieth,” “fiftieth,” and “fortieth” respectively.
Ah, but…!!
But if you look at a calendar, and start counting the days from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter Sunday, then you will notice that Septuagesima Sunday is NOT the “seventieth” day from Easter Sunday—it is 64th day from Easter Sunday (including both days in the count). Why then call it the 70th day? The significance of this naming is as follows:
Like Century, Like Decade
The Sundays were not named according the ordinal placement, but as to the decade (like century, for example) in which they happened to fall. So instead of saying “I arrived in Rome one summer’s day in 1749”—we say instead, “I arrived in Rome one summer’s day in the 18th century. So we classify 1749, not by the year, but by the century in which it is found and we say that 1749 was in the 18th century; 1821 was in the 19th century; 1935 was in the 20th century; and 2015 is in the 21st century. This is how the pre-Lenten Sundays came to get their names, it depended upon which “decade” (like century) they were placed.
► 1 to 10 = 1st decade
► 11 to 20 = 2nd decade
► 21 to 30 = 3rd decade
► 31 to 40 = 4th decade or Quadragesima Sunday = 43rd day
► 41 to 50 = 5th decade or Quinquagesima Sunday = 50th day
► 51 to 60 = 6th decade or Sexagesima Sunday = 57th day
► 61 to 70 = 7th decade and Septuagesima Sunday = 64th day
► Septuagesima Sunday (the 64th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 70 to 61 days from Easter Sunday.
► Sexagesima Sunday (the 57th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 60 to 51 days from Easter Sunday.
► Quinquagesima Sunday (the 50th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 50 to 51 days from Easter Sunday.
► Quadragesima Sunday (the 43rd day from Easter) falls with the decade of 40 to 31 days from Easter Sunday.
Whew!! Hopefully it all makes sense after all these years! Who said the Catholic Faith had to be simple?!
In more ancient times, some folk would begin a forty-day Lenten fast exactly 70 days (10 weeks) before Easter Sunday, and would not include Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays as fast days (in honor of the Holy Eucharist’s institution on Thursday; Saturday being Our Lady’s day; and Sunday, of course, a commemoration of the resurrection). This method would also achieve 40 days of fasting by Easter Sunday, by giving 10 weeks of 4 day fasts.
Some authors, looking for symbolic meanings, would have the name “Septuagesima” indicate a period of seventy days made up of the nine weeks to Easter plus Easter Week, which would mystically represent the seventy-year Babylonian captivity.
The Dates Might Change―The Liturgical Reading Don’t Change!
The readings at Matins for this week are the first few chapters of Genesis, telling of the creation of the world, of Adam and Eve, the fall of man and resulting expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the story of Cain and Abel. In the following weeks before and during Lent, the readings continue to Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The Epistle reading at Mass is St. Paul’s description of our Race for the Crown of Glory in Heaven (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5), whereas the Gospel reading for Septuagesima week is the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). All of these readings are foundational and highly instructive and indicative of the attitude we need to have in order to reach Heaven.
The Fleet-Footed, Athletic, Hard Working Christian
The Liturgy for the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday is wonderfully rich and powerful in its imagery in relation to what a Christian should be like. You could say that it is a veritable foundation upon which we should build―not only build our Lenten exercises and attitudes―but upon which we can build our whole life.
► The INTROIT of the Mass opens up with a brief description of what the tone of the Christian life is likely to be like―a life of strife, persecution, attacks and dangers: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and, from His holy Temple, He heard my voice. (Psalm 17:2-3). I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength! The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!” What beautiful words! You could write a whole book upon the meditations that pour forth from that Introit! Here are just a few tips on the paths that you could take in meditating these words.
To start with―you could place the words of the Introit into the mouths of two great sinners―St. Dismas (the Good Thief on the cross on Calvary) and St. Mary Magdalen (who was an adulteress and possessed by devils). As Dismas hung, dying on his cross, you can well imagine him saying: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and, from His holy Temple [of the cross], He heard my voice!” and said to me: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!” (Luke 23:43). As for Mary Magdalen, who many of the Fathers of the Church think was the same person as the woman caught in adultery and about to be stoned to death by the Scribes and Pharisees, we can just as well put those same words in her mouth: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and He heard my voice!” and “Jesus, lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:10-11). Later, she would twice wash His feet and anoint His head at banquets―and, while, others looked down upon her as a sinner, Jesus said of her: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47) ― hence, we can also put into Mary Magdalen’s mouth the final words of the Introit: “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength! The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!”
The words of the Introit should also be foundational for our own lives―for we are all sinners and we all must die: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Yet, at the same time, we know that by loving God we can escape ‘eternal death’ or Hell, even if we cannot escape death in this life―which is a consequence of sin. “He that loveth his life shall lose it―and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Sin begets death―“Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15)―but charity or love brings the life of God and eternal life― “Every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:7-8) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins and keep all My commandments [= love of God], then living he shall live and shall not die” (Ezechiel 18:20-21). “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)―and of the sinner Mary Magdalen, Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). Do you have any sins that need forgiving and paying for? Then love and you will live!
► The COLLECT or PRAYER from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday succinctly sums up our problems, saying: “O Lord, we beseech Thee, that we, who are justly punished for our sins, may be mercifully delivered!” Who is there that has not sinned and has no need of penance and punishment? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). Sin does not escape God’s view―Our Lord says that we shall remain in one or other form of punishment―whether in this life or in Purgatory―until we have paid for our sins: “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “The judge will deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter shall cast thee into prison―and I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from there until thou pay the very last mite!” (Luke 12:59). “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
► The EPISTLE from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday is a beautiful piece of Scriture, serving―at one and the same time―as a warning, an encouragement, a lesson and an explanation. It warns that salvation is not automatic, it encourages to serious and high levels of effort, it teaches a lesson from the plight of God's Chosen People and explains why there is a need for serious efforts in the spiritual life, without which there will be no crown of Heaven awaiting us:
“Do you not know that those who run in a race, all indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run as to obtain it. And everyone in a contest abstains from all things - and they indeed to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. I, therefore, so run as not without a purpose; I so fight as not beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others I myself should be rejected. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Yet with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5).
St. Paul speaks of our journey through this world being more of race than a journey―a race for Heaven, not tourism on this Earth! There are too many Catholics who are mere tourists in this world―and they will not reach Heaven, because they are trying to serve God and mammon, which Christ said is impossible. Furthermore, St. Paul says: “All indeed run, but one receives the prize!” That should be enough to wake us up out of our lethargy and complacency―for it reminds us of similar words spoken by Jesus at the end of the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday: “Many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16) ― which is almost the same as: “All indeed run, but one receives the prize!” Today, unfortunately, everyone expects to be a winner! Everyone wants to be sinner and a winner!
► Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604): “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect?”
► St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God.”
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … It is certain that few are saved.”
► St. Basil the Great (330-379), Doctor and Father of the Church: “How few of the people were found really receiving the word. Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved, but the elect of God.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
Is God So Rigorous?
Holy Scripture tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The charity of God … hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (1 John 4:9). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). That same only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: I will have mercy and not sacrifice! For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Come to Me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28). “And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord, if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18).
Our Lord―even in Private Revelation―reiterates these truths: “Do not make Me out a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’―for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36). “I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 136). “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237). Thus, we see that the great loss of souls is not because of any rigor and harshness on the part of God, but because of cruel callousness on the part of stubborn and persistent sinners, who might want to be saved, but will not fight their sins, nor leave their sins behind and do penance for them. They want the best of both worlds―enjoy life on Earth, even to the point of sinning, and to get to Heaven despite their sins. That will not work and has not worked― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► The GRADUAL & TRACT from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday
► The GOSPEL from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday
The further we go into the Church’s season of the Forty Days of Christmas (which ends with the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple and the Purification of His most Holy Mother on February 2nd), the more we accelerate through time, entering what could be called a ‘time-microwave’, and also the more confusing becomes the liturgical calendar!
We celebrate the birth of Our Lord on December 25th, and then, on the 8th day, we celebrate the Circumcision of the Lord (January 1st), keeping in line with the schedule of the Jewish law at that time, which commanded that a child be circumcised on the 8th day. Then we have the Epiphany on January 6th, which still falls into a chronological timeline, as does the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of His Holy Mother (February 2nd); for the Jewish law commanded that women giving birth, should be legally purified 40 days after giving birth―and February 2nd is 40 days after December 25th.
Fitting It All In
The problem is this: the Church has just one year in which it has to fit thirty-three years of Our Lord’s life. So something is going to have to ‘give’ somewhere. We have the birth of Our Lord on December 25th, and then, within a space of just a few weeks, the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima begins, by which time Our Lord is supposed to have fled to Egypt, lived there in exile a some years, come back His homeland, spent His childhood in Nazareth, grown into an adult, and entered His public ministry and performed a miracle or two! All in the space of a few weeks, or as little as 25 days. So His life is sadly microwaved; with many of its riches, open for our contemplation, being rushed through or hurried past, and so left untouched or barely examined.
A Christmas-Septuagesima Overlap
The earliest date on which Septuagesima Sunday can occur is January 18th (Easter falling on March 22nd in a non-leap year) and the latest is February 22nd (Easter falling on April 25th in a leap year). That means that the first 30 years of Our Lord’s life has to be squeezed into anything from a mere 25 days (if Septuagesima starts on January 18th) or 59 days if Septuagesima begins on the latest possible date!
Furthermore, when Septuagesima Sunday falls before February 2nd (the Fortieth Day of Christmas), then we have the weird and confusing experience of penitential purple being introduced into the liturgy before all the Forty Day of Christmas have been joyously celebrated! That is the case this year, 2021, with Septuagesima Sunday falling on January 31st. So what happens in that case? Is it still the Christmas season, or is the Septuagesima-Lenten season? Without trying to sound like Liberal fence-sitter―who tries to please everybody for fear of offending anybody―it has to be said that it is both the Christmas season and the Septuagesima season―one does not cancel out the other.
It is much like when a woman marries a man, but integrates her maiden name into her new married name. For example, if Hilary Rhodam Clinton was born with the surname “Rodham”, which she kept and integrated with her marital name “Clinton” ― hence Hilary Rhodam did not simply become Hilary Clinton, but Hilary Rhodam Clinton. So too with the current season―it was the Christmas season, but now (because of the movable date for Easter), Spetugesima Sunday comes early. In this case, neither season is eliminated, but Christmas still sees out its 40 days while the Septuagesima season begins. You could also compare it to the situation with the incoming and outgoing American President―though the election takes place in November, the inauguration of the new president only takes place in January, while the old president remains as president after losing an election all throughout the overlap period.
The Yardstick to Easter
The period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday is intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of Lent, while Lent is itself a period of spiritual preparation for Easter. In the pre-1970 Roman Rite liturgy, the Alleluia ceases to be said during the liturgy. At first Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday, two alleluias are added to the closing verse of Benedicamus Domino and its response, Deo gratias, as during the Easter Octave, and, starting at Compline, it is no longer used until Easter. Likewise, violet vestments are worn, except on feasts, from Septuagesima Sunday until Holy Thursday. As during Advent and Lent, the Gloria and Te Deum are no longer said on the three Sundays within the Septuagesima Season.
Catholic usage after 1969
The liturgical books revised after the Second Vatican Council no longer celebrate or keep Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which are found in the earlier versions, and treat this period as part of Ordinary Time, so that the use of violet vestments and the omission of “Alleluia” in the liturgy begin only on Ash Wednesday.
Polish National Catholic Church Usage
However, in 2014, the Polish National Catholic Church has officially reinstated the Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays throughout the entire Church. The celebration of this season as a preparation for Holy Lent is now highlighted as a part of the Liturgical Year.
In addition to Poland, there are still many religious communities that still keep the traditional Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which is a good thing—for it shows a healthy respect for the ancient traditions of the Church, which were in place for century after century. It is perhaps no small coincidence, that, since the throwing out of most of the traditional customs, they found that they had thrown out the “baby with the bathwater.” The unprecedented collapse in numbers of practicing Catholics over the last 50 years is not a chance phenomenon, but, like every disease, has to have its own causes. Our Lady’s apparitions and warnings have quite a few things to say on that matter.
The Math of Septuagesima
The season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of the liturgical year, and is itself divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: the first is called Septuagesima; the second, Sexagesima; the third, Quinquagesima.
Countdown Sundays
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of the Church, is called Quadragesima, that is, Forty, because the great feast of Easter is prepared for by the holy exercises of forty days. The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tell us of the same great solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which the Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion. Septuagesima comes from the Latin word for “seventieth.” Likewise, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima, and Quadragesima mean “sixtieth,” “fiftieth,” and “fortieth” respectively.
Ah, but…!!
But if you look at a calendar, and start counting the days from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter Sunday, then you will notice that Septuagesima Sunday is NOT the “seventieth” day from Easter Sunday—it is 64th day from Easter Sunday (including both days in the count). Why then call it the 70th day? The significance of this naming is as follows:
Like Century, Like Decade
The Sundays were not named according the ordinal placement, but as to the decade (like century, for example) in which they happened to fall. So instead of saying “I arrived in Rome one summer’s day in 1749”—we say instead, “I arrived in Rome one summer’s day in the 18th century. So we classify 1749, not by the year, but by the century in which it is found and we say that 1749 was in the 18th century; 1821 was in the 19th century; 1935 was in the 20th century; and 2015 is in the 21st century. This is how the pre-Lenten Sundays came to get their names, it depended upon which “decade” (like century) they were placed.
► 1 to 10 = 1st decade
► 11 to 20 = 2nd decade
► 21 to 30 = 3rd decade
► 31 to 40 = 4th decade or Quadragesima Sunday = 43rd day
► 41 to 50 = 5th decade or Quinquagesima Sunday = 50th day
► 51 to 60 = 6th decade or Sexagesima Sunday = 57th day
► 61 to 70 = 7th decade and Septuagesima Sunday = 64th day
► Septuagesima Sunday (the 64th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 70 to 61 days from Easter Sunday.
► Sexagesima Sunday (the 57th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 60 to 51 days from Easter Sunday.
► Quinquagesima Sunday (the 50th day from Easter) falls with the decade of 50 to 51 days from Easter Sunday.
► Quadragesima Sunday (the 43rd day from Easter) falls with the decade of 40 to 31 days from Easter Sunday.
Whew!! Hopefully it all makes sense after all these years! Who said the Catholic Faith had to be simple?!
In more ancient times, some folk would begin a forty-day Lenten fast exactly 70 days (10 weeks) before Easter Sunday, and would not include Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays as fast days (in honor of the Holy Eucharist’s institution on Thursday; Saturday being Our Lady’s day; and Sunday, of course, a commemoration of the resurrection). This method would also achieve 40 days of fasting by Easter Sunday, by giving 10 weeks of 4 day fasts.
Some authors, looking for symbolic meanings, would have the name “Septuagesima” indicate a period of seventy days made up of the nine weeks to Easter plus Easter Week, which would mystically represent the seventy-year Babylonian captivity.
The Dates Might Change―The Liturgical Reading Don’t Change!
The readings at Matins for this week are the first few chapters of Genesis, telling of the creation of the world, of Adam and Eve, the fall of man and resulting expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the story of Cain and Abel. In the following weeks before and during Lent, the readings continue to Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The Epistle reading at Mass is St. Paul’s description of our Race for the Crown of Glory in Heaven (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5), whereas the Gospel reading for Septuagesima week is the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). All of these readings are foundational and highly instructive and indicative of the attitude we need to have in order to reach Heaven.
The Fleet-Footed, Athletic, Hard Working Christian
The Liturgy for the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday is wonderfully rich and powerful in its imagery in relation to what a Christian should be like. You could say that it is a veritable foundation upon which we should build―not only build our Lenten exercises and attitudes―but upon which we can build our whole life.
► The INTROIT of the Mass opens up with a brief description of what the tone of the Christian life is likely to be like―a life of strife, persecution, attacks and dangers: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and, from His holy Temple, He heard my voice. (Psalm 17:2-3). I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength! The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!” What beautiful words! You could write a whole book upon the meditations that pour forth from that Introit! Here are just a few tips on the paths that you could take in meditating these words.
To start with―you could place the words of the Introit into the mouths of two great sinners―St. Dismas (the Good Thief on the cross on Calvary) and St. Mary Magdalen (who was an adulteress and possessed by devils). As Dismas hung, dying on his cross, you can well imagine him saying: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and, from His holy Temple [of the cross], He heard my voice!” and said to me: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!” (Luke 23:43). As for Mary Magdalen, who many of the Fathers of the Church think was the same person as the woman caught in adultery and about to be stoned to death by the Scribes and Pharisees, we can just as well put those same words in her mouth: “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the terrors of Hell encompassed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and He heard my voice!” and “Jesus, lifting up Himself, said to her: ‘Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:10-11). Later, she would twice wash His feet and anoint His head at banquets―and, while, others looked down upon her as a sinner, Jesus said of her: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47) ― hence, we can also put into Mary Magdalen’s mouth the final words of the Introit: “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength! The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!”
The words of the Introit should also be foundational for our own lives―for we are all sinners and we all must die: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Yet, at the same time, we know that by loving God we can escape ‘eternal death’ or Hell, even if we cannot escape death in this life―which is a consequence of sin. “He that loveth his life shall lose it―and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Sin begets death―“Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15)―but charity or love brings the life of God and eternal life― “Every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:7-8) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins and keep all My commandments [= love of God], then living he shall live and shall not die” (Ezechiel 18:20-21). “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)―and of the sinner Mary Magdalen, Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). Do you have any sins that need forgiving and paying for? Then love and you will live!
► The COLLECT or PRAYER from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday succinctly sums up our problems, saying: “O Lord, we beseech Thee, that we, who are justly punished for our sins, may be mercifully delivered!” Who is there that has not sinned and has no need of penance and punishment? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). Sin does not escape God’s view―Our Lord says that we shall remain in one or other form of punishment―whether in this life or in Purgatory―until we have paid for our sins: “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “The judge will deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter shall cast thee into prison―and I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from there until thou pay the very last mite!” (Luke 12:59). “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
► The EPISTLE from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday is a beautiful piece of Scriture, serving―at one and the same time―as a warning, an encouragement, a lesson and an explanation. It warns that salvation is not automatic, it encourages to serious and high levels of effort, it teaches a lesson from the plight of God's Chosen People and explains why there is a need for serious efforts in the spiritual life, without which there will be no crown of Heaven awaiting us:
“Do you not know that those who run in a race, all indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run as to obtain it. And everyone in a contest abstains from all things - and they indeed to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. I, therefore, so run as not without a purpose; I so fight as not beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others I myself should be rejected. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Yet with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5).
St. Paul speaks of our journey through this world being more of race than a journey―a race for Heaven, not tourism on this Earth! There are too many Catholics who are mere tourists in this world―and they will not reach Heaven, because they are trying to serve God and mammon, which Christ said is impossible. Furthermore, St. Paul says: “All indeed run, but one receives the prize!” That should be enough to wake us up out of our lethargy and complacency―for it reminds us of similar words spoken by Jesus at the end of the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday: “Many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16) ― which is almost the same as: “All indeed run, but one receives the prize!” Today, unfortunately, everyone expects to be a winner! Everyone wants to be sinner and a winner!
► Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604): “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect?”
► St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God.”
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … It is certain that few are saved.”
► St. Basil the Great (330-379), Doctor and Father of the Church: “How few of the people were found really receiving the word. Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved, but the elect of God.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
Is God So Rigorous?
Holy Scripture tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The charity of God … hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (1 John 4:9). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). That same only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, Himself said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: I will have mercy and not sacrifice! For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Come to Me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28). “And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord, if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18).
Our Lord―even in Private Revelation―reiterates these truths: “Do not make Me out a God of rigor, whereas I am nothing but a God of Love! Write ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’―for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36). “I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 136). “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237). Thus, we see that the great loss of souls is not because of any rigor and harshness on the part of God, but because of cruel callousness on the part of stubborn and persistent sinners, who might want to be saved, but will not fight their sins, nor leave their sins behind and do penance for them. They want the best of both worlds―enjoy life on Earth, even to the point of sinning, and to get to Heaven despite their sins. That will not work and has not worked― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► The GRADUAL & TRACT from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday
► The GOSPEL from the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
Saturday January 30th
Article 15
You Must Fight For Your Salvation!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 15
You Must Fight For Your Salvation!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Salvation Without Effort?
Salvation is not a “freebie”―it is not a “give-away”―it is not a “complimentary ticket” to Heaven. Protestants think that you only and merely need to “Believe in Jesus and accept Jesus as your Savior” and you are automatically saved with a guaranteed reserved seat in Heaven! In fact, there are more and more Catholics (the majority by now) who believe something similar―they believe that once you are a Catholic, then you are automatically saved―and if you sin a lot, then don’t worry, because God is love and a loving God would never damn you, no matter what you do!
Furthermore, there are increasing numbers of Catholics who, like Protestants, no longer believe that you must go to the Sacrament of Confession after having committed a mortal sin―they merely shrug their shoulders and say: “O, I confess my sins directly to God―I don’t need to go to Confession!” We see that sad truth of that confirmed by the almost non-existent confessional lines in most Catholic churches, except perhaps in the most Conservative or Traditional Catholic parishes. Yet almost everyone goes to receive Holy Communion! Are we to believe that―in a time when there has never been so much temptation and sin as we see today―all Catholics miraculously do not commit mortal sins anymore? To believe that, you need to have a stronger Faith than it takes to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God! Can you really buy tickets to Heaven for $1 at any local Dollar Tree store? Are they really giving them away at Walmart with every purchase over $20? Do we really believe―like the Protestants―that in these “End Times”, when things get really tough, Jesus will come and take all believers out of this world―it is what the Protestants call “The Rapture”. Leaders of a whole variety of Protestant sects have previously given fixed dates for when that “Rapture” would happen―all those dates came and went, but there was no sign of Jesus! Is salvation really “a piece of cake”, a “walk in the park” or a “boardwalk”? Wouldn’t it be nice if God was handing-out salvation like free candy being tossed around by a billionaire! Is that how it is? What is the truth?
Jesus Speaks the Truth for He is the Truth
“What is TRUTH?” (John 18:38). Pontius Pilate uttered those words to Jesus when asked to judge Jesus by the Jews. Our Lord replied to Pilate: “Everyone that is of the TRUTH, heareth My voice!” (John 18:37). Jesus tells us: “You shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free!” (John 8:32). Well, then, what is the TRUTH? First of all, we must remember that “It is not good … to decline from the TRUTH” (Proverbs 18:5). To find a TRUTHFUL ANSWER to this question about the ease of salvation, one must firstly go to “the God of TRUTH” (Psalm 30:6), for “Thy word is TRUTH” (John 17:17). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and TRUTH!” (John 1:14). “The TRUTH is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). “Christ is the TRUTH!” (1 John 5:6). Jesus Christ said of Himself: “I am the way, and the TRUTH, and the life!” (John 14:6). Speaking of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, Jesus said: “When He, the Spirit of TRUTH, is come, He will teach you all TRUTH!” (John 16:13). Concerning His followers, Our Lord tells His Father: “Sanctify them in TRUTH. Thy word is TRUTH” (John 17:17). Even His enemies acknowledged Christ’s truthfulness: “The Pharisees sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying: ‘Master, we know that Thou art a TRUE speaker, and teachest the way of God in TRUTH” (Matthew 22:15-16).
Will Jesus have to say to us what He said to the Scribes and Pharisees: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the TRUTH―because TRUTH is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the TRUTH, you believe Me not! If I say the TRUTH to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:44). Tough words, eh? Yet those are the words that Jesus ends up having to say to most souls! Why? Because they expected a free-ride, or a cheap-ride, or an effortless ride to Heaven! Heaven is far from being free, cheap or effortless―as Jesus and Holy Scripture clearly tell us:
The Truth is Salvation is Not Cheap
“You are BOUGHT WITH A GREAT PRICE!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “You were not redeemed with gold or silver, but with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST” (1 Peter 18:19). “HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD” (Acts 20:28). “We have the remission of sins and redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD,” (Ephesians 1:7). “Christ died for us ― being now justified by HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). “You, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the BLOOD OF CHRIST” (Ephesians 2:13). As Jesus Himself said, at the Last Supper, when changing the wine into His own Precious Blood: “This is MY BLOOD, which SHALL BE SHED FOR MANY unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
“Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh―then how much more shall the BLOOD OF CHRIST, Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? … So that by means of HIS DEATH, for the redemption of those transgressions, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:12-15).
We Are Saved By Christ―But We Must Work With Christ
As the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, states: “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” (Sermon 169). We are not saved by Faith alone―but by works that must spring out of that Faith: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Lord―in His teaching and parables―is constantly reminding, commanding and warning us that WE MUST PLAY OUR PART IN OUR SALVATION. Salvation is not “walk in the park” nor a “piece of cake” ― but something that involves great suffering, requires great effort and constant effort: “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:13) … “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22).
Jesus paints a very grim and painful picture for those who wish to be saved: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me [to Heaven], let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). That “cross” will come from outside of ourselves and also from within ourselves. We will have to fight―not only those around us―but we will also experience pain, suffering and a fight within ourselves. As the Church teaches―we have a triple enemy―(1) Satan, (2) the world, and (3) ourselves. All of this speaks of pain, suffering and endurance―as Our Lord reiterates elsewhere:
Satan―Enemy Number One
Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy. Jesus warns: “Behold Satan hath desired to have you―that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). Of Satan God says: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Holy Scripture adds: “The sorrows of hell encompassed me” (Psalm 17:6). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
The World―Enemy Number Two
Concerning the enemy which is the world, Our Lord points out that “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Our Lord further adds: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘GO OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATE!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Ourselves and Our Own Flesh―Enemy Number Three
As regards the enemy that is our own flesh, our own selves, God says: “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God … For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live!” (Romans 8:5-8 & 13). “They that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences” (Galatians 5:24). “Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? … Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Romans 6:3-6).
That is why Our Lord insists: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) … “Watch ye and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). “And He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). To which Holy Scripture adds: “When thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! … Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the Earth; from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols … Also, all of you put away all anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and, putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Sin is Incredibly Expensive
Most souls underestimate the gravity of sin and the price of sin―that is one of the chief reasons why most souls fail to profit from the shedding of the Precious Blood on their behalf. If our redemption cost such a great price―the shedding of the Precious Blood―then sin must have a massive price-tag on it. “You are BOUGHT WITH A GREAT PRICE!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “You were not redeemed with gold or silver, but with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST” (1 Peter 18:19). “HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD” (Acts 20:28). “We have the remission of sins and redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD,” (Ephesians 1:7). Our redemption and possible salvation was expensive! Why? Because sin is expensive!
Our Catechisms tell us that there is nothing more serious, nothing more grave, nothing more disastrous than sin! If the “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Unfortunately and sadly, most modern-day Catholics ― potentially to their eternal demise ― have been progressively losing the sense of sin. That has been the unanimous opinion of both the Conservative as well as the Liberal and Modernist popes from Pope Pius XII onwards.
► POPE PIUS XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
► POPE JOHN PAUL II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI, in homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
► POPE FRANCIS, in a homily on January 31st, 2014, also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Restoring the True Sense of Sin
There will no real conversion of sinners―ourselves included―if there is no true sense of sin. As long as we can kid ourselves that sin is “no big deal” and merely something that we can nonchalantly wash-off by going to Confession each week―then we treat the Sacrament of Confession like a revolving door without really having a firm purpose of amendment, and which also potentially indicates that we do not have real sorrow for our sins through our neglect to avoid those occasions of sin. Confession merely becomes a weekly “car-wash” that we pay for with a paltry penance of a few Hail Marys. Even priests have lost the sense of sin and need to have it restored. Moral Theology teaches that a priest who allows the “revolving door” or “car-wash” confessions to take place, ends up committing a mortal sin himself―for Moral Theology teaches that continual repetitions of any one kind of mortal sin should not be tolerated by the priest, who should warn the indifferent and insincere sinner that repeated falling into the same mortal sin without any signs of amendment and improvement (which is technically called “recidivism”, literally meaning “falling back into”) necessitates at some point a refusal of absolution by the priest. Confession is a beautiful and merciful Sacrament that is meant to be USED and NOT ABUSED.
Holy Scripture warns us against this: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9). Jesus Himself warned the paralytic man whom He had just cured: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). To the woman caught in adultery, whom the Scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone to death according to the Law, Jesus said: “Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11).
Our Lord, furthermore, tells us to be serious about tackling and overcoming our sins: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven … And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee―for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee―for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell!” (Matthew 5:20-30).
Another sin related mistake or catastrophe is our refusal to forgive others, whilst expecting to be forgive ourselves. On this point, Our Lord ― during His “Sermon on the Mount” ― warns: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offence” (Matthew 6:14-15). In that same sermon he further warns: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you give to others, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see well enough to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:1-5).
O Hell―No Wonder Most Souls Are Lost!
It pains―doesn’t it―to have to hear the fact that most souls are damned! It is almost a taboo subject, that nobody wishes to talk about―but not talking about it has not anything to prevent it from happening. This reticence and reluctance to talk about Hell has led uncountable souls to Hell. Once there, they lament the fact that they were so rarely warned about Hell―but, alas, it is too late. As they say: “Hell is full of good intentions!” The doctrine of Hell is uncomfortable for most of us―but not so with Our Lord. He speaks of Hell more than anyone else in Holy Scripture. In His parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus says: “There was a certain rich man, who feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him! And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:19-22). Elsewhere “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
In His parable about the Unprofitable Servant, He says: “The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). In the parable of the Saved Sheep and the Damned Goats, He says to the Damned Goats: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels … Go into everlasting punishment!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
Our Lord speaks more descriptively about Hell than He does about Heaven―describing it in great detail―holding, so to speak, our feet against the fire. In chapter 16 of St. Luke, He uses the words: “buried in Hell” … “tormented in this flame” … “thou art tormented” … “a great chaos” … “this place of torments.” Elsewhere He warns that we are all “in danger of Hell fire” (Matthew 5:22), adding: “If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out! It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the Kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the Hell of fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished! For every one shall be salted with fire!” (Mark 9:46-48). He further says that “The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42). He calls Hell a place of “exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30), telling us to “fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28) … “How will you flee from the judgment of Hell?” (Matthew 23:33). To the proud city of Capharnaum, He says: “Thou shalt be thrust down to Hell!” (Luke 10:15). There are many other references to Hell in Holy Scripture besides these few examples―Hell is mentioned over 110 times―no wonder Catholics refuse to read the Bible! Referring to the End Times, Holy Scripture says: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Jesus had to talk about Hell, because it is the fate that awaits everyone who separates themselves from Him by sin. In fact, Original Sin makes Hell the default destination for everyone―unless they remove that Original Sin by receiving the grace of God in Baptism. Because of Adam’s sin, we are all guilty; we are conceived and born without sanctifying grace in our soul, and are thus deserving of death in this life and Hell in the next life―if we do not seek His grace in this life and die in that state of grace. We need a rescuer or we stand condemned! So we are left with only two options―there are only two final forwarding addresses for us after our temporary journey through this life―Heaven or Hell. We can choose to stay in our state of depravity and be eternally punished, or submit to Christ, follow His laws and accept His gift of redemption with all the attached conditions. Nobody is going to tell God what to do! It is either His way, or the highway to Hell.
Our Lord Himself, in Private Revelation, says that He desires our salvation, but that many do not really desire salvation―preferring to enjoy sin rather than serve God: “I did not create you for Hell, but for Heaven, not as a companion for the devil, but to enjoy Me in everlasting love! You see, to Hell go only those who wish to go there! … Final impenitence is found only in a soul who purposely wishes to go to Hell and therefore obstinately refuses My mercy, for I never refuse to pardon anyone. I offer the gift of My immense compassion to all, for My Blood was shed for all, for all! No, it is not the multiplicity of sins which condemns a soul―for I forgive everything if she repents―but it is the obstinacy of not wishing to be pardoned, of wishing to be damned! Dismas on the cross had only one single act of Faith in Me, but many, many sins; he was pardoned in an instant, however, and on the very day of his repentance he entered into My kingdom and is a saint!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 42-44). Yet Our Lord―despite wanting to forgive and save sinners―admits that most souls are lost: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
St. Alphonsus Liguori—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians―says: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. God will show us His mercy if we do not abuse His mercy through presumption of His mercy. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.”
St. Alphonsus writes elsewhere: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, p. 494). Another Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, adds: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! It is certain that few are saved!” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1). St. John Climacus, a Father of the Church, voices the same opinion: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!” Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, who writes: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3). St. Anselm, another Doctor of the Church, warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” Whereas St. Bede the Venerable, a Doctor and Father of the Church writes: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
Nobody likes to hear or read those words―but if we ignore them and bury our heads in the sand, hoping to plead ignorance on Judgment Day―then we are gravely and deliberately misleading ourselves it will probably lead us to Hell. Most souls walk into their Final Judgment with a weak Faith, a lukewarm love of God and very few good works―somehow expecting to be saved! Heck! Even most of the saints had to first go to Purgatory before being admitted into Heaven―St. Padre Pio says that most of few souls that are saved, are first sent to the fires of Purgatory! Unfortunately and sadly, we live in world where “fast-track” and “price-cuts” are the norm―and this mentality of expecting to get everything “fast” and “cheap” also spills over into our spiritual life. Many love a “fast” Mass, “fast” Rosaries and “cheap” penances! They go as fast as they can, do as little as they can, pay as little as they can―and hope to get as much as they can! It doesn’t work―as the vast majority of Catholics (and mankind) have found out over the centuries.
Most modern Americans have been raised with a dislike of having to make great efforts and having to fight for something over long periods of time. Since the 1990s, a disastrous educational approach ― the self-esteem paradigm ― has caused havoc in the formation of children and students. According to the “self-esteem” paradigm, you should not hurt the “feelings” or “self-esteem” of children by telling them they have failed, or that something is not good enough, or that they are bad, etc. These children are not pushed, challenged, toughened-up for the realities of the world where “self-esteem” will matter little. Heck! Children who are raised with that garbage will experience one helluva of shock on the Day of Judgment when their “self-esteem” is going to take one heck of knock when God judges and “grades” all that they have thought, said, done and omitted to say and do! “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). For those who are sent to Hell, they will quickly find that there is no “self-esteem” in Hell―for Satan respects nobody and, in Hell, he gives them hell!
One Hell of a Lady!
Even the “clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary” ― as we say in the prayer Hail Holy ― does not shy-away from speaking about Hell. Our Lady of La Salette warns that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell” and that the Antichrist “will fall and will plunge for all eternity, with all his followers, into the everlasting chasms of Hell.”
Our Lady even showed the three Fatima seers a real vision of Hell and stated that the prayer that she wanted all of us to pray after each decade of the Rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive our sins, save us from the fires of Hell … etc.” adding “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Father Augustine Fuentes recalls an interview with Sister Lucia on December 26th, 1957, in which “Sister Lucia told me: ‘Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell.’”
told a Cardinal who had come to visit her: “Hell is a reality ... Continue to preach about Hell, for Our Lord Himself spoke of Hell and it is in the Holy Scriptures. God condemns no one to Hell. People condemn themselves to Hell. God has given mankind the freedom of choice, and He respects this human freedom.”
In the book put together from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Lucia adds: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
Our Lady said to the young, seven-year old, St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima: “The sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin” ― the sin of the flesh. Jacinta was so overwhelmed and impressed with the vision of Hell and Our Lady’s comments about Hell that she would often say that Hell should be preached a lot. Sister Lucia recalls in her memoirs, citing her letter to a bishop: “Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: ‘Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!’ Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: ‘O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.’ Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: ‘Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!’ At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!’” (from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words).
Triumph Over the Devil―But at What Cost Due to Our Negligence?
Yes ― ultimately Our Lady will triumph and Satan will be defeated; Heaven will defeat Hell; the Church will be victorious over the world; good will triumph over evil ― but, once again it must be asked, “At what cost?” How expensive will our neglect in the matter have been? As St. Augustine says: “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised a tomorrow for your procrastination.” Sure ― Our Lady will triumph ― but will you be a part of that triumph, or will you be condemned for having procrastinated and having been guilty of neglect in doing your duty, or even going AWOL (absent without leave) as a Soldier of Christ? “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48).
No―Heaven is not a freebie and salvation is not complimentary ticket! We have to fight for Heaven and salvation―as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), while Scripture adds: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Yet, as Jesus said: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
Salvation is not a “freebie”―it is not a “give-away”―it is not a “complimentary ticket” to Heaven. Protestants think that you only and merely need to “Believe in Jesus and accept Jesus as your Savior” and you are automatically saved with a guaranteed reserved seat in Heaven! In fact, there are more and more Catholics (the majority by now) who believe something similar―they believe that once you are a Catholic, then you are automatically saved―and if you sin a lot, then don’t worry, because God is love and a loving God would never damn you, no matter what you do!
Furthermore, there are increasing numbers of Catholics who, like Protestants, no longer believe that you must go to the Sacrament of Confession after having committed a mortal sin―they merely shrug their shoulders and say: “O, I confess my sins directly to God―I don’t need to go to Confession!” We see that sad truth of that confirmed by the almost non-existent confessional lines in most Catholic churches, except perhaps in the most Conservative or Traditional Catholic parishes. Yet almost everyone goes to receive Holy Communion! Are we to believe that―in a time when there has never been so much temptation and sin as we see today―all Catholics miraculously do not commit mortal sins anymore? To believe that, you need to have a stronger Faith than it takes to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God! Can you really buy tickets to Heaven for $1 at any local Dollar Tree store? Are they really giving them away at Walmart with every purchase over $20? Do we really believe―like the Protestants―that in these “End Times”, when things get really tough, Jesus will come and take all believers out of this world―it is what the Protestants call “The Rapture”. Leaders of a whole variety of Protestant sects have previously given fixed dates for when that “Rapture” would happen―all those dates came and went, but there was no sign of Jesus! Is salvation really “a piece of cake”, a “walk in the park” or a “boardwalk”? Wouldn’t it be nice if God was handing-out salvation like free candy being tossed around by a billionaire! Is that how it is? What is the truth?
Jesus Speaks the Truth for He is the Truth
“What is TRUTH?” (John 18:38). Pontius Pilate uttered those words to Jesus when asked to judge Jesus by the Jews. Our Lord replied to Pilate: “Everyone that is of the TRUTH, heareth My voice!” (John 18:37). Jesus tells us: “You shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free!” (John 8:32). Well, then, what is the TRUTH? First of all, we must remember that “It is not good … to decline from the TRUTH” (Proverbs 18:5). To find a TRUTHFUL ANSWER to this question about the ease of salvation, one must firstly go to “the God of TRUTH” (Psalm 30:6), for “Thy word is TRUTH” (John 17:17). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and TRUTH!” (John 1:14). “The TRUTH is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). “Christ is the TRUTH!” (1 John 5:6). Jesus Christ said of Himself: “I am the way, and the TRUTH, and the life!” (John 14:6). Speaking of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, Jesus said: “When He, the Spirit of TRUTH, is come, He will teach you all TRUTH!” (John 16:13). Concerning His followers, Our Lord tells His Father: “Sanctify them in TRUTH. Thy word is TRUTH” (John 17:17). Even His enemies acknowledged Christ’s truthfulness: “The Pharisees sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying: ‘Master, we know that Thou art a TRUE speaker, and teachest the way of God in TRUTH” (Matthew 22:15-16).
Will Jesus have to say to us what He said to the Scribes and Pharisees: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the TRUTH―because TRUTH is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the TRUTH, you believe Me not! If I say the TRUTH to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:44). Tough words, eh? Yet those are the words that Jesus ends up having to say to most souls! Why? Because they expected a free-ride, or a cheap-ride, or an effortless ride to Heaven! Heaven is far from being free, cheap or effortless―as Jesus and Holy Scripture clearly tell us:
The Truth is Salvation is Not Cheap
“You are BOUGHT WITH A GREAT PRICE!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “You were not redeemed with gold or silver, but with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST” (1 Peter 18:19). “HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD” (Acts 20:28). “We have the remission of sins and redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD,” (Ephesians 1:7). “Christ died for us ― being now justified by HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). “You, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the BLOOD OF CHRIST” (Ephesians 2:13). As Jesus Himself said, at the Last Supper, when changing the wine into His own Precious Blood: “This is MY BLOOD, which SHALL BE SHED FOR MANY unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
“Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh―then how much more shall the BLOOD OF CHRIST, Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? … So that by means of HIS DEATH, for the redemption of those transgressions, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:12-15).
We Are Saved By Christ―But We Must Work With Christ
As the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, states: “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” (Sermon 169). We are not saved by Faith alone―but by works that must spring out of that Faith: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified―and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Our Lord―in His teaching and parables―is constantly reminding, commanding and warning us that WE MUST PLAY OUR PART IN OUR SALVATION. Salvation is not “walk in the park” nor a “piece of cake” ― but something that involves great suffering, requires great effort and constant effort: “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:13) … “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22).
Jesus paints a very grim and painful picture for those who wish to be saved: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me [to Heaven], let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). That “cross” will come from outside of ourselves and also from within ourselves. We will have to fight―not only those around us―but we will also experience pain, suffering and a fight within ourselves. As the Church teaches―we have a triple enemy―(1) Satan, (2) the world, and (3) ourselves. All of this speaks of pain, suffering and endurance―as Our Lord reiterates elsewhere:
Satan―Enemy Number One
Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy. Jesus warns: “Behold Satan hath desired to have you―that he may sift you as wheat!” (Luke 22:31). “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). Of Satan God says: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Holy Scripture adds: “The sorrows of hell encompassed me” (Psalm 17:6). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
The World―Enemy Number Two
Concerning the enemy which is the world, Our Lord points out that “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Concerning His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Our Lord further adds: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘GO OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATE!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Ourselves and Our Own Flesh―Enemy Number Three
As regards the enemy that is our own flesh, our own selves, God says: “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God … For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live!” (Romans 8:5-8 & 13). “They that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences” (Galatians 5:24). “Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? … Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Romans 6:3-6).
That is why Our Lord insists: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) … “Watch ye and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). “And He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). To which Holy Scripture adds: “When thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! … Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the Earth; from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols … Also, all of you put away all anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and, putting on the new man―him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:1-10).
Sin is Incredibly Expensive
Most souls underestimate the gravity of sin and the price of sin―that is one of the chief reasons why most souls fail to profit from the shedding of the Precious Blood on their behalf. If our redemption cost such a great price―the shedding of the Precious Blood―then sin must have a massive price-tag on it. “You are BOUGHT WITH A GREAT PRICE!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “You were not redeemed with gold or silver, but with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST” (1 Peter 18:19). “HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD” (Acts 20:28). “We have the remission of sins and redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD,” (Ephesians 1:7). Our redemption and possible salvation was expensive! Why? Because sin is expensive!
Our Catechisms tell us that there is nothing more serious, nothing more grave, nothing more disastrous than sin! If the “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Unfortunately and sadly, most modern-day Catholics ― potentially to their eternal demise ― have been progressively losing the sense of sin. That has been the unanimous opinion of both the Conservative as well as the Liberal and Modernist popes from Pope Pius XII onwards.
► POPE PIUS XII, in an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
► POPE JOHN PAUL II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI, in homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
► POPE FRANCIS, in a homily on January 31st, 2014, also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Restoring the True Sense of Sin
There will no real conversion of sinners―ourselves included―if there is no true sense of sin. As long as we can kid ourselves that sin is “no big deal” and merely something that we can nonchalantly wash-off by going to Confession each week―then we treat the Sacrament of Confession like a revolving door without really having a firm purpose of amendment, and which also potentially indicates that we do not have real sorrow for our sins through our neglect to avoid those occasions of sin. Confession merely becomes a weekly “car-wash” that we pay for with a paltry penance of a few Hail Marys. Even priests have lost the sense of sin and need to have it restored. Moral Theology teaches that a priest who allows the “revolving door” or “car-wash” confessions to take place, ends up committing a mortal sin himself―for Moral Theology teaches that continual repetitions of any one kind of mortal sin should not be tolerated by the priest, who should warn the indifferent and insincere sinner that repeated falling into the same mortal sin without any signs of amendment and improvement (which is technically called “recidivism”, literally meaning “falling back into”) necessitates at some point a refusal of absolution by the priest. Confession is a beautiful and merciful Sacrament that is meant to be USED and NOT ABUSED.
Holy Scripture warns us against this: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great―He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9). Jesus Himself warned the paralytic man whom He had just cured: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). To the woman caught in adultery, whom the Scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone to death according to the Law, Jesus said: “Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11).
Our Lord, furthermore, tells us to be serious about tackling and overcoming our sins: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven … And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee―for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee―for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell!” (Matthew 5:20-30).
Another sin related mistake or catastrophe is our refusal to forgive others, whilst expecting to be forgive ourselves. On this point, Our Lord ― during His “Sermon on the Mount” ― warns: “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offence” (Matthew 6:14-15). In that same sermon he further warns: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you give to others, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see well enough to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:1-5).
O Hell―No Wonder Most Souls Are Lost!
It pains―doesn’t it―to have to hear the fact that most souls are damned! It is almost a taboo subject, that nobody wishes to talk about―but not talking about it has not anything to prevent it from happening. This reticence and reluctance to talk about Hell has led uncountable souls to Hell. Once there, they lament the fact that they were so rarely warned about Hell―but, alas, it is too late. As they say: “Hell is full of good intentions!” The doctrine of Hell is uncomfortable for most of us―but not so with Our Lord. He speaks of Hell more than anyone else in Holy Scripture. In His parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus says: “There was a certain rich man, who feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him! And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:19-22). Elsewhere “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
In His parable about the Unprofitable Servant, He says: “The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). In the parable of the Saved Sheep and the Damned Goats, He says to the Damned Goats: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels … Go into everlasting punishment!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
Our Lord speaks more descriptively about Hell than He does about Heaven―describing it in great detail―holding, so to speak, our feet against the fire. In chapter 16 of St. Luke, He uses the words: “buried in Hell” … “tormented in this flame” … “thou art tormented” … “a great chaos” … “this place of torments.” Elsewhere He warns that we are all “in danger of Hell fire” (Matthew 5:22), adding: “If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out! It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the Kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the Hell of fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished! For every one shall be salted with fire!” (Mark 9:46-48). He further says that “The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42). He calls Hell a place of “exterior darkness―where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30), telling us to “fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28) … “How will you flee from the judgment of Hell?” (Matthew 23:33). To the proud city of Capharnaum, He says: “Thou shalt be thrust down to Hell!” (Luke 10:15). There are many other references to Hell in Holy Scripture besides these few examples―Hell is mentioned over 110 times―no wonder Catholics refuse to read the Bible! Referring to the End Times, Holy Scripture says: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Jesus had to talk about Hell, because it is the fate that awaits everyone who separates themselves from Him by sin. In fact, Original Sin makes Hell the default destination for everyone―unless they remove that Original Sin by receiving the grace of God in Baptism. Because of Adam’s sin, we are all guilty; we are conceived and born without sanctifying grace in our soul, and are thus deserving of death in this life and Hell in the next life―if we do not seek His grace in this life and die in that state of grace. We need a rescuer or we stand condemned! So we are left with only two options―there are only two final forwarding addresses for us after our temporary journey through this life―Heaven or Hell. We can choose to stay in our state of depravity and be eternally punished, or submit to Christ, follow His laws and accept His gift of redemption with all the attached conditions. Nobody is going to tell God what to do! It is either His way, or the highway to Hell.
Our Lord Himself, in Private Revelation, says that He desires our salvation, but that many do not really desire salvation―preferring to enjoy sin rather than serve God: “I did not create you for Hell, but for Heaven, not as a companion for the devil, but to enjoy Me in everlasting love! You see, to Hell go only those who wish to go there! … Final impenitence is found only in a soul who purposely wishes to go to Hell and therefore obstinately refuses My mercy, for I never refuse to pardon anyone. I offer the gift of My immense compassion to all, for My Blood was shed for all, for all! No, it is not the multiplicity of sins which condemns a soul―for I forgive everything if she repents―but it is the obstinacy of not wishing to be pardoned, of wishing to be damned! Dismas on the cross had only one single act of Faith in Me, but many, many sins; he was pardoned in an instant, however, and on the very day of his repentance he entered into My kingdom and is a saint!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 42-44). Yet Our Lord―despite wanting to forgive and save sinners―admits that most souls are lost: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
St. Alphonsus Liguori—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians―says: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. God will show us His mercy if we do not abuse His mercy through presumption of His mercy. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.”
St. Alphonsus writes elsewhere: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, p. 494). Another Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, adds: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! It is certain that few are saved!” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1). St. John Climacus, a Father of the Church, voices the same opinion: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!” Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, who writes: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3). St. Anselm, another Doctor of the Church, warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” Whereas St. Bede the Venerable, a Doctor and Father of the Church writes: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
Nobody likes to hear or read those words―but if we ignore them and bury our heads in the sand, hoping to plead ignorance on Judgment Day―then we are gravely and deliberately misleading ourselves it will probably lead us to Hell. Most souls walk into their Final Judgment with a weak Faith, a lukewarm love of God and very few good works―somehow expecting to be saved! Heck! Even most of the saints had to first go to Purgatory before being admitted into Heaven―St. Padre Pio says that most of few souls that are saved, are first sent to the fires of Purgatory! Unfortunately and sadly, we live in world where “fast-track” and “price-cuts” are the norm―and this mentality of expecting to get everything “fast” and “cheap” also spills over into our spiritual life. Many love a “fast” Mass, “fast” Rosaries and “cheap” penances! They go as fast as they can, do as little as they can, pay as little as they can―and hope to get as much as they can! It doesn’t work―as the vast majority of Catholics (and mankind) have found out over the centuries.
Most modern Americans have been raised with a dislike of having to make great efforts and having to fight for something over long periods of time. Since the 1990s, a disastrous educational approach ― the self-esteem paradigm ― has caused havoc in the formation of children and students. According to the “self-esteem” paradigm, you should not hurt the “feelings” or “self-esteem” of children by telling them they have failed, or that something is not good enough, or that they are bad, etc. These children are not pushed, challenged, toughened-up for the realities of the world where “self-esteem” will matter little. Heck! Children who are raised with that garbage will experience one helluva of shock on the Day of Judgment when their “self-esteem” is going to take one heck of knock when God judges and “grades” all that they have thought, said, done and omitted to say and do! “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). For those who are sent to Hell, they will quickly find that there is no “self-esteem” in Hell―for Satan respects nobody and, in Hell, he gives them hell!
One Hell of a Lady!
Even the “clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary” ― as we say in the prayer Hail Holy ― does not shy-away from speaking about Hell. Our Lady of La Salette warns that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell” and that the Antichrist “will fall and will plunge for all eternity, with all his followers, into the everlasting chasms of Hell.”
Our Lady even showed the three Fatima seers a real vision of Hell and stated that the prayer that she wanted all of us to pray after each decade of the Rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive our sins, save us from the fires of Hell … etc.” adding “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Father Augustine Fuentes recalls an interview with Sister Lucia on December 26th, 1957, in which “Sister Lucia told me: ‘Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell.’”
told a Cardinal who had come to visit her: “Hell is a reality ... Continue to preach about Hell, for Our Lord Himself spoke of Hell and it is in the Holy Scriptures. God condemns no one to Hell. People condemn themselves to Hell. God has given mankind the freedom of choice, and He respects this human freedom.”
In the book put together from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Lucia adds: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
Our Lady said to the young, seven-year old, St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima: “The sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin” ― the sin of the flesh. Jacinta was so overwhelmed and impressed with the vision of Hell and Our Lady’s comments about Hell that she would often say that Hell should be preached a lot. Sister Lucia recalls in her memoirs, citing her letter to a bishop: “Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: ‘Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!’ Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: ‘O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.’ Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: ‘Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!’ At other times, she asked: ‘Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!’” (from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words).
Triumph Over the Devil―But at What Cost Due to Our Negligence?
Yes ― ultimately Our Lady will triumph and Satan will be defeated; Heaven will defeat Hell; the Church will be victorious over the world; good will triumph over evil ― but, once again it must be asked, “At what cost?” How expensive will our neglect in the matter have been? As St. Augustine says: “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised a tomorrow for your procrastination.” Sure ― Our Lady will triumph ― but will you be a part of that triumph, or will you be condemned for having procrastinated and having been guilty of neglect in doing your duty, or even going AWOL (absent without leave) as a Soldier of Christ? “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48).
No―Heaven is not a freebie and salvation is not complimentary ticket! We have to fight for Heaven and salvation―as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), while Scripture adds: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Yet, as Jesus said: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
FOUR DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday January 26th to Friday January 29th
Article 14
Fight or Be Damned!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday January 26th to Friday January 29th
Article 14
Fight or Be Damned!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Fight or Flee!
God has placed in us certain passions that are meant to help us in the many different scenarios we might encounter in life. St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomistic theology list 11 passions that deal with the good and the evil that we meet with throughout our lives. Some of those 11 passions focus on what is good, some focus on what is evil―note that evil, philosophically speaking, means an absence of some good that should be present. By passions we are to understand here motions of the sensitive appetite in man which tend towards the attainment of some real or apparent good, or the avoidance of some evil. The more intensely the object is desired or abhorred, the more vehement is the passion.These 11 passions are:
Love―which loves a good as such and good in itself.
Hate―which hates an evil as such and evil in itself.
Desire―which focuses upon a good that has not yet been obtained.
Aversion―which focuses upon an evil that is not yet present.
Joy―which focuses upon a good that has already been obtained.
Sadness―focuses upon an evil that has already arrived and is present.
Fear―focuses upon an evil that imagined to be unconquerable.
Boldness―focuses upon an evil that is thought to be conquerable.
Despair―focuses upon a good that is desired but imagined as being very difficult or impossible to obtain.
Hope―focuses upon a good that is imagined as difficult to obtain, but possible to obtain.
Anger―focuses upon an evil that is already present.
When it comes to evil―there are three basic choices available. We either FIGHT the evil if we think we can overcome it. Or we FLEE the evil if we realize we cannot possibly overcome it. Or we compromise ourselves by compromising with the evil, suffering it and doing what the evil forces us to do.
Everyone Loves a Good Fight―Or Do They?
You might be familiar with the phrase: “Everyone loves a good fight!” ― but is that true? It might be true in the sense that everyone, or most people, might “love a good fight” as long they only have to WATCH the fight―but how many “love a good fight” if they have to TAKE PART IN IT? Modern technology has pushed us more to the side of being WATCHERS rather than DOERS―which is why there are many who “Talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk!” In a certain sense, it is easier to “fight” with words (and usually less painful and life threatening) than it is to fight with the body or fight with physical/material weapons.
Holy Scripture says something similar: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Holy Scripture, also says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) ― which loosely fits with the above mentioned passions that deal with good and evil.
Christians Are Soldiers
In any given nation―in time of war―there are some who go to fight the war (soldiers) and there are some who do not go to the battlefield (civilians). In the Catholic Church there are no “civilians”, but only “soldiers”. Once we are out of our diapers and once we reach the childhood age required to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, we automatically and inescapably become “Soldiers for Christ” by the receiving that Sacrament of Confirmation―we are confirmed as soldiers, we are given the spiritual strength to be soldiers, we are sent into battle as soldiers. This is why Holy Scripture speaks of our life being a war and our duty being to fight in that war: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight―and will you sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16).
Does Your Faith Work For You?
However, that Faith needs to be a true Faith, a strong Faith, a Faith backed up by works: “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, offering up Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest thou that Faith did cooperate with his works; and, by works, Faith was made perfect? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Yes―a strong Faith, backed up by works, can overcome the world―but is that the kind of Faith that we see around us in both quality and quantity? Are we not, rather, living in times which befit the following words of Our Lord: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Are most Catholics, today, much like the fruitless fig tree that Our Lord cursed: “And in the morning, returning into the city, Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!”―it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!’” (Matthew 21:18-22).
What Quality is Your Faith?
Do not be complacent and smug about having the Faith―for not everyone with Faith is actually pleasing to God. St. Paul reminds us of this in the case of God’s Chosen People during the Exodus from Egypt: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: [3] And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Faith Does Not Mean Automatic Salvation
Our Lord indicates the same thing―saying that not everyone with the Faith will be automatically saved: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
The Destruction of the Faith and Damnation of the Faithful
Our Lady has already forewarned us of the attempted destruction of the Faith, which will inevitably lead to the damnation of many or even most of the ‘faithful’, whose Faith was not strong enough, whose Faith was not a living Faith, whose Faith was merely a superficial Faith―built on sand and not on rock.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! …
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Faith Reduced to Small Numbers Only
Pope Benedict XVI, while still a priest, wrote a book in 1971 entitled Faith and the Future, in which he says of the future Church: “The Church will become small and will have to start afresh, more or less, from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices She built in prosperity. As the number of Her adherents diminishes ... She will lose many of Her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of Her individual members …. It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make Her poor and cause Her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome ... But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church ... It seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power, to the extent that She was until recently; but She will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death” (Benedict XVI, from his book Faith and the Future).
Our Lady’s so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” allegedly refers, in part, to this mass apostasy from the Faith (which both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI essentially corroborated when they said that, in the future, we will have to be prepared for a downsized, much smaller Church in the world). Additionally, Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our times, spoke of “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” This “small number of souls who preserve the treasures of the Faith” will be brought about because The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Weak Faith―Weak Resistance
We are now witnessing the subtle beginnings of the persecution of the Church amidst the current worldwide Plannedemic―with many churches being shut down for so-called “precautionary measures” and reasons for “public health safety.” As the world markedly shifts towards worldwide Communism―something foretold by Our Lady―more and more restrictive measures will undoubtedly follow. You can be totally assured that the Great Reset―that is now being openly touted by world leaders―does not have the traditional Catholic Church on its “invitation list”, for the Catholic Church must also be “reset” in order to fit-in with the forthcoming “one world government” and “one world religion”. Most Catholics―since their Faith is very weak, both in knowledge and in its practice―will sheepishly go along with all the new “reset” demands. Hence, as Our Lady says, only a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue.” This fact is also echoed in the partially revealed Third Secret of Fatima, which Sister Lucia reveals in her Fourth Memoir, wherein Our Lady allegedly said: “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved” ― which implicitly means that the dogma of the Faith will not be preserved elsewhere in the world, or at least not much.
Why will only a few preserve the treasures and dogma of the Faith? Our Lady explains why ― as already partially stated above: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … These years―during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government―will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women [and, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, impurity leads to spiritual blindness] … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost [St. Thomas also states that avarice, greed, gluttony and luxury also cause spiritual blindness] ... and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals.” Those are some of the chief reasons why only a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue.”
Fatima Confirmation?
Msgr. Eugene Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in her liturgy, her theology and her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” (Msgr. Roche, Pie XII Devant L’Histoire, pp. 52-53: Father Paul Kramer, The Suicide of Altering the Faith in the Liturgy).
Father Schweigl had received permission from Pope Pius XII, on March 27th, 1952, to speak with Sister Lucia of Fatima about 31 questions concerning the conversion of Russia. On September 2nd, 1952 he was able to interrogate Sister Lucia (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 7). The Holy Office refused permission to publish this interview with Sister Lucia. Later Father Schweigl said to one of his friends in the Russicum: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically — although I must say nothing — would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 5).
Father Joaquin Alonso, the official Fatima archivist for sixteen years, had many conversations with Sister Lucia. This is what he was saying about the context of the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’ ― the phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith … In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’… it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether … Thus it is quite possible that, in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves … One conclusion does indeed seem to be beyond question: the content of the unpublished part of the Secret does not refer to new wars or political upheavals, but to happenings of a religious and intra-Church character, which of their nature are still more grave” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 4).
“If in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. It is quite possible that the message not only speaks of a “crisis of faith” in the Church during this period, but also, like the Secret of La Salette, that it makes concrete references to internal strife among Catholics and to the deficiencies of priests and religious. It is also possible that it may imply deficiencies even among the upper hierarchy of the Church” (Father Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Facts and Legends, Chapter 7: What Does It Contain?, p.80; quoted by Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 5).
“Moreover, how are we to understand Lucia’s great difficulty in writing the final part of the Secret when she has already written other things that were extremely difficult to put down? Had it been merely a matter of prophesying new and severe punishments, Sister Lucia would not have experienced difficulties so great that a special intervention from Heaven was needed to overcome them … But, if it were a matter of internal strife within the Church and of serious pastoral negligence on the part of high-ranking members of the hierarchy, we can understand how Lucia experienced a repugnance that was almost impossible to overcome by natural means” (Father Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Facts and Legends, Chapter 7: What Does It Contain?, p.82, Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 2).
Father Augustine Fuentes had an interview with Sister Lucia on December 26th, 1957. He recalls the following: “Sister Lucia also told me: Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell... The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 10).
Cardinal Ratzinger in 1984 spoke of the Secret containing “dangers threatening the Faith” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 10; See also Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
Cardinal Oddi said to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli on March 17th, 1990, “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev [the President of the Soviet Union]. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.” (The Cardinal’s statement appeared in the Italian journal, Il Sabato, quoted in The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 33).
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who had been personal theologian to Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, “In the Secret we read among other things that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” (See Father Gerard Mura, “The Third Secret of Fatima: Has it Been Completely Revealed”, Catholic, March 2002. Also quoted in The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 33).
God has placed in us certain passions that are meant to help us in the many different scenarios we might encounter in life. St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomistic theology list 11 passions that deal with the good and the evil that we meet with throughout our lives. Some of those 11 passions focus on what is good, some focus on what is evil―note that evil, philosophically speaking, means an absence of some good that should be present. By passions we are to understand here motions of the sensitive appetite in man which tend towards the attainment of some real or apparent good, or the avoidance of some evil. The more intensely the object is desired or abhorred, the more vehement is the passion.These 11 passions are:
Love―which loves a good as such and good in itself.
Hate―which hates an evil as such and evil in itself.
Desire―which focuses upon a good that has not yet been obtained.
Aversion―which focuses upon an evil that is not yet present.
Joy―which focuses upon a good that has already been obtained.
Sadness―focuses upon an evil that has already arrived and is present.
Fear―focuses upon an evil that imagined to be unconquerable.
Boldness―focuses upon an evil that is thought to be conquerable.
Despair―focuses upon a good that is desired but imagined as being very difficult or impossible to obtain.
Hope―focuses upon a good that is imagined as difficult to obtain, but possible to obtain.
Anger―focuses upon an evil that is already present.
When it comes to evil―there are three basic choices available. We either FIGHT the evil if we think we can overcome it. Or we FLEE the evil if we realize we cannot possibly overcome it. Or we compromise ourselves by compromising with the evil, suffering it and doing what the evil forces us to do.
Everyone Loves a Good Fight―Or Do They?
You might be familiar with the phrase: “Everyone loves a good fight!” ― but is that true? It might be true in the sense that everyone, or most people, might “love a good fight” as long they only have to WATCH the fight―but how many “love a good fight” if they have to TAKE PART IN IT? Modern technology has pushed us more to the side of being WATCHERS rather than DOERS―which is why there are many who “Talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk!” In a certain sense, it is easier to “fight” with words (and usually less painful and life threatening) than it is to fight with the body or fight with physical/material weapons.
Holy Scripture says something similar: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Holy Scripture, also says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) ― which loosely fits with the above mentioned passions that deal with good and evil.
Christians Are Soldiers
In any given nation―in time of war―there are some who go to fight the war (soldiers) and there are some who do not go to the battlefield (civilians). In the Catholic Church there are no “civilians”, but only “soldiers”. Once we are out of our diapers and once we reach the childhood age required to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, we automatically and inescapably become “Soldiers for Christ” by the receiving that Sacrament of Confirmation―we are confirmed as soldiers, we are given the spiritual strength to be soldiers, we are sent into battle as soldiers. This is why Holy Scripture speaks of our life being a war and our duty being to fight in that war: “What! Shall your brethren go to fight―and will you sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16).
Does Your Faith Work For You?
However, that Faith needs to be a true Faith, a strong Faith, a Faith backed up by works: “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, offering up Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest thou that Faith did cooperate with his works; and, by works, Faith was made perfect? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Yes―a strong Faith, backed up by works, can overcome the world―but is that the kind of Faith that we see around us in both quality and quantity? Are we not, rather, living in times which befit the following words of Our Lord: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Are most Catholics, today, much like the fruitless fig tree that Our Lord cursed: “And in the morning, returning into the city, Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!”―it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!’” (Matthew 21:18-22).
What Quality is Your Faith?
Do not be complacent and smug about having the Faith―for not everyone with Faith is actually pleasing to God. St. Paul reminds us of this in the case of God’s Chosen People during the Exodus from Egypt: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: [3] And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Faith Does Not Mean Automatic Salvation
Our Lord indicates the same thing―saying that not everyone with the Faith will be automatically saved: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
“And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
The Destruction of the Faith and Damnation of the Faithful
Our Lady has already forewarned us of the attempted destruction of the Faith, which will inevitably lead to the damnation of many or even most of the ‘faithful’, whose Faith was not strong enough, whose Faith was not a living Faith, whose Faith was merely a superficial Faith―built on sand and not on rock.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! …
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Faith Reduced to Small Numbers Only
Pope Benedict XVI, while still a priest, wrote a book in 1971 entitled Faith and the Future, in which he says of the future Church: “The Church will become small and will have to start afresh, more or less, from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices She built in prosperity. As the number of Her adherents diminishes ... She will lose many of Her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of Her individual members …. It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make Her poor and cause Her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome ... But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church ... It seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power, to the extent that She was until recently; but She will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death” (Benedict XVI, from his book Faith and the Future).
Our Lady’s so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” allegedly refers, in part, to this mass apostasy from the Faith (which both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI essentially corroborated when they said that, in the future, we will have to be prepared for a downsized, much smaller Church in the world). Additionally, Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our times, spoke of “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” This “small number of souls who preserve the treasures of the Faith” will be brought about because The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Weak Faith―Weak Resistance
We are now witnessing the subtle beginnings of the persecution of the Church amidst the current worldwide Plannedemic―with many churches being shut down for so-called “precautionary measures” and reasons for “public health safety.” As the world markedly shifts towards worldwide Communism―something foretold by Our Lady―more and more restrictive measures will undoubtedly follow. You can be totally assured that the Great Reset―that is now being openly touted by world leaders―does not have the traditional Catholic Church on its “invitation list”, for the Catholic Church must also be “reset” in order to fit-in with the forthcoming “one world government” and “one world religion”. Most Catholics―since their Faith is very weak, both in knowledge and in its practice―will sheepishly go along with all the new “reset” demands. Hence, as Our Lady says, only a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue.” This fact is also echoed in the partially revealed Third Secret of Fatima, which Sister Lucia reveals in her Fourth Memoir, wherein Our Lady allegedly said: “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved” ― which implicitly means that the dogma of the Faith will not be preserved elsewhere in the world, or at least not much.
Why will only a few preserve the treasures and dogma of the Faith? Our Lady explains why ― as already partially stated above: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … These years―during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government―will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women [and, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, impurity leads to spiritual blindness] … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost [St. Thomas also states that avarice, greed, gluttony and luxury also cause spiritual blindness] ... and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals.” Those are some of the chief reasons why only a “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue.”
Fatima Confirmation?
Msgr. Eugene Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, said: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in her liturgy, her theology and her soul … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” (Msgr. Roche, Pie XII Devant L’Histoire, pp. 52-53: Father Paul Kramer, The Suicide of Altering the Faith in the Liturgy).
Father Schweigl had received permission from Pope Pius XII, on March 27th, 1952, to speak with Sister Lucia of Fatima about 31 questions concerning the conversion of Russia. On September 2nd, 1952 he was able to interrogate Sister Lucia (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 7). The Holy Office refused permission to publish this interview with Sister Lucia. Later Father Schweigl said to one of his friends in the Russicum: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically — although I must say nothing — would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 5).
Father Joaquin Alonso, the official Fatima archivist for sixteen years, had many conversations with Sister Lucia. This is what he was saying about the context of the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’ ― the phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith … In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’… it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether … Thus it is quite possible that, in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves … One conclusion does indeed seem to be beyond question: the content of the unpublished part of the Secret does not refer to new wars or political upheavals, but to happenings of a religious and intra-Church character, which of their nature are still more grave” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 4).
“If in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. It is quite possible that the message not only speaks of a “crisis of faith” in the Church during this period, but also, like the Secret of La Salette, that it makes concrete references to internal strife among Catholics and to the deficiencies of priests and religious. It is also possible that it may imply deficiencies even among the upper hierarchy of the Church” (Father Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Facts and Legends, Chapter 7: What Does It Contain?, p.80; quoted by Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 3, Chapter 5).
“Moreover, how are we to understand Lucia’s great difficulty in writing the final part of the Secret when she has already written other things that were extremely difficult to put down? Had it been merely a matter of prophesying new and severe punishments, Sister Lucia would not have experienced difficulties so great that a special intervention from Heaven was needed to overcome them … But, if it were a matter of internal strife within the Church and of serious pastoral negligence on the part of high-ranking members of the hierarchy, we can understand how Lucia experienced a repugnance that was almost impossible to overcome by natural means” (Father Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Facts and Legends, Chapter 7: What Does It Contain?, p.82, Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 2).
Father Augustine Fuentes had an interview with Sister Lucia on December 26th, 1957. He recalls the following: “Sister Lucia also told me: Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell... The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 10).
Cardinal Ratzinger in 1984 spoke of the Secret containing “dangers threatening the Faith” (Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 10; See also Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
Cardinal Oddi said to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli on March 17th, 1990, “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev [the President of the Soviet Union]. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.” (The Cardinal’s statement appeared in the Italian journal, Il Sabato, quoted in The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 33).
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who had been personal theologian to Pope John Paul II, said in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, “In the Secret we read among other things that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” (See Father Gerard Mura, “The Third Secret of Fatima: Has it Been Completely Revealed”, Catholic, March 2002. Also quoted in The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 33).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday January 24th & Monday January 25th
Article 13
Has America Opened the Door to Satan?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday January 24th & Monday January 25th
Article 13
Has America Opened the Door to Satan?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Will of the People!
On December 14th, 2020, hours after the Electoral College made his victory over President Donald Trump official, Biden said: “The rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people prevailed!” Later, in his inaugural address, Joe Biden said: “The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded!”
The will of the people is not always the will of God: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). The will of the people of Israel wanted to have a king rule over them instead of God and though God gave them what they wanted―Saul, the King of Israel―God made it clear that they were overthrowing God, rejected God as the rightful ruler, and replacing God with a mere man: “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel [God’s seer, priest, judge, prophet, and military leader]. And they said to him: ‘Behold, make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: ‘Give us a king, to judge us!’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee! For they have not rejected thee―but Me, that I should not reign over them! According to all their works that they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day―as they have forsaken me and served strange gods, so also they do unto thee!’” (1 Kings 8:4-8).
The election of Saul as King of Israel was the beginning of the end for Israelites―you cannot reject God without there being serious consequences. The first three kings―Saul, David and Solomon―were all to fall badly.
Saul Listens to the Will of the People and Not the Will of God
Saul displeased God on two major occasions―the first was by failing to follow God’s command to the letter and destroy Israel’s enemy, the Amalechites―every man, woman, child and animal. Instead of listening to the will of God, Saul listened to the will of the people―who wanted to take away some spoils―and the will of the people prevailed:
“And Samuel said to Saul: ‘The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over His People Israel! Now, therefore, listen thou unto the voice of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel―how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now, therefore, go and strike Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath! Spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his―but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass …
“And Saul smote Amalec and he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive―but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them―but everything that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed.
“And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: ‘It repenteth Me that I have made Saul king―for he hath forsaken Me, and hath not executed My commandments!’ And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night … And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: ‘Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have fulfilled the word of the Lord! And Samuel said: ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?’ And Saul said: ‘They have brought them from Amalec―for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, so that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain!’
“And Samuel said to Saul: ‘Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night!’ And Saul said to him: ‘Speak!’ And Samuel said: ‘When thou wast a little one, in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel! And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: “Go and kill the sinners of Amalec―and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them!” Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord―but hast turned to the prey and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord?’ And Saul said to Samuel: ‘Yes, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain! But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal.’
“And Samuel said: ‘Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices and to listen rather than to offer the fat of rams! Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel―and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey! Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king!’
“And Saul said to Samuel: ‘I have sinned―because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, by fearing the people and obeying their voice! But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord!’ And Samuel said to Saul: ‘I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. The Lord hath torn the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbor―who is better than thee.’” (1 Samuel 15:1-28).
God Rejects Saul and an Evil Spirit Comes Upon Him
“And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Isai the Bethlehemite―for I have provided me a king among his sons ... Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem … Isai therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Isai: ‘The Lord hath not chosen any one of these. Are all thy sons here?’ He answered: ‘There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep!’ And Samuel said to Isai: ‘Send and fetch him―for we will not sit down till he come here!’ He sent therefore and brought him. Now he [David] was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: ‘Arise, and anoint him, for this is he!’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
“And the servants of Saul said to him: ‘Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee! Let our lord give orders, and thy servants, who are before thee, will seek out a man skillful in playing on the harp, so that when the evil spirit from the Lord is upon thee, he may play with his hand, and thou mayest bear it more easily!’ And Saul said to his servants: ‘Provide me, then, some man that can play well and bring him to me!’ And one of the servants answering, said: ‘Behold I have seen a son of Isai the Bethlehemite, a skillful player, and one of great strength, and a man fit for war, and prudent in his words, and a comely person―and the Lord is with him!’ Then Saul sent messengers to Isai, saying: ‘Send me David thy son, who is in the pastures!’ And Isai took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid of the flock, and sent them by the hand of David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him exceedingly, and made him his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Isai, saying: ‘Let David stand before me! For he hath found favor in my sight!’ So whensoever the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was better, for the evil spirit departed from him” (I Kings 16:1-23).
What happened next was a story we are all familiar with―David slays Goliath! “Now when David returned, after he slew the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul. And the women sang as they played, and they said: ‘Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands!’ And Saul was exceedingly angry, and these words were displeasing in his eyes, and he said: ‘They have given David ten thousands, and to me they have given but a thousand! What can he have more but the kingdom?’ And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day and forward. And the next day, the evil spirit from God came upon Saul again and David played with his hands on the harp as at other times. And Saul held a spear in his hand and threw it, thinking to nail David to the wall―and David stepped aside out of his presence twice. And Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him and the Lord was departed from himself” (1 Kings 18:6-12).
The Evil Spirit and Political Leaders
It is well worth quoting the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, on the connection between Satan and those in positions of authority, such as politicians and business leaders: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact! And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Having worked with (or rather against) the devil for most of his life―performing thousands of exorcisms―Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: ““The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, BUT THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN TO HIM. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19. Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
Satan Gains Increasing Footholds in Nations
Catholic priests from several countries around the world, have told the press that there has been an increase in the numbers of people reporting signs of demonic possession. Catholic Church attendance has been on the decline for many years, while, at the same time, there has been an increase in requests for exorcisms.
Father Gary Thomas, an American priest, an exorcist 14 years, says that one reason for the increase is that as society has begun to rely more heavily on social sciences, fewer churches have trained exorcists. However, very few cases actually require a major exorcism. Out of 200 or so cases that he has dealt with, Father Thomas says he has carried out just over a dozen major exorcisms. He is of the opinion that the decline of Christianity has led to an increase in superstitious practices, which has opened the door to Satan.
The exorcist, Father Thomas, says: “It would seem there are many more people today who have dabbled—or more than dabbled—in idolatry and paganism who are both Catholic and non-Catholic than twenty, twenty-five years ago. Pope Benedict XVI said: ‘As Faith diminishes, superstition increases.’ And I would say, as a kind of corollary, ‘As Faith diminishes, darkness increases.’ Because we are all spiritual beings, we are all searching for meaning; and if we don’t find meaning in ways that the Church would promote, then we will go and search for ourselves. And because of our flawed nature, oftentimes we are drawn to things that, down the road, can do more harm than good.”
Father Jeffrey Grob, an American priest and exorcist for around 20 years, speaks of places being ‘possessed’ by the devil in a manner similar to how people are possessed by the devil: “The underlying question for possessed objects is similar to that of a possessed person. You don’t simply wake up one morning and find yourself demonically afflicted or possessed. The same is true with things. If it’s a house or a building, we have to ask what brought darkness or evil into this place. Was it by some kind of action—Satanic worship, or some sort of violence through homicide or suicide? There can be numerous doorways through which the darkness can enter. And at times we struggle to understand theologically how it happens.” The things that he speaks of―Satanic worship, homicide (abortions included) and suicide―are increasingly rapidly. Hence, one has to suspect that demonic possession of the places where these things take place is also increasing rapidly. As for people opening the door to the devil, he says that “It can happen through human sinfulness, weakness of the will, or by directly engaging of the occult.”
Everyone is under the attack and influence of the devil in the most basic form of demonic activity―which is called temptation―nobody can escape temptation―not even Our Lord and Our Lady were exempt from the demonic activity of temptation. The exorcist, Father Gary Thomas, described four means of protection, four things that Christians should immerse themselves in: “A Faith life, a prayer life, a moral life, and, for Catholics, a Sacramental life” ― all of which is being practiced less and less, hence souls are being weakened more and more, and thus they are increasingly opening the door more and more to Satan and his influence in the world and in their personal lives. Father Thomas adds: “For an atheist or nonbeliever, to have a moral life is huge. Are atheists at higher risk? Possibly. But Satan is always looking for people with no relationships or broken relationships, so one can be a Catholic and be baptized, and still have a demonic problem because of doors that have been opened, or that have been opened for them. Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, at least some, would say that baptism guarantees a kind of eternal protection. Well, in my experience, that’s not true.”
The exorcist, Father Jeffrey Grob, says: “Temptation is part of the human condition, part of life in the body and in the world. As humans, we are tempted. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the temptation of Jesus before beginning his public ministry shows that all humans are subjected to the same challenges that Jesus had, although he was of course free from sin. It is part of the ordinary activities of evil. But then crossing the line from ordinary temptation to extraordinary affliction, we say a person has actively opened a doorway to something—to a darkness. A person has engaged or started a relationship with the Evil One. The Church has used two terms—demonic obsession and demonic oppression—to describe this sort of affliction. Interestingly, obsession is the oldest term, and the only one that appears in the older rite. In classic theology books, three terms are used—‘temptation, obsession, and possession’. The later added notion of ‘oppression’ appears on the scene in the 1970s and 1980s, in an attempt to differentiate between afflictions, attacks or manipulations of the mind (obsession) and of the body (oppression) by the Evil One. Then demonic possession is the radical extreme by which a mind and body is afflicted by the Evil One … With obsession and oppression, to use an image, the walls of the castle are being scaled, but entry has not been gained. But in possession, that entry has been made ... Full-blown demonic possession remains rare. There are a lot of borderline cases, obsession or oppression; those have increased because of the number of people opening themselves up to all sorts of dark things.”
Speaking about these different levels of demonic activity, the exorcist Father Gary Thomas says that the lowest level or initial level is that of demonic infestation: “An infestation refers more to a thing or object. For instance, a demon or even a disembodied spirit can attach itself a house. It could be because a satanic ritual was performed there, or a satanic cult existed there for a long time.” He then speaks of demonic oppression: “An oppression would refer to a kind of depression, where the person is filled with anxiety and very often there is a sense of despair or despondency. The other word is obsession, where the person is overcome with or obsessed with the idea of Satan being in their life. But in both those cases a person can function to where you wouldn’t necessarily be able to detect anything demonic going on unless they disclose certain things to you.” He then speaks of the next level: “The more intense degree of demonic activity would be oppression, which is a physical attack. The lives of the saints are rife with this kind of thing. The idea that a demon is in somebody, is a misnomer. Sometimes they [demons] can be attached to someone and work through someone and be around them in a sense but not actually in them.” These kinds of demonic activity are readily seen throughout the world today―especially in the rampaging riots that have plagued the world and the USA for almost a year now.
Speaking of the most extraordinary and the rarest degree of demonic activity―that of possession―Father Thomas says: “A demon cannot control a person’s soul―it can only control a person’s body. Now, the will thing is tricky, because, to me, the will has everything to do with the soul. However, I do think when a person is possessed their will can be compromised, because their functionality is limited. They may not even be able to take care of their own physical needs. A person who accepts the demon, we call that integration, whereas possession is involuntary. Nevertheless, a person who is fully possessed is not able to make decisions on their own.” He adds that he has only witnessed a total, full-blown possession on a couple of occasions in Rome, and once in the USA.
The Canadian born, Dominican Father, François-Marie Dermine, who has been an exorcist for several Italian dioceses since 1994, and key promoter of the Vatican’s annual international course on exorcism in Rome―“Course on Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation,” a weeklong interdisciplinary workshop on exorcism―the creation of which he contributed to, says that the modern-day “death” of the devil in people’s minds is accelerating the “death” of God in today’s de-Christianized Western societies. Father Dermine says: “Whoever denies the existence of the devil is a heretic. Obviously, the devil is not at the center of the Faith, but his figure is indispensable to understand the mystery of Faith. I sometimes wonder how a priest can remain faithful to his vocation without believing in the devil. It makes him a kind of social worker, but nothing more. We live in a period of great rationalism nowadays. After Vatican II, the desire to rationalize the Faith, especially in regions where Catholicism was very traditional, was sometimes too radical, and we threw the baby out with the bathwater. It is our duty to explain what the devil is in a way that is neither superstitious nor extravagant. I can see just by having a look on the internet ... how Satanism is now a reality for many young people, who already know so much about it thanks to the resources they find online. On these websites, the figure of the devil is openly praised, and it attracts many people — this figure of the devil who emancipates himself from God to lead his life as he pleases. There is also a growth of real Satanic groups, whereas in the past they were a very exceptional reality. They are multiplying in a very worrying way … Our evils are not caused by manifestations of the devil but by ourselves, as we are the cause of 90% of our evils. That the devil then comes to exasperate them … but he cannot be considered the primary cause of most parts of our evils … Sin is caused by our choices. It would be too easy to dump our sins on the devil ... In order to become powerful, some people can be tempted to rely on the devil, and the purpose of Satanism is just that. It is a case of saying: ‘I give something to you, devil! I offer you sacrifices, as long as you give me something in return!’ Those who are in search of power are sometimes tempted to rely on the devil. This danger is real. It is absolutely not excluded that high-ranking people explicitly worship the devil — not to mention Freemasonry, some of whose members can get along very well with Satanism ... In these times of confusion, where the devil has a large avenue in front of him, the faithful have a duty to deepen their Faith, to educate themselves. We need to think a lot about matters of Faith and the world around us.”
Father Francesco Bamonte, a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and President of the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists, said that it is “decidedly worrying,” that the reality of the demonic world gets such little attention―both in the formation of priests in seminaries and in the instruction of lay people. He says that this general widespread “ignorance” of demonic activity and phenomena results in “a great impoverishment in formation,” and the inability of many priests “to guarantee profound spiritual direction; to offer an appropriate catechesis to the faithful on the existence and activity of the devil; and to address the serious problems related to the increase in occult practices,” which has opened the door to “increasingly virulent,” extraordinary activity by Satan. It is said that before a major triumph in the Church, Satanism increases dramatically.
► AMERICA ― Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, an American priest and an exorcist for the last 13 years, says: “There is a significant drop in the practice of the Faith, thus losing a critical graced protection. Moreover, many more people are practicing witchcraft, Wicca, Ouija boards and other occult practices, which open the door to the demonic. Also, there are almost a million abortions each year in the USA, which we have found to be a huge demonic door. And there are other sinful behaviors on the rise, such as internet pornography, drug and sexual addictions, and more. Sin gives evil increasing access to our lives. Second, there are signs in our country of a demonic mentality infecting our communities. One of the first signs of the demonic is discord. The level of discord in this country is through the roof. A rising level of unhappiness, hopelessness, and suicides are also typical demonic signs; suicide rates have been rising in the USA for several years. Outbursts of rage, anger, and violence often accompany demonic activity; one sign of this in our country is a steady increase in terrorism. Finally, Satan and his minions think of themselves as victims and this mentality is increasingly pervasive in the USA. These are disturbing trends which point to an increasing influence of Satan and his minions in our country.”
► ITALY ― Italian priest, Father Benigno Palilla, told Vatican News that the growing use of tarot cards and sorcery had also led to a renewed demand for exorcisms. In recent times, in every single year, there have been, and still are, well over 500,000 (half-a-million) people who seek exorcisms in Italy. One Italian exorcist, 79-year-old Father Taraborelli, has performed exorcisms for over 30 years. His work as an exorcist takes up three working days a week. He conducts his exorcisms from a windowless room at the back of his church near the Vatican. Each day he receives up to 30 people. He is one of Rome’s busiest exorcists. Father Taraborelli says: “Before doing exorcisms I urge people to see a psychologist or a psychiatrist, and I ask them to bring me their prognosis. I’m in touch with many psychologists who send their patients here.” Though he shows no sign of wanting to give up his work―his mobile phone rings constantly―he laments that younger priests are not particularly attracted by the prospect of spending hours in windowless rooms, exorcising the devil from people. He says: “I told the bishop that I can't find anyone willing to do this. Many of them are scared. Even priests can be scared. It's a difficult life.”
His most notable case involved a married woman he treated for 13 years. Father Taraborelli recalls: “Another man, who was a Satanist, wanted her. She refused. So this man told her: ‘You’ll pay for this!’ He then cast so-called spells to attract her to him, twice a week. Then they came to me, in this room. I started to pray, and she went into a trance. She would blurt out insults, blasphemies. I quickly understood she was possessed. As the rite of exorcism continued, she started feeling worse and worse. So when I told the devil: ‘In the name of Jesus, I order you to go away!’ she started to vomit little metal pins, five at a time. Aside from pins she would also vomit hair braids, little stones, pieces of wood. It sounds like something from another world―right? Instead, it's something from this world!”
► MEXICO ― Since 2006, Mexico has been under gruesome drug-related violence―which has also included human sacrifice. Official data reports that over 100,000 people have been killed died in this period―including gang members, gunmen, policemen, and many innocent civilians. However, Mexico’s priests point out that it is not just about numbers, but also the extreme levels of savagery that take place. Children will often see dismembered bodies on the streets on their way to school. Or those driving to work will encounter mutilated corpses hanging from bridges. One Mexican priest and exorcist from Mexico City, Father Carlos Triana, says: “We believe that behind all these big and structural evils there is a dark agent and his name is The Demon. That is why the Lord wants to have here a ministry of exorcism and liberation, for the fight against the Devil! As much as we believe that the Devil was behind Adolf Hitler, possessing and directing him, we also believe that he (the Devil) is here behind the drug cartels.” Another exorcist in Mexico City, Father Francisco Bautista, adds: “This didn’t happen before!”
Mexico’s exorcists say that they are inundated with and unprecedented demand for exorcisms. Some exorcists are so overloaded that they cannot take on new cases―for they are exorcising demons almost every day. Most of the cases, he explains, require a lesser form of exorcism, called liberation prayers ― which can be effective if a person still controls part of his or her mind and body. Father Francisco Bautista explains that it is only rarely that the Devil possesses someone completely. Father Bautista is of the opinion that the massive increase in demand for exorcism is partly explained by the large numbers of Mexicans joining the cult of Saint Death, or Santa Muerte. Mexico has around 8 million followers of the cult worship a skull in a wedding dress carrying a scythe. In addition to this 8 million in Mexico, there are many more cult followers among Mexican migrants in Central America, the USA and Canada.
Father Bautista explains: “It has also been adopted by the drug traffickers who ask her for help to avoid arrest and to make money. In exchange they offer human sacrifices. And this has increased the violence in Mexico.” He also adds that another reason that accounts for the surge in exorcisms, is the decriminalization of abortions in Mexico City, since 2007. Father Bautista states that it is a combination of the cult of Santa Muerte and legalized abortion which has led to evil spirits gaining a major foothold in Mexico: “Both things are closely related. There is an infestation of demons in Mexico because we have opened our doors to Death.”
If it is surprising how many Mexicans believe in Santa Muerte or Saint Death, then it may surprise you how many Mexicans believe―like Father Triana and Father Bautista―that Satan and other demons are at work in the country. A frontline of sorts for Mexico’s exorcists is the northern region of the country where, for the last seven years, the Mexican military has been waging war against the heavily armed and cash-rich drug cartels. Father Ernesto Caro―based in Monterrey, a city known for frequent shootouts and kidnappings―he has exorcised several members of the drug cartels. He mentions one particular case that he cannot forget. It was a gang assassin who had confessed to horrific crimes. Father Caro said the man had been in charge of cutting the bodies into pieces and he said he enjoyed hearing them cry as he did so. Others he burned alive. The priest says the man had committed his life to the service of Santa Muerte or Saint Death. Father Ernesto Caro stated: “The cult is the first step into Satanism and then into this band of people [the drug traffickers], that’s why he was chosen for that job. Santa Muerte is being used by all our drug dealers and those linked to these brutal murders. We’ve found that most of them, if not all, follow Santa Muerte!”
The first references to Saint Death occur in the 18th Century, he says, not in Aztec times, as many believe. Journalist and author, Jose Gil Olmos, who has published two books on Santa Muerte or Saint Death, says that “In modern times the numbers of followers exploded, especially after the early 1990s economic meltdown. The biggest presence is in the poorest sectors of Mexican society.” Even many middle-class Mexicans, who found themselves in poverty after the economic meltdown, despairingly turned to Santa Muerte or Saint Death as they searched for hope and help. The cult is also followed by criminals, policemen, politicians and artists. Jose Gil Olmos adds: “From around 2005, we have seen Santa Muerte having a big presence with drug cartel members, from the bosses all the way down. Why? Because these people say that Jesus or the Virgin Mary can’t provide what they ask for, which is to be protected from soldiers, police and their enemies.”
The Santa Muerte cult spread to the United States around 2005, brought to the country by Mexican and Central American migrants. By 2012, there were tens of thousands of devotees in the USA. The chief centers were cities with high populations, such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, and Tucson. In Los Angeles alone, There are fifteen religious groups dedicated to Santa Muerte. Certain areas, as in Northern California and New Orleans, have seen the popularity of the cult spread beyond the Latino community. For instance, the Santisima Muerte Chapel of Perpetual Pilgrimage is maintained by a woman of Danish descent, while the New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte was founded in 2012 by a Non-Hispanic white devotee. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not issued an official position on this relatively new phenomenon. Compared to the Catholic Church in Mexico, the official reaction in the U.S. is mostly either non-existent or muted, though some elements of the Catholic Church in the United States are trying to combat Santa Muerte worship, particularly in Chicago.
Let us end with the words of the exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It is hard to give details of what you do not live. I’m not a prophet. At one time, Israel pulled away from God to embrace idolatry. Prophets were treated very badly. Finally God punished. Today the world does not turn away from God because it is idolatrous; rather it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence.”
“The Devil is gaining ground. We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place. Divorce has been a disaster; abortion has been a disaster. Each year 50 million children are murdered by abortion. And euthanasia, the broken family, cohabitation … It is all destruction! The Lord gave us sex for a purpose and He also declared: “May no man divide what God has joined.” One thing is ‘sexual fun’; another is love. Today there is much talk of love, but there truly is none! Precisely in Fatima did Our Lady say to the young, seven-year old, Jacinta: “the sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin,” the sin of the flesh. She said this to a young girl, who did not even know what it was! We must listen to that which Our Lady says.”
“All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God.”
“I think it is early. I think we are close [to God’s chastising intervention]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted ― which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him … I was with Padre Pio for 26 years and remember how furious he was about the invention of television: “You will see what it will do!” he said. It has also allowed good things. But I’m very much in the midst of people and see how many people have been ruined by television and the Internet.”
“Satan is God’s enemy. God is our Father, a loving Father. Those who stick to God by leading a healthy life, devoted to God, through prayer and a life based on justice and truth, through the guidance of the Virgin Mary, the saints and their guardian angels, put themselves in a protected position. Even if, as I have already said, there are incidences of good and holy people who, for God’s mysterious reasons, are put to the test. However whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest. Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world ― who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining satanic sects. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches … Today, the influence of Satan in the world is very strong, to such a point that he can attack not only individual people but also groups of people.”
On December 14th, 2020, hours after the Electoral College made his victory over President Donald Trump official, Biden said: “The rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people prevailed!” Later, in his inaugural address, Joe Biden said: “The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded!”
The will of the people is not always the will of God: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). The will of the people of Israel wanted to have a king rule over them instead of God and though God gave them what they wanted―Saul, the King of Israel―God made it clear that they were overthrowing God, rejected God as the rightful ruler, and replacing God with a mere man: “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel [God’s seer, priest, judge, prophet, and military leader]. And they said to him: ‘Behold, make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: ‘Give us a king, to judge us!’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee! For they have not rejected thee―but Me, that I should not reign over them! According to all their works that they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day―as they have forsaken me and served strange gods, so also they do unto thee!’” (1 Kings 8:4-8).
The election of Saul as King of Israel was the beginning of the end for Israelites―you cannot reject God without there being serious consequences. The first three kings―Saul, David and Solomon―were all to fall badly.
Saul Listens to the Will of the People and Not the Will of God
Saul displeased God on two major occasions―the first was by failing to follow God’s command to the letter and destroy Israel’s enemy, the Amalechites―every man, woman, child and animal. Instead of listening to the will of God, Saul listened to the will of the people―who wanted to take away some spoils―and the will of the people prevailed:
“And Samuel said to Saul: ‘The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over His People Israel! Now, therefore, listen thou unto the voice of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel―how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now, therefore, go and strike Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath! Spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his―but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass …
“And Saul smote Amalec and he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive―but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them―but everything that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed.
“And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: ‘It repenteth Me that I have made Saul king―for he hath forsaken Me, and hath not executed My commandments!’ And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night … And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: ‘Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have fulfilled the word of the Lord! And Samuel said: ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?’ And Saul said: ‘They have brought them from Amalec―for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, so that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain!’
“And Samuel said to Saul: ‘Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night!’ And Saul said to him: ‘Speak!’ And Samuel said: ‘When thou wast a little one, in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel! And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: “Go and kill the sinners of Amalec―and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them!” Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord―but hast turned to the prey and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord?’ And Saul said to Samuel: ‘Yes, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain! But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal.’
“And Samuel said: ‘Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices and to listen rather than to offer the fat of rams! Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel―and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey! Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king!’
“And Saul said to Samuel: ‘I have sinned―because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, by fearing the people and obeying their voice! But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord!’ And Samuel said to Saul: ‘I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. The Lord hath torn the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbor―who is better than thee.’” (1 Samuel 15:1-28).
God Rejects Saul and an Evil Spirit Comes Upon Him
“And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Isai the Bethlehemite―for I have provided me a king among his sons ... Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem … Isai therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Isai: ‘The Lord hath not chosen any one of these. Are all thy sons here?’ He answered: ‘There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep!’ And Samuel said to Isai: ‘Send and fetch him―for we will not sit down till he come here!’ He sent therefore and brought him. Now he [David] was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: ‘Arise, and anoint him, for this is he!’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
“And the servants of Saul said to him: ‘Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee! Let our lord give orders, and thy servants, who are before thee, will seek out a man skillful in playing on the harp, so that when the evil spirit from the Lord is upon thee, he may play with his hand, and thou mayest bear it more easily!’ And Saul said to his servants: ‘Provide me, then, some man that can play well and bring him to me!’ And one of the servants answering, said: ‘Behold I have seen a son of Isai the Bethlehemite, a skillful player, and one of great strength, and a man fit for war, and prudent in his words, and a comely person―and the Lord is with him!’ Then Saul sent messengers to Isai, saying: ‘Send me David thy son, who is in the pastures!’ And Isai took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid of the flock, and sent them by the hand of David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him exceedingly, and made him his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Isai, saying: ‘Let David stand before me! For he hath found favor in my sight!’ So whensoever the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was better, for the evil spirit departed from him” (I Kings 16:1-23).
What happened next was a story we are all familiar with―David slays Goliath! “Now when David returned, after he slew the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul. And the women sang as they played, and they said: ‘Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands!’ And Saul was exceedingly angry, and these words were displeasing in his eyes, and he said: ‘They have given David ten thousands, and to me they have given but a thousand! What can he have more but the kingdom?’ And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day and forward. And the next day, the evil spirit from God came upon Saul again and David played with his hands on the harp as at other times. And Saul held a spear in his hand and threw it, thinking to nail David to the wall―and David stepped aside out of his presence twice. And Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him and the Lord was departed from himself” (1 Kings 18:6-12).
The Evil Spirit and Political Leaders
It is well worth quoting the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, on the connection between Satan and those in positions of authority, such as politicians and business leaders: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact! And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Having worked with (or rather against) the devil for most of his life―performing thousands of exorcisms―Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: ““The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, BUT THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN TO HIM. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19. Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
Satan Gains Increasing Footholds in Nations
Catholic priests from several countries around the world, have told the press that there has been an increase in the numbers of people reporting signs of demonic possession. Catholic Church attendance has been on the decline for many years, while, at the same time, there has been an increase in requests for exorcisms.
Father Gary Thomas, an American priest, an exorcist 14 years, says that one reason for the increase is that as society has begun to rely more heavily on social sciences, fewer churches have trained exorcists. However, very few cases actually require a major exorcism. Out of 200 or so cases that he has dealt with, Father Thomas says he has carried out just over a dozen major exorcisms. He is of the opinion that the decline of Christianity has led to an increase in superstitious practices, which has opened the door to Satan.
The exorcist, Father Thomas, says: “It would seem there are many more people today who have dabbled—or more than dabbled—in idolatry and paganism who are both Catholic and non-Catholic than twenty, twenty-five years ago. Pope Benedict XVI said: ‘As Faith diminishes, superstition increases.’ And I would say, as a kind of corollary, ‘As Faith diminishes, darkness increases.’ Because we are all spiritual beings, we are all searching for meaning; and if we don’t find meaning in ways that the Church would promote, then we will go and search for ourselves. And because of our flawed nature, oftentimes we are drawn to things that, down the road, can do more harm than good.”
Father Jeffrey Grob, an American priest and exorcist for around 20 years, speaks of places being ‘possessed’ by the devil in a manner similar to how people are possessed by the devil: “The underlying question for possessed objects is similar to that of a possessed person. You don’t simply wake up one morning and find yourself demonically afflicted or possessed. The same is true with things. If it’s a house or a building, we have to ask what brought darkness or evil into this place. Was it by some kind of action—Satanic worship, or some sort of violence through homicide or suicide? There can be numerous doorways through which the darkness can enter. And at times we struggle to understand theologically how it happens.” The things that he speaks of―Satanic worship, homicide (abortions included) and suicide―are increasingly rapidly. Hence, one has to suspect that demonic possession of the places where these things take place is also increasing rapidly. As for people opening the door to the devil, he says that “It can happen through human sinfulness, weakness of the will, or by directly engaging of the occult.”
Everyone is under the attack and influence of the devil in the most basic form of demonic activity―which is called temptation―nobody can escape temptation―not even Our Lord and Our Lady were exempt from the demonic activity of temptation. The exorcist, Father Gary Thomas, described four means of protection, four things that Christians should immerse themselves in: “A Faith life, a prayer life, a moral life, and, for Catholics, a Sacramental life” ― all of which is being practiced less and less, hence souls are being weakened more and more, and thus they are increasingly opening the door more and more to Satan and his influence in the world and in their personal lives. Father Thomas adds: “For an atheist or nonbeliever, to have a moral life is huge. Are atheists at higher risk? Possibly. But Satan is always looking for people with no relationships or broken relationships, so one can be a Catholic and be baptized, and still have a demonic problem because of doors that have been opened, or that have been opened for them. Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, at least some, would say that baptism guarantees a kind of eternal protection. Well, in my experience, that’s not true.”
The exorcist, Father Jeffrey Grob, says: “Temptation is part of the human condition, part of life in the body and in the world. As humans, we are tempted. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the temptation of Jesus before beginning his public ministry shows that all humans are subjected to the same challenges that Jesus had, although he was of course free from sin. It is part of the ordinary activities of evil. But then crossing the line from ordinary temptation to extraordinary affliction, we say a person has actively opened a doorway to something—to a darkness. A person has engaged or started a relationship with the Evil One. The Church has used two terms—demonic obsession and demonic oppression—to describe this sort of affliction. Interestingly, obsession is the oldest term, and the only one that appears in the older rite. In classic theology books, three terms are used—‘temptation, obsession, and possession’. The later added notion of ‘oppression’ appears on the scene in the 1970s and 1980s, in an attempt to differentiate between afflictions, attacks or manipulations of the mind (obsession) and of the body (oppression) by the Evil One. Then demonic possession is the radical extreme by which a mind and body is afflicted by the Evil One … With obsession and oppression, to use an image, the walls of the castle are being scaled, but entry has not been gained. But in possession, that entry has been made ... Full-blown demonic possession remains rare. There are a lot of borderline cases, obsession or oppression; those have increased because of the number of people opening themselves up to all sorts of dark things.”
Speaking about these different levels of demonic activity, the exorcist Father Gary Thomas says that the lowest level or initial level is that of demonic infestation: “An infestation refers more to a thing or object. For instance, a demon or even a disembodied spirit can attach itself a house. It could be because a satanic ritual was performed there, or a satanic cult existed there for a long time.” He then speaks of demonic oppression: “An oppression would refer to a kind of depression, where the person is filled with anxiety and very often there is a sense of despair or despondency. The other word is obsession, where the person is overcome with or obsessed with the idea of Satan being in their life. But in both those cases a person can function to where you wouldn’t necessarily be able to detect anything demonic going on unless they disclose certain things to you.” He then speaks of the next level: “The more intense degree of demonic activity would be oppression, which is a physical attack. The lives of the saints are rife with this kind of thing. The idea that a demon is in somebody, is a misnomer. Sometimes they [demons] can be attached to someone and work through someone and be around them in a sense but not actually in them.” These kinds of demonic activity are readily seen throughout the world today―especially in the rampaging riots that have plagued the world and the USA for almost a year now.
Speaking of the most extraordinary and the rarest degree of demonic activity―that of possession―Father Thomas says: “A demon cannot control a person’s soul―it can only control a person’s body. Now, the will thing is tricky, because, to me, the will has everything to do with the soul. However, I do think when a person is possessed their will can be compromised, because their functionality is limited. They may not even be able to take care of their own physical needs. A person who accepts the demon, we call that integration, whereas possession is involuntary. Nevertheless, a person who is fully possessed is not able to make decisions on their own.” He adds that he has only witnessed a total, full-blown possession on a couple of occasions in Rome, and once in the USA.
The Canadian born, Dominican Father, François-Marie Dermine, who has been an exorcist for several Italian dioceses since 1994, and key promoter of the Vatican’s annual international course on exorcism in Rome―“Course on Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation,” a weeklong interdisciplinary workshop on exorcism―the creation of which he contributed to, says that the modern-day “death” of the devil in people’s minds is accelerating the “death” of God in today’s de-Christianized Western societies. Father Dermine says: “Whoever denies the existence of the devil is a heretic. Obviously, the devil is not at the center of the Faith, but his figure is indispensable to understand the mystery of Faith. I sometimes wonder how a priest can remain faithful to his vocation without believing in the devil. It makes him a kind of social worker, but nothing more. We live in a period of great rationalism nowadays. After Vatican II, the desire to rationalize the Faith, especially in regions where Catholicism was very traditional, was sometimes too radical, and we threw the baby out with the bathwater. It is our duty to explain what the devil is in a way that is neither superstitious nor extravagant. I can see just by having a look on the internet ... how Satanism is now a reality for many young people, who already know so much about it thanks to the resources they find online. On these websites, the figure of the devil is openly praised, and it attracts many people — this figure of the devil who emancipates himself from God to lead his life as he pleases. There is also a growth of real Satanic groups, whereas in the past they were a very exceptional reality. They are multiplying in a very worrying way … Our evils are not caused by manifestations of the devil but by ourselves, as we are the cause of 90% of our evils. That the devil then comes to exasperate them … but he cannot be considered the primary cause of most parts of our evils … Sin is caused by our choices. It would be too easy to dump our sins on the devil ... In order to become powerful, some people can be tempted to rely on the devil, and the purpose of Satanism is just that. It is a case of saying: ‘I give something to you, devil! I offer you sacrifices, as long as you give me something in return!’ Those who are in search of power are sometimes tempted to rely on the devil. This danger is real. It is absolutely not excluded that high-ranking people explicitly worship the devil — not to mention Freemasonry, some of whose members can get along very well with Satanism ... In these times of confusion, where the devil has a large avenue in front of him, the faithful have a duty to deepen their Faith, to educate themselves. We need to think a lot about matters of Faith and the world around us.”
Father Francesco Bamonte, a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and President of the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists, said that it is “decidedly worrying,” that the reality of the demonic world gets such little attention―both in the formation of priests in seminaries and in the instruction of lay people. He says that this general widespread “ignorance” of demonic activity and phenomena results in “a great impoverishment in formation,” and the inability of many priests “to guarantee profound spiritual direction; to offer an appropriate catechesis to the faithful on the existence and activity of the devil; and to address the serious problems related to the increase in occult practices,” which has opened the door to “increasingly virulent,” extraordinary activity by Satan. It is said that before a major triumph in the Church, Satanism increases dramatically.
► AMERICA ― Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, an American priest and an exorcist for the last 13 years, says: “There is a significant drop in the practice of the Faith, thus losing a critical graced protection. Moreover, many more people are practicing witchcraft, Wicca, Ouija boards and other occult practices, which open the door to the demonic. Also, there are almost a million abortions each year in the USA, which we have found to be a huge demonic door. And there are other sinful behaviors on the rise, such as internet pornography, drug and sexual addictions, and more. Sin gives evil increasing access to our lives. Second, there are signs in our country of a demonic mentality infecting our communities. One of the first signs of the demonic is discord. The level of discord in this country is through the roof. A rising level of unhappiness, hopelessness, and suicides are also typical demonic signs; suicide rates have been rising in the USA for several years. Outbursts of rage, anger, and violence often accompany demonic activity; one sign of this in our country is a steady increase in terrorism. Finally, Satan and his minions think of themselves as victims and this mentality is increasingly pervasive in the USA. These are disturbing trends which point to an increasing influence of Satan and his minions in our country.”
► ITALY ― Italian priest, Father Benigno Palilla, told Vatican News that the growing use of tarot cards and sorcery had also led to a renewed demand for exorcisms. In recent times, in every single year, there have been, and still are, well over 500,000 (half-a-million) people who seek exorcisms in Italy. One Italian exorcist, 79-year-old Father Taraborelli, has performed exorcisms for over 30 years. His work as an exorcist takes up three working days a week. He conducts his exorcisms from a windowless room at the back of his church near the Vatican. Each day he receives up to 30 people. He is one of Rome’s busiest exorcists. Father Taraborelli says: “Before doing exorcisms I urge people to see a psychologist or a psychiatrist, and I ask them to bring me their prognosis. I’m in touch with many psychologists who send their patients here.” Though he shows no sign of wanting to give up his work―his mobile phone rings constantly―he laments that younger priests are not particularly attracted by the prospect of spending hours in windowless rooms, exorcising the devil from people. He says: “I told the bishop that I can't find anyone willing to do this. Many of them are scared. Even priests can be scared. It's a difficult life.”
His most notable case involved a married woman he treated for 13 years. Father Taraborelli recalls: “Another man, who was a Satanist, wanted her. She refused. So this man told her: ‘You’ll pay for this!’ He then cast so-called spells to attract her to him, twice a week. Then they came to me, in this room. I started to pray, and she went into a trance. She would blurt out insults, blasphemies. I quickly understood she was possessed. As the rite of exorcism continued, she started feeling worse and worse. So when I told the devil: ‘In the name of Jesus, I order you to go away!’ she started to vomit little metal pins, five at a time. Aside from pins she would also vomit hair braids, little stones, pieces of wood. It sounds like something from another world―right? Instead, it's something from this world!”
► MEXICO ― Since 2006, Mexico has been under gruesome drug-related violence―which has also included human sacrifice. Official data reports that over 100,000 people have been killed died in this period―including gang members, gunmen, policemen, and many innocent civilians. However, Mexico’s priests point out that it is not just about numbers, but also the extreme levels of savagery that take place. Children will often see dismembered bodies on the streets on their way to school. Or those driving to work will encounter mutilated corpses hanging from bridges. One Mexican priest and exorcist from Mexico City, Father Carlos Triana, says: “We believe that behind all these big and structural evils there is a dark agent and his name is The Demon. That is why the Lord wants to have here a ministry of exorcism and liberation, for the fight against the Devil! As much as we believe that the Devil was behind Adolf Hitler, possessing and directing him, we also believe that he (the Devil) is here behind the drug cartels.” Another exorcist in Mexico City, Father Francisco Bautista, adds: “This didn’t happen before!”
Mexico’s exorcists say that they are inundated with and unprecedented demand for exorcisms. Some exorcists are so overloaded that they cannot take on new cases―for they are exorcising demons almost every day. Most of the cases, he explains, require a lesser form of exorcism, called liberation prayers ― which can be effective if a person still controls part of his or her mind and body. Father Francisco Bautista explains that it is only rarely that the Devil possesses someone completely. Father Bautista is of the opinion that the massive increase in demand for exorcism is partly explained by the large numbers of Mexicans joining the cult of Saint Death, or Santa Muerte. Mexico has around 8 million followers of the cult worship a skull in a wedding dress carrying a scythe. In addition to this 8 million in Mexico, there are many more cult followers among Mexican migrants in Central America, the USA and Canada.
Father Bautista explains: “It has also been adopted by the drug traffickers who ask her for help to avoid arrest and to make money. In exchange they offer human sacrifices. And this has increased the violence in Mexico.” He also adds that another reason that accounts for the surge in exorcisms, is the decriminalization of abortions in Mexico City, since 2007. Father Bautista states that it is a combination of the cult of Santa Muerte and legalized abortion which has led to evil spirits gaining a major foothold in Mexico: “Both things are closely related. There is an infestation of demons in Mexico because we have opened our doors to Death.”
If it is surprising how many Mexicans believe in Santa Muerte or Saint Death, then it may surprise you how many Mexicans believe―like Father Triana and Father Bautista―that Satan and other demons are at work in the country. A frontline of sorts for Mexico’s exorcists is the northern region of the country where, for the last seven years, the Mexican military has been waging war against the heavily armed and cash-rich drug cartels. Father Ernesto Caro―based in Monterrey, a city known for frequent shootouts and kidnappings―he has exorcised several members of the drug cartels. He mentions one particular case that he cannot forget. It was a gang assassin who had confessed to horrific crimes. Father Caro said the man had been in charge of cutting the bodies into pieces and he said he enjoyed hearing them cry as he did so. Others he burned alive. The priest says the man had committed his life to the service of Santa Muerte or Saint Death. Father Ernesto Caro stated: “The cult is the first step into Satanism and then into this band of people [the drug traffickers], that’s why he was chosen for that job. Santa Muerte is being used by all our drug dealers and those linked to these brutal murders. We’ve found that most of them, if not all, follow Santa Muerte!”
The first references to Saint Death occur in the 18th Century, he says, not in Aztec times, as many believe. Journalist and author, Jose Gil Olmos, who has published two books on Santa Muerte or Saint Death, says that “In modern times the numbers of followers exploded, especially after the early 1990s economic meltdown. The biggest presence is in the poorest sectors of Mexican society.” Even many middle-class Mexicans, who found themselves in poverty after the economic meltdown, despairingly turned to Santa Muerte or Saint Death as they searched for hope and help. The cult is also followed by criminals, policemen, politicians and artists. Jose Gil Olmos adds: “From around 2005, we have seen Santa Muerte having a big presence with drug cartel members, from the bosses all the way down. Why? Because these people say that Jesus or the Virgin Mary can’t provide what they ask for, which is to be protected from soldiers, police and their enemies.”
The Santa Muerte cult spread to the United States around 2005, brought to the country by Mexican and Central American migrants. By 2012, there were tens of thousands of devotees in the USA. The chief centers were cities with high populations, such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, and Tucson. In Los Angeles alone, There are fifteen religious groups dedicated to Santa Muerte. Certain areas, as in Northern California and New Orleans, have seen the popularity of the cult spread beyond the Latino community. For instance, the Santisima Muerte Chapel of Perpetual Pilgrimage is maintained by a woman of Danish descent, while the New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte was founded in 2012 by a Non-Hispanic white devotee. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not issued an official position on this relatively new phenomenon. Compared to the Catholic Church in Mexico, the official reaction in the U.S. is mostly either non-existent or muted, though some elements of the Catholic Church in the United States are trying to combat Santa Muerte worship, particularly in Chicago.
Let us end with the words of the exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It is hard to give details of what you do not live. I’m not a prophet. At one time, Israel pulled away from God to embrace idolatry. Prophets were treated very badly. Finally God punished. Today the world does not turn away from God because it is idolatrous; rather it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence.”
“The Devil is gaining ground. We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place. Divorce has been a disaster; abortion has been a disaster. Each year 50 million children are murdered by abortion. And euthanasia, the broken family, cohabitation … It is all destruction! The Lord gave us sex for a purpose and He also declared: “May no man divide what God has joined.” One thing is ‘sexual fun’; another is love. Today there is much talk of love, but there truly is none! Precisely in Fatima did Our Lady say to the young, seven-year old, Jacinta: “the sin that brings the most souls to Hell is the impure sin,” the sin of the flesh. She said this to a young girl, who did not even know what it was! We must listen to that which Our Lady says.”
“All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God.”
“I think it is early. I think we are close [to God’s chastising intervention]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted ― which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him … I was with Padre Pio for 26 years and remember how furious he was about the invention of television: “You will see what it will do!” he said. It has also allowed good things. But I’m very much in the midst of people and see how many people have been ruined by television and the Internet.”
“Satan is God’s enemy. God is our Father, a loving Father. Those who stick to God by leading a healthy life, devoted to God, through prayer and a life based on justice and truth, through the guidance of the Virgin Mary, the saints and their guardian angels, put themselves in a protected position. Even if, as I have already said, there are incidences of good and holy people who, for God’s mysterious reasons, are put to the test. However whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest. Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world ― who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining satanic sects. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches … Today, the influence of Satan in the world is very strong, to such a point that he can attack not only individual people but also groups of people.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday January 21st & Friday January 22nd & Saturday January 23rd
Article 12
Who Can Save America Now? Biden? Trump? You? Who?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday January 21st & Friday January 22nd & Saturday January 23rd
Article 12
Who Can Save America Now? Biden? Trump? You? Who?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The United Shambles of America
What a mess! What a shambles! A stolen election! Thousands of dead people voting! A 130% turnout in some locations! An almost deliberate “in-your-face” and “you can’t possibly miss it” kind of vote manipulation that was almost begging to be seen and caught! A persistent overturning of evidence of fraud on mere technicalities with ever actually examining the evidence! False flag Antifa members posing as Trump supporters to wreak havoc in the Capitol! One-sided selective coverage by the mainstream American media. Barbed-wire fence around the Capitol! More soldiers than civilians at the presidential inauguration! Talk of civil unrest and even civil war! Widespread censorship of conservatives! Calls for Republicans to be labeled as suspect domestic terrorists―whereas anti-Republican Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists are allowed to operate without any comment! Counter-calls for the Biden ‘Administration’ to be overturned―some even call it the Biden Regime (meaning a false and authoritarian ‘administration’).
Truly a chaotic, messy, United Shambles of America! You could say that the “icing” on the cake is the comment once made by the CIA Director William Casey to the newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Place that comment alongside the comment Our Lord made to the Scribes, Pharisees and some other Jews: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Likewise, Holy Scripture’s comment: “Vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars” (Psalm 61:10). “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11). “God is true―and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). “Be not liars against the truth” (James 3:14). Christ said: “I am the truth and … the truth shall set you free!” (John 14:6; 8:32).
The Prince of this World Rules
Can you see the shambles? There is no unity! The term “United States of America” is lie! It is a hypocrisy! Politically there is no unity―a fact that been proved to be true with this past 2020 Presidential Election. Morally there is no unity―with Pro-Life and Pro-Choice in the abortion arena being merely symptomatic of moral disunity all down the line on matters such divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, pre-marital sex, living together instead of marrying, pornography, immodest fashions, blasphemy on TV and in the media, etc., etc., etc. All these things are a major source of division between the American followers of Christ and the American followers of the word (and its prince, Satan). Rather than being the “United States of America”―it more a case of the “Disunited States of America”, the “Disunited Shambles of America”, or the “United Snakes of America” led by the Serpent (Satan) himself. For wherever Satan is or reigns, there also reigns chaos and disunity―according to Satan’s perennial tactic of “divide and conquer”. It is not a vain accusation or empty allegation that many politicians are involved in Satanism and some of its many accompanying consequences, such as pedophilia and abortion, passing anti-Christian laws, etc. It is the so-called “lawmakers” of the United States that pass “laws” permitting abortion, and now transgenderism and soon it will be legalizing pedophilia upon mutual consent. If that sounds a little strong, or “over-the-top”―then Our Lady’s revelations at her apparitions corroborate, in general principles, what has just been said:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). To this we can add, in view of the recent explosion of censorship: “Those who do speak out, will be silenced!”
Fake Unity―False Peace
What Christ and God called “evil”, today’s lawmakers call “good” ― but God warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaias 5:20). “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8). The following words of Holy Scripture can now be pretty much applied to every single nation under the sun: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “All have transgressed Thy law, and have turned away from hearing Thy voice” (Daniel 9:11). “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
Even though some nations might be enemies towards each other―like Pontius Pilate and King Herod―they join together against Christ: “And Herod and Pilate were made friends, that same day―for before they were enemies one to another” (Luke 23:12). Even though Russia, China, the USA, and other countries might be enemies one to another, they have a common bond in anti-Christian laws, such as abortion, contraception, divorce, etc.
There can be No Pact Between Truth and Lies, God and Satan
A similar pact between inimical nations is the pact of lies and disinformation. Christ said that He was the truth and that God should be served in truth: “I am the truth!” (John 14:6) … “The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth―for the Father seeketh such persons to adore Him” (John 4:23). Yet Satan, the prince of this world, increasingly entangles everyone in more and more lies and seeks persons who will adore him through lies―which is why Christ says: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Satan sucks souls away from God and Heaven by promises of pleasure, power and wealth―which is how he tried to tempt Christ in the desert:
Speaking of wisdom and truth, Holy Scripture says: “Foolish men shall not obtain her, but wise men shall meet her. Foolish men shall not see her―for she is far from pride and deceit. Lying men shall not be mindful of her―but men that speak truth shall be found with her, and shall advance, even till they come to the sight of God … The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear him shall not love error” (Ecclesiasticus 15:7-13).
Satan sucks souls away from God and Heaven by promises of pleasure, power and wealth―which is how he tried to tempt Christ in the desert: “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: ‘The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve”’” (Matthew 4:8-10). How many politicians, money-men, military-men, medical-men and others, have bowed-down and (implicitly or explicitly) adored Satan and served him, in exchange for money, power, pleasure and fame? Their number is legion!
Just as there is a Mystical Body of Christ in this world, there is also a mystical body of Satan in this world. Our Lord places membership quite plainly when He says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23) ― to which we can add the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls, in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Satanic Possession of Nations?
The French Catholic priest, Fr. Monsignor Leon Cristiani (1879-1972), a professor of theology at the seminary of Moulin, a historian and author, in his book “Evidence of Satan in the Modern World” (published in 1961), writes: “If some unfortunate woman is possessed and subjected by the Devil to all manner of humiliating experiences, it is very painful for her and striking to us―but if whole nations are, in a certain sense, under the dominion of Satan, to the extent of undergoing a kind of ‘collective possession’, as seems to be the case in our time, it is infinitely more terrifying and can have far more devastating effects. Although the Roman Ritual lays down the test by which true possession can be distinguished from a neurosis―even thought the two may indeed be found together―can we do the same for what we have just described as ‘collective possession’? It is difficult to be sure. Here we are left to our own conjectures. The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large. No doubt the fact that an enlightened Pope, such as Leo XIII, felt it necessary to add to every Low Mass an exorcism characterized by the invocation of St. Michael (the Archangel), indicates that he, at any rate, believed in a demonic infestation peculiar to our age.”
“There are two parallel hazards to be avoided in any solution we may propose. The first would be to attribute so much to satanic activity, [to the point] that human responsibility would be eliminated. The second would be to attribute nothing to him, on the pretext that human malice alone is sufficient to explain the terrifying events we are obliged to witness. Both men and devils may well be responsible for the evils of which we complain, and which are either present or imminent.”
“There is a ‘corpus mysticum’ [Mystical Body] of Christ, of which we like to feel we are part. But there is also, or can be, a ‘corpus mysticum satanicum’ [mystical body of Satan] which incorporates all the destructive will of humanity and Hell. In a text, which the Roman Breviary lays down as a reading for the First Sunday of Lent, [St.] Gregory the Great says: ‘Assuredly, the Devil is the head of all the wicked ― “iniquorum” ― and all the wicked members of his body.’ Then he mentions those who are ‘members’ of this diabolic body: Pilate, those who crucified Jesus, and so on. On this head, there are few [persons], even among Christians, who have not run the risk, at one time or another, of becoming ‘members of Satan’. But the sin which is regretted as soon as it is committed, the sin for which one knows how to do penance, does not, properly speaking, entail an involvement with Satan. It is an accident, a false step, a lapse. It does not prevent spiritual progress. The ‘corpus mysticum’ [mystical body] of Satan is composed of human beings who have made themselves his accomplices, who willingly submit to his suggestions, and who live his inspiration and principles.”
“Let us examine the question more closely. The means of recognizing the presence of Satan is provided by the Gospels, the source of all light. Christ has said certain things about Satan, on which we should meditate. Speaking to the Pharisees, who never ceased to harass Him, He said one day: “You belong to your father, the Devil, and are eager to gratify the appetites which are you father’s. He, from the first, was a murderer; and as for truth, he has never taken his stand upon that; there is no truth in him. When he utters a falsehood, he is only uttering what is natural to him; he is false, and it was he who gave falsehood its birth” (John 8:44). [The Douay-Rheims version reads: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!”]. This should be clear enough.”
“If we wish to know how Satan manifest his presence amongst us, in our own times, we must try, on the one hand, to discern the great lies of our time, and the progress made in the art of killing men, on the other. The deeper an age is impregnated with falsehood, the more the life of man is held in contempt and overshadowed by the threat of death, the more Satan is present [Leon Cristiani writes this over a decade before the worldwide explosion of abortion]. It seems impossible to question that falsehood and homicide are the two indications of the presence of Satan. We shall therefore be on firm ground in asserting that he is present at the heart of the major falsehoods and the major massacres or threats of massacre we observe in our time.” (Leon Cristiani, Evidence of Satan in the Modern World, chapter 9, “Satan in the Modern World”).
Back in September of 2020, a survey showed that only around 1 in 10 U.S. adults said they have “a great deal” of trust and confidence (9%) or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence (31% or 3 in 10 persons) in the media to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly,” while six in 10 (60%) have “not very much” trust and confidence (27% or around 1 in 4 persons) or “none at all” (33% or 1 in 3 persons).
Currently, as of January 23rd, 2021, Fox News quoted an Axios survey that stated: “Faith in society’s central institutions―especially in government and the media―is the glue that holds society together. That glue was visibly dissolving a decade ago, and has now, for many millions of Americans, disappeared entirely. By the numbers: For the first time ever, fewer than half of all Americans have trust in traditional media, according to data from Edelman’s annual trust barometer shared exclusively with Axios.
▪ Trust in social media has hit an all-time low of 27%.
▪ 56% of Americans agree with the statement that «Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.»
▪ 58% think that «Most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.»
▪ When Edelman re-polled Americans after the election, the figures had deteriorated even further, with only 57% of Democrats trusting the media and only 18% of Republicans.”
By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them!
Leon Cristiani, in what he says above, merely echoes Holy Scripture, which tells us: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). “And the Lord said: ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat! But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren!’” (Luke 22:31-32). “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them! Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:15-23).
In other words, today, many will say to Our Lord: “Lord! Lord! I was baptized in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I made my First Holy Communion at Thy altar! Lord! Lord! I confessed my sins in Thy Church! Lord! Lord! I was confirmed in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I was ordained a priest in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I was married in Thy Church!” Yet to many or most Our Lord will say: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say? … I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!” (Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:23). Most Catholics today “work iniquity”―they practice contraception, they advocate abortion, they accept same-sex marriages, they accept remarried divorcees, they accept false religions, they fail to regularly attend Mass on Sundays, they rarely go to confession―in a nutshell, they are more worldly than they are Catholic―and Holy Scripture says:
Toxic World
“Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world!” (1 John 5:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
It is to be doubted if most Catholics are even familiar with those world-condemning words of Scripture! They binge on the words of the world, but rarely drink the word of God. They gobble-up all that the internet, social media and mainstream media offer them, but rarely chew-over the word of God―as Christ said to the tempting devil: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
You Get What You Love!
In a certain sense, Our Lord asks each and every one of us in particular, and He asks the world in general, the same question that he put to St. Peter after His resurrection: “When therefore they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter: ‘Simon son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?’ He saith to him: ‘Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee!’ … He said to him again: ‘Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?’ He said to Him: ‘Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee!’ … He said to him the third time: ‘Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?’ Peter was grieved, because He had said to him the third time: ‘Lovest thou Me?’ And he said to Him: ‘Lord, thou knowest all things! Thou knowest that I love Thee!’” (John 21:15-17).
Yes―Christ knows all things and He knows that for the most part, people love the world far more than they love Him. Since we love the world more than God, it is only fair and just that God hands us over to the one we love most―an so we find ourselves largely being possessed and ruled by the world (and its prince, Satan). You get what you love! “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting”
(Galatians 6:7-8).
One Side or the Other
Our Lord had earlier warned us, saying: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust, nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Today, the vast majority of people love mammon and serve mammon―even the vast majority of Christians. By “mammon” is meant the pleasure and treasures of this world and anything and everything that will obtain those things for you. The hours dedicated to the pursuit of mammon, compared to the hours (or seconds) dedicated to the pursuit of God and Heaven, are like a mountain next to a grain of sand―there is just no contest, mammon wins hands down! What most people fail to realize is that by making mammon “king” of their lives, they are also IMPLICITLY making the prince of mammon, or whom Our Lord calls “the prince of this world”, the prince of their lives. In other words, Satan rules―not only is he the prince of this world, but he is also prince of most souls―hiding behind the mammon, like a puppet-master who is above the puppet that we all watch with glee.
As Fr. Leon Cristiani, in his book, “Evidence of Satan in the Modern World”, writes: “…whole nations are, in a certain sense, under the dominion of Satan, to the extent of undergoing a kind of ‘collective possession’, as seems to be the case in our time … The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large … The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large … [Nevertheless] an enlightened Pope Leo XIII felt it necessary to add to every Low Mass an exorcism characterized by the invocation of St. Michael (the Archangel), indicates that he, at any rate, believed in a demonic infestation peculiar to our age … There is a ‘corpus mysticum’ [Mystical Body] of Christ, of which we like to feel we are part. But there is also, or can be, a ‘corpus mysticum satanicum’ [mystical body of Satan] which incorporates all the destructive will of humanity and Hell ... The ‘corpus mysticum’ [mystical body] of Satan is composed of human beings who have made themselves his accomplices, who willingly submit to his suggestions, and who live his inspiration and principles.”
If you fail to see the satanic tsunami that has engulfed the world, then you must be one of those whom Our Lady of La Salette refers to, when she says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” Many there are to whom the satanic course, that this world has taken, seems normal.
Who Will Save Us? Do We Even Want to Be Saved?
Who will save us from this threat―not only a threat to our lives and freedoms, but also a threat to our souls and salvation? Most people know the answer―or once knew the answer, but have forgotten it or shut it out―the answer was given to us by Our Lady on several occasions: “I ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass] ... Continue to pray very much—very much! … Very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Sadly, these requests and terms are apparently not according to our tastes and liking―otherwise we would all be doing these things and using these things assiduously, but we are not! Heaven offers us a contract―and we either throw it back in Heaven’s face, or we bury it under a pile of mammon. Nobody is going to tell God what to do! It is either His way, or the highway to Hell―and, right now, Hell has not only surrounded us, but Hell is amongst us! How long will we Catholic frogs sit nonchalantly and complacently in the every slowly but constantly heated pan of water―before we eventually boil to death?
What a mess! What a shambles! A stolen election! Thousands of dead people voting! A 130% turnout in some locations! An almost deliberate “in-your-face” and “you can’t possibly miss it” kind of vote manipulation that was almost begging to be seen and caught! A persistent overturning of evidence of fraud on mere technicalities with ever actually examining the evidence! False flag Antifa members posing as Trump supporters to wreak havoc in the Capitol! One-sided selective coverage by the mainstream American media. Barbed-wire fence around the Capitol! More soldiers than civilians at the presidential inauguration! Talk of civil unrest and even civil war! Widespread censorship of conservatives! Calls for Republicans to be labeled as suspect domestic terrorists―whereas anti-Republican Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists are allowed to operate without any comment! Counter-calls for the Biden ‘Administration’ to be overturned―some even call it the Biden Regime (meaning a false and authoritarian ‘administration’).
Truly a chaotic, messy, United Shambles of America! You could say that the “icing” on the cake is the comment once made by the CIA Director William Casey to the newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Place that comment alongside the comment Our Lord made to the Scribes, Pharisees and some other Jews: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Likewise, Holy Scripture’s comment: “Vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars” (Psalm 61:10). “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11). “God is true―and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). “Be not liars against the truth” (James 3:14). Christ said: “I am the truth and … the truth shall set you free!” (John 14:6; 8:32).
The Prince of this World Rules
Can you see the shambles? There is no unity! The term “United States of America” is lie! It is a hypocrisy! Politically there is no unity―a fact that been proved to be true with this past 2020 Presidential Election. Morally there is no unity―with Pro-Life and Pro-Choice in the abortion arena being merely symptomatic of moral disunity all down the line on matters such divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, pre-marital sex, living together instead of marrying, pornography, immodest fashions, blasphemy on TV and in the media, etc., etc., etc. All these things are a major source of division between the American followers of Christ and the American followers of the word (and its prince, Satan). Rather than being the “United States of America”―it more a case of the “Disunited States of America”, the “Disunited Shambles of America”, or the “United Snakes of America” led by the Serpent (Satan) himself. For wherever Satan is or reigns, there also reigns chaos and disunity―according to Satan’s perennial tactic of “divide and conquer”. It is not a vain accusation or empty allegation that many politicians are involved in Satanism and some of its many accompanying consequences, such as pedophilia and abortion, passing anti-Christian laws, etc. It is the so-called “lawmakers” of the United States that pass “laws” permitting abortion, and now transgenderism and soon it will be legalizing pedophilia upon mutual consent. If that sounds a little strong, or “over-the-top”―then Our Lady’s revelations at her apparitions corroborate, in general principles, what has just been said:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals! In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). To this we can add, in view of the recent explosion of censorship: “Those who do speak out, will be silenced!”
Fake Unity―False Peace
What Christ and God called “evil”, today’s lawmakers call “good” ― but God warns: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaias 5:20). “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8). The following words of Holy Scripture can now be pretty much applied to every single nation under the sun: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “All have transgressed Thy law, and have turned away from hearing Thy voice” (Daniel 9:11). “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
Even though some nations might be enemies towards each other―like Pontius Pilate and King Herod―they join together against Christ: “And Herod and Pilate were made friends, that same day―for before they were enemies one to another” (Luke 23:12). Even though Russia, China, the USA, and other countries might be enemies one to another, they have a common bond in anti-Christian laws, such as abortion, contraception, divorce, etc.
There can be No Pact Between Truth and Lies, God and Satan
A similar pact between inimical nations is the pact of lies and disinformation. Christ said that He was the truth and that God should be served in truth: “I am the truth!” (John 14:6) … “The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth―for the Father seeketh such persons to adore Him” (John 4:23). Yet Satan, the prince of this world, increasingly entangles everyone in more and more lies and seeks persons who will adore him through lies―which is why Christ says: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Satan sucks souls away from God and Heaven by promises of pleasure, power and wealth―which is how he tried to tempt Christ in the desert:
Speaking of wisdom and truth, Holy Scripture says: “Foolish men shall not obtain her, but wise men shall meet her. Foolish men shall not see her―for she is far from pride and deceit. Lying men shall not be mindful of her―but men that speak truth shall be found with her, and shall advance, even till they come to the sight of God … The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear him shall not love error” (Ecclesiasticus 15:7-13).
Satan sucks souls away from God and Heaven by promises of pleasure, power and wealth―which is how he tried to tempt Christ in the desert: “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: ‘The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve”’” (Matthew 4:8-10). How many politicians, money-men, military-men, medical-men and others, have bowed-down and (implicitly or explicitly) adored Satan and served him, in exchange for money, power, pleasure and fame? Their number is legion!
Just as there is a Mystical Body of Christ in this world, there is also a mystical body of Satan in this world. Our Lord places membership quite plainly when He says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23) ― to which we can add the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls, in the shortest time, is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Satanic Possession of Nations?
The French Catholic priest, Fr. Monsignor Leon Cristiani (1879-1972), a professor of theology at the seminary of Moulin, a historian and author, in his book “Evidence of Satan in the Modern World” (published in 1961), writes: “If some unfortunate woman is possessed and subjected by the Devil to all manner of humiliating experiences, it is very painful for her and striking to us―but if whole nations are, in a certain sense, under the dominion of Satan, to the extent of undergoing a kind of ‘collective possession’, as seems to be the case in our time, it is infinitely more terrifying and can have far more devastating effects. Although the Roman Ritual lays down the test by which true possession can be distinguished from a neurosis―even thought the two may indeed be found together―can we do the same for what we have just described as ‘collective possession’? It is difficult to be sure. Here we are left to our own conjectures. The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large. No doubt the fact that an enlightened Pope, such as Leo XIII, felt it necessary to add to every Low Mass an exorcism characterized by the invocation of St. Michael (the Archangel), indicates that he, at any rate, believed in a demonic infestation peculiar to our age.”
“There are two parallel hazards to be avoided in any solution we may propose. The first would be to attribute so much to satanic activity, [to the point] that human responsibility would be eliminated. The second would be to attribute nothing to him, on the pretext that human malice alone is sufficient to explain the terrifying events we are obliged to witness. Both men and devils may well be responsible for the evils of which we complain, and which are either present or imminent.”
“There is a ‘corpus mysticum’ [Mystical Body] of Christ, of which we like to feel we are part. But there is also, or can be, a ‘corpus mysticum satanicum’ [mystical body of Satan] which incorporates all the destructive will of humanity and Hell. In a text, which the Roman Breviary lays down as a reading for the First Sunday of Lent, [St.] Gregory the Great says: ‘Assuredly, the Devil is the head of all the wicked ― “iniquorum” ― and all the wicked members of his body.’ Then he mentions those who are ‘members’ of this diabolic body: Pilate, those who crucified Jesus, and so on. On this head, there are few [persons], even among Christians, who have not run the risk, at one time or another, of becoming ‘members of Satan’. But the sin which is regretted as soon as it is committed, the sin for which one knows how to do penance, does not, properly speaking, entail an involvement with Satan. It is an accident, a false step, a lapse. It does not prevent spiritual progress. The ‘corpus mysticum’ [mystical body] of Satan is composed of human beings who have made themselves his accomplices, who willingly submit to his suggestions, and who live his inspiration and principles.”
“Let us examine the question more closely. The means of recognizing the presence of Satan is provided by the Gospels, the source of all light. Christ has said certain things about Satan, on which we should meditate. Speaking to the Pharisees, who never ceased to harass Him, He said one day: “You belong to your father, the Devil, and are eager to gratify the appetites which are you father’s. He, from the first, was a murderer; and as for truth, he has never taken his stand upon that; there is no truth in him. When he utters a falsehood, he is only uttering what is natural to him; he is false, and it was he who gave falsehood its birth” (John 8:44). [The Douay-Rheims version reads: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!”]. This should be clear enough.”
“If we wish to know how Satan manifest his presence amongst us, in our own times, we must try, on the one hand, to discern the great lies of our time, and the progress made in the art of killing men, on the other. The deeper an age is impregnated with falsehood, the more the life of man is held in contempt and overshadowed by the threat of death, the more Satan is present [Leon Cristiani writes this over a decade before the worldwide explosion of abortion]. It seems impossible to question that falsehood and homicide are the two indications of the presence of Satan. We shall therefore be on firm ground in asserting that he is present at the heart of the major falsehoods and the major massacres or threats of massacre we observe in our time.” (Leon Cristiani, Evidence of Satan in the Modern World, chapter 9, “Satan in the Modern World”).
Back in September of 2020, a survey showed that only around 1 in 10 U.S. adults said they have “a great deal” of trust and confidence (9%) or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence (31% or 3 in 10 persons) in the media to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly,” while six in 10 (60%) have “not very much” trust and confidence (27% or around 1 in 4 persons) or “none at all” (33% or 1 in 3 persons).
Currently, as of January 23rd, 2021, Fox News quoted an Axios survey that stated: “Faith in society’s central institutions―especially in government and the media―is the glue that holds society together. That glue was visibly dissolving a decade ago, and has now, for many millions of Americans, disappeared entirely. By the numbers: For the first time ever, fewer than half of all Americans have trust in traditional media, according to data from Edelman’s annual trust barometer shared exclusively with Axios.
▪ Trust in social media has hit an all-time low of 27%.
▪ 56% of Americans agree with the statement that «Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.»
▪ 58% think that «Most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.»
▪ When Edelman re-polled Americans after the election, the figures had deteriorated even further, with only 57% of Democrats trusting the media and only 18% of Republicans.”
By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them!
Leon Cristiani, in what he says above, merely echoes Holy Scripture, which tells us: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). “And the Lord said: ‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat! But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren!’” (Luke 22:31-32). “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them! Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:15-23).
In other words, today, many will say to Our Lord: “Lord! Lord! I was baptized in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I made my First Holy Communion at Thy altar! Lord! Lord! I confessed my sins in Thy Church! Lord! Lord! I was confirmed in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I was ordained a priest in Thy Name! Lord! Lord! I was married in Thy Church!” Yet to many or most Our Lord will say: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say? … I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!” (Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:23). Most Catholics today “work iniquity”―they practice contraception, they advocate abortion, they accept same-sex marriages, they accept remarried divorcees, they accept false religions, they fail to regularly attend Mass on Sundays, they rarely go to confession―in a nutshell, they are more worldly than they are Catholic―and Holy Scripture says:
Toxic World
“Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world!” (1 John 5:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
It is to be doubted if most Catholics are even familiar with those world-condemning words of Scripture! They binge on the words of the world, but rarely drink the word of God. They gobble-up all that the internet, social media and mainstream media offer them, but rarely chew-over the word of God―as Christ said to the tempting devil: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
You Get What You Love!
In a certain sense, Our Lord asks each and every one of us in particular, and He asks the world in general, the same question that he put to St. Peter after His resurrection: “When therefore they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter: ‘Simon son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?’ He saith to him: ‘Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee!’ … He said to him again: ‘Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?’ He said to Him: ‘Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee!’ … He said to him the third time: ‘Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?’ Peter was grieved, because He had said to him the third time: ‘Lovest thou Me?’ And he said to Him: ‘Lord, thou knowest all things! Thou knowest that I love Thee!’” (John 21:15-17).
Yes―Christ knows all things and He knows that for the most part, people love the world far more than they love Him. Since we love the world more than God, it is only fair and just that God hands us over to the one we love most―an so we find ourselves largely being possessed and ruled by the world (and its prince, Satan). You get what you love! “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting”
(Galatians 6:7-8).
One Side or the Other
Our Lord had earlier warned us, saying: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust, nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Today, the vast majority of people love mammon and serve mammon―even the vast majority of Christians. By “mammon” is meant the pleasure and treasures of this world and anything and everything that will obtain those things for you. The hours dedicated to the pursuit of mammon, compared to the hours (or seconds) dedicated to the pursuit of God and Heaven, are like a mountain next to a grain of sand―there is just no contest, mammon wins hands down! What most people fail to realize is that by making mammon “king” of their lives, they are also IMPLICITLY making the prince of mammon, or whom Our Lord calls “the prince of this world”, the prince of their lives. In other words, Satan rules―not only is he the prince of this world, but he is also prince of most souls―hiding behind the mammon, like a puppet-master who is above the puppet that we all watch with glee.
As Fr. Leon Cristiani, in his book, “Evidence of Satan in the Modern World”, writes: “…whole nations are, in a certain sense, under the dominion of Satan, to the extent of undergoing a kind of ‘collective possession’, as seems to be the case in our time … The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large … The Roman Ritual provides no exorcism for a nation or humanity at large … [Nevertheless] an enlightened Pope Leo XIII felt it necessary to add to every Low Mass an exorcism characterized by the invocation of St. Michael (the Archangel), indicates that he, at any rate, believed in a demonic infestation peculiar to our age … There is a ‘corpus mysticum’ [Mystical Body] of Christ, of which we like to feel we are part. But there is also, or can be, a ‘corpus mysticum satanicum’ [mystical body of Satan] which incorporates all the destructive will of humanity and Hell ... The ‘corpus mysticum’ [mystical body] of Satan is composed of human beings who have made themselves his accomplices, who willingly submit to his suggestions, and who live his inspiration and principles.”
If you fail to see the satanic tsunami that has engulfed the world, then you must be one of those whom Our Lady of La Salette refers to, when she says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” Many there are to whom the satanic course, that this world has taken, seems normal.
Who Will Save Us? Do We Even Want to Be Saved?
Who will save us from this threat―not only a threat to our lives and freedoms, but also a threat to our souls and salvation? Most people know the answer―or once knew the answer, but have forgotten it or shut it out―the answer was given to us by Our Lady on several occasions: “I ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass] ... Continue to pray very much—very much! … Very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Sadly, these requests and terms are apparently not according to our tastes and liking―otherwise we would all be doing these things and using these things assiduously, but we are not! Heaven offers us a contract―and we either throw it back in Heaven’s face, or we bury it under a pile of mammon. Nobody is going to tell God what to do! It is either His way, or the highway to Hell―and, right now, Hell has not only surrounded us, but Hell is amongst us! How long will we Catholic frogs sit nonchalantly and complacently in the every slowly but constantly heated pan of water―before we eventually boil to death?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday January 19th & Wednesday January 20th
Article 11
A Laity Leaderless, Lost, Lax & Lacking
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday January 19th & Wednesday January 20th
Article 11
A Laity Leaderless, Lost, Lax & Lacking
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Cats & Mice ― Shepherds & Sheep
As the proverb says: “When the cat’s away―the mice will play!” You could extend that to shepherd and sheep by saying: “When the shepherd’s away, the sheep will stray!” Speaking of shepherds and sheep, Holy Scripture warns of times when the sheep shall be shepherdless: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd―and the Lord said: ‘These have no master!’” (3 Kings 22:17). “‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered―and I will turn My hand to the little ones!’” (Zacharias 13:7). “And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd―and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:5).
Today’s ecclesiastical shepherds of the Church’s sheep are largely AWOL (absent without leave)―as foretold and forewarned by Our Lady:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church ... The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Akita).
The Good Shepherd is Struck―His Sheep Scatter
When Our Lord―the Good Shepherd―was arrested and tortured, His sheep (the Apostles and disciples) were scattered in fear, as Our Lord had foretold: “Then Jesus said to them: ‘All you shall be scandalized in Me this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). “And Jesus saith to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed!’” (Mark 14:27). “I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd!” (2 Paralipomenon 18:16).
It is said that the Mystical Body of Christ must live-out, throughout the centuries, the life of Christ. It seems that at in our particular time and centuries (20th and 21st centuries) we have arrived at the Passion of Christ, and the Good Shepherd (Our Lord represented in the person of His Vicar on Earth―the Pope) has been struck again and the sheep have been scattered. It is not just one pope that has been struck―but a whole series of popes! One pope after another from Pope John XXIII (who was responsible for calling together the Second Vatican Council) to the present pope, have all been struck in various ways―by Liberalism, by Modernism, by Secularism, by worldliness and by Communism― “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10), to the point where “the people [shall be] as sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not so much as one dog bark against thee” (Judith 11:15).
God has said to the greater and lesser shepherds of His flock (pope, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents): “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. If, when I say to the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-19).
“Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them, and he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people―then he, that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them―then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: ‘O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!’ and if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way―then he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 33:2-9).
Our Lady―the Queen of shepherds, the Shepherdess of God’s flock―has often chosen shepherds to convey her warnings to the “sheep” ― at La Salette she appeared to two shepherd children (Melanie and Maximin), at Fatima she appeared to three shepherd children (Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta) and said: “So, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!” ― which is what they did, but the people have not listened to the warnings that have been trumpeted (or sheepishly whispered). Sister Lucia explains: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (Sister’s Lucia’s words to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Silent Shepherds
One has to sadly agree with Sister Lucia that “no one heeds her (Our Lady’s) message, neither the good nor the bad.” Priests and parents, teachers too, are largely silent on (1) praying very much; (2) praying the Rosary daily ― only 2% to 3% of American Catholics pray the Rosary daily; (3) making many sacrifices and doing much penance ― Pope Paul VI even REDUCED Lenten penance by 95%, throwing out 38 of 40 days of fasting; (4) almost ignoring the First Saturday devotions requested by Our Lady as reparation for the sins and blasphemies committed against her; (5) meditating the mysteries of Rosary and not merely “saying” them like a parrot; (6) the focus on Hell and that most souls end up going there.
In Traditional or Conservative Catholic circles you still get SOME insistence upon these things, but in the mainstream Liberal Catholic Church these things have more or less been wrapped in mothballs and placed in the cupboard, or sent off to the museum. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
Speaking out about these things, preaching these things, publishing lots of material on these things, giving these things a high profile―all this would serve in holding back the tsunami of sin has been relentlessly growing decade after decade―whereas decade after decade of the Rosary would be a remedy against this. Yet today, the Rosary is fallen into disuse―and if someone says (but not prays) five decades a day, they think they are a hero―whereas we should all be praying (not merely saying) MANY ROSARIES EACH DAY―much like 9-year-old St. Francisco Marto of Fatima was told by Our Lady that he could not get to Heaven until he had PRAYED MANY ROSARIES. Francisco’s response was to pray MANY Rosaries each day―almost continually―so that he could repair for the sins of others, save them from Hell, and get to Heaven himself.
For priests to ask or demand that their flocks pray more daily Rosaries is about as popular as a politician asking or demanding that his people pay more taxes! Today, priests―like politicians and parents―prefer to remain popular with their flock, and so will cater more to the whims and wishes of the flock, rather than catering to the wishes of God and Heaven.
Clueless Clergy and Puerile Politicians with Stupid Solutions
As they say, “Stupid is as stupid does!” ― and that is precisely the case with today’s clergy and politicians. Our Lord would say of them: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). They offer largely secular, humanistic, materialistic solutions―which are second-rate, watered-down, cotton-candy or candy-floss solutions to something that goes far beyond mere human capacities. As Sister Lucia of Fatima says, this is not a merely human problem, but a supernatural problem and a satanic problem. Ever since Our Lord gave Satan the time he requested in order to destroy Christ’s Church, this has been a war with Hell and not merely a battle on Earth.
On October 13th, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.”
Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord said: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan said: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord then said: “You have the time! You will be given the power! Do with them what you will!”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
It along these same lines that Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed to Father Fuentes, on December 26th 1957, what had been revealed to her by Our Lady: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. “For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
The Real Remedy
God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our Lady tells us what the ways and thoughts of God and Heaven are with regard to the problems we face in this world―and remember: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette). As for the remedies, Our Lady of Good Success says:
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
There is no shortage of people who see and say that the world is in a terrible crisis―but there is a terrible shortage of people who seek to pray their way out of this crisis. The poor fools fail to see that without God we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). That also includes Our Lady―whom God has chosen to be the key and solution to the current world crisis: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
In 2007, CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) carried out various surveys, among which was data on how many Catholics prayed the Rosary and how often they prayed it. A majority of adult Catholics, 52%, say they pray the rosary. 8% pray the Rosary at least once a week (only 4% say they do so every day). Women are more likely than men to say they pray the Rosary at least once a year (62% compared to 42%). Pre-Vatican II Catholics are most likely to pray the Rosary at least once a year (73%). Of weekly Mass attenders, 72% of say they pray the Rosary at least once a year (23% say they do so weekly or more often). What a joke! Sorry―just not good enough! Only 4% of Catholics say they pray the Rosary daily―that was way back in 2007―and we should be saying several Rosaries daily! Today, that number has dropped to somewhere between 2% and 3% of Catholics praying the Rosary daily. St. Padre Pio would on average pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily! When someone asked him how could pray so many Rosaries, he replied: “First tell me how is it that you pray so few Rosaries?” He makes a good point, huh? “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) and to His sleeping trio of Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said: “What? Could you not watch one hour with me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). Today, it would be: “What? You couldn’t even spend one hour with Me, but you can spend hours and hours on your smartphone and computer!”
As the proverb says: “When the cat’s away―the mice will play!” You could extend that to shepherd and sheep by saying: “When the shepherd’s away, the sheep will stray!” Speaking of shepherds and sheep, Holy Scripture warns of times when the sheep shall be shepherdless: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd―and the Lord said: ‘These have no master!’” (3 Kings 22:17). “‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to Me!’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered―and I will turn My hand to the little ones!’” (Zacharias 13:7). “And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd―and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered!” (Ezechiel 34:5).
Today’s ecclesiastical shepherds of the Church’s sheep are largely AWOL (absent without leave)―as foretold and forewarned by Our Lady:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church ... The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Akita).
The Good Shepherd is Struck―His Sheep Scatter
When Our Lord―the Good Shepherd―was arrested and tortured, His sheep (the Apostles and disciples) were scattered in fear, as Our Lord had foretold: “Then Jesus said to them: ‘All you shall be scandalized in Me this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!’” (Matthew 26:31). “And Jesus saith to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night! For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed!’” (Mark 14:27). “I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd!” (2 Paralipomenon 18:16).
It is said that the Mystical Body of Christ must live-out, throughout the centuries, the life of Christ. It seems that at in our particular time and centuries (20th and 21st centuries) we have arrived at the Passion of Christ, and the Good Shepherd (Our Lord represented in the person of His Vicar on Earth―the Pope) has been struck again and the sheep have been scattered. It is not just one pope that has been struck―but a whole series of popes! One pope after another from Pope John XXIII (who was responsible for calling together the Second Vatican Council) to the present pope, have all been struck in various ways―by Liberalism, by Modernism, by Secularism, by worldliness and by Communism― “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10), to the point where “the people [shall be] as sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not so much as one dog bark against thee” (Judith 11:15).
God has said to the greater and lesser shepherds of His flock (pope, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents): “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. If, when I say to the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 3:17-19).
“Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them, and he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people―then he, that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them―then he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: ‘O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!’ and if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way―then he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul!” (Ezechiel 33:2-9).
Our Lady―the Queen of shepherds, the Shepherdess of God’s flock―has often chosen shepherds to convey her warnings to the “sheep” ― at La Salette she appeared to two shepherd children (Melanie and Maximin), at Fatima she appeared to three shepherd children (Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta) and said: “So, my children, you will pass this on to all my people!” ― which is what they did, but the people have not listened to the warnings that have been trumpeted (or sheepishly whispered). Sister Lucia explains: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (Sister’s Lucia’s words to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Silent Shepherds
One has to sadly agree with Sister Lucia that “no one heeds her (Our Lady’s) message, neither the good nor the bad.” Priests and parents, teachers too, are largely silent on (1) praying very much; (2) praying the Rosary daily ― only 2% to 3% of American Catholics pray the Rosary daily; (3) making many sacrifices and doing much penance ― Pope Paul VI even REDUCED Lenten penance by 95%, throwing out 38 of 40 days of fasting; (4) almost ignoring the First Saturday devotions requested by Our Lady as reparation for the sins and blasphemies committed against her; (5) meditating the mysteries of Rosary and not merely “saying” them like a parrot; (6) the focus on Hell and that most souls end up going there.
In Traditional or Conservative Catholic circles you still get SOME insistence upon these things, but in the mainstream Liberal Catholic Church these things have more or less been wrapped in mothballs and placed in the cupboard, or sent off to the museum. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
Speaking out about these things, preaching these things, publishing lots of material on these things, giving these things a high profile―all this would serve in holding back the tsunami of sin has been relentlessly growing decade after decade―whereas decade after decade of the Rosary would be a remedy against this. Yet today, the Rosary is fallen into disuse―and if someone says (but not prays) five decades a day, they think they are a hero―whereas we should all be praying (not merely saying) MANY ROSARIES EACH DAY―much like 9-year-old St. Francisco Marto of Fatima was told by Our Lady that he could not get to Heaven until he had PRAYED MANY ROSARIES. Francisco’s response was to pray MANY Rosaries each day―almost continually―so that he could repair for the sins of others, save them from Hell, and get to Heaven himself.
For priests to ask or demand that their flocks pray more daily Rosaries is about as popular as a politician asking or demanding that his people pay more taxes! Today, priests―like politicians and parents―prefer to remain popular with their flock, and so will cater more to the whims and wishes of the flock, rather than catering to the wishes of God and Heaven.
Clueless Clergy and Puerile Politicians with Stupid Solutions
As they say, “Stupid is as stupid does!” ― and that is precisely the case with today’s clergy and politicians. Our Lord would say of them: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). They offer largely secular, humanistic, materialistic solutions―which are second-rate, watered-down, cotton-candy or candy-floss solutions to something that goes far beyond mere human capacities. As Sister Lucia of Fatima says, this is not a merely human problem, but a supernatural problem and a satanic problem. Ever since Our Lord gave Satan the time he requested in order to destroy Christ’s Church, this has been a war with Hell and not merely a battle on Earth.
On October 13th, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.”
Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan said: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord said: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan said: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord then said: “You have the time! You will be given the power! Do with them what you will!”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
It along these same lines that Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed to Father Fuentes, on December 26th 1957, what had been revealed to her by Our Lady: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. “For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)].
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
The Real Remedy
God says: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our Lady tells us what the ways and thoughts of God and Heaven are with regard to the problems we face in this world―and remember: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette). As for the remedies, Our Lady of Good Success says:
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
There is no shortage of people who see and say that the world is in a terrible crisis―but there is a terrible shortage of people who seek to pray their way out of this crisis. The poor fools fail to see that without God we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). That also includes Our Lady―whom God has chosen to be the key and solution to the current world crisis: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
In 2007, CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) carried out various surveys, among which was data on how many Catholics prayed the Rosary and how often they prayed it. A majority of adult Catholics, 52%, say they pray the rosary. 8% pray the Rosary at least once a week (only 4% say they do so every day). Women are more likely than men to say they pray the Rosary at least once a year (62% compared to 42%). Pre-Vatican II Catholics are most likely to pray the Rosary at least once a year (73%). Of weekly Mass attenders, 72% of say they pray the Rosary at least once a year (23% say they do so weekly or more often). What a joke! Sorry―just not good enough! Only 4% of Catholics say they pray the Rosary daily―that was way back in 2007―and we should be saying several Rosaries daily! Today, that number has dropped to somewhere between 2% and 3% of Catholics praying the Rosary daily. St. Padre Pio would on average pray anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries daily! When someone asked him how could pray so many Rosaries, he replied: “First tell me how is it that you pray so few Rosaries?” He makes a good point, huh? “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) and to His sleeping trio of Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said: “What? Could you not watch one hour with me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). Today, it would be: “What? You couldn’t even spend one hour with Me, but you can spend hours and hours on your smartphone and computer!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday January 17th & Monday January 18th
January 17th is the Feast of St. Anthony of Egypt (a.k.a. St. Anthony the Great, St. Anthony of the Desert)
Article 10
Will the Laity Save the Day?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday January 17th & Monday January 18th
January 17th is the Feast of St. Anthony of Egypt (a.k.a. St. Anthony the Great, St. Anthony of the Desert)
Article 10
Will the Laity Save the Day?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Lord! Save us! We Perish!
You no doubt recall the incident where Our Lord was on a boat with his Apostles and a great storm arose on the lake―to the point where everyone thought they would sink―yet Our Lord calmly slept through it: “And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to Him and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm!” (Matthew 8:23-26). In essence, it is through a lack of Faith that we find ourselves in our own particular storm on this 21st century lake, which is steadily increasing and is increasingly threatening our well-being, safety and Faith.
With the current tornado of adverse events, we are likely to have the sentiments spoken of by Isaias: “I looked about―and there was none to help! I sought―and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:5). With this constant flood of threats, we might, with trepidation, be thinking of the chastisements of God, as “in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building―wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20)―a flood which brings to mind the ominous words of Our Lady: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!” (Our Lady of Akita) … “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Who Shall Save Us?
With the Apostles in the storm-tossed boat, we are tempted to cry out: “Lord! Save us! We perish!” With St. Paul, we are tempted to ask: “Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? These are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert!” (1 Kings 4:8).
We remember the words of Holy Scripture: “The king is not saved by a great army, nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength! Vain is the horse for safety! Neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength!” (Psalm 32:16-17). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalms 43:7).
We even wonder if there is a way out of the mess that we find ourselves in―and a mess that looks like only getting much, much worse! We recall the ominous and threatening warnings of Our Lady, wherein she said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
It Need Not Be This Way
As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” If we―and the world―choose to sin, then we must pay the price for sin. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Yet, God tells us: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). “For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12).
“Christ died for us―much more, therefore, being now justified by His Blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son―much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:9-10). “By grace you are saved, through Faith and not of yourselves―for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). “Not by the works of justice―which we have done―but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost!” (Titus 3:5). Our Lord succinctly drives this point home when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
The Paradox and Seeming Contradiction
If God wants to save, if Christ came to save ― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) ― if almighty God is just that, all mighty: “No word shall be impossible with God … With God all things are possible!” (Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26) ― then why are most souls lost and damned?
“And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But he said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “A remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Tempted to despair? Why despair if God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). The nuts and bolts of it all is that salvation is from God, but damnation is from man. Nobody is damned unless they explicitly or implicitly want to be damned. Very few people explicitly want to be damned―the Satanists and a few others perhaps―most people fall into the “implicit desire for damnation” category. They are deluded by Satan into thinking that sin is no big deal, that it is easily forgiven, and need not be worried about―a kind of “play now, pay later” approach―and, sadly, pay they do!
Our Lord Himself, in Private Revelation, says the same: “I did not create you for Hell, but for Heaven, not as a companion for the devil, but to enjoy Me in everlasting love! You see, to Hell go only those who wish to go there! … final impenitence is found only in a soul who purposely wishes to go to Hell and therefore obstinately refuses My mercy, for I never refuse to pardon anyone. I offer the gift of My immense compassion to all, for My Blood was shed for all, for all! No, it is not the multiplicity of sins which condemns a soul―for I forgive everything if she repents―but it is the obstinacy of not wishing to be pardoned, of wishing to be damned! Dismas on the cross had only one single act of Faith in Me, but many, many sins; he was pardoned in an instant, however, and on the very day of his repentance he entered into My kingdom and is a saint!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 42-44).
Yet Our Lord―despite wanting to forgive and save sinners―admits that most souls are lost: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
Help! What Must I Do?
You might well be tempted to cry out with the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Matthew 19:25). We might cry out: “What must I do, that I may be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Our Lord gives us the “bottom-line” for salvation when “he spoke a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1), and when He said: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). This staple-diet for salvation has not gone out of fashion―Our Lady, in her modern-day apparitions, still serves us the same staple-diet. At La Salette she complains that we “have neglected prayer and penance.” At Lourdes she emphatically insists: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” At Fatima she bewails that “many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” All of her apparitions―as Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―insist upon lots of praying to be done:
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS says: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times! … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Even now you should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe! … My daughter, commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Sacrificial souls will appease Divine Justice … Let men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE echoes the same message: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls―there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … God will strike in an unprecedented way … Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like ... For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE” (Our Lady of La Salette).
► OUR LADY OF LOURDES repeatedly tells St. Bernadette to “Pray for sinners!” as well as insisting on “Penance! Penance! Penance!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA insists on lots of prayers being offered. Even before Our Lady made her first apparition at Fatima in May of 1917, the Angel of Portugal had appeared to the three young children, telling them to offer many prayers and sacrifices for sinners. The apparition of the Angel took place during the summer of 1916. While the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house, the Angel suddenly appeared and scolded them: “What are you doing?” he said indignantly, “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!” ― for, as we know from Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” and St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima revealed: “Our Lady said that there are many wars and discords in the world. Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world!”
Our Lady of Fatima would continually and consistently insist upon prayer―lots of prayer―especially the Holy Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace!” As regards the salvation of Francisco, Our Lady said he would get to Heaven, “but he must say many Rosaries!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Sister Lucia of Fatima would later reveal: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA continues in the same vein: “Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much--very much! … Pray with fervor! … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father … souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!”
Did You Get the Message?
Our Lady could not be clearer nor more emphatic! Did you get the message? Sister Lucia of Fatima complained: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You no doubt recall the incident where Our Lord was on a boat with his Apostles and a great storm arose on the lake―to the point where everyone thought they would sink―yet Our Lord calmly slept through it: “And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And they came to Him and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then rising up He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm!” (Matthew 8:23-26). In essence, it is through a lack of Faith that we find ourselves in our own particular storm on this 21st century lake, which is steadily increasing and is increasingly threatening our well-being, safety and Faith.
With the current tornado of adverse events, we are likely to have the sentiments spoken of by Isaias: “I looked about―and there was none to help! I sought―and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:5). With this constant flood of threats, we might, with trepidation, be thinking of the chastisements of God, as “in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building―wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20)―a flood which brings to mind the ominous words of Our Lady: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!” (Our Lady of Akita) … “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Who Shall Save Us?
With the Apostles in the storm-tossed boat, we are tempted to cry out: “Lord! Save us! We perish!” With St. Paul, we are tempted to ask: “Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? These are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert!” (1 Kings 4:8).
We remember the words of Holy Scripture: “The king is not saved by a great army, nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength! Vain is the horse for safety! Neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength!” (Psalm 32:16-17). “I will not trust in my bow―neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalms 43:7).
We even wonder if there is a way out of the mess that we find ourselves in―and a mess that looks like only getting much, much worse! We recall the ominous and threatening warnings of Our Lady, wherein she said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
It Need Not Be This Way
As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” If we―and the world―choose to sin, then we must pay the price for sin. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Yet, God tells us: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). “For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). “I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12).
“Christ died for us―much more, therefore, being now justified by His Blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son―much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:9-10). “By grace you are saved, through Faith and not of yourselves―for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). “Not by the works of justice―which we have done―but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost!” (Titus 3:5). Our Lord succinctly drives this point home when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
The Paradox and Seeming Contradiction
If God wants to save, if Christ came to save ― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) ― if almighty God is just that, all mighty: “No word shall be impossible with God … With God all things are possible!” (Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26) ― then why are most souls lost and damned?
“And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But he said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “A remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Tempted to despair? Why despair if God “will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). The nuts and bolts of it all is that salvation is from God, but damnation is from man. Nobody is damned unless they explicitly or implicitly want to be damned. Very few people explicitly want to be damned―the Satanists and a few others perhaps―most people fall into the “implicit desire for damnation” category. They are deluded by Satan into thinking that sin is no big deal, that it is easily forgiven, and need not be worried about―a kind of “play now, pay later” approach―and, sadly, pay they do!
Our Lord Himself, in Private Revelation, says the same: “I did not create you for Hell, but for Heaven, not as a companion for the devil, but to enjoy Me in everlasting love! You see, to Hell go only those who wish to go there! … final impenitence is found only in a soul who purposely wishes to go to Hell and therefore obstinately refuses My mercy, for I never refuse to pardon anyone. I offer the gift of My immense compassion to all, for My Blood was shed for all, for all! No, it is not the multiplicity of sins which condemns a soul―for I forgive everything if she repents―but it is the obstinacy of not wishing to be pardoned, of wishing to be damned! Dismas on the cross had only one single act of Faith in Me, but many, many sins; he was pardoned in an instant, however, and on the very day of his repentance he entered into My kingdom and is a saint!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 42-44).
Yet Our Lord―despite wanting to forgive and save sinners―admits that most souls are lost: “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
Help! What Must I Do?
You might well be tempted to cry out with the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Matthew 19:25). We might cry out: “What must I do, that I may be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Our Lord gives us the “bottom-line” for salvation when “he spoke a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1), and when He said: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). This staple-diet for salvation has not gone out of fashion―Our Lady, in her modern-day apparitions, still serves us the same staple-diet. At La Salette she complains that we “have neglected prayer and penance.” At Lourdes she emphatically insists: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” At Fatima she bewails that “many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” All of her apparitions―as Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita―insist upon lots of praying to be done:
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS says: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times! … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Even now you should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe! … My daughter, commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Sacrificial souls will appease Divine Justice … Let men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE echoes the same message: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls―there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … God will strike in an unprecedented way … Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like ... For a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE” (Our Lady of La Salette).
► OUR LADY OF LOURDES repeatedly tells St. Bernadette to “Pray for sinners!” as well as insisting on “Penance! Penance! Penance!”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA insists on lots of prayers being offered. Even before Our Lady made her first apparition at Fatima in May of 1917, the Angel of Portugal had appeared to the three young children, telling them to offer many prayers and sacrifices for sinners. The apparition of the Angel took place during the summer of 1916. While the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house, the Angel suddenly appeared and scolded them: “What are you doing?” he said indignantly, “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!” ― for, as we know from Our Lady of La Salette: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” and St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima revealed: “Our Lady said that there are many wars and discords in the world. Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world!”
Our Lady of Fatima would continually and consistently insist upon prayer―lots of prayer―especially the Holy Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace!” As regards the salvation of Francisco, Our Lady said he would get to Heaven, “but he must say many Rosaries!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Sister Lucia of Fatima would later reveal: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA continues in the same vein: “Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much--very much! … Pray with fervor! … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father … souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!”
Did You Get the Message?
Our Lady could not be clearer nor more emphatic! Did you get the message? Sister Lucia of Fatima complained: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Friday January 15th & Saturday January 16th
Feast of St. Paul the First Desert Hermit
Article 9
Another Age of Desert Fathers Just Around the Corner!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Feast of St. Paul the First Desert Hermit
Article 9
Another Age of Desert Fathers Just Around the Corner!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Desert Approaches!
Like it or not―want it or not―accept it or not―it looks like we are headed for a dessert-like existence, one way or another! On the one hand, Bill Gates openly speaks of worldwide depopulation through vaccination. The “behind-the-scenes” rulers of the world―the money men―look to ideal, controllable world population of only around 500 million people―which means that 14 out of each 15 persons has to go “bye-bye”! Some say the desired number is closer to 1,000 million―which means around 7 out of 8 persons must go “bye-bye”. In any event, such a mass reduction of the world’s population would leave large parts of the Earth desert-like.
On the other hand, we are increasingly being made to follow a desert-like existence in a world of almost 8,000 million (8 billion) people―with the streets of large cities being deserted due to lockdowns, self-isolation edicts, quarantining commands, social distancing and limited numbers at gatherings!
In a funny sort of way, the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers, of the early centuries, would have rejoiced and felt very much at home with all this perceived shackling of our freedoms and liberty of movement! How so? Well, let us have a brief look at the life and plight of those Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers―and the reasons that motivated them to leave the world and its plenitude behind, in exchange for the self-isolation in their own chosen quarantine and lockdown in the deserts of Egypt.
Those who chose to go into the desert as hermits were said to be answering the call of Christ ― which is expounded in the following incident of the encounter between the rich young man and Jesus: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
The Variety Within the Desert
At this time of the year ― January ― we celebrate within two day of each other, the feasts of two pillars of Desert Father life. They are St. Paul of Thebes, the first desert hermit [read more here], whom we celebrate on January 15th, and his contemporary, St. Anthony of Egypt, also known as St. Anthony the Great or St. Anthony of the Desert [read more here]. The first of the desert hermits was St. Paul of Thebes, who fled to the Theban desert during the persecution of Christians (249–251 AD) under the Roman Emperor Decius. Tradition holds that St. Paul of Thebes (St. Paul the Desert Hermit) was buried by St. Anthony of Egypt, with the latter coming to be known as the most famous of the Desert Fathers and the one who is considered the founder and father of organized Christian monasticism. St. Pachomius of the Thebaid Desert (290–346 AD), who organized nine monasteries for men and two for women (some of the Desert Mothers), is credited with being the founder of cenobitic (communal) monasticism in the Western world.
St. Paul of Thebes is acknowledged as being the first to go to the desert to live a hermit’s life, but it was St. Anthony of Egypt (St. Anthony the Great) who launched the movement that later became known as the Desert Fathers. It was around the year 270, upon listening to a Sunday sermon―stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one's possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Christ (see the Scriptural passage above)―that Anthony was inspired to follow that advice, and thus he made a break with life in normal world and moved away deep into the desert to seek complete solitude and a life of union with God through prayer.
The Desert Gave an Alternative to Religious Persecution
The times in which both St. Paul of Thebes and St. Anthony of Egypt lived were times of Christian persecution—the Diocletianic Persecution in AD 303 was the last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. It was only ten years later, in 313, that Christianity allowed some freedom and was made legal in Egypt by Diocletian’s successor, Emperor Constantine I. The first Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers headed for the desert with the additional motive of avoiding persecution.
St. Paul was a native of Egypt, who had lost both his parents when he was only fifteen years of age, at a time of a bloody persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Decius, which disturbed the peace of the church in 250. During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts. Likewise, the solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice.
The later Desert Fathers still chose this kind of life even when it was no longer a risk to be a Christian―after the legalization of Christianity by Constantine. It was not long before Anthony attracted followers who were eager to live their lives in accordance with this solidarity and separation from material goods. Due to this mortified form of life in the desert, it is recorded by St. Athanasius, that Anthony received many special privileges from God, such as the ability to heal the sick, inspire others to have Faith in healing through God, and even converse with God on occasion. Around this time, desert monasticism appeared nearly simultaneously in several areas, including Egypt and Syria.
Over time, the model of Anthony and other hermits attracted many followers, who lived alone in the desert or in small groups. They chose a life of extreme asceticism, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, and anything that made them comfortable. They instead focused their energies on praying, singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, and preserving love and harmony with one another while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone. Thousands joined them in the desert, mostly men but also a handful of women. Many persons also began going to the desert seeking advice and counsel from the early Desert Fathers. By the time of Anthony's death, there were so many men and women living in the desert that it was described as “a city” by St. Anthony’s biographer.
The Desert Fathers advocated three main approaches to monasticism. One was the austere life of the hermit, as practiced by Anthony and his followers in lower Egypt. Another was the cenobitic life, communities of monks and nuns in upper Egypt formed by Pachomius. The third was a semi-hermitic lifestyle seen mostly in Nitria, Kellia and Scetes (Scetis), west of the Nile, begun by Saint Amun. The latter were small groups (two to six) of monks and nuns with a common spiritual elder—these separate groups would join together in larger gatherings to worship on Saturdays and Sundays. Sounds a little like our “social-distancing”, “self-isolation”, “quarantining” and “lockdowns”, doesn't it?
Often, the first thing that struck those who heard about the Desert Fathers, was the negative aspect of their lives. They were people who did without things―not much sleep, no baths, poor food, no alcohol, little company, ragged clothes, hard work, no leisure, no sexual relations, and even, in some places, no church either ― a dramatic contrast of immediate interest to those who lived out the Gospel differently in the world at large. The way we are going―or the way we are being pushed and made to go―seems to be pushing us closer and closer to the life of a Desert Father! The persecuting Roman emperors of old have been replaced by the modern-day “emperors” of whichever country you happen to live it.
A God-Made Desert or a Man-Made Desert?
On the one hand, if we are not pushed into a desert-like existence by the totalitarianism that has now brashly and boldly reared its ugly head, then, on the other hand, we risk having a desert-like existence being forced upon by God on account of our sins and the sins of the world. Whichever way you look at it―the desert beckons, the desert calls!
► Desert Times Predicted by Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel ― Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls to whom God has given knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight. However, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► Desert Times Predicted by Marie-Julie Jahenny de la Fraudais, mystic and stigmatist of the 18th and 19th century, who had a vision of a dialogue between Our Lord and Lucifer, during which Satan said: “I will attack the Church! I will overthrow the Cross! I will decimate the people! I will deposit a great weakness of Faith in hearts! There will also be A GREAT DENIAL OF RELIGION! For a time I will be MASTER of all things, everything will be under MY CONTROL, even Your temple and all Your people!” Marie-Julie goes on to say: “Saint Michael says that Satan will have possession of everything for some time and that he will reign completely over everything; that all goodness, Faith, Religion will be buried in the tomb ... Satan and his own will triumph with joy, but after this triumph, the Lord will in His turn gather His Own people and will REIGN and TRIUMPH OVER EVIL and WILL RAISE UP from the tomb the buried Church, the prostrated Cross.” Marie-Julie saw that “there will not remain any vestige of the Holy Sacrifice, no apparent trace of faith. CONFUSION will be everywhere!”
She also prophesied that “there will come three days of complete darkness. Only blessed candles made of wax will give some light during this horrible darkness. One candle will last for three days, but they will not give light in the houses of the Godless. Lightning will penetrate your houses, but it will not put out the blessed candles. Neither wind, nor storm, nor earthquake will put out the blessed candles. Red clouds, like blood, will cross the sky, and the crash of thunder will shake the Earth to its very core. The ocean will cast its foaming waves over the land, and the Earth will be turned into a huge graveyard. The bodies of the wicked and of the righteous will cover the face of the Earth. The famine that follows will be severe. All plant-life will be destroyed as well as three-fourths of the human race. This crisis will be sudden and the punishment will be world-wide.”
► Desert Times Predicted by St. Gaspar Del Bufalo (19th century), a priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, who prophesied: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the three days of darkness. Those who survive the three days of darkness and horror will believe themselves to be alone on the Earth, because the ground will be covered with corpses.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Fr. Bernard Maria Clausi (19th century): “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night… A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Blessed Johannes Amadeus de Sylva, of the 15th century, who prophesied: “In the Latter Days there shall be great wars and bloodshed. Whole provinces shall be left despoiled and uninhabited, and cities deserted by the people.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Josefina Reverdy (19th century): “A part of the Earth is all desert; nothing without the power of God can sustain itself. The more fervent souls will fall into moral anguish. There will be three terrible tempests that will move the mountains and merge together houses and buildings. A third of all men will perish!”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of La Salette (1846), who spoke of the desert-like Earth after God’s chastisement: “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of Fatima (1917): “Many nations will be annihilated!”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973): “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Something Must Be Done! Or Else!
All of that seems to indicate that sin is very expensive and that not enough penance is being done! As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Which brings us back to idea of the Desert Father and Desert Mothers, and the Desert Monastic communities―which, in our day and in our plight, should be a loose blueprint for how we should be approaching things. If the world is being let down by a lack of vocations―then, in some way, the laity in general and the family in particular should be looking to “pick-up the slack”. Our Lady of Good Success warned us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
With the current addiction and absorption with worldliness, it is easy to see why we are in this current political, financial and social mess ― it is because we are in a spiritual mess. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement!” Alas! How true that is! Even among the best Catholics! No wonder They spend way too much time on the trivialities of the world (but they think those trivialities are very important) and way too little time on God and things that pertain to God―prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, Bible reading, refreshing and increasing Catechetical knowledge, learning how to defend and prove the truth of the Faith, etc., etc. The monasteries and convents that Our Lady refers to above―since vocations and numbers of religious have plummeted―should now be founded, so to speak, in the home. No wonder most souls are lost! Sure―“God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Sure―“God is compassionate and merciful!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:13). Sure―“‘As I live’, saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked!’” (Ezechiel 33:11). Sure―“God will have all men to be saved!” (1 Timothy 2:4).
God Created You Without You―But He Will Not Save You Without You!
However, all of that will only happen if we cooperate with God, adore God, pray to God, love God, obey God, put God first in our lives and do penance for our sins. As the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, writes: “God created us without us―but He will not save us without us!” This is a profound quote about our cooperation with God. St. Augustine affirms that God cannot save us without us―because without our cooperation he will not force Himself upon us. As already said, that cooperation requires that we adore God, pray to God, love God, obey God, put God first in our lives and do penance for our sins―as borne-out by these quotes of Our Lord:
“And Jesus answering said to him: ‘It is written: “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Luke 4:8). “Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice” (Matthew 6:33). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14). “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “No, I say to you―but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5).
How often are those quotes―and similar quotes―repeated in family life? It should be many times daily―but, in reality, it is almost never! It is not that we do not believe in God―it is just that we have little or even no time for God! There is too much in the world to preoccupy us and entertain us! The following words of God would go down like “lead balloon” in most Catholic families: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Not quite the most popular quotes among Catholics! Of most of today’s Catholics, Our Lord would say: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word ... He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
Salvation is on God’s Terms―Not Your Terms!
Just as St. Augustine says: “God created us without us―but He will not save us without us!” Likewise, you could equally say: “God will not save us on our terms―but on His terms!” Holy Scripture loosely echoes this, saying: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our idea of what it takes to be saved is not God’s idea of what it takes to be saved. The price that we put on an entrance ticket to Heaven is nowhere near the price that God has put on the entrance ticket to Heaven. As Our Lord Himself says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
This is a fundamental reason why most souls are damned, not just pagan or Protestant souls, but also Catholic souls―they do not like the “contract” that God offers for salvation; they do not like the “small print” clauses; they think the price is too high; they do not like hours of work; the work is too demanding and burdensome, etc., etc. So they make up their own “contract” while telling themselves: “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, §10). Our Lord warns against such foolish complacency: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Therefore, “If thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee―cut it off, and cast it from thee! It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire! And if thy eye scandalize thee―pluck it out, and cast it from thee! It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire!” (Matthew 18:8-9).
The Catholic Family Should Be A Religious Family
The principles to be followed for salvation are the same for the laity and for the clergy and religious. The principles for salvation are the same for lay families as they are for religious families or religious communities. Christ did not preach two messages, two Gospels, two ways of getting to Heaven―but only one! Family life should be religious life in infancy, so to speak. One should naturally grow into the other. If that’s how thing would be, then vocations and religious life would be a natural progression and outgrowing of the Catholic family life. If you are a Catholic, then the spirit or soul of your family must also be Catholic. You are part of the Mystical Body of Christ―a cell of the Mystical Body of Christ―and thus your family is an extension and cell of the Universal Church, the Catholic Church. The spirit of Christ and His Church should be seen to reign within each and every Catholic family―any family or cell that does not reflect the spirit of Christ is a diseased cell, a diseased family.
Your family home is therefore called a “domestic church” ― it is the place where your children will receive the first proclamation of the Faith; will first get to know, understand, love and serve Jesus Christ. St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine of Hippo both viewed the family unit as a miniature Church. Augustine called the family a “domestica ecclesia―a domestic church.” He felt that the father could be considered as carrying out the duties of the bishop in his own family. In his letter, Of The Good Of Widowhood, St. Augustine asked to be included in the prayers of the holy woman Juliana, “cum tota domestica vestra ecclesia” ―which means “with all your household church.” St. John Chrysostom, on the other hand, called the family “a micra ecclesia―a little church.” St. Clement of Alexandria called marriage a “micro basileia” ― which means “a little kingdom”. All of them directly developed the idea of a domestic church ― as being an extension and foundation of the Universal Church ― and use that language exactly (in the case of St. Augustine) or approximately (in the case of St. John Chrysostom).
The term “Ecclesia Domestica” (domestic church) was brought forth in order to call the family to be a light for the world. The family is the smallest unit of the Universal Church―the Catholic family is a microcosm of the greater macrocosm which is the Catholic Church. Thus the Catholic family is often referred to as the “domestic church”. The “domestic church” must take as its model “The Church Universal” or the Catholic Church (“Catholic” means “Universal”). The “domestic church” should be a reflection of the Universal Church and an embodiment of Christ’s life and love―as revealed to the world in the Holy Family. The family is the basic cell of both society and the Church, and so it should copy and reproduce Christ’s dealings with the world in thought, word and action. The Church becomes a model for our families and, conversely, model families produce a model Church. If the Church is sinful and sick, it will produce sinful sick families. If the Church is holy and healthy, it will produce holy and healthy families. Yet, there has to be a return or reciprocity also―meaning that holy and healthy family cells will produce a holy and healthy Mystical Body of Christ.
Both St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom compare the father of the family to a bishop and his diocese. In both these Church Fathers you will find references to the unique episcopal-like role of the father as head of the family, who is responsible for its religious education, and who is called to become a Christ-like servant to his family, and thereby serve Christ. In fact, both bishops as heads of dioceses and fathers as heads of families, are microcosms of the macrocosm that is the Pope, who is the head of the Universal Church. St. Paul also makes a connection when he speaks of husbands being obliged to treat their wives (and family) as Christ treated His Bride, the Church:
“Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord―because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Savior of His [Mystical] Body. Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it―so that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing―but that it should be holy, and without blemish!” (Ephesians 5:22-27).
Family Under Attack ― Church Under Attack
Satan hates the Bride of Christ―which is Holy Mother Church. Since the Catholic family is a cell of Holy Mother Church, a building-block out of which Holy Mother Church is built―therefore Satan naturally hates the Catholic family. In fact, not only does Satan hate the Catholic family―he also hates all families, since the family (a union of one man and one woman in order to create children) is a creation of God, and Satan hates all that is of God. Thus, throughout history, Satan has tried to weaken and even destroy the family―but this especially true of our days, for, as Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed, one of the chief focal points of Satan’s attempt to destroy the Church of Christ, is to destroy the family.
This is also corroborated by earlier prophecies of Our Lady “The Sacrament of Matrimony―which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church― will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry―which will then be in power―will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years―during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government―will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan―which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Don’t Expose Your Family to Disease―Flee and Retreat from Disease
The world is sick! It is sick because its prince―Satan―is also sick! This sick world is making families spiritually and morally sick! In Holy Scripture, we find sickness connected to sin. Jesus Himself links the two together when he says: “They that are well have no need of a physician―but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just―but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). Our Lord indirectly (or you could also say directly) tells the paralytic whom He had just cured at the Pool of Bethsaida: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14) ― in other words, you were sick and paralyzed because of your sins. The Apostles held to the same idea ― “And His disciples asked Him: ‘Rabbi, who hath sinned―this man, or his parents―that he should be born blind?” (John 9:2). In fact, Holy Scripture tells us that disease and death came into the world because of sin: “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Sin is the worst virus in the world! Sin is the greatest evil in the world! The Church teaches that truth in her catechisms: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD) ― yet who really believes that truth and lives by that truth? Very few people indeed!
Yet, not only does sin bring physical death―but it can also bring ‘eternal death’ or damnation, as opposed to eternal life and salvation. It is mortal sin―which is grave and serious sin, but also very easily committed in some cases―which condemns the soul to Hell. This sick world, in which we live, is a merchant, trader and peddler of mortal sin―it specializes in mortal sin and it specializes in coating mortal sin with sugar, or hides mortal sin under the false disguise of being something good, advantageous, profitable or enjoyable. The world is diseased with sin―and if there ever was a disease that should provoke social-distancing, the wearing of masks, of self-isolating or quarantining―then that disease is sin and the carrier of that sin is the world. Hence Holy Scripture clearly warns:
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
The Spirit of the Desert Fathers
The above quotes were part of the foundation of the Desert Fathers and a great motivation to them. They should also be the foundation and motivation for every Catholic family. So many souls are lost and damned because they laid up their treasures on Earth rather than Heaven; they were attached to the world and worldly people and would not “Go out from among them, and be ye separate!” Their heart was focused on loving their treasure―the goods or mammon of this world. They “loved life” in this world, and so lost eternal life in the next world. They were supposed to “be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” but “still acted as though living in the world.” They preferred “the friendship of this world” even though it made them “the enemy of God.” They refused to believe that “If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” Now, after having died, they see and believe―but it is too late!
The Catholic world is fooling itself by thinking they are on the right track! “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Ah, well! You can lead a horse to water―but you can’t make it drink! You can show a soul the truth―but you cannot make it accept that truth! Most did not―most now regret it eternally. In our current situation and plight, it seems that the only wise option, safe option, efficacious option―is to acquire the spirit of the Desert Fathers. If we don’t, then both the world with its prince―Satan―and also God will impose upon us a desert that we could never have imagined! Your life, your call, your choice, your fate!
Like it or not―want it or not―accept it or not―it looks like we are headed for a dessert-like existence, one way or another! On the one hand, Bill Gates openly speaks of worldwide depopulation through vaccination. The “behind-the-scenes” rulers of the world―the money men―look to ideal, controllable world population of only around 500 million people―which means that 14 out of each 15 persons has to go “bye-bye”! Some say the desired number is closer to 1,000 million―which means around 7 out of 8 persons must go “bye-bye”. In any event, such a mass reduction of the world’s population would leave large parts of the Earth desert-like.
On the other hand, we are increasingly being made to follow a desert-like existence in a world of almost 8,000 million (8 billion) people―with the streets of large cities being deserted due to lockdowns, self-isolation edicts, quarantining commands, social distancing and limited numbers at gatherings!
In a funny sort of way, the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers, of the early centuries, would have rejoiced and felt very much at home with all this perceived shackling of our freedoms and liberty of movement! How so? Well, let us have a brief look at the life and plight of those Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers―and the reasons that motivated them to leave the world and its plenitude behind, in exchange for the self-isolation in their own chosen quarantine and lockdown in the deserts of Egypt.
Those who chose to go into the desert as hermits were said to be answering the call of Christ ― which is expounded in the following incident of the encounter between the rich young man and Jesus: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
The Variety Within the Desert
At this time of the year ― January ― we celebrate within two day of each other, the feasts of two pillars of Desert Father life. They are St. Paul of Thebes, the first desert hermit [read more here], whom we celebrate on January 15th, and his contemporary, St. Anthony of Egypt, also known as St. Anthony the Great or St. Anthony of the Desert [read more here]. The first of the desert hermits was St. Paul of Thebes, who fled to the Theban desert during the persecution of Christians (249–251 AD) under the Roman Emperor Decius. Tradition holds that St. Paul of Thebes (St. Paul the Desert Hermit) was buried by St. Anthony of Egypt, with the latter coming to be known as the most famous of the Desert Fathers and the one who is considered the founder and father of organized Christian monasticism. St. Pachomius of the Thebaid Desert (290–346 AD), who organized nine monasteries for men and two for women (some of the Desert Mothers), is credited with being the founder of cenobitic (communal) monasticism in the Western world.
St. Paul of Thebes is acknowledged as being the first to go to the desert to live a hermit’s life, but it was St. Anthony of Egypt (St. Anthony the Great) who launched the movement that later became known as the Desert Fathers. It was around the year 270, upon listening to a Sunday sermon―stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one's possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Christ (see the Scriptural passage above)―that Anthony was inspired to follow that advice, and thus he made a break with life in normal world and moved away deep into the desert to seek complete solitude and a life of union with God through prayer.
The Desert Gave an Alternative to Religious Persecution
The times in which both St. Paul of Thebes and St. Anthony of Egypt lived were times of Christian persecution—the Diocletianic Persecution in AD 303 was the last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. It was only ten years later, in 313, that Christianity allowed some freedom and was made legal in Egypt by Diocletian’s successor, Emperor Constantine I. The first Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers headed for the desert with the additional motive of avoiding persecution.
St. Paul was a native of Egypt, who had lost both his parents when he was only fifteen years of age, at a time of a bloody persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Decius, which disturbed the peace of the church in 250. During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts. Likewise, the solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice.
The later Desert Fathers still chose this kind of life even when it was no longer a risk to be a Christian―after the legalization of Christianity by Constantine. It was not long before Anthony attracted followers who were eager to live their lives in accordance with this solidarity and separation from material goods. Due to this mortified form of life in the desert, it is recorded by St. Athanasius, that Anthony received many special privileges from God, such as the ability to heal the sick, inspire others to have Faith in healing through God, and even converse with God on occasion. Around this time, desert monasticism appeared nearly simultaneously in several areas, including Egypt and Syria.
Over time, the model of Anthony and other hermits attracted many followers, who lived alone in the desert or in small groups. They chose a life of extreme asceticism, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, and anything that made them comfortable. They instead focused their energies on praying, singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, and preserving love and harmony with one another while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone. Thousands joined them in the desert, mostly men but also a handful of women. Many persons also began going to the desert seeking advice and counsel from the early Desert Fathers. By the time of Anthony's death, there were so many men and women living in the desert that it was described as “a city” by St. Anthony’s biographer.
The Desert Fathers advocated three main approaches to monasticism. One was the austere life of the hermit, as practiced by Anthony and his followers in lower Egypt. Another was the cenobitic life, communities of monks and nuns in upper Egypt formed by Pachomius. The third was a semi-hermitic lifestyle seen mostly in Nitria, Kellia and Scetes (Scetis), west of the Nile, begun by Saint Amun. The latter were small groups (two to six) of monks and nuns with a common spiritual elder—these separate groups would join together in larger gatherings to worship on Saturdays and Sundays. Sounds a little like our “social-distancing”, “self-isolation”, “quarantining” and “lockdowns”, doesn't it?
Often, the first thing that struck those who heard about the Desert Fathers, was the negative aspect of their lives. They were people who did without things―not much sleep, no baths, poor food, no alcohol, little company, ragged clothes, hard work, no leisure, no sexual relations, and even, in some places, no church either ― a dramatic contrast of immediate interest to those who lived out the Gospel differently in the world at large. The way we are going―or the way we are being pushed and made to go―seems to be pushing us closer and closer to the life of a Desert Father! The persecuting Roman emperors of old have been replaced by the modern-day “emperors” of whichever country you happen to live it.
A God-Made Desert or a Man-Made Desert?
On the one hand, if we are not pushed into a desert-like existence by the totalitarianism that has now brashly and boldly reared its ugly head, then, on the other hand, we risk having a desert-like existence being forced upon by God on account of our sins and the sins of the world. Whichever way you look at it―the desert beckons, the desert calls!
► Desert Times Predicted by Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel ― Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls to whom God has given knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight. However, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo: “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
► Desert Times Predicted by Marie-Julie Jahenny de la Fraudais, mystic and stigmatist of the 18th and 19th century, who had a vision of a dialogue between Our Lord and Lucifer, during which Satan said: “I will attack the Church! I will overthrow the Cross! I will decimate the people! I will deposit a great weakness of Faith in hearts! There will also be A GREAT DENIAL OF RELIGION! For a time I will be MASTER of all things, everything will be under MY CONTROL, even Your temple and all Your people!” Marie-Julie goes on to say: “Saint Michael says that Satan will have possession of everything for some time and that he will reign completely over everything; that all goodness, Faith, Religion will be buried in the tomb ... Satan and his own will triumph with joy, but after this triumph, the Lord will in His turn gather His Own people and will REIGN and TRIUMPH OVER EVIL and WILL RAISE UP from the tomb the buried Church, the prostrated Cross.” Marie-Julie saw that “there will not remain any vestige of the Holy Sacrifice, no apparent trace of faith. CONFUSION will be everywhere!”
She also prophesied that “there will come three days of complete darkness. Only blessed candles made of wax will give some light during this horrible darkness. One candle will last for three days, but they will not give light in the houses of the Godless. Lightning will penetrate your houses, but it will not put out the blessed candles. Neither wind, nor storm, nor earthquake will put out the blessed candles. Red clouds, like blood, will cross the sky, and the crash of thunder will shake the Earth to its very core. The ocean will cast its foaming waves over the land, and the Earth will be turned into a huge graveyard. The bodies of the wicked and of the righteous will cover the face of the Earth. The famine that follows will be severe. All plant-life will be destroyed as well as three-fourths of the human race. This crisis will be sudden and the punishment will be world-wide.”
► Desert Times Predicted by St. Gaspar Del Bufalo (19th century), a priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, who prophesied: “The death of the impenitent persecutors of the Church will take place during the three days of darkness. Those who survive the three days of darkness and horror will believe themselves to be alone on the Earth, because the ground will be covered with corpses.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Fr. Bernard Maria Clausi (19th century): “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night… A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Blessed Johannes Amadeus de Sylva, of the 15th century, who prophesied: “In the Latter Days there shall be great wars and bloodshed. Whole provinces shall be left despoiled and uninhabited, and cities deserted by the people.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Josefina Reverdy (19th century): “A part of the Earth is all desert; nothing without the power of God can sustain itself. The more fervent souls will fall into moral anguish. There will be three terrible tempests that will move the mountains and merge together houses and buildings. A third of all men will perish!”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of La Salette (1846), who spoke of the desert-like Earth after God’s chastisement: “And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of Fatima (1917): “Many nations will be annihilated!”
► Desert Times Predicted by Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973): “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Something Must Be Done! Or Else!
All of that seems to indicate that sin is very expensive and that not enough penance is being done! As Our Lady of La Salette pointed out: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” Which brings us back to idea of the Desert Father and Desert Mothers, and the Desert Monastic communities―which, in our day and in our plight, should be a loose blueprint for how we should be approaching things. If the world is being let down by a lack of vocations―then, in some way, the laity in general and the family in particular should be looking to “pick-up the slack”. Our Lady of Good Success warned us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
With the current addiction and absorption with worldliness, it is easy to see why we are in this current political, financial and social mess ― it is because we are in a spiritual mess. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement!” Alas! How true that is! Even among the best Catholics! No wonder They spend way too much time on the trivialities of the world (but they think those trivialities are very important) and way too little time on God and things that pertain to God―prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, Bible reading, refreshing and increasing Catechetical knowledge, learning how to defend and prove the truth of the Faith, etc., etc. The monasteries and convents that Our Lady refers to above―since vocations and numbers of religious have plummeted―should now be founded, so to speak, in the home. No wonder most souls are lost! Sure―“God is charity” (1 John 4:8). Sure―“God is compassionate and merciful!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:13). Sure―“‘As I live’, saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked!’” (Ezechiel 33:11). Sure―“God will have all men to be saved!” (1 Timothy 2:4).
God Created You Without You―But He Will Not Save You Without You!
However, all of that will only happen if we cooperate with God, adore God, pray to God, love God, obey God, put God first in our lives and do penance for our sins. As the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, writes: “God created us without us―but He will not save us without us!” This is a profound quote about our cooperation with God. St. Augustine affirms that God cannot save us without us―because without our cooperation he will not force Himself upon us. As already said, that cooperation requires that we adore God, pray to God, love God, obey God, put God first in our lives and do penance for our sins―as borne-out by these quotes of Our Lord:
“And Jesus answering said to him: ‘It is written: “Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Luke 4:8). “Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice” (Matthew 6:33). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14). “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak!” (Matthew 26:41). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) … “No, I say to you―but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5).
How often are those quotes―and similar quotes―repeated in family life? It should be many times daily―but, in reality, it is almost never! It is not that we do not believe in God―it is just that we have little or even no time for God! There is too much in the world to preoccupy us and entertain us! The following words of God would go down like “lead balloon” in most Catholic families: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). Not quite the most popular quotes among Catholics! Of most of today’s Catholics, Our Lord would say: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word ... He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47). “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
Salvation is on God’s Terms―Not Your Terms!
Just as St. Augustine says: “God created us without us―but He will not save us without us!” Likewise, you could equally say: “God will not save us on our terms―but on His terms!” Holy Scripture loosely echoes this, saying: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Our idea of what it takes to be saved is not God’s idea of what it takes to be saved. The price that we put on an entrance ticket to Heaven is nowhere near the price that God has put on the entrance ticket to Heaven. As Our Lord Himself says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
This is a fundamental reason why most souls are damned, not just pagan or Protestant souls, but also Catholic souls―they do not like the “contract” that God offers for salvation; they do not like the “small print” clauses; they think the price is too high; they do not like hours of work; the work is too demanding and burdensome, etc., etc. So they make up their own “contract” while telling themselves: “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, §10). Our Lord warns against such foolish complacency: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Therefore, “If thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee―cut it off, and cast it from thee! It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire! And if thy eye scandalize thee―pluck it out, and cast it from thee! It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire!” (Matthew 18:8-9).
The Catholic Family Should Be A Religious Family
The principles to be followed for salvation are the same for the laity and for the clergy and religious. The principles for salvation are the same for lay families as they are for religious families or religious communities. Christ did not preach two messages, two Gospels, two ways of getting to Heaven―but only one! Family life should be religious life in infancy, so to speak. One should naturally grow into the other. If that’s how thing would be, then vocations and religious life would be a natural progression and outgrowing of the Catholic family life. If you are a Catholic, then the spirit or soul of your family must also be Catholic. You are part of the Mystical Body of Christ―a cell of the Mystical Body of Christ―and thus your family is an extension and cell of the Universal Church, the Catholic Church. The spirit of Christ and His Church should be seen to reign within each and every Catholic family―any family or cell that does not reflect the spirit of Christ is a diseased cell, a diseased family.
Your family home is therefore called a “domestic church” ― it is the place where your children will receive the first proclamation of the Faith; will first get to know, understand, love and serve Jesus Christ. St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine of Hippo both viewed the family unit as a miniature Church. Augustine called the family a “domestica ecclesia―a domestic church.” He felt that the father could be considered as carrying out the duties of the bishop in his own family. In his letter, Of The Good Of Widowhood, St. Augustine asked to be included in the prayers of the holy woman Juliana, “cum tota domestica vestra ecclesia” ―which means “with all your household church.” St. John Chrysostom, on the other hand, called the family “a micra ecclesia―a little church.” St. Clement of Alexandria called marriage a “micro basileia” ― which means “a little kingdom”. All of them directly developed the idea of a domestic church ― as being an extension and foundation of the Universal Church ― and use that language exactly (in the case of St. Augustine) or approximately (in the case of St. John Chrysostom).
The term “Ecclesia Domestica” (domestic church) was brought forth in order to call the family to be a light for the world. The family is the smallest unit of the Universal Church―the Catholic family is a microcosm of the greater macrocosm which is the Catholic Church. Thus the Catholic family is often referred to as the “domestic church”. The “domestic church” must take as its model “The Church Universal” or the Catholic Church (“Catholic” means “Universal”). The “domestic church” should be a reflection of the Universal Church and an embodiment of Christ’s life and love―as revealed to the world in the Holy Family. The family is the basic cell of both society and the Church, and so it should copy and reproduce Christ’s dealings with the world in thought, word and action. The Church becomes a model for our families and, conversely, model families produce a model Church. If the Church is sinful and sick, it will produce sinful sick families. If the Church is holy and healthy, it will produce holy and healthy families. Yet, there has to be a return or reciprocity also―meaning that holy and healthy family cells will produce a holy and healthy Mystical Body of Christ.
Both St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom compare the father of the family to a bishop and his diocese. In both these Church Fathers you will find references to the unique episcopal-like role of the father as head of the family, who is responsible for its religious education, and who is called to become a Christ-like servant to his family, and thereby serve Christ. In fact, both bishops as heads of dioceses and fathers as heads of families, are microcosms of the macrocosm that is the Pope, who is the head of the Universal Church. St. Paul also makes a connection when he speaks of husbands being obliged to treat their wives (and family) as Christ treated His Bride, the Church:
“Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord―because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Savior of His [Mystical] Body. Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it―so that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing―but that it should be holy, and without blemish!” (Ephesians 5:22-27).
Family Under Attack ― Church Under Attack
Satan hates the Bride of Christ―which is Holy Mother Church. Since the Catholic family is a cell of Holy Mother Church, a building-block out of which Holy Mother Church is built―therefore Satan naturally hates the Catholic family. In fact, not only does Satan hate the Catholic family―he also hates all families, since the family (a union of one man and one woman in order to create children) is a creation of God, and Satan hates all that is of God. Thus, throughout history, Satan has tried to weaken and even destroy the family―but this especially true of our days, for, as Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed, one of the chief focal points of Satan’s attempt to destroy the Church of Christ, is to destroy the family.
This is also corroborated by earlier prophecies of Our Lady “The Sacrament of Matrimony―which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church― will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry―which will then be in power―will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years―during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government―will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan―which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
Don’t Expose Your Family to Disease―Flee and Retreat from Disease
The world is sick! It is sick because its prince―Satan―is also sick! This sick world is making families spiritually and morally sick! In Holy Scripture, we find sickness connected to sin. Jesus Himself links the two together when he says: “They that are well have no need of a physician―but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just―but sinners!” (Mark 2:17). Our Lord indirectly (or you could also say directly) tells the paralytic whom He had just cured at the Pool of Bethsaida: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14) ― in other words, you were sick and paralyzed because of your sins. The Apostles held to the same idea ― “And His disciples asked Him: ‘Rabbi, who hath sinned―this man, or his parents―that he should be born blind?” (John 9:2). In fact, Holy Scripture tells us that disease and death came into the world because of sin: “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Sin is the worst virus in the world! Sin is the greatest evil in the world! The Church teaches that truth in her catechisms: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD) ― yet who really believes that truth and lives by that truth? Very few people indeed!
Yet, not only does sin bring physical death―but it can also bring ‘eternal death’ or damnation, as opposed to eternal life and salvation. It is mortal sin―which is grave and serious sin, but also very easily committed in some cases―which condemns the soul to Hell. This sick world, in which we live, is a merchant, trader and peddler of mortal sin―it specializes in mortal sin and it specializes in coating mortal sin with sugar, or hides mortal sin under the false disguise of being something good, advantageous, profitable or enjoyable. The world is diseased with sin―and if there ever was a disease that should provoke social-distancing, the wearing of masks, of self-isolating or quarantining―then that disease is sin and the carrier of that sin is the world. Hence Holy Scripture clearly warns:
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
The Spirit of the Desert Fathers
The above quotes were part of the foundation of the Desert Fathers and a great motivation to them. They should also be the foundation and motivation for every Catholic family. So many souls are lost and damned because they laid up their treasures on Earth rather than Heaven; they were attached to the world and worldly people and would not “Go out from among them, and be ye separate!” Their heart was focused on loving their treasure―the goods or mammon of this world. They “loved life” in this world, and so lost eternal life in the next world. They were supposed to “be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” but “still acted as though living in the world.” They preferred “the friendship of this world” even though it made them “the enemy of God.” They refused to believe that “If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” Now, after having died, they see and believe―but it is too late!
The Catholic world is fooling itself by thinking they are on the right track! “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Ah, well! You can lead a horse to water―but you can’t make it drink! You can show a soul the truth―but you cannot make it accept that truth! Most did not―most now regret it eternally. In our current situation and plight, it seems that the only wise option, safe option, efficacious option―is to acquire the spirit of the Desert Fathers. If we don’t, then both the world with its prince―Satan―and also God will impose upon us a desert that we could never have imagined! Your life, your call, your choice, your fate!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Feast of the Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord
Wednesday January 13th & Thursday January 14th
Article 8
Baptism of Water, Baptism of Fire and Baptism of Blood!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Feast of the Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord
Wednesday January 13th & Thursday January 14th
Article 8
Baptism of Water, Baptism of Fire and Baptism of Blood!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
More Than One Baptism?
In Holy Scripture, we read of Our Lord being baptized by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan―but then, at a later date, Our Lord still speaks of having to be baptized! Is there, therefore, more than one baptism? Before entering into this, let us first look at the appropriate parts of Holy Scripture that speak of this.
First of all, the initial baptism of Our Lord in the Jordan: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ For this is he, that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘A voice of one crying in the desert: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
“And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: “We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire!’
“Then cometh Jesus, from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him. But John stopped Him, saying: ‘I ought to be baptized by Thee! And comest Thou to me?’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Suffer it to be so now! For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice!’ Then he suffered him. And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from Heaven, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!’” (Matthew 3:1-17).
Yet after that baptism by John in the Jordan, Our Lord still speaks of having to be baptized: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth―and what will I, but that it be kindled? And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized―and how am I straitened until it be accomplished? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided―three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:49-53). That “fire” that Our Lord casts on the Earth, is not just a fire of charity and a fire of zeal, but also the fire of the Holy Ghost―for as Our Lord says at the Last Supper: “I shall go and prepare a place for you … It is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you ... I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever!” (John 14:3, 6; 16:7) and at His ascension into Heaven, Our Lord repeated His promise: “John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). Nine days later, at Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came as promised―in the form of fire: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place―and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4). All the Apostles and disciples had already been baptized by water, now they received their baptism by the Holy Ghost. While baptized by water, the Apostles and disciples caved-in to fear during the Passion and Death of Our Lord―now, baptized by the Holy Ghost, they are no longer afraid but are full of fortitude and go out to face and preach to the Jews.
This second baptism, by increasing their love and fervor and decreasing their fear, would lead them to a third baptism, the baptism of blood―whereby they would willingly and courageously lay down their lives for Christ and the Faith. Our Lord had already said at the Last Supper: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another ... This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 13:34; 15:12-13).
We see Our Lord reference this baptism of blood for Himself, and also promised this baptism of blood to His Apostles who had already been baptized by water, and would later be baptized by the Holy Ghost: “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus, saying: ‘Master! We desire that whatsoever we shall ask, Thou wouldst do it for us!’ But He said to them: ‘What would you that I should do for you?’ And they said: ‘Grant to us, that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in thy glory!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘You know not what you ask! Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of? Or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?’ But they said to Him: ‘We can!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Indeed you shall drink of the chalice that I drink of, and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized. But to sit on My right hand, or on My left, is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared!’” (Mark 10:35-40). The chalice that He was to drink, was to be the chalice of His Blood―shed during His Passion and Death. The baptism that Our Lord speaks of here is a baptism of blood―the blood He would shed during His Passion and Death―and the martyrdom that James and John would undergo in the future. “Jesus Christ is He that came by water and blood―not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6).
A Religion of Love―A Religion of Fire and Blood
There is therefore―as you have seen above―a reference to three baptisms: water, fire and blood. To be baptized by water is a minimum essential―if we wish to go to Heaven―but the baptism of water does not, of itself, guarantee Heaven. As the saints in every age and century tell us―most baptized souls end up being damned, because they did not go beyond the minimum. They are “hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). The U.S. Congress has many Catholics sitting in its ranks, who have voted for abortion and channel government funding into supporting abortion, of them Our Lord would also say: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Today, most Catholics are in favor of abortion, contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages and yet they, like Biden, go to church and pray the Rosary―of them Our Lord would also say: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Why call you Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Such anti-Christian and hypocritically Christian attitudes led Our Lord to say that few souls end up being saved: “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
What would Our Lord say today? What chance of salvation have Catholics with attitudes such as those mentioned above? “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Eternal Optimists―Eternal Fools
Yet there are many who refuse to accept and believe those words―they are the eternally optimists, the eternal fools who are adequately described by St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, a description that perfectly fits most folk today:
“Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the tumult of the world, or men do not have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, §7 to §10).
One such eternal optimist and eternal fool―who changed his foolish and optimistic opinions when he encountered Sister Lucia of Fatima in 1954―was Father Lombardi. The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Similarly, many foolish and optimistic Catholics today have not the slightest doubt that they are guaranteed to go to Heaven! “God is love!” they say. “God is infinitely merciful!” they chime. “God just loves to forgive and forget!” they boast. All of which is true―but it is unlikely to be true in the case of presumptuous sinners, who presume on God’s mercy. Presumption is a SIN, not a virtue!
Sure, God is loving, merciful and forgiving―there are numerous passages of Holy Scripture that attest to those truths. Yet there are also numerous passages of Holy Scripture that also attest to God’s hatred of sin, God’s anger, God’s justice and God’s punishments! Are those parts of Holy Scripture “fake news”?
The Mercy of God is the Greatest of His Works
Holy Scripture tells us that mercy is the greatest of all God’s works: “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Elsewhere we read: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Our Lord even said of Himself: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), elsewhere adding: “Go then and learn what this meaneth ― ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). He further states: “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) … “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15) and “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13).
Even in Private Revelations, Our Lord stresses mercy:
● “Ah! If only they [souls] knew My Heart ... mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness―that is My greatest sorrow!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 82).
● “Remember, Consolata, that I am kind; do not distort this fact! You see, the world likes to represent sanctity by pictures of austerities, flagellations, chains ... But it is not like that. If sacrifice and penance do enter into the life of a saint, they are not on that account the whole of his life. The saint, or the soul who gives herself to Me with generosity, is the most fortunate being on Earth―for I am kind, altogether kind!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 74).
● “Do not make Me out a God of rigor―whereas I am nothing but a God of Love!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36).
● “Write ― ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’ ― for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36).
● “I am all love, and how, then, could I treat severely those I so love?” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 201).
● “Do you not know, Josefa, that the more wretched souls are, the more I love them!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 201).
● “A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so―to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy―My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me! On the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p.40-41).
● “A soul will profit even after the greatest sins, if she humbles herself. I will raise up the humble, and make little of their frailties, and even of their falls, provided they have humility and love. It is pride that provokes My Father’s wrath, and it is loathed by Him with infinite hatred!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 104).
● “With ruins, on ruins, I can build magnificently! It gives Me joy to use that which has humbled itself before Me, because My action is free” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 278).
● “It is with coal that I make diamonds. What would I not do with a soul, however black she might be, who would give herself to Me!” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 559).
● “No soul will enter My paradise without having forgiven at least once” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 309).
● “Never does My Heart refuse to forgive a soul that humbles itself, especially when it asks with confidence.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 91).
● “My Heart takes comfort in forgiving. I have no greater desire, no greater joy, than when I can pardon a soul. When a soul returns to Me after a fall, the comfort she gives Me is a gain for her, for I regard her with very great love.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 94).
● “I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 136).
● “I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 174).
● “My Heart is not so much wounded by sin, as torn with grief that they will not take refuge with Me after it.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 188).
● “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
The Mercy of God is the Greatest of His Works―the Abuse of that Mercy is one of the Greatest Sins!
Those last words of Our Lord are the haunting ones―“Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” They are lost because they have abused the mercy of God. They are also lost because we do not pray for them―which is the sad message of Our Lady of Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” In 1973, Our Lady adds: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
The world in general―and Catholics in particular―have abused the mercy of God and “Be not deceived―God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). As Sister Lucia of Fatima warned: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You cannot have the mercy of God without His justice being attached to it. Neither can you experience the justice of God without mercy being attached to it. Even the damned souls in Hell are experiencing both the justice and mercy of God―even though they are being justly punished eternally by God’s justice, nobody is being punished as much as they really deserve, because of God’s mercy being shown to them in some degree, even though they have abused God’s mercy.
Reaching Heaven Through Water, Fire and Blood!
If the vast majority of souls finds itself lost and damned, then the fault obviously is to found on the side of mankind and not on the side of God ― to blame God for their damnation would be blasphemous. Christ came to save souls, not to damn souls. If souls are damned, it is because they have deliberately chosen to ignore the commands and counsels of Christ. If, as a tourist, you choose to ignore the advice of not going into certain dangerous areas of a city, and, as a consequence, you are attacked and killed―then it is entirely your own fault for ignoring wise advice. If you choose to ignore a road sign that indicates that a particular road is a “one-way-street” and you crash your car into oncoming traffic―then it is entirely your own fault that you are killed or injured. God has given us more than enough warnings and signs about the dangers to be encountered on the road to Heaven―we ignore them at our own peril!
The only sure way of reaching Heaven is by passing through and “graduating” in the three schools, or levels, or spiritual “baptisms”. Yes, we enter the race for Heaven through the gates of the Sacrament of Baptism―baptism by water―but we are only beginners with little or no experience of the combat and struggle that lays ahead. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation―if we prepared well and received it sincerely and not merely automatically or routinely―we received a second “baptism” of sorts―a baptism of fire or the Holy Ghost: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fires of Thy love!” In theory―if we don’t mess it up in practice―through the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are raised up from the low rank of beginner to the rank of a soldier―a Soldier for Christ. The notion of fire is easy to associate with soldiering―firing guns, gunfire, under the fire of the enemy, caught in cross-fire, etc. Fire also denotes fervor―we speak of burning with love, of our hearts being on fire, etc. Yet there is an even higher level of baptism than merely water or fire―it is the level that guarantees Heaven―it is the level of martyrdom or shedding your blood for Christ and the Faith.
Our Age will be an Age of Martyrdom
Our Lady has spoken of the martyrdoms of our age on several occasions. “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The good will be martyred” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Not all the faithful who suffer for Christ also die for Christ. Opposition to the Christian Faith and way of life does not always end in violent death for the persecuted victims. Consequently, it is well to distinguish between what may be called martyrdom of blood and martyrdom of opposition, which is bloodless indeed, but no less―and sometimes more―painful to endure. Not all the victims of persecution die at the hands of a godless government. Millions more are ostensibly free to walk the streets and live in a home. Yet they are, in effect, deprived of every human liberty to practice their religion and to serve Christ according to their Faith. If they teach their children catechism, the parents are prevented from enjoying such privileges as decent living quarters, or having any kind of skilled job. If they are seen attending church, they are first warned, then threatened, and finally penalized―even to the loss of their possessions.
Call it an “unbloody martyrdom”. But have no doubt that to live an authentic Catholic life in America today, is to live a martyr’s life—or, at least, to enter the beginning of a prolonged martyrdom, where the ‘civilized’ torture—and at times not so civilized torture—will get progressively worse from here on in.
Our Lady of Good Success warns of these times as she paints a painful picture of the days to come: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Against them the impious will rage a cruel war, overwhelming them with abuse, calumnies and vexations in order to stop them from fulfilling their ministry … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, Catholics will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast … they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with the Sacrament of Matrimony, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The years that will follow, which will be ill-fated ones for the Church ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! … Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Heroism is Required
Only heroic bishops and heroic priests, heroic religious, heroic fathers and mothers, heroic faithful, will survive the massive persecution of the Catholic Church in our country today. We call ourselves the Land of Liberty. But the only liberty that is given freedom is the liberty to do your own will. Pro-choice is not just a clever phrase. It is the hallmark of a culture in which millions have chosen to do what they want and make life humanly impossible for those who choose to do what God wants.
Given the widespread culture of death and plague of untruth in our day, is it any wonder that the followers of Christ must pay dearly for their loyalty to the Master, who identified Himself as the Life and the Truth? You do not remain faithful to the Savior without paying for it. This has been the story of Christianity since the first Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified by His enemies. Why did they crucify Him? Because He taught that we were made for a life that will never end, and because He would not compromise on the Truth which He had received from His Father. This has been the verdict of Christian history ever since, and will remain the same until the end of time. Those who want to remain loyal to Jesus Christ must expect to suffer for their witness to Incarnate Life and Truth. Another name for this suffering witness is martyrdom.
The best description of martyrdom was given by Christ Himself, just before He ascended into Heaven. He said to them: “You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the Earth” (Acts 1:8). Here we have encapsulized, in one sentence, the motivating power of martyrdom, its nature, and its apostolic purpose.
Towards the end of His life on Earth, Jesus described in quite striking terms what “witnessing” to Him could entail: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake. The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:21-22; 24:9). The defining factor is “for My Name’s sake”! We live for Christ’s sake; we suffer for Christ’s sake; we die or are put to death for Christ’s sake.
“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you” (John 15:18). Today, the world has, for the most part, rejected Christ. It is now but a small step from rejecting and eliminating those who profess to follow Christ. We are in the age of the “Minor Apostasy”. Many Catholics, when threatened, will abandon their Faith―which Our Lord indicated when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) and which Our Lady confirms: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette) … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
We need to pray to the Queen of Martyrs and the Apostle martyrs for the strength to witness for Christ in that crucial moment. “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
In Holy Scripture, we read of Our Lord being baptized by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan―but then, at a later date, Our Lord still speaks of having to be baptized! Is there, therefore, more than one baptism? Before entering into this, let us first look at the appropriate parts of Holy Scripture that speak of this.
First of all, the initial baptism of Our Lord in the Jordan: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ For this is he, that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘A voice of one crying in the desert: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
“And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: “We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire!’
“Then cometh Jesus, from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him. But John stopped Him, saying: ‘I ought to be baptized by Thee! And comest Thou to me?’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Suffer it to be so now! For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice!’ Then he suffered him. And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from Heaven, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!’” (Matthew 3:1-17).
Yet after that baptism by John in the Jordan, Our Lord still speaks of having to be baptized: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth―and what will I, but that it be kindled? And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized―and how am I straitened until it be accomplished? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided―three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:49-53). That “fire” that Our Lord casts on the Earth, is not just a fire of charity and a fire of zeal, but also the fire of the Holy Ghost―for as Our Lord says at the Last Supper: “I shall go and prepare a place for you … It is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you ... I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever!” (John 14:3, 6; 16:7) and at His ascension into Heaven, Our Lord repeated His promise: “John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). Nine days later, at Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came as promised―in the form of fire: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place―and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4). All the Apostles and disciples had already been baptized by water, now they received their baptism by the Holy Ghost. While baptized by water, the Apostles and disciples caved-in to fear during the Passion and Death of Our Lord―now, baptized by the Holy Ghost, they are no longer afraid but are full of fortitude and go out to face and preach to the Jews.
This second baptism, by increasing their love and fervor and decreasing their fear, would lead them to a third baptism, the baptism of blood―whereby they would willingly and courageously lay down their lives for Christ and the Faith. Our Lord had already said at the Last Supper: “A new commandment I give unto you―that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another ... This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 13:34; 15:12-13).
We see Our Lord reference this baptism of blood for Himself, and also promised this baptism of blood to His Apostles who had already been baptized by water, and would later be baptized by the Holy Ghost: “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus, saying: ‘Master! We desire that whatsoever we shall ask, Thou wouldst do it for us!’ But He said to them: ‘What would you that I should do for you?’ And they said: ‘Grant to us, that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in thy glory!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘You know not what you ask! Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of? Or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?’ But they said to Him: ‘We can!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Indeed you shall drink of the chalice that I drink of, and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized. But to sit on My right hand, or on My left, is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared!’” (Mark 10:35-40). The chalice that He was to drink, was to be the chalice of His Blood―shed during His Passion and Death. The baptism that Our Lord speaks of here is a baptism of blood―the blood He would shed during His Passion and Death―and the martyrdom that James and John would undergo in the future. “Jesus Christ is He that came by water and blood―not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6).
A Religion of Love―A Religion of Fire and Blood
There is therefore―as you have seen above―a reference to three baptisms: water, fire and blood. To be baptized by water is a minimum essential―if we wish to go to Heaven―but the baptism of water does not, of itself, guarantee Heaven. As the saints in every age and century tell us―most baptized souls end up being damned, because they did not go beyond the minimum. They are “hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). The U.S. Congress has many Catholics sitting in its ranks, who have voted for abortion and channel government funding into supporting abortion, of them Our Lord would also say: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Today, most Catholics are in favor of abortion, contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages and yet they, like Biden, go to church and pray the Rosary―of them Our Lord would also say: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Why call you Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Such anti-Christian and hypocritically Christian attitudes led Our Lord to say that few souls end up being saved: “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
What would Our Lord say today? What chance of salvation have Catholics with attitudes such as those mentioned above? “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Eternal Optimists―Eternal Fools
Yet there are many who refuse to accept and believe those words―they are the eternally optimists, the eternal fools who are adequately described by St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, a description that perfectly fits most folk today:
“Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is only a handful of people who follow Him, but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard above the tumult of the world, or men do not have the courage to follow Him in poverty, suffering, humiliation and in the other crosses His servants must bear all the days of their life. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,” they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, §7 to §10).
One such eternal optimist and eternal fool―who changed his foolish and optimistic opinions when he encountered Sister Lucia of Fatima in 1954―was Father Lombardi. The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Similarly, many foolish and optimistic Catholics today have not the slightest doubt that they are guaranteed to go to Heaven! “God is love!” they say. “God is infinitely merciful!” they chime. “God just loves to forgive and forget!” they boast. All of which is true―but it is unlikely to be true in the case of presumptuous sinners, who presume on God’s mercy. Presumption is a SIN, not a virtue!
Sure, God is loving, merciful and forgiving―there are numerous passages of Holy Scripture that attest to those truths. Yet there are also numerous passages of Holy Scripture that also attest to God’s hatred of sin, God’s anger, God’s justice and God’s punishments! Are those parts of Holy Scripture “fake news”?
The Mercy of God is the Greatest of His Works
Holy Scripture tells us that mercy is the greatest of all God’s works: “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Elsewhere we read: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Our Lord even said of Himself: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), elsewhere adding: “Go then and learn what this meaneth ― ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). He further states: “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) … “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15) and “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13).
Even in Private Revelations, Our Lord stresses mercy:
● “Ah! If only they [souls] knew My Heart ... mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness―that is My greatest sorrow!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 82).
● “Remember, Consolata, that I am kind; do not distort this fact! You see, the world likes to represent sanctity by pictures of austerities, flagellations, chains ... But it is not like that. If sacrifice and penance do enter into the life of a saint, they are not on that account the whole of his life. The saint, or the soul who gives herself to Me with generosity, is the most fortunate being on Earth―for I am kind, altogether kind!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 74).
● “Do not make Me out a God of rigor―whereas I am nothing but a God of Love!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36).
● “Write ― ‘The Gentle Heart of Jesus’ ― for everyone knows that I am holy, but not all know that I am gentle!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p. 36).
● “I am all love, and how, then, could I treat severely those I so love?” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 201).
● “Do you not know, Josefa, that the more wretched souls are, the more I love them!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 201).
● “A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so―to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy―My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me! On the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful!” (Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Jesus Appeals to the World, by Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C., p.40-41).
● “A soul will profit even after the greatest sins, if she humbles herself. I will raise up the humble, and make little of their frailties, and even of their falls, provided they have humility and love. It is pride that provokes My Father’s wrath, and it is loathed by Him with infinite hatred!” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 104).
● “With ruins, on ruins, I can build magnificently! It gives Me joy to use that which has humbled itself before Me, because My action is free” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 278).
● “It is with coal that I make diamonds. What would I not do with a soul, however black she might be, who would give herself to Me!” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 559).
● “No soul will enter My paradise without having forgiven at least once” (Jesus to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Silvere Van Den Broek, O.F.M., no. 309).
● “Never does My Heart refuse to forgive a soul that humbles itself, especially when it asks with confidence.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 91).
● “My Heart takes comfort in forgiving. I have no greater desire, no greater joy, than when I can pardon a soul. When a soul returns to Me after a fall, the comfort she gives Me is a gain for her, for I regard her with very great love.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 94).
● “I am consumed with desire to pardon.... Yes, to pardon these dear souls for whom I shed My Blood.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 136).
● “I will make known that the measure of My love and mercy for fallen souls is limitless. I want to forgive them. It rests Me to forgive.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 174).
● “My Heart is not so much wounded by sin, as torn with grief that they will not take refuge with Me after it.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 188).
● “Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” (Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 237).
The Mercy of God is the Greatest of His Works―the Abuse of that Mercy is one of the Greatest Sins!
Those last words of Our Lord are the haunting ones―“Poor sinners, how blind they are! I want only to forgive them, and they seek only to offend Me. That is My great sorrow; that so many are lost and that they do not all come to Me to be forgiven.” They are lost because they have abused the mercy of God. They are also lost because we do not pray for them―which is the sad message of Our Lady of Fatima: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” In 1973, Our Lady adds: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
The world in general―and Catholics in particular―have abused the mercy of God and “Be not deceived―God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). As Sister Lucia of Fatima warned: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
You cannot have the mercy of God without His justice being attached to it. Neither can you experience the justice of God without mercy being attached to it. Even the damned souls in Hell are experiencing both the justice and mercy of God―even though they are being justly punished eternally by God’s justice, nobody is being punished as much as they really deserve, because of God’s mercy being shown to them in some degree, even though they have abused God’s mercy.
Reaching Heaven Through Water, Fire and Blood!
If the vast majority of souls finds itself lost and damned, then the fault obviously is to found on the side of mankind and not on the side of God ― to blame God for their damnation would be blasphemous. Christ came to save souls, not to damn souls. If souls are damned, it is because they have deliberately chosen to ignore the commands and counsels of Christ. If, as a tourist, you choose to ignore the advice of not going into certain dangerous areas of a city, and, as a consequence, you are attacked and killed―then it is entirely your own fault for ignoring wise advice. If you choose to ignore a road sign that indicates that a particular road is a “one-way-street” and you crash your car into oncoming traffic―then it is entirely your own fault that you are killed or injured. God has given us more than enough warnings and signs about the dangers to be encountered on the road to Heaven―we ignore them at our own peril!
The only sure way of reaching Heaven is by passing through and “graduating” in the three schools, or levels, or spiritual “baptisms”. Yes, we enter the race for Heaven through the gates of the Sacrament of Baptism―baptism by water―but we are only beginners with little or no experience of the combat and struggle that lays ahead. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation―if we prepared well and received it sincerely and not merely automatically or routinely―we received a second “baptism” of sorts―a baptism of fire or the Holy Ghost: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fires of Thy love!” In theory―if we don’t mess it up in practice―through the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are raised up from the low rank of beginner to the rank of a soldier―a Soldier for Christ. The notion of fire is easy to associate with soldiering―firing guns, gunfire, under the fire of the enemy, caught in cross-fire, etc. Fire also denotes fervor―we speak of burning with love, of our hearts being on fire, etc. Yet there is an even higher level of baptism than merely water or fire―it is the level that guarantees Heaven―it is the level of martyrdom or shedding your blood for Christ and the Faith.
Our Age will be an Age of Martyrdom
Our Lady has spoken of the martyrdoms of our age on several occasions. “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The good will be martyred” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Not all the faithful who suffer for Christ also die for Christ. Opposition to the Christian Faith and way of life does not always end in violent death for the persecuted victims. Consequently, it is well to distinguish between what may be called martyrdom of blood and martyrdom of opposition, which is bloodless indeed, but no less―and sometimes more―painful to endure. Not all the victims of persecution die at the hands of a godless government. Millions more are ostensibly free to walk the streets and live in a home. Yet they are, in effect, deprived of every human liberty to practice their religion and to serve Christ according to their Faith. If they teach their children catechism, the parents are prevented from enjoying such privileges as decent living quarters, or having any kind of skilled job. If they are seen attending church, they are first warned, then threatened, and finally penalized―even to the loss of their possessions.
Call it an “unbloody martyrdom”. But have no doubt that to live an authentic Catholic life in America today, is to live a martyr’s life—or, at least, to enter the beginning of a prolonged martyrdom, where the ‘civilized’ torture—and at times not so civilized torture—will get progressively worse from here on in.
Our Lady of Good Success warns of these times as she paints a painful picture of the days to come: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Against them the impious will rage a cruel war, overwhelming them with abuse, calumnies and vexations in order to stop them from fulfilling their ministry … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, Catholics will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast … they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with the Sacrament of Matrimony, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The years that will follow, which will be ill-fated ones for the Church ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! … Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Heroism is Required
Only heroic bishops and heroic priests, heroic religious, heroic fathers and mothers, heroic faithful, will survive the massive persecution of the Catholic Church in our country today. We call ourselves the Land of Liberty. But the only liberty that is given freedom is the liberty to do your own will. Pro-choice is not just a clever phrase. It is the hallmark of a culture in which millions have chosen to do what they want and make life humanly impossible for those who choose to do what God wants.
Given the widespread culture of death and plague of untruth in our day, is it any wonder that the followers of Christ must pay dearly for their loyalty to the Master, who identified Himself as the Life and the Truth? You do not remain faithful to the Savior without paying for it. This has been the story of Christianity since the first Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified by His enemies. Why did they crucify Him? Because He taught that we were made for a life that will never end, and because He would not compromise on the Truth which He had received from His Father. This has been the verdict of Christian history ever since, and will remain the same until the end of time. Those who want to remain loyal to Jesus Christ must expect to suffer for their witness to Incarnate Life and Truth. Another name for this suffering witness is martyrdom.
The best description of martyrdom was given by Christ Himself, just before He ascended into Heaven. He said to them: “You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the Earth” (Acts 1:8). Here we have encapsulized, in one sentence, the motivating power of martyrdom, its nature, and its apostolic purpose.
Towards the end of His life on Earth, Jesus described in quite striking terms what “witnessing” to Him could entail: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name's sake. The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:21-22; 24:9). The defining factor is “for My Name’s sake”! We live for Christ’s sake; we suffer for Christ’s sake; we die or are put to death for Christ’s sake.
“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you” (John 15:18). Today, the world has, for the most part, rejected Christ. It is now but a small step from rejecting and eliminating those who profess to follow Christ. We are in the age of the “Minor Apostasy”. Many Catholics, when threatened, will abandon their Faith―which Our Lord indicated when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) and which Our Lady confirms: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth!” (Our Lady of La Salette) … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
We need to pray to the Queen of Martyrs and the Apostle martyrs for the strength to witness for Christ in that crucial moment. “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Feast of the Holy Family
Sunday January 10th to Tuesday January 12th
Article 7
Holy Families Under Attack!
Feast of the Holy Family
Sunday January 10th to Tuesday January 12th
Article 7
Holy Families Under Attack!
Heaven’s Warning!
Already in the 17th century, Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our days, warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially shortly after the middle of the 20th century … the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and deeply profaned. Freemasonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin and encouraging procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … In this supreme moment of need for the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent.”
St. Jacinta Marto ― one of the three seers of Fatima ― revealed she had been told that “Many marriages are not good. They do not please Our Lord and are not of God!”
Sister Lucia dos Santos ― another of the three seers at Fatima ― revealed that Our Lady had told her that we are entering into what she called a “final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “Father, she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. In a later letter, she writes that “A time will come when the decisive battle between the Kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.”
Essential Building Block of Church and Society
The family is the essential building block of society―even the secular world agrees on this. Even the United Nations recognizes the importance of families―as it says on its website: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society … As basic and essential building blocks of societies, families have a crucial role.”
William Bennett, a former United States secretary of education and author of books on education and the family, writes back in 2012: “I am the product of divorce and several stepfathers, but I still believe in the importance of the traditional family … The family is the nucleus of civilization and the basic social unit of society. Aristotle wrote that the family is nature’s established association for the supply of mankind’s everyday wants. Research clearly shows that the institution of the family is the first form of community and government … For a civilization to succeed, the family must succeed, and right now, it’s not. Today, more than half of all births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage, and the out of wedlock birth rate in the United States has passed 40 percent. When Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about this trend in his 1965 Moynihan Report, about 25 percent of black children were born outside of marriage. Today, the illegitimacy rate for black children is more than 70 percent. In 1995, when asked what was the biggest change he had seen during his 40-year political career, Moynihan responded: ‘The biggest change, in my judgment, is that the family structure has come apart all over the North Atlantic world.’ Republicans are talking about family values because they see the family breaking down in front of them. This talk isn’t just happy, wishful thinking; this isn’t nostalgia; this is reality. If we have stronger families we will have stronger schools, stronger churches, and stronger communities with less poverty and less crime. The family is the linchpin of society, both economically and socially.”
It should be fairly evident―to anyone still retaining some common sense―that the Church is collapsing, morality is collapsing, the culture of society is collapsing, patriotism is collapsing, fidelity and loyalty is collapsing, the love of the common good is collapsing―all of this is down to a general collapse in the fiber and principles of today’s families.
Health and Family
There are two chief things that we take for granted―besides God―and those two things are our health and our family. Yes―there are some people who take their health and family (and even God) seriously, but the number of them are few are far between. We can clearly see the truth of that statement by the following facts:
► HEALTH ― Almost half of American adults are in the obese category (the U.S. adult obesity rate stands at 43% ― and is growing bigger, if you pardon the pun, with every year). Forty-four percent of all Americans take at least 1 prescription medication, and 17% take 3 or more medications. As regards persons aged 65 and older, 82% (around 5 out of 6) take at least 1 medication, and almost 50% of those aged 65 years and older take 3 medications or more. You don’t take medications or prescription drugs if you are healthy, do you? How many people are affected by chronic diseases? The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) say that almost 60% of the U.S. adult population have a chronic disease― meaning an incurable, or ongoing, long-term disease. Numbers from other researchers say that approximately 133 million adult Americans out of an adult population of around 256 million, have a chronic disease―representing more than 52% of the total population of this country―and that 40% (4 in 10) American adults have 3 or more chronic diseases.
► FAMILY ― This physical or mental ill-health of the majority of Americans is also reflected in the ill-health or dysfunction of most families. Recent estimates show that about 40% of births (4 out of 10) in the United States take place outside of marriage―which is showing a constant increase, up from 28% in 1990―and the increasing number of unmarried parents is widely accepted nowadays. As regards divorce―around 800,000 divorces took place in the U.S. in 2020. Additionally, surveys show that just 14% of American adults say they are very happy, which is a massive drop down from the 31% who said the same in 2018. COVID-19 with its lockdowns, quarantines and self-isolation has dramatically increased the rates of divorce and suicide. The mix of contraception and abortion keep the average American family size at just 3 members―and that number of 3 includes the two parents! In America, the abortion totals have varied each year from just under 800,000 per year to over 1,600,000 (1.6 million) per year. Abortion would be the number one cause of death if counted. In 2017 there were more abortions (862,300) than deaths due to heart disease (647,457) or cancer (599,108) in the United States. There are more abortions performed every year in America (around 700,000 to 800,000) than combat deaths in ALL American wars from 1775-2019 (total of 656,482 deaths). The faked and inflated COVID-19 U.S. death rates ― deceitfully said to be around 385,000 ― are only about half the death rate caused by abortion! Yet all the hullaballoo is about the over-inflated, misrepresented, faked death certificated COVID cases! What a scandalous, criminal, callous dismissal of reality! How can a family be said to be healthy if it preventing births or murdering those babies who manage to make it past the contraceptive filter? Add to this unhealthy family situation the fact that two in three Americans (67%) say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid. U.S. Democrats (83%) have consistently been one of the most likely groups to favor same-sex marriage, while Republican acceptance of same sex marriage has always been between 44% and 49%. Is it any wonder or a surprise that surveys show people in the U.S. to be more unhappy today than they have been in nearly 50 years.
Sinful Families Create Moral Sickness and Death
Such sinful ‘family’ life cannot draw the approval and blessing of Heaven―it is absolutely impossible. Holy Scripture is loaded with that proof: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “As I live, saith the Lord God, … all souls are mine … The soul that sinneth, the same shall die. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice, … he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. … If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live … But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered!” (Ezechiel 18:3-5, 18:9, 18:21-24).
Sinful Nations Come From Sinful Families
You have no doubt heard of the proverb: “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter!” ― which is actually based on the words of God in Holy Scripture: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44). This can also be applied―forwards and in reverse―to the relation between families and nations: “As the families are, so also are the nation!” or, in reverse, “As the nation is, so also are the families!” If the nation is godless, then that increases the likelihood of the nation’s families being godless too. Conversely, since a nation is made up of families, then the nation will reflect the attitude of the majority of the families.
Our Lord simply puts it this way: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20). He then immediately adds: “Not everyone that saith to Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words and does them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Well―the rain, the floods and the winds are starting to come! No matter where you live in the world―there seems to be no escape hatch for the moment. As Our Lady warned us through Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism (or give it any name or alias that you want) will take over the ENTIRE world. Is our ‘house’ built on rock or sand? Is it built upon the immoveable rock of God, or shifting sands of worldliness? Most people―even most Catholics for that matter―have been building on the shifting sands of worldliness.
► 1600s: OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS warned: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls and the Christian spirit will rapidly decay, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► 1846: OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE echoes her messages as Our Lady of Good Success: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride … The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Blood will flow on all sides ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes ... Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
► 1917: OUR LADY OF FATIMA ― Hmm! In the years that followed, maybe God change His mind and decided not to chastise us after all! Our Lady of Fatima, in 1917, dispels such delusions and illusions: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way” (to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sister Lucia also said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance ― in July 1917 ― but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27). To Fr. Fuentes, Sister Lucia said: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!”
► 1956: OUR LADY to Blessed Elena Aiello ― You might think that with time God would “soften-up” and not take such a “hard-stance” with us! Yet we have not “softened-up” towards God and continue to bombard him millions and billions of sins, offences, blasphemies, sacrileges and outrages each and every day! As Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
► 1973: OUR LADY OF AKITA ― Whether we like it or not, Our Lady refuses to “change her tune”. The message is the same, the warnings are the same, the threatened consequences are the same―and our sinfulness is still the same, even increasing! She says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
► 1980: POPE JOHN PAUL II ― Concerning a conference by Pope John Paul II, given during his papal visit to Fulda, Germany, it was reported in the German magazine, Stimme des Glaubens (Voice of Faith) in 1981, that the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication ― so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that ― from one moment to the next ― millions of people will perish, then truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired! Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Is There a Way Out?
Sure, there is a way out―but at what cost? If you neglect the maintenance of your house, you will end up paying “big-time” in the end. Home maintenance is the unglamorous, but necessary side of home ownership. If you don’t maintain your home, it won’t remain the beautiful place you love. Some people are guilty of ignoring a problem until there is water coming through the ceiling of their living room. “Out of sight, out of mind!” is the motto many live by. Yet if something out of sight ― like a dead battery sump pump ― goes unnoticed, it can quickly become a “big deal” in an emergency — and your basement floods. For most people, Our Lady is “Out of sight, out of mind!” She has repeatedly told us be busy with “Church maintenance” ― praying for the Church, praying for the pope, bishops and priests, praying for the conversion of sinners, etc. Yet we fail to do ― or do very little ― Church maintenance! Procrastination is a hardening of the oughteries! We say we will get round to it someday ― but someday is not a day of the week!
Yes ― ultimately Our Lady will triumph and Satan will be defeated; Heaven will defeat Hell; the Church will be victorious over the world; good will triumph over evil ― but, once again it must be asked, “At what cost?” How expensive will our neglect in the matter have been? As St. Augustine says: “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised a tomorrow for your procrastination.” Sure ― Our Lady will triumph ― but will you be a part of that triumph, or will you be condemned for having procrastinated and having been guilty of neglect in doing your duty, or even going AWOL (absent without leave) as a Soldier of Christ? “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48).
At Quito, Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … Humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny” (Our Lady of Good Success). It is the promise later echoed by Our Lady at Fatima in 1917: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
As, Sister Lucia told Fr. Joachim Maria Alonso, the official historian of Fatima, in a little known response: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears”
Even though all prophecies are “conditional” ― meaning that “if you do this, then that will not happen” or “if you do not do that, then this will happen” ― it is hard to see how on earth we are going to avoid all that has been prophesied for our days and times. Let’s face it ― we are not exactly doing what we have been told to do in order to avoid what has been threatened. Our Lady has called for MUCH prayer ― yet we only throw her some ‘scraps.
Our Lady of Akita said: “Prayer is necessary ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita).
At Fatima, when Our Lady was asked by Lucia if Francisco would go to Heaven, Our Lady replied that he would go to Heaven, “but he must say many Rosaries.” All throughout her Fatima apparitions she insisted upon the Rosary being prayed: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war” (May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … I want you to pray the Rosary every day” (June 1917). “I want you to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you” (July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day” (August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war” (September 1917). “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Our Lady of Good Success also emphasized the power of prayer to bring about massive changes in the world: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Pitiful Prayer & Puny Penances
If the world finds itself in the grip of Satan today, it is predominantly down to a neglect or insufficiency of PRAYER & PENANCE. As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our response to Our Lady’s requests (commands?) has not been very good or edifying! Instead of praying MORE AND MORE ― as Our Lady requested ― we pray LESS AND LESS. Our Lord, in Holy Scripture, “spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Elsewhere, Scripture adds: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Instead ― we play without ceasing!
In addition to this power of prayer, Our Lord also spoke of the power of penance: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
This idea of “sowing” and “reaping” brings us back the proverb: “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter!” ― based on Holy Scripture’s: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44) ― which can be expanded to: “Like family, like nation” or “As the families are, so also are the nation!” or, in reverse, “As the nation is, so also are the families!” A lot of sin ― or even most sins ― begin in the family. You could say that “Sin is sown by bad example” or that a child gets the “DNA of Sin” primarily from its parents, and secondarily from its siblings. Sin is a far more dangerous than any other known virus or disease and its consequences can be eternal ― and like Original Sin with its wounds, scars and tendencies is “sown” and passed-down from our First Parents, Adam and Eve ― likewise is that tendency to sin and examples of sin further “sown” and passed-down by all parents to their children.
Passing the Buck for Failure and Sin
Most families ― or more precisely, most parents ― will try to “pass the buck” as did Adam and Eve. Isn’t it strange that nothing is ever our fault ― there is always somebody else or something else that we can point the finger at! Parents will often try to point the finger at the Church or priest, school or teacher for the failures and sins of their children. Isn’t it strange how everyone’s child is automatically a “good boy” or “good girl” ― as in: “My Johnny is a good boy and would never do or say anything like that!” etc. Adam puts the blame on Eve for the Original Sin ― “Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’” Eve, for her part, blamed the serpent: “The Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:12-13) ― and so the story goes on the same old way, generation after generation, down to our own day ― why take the blame when you can easily blame someone or something else? So parents blame the Church, or the school, or this priest, or that teacher, or some neighbor, or society, etc.
As the Church teaches, parents are the primary educators of their children ― and that education includes teaching them about virtue and sin. On the topic of sin, how many parents ― or even priests and teachers for that matter ― but, hey, that is passing the buck, isn’t it? ― actually teach their children what the Church teaches: that sin is the greatest evil in the world? “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). If that truth is not drilled-home at a very early age, then sin will easily become second-nature to the child―even something amusing or funny, to be treated lightly or with indifference! Worse still―if the parents are habitually and indifferently sinning “left-right-and-center”, then the virus of sin is well and truly passed-on and the child is well and truly infected.
We Have Lost the True Sense of Sin
If one has to be honest and objective, then it has to be said that most parents communicate a comfortableness with sin to their children ― obviously not with regard to all sins, but some sins. Yet that is enough to weaken any resistance on the part of the child’s God-given spiritual immune system. Each family, each household, each parent has their own “pet sins” ― the sins that they have made peace with, that they are comfortable with, that they commit with a sense of impunity as though those sins were necessary or unavoidable. The child takes notice of this and copies this behavior in its own life.
How many parents have even read ― let alone repeated to their children ― the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima on our being entrenched or fixed in our pet sins: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to also tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.” (Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet it is because of sin that we find ourselves in our present mess, with the noose ever tightening around our necks: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette). As Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
All of this is compounded and confirmed by the comments of recent popes ― both Traditional, as well as the Liberals and Modernists ― that we have “lost the sense of sin”! In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil ― because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The Virus of Sin Destroys
Like a spiritual cancer, sin eats away at and destroys the fiber of families, the spine of society and the nobility of nations. “He that committeth sin, is of the devil―for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15).
In a concrete way, we see sin bring death to the entire world in the time of Noe: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times. It repented him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noe found grace before the Lord ... And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-13).
Another concrete example is sin bring about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire, from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth” (Genesis 19:24-25).
The same fate fell upon the Twelve Tribes of the Kingdom of Israel: “And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with things that were not right … and they did wicked things, provoking the Lord. And they worshiped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing. And the Lord testified to them in Israel and in Juda, by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: ‘Return from your wicked ways, and keep My precepts, and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and as I have sent to you in the hand of My servants the prophets! And they listened not, but hardened their necks like the necks of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God. And they rejected His ordinances and the covenant that He made with their fathers, and the testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanities, and acted vainly. And they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord their God and made to themselves two molten calves, and they served Baal. And consecrated their sons, and their daughters through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and sooth-sayings; and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke Him. And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda. But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord their God―but they walked in the [same] errors of Israel, which they had wrought. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till He cast them away from His face” (4 Kings 17:9-20).
Hence the God-sent punishment of the so-called Babylonian Captivity, also called Babylonian Exile―which was the forced abduction and detention of Jews in Babylonia, following Babylon’s conquest of the Kingdom of Juda in 598 BC and 587 BC. The Babylonian Captivity only ended after around 60 years, in 538 BC, when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia, and gave permission to the captive Jews to return to Juda and Jerusalem. Historians agree that several deportations took place (each the result of uprisings by the Jews in Juda), that not all Jews were forced to leave their homeland, that returning Jews left Babylonia at various times, and that most of the Jews chose to remain in the worldly Babylonia, rather than return to Juda and Jerusalem. Are we on the brink of our own Babylonian Captivity? Has God had enough of His new Chosen People ― the Catholics ― and their idolatry, worldliness and sinfulness? Is God about to do to us what He did to the sinners in the past? It certainly looks like ― and numerous prophecies and warnings confirm this.
In this season of the Holy Family, we need many more holy families to avert, or at least mitigate, the just and terrible anger of God. In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady stated: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this!” Are you doing this? Or are you caught up in the world, its worldliness and its idolatry―much like those in the above examples of the Old Testament times? The words of Holy Scripture come to mind here:
“Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Already in the 17th century, Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our days, warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially shortly after the middle of the 20th century … the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and deeply profaned. Freemasonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin and encouraging procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … In this supreme moment of need for the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent.”
St. Jacinta Marto ― one of the three seers of Fatima ― revealed she had been told that “Many marriages are not good. They do not please Our Lord and are not of God!”
Sister Lucia dos Santos ― another of the three seers at Fatima ― revealed that Our Lady had told her that we are entering into what she called a “final battle” between Our Lady and Satan: “Father, she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin―a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground … The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. In a later letter, she writes that “A time will come when the decisive battle between the Kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.”
Essential Building Block of Church and Society
The family is the essential building block of society―even the secular world agrees on this. Even the United Nations recognizes the importance of families―as it says on its website: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society … As basic and essential building blocks of societies, families have a crucial role.”
William Bennett, a former United States secretary of education and author of books on education and the family, writes back in 2012: “I am the product of divorce and several stepfathers, but I still believe in the importance of the traditional family … The family is the nucleus of civilization and the basic social unit of society. Aristotle wrote that the family is nature’s established association for the supply of mankind’s everyday wants. Research clearly shows that the institution of the family is the first form of community and government … For a civilization to succeed, the family must succeed, and right now, it’s not. Today, more than half of all births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage, and the out of wedlock birth rate in the United States has passed 40 percent. When Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about this trend in his 1965 Moynihan Report, about 25 percent of black children were born outside of marriage. Today, the illegitimacy rate for black children is more than 70 percent. In 1995, when asked what was the biggest change he had seen during his 40-year political career, Moynihan responded: ‘The biggest change, in my judgment, is that the family structure has come apart all over the North Atlantic world.’ Republicans are talking about family values because they see the family breaking down in front of them. This talk isn’t just happy, wishful thinking; this isn’t nostalgia; this is reality. If we have stronger families we will have stronger schools, stronger churches, and stronger communities with less poverty and less crime. The family is the linchpin of society, both economically and socially.”
It should be fairly evident―to anyone still retaining some common sense―that the Church is collapsing, morality is collapsing, the culture of society is collapsing, patriotism is collapsing, fidelity and loyalty is collapsing, the love of the common good is collapsing―all of this is down to a general collapse in the fiber and principles of today’s families.
Health and Family
There are two chief things that we take for granted―besides God―and those two things are our health and our family. Yes―there are some people who take their health and family (and even God) seriously, but the number of them are few are far between. We can clearly see the truth of that statement by the following facts:
► HEALTH ― Almost half of American adults are in the obese category (the U.S. adult obesity rate stands at 43% ― and is growing bigger, if you pardon the pun, with every year). Forty-four percent of all Americans take at least 1 prescription medication, and 17% take 3 or more medications. As regards persons aged 65 and older, 82% (around 5 out of 6) take at least 1 medication, and almost 50% of those aged 65 years and older take 3 medications or more. You don’t take medications or prescription drugs if you are healthy, do you? How many people are affected by chronic diseases? The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) say that almost 60% of the U.S. adult population have a chronic disease― meaning an incurable, or ongoing, long-term disease. Numbers from other researchers say that approximately 133 million adult Americans out of an adult population of around 256 million, have a chronic disease―representing more than 52% of the total population of this country―and that 40% (4 in 10) American adults have 3 or more chronic diseases.
► FAMILY ― This physical or mental ill-health of the majority of Americans is also reflected in the ill-health or dysfunction of most families. Recent estimates show that about 40% of births (4 out of 10) in the United States take place outside of marriage―which is showing a constant increase, up from 28% in 1990―and the increasing number of unmarried parents is widely accepted nowadays. As regards divorce―around 800,000 divorces took place in the U.S. in 2020. Additionally, surveys show that just 14% of American adults say they are very happy, which is a massive drop down from the 31% who said the same in 2018. COVID-19 with its lockdowns, quarantines and self-isolation has dramatically increased the rates of divorce and suicide. The mix of contraception and abortion keep the average American family size at just 3 members―and that number of 3 includes the two parents! In America, the abortion totals have varied each year from just under 800,000 per year to over 1,600,000 (1.6 million) per year. Abortion would be the number one cause of death if counted. In 2017 there were more abortions (862,300) than deaths due to heart disease (647,457) or cancer (599,108) in the United States. There are more abortions performed every year in America (around 700,000 to 800,000) than combat deaths in ALL American wars from 1775-2019 (total of 656,482 deaths). The faked and inflated COVID-19 U.S. death rates ― deceitfully said to be around 385,000 ― are only about half the death rate caused by abortion! Yet all the hullaballoo is about the over-inflated, misrepresented, faked death certificated COVID cases! What a scandalous, criminal, callous dismissal of reality! How can a family be said to be healthy if it preventing births or murdering those babies who manage to make it past the contraceptive filter? Add to this unhealthy family situation the fact that two in three Americans (67%) say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid. U.S. Democrats (83%) have consistently been one of the most likely groups to favor same-sex marriage, while Republican acceptance of same sex marriage has always been between 44% and 49%. Is it any wonder or a surprise that surveys show people in the U.S. to be more unhappy today than they have been in nearly 50 years.
Sinful Families Create Moral Sickness and Death
Such sinful ‘family’ life cannot draw the approval and blessing of Heaven―it is absolutely impossible. Holy Scripture is loaded with that proof: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “As I live, saith the Lord God, … all souls are mine … The soul that sinneth, the same shall die. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice, … he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. … If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live … But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity, shall he live? All his justices, which he hath done, shall not be remembered!” (Ezechiel 18:3-5, 18:9, 18:21-24).
Sinful Nations Come From Sinful Families
You have no doubt heard of the proverb: “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter!” ― which is actually based on the words of God in Holy Scripture: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44). This can also be applied―forwards and in reverse―to the relation between families and nations: “As the families are, so also are the nation!” or, in reverse, “As the nation is, so also are the families!” If the nation is godless, then that increases the likelihood of the nation’s families being godless too. Conversely, since a nation is made up of families, then the nation will reflect the attitude of the majority of the families.
Our Lord simply puts it this way: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20). He then immediately adds: “Not everyone that saith to Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words and does them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words and does them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Well―the rain, the floods and the winds are starting to come! No matter where you live in the world―there seems to be no escape hatch for the moment. As Our Lady warned us through Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism (or give it any name or alias that you want) will take over the ENTIRE world. Is our ‘house’ built on rock or sand? Is it built upon the immoveable rock of God, or shifting sands of worldliness? Most people―even most Catholics for that matter―have been building on the shifting sands of worldliness.
► 1600s: OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS warned: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls and the Christian spirit will rapidly decay, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► 1846: OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE echoes her messages as Our Lady of Good Success: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride … The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Blood will flow on all sides ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes ... Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
► 1917: OUR LADY OF FATIMA ― Hmm! In the years that followed, maybe God change His mind and decided not to chastise us after all! Our Lady of Fatima, in 1917, dispels such delusions and illusions: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners―for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way” (to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sister Lucia also said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance ― in July 1917 ― but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27). To Fr. Fuentes, Sister Lucia said: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls!”
► 1956: OUR LADY to Blessed Elena Aiello ― You might think that with time God would “soften-up” and not take such a “hard-stance” with us! Yet we have not “softened-up” towards God and continue to bombard him millions and billions of sins, offences, blasphemies, sacrileges and outrages each and every day! As Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
► 1973: OUR LADY OF AKITA ― Whether we like it or not, Our Lady refuses to “change her tune”. The message is the same, the warnings are the same, the threatened consequences are the same―and our sinfulness is still the same, even increasing! She says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
► 1980: POPE JOHN PAUL II ― Concerning a conference by Pope John Paul II, given during his papal visit to Fulda, Germany, it was reported in the German magazine, Stimme des Glaubens (Voice of Faith) in 1981, that the Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication ― so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that ― from one moment to the next ― millions of people will perish, then truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired! Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Is There a Way Out?
Sure, there is a way out―but at what cost? If you neglect the maintenance of your house, you will end up paying “big-time” in the end. Home maintenance is the unglamorous, but necessary side of home ownership. If you don’t maintain your home, it won’t remain the beautiful place you love. Some people are guilty of ignoring a problem until there is water coming through the ceiling of their living room. “Out of sight, out of mind!” is the motto many live by. Yet if something out of sight ― like a dead battery sump pump ― goes unnoticed, it can quickly become a “big deal” in an emergency — and your basement floods. For most people, Our Lady is “Out of sight, out of mind!” She has repeatedly told us be busy with “Church maintenance” ― praying for the Church, praying for the pope, bishops and priests, praying for the conversion of sinners, etc. Yet we fail to do ― or do very little ― Church maintenance! Procrastination is a hardening of the oughteries! We say we will get round to it someday ― but someday is not a day of the week!
Yes ― ultimately Our Lady will triumph and Satan will be defeated; Heaven will defeat Hell; the Church will be victorious over the world; good will triumph over evil ― but, once again it must be asked, “At what cost?” How expensive will our neglect in the matter have been? As St. Augustine says: “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised a tomorrow for your procrastination.” Sure ― Our Lady will triumph ― but will you be a part of that triumph, or will you be condemned for having procrastinated and having been guilty of neglect in doing your duty, or even going AWOL (absent without leave) as a Soldier of Christ? “That servant―who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48).
At Quito, Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed … Humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny” (Our Lady of Good Success). It is the promise later echoed by Our Lady at Fatima in 1917: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
As, Sister Lucia told Fr. Joachim Maria Alonso, the official historian of Fatima, in a little known response: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears”
Even though all prophecies are “conditional” ― meaning that “if you do this, then that will not happen” or “if you do not do that, then this will happen” ― it is hard to see how on earth we are going to avoid all that has been prophesied for our days and times. Let’s face it ― we are not exactly doing what we have been told to do in order to avoid what has been threatened. Our Lady has called for MUCH prayer ― yet we only throw her some ‘scraps.
Our Lady of Akita said: “Prayer is necessary ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … Pray in reparation for the sins of men … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray with fervor! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger! … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita).
At Fatima, when Our Lady was asked by Lucia if Francisco would go to Heaven, Our Lady replied that he would go to Heaven, “but he must say many Rosaries.” All throughout her Fatima apparitions she insisted upon the Rosary being prayed: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war” (May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … I want you to pray the Rosary every day” (June 1917). “I want you to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you” (July 1917). “Continue to say the Rosary every day” (August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war” (September 1917). “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Our Lady of Good Success also emphasized the power of prayer to bring about massive changes in the world: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Pitiful Prayer & Puny Penances
If the world finds itself in the grip of Satan today, it is predominantly down to a neglect or insufficiency of PRAYER & PENANCE. As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our response to Our Lady’s requests (commands?) has not been very good or edifying! Instead of praying MORE AND MORE ― as Our Lady requested ― we pray LESS AND LESS. Our Lord, in Holy Scripture, “spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Elsewhere, Scripture adds: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Instead ― we play without ceasing!
In addition to this power of prayer, Our Lord also spoke of the power of penance: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17). “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
This idea of “sowing” and “reaping” brings us back the proverb: “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter!” ― based on Holy Scripture’s: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44) ― which can be expanded to: “Like family, like nation” or “As the families are, so also are the nation!” or, in reverse, “As the nation is, so also are the families!” A lot of sin ― or even most sins ― begin in the family. You could say that “Sin is sown by bad example” or that a child gets the “DNA of Sin” primarily from its parents, and secondarily from its siblings. Sin is a far more dangerous than any other known virus or disease and its consequences can be eternal ― and like Original Sin with its wounds, scars and tendencies is “sown” and passed-down from our First Parents, Adam and Eve ― likewise is that tendency to sin and examples of sin further “sown” and passed-down by all parents to their children.
Passing the Buck for Failure and Sin
Most families ― or more precisely, most parents ― will try to “pass the buck” as did Adam and Eve. Isn’t it strange that nothing is ever our fault ― there is always somebody else or something else that we can point the finger at! Parents will often try to point the finger at the Church or priest, school or teacher for the failures and sins of their children. Isn’t it strange how everyone’s child is automatically a “good boy” or “good girl” ― as in: “My Johnny is a good boy and would never do or say anything like that!” etc. Adam puts the blame on Eve for the Original Sin ― “Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’” Eve, for her part, blamed the serpent: “The Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:12-13) ― and so the story goes on the same old way, generation after generation, down to our own day ― why take the blame when you can easily blame someone or something else? So parents blame the Church, or the school, or this priest, or that teacher, or some neighbor, or society, etc.
As the Church teaches, parents are the primary educators of their children ― and that education includes teaching them about virtue and sin. On the topic of sin, how many parents ― or even priests and teachers for that matter ― but, hey, that is passing the buck, isn’t it? ― actually teach their children what the Church teaches: that sin is the greatest evil in the world? “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). If that truth is not drilled-home at a very early age, then sin will easily become second-nature to the child―even something amusing or funny, to be treated lightly or with indifference! Worse still―if the parents are habitually and indifferently sinning “left-right-and-center”, then the virus of sin is well and truly passed-on and the child is well and truly infected.
We Have Lost the True Sense of Sin
If one has to be honest and objective, then it has to be said that most parents communicate a comfortableness with sin to their children ― obviously not with regard to all sins, but some sins. Yet that is enough to weaken any resistance on the part of the child’s God-given spiritual immune system. Each family, each household, each parent has their own “pet sins” ― the sins that they have made peace with, that they are comfortable with, that they commit with a sense of impunity as though those sins were necessary or unavoidable. The child takes notice of this and copies this behavior in its own life.
How many parents have even read ― let alone repeated to their children ― the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima on our being entrenched or fixed in our pet sins: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to also tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.” (Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet it is because of sin that we find ourselves in our present mess, with the noose ever tightening around our necks: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette). As Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
All of this is compounded and confirmed by the comments of recent popes ― both Traditional, as well as the Liberals and Modernists ― that we have “lost the sense of sin”! In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil ― because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
The Virus of Sin Destroys
Like a spiritual cancer, sin eats away at and destroys the fiber of families, the spine of society and the nobility of nations. “He that committeth sin, is of the devil―for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15).
In a concrete way, we see sin bring death to the entire world in the time of Noe: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times. It repented him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noe found grace before the Lord ... And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:5-13).
Another concrete example is sin bring about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire, from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth” (Genesis 19:24-25).
The same fate fell upon the Twelve Tribes of the Kingdom of Israel: “And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with things that were not right … and they did wicked things, provoking the Lord. And they worshiped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing. And the Lord testified to them in Israel and in Juda, by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: ‘Return from your wicked ways, and keep My precepts, and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and as I have sent to you in the hand of My servants the prophets! And they listened not, but hardened their necks like the necks of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God. And they rejected His ordinances and the covenant that He made with their fathers, and the testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanities, and acted vainly. And they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord their God and made to themselves two molten calves, and they served Baal. And consecrated their sons, and their daughters through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and sooth-sayings; and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke Him. And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda. But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord their God―but they walked in the [same] errors of Israel, which they had wrought. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till He cast them away from His face” (4 Kings 17:9-20).
Hence the God-sent punishment of the so-called Babylonian Captivity, also called Babylonian Exile―which was the forced abduction and detention of Jews in Babylonia, following Babylon’s conquest of the Kingdom of Juda in 598 BC and 587 BC. The Babylonian Captivity only ended after around 60 years, in 538 BC, when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia, and gave permission to the captive Jews to return to Juda and Jerusalem. Historians agree that several deportations took place (each the result of uprisings by the Jews in Juda), that not all Jews were forced to leave their homeland, that returning Jews left Babylonia at various times, and that most of the Jews chose to remain in the worldly Babylonia, rather than return to Juda and Jerusalem. Are we on the brink of our own Babylonian Captivity? Has God had enough of His new Chosen People ― the Catholics ― and their idolatry, worldliness and sinfulness? Is God about to do to us what He did to the sinners in the past? It certainly looks like ― and numerous prophecies and warnings confirm this.
In this season of the Holy Family, we need many more holy families to avert, or at least mitigate, the just and terrible anger of God. In 1973, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady stated: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this!” Are you doing this? Or are you caught up in the world, its worldliness and its idolatry―much like those in the above examples of the Old Testament times? The words of Holy Scripture come to mind here:
“Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday January 7th to Saturday January 9th
Article 6
The Washington Epiphany — Will it Lead to the Massacre of the Innocents?
Thursday January 7th to Saturday January 9th
Article 6
The Washington Epiphany — Will it Lead to the Massacre of the Innocents?
January 6th
Besides being the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th currently stands as the day that the U.S. Congress must meet to certify the results of the December 14th voting process by the Electoral College with regard to the choice of president for the United States. The January 6th date has been set in the Constitution, but the date for the count has been changed several times before―once being when January 6th fell on a Sunday, and for that year it was moved to January 4th.
January 6th Epiphany, or January 6th Cacophony, or Just Plain Old Phoney?
In case the word “cacophony” throws you for a loop, it is defined as: “loud confusing disagreeable sounds; a harsh, jarring, discordant sound; a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds” As you no doubt know, the 2021 January 6th certification of the U.S. Electoral College vote turned out to be something unexpected (or expected by some). Massive crowds of people pushed past security barricades and stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, January 6th, 2020, with several managing to breach inside the chamber while lawmakers were voting on certifying Electoral College votes. One person was shot and killed during the swarming, as dozens of lawmakers ran for safety forcing Congress to recess. All in all, 4 persons were killed ― one from gunfire and three from medical emergencies ― and at least 14 others were also wounded during the demonstrations. Washington D.C. police said that from Wednesday afternoon (January 6th) through early Thursday, they had arrested 69 people ― from at least 20 states as well as the District of Columbia ― mostly on curfew and unlawful entry charges, bring the number of total arrests by D.C. police since Tuesday afternoon, to at least 79. Capitol Police said that their agency had arrested 14 others.
Other demonstrations took place nationwide on the same day (January 6th).
► In Caliornia, supporters of President Trump protested and attempted to “take” an intersection in Los Angeles, they were met by anti-Trump protesters, resulting in a physical confrontation― Trump supporters clashed with police with 6 people being arrested. In Sacramento, California, demonstrators got into physical altercations.
► In Washington State, protesters gained access to the grounds of the Washington state Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, Washington. No arrests were made.
► In Oregon, at the Oregon Capitol in Salem, altercations arose with disputes between Pro-Trump and Anti-Trump groups escalating, resulting in minor altercations taking place, despite repeated attempts to keep the opposing groups from converging toward violence, the Salem police said. The altercations ended quickly when the police arrived. Only one person was arrested for harassment and disorderly conduct.
► In Utah, 400 Trump supporters came together at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. The Utah protest was mostly peaceful, although it was marred by several skirmishes or threatened confrontations with a small group of Black Lives Matter counter-protesters, the escort of one man off the premises by members of the Proud Boys and Utah Citizens Alarm (UCA) armed with bats and guns, and the unprovoked pepper-spraying of a Tribune photographer―but no arrests were made as yet. The Utah Governor threatened to ensure the perpetrators are held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
► In Michigan, around 700 to 800 Trump supporters gathered on the lawn of Michigan’s Capitol in Lansing, some carrying rifles and “Stop the Steal” signs. No one tried to get inside the building, and the state police said that the crowd was cooperative.
► In Georgia, around 100 protesters, some armed with long guns, came to Georgia’s Capitol in Atlanta. Georgia’s Secretary of State―Brad Raffensperger and his staff―evacuated their offices as the protesters assembled outside.
► In Colorado, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered outside Colorado’s Capitol in Denver for a peaceful rally. Some wore helmets, knee pads and gloves with hardened knuckles, while others held signs that said “Media is the Virus.” The Mayor of Denver had instructed city municipal buildings to close early out of caution in regards to what might happen.
► In Minnesota, over 500 Trump supporters gathered outside Minnesota’s Capitol in St. Paul. They laughed upon hearing about the Trump supporters forcing their way into the U.S. Capitol in D.C. The local Republican Party leader Alley Waterbury, said: “We are going to fight, we are going to go down, there’s going to be casualties!” Minnesota state troopers guarded the Capitol entrances. A few protesters went from the Capitol to the governor’s home, which was also guarded by state troopers.
► In Arizona, over 1,000 Trump supporters gathered outside Arizona’s Capitol in Phoenix for a 10-hour-long protest. Some Trump supporters were seen banging on state Capitol building’s doors, shouting “Freedom!” and shouting for the governor appear. Someone had brought along a wooden guillotine with a Trump flag on it.
► In Kansas, protesters entered the Kansas capitol building in Topeka and assembled inside the first floor of the Capitol rotunda, but they remained orderly. State police later said the demonstrators had obtained a permit in advance.
Protestors also gathered at outside the capitols of other states, including Arkansas, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming and other states.
The Electoral Theater Rolls-On Into the Night!
On January 6th, 2020, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, members of Congress filed into the House chamber for the proceedings for the certification of the votes from all 50 states of the U.S.A. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence called the proceedings to order. The certification of votes was to deal with the votes of each state in alphabetical order. The first two certificates of the process, from Alabama and Alaska, were accepted without controversy or objection. As the votes of the third state in the process, Arizona, came before the House chamber, the Republican Representative, Paul Gosar of Arizona, with 60 of his colleagues, rose to bring an objection to the electors of Arizona State’s Electoral College and their certification. Lawmakers reacted with a mix of groans and applause. They then left the chamber to go debate separately from the House on the objection.
As the chambers began debating the Arizona objection, pro-Trump protesters clashed with Capitol Police officers on the steps leading to the Capitol. Both chambers of Congress were forced to enter recess when protesters breached the Capitol as the House and the Senate separately debated an objection to Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. Vice President Mike Pence and congressional lawmakers were evacuated to a secure area after originally being told to shelter in place.
A little after 5:30 p.m. the sergeant at arms announced the Capitol had been secured. Vice President Mike Pence returned to address the Senate shortly after 8 p.m. The Senate reconvened to continue debate on the objection to Arizona’s electoral votes raised over seven hours earlier. Both the Senate and the House voted against sustaining the objection to Arizona’s slate of 11 electors for Biden. The vote in the Senate ruled against the objection by 93-6. The vote in the House ruled against the objection by 303-121.
After challenges to electors could not be sustained for Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, as senators dropped their objections, Republicans in both the House and the Senate challenged Pennsylvania’s electors. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania objected to Pennsylvania’s certificate, sending the two chambers into separate two-hour debates. The Senate declined to debate and voted, without debating, to reject the objection against Pennsylvania’s electors. The House, unlike the Senate, held two hours of lively debate, before the House voted. The majority of Republicans ― 138 members ― voted to refuse Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. However, that mattered little, for the final House vote was 282 to 138 in favor of accepting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.
Lawmakers concluded their count at about 3:45 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, January 7th, 2020, confirming that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris won with 306 Electoral College votes.
Epiphany Cacophony ― Cui Bono?
The phrase “cui bono?” is Latin for “to whose advantage?” Your dictionary will define it along the lines of: “(1) a principle that probable responsibility for an act or event lies with one having something to gain; (2) usefulness or utility as a principle in estimating the value of an act or policy.” In the case of the Epiphany Cacophony seen in Washington on January 6th, who stands, or stood, to gain from the demonstrations that committed crime, and so who might have been responsible for it? The proverbial $64-million question! Who indeed?!!
Just like a jigsaw puzzle of some scenery or some object―the current multiple affairs and scenarios in the world are ultimately linked together. Many irons in the fire―but one hand that has put them there. The multiple shenanigans, decoys, distractions, disturbances and dangers that we are currently experiencing in relation to our health, wealth, jobs, security, social life, freedom of movement and travel―can be ultimately said to be like the multiple musical notes that are harmonized by a composer in order to create a piece of music. Unfortunately, what is happening is far from being “music to our ears”! The current events are like the “warp and woof” of one single piece of cloth, in which the warp (the threads that run lengthwise) and the woof (the threads that run across) make up the fabric ― as in the statement: “The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.” Except that now, the Constitution risks seeing dissolution; and Declaration of Independence risks becoming a Declaration of Slavery―a slavery to whatever title you prefer to use: Communism, Socialism, Totalitarianism, Technocracy, etc.
Who Do You Want to Believe? The Media, Politicians, or Heaven?
Rather than follow the MSM (mainstream media), it might be more advisable to follow the HSM (Heaven-sent media or Heaven-sent messages). Despite all the hypocritical political and media pronouncements to the contrary, Our Lady has painted a sufficiently clear general picture of what awaits us in our day and age―personally, Our Lady is far more credible that today’s MSM. Her warnings are clear―yet they are ignored, downplayed, disbelieved or neglected. What is that we do not understand, or refuse to understand?
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways!
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Does that picture look familiar to you? Can you not see the jigsaw-puzzle pieces starting to fit together?
Epiphany ― Manifestation and Realization
The English use of the word “epiphany” stems from Middle English “epiphanie”, which is from Anglo-French, and finds it origins from the Late Latin “epiphania”, and from Late Greek “epiphaneia” ― meaning “appearance, manifestation”, and comes from the Greek verb “epiphainein” meaning “to manifest”, which is a compound from “epi” + “phainein” meaning “to show.”
An epiphany is an “Aha!” moment ― an “Eureka!” moment. In Greek “heurēka” means “I have found”, coming from the verb “heuriskein” meaning “to find.” An “epiphany” ― much like “eureka” ― is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. Besides referring to the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles at the coming of the three Magi to Bethlehem, the dictionary also defines an “epiphany” as: “(1) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking; (3) a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience; a moment of sudden insight or understanding; (4): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure; (5) a revealing scene or moment.” Epiphany and revelation have many similarities in meaning; one sense of epiphany is “a revealing scene or moment,” and one sense of revelation is “something that is revealed.” Many aspects of the above definitions can readily be applied to what was witnessed on January 6th, 2020, in Washington DC.
The so-called “January 6th Washington DC Riots” were certainly an epiphany for some―an “Aha!” moment, an “Eureka!” moment; an intuitive grasp of reality through an event; an illuminating discovery and a very revealing scene! There were “three wise men” ― the Magi ― at Bethlehem, and there were some wise men (and many fools) in Washington DC on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany!
The MSM (mainstream media) were quick to label the day as “Deadly Day” ― though, upon sifting through the statements and evidence that the MSM will not sift through (or do sift through it, but never report it, since it is not advantageous to their “narrative”), rather than being called “Deadly Day”, it could well be renamed “Devious Day” or “Deceitful Day” or “Discrediting Day” or even “Distortion Day” where the truth was distorted and deception was dogmatized.
Conspiracy Theories or Conspiracy Facts?
The Left-Wing anti-Trumpeters are using the DC event as an opportunity to “tar-and-feather” the Conservative Right-Wing, as well as calling for Trump’s impeachment on the grounds of inciting insurrection. The pro-Trumpeters are claiming that the demonstration was peaceful, but that a group of Left-Wing AntiFa members (which stands for Anti-Facists, meaning those who oppose the so-called “white supremacists”) infiltrated the Trump demonstration―all decked-out in Trump paraphernalia, clothing and MAGA hats―so as to deliberately act in a violent manner that would discredit the Trumpists. The Left-Wing Socialists and Democrats call such accusations as baseless, unproven, crazy conspiracy theories. Yet, as evidence continues to emerge and facial recognition data is compared―it emerges that what the Left-Wing labels a “conspiracy theory”, may well in fact be a “conspiracy fact”!
You have no doubt read and seen reports of AntiFa members (from Philadelphia and Tempe) being inside the Capitol building. A close-up photo of one of the protestor’s wrists shows a hammer and sickle tattoo―the same man appears in another photo at an AntiFa rally. Another man, wearing the bull horns, has tattoos running down the length of his arms that are identical to another man who is a known AntiFa member and has been caught on camera at Black Lives Matter and AntiFa rallies and demonstrations. There is also a claim, caught on video, showing that AntiFa members were bused into DC a day before the rally under the escort of police cars. A Former FBI agent ― on the ground at U.S. Capitol ― confirmed that at least one “bus load” of AntiFa thugs infiltrated otherwise peaceful Trump demonstrators as part of a false Trump flag operation.
One user on Facebook stated the following: “It makes NO sense from the viewpoint of true patriots. More and more on-ground intel is coming to the surface that the breach of the Capitol building has been initiated by ANTIFA thugs dressed up as Trump supporters. Classic Agent Provocateur tactics and straight out of the Communist/Marxist color revolution playbook. The MSM [mainstream media] is already having a field day, blaming Trump supporters for violence.”
A message posted online shortly before the Washington DC protests warned that both BLM and ANTIFA were busing in people to instigate violence: “Please patriots ― pray and be careful … BLM [Black Lives Matter] Baltimore / DC [AntiFa] branches are already busing people in to disturb January 6th. Orders given to dress like “MAGA” [and] blend in [to] cause trouble especially around cameras. At night arson has been ordered. All to be blamed on Trump supporters attending.”
One of many social media posts also spoke of AntiFa participation in the January 6th Washington DC pro-Trump demonstration: “I spoke to my AntiFa operative in Portland and she said that the ones going to DC are going wear camouflage, cut-offs, and Trump paraphernalia to blend in, but turning their MAGA hats backward for identification―so feel free to pass along.”
House Representative, Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, tweeted from the locked-down Capitol where he was taking cover from the demonstrators: “Rumor: ANTIFA fascists in backwards MAGA hats. Time will tell what truth is.”
When the House eventually reconvened Wednesday evening, one of those colleagues, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, declared on the floor that he had seen “some pretty compelling evidence from a facial-recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group AntiFa.”
Former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, interviewed on Fox News, said that she suspected the rioting, looting, and gunshots unleashed inside the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters was actually a false flag operation by AntiFa.
Just a side note ― How quickly people forget that in 2018 the Democrats stormed the US Capitol during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. The vast majority of the arrests, 293, were a result of protests in the Hart Senate Office Building, where protesters crowded in the atrium. Loud chants could be heard throughout the building. Those arrested in Hart were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol Police. Another nine people were arrested on the fourth floor of Dirksen Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful demonstrations. It was okay to do so back then, according to the Democrats, and the demonstrators were cheered on by the Left-Wing Democrats. What a difference two years makes! On October 4th, 2018, taking over the Capitol was just another form of protest. On that date, The Hill reported, “More than 300 people were taken into custody by police on Capitol Hill after descending on a pair of Senate office buildings Thursday afternoon to protest the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. The vast majority of the arrests, 293, were a result of protests in the Hart Senate Office Building, where protesters crowded in the atrium. Loud chants could be heard throughout the building, which is structured so the hallways of each floor open up and look out onto the first floor. Those arrested in Hart were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol Police. Another nine people were arrested on the fourth floor of Dirksen Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful demonstrations.” CNN also called the crowd “protesters”. However, the pro-Trump protesters ― who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2020 ― were called “rioters” by CNN. NPR (National Public Radio) called them “far-right insurrectionists.” Yet in 2018, NPR called the anti-Kavanaugh crowd “demonstrators” and titled its coverage of the storming of the Capitol: “‘We Believe Survivors’: Demonstrators Throng Capitol Hill To Protest Kavanaugh.” In 2018, the press did not make a big deal out of the demonstrators taking over the Senate offices. Yet on January 6th, 2021, they are calling the pro-Trump demonstration an “insurrection.”
Everyone should, by now, be familiar with the term “false flag” or “false flag operations” ― meaning that an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on a second party. For example the Americans might bomb a target in another country using a Russian plane―thus trying to pass the blame for the bombing onto the Russians. The more we hear about false flag operations, the less we tend to believe that they are taking place―and we tend to follow the mainstream narrative of dismissing such “false flag operations” as mere conspiracy theories. But here is the problem: False flags do happen, and they are happening more and more, but because of the deluge and over-abundance of accusations, the majority of the public now just cast such claims aside with very little thought or attention being given to them. Our Lord even speaks of “false flag operations” when He warns: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15) … “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many!” (Matthew 24:11).
Washington DC ‘Riots’ Distract from Election Fraud
The Left is using the “storming” false flag event to whitewash all evidence of election fraud. It was the perfect false flag attack, which intended to turn our attention away from election fraud and onto Trump and his supporters―who have now been painted as “domestic terrorists” and a force that is a danger to the nation. The massive evidence of Biden’s overwhelming fraud and cheating no longer matters. The crooked Left is once again pretending to occupy the moral high ground. The best way to cover-up your own sins is by attacking the sins of others―put all the attention on the wrong-doing of others, so that there is no time to pay attention to your wrong-doing.
The MSM (mainstream press) were everywhere trumpeting that the Congressional session on January 6th, 2020, was the “confirmation vote” for Joe Biden’s election victory. However, as you may well know, it was more than that. Trump’s Vice-President, Mike Pence, was chairing a joint-session of both Parties, in which Pence intended to allow objections to the election to be voiced and allowing for full speeches to be given from those who disputed the validity of the election by maintaining there had been fraud. The resulting “invasion” by Trump’s demonstrators brought the Congressional session to a premature end―right at the time when a House Representative for Arizona was about to dispute the vote-counting in Arizona. The members of Congress fled to a safer location and as soon as the alleged “attack” was over, many of the Republicans in both houses, who were planning to oppose Biden’s election, backed-down. You couldn’t have planned it better yourself!
As they say: “The best form of defense is to attack!” That is exactly what the Left-Wing is doing in order to distract from the 2020 Election Fraud. The left-wing media, Big Tech and lawmakers are relentlessly pushing the narrative that Trump incited terrorism, that all Trump supporters are potential violent insurrectionists and that President Biden must invoke the Insurrection Act to “purge” all Trump supporters from the nation. One ABC News director is even calling for a “cleansing” of the nation by eliminating / executing all Trump supporters! ABC’s political director, Rick Klein, made the call after the pro-Trump demonstration inside the halls of Congress. Klein said: “Even aside from impeachment and 25th Amendment talk, Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else!”
Already back in November 2020, voices on the Left, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat for New York), were calling for lists to be kept of Trump supporters, so that they can be ostracized and otherwise punished when the election is over. Ocasio-Cortez asked on Twitter: “Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”
Besides being the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th currently stands as the day that the U.S. Congress must meet to certify the results of the December 14th voting process by the Electoral College with regard to the choice of president for the United States. The January 6th date has been set in the Constitution, but the date for the count has been changed several times before―once being when January 6th fell on a Sunday, and for that year it was moved to January 4th.
January 6th Epiphany, or January 6th Cacophony, or Just Plain Old Phoney?
In case the word “cacophony” throws you for a loop, it is defined as: “loud confusing disagreeable sounds; a harsh, jarring, discordant sound; a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds” As you no doubt know, the 2021 January 6th certification of the U.S. Electoral College vote turned out to be something unexpected (or expected by some). Massive crowds of people pushed past security barricades and stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, January 6th, 2020, with several managing to breach inside the chamber while lawmakers were voting on certifying Electoral College votes. One person was shot and killed during the swarming, as dozens of lawmakers ran for safety forcing Congress to recess. All in all, 4 persons were killed ― one from gunfire and three from medical emergencies ― and at least 14 others were also wounded during the demonstrations. Washington D.C. police said that from Wednesday afternoon (January 6th) through early Thursday, they had arrested 69 people ― from at least 20 states as well as the District of Columbia ― mostly on curfew and unlawful entry charges, bring the number of total arrests by D.C. police since Tuesday afternoon, to at least 79. Capitol Police said that their agency had arrested 14 others.
Other demonstrations took place nationwide on the same day (January 6th).
► In Caliornia, supporters of President Trump protested and attempted to “take” an intersection in Los Angeles, they were met by anti-Trump protesters, resulting in a physical confrontation― Trump supporters clashed with police with 6 people being arrested. In Sacramento, California, demonstrators got into physical altercations.
► In Washington State, protesters gained access to the grounds of the Washington state Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, Washington. No arrests were made.
► In Oregon, at the Oregon Capitol in Salem, altercations arose with disputes between Pro-Trump and Anti-Trump groups escalating, resulting in minor altercations taking place, despite repeated attempts to keep the opposing groups from converging toward violence, the Salem police said. The altercations ended quickly when the police arrived. Only one person was arrested for harassment and disorderly conduct.
► In Utah, 400 Trump supporters came together at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. The Utah protest was mostly peaceful, although it was marred by several skirmishes or threatened confrontations with a small group of Black Lives Matter counter-protesters, the escort of one man off the premises by members of the Proud Boys and Utah Citizens Alarm (UCA) armed with bats and guns, and the unprovoked pepper-spraying of a Tribune photographer―but no arrests were made as yet. The Utah Governor threatened to ensure the perpetrators are held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
► In Michigan, around 700 to 800 Trump supporters gathered on the lawn of Michigan’s Capitol in Lansing, some carrying rifles and “Stop the Steal” signs. No one tried to get inside the building, and the state police said that the crowd was cooperative.
► In Georgia, around 100 protesters, some armed with long guns, came to Georgia’s Capitol in Atlanta. Georgia’s Secretary of State―Brad Raffensperger and his staff―evacuated their offices as the protesters assembled outside.
► In Colorado, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered outside Colorado’s Capitol in Denver for a peaceful rally. Some wore helmets, knee pads and gloves with hardened knuckles, while others held signs that said “Media is the Virus.” The Mayor of Denver had instructed city municipal buildings to close early out of caution in regards to what might happen.
► In Minnesota, over 500 Trump supporters gathered outside Minnesota’s Capitol in St. Paul. They laughed upon hearing about the Trump supporters forcing their way into the U.S. Capitol in D.C. The local Republican Party leader Alley Waterbury, said: “We are going to fight, we are going to go down, there’s going to be casualties!” Minnesota state troopers guarded the Capitol entrances. A few protesters went from the Capitol to the governor’s home, which was also guarded by state troopers.
► In Arizona, over 1,000 Trump supporters gathered outside Arizona’s Capitol in Phoenix for a 10-hour-long protest. Some Trump supporters were seen banging on state Capitol building’s doors, shouting “Freedom!” and shouting for the governor appear. Someone had brought along a wooden guillotine with a Trump flag on it.
► In Kansas, protesters entered the Kansas capitol building in Topeka and assembled inside the first floor of the Capitol rotunda, but they remained orderly. State police later said the demonstrators had obtained a permit in advance.
Protestors also gathered at outside the capitols of other states, including Arkansas, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming and other states.
The Electoral Theater Rolls-On Into the Night!
On January 6th, 2020, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, members of Congress filed into the House chamber for the proceedings for the certification of the votes from all 50 states of the U.S.A. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence called the proceedings to order. The certification of votes was to deal with the votes of each state in alphabetical order. The first two certificates of the process, from Alabama and Alaska, were accepted without controversy or objection. As the votes of the third state in the process, Arizona, came before the House chamber, the Republican Representative, Paul Gosar of Arizona, with 60 of his colleagues, rose to bring an objection to the electors of Arizona State’s Electoral College and their certification. Lawmakers reacted with a mix of groans and applause. They then left the chamber to go debate separately from the House on the objection.
As the chambers began debating the Arizona objection, pro-Trump protesters clashed with Capitol Police officers on the steps leading to the Capitol. Both chambers of Congress were forced to enter recess when protesters breached the Capitol as the House and the Senate separately debated an objection to Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. Vice President Mike Pence and congressional lawmakers were evacuated to a secure area after originally being told to shelter in place.
A little after 5:30 p.m. the sergeant at arms announced the Capitol had been secured. Vice President Mike Pence returned to address the Senate shortly after 8 p.m. The Senate reconvened to continue debate on the objection to Arizona’s electoral votes raised over seven hours earlier. Both the Senate and the House voted against sustaining the objection to Arizona’s slate of 11 electors for Biden. The vote in the Senate ruled against the objection by 93-6. The vote in the House ruled against the objection by 303-121.
After challenges to electors could not be sustained for Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, as senators dropped their objections, Republicans in both the House and the Senate challenged Pennsylvania’s electors. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania objected to Pennsylvania’s certificate, sending the two chambers into separate two-hour debates. The Senate declined to debate and voted, without debating, to reject the objection against Pennsylvania’s electors. The House, unlike the Senate, held two hours of lively debate, before the House voted. The majority of Republicans ― 138 members ― voted to refuse Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. However, that mattered little, for the final House vote was 282 to 138 in favor of accepting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.
Lawmakers concluded their count at about 3:45 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, January 7th, 2020, confirming that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris won with 306 Electoral College votes.
Epiphany Cacophony ― Cui Bono?
The phrase “cui bono?” is Latin for “to whose advantage?” Your dictionary will define it along the lines of: “(1) a principle that probable responsibility for an act or event lies with one having something to gain; (2) usefulness or utility as a principle in estimating the value of an act or policy.” In the case of the Epiphany Cacophony seen in Washington on January 6th, who stands, or stood, to gain from the demonstrations that committed crime, and so who might have been responsible for it? The proverbial $64-million question! Who indeed?!!
Just like a jigsaw puzzle of some scenery or some object―the current multiple affairs and scenarios in the world are ultimately linked together. Many irons in the fire―but one hand that has put them there. The multiple shenanigans, decoys, distractions, disturbances and dangers that we are currently experiencing in relation to our health, wealth, jobs, security, social life, freedom of movement and travel―can be ultimately said to be like the multiple musical notes that are harmonized by a composer in order to create a piece of music. Unfortunately, what is happening is far from being “music to our ears”! The current events are like the “warp and woof” of one single piece of cloth, in which the warp (the threads that run lengthwise) and the woof (the threads that run across) make up the fabric ― as in the statement: “The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.” Except that now, the Constitution risks seeing dissolution; and Declaration of Independence risks becoming a Declaration of Slavery―a slavery to whatever title you prefer to use: Communism, Socialism, Totalitarianism, Technocracy, etc.
Who Do You Want to Believe? The Media, Politicians, or Heaven?
Rather than follow the MSM (mainstream media), it might be more advisable to follow the HSM (Heaven-sent media or Heaven-sent messages). Despite all the hypocritical political and media pronouncements to the contrary, Our Lady has painted a sufficiently clear general picture of what awaits us in our day and age―personally, Our Lady is far more credible that today’s MSM. Her warnings are clear―yet they are ignored, downplayed, disbelieved or neglected. What is that we do not understand, or refuse to understand?
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)] ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … [cf. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7)]. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways!
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette).
Does that picture look familiar to you? Can you not see the jigsaw-puzzle pieces starting to fit together?
Epiphany ― Manifestation and Realization
The English use of the word “epiphany” stems from Middle English “epiphanie”, which is from Anglo-French, and finds it origins from the Late Latin “epiphania”, and from Late Greek “epiphaneia” ― meaning “appearance, manifestation”, and comes from the Greek verb “epiphainein” meaning “to manifest”, which is a compound from “epi” + “phainein” meaning “to show.”
An epiphany is an “Aha!” moment ― an “Eureka!” moment. In Greek “heurēka” means “I have found”, coming from the verb “heuriskein” meaning “to find.” An “epiphany” ― much like “eureka” ― is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. Besides referring to the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles at the coming of the three Magi to Bethlehem, the dictionary also defines an “epiphany” as: “(1) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking; (3) a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience; a moment of sudden insight or understanding; (4): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure; (5) a revealing scene or moment.” Epiphany and revelation have many similarities in meaning; one sense of epiphany is “a revealing scene or moment,” and one sense of revelation is “something that is revealed.” Many aspects of the above definitions can readily be applied to what was witnessed on January 6th, 2020, in Washington DC.
The so-called “January 6th Washington DC Riots” were certainly an epiphany for some―an “Aha!” moment, an “Eureka!” moment; an intuitive grasp of reality through an event; an illuminating discovery and a very revealing scene! There were “three wise men” ― the Magi ― at Bethlehem, and there were some wise men (and many fools) in Washington DC on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany!
The MSM (mainstream media) were quick to label the day as “Deadly Day” ― though, upon sifting through the statements and evidence that the MSM will not sift through (or do sift through it, but never report it, since it is not advantageous to their “narrative”), rather than being called “Deadly Day”, it could well be renamed “Devious Day” or “Deceitful Day” or “Discrediting Day” or even “Distortion Day” where the truth was distorted and deception was dogmatized.
Conspiracy Theories or Conspiracy Facts?
The Left-Wing anti-Trumpeters are using the DC event as an opportunity to “tar-and-feather” the Conservative Right-Wing, as well as calling for Trump’s impeachment on the grounds of inciting insurrection. The pro-Trumpeters are claiming that the demonstration was peaceful, but that a group of Left-Wing AntiFa members (which stands for Anti-Facists, meaning those who oppose the so-called “white supremacists”) infiltrated the Trump demonstration―all decked-out in Trump paraphernalia, clothing and MAGA hats―so as to deliberately act in a violent manner that would discredit the Trumpists. The Left-Wing Socialists and Democrats call such accusations as baseless, unproven, crazy conspiracy theories. Yet, as evidence continues to emerge and facial recognition data is compared―it emerges that what the Left-Wing labels a “conspiracy theory”, may well in fact be a “conspiracy fact”!
You have no doubt read and seen reports of AntiFa members (from Philadelphia and Tempe) being inside the Capitol building. A close-up photo of one of the protestor’s wrists shows a hammer and sickle tattoo―the same man appears in another photo at an AntiFa rally. Another man, wearing the bull horns, has tattoos running down the length of his arms that are identical to another man who is a known AntiFa member and has been caught on camera at Black Lives Matter and AntiFa rallies and demonstrations. There is also a claim, caught on video, showing that AntiFa members were bused into DC a day before the rally under the escort of police cars. A Former FBI agent ― on the ground at U.S. Capitol ― confirmed that at least one “bus load” of AntiFa thugs infiltrated otherwise peaceful Trump demonstrators as part of a false Trump flag operation.
One user on Facebook stated the following: “It makes NO sense from the viewpoint of true patriots. More and more on-ground intel is coming to the surface that the breach of the Capitol building has been initiated by ANTIFA thugs dressed up as Trump supporters. Classic Agent Provocateur tactics and straight out of the Communist/Marxist color revolution playbook. The MSM [mainstream media] is already having a field day, blaming Trump supporters for violence.”
A message posted online shortly before the Washington DC protests warned that both BLM and ANTIFA were busing in people to instigate violence: “Please patriots ― pray and be careful … BLM [Black Lives Matter] Baltimore / DC [AntiFa] branches are already busing people in to disturb January 6th. Orders given to dress like “MAGA” [and] blend in [to] cause trouble especially around cameras. At night arson has been ordered. All to be blamed on Trump supporters attending.”
One of many social media posts also spoke of AntiFa participation in the January 6th Washington DC pro-Trump demonstration: “I spoke to my AntiFa operative in Portland and she said that the ones going to DC are going wear camouflage, cut-offs, and Trump paraphernalia to blend in, but turning their MAGA hats backward for identification―so feel free to pass along.”
House Representative, Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, tweeted from the locked-down Capitol where he was taking cover from the demonstrators: “Rumor: ANTIFA fascists in backwards MAGA hats. Time will tell what truth is.”
When the House eventually reconvened Wednesday evening, one of those colleagues, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, declared on the floor that he had seen “some pretty compelling evidence from a facial-recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group AntiFa.”
Former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, interviewed on Fox News, said that she suspected the rioting, looting, and gunshots unleashed inside the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters was actually a false flag operation by AntiFa.
Just a side note ― How quickly people forget that in 2018 the Democrats stormed the US Capitol during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. The vast majority of the arrests, 293, were a result of protests in the Hart Senate Office Building, where protesters crowded in the atrium. Loud chants could be heard throughout the building. Those arrested in Hart were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol Police. Another nine people were arrested on the fourth floor of Dirksen Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful demonstrations. It was okay to do so back then, according to the Democrats, and the demonstrators were cheered on by the Left-Wing Democrats. What a difference two years makes! On October 4th, 2018, taking over the Capitol was just another form of protest. On that date, The Hill reported, “More than 300 people were taken into custody by police on Capitol Hill after descending on a pair of Senate office buildings Thursday afternoon to protest the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. The vast majority of the arrests, 293, were a result of protests in the Hart Senate Office Building, where protesters crowded in the atrium. Loud chants could be heard throughout the building, which is structured so the hallways of each floor open up and look out onto the first floor. Those arrested in Hart were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol Police. Another nine people were arrested on the fourth floor of Dirksen Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful demonstrations.” CNN also called the crowd “protesters”. However, the pro-Trump protesters ― who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2020 ― were called “rioters” by CNN. NPR (National Public Radio) called them “far-right insurrectionists.” Yet in 2018, NPR called the anti-Kavanaugh crowd “demonstrators” and titled its coverage of the storming of the Capitol: “‘We Believe Survivors’: Demonstrators Throng Capitol Hill To Protest Kavanaugh.” In 2018, the press did not make a big deal out of the demonstrators taking over the Senate offices. Yet on January 6th, 2021, they are calling the pro-Trump demonstration an “insurrection.”
Everyone should, by now, be familiar with the term “false flag” or “false flag operations” ― meaning that an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on a second party. For example the Americans might bomb a target in another country using a Russian plane―thus trying to pass the blame for the bombing onto the Russians. The more we hear about false flag operations, the less we tend to believe that they are taking place―and we tend to follow the mainstream narrative of dismissing such “false flag operations” as mere conspiracy theories. But here is the problem: False flags do happen, and they are happening more and more, but because of the deluge and over-abundance of accusations, the majority of the public now just cast such claims aside with very little thought or attention being given to them. Our Lord even speaks of “false flag operations” when He warns: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15) … “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many!” (Matthew 24:11).
Washington DC ‘Riots’ Distract from Election Fraud
The Left is using the “storming” false flag event to whitewash all evidence of election fraud. It was the perfect false flag attack, which intended to turn our attention away from election fraud and onto Trump and his supporters―who have now been painted as “domestic terrorists” and a force that is a danger to the nation. The massive evidence of Biden’s overwhelming fraud and cheating no longer matters. The crooked Left is once again pretending to occupy the moral high ground. The best way to cover-up your own sins is by attacking the sins of others―put all the attention on the wrong-doing of others, so that there is no time to pay attention to your wrong-doing.
The MSM (mainstream press) were everywhere trumpeting that the Congressional session on January 6th, 2020, was the “confirmation vote” for Joe Biden’s election victory. However, as you may well know, it was more than that. Trump’s Vice-President, Mike Pence, was chairing a joint-session of both Parties, in which Pence intended to allow objections to the election to be voiced and allowing for full speeches to be given from those who disputed the validity of the election by maintaining there had been fraud. The resulting “invasion” by Trump’s demonstrators brought the Congressional session to a premature end―right at the time when a House Representative for Arizona was about to dispute the vote-counting in Arizona. The members of Congress fled to a safer location and as soon as the alleged “attack” was over, many of the Republicans in both houses, who were planning to oppose Biden’s election, backed-down. You couldn’t have planned it better yourself!
As they say: “The best form of defense is to attack!” That is exactly what the Left-Wing is doing in order to distract from the 2020 Election Fraud. The left-wing media, Big Tech and lawmakers are relentlessly pushing the narrative that Trump incited terrorism, that all Trump supporters are potential violent insurrectionists and that President Biden must invoke the Insurrection Act to “purge” all Trump supporters from the nation. One ABC News director is even calling for a “cleansing” of the nation by eliminating / executing all Trump supporters! ABC’s political director, Rick Klein, made the call after the pro-Trump demonstration inside the halls of Congress. Klein said: “Even aside from impeachment and 25th Amendment talk, Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else!”
Already back in November 2020, voices on the Left, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat for New York), were calling for lists to be kept of Trump supporters, so that they can be ostracized and otherwise punished when the election is over. Ocasio-Cortez asked on Twitter: “Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”
THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
Wednesday January 6th
Article 5
The Epiphany — The Second Christmas! What Gifts Are You Bringing?
Wednesday January 6th
Article 5
The Epiphany — The Second Christmas! What Gifts Are You Bringing?
Here He Is!
Epiphany comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia” which means “a manifestation, a showing, an appearance, or a revelation.” Jesus had already been revealed to the Jews—in the form of the shepherds and the few people with whom they had shared the “good news.” Now Divine Providence wished to reveal the Son of God to the Gentiles—these would be represented by the Magi or the Three Kings. Why this manifestation? Because He had come to seek and save that which was lost—even those who were outside of the Chosen People. “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) ... “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you” (Tobias 13:8).
Going the Extra-Mile for Christ
The philosophy of the Magi, erroneous though it was, led them to the journey by which they were to find Christ. From Persia, the area from which the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem was a journey of between 1,000 and 1,200 miles. Such a distance may have taken any time between three and twelve months by camel. How far are we prepared to go to find Christ? What difficulties are we prepared to endure? It is our role to bring others to Christ, by confessing Him—that is to say witnessing to Him and to the Faith—before others. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32).
Tough Love—Or Love is Tough
Of course, this is neither easy nor pleasant, for Our Lord has foretold that we “shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake” (Matthew 10:22). But that is part of the cross of Christ—“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Christ and the cross are synonymous. We cannot have one without the other. It is give and take. Christ gives His life for us—we must give our lives for Christ, in witnessing to the Faith that Christ planted. “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Epiphany Troubles
Already at the Epiphany trouble is brewing because of Him—Herod wants to kill Him already in His infancy, while the three Magi are now wanted men. They will sneak past Herod soldiers on their secret and elusive way home, and then they will manifest Christ to others—just as the shepherds had done shortly before. The Epiphany is all about bringing Christ to the Gentiles—which, for our modern purposes and circumstances, means bringing Christ to non-Catholics, both Protestants and pagans.
A Time of Gifts
As some of the Fathers of the Church (for example St. Augustine) say the Child may or may not have still been in the stable. Nevertheless, the Magi adored the Child as God, and offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The giving of gifts was in keeping with Oriental custom. The Magi probably meant no symbolism, yet the Fathers have found many symbolic meanings in these three gifts.
Gifts Fit For A King
All three gifts were the usual gifts given to a king. Gold, besides being the most precious metal and represents power, also symbolizes the most precious and powerful virtue—which is Charity. Frankincense symbolizes the sweet odor of prayer coming from a burning heart, like grains of sweet incense on hot coals. Myrrh is called a “bitter-sweet perfume” and was used as both incense and embalming ointment in funerals. It symbolizes the sweetness of suffering, that earns for us an unimaginable heavenly reward.
Symbolic Gifts
There is a deliberate and logical progression in the order in which these gifts are listed in Scripture—first gold, then frankincense, and finally myrrh; much like the catechism response to "Why did God make you?" — "To know Him, love Him and serve Him" is the answer. We cannot love what we do not know, and we will not serve anyone very well or very long if we don't like or love them. Similarly with the three gifts: gold symbolizes love; when we love someone we talk to them, and prayer (represented by frankincense) is talking to God; finally, if we deeply love someone, we will suffer much for them and this suffering is symbolized by the myrrh--“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends”(John 15:13). So, in short, the gifts give us a natural order in this matter: first we love, then we pray to the One we love, then we go beyond mere words into actions whereby we suffer for the One we love.
An Exchange of Gifts
God’s gift to the world is His Son, born in the Town of Bread—which foreshadows the greatest gift that Christ left behind when He returned to Heaven. That gift is the Holy Eucharist.
The Epiphany and the Holy Eucharist
► The Epiphany is the manifestation of the WORD MADE FLESH, and in the Holy Eucharist, the Word becomes Flesh once more, but under the appearance of bread.
► Just as the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, so too is the Holy Eucharist the manifestation of Jesus to the world. Anyone in the world can go into a Catholic Church and adore Jesus, really and truly present, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
► But to go there and adore Him, means that, like the three Magi Kings, we have to make our journey to the modern-day Bethlehem or "Town of Bread", which is the nearest Catholic Church.
► Yet when the Magi arrived, they did not see God in all His glory and splendor, but instead they saw a tiny little baby wrapped-up and hidden, so to speak, in swaddling clothes. They had to have eyes of Faith to see God in that baby. Similarly, when we enter a Catholic church, we do not see Jesus in His divine glory and splendor, but under the appearance of tiny pieces of bread, 'wrapped-up' or veiled in the tabernacle. We need those same eyes of Faith to adore our hidden God.
► God is worshiped and adored (whether in the Eucharist or elsewhere) through the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; these are the kings of all other virtues. The three adoring kings prostrate before Jesus in the cave at Bethlehem remind us of this truth and these three kingly virtues.
► The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh also remind us of Holy Eucharist in another way. (1) The Holy Eucharist is our most precious treasure on earth, just like gold is regarded as the most precious metal. (2) The Holy Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful prayer that we have, and frankincense is the most precious of all brands of incense, and incense is a symbol of prayer: "The smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God" (Apocalypse 8:4). (3) The Holy Eucharist is also the greatest sacrifice that can be offered to God, and this what the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass does daily. The Sacrifice of the Mass brings healing graces to world. Likewise, Myrrh is a symbol of the supreme sacrifice, as it is used for embalming after the supreme sacrifice of death has taken the life of person; and myrrh also has healing 'graces', for it is also used for medicinal purposes.
Reverse Divine Psychology
That is how things should be; but there are some who do not love God, and therefore do not pray to Him, let alone suffering for Him. What then? Well, in that case, God reverses the order. He begins by making them suffer, and He goes on increasing the intensity or frequency (or both) until He brings the soul to its knees in desperation. The soul, crushed and helpless, turns to God in prayer and begs for mercy and help. God then shows that mercy and gives that help in the hope that it will now lead the soul to be grateful and to start loving Him. So, in this case, the reverse order is used: sufferings increase (the myrrh); the helpless soul turns to God in prayer (the frankincense); when God responds, the soul in gratitude finds a spark of love (the gold) in itself towards God.
Life Changing Encounter With Christ
The next point to consider is that this encounter with Jesus and Mary totally changes their lives. This is symbolized by the fact that they go back home by a different route to the one that had brought them to Bethlehem. This is commanded to them by an angel and they correspond with the grace that is given them. A very wise thing to do!
The fact that they are told to avoid traveling through Jerusalem, because of King Herod, who wanted to find out the whereabouts of Jesus in order to kill Him, in very instructive for our own lives. Outside of own wounded and weak souls, there is the devil and the world who are perpetually seeking to kill the life and influence of grace in our souls. The world hates God, because the laws and counsels of God are diametrically opposed to the laws and counsels of the world. The world, or part of the world, fakes a love of God (like Herod did) and would have us believe that it is not opposed to God, telling us that it is possible to know, love and serve both the world and God. But this is a principle that comes from the father of lies, the devil, for Our Lord told us: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Follow the Fleeing Magi
That is why we must flee the world as much as possible. To those who seek to love both the world and God, this is a shocking and painful thought. They 'feel' (not think) that this must be somehow wrong; that it is too radical, too extreme. Yet that is what our good God is, He is radical and extreme: He is extreme mercy and extreme justice; He is extreme patience and extreme anger. Perfection is an extreme; somebody who is perfect at doing something, is EXTREMELY good at doing that particular thing. God is perfect in all things, therefore He is extreme in all things, and Jesus told us: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As was said before, Christmas is not a time of fuzzy sentimentality; Christmas is all about sin and redemption from sin. Christ does not come to party, Christ comes to change and save the world. He offers a hand of mercy to all comers. But, as in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, there are not many 'comers.' “He came unto His own, and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:11-12).
From Sinners to Saints
The Magi came as sinners and left as the sons of God. Their idolatrous lives changed and their remains are now buried in the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. Today there is a sweet odor in Cologne, the odor of sanctity achieved by the three wise men, the three kings who came, who saw and who conquered themselves, the world and the devil. May their dogged pursuit of the Christ-Child and their fidelity to the inspirations of Heaven, be our guiding star that also leads us find Christ, one day, in Heaven.
Epiphany comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia” which means “a manifestation, a showing, an appearance, or a revelation.” Jesus had already been revealed to the Jews—in the form of the shepherds and the few people with whom they had shared the “good news.” Now Divine Providence wished to reveal the Son of God to the Gentiles—these would be represented by the Magi or the Three Kings. Why this manifestation? Because He had come to seek and save that which was lost—even those who were outside of the Chosen People. “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) ... “Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that He will show His mercy to you” (Tobias 13:8).
Going the Extra-Mile for Christ
The philosophy of the Magi, erroneous though it was, led them to the journey by which they were to find Christ. From Persia, the area from which the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem was a journey of between 1,000 and 1,200 miles. Such a distance may have taken any time between three and twelve months by camel. How far are we prepared to go to find Christ? What difficulties are we prepared to endure? It is our role to bring others to Christ, by confessing Him—that is to say witnessing to Him and to the Faith—before others. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32).
Tough Love—Or Love is Tough
Of course, this is neither easy nor pleasant, for Our Lord has foretold that we “shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake” (Matthew 10:22). But that is part of the cross of Christ—“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Christ and the cross are synonymous. We cannot have one without the other. It is give and take. Christ gives His life for us—we must give our lives for Christ, in witnessing to the Faith that Christ planted. “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Epiphany Troubles
Already at the Epiphany trouble is brewing because of Him—Herod wants to kill Him already in His infancy, while the three Magi are now wanted men. They will sneak past Herod soldiers on their secret and elusive way home, and then they will manifest Christ to others—just as the shepherds had done shortly before. The Epiphany is all about bringing Christ to the Gentiles—which, for our modern purposes and circumstances, means bringing Christ to non-Catholics, both Protestants and pagans.
A Time of Gifts
As some of the Fathers of the Church (for example St. Augustine) say the Child may or may not have still been in the stable. Nevertheless, the Magi adored the Child as God, and offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The giving of gifts was in keeping with Oriental custom. The Magi probably meant no symbolism, yet the Fathers have found many symbolic meanings in these three gifts.
Gifts Fit For A King
All three gifts were the usual gifts given to a king. Gold, besides being the most precious metal and represents power, also symbolizes the most precious and powerful virtue—which is Charity. Frankincense symbolizes the sweet odor of prayer coming from a burning heart, like grains of sweet incense on hot coals. Myrrh is called a “bitter-sweet perfume” and was used as both incense and embalming ointment in funerals. It symbolizes the sweetness of suffering, that earns for us an unimaginable heavenly reward.
Symbolic Gifts
There is a deliberate and logical progression in the order in which these gifts are listed in Scripture—first gold, then frankincense, and finally myrrh; much like the catechism response to "Why did God make you?" — "To know Him, love Him and serve Him" is the answer. We cannot love what we do not know, and we will not serve anyone very well or very long if we don't like or love them. Similarly with the three gifts: gold symbolizes love; when we love someone we talk to them, and prayer (represented by frankincense) is talking to God; finally, if we deeply love someone, we will suffer much for them and this suffering is symbolized by the myrrh--“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends”(John 15:13). So, in short, the gifts give us a natural order in this matter: first we love, then we pray to the One we love, then we go beyond mere words into actions whereby we suffer for the One we love.
An Exchange of Gifts
God’s gift to the world is His Son, born in the Town of Bread—which foreshadows the greatest gift that Christ left behind when He returned to Heaven. That gift is the Holy Eucharist.
The Epiphany and the Holy Eucharist
► The Epiphany is the manifestation of the WORD MADE FLESH, and in the Holy Eucharist, the Word becomes Flesh once more, but under the appearance of bread.
► Just as the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, so too is the Holy Eucharist the manifestation of Jesus to the world. Anyone in the world can go into a Catholic Church and adore Jesus, really and truly present, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
► But to go there and adore Him, means that, like the three Magi Kings, we have to make our journey to the modern-day Bethlehem or "Town of Bread", which is the nearest Catholic Church.
► Yet when the Magi arrived, they did not see God in all His glory and splendor, but instead they saw a tiny little baby wrapped-up and hidden, so to speak, in swaddling clothes. They had to have eyes of Faith to see God in that baby. Similarly, when we enter a Catholic church, we do not see Jesus in His divine glory and splendor, but under the appearance of tiny pieces of bread, 'wrapped-up' or veiled in the tabernacle. We need those same eyes of Faith to adore our hidden God.
► God is worshiped and adored (whether in the Eucharist or elsewhere) through the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; these are the kings of all other virtues. The three adoring kings prostrate before Jesus in the cave at Bethlehem remind us of this truth and these three kingly virtues.
► The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh also remind us of Holy Eucharist in another way. (1) The Holy Eucharist is our most precious treasure on earth, just like gold is regarded as the most precious metal. (2) The Holy Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful prayer that we have, and frankincense is the most precious of all brands of incense, and incense is a symbol of prayer: "The smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God" (Apocalypse 8:4). (3) The Holy Eucharist is also the greatest sacrifice that can be offered to God, and this what the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass does daily. The Sacrifice of the Mass brings healing graces to world. Likewise, Myrrh is a symbol of the supreme sacrifice, as it is used for embalming after the supreme sacrifice of death has taken the life of person; and myrrh also has healing 'graces', for it is also used for medicinal purposes.
Reverse Divine Psychology
That is how things should be; but there are some who do not love God, and therefore do not pray to Him, let alone suffering for Him. What then? Well, in that case, God reverses the order. He begins by making them suffer, and He goes on increasing the intensity or frequency (or both) until He brings the soul to its knees in desperation. The soul, crushed and helpless, turns to God in prayer and begs for mercy and help. God then shows that mercy and gives that help in the hope that it will now lead the soul to be grateful and to start loving Him. So, in this case, the reverse order is used: sufferings increase (the myrrh); the helpless soul turns to God in prayer (the frankincense); when God responds, the soul in gratitude finds a spark of love (the gold) in itself towards God.
Life Changing Encounter With Christ
The next point to consider is that this encounter with Jesus and Mary totally changes their lives. This is symbolized by the fact that they go back home by a different route to the one that had brought them to Bethlehem. This is commanded to them by an angel and they correspond with the grace that is given them. A very wise thing to do!
The fact that they are told to avoid traveling through Jerusalem, because of King Herod, who wanted to find out the whereabouts of Jesus in order to kill Him, in very instructive for our own lives. Outside of own wounded and weak souls, there is the devil and the world who are perpetually seeking to kill the life and influence of grace in our souls. The world hates God, because the laws and counsels of God are diametrically opposed to the laws and counsels of the world. The world, or part of the world, fakes a love of God (like Herod did) and would have us believe that it is not opposed to God, telling us that it is possible to know, love and serve both the world and God. But this is a principle that comes from the father of lies, the devil, for Our Lord told us: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and St. James adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Follow the Fleeing Magi
That is why we must flee the world as much as possible. To those who seek to love both the world and God, this is a shocking and painful thought. They 'feel' (not think) that this must be somehow wrong; that it is too radical, too extreme. Yet that is what our good God is, He is radical and extreme: He is extreme mercy and extreme justice; He is extreme patience and extreme anger. Perfection is an extreme; somebody who is perfect at doing something, is EXTREMELY good at doing that particular thing. God is perfect in all things, therefore He is extreme in all things, and Jesus told us: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As was said before, Christmas is not a time of fuzzy sentimentality; Christmas is all about sin and redemption from sin. Christ does not come to party, Christ comes to change and save the world. He offers a hand of mercy to all comers. But, as in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, there are not many 'comers.' “He came unto His own, and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:11-12).
From Sinners to Saints
The Magi came as sinners and left as the sons of God. Their idolatrous lives changed and their remains are now buried in the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. Today there is a sweet odor in Cologne, the odor of sanctity achieved by the three wise men, the three kings who came, who saw and who conquered themselves, the world and the devil. May their dogged pursuit of the Christ-Child and their fidelity to the inspirations of Heaven, be our guiding star that also leads us find Christ, one day, in Heaven.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday January 2nd & Sunday January 3rd
Article 4
Time for New Year's Resolution or a New Year's Revolution?
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday January 2nd & Sunday January 3rd
Article 4
Time for New Year's Resolution or a New Year's Revolution?
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
One Single Letter Makes a Big Difference!
Change the “S” to a “V” and you have a totally different concept! A New Year’s ReSolution can become a New Year’s ReVolution! Perhaps for some, their New Year’s Resolution is a Revolution! We are living in strange times―and things will become all the more strange―especially beginning this year! There are the “powers-that-be” who decide things behind the scenes―the anonymous world rulers and puppet-masters of governments―whose New Year Resolution is a revolutionary “Reset” of whole world―which they have called “The Great Reset” and of which they, and more and more governments and financial institutions are talking about more and more openly.
“The Great Reset” is a new revolutionary “social contract” that ties you to it through an electronic ID linked to your bank account and health records, and a “social credit” ID that will dictate every facet of your life. While the COVID-19 pandemic is being used as a justification for The Great Reset movement, the agenda has nothing to do with health and everything to do with a long-term plan to monitor and control the world through digital surveillance and artificial intelligence (AI). The Great Reset and The Fourth Industrial Revolution are rebranded terms for technocracy and the old “New World Order” melded with the trans-humanist movement.
More Than Human―Superhuman―Transhuman―Electronic Humans!
Transhumanism is the “new kid on the block” of revolutions. It is no science fiction, no Frankenstein tale, but real reality! Science―the god of Earth who has replaced God of Heaven―has decided that we can now tinker with man’s nature and create a new breed of man―a transhuman. Ultimately―and in simple short terms―science is seeking to make a human and electronic composite. This means placing electronics within human beings―which will, under the guise of helping humanity, will actually enslave humanity. The so-called “chip” that they are seeking to implant in us, is merely the tip of the iceberg, or the thin-edge of a wedge that is merely the beginning of an electronic invasion of our bodies and a gradual “take-over” by electronic means.
The Transhumanist Declaration says: “Humanity stands to be profoundly affected by science and technology in the future. We envision the possibility of broadening human potential by overcoming aging, cognitive shortcomings, involuntary suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth. We believe that humanity’s potential is still mostly unrealized. There are possible scenarios that lead to wonderful and exceedingly worthwhile enhanced human conditions … Reduction of existential risks, and development of means for the preservation of life and health, the alleviation of grave suffering, and the improvement of human foresight and wisdom should be pursued as urgent priorities, and heavily funded … We advocate the well-being of all sentience, including humans, non-human animals, and any future artificial intellects, modified life forms, or other intelligences to which technological and scientific advance may give rise … This includes use of techniques that may be developed to assist memory, concentration, and mental energy; life extension therapies; reproductive choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and many other possible human modification and enhancement technologies.”
The aims of the transhumanist movement are summed up by Mark O’Connell in his book To Be a Machine, in which he speaks of transhumanists, saying: “It is their belief that we can and should eradicate ageing as a cause of death; that we can and should use technology to augment our bodies and our minds; that we can and should merge with machines, remaking ourselves, finally, in the image of our own higher ideals.”
The idea of technologically enhancing our bodies is not new. What is new is the extent to which transhumanists intend to take the concept. In the past, we made devices such as wooden legs, hearing aids, spectacles and false teeth. In future, we might use electronic implants to enhance our senses, so we can detect infrared or ultraviolet radiation directly, or boost our mind processes by connecting ourselves to memory chips. Ultimately, by merging man and machine, science will produce humans who have vastly increased intelligence, strength, and lifespans―a near embodiment of gods. As Satan said to Eve: “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5).
Revolution in the Catholic Womb
Christmastime is a time of birth and rejoicing. However, that is not so in Argentina, where, on December 11th, 2020―the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12th, 2020)― after a 20-hour debate, the Chamber of Deputies voted 131–117 (with 6 abstentions) to pass a bill (the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill; IVE) to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks after conception. Eighteen days later, on December 30th, 2020―five days after the birth of Christ, and two days after the feast of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents (December 28th), the Argentine Senate voted 38–29 and passed the abortion bill into law, making Argentina the first Latin American regional power to legalize elective abortion. Only two other South American countries had previously legalized elective abortion: Guyana in 1995 and Uruguay in 2012.
Throughout Argentina―where the numbers of those in favor of abortion have risen steadily due to many years of lobbying and propaganda―the latest polls show an approximate 50%―50% split on the issue of abortion. The passing of the abortion bill produced large-scale exuberant celebrations by pro-abortion activists who had long campaigned for it. There was much joyful dancing in the streets at the newly legislated “right” to murder their own children. It looks like they are gradually regressing back to the days of child sacrifice among the pagan South American cultures of the Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, Moches and Timoto-Cuicas. The few thousand who had gathered awaiting the result of the vote on the abortion, burst into wild cheers and tear-filled hugs as the Argentine Vice-President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who presided over the debate, announced the result, shouting: “Legal abortion in the hospital!” as the measure was passed. A pro-abortion campaigner, Renata Vismara, with her voice hoarse from the raucous street celebrations, said: “I am the mother of a girl and I know that she will have more rights tomorrow and that keeps us moving forward!” Another pro-abortion campaigner, Valentine Luy Machado, added: “The power of seeing it come true after so many years ― It's revolutionary!” It is sure is revolutionary―it is a revolution against God and His Laws! It is a revolution along the lines of the very first revolutionary―Satan―who cried out: “I will not serve! Non serviam!”
Revolution in a Needle
As we enter the New Year, we enter it with a New Fear―the dreaded “Mandatory Vaccine”!!!!! Some government leaders have said that they will not force vaccinations―but the there are many different ways of twisting someone’s arm! The imposition of sanctions (or even rewards) is one way of gently twisting someone’s arm in place for the needle. For those who choose not to be vaccinated, they will gradually see one restriction after another being introduced, in order to weaken their resistance, bend their will and change their mind. A failure to be vaccinated will “unofficially” brand you as a “risk”, and will thus see your travel options limited in some way, or your job prospects severely curtailed, or access to certain places prohibited―all in the false argument of being in interests of “safety” and the “common good.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a January 1st, 2021, interview that it is “quite possible” the Covid-19 vaccine could be required for international travel and to attend school at some point in the future. Companies are considering compulsory Covid vaccination requirements as a condition of employment. “Under the law, an employer can force an employee to get vaccinated, and if they don’t, fire them,” said Rogge Dunn, a Dallas labor and employment attorney.
Never before have we seen such a concerted, relentless, ceaseless propaganda that insists upon the vaccination of the whole world! Even if it COVID-19 was in the same league as the “Black Death” or Beubonic Plague―which it is not, for it is in the same league as the common flu―such unprecedented insistence on universal vaccination is “way over the top”―especially since OVER 99.8% OF THE PEOPLE DIAGNOSED WITH COVID MANAGE TO RECOVER WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY VACCINE! So where is the logic in insisting upon mandatory universal vaccination when we are doing very well without it? They are using COVID to make COVIDIOTS out of us! Thankfully, the minds of many people still work logically and are immune to the media-hype about the “dangers” and “spikes” and “deaths” of the COVID chimera.
Excuse me, but GOD PROTECTS SOCIETY! Man merely destroys society through his sins! The words of Our Lady of Good Success come to mind, where she speaks of the REAL vaccinations that ALWAYS work: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, THE END OF PESTILENCE and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh that is merely private revelation! I refuse to believe that!” you will say. Well, in that case, look at the evidence within the Bible―which says the very same thing!
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I WILL SEND THE PESTILENCE IN THE MIDST OF YOU, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Coming back to that ridiculed Private Revelation again, Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of plagues as a chastisement for sin: “Every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as PLAGUES, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to PLAGUES AND FAMINE WHICH WILL BE WIDESPREAD.”
The vaccine that really works against plagues is an inoculation of sanctifying grace in the Emergency Room of the confessional.
● In Europe, over 88,000 nurses in the Netherlands (one of the smaller European countries) are refusing to take the vaccine when it will be offered. A large percentage of front-line workers in hospitals and nursing homes have refused to take the Covid-19 vaccine.
● About 50% of front-line workers in California’s Riverside County have refused to take the vaccine, Riverside Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari told The Los Angeles Times on December 31st, 2020.
● A December 2020 survey by the Uniformed Firefighters Association of 2,053 New York City firefighters, found that more than half said they would refuse the Covid-19 vaccine when it became available to them.
● Fewer than half of the hospital workers at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, Califoria, were willing to be vaccinated, and around 20% to 40% of L.A. County's frontline workers have reportedly declined an opportunity to take the vaccine.
● Dr. Nikhila Juvvadi, the chief clinical officer at Chicago's Loretto Hospital, said that a survey was administered in December, and 40% of the hospital staff said they would not get vaccinated.
● A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 29% of healthcare workers were hesitant to receive the vaccine, citing concerns related to potential side effects and a lack of faith in the government to ensure the vaccines were safe.
● Roughly 40% (4 in 10) of Americans say they would “definitely” or “probably” not get a vaccine, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. About 20% (1 in 5) of Americans are certain they will not change their mind about refusing the vaccine, according to data from the Pew Research Center. And 62% said they would be uncomfortable being among the first to receive the vaccine.
THIS ARTICLE IS STILL BEING WRITTEN. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Change the “S” to a “V” and you have a totally different concept! A New Year’s ReSolution can become a New Year’s ReVolution! Perhaps for some, their New Year’s Resolution is a Revolution! We are living in strange times―and things will become all the more strange―especially beginning this year! There are the “powers-that-be” who decide things behind the scenes―the anonymous world rulers and puppet-masters of governments―whose New Year Resolution is a revolutionary “Reset” of whole world―which they have called “The Great Reset” and of which they, and more and more governments and financial institutions are talking about more and more openly.
“The Great Reset” is a new revolutionary “social contract” that ties you to it through an electronic ID linked to your bank account and health records, and a “social credit” ID that will dictate every facet of your life. While the COVID-19 pandemic is being used as a justification for The Great Reset movement, the agenda has nothing to do with health and everything to do with a long-term plan to monitor and control the world through digital surveillance and artificial intelligence (AI). The Great Reset and The Fourth Industrial Revolution are rebranded terms for technocracy and the old “New World Order” melded with the trans-humanist movement.
More Than Human―Superhuman―Transhuman―Electronic Humans!
Transhumanism is the “new kid on the block” of revolutions. It is no science fiction, no Frankenstein tale, but real reality! Science―the god of Earth who has replaced God of Heaven―has decided that we can now tinker with man’s nature and create a new breed of man―a transhuman. Ultimately―and in simple short terms―science is seeking to make a human and electronic composite. This means placing electronics within human beings―which will, under the guise of helping humanity, will actually enslave humanity. The so-called “chip” that they are seeking to implant in us, is merely the tip of the iceberg, or the thin-edge of a wedge that is merely the beginning of an electronic invasion of our bodies and a gradual “take-over” by electronic means.
The Transhumanist Declaration says: “Humanity stands to be profoundly affected by science and technology in the future. We envision the possibility of broadening human potential by overcoming aging, cognitive shortcomings, involuntary suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth. We believe that humanity’s potential is still mostly unrealized. There are possible scenarios that lead to wonderful and exceedingly worthwhile enhanced human conditions … Reduction of existential risks, and development of means for the preservation of life and health, the alleviation of grave suffering, and the improvement of human foresight and wisdom should be pursued as urgent priorities, and heavily funded … We advocate the well-being of all sentience, including humans, non-human animals, and any future artificial intellects, modified life forms, or other intelligences to which technological and scientific advance may give rise … This includes use of techniques that may be developed to assist memory, concentration, and mental energy; life extension therapies; reproductive choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and many other possible human modification and enhancement technologies.”
The aims of the transhumanist movement are summed up by Mark O’Connell in his book To Be a Machine, in which he speaks of transhumanists, saying: “It is their belief that we can and should eradicate ageing as a cause of death; that we can and should use technology to augment our bodies and our minds; that we can and should merge with machines, remaking ourselves, finally, in the image of our own higher ideals.”
The idea of technologically enhancing our bodies is not new. What is new is the extent to which transhumanists intend to take the concept. In the past, we made devices such as wooden legs, hearing aids, spectacles and false teeth. In future, we might use electronic implants to enhance our senses, so we can detect infrared or ultraviolet radiation directly, or boost our mind processes by connecting ourselves to memory chips. Ultimately, by merging man and machine, science will produce humans who have vastly increased intelligence, strength, and lifespans―a near embodiment of gods. As Satan said to Eve: “You shall be as Gods!” (Genesis 3:5).
Revolution in the Catholic Womb
Christmastime is a time of birth and rejoicing. However, that is not so in Argentina, where, on December 11th, 2020―the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12th, 2020)― after a 20-hour debate, the Chamber of Deputies voted 131–117 (with 6 abstentions) to pass a bill (the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill; IVE) to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks after conception. Eighteen days later, on December 30th, 2020―five days after the birth of Christ, and two days after the feast of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents (December 28th), the Argentine Senate voted 38–29 and passed the abortion bill into law, making Argentina the first Latin American regional power to legalize elective abortion. Only two other South American countries had previously legalized elective abortion: Guyana in 1995 and Uruguay in 2012.
Throughout Argentina―where the numbers of those in favor of abortion have risen steadily due to many years of lobbying and propaganda―the latest polls show an approximate 50%―50% split on the issue of abortion. The passing of the abortion bill produced large-scale exuberant celebrations by pro-abortion activists who had long campaigned for it. There was much joyful dancing in the streets at the newly legislated “right” to murder their own children. It looks like they are gradually regressing back to the days of child sacrifice among the pagan South American cultures of the Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, Moches and Timoto-Cuicas. The few thousand who had gathered awaiting the result of the vote on the abortion, burst into wild cheers and tear-filled hugs as the Argentine Vice-President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who presided over the debate, announced the result, shouting: “Legal abortion in the hospital!” as the measure was passed. A pro-abortion campaigner, Renata Vismara, with her voice hoarse from the raucous street celebrations, said: “I am the mother of a girl and I know that she will have more rights tomorrow and that keeps us moving forward!” Another pro-abortion campaigner, Valentine Luy Machado, added: “The power of seeing it come true after so many years ― It's revolutionary!” It is sure is revolutionary―it is a revolution against God and His Laws! It is a revolution along the lines of the very first revolutionary―Satan―who cried out: “I will not serve! Non serviam!”
Revolution in a Needle
As we enter the New Year, we enter it with a New Fear―the dreaded “Mandatory Vaccine”!!!!! Some government leaders have said that they will not force vaccinations―but the there are many different ways of twisting someone’s arm! The imposition of sanctions (or even rewards) is one way of gently twisting someone’s arm in place for the needle. For those who choose not to be vaccinated, they will gradually see one restriction after another being introduced, in order to weaken their resistance, bend their will and change their mind. A failure to be vaccinated will “unofficially” brand you as a “risk”, and will thus see your travel options limited in some way, or your job prospects severely curtailed, or access to certain places prohibited―all in the false argument of being in interests of “safety” and the “common good.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a January 1st, 2021, interview that it is “quite possible” the Covid-19 vaccine could be required for international travel and to attend school at some point in the future. Companies are considering compulsory Covid vaccination requirements as a condition of employment. “Under the law, an employer can force an employee to get vaccinated, and if they don’t, fire them,” said Rogge Dunn, a Dallas labor and employment attorney.
Never before have we seen such a concerted, relentless, ceaseless propaganda that insists upon the vaccination of the whole world! Even if it COVID-19 was in the same league as the “Black Death” or Beubonic Plague―which it is not, for it is in the same league as the common flu―such unprecedented insistence on universal vaccination is “way over the top”―especially since OVER 99.8% OF THE PEOPLE DIAGNOSED WITH COVID MANAGE TO RECOVER WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY VACCINE! So where is the logic in insisting upon mandatory universal vaccination when we are doing very well without it? They are using COVID to make COVIDIOTS out of us! Thankfully, the minds of many people still work logically and are immune to the media-hype about the “dangers” and “spikes” and “deaths” of the COVID chimera.
Excuse me, but GOD PROTECTS SOCIETY! Man merely destroys society through his sins! The words of Our Lady of Good Success come to mind, where she speaks of the REAL vaccinations that ALWAYS work: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, THE END OF PESTILENCE and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh that is merely private revelation! I refuse to believe that!” you will say. Well, in that case, look at the evidence within the Bible―which says the very same thing!
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I WILL SEND THE PESTILENCE IN THE MIDST OF YOU, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Coming back to that ridiculed Private Revelation again, Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of plagues as a chastisement for sin: “Every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as PLAGUES, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to PLAGUES AND FAMINE WHICH WILL BE WIDESPREAD.”
The vaccine that really works against plagues is an inoculation of sanctifying grace in the Emergency Room of the confessional.
● In Europe, over 88,000 nurses in the Netherlands (one of the smaller European countries) are refusing to take the vaccine when it will be offered. A large percentage of front-line workers in hospitals and nursing homes have refused to take the Covid-19 vaccine.
● About 50% of front-line workers in California’s Riverside County have refused to take the vaccine, Riverside Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari told The Los Angeles Times on December 31st, 2020.
● A December 2020 survey by the Uniformed Firefighters Association of 2,053 New York City firefighters, found that more than half said they would refuse the Covid-19 vaccine when it became available to them.
● Fewer than half of the hospital workers at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, Califoria, were willing to be vaccinated, and around 20% to 40% of L.A. County's frontline workers have reportedly declined an opportunity to take the vaccine.
● Dr. Nikhila Juvvadi, the chief clinical officer at Chicago's Loretto Hospital, said that a survey was administered in December, and 40% of the hospital staff said they would not get vaccinated.
● A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 29% of healthcare workers were hesitant to receive the vaccine, citing concerns related to potential side effects and a lack of faith in the government to ensure the vaccines were safe.
● Roughly 40% (4 in 10) of Americans say they would “definitely” or “probably” not get a vaccine, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. About 20% (1 in 5) of Americans are certain they will not change their mind about refusing the vaccine, according to data from the Pew Research Center. And 62% said they would be uncomfortable being among the first to receive the vaccine.
THIS ARTICLE IS STILL BEING WRITTEN. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : NEW YEAR'S EVE & NEW YEAR'S DAY
Thursday December 31st & Friday January 1st
Article 3
A Happy New Year or a Crabby New Year?
Thursday December 31st & Friday January 1st
Article 3
A Happy New Year or a Crabby New Year?
New Year Comes Late! Will “New” Be “Better”? Will it be “Happy” or “Crabby”?
The Church has already beaten the State to the New Year—the New Liturgical Year started with the First Sunday of Advent! However, since many are partying tonight and waiting for the secular “New Year”, let us look at some aspects of the “new” from a spiritual perspective. To do so, let us primarily turn to the Word of God—Holy Scripture—for a look at the “new.”
Our Lord Comes to Make Things New
There are times when the “old” is better, and there are times when the “new” is necessary. Our Lord Himself came to perfect the old with the new—the Old Testament gave way to the New Testament. Our “old” selves, likewise, need to make for our “new” selves—renewed by the grace of God. Heaven is often called the “New Jerusalem” —a heavenly Jerusalem that replaces or perfects the earthly Jerusalem. We see this focus on the “new” in the words of Our Lord and the New Testament authors. “But we look for new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13).
Don’t Mix the Old with the New
We cannot make a blend of the world and God; nor can we marry spirituality to materialism: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) … “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-5).
Purge Out the Old
“And He that sat on the throne, said: ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ And He said to me: ‘Write! For these words are most faithful and true!’” (Apocalypse 21:5). “A new commandment I give unto you” (John 13:34) ... “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste” (1 Corinthians 5:7). “Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). “If then anyone be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “In saying ‘a new’, He hath made the former old” (Hebrews 8:13). God wants us to be new creatures, new persons, better creatures, better persons. That is why He came on Earth—the Advent and Christmas liturgy speaks of Our Lord coming to restore, to renew, to recreate what was lost through sin. This is the spirit that we should positively and effectively undertake in the coming New Year—putting on a new man, a new self, created in justice and holiness; becoming a new leaven, renewed in mind and heart, so that we are a new creature in Christ, having put the old ways behind us and having made all things new!
Vintage Year for God
While others toast the New Year with glasses of wine, we should be preparing to give God a special vintage this coming year—not mixing our old cheap wine with the vintage wine that God expects from us: “Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottles: and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17). “No man sews a piece of raw cloth to an old garment” (Mark 2:21). “No man puts a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise the piece taken from the new agrees not with the old” (Luke 5:36).
God Seeks Improvement
All these Scriptural quotes stress or imply the need for improvement—not just “new” for sake of it being “new”, but “new’ in the sense of something better than was there before. In this sense, we go through school learning new things every year and, thereby, our intelligence becomes better. We learn new skills and thereby become better. Our spiritual life should follow the same pattern—each year we should become better due to new things and changes that we have made; much like a tree that each year grows more, becomes stronger and bears more fruit: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
The tree or vine should be always improving, as Our Lord points out at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.” (John 15:1-6).
Fruitless and Loveless
The Apocalypse has even stronger words to say: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see” (Apocalypse 3:14-18).
This New Year—Buy the Gold of Charity
Yes, we are spiritually poor, blind and naked, as the Apocalypse just said. Just as the three kings brought three gifts, so do the three persons of the Holy Trinity counsel us to turn to Them for the solution: to buy from Them gold, white garments, and eye-salve. These three are an echo of the three gifts offered to Jesus by the Magi. The Gold in both cases—the Apocalypse account and that of the Magi—is the gold of charity, which, as we said with the Scriptural quote above, will have grown cold in many souls: “Because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Will this be a cold year in my heart, or will I kindle a fire in my heart towards God: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Will the fire in my heart grow or burn-out?
This New Year—Cloth Yourself with Suffering
The white garments, spoken of in Apocalypse, correspond to the Myrrh. The Myrrh is a symbol of suffering, being used both as a painkiller and for embalming the dead. The white garments reflect that suffering, as shown by this quote: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Apocalypse 7:14). Thanks to “Puppet Masters” and “Elites” with their ongoing agenda that is manipulating this COVID pandemic, this coming New Year, no doubt, will bring increased suffering in an increasingly sinful world—“Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). The world cannot sin with impunity: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin has reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “When concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death” (James 1:15).
This New Year—Use the Eye-Salve of Fervent Prayer
The Eye-Salve, spoken of in Apocalypse, corresponds to the frankincense of prayer, which rises like smoke to Heaven. The blind man is begging and praying to Jesus for his blindness to be removed. “Jesus asked him saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord, that I may see!’” (Luke 18:41). His prayer is the eye-salve that removes his blindness. This blindness corresponds to lukewarmness—as Fr. Faber writes: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness). Our Lady of Good Success says: “Others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil.” The lukewarm need the ‘eye-salve’ of prayer to save them from the fate of lukewarmness—which is being vomited out from the mouth of God. Let us resolve to use this ‘eye-salve’ regularly and properly this coming New Year! As Our Lord said: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
Today there is not enough gold, frankincense and myrrh in our lives. We love too little; we pray too little; we suffer too little. That is why we risk having little chance for salvation unless we follow the counsels of the Apocalypse in our apocalyptic times! Love, pray and suffer! This should be our New Year resolution! Have a charitable New Year! Have a prayerful New Year! Have a painful New Year! Ouch!
But that is what Our Lady herself told us: “The children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray, pray very much!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “Are you willing to bear all the sufferings God wills to send you? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “I do not promise to make you Happy [New Year] in this life, but in the next!” (Our Lady of Lourdes). Ouch! ‘Happy’ New Year!
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder―Happiness is in the Heart of the Sufferer
There is absolutely no doubt that “happiness” is not a key ingredient in what the “Elites”, or “Globalists”, or “Puppet-Masters” are planning for us this year! They might well try to wrap their plans and actions with “happy wrapping paper” ― but once you open the package, you will find that “happiness” is not in this New Year package. Yet does that rule out and destroy our spiritual happiness? Holy Scripture says: “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). Our Lord tells us find comfort in suffering: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). St. Paul adds: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
As Christians, what on earth do we expect from the world? Love? Adulation? Praise? Our Lord makes it abundantly clear what we must expect: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lord makes no bones about the fact that His followers―Christians or Catholics (who are the only true Christians and not heretical Christians)―will have a tough time in this world: “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And unto all nations the Gospel must first be preached. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved” (Mark 13:8-13).
Happy Suffering! Joyous Persecution!
“Blessed are ye that weep now―for you shall laugh! Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake! Be glad in that day and rejoice; for behold, your reward is great in Heaven!” (Luke 6:21-23). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you―fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
► Our Lord was not born to party and have fun, but to suffer and die! “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again” (Matthew 16:21). That was not quite St. Peter’s “cup of tea” ― and so he tried to dissuade Our Lord from such a miserable and ignominious fate: “And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!’” (Matthew 16:22-52). The suffering and death that Jesus said awaited Him in Jerusalem at the end of His life, was already present in Bethlehem at the very start of His life. He was born into poverty, born in a cave or stable for animals, born without any comforts, born suffering the cold weather and the cold hearts, born into persecution with the murderous Herod seeking to kill Him at the very outset of His life! This was not a party! This was not fun! Let us not twist the message of Christ and divorce Christmas from His mission to suffer and die for us―and His message that we must suffer and die for Him! Let us not turn reality into a fun-fest dream or illusion.
► Our Lord was not born into riches, but into poverty: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, being rich, He became poor for your sakes―so that through His poverty you might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). “Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head!” (Luke 9:58). Today, everyone would like to be rich if they could―but Our Lord clearly stated the dangers of riches: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “Blessed are ye poor―for yours is the Kingdom of God! … Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:3).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
He would preach: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … You cannot serve God and mammon [riches]. Therefore I say to you―be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And for clothing why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow―they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:19-33).
► Our Lord did not come to “Make Israel Great Again”, but to make Israel holy again: The Jews were expecting a “Make Israel Great Again” kind of Messias―which we see by the triumphant manifestations by the people during the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on what we now call “Palm Sunday”. even the Apostles fell into the same trap after His resurrection from the dead: “They therefore who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). Our Lord was not all about “Making Israel Great Again” nor even making Himself “Great” ― on the contrary, He said: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth!’” (Matthew 28:18), but “My Kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36).
The legendary Bible exegete and commentator, the Benedictine monk Fr. Augustine Calmet (1672-1757), writes: “When and how should the Kingdom of God come? When and how will the Messias come? The Pharisees expected a Messias who would be powerful according to the evaluation of this world: a conqueror, a monarch, a revenger of the injuries of Israel; one who would restore them to liberty, and bless them with temporal goods and prosperity. Neither in His infancy, nor in His adult life could the Jews see in Jesus anything that corresponded to these attributes and qualities; they saw nothing that corresponded to these magnificent hopes; and therefore they would ask Him, by way of insult and reproach, when this kingdom of God would come (Luke 17:20), of which He so often talked of and announced to His disciples. He answered them, that the manifestation of the Messias, and the establishment of His kingdom, shall not be manifested in a conspicuous, splendid manner. It would be brought about insensibly, and shall appear a casualty, and the effect of secondary causes. You shall not see the Messias coming at the head of armies, to spread terror and desolation. His arrival shall not be announced by ambassadors, etc. Everything in the establishment of His kingdom would be the reverse of temporal power” (Bible Commentary of Fr. Augustine Calmet, O.S.B., Aquinas Study Bible).
► Our Lord does not command us to party, but to do penance! Due to the wounds and scars of Original Sin, we all have an innate tendency to sin. We are drawn more towards comfort and ease than mortification and austerity―we prefer to eat, drink and play rather than fast and pray. This has always been the case ― “As it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’ … but with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7). Our Lord does not command us to “eat, drink and play” but to do penance and to pray much: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5).
Not Quite the Christmas Message that We Would Like to Hear, is it?
We―who are always ready for a party―are not very impressed with such talk from Our Lord. We expected better! Our Christmas and New Year celebrations are meant to be “fun” ― yet Our Lord seems to be the proverbial “party-pooper”, killjoy, sourpuss, stick-in-the-mud, wet blanket or doomsayer. He says that He has “come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). He tells His Apostles: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful” ― even though He adds: “But your sorrow shall be turned into joy” but only in Heaven (John 16:20). Our Lady says the same thing to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world―but in the next!”
If we are worldly Catholics, then Our Lord’s message does really make for a “Happy New Year”, but for a “Crabby New Year!” The events that are seemingly being lined-up by the world’s governments―who are actually governed by the unseen “Globalists” or “Elites” or “Money Men”―do not promise to this a very ‘Happy’ New Year. These “Magi” are not bringing gifts that we are pining for and impatiently awaiting! Their “gold” is the “gold” they will make through their vaccines―an average profit of over $750 for every single $1 invested―while the world is increasingly impoverished and forced into debt. Their vaccines, far from being “Frankincense” are more likely to make “Frankensteins” of the population with their DNA altering ingredients. Those same vaccines, far from being “Myrrh”, risk being “myrrh-derous” or murderous. Yet, they can do nothing without the permission of God―Who remains always in charge and always omnipotent. Catholics, without a doubt, deserve to be punished―for we are meant to be Soldiers of Christ and not puppets of the world; we are meant to be the “Salt of the Earth” and the “Light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14) ― but, instead, we have turned to jelly and our minds are in darkness. Jesus “was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:9-11). “The light is come into the world―and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
The Church has already beaten the State to the New Year—the New Liturgical Year started with the First Sunday of Advent! However, since many are partying tonight and waiting for the secular “New Year”, let us look at some aspects of the “new” from a spiritual perspective. To do so, let us primarily turn to the Word of God—Holy Scripture—for a look at the “new.”
Our Lord Comes to Make Things New
There are times when the “old” is better, and there are times when the “new” is necessary. Our Lord Himself came to perfect the old with the new—the Old Testament gave way to the New Testament. Our “old” selves, likewise, need to make for our “new” selves—renewed by the grace of God. Heaven is often called the “New Jerusalem” —a heavenly Jerusalem that replaces or perfects the earthly Jerusalem. We see this focus on the “new” in the words of Our Lord and the New Testament authors. “But we look for new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13).
Don’t Mix the Old with the New
We cannot make a blend of the world and God; nor can we marry spirituality to materialism: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) … “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-5).
Purge Out the Old
“And He that sat on the throne, said: ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ And He said to me: ‘Write! For these words are most faithful and true!’” (Apocalypse 21:5). “A new commandment I give unto you” (John 13:34) ... “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste” (1 Corinthians 5:7). “Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). “If then anyone be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “In saying ‘a new’, He hath made the former old” (Hebrews 8:13). God wants us to be new creatures, new persons, better creatures, better persons. That is why He came on Earth—the Advent and Christmas liturgy speaks of Our Lord coming to restore, to renew, to recreate what was lost through sin. This is the spirit that we should positively and effectively undertake in the coming New Year—putting on a new man, a new self, created in justice and holiness; becoming a new leaven, renewed in mind and heart, so that we are a new creature in Christ, having put the old ways behind us and having made all things new!
Vintage Year for God
While others toast the New Year with glasses of wine, we should be preparing to give God a special vintage this coming year—not mixing our old cheap wine with the vintage wine that God expects from us: “Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottles: and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17). “No man sews a piece of raw cloth to an old garment” (Mark 2:21). “No man puts a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise the piece taken from the new agrees not with the old” (Luke 5:36).
God Seeks Improvement
All these Scriptural quotes stress or imply the need for improvement—not just “new” for sake of it being “new”, but “new’ in the sense of something better than was there before. In this sense, we go through school learning new things every year and, thereby, our intelligence becomes better. We learn new skills and thereby become better. Our spiritual life should follow the same pattern—each year we should become better due to new things and changes that we have made; much like a tree that each year grows more, becomes stronger and bears more fruit: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
The tree or vine should be always improving, as Our Lord points out at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.” (John 15:1-6).
Fruitless and Loveless
The Apocalypse has even stronger words to say: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see” (Apocalypse 3:14-18).
This New Year—Buy the Gold of Charity
Yes, we are spiritually poor, blind and naked, as the Apocalypse just said. Just as the three kings brought three gifts, so do the three persons of the Holy Trinity counsel us to turn to Them for the solution: to buy from Them gold, white garments, and eye-salve. These three are an echo of the three gifts offered to Jesus by the Magi. The Gold in both cases—the Apocalypse account and that of the Magi—is the gold of charity, which, as we said with the Scriptural quote above, will have grown cold in many souls: “Because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Will this be a cold year in my heart, or will I kindle a fire in my heart towards God: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Will the fire in my heart grow or burn-out?
This New Year—Cloth Yourself with Suffering
The white garments, spoken of in Apocalypse, correspond to the Myrrh. The Myrrh is a symbol of suffering, being used both as a painkiller and for embalming the dead. The white garments reflect that suffering, as shown by this quote: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Apocalypse 7:14). Thanks to “Puppet Masters” and “Elites” with their ongoing agenda that is manipulating this COVID pandemic, this coming New Year, no doubt, will bring increased suffering in an increasingly sinful world—“Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). The world cannot sin with impunity: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin has reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “When concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begets death” (James 1:15).
This New Year—Use the Eye-Salve of Fervent Prayer
The Eye-Salve, spoken of in Apocalypse, corresponds to the frankincense of prayer, which rises like smoke to Heaven. The blind man is begging and praying to Jesus for his blindness to be removed. “Jesus asked him saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord, that I may see!’” (Luke 18:41). His prayer is the eye-salve that removes his blindness. This blindness corresponds to lukewarmness—as Fr. Faber writes: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness). Our Lady of Good Success says: “Others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil.” The lukewarm need the ‘eye-salve’ of prayer to save them from the fate of lukewarmness—which is being vomited out from the mouth of God. Let us resolve to use this ‘eye-salve’ regularly and properly this coming New Year! As Our Lord said: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
Today there is not enough gold, frankincense and myrrh in our lives. We love too little; we pray too little; we suffer too little. That is why we risk having little chance for salvation unless we follow the counsels of the Apocalypse in our apocalyptic times! Love, pray and suffer! This should be our New Year resolution! Have a charitable New Year! Have a prayerful New Year! Have a painful New Year! Ouch!
But that is what Our Lady herself told us: “The children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God!” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Pray, pray very much!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “Are you willing to bear all the sufferings God wills to send you? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you!” (Our Lady of Fatima). “I do not promise to make you Happy [New Year] in this life, but in the next!” (Our Lady of Lourdes). Ouch! ‘Happy’ New Year!
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder―Happiness is in the Heart of the Sufferer
There is absolutely no doubt that “happiness” is not a key ingredient in what the “Elites”, or “Globalists”, or “Puppet-Masters” are planning for us this year! They might well try to wrap their plans and actions with “happy wrapping paper” ― but once you open the package, you will find that “happiness” is not in this New Year package. Yet does that rule out and destroy our spiritual happiness? Holy Scripture says: “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). Our Lord tells us find comfort in suffering: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). St. Paul adds: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
As Christians, what on earth do we expect from the world? Love? Adulation? Praise? Our Lord makes it abundantly clear what we must expect: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lord makes no bones about the fact that His followers―Christians or Catholics (who are the only true Christians and not heretical Christians)―will have a tough time in this world: “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And unto all nations the Gospel must first be preached. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved” (Mark 13:8-13).
Happy Suffering! Joyous Persecution!
“Blessed are ye that weep now―for you shall laugh! Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake! Be glad in that day and rejoice; for behold, your reward is great in Heaven!” (Luke 6:21-23). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you―fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
► Our Lord was not born to party and have fun, but to suffer and die! “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again” (Matthew 16:21). That was not quite St. Peter’s “cup of tea” ― and so he tried to dissuade Our Lord from such a miserable and ignominious fate: “And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it―and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!’” (Matthew 16:22-52). The suffering and death that Jesus said awaited Him in Jerusalem at the end of His life, was already present in Bethlehem at the very start of His life. He was born into poverty, born in a cave or stable for animals, born without any comforts, born suffering the cold weather and the cold hearts, born into persecution with the murderous Herod seeking to kill Him at the very outset of His life! This was not a party! This was not fun! Let us not twist the message of Christ and divorce Christmas from His mission to suffer and die for us―and His message that we must suffer and die for Him! Let us not turn reality into a fun-fest dream or illusion.
► Our Lord was not born into riches, but into poverty: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, being rich, He became poor for your sakes―so that through His poverty you might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). “Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head!” (Luke 9:58). Today, everyone would like to be rich if they could―but Our Lord clearly stated the dangers of riches: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25). “Blessed are ye poor―for yours is the Kingdom of God! … Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:3).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
He would preach: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … You cannot serve God and mammon [riches]. Therefore I say to you―be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And for clothing why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow―they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matthew 6:19-33).
► Our Lord did not come to “Make Israel Great Again”, but to make Israel holy again: The Jews were expecting a “Make Israel Great Again” kind of Messias―which we see by the triumphant manifestations by the people during the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on what we now call “Palm Sunday”. even the Apostles fell into the same trap after His resurrection from the dead: “They therefore who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). Our Lord was not all about “Making Israel Great Again” nor even making Himself “Great” ― on the contrary, He said: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). “Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth!’” (Matthew 28:18), but “My Kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36).
The legendary Bible exegete and commentator, the Benedictine monk Fr. Augustine Calmet (1672-1757), writes: “When and how should the Kingdom of God come? When and how will the Messias come? The Pharisees expected a Messias who would be powerful according to the evaluation of this world: a conqueror, a monarch, a revenger of the injuries of Israel; one who would restore them to liberty, and bless them with temporal goods and prosperity. Neither in His infancy, nor in His adult life could the Jews see in Jesus anything that corresponded to these attributes and qualities; they saw nothing that corresponded to these magnificent hopes; and therefore they would ask Him, by way of insult and reproach, when this kingdom of God would come (Luke 17:20), of which He so often talked of and announced to His disciples. He answered them, that the manifestation of the Messias, and the establishment of His kingdom, shall not be manifested in a conspicuous, splendid manner. It would be brought about insensibly, and shall appear a casualty, and the effect of secondary causes. You shall not see the Messias coming at the head of armies, to spread terror and desolation. His arrival shall not be announced by ambassadors, etc. Everything in the establishment of His kingdom would be the reverse of temporal power” (Bible Commentary of Fr. Augustine Calmet, O.S.B., Aquinas Study Bible).
► Our Lord does not command us to party, but to do penance! Due to the wounds and scars of Original Sin, we all have an innate tendency to sin. We are drawn more towards comfort and ease than mortification and austerity―we prefer to eat, drink and play rather than fast and pray. This has always been the case ― “As it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’ … but with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7). Our Lord does not command us to “eat, drink and play” but to do penance and to pray much: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5).
Not Quite the Christmas Message that We Would Like to Hear, is it?
We―who are always ready for a party―are not very impressed with such talk from Our Lord. We expected better! Our Christmas and New Year celebrations are meant to be “fun” ― yet Our Lord seems to be the proverbial “party-pooper”, killjoy, sourpuss, stick-in-the-mud, wet blanket or doomsayer. He says that He has “come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). He tells His Apostles: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful” ― even though He adds: “But your sorrow shall be turned into joy” but only in Heaven (John 16:20). Our Lady says the same thing to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world―but in the next!”
If we are worldly Catholics, then Our Lord’s message does really make for a “Happy New Year”, but for a “Crabby New Year!” The events that are seemingly being lined-up by the world’s governments―who are actually governed by the unseen “Globalists” or “Elites” or “Money Men”―do not promise to this a very ‘Happy’ New Year. These “Magi” are not bringing gifts that we are pining for and impatiently awaiting! Their “gold” is the “gold” they will make through their vaccines―an average profit of over $750 for every single $1 invested―while the world is increasingly impoverished and forced into debt. Their vaccines, far from being “Frankincense” are more likely to make “Frankensteins” of the population with their DNA altering ingredients. Those same vaccines, far from being “Myrrh”, risk being “myrrh-derous” or murderous. Yet, they can do nothing without the permission of God―Who remains always in charge and always omnipotent. Catholics, without a doubt, deserve to be punished―for we are meant to be Soldiers of Christ and not puppets of the world; we are meant to be the “Salt of the Earth” and the “Light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14) ― but, instead, we have turned to jelly and our minds are in darkness. Jesus “was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:9-11). “The light is come into the world―and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Moday December 28th to Wednesday December 30th
Article 2
Christ Comes at Christmas with a Cure!
Moday December 28th to Wednesday December 30th
Article 2
Christ Comes at Christmas with a Cure!
The Worst Virus of All Time
One would be led to imagine that COVID-19 was the worst plague the world has ever known! Certain folk would like us to beLIEve a LIE. That is the goal of all the false propaganda spewed out by a sick MSM (mainstream media) regarding the exaggerated and even lying information concerning COVID-19, or SARS-COV-2, or Coronavirus, or “Con-all-a-virus”, or whatever else you want to call the man-made, media-inflated and government overrated threat that has allegedly decimated the world population over the last 12 months, yet based on deaths per capita, the global average death rate for COVID-19 is 0.009%. The average person’s chance of surviving this disease is 99.991% and for those who contract COVID-19, 99% of people recover from it without the need of hospital intervention.
In place of all that false propaganda it well worth knowing about a real virus, that has a 99.99999999% percent infection rate and a 100% fatality rate―leading to the death of every man, woman and child that has ever existed. What is this deadly virus? It is the virus of sin―and everyone has it! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). We are all sinners and we all need the vaccine of God to destroy and immunize us against the virus of sin. Sin is the greatest and most fatal of all ‘viruses’. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The Killer Virus
Decay, disease and death were not part of God’s original plan for mankind. God’s original plan was changed by Original Sin. “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “By one man sin entered into this world and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). Pretty simple and clear, huh? Original Sin brought about the original death sentence―and that death sentence (and therefore all the diseases and circumstances that lead to death) have been passed onto us. Even if Adam and Eve had not sinned―anyone else committing sin in future generations would have to die: “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:21). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
Sin and Sickness and Disease
Therefore, we can clearly see that sickness and death are the by-products of sin! It is as simple and as clear as that! Our Lord Holy Scripture makes this abundantly clear in Holy Scripture: “There was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed and walked ... Afterwards, Jesus finding him in the Temple, said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole [healed from your disease]! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:5-14).
In the above incident with the man at the poolside, we see the direct link between sin and disease, with disease being the sting of sin. There are many other passages within Scripture that echo the same sentiments―here are a few: “Serve the Lord your God, that I … may take away sickness from the midst of thee” (Exodus 23:25). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments; if you despise My laws and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, then I also will do these things to you: … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-16; 21, 28).
The same connection between sin and sickness is implied here: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15).
In that wonderful little book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Let us never then attribute our losses, our disappointments, our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men, but to God as their real source. ‘To act otherwise’ says St. Dorothy, ‘would be to do the same as a dog who vents his anger on the stone, instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him.’ So let us be careful not to say ‘So‑and‑so is the cause of my misfortune.’ Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person, but of God …
“We ought to conform to the will of God in sickness and infirmity and wish for what He sends us, both at the time it comes and for the time it lasts and with all the circumstances attending it, without wishing for one of them to be changed; and at the same time do all that is reasonable in our power to get well again, because God wishes it so. ‘For my part’says St. Alphonsus, ‘I call illness the touchstone of the spirit, for it is then that the true virtue of a man is discovered.’ If we feel ourselves becoming impatient or rebellious, we should endeavor to repress such feelings and be deeply ashamed of any attempt at opposition to the just decrees of an all‑wise God.”
“St. Bonaventure relates that St. Francis of Assisi was afflicted by an illness which caused him great pain. One of his followers said to him, ‘Ask Our Lord to treat you a little more gently, for it seems to me He lays His hand too heavily upon you.’ Hearing this the saint gave a cry and addressed the man in these words: ‘If I did not think that what you have just said comes from the simplicity of your heart without any evil intention I would have no more to do with you, because you have been so rash as to find fault with what God does to me.’ Then, though he was very weak from the length and violence of his illness, he threw himself down from the rough bed he was lying on, at the risk of breaking his bones, and kissing the floor of his cell said I thank You, O Lord, for all the sufferings You send me. I beg You to send me a hundred times more if You think it right. I shall rejoice if it pleases You to afflict me without sparing me in any way, for the accomplishment of Your holy will is my greatest consolation.”
“And in fact if, as St. Ephraim observes, a mule‑driver knows how much his mule can carry and does not try to kill it by overloading it, and if the potter knows how long the clay should bake to be suitable for use and does not leave it in the kiln longer than is necessary, then it would show very little appreciation of God to venture to think that He, Who is wisdom itself and loves us with an infinite love, would load our backs with too heavy a burden or leave us longer than is necessary in the fire of tribulation. We can be quite sure that the fire will not last longer or be hotter than is necessary to bake our clay to the right point … When God cooperates with the person who attacks or robs you―He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul ... Everything is meant for our good, and trials ought to be counted as special graces from God ... Whether or not they are sent as a punishment for our sins, they come from Him and we should thank Him for them, placing ourselves entirely in His hands. If we bear them with patience we shall receive greater grace than if we were filled with a sense of fervent devotion.” (Extracts from Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
There is no “getting away with sin” ― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Christ the Christmas Cure
Christ comes to cure this culture of death in which we live―a culture of death that finds its origins in sin. Our Lord says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) ― not only spiritual life, not only spiritual health, but also physical health ― and to prove it “Jesus went about all the cities, and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease, and every infirmity” (Matthew 9:35). “Many followed Him, and He healed them all” (Matthew 12:15). “And there came to Him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at His feet―and He healed them” (Matthew 15:30). “And great multitudes followed Him―and He healed them” (Matthew 19:2). “And there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple―and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14). “And He healed many that were troubled with divers diseases” (Mark 1:34). “They followed Him and He received them, and healed them who had need of healing” (Luke 9:11). “And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them to Him. But He, laying His hands on every one of them, healed them” (Luke 4:40).
Yet the main focus of Christ’s coming was to cure the virus of sin and heal the sick sinners: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). God sent His Son into the world so that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “The Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves (and Want to be Helped)
Our Lord could save us without our cooperation―but He will not save us without our cooperation. It is the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, who writes: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you! He who created you without your cooperation, does not justify you without your cooperation. He created you without your knowing it, He does not justify you without your wanting it!”
We see Our Lord seeking this “wanting” or “desire” in His encounter with sick man by the Pool of Bethsaida: “And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, he said to him: ‘Do you WANT to be made whole?’” (John 5:5-6).
We see a similar statement and test of “desire” or “wanting” in one His parables: “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him!’ And he, from within, should answer, and say: ‘Trouble me not! The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed! I cannot rise and give thee!’ Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend―yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you ― ‘Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!’ For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened!” (Luke 11:5-10).By continually and ceaselessly banging on the door, the person proved a high degree of “desire” or “wanting’ ― and thus, after being tested, finally received what was wanted.
The above words of Our Lord were merely in parable form―but Our Lord also put a woman’s depth of “desire” or degree of “wanting” to the test, before helping her: “And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan, a Gentile, a Syrophenician born, who came out of those coasts, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at his feet and besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! My daughter is grievously troubled by the devil!’ Jesus answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought him, saying: ‘Send her away! For she has been crying after us!’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Jesus, answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ But she said: ‘Yes, Lord! But even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou WANT! Go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ ― and her daughter was cured from that hour. And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (combined account from Matthew 15:21-28 & Mark 7:25-30).
Lots of “Would Like To” Folk ― Not Many “Really Want To” Folk
In the above situations, Our Lord indicates that much effort is needed on our part―even though He said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). The fact that “a certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13)―this clearly shows that there are very few really want to be saved. Sure, they WOULD LIKE to be saved, but they DO NOT WANT to put in the efforts and make the sacrifices that need to made in order to be saved. Our Lord WANTS to save everyone, but NOT EVERYONE WANTS to be saved! Our brings us a heavenly Christmas present―salvation―but very few people like what is in the box of salvation once they open it!
“Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” (John 1:4-11; 1:3:19). They listened not, they knew Him not, and they received Him not ― because, though they liked His miracles, they did not like His message and His demands about doing penance and carrying crosses and rejecting riches. That rejection already started implicitly in Bethlehem―when one door after another was closed in faces of Mary and Joseph (and Jesus hidden in the womb). Christ did all He had to do to save the souls that He had come to save―but the vast majority did not want to profit from that―the “terms of the contract” for salvation are not quite to their liking―too much prayer and penance, and not enough fun and games!
Medicines and Cures Only Work if They Are Taken as Prescribed!
If you are sick, you need a cure―and the cure normally comes by way of a medicine that helps your internal immune system to fight the disease, to overcome the disease and to repair the damage done by the disease. The cure might even involve drastic measures―such as an amputation of a limb, or the removal of a part of an organ, etc. In all cases―whether it be a natural, holistic medicine, or a man-made pharmaceutical concoction―you are told to follow a protocol or regimen in administering or taking the cure. Failure to do so will usually also result in a failure to cure. The same is true in our spiritual life, our spiritual health and our relations with God.
There are certain elements in medicines that are used very frequently―whether they be natural or man-made. Similarly, in our diet, there are certain “staples” or foundational foods that are always necessary―such as water, proteins, carbohydrates and fats―which, if we neglect to take in the correct proportions, will result in ill-health in one form or another. In the spiritual life, you also have basic “staples” that are required for spiritual health. A mnemonic device (a memory trigger) for one of those is the acronym (using the first letters of each word) is the word ALTAR ―which reminds us to: Adore God, Love God, Thank God, Ask God for help, Reparation for sins that have offended God. It is very easy to neglect several or even all of the above requirements ― which is what most people do these days.
► ADORATION: Glory, honor and submission fit under the umbrella of adoration. “Adore God!” (Apocalypse 19:10). “Let all the Earth adore thee” (Psalm 65:4). “And all kings of the Earth shall adore Him! All nations shall serve Him” (Psalm 71:11). “All nations shall come and shall adore in Thy sight!” (Apocalypse 15:4). “All the nations, that Thou hast made, shall come and adore before Thee, O Lord, and they shall glorify Thy Name!” (Psalm 85:9). “Bring to the Lord glory and honor! Bring to the Lord glory to His Name! Adore ye the Lord in His holy court” (Psalm 28:2). “Fear the Lord and give him honor, and adore ye Him, that made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters!” (Apocalypse 14:7). Elsewhere, the Archangel Raphael commands: “Adore the Lord thy God and give thanks to Him” (Tobias 11:7). “Come let us adore and fall down―and weep before the Lord that made us!” (Psalm 94:6). “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore His footstool, for it is holy!” (Psalm 98:5). “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at His holy mountain―for the Lord our God is holy!” (Psalm 98:9). The three Magi set out to seek and adore God―Our Lord Jesus Christ―and arrived in Jerusalem, saying: “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to adore Him!” (Matthew 2:2). Satan vainly tried to make Our Lord adore him: “And said to Jesus: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Matthew 4:10). “The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). The very last book of the Bible re-affirms this command: “Adore God!” (Apocalypse 22:9).
Many times does Holy Scripture warn us against “adoring” false gods―and today the world is full of false gods that many adore: money and what money can buy; technological electronics (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, televisions, etc.); fashions; food and drink; entertainment; sex; drugs and alcohol; power; fame; honor and a host of other things. These are the gods of the world, and, in speaking of the surrounding nations, God says: “Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them!” (Exodus 23:24). “Adore not any strange god! The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God!” (Exodus 34:14). “I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol … to adore it―for I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 26:1). “Thou shalt not adore them and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God!” (Deuteronomy 5:9). “But if thou forget the Lord thy God and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that, thou shalt utterly perish!” (Deuteronomy 8:1). “But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou adore strange gods, and serve them―then I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish!” (Deuteronomy 30:17-18). We are perishing today because we adore THINGS rather than adoring GOD. It is the time that we spend on THINGS in comparison to the time we spend on GOD that accuses, indicts and damns us!
► LOVE: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and therefore, says Holy Scripture: “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him.” (1 John 4:7-9). Jesus, being the love of God personified, says: “As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love!” (John 15:9-10). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21). “This is the greatest and the first commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!’” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Charity is a powerful cure for sin and its consequences―not only being able to remit mortal sin, but also all the temporal punishment due to mortal sin―which would allow a soul to immediately enter Heaven without having to suffer the fires of Purgatory in paying for the debt of sin. “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). The ultimate act of charity is the charity of martyrdom―whereby we lay down our lives out of a love of God and the Faith. Our Lord even hails and praises a lesser form of charity, saying: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Without this love or charity, all our efforts in gaining Heaven and salvation amount to nothing: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
► THANKSGIVING: “Be ye thankful!” (Colossians 3:15). “In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Giving thanks to God the Father, Who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12). “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). “Giving thanks always for all things, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 5:20). “Adore the Lord thy God and give thanks to Him” (Tobias 11:7). “Therefore our God we give thanks to Thee, and we praise Thy glorious Name” (1 Paralipomenon 29:13). “Therefore will I give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to Thy Name” (2 Kings 22:50). “I thank my God” (1 Corinthians 14:18).
We should thank God―not only for the good things, which is obvious in itself―but also for what we perceive to be ‘bad’ things. We see an example of this with Job in the Old Testament―who, when God’s Providence allowed Job to lose his children, his wealth and his health―nevertheless praised and thanked God: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away―as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). The same with Tobias―despite God’s Providence having made him blind, Tobias “continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life” (Tobias 2:14).
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q. 106), says that gratitude is a special virtue, allied to justice but subordinate to it. An innocent man owes God thanks for the grace of innocence; a forgiven sinner owes God thanks for merciful pardon. Innocence in itself is greater than forgiveness; yet to the man who is forgiven, forgiveness is the greater gift of the two. For forgiveness meets that man’s necessity as nothing else could do. As a small but essential help given to a poor man is more to the receiver than a great gift bestowed on a man of wealth, so forgiveness is a greater gift to the penitent sinner, than the gift of innocence is to someone who is without any sin that needs forgiving. Hence it seems that the forgiven sinner owes to the giver of this gift of mercy, a greater gratitude than an innocent person would owe. It is written (Luke 7:43): “To whom more is forgiven, he loveth more … To whom less is forgiven, he loveth less”
St. Thomas then explains that ingratitude is the vice which stands opposed to the virtue of gratitude. The vice of ingratitude finds expression in sins of ingratitude. Acts or sins of ingratitude are of three types: (a) failure to return a favor received; (b) failure to express thanks for a favor; (c) failure to notice that one has received a favor at all. These types of ungrateful acts are degrees, and are rated, in the order given, as bad, worse, and worst of all. 3. Conscious ingratitude is always a sin―mortal or venial―according to the nature of the ungrateful act and the conditions of its doing. Elsewhere, St. Thomas says that a lack of love of God is often related to a lack of gratitude or thankfulness towards God―so that if we wish to grow in a love of God, we should start to thank Him more for the countless things He has done for us―and since most people are blind to what God has done for them, they need to start looking deeper into their lives to discover the numerous graces God has bestowed upon them―spiritually, materially, physically, health-wise, financially, etc., etc. The more we find, the more we will thank, and, consequently, the more our love for God will grow.
The vast majority of people are not sufficiently thankful to God―just as we see in the incident where Jesus cured ten lepers and only one of the ten came back to give thanks: “As Jesus entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go! Show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before the feet of Jesus, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan [who were traditional enemies of the Jews]. And Jesus answering, said: ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory [thanks] to God, but this stranger!’” (Luke 17:12-18).
“I will give thanks to Thee in a great church! I will praise Thee in a strong people” (Psalm 34:18). “I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and, in the midst of many, I will praise Him” (Psalm 108:30). “O give thanks to the Lord, because He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever and ever” (Daniel 3:89). “Having been delivered by God out of great dangers, we give Him great thanks” (2 Machabees 1:11).
In giving things to others, God is like most people―or should we say most people are like God. We tend to give more to those who are the most thankful and grateful, and less to those who show ingratitude. That is exactly how God works―if you want more from God, start thanking Him more!
► ASKING: Our Lord Himself tells us: “Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you! For every one that asketh, receiveth―and he that seeketh, findeth―and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened! Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children―then how much more will your Father Who is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matthew 7:7-11).
Yet, as Our Lord says, we must ask with great Faith and confidence―half-hearted, lukewarm, presumptuous asking will just not make the grade: “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22). “But let him ask in Faith, nothing wavering! For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea―which is moved and carried about by the wind” (James 1:6). Furthermore, we need to ask God through Jesus ― “Ask in My Name!” (John 16:26) … “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, that will I do! If you shall ask Me anything in My Name, that I will do!” (John 14:13-14) … “Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you!” (John 15:16).
Our Lord revealed to one of His mystics that many people lose out on what they are asking for, because they give up asking far too soon. He said that many a time He was on the verge of granting their requests―but, out of impatience, or lack of hope, or lack of perseverance, they stopped praying and asking! For as much as thirty years, St. Monica perseveringly prayed for the conversion of her wayward son, St. Augustine―and look how greatly God answered and rewarded her prayers! Not only did Augustine convert―but he became a priest, a bishop and one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church―and, the icing on the cake was that he also became a saint!
Speaking of St. Augustine―the saint points out to us three chief reasons why our prayers often go unanswered. He says that this is because:
(1) We are bad―meaning that we are in a state of mortal sin, which puts us at enmity with God―and God will not answer and grant the prayers His enemies. God, however, does use the prayers of the person in mortal sin by making them rebound on themselves, so as to bring about a conversion and a return to a state of sanctifying grace. But until they do this, the prayers of mortal sinners for other persons, causes or intentions, will simply not ‘work’. “We know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him He heareth” (John 9:31).
(2) We pray badly―meaning that might pray too fast, or too distractedly, or lukewarmly, or without faith, hope and confidence, or presumptuously. Such an attitude in prayer does not merit an answer from God, until our attitude improves. “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
(3) We pray for what will be bad for us―meaning that God sees that what we asking for, will not be to the advantage of saving our soul, but might well lead us astray―but in our limited knowledge of the future, we ourselves fail to see that, but God, in His mercy, refuses our request in order to save our soul. “And Jesus answering, said: ‘You know not what you ask!’” (Matthew 20:22).
► REPARATION: God requires that we repair for our sins―this is what He means when He requires that we do penance, judgment and justice: “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:21-23).
“Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Do penance and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance” (Acts 26:20). “God hath given him place for penance―and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “No, I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and Jesus immediately repeats Himself] … No, I say to you―but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5).
Nothing has changed over the centuries―even until our very own days! Already at La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady bewailed the lack of penance and spoke of our present days: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.”
At Lourdes, barely 12 years later, in 1858, Our Lady would again insist upon: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” St. Bernadette was also told to eat some grass as a penance and was told: “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners.”
At Fatima, even before Our Lady appeared in 1917, the Angel of Portugal appeared three times to the three children―encouraging them to do penance: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.” When Our Lady appeared for the first time, in May of 1917, she very quickly got to the point of what she wanted―penances and sacrifices and prayers: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed to Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
One would be led to imagine that COVID-19 was the worst plague the world has ever known! Certain folk would like us to beLIEve a LIE. That is the goal of all the false propaganda spewed out by a sick MSM (mainstream media) regarding the exaggerated and even lying information concerning COVID-19, or SARS-COV-2, or Coronavirus, or “Con-all-a-virus”, or whatever else you want to call the man-made, media-inflated and government overrated threat that has allegedly decimated the world population over the last 12 months, yet based on deaths per capita, the global average death rate for COVID-19 is 0.009%. The average person’s chance of surviving this disease is 99.991% and for those who contract COVID-19, 99% of people recover from it without the need of hospital intervention.
In place of all that false propaganda it well worth knowing about a real virus, that has a 99.99999999% percent infection rate and a 100% fatality rate―leading to the death of every man, woman and child that has ever existed. What is this deadly virus? It is the virus of sin―and everyone has it! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). We are all sinners and we all need the vaccine of God to destroy and immunize us against the virus of sin. Sin is the greatest and most fatal of all ‘viruses’. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
The Killer Virus
Decay, disease and death were not part of God’s original plan for mankind. God’s original plan was changed by Original Sin. “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “By one man sin entered into this world and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). Pretty simple and clear, huh? Original Sin brought about the original death sentence―and that death sentence (and therefore all the diseases and circumstances that lead to death) have been passed onto us. Even if Adam and Eve had not sinned―anyone else committing sin in future generations would have to die: “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:21). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
Sin and Sickness and Disease
Therefore, we can clearly see that sickness and death are the by-products of sin! It is as simple and as clear as that! Our Lord Holy Scripture makes this abundantly clear in Holy Scripture: “There was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole and he took up his bed and walked ... Afterwards, Jesus finding him in the Temple, said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole [healed from your disease]! Sin no more―lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:5-14).
In the above incident with the man at the poolside, we see the direct link between sin and disease, with disease being the sting of sin. There are many other passages within Scripture that echo the same sentiments―here are a few: “Serve the Lord your God, that I … may take away sickness from the midst of thee” (Exodus 23:25). “But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments; if you despise My laws and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, then I also will do these things to you: … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-16; 21, 28).
The same connection between sin and sickness is implied here: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15).
In that wonderful little book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Let us never then attribute our losses, our disappointments, our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men, but to God as their real source. ‘To act otherwise’ says St. Dorothy, ‘would be to do the same as a dog who vents his anger on the stone, instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him.’ So let us be careful not to say ‘So‑and‑so is the cause of my misfortune.’ Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person, but of God …
“We ought to conform to the will of God in sickness and infirmity and wish for what He sends us, both at the time it comes and for the time it lasts and with all the circumstances attending it, without wishing for one of them to be changed; and at the same time do all that is reasonable in our power to get well again, because God wishes it so. ‘For my part’says St. Alphonsus, ‘I call illness the touchstone of the spirit, for it is then that the true virtue of a man is discovered.’ If we feel ourselves becoming impatient or rebellious, we should endeavor to repress such feelings and be deeply ashamed of any attempt at opposition to the just decrees of an all‑wise God.”
“St. Bonaventure relates that St. Francis of Assisi was afflicted by an illness which caused him great pain. One of his followers said to him, ‘Ask Our Lord to treat you a little more gently, for it seems to me He lays His hand too heavily upon you.’ Hearing this the saint gave a cry and addressed the man in these words: ‘If I did not think that what you have just said comes from the simplicity of your heart without any evil intention I would have no more to do with you, because you have been so rash as to find fault with what God does to me.’ Then, though he was very weak from the length and violence of his illness, he threw himself down from the rough bed he was lying on, at the risk of breaking his bones, and kissing the floor of his cell said I thank You, O Lord, for all the sufferings You send me. I beg You to send me a hundred times more if You think it right. I shall rejoice if it pleases You to afflict me without sparing me in any way, for the accomplishment of Your holy will is my greatest consolation.”
“And in fact if, as St. Ephraim observes, a mule‑driver knows how much his mule can carry and does not try to kill it by overloading it, and if the potter knows how long the clay should bake to be suitable for use and does not leave it in the kiln longer than is necessary, then it would show very little appreciation of God to venture to think that He, Who is wisdom itself and loves us with an infinite love, would load our backs with too heavy a burden or leave us longer than is necessary in the fire of tribulation. We can be quite sure that the fire will not last longer or be hotter than is necessary to bake our clay to the right point … When God cooperates with the person who attacks or robs you―He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul ... Everything is meant for our good, and trials ought to be counted as special graces from God ... Whether or not they are sent as a punishment for our sins, they come from Him and we should thank Him for them, placing ourselves entirely in His hands. If we bear them with patience we shall receive greater grace than if we were filled with a sense of fervent devotion.” (Extracts from Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
There is no “getting away with sin” ― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Christ the Christmas Cure
Christ comes to cure this culture of death in which we live―a culture of death that finds its origins in sin. Our Lord says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10) ― not only spiritual life, not only spiritual health, but also physical health ― and to prove it “Jesus went about all the cities, and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease, and every infirmity” (Matthew 9:35). “Many followed Him, and He healed them all” (Matthew 12:15). “And there came to Him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at His feet―and He healed them” (Matthew 15:30). “And great multitudes followed Him―and He healed them” (Matthew 19:2). “And there came to Him the blind and the lame in the Temple―and He healed them” (Matthew 21:14). “And He healed many that were troubled with divers diseases” (Mark 1:34). “They followed Him and He received them, and healed them who had need of healing” (Luke 9:11). “And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them to Him. But He, laying His hands on every one of them, healed them” (Luke 4:40).
Yet the main focus of Christ’s coming was to cure the virus of sin and heal the sick sinners: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). God sent His Son into the world so that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “The Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves (and Want to be Helped)
Our Lord could save us without our cooperation―but He will not save us without our cooperation. It is the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, who writes: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you! He who created you without your cooperation, does not justify you without your cooperation. He created you without your knowing it, He does not justify you without your wanting it!”
We see Our Lord seeking this “wanting” or “desire” in His encounter with sick man by the Pool of Bethsaida: “And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, he said to him: ‘Do you WANT to be made whole?’” (John 5:5-6).
We see a similar statement and test of “desire” or “wanting” in one His parables: “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him!’ And he, from within, should answer, and say: ‘Trouble me not! The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed! I cannot rise and give thee!’ Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend―yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you ― ‘Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!’ For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened!” (Luke 11:5-10).By continually and ceaselessly banging on the door, the person proved a high degree of “desire” or “wanting’ ― and thus, after being tested, finally received what was wanted.
The above words of Our Lord were merely in parable form―but Our Lord also put a woman’s depth of “desire” or degree of “wanting” to the test, before helping her: “And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan, a Gentile, a Syrophenician born, who came out of those coasts, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at his feet and besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! My daughter is grievously troubled by the devil!’ Jesus answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought him, saying: ‘Send her away! For she has been crying after us!’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Jesus, answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ But she said: ‘Yes, Lord! But even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou WANT! Go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ ― and her daughter was cured from that hour. And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (combined account from Matthew 15:21-28 & Mark 7:25-30).
Lots of “Would Like To” Folk ― Not Many “Really Want To” Folk
In the above situations, Our Lord indicates that much effort is needed on our part―even though He said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). The fact that “a certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13)―this clearly shows that there are very few really want to be saved. Sure, they WOULD LIKE to be saved, but they DO NOT WANT to put in the efforts and make the sacrifices that need to made in order to be saved. Our Lord WANTS to save everyone, but NOT EVERYONE WANTS to be saved! Our brings us a heavenly Christmas present―salvation―but very few people like what is in the box of salvation once they open it!
“Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3-5). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” (John 1:4-11; 1:3:19). They listened not, they knew Him not, and they received Him not ― because, though they liked His miracles, they did not like His message and His demands about doing penance and carrying crosses and rejecting riches. That rejection already started implicitly in Bethlehem―when one door after another was closed in faces of Mary and Joseph (and Jesus hidden in the womb). Christ did all He had to do to save the souls that He had come to save―but the vast majority did not want to profit from that―the “terms of the contract” for salvation are not quite to their liking―too much prayer and penance, and not enough fun and games!
Medicines and Cures Only Work if They Are Taken as Prescribed!
If you are sick, you need a cure―and the cure normally comes by way of a medicine that helps your internal immune system to fight the disease, to overcome the disease and to repair the damage done by the disease. The cure might even involve drastic measures―such as an amputation of a limb, or the removal of a part of an organ, etc. In all cases―whether it be a natural, holistic medicine, or a man-made pharmaceutical concoction―you are told to follow a protocol or regimen in administering or taking the cure. Failure to do so will usually also result in a failure to cure. The same is true in our spiritual life, our spiritual health and our relations with God.
There are certain elements in medicines that are used very frequently―whether they be natural or man-made. Similarly, in our diet, there are certain “staples” or foundational foods that are always necessary―such as water, proteins, carbohydrates and fats―which, if we neglect to take in the correct proportions, will result in ill-health in one form or another. In the spiritual life, you also have basic “staples” that are required for spiritual health. A mnemonic device (a memory trigger) for one of those is the acronym (using the first letters of each word) is the word ALTAR ―which reminds us to: Adore God, Love God, Thank God, Ask God for help, Reparation for sins that have offended God. It is very easy to neglect several or even all of the above requirements ― which is what most people do these days.
► ADORATION: Glory, honor and submission fit under the umbrella of adoration. “Adore God!” (Apocalypse 19:10). “Let all the Earth adore thee” (Psalm 65:4). “And all kings of the Earth shall adore Him! All nations shall serve Him” (Psalm 71:11). “All nations shall come and shall adore in Thy sight!” (Apocalypse 15:4). “All the nations, that Thou hast made, shall come and adore before Thee, O Lord, and they shall glorify Thy Name!” (Psalm 85:9). “Bring to the Lord glory and honor! Bring to the Lord glory to His Name! Adore ye the Lord in His holy court” (Psalm 28:2). “Fear the Lord and give him honor, and adore ye Him, that made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters!” (Apocalypse 14:7). Elsewhere, the Archangel Raphael commands: “Adore the Lord thy God and give thanks to Him” (Tobias 11:7). “Come let us adore and fall down―and weep before the Lord that made us!” (Psalm 94:6). “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore His footstool, for it is holy!” (Psalm 98:5). “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at His holy mountain―for the Lord our God is holy!” (Psalm 98:9). The three Magi set out to seek and adore God―Our Lord Jesus Christ―and arrived in Jerusalem, saying: “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to adore Him!” (Matthew 2:2). Satan vainly tried to make Our Lord adore him: “And said to Jesus: ‘All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus said to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’” (Matthew 4:10). “The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). The very last book of the Bible re-affirms this command: “Adore God!” (Apocalypse 22:9).
Many times does Holy Scripture warn us against “adoring” false gods―and today the world is full of false gods that many adore: money and what money can buy; technological electronics (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, televisions, etc.); fashions; food and drink; entertainment; sex; drugs and alcohol; power; fame; honor and a host of other things. These are the gods of the world, and, in speaking of the surrounding nations, God says: “Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them!” (Exodus 23:24). “Adore not any strange god! The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God!” (Exodus 34:14). “I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol … to adore it―for I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 26:1). “Thou shalt not adore them and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God!” (Deuteronomy 5:9). “But if thou forget the Lord thy God and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that, thou shalt utterly perish!” (Deuteronomy 8:1). “But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou adore strange gods, and serve them―then I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish!” (Deuteronomy 30:17-18). We are perishing today because we adore THINGS rather than adoring GOD. It is the time that we spend on THINGS in comparison to the time we spend on GOD that accuses, indicts and damns us!
► LOVE: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and therefore, says Holy Scripture: “Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him.” (1 John 4:7-9). Jesus, being the love of God personified, says: “As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love!” (John 15:9-10). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21). “This is the greatest and the first commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!’” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31).
Charity is a powerful cure for sin and its consequences―not only being able to remit mortal sin, but also all the temporal punishment due to mortal sin―which would allow a soul to immediately enter Heaven without having to suffer the fires of Purgatory in paying for the debt of sin. “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). The ultimate act of charity is the charity of martyrdom―whereby we lay down our lives out of a love of God and the Faith. Our Lord even hails and praises a lesser form of charity, saying: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Without this love or charity, all our efforts in gaining Heaven and salvation amount to nothing: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
► THANKSGIVING: “Be ye thankful!” (Colossians 3:15). “In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Giving thanks to God the Father, Who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12). “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). “Giving thanks always for all things, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 5:20). “Adore the Lord thy God and give thanks to Him” (Tobias 11:7). “Therefore our God we give thanks to Thee, and we praise Thy glorious Name” (1 Paralipomenon 29:13). “Therefore will I give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to Thy Name” (2 Kings 22:50). “I thank my God” (1 Corinthians 14:18).
We should thank God―not only for the good things, which is obvious in itself―but also for what we perceive to be ‘bad’ things. We see an example of this with Job in the Old Testament―who, when God’s Providence allowed Job to lose his children, his wealth and his health―nevertheless praised and thanked God: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away―as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). The same with Tobias―despite God’s Providence having made him blind, Tobias “continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life” (Tobias 2:14).
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (IIa-IIae, q. 106), says that gratitude is a special virtue, allied to justice but subordinate to it. An innocent man owes God thanks for the grace of innocence; a forgiven sinner owes God thanks for merciful pardon. Innocence in itself is greater than forgiveness; yet to the man who is forgiven, forgiveness is the greater gift of the two. For forgiveness meets that man’s necessity as nothing else could do. As a small but essential help given to a poor man is more to the receiver than a great gift bestowed on a man of wealth, so forgiveness is a greater gift to the penitent sinner, than the gift of innocence is to someone who is without any sin that needs forgiving. Hence it seems that the forgiven sinner owes to the giver of this gift of mercy, a greater gratitude than an innocent person would owe. It is written (Luke 7:43): “To whom more is forgiven, he loveth more … To whom less is forgiven, he loveth less”
St. Thomas then explains that ingratitude is the vice which stands opposed to the virtue of gratitude. The vice of ingratitude finds expression in sins of ingratitude. Acts or sins of ingratitude are of three types: (a) failure to return a favor received; (b) failure to express thanks for a favor; (c) failure to notice that one has received a favor at all. These types of ungrateful acts are degrees, and are rated, in the order given, as bad, worse, and worst of all. 3. Conscious ingratitude is always a sin―mortal or venial―according to the nature of the ungrateful act and the conditions of its doing. Elsewhere, St. Thomas says that a lack of love of God is often related to a lack of gratitude or thankfulness towards God―so that if we wish to grow in a love of God, we should start to thank Him more for the countless things He has done for us―and since most people are blind to what God has done for them, they need to start looking deeper into their lives to discover the numerous graces God has bestowed upon them―spiritually, materially, physically, health-wise, financially, etc., etc. The more we find, the more we will thank, and, consequently, the more our love for God will grow.
The vast majority of people are not sufficiently thankful to God―just as we see in the incident where Jesus cured ten lepers and only one of the ten came back to give thanks: “As Jesus entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!’ Whom, when He saw, He said: ‘Go! Show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before the feet of Jesus, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan [who were traditional enemies of the Jews]. And Jesus answering, said: ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory [thanks] to God, but this stranger!’” (Luke 17:12-18).
“I will give thanks to Thee in a great church! I will praise Thee in a strong people” (Psalm 34:18). “I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and, in the midst of many, I will praise Him” (Psalm 108:30). “O give thanks to the Lord, because He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever and ever” (Daniel 3:89). “Having been delivered by God out of great dangers, we give Him great thanks” (2 Machabees 1:11).
In giving things to others, God is like most people―or should we say most people are like God. We tend to give more to those who are the most thankful and grateful, and less to those who show ingratitude. That is exactly how God works―if you want more from God, start thanking Him more!
► ASKING: Our Lord Himself tells us: “Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you! For every one that asketh, receiveth―and he that seeketh, findeth―and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened! Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children―then how much more will your Father Who is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matthew 7:7-11).
Yet, as Our Lord says, we must ask with great Faith and confidence―half-hearted, lukewarm, presumptuous asking will just not make the grade: “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22). “But let him ask in Faith, nothing wavering! For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea―which is moved and carried about by the wind” (James 1:6). Furthermore, we need to ask God through Jesus ― “Ask in My Name!” (John 16:26) … “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, that will I do! If you shall ask Me anything in My Name, that I will do!” (John 14:13-14) … “Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you!” (John 15:16).
Our Lord revealed to one of His mystics that many people lose out on what they are asking for, because they give up asking far too soon. He said that many a time He was on the verge of granting their requests―but, out of impatience, or lack of hope, or lack of perseverance, they stopped praying and asking! For as much as thirty years, St. Monica perseveringly prayed for the conversion of her wayward son, St. Augustine―and look how greatly God answered and rewarded her prayers! Not only did Augustine convert―but he became a priest, a bishop and one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church―and, the icing on the cake was that he also became a saint!
Speaking of St. Augustine―the saint points out to us three chief reasons why our prayers often go unanswered. He says that this is because:
(1) We are bad―meaning that we are in a state of mortal sin, which puts us at enmity with God―and God will not answer and grant the prayers His enemies. God, however, does use the prayers of the person in mortal sin by making them rebound on themselves, so as to bring about a conversion and a return to a state of sanctifying grace. But until they do this, the prayers of mortal sinners for other persons, causes or intentions, will simply not ‘work’. “We know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him He heareth” (John 9:31).
(2) We pray badly―meaning that might pray too fast, or too distractedly, or lukewarmly, or without faith, hope and confidence, or presumptuously. Such an attitude in prayer does not merit an answer from God, until our attitude improves. “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
(3) We pray for what will be bad for us―meaning that God sees that what we asking for, will not be to the advantage of saving our soul, but might well lead us astray―but in our limited knowledge of the future, we ourselves fail to see that, but God, in His mercy, refuses our request in order to save our soul. “And Jesus answering, said: ‘You know not what you ask!’” (Matthew 20:22).
► REPARATION: God requires that we repair for our sins―this is what He means when He requires that we do penance, judgment and justice: “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:21-23).
“Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). “Do penance and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance” (Acts 26:20). “God hath given him place for penance―and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “No, I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and Jesus immediately repeats Himself] … No, I say to you―but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5).
Nothing has changed over the centuries―even until our very own days! Already at La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady bewailed the lack of penance and spoke of our present days: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.”
At Lourdes, barely 12 years later, in 1858, Our Lady would again insist upon: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” St. Bernadette was also told to eat some grass as a penance and was told: “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners.”
At Fatima, even before Our Lady appeared in 1917, the Angel of Portugal appeared three times to the three children―encouraging them to do penance: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.” When Our Lady appeared for the first time, in May of 1917, she very quickly got to the point of what she wanted―penances and sacrifices and prayers: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed to Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No―Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed! So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
CHRISTMAS DAY
Friday December 25th to Sunday December 27th
Article 1
Lockdowns Make Us Spend Christmas Like the Infant Christ!
Friday December 25th to Sunday December 27th
Article 1
Lockdowns Make Us Spend Christmas Like the Infant Christ!
What is Going On Out There?
What on earth is going on? Covid crisis cultivates Christmas cheerlessness! Christmas customs changed! Christmas celebrations cancelled! Christmas cheer criticized―Christmas caution counseled! Christmas church closure crackdown! Christmas congegrating curtailed! Christmas curfew created! Christmas confinement compliance commanded! Christmas computer conference calls climb! What in heaven’s name is going on? What on earth are they trying to do? Who the hell is behind all this? In those last three sentences you have the answer―Heaven and Hell with Earth stuck in the middle of a tug of war. Christ leaves Heaven to be born on Earth at Christmas to save its inhabitants from Hell.
The Forgotten Purpose of Christmas
“The Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Our Lord Did Not Come to Party!
Our Lord came to save―not to party! He came to suffer―not to have fun! He came in poverty―so that we might not be seduced by seeking riches! He made it abundantly clear that He did come to enjoy Himself in this world, but to teach us how to detach ourselves from this world: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The World is Not a Friend of God―But an Enemy
To the above words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
In a nutshell, that is Our Lord’s “Christmas Message” ― but is it not a message that is liked, nor is it obeyed and followed. Holy Scripture tells us that, from the very beginning, Our Lord’s “Christmas Message” was disliked and ignored: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil … He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” (John 1:4-11; 1:3:19). Today, even less people receive Him―and those who do receive Him, tweak and twist His message to fit their own preferences and liking!
Spirituality Secularized
As the proverb says: “You can’t leave clothes for long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” Likewise, you can’t live in a secular world for long without taking on the ‘smell’ of secularism or worldliness. Our spirituality and sanctity is watered-down and mixed-in with the viruses of worldliness and secularism to the point where we lose our original Baptism fullness of sanctifying grace and become diseased hybrids―we no longer remain staunch Christians or Catholics pursuing holiness, but we become worldly secularized Christians or worldly secularized Catholics who are content to enjoy the world rather than fight it.
Strange Connection Between Liberalism and Covid-19
Talking of viruses―which seems an inescapable thing these days―Fr. Felix Salvany, in his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, has an introductory passage that dovetails with the virus obsession that rules the world today. Fr. Salvany writes in his opening chapter:
“Physical science tells us that floating through the atmosphere are innumerable disease germs seeking a suitable nidus in which to settle and propagate and that we are constantly breathing these germs into the lungs. If the [immune] system be depleted or weakened, the dangerous microbe takes up its abode with us, and propagating its own kind with astonishing rapidity, undermines and ravages our health. The only safeguard against the encroachments of this insidious enemy, which we cannot escape, is a vigorous and healthy body with adequate powers of resistance to repel the invader.
“It is equally true that we are subject to like infectious attacks in the spiritual order. Swarming in the atmosphere of our spiritual lives are innumerable deadly germs, ever ready to fasten upon the depleted and weakened soul and, propagating its leprous contagion through every faculty, destroy the spiritual life. Against the menace of this ever-threatening danger, whose advances we cannot avoid in our present circumstances, the ever-healthy soul alone can be prepared. To escape the contagion, the power of resistance must be equal to the emergencies of the attack, and that power will be in proportion to our spiritual health. To be prepared is to be armed, but to be prepared is not sufficient; we must possess the interior strength to throw off the germ. There must be no condition in the soul to make a suitable nidus [platform] for an enemy so insidious and so efficacious as to need only the slightest point of contact whence to spread its deadly contagion.
Christmas is a time of giving gifts―and Fr. Salvany providentially speaks of gifts and enemies (which brings to mind the gift of the Magi and the enmity of King Herod) as he continues: “It is not only through the avenues of disordered passions that this spiritual disease may gain an entrance; it may make its inroad through the intellect, and this under a disguise often calculated to deceive the unwary and incautious. The Trojans admitted the enemy into their walls under the impression that they were actually securing a valuable acquisition to their safety, and today their fatal experience has come down to us in the proverb—“Beware of the Greeks when they bring gifts.” Intellectual torpidity, inexperience, ignorance, indifference, and complaisance, or even virtues, such as, benevolence, generosity, and pity may be the unsuspected way open to the foe, and lo, we are surprised to find him in possession of the citadel!
“That we may know our danger, we must appreciate the possible shapes in which it may come. Here is just the difficulty; the uniform of the enemy is so various, changeable, sometimes even of our own colors, that if we rely upon the outward semblance alone, we shall be more often deceived than certain of his identity. But before laying down any test by which we may distinguish friend from foe in a warfare so subtly fought within the precincts of our own souls, let us first reconnoiter the respective positions of either camp, and to do this best, we shall consider the origin and sources of the danger which surrounds us, for we may be asked: “Where is this foe described as so intangible as scarcely to be apprehended by ordinary mortals?” Or it may be urged: “Is the danger as proximate, as frequent and [as] fearful as you allege? Whence is it anyhow? Point it out! If we know from what direction the enemy comes, we may better appreciate the peril.”
As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life, and, as the spiritual and moral conditions, which obtain in this country, make up the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we have our being, it is in the relation of our surroundings to ourselves, as well as of ourselves to our surroundings, that we shall find the answer to our question.
Fr. Salvany then looks at the religious statistics for America―which we have updated according the present day stats―and he basically says that we are, like clothes in a smoky room, living in the middle of a very Liberal and anti-Catholic environment that greatly outnumbers us and greatly influences us:
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 330 million [2020 estimates]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 140 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 120 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all [2020 estimates] … who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little importance whether they hold themselves merely indifferent, or are positively hostile … We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2020 stats] 260 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic.
“From this mass of people—heretical and infidel—there breathes out an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart [Perhaps we should wear spiritual masks and practice spiritual, intellectual and moral ‘social distancing’ and willingly embrace a spiritual, intellectual and moral self-isolation from these people!]. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass [the world] ever exercises upon the smaller mass [Christians], is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst a heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace … We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
What Fr. Salvany is saying is not rocket science, but a commonly observable fact―Catholicism has been on a perpetual decline for centuries. Even though the number of Catholics grows―for example, it has more than doubled in just over 50 years: for in 1965 there were around 600,000,000 (600 million) Catholics in the world, while today that number is around 1,400,000,000 (1,400 million or 1.4 billion) out of a world population of around 7,800,000,000 (7,800 million or 7.8 billion). That gives a ratio of 2:11, where out of every 11 people in the world, 2 of those are Catholic. In being outnumbered by over 5 to 1, this puts great pressure on Catholics to resist a world that most of them find irresistible. Hence, little by little, more and more Catholics are failing in Faith and falling into worldliness―whereby the put the world above God and their Faith. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5).
Christmas, Covid, Entropy and Thermodynamics!
“Huh?” you say, “Christmas, Covid, Entropy and Thermodynamics? What have you been drinking? Are you drunk? Have you gone crazy and insane amidst all this Covid fear-mongering, quarantining and self isolation?” No, my friend! Not drunk, not crazy―but sober as a judge and clear as a bell! God made all things―which means He also made the Laws of Physics―and all things are bound and ruled by those laws.
Possibly one of the most famous (among scientists at least) and important laws of all science, is the Law of Entropy. It states: “The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum.” But what is “entropy”? Entropy is one of the consequences of the second law of thermodynamics. The most popular idea or synonym related to entropy, is the idea of disorder. The dictionary will define “entropy” as “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.” Entropy is the measure of disorder―the higher the disorder within a system, then the higher the entropy of that system. So when scientists say “The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum” ― this means that the entropy or disorder of the universe is constantly increasing. In other words, the universe is on a path of winding-down, of decaying, of falling into ever increasing disorder―and mankind seems to be following suit.
Everything in the universe is winding-down, decaying―unless there is some outside intervention that rectifies the situation. If there is no outside intervention of somebody washing the car―then the car will gradually rust away. If a house is not maintained by an outside force or agent (the owner of the house), then it decay and fall into disrepair. If we fail to use the outside agency of food and drink―then we will rapidly fall into disease and death. We ourselves need many outside agents to maintain our Faith and to prevent it from decaying, becoming disordered and falling into damnation―those outside agents are the many different agencies of the Church: Catholic priests, Catholic teachers, Catholic doctrine, Catholic moral teaching, the Holy Scriptures, the Catechism, the Sacraments, Sacramentals, etc. Yet ultimately, the only true agent that can intervene in our lives and prevent decay, disorder, degeneration and damnation―is Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 5:15). It is at Christmas that this “outside agent”―Our Lord Jesus Christ―comes from Heaven to Earth in order to rescue mankind from its continual and gradual decline into greater disorder and increasing decay.
Sin is the Spiritual Entropy
Sin is the spiritual entropy―that is to say, spiritual disorder―and just as entropy increases over time, likewise sin increases the disorders of the soul with time. The universe is made up of multiple systems, all of which are progressively increasing in entropy (disorder, decay, dying). As one scientist writes: “If the system was a living being, the living being would be dead in a state of maximum entropy.” That is exactly what sin does to the soul―and also to the universe. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “By one man sin entered into this world and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:21).
That is spiritual entropy in a nutshell―sin brings spiritual disorder, decay and death! Through the Fall of Adam and Eve ― which we call “Original Sin” ― the harmony of creation was also destroyed. Original Sin caused a rupture, or break, in the harmony between body and soul that was part of God’s creation of man. In the original innocence of our first parents, there was perfect harmony: harmony with God, harmony with the surrounding world, harmony with one’s self. The decision to break away from God’s will also broke the original harmony in creation, and there has been tension ever since.
In the account of the First Fall and Original Sin, in the Book of Genesis, we see how Adam and Eve became aware of their sinful condition, were driven out of the garden, were forced to live by the sweat of their brow and were now doomed to disease and death. The beauty and harmony of God’s creative plan was disrupted. This was not the way it was meant to be―Adam was not supposed to sin, and by not sinning he was not supposed to die, or even contract any disease whatsoever. Once sin entered into life and into our world, all harmony with God, with self, with each other, and with the world around us was shattered. We call the Fall of Adam and Eve, and its results, by the name “Original Sin.” Original Sin — passed down through the generations of humanity — brought to our first parents the alienation from paradise, and with it all the effects of mortality―pain, illness, suffering, aging, death and decay―plus the tendency to give in to temptation and to sin, by what we call “concupiscence”.
A driver had problems with his car always wanting to veer to one side and that it would drive straight. The mechanic asked if the driver had recently driven through a pothole or perhaps had hit the curb. He explained that this could be sufficient to have forced the wheels out of alignment. All the driver knew was that it took a lot of work to drive straight down the highway with the car constantly pulling off center. Without constant attention and constant adjustment of the steering wheel, the car tended to drift off the road. “One big pothole can do that,” the mechanic informed the puzzled driver, “and after that, it’s almost impossible to go straight without constant correction.” What is true for an automobile is, in this sense, also true of the human soul. Theologians have long attempted to explain humanity’s tendency to veer off course―one big sin (that of our first parents Adam and Eve) and it’s almost impossible to go straight without constant correction due our innate, inborn tendency towards sin, which is the result of Original Sin. The consequences of Original Sin are only a fair punishment from God for sin. Nobody can “get away” with sinning―God will sooner or later administer the punitive consequences of sin.
Our Lady has indicated this on several occasions: “Sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity.” (Our Lady at Fatima & Akita).
In the last 50 or so years since Our Lady last spoke at Akita, the level of sin has not decreased, but has increased exponentially! It has “gone through the roof” and “rocketed sky-high”! When those words of warning were spoken by Our Lady, there was legalized abortion, no abortive contraception pills, much lower divorce totals, limited TV broadcasting, no computers, no smartphones, no internet, no social media, very little pornography, fashions were much more decent (though still immodest), much lower numbers of illegal drug use, etc., etc. Yet even in 1956, Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” 1956!!! What would she say in 2020 or 2021?
It is in this light that we have to look at and evaluate what is happening worldwide right now. Since sin has been escalating from year to year, is it surprising that Russia has spread her errors throughout the world (as Our Lady of Fatima foretold) and that we are now on the verge of a totalitarian take-over of the world by an oligarchy of the world’s elite? Not surprising at all―except to those who have had their heads and minds buried in an overindulgence of entertainment and fun. We can be indignant as we want―but the fact remains that we are deserving of what we getting right now! We have failed to pay attention to Our Lady’s messages and carry out her instructions―and God will not allow such indifference, neglect and refusal go unpunished. Heaven placed our fate in our own hands―and we refused to raise those hands in prayer and put those hands to sacrifice!
If we think we have a right to be indignant―then how much more reason has God to be indignant about our indignance over His just and rightful punishments? If very few people regularly attend Mass on Sundays―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to limit or even curtail church attendance? If sins galore are committed when people have freedom of movement―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to restrict our freedom of movement, thereby reducing the number of sins committed daily? If all people think about is money and entertainment, and very little about God―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to cause those people to lose the source of their money (employment/jobs) and to remove a wide variety of entertainments so that they would potentially have much more time to think about God?
A Merry Lockdown and a Happy Self-Isolation
Nothing happens to us by chance! Nor can we say that it is bad-luck, for in reality there is no luck―everything that happens has been foreseen and allowed by God. In the book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read that in “treating of the Will of God, St. Thomas Aquinas, following St. Augustine, teaches that it is the cause of all that exists … Neither can any man say to him, ‘Why dost Thou so?’ For if He assigns to His creatures the end that He wills, and chooses the means which seem good to Him to lead them to it, the end He assigns them must be good and wise, nor can He direct them towards their end other than by good and wise means. ‘Therefore do not become foolish’ the Apostle tells us, ‘but understand what the will of the Lord is’ … Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ … Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects―like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action―the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if, you will object, someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame, you will conclude, can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission.”
Human Thoughts Are Not God’s Thoughts
Our indignant and angry attitudes often come from a too-human viewpoint of things. God tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). In Holy Scripture we see exactly that―as St. Peter’s well-intentioned thoughts end up being in opposition to Our Lord’s thoughts: “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and Scribes and Chief Priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Another instance of God’s thoughts being different to the thoughts of men is again seen to involve His Apostles―where St. James and St. John wanted to call down fire from Heaven to destroy a Samaritan city, because they would not receive Our Lord favorably: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
We see another such case in the Old Testament, where, during the Exodus, the Israelites were at odds with the thoughts and methods of God. It was murmuring about how God’s providence was treating them that cost millions of Israelites their lives as a result of God’s death sentence that He imposed on that “stiff-necked” people, by forcing them to wander in wilderness for 40 years. As Holy Scripture tells us: “With most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not … murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer! Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand―let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:5-11).
How many of our “well-intentioned” thoughts are not in line with God’s thoughts? Possibly and probably very many, or even most of them! Let us not fall into the “murmuring syndrome” (or “murmuring SIN-drome”) with regard to the events in the world.
Holy Scripture further instructs: “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good” (Romans 8:28). Do you feel persecuted or at least feel that persecution is on its way? Then don’t get worked up about it, but rejoice and thank God for it―for we deserve it! “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven―for so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you―what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this?” (Matthew 5:10-12; 5:43-46).
First Christ Lockdown and Self-Isolation and Quarantining
We might not like what we are going through and might well feel angry about the falsehoods, manipulations and agendas that are being forced upon us―but do we care about, or did we care about how God feels looking down upon this incredibly sinful world with we live in peace with, and do we care about how much we and the world offend God? Of course we don’t―when we are the “victims” we react; but when God is the “victim” we are pretty well indifferent about that! Many are ready to fight for their rights―but nobody is thinking about fighting for the rights of God! If some people feel that their Christmas has been ruined by restrictions and lockdowns―what about Christ’s Christmas at Bethlehem? We are upset because restrictions force many to celebrate Christmas solely with immediate family or those in the household―but that was exactly the case for Mary and Joseph. Not allowed entrance into one house after another! Being rejected and turned-away at the door. Having to go outside the town of Bethlehem to find a cave in which to stay! Talk about self-isolation and quarantining!
Our Lady’s words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda give us some insight into the “ruined” first Christmas, where, instead of a family gathering and celebrations at the birth of Jesus in their home in Nazareth―surrounded by family and friends―they were instead destined to be without friends and family, without even a human home or house, and were obliged to accept a literally stinking cave for animals and to be devoid of any other human presence to await and celebrate the birth of God made Man―apart from a few “latecomer” shepherds! Our Lady reveals:
“Consider what should be our sentiments when, on the one hand, we reflect on the incomprehensible being of God, who in his goodness has created us for His honor and worship, and when, on the other hand, we see with what ingratitude men correspond to the gifts of the most generous Creator by withholding from His service the very things intended for it, reserving for their own vanities the most costly and valuable and applying for their Creator only the most valueless and despicable of this world … This fault is little thought of and recognized, and therefore I wish not only that thou deplore it with true sorrow, but also that thou make reparation for it as far as possible … Give to the Lord of the best … Because they do not attend to this service of the Lord, many of them, forsaken by the hand of the God, turn toward the dangerous levities and distractions [worldly amusements], which on account of their vileness, I do not wish thee to describe or consider except to deplore them from thy heart and to avert such displeasure and offense against God.”
In speaking of the rejection at Bethlehem, Our Lady says: “Stir within thee sweet sentiments of love and affection toward the Author of such great wonders. I wish that, bearing them in mind, thou from this day on embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world. Tell me if, in exchange for this forgetfulness and scorn of the world, God will then look upon thee with eyes of sweetest love, why dos thou try to buy so cheaply what is worth an infinite price? What can the world give thee, even when it esteems thee and exalts thee most? And what dost thou lose, if thou despise the world? Is the world’s favor not all vanity and deceit? Is it not all a fleeting and momentary shadow, which eludes the grasp of those that haste after it?”
As regards the lessons to be learned from the birth of Our Lord in that cave or stable, Our Lady says: “If men would keep their heart disengaged from the world, and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and Redeemer. For as men are capable of reasoning, if they would only make use of their freedom to treat this mystery [of Our Lord’s birth] with the reverence due to its greatness―who then would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries. But if the condescension of my most holy Son was so great, as to bestow so generously His light and knowledge concerning these vast blessings, ponder well how much thou art bound to co-operate with this light. In order that thou mayest correspond to this obligation, I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.”
“Take notice of and ponder over the burning love of my most holy Son in communicating Himself to men as soon as He was born, in order to make them immediate partakers of the joyful fruit of His coming. Men do not know of this obligation, because few of them penetrate to the significance of this great blessing, just as there were few who saw the Word at His Birth and thanked Him for His arrival. They are not aware of the cause of their evil state and of their blindness―which neither was, nor is, to be ascribed to the Lord, nor to any fault in His love―but to the sins and the bad dispositions of men. If their own bad dispositions would not impede or make them unworthy of this favor, the same light―which was given to the just, to the shepherds and to the kings―would have been granted to all, or to many. The fact that there were so few, will make thee understand in what an unhappy condition the world was at the time of the coming of the incarnate Word; and also the unhappiness of the present times, when these mysteries have become so evident and when grateful memory of them is become so scarce.
“Consider the wicked disposition of mortals in the present age, in which the light of the Gospel has been spread out and confirmed by so many miracles wrought by God in His Church. In spite of all this there are so few, who are perfect and who seek to dispose themselves for greater participation in the fruits and benefits of the Redemption [the birth of Our Lord]. Although the number of fools is so great and the vices are become so measureless, there are those who think, that the perfect are also numerous―but there are fewer than one thinks, and many less than there should be. On account of not being mindful of this truth, many souls either make themselves unworthy or incapable of great blessings, or, if they receive them, grow into a dangerous rudeness and torpidity, which offends the Lord very much. The loving sweetness, with which the Lord often treats them, engenders in them a certain presumption and disrespectful forwardness towards God, causing them to deal with His infinite Majesty in an irreverent manner, and with a vain desire of searching and inquiring into those hidden ways of God―which are far above their comprehension and capacity.
“Mortals fall into presumption because they fall into a too familiar communication with God, according to the imperfect attitudes of mortals―presuming to regulate their dealings with God according to the friendly and informal communication of human creatures with one another. But in this way of judging the soul is much deceived, measuring the reverence and respect due to the infinite Majesty by the familiarity and equality caused by the human love of mortals to one another. The rational creatures are by nature equal to each other, although the conditions and circumstances of each may be different; and the familiarity of human love and friendship may disregard the accidental differences in yielding to the human feelings. If the creature is noble-hearted, practiced in and accustomed to holy and reverential fear, then it is not in such danger of forgetting the respect due to the Most High, no matter how great the favors it receives―but it respects and reverences Him in proportion to the greatness of His divine love and enlightenment.
“Take notice of the cautiousness with which I proceeded in my duties; since, as regards finding grace in the eyes of the Lord, a vast difference always remains between the efforts of other creatures and my own. Nevertheless, though I held in my arms God Himself as His true Mother, I never presumed to ask Him to explain to me anything whatever by extraordinary revelation, neither for the sake of knowing it, or for the sake of ridding myself of suffering, nor for any other merely human reason―for all this would have been human weakness, vain and vicious curiosity, which could find no room in me. Whenever necessity urged it upon me―for the glory of His Majesty, or some circumstances made it unavoidable―I asked permission to propose my wishes. Although I always found Him ready to answer me with kindness and mercifully urging me to declare my wishes, I nevertheless humiliated myself to the dust and merely asked Him to inform me of what was most pleasing and acceptable in His eyes.”
What on earth is going on? Covid crisis cultivates Christmas cheerlessness! Christmas customs changed! Christmas celebrations cancelled! Christmas cheer criticized―Christmas caution counseled! Christmas church closure crackdown! Christmas congegrating curtailed! Christmas curfew created! Christmas confinement compliance commanded! Christmas computer conference calls climb! What in heaven’s name is going on? What on earth are they trying to do? Who the hell is behind all this? In those last three sentences you have the answer―Heaven and Hell with Earth stuck in the middle of a tug of war. Christ leaves Heaven to be born on Earth at Christmas to save its inhabitants from Hell.
The Forgotten Purpose of Christmas
“The Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “Jesus shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Our Lord Did Not Come to Party!
Our Lord came to save―not to party! He came to suffer―not to have fun! He came in poverty―so that we might not be seduced by seeking riches! He made it abundantly clear that He did come to enjoy Himself in this world, but to teach us how to detach ourselves from this world: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The World is Not a Friend of God―But an Enemy
To the above words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
In a nutshell, that is Our Lord’s “Christmas Message” ― but is it not a message that is liked, nor is it obeyed and followed. Holy Scripture tells us that, from the very beginning, Our Lord’s “Christmas Message” was disliked and ignored: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil … He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” (John 1:4-11; 1:3:19). Today, even less people receive Him―and those who do receive Him, tweak and twist His message to fit their own preferences and liking!
Spirituality Secularized
As the proverb says: “You can’t leave clothes for long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” Likewise, you can’t live in a secular world for long without taking on the ‘smell’ of secularism or worldliness. Our spirituality and sanctity is watered-down and mixed-in with the viruses of worldliness and secularism to the point where we lose our original Baptism fullness of sanctifying grace and become diseased hybrids―we no longer remain staunch Christians or Catholics pursuing holiness, but we become worldly secularized Christians or worldly secularized Catholics who are content to enjoy the world rather than fight it.
Strange Connection Between Liberalism and Covid-19
Talking of viruses―which seems an inescapable thing these days―Fr. Felix Salvany, in his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, has an introductory passage that dovetails with the virus obsession that rules the world today. Fr. Salvany writes in his opening chapter:
“Physical science tells us that floating through the atmosphere are innumerable disease germs seeking a suitable nidus in which to settle and propagate and that we are constantly breathing these germs into the lungs. If the [immune] system be depleted or weakened, the dangerous microbe takes up its abode with us, and propagating its own kind with astonishing rapidity, undermines and ravages our health. The only safeguard against the encroachments of this insidious enemy, which we cannot escape, is a vigorous and healthy body with adequate powers of resistance to repel the invader.
“It is equally true that we are subject to like infectious attacks in the spiritual order. Swarming in the atmosphere of our spiritual lives are innumerable deadly germs, ever ready to fasten upon the depleted and weakened soul and, propagating its leprous contagion through every faculty, destroy the spiritual life. Against the menace of this ever-threatening danger, whose advances we cannot avoid in our present circumstances, the ever-healthy soul alone can be prepared. To escape the contagion, the power of resistance must be equal to the emergencies of the attack, and that power will be in proportion to our spiritual health. To be prepared is to be armed, but to be prepared is not sufficient; we must possess the interior strength to throw off the germ. There must be no condition in the soul to make a suitable nidus [platform] for an enemy so insidious and so efficacious as to need only the slightest point of contact whence to spread its deadly contagion.
Christmas is a time of giving gifts―and Fr. Salvany providentially speaks of gifts and enemies (which brings to mind the gift of the Magi and the enmity of King Herod) as he continues: “It is not only through the avenues of disordered passions that this spiritual disease may gain an entrance; it may make its inroad through the intellect, and this under a disguise often calculated to deceive the unwary and incautious. The Trojans admitted the enemy into their walls under the impression that they were actually securing a valuable acquisition to their safety, and today their fatal experience has come down to us in the proverb—“Beware of the Greeks when they bring gifts.” Intellectual torpidity, inexperience, ignorance, indifference, and complaisance, or even virtues, such as, benevolence, generosity, and pity may be the unsuspected way open to the foe, and lo, we are surprised to find him in possession of the citadel!
“That we may know our danger, we must appreciate the possible shapes in which it may come. Here is just the difficulty; the uniform of the enemy is so various, changeable, sometimes even of our own colors, that if we rely upon the outward semblance alone, we shall be more often deceived than certain of his identity. But before laying down any test by which we may distinguish friend from foe in a warfare so subtly fought within the precincts of our own souls, let us first reconnoiter the respective positions of either camp, and to do this best, we shall consider the origin and sources of the danger which surrounds us, for we may be asked: “Where is this foe described as so intangible as scarcely to be apprehended by ordinary mortals?” Or it may be urged: “Is the danger as proximate, as frequent and [as] fearful as you allege? Whence is it anyhow? Point it out! If we know from what direction the enemy comes, we may better appreciate the peril.”
As we are addressing ourselves to those who live amidst the peculiar circumstances of our American life, and, as the spiritual and moral conditions, which obtain in this country, make up the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we have our being, it is in the relation of our surroundings to ourselves, as well as of ourselves to our surroundings, that we shall find the answer to our question.
Fr. Salvany then looks at the religious statistics for America―which we have updated according the present day stats―and he basically says that we are, like clothes in a smoky room, living in the middle of a very Liberal and anti-Catholic environment that greatly outnumbers us and greatly influences us:
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 330 million [2020 estimates]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim, 140 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 120 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all [2020 estimates] … who are either absolutely indifferent to Christianity as a creed or positively reject it. In practice, the distinction is of little importance whether they hold themselves merely indifferent, or are positively hostile … We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2020 stats] 260 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic.
“From this mass of people—heretical and infidel—there breathes out an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart [Perhaps we should wear spiritual masks and practice spiritual, intellectual and moral ‘social distancing’ and willingly embrace a spiritual, intellectual and moral self-isolation from these people!]. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass [the world] ever exercises upon the smaller mass [Christians], is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst a heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace … We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, chapter 1).
What Fr. Salvany is saying is not rocket science, but a commonly observable fact―Catholicism has been on a perpetual decline for centuries. Even though the number of Catholics grows―for example, it has more than doubled in just over 50 years: for in 1965 there were around 600,000,000 (600 million) Catholics in the world, while today that number is around 1,400,000,000 (1,400 million or 1.4 billion) out of a world population of around 7,800,000,000 (7,800 million or 7.8 billion). That gives a ratio of 2:11, where out of every 11 people in the world, 2 of those are Catholic. In being outnumbered by over 5 to 1, this puts great pressure on Catholics to resist a world that most of them find irresistible. Hence, little by little, more and more Catholics are failing in Faith and falling into worldliness―whereby the put the world above God and their Faith. “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5).
Christmas, Covid, Entropy and Thermodynamics!
“Huh?” you say, “Christmas, Covid, Entropy and Thermodynamics? What have you been drinking? Are you drunk? Have you gone crazy and insane amidst all this Covid fear-mongering, quarantining and self isolation?” No, my friend! Not drunk, not crazy―but sober as a judge and clear as a bell! God made all things―which means He also made the Laws of Physics―and all things are bound and ruled by those laws.
Possibly one of the most famous (among scientists at least) and important laws of all science, is the Law of Entropy. It states: “The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum.” But what is “entropy”? Entropy is one of the consequences of the second law of thermodynamics. The most popular idea or synonym related to entropy, is the idea of disorder. The dictionary will define “entropy” as “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.” Entropy is the measure of disorder―the higher the disorder within a system, then the higher the entropy of that system. So when scientists say “The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum” ― this means that the entropy or disorder of the universe is constantly increasing. In other words, the universe is on a path of winding-down, of decaying, of falling into ever increasing disorder―and mankind seems to be following suit.
Everything in the universe is winding-down, decaying―unless there is some outside intervention that rectifies the situation. If there is no outside intervention of somebody washing the car―then the car will gradually rust away. If a house is not maintained by an outside force or agent (the owner of the house), then it decay and fall into disrepair. If we fail to use the outside agency of food and drink―then we will rapidly fall into disease and death. We ourselves need many outside agents to maintain our Faith and to prevent it from decaying, becoming disordered and falling into damnation―those outside agents are the many different agencies of the Church: Catholic priests, Catholic teachers, Catholic doctrine, Catholic moral teaching, the Holy Scriptures, the Catechism, the Sacraments, Sacramentals, etc. Yet ultimately, the only true agent that can intervene in our lives and prevent decay, disorder, degeneration and damnation―is Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 5:15). It is at Christmas that this “outside agent”―Our Lord Jesus Christ―comes from Heaven to Earth in order to rescue mankind from its continual and gradual decline into greater disorder and increasing decay.
Sin is the Spiritual Entropy
Sin is the spiritual entropy―that is to say, spiritual disorder―and just as entropy increases over time, likewise sin increases the disorders of the soul with time. The universe is made up of multiple systems, all of which are progressively increasing in entropy (disorder, decay, dying). As one scientist writes: “If the system was a living being, the living being would be dead in a state of maximum entropy.” That is exactly what sin does to the soul―and also to the universe. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “By one man sin entered into this world and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:21).
That is spiritual entropy in a nutshell―sin brings spiritual disorder, decay and death! Through the Fall of Adam and Eve ― which we call “Original Sin” ― the harmony of creation was also destroyed. Original Sin caused a rupture, or break, in the harmony between body and soul that was part of God’s creation of man. In the original innocence of our first parents, there was perfect harmony: harmony with God, harmony with the surrounding world, harmony with one’s self. The decision to break away from God’s will also broke the original harmony in creation, and there has been tension ever since.
In the account of the First Fall and Original Sin, in the Book of Genesis, we see how Adam and Eve became aware of their sinful condition, were driven out of the garden, were forced to live by the sweat of their brow and were now doomed to disease and death. The beauty and harmony of God’s creative plan was disrupted. This was not the way it was meant to be―Adam was not supposed to sin, and by not sinning he was not supposed to die, or even contract any disease whatsoever. Once sin entered into life and into our world, all harmony with God, with self, with each other, and with the world around us was shattered. We call the Fall of Adam and Eve, and its results, by the name “Original Sin.” Original Sin — passed down through the generations of humanity — brought to our first parents the alienation from paradise, and with it all the effects of mortality―pain, illness, suffering, aging, death and decay―plus the tendency to give in to temptation and to sin, by what we call “concupiscence”.
A driver had problems with his car always wanting to veer to one side and that it would drive straight. The mechanic asked if the driver had recently driven through a pothole or perhaps had hit the curb. He explained that this could be sufficient to have forced the wheels out of alignment. All the driver knew was that it took a lot of work to drive straight down the highway with the car constantly pulling off center. Without constant attention and constant adjustment of the steering wheel, the car tended to drift off the road. “One big pothole can do that,” the mechanic informed the puzzled driver, “and after that, it’s almost impossible to go straight without constant correction.” What is true for an automobile is, in this sense, also true of the human soul. Theologians have long attempted to explain humanity’s tendency to veer off course―one big sin (that of our first parents Adam and Eve) and it’s almost impossible to go straight without constant correction due our innate, inborn tendency towards sin, which is the result of Original Sin. The consequences of Original Sin are only a fair punishment from God for sin. Nobody can “get away” with sinning―God will sooner or later administer the punitive consequences of sin.
Our Lady has indicated this on several occasions: “Sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity.” (Our Lady at Fatima & Akita).
In the last 50 or so years since Our Lady last spoke at Akita, the level of sin has not decreased, but has increased exponentially! It has “gone through the roof” and “rocketed sky-high”! When those words of warning were spoken by Our Lady, there was legalized abortion, no abortive contraception pills, much lower divorce totals, limited TV broadcasting, no computers, no smartphones, no internet, no social media, very little pornography, fashions were much more decent (though still immodest), much lower numbers of illegal drug use, etc., etc. Yet even in 1956, Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello that “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” 1956!!! What would she say in 2020 or 2021?
It is in this light that we have to look at and evaluate what is happening worldwide right now. Since sin has been escalating from year to year, is it surprising that Russia has spread her errors throughout the world (as Our Lady of Fatima foretold) and that we are now on the verge of a totalitarian take-over of the world by an oligarchy of the world’s elite? Not surprising at all―except to those who have had their heads and minds buried in an overindulgence of entertainment and fun. We can be indignant as we want―but the fact remains that we are deserving of what we getting right now! We have failed to pay attention to Our Lady’s messages and carry out her instructions―and God will not allow such indifference, neglect and refusal go unpunished. Heaven placed our fate in our own hands―and we refused to raise those hands in prayer and put those hands to sacrifice!
If we think we have a right to be indignant―then how much more reason has God to be indignant about our indignance over His just and rightful punishments? If very few people regularly attend Mass on Sundays―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to limit or even curtail church attendance? If sins galore are committed when people have freedom of movement―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to restrict our freedom of movement, thereby reducing the number of sins committed daily? If all people think about is money and entertainment, and very little about God―then why shouldn’t God allow His enemies to cause those people to lose the source of their money (employment/jobs) and to remove a wide variety of entertainments so that they would potentially have much more time to think about God?
A Merry Lockdown and a Happy Self-Isolation
Nothing happens to us by chance! Nor can we say that it is bad-luck, for in reality there is no luck―everything that happens has been foreseen and allowed by God. In the book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read that in “treating of the Will of God, St. Thomas Aquinas, following St. Augustine, teaches that it is the cause of all that exists … Neither can any man say to him, ‘Why dost Thou so?’ For if He assigns to His creatures the end that He wills, and chooses the means which seem good to Him to lead them to it, the end He assigns them must be good and wise, nor can He direct them towards their end other than by good and wise means. ‘Therefore do not become foolish’ the Apostle tells us, ‘but understand what the will of the Lord is’ … Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ … Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects―like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action―the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if, you will object, someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame, you will conclude, can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission.”
Human Thoughts Are Not God’s Thoughts
Our indignant and angry attitudes often come from a too-human viewpoint of things. God tells us: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9). In Holy Scripture we see exactly that―as St. Peter’s well-intentioned thoughts end up being in opposition to Our Lord’s thoughts: “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and Scribes and Chief Priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Another instance of God’s thoughts being different to the thoughts of men is again seen to involve His Apostles―where St. James and St. John wanted to call down fire from Heaven to destroy a Samaritan city, because they would not receive Our Lord favorably: “Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord! Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
We see another such case in the Old Testament, where, during the Exodus, the Israelites were at odds with the thoughts and methods of God. It was murmuring about how God’s providence was treating them that cost millions of Israelites their lives as a result of God’s death sentence that He imposed on that “stiff-necked” people, by forcing them to wander in wilderness for 40 years. As Holy Scripture tells us: “With most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not … murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer! Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand―let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:5-11).
How many of our “well-intentioned” thoughts are not in line with God’s thoughts? Possibly and probably very many, or even most of them! Let us not fall into the “murmuring syndrome” (or “murmuring SIN-drome”) with regard to the events in the world.
Holy Scripture further instructs: “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good” (Romans 8:28). Do you feel persecuted or at least feel that persecution is on its way? Then don’t get worked up about it, but rejoice and thank God for it―for we deserve it! “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven―for so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ ―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you―what reward shall you have? Do not even the sinners do this?” (Matthew 5:10-12; 5:43-46).
First Christ Lockdown and Self-Isolation and Quarantining
We might not like what we are going through and might well feel angry about the falsehoods, manipulations and agendas that are being forced upon us―but do we care about, or did we care about how God feels looking down upon this incredibly sinful world with we live in peace with, and do we care about how much we and the world offend God? Of course we don’t―when we are the “victims” we react; but when God is the “victim” we are pretty well indifferent about that! Many are ready to fight for their rights―but nobody is thinking about fighting for the rights of God! If some people feel that their Christmas has been ruined by restrictions and lockdowns―what about Christ’s Christmas at Bethlehem? We are upset because restrictions force many to celebrate Christmas solely with immediate family or those in the household―but that was exactly the case for Mary and Joseph. Not allowed entrance into one house after another! Being rejected and turned-away at the door. Having to go outside the town of Bethlehem to find a cave in which to stay! Talk about self-isolation and quarantining!
Our Lady’s words to the Venerable Mary of Agreda give us some insight into the “ruined” first Christmas, where, instead of a family gathering and celebrations at the birth of Jesus in their home in Nazareth―surrounded by family and friends―they were instead destined to be without friends and family, without even a human home or house, and were obliged to accept a literally stinking cave for animals and to be devoid of any other human presence to await and celebrate the birth of God made Man―apart from a few “latecomer” shepherds! Our Lady reveals:
“Consider what should be our sentiments when, on the one hand, we reflect on the incomprehensible being of God, who in his goodness has created us for His honor and worship, and when, on the other hand, we see with what ingratitude men correspond to the gifts of the most generous Creator by withholding from His service the very things intended for it, reserving for their own vanities the most costly and valuable and applying for their Creator only the most valueless and despicable of this world … This fault is little thought of and recognized, and therefore I wish not only that thou deplore it with true sorrow, but also that thou make reparation for it as far as possible … Give to the Lord of the best … Because they do not attend to this service of the Lord, many of them, forsaken by the hand of the God, turn toward the dangerous levities and distractions [worldly amusements], which on account of their vileness, I do not wish thee to describe or consider except to deplore them from thy heart and to avert such displeasure and offense against God.”
In speaking of the rejection at Bethlehem, Our Lady says: “Stir within thee sweet sentiments of love and affection toward the Author of such great wonders. I wish that, bearing them in mind, thou from this day on embrace with new and great esteem the contempt and neglect of the world. Tell me if, in exchange for this forgetfulness and scorn of the world, God will then look upon thee with eyes of sweetest love, why dos thou try to buy so cheaply what is worth an infinite price? What can the world give thee, even when it esteems thee and exalts thee most? And what dost thou lose, if thou despise the world? Is the world’s favor not all vanity and deceit? Is it not all a fleeting and momentary shadow, which eludes the grasp of those that haste after it?”
As regards the lessons to be learned from the birth of Our Lord in that cave or stable, Our Lady says: “If men would keep their heart disengaged from the world, and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great mystery of the kindness of the Most High towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and Redeemer. For as men are capable of reasoning, if they would only make use of their freedom to treat this mystery [of Our Lord’s birth] with the reverence due to its greatness―who then would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example―and, on account of this vile ingratitude, only the few will reap the fruit of these great mysteries. But if the condescension of my most holy Son was so great, as to bestow so generously His light and knowledge concerning these vast blessings, ponder well how much thou art bound to co-operate with this light. In order that thou mayest correspond to this obligation, I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.”
“Take notice of and ponder over the burning love of my most holy Son in communicating Himself to men as soon as He was born, in order to make them immediate partakers of the joyful fruit of His coming. Men do not know of this obligation, because few of them penetrate to the significance of this great blessing, just as there were few who saw the Word at His Birth and thanked Him for His arrival. They are not aware of the cause of their evil state and of their blindness―which neither was, nor is, to be ascribed to the Lord, nor to any fault in His love―but to the sins and the bad dispositions of men. If their own bad dispositions would not impede or make them unworthy of this favor, the same light―which was given to the just, to the shepherds and to the kings―would have been granted to all, or to many. The fact that there were so few, will make thee understand in what an unhappy condition the world was at the time of the coming of the incarnate Word; and also the unhappiness of the present times, when these mysteries have become so evident and when grateful memory of them is become so scarce.
“Consider the wicked disposition of mortals in the present age, in which the light of the Gospel has been spread out and confirmed by so many miracles wrought by God in His Church. In spite of all this there are so few, who are perfect and who seek to dispose themselves for greater participation in the fruits and benefits of the Redemption [the birth of Our Lord]. Although the number of fools is so great and the vices are become so measureless, there are those who think, that the perfect are also numerous―but there are fewer than one thinks, and many less than there should be. On account of not being mindful of this truth, many souls either make themselves unworthy or incapable of great blessings, or, if they receive them, grow into a dangerous rudeness and torpidity, which offends the Lord very much. The loving sweetness, with which the Lord often treats them, engenders in them a certain presumption and disrespectful forwardness towards God, causing them to deal with His infinite Majesty in an irreverent manner, and with a vain desire of searching and inquiring into those hidden ways of God―which are far above their comprehension and capacity.
“Mortals fall into presumption because they fall into a too familiar communication with God, according to the imperfect attitudes of mortals―presuming to regulate their dealings with God according to the friendly and informal communication of human creatures with one another. But in this way of judging the soul is much deceived, measuring the reverence and respect due to the infinite Majesty by the familiarity and equality caused by the human love of mortals to one another. The rational creatures are by nature equal to each other, although the conditions and circumstances of each may be different; and the familiarity of human love and friendship may disregard the accidental differences in yielding to the human feelings. If the creature is noble-hearted, practiced in and accustomed to holy and reverential fear, then it is not in such danger of forgetting the respect due to the Most High, no matter how great the favors it receives―but it respects and reverences Him in proportion to the greatness of His divine love and enlightenment.
“Take notice of the cautiousness with which I proceeded in my duties; since, as regards finding grace in the eyes of the Lord, a vast difference always remains between the efforts of other creatures and my own. Nevertheless, though I held in my arms God Himself as His true Mother, I never presumed to ask Him to explain to me anything whatever by extraordinary revelation, neither for the sake of knowing it, or for the sake of ridding myself of suffering, nor for any other merely human reason―for all this would have been human weakness, vain and vicious curiosity, which could find no room in me. Whenever necessity urged it upon me―for the glory of His Majesty, or some circumstances made it unavoidable―I asked permission to propose my wishes. Although I always found Him ready to answer me with kindness and mercifully urging me to declare my wishes, I nevertheless humiliated myself to the dust and merely asked Him to inform me of what was most pleasing and acceptable in His eyes.”
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE ADVENT SEASON
Thursday December 24th
Article 8
From Election Fraud to Christmas Fraud?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 8
From Election Fraud to Christmas Fraud?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Year of the Rat!
Months are referred to by number and sometimes also by a series of 12 animal names that from ancient times have been attached to years, months and to hours of the day. The Chinese months are tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox. These names of the month are also applied, one-by-one in turn, to each successive year ― thus this current year of 2020 happens to be (wouldn’t you have guessed it) the “Year of the Rat”!
The Year of the Fraud!
You could also stretch that a little further and call this current year of 2020 the “Year of the Fraud”! The word “fraud” is defined by dictionaries as “(1) an act of deceiving or misrepresenting; (2) wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain; (3) intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right; (4) a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities; (5) someone or something that is not what it seems or is represented to be.”
As you will see, in this “Year of the Rat”, there have lots of “dirty rats” who have been plying their lying trade all throughout the year. For those unaware of the idiomatic use of the word “rat” in applying it to humans, it means someone who has been disloyal to you or deceived you―and there have been lots of suchlike “rats” scurrying about throughout 2020. If you cannot see the rat, then you must be as blind as a bat!
Funnily enough, the Bubonic Plague (the “Black Death”)―which killed anywhere from 33% to 50% of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages―is commonly thought to have been brought into Europe by infected rats on board merchant trading ships that came from the Far East. Rats, however, are not the cause of Bubonic Plague—just like human hosts, they are victims of the disease. What caused the Bubonic Plague was the bacterium Yersini Pestis (named after Dr. Yersin who discovered the bacterium). This bacterium normally lives as a low-grade infection in the bloodstream of rats. Fundamentally the Bubonic Plague is a rat disease. It moves from rat to rat via fleas, in particular, the rat flea. Under normal conditions this cycle is restricted to rats and fleas, but if the rat population declines rapidly for some reason, fleas will be forced to move to other hosts, such as other types of rodents, domestic animals or even humans. While rats are the preferred host of rat flea, when facing starvation this flea will feed off of almost any mammal. If infected rat fleas begin biting humans, most of whom do not have resistance to Plague, the disease can reach epidemic levels.
Today’s bacterium, or virus, is not so much the Coronavirus, but more than this it is Fraud-Virus, the Lying-Virus, the Deceit-Virus. There are many “rats” ― politicians, scientists, medics, pharmacists, journalists, media merchants ― that carry this “bacterium” or “virus” of fraud, lies and deceit in their “bloodstream.” The “fleas” that live-off these “rats” are the common people, who drink the “blood” (the words and news) of the “rats” and so infect themselves with the fraud, lies and deceit.
Original Sin and Original Fraudster
Adam and Eve committed the “Original Sin”―but Satan was the “Original Fraudster.” You could say that Adam and Eve were the “fleas” and the serpent (Satan) was the “rat”. Fraud is even older than the so-called “oldest profession in the world” ― for Satan committed the first act of fraud among human beings by fraudulently deceiving Eve into believing him and disbelieving God. In other words, she believed the lie and liar, while disbelieving the truth and Truth Itself, God. “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat―but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold―and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat” (Genesis 3:1-6).
The Original Fraudster and the Original Virus
Thus, as Holy Scripture says, the virus of sin entered this world and brought death to everyone―with Our Lady being the only person (besides her Divine Son) who did not catch the virus of Original Sin. “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20).
Behind each and every sin you will find―explicitly or implicity―the fraudulent reasoning of the Original Fraudster, Satan. Sin brings death―and Satan is the executioner or murderer that supplies that death. Our Lord calls Satan a liar and a murderer: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Original Fraudster and Original Politician?
It is tempting to apply to politicians the words spoken by Our Lord to the Scribes and Pharisees: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47).
Politics is very keen to insist upon a separation of Church and State―mainly because the Church is supposed to supply the principles of Christ’s truth, which the State must then use and not abuse in applying them to the secular field. Today’s “divorce” of Church and State leads to a “divorce” where the two opposing parties are Truth and Lies. You cannot quote too often the comments made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, to President Reagan, during a first briefing after Reagan's election as President. Casey allegedly said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Furthermore, what can be added to Casey's statement is that once the public starts to believe the lies that are being fed to it, then comes the inevitable next step, which is an absolute trust in the liar that is spreading those lies. That is where are right now! Only a few people question the narrative. Only a few people see the scam. Only a few people see the political theatrical show. Only a few people are prepared to dig beneath the surface to see what stands under the surface―and thus UNDERSTAND what is going on.
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms [nice sounding terms] that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie.”
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’”
Fraudulent Elections
It would naïve to imagine that the current 2020 U.S. Presidential Election was the first fraudulent election in history! Examples of sham elections are (1) the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy, (2) elections in Nazi Germany, (3) the 1940 elections of the People’s Parliaments in the then Soviet occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, (4) the 1928, 1935, 1942, 1949, 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, (5) the elections in post-revolutionary Iran, (6) the 1991 Kazakh presidential election, and (7) the elections in most Communist and Socialist states, e.g. East Germany, the Soviet Union, China.
You don’t have to look very far for any accusations of recent sham elections. Just recently the Belarus election was said to be rigged; the challenger was forced to leave the country; protesters are being beaten and jailed. The accused perpetrator is Alexander Lukashenko, a 65-year-old dictator, who has ruled the former Soviet republic of Belarus for most of its 30 years of independence.
Back in 2018, the Trump administration dismissed Venezuela’s presidential election as a “sham” and ramped up economic and diplomatic pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered government.
Also in March of 2018, the Russian election rubber-stamped Vladimir Putin’s fourth (de facto fifth) term as president with nearly 77% of the “official” vote. The defining feature of Russia’s 2018 presidential vote was that it was an election without choice. Two major opposition figures, who had planned to run against Putin, were absent from the ballot. Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister and leader of the People’s Freedom Party, was shot and killed on a bridge in front of the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was barred from running, thanks to a trumped-up Russian court sentence. It isn’t difficult to win when your opponents are not on the ballot.
Was the Fraudulent U.S. Presidential Election a Double-Fraud?
To anyone who still possesses the not-so-common commodity of common-sense, it is blatantly clear that electoral fraud took place during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. The nagging question―which anyone with common sense should ask and reflect over―is why on earth was the fraud made to be so blatantly obvious and amateurish, considering the fact that those who are ultimately behind the fraud have both the monetary, intellectual and technological resources to commit the fraud without being detected? Why on earth do they produce a fraud that is more like a Hollywood crime movie spoof or comedy? If there are literally THOUSANDS of affidavits from all around the country testifying to various fraudulent, or highly suspicious, unconstitutional, unnecessary actions on the part of the alleged “fraudsters” ― suitcases of votes being secretly unloaded and scanned; voting observers being kept away at a distance or even being barred from observing proceedings; more votes being recorded than the total number of eligible voters; persons being allowed to vote multiple times; dead people voting; discrepancies over “mail-in” votes; votes being accepted after the voting deadline; and that is without even mentioning the computer software fraud, etc., etc.
The bottom-line is that the puppet-master fraudsters are much too intelligent and organized to commit such buffoonery in their fraud. It is much like a U.S. Marine shooting himself in the foot, or a highly skilled chef being unable to make toast! Why even worry about suitcases of votes, or telling vote-counters to adjust or discard ballots, or having “dead people” vote―all of which easily leaves behind a smoking gun due to the human tendency to “talk” or “spill-the-beans.” Why do that when you can just as easily do your “dirty business” in the secrecy of the software that is loaded on the computers to count the votes. Heck! If 1-in-4 Americans has had their computer hacked, then how easy is hacking to high-tech intellectual computer gurus that the “puppet-masters” can afford to employ and who know systems inside-out? A piece of cake! A walk in the park! Like taking candy from a baby! The Election computer software has been found to be deliberately programmed so that elections CAN be fixed. If the software is programmed to switch or flip votes, discard votes, ignore votes ― then who needs potentially liable human help on the floor? All of that smacks of and speaks of a potential double-fraud, or a double-con―whereby a con or a fraud is deliberately staged in a way that it will easily be uncovered and discovered.
To what purpose? Who stands to gain? Is a deliberately staged fraudulent election run in such a way as discovery of the fraud is easy and inevitable (and even helped along by dropping “clangers” and clues)? What would such a thing achieve? It would achieve a further and deeper polarization of the American public―in this case, the Republicans and Democrats―each of whom would say that their candidate won the election! Another step towards the Civil War that has been prophesied for America―and which over 60% of Americans believe will happen within the next few years. Once a deliberately scripted, staged, provoked and instigated Civil War breaks out, then it fulfills many goals of the “puppet masters” ― not least the excuse of imposing martial law upon a country at war ― for once widespread fighting and killing starts, the common people will be on their knees begging for a martial law they would other reject. For a Civil War to break out, it does mean that every man, woman and child is out on the streets fighting―that would be ridiculous and never in the history of mankind has there been such a war. It suffices to have enough violence going on that it will push the minds of people from rejecting martial law into reluctantly allowing it or even gladly accepting it.
Are There Really Any “Good Guys” at the Top of the World’s Political Ladder?
First of all―this is not a rant against Trump―the kinds of things that follow could be said of many or most of the world’s leaders on the religious, moral and political fronts. Today―with the hold that the “behind the scenes world rulers” have over the world―it is impossible to rise to the top in any of the chief nations if you are “good guy” in the eyes of God. Only those who are “good guys” in the eyes of Satan can make it. It is way too easy to “take-out” anyone who is seen as a threat to the “behind the scenes world rulers.” For those who hold that Donald Trump is a “good guy” ― in all honesty, “the jury is still out” on that one. First of all, a “good guy” in what arena? The religious arena (which is the most important one), or the moral arena (which comes second), or in the political arena (which cannot be divorced―as in Church from State―from the first two: religious and moral).
In the religious arena, Trump is a non-Catholic, who barely prays (who does these days?); knows very little about religion (again, who does these days?); has married three times and rarely goes to church; his innumerable tweets manifest a clear lack of the religious spirit of charity and sometimes also lack of truth (which is funny since “God is charity” [1 John 4:8] and Christ says: “I am the Truth!” [John 14:6])―plus, he has enormous support from God’s ex-Chosen People―not quite the expected CV or credentials for being a “good guy” in the religious arena.
In the moral arena, Trump has been married three times and divorced twice; he has innumerable sexual relations of fornication and adultery throughout his life. As reported by many news outlets, Trump owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant show for 19 years and used to “stroll right in” to the dressing room of beauty pageants while the contestants ― some of whom were teenagers ― were naked or half-dressed. In New York, the state’s attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney are currently investigating the Trump organization for bank and tax fraud prior to Trump becoming president. Once the President leaves office, he will no longer have the immunity from prosecution he's enjoyed for the last four years. Trump faces legal jeopardy―at the federal level, he could be investigated and tried, if evidence is uncovered, for crimes like obstruction of justice while holding office.
In the political arena―let it be said and let it sink in―the “call them whatever you want”, the Elites, the Deep State, the Swamp, the Money-Men, the Puppet-Masters, the “behind the scenes world rulers”, etc., have been planning for centuries―advancing little by little―to attain global control and the destruction of the Catholic Church. What do you think they are going to focus on the most? What countries, above all others, will be “in their sights”? Iceland? Costa Rica? Malta? Wales? Zimbabwe? East Timor? Estonia? Of course not! They are mainly interested in the “big fish” in the pond ― with the “Big Three” being the USA, China and Russia ― and then the chief European, Asian and South American countries. Their policy is similar to the policy of the Catholic missionaries of old, who believed that if you convert the king, then the conversion of the people is a mere formality. That is why they seek to recruit and place “their men” or “their stooges” or “puppets” at the top and near the top of all the chief countries and business corporations throughout the world.
As the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to say: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” People “on the inside” have consistently revealed that the U.S. Presidents have been groomed by the “Puppet-Masters” in preparation and readiness for their future role as puppet-President. The hoops and hurdles that one has to negotiate in order to finally become President are too restrictive and too well-controlled for anyone to somehow blunder through the hoops and hurdles by fluke. With each passing year and each passing generation the grip and hold on world political matters has become more and more powerful. The recent Covid crisis and the uncanny, never before seen, universal collaboration and coordination clearly proves how far that control of world politics has come.
We cannot quote too many times the words spoken by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, during a February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries in the first couple of weeks of the administration, to report to him about their agencies. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80 percent of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked Casey what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which Casey replied: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Fraudulent Media
Who owns the media? Ultimately, the media rests in the hands of very few people. Massive corporations dominate the U.S. media landscape. Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In the media business, billionaires have long exerted influence on the news simply by owning U.S. media outlets. Some billionaires, like Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg are longtime media moguls who made their fortunes in the news business. Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry. Billionaires own part or all of several of America's influential national newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times , in addition to magazines, local papers and online publications. A Harvard University study of the entire world’s media ownership, concluded: “We find that media firms nearly universally have ownership structures with large controlling shareholders and that these shareholders are either families or governments.” This leads to another provocative question: “Who owns the governments?” In the USA, the six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Together, the “big six” absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the United States―and, “whenever push comes to shove”, the media will print whatever its ultimate owners want it to print (especially in all the key matters―while giving a certain freedom and license in unimportant, peripheral, petty matters to print whatever they want, as long it does go against the interests and policies of the owners.
Thus we have seen―throughout the 2020 Covid crisis―a one sided, deceitful and fraudulent style of reporting by the MSM (mainstream media), where they only report on one side of the story and keep total silence on the other side of the story. Tim Groseclose, in his book, Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind, boldly states, then backs up with strong empirical data the fact that journalists fail to give us a representative sample of viewpoints in day-to-day their reporting. Because of their own leftist beliefs and the corrupt industry in which they ply their trade, journalists are more likely to report facts and statistics that liberals want you to learn and less likely to report facts and statistics that conservatives want you to learn. One glaring fraud and lie was the MSM’s (mainstream media’s) reporting on the ‘overloaded’ hospitals, that had patients ‘flowing-over’ into hallways, ‘long-lines’ at admission, etc. However, when suspicious and cynical citizens immediately descended upon those hospitals with their video-taping smartphones―the lie was exposed and the hospitals were nowhere near as full as reported. Even doctors and nurses risked being dismissed from their jobs by confirming the fraud that was being reported by the media. The lie goes on!
Fraudulent Science
To fuel and perpetuate the false reporting by the fraudulent MSM (mainstream media), you need a “credible” lying source. That source is the new god on the block ― the god of science. The catch-phrase of today―among politicians and church leaders alike―seems to be “Follow the Science!” Many a USA bishop and priest has uttered those quasi-heretical words during this Covid crisis. Following science would be fine if science followed God―but, for the most part, it does not. Yes, there are few God-fearing scientists out there―but they are swamped by the vast majority of atheistic, secular scientists. Once you abandon God, then inevitably, in the long run, you abandon truth. You start by twisting truth, manipulating truth, altering truth and finally replacing objective God-given truth with your own preferred and personally advantageous brand of truth.
Once again, the Covid crisis has highlighted mainstream Science’s modern version of the truth ― which has largely been a lie in disguise. The words of Our Lord spring to mind: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15). “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many”
(Matthew 24:11). A true prophet of God will speak the truth of God―a false prophet of God will utter lies and camouflage them as being the truth. Our Lord could just as well have addressed the following words to most of today’s scientists: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Fraudulent Medics
Perhaps it is just too much of a coincidence, but the words “Fraud” and “Fauci” seem to be somehow related. During an April episode of the Thomas Paine Podcast, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blew the lid on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s long legacy of fraud and cover-ups throughout his lengthy medical career in the federal government. Kennedy explained that Fauci has been a problematic character all throughout his more than 50-year tenure in public health, during which he operated as a workplace tyrant and ruined the careers of countless physicians and researchers who, unlike himself, were upstanding and honorable individuals. Fauci has been with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984 ― and he is known among those on the inside as the guy who “poisoned an entire generation of Americans,” according to Kennedy. In at least one instance, Fauci targeted a whistleblower who was trying to expose the fact that America’s blood supply is tainted with deadly disease strains. Fauci ruined the career of this physician and proceeded to cover up his crucial research on the subject. Kennedy also warned during the program that Fauci has attacked many other good guys who’ve tried to actually serve the public rather than shill for Big Pharma, Bill Gates, the mainstream media and other deep state assets and mouthpieces of deception and lies.
Fauci is also guilty of abusing his post for financial gain in the form of obtaining lucrative vaccine patents. Doctors and researchers underneath him who developed breakthrough technologies have been fired so that Fauci could assume ownership of their work in order to enrich himself. “Tony Fauci has many, many vaccine patents,” Kennedy contends, noting that Fauci now owns a patent on a special protein sheet made from HIV that helps to more efficiently deliver vaccine material throughout the body. Fauci didn’t develop this protein sheet himself, of course, but rather stole it from someone else who was relieved from duty after creating it. “Tony Fauci fired [this person] and he somehow ended up owning that patent,” Kennedy says. “And that patent is now being used by some of these companies … to make vaccines for the Coronavirus … that company has a 50/50 split with Tony Fauci’s agency … so Fauci’s agency will collect half the royalties on that vaccine and there’s no limit for how much the agency can collect.” In other words, this is nothing but a business for people like Fauci, who are profiting off of pandemics like the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) while claiming to be “regulating” the drug and vaccine industries that respond to them on behalf of the American people. “This isn’t a captured industry; it’s a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry,” Kennedy further warns about how the NIAID, the CDC, and other supposed federal agencies are really just corporations in disguise that work on behalf of Big Pharma to generate massive profits on the backs of sick and dying people.
The big lie that Fauci helped spread was the pretense that COVID-19 is something like, and hence is to be treated like, the plague is the essence of the scam that the deep state and the Democratic Party are perpetrating on America. Anthony Fauci’s pseudo-medical, pseudo-scientific pretense is the foremost pillar of that lie. Sowing and maintaining confusion about the severity of cases of COVID-19 infections—indeed, about the very meaning of the word “case”—has been the heart of that lie. Understanding the truth begins with comparing the infection/fatality rate (IFR) of ordinary seasonal flu, 0.01 percent, with that of the bubonic plague or smallpox—around 30%—and then realizing that COVID-19s IFR (Infection Fatality Rate) is roughly that of the flu. Although Fauci was not the sole author of the confusion, he surely was most influential in spreading it. And it was a lie, because by January Fauci knew that, despite the Chinese government’s indications and media management to the contrary, COVID-19 was what we in the West have since learned from experience: deadly to the very old and otherwise compromised, but milder than most flu strains for just about everyone else. That knowledge notwithstanding, Fauci concurred with the mathematical modelers’ dire forecasts of frightful across-the-board mortality rates. He substantiated their (baseless) assumptions of an IFR around 5 percent for everyone by citing as a “case” any sick person who tested positive for the virus or who had a fever, cough, and other respiratory symptoms like those caused by the virus. He then agreed that all such persons who died should have their deaths attributed to the virus.
The Fraud Hits Christmas and Christ
Coronavirus misery hung over Christmas preparations worldwide, with countless millions forced to cancel Christmas plans or limit festivities under fresh virus lockdowns. An alleged spike of new virus outbreaks point to the fact that life is unlikely to return to normal quickly.
For millions of Californians, the COVID-19 pandemic will provide a most unwelcome gift this Christmas, because a wide-ranging shutdown has been imposed. Stay-at-home restrictions that took hold on December 7th and are scheduled to to last until December 28th at the earliest. Five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area also announced last week that they were proactively implementing the new restrictions and planned to keep them in place until at least January 4th. Combined, those regions are home to some 33 million Californians, representing around 84% of California’s population.
Tough new Coronavirus restrictions were imposed on Thursday over the Christmas and New Year period across Italy. The Christmas Eve Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has been put off-limits for the public. Germany has been forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Sunday to tighten lockdown measures beginning Wednesday and running through at least January 10th. With the exception of Christmas, the number of people allowed to meet indoors will remain restricted to five. The Dutch government announced Monday that it would install its toughest restrictions yet over the holiday season, through January 19th. In Belgium, where residents are largely limited to welcoming a single visitor.
Other European countries, including Greece, also imposed measures ahead of Christmas. In Brazil and Russia, some regional governments have banned Christmas festivities. In the Catholic-majority Philippines, some are choosing to spend the holidays alone because of the risk of catching the virus on public transport, as well as quarantine rules making travelling time-consuming and expensive. In Kuwait, churches were closed until January 10th, despite being home to a large Christian community.
First Easter Lockdowns, Now Christmas Lockdowns
If you think back to Easter of this year (2020), you will recall the introduction of unprecedented lockdowns that also closed churches worldwide during Holy Week and Easter. Psychologists will tell you that it takes around 6 months to develop a new habit and “set it in stone”. With the pandemic restrictions on church attendance, one has to ask the question: “Will church attendance return to pre-pandemic levels?” Non-attendees are out and about all over everywhere — working, shopping, eating out ― but attending church is too dangerous!
Months are referred to by number and sometimes also by a series of 12 animal names that from ancient times have been attached to years, months and to hours of the day. The Chinese months are tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox. These names of the month are also applied, one-by-one in turn, to each successive year ― thus this current year of 2020 happens to be (wouldn’t you have guessed it) the “Year of the Rat”!
The Year of the Fraud!
You could also stretch that a little further and call this current year of 2020 the “Year of the Fraud”! The word “fraud” is defined by dictionaries as “(1) an act of deceiving or misrepresenting; (2) wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain; (3) intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right; (4) a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities; (5) someone or something that is not what it seems or is represented to be.”
As you will see, in this “Year of the Rat”, there have lots of “dirty rats” who have been plying their lying trade all throughout the year. For those unaware of the idiomatic use of the word “rat” in applying it to humans, it means someone who has been disloyal to you or deceived you―and there have been lots of suchlike “rats” scurrying about throughout 2020. If you cannot see the rat, then you must be as blind as a bat!
Funnily enough, the Bubonic Plague (the “Black Death”)―which killed anywhere from 33% to 50% of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages―is commonly thought to have been brought into Europe by infected rats on board merchant trading ships that came from the Far East. Rats, however, are not the cause of Bubonic Plague—just like human hosts, they are victims of the disease. What caused the Bubonic Plague was the bacterium Yersini Pestis (named after Dr. Yersin who discovered the bacterium). This bacterium normally lives as a low-grade infection in the bloodstream of rats. Fundamentally the Bubonic Plague is a rat disease. It moves from rat to rat via fleas, in particular, the rat flea. Under normal conditions this cycle is restricted to rats and fleas, but if the rat population declines rapidly for some reason, fleas will be forced to move to other hosts, such as other types of rodents, domestic animals or even humans. While rats are the preferred host of rat flea, when facing starvation this flea will feed off of almost any mammal. If infected rat fleas begin biting humans, most of whom do not have resistance to Plague, the disease can reach epidemic levels.
Today’s bacterium, or virus, is not so much the Coronavirus, but more than this it is Fraud-Virus, the Lying-Virus, the Deceit-Virus. There are many “rats” ― politicians, scientists, medics, pharmacists, journalists, media merchants ― that carry this “bacterium” or “virus” of fraud, lies and deceit in their “bloodstream.” The “fleas” that live-off these “rats” are the common people, who drink the “blood” (the words and news) of the “rats” and so infect themselves with the fraud, lies and deceit.
Original Sin and Original Fraudster
Adam and Eve committed the “Original Sin”―but Satan was the “Original Fraudster.” You could say that Adam and Eve were the “fleas” and the serpent (Satan) was the “rat”. Fraud is even older than the so-called “oldest profession in the world” ― for Satan committed the first act of fraud among human beings by fraudulently deceiving Eve into believing him and disbelieving God. In other words, she believed the lie and liar, while disbelieving the truth and Truth Itself, God. “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat―but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold―and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat” (Genesis 3:1-6).
The Original Fraudster and the Original Virus
Thus, as Holy Scripture says, the virus of sin entered this world and brought death to everyone―with Our Lady being the only person (besides her Divine Son) who did not catch the virus of Original Sin. “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20).
Behind each and every sin you will find―explicitly or implicity―the fraudulent reasoning of the Original Fraudster, Satan. Sin brings death―and Satan is the executioner or murderer that supplies that death. Our Lord calls Satan a liar and a murderer: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Original Fraudster and Original Politician?
It is tempting to apply to politicians the words spoken by Our Lord to the Scribes and Pharisees: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47).
Politics is very keen to insist upon a separation of Church and State―mainly because the Church is supposed to supply the principles of Christ’s truth, which the State must then use and not abuse in applying them to the secular field. Today’s “divorce” of Church and State leads to a “divorce” where the two opposing parties are Truth and Lies. You cannot quote too often the comments made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, to President Reagan, during a first briefing after Reagan's election as President. Casey allegedly said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Furthermore, what can be added to Casey's statement is that once the public starts to believe the lies that are being fed to it, then comes the inevitable next step, which is an absolute trust in the liar that is spreading those lies. That is where are right now! Only a few people question the narrative. Only a few people see the scam. Only a few people see the political theatrical show. Only a few people are prepared to dig beneath the surface to see what stands under the surface―and thus UNDERSTAND what is going on.
Dr. Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: “I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms [nice sounding terms] that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie.”
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’”
Fraudulent Elections
It would naïve to imagine that the current 2020 U.S. Presidential Election was the first fraudulent election in history! Examples of sham elections are (1) the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy, (2) elections in Nazi Germany, (3) the 1940 elections of the People’s Parliaments in the then Soviet occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, (4) the 1928, 1935, 1942, 1949, 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, (5) the elections in post-revolutionary Iran, (6) the 1991 Kazakh presidential election, and (7) the elections in most Communist and Socialist states, e.g. East Germany, the Soviet Union, China.
You don’t have to look very far for any accusations of recent sham elections. Just recently the Belarus election was said to be rigged; the challenger was forced to leave the country; protesters are being beaten and jailed. The accused perpetrator is Alexander Lukashenko, a 65-year-old dictator, who has ruled the former Soviet republic of Belarus for most of its 30 years of independence.
Back in 2018, the Trump administration dismissed Venezuela’s presidential election as a “sham” and ramped up economic and diplomatic pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered government.
Also in March of 2018, the Russian election rubber-stamped Vladimir Putin’s fourth (de facto fifth) term as president with nearly 77% of the “official” vote. The defining feature of Russia’s 2018 presidential vote was that it was an election without choice. Two major opposition figures, who had planned to run against Putin, were absent from the ballot. Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister and leader of the People’s Freedom Party, was shot and killed on a bridge in front of the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was barred from running, thanks to a trumped-up Russian court sentence. It isn’t difficult to win when your opponents are not on the ballot.
Was the Fraudulent U.S. Presidential Election a Double-Fraud?
To anyone who still possesses the not-so-common commodity of common-sense, it is blatantly clear that electoral fraud took place during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. The nagging question―which anyone with common sense should ask and reflect over―is why on earth was the fraud made to be so blatantly obvious and amateurish, considering the fact that those who are ultimately behind the fraud have both the monetary, intellectual and technological resources to commit the fraud without being detected? Why on earth do they produce a fraud that is more like a Hollywood crime movie spoof or comedy? If there are literally THOUSANDS of affidavits from all around the country testifying to various fraudulent, or highly suspicious, unconstitutional, unnecessary actions on the part of the alleged “fraudsters” ― suitcases of votes being secretly unloaded and scanned; voting observers being kept away at a distance or even being barred from observing proceedings; more votes being recorded than the total number of eligible voters; persons being allowed to vote multiple times; dead people voting; discrepancies over “mail-in” votes; votes being accepted after the voting deadline; and that is without even mentioning the computer software fraud, etc., etc.
The bottom-line is that the puppet-master fraudsters are much too intelligent and organized to commit such buffoonery in their fraud. It is much like a U.S. Marine shooting himself in the foot, or a highly skilled chef being unable to make toast! Why even worry about suitcases of votes, or telling vote-counters to adjust or discard ballots, or having “dead people” vote―all of which easily leaves behind a smoking gun due to the human tendency to “talk” or “spill-the-beans.” Why do that when you can just as easily do your “dirty business” in the secrecy of the software that is loaded on the computers to count the votes. Heck! If 1-in-4 Americans has had their computer hacked, then how easy is hacking to high-tech intellectual computer gurus that the “puppet-masters” can afford to employ and who know systems inside-out? A piece of cake! A walk in the park! Like taking candy from a baby! The Election computer software has been found to be deliberately programmed so that elections CAN be fixed. If the software is programmed to switch or flip votes, discard votes, ignore votes ― then who needs potentially liable human help on the floor? All of that smacks of and speaks of a potential double-fraud, or a double-con―whereby a con or a fraud is deliberately staged in a way that it will easily be uncovered and discovered.
To what purpose? Who stands to gain? Is a deliberately staged fraudulent election run in such a way as discovery of the fraud is easy and inevitable (and even helped along by dropping “clangers” and clues)? What would such a thing achieve? It would achieve a further and deeper polarization of the American public―in this case, the Republicans and Democrats―each of whom would say that their candidate won the election! Another step towards the Civil War that has been prophesied for America―and which over 60% of Americans believe will happen within the next few years. Once a deliberately scripted, staged, provoked and instigated Civil War breaks out, then it fulfills many goals of the “puppet masters” ― not least the excuse of imposing martial law upon a country at war ― for once widespread fighting and killing starts, the common people will be on their knees begging for a martial law they would other reject. For a Civil War to break out, it does mean that every man, woman and child is out on the streets fighting―that would be ridiculous and never in the history of mankind has there been such a war. It suffices to have enough violence going on that it will push the minds of people from rejecting martial law into reluctantly allowing it or even gladly accepting it.
Are There Really Any “Good Guys” at the Top of the World’s Political Ladder?
First of all―this is not a rant against Trump―the kinds of things that follow could be said of many or most of the world’s leaders on the religious, moral and political fronts. Today―with the hold that the “behind the scenes world rulers” have over the world―it is impossible to rise to the top in any of the chief nations if you are “good guy” in the eyes of God. Only those who are “good guys” in the eyes of Satan can make it. It is way too easy to “take-out” anyone who is seen as a threat to the “behind the scenes world rulers.” For those who hold that Donald Trump is a “good guy” ― in all honesty, “the jury is still out” on that one. First of all, a “good guy” in what arena? The religious arena (which is the most important one), or the moral arena (which comes second), or in the political arena (which cannot be divorced―as in Church from State―from the first two: religious and moral).
In the religious arena, Trump is a non-Catholic, who barely prays (who does these days?); knows very little about religion (again, who does these days?); has married three times and rarely goes to church; his innumerable tweets manifest a clear lack of the religious spirit of charity and sometimes also lack of truth (which is funny since “God is charity” [1 John 4:8] and Christ says: “I am the Truth!” [John 14:6])―plus, he has enormous support from God’s ex-Chosen People―not quite the expected CV or credentials for being a “good guy” in the religious arena.
In the moral arena, Trump has been married three times and divorced twice; he has innumerable sexual relations of fornication and adultery throughout his life. As reported by many news outlets, Trump owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant show for 19 years and used to “stroll right in” to the dressing room of beauty pageants while the contestants ― some of whom were teenagers ― were naked or half-dressed. In New York, the state’s attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney are currently investigating the Trump organization for bank and tax fraud prior to Trump becoming president. Once the President leaves office, he will no longer have the immunity from prosecution he's enjoyed for the last four years. Trump faces legal jeopardy―at the federal level, he could be investigated and tried, if evidence is uncovered, for crimes like obstruction of justice while holding office.
In the political arena―let it be said and let it sink in―the “call them whatever you want”, the Elites, the Deep State, the Swamp, the Money-Men, the Puppet-Masters, the “behind the scenes world rulers”, etc., have been planning for centuries―advancing little by little―to attain global control and the destruction of the Catholic Church. What do you think they are going to focus on the most? What countries, above all others, will be “in their sights”? Iceland? Costa Rica? Malta? Wales? Zimbabwe? East Timor? Estonia? Of course not! They are mainly interested in the “big fish” in the pond ― with the “Big Three” being the USA, China and Russia ― and then the chief European, Asian and South American countries. Their policy is similar to the policy of the Catholic missionaries of old, who believed that if you convert the king, then the conversion of the people is a mere formality. That is why they seek to recruit and place “their men” or “their stooges” or “puppets” at the top and near the top of all the chief countries and business corporations throughout the world.
As the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to say: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” People “on the inside” have consistently revealed that the U.S. Presidents have been groomed by the “Puppet-Masters” in preparation and readiness for their future role as puppet-President. The hoops and hurdles that one has to negotiate in order to finally become President are too restrictive and too well-controlled for anyone to somehow blunder through the hoops and hurdles by fluke. With each passing year and each passing generation the grip and hold on world political matters has become more and more powerful. The recent Covid crisis and the uncanny, never before seen, universal collaboration and coordination clearly proves how far that control of world politics has come.
We cannot quote too many times the words spoken by the former (1981-1987) Director of the CIA, William Casey, during a February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries in the first couple of weeks of the administration, to report to him about their agencies. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80 percent of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked Casey what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which Casey replied: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Fraudulent Media
Who owns the media? Ultimately, the media rests in the hands of very few people. Massive corporations dominate the U.S. media landscape. Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In the media business, billionaires have long exerted influence on the news simply by owning U.S. media outlets. Some billionaires, like Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg are longtime media moguls who made their fortunes in the news business. Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry. Billionaires own part or all of several of America's influential national newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times , in addition to magazines, local papers and online publications. A Harvard University study of the entire world’s media ownership, concluded: “We find that media firms nearly universally have ownership structures with large controlling shareholders and that these shareholders are either families or governments.” This leads to another provocative question: “Who owns the governments?” In the USA, the six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Together, the “big six” absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the United States―and, “whenever push comes to shove”, the media will print whatever its ultimate owners want it to print (especially in all the key matters―while giving a certain freedom and license in unimportant, peripheral, petty matters to print whatever they want, as long it does go against the interests and policies of the owners.
Thus we have seen―throughout the 2020 Covid crisis―a one sided, deceitful and fraudulent style of reporting by the MSM (mainstream media), where they only report on one side of the story and keep total silence on the other side of the story. Tim Groseclose, in his book, Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind, boldly states, then backs up with strong empirical data the fact that journalists fail to give us a representative sample of viewpoints in day-to-day their reporting. Because of their own leftist beliefs and the corrupt industry in which they ply their trade, journalists are more likely to report facts and statistics that liberals want you to learn and less likely to report facts and statistics that conservatives want you to learn. One glaring fraud and lie was the MSM’s (mainstream media’s) reporting on the ‘overloaded’ hospitals, that had patients ‘flowing-over’ into hallways, ‘long-lines’ at admission, etc. However, when suspicious and cynical citizens immediately descended upon those hospitals with their video-taping smartphones―the lie was exposed and the hospitals were nowhere near as full as reported. Even doctors and nurses risked being dismissed from their jobs by confirming the fraud that was being reported by the media. The lie goes on!
Fraudulent Science
To fuel and perpetuate the false reporting by the fraudulent MSM (mainstream media), you need a “credible” lying source. That source is the new god on the block ― the god of science. The catch-phrase of today―among politicians and church leaders alike―seems to be “Follow the Science!” Many a USA bishop and priest has uttered those quasi-heretical words during this Covid crisis. Following science would be fine if science followed God―but, for the most part, it does not. Yes, there are few God-fearing scientists out there―but they are swamped by the vast majority of atheistic, secular scientists. Once you abandon God, then inevitably, in the long run, you abandon truth. You start by twisting truth, manipulating truth, altering truth and finally replacing objective God-given truth with your own preferred and personally advantageous brand of truth.
Once again, the Covid crisis has highlighted mainstream Science’s modern version of the truth ― which has largely been a lie in disguise. The words of Our Lord spring to mind: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15). “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many”
(Matthew 24:11). A true prophet of God will speak the truth of God―a false prophet of God will utter lies and camouflage them as being the truth. Our Lord could just as well have addressed the following words to most of today’s scientists: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Fraudulent Medics
Perhaps it is just too much of a coincidence, but the words “Fraud” and “Fauci” seem to be somehow related. During an April episode of the Thomas Paine Podcast, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blew the lid on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s long legacy of fraud and cover-ups throughout his lengthy medical career in the federal government. Kennedy explained that Fauci has been a problematic character all throughout his more than 50-year tenure in public health, during which he operated as a workplace tyrant and ruined the careers of countless physicians and researchers who, unlike himself, were upstanding and honorable individuals. Fauci has been with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984 ― and he is known among those on the inside as the guy who “poisoned an entire generation of Americans,” according to Kennedy. In at least one instance, Fauci targeted a whistleblower who was trying to expose the fact that America’s blood supply is tainted with deadly disease strains. Fauci ruined the career of this physician and proceeded to cover up his crucial research on the subject. Kennedy also warned during the program that Fauci has attacked many other good guys who’ve tried to actually serve the public rather than shill for Big Pharma, Bill Gates, the mainstream media and other deep state assets and mouthpieces of deception and lies.
Fauci is also guilty of abusing his post for financial gain in the form of obtaining lucrative vaccine patents. Doctors and researchers underneath him who developed breakthrough technologies have been fired so that Fauci could assume ownership of their work in order to enrich himself. “Tony Fauci has many, many vaccine patents,” Kennedy contends, noting that Fauci now owns a patent on a special protein sheet made from HIV that helps to more efficiently deliver vaccine material throughout the body. Fauci didn’t develop this protein sheet himself, of course, but rather stole it from someone else who was relieved from duty after creating it. “Tony Fauci fired [this person] and he somehow ended up owning that patent,” Kennedy says. “And that patent is now being used by some of these companies … to make vaccines for the Coronavirus … that company has a 50/50 split with Tony Fauci’s agency … so Fauci’s agency will collect half the royalties on that vaccine and there’s no limit for how much the agency can collect.” In other words, this is nothing but a business for people like Fauci, who are profiting off of pandemics like the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) while claiming to be “regulating” the drug and vaccine industries that respond to them on behalf of the American people. “This isn’t a captured industry; it’s a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry,” Kennedy further warns about how the NIAID, the CDC, and other supposed federal agencies are really just corporations in disguise that work on behalf of Big Pharma to generate massive profits on the backs of sick and dying people.
The big lie that Fauci helped spread was the pretense that COVID-19 is something like, and hence is to be treated like, the plague is the essence of the scam that the deep state and the Democratic Party are perpetrating on America. Anthony Fauci’s pseudo-medical, pseudo-scientific pretense is the foremost pillar of that lie. Sowing and maintaining confusion about the severity of cases of COVID-19 infections—indeed, about the very meaning of the word “case”—has been the heart of that lie. Understanding the truth begins with comparing the infection/fatality rate (IFR) of ordinary seasonal flu, 0.01 percent, with that of the bubonic plague or smallpox—around 30%—and then realizing that COVID-19s IFR (Infection Fatality Rate) is roughly that of the flu. Although Fauci was not the sole author of the confusion, he surely was most influential in spreading it. And it was a lie, because by January Fauci knew that, despite the Chinese government’s indications and media management to the contrary, COVID-19 was what we in the West have since learned from experience: deadly to the very old and otherwise compromised, but milder than most flu strains for just about everyone else. That knowledge notwithstanding, Fauci concurred with the mathematical modelers’ dire forecasts of frightful across-the-board mortality rates. He substantiated their (baseless) assumptions of an IFR around 5 percent for everyone by citing as a “case” any sick person who tested positive for the virus or who had a fever, cough, and other respiratory symptoms like those caused by the virus. He then agreed that all such persons who died should have their deaths attributed to the virus.
The Fraud Hits Christmas and Christ
Coronavirus misery hung over Christmas preparations worldwide, with countless millions forced to cancel Christmas plans or limit festivities under fresh virus lockdowns. An alleged spike of new virus outbreaks point to the fact that life is unlikely to return to normal quickly.
For millions of Californians, the COVID-19 pandemic will provide a most unwelcome gift this Christmas, because a wide-ranging shutdown has been imposed. Stay-at-home restrictions that took hold on December 7th and are scheduled to to last until December 28th at the earliest. Five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area also announced last week that they were proactively implementing the new restrictions and planned to keep them in place until at least January 4th. Combined, those regions are home to some 33 million Californians, representing around 84% of California’s population.
Tough new Coronavirus restrictions were imposed on Thursday over the Christmas and New Year period across Italy. The Christmas Eve Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has been put off-limits for the public. Germany has been forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Sunday to tighten lockdown measures beginning Wednesday and running through at least January 10th. With the exception of Christmas, the number of people allowed to meet indoors will remain restricted to five. The Dutch government announced Monday that it would install its toughest restrictions yet over the holiday season, through January 19th. In Belgium, where residents are largely limited to welcoming a single visitor.
Other European countries, including Greece, also imposed measures ahead of Christmas. In Brazil and Russia, some regional governments have banned Christmas festivities. In the Catholic-majority Philippines, some are choosing to spend the holidays alone because of the risk of catching the virus on public transport, as well as quarantine rules making travelling time-consuming and expensive. In Kuwait, churches were closed until January 10th, despite being home to a large Christian community.
First Easter Lockdowns, Now Christmas Lockdowns
If you think back to Easter of this year (2020), you will recall the introduction of unprecedented lockdowns that also closed churches worldwide during Holy Week and Easter. Psychologists will tell you that it takes around 6 months to develop a new habit and “set it in stone”. With the pandemic restrictions on church attendance, one has to ask the question: “Will church attendance return to pre-pandemic levels?” Non-attendees are out and about all over everywhere — working, shopping, eating out ― but attending church is too dangerous!
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday December 18th to Sunday December 20th
Article 7
Still Time to Catch the Christmas Virus
Friday December 18th to Sunday December 20th
Article 7
Still Time to Catch the Christmas Virus
Seasonal Viruses
We are smack-bang-in-the-middle of the season of viruses! What will you get for Christmas this year? A virus? Will people by wishing you a “Merry Sickmas”? Sick joke, huh? Well, didn’t St. Bernadette of Lourdes say―when she was chronically sick―“It is my vocation to be sick!” That’s a pretty healthy way to look at sickness, isn’t it? St. Paul writes: “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity! … For we rejoice that we are weak!” (2 Corinthians 11:30; 13:9).
Sickness Is No Laughing Matter―Or Is It?
“They who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at!” (Wisdom 17:8). Just like the Old Testament king who fell sick because of fear― “When the king heard these words, he was struck with fear and was exceedingly moved, and he laid himself down upon his bed and fell sick for grief” (1 Machabees 6:8)―at the present moment, most of the world are sick with fear of a real, but exaggerated, virus―and they have to be laughed at as they wear useless masks and measure with a tape-measure the “safe-distance” that they must keep from everyone else―for fear of catching a virus from which 99.7% of people recover. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its initial death rate for Coronavirus to under 1% — actually, to 0.26%, a fraction of what they initially projected. Additionally, four infectious disease doctors in Canada said the risk for people under age 65 is 6 in 1 million, or 0.0006%. The real virus―the more fatal virus―has been the “virus of fear” that has been concocted (“con”-cocted) in the media ‘laboratories’ and then spread relentlessly throughout the world whilst hiding behind a “media-mask” of falsehood posing as truth. Hence you have the current falsified figures which claim that over 320,000 Americans have died from Covid―but strangely enough the deaths from flu, heart disease, cancer, etc. have plummeted drastically to unheard of low levels, while doctors are cajoled and coerced into writing down, as cause of death, Covid-19 in place of the usual causes of death [read more here―scroll to Article 12].
Catching the Virus of Christmas Cheer!
If there is one virus that it is worth catching and not resisting, then it is the heavenly virus of Christmas Cheer! Or looking at it from another perspective―not of virus but of vaccine―if there is one vaccine that is really worth taking―it is the Heaven’s vaccine of Christmas Cheer, which is proved to be 100% effective if administered properly and taken in proper doses. An authentic vaccine of Christmas Cheer drives away―not only the viruses of deception, delusion, doubt, disappointment, demoralization, disturbance, despondency, desolation, discouragement, depression, despair and all the other devilish “D” viruses from the devil’s laboratories―but also the virus of sin and eternal death! However, this vaccine of Christmas Cheer is not meant to be taken once a year, at Christmas, but it is meant to be taken every day ― for, as they say, “Every day is Christmas!”
Grace and Laughter are the Best Medicines!
The Church teaches that grace heals and sanctifies. Doctors tell us that laughter also heals and jollifies. The old saying “laughter is the best medicine” has a lot of truth to it. The use of laughter has been used in medicine for years. The ancient Greek physicians prescribed laughter for their patients by visiting the hall of comedians. Early Native Americans used clowns to work with their witch doctors. They too realized the powerful effects of humor and laughter in healing. In the 13th century, surgeons used humor to distract patients from pain. Today, more than ever before, people (even professional medics) are turning to humor for therapy and healing.
One of the few philosophers to classify humor as “play”, and to also see value in the mental side of humor, was St. Thomas Aquinas. He followed the lead of the Greek Philosopher Aristotle, who said that “Life includes rest as well as activity, and in this is included leisure and amusement.” Some people carry amusement to excess--“vulgar buffoons,” Aristotle calls them—but just as bad are “those who can neither make a joke themselves, nor put up with those who do,” whom he calls “boorish and unpolished.” Between buffoonery and boorishness there is a happy medium—engaging in humor at the right time and place, and to the right degree. This virtue Aristotle calls eutrapelia, ready-wittedness, from the Greek for “turning well.” In his Summa Theologica (2a2ae, Q. 168) St. Thomas Aquinas elaborates on Aristotle’s ideas in three articles: (1) “Whether there can be virtue in actions done in play,” (2) “The sin of playing too much,” and (3) “The sin of playing too little.” He agrees with Aristotle that humor, and other forms of play, provide occasional rest, stating that just as bodily tiredness is eased by resting the body, so psychological tiredness is eased by resting the soul. Therefore the remedy for weariness of soul lies in slackening the tension of mental study and taking some pleasure, which is achieved by being playful or humorous.
St. Thomas Aquinas does not shy-away from problematic objections to the matter of games, play and laughter. He writes: “It would seem that there cannot be any virtue about games. For St. Ambrose says: ‘Our Lord said: “Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep!” Wherefore I consider that all, and not only excessive, games should be avoided!’” Sounds like a good objection, eh? St. Thomas then brings up another potential objection against games, play and laughter, by quoting St. John Chrysostom: “Now Chrysostom says: ‘It is not God, but the devil, that is the author of fun. Listen to what happened to those who played: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play”’ Therefore there can be no virtue about games.”
Having brought forward these objections, St. Thomas begins to make the necessary distinctions as to when and for whom games, play and laughter are suitable and when and for whom they are unsuitable. He first quotes another saint, St. Augustine: “On the contrary, Augustine says: ‘I pray thee―spare thyself at times! For it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.’ Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times … Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work … so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite and equal to a fixed amount of work. Consequently when he goes beyond his measure in a certain work, he is oppressed and becomes weary, and all the more since, when the soul works, the body is at work likewise … Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul―and the soul’s rest is pleasure. Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul needs to consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of study. Thus, in the Conferences of the Fathers of the Church, it is related of St. John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them―who carried a bow―to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely―and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence St. John drew the analogy that, in like manner, man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed. Now such like words or deeds wherein nothing further is sought than the soul’s delight, are called playful or humorous. Hence it is necessary at times to make use of them, in order to give rest, as it were, to the soul.
“Nevertheless it would seem that in this matter there are three points which require especial caution. The first and chief is that the pleasure in question should not be sought in indecent or injurious deeds or words. Wherefore Tully says that ‘one kind of joke is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, obscene.’ Another thing to be observed is that one lose not the balance of one’s mind altogether. Hence we should beware lest, when we seek relaxation of mind, we destroy all that harmony which is the concord of good works … Just as we do not allow children to enjoy absolute freedom in their games, so too our very fun. Thirdly, we must be careful, as in all other human actions, to conform ourselves to persons, time, and place, and take due account of other circumstances, so that our fun befits the hour and the man … Now the sacred doctrine is concerned with things of the greatest importance … St. Ambrose does not altogether exclude fun from human speech, but from the sacred doctrine―that is why he begins by saying: ‘Although jokes are at times fitting and pleasant, nevertheless they are incompatible with the ecclesiastical rule―since how can we have recourse to things which are not to be found in Holy Writ?’” Then, with regard to the aforementioned criticism of St. John Chrysostom, St. Thomas writes: “Chrysostom refers to the inordinate use of fun, especially by those who make the pleasure of games their end … We are made not for play and fun, but rather for hardships, and for occupations of greater gravity and importance ... The pleasure derived from playful actions is for the recreation and rest of the soul, and if this be done with moderation, it is lawful to make use of fun. Hence Tully says: ‘It is indeed lawful to make use of play and fun, but in the same way as we have recourse to sleep and other kinds of rest, then only when we have done our duty by grave and serious matters.’”
“There is inordinate laughter and inordinate joy in excessive play. Therefore there is mortal sin therein … Excessive play goes beyond the rule of reason: and this happens in two ways. First, on account of the very species of the acts employed for the purpose of fun, and this kind of jesting is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, and obscene, when a man, for the purpose of jesting, employs indecent words or deeds, or such as are injurious to his neighbor, these being of themselves mortal sins. And thus it is evident that excessive play is a mortal sin. Secondly, there may be excess in play, for instance, when people make use of fun at unsuitable times or places, or out of keeping with the matter in hand, or persons. This may be sometimes a mortal sin on account of the strong attachment to play, when a man prefers the pleasure he derives therefrom, to the love of God, so as to be willing to disobey a commandment of God or of the Church rather than forego, such like amusements. Sometimes, however, it is a venial sin, for instance where a man is not so attached to amusement as to be willing for its sake to do anything in disobedience to God.”
St. Thomas then goes on to say that just as an excess of mirth and play is a sin, likewise a lack of mirth and play is a sin also: “On the contrary, the Philosopher (Aristotle) reckons the lack of mirth to be a vice. I answer that, in human affairs, whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others, by offering no pleasure to others, and by hindering their enjoyment. Now a man who is without mirth, not only is lacking in playful speech, but is also burdensome to others, since he is deaf to the moderate mirth of others. Consequently such persons are vicious, and are said to be boorish or rude … Since mirth is useful for the sake of the rest and pleasures it affords … it follows that lack of mirth is less sinful than excess of mirth. Austerity, as a virtue, does not exclude all pleasures, but only such as are excessive and inordinate.”
Laugh Your Way to Health and Heaven!
There are quite a few “laughs” in Holy Scripture. It says that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which suggests moderation and not excess. “Blessed are ye that weep now―for you shall laugh! … Woe to you that now laugh―for you shall mourn and weep!” (Luke 6:21-25) ― which is along the lines of what Our Lady said to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” The true joy and laughter shall be that of the saints in Heaven, and all laughter in this world is inferior to the laughter of Heaven―so you must wait “until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing” in the halls of Heaven (Job 8:21). Of the virtuous woman Scripture says: “Strength and beauty are her clothing and she shall laugh in the latter day” (Proverbs 31:25).
Laughter―like anger―can be virtuous or sinful. Laughter is not only a medicine to the just, but also a poison to fools and worldlings: “Laughter I counted error ― and to mirth I said: ‘Why art thou vainly deceived?’” (Ecclesiastes 2:2). The danger is that it can laugh over what is evil and laugh at sin. “As the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool―now this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 7:7). “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter ― but a wise man will scarcely laugh low to himself” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin” (Ecclesiasticus 27:14). “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep [over your sins] ― let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow!” (James 4:9).
Scripture also speaks of God laughing at the foolish antics of the wicked: “Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden? Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation―who said to God: ‘Depart from us!’ and looked upon the Almighty as if He could do nothing, whereas He had filled their houses with good things ― whose way of thinking be far from me. The just shall see and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn!” (Job 22:15-19). “He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them―and the Lord shall deride them!” (Psalm 2:4). “The Lord shall laugh at him―for He foreseeth that His day shall come” (Psalm 36:13). “The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say: ‘Behold the man that made not God his helper―but trusted instead in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity” (Psalm 51:8-9).
Medical Laughter is Free and Easy!
The old saying “laughter is the best medicine” has a lot of truth to it. There’s nothing funny about a life-changing diagnosis. However, a recent study emphasizes just how powerful and beneficial laughter can be. Laughing releases endorphins, or neuro-transmitters that bring a feeling of euphoria. At the same time, it stimulates circulation in our bodies, which increases oxygen intake and lowers blood pressure.
Laughter has many healing properties that are not limited to just mental health or reducing stress. According to Dr. William Fry, a Stanford University psychiatrist, laughter has many positive physiological effects, from promoting longevity to boosting the immune system. He notes that some children laugh more than four hundred times a day, whereas some adults laugh only about a dozen times a day―and some never laugh at all. Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, calls laughter “inner jogging” ― because a good-hearted belly laugh gives every system of the body a workout.
Laughter is especially important in helping people get over chronic illness. It’s often not the illness itself that overwhelms us and drags us down, but our fear and anxiety about the illness. This can set up a stressful cycle: pain, fear, and anxiety about the illness worsens the illness, which increases pain, fear and anxiety, which, in turn, continues to worsen the illness. Humor can break this cycle by triggering the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. This is how physical exercise boosts a person’s mood. It makes sense to make humor part of your daily exercise routine.
Laughing releases endorphins, or neurotransmitters that bring a feeling of euphoria. At the same time, it stimulates circulation in our bodies, which increases oxygen intake and lowers blood pressure. Laughter can improve mood, boost immunity, and reduce stress and pain. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
Furthermore, on average, about 10% of our white blood cells are natural killer cells — healthy cells that regularly protect our bodies from viral infected cells. One research team, using the relationship between laughter and natural killer cell activity, found that the more frequently patients engaged in laughter, the stronger their natural killer cell activity became. This means that laughter immediately improves our body’s capacity to kill or eliminate cancer cells!
With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all―this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.
Laughter Boosts the Immune System (Which is What Fauci, Gates & Co. are not doing)
A fascinating new area of research, dubbed psycho-neuro-immunology, finds that depression suppresses the immune system. Studies show that the stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol decrease during and following laughter. Researchers at Loma Linda University School of Medicine found that medical students who watched comedy videos had a significant increase in T-cells (cells that circulate through the body and gobble up germs) and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Laughter boosts natural killer cells, which are suppressed during stressful experiences. Studies have shown that people with allergies experience fewer allergic reactions after watching humorous films. A study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York showed that in widowers, the number of natural killer cells goes down for almost a year.
Research has proved there is a long list of health care benefits. Laughter therapy has been shown to:
● Boost your immune and circulatory systems. Laughing eliminates toxins and increases the number of lymphocytes in your blood, which helps protect you from disease.
● Enhance oxygen intake, while stimulating the heart and lungs. The increase of oxygen from laughter helps improve brain function, including memory.
● Relax muscles and decreases the number of stress hormones and promote relaxation.
● Ease digestion, and soothe stomach aches
● Relieve pain through the release of endorphins which lead to an increase in pain tolerance
● Balance and regulate blood pressure. Studies have shown that laughter can decrease resting blood pressure, reducing the risk for heart disease.
● Improve mental health by the release of endorphins, which bring a feeling of euphoria, add joy and zest to life; ease anxiety and tension, relieve stress and improve mood.
● Reduce stress and tension and promote relaxation.
● Improve sleep.
● Enhance quality of life.
Can Laughter Be Poisonous?
St. Benedict, in his treatise of the Twelve Steps or Stages of Humility, states that the tenth step of humility is that we “are not given to ready laughter for it is written, ‘Only fools raise their voices in laughter’ (Ecclesiasticus 21:23).” St. Clement of Alexandria (circa A.D. 150-215), the first Christian theologian to treat the subject of laughter, was not seeking to eliminate laughter — but to constrain it. He was committed to the idea that reason should control the emotions, but that laughter disturbed reason. Laughter, he argued, is an outburst that violates rationality. Even smiling, he taught, had to be bridled.
The ongoing teaching for centuries thereafter took the position that excessive laughter is a sign of a weak and undisciplined character. It undermined human dignity. The early leaders of the church, to a man, inveighed against it. Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Basil and John Chrysostom — who pointed out that Jesus never laughed — all of them considered laughter the ante-room to lust―which it can be if it is taken to an excess, for laughter loosens our defenses, just as wine―or any alcohol or drug―can loosen our defenses and make us drop our guard. Laughter, they said, was centered in the body, risked polluting the soul, and so crowded-out the word of God.
The “laugh-aholics” and “mirth-addicts” should remember that when she appeared at La Salette in 1846, Our Lady was weeping ― “She began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow” says Melanie Calvet, one of the two seers. At Fatima in 1917, Our Lady never smiled at all―never mind laughed. Sister Lucia of Fatima says that they “always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). At Akita in Japan in 1973, the statue of Our Lady would frequently (over 100 times) produce tears of blood from the eyes (scientifically verified as being real human blood). The statue did not produce human tears in laughter, but by weeping―which Our Lady later explained was because “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty [not joy and laughter]―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices [not joy and laughter] can soften the Father’s anger.”
It was thus that from the earliest days of the Church, that monks and hermits were encouraged to weep over their sins and the miseries of the world and concentrate on the suffering and death of Jesus. One religious rule after another warned against the role of laughter in distracting the religious from the important things of life―which is true in itself, but should not taken to extremes. The teaching was well-established. Christianity had conquered the “eat, drink and be merry” philosophy of the Roman Empire. Life now was about salvation, not sensuality, not the “bread and circuses” or food and entertainment philosophy of Ancient Rome. Centuries before the Rule of Benedict, rigorous rationality had already put down deep roots by exaggerating the dangers of mirth and laughter. Yes―it can be a danger―but when taken in moderation (like pepper and other spices with meal), then it enhances rather than damages our life. However, if we “overdose” on mirth and laughter, then we become like the fools that Holy Scripture speaks about: “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter―but a wise man will scarce laugh low to himself” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). As Scripture says, there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which suggests moderation and not excess, nor doing without them altogether.
An Emotional Balancing Act!
St. Thomas Aquinas―in his usual manner of making distinctions―interpreted games and mirth according the “balanced” way of St. Clement of Alexandria―namely, that you can have too much of a good thing, or too little of a good thing. St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach is always one of balance in things that are good in themselves―hence the Latin expression of “in media stat virtus” (meaning virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect). There has to be a balance in all of our emotions―we cannot neglect our God-given emotions, nor can we exaggerate those emotions by letting them run wild and out of control.
We have to be cheerful at times, which can only be sincerely achieved with what is called “the joy of good conscience”―meaning that we are in a state of sanctifying sin, with no unrepented nor unconfessed mortal sin on our soul, yet we should also be mournful over our sins―a virtue which goes by the name of compunction. Joy and Compunction―JC―which also happens to stand for “Jesus Christ” Who came to bring us the joy of salvation and compunction for our sins: “to present you spotless [without sin] before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:24). “My soul shall rejoice in the Lord and shall be delighted in His salvation!” (Psalms 34:9). “A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
Advent Anomaly? Christmas Contradiction?
To some it might seem like an impossibility, a contradiction, an oxymoron ― to have joy and compunction, to be happy and sad. Yet it is no different to the fact that God always shows mercy and justice at one at the same time and at all times. That is the balance that we should acknowledge, recognize and put into practice ourselves. Life cannot be constant joy [or “fun” for the worldlings] and laughter, nor can it be constant sadness or mourning. Our Lady told St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!” and Our Lord says something similar to His Apostles: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Yet Holy Scripture tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Then again, Our Lord says: “Woe to you that now laugh―for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). While Holy Scripture adds: “Rejoice and be glad … Rejoice all you that mourn” (Isaias 66:10), but then says: “Awake, ye that are drunk and weep―and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine!” (Joel 1:5). All of this seems to be a contradiction! What on earth are we supposed to do? Rejoice and laugh, or mourn and weep? Once again, Scripture comes to the rescue, telling us that there is a time for everything―and that we should not be one-dimensional.
That is why the Church speaks of “fasting and feasting” ― when we fast, we mourn over our sins and debts for sin; when we feast, we rejoice over the mercy of God with regard to our sins. There is a time for each and each must be given its time. Likewise for the season of Christmas―we should both rejoice and mourn, or mourn and rejoice. In fact―that is why we have the season of Advent, to mourn and fast for our sins―so that we can receive our Savior with joy at Christmas―whilst never forgetting why Christ comes at Christmas―He comes to save and redeem us from our sins; He does not come to party! Once we lose sight of that, then we lose the true view of Christmas and we lose the true Christmas spirit, which consequently leads us into a degenerated spirit of mere fun, pleasure-seeking, materialism and sensuality (satisfying the senses).
Cataclysmic Christmas Concoction or Christmas Contraception
“If it ain’t broke―don’t fix it!” ― “Don’t tamper with Christmas!” Tampering with things can often lead to breaking things, or denaturizing things. This is especially true of Christmas―whereby it has been progressively emptied of the supernatural and replaced by the natural; emptied of the spiritual and replaced by the material. Many no longer wish to even call it “Christmas”, preferring not to mention Christ, and merely call the “Christmas season” a “Holiday season” instead.
Let us not fall (and let us nor permit those closest to us to fall) into that selfish, ungrateful, worldly-minded spirit that has succeeded in almost de-christianizing Christmas into a winter fun-fest of food, drink, parties, presents and pleasure. If our Christmas is full of things, then there is a good chance that there will be no thing or nothing for Christ; but if we have little or nothing to do over Christmas, then there is nothing to distract us from Christ. The soil of our soul will reap whatever we plant therein; if we plant the seed of the infant Christ, then Christ will grow in us; if we plant the seeds the world offers, then worldliness will grow in us.
Let us not de-christianize this holy day, but, like the Samaritan leper, let us often go back in thoughts and words to the Person whom we should be celebrating on Christmas Day. It is His birthday―not ours or anyone else’s―that is the cause of these universal festivities. Otherwise it is like going to a birthday party and completely ignoring the person whose birthday it is―while taking all the food and drink they have provided. Furthermore, let us not lose sight of why He chooses to be born into our world―it is a world of sin and He comes to save us from our sins. That is why we mourn and weep [for our sins] throughout Advent and that is why we rejoice and celebrate at Christmas―the two are inseparable―for Christ comes to ransom us from our sins and Satan’s captivity: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “Rejoice greatly, shout for joy―behold thy King will come to thee, the Savior!” (Zacharias 9:9). “Thou art God my Savior; and on Thee have I waited all the day long!” (Psalm 24:5). “My Savior―thou wilt deliver me from iniquity!” (2 Kings 22:3).
Let us spend these last days leading up to Christmas Day―not in so much material preparations, which though they have to be done, need not be done with the fetishness, compulsiveness and obsessiveness that we usually give to them―but spent in much more spiritual occupations at the feet of Jesus, so to speak, like the spiritual St. Mary Magdalen in contrast to her materialistic sister St. Martha: “Jesus entered into a certain town, and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. She stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord, answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part―which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
A Covid Christmas? Self-Isolated Christmas?
Thanks to the authorities worldwide―and the Elites behind them, who are their pupper-masters―a new ‘messias’ has been announced for Christmas! It is the mutant Covid-19 (alias SARS-COV-2) ― this new ‘messias’ whose ‘advent’ or coming we await has been ‘baptized’ with the name “B.1.1.7.” Funny isn’t it! Just like they didn’t know where the real Messias came from ― “When the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is” (John 7:27) ― so too with Covid-19, where on earth did it come from? What are its origins? Who is Covid’s ‘father’?
Just as Our Lord asked His Apostles: “And Jesus asked his disciples, saying: ‘Whom do men say that the Son of man is?’ But they said: ‘Some say John the Baptist, and others say Elias, and others say Jeremias, or one of the prophets!’ Jesus saith to them: ‘But whom do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven!’” (Matthew 16:13-17). Likewise, we could ask: “What do men say that Covid-19 is?” Some will say it jumped onto man from a bat; some will say it grew out of another Coronavirus; others will say it doesn’t even exist! But what will you say? What do you think Covid-19 is? You will answer and say: “Covid-19 is a man-made virus, initially researched and manipulated in the USA, and then, due to US Government moratorium on the research (due to its dangers), Dr. Fauci exported and financed continued research in China!” And you will be told: “Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood has not deceived thee, but the Father, Who is in Heaven, has revealed the truth to thee!”
Now, a new ‘messianic’ (read ‘satanic’) virus has emerged―just in time to be born everywhere for Christmas! This new strain of virus is 70% more transmissible, but seemingly no more deadly than Covid-19 (SARS-COV-2) after its detection in UK and elsewhere. The ‘messianic’ (read ‘satanic’) B.1.1.7 is fast supplanting other strains of the SARS-COV-2 virus. The highly infectious variant of the Coronavirus that has emerged in south-east England and is spreading rapidly to the rest of the UK and is already present elsewhere in the world, scientists warned on Sunday!!!! “Aargh!! Save us, Lord! We perish!!!!”
The World Health Organization said its Evolution Working Group is working closely with the UK medical authorities to understand how the variant, now called B.1.1.7, is likely to affect the course of the pandemic―you can be sure that the results of their findings will inevitably lead to even greater fear-mongering and even stricter lockdowns and all the anciliary measures that go with it―more mask mandates, more insistence on mandatory ‘messianic’ vaccinations that will be the ‘savior’ of the human race. B.1.1.7 has been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia ― and is fast approaching your neighborhood, wherever you may be! Scientists (the high-priests of the religion of Science) say that there are two aspects of B.1.1.7 which give cause for concern. One is the unprecedented number of mutations it carries. The other is the speed with which it is supplanting other strains of the Sars-Cov-2. “Aargh!! Save us, Lord! We perish!!!!”
Pandemic Profits for the Elite―You Too Can Profit!
40 million Americans filed for unemployment during the pandemic, but billionaires saw their net worth increase by well over half a trillion dollars. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson saw his wealth increase by $5 billion, while Elon Musk saw an increase of $17.2 billion. When you add up the numbers, billionaires in the United States have increased their total net worth $637 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic so far. At the same time, more than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment. With tens of millions of Americans out of a paycheck and the stock market plummeting by 37% in March, how is it that the rich have continued getting richer? This isn’t the first time billionaires have seen gains while a large portion of Americans were feeling losses. When the housing bubble burst in 2007, home prices fell 21% and roughly 3.1 million homes were foreclosed on in the United States. The stock market plummeted by over 50%. And by the end of 2009, 8.8 million Americans had lost their jobs. And the effects lingered. From 2009 to 2012, the incomes of the bottom 99% grew by only 0.4%, but the income of the top 1% grew by a staggering 31.4% in the same time span.
Yet despite all these profits, one has to remember the words of Our Lord: “Woe to you that are rich! For you have your consolation!” (Luke 6:24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24). To which Holy Scripture adds: “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth” (1 Kings 2:7). “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
After all those warnings―are you sure that you still want to become rich? “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). As Our Lord indicated in one of His parables: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Christmas risks becoming or degenerating into a time when we “Eat, drink and make good cheer!” ― a time when God takes a back-seat and the things of this world take center-stage. The time spent in our material preparations betrays this worldly attitude towards Christmas. If Christ is at the heart of Christmas, then why is He found so little in our hearts? If Christ is the focal point of Christmas―why are we spending so many hours and days focusing on the material side of Christmas, to the neglect of Christ? Our Lord can just as readily address to us the words that He addressed to St. Martha, when she scolded her sister, Mary Magdalen, for ‘wasting time’ by sitting at Our Lord’s feet listening to Him―Martha thought that this time could be better spent helping Martha with all the material work in the house and kitchen. Our Lord rebuked Martha, saying: “‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many [material] things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part [the spiritual things]―which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
How many will stop their celebrations for prayer, let alone even extra prayers?―which should be the case, for on a birthday, we do more than the usual for the person concerned. How many will have attended a second Mass on Christmas Day? For the Church allows each priest to offer three Masses on Christmas Day.
Let us show our gratitude and love for Christ this Christmas! Otherwise our “Christmas Cheer” risks being a “Christless Cheer” ― a false worldly cheer and ultimately a hollow, empty, pointless cheer. As Our Lady has said at several of her apparitions, God is already offended enough, we must stop offending Him. How true and appropriate for Christmas are the words of God from Holy Scripture: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5). Let us make up for the countless offences that will rise heavenward on what should be a truly holy and spiritual day―not a half-baked, banal, secularized, materialistic and hedonistic (pleasure-seeking) day.
The enjoyment of material things is not true joy―for just as the soul is more important than the body, so, too, are spiritual joys above physical or material ‘joys’. St. Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between bodily delight or sense-pleasure with a much higher ‘delight’, which is properly called “joy” and which belongs the immaterial realm of our soul with its powers of knowing and loving. He says that “delight” (which is can also be called pleasure, or enjoyment) is a passion of the senses and comes from awareness of possessing what is suitable and pleasing. It is, like other passions that come from our senses. Both animals and men can be stirred by pleasure or delight, but only man can experience joy. What are we aiming for this Christmas? Pleasures or joy? They physical and material indulgences and satisfactions―or the spiritual ones?
The One Thing Necessary!
Let us finish with the profound and astounding words of one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century―the Dominican, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, who taught Mystical and Ascetical Theology at the prestigious Dominican seminary in Rome, the Angelicum. He writes:
“As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with his fellow men, man converses interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life; that of an old man is not that of a youth. It also varies greatly according as a man is good or bad.
“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for his egoism, a love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? “Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. “One thing is necessary,” He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.
“What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him. The great problems that have always preoccupied humanity have taken on a new and sometimes tragic aspect. To wish to get along without God—the first Cause and last End—leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: “He that is not with Me is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30).
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies—in the midst of the conflicts that arise among them and in spite of the opposition of those who represent them—converge in this way, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. This point is reached after many deviations. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God—who created him and who is his last End—he makes a religion for himself, since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. To replace the superior ideal which he has abandoned, man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics and present themselves under the guise of a feverish cult of justice—thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity. Often, however, this religion of science is directed toward the apotheosis of man, rather than toward the love of God. As much must be said of social activity, particularly under the form it assumes in Socialism and Communism. It is inspired by a mysticism which purposes a transfiguration of man, while, at times, it denies, in the most absolute manner, the rights of God.
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus.
“If religion is no longer a grave matter, but merely something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science or in social activity―they devote the selves religiously to the search for scientific truth or to the establishment of justice between classes or peoples. After a while they are forced to perceive that they have ended in fearful disorder and that the relations between individuals and nations become more and more difficult, if not impossible. As St. Augustine and St. Thomas (Summa Theoligica, Ia IIae, q.28, a.4 ad 2um; IIIa, q.23, art.1 ad 3um) have said, it is evident that the same material goods, as opposed to those of the spirit, cannot at one and the same time belong integrally to several persons. The same house, the same land, cannot simultaneously belong wholly to several men, nor the same territory to several nations. As a result, interests conflict when man feverishly makes these lesser goods his last end.
“St. Augustine, on the other hand, insists on the fact that the same spiritual goods can belong simultaneously and integrally to all and to each individual in particular. Without doing harm to another, we can fully possess the same truth, the same virtue, the same God. This is why Our Lord says to us: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Failure to hearken to this lesson, is to work at one’s destruction and to verify once more the words of the Psalmist: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1).
“If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man; if man continually seeks himself instead of God, his last End, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ’s words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Let not our Christmas lead us to nothingness, but let us gather with Christ, or, rather, let us gather Christ into our souls to make this a spiritual Christmas more than a materialistic one.
We are smack-bang-in-the-middle of the season of viruses! What will you get for Christmas this year? A virus? Will people by wishing you a “Merry Sickmas”? Sick joke, huh? Well, didn’t St. Bernadette of Lourdes say―when she was chronically sick―“It is my vocation to be sick!” That’s a pretty healthy way to look at sickness, isn’t it? St. Paul writes: “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity! … For we rejoice that we are weak!” (2 Corinthians 11:30; 13:9).
Sickness Is No Laughing Matter―Or Is It?
“They who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at!” (Wisdom 17:8). Just like the Old Testament king who fell sick because of fear― “When the king heard these words, he was struck with fear and was exceedingly moved, and he laid himself down upon his bed and fell sick for grief” (1 Machabees 6:8)―at the present moment, most of the world are sick with fear of a real, but exaggerated, virus―and they have to be laughed at as they wear useless masks and measure with a tape-measure the “safe-distance” that they must keep from everyone else―for fear of catching a virus from which 99.7% of people recover. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its initial death rate for Coronavirus to under 1% — actually, to 0.26%, a fraction of what they initially projected. Additionally, four infectious disease doctors in Canada said the risk for people under age 65 is 6 in 1 million, or 0.0006%. The real virus―the more fatal virus―has been the “virus of fear” that has been concocted (“con”-cocted) in the media ‘laboratories’ and then spread relentlessly throughout the world whilst hiding behind a “media-mask” of falsehood posing as truth. Hence you have the current falsified figures which claim that over 320,000 Americans have died from Covid―but strangely enough the deaths from flu, heart disease, cancer, etc. have plummeted drastically to unheard of low levels, while doctors are cajoled and coerced into writing down, as cause of death, Covid-19 in place of the usual causes of death [read more here―scroll to Article 12].
Catching the Virus of Christmas Cheer!
If there is one virus that it is worth catching and not resisting, then it is the heavenly virus of Christmas Cheer! Or looking at it from another perspective―not of virus but of vaccine―if there is one vaccine that is really worth taking―it is the Heaven’s vaccine of Christmas Cheer, which is proved to be 100% effective if administered properly and taken in proper doses. An authentic vaccine of Christmas Cheer drives away―not only the viruses of deception, delusion, doubt, disappointment, demoralization, disturbance, despondency, desolation, discouragement, depression, despair and all the other devilish “D” viruses from the devil’s laboratories―but also the virus of sin and eternal death! However, this vaccine of Christmas Cheer is not meant to be taken once a year, at Christmas, but it is meant to be taken every day ― for, as they say, “Every day is Christmas!”
Grace and Laughter are the Best Medicines!
The Church teaches that grace heals and sanctifies. Doctors tell us that laughter also heals and jollifies. The old saying “laughter is the best medicine” has a lot of truth to it. The use of laughter has been used in medicine for years. The ancient Greek physicians prescribed laughter for their patients by visiting the hall of comedians. Early Native Americans used clowns to work with their witch doctors. They too realized the powerful effects of humor and laughter in healing. In the 13th century, surgeons used humor to distract patients from pain. Today, more than ever before, people (even professional medics) are turning to humor for therapy and healing.
One of the few philosophers to classify humor as “play”, and to also see value in the mental side of humor, was St. Thomas Aquinas. He followed the lead of the Greek Philosopher Aristotle, who said that “Life includes rest as well as activity, and in this is included leisure and amusement.” Some people carry amusement to excess--“vulgar buffoons,” Aristotle calls them—but just as bad are “those who can neither make a joke themselves, nor put up with those who do,” whom he calls “boorish and unpolished.” Between buffoonery and boorishness there is a happy medium—engaging in humor at the right time and place, and to the right degree. This virtue Aristotle calls eutrapelia, ready-wittedness, from the Greek for “turning well.” In his Summa Theologica (2a2ae, Q. 168) St. Thomas Aquinas elaborates on Aristotle’s ideas in three articles: (1) “Whether there can be virtue in actions done in play,” (2) “The sin of playing too much,” and (3) “The sin of playing too little.” He agrees with Aristotle that humor, and other forms of play, provide occasional rest, stating that just as bodily tiredness is eased by resting the body, so psychological tiredness is eased by resting the soul. Therefore the remedy for weariness of soul lies in slackening the tension of mental study and taking some pleasure, which is achieved by being playful or humorous.
St. Thomas Aquinas does not shy-away from problematic objections to the matter of games, play and laughter. He writes: “It would seem that there cannot be any virtue about games. For St. Ambrose says: ‘Our Lord said: “Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep!” Wherefore I consider that all, and not only excessive, games should be avoided!’” Sounds like a good objection, eh? St. Thomas then brings up another potential objection against games, play and laughter, by quoting St. John Chrysostom: “Now Chrysostom says: ‘It is not God, but the devil, that is the author of fun. Listen to what happened to those who played: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play”’ Therefore there can be no virtue about games.”
Having brought forward these objections, St. Thomas begins to make the necessary distinctions as to when and for whom games, play and laughter are suitable and when and for whom they are unsuitable. He first quotes another saint, St. Augustine: “On the contrary, Augustine says: ‘I pray thee―spare thyself at times! For it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.’ Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times … Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work … so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite and equal to a fixed amount of work. Consequently when he goes beyond his measure in a certain work, he is oppressed and becomes weary, and all the more since, when the soul works, the body is at work likewise … Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul―and the soul’s rest is pleasure. Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul needs to consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of study. Thus, in the Conferences of the Fathers of the Church, it is related of St. John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them―who carried a bow―to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely―and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence St. John drew the analogy that, in like manner, man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed. Now such like words or deeds wherein nothing further is sought than the soul’s delight, are called playful or humorous. Hence it is necessary at times to make use of them, in order to give rest, as it were, to the soul.
“Nevertheless it would seem that in this matter there are three points which require especial caution. The first and chief is that the pleasure in question should not be sought in indecent or injurious deeds or words. Wherefore Tully says that ‘one kind of joke is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, obscene.’ Another thing to be observed is that one lose not the balance of one’s mind altogether. Hence we should beware lest, when we seek relaxation of mind, we destroy all that harmony which is the concord of good works … Just as we do not allow children to enjoy absolute freedom in their games, so too our very fun. Thirdly, we must be careful, as in all other human actions, to conform ourselves to persons, time, and place, and take due account of other circumstances, so that our fun befits the hour and the man … Now the sacred doctrine is concerned with things of the greatest importance … St. Ambrose does not altogether exclude fun from human speech, but from the sacred doctrine―that is why he begins by saying: ‘Although jokes are at times fitting and pleasant, nevertheless they are incompatible with the ecclesiastical rule―since how can we have recourse to things which are not to be found in Holy Writ?’” Then, with regard to the aforementioned criticism of St. John Chrysostom, St. Thomas writes: “Chrysostom refers to the inordinate use of fun, especially by those who make the pleasure of games their end … We are made not for play and fun, but rather for hardships, and for occupations of greater gravity and importance ... The pleasure derived from playful actions is for the recreation and rest of the soul, and if this be done with moderation, it is lawful to make use of fun. Hence Tully says: ‘It is indeed lawful to make use of play and fun, but in the same way as we have recourse to sleep and other kinds of rest, then only when we have done our duty by grave and serious matters.’”
“There is inordinate laughter and inordinate joy in excessive play. Therefore there is mortal sin therein … Excessive play goes beyond the rule of reason: and this happens in two ways. First, on account of the very species of the acts employed for the purpose of fun, and this kind of jesting is discourteous, insolent, scandalous, and obscene, when a man, for the purpose of jesting, employs indecent words or deeds, or such as are injurious to his neighbor, these being of themselves mortal sins. And thus it is evident that excessive play is a mortal sin. Secondly, there may be excess in play, for instance, when people make use of fun at unsuitable times or places, or out of keeping with the matter in hand, or persons. This may be sometimes a mortal sin on account of the strong attachment to play, when a man prefers the pleasure he derives therefrom, to the love of God, so as to be willing to disobey a commandment of God or of the Church rather than forego, such like amusements. Sometimes, however, it is a venial sin, for instance where a man is not so attached to amusement as to be willing for its sake to do anything in disobedience to God.”
St. Thomas then goes on to say that just as an excess of mirth and play is a sin, likewise a lack of mirth and play is a sin also: “On the contrary, the Philosopher (Aristotle) reckons the lack of mirth to be a vice. I answer that, in human affairs, whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others, by offering no pleasure to others, and by hindering their enjoyment. Now a man who is without mirth, not only is lacking in playful speech, but is also burdensome to others, since he is deaf to the moderate mirth of others. Consequently such persons are vicious, and are said to be boorish or rude … Since mirth is useful for the sake of the rest and pleasures it affords … it follows that lack of mirth is less sinful than excess of mirth. Austerity, as a virtue, does not exclude all pleasures, but only such as are excessive and inordinate.”
Laugh Your Way to Health and Heaven!
There are quite a few “laughs” in Holy Scripture. It says that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which suggests moderation and not excess. “Blessed are ye that weep now―for you shall laugh! … Woe to you that now laugh―for you shall mourn and weep!” (Luke 6:21-25) ― which is along the lines of what Our Lady said to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” The true joy and laughter shall be that of the saints in Heaven, and all laughter in this world is inferior to the laughter of Heaven―so you must wait “until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing” in the halls of Heaven (Job 8:21). Of the virtuous woman Scripture says: “Strength and beauty are her clothing and she shall laugh in the latter day” (Proverbs 31:25).
Laughter―like anger―can be virtuous or sinful. Laughter is not only a medicine to the just, but also a poison to fools and worldlings: “Laughter I counted error ― and to mirth I said: ‘Why art thou vainly deceived?’” (Ecclesiastes 2:2). The danger is that it can laugh over what is evil and laugh at sin. “As the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool―now this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 7:7). “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter ― but a wise man will scarcely laugh low to himself” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). “The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin” (Ecclesiasticus 27:14). “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep [over your sins] ― let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow!” (James 4:9).
Scripture also speaks of God laughing at the foolish antics of the wicked: “Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden? Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation―who said to God: ‘Depart from us!’ and looked upon the Almighty as if He could do nothing, whereas He had filled their houses with good things ― whose way of thinking be far from me. The just shall see and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn!” (Job 22:15-19). “He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them―and the Lord shall deride them!” (Psalm 2:4). “The Lord shall laugh at him―for He foreseeth that His day shall come” (Psalm 36:13). “The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say: ‘Behold the man that made not God his helper―but trusted instead in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity” (Psalm 51:8-9).
Medical Laughter is Free and Easy!
The old saying “laughter is the best medicine” has a lot of truth to it. There’s nothing funny about a life-changing diagnosis. However, a recent study emphasizes just how powerful and beneficial laughter can be. Laughing releases endorphins, or neuro-transmitters that bring a feeling of euphoria. At the same time, it stimulates circulation in our bodies, which increases oxygen intake and lowers blood pressure.
Laughter has many healing properties that are not limited to just mental health or reducing stress. According to Dr. William Fry, a Stanford University psychiatrist, laughter has many positive physiological effects, from promoting longevity to boosting the immune system. He notes that some children laugh more than four hundred times a day, whereas some adults laugh only about a dozen times a day―and some never laugh at all. Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, calls laughter “inner jogging” ― because a good-hearted belly laugh gives every system of the body a workout.
Laughter is especially important in helping people get over chronic illness. It’s often not the illness itself that overwhelms us and drags us down, but our fear and anxiety about the illness. This can set up a stressful cycle: pain, fear, and anxiety about the illness worsens the illness, which increases pain, fear and anxiety, which, in turn, continues to worsen the illness. Humor can break this cycle by triggering the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. This is how physical exercise boosts a person’s mood. It makes sense to make humor part of your daily exercise routine.
Laughing releases endorphins, or neurotransmitters that bring a feeling of euphoria. At the same time, it stimulates circulation in our bodies, which increases oxygen intake and lowers blood pressure. Laughter can improve mood, boost immunity, and reduce stress and pain. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
Furthermore, on average, about 10% of our white blood cells are natural killer cells — healthy cells that regularly protect our bodies from viral infected cells. One research team, using the relationship between laughter and natural killer cell activity, found that the more frequently patients engaged in laughter, the stronger their natural killer cell activity became. This means that laughter immediately improves our body’s capacity to kill or eliminate cancer cells!
With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all―this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.
Laughter Boosts the Immune System (Which is What Fauci, Gates & Co. are not doing)
A fascinating new area of research, dubbed psycho-neuro-immunology, finds that depression suppresses the immune system. Studies show that the stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol decrease during and following laughter. Researchers at Loma Linda University School of Medicine found that medical students who watched comedy videos had a significant increase in T-cells (cells that circulate through the body and gobble up germs) and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Laughter boosts natural killer cells, which are suppressed during stressful experiences. Studies have shown that people with allergies experience fewer allergic reactions after watching humorous films. A study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York showed that in widowers, the number of natural killer cells goes down for almost a year.
Research has proved there is a long list of health care benefits. Laughter therapy has been shown to:
● Boost your immune and circulatory systems. Laughing eliminates toxins and increases the number of lymphocytes in your blood, which helps protect you from disease.
● Enhance oxygen intake, while stimulating the heart and lungs. The increase of oxygen from laughter helps improve brain function, including memory.
● Relax muscles and decreases the number of stress hormones and promote relaxation.
● Ease digestion, and soothe stomach aches
● Relieve pain through the release of endorphins which lead to an increase in pain tolerance
● Balance and regulate blood pressure. Studies have shown that laughter can decrease resting blood pressure, reducing the risk for heart disease.
● Improve mental health by the release of endorphins, which bring a feeling of euphoria, add joy and zest to life; ease anxiety and tension, relieve stress and improve mood.
● Reduce stress and tension and promote relaxation.
● Improve sleep.
● Enhance quality of life.
Can Laughter Be Poisonous?
St. Benedict, in his treatise of the Twelve Steps or Stages of Humility, states that the tenth step of humility is that we “are not given to ready laughter for it is written, ‘Only fools raise their voices in laughter’ (Ecclesiasticus 21:23).” St. Clement of Alexandria (circa A.D. 150-215), the first Christian theologian to treat the subject of laughter, was not seeking to eliminate laughter — but to constrain it. He was committed to the idea that reason should control the emotions, but that laughter disturbed reason. Laughter, he argued, is an outburst that violates rationality. Even smiling, he taught, had to be bridled.
The ongoing teaching for centuries thereafter took the position that excessive laughter is a sign of a weak and undisciplined character. It undermined human dignity. The early leaders of the church, to a man, inveighed against it. Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Basil and John Chrysostom — who pointed out that Jesus never laughed — all of them considered laughter the ante-room to lust―which it can be if it is taken to an excess, for laughter loosens our defenses, just as wine―or any alcohol or drug―can loosen our defenses and make us drop our guard. Laughter, they said, was centered in the body, risked polluting the soul, and so crowded-out the word of God.
The “laugh-aholics” and “mirth-addicts” should remember that when she appeared at La Salette in 1846, Our Lady was weeping ― “She began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow” says Melanie Calvet, one of the two seers. At Fatima in 1917, Our Lady never smiled at all―never mind laughed. Sister Lucia of Fatima says that they “always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). At Akita in Japan in 1973, the statue of Our Lady would frequently (over 100 times) produce tears of blood from the eyes (scientifically verified as being real human blood). The statue did not produce human tears in laughter, but by weeping―which Our Lady later explained was because “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty [not joy and laughter]―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices [not joy and laughter] can soften the Father’s anger.”
It was thus that from the earliest days of the Church, that monks and hermits were encouraged to weep over their sins and the miseries of the world and concentrate on the suffering and death of Jesus. One religious rule after another warned against the role of laughter in distracting the religious from the important things of life―which is true in itself, but should not taken to extremes. The teaching was well-established. Christianity had conquered the “eat, drink and be merry” philosophy of the Roman Empire. Life now was about salvation, not sensuality, not the “bread and circuses” or food and entertainment philosophy of Ancient Rome. Centuries before the Rule of Benedict, rigorous rationality had already put down deep roots by exaggerating the dangers of mirth and laughter. Yes―it can be a danger―but when taken in moderation (like pepper and other spices with meal), then it enhances rather than damages our life. However, if we “overdose” on mirth and laughter, then we become like the fools that Holy Scripture speaks about: “A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter―but a wise man will scarce laugh low to himself” (Ecclesiasticus 21:23). As Scripture says, there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)―which suggests moderation and not excess, nor doing without them altogether.
An Emotional Balancing Act!
St. Thomas Aquinas―in his usual manner of making distinctions―interpreted games and mirth according the “balanced” way of St. Clement of Alexandria―namely, that you can have too much of a good thing, or too little of a good thing. St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach is always one of balance in things that are good in themselves―hence the Latin expression of “in media stat virtus” (meaning virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect). There has to be a balance in all of our emotions―we cannot neglect our God-given emotions, nor can we exaggerate those emotions by letting them run wild and out of control.
We have to be cheerful at times, which can only be sincerely achieved with what is called “the joy of good conscience”―meaning that we are in a state of sanctifying sin, with no unrepented nor unconfessed mortal sin on our soul, yet we should also be mournful over our sins―a virtue which goes by the name of compunction. Joy and Compunction―JC―which also happens to stand for “Jesus Christ” Who came to bring us the joy of salvation and compunction for our sins: “to present you spotless [without sin] before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:24). “My soul shall rejoice in the Lord and shall be delighted in His salvation!” (Psalms 34:9). “A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
Advent Anomaly? Christmas Contradiction?
To some it might seem like an impossibility, a contradiction, an oxymoron ― to have joy and compunction, to be happy and sad. Yet it is no different to the fact that God always shows mercy and justice at one at the same time and at all times. That is the balance that we should acknowledge, recognize and put into practice ourselves. Life cannot be constant joy [or “fun” for the worldlings] and laughter, nor can it be constant sadness or mourning. Our Lady told St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!” and Our Lord says something similar to His Apostles: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). Yet Holy Scripture tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Then again, Our Lord says: “Woe to you that now laugh―for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). While Holy Scripture adds: “Rejoice and be glad … Rejoice all you that mourn” (Isaias 66:10), but then says: “Awake, ye that are drunk and weep―and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine!” (Joel 1:5). All of this seems to be a contradiction! What on earth are we supposed to do? Rejoice and laugh, or mourn and weep? Once again, Scripture comes to the rescue, telling us that there is a time for everything―and that we should not be one-dimensional.
That is why the Church speaks of “fasting and feasting” ― when we fast, we mourn over our sins and debts for sin; when we feast, we rejoice over the mercy of God with regard to our sins. There is a time for each and each must be given its time. Likewise for the season of Christmas―we should both rejoice and mourn, or mourn and rejoice. In fact―that is why we have the season of Advent, to mourn and fast for our sins―so that we can receive our Savior with joy at Christmas―whilst never forgetting why Christ comes at Christmas―He comes to save and redeem us from our sins; He does not come to party! Once we lose sight of that, then we lose the true view of Christmas and we lose the true Christmas spirit, which consequently leads us into a degenerated spirit of mere fun, pleasure-seeking, materialism and sensuality (satisfying the senses).
Cataclysmic Christmas Concoction or Christmas Contraception
“If it ain’t broke―don’t fix it!” ― “Don’t tamper with Christmas!” Tampering with things can often lead to breaking things, or denaturizing things. This is especially true of Christmas―whereby it has been progressively emptied of the supernatural and replaced by the natural; emptied of the spiritual and replaced by the material. Many no longer wish to even call it “Christmas”, preferring not to mention Christ, and merely call the “Christmas season” a “Holiday season” instead.
Let us not fall (and let us nor permit those closest to us to fall) into that selfish, ungrateful, worldly-minded spirit that has succeeded in almost de-christianizing Christmas into a winter fun-fest of food, drink, parties, presents and pleasure. If our Christmas is full of things, then there is a good chance that there will be no thing or nothing for Christ; but if we have little or nothing to do over Christmas, then there is nothing to distract us from Christ. The soil of our soul will reap whatever we plant therein; if we plant the seed of the infant Christ, then Christ will grow in us; if we plant the seeds the world offers, then worldliness will grow in us.
Let us not de-christianize this holy day, but, like the Samaritan leper, let us often go back in thoughts and words to the Person whom we should be celebrating on Christmas Day. It is His birthday―not ours or anyone else’s―that is the cause of these universal festivities. Otherwise it is like going to a birthday party and completely ignoring the person whose birthday it is―while taking all the food and drink they have provided. Furthermore, let us not lose sight of why He chooses to be born into our world―it is a world of sin and He comes to save us from our sins. That is why we mourn and weep [for our sins] throughout Advent and that is why we rejoice and celebrate at Christmas―the two are inseparable―for Christ comes to ransom us from our sins and Satan’s captivity: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “Rejoice greatly, shout for joy―behold thy King will come to thee, the Savior!” (Zacharias 9:9). “Thou art God my Savior; and on Thee have I waited all the day long!” (Psalm 24:5). “My Savior―thou wilt deliver me from iniquity!” (2 Kings 22:3).
Let us spend these last days leading up to Christmas Day―not in so much material preparations, which though they have to be done, need not be done with the fetishness, compulsiveness and obsessiveness that we usually give to them―but spent in much more spiritual occupations at the feet of Jesus, so to speak, like the spiritual St. Mary Magdalen in contrast to her materialistic sister St. Martha: “Jesus entered into a certain town, and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. She stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord, answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part―which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
A Covid Christmas? Self-Isolated Christmas?
Thanks to the authorities worldwide―and the Elites behind them, who are their pupper-masters―a new ‘messias’ has been announced for Christmas! It is the mutant Covid-19 (alias SARS-COV-2) ― this new ‘messias’ whose ‘advent’ or coming we await has been ‘baptized’ with the name “B.1.1.7.” Funny isn’t it! Just like they didn’t know where the real Messias came from ― “When the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is” (John 7:27) ― so too with Covid-19, where on earth did it come from? What are its origins? Who is Covid’s ‘father’?
Just as Our Lord asked His Apostles: “And Jesus asked his disciples, saying: ‘Whom do men say that the Son of man is?’ But they said: ‘Some say John the Baptist, and others say Elias, and others say Jeremias, or one of the prophets!’ Jesus saith to them: ‘But whom do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven!’” (Matthew 16:13-17). Likewise, we could ask: “What do men say that Covid-19 is?” Some will say it jumped onto man from a bat; some will say it grew out of another Coronavirus; others will say it doesn’t even exist! But what will you say? What do you think Covid-19 is? You will answer and say: “Covid-19 is a man-made virus, initially researched and manipulated in the USA, and then, due to US Government moratorium on the research (due to its dangers), Dr. Fauci exported and financed continued research in China!” And you will be told: “Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood has not deceived thee, but the Father, Who is in Heaven, has revealed the truth to thee!”
Now, a new ‘messianic’ (read ‘satanic’) virus has emerged―just in time to be born everywhere for Christmas! This new strain of virus is 70% more transmissible, but seemingly no more deadly than Covid-19 (SARS-COV-2) after its detection in UK and elsewhere. The ‘messianic’ (read ‘satanic’) B.1.1.7 is fast supplanting other strains of the SARS-COV-2 virus. The highly infectious variant of the Coronavirus that has emerged in south-east England and is spreading rapidly to the rest of the UK and is already present elsewhere in the world, scientists warned on Sunday!!!! “Aargh!! Save us, Lord! We perish!!!!”
The World Health Organization said its Evolution Working Group is working closely with the UK medical authorities to understand how the variant, now called B.1.1.7, is likely to affect the course of the pandemic―you can be sure that the results of their findings will inevitably lead to even greater fear-mongering and even stricter lockdowns and all the anciliary measures that go with it―more mask mandates, more insistence on mandatory ‘messianic’ vaccinations that will be the ‘savior’ of the human race. B.1.1.7 has been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia ― and is fast approaching your neighborhood, wherever you may be! Scientists (the high-priests of the religion of Science) say that there are two aspects of B.1.1.7 which give cause for concern. One is the unprecedented number of mutations it carries. The other is the speed with which it is supplanting other strains of the Sars-Cov-2. “Aargh!! Save us, Lord! We perish!!!!”
Pandemic Profits for the Elite―You Too Can Profit!
40 million Americans filed for unemployment during the pandemic, but billionaires saw their net worth increase by well over half a trillion dollars. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson saw his wealth increase by $5 billion, while Elon Musk saw an increase of $17.2 billion. When you add up the numbers, billionaires in the United States have increased their total net worth $637 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic so far. At the same time, more than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment. With tens of millions of Americans out of a paycheck and the stock market plummeting by 37% in March, how is it that the rich have continued getting richer? This isn’t the first time billionaires have seen gains while a large portion of Americans were feeling losses. When the housing bubble burst in 2007, home prices fell 21% and roughly 3.1 million homes were foreclosed on in the United States. The stock market plummeted by over 50%. And by the end of 2009, 8.8 million Americans had lost their jobs. And the effects lingered. From 2009 to 2012, the incomes of the bottom 99% grew by only 0.4%, but the income of the top 1% grew by a staggering 31.4% in the same time span.
Yet despite all these profits, one has to remember the words of Our Lord: “Woe to you that are rich! For you have your consolation!” (Luke 6:24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? … Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 16:26; 19:23-24). To which Holy Scripture adds: “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3). “Let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). “Charge the rich of this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God!” (1 Timothy 6:17). “The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth” (1 Kings 2:7). “Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
After all those warnings―are you sure that you still want to become rich? “Labor not to be rich!” (Proverbs 23:4). As Our Lord indicated in one of His parables: “‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness―for a man’s life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth!’ And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do! I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods! And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest! Eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night do they require thy soul of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:15-21).
Christmas risks becoming or degenerating into a time when we “Eat, drink and make good cheer!” ― a time when God takes a back-seat and the things of this world take center-stage. The time spent in our material preparations betrays this worldly attitude towards Christmas. If Christ is at the heart of Christmas, then why is He found so little in our hearts? If Christ is the focal point of Christmas―why are we spending so many hours and days focusing on the material side of Christmas, to the neglect of Christ? Our Lord can just as readily address to us the words that He addressed to St. Martha, when she scolded her sister, Mary Magdalen, for ‘wasting time’ by sitting at Our Lord’s feet listening to Him―Martha thought that this time could be better spent helping Martha with all the material work in the house and kitchen. Our Lord rebuked Martha, saying: “‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many [material] things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part [the spiritual things]―which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
How many will stop their celebrations for prayer, let alone even extra prayers?―which should be the case, for on a birthday, we do more than the usual for the person concerned. How many will have attended a second Mass on Christmas Day? For the Church allows each priest to offer three Masses on Christmas Day.
Let us show our gratitude and love for Christ this Christmas! Otherwise our “Christmas Cheer” risks being a “Christless Cheer” ― a false worldly cheer and ultimately a hollow, empty, pointless cheer. As Our Lady has said at several of her apparitions, God is already offended enough, we must stop offending Him. How true and appropriate for Christmas are the words of God from Holy Scripture: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5). Let us make up for the countless offences that will rise heavenward on what should be a truly holy and spiritual day―not a half-baked, banal, secularized, materialistic and hedonistic (pleasure-seeking) day.
The enjoyment of material things is not true joy―for just as the soul is more important than the body, so, too, are spiritual joys above physical or material ‘joys’. St. Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between bodily delight or sense-pleasure with a much higher ‘delight’, which is properly called “joy” and which belongs the immaterial realm of our soul with its powers of knowing and loving. He says that “delight” (which is can also be called pleasure, or enjoyment) is a passion of the senses and comes from awareness of possessing what is suitable and pleasing. It is, like other passions that come from our senses. Both animals and men can be stirred by pleasure or delight, but only man can experience joy. What are we aiming for this Christmas? Pleasures or joy? They physical and material indulgences and satisfactions―or the spiritual ones?
The One Thing Necessary!
Let us finish with the profound and astounding words of one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century―the Dominican, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, who taught Mystical and Ascetical Theology at the prestigious Dominican seminary in Rome, the Angelicum. He writes:
“As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with his fellow men, man converses interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life; that of an old man is not that of a youth. It also varies greatly according as a man is good or bad.
“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for his egoism, a love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? “Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. “One thing is necessary,” He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.
“What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him. The great problems that have always preoccupied humanity have taken on a new and sometimes tragic aspect. To wish to get along without God—the first Cause and last End—leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: “He that is not with Me is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30).
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies—in the midst of the conflicts that arise among them and in spite of the opposition of those who represent them—converge in this way, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. This point is reached after many deviations. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God—who created him and who is his last End—he makes a religion for himself, since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. To replace the superior ideal which he has abandoned, man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics and present themselves under the guise of a feverish cult of justice—thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity. Often, however, this religion of science is directed toward the apotheosis of man, rather than toward the love of God. As much must be said of social activity, particularly under the form it assumes in Socialism and Communism. It is inspired by a mysticism which purposes a transfiguration of man, while, at times, it denies, in the most absolute manner, the rights of God.
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus.
“If religion is no longer a grave matter, but merely something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science or in social activity―they devote the selves religiously to the search for scientific truth or to the establishment of justice between classes or peoples. After a while they are forced to perceive that they have ended in fearful disorder and that the relations between individuals and nations become more and more difficult, if not impossible. As St. Augustine and St. Thomas (Summa Theoligica, Ia IIae, q.28, a.4 ad 2um; IIIa, q.23, art.1 ad 3um) have said, it is evident that the same material goods, as opposed to those of the spirit, cannot at one and the same time belong integrally to several persons. The same house, the same land, cannot simultaneously belong wholly to several men, nor the same territory to several nations. As a result, interests conflict when man feverishly makes these lesser goods his last end.
“St. Augustine, on the other hand, insists on the fact that the same spiritual goods can belong simultaneously and integrally to all and to each individual in particular. Without doing harm to another, we can fully possess the same truth, the same virtue, the same God. This is why Our Lord says to us: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Failure to hearken to this lesson, is to work at one’s destruction and to verify once more the words of the Psalmist: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1).
“If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man; if man continually seeks himself instead of God, his last End, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ’s words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Let not our Christmas lead us to nothingness, but let us gather with Christ, or, rather, let us gather Christ into our souls to make this a spiritual Christmas more than a materialistic one.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday December 16th & Thursday December 17th
Article 6
America Needs a Miracle!
But Does It Want One? Will It Get One? Does It Deserve One?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday December 16th & Thursday December 17th
Article 6
America Needs a Miracle!
But Does It Want One? Will It Get One? Does It Deserve One?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Boy! Do We Need a Miracle!
Boy are we in a mess! Yet it’s only just starting! The “Elites” have merely served the hors d'oeuvres or appetizers―and it ain’t too appetizing is it? What will the other courses be like―which they will try to ram down our throats and make us swallow “for our own good”, as they say? We are being “taken for a ride”! It’s not so much a seasonal sleigh ride, but more of a slay ride―as in the case when gangsters “took someone for a ride”, they took them away in a car in order to kill them. The forthcoming “Bugsy, I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse” vaccinations are best designed to “take us for a ride” whereby we are being fooled and conned go high heaven and our intelligence and common sense is being killed―or we are being “taken for a ride” whereby the philanthropic, caring “Uncle Bill Gates” et al (and company), who protest they love us to death, will prove it by vaccinating us to death.
Add to the equation the so-called “Great Reset” which is nothing other than the bankrupting of all society and then pressing the “Reset” button whereby your caring, loving, compassionate “Uncles Government and Bank” will let you off all your debt in exchange for you relinquishing all your possessions and rights, after which “Uncles Government and Bank” will kindly and caringly give you everything they think you need to live under their rule.
The “Gates of Hell” Shall Not Prevail
Big Pharma, Bill Gates and company ― even though they may have initial successes with their agenda ― are doomed to fail, for Our Lord promised ― we might well be forced to “go to the Gates of Hell” here on Earth (Isaias 38:10), but “the Gates of Hell shall not prevail” (Matthew 16:18). “The cords of Hell compassed me, the snares of death prevented me” (2 Kings 22:6). “The sorrows of death have encompassed me and the perils of Hell have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow” (Psalm 114:3). “The sorrows of Hell encompassed me and the snares of death prevented me” (Psalm 17:6). “Who is the man that shall live and not see death―that shall deliver his soul from the hand of Hell?” (Psalm 88:49). “God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hell” (Psalm 48:16). Thou liftest me up from the Gates of Death, that I may declare all thy praises” (Psalm 9:15).
Miracles Today & No Miracle Today!
Miracles still happen, but not as much as they used to happen. Miracles usually depend upon the level of our Faith and our sanctity. Don’t be shocked by the word “sanctity” in reference to yourself―for it is only saints that go to Heaven, and if you are not pursuing sanctity in your daily life, then you are no longer pursuing Heaven and salvation! Small wonder and little surprise that most souls are lost and damned―for very few really wanted to be saints, very few pursued sanctity. Nevertheless―as was just said―miracles largely depend upon the extent of our Faith and sanctity. Already back in the Middle-Ages―which was supposed to be the peak of Christendom―one of Our Lord’s mystics questioned Him as to why there were so few miracles in the days in which she lived, in comparison to the many miracles of the early days of the Church. Our Lord replied that the fewness of miracles was due to the lack of Faith.
Nevertheless, God has continued to perform miracles throughout all ages and all places―the miracles that we hear of are merely the “tip of the iceberg” of miracles that God continuously performs. Yet, even those miracles are rarely believed by a largely agnostic and atheistic world―that has downplayed God and made of god of science. For those freethinkers and skeptics, if science cannot explain something then it is not to be believed.
Yet the miracles have kept on coming. In times of recent memory we have the miracles emanating from the miraculous waters of Our Lady’s shrine at Lourdes in France―yet even those have seemed to “dry-up” in proportion to our Faith “drying-up” in modern times. Talking of “drying-up”―the stupendous miracle of the sun at Fatima, on October 13th 1917, came after a torrential downpour of rain and instantly dried both the ground and the clothes of the 70,000 witnesses who were present at the miracle of the sun dancing around in the sky.
Referred to by many as the first Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church, the miracle of Lanciano occurred in Italy during the 700s [read the full account here]. Around the year 700 in the Monastery of St. Longinus, a priest-monk of the Order of St. Basil was celebrating Mass. Having suffered recurring doubts about Transubstantiation, he had prayed much to God, that those doubts might be removed from his mind. Suddenly, on uttering the words “This is My Body….This is My Blood,” he noticed blood dripping from the white host. Amazed and terrified, the monk stared silently at the Sacred Species. The Flesh had remained intact, but the Blood in the chalice soon divided into five pellets, reminding one of the five wounds of Christ of unequal size and irregular shape. News of this wondrous event quickly spread throughout the district. Before long the church became a popular shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. The Sacred Species were duly preserved in a special reliquary. In time, numerous legends began to spread about the Eucharistic miracle. That same Host made Flesh remains intact until this date, and today it is enclosed in a monstrance of finely sculptured silver and crystal. The globules of Blood are held in a chalice of etched crystal thought to be the original where the miraculous change occurred. Through the centuries there have been a number of careful authentications. On November 19th, 1970 the most detailed scientific investigation was carried out by noted scientists in many different fields (hematologists, anatomists, pathologists, histologists, biochemists, etc.), and led by the renowned Italian Doctor and Professor Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor of Anatomy, Pathological Histology, Chemistry, and Clinical Microscopy, to conduct a thorough investigation. Dr. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena, was among the other doctors and scientists that assisted him.
The inquiry took several months to complete. Released to the public on March 4th, 1971, the findings caused a sensation, making headlines in all the Italian dailies. The commission confirmed what tradition had always held. On examining the monstrance, it was observed that the lunette containing the Flesh was not hermetically sealed; that is to say, even though it had been exposed to atmospheric and biological agents, it had not decomposed since the year 700. It was also found that the center of the Sacred Host ― the only part that remained bread ― had entirely decayed. The five pellets of Blood had not changed in appearance over the centuries and were incorrupt. He determined the flesh to be blood type AB and the tissue that of a human heart, specifically the endocardium. He found the blood to be consistent with that found on the hotly debated Shroud of Turin, and the tests revealed no preservatives in the samples. After conducting 500 experiments over 15 months, a World Health Organization commission was obliged to confirm Dr. Linoli's findings as being true.
A Bloody Miracle!
Francesco Forgione―you now know him as St. Padre Pio―was born in 1887, in Pietrelcina. The Forgione family was deeply religious―attending Mass daily, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstaining from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco’s parents and grandparents were illiterate, they narrated Bible stories to their children. As a youth, Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies. He later entered the Franciscan Order in 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the Capuchin novitiateand those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on Holy Communion alone without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions. By 1918, Padre Pio had the stigmata, which he bear for 50 years until his death in 1968. When asked if Russia will be converted to the Catholic Faith―as Our Lady of Fatima promised, through Sr. Lucia dos Santos―Padre Pio said that Russia will be converted suddenly, which will surprise many. But then he added that Russia will give Americans a good example of what it means to convert! He then promised that the U.S.A. will also convert to the Catholic Faith, but he added that the process will be slow, but will eventually lead to conversion.
Many a Bloody Miracle!
Therese Neumann was a supposed mystic, healer, and stigmatic who lived in Germany from 1898 until her death in 1962. She experienced nervous shock, hysterical bouts of blindness and paralysis, and digestive problems after an accident during a fire in 1918. In 1926, stigmata supposedly appeared on her body in multiple places over several weeks, including nine on her head evoking the crown of thorns, wounds to her hands, and marks across her back as if from flogging. Neumann also had visions and went into trances. The marks on her body, 45 in all, were still present when she died in 1962. A study published in 2006 determined that compresses allegedly soaked in Neumann’s blood during a stigmata occurrence were legitimate, based on DNA matching with blood samples from Neumann’s niece.
Neumann had also stopped eating food in 1922 and gave up most water from 1926 onward; instead, she claimed to require Holy Communion on a daily basis to survive. In 1927, she underwent 15 days of observation ordered by an archbishop to corroborate her claims. A group of four nuns trained as nurses, psychiatrist Dr. Ewald, and physician Dr. Seidl kept track of everything she ingested as well as weight measurements and found that Neumann did indeed appear to subsist on her daily Eucharist.
Another Bloody Miracle!
One miracle that was supposed to happen today (December 16th) failed to happen! We are referring to a miracle of the Church that is still occuring today ― the Miracle of the Liquefaction of the Blood of St. Januarius ― which has been happening anywhere from several to many times a year since the 14th century. First of all a little about St. Januarius―then a little about the good or bad significance as to whether or not his blood liquifies on certain dates in each year.
The Catholic Encyclopdia tells us that St. Januarius is believed to have suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, around 305. With regard to the history of his life and martyrdom, we have the following entry in the present Roman Martyrology: “At Pozzuoli in Campania [the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his deacon, and Desiderius lector, together with Socius deacon of the church of Misenas, Proculus deacon of Pozzuoli, Eutyches and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the Emperor Diocletian. The body of St. Januarius was brought to Naples, and there honourably interred in the church, where his holy blood is kept unto this day in a phial of glass, which being set near his head becomes liquid and bubbles up as though it were fresh.”
In the Roman Catholic Breviary a longer account is given. There we are told that “Timotheus, President of Campania,” was the official who condemned the martyrs, that Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace, but that the flames would not touch him, and that the saint and his companions were afterwards exposed in the amphitheater to wild beasts without any effect. Timotheus declaring that this was due to magic, and ordering the martyrs to be beheaded, the persecutor was smitten with blindness, but Januarius cured him, and five thousand persons were converted to Christ before the martyrs were decapitated.
Then, as the Breviary lesson continues, “the cities of these coasts strove to obtain their bodies for honourable burial, so as to make sure of having them advocates with God. By God’s will, the relics of Januarius were taken to Naples at last, after having been carried from Pozzuoli to Beneventum and from Beneventum to Monte Vergine. When they were brought thence to Naples they were laid in the chief church there and have been there famous on account of many miracles. Among these is remarkable the stopping of eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, whereby both that neighborhood and places afar off have been like to be destroyed. It is also well known and is the plain fact, seen even unto this day, that when the blood of St. Januarius, kept dried up in a small glass phial, is put in sight of the head of the same martyr, it is wont to melt and bubble in a very strange way, as though it had but freshly been shed.”
The Breviary is speaking of the 14th century, when there occurred a phenomenon that was to attract curiosity throughout the centuries―even until today―happenings that would provoke worldwide interest. The year was 1389. A procession was making its way about the cathedral when the priest holding the flasks containing the saint’s coagulated blood noticed that the contents began to liquefy and bubble.
There are actually four divisions of the saint’s relics. The bones are kept separately while the head is enclosed in a magnificent silver bust that is enshrined a distance from the relics of blood. The blood is kept in two vials. The smaller contains only a trace of blood, but the larger measures four inches in height and about two and a quarter inches in diameter and is usually a little more than half filled with coagulated blood that appears as a hard dark mass. The flasks are hermetically sealed and are solidly fixed, side by side, within a ring of silver and crystal sides, that has a stick-like handle at the bottom. The crystals on either side of the ring protect the vials and permit their viewing. This is kept in the main altar of the Chapel of the treasury in the Cathedral of Naples.
In more recent years the liquefactions and viewings have mostly taken place around 18 times in each year―i.e. (1) on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, which commemorates the translation of the relics to Naples, and on the eight following days, (2) on the feast of St. Januarius, September 19th, and during the octave (until September 26th), and (3) on December 16th―the silver bust containing the head of St. Januarius is exposed upon the altar, and the reliquary just described is brought out and held by the officiant in view of the assembly. The liquefaction takes place when the vials are brought in close proximity to the silver bust containing the head. Prayers are said by the people, begging that the miracle may take place, while a group of poor women, known as the “zie di San Gennaro” ( the ‘aunts’ of St. Januarius), make themselves specially conspicuous by the fervour, and sometimes, when the miracle is delayed, by the generous and intense extravagance of their supplications.
The officiant usually holds the reliquary by its extremities, without touching the glass, and from time to time turns it upside down to note whether any movement is perceptible in the dark mass enclosed in the phial. After an interval of varying duration, usually not less than two minutes or more than an hour, the mass is gradually seen to detach itself from the sides of the phial, to become liquid and of a more or less ruby tint, and in some instances to froth and bubble up, increasing in volume. The officiant then announces, “Il miracolo é fatto!” (meaning: “The miracle is made!” or “The miracle has happened!”), after which the Te Deum (a hymn of thanksgiving to God) is sung, and the reliquary containing the liquefied blood is brought to the altar rail, so that the faithful may venerate it by kissing the containing vessel. In the evening the reliquary is put into a silver case and placed inside the altar where, the next day, the blood might be found to have coagulated again or it may be found in a liquid state and might remain so for days or months.
Throughout the centuries, the failure of the blood to liquefy is taken to be a sign for the outbreak of disease, famine, earthquakes, eruptions of the nearby Mount Vesuvius, revolutions, war, political suppression or a precedent to religious persecutions, and the deaths of kings, archbishops and popes. It is for this reason that Neapolitans rejoice at each liquefaction. Many associated this to the subsequent earthquake of Irpinia, Italy when 2,900 people died in the worst natural disaster in Italian post-war history. Some of the occasions where the blood didn’t liquefy in the last few decades were: 1980, when a terrible earthquake hit South Italy; 1973, when Naples suffered an outbreak of cholera; 1939, when World War II broke out; 1940, when Italy joined the War; 1943, when Italy was occupied by the Nazis. It is for this reason that Neapolitans rejoice at each liquefaction―for it is taken as a sign that there will be no impending calamity.
Miracles for America
Our Lady of America promised miracles for America! On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of Lourdes, saying: “I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul.” Our Lady emphasized this very much. She is anxiously concerned about our inner life. She continued: “For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
The next day, September 26th, 1956, on the actual feast of the North American Martyrs, she appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem for the first time as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared sorrowfully saying: “Behold, O my children [of America], the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Relieve the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother.These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine, by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
Later, in a letter written to the archbishop, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes: “It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me.Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence. This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful of course there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. She desires that there it be enshrined in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
On October 13th, 1956, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of America, but instead of a lily in her hand, she held, with both hands, a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, thanking the Bishops and the faithful of America for the gift of having built a basilica in honor of her Immaculate Conception. On October 7th, 1957, the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared. More strong warnings for America were repeated by Our Lady throughout 1957 and 1958.
Nevertheless, despite these warnings, Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America if we would do as she desires. The Blessed Virgin Mary has promised that her statue as Our Lady of America, once placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, would be a safeguard for our country. Our Lady promised that a picture or statue honored in all homes would be a safeguard for the family. She also promised that the medal would be a safeguard against evil for those who wear it with great Faith and devotion.
Strong Warning? Blood of St. Januarius Fails on December 16th 2020!
Coming back, now, to the blood of St. Januarius―as stated above―it is taken as a good omen if the blood of St. Januarius liqeufies at certain times of the year, namely, on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and the eight days following; on the feast of the saint, September 19th, and during the octave (until September 26th), and on December 16th.
The liquefaction of the blood is taken to be a good omen for the days and months to come, whereas if the blood fails to liquefy, then it is taken as a bad omen and a forewarning of some terrible event or events. Hence the world’s media follows with attention the success or failure of the liquefaction on the above mentioned dates of each year. When the liquefacations occur, these dreaded occurrences are not expected to take place, and this gives vent to great rejoicing and news reports in many media outlets throughout the world. When on rare occasions where the blood fails to liquefy, this has historically been the omen of impending calamities. Time will tell whether this is the case on this occasion, or not―though at this moment in time, even without the failed liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, it is pretty obvious to anyone of sound mind and with common sense that we are are approaching a potentially very dire year in 2021.
During this so-called Coronavirus pandemic, or “Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic”, the blood of St. Januarius liquefied both in May and in September of 2020. Speaking after a livestreamed Mass at the cathedral on May 2nd, 2020, Cardinal Sepe said: “I have a big announcement to make! Even in this time of Coronavirus, the Lord, through the intercession of St. Januarius, has liquefied the blood!” When St. Januarius’ blood liquefied again in September, Cardinal Sepe addressed a mostly empty cathedral, due to Coronavirus restrictions. He announced that the blood had “completely liquefied, without any clots, which has happened in past years.”
However―on December 16th of this year (2020)―guess what―the blood failed to liquefy! Aargh! It must a sign of the end of the world! Repent! Repent! The end is nigh! ! Yet the websites that are insinuating ominous events, have failed to look at the history of these liquefactions.
Actually, history shows that the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius has rarely failed to take place in the expositions of May or September―but, apparently, it is not very common for the miracle to take place on December 16th, with the mass of blood remaining solid more often than not. Vatican journalist, Francesco Antonio Grana, said that the liquefaction “almost never” happens on December 16th and that in the last 34 years the number of times it has happened “can be counted on one hand.”
Boy are we in a mess! Yet it’s only just starting! The “Elites” have merely served the hors d'oeuvres or appetizers―and it ain’t too appetizing is it? What will the other courses be like―which they will try to ram down our throats and make us swallow “for our own good”, as they say? We are being “taken for a ride”! It’s not so much a seasonal sleigh ride, but more of a slay ride―as in the case when gangsters “took someone for a ride”, they took them away in a car in order to kill them. The forthcoming “Bugsy, I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse” vaccinations are best designed to “take us for a ride” whereby we are being fooled and conned go high heaven and our intelligence and common sense is being killed―or we are being “taken for a ride” whereby the philanthropic, caring “Uncle Bill Gates” et al (and company), who protest they love us to death, will prove it by vaccinating us to death.
Add to the equation the so-called “Great Reset” which is nothing other than the bankrupting of all society and then pressing the “Reset” button whereby your caring, loving, compassionate “Uncles Government and Bank” will let you off all your debt in exchange for you relinquishing all your possessions and rights, after which “Uncles Government and Bank” will kindly and caringly give you everything they think you need to live under their rule.
The “Gates of Hell” Shall Not Prevail
Big Pharma, Bill Gates and company ― even though they may have initial successes with their agenda ― are doomed to fail, for Our Lord promised ― we might well be forced to “go to the Gates of Hell” here on Earth (Isaias 38:10), but “the Gates of Hell shall not prevail” (Matthew 16:18). “The cords of Hell compassed me, the snares of death prevented me” (2 Kings 22:6). “The sorrows of death have encompassed me and the perils of Hell have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow” (Psalm 114:3). “The sorrows of Hell encompassed me and the snares of death prevented me” (Psalm 17:6). “Who is the man that shall live and not see death―that shall deliver his soul from the hand of Hell?” (Psalm 88:49). “God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hell” (Psalm 48:16). Thou liftest me up from the Gates of Death, that I may declare all thy praises” (Psalm 9:15).
Miracles Today & No Miracle Today!
Miracles still happen, but not as much as they used to happen. Miracles usually depend upon the level of our Faith and our sanctity. Don’t be shocked by the word “sanctity” in reference to yourself―for it is only saints that go to Heaven, and if you are not pursuing sanctity in your daily life, then you are no longer pursuing Heaven and salvation! Small wonder and little surprise that most souls are lost and damned―for very few really wanted to be saints, very few pursued sanctity. Nevertheless―as was just said―miracles largely depend upon the extent of our Faith and sanctity. Already back in the Middle-Ages―which was supposed to be the peak of Christendom―one of Our Lord’s mystics questioned Him as to why there were so few miracles in the days in which she lived, in comparison to the many miracles of the early days of the Church. Our Lord replied that the fewness of miracles was due to the lack of Faith.
Nevertheless, God has continued to perform miracles throughout all ages and all places―the miracles that we hear of are merely the “tip of the iceberg” of miracles that God continuously performs. Yet, even those miracles are rarely believed by a largely agnostic and atheistic world―that has downplayed God and made of god of science. For those freethinkers and skeptics, if science cannot explain something then it is not to be believed.
Yet the miracles have kept on coming. In times of recent memory we have the miracles emanating from the miraculous waters of Our Lady’s shrine at Lourdes in France―yet even those have seemed to “dry-up” in proportion to our Faith “drying-up” in modern times. Talking of “drying-up”―the stupendous miracle of the sun at Fatima, on October 13th 1917, came after a torrential downpour of rain and instantly dried both the ground and the clothes of the 70,000 witnesses who were present at the miracle of the sun dancing around in the sky.
Referred to by many as the first Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church, the miracle of Lanciano occurred in Italy during the 700s [read the full account here]. Around the year 700 in the Monastery of St. Longinus, a priest-monk of the Order of St. Basil was celebrating Mass. Having suffered recurring doubts about Transubstantiation, he had prayed much to God, that those doubts might be removed from his mind. Suddenly, on uttering the words “This is My Body….This is My Blood,” he noticed blood dripping from the white host. Amazed and terrified, the monk stared silently at the Sacred Species. The Flesh had remained intact, but the Blood in the chalice soon divided into five pellets, reminding one of the five wounds of Christ of unequal size and irregular shape. News of this wondrous event quickly spread throughout the district. Before long the church became a popular shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. The Sacred Species were duly preserved in a special reliquary. In time, numerous legends began to spread about the Eucharistic miracle. That same Host made Flesh remains intact until this date, and today it is enclosed in a monstrance of finely sculptured silver and crystal. The globules of Blood are held in a chalice of etched crystal thought to be the original where the miraculous change occurred. Through the centuries there have been a number of careful authentications. On November 19th, 1970 the most detailed scientific investigation was carried out by noted scientists in many different fields (hematologists, anatomists, pathologists, histologists, biochemists, etc.), and led by the renowned Italian Doctor and Professor Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor of Anatomy, Pathological Histology, Chemistry, and Clinical Microscopy, to conduct a thorough investigation. Dr. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena, was among the other doctors and scientists that assisted him.
The inquiry took several months to complete. Released to the public on March 4th, 1971, the findings caused a sensation, making headlines in all the Italian dailies. The commission confirmed what tradition had always held. On examining the monstrance, it was observed that the lunette containing the Flesh was not hermetically sealed; that is to say, even though it had been exposed to atmospheric and biological agents, it had not decomposed since the year 700. It was also found that the center of the Sacred Host ― the only part that remained bread ― had entirely decayed. The five pellets of Blood had not changed in appearance over the centuries and were incorrupt. He determined the flesh to be blood type AB and the tissue that of a human heart, specifically the endocardium. He found the blood to be consistent with that found on the hotly debated Shroud of Turin, and the tests revealed no preservatives in the samples. After conducting 500 experiments over 15 months, a World Health Organization commission was obliged to confirm Dr. Linoli's findings as being true.
A Bloody Miracle!
Francesco Forgione―you now know him as St. Padre Pio―was born in 1887, in Pietrelcina. The Forgione family was deeply religious―attending Mass daily, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstaining from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco’s parents and grandparents were illiterate, they narrated Bible stories to their children. As a youth, Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies. He later entered the Franciscan Order in 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the Capuchin novitiateand those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on Holy Communion alone without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions. By 1918, Padre Pio had the stigmata, which he bear for 50 years until his death in 1968. When asked if Russia will be converted to the Catholic Faith―as Our Lady of Fatima promised, through Sr. Lucia dos Santos―Padre Pio said that Russia will be converted suddenly, which will surprise many. But then he added that Russia will give Americans a good example of what it means to convert! He then promised that the U.S.A. will also convert to the Catholic Faith, but he added that the process will be slow, but will eventually lead to conversion.
Many a Bloody Miracle!
Therese Neumann was a supposed mystic, healer, and stigmatic who lived in Germany from 1898 until her death in 1962. She experienced nervous shock, hysterical bouts of blindness and paralysis, and digestive problems after an accident during a fire in 1918. In 1926, stigmata supposedly appeared on her body in multiple places over several weeks, including nine on her head evoking the crown of thorns, wounds to her hands, and marks across her back as if from flogging. Neumann also had visions and went into trances. The marks on her body, 45 in all, were still present when she died in 1962. A study published in 2006 determined that compresses allegedly soaked in Neumann’s blood during a stigmata occurrence were legitimate, based on DNA matching with blood samples from Neumann’s niece.
Neumann had also stopped eating food in 1922 and gave up most water from 1926 onward; instead, she claimed to require Holy Communion on a daily basis to survive. In 1927, she underwent 15 days of observation ordered by an archbishop to corroborate her claims. A group of four nuns trained as nurses, psychiatrist Dr. Ewald, and physician Dr. Seidl kept track of everything she ingested as well as weight measurements and found that Neumann did indeed appear to subsist on her daily Eucharist.
Another Bloody Miracle!
One miracle that was supposed to happen today (December 16th) failed to happen! We are referring to a miracle of the Church that is still occuring today ― the Miracle of the Liquefaction of the Blood of St. Januarius ― which has been happening anywhere from several to many times a year since the 14th century. First of all a little about St. Januarius―then a little about the good or bad significance as to whether or not his blood liquifies on certain dates in each year.
The Catholic Encyclopdia tells us that St. Januarius is believed to have suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, around 305. With regard to the history of his life and martyrdom, we have the following entry in the present Roman Martyrology: “At Pozzuoli in Campania [the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his deacon, and Desiderius lector, together with Socius deacon of the church of Misenas, Proculus deacon of Pozzuoli, Eutyches and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the Emperor Diocletian. The body of St. Januarius was brought to Naples, and there honourably interred in the church, where his holy blood is kept unto this day in a phial of glass, which being set near his head becomes liquid and bubbles up as though it were fresh.”
In the Roman Catholic Breviary a longer account is given. There we are told that “Timotheus, President of Campania,” was the official who condemned the martyrs, that Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace, but that the flames would not touch him, and that the saint and his companions were afterwards exposed in the amphitheater to wild beasts without any effect. Timotheus declaring that this was due to magic, and ordering the martyrs to be beheaded, the persecutor was smitten with blindness, but Januarius cured him, and five thousand persons were converted to Christ before the martyrs were decapitated.
Then, as the Breviary lesson continues, “the cities of these coasts strove to obtain their bodies for honourable burial, so as to make sure of having them advocates with God. By God’s will, the relics of Januarius were taken to Naples at last, after having been carried from Pozzuoli to Beneventum and from Beneventum to Monte Vergine. When they were brought thence to Naples they were laid in the chief church there and have been there famous on account of many miracles. Among these is remarkable the stopping of eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, whereby both that neighborhood and places afar off have been like to be destroyed. It is also well known and is the plain fact, seen even unto this day, that when the blood of St. Januarius, kept dried up in a small glass phial, is put in sight of the head of the same martyr, it is wont to melt and bubble in a very strange way, as though it had but freshly been shed.”
The Breviary is speaking of the 14th century, when there occurred a phenomenon that was to attract curiosity throughout the centuries―even until today―happenings that would provoke worldwide interest. The year was 1389. A procession was making its way about the cathedral when the priest holding the flasks containing the saint’s coagulated blood noticed that the contents began to liquefy and bubble.
There are actually four divisions of the saint’s relics. The bones are kept separately while the head is enclosed in a magnificent silver bust that is enshrined a distance from the relics of blood. The blood is kept in two vials. The smaller contains only a trace of blood, but the larger measures four inches in height and about two and a quarter inches in diameter and is usually a little more than half filled with coagulated blood that appears as a hard dark mass. The flasks are hermetically sealed and are solidly fixed, side by side, within a ring of silver and crystal sides, that has a stick-like handle at the bottom. The crystals on either side of the ring protect the vials and permit their viewing. This is kept in the main altar of the Chapel of the treasury in the Cathedral of Naples.
In more recent years the liquefactions and viewings have mostly taken place around 18 times in each year―i.e. (1) on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, which commemorates the translation of the relics to Naples, and on the eight following days, (2) on the feast of St. Januarius, September 19th, and during the octave (until September 26th), and (3) on December 16th―the silver bust containing the head of St. Januarius is exposed upon the altar, and the reliquary just described is brought out and held by the officiant in view of the assembly. The liquefaction takes place when the vials are brought in close proximity to the silver bust containing the head. Prayers are said by the people, begging that the miracle may take place, while a group of poor women, known as the “zie di San Gennaro” ( the ‘aunts’ of St. Januarius), make themselves specially conspicuous by the fervour, and sometimes, when the miracle is delayed, by the generous and intense extravagance of their supplications.
The officiant usually holds the reliquary by its extremities, without touching the glass, and from time to time turns it upside down to note whether any movement is perceptible in the dark mass enclosed in the phial. After an interval of varying duration, usually not less than two minutes or more than an hour, the mass is gradually seen to detach itself from the sides of the phial, to become liquid and of a more or less ruby tint, and in some instances to froth and bubble up, increasing in volume. The officiant then announces, “Il miracolo é fatto!” (meaning: “The miracle is made!” or “The miracle has happened!”), after which the Te Deum (a hymn of thanksgiving to God) is sung, and the reliquary containing the liquefied blood is brought to the altar rail, so that the faithful may venerate it by kissing the containing vessel. In the evening the reliquary is put into a silver case and placed inside the altar where, the next day, the blood might be found to have coagulated again or it may be found in a liquid state and might remain so for days or months.
Throughout the centuries, the failure of the blood to liquefy is taken to be a sign for the outbreak of disease, famine, earthquakes, eruptions of the nearby Mount Vesuvius, revolutions, war, political suppression or a precedent to religious persecutions, and the deaths of kings, archbishops and popes. It is for this reason that Neapolitans rejoice at each liquefaction. Many associated this to the subsequent earthquake of Irpinia, Italy when 2,900 people died in the worst natural disaster in Italian post-war history. Some of the occasions where the blood didn’t liquefy in the last few decades were: 1980, when a terrible earthquake hit South Italy; 1973, when Naples suffered an outbreak of cholera; 1939, when World War II broke out; 1940, when Italy joined the War; 1943, when Italy was occupied by the Nazis. It is for this reason that Neapolitans rejoice at each liquefaction―for it is taken as a sign that there will be no impending calamity.
Miracles for America
Our Lady of America promised miracles for America! On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of Lourdes, saying: “I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul.” Our Lady emphasized this very much. She is anxiously concerned about our inner life. She continued: “For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
The next day, September 26th, 1956, on the actual feast of the North American Martyrs, she appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem for the first time as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared sorrowfully saying: “Behold, O my children [of America], the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Relieve the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother.These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine, by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
Later, in a letter written to the archbishop, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes: “It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me.Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence. This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful of course there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. She desires that there it be enshrined in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
On October 13th, 1956, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of America, but instead of a lily in her hand, she held, with both hands, a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, thanking the Bishops and the faithful of America for the gift of having built a basilica in honor of her Immaculate Conception. On October 7th, 1957, the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared. More strong warnings for America were repeated by Our Lady throughout 1957 and 1958.
Nevertheless, despite these warnings, Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America if we would do as she desires. The Blessed Virgin Mary has promised that her statue as Our Lady of America, once placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, would be a safeguard for our country. Our Lady promised that a picture or statue honored in all homes would be a safeguard for the family. She also promised that the medal would be a safeguard against evil for those who wear it with great Faith and devotion.
Strong Warning? Blood of St. Januarius Fails on December 16th 2020!
Coming back, now, to the blood of St. Januarius―as stated above―it is taken as a good omen if the blood of St. Januarius liqeufies at certain times of the year, namely, on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and the eight days following; on the feast of the saint, September 19th, and during the octave (until September 26th), and on December 16th.
The liquefaction of the blood is taken to be a good omen for the days and months to come, whereas if the blood fails to liquefy, then it is taken as a bad omen and a forewarning of some terrible event or events. Hence the world’s media follows with attention the success or failure of the liquefaction on the above mentioned dates of each year. When the liquefacations occur, these dreaded occurrences are not expected to take place, and this gives vent to great rejoicing and news reports in many media outlets throughout the world. When on rare occasions where the blood fails to liquefy, this has historically been the omen of impending calamities. Time will tell whether this is the case on this occasion, or not―though at this moment in time, even without the failed liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, it is pretty obvious to anyone of sound mind and with common sense that we are are approaching a potentially very dire year in 2021.
During this so-called Coronavirus pandemic, or “Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic”, the blood of St. Januarius liquefied both in May and in September of 2020. Speaking after a livestreamed Mass at the cathedral on May 2nd, 2020, Cardinal Sepe said: “I have a big announcement to make! Even in this time of Coronavirus, the Lord, through the intercession of St. Januarius, has liquefied the blood!” When St. Januarius’ blood liquefied again in September, Cardinal Sepe addressed a mostly empty cathedral, due to Coronavirus restrictions. He announced that the blood had “completely liquefied, without any clots, which has happened in past years.”
However―on December 16th of this year (2020)―guess what―the blood failed to liquefy! Aargh! It must a sign of the end of the world! Repent! Repent! The end is nigh! ! Yet the websites that are insinuating ominous events, have failed to look at the history of these liquefactions.
Actually, history shows that the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius has rarely failed to take place in the expositions of May or September―but, apparently, it is not very common for the miracle to take place on December 16th, with the mass of blood remaining solid more often than not. Vatican journalist, Francesco Antonio Grana, said that the liquefaction “almost never” happens on December 16th and that in the last 34 years the number of times it has happened “can be counted on one hand.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday December 12th to Monday December 14th
Article 5
Our Lady of Guadalupe & Our Current Crisis
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday December 12th to Monday December 14th
Article 5
Our Lady of Guadalupe & Our Current Crisis
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Who Has Forgotten Who?
In Holy Scripture we read: “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet I will not forget thee!” (Isaias 49:15). Our Lady most certainly does not forget us, but have we forgotten Our Lady today? Hopefully, on this day of December 12th, we have remembered to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, recalling the series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in December of 1531.
Even if a few know much about Our Lady of Guadalupe, there are many who know little. Few think much of her and many think little of her―even though around 6 million pilgrims (or should we say “tourists”) annually visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe [click here to visit for yourself]. The vast majority of pilgrims (many or most of whom are sadly mere “tourists”) will visit the basilica and there file past the miraculous Tilma (cloak or poncho) of St. Juan Diego, upon which Our Lady miraculously imprinted her image.
Before going deeper into the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe and its significance for our present plight in all the different crises afflicting us, let us first of all―following the modern trend of focusing on the sensational―focus on the sensational miracle performed by Our Lady of Guadalupe in regard to the miraculous image imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s Tilma―a rough cloak woven from vegetable fibers and which is another name for a cloak or poncho worn by Mexicans.
Miracles Attract and Convince
God has always used miracles as a kind of “signature” by which He can be authentically recognized and known. The other “signature” that God will use is that of prophecy. You could say that those two “signatures” are God’s first and second names―just as we known by our “first-names” or “Christian names” and our “family names” or “second-names”. The miracles surrounding the shroud are quite stupendous and mind-boggling! Not all of them were noticed or discovered at first―it took the massive advances in science and technology to uncover some of them, yet from the very beginning (in 1531) the image of Our Lady on St. Juan Diego’s Tilma produced one miracle after another over these last, almost, 500 years.
Here are some of the discoveries that researchers and scientists have found over the last 500 years. Remarkably, as time goes on, the Tilma has become more—not less—mysterious. The enigma of the Tilma has piqued the interest of believers and scientists—and the efforts of politically-motivated critics and ridiculers—through the ages.
What Science Shows Us
THE FABRIC
► First, there’s the physical makeup of the Tilma itself. The image that she left of herself imprinted miraculously on the Tilma―a poor quality cactus-cloth― should have deteriorated in 20 years, but to this very day it shows no sign of decay almost 500 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin. For more than 100 years it was hung in a primitive chapel—an unshielded environment ―exposed to constant candle smoke, damp and other damaging factors. After much human contact by scientists’ examinations and pilgrims kissing it, the Tilma is still in good condition with the cloth it was made of that ordinarily would have lasted no more than 20-30 years has now lasted almost 500 years―and is still going strong.
► The reverse side of the Tilma is rough and coarse, while the front side is as soft as silk. This delicate fabric should have wasted away in a matter of a few decades―like most other Tilmas. Yet it still remains to this day, nearly 500 years later.
► Power magnification has revealed the fact that the coarse weave of the Tilma was deliberately used in a precise manner to give depth to the face on the image.
THE IMAGE
► The overall image of Our Lady cannot be explained by science. Both its color rendering and brightness enduring over the centuries are inexplicable. Pigment of the fabric used were from no known source; whether natural, animal, mineral, or vegetable. All pigments known to exist in Mexico 500 years ago would have faded.
► NASA scientists have no explanation as to how the image got on the cloth; no brush strokes or stretch marks on it. Careful testing using modern restoration techniques have demonstrated that the image was made using no under-drawing, no sizing, no protective over-varnish and no brush strokes.
► Colors float above the surface of the Tilma at a distance of 3/10th of a milimeter or 1/100 of an inch.
► When the Tilma is examined at a distance of less than 10 inches, the colors totally disappear.
► Image seems to increase and decrease―owing it to the unknown property of surface and substance of which it is made.
► Under high magnification the image shows no sign of fading or cracking, after almost 500 years.
► Strangely, the pink color of the gown is transparent to infra-red light, unlike all other pigments of this hue, which are opaque.
► Viewed close up, the face and hands are of a grey-white color which gradually becomes olive as one backs away — an impossible accomplishment for any human painter. Scientists have compared this to the same effect in nature with iridescent bird feathers, butterfly scales and brightly-colored beetles.
► After filtering and processing―the digitized images reveal that portion of the face, hands, robe, and mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches, or corrections, and no visible brush strokes or sizing used that smoothed the surface and no protective varnish covering the surface.
► Image changes in color slightly depending on the angle of viewing, a phenomenon known as “iridescence”, a technique that cannot be reproduced with human hands.
► What and how the colors of the image appeared on the cloak remains a total scientific mystery.
► The Virgin’s head is slightly tilted to her right and had she not done so the center stitch, which holds the Tilma together, would have divided her face in two.
► Specialists at Kodiak Corporation in Mexico, explain the image is smooth and bears more resemblance to a photograph than anything else.
► Our Lady’s height in the Image is 4’8” and of a woman of 18-20 years old. The face is that of a “metiza” ― which is a mixture of Spanish and Indian race as a result of intermarriage.
► The Tilma maintains a constant temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which is the average temperature of a living person.
► Carlos Fernandez del Castillo, a gynecologist, examined the Image and indicates stage of pregnancy on December 9th for Jesus birth to occur on Christmas day. A stethoscope placed below the black band at the waist of Our Lady and he heard rhythmic repeating heartbeats at 115 beats per minute, the same as that of a baby in the womb.
► The stellar arrangement that appear on the Mantle of Our Lady, accurately display the various constellations of the Mexican sky the day of the apparition occurred which was in the winter-morning solstice of December 12th, 1531, Saturday, at 10:26 a.m.
► The star map is in the reverse (the cardinal axis rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise) provides a view of the constellations from beyond them, as it would be seen looking through them toward the earth.
► It has been also found that imposing a topographical map of central Mexico on Our Lady’s dress, the mountains, river, and principal lakes coincide with the decoration on the dress.
OUR LADY’S EYES
► Beginning in 1929 and continuing until today, photographers, scientists and opthalmologists have demonstrated the existence of images of human figures in both of the Virgin’s eyes. These are found in the precise location wherein figures reflected by a live human eye would be found in a photograph.
► The shape, placement and size of human figures of St. Juan Diego and the interpreter present when the Tilma was opened imply that this was literally what the Virgin saw as she stared out from the image on the Tilma at that moment. As to whether this could have been created by a human painter, the placement of these images in her eyes is impossible to replicate on an even, flat surface.
► It was discovered that the reflection of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga looking in astonishment in the pupil of Our Lady’s eyes.
► When exposed to light, Our Lady’s eye contracts and dilates when light is withdrawn.
► Our Lady’s eyes have been ophthalmologically determined to be alive on the Tilma.
► In 1976, some twenty doctors had confirmed, orally and in writing, the “unexplainable presence” of a man with a beard in the cornea and lenses of the Virgin.
►By 1979, Dr. Jose’ Aste Tonsmann, PhD., a Peruvian ophthalmologist and an expert at IBM in the digital processing of images, and who for over 20 years studied the Tilma, digitally enlarges the Image of Our Lady’s eyes by 2,500 time the actual size under extremely high resolution and had found not only a single figure, but images of the witnesses present when the Tilma was first revealed before the Bishop in 1531, including a small family group, 13 persons in all. In addition, Dr. Tonsmann used digital technology similar to that used in the images received from satellites and space probes in transmitting visual information. The image of the Bishop Zumarraga in the eyes of Our Lady was also enlarged 1,000 times than the actual size to able to see what is reflected in his eyes. The eye of the Bishop contains the image of Juan Diego opening his Tilma before the bishop. The size of the image is a quarter of a micron, which is ¼ of a millionth of a millimeter.
MIRACLES ATTRIBUTED TO THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
► On December 26th, 1531, only days after the miraculous image of Our Lady on the Tilma of Juan Diego, the Chichimeca Indians were celebrating the newly built chapel with dancing and bows and arrows. One arrow struck an Indian in the neck, immediately killing him. They carried him into the chapel and laid him beneath the sacred image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and prayed fervently for a miracle. Shortly after removing the arrow from his neck, the man regained consciousness and rose, completely healed.
► Over 9 million Indians were converted to Christianity within just a short few years.
► This conversion of Indians also brought a halt to the pagan rituals of human sacrifice.
► Spaniards and Mexicans who were initially mortal enemies eventually embraced one another with affection.
► In 1785 (some sources claim 1791) a workman accidentally spilled acid on the side of the image, and while a stain can still be seen, the acid did not damage either the Tilma or the image.
► Whereas today the Basilica area is guarded by federal police, it was always under guard in earlier years. During the Mexican government’s persecution of the Church in the 1920s, an attempt was made to destroy the unguarded image. On November 14th, 1921, a Spanish anarchist, Luciano Perez, planted 29 sticks of dynamite in a flower arrangement of the main altar under the Tilma. When the bomb exploded during a High Mass, the marble altar, railings and floor were broken, huge chunks of marble were displaced, a huge, bronze crucifix was twisted like molten taffy, as the explosion ripped through the building, destroying all the stained glass windows in the Basilica. However, in a miraculous escape, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Tilma was in no way damaged. The normal grade of glass that encased and protected the image of Our Lady was unbroken and intact. The priest offering the Mass and the altar servers were completely unharmed. The men, who brought the bomb and hid it in the flower arrangement, were later traced to the highest levels of the Masonic Mexican government. Nowadays, the Tilma is preserved in a bullet proof glass in the Basilica of Guadalupe.
Miracles Never End
Unlike civilizations, fads and fashions―which are here one year and gone the next―miracles are here to stay, because miracles come from God and God neither changes nor disappears: “I am the Lord, and I change not” (Malachias 3:6). “The Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? Hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19). “The word of our Lord endureth for ever” (Isaias 40:8). Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Similarly, the miracles of God endure forever also. Sometimes it is good to take an inventory and overview of the miracles that God has performed. Here is an overview of the chief miracles―which is not exhaustive, as there are others which could be added:
Chief Miracles in the Old Testament
Chief Miracles in the New Testament
Miracles Require Faith
Miracles require Faith in God and confidence that God will perform a miracle. Our Lord repeatedly praised and demanded this Faith and confidence in His performance of miracles: “According to your faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29). “Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ― ‘Remove from hence hither!’― and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain: ‘Take up and cast thyself into the sea!’ ― it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). “And Jesus said to the centurion: ‘Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!’ And the servant was healed at the same hour” (Matthew 8:13). “Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way; thy son liveth!’ The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way” (John 4:50). “And Jesus said to the woman: ‘Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace!” (Luke 7:50). “And when Jesus was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them: ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to Him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:28-30). “And Jesus said to her: ‘Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole! Go in peace, and be thou whole of thy disease!’” (Mark 5:34). “And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:52). “And behold they brought to Jesus one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee! … Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house” (Matthew 9:2-7). “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:28). St. Elizabeth, with the words of the Holy Ghost, said to Our Lady: “Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
“And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep. And they came to him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus saith to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26). “And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5).
We are in a storm right now―and many fear that they will perish. Faith in God is required―as well as much prayer and sacrifice. This fearfulness is ultimately a lack of Faith―and Christ would well address those same words to us: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” Our response should be that of the Apostles: “And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5).
In Holy Scripture we read: “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet I will not forget thee!” (Isaias 49:15). Our Lady most certainly does not forget us, but have we forgotten Our Lady today? Hopefully, on this day of December 12th, we have remembered to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, recalling the series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in December of 1531.
Even if a few know much about Our Lady of Guadalupe, there are many who know little. Few think much of her and many think little of her―even though around 6 million pilgrims (or should we say “tourists”) annually visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe [click here to visit for yourself]. The vast majority of pilgrims (many or most of whom are sadly mere “tourists”) will visit the basilica and there file past the miraculous Tilma (cloak or poncho) of St. Juan Diego, upon which Our Lady miraculously imprinted her image.
Before going deeper into the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe and its significance for our present plight in all the different crises afflicting us, let us first of all―following the modern trend of focusing on the sensational―focus on the sensational miracle performed by Our Lady of Guadalupe in regard to the miraculous image imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s Tilma―a rough cloak woven from vegetable fibers and which is another name for a cloak or poncho worn by Mexicans.
Miracles Attract and Convince
God has always used miracles as a kind of “signature” by which He can be authentically recognized and known. The other “signature” that God will use is that of prophecy. You could say that those two “signatures” are God’s first and second names―just as we known by our “first-names” or “Christian names” and our “family names” or “second-names”. The miracles surrounding the shroud are quite stupendous and mind-boggling! Not all of them were noticed or discovered at first―it took the massive advances in science and technology to uncover some of them, yet from the very beginning (in 1531) the image of Our Lady on St. Juan Diego’s Tilma produced one miracle after another over these last, almost, 500 years.
Here are some of the discoveries that researchers and scientists have found over the last 500 years. Remarkably, as time goes on, the Tilma has become more—not less—mysterious. The enigma of the Tilma has piqued the interest of believers and scientists—and the efforts of politically-motivated critics and ridiculers—through the ages.
What Science Shows Us
THE FABRIC
► First, there’s the physical makeup of the Tilma itself. The image that she left of herself imprinted miraculously on the Tilma―a poor quality cactus-cloth― should have deteriorated in 20 years, but to this very day it shows no sign of decay almost 500 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin. For more than 100 years it was hung in a primitive chapel—an unshielded environment ―exposed to constant candle smoke, damp and other damaging factors. After much human contact by scientists’ examinations and pilgrims kissing it, the Tilma is still in good condition with the cloth it was made of that ordinarily would have lasted no more than 20-30 years has now lasted almost 500 years―and is still going strong.
► The reverse side of the Tilma is rough and coarse, while the front side is as soft as silk. This delicate fabric should have wasted away in a matter of a few decades―like most other Tilmas. Yet it still remains to this day, nearly 500 years later.
► Power magnification has revealed the fact that the coarse weave of the Tilma was deliberately used in a precise manner to give depth to the face on the image.
THE IMAGE
► The overall image of Our Lady cannot be explained by science. Both its color rendering and brightness enduring over the centuries are inexplicable. Pigment of the fabric used were from no known source; whether natural, animal, mineral, or vegetable. All pigments known to exist in Mexico 500 years ago would have faded.
► NASA scientists have no explanation as to how the image got on the cloth; no brush strokes or stretch marks on it. Careful testing using modern restoration techniques have demonstrated that the image was made using no under-drawing, no sizing, no protective over-varnish and no brush strokes.
► Colors float above the surface of the Tilma at a distance of 3/10th of a milimeter or 1/100 of an inch.
► When the Tilma is examined at a distance of less than 10 inches, the colors totally disappear.
► Image seems to increase and decrease―owing it to the unknown property of surface and substance of which it is made.
► Under high magnification the image shows no sign of fading or cracking, after almost 500 years.
► Strangely, the pink color of the gown is transparent to infra-red light, unlike all other pigments of this hue, which are opaque.
► Viewed close up, the face and hands are of a grey-white color which gradually becomes olive as one backs away — an impossible accomplishment for any human painter. Scientists have compared this to the same effect in nature with iridescent bird feathers, butterfly scales and brightly-colored beetles.
► After filtering and processing―the digitized images reveal that portion of the face, hands, robe, and mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches, or corrections, and no visible brush strokes or sizing used that smoothed the surface and no protective varnish covering the surface.
► Image changes in color slightly depending on the angle of viewing, a phenomenon known as “iridescence”, a technique that cannot be reproduced with human hands.
► What and how the colors of the image appeared on the cloak remains a total scientific mystery.
► The Virgin’s head is slightly tilted to her right and had she not done so the center stitch, which holds the Tilma together, would have divided her face in two.
► Specialists at Kodiak Corporation in Mexico, explain the image is smooth and bears more resemblance to a photograph than anything else.
► Our Lady’s height in the Image is 4’8” and of a woman of 18-20 years old. The face is that of a “metiza” ― which is a mixture of Spanish and Indian race as a result of intermarriage.
► The Tilma maintains a constant temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which is the average temperature of a living person.
► Carlos Fernandez del Castillo, a gynecologist, examined the Image and indicates stage of pregnancy on December 9th for Jesus birth to occur on Christmas day. A stethoscope placed below the black band at the waist of Our Lady and he heard rhythmic repeating heartbeats at 115 beats per minute, the same as that of a baby in the womb.
► The stellar arrangement that appear on the Mantle of Our Lady, accurately display the various constellations of the Mexican sky the day of the apparition occurred which was in the winter-morning solstice of December 12th, 1531, Saturday, at 10:26 a.m.
► The star map is in the reverse (the cardinal axis rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise) provides a view of the constellations from beyond them, as it would be seen looking through them toward the earth.
► It has been also found that imposing a topographical map of central Mexico on Our Lady’s dress, the mountains, river, and principal lakes coincide with the decoration on the dress.
OUR LADY’S EYES
► Beginning in 1929 and continuing until today, photographers, scientists and opthalmologists have demonstrated the existence of images of human figures in both of the Virgin’s eyes. These are found in the precise location wherein figures reflected by a live human eye would be found in a photograph.
► The shape, placement and size of human figures of St. Juan Diego and the interpreter present when the Tilma was opened imply that this was literally what the Virgin saw as she stared out from the image on the Tilma at that moment. As to whether this could have been created by a human painter, the placement of these images in her eyes is impossible to replicate on an even, flat surface.
► It was discovered that the reflection of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga looking in astonishment in the pupil of Our Lady’s eyes.
► When exposed to light, Our Lady’s eye contracts and dilates when light is withdrawn.
► Our Lady’s eyes have been ophthalmologically determined to be alive on the Tilma.
► In 1976, some twenty doctors had confirmed, orally and in writing, the “unexplainable presence” of a man with a beard in the cornea and lenses of the Virgin.
►By 1979, Dr. Jose’ Aste Tonsmann, PhD., a Peruvian ophthalmologist and an expert at IBM in the digital processing of images, and who for over 20 years studied the Tilma, digitally enlarges the Image of Our Lady’s eyes by 2,500 time the actual size under extremely high resolution and had found not only a single figure, but images of the witnesses present when the Tilma was first revealed before the Bishop in 1531, including a small family group, 13 persons in all. In addition, Dr. Tonsmann used digital technology similar to that used in the images received from satellites and space probes in transmitting visual information. The image of the Bishop Zumarraga in the eyes of Our Lady was also enlarged 1,000 times than the actual size to able to see what is reflected in his eyes. The eye of the Bishop contains the image of Juan Diego opening his Tilma before the bishop. The size of the image is a quarter of a micron, which is ¼ of a millionth of a millimeter.
MIRACLES ATTRIBUTED TO THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
► On December 26th, 1531, only days after the miraculous image of Our Lady on the Tilma of Juan Diego, the Chichimeca Indians were celebrating the newly built chapel with dancing and bows and arrows. One arrow struck an Indian in the neck, immediately killing him. They carried him into the chapel and laid him beneath the sacred image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and prayed fervently for a miracle. Shortly after removing the arrow from his neck, the man regained consciousness and rose, completely healed.
► Over 9 million Indians were converted to Christianity within just a short few years.
► This conversion of Indians also brought a halt to the pagan rituals of human sacrifice.
► Spaniards and Mexicans who were initially mortal enemies eventually embraced one another with affection.
► In 1785 (some sources claim 1791) a workman accidentally spilled acid on the side of the image, and while a stain can still be seen, the acid did not damage either the Tilma or the image.
► Whereas today the Basilica area is guarded by federal police, it was always under guard in earlier years. During the Mexican government’s persecution of the Church in the 1920s, an attempt was made to destroy the unguarded image. On November 14th, 1921, a Spanish anarchist, Luciano Perez, planted 29 sticks of dynamite in a flower arrangement of the main altar under the Tilma. When the bomb exploded during a High Mass, the marble altar, railings and floor were broken, huge chunks of marble were displaced, a huge, bronze crucifix was twisted like molten taffy, as the explosion ripped through the building, destroying all the stained glass windows in the Basilica. However, in a miraculous escape, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Tilma was in no way damaged. The normal grade of glass that encased and protected the image of Our Lady was unbroken and intact. The priest offering the Mass and the altar servers were completely unharmed. The men, who brought the bomb and hid it in the flower arrangement, were later traced to the highest levels of the Masonic Mexican government. Nowadays, the Tilma is preserved in a bullet proof glass in the Basilica of Guadalupe.
Miracles Never End
Unlike civilizations, fads and fashions―which are here one year and gone the next―miracles are here to stay, because miracles come from God and God neither changes nor disappears: “I am the Lord, and I change not” (Malachias 3:6). “The Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? Hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19). “The word of our Lord endureth for ever” (Isaias 40:8). Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Similarly, the miracles of God endure forever also. Sometimes it is good to take an inventory and overview of the miracles that God has performed. Here is an overview of the chief miracles―which is not exhaustive, as there are others which could be added:
Chief Miracles in the Old Testament
- Creation – Genesis 1:1–27
- Enoch’s translation – Genesis 5:24
- The Flood – Genesis 7:17–24
- Confusion of tongues at Babel – Genesis 11:3–9
- Sodomites blinded – Genesis 19:11
- Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha destroyed – Genesis 19:24–25
- Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt – Genesis 19:26
- Ass speaking in human voice – Numbers 22:21–35
- Burning bush – Exodus 3:3
- Moses’ rod changed into a serpent – Exodus 4:3–4, 30
- Moses’ hand made leprous – Exodus 4:6–7, 30
- Aaron’s rod changed into a serpent – Exodus 7:8–10
- River turned to blood – Exodus 7:20–25
- Frogs – Exodus 8:1–15
- Lies – Exodus 8:16–19
- Flies – Exodus 8:20–24
- Murrain – Exodus 9:1–7
- Boils – Exodus 9:8–12
- Hail – Exodus 9:18–24
- Locusts – Exodus 10:1–20
- Darkness – Exodus 10:21–23
- First-born destroyed in Egypt – Exodus 12:29–30
- Pillar of cloud and fire – Exodus 13:21–22; 14:19–20
- Crossing the Red Sea – Exodus 14:21–23
- Bitter waters sweetened – Exodus 15:25
- Manna sent – Exodus 16:13–36
- Water from the rock in Raphidim – Exodus 17:5–8
- Amalec defeated – Exodus 17:9–13
- Strange fire on Aaron’s sacrifice – Leviticus 9:24
- Nadab and Abiu destroyed – Leviticus 10:1–2
- Israel’s judgment by fire – Numbers 11:1–3
- Miriam’s leprosy – Numbers 12:10–15
- Core and his gang destroyed by unnatural means – Numbers 16:31–35
- Murmurers destroyed by a ravaging plague – Numbers 16:41–50
- Aaron’s rod blossoms – Numbers 17:8
- Water from the rock in Cades – Numbers 20:8–11
- Brazen serpent healed many bitten by fiery serpents – Numbers 21:9
- Jordan supernaturally divided – Josue 3:14–17
- Fall of Jericho – Josue 6:6–20
- Dew on Gedeon’s fleece – Judges 6:37–40
- Sun and Moon stood still – Josue 10:12–14
- Angel in flame – Judges 13:20
- Lion slain by Samson – Judges 14:5–6
- Thirty Philistines killed by Samson – Judges 14:19
- Water from the hollow place Lechi – Judges 15:19
- City gates carried away by Samson – Judges 16:3
- Dagon’s house pulled down by Samson – Judges 16:29–30
- Dagon’s fall before the Ark – 1 Kings 5:1–12
- Men of Bethsames destroyed – 1 Kings 6:19–20
- Thunder and rain in harvest-time – 1 Kings 12:18
- Oza’s mysterious death – 2 Kings 6:6–7
- Jeroboam’s hand withered and restored – 3 Kings 13:4–6
- Rending of the altar in Bethel – 3 Kings 13:5
- Drought ordered by Elias – 3 Kings 17:1; James 5:17
- Elias fed by ravens – 3 Kings 17:4–6
- Widow’s oil and meal supernaturally increased – 3 Kings 17:12–17
- Widow’s son raised from dead – 3 Kings 17:17–23
- Sacrifice consumed by fire – 3 Kings 18:38
- Rain in answer to prayer – 3 Kings 18:41
- Captains destroyed by Elias’s command of fire – 4 Kings 1:9–12
- Jordan divided by Elias’s mantle – 4 Kings 2:8
- Elias translated to heavens in a chariot of fire – 4 Kings 2:11
- Jordan divided by Eliseus with Elias’s mantle – 4 Kings 2:14
- Waters of Jericho healed – 4 Kings 2:20–22
- Young mockers of Eliseus torn by bears – 4 Kings 2:24
- Waters supernaturally supplied for Jehoshaphat – 4 Kings 3:16–20
- Widow’s supernaturally multiplied – 4 Kings 4:1–7
- Sunamitess’s son raised from dead – 4 Kings 4:19–37
- Poisoned pottage made harmless – 4 Kings 4:38–41
- Hundred fed with 20 loaves – 4 Kings 4:42–44
- Naaman cured of leprosy – 4 Kings 5:10–14
- Giezi struck with leprosy – 4 Kings 5:27
- Axe head caused to float – 4 Kings 6:5–7
- Benadad’s plans revealed – 4 Kings 6:8–13
- Syrian army defeated – 4 Kings 6:18–20
- Resurrection by touch with Eliseus’s bones – 4 Kings 13:21
- Sennacherib’s army destroyed by an angel – 4 Kings 19:35
- Ezechias healed – 4 Kings 20:7
- Shadow returned to sundial – 4 Kings 20:11
- Ozias afflicted with leprosy – 2 Paralipomenon 26:16–21
- Three men delivered from fiery furnace – Daniel 3:19–27
- Daniel delivered from the lion’s den – Daniel 6:16–23
- Preservation of Jonas in the belly of fish for 3 days – Jonas 2:1–10
Chief Miracles in the New Testament
- Water made into wine in Cana – John 2:1–11
- Son of nobleman healed in Cana – John 4:46–54
- Christ passed unseen through crowd in Nazareth – Luke 4:28–30
- Demoniac in synagogue healed in Capharnaum – Mark 1:23–26
- Peter’s mother-in-law healed in Capharnaum – Matthew 8:14–17
- Draught of fishes in Lake Galilee – Luke 5:1–11
- Leper cleansed in Capharnaum – Matthew 8:1–4
- Paralytic healed in Capharnaum – Matthew 9:1–8
- Impotent man healed in Jerusalem – John 5:1–9
- Withered hand restored in Galilee – Matthew 12:10–13
- Centurion’s servant cured of palsy in Capharnaum – Matthew 8:5–13
- Widow’s son raised in Naim – Luke 7:11–17
- Demoniac healed in Galilee – Matthew 12:22–23
- Tempest stilled in Lake Galilee – Matthew 8:23–27
- Two demoniacs cured in Gerasens – Matthew 8:28–34
- Jairus’ daughter raised from dead – Matthew 9:23
- Woman with issue of blood healed – Matthew 9:20–22
- Blind men cured – Matthew 9:27–31
- Dumb spirit cast out in Capharnaum – Matthew 9:32–33
- Five thousand supernaturally fed – Matthew 14:15–21
- Walking on the sea – Matthew 14:25–33
- Canaanite woman’s daughter healed – Matthew 15:21–28
- Four thousand supernaturally fed – Matthew 15:32–39
- Transfiguration of Christ – Matthew 17:1–6
- Tribute money supernaturally provided – Matthew 17:24–27
- Deaf and dumb man healed – Mark 7:31–37
- Blind man healed – Mark 8:22–26
- Devil cast out of boy – Mark 9:14–29
- Miracles by the seventy – Luke 10:17
- Ten lepers cleansed – Luke 17:11–19
- Jesus passed unseen through crowd in the temple – John 8:59
- Man born blind healed – John 9:1–7
- Lazarus raised from dead – John 11:38–44
- Woman with infirmity cured – Luke 13:11–17
- Man with dropsy cured – Luke 14:1–6
- Two blind men cured in Jericho – Luke 18:35–43
- Fig tree cursed and withered – Mark 11:12–14
- Malchus’ ears healed – Luke 22:50–51
- Second draught of fishes – John 21:1–14
- Resurrection of Christ – Luke 24:6
- Christ’s appearance to Mary Magdalene – Mark 16:9
- Christ’s appearance to other women – Matthew 28:9
- Christ’s appearance to two disciples – Luke 24:15–31
- Christ’s appearance to Peter – 1 Corinthians 15:5
- Christ’s appearance to ten Apostles (Thomas absent) – John 20:19–24
- Christ’s appearance to eleven Apostles (Thomas present) – John 20:126–28
- Christ’s appearance to seven disciples fishing – John 21:1–24
- Christ’s appearance to eleven Apostles in Galilee – Matthew 28:16–17
- Christ’s appearance to five hundred brethren – 1 Corinthians 15:6
- Christ’s appearance to James – 1 Corinthians 15:7
- Christ’s appearance to eleven Apostles on the day of Ascension – Acts 1:2–9
- Outpouring of the Holy Spirit – Acts 2:1–14
- Christ’s appearance to Paul at his conversion – Acts 9:1–5; 1 Corinthians 15:18
- Lame man cured by Peter – Acts 3:6
- Death of Ananias and Saphira – Acts 5:5, 10
- Many sick people healed by Peter – Acts 5:15
- Apostles freed from prison by angelic intervention – Acts 5:19; 12:7–11
- Stephen’s great miracles – Acts 6:8
- Dying Stephen’s vision of Christ – Acts 7:55–56
- Philip cast out unclean spirit – Acts 8:6–13
- Ananias’ vision – Acts 9:10
- Paul’s sight restored – Acts 9:17–18
- Aeneas healed of palsy – Acts 9:34
- Dorcas restored to life – Acts 9:40
- Cornelius’ vision – Acts 10:3–4, 30–32
- Peter’s vision – Acts 10:9–20
- Agabus’ prophecies – Acts 11:28; 21:11
- Peter released from prison by angelic intervention – Acts 12:7–11
- Elymas blinded – Acts 13:11
- Lame man cured by Paul – Acts 14:10
- Damsel delivered from evil spirit – Acts 14:10
- Paul’s vision on the way to Damascus – Acts 16:9
- Earthquake released Paul and Silas – Acts 16:25–26
- Gift of tongues – Acts 19:6
- Special miracles by Paul – Acts 19:11–12
- Evil spirit overpowered Sceva’s seven sons – Acts 19:13–16
- Eutychus restored to life – Acts 20:10
- Paul unharmed by viper’s bite – Acts 28:5
- Publius’ father healed – Acts 28:8
- John’s vision on Patmos – Revelation 1:9; 22:21
- Innumerable miracles of Christ not recorded but witnessed by the Apostles – John 20:30; cf. Acts 10:38–39
Miracles Require Faith
Miracles require Faith in God and confidence that God will perform a miracle. Our Lord repeatedly praised and demanded this Faith and confidence in His performance of miracles: “According to your faith, be it done unto you!” (Matthew 9:29). “Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ― ‘Remove from hence hither!’― and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain: ‘Take up and cast thyself into the sea!’ ― it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). “And Jesus said to the centurion: ‘Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!’ And the servant was healed at the same hour” (Matthew 8:13). “Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way; thy son liveth!’ The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way” (John 4:50). “And Jesus said to the woman: ‘Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace!” (Luke 7:50). “And when Jesus was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them: ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to Him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:28-30). “And Jesus said to her: ‘Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole! Go in peace, and be thou whole of thy disease!’” (Mark 5:34). “And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way” (Mark 10:52). “And behold they brought to Jesus one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: ‘Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee! … Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house” (Matthew 9:2-7). “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:28). St. Elizabeth, with the words of the Holy Ghost, said to Our Lady: “Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
“And when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep. And they came to him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus saith to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm” (Matthew 8:23-26). “And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5).
We are in a storm right now―and many fear that they will perish. Faith in God is required―as well as much prayer and sacrifice. This fearfulness is ultimately a lack of Faith―and Christ would well address those same words to us: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” Our response should be that of the Apostles: “And the Apostles said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday December 9th & Thursday December 10th
Article 4
Has Our Savior Gone AWOL?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday December 9th & Thursday December 10th
Article 4
Has Our Savior Gone AWOL?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
One Crisis After Another!
We are living in very dangerous times! Crises are emerging all over the world. It is as though people are breaking into your house by coming through the front door, the back door, each and every window, from the basement, through the roof, down the chimney, etc. The overwhelming onslaught is calculated to confuse, disorientate, demoralize and destabilize to the point where all resistance seems totally futile.
On the religious front, the Catholic Church has long since shown signs of cracks that are now looking to break into a potential mainstream Church schism―as Pope Francis continues his trend of saying Catholic things one day and non-Catholic things the next day. Even the somewhat Conservatively inclined Liberal clergy are beginning to manifest varying degrees of public criticism and even dissent―some mainstream bishops even no longer call him by his papal name of “Pope Francis”, but by his birth name of “Jorge Bergoglio”―which implicitly suggests that they do not look upon him as being the pope! Francis seems to be totally in-line with and on-board with the Globalist agenda of a “One World Government” and “One World Religion”.
On the medical front, the chief protagonists need no introduction because that is all you hear about in the media―day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, as the brainwashing and fear-mongering relentlessly turns the screws of propaganda more and more. In case you have been hibernating throughout 2020, the chief medical protagonists have been, still are, and will continue to be throughout 2021, the siblings or cousins known as Covid-19 (alias SARS-CoV-2) and “The Vaccine”. The medical propaganda―willingly propagated by the mainstream media―seeks to make us believe that almost everyone in the world is either a “Covid-case”, or a “Covid-carrier” (with or without symptoms), and a potential “Covid-victim”. Yes―the whole world is in danger of extinction unless the whole world gets vaccinated by the “Miracle Vaccines” produced in miracle time by miraculous doctors, scientists and researchers, who have been working day and night to save the world (and line the pockets of Big Pharma, which gains a profit of over $700 for every single dollar spent in producing their “miracle” vaccines. Never mind the true Savior of the world, Jesus Christ―the current savior of the world is Big Pharma and its ‘sacraments’ and ‘sacrifices’ are found in its vaccines, ‘mortifying’ mask-wearing, self-‘sacrificial’-quarantining and ‘holy’ lockdowns―for just as God does not want the death of the sinner, but rather that he do penance for his sin and live (Ezechiel chapter 18), likewise Big Pharma does not wish the death of “Covid case”, but rather that he live and do penance by paying for vaccines several times a year, year-after-year.
On the political front, America is in a Globalist media created turmoil, where the current chief protagonist are and the increasingly apparent fraudulent 2020 U.S. Presidential―with all of its accompanying baggage of accusations and denials, belief and disbelief, law suits and their legal haranguing, demonstrations and their potential volatility, appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court with its stonewalling―all of which very usefully serves to heighten the tensions and stretch them out, like a drama in which you are made to sit on the edge of your seat, while constantly guessing how it will all end. Biden and co. telling Trump to “get real” and “get over it”―whereas Trump continues to dispute the election and even plans to organize a rally in Washington on the day of inauguration―thus stoking-up even more the fire of division and polarization between the “right” and the “left”, the Republicans and Democrats―and gradually leading us into the prophesied American Civil War that will make America into a “Third World Country”. One cannot help thinking that behind both Biden and Trump there are their puppet-masters who have written the script and are loving the show, as they roll around on the floor laughing at the gullibility and stupidity of the masses or sheeple.
All of the above situations―and many more unmentioned ones―are merely steps on the way to (call it whatever you want) worldwide totalitarianism, Communism, One World Government, New World Order, The Great Reset, or Satanic ‘triumph’ (though ultimately Satan can never win, he might win many battles, but will ultimately lose the war).
Lord! Where Art Thou?
Among all these most definitely escalating troubles, restrictions, regulations, falsifications, manipulations, agitations, allegations, litigations, protestations, demonstrations, machinations for mandatory vaccinations that will lead to electronic biometric injections―one might be tempted to cry out with fear-ridden Apostles on the storm-tossed boat on the lake: “A great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’” (Matthew 8:24-25). Just like Martha and Mary, whose brother Lazarus was dying, we call on Our Lord for help―but Our Lord does not respond: “His sisters therefore sent to Him, saying: ‘Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest, is sick!’ … When Jesus had heard therefore that Lazarus was sick, Jesus still remained in the same place two days” (John 11:3). Our Lord let Lazarus die―though He would later come and bring him back to life.
Has Our Lord and Savior abandoned us in all these evils? Does He no longer care about us? Has He turned His back on us? “Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?” (Job 27:9). Well might the following words of Holy Scripture be put into our mouths: “Hear, O Lord, my prayer, and let my cry come to Thee!” (Psalm 101:2). “I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me! Hearken to my voice, when I cry to Thee!” (Psalms 140:1). “Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to Thee! Have mercy on me and hear me!” (Psalm 26:7). “O Lord, the God of my salvation―I have cried in the day and in the night before Thee!” (Psalm 87:2). “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day!” (Psalm 85:3). “How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Shall I cry out to Thee, suffering violence, and Thou wilt not save?” (Habacuc 1:2). “O God my God, look upon me! Why hast Thou forsaken me? O my God, shall I cry by day, and Thou wilt not hear?” (Psalm 21:2-3). “And you shall cry out in that day … and the Lord will not hear you in that day” (1 Kings 8:18). “They shall cry, and there shall be none to save! They shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them!” (2 Kings 22:42). “There shall they cry, and He will not hear―because of the pride of evil men.” (Job 35:12). “Then shall they cry to the Lord, and He will not hear them, and He will hide His face from them at that time, since they have behaved wickedly” (Micheas 3:4). “Therefore I also will deal with them in My wrath! My eye shall not spare them, neither will I show mercy! And when they shall cry to My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them!” (Ezechiel 8:18).
Why will God not hear us? “We know that God doth not hear sinners―but if a man be a server of God, and does His will, him God heareth!” (John 9:31). Right now―in 2020―there are very few who are doing the will of God and the vast majority are breaking His commandments. Thus, as Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello (already back in 1956): : “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” And if that wasn’t enough, only 17 years later in Akita Japan―since there was no improvement in matters―Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Sin Drives God Away and Attracts Punishments
The bottom line is that sin and God cannot co-exist. Yes―God understands our weakness and tendency to sin as a result of the wounds and scars of Original Sin, with which we are all born―but God also understands that sin can be avoided with the help of His all-powerful grace. It all depends upon us―as to whether we seek His grace to avoid sin, or whether we avoid His grace in order to sin.
We no longer subscribe to the truth that sin―even teeny weeny venial sin―is the greatest evil in the world. Yet that is what our Faith teaches: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Leaving aside any potential arguments and debates about the seriousness of venial, we even have trouble accepting that mortal sin is the greatest evil in the world―especially if we ourselves have been guilty of many mortal sins! Who wants to acknowledge and admit that they have been guilty of “the greatest evil in world”!
Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. One pope after another―since Pope Pius XII―have lamented that we have lost the sense of sin, lost the sense of the gravity of sin―and, if we have little sense of the gravity of sin, then we little trouble in committing sin! In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
Even Pope Francis, in one of his sane Catholic moments, said in his homily of January 31st, 2014: “We are all sinners and we are all tempted and the temptation is our daily bread. If anyone ever said: ‘I’ve never been tempted’― either you are a cherub or a bit stupid, right? It’s understandable ... it is part of life’s normal struggle, and the devil is never quiet, he wants his victory. But the problem ― the most serious problem in this passage ― is … when the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is a loss of the sense of sin. When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God.” Pope Francis then quoted a famous phrase used by Pope Pius XII: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.”
It is highly likely that we find ourselves among those who have lost the sense of sin. Of course, we still see mortal sin as a great evil that can rob us of sanctifying grace and Heaven―but “great evil” is not “greatest evil” and there are many other evils or misfortunes that we fear more than mortal sin, such as the loss of a loved one, loss of health, loss of wealth, loss of a job, etc. As for feeling that venial sin is the greatest evil in the world after mortal sin―forget it! There must hardly any persons in the world who could sincerely say that feel venial sin is the second greatest evil in the world―most people are committing the second greatest evil in the world (venial sin) tens of times or perhaps hundreds of times a day! For many, venial sin is not even on their radar! Many find some venial sins funny and entertaining! Yet that is not how God views things―which is why He says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Our Lord AWOL?
Our Lord has not gone AWOL (which is a military term that means “Absent Without Leave”), but is we, the Soldiers of Christ, who have gone AWOL. We are reluctant to fight for the Faith and fight sin, when there are far more entertaining things to do these days! We pray little; we do very little spiritual reading in comparison with our secular reading; we are for the most part unmortified and self-indulgent; the only regular fasting we do is race fast through our prayers; we no longer want to be the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) because sugar tastes nicer. We have not lost the sense of sin when it comes to the sins of others―we point out their sins, we cry for justice, revenge and punishment―but when it comes to our own sins, then sadly that loss of the sense of sin kicks-in ― we are indignant about the sins of others, but not about own sins; we demand that justice be done with regard to the sins of others, but not for our own sins; we easily forgive ourselves, but not others. Such an attitude is not of the Spirit of God! Most people are far-detached from the true Spirit of God with regard to sin―the downplay and cover-up their own sins, while, at the same time they spotlight and exaggerate the sins of others. As the saying goes: “The best form of defense is attack!” That is what they do―they attack others so as to distract attention away from themselves.
Our Lord condemns this kind of attitude when He says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). As the philosophical axiom states: “One cannot give what one has not got!” Our Lord says something similar: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:16-18).
Fighting the Good Fight
We are own worst enemy―we are our own first enemy. If our Faith is weak, if our knowledge of Faith is weak, then we will be weak or useless soldiers in the fight for the Faith. If we cannot and will not overcome ourselves―then what hope have we of overcoming the enemies of Christ around us and in others? As Soldiers of Christ, we are meant to fight―to fight for the Faith and to fight against sin, beginning with the sins we ourselves commit―and not to fight among ourselves: “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier for God, entangles himself with secular things; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
Our Lady of La Salette―in the same vein―calls us to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! I am at your side and within you―provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Talking of soldiers and fighting―let us mention the soldier St. Ignatius of Loyola, who eventually left behind the life of a secular soldier in order to be a spiritual soldier for Christ. The Spiritual Exercises grew out of St. Ignatius Loyola’s personal experience in seeking to grow in union with God and to discern God’s will. He kept a journal as he gained spiritual insight and deepened his spiritual experience. He added to these notes as he directed other people and discovered what “worked.” Eventually Ignatius gathered these prayers, meditations, reflections, and directions into a carefully designed framework of a retreat, which he called “Spiritual Exercises.” St. Ignatius wrote that the Exercises “have as their purpose the conquest of self … To conquer himself is the greatest victory that man can gain … The man who sets about making others better is wasting his time, unless he begins with himself” ― thus self-conquest is what we must achieve if we are to fight effectively for Christ. You could say that the “Spiritual Exercises”―if properly conducted and followed―are like the U.S. Marines’ Boot Camp, in which you receive a tough and thorough formation.
St. Paul also speaks of the need for this self-conquest, or self-mastery: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it! And everyone that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty―I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Our Lord is Abandoned by His Soldiers
Just as Jesus was abandoned by His followers when His Passion started―so too, today, is Our Lord abandoned His so-called “Soldiers of Christ”. Over 80% of His soldiers are “turncoats”―loving the world more than Christ, to the point that they no longer fulfill their obligation under the pain of mortal sin of attending Sunday Mass. Many give Him the “kiss of Judas” by receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin. Very few pray the Rosary daily―as requested by Heaven through Our Lady―with numbers being as low as 2% to 4% praying the Rosary daily. Our Lord could just as well have addressed the following words to us―and not just Saints Peter, James and John during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And He cometh and findeth them sleeping. And He said to Peter: ‘Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour? The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!’ And going away again, He prayed. And when He returned, He found them again asleep, and they knew not what to answer Him. And He came a third time, and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now, and take your rest! It is enough! The hour is come! Behold the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go! Behold, he that will betray Me, is at hand!” (Mark 14:37-42). Have we betrayed Him? Have we failed Him? Have we fallen asleep spiritually? Fallen asleep while supposedly “on duty”?
The words of the prophet Isaias, which the Church places in the mouth of Christ, amply reflect this abandoning of Christ, this going AWOL, this dereliction of duty: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and there is not a man with Me! I have trampled on them in My indignation, and have trodden them down in My wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, the year of My redemption is come. I looked about―and there was none to help Me! I sought―and there was none to give aid! My own arm hath saved Me! My indignation itself hath helped Me! And I have trodden down the people in My wrath, and have made them drunk in My indignation, and have brought down their strength to the earth!” (Isaias 63:3-6).
Thus Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) ― in other words, when Christ comes at the end of time, will He find us fighting the good fight of the Faith? Will He find us at our post, on duty, doing our duty? “Blessed are those servants [soldiers], whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching!” (Luke 12:37). Which brings to mind the quote: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) and Our Lady of Good Success’s ominous statement concerning our times: “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs.”
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
God is ever ready to help―but He expects that we show some interest, some initiative and some effort on our part. Our Lord Himself says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― but that does not mean that He will do everything while we idly stand by and watch! Our Lord expects effort on our part and will not tolerate idleness―as He implies in His parable about the workers in the vineyard: “Why stand you here all the day idle?” (Matthew 20:6). “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you!” (attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola). The Council of Trent says that we must pray to God asking His help, as though we were totally helpless and everything depended upon God’s help. Then, having thus prayed with great fervor, we must set about our task in a manner as though God refused our prayer for help and that everything now depends upon our own personal efforts. When these two are combined, in the right order, then we eliminate both the risk of lazily leaving everything for God to do, and also the risk of presuming too much on our own abilities, strength and expertise. Prayer must come first―otherwise we set out to do something without bringing God into the plan. Yet God is no slave or servant of ours―He is ready to give us His help, but we must roll up our sleeves and put in the effort. If He sees we are prepared to work hard, or fight for the Faith, then He will supply for our deficiencies and shortcomings. “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me!” (Philippians 4:13).
“The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you― as He did in Egypt, in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “It shall not be you that shall fight, but only stand with confidence, and you shall see the help of the Lord over you … Fear ye not, nor be you dismayed! Tomorrow you shall go out against them, and the Lord will be with you” (2 Paralipomenon 20:17). “One of you shall chase a thousand men of the enemies―because the Lord your God himself will fight for you, as He hath promised” (Josue 23:10). “And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom … saith the Lord the God of hosts” (Isaias 19:2). “He said again to them: ‘Fear not, neither be ye dismayed! Take courage and be strong! For so will the Lord do to all your enemies, against whom you fight” (Josue 10:25).
We are living in very dangerous times! Crises are emerging all over the world. It is as though people are breaking into your house by coming through the front door, the back door, each and every window, from the basement, through the roof, down the chimney, etc. The overwhelming onslaught is calculated to confuse, disorientate, demoralize and destabilize to the point where all resistance seems totally futile.
On the religious front, the Catholic Church has long since shown signs of cracks that are now looking to break into a potential mainstream Church schism―as Pope Francis continues his trend of saying Catholic things one day and non-Catholic things the next day. Even the somewhat Conservatively inclined Liberal clergy are beginning to manifest varying degrees of public criticism and even dissent―some mainstream bishops even no longer call him by his papal name of “Pope Francis”, but by his birth name of “Jorge Bergoglio”―which implicitly suggests that they do not look upon him as being the pope! Francis seems to be totally in-line with and on-board with the Globalist agenda of a “One World Government” and “One World Religion”.
On the medical front, the chief protagonists need no introduction because that is all you hear about in the media―day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, as the brainwashing and fear-mongering relentlessly turns the screws of propaganda more and more. In case you have been hibernating throughout 2020, the chief medical protagonists have been, still are, and will continue to be throughout 2021, the siblings or cousins known as Covid-19 (alias SARS-CoV-2) and “The Vaccine”. The medical propaganda―willingly propagated by the mainstream media―seeks to make us believe that almost everyone in the world is either a “Covid-case”, or a “Covid-carrier” (with or without symptoms), and a potential “Covid-victim”. Yes―the whole world is in danger of extinction unless the whole world gets vaccinated by the “Miracle Vaccines” produced in miracle time by miraculous doctors, scientists and researchers, who have been working day and night to save the world (and line the pockets of Big Pharma, which gains a profit of over $700 for every single dollar spent in producing their “miracle” vaccines. Never mind the true Savior of the world, Jesus Christ―the current savior of the world is Big Pharma and its ‘sacraments’ and ‘sacrifices’ are found in its vaccines, ‘mortifying’ mask-wearing, self-‘sacrificial’-quarantining and ‘holy’ lockdowns―for just as God does not want the death of the sinner, but rather that he do penance for his sin and live (Ezechiel chapter 18), likewise Big Pharma does not wish the death of “Covid case”, but rather that he live and do penance by paying for vaccines several times a year, year-after-year.
On the political front, America is in a Globalist media created turmoil, where the current chief protagonist are and the increasingly apparent fraudulent 2020 U.S. Presidential―with all of its accompanying baggage of accusations and denials, belief and disbelief, law suits and their legal haranguing, demonstrations and their potential volatility, appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court with its stonewalling―all of which very usefully serves to heighten the tensions and stretch them out, like a drama in which you are made to sit on the edge of your seat, while constantly guessing how it will all end. Biden and co. telling Trump to “get real” and “get over it”―whereas Trump continues to dispute the election and even plans to organize a rally in Washington on the day of inauguration―thus stoking-up even more the fire of division and polarization between the “right” and the “left”, the Republicans and Democrats―and gradually leading us into the prophesied American Civil War that will make America into a “Third World Country”. One cannot help thinking that behind both Biden and Trump there are their puppet-masters who have written the script and are loving the show, as they roll around on the floor laughing at the gullibility and stupidity of the masses or sheeple.
All of the above situations―and many more unmentioned ones―are merely steps on the way to (call it whatever you want) worldwide totalitarianism, Communism, One World Government, New World Order, The Great Reset, or Satanic ‘triumph’ (though ultimately Satan can never win, he might win many battles, but will ultimately lose the war).
Lord! Where Art Thou?
Among all these most definitely escalating troubles, restrictions, regulations, falsifications, manipulations, agitations, allegations, litigations, protestations, demonstrations, machinations for mandatory vaccinations that will lead to electronic biometric injections―one might be tempted to cry out with fear-ridden Apostles on the storm-tossed boat on the lake: “A great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep. And they came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’” (Matthew 8:24-25). Just like Martha and Mary, whose brother Lazarus was dying, we call on Our Lord for help―but Our Lord does not respond: “His sisters therefore sent to Him, saying: ‘Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest, is sick!’ … When Jesus had heard therefore that Lazarus was sick, Jesus still remained in the same place two days” (John 11:3). Our Lord let Lazarus die―though He would later come and bring him back to life.
Has Our Lord and Savior abandoned us in all these evils? Does He no longer care about us? Has He turned His back on us? “Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?” (Job 27:9). Well might the following words of Holy Scripture be put into our mouths: “Hear, O Lord, my prayer, and let my cry come to Thee!” (Psalm 101:2). “I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me! Hearken to my voice, when I cry to Thee!” (Psalms 140:1). “Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to Thee! Have mercy on me and hear me!” (Psalm 26:7). “O Lord, the God of my salvation―I have cried in the day and in the night before Thee!” (Psalm 87:2). “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day!” (Psalm 85:3). “How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Shall I cry out to Thee, suffering violence, and Thou wilt not save?” (Habacuc 1:2). “O God my God, look upon me! Why hast Thou forsaken me? O my God, shall I cry by day, and Thou wilt not hear?” (Psalm 21:2-3). “And you shall cry out in that day … and the Lord will not hear you in that day” (1 Kings 8:18). “They shall cry, and there shall be none to save! They shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them!” (2 Kings 22:42). “There shall they cry, and He will not hear―because of the pride of evil men.” (Job 35:12). “Then shall they cry to the Lord, and He will not hear them, and He will hide His face from them at that time, since they have behaved wickedly” (Micheas 3:4). “Therefore I also will deal with them in My wrath! My eye shall not spare them, neither will I show mercy! And when they shall cry to My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them!” (Ezechiel 8:18).
Why will God not hear us? “We know that God doth not hear sinners―but if a man be a server of God, and does His will, him God heareth!” (John 9:31). Right now―in 2020―there are very few who are doing the will of God and the vast majority are breaking His commandments. Thus, as Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello (already back in 1956): : “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” And if that wasn’t enough, only 17 years later in Akita Japan―since there was no improvement in matters―Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Sin Drives God Away and Attracts Punishments
The bottom line is that sin and God cannot co-exist. Yes―God understands our weakness and tendency to sin as a result of the wounds and scars of Original Sin, with which we are all born―but God also understands that sin can be avoided with the help of His all-powerful grace. It all depends upon us―as to whether we seek His grace to avoid sin, or whether we avoid His grace in order to sin.
We no longer subscribe to the truth that sin―even teeny weeny venial sin―is the greatest evil in the world. Yet that is what our Faith teaches: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Leaving aside any potential arguments and debates about the seriousness of venial, we even have trouble accepting that mortal sin is the greatest evil in the world―especially if we ourselves have been guilty of many mortal sins! Who wants to acknowledge and admit that they have been guilty of “the greatest evil in world”!
Both Traditional and even Liberal, Modernist popes have complained about the loss of a sense of sin among Catholics in our modern days. One pope after another―since Pope Pius XII―have lamented that we have lost the sense of sin, lost the sense of the gravity of sin―and, if we have little sense of the gravity of sin, then we little trouble in committing sin! In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
Even Pope Francis, in one of his sane Catholic moments, said in his homily of January 31st, 2014: “We are all sinners and we are all tempted and the temptation is our daily bread. If anyone ever said: ‘I’ve never been tempted’― either you are a cherub or a bit stupid, right? It’s understandable ... it is part of life’s normal struggle, and the devil is never quiet, he wants his victory. But the problem ― the most serious problem in this passage ― is … when the Kingdom of God is forgotten, when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is a loss of the sense of sin. When you lose the sense of sin, you also lose the sense of the Kingdom of God.” Pope Francis then quoted a famous phrase used by Pope Pius XII: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.”
It is highly likely that we find ourselves among those who have lost the sense of sin. Of course, we still see mortal sin as a great evil that can rob us of sanctifying grace and Heaven―but “great evil” is not “greatest evil” and there are many other evils or misfortunes that we fear more than mortal sin, such as the loss of a loved one, loss of health, loss of wealth, loss of a job, etc. As for feeling that venial sin is the greatest evil in the world after mortal sin―forget it! There must hardly any persons in the world who could sincerely say that feel venial sin is the second greatest evil in the world―most people are committing the second greatest evil in the world (venial sin) tens of times or perhaps hundreds of times a day! For many, venial sin is not even on their radar! Many find some venial sins funny and entertaining! Yet that is not how God views things―which is why He says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Our Lord AWOL?
Our Lord has not gone AWOL (which is a military term that means “Absent Without Leave”), but is we, the Soldiers of Christ, who have gone AWOL. We are reluctant to fight for the Faith and fight sin, when there are far more entertaining things to do these days! We pray little; we do very little spiritual reading in comparison with our secular reading; we are for the most part unmortified and self-indulgent; the only regular fasting we do is race fast through our prayers; we no longer want to be the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) because sugar tastes nicer. We have not lost the sense of sin when it comes to the sins of others―we point out their sins, we cry for justice, revenge and punishment―but when it comes to our own sins, then sadly that loss of the sense of sin kicks-in ― we are indignant about the sins of others, but not about own sins; we demand that justice be done with regard to the sins of others, but not for our own sins; we easily forgive ourselves, but not others. Such an attitude is not of the Spirit of God! Most people are far-detached from the true Spirit of God with regard to sin―the downplay and cover-up their own sins, while, at the same time they spotlight and exaggerate the sins of others. As the saying goes: “The best form of defense is attack!” That is what they do―they attack others so as to distract attention away from themselves.
Our Lord condemns this kind of attitude when He says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). As the philosophical axiom states: “One cannot give what one has not got!” Our Lord says something similar: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:16-18).
Fighting the Good Fight
We are own worst enemy―we are our own first enemy. If our Faith is weak, if our knowledge of Faith is weak, then we will be weak or useless soldiers in the fight for the Faith. If we cannot and will not overcome ourselves―then what hope have we of overcoming the enemies of Christ around us and in others? As Soldiers of Christ, we are meant to fight―to fight for the Faith and to fight against sin, beginning with the sins we ourselves commit―and not to fight among ourselves: “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man, being a soldier for God, entangles himself with secular things; so that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
Our Lady of La Salette―in the same vein―calls us to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! I am at your side and within you―provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Talking of soldiers and fighting―let us mention the soldier St. Ignatius of Loyola, who eventually left behind the life of a secular soldier in order to be a spiritual soldier for Christ. The Spiritual Exercises grew out of St. Ignatius Loyola’s personal experience in seeking to grow in union with God and to discern God’s will. He kept a journal as he gained spiritual insight and deepened his spiritual experience. He added to these notes as he directed other people and discovered what “worked.” Eventually Ignatius gathered these prayers, meditations, reflections, and directions into a carefully designed framework of a retreat, which he called “Spiritual Exercises.” St. Ignatius wrote that the Exercises “have as their purpose the conquest of self … To conquer himself is the greatest victory that man can gain … The man who sets about making others better is wasting his time, unless he begins with himself” ― thus self-conquest is what we must achieve if we are to fight effectively for Christ. You could say that the “Spiritual Exercises”―if properly conducted and followed―are like the U.S. Marines’ Boot Camp, in which you receive a tough and thorough formation.
St. Paul also speaks of the need for this self-conquest, or self-mastery: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it! And everyone that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty―I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Our Lord is Abandoned by His Soldiers
Just as Jesus was abandoned by His followers when His Passion started―so too, today, is Our Lord abandoned His so-called “Soldiers of Christ”. Over 80% of His soldiers are “turncoats”―loving the world more than Christ, to the point that they no longer fulfill their obligation under the pain of mortal sin of attending Sunday Mass. Many give Him the “kiss of Judas” by receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin. Very few pray the Rosary daily―as requested by Heaven through Our Lady―with numbers being as low as 2% to 4% praying the Rosary daily. Our Lord could just as well have addressed the following words to us―and not just Saints Peter, James and John during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And He cometh and findeth them sleeping. And He said to Peter: ‘Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour? The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!’ And going away again, He prayed. And when He returned, He found them again asleep, and they knew not what to answer Him. And He came a third time, and said to them: ‘Sleep ye now, and take your rest! It is enough! The hour is come! Behold the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go! Behold, he that will betray Me, is at hand!” (Mark 14:37-42). Have we betrayed Him? Have we failed Him? Have we fallen asleep spiritually? Fallen asleep while supposedly “on duty”?
The words of the prophet Isaias, which the Church places in the mouth of Christ, amply reflect this abandoning of Christ, this going AWOL, this dereliction of duty: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and there is not a man with Me! I have trampled on them in My indignation, and have trodden them down in My wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, the year of My redemption is come. I looked about―and there was none to help Me! I sought―and there was none to give aid! My own arm hath saved Me! My indignation itself hath helped Me! And I have trodden down the people in My wrath, and have made them drunk in My indignation, and have brought down their strength to the earth!” (Isaias 63:3-6).
Thus Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) ― in other words, when Christ comes at the end of time, will He find us fighting the good fight of the Faith? Will He find us at our post, on duty, doing our duty? “Blessed are those servants [soldiers], whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching!” (Luke 12:37). Which brings to mind the quote: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14) and Our Lady of Good Success’s ominous statement concerning our times: “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs.”
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
God is ever ready to help―but He expects that we show some interest, some initiative and some effort on our part. Our Lord Himself says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― but that does not mean that He will do everything while we idly stand by and watch! Our Lord expects effort on our part and will not tolerate idleness―as He implies in His parable about the workers in the vineyard: “Why stand you here all the day idle?” (Matthew 20:6). “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you!” (attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola). The Council of Trent says that we must pray to God asking His help, as though we were totally helpless and everything depended upon God’s help. Then, having thus prayed with great fervor, we must set about our task in a manner as though God refused our prayer for help and that everything now depends upon our own personal efforts. When these two are combined, in the right order, then we eliminate both the risk of lazily leaving everything for God to do, and also the risk of presuming too much on our own abilities, strength and expertise. Prayer must come first―otherwise we set out to do something without bringing God into the plan. Yet God is no slave or servant of ours―He is ready to give us His help, but we must roll up our sleeves and put in the effort. If He sees we are prepared to work hard, or fight for the Faith, then He will supply for our deficiencies and shortcomings. “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me!” (Philippians 4:13).
“The Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you― as He did in Egypt, in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “It shall not be you that shall fight, but only stand with confidence, and you shall see the help of the Lord over you … Fear ye not, nor be you dismayed! Tomorrow you shall go out against them, and the Lord will be with you” (2 Paralipomenon 20:17). “One of you shall chase a thousand men of the enemies―because the Lord your God himself will fight for you, as He hath promised” (Josue 23:10). “And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom … saith the Lord the God of hosts” (Isaias 19:2). “He said again to them: ‘Fear not, neither be ye dismayed! Take courage and be strong! For so will the Lord do to all your enemies, against whom you fight” (Josue 10:25).
THE FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Tuesday December 8th
Article 3
The Immaculate Solution
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday December 8th
Article 3
The Immaculate Solution
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sinlessness is Powerfulness
“Call on the Lord out of a pure heart!” (2 Timothy 2:22). Purity means power. Purity begets power. Pure prayers are powerful prayers. Our Lady is pure and powerful―she is purely powerful. “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?’” (Proverbs 20:9) ― Our Lady can safely claim that! “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God!” says Our Lord during His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:8). “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:8). “Create a clean heart in me, O God! … Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me!” (Psalm 50:4-5, 12).
You Have an Immaculate Mother
In his encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX pronounced and enforced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father, through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: ‘We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.’” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
Woe to Unbelievers!
The Pope continues: “Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the Faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law, if he should are to express in words, or writing, or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart.”
No Impulsive Dogma
Winding back just 5 years, to 1849, we see Blessed Pope Pius IX already perusing if the time was then right to make the dogmatic declaration concerning the Immaculate Conception. “There was in the entire Catholic world a most ardent and wondrous revival of the desire that the most holy Mother of God—the beloved Mother of us all, the immaculate Virgin Mary—be finally declared by a solemn definition of the Church to have been conceived without the stain of Original Sin ... “Many persons are now wondering why this honor has not already been accorded to the Blessed Virgin by the Church and the Apostolic See—an honor which the widespread piety of the Christian people so fervently desires ... Accordingly, We have appointed certain priests of recognized piety and theological learning, as well as several cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who are renowned because of their ability, piety, wisdom, prudence, and knowledge of the things of God; and We have directed them to make, carefully and thoroughly, a most diligent examination into this most important matter and then provide Us with a complete report” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ubi Primum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849).
The Pope goes on to say that this doctrine has been in the minds of Christians from antiquity: “This doctrine so filled the minds and souls of our ancestors in the faith that a singular and truly marvelous style of speech came into vogue among them. They have frequently addressed the Mother of God as immaculate, as immaculate in every respect; innocent, and verily most innocent; spotless, and entirely spotless; holy and removed from every stain of sin; all pure, all stainless, the very model of purity and innocence; more beautiful than beauty, more lovely than loveliness; more holy than holiness, singularly holy and most pure in soul and body; the one who surpassed all integrity and virginity; the only one who has become the dwelling place of all the graces of the most Holy Ghost. God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of Heaven and Earth do not suffice.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854).
Our Lady’s Lourdes Confirmation
A little over three years after the dogmatic declaration on the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady makes a series of apparitions at Lourdes, in France, beginning on February 11th, 1858—at which time she ratifies and confirms the pope’s declaration by telling St. Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception.
Pope St. Pius X also weighed-in to the matter around 50 years later, by stating: “The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of Original Sin because she was to be the Mother of Christ” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Ad Diem Illum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904).
Habemus Matrem
If at the election of a pope, we can shout “Habemus papam!” meaning “we have a pope (‘father’)”, then, in regard to this dogmatic declaration, we can shout “Habemus Matrem—Habemus Matrem Immaculatam”, meaning “We have a Mother—an Immaculate Mother!” Even more than the pope is the Holy Father, Our Lady is the Holiest of mothers.
Why on Earth…?
Of all questions―such as “What? Where? How? When? Which? Why?”―the “Why?” is foremost. It concerns the “Final End” of matters. It is the king or queen of questions. So ‘what is the why’ of the Immaculate Conception? Blessed Pope Pius XII gives us the answer in the proclaiming encyclical of December 8th, 1954:
Before getting to the heart of the matter, he prefaces it with the following statement: “God, having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race, which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness through the Incarnation of the Word. This He decreed in order that man, who had been led into sin by the cunning malice of Satan, should not perish. The eternal Father chose and prepared, for His only-begotten Son, a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom He would be born into this world. God loved her above all creatures and endowed her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts, so that this Mother, ever free of all stain of sin, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
In other words, the height and depth, length and breadth of her ‘immaculateness’ is simply mind-blowing and beyond our puny capacities to grasp and understand. It is something that we should be in total awe over, yet, for many, if not most, there is only an indifference—an attitude of “So what?” “It’s just another title!” “Let’s just get on with life! I’ve got better things to do than try fathom out how immaculate she is!”
The Supreme Reason: The Divine Maternity
The Pope Piux IX goes on to explain the “Why?” of the Immaculate Conception: “And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent, with the glory of most sublime holiness, and so completely free from all taint of Original Sin, that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent. To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son—the Son, the Father loves from His heart—and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was she whom the Son Himself chose to make His Mother; and it was from her that the Holy Spirit willed, and brought it about, that He should be conceived and born from whom He himself proceeds.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains it by equating the means with the end. Mary is the means to the end—which is the Incarnation of God (or God taking on flesh). He could have done it many different ways, but since He chose to become incarnate through Mary, it was necessary that the means be the best possible means—and since with God nothing is impossible, He made sure that Mary was the best means available. St. Thomas puts it thus:
“Mary’s whole life was free from sin. For God so prepares and endows those whom He selects for some particular office, that they are rendered capable of fulfilling it, according to 2 Corinthians 3:6: ‘Who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament.’ Now the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be His Mother. Therefore, there can be no doubt that God, by His grace, made her worthy of that office, according to the words spoken to her by the Angel (Luke 1:30), ‘Thou hast found grace with God, behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus.’ But she would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned.
“First, because the honor of the parents reflects upon the child, according to Proverbs 17:6: ‘The glory of the children are their fathers’; and consequently, on the other hand, the Mother’s shame would have reflected on her Son. Secondly, because of the singular affinity between her and Christ Who took flesh from her. And it is written (2 Corinthians 6:15): ‘What concord hath Christ with Belial?’ Thirdly, because of the singular manner in which the Son of God, ‘Who is the Divine Wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 1:24), dwelt in her, not only in her soul but in her womb. And thus, it is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’ We must therefore confess simply that the Blessed Virgin committed no actual sin, either mortal or venial; so that what is written (Canticles 4:7), is fulfilled: ‘Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.’” (Summa Theologica, 3a, q. 27).
The Awesome Terrible Sanctity of God Detests Sin
God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. ”Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Habacuc 1:13). The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended.
It was sin that led to banishment of the fallen angels to Hell, and it was sin led to Adam and Eve to be cast out of the Garden of Eden and to suffer and die. Both the Angels and our First Parents were created immaculate, that is to say, in a state of grace. Yet many of the angels failed to keep that grace, and both Adam and Eve lost that grace through Mortal Sin. God cannot tolerate sin. Sin is an attack upon the holiness and purity of God. Sin has to be eliminated and reparation has to be made.
The Price and Pain of Sin
Since Adam and Even listened to the devil and fell into sin, they thereby abused and threw away the gifts the gifts that God had given them: (1) the supernatural grace of God; (2) the possibility of never having to die; (3) the possibility of being free from any and all forms of suffering; (4) the harmonious submission and obedience of the soul to God’s grace, and the obedience of the body and its passions to the soul; and finally, (5) they weakened the infused knowledge that God had created them with, to the point that now they would experience a darkened intellect that finds learning difficult, a weak will that struggles with temptation, and rebellious passions.
They had offended God in the name of humanity, all their future descendants would participate in the effects of that sin. As St. Paul writes: ”Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Truly, as St. Paul states later, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The gates of Heaven were closed. Humanity had failed the test through Adam and Eve. It is because we downplay sin in our own thoughts, that we have such a wrong notion about what sin really is. As the old, but very clear and simple, Penny Catechism says: ”It is the greatest of all evils to fall into mortal sin.” Another catechism, My Catholic Faith, states that “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God ... Although venial sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is nevertheless a great moral evil, next alone to mortal sin ... We are prone to look upon venial sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that it is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” (from the catechism My Catholic Faith).
The New Adam, the New Eve
After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. The passage in Genesis, which is called the Proto-evangelium (“first gospel”), makes the first announcement of the Messias and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because He ”became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends super-abundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Additionally, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the Woman announced in the Proto-evangelium as Mary, the Mother of Christ, the “New Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: for she was preserved from all stain of Original Sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
Immaculate Mary needs Immaculate Children
We all know the saying: “Like father, like son!” or “Like mother, like daughter!” or “He takes after his father!” and “She’s just like her mother!” Our Lord and Our Lady—the new Adam and Eve—want us to imitate them and Heaven. Of Our Lady, it can be said: “I am clean, and without sin: I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me” (Job 33:9) .... ”My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight” (Job 11:4). ”I am without sin and am innocent” (Jeremias 2:35). We became her spiritual children at the foot of the Cross, and so we should take on the traits of our spiritual Mother. Children imitate their parents.
Jesus said: “Learn of Me…!” (Matthew 11:29) … “If you love Me, keep my Commandments” (John 14:15) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) … “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) … “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). St. Peter repeats that command in the New Testament: “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy, because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Only saints go to Heaven, that is the pedigree of the New Adam and Eve—we have to be immaculate to enter therein: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled” (Apocalypse 27:21). We have to be wholly holy, or "Holy, Holy, Holy" as we say in the Sanctus at Mass—which, incindentally, should remind of the three ever-increasing stages of holiness that we have to pass through: as beginners in holiness, (2) as proficients in holiness, and (3) as perfect in holiness. Purgatory will be necessary for even the slightest stains of sin or smallest unpaid debts for previously forgiven sin. For, as it was said above, God detests sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
“For the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes, (2) a lying tongue, (3) hands that shed innocent blood, (4) heart that deviseth wicked plots, (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief, (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
We Need to Clean Up Our Act
God never changes and His demands for holiness never change. In the Old Testament it says: “Turn away from evil and do good” (Psalms 33:15); and St. Peter repeats the same in the New Testament: “Let him decline from evil, and do good” (1 Peter 3:11). Our Lady even echoes this today, for at Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” However, Sr. Lucia tells us that: “the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” St. Paul clearly tells us: “Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). Not even the slightest Venial Sin, for that still separates us from God and has to paid for—either here or in Purgatory, as Our Lord says: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). But “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness” (Matthew 23:25).
Fatal Failure
Failure to clean up our act will have fatal consequences, as we already know: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it” (La Salette) … “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
We must cease being overly preoccupied with the things of the world, entertainment and amusement—all things that Our Lady has complained about—and begin to reform ourselves, to clean up our act. No matter how much we may have sinned—as with Mary Magdalen, the Good Thief, the Prodigal Son—there is a way back, but we have work hard and clean house. The foundation is prayer and penance—the things that Our Lady has insistently commanded in one apparition after another—there is no other way. We must pray VERY MUCH and we must do MUCH penance.
Detesting Sin and Worldliness
One of the chief contributors to the deluge of sin in the world today is the absence of a fear of God and a fear of offending God. This is there has to be a terrible, frightening chastisement—in order to re-establish the foundation of fear. Fear is essential, even when we love God—it is the foundation of the spiritual life. It is even one of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost—a Fear of the Lord. As Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 110:10). “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear Him shall not love it” (Ecclesiasticus 15:13). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
“Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema” (Deuteronomy 7:26). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
This detestation of the spirit of the world and of the ways of the world is absolutely essential if we are clean house and clean-up our act. The source of sin has to be stopped, like a leak in a boat, or the boat (soul) will sink. Once the incoming flow of sin has been dealt, then we can deal with the flooded basement (soul) and start pumping the bilge out.
Grace Cleans and Beautifies
We say of Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” Grace perfects our human nature, it heals the wounds of sin, it strengthens our weaknesses, it pushes us on to higher heights. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this cleaning of soul and the role of grace in his Secret of Mary, saying: “
“It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary).
To find the Grace of God, we must discover Mary
St. Louis continues: “It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God.
“I explain;
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son. Thus, as St. Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.
(5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil.
(6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, (John 1:14), he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.
(7) The Holy Ghost espoused Mary and produced His greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through her. He has never disowned her and so He continues to produce every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of the elect in her and through her.
(8) Mary received, from God, a unique dominion over souls, enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more godlike. St. Augustine went so far as to say that, even in this world, all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth to eternal life. Consequently, just as an infant draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its needs, so the elect draw all their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.
(9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, ‘Dwell in Jacob’ (Ecclesiasticus 24:8,12) that is, dwell in my elect, who are typified by Jacob. It was to Mary that God the Son said, “My dear Mother, your inheritance is in Israel,” that is, in the elect. It was to Mary that the Holy Ghost said, “Place your roots in my elect.” Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate, will have the Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in his very soul the roots of every virtue, but especially deep humility and ardent charity.
(10) Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the ‘living mold of God.’ In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary).
“Call on the Lord out of a pure heart!” (2 Timothy 2:22). Purity means power. Purity begets power. Pure prayers are powerful prayers. Our Lady is pure and powerful―she is purely powerful. “Who can say: ‘My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?’” (Proverbs 20:9) ― Our Lady can safely claim that! “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God!” says Our Lord during His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:8). “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:8). “Create a clean heart in me, O God! … Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me!” (Psalm 50:4-5, 12).
You Have an Immaculate Mother
In his encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX pronounced and enforced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father, through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: ‘We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.’” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
Woe to Unbelievers!
The Pope continues: “Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the Faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law, if he should are to express in words, or writing, or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart.”
No Impulsive Dogma
Winding back just 5 years, to 1849, we see Blessed Pope Pius IX already perusing if the time was then right to make the dogmatic declaration concerning the Immaculate Conception. “There was in the entire Catholic world a most ardent and wondrous revival of the desire that the most holy Mother of God—the beloved Mother of us all, the immaculate Virgin Mary—be finally declared by a solemn definition of the Church to have been conceived without the stain of Original Sin ... “Many persons are now wondering why this honor has not already been accorded to the Blessed Virgin by the Church and the Apostolic See—an honor which the widespread piety of the Christian people so fervently desires ... Accordingly, We have appointed certain priests of recognized piety and theological learning, as well as several cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who are renowned because of their ability, piety, wisdom, prudence, and knowledge of the things of God; and We have directed them to make, carefully and thoroughly, a most diligent examination into this most important matter and then provide Us with a complete report” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ubi Primum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849).
The Pope goes on to say that this doctrine has been in the minds of Christians from antiquity: “This doctrine so filled the minds and souls of our ancestors in the faith that a singular and truly marvelous style of speech came into vogue among them. They have frequently addressed the Mother of God as immaculate, as immaculate in every respect; innocent, and verily most innocent; spotless, and entirely spotless; holy and removed from every stain of sin; all pure, all stainless, the very model of purity and innocence; more beautiful than beauty, more lovely than loveliness; more holy than holiness, singularly holy and most pure in soul and body; the one who surpassed all integrity and virginity; the only one who has become the dwelling place of all the graces of the most Holy Ghost. God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of Heaven and Earth do not suffice.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854).
Our Lady’s Lourdes Confirmation
A little over three years after the dogmatic declaration on the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady makes a series of apparitions at Lourdes, in France, beginning on February 11th, 1858—at which time she ratifies and confirms the pope’s declaration by telling St. Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception.
Pope St. Pius X also weighed-in to the matter around 50 years later, by stating: “The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of Original Sin because she was to be the Mother of Christ” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Ad Diem Illum, on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904).
Habemus Matrem
If at the election of a pope, we can shout “Habemus papam!” meaning “we have a pope (‘father’)”, then, in regard to this dogmatic declaration, we can shout “Habemus Matrem—Habemus Matrem Immaculatam”, meaning “We have a Mother—an Immaculate Mother!” Even more than the pope is the Holy Father, Our Lady is the Holiest of mothers.
Why on Earth…?
Of all questions―such as “What? Where? How? When? Which? Why?”―the “Why?” is foremost. It concerns the “Final End” of matters. It is the king or queen of questions. So ‘what is the why’ of the Immaculate Conception? Blessed Pope Pius XII gives us the answer in the proclaiming encyclical of December 8th, 1954:
Before getting to the heart of the matter, he prefaces it with the following statement: “God, having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race, which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness through the Incarnation of the Word. This He decreed in order that man, who had been led into sin by the cunning malice of Satan, should not perish. The eternal Father chose and prepared, for His only-begotten Son, a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom He would be born into this world. God loved her above all creatures and endowed her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts, so that this Mother, ever free of all stain of sin, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
In other words, the height and depth, length and breadth of her ‘immaculateness’ is simply mind-blowing and beyond our puny capacities to grasp and understand. It is something that we should be in total awe over, yet, for many, if not most, there is only an indifference—an attitude of “So what?” “It’s just another title!” “Let’s just get on with life! I’ve got better things to do than try fathom out how immaculate she is!”
The Supreme Reason: The Divine Maternity
The Pope Piux IX goes on to explain the “Why?” of the Immaculate Conception: “And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent, with the glory of most sublime holiness, and so completely free from all taint of Original Sin, that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent. To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son—the Son, the Father loves from His heart—and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was she whom the Son Himself chose to make His Mother; and it was from her that the Holy Spirit willed, and brought it about, that He should be conceived and born from whom He himself proceeds.” (Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains it by equating the means with the end. Mary is the means to the end—which is the Incarnation of God (or God taking on flesh). He could have done it many different ways, but since He chose to become incarnate through Mary, it was necessary that the means be the best possible means—and since with God nothing is impossible, He made sure that Mary was the best means available. St. Thomas puts it thus:
“Mary’s whole life was free from sin. For God so prepares and endows those whom He selects for some particular office, that they are rendered capable of fulfilling it, according to 2 Corinthians 3:6: ‘Who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament.’ Now the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be His Mother. Therefore, there can be no doubt that God, by His grace, made her worthy of that office, according to the words spoken to her by the Angel (Luke 1:30), ‘Thou hast found grace with God, behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus.’ But she would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned.
“First, because the honor of the parents reflects upon the child, according to Proverbs 17:6: ‘The glory of the children are their fathers’; and consequently, on the other hand, the Mother’s shame would have reflected on her Son. Secondly, because of the singular affinity between her and Christ Who took flesh from her. And it is written (2 Corinthians 6:15): ‘What concord hath Christ with Belial?’ Thirdly, because of the singular manner in which the Son of God, ‘Who is the Divine Wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 1:24), dwelt in her, not only in her soul but in her womb. And thus, it is written (Wisdom 1:4): ‘Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’ We must therefore confess simply that the Blessed Virgin committed no actual sin, either mortal or venial; so that what is written (Canticles 4:7), is fulfilled: ‘Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.’” (Summa Theologica, 3a, q. 27).
The Awesome Terrible Sanctity of God Detests Sin
God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. ”Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Habacuc 1:13). The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended.
It was sin that led to banishment of the fallen angels to Hell, and it was sin led to Adam and Eve to be cast out of the Garden of Eden and to suffer and die. Both the Angels and our First Parents were created immaculate, that is to say, in a state of grace. Yet many of the angels failed to keep that grace, and both Adam and Eve lost that grace through Mortal Sin. God cannot tolerate sin. Sin is an attack upon the holiness and purity of God. Sin has to be eliminated and reparation has to be made.
The Price and Pain of Sin
Since Adam and Even listened to the devil and fell into sin, they thereby abused and threw away the gifts the gifts that God had given them: (1) the supernatural grace of God; (2) the possibility of never having to die; (3) the possibility of being free from any and all forms of suffering; (4) the harmonious submission and obedience of the soul to God’s grace, and the obedience of the body and its passions to the soul; and finally, (5) they weakened the infused knowledge that God had created them with, to the point that now they would experience a darkened intellect that finds learning difficult, a weak will that struggles with temptation, and rebellious passions.
They had offended God in the name of humanity, all their future descendants would participate in the effects of that sin. As St. Paul writes: ”Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Truly, as St. Paul states later, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The gates of Heaven were closed. Humanity had failed the test through Adam and Eve. It is because we downplay sin in our own thoughts, that we have such a wrong notion about what sin really is. As the old, but very clear and simple, Penny Catechism says: ”It is the greatest of all evils to fall into mortal sin.” Another catechism, My Catholic Faith, states that “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God ... Although venial sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is nevertheless a great moral evil, next alone to mortal sin ... We are prone to look upon venial sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that it is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin.” (from the catechism My Catholic Faith).
The New Adam, the New Eve
After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. The passage in Genesis, which is called the Proto-evangelium (“first gospel”), makes the first announcement of the Messias and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because He ”became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends super-abundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Additionally, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the Woman announced in the Proto-evangelium as Mary, the Mother of Christ, the “New Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: for she was preserved from all stain of Original Sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
Immaculate Mary needs Immaculate Children
We all know the saying: “Like father, like son!” or “Like mother, like daughter!” or “He takes after his father!” and “She’s just like her mother!” Our Lord and Our Lady—the new Adam and Eve—want us to imitate them and Heaven. Of Our Lady, it can be said: “I am clean, and without sin: I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me” (Job 33:9) .... ”My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight” (Job 11:4). ”I am without sin and am innocent” (Jeremias 2:35). We became her spiritual children at the foot of the Cross, and so we should take on the traits of our spiritual Mother. Children imitate their parents.
Jesus said: “Learn of Me…!” (Matthew 11:29) … “If you love Me, keep my Commandments” (John 14:15) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) … “I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) … “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). St. Peter repeats that command in the New Testament: “According to Him that hath called you, Who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy, because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Only saints go to Heaven, that is the pedigree of the New Adam and Eve—we have to be immaculate to enter therein: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled” (Apocalypse 27:21). We have to be wholly holy, or "Holy, Holy, Holy" as we say in the Sanctus at Mass—which, incindentally, should remind of the three ever-increasing stages of holiness that we have to pass through: as beginners in holiness, (2) as proficients in holiness, and (3) as perfect in holiness. Purgatory will be necessary for even the slightest stains of sin or smallest unpaid debts for previously forgiven sin. For, as it was said above, God detests sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
“For the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3). “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes, (2) a lying tongue, (3) hands that shed innocent blood, (4) heart that deviseth wicked plots, (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief, (6) deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and (7) him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
We Need to Clean Up Our Act
God never changes and His demands for holiness never change. In the Old Testament it says: “Turn away from evil and do good” (Psalms 33:15); and St. Peter repeats the same in the New Testament: “Let him decline from evil, and do good” (1 Peter 3:11). Our Lady even echoes this today, for at Fatima she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” However, Sr. Lucia tells us that: “the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” St. Paul clearly tells us: “Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). Not even the slightest Venial Sin, for that still separates us from God and has to paid for—either here or in Purgatory, as Our Lord says: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). But “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness” (Matthew 23:25).
Fatal Failure
Failure to clean up our act will have fatal consequences, as we already know: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it” (La Salette) … “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita).
We must cease being overly preoccupied with the things of the world, entertainment and amusement—all things that Our Lady has complained about—and begin to reform ourselves, to clean up our act. No matter how much we may have sinned—as with Mary Magdalen, the Good Thief, the Prodigal Son—there is a way back, but we have work hard and clean house. The foundation is prayer and penance—the things that Our Lady has insistently commanded in one apparition after another—there is no other way. We must pray VERY MUCH and we must do MUCH penance.
Detesting Sin and Worldliness
One of the chief contributors to the deluge of sin in the world today is the absence of a fear of God and a fear of offending God. This is there has to be a terrible, frightening chastisement—in order to re-establish the foundation of fear. Fear is essential, even when we love God—it is the foundation of the spiritual life. It is even one of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost—a Fear of the Lord. As Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 110:10). “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear Him shall not love it” (Ecclesiasticus 15:13). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
“Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema” (Deuteronomy 7:26). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
This detestation of the spirit of the world and of the ways of the world is absolutely essential if we are clean house and clean-up our act. The source of sin has to be stopped, like a leak in a boat, or the boat (soul) will sink. Once the incoming flow of sin has been dealt, then we can deal with the flooded basement (soul) and start pumping the bilge out.
Grace Cleans and Beautifies
We say of Our Lady: “Hail, full of grace!” Grace perfects our human nature, it heals the wounds of sin, it strengthens our weaknesses, it pushes us on to higher heights. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of this cleaning of soul and the role of grace in his Secret of Mary, saying: “
“It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary).
To find the Grace of God, we must discover Mary
St. Louis continues: “It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God.
“I explain;
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son. Thus, as St. Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.
(5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father, but does not give Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an imposter and his father is the devil.
(6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, (John 1:14), he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.
(7) The Holy Ghost espoused Mary and produced His greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through her. He has never disowned her and so He continues to produce every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of the elect in her and through her.
(8) Mary received, from God, a unique dominion over souls, enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more godlike. St. Augustine went so far as to say that, even in this world, all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth to eternal life. Consequently, just as an infant draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its needs, so the elect draw all their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.
(9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, ‘Dwell in Jacob’ (Ecclesiasticus 24:8,12) that is, dwell in my elect, who are typified by Jacob. It was to Mary that God the Son said, “My dear Mother, your inheritance is in Israel,” that is, in the elect. It was to Mary that the Holy Ghost said, “Place your roots in my elect.” Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate, will have the Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in his very soul the roots of every virtue, but especially deep humility and ardent charity.
(10) Mary is called by St. Augustine, and is indeed, the ‘living mold of God.’ In her alone the God-man was formed in His human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday December 6th & Monday December 7th
Article 2
Advent-20 versus Covid-19
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday December 6th & Monday December 7th
Article 2
Advent-20 versus Covid-19
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Opposition of Opposites
This life is filled with opposites. It seems that God has placed a “positive” and a “negative” in everything that He has made―or rather, we have provoked God to place a “positive” and a “negative” in everything that He has made due the disruptive factor of Original Sin. We have Heaven and Hell, good and evil, virtue and sin, life and death, health and sickness, peace and war, truth and lies, godliness and worldliness, etc.
Our Lord also points out these opposites through His teachings: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
This same opposition between the God in Heaven and worldly man on Earth is repeated elsewhere in Holy Scripture: “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Our Lord also speaks of the incompatibility of good and evil and the consequences or effects of good and evil: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Even the secular poem of Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”, reflects something of the same opposition:
“East is East, and West is West, and never the twain [two] shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the Earth!”
We could add to that:
“Truth is truth and lies are lies,
And those who lies as truth disguise,
Will, one day, to their own demise,
Those lies in Hell forever despise!”
The Father of Lies―the Father of Covid
Speaking of opposites, the Hebrew word for Satan ― śāṭān ― means “accuser” or “adversary.” Satan is both the adversary of God and man. He will be the accuser of man on the Day of Judgment. Satan is the source of sin and therefore the source of death! Sin is opposition to the Will and the Law of God, which ― in the case of Original Sin ― resulted, not only in the death of Adam and Eve, but also brought death to the whole of mankind: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Lying and lies are sins ― and Satan seeks to kill truth, he is the “adversary” of truth and the “father of lies”. As Our Lord says: “The devil … was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Believe the Truth or Believe Lies?
Even though Holy Scripture says: “The sons of men are liars” (Psalms 61:10) ... “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) ― today, we could well say that we live in the “Age of Lies” ― “They have taught their tongue to speak lies” (Jeremias 9:5).
Our Lord came with the truth―yet most chose to reject that truth: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:1-11).
As Our Lord Himself said: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Scary, huh?
“Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord … They have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth … They have proceeded from evil to evil, and Me they have not known, saith the Lord … Let every man take heed of his neighbor, and let him not trust in any brother of his―for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully. And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies” (Jeremias 9:3-6). “According to the working of Satan, and lying wonders―because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved―God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Christ and Covid
Since Satan loves to “ape” God―that is to say, imitate God―we can readily find certain elements in the world (of which Satan is the prince) that copy, reflect and echo God’s works and God’s manner of operating. “God loveth mercy and truth; the Lord will give grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12) ― whereas Satan loves mercilessness and lies; Satan destroys grace and glory.
God sent His only-begotten Son into this world to seek and save those who were lost and bring them to eternal life: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
Satan, on the other hand ― “the father of lies” (John 8:44) ― seeks to bring death and destruction: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Whereas God seeks to impart to us eternal life in Heaven through Christ―Satan, at this moment, seeks to impart to us eternal death in Hell through his incarnation of Covid.
Sin in the soul brings disease to the body. Sin brings disease and death―which is what happened to Adam and Eve, whom Satan tempted to make them sin. By their Original Sin, they brought about disease and death to the body: “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) ― death is merely the ending point of terminal to which disease leads―death, if you like, is the most serious disease or the culmination of disease.
Just as God gives us supernatural life by injecting His sanctifying grace into our souls, Satan seeks to bring natural death by injecting us with sin and disease. We see Satan bring sickness to Job in the Old Testament: “And the Lord said to Satan: Behold he is in thy hand, but yet save his life. So Satan went forth from the presence Of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head” (Job 2:6-7). Satan can cause people to die, as we again see in relation to Job. Satan motivated the Sabeans to kill Job’s oxen and donkeys and the attending servants (Job 1:13-15). Next Satan caused fire to fall from heaven and kill Job’s sheep and servants (Job 1:16). Verse 17 states that the Chaldeans raided Job’s camels and killed the attending servants. Verses 18-19 report that a wind caused the oldest son’s house to fall resulting in the death of Job’s sons and daughters. All of this was caused by Satan, since this happened immediately after Satan had permission to afflict Job. Notice the power of Satan. He could manipulate the wind, fire and people. He could control the weather and motivate people to do evil. The New Testament also reveals that Satan can make people sick. There are numerous examples of people who were sick due to demon possession (Matthew 9:32-33; Luke 13:11). Demons can afflict a Christian with sickness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
It was during Advent and Christmas of 2019 that Satan gave birth to Covid-19. Just as Christ was incarnated in the womb of Mary by the power of Holy Spirit―Covid-19 was incarnated in the womb of a test tube by the power of the Evil Spirit. As we await the spiritual coming of Christ during Advent this year―are we also awaiting the coming and birth of another Covid this year? Will it be Covid-20, or Covid-21? As we prepare for spiritual birth of the truth, light and life of Christ in our souls―should we also be preparing for the physical ‘birth’ of Covid-20 or Covid-21 in our bodies, with its accompanying veil of darkness, death and lies?
Christ wanted a “One World Religion” and a “One World Government” ― which was meant to be through His Church, the Catholic Church: “I pray that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me … that they may be one, as We also are one!” (John 17:21-22). “Keep the unity of the Spirit … One body and one Spirit … One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:3-6). Before ascending into Heaven, Our Lord commands His Apostles to bring about this “One World Religion” and “One World Government” by a commanding a mandatory baptism and mandatory instruction, indoctrination or teaching of His doctrine: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ― teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
The apostles of Satan have similarly been told to bring Covid-19 to all nations, teaching them to wear masks, social-distance and wash their hands in the name of the Coronavirus, and of Covid-19, and of Sars-Cov-2. Those who believe shall be “saved” ― those who will not believe and refuse to be “baptized” with sanitizers and receive the “sign of the mask” on their face, will consequently be quarantined, locked-down, forced to self-isolate and punished.
This life is filled with opposites. It seems that God has placed a “positive” and a “negative” in everything that He has made―or rather, we have provoked God to place a “positive” and a “negative” in everything that He has made due the disruptive factor of Original Sin. We have Heaven and Hell, good and evil, virtue and sin, life and death, health and sickness, peace and war, truth and lies, godliness and worldliness, etc.
Our Lord also points out these opposites through His teachings: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
This same opposition between the God in Heaven and worldly man on Earth is repeated elsewhere in Holy Scripture: “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Our Lord also speaks of the incompatibility of good and evil and the consequences or effects of good and evil: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Even the secular poem of Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”, reflects something of the same opposition:
“East is East, and West is West, and never the twain [two] shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the Earth!”
We could add to that:
“Truth is truth and lies are lies,
And those who lies as truth disguise,
Will, one day, to their own demise,
Those lies in Hell forever despise!”
The Father of Lies―the Father of Covid
Speaking of opposites, the Hebrew word for Satan ― śāṭān ― means “accuser” or “adversary.” Satan is both the adversary of God and man. He will be the accuser of man on the Day of Judgment. Satan is the source of sin and therefore the source of death! Sin is opposition to the Will and the Law of God, which ― in the case of Original Sin ― resulted, not only in the death of Adam and Eve, but also brought death to the whole of mankind: ““The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Lying and lies are sins ― and Satan seeks to kill truth, he is the “adversary” of truth and the “father of lies”. As Our Lord says: “The devil … was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Believe the Truth or Believe Lies?
Even though Holy Scripture says: “The sons of men are liars” (Psalms 61:10) ... “Every man is a liar!” (Psalm 115:11) ― today, we could well say that we live in the “Age of Lies” ― “They have taught their tongue to speak lies” (Jeremias 9:5).
Our Lord came with the truth―yet most chose to reject that truth: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:1-11).
As Our Lord Himself said: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Scary, huh?
“Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord … They have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth … They have proceeded from evil to evil, and Me they have not known, saith the Lord … Let every man take heed of his neighbor, and let him not trust in any brother of his―for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully. And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies” (Jeremias 9:3-6). “According to the working of Satan, and lying wonders―because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved―God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Christ and Covid
Since Satan loves to “ape” God―that is to say, imitate God―we can readily find certain elements in the world (of which Satan is the prince) that copy, reflect and echo God’s works and God’s manner of operating. “God loveth mercy and truth; the Lord will give grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12) ― whereas Satan loves mercilessness and lies; Satan destroys grace and glory.
God sent His only-begotten Son into this world to seek and save those who were lost and bring them to eternal life: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
Satan, on the other hand ― “the father of lies” (John 8:44) ― seeks to bring death and destruction: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Whereas God seeks to impart to us eternal life in Heaven through Christ―Satan, at this moment, seeks to impart to us eternal death in Hell through his incarnation of Covid.
Sin in the soul brings disease to the body. Sin brings disease and death―which is what happened to Adam and Eve, whom Satan tempted to make them sin. By their Original Sin, they brought about disease and death to the body: “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). “If the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity … he shall die in his sin!” (Ezechiel 3:20). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) ― death is merely the ending point of terminal to which disease leads―death, if you like, is the most serious disease or the culmination of disease.
Just as God gives us supernatural life by injecting His sanctifying grace into our souls, Satan seeks to bring natural death by injecting us with sin and disease. We see Satan bring sickness to Job in the Old Testament: “And the Lord said to Satan: Behold he is in thy hand, but yet save his life. So Satan went forth from the presence Of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head” (Job 2:6-7). Satan can cause people to die, as we again see in relation to Job. Satan motivated the Sabeans to kill Job’s oxen and donkeys and the attending servants (Job 1:13-15). Next Satan caused fire to fall from heaven and kill Job’s sheep and servants (Job 1:16). Verse 17 states that the Chaldeans raided Job’s camels and killed the attending servants. Verses 18-19 report that a wind caused the oldest son’s house to fall resulting in the death of Job’s sons and daughters. All of this was caused by Satan, since this happened immediately after Satan had permission to afflict Job. Notice the power of Satan. He could manipulate the wind, fire and people. He could control the weather and motivate people to do evil. The New Testament also reveals that Satan can make people sick. There are numerous examples of people who were sick due to demon possession (Matthew 9:32-33; Luke 13:11). Demons can afflict a Christian with sickness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
It was during Advent and Christmas of 2019 that Satan gave birth to Covid-19. Just as Christ was incarnated in the womb of Mary by the power of Holy Spirit―Covid-19 was incarnated in the womb of a test tube by the power of the Evil Spirit. As we await the spiritual coming of Christ during Advent this year―are we also awaiting the coming and birth of another Covid this year? Will it be Covid-20, or Covid-21? As we prepare for spiritual birth of the truth, light and life of Christ in our souls―should we also be preparing for the physical ‘birth’ of Covid-20 or Covid-21 in our bodies, with its accompanying veil of darkness, death and lies?
Christ wanted a “One World Religion” and a “One World Government” ― which was meant to be through His Church, the Catholic Church: “I pray that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me … that they may be one, as We also are one!” (John 17:21-22). “Keep the unity of the Spirit … One body and one Spirit … One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:3-6). Before ascending into Heaven, Our Lord commands His Apostles to bring about this “One World Religion” and “One World Government” by a commanding a mandatory baptism and mandatory instruction, indoctrination or teaching of His doctrine: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ― teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
The apostles of Satan have similarly been told to bring Covid-19 to all nations, teaching them to wear masks, social-distance and wash their hands in the name of the Coronavirus, and of Covid-19, and of Sars-Cov-2. Those who believe shall be “saved” ― those who will not believe and refuse to be “baptized” with sanitizers and receive the “sign of the mask” on their face, will consequently be quarantined, locked-down, forced to self-isolate and punished.
Saturday December 5th
Article 1
What Will This Advent Bring?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Article 1
What Will This Advent Bring?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Catching the Advent-20 Virus!
Every year we have the “advent” of the flu season, when the flu virus is especially virulent. Flu is a Coronavirus―and at the end of last year, we saw the “advent” of another Coronavirus family member―Covid-19, also known as SARS- Cov-2. The South China Morning Post claimed that the first Coronavirus (Covid-19 or SARS- Cov-2) case can be traced back to November 17th, 2019. Many are now talking about the “advent” of a new, mutated Coronavirus―supposedly more lethal than the current Con-all-a-virus that is murderously decimating the world’s population, with people dropping like flies all over the place (which is the propaganda that the perpetrators would like you to believe). What will this new terror be called―you guess is as good as anybody’s―let us banally and simply call is Covid-21. All of these “advents” ― the common flu, Covid-19 and Covid-21―are a distraction from the real, one and only Advent that is worth focusing upon during this liturgical season of Advent, which, like the flu, comes every year. We should be looking forwards to “catching” this spiritual virus―let us call it “Advent-20”―for the symptoms of this spiritual virus can be heavenly!
The word “Advent” is a compound of two Latin words: “ad” meaning “to” and “venire” meaning “to come”, of which the past participle in Latin is “ventus”. Therefore we see the word “Advent” meaning “to come to” and refers to Christ’s coming into this world. The Lord is coming. However, it is because every year, at this time, we look in anticipation towards His coming, there exists a real danger that, through yearly repetition and routine, we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation―because, at the end of the season, once we have routinely celebrated Christ’s coming on Christmas Day, everything seems to return to pretty much the same old lukewarm routine. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.
Christ Comes With a Burning Fever and Much Pain!
The “virus” that Christ brings is hot and painful and He wants it to infect our whole being! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). That fire or fever is the fire or fever of love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity … And we have known and have believed the charity which God hath towards us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in him” (1 John 4:8; 4:16) and “the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Romans 5:5). Yet, a symptom of charity is pain or suffering―even leading to death: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Truly a hot and painful―even life threatening―virus! The virus of love. The virus of charity.
A Double Coming
The focus of Advent is by no means limited to just Christ’s first coming. An equal, if not more important theme found in the Advent Liturgy is the second coming of Christ, when He comes again to judge the world. Consequently, there is a double focus of, firstly, the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in His first Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent. In His first coming He comes as a Child offering mercy. In His second coming He will come as a Judge administering justice.
However, He is never merciful without being just, and He is never just without being merciful. Therefore, we must realize that to accept His mercy also requires that we accept His justice. He does not come to play, but to pay—pay for our sins. He does not come to enjoy life, but to give eternal life—and that comes at a price. He comes not to live on Earth forever, but to forever detach us from this Earth. He prefers poverty over power; humility over honors; rejection over riches and suffering over splendor. His way is not our way, yet He Who called Himself “the Way” shows us wayward wayfarers the true way—and it is not a pleasant way, but the Way of the Cross.
Advent is not an end, but a beginning. It should be the beginning of the end of a life of sin and mediocrity—“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000+ year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ, whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God through contrition for sin, through penance and prayer. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.
Christ is a Fiery ‘Virus’
In a certain sense, you could liken fire to virus―both can spread very easily given favorable conditions. Yet where a virus toxifies and creates disease, a fire purifies and destroys disease. The “fire” of a fever destroys most bacteria. Fire also kills diseases and insects that prey on trees and provides valuable nutrients that enrich the soil. Vegetation that is burned by fire provides a rich source of nutrients that nourish remaining trees. Fire removes low-growing underbrush, cleans the forest floor of debris, opens it up to sunlight, and nourishes the soil. Reducing this competition for nutrients allows established trees to grow stronger and healthier. More trees die each year from insect infestation and disease than from fire. Many forests struggle against diseases such as pitch canker and bark beetle infestations ― pests that destroy the part of the tree that delivers nutrients to the roots, leaves and needles. Fire kills pests and keeps the forest healthy. Established trees have to compete with undergrowth for nutrients and space. Fire clears the weaker trees and debris and returns health to the forest.
God often manifests Himself in the form of fire. God the Father appeared to Moses as a fire burning a bush: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2). God the Son manifested His Sacred Heart of St. Margaret Mary, with fiery flames coming forth from His Heart: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, so that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad” (words of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary). God the Holy Ghost manifested Himself as tongues of fire on Pentecost Sunday, hovering above the heads of Our Lady, the Apostles and other disciples of Our Lord: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4).
Fires of Hell and Fires of God―Fires of Hate and Fires of Love
We naturally associate fire with Hell and the devil, but rarely do we associate fire with Heaven and God. Yet―in the English language―we speak of “burning with love” as well as “burning with hatred”. In a certain sense, we were made to burn―we will either burn with love in Heaven, burn in pain in Purgatory, or burn for ever in Hell. We were made to burn with love―but we can choose to burn in sin. The fire of love can burn-up all our sins and the debt due to our sins―but the fire of sin can put-out our fire of love―“burnt with the flame of the fire of their sins” (Ecclesiasticus 8:13).
Thus, in the Old Testament, Job says of God: “His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and His eyes like the eyelids of the morning. Out of His mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth” (Job 41:9-12).
Our Lord Himself says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). “Our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:29). “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire!” (Deuteronomy 4:24). “Every word of God is fire tried” (Proverbs 30:5). Whenever we say the prayer to the Holy Ghost, we ourselves explicitly say that we desire that fire to be enkindled in us ― “Come, O Holy Ghost, and enkindle is us the fire of Thy love!”
God’s Use of Fire
Besides manifesting Himself to Moses under the guise of fire, God would often use fire to manifest Himself and His power. When God led His Chosen People out of Egypt, “the Lord went before them to show the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire―so that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). “All Mount Sinai was on a smoke―because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace, and all the Mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:18). “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the Mount” (Exodus 24:17).
That was the “favorable fire” of the Lord. However, there was (and still is) an “unfavorable fire” of the Lord, which the Israelites experienced for simply murmuring against God’s Providence: “There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1). “God shall come manifestly―our God shall come, and shall not keep silence! A fire shall burn before Him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about Him!” (Psalm 49:3). “The earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the mountains were moved, and shaken, because He was angry with them. A smoke went up from His nostrils, and a devouring fire out of His mouth: coals were kindled by it!” (2 Kings 22:8-9). “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire” (Psalm 17:14). “He shall rain snares upon sinners―fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup” (Psalm 10:7) ― due to the many grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrha, “the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth” (Genesis 19:24). God says: “A fire is kindled in My wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest Hell―and shall devour the Earth and shall burn the foundations of the mountains!” (Deuteronomy 32:22).
God would use fire to destroy His enemies: “A fire shall go before Him, and shall burn His enemies round about” (Psalms 96:3). “In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out” (Ecclesiasticus 16:7). “Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of Thy anger―the Lord shall trouble them in His wrath, and fire shall devour them!” (Psalm 20:10). “And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:2). “He gave them hail for rain, a burning fire in the land” (Psalm 104:32). “Burning coals shall fall upon them! Thou wilt cast them down into the fire!” (Psalm 139:11).
Nevertheless, God’s own Chosen People themselves were not spared fire when they fell into prolonged idolatry and sin―for “the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and whatsoever was precious they destroyed” (2 Paralipomenon 36:19).
God tests us, so to speak, in the fires of temptation―to see if we are worthy of Him: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “Thou, O God, hast proved us―Thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried” (Psalm 65:10). “He knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire” (Job 23:10).
The Fiery Prophet Elias
The prophet Elias used fire in his battle with the false prophets of Baal and other false prophets. He told the King of Israel to “send and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table. King Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel. And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you waver between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him―but if Baal, then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under―and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first―because you are many―and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under the bullock!’ And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered―and they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awakened! So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed. Elias said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name.’ And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord. And he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. And he said: ‘Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood!’ And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time!’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time!’ And they did so the third time. And the water run round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel―show this day that Thou art the God of Israel and that I am thy servant, and that according to Thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! So that this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again!’ Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord, He is God, the Lord He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:19-24).
The Fiery Prophet Elias Strikes Again!
“After the death of Achab … Ochozias [who reigned after Achab] fell through the lattices of his upper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: ‘Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness!’ And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ‘Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria, and say to them: “Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?” Wherefore thus saith the Lord: “From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!”’And Elias went away [and told this to the messengers of King Ochozia] and the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: ‘Why are you come back?’ But they answered him: ‘A man met us, and said to us: “Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die!”’ And he said to them: ‘What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?’ But they said: ‘A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins!’ And he said: ‘It is Elias the Thesbite!’
“And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven, and consumed him, and the fifty men that were with him.
“And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: ‘Man of God, thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!”’ Elias answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from Heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
“Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: ‘Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me! Behold fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them―but now, I beseech thee to spare my life!’ And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: ‘Go down with him, fear not!’ Elias arose, therefore, and went down with him to the king, and said to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word―therefore, from the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!”’ So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead” (4 Kings 1:1-17).
At the end of time, the Book of Apocalypse also speaks of the role of fire: “By three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Apocalypse 9:18). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8). “For He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever!” (Judith 16:21).
Fire at the End of Time
At the end of time, the Book of Apocalypse also speaks of the role of fire: “By three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Apocalypse 9:18). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8). “For He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever!” (Judith 16:21).
Yet even before the actual “End of the World”, Our Lady says that God will first punish our massive modern-day sinfulness by fire: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!” (Our Lady of Akita). “The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed! … Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success). Sister Lucia of Fatima says: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end’ ― that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears!”
Our Lord Comes to Heal With Fire!
As Sister Lucia says―victory will only come AFTER a baptism of fire, blood and tears! The current long-standing sinfulness of morally diseased mankind must be purged and cleansed by God’s spiritual surgery. The gangrened members―if they cannot be cured and saved―must be cut-off, amputated, removed. That will mean much blood and tears. The wound then has to be cauterized― a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. Cauterization, first used in the 16th century, was a method of burning body parts, such as a blood vessels or open wounds to stop bleeding and close amputations.
Amputation and cauterization are both gruesome things―and our forthcoming spiritual amputations and cauterizations would not have been necessary if we had only taken Our Lady’s many warnings seriously―to the point of actually DOING something and not being satisfied with merely KNOWING something.
To the Prophet Isaias―the chief prophet of Advent―God complains: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass knoweth his master’s crib―but Israel [the modern world] hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children! They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards! For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? The whole head is sick! From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies” (Isaias 1:3-7). “And the Lord said: ‘Go, and thou shalt say to this people: “Hearing, hear, and understand not; and see the vision, and know it not. Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes―lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!” (Isaias 6:9-10).
Our Lord comes to heal―but that healing can be gruesome. He himself had to go through gruesomeness in order to heal us. The Prophet Isaias paints a picture of our Savior and Surgeon, our Redeemer and Doctor: “Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not. He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into His own way: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth. He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before His shearer, and He shall not open His mouth. He is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of My people have I struck Him. He hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in His mouth. And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity: if He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand. Because His soul hath labored―He shall see and be filled. By His knowledge shall this My just Servant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities. He hath delivered His soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and He hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors” (Isaias 53:3-12).
That is the picture painted by Isaias of our Savior and Surgeon, our Redeemer and Doctor―the One Who comes to us at Christmas and the One for Whom we must prepare throughout Advent―prepare, not in word only, but by our deeds―so that we do not fall under the condemnation of: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “So Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble. Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The “works” of Faith cannot exclude the Cross and Charity: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Yet that Cross on the ‘shoulder’ must be carried with Charity in the heart―without which it would be useless―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Sadly, most people today do not want the Cross and they are also lacking in Charity. Let this Advent season be the time when we pick up the Cross once more and rekindle that fire of love, Charity, which might be dying out―for our Faith, without the Cross and Charity, will lead us nowhere but a dead-end! Our Lord burned with love for us as He died on the Cross for our sins―let us burn with love for Our Lord as we carry our Crosses for our sins!
Every year we have the “advent” of the flu season, when the flu virus is especially virulent. Flu is a Coronavirus―and at the end of last year, we saw the “advent” of another Coronavirus family member―Covid-19, also known as SARS- Cov-2. The South China Morning Post claimed that the first Coronavirus (Covid-19 or SARS- Cov-2) case can be traced back to November 17th, 2019. Many are now talking about the “advent” of a new, mutated Coronavirus―supposedly more lethal than the current Con-all-a-virus that is murderously decimating the world’s population, with people dropping like flies all over the place (which is the propaganda that the perpetrators would like you to believe). What will this new terror be called―you guess is as good as anybody’s―let us banally and simply call is Covid-21. All of these “advents” ― the common flu, Covid-19 and Covid-21―are a distraction from the real, one and only Advent that is worth focusing upon during this liturgical season of Advent, which, like the flu, comes every year. We should be looking forwards to “catching” this spiritual virus―let us call it “Advent-20”―for the symptoms of this spiritual virus can be heavenly!
The word “Advent” is a compound of two Latin words: “ad” meaning “to” and “venire” meaning “to come”, of which the past participle in Latin is “ventus”. Therefore we see the word “Advent” meaning “to come to” and refers to Christ’s coming into this world. The Lord is coming. However, it is because every year, at this time, we look in anticipation towards His coming, there exists a real danger that, through yearly repetition and routine, we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation―because, at the end of the season, once we have routinely celebrated Christ’s coming on Christmas Day, everything seems to return to pretty much the same old lukewarm routine. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.
Christ Comes With a Burning Fever and Much Pain!
The “virus” that Christ brings is hot and painful and He wants it to infect our whole being! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). That fire or fever is the fire or fever of love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity … And we have known and have believed the charity which God hath towards us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in him” (1 John 4:8; 4:16) and “the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Romans 5:5). Yet, a symptom of charity is pain or suffering―even leading to death: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Truly a hot and painful―even life threatening―virus! The virus of love. The virus of charity.
A Double Coming
The focus of Advent is by no means limited to just Christ’s first coming. An equal, if not more important theme found in the Advent Liturgy is the second coming of Christ, when He comes again to judge the world. Consequently, there is a double focus of, firstly, the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in His first Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent. In His first coming He comes as a Child offering mercy. In His second coming He will come as a Judge administering justice.
However, He is never merciful without being just, and He is never just without being merciful. Therefore, we must realize that to accept His mercy also requires that we accept His justice. He does not come to play, but to pay—pay for our sins. He does not come to enjoy life, but to give eternal life—and that comes at a price. He comes not to live on Earth forever, but to forever detach us from this Earth. He prefers poverty over power; humility over honors; rejection over riches and suffering over splendor. His way is not our way, yet He Who called Himself “the Way” shows us wayward wayfarers the true way—and it is not a pleasant way, but the Way of the Cross.
Advent is not an end, but a beginning. It should be the beginning of the end of a life of sin and mediocrity—“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000+ year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ, whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God through contrition for sin, through penance and prayer. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.
Christ is a Fiery ‘Virus’
In a certain sense, you could liken fire to virus―both can spread very easily given favorable conditions. Yet where a virus toxifies and creates disease, a fire purifies and destroys disease. The “fire” of a fever destroys most bacteria. Fire also kills diseases and insects that prey on trees and provides valuable nutrients that enrich the soil. Vegetation that is burned by fire provides a rich source of nutrients that nourish remaining trees. Fire removes low-growing underbrush, cleans the forest floor of debris, opens it up to sunlight, and nourishes the soil. Reducing this competition for nutrients allows established trees to grow stronger and healthier. More trees die each year from insect infestation and disease than from fire. Many forests struggle against diseases such as pitch canker and bark beetle infestations ― pests that destroy the part of the tree that delivers nutrients to the roots, leaves and needles. Fire kills pests and keeps the forest healthy. Established trees have to compete with undergrowth for nutrients and space. Fire clears the weaker trees and debris and returns health to the forest.
God often manifests Himself in the form of fire. God the Father appeared to Moses as a fire burning a bush: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush―and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2). God the Son manifested His Sacred Heart of St. Margaret Mary, with fiery flames coming forth from His Heart: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, so that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad” (words of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary). God the Holy Ghost manifested Himself as tongues of fire on Pentecost Sunday, hovering above the heads of Our Lady, the Apostles and other disciples of Our Lord: “When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4).
Fires of Hell and Fires of God―Fires of Hate and Fires of Love
We naturally associate fire with Hell and the devil, but rarely do we associate fire with Heaven and God. Yet―in the English language―we speak of “burning with love” as well as “burning with hatred”. In a certain sense, we were made to burn―we will either burn with love in Heaven, burn in pain in Purgatory, or burn for ever in Hell. We were made to burn with love―but we can choose to burn in sin. The fire of love can burn-up all our sins and the debt due to our sins―but the fire of sin can put-out our fire of love―“burnt with the flame of the fire of their sins” (Ecclesiasticus 8:13).
Thus, in the Old Testament, Job says of God: “His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and His eyes like the eyelids of the morning. Out of His mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth” (Job 41:9-12).
Our Lord Himself says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). “Our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:29). “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire!” (Deuteronomy 4:24). “Every word of God is fire tried” (Proverbs 30:5). Whenever we say the prayer to the Holy Ghost, we ourselves explicitly say that we desire that fire to be enkindled in us ― “Come, O Holy Ghost, and enkindle is us the fire of Thy love!”
God’s Use of Fire
Besides manifesting Himself to Moses under the guise of fire, God would often use fire to manifest Himself and His power. When God led His Chosen People out of Egypt, “the Lord went before them to show the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire―so that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). “All Mount Sinai was on a smoke―because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace, and all the Mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:18). “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the Mount” (Exodus 24:17).
That was the “favorable fire” of the Lord. However, there was (and still is) an “unfavorable fire” of the Lord, which the Israelites experienced for simply murmuring against God’s Providence: “There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1). “God shall come manifestly―our God shall come, and shall not keep silence! A fire shall burn before Him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about Him!” (Psalm 49:3). “The earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the mountains were moved, and shaken, because He was angry with them. A smoke went up from His nostrils, and a devouring fire out of His mouth: coals were kindled by it!” (2 Kings 22:8-9). “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire” (Psalm 17:14). “He shall rain snares upon sinners―fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup” (Psalm 10:7) ― due to the many grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrha, “the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth” (Genesis 19:24). God says: “A fire is kindled in My wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest Hell―and shall devour the Earth and shall burn the foundations of the mountains!” (Deuteronomy 32:22).
God would use fire to destroy His enemies: “A fire shall go before Him, and shall burn His enemies round about” (Psalms 96:3). “In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out” (Ecclesiasticus 16:7). “Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of Thy anger―the Lord shall trouble them in His wrath, and fire shall devour them!” (Psalm 20:10). “And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:2). “He gave them hail for rain, a burning fire in the land” (Psalm 104:32). “Burning coals shall fall upon them! Thou wilt cast them down into the fire!” (Psalm 139:11).
Nevertheless, God’s own Chosen People themselves were not spared fire when they fell into prolonged idolatry and sin―for “the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and whatsoever was precious they destroyed” (2 Paralipomenon 36:19).
God tests us, so to speak, in the fires of temptation―to see if we are worthy of Him: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “Thou, O God, hast proved us―Thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried” (Psalm 65:10). “He knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire” (Job 23:10).
The Fiery Prophet Elias
The prophet Elias used fire in his battle with the false prophets of Baal and other false prophets. He told the King of Israel to “send and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table. King Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel. And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you waver between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him―but if Baal, then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under―and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first―because you are many―and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under the bullock!’ And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered―and they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awakened! So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed. Elias said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name.’ And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord. And he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. And he said: ‘Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood!’ And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time!’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time!’ And they did so the third time. And the water run round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel―show this day that Thou art the God of Israel and that I am thy servant, and that according to Thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! So that this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again!’ Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord, He is God, the Lord He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:19-24).
The Fiery Prophet Elias Strikes Again!
“After the death of Achab … Ochozias [who reigned after Achab] fell through the lattices of his upper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: ‘Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness!’ And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ‘Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria, and say to them: “Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?” Wherefore thus saith the Lord: “From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!”’And Elias went away [and told this to the messengers of King Ochozia] and the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: ‘Why are you come back?’ But they answered him: ‘A man met us, and said to us: “Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die!”’ And he said to them: ‘What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?’ But they said: ‘A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins!’ And he said: ‘It is Elias the Thesbite!’
“And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven, and consumed him, and the fifty men that were with him.
“And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: ‘Man of God, thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!”’ Elias answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from Heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
“Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: ‘Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me! Behold fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them―but now, I beseech thee to spare my life!’ And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: ‘Go down with him, fear not!’ Elias arose, therefore, and went down with him to the king, and said to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word―therefore, from the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!”’ So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead” (4 Kings 1:1-17).
At the end of time, the Book of Apocalypse also speaks of the role of fire: “By three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Apocalypse 9:18). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8). “For He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever!” (Judith 16:21).
Fire at the End of Time
At the end of time, the Book of Apocalypse also speaks of the role of fire: “By three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Apocalypse 9:18). “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8). “For He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever!” (Judith 16:21).
Yet even before the actual “End of the World”, Our Lady says that God will first punish our massive modern-day sinfulness by fire: “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!” (Our Lady of Akita). “The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed! … Water and fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success). Sister Lucia of Fatima says: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end’ ― that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears!”
Our Lord Comes to Heal With Fire!
As Sister Lucia says―victory will only come AFTER a baptism of fire, blood and tears! The current long-standing sinfulness of morally diseased mankind must be purged and cleansed by God’s spiritual surgery. The gangrened members―if they cannot be cured and saved―must be cut-off, amputated, removed. That will mean much blood and tears. The wound then has to be cauterized― a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. Cauterization, first used in the 16th century, was a method of burning body parts, such as a blood vessels or open wounds to stop bleeding and close amputations.
Amputation and cauterization are both gruesome things―and our forthcoming spiritual amputations and cauterizations would not have been necessary if we had only taken Our Lady’s many warnings seriously―to the point of actually DOING something and not being satisfied with merely KNOWING something.
To the Prophet Isaias―the chief prophet of Advent―God complains: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass knoweth his master’s crib―but Israel [the modern world] hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children! They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards! For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? The whole head is sick! From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies” (Isaias 1:3-7). “And the Lord said: ‘Go, and thou shalt say to this people: “Hearing, hear, and understand not; and see the vision, and know it not. Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes―lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!” (Isaias 6:9-10).
Our Lord comes to heal―but that healing can be gruesome. He himself had to go through gruesomeness in order to heal us. The Prophet Isaias paints a picture of our Savior and Surgeon, our Redeemer and Doctor: “Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not. He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into His own way: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth. He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before His shearer, and He shall not open His mouth. He is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of My people have I struck Him. He hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in His mouth. And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity: if He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand. Because His soul hath labored―He shall see and be filled. By His knowledge shall this My just Servant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities. He hath delivered His soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and He hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors” (Isaias 53:3-12).
That is the picture painted by Isaias of our Savior and Surgeon, our Redeemer and Doctor―the One Who comes to us at Christmas and the One for Whom we must prepare throughout Advent―prepare, not in word only, but by our deeds―so that we do not fall under the condemnation of: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). “So Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble. Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The “works” of Faith cannot exclude the Cross and Charity: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Yet that Cross on the ‘shoulder’ must be carried with Charity in the heart―without which it would be useless―as Holy Scripture points out: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Sadly, most people today do not want the Cross and they are also lacking in Charity. Let this Advent season be the time when we pick up the Cross once more and rekindle that fire of love, Charity, which might be dying out―for our Faith, without the Cross and Charity, will lead us nowhere but a dead-end! Our Lord burned with love for us as He died on the Cross for our sins―let us burn with love for Our Lord as we carry our Crosses for our sins!
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY
THE MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY
Friday November 27th
Article 13
A Black Day for the USA!
Article 13
A Black Day for the USA!
The Religion of Money and Goods
Many have argued that the new priesthood today consists of scientists, professors, teachers and merchants, and advertisers, who are organized as a part of a new secular tradition—they are a parody or an aping of the Church, with its pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. They deny (or relegate) the existence of the supernatural and ridicule it. For them, what is primary is the material world. The world is their god and their teacher, and they gratefully bow down and worship the world and all that the world can supply by means of material goods and their offshoot, or side-effect—money. These ‘priests’ of the secular religion of materialism, preach throughout their ‘churches’ of schools, colleges; universities, in the media and in the stores. The scientist, or man of natural knowledge, or entrepreneur has become a mini-god, falling into the same trap of Adam of Eve—who wanted to be like unto God. The devil, who in the words of Our Lord, is the prince of this world that they adore, will only too willingly aid and abet them in their folly. As materialists, they see themselves as material producers and consumers of goods, the lifestyle and economics of consumerist capitalism seems natural. Hedonism (the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good) also seems natural, because as a body that has certain needs and wants, what that idiot of a psychologist Freud rightly called modern man ― “desire-producing-machine,”whereby life becomes primarily about the fulfillment of the desires of the body―the cult of the body.
Saints Peter and Paul Prophesied This
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid” (2 Timothy 1-5).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying:’ Where is His promise or His coming?’ … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-10).
Our Lady Prophesied This
Today materialism has reached fever-pitch, even among so-called Catholics—who are really worshipers of mammon. As Our Lady said in her apparitions: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
An Insane Thirst and Attachment to the World
After the Last Supper, Our Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Nowadays, after eating their Thanksgiving meal, many folk go to their Gardens of Getsomeforfree―the stores and shopping malls. Our Lord sweated blood thinking of His future passion and death for our sins—today’s souls sweat worryingly thinking about the deals and goodies that they might miss-out on. Our Lord said to His three Apostles: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” ― Today we say: “Could you not shop one hour with me?” Our Lord was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver—today many sell themselves to the world and mammon, for a few paltry idols on a shelf. Our Lord was arrested, tied-up and taken captive—today many are tied-up and captivated by things of the world that have arrested their attention. On the Cross Our Lord said: “I thirst!” ― thirsting for souls. The world thirsts too, but it is not for Christ, nor the spiritual, but it is an unquenchable thirst for the things that this world has to offer. Our Lord was nearly stripped of all that He had and was attached to the Cross by nails—yet souls do not want to be divested of their possessions (they want even more of them) and they are so attached to them that we could say that “they are nailed to them.”
Speaking of the devil, Our Lord said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). “And Jesus said to the Jews [today read that as pagan scientists, pagan academics, and the pagan entrepreneurs]: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!’” (John 8:23). Of His followers, He says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world [Black Friday]” (1 John 2:16). To which St. John adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Riches and Wealth Work Against Heaven
We see a clear example of this with the rich young man, who wanted to save his soul, yet also wanted to enjoy his possessions. Our Lord refused this two-facedness. Here is St. Matthew’s account: “And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24).
The Violence of Good Friday and Black Friday
We all know, of course, the extreme violence generated against Our Lord on Good Friday by the sinful passions of the Pharisees, Jews and Roman soldiers. Yet we also see those evil passions surge to the fore on Black Friday. Somehow money, things and greed combine to make a toxic poison for basic Christian charity―or even non-Christian charity and civility. Since 2006, there have been around 50 deaths or murders on Black Friday―and hundreds have been seriously injured.
One such incident was recorded on video ― of a man shopping at Best Buy assaulting another shopper in a dispute over an article that each wanted to buy. Another incident was of unruly Walmart shoppers at a store outside Columbus, Ohio, quickly flooded in the doors at opening, pinning several employees against stacks of merchandise. Nine shoppers in a California mall were injured, including an elderly woman who had to be taken to the hospital, when the crowd rushed to grab gift certificates that had been released from the ceiling. If only people had the same passion for attending Masses, receiving Holy Communion and going to Confession! In Valley Stream, New York, a crowd of approximately 2,000 shoppers waited outside for the 5:00 a.m. opening of the local Walmart. [Wouldn’t it be a pleasant surprise for priests to find similar crowds outside their church on a morning, pining to get in!] As opening time approached, the crowd grew anxious and when the doors were opened the crowd pushed forward, breaking the door down, and trampling a 34-year old employee to death. The shoppers did not appear concerned with the victim’s fate, expressing refusal to halt their stampede when other employees attempted to intervene and help the injured employee, complaining that they had been waiting in the cold and were not willing to wait any longer. Shoppers had begun assembling as early as 9:00 p.m. the night before [what a massive mortification for mammon, but for God, little or no mortification is shown!]. Even when police arrived and attempted to render aid to the injured man, shoppers continued to pour in, shoving and pushing the officers as they made their way into the store. Several other people incurred minor injuries, including a pregnant woman who had to be taken to the hospital. On the same day, two people were fatally shot during an altercation at the Toys “R” Us store in Palm Desert, California. The list is enormous―let us stop here.
Biggest Violence of All
But the biggest violence of committed on this Black Friday is the violence against the Faith. The whole spirit of Black Friday and what it represents, goes against the spirit of Christ and what He represents. Our Lord came to live in poverty, not in riches. He did not pamper His body by living in luxury, but lived a simple and mortified life: “Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). He explicitly told us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God .. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).
Many have argued that the new priesthood today consists of scientists, professors, teachers and merchants, and advertisers, who are organized as a part of a new secular tradition—they are a parody or an aping of the Church, with its pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. They deny (or relegate) the existence of the supernatural and ridicule it. For them, what is primary is the material world. The world is their god and their teacher, and they gratefully bow down and worship the world and all that the world can supply by means of material goods and their offshoot, or side-effect—money. These ‘priests’ of the secular religion of materialism, preach throughout their ‘churches’ of schools, colleges; universities, in the media and in the stores. The scientist, or man of natural knowledge, or entrepreneur has become a mini-god, falling into the same trap of Adam of Eve—who wanted to be like unto God. The devil, who in the words of Our Lord, is the prince of this world that they adore, will only too willingly aid and abet them in their folly. As materialists, they see themselves as material producers and consumers of goods, the lifestyle and economics of consumerist capitalism seems natural. Hedonism (the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good) also seems natural, because as a body that has certain needs and wants, what that idiot of a psychologist Freud rightly called modern man ― “desire-producing-machine,”whereby life becomes primarily about the fulfillment of the desires of the body―the cult of the body.
Saints Peter and Paul Prophesied This
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid” (2 Timothy 1-5).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying:’ Where is His promise or His coming?’ … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-10).
Our Lady Prophesied This
Today materialism has reached fever-pitch, even among so-called Catholics—who are really worshipers of mammon. As Our Lady said in her apparitions: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin ... The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
An Insane Thirst and Attachment to the World
After the Last Supper, Our Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Nowadays, after eating their Thanksgiving meal, many folk go to their Gardens of Getsomeforfree―the stores and shopping malls. Our Lord sweated blood thinking of His future passion and death for our sins—today’s souls sweat worryingly thinking about the deals and goodies that they might miss-out on. Our Lord said to His three Apostles: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” ― Today we say: “Could you not shop one hour with me?” Our Lord was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver—today many sell themselves to the world and mammon, for a few paltry idols on a shelf. Our Lord was arrested, tied-up and taken captive—today many are tied-up and captivated by things of the world that have arrested their attention. On the Cross Our Lord said: “I thirst!” ― thirsting for souls. The world thirsts too, but it is not for Christ, nor the spiritual, but it is an unquenchable thirst for the things that this world has to offer. Our Lord was nearly stripped of all that He had and was attached to the Cross by nails—yet souls do not want to be divested of their possessions (they want even more of them) and they are so attached to them that we could say that “they are nailed to them.”
Speaking of the devil, Our Lord said: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). “And Jesus said to the Jews [today read that as pagan scientists, pagan academics, and the pagan entrepreneurs]: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!’” (John 8:23). Of His followers, He says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world [Black Friday]” (1 John 2:16). To which St. John adds: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This is why we are told: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Riches and Wealth Work Against Heaven
We see a clear example of this with the rich young man, who wanted to save his soul, yet also wanted to enjoy his possessions. Our Lord refused this two-facedness. Here is St. Matthew’s account: “And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24).
The Violence of Good Friday and Black Friday
We all know, of course, the extreme violence generated against Our Lord on Good Friday by the sinful passions of the Pharisees, Jews and Roman soldiers. Yet we also see those evil passions surge to the fore on Black Friday. Somehow money, things and greed combine to make a toxic poison for basic Christian charity―or even non-Christian charity and civility. Since 2006, there have been around 50 deaths or murders on Black Friday―and hundreds have been seriously injured.
One such incident was recorded on video ― of a man shopping at Best Buy assaulting another shopper in a dispute over an article that each wanted to buy. Another incident was of unruly Walmart shoppers at a store outside Columbus, Ohio, quickly flooded in the doors at opening, pinning several employees against stacks of merchandise. Nine shoppers in a California mall were injured, including an elderly woman who had to be taken to the hospital, when the crowd rushed to grab gift certificates that had been released from the ceiling. If only people had the same passion for attending Masses, receiving Holy Communion and going to Confession! In Valley Stream, New York, a crowd of approximately 2,000 shoppers waited outside for the 5:00 a.m. opening of the local Walmart. [Wouldn’t it be a pleasant surprise for priests to find similar crowds outside their church on a morning, pining to get in!] As opening time approached, the crowd grew anxious and when the doors were opened the crowd pushed forward, breaking the door down, and trampling a 34-year old employee to death. The shoppers did not appear concerned with the victim’s fate, expressing refusal to halt their stampede when other employees attempted to intervene and help the injured employee, complaining that they had been waiting in the cold and were not willing to wait any longer. Shoppers had begun assembling as early as 9:00 p.m. the night before [what a massive mortification for mammon, but for God, little or no mortification is shown!]. Even when police arrived and attempted to render aid to the injured man, shoppers continued to pour in, shoving and pushing the officers as they made their way into the store. Several other people incurred minor injuries, including a pregnant woman who had to be taken to the hospital. On the same day, two people were fatally shot during an altercation at the Toys “R” Us store in Palm Desert, California. The list is enormous―let us stop here.
Biggest Violence of All
But the biggest violence of committed on this Black Friday is the violence against the Faith. The whole spirit of Black Friday and what it represents, goes against the spirit of Christ and what He represents. Our Lord came to live in poverty, not in riches. He did not pamper His body by living in luxury, but lived a simple and mortified life: “Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). He explicitly told us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God .. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).
THANKSGIVING DAY
Thursday November 26th
Article 12
Thanks Be To God―First and Foremost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday November 26th
Article 12
Thanks Be To God―First and Foremost!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Putting You to Sleep
If the Thanksgiving dinner hasn’t put you to sleep, then we shall do the best we can with the first part of this article to do what your Thanksgiving dinner failed to do. We will state the obvious; we will cover ground you have covered hundreds of times before; we will tell you what you already know! Or perhaps you don’t know, or don’t know all there is to know. So before we turn to God, let’s turn to history.
Will the First Thanksgiving Please Step Forward!
In the USA, the secular holiday of “Thanksgiving” is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (it used to be on the last Thursday of November). This recalls the fact that in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is today thought to be the first Thanksgiving celebration in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.
The First Thanksgiving was Catholic
However, the real honor of the first Thanksgiving goes to the city of St. Augustine, Florida―which is the first and oldest city of present day United States. The Spanish Captain General Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his fleet of soldiers and colonists ― accompanied by priests ― landed on the coast of Florida on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8th, 1565 and the events that followed qualify it as the first official Thanksgiving Day in present day USA. Why? Because…
► It was the first permanent European settlement in North America. There had been other attempts by the Spanish to establish colonies in Florida and Texas, but all were short-lived.
► In an official ceremony, Don Pedro Menendez came ashore―amid the sounding of trumpets, artillery salutes and the firing of cannons―to claim the land for King Philip II and Spain. One of the priests, Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, who had gone ashore the previous day, advanced to meet him, chanting the Te Deum Laudamus and carrying a Cross, which Menendez and those with him reverently kissed. Then the 500 soldiers, 200 sailors and 100 families and artisans, along with the Timucuan Indians from the nearby village of Seloy, gathered at a makeshift altar, and a Mass in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was said.
► The Mass was followed by a feast shared by the Spanish and the Timucuan Indians. The Timucuans brought wild turkey, venison, oysters and giant clams, as well as maize, beans, squash, nuts and fruits. The Spaniards contribution wascocido, a stew made with pork, garbanzo beans and onions, along with biscuits, olive oil and red wine.
In his well-researched book on the State of Florida, titled Cross in the Sand, Dr. Michael Gannon duly affirmed that this Mass and feast was “the first community act of religion and thanksgiving in the first permanent European settlement in the land.”
The Second Thanksgiving was also Catholic
The second Thanksgiving was in Texas. On January 26th, 1598, a Spanish expedition set out from Mexico with the aim of founding a new kingdom. Three months later, after a long, dangerous trek forging a new trail northward, the now famous El Camino Real [The Royal Road], it crossed the Rio Grande and set up camp south of present day El Paso, Texas. On April 30th, 1598, a Mass of thanksgiving was said, and the valiant leader of the expedition, Don Juan de Oñate, took formal possession of the new land, called New Mexico, in the name of the Heavenly Lord, God Almighty, and the earthly lord King Philip II.
Then, after the Mass, the Franciscan priests blessed the food―on tables abundant with fish, ducks and geese―and the 600-strong expedition of soldiers and colonists feasted. The celebration ended with a play enacting scenes of the native Indians hearing the first words of the Catholic Faith and receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.
The First Shall Be Last…
What is thought to be the first Thanksgiving, is therefore not quite so, but only crosses the finishing-line a good 56 years after the first Thanksgiving in Florida, and 23 years after the Texan Thanksgiving. It came about after a small ship, called the Mayflower, left Plymouth in September of 1620, England, carrying 102 passengers — an assortment of religious separatists, seeking a new home where they could freely practice their Faith, and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World.
After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.
Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see the spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian, who greeted them in English!
Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery, before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants.
In November of 1621―after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful―Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”— the festival lasted for three days. Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened that year’s harvest.
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States. His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.
In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. In 1827, a campaign was launched to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. This campaign lasted 36 years until Abraham Lincoln finally responded to the request in 1863. He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week, in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as “Franksgiving”, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.
Thanks be to God!
Holy Scripture is full of examples of the need and necessity of giving thanks to God, because, as Jesus says, with Him, we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Jesus, Himself, often gave thanks to God. We often see Him give thanks to God before performing a miracle. In the multiplication of loaves and fishes, Jesus, “taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples” (Matthew 15:36). Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus gives thanks to God: “They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said: ‘Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me!’ … When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’” (John 11:41-43). Before the miracle of transubstantiation at the Last Supper, he also gives thanks to God: “And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them.” (Matthew 26:27).
“Give thanks whilst thou art living, whilst thou art alive and in health thou shalt give thanks, and shalt praise God, and shalt glory in His mercies” (Ecclesiasticus 17:27). Who out there needs no mercy? Who out there has not sinned? Who out there has not profited from the mercies of God? Who out there takes the mercies of God for granted without returning to Him to give profuse thanks? “O give thanks to the Lord, because He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever and ever!” (Daniel 3:89).
Thankful Leper Accepted
This reminds us of the encounter Our Lord had with the Ten Lepers: “And it came to pass, as Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus, master, have mercy on us!’ Whom when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory [give thanks] to God, but this stranger!’” (Luke 17:11-18).
The “stranger” was a Samaritan, and the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews. Thus Our Lord performs a miracle for an “enemy” and He receives the thanks of an “enemy.” We have been enemies of God many a time through our sins and He has likewise shown mercy to us; but have we returned like the leper to give profuse thanks?
Thankful Pharisee Rejected
Yet not all thanksgiving is acceptable to God. We see this in the case of the Pharisee and the Publican, a parable wherein Our Lord rejected a form of thanksgiving: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:11-14).
The Publicans were also “enemies” of the Jews. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were considered among the most pious and religious of all the believers in God. On the other hand, the publicans were branded as unfaithful and unjust extortionists. They were seen as the mafia of their day. You can see why, then, that Jesus’ conclusion of this parable literally stunned His audience. In the parable, the thanksgiving of the most pious and religious of all the believers in God was rejected.
Humble Thanks is Required
We see from this that humility must infuse our thanksgiving. The Leper prostrates himself flat on his face, a humble posture—whereas the Pharisee stand up proudly and speaks out proudly. As Holy Scripture says: “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord: though hand should be joined to hand, he is not innocent” (Proverbs 16:5) and Our Lady says in her Magnificat that God “hath regarded the humility of His handmaid” and “hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble” (Luke 1:48-52).
Perpetual Thanks in All Things
In the Preface of the Mass we are told that it is right and fitting to give thanks to God always and everywhere, at all times and in all places. Why? Because without Him, we can do nothing! (John 15:5). Do we? “We Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture, will give thanks to Thee for ever” (Psalm 78:13). Tobias “continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life” (Tobias 2:14). “Therefore will I give thanks to Thee, O Lord!” (2 Kings 22:50).”Now, therefore, our God, we give thanks to Thee” (1 Paralipomenon 29:13).
Let us thank Him before and after our meals: “And when they had adored God, and given Him thanks, they sat down together” (Tobias 11:12). Of course we thank Him for all the good things—but what about the bad things, the misfortunes, the illnesses, the failures? Let us thank Him in all adversity like Job, who continued to thank and bless God in sickness and poverty, not just in health and prosperity, saying: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
► “In all things give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
► “We ought always to give thanks to God” (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
► “In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
► “Giving thanks always for all things in the House of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20).
► “One who does not feel grateful will abandon his rescuer” (Ecclesiasticus 29:17).
If the Thanksgiving dinner hasn’t put you to sleep, then we shall do the best we can with the first part of this article to do what your Thanksgiving dinner failed to do. We will state the obvious; we will cover ground you have covered hundreds of times before; we will tell you what you already know! Or perhaps you don’t know, or don’t know all there is to know. So before we turn to God, let’s turn to history.
Will the First Thanksgiving Please Step Forward!
In the USA, the secular holiday of “Thanksgiving” is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (it used to be on the last Thursday of November). This recalls the fact that in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is today thought to be the first Thanksgiving celebration in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.
The First Thanksgiving was Catholic
However, the real honor of the first Thanksgiving goes to the city of St. Augustine, Florida―which is the first and oldest city of present day United States. The Spanish Captain General Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his fleet of soldiers and colonists ― accompanied by priests ― landed on the coast of Florida on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8th, 1565 and the events that followed qualify it as the first official Thanksgiving Day in present day USA. Why? Because…
► It was the first permanent European settlement in North America. There had been other attempts by the Spanish to establish colonies in Florida and Texas, but all were short-lived.
► In an official ceremony, Don Pedro Menendez came ashore―amid the sounding of trumpets, artillery salutes and the firing of cannons―to claim the land for King Philip II and Spain. One of the priests, Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, who had gone ashore the previous day, advanced to meet him, chanting the Te Deum Laudamus and carrying a Cross, which Menendez and those with him reverently kissed. Then the 500 soldiers, 200 sailors and 100 families and artisans, along with the Timucuan Indians from the nearby village of Seloy, gathered at a makeshift altar, and a Mass in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was said.
► The Mass was followed by a feast shared by the Spanish and the Timucuan Indians. The Timucuans brought wild turkey, venison, oysters and giant clams, as well as maize, beans, squash, nuts and fruits. The Spaniards contribution wascocido, a stew made with pork, garbanzo beans and onions, along with biscuits, olive oil and red wine.
In his well-researched book on the State of Florida, titled Cross in the Sand, Dr. Michael Gannon duly affirmed that this Mass and feast was “the first community act of religion and thanksgiving in the first permanent European settlement in the land.”
The Second Thanksgiving was also Catholic
The second Thanksgiving was in Texas. On January 26th, 1598, a Spanish expedition set out from Mexico with the aim of founding a new kingdom. Three months later, after a long, dangerous trek forging a new trail northward, the now famous El Camino Real [The Royal Road], it crossed the Rio Grande and set up camp south of present day El Paso, Texas. On April 30th, 1598, a Mass of thanksgiving was said, and the valiant leader of the expedition, Don Juan de Oñate, took formal possession of the new land, called New Mexico, in the name of the Heavenly Lord, God Almighty, and the earthly lord King Philip II.
Then, after the Mass, the Franciscan priests blessed the food―on tables abundant with fish, ducks and geese―and the 600-strong expedition of soldiers and colonists feasted. The celebration ended with a play enacting scenes of the native Indians hearing the first words of the Catholic Faith and receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.
The First Shall Be Last…
What is thought to be the first Thanksgiving, is therefore not quite so, but only crosses the finishing-line a good 56 years after the first Thanksgiving in Florida, and 23 years after the Texan Thanksgiving. It came about after a small ship, called the Mayflower, left Plymouth in September of 1620, England, carrying 102 passengers — an assortment of religious separatists, seeking a new home where they could freely practice their Faith, and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World.
After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.
Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see the spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian, who greeted them in English!
Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery, before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants.
In November of 1621―after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful―Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”— the festival lasted for three days. Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened that year’s harvest.
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States. His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.
In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. In 1827, a campaign was launched to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. This campaign lasted 36 years until Abraham Lincoln finally responded to the request in 1863. He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week, in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as “Franksgiving”, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.
Thanks be to God!
Holy Scripture is full of examples of the need and necessity of giving thanks to God, because, as Jesus says, with Him, we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Jesus, Himself, often gave thanks to God. We often see Him give thanks to God before performing a miracle. In the multiplication of loaves and fishes, Jesus, “taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples” (Matthew 15:36). Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus gives thanks to God: “They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said: ‘Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me!’ … When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’” (John 11:41-43). Before the miracle of transubstantiation at the Last Supper, he also gives thanks to God: “And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them.” (Matthew 26:27).
“Give thanks whilst thou art living, whilst thou art alive and in health thou shalt give thanks, and shalt praise God, and shalt glory in His mercies” (Ecclesiasticus 17:27). Who out there needs no mercy? Who out there has not sinned? Who out there has not profited from the mercies of God? Who out there takes the mercies of God for granted without returning to Him to give profuse thanks? “O give thanks to the Lord, because He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever and ever!” (Daniel 3:89).
Thankful Leper Accepted
This reminds us of the encounter Our Lord had with the Ten Lepers: “And it came to pass, as Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; and lifted up their voice, saying: ‘Jesus, master, have mercy on us!’ Whom when He saw, He said: ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests!’ And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God. And he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks―and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, ‘Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory [give thanks] to God, but this stranger!’” (Luke 17:11-18).
The “stranger” was a Samaritan, and the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews. Thus Our Lord performs a miracle for an “enemy” and He receives the thanks of an “enemy.” We have been enemies of God many a time through our sins and He has likewise shown mercy to us; but have we returned like the leper to give profuse thanks?
Thankful Pharisee Rejected
Yet not all thanksgiving is acceptable to God. We see this in the case of the Pharisee and the Publican, a parable wherein Our Lord rejected a form of thanksgiving: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:11-14).
The Publicans were also “enemies” of the Jews. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were considered among the most pious and religious of all the believers in God. On the other hand, the publicans were branded as unfaithful and unjust extortionists. They were seen as the mafia of their day. You can see why, then, that Jesus’ conclusion of this parable literally stunned His audience. In the parable, the thanksgiving of the most pious and religious of all the believers in God was rejected.
Humble Thanks is Required
We see from this that humility must infuse our thanksgiving. The Leper prostrates himself flat on his face, a humble posture—whereas the Pharisee stand up proudly and speaks out proudly. As Holy Scripture says: “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord: though hand should be joined to hand, he is not innocent” (Proverbs 16:5) and Our Lady says in her Magnificat that God “hath regarded the humility of His handmaid” and “hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble” (Luke 1:48-52).
Perpetual Thanks in All Things
In the Preface of the Mass we are told that it is right and fitting to give thanks to God always and everywhere, at all times and in all places. Why? Because without Him, we can do nothing! (John 15:5). Do we? “We Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture, will give thanks to Thee for ever” (Psalm 78:13). Tobias “continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life” (Tobias 2:14). “Therefore will I give thanks to Thee, O Lord!” (2 Kings 22:50).”Now, therefore, our God, we give thanks to Thee” (1 Paralipomenon 29:13).
Let us thank Him before and after our meals: “And when they had adored God, and given Him thanks, they sat down together” (Tobias 11:12). Of course we thank Him for all the good things—but what about the bad things, the misfortunes, the illnesses, the failures? Let us thank Him in all adversity like Job, who continued to thank and bless God in sickness and poverty, not just in health and prosperity, saying: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
► “In all things give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
► “We ought always to give thanks to God” (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
► “In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
► “Giving thanks always for all things in the House of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20).
► “One who does not feel grateful will abandon his rescuer” (Ecclesiasticus 29:17).
Wednesday November 25th
Article 11
Make it a Godly―Not Godless―Thanksgiving Day
Article 11
Make it a Godly―Not Godless―Thanksgiving Day
Will You Be Thankful It’s Here? Or Thankful When It’s Over?
Just as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―you could also say that some are for Thanksgiving Day and some face it reluctantly. Will you be glad when it has finally arrived? Or will you will glad when it’s finally over?
In one sense, Thanksgiving Day can be a wonderful experience if―like anything else in life―it is used properly and in that way it was intended to be used. However, if we abuse it rather than use it―then the Thanksgiving Day side-effects begin to flow in as much abundance as the food and wine flow.
Thanksgiving Day can often become an Argument Day, or a Gossiping Day, or a Needling Day, or an Insulting Day, or a Show-Off Day, or a Competitive Day, or one of the many other flavors popular these days. It often sets the annual tone for the prolonged, almost ceaseless partying spirit that begins with Thanksgiving Day, takes in all the pre-Christmas parties at work and at school, then the actual Christmas Day and beyond parties, up until the New Year’s Eve party. For the worldly “party-animal” it is the high-point of the year―whereas for spiritual folk it the high-stress-point of the year, when they feel obliged to “go-along-to-get-along” and the fear and cringe at the thought of saying “No” to an invite just as much as they fear and cringe at saying “Yes” to an invite.
Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists?
Thanksgiving Terrorists! Have you ever thought of seeing your guests, over the holiday season, as potential terrorists? Tongue-Terrorists! Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! They come armed with a two-edged tongue, sharpened and ready to use! They should be asked to show their tongue at the door, for inspection!! “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28)—and during this holiday season many “slippery mouths” will surface! “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). As St. James so truly says:
“If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets on aflame a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue defiles the whole body, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
Is God Invited?
That brings us to the question: “Is God invited to your Thanksgiving Day party?” You reply: “Huh? Who? God? What has He got to do with Thanksgiving Day? It’s a secular celebration! It’s a secular holiday! It’s not a Church feastday! Religion has nothing to do with it!” Really? Is that so? Is that what you think? Is that what you were taught?
Is there anything from which we can and should exclude God? Does not Holy Scripture say: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? And “We give thanks to God always … without ceasing! … We ought to give thanks to God always! … We also give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all … We are bound to give thanks always to God!” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:12-13; 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3). “Cease not to give thanks! … "Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 1:16; 5:20). “I give thanks to my God always!” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Does not the Preface of the Sacrifice of the Mass say: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God”?
Protestant Presidents, Thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist
“Huh?” you exclaim, “Protestant Presidents, thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist? Are you crazy? What on earth are you talking about?” Well, okay, let’s go one step at a time. First of all “Protestant Presidents”.
Protestant Presidents
Even the Protestant are right about some things! This happens to be the case with the point and purpose of the original Thanksgiving Day. In fact, the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation. Twelve years later, George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America. The first president wrote: “Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks … And, also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
That―most definitely―is no longer the spirit, purpose and practice on Thanksgiving Day today! It has degenerated from being a day dedicated to God, prayer and penance, to a day that is filled with indifferentism, naturalism, materialism, hedonism (pleasure seeking), criticism and antagonism. Why? Because of an intellectual and spiritual degeneration―as they say: “Use it or lose it!” If you don’t review or refresh your knowledge, you will lose your knowledge. If you forget the past in order to only focus on the present―then you will repeat the mistakes of the past or fail to learn the wisdom of the past―which leads us to The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics
The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation): The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can be converted from one form into another. For example, turning on a light would seem to produce energy; however, it is electrical energy that is converted. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.
The energy in any system can be converted to heat or work or other things, but you always have the same total that you started with―for example, if the energy level is 7 units, then you could have heat at 4 units, work at 2 units and something else at 1 unit, or 5+1+1, or 2+2+3, etc. It is like saying you have $10 to spend―you spend $7 on a meal, $2 on a drink and $1 on tipping the waiter. Or, in relation to time―you have 24 hours in a day―which never changes but is always a constant 24 hours, of which you may spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working and 8 hours praying, house cleaning, traveling, visiting, reading, studying, etc. If you decide to sleep more, you have less time for other things, but if you dedicate more time to other things, then you have less time to sleep. You cannot change the 24 hours in a day―but you can change how you use those hours. Your income does not change (very much), but you can decide on what you will spend that income―but if you spend more on one thing, then you must spend less on another.
If we look at this from the perspective of the soul―God has given us our soul and the ‘positive energy’ of sanctifying to run it and guide it. The soul needs that exterior intervention of energy to maintain it. Yet, the soul can also ‘run’ on ‘negative energy’―which is sin. The soul has a certain capacity or volume and―since nature abhors a vacuum―it has to be and will be filled with some form of energy―either ‘positive energy’ (grace) or ‘negative energy’ (sin). That is an inescapable truth and it is our wise or foolish choice that will dictate on what ‘energy’ our soul will ‘run’.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. The word “entropy” means “the tendency to disorder and the degree of disorder” in any given thing. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the best verified law that we have in science, and yet it is also a law that is often misused and misunderstood. It has been confusing physics students for many years, not to mention laymen. In simple terms, you could call it “The Law of Decay”― The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly possible state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay.
Things can become more ordered by themselves, but only if an appropriate mechanism is in place. But in the absence of such a mechanism, intelligence (transmitted, for example, in the form of an external teaching program) is needed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics strikingly attests to the power and intelligence of our Creator, for the fact that the universe is unstoppably winding down, with less and less energy available for work, points to a Creator who ‘wound up’ the universe to begin with. The Second Law of Thermodynamics also explains why things, left to themselves, naturally become more and more disordered with time. And why the energy, available for work in any system or person, just naturally and spontaneously decreases―unless that energy is ‘topped-up’ or reinvigorated by some external source―like plugging a draining battery into an external electrical outlet to prevent continual draining (entropy), or an athlete needs to keep exercising and training in order to maintain a certain level of fitness and prevent it from deteriorating (entropy), or rehydrating a dehydrated body by taking a quantity of external water to prevent further dehydration (entropy). Likewise, our mind and soul needs to ‘drink-in’ the ‘water’ of religious doctrine if wants to prevent spiritual dehydration (entropy). This is also the reason why
Put into the perspective of the spiritual life―we will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help is, of course, God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8). The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure, the less degenerate and more perfect we will become.
Yet we don’t seek the grace and help of God as much as we should. We do not read and learn as much as we should. We do not remember as much as we should. That is why our Faith degenerates, decays, decomposes and dies. Ask most Catholic adults to name you the Ten Commandments in correct order―or in any order for that matter―and most of them will fail to do so! The Ten Commandments is something that a six- or seven-year-old learns! Yet, they, as adults have allowed that knowledge to decay, decompose and perhaps even die! There you have living proof of the The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
The Holy Eucharist
This brings us to the Most Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist—the word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”—should be at the heart of any Thanksgiving Day. The Greek word “eucharistia” (εὐχαριστία) means “thankfulness, gratitude; giving of thanks, thanksgiving” and comes from another similar Greek word “eucharistos” (εὐχάριστος) meaning “thankful, grateful”. This, of course, makes us think of the Holy Eucharist. The Greek word “eucharistia” later entered the Latin language, also keeping the form “eucharistia”. The same word, or at least the same root, is found in Hebrew (אויכריסטיה oikharístia), French (eucharistie), Spanish (eucaristía), English (eucharist), Irish (eocairist), German (eucharistie) and Dutch (eucharistie) languages.
The Last Supper was the Thanksgiving (Eucharistia) par excellence. The Last Supper was the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the greatest imaginable Gift—Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself! Man can never and should never cease to give thanks for this Gift of gifts, this Sharing of all possible sharings! The Last Supper, though primarily a sacrifice, was also meal that Christ commanded to be done again and again in commemoration of Him, of which the Thanksgiving Meal is but a pale secular, non-sacramental, non-grace giving, imitation. In fact, since the Last Supper, you could say that the Sacrifice and its secondary element, the Supper, has never ceased—but is one long perpetual Sacrifice and Meal. At the Last Supper, Our Lord “whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body!’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!’” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Also at the Last Supper, Our Lord gave a ‘new’ commandment, of which the idea of the American notion of “Thanksgiving Day” is a small piece of the gigantic spiritual jigsaw puzzle. Our Lord said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another!” (John 13:34-35). It is sad to see how many celebrations of Thanksgiving are spoiled and ruined by a lack of charity—by bringing in grudges, hatred, anger, envy, gossip, calumny, detraction, barbed or sarcastic comments, immodest talk, impure thoughts, insults, coldness, indifference, etc. This indicates that though these persons might be Christians in name, they are far from being Christians in nature. Imagine Our Lord or Our Lady at a Thanksgiving Day gathering and imagine what their behavior in thoughts, words and actions would be like. A follower of Christ should seek to be like Christ, not the opposite.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Greatest Thanksgiving
Yet the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Eucharistia) is only secondarily a Meal, it is above all a sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, whereby He gives again, but this time He gives up all that He has—life itself! “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—and Our Lord performed this greatest of loving actions, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies, whom He hoped to convert. What Our Lord began at the Last Supper—the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass—He filled-up and completed over the next 18 hours or so, with His Passion and Death upon the cross on Calvary—the consummation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as Christ calls Himself the “Alpha” and “Omega” (the beginning and the end) so too was the Last Supper and Calvary the beginning and the end of the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Hence it is fitting that on Thanksgiving Day, wherever possible, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be attended in a spirit of profound, humble and heartfelt thanksgiving for all that God has given us—and He has given all that we have! We should thank Christ for his soul-saving sacrifice and His grace-winning and grace-giving Sacrifice of the Mass, for at the Last Supper He also reminded us that we are in total dependence upon Him, “independence” is a misnomer: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Thanksgiving After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a Must
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated.
The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence it is not liturgical, they say.
How many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Holy Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ . . . (1) for the consolation of conversing with Him, (2) also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and (3) to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
Sadly, however, we have many a woeful instance of ‘thanksgiving’ after the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. Take a typical Sunday Mass. Within seconds of the priest leaving the altar, people are pouring out of the doors as though the church was on fire! It shows what their minds are thinking, or betrays the values system in their minds—they have just received their Lord and God, and off they go out the door! It would be one thing if they were spiritually on fire and were rushing out to preach the Faith to all and sundry—but that is not the case! They are off to gossip with Sally and Sam, Judy and Jack; they’re off to the coffee and donuts; they have a TV show or sports game to catch, or whatever each person’s passion may be. Today, they have all the Thanksgiving Day things to prepare, see and attend to.
Back to Thermodynamics
Why? Why do they have this attitude? Why this indifference to the Holiest of holies? Because of a spiritual degeneration―which leads us back, once again, to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay―which is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay. Your house or car will depreciate and degenerate more quickly if you rarely take care of it. A car, that has run out of gas, will not run again until you walk 10 miles to and from a gas station and refuel the car. Your body will follow the same path, if you do not take care of it with regular exercise, a good diet and sufficient sleep. Your mind will follow the same path if you do not keep it active by regular and challenging mental work. The less you read, the less you learn, the less you know, which lets your ignorance grow as your intellect hits a low. The same applies to your Faith―if you do not exercise it, nourish it, maintain it, protect it on a regular basis, then it will degenerate, decay and eventually die―all of which corresponds to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
Holy Scripture puts it thus: “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away!” (1 Peter 1:24). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). We will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help, ultimately, can only come from God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8).
The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure―through the Sacraments, prayers, reading spiritual books, listening to sermons and spiritual talks, seeking spiritual guidance―the less degenerate and more perfect we will become. Without that outside or external help, we will spiritually deteriorate, degenerate, decay and die. That is what is actually happening to the Faith in the Catholic world right now―spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death. It is The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay in action, which will reach such a point as to prove the truth of Our Lord’s rhetorical question: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Following The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, each generation is becoming worse and worse―for they do not use the external mechanisms that God has put into place to prevent this spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death―namely, the Church and all the external remedies (‘energy boosters’ or sources of grace) that it offers: Sacraments, Sacramentals, Catechism, Sermons, Conferences, Books, etc.
That is why, following the principles of The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, we have arrived at this present state of quasi-secularism, a strange, almost superstitious state, where we mix God and mammon, Catholicity and worldliness, order and disorder, grace and sin, Sacraments and Smartphones, Holy Communion and Unholy Computers, Tabernacles and TVs, all the time deteriorating in our knowledge about God and increasing in our knowledge of the world; decreasing in our love of God and increasing in our love of the world; degenerating the right order of things and regenerating a disordered value of things; relinquishing the supernatural for the natural, the graceful for the ungraceful, switching from a gratitude to God to an ingratitude to God, from a dependence on God to an independence from God. Welcome to our world! Welcome to our universe! As the The Second Law of Thermodynamics says: “The entropy (tendency to disorder) of the universe only increases and never decreases.”
Thanksgiving Day Thermodynamics
If you read, once again, the initial reason and purpose for Thanksgiving Day― where the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation―and the Protestant George Washington’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, twelve years later in 1789, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America.
On October 3rd, 1789, the first Protestant president, George Washington, wrote: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor ― and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war; … and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
Most, if not all of that is today, forgotten and ignored―even though it comes from a Protestant and Protestant and even Masonic government―truth is nevertheless the truth. Just as no person is totally evil―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―so no man is totally wrong. Even apostates, heretics, pagans, etc. speak the truth in some things. Or, as they say, “A broken clock tells the correct time twice a day!” Maybe we should try change a largely godless day into a godly day―a secular day into a more spiritual day! Download the Thanksgiving Day Prayers and Rituals [click here and scroll down to almost the bottom of the page] and you will have a head-start on everybody else!
Just as Our Lord says: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―you could also say that some are for Thanksgiving Day and some face it reluctantly. Will you be glad when it has finally arrived? Or will you will glad when it’s finally over?
In one sense, Thanksgiving Day can be a wonderful experience if―like anything else in life―it is used properly and in that way it was intended to be used. However, if we abuse it rather than use it―then the Thanksgiving Day side-effects begin to flow in as much abundance as the food and wine flow.
Thanksgiving Day can often become an Argument Day, or a Gossiping Day, or a Needling Day, or an Insulting Day, or a Show-Off Day, or a Competitive Day, or one of the many other flavors popular these days. It often sets the annual tone for the prolonged, almost ceaseless partying spirit that begins with Thanksgiving Day, takes in all the pre-Christmas parties at work and at school, then the actual Christmas Day and beyond parties, up until the New Year’s Eve party. For the worldly “party-animal” it is the high-point of the year―whereas for spiritual folk it the high-stress-point of the year, when they feel obliged to “go-along-to-get-along” and the fear and cringe at the thought of saying “No” to an invite just as much as they fear and cringe at saying “Yes” to an invite.
Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists?
Thanksgiving Terrorists! Have you ever thought of seeing your guests, over the holiday season, as potential terrorists? Tongue-Terrorists! Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! Thanksgiving Tongue-Talking-Terrorists! They come armed with a two-edged tongue, sharpened and ready to use! They should be asked to show their tongue at the door, for inspection!! “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28)—and during this holiday season many “slippery mouths” will surface! “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). As St. James so truly says:
“If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets on aflame a great forest. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue defiles the whole body, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
Is God Invited?
That brings us to the question: “Is God invited to your Thanksgiving Day party?” You reply: “Huh? Who? God? What has He got to do with Thanksgiving Day? It’s a secular celebration! It’s a secular holiday! It’s not a Church feastday! Religion has nothing to do with it!” Really? Is that so? Is that what you think? Is that what you were taught?
Is there anything from which we can and should exclude God? Does not Holy Scripture say: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? And “We give thanks to God always … without ceasing! … We ought to give thanks to God always! … We also give thanks to God without ceasing! … In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all … We are bound to give thanks always to God!” (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:12-13; 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3). “Cease not to give thanks! … "Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father” (Ephesians 1:16; 5:20). “I give thanks to my God always!” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Does not the Preface of the Sacrifice of the Mass say: “It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God”?
Protestant Presidents, Thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist
“Huh?” you exclaim, “Protestant Presidents, thermodynamics and the Holy Eucharist? Are you crazy? What on earth are you talking about?” Well, okay, let’s go one step at a time. First of all “Protestant Presidents”.
Protestant Presidents
Even the Protestant are right about some things! This happens to be the case with the point and purpose of the original Thanksgiving Day. In fact, the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation. Twelve years later, George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America. The first president wrote: “Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks … And, also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
That―most definitely―is no longer the spirit, purpose and practice on Thanksgiving Day today! It has degenerated from being a day dedicated to God, prayer and penance, to a day that is filled with indifferentism, naturalism, materialism, hedonism (pleasure seeking), criticism and antagonism. Why? Because of an intellectual and spiritual degeneration―as they say: “Use it or lose it!” If you don’t review or refresh your knowledge, you will lose your knowledge. If you forget the past in order to only focus on the present―then you will repeat the mistakes of the past or fail to learn the wisdom of the past―which leads us to The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics
The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation): The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can be converted from one form into another. For example, turning on a light would seem to produce energy; however, it is electrical energy that is converted. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.
The energy in any system can be converted to heat or work or other things, but you always have the same total that you started with―for example, if the energy level is 7 units, then you could have heat at 4 units, work at 2 units and something else at 1 unit, or 5+1+1, or 2+2+3, etc. It is like saying you have $10 to spend―you spend $7 on a meal, $2 on a drink and $1 on tipping the waiter. Or, in relation to time―you have 24 hours in a day―which never changes but is always a constant 24 hours, of which you may spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working and 8 hours praying, house cleaning, traveling, visiting, reading, studying, etc. If you decide to sleep more, you have less time for other things, but if you dedicate more time to other things, then you have less time to sleep. You cannot change the 24 hours in a day―but you can change how you use those hours. Your income does not change (very much), but you can decide on what you will spend that income―but if you spend more on one thing, then you must spend less on another.
If we look at this from the perspective of the soul―God has given us our soul and the ‘positive energy’ of sanctifying to run it and guide it. The soul needs that exterior intervention of energy to maintain it. Yet, the soul can also ‘run’ on ‘negative energy’―which is sin. The soul has a certain capacity or volume and―since nature abhors a vacuum―it has to be and will be filled with some form of energy―either ‘positive energy’ (grace) or ‘negative energy’ (sin). That is an inescapable truth and it is our wise or foolish choice that will dictate on what ‘energy’ our soul will ‘run’.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. The word “entropy” means “the tendency to disorder and the degree of disorder” in any given thing. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the best verified law that we have in science, and yet it is also a law that is often misused and misunderstood. It has been confusing physics students for many years, not to mention laymen. In simple terms, you could call it “The Law of Decay”― The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly possible state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay.
Things can become more ordered by themselves, but only if an appropriate mechanism is in place. But in the absence of such a mechanism, intelligence (transmitted, for example, in the form of an external teaching program) is needed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics strikingly attests to the power and intelligence of our Creator, for the fact that the universe is unstoppably winding down, with less and less energy available for work, points to a Creator who ‘wound up’ the universe to begin with. The Second Law of Thermodynamics also explains why things, left to themselves, naturally become more and more disordered with time. And why the energy, available for work in any system or person, just naturally and spontaneously decreases―unless that energy is ‘topped-up’ or reinvigorated by some external source―like plugging a draining battery into an external electrical outlet to prevent continual draining (entropy), or an athlete needs to keep exercising and training in order to maintain a certain level of fitness and prevent it from deteriorating (entropy), or rehydrating a dehydrated body by taking a quantity of external water to prevent further dehydration (entropy). Likewise, our mind and soul needs to ‘drink-in’ the ‘water’ of religious doctrine if wants to prevent spiritual dehydration (entropy). This is also the reason why
Put into the perspective of the spiritual life―we will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help is, of course, God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8). The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure, the less degenerate and more perfect we will become.
Yet we don’t seek the grace and help of God as much as we should. We do not read and learn as much as we should. We do not remember as much as we should. That is why our Faith degenerates, decays, decomposes and dies. Ask most Catholic adults to name you the Ten Commandments in correct order―or in any order for that matter―and most of them will fail to do so! The Ten Commandments is something that a six- or seven-year-old learns! Yet, they, as adults have allowed that knowledge to decay, decompose and perhaps even die! There you have living proof of the The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
The Holy Eucharist
This brings us to the Most Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist—the word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”—should be at the heart of any Thanksgiving Day. The Greek word “eucharistia” (εὐχαριστία) means “thankfulness, gratitude; giving of thanks, thanksgiving” and comes from another similar Greek word “eucharistos” (εὐχάριστος) meaning “thankful, grateful”. This, of course, makes us think of the Holy Eucharist. The Greek word “eucharistia” later entered the Latin language, also keeping the form “eucharistia”. The same word, or at least the same root, is found in Hebrew (אויכריסטיה oikharístia), French (eucharistie), Spanish (eucaristía), English (eucharist), Irish (eocairist), German (eucharistie) and Dutch (eucharistie) languages.
The Last Supper was the Thanksgiving (Eucharistia) par excellence. The Last Supper was the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the greatest imaginable Gift—Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself! Man can never and should never cease to give thanks for this Gift of gifts, this Sharing of all possible sharings! The Last Supper, though primarily a sacrifice, was also meal that Christ commanded to be done again and again in commemoration of Him, of which the Thanksgiving Meal is but a pale secular, non-sacramental, non-grace giving, imitation. In fact, since the Last Supper, you could say that the Sacrifice and its secondary element, the Supper, has never ceased—but is one long perpetual Sacrifice and Meal. At the Last Supper, Our Lord “whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat! This is My Body!’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!’” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Also at the Last Supper, Our Lord gave a ‘new’ commandment, of which the idea of the American notion of “Thanksgiving Day” is a small piece of the gigantic spiritual jigsaw puzzle. Our Lord said: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another!” (John 13:34-35). It is sad to see how many celebrations of Thanksgiving are spoiled and ruined by a lack of charity—by bringing in grudges, hatred, anger, envy, gossip, calumny, detraction, barbed or sarcastic comments, immodest talk, impure thoughts, insults, coldness, indifference, etc. This indicates that though these persons might be Christians in name, they are far from being Christians in nature. Imagine Our Lord or Our Lady at a Thanksgiving Day gathering and imagine what their behavior in thoughts, words and actions would be like. A follower of Christ should seek to be like Christ, not the opposite.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Greatest Thanksgiving
Yet the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Eucharistia) is only secondarily a Meal, it is above all a sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, whereby He gives again, but this time He gives up all that He has—life itself! “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—and Our Lord performed this greatest of loving actions, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies, whom He hoped to convert. What Our Lord began at the Last Supper—the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass—He filled-up and completed over the next 18 hours or so, with His Passion and Death upon the cross on Calvary—the consummation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as Christ calls Himself the “Alpha” and “Omega” (the beginning and the end) so too was the Last Supper and Calvary the beginning and the end of the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Hence it is fitting that on Thanksgiving Day, wherever possible, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be attended in a spirit of profound, humble and heartfelt thanksgiving for all that God has given us—and He has given all that we have! We should thank Christ for his soul-saving sacrifice and His grace-winning and grace-giving Sacrifice of the Mass, for at the Last Supper He also reminded us that we are in total dependence upon Him, “independence” is a misnomer: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Thanksgiving After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a Must
In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. There is one occasion especially when these acts of love are most efficacious: during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated.
The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’”
But more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and not to the good of the community.” Hence it is not liturgical, they say.
How many people, except priests and religious, ever spend any time in prayer after Holy Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” Addressing himself to the bishops, and through them to us, the Pope asks, “why should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the congregation has been officially dismissed.”
There are three reasons for this: “ . . . (1) for the consolation of conversing with Him, (2) also to render Him due thanks and praise, but especially to ask help to defend their souls against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and (3) to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of Christ Who is so intimately present.”
Sadly, however, we have many a woeful instance of ‘thanksgiving’ after the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. Take a typical Sunday Mass. Within seconds of the priest leaving the altar, people are pouring out of the doors as though the church was on fire! It shows what their minds are thinking, or betrays the values system in their minds—they have just received their Lord and God, and off they go out the door! It would be one thing if they were spiritually on fire and were rushing out to preach the Faith to all and sundry—but that is not the case! They are off to gossip with Sally and Sam, Judy and Jack; they’re off to the coffee and donuts; they have a TV show or sports game to catch, or whatever each person’s passion may be. Today, they have all the Thanksgiving Day things to prepare, see and attend to.
Back to Thermodynamics
Why? Why do they have this attitude? Why this indifference to the Holiest of holies? Because of a spiritual degeneration―which leads us back, once again, to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay―which is the tendency for everything in nature to gradually wind-down to its most disorderly state―unless there is some outside intervention that slows-down, stops or reverses the tendency to wind-down or decay. Your house or car will depreciate and degenerate more quickly if you rarely take care of it. A car, that has run out of gas, will not run again until you walk 10 miles to and from a gas station and refuel the car. Your body will follow the same path, if you do not take care of it with regular exercise, a good diet and sufficient sleep. Your mind will follow the same path if you do not keep it active by regular and challenging mental work. The less you read, the less you learn, the less you know, which lets your ignorance grow as your intellect hits a low. The same applies to your Faith―if you do not exercise it, nourish it, maintain it, protect it on a regular basis, then it will degenerate, decay and eventually die―all of which corresponds to The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or The Law of Increased Entropy, or, in even more simple terms, The Law of Decay.
Holy Scripture puts it thus: “For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away!” (1 Peter 1:24). “In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither” (Psalm 89:6). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). We will progressively get worse and worse as time goes on, unless there is some outside intervention that will come and slow-down, or stop, or even reverse the degeneration. This outside help, ultimately, can only come from God and His grace―as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Grace perfects nature” (Summa Theologica, 1a, q. 1, art. 8).
The more ‘outside intervention’ we can secure―through the Sacraments, prayers, reading spiritual books, listening to sermons and spiritual talks, seeking spiritual guidance―the less degenerate and more perfect we will become. Without that outside or external help, we will spiritually deteriorate, degenerate, decay and die. That is what is actually happening to the Faith in the Catholic world right now―spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death. It is The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay in action, which will reach such a point as to prove the truth of Our Lord’s rhetorical question: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Following The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, each generation is becoming worse and worse―for they do not use the external mechanisms that God has put into place to prevent this spiritual deterioration, degeneration, decay and death―namely, the Church and all the external remedies (‘energy boosters’ or sources of grace) that it offers: Sacraments, Sacramentals, Catechism, Sermons, Conferences, Books, etc.
That is why, following the principles of The Law of Entropy or The Law of Decay, we have arrived at this present state of quasi-secularism, a strange, almost superstitious state, where we mix God and mammon, Catholicity and worldliness, order and disorder, grace and sin, Sacraments and Smartphones, Holy Communion and Unholy Computers, Tabernacles and TVs, all the time deteriorating in our knowledge about God and increasing in our knowledge of the world; decreasing in our love of God and increasing in our love of the world; degenerating the right order of things and regenerating a disordered value of things; relinquishing the supernatural for the natural, the graceful for the ungraceful, switching from a gratitude to God to an ingratitude to God, from a dependence on God to an independence from God. Welcome to our world! Welcome to our universe! As the The Second Law of Thermodynamics says: “The entropy (tendency to disorder) of the universe only increases and never decreases.”
Thanksgiving Day Thermodynamics
If you read, once again, the initial reason and purpose for Thanksgiving Day― where the first official call for a day of thanksgiving in the U.S., issued by the Continental Congress in 1777, enjoined Americans to offer both thanks and prayers of repentance to God. “That together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” says the proclamation―and the Protestant George Washington’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation, twelve years later in 1789, also calling for a day of unified prayer for America.
On October 3rd, 1789, the first Protestant president, George Washington, wrote: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor ― and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ― That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war; … and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
Most, if not all of that is today, forgotten and ignored―even though it comes from a Protestant and Protestant and even Masonic government―truth is nevertheless the truth. Just as no person is totally evil―as St. Thomas Aquinas says―so no man is totally wrong. Even apostates, heretics, pagans, etc. speak the truth in some things. Or, as they say, “A broken clock tells the correct time twice a day!” Maybe we should try change a largely godless day into a godly day―a secular day into a more spiritual day! Download the Thanksgiving Day Prayers and Rituals [click here and scroll down to almost the bottom of the page] and you will have a head-start on everybody else!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday November 23rd & Tuesday November 24th
Article 10
Getting Ready for Your Advent Lockdown?
Monday November 23rd & Tuesday November 24th
Article 10
Getting Ready for Your Advent Lockdown?
God Likes Bringing Good Out of Evil
Evil men might have their plans all worked-out, but God is always one step ahead of them―arranging things so that He can confound those evil plans and actions by turning them around and bringing His own good out of the evil that they planned. Holy Scripture gives us many examples of that―beginning with the Original Sin of Adam and Eve (an evil planned by Satan), which the Church, in her Paschal Vigil liturgy, calls “felix culpa” (“happy fault”)―because that Original Sin brought about the “Advent” or “Coming” of Christ the Redeemer. The full quote reads: “O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” Thus, God brings good out of evil. Similarly, we could say “felix Covid” or “happy Covid” ― for we can bring much good out of the evil imposed upon us by the machinations of men, medics and media. How? That will be explained shortly, but for now, let us look at some more instances where God brings good out of evil.
In a certain sense, we are in a similar position to the Old Testament patriarch, Joseph (of “coat of many colors” fame), whose brothers wanted to kill him, but one brother persuaded them not to kill him, but to sell him off as slave to passing merchants traveling to Egypt. Through the workings of God’s providence, by saving Egypt from suffering during seven years of famine, Joseph eventually became the Egyptian Pharaoh’s right-hand man (or “Number Two”) and ended up saving his brothers and his father, Jacob, from famine. When Joseph revealed his identity to them, he said: “Can we resist the will of God? You thought evil against me―but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people!” (Genesis 50:19-20). God’s providence brought good out of evil once again. Similarly, we could say to those evil men who created Covid-19 in the laboratory and their aiders and abbetors who helped the spread ― both of the virus and the lying propaganda: “Can we resist the will of God? You have planned evil against me―but God will turn it into good!” The evil doers are warned: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In the New Testament, we see God allow the evil of Saul (who would become St. Paul) persecuting Christians and no doubt being the cause of the death of some of them―one such instance was the stoning to death of St. Stephen―yet God would bring a great good out that evil for the whole Church, by conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul―now Paul―would become a saint and a pillar of the Church alongside St. Peter. God, again, brought good out of evil.
In the same vein, St. Paul tells us to bring good out of evil: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:21) for “we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). This is because absolutely nothing happens in this world without the knowledge and will of God. God wants good to happen, but God allows evils to happen with the intention of bringing, turning or changing that evil into good.
Eye for an Eye!
With all this current Covid chicanery with its nefarious manipulation of both disease and propaganda by evil men and blatant liars―the truth still remains (as it did with Saul) that Christ came to seek and save those who were lost and on the way to Hell, He came to call sinners to repentance and penance: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Tough, huh? Yes, but as God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). Unfortunately, our thoughts and ways are more aligned to “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25).
God, on the other hand, says: “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide―the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). As for us vengeful humans, Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45) and also be brothers and sisters of Our Lord, Who “is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
We Want Sinners and Enemies Punished and Destroyed!
We, being human and somewhat ‘blind’ or far too “nearsighted” for our own good―whereby we only see the immediate things in front of our nose, but lack the farsightedness of Christ―which is aggravated by our living in a “fast-track” world―we want “instant justice”, we want to see “microwaved revenge” on all wrongdoers! Is that wrong? Well, that kind of attitude was also the attitude of two of the Apostles―the brothers St. James and St. John―so, it seems you are in good company! When Our Lord received the “cold shoulder” in being ignored or rejected by a particular Samaritan city, James and John asked Our Lord if, as an act of justice and vengeance, they could pray that Heaven let fire fall upon the city and destroy it! Our Lord rebuked them, saying that this kind of spirit is a bad spirit: “Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Jews and Samaritans were enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
A lesson for our day, don’t you think? We are living in days of increasing polarization and mutual hatred―whether it on the political level, the religious level, the race level, the financial and economic level, or simply the cultural or social level. When you watch the news clips of the recent rioting and the violence on the streets of America, you can see when someone is being attacked or beaten―the crowd is more interested in capturing the event on their smartphone video, rather than breaking-up the fight, or going to the aid of the person being beaten! As Our Lord of the end times: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Hence, instead of imitating Our Lord’s prayer for His enemies while dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34) ― most people today would say something like: “My God, destroy them―for they know damn well what they are doing!” Sodom and Gomorrha pale away into near insignificance compared to the sins of our day―as regards kinds of sin and the quantity committed! We want fire and brimstone!
O yes―the fire will come―Our Lady warned us about the purging, punishing fires from Heaven: “the Divine Justice, fire will rain from Heaven … It will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them.” (O.L. of Good Success) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc. … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities … Fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (O.L. of La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity!” (O.L. of Akita). God will send us His “vaccine” from Heaven to cure the pandemic of sin! His “vaccine” is 100% effective! “The wicked shall see and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away, the desire of the wicked shall perish!” (Psalm 111:10).
So yes―there will be fire-works galore! Yet that fire is a last resort―like an amputation is a last resort. Before using the last resort and cutting-off a limb, the doctor will first of all try to cure the limb with medicine. That is what we are supposed to be doing by praying for CONVERSION of sinners and not their DESTRUCTION. God will take care of their destruction if they fail to convert―but right now God expects us to pray for those enemies of God that we would prefer to hate and would love to see destroyed! We lack the meekness of Christ ― “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29).
In the Meantime―Lockdowns and Restrictions!
As they say, “Man proposes, God disposes!” ― meaning that people can make plans, but whether or not they are successful, that depends upon God. That applies to good people as well as evil people. We would not be suffering this make-believe Covid Crisis ― and all of its “domino effect” crises ― if God did not allow it. Make-believe? Yes, it is a real disease―but a lot about it and its current effects is a load of hype, exaggeration or just a downright in-your-face lie. Nevertheless, it is here and we are suffering its consequences. Will we suffer it like the damned, or like the saved? St. Augustine tells us that the very same crosses lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. How come? Why? The answer is simple. Those who carry their Providence allowed or sent crosses with a humble, mortified, penitential, and accepting spirit―will end up carrying them to Heaven. Those who resent their crosses, bitterly complain about having a cross, seeking to cast-off the cross ― these will find themselves in Hell. For the way to Heaven can only be the Way of the Cross ― like it or not: “He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Covid-19 ― with all of its offshoots: mask wearing, social-distancing, self-quarantining, lockdowns, job losses, business closures, economic crashes, poverty, threats of mandatory vaccines and ID-chips with serious punishments for refusal, etc. ― is simply a just punishment for the ever-increasing sinfulness of the world. People complain about all these measures ― but Heaven complains about our sins. Sin is the greatest evil in the world ― “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). We are quick to complain about the injustices shown to us in this present Covid-Scandal ― but what about the injustices being shown to God by our sins and the sins of the world? Don’t they count in the equation?
Our Lady tells us that sins do count in the equation―far more than we would like to think.
● She “fired a shot across the bows of our sinful ship” at Fatima in 1917, warning: when “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended”.
● In Italy, in 1956, Our Lady in one of her apparition to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―“did the math” for us and warned: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
● At Akita, 17 years later, Our Lady once again “did the math” for us, saying: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
You do your own math―and you will find, as in math you should always find, that the answer is always the same for the same equation.
Making the Most of the Crisis
The current fabricated crisis, or crises, will not go away any time soon―because ever-increasing sin is not going to go away any time soon. We can either profit from the crisis or lose through it. Since the start of the Coronavirus Plannedemic, American billionaires have certainly profited and have been cleaning up. As more than 50 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance, billionaires became $637 billion richer. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has ballooned by 59%. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ wealth has increased by 39%. Walmart’s Walton family has added $25 billion. Big drug company CEOs and their major investors are doing nicely, too. Since the start of the pandemic, Big Pharma has raised prices on 245 prescription drugs, 61 of which are being used to treat COVID-19.
However, all of that is mere monetary profit―to what profit is that? Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Our Lord further warns: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
What are you “storing up for yourself” in these “last days”? Last days? Yes, according to Our Lady! Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. The second reason is because she told me that God is giving two last remedies to the world―the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―and by being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason is because, in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He always first exhausts all other remedies.”
Storing Things for the Faith
Never mind the Covid-19 “remedies” being offered by the mainstream propagandists―the ineffective Remdesivir while waiting for the saving and redeeming “Miracle Vaccines’” greatly heralded advent―what are you storing-up for yourself? What are you “injecting” into your soul? What spiritual medicines are you taking to avoid the inevitable plague of the Apostasy Virus that will soon be coming? “Huh? Apostasy Virus?” you might ask. Yes―Apostasy Virus. Prophecy for these “End-Times” … “Last Days” … “Last Times” ― that Our Lady has said we have entered ― speaks of two apostasies before the end of the world ― the Minor Apostasy and the Great Apostasy. The Minor Apostasy will happen before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart ― Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith” in a time that comes “from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … “[From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan” (the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).
Our Lady of La Salette would later add the following, regarding apostasy from the Faith: “The the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … [many] will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God.”
The recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.”
I Will Never Abandon or Lose the Faith!
You might be tempted to think: “Aw! Losing the Faith? That’s never going to happen to me! I will never lose the Faith!” Really? Are you that sure? St. Peter was pretty sure that he would never betray Christ! “Then Jesus said to the disciples: ‘All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!”’ … And Peter answering, said to Him: ‘Although all shall be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandalized!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, that in this night, before the cock crow, thou wilt deny Me thrice!’ Peter said to Him: Yea, though I should die with Thee―I will not deny Thee!’ And in like manner said all the disciples” (Matthew 26:31-35).
As they say: “There but for the grace of God go I.” When the heat climbs, when the screws are turned, when the feet are burned, when the threats are made, when the sanctions are taken―many will lose the Faith rather than lose their comforts. When they say to you: “Take this vaccine! Take this electronic ID chip! If you don’t, then you can’t travel (at first), you can’t enter stores (a little later), you can’t go to work (a little later), you can’t go to church, etc.” Then once you have taken the vaccine―another one comes, then another, then another―and do you know what is in them? Have you researched the subject thoroughly (not just “two-bit” snippets on the internet), are you aware of what they can achieve with vaccines these day? No, of course not! And once you have accepted to have the electronic ID chip tattooed onto your skin or injected into your body―then besides being the chip by which you buy and sell―your capacity to buy and sell can be stopped at a moment’s notice by electronically “switching-you-off” if you exhibit behavior that is unacceptable to the New World Order or One World Government or whatever they will be called.
So going to church might be one day deemed unacceptable, Christianity might be declared a “hate organization” that hates abortionists, homosexuals, same-sex marriages, transgenderism, refuses to accept other religions, refuses to accept Satanism as a religion, etc. It will not be hard to stage “false-flag” events where some Christians carry-out shootings of abortionists, homosexuals, etc. The media would then stoke the fires of indignation and hatred towards Christianity. Therefore, for the common good and safety of the people, Christianity will be declared as a terrorist organization and must be outlawed―and its persistent stubborn adherents must be punished. Far-fetched? Not in the slightest. You can already see the seeds of that future tree already planted here and there. When you are taken away from your family and children as being an “ideological terrorist” guilty of “hate-crimes” and “thought-crimes” whose “hate-virus” risks contaminating your family and children―as well other members of the happily godless society―how strong will your Faith be then? Will you have fed it and exercised during the months that lead up to that scenario, so that it will remain indomitable in face of that persecution. Most will not. Already―without any persecution whatsoever―80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly, each week! The seeds of the Minor Apostasy are already sown!
The former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: “Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition [and Satan] makes progress. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Satanic Solution?
What is the solution to this “Satanic Virus” that has enveloped the world? Holy Scripture says: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour―whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). As Fr. Amorth said―a weak Faith makes Satan stronger―and you can be absolutely sure that the Faith of most Catholics is weak―even the Faith of Conservative or Traditional Catholics―few there are whose Faith is at the level where it should be. We are starting to show the traits that Our Lord speaks of when He says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
All the Covid restrictions that have been placed on mankind right now, have produced a perfect climate for drawing closer to God (or returning to God) and strengthening our Faith. Since socializing with humans has been restricted―we can and should now socialize with God. We have been forced to wear masks when in the company of others―but with God it is time to take-off our masks―not that God can recognize us, but that we might recognize our true selves as we look into the mirror of God―our worldly selves, our lukewarm selves, our sinful selves. As Advent approaches―and Christ approaches with it―it is a perfect time to retreat into our homes and into ourselves, in order to self-isolate ourselves from worldliness, from the temptations of the world, from the occasions of sin in the world―and to strengthen our Faith by much reading, much thinking, much meditation and contemplation, much prayer and much penance. Never forget the fact that at all times in the history of the world, MOST souls have always been damned. That means that if you resemble most people―you are very likely in grave danger of losing your soul. If you don’t believe that, then you need to read this page. Our Lord Himself warns us! “A certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are there few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I tell you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and how strait is the way that leads to life, and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Many a Catholic has―at some time or another―either read or heard those words. Yet most Catholics stubbornly persist in loving and enjoying the world―which is an enemy of God’s!
Don’t Be Complacent! Too Many Were!
St. Alphonsus—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians―says: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. God will show us His mercy if we do not abuse His mercy through presumption of His mercy. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.”
St. Alphonsus writes elsewhere: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, p. 494). Another Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, adds: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! It is certain that few are saved!” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1). St. John Climacus, a Father of the Church, voices the same opinion: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!” Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, who writes: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3). St. Anselm, another Doctor of the Church, warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” Whereas St. Bede the Venerable, a Doctor and Father of the Church writes: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
Nobody likes to hear or read those words―but if we ignore them and bury our heads in the sand, hoping to plead ignorance on Judgment Day―then we are gravely and deliberately misleading ourselves it will probably lead us to Hell. Most souls walk into their Final Judgment with a weak Faith, a lukewarm love of God and very few good works―somehow expecting to be saved! Heck! Even most of the saints had to first go to Purgatory before being admitted into Heaven―St. Padre Pio says that most of few souls that are saved, are first sent to the fires of Purgatory! Unfortunately and sadly, we live in world where “fast-track” and “price-cuts” are the norm―and this mentality of expecting to get everything “fast” and “cheap” also spills over into our spiritual life. Many love a “fast” Mass, “fast” Rosaries and “cheap” penances! They go as fast as they can, do as little as they can, pay as little as they can―and hope to get as much as they can! It doesn’t work―as the vast majority of Catholics (and mankind) have found out over the centuries.
Let Advent Be Well Spent!
So let us take these things to heart and take them into Advent―God wishes the damnation of nobody, but God is not going to be conned and “taken for a ride”―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Perhaps we have been trying to con God (and ourselves) for years―trying pass-off lukewarmness for fervor; lack of knowledge about the Faith as humility; saying very few prayers as poverty; our excessive socializing as evangelizing; etc. There are still a sufficient number of days left until Advent begins for you to begin collecting the necessary materials to rebuild your crumbling “Walls of Jerusalem”―that is to say, the Faith. Anyone who can spend many hours a day in front of a screen―television, computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone―while only giving God a half-an-hour or so, is a person whose “Wall” is crumbling. ”―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
To help you achieve a more fruitful Advent, you will find over a dozen Advent Posters on the DOWNLOADS page [click here]. There is also an 80-page Advent Prayer and Ritual for download [click here]. In addition, there will be a whole host of Advent pages with prayers for each day of the week, sermons, customs, etc. Check out all these things before Advent starts and incorporate what you find useful into your plans. It is time to put Christ back on His throne. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these [other] things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31).
Evil men might have their plans all worked-out, but God is always one step ahead of them―arranging things so that He can confound those evil plans and actions by turning them around and bringing His own good out of the evil that they planned. Holy Scripture gives us many examples of that―beginning with the Original Sin of Adam and Eve (an evil planned by Satan), which the Church, in her Paschal Vigil liturgy, calls “felix culpa” (“happy fault”)―because that Original Sin brought about the “Advent” or “Coming” of Christ the Redeemer. The full quote reads: “O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” Thus, God brings good out of evil. Similarly, we could say “felix Covid” or “happy Covid” ― for we can bring much good out of the evil imposed upon us by the machinations of men, medics and media. How? That will be explained shortly, but for now, let us look at some more instances where God brings good out of evil.
In a certain sense, we are in a similar position to the Old Testament patriarch, Joseph (of “coat of many colors” fame), whose brothers wanted to kill him, but one brother persuaded them not to kill him, but to sell him off as slave to passing merchants traveling to Egypt. Through the workings of God’s providence, by saving Egypt from suffering during seven years of famine, Joseph eventually became the Egyptian Pharaoh’s right-hand man (or “Number Two”) and ended up saving his brothers and his father, Jacob, from famine. When Joseph revealed his identity to them, he said: “Can we resist the will of God? You thought evil against me―but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people!” (Genesis 50:19-20). God’s providence brought good out of evil once again. Similarly, we could say to those evil men who created Covid-19 in the laboratory and their aiders and abbetors who helped the spread ― both of the virus and the lying propaganda: “Can we resist the will of God? You have planned evil against me―but God will turn it into good!” The evil doers are warned: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In the New Testament, we see God allow the evil of Saul (who would become St. Paul) persecuting Christians and no doubt being the cause of the death of some of them―one such instance was the stoning to death of St. Stephen―yet God would bring a great good out that evil for the whole Church, by conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul―now Paul―would become a saint and a pillar of the Church alongside St. Peter. God, again, brought good out of evil.
In the same vein, St. Paul tells us to bring good out of evil: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:21) for “we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). This is because absolutely nothing happens in this world without the knowledge and will of God. God wants good to happen, but God allows evils to happen with the intention of bringing, turning or changing that evil into good.
Eye for an Eye!
With all this current Covid chicanery with its nefarious manipulation of both disease and propaganda by evil men and blatant liars―the truth still remains (as it did with Saul) that Christ came to seek and save those who were lost and on the way to Hell, He came to call sinners to repentance and penance: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). Tough, huh? Yes, but as God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts! Nor your ways My ways! saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). Unfortunately, our thoughts and ways are more aligned to “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25).
God, on the other hand, says: “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide―the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35). As for us vengeful humans, Our Lord says: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you ― so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45) and also be brothers and sisters of Our Lord, Who “is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
We Want Sinners and Enemies Punished and Destroyed!
We, being human and somewhat ‘blind’ or far too “nearsighted” for our own good―whereby we only see the immediate things in front of our nose, but lack the farsightedness of Christ―which is aggravated by our living in a “fast-track” world―we want “instant justice”, we want to see “microwaved revenge” on all wrongdoers! Is that wrong? Well, that kind of attitude was also the attitude of two of the Apostles―the brothers St. James and St. John―so, it seems you are in good company! When Our Lord received the “cold shoulder” in being ignored or rejected by a particular Samaritan city, James and John asked Our Lord if, as an act of justice and vengeance, they could pray that Heaven let fire fall upon the city and destroy it! Our Lord rebuked them, saying that this kind of spirit is a bad spirit: “Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [Jews and Samaritans were enemies]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
A lesson for our day, don’t you think? We are living in days of increasing polarization and mutual hatred―whether it on the political level, the religious level, the race level, the financial and economic level, or simply the cultural or social level. When you watch the news clips of the recent rioting and the violence on the streets of America, you can see when someone is being attacked or beaten―the crowd is more interested in capturing the event on their smartphone video, rather than breaking-up the fight, or going to the aid of the person being beaten! As Our Lord of the end times: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Hence, instead of imitating Our Lord’s prayer for His enemies while dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34) ― most people today would say something like: “My God, destroy them―for they know damn well what they are doing!” Sodom and Gomorrha pale away into near insignificance compared to the sins of our day―as regards kinds of sin and the quantity committed! We want fire and brimstone!
O yes―the fire will come―Our Lady warned us about the purging, punishing fires from Heaven: “the Divine Justice, fire will rain from Heaven … It will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them.” (O.L. of Good Success) … “Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc. … The fire of Heaven will fall and consume cities … Fire will purge the Earth and consume all the works of man’s pride” (O.L. of La Salette) … “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity!” (O.L. of Akita). God will send us His “vaccine” from Heaven to cure the pandemic of sin! His “vaccine” is 100% effective! “The wicked shall see and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away, the desire of the wicked shall perish!” (Psalm 111:10).
So yes―there will be fire-works galore! Yet that fire is a last resort―like an amputation is a last resort. Before using the last resort and cutting-off a limb, the doctor will first of all try to cure the limb with medicine. That is what we are supposed to be doing by praying for CONVERSION of sinners and not their DESTRUCTION. God will take care of their destruction if they fail to convert―but right now God expects us to pray for those enemies of God that we would prefer to hate and would love to see destroyed! We lack the meekness of Christ ― “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29).
In the Meantime―Lockdowns and Restrictions!
As they say, “Man proposes, God disposes!” ― meaning that people can make plans, but whether or not they are successful, that depends upon God. That applies to good people as well as evil people. We would not be suffering this make-believe Covid Crisis ― and all of its “domino effect” crises ― if God did not allow it. Make-believe? Yes, it is a real disease―but a lot about it and its current effects is a load of hype, exaggeration or just a downright in-your-face lie. Nevertheless, it is here and we are suffering its consequences. Will we suffer it like the damned, or like the saved? St. Augustine tells us that the very same crosses lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. How come? Why? The answer is simple. Those who carry their Providence allowed or sent crosses with a humble, mortified, penitential, and accepting spirit―will end up carrying them to Heaven. Those who resent their crosses, bitterly complain about having a cross, seeking to cast-off the cross ― these will find themselves in Hell. For the way to Heaven can only be the Way of the Cross ― like it or not: “He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Covid-19 ― with all of its offshoots: mask wearing, social-distancing, self-quarantining, lockdowns, job losses, business closures, economic crashes, poverty, threats of mandatory vaccines and ID-chips with serious punishments for refusal, etc. ― is simply a just punishment for the ever-increasing sinfulness of the world. People complain about all these measures ― but Heaven complains about our sins. Sin is the greatest evil in the world ― “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). We are quick to complain about the injustices shown to us in this present Covid-Scandal ― but what about the injustices being shown to God by our sins and the sins of the world? Don’t they count in the equation?
Our Lady tells us that sins do count in the equation―far more than we would like to think.
● She “fired a shot across the bows of our sinful ship” at Fatima in 1917, warning: when “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended”.
● In Italy, in 1956, Our Lady in one of her apparition to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―“did the math” for us and warned: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
● At Akita, 17 years later, Our Lady once again “did the math” for us, saying: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before!”
You do your own math―and you will find, as in math you should always find, that the answer is always the same for the same equation.
Making the Most of the Crisis
The current fabricated crisis, or crises, will not go away any time soon―because ever-increasing sin is not going to go away any time soon. We can either profit from the crisis or lose through it. Since the start of the Coronavirus Plannedemic, American billionaires have certainly profited and have been cleaning up. As more than 50 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance, billionaires became $637 billion richer. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has ballooned by 59%. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ wealth has increased by 39%. Walmart’s Walton family has added $25 billion. Big drug company CEOs and their major investors are doing nicely, too. Since the start of the pandemic, Big Pharma has raised prices on 245 prescription drugs, 61 of which are being used to treat COVID-19.
However, all of that is mere monetary profit―to what profit is that? Our Lord says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Our Lord further warns: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:23). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted! Your gold and silver is cankered―and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
What are you “storing up for yourself” in these “last days”? Last days? Yes, according to Our Lady! Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. The second reason is because she told me that God is giving two last remedies to the world―the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―and by being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason is because, in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He always first exhausts all other remedies.”
Storing Things for the Faith
Never mind the Covid-19 “remedies” being offered by the mainstream propagandists―the ineffective Remdesivir while waiting for the saving and redeeming “Miracle Vaccines’” greatly heralded advent―what are you storing-up for yourself? What are you “injecting” into your soul? What spiritual medicines are you taking to avoid the inevitable plague of the Apostasy Virus that will soon be coming? “Huh? Apostasy Virus?” you might ask. Yes―Apostasy Virus. Prophecy for these “End-Times” … “Last Days” … “Last Times” ― that Our Lady has said we have entered ― speaks of two apostasies before the end of the world ― the Minor Apostasy and the Great Apostasy. The Minor Apostasy will happen before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart ― Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith” in a time that comes “from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … “[From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan” (the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).
Our Lady of La Salette would later add the following, regarding apostasy from the Faith: “The the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis … [many] will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God.”
The recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works.”
I Will Never Abandon or Lose the Faith!
You might be tempted to think: “Aw! Losing the Faith? That’s never going to happen to me! I will never lose the Faith!” Really? Are you that sure? St. Peter was pretty sure that he would never betray Christ! “Then Jesus said to the disciples: ‘All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed!”’ … And Peter answering, said to Him: ‘Although all shall be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandalized!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, that in this night, before the cock crow, thou wilt deny Me thrice!’ Peter said to Him: Yea, though I should die with Thee―I will not deny Thee!’ And in like manner said all the disciples” (Matthew 26:31-35).
As they say: “There but for the grace of God go I.” When the heat climbs, when the screws are turned, when the feet are burned, when the threats are made, when the sanctions are taken―many will lose the Faith rather than lose their comforts. When they say to you: “Take this vaccine! Take this electronic ID chip! If you don’t, then you can’t travel (at first), you can’t enter stores (a little later), you can’t go to work (a little later), you can’t go to church, etc.” Then once you have taken the vaccine―another one comes, then another, then another―and do you know what is in them? Have you researched the subject thoroughly (not just “two-bit” snippets on the internet), are you aware of what they can achieve with vaccines these day? No, of course not! And once you have accepted to have the electronic ID chip tattooed onto your skin or injected into your body―then besides being the chip by which you buy and sell―your capacity to buy and sell can be stopped at a moment’s notice by electronically “switching-you-off” if you exhibit behavior that is unacceptable to the New World Order or One World Government or whatever they will be called.
So going to church might be one day deemed unacceptable, Christianity might be declared a “hate organization” that hates abortionists, homosexuals, same-sex marriages, transgenderism, refuses to accept other religions, refuses to accept Satanism as a religion, etc. It will not be hard to stage “false-flag” events where some Christians carry-out shootings of abortionists, homosexuals, etc. The media would then stoke the fires of indignation and hatred towards Christianity. Therefore, for the common good and safety of the people, Christianity will be declared as a terrorist organization and must be outlawed―and its persistent stubborn adherents must be punished. Far-fetched? Not in the slightest. You can already see the seeds of that future tree already planted here and there. When you are taken away from your family and children as being an “ideological terrorist” guilty of “hate-crimes” and “thought-crimes” whose “hate-virus” risks contaminating your family and children―as well other members of the happily godless society―how strong will your Faith be then? Will you have fed it and exercised during the months that lead up to that scenario, so that it will remain indomitable in face of that persecution. Most will not. Already―without any persecution whatsoever―80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly, each week! The seeds of the Minor Apostasy are already sown!
The former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, stated: “Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition [and Satan] makes progress. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!”
Satanic Solution?
What is the solution to this “Satanic Virus” that has enveloped the world? Holy Scripture says: “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour―whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). As Fr. Amorth said―a weak Faith makes Satan stronger―and you can be absolutely sure that the Faith of most Catholics is weak―even the Faith of Conservative or Traditional Catholics―few there are whose Faith is at the level where it should be. We are starting to show the traits that Our Lord speaks of when He says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
All the Covid restrictions that have been placed on mankind right now, have produced a perfect climate for drawing closer to God (or returning to God) and strengthening our Faith. Since socializing with humans has been restricted―we can and should now socialize with God. We have been forced to wear masks when in the company of others―but with God it is time to take-off our masks―not that God can recognize us, but that we might recognize our true selves as we look into the mirror of God―our worldly selves, our lukewarm selves, our sinful selves. As Advent approaches―and Christ approaches with it―it is a perfect time to retreat into our homes and into ourselves, in order to self-isolate ourselves from worldliness, from the temptations of the world, from the occasions of sin in the world―and to strengthen our Faith by much reading, much thinking, much meditation and contemplation, much prayer and much penance. Never forget the fact that at all times in the history of the world, MOST souls have always been damned. That means that if you resemble most people―you are very likely in grave danger of losing your soul. If you don’t believe that, then you need to read this page. Our Lord Himself warns us! “A certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are there few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I tell you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and how strait is the way that leads to life, and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Many a Catholic has―at some time or another―either read or heard those words. Yet most Catholics stubbornly persist in loving and enjoying the world―which is an enemy of God’s!
Don’t Be Complacent! Too Many Were!
St. Alphonsus—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians―says: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. God will show us His mercy if we do not abuse His mercy through presumption of His mercy. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.”
St. Alphonsus writes elsewhere: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are! Yet among those few I wish to be!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, p. 494). Another Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, adds: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate! It is certain that few are saved!” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1). St. John Climacus, a Father of the Church, voices the same opinion: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!” Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, who writes: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3). St. Anselm, another Doctor of the Church, warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” Whereas St. Bede the Venerable, a Doctor and Father of the Church writes: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
Nobody likes to hear or read those words―but if we ignore them and bury our heads in the sand, hoping to plead ignorance on Judgment Day―then we are gravely and deliberately misleading ourselves it will probably lead us to Hell. Most souls walk into their Final Judgment with a weak Faith, a lukewarm love of God and very few good works―somehow expecting to be saved! Heck! Even most of the saints had to first go to Purgatory before being admitted into Heaven―St. Padre Pio says that most of few souls that are saved, are first sent to the fires of Purgatory! Unfortunately and sadly, we live in world where “fast-track” and “price-cuts” are the norm―and this mentality of expecting to get everything “fast” and “cheap” also spills over into our spiritual life. Many love a “fast” Mass, “fast” Rosaries and “cheap” penances! They go as fast as they can, do as little as they can, pay as little as they can―and hope to get as much as they can! It doesn’t work―as the vast majority of Catholics (and mankind) have found out over the centuries.
Let Advent Be Well Spent!
So let us take these things to heart and take them into Advent―God wishes the damnation of nobody, but God is not going to be conned and “taken for a ride”―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Perhaps we have been trying to con God (and ourselves) for years―trying pass-off lukewarmness for fervor; lack of knowledge about the Faith as humility; saying very few prayers as poverty; our excessive socializing as evangelizing; etc. There are still a sufficient number of days left until Advent begins for you to begin collecting the necessary materials to rebuild your crumbling “Walls of Jerusalem”―that is to say, the Faith. Anyone who can spend many hours a day in front of a screen―television, computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone―while only giving God a half-an-hour or so, is a person whose “Wall” is crumbling. ”―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
To help you achieve a more fruitful Advent, you will find over a dozen Advent Posters on the DOWNLOADS page [click here]. There is also an 80-page Advent Prayer and Ritual for download [click here]. In addition, there will be a whole host of Advent pages with prayers for each day of the week, sermons, customs, etc. Check out all these things before Advent starts and incorporate what you find useful into your plans. It is time to put Christ back on His throne. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these [other] things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday November 19th & Friday November 20th
Article 9
Is It Time for Spiritual Prepping?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday November 19th & Friday November 20th
Article 9
Is It Time for Spiritual Prepping?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Are You a “Prepper”? Our Lord and God were “Preppers”!
They’re “Prepping” here―they’re “Prepping” there―they’re “Prepping” almost everywhere!! The Boy Scouts of old—with their motto of “Be prepared!”—have nothing on the “Preppers” of today! Some say you should take a prepper with a pinch of salt―in the sense that they are over-dramatic, over-imaginative, and over-the-top! Yet there is nothing wrong with being prepared―God and Our Lord are the epitomes, masters and models of preparation that we must imitate:
We often use the words “God’s Providence” ― yet we could just as well substitute the words “God’s Preparedness” ― for before we can “provide” something, we have to “prepare” that thing. We see this in God’s Providence over Jonas (of whale fame): “Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights … And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him―for he was fatigued―and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy. But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered” (Jonas 2:1; 4:6-7).
Before making Adam and Eve, he prepared and provided for the future: “He made the Earth by His power, prepared the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the Heavens by His understanding” (Jeremias 51:15). “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, the eye hath not seen, O God, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee!” (Isaias 64:4). “But, as it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). God’s Providence has prepared for us everything we need to attain our salvation and avoid our damnation―the choice of whether to accept what He has prepared is laid in our hands, and, likewise, in our own hands lays our future salvation or damnation. The devil, too, has prepared his snares for our damnation: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8).
“The Lord is a God of all knowledge and to Him are thoughts prepared!” (1 Kings 2:3). “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “It is the part of man to prepare the soul!” (Proverbs 16:1). “Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy multitude that is assembled about thee” (Ezechiel 38:7) … “to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people” (Luke 1:17). “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God!” (Isaias 40:3). “They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls” (Ecclesiasticus 2:20). “Before prayer, prepare thy soul and be not as a man that tempteth God!” (Ecclesiasticus 18:23). “When thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1).
Our Lord speaks of the need for preparation both in His parables and in his regular speech:
“That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). “Take ye heed! Watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is! Even as a man who going into a far country, left his house; and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore―for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: in the evening, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning―lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all―Watch!” (Mark 13:33-36). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come. Know this ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come … Blessed is that servant, whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing!” (Matthew 24:42-44).
Unprepared Foolish Virgins
Our Lord’s parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins is all about being prepared: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them―but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And with the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him! Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you―go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But, at last, came also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you―I know you not!’ Watch ye, therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13).
“Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord [or your enemy] will come. Know this ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man [or your enemy] will come.” (Matthew 24:42-43). We can link these words of Our Lord to the words of Our Lady, as revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima: “she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957) ― which ties in with Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Ants are Preppers
In the Old Testament we read: “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways and learn wisdom, which―although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain―provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). To which St. Peter adds: “The end of all is at hand! Be prudent therefore, and watch in prayers!” (1 Peter 4:7). Rather than being prudent and prepared, Our Lady of La Salette paints quite the opposite picture for the people of our day: “People will think of nothing but amusement.” It is true, as the Book of Proverbs says, that we are “sluggards” ― especially with regard to the spiritual life and spiritual exercises ― we are more like a slug than an ant!
Our Lady is a Sad Prepper
For centuries Our Lady has been trying to prepare us for what is coming. One apparition after another was supposed to prepare us and make us prepare for what we are now at last starting to experience―though, right now, this is only the “trailer for the movie” and a mere foretaste or hint of what is to come later. We are now being exposed to the theory, the talk―soon will come the practice and the walk. Yet―typically of human nature wounded by Original Sin―we just won’t listen. At best, we have the “deer in the headlights” syndrome― caught in a state of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment, like the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle. Or we have the “boiling frog” syndrome, which is being in a problematic situation that gradually increases in severity until it reaches calamitous proportions―such that the people involved or affected by it, will not notice the danger until it is too late to act―like the anecdotal parable about boiling a frog, in which a frog, if it is placed in boiling water will immediately try to save itself by jumping out, but a frog placed in cool water, that is then gradually brought to a boil, will not notice the heat until it is too late and it is boiled to death.
This is why Sr. Lucia lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Foundation of All Our Spiritual Preparations―Penance & Prayer
Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
Our spiritual armor is basically penance and prayer, because our battle is basically and ultimately against Satan: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:14-20). This is why Our Lord adds: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) and “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, so that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come!” (Luke 21:7-36). Sadly, there is not a lot of prayer and fasting being done these days―it is more like “beer and feasting” than “prayer and fasting”―and so we reap what we sow (or don’t sow). Who wants to do penance anymore when the world continually serves up more and more tempting idols of entertainment, fun and distractions! “Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
The word “penance” is a very broad and inclusive term―essentially, it consists of admitting our sins to ourselves, confessing our sins to the priest in the Sacrament of Penance (Confession); and then “doing penance” as payment for our sins. Dictionaries will define it variously as: “An act of self-mortification or devotion performed voluntarily to show sorrow for a sin or other wrongdoing; a voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong; an act that shows that you feel sorry about something that you have done wrong; the act of doing a good deed to make up for past wrongs.”
A Catholic Dictionary gives “penance” a more Catholic definition: “The virtue or disposition of heart by which one repents of one’s own sins and is converted to God. Also the punishment by which one atones for sins committed, either by oneself, or by others. And finally the Sacrament of Penance, where sins, committed after Baptism, are confessed to a priest and are absolved by a priest in the name of God.” So, as you can see, “penance” ― for it to be truly effective ― encompasses (1) interior admission to oneself of one’s own guilt for sin, (2) a supernatural sorrow for having committed those sins, (3) a confession of those sins in the Sacrament of Penance with a firm purpose of amending one’s life, (4) the performance of certain penances―penitential acts―as a partial payment for those sins.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yada! Yada! Yada!
“We have heard it all before ― a million times! You sound like a broken record! Move on! What’s new?” you may say. Well, as Holy Scripture says: “Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: ‘Behold―this is new!’ for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us!” (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Our Lady has already come and gone in the ages that were before us―and she has consistently said the same thing. Too many sins are being committed! Stop offending God by sin! PRAY and DO PENANCE for your sins! If not, God will punish you terribly! Read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―it is essentially the same message. The sun rises and the sun sets―but it is the same sun. Our Lady comes and Our Lady goes―but it is always the same message. That is how it should be―for God never changes and truth never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). God is Truth itself, as expressed by Christ: “I am the Truth!” (John 14:6) … “The devil … stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:44-47). That is our litmus test―yet believing is not enough, we must act on those beliefs ― and prayer and penance are the fundamental or foundational acts of our Faith. “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Don’t Shoot the Messenger!
You could place the following words of Scripture in the mouth of Our Lady: “Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16). The truth carries no guarantees of being pleasant―sometimes it is pleasant, sometimes it is unpleasant. Sometimes it is consoling, at other times it is frightening. It can be sweet and it can sting. Yet, as Our Lord says: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32). That is what Our Lady’s incessant, nagging, repetitive messages try to do―to set us free from sin and its ultimate reward: damnation. Yet Our Lady’s messages concerning PRAYER and PENANCE―which are the foundation or “staple diet” for our spiritual life and a springboard towards our salvation―those messages receive the same fate that Holy Scripture relates concerning Our Lord―you could, in the following passage, substitute the words “Her” for “Him” and “She” for “He”:
“In Him [her] was life [Christ], and that life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He [she] was in the world, and the world knew Him [her] not. He [she] came unto His [her] own, and His [her] own received Him [her] not. But as many as received Him [her], He [she] gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:4-12). If that was a little confusing, here it is again solely in the feminine person, representing Our Lady: “In her was life [Christ], and that life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. She was in the world, and the world knew her not. She came unto her own, and her own received her not. But as many as received her, she gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:4-12). So too it is with her message―if we receive it and act upon it, by praying and doing penance, we shall eventually be ranked among the “sons of God”―that is to say, we shall be saved and shall inherit eternal bliss in Heaven.
That is why we must incessantly repeat the truth, hammer the truth, nagging away until the truth―like medicine―penetrates and starts to bring about a change for the better: “Preach the word―be insistent in season and out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears―and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 2:2-4 ).
Simple Math! Simple Logic!
The logic or math is simple! Sin deserves punishment. Lots of sin deserves lots of punishment. That has always been the simple message of Our Lady for a long time now! Yet that message falls on deaf ears―because we have better things to do than pray and do penance! The world is so exciting and so much fun in these super-technological days of high level entertainment! Who wants to listen to a dour, sour message about prayer, penance and potential punishment for procrastination! That, in essence, is what Sister Lucia of Fatima said that Our Lady had revealed to her: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Already back in the late 15th and early to mid-16th century, Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) asks Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? [Our Lady specifically tells her that the time she is speaking of is 19th and 20th centuries and beyond]… Vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, apostasy … and a formidable and frightful war … Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe … Confront everything with the spirit of humility and sacrifice” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Just a dozen years later, at Lourdes in 1858, Our Lady continues “nagging” us on the points of prayer, penance for our own sins and doing penance for the sins of others: Our Lady of Lourdes―despite leaving behind the waters of a miraculously healing spring―insisted upon the foundation of PRAYER and PENANCE. On different occasions she said: “Pray for sinners!” … “Penance! Penance! Penance!” … “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners.”
The “nagging” continued at Fatima in 1917. The same question―will you sacrifice yourself for sinners―is asked of the three children of Fatima in 1917 (and, through them, it is being ASKED OF US ALSO). In Fatima, at the second apparition of the Angel in the summer of 1916, the three children were playing near their favorite well, when the Angel suddenly appeared and chided them: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
When Our Lady of Fatima appeared the following year, 1917, at the very first apparition―without beating about the bush―she said to the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer―but the grace of God will be your comfort.” She also said what she would repeat at every single Fatima apparition: “Pray the Rosary every day!”
They’re “Prepping” here―they’re “Prepping” there―they’re “Prepping” almost everywhere!! The Boy Scouts of old—with their motto of “Be prepared!”—have nothing on the “Preppers” of today! Some say you should take a prepper with a pinch of salt―in the sense that they are over-dramatic, over-imaginative, and over-the-top! Yet there is nothing wrong with being prepared―God and Our Lord are the epitomes, masters and models of preparation that we must imitate:
We often use the words “God’s Providence” ― yet we could just as well substitute the words “God’s Preparedness” ― for before we can “provide” something, we have to “prepare” that thing. We see this in God’s Providence over Jonas (of whale fame): “Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights … And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him―for he was fatigued―and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy. But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered” (Jonas 2:1; 4:6-7).
Before making Adam and Eve, he prepared and provided for the future: “He made the Earth by His power, prepared the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the Heavens by His understanding” (Jeremias 51:15). “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, the eye hath not seen, O God, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee!” (Isaias 64:4). “But, as it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). God’s Providence has prepared for us everything we need to attain our salvation and avoid our damnation―the choice of whether to accept what He has prepared is laid in our hands, and, likewise, in our own hands lays our future salvation or damnation. The devil, too, has prepared his snares for our damnation: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8).
“The Lord is a God of all knowledge and to Him are thoughts prepared!” (1 Kings 2:3). “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “It is the part of man to prepare the soul!” (Proverbs 16:1). “Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy multitude that is assembled about thee” (Ezechiel 38:7) … “to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people” (Luke 1:17). “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God!” (Isaias 40:3). “They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls” (Ecclesiasticus 2:20). “Before prayer, prepare thy soul and be not as a man that tempteth God!” (Ecclesiasticus 18:23). “When thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1).
Our Lord speaks of the need for preparation both in His parables and in his regular speech:
“That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). “Take ye heed! Watch and pray! For ye know not when the time is! Even as a man who going into a far country, left his house; and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore―for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: in the evening, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning―lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all―Watch!” (Mark 13:33-36). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come. Know this ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come … Blessed is that servant, whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing!” (Matthew 24:42-44).
Unprepared Foolish Virgins
Our Lord’s parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins is all about being prepared: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them―but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And with the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him! Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you―go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came―and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But, at last, came also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen I say to you―I know you not!’ Watch ye, therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!” (Matthew 25:1-13).
“Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord [or your enemy] will come. Know this ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man [or your enemy] will come.” (Matthew 24:42-43). We can link these words of Our Lord to the words of Our Lady, as revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima: “she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957) ― which ties in with Holy Scripture: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the Earth” (Apocalypse 20:7).
Ants are Preppers
In the Old Testament we read: “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways and learn wisdom, which―although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain―provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). To which St. Peter adds: “The end of all is at hand! Be prudent therefore, and watch in prayers!” (1 Peter 4:7). Rather than being prudent and prepared, Our Lady of La Salette paints quite the opposite picture for the people of our day: “People will think of nothing but amusement.” It is true, as the Book of Proverbs says, that we are “sluggards” ― especially with regard to the spiritual life and spiritual exercises ― we are more like a slug than an ant!
Our Lady is a Sad Prepper
For centuries Our Lady has been trying to prepare us for what is coming. One apparition after another was supposed to prepare us and make us prepare for what we are now at last starting to experience―though, right now, this is only the “trailer for the movie” and a mere foretaste or hint of what is to come later. We are now being exposed to the theory, the talk―soon will come the practice and the walk. Yet―typically of human nature wounded by Original Sin―we just won’t listen. At best, we have the “deer in the headlights” syndrome― caught in a state of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment, like the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle. Or we have the “boiling frog” syndrome, which is being in a problematic situation that gradually increases in severity until it reaches calamitous proportions―such that the people involved or affected by it, will not notice the danger until it is too late to act―like the anecdotal parable about boiling a frog, in which a frog, if it is placed in boiling water will immediately try to save itself by jumping out, but a frog placed in cool water, that is then gradually brought to a boil, will not notice the heat until it is too late and it is boiled to death.
This is why Sr. Lucia lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Foundation of All Our Spiritual Preparations―Penance & Prayer
Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
Our spiritual armor is basically penance and prayer, because our battle is basically and ultimately against Satan: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:14-20). This is why Our Lord adds: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) and “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, so that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come!” (Luke 21:7-36). Sadly, there is not a lot of prayer and fasting being done these days―it is more like “beer and feasting” than “prayer and fasting”―and so we reap what we sow (or don’t sow). Who wants to do penance anymore when the world continually serves up more and more tempting idols of entertainment, fun and distractions! “Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
The word “penance” is a very broad and inclusive term―essentially, it consists of admitting our sins to ourselves, confessing our sins to the priest in the Sacrament of Penance (Confession); and then “doing penance” as payment for our sins. Dictionaries will define it variously as: “An act of self-mortification or devotion performed voluntarily to show sorrow for a sin or other wrongdoing; a voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong; an act that shows that you feel sorry about something that you have done wrong; the act of doing a good deed to make up for past wrongs.”
A Catholic Dictionary gives “penance” a more Catholic definition: “The virtue or disposition of heart by which one repents of one’s own sins and is converted to God. Also the punishment by which one atones for sins committed, either by oneself, or by others. And finally the Sacrament of Penance, where sins, committed after Baptism, are confessed to a priest and are absolved by a priest in the name of God.” So, as you can see, “penance” ― for it to be truly effective ― encompasses (1) interior admission to oneself of one’s own guilt for sin, (2) a supernatural sorrow for having committed those sins, (3) a confession of those sins in the Sacrament of Penance with a firm purpose of amending one’s life, (4) the performance of certain penances―penitential acts―as a partial payment for those sins.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yada! Yada! Yada!
“We have heard it all before ― a million times! You sound like a broken record! Move on! What’s new?” you may say. Well, as Holy Scripture says: “Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: ‘Behold―this is new!’ for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us!” (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Our Lady has already come and gone in the ages that were before us―and she has consistently said the same thing. Too many sins are being committed! Stop offending God by sin! PRAY and DO PENANCE for your sins! If not, God will punish you terribly! Read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―it is essentially the same message. The sun rises and the sun sets―but it is the same sun. Our Lady comes and Our Lady goes―but it is always the same message. That is how it should be―for God never changes and truth never changes: “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). God is Truth itself, as expressed by Christ: “I am the Truth!” (John 14:6) … “The devil … stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! … If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:44-47). That is our litmus test―yet believing is not enough, we must act on those beliefs ― and prayer and penance are the fundamental or foundational acts of our Faith. “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Don’t Shoot the Messenger!
You could place the following words of Scripture in the mouth of Our Lady: “Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16). The truth carries no guarantees of being pleasant―sometimes it is pleasant, sometimes it is unpleasant. Sometimes it is consoling, at other times it is frightening. It can be sweet and it can sting. Yet, as Our Lord says: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32). That is what Our Lady’s incessant, nagging, repetitive messages try to do―to set us free from sin and its ultimate reward: damnation. Yet Our Lady’s messages concerning PRAYER and PENANCE―which are the foundation or “staple diet” for our spiritual life and a springboard towards our salvation―those messages receive the same fate that Holy Scripture relates concerning Our Lord―you could, in the following passage, substitute the words “Her” for “Him” and “She” for “He”:
“In Him [her] was life [Christ], and that life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He [she] was in the world, and the world knew Him [her] not. He [she] came unto His [her] own, and His [her] own received Him [her] not. But as many as received Him [her], He [she] gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:4-12). If that was a little confusing, here it is again solely in the feminine person, representing Our Lady: “In her was life [Christ], and that life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. She was in the world, and the world knew her not. She came unto her own, and her own received her not. But as many as received her, she gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:4-12). So too it is with her message―if we receive it and act upon it, by praying and doing penance, we shall eventually be ranked among the “sons of God”―that is to say, we shall be saved and shall inherit eternal bliss in Heaven.
That is why we must incessantly repeat the truth, hammer the truth, nagging away until the truth―like medicine―penetrates and starts to bring about a change for the better: “Preach the word―be insistent in season and out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears―and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 2:2-4 ).
Simple Math! Simple Logic!
The logic or math is simple! Sin deserves punishment. Lots of sin deserves lots of punishment. That has always been the simple message of Our Lady for a long time now! Yet that message falls on deaf ears―because we have better things to do than pray and do penance! The world is so exciting and so much fun in these super-technological days of high level entertainment! Who wants to listen to a dour, sour message about prayer, penance and potential punishment for procrastination! That, in essence, is what Sister Lucia of Fatima said that Our Lady had revealed to her: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way.” (December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Already back in the late 15th and early to mid-16th century, Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) asks Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? [Our Lady specifically tells her that the time she is speaking of is 19th and 20th centuries and beyond]… Vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, apostasy … and a formidable and frightful war … Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe … Confront everything with the spirit of humility and sacrifice” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Just a dozen years later, at Lourdes in 1858, Our Lady continues “nagging” us on the points of prayer, penance for our own sins and doing penance for the sins of others: Our Lady of Lourdes―despite leaving behind the waters of a miraculously healing spring―insisted upon the foundation of PRAYER and PENANCE. On different occasions she said: “Pray for sinners!” … “Penance! Penance! Penance!” … “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners.”
The “nagging” continued at Fatima in 1917. The same question―will you sacrifice yourself for sinners―is asked of the three children of Fatima in 1917 (and, through them, it is being ASKED OF US ALSO). In Fatima, at the second apparition of the Angel in the summer of 1916, the three children were playing near their favorite well, when the Angel suddenly appeared and chided them: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
When Our Lady of Fatima appeared the following year, 1917, at the very first apparition―without beating about the bush―she said to the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer―but the grace of God will be your comfort.” She also said what she would repeat at every single Fatima apparition: “Pray the Rosary every day!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday November 17th & Wednesday November 18th
Article 8
Can You Not See the Stupidity? Do You Believe the Stupidity?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday November 17th & Wednesday November 18th
Article 8
Can You Not See the Stupidity? Do You Believe the Stupidity?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Meaning of Words
George Bernard Shaw speaks of a similar notion, saying: “Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language!” The point being made is that―even though we use the same words, those words can (and often do) have quite distinctly different meanings because of our cultural differences, religious differences, etc. There is even a British English vs. American English translation dictionary! In the Catholic Church today, Conservatives and Modernists might use the same word, but for each of them that word has a slightly or greatly different meaning.
Words can mean different things at different times. Take, for instance, the word “awful” ― which today means very bad or unpleasant. Originally, that word meant “worthy of awe”, as in “very inspiring”. However, over time it has come to mean bad, displeasing, offensive, etc. Yet, even in modern English, that original meaning still survives in the word “awesome” ― meaning extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration. Similarly, the modern notion of the word “cool” has a double meaning ― that of being cold or chilly, as well a modern version of “cool” meaning something that is fashionable, admirable, good or excellent. Likewise with the slang version of “bad” ― where bad means good. Actually, in slang, “bad” means even better than good. It is often used in reference to someone’s appearance or their actions. Since at least the 1960s, stupid has been slang for “very” or “extremely,” … “to a ridiculous extent” ― as in “That hamburger I had for lunch was stupidly good.”
The Roots of Stupidity
Can you define what the word “stupid” means? Do you know where “stupid” comes from? If you can’t define it or don’t know where it comes from―does that mean that you are stupid? Or does it mean that you are ignorant? Is ignorance stupidity? Is stupidity ignorance? Since words do not just jump into existence out of nowhere―just as we did not come out of nowhere, but have long ancestral roots beneath and behind us―likewise the word “stupid” has a history that anchors its true meaning in the past and avoids changes of meaning over time―like “bad” becoming to mean “good”.
The word stupid comes from the Latin verb “stupere” meaning “be stunned, numb, amazed, confounded or astonished” and is linked with the Latin adjective “stupidus”, meaning “amazed, confounded; dull, foolish” and is related to Latin word “stupere, stupor” literally meaning “struck senseless”. In English, “stupor” is the lack of critical mental function and a level of consciousness, in which an affected person is almost entirely unresponsive and only responds to intense stimuli such as pain.
Stupidity Defined
Some say: “A book is a man’s best friend” ― others say: “A dog is a man’s best friend”. Unless you’re stupid, you have to admit that you get more out of books than you get out of dogs! So what does the book of the Dictionary say about the word stupid? How does it define “stupid” and “stupidity”? Here is a sampling from several dictionaries―for each dictionary often has nuances in their definitions and one dictionary can express a definition better than another. So here is what they say:
Being stupid has to do with not understanding things, not learning from past experiences, and generally not using your mind. Stupidity is a lack of thought, lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. Stupidity is a thought, word or action that is senseless, a thought, a comment or a behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment. A failure to see things as they really are, the failure to be open to and analyze new information. A failure to act correctly, sensibly, logically or prudently. Stupidities are foolish remarks, irrational acts, illogical thinking.
So there you have it! If you were ignorant about stupidity, now you are “in the know”. This brings us to the final distinction before seriously embarking on the theme of this article. Is ignorance stupidity? Is stupidity ignorance?
Stupidity versus Ignorance
The intrinsic difference is that ignorance simply implies lack of awareness about something, while stupidity implies that a person is aware of something, but they are unable to understand something due to insufficient intelligence, faulty reasoning, or dullness of mind, or sheer impetuosity through haste lacking prudence (in other words, “jumping to conclusions”)―thus leading to the misinterpretation of a fact―an event, a statement, an action or an idea.
Define Your Terms
Voltaire (1694-1778), despite being baptized a Catholic and educated by the Jesuits, became a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher―famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of Church and State, was in the habit of saying: “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms!” Which―even though it comes from the mouth of a bitter enemy of the Church―nevertheless makes sense. Even the devil speaks the truth sometimes―even though he is the father of lies.
Stupid and Stupidity is …
So what do we mean by “stupid”? Nothing more than the dictionary definitions given above ― Someone who is stupid fails to understanding things, fails to learn from past experiences, and generally does not think in a logical manner. Stupidity is a lack of thought, lack of intelligence, understanding or reason― a thought, word or action that is senseless, a thought, a comment or a behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment. A stupid person fails to see things as they really are; fails to act correctly, sensibly, logically or prudently―manifesting instead foolish remarks, irrational acts, illogical thinking.
You are probably familiar with the proverb that says: “Stupid is as stupid does!” meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid actions. You could add to that proverb another modified one: “Stupid is as stupid speaks!” also meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid words. If you want to go a step further, you could say: “Stupid is as stupid believes!” also meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid beliefs.
Subjectivity Leads to Stupidity
You have doubtlessly heard of the terms “objectivity” and “subjectivity”. In brief, “objectivity” means “things as they really are” ― it is a view of truth or reality that is free of any individual person’s biases, interpretations, feelings, and imaginings. If you're objective about something, then you have no personal feelings about it, but stick to the reality that is outside of your mind, sticking to real facts that are not colored by your interpretation, wishes, or imagination. “Subjectivity”, on the other hand, has feelings, opinions, biases, prejudices, etc. Anything subjective means it is subject to personal interpretation and judgment―regardless of the real facts or real truth that stands before us. Usually, subjective means influenced by personal feelings, personal emotions, personal opinions, personal prejudices, personal hopes, personal experience, etc. It places the subject (oneself) above the object (reality outside of oneself)―so that the object does not teach me truth, but I decide what I want to decide about the object―regardless of whether it be true or not.
As they say: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” ― and what is beautiful to one person, may not be beautiful to another ― meaning that the idea of beauty has subjective and not objective ― whereby we now see ugly creations being passed-off as “art” in many museums. Sadly, the same is true of truth ― truth today has become what a person believes it to be, so that one man’s “truth” might be a “lie” to another person ― and, conversely, a “lie” might be taken for the “truth.”
Covid-19 ― A Virus of Stupidity
There are many symptoms that have been listed for Covid-19 ― Fever or chills; Cough; Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; Fatigue; Muscle or body aches; Headache; New loss of taste or smell; Sore throat; Congestion or runny nose; Nausea or vomiting; Diarrhea. Yet one symptom has escaped the attention of everybody ― the symptom of STUPIDITY.
The Covid Narrative has many elements. Every single one begs our stupidity. The narrative goes like this:
“There’s a DEADLY NEW VIRUS that causes a serious disease to which we are ALL SUSCEPTIBLE. ALL IMMUNITY VANISHES, so even if you’re lucky enough to recover, you can catch it and GET SICK AGAIN and it has exceptional long-term consequences—’LONG COVID’. Only A VACCINE CAN SAVE US, and only LOCKDOWNS AND MASKS CAN KEEP US SAFE until we have one, so we should rush its development and MAKE IT MANDATORY. To make things worse, a SECOND WAVE is coming to get us. HERD IMMUNITY IS A STRATEGY, held only by evil people who want to ‘LET IT RIP’ and who don’t see that we need a GREAT RESET. We must be traced, quarantined, muzzled, vaccinated and chip-certified. Get used to it—it’s the NEW NORMAL that we all must accept.”
U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, has said on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, that both flu and coronavirus can cause many of the same symptoms, adding: “the one symptom that I would alert people to―that really differentiates flu from Covid―is loss of taste or smell.” So if this whole Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic no longer smells fishy to you, or the whole thing no longer tastes odd ― then you have swallowed the Covid-media-bug or inhaled the Fudging-Fauci-virus.
Just Stop and Think!
Children are taught the essential guide to pedestrian safety and road safety. For example, always stop, look, listen and think before crossing a road. That sound advice would serve us well in prudently assessing viral safety issues and vaccination safety issues before rushing out onto the big broad road that could lead to our ‘perdition’! “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember” … what Our Lady, the Saints and Popes have said about our times and what we should expect (Mark 8:18). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Matthew 13:15). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Acts 28:27). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak! … Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits if they be of God―because many false prophets [politicians, doctors, media-men] are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:5; 1:4). “Beware of false prophets [politicians, doctors, media-men], who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” [with syringe in hand] (Matthew 7:15). “Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse―erring and driving into error!” (2 Timothy 3:13). “Let no man deceive you with vain words!” (Ephesians 5:6). “Be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter … as if the day of the Lord were at hand! Let no man deceive you by any means! … They receive not the love of the truth … therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying!” (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3, 10). “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32).
California Clown―Governor Gavin Newsome
There have been many stupid and ridiculous things said about Covid-19 by many people. There have been numerous stupid and ridiculous measures taken with regard to Covid-19. However, the “Covid Oscar Winner” or “Golden Globe Winner” could possibly/probably be given to the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Political Comedian (or Biggest Joke Going)―Governor Gavin Newsome of California, otherwise now known as the “California Clown”―or could it be “California Commie”?
In response to the so-called “Second Wave” in which we are being told to “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”, and of which the Global Prophet Biden prophesied: “We're about to go into a dark winter!” ― Governor Gavin Newsome (a name that could just as well stand for: Go Give in to Newworldorder) has decided to combat that dark winter by a series of Gov. given commandments that make the God given Commandments look like a mere twig next to a California Redwood Tree! Governor Newsome has become Governor Nuisance with his micro-managing California Commandments. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. Just like Moses was given the Ten Commandments twice―the first set of tablets were shattered by Moses in anger at the idolatry of the people―Governor Newsome has gone beyond God and Moses and has issued his “Covid Second Wave California Commandments” three times―the first version was on September 12th, 2020, the second version was on October 6th, 2020, which was followed by a third version on November 13th, 2020―looks like he can’t quite make up his mind on what Commandments will work best! Below, you will find some of the more ridiculous “Commandments” ― if you really want to read through all of them―both the original version and the revised version―the links to them are here:
OCTOBER 9th VERSION: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/CDPH-Guidance-for-the-Prevention-of-COVID-19-Transmission-for-Gatherings-10-09.aspx
NOVEMBER 13th VERSION: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Guidance-for-the-Prevention-of-COVID-19-Transmission-for-Gatherings-November-2020.aspx
Here are some of the extracts that outline, both the ridiculousness of it and the Communist or Totalitarian style of it.
● Gatherings that include more than 3 households are prohibited. Keep the households that you interact with stable over time. By spending time with the same people, risk of transmission is reduced. Participating in multiple gatherings with different households or groups is strongly discouraged. The host should collect names of all attendees and contact information in case contact tracing is needed later. Yesss sirrree!
● Gatherings that occur outdoors are significantly safer than indoor gatherings. All gatherings must be held outside. Attendees may go inside to use restrooms as long as the restrooms are frequently sanitized. Gatherings may occur in outdoor spaces that are covered by umbrellas, canopies, awnings, roofs, and other shade structures provided that at least three sides of the space (or 75%) are open to the outdoors. A gathering of no more than three households is permitted in a public park or other outdoor space. Yesss sirrree!
● For any gatherings permitted under this guidance, the space must be large enough so that everyone at a gathering can maintain at least a 6-foot physical distance from others (not including their own household) at all times. Seating must provide at least 6 feet of distance (in all directions—front-to-back and side-to-side) between different households. Everyone at a gathering should frequently wash their hands with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available. A place to wash hands or hand sanitizer must be available for participants to use. Shared items should not be used during a gathering. As much as possible, any food or beverages at outdoor gatherings must be in single-serve disposable containers. If providing single-serve containers is not possible, food and beverages must be served by a person who washes or sanitizes their hands frequently, and wears a face covering. Self-serve items from communal containers should not be used. Yesss sirrree!
● When gathering, face coverings must be worn in accordance with the CDPH Guidance on the Use of Face Coverings, unless an exemption is applicable. People at gatherings may remove their face coverings briefly to eat or drink as long as they stay at least 6 feet away from everyone outside their own household, and put their face covering back on as soon as they are done with the activity. Face coverings can also be removed to meet urgent medical needs (for example, to use an asthma inhaler, take medication, or if feeling light-headed). Yesss sirrree!
● Singing, chanting, shouting, cheering, physical exertion, and similar activities significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission because these activities increase the release of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols into the air. Because of this, singing, chanting, shouting, cheering, and similar activities are not permitted in indoor gatherings and are strongly discouraged in outdoor settings, but if they occur, the following rules and recommendations apply:
(1) All people who are singing or chanting should wear a face covering at all times while singing or chanting, including anyone who is leading a song or chant. Because these activities pose a very high risk of COVID-19 transmission, face coverings are essential to reduce the spread of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols. Yesss sirrree!
(2) People who are singing, shouting, chanting, or exercising are strongly encouraged to maintain physical distancing beyond 6 feet to further reduce risk. Yesss sirrree!
(3) People who are singing or chanting are strongly encouraged to do so quietly (at or below the volume of a normal speaking voice). Yesss sirrree!
(4) Instrumental music is allowed as long as the musicians maintain at least 6-foot physical distancing. Musicians must be from one of the three households. Playing of wind instruments (any instrument played by the mouth, such as a trumpet or clarinet) is strongly discouraged. If played, one should use protective or tightly woven cloth barriers on the instrument bells, or at the end of the instrument, to protect from spread of condensation droplets. If music is played, it is recommended that the volume be quiet enough that attendees can speak in a normal voice without shouting. Yesss sirrree!
Whatever Happened to Californian Liberalism?
California has a reputation for being one of the most Liberal states in the United States. CBS news ranks it in 5th place―out of 50. Hey! Isn’t Liberalism supposed to be all about freedom, independence, doing what you want, etc. Dictionaries define “Liberalism” in the following ways: “Liberalism is the belief that people should have a lot of political and individual freedom” … “a political philosophy advocating personal freedom for the individual” … “a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual.”
In his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, Fr. Felix Salvany states: “We find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
(1) The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
(2) The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
(3) Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
(4) Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.”
Fr. Salvany points out that with Liberalism―having liberated itself from God―will inevitably lead to a state of affairs where “the road is open to an odious tyranny.” The Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, believed that the key and driving feature of democracy is desire for freedom―this very trait, though, ultimately leads a state to tyranny. In Plato’s view, each political state naturally devolves into another in systematic order. Rule by philosopher-king gives way to timocracy (rule by property owners), which gives way to oligarchy, followed by democracy and then tyranny.
Liberalism is a political doctrine that insists it is protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual. Liberals typically believed that government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but they also recognize that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. As the revolutionary American pamphleteer, Thomas Paine, expressed it in Common Sense (written in 1776), government is at best “a necessary evil.” Laws, judges, and police are needed to secure the individual’s life and liberty―but their coercive power may also be turned against him. The problem, then, is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to protect individual liberty, but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power. Once you have turned away from God and banished God from the sphere of politics―such a desire is mere wishful thinking. Liberalism will never work, because it is wounded by its own false and fatal desire for independence. Once you have everyone wanting to be independent from everyone and everything―you have chaos. That is where we are headed right now―as the increasing chaos proves.
Why Are We Taking Stupidity So Seriously?
At a time when common sense should prevail―it seems that common sense is not very common, it has given way to common senselessness. We are subjected to, we listen to and we accept―without thinking―some of most ludicrous statements, advice, commands and measures from some government officials, medical personnel and the media. We just nod our heads and meekly accept what is said and comply with what is commanded. For example ...
► STUPIDITY MASKED ― You can put on a mask, but it can’t and won’t hide your stupidity! Increasing numbers of states are making mask wearing mandatory. As of November 2020, 36 states now mandate face coverings―with some states requiring it even for 2 year olds, other states start from 5 years-old, while some start at 10-years old! In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice pushed back this week against opposition to his recent mandate that masks be worn in all public indoor spaces, with some exemptions. “How do I feel about masks? Well, I don’t like them. I don’t want to wear them. ... But more than anything, I want us to get more control, more control over this terrible virus that is just eating us alive. I want us to absolutely wear a mask,” Justice said. Already way back on April 22nd, 2020, Judge Lina Hidalgo, in Harris County, Texas, made an announcement ordering residents to wear face masks in public for 30 days or be faced with a fine or jail time. Under Hidalgo’s initial order, residents over 10 years old faced a fine of $1,000 and 180 days in jail if they failed to wear a face covering in public at all times except while drinking, eating or exercising. A day later, violating the mask order was said to be punishable only by the fine, but not jail time. In the end, five days after Hidalgo issued her edict, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott overruled her. Many other countries, states and counties also put similar measures in place, including Humboldt County, California, where anyone who violated the order to wear face coverings in public risked being fined $50 to $1,000 and/or face 90 days in jail for each day the offense occurred. In Salem, Massachusetts, people also risked being fined for not wearing a mask in public, including the common areas inside an apartment building. In Hawaii, customers and employees at essential businesses were required to wear cloth face coverings, in addition to staying 6 feet away from others. Those who violated the rules risked being fined up to $5,000 or face a year in prison — or both, according to Gov. David Ige’s order. In other states, such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, residents were denied entry to essential businesses if they refused to wear a mask.
As to the stupidity of wearing masks [read in more detail here] Dr. Judy Mikovits, a bio-chemist, micro-biologist and virologist, has been very outspoken about the dangers of face masks: “Can you believe they told everybody to wear a mask? Do you not know how unhealthy it is to keep inhaling your carbon dioxide and restricting proper oxygen flow? ... The body requires AMPLE amounts of oxygen for optimal immune health. Proper oxygenation of your cells and blood is ESSENTIAL for the body to function as it needs to in order to fight off any illness. Masks will hamper oxygen intake. If you have COPD and you wear a mask, you will kill yourself. You will cause the very disease you’re trying to prevent. Wearing the mask literally activates your own virus. Unless you are working in a hospital setting, it is NOT necessary. Number one, if your mask is just this scarf cover of your face — all that does is make you breathe in and out. I see people running and riding bikes with these masks. It doesn’t prevent mold, mildew, all the stuff that’s in the air, the pollens [from] allergy season. Those go right there into your sinus cavity, into your nasopharyngeal cavity. You’re exercising. You’re breathing hard. You’re sucking that stuff into your lungs and you’re sucking back in CO2. We don’t do photosynthesis. We’re humans. We have to breathe oxygen. We can’t breathe back in our own toxic air. That’s why you exhale. That’s why you breathe deeply. That’s why you cough to expel a pathogen. You cough in your own mask and you suppress your own immune system. It’s horribly immune suppressive!”
Dr. Mikovits is not the only expert warning about face mask dangers. According to News-Medical.Net, Dr. Jenny Harries, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, has warned the public against wearing facemasks “as the virus can get trapped in the material and causes infection when the wearer breathes in.”
Nationally recognized board-certified neuro-surgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock also believes face masks are capable of causing serious harm. First, Blaylock says, there is no scientific evidence that masks are effective against COVID-19 transmission. As for the scientific support for the use of face mask, a recent careful examination of the literature, in which 17 of the best studies were analyzed, concluded that, “None of the studies established a conclusive relationship between mask/respirator use and protection against influenza infection.” Blaylock adds: “Keep in mind, no studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Now that we have established that there is no scientific evidence necessitating the wearing of a face mask for prevention―are there dangers to wearing a face mask, especially for long periods? Several studies have indeed found significant problems with wearing such a mask. This can vary from headaches, to increased airway resistance, carbon dioxide accumulation, to hypoxia, all the way to serious life-threatening complications ... By wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain. It is also instructive to know that until recently, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control & Prevention] did not recommend wearing a face mask or covering of any kind, unless a person was known to be infected, that is, until recently. Non-infected people need not wear a mask. When a person has TB [tuberculosis] we have them wear a mask, not the entire community of non-infected. The recommendations by the CDC and the WHO [World Health Organization] are not based on any studies of this virus and have never been used to contain any other virus pandemic or epidemic in history.”
Even the controversial, Big-Pharma linked, Dr. Anthony Fauci made this comment on an interview with 60 Minutes on March 8th, 2020: “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.” Today, Fauci is singing a different tune (while wearing his mask, of course, just as Governor Newsome commanded).
What the mask is really good for is advertizing that is a Con-all-virus Plannedemic and you had better not forget it! Be seeing the mask everywhere and wherever you turn―it is “free advertizing” for those who wish to be in perpetual state of fear, so that they can build on that fear by coercing you into following the next planned steps. The wearing of the mask is almost like wearing chains and shackles―it is a sign that your mind has been captured and enslaved to propaganda narrative―it is form of psychological capitulation and submission. Furthermore, the more a lie is repeated, then the more it sounds like the truth and will eventually be accepted as being the truth!
► DEATHS ARE SPIKING ― It is claimed that over 250,000 people have died from Covid-19 in America and Joe Biden predicts 200,000 more will die before Joe the Savior gets into office! Almost 500,000 from March 2020 to January 2020? Are you sure, Joe? Are those stats facts or fiction? Is there some fraud going on―just as with the Election? Where is the evidence that the Covid cases are spiking? Spiking on paper? Spiking in propaganda? Or spiking in reality? Have 250,000 Americans really died because of Covid-19? Or have the numbers been stuffed and inflated―as allegedly the votes were stuffed and inflated?
Here are some extracts from an official e-mail from the medical and statistical authorities, sent to doctors throughout the USA, instructing them with regard the matter of entering Coronavirus (COVID-19) on death certificates:
“A newly-introduced ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code has been implemented to accurately capture mortality data for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on death certificates … The new ICD code for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is U07.1 … The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID19 being the underlying cause more often than not … If the death certificate reports terms such as “probable COVID-19” or “likely COVID-19,” these terms would be assigned the new ICD code. It Is not likely that NCHS will follow up on these cases.”
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, the White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator, said on April 7th, 2020: “I think that in this country we have taken a very liberal approach to mortality and that the reporting here has been pretty straightforward for the last 5 to 6 weeks … There are other countries that, if you had a pre-existing condition―let’s say the virus causes you to go the ICU and then have a heart or kidney problem, then some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death [just plain old common sense and honesty, don’t you think? Of course! But then Dr. Birx continues] Right now we are still recording it and will ― I mean the great thing about having forms that come in and a form that has the ability to mark it as a COVID-19 infection―the intent is, right now, that If someone dies with COVID-19 [but not from COVID-19 or because of COVID-19], we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.”
Instructions issued in March of 2020, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seem to corroborate Dr. Birx’s explanation on COVID-19 mortality recording: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death ... Certifiers [of the cause of death] should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc. If the decedent [the deceased] had other chronic conditions such as COPD or asthma that may have also contributed, these conditions can be reported in Part 2” [of the form―Part 2 is the part or line that lists the secondary cause of death]” ― but Part 1 is the line or part of the form which is the section for the primary cause of death, and this is reserved for you know what― yes, COVID-19]. Furthermore, did you know that most of the tests for COVID-19 are not explicitly COVID-19 tests but Coronavirus tests? This means that if you had the flu, or ever received a flu shot within the last few years―then the test would show you as being Coronavirus positive!
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, the White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator, seems to make a “U-Turn” on May 9th, 2020, by saying that she believes some official COVID-19 statistics, such as the death tolls, may be inflated by up to 25%, a new report states [actually far more than 25%]. According to a report from The Washington Post, Dr. Birx, during a heated task force meeting, criticized the method the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was using to collect its data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Dr. Birx reportedly told CDC Director Robert Redfield. Dr. Birx told The Washington Post, in a statement, that “mortality is slowly declining each day.”
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK, a Montana physician of over 30 years experience, states: “Telling the truth is [now] considered a threat to the national security … The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdown has been based on the alleged death rate of COVID-19. Is this death rate based on truth? Are the reported deaths from COVID-19 truly deaths from COVID-19? To address this question, we need to discuss death certificates since death certificates are the basic source of information about mortality. History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures―despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate. Those inaccurate numbers are then accepted as “factual information” even though much of it is false. The Center for Disease Control, updated from yesterday April 4th, 2020, still states that “mortality” data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. … The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same, they call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission. You could see how these statistics have been made to look scary when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. The real number of COVID-19 deaths are not what most people are told and what they then think. How many people actually died from COVID-19 is anyone’s guess. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fear-mongers into relinquishing freedoms.”
DR. DANIEL W. ERICKSON says: “When someone dies in this country right now, they’re not talking about the high blood pressure, the diabetes, the stroke. They say they died from COVID. We’ve been to hundreds of autopsies. You don’t talk about one thing, you talk about co-morbidities. COVID was part of it, but it is not the reason they died folks. When I’m writing up my death report I’m being pressured to add COVID. Why is that? Why are we being pressured to add COVID? To maybe increase the numbers, and make it look a little bit worse than it is. We’re being pressured in-house to add COVID to the diagnostic list when we think it has nothing to do with the actual cause of death. The actual cause of death was not COVID, but it’s being reported as one of the disease processes and being added to the death list. COVID didn’t kill them―25 years of tobacco use killed them.”
But, of course, for every honest doctor you will many dishonest doctors―or at least doctors who are afraid to be honest and truthful for fear of losing their jobs or suffering reprisals. There are always two sides to a story―just are there is God and Satan, good and evil, truth and lies. It is a little strange to see that―as the numbers of reported Covid deaths increase, the numbers of flu deaths, pneumonia deaths, COPD deaths, cardiac deaths, etc. have magically decreased! Seems like the Covid Corporation has a monopoly on all diseases and simply “bought them out”!
► SANITIZING YOUR GROCERY CART HANDLES ― Believe it or not, sanitizing grocery cart handles is nothing new―what is new is the obsessive constant repeated sanitization of the carts. Why? Is the grocery cart handle the preferred resting place for the virus? Is it its paradise on Earth? Did you know there is more bacteria on a shopping cart handle than on a public restroom toilet seat? With 138,000 total bacteria per square inch, according to the study findings, shopping carts are like petri dishes of viruses, germs and bacteria. But do these viruses, germs and bacteria only live on grocery cart handles? No! They are everywhere! Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh recently wrote a book, Never Home Alone. In this book, he describes how millions of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and insects live in your home—and in and on your body. Dr. Dunn says: “Every surface every bit of air; every bit of water in your home is alive … The average house has thousands of species … If you think about your body, it’s not actually just covered in skin—the outside layer of your body is totally microbial. If a flu virus lands on your hand, the first thing it encounters is not your immune system; it’s the layer of your microbes on your hand.” If they are obsessively sanitizing the car handles, then why are they not sanitizing every item that every customer has touched in the store? Why not force all customers to wear rubber gloves? Argh! We are all going to die! We are all going to die! There is no escape! No escape! Sanitize everything! Spray everything! Scrub everything! We might still have a slim chance of survival!
► CURFEWS AND EARLY CLOSINGS ― In Rhode Island, several new measures went into effect earlier this month, including a stay-at-home advisory in effect from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on weeknights and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The governor of Massachusetts also announced a stay-at-home advisory earlier this month, lasting from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. And a stay-at-home advisory went into effect this week in Chicago, following a “rapid rise of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.” All bars must close by 10:00 p.m. Huh? Does that mean that big, bad, bogeyman Covid-19 virus only comes out at night, and not until 10:00 p.m.? Does this virus have an especial love of bars? Is the virus taking a siesta from 5:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.?
George Bernard Shaw speaks of a similar notion, saying: “Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language!” The point being made is that―even though we use the same words, those words can (and often do) have quite distinctly different meanings because of our cultural differences, religious differences, etc. There is even a British English vs. American English translation dictionary! In the Catholic Church today, Conservatives and Modernists might use the same word, but for each of them that word has a slightly or greatly different meaning.
Words can mean different things at different times. Take, for instance, the word “awful” ― which today means very bad or unpleasant. Originally, that word meant “worthy of awe”, as in “very inspiring”. However, over time it has come to mean bad, displeasing, offensive, etc. Yet, even in modern English, that original meaning still survives in the word “awesome” ― meaning extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration. Similarly, the modern notion of the word “cool” has a double meaning ― that of being cold or chilly, as well a modern version of “cool” meaning something that is fashionable, admirable, good or excellent. Likewise with the slang version of “bad” ― where bad means good. Actually, in slang, “bad” means even better than good. It is often used in reference to someone’s appearance or their actions. Since at least the 1960s, stupid has been slang for “very” or “extremely,” … “to a ridiculous extent” ― as in “That hamburger I had for lunch was stupidly good.”
The Roots of Stupidity
Can you define what the word “stupid” means? Do you know where “stupid” comes from? If you can’t define it or don’t know where it comes from―does that mean that you are stupid? Or does it mean that you are ignorant? Is ignorance stupidity? Is stupidity ignorance? Since words do not just jump into existence out of nowhere―just as we did not come out of nowhere, but have long ancestral roots beneath and behind us―likewise the word “stupid” has a history that anchors its true meaning in the past and avoids changes of meaning over time―like “bad” becoming to mean “good”.
The word stupid comes from the Latin verb “stupere” meaning “be stunned, numb, amazed, confounded or astonished” and is linked with the Latin adjective “stupidus”, meaning “amazed, confounded; dull, foolish” and is related to Latin word “stupere, stupor” literally meaning “struck senseless”. In English, “stupor” is the lack of critical mental function and a level of consciousness, in which an affected person is almost entirely unresponsive and only responds to intense stimuli such as pain.
Stupidity Defined
Some say: “A book is a man’s best friend” ― others say: “A dog is a man’s best friend”. Unless you’re stupid, you have to admit that you get more out of books than you get out of dogs! So what does the book of the Dictionary say about the word stupid? How does it define “stupid” and “stupidity”? Here is a sampling from several dictionaries―for each dictionary often has nuances in their definitions and one dictionary can express a definition better than another. So here is what they say:
Being stupid has to do with not understanding things, not learning from past experiences, and generally not using your mind. Stupidity is a lack of thought, lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. Stupidity is a thought, word or action that is senseless, a thought, a comment or a behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment. A failure to see things as they really are, the failure to be open to and analyze new information. A failure to act correctly, sensibly, logically or prudently. Stupidities are foolish remarks, irrational acts, illogical thinking.
So there you have it! If you were ignorant about stupidity, now you are “in the know”. This brings us to the final distinction before seriously embarking on the theme of this article. Is ignorance stupidity? Is stupidity ignorance?
Stupidity versus Ignorance
The intrinsic difference is that ignorance simply implies lack of awareness about something, while stupidity implies that a person is aware of something, but they are unable to understand something due to insufficient intelligence, faulty reasoning, or dullness of mind, or sheer impetuosity through haste lacking prudence (in other words, “jumping to conclusions”)―thus leading to the misinterpretation of a fact―an event, a statement, an action or an idea.
Define Your Terms
Voltaire (1694-1778), despite being baptized a Catholic and educated by the Jesuits, became a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher―famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of Church and State, was in the habit of saying: “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms!” Which―even though it comes from the mouth of a bitter enemy of the Church―nevertheless makes sense. Even the devil speaks the truth sometimes―even though he is the father of lies.
Stupid and Stupidity is …
So what do we mean by “stupid”? Nothing more than the dictionary definitions given above ― Someone who is stupid fails to understanding things, fails to learn from past experiences, and generally does not think in a logical manner. Stupidity is a lack of thought, lack of intelligence, understanding or reason― a thought, word or action that is senseless, a thought, a comment or a behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment. A stupid person fails to see things as they really are; fails to act correctly, sensibly, logically or prudently―manifesting instead foolish remarks, irrational acts, illogical thinking.
You are probably familiar with the proverb that says: “Stupid is as stupid does!” meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid actions. You could add to that proverb another modified one: “Stupid is as stupid speaks!” also meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid words. If you want to go a step further, you could say: “Stupid is as stupid believes!” also meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their stupid beliefs.
Subjectivity Leads to Stupidity
You have doubtlessly heard of the terms “objectivity” and “subjectivity”. In brief, “objectivity” means “things as they really are” ― it is a view of truth or reality that is free of any individual person’s biases, interpretations, feelings, and imaginings. If you're objective about something, then you have no personal feelings about it, but stick to the reality that is outside of your mind, sticking to real facts that are not colored by your interpretation, wishes, or imagination. “Subjectivity”, on the other hand, has feelings, opinions, biases, prejudices, etc. Anything subjective means it is subject to personal interpretation and judgment―regardless of the real facts or real truth that stands before us. Usually, subjective means influenced by personal feelings, personal emotions, personal opinions, personal prejudices, personal hopes, personal experience, etc. It places the subject (oneself) above the object (reality outside of oneself)―so that the object does not teach me truth, but I decide what I want to decide about the object―regardless of whether it be true or not.
As they say: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” ― and what is beautiful to one person, may not be beautiful to another ― meaning that the idea of beauty has subjective and not objective ― whereby we now see ugly creations being passed-off as “art” in many museums. Sadly, the same is true of truth ― truth today has become what a person believes it to be, so that one man’s “truth” might be a “lie” to another person ― and, conversely, a “lie” might be taken for the “truth.”
Covid-19 ― A Virus of Stupidity
There are many symptoms that have been listed for Covid-19 ― Fever or chills; Cough; Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; Fatigue; Muscle or body aches; Headache; New loss of taste or smell; Sore throat; Congestion or runny nose; Nausea or vomiting; Diarrhea. Yet one symptom has escaped the attention of everybody ― the symptom of STUPIDITY.
The Covid Narrative has many elements. Every single one begs our stupidity. The narrative goes like this:
“There’s a DEADLY NEW VIRUS that causes a serious disease to which we are ALL SUSCEPTIBLE. ALL IMMUNITY VANISHES, so even if you’re lucky enough to recover, you can catch it and GET SICK AGAIN and it has exceptional long-term consequences—’LONG COVID’. Only A VACCINE CAN SAVE US, and only LOCKDOWNS AND MASKS CAN KEEP US SAFE until we have one, so we should rush its development and MAKE IT MANDATORY. To make things worse, a SECOND WAVE is coming to get us. HERD IMMUNITY IS A STRATEGY, held only by evil people who want to ‘LET IT RIP’ and who don’t see that we need a GREAT RESET. We must be traced, quarantined, muzzled, vaccinated and chip-certified. Get used to it—it’s the NEW NORMAL that we all must accept.”
U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, has said on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, that both flu and coronavirus can cause many of the same symptoms, adding: “the one symptom that I would alert people to―that really differentiates flu from Covid―is loss of taste or smell.” So if this whole Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic no longer smells fishy to you, or the whole thing no longer tastes odd ― then you have swallowed the Covid-media-bug or inhaled the Fudging-Fauci-virus.
Just Stop and Think!
Children are taught the essential guide to pedestrian safety and road safety. For example, always stop, look, listen and think before crossing a road. That sound advice would serve us well in prudently assessing viral safety issues and vaccination safety issues before rushing out onto the big broad road that could lead to our ‘perdition’! “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember” … what Our Lady, the Saints and Popes have said about our times and what we should expect (Mark 8:18). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Matthew 13:15). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart” (Acts 28:27). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak! … Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits if they be of God―because many false prophets [politicians, doctors, media-men] are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:5; 1:4). “Beware of false prophets [politicians, doctors, media-men], who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” [with syringe in hand] (Matthew 7:15). “Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse―erring and driving into error!” (2 Timothy 3:13). “Let no man deceive you with vain words!” (Ephesians 5:6). “Be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter … as if the day of the Lord were at hand! Let no man deceive you by any means! … They receive not the love of the truth … therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying!” (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3, 10). “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32).
California Clown―Governor Gavin Newsome
There have been many stupid and ridiculous things said about Covid-19 by many people. There have been numerous stupid and ridiculous measures taken with regard to Covid-19. However, the “Covid Oscar Winner” or “Golden Globe Winner” could possibly/probably be given to the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Political Comedian (or Biggest Joke Going)―Governor Gavin Newsome of California, otherwise now known as the “California Clown”―or could it be “California Commie”?
In response to the so-called “Second Wave” in which we are being told to “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”, and of which the Global Prophet Biden prophesied: “We're about to go into a dark winter!” ― Governor Gavin Newsome (a name that could just as well stand for: Go Give in to Newworldorder) has decided to combat that dark winter by a series of Gov. given commandments that make the God given Commandments look like a mere twig next to a California Redwood Tree! Governor Newsome has become Governor Nuisance with his micro-managing California Commandments. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. Just like Moses was given the Ten Commandments twice―the first set of tablets were shattered by Moses in anger at the idolatry of the people―Governor Newsome has gone beyond God and Moses and has issued his “Covid Second Wave California Commandments” three times―the first version was on September 12th, 2020, the second version was on October 6th, 2020, which was followed by a third version on November 13th, 2020―looks like he can’t quite make up his mind on what Commandments will work best! Below, you will find some of the more ridiculous “Commandments” ― if you really want to read through all of them―both the original version and the revised version―the links to them are here:
OCTOBER 9th VERSION: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/CDPH-Guidance-for-the-Prevention-of-COVID-19-Transmission-for-Gatherings-10-09.aspx
NOVEMBER 13th VERSION: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Guidance-for-the-Prevention-of-COVID-19-Transmission-for-Gatherings-November-2020.aspx
Here are some of the extracts that outline, both the ridiculousness of it and the Communist or Totalitarian style of it.
● Gatherings that include more than 3 households are prohibited. Keep the households that you interact with stable over time. By spending time with the same people, risk of transmission is reduced. Participating in multiple gatherings with different households or groups is strongly discouraged. The host should collect names of all attendees and contact information in case contact tracing is needed later. Yesss sirrree!
● Gatherings that occur outdoors are significantly safer than indoor gatherings. All gatherings must be held outside. Attendees may go inside to use restrooms as long as the restrooms are frequently sanitized. Gatherings may occur in outdoor spaces that are covered by umbrellas, canopies, awnings, roofs, and other shade structures provided that at least three sides of the space (or 75%) are open to the outdoors. A gathering of no more than three households is permitted in a public park or other outdoor space. Yesss sirrree!
● For any gatherings permitted under this guidance, the space must be large enough so that everyone at a gathering can maintain at least a 6-foot physical distance from others (not including their own household) at all times. Seating must provide at least 6 feet of distance (in all directions—front-to-back and side-to-side) between different households. Everyone at a gathering should frequently wash their hands with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available. A place to wash hands or hand sanitizer must be available for participants to use. Shared items should not be used during a gathering. As much as possible, any food or beverages at outdoor gatherings must be in single-serve disposable containers. If providing single-serve containers is not possible, food and beverages must be served by a person who washes or sanitizes their hands frequently, and wears a face covering. Self-serve items from communal containers should not be used. Yesss sirrree!
● When gathering, face coverings must be worn in accordance with the CDPH Guidance on the Use of Face Coverings, unless an exemption is applicable. People at gatherings may remove their face coverings briefly to eat or drink as long as they stay at least 6 feet away from everyone outside their own household, and put their face covering back on as soon as they are done with the activity. Face coverings can also be removed to meet urgent medical needs (for example, to use an asthma inhaler, take medication, or if feeling light-headed). Yesss sirrree!
● Singing, chanting, shouting, cheering, physical exertion, and similar activities significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission because these activities increase the release of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols into the air. Because of this, singing, chanting, shouting, cheering, and similar activities are not permitted in indoor gatherings and are strongly discouraged in outdoor settings, but if they occur, the following rules and recommendations apply:
(1) All people who are singing or chanting should wear a face covering at all times while singing or chanting, including anyone who is leading a song or chant. Because these activities pose a very high risk of COVID-19 transmission, face coverings are essential to reduce the spread of respiratory droplets and fine aerosols. Yesss sirrree!
(2) People who are singing, shouting, chanting, or exercising are strongly encouraged to maintain physical distancing beyond 6 feet to further reduce risk. Yesss sirrree!
(3) People who are singing or chanting are strongly encouraged to do so quietly (at or below the volume of a normal speaking voice). Yesss sirrree!
(4) Instrumental music is allowed as long as the musicians maintain at least 6-foot physical distancing. Musicians must be from one of the three households. Playing of wind instruments (any instrument played by the mouth, such as a trumpet or clarinet) is strongly discouraged. If played, one should use protective or tightly woven cloth barriers on the instrument bells, or at the end of the instrument, to protect from spread of condensation droplets. If music is played, it is recommended that the volume be quiet enough that attendees can speak in a normal voice without shouting. Yesss sirrree!
Whatever Happened to Californian Liberalism?
California has a reputation for being one of the most Liberal states in the United States. CBS news ranks it in 5th place―out of 50. Hey! Isn’t Liberalism supposed to be all about freedom, independence, doing what you want, etc. Dictionaries define “Liberalism” in the following ways: “Liberalism is the belief that people should have a lot of political and individual freedom” … “a political philosophy advocating personal freedom for the individual” … “a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual.”
In his book, Liberalism Is A Sin, Fr. Felix Salvany states: “We find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
(1) The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
(2) The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
(3) Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
(4) Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.”
Fr. Salvany points out that with Liberalism―having liberated itself from God―will inevitably lead to a state of affairs where “the road is open to an odious tyranny.” The Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, believed that the key and driving feature of democracy is desire for freedom―this very trait, though, ultimately leads a state to tyranny. In Plato’s view, each political state naturally devolves into another in systematic order. Rule by philosopher-king gives way to timocracy (rule by property owners), which gives way to oligarchy, followed by democracy and then tyranny.
Liberalism is a political doctrine that insists it is protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual. Liberals typically believed that government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but they also recognize that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. As the revolutionary American pamphleteer, Thomas Paine, expressed it in Common Sense (written in 1776), government is at best “a necessary evil.” Laws, judges, and police are needed to secure the individual’s life and liberty―but their coercive power may also be turned against him. The problem, then, is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to protect individual liberty, but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power. Once you have turned away from God and banished God from the sphere of politics―such a desire is mere wishful thinking. Liberalism will never work, because it is wounded by its own false and fatal desire for independence. Once you have everyone wanting to be independent from everyone and everything―you have chaos. That is where we are headed right now―as the increasing chaos proves.
Why Are We Taking Stupidity So Seriously?
At a time when common sense should prevail―it seems that common sense is not very common, it has given way to common senselessness. We are subjected to, we listen to and we accept―without thinking―some of most ludicrous statements, advice, commands and measures from some government officials, medical personnel and the media. We just nod our heads and meekly accept what is said and comply with what is commanded. For example ...
► STUPIDITY MASKED ― You can put on a mask, but it can’t and won’t hide your stupidity! Increasing numbers of states are making mask wearing mandatory. As of November 2020, 36 states now mandate face coverings―with some states requiring it even for 2 year olds, other states start from 5 years-old, while some start at 10-years old! In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice pushed back this week against opposition to his recent mandate that masks be worn in all public indoor spaces, with some exemptions. “How do I feel about masks? Well, I don’t like them. I don’t want to wear them. ... But more than anything, I want us to get more control, more control over this terrible virus that is just eating us alive. I want us to absolutely wear a mask,” Justice said. Already way back on April 22nd, 2020, Judge Lina Hidalgo, in Harris County, Texas, made an announcement ordering residents to wear face masks in public for 30 days or be faced with a fine or jail time. Under Hidalgo’s initial order, residents over 10 years old faced a fine of $1,000 and 180 days in jail if they failed to wear a face covering in public at all times except while drinking, eating or exercising. A day later, violating the mask order was said to be punishable only by the fine, but not jail time. In the end, five days after Hidalgo issued her edict, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott overruled her. Many other countries, states and counties also put similar measures in place, including Humboldt County, California, where anyone who violated the order to wear face coverings in public risked being fined $50 to $1,000 and/or face 90 days in jail for each day the offense occurred. In Salem, Massachusetts, people also risked being fined for not wearing a mask in public, including the common areas inside an apartment building. In Hawaii, customers and employees at essential businesses were required to wear cloth face coverings, in addition to staying 6 feet away from others. Those who violated the rules risked being fined up to $5,000 or face a year in prison — or both, according to Gov. David Ige’s order. In other states, such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, residents were denied entry to essential businesses if they refused to wear a mask.
As to the stupidity of wearing masks [read in more detail here] Dr. Judy Mikovits, a bio-chemist, micro-biologist and virologist, has been very outspoken about the dangers of face masks: “Can you believe they told everybody to wear a mask? Do you not know how unhealthy it is to keep inhaling your carbon dioxide and restricting proper oxygen flow? ... The body requires AMPLE amounts of oxygen for optimal immune health. Proper oxygenation of your cells and blood is ESSENTIAL for the body to function as it needs to in order to fight off any illness. Masks will hamper oxygen intake. If you have COPD and you wear a mask, you will kill yourself. You will cause the very disease you’re trying to prevent. Wearing the mask literally activates your own virus. Unless you are working in a hospital setting, it is NOT necessary. Number one, if your mask is just this scarf cover of your face — all that does is make you breathe in and out. I see people running and riding bikes with these masks. It doesn’t prevent mold, mildew, all the stuff that’s in the air, the pollens [from] allergy season. Those go right there into your sinus cavity, into your nasopharyngeal cavity. You’re exercising. You’re breathing hard. You’re sucking that stuff into your lungs and you’re sucking back in CO2. We don’t do photosynthesis. We’re humans. We have to breathe oxygen. We can’t breathe back in our own toxic air. That’s why you exhale. That’s why you breathe deeply. That’s why you cough to expel a pathogen. You cough in your own mask and you suppress your own immune system. It’s horribly immune suppressive!”
Dr. Mikovits is not the only expert warning about face mask dangers. According to News-Medical.Net, Dr. Jenny Harries, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, has warned the public against wearing facemasks “as the virus can get trapped in the material and causes infection when the wearer breathes in.”
Nationally recognized board-certified neuro-surgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock also believes face masks are capable of causing serious harm. First, Blaylock says, there is no scientific evidence that masks are effective against COVID-19 transmission. As for the scientific support for the use of face mask, a recent careful examination of the literature, in which 17 of the best studies were analyzed, concluded that, “None of the studies established a conclusive relationship between mask/respirator use and protection against influenza infection.” Blaylock adds: “Keep in mind, no studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Now that we have established that there is no scientific evidence necessitating the wearing of a face mask for prevention―are there dangers to wearing a face mask, especially for long periods? Several studies have indeed found significant problems with wearing such a mask. This can vary from headaches, to increased airway resistance, carbon dioxide accumulation, to hypoxia, all the way to serious life-threatening complications ... By wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain. It is also instructive to know that until recently, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control & Prevention] did not recommend wearing a face mask or covering of any kind, unless a person was known to be infected, that is, until recently. Non-infected people need not wear a mask. When a person has TB [tuberculosis] we have them wear a mask, not the entire community of non-infected. The recommendations by the CDC and the WHO [World Health Organization] are not based on any studies of this virus and have never been used to contain any other virus pandemic or epidemic in history.”
Even the controversial, Big-Pharma linked, Dr. Anthony Fauci made this comment on an interview with 60 Minutes on March 8th, 2020: “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.” Today, Fauci is singing a different tune (while wearing his mask, of course, just as Governor Newsome commanded).
What the mask is really good for is advertizing that is a Con-all-virus Plannedemic and you had better not forget it! Be seeing the mask everywhere and wherever you turn―it is “free advertizing” for those who wish to be in perpetual state of fear, so that they can build on that fear by coercing you into following the next planned steps. The wearing of the mask is almost like wearing chains and shackles―it is a sign that your mind has been captured and enslaved to propaganda narrative―it is form of psychological capitulation and submission. Furthermore, the more a lie is repeated, then the more it sounds like the truth and will eventually be accepted as being the truth!
► DEATHS ARE SPIKING ― It is claimed that over 250,000 people have died from Covid-19 in America and Joe Biden predicts 200,000 more will die before Joe the Savior gets into office! Almost 500,000 from March 2020 to January 2020? Are you sure, Joe? Are those stats facts or fiction? Is there some fraud going on―just as with the Election? Where is the evidence that the Covid cases are spiking? Spiking on paper? Spiking in propaganda? Or spiking in reality? Have 250,000 Americans really died because of Covid-19? Or have the numbers been stuffed and inflated―as allegedly the votes were stuffed and inflated?
Here are some extracts from an official e-mail from the medical and statistical authorities, sent to doctors throughout the USA, instructing them with regard the matter of entering Coronavirus (COVID-19) on death certificates:
“A newly-introduced ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code has been implemented to accurately capture mortality data for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on death certificates … The new ICD code for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is U07.1 … The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID19 being the underlying cause more often than not … If the death certificate reports terms such as “probable COVID-19” or “likely COVID-19,” these terms would be assigned the new ICD code. It Is not likely that NCHS will follow up on these cases.”
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, the White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator, said on April 7th, 2020: “I think that in this country we have taken a very liberal approach to mortality and that the reporting here has been pretty straightforward for the last 5 to 6 weeks … There are other countries that, if you had a pre-existing condition―let’s say the virus causes you to go the ICU and then have a heart or kidney problem, then some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death [just plain old common sense and honesty, don’t you think? Of course! But then Dr. Birx continues] Right now we are still recording it and will ― I mean the great thing about having forms that come in and a form that has the ability to mark it as a COVID-19 infection―the intent is, right now, that If someone dies with COVID-19 [but not from COVID-19 or because of COVID-19], we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.”
Instructions issued in March of 2020, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seem to corroborate Dr. Birx’s explanation on COVID-19 mortality recording: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death ... Certifiers [of the cause of death] should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc. If the decedent [the deceased] had other chronic conditions such as COPD or asthma that may have also contributed, these conditions can be reported in Part 2” [of the form―Part 2 is the part or line that lists the secondary cause of death]” ― but Part 1 is the line or part of the form which is the section for the primary cause of death, and this is reserved for you know what― yes, COVID-19]. Furthermore, did you know that most of the tests for COVID-19 are not explicitly COVID-19 tests but Coronavirus tests? This means that if you had the flu, or ever received a flu shot within the last few years―then the test would show you as being Coronavirus positive!
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, the White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator, seems to make a “U-Turn” on May 9th, 2020, by saying that she believes some official COVID-19 statistics, such as the death tolls, may be inflated by up to 25%, a new report states [actually far more than 25%]. According to a report from The Washington Post, Dr. Birx, during a heated task force meeting, criticized the method the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was using to collect its data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Dr. Birx reportedly told CDC Director Robert Redfield. Dr. Birx told The Washington Post, in a statement, that “mortality is slowly declining each day.”
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK, a Montana physician of over 30 years experience, states: “Telling the truth is [now] considered a threat to the national security … The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdown has been based on the alleged death rate of COVID-19. Is this death rate based on truth? Are the reported deaths from COVID-19 truly deaths from COVID-19? To address this question, we need to discuss death certificates since death certificates are the basic source of information about mortality. History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures―despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate. Those inaccurate numbers are then accepted as “factual information” even though much of it is false. The Center for Disease Control, updated from yesterday April 4th, 2020, still states that “mortality” data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. … The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same, they call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission. You could see how these statistics have been made to look scary when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. The real number of COVID-19 deaths are not what most people are told and what they then think. How many people actually died from COVID-19 is anyone’s guess. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fear-mongers into relinquishing freedoms.”
DR. DANIEL W. ERICKSON says: “When someone dies in this country right now, they’re not talking about the high blood pressure, the diabetes, the stroke. They say they died from COVID. We’ve been to hundreds of autopsies. You don’t talk about one thing, you talk about co-morbidities. COVID was part of it, but it is not the reason they died folks. When I’m writing up my death report I’m being pressured to add COVID. Why is that? Why are we being pressured to add COVID? To maybe increase the numbers, and make it look a little bit worse than it is. We’re being pressured in-house to add COVID to the diagnostic list when we think it has nothing to do with the actual cause of death. The actual cause of death was not COVID, but it’s being reported as one of the disease processes and being added to the death list. COVID didn’t kill them―25 years of tobacco use killed them.”
But, of course, for every honest doctor you will many dishonest doctors―or at least doctors who are afraid to be honest and truthful for fear of losing their jobs or suffering reprisals. There are always two sides to a story―just are there is God and Satan, good and evil, truth and lies. It is a little strange to see that―as the numbers of reported Covid deaths increase, the numbers of flu deaths, pneumonia deaths, COPD deaths, cardiac deaths, etc. have magically decreased! Seems like the Covid Corporation has a monopoly on all diseases and simply “bought them out”!
► SANITIZING YOUR GROCERY CART HANDLES ― Believe it or not, sanitizing grocery cart handles is nothing new―what is new is the obsessive constant repeated sanitization of the carts. Why? Is the grocery cart handle the preferred resting place for the virus? Is it its paradise on Earth? Did you know there is more bacteria on a shopping cart handle than on a public restroom toilet seat? With 138,000 total bacteria per square inch, according to the study findings, shopping carts are like petri dishes of viruses, germs and bacteria. But do these viruses, germs and bacteria only live on grocery cart handles? No! They are everywhere! Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh recently wrote a book, Never Home Alone. In this book, he describes how millions of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and insects live in your home—and in and on your body. Dr. Dunn says: “Every surface every bit of air; every bit of water in your home is alive … The average house has thousands of species … If you think about your body, it’s not actually just covered in skin—the outside layer of your body is totally microbial. If a flu virus lands on your hand, the first thing it encounters is not your immune system; it’s the layer of your microbes on your hand.” If they are obsessively sanitizing the car handles, then why are they not sanitizing every item that every customer has touched in the store? Why not force all customers to wear rubber gloves? Argh! We are all going to die! We are all going to die! There is no escape! No escape! Sanitize everything! Spray everything! Scrub everything! We might still have a slim chance of survival!
► CURFEWS AND EARLY CLOSINGS ― In Rhode Island, several new measures went into effect earlier this month, including a stay-at-home advisory in effect from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on weeknights and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The governor of Massachusetts also announced a stay-at-home advisory earlier this month, lasting from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. And a stay-at-home advisory went into effect this week in Chicago, following a “rapid rise of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.” All bars must close by 10:00 p.m. Huh? Does that mean that big, bad, bogeyman Covid-19 virus only comes out at night, and not until 10:00 p.m.? Does this virus have an especial love of bars? Is the virus taking a siesta from 5:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.?
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday November 14th & Sunday November 15th & Monday November 16th
Article 7
Will We Win? Or Will We Lose?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saturday November 14th & Sunday November 15th & Monday November 16th
Article 7
Will We Win? Or Will We Lose?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Victory of What or Whom?
Everyone loves to win and hates to lose―but what race are we running in? Are we running in the right race? Are we fighting against the right opponent? Are we even fighting on the right side? Sister Lucia speaks of a final fight between Satan and Our Lady―a fight in which nobody can be a spectator and everyone must chooses to fight for one side or the other: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We must pick a side―Our Lord Himself pretty much said the same thing: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Our Lord is telling us that the world is not our friend, but our enemy! This he echoes when He later says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The World is Our Enemy
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying] ― ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-4). Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
You cannot put more clearly or more emphatically than that! Why is it, then, that we love the world so much? Why is that we are so worldly? Why have we let ourselves be so tainted with the world? If we remain attached to the world and tainted by the world, then we are defeated―“Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32) ― and that is why most souls are condemned and in Hell right now! “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God!” (Romans 8:5-8). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Instead of happily and contentedly immersing ourselves in the world, God tells us: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
In other words, get out of the world while you still can, jump ship before it goes down―“The Lord delayeth not His promise [of chastising the world], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief―in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:9-11). “For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace―and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble! And the day that cometh, shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch!” (Malachias 4:1). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof!” (Isaias 24:1). “I saw the Earth was gone, and the sea is now no more!” (Apocalypse 21:1).
Wars and Crises are the Result of Sin
St. Jacinta Marto, one of three seers at Fatima, said shortly before her death that: “Our Lady said that there are many wars and discords in the world. Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world. She stated that she could not hold back the arm of her Beloved Son upon the world anymore. It is necessary to do penance. If people amend themselves, Our Lord shall still come to the aid of the world. If they do not amend themselves, punishment shall come.” Our Lady of La Salette had already said in 1846: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” And, by 1956, those sins had reached such a level that God’s punishment was imminent―as revealed by Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” A further warning was given 17 years later, in 1973, by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Who the Heck Cares?
Folks! It is our times she is speaking about―back in 1956 and 1973, there was no legalized abortion, very little legalized divorce, no over the counter contraceptives, no legalized sodomy, no legalized same-sex marriages, no LGBTQ, no transgender issues, no rampant pornography, etc. The scary thing is that neither Our Lady’s terrible warnings, nor those terrible sins, have much effect upon us―we are fairly desensitized to both, we are in a comfortable complacency, an indifferentism, a nonchalance, a kind of a “So what?” attitude. It is because we have lost the sense of the gravity of sin. Perhaps we even treat mortal sin lightly―thinking, “O what’s the big deal, I’ll just go and confess next time I go to Mass!”―and so Confession gets relegated to a kind of a “spiritual car-wash” whereby we go every week to wash-off the dirt and grime and pay a few Hail Marys for the service! We forget the grave words of our Catechisms, which tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). This current day loss of the sense of sin is merely a few steps away from the loss of soul.
We Have Lost the Sense of Sin
Not only the Traditional popes, but also the Liberal and Modernist Popes have complained about this universal loss of the sense of sin. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the Conservative and Traditional Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Once we have lost the sense of sin, we inevitably, increasingly and automatically embrace the world, its worldliness, and implicitly (without really thinking about it) we embrace the devil too. As Sister Lucia said in 1957: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We are either with God―which means the living the Faith as it is meant to be lived―or we with Satan―which means living a worldly life, for Satan is the prince of this world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). There are no spectators in this “final battle”―there can be no neutrality in this “final battle”―and most Catholics find that terribly hard to accept, and even harder to comply with. In fact, most Catholics do not want to fight the world, nor overcome the world, nor leave the world―nothing but a tragic defeat and a miserable end awaits such Catholics. There can be no―and there will be no victory over the world with such an attitude―only defeat awaits. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The Fight and Struggle for Victory
We have to fight for victory―it does not come cheap―as Holy Scripture repeatedly tells us: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). There is no victory without a fight: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). To lay hold of eternal life will require much effort, much pain and much suffering: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― the only violence most Catholics show is when someone tries to take away their comforts, entertainment and fun! Our Lord gave us an example of this violent struggle by undergoing the “violence” of the cross―and that same cross He places on our shoulders, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Most Want Victory Without a Struggle
Most modern Americans have been raised with a dislike of having to make great efforts and having to fight for something over long periods of time. Since the 1990s, a disastrous educational approach ― the self-esteem paradigm ― has caused havoc in the formation of children and students. According to the “self-esteem” paradigm, you should not hurt the “feelings” or “self-esteem” of children by telling them they have failed, or that something is not good enough, or that they are bad, etc. These children are not pushed, challenged, toughened-up for the realities of the world where “self-esteem” will matter little. Heck! Children who are raised with that garbage will experience one helluva of shock on the Day of Judgment when their “self-esteem” is going to take one heck of knock when God judges and “grades” all that they have thought, said, done and omitted to say and do! “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). For those who are sent to Hell, they will quickly find that there is no “self-esteem” in Hell―for Satan respects nobody and, in Hell, he gives them hell!
The news outlet, CNN, in an October 21st 2015 article entitled “Have Our Kids Gotten Soft? Five Ways to Teach Them Grit”, speaks of the dire consequences of parents and teachers “going soft” on children as they grow up: “It’s a phrase I’ve heard more than once from friends who are in hiring positions. ‘Kids today...’ they say, referring to employees in their 20s, who complain or threaten to quit soon after starting because either the workload isn’t quite what they expected, or the work itself just isn’t what they want to be doing! … Where’s the work ethic, the grit, the resilience? … ‘Millennials don’t stay very long in jobs’, said Robin Koval, co-author of the provocative new book, ‘Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion and Pluck Take You From Ordinary to Extraordinary. ‘On the one hand, that’s good because they should be aggressive in developing their careers,” she said, “but on the other hand, some of it is because they have a setback at work and the only way they know how to deal with it is ‘I have to go someplace else.’ Helicopter parenting, coupled with the belief that we should never let our children fail, have given rise to kids who are ill-prepared to cope with life’s challenges, said Koval and her co-author, Linda Kaplan Thaler, in a joint interview. It’s an issue that educators are grappling with today, as colleges across the country are focusing on ways to resiliency. With more research showing hyper-involved parenting leads to more anxious and entitled kids, it’s clear that grit and resilience will benefit our kids in school and once they get into the real world.” (CNN, October 21st, 2015).
In case you are not aware of the above used term “Helicopter Parenting” ― it means that just like a helicopter, the parent is always hovering above and around the child, be overly involved in the child’s life, showing an overprotective or excessive interest in everything the child does, and in doing so, exhibiting controlling behavior, and limit their child’s autonomy―yet spoiling the child through a lack of discipline and punishment, while being very indulgent with praise and rewards. Nowadays, many parents feel guilty in disciplining their children―regardless of what they do―they take the “soft, gentle, friendly, talkative” approach: “Johnny, don’t you think you should stop hitting your brother with that hammer? That’s not very nice, is it? Now be a good boy and put the hammer down! Why don’t you come here and I will give you some cookies and ice-cream, while daddy takes your brother to the hospital!”
No Grit, No Perseverance, No Success
An athletics running coach has this to say: “As my high school track and cross-country coaching seasons accumulate, so do my number of lost runners. These are kids who will never know how good they could have been as competitive runners, who didn’t stick it out long enough, or never trained hard enough to realize their potential. Each year, more of them make my long ‘Who-Might-Have-Been’ list. Some of them quit running after the first sweltering days of late-summer practices. Others quietly disappeared amid the cold March rains. Some took their leave, amazingly, with only weeks remaining in a winter schedule. Others stuck out a season of running the long miles, but never returned the following year. They said they were injured. They said they were too busy with other commitments. They said they were told by family, doctors, or friends not to punish themselves. They said running was just no fun.
“In truth, I’ve come to believe, most of them found the sport’s demands too stiff. The challenge of doing something hard has grown less and less attractive to kids today. We’ve taught children the value of ease over comfort. Kickin’ back, hanging out, and chillin’ are considered purposeful activities. This is a society where parents drive kids 400 yards to school. Our cultural preoccupation with ease is intense. Kids have also been taught to value participation over performance. Once, performing well in a sport was the goal of most athletics, and disciplined practice was the means. Now, for many, participating is the ultimate aim. What’s too often lost is the invaluable experience of attempting something in depth―where commitment, discipline, and sacrifice are required. Some of my lost runners discovered running could be hard ― just plain hard ― and that it didn’t always feel good. The mastery of a sport’s fundamentals, once provided the sense of accomplishment, that allowed athletes to feel good about themselves, now we seem to think that athletics must start with feelings. In this weird reversal, kids must be ‘having fun’ in order to learn a game, and stick with it. A coach’s demands or criticisms supposedly destroy an athlete’s ‘interest’ or damage his or her fragile ‘self-esteem,’ and therefore must be muted. Too many parents want their kids to excel without any pain or failure. Coaches that demand high levels of discipline and dedication from their athletes are frequently criticized for asking too much. My own experience with lost runners tells me that many kids do not now appreciate what it means to struggle at an endeavor, to put their head down and, with the encouraging support of parents, relatives, and friends, achieve something meaningful.” (Jim Vermeulen, teacher and coach in the West Genesee School District of New York).
Speaking of running and races, it is appropriate to quote Holy Scripture here: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty. I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). You could say that our race through life to Heaven is one where, instead of a backpack, we have to carry a cross:
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).
The race to Heaven is similar to the U.S. Marine “Crucible”. In fact the word “crucible” is based upon the Latin noun for cross―crux, crucis. The Crucible is the culminating event of Marine Boot Camp. The Crucible is a test every recruit must go through to become a Marine. It tests every recruit physically, mentally and morally and is the defining experience of recruit training. The Crucible takes place over 54 consecutive hours and includes food and sleep deprivation and over 45 miles of marching. The Crucible is 54 hours of combat drills, during which recruits get little sleep as they are put through simulated attacks day and night. Recruits learn they need to scream to be heard over the simulated gunfire, and that any illumination can give away their positions. The 54-hour event will deprive recruits of sleep while they live in the field― sleeping about three or four hours each night. Throughout boot camp, they become accustomed to getting 8 hours of sleep and enjoying 3 meals per day, but during the Crucible, they get just 6 hours of rest in two-and-half-days while being placed in a simulated battle scenario. Food is also limited. Recruits are only given two and a half MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) for the entire two-and-a-half day event. It is a 54-hour training exercise that validates the physical, mental and moral training they have endured throughout recruit training. As Holy Scripture says of earthly athletes: “Everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one!” (1 Corinthians 9:25). “I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by Whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “The cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
The Daily Cross is Our Crucible
It is of the cross of Christ that Our Lady of Akita speaks of, when she says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” That sign is obviously the “Sign of the Cross” ― which, in turn, represents the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―the true and real Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, re-presented and re-enacted in an unbloody manner on our altars. Yet that “Sign of the Cross” also represents the Cross that should be present in our lives and which we should carrying―not tossing aside―in imitation of and obedience to Christ, Who said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). Every Catholic arrives at the “crossroads” of life―when a choice must be made―either take the way of the cross that leads to Heaven, or take the way of the world that leads to Hell. That thought is beautifully reflected in a passage from St. Louis de Montfort’s little booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross:
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! Bind yourselves together in that strong union of heart and mind―which is far superior, far more terrifying to the world and Hell than the armed forces of a well-organized kingdom are to its enemies. Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow … be united to suffer … A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering … My dear Friends of the Cross … are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? …
“Two groups appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. There is only a handful of people who follow Him … To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (Matthew 7:13-14) … Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue. Let us fly from the corrupting concupiscence and enticements of a corrupt world (2 Peter 1:4). Let us love Jesus in the right way, standing by Him through the heaviest of crosses. Let us meditate seriously on these remarkable words of our beloved Master which sum up the Christian life in its perfection: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24).”
In the Cross is Victory!
Pange Lingua Gloriosi ― the hymn from the Office of Matins for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th), opens with the following victorious verse:
“Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O'er the cross, the victor's trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.”
In the same Office of Matins for the same feast, the 7th reading is taken from the homily by Pope St. Leo the Great on the Lord’s Passion, in which he says: “How wonderful is the power of the Cross! O how unutterable is the glory of the Passion … Thy Cross is a well of blessings for all, and a cause of thanksgiving for all. Thereby for them that believe in Thee, weakness is turned into strength, shame into glory, and death into life!”
If we would only appreciate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass more than we do! If we would attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass more than we do! If we would only have Masses offered against these current enemies of the Church and mankind more than we do! If we would only appreciate and embrace our crosses more than we do! Then we would see things start to changes―both in our own lives and in the world. Then we will have embarked on the road to victory, rather than defeat. Then we will increase our chances of being “winners” rather than “losers”. Everyone loves a winner and hates a loser. In Heaven―everyone is a winner and everyone loves everyone else. In Hell―everyone is a loser and everyone hates everyone else. We have arrived at our Crossroads―which way will we go?
Everyone loves to win and hates to lose―but what race are we running in? Are we running in the right race? Are we fighting against the right opponent? Are we even fighting on the right side? Sister Lucia speaks of a final fight between Satan and Our Lady―a fight in which nobody can be a spectator and everyone must chooses to fight for one side or the other: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We must pick a side―Our Lord Himself pretty much said the same thing: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Our Lord is telling us that the world is not our friend, but our enemy! This he echoes when He later says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The World is Our Enemy
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying] ― ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-4). Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
You cannot put more clearly or more emphatically than that! Why is it, then, that we love the world so much? Why is that we are so worldly? Why have we let ourselves be so tainted with the world? If we remain attached to the world and tainted by the world, then we are defeated―“Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32) ― and that is why most souls are condemned and in Hell right now! “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God!” (Romans 8:5-8). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Instead of happily and contentedly immersing ourselves in the world, God tells us: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
In other words, get out of the world while you still can, jump ship before it goes down―“The Lord delayeth not His promise [of chastising the world], as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief―in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:9-11). “For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace―and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble! And the day that cometh, shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch!” (Malachias 4:1). “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the Earth and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof!” (Isaias 24:1). “I saw the Earth was gone, and the sea is now no more!” (Apocalypse 21:1).
Wars and Crises are the Result of Sin
St. Jacinta Marto, one of three seers at Fatima, said shortly before her death that: “Our Lady said that there are many wars and discords in the world. Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world. She stated that she could not hold back the arm of her Beloved Son upon the world anymore. It is necessary to do penance. If people amend themselves, Our Lord shall still come to the aid of the world. If they do not amend themselves, punishment shall come.” Our Lady of La Salette had already said in 1846: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” And, by 1956, those sins had reached such a level that God’s punishment was imminent―as revealed by Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” A further warning was given 17 years later, in 1973, by Our Lady of Akita: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Who the Heck Cares?
Folks! It is our times she is speaking about―back in 1956 and 1973, there was no legalized abortion, very little legalized divorce, no over the counter contraceptives, no legalized sodomy, no legalized same-sex marriages, no LGBTQ, no transgender issues, no rampant pornography, etc. The scary thing is that neither Our Lady’s terrible warnings, nor those terrible sins, have much effect upon us―we are fairly desensitized to both, we are in a comfortable complacency, an indifferentism, a nonchalance, a kind of a “So what?” attitude. It is because we have lost the sense of the gravity of sin. Perhaps we even treat mortal sin lightly―thinking, “O what’s the big deal, I’ll just go and confess next time I go to Mass!”―and so Confession gets relegated to a kind of a “spiritual car-wash” whereby we go every week to wash-off the dirt and grime and pay a few Hail Marys for the service! We forget the grave words of our Catechisms, which tell us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). This current day loss of the sense of sin is merely a few steps away from the loss of soul.
We Have Lost the Sense of Sin
Not only the Traditional popes, but also the Liberal and Modernist Popes have complained about this universal loss of the sense of sin. In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the Conservative and Traditional Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
In homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
Once we have lost the sense of sin, we inevitably, increasingly and automatically embrace the world, its worldliness, and implicitly (without really thinking about it) we embrace the devil too. As Sister Lucia said in 1957: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We are either with God―which means the living the Faith as it is meant to be lived―or we with Satan―which means living a worldly life, for Satan is the prince of this world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). There are no spectators in this “final battle”―there can be no neutrality in this “final battle”―and most Catholics find that terribly hard to accept, and even harder to comply with. In fact, most Catholics do not want to fight the world, nor overcome the world, nor leave the world―nothing but a tragic defeat and a miserable end awaits such Catholics. There can be no―and there will be no victory over the world with such an attitude―only defeat awaits. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The Fight and Struggle for Victory
We have to fight for victory―it does not come cheap―as Holy Scripture repeatedly tells us: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). There is no victory without a fight: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). To lay hold of eternal life will require much effort, much pain and much suffering: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― the only violence most Catholics show is when someone tries to take away their comforts, entertainment and fun! Our Lord gave us an example of this violent struggle by undergoing the “violence” of the cross―and that same cross He places on our shoulders, saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Most Want Victory Without a Struggle
Most modern Americans have been raised with a dislike of having to make great efforts and having to fight for something over long periods of time. Since the 1990s, a disastrous educational approach ― the self-esteem paradigm ― has caused havoc in the formation of children and students. According to the “self-esteem” paradigm, you should not hurt the “feelings” or “self-esteem” of children by telling them they have failed, or that something is not good enough, or that they are bad, etc. These children are not pushed, challenged, toughened-up for the realities of the world where “self-esteem” will matter little. Heck! Children who are raised with that garbage will experience one helluva of shock on the Day of Judgment when their “self-esteem” is going to take one heck of knock when God judges and “grades” all that they have thought, said, done and omitted to say and do! “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11). “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34). For those who are sent to Hell, they will quickly find that there is no “self-esteem” in Hell―for Satan respects nobody and, in Hell, he gives them hell!
The news outlet, CNN, in an October 21st 2015 article entitled “Have Our Kids Gotten Soft? Five Ways to Teach Them Grit”, speaks of the dire consequences of parents and teachers “going soft” on children as they grow up: “It’s a phrase I’ve heard more than once from friends who are in hiring positions. ‘Kids today...’ they say, referring to employees in their 20s, who complain or threaten to quit soon after starting because either the workload isn’t quite what they expected, or the work itself just isn’t what they want to be doing! … Where’s the work ethic, the grit, the resilience? … ‘Millennials don’t stay very long in jobs’, said Robin Koval, co-author of the provocative new book, ‘Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion and Pluck Take You From Ordinary to Extraordinary. ‘On the one hand, that’s good because they should be aggressive in developing their careers,” she said, “but on the other hand, some of it is because they have a setback at work and the only way they know how to deal with it is ‘I have to go someplace else.’ Helicopter parenting, coupled with the belief that we should never let our children fail, have given rise to kids who are ill-prepared to cope with life’s challenges, said Koval and her co-author, Linda Kaplan Thaler, in a joint interview. It’s an issue that educators are grappling with today, as colleges across the country are focusing on ways to resiliency. With more research showing hyper-involved parenting leads to more anxious and entitled kids, it’s clear that grit and resilience will benefit our kids in school and once they get into the real world.” (CNN, October 21st, 2015).
In case you are not aware of the above used term “Helicopter Parenting” ― it means that just like a helicopter, the parent is always hovering above and around the child, be overly involved in the child’s life, showing an overprotective or excessive interest in everything the child does, and in doing so, exhibiting controlling behavior, and limit their child’s autonomy―yet spoiling the child through a lack of discipline and punishment, while being very indulgent with praise and rewards. Nowadays, many parents feel guilty in disciplining their children―regardless of what they do―they take the “soft, gentle, friendly, talkative” approach: “Johnny, don’t you think you should stop hitting your brother with that hammer? That’s not very nice, is it? Now be a good boy and put the hammer down! Why don’t you come here and I will give you some cookies and ice-cream, while daddy takes your brother to the hospital!”
No Grit, No Perseverance, No Success
An athletics running coach has this to say: “As my high school track and cross-country coaching seasons accumulate, so do my number of lost runners. These are kids who will never know how good they could have been as competitive runners, who didn’t stick it out long enough, or never trained hard enough to realize their potential. Each year, more of them make my long ‘Who-Might-Have-Been’ list. Some of them quit running after the first sweltering days of late-summer practices. Others quietly disappeared amid the cold March rains. Some took their leave, amazingly, with only weeks remaining in a winter schedule. Others stuck out a season of running the long miles, but never returned the following year. They said they were injured. They said they were too busy with other commitments. They said they were told by family, doctors, or friends not to punish themselves. They said running was just no fun.
“In truth, I’ve come to believe, most of them found the sport’s demands too stiff. The challenge of doing something hard has grown less and less attractive to kids today. We’ve taught children the value of ease over comfort. Kickin’ back, hanging out, and chillin’ are considered purposeful activities. This is a society where parents drive kids 400 yards to school. Our cultural preoccupation with ease is intense. Kids have also been taught to value participation over performance. Once, performing well in a sport was the goal of most athletics, and disciplined practice was the means. Now, for many, participating is the ultimate aim. What’s too often lost is the invaluable experience of attempting something in depth―where commitment, discipline, and sacrifice are required. Some of my lost runners discovered running could be hard ― just plain hard ― and that it didn’t always feel good. The mastery of a sport’s fundamentals, once provided the sense of accomplishment, that allowed athletes to feel good about themselves, now we seem to think that athletics must start with feelings. In this weird reversal, kids must be ‘having fun’ in order to learn a game, and stick with it. A coach’s demands or criticisms supposedly destroy an athlete’s ‘interest’ or damage his or her fragile ‘self-esteem,’ and therefore must be muted. Too many parents want their kids to excel without any pain or failure. Coaches that demand high levels of discipline and dedication from their athletes are frequently criticized for asking too much. My own experience with lost runners tells me that many kids do not now appreciate what it means to struggle at an endeavor, to put their head down and, with the encouraging support of parents, relatives, and friends, achieve something meaningful.” (Jim Vermeulen, teacher and coach in the West Genesee School District of New York).
Speaking of running and races, it is appropriate to quote Holy Scripture here: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty. I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). You could say that our race through life to Heaven is one where, instead of a backpack, we have to carry a cross:
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).
The race to Heaven is similar to the U.S. Marine “Crucible”. In fact the word “crucible” is based upon the Latin noun for cross―crux, crucis. The Crucible is the culminating event of Marine Boot Camp. The Crucible is a test every recruit must go through to become a Marine. It tests every recruit physically, mentally and morally and is the defining experience of recruit training. The Crucible takes place over 54 consecutive hours and includes food and sleep deprivation and over 45 miles of marching. The Crucible is 54 hours of combat drills, during which recruits get little sleep as they are put through simulated attacks day and night. Recruits learn they need to scream to be heard over the simulated gunfire, and that any illumination can give away their positions. The 54-hour event will deprive recruits of sleep while they live in the field― sleeping about three or four hours each night. Throughout boot camp, they become accustomed to getting 8 hours of sleep and enjoying 3 meals per day, but during the Crucible, they get just 6 hours of rest in two-and-half-days while being placed in a simulated battle scenario. Food is also limited. Recruits are only given two and a half MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) for the entire two-and-a-half day event. It is a 54-hour training exercise that validates the physical, mental and moral training they have endured throughout recruit training. As Holy Scripture says of earthly athletes: “Everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things―and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one!” (1 Corinthians 9:25). “I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by Whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “The cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness―but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19).
The Daily Cross is Our Crucible
It is of the cross of Christ that Our Lady of Akita speaks of, when she says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son!” That sign is obviously the “Sign of the Cross” ― which, in turn, represents the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―the true and real Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, re-presented and re-enacted in an unbloody manner on our altars. Yet that “Sign of the Cross” also represents the Cross that should be present in our lives and which we should carrying―not tossing aside―in imitation of and obedience to Christ, Who said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). Every Catholic arrives at the “crossroads” of life―when a choice must be made―either take the way of the cross that leads to Heaven, or take the way of the world that leads to Hell. That thought is beautifully reflected in a passage from St. Louis de Montfort’s little booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross:
“Friends of the Cross, you are a group of crusaders united to fight against the world … like brave, intrepid warriors on the battlefront, refusing to retreat or even to yield an inch. Be brave! Fight with all your might! Bind yourselves together in that strong union of heart and mind―which is far superior, far more terrifying to the world and Hell than the armed forces of a well-organized kingdom are to its enemies. Demons are united for your destruction, but you, be united for their overthrow … be united to suffer … A Friend of the Cross is a mighty king, a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh and their threefold concupiscence. He overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation, he triumphs over the world’s greed by his love for poverty and he restrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love for suffering … My dear Friends of the Cross … are you, with the grace of God, in the shadow of Calvary’s Cross and of Our Lady of Pity, really eager and truly striving to attain this goal? Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? …
“Two groups appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. There is only a handful of people who follow Him … To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (Matthew 7:13-14) … Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue. Let us fly from the corrupting concupiscence and enticements of a corrupt world (2 Peter 1:4). Let us love Jesus in the right way, standing by Him through the heaviest of crosses. Let us meditate seriously on these remarkable words of our beloved Master which sum up the Christian life in its perfection: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24).”
In the Cross is Victory!
Pange Lingua Gloriosi ― the hymn from the Office of Matins for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th), opens with the following victorious verse:
“Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O'er the cross, the victor's trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.”
In the same Office of Matins for the same feast, the 7th reading is taken from the homily by Pope St. Leo the Great on the Lord’s Passion, in which he says: “How wonderful is the power of the Cross! O how unutterable is the glory of the Passion … Thy Cross is a well of blessings for all, and a cause of thanksgiving for all. Thereby for them that believe in Thee, weakness is turned into strength, shame into glory, and death into life!”
If we would only appreciate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass more than we do! If we would attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass more than we do! If we would only have Masses offered against these current enemies of the Church and mankind more than we do! If we would only appreciate and embrace our crosses more than we do! Then we would see things start to changes―both in our own lives and in the world. Then we will have embarked on the road to victory, rather than defeat. Then we will increase our chances of being “winners” rather than “losers”. Everyone loves a winner and hates a loser. In Heaven―everyone is a winner and everyone loves everyone else. In Hell―everyone is a loser and everyone hates everyone else. We have arrived at our Crossroads―which way will we go?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday November 12th & Friday November 13th
Article 6
Turning Defeat Into Victory
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Thursday November 12th & Friday November 13th
Article 6
Turning Defeat Into Victory
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Winners and Losers
One thing that is said about Americans, is that they love winners and HATE losers. Yet, it can also be argued―as a by-product of Original Sin and envy―that people hate winners. Why? Losers hate winners because they cannot be winners themselves. Being a winner is not easy―just as getting to Heaven is not easy―and that’s why there are more losers then winners, both on Earth and in Hell. You can complicate matters even more by throwing into the ring the problem of what makes a winner? You can be a winner in the eyes of the world and at the same time be a loser in the eyes of Heaven. On the other hand, you can be a winner in the eyes of Heaven and a loser in the eyes of the world. In fact, while Christ was WINNING His victory by His death on the cross, abandoned by most of His followers, the Scribes, Pharisees, Jews and Romans looked upon Him as being a LOSER! Yet the LOSER became a WINNER, when after His persecution, torture and death, He rose from the dead to an eternal victory. Apparent defeat proved to be the only path to resurrection―despite its ugliness and pain. Likewise with the countless martyrs of the Church, who followed Christ into the seeming or apparent “defeat” of death―only to rise in victory because of it. So, as many different proverbs say: “Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated!” … “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat!” … “Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched!” … “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!”
Here is a combined selection of various quotes from many different secular sources―each sentence is a gem in itself―it is worthwhile reading and contemplating upon each one separately, rather than quickly reading the next three paragraphs as a whole.
“Opportunity often comes in disguised in the clothes of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Before success, a person is certain to encounter lots of temporary defeats―maybe even total failures. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and the most tempting thing to do is to quit. That is what most people do. Defeat doesn’t finish a man ― quitting does. A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact. There is no defeat except from within. A man is not defeated by his opponents, but by himself. Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it. Stand up and face your fears, or they will defeat you. Defeat may test you; it need not stop you. If at first you don’t succeed, try another way. For every obstacle there is a solution. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. The greatest mistake is giving up. Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory. The true losers in life, are not those who try and fail, but those who fail to try. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Avoid defeat and you will avoid success. Not to have tried is the true failure. Victory belongs to the most persevering.
“Defeat has its lessons as well as victory. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. Defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better. You learn more from defeat than you do from victory. We learn little from victory, much from defeat. You can read only a line or a paragraph of wisdom from a victory, while you get a whole book of wisdom from a defeat. We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. Defeat is a tonic to a brave man. Defeat is a school in which truth always grows strong. Victory is sweetest when you have known defeat. To be defeated, but not to give in, is victory.
“You must learn to survive a defeat. That is when you develop character. Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. For a gallant spirit there can never be a final defeat. An army of sheep, led by a lion, would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. The good fighters of old, first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. The opportunity, to secure ourselves against defeat, lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before a defeat. Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor should despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties. Great victory requires great risk. A victory without danger is a triumph without glory. To whom God wills, there shall be the victory. Private victories precede public victories. A victory won over self, is the first victory required by God. Self-conquest is the greatest of victories. Life has meaning only in the struggle―triumph or defeat is in the hands of God―so let us celebrate the struggle! For every victory, there is a price. Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated! Defeat the fear of death and you welcome the death of fear!”
Winners and Losers in the Eyes of Heaven
The above compilation of quotes are purely secular―yet God also rouses us to courage and confidence as to the final victory. The fundamental cause for defeat is our failure, first and foremost, to rely upon God. Our Lord hits the nail on the head when He bluntly reminds us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation!” (Psalm 145:2-3). “It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes” (Psalm 117:9). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart departs from the Lord!’… Blessed be the man that trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence!” (Jeremias 17:5-7). “For if any man think himself to be something―whereas he is nothing―he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).
“God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). “Fear not, for I am with thee! Turn not aside― for I am thy God! I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of My Just One hath upheld thee. Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee! They shall be as nothing and as a thing consumed―the men that war against thee. For I am the Lord thy God, Who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: ‘Fear not, I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:10-13). “The Lord is as a man of war! Almighty is His Name! Pharao’s chariots and his army He hath cast into the sea―Pharao’s chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone” (Exodus 15:3-5).
“God is in the midst [of us, we] shall not be moved! God will help! Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down―He uttered His voice and the earth trembled! The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector! … He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons―and the shield He shall burn in the fire ... The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector!” (Psalm 45:6-12). “Wilt not thou, O God, go out with our armies? Give us help in troubles―for vain is the salvation of man! Through God we shall do mightily and He shall bring to nothing them that afflict us!” (Psalm 59:12-14).
We Are Bringing About Our Own Defeat
These words should be of great encouragement to us in the times that are about to fall upon us. What are those times that are about to fall upon us? Our Lady has been rightly “nagging” us on this point for a very, very, very, very long time―and still her messages and warnings are being largely ignored. If Sister Lucia of Fatima could say way back in 1957 that Our Lady’s messages are being ignored―then is 2020 a massive improvement on 1957, or is it quite the reverse? Sister Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
There can be no real argument about God chastising the world after the repeated insistent warnings of Our Lady for us to reform our lives and turn to God in repentance. At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady had warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (October 1917). Her comments fell on deaf ears!
Then, almost 40 years later, in the relatively “sinless” days of 1956 (“sinless” only by comparison to our days), Our Lady lamented and warned: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yes! 1956! No legalized abortion yet; very little legalized divorce; contraception had not yet taken off to the point where today the vast majority practice it; no LGBTQ; no legalized sodomy; no legalized same-sex marriages; very little pornography; very little television; no internet; no personal computers; no smartphones or tablets, etc. ― and yet Our Lady gave such a horrendous assessment of the world’s sins!
Then, once more, 17 years later at Akita in Japan, Our Lady again warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger (but very few souls have responded to her request) … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
What on earth does it take to wake us up to our obligations as Soldiers of Christ! We are supposed to “fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― because “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man―being a soldier to God―entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please God to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Play Rather Than Pray―Gratification Not Mortification
So what are we doing? We prefer to play rather than pray! We prefer self-gratification much more than mortification! We look for delights rather than fights! The only violence we show is to our fellow Catholics with our endless mutual bickering, accusations, insults, vengeful actions, feuds, litigations, mercilessness, etc. ― totally forgetting our pedigree as Soldiers of Christ, who said: “Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13) ― but we want to lynch sinners. Alas, we do not have the spirit of God, we have lost the spirit of God―we resemble the Sons of Thunder, St. James and St. John, who were rebuked by Our Lord for manifesting a vengeful spirit towards the Samaritan town that refused to receive Our Lord: “Jesus entered into a city of the Samaritans and they received him not―because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Samaritans were at enmity with the Jews]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56). Our Lord, in response to St. Peter’s question: “‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus saith to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22). Some Catholics find it impossible to forgive even once―never mind seventy times seven times. “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). Our current DNA is largely one of a lack of mercy, a lack of forgiveness, a lack of compassion. The work of the confessional is being replaced by the work of the public “guillotine” ― contrary to Our Lord’s words ― “I will have mercy and not sacrifice!” ― most people want to see sacrifice and not mercy.
Today, the culture among Conservative and Traditional Catholics is becoming increasingly unforgiving―whereas the culture among Liberal and Modernist Catholics is to be over-forgiving, to a point where not even God will go! St. Alphonsus, in his sermon on “The Number of Sins Beyond Which God Pardons No More”, tells us: “God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed, but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. ‘Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag’ (Job 14:17). Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, he may take vengeance on them.”
Sin Brings Defeat, Not Victory
It is impossible that God allow sin to be victorious! Sin is allegiance to the devil―not to God―and the devil is loser, even though he has lured most souls into Hell: “He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). Does that sound like some kind of triumphant victory?
As already quoted above―amongst the secular quotes on victory and defeat―“Private victories precede public victories. A victory won over self, is the first victory required by God. Self-conquest is the greatest of victories.” Before we dream of other victories in the Church and the world―we must first overcome ourselves and our sinful nature: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” say Our Lord (Matthew 16:26). This is why Holy Scripture says: “The patient man is better than the valiant―and he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh cities” (Proverbs 16:32). The first fight and the first quest for victory begins with ourselves, within ourselves. “To put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth … Be angry [with yourself and your failings], and sin not!” (Ephesians 4:22-26). “Let no sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12).
The holier we become―and we MUST become holy, for only saints go to Heaven―the more powerful our prayers and sacrifices become. It is Mary’s holiness that gives her so much power against the devils―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, True Devotion to Mary : “God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
Besides, when we are in a state of mortal sin, we are in a state of enmity with God. Any prayers that we offer to God for any intention, will, in all justice, not be granted by God because of our enmity towards Him. “Then shall they cry to the Lord, and He will not hear them: and He will hide his face from them at that time―as they have behaved wickedly in their devices” (Micheas 3:4). “God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him He heareth!” (John 9:31). “You ask, and receive not―because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences. Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:3-4). “If my people had heard Me! If they had walked in My ways―then I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them” (Psalm 80:14-15). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5). “Be converted to Me and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the Earth―for I am God, and there is no other!” (Isaias 45:22). This does not mean that those prayers are wasted, they are simply applied towards our conversion, repentance and reconciliation with God, rather than being applied to the intention we intended, e.g. that Uncle Joe can find a job.
No Victory Without God and Christ
“Glory to God in the highest!” (Luke 2:14). “Give glory to Him, all of you!” (Judith 13:21). “The Lord―His name is Jealous―He is a jealous God!” (Exodus 34:14). People often confuse the word “jealous” with that of “envy”. Strictly speaking to be “jealous” means being fiercely protective or vigilant of one’s rights or possessions―and in this sense God is jealous by being fiercely protective or vigilant of His glory. We see this in the case of Gedeon’s 300, or Gedeon and his army of three hundred men.
► GEDEON’S THREE HUNDRED ― The Israelites were threatened by an army of 135,000 Madianites. Gedeon managed to muster only 32,000 Israelites for his army to fight the invading Madianites. When Gedeon presented himself before the Lord, to tell Him that the Israelites were ready to do battle with only 32,000 men―thus being outnumbered by 4 to 1―God told Gedeon that 32,000 was too large a number for the army. The reason being, as God said, was that the Israelites would claim the glory of victory to themselves, instead of rightfully giving glory to God. So God instructed the shocked Gedeon to tell his army that if any man was in any way afraid of the battle, that he freely could go home. As a result, 22,000 men happily abandoned the army and returned home―Gedeon was now left with only 10,000 men. Again, he presented himself before the Lord and announced that he now had only 10,000 men―which meant that the odds of being outnumbered by the enemy had now risen from 4 to 1, and now stood at 13 to 1. God again said that the army was still too large and commanded Gedeon to take his army down to the waters to drink. Ten thousand Israelites welcomed a cool, refreshing drink of water. The overwhelming majority―9,700 men―presumably threw down their weapons as got down on their knees, placed their mouths into the water and drank like dogs, lapping the water with their tongues. A relative handful, 300, crouched and scooped water to their mouths with one hand, while presumably retaining their weapons in the other hand. From 32,000 to 300, Gedeon’s army became only a fraction of what it had been. Surely God knew what He was doing, didn’t He? Gedeon might have wondered whether they all might be better off going home. Had God forgotten that Gedeon’s little band of 300 soldiers would face an experienced army of 135,000 men, now outnumbering them 450 to one? From all appearances, this situation made no sense. Yet with those 300 men, God arranged an outstanding victory and only a fool would fail to see the clear sign of the hand of God in the victory―resulting in all glory being rightfully given to God.
► MOSES BRINGS VICTORY WHILE FORESHADOWING CHRIST ― The Battle of Raphidim, as described in the Book of Exodus, was a battle between the Israelites and Amalec, which occurred in Rephidim while the Israelite people were moving towards the Promised Land. The battle began with the unprovoked attack by the Amalecites against the Jews (Exodus 17:8). Moses urged the faithful to fight and placed his people under the leadership of Joshua. Moses watched from above. When he held his hands up, Israel gained the military advantage. Whenever he put his hands down, according to the Biblical account, they began to lose. The Bible describes how when Moses became tired, his closest relatives, Hur and Aaron, held up his hands for support (Exodus 17:12). The battle lasted until the evening, ending in victory for the Israelites. “And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men: and go out and fight against Amalec: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill having the rod of God in my hand. Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill. And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame. And Moses’ hands were heavy―so they took a stone and put under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset. And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword!” (Exodus 17:8-13). The image and symbol of Moses on the hill with his arms outstretched in prayer, flanked by Aaron and Hur, is a representation of Christ on the Cross, on the hill of Calvary, with His arms outstretched in prayer and flanked by two men―the two thieves. Christ on the Cross brought about a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Christ Offers Us His Greatest Weapon
Today, Christ offers that Cross of Victory to us―just as He offered the Sign of the Cross as a symbol of victory to the future Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. In fact, when you hear the story, you could well superimpose it upon the current political dispute over the presidency of the United States!
Roman politics―after the Emperor Diocletian abdicated in AD 305―was confusingly complicated as emperors and deputy emperors of the West and of the East contended for power. Among them was Flavius Valerius Constantinus, known to history as Constantine the Great. Acclaimed as emperor by his troops in York, England, in AD 306, he was appointed Caesar or deputy emperor of the West by Emperor Diocletian’s successor, Galerius. Constantine was in charge of Britain and Gaul, but his brother-in-law Maxentius waged war against Galerius and seized Italy and Rome itself.
Galerius died in AD 311 and early the next year Constantine invaded Italy, won battles at Turin and Verona and marched on Rome. Maxentius came out to fight and was destroyed at the Milvian Bridge, which carried the Via Flaminia over the Tiber into the city. The battle was one of a succession of victories that in AD 324 made Constantine master of the entire Roman Empire, but it is most famous for its link with his conversion to Christianity, which would prove to be one of the most important events in world history.
The story of what happened was told by Eusebius of Caesarea, a Christian biblical scholar and historian, who wrote the first biography of Constantine soon after the emperor’s death. He knew Constantine well and said he had the story from the emperor himself. Constantine was a pagan monotheist, a devotee of the sun god Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. However, before the Milvian Bridge battle, he and his army saw a cross of light in the sky, above the sun, with words in Greek,that are generally translated into Latin as In hoc signo vinces (In this sign conquer). That night Constantine had a dream in which Christ told him he should use the Sign of the Cross against his enemies. He was so impressed that he had the Christian symbol marked on his soldiers’ shields and when the Milvian Bridge battle gave him an overwhelming victory he attributed it to the god of the Christians.
In our day, Our Lady of Akita, in a similar way, revealed to us that “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” What is that “sign left by my Son”? It is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―which is, again of course, the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, but now in an unbloody manner. We too easily forget―in our ignorance of the Faith and of prophecy―that the Holy Sacrifice is a WEAPON. Sadly, though, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has become a weapon that is misused, abused or not even used. We too easily content ourselves with merely going to Mass, attending Mass, praying at Mass―but we rarely use the Mass as a weapon. The Mass is synonymous with Calvary.
It was on through His Sacrifice on Calvary that the crucified Christ defeated Satan. There is no greater weapon that can be given to us―yet we, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, have buried that weapon in the ground, so to speak. We are not using it. The Mass is a weapon of mass destruction―destruction of sin, destruction of the unrepentant enemies of God, and the destruction of princedom of Satan on Earth. This weapon of mass destruction is like a “Mass-ive Missile” that YOU ARE ABLE TO LAUNCH AND DIRECT TO A TARGET OF YOUR CHOICE. This what you do when you give a priest a stipend to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for whatever intention you choose. So come on ― get those stipends out to those priests. Today! For tomorrow never comes!
Today―in this increasingly escalating crisis that has been planned and forced upon us―the only solutions are spiritual solutions, because the battle is not a mere human battle, but it is a battle against men and their prince―the devil. No human means is going to overcome the devil―that is puerile thinking. Each day in which you (and you family, relatives and friends) fail to have a Mass offered against the current enemies of the Church and mankind, is a day lost and ground gained by the enemy. If you cannot see the danger, then you deserve what is coming. It is time to cast aside our lethargy, our indifference, our skepticism and our reluctance―and start launching daily Massive Missiles against the enemy. We are well and truly in the middle of what Sister Lucia of Fatima called “The Devil’s Final Battle with the Blessed Virgin”―and Sister Lucia added: “From now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet―going back to the Gedeon and Moses theme―we are not going to avoid defeat if we rely upon ourselves and mere human ingenuity, skill and power. Our Lord clearly says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Unfortunately, most Catholics are trying to most things without Him! That cannot be blessed! That will not be blessed! We are a part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and not the other way round. Without Him, we are doomed to defeat. With Him―and subservient to Him―we can hope for victory!
One thing that is said about Americans, is that they love winners and HATE losers. Yet, it can also be argued―as a by-product of Original Sin and envy―that people hate winners. Why? Losers hate winners because they cannot be winners themselves. Being a winner is not easy―just as getting to Heaven is not easy―and that’s why there are more losers then winners, both on Earth and in Hell. You can complicate matters even more by throwing into the ring the problem of what makes a winner? You can be a winner in the eyes of the world and at the same time be a loser in the eyes of Heaven. On the other hand, you can be a winner in the eyes of Heaven and a loser in the eyes of the world. In fact, while Christ was WINNING His victory by His death on the cross, abandoned by most of His followers, the Scribes, Pharisees, Jews and Romans looked upon Him as being a LOSER! Yet the LOSER became a WINNER, when after His persecution, torture and death, He rose from the dead to an eternal victory. Apparent defeat proved to be the only path to resurrection―despite its ugliness and pain. Likewise with the countless martyrs of the Church, who followed Christ into the seeming or apparent “defeat” of death―only to rise in victory because of it. So, as many different proverbs say: “Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated!” … “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat!” … “Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched!” … “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!”
Here is a combined selection of various quotes from many different secular sources―each sentence is a gem in itself―it is worthwhile reading and contemplating upon each one separately, rather than quickly reading the next three paragraphs as a whole.
“Opportunity often comes in disguised in the clothes of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Before success, a person is certain to encounter lots of temporary defeats―maybe even total failures. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and the most tempting thing to do is to quit. That is what most people do. Defeat doesn’t finish a man ― quitting does. A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact. There is no defeat except from within. A man is not defeated by his opponents, but by himself. Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it. Stand up and face your fears, or they will defeat you. Defeat may test you; it need not stop you. If at first you don’t succeed, try another way. For every obstacle there is a solution. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. The greatest mistake is giving up. Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory. The true losers in life, are not those who try and fail, but those who fail to try. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Avoid defeat and you will avoid success. Not to have tried is the true failure. Victory belongs to the most persevering.
“Defeat has its lessons as well as victory. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. Defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better. You learn more from defeat than you do from victory. We learn little from victory, much from defeat. You can read only a line or a paragraph of wisdom from a victory, while you get a whole book of wisdom from a defeat. We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. Defeat is a tonic to a brave man. Defeat is a school in which truth always grows strong. Victory is sweetest when you have known defeat. To be defeated, but not to give in, is victory.
“You must learn to survive a defeat. That is when you develop character. Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. For a gallant spirit there can never be a final defeat. An army of sheep, led by a lion, would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. The good fighters of old, first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. The opportunity, to secure ourselves against defeat, lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before a defeat. Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor should despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties. Great victory requires great risk. A victory without danger is a triumph without glory. To whom God wills, there shall be the victory. Private victories precede public victories. A victory won over self, is the first victory required by God. Self-conquest is the greatest of victories. Life has meaning only in the struggle―triumph or defeat is in the hands of God―so let us celebrate the struggle! For every victory, there is a price. Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated! Defeat the fear of death and you welcome the death of fear!”
Winners and Losers in the Eyes of Heaven
The above compilation of quotes are purely secular―yet God also rouses us to courage and confidence as to the final victory. The fundamental cause for defeat is our failure, first and foremost, to rely upon God. Our Lord hits the nail on the head when He bluntly reminds us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalm 145:2). “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation!” (Psalm 145:2-3). “It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes” (Psalm 117:9). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart departs from the Lord!’… Blessed be the man that trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence!” (Jeremias 17:5-7). “For if any man think himself to be something―whereas he is nothing―he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).
“God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger!” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). “Fear not, for I am with thee! Turn not aside― for I am thy God! I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of My Just One hath upheld thee. Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee! They shall be as nothing and as a thing consumed―the men that war against thee. For I am the Lord thy God, Who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: ‘Fear not, I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:10-13). “The Lord is as a man of war! Almighty is His Name! Pharao’s chariots and his army He hath cast into the sea―Pharao’s chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone” (Exodus 15:3-5).
“God is in the midst [of us, we] shall not be moved! God will help! Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down―He uttered His voice and the earth trembled! The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector! … He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons―and the shield He shall burn in the fire ... The Lord of armies is with us! God is our protector!” (Psalm 45:6-12). “Wilt not thou, O God, go out with our armies? Give us help in troubles―for vain is the salvation of man! Through God we shall do mightily and He shall bring to nothing them that afflict us!” (Psalm 59:12-14).
We Are Bringing About Our Own Defeat
These words should be of great encouragement to us in the times that are about to fall upon us. What are those times that are about to fall upon us? Our Lady has been rightly “nagging” us on this point for a very, very, very, very long time―and still her messages and warnings are being largely ignored. If Sister Lucia of Fatima could say way back in 1957 that Our Lady’s messages are being ignored―then is 2020 a massive improvement on 1957, or is it quite the reverse? Sister Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
There can be no real argument about God chastising the world after the repeated insistent warnings of Our Lady for us to reform our lives and turn to God in repentance. At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady had warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (October 1917). Her comments fell on deaf ears!
Then, almost 40 years later, in the relatively “sinless” days of 1956 (“sinless” only by comparison to our days), Our Lady lamented and warned: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil―because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs warn that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yes! 1956! No legalized abortion yet; very little legalized divorce; contraception had not yet taken off to the point where today the vast majority practice it; no LGBTQ; no legalized sodomy; no legalized same-sex marriages; very little pornography; very little television; no internet; no personal computers; no smartphones or tablets, etc. ― and yet Our Lady gave such a horrendous assessment of the world’s sins!
Then, once more, 17 years later at Akita in Japan, Our Lady again warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger (but very few souls have responded to her request) … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
What on earth does it take to wake us up to our obligations as Soldiers of Christ! We are supposed to “fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) ― because “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man―being a soldier to God―entangles himself with secular businesses; so that he may please God to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Play Rather Than Pray―Gratification Not Mortification
So what are we doing? We prefer to play rather than pray! We prefer self-gratification much more than mortification! We look for delights rather than fights! The only violence we show is to our fellow Catholics with our endless mutual bickering, accusations, insults, vengeful actions, feuds, litigations, mercilessness, etc. ― totally forgetting our pedigree as Soldiers of Christ, who said: “Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13) ― but we want to lynch sinners. Alas, we do not have the spirit of God, we have lost the spirit of God―we resemble the Sons of Thunder, St. James and St. John, who were rebuked by Our Lord for manifesting a vengeful spirit towards the Samaritan town that refused to receive Our Lord: “Jesus entered into a city of the Samaritans and they received him not―because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Samaritans were at enmity with the Jews]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, Jesus rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56). Our Lord, in response to St. Peter’s question: “‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus saith to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22). Some Catholics find it impossible to forgive even once―never mind seventy times seven times. “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). Our current DNA is largely one of a lack of mercy, a lack of forgiveness, a lack of compassion. The work of the confessional is being replaced by the work of the public “guillotine” ― contrary to Our Lord’s words ― “I will have mercy and not sacrifice!” ― most people want to see sacrifice and not mercy.
Today, the culture among Conservative and Traditional Catholics is becoming increasingly unforgiving―whereas the culture among Liberal and Modernist Catholics is to be over-forgiving, to a point where not even God will go! St. Alphonsus, in his sermon on “The Number of Sins Beyond Which God Pardons No More”, tells us: “God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed, but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. ‘Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag’ (Job 14:17). Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, he may take vengeance on them.”
Sin Brings Defeat, Not Victory
It is impossible that God allow sin to be victorious! Sin is allegiance to the devil―not to God―and the devil is loser, even though he has lured most souls into Hell: “He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4). Does that sound like some kind of triumphant victory?
As already quoted above―amongst the secular quotes on victory and defeat―“Private victories precede public victories. A victory won over self, is the first victory required by God. Self-conquest is the greatest of victories.” Before we dream of other victories in the Church and the world―we must first overcome ourselves and our sinful nature: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” say Our Lord (Matthew 16:26). This is why Holy Scripture says: “The patient man is better than the valiant―and he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh cities” (Proverbs 16:32). The first fight and the first quest for victory begins with ourselves, within ourselves. “To put off the old man―who is corrupted according to the desire of error―and be renewed in the spirit of your mind! And put on the new man―who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth … Be angry [with yourself and your failings], and sin not!” (Ephesians 4:22-26). “Let no sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12).
The holier we become―and we MUST become holy, for only saints go to Heaven―the more powerful our prayers and sacrifices become. It is Mary’s holiness that gives her so much power against the devils―as St. Louis de Montfort states in his book, True Devotion to Mary : “God has given Mary such great power against the devils that—as they have often been obliged to confess, in spite of themselves, by the mouths of the possessed—they fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats against them more than all other torments.”
Besides, when we are in a state of mortal sin, we are in a state of enmity with God. Any prayers that we offer to God for any intention, will, in all justice, not be granted by God because of our enmity towards Him. “Then shall they cry to the Lord, and He will not hear them: and He will hide his face from them at that time―as they have behaved wickedly in their devices” (Micheas 3:4). “God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him He heareth!” (John 9:31). “You ask, and receive not―because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences. Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:3-4). “If my people had heard Me! If they had walked in My ways―then I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them” (Psalm 80:14-15). “They are of the world―therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5). “Be converted to Me and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the Earth―for I am God, and there is no other!” (Isaias 45:22). This does not mean that those prayers are wasted, they are simply applied towards our conversion, repentance and reconciliation with God, rather than being applied to the intention we intended, e.g. that Uncle Joe can find a job.
No Victory Without God and Christ
“Glory to God in the highest!” (Luke 2:14). “Give glory to Him, all of you!” (Judith 13:21). “The Lord―His name is Jealous―He is a jealous God!” (Exodus 34:14). People often confuse the word “jealous” with that of “envy”. Strictly speaking to be “jealous” means being fiercely protective or vigilant of one’s rights or possessions―and in this sense God is jealous by being fiercely protective or vigilant of His glory. We see this in the case of Gedeon’s 300, or Gedeon and his army of three hundred men.
► GEDEON’S THREE HUNDRED ― The Israelites were threatened by an army of 135,000 Madianites. Gedeon managed to muster only 32,000 Israelites for his army to fight the invading Madianites. When Gedeon presented himself before the Lord, to tell Him that the Israelites were ready to do battle with only 32,000 men―thus being outnumbered by 4 to 1―God told Gedeon that 32,000 was too large a number for the army. The reason being, as God said, was that the Israelites would claim the glory of victory to themselves, instead of rightfully giving glory to God. So God instructed the shocked Gedeon to tell his army that if any man was in any way afraid of the battle, that he freely could go home. As a result, 22,000 men happily abandoned the army and returned home―Gedeon was now left with only 10,000 men. Again, he presented himself before the Lord and announced that he now had only 10,000 men―which meant that the odds of being outnumbered by the enemy had now risen from 4 to 1, and now stood at 13 to 1. God again said that the army was still too large and commanded Gedeon to take his army down to the waters to drink. Ten thousand Israelites welcomed a cool, refreshing drink of water. The overwhelming majority―9,700 men―presumably threw down their weapons as got down on their knees, placed their mouths into the water and drank like dogs, lapping the water with their tongues. A relative handful, 300, crouched and scooped water to their mouths with one hand, while presumably retaining their weapons in the other hand. From 32,000 to 300, Gedeon’s army became only a fraction of what it had been. Surely God knew what He was doing, didn’t He? Gedeon might have wondered whether they all might be better off going home. Had God forgotten that Gedeon’s little band of 300 soldiers would face an experienced army of 135,000 men, now outnumbering them 450 to one? From all appearances, this situation made no sense. Yet with those 300 men, God arranged an outstanding victory and only a fool would fail to see the clear sign of the hand of God in the victory―resulting in all glory being rightfully given to God.
► MOSES BRINGS VICTORY WHILE FORESHADOWING CHRIST ― The Battle of Raphidim, as described in the Book of Exodus, was a battle between the Israelites and Amalec, which occurred in Rephidim while the Israelite people were moving towards the Promised Land. The battle began with the unprovoked attack by the Amalecites against the Jews (Exodus 17:8). Moses urged the faithful to fight and placed his people under the leadership of Joshua. Moses watched from above. When he held his hands up, Israel gained the military advantage. Whenever he put his hands down, according to the Biblical account, they began to lose. The Bible describes how when Moses became tired, his closest relatives, Hur and Aaron, held up his hands for support (Exodus 17:12). The battle lasted until the evening, ending in victory for the Israelites. “And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men: and go out and fight against Amalec: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill having the rod of God in my hand. Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill. And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame. And Moses’ hands were heavy―so they took a stone and put under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset. And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword!” (Exodus 17:8-13). The image and symbol of Moses on the hill with his arms outstretched in prayer, flanked by Aaron and Hur, is a representation of Christ on the Cross, on the hill of Calvary, with His arms outstretched in prayer and flanked by two men―the two thieves. Christ on the Cross brought about a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Christ Offers Us His Greatest Weapon
Today, Christ offers that Cross of Victory to us―just as He offered the Sign of the Cross as a symbol of victory to the future Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. In fact, when you hear the story, you could well superimpose it upon the current political dispute over the presidency of the United States!
Roman politics―after the Emperor Diocletian abdicated in AD 305―was confusingly complicated as emperors and deputy emperors of the West and of the East contended for power. Among them was Flavius Valerius Constantinus, known to history as Constantine the Great. Acclaimed as emperor by his troops in York, England, in AD 306, he was appointed Caesar or deputy emperor of the West by Emperor Diocletian’s successor, Galerius. Constantine was in charge of Britain and Gaul, but his brother-in-law Maxentius waged war against Galerius and seized Italy and Rome itself.
Galerius died in AD 311 and early the next year Constantine invaded Italy, won battles at Turin and Verona and marched on Rome. Maxentius came out to fight and was destroyed at the Milvian Bridge, which carried the Via Flaminia over the Tiber into the city. The battle was one of a succession of victories that in AD 324 made Constantine master of the entire Roman Empire, but it is most famous for its link with his conversion to Christianity, which would prove to be one of the most important events in world history.
The story of what happened was told by Eusebius of Caesarea, a Christian biblical scholar and historian, who wrote the first biography of Constantine soon after the emperor’s death. He knew Constantine well and said he had the story from the emperor himself. Constantine was a pagan monotheist, a devotee of the sun god Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. However, before the Milvian Bridge battle, he and his army saw a cross of light in the sky, above the sun, with words in Greek,that are generally translated into Latin as In hoc signo vinces (In this sign conquer). That night Constantine had a dream in which Christ told him he should use the Sign of the Cross against his enemies. He was so impressed that he had the Christian symbol marked on his soldiers’ shields and when the Milvian Bridge battle gave him an overwhelming victory he attributed it to the god of the Christians.
In our day, Our Lady of Akita, in a similar way, revealed to us that “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” What is that “sign left by my Son”? It is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―which is, again of course, the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on Calvary, but now in an unbloody manner. We too easily forget―in our ignorance of the Faith and of prophecy―that the Holy Sacrifice is a WEAPON. Sadly, though, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has become a weapon that is misused, abused or not even used. We too easily content ourselves with merely going to Mass, attending Mass, praying at Mass―but we rarely use the Mass as a weapon. The Mass is synonymous with Calvary.
It was on through His Sacrifice on Calvary that the crucified Christ defeated Satan. There is no greater weapon that can be given to us―yet we, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, have buried that weapon in the ground, so to speak. We are not using it. The Mass is a weapon of mass destruction―destruction of sin, destruction of the unrepentant enemies of God, and the destruction of princedom of Satan on Earth. This weapon of mass destruction is like a “Mass-ive Missile” that YOU ARE ABLE TO LAUNCH AND DIRECT TO A TARGET OF YOUR CHOICE. This what you do when you give a priest a stipend to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for whatever intention you choose. So come on ― get those stipends out to those priests. Today! For tomorrow never comes!
Today―in this increasingly escalating crisis that has been planned and forced upon us―the only solutions are spiritual solutions, because the battle is not a mere human battle, but it is a battle against men and their prince―the devil. No human means is going to overcome the devil―that is puerile thinking. Each day in which you (and you family, relatives and friends) fail to have a Mass offered against the current enemies of the Church and mankind, is a day lost and ground gained by the enemy. If you cannot see the danger, then you deserve what is coming. It is time to cast aside our lethargy, our indifference, our skepticism and our reluctance―and start launching daily Massive Missiles against the enemy. We are well and truly in the middle of what Sister Lucia of Fatima called “The Devil’s Final Battle with the Blessed Virgin”―and Sister Lucia added: “From now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet―going back to the Gedeon and Moses theme―we are not going to avoid defeat if we rely upon ourselves and mere human ingenuity, skill and power. Our Lord clearly says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Unfortunately, most Catholics are trying to most things without Him! That cannot be blessed! That will not be blessed! We are a part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and not the other way round. Without Him, we are doomed to defeat. With Him―and subservient to Him―we can hope for victory!
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday November 9th & Monday November 9th & Tuesday November 10th
Article 5
Where Is All This Leading To?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday November 9th & Monday November 9th & Tuesday November 10th
Article 5
Where Is All This Leading To?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Can’t You See?
“Having eyes, see you not? Having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). Our Lord, in speaking those words, was manifesting His exasperation with His Apostles, in whom “the penny had not yet dropped” regarding Our Lord’s power and mission. “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). There are times (lots of times) when we, too, are blinded by what is going on around us ― simply because we too preoccupied with other things, often secondary or trivial things, but to which we give an exaggerated importance: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15)
Sometimes, we are just too dumb or not astute enough to see what is really happening or where things are going―as the proverbial expression says: “You cannot see beyond the end of your nose!” Our minds have be so weakened by the binging on entertainment, fun, activities, etc., that our mental muscles have atrophied and we can barely think two or three moves ahead. The mark of a chess player is that he can see a number of moves ahead. The Grand Masters of chess are said to be able to think at least 15 to 20 moves ahead. Similarly, by analogy, a good football coach is called a great “chess” player, because he knows what his opponent will do and is several moves ahead of his opponent. A successful military general can also be considered a “Grand Master”― because he knows what the enemy intends to do and out-maneuvers the enemy. “So-and-so is playing chess, while his adversary is playing only checkers,” says one common cliché. Or, “The international landscape is a chessboard, and leaders need to be thinking seven moves ahead.” You can, obviously, also apply that to the political landscape.
Spiritual blindness is a state wherein persons are unable to see God, nor understand His message, nor grasp the direction in which God is seeking to lead them. Although God is working all around them, pursuing them and showing them His glory―some people just cannot see His divine workings. “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). They could see, they could understand―for Our Lord said: “Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Matthew 7:7) ― yet most people do not ask, seek and knock, because they are happily busy and content in their preoccupation with the trivial and secondary things life.
The same is true in the sphere of politics, whereby most people are only superficially concerned with what is happening and where it is all leading to. They have more “important” things to do ― namely attend to their trivial and secondary preoccupations! Just as most spiritually blind people eventually realize the reality of things once they are enslaved in Hell in the clutches of Satan―likewise, the politically blind sheeple will only realize the reality of things once they have been enslaved to a worldwide totalitarian government―call it whatever you want, “New World Order”, “One World Government”, etc. As Yuri Bezmenov, the former KGB agent, who fled to the USA and Canada in 1970, said in a 1984 interview, in speaking of Americans who have been ideologically subverted by propaganda: “Exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized [propagandized] is unable to assess true information. The facts say nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures―he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When the military boot crashes his backside, then he will understand―but not before that.”
Poor Political Chess Players
Our political acumen and vision is probably as poor and disadvantaged as that of a “man-off-the-street” being pitted against a Grand Master in the game of chess. We can barely see or think 2 or 3 moves ahead of the game―whereas the Grand Master is already thinking 15 to 20 moves ahead of the game. The bottom-line is that most people are doomed to be outsmarted by the “powers-that-be” with their propaganda “chess moves” (or lies) all previously thought-out and lined-up, with which they are ready to bombard you with, confuse you, overwhelm you and deceive you.
The (put here whatever word you want ― Globalist, Elitist, New World Order, One World Government―it all comes down to the same thing) plans are way ahead of our plans. We barely know what we will be doing in a month’s time―they know what they want to do several decades from now. If it were a game of chess, we would be “checkmated” after only a few moves. In a certain sense, we are (or almost are) “checkmated” right now. It will only take a few more “moves” and we are lost. In chess, Fool’s Mate, also known as the “two-move checkmate”, is the checkmate delivered after the fewest possible number of moves from the chess starting position. Fool’s Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits an extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, this checkmate almost never occurs in practice. Another tactic is akin to what we call distraction―something in which governments and the media are “Grand Masters”―the tactic is called “deflection sacrifice”, the aim is to distract one of the opponent’s pieces from a square where it is performing a particular duty. Right now, we are being distracted to an incredibly high level―the Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic, mandatory masks, mandatory self-isolation and quarantining, lockdowns, economic collapse, job losses, increasing poverty and debt, presidential election hype and rhetoric, election fraud allegations, racial tensions, political tensions, international tensions, growing tensions over mandatory vaccinations and mandatory electronic health monitoring devices (the “chip”), the so-called “Great Reset” which is mask for the New World Order or One World Government, etc.
As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century [which implies a lot of “chess moves”] Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
The “powers-that-be” have been are still are making a series of distracting and deceiving “chess moves” ― all of which cover or distract from the main thrust of their agenda. It is like the adulterer flattering his wife and showering her with gifts while living a life of adultery behind the scenes. We are being lied-to and, just as in the case of “Fool’s Mate” in chess, we are quickly fooled into believing the lies that they want us to believe.
It only takes less than a minute to utter a lie―but it can take many more minutes, or even hours, to refute and disprove that lie. When you get lies being spewed-out at the rate that they are coming at us today, then one can be tempted to give up and surrender to the lie―because nobody wants to spend the time and the effort to research, analyze and then refute the lie. It is like being faced with one single aggressive bumble-bee compared to a swarm of bees―you might decide to fight and kill, or drive away, one single bee, but you will run away from a swarm of bees. The same is true for lies―you give up. This is one of the principles behind brainwashing techniques―whether it be on an individual (such as prisoner being tortured by brainwashing methods) or whether it be the population at large (being brainwashed by the media and pronouncements from the government or other authorities). Even the advertising sector uses a form of brainwashing―by bombarding you with their commercials or advertisements again and again and again. The presumption is that the more times people hear something―whether it be the truth or even a lie―the more likely it is that they will be convinced that it is true. The current communication capabilities―television, internet, social media, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, etc. ― are a propagandists paradise, that potentially opens the door to endless brainwashing, given the fact that most people spend anywhere from 4 to 12 hours in front of one kind of electronic screen or another.
Little by Little the Lies Grow Bigger
As the people grow “dumber” the godless propaganda grows bolder. As the mind and its intelligence “shrinks”, the lies grow bigger and more frequent. The “sheeple” of the world have degenerated to the point the they will believe almost anything and allow themselves to be “shepherded” anywhere―as this latest Plannedemic has clearly shown―very few sheep are bleating and they are meekly and sheepishly corralled into the sheep pen of their own homes, trembling with fear as they read and listen to fear-mongering mainstream, elite owned, propaganda press.
Some dare to call it for what it is―a Communistic, Fascist, Totalitarian manipulation through carefully concocted lies that uttered through the mouths of the thousands of compromised and complicit scientists and doctors who are on the payroll of the controlling bodies and organizations, or those who risk losing their positions, posts, funding and livelihood if they dared to speak out against the establishment. We now have in the secular sphere of science and medicine the very same schism and heresy that we have between the truths held by the Catholic Faith and errors of the Protestant Christians―and likewise, between the Traditional and Conservative Catholics and the Liberal and Modernist Catholics. There are priests and ministers on both sides of the divide saying contradictory things―just as there are scientists and doctors on opposite side of the COVID-divide saying contradictory things; and in the political field you have politicians contradicting each other while pretending they are right in their beliefs. "Covid is a terrible virus!", say some―"No it isn't!" say others. "The Election was rigged!", say some―"No it wasn't!" say others. "Trump is still president!" say some―"No, he isn't, Biden is president!" say others. In the middle of them, you have the poor “dumbed-down-sheeple” who do not know what to think or who to believe, because they have lost the power to think, to analyze and to criticize rationally―having atrophied their thinking muscles by being fed a constant diet of electronic entertainment and signing over their intelligence to the slavery of “AI” or Artificial Intelligence, which is being hoisted upon the “sheeple” as some kind of “all-knowing” messianic savior, to which everyone abdicates their power of reasoning. The USA of today is becoming the Communist RUSSIA of old―as the recent draconian measures and propagandist lies have clearly manifested. Even in his post-election comments, Biden refuses to condemn Socialism.
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Coronavirus Pandemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—which is what being done to the American public today—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Paul Joseph Goebbels as director of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda. Does that sound familiar? Are you seeing history repeating itself, once again?
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy, and now, most recently, the controversy over fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presindential Election―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed. LIkewise, you can see most clearly the "limited" reporting by the mainstream media on the increasing number of controversies, scandals and fraud testimonies concerning the 2020 Presidential Election.
We might do well to "mull-over" and consider the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill's Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender:
You could just as easily paraphrase those quotes and transport them into the current COVID-19 controversy or Presidential Election controversy, applying them to the mainstream media and governmental administrative organs, so that the quote would read as follows: “The primary rules are: (1) never allow the public to cool off―keep up the hype and fear-mongering; (2) never admit a fault or wrong―no matter what sensible scientists and honest doctors and experienced epidemiologists, or what this or that politician or media outlet might be saying against us; (3) never concede that there may be some truth in your enemy’s comments; (4) never leave room for alternatives―there is no place for natural cures or alternative cures for COVID-19 or possibility of fraud in the Presidential Election―it is our way or the highway [wearing masks, self-isolation, lockdowns, business closures, forced vaccinations―or "No, you cannot take legal action over the Election voting]; (5) never accept blame or admit you might be wrong; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time―COVD-19 or Trump or Biden―and blame COVID-19, Trump or Biden for everything that goes wrong. People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
It is appropriate to add here the comments made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, to President Reagan, during a first briefing after Reagan's election as President. Casey allegedly said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Furthermore, what can be added to Casey's statement is that once the public starts to believe the lies that are being fed to it, then comes the inevitable next step, which is an absolute trust in the liar that is spreading those lies. That is where are right now! Only a few people question the narrative. Only a few people see the scam. Only a few people see the political theatrical show. Only a few people are prepared to dig beneath the surface to see what stands under the surface―and thus UNDERSTAND what is going on.
Psychological Effect of Repetition
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has this to say on the matter: “Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda, says psychologist Tom Stafford. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth―is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists something like this known as the “illusion of truth” effect. Here’s how a typical experiment on the effect works: participants rate how true trivia statements are. Sometimes these statements are true (like “A prune is a dried plum”), but sometimes participants see a parallel version which isn’t true (something like “A date is a dried plum”). After a break ― of minutes or even weeks ― the participants do the procedure again, but this time some of the statements they rate are new, and some statements they saw before in the first phase. The key finding is that people tend to rate items they’ve seen before as more likely to be true, regardless of whether they are true or not, and seemingly for the sole reason that they are more familiar. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from the media to advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this weakness of human psychology. The ‘illusion of truth’ can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a propagandist like Joseph Goebbels
“Recently, a team led by Lisa Fazio of Vanderbilt University set out to test how the illusion of truth effect interacts with our prior knowledge. Would it affect our existing knowledge? They used paired true and un-true statements, but also split their items according to how likely participants were to know the truth. So “The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an example of a “known” thing, which also happens to be true, and “The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an un-true statement, for which people are likely to know the actual truth.”
Their results show that the “illusion of truth” effect worked just as strongly for known as for unknown things―suggesting that having prior knowledge of a truth won’t prevent repetition from swaying our judgments from eventually disbelieving, or at least doubting, what we knew to be true. The researchers also performed one study in which the participants were asked to rate how true each statement seemed on a scale from 1 to 6, and another study where they had to categorize each statement as “true” or “false”. Repetition of a statement pushed it higher up the six-point scale, and increased the odds that a statement would be categorized as true―even it was false. For statements that were actually fact or fiction, known or unknown, repetition made them all seem more believable. If the truth is so powerful that it cannot be overturned―then repetition of the lie can at least weaken our adherence to the truth and cause us to at least doubt the truth or certain aspects of the truth. The implications for daily life, where consumers of news and products are often repeatedly exposed to both plausible and implausible falsehoods, is that even patent lies may slowly become more credible, provided enough repetition.
Because we need to make quick judgments, we adopt shortcuts. Our minds are so vulnerable to the “illusion of truth” effect because our instinct is to use short-cuts in judging how believable something is. Often this works. Sometimes it is misleading. Once we know about the effect we can guard against it. Part of this is double-checking why we believe what we do ― if something sounds plausible―is it because it really is true, or have we just been told that repeatedly? This is why scholars are so insistent about providing references to what is said ― so we can track the origin on any claim, rather than having to take it on blind faith. But part of guarding against the illusion is the obligation it puts on us to stop repeating falsehoods. We live in a world where the facts matter, and should matter. If you repeat things without bothering to check if they are true, you are helping to make a world where lies and truth are easier to confuse. So, please, think before you repeat and double-check before you repeat. There are far too many silly, gullible, intellectually weak and intellectually lazy people around, who “shoot from the hip” and believe almost everything they hear―and the internet is a very useful, productive and profitable web for the “father of lies”―the devil―and his human minions.
Psychological Effect of Bombardment with Lies
The current pandemic of being bombarded by lies pretending to be truth, can be, by analogy, compared with attacks to websites. Websites can be subjected to what is called “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks. “Denial of service” attacks involve flooding a site with so much traffic that legitimate and regular customers cannot get through to the website. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are designed to knock a website offline by flooding it with huge amounts of requests until it crashes. To put it another way, a Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to take a website offline (make it inaccessible to other people) by overloading it with “hits” or attempts to access the site, clogging it up with more connections than the website server can handle, or bombarding it with lots of useless incomplete data that keeps the website’s server constantly occupied―causing a kind of “grid-lock” where everything freezes. For regular visitors, the website might be extremely slow to load, or may not even respond at all. DDoS attacks are often used in protestation against a company or organization.
Let us now take this and apply to the human sphere. The ultimate goal of these universal government and media liars is to paralyze your mind with so much information―much of which is contradictory and hence confusing―so that you give up trying to figure out who is telling the truth. We have all witnessed the unprecedented media bombardment on the Covid-19 ― and much of it is either an outright lie, or an exaggeration, or a half-truth, or a malicious hiding of the truth. Those who oppose those lies with the real truth on the subject―are vilified as liars―whereas the liars pose as purveyors of truth. For the “man-in-the-street”, all of this is just too confusing and too time consuming―he would rather be entertaining himself basking in front of the television, or surfing the internet, or chatting and posting on social media. His poor little mind is overloaded with accusations and refutations, claims and denials, etc. All of this is a deliberate bombardment from both sides of the “aisle” which is meant to browbeat the mind of the “man-in-the-street” into paralysis and subjection.
Lies That Are Now Believed As Being Truths
As regards Covid-19, you will find an in-depth coverage of the lies on the dedicated page entitled “Coronavirus and Catholicism” [click here] ― a few chief lies will be mentioned here. Covid-19 was the foundational lie that was planned to prepare the way for a whole host of successive lies or measures to be taken once the Covid-19 lie had been swallowed “hook-line-and-sinker” ― measures such as:
(1) mask-wearing,
(2) self-quarantining, self-isolation, even forced isolation,
(3) promotion of magical vaccines while ridiculing already established medicines and God’s natural medicines,
(4) mandatory universal vaccinations (not just one, but a series of continued vaccinations),
(5) fines and penalties for those who refuse to wear masks,
(6) fines and penalties for those who refuse to be vaccinated (enforced isolation at home or in special government medical facilities,
(7) the introduction of further new man-made diseases under names like Covid-21, SARS3-Cov21, or whatever name they wish to give them, ―all with the purpose of further frightening, panicking and subduing the gullible populations
(8) the introduction of new magical vaccines to combat those new viruses and diseases
(9) the introduction of mandatory vaccinations with the “health monitoring” devices―which are nothing other than the so-called “chip”, without which you will not be allowed travel, enter stores or other public places. These “chips” will be propagandized as being your “health savior”, which will monitor all your vitals and spot potential diseases before they have a chance to dangerously develop within you―electronically sending regular reports on your vitals to some mega-medical health computer run by Artificial Intelligence.
(10) this “chip” will also be you “credit card” for purchases as cash will be discontinued and invalid and “digitized money” will be introduced―which then―“Hey wouldn’t you know it!”―gives the government and banks the power and the right to switch-off your digitized bank account for any reason whatever.
(11) this “chip” or “health monitor” will also serve as a tracking device, mapping out where you have been for every minute of the day.
(12) widespread lockdowns and business closures (resulting in a crippled economy due to lack of income and job losses),
(13) dragging people into the whirlpool of debt as loans are given to those who have had their businesses forcibly closed or those without jobs,
(14) introducing the long-planned so-called “Great Reset” and the “Debt Forgiveness Program” (articles on these things will follow soon) which is really set up, not to “make the world a better place”, but to harness, shackle, chain and enslave the world population to a Globalist, New World Order, One World Government, Totalitarian rule―or, simply put by Our Lady’s revelation to Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism will take over the whole world, America included. In fact, in case you were asleep the last 50 years, a large part of America is already Communist or Socialist or Marxist (all the same family).
► BIG FAT LIE ― Covid-19 had natural origins, most likely coming from a bat ― a LIE. Covid-19 was man-made in bio-warfare laboratories. Initially begun in the USA at Fort Detrick, and then, due to the unexpected “spanner-in-the-spokes” setback on grounds of governmental concern about safety, Dr. Anthony Fauci had the work exported to China, whom he paid handsomely to continue the murderous work.
Dr. Francis Boyle, who has been involved in the field of biological weapons since the start of the 1970s. Boyle says he has carefully followed “mysterious outbreaks of disease in both humans and animals around the world” that have appeared since then. He states: “So, when these unexplained mysterious illnesses break out, I monitor them a while and usually I just conclude they can be explained by normal reasons: lack of sanitation, poverty, things of that nature. But in Wuhan it seemed pretty suspicious to me. There is this Bio-safety Level 4 facility there in Wuhan. It's the first in China, and it was specifically set up to deal with the Coronavirus and SARS. SARS is basically a weaponized version of the Coronavirus … They were working on a biological warfare weapon involving SARS, which is a Coronavirus to begin with … They had already developed SARS … and it seems they were turbo-charging SARS―which is what Covid-19 looks to be. This is a brand-new generation of bio-warfare weapons we haven’t seen before.”
Dr. Rashid Buttar, American doctor, for the past 20 years ranked among the top 50 doctors in the United States, graduated with major in Biology, before attending the Medical School of Osteopathic Medicine Health Sciences and the College of Medicine and Surgery. With regard to Covid-19 and its origins, he says: “As I started looking at this information, I started seeing that this is actually a chimeric (not natural) version―something that was developed here, in the United States, in 2015. It was published in “Nature” magazine, that it [Covid-19] was developed in the University of North Carolina―where all the initial studies were done. The chimeric research was done despite having a moratorium (a temporary prohibition of an activity) by the US Government to prevent any chimeric research. Chimeric research means taking a naturally occurring virus and then mutating it, modifying it, changing the configuration morphologically to “gain function.” It’s called a “gain of function study” or “gain of function research” ― which means they are taking something that already has potential to cause harm and making it more harmful and making it more virulent and making it more resistant ― and basically that is what I found. They took the sHZ-014 strain of the Coronavirus as a basic component, they then brought in the backbone from the SARS Coronavirus and put them together. They then inserted HIV and MERS orthologs (genes) on top of it to make a more virulent and more detrimental virus … It goes back 2014, when the U.S. Government decided―based upon certain virologists at that time saying: ‘Look, there is no justification for this kind of research. There is potential for it to cause harm and cause a pandemic. So there is no justification for us to do this kind of research!’ So the Government passed a moratorium (a temporary prohibition of an activity) in 2014. [Dr. Anthony] Fauci approved a budget for monies to be sectioned for this type of research. He basically broke the law. He more than broke the law―this entire casket that we see with the world shutdown―was created by this initial aspect back in 2015. He broke the law. He went against the Government moratorium. He took taxpayer money and he funded research that has now led to Covid-19.”
Dr. Judy Mikovits, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, and former work colleague of Dr. Fauci, says: “I wouldn’t use the word created [for COVID-19]. But you can’t say ‘naturally occurring’ because it is by way of the laboratory. So it’s very clear this virus was manipulated. This family of viruses was manipulated and studied in a laboratory where the animals were taken into the laboratory, and this is what was released, whether deliberate or not. That cannot be naturally occurring. Somebody didn’t go to a market, get a bat; the virus didn’t jump directly to humans. That’s not how it works. That’s accelerated viral evolution. If it was a natural occurrence, then it would take up to 800 years to occur. This occurred from SARS-1 within a decade. That’s not naturally occurring. I’m sure it occurred between the North Carolina laboratories, Fort Detrick, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the Wuhan laboratory.”
► BIG FAT LIE ― Wearing masks protects you against Covid-19 ― a LIE. The now almost universally obligatory rule of having to wear a mask is more of psychological ploy to coerce and condition people into being obedient to commands issued from the ‘gods’ of science and government, gradually transforming you into a subservient robot who obey every single command, without questioning it, without researching it, without truly thinking about it. In fact, if you look at the military “boot-camp” training procedures (for example the U.S. Marines boot-camp), it is exactly that which is being instilled into the raw-recruits―obedience to every command no matter how ludicrous or pointless it may seem to be. On the point of the effectiveness of the masks, read some expert medical opinions by some of the most qualified doctors in the world on our “Coronavirus and Catholicism” page [click here]. We will not waste space in duplicating those in-depth testimonies. The bottom line is―as you will clearly see by the testimonies of experts in the medical profession, doctors at the peak of their profession― “there is no scientific evidence that masks are effective against COVID-19 transmission … No studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus” (Dr. Blaylock). Masks “don’t protect anybody. I worked in a bio-safety level three facility [the most dangerous level] with HIV for 30 years. I pulled viruses out of saliva and blood. I never once wore a mask!” (Dr. Judy Mikovits, colleague of Dr. Fauci). Even Dr. Fauci himself, before he “changed his tune” (or changed his mask) said in comments he made back in March 2020: “People should not be walking around with masks” because “it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.” If you were right in March 2020, then you are wrong today, Dr. Fauci! And if you were wrong about masks in March 2020, then one really has to question your scientific judgment and abilities! The April 2020 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine pointed out: “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.” Yet―quite insanely―we have been bombarded by lying propaganda that has made us think the opposite―we believe the LIE!
► BIG FAT LIE ― Almost 250,000 Americans have dies from Covid-19 ― a LIE. Initially, the prediction was anywhere from 1.6 million to 2.2 million deaths. The famed 2.2 million estimate first reached viral status in the March 31st, 2020, White House briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. CNBC reported, “Dr. Birx said the projections by Dr. Anthony Fauci that U.S. deaths could range from 1.6 million to 2.2 million deaths is a worst‐case scenario if the country did ‘nothing’ to contain the outbreak, but said even ‘if we do things almost perfectly,’ she still predicts up to 200,000 U.S. deaths.” The numbers never came remotely near the 1.6 million to 2.2 million and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Joe Biden currently claim (mid-November) that around 250,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. That number of 250,000 is grossly exaggerated and misrepresented―in short, it is a LIE.
A fact that you need to remember is the DELIBERATELY MANIPULATED INFLATION OF ALLEGED COVID-19 CASES whereby doctors were essentially told that that all patients are to be tested for Covid-19 and that if the patient tested positive for Covid-19, they should then register Covid-19 as the cause of death on the death certificate, regardless the fact that they might be already dying from cancer or heart disease or whatever. Even worse, they were told that if they merely SUSPECTED that the patient MIGHT have Covid-19, then they should also register Covid-19 as the cause of death―without any real evidence, based on hunches and guesses alone. As one whistleblower nurse of 30 years experience revealed: “We all know it―all of the doctors and nurses know it―but our hands are tied. You speak reason and you try and reason and basically what it is, is: “Do what you’re told! Act! React! Don’t stop and think about this logically―just do! … The epidemiologists and the experienced medical people, who have a medical background, KNOW THIS! But they are being SILENCED … There was a patient who passed away in a nursing home, under hospice care―which means you’re basically DYING! But because they had a Covid test―I don’t know how they ended up getting a Covid test―that is bizarre that you would do that to a hospice patient [who is already dying from something else], but they would get a Covid test positive, so that person did not die of their terminal disease―they died of Covid! This is what is happening! This is what is happening!! That is the issue―our hands are tied and we can’t disclose this information to the media. We can’t disclose this technically to anyone―or you are breaking a Federal Law.”
DR. WITTKOWSKI, head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at The Rockefeller University, New York, said: “Let’s take realistic numbers in the United Sates … During the flu season, we have in the United States about 35,000 deaths due to flu every year during the flu season. So, it would be part of the normal situation during the flu season. There is a statistic for flu deaths. It’s currently at about 10,000 to 12,000 deaths per year. So, together with the Corona deaths, it’s about regular flu season. I don’t know where these [over-inflated] numbers are coming from—they’re totally unrealistic. There are no indications that this flu is fundamentally different from every other flu. There are no indications that anything is different from a regular flu. Maybe it’s a bit worse than other flus—could be?”
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK, a Montana physician of over 30 years experience, states: “Telling the truth is considered a threat to the national security … The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdown has been based on the alleged death rate of COVID-19. Is this death rate based on truth? History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures―despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate. People know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician coroner or medical examiner signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I’ve been filling out death certificates for over 30 years. More often than we want to admit, we don’t know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form then that listed cause of death, whatever we list, is entered into a vital records databank to use for statistical analysis―which then gives out inaccurate numbers as you can imagine. Those inaccurate numbers are then accepted as “factual information” even though much of it is false. So even before we heard of COVID-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to COVID-19, there’s the additional data skewer that there is no universal definition of COVID-19 death.”
“The Center for Disease Control, on April 4th, 2020, still stated that “mortality” data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. … The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same, they call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission … We need to understand how the CDC and the National Vital Statistics System are instructing physicians to fill out death certificates related to COVID-19. Brace yourselves, and please pay attention and let what I’m about to tell you sink in. The assumption of COVID-19 death could be made even without testing. Based on mere assumption alone [guesswork], the death can be reported to the public as another COVID-19 casualty. The March 24th, 2020, NVSS memo states: “The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID-19 being the underlying cause more often than not.” Stephen Schwartz, national director of the division of vital statistics, says an answer to the question as stated in the organization’s COVID-19 alert: “Should COVID-19 be reported on the death certificate only with a confirmed test?” Check out his answer:
SCHWARTZ: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate [as the cause of death] for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death. Certifiers should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc.” …
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK continues: “If a patient is positive for COVID-19 and dies from another cause, such as pneumococcal sepsis, it may be considered accurate to say that person died WITH COVID-19 NOT FROM COVID-19. Yet the CDC guideline lists this case as one more COVID-19 death and they go to the next questionable death, they label that as COVID-19 and it goes on and on. You could see how these statistics have been made to look scary, when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. Those false numbers are sanctioned by the CDC as of their memo yesterday, April 4th, 2020. The real number of COVID-19 deaths is not what most people are told and what they then think. How many people actually died from COVID-19 is anyone’s guess. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fear-mongers into relinquishing freedoms.”
DR. DANIEL W. ERICKSON says: “When someone dies in this country right now, they’re not talking about the high blood pressure, the diabetes, the stroke. They say they died from COVID. We’ve been to hundreds of autopsies. You don’t talk about one thing, you talk about comorbidities [more than one disease/condition present in a person at the same time]. COVID was part of it, it is not the reason they died, folks. When I’m writing up my death report, I am being pressured to add COVID. Why is that? Why are we being pressured to add COVID? To maybe increase the numbers, and make it look a little bit worse than it is? We’re being pressured in-house to add COVID to the diagnostic list, when we think it has nothing to do with the actual cause of death. The actual cause of death was not COVID, but it’s being reported as one of the disease processes and being added to the death list. COVID didn’t kill them―25 years of tobacco use killed them.”
On May 9th, 2020, Dr. Deborah Birx seemed to make a “U-Turn” by saying that she believed some official COVID-19 statistics like death tolls may have been inflated by up to 25%, a new report states. According to a report from The Washington Post, during a heated task force meeting, Dr. Birx criticized the method the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was using to collect its data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Dr. Birx reportedly told CDC Director Robert Redfield. Dr. Birx told The Washington Post, in a statement, that “mortality is slowly declining each day.”
On May 28th, 2020, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were forced to "backtrack" and "revise" their blatantly exaggerated models or estimates as to the severity of the COVID-10 Coronavirus. The CDC revised its initial death rate for Coronavirus to under 1% — to a mere 0.26%, a fraction of what they initially projected―which means just over 2 people per 1 thousand people. Given that at least half of the deaths were in nursing homes, a back-of-the-envelope estimate would show that the infection fatality rate for non-nursing home residents would only be 0.1% or 1 in 1,000. Additionally, four infectious disease doctors in Canada estimate that the individual rate of death from COVID-19 for people under 65 years of age is six per million people, or 0.0006% ― which translates to 1 person out of every 166,666 people, which is roughly equivalent to the risk of dying from a motor vehicle accident during the same time period. Stanford epidemiologist, John Ioannidis, sifted through the data and predicted less widespread infection and a fatality rate of between 0.05 and 1.0 percent (1 in 2,000 to 1 in a 100)—not that different from the common flu. With all this talk about DEATH―remember that in any given year, 1 out of every 130 people dies―every year 58 million die out of the world’s population 7,800 million― nearly half of these (49%) are people who were 70 years or older. The Coronavirus is not the common flu. It has different characteristics, afflicting the old more than the young, men more than women. COVID-19 has a survival rate of 99.99% for those under the age of 40. Even people over the age of 60, who are not residents of nursing homes, have a survival rate of 98%.
Why so much material on this point? The first reason is to remind you that you have been grossly lied to―you have been made to believe that their exaggerated and misrepresented numbers are actual reality, whereas they are false. As they say: “Fool me once, shame on me! Fool me twice, shame on you!” That is what they are trying to do now―fool you into believing that there is a ghastly, overwhelming, unstoppable spike occurring in Covid-19 cases as we approach this winter. If their calculations, estimates, forecasts and alleged numbers were falsified, untrue, exaggerated and misrepresented the first time around―what makes you think that the leopard has changed his spots the second time around―as the proverb states: “A leopard never changes his spots” ― and these people are not godly, God-fearing, God seeking and God obeying people! They have an agenda―and that agenda is not godly―and they will carry it out no matter what opposition (puny opposition) may stand in their way. Just as they created the man-made Covid-19 virus in the first place and created the terrifying propaganda virus that came with it in order to terrify and coerce people into obeying their script (masks, social-distancing, self-isolation, etc.) for a ‘miraculous’ man-made solution (masks, social-distancing, self-isolation, etc.) called the ‘miracle’ vaccine!!! That will subtly and gradually lead you into accept another kind of vaccination―vaccination with the electronic chip that will you health-monitor, internal credit card, internal ID and a whole lot of other “wonderful” things!
► BIG FAT LIE ― Self-quarantining and self-isolation is absolutely necessary just because you were around people who "might" have had Covid-19 ― a LIE.
“Having eyes, see you not? Having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). Our Lord, in speaking those words, was manifesting His exasperation with His Apostles, in whom “the penny had not yet dropped” regarding Our Lord’s power and mission. “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). There are times (lots of times) when we, too, are blinded by what is going on around us ― simply because we too preoccupied with other things, often secondary or trivial things, but to which we give an exaggerated importance: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15)
Sometimes, we are just too dumb or not astute enough to see what is really happening or where things are going―as the proverbial expression says: “You cannot see beyond the end of your nose!” Our minds have be so weakened by the binging on entertainment, fun, activities, etc., that our mental muscles have atrophied and we can barely think two or three moves ahead. The mark of a chess player is that he can see a number of moves ahead. The Grand Masters of chess are said to be able to think at least 15 to 20 moves ahead. Similarly, by analogy, a good football coach is called a great “chess” player, because he knows what his opponent will do and is several moves ahead of his opponent. A successful military general can also be considered a “Grand Master”― because he knows what the enemy intends to do and out-maneuvers the enemy. “So-and-so is playing chess, while his adversary is playing only checkers,” says one common cliché. Or, “The international landscape is a chessboard, and leaders need to be thinking seven moves ahead.” You can, obviously, also apply that to the political landscape.
Spiritual blindness is a state wherein persons are unable to see God, nor understand His message, nor grasp the direction in which God is seeking to lead them. Although God is working all around them, pursuing them and showing them His glory―some people just cannot see His divine workings. “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God―for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). They could see, they could understand―for Our Lord said: “Ask, and it shall be given you! Seek, and you shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Matthew 7:7) ― yet most people do not ask, seek and knock, because they are happily busy and content in their preoccupation with the trivial and secondary things life.
The same is true in the sphere of politics, whereby most people are only superficially concerned with what is happening and where it is all leading to. They have more “important” things to do ― namely attend to their trivial and secondary preoccupations! Just as most spiritually blind people eventually realize the reality of things once they are enslaved in Hell in the clutches of Satan―likewise, the politically blind sheeple will only realize the reality of things once they have been enslaved to a worldwide totalitarian government―call it whatever you want, “New World Order”, “One World Government”, etc. As Yuri Bezmenov, the former KGB agent, who fled to the USA and Canada in 1970, said in a 1984 interview, in speaking of Americans who have been ideologically subverted by propaganda: “Exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized [propagandized] is unable to assess true information. The facts say nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures―he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When the military boot crashes his backside, then he will understand―but not before that.”
Poor Political Chess Players
Our political acumen and vision is probably as poor and disadvantaged as that of a “man-off-the-street” being pitted against a Grand Master in the game of chess. We can barely see or think 2 or 3 moves ahead of the game―whereas the Grand Master is already thinking 15 to 20 moves ahead of the game. The bottom-line is that most people are doomed to be outsmarted by the “powers-that-be” with their propaganda “chess moves” (or lies) all previously thought-out and lined-up, with which they are ready to bombard you with, confuse you, overwhelm you and deceive you.
The (put here whatever word you want ― Globalist, Elitist, New World Order, One World Government―it all comes down to the same thing) plans are way ahead of our plans. We barely know what we will be doing in a month’s time―they know what they want to do several decades from now. If it were a game of chess, we would be “checkmated” after only a few moves. In a certain sense, we are (or almost are) “checkmated” right now. It will only take a few more “moves” and we are lost. In chess, Fool’s Mate, also known as the “two-move checkmate”, is the checkmate delivered after the fewest possible number of moves from the chess starting position. Fool’s Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits an extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, this checkmate almost never occurs in practice. Another tactic is akin to what we call distraction―something in which governments and the media are “Grand Masters”―the tactic is called “deflection sacrifice”, the aim is to distract one of the opponent’s pieces from a square where it is performing a particular duty. Right now, we are being distracted to an incredibly high level―the Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic, mandatory masks, mandatory self-isolation and quarantining, lockdowns, economic collapse, job losses, increasing poverty and debt, presidential election hype and rhetoric, election fraud allegations, racial tensions, political tensions, international tensions, growing tensions over mandatory vaccinations and mandatory electronic health monitoring devices (the “chip”), the so-called “Great Reset” which is mask for the New World Order or One World Government, etc.
As Our Lady warned: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century [which implies a lot of “chess moves”] Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
The “powers-that-be” have been are still are making a series of distracting and deceiving “chess moves” ― all of which cover or distract from the main thrust of their agenda. It is like the adulterer flattering his wife and showering her with gifts while living a life of adultery behind the scenes. We are being lied-to and, just as in the case of “Fool’s Mate” in chess, we are quickly fooled into believing the lies that they want us to believe.
It only takes less than a minute to utter a lie―but it can take many more minutes, or even hours, to refute and disprove that lie. When you get lies being spewed-out at the rate that they are coming at us today, then one can be tempted to give up and surrender to the lie―because nobody wants to spend the time and the effort to research, analyze and then refute the lie. It is like being faced with one single aggressive bumble-bee compared to a swarm of bees―you might decide to fight and kill, or drive away, one single bee, but you will run away from a swarm of bees. The same is true for lies―you give up. This is one of the principles behind brainwashing techniques―whether it be on an individual (such as prisoner being tortured by brainwashing methods) or whether it be the population at large (being brainwashed by the media and pronouncements from the government or other authorities). Even the advertising sector uses a form of brainwashing―by bombarding you with their commercials or advertisements again and again and again. The presumption is that the more times people hear something―whether it be the truth or even a lie―the more likely it is that they will be convinced that it is true. The current communication capabilities―television, internet, social media, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, etc. ― are a propagandists paradise, that potentially opens the door to endless brainwashing, given the fact that most people spend anywhere from 4 to 12 hours in front of one kind of electronic screen or another.
Little by Little the Lies Grow Bigger
As the people grow “dumber” the godless propaganda grows bolder. As the mind and its intelligence “shrinks”, the lies grow bigger and more frequent. The “sheeple” of the world have degenerated to the point the they will believe almost anything and allow themselves to be “shepherded” anywhere―as this latest Plannedemic has clearly shown―very few sheep are bleating and they are meekly and sheepishly corralled into the sheep pen of their own homes, trembling with fear as they read and listen to fear-mongering mainstream, elite owned, propaganda press.
Some dare to call it for what it is―a Communistic, Fascist, Totalitarian manipulation through carefully concocted lies that uttered through the mouths of the thousands of compromised and complicit scientists and doctors who are on the payroll of the controlling bodies and organizations, or those who risk losing their positions, posts, funding and livelihood if they dared to speak out against the establishment. We now have in the secular sphere of science and medicine the very same schism and heresy that we have between the truths held by the Catholic Faith and errors of the Protestant Christians―and likewise, between the Traditional and Conservative Catholics and the Liberal and Modernist Catholics. There are priests and ministers on both sides of the divide saying contradictory things―just as there are scientists and doctors on opposite side of the COVID-divide saying contradictory things; and in the political field you have politicians contradicting each other while pretending they are right in their beliefs. "Covid is a terrible virus!", say some―"No it isn't!" say others. "The Election was rigged!", say some―"No it wasn't!" say others. "Trump is still president!" say some―"No, he isn't, Biden is president!" say others. In the middle of them, you have the poor “dumbed-down-sheeple” who do not know what to think or who to believe, because they have lost the power to think, to analyze and to criticize rationally―having atrophied their thinking muscles by being fed a constant diet of electronic entertainment and signing over their intelligence to the slavery of “AI” or Artificial Intelligence, which is being hoisted upon the “sheeple” as some kind of “all-knowing” messianic savior, to which everyone abdicates their power of reasoning. The USA of today is becoming the Communist RUSSIA of old―as the recent draconian measures and propagandist lies have clearly manifested. Even in his post-election comments, Biden refuses to condemn Socialism.
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Coronavirus Pandemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—which is what being done to the American public today—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Paul Joseph Goebbels as director of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda. Does that sound familiar? Are you seeing history repeating itself, once again?
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy, and now, most recently, the controversy over fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presindential Election―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed. LIkewise, you can see most clearly the "limited" reporting by the mainstream media on the increasing number of controversies, scandals and fraud testimonies concerning the 2020 Presidential Election.
We might do well to "mull-over" and consider the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill's Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender:
You could just as easily paraphrase those quotes and transport them into the current COVID-19 controversy or Presidential Election controversy, applying them to the mainstream media and governmental administrative organs, so that the quote would read as follows: “The primary rules are: (1) never allow the public to cool off―keep up the hype and fear-mongering; (2) never admit a fault or wrong―no matter what sensible scientists and honest doctors and experienced epidemiologists, or what this or that politician or media outlet might be saying against us; (3) never concede that there may be some truth in your enemy’s comments; (4) never leave room for alternatives―there is no place for natural cures or alternative cures for COVID-19 or possibility of fraud in the Presidential Election―it is our way or the highway [wearing masks, self-isolation, lockdowns, business closures, forced vaccinations―or "No, you cannot take legal action over the Election voting]; (5) never accept blame or admit you might be wrong; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time―COVD-19 or Trump or Biden―and blame COVID-19, Trump or Biden for everything that goes wrong. People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
It is appropriate to add here the comments made by William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, to President Reagan, during a first briefing after Reagan's election as President. Casey allegedly said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Furthermore, what can be added to Casey's statement is that once the public starts to believe the lies that are being fed to it, then comes the inevitable next step, which is an absolute trust in the liar that is spreading those lies. That is where are right now! Only a few people question the narrative. Only a few people see the scam. Only a few people see the political theatrical show. Only a few people are prepared to dig beneath the surface to see what stands under the surface―and thus UNDERSTAND what is going on.
Psychological Effect of Repetition
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has this to say on the matter: “Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda, says psychologist Tom Stafford. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth―is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists something like this known as the “illusion of truth” effect. Here’s how a typical experiment on the effect works: participants rate how true trivia statements are. Sometimes these statements are true (like “A prune is a dried plum”), but sometimes participants see a parallel version which isn’t true (something like “A date is a dried plum”). After a break ― of minutes or even weeks ― the participants do the procedure again, but this time some of the statements they rate are new, and some statements they saw before in the first phase. The key finding is that people tend to rate items they’ve seen before as more likely to be true, regardless of whether they are true or not, and seemingly for the sole reason that they are more familiar. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from the media to advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this weakness of human psychology. The ‘illusion of truth’ can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a propagandist like Joseph Goebbels
“Recently, a team led by Lisa Fazio of Vanderbilt University set out to test how the illusion of truth effect interacts with our prior knowledge. Would it affect our existing knowledge? They used paired true and un-true statements, but also split their items according to how likely participants were to know the truth. So “The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an example of a “known” thing, which also happens to be true, and “The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an un-true statement, for which people are likely to know the actual truth.”
Their results show that the “illusion of truth” effect worked just as strongly for known as for unknown things―suggesting that having prior knowledge of a truth won’t prevent repetition from swaying our judgments from eventually disbelieving, or at least doubting, what we knew to be true. The researchers also performed one study in which the participants were asked to rate how true each statement seemed on a scale from 1 to 6, and another study where they had to categorize each statement as “true” or “false”. Repetition of a statement pushed it higher up the six-point scale, and increased the odds that a statement would be categorized as true―even it was false. For statements that were actually fact or fiction, known or unknown, repetition made them all seem more believable. If the truth is so powerful that it cannot be overturned―then repetition of the lie can at least weaken our adherence to the truth and cause us to at least doubt the truth or certain aspects of the truth. The implications for daily life, where consumers of news and products are often repeatedly exposed to both plausible and implausible falsehoods, is that even patent lies may slowly become more credible, provided enough repetition.
Because we need to make quick judgments, we adopt shortcuts. Our minds are so vulnerable to the “illusion of truth” effect because our instinct is to use short-cuts in judging how believable something is. Often this works. Sometimes it is misleading. Once we know about the effect we can guard against it. Part of this is double-checking why we believe what we do ― if something sounds plausible―is it because it really is true, or have we just been told that repeatedly? This is why scholars are so insistent about providing references to what is said ― so we can track the origin on any claim, rather than having to take it on blind faith. But part of guarding against the illusion is the obligation it puts on us to stop repeating falsehoods. We live in a world where the facts matter, and should matter. If you repeat things without bothering to check if they are true, you are helping to make a world where lies and truth are easier to confuse. So, please, think before you repeat and double-check before you repeat. There are far too many silly, gullible, intellectually weak and intellectually lazy people around, who “shoot from the hip” and believe almost everything they hear―and the internet is a very useful, productive and profitable web for the “father of lies”―the devil―and his human minions.
Psychological Effect of Bombardment with Lies
The current pandemic of being bombarded by lies pretending to be truth, can be, by analogy, compared with attacks to websites. Websites can be subjected to what is called “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks. “Denial of service” attacks involve flooding a site with so much traffic that legitimate and regular customers cannot get through to the website. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are designed to knock a website offline by flooding it with huge amounts of requests until it crashes. To put it another way, a Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to take a website offline (make it inaccessible to other people) by overloading it with “hits” or attempts to access the site, clogging it up with more connections than the website server can handle, or bombarding it with lots of useless incomplete data that keeps the website’s server constantly occupied―causing a kind of “grid-lock” where everything freezes. For regular visitors, the website might be extremely slow to load, or may not even respond at all. DDoS attacks are often used in protestation against a company or organization.
Let us now take this and apply to the human sphere. The ultimate goal of these universal government and media liars is to paralyze your mind with so much information―much of which is contradictory and hence confusing―so that you give up trying to figure out who is telling the truth. We have all witnessed the unprecedented media bombardment on the Covid-19 ― and much of it is either an outright lie, or an exaggeration, or a half-truth, or a malicious hiding of the truth. Those who oppose those lies with the real truth on the subject―are vilified as liars―whereas the liars pose as purveyors of truth. For the “man-in-the-street”, all of this is just too confusing and too time consuming―he would rather be entertaining himself basking in front of the television, or surfing the internet, or chatting and posting on social media. His poor little mind is overloaded with accusations and refutations, claims and denials, etc. All of this is a deliberate bombardment from both sides of the “aisle” which is meant to browbeat the mind of the “man-in-the-street” into paralysis and subjection.
Lies That Are Now Believed As Being Truths
As regards Covid-19, you will find an in-depth coverage of the lies on the dedicated page entitled “Coronavirus and Catholicism” [click here] ― a few chief lies will be mentioned here. Covid-19 was the foundational lie that was planned to prepare the way for a whole host of successive lies or measures to be taken once the Covid-19 lie had been swallowed “hook-line-and-sinker” ― measures such as:
(1) mask-wearing,
(2) self-quarantining, self-isolation, even forced isolation,
(3) promotion of magical vaccines while ridiculing already established medicines and God’s natural medicines,
(4) mandatory universal vaccinations (not just one, but a series of continued vaccinations),
(5) fines and penalties for those who refuse to wear masks,
(6) fines and penalties for those who refuse to be vaccinated (enforced isolation at home or in special government medical facilities,
(7) the introduction of further new man-made diseases under names like Covid-21, SARS3-Cov21, or whatever name they wish to give them, ―all with the purpose of further frightening, panicking and subduing the gullible populations
(8) the introduction of new magical vaccines to combat those new viruses and diseases
(9) the introduction of mandatory vaccinations with the “health monitoring” devices―which are nothing other than the so-called “chip”, without which you will not be allowed travel, enter stores or other public places. These “chips” will be propagandized as being your “health savior”, which will monitor all your vitals and spot potential diseases before they have a chance to dangerously develop within you―electronically sending regular reports on your vitals to some mega-medical health computer run by Artificial Intelligence.
(10) this “chip” will also be you “credit card” for purchases as cash will be discontinued and invalid and “digitized money” will be introduced―which then―“Hey wouldn’t you know it!”―gives the government and banks the power and the right to switch-off your digitized bank account for any reason whatever.
(11) this “chip” or “health monitor” will also serve as a tracking device, mapping out where you have been for every minute of the day.
(12) widespread lockdowns and business closures (resulting in a crippled economy due to lack of income and job losses),
(13) dragging people into the whirlpool of debt as loans are given to those who have had their businesses forcibly closed or those without jobs,
(14) introducing the long-planned so-called “Great Reset” and the “Debt Forgiveness Program” (articles on these things will follow soon) which is really set up, not to “make the world a better place”, but to harness, shackle, chain and enslave the world population to a Globalist, New World Order, One World Government, Totalitarian rule―or, simply put by Our Lady’s revelation to Sister Lucia of Fatima―Communism will take over the whole world, America included. In fact, in case you were asleep the last 50 years, a large part of America is already Communist or Socialist or Marxist (all the same family).
► BIG FAT LIE ― Covid-19 had natural origins, most likely coming from a bat ― a LIE. Covid-19 was man-made in bio-warfare laboratories. Initially begun in the USA at Fort Detrick, and then, due to the unexpected “spanner-in-the-spokes” setback on grounds of governmental concern about safety, Dr. Anthony Fauci had the work exported to China, whom he paid handsomely to continue the murderous work.
Dr. Francis Boyle, who has been involved in the field of biological weapons since the start of the 1970s. Boyle says he has carefully followed “mysterious outbreaks of disease in both humans and animals around the world” that have appeared since then. He states: “So, when these unexplained mysterious illnesses break out, I monitor them a while and usually I just conclude they can be explained by normal reasons: lack of sanitation, poverty, things of that nature. But in Wuhan it seemed pretty suspicious to me. There is this Bio-safety Level 4 facility there in Wuhan. It's the first in China, and it was specifically set up to deal with the Coronavirus and SARS. SARS is basically a weaponized version of the Coronavirus … They were working on a biological warfare weapon involving SARS, which is a Coronavirus to begin with … They had already developed SARS … and it seems they were turbo-charging SARS―which is what Covid-19 looks to be. This is a brand-new generation of bio-warfare weapons we haven’t seen before.”
Dr. Rashid Buttar, American doctor, for the past 20 years ranked among the top 50 doctors in the United States, graduated with major in Biology, before attending the Medical School of Osteopathic Medicine Health Sciences and the College of Medicine and Surgery. With regard to Covid-19 and its origins, he says: “As I started looking at this information, I started seeing that this is actually a chimeric (not natural) version―something that was developed here, in the United States, in 2015. It was published in “Nature” magazine, that it [Covid-19] was developed in the University of North Carolina―where all the initial studies were done. The chimeric research was done despite having a moratorium (a temporary prohibition of an activity) by the US Government to prevent any chimeric research. Chimeric research means taking a naturally occurring virus and then mutating it, modifying it, changing the configuration morphologically to “gain function.” It’s called a “gain of function study” or “gain of function research” ― which means they are taking something that already has potential to cause harm and making it more harmful and making it more virulent and making it more resistant ― and basically that is what I found. They took the sHZ-014 strain of the Coronavirus as a basic component, they then brought in the backbone from the SARS Coronavirus and put them together. They then inserted HIV and MERS orthologs (genes) on top of it to make a more virulent and more detrimental virus … It goes back 2014, when the U.S. Government decided―based upon certain virologists at that time saying: ‘Look, there is no justification for this kind of research. There is potential for it to cause harm and cause a pandemic. So there is no justification for us to do this kind of research!’ So the Government passed a moratorium (a temporary prohibition of an activity) in 2014. [Dr. Anthony] Fauci approved a budget for monies to be sectioned for this type of research. He basically broke the law. He more than broke the law―this entire casket that we see with the world shutdown―was created by this initial aspect back in 2015. He broke the law. He went against the Government moratorium. He took taxpayer money and he funded research that has now led to Covid-19.”
Dr. Judy Mikovits, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, and former work colleague of Dr. Fauci, says: “I wouldn’t use the word created [for COVID-19]. But you can’t say ‘naturally occurring’ because it is by way of the laboratory. So it’s very clear this virus was manipulated. This family of viruses was manipulated and studied in a laboratory where the animals were taken into the laboratory, and this is what was released, whether deliberate or not. That cannot be naturally occurring. Somebody didn’t go to a market, get a bat; the virus didn’t jump directly to humans. That’s not how it works. That’s accelerated viral evolution. If it was a natural occurrence, then it would take up to 800 years to occur. This occurred from SARS-1 within a decade. That’s not naturally occurring. I’m sure it occurred between the North Carolina laboratories, Fort Detrick, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the Wuhan laboratory.”
► BIG FAT LIE ― Wearing masks protects you against Covid-19 ― a LIE. The now almost universally obligatory rule of having to wear a mask is more of psychological ploy to coerce and condition people into being obedient to commands issued from the ‘gods’ of science and government, gradually transforming you into a subservient robot who obey every single command, without questioning it, without researching it, without truly thinking about it. In fact, if you look at the military “boot-camp” training procedures (for example the U.S. Marines boot-camp), it is exactly that which is being instilled into the raw-recruits―obedience to every command no matter how ludicrous or pointless it may seem to be. On the point of the effectiveness of the masks, read some expert medical opinions by some of the most qualified doctors in the world on our “Coronavirus and Catholicism” page [click here]. We will not waste space in duplicating those in-depth testimonies. The bottom line is―as you will clearly see by the testimonies of experts in the medical profession, doctors at the peak of their profession― “there is no scientific evidence that masks are effective against COVID-19 transmission … No studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus” (Dr. Blaylock). Masks “don’t protect anybody. I worked in a bio-safety level three facility [the most dangerous level] with HIV for 30 years. I pulled viruses out of saliva and blood. I never once wore a mask!” (Dr. Judy Mikovits, colleague of Dr. Fauci). Even Dr. Fauci himself, before he “changed his tune” (or changed his mask) said in comments he made back in March 2020: “People should not be walking around with masks” because “it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.” If you were right in March 2020, then you are wrong today, Dr. Fauci! And if you were wrong about masks in March 2020, then one really has to question your scientific judgment and abilities! The April 2020 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine pointed out: “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.” Yet―quite insanely―we have been bombarded by lying propaganda that has made us think the opposite―we believe the LIE!
► BIG FAT LIE ― Almost 250,000 Americans have dies from Covid-19 ― a LIE. Initially, the prediction was anywhere from 1.6 million to 2.2 million deaths. The famed 2.2 million estimate first reached viral status in the March 31st, 2020, White House briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. CNBC reported, “Dr. Birx said the projections by Dr. Anthony Fauci that U.S. deaths could range from 1.6 million to 2.2 million deaths is a worst‐case scenario if the country did ‘nothing’ to contain the outbreak, but said even ‘if we do things almost perfectly,’ she still predicts up to 200,000 U.S. deaths.” The numbers never came remotely near the 1.6 million to 2.2 million and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Joe Biden currently claim (mid-November) that around 250,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. That number of 250,000 is grossly exaggerated and misrepresented―in short, it is a LIE.
A fact that you need to remember is the DELIBERATELY MANIPULATED INFLATION OF ALLEGED COVID-19 CASES whereby doctors were essentially told that that all patients are to be tested for Covid-19 and that if the patient tested positive for Covid-19, they should then register Covid-19 as the cause of death on the death certificate, regardless the fact that they might be already dying from cancer or heart disease or whatever. Even worse, they were told that if they merely SUSPECTED that the patient MIGHT have Covid-19, then they should also register Covid-19 as the cause of death―without any real evidence, based on hunches and guesses alone. As one whistleblower nurse of 30 years experience revealed: “We all know it―all of the doctors and nurses know it―but our hands are tied. You speak reason and you try and reason and basically what it is, is: “Do what you’re told! Act! React! Don’t stop and think about this logically―just do! … The epidemiologists and the experienced medical people, who have a medical background, KNOW THIS! But they are being SILENCED … There was a patient who passed away in a nursing home, under hospice care―which means you’re basically DYING! But because they had a Covid test―I don’t know how they ended up getting a Covid test―that is bizarre that you would do that to a hospice patient [who is already dying from something else], but they would get a Covid test positive, so that person did not die of their terminal disease―they died of Covid! This is what is happening! This is what is happening!! That is the issue―our hands are tied and we can’t disclose this information to the media. We can’t disclose this technically to anyone―or you are breaking a Federal Law.”
DR. WITTKOWSKI, head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at The Rockefeller University, New York, said: “Let’s take realistic numbers in the United Sates … During the flu season, we have in the United States about 35,000 deaths due to flu every year during the flu season. So, it would be part of the normal situation during the flu season. There is a statistic for flu deaths. It’s currently at about 10,000 to 12,000 deaths per year. So, together with the Corona deaths, it’s about regular flu season. I don’t know where these [over-inflated] numbers are coming from—they’re totally unrealistic. There are no indications that this flu is fundamentally different from every other flu. There are no indications that anything is different from a regular flu. Maybe it’s a bit worse than other flus—could be?”
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK, a Montana physician of over 30 years experience, states: “Telling the truth is considered a threat to the national security … The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdown has been based on the alleged death rate of COVID-19. Is this death rate based on truth? History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures―despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate. People know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician coroner or medical examiner signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I’ve been filling out death certificates for over 30 years. More often than we want to admit, we don’t know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form then that listed cause of death, whatever we list, is entered into a vital records databank to use for statistical analysis―which then gives out inaccurate numbers as you can imagine. Those inaccurate numbers are then accepted as “factual information” even though much of it is false. So even before we heard of COVID-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to COVID-19, there’s the additional data skewer that there is no universal definition of COVID-19 death.”
“The Center for Disease Control, on April 4th, 2020, still stated that “mortality” data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. … The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same, they call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission … We need to understand how the CDC and the National Vital Statistics System are instructing physicians to fill out death certificates related to COVID-19. Brace yourselves, and please pay attention and let what I’m about to tell you sink in. The assumption of COVID-19 death could be made even without testing. Based on mere assumption alone [guesswork], the death can be reported to the public as another COVID-19 casualty. The March 24th, 2020, NVSS memo states: “The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID-19 being the underlying cause more often than not.” Stephen Schwartz, national director of the division of vital statistics, says an answer to the question as stated in the organization’s COVID-19 alert: “Should COVID-19 be reported on the death certificate only with a confirmed test?” Check out his answer:
SCHWARTZ: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate [as the cause of death] for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death. Certifiers should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc.” …
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK continues: “If a patient is positive for COVID-19 and dies from another cause, such as pneumococcal sepsis, it may be considered accurate to say that person died WITH COVID-19 NOT FROM COVID-19. Yet the CDC guideline lists this case as one more COVID-19 death and they go to the next questionable death, they label that as COVID-19 and it goes on and on. You could see how these statistics have been made to look scary, when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. Those false numbers are sanctioned by the CDC as of their memo yesterday, April 4th, 2020. The real number of COVID-19 deaths is not what most people are told and what they then think. How many people actually died from COVID-19 is anyone’s guess. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fear-mongers into relinquishing freedoms.”
DR. DANIEL W. ERICKSON says: “When someone dies in this country right now, they’re not talking about the high blood pressure, the diabetes, the stroke. They say they died from COVID. We’ve been to hundreds of autopsies. You don’t talk about one thing, you talk about comorbidities [more than one disease/condition present in a person at the same time]. COVID was part of it, it is not the reason they died, folks. When I’m writing up my death report, I am being pressured to add COVID. Why is that? Why are we being pressured to add COVID? To maybe increase the numbers, and make it look a little bit worse than it is? We’re being pressured in-house to add COVID to the diagnostic list, when we think it has nothing to do with the actual cause of death. The actual cause of death was not COVID, but it’s being reported as one of the disease processes and being added to the death list. COVID didn’t kill them―25 years of tobacco use killed them.”
On May 9th, 2020, Dr. Deborah Birx seemed to make a “U-Turn” by saying that she believed some official COVID-19 statistics like death tolls may have been inflated by up to 25%, a new report states. According to a report from The Washington Post, during a heated task force meeting, Dr. Birx criticized the method the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was using to collect its data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Dr. Birx reportedly told CDC Director Robert Redfield. Dr. Birx told The Washington Post, in a statement, that “mortality is slowly declining each day.”
On May 28th, 2020, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were forced to "backtrack" and "revise" their blatantly exaggerated models or estimates as to the severity of the COVID-10 Coronavirus. The CDC revised its initial death rate for Coronavirus to under 1% — to a mere 0.26%, a fraction of what they initially projected―which means just over 2 people per 1 thousand people. Given that at least half of the deaths were in nursing homes, a back-of-the-envelope estimate would show that the infection fatality rate for non-nursing home residents would only be 0.1% or 1 in 1,000. Additionally, four infectious disease doctors in Canada estimate that the individual rate of death from COVID-19 for people under 65 years of age is six per million people, or 0.0006% ― which translates to 1 person out of every 166,666 people, which is roughly equivalent to the risk of dying from a motor vehicle accident during the same time period. Stanford epidemiologist, John Ioannidis, sifted through the data and predicted less widespread infection and a fatality rate of between 0.05 and 1.0 percent (1 in 2,000 to 1 in a 100)—not that different from the common flu. With all this talk about DEATH―remember that in any given year, 1 out of every 130 people dies―every year 58 million die out of the world’s population 7,800 million― nearly half of these (49%) are people who were 70 years or older. The Coronavirus is not the common flu. It has different characteristics, afflicting the old more than the young, men more than women. COVID-19 has a survival rate of 99.99% for those under the age of 40. Even people over the age of 60, who are not residents of nursing homes, have a survival rate of 98%.
Why so much material on this point? The first reason is to remind you that you have been grossly lied to―you have been made to believe that their exaggerated and misrepresented numbers are actual reality, whereas they are false. As they say: “Fool me once, shame on me! Fool me twice, shame on you!” That is what they are trying to do now―fool you into believing that there is a ghastly, overwhelming, unstoppable spike occurring in Covid-19 cases as we approach this winter. If their calculations, estimates, forecasts and alleged numbers were falsified, untrue, exaggerated and misrepresented the first time around―what makes you think that the leopard has changed his spots the second time around―as the proverb states: “A leopard never changes his spots” ― and these people are not godly, God-fearing, God seeking and God obeying people! They have an agenda―and that agenda is not godly―and they will carry it out no matter what opposition (puny opposition) may stand in their way. Just as they created the man-made Covid-19 virus in the first place and created the terrifying propaganda virus that came with it in order to terrify and coerce people into obeying their script (masks, social-distancing, self-isolation, etc.) for a ‘miraculous’ man-made solution (masks, social-distancing, self-isolation, etc.) called the ‘miracle’ vaccine!!! That will subtly and gradually lead you into accept another kind of vaccination―vaccination with the electronic chip that will you health-monitor, internal credit card, internal ID and a whole lot of other “wonderful” things!
► BIG FAT LIE ― Self-quarantining and self-isolation is absolutely necessary just because you were around people who "might" have had Covid-19 ― a LIE.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday November 6th & Saturday November 7th
Article 4
The Noose Tightens!
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday November 6th & Saturday November 7th
Article 4
The Noose Tightens!
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
No Escape? Noose Tightens!
To “tighten the noose” means to make it more difficult to escape from a certain situation. To say that “the noose is tightening” means that someone is in a very tricky situation. Right now, the world is in a very tricky situation―you could also say the world has been tricked into this situation, or that what is being hoisted upon the world is one big trick. Yet, without a doubt, the world currently finds its neck in a noose―and that noose is being tightened.
As Joe Biden “officially” closes in on the Presidency and Donald Trump calls the “official” election a “fraud”, claiming that victory was “stolen” from him by an unexplained “miraculous” surge in votes out of nowhere in favor of Joe Biden, the already 77% self-confessed sufferers of “Election Anxiety” had their anxiety ramped up even more the unfolding of allegedly (or likely) accusations of fraud in how the Election was run.
ABC NEWS (pro-Biden) reported from on Friday night that “tensions and turmoil in the country could not be higher” and that “demonstrations in front of the capitol in Pennsylvania having been going on for two nights in protest of the Democrats having stolen the election.”
FOX NEWS (pro-Trump), also reporting from Pennsylvania, also spoke of “uncertain times” and the “arrest of two men from Virginia, armed with guns” on their way to the ballot counting building. The Republican Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives, seemed to stoke the fires of discontent and demonstrations by saying in his interview with FOX NEWS: “Why is it, in this big cities [usually Democrat in their leaning], that they stopped counting the votes until all the rural votes [traditionally Republican] come in? It is so that they know how more [Democrat votes] they need! We are ahead in a seat in Iowa by a little less than 100 votes. So they allowed a little over 300 people to re-vote―and now we are behind! This is what is transforming out across America … I will tell you this―Republicans will not back down! We are not going to wait 4 years to change this―we are going to fight this now and we are going to change it ... Every American should stand up! … President Trump won this election! So everyone who is listening―do not be quiet! Do not be silent about this! We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes! We need to unite together!”
The Culture of Lying
Right now, it is the Republican factions that are taking to the streets in protest over the alleged Election frauds―because it looks like “officially” Biden is going to win the race for the presidency. Had it been Trump who was ahead in the race, then you can bet your last dollar that the Democrat mobs would have taken to the streets in protest―also alleging Election fraud. In fact, prior to the Election, both the Republican and Democratic Parties were accusing each other of hijacking the Election! One cannot help feeling that all this is somehow scripted―a political soap opera that we are meant to take as being reality―as the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it does, you can bet it was planned that way!” Another American president, Ronald Reagan was told by William Casey, the CIA Director from 1981 to 1987: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
In politics, hypocrisy and doublespeak have become the regular tools of the trade. They can be used for evil purposes, illegally or for personal gain. Political leaders often hide their true opinions when those opinions are different to the majority public opinion. Barack Obama and Dick Cheney spent years hiding their support for same-sex marriage because at the time more people were opposed to it than in favor of it. They only came “out of the closet” when the more and more people were accepting of it. Long before Obama and Cheney admitted it, well-informed observers knew that their true opinions were opposed to the general public opinion. Nevertheless, they deceptively pretended not to favor same-sex marriage for fear of losing voters and managed to fool the superficial less knowledgeable voters.
Another Obama deception was the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), where he promised “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” This deception helped pass the act by exploiting the ignorance and stupidity of the American voter. Well-informed observers knew from the beginning that the Obamacare individual mandate would force many millions of people to give up plans that they liked. But less knowledgeable voters were more easily fooled. Obama’s deception was extraordinarily successful, and a deserving winner of the “Politifact Lie of the Year award.”
In the run-up to the 2016 Election, Hillary Clinton deceived the Democratic Party’s base by pretending to be in favor of a $15 dollar minimum wage, in order to please the majority Democratic Party opinion, while knowing that it was a dangerous idea that would cost many jobs―because small business employers would be unable to meet the added expenses added to their payroll.
The Republicans are equally guilty of succumbing to culture of political lies. Some so-called “fact checkers” (Democrats by leaning) have accused Donald Trump of telling over 13,000 lies, misrepresentations, exaggerations and half-truths. Trump has even joined Obama as a winner of the “Politifact Lie of the Year Award”.
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war.”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each Party is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Social Control Through the Noose of Lies and Pandemics
Wars and crises are the tried and tested tools for social control. They have worked time and time again. For decades, war and the threat of war has enriched the technocratic elite and kept the population going along with their agenda. War and physical attacks have been repeatedly used to foist ever more draconian restrictions upon us and remove many freedoms and rights. The Patriot Act, rammed through in the aftermath of 9/11, is just one egregious example―and there are quite a few who think 9/11 was a false flag operation―a deliberate lie as who was really responsible―in order to be able to introduce those draconian restrictions and curtail certain freedoms and rights.
Today, pandemics and the threat of infectious disease outbreaks are the new tools of war and social control―they are even more efficient that war, because it is harder to point the finger at the enemy when it is a virus or some other infectious disease―as we have seen with Covid-19, being blamed on bats, the next one will be the fault of rats, then mosquitoes, then flies and so on. For years, Bill Gates has prepared the global mindset for a new enemy―by speaking of deadly, invisible viruses that can crop up at any time―and the only way to protect ourselves is by giving up old-fashioned notions of privacy, liberty and personal decision-making, and then succumbing to a mandatory universal vaccination program that will not only tackle viruses, but, by electronic implants into our bodies, will―like a guardian angel―monitor our health and send data concerning the state of our bodies and vitals to some Artificial Intelligence database where it will analyzed―the argument being that they will be able spot potential diseases in us and “head-them-off” before they get a chance to gain a hold over our body! O how wonderful! Even God doesn’t do that! O Bill Gates―where have you been all my life! Yet―just as with politicians―how will you know if your “medical guardian angels” are telling you the truth?
Social Control Through the Noose of Radio Wave Frequency Manipulation
Furthermore, by having an electronic implant within you―and you can bet that they will become more and more powerful and multi-functional in very little time―you become, in a sense, a walking computer, whereby, through the use of radio waves and frequencies, you can be controlled, or made to be ill, or even killed at the whim of those “in charge”. In case you did not know, all radio waves (which is how your computer communicates and how your electronic implant would communicate) are electromagnetic frequencies that also contain radio-frequency radiation. Are you a glutton for radiation?
Furthermore, frequencies are used to heal people―they say that every disease has its own personal frequency range. Rife machines produce low electromagnetic energy waves. These waves are similar to radio waves. The American scientist, Dr. Royal Raymond Rife, developed the Rife machine in the 1920s. The machine is also called a Rife frequency generator. The Rife machine and other types of similar machines produce low energy waves. These waves are also called radio frequency electromagnetic fields. Rife and successors say that all medical conditions have an electromagnetic frequency. Rife treatment works by finding the frequency of the disease. An impulse of the same frequency is then used to kill or disable diseased cells―but that also means that frequencies can also be used to do the reverse, and give someone a disease instead of healing a disease, and thus kill the person. The debilitating or murderous frequency could be pinpointed and sent to you, wherever you are―much like your computer e-mails, downloads and browsed websites hit your computer wherever you are. In this way different frequencies can be personalized for different people, even when they are all in the same room. Amazing what can happen when you allow electronics to invade your body! A similar danger―that you may already be familiar with―is the electromagnetic radiation that comes from X-Rays. That is why they try to put some kind of protective covering on you when taking an X-Ray.
Sounds Fatal?
There is something that can’t be seen or heard; it can be indoors or outdoors; it’s not biological, environmental or radiation―but it can make you sick, or even kill you. What is it? It is low-frequency sound―which at first might seem ridiculous. How can sound bring on sickness or even death? Consider an analogy in relation to the frequency, not of sound, but of light―in particular, light from the sun. You can’t see past the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, yet it can burn your skin, produce skin cancers, and X-rays and gamma rays can kill.
With sound as the culprit, at the right frequency, amplitude and duration, your health may be at risk. Go to a heavy-metal concert for an hour or so ― you may find that nausea is a side effect. What has happened is that sound has made the body vibrate and react. Your body reacts to sounds―such as a train or plane passing-by, or your being too close to speakers, which can cause you to shudder. At certain frequencies―which are beyond the scope of the human hearing range―you might not even realize it is happening. The span of sound that a person hears is termed frequency range; the unit of measurement, Hertz (hz). Although there is considerable variation between individuals, the hearing range is commonly accepted to be 20 to 20,000 hz. To put that into perspective, the low frequency of a tuba is 29 hz and of a bass 27 hz. Anything below 20 hz, is called “infrasound.” Those sounds are imperceptible to the human ear, but the body hears it, although one may not be aware of the bombardment. These sounds might occur from the whir of motors, water pumps, construction-site noise, an equipment room near your residence, or close-by traffic.
Daria Vaisman, a research editor at the New York Press, told of an incident with Walt Disney and his team of cartoonists. After they slowed down a 60-cycle tone in a short cartoon to 12 hz, they found themselves to be sick for days afterwards.
A good example of extreme low frequencies that might be encountered is the church pipe organ. It can cause sensations of sorrow, coldness, anxiety and even shivers down the spine. The most dangerous frequency is at the median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain―which is 7 hz. This is also the resonant frequency of the body’s organs. At high volumes, infrasound (sound that is below 20 hz) can directly affect the human central nervous system, causing disorientation, anxiety, panic, bowel spasms, nausea, vomiting and eventually organ rupture or even death from prolonged exposure.
The first documented attempt to reproduce the infrasound effects was by Vladimir Gavreau in 1957. Gavreau began to experiment with low-frequency acoustics with the intention of creating a viable audio weapon for the French military. Gavreau and his team tested the instruments on themselves with unexpected results. One of the team members died instantly, his internal organs mashed into an amorphous jelly by the vibrations. Fortunately, they could turn the sound off quickly. Even so, other persons, in nearby laboratories, were sick for hours. Everything was vibrating: stomach, heart, lungs.
Home appliances such as a hair drier, toaster oven, television, personal computers, and surprisingly, even the commuter train ridden every day, may produce infrasound. One of the characteristics of low-frequency sound is that it can travel across long distances. The culprit may be wind turbines or water pumps miles away. There is a case of a woman who moved into a new apartment. She was not provided with a full discloser of issues related to the facility―she wasn’t told there were large water pumps nearby. They produced a series of audible noises and low-frequency sound, which made her sick. She legally voided her contract and moved elsewhere; the sickness left. Even if you can’t see it, hear it or feel it, sound waves can still make you sick or kill you. Each person reacts differently to the same sound, so if no one else feels it, it may just be you.
Silent Warfare
Additionally, radio frequencies are now part of silent warfare. Already back in 1991―almost 30 years ago (think on how much more sophisticated are electronics today!)―London’s UK mainstream national news bureau, ITV, in a March 23rd, 1991 news brief, entitled “High-tech Psychological Warfare Arrives in the Middle East”, described a U.S. Psychological Operations (PsyOps) tactic directed against Iraqi troops in Kuwait, during Operation Desert Storm. The maneuver consisted of a system in which subliminal mind-altering technology was carried on standard radio-frequency broadcasts. The news brief states that, among the standard military planning groups in the centre of U.S. war planning operations at Riyadh, was “an unbelievable and highly classified PsyOps program utilizing ‘silent sound’ techniques.” The opportunity to use this method occurred when Saddam Hussein’s military command-and-control system was destroyed. The Iraqi troops were then forced to use commercial FM radio stations to carry encoded commands, which were broadcast on the 100 MHz frequency. The U.S. PsyOps team set up its own portable FM transmitter, utilizing the same frequency, in the deserted city of Al Khafji. This U.S. transmitter overpowered the local Iraqi station. Along with patriotic and religious music, PsyOps transmitted “vague, confusing and contradictory military orders and information.” Additionally, approximately 100 members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, fluent in Arabic, talked the enemy into surrendering. These soldiers rode in the Apache helicopter gunships and, through megaphones, told the Iraqi troops that they would be slaughtered if they didn’t give up.
[Note: the word “subliminal” means “below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it”]. At the same time, a megaphone was also used to direct psycho-acoustic frequencies that engaged the neural networks of the enemy’s brain, subliminally causing him to think any thought and feel any emotion that the Americans chose to lay on him. It is hardly surprising that one soldier could talk 450 enemy soldiers into surrendering, with the help of subliminal mind-altering technology, which beamed into their heads the message: “Give up, give up!” Subliminally, a much more powerful technology was at work―a sophisticated electronic system to speak directly to the mind of the listener, to alter and entrain his brainwaves, to manipulate his brain’s electro-encephalographic (EEG) patterns and artificially implant negative emotional states ― feelings of fear, anxiety, despair and hopelessness. This subliminal system doesn’t just tell a person to feel an emotion―it makes them feel it, it implants that emotion in their minds. Remember―this was achievable almost 30 years ago! What about today?
With such a technology, one could incite anger that could produce civil unrest, riots, violence and looting. Or it could be used to calm people to the point of indifference or apathy in resisting what they would normally resist. Or it could be used to make people exuberant and overjoyed about things that would not usually make them happy (Election results?). Or it could be used to drive people into discouragement, depression, despair and even suicide. Mind-control is no longer a thing of science-fiction! Science now has the tools to make it reality. Totalitarianism is no longer just about controlling and enslaving the physical person―it can also control and enslave the person’s mind. Our Lady’s warning that Communism would take over the WHOLE WORLD (America included), no longer seems like fiction, does it? Politicians might lie―Our Lady doesn’t!
Social Control by the Noose of Debt
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was of the opinion that he who controls the purse strings, controls a nation, or an industry, or a household―regardless of its laws or rules. The actual quote is: “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws!”
A current prominent politician, in speaking with a budding “wannabe” politician full of idealism and good ideas, told her that the only ideas that eventually become Bills and Laws are those that get the support of the rich. Any and all ideas have to please and pass the scrutiny of the people with the money. If you don’t get the support of rich―individuals or corporations―then your ideas won’t get heard. The politician stressed that money talks for the most part. If your ideas go against people with money, then they can destroy you. Politicians are always battling with the lobbyists employed by those with most of the money. Lobbyists are in government to make sure their rich financial employers get what they want. If you don’t go along with them and their agendas, then they can destroy your career. He also said that the people that have the power are the ones that have the money. She didn’t really like what she heard, so she decided to go talk with other experienced politicians. One politician after another gave her the same answer. You have to have money―or the backing of someone with money--in order to have power and influence. If you don’t have the big boys behind you, then you get nowhere. Our society has created this culture that is run by the people with money. Our politics are run by those with money and those that can be bought out. If you don’t know what lobbyists do, then go look it up. They are the reason why not much gets done in our political system.
Those with money, if they are unscrupulous, can enslave others by loaning them money and thus getting them into debt. People envy the rich and would like a “piece of the pie”―even if it is a small piece. In the case of the vast majority of people, money matters more than Faith. It is not they desire the actual money itself―they desire what money can obtain for them. So they borrow money in order to obtain what they want or achieve their dreams. Inevitably, that borrowing of money puts them into debt―it chains them to the lender. A recent study showed that 80% of Americans are caught up in the chains of debt. The average American debt by age group in 2020, is as follows:
● Ages 18–23 (Generation Z) $9,593
● Ages 24–39 (Millennials) $78,396
● Ages 40–55 (Generation X) $135,841
● Ages 56–74 (Baby Boomers) $96,984
● Ages 75 & above (Silent Generation) $40,925
Owing money just seems to be a way of life for Americans, as collectively they have $14 trillion (14 million millions) in private debt. The Nation’s debt, which includes government, corporations, businesses, etc. is over $136 trillion (136 million millions)―although they cleverly disguise that as being only $26 trillion (26 million millions). That amount is climbing ever higher. Consumer debt can be broken up into 4 main categories: mortgage debt, auto loans, student loans, and credit card debt. Unpaid medical bills and expensive medical costs are quickly contributing to debt that Americans currently carry. A further analysis shows that:
● Americans have $14 Trillion in debt collectively
● Mortgage debt is the biggest debt in America - with $9.44 trillion owed collectively
● The average American household mortgage is $189,586
● The average consumer debt is $38,000 excluding mortgages
● 13% of Americans expect to be in debt for the rest of their lives
● Medical costs have increased 33% in the past 30 years, while income has only grown 30%
● The cost of raising a child in America is around $250,000 from birth to age 18.
● 2 out of 10 Americans use at least 50% of their income to pay back what they owe.
● Only 1 in 3 Americans have a written budget
● Almost half of the families in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck
● 19% of Americans have $0 set aside for an emergency
Now Mix-In Covid-19, Lockdowns, Business Closures, Job Losses with that Debt
To “tighten the noose” means to make it more difficult to escape from a certain situation. To say that “the noose is tightening” means that someone is in a very tricky situation. Right now, the world is in a very tricky situation―you could also say the world has been tricked into this situation, or that what is being hoisted upon the world is one big trick. Yet, without a doubt, the world currently finds its neck in a noose―and that noose is being tightened.
As Joe Biden “officially” closes in on the Presidency and Donald Trump calls the “official” election a “fraud”, claiming that victory was “stolen” from him by an unexplained “miraculous” surge in votes out of nowhere in favor of Joe Biden, the already 77% self-confessed sufferers of “Election Anxiety” had their anxiety ramped up even more the unfolding of allegedly (or likely) accusations of fraud in how the Election was run.
ABC NEWS (pro-Biden) reported from on Friday night that “tensions and turmoil in the country could not be higher” and that “demonstrations in front of the capitol in Pennsylvania having been going on for two nights in protest of the Democrats having stolen the election.”
FOX NEWS (pro-Trump), also reporting from Pennsylvania, also spoke of “uncertain times” and the “arrest of two men from Virginia, armed with guns” on their way to the ballot counting building. The Republican Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives, seemed to stoke the fires of discontent and demonstrations by saying in his interview with FOX NEWS: “Why is it, in this big cities [usually Democrat in their leaning], that they stopped counting the votes until all the rural votes [traditionally Republican] come in? It is so that they know how more [Democrat votes] they need! We are ahead in a seat in Iowa by a little less than 100 votes. So they allowed a little over 300 people to re-vote―and now we are behind! This is what is transforming out across America … I will tell you this―Republicans will not back down! We are not going to wait 4 years to change this―we are going to fight this now and we are going to change it ... Every American should stand up! … President Trump won this election! So everyone who is listening―do not be quiet! Do not be silent about this! We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes! We need to unite together!”
The Culture of Lying
Right now, it is the Republican factions that are taking to the streets in protest over the alleged Election frauds―because it looks like “officially” Biden is going to win the race for the presidency. Had it been Trump who was ahead in the race, then you can bet your last dollar that the Democrat mobs would have taken to the streets in protest―also alleging Election fraud. In fact, prior to the Election, both the Republican and Democratic Parties were accusing each other of hijacking the Election! One cannot help feeling that all this is somehow scripted―a political soap opera that we are meant to take as being reality―as the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it does, you can bet it was planned that way!” Another American president, Ronald Reagan was told by William Casey, the CIA Director from 1981 to 1987: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
In politics, hypocrisy and doublespeak have become the regular tools of the trade. They can be used for evil purposes, illegally or for personal gain. Political leaders often hide their true opinions when those opinions are different to the majority public opinion. Barack Obama and Dick Cheney spent years hiding their support for same-sex marriage because at the time more people were opposed to it than in favor of it. They only came “out of the closet” when the more and more people were accepting of it. Long before Obama and Cheney admitted it, well-informed observers knew that their true opinions were opposed to the general public opinion. Nevertheless, they deceptively pretended not to favor same-sex marriage for fear of losing voters and managed to fool the superficial less knowledgeable voters.
Another Obama deception was the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), where he promised “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” This deception helped pass the act by exploiting the ignorance and stupidity of the American voter. Well-informed observers knew from the beginning that the Obamacare individual mandate would force many millions of people to give up plans that they liked. But less knowledgeable voters were more easily fooled. Obama’s deception was extraordinarily successful, and a deserving winner of the “Politifact Lie of the Year award.”
In the run-up to the 2016 Election, Hillary Clinton deceived the Democratic Party’s base by pretending to be in favor of a $15 dollar minimum wage, in order to please the majority Democratic Party opinion, while knowing that it was a dangerous idea that would cost many jobs―because small business employers would be unable to meet the added expenses added to their payroll.
The Republicans are equally guilty of succumbing to culture of political lies. Some so-called “fact checkers” (Democrats by leaning) have accused Donald Trump of telling over 13,000 lies, misrepresentations, exaggerations and half-truths. Trump has even joined Obama as a winner of the “Politifact Lie of the Year Award”.
Why Do Politicians Lie?
Jim Taylor Ph.D., of Psychology Today, in an article on why politicians lie, states: I’m constantly amazed by how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. The euphemisms (nice sounding terms) that politicians use―for what is, in many cases, bold-faced lies―are legendary. [The lie is excused because] Politicians misspoke. Or the biased media misinterpreted what they meant. Or the politicians’ words were distorted, misrepresented, twisted, exaggerated, or taken out of context. They overstated, understated, or misstated. But, of course, politicians never lie, at least that’s what they say. Yet, the unvarnished truth is that politicians do lie. Why do politicians believe they can lie and not get caught? … Here are six reasons.
(1) Many politicians are narcissists. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, require excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. This causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
(2) Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Politicians and their adherents live in an echo chamber, in which everyone watches the same news channel, listens to the same talk radio, reads the same newspapers and websites, and hangs out with the same like-minded people. This prevents conflicting information from entering. The content of the lies is also usually red meat for the politicians’ ravenous base who are only too happy to chew on it for days on end.
(3) People don’t want to hear the truth. Truth, as the saying goes, hurts―and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the carriers of bad news (and decrease the likelihood of getting people’s votes) when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings (which, of course, everyone wants) and come out the victor.
(4) The Internet never forgets. One of the unintended consequences of the Internet is that information, true or not, lives on forever and it is likely to continue to be believed even in the face of contradictory evidence. Research has shown, for example, that people are more likely to believe unsubstantiated rumors―about a political candidate they oppose―when read in emails and on blogs.
(5) Cognitive biases. The human mind engages in many tricks to help people be more efficient, reduce confusion and anxiety, and keep life simple and coherent. Examples include the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions; the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views; and the over-confidence effect which involves unwarranted confidence in one’s own knowledge, just to name a few.
(6) If a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.
Ultimately, politicians lie because―due to the six reasons above―the cost/benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. Politicians run this calculation when they create or shift a damaging narrative, attack an opponent, or respond to indefensible claims against them. I’m going to assume that most politicians know when they are lying (if not, we not only have a bunch of narcissists in government, but also a whole lot of sociopaths). So, politicians lie when they believe that dishonesty is the best policy for getting elected.
Lying is a Global Political Disease
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Ph.D. ― with a doctorate degree in business and a tenured professor ― writes: “I’m sure you have heard accusations that politicians lie, or don’t tell the whole truth. Politicians say that about each other. Back in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said it in a campaign speech: ‘I offered my opponents a deal: if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them.’ The theme of lying politicians is not exclusive to the USA. In the fifty-two countries in which I have worked, I hear the same complaint: ‘We cannot trust our leaders. They are evasive. They hold back from telling us the truth, etc.’
“So why is it a global phenomenon that politicians lie? Because they have to. I got this insight from working with prime ministers and presidents of various countries, while at the same time working with CEOs of very large companies. Leaders of major conglomerates and of countries exhibit very similar leadership styles: They are evasive, play their cards very close to the vest and do not share information if they can help it. They use big words to obscure their real intentions. Why? The higher you ascend up the hierarchy, the more political the environment becomes. Those you are interrelating with have their own interests—be they personal, or of the unit they manage—and there is a struggle between all these interests. As a leader you have to maneuver between all these pressure groups and powerful individuals, and survive the maneuvering. If you are truthful about your intentions and make them known, you are giving information to those who want to unseat you, who want you to lose so they can gain. You lose the capability to maneuver politically. It would be like a military leader making his battle plans known to the enemy during a war. And folks, up there in the organizational hierarchy, whether of a country or a corporation, it is a war.”
“The more democratic the system, the more lying there will be. In a democracy, a leader has to make difficult maneuvers in a politically competitive environment. That is what democracy is about. In a democracy―in order to get power or to stay in power―a politician needs to lie about his or her intentions , needs to maneuver and disorient enemies from the opposition and frequently from his own party, or has to keep his or her mouth shut and keep a straight face although there is much to say. Politicians have a personality that allows them to be evasive, to live with lies and keep a straight face. Not all people can do that. That is why many people are not willing to serve in a political role. They detest the process they will have to follow, a process I believe is an inevitable byproduct of the political system we chose to have.”
From what Dr. Adizes is saying, you can see that it does not matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat―the higher you rise, the more the lies. Each Party is filled with liars―as Holy Scripture says: “God is true and every man is a liar!” (Romans 3:4).
Social Control Through the Noose of Lies and Pandemics
Wars and crises are the tried and tested tools for social control. They have worked time and time again. For decades, war and the threat of war has enriched the technocratic elite and kept the population going along with their agenda. War and physical attacks have been repeatedly used to foist ever more draconian restrictions upon us and remove many freedoms and rights. The Patriot Act, rammed through in the aftermath of 9/11, is just one egregious example―and there are quite a few who think 9/11 was a false flag operation―a deliberate lie as who was really responsible―in order to be able to introduce those draconian restrictions and curtail certain freedoms and rights.
Today, pandemics and the threat of infectious disease outbreaks are the new tools of war and social control―they are even more efficient that war, because it is harder to point the finger at the enemy when it is a virus or some other infectious disease―as we have seen with Covid-19, being blamed on bats, the next one will be the fault of rats, then mosquitoes, then flies and so on. For years, Bill Gates has prepared the global mindset for a new enemy―by speaking of deadly, invisible viruses that can crop up at any time―and the only way to protect ourselves is by giving up old-fashioned notions of privacy, liberty and personal decision-making, and then succumbing to a mandatory universal vaccination program that will not only tackle viruses, but, by electronic implants into our bodies, will―like a guardian angel―monitor our health and send data concerning the state of our bodies and vitals to some Artificial Intelligence database where it will analyzed―the argument being that they will be able spot potential diseases in us and “head-them-off” before they get a chance to gain a hold over our body! O how wonderful! Even God doesn’t do that! O Bill Gates―where have you been all my life! Yet―just as with politicians―how will you know if your “medical guardian angels” are telling you the truth?
Social Control Through the Noose of Radio Wave Frequency Manipulation
Furthermore, by having an electronic implant within you―and you can bet that they will become more and more powerful and multi-functional in very little time―you become, in a sense, a walking computer, whereby, through the use of radio waves and frequencies, you can be controlled, or made to be ill, or even killed at the whim of those “in charge”. In case you did not know, all radio waves (which is how your computer communicates and how your electronic implant would communicate) are electromagnetic frequencies that also contain radio-frequency radiation. Are you a glutton for radiation?
Furthermore, frequencies are used to heal people―they say that every disease has its own personal frequency range. Rife machines produce low electromagnetic energy waves. These waves are similar to radio waves. The American scientist, Dr. Royal Raymond Rife, developed the Rife machine in the 1920s. The machine is also called a Rife frequency generator. The Rife machine and other types of similar machines produce low energy waves. These waves are also called radio frequency electromagnetic fields. Rife and successors say that all medical conditions have an electromagnetic frequency. Rife treatment works by finding the frequency of the disease. An impulse of the same frequency is then used to kill or disable diseased cells―but that also means that frequencies can also be used to do the reverse, and give someone a disease instead of healing a disease, and thus kill the person. The debilitating or murderous frequency could be pinpointed and sent to you, wherever you are―much like your computer e-mails, downloads and browsed websites hit your computer wherever you are. In this way different frequencies can be personalized for different people, even when they are all in the same room. Amazing what can happen when you allow electronics to invade your body! A similar danger―that you may already be familiar with―is the electromagnetic radiation that comes from X-Rays. That is why they try to put some kind of protective covering on you when taking an X-Ray.
Sounds Fatal?
There is something that can’t be seen or heard; it can be indoors or outdoors; it’s not biological, environmental or radiation―but it can make you sick, or even kill you. What is it? It is low-frequency sound―which at first might seem ridiculous. How can sound bring on sickness or even death? Consider an analogy in relation to the frequency, not of sound, but of light―in particular, light from the sun. You can’t see past the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, yet it can burn your skin, produce skin cancers, and X-rays and gamma rays can kill.
With sound as the culprit, at the right frequency, amplitude and duration, your health may be at risk. Go to a heavy-metal concert for an hour or so ― you may find that nausea is a side effect. What has happened is that sound has made the body vibrate and react. Your body reacts to sounds―such as a train or plane passing-by, or your being too close to speakers, which can cause you to shudder. At certain frequencies―which are beyond the scope of the human hearing range―you might not even realize it is happening. The span of sound that a person hears is termed frequency range; the unit of measurement, Hertz (hz). Although there is considerable variation between individuals, the hearing range is commonly accepted to be 20 to 20,000 hz. To put that into perspective, the low frequency of a tuba is 29 hz and of a bass 27 hz. Anything below 20 hz, is called “infrasound.” Those sounds are imperceptible to the human ear, but the body hears it, although one may not be aware of the bombardment. These sounds might occur from the whir of motors, water pumps, construction-site noise, an equipment room near your residence, or close-by traffic.
Daria Vaisman, a research editor at the New York Press, told of an incident with Walt Disney and his team of cartoonists. After they slowed down a 60-cycle tone in a short cartoon to 12 hz, they found themselves to be sick for days afterwards.
A good example of extreme low frequencies that might be encountered is the church pipe organ. It can cause sensations of sorrow, coldness, anxiety and even shivers down the spine. The most dangerous frequency is at the median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain―which is 7 hz. This is also the resonant frequency of the body’s organs. At high volumes, infrasound (sound that is below 20 hz) can directly affect the human central nervous system, causing disorientation, anxiety, panic, bowel spasms, nausea, vomiting and eventually organ rupture or even death from prolonged exposure.
The first documented attempt to reproduce the infrasound effects was by Vladimir Gavreau in 1957. Gavreau began to experiment with low-frequency acoustics with the intention of creating a viable audio weapon for the French military. Gavreau and his team tested the instruments on themselves with unexpected results. One of the team members died instantly, his internal organs mashed into an amorphous jelly by the vibrations. Fortunately, they could turn the sound off quickly. Even so, other persons, in nearby laboratories, were sick for hours. Everything was vibrating: stomach, heart, lungs.
Home appliances such as a hair drier, toaster oven, television, personal computers, and surprisingly, even the commuter train ridden every day, may produce infrasound. One of the characteristics of low-frequency sound is that it can travel across long distances. The culprit may be wind turbines or water pumps miles away. There is a case of a woman who moved into a new apartment. She was not provided with a full discloser of issues related to the facility―she wasn’t told there were large water pumps nearby. They produced a series of audible noises and low-frequency sound, which made her sick. She legally voided her contract and moved elsewhere; the sickness left. Even if you can’t see it, hear it or feel it, sound waves can still make you sick or kill you. Each person reacts differently to the same sound, so if no one else feels it, it may just be you.
Silent Warfare
Additionally, radio frequencies are now part of silent warfare. Already back in 1991―almost 30 years ago (think on how much more sophisticated are electronics today!)―London’s UK mainstream national news bureau, ITV, in a March 23rd, 1991 news brief, entitled “High-tech Psychological Warfare Arrives in the Middle East”, described a U.S. Psychological Operations (PsyOps) tactic directed against Iraqi troops in Kuwait, during Operation Desert Storm. The maneuver consisted of a system in which subliminal mind-altering technology was carried on standard radio-frequency broadcasts. The news brief states that, among the standard military planning groups in the centre of U.S. war planning operations at Riyadh, was “an unbelievable and highly classified PsyOps program utilizing ‘silent sound’ techniques.” The opportunity to use this method occurred when Saddam Hussein’s military command-and-control system was destroyed. The Iraqi troops were then forced to use commercial FM radio stations to carry encoded commands, which were broadcast on the 100 MHz frequency. The U.S. PsyOps team set up its own portable FM transmitter, utilizing the same frequency, in the deserted city of Al Khafji. This U.S. transmitter overpowered the local Iraqi station. Along with patriotic and religious music, PsyOps transmitted “vague, confusing and contradictory military orders and information.” Additionally, approximately 100 members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, fluent in Arabic, talked the enemy into surrendering. These soldiers rode in the Apache helicopter gunships and, through megaphones, told the Iraqi troops that they would be slaughtered if they didn’t give up.
[Note: the word “subliminal” means “below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it”]. At the same time, a megaphone was also used to direct psycho-acoustic frequencies that engaged the neural networks of the enemy’s brain, subliminally causing him to think any thought and feel any emotion that the Americans chose to lay on him. It is hardly surprising that one soldier could talk 450 enemy soldiers into surrendering, with the help of subliminal mind-altering technology, which beamed into their heads the message: “Give up, give up!” Subliminally, a much more powerful technology was at work―a sophisticated electronic system to speak directly to the mind of the listener, to alter and entrain his brainwaves, to manipulate his brain’s electro-encephalographic (EEG) patterns and artificially implant negative emotional states ― feelings of fear, anxiety, despair and hopelessness. This subliminal system doesn’t just tell a person to feel an emotion―it makes them feel it, it implants that emotion in their minds. Remember―this was achievable almost 30 years ago! What about today?
With such a technology, one could incite anger that could produce civil unrest, riots, violence and looting. Or it could be used to calm people to the point of indifference or apathy in resisting what they would normally resist. Or it could be used to make people exuberant and overjoyed about things that would not usually make them happy (Election results?). Or it could be used to drive people into discouragement, depression, despair and even suicide. Mind-control is no longer a thing of science-fiction! Science now has the tools to make it reality. Totalitarianism is no longer just about controlling and enslaving the physical person―it can also control and enslave the person’s mind. Our Lady’s warning that Communism would take over the WHOLE WORLD (America included), no longer seems like fiction, does it? Politicians might lie―Our Lady doesn’t!
Social Control by the Noose of Debt
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was of the opinion that he who controls the purse strings, controls a nation, or an industry, or a household―regardless of its laws or rules. The actual quote is: “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws!”
A current prominent politician, in speaking with a budding “wannabe” politician full of idealism and good ideas, told her that the only ideas that eventually become Bills and Laws are those that get the support of the rich. Any and all ideas have to please and pass the scrutiny of the people with the money. If you don’t get the support of rich―individuals or corporations―then your ideas won’t get heard. The politician stressed that money talks for the most part. If your ideas go against people with money, then they can destroy you. Politicians are always battling with the lobbyists employed by those with most of the money. Lobbyists are in government to make sure their rich financial employers get what they want. If you don’t go along with them and their agendas, then they can destroy your career. He also said that the people that have the power are the ones that have the money. She didn’t really like what she heard, so she decided to go talk with other experienced politicians. One politician after another gave her the same answer. You have to have money―or the backing of someone with money--in order to have power and influence. If you don’t have the big boys behind you, then you get nowhere. Our society has created this culture that is run by the people with money. Our politics are run by those with money and those that can be bought out. If you don’t know what lobbyists do, then go look it up. They are the reason why not much gets done in our political system.
Those with money, if they are unscrupulous, can enslave others by loaning them money and thus getting them into debt. People envy the rich and would like a “piece of the pie”―even if it is a small piece. In the case of the vast majority of people, money matters more than Faith. It is not they desire the actual money itself―they desire what money can obtain for them. So they borrow money in order to obtain what they want or achieve their dreams. Inevitably, that borrowing of money puts them into debt―it chains them to the lender. A recent study showed that 80% of Americans are caught up in the chains of debt. The average American debt by age group in 2020, is as follows:
● Ages 18–23 (Generation Z) $9,593
● Ages 24–39 (Millennials) $78,396
● Ages 40–55 (Generation X) $135,841
● Ages 56–74 (Baby Boomers) $96,984
● Ages 75 & above (Silent Generation) $40,925
Owing money just seems to be a way of life for Americans, as collectively they have $14 trillion (14 million millions) in private debt. The Nation’s debt, which includes government, corporations, businesses, etc. is over $136 trillion (136 million millions)―although they cleverly disguise that as being only $26 trillion (26 million millions). That amount is climbing ever higher. Consumer debt can be broken up into 4 main categories: mortgage debt, auto loans, student loans, and credit card debt. Unpaid medical bills and expensive medical costs are quickly contributing to debt that Americans currently carry. A further analysis shows that:
● Americans have $14 Trillion in debt collectively
● Mortgage debt is the biggest debt in America - with $9.44 trillion owed collectively
● The average American household mortgage is $189,586
● The average consumer debt is $38,000 excluding mortgages
● 13% of Americans expect to be in debt for the rest of their lives
● Medical costs have increased 33% in the past 30 years, while income has only grown 30%
● The cost of raising a child in America is around $250,000 from birth to age 18.
● 2 out of 10 Americans use at least 50% of their income to pay back what they owe.
● Only 1 in 3 Americans have a written budget
● Almost half of the families in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck
● 19% of Americans have $0 set aside for an emergency
Now Mix-In Covid-19, Lockdowns, Business Closures, Job Losses with that Debt
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday November 3rd & Wednesday November 4th
Article 3
Are We Heading for a Post-Presidential Election Purgatory on Earth?
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Tuesday November 3rd & Wednesday November 4th
Article 3
Are We Heading for a Post-Presidential Election Purgatory on Earth?
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
The Calm Before the Storm?
Everyone was expecting and talking about major civil unrest, demonstrations, mob riots, looting and violence in the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election on November 3rd. Businesses and individuals spent a lot of money and went to great lengths to protect themselves from these potential civil uprisings on Election Day.
► On November 3rd, an ABC NEWS report stated: “As voters flocked to the polls on Election Day, some cities were bracing for the type of violence and looting that occurred earlier this year during protests that followed police-involved killings of Black Americans … From Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, police and store owners said they’re preparing for Election Day unrest despite authorities coast to coast saying they’ve received no credible threats ... Beverly Hills has even called in a SWAT team from another community to be at the ready … New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday, that while no major protests were scheduled for Tuesday night, he cautioned that the New York Police Department will be out in full force to facilitate peaceful protests and potentially thwart the types of looters and violent agitators seen in May and June after the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis … ‘We will not allow any violence,’ said de Blasio, adding that protesters should move away from any criminal activity and report it immediately. ‘The city’s ready ― the NYPD is ready.’ NYPD officers were deployed on Tuesday, November 3rd, to all 1,200 polling sites in New York City and officers [were] out on the streets Tuesday night.
“In New York City, the sound of buzz-saws and hammers drowned out honking cars and sirens as work crews with truckloads of plywood swooped in. Along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, near Trump Tower, workers spent Monday night boarding up the windows of some of the nation’s most expensive stores, including Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avene and nearly every shop in Rockefeller Center ... Police Commissioner Dermot Shea called businesses boarding up ‘100% precautionary,’ adding, ‘It’s hard to fault them with what we went through and what they see across the country!’ Meanwhile, Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker, announced on Monday that he was activating the state’s National Guard to address potential unrest after Election Day. Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, also put the National Guard on alert after declaring a state of emergency in the Portland area, which has been rocked by almost daily protests. [In Washington D.C.] additional fencing already has been erected around Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, the location of protests over racial equality in June.”
► The DALLAS MORNING NEWS, in its November 1st, 2020, article entitled: “Americans, Fearing Post-Election Violence, Are Eyeing Each Other With Suspicion”, stated: “In Washington DC, the nation’s capital, police have cancelled time off and stocked up on riot supplies in case of post-election unrest. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has put the National Guard on standby. Fear is widespread, as Americans eye each other with suspicion. Three out of four voters are concerned about violence on Election Day or afterward, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll. Only a tiny fraction of Americans are prepared to take to the streets if they feel the election was stolen. But fear of election violence is widespread. Some worry about right wing militias, others about Black Lives Matter. In California, more than 4 in 10 Biden supporters and more than half of Trump supporters believe violence is “very likely” in case of disputes about the vote count. And overall, nearly 9 in 10 worry that others won’t accept the outcome. The civic engagement non-profit, More in Common, one of many groups searching for ways to de-escalate tensions around this election, has found a huge gap between partisans’ own willingness to engage in violence and perceptions of the other side’s restraint … Half the voters in each party fear violence from the other side ― including physical attacks and acts of destruction such as riots or looting … Christiana Lang, a senior associate at ‘More in Common’ said: ‘First and foremost, it speaks to of course the polarization that’s occurring right now in our country. … The temperature has risen … The reality will depend on what scenario occurs. Uncertainty in any form causes humans to dig in to their beliefs and their fears.’”
► In the lead-up to the Presidential Election, Trump has repeatedly assailed mail-in ballots as creating widespread voter fraud — warning his supporters that it will be a “rigged” election. He has also hinted at a potential refusal to agree to a peaceful transition of power, should he lose the election. The Trump Campaign warned that “the Democrats and Fake News are going to stoop to levels we’ve never seen before to try to STEAL the Election.” Roger Stone, the Trump political fixer, also wrote an op-ed in which he condemned violence while also casting doubts on the honesty of the election, saying: “If there is sufficient credible evidence of voter fraud which would mar the results and if the fake news media and the violent shock-troops of the Democrat Party are attempting to stampede the country into accepting the illegitimate election of Vice President Joe Biden, the dispute must still be settled in the courts rather than the streets.” Another major Trump campaign personage, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ― Trump’s campaign co-chair in Texas ― warned of the threat of violence as being realistic and imminent: “If the president loses Pennsylvania, or North Carolina or Florida, he’ll lose it because they stole it. I believe that in my heart! If he wins, or whenever it’s announced, or if he’s ahead on that night, I’m afraid our cities are going to burn in America.… I expect trouble. I’m sorry to say that. I hope it doesn’t happen!”
Nationwide, police departments have been placed on high alert for election-related threats as law enforcement agencies prepare for an election loaded with uncertainties. The largest police departments have run practice drills on scenarios including violent clashes between Biden and Trump supporters, the sudden appearance of an armed paramilitary group, a cyber-attack or a bomb. John D. Cohen, a former Homeland Security counter-terrorism coordinator with 34 years experience in law enforcement, stated: “This is such a polarized environment and a lot of people are angry! I have never seen a threat environment as dynamic, complex and dangerous as the one we are in right now.”
The National Security Integration Center, a key national security and counterterrorism component within Immigration and Customs Enforcement, warned in an internal e-mail late last week about planned protests inside the Capital Beltway, according to text of the email obtained by The Hill. One of the bullets stated in the e-mail stated: “From November 4th to 7th, Civil Unrest is planned throughout Downtown Washington DC. LE Intelligence Agencies have monitored several messages on protesters’ social media sites stating, ‘If you want to throw down, come to Washington DC on November 4th.’”
No matter the result of the Presidential Election, the chances of violence appear to be rising amid clashes between supporters of the two presidential candidates. Pro-Trump demonstrators held up traffic in New Jersey and New York over the weekend, while another group of Trump supporters surrounded a Biden campaign bus in Texas. Clashes between people supporting and opposing the president were also reported in New York City. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that during the weekend before the Election, three people were shot in Topeka, Kansas, amid a confrontation over individuals allegedly stealing political signs supporting President Trump and local Republicans. The newspaper says police would not specify who was thought to have fired the shots at whom.
The American public also appears to be expecting violence to break out on some level. A majority of voters — about 75% — say they are concerned about the possibility of violence on Election Day and afterward, with 36% saying they are “very concerned” and 39% saying they are “somewhat concerned,” according to a poll from USA Today & Suffolk University, released Thursday. Of those who described themselves as concerned, 40% of them identified themselves as Democrats and about 36% identified themselves as Republicans.
Only Moderate Levels of Demonstration Take Place on Election Day
While the outcome of the Presidential Election is still unknown―though it seems to slightly favor a Biden victory―the levels of civil unrest were relatively mild compared to what has been seen earlier in 2020.
► WASHINGTON D.C. ― Protesters clashed outside of the White House and in other cities throughout Election night and Wednesday morning, with emotions flaring and dozens of arrests reported. The Washington, D.C., protest, despite a mostly peaceful atmosphere, had pockets of confrontation as the night wore on. Pushing and shoving between protesters could be seen, and police in the area sought to disperse the crowd, with smoke filling the air from an unidentified source. CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini shared a video of what she called “some sort of smoke bomb” being used at the protest and said people were “just fighting.” Scuffles at the scene were broken up quickly. Other reports of confrontation surfaced Tuesday. A man wearing a shirt supporting incumbent President Donald Trump challenged a protester to a fight in a situation that was diffused by police, according to the New York Times. It was also reported a man was hit with a baseball bat, after he shouted “all lives matter” and a protester who was chanting “Black lives matter.” Bystanders broke up that confrontation, The New York Times reported. A Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said so far, one arrest had been made as of just before 10 p.m. An adult male was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, crossing a police line and resisting arrest. Shortly before midnight, dozens of black-clad protesters began marching west from Black Lives Matter Plaza, using megaphones to chant: “Black lives matter!” A handful of fireworks went off as they marched. Bloomberg reported the protesters unfurled a large black banner with the words “Remove Trump” in white all-caps letters.
► LOS ANGELES ― The Los Angeles Police Department early Tuesday had called a “citywide tactical alert” to ensure “enough officers are on hand to address any incidents on Election Day.” Shortly after 8 p.m. local time, the department announced it was attempting to disperse a “large and unruly crowd” who were marching through streets. Several dozen protesters faced off against officers in riot gear. They had been among about 100 demonstrators who marched Pershing Square, then to Staples Center to a light-rail station a few blocks away where officers formed a skirmish line. Several arrests were reported.
► CHICAGO ― In Chicago, one of the bridges near downtown’s Trump Tower had been lifted over the Chicago River—a common sight in recent months amid incidents of looting or unrest in the city. The move has been used to restrict access to downtown.
A video of the Illinois National Guard pulling into the city’s downtown McCormick Place Convention Center circulated on social media on Monday night―the night before the election―sparking concern among some. On Tuesday morning, the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in a statement that the personnel were stationed in Chicago “to be ready to respond if needed” but that there were “no plans for them to be deployed.”
► SEATTLE ― In Seattle, police said they arrested eight people on charges including pedestrian interference, obstruction, assault on an officer and reckless driving.
► MINNEAPOLIS ― In Minneapolis, police arrested several demonstrators from among about 30 persons who had gathered in the city’s uptown. Minnesota saw more than a dozen arrests.
► RALEIGH ― About 200 protesters marched through the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, WRAL-TV reported. The TV station added arrests were made after protesters threw fireworks and other items at police. The protest was declared unlawful and was broken up around 10 p.m., the outlet reported.
► PORTLAND ― Crowds of 200 or more were reported demonstrating in Portland, Oregon. The demonstrators chanted “This is what democracy looks like” and some were seen openly carrying guns. The National Guard was on standby.
Left-leaning demonstrators planned Election Day protests for weeks. Some protesters are already gearing up for a longer, more sustained pushback. Organizers at ShutDownDC plan for more aggressive actions as the week goes on depending on the outcome of the election, such as if President Donald Trump were to win reelection or to question the election outcome.
Predictions About Legal Interventions Come True
On that matter of questioning the election outcome―as November 4th―the day after the election―draws to a close, the predictions of legal challenges over the election process are starting to come true. On Wednesday, November 4th, the Trump Campaign filed a lawsuit, in Michigan State Court, demanding the vote count be halted statewide, until representatives from the campaign are provided meaningful access to observe mail-in ballots being opened and processed. Lawyers for the Trump Campaign say the Secretary of State is violating the Michigan Constitution and Michigan election law by “allowing absent voter ballots to be processed and counted without bipartisan teams and without allowing challengers to observe the process.” Michigan law provides that poll challengers can monitor officials’ administration of an election to assure that the election complies with Michigan’s Constitution and Election Code.
The Trump Campaign has taken similar proceedings in Pennsylvania, by going to the United States Supreme Court, asking it to intervene in a pending case challenging a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allowed ballots to be counted after Election Day. The justices refused to expedite the appeal before the election, but they are still considering whether to take up the case. Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the President, said in the new filing: “The time has come. Given last night’s results, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States … And this Court, not the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, should have the final say on the relevant and dispositive legal questions.” The Trump Campaign reveals that is suing in Pennsylvania over poll watchers and voter ID laws. Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said in a statement: “Bad things are happening in Pennsylvania. Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and dilute Republican votes. President Trump and his team are fighting to put a stop to it. We are suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers — observers whose only job is to make sure every valid ballot is counted, and counted once.”
The Trump Campaign also said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties.” Incomplete results indicate the margin between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden in Wisconsin is less than one percentage point, which allows a candidate to seek a recount.
It might be well worth remembering a quote from that murderous Communist, Josef Stalin: “Those who vote decide nothing―those who count the votes decide everything.”
Devil the Father of Lies! Democrats the Fathers of Fraud?
On October 20th, 2020, the watchdog group, Judicial Watch, released a comparison study of Census Bureau population statistics and state voter registration data―which was seen to show a striking anomaly and disparity. Judicial Watch is now warning of potential voter fraud and “dirty” voter rolls. The study found that 352 U.S. counties in 29 states managed to have 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, said: “In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters. The study found eight states showing state-wide registration rates exceeding 100%: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.” Some of that excess of voters over the census numbers ran as high as 187% in Texas, 177% in New Mexico and 171% in South Dakota. Mr. Fitton added: “The new study of excess — or ghost voters — highlights the recklessness of mailing blindly ballots and ballot applications to voter registration lists. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections.”
On Tuesday November 3rd, the actual day of Election, President Trump repeated what he had been alleging for a long time now, and made the accusation that the Election is being stolen from him. In an address that he gave during the early hours of Wednesday, around 3:00 a.m., he stated: “A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise people―and we won’t stand for it! … We were getting for a very big celebration. We were winning everything―and, all of a sudden, it was just called off! … This is an embarrassment to our country! We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election! Our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation! This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots a 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. It’s a very sad moment―to me, it’s a very sad moment! We will win this―and, as far as I am concerned, we already have won this!”
Baloney Biden Ballots?
To take a leaf out of Biden’s penchant for stressing his Irish roots and using Irish terms such as “malarkey” (pronounced “ma-lah-ki” and meaning “meaningless talk; nonsense”)―we could also refer to Biden’s “miraculous” and “instantaneous” and “out-of-nowhere” sudden incredible jumps in votes by hundreds of thousands (while other candidates did not register one single vote increase) as being a bunch of “baloney” (foolish or deceptive talk; nonsense) and as well as “malarkey”. In other words, those sudden “Biden Ballot Spikes” are deceptive, deceitful and nonsensical―or to use even stronger Irish vocabulary: “caic tarbh!” It seems as though “spikes” are the “in-thing” with Democrats these days―record spikes in Covid-19 cases and record spikes in Biden ballots!
What are we referring to? We are referring to the testimony of one particular woman, who was monitoring the ballot counting in Detroit. She explained that there is a large disparity between Democrats and Republicans being allowed into the ballot counting room, ever since the mystery ballots showed up. The woman explained that the governor and Department of Health and Human Services claimed that the room was over capacity, and that is why they weren’t allowing the proper number of Republican watchers in — which are required to be allowed by law. Additionally, she said that she has seen and heard about poll contesters that are being harassed and intimidated. She then spoke of at least 130,000 ballots―all for Joe Biden―were brought to the center in three vehicles at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, November 4th, in the early hours of the night after the previous day’s Election. This was AFTER the deadline for counting the votes. In the testimonial, originally posted to Facebook Live, the woman says that the people who had been counting ballots―throughout the evening, night and early hours of the morning―were shutting-down, when suddenly a white van, a Chrysler 300 and a Ferarri, pulled up with over 130,000 additional ballots. The woman, in her video testimony, stated:
“Something very interesting happened here in Detroit. I was just talking to a guy who has been here all night―they were ready to shut down the precinct, they had counted all the ballots, everything was good, everything went smoothly. And then, it was about 4:00 a.m., that three vehicles arrived― a van, a Chrysler 300 and a Ferrari―with 130,000 plus ballots. He said that he was astonished―as they started counting the ballots―he was astonished that every single ballot―like literally 100% of the 130,000 ballots―were all Biden ballots that had not been delivered to the precinct before the cut-off time for this precinct. That is a big irregularity―something that points to large-scale voter fraud and it is being contested by the President of the United States in a law suit right now. We have poll-challengers that have been barred from being to go into this room to challenge ballots. We literally have people that watched it happen. We have poll-challengers that have been barred from being able to go into this room to challenge ballots. We’ve had GOP (Republican) members removed from the room ... We were down about 50 [poll-challengers] … You are allowed to have a certain number [of poll-challengers] depending on the number of precincts you have … There are around 137 precincts in this particular county―Wayne County, Michigan―and we have probably 50 to 60 representatives [for those 137 precincts―so only around 1 Republican poll-challenger for every 3 precincts] that have been allowed to go in and challenge. Mind you, according to federal law―for EACH precinct there is to be ONE Democrat and ONE Republican to challenge. That hasn’t been allowed since this morning―around 5:00 a.m.―when those 130,000 ballots were dropped off. We then the situation where people in Detroit, who are poll-challengers or poll-watchers, were barred from the building, based on an order from the [Democrat] Governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, saying that capacity limits had been met. Now mind you, that room had capacity limits, but we didn’t have the number of people that we were allowed to by law―that we were supposed to have in the room. The rest of the building―I am in a 400,000 square foot building―very, very, very, big―it used to be an arena. We are spread out all over the place. We have seen and heard that poll-workers―poll-contesters―are being harassed and intimated. The ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] was allowed into the room and to interfere with somebody from the GOP [Republican Party] to challenge a poll … It’s really heartbreaking that this is what we have stooped to and allowed as a country! It is disgusting what is happening in Detroit! It’s about major fraud on a major scale … that was very well organized!”
Does All This Happen By Chance?
Of course it is all “very well organized”! It has been planned and organized for centuries―with modifications having to made here and there―for the ultimate planner and organizer is Satan. As Our Lady of Good Success already warned in the 16th and 17th centuries: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects.” This was reaffirmed by Our Lady of La Salette in 1846: “In the year 1864, Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.” In the 1880s, God allowed Pope Leo XIII to hear a conversation between Christ and Satan. In his pride, Satan boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.” Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so!” Satan then said: “To do so, I need more time and power.” Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?” Satan said: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.” Our Lord replied: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
That is why the same Pope, Leo XIII, in his 1884 encyclical against Freemasonry, writes: “The race of man, separated into two diverse and opposite parts―the kingdom of God on Earth, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God. At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons … The sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond conception in the course of a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling power … There are several organized bodies which―though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin―are nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions, as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return … With a fraudulent external appearance, and with a style of pretence, the Freemasons strive, as far as possible, to conceal themselves. As a convenient manner of concealment, they assume the character of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be the amelioration of the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life.”
The Pope goes on to say that Freemasonry and its allied sects, wish “to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act; to arm men’s right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity [avoiding punishment] for the crime ― all this is an enormity from which nature recoils … No matter how great may be men’s cleverness in concealing and their lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing … From what We have above most clearly shown, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view ― namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world ... They endeavor to bring about this result ― namely, that the teaching office and authority of the Church may become of no account in the civil State; and, for this same reason, they declare to the people and contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited ... It is held also that the State should be without God … Their doctrines of politics lay down that all men have the same right, and are in every respect of equal and like condition; that each one is naturally free; that no one has the right to command another; that it is an act of violence to require men to obey any authority other than that which is obtained from themselves … and in this they prepare the way for many bolder men who are hurrying on even to worse things, in their endeavor to obtain equality and community of all goods, by the destruction of every distinction of rank and property … The greatest dangers to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint except that of punishment―then a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow. This change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of Communists and Socialists―and to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly favors their designs, and holds in common with them their chief opinions.”
The Pope then speaks of how Freemasonry and its allies deceive, manipulate, and control governments and citizens: “Freemasons have endeavored to make them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian name; and that they might more strongly urge them on, they have, with determined calumny, accused the Church of invidiously contending with rulers in matters that affect their authority and sovereign power. Having, by these artifices, insured their own safety and audacity, they have begun to exercise great weight in the government of States; but nevertheless they are prepared to shake the foundations of empires, to harass the rulers of the State, to accuse, and to cast them out, as often as they appear to govern otherwise than they themselves [the Freemasons] could have wished. In like manner, they have by flattery deluded the people. Proclaiming with a loud voice liberty and public prosperity … We have to deal with a deceitful and crafty enemy, who, by gratifying the ears of people and of princes [rulers], has ensnared them by smooth speeches and by adulation. Ingratiating themselves with rulers under a pretense of friendship, the Freemasons have endeavored to make them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian name.”
Another Testimony
Monsignor Ernest Jouin (1844–1932), a French priest, who published the first edition The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and was the chief editor of Revue Internationale des Sociétés Secrètes (the International Review of Secret Societies), and who received the personal support and encouragement of Pope Pius XI in the work of exposing the schemes of Freemasonry. At a time when Fr. Jouin’s publication of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was bringing him great attention and negative criticism, Pope Pius XI, honored him with a private audience, appointed him to the high papal office of Apostolic Proto-notary, and told him: “Continue your review! You are combating our mortal enemy!” In a conference, given on December 8th 1930―18 months before his death―Monsignor Jouin stated:
“The Papacy and Freemasonry, those are the two powers active throughout the world and each is seeking to dominate it … Either Roman Catholicism will lift us up again to the level of Christian civilization or else Judeo-Masonry will drag us down the path of barbarism and decadent paganism … Freemasonry is indeed the abyss of all errors, the well of perdition … What is, indeed, Judeo-Masonry today if not the concentration and mobilization of all evil forces? This Sect with its threefold claim of being Counter-Church (against the Church), Counter-State (against the State) and Counter-Morality (against traditional morality) takes pride in being above all and for all times the enemy of the Catholic Church; one of its rallying calls is that of Tigrotto, one of the Alta Vendita chiefs [a lodge of the Carbonari, who were affiliated with the Masons] who, in 1822, proclaimed: ‘Catholicism must be destroyed throughout the whole world’ … Those two powers are at war, face to face as though fighting an endless duel, as is clearly expressed in the stone inscription of the Masonic Grand Orient and Supreme Council of France: ‘The fight taking place between Catholicism and Freemasonry is a fight to the very death, ceaseless and merciless’ (Bulletin of the Grand Orient of France, p. 183, 1892 and in memorandum of the Supreme Council, No. 85, page 48).” (Monsignor Ernest Jouin, Conference of December 8th 1930).
Further Testimonies During Our Times
Back in the 1990s, one Conservative bishop revealed that there were at least FOUR Masonic lodges in the Vatican, catering for cardinals and bishops working in the Vatican! How many today? Nobody knows―but you can be sure that they have not decreased in number, nor in influence!
On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Freemasonry in 1717 in England In a 2017, Bishop Athanasius Schneider gave a conference in Germany to the Pontifical Foundation, Kirche in Not (Aid to the Church in Need), in which he explained the history and main characteristics of Freemasonry. He made it clear that Masonry is forming an “anti-Church” and has―in its higher degrees―a satanic orientation. Bishop Schneider stated:
“Freemasonry is a true and ever more powerful secret society with pseudo-religious content, which was spread very quickly in countless affiliated organizations and often under different names, which penetrated foremost powerful levels in society, in politics, and in the world of finances. It was Pope Pius VIII who, in 1829, gave one of the most apt and precise definitions of Freemasonry: ‘It is a satanic sect, which has its demon as its god (Encyclical Traditi humilitati nostrae) … In fact, Freemasonry is the perfect Anti-Church, where all the theological and moral foundations of the Catholic Church are turned into their opposite! A Freemason once told his sister the following in a private conversation: ‘Do you know what we Freemasons are in fact? We are the anti-Church’ … One of the most cunning, and therefore satanic manners of the fight of Freemasonry against its arch-enemy, that is, against the Catholic Church, consists of the infiltration into the Church …
“Historians recognized in Freemasonry the seed of political totalitarianism … The confusion and the deceit of it consists in the fact that Freemasonry praises itself with attractive names and definitions, like “philanthropy,” “humanism,” “intellectuality,” “tolerance,” and at the same time, Freemasonry masks itself with these names … Political and social anarchism is a phenomenon which mostly embodies the spirit of Freemasonry, since one of their key principles is “order out of chaos” [which is identical to the Communist tactic of providing the “solution” after they created the “crisis”]. This means that one must first create a chaos and then build a new, other order, an order created by men [which is what is happening in America right now]. It is known that European Freemasonry supported logistically and politically the October Revolution of 1917, in the year of the 200th anniversary of the foundation of Freemasonry … Freemasonry supported also the so-called ‘Sexual Revolution’ of 1968 … In 2012 the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro let top members of Freemasonry speak in its newspaper forum. One of these Masonic officials openly stated that the laws legalizing abortion, the so-called “same-sex marriage” or “marriage for all,” and euthanasia were prepared in the idealistic Masonic “laboratories” and then, with the help of lobbying and through their members in parliament and in the government, pushed through the legislation. This can be read in the newspaper, Le Figaro, from the year 2012―supplément LE FIGARO, 20-21 July 2012 ... The power of the Masonic ideology in politics and society has reached nowadays its peak, wherein Freemasonry is spreading throughout the entire human society an ideology of destruction of life.”
It is no longer a secret, nor a surprise, to know that many of the so-called “Elite”, many of the “mega-rich”, many of the higher-ranked Freemasons and even some politicians are in league with Satan, consult Satan, worship Satan and even sacrifice to Satan. These are the same persons who are planning―call it whatever you want―the New World Order, the One World Government, Globalism, the Great Reset, etc. In short―the prince of the world, Satan (John 12:31), is about to take full control of the world, his princedom.
All of this was foretold by Our Lady before it even happened―even before Satan had "given birth" to Freemasonry―just as she foretold the dangers and errors of Russia (Communism) even before the Russian Revolutions had succeeded in overthrowing the monarchy (Tsar or Czar) in Russia in the final October Revolution of 1917. Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … the accursed sect of Masonry will take control of civil government” (January 16th, 1599 ― 218 years and 83 years before Masonry was born).
American Revolution
On the other hand, the Democrats are accusing Trump of trying to steal the Election from them. One such Democrat (Socialist? Marxist?), Ashley Dawson, a journalist and a New York university professor, calls Trump’s theft “a coup” and advocates nationwide rebellion against Trump: “Donald Trump has told us openly that he is planning to steal the election. In recent months he has explicitly declared that any election in which he does not win will have been rigged and illegitimate. He has claimed repeatedly and against all evidence that mail-in ballots are invalid. He and his allies in the U.S. Senate are rushing a hard-right nominee, through the U.S. Supreme Court, in order to ensure that the Court will declare him the victor if there is any uncertainty in the results. Vice-President Mike Pence refused to say what he would do if Trump refused to accept the election results in his recent debate with Senator Kamala Harris …
“American exceptionalism [meaning: it might happen elsewhere, but it will never happen to America] seems to have lulled many people into a false sense of complacency that a coup cannot happen in the U.S. But a coup will have taken place if all votes are not counted and honored, and Trump’s attacks on mail-in ballots suggests this is exactly the strategy he intends to pursue … Here are some of the steps those who wish to defend democracy should take in the weeks we have left before the election. First of all, begin conversations about what to do about a stolen election. Preparing for popular mobilization in the event that Trump clings to power illegitimately is essential because research has shown that people have beaten back power grabs successfully by massing in the streets and engaging in non-violent resistance. Fortunately a remarkable number of people and groups have risen up during the Trump presidency, including the Movement for Black Lives, climate justice activists, the immigrant rights movement, teacher and workers’ strikes, mutual aid organizations during the pandemic, and many more. Now is the time to forge stronger connections within and between these groups. Organizations should also begin readying their members to resist a coup. They can draw on resources for planning that already exist, including a research-based manual for trainers helping groups in a pre-coup situation …
“Another concrete and immediate step that movements could adopt would be to circulate a pledge of resistance that lays out specific steps for their members to take if Trump refuses to leave office. Such a pledge would work to prepare people psychologically to resist a coup by naming it as such. It would help them make the psychic break from the confusing disinformation campaigns likely to be run from the White House and circulated through social media in the days after November 3rd.
“Another key step is to prepare strategic sectors of the workforce to challenge an illegitimate power grab. Most immediately, government workers should organize to strike in the event of a coup. Organizers and unions in other key sectors of the economy such as transportation should also begin planning actions. Ideally these disparate groups could coordinate their actions and build towards a series of rolling general strikes that would shut down the country until democracy is restored.
“A general strike that brings people into the streets could be combined with debt strikes against what would be an illegitimate federal authority. Such actions would build on existing campaigns against the iniquitous character of neoliberal finance, which condemns many Americans who wish to pursue higher education or have health conditions to decades of debt peonage.
“Activists could also prepare a citizen campaign calling on other nations to adopt an economic embargo of the US following a coup. We know from the embargo against the apartheid government in South Africa during the 1980s that such campaigns can be highly effective against a rogue regime, particularly when economic damage is combined with action against cultural sectors such as sports.
“Many other strategies will surely arise as people organize to foil a coup. Plans such as these to mobilize people will not be in vain if Trump’s declared intention to remain in power turns out to be purely bluster. They will knit the fabric of democracy tighter no matter the outcome. If Trump wins the election legitimately, for example, we will need mass non-violent resistance in order to counter what is sure to be a stunningly regressive agenda over the next four years. And even if the election proceeds without a hitch and Biden is victorious, progressives will need to keep popular pressure on to win meaningful policies to address the climate crisis, police violence, and the myriad other problems that beset the U.S. at present.”
From Polarization to Demoralization to Destabilization to Civil War, Martial Law and Eventual Enslavement
All of the above is a well-planned, carefully scripted agenda to bring America into complete servitude―which is in line with Our Lady’s prediction, to Sister Lucia of Fatima, that Communism would take over the whole world―America included. What is currently happening in the United States is a perfect replica of Communism’s fourfold plan of attack on its enemies. First of all comes the demoralization of the its enemy, which is followed by the destabilization of the enemy, then comes a planned and scripted crisis created by Communists and unleashed upon its enemy (we are now at that stage)―then, when the crisis has brought everyone to their knees, Communism plays the role of savior by providing its own planned and scripted ‘solution’ to the crisis.
For Communists―just like with their father, the devil―it is important to create as many divisions as possible among their enemy, in order to weaken the unity and agreement among them. As Our Lord said: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate―and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25). Communists―like Satan―seek to divide and conquer.
John D. Cohen, a former Homeland Security counter-terrorism coordinator with 34 years experience in law enforcement, stated: “This is such a polarized environment and a lot of people are angry! I have never seen a threat environment as dynamic, complex and dangerous as the one we are in right now.” Half the voters in each party fear violence from the other side ― including physical attacks and acts of destruction such as riots or looting.
On this point, Christiana Lang, a senior associate at More in Common―an organization that deals with fracturing and polarization―said: ‘First and foremost, it speaks to of course the polarization that’s occurring right now in our country … The temperature has risen! … The reality will depend on what scenario occurs. Uncertainty in any form causes humans to dig in to their beliefs and their fears.’”
The Pew Research Center―already 6 years ago―pointed out the pronounced shift among both Republicans and Democrats to more extreme and polarized positions. The Pew Research Center’s survey and study, conducted from January to March, 2014, stated: “Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines ― and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive ― than at any point in the last two decades … The number of Democrats who hold consistently Liberal positions has more than quadrupled over the course of the last 20 years. And three times as many Republicans are consistently Conservative than in the past … Most of these intense partisans believe the opposing party’s policies are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being … This shift represents both Democrats moving to the left and Republicans moving to the right … Another major element in polarization has been the growing contempt that many Republicans and Democrats have for the opposing party ... Among all Democrats, 27% say the Republican policies are a threat to the well-being of the country. That figure is even higher among Republicans, 36% of whom think Democratic policies threaten the nation.”
This division―or rather the creation and fostering of divisions―is the hallmark of Satan and all his satellite human organizations―Freemasonry and Communism included. As Our Lady warned: “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
It does not take much imagination, nor great intelligence, nor the power of prophecy (for it has already been prophesied many times over by Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints) to see the above words of Our Lady being fulfilled in our very own day. Masonry (which is only a mere tool of higher satanic agents and puppet masters) is truly well embedded and extremely influential, if not totally controlling, in most or all governments. Bear in mind the words of the former Communist―the Englishman, Douglas Hyde, chief editor for ten years of the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker in London, England, who converted to Catholicism in 1948 after being a Communist for 20 years―who said that Communists can easily manipulate or even control nations, states or any other organization, if they were 1 in 1,000 or 0.1% of the population! Hyde, writing of his experience after converting to Catholicism, says: “I came to the Catholic Church prepared for most of what I found―and it would be the sheerest hypocrisy to pretend that I either expected or found everything to be good. But one thing I had not bargained for was the many people I met, who told me that the Catholic community in Britain suffered from something they described as a minority complex. I had not expected this, because I was coming from an organization (Communism) which at that time had some 45,000 members (out of Britain’s population of 45 million) to one which was numerically 100 times (4.5 million) as strong and which represented some 10% of Britain’s population. Even in the days when we Communists could only boast some 15,000 members, we believed that when the right circumstances came, as come they must, we would make Britain Communist and would do so with the support of the mass of the people. Whatever else we may have suffered from, we had no minority complex!”
What is true for the Communists, is also true for Freemasonry or any other trained subversive group. They do not need to be a large part of the population―they only need to be well-trained and strategically placed in key positions in the Church, in government, in finance, in the military, in the media, and in other important organizations, corporations or entities. As Our Lord says: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” ― Freemasons and Communists (Matthew 16:6) … “Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6). Yeast, or leaven, is a powerful fungus that can cause a lump of dough to rise into bread, ferment liquids into alcohol, or cause painful infections. Fermentation requires death. It is a process of decay. Wine is made from fermented grapes. Mead is made from fermented honey. Leavened bread is made from fermented wheat. Yeast is the organism that ferments them all. Fermentation symbolizes death. The word “Leaven” or “Yeast” was regularly used to mean something or someone with a pervasive, undercover influence — just as the yeast in bread-making, spreads its unseen influence throughout the dough. Yeast (leaven) could also be used as a picture of sin, of an evil which spreads its sinister effects everywhere. The Church and world have been fermented by the yeast or leaven of Freemasonry and Communism―with all their allies and associates―for a long time now! Just as yeast or leaven bring decay and death to the elements that they are inserted into, likewise does Freemasonry and Communism (et al) seek to decay and destroy all that is Godly and good, and replace it with what is satanic and evil. Yet that is shocking to most people―so they must hide behind a more pleasant and appealing disguise, and do their work of decay and destruction behind the scenes and out of public sight―until the point when there is no escape and they have a stranglehold on everything and everybody.
Today’s the Day
We are coming very close to that point today. Without a doubt Freemasonry and Communism have a grip on most of the world and its chief organizations. They have in place an international coordination which we have clearly seen with this Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic―whereby the whole world was almost instantly coordinated and organized into following one single plan with one single (lying) narrative. Those who failed to believe and put into practice that narrative―masks, social-distancing, quarantining, self-isolation, lockdowns, etc. ― were frequently punished in one way or another, either financially fined, arrested, or even forcibly isolated. The perpetrators of this worldwide confidence trick have their own agenda in mind―total world domination; total reorganization of currently accepted customs in the fields of legislation, finance, medicine, employment, travel, ownership, and all other religious and civil rights and freedoms. Ultimately it is world enslavement, followed by mass depopulation―with anywhere from 7 to 14 persons out of every 15 persons earmarked for death―either slow death by deliberately introduced disease or starvation, or sudden death through wars and civil unrest―as Our Lady of La Salette said: “France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Men will kill each other, massacre each other―even in their homes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy.”
That is exactly where we are headed. Notice the ever-increasing civil unrest throughout the world. In America―in protest over the killing of man, George Floyd, by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 ― huge demonstrations took place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews were imposed in nearly 40 cities. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities during that weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city was turned into a war-zone ― with escalating and prolonged destruction of property, looting of stores and violence against police and other innocent persons. Interestingly, in all of these cities the police and other authorities reported that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, were not locals, but came from cities sometimes hundreds of miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states. The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― initially activated 5,000 personnel in 15 states ― which quickly rose to 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities issued a state of emergency. That was just a “trailer” for the full-length “movie” that is to come―however, it will not be a movie, but a reality―yet it will be a movie in the sense that script (or narrative) will be a bunch of lies and half-truths, with the purpose of frightening, manipulating and controlling the population and coercing them into accepting what the minions of Satan―Freemasons, Communists and all their affiliates―have planned for the world. Those plans will include―as already revealed by Bill Gates and other government and medical authorities―lockdowns, job losses, spread of disease through man-made bio-warfare viruses, universal mandatory multiple and ceaseless vaccinations, the injection of electronic ID chips into people (under the excuse of health monitoring purposes and public safety), and a whole host of other plans―all of which will serve to enslave and reduce the world’s population in multiple ways―some slow, some quick. Yet all times, the evil ingenuity of the methods will avoid anyone pointing the finger of blame upon the Elitists, Globalists, Freemasons, etc., etc. ― because they will simply redirect the finger of blame upon the virus, the civil war, the world war, bio-warfare weapons, disease, etc.
All Bedfellows of Satan
Whether it be the Communists, Socialists, Globalists, Elitists, Freemasons, Illuminati or whatever other flavor you care to mention―they are all “bedfellows” of Satan. There is no middle ground and can be no middle ground―just as our final address and eternal address can only be Heaven or Hell―likewise, we are explicitly or implicitly FOR God or AGAINST God―which automatically means that we are explicitly or implicitly FOR Satan or AGAINST Satan. Our Lord puts it this way: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) … “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―which is echoed by Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who relays to us what Our Lady of Fatima had revealed to her: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
Everyone was expecting and talking about major civil unrest, demonstrations, mob riots, looting and violence in the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election on November 3rd. Businesses and individuals spent a lot of money and went to great lengths to protect themselves from these potential civil uprisings on Election Day.
► On November 3rd, an ABC NEWS report stated: “As voters flocked to the polls on Election Day, some cities were bracing for the type of violence and looting that occurred earlier this year during protests that followed police-involved killings of Black Americans … From Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, police and store owners said they’re preparing for Election Day unrest despite authorities coast to coast saying they’ve received no credible threats ... Beverly Hills has even called in a SWAT team from another community to be at the ready … New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday, that while no major protests were scheduled for Tuesday night, he cautioned that the New York Police Department will be out in full force to facilitate peaceful protests and potentially thwart the types of looters and violent agitators seen in May and June after the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis … ‘We will not allow any violence,’ said de Blasio, adding that protesters should move away from any criminal activity and report it immediately. ‘The city’s ready ― the NYPD is ready.’ NYPD officers were deployed on Tuesday, November 3rd, to all 1,200 polling sites in New York City and officers [were] out on the streets Tuesday night.
“In New York City, the sound of buzz-saws and hammers drowned out honking cars and sirens as work crews with truckloads of plywood swooped in. Along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, near Trump Tower, workers spent Monday night boarding up the windows of some of the nation’s most expensive stores, including Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avene and nearly every shop in Rockefeller Center ... Police Commissioner Dermot Shea called businesses boarding up ‘100% precautionary,’ adding, ‘It’s hard to fault them with what we went through and what they see across the country!’ Meanwhile, Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker, announced on Monday that he was activating the state’s National Guard to address potential unrest after Election Day. Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, also put the National Guard on alert after declaring a state of emergency in the Portland area, which has been rocked by almost daily protests. [In Washington D.C.] additional fencing already has been erected around Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, the location of protests over racial equality in June.”
► The DALLAS MORNING NEWS, in its November 1st, 2020, article entitled: “Americans, Fearing Post-Election Violence, Are Eyeing Each Other With Suspicion”, stated: “In Washington DC, the nation’s capital, police have cancelled time off and stocked up on riot supplies in case of post-election unrest. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has put the National Guard on standby. Fear is widespread, as Americans eye each other with suspicion. Three out of four voters are concerned about violence on Election Day or afterward, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll. Only a tiny fraction of Americans are prepared to take to the streets if they feel the election was stolen. But fear of election violence is widespread. Some worry about right wing militias, others about Black Lives Matter. In California, more than 4 in 10 Biden supporters and more than half of Trump supporters believe violence is “very likely” in case of disputes about the vote count. And overall, nearly 9 in 10 worry that others won’t accept the outcome. The civic engagement non-profit, More in Common, one of many groups searching for ways to de-escalate tensions around this election, has found a huge gap between partisans’ own willingness to engage in violence and perceptions of the other side’s restraint … Half the voters in each party fear violence from the other side ― including physical attacks and acts of destruction such as riots or looting … Christiana Lang, a senior associate at ‘More in Common’ said: ‘First and foremost, it speaks to of course the polarization that’s occurring right now in our country. … The temperature has risen … The reality will depend on what scenario occurs. Uncertainty in any form causes humans to dig in to their beliefs and their fears.’”
► In the lead-up to the Presidential Election, Trump has repeatedly assailed mail-in ballots as creating widespread voter fraud — warning his supporters that it will be a “rigged” election. He has also hinted at a potential refusal to agree to a peaceful transition of power, should he lose the election. The Trump Campaign warned that “the Democrats and Fake News are going to stoop to levels we’ve never seen before to try to STEAL the Election.” Roger Stone, the Trump political fixer, also wrote an op-ed in which he condemned violence while also casting doubts on the honesty of the election, saying: “If there is sufficient credible evidence of voter fraud which would mar the results and if the fake news media and the violent shock-troops of the Democrat Party are attempting to stampede the country into accepting the illegitimate election of Vice President Joe Biden, the dispute must still be settled in the courts rather than the streets.” Another major Trump campaign personage, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ― Trump’s campaign co-chair in Texas ― warned of the threat of violence as being realistic and imminent: “If the president loses Pennsylvania, or North Carolina or Florida, he’ll lose it because they stole it. I believe that in my heart! If he wins, or whenever it’s announced, or if he’s ahead on that night, I’m afraid our cities are going to burn in America.… I expect trouble. I’m sorry to say that. I hope it doesn’t happen!”
Nationwide, police departments have been placed on high alert for election-related threats as law enforcement agencies prepare for an election loaded with uncertainties. The largest police departments have run practice drills on scenarios including violent clashes between Biden and Trump supporters, the sudden appearance of an armed paramilitary group, a cyber-attack or a bomb. John D. Cohen, a former Homeland Security counter-terrorism coordinator with 34 years experience in law enforcement, stated: “This is such a polarized environment and a lot of people are angry! I have never seen a threat environment as dynamic, complex and dangerous as the one we are in right now.”
The National Security Integration Center, a key national security and counterterrorism component within Immigration and Customs Enforcement, warned in an internal e-mail late last week about planned protests inside the Capital Beltway, according to text of the email obtained by The Hill. One of the bullets stated in the e-mail stated: “From November 4th to 7th, Civil Unrest is planned throughout Downtown Washington DC. LE Intelligence Agencies have monitored several messages on protesters’ social media sites stating, ‘If you want to throw down, come to Washington DC on November 4th.’”
No matter the result of the Presidential Election, the chances of violence appear to be rising amid clashes between supporters of the two presidential candidates. Pro-Trump demonstrators held up traffic in New Jersey and New York over the weekend, while another group of Trump supporters surrounded a Biden campaign bus in Texas. Clashes between people supporting and opposing the president were also reported in New York City. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that during the weekend before the Election, three people were shot in Topeka, Kansas, amid a confrontation over individuals allegedly stealing political signs supporting President Trump and local Republicans. The newspaper says police would not specify who was thought to have fired the shots at whom.
The American public also appears to be expecting violence to break out on some level. A majority of voters — about 75% — say they are concerned about the possibility of violence on Election Day and afterward, with 36% saying they are “very concerned” and 39% saying they are “somewhat concerned,” according to a poll from USA Today & Suffolk University, released Thursday. Of those who described themselves as concerned, 40% of them identified themselves as Democrats and about 36% identified themselves as Republicans.
Only Moderate Levels of Demonstration Take Place on Election Day
While the outcome of the Presidential Election is still unknown―though it seems to slightly favor a Biden victory―the levels of civil unrest were relatively mild compared to what has been seen earlier in 2020.
► WASHINGTON D.C. ― Protesters clashed outside of the White House and in other cities throughout Election night and Wednesday morning, with emotions flaring and dozens of arrests reported. The Washington, D.C., protest, despite a mostly peaceful atmosphere, had pockets of confrontation as the night wore on. Pushing and shoving between protesters could be seen, and police in the area sought to disperse the crowd, with smoke filling the air from an unidentified source. CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini shared a video of what she called “some sort of smoke bomb” being used at the protest and said people were “just fighting.” Scuffles at the scene were broken up quickly. Other reports of confrontation surfaced Tuesday. A man wearing a shirt supporting incumbent President Donald Trump challenged a protester to a fight in a situation that was diffused by police, according to the New York Times. It was also reported a man was hit with a baseball bat, after he shouted “all lives matter” and a protester who was chanting “Black lives matter.” Bystanders broke up that confrontation, The New York Times reported. A Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said so far, one arrest had been made as of just before 10 p.m. An adult male was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, crossing a police line and resisting arrest. Shortly before midnight, dozens of black-clad protesters began marching west from Black Lives Matter Plaza, using megaphones to chant: “Black lives matter!” A handful of fireworks went off as they marched. Bloomberg reported the protesters unfurled a large black banner with the words “Remove Trump” in white all-caps letters.
► LOS ANGELES ― The Los Angeles Police Department early Tuesday had called a “citywide tactical alert” to ensure “enough officers are on hand to address any incidents on Election Day.” Shortly after 8 p.m. local time, the department announced it was attempting to disperse a “large and unruly crowd” who were marching through streets. Several dozen protesters faced off against officers in riot gear. They had been among about 100 demonstrators who marched Pershing Square, then to Staples Center to a light-rail station a few blocks away where officers formed a skirmish line. Several arrests were reported.
► CHICAGO ― In Chicago, one of the bridges near downtown’s Trump Tower had been lifted over the Chicago River—a common sight in recent months amid incidents of looting or unrest in the city. The move has been used to restrict access to downtown.
A video of the Illinois National Guard pulling into the city’s downtown McCormick Place Convention Center circulated on social media on Monday night―the night before the election―sparking concern among some. On Tuesday morning, the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in a statement that the personnel were stationed in Chicago “to be ready to respond if needed” but that there were “no plans for them to be deployed.”
► SEATTLE ― In Seattle, police said they arrested eight people on charges including pedestrian interference, obstruction, assault on an officer and reckless driving.
► MINNEAPOLIS ― In Minneapolis, police arrested several demonstrators from among about 30 persons who had gathered in the city’s uptown. Minnesota saw more than a dozen arrests.
► RALEIGH ― About 200 protesters marched through the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, WRAL-TV reported. The TV station added arrests were made after protesters threw fireworks and other items at police. The protest was declared unlawful and was broken up around 10 p.m., the outlet reported.
► PORTLAND ― Crowds of 200 or more were reported demonstrating in Portland, Oregon. The demonstrators chanted “This is what democracy looks like” and some were seen openly carrying guns. The National Guard was on standby.
Left-leaning demonstrators planned Election Day protests for weeks. Some protesters are already gearing up for a longer, more sustained pushback. Organizers at ShutDownDC plan for more aggressive actions as the week goes on depending on the outcome of the election, such as if President Donald Trump were to win reelection or to question the election outcome.
Predictions About Legal Interventions Come True
On that matter of questioning the election outcome―as November 4th―the day after the election―draws to a close, the predictions of legal challenges over the election process are starting to come true. On Wednesday, November 4th, the Trump Campaign filed a lawsuit, in Michigan State Court, demanding the vote count be halted statewide, until representatives from the campaign are provided meaningful access to observe mail-in ballots being opened and processed. Lawyers for the Trump Campaign say the Secretary of State is violating the Michigan Constitution and Michigan election law by “allowing absent voter ballots to be processed and counted without bipartisan teams and without allowing challengers to observe the process.” Michigan law provides that poll challengers can monitor officials’ administration of an election to assure that the election complies with Michigan’s Constitution and Election Code.
The Trump Campaign has taken similar proceedings in Pennsylvania, by going to the United States Supreme Court, asking it to intervene in a pending case challenging a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allowed ballots to be counted after Election Day. The justices refused to expedite the appeal before the election, but they are still considering whether to take up the case. Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the President, said in the new filing: “The time has come. Given last night’s results, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States … And this Court, not the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, should have the final say on the relevant and dispositive legal questions.” The Trump Campaign reveals that is suing in Pennsylvania over poll watchers and voter ID laws. Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said in a statement: “Bad things are happening in Pennsylvania. Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and dilute Republican votes. President Trump and his team are fighting to put a stop to it. We are suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers — observers whose only job is to make sure every valid ballot is counted, and counted once.”
The Trump Campaign also said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties.” Incomplete results indicate the margin between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden in Wisconsin is less than one percentage point, which allows a candidate to seek a recount.
It might be well worth remembering a quote from that murderous Communist, Josef Stalin: “Those who vote decide nothing―those who count the votes decide everything.”
Devil the Father of Lies! Democrats the Fathers of Fraud?
On October 20th, 2020, the watchdog group, Judicial Watch, released a comparison study of Census Bureau population statistics and state voter registration data―which was seen to show a striking anomaly and disparity. Judicial Watch is now warning of potential voter fraud and “dirty” voter rolls. The study found that 352 U.S. counties in 29 states managed to have 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, said: “In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters. The study found eight states showing state-wide registration rates exceeding 100%: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.” Some of that excess of voters over the census numbers ran as high as 187% in Texas, 177% in New Mexico and 171% in South Dakota. Mr. Fitton added: “The new study of excess — or ghost voters — highlights the recklessness of mailing blindly ballots and ballot applications to voter registration lists. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections.”
On Tuesday November 3rd, the actual day of Election, President Trump repeated what he had been alleging for a long time now, and made the accusation that the Election is being stolen from him. In an address that he gave during the early hours of Wednesday, around 3:00 a.m., he stated: “A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise people―and we won’t stand for it! … We were getting for a very big celebration. We were winning everything―and, all of a sudden, it was just called off! … This is an embarrassment to our country! We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election! Our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation! This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots a 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. It’s a very sad moment―to me, it’s a very sad moment! We will win this―and, as far as I am concerned, we already have won this!”
Baloney Biden Ballots?
To take a leaf out of Biden’s penchant for stressing his Irish roots and using Irish terms such as “malarkey” (pronounced “ma-lah-ki” and meaning “meaningless talk; nonsense”)―we could also refer to Biden’s “miraculous” and “instantaneous” and “out-of-nowhere” sudden incredible jumps in votes by hundreds of thousands (while other candidates did not register one single vote increase) as being a bunch of “baloney” (foolish or deceptive talk; nonsense) and as well as “malarkey”. In other words, those sudden “Biden Ballot Spikes” are deceptive, deceitful and nonsensical―or to use even stronger Irish vocabulary: “caic tarbh!” It seems as though “spikes” are the “in-thing” with Democrats these days―record spikes in Covid-19 cases and record spikes in Biden ballots!
What are we referring to? We are referring to the testimony of one particular woman, who was monitoring the ballot counting in Detroit. She explained that there is a large disparity between Democrats and Republicans being allowed into the ballot counting room, ever since the mystery ballots showed up. The woman explained that the governor and Department of Health and Human Services claimed that the room was over capacity, and that is why they weren’t allowing the proper number of Republican watchers in — which are required to be allowed by law. Additionally, she said that she has seen and heard about poll contesters that are being harassed and intimidated. She then spoke of at least 130,000 ballots―all for Joe Biden―were brought to the center in three vehicles at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, November 4th, in the early hours of the night after the previous day’s Election. This was AFTER the deadline for counting the votes. In the testimonial, originally posted to Facebook Live, the woman says that the people who had been counting ballots―throughout the evening, night and early hours of the morning―were shutting-down, when suddenly a white van, a Chrysler 300 and a Ferarri, pulled up with over 130,000 additional ballots. The woman, in her video testimony, stated:
“Something very interesting happened here in Detroit. I was just talking to a guy who has been here all night―they were ready to shut down the precinct, they had counted all the ballots, everything was good, everything went smoothly. And then, it was about 4:00 a.m., that three vehicles arrived― a van, a Chrysler 300 and a Ferrari―with 130,000 plus ballots. He said that he was astonished―as they started counting the ballots―he was astonished that every single ballot―like literally 100% of the 130,000 ballots―were all Biden ballots that had not been delivered to the precinct before the cut-off time for this precinct. That is a big irregularity―something that points to large-scale voter fraud and it is being contested by the President of the United States in a law suit right now. We have poll-challengers that have been barred from being to go into this room to challenge ballots. We literally have people that watched it happen. We have poll-challengers that have been barred from being able to go into this room to challenge ballots. We’ve had GOP (Republican) members removed from the room ... We were down about 50 [poll-challengers] … You are allowed to have a certain number [of poll-challengers] depending on the number of precincts you have … There are around 137 precincts in this particular county―Wayne County, Michigan―and we have probably 50 to 60 representatives [for those 137 precincts―so only around 1 Republican poll-challenger for every 3 precincts] that have been allowed to go in and challenge. Mind you, according to federal law―for EACH precinct there is to be ONE Democrat and ONE Republican to challenge. That hasn’t been allowed since this morning―around 5:00 a.m.―when those 130,000 ballots were dropped off. We then the situation where people in Detroit, who are poll-challengers or poll-watchers, were barred from the building, based on an order from the [Democrat] Governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, saying that capacity limits had been met. Now mind you, that room had capacity limits, but we didn’t have the number of people that we were allowed to by law―that we were supposed to have in the room. The rest of the building―I am in a 400,000 square foot building―very, very, very, big―it used to be an arena. We are spread out all over the place. We have seen and heard that poll-workers―poll-contesters―are being harassed and intimated. The ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] was allowed into the room and to interfere with somebody from the GOP [Republican Party] to challenge a poll … It’s really heartbreaking that this is what we have stooped to and allowed as a country! It is disgusting what is happening in Detroit! It’s about major fraud on a major scale … that was very well organized!”
Does All This Happen By Chance?
Of course it is all “very well organized”! It has been planned and organized for centuries―with modifications having to made here and there―for the ultimate planner and organizer is Satan. As Our Lady of Good Success already warned in the 16th and 17th centuries: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects.” This was reaffirmed by Our Lady of La Salette in 1846: “In the year 1864, Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.” In the 1880s, God allowed Pope Leo XIII to hear a conversation between Christ and Satan. In his pride, Satan boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy Your Church.” Our Lord replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so!” Satan then said: “To do so, I need more time and power.” Our Lord asked: “How much time? How much power?” Satan said: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.” Our Lord replied: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
That is why the same Pope, Leo XIII, in his 1884 encyclical against Freemasonry, writes: “The race of man, separated into two diverse and opposite parts―the kingdom of God on Earth, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God. At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons … The sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond conception in the course of a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling power … There are several organized bodies which―though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin―are nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions, as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return … With a fraudulent external appearance, and with a style of pretence, the Freemasons strive, as far as possible, to conceal themselves. As a convenient manner of concealment, they assume the character of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be the amelioration of the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life.”
The Pope goes on to say that Freemasonry and its allied sects, wish “to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act; to arm men’s right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity [avoiding punishment] for the crime ― all this is an enormity from which nature recoils … No matter how great may be men’s cleverness in concealing and their lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing … From what We have above most clearly shown, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view ― namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world ... They endeavor to bring about this result ― namely, that the teaching office and authority of the Church may become of no account in the civil State; and, for this same reason, they declare to the people and contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited ... It is held also that the State should be without God … Their doctrines of politics lay down that all men have the same right, and are in every respect of equal and like condition; that each one is naturally free; that no one has the right to command another; that it is an act of violence to require men to obey any authority other than that which is obtained from themselves … and in this they prepare the way for many bolder men who are hurrying on even to worse things, in their endeavor to obtain equality and community of all goods, by the destruction of every distinction of rank and property … The greatest dangers to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint except that of punishment―then a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow. This change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of Communists and Socialists―and to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly favors their designs, and holds in common with them their chief opinions.”
The Pope then speaks of how Freemasonry and its allies deceive, manipulate, and control governments and citizens: “Freemasons have endeavored to make them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian name; and that they might more strongly urge them on, they have, with determined calumny, accused the Church of invidiously contending with rulers in matters that affect their authority and sovereign power. Having, by these artifices, insured their own safety and audacity, they have begun to exercise great weight in the government of States; but nevertheless they are prepared to shake the foundations of empires, to harass the rulers of the State, to accuse, and to cast them out, as often as they appear to govern otherwise than they themselves [the Freemasons] could have wished. In like manner, they have by flattery deluded the people. Proclaiming with a loud voice liberty and public prosperity … We have to deal with a deceitful and crafty enemy, who, by gratifying the ears of people and of princes [rulers], has ensnared them by smooth speeches and by adulation. Ingratiating themselves with rulers under a pretense of friendship, the Freemasons have endeavored to make them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian name.”
Another Testimony
Monsignor Ernest Jouin (1844–1932), a French priest, who published the first edition The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and was the chief editor of Revue Internationale des Sociétés Secrètes (the International Review of Secret Societies), and who received the personal support and encouragement of Pope Pius XI in the work of exposing the schemes of Freemasonry. At a time when Fr. Jouin’s publication of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was bringing him great attention and negative criticism, Pope Pius XI, honored him with a private audience, appointed him to the high papal office of Apostolic Proto-notary, and told him: “Continue your review! You are combating our mortal enemy!” In a conference, given on December 8th 1930―18 months before his death―Monsignor Jouin stated:
“The Papacy and Freemasonry, those are the two powers active throughout the world and each is seeking to dominate it … Either Roman Catholicism will lift us up again to the level of Christian civilization or else Judeo-Masonry will drag us down the path of barbarism and decadent paganism … Freemasonry is indeed the abyss of all errors, the well of perdition … What is, indeed, Judeo-Masonry today if not the concentration and mobilization of all evil forces? This Sect with its threefold claim of being Counter-Church (against the Church), Counter-State (against the State) and Counter-Morality (against traditional morality) takes pride in being above all and for all times the enemy of the Catholic Church; one of its rallying calls is that of Tigrotto, one of the Alta Vendita chiefs [a lodge of the Carbonari, who were affiliated with the Masons] who, in 1822, proclaimed: ‘Catholicism must be destroyed throughout the whole world’ … Those two powers are at war, face to face as though fighting an endless duel, as is clearly expressed in the stone inscription of the Masonic Grand Orient and Supreme Council of France: ‘The fight taking place between Catholicism and Freemasonry is a fight to the very death, ceaseless and merciless’ (Bulletin of the Grand Orient of France, p. 183, 1892 and in memorandum of the Supreme Council, No. 85, page 48).” (Monsignor Ernest Jouin, Conference of December 8th 1930).
Further Testimonies During Our Times
Back in the 1990s, one Conservative bishop revealed that there were at least FOUR Masonic lodges in the Vatican, catering for cardinals and bishops working in the Vatican! How many today? Nobody knows―but you can be sure that they have not decreased in number, nor in influence!
On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Freemasonry in 1717 in England In a 2017, Bishop Athanasius Schneider gave a conference in Germany to the Pontifical Foundation, Kirche in Not (Aid to the Church in Need), in which he explained the history and main characteristics of Freemasonry. He made it clear that Masonry is forming an “anti-Church” and has―in its higher degrees―a satanic orientation. Bishop Schneider stated:
“Freemasonry is a true and ever more powerful secret society with pseudo-religious content, which was spread very quickly in countless affiliated organizations and often under different names, which penetrated foremost powerful levels in society, in politics, and in the world of finances. It was Pope Pius VIII who, in 1829, gave one of the most apt and precise definitions of Freemasonry: ‘It is a satanic sect, which has its demon as its god (Encyclical Traditi humilitati nostrae) … In fact, Freemasonry is the perfect Anti-Church, where all the theological and moral foundations of the Catholic Church are turned into their opposite! A Freemason once told his sister the following in a private conversation: ‘Do you know what we Freemasons are in fact? We are the anti-Church’ … One of the most cunning, and therefore satanic manners of the fight of Freemasonry against its arch-enemy, that is, against the Catholic Church, consists of the infiltration into the Church …
“Historians recognized in Freemasonry the seed of political totalitarianism … The confusion and the deceit of it consists in the fact that Freemasonry praises itself with attractive names and definitions, like “philanthropy,” “humanism,” “intellectuality,” “tolerance,” and at the same time, Freemasonry masks itself with these names … Political and social anarchism is a phenomenon which mostly embodies the spirit of Freemasonry, since one of their key principles is “order out of chaos” [which is identical to the Communist tactic of providing the “solution” after they created the “crisis”]. This means that one must first create a chaos and then build a new, other order, an order created by men [which is what is happening in America right now]. It is known that European Freemasonry supported logistically and politically the October Revolution of 1917, in the year of the 200th anniversary of the foundation of Freemasonry … Freemasonry supported also the so-called ‘Sexual Revolution’ of 1968 … In 2012 the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro let top members of Freemasonry speak in its newspaper forum. One of these Masonic officials openly stated that the laws legalizing abortion, the so-called “same-sex marriage” or “marriage for all,” and euthanasia were prepared in the idealistic Masonic “laboratories” and then, with the help of lobbying and through their members in parliament and in the government, pushed through the legislation. This can be read in the newspaper, Le Figaro, from the year 2012―supplément LE FIGARO, 20-21 July 2012 ... The power of the Masonic ideology in politics and society has reached nowadays its peak, wherein Freemasonry is spreading throughout the entire human society an ideology of destruction of life.”
It is no longer a secret, nor a surprise, to know that many of the so-called “Elite”, many of the “mega-rich”, many of the higher-ranked Freemasons and even some politicians are in league with Satan, consult Satan, worship Satan and even sacrifice to Satan. These are the same persons who are planning―call it whatever you want―the New World Order, the One World Government, Globalism, the Great Reset, etc. In short―the prince of the world, Satan (John 12:31), is about to take full control of the world, his princedom.
All of this was foretold by Our Lady before it even happened―even before Satan had "given birth" to Freemasonry―just as she foretold the dangers and errors of Russia (Communism) even before the Russian Revolutions had succeeded in overthrowing the monarchy (Tsar or Czar) in Russia in the final October Revolution of 1917. Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … the accursed sect of Masonry will take control of civil government” (January 16th, 1599 ― 218 years and 83 years before Masonry was born).
American Revolution
On the other hand, the Democrats are accusing Trump of trying to steal the Election from them. One such Democrat (Socialist? Marxist?), Ashley Dawson, a journalist and a New York university professor, calls Trump’s theft “a coup” and advocates nationwide rebellion against Trump: “Donald Trump has told us openly that he is planning to steal the election. In recent months he has explicitly declared that any election in which he does not win will have been rigged and illegitimate. He has claimed repeatedly and against all evidence that mail-in ballots are invalid. He and his allies in the U.S. Senate are rushing a hard-right nominee, through the U.S. Supreme Court, in order to ensure that the Court will declare him the victor if there is any uncertainty in the results. Vice-President Mike Pence refused to say what he would do if Trump refused to accept the election results in his recent debate with Senator Kamala Harris …
“American exceptionalism [meaning: it might happen elsewhere, but it will never happen to America] seems to have lulled many people into a false sense of complacency that a coup cannot happen in the U.S. But a coup will have taken place if all votes are not counted and honored, and Trump’s attacks on mail-in ballots suggests this is exactly the strategy he intends to pursue … Here are some of the steps those who wish to defend democracy should take in the weeks we have left before the election. First of all, begin conversations about what to do about a stolen election. Preparing for popular mobilization in the event that Trump clings to power illegitimately is essential because research has shown that people have beaten back power grabs successfully by massing in the streets and engaging in non-violent resistance. Fortunately a remarkable number of people and groups have risen up during the Trump presidency, including the Movement for Black Lives, climate justice activists, the immigrant rights movement, teacher and workers’ strikes, mutual aid organizations during the pandemic, and many more. Now is the time to forge stronger connections within and between these groups. Organizations should also begin readying their members to resist a coup. They can draw on resources for planning that already exist, including a research-based manual for trainers helping groups in a pre-coup situation …
“Another concrete and immediate step that movements could adopt would be to circulate a pledge of resistance that lays out specific steps for their members to take if Trump refuses to leave office. Such a pledge would work to prepare people psychologically to resist a coup by naming it as such. It would help them make the psychic break from the confusing disinformation campaigns likely to be run from the White House and circulated through social media in the days after November 3rd.
“Another key step is to prepare strategic sectors of the workforce to challenge an illegitimate power grab. Most immediately, government workers should organize to strike in the event of a coup. Organizers and unions in other key sectors of the economy such as transportation should also begin planning actions. Ideally these disparate groups could coordinate their actions and build towards a series of rolling general strikes that would shut down the country until democracy is restored.
“A general strike that brings people into the streets could be combined with debt strikes against what would be an illegitimate federal authority. Such actions would build on existing campaigns against the iniquitous character of neoliberal finance, which condemns many Americans who wish to pursue higher education or have health conditions to decades of debt peonage.
“Activists could also prepare a citizen campaign calling on other nations to adopt an economic embargo of the US following a coup. We know from the embargo against the apartheid government in South Africa during the 1980s that such campaigns can be highly effective against a rogue regime, particularly when economic damage is combined with action against cultural sectors such as sports.
“Many other strategies will surely arise as people organize to foil a coup. Plans such as these to mobilize people will not be in vain if Trump’s declared intention to remain in power turns out to be purely bluster. They will knit the fabric of democracy tighter no matter the outcome. If Trump wins the election legitimately, for example, we will need mass non-violent resistance in order to counter what is sure to be a stunningly regressive agenda over the next four years. And even if the election proceeds without a hitch and Biden is victorious, progressives will need to keep popular pressure on to win meaningful policies to address the climate crisis, police violence, and the myriad other problems that beset the U.S. at present.”
From Polarization to Demoralization to Destabilization to Civil War, Martial Law and Eventual Enslavement
All of the above is a well-planned, carefully scripted agenda to bring America into complete servitude―which is in line with Our Lady’s prediction, to Sister Lucia of Fatima, that Communism would take over the whole world―America included. What is currently happening in the United States is a perfect replica of Communism’s fourfold plan of attack on its enemies. First of all comes the demoralization of the its enemy, which is followed by the destabilization of the enemy, then comes a planned and scripted crisis created by Communists and unleashed upon its enemy (we are now at that stage)―then, when the crisis has brought everyone to their knees, Communism plays the role of savior by providing its own planned and scripted ‘solution’ to the crisis.
For Communists―just like with their father, the devil―it is important to create as many divisions as possible among their enemy, in order to weaken the unity and agreement among them. As Our Lord said: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate―and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25). Communists―like Satan―seek to divide and conquer.
John D. Cohen, a former Homeland Security counter-terrorism coordinator with 34 years experience in law enforcement, stated: “This is such a polarized environment and a lot of people are angry! I have never seen a threat environment as dynamic, complex and dangerous as the one we are in right now.” Half the voters in each party fear violence from the other side ― including physical attacks and acts of destruction such as riots or looting.
On this point, Christiana Lang, a senior associate at More in Common―an organization that deals with fracturing and polarization―said: ‘First and foremost, it speaks to of course the polarization that’s occurring right now in our country … The temperature has risen! … The reality will depend on what scenario occurs. Uncertainty in any form causes humans to dig in to their beliefs and their fears.’”
The Pew Research Center―already 6 years ago―pointed out the pronounced shift among both Republicans and Democrats to more extreme and polarized positions. The Pew Research Center’s survey and study, conducted from January to March, 2014, stated: “Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines ― and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive ― than at any point in the last two decades … The number of Democrats who hold consistently Liberal positions has more than quadrupled over the course of the last 20 years. And three times as many Republicans are consistently Conservative than in the past … Most of these intense partisans believe the opposing party’s policies are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being … This shift represents both Democrats moving to the left and Republicans moving to the right … Another major element in polarization has been the growing contempt that many Republicans and Democrats have for the opposing party ... Among all Democrats, 27% say the Republican policies are a threat to the well-being of the country. That figure is even higher among Republicans, 36% of whom think Democratic policies threaten the nation.”
This division―or rather the creation and fostering of divisions―is the hallmark of Satan and all his satellite human organizations―Freemasonry and Communism included. As Our Lady warned: “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Masonry will take control of the civil government … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
It does not take much imagination, nor great intelligence, nor the power of prophecy (for it has already been prophesied many times over by Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints) to see the above words of Our Lady being fulfilled in our very own day. Masonry (which is only a mere tool of higher satanic agents and puppet masters) is truly well embedded and extremely influential, if not totally controlling, in most or all governments. Bear in mind the words of the former Communist―the Englishman, Douglas Hyde, chief editor for ten years of the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker in London, England, who converted to Catholicism in 1948 after being a Communist for 20 years―who said that Communists can easily manipulate or even control nations, states or any other organization, if they were 1 in 1,000 or 0.1% of the population! Hyde, writing of his experience after converting to Catholicism, says: “I came to the Catholic Church prepared for most of what I found―and it would be the sheerest hypocrisy to pretend that I either expected or found everything to be good. But one thing I had not bargained for was the many people I met, who told me that the Catholic community in Britain suffered from something they described as a minority complex. I had not expected this, because I was coming from an organization (Communism) which at that time had some 45,000 members (out of Britain’s population of 45 million) to one which was numerically 100 times (4.5 million) as strong and which represented some 10% of Britain’s population. Even in the days when we Communists could only boast some 15,000 members, we believed that when the right circumstances came, as come they must, we would make Britain Communist and would do so with the support of the mass of the people. Whatever else we may have suffered from, we had no minority complex!”
What is true for the Communists, is also true for Freemasonry or any other trained subversive group. They do not need to be a large part of the population―they only need to be well-trained and strategically placed in key positions in the Church, in government, in finance, in the military, in the media, and in other important organizations, corporations or entities. As Our Lord says: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” ― Freemasons and Communists (Matthew 16:6) … “Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6). Yeast, or leaven, is a powerful fungus that can cause a lump of dough to rise into bread, ferment liquids into alcohol, or cause painful infections. Fermentation requires death. It is a process of decay. Wine is made from fermented grapes. Mead is made from fermented honey. Leavened bread is made from fermented wheat. Yeast is the organism that ferments them all. Fermentation symbolizes death. The word “Leaven” or “Yeast” was regularly used to mean something or someone with a pervasive, undercover influence — just as the yeast in bread-making, spreads its unseen influence throughout the dough. Yeast (leaven) could also be used as a picture of sin, of an evil which spreads its sinister effects everywhere. The Church and world have been fermented by the yeast or leaven of Freemasonry and Communism―with all their allies and associates―for a long time now! Just as yeast or leaven bring decay and death to the elements that they are inserted into, likewise does Freemasonry and Communism (et al) seek to decay and destroy all that is Godly and good, and replace it with what is satanic and evil. Yet that is shocking to most people―so they must hide behind a more pleasant and appealing disguise, and do their work of decay and destruction behind the scenes and out of public sight―until the point when there is no escape and they have a stranglehold on everything and everybody.
Today’s the Day
We are coming very close to that point today. Without a doubt Freemasonry and Communism have a grip on most of the world and its chief organizations. They have in place an international coordination which we have clearly seen with this Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic―whereby the whole world was almost instantly coordinated and organized into following one single plan with one single (lying) narrative. Those who failed to believe and put into practice that narrative―masks, social-distancing, quarantining, self-isolation, lockdowns, etc. ― were frequently punished in one way or another, either financially fined, arrested, or even forcibly isolated. The perpetrators of this worldwide confidence trick have their own agenda in mind―total world domination; total reorganization of currently accepted customs in the fields of legislation, finance, medicine, employment, travel, ownership, and all other religious and civil rights and freedoms. Ultimately it is world enslavement, followed by mass depopulation―with anywhere from 7 to 14 persons out of every 15 persons earmarked for death―either slow death by deliberately introduced disease or starvation, or sudden death through wars and civil unrest―as Our Lady of La Salette said: “France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Men will kill each other, massacre each other―even in their homes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy.”
That is exactly where we are headed. Notice the ever-increasing civil unrest throughout the world. In America―in protest over the killing of man, George Floyd, by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 ― huge demonstrations took place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews were imposed in nearly 40 cities. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities during that weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city was turned into a war-zone ― with escalating and prolonged destruction of property, looting of stores and violence against police and other innocent persons. Interestingly, in all of these cities the police and other authorities reported that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, were not locals, but came from cities sometimes hundreds of miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states. The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― initially activated 5,000 personnel in 15 states ― which quickly rose to 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities issued a state of emergency. That was just a “trailer” for the full-length “movie” that is to come―however, it will not be a movie, but a reality―yet it will be a movie in the sense that script (or narrative) will be a bunch of lies and half-truths, with the purpose of frightening, manipulating and controlling the population and coercing them into accepting what the minions of Satan―Freemasons, Communists and all their affiliates―have planned for the world. Those plans will include―as already revealed by Bill Gates and other government and medical authorities―lockdowns, job losses, spread of disease through man-made bio-warfare viruses, universal mandatory multiple and ceaseless vaccinations, the injection of electronic ID chips into people (under the excuse of health monitoring purposes and public safety), and a whole host of other plans―all of which will serve to enslave and reduce the world’s population in multiple ways―some slow, some quick. Yet all times, the evil ingenuity of the methods will avoid anyone pointing the finger of blame upon the Elitists, Globalists, Freemasons, etc., etc. ― because they will simply redirect the finger of blame upon the virus, the civil war, the world war, bio-warfare weapons, disease, etc.
All Bedfellows of Satan
Whether it be the Communists, Socialists, Globalists, Elitists, Freemasons, Illuminati or whatever other flavor you care to mention―they are all “bedfellows” of Satan. There is no middle ground and can be no middle ground―just as our final address and eternal address can only be Heaven or Hell―likewise, we are explicitly or implicitly FOR God or AGAINST God―which automatically means that we are explicitly or implicitly FOR Satan or AGAINST Satan. Our Lord puts it this way: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) … “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―which is echoed by Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who relays to us what Our Lady of Fatima had revealed to her: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
ALL SOULS DAY
Monday November 2nd
Article 2
Lessons From Purgatory!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday November 2nd
Article 2
Lessons From Purgatory!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Out of Touch with Reality
“Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:6-9).
The way that we look at sin is not the way the God looks at sin. In our thoughts it is “no big deal”! Hey! Doesn’t the Bible say that we are all sinners? That’s the reality of things! After all, that’s what Confession is for! We sin; we confess; we’re forgiven; we go on with life! Well, yes and no.
Yes, we are all sinners—we are all born with Original Sin (the sin of our first parents that we did not commit, but we carry its consequences) and we all commit Actual Sin (our own personal sins that we actually commit).
Yes, the Bible does say that “A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again” (Proverbs 24:16) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” (1 John 1:8-9). But Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more” (John 8:11). For, as Jesus points out in a parable, even though sins are forgiven, we will have pay for them to the very last farthing or cent: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
Holy but Poor
That is exactly the plight of the souls in Purgatory—we call them both “Holy Souls” and at the same time “Poor Souls.”
They are “holy” in the sense that they are destined for and guaranteed to go to Heaven—which is a place of incredible holiness. Yet, at the moment, they are “poor”—in the sense that they are not “wealthy” enough to enter Heaven, they have not yet “earned” Heaven due to a wasteful, negligent, lukewarm and sinful life here below.
They are far “holier” than we are here on Earth, for now they are learning the beauty and need for suffering, and they are going through the most unimaginable and unspeakable sufferings in Purgatory with peace, patience and joy—which is how we are supposed to suffer here below, but we don’t do so in that manner. Yet at the same time they are “poor” because they have nothing to pay with to shorten their stay in Purgatory—they rely solely on our alms, that is to say our prayers, sacrifices and acts of charity for them.
We, humans, put too cheap a price on Heaven. It must be an insult to God to see us think, speak and act in that way. If we would only stop to think about what that piece of heavenly ‘real-estate’ really is like, then we would get a ‘reality-check’ and perhaps would “get real” about our spiritual life and our choices of where we want to go and what we are prepared to pay to get there.
Is Purgatory Empty?
Some people (most people?) have fallen into the absurdity of the thinking that, since Jesus died of all our sins, we should all be allowed to go Heaven for free! “Jesus,” they say, “has paid for our sins!” This is, predominantly, the Protestant viewpoint—but it has also become the opinion of the Modernist Catholic. St. Padre Pio, in 1920, two years after his ordination, asked of his spiritual director permission to offer his life as a victim for sinners. He wrote, “For a long time I have felt in myself a need to offer myself, to the Lord, as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory ... It seems to me that Jesus wants this.” Later in life, he used to say: “We must empty Purgatory with our prayers.” The Modernist Catholic, however, now would reply to St. Padre Pio: “Don’t worry Padre, Purgatory is already empty!”
To this we must say: Purgatory exists—it is a dogma of the Catholic Church, which has to be believed under pain of mortal sin. The dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church on the doctrine of Purgatory was specified in 1439 by the Council of Florence, which declared: “It has likewise been defined that, if those truly penitent have departed in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for sins of commission and omission, the souls of these are cleansed after death by purgatorial punishments.” The Council of Trent later added: “If anyone says that, after receiving the grace of justification the guilt of any repentant sinner is remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such a way that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this life or in Purgatory, before the gate to the kingdom of Heaven can be opened: let him be anathema.”
Sadly, Purgatory is NOT empty. In fact, the common opinion among theologians is that MOST SOULS, of the few that end up going to Heaven, have to pass through the fires of Purgatory. As Scripture says: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie …” (Apocalypse 21:27).
The Three Destinations After Death
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the readings at Mass will speak of the end of the world and the final judgment. There are three possible destinations after death, to which you can forward your mail: (1) Heaven, (2) Purgatory and (3) Hell. Two are permanent residences—Heaven and Hell; the other is a temporary residence—Purgatory. According to the teaching of the majority of theologians, most souls go to Hell; the second largest number goes to Purgatory; and the smallest number is that of souls that go directly to Heaven after death. This is based upon the words of Our Lord, who said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This totally contradicts the Modernist Catholic’s view that all, or most, go to Heaven.
Even if the Church had not defined the existence and need of Purgatory as a dogma, our own human reason, common sense and a normal, healthy notion of justice demands that Purgatory exists. Think of it like this:
Peter and Paul were twins, born on the same day and both died on the same day. Paul was a gambler, drunkard, thief and womanizer; he was dishonest, lazy, and undependable. Peter, on the other hand, passed his whole life rarely committing a sin, keeping the Commandments of God and the Church, practicing virtue, and loving God and neighbor until his death. Just before dying, Paul repents of his old ways and confesses his sins to a priest, thus being reconciled with Our Lord on his deathbed. Should Peter and Paul both go to Heaven at the same time? Our human reason and common sense, and our sense of justice say no. Though Jesus’ death allows everyone the possibility of Heaven, and His mercy grants forgiveness, nevertheless, His justice demands that good be rewarded and evil punished — in this life or the next. If one man struggles all his life to be good, while another lives a life of selfishness, greed, and comfort, both can’t walk through the pearly gates side by side. That would be both a travesty and a mockery of justice.
Clothed for Heaven?
Peter has been carefully preparing his heavenly “wedding-garment” all his life. Paul has not prepared his “wedding-garment”—he has merely been stripped of his dirty, smelly, torn and ragged clothes. He has to be fully cleansed and clothed for the heavenly banquet. This brings to mind the Parable of the Wedding Banquet:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage!”‘ But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise ... Then he saith to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14).
Price Tags
Those in Purgatory, did not prepare their wedding garment in good time. They did not put right all the injustices and sins that they had committed while on Earth. Sure—they were sorry for them! Sure—they confessed them! Sure—they did the penance that the priest gave them! But that penance was simply a part or a portion of the expensive price tag that hangs on sin.
Remember your catechism, which taught you that the GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD WAS MORTAL SIN! And what did it say about Venial Sin? It taught us that VENIAL SIN WAS SECOND GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD! Therefore, sin is pretty costly just as Heaven is pretty pricy. God expects us pay the full price for both. For those who have paid their ‘mortgage payments’ on Heaven all their lives, there will be little left to pay in Purgatory. For those who have been delinquent on their ‘mortgage payments’, God will expect the last farthing or last cent to be paid—as Jesus said: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
So let us not cheapen the cost of sin, nor minimize the price of Paradise—both prices are high and both prices need to be paid. Fortunately, God has an accelerated payment plan!
“Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:6-9).
The way that we look at sin is not the way the God looks at sin. In our thoughts it is “no big deal”! Hey! Doesn’t the Bible say that we are all sinners? That’s the reality of things! After all, that’s what Confession is for! We sin; we confess; we’re forgiven; we go on with life! Well, yes and no.
Yes, we are all sinners—we are all born with Original Sin (the sin of our first parents that we did not commit, but we carry its consequences) and we all commit Actual Sin (our own personal sins that we actually commit).
Yes, the Bible does say that “A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again” (Proverbs 24:16) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” (1 John 1:8-9). But Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more” (John 8:11). For, as Jesus points out in a parable, even though sins are forgiven, we will have pay for them to the very last farthing or cent: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
Holy but Poor
That is exactly the plight of the souls in Purgatory—we call them both “Holy Souls” and at the same time “Poor Souls.”
They are “holy” in the sense that they are destined for and guaranteed to go to Heaven—which is a place of incredible holiness. Yet, at the moment, they are “poor”—in the sense that they are not “wealthy” enough to enter Heaven, they have not yet “earned” Heaven due to a wasteful, negligent, lukewarm and sinful life here below.
They are far “holier” than we are here on Earth, for now they are learning the beauty and need for suffering, and they are going through the most unimaginable and unspeakable sufferings in Purgatory with peace, patience and joy—which is how we are supposed to suffer here below, but we don’t do so in that manner. Yet at the same time they are “poor” because they have nothing to pay with to shorten their stay in Purgatory—they rely solely on our alms, that is to say our prayers, sacrifices and acts of charity for them.
We, humans, put too cheap a price on Heaven. It must be an insult to God to see us think, speak and act in that way. If we would only stop to think about what that piece of heavenly ‘real-estate’ really is like, then we would get a ‘reality-check’ and perhaps would “get real” about our spiritual life and our choices of where we want to go and what we are prepared to pay to get there.
Is Purgatory Empty?
Some people (most people?) have fallen into the absurdity of the thinking that, since Jesus died of all our sins, we should all be allowed to go Heaven for free! “Jesus,” they say, “has paid for our sins!” This is, predominantly, the Protestant viewpoint—but it has also become the opinion of the Modernist Catholic. St. Padre Pio, in 1920, two years after his ordination, asked of his spiritual director permission to offer his life as a victim for sinners. He wrote, “For a long time I have felt in myself a need to offer myself, to the Lord, as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory ... It seems to me that Jesus wants this.” Later in life, he used to say: “We must empty Purgatory with our prayers.” The Modernist Catholic, however, now would reply to St. Padre Pio: “Don’t worry Padre, Purgatory is already empty!”
To this we must say: Purgatory exists—it is a dogma of the Catholic Church, which has to be believed under pain of mortal sin. The dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church on the doctrine of Purgatory was specified in 1439 by the Council of Florence, which declared: “It has likewise been defined that, if those truly penitent have departed in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for sins of commission and omission, the souls of these are cleansed after death by purgatorial punishments.” The Council of Trent later added: “If anyone says that, after receiving the grace of justification the guilt of any repentant sinner is remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such a way that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this life or in Purgatory, before the gate to the kingdom of Heaven can be opened: let him be anathema.”
Sadly, Purgatory is NOT empty. In fact, the common opinion among theologians is that MOST SOULS, of the few that end up going to Heaven, have to pass through the fires of Purgatory. As Scripture says: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie …” (Apocalypse 21:27).
The Three Destinations After Death
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the readings at Mass will speak of the end of the world and the final judgment. There are three possible destinations after death, to which you can forward your mail: (1) Heaven, (2) Purgatory and (3) Hell. Two are permanent residences—Heaven and Hell; the other is a temporary residence—Purgatory. According to the teaching of the majority of theologians, most souls go to Hell; the second largest number goes to Purgatory; and the smallest number is that of souls that go directly to Heaven after death. This is based upon the words of Our Lord, who said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This totally contradicts the Modernist Catholic’s view that all, or most, go to Heaven.
Even if the Church had not defined the existence and need of Purgatory as a dogma, our own human reason, common sense and a normal, healthy notion of justice demands that Purgatory exists. Think of it like this:
Peter and Paul were twins, born on the same day and both died on the same day. Paul was a gambler, drunkard, thief and womanizer; he was dishonest, lazy, and undependable. Peter, on the other hand, passed his whole life rarely committing a sin, keeping the Commandments of God and the Church, practicing virtue, and loving God and neighbor until his death. Just before dying, Paul repents of his old ways and confesses his sins to a priest, thus being reconciled with Our Lord on his deathbed. Should Peter and Paul both go to Heaven at the same time? Our human reason and common sense, and our sense of justice say no. Though Jesus’ death allows everyone the possibility of Heaven, and His mercy grants forgiveness, nevertheless, His justice demands that good be rewarded and evil punished — in this life or the next. If one man struggles all his life to be good, while another lives a life of selfishness, greed, and comfort, both can’t walk through the pearly gates side by side. That would be both a travesty and a mockery of justice.
Clothed for Heaven?
Peter has been carefully preparing his heavenly “wedding-garment” all his life. Paul has not prepared his “wedding-garment”—he has merely been stripped of his dirty, smelly, torn and ragged clothes. He has to be fully cleansed and clothed for the heavenly banquet. This brings to mind the Parable of the Wedding Banquet:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage!”‘ But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise ... Then he saith to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14).
Price Tags
Those in Purgatory, did not prepare their wedding garment in good time. They did not put right all the injustices and sins that they had committed while on Earth. Sure—they were sorry for them! Sure—they confessed them! Sure—they did the penance that the priest gave them! But that penance was simply a part or a portion of the expensive price tag that hangs on sin.
Remember your catechism, which taught you that the GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD WAS MORTAL SIN! And what did it say about Venial Sin? It taught us that VENIAL SIN WAS SECOND GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD! Therefore, sin is pretty costly just as Heaven is pretty pricy. God expects us pay the full price for both. For those who have paid their ‘mortgage payments’ on Heaven all their lives, there will be little left to pay in Purgatory. For those who have been delinquent on their ‘mortgage payments’, God will expect the last farthing or last cent to be paid—as Jesus said: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
So let us not cheapen the cost of sin, nor minimize the price of Paradise—both prices are high and both prices need to be paid. Fortunately, God has an accelerated payment plan!
ALL SAINTS DAY
Sunday November 1st
Article 1
Better Become a Saint in this Life Than in the Fires of Purgatory!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Sunday November 1st
Article 1
Better Become a Saint in this Life Than in the Fires of Purgatory!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Saints Alive!! Today is Your Feast Day!
Today is the feast of All Saints! Well, happy feast to you, dear saint! “Aw c’mon!” you say, “Stop joking around! I’m no saint and you know it!” Well, maybe and probably you are no saint—but are you on the way to being a saint? Is that your goal in life? Is that—apart from the superior goal of glorifying God—the main focus of your life?
There’s Only One Way
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. 1, “Introduction”).
Therefore, in Heaven, the saint is not someone extraordinary, the saint is someone who is ordinary, for there are only saints in Heaven—that is one thing that they all have in common, and something that is common is not extraordinary.
Saintly Common Denominator
Another thing that all the saints have in common is that they owe their sanctity, in part, to Our Lady. Explicitly or implicitly, directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, they all depended upon Our Lady who is the Mediatrix of all Grace. It is through her that God has chosen to distribute all of His graces. Therefore, to pass the exam of sanctity; to achieve sanctity in this life on Earth and to avoid the remedial school of sanctity in Purgatory, we need to seek-out Mary, to find Mary, to work with Mary, to let Mary teach us, guide us, encourage us and lead to those heights of sanctity which God ear-marked for us on the day He first created our soul.
Your Saintly Calling
St. Louis de Montfort puts it so beautifully in his booklet, The Secret of Mary:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next. It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Heaven Ain’t Cheap, Ya Know!
It must be remembered that most saints have to pass through the fires of Purgatory before they are allowed admittance into Heaven—except, of course, martyrs, who would go straight to Heaven. But remember, too, that for martyrdom to ‘work’, the martyr has to be sorry for all his sins, otherwise the martyrdom would be in vain (in the case of unrepented mortal sin) and require Purgatory for unrepented venial sin. So even some martyrs could, in theory, pass some time in Purgatory if they refuse to be sorry for some of their venial sins.
And if the non-martyred saint has the grace and gift of going straight to Heaven after death, then rest assured that the saint has most certainly done his or her Purgatory here on Earth, by the trials, sorrows, anxieties, humiliations, persecutions, illnesses, pains and sufferings that they would have undergone before being granted such a great privilege.
Burn We Must
At the end of the day, it is the degree of love for God in the heart of the soul that decides the fate of the soul: Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Love or charity is what will be judged. As St. Paul writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). To which Jesus adds: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47), while St. Peter affirms: “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Charity is a fire that burns sins in this world—if we refuse to burn here, we will burn in Purgatory or Hell, but burn we must!
The Remedial School of Saints
Which brings us to the subject of saints and life on Earth. We are all called to be saints, for only saints go to Heaven. We know this in theory, but it is frightening to see how few people try to live this out in practice. If we don’t successfully pass our “sainthood exam” here on Earth, then we will have to spend a long time in the remedial school of sanctity in the fires of Purgatory. Most people have an erroneous notion that Heaven will be populated by the saints on the one hand, and themselves—plain old Mr. and Mrs. so and so on the other hand. They seem to think that Heaven is a place for both sanctity and plain old mediocrity. FALSE! That could not be further from the truth!
Heaven’s Mixed-Bag of Saints
In Heaven, there are all kinds of saints: big and small saints; strong and weak saints; old and young saints; male and female saints; rich and poor saints; “never-sinned-much” saints and “sinned-a-lot” saints; quickly processed saints and slowly processed saints; saints from all kinds of different backgrounds, countries, times and circumstances. But the one thing they have in common is that they are SAINTS and NOT mediocre souls. The mediocre souls find a place in Purgatory, where they have to make up for lost and wasted time and misguided efforts.
How Will I Ever Become A Saint?
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Sanctity Needs Grace; Grace Comes Through Mary
“To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God.” (The Secret of Mary by St. Louis de Montfort).
This truth was later most perfectly manifested by Our Lady’s apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré, in 1830, at the convent of the Sisters of Charity on the Rue du Bac in Paris, France. It is from these apparitions that we received the so-called “Miraculous Medal.” However, it is more formally known as “The Medal of Our Lady of Grace” and “The Medal of the Immaculate Conception.”
Our Lady herself stipulated the design of the medal, by showing St. Catherine a vision of what it was to look like. There are rays of light beaming forth out of the rings upon Our Lady’s fingers. St. Catherine asked what these rays of light were. Our Lady replied that they were graces. St. Catherine noticed that some rays were shining brilliantly, while other rays of light were dull, so she asked Our Lady what they meant. Our Lady replied that the bright rays were graces that God gave to people, but the dull rays were graces that God did not give to people. St. Catherine, disappointed, asked why God would withhold some graces from us. Our Lady simply replied that they are withheld from us because we don’t ask for them!
If Only I Would Have ...
The poor souls in Purgatory could have avoided those fires if they had only taken their life, their spiritual life, much more seriously. Grace and sanctity was not at the top of their shopping-list, nor did they ask Our Lady for the graces they would have needed to avoid being sent to Purgatory. The words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, already partially quoted above, perfectly represent this truth and we will repeat the aforementioned quote adding a further passage to it:
The Real Life, the One That Matters
“The interior life, thus conceived, is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists and astronomers, have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science, as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him.
“Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation.
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul.
“Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. 1, “Introduction”).
Heaven’s Entrance Exam Remains the Same
God never changes; objective Truth never changes; the objective entrance requirement to Heaven never changes. The pass/fail mark remains the same. A state of grace (free from mortal sin) is required. What can change is the judgment of God on the culpability of any particular person. Blasphemy is objectively always a mortal sin and that will never change. Yet, for this or that particular person, due to his or her ignorance of the fact, God may mitigate the punishment due to his blasphemy.
This is what we hope God will do in our present age, where the teaching of the Faith has deteriorated abysmally—and how can a child know what a child has not been taught? The greater crime lays at the feet of the teachers who should have taught all the Faith in its integrity, and not a watered-down version. Yet God has given each soul a basic knowledge of right and wrong (we call it the Natural Law) that is written into our hearts. This is an inborn sense of right and wrong that exists without there being any teaching necessary. Sadly, today, that Natural Law is being broken even by Catholics. So how will God judge? Only God knows!
Education has dropped its standards alarmingly over the last 60 years. We have all been ‘dumbed-down’ and the expected level of knowledge, required in a student, has fallen with it. To enter Harvard, Yale or any other well-known university in the early 1900s, the student applying for entry, as a part of the entrance examination, had to debate with the professors on any subject of his choice in either Latin or Greek! Now, professors say, some barely have a command of the English language, never mind Latin or Greek, which “is all Greek to them”!
Heaven does not drop its standards. Only saints get to go there! There may be different kinds of saints: well-known and unknown saints; great and small saints; old and young saints; fast-tracked and slowly made saints; ‘sinned-a-lot’ and ‘sinned little’ saints; mortal sin repented saints and venial sin repented saints; long-life and short-life saints; saints coming straight from Earth and saints having to pass through Purgatory—but they have all one thing in common, they are all saints.
Use Our Time Wisely
That is what our life on Earth is for—to become saints. It is not comfort and ease that makes saints, but it is the cross and suffering that makes saints. The words that Our Lord spoke concerning the rich and the young man with many possessions, can also be addressed to those who want to accumulate comfort and ease:
“And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Who said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:16-26).
Who then shall be saved? Anyone, no matter how bad they are or may have been, can be saved—with God nothing is impossible; but we have to leave sin and the world’s comforts, ease, pleasures and treasures behind. That will never change! “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33).
Today is the feast of All Saints! Well, happy feast to you, dear saint! “Aw c’mon!” you say, “Stop joking around! I’m no saint and you know it!” Well, maybe and probably you are no saint—but are you on the way to being a saint? Is that your goal in life? Is that—apart from the superior goal of glorifying God—the main focus of your life?
There’s Only One Way
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. 1, “Introduction”).
Therefore, in Heaven, the saint is not someone extraordinary, the saint is someone who is ordinary, for there are only saints in Heaven—that is one thing that they all have in common, and something that is common is not extraordinary.
Saintly Common Denominator
Another thing that all the saints have in common is that they owe their sanctity, in part, to Our Lady. Explicitly or implicitly, directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, they all depended upon Our Lady who is the Mediatrix of all Grace. It is through her that God has chosen to distribute all of His graces. Therefore, to pass the exam of sanctity; to achieve sanctity in this life on Earth and to avoid the remedial school of sanctity in Purgatory, we need to seek-out Mary, to find Mary, to work with Mary, to let Mary teach us, guide us, encourage us and lead to those heights of sanctity which God ear-marked for us on the day He first created our soul.
Your Saintly Calling
St. Louis de Montfort puts it so beautifully in his booklet, The Secret of Mary:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next. It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Heaven Ain’t Cheap, Ya Know!
It must be remembered that most saints have to pass through the fires of Purgatory before they are allowed admittance into Heaven—except, of course, martyrs, who would go straight to Heaven. But remember, too, that for martyrdom to ‘work’, the martyr has to be sorry for all his sins, otherwise the martyrdom would be in vain (in the case of unrepented mortal sin) and require Purgatory for unrepented venial sin. So even some martyrs could, in theory, pass some time in Purgatory if they refuse to be sorry for some of their venial sins.
And if the non-martyred saint has the grace and gift of going straight to Heaven after death, then rest assured that the saint has most certainly done his or her Purgatory here on Earth, by the trials, sorrows, anxieties, humiliations, persecutions, illnesses, pains and sufferings that they would have undergone before being granted such a great privilege.
Burn We Must
At the end of the day, it is the degree of love for God in the heart of the soul that decides the fate of the soul: Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Love or charity is what will be judged. As St. Paul writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). To which Jesus adds: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47), while St. Peter affirms: “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Charity is a fire that burns sins in this world—if we refuse to burn here, we will burn in Purgatory or Hell, but burn we must!
The Remedial School of Saints
Which brings us to the subject of saints and life on Earth. We are all called to be saints, for only saints go to Heaven. We know this in theory, but it is frightening to see how few people try to live this out in practice. If we don’t successfully pass our “sainthood exam” here on Earth, then we will have to spend a long time in the remedial school of sanctity in the fires of Purgatory. Most people have an erroneous notion that Heaven will be populated by the saints on the one hand, and themselves—plain old Mr. and Mrs. so and so on the other hand. They seem to think that Heaven is a place for both sanctity and plain old mediocrity. FALSE! That could not be further from the truth!
Heaven’s Mixed-Bag of Saints
In Heaven, there are all kinds of saints: big and small saints; strong and weak saints; old and young saints; male and female saints; rich and poor saints; “never-sinned-much” saints and “sinned-a-lot” saints; quickly processed saints and slowly processed saints; saints from all kinds of different backgrounds, countries, times and circumstances. But the one thing they have in common is that they are SAINTS and NOT mediocre souls. The mediocre souls find a place in Purgatory, where they have to make up for lost and wasted time and misguided efforts.
How Will I Ever Become A Saint?
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure,” because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Sanctity Needs Grace; Grace Comes Through Mary
“To find the grace of God, we must discover Mary. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God.” (The Secret of Mary by St. Louis de Montfort).
This truth was later most perfectly manifested by Our Lady’s apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré, in 1830, at the convent of the Sisters of Charity on the Rue du Bac in Paris, France. It is from these apparitions that we received the so-called “Miraculous Medal.” However, it is more formally known as “The Medal of Our Lady of Grace” and “The Medal of the Immaculate Conception.”
Our Lady herself stipulated the design of the medal, by showing St. Catherine a vision of what it was to look like. There are rays of light beaming forth out of the rings upon Our Lady’s fingers. St. Catherine asked what these rays of light were. Our Lady replied that they were graces. St. Catherine noticed that some rays were shining brilliantly, while other rays of light were dull, so she asked Our Lady what they meant. Our Lady replied that the bright rays were graces that God gave to people, but the dull rays were graces that God did not give to people. St. Catherine, disappointed, asked why God would withhold some graces from us. Our Lady simply replied that they are withheld from us because we don’t ask for them!
If Only I Would Have ...
The poor souls in Purgatory could have avoided those fires if they had only taken their life, their spiritual life, much more seriously. Grace and sanctity was not at the top of their shopping-list, nor did they ask Our Lady for the graces they would have needed to avoid being sent to Purgatory. The words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, already partially quoted above, perfectly represent this truth and we will repeat the aforementioned quote adding a further passage to it:
The Real Life, the One That Matters
“The interior life, thus conceived, is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists and astronomers, have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science, as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him.
“Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation.
“There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul.
“Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. 1, “Introduction”).
Heaven’s Entrance Exam Remains the Same
God never changes; objective Truth never changes; the objective entrance requirement to Heaven never changes. The pass/fail mark remains the same. A state of grace (free from mortal sin) is required. What can change is the judgment of God on the culpability of any particular person. Blasphemy is objectively always a mortal sin and that will never change. Yet, for this or that particular person, due to his or her ignorance of the fact, God may mitigate the punishment due to his blasphemy.
This is what we hope God will do in our present age, where the teaching of the Faith has deteriorated abysmally—and how can a child know what a child has not been taught? The greater crime lays at the feet of the teachers who should have taught all the Faith in its integrity, and not a watered-down version. Yet God has given each soul a basic knowledge of right and wrong (we call it the Natural Law) that is written into our hearts. This is an inborn sense of right and wrong that exists without there being any teaching necessary. Sadly, today, that Natural Law is being broken even by Catholics. So how will God judge? Only God knows!
Education has dropped its standards alarmingly over the last 60 years. We have all been ‘dumbed-down’ and the expected level of knowledge, required in a student, has fallen with it. To enter Harvard, Yale or any other well-known university in the early 1900s, the student applying for entry, as a part of the entrance examination, had to debate with the professors on any subject of his choice in either Latin or Greek! Now, professors say, some barely have a command of the English language, never mind Latin or Greek, which “is all Greek to them”!
Heaven does not drop its standards. Only saints get to go there! There may be different kinds of saints: well-known and unknown saints; great and small saints; old and young saints; fast-tracked and slowly made saints; ‘sinned-a-lot’ and ‘sinned little’ saints; mortal sin repented saints and venial sin repented saints; long-life and short-life saints; saints coming straight from Earth and saints having to pass through Purgatory—but they have all one thing in common, they are all saints.
Use Our Time Wisely
That is what our life on Earth is for—to become saints. It is not comfort and ease that makes saints, but it is the cross and suffering that makes saints. The words that Our Lord spoke concerning the rich and the young man with many possessions, can also be addressed to those who want to accumulate comfort and ease:
“And behold one came and said to him: ‘Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Who said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me.’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:16-26).
Who then shall be saved? Anyone, no matter how bad they are or may have been, can be saved—with God nothing is impossible; but we have to leave sin and the world’s comforts, ease, pleasures and treasures behind. That will never change! “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33).
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY
THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday October 30th & Saturday October 31st
Article 13
Better Late Than Never!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Friday October 30th & Saturday October 31st
Article 13
Better Late Than Never!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
It Is Never Too Late!
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: ‘Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first!’ When therefore they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more―and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying: ‘These last have worked but one hour―and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats!’ But he, answering, said to one of them: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong! Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine and go thy way! I will also give to this last even as to thee! Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?’ So shall the last be first, and the first last! For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16).
Late Conversion of the Good Thief
The theory of the parable we see played out in practice or in reality upon Calvary. As Christ is crucified, He finds Himself among two thieves. All are in the last stages of their life upon Earth! What hope would we give those two thieves after having lived a lifetime of stealing, robbery and perhaps even murder? Traditionally, we know call one thief “The Good Thief” and the other thief “The Bad Thief”―not because one was better at stealing than the other, but because “The Good Thief” ‘stole’ Heaven at the end of his life by a change of heart, admission of guilt, and acceptance of his sufferings as a just punishment for his sins―whereas the “The Bad Thief” wanted Christ to get them out the mess, save their lives, yet at the same time he had no regret or sorrow over his sins, admitted no guilt and despised the just sufferings he was undergoing.
The Good Thief crucified on Calvary could well be taken as our patron for today as we prepare for our own crucifixion on our 21st century Calvary! The thief who was dying on a cross next to Jesus, might have thought it was too late to repent. Nevertheless, he tried anyway―and said to Jesus: “‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:42-43). “For God saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee! Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!’” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found―call upon Him while He is near!” (Isaias 55:6).
Late Conversion of Saul to Paul
We also have the conversion of Saul―which, even though it was not at the end of his life, it was quite “late” in his life. It is estimated that Saul was born around 5 BC and that he was martyred around 64 AD to 67 AD―with his conversion taking place around 34 AD to 36 AD―which would put Saul around 40 years of age at the time of his conversion, after which he would live around 30 more years. You could call it a spiritual “mid-life-crisis” so to speak. In any case, Saul had “wasted” around 40 years of his life by living not only in the error of Judaism, but also in the persecution of Christians―as he himself admits: “I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9) … “You have heard of my conversation in time past―in the Jews’ religion―how I, beyond measure, persecuted the church of God and wasted it!” (Galatians 1:13). Saul was an accomplice to the murder (martyrdom) of St. Stephen: “And casting him [Stephen] forth, outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen … And Saul was consenting to his death” (Acts 7:57-59).
Our Lady and Late Conversions
Our Lady is very concerned about sinners―in the Litany of Loreto, the Litany of Our Lady, one of the titles given to her is “Refuge of Sinners”. In most of her apparitions, she has spoken of sinners and her desire for their conversion. At La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady warns: “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people! There are no more generous souls!” At Lourdes, in 1858, she tells St. Bernadette: “Pray for sinners! … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” In 1859, in Wisconsin in the United States, during an apparition to the Belgian immigrant back in 1859, Our Lady told the seer Adele Brise: “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners!” At Fatima, 1917, Our Lady says: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” At Beauraing, Belgium, during her 33 apparitions from November 29th, 1932 to January 3rd, 1933, Our Lady emphatically said: “I will convert sinners!” At Akita, Our Lady adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
The Consecration to Russia Will Be Made Late
On July 13th 1917, Our Lady laid down the necessity of a future consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart: “God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred … Various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Then, almost 12 years later, on June 13th, 1929, Our Lady stated that the time for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate had arrived: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops in the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray.”
A little later, Jesus spoke to her as follows: “They did not wish to heed My request [for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart]. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world―provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer.”
For those who do not know their history, Our Lord was referring to His demand to the King of France, through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, that the King consecrate France to His Sacred Heart―the reference by Jesus to the King of France’s disobedience and the resulting punishment is as follows:
● On June 17th, 1689 the Sacred Heart of Jesus manifested to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque His command to the King of France that the King was to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart. For 100 years to the day the Kings of France delayed, and did not obey.
● So on June 17th, 1789 the King of France was stripped of his legislative authority by the upstart Third Estate, and four years later the soldiers of the French Revolution executed the King of France as if he were a criminal.
● In 1793 France sent its King, Louis XVI, to the guillotine. He and his predecessors had failed to obey Our Lord’s request that France be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and thus misfortune had befallen both the King and his country.
Today, in 2020, more than ninety years after it was formally requested in 1929, another consecration requested by God Himself, the solemn public Consecration of Russia, has still not been performed. In the meantime, we see that the prophecies predicted by Our Lady of Fatima are being fulfilled and the punishments seem to grow and grow with each passing decade as a result of delaying the execution of God’s requests.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on Deathbed Conversions
The great Catholic theologian of the 20th century, Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes of final impenitence and of deathbed conversions in his book, Life Everlasting. He says that deathbed conversion is difficult, but still possible. To encourage us in hope and confidence here are some extracts from his book―a section entitled “Deathbed Conversion”:
“Deathbed conversion, however difficult, is still possible. Even when we see no sign of contrition, we can still not affirm that, at the last moment, just before the separation of soul from body, the soul is definitively obstinate. A sinner may be converted at that last minute in such fashion that God alone can know it. The holy Cure of Ars, Divinely enlightened, said to a weeping widow, whose husband had just committed suicide by throwing himself off the parapet of a bridge into the River Rhone: ‘Your prayer, Madame, has been heard! Your husband is saved! When he threw himself into the River Rhone, the Blessed Virgin, as a result of your endless prayers for his conversion, obtained for him the grace of conversion just before he died. Recall how, a month before, in your garden, he plucked the most beautiful rose and said to you, “Carry this to the altar of the Blessed Virgin!”? Well, she has not forgotten!’
“Other souls, too, have been converted ‘in extremis’ ― souls that could barely recall a few religious acts in the course of their life. A sailor, for example, preserved the practice of uncovering his head when he passed before a church. He did not know even the Our Father or the Hail Mary, but the lifting of his hat kept him from departing definitively from God.
“In the life of the saintly Bishop Bertau of Tulle, in France, friend of Louis Veuillot, a poor girl in that city, who had once been chanter in the cathedral, fell first into misery, then into sexual misconduct, and finally became a public sinner. She was assassinated at night, in one of the streets of Tulle. Police found her dying and carried her to a hospital. While she was dying, she cried out: ‘Jesus! Jesus!’ After her death, the Bishop was asked if she could be granted Church burial? The Bishop answered: ‘Yes, because she died pronouncing the name of Jesus. But bury her early in the morning without incense.’ In the room of this poor woman was found a portrait of the holy Bishop, on the back of which was written: ‘The best of fathers.’ Fallen though she was, she still recognized the holiness of her bishop and preserved in her heart the memory of the goodness of Our Lord.
“A certain writer of impure books, Armand Sylvestre, promised his mother, when she was dying, to say a Hail Mary every day. He kept his promise. Out of the moral swamp in which he lived, he daily lifted up to God this one little flower―the Hail Mary. Pneumonia eventually brought him to the hospital, which was served by religious, one of whom said to him: “Do you wish to see a priest?” The man, moved by grace obtained as a consequence of his daily Marys, replied: “Certainly!” He thus received absolution―probably with sufficient attrition (imperfect contrition)―through a special grace obtained for him by the Blessed Mother, though we can hardly doubt he underwent a long and heavy Purgatory.
“Another French writer, Adolphe Rette, shortly after his conversion―which was sincere and profound―was struck by a sentence he read in the visitors book of the Carmelite Convent: ‘Pray for those who will die during the Mass at which you are going to assist.’ He did so. Some days later he fell grievously ill, and was confined to bed in the hospital at Beaune, for many years, up to his death. Each morning he offered all his sufferings for those who would die during the day. Thus he obtained many deathbed conversions. We shall see in Heaven how many conversions there are in the world, owing to such prayers.
“In the life of St. Catherine of Siena we read of the conversion of two great criminals. The Saint had gone to visit one of her friends. As they heard, in the street below, a loud noise, her friend looked through the window. Two condemned men were being led to execution. Their jailers were tormenting them with nails heated red-hot, while the condemned men blasphemed and cried. St. Catherine, inside the house, fell to prayer, with her arms extended in the form of a cross. At once the wicked men ceased to blaspheme and asked for a confessor. People in the street could not understand this sudden change. They did not know that a nearby Saint had obtained this double conversion.
“Several years ago the chaplain in a prison in Nancy, France, had the reputation of converting all criminals whom he had accompanied to the guillotine. On one occasion he found himself alone, shut up with an assassin who refused to go to Confession before death. The cart, with the condemned man, passed before the sanctuary of Our Lady of Refuge. The old chaplain prayed: ‘Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to thy intercession was abandoned. Convert this criminal of mine: otherwise I will say that it has been heard that you have not heard.’ At once the criminal was converted.
“Return to God is always possible, up to the time of death, but it becomes more and more difficult as hard-heartedness grows. Let us not put off our conversion.” (Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Life Everlasting, “Deathbed Conversion”).
Today―Catholicism Lays on Its Deathbed
The purpose of the above examples is not only meant to serve as an instruction, a warning and an encouragement to individual Catholics―but also to the Catholic Church as a whole, which lays on its sickbed, weakened by the diseases of Liberalism, Modernism, Worldliness and Immorality―terrible comorbidities that have compromised her spiritual health and threaten a spiritual demise. Of course, we know that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church―but that does not mean that everyone in the Church will be saved. That promise still comes true even in 99.9% of Catholics are damned and only 0.1% remain faithful―which scenario is prefigured by the fact that only 8 persons―Noe and his family―survived the Great Flood. In fact, such a scenario is envisaged by both Our Lord and Our Lady. Our Lord says in the Gospels: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) ― whereas Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith!” ― which is further corroborated by Our Lady of La Salette, who says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell―they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … Many will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God!” She then speaks of only a small number who see, understand and keep the Faith: “I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Even the Liberal and Modernist popes of today attest to the same sad truth. The Vatican Insider, in an article from February 18th, 2013, recalled that Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, had ‘prophesied’ that “a restructured Church with far fewer members that is forced to let go of many places of worship it worked so hard to build over the centuries. A minority Catholic Church with little influence over political decisions, that is socially irrelevant, left humiliated and forced to start over ... ‘It will become small and will have to start pretty much all over again. It will no longer have use of the structures it built in its years of prosperity. The reduction in the number of faithful will lead to it losing an important part of its social privileges.’ It will start off with small groups and movements and a minority that will make Faith central to experience again. ‘It will be a more spiritual Church, and will not claim a political mandate flirting with the Right one minute and the Left the next. It will be poor and will become the Church of the destitute.’”
Cardinal Ratzinger (later to become Pope Benedict XVI) went on to say: “It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek . . . The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain . . . But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret. And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end―not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already―but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’ And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: ‘Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first!’ When therefore they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more―and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying: ‘These last have worked but one hour―and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats!’ But he, answering, said to one of them: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong! Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine and go thy way! I will also give to this last even as to thee! Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?’ So shall the last be first, and the first last! For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:1-16).
Late Conversion of the Good Thief
The theory of the parable we see played out in practice or in reality upon Calvary. As Christ is crucified, He finds Himself among two thieves. All are in the last stages of their life upon Earth! What hope would we give those two thieves after having lived a lifetime of stealing, robbery and perhaps even murder? Traditionally, we know call one thief “The Good Thief” and the other thief “The Bad Thief”―not because one was better at stealing than the other, but because “The Good Thief” ‘stole’ Heaven at the end of his life by a change of heart, admission of guilt, and acceptance of his sufferings as a just punishment for his sins―whereas the “The Bad Thief” wanted Christ to get them out the mess, save their lives, yet at the same time he had no regret or sorrow over his sins, admitted no guilt and despised the just sufferings he was undergoing.
The Good Thief crucified on Calvary could well be taken as our patron for today as we prepare for our own crucifixion on our 21st century Calvary! The thief who was dying on a cross next to Jesus, might have thought it was too late to repent. Nevertheless, he tried anyway―and said to Jesus: “‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:42-43). “For God saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee! Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!’” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found―call upon Him while He is near!” (Isaias 55:6).
Late Conversion of Saul to Paul
We also have the conversion of Saul―which, even though it was not at the end of his life, it was quite “late” in his life. It is estimated that Saul was born around 5 BC and that he was martyred around 64 AD to 67 AD―with his conversion taking place around 34 AD to 36 AD―which would put Saul around 40 years of age at the time of his conversion, after which he would live around 30 more years. You could call it a spiritual “mid-life-crisis” so to speak. In any case, Saul had “wasted” around 40 years of his life by living not only in the error of Judaism, but also in the persecution of Christians―as he himself admits: “I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9) … “You have heard of my conversation in time past―in the Jews’ religion―how I, beyond measure, persecuted the church of God and wasted it!” (Galatians 1:13). Saul was an accomplice to the murder (martyrdom) of St. Stephen: “And casting him [Stephen] forth, outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen … And Saul was consenting to his death” (Acts 7:57-59).
Our Lady and Late Conversions
Our Lady is very concerned about sinners―in the Litany of Loreto, the Litany of Our Lady, one of the titles given to her is “Refuge of Sinners”. In most of her apparitions, she has spoken of sinners and her desire for their conversion. At La Salette, in 1846, Our Lady warns: “The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people! There are no more generous souls!” At Lourdes, in 1858, she tells St. Bernadette: “Pray for sinners! … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” In 1859, in Wisconsin in the United States, during an apparition to the Belgian immigrant back in 1859, Our Lady told the seer Adele Brise: “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners!” At Fatima, 1917, Our Lady says: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” At Beauraing, Belgium, during her 33 apparitions from November 29th, 1932 to January 3rd, 1933, Our Lady emphatically said: “I will convert sinners!” At Akita, Our Lady adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
The Consecration to Russia Will Be Made Late
On July 13th 1917, Our Lady laid down the necessity of a future consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart: “God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred … Various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Then, almost 12 years later, on June 13th, 1929, Our Lady stated that the time for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate had arrived: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops in the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray.”
A little later, Jesus spoke to her as follows: “They did not wish to heed My request [for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart]. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world―provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer.”
For those who do not know their history, Our Lord was referring to His demand to the King of France, through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, that the King consecrate France to His Sacred Heart―the reference by Jesus to the King of France’s disobedience and the resulting punishment is as follows:
● On June 17th, 1689 the Sacred Heart of Jesus manifested to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque His command to the King of France that the King was to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart. For 100 years to the day the Kings of France delayed, and did not obey.
● So on June 17th, 1789 the King of France was stripped of his legislative authority by the upstart Third Estate, and four years later the soldiers of the French Revolution executed the King of France as if he were a criminal.
● In 1793 France sent its King, Louis XVI, to the guillotine. He and his predecessors had failed to obey Our Lord’s request that France be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and thus misfortune had befallen both the King and his country.
Today, in 2020, more than ninety years after it was formally requested in 1929, another consecration requested by God Himself, the solemn public Consecration of Russia, has still not been performed. In the meantime, we see that the prophecies predicted by Our Lady of Fatima are being fulfilled and the punishments seem to grow and grow with each passing decade as a result of delaying the execution of God’s requests.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on Deathbed Conversions
The great Catholic theologian of the 20th century, Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., writes of final impenitence and of deathbed conversions in his book, Life Everlasting. He says that deathbed conversion is difficult, but still possible. To encourage us in hope and confidence here are some extracts from his book―a section entitled “Deathbed Conversion”:
“Deathbed conversion, however difficult, is still possible. Even when we see no sign of contrition, we can still not affirm that, at the last moment, just before the separation of soul from body, the soul is definitively obstinate. A sinner may be converted at that last minute in such fashion that God alone can know it. The holy Cure of Ars, Divinely enlightened, said to a weeping widow, whose husband had just committed suicide by throwing himself off the parapet of a bridge into the River Rhone: ‘Your prayer, Madame, has been heard! Your husband is saved! When he threw himself into the River Rhone, the Blessed Virgin, as a result of your endless prayers for his conversion, obtained for him the grace of conversion just before he died. Recall how, a month before, in your garden, he plucked the most beautiful rose and said to you, “Carry this to the altar of the Blessed Virgin!”? Well, she has not forgotten!’
“Other souls, too, have been converted ‘in extremis’ ― souls that could barely recall a few religious acts in the course of their life. A sailor, for example, preserved the practice of uncovering his head when he passed before a church. He did not know even the Our Father or the Hail Mary, but the lifting of his hat kept him from departing definitively from God.
“In the life of the saintly Bishop Bertau of Tulle, in France, friend of Louis Veuillot, a poor girl in that city, who had once been chanter in the cathedral, fell first into misery, then into sexual misconduct, and finally became a public sinner. She was assassinated at night, in one of the streets of Tulle. Police found her dying and carried her to a hospital. While she was dying, she cried out: ‘Jesus! Jesus!’ After her death, the Bishop was asked if she could be granted Church burial? The Bishop answered: ‘Yes, because she died pronouncing the name of Jesus. But bury her early in the morning without incense.’ In the room of this poor woman was found a portrait of the holy Bishop, on the back of which was written: ‘The best of fathers.’ Fallen though she was, she still recognized the holiness of her bishop and preserved in her heart the memory of the goodness of Our Lord.
“A certain writer of impure books, Armand Sylvestre, promised his mother, when she was dying, to say a Hail Mary every day. He kept his promise. Out of the moral swamp in which he lived, he daily lifted up to God this one little flower―the Hail Mary. Pneumonia eventually brought him to the hospital, which was served by religious, one of whom said to him: “Do you wish to see a priest?” The man, moved by grace obtained as a consequence of his daily Marys, replied: “Certainly!” He thus received absolution―probably with sufficient attrition (imperfect contrition)―through a special grace obtained for him by the Blessed Mother, though we can hardly doubt he underwent a long and heavy Purgatory.
“Another French writer, Adolphe Rette, shortly after his conversion―which was sincere and profound―was struck by a sentence he read in the visitors book of the Carmelite Convent: ‘Pray for those who will die during the Mass at which you are going to assist.’ He did so. Some days later he fell grievously ill, and was confined to bed in the hospital at Beaune, for many years, up to his death. Each morning he offered all his sufferings for those who would die during the day. Thus he obtained many deathbed conversions. We shall see in Heaven how many conversions there are in the world, owing to such prayers.
“In the life of St. Catherine of Siena we read of the conversion of two great criminals. The Saint had gone to visit one of her friends. As they heard, in the street below, a loud noise, her friend looked through the window. Two condemned men were being led to execution. Their jailers were tormenting them with nails heated red-hot, while the condemned men blasphemed and cried. St. Catherine, inside the house, fell to prayer, with her arms extended in the form of a cross. At once the wicked men ceased to blaspheme and asked for a confessor. People in the street could not understand this sudden change. They did not know that a nearby Saint had obtained this double conversion.
“Several years ago the chaplain in a prison in Nancy, France, had the reputation of converting all criminals whom he had accompanied to the guillotine. On one occasion he found himself alone, shut up with an assassin who refused to go to Confession before death. The cart, with the condemned man, passed before the sanctuary of Our Lady of Refuge. The old chaplain prayed: ‘Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who had recourse to thy intercession was abandoned. Convert this criminal of mine: otherwise I will say that it has been heard that you have not heard.’ At once the criminal was converted.
“Return to God is always possible, up to the time of death, but it becomes more and more difficult as hard-heartedness grows. Let us not put off our conversion.” (Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Life Everlasting, “Deathbed Conversion”).
Today―Catholicism Lays on Its Deathbed
The purpose of the above examples is not only meant to serve as an instruction, a warning and an encouragement to individual Catholics―but also to the Catholic Church as a whole, which lays on its sickbed, weakened by the diseases of Liberalism, Modernism, Worldliness and Immorality―terrible comorbidities that have compromised her spiritual health and threaten a spiritual demise. Of course, we know that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church―but that does not mean that everyone in the Church will be saved. That promise still comes true even in 99.9% of Catholics are damned and only 0.1% remain faithful―which scenario is prefigured by the fact that only 8 persons―Noe and his family―survived the Great Flood. In fact, such a scenario is envisaged by both Our Lord and Our Lady. Our Lord says in the Gospels: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) ― whereas Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith!” ― which is further corroborated by Our Lady of La Salette, who says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell―they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … Many will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God!” She then speaks of only a small number who see, understand and keep the Faith: “I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Even the Liberal and Modernist popes of today attest to the same sad truth. The Vatican Insider, in an article from February 18th, 2013, recalled that Pope Benedict XVI, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, had ‘prophesied’ that “a restructured Church with far fewer members that is forced to let go of many places of worship it worked so hard to build over the centuries. A minority Catholic Church with little influence over political decisions, that is socially irrelevant, left humiliated and forced to start over ... ‘It will become small and will have to start pretty much all over again. It will no longer have use of the structures it built in its years of prosperity. The reduction in the number of faithful will lead to it losing an important part of its social privileges.’ It will start off with small groups and movements and a minority that will make Faith central to experience again. ‘It will be a more spiritual Church, and will not claim a political mandate flirting with the Right one minute and the Left the next. It will be poor and will become the Church of the destitute.’”
Cardinal Ratzinger (later to become Pope Benedict XVI) went on to say: “It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek . . . The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain . . . But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret. And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end―not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already―but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday October 28th & Thursday October 29th
Article 12
Add It All Up! It Is Terrifying!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Wednesday October 28th & Thursday October 29th
Article 12
Add It All Up! It Is Terrifying!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Look at it from Heaven―Look at it from Earth―You See the Same Terrifying Account!
“One witness shall not prevail against any man, whatsoever the sin or wickedness might be―but in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall stand” (Deuteronomy 19:15). “If he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more witnesses―so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand” (Matthew 18:16). “I call Heaven and Earth to witness this day!” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Call Heaven to the Witness Stand!
Some witnesses are upright and honest, other can be unreliable and liable to error, while others can be dishonest and deceptive. Among which category would you classify Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints? Our Lord Himself says: “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Jesus adds: “Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true! And if I judge, my judgment is true―because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me ... And He that sent Me, is with Me, and He hath not left Me alone … And in your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true―I am one that give testimony of Myself and the Father that sent Me giveth testimony of Me! … You shall die in your sin ... You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He―then you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:14-24, 29).
St. John, elsewhere, gives the tragic account of the majority who disbelieved and rejected the light and truth of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. [In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to be made the sons of God―to them that believe in His Name!” (John 1:1-12).
Ultimately, we are either the Sons of God or the Sons of Satan―we either believe the truths of God, or the lies of Satan. Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men―I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men―I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Sometimes Catholics do not want to hear the truth because of the obligations it might impose upon them and the changes it might require of them. They prefer to live in the comfort of error (or an outright lie), rather than seek the truth and risk having our life turned upside-down. “They have eyes, but they see not!” (Psalm 134:16). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). Why? “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). It is because they do not possess, nor do they really want to possess, the spirit of God: “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). They forget that “the friendship of this world is the enemy of God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Since they prefer to love the world, God―in His justice, blinds them to the spiritual: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility―eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (John 12:40). “Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God―so that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
The Testimony of Heaven
Our key witness is Heaven―for God cannot deceive, nor be deceived! As Jesus said to His Father: “Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth!” (John 17:17). Jesus adds, too, that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth: “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever―the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him … When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father―the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father―He shall give testimony of Me … When He―the Spirit of Truth―is come, He will teach you all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak; and the things that are to come, He shall show you!” (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:13).
The testimony of Heaven―if added up to make one whole―is without a doubt terrifying. What is more terrifying is that we do not find sin to be even more terrifying. We have lost a sense of sin―as even the Liberal and Modernist popes admit―to the point where we are losing our souls. By failing to see and admit the terrifying element of sin, we bring upon ourselves its terrifying consequences―of which Heaven has repeatedly warned us over the last few centuries (which would plenty of advance warning―but we have still “screwed it all up” in our lethargy, complacency, indifference and negligence).
It is as though our “Catholic Heart” is no longer beating and functioning as it should. In the medical field, when the heart is beating very fast or irregularly―this is called an arrhythmia―it can cause problems such as fainting, stroke, heart attack, and even sudden cardiac death. Cardioversion is a procedure used to return an abnormal heartbeat to a normal rhythm. With electrical cardioversion, a high-energy shock is sent to the heart in order to reset a normal heart rhythm. It is different from chemical cardioversion, in which medicines are used to try to restore a normal rhythm. Cardioversion is not the same as defibrillation. Both use shocks to reset the heart. But defibrillation uses a stronger shock to stop very severe rhythms that can cause sudden death.
You could say that Our Lady has been trying to apply a “spiritual electrical cardioverison” and “spiritual chemical cardioversion” over the years, in order to trigger our “Catholic hearts” back into a normal “Catholic rhythm―but to no avail! The patient―the Catholic world―has become worse, not better. The only solution left is “spiritual defibrillation” which will be a stronger shock with the hope that it might bring Catholics to their senses. That is what we are being lined-up to undergo at this moment―the less painful procedures have failed to change our rhythm, only the painful procedure remains. It is in this light that we must look at the following words of Our Lady to a whole host of seers over the course of a few centuries―remembering “that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). After we have looked at Heaven’s testimony―we will bring Earth to the witness stand―and we shall surprisingly see that many witnesses are testifying to the prognosis of Heaven actually being put into practice!
Witnesses to the Witness Stand, Please!
► Our Lady’s Testimony to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
► Testimony of the World: As regards ABORTION, in the USA alone, in 1956 (when Our Lady spoke gave her testimony) there were a total of 337 abortions nationwide from a total of 4,200,000 (4.2 million) live births. In 2018 in the USA alone, there were a total of 848,518 abortions and 3,800,000 (3.8 million) live births.
The DIVORCE RATE for the USA in 1956 was 2 people per every 1,000. By the 1970s it had more than doubled to 5 people divorcing out of every 1,000. By 2017 it had dropped to 3 per 1,000―but that is partially explained by the fact that increasing numbers of people are choosing not to marry, but to “live in sin” ― a term which is “sweetened” by euphemisms such as “common-law marriage”, “cohabitation”, “romantic relationship”, etc. The US Government Census Board testifies that among 18-24 year-olds, cohabitation is now more popular than living with a spouse. In 2018, it was seen that 10 out 100 live with an unmarried partner, compared to 7 out 100 who live with a spouse. In 2018, 15 out 100 of young adults aged 25-34, live with an unmarried partner, which is an increase from 12 out 100 ten years ago.
Back in 1956, there was barely any PORNOGRAPHY publicly available―today, 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
With regard to SUNDAY HOLY MASS ATTENDANCE, back in 1956, around 75% of all American Catholics were attended Sunday Mass on a regular basis―today, that has dropped to around 20%.
On the matter of LGBTQ, there was no legalized homosexuality, no legalized same-sex marriages in 1956, no LGBTQ―today all 50 states within the USA legally permit all these things. You could cite endless facts and stats in so many other areas of life where sin has grown exponentially―but that would take pages and pages. To mention just a few additional sins, you have contraception, immodesty, using God’s Name in vain and blasphemy, widespread detraction (revealing sins of others) and calumnies (lies), increasing theft and property damage, etc. The point is that all this shows the truth of Our Lady’s testimony, wherein she says: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread!”
► Testimony of Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
► Testimony of the World: Our Lady’s testimony from the past is borne out by the events of the present time. Our Lady says: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.” Can you really not see that happening all around you? Surely you cannot be blind to the obvious! Every religious principle and reference to God and His Laws has been progressively removed from the political sphere. There is barely any SINCERE mention of God and promotion of His Laws and Commandments―no matter which government in the world you may choose to look at. Instead, religious principles have been replaced by worldly and satanic principles (for Satan is the prince of this world as Our Lord says).
“Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me!”―yet today, governments (and their puppet-masters) promote so many idols that distract people from God, some of them even leading people in serious sin and probable damnation! Abortion, contraception, sodomy, homosexual relations, alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, immodesty in dress and behavior, divorce, adultery and many other sins could EASILY be prevented and even wiped-out if governments (and their puppet-masters) really wanted to do this―but they do not, because they are not of God. Believe it or not―there were laws that inhibited and prevented all of those behaviors in the past―now those laws have been thrown out. Yes―there were times (around 70 years ago), when you would be arrested and removed from the streets if you were dressed immodestly.
“Thou shalt not kill”―but babies butchered in their millions each year, with over 1,600 million babies being murdered since 1980. Originally, abortion was consistently legally criminalized in England since roughly 1200. England’s criminalization of abortion was also incorporated into the original U.S. laws and abortion was under the penalty of death. In the 1800s, America began the slow road to gradually and progressively minimizing the crime of abortion―the typical pattern followed when changing God’s Laws into Man’s Whims. Some nations speak about the “Holocaust” and they “hold your feet to the fire” or “hold a gun to your head” over the issue, creating a worldwide mass admission of guilt. Yet they refer to 6 million people of that nation―a figure which many historians and scholars dispute as being much too high. Yet here we have 1,600 million babies― which is over 266 times the number of the alleged Holocaust victims. And that number of total abortions currently climbs by over 50 million each year― which means that each single year it exceeds the alleged Holocaust number of 6 million over 8 times (8 x 6 million is 48 million). Could you imagine the furore and outcry from the Holocaust nation if 1,600 million of their people would have been victims of the Holocaust! Yes―of course, that is a physical impossibility―but do you see the point? Yet baby butchering is now labeled―not as a crime―but as a free choice. Those who perpetrated the Holocaust were hauled before Human Rights Courts―the perpetrators of abortions are left alone and allowed to repeat their crimes. The words of Holy Scripture could well be applied to the murderers of the aborted babies―doctors and parents and accomplices alike: “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!” (Genesis 4:10-11).
Though we may not have had an abortion ourselves, nor performed an abortion on others, nor counseled an abortion―would it surprise you if you were told that you are partially guilty for all the abortions that take place during your lifetime? Of course you would! Yet that is sad truth of the matter―for, as the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, says―at our Final Judgment, we shall be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! Of course it is impossible for us to everywhere at all times, putting out the fires of sin personally―for we are not God. Yet, by our prayers and sacrifices and Masses that we should be praying, offering and having offered, we could have made a big dent in the advance of sin throughout the world―but, sadly, we have not. We have misused, abused or not even used the weapons and medicines placed at our disposal. Our Lord’s words will apply to us: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.” (Matthew 25:45). Like man in the parable about the talents, we have not used the talents given to us, but we have buried them―likewise, we shall experience the anger of the Master, who called him a “Wicked and slothful servant … Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30). This does not just apply to abortion―but to all the sins that are being committed throughout the world―for we are Soldiers of Christ, Who “is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and we likewise we should “fight the good fight of the Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) as members of His Mystical Body. If we do not, then we show ourselves to be a diseased part of the Mystical Body―and that seems to be the pandemic at the moment.
Our Lady testified: “All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
The current testimony of the world proves Our Lady to be absolutely correct! We have seen governments worldwide trample underfoot all order and justice. People are unjustly isolated, locked-down, fined for not wearing masks, arrested for breaking social-distancing recommendations, church worship is limited and controlled, people are gradually being manipulated into accepting mandatory universal vaccination and implanted electronic health and movement tracking chips, etc. Our Lady says that lies and dissension will be seen without love for country or family―is that not what we are increasingly seeing, especially as we approach this future defining Presidential Election (which is really under the almost perfect control of the puppet-masters, elitists or globalists or whatever you want to call them―we are mere spectators in front of the screen watching their script play out). The next part of Our Lady’s prediction―“Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets” ― has already entered its infancy stage, as can be seen by the eruption of ongoing demonstrations, destruction, looting, violence, attacks on police, the burning of police cars and police stations, and the call for police to be disbanded, not to mention the bloodshed in retaliation all of which is totally disproportionate to the isolated deaths―alleged as being murders―of several black people. As Our Lady warned―all order and justice will be trampled underfoot. The moral principle always stands: “One cannot do evil in order to achieve a good!” Our Lord had some words to say on this matter also: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father, Who is in Heaven, and Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45).
As for Our Lady’s prediction that “a general war will follow which will be appalling” ― we are being conditioned and prepared by all the various MSM (mainstream media) narratives for such an eventuality. According to an International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) report, almost half (47%) of all millennials―aged between 20 and 35―from 16 countries and territories which are at peace, believe a Third World War is likely in their lifetime. The data overwhelmingly showed millennials were nervous about their futures, with more than half believing that nuclear weapons are likely to be used somewhere in the world within the next decade.
Yet while those millennials are awaiting a future Third World War, the world is now engaged in what legitimately can be labeled a silent or undercover Third World War — dramatically different from any war imagined decades ago, but massively lethal and destructive, nonetheless. This is not a confrontation of countries with nuclear and other advanced weapons, but it does involve massive numbers of countries throughout the world in a very different way. They are not fighting one another but, instead, this Third World War is against a small, unseen virus that threatens all nations — regardless of the nature of their governments or their political philosophies — and millions of their people. This is not how military planners had envisaged World War III, but that is how it is working out. Yet this virus―call it what you want, Covid-19, SARS-Covid-2, or the future Covid-21―is a man-made virus, it is a nefarious work that has been conducted in bio-warfare laboratories, it is an orchestrated and ongoing work that will not only keep bringing ever-worsening diseases, but will infect mankind the disease of all diseases―FEAR. The more frightened a person is, the more manipulable they become―to the point where they will do anything you tell them do. Enslaving the world in a bloodless manner is preferable to enslaving the world through military conquest―for in this manner, through viruses and fear, the enemy and conqueror will be seen as a savior.
► Testimony of a KGB Agent: Without going into detail again, just think of the age-old Communist tactic for overcoming nations and other enemy groups―first DEMORALIZATION, the DESTABILIZATION, the create a CRISIS, and then provide your own SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS that you created in the first place. That is exactly what is unfolding before our eyes―but our eyes cannot see clearly anymore and our minds cannot think clearly anymore, and so we gullibly believe, go along with and accept the planned crisis and its consequences. No wonder Communism refers to such people as “Useful Idiots”! We have already entered the Third World War and we cannot even see it. Yes―there will be some military interventions, skirmishes, even wars―but this war has already been won on the ideological level by what the former KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov, called “ideological subversion … or psychological warfare.”
Bezmenov then explains: “What DEMORALIZATION basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. A great brainwashing process … where Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft-heads of at least three generation of American students, without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism. The result? The result you can see―the people who graduated in the 1960s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the scientific Pavlov's Dog Experiment and proved by the reactions of public demonstrations, destruction of property, physical violence and killings by mobs in 2020]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior. In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even experts would have even dreamed of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans ― thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized is unable to assess true information.
“The next stage is DESTABILIZATION.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people, who think they are living at the peacetime. False! The United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, [it is] the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy.
“The next stage of course is CRISIS. It may take only up to six weeks to bring a country to the verge of crisis [post-presidential-election period?] … And after crisis, with a violent change of power, structure, and economy, you have the so-called period of ‘NORMALIZATION’ – it may last indefinitely. ‘Normalization’ is a cynical expression, borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Russia said: ‘Now the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized!’ This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all these schmucks to bring the country to crisis.”
► Our Lady’s Testimony at La Salette on September 19th, 1946: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. They have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
► Testimony of the World: The Pew Research Center writes: “Political polarization – the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats – is a defining feature of American politics today!” In an article by MarketWatch, in October of 2019, we read: “An increasing number of people across the U.S. are digging in as the political divide continues to widen … Nowhere is this more evident than in the partisan echo chambers of the media … News outlets make up 12 of the 15 most politically polarizing brands … The political polarization has clearly become more pronounced … The narrative is that we’re living in a polarized world, and media is both contributing to the polarization and reflective of the polarization.” In another article, by Psychology Today, we read: “The United States has never been less united. The nation has become irrevocably fractured along political and ideological lines — Republican/Democrat, liberal/conservative, red/blue, etc. Sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner with family has never been more uncomfortable and the admonition to avoid discussing religion or politics in polite company has never been more apropos. What has happened to America? And how can we reverse the trend?”
► Testimony of the Faith: What these people fail to see, grasp and accept is there can ONLY BE TRUE UNITY IN GOD. Our Lord prayed to His Father: “That they may be one, as we also are one!” (John 17:22)―but that unity must be first of all a spiritual unity, a religious unity, a unity in the One, True, Holy, Apostolic Church (the Catholic Church) that Christ Himself founded. Christ came to SAVE EVERYONE―but He also knew that not everyone would allow themselves to be saved. To accept the terms of salvation, we must submit to Christ and His teachings, His laws and His Church: “For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved! Neither is there salvation in any other!” (Acts 4:12)―and Christ tells us: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me” (John 14:21) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14).
Elaborating on those words of Christ, Holy Scripture says elsewhere―it is not just a matter of “believing” in God, but also “doing” what God wants us to do: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
It is pretty blatantly obvious that most of the world today has divided itself from God―for it barely keeps any of God’s commandments. Once you turn your back on God―then you become a god unto yourself, deciding for yourself what is good and what is evil. Yet very few of these “human-gods” agree with each other on what is good and what is evil―and so we have this universal compromise among “human-gods” of “Let us agree that what is good for you, might not be good for me; and that what is evil for you, might not be evil for me!” There you have the foundation of modern-day politics, modern-day morality and modern-day ethics―all of these things can change and do change frequently according to the whims and fancies of these “human-gods”. Hence abortion can be “voted” as being good and acceptable. Truth can be “voted” upon as being a “hate-crime”. Same-sex unions can be “voted” upon being good and acceptable. And so on for every single sin in the book!
► Our Lord’s Testimony: This national and international division―which is essentially caused by a refusal to submit to the laws and teachings of God―is what Our Lord implicitly speaks of when He says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me―is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me―is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:34-39).
► Testimony of Common Sense: Division begets division. With regard to the Protestant Revolution―wrongly called “The Protestant Reformation”, when it would be more true to call it “The Protestant Deformation”―it is a perfect example of division begetting division. Protestantism began in Germany in 1517 with Martin Luther. Very soon other Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox joined the Revolution―yet even back then, they were to some extent already divided among themselves by the beliefs they personally held―for they had all become those “human gods” deciding for themselves was is true and false, what is right and wrong. In these 500+ years since the birth of Protestantism in 1517, the divisions have grown―division begetting division―to the extent that there are now at least 200 mainstream denominations of Protestantism―but you have add to that number all the non-denominational and independent churches and megachurches. All told, there are an estimated 35,496 independent or non-denominational churches in America alone. Also, according to United Nations there were over 23,000 competing and often contradictory denominations world-wide (World Census of Religious Activities [U.N. Information Center, NY, 1989]).Truly, every Protestant becomes his own god with his own church and his own doctrine!
A similar division flows over into the politics of nations. In America, you have the “Great Divide” between Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, which roughly splits the country into a 50-50 division―and that divide is becoming more and more polarized with each year (much of it being deliberately manipulated). One of Joe Biden’s slogans ― “Unite for a Better America!” ― is pure political wishful thinking with no possible foundation in reality. For the only successful unity or union can only be found with God―through Him, with Him, in Him. Turn away from God―which is what America has done―and God’s threat will become real: “I will divide them and will scatter them” (Genesis 49:7). “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and show contempt to My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me … I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins …I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies … I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols … Your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed … None of you shall dare to resist your enemies!” (Leviticus 26:14-37). Coming to a place near you, very soon! Common sense tells us: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We have sown for long enough―the harvest is about to start soon! Unless …
► Our Lady’s Testimony: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Sin is a mockery of God―it is a mockery of His Law. Our Lady has repeatedly told us to stop this mockery: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
“I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
► Testimony of the Saints: We all know, of course, the power of the Rosary and we are well aware of Our Lady’s repeated requests for it to be prayed―prayed well―and prayed very much. However, we may be much less aware of the other “weapon” mentioned by Our Lady―which she calls “the sign left by my Son”―which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Consequently, very few Catholics profit from the Mass―both by attending extra Masses on days other than Sunday, and even more importantly they neglect to have the Mass offered for particular intentions―and, right now, it takes no rocket scientist to figure out what the chief focus or intention for the Mass should be―namely, the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church and Mankind, as well as (the flip side of the same coin) the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―for when Mary triumphs, the enemies are defeated.
Here is what some of the Saints have said about the power and necessity of the Mass: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us” (St. John Vianney). “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death” (St. Anselm). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Let it be said once more―and it will be said many times again―go to your priests and start having REGULAR, WEEKLY, and if possible DAILY Masses offered against these infernal satanic agendas that are being unleashed upon us increasingly with each week and month that passes by. Satan knows the power of the Mass―so it is in his best interests to make us procrastinate, be lethargic, indifferent, slothful and neglectful in having these Masses offered. Do not give in to the temptation―the stakes are too great, the consequences too terrible to contemplate. ACT TODAY! Call you priest. Text your priest. E-mail your priest. Write to your priest. Call, text, e-mail and write to as many priests as you can. Ask them if they will “fast-track” your Mass offering and say the Mass (or Masses) in the next few days or weeks. Keep looking and searching for priests who can do that for you. We are at war―though to large degree it is an “undercover war” or a “behind-the-scenes-war” ― much like Satan’s war against us, whereby he is never seen but always active. This is the “Final Battle” between Our Lady and Satan―that Sister Lucia of Fatima warned us about. It is not going away until one side wins. Do not sleep through this war―or you might wake up in Hell! GET MASSES SAID FOR THE CONVERSION OR DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND―the flip side of that coin also being the TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY! DO IT! DO IT NOW! DO IT FOR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH! DO IT FOR THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOUL! It is not that hard―and therefore there will no excuse for our neglect on the Day of Judgment.
Besides that―keep praying (or start praying) Rosaries for the same above intentions. If we are to delay, or minimize the effects, or neutralize the plans of Satan and his stooges and instruments, then WE HAVE TO USE BOTH THE WEAPONS OUR LADY MENTIONED―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (the Sign left to us by her Son) and the Holy Rosary!
“One witness shall not prevail against any man, whatsoever the sin or wickedness might be―but in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall stand” (Deuteronomy 19:15). “If he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more witnesses―so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand” (Matthew 18:16). “I call Heaven and Earth to witness this day!” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Call Heaven to the Witness Stand!
Some witnesses are upright and honest, other can be unreliable and liable to error, while others can be dishonest and deceptive. Among which category would you classify Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints? Our Lord Himself says: “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Jesus adds: “Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true! And if I judge, my judgment is true―because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me ... And He that sent Me, is with Me, and He hath not left Me alone … And in your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true―I am one that give testimony of Myself and the Father that sent Me giveth testimony of Me! … You shall die in your sin ... You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He―then you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:14-24, 29).
St. John, elsewhere, gives the tragic account of the majority who disbelieved and rejected the light and truth of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. [In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to be made the sons of God―to them that believe in His Name!” (John 1:1-12).
Ultimately, we are either the Sons of God or the Sons of Satan―we either believe the truths of God, or the lies of Satan. Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men―I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men―I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Sometimes Catholics do not want to hear the truth because of the obligations it might impose upon them and the changes it might require of them. They prefer to live in the comfort of error (or an outright lie), rather than seek the truth and risk having our life turned upside-down. “They have eyes, but they see not!” (Psalm 134:16). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). Why? “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). It is because they do not possess, nor do they really want to possess, the spirit of God: “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). They forget that “the friendship of this world is the enemy of God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Since they prefer to love the world, God―in His justice, blinds them to the spiritual: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility―eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (John 12:40). “Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God―so that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
The Testimony of Heaven
Our key witness is Heaven―for God cannot deceive, nor be deceived! As Jesus said to His Father: “Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth!” (John 17:17). Jesus adds, too, that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth: “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever―the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him … When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father―the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father―He shall give testimony of Me … When He―the Spirit of Truth―is come, He will teach you all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak; and the things that are to come, He shall show you!” (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:13).
The testimony of Heaven―if added up to make one whole―is without a doubt terrifying. What is more terrifying is that we do not find sin to be even more terrifying. We have lost a sense of sin―as even the Liberal and Modernist popes admit―to the point where we are losing our souls. By failing to see and admit the terrifying element of sin, we bring upon ourselves its terrifying consequences―of which Heaven has repeatedly warned us over the last few centuries (which would plenty of advance warning―but we have still “screwed it all up” in our lethargy, complacency, indifference and negligence).
It is as though our “Catholic Heart” is no longer beating and functioning as it should. In the medical field, when the heart is beating very fast or irregularly―this is called an arrhythmia―it can cause problems such as fainting, stroke, heart attack, and even sudden cardiac death. Cardioversion is a procedure used to return an abnormal heartbeat to a normal rhythm. With electrical cardioversion, a high-energy shock is sent to the heart in order to reset a normal heart rhythm. It is different from chemical cardioversion, in which medicines are used to try to restore a normal rhythm. Cardioversion is not the same as defibrillation. Both use shocks to reset the heart. But defibrillation uses a stronger shock to stop very severe rhythms that can cause sudden death.
You could say that Our Lady has been trying to apply a “spiritual electrical cardioverison” and “spiritual chemical cardioversion” over the years, in order to trigger our “Catholic hearts” back into a normal “Catholic rhythm―but to no avail! The patient―the Catholic world―has become worse, not better. The only solution left is “spiritual defibrillation” which will be a stronger shock with the hope that it might bring Catholics to their senses. That is what we are being lined-up to undergo at this moment―the less painful procedures have failed to change our rhythm, only the painful procedure remains. It is in this light that we must look at the following words of Our Lady to a whole host of seers over the course of a few centuries―remembering “that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). After we have looked at Heaven’s testimony―we will bring Earth to the witness stand―and we shall surprisingly see that many witnesses are testifying to the prognosis of Heaven actually being put into practice!
Witnesses to the Witness Stand, Please!
► Our Lady’s Testimony to Blessed Elena Aiello, on December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
► Testimony of the World: As regards ABORTION, in the USA alone, in 1956 (when Our Lady spoke gave her testimony) there were a total of 337 abortions nationwide from a total of 4,200,000 (4.2 million) live births. In 2018 in the USA alone, there were a total of 848,518 abortions and 3,800,000 (3.8 million) live births.
The DIVORCE RATE for the USA in 1956 was 2 people per every 1,000. By the 1970s it had more than doubled to 5 people divorcing out of every 1,000. By 2017 it had dropped to 3 per 1,000―but that is partially explained by the fact that increasing numbers of people are choosing not to marry, but to “live in sin” ― a term which is “sweetened” by euphemisms such as “common-law marriage”, “cohabitation”, “romantic relationship”, etc. The US Government Census Board testifies that among 18-24 year-olds, cohabitation is now more popular than living with a spouse. In 2018, it was seen that 10 out 100 live with an unmarried partner, compared to 7 out 100 who live with a spouse. In 2018, 15 out 100 of young adults aged 25-34, live with an unmarried partner, which is an increase from 12 out 100 ten years ago.
Back in 1956, there was barely any PORNOGRAPHY publicly available―today, 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
With regard to SUNDAY HOLY MASS ATTENDANCE, back in 1956, around 75% of all American Catholics were attended Sunday Mass on a regular basis―today, that has dropped to around 20%.
On the matter of LGBTQ, there was no legalized homosexuality, no legalized same-sex marriages in 1956, no LGBTQ―today all 50 states within the USA legally permit all these things. You could cite endless facts and stats in so many other areas of life where sin has grown exponentially―but that would take pages and pages. To mention just a few additional sins, you have contraception, immodesty, using God’s Name in vain and blasphemy, widespread detraction (revealing sins of others) and calumnies (lies), increasing theft and property damage, etc. The point is that all this shows the truth of Our Lady’s testimony, wherein she says: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread!”
► Testimony of Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
► Testimony of the World: Our Lady’s testimony from the past is borne out by the events of the present time. Our Lady says: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.” Can you really not see that happening all around you? Surely you cannot be blind to the obvious! Every religious principle and reference to God and His Laws has been progressively removed from the political sphere. There is barely any SINCERE mention of God and promotion of His Laws and Commandments―no matter which government in the world you may choose to look at. Instead, religious principles have been replaced by worldly and satanic principles (for Satan is the prince of this world as Our Lord says).
“Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me!”―yet today, governments (and their puppet-masters) promote so many idols that distract people from God, some of them even leading people in serious sin and probable damnation! Abortion, contraception, sodomy, homosexual relations, alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, immodesty in dress and behavior, divorce, adultery and many other sins could EASILY be prevented and even wiped-out if governments (and their puppet-masters) really wanted to do this―but they do not, because they are not of God. Believe it or not―there were laws that inhibited and prevented all of those behaviors in the past―now those laws have been thrown out. Yes―there were times (around 70 years ago), when you would be arrested and removed from the streets if you were dressed immodestly.
“Thou shalt not kill”―but babies butchered in their millions each year, with over 1,600 million babies being murdered since 1980. Originally, abortion was consistently legally criminalized in England since roughly 1200. England’s criminalization of abortion was also incorporated into the original U.S. laws and abortion was under the penalty of death. In the 1800s, America began the slow road to gradually and progressively minimizing the crime of abortion―the typical pattern followed when changing God’s Laws into Man’s Whims. Some nations speak about the “Holocaust” and they “hold your feet to the fire” or “hold a gun to your head” over the issue, creating a worldwide mass admission of guilt. Yet they refer to 6 million people of that nation―a figure which many historians and scholars dispute as being much too high. Yet here we have 1,600 million babies― which is over 266 times the number of the alleged Holocaust victims. And that number of total abortions currently climbs by over 50 million each year― which means that each single year it exceeds the alleged Holocaust number of 6 million over 8 times (8 x 6 million is 48 million). Could you imagine the furore and outcry from the Holocaust nation if 1,600 million of their people would have been victims of the Holocaust! Yes―of course, that is a physical impossibility―but do you see the point? Yet baby butchering is now labeled―not as a crime―but as a free choice. Those who perpetrated the Holocaust were hauled before Human Rights Courts―the perpetrators of abortions are left alone and allowed to repeat their crimes. The words of Holy Scripture could well be applied to the murderers of the aborted babies―doctors and parents and accomplices alike: “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!” (Genesis 4:10-11).
Though we may not have had an abortion ourselves, nor performed an abortion on others, nor counseled an abortion―would it surprise you if you were told that you are partially guilty for all the abortions that take place during your lifetime? Of course you would! Yet that is sad truth of the matter―for, as the Father and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, says―at our Final Judgment, we shall be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! Of course it is impossible for us to everywhere at all times, putting out the fires of sin personally―for we are not God. Yet, by our prayers and sacrifices and Masses that we should be praying, offering and having offered, we could have made a big dent in the advance of sin throughout the world―but, sadly, we have not. We have misused, abused or not even used the weapons and medicines placed at our disposal. Our Lord’s words will apply to us: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.” (Matthew 25:45). Like man in the parable about the talents, we have not used the talents given to us, but we have buried them―likewise, we shall experience the anger of the Master, who called him a “Wicked and slothful servant … Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30). This does not just apply to abortion―but to all the sins that are being committed throughout the world―for we are Soldiers of Christ, Who “is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and we likewise we should “fight the good fight of the Faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) as members of His Mystical Body. If we do not, then we show ourselves to be a diseased part of the Mystical Body―and that seems to be the pandemic at the moment.
Our Lady testified: “All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
The current testimony of the world proves Our Lady to be absolutely correct! We have seen governments worldwide trample underfoot all order and justice. People are unjustly isolated, locked-down, fined for not wearing masks, arrested for breaking social-distancing recommendations, church worship is limited and controlled, people are gradually being manipulated into accepting mandatory universal vaccination and implanted electronic health and movement tracking chips, etc. Our Lady says that lies and dissension will be seen without love for country or family―is that not what we are increasingly seeing, especially as we approach this future defining Presidential Election (which is really under the almost perfect control of the puppet-masters, elitists or globalists or whatever you want to call them―we are mere spectators in front of the screen watching their script play out). The next part of Our Lady’s prediction―“Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets” ― has already entered its infancy stage, as can be seen by the eruption of ongoing demonstrations, destruction, looting, violence, attacks on police, the burning of police cars and police stations, and the call for police to be disbanded, not to mention the bloodshed in retaliation all of which is totally disproportionate to the isolated deaths―alleged as being murders―of several black people. As Our Lady warned―all order and justice will be trampled underfoot. The moral principle always stands: “One cannot do evil in order to achieve a good!” Our Lord had some words to say on this matter also: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! So that you may be the children of your Father, Who is in Heaven, and Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45).
As for Our Lady’s prediction that “a general war will follow which will be appalling” ― we are being conditioned and prepared by all the various MSM (mainstream media) narratives for such an eventuality. According to an International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) report, almost half (47%) of all millennials―aged between 20 and 35―from 16 countries and territories which are at peace, believe a Third World War is likely in their lifetime. The data overwhelmingly showed millennials were nervous about their futures, with more than half believing that nuclear weapons are likely to be used somewhere in the world within the next decade.
Yet while those millennials are awaiting a future Third World War, the world is now engaged in what legitimately can be labeled a silent or undercover Third World War — dramatically different from any war imagined decades ago, but massively lethal and destructive, nonetheless. This is not a confrontation of countries with nuclear and other advanced weapons, but it does involve massive numbers of countries throughout the world in a very different way. They are not fighting one another but, instead, this Third World War is against a small, unseen virus that threatens all nations — regardless of the nature of their governments or their political philosophies — and millions of their people. This is not how military planners had envisaged World War III, but that is how it is working out. Yet this virus―call it what you want, Covid-19, SARS-Covid-2, or the future Covid-21―is a man-made virus, it is a nefarious work that has been conducted in bio-warfare laboratories, it is an orchestrated and ongoing work that will not only keep bringing ever-worsening diseases, but will infect mankind the disease of all diseases―FEAR. The more frightened a person is, the more manipulable they become―to the point where they will do anything you tell them do. Enslaving the world in a bloodless manner is preferable to enslaving the world through military conquest―for in this manner, through viruses and fear, the enemy and conqueror will be seen as a savior.
► Testimony of a KGB Agent: Without going into detail again, just think of the age-old Communist tactic for overcoming nations and other enemy groups―first DEMORALIZATION, the DESTABILIZATION, the create a CRISIS, and then provide your own SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS that you created in the first place. That is exactly what is unfolding before our eyes―but our eyes cannot see clearly anymore and our minds cannot think clearly anymore, and so we gullibly believe, go along with and accept the planned crisis and its consequences. No wonder Communism refers to such people as “Useful Idiots”! We have already entered the Third World War and we cannot even see it. Yes―there will be some military interventions, skirmishes, even wars―but this war has already been won on the ideological level by what the former KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov, called “ideological subversion … or psychological warfare.”
Bezmenov then explains: “What DEMORALIZATION basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. A great brainwashing process … where Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft-heads of at least three generation of American students, without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism. The result? The result you can see―the people who graduated in the 1960s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the scientific Pavlov's Dog Experiment and proved by the reactions of public demonstrations, destruction of property, physical violence and killings by mobs in 2020]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior. In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even experts would have even dreamed of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans ― thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized is unable to assess true information.
“The next stage is DESTABILIZATION.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people, who think they are living at the peacetime. False! The United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, [it is] the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy.
“The next stage of course is CRISIS. It may take only up to six weeks to bring a country to the verge of crisis [post-presidential-election period?] … And after crisis, with a violent change of power, structure, and economy, you have the so-called period of ‘NORMALIZATION’ – it may last indefinitely. ‘Normalization’ is a cynical expression, borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Russia said: ‘Now the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized!’ This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all these schmucks to bring the country to crisis.”
► Our Lady’s Testimony at La Salette on September 19th, 1946: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. They have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
► Testimony of the World: The Pew Research Center writes: “Political polarization – the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats – is a defining feature of American politics today!” In an article by MarketWatch, in October of 2019, we read: “An increasing number of people across the U.S. are digging in as the political divide continues to widen … Nowhere is this more evident than in the partisan echo chambers of the media … News outlets make up 12 of the 15 most politically polarizing brands … The political polarization has clearly become more pronounced … The narrative is that we’re living in a polarized world, and media is both contributing to the polarization and reflective of the polarization.” In another article, by Psychology Today, we read: “The United States has never been less united. The nation has become irrevocably fractured along political and ideological lines — Republican/Democrat, liberal/conservative, red/blue, etc. Sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner with family has never been more uncomfortable and the admonition to avoid discussing religion or politics in polite company has never been more apropos. What has happened to America? And how can we reverse the trend?”
► Testimony of the Faith: What these people fail to see, grasp and accept is there can ONLY BE TRUE UNITY IN GOD. Our Lord prayed to His Father: “That they may be one, as we also are one!” (John 17:22)―but that unity must be first of all a spiritual unity, a religious unity, a unity in the One, True, Holy, Apostolic Church (the Catholic Church) that Christ Himself founded. Christ came to SAVE EVERYONE―but He also knew that not everyone would allow themselves to be saved. To accept the terms of salvation, we must submit to Christ and His teachings, His laws and His Church: “For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved! Neither is there salvation in any other!” (Acts 4:12)―and Christ tells us: “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me” (John 14:21) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14).
Elaborating on those words of Christ, Holy Scripture says elsewhere―it is not just a matter of “believing” in God, but also “doing” what God wants us to do: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? … Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
It is pretty blatantly obvious that most of the world today has divided itself from God―for it barely keeps any of God’s commandments. Once you turn your back on God―then you become a god unto yourself, deciding for yourself what is good and what is evil. Yet very few of these “human-gods” agree with each other on what is good and what is evil―and so we have this universal compromise among “human-gods” of “Let us agree that what is good for you, might not be good for me; and that what is evil for you, might not be evil for me!” There you have the foundation of modern-day politics, modern-day morality and modern-day ethics―all of these things can change and do change frequently according to the whims and fancies of these “human-gods”. Hence abortion can be “voted” as being good and acceptable. Truth can be “voted” upon as being a “hate-crime”. Same-sex unions can be “voted” upon being good and acceptable. And so on for every single sin in the book!
► Our Lord’s Testimony: This national and international division―which is essentially caused by a refusal to submit to the laws and teachings of God―is what Our Lord implicitly speaks of when He says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me―is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me―is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:34-39).
► Testimony of Common Sense: Division begets division. With regard to the Protestant Revolution―wrongly called “The Protestant Reformation”, when it would be more true to call it “The Protestant Deformation”―it is a perfect example of division begetting division. Protestantism began in Germany in 1517 with Martin Luther. Very soon other Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox joined the Revolution―yet even back then, they were to some extent already divided among themselves by the beliefs they personally held―for they had all become those “human gods” deciding for themselves was is true and false, what is right and wrong. In these 500+ years since the birth of Protestantism in 1517, the divisions have grown―division begetting division―to the extent that there are now at least 200 mainstream denominations of Protestantism―but you have add to that number all the non-denominational and independent churches and megachurches. All told, there are an estimated 35,496 independent or non-denominational churches in America alone. Also, according to United Nations there were over 23,000 competing and often contradictory denominations world-wide (World Census of Religious Activities [U.N. Information Center, NY, 1989]).Truly, every Protestant becomes his own god with his own church and his own doctrine!
A similar division flows over into the politics of nations. In America, you have the “Great Divide” between Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, which roughly splits the country into a 50-50 division―and that divide is becoming more and more polarized with each year (much of it being deliberately manipulated). One of Joe Biden’s slogans ― “Unite for a Better America!” ― is pure political wishful thinking with no possible foundation in reality. For the only successful unity or union can only be found with God―through Him, with Him, in Him. Turn away from God―which is what America has done―and God’s threat will become real: “I will divide them and will scatter them” (Genesis 49:7). “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and show contempt to My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me … I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins …I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies … I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols … Your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed … None of you shall dare to resist your enemies!” (Leviticus 26:14-37). Coming to a place near you, very soon! Common sense tells us: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We have sown for long enough―the harvest is about to start soon! Unless …
► Our Lady’s Testimony: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Sin is a mockery of God―it is a mockery of His Law. Our Lady has repeatedly told us to stop this mockery: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
“I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
► Testimony of the Saints: We all know, of course, the power of the Rosary and we are well aware of Our Lady’s repeated requests for it to be prayed―prayed well―and prayed very much. However, we may be much less aware of the other “weapon” mentioned by Our Lady―which she calls “the sign left by my Son”―which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Consequently, very few Catholics profit from the Mass―both by attending extra Masses on days other than Sunday, and even more importantly they neglect to have the Mass offered for particular intentions―and, right now, it takes no rocket scientist to figure out what the chief focus or intention for the Mass should be―namely, the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church and Mankind, as well as (the flip side of the same coin) the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―for when Mary triumphs, the enemies are defeated.
Here is what some of the Saints have said about the power and necessity of the Mass: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us” (St. John Vianney). “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death” (St. Anselm). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Let it be said once more―and it will be said many times again―go to your priests and start having REGULAR, WEEKLY, and if possible DAILY Masses offered against these infernal satanic agendas that are being unleashed upon us increasingly with each week and month that passes by. Satan knows the power of the Mass―so it is in his best interests to make us procrastinate, be lethargic, indifferent, slothful and neglectful in having these Masses offered. Do not give in to the temptation―the stakes are too great, the consequences too terrible to contemplate. ACT TODAY! Call you priest. Text your priest. E-mail your priest. Write to your priest. Call, text, e-mail and write to as many priests as you can. Ask them if they will “fast-track” your Mass offering and say the Mass (or Masses) in the next few days or weeks. Keep looking and searching for priests who can do that for you. We are at war―though to large degree it is an “undercover war” or a “behind-the-scenes-war” ― much like Satan’s war against us, whereby he is never seen but always active. This is the “Final Battle” between Our Lady and Satan―that Sister Lucia of Fatima warned us about. It is not going away until one side wins. Do not sleep through this war―or you might wake up in Hell! GET MASSES SAID FOR THE CONVERSION OR DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND―the flip side of that coin also being the TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY! DO IT! DO IT NOW! DO IT FOR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH! DO IT FOR THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOUL! It is not that hard―and therefore there will no excuse for our neglect on the Day of Judgment.
Besides that―keep praying (or start praying) Rosaries for the same above intentions. If we are to delay, or minimize the effects, or neutralize the plans of Satan and his stooges and instruments, then WE HAVE TO USE BOTH THE WEAPONS OUR LADY MENTIONED―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (the Sign left to us by her Son) and the Holy Rosary!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday October 26th & Tuesday October 27th
Article 11
Not Long Left!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Monday October 26th & Tuesday October 27th
Article 11
Not Long Left!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are written. Please check back later.
Complacent, Comfortable, Confused, Clueless Catholics!
We are a bunch of contradictory, confused, complacent, comfortable, capricious, careless, cowardly, capitulating, convenience calculating, compromising Catholics―calculating how we can save our souls at the smallest possible cost and effort on our behalf and compromising with the world to preserve our comfort and peace! We want peace at all costs and at any price―but that false peace might have a higher price than we think, and might well cost us our souls―after which there will no more peace, only eternal torment!
Fr. Lombardi tried to talk Sr. Lucia into a false sense of security regarding the salvation―but Sr. Lucia would have nothing to do with it! The following is an extract from the interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
This message was also echoed by Sr. Lucia, around three years later, in her interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes in 1957: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!”
Satan wants Catholics to be complacent, comfortable, capricious and careless with regard to their salvation―for then he can more easily seize them. “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lord―speaking of devils―says: “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20). There is no longer much prayer and fasting being done by Catholics―which explains the stranglehold the devil has over the world in general and Catholic Church in particular. The general message in the modern day apparitions of Our Lady has always been one of prayer and penance―with the Rosary being especially recommended as the prayer that Heaven wants praying in our days―yet only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily. Fasting (penance) has also been drastically reduced. Pope Paul VI, in his 1966 Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, changed the strictly regulated Catholic fasting requirements. He recommended that fasting be appropriate to the local economic situation, and that all Catholics voluntarily fast and abstain. He further recommended that fasting and abstinence be replaced with prayer and works of charity in countries where the standard of living is lower. Additionally, he reduced the laws on Lenten fasting and abstinence from 40 days of fasting down to a mere two days of fasting―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! Not a very wise move in days where Satanic activity and successes were clearly increasing―“This kind [of devil] is not cast out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20)―but the pope casts out the prayer and fasting instead!
Our Lady is Not Joking!
Hell is about break loose pretty soon―Our Lady’s direct comments and comments through her seers make that pretty clear and obvious. We are not taking this anywhere near as seriously as we should be! Sister Lucia said in a 1957 interview with Fr. Fuentes: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” At La Salette, Our Lady manifested herself as being in a state of tears and sorrow. At Fatima, Sister Lucia reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was always very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us! This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls.” At Akita, the statue of Our Lady frequently shed tears of blood―which were scientifically tested and verified as being real human blood. Somehow―don’t you think―Our Lady is pretty serious about all this!
► At LA SALETTE she says: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
► At FATIMA she says: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. and various nations will be annihilated!” Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27).
Sr. Lucia adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance! … Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world … For this reason it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.”
On June 13th, 1929, at her convent in Tuy, Spain, Lucia received a revelation from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was, as well, a revelation of the Blessed Trinity. It was during this revelation that Our Lord said “the moment has come” for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Lucia adds: “Then Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.’”
In August 1931, she was once again given a communication from Heaven. Our Lord complained to Sister Lucia of the tardiness of His ministers who delay the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima on June 13th, 1929 at Tuy―two years and two months earlier. Our Lord warned: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary!” Not long afterwards, Our Lord again warned: “They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France they will repent of it, and they will do it―but it will be late! Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer!”
The reference by Jesus to the King of France’s disobedience and punishment is as follows:
● On June 17th, 1689 the Sacred Heart of Jesus manifested―through Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque―His command to the King of France that the King was to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For the Kings of France delayed, and did not obey.
● So on June 17th, 1789―100 years to the day of the initial request for the consecration of France to the Sacred Heart―the King of France was stripped of his legislative authority by the rebellious “Third Estate”, and four years later the soldiers of the French Revolution executed the King of France as if he were a criminal.
● In 1793, revolutionary France sent its King, Louis XVI, to the guillotine to be beheaded. He and his predecessors had failed to obey Our Lord’s request that France be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and thus misfortune had befallen both the King and his country.
If the King of France lost his authority 100 years to the day after Our Lord had demanded that France be consecrated to His Sacred Heart―then we would not far wrong in assuming that the same thing would happen 100 years to the day, or at least 100 years after Our Lord and Our Lady said that the time for consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on June 13th, 1929―which would put the date of punishment at June 13th, 2029 or at least sometime in the year 2029.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia, recording the event in his book, Our Lady of Fatima. William Thomas Walsh, says that Lucia “said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’”
Walsh then asked Lucia: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia emphatically replied: “Yes!”
Louis Kaczmarek, wrote the following in his 1986 book, The Wonders She Performs, concerning this interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia: “Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia, during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, was ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ She answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
► At AKITA Our Lady says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Serious stuff from a serious Blessed Virgin Mary, huh? Yes, you had better believe it!
Do Your Own Math!
From what has been said above, you can do your own math! Time is short! Time is running out! There is not long left! Especially in view of Our Lady’s revelations to Sister Lucia of Fatima, who says: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me―as well as my cousins―that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then … if we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
It is hard to calculate God’s plans when Holy Scripture says things like: “Of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day!” (2 Peter 3:8)―that seems to mess up the math, doesn’t it? St. Peter’s point is that God is not bound to counting days from a human perspective. Furthermore, St. Peter, in the passage immediately following, explains that the thousand years to one day also refers to the immense patience of God―but that one day that patience will end and just punishment and destruction will then come: “The Lord delays not His promise, as some imagine, but deals patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved [destroyed], what manner of people ought you to be [living] in holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat?” (2 Peter 3:9-12).
God does not put-off, procrastinate or rush in the same sense that mere humans do―locked as they are into minutes and hours and months. God is eternal, and man is finite, and his life-span is but a breath in comparison with God. What seems like poor timing to us, as limited people, has a plan and purpose known only to God. Time does not hold or control Him. God―and everyone in Heaven―lives outside the constraints of time. Everything in Heaven is seen from the perspective of the present―the “here and now”―whereby past events are seen as though they were actually happening in the present moment, and future events are seen as happening in the present moment. This is why Our Lady can make her predictions concerning our future―because she sees our future as being present before her all the time.
Yet, whichever way we look at it, however we calculate it―something really big and painful is going to happen soon. Yes, God always gives us a fair period of advanced warning, but it is ridiculous to imagine that what Our Lady has warned us about is going to take place 50 or 100 or 200 years in the future. The mere fact of Sr. Lucia telling us that Our Lady revealed to her that we have already entered the “last times” of the world, tells that something is going to happen soon. In 1957, Lucia speaks of something happening imminently―“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
Of course, many observers have wisely stated that the Second Vatican Council was the imminent chastisement―but the Council was not the beginning and end of the chastisement, but merely the start of it, the lighting of the fuse, or the knocking-down of the first domino that will make all the other dominos topple one by one. The Second Vatican Council led to the New Order of Mass―which some Conservative and Traditional bishops and theologians have held to be possibly or potentially invalid. The same questions of validity have been asked over the introduction of New Rite of Ordination of Priests―if the ordination is invalid, the Masses the priests will offer will also be invalid―which poses a scary problem. The same questions have been asked on the validity of the New Rite of Episcopal Consecration (the consecration of bishops)―which poses the potential problem of priestly ordinations being invalid from another angle, which is that of being ‘ordained’ to the priesthood by invalid bishops!
Only God knows the answers to these scary yet realistic potential dangers. Remember―the thousands of Communists that were infiltrated into the Catholic seminaries in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s―many of which, as the former Communist Dr. Bella Dodd stated, had risen to some of the key posts in the Church, including the posts of cardinals within the Vatican itself―these infiltrators did not enter the Church in order to be real priests and bishops, nor did they wish to preserve and perpetuate the Mass! Therefore, whatever these men did, they did invalidly fully desiring to invalidate all that they did! Only God knows how He looked upon the matter and if in some way God counter-reacted or neutralized their actions―but that would not really be like God―for God has allowed all kinds of atrocities to befall His Chosen People from the time of Abraham onwards, not sparing them. God even allowed the priesthood and sacrifices of the Chosen People to expire already in the Old Testament until this present day! So why would God act differently with the “Chosen People” of the New Testament―Catholics―if they also deserved it due to their indifference, lukewarmness, negligence, sinfulness, idolatry and apostasy?
In this light we can look at the visions granted to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, of which she reveals: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upperhand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by false knowledge and contributed to the work of destruction ... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only … I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it … People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus, were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion.”
All of the above―for those who think Bella Dodd is a raving conspiracy theorist and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich is an unreliable visionary feeding us private revelations that hold no obligation of belief―here then are the comments of recent popes, cardinals, bishops and exorcists on the state within the Church today.
POPE PAUL VI spoke, on several occasions, about the infiltration of the Church by Satan and his stooges.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “Satanism is spreading enormously! It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex ... The influence of Satan is immense … Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him ... Satan hides and disguises himself in a thousand ways … Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical: when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex .”
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create―it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, the breakthroughs of science are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [he says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. Its contents would be a shock―no doubt―some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read [in the Neues Europa newspaper]. What you have read is essentially the onslaught of natural powers―terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! [Sister Lucia refers to it as the Final Battle between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Devil]. The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’”
“In Rome, there is a [evil] force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
We are a bunch of contradictory, confused, complacent, comfortable, capricious, careless, cowardly, capitulating, convenience calculating, compromising Catholics―calculating how we can save our souls at the smallest possible cost and effort on our behalf and compromising with the world to preserve our comfort and peace! We want peace at all costs and at any price―but that false peace might have a higher price than we think, and might well cost us our souls―after which there will no more peace, only eternal torment!
Fr. Lombardi tried to talk Sr. Lucia into a false sense of security regarding the salvation―but Sr. Lucia would have nothing to do with it! The following is an extract from the interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
This message was also echoed by Sr. Lucia, around three years later, in her interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes in 1957: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!”
Satan wants Catholics to be complacent, comfortable, capricious and careless with regard to their salvation―for then he can more easily seize them. “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lord―speaking of devils―says: “This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20). There is no longer much prayer and fasting being done by Catholics―which explains the stranglehold the devil has over the world in general and Catholic Church in particular. The general message in the modern day apparitions of Our Lady has always been one of prayer and penance―with the Rosary being especially recommended as the prayer that Heaven wants praying in our days―yet only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily. Fasting (penance) has also been drastically reduced. Pope Paul VI, in his 1966 Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, changed the strictly regulated Catholic fasting requirements. He recommended that fasting be appropriate to the local economic situation, and that all Catholics voluntarily fast and abstain. He further recommended that fasting and abstinence be replaced with prayer and works of charity in countries where the standard of living is lower. Additionally, he reduced the laws on Lenten fasting and abstinence from 40 days of fasting down to a mere two days of fasting―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday! Not a very wise move in days where Satanic activity and successes were clearly increasing―“This kind [of devil] is not cast out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20)―but the pope casts out the prayer and fasting instead!
Our Lady is Not Joking!
Hell is about break loose pretty soon―Our Lady’s direct comments and comments through her seers make that pretty clear and obvious. We are not taking this anywhere near as seriously as we should be! Sister Lucia said in a 1957 interview with Fr. Fuentes: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” At La Salette, Our Lady manifested herself as being in a state of tears and sorrow. At Fatima, Sister Lucia reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was always very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us! This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls.” At Akita, the statue of Our Lady frequently shed tears of blood―which were scientifically tested and verified as being real human blood. Somehow―don’t you think―Our Lady is pretty serious about all this!
► At LA SALETTE she says: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
► At FATIMA she says: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. and various nations will be annihilated!” Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994 edition, p. 27).
Sr. Lucia adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, ignoring the message, keep following the road of evil, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance! … Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world … For this reason it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.”
On June 13th, 1929, at her convent in Tuy, Spain, Lucia received a revelation from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was, as well, a revelation of the Blessed Trinity. It was during this revelation that Our Lord said “the moment has come” for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Lucia adds: “Then Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.’”
In August 1931, she was once again given a communication from Heaven. Our Lord complained to Sister Lucia of the tardiness of His ministers who delay the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima on June 13th, 1929 at Tuy―two years and two months earlier. Our Lord warned: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary!” Not long afterwards, Our Lord again warned: “They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France they will repent of it, and they will do it―but it will be late! Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer!”
The reference by Jesus to the King of France’s disobedience and punishment is as follows:
● On June 17th, 1689 the Sacred Heart of Jesus manifested―through Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque―His command to the King of France that the King was to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For the Kings of France delayed, and did not obey.
● So on June 17th, 1789―100 years to the day of the initial request for the consecration of France to the Sacred Heart―the King of France was stripped of his legislative authority by the rebellious “Third Estate”, and four years later the soldiers of the French Revolution executed the King of France as if he were a criminal.
● In 1793, revolutionary France sent its King, Louis XVI, to the guillotine to be beheaded. He and his predecessors had failed to obey Our Lord’s request that France be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and thus misfortune had befallen both the King and his country.
If the King of France lost his authority 100 years to the day after Our Lord had demanded that France be consecrated to His Sacred Heart―then we would not far wrong in assuming that the same thing would happen 100 years to the day, or at least 100 years after Our Lord and Our Lady said that the time for consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on June 13th, 1929―which would put the date of punishment at June 13th, 2029 or at least sometime in the year 2029.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia, recording the event in his book, Our Lady of Fatima. William Thomas Walsh, says that Lucia “said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’”
Walsh then asked Lucia: “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” To which Lucia emphatically replied: “Yes!”
Louis Kaczmarek, wrote the following in his 1986 book, The Wonders She Performs, concerning this interview between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia: “Fr. Manuel Rocha, the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia, during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, was ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ She answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding ‘And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes!’”
► At AKITA Our Lady says: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Serious stuff from a serious Blessed Virgin Mary, huh? Yes, you had better believe it!
Do Your Own Math!
From what has been said above, you can do your own math! Time is short! Time is running out! There is not long left! Especially in view of Our Lady’s revelations to Sister Lucia of Fatima, who says: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me―as well as my cousins―that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then … if we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
It is hard to calculate God’s plans when Holy Scripture says things like: “Of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day!” (2 Peter 3:8)―that seems to mess up the math, doesn’t it? St. Peter’s point is that God is not bound to counting days from a human perspective. Furthermore, St. Peter, in the passage immediately following, explains that the thousand years to one day also refers to the immense patience of God―but that one day that patience will end and just punishment and destruction will then come: “The Lord delays not His promise, as some imagine, but deals patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved [destroyed], what manner of people ought you to be [living] in holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat?” (2 Peter 3:9-12).
God does not put-off, procrastinate or rush in the same sense that mere humans do―locked as they are into minutes and hours and months. God is eternal, and man is finite, and his life-span is but a breath in comparison with God. What seems like poor timing to us, as limited people, has a plan and purpose known only to God. Time does not hold or control Him. God―and everyone in Heaven―lives outside the constraints of time. Everything in Heaven is seen from the perspective of the present―the “here and now”―whereby past events are seen as though they were actually happening in the present moment, and future events are seen as happening in the present moment. This is why Our Lady can make her predictions concerning our future―because she sees our future as being present before her all the time.
Yet, whichever way we look at it, however we calculate it―something really big and painful is going to happen soon. Yes, God always gives us a fair period of advanced warning, but it is ridiculous to imagine that what Our Lady has warned us about is going to take place 50 or 100 or 200 years in the future. The mere fact of Sr. Lucia telling us that Our Lady revealed to her that we have already entered the “last times” of the world, tells that something is going to happen soon. In 1957, Lucia speaks of something happening imminently―“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. The year 1960 is on us, and then what will happen? It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then!”
Of course, many observers have wisely stated that the Second Vatican Council was the imminent chastisement―but the Council was not the beginning and end of the chastisement, but merely the start of it, the lighting of the fuse, or the knocking-down of the first domino that will make all the other dominos topple one by one. The Second Vatican Council led to the New Order of Mass―which some Conservative and Traditional bishops and theologians have held to be possibly or potentially invalid. The same questions of validity have been asked over the introduction of New Rite of Ordination of Priests―if the ordination is invalid, the Masses the priests will offer will also be invalid―which poses a scary problem. The same questions have been asked on the validity of the New Rite of Episcopal Consecration (the consecration of bishops)―which poses the potential problem of priestly ordinations being invalid from another angle, which is that of being ‘ordained’ to the priesthood by invalid bishops!
Only God knows the answers to these scary yet realistic potential dangers. Remember―the thousands of Communists that were infiltrated into the Catholic seminaries in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s―many of which, as the former Communist Dr. Bella Dodd stated, had risen to some of the key posts in the Church, including the posts of cardinals within the Vatican itself―these infiltrators did not enter the Church in order to be real priests and bishops, nor did they wish to preserve and perpetuate the Mass! Therefore, whatever these men did, they did invalidly fully desiring to invalidate all that they did! Only God knows how He looked upon the matter and if in some way God counter-reacted or neutralized their actions―but that would not really be like God―for God has allowed all kinds of atrocities to befall His Chosen People from the time of Abraham onwards, not sparing them. God even allowed the priesthood and sacrifices of the Chosen People to expire already in the Old Testament until this present day! So why would God act differently with the “Chosen People” of the New Testament―Catholics―if they also deserved it due to their indifference, lukewarmness, negligence, sinfulness, idolatry and apostasy?
In this light we can look at the visions granted to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, of which she reveals: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upperhand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by false knowledge and contributed to the work of destruction ... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests ... It was as if people were splitting into two camps … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only … I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors … I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it … People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus, were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion.”
All of the above―for those who think Bella Dodd is a raving conspiracy theorist and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich is an unreliable visionary feeding us private revelations that hold no obligation of belief―here then are the comments of recent popes, cardinals, bishops and exorcists on the state within the Church today.
POPE PAUL VI spoke, on several occasions, about the infiltration of the Church by Satan and his stooges.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name―the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “Satanism is spreading enormously! It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences … The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex ... The influence of Satan is immense … Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him ... Satan hides and disguises himself in a thousand ways … Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical: when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex .”
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create―it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, the breakthroughs of science are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [he says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. Its contents would be a shock―no doubt―some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read [in the Neues Europa newspaper]. What you have read is essentially the onslaught of natural powers―terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! [Sister Lucia refers to it as the Final Battle between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Devil]. The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’”
“In Rome, there is a [evil] force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
Sunday October 25th
The Feast of Christ the King
Article 10
We Have No King, But Caesar!
The Feast of Christ the King
Article 10
We Have No King, But Caesar!
“We have no king but Caesar!” cried the Jewish priests to Pilate. Today, Catholics cry out: “We have no king but ourselves, or Big Brother!” Just about 100 years ago, the Mexican “Cristeros” entered into battle with the Masonic Mexican government over the Faith―that is where we seem to be headed today.
Mexican Blood—A Guide to Our Future?
In these times when totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head, we would do well to consider what Sr. Lucia of Fatima describes as the “Devils’ Final Battle.”
Our Lord had said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another” (Matthew 24:9-10). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
These words of Our Lord can be perfectly superimposed upon the events that occurred in Mexico during the early part of the 20th century―as well as the events that unfolding in this early part of the 21st century.
A Bloody Century
The 20th century was the bloodiest century in history, the “Century of Massacres,” “Hell’s Century,” the century of martyrs. Wasn’t it just like all the others? No, it was not “just like all the others”; it was the great century of martyrs, infinitely more than the others. Never had there been so many martyrs in the space of 100 years—not even in the space of 1,000 years. And these tens of millions of Christians, the victims of a century in open revolt against God, remain unknown and unsung. Today let us recall the Mexican Catholics, who, some 90 years ago, rose up against Freemasonry for the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They were called the Cristeros.
A Century of Religious Persecutions
From the time its independence was declared in 1821, Mexico had a troubled history: civil wars, dictatorships, coup d’états, revolutions (1876-1911), Maximilian’s Empire (1863-67) was but a brief and very imperfect parentheses in the persecutions endured by the Church once the Spanish left: property despoiled, priests imprisoned, assassinations plotted, bishops expelled....Why so many misfortunes?
A proverb provides the answer: “Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States.” The United States did not want a great Catholic power at their door. At the time of Mexican independence, they worried about this potential rival, whose land mass roughly equaled their own, and whose population, though less numerous (6.5 millions of inhabitants versus 9.5 millions) had become, thanks to a very lively Catholic Faith, a true nation, while the United States remained, and remains even now, the “Salad Bowl.”
Betrayed by Masons
In the 1830s, war broke out. Betrayed by Masonic generals, Mexico lost its massive northern territory, California, Texas, New Mexico (1848), and was placed under United States political and economic hegemony. The puppets successively made presidents of Mexico were all corrupt Masons who immediately enforced the orders issued from Washington to “defanaticize” the country, that is, to destroy its Catholicism which dated from the 16th century when the Spanish (especially the Franciscans), had evangelized Mexico; the order also demanded defiling the memory of its European heritage by exalting the pre-Columbian era and the “marvelous” Aztec civilization where the wheel and the vault were unknown, but where slavery, human sacrifice and cannibalism were practiced on a grand scale even in the 16th century!
Here are just two examples of this policy: The first official act of President Juarez was to transform St. Francis of Mexico Church into a Protestant temple (1867), and the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Humanum Genus (1884) was prohibited (it condemns Freemasonry) even in seminaries!
In 1914, President Carranza, put in place by the US, inaugurated a period of open persecution: priests were massacred (160 were killed in Mexico in February, 1915). John Lind, one of Woodrow Wilson’s advisors, rejoiced over the news: “Great news! The more priests they kill in Mexico, the happier I shall be!” An American pastor, indignant about the outraging of the nuns in Vera Cruz, received this reply from Wilson’s personal representative: “After prostitution, the worst thing in Mexico is the Catholic Church. Both must disappear!”
Calles’s Offensive
In 1924, Plutarco Elias Calles became President. For this descendant of Spanish Jews, a 33rd degree Mason, “the Church is the unique cause of all Mexico’s misfortunes.” For him, too, she had to disappear. With the complicity of a Masonic priest, Fr. Perez, proclaimed by the government “Patriarch of the Mexican Catholic Church,” Calles founded a schismatic “patriotic Church,” as the Communists were to do later in China. The wine used in the Mass was replaced by mescal. But the maneuver was met with widespread contempt. The government could finance the opening of 200 Protestant schools and Calles could smooth the way for heretical sects (already well financed by the US), but the Mexican people remained stubbornly attached to Rome!
Targeting Children
In 1926, the president and his clique launched a new offensive which they hoped to be definitive: “Now there must be a psychological revolution,” Calles declared. “We must penetrate and take hold of the minds of the children and the youth because they must belong to the revolution.”
The Catholic schools were shut down, the congregations expelled, Christian trade unions forbidden, numerous churches confiscated and profaned (turned into stables or halls) or destroyed. Public school attendance became mandatory, atheism was officially taught, and religious insignia (medals, crucifixes, statues, and pictures) were forbidden, even at home.
God was even chased from the language! The use of such expressions as Adios, “If God wills,” or “God forbid,” was subject to a fine. Lastly, the priests were “registered”: some states (Mexico is a federal republic) required them to swear not to proselytize, others tried to command them to marry if they wished to continue in their function!
Kidnappings, Rapes and Assassinations
Msgr. Carvana, the Apostolic Nuncio, protested; on May 12th, 1926, he was expelled. Throughout the country, Catholic public figures were assassinated, girls coming out of church were kidnapped, imprisoned, raped. Msgr. Curley, the Archbishop of Baltimore, vented his indignation:
“Calles persecutes the Church because he knows that he has Rome’s approval. Our government has armed Calles’s killers. Our friendship has encouraged him in his abominable enterprise: to destroy the idea of God in the minds and hearts of millions of Mexicans.”
On May 28th, Calles received the Masonic medal of merit from the hands of the Great Commander of the Scottish rite in Mexico. On July 12th, the following communique appeared in the press: “International Masonry accepts responsibility for everything that is happening in Mexico, and is preparing to mobilize all its forces for the methodic, integral application of the agreed upon program for this country.”
On July 26th, an elderly shopkeeper was coldly struck down by two policemen in civilian clothes. His crime? In his shop he had posted a sign reading Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King! The Mexicans peacefully reacted to the persecution: they boycotted state-owned enterprises (tobacco purchases and railroad traffic were reduced by 74%, and in just a few weeks, the national bank suffered a 7 million peso loss), and they also circulated a protest petition signed by 2 million (out of a population of 15 million).
But Christians have something even better than that, they have prayer, and the country was criss-crossed by gigantic penitential processions: 10,000, 15,000 faithful, barefooted, crowned with thorns, implored God for their country. The powers that be could not tolerate that; their heavy machine guns dispersed the processions, and the first martyrs fell, singing.
Public Worship Suspended
On July 24th, 1926, Cardinal Gaspari sent a telegram from Rome to the Mexican episcopate: “Under no condition we will accept the registering of priests.” The bishops decided to suspend public worship throughout the land starting July 31st: all the places of public worship would be closed, there would be no Masses offered nor Sacraments administered throughout the country, except in private chapels. This was an unheard of, inexplicable decision, unless by it they intended to push the Mexicans to revolt, for the one thing they could not bear was to be deprived of the Sacraments. During the final days of July, people thronged the churches day and night, going to confession, getting baptized, marrying.
People began to come to put their consciences well in order even though it was already time to begin working in the fields. With each passing day more and more peasants streamed into the village from the neighboring hamlets, their pale faces and sorrowful eyes bespeaking their anguish. There were three priests in Tlalte-nango parish, not enough to confess so many people. Despite being in the confessional from dawn to dusk, with no time to eat or rest, still they could not confess all who came. How surprising to see someone estranged from the Sacraments come to receive forgiveness of his sins; and others who lived in concubinage come to seek out the confessor, asking to be united in marriage.
And then the terrible hour came...
This day, there was to be a Mass at midnight and by the end of Vespers the church could no longer contain the immense multitude of the faithful. One after the other, the faithful would go on their knees from the door to the altar; no one wanted to see this most dolorous moment arrive, but God was going to permit it to come to pass. At 11:30 p.m., the bells dolefully tolled the hour of the Mass. The nocturnal adorers, the pious associations and the Catholic social organizations with their groups and their banners were there, as were all the faithful. At midnight the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and the Mass began.
After the Gospel, Fr. Gonzalez mounted the pulpit. He had barely gone up when all the people gathered at the foot of Jesus-Host began to cry. The broken words that the father spoke, full of sorrow, were interrupted by sobs. After Communion, at the end of holy Mass, we were given the benediction with His Divine Majesty. Finally, the father, divested of his ornaments, knelt at the foot of the altar, his eyes fixed on the image of Our Lord of Mercies; silently he took leave of him and went out through the midst of the faithful. Christ and his minister had departed.
From the first days of August, the Mexican people, deprived of their priests (only 200 remained with their faithful) and of their bishops (only 1 remained out of 38) used force to resist the inventorying of the closed churches and the accompanying sacrileges. Their rallying cry was that of the Mexican shopkeeper: “Long live Christ the King!” To keep from hearing it, the soldiers had only one solution: cut out the tongue of those whom they were going to kill, of those whom, because of these cries, they named the Cristeros. One of them wrote before dying: “We are going to perish. We will not see the victory, but Mexico needs all this blood for its purification....Christ will receive the homage which is due Him.” Blood flowed .... Ireland broke its diplomatic relations with Mexico .... No other state followed suit.
On September 18th, 1926, Pius XI published the encyclical Iniquis Afflictisque: “In narrating this, Venerable Brothers, we can scarcely keep back our tears, some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, the Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ King on their lips .What a beautiful spectacle this, that is thus given to the world, to angels and to men!”
In October the Holy Father declared: “The blood of martyrs has always been the seed of blessings from Heaven.” How could one fail to understand that one year after Quas Primas, the Cristeros were signing with their blood this text on the social reign of our Lord Jesus Christ? Freemasonry understood it, and in its American journal The New Age, of December 1926, it expressed its stand: “The Catholic Church has perverted the Mexicans for 400 years. Calles’s merit is to have delivered them from ignorance and superstition. That is why he can count on our understanding and on North America’s support.”
The Rising
In January 1927, Catholic Mexico rose: 20,000 combatants (30,000 by the end of the year, and 50,000 in 1929); few arms (a few rifles and carbines, but mostly hatchets, machetes, and sometimes simply sticks); few horses; but all the people supporting them, offering them their money, and necessaries. A Cristero peasant recounted how they set out with songs and prayers on their lips:
“We were 1,000, then 5,000, then more! Everyone set out as if to go to the harvest....We firmly intended to die, angry or not, but to die for Christ.”
The old men and children, unarmed, followed behind the troops, in the hope of martyrdom. The parents of Nemesio and Isidro Lopez did not want to see them depart for the war for fear that their flesh would go to feed coyotes and eagles; but they replied, “The coyotes may indeed eat our flesh, but our souls will ascend straight to Heaven.” Against them were 100 mobile columns of 1,000 men each, veritable “infernal columns” financed by the US (light armored cars, tractor-drawn artillery, combat aircraft...). The first clashes were bloody massacres. An officer of Calles wrote: “They are more like pilgrims than soldiers. This isn’t a military campaign, it’s a hunting party!” The president himself predicted: “It will be wrapped up in less than two months.” But when a pilgrimage takes up arms, it becomes a crusade! The Cristeros were able to equip themselves from the adversary, profiting from their cowardice or their corruption. The “Federales” were more like pillagers, drunk on tequila and marijuana, rather than soldiers worthy of the name. On March 15th, 1927, they were defeated at San Julian; at Puerto Obristo, they left 600 dead. In November, the military attache of the US began to worry about the success of the “fanatics,” 40% of whose troops were now equipped with excellent Mausers recuperated from the enemy. How was it possible?
The Miracle
The Cristiada was a succession of miracles. One was when the consecrated hosts flew into the sky before the very eyes of the squad that was getting ready to shoot them; it led to the conversion of the Masonic officer who commanded it, and who ended the war as a Cristero general. But there are very many more: God does not let Himself be outdone in generosity. I will just recount two.
A Christian general told how he arrived with 350 men who had been fasting for two days in a miserable hamlet of only 11 straw huts. He retired to write his report. Coming out, he saw his soldiers eating with gusto and an old woman with tears in her eyes saying over and over; “I just had a few biscuits, and yet there is enough for everyone, and what is left over is more than I had to begin with!”
A Cristero spy had spoken with the Federales: “They are sorcerers, and the one who commands them is a very valiant general mounted on a white horse, and he is accompanied by a woman. When we open fire on them, it has no effect, and when they approach us, we cannot do anything to them. They command the mist to conceal these accursed Cristeros.”
The spy added: “There is no white horse, and there is no woman in our army. In truth, we believe that St. James and the most Blessed Virgin accompany us, and if we cannot see them, it is because we do not deserve to.”
Marvelous Cristeros! While the Federal army recorded an average of 30,000 desertions annually, they did not experience a single case of treason. A cobbler, become sector chief, was contacted by the enemy who offered to spare his life and make him a colonel, answered: “I am not fighting for a rank. I am fighting for the Church and for Christ the King. As soon as the victory is won, I shall return to my shoes.” He was killed in combat in March 1928.
With diabolic tenacity, Calles’s men tried to make their prisoners apostatize, but in vain. Fr. Reyes was tortured for three days and two nights. This pastor of Totolan, born in very poor circumstances (as a child he hawked newspapers) had decided to remain at his post.
That was enough to unleash the hatred of the Federales, who tormented him with fire. “You say that God descends into your hands, well then, let Him descend and deliver you from ours!” his torturers taunted. They finished him off with bullets on the evening of Holy Wednesday. One of them testified: “We had already lodged three or four bullets in him when he roused himself to cry out once more: ‘Long live Christ the King!’” Sabás Reyes Salazar was canonized on May 21st, 2000.
Valencia Gallardo, a Cristeros leader, was tied to a stake and tortured but only cried out throughout: “Long live Christ the King!” They tore out his tongue; he freed one of his hands from the bonds and pointed to Heaven. They cut it off, and then split open his skull with their rifle butts.
Disciplinary Rules
Admirable Cristeros! The Cristiada was not a counter revolution with its share of exactions: it was the opposite of a revolution. Read the order of the day of one of its generals (killed in combat in 1927):
“Disciplinary measures affecting the southern division:
The division chiefs of the South of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Western Michocan of the National Liberation Army have adopted the following measures:
(1) To render an official, public, and solemn homage to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, sovereign King of our army, and to humbly and lovingly consecrate to Him all the works and all the persons of this division;
(2) To never omit, under any pretext, the daily group recitation of the Rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, and to accord this observance the same priority as a strict disposition of military regulation;
(3) Whenever possible, to arrange things to allow all the leaders, officers and soldiers to officially fulfill the precepts of Sunday worship, confession and Communion;
(4) To guarantee divine protection during the battles by making the army and the Catholics prepare themselves by humble, confident prayer, and by recommending making acts of perfect contrition.”
Their awareness of the supernatural character of their fight did not lead the Cristeros to neglect temporal realities: “Fight and organize; fight and moralize” was one of their mottoes. In the liberated territories, “administrators” were appointed, Catholic schools were opened (more than 200), public sins (drunkenness, prostitution) were suppressed.
Universal Resistance
Who were these new crusaders? They were the people. As one Federale wrote: “We run no risk of making a mistake (by massacring one and all): they all resist.” They were 95% rural folk: peasants, artisans, miners, muleteers, or rural landholders. There was, for instance, Luis Navarro Origel, with a degree in philosophy and a third-order Franciscan: in 1926, he took the lead of the men of the village where he was mayor. He declared: “I am going to kill for Christ those who kill Christ, and perhaps die for Him if need be; I am going to offer the blood of redemption.” He fell at the head of his troops on August 10th, 1928, at the age of 30.
The city folk who joined them were especially students and the women involved in the St. Joan of Arc Brigades. Some of these 25,000 heroines were only 14 years old. They acted as liaison agents or scouts, nurses, collectors of money or munitions in the arsenals where they infiltrated as workers! Woe to those who fell into the clutches of the Federales’ hardened soldiers....But they never betrayed any information.
Beautiful youth of Mexico. José Sanchez was 13. In February 1928 he was surrounded by the Federales. He gave up his horse to the group leader who was wounded and covered his retreat. Running out of ammunition, he was captured. “Know it well,” he said, “I am not surrendering, I have merely run out of ammo.” He was slaughtered. A note was found in his pocket: “My dearest Mom: Here I am a captive, and they are going to kill me. I am happy. The only thing that troubles me is that you are going to cry. Don’t cry. We shall meet again.” Signed, José, killed for Christ the King.
Tomasino was a member of the executive committee of the ACJM (Mexican Catholic Youth Association) and prefect of the congregation of Mary. Arrested, he was offered his freedom if he talked. “Really, you would be making a mistake: free, I would continue to fight for Christ the King. For us, the fight for our freedom of worship is not optional.” In August 1927, he was hanged. He was 17.
Manuel Bonilla, a student, kept a daily diary: “I well know that, to do great things, God uses littler ones, and that help does not come whence we were expecting it...I trust in God’s goodness: all these sacrifices will not be in vain.”
He was shot at 22 years of age, on Good Friday, 1927, at three o’clock in the afternoon. In 1942, his body was discovered perfectly intact.
The Mystery of Iniquity
The year 1928 was terrible: the infernal columns had received the order to deport the rural population to “concentration camps” where famine and epidemics decimated them. At the least show of resistance, the Federales would massacre them. Harvests and flocks were seized, grazing land burned, and villages destroyed by the thousands. Despite this scorched Earth policy, the Cristeros stood fast like latter-day Machabees.
In 1929, the government renounced its policy of governing the countryside. Three-fourths of inhabitable Mexico was in the hands of the troops of Christ the King, victory was in reach especially as the riffraff in Mexico were fighting each other, and in the United States, Hoover, who was not a Mason, was elected! Then they learned that the secret negotiations between the Mexican government and the Vatican had resulted in an accord.
On June 21, the Mexican episcopate (except for one of its members, His Excellency Jose de Jesus Manriquez y Zarate) signed a “resolution” of the conflict with the ruling power on bases “negotiated” by a US Jesuit, a Fr. Walsh. The accord provided for: (1) immediate, unconditional cease fire; (2) the resumption of public worship beginning the next day (June 22).
That was all. It restored them to the same situation that prevailed in 1926, with all the anti-Catholic laws then in effect, including the registration of priests! In the text, the Cristeros are called fanatics directed by a few third-rate priests; their revolt was an error, an imprudence, even a sin: they must lay down their arms under pain of excommunication...
Jésus Degollado, commander in chief of the Cristeros, addressed his troops, his voice breaking from sorrow:
“His Holiness the Pope, by the intermediary of the most excellent Apostolic Nuncio, has decided, for reasons which are unknown to us but which, as Catholics, we accept, that public worship will be resumed tomorrow without the law being changed...This arrangement...has wrested from us that which is most noble and most holy on our flag, at the moment when the Church has declared that she will resign herself to what she has obtained...Consequently, the National Guard assumes responsibility for the conflict....As for ourselves as men, we have a satisfaction that no one can take from us: the National Guard does not disappear defeated by its enemies, but rather abandoned by the very ones who were to be the first to receive the fruit of our sacrifices and abnegation! Ave, Christ! Those who for You are going to humiliation, to exile, and, perhaps, to an unglorious death,...with the most fervent love salute You, and once more proclaim You as King of our country.”
Six thousand Cristeros obeyed, and were immediately massacred. In three years, they had only lost 5,000 men in combat! The Mexican episcopate decreed the excommunication of the Cristero priests, but those who had not been killed during the war (180) had already been martyred...All was lost. The new president, the Masonic lawyer Fortes Gil, rejoiced. At the summer solstice banquet, he acknowledged his astonishment at the unconditional capitulation of a victorious army, and his intention to continue the fight: “The fight did not begin yesterday. The fight is eternal. The fight began 20 centuries ago.” Indeed, but the novelty was that the Vatican was not on the right side.
Freemasonry, condemned by all the popes from the 18th century (Clement XII, in 1738) to the end of the 19th (in 1892, Leo XIII equated Freemasonry with Satanism), had infiltrated the Church at the highest levels of the hierarchy: Were not G. della Chiesa (the future Benedict XV) and A. Ratti (the future Pius XI) the “proteges” of Cardinal Rampolla? In 1926, was it not Pius XI who condemned Action Française in accordance with the sect’s desires. In 1928, was not Fr. Vallet expelled from Spain and his work suppressed by a hierarchy that preferred to favor the Opus Dei.
When, from 1934 to 1937, a new Cristiada was launched, Pius XI let the Mexican episcopate excommunicate the Cristeros and then waited until they were all dead before daring to write (in his Letter to the Mexican Episcopate, 1937):
“When power rises against justice and truth,...one cannot see how one could condemn the citizens who unite to defend the nation and themselves—even by the use of arms—against those who, by means of the state’s power, devise their misfortune.”
The same year, in Divini Redemptoris, he blamed Communism for the atrocities perpetrated against the Christians of Mexico―but he did not mention Freemasonry.
Another Vendée
The saga of the Cristeros reminds us of the famous rising of the Vendée during the French Revolution, and the two epics have many points in common:
(1) The refusal of priests to take an oath of loyalty to the state;
(2) The creation by the state of a schismatic church;
(3) Religious persecution;
(4) Part of the episcopate’s indifference to the suffering of the flock;
(5) The character of the country folk at arms, poor, unequipped, unprepared and undisciplined, yet courageous, joyous, generous even towards the enemy, and profoundly Christian. This letter from a colonel to his regiment embodies this spirit of the crusaders:
“Beloved in Christ : It is not merely a question of a few flatterers who can be doubted, but of a very widespread belief that our regiment is the best in the region, either because its leaders and followers are motivated by the right intentions or, considering the numbers involved, because of the order and especially the solid piety responsible for urging its men to unashamedly frequent the Sacraments. For better or worse, those in the other regiments see this.
“I render thanks to our Lord for such a beautiful thing, and I believe that you, too, do as much, and that you have the real desire to continue brandishing on high the flag of your people for the glory of Christ the King, and that your honor will know how to efface the black mark that your compatriots have cast upon your people.
“Knowing your sincerity and human misery, I put you on guard against a danger, that would vanquish you without remedy, that of vain glory, the dear daughter of the pride, that manifests itself under the name and sentiment of self-love.
“Far from falling into such a great evil, my beloved in Christ, remember often, and in all of your actions, that everything good in you belongs to God alone, and what evil there is in your regiment belongs to you; to God all the glory, all the good, all the triumph, because you are vile instruments.
“Show yourselves, then, to be always faithful and subject to your King, Jesus Christ Our Lord. Never forget the Rosary, recommend yourselves to our Lord morning and evening. Love your soldiers as your sons and be fathers to the neediest. Treat all with charity, but never let justice suffer. Never speak well of yourselves, unless there is good reason and then do so with modesty. Do not denigrate the men of the other regiments and do not criticize their faults. Keep a right intention. Live united. Never let your rank of colonel, major, captain, etc., go to your head. Remember death and the rigorous judgment that you will undergo according to your works; keep Christ always present and imitate Him in everything. Be faithful sons of Mary your good Mother, the most holy Virgin of Guadalupe. Do not misuse what little you have, for your families live in misery, and remember those of others. This is what I always ask of our Lord for you, and many other things as well which I do not mention in order not to lengthen a letter which is becoming a journal. May His Divine Majesty hear our poor supplications.”
(6) The role of women: wives who encourage their husbands (and, if need be, chase them back to the fight with blows), and mothers who have understood that martyrdom is the crowning of a truly Christian education. Dona Guadalupe, mother of Luis Navarro Origel, would say: “I offered the life of my four boys to Christ; but the Lord came up short: He only took two!”
(7) The conflict’s apocalyptic dimensions, of which both camps were aware: The one side’s admirable religious fervor corresponded with other side’s satanic mania for sacrilege and spiritual destruction. (“Viva el Demonio!” was the Federates’ rallying cry.)
(8) The ultimate betrayal of the Catholic troops―by the religious authorities.
These similarities should not, however, mask an essential difference: the sole motive of the Cristiada was religious. The defense of the Faith was not mixed with any other cause, be it political, social, economic, or particular (as the refusal of the draft by the Vendée). The army captured them and the general commanding the Place d’Arandas asked them for whom they had taken up arms to create such disorder. They replied that it was not to create disorders that they had taken up arms, but to defend Christ the King, who was no longer on the altars. They were shot immediately. This single-mindedness explains the remarkable homogeneity of the Mexican counter-revolutionary movement, its purity and its efficacy. It is a lesson worth meditating on.
An Army of Martyrs
In 1988, Miguel Pro (a Jesuit) was the first Cristero to be beatified. Born in 1891, he was obliged to take refuge in France in order to continue his studies. He was ordained at Amiens in 1925. Having returned clandestinely to Mexico in July 1926, he was shot on November 23rd, 1927, along with his brother who was also a Cristero, while crying out: “Long live Christ the King!” On the Feast of Christ the King, 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified 26 other Cristeros (22 of whom were priests). Let us name some of them: Salvador Lara Puente, employee, killed in 1926, aged 21; Atilano Cruz Alvadaro, ordained on September 14th, 1927, and killed July 1st, 1928; or Manuel Morales, born in 1898, Catholic trade unionist, married and the father of three young children, who said before his execution: “I die, but God does not die; He will take care of my wife and children.” These were the last words of Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador, assassinated by the Freemasons in 1875.
In October 1997, Matteo Elias Del Socorro Nieves was beatified. The son of peasants, the young Matteo heard God’s call early, but his father having been assassinated, he had to support his mother and brothers; he became a priest at 34 years of age. Pastor of a village in the mountains of Culiacan, he refused to take refuge in the city and go underground. He spent 14 months in a grotto from which he only came out at night to exercise his priestly office. He was shot at 46, while crying out: “Long live Christ the King!”
On May 21st, 2000, the Pope canonized 27 Mexicans, 23 of them from the Cristiada era (20 priests and 3 laymen). The press only mentioned the name of Fr. Cristobal Magallanes, pastor of Totatiche, martyred in 1927. Documentation Catholique did not deem it newsworthy enough to publish the text of the ceremony; yet 20,000 Mexicans converged on St. Peter’s Square, for until then their country only had one canonized saint (St. Philip of Jesus, martyr of Japan), and the memory of the Cristiada remains strong there.
Five of those canonized were martyred by reason of hatred of the Faith, as they had not participated in the resistance: Cristóbal Magallanes Jara (1869-1927), pastor; Luis Batis Sáinz (1870-1926), pastor; Augustín Caloca Cortés (1898-1927), seminary prefect; Mateo Correa Magallanes (1866-1927), pastor; Margarito Flores García (1900-1927), vicar. The other canonized priests had gone underground, and were leading lives worthy of the “refractory” priests of the Vendee.
“The great power of our enemies,” wrote Blessed Miguel Pro, “is based on money, arms, and lies; it will crumble one day soon like the statue that Daniel saw collapse under the shock of a pebble falling from Heaven.”
Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King! Praised be His Precious Blood!
Mexican Blood—A Guide to Our Future?
In these times when totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head, we would do well to consider what Sr. Lucia of Fatima describes as the “Devils’ Final Battle.”
Our Lord had said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another” (Matthew 24:9-10). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
These words of Our Lord can be perfectly superimposed upon the events that occurred in Mexico during the early part of the 20th century―as well as the events that unfolding in this early part of the 21st century.
A Bloody Century
The 20th century was the bloodiest century in history, the “Century of Massacres,” “Hell’s Century,” the century of martyrs. Wasn’t it just like all the others? No, it was not “just like all the others”; it was the great century of martyrs, infinitely more than the others. Never had there been so many martyrs in the space of 100 years—not even in the space of 1,000 years. And these tens of millions of Christians, the victims of a century in open revolt against God, remain unknown and unsung. Today let us recall the Mexican Catholics, who, some 90 years ago, rose up against Freemasonry for the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They were called the Cristeros.
A Century of Religious Persecutions
From the time its independence was declared in 1821, Mexico had a troubled history: civil wars, dictatorships, coup d’états, revolutions (1876-1911), Maximilian’s Empire (1863-67) was but a brief and very imperfect parentheses in the persecutions endured by the Church once the Spanish left: property despoiled, priests imprisoned, assassinations plotted, bishops expelled....Why so many misfortunes?
A proverb provides the answer: “Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States.” The United States did not want a great Catholic power at their door. At the time of Mexican independence, they worried about this potential rival, whose land mass roughly equaled their own, and whose population, though less numerous (6.5 millions of inhabitants versus 9.5 millions) had become, thanks to a very lively Catholic Faith, a true nation, while the United States remained, and remains even now, the “Salad Bowl.”
Betrayed by Masons
In the 1830s, war broke out. Betrayed by Masonic generals, Mexico lost its massive northern territory, California, Texas, New Mexico (1848), and was placed under United States political and economic hegemony. The puppets successively made presidents of Mexico were all corrupt Masons who immediately enforced the orders issued from Washington to “defanaticize” the country, that is, to destroy its Catholicism which dated from the 16th century when the Spanish (especially the Franciscans), had evangelized Mexico; the order also demanded defiling the memory of its European heritage by exalting the pre-Columbian era and the “marvelous” Aztec civilization where the wheel and the vault were unknown, but where slavery, human sacrifice and cannibalism were practiced on a grand scale even in the 16th century!
Here are just two examples of this policy: The first official act of President Juarez was to transform St. Francis of Mexico Church into a Protestant temple (1867), and the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Humanum Genus (1884) was prohibited (it condemns Freemasonry) even in seminaries!
In 1914, President Carranza, put in place by the US, inaugurated a period of open persecution: priests were massacred (160 were killed in Mexico in February, 1915). John Lind, one of Woodrow Wilson’s advisors, rejoiced over the news: “Great news! The more priests they kill in Mexico, the happier I shall be!” An American pastor, indignant about the outraging of the nuns in Vera Cruz, received this reply from Wilson’s personal representative: “After prostitution, the worst thing in Mexico is the Catholic Church. Both must disappear!”
Calles’s Offensive
In 1924, Plutarco Elias Calles became President. For this descendant of Spanish Jews, a 33rd degree Mason, “the Church is the unique cause of all Mexico’s misfortunes.” For him, too, she had to disappear. With the complicity of a Masonic priest, Fr. Perez, proclaimed by the government “Patriarch of the Mexican Catholic Church,” Calles founded a schismatic “patriotic Church,” as the Communists were to do later in China. The wine used in the Mass was replaced by mescal. But the maneuver was met with widespread contempt. The government could finance the opening of 200 Protestant schools and Calles could smooth the way for heretical sects (already well financed by the US), but the Mexican people remained stubbornly attached to Rome!
Targeting Children
In 1926, the president and his clique launched a new offensive which they hoped to be definitive: “Now there must be a psychological revolution,” Calles declared. “We must penetrate and take hold of the minds of the children and the youth because they must belong to the revolution.”
The Catholic schools were shut down, the congregations expelled, Christian trade unions forbidden, numerous churches confiscated and profaned (turned into stables or halls) or destroyed. Public school attendance became mandatory, atheism was officially taught, and religious insignia (medals, crucifixes, statues, and pictures) were forbidden, even at home.
God was even chased from the language! The use of such expressions as Adios, “If God wills,” or “God forbid,” was subject to a fine. Lastly, the priests were “registered”: some states (Mexico is a federal republic) required them to swear not to proselytize, others tried to command them to marry if they wished to continue in their function!
Kidnappings, Rapes and Assassinations
Msgr. Carvana, the Apostolic Nuncio, protested; on May 12th, 1926, he was expelled. Throughout the country, Catholic public figures were assassinated, girls coming out of church were kidnapped, imprisoned, raped. Msgr. Curley, the Archbishop of Baltimore, vented his indignation:
“Calles persecutes the Church because he knows that he has Rome’s approval. Our government has armed Calles’s killers. Our friendship has encouraged him in his abominable enterprise: to destroy the idea of God in the minds and hearts of millions of Mexicans.”
On May 28th, Calles received the Masonic medal of merit from the hands of the Great Commander of the Scottish rite in Mexico. On July 12th, the following communique appeared in the press: “International Masonry accepts responsibility for everything that is happening in Mexico, and is preparing to mobilize all its forces for the methodic, integral application of the agreed upon program for this country.”
On July 26th, an elderly shopkeeper was coldly struck down by two policemen in civilian clothes. His crime? In his shop he had posted a sign reading Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King! The Mexicans peacefully reacted to the persecution: they boycotted state-owned enterprises (tobacco purchases and railroad traffic were reduced by 74%, and in just a few weeks, the national bank suffered a 7 million peso loss), and they also circulated a protest petition signed by 2 million (out of a population of 15 million).
But Christians have something even better than that, they have prayer, and the country was criss-crossed by gigantic penitential processions: 10,000, 15,000 faithful, barefooted, crowned with thorns, implored God for their country. The powers that be could not tolerate that; their heavy machine guns dispersed the processions, and the first martyrs fell, singing.
Public Worship Suspended
On July 24th, 1926, Cardinal Gaspari sent a telegram from Rome to the Mexican episcopate: “Under no condition we will accept the registering of priests.” The bishops decided to suspend public worship throughout the land starting July 31st: all the places of public worship would be closed, there would be no Masses offered nor Sacraments administered throughout the country, except in private chapels. This was an unheard of, inexplicable decision, unless by it they intended to push the Mexicans to revolt, for the one thing they could not bear was to be deprived of the Sacraments. During the final days of July, people thronged the churches day and night, going to confession, getting baptized, marrying.
People began to come to put their consciences well in order even though it was already time to begin working in the fields. With each passing day more and more peasants streamed into the village from the neighboring hamlets, their pale faces and sorrowful eyes bespeaking their anguish. There were three priests in Tlalte-nango parish, not enough to confess so many people. Despite being in the confessional from dawn to dusk, with no time to eat or rest, still they could not confess all who came. How surprising to see someone estranged from the Sacraments come to receive forgiveness of his sins; and others who lived in concubinage come to seek out the confessor, asking to be united in marriage.
And then the terrible hour came...
This day, there was to be a Mass at midnight and by the end of Vespers the church could no longer contain the immense multitude of the faithful. One after the other, the faithful would go on their knees from the door to the altar; no one wanted to see this most dolorous moment arrive, but God was going to permit it to come to pass. At 11:30 p.m., the bells dolefully tolled the hour of the Mass. The nocturnal adorers, the pious associations and the Catholic social organizations with their groups and their banners were there, as were all the faithful. At midnight the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and the Mass began.
After the Gospel, Fr. Gonzalez mounted the pulpit. He had barely gone up when all the people gathered at the foot of Jesus-Host began to cry. The broken words that the father spoke, full of sorrow, were interrupted by sobs. After Communion, at the end of holy Mass, we were given the benediction with His Divine Majesty. Finally, the father, divested of his ornaments, knelt at the foot of the altar, his eyes fixed on the image of Our Lord of Mercies; silently he took leave of him and went out through the midst of the faithful. Christ and his minister had departed.
From the first days of August, the Mexican people, deprived of their priests (only 200 remained with their faithful) and of their bishops (only 1 remained out of 38) used force to resist the inventorying of the closed churches and the accompanying sacrileges. Their rallying cry was that of the Mexican shopkeeper: “Long live Christ the King!” To keep from hearing it, the soldiers had only one solution: cut out the tongue of those whom they were going to kill, of those whom, because of these cries, they named the Cristeros. One of them wrote before dying: “We are going to perish. We will not see the victory, but Mexico needs all this blood for its purification....Christ will receive the homage which is due Him.” Blood flowed .... Ireland broke its diplomatic relations with Mexico .... No other state followed suit.
On September 18th, 1926, Pius XI published the encyclical Iniquis Afflictisque: “In narrating this, Venerable Brothers, we can scarcely keep back our tears, some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, the Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ King on their lips .What a beautiful spectacle this, that is thus given to the world, to angels and to men!”
In October the Holy Father declared: “The blood of martyrs has always been the seed of blessings from Heaven.” How could one fail to understand that one year after Quas Primas, the Cristeros were signing with their blood this text on the social reign of our Lord Jesus Christ? Freemasonry understood it, and in its American journal The New Age, of December 1926, it expressed its stand: “The Catholic Church has perverted the Mexicans for 400 years. Calles’s merit is to have delivered them from ignorance and superstition. That is why he can count on our understanding and on North America’s support.”
The Rising
In January 1927, Catholic Mexico rose: 20,000 combatants (30,000 by the end of the year, and 50,000 in 1929); few arms (a few rifles and carbines, but mostly hatchets, machetes, and sometimes simply sticks); few horses; but all the people supporting them, offering them their money, and necessaries. A Cristero peasant recounted how they set out with songs and prayers on their lips:
“We were 1,000, then 5,000, then more! Everyone set out as if to go to the harvest....We firmly intended to die, angry or not, but to die for Christ.”
The old men and children, unarmed, followed behind the troops, in the hope of martyrdom. The parents of Nemesio and Isidro Lopez did not want to see them depart for the war for fear that their flesh would go to feed coyotes and eagles; but they replied, “The coyotes may indeed eat our flesh, but our souls will ascend straight to Heaven.” Against them were 100 mobile columns of 1,000 men each, veritable “infernal columns” financed by the US (light armored cars, tractor-drawn artillery, combat aircraft...). The first clashes were bloody massacres. An officer of Calles wrote: “They are more like pilgrims than soldiers. This isn’t a military campaign, it’s a hunting party!” The president himself predicted: “It will be wrapped up in less than two months.” But when a pilgrimage takes up arms, it becomes a crusade! The Cristeros were able to equip themselves from the adversary, profiting from their cowardice or their corruption. The “Federales” were more like pillagers, drunk on tequila and marijuana, rather than soldiers worthy of the name. On March 15th, 1927, they were defeated at San Julian; at Puerto Obristo, they left 600 dead. In November, the military attache of the US began to worry about the success of the “fanatics,” 40% of whose troops were now equipped with excellent Mausers recuperated from the enemy. How was it possible?
The Miracle
The Cristiada was a succession of miracles. One was when the consecrated hosts flew into the sky before the very eyes of the squad that was getting ready to shoot them; it led to the conversion of the Masonic officer who commanded it, and who ended the war as a Cristero general. But there are very many more: God does not let Himself be outdone in generosity. I will just recount two.
A Christian general told how he arrived with 350 men who had been fasting for two days in a miserable hamlet of only 11 straw huts. He retired to write his report. Coming out, he saw his soldiers eating with gusto and an old woman with tears in her eyes saying over and over; “I just had a few biscuits, and yet there is enough for everyone, and what is left over is more than I had to begin with!”
A Cristero spy had spoken with the Federales: “They are sorcerers, and the one who commands them is a very valiant general mounted on a white horse, and he is accompanied by a woman. When we open fire on them, it has no effect, and when they approach us, we cannot do anything to them. They command the mist to conceal these accursed Cristeros.”
The spy added: “There is no white horse, and there is no woman in our army. In truth, we believe that St. James and the most Blessed Virgin accompany us, and if we cannot see them, it is because we do not deserve to.”
Marvelous Cristeros! While the Federal army recorded an average of 30,000 desertions annually, they did not experience a single case of treason. A cobbler, become sector chief, was contacted by the enemy who offered to spare his life and make him a colonel, answered: “I am not fighting for a rank. I am fighting for the Church and for Christ the King. As soon as the victory is won, I shall return to my shoes.” He was killed in combat in March 1928.
With diabolic tenacity, Calles’s men tried to make their prisoners apostatize, but in vain. Fr. Reyes was tortured for three days and two nights. This pastor of Totolan, born in very poor circumstances (as a child he hawked newspapers) had decided to remain at his post.
That was enough to unleash the hatred of the Federales, who tormented him with fire. “You say that God descends into your hands, well then, let Him descend and deliver you from ours!” his torturers taunted. They finished him off with bullets on the evening of Holy Wednesday. One of them testified: “We had already lodged three or four bullets in him when he roused himself to cry out once more: ‘Long live Christ the King!’” Sabás Reyes Salazar was canonized on May 21st, 2000.
Valencia Gallardo, a Cristeros leader, was tied to a stake and tortured but only cried out throughout: “Long live Christ the King!” They tore out his tongue; he freed one of his hands from the bonds and pointed to Heaven. They cut it off, and then split open his skull with their rifle butts.
Disciplinary Rules
Admirable Cristeros! The Cristiada was not a counter revolution with its share of exactions: it was the opposite of a revolution. Read the order of the day of one of its generals (killed in combat in 1927):
“Disciplinary measures affecting the southern division:
The division chiefs of the South of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Western Michocan of the National Liberation Army have adopted the following measures:
(1) To render an official, public, and solemn homage to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, sovereign King of our army, and to humbly and lovingly consecrate to Him all the works and all the persons of this division;
(2) To never omit, under any pretext, the daily group recitation of the Rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, and to accord this observance the same priority as a strict disposition of military regulation;
(3) Whenever possible, to arrange things to allow all the leaders, officers and soldiers to officially fulfill the precepts of Sunday worship, confession and Communion;
(4) To guarantee divine protection during the battles by making the army and the Catholics prepare themselves by humble, confident prayer, and by recommending making acts of perfect contrition.”
Their awareness of the supernatural character of their fight did not lead the Cristeros to neglect temporal realities: “Fight and organize; fight and moralize” was one of their mottoes. In the liberated territories, “administrators” were appointed, Catholic schools were opened (more than 200), public sins (drunkenness, prostitution) were suppressed.
Universal Resistance
Who were these new crusaders? They were the people. As one Federale wrote: “We run no risk of making a mistake (by massacring one and all): they all resist.” They were 95% rural folk: peasants, artisans, miners, muleteers, or rural landholders. There was, for instance, Luis Navarro Origel, with a degree in philosophy and a third-order Franciscan: in 1926, he took the lead of the men of the village where he was mayor. He declared: “I am going to kill for Christ those who kill Christ, and perhaps die for Him if need be; I am going to offer the blood of redemption.” He fell at the head of his troops on August 10th, 1928, at the age of 30.
The city folk who joined them were especially students and the women involved in the St. Joan of Arc Brigades. Some of these 25,000 heroines were only 14 years old. They acted as liaison agents or scouts, nurses, collectors of money or munitions in the arsenals where they infiltrated as workers! Woe to those who fell into the clutches of the Federales’ hardened soldiers....But they never betrayed any information.
Beautiful youth of Mexico. José Sanchez was 13. In February 1928 he was surrounded by the Federales. He gave up his horse to the group leader who was wounded and covered his retreat. Running out of ammunition, he was captured. “Know it well,” he said, “I am not surrendering, I have merely run out of ammo.” He was slaughtered. A note was found in his pocket: “My dearest Mom: Here I am a captive, and they are going to kill me. I am happy. The only thing that troubles me is that you are going to cry. Don’t cry. We shall meet again.” Signed, José, killed for Christ the King.
Tomasino was a member of the executive committee of the ACJM (Mexican Catholic Youth Association) and prefect of the congregation of Mary. Arrested, he was offered his freedom if he talked. “Really, you would be making a mistake: free, I would continue to fight for Christ the King. For us, the fight for our freedom of worship is not optional.” In August 1927, he was hanged. He was 17.
Manuel Bonilla, a student, kept a daily diary: “I well know that, to do great things, God uses littler ones, and that help does not come whence we were expecting it...I trust in God’s goodness: all these sacrifices will not be in vain.”
He was shot at 22 years of age, on Good Friday, 1927, at three o’clock in the afternoon. In 1942, his body was discovered perfectly intact.
The Mystery of Iniquity
The year 1928 was terrible: the infernal columns had received the order to deport the rural population to “concentration camps” where famine and epidemics decimated them. At the least show of resistance, the Federales would massacre them. Harvests and flocks were seized, grazing land burned, and villages destroyed by the thousands. Despite this scorched Earth policy, the Cristeros stood fast like latter-day Machabees.
In 1929, the government renounced its policy of governing the countryside. Three-fourths of inhabitable Mexico was in the hands of the troops of Christ the King, victory was in reach especially as the riffraff in Mexico were fighting each other, and in the United States, Hoover, who was not a Mason, was elected! Then they learned that the secret negotiations between the Mexican government and the Vatican had resulted in an accord.
On June 21, the Mexican episcopate (except for one of its members, His Excellency Jose de Jesus Manriquez y Zarate) signed a “resolution” of the conflict with the ruling power on bases “negotiated” by a US Jesuit, a Fr. Walsh. The accord provided for: (1) immediate, unconditional cease fire; (2) the resumption of public worship beginning the next day (June 22).
That was all. It restored them to the same situation that prevailed in 1926, with all the anti-Catholic laws then in effect, including the registration of priests! In the text, the Cristeros are called fanatics directed by a few third-rate priests; their revolt was an error, an imprudence, even a sin: they must lay down their arms under pain of excommunication...
Jésus Degollado, commander in chief of the Cristeros, addressed his troops, his voice breaking from sorrow:
“His Holiness the Pope, by the intermediary of the most excellent Apostolic Nuncio, has decided, for reasons which are unknown to us but which, as Catholics, we accept, that public worship will be resumed tomorrow without the law being changed...This arrangement...has wrested from us that which is most noble and most holy on our flag, at the moment when the Church has declared that she will resign herself to what she has obtained...Consequently, the National Guard assumes responsibility for the conflict....As for ourselves as men, we have a satisfaction that no one can take from us: the National Guard does not disappear defeated by its enemies, but rather abandoned by the very ones who were to be the first to receive the fruit of our sacrifices and abnegation! Ave, Christ! Those who for You are going to humiliation, to exile, and, perhaps, to an unglorious death,...with the most fervent love salute You, and once more proclaim You as King of our country.”
Six thousand Cristeros obeyed, and were immediately massacred. In three years, they had only lost 5,000 men in combat! The Mexican episcopate decreed the excommunication of the Cristero priests, but those who had not been killed during the war (180) had already been martyred...All was lost. The new president, the Masonic lawyer Fortes Gil, rejoiced. At the summer solstice banquet, he acknowledged his astonishment at the unconditional capitulation of a victorious army, and his intention to continue the fight: “The fight did not begin yesterday. The fight is eternal. The fight began 20 centuries ago.” Indeed, but the novelty was that the Vatican was not on the right side.
Freemasonry, condemned by all the popes from the 18th century (Clement XII, in 1738) to the end of the 19th (in 1892, Leo XIII equated Freemasonry with Satanism), had infiltrated the Church at the highest levels of the hierarchy: Were not G. della Chiesa (the future Benedict XV) and A. Ratti (the future Pius XI) the “proteges” of Cardinal Rampolla? In 1926, was it not Pius XI who condemned Action Française in accordance with the sect’s desires. In 1928, was not Fr. Vallet expelled from Spain and his work suppressed by a hierarchy that preferred to favor the Opus Dei.
When, from 1934 to 1937, a new Cristiada was launched, Pius XI let the Mexican episcopate excommunicate the Cristeros and then waited until they were all dead before daring to write (in his Letter to the Mexican Episcopate, 1937):
“When power rises against justice and truth,...one cannot see how one could condemn the citizens who unite to defend the nation and themselves—even by the use of arms—against those who, by means of the state’s power, devise their misfortune.”
The same year, in Divini Redemptoris, he blamed Communism for the atrocities perpetrated against the Christians of Mexico―but he did not mention Freemasonry.
Another Vendée
The saga of the Cristeros reminds us of the famous rising of the Vendée during the French Revolution, and the two epics have many points in common:
(1) The refusal of priests to take an oath of loyalty to the state;
(2) The creation by the state of a schismatic church;
(3) Religious persecution;
(4) Part of the episcopate’s indifference to the suffering of the flock;
(5) The character of the country folk at arms, poor, unequipped, unprepared and undisciplined, yet courageous, joyous, generous even towards the enemy, and profoundly Christian. This letter from a colonel to his regiment embodies this spirit of the crusaders:
“Beloved in Christ : It is not merely a question of a few flatterers who can be doubted, but of a very widespread belief that our regiment is the best in the region, either because its leaders and followers are motivated by the right intentions or, considering the numbers involved, because of the order and especially the solid piety responsible for urging its men to unashamedly frequent the Sacraments. For better or worse, those in the other regiments see this.
“I render thanks to our Lord for such a beautiful thing, and I believe that you, too, do as much, and that you have the real desire to continue brandishing on high the flag of your people for the glory of Christ the King, and that your honor will know how to efface the black mark that your compatriots have cast upon your people.
“Knowing your sincerity and human misery, I put you on guard against a danger, that would vanquish you without remedy, that of vain glory, the dear daughter of the pride, that manifests itself under the name and sentiment of self-love.
“Far from falling into such a great evil, my beloved in Christ, remember often, and in all of your actions, that everything good in you belongs to God alone, and what evil there is in your regiment belongs to you; to God all the glory, all the good, all the triumph, because you are vile instruments.
“Show yourselves, then, to be always faithful and subject to your King, Jesus Christ Our Lord. Never forget the Rosary, recommend yourselves to our Lord morning and evening. Love your soldiers as your sons and be fathers to the neediest. Treat all with charity, but never let justice suffer. Never speak well of yourselves, unless there is good reason and then do so with modesty. Do not denigrate the men of the other regiments and do not criticize their faults. Keep a right intention. Live united. Never let your rank of colonel, major, captain, etc., go to your head. Remember death and the rigorous judgment that you will undergo according to your works; keep Christ always present and imitate Him in everything. Be faithful sons of Mary your good Mother, the most holy Virgin of Guadalupe. Do not misuse what little you have, for your families live in misery, and remember those of others. This is what I always ask of our Lord for you, and many other things as well which I do not mention in order not to lengthen a letter which is becoming a journal. May His Divine Majesty hear our poor supplications.”
(6) The role of women: wives who encourage their husbands (and, if need be, chase them back to the fight with blows), and mothers who have understood that martyrdom is the crowning of a truly Christian education. Dona Guadalupe, mother of Luis Navarro Origel, would say: “I offered the life of my four boys to Christ; but the Lord came up short: He only took two!”
(7) The conflict’s apocalyptic dimensions, of which both camps were aware: The one side’s admirable religious fervor corresponded with other side’s satanic mania for sacrilege and spiritual destruction. (“Viva el Demonio!” was the Federates’ rallying cry.)
(8) The ultimate betrayal of the Catholic troops―by the religious authorities.
These similarities should not, however, mask an essential difference: the sole motive of the Cristiada was religious. The defense of the Faith was not mixed with any other cause, be it political, social, economic, or particular (as the refusal of the draft by the Vendée). The army captured them and the general commanding the Place d’Arandas asked them for whom they had taken up arms to create such disorder. They replied that it was not to create disorders that they had taken up arms, but to defend Christ the King, who was no longer on the altars. They were shot immediately. This single-mindedness explains the remarkable homogeneity of the Mexican counter-revolutionary movement, its purity and its efficacy. It is a lesson worth meditating on.
An Army of Martyrs
In 1988, Miguel Pro (a Jesuit) was the first Cristero to be beatified. Born in 1891, he was obliged to take refuge in France in order to continue his studies. He was ordained at Amiens in 1925. Having returned clandestinely to Mexico in July 1926, he was shot on November 23rd, 1927, along with his brother who was also a Cristero, while crying out: “Long live Christ the King!” On the Feast of Christ the King, 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified 26 other Cristeros (22 of whom were priests). Let us name some of them: Salvador Lara Puente, employee, killed in 1926, aged 21; Atilano Cruz Alvadaro, ordained on September 14th, 1927, and killed July 1st, 1928; or Manuel Morales, born in 1898, Catholic trade unionist, married and the father of three young children, who said before his execution: “I die, but God does not die; He will take care of my wife and children.” These were the last words of Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador, assassinated by the Freemasons in 1875.
In October 1997, Matteo Elias Del Socorro Nieves was beatified. The son of peasants, the young Matteo heard God’s call early, but his father having been assassinated, he had to support his mother and brothers; he became a priest at 34 years of age. Pastor of a village in the mountains of Culiacan, he refused to take refuge in the city and go underground. He spent 14 months in a grotto from which he only came out at night to exercise his priestly office. He was shot at 46, while crying out: “Long live Christ the King!”
On May 21st, 2000, the Pope canonized 27 Mexicans, 23 of them from the Cristiada era (20 priests and 3 laymen). The press only mentioned the name of Fr. Cristobal Magallanes, pastor of Totatiche, martyred in 1927. Documentation Catholique did not deem it newsworthy enough to publish the text of the ceremony; yet 20,000 Mexicans converged on St. Peter’s Square, for until then their country only had one canonized saint (St. Philip of Jesus, martyr of Japan), and the memory of the Cristiada remains strong there.
Five of those canonized were martyred by reason of hatred of the Faith, as they had not participated in the resistance: Cristóbal Magallanes Jara (1869-1927), pastor; Luis Batis Sáinz (1870-1926), pastor; Augustín Caloca Cortés (1898-1927), seminary prefect; Mateo Correa Magallanes (1866-1927), pastor; Margarito Flores García (1900-1927), vicar. The other canonized priests had gone underground, and were leading lives worthy of the “refractory” priests of the Vendee.
“The great power of our enemies,” wrote Blessed Miguel Pro, “is based on money, arms, and lies; it will crumble one day soon like the statue that Daniel saw collapse under the shock of a pebble falling from Heaven.”
Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King! Praised be His Precious Blood!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday October 23rd & Saturday October 24th
Article 9
Time to Plug-In the Rosary!
Friday October 23rd & Saturday October 24th
Article 9
Time to Plug-In the Rosary!
When the Going Gets Tough―the Tough Get Going
Tough times, huh? Tottering political system! Teetering worldwide health crisis (albeit manufactured, man-made)! Trembling economic and financial concerns! Growing schism within the Church! Loss of jobs! Loss of freedoms! Loss of rights! Increasing civil unrest! Increasing Totalitarianism! No “knight-in-shining-armor-on-a-white-horse” in sight! The reality of Our Lady’s words and warnings bleakly staring us in the face―she says “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … all the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family, Communism will take over the whole world, all will seem lost!” Tough times for sure!
Who will be able to endure it? Only the tough! Only those prepared to sacrifice things and fight! Our Lord and Holy Scripture already told us almost 2,000 years ago: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Tough Times Call for Tough Catholics and Tough Measures
Our Lady warns that there will be very few who will be prepared to sacrifice and fight―very few will have the strength of soul to hang onto the Faith in face of persecution, threats and financial and social penalties. “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!”
Our Lady then calls the “tough ones” to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Can You See?
Our Lady speaks of “the few who can see” … “the small number of souls who will preserve the treasures of the Faith” ― are you among the few? Are you one of that small number? This is synonymous with Our Lord words from Holy Scripture: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
There are many Catholics ― or should it be “Catholics” ― today who think that they are among the “few” and part of the “small number” of those who have the Faith, but, in reality, they have lost the Faith because they deny or refuse to believe certain essential teachings (dogmas) of the Church. All you need to do is to stubbornly and persistently deny or refuse to believe is JUST ONE DOGMA and you are a heretic! JUST ONE DOGMA! Today, the number of Catholics who disbelieve or deny one or more dogmas is almost uncountable! Here are a mere 22 dogmas from a list of more than 250. These would be among the most commonly disputed, denied and rejected dogmas of our modern day.
► God alone created the World
► The first man was created by God.
► Jesus Christ is the True God and True Son of God.
► Christ Incarnate is a single, that is, a sole Person. He is God and man at the same time.
► The Holy Virgin is the Mother of God since she truly bore the Word of God become Flesh.
► Christ was free from all sin, from Original Sin as well as from all personal sin.
► Man cannot redeem himself.
► On the third day after His Death Christ rose gloriously from the dead.
► Mary bore her Son without any violation of her virginal integrity.
► Mary was a Virgin before, during and after the Birth of Jesus Christ.
► The Church was founded by the God-Man Jesus Christ.
► Christ founded the Church in order to continue His work of redemption for all time.
► The Church founded by Christ is unique and one.
► Membership of the Church is necessary for all men for salvation.
► There are Seven Sacraments of the New Law.
► Baptism by water is necessary for salvation for all men without exception.
► The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist.
► The Holy Mass is a true and proper Sacrifice.
► In the Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross is made present.
► The Sacramental confession of sins is ordained by God and is necessary for salvation.
► The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell.
► The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity.
The once shocking words of Our Lord are hardly surprising anymore ― seeing the state of belief (or disbelief) among Catholics, even the clergy ― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Truly Our Lady’s prophesy is coming true before our own very eyes: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … As true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth.”
Countries are becoming increasingly godless. Laws are becoming increasingly godless. Local communities are becoming increasingly godless. Schools―even Catholic schools―are becoming increasingly godless. Even Catholic parishes are becoming increasingly godless. Catholic families, too, are becoming increasingly godless. In fact, true Catholicism―with its principles and teachings―is now increasingly being looked upon as being a “hate” organization, that will not tolerate abortion, divorce, same-sex marriages, contraception, homosexuality, transgenderism, and all the other thousands of sins that society has now accepted and canonized. It is tough being a Catholic these days―and, you will see, it will get tougher and tougher with each passing year―nay, with each passing month!
Communism Creeping into Your Community and Country!
► This current subtle―or no longer subtle―worldwide transition to a state of totalitarianism or disguised Communism is the very thing that Our Lady had told Sister Lucia of Fatima would happen if we paid no attention to her message and requests. Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview, between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, in which Lucia revealed this, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha―the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding “And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes.’”
“Sister Lucia went on to say: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
“Fr. Rocha, as well as Dr. Walsh, felt that the consecration had not been made because Our Lady’s wishes had not yet been carried out.”
This interview again demonstrates that Sister Lucia has consistently affirmed the requirements for the Consecration of Russia according to Our Lady’s wishes: the Pope, together with all of the world’s bishops, must solemnly and publicly consecrate specifically Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Until this is done, Russia’s errors will continue to spread throughout the world, and the world will be chastised as Our Lady warned at Fatima in 1917.
► Yuri Bezmenov, the former Russian KGB agent who fled to America and Canada in 1970, later, 1984, stated that America had already been ideologically subverted by the Communists: “In reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. Only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American, so that, despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country … The result? The result you can see! The people who graduated in the 1960s―dropouts or half-baked intellectuals―are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern … The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed ― already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even [Russian] experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards … The influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago (1970)―when I landed in this part of the world―that the process will go that fast! … Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy.”
► That ideological subversion by Communists penetrated the Catholic Church―in America and worldwide―way before Yuri Bezmenov arrived in North America in 1970. Dr. Bella Dodd (1904–1969)―a fallen-away Catholic who entered the Communist Party of America, working as an organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council―testified to the US Senate in the 1950s that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... In the 1930s I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops. Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, the theologian, that: “When I was an active party member, I dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican, who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]”
Learn From History!
Karl Marx said “Religion is the opium of the people”. Marx also stated: “Communism begins from the outset with atheism; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction.”
Vladimir Lenin similarly wrote regarding atheism and Communism: “A Marxist must be a materialist, that is to say, an enemy of religion, but [also] a dialectical materialist, that is to say, one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching―but in a concrete way.”
Prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established an atheist state, with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during the Reign of Terror, thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine. The French Revolution, in fact, was a massive inspiration for Karl Marx in forming Communism, in particular the events of the Reign of Terror, which he made clear not only that he intended to reenact, but in a Prussian newspaper, he also made clear that he intended to ensure that the violence as a result of the Communists would outclass even that of the Reign of Terror. Today―there are lots of guillotines stored away in the USA awaiting the Christians and the new Reign of Terror. The persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union was the result of the violently atheist Soviet government. In the first five years after the October Revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of Leon Trotsky. When Joseph Stalin came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police to intensify persecution of Christians. In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were tortured, including crucifixion. Despite intense effort by the atheistic leaders of the Soviet Union, their efforts were not effective in converting the masses to atheism.
The theory of evolution played a prominent role in regards to atheistic Communism. Communism also took evolution to its logical conclusion. If everything just evolved from ‘natural law,’ then man’s opinion, not God’s Word, determines what is right and wrong. Some have claimed that the bloodthirsty deeds of Stalin were an “aberration” from the revolution’s true ideals. However, it was Lenin, the “father” of the Russian Revolution, who perfected the science of mass killings, and total, merciless brutality as the ultimate method of political control. Evolution was the chief tool used to brainwash Communism’s masses into scientific atheism. If everything just evolved, then everything is at the whim of the most powerful, and there is no Maker to whom to be answerable. Hence Stalin’s belief that killing millions of people was no worse than mowing your lawn.
The Chinese Communist’s Mao Tse Tung’s reign of terror and lies, resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. In 1935, Mao was elected to the Executive Committee of the Comintern in Moscow and remained on this committee until it was publicly disbanded in 1943. Mao is regarded as perhaps the most prolific mass murderer in human history, not even counting the inummerable unborn female fetuses whom he callously slaughtered. From 1966 to 1976, Mao instigated the Cultural Revolution, in which those disloyal to the Chairman were killed or humiliated in order to solidify Mao's control. The low estimate for the death toll is 20 million. It is no coincidence that his two favorite books were by the evolutionists Darwin and Huxley. With millions dying from his forced famine, his physician records that Mao said: “We have so many people we can afford to lose a few!” His successors have since persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands more. It has been estimated that in less than the past 100 years, governments under the banner of Communism―especially Russia and China―have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 (40.4 million) and 259,432,000 (almost 260 million) human lives―which makes the claims of one victim Nation’s worldwide nose-rubbing grievance or persecution and murder pale-way into being a “Hollow-Cost” by comparison to the Communist slaughter of Christians.
In 1955, Chinese Communist leader Zhou Enlai declared: “We Communists are atheists.” In 2014, the Communist Party of China reaffirmed that members of their party must be atheists. In 2014, in an editorial published on November 14th in the Global Times―the international version of People’s Daily, the official newspaper and mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, it said: “The Communist Party of China (CPC) is letting its members know that the party’s official adherence to militant atheism has not changed; Party members are not allowed to be Christians, or to hold any other religious beliefs.” That is the clear message sent by a top Party official.
China is a Communist country. In 1999, the publication Christian Century reported that “China has persecuted religious believers by means of harassment, prolonged detention, and incarceration in prison or `reform-through-labor’ camps and police closure of places of worship.” In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were forced to closed. China continues to practice religious oppression today. The efforts of China’s atheist leaders in promoting atheism, however, is increasingly losing its effectiveness and the number of Christians in China is explosively―though secretly―growing. China’s state sponsored atheism has been a failure and a 2007 religious survey in China indicated that only 15% of Chinese identified themselves as atheists.
We Are At War―A Subtle Hidden War That Begins to Brazenly Show Itself Clearly!
If you cannot see that we in the middle of a subversive ideological war against the elites and technocrats with their totalitarian goals, then your powers of perception and understanding are to be severely questioned! The recent worldwide lockdown and propaganda narratives, with their resulting world population control should be evidence enough! More and more people are beginning to see it for what it is! Hopefully you are one of them!
A famous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt is “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He understood that fear is ultimately what strips us of our human rights and drives a society into totalitarianism, and that the only way to circumvent such a fate is to bravely resist fear. Today, one of the biggest threats (or so we’re told) is a global plannedemic. Today, we also have something no previous tyrant has had―namely the technology to track, trace, listen to, record, control and manipulate individuals wherever they are. Most people are surrounded by electronics and wireless devices that harvest every imaginable data point about their personal lives. Digital currency and injectable digital personal identification chips stand at the ready to complete the net of tyranny.
Final Battle of the End Times
Sr. Lucia of Fatima in an interview with Fr. Fuentes, revealed to him: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground! The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others! And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
And what have we done? Sr. Lucia unfortunately has to condemn us: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to presently fall upon them, they keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! … For this reason it is my mission―not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! … We should not wait for a call to the world to do penance to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Prayer of the Rosary and the Sacrifice of the Mass (as well our personal sacrifices)
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
With God Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
Our Lord would later repeat that truth when speaking of the difficulty of salvation: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
The Power of the Word of God
We forget or underestimate the power of the word of God. “His word is full of power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4). “O Lord God! Behold Thou hast made Heaven and Earth by thy great power, and no word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). When Jesus cast ot a devil by mere words, “there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:36)―which is still true today, for it is power of the word of God that drives the devil out of souls in exorcisms performed by mere priests. St. Paul speaks of God “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
St. Peter has faith in the power of God’s word: “And Simon answering said to Jesus: ‘Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word, I will let down the net!” (Luke 5:5) ― and a miraculous catch of fish was the result.
The Roman centurion, seeking a cure for his servant, does not ask that Jesus come down to his house, but has faith in the mere word of Jesus: “The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring Jesus to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him earnestly, saying to Him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him! For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord, trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof. For which reason neither did I think myself worthy to come to Thee; but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it!’ Which Jesus hearing, marvelled: and, turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:2-9).
God’s Modern-Day Simplicity
This same simplicity, seen in a few simple words, yet powerful words, carries over into our day and age.
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful!
Now what has this long-winded, interminably dragging, endless article got to do with Our Lady, the Rosary or the month of October? Well, before you build a house upwards, you have to go in the opposite direction beforehand, namely, dig-out and lay the foundations.
The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish the principle (not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time. The Rosary is one of those simple things that Heaven has given to us. It is so simple, that some, like Naaman the Leper, think it is beneath them, and they are tempted to turn away from the Rosary and go their own way. They would be foolish to do so! We often seek complicated human solutions, when Heaven wants us to use simple divine solutions! Do we really think that Our Lady does not know what she is talking about, when she tells us to pray the Rosary daily?
Who Dare…?
Which Catholic would dare say that they honestly had no time to pray an extra 15 decades each day to bring to a stop and reverse this current totalitarian take-over of the world? Some Catholics may feel they are doing enough by praying one 5-decade Rosary a day―but what kind of soldier is it that only wants to fight the enemy for 15 minutes a day? Hey! A war is a war―and soldiers in wars are on call and often fight for hours and hours a day, sometimes for days on end! So what about you―Soldier of Christ―what will your excuse be on Judgment Day for not using such a powerful weapon as the Holy Rosary? Will you emerge blameless from that judgment? Are three extra 5-decade Rosaries really the “end of the world” for you? Heck! You might just be about to experience the “end of the world” as we know it―all because of your lethargy, indifference, lukewarmness and neglect! If you cannot be roused for the fight in this blatantly obvious Communist (or its other aliases of Socialism, Marxism, Totalitarianism, etc.) takeover of the world―then your salvation is to be seriously feared for―because, even in the best of times, the saints tell us that most Catholic souls are lost. Then what chance do Catholic souls have who refuse to fight in the battle of battles and war of wars? As God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16) ― to which Our Lord adds: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― with Holy Scripture further adding: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Will you fight the good fight of the Faith? Will you obtain eternal life whereunto you are called? The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! It is time to start using those two weapons Our Lady of Akita spoke about―the Rosary and the sign left by her Son, which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Do not stupidly underestimate the dangers currently surrounding us and closing in on us―you may regret it, not only for the rest of your life on Earth, but also for eternity!
Get those extra Rosaries prayed each day and get various priests to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of our enemies! Don’t just idly think about it―GO DO IT! DO IT NOW! DO IT EVERY DAY UNTIL THIS TAKEOVER IS TURNED AROUND!
Tough times, huh? Tottering political system! Teetering worldwide health crisis (albeit manufactured, man-made)! Trembling economic and financial concerns! Growing schism within the Church! Loss of jobs! Loss of freedoms! Loss of rights! Increasing civil unrest! Increasing Totalitarianism! No “knight-in-shining-armor-on-a-white-horse” in sight! The reality of Our Lady’s words and warnings bleakly staring us in the face―she says “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … all the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family, Communism will take over the whole world, all will seem lost!” Tough times for sure!
Who will be able to endure it? Only the tough! Only those prepared to sacrifice things and fight! Our Lord and Holy Scripture already told us almost 2,000 years ago: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Tough Times Call for Tough Catholics and Tough Measures
Our Lady warns that there will be very few who will be prepared to sacrifice and fight―very few will have the strength of soul to hang onto the Faith in face of persecution, threats and financial and social penalties. “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings!”
Our Lady then calls the “tough ones” to the fight: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Can You See?
Our Lady speaks of “the few who can see” … “the small number of souls who will preserve the treasures of the Faith” ― are you among the few? Are you one of that small number? This is synonymous with Our Lord words from Holy Scripture: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
There are many Catholics ― or should it be “Catholics” ― today who think that they are among the “few” and part of the “small number” of those who have the Faith, but, in reality, they have lost the Faith because they deny or refuse to believe certain essential teachings (dogmas) of the Church. All you need to do is to stubbornly and persistently deny or refuse to believe is JUST ONE DOGMA and you are a heretic! JUST ONE DOGMA! Today, the number of Catholics who disbelieve or deny one or more dogmas is almost uncountable! Here are a mere 22 dogmas from a list of more than 250. These would be among the most commonly disputed, denied and rejected dogmas of our modern day.
► God alone created the World
► The first man was created by God.
► Jesus Christ is the True God and True Son of God.
► Christ Incarnate is a single, that is, a sole Person. He is God and man at the same time.
► The Holy Virgin is the Mother of God since she truly bore the Word of God become Flesh.
► Christ was free from all sin, from Original Sin as well as from all personal sin.
► Man cannot redeem himself.
► On the third day after His Death Christ rose gloriously from the dead.
► Mary bore her Son without any violation of her virginal integrity.
► Mary was a Virgin before, during and after the Birth of Jesus Christ.
► The Church was founded by the God-Man Jesus Christ.
► Christ founded the Church in order to continue His work of redemption for all time.
► The Church founded by Christ is unique and one.
► Membership of the Church is necessary for all men for salvation.
► There are Seven Sacraments of the New Law.
► Baptism by water is necessary for salvation for all men without exception.
► The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist.
► The Holy Mass is a true and proper Sacrifice.
► In the Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross is made present.
► The Sacramental confession of sins is ordained by God and is necessary for salvation.
► The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell.
► The punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity.
The once shocking words of Our Lord are hardly surprising anymore ― seeing the state of belief (or disbelief) among Catholics, even the clergy ― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Truly Our Lady’s prophesy is coming true before our own very eyes: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … As true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth.”
Countries are becoming increasingly godless. Laws are becoming increasingly godless. Local communities are becoming increasingly godless. Schools―even Catholic schools―are becoming increasingly godless. Even Catholic parishes are becoming increasingly godless. Catholic families, too, are becoming increasingly godless. In fact, true Catholicism―with its principles and teachings―is now increasingly being looked upon as being a “hate” organization, that will not tolerate abortion, divorce, same-sex marriages, contraception, homosexuality, transgenderism, and all the other thousands of sins that society has now accepted and canonized. It is tough being a Catholic these days―and, you will see, it will get tougher and tougher with each passing year―nay, with each passing month!
Communism Creeping into Your Community and Country!
► This current subtle―or no longer subtle―worldwide transition to a state of totalitarianism or disguised Communism is the very thing that Our Lady had told Sister Lucia of Fatima would happen if we paid no attention to her message and requests. Concerning the July 15th, 1946 interview, between Professor William Thomas Walsh and Sister Lucia, in which Lucia revealed this, Louis Kaczmarek wrote the following in his 1986 book The Wonders She Performs:
“While he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Ludlow, Massachusetts, I spent some time with Fr. Manuel Rocha―the interpreter selected for Mr. William Thomas Walsh, who wrote perhaps the most popular book on Fatima. Fr. Rocha told me that one of the questions Mr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia―during a three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946, while she was still Sister Maria das Dores, a Dorothean Sister at Vilar, near Porto, Portugal―was ‘In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?’ Her pale brown eyes staring into his, a ‘little dimple on each cheek,’ she answered ‘Yes!’ Fr. Rocha related to me that Mr. Walsh wanted to be positive about the answer and therefore repeated the question adding “And does that mean the United States of America too?’ Sister Lucia answered ‘Yes.’”
“Sister Lucia went on to say: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’
“Fr. Rocha, as well as Dr. Walsh, felt that the consecration had not been made because Our Lady’s wishes had not yet been carried out.”
This interview again demonstrates that Sister Lucia has consistently affirmed the requirements for the Consecration of Russia according to Our Lady’s wishes: the Pope, together with all of the world’s bishops, must solemnly and publicly consecrate specifically Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Until this is done, Russia’s errors will continue to spread throughout the world, and the world will be chastised as Our Lady warned at Fatima in 1917.
► Yuri Bezmenov, the former Russian KGB agent who fled to America and Canada in 1970, later, 1984, stated that America had already been ideologically subverted by the Communists: “In reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. Only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American, so that, despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country … The result? The result you can see! The people who graduated in the 1960s―dropouts or half-baked intellectuals―are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern … The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed ― already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even [Russian] experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards … The influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago (1970)―when I landed in this part of the world―that the process will go that fast! … Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy.”
► That ideological subversion by Communists penetrated the Catholic Church―in America and worldwide―way before Yuri Bezmenov arrived in North America in 1970. Dr. Bella Dodd (1904–1969)―a fallen-away Catholic who entered the Communist Party of America, working as an organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council―testified to the US Senate in the 1950s that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... In the 1930s I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops. Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, the theologian, that: “When I was an active party member, I dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican, who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]”
Learn From History!
Karl Marx said “Religion is the opium of the people”. Marx also stated: “Communism begins from the outset with atheism; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction.”
Vladimir Lenin similarly wrote regarding atheism and Communism: “A Marxist must be a materialist, that is to say, an enemy of religion, but [also] a dialectical materialist, that is to say, one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching―but in a concrete way.”
Prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established an atheist state, with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during the Reign of Terror, thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine. The French Revolution, in fact, was a massive inspiration for Karl Marx in forming Communism, in particular the events of the Reign of Terror, which he made clear not only that he intended to reenact, but in a Prussian newspaper, he also made clear that he intended to ensure that the violence as a result of the Communists would outclass even that of the Reign of Terror. Today―there are lots of guillotines stored away in the USA awaiting the Christians and the new Reign of Terror. The persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union was the result of the violently atheist Soviet government. In the first five years after the October Revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of Leon Trotsky. When Joseph Stalin came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police to intensify persecution of Christians. In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were tortured, including crucifixion. Despite intense effort by the atheistic leaders of the Soviet Union, their efforts were not effective in converting the masses to atheism.
The theory of evolution played a prominent role in regards to atheistic Communism. Communism also took evolution to its logical conclusion. If everything just evolved from ‘natural law,’ then man’s opinion, not God’s Word, determines what is right and wrong. Some have claimed that the bloodthirsty deeds of Stalin were an “aberration” from the revolution’s true ideals. However, it was Lenin, the “father” of the Russian Revolution, who perfected the science of mass killings, and total, merciless brutality as the ultimate method of political control. Evolution was the chief tool used to brainwash Communism’s masses into scientific atheism. If everything just evolved, then everything is at the whim of the most powerful, and there is no Maker to whom to be answerable. Hence Stalin’s belief that killing millions of people was no worse than mowing your lawn.
The Chinese Communist’s Mao Tse Tung’s reign of terror and lies, resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. In 1935, Mao was elected to the Executive Committee of the Comintern in Moscow and remained on this committee until it was publicly disbanded in 1943. Mao is regarded as perhaps the most prolific mass murderer in human history, not even counting the inummerable unborn female fetuses whom he callously slaughtered. From 1966 to 1976, Mao instigated the Cultural Revolution, in which those disloyal to the Chairman were killed or humiliated in order to solidify Mao's control. The low estimate for the death toll is 20 million. It is no coincidence that his two favorite books were by the evolutionists Darwin and Huxley. With millions dying from his forced famine, his physician records that Mao said: “We have so many people we can afford to lose a few!” His successors have since persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands more. It has been estimated that in less than the past 100 years, governments under the banner of Communism―especially Russia and China―have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 (40.4 million) and 259,432,000 (almost 260 million) human lives―which makes the claims of one victim Nation’s worldwide nose-rubbing grievance or persecution and murder pale-way into being a “Hollow-Cost” by comparison to the Communist slaughter of Christians.
In 1955, Chinese Communist leader Zhou Enlai declared: “We Communists are atheists.” In 2014, the Communist Party of China reaffirmed that members of their party must be atheists. In 2014, in an editorial published on November 14th in the Global Times―the international version of People’s Daily, the official newspaper and mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, it said: “The Communist Party of China (CPC) is letting its members know that the party’s official adherence to militant atheism has not changed; Party members are not allowed to be Christians, or to hold any other religious beliefs.” That is the clear message sent by a top Party official.
China is a Communist country. In 1999, the publication Christian Century reported that “China has persecuted religious believers by means of harassment, prolonged detention, and incarceration in prison or `reform-through-labor’ camps and police closure of places of worship.” In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were forced to closed. China continues to practice religious oppression today. The efforts of China’s atheist leaders in promoting atheism, however, is increasingly losing its effectiveness and the number of Christians in China is explosively―though secretly―growing. China’s state sponsored atheism has been a failure and a 2007 religious survey in China indicated that only 15% of Chinese identified themselves as atheists.
We Are At War―A Subtle Hidden War That Begins to Brazenly Show Itself Clearly!
If you cannot see that we in the middle of a subversive ideological war against the elites and technocrats with their totalitarian goals, then your powers of perception and understanding are to be severely questioned! The recent worldwide lockdown and propaganda narratives, with their resulting world population control should be evidence enough! More and more people are beginning to see it for what it is! Hopefully you are one of them!
A famous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt is “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He understood that fear is ultimately what strips us of our human rights and drives a society into totalitarianism, and that the only way to circumvent such a fate is to bravely resist fear. Today, one of the biggest threats (or so we’re told) is a global plannedemic. Today, we also have something no previous tyrant has had―namely the technology to track, trace, listen to, record, control and manipulate individuals wherever they are. Most people are surrounded by electronics and wireless devices that harvest every imaginable data point about their personal lives. Digital currency and injectable digital personal identification chips stand at the ready to complete the net of tyranny.
Final Battle of the End Times
Sr. Lucia of Fatima in an interview with Fr. Fuentes, revealed to him: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground! The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others! And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
And what have we done? Sr. Lucia unfortunately has to condemn us: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to presently fall upon them, they keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! … For this reason it is my mission―not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! … We should not wait for a call to the world to do penance to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Prayer of the Rosary and the Sacrifice of the Mass (as well our personal sacrifices)
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Our Lady herself said of the Rosary: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (Fatima, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted!” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 1917). At Akita, 56 years later in 1973, Our Lady further adds: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Continue to pray very much—very much! … very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
With God Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
Our Lord would later repeat that truth when speaking of the difficulty of salvation: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
The Power of the Word of God
We forget or underestimate the power of the word of God. “His word is full of power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4). “O Lord God! Behold Thou hast made Heaven and Earth by thy great power, and no word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). When Jesus cast ot a devil by mere words, “there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:36)―which is still true today, for it is power of the word of God that drives the devil out of souls in exorcisms performed by mere priests. St. Paul speaks of God “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
St. Peter has faith in the power of God’s word: “And Simon answering said to Jesus: ‘Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word, I will let down the net!” (Luke 5:5) ― and a miraculous catch of fish was the result.
The Roman centurion, seeking a cure for his servant, does not ask that Jesus come down to his house, but has faith in the mere word of Jesus: “The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring Jesus to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him earnestly, saying to Him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him! For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord, trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof. For which reason neither did I think myself worthy to come to Thee; but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it!’ Which Jesus hearing, marvelled: and, turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:2-9).
God’s Modern-Day Simplicity
This same simplicity, seen in a few simple words, yet powerful words, carries over into our day and age.
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful!
Now what has this long-winded, interminably dragging, endless article got to do with Our Lady, the Rosary or the month of October? Well, before you build a house upwards, you have to go in the opposite direction beforehand, namely, dig-out and lay the foundations.
The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish the principle (not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time. The Rosary is one of those simple things that Heaven has given to us. It is so simple, that some, like Naaman the Leper, think it is beneath them, and they are tempted to turn away from the Rosary and go their own way. They would be foolish to do so! We often seek complicated human solutions, when Heaven wants us to use simple divine solutions! Do we really think that Our Lady does not know what she is talking about, when she tells us to pray the Rosary daily?
Who Dare…?
Which Catholic would dare say that they honestly had no time to pray an extra 15 decades each day to bring to a stop and reverse this current totalitarian take-over of the world? Some Catholics may feel they are doing enough by praying one 5-decade Rosary a day―but what kind of soldier is it that only wants to fight the enemy for 15 minutes a day? Hey! A war is a war―and soldiers in wars are on call and often fight for hours and hours a day, sometimes for days on end! So what about you―Soldier of Christ―what will your excuse be on Judgment Day for not using such a powerful weapon as the Holy Rosary? Will you emerge blameless from that judgment? Are three extra 5-decade Rosaries really the “end of the world” for you? Heck! You might just be about to experience the “end of the world” as we know it―all because of your lethargy, indifference, lukewarmness and neglect! If you cannot be roused for the fight in this blatantly obvious Communist (or its other aliases of Socialism, Marxism, Totalitarianism, etc.) takeover of the world―then your salvation is to be seriously feared for―because, even in the best of times, the saints tell us that most Catholic souls are lost. Then what chance do Catholic souls have who refuse to fight in the battle of battles and war of wars? As God says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16) ― to which Our Lord adds: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) ― with Holy Scripture further adding: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Will you fight the good fight of the Faith? Will you obtain eternal life whereunto you are called? The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! It is time to start using those two weapons Our Lady of Akita spoke about―the Rosary and the sign left by her Son, which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Do not stupidly underestimate the dangers currently surrounding us and closing in on us―you may regret it, not only for the rest of your life on Earth, but also for eternity!
Get those extra Rosaries prayed each day and get various priests to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of our enemies! Don’t just idly think about it―GO DO IT! DO IT NOW! DO IT EVERY DAY UNTIL THIS TAKEOVER IS TURNED AROUND!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday October 21st & Thursday October 22nd
Article 8
From Polarization to Pulverization
Wednesday October 21st & Thursday October 22nd
Article 8
From Polarization to Pulverization
What is Polarization?
What is “polarization”? Well you are actually seeing a lot of it without perhaps labeling it or recognizing it as “polarization”! Your dictionary will define “polarization” along these lines: “a sharp division, as of a population or group, into opposing factions; a division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs; a division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially in a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a balanced center, but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
Polarization is the process that causes neutral parties to take sides in a conflict. It also causes individuals on either side of the conflict to take increasingly extreme positions that are more and more opposed to each other. As parties move toward these opposite “poles,” they define themselves in terms of their opposition to a common enemy. Trust and respect diminish, and distorted perceptions and simplified stereotypes emerge. Parties assume more rigid positions and may refuse to negotiate. The situation develops in which parties feel threatened by an “enemy,” so they increase their military arms, which, in turn, causes the other side to feel threatened, therefore increasing their own military arms. The dilemma is that attempts to bring more security, actually bring less. Increased pre-emptive (one-step-ahead) militarization combines with fear, misperceptions, and negative stereotypes to encourage polarization. While polarization can occur in any type of conflict, it has it most damaging effects in large-scale inter-group, public policy, and international conflicts.
USA on Polarization Fast-Track
The USA is polarizing faster than other democracies, recent studies have found. According to new research, released on Monday, January 20th, 2020, as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper and co-authored by Jesse Shapiro, a professor of political economy at Brown University with Stanford University economists Levi Boxell and Matthew Gentzkow, political polarization among Americans has grown rapidly in the last 40 years—more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany—a phenomenon possibly due to increased racial division, the rise of partisan cable news and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties.
“A lot of analysis on polarization is focused on the U.S., so we thought it could be interesting to put the U.S. in context and see whether it is part of a global trend or whether it looks more exceptional,” Shapiro said. “We found that the trend in the U.S. is indeed exceptional.”
Why has the U.S. become so much more polarized? Shapiro said it may be partly because, since the 1970s, major political parties have become increasingly aligned with certain ideologies, races and religious identities. For example, Republicans are now more likely to be religious, while Democrats are more likely to be secular. Polarization is creating a crisis in American governance. In the United States, however, resilience has been weakening, as risk factors increase. As resilience and calm fades and risks rise―society begins to break apart. People lose faith in established parties and processes. They begin to look to outsiders who promise to “fix it.” The USA is among the world’s most polarized countries. Racial, ideological, religious and geographic identities reinforce one another, worsening and deepening partisan division rather than offering peaceable bridges. Trust in the government is at a near-historic low of 17%, and 79% of Americans think there’s too little trust between citizens. Meanwhile, the traditional institutional guardrails and foundations are eroding. Gridlock and decline define Congress. Opinions about the Supreme Court are increasingly driven by partisanship.
The Pulverization of Civil War
So what might our future hold? Civil war no longer seems far-fetched. As of October 2020, 61% of Americans are worried that the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, while 52% say they’ve already started stockpiling food and other essential in anticipation of social unrest, according to a new national poll. Among the 61% of Americans who fear the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, 40% said they strongly agree with that statement, while 21% said they somewhat agree. A further 16% said they somewhat disagree that another Civil War could be in the offing, while 23% strongly disagreed. The poll found increased concern over Civil War is most acute at the political extremes with 52% very liberal, 52% very conservative, whereas the numbers drop among the less extreme or less polarized persons, with there being only 32% somewhat liberal, 34% moderate and 35% somewhat conservative who believe a Civil War will happen.
A recent Rasmussen Report revealed that “over 50% of Americans believe that there will be internal political violence in America.” A Newsweek poll stated that “1/3 of Americans think Civil War could break out within the next 5 years.” A Washington Examiner poll found that “7 out of 10 Americans believe that we are 2/3 of the way to being in a Civil War.” Historian Niall Ferguson, at Stanford University, stated that if we had a “doomsday clock” like that of the atomic scientists, it would be indicating “2 minutes to Fort Sumter.” Boston College’s History professor Heather Richardson, a specialist in 19th century American history, warns: “Today’s America looks eerily similar to the period before the Civil War of 1861.” Keith Mines with years of experience in the U.S. Army Special Services, the United Nations, and the U.S. State Department, noted in the New Yorker and Foreign Policy, that the conditions in our nation are similar to what he has seen abroad in other countries before civil strife exploded. His opinion is that the U.S. has a 60% chance of civil war over the next 10 years. He stated: “It’s just like 1859; everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.”
In the intermediate stage that precedes a Civil War―what we can expect is a return to the 1960s and 1970s. That might sound harmless — except that 13,000 National Guardsmen were deployed to Los Angeles after 34 people were killed in the 1965 riots, the first of hundreds of protests and more than a dozen violent riots over the next three years that killed over 100 and left urban centers gutted for four decades. A president and presidential candidate, John F. and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated, as were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1972, another presidential candidate, George Wallace, narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Some ex-military guy claimed that Trump has so far survived over 25 assassination attempts―it is a mere claim, since he gives no sources of facts. A 1968 Gallup poll found that 81% of the country agreed that “law and order has broken down.” A University of Michigan researcher found in 1971 that nearly one-third of men thought that “police beating students” wasn’t violence at all — and even more felt the same about “police shooting looters.” Throughout the 1970s, America faced nearly 1,500 terrorist attacks, nearly all domestic in origin. The murder rate crept up steadily, nearly doubling from the early 1960s through the late 1970s.
The Polarizer Perpetrator
The ultimate polarizer―whether it political polarization, religious polarization, economical polarization, cultural polarization, parish polarization, family polarization or any and all polarization―is the devil. God unites and the devil divides.
“If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25). Satan knows the truth of those words―and Satan’s stooges and minions in this world (Satanists and all the various enemies of God, from the unknown elites down to the Freemasons and Communists) all know the truth of those words. That is why Communism has always used human infiltration and ideological subversion as a basic and primary means of causing division―around which is based the fourfold stage of overcoming its enemies: Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization.
The two chief tactics of Satan and his stooges are: (1) to cut us off from our supernatural supply lines, and (2) to divide and conquer. Those two chief tactics are firmly enmeshed in Communism’s fourfold plan of subversion of nations, states, organizations, etc. ― Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization.
The Shock Doctrine and Ideological Subversion
Interestingly, in a book by the Canadian social activist, Naomi Klein, entitled The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Klein argues that neo-Liberal free market policies have risen to prominence in some developed countries because of a deliberate strategy of “shock therapy”. This centers on the exploitation of national crises (disasters or upheavals) to establish controversial and questionable policies, while citizens are too distracted (emotionally and physically) to engage and develop an adequate response, and resist effectively. The book suggests that some man-made events, such as the Iraq War, were undertaken with the intention of pushing through such unpopular policies in their wake. Today, we have the fabricated crisis of Coronavirus, which is achieving the exact same thing―gaining a stranglehold on the world economy through distracting world citizens by a concoction of erupting fears, emotions and physical threats of disease and death.
Naomi Klein―though she does hit the nail on the head―comes from the very background that specializes in this Communist “Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization” or “Shock Doctrine” as Klein calls it. Klein was born into a pro-Communist Jewish family with multi-generational ties to the radical Left. Her grandparents, Anne and Philip Klein were secret Communists in the 1930s and 1940s. Her grandfather’s brother was also a hardcore Communist, and relocated permanently to the Soviet Union. Her grandparents, however, became disillusioned with Soviet Communism after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which made Hitler and Stalin allies. They left the Communist Party―but remained committed far-Leftists. Michael Klein, Naomi’s father, is a physician, who, following in his parents’ Leftist footsteps, protested against the war in Vietnam and joined left-wing groups like Physicians for Social Responsibility. He met and married Bonnie Sherr (Naomi’s mother to be), a young activist and film-maker who made films on such subjects as far-Left organizing pioneer Saul Alinsky (rabid Communist).
Naomi is married to Avi Lewis, a prominent Jewish leftwing broadcaster who also comes from a radical Left family. His great-grandfather, Moishe Losz, was a member of Russia’s Socialist Jewish Bund. He fled Europe in 1921 for Canada where he anglicized his name to Lewis. Moishe’s son David helped found Canada’s socialist New Democratic Party (NDP)―which is allied with the Socialist International.
You Might “Know” Something―But Do You “Understand” It?
The USA has long-since been losing the ideological war with Communism, Socialism, or whatever “ism” the puppet-masters of this world (and their boss, the devil) decided to create. Hopefully you are not one of those idiots who blithely believes the superficial events that are “dished-up” for your distraction and consumption! Hopefully your mind is capable of going deeper than that, capable of “understanding”―that is to say, grasping what “stands-under” the superficial and cosmetic distractions custom-made for the “sheeple” of the world. The mushy-minds of the vast majority of people are being radically transformed away from seeking the truth to believing the lie. They no longer know how to get to the truth, how to research, where to search―and so they are left at the mercy of the MSM (mainstream media) and Social Media with their “Truth-on-a-plate-ready-cooked”. The former-KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov, who fled to America and Canada in 1970. This is what he had to say about the ideological subversion of America:
“Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate and open. You can see it with your own eyes.... It has nothing to do with espionage. I know that intelligence gathering looks more romantic.... That’s probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.
“It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being “demoralization”. It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy, exposed to the ideology of their enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism....
“The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 1960s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Russian “Pavlov’s Dog” experiments]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black―you still cannot change their basic perception and the logic of behavior.
“In other words, for these people, the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people, who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
“When they experience the psychological shock, when they will see, in the future, what the beautiful society of equality and social justice actually means in practice―obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy and frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the ranks of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. Now you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In the future these people will simply be [Bezmenov makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful and noble ideas of equality. This they don’t understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That’s the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
“The next stage is destabilization.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some ... sensitive areas such as defense and the economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.
“Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living in a peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war―undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course ― it’s the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, it is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot. If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you.” (KGB-defector, Yuri Bezmenov).
What is “polarization”? Well you are actually seeing a lot of it without perhaps labeling it or recognizing it as “polarization”! Your dictionary will define “polarization” along these lines: “a sharp division, as of a population or group, into opposing factions; a division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs; a division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially in a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a balanced center, but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
Polarization is the process that causes neutral parties to take sides in a conflict. It also causes individuals on either side of the conflict to take increasingly extreme positions that are more and more opposed to each other. As parties move toward these opposite “poles,” they define themselves in terms of their opposition to a common enemy. Trust and respect diminish, and distorted perceptions and simplified stereotypes emerge. Parties assume more rigid positions and may refuse to negotiate. The situation develops in which parties feel threatened by an “enemy,” so they increase their military arms, which, in turn, causes the other side to feel threatened, therefore increasing their own military arms. The dilemma is that attempts to bring more security, actually bring less. Increased pre-emptive (one-step-ahead) militarization combines with fear, misperceptions, and negative stereotypes to encourage polarization. While polarization can occur in any type of conflict, it has it most damaging effects in large-scale inter-group, public policy, and international conflicts.
USA on Polarization Fast-Track
The USA is polarizing faster than other democracies, recent studies have found. According to new research, released on Monday, January 20th, 2020, as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper and co-authored by Jesse Shapiro, a professor of political economy at Brown University with Stanford University economists Levi Boxell and Matthew Gentzkow, political polarization among Americans has grown rapidly in the last 40 years—more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany—a phenomenon possibly due to increased racial division, the rise of partisan cable news and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties.
“A lot of analysis on polarization is focused on the U.S., so we thought it could be interesting to put the U.S. in context and see whether it is part of a global trend or whether it looks more exceptional,” Shapiro said. “We found that the trend in the U.S. is indeed exceptional.”
Why has the U.S. become so much more polarized? Shapiro said it may be partly because, since the 1970s, major political parties have become increasingly aligned with certain ideologies, races and religious identities. For example, Republicans are now more likely to be religious, while Democrats are more likely to be secular. Polarization is creating a crisis in American governance. In the United States, however, resilience has been weakening, as risk factors increase. As resilience and calm fades and risks rise―society begins to break apart. People lose faith in established parties and processes. They begin to look to outsiders who promise to “fix it.” The USA is among the world’s most polarized countries. Racial, ideological, religious and geographic identities reinforce one another, worsening and deepening partisan division rather than offering peaceable bridges. Trust in the government is at a near-historic low of 17%, and 79% of Americans think there’s too little trust between citizens. Meanwhile, the traditional institutional guardrails and foundations are eroding. Gridlock and decline define Congress. Opinions about the Supreme Court are increasingly driven by partisanship.
The Pulverization of Civil War
So what might our future hold? Civil war no longer seems far-fetched. As of October 2020, 61% of Americans are worried that the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, while 52% say they’ve already started stockpiling food and other essential in anticipation of social unrest, according to a new national poll. Among the 61% of Americans who fear the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, 40% said they strongly agree with that statement, while 21% said they somewhat agree. A further 16% said they somewhat disagree that another Civil War could be in the offing, while 23% strongly disagreed. The poll found increased concern over Civil War is most acute at the political extremes with 52% very liberal, 52% very conservative, whereas the numbers drop among the less extreme or less polarized persons, with there being only 32% somewhat liberal, 34% moderate and 35% somewhat conservative who believe a Civil War will happen.
A recent Rasmussen Report revealed that “over 50% of Americans believe that there will be internal political violence in America.” A Newsweek poll stated that “1/3 of Americans think Civil War could break out within the next 5 years.” A Washington Examiner poll found that “7 out of 10 Americans believe that we are 2/3 of the way to being in a Civil War.” Historian Niall Ferguson, at Stanford University, stated that if we had a “doomsday clock” like that of the atomic scientists, it would be indicating “2 minutes to Fort Sumter.” Boston College’s History professor Heather Richardson, a specialist in 19th century American history, warns: “Today’s America looks eerily similar to the period before the Civil War of 1861.” Keith Mines with years of experience in the U.S. Army Special Services, the United Nations, and the U.S. State Department, noted in the New Yorker and Foreign Policy, that the conditions in our nation are similar to what he has seen abroad in other countries before civil strife exploded. His opinion is that the U.S. has a 60% chance of civil war over the next 10 years. He stated: “It’s just like 1859; everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.”
In the intermediate stage that precedes a Civil War―what we can expect is a return to the 1960s and 1970s. That might sound harmless — except that 13,000 National Guardsmen were deployed to Los Angeles after 34 people were killed in the 1965 riots, the first of hundreds of protests and more than a dozen violent riots over the next three years that killed over 100 and left urban centers gutted for four decades. A president and presidential candidate, John F. and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated, as were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1972, another presidential candidate, George Wallace, narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Some ex-military guy claimed that Trump has so far survived over 25 assassination attempts―it is a mere claim, since he gives no sources of facts. A 1968 Gallup poll found that 81% of the country agreed that “law and order has broken down.” A University of Michigan researcher found in 1971 that nearly one-third of men thought that “police beating students” wasn’t violence at all — and even more felt the same about “police shooting looters.” Throughout the 1970s, America faced nearly 1,500 terrorist attacks, nearly all domestic in origin. The murder rate crept up steadily, nearly doubling from the early 1960s through the late 1970s.
The Polarizer Perpetrator
The ultimate polarizer―whether it political polarization, religious polarization, economical polarization, cultural polarization, parish polarization, family polarization or any and all polarization―is the devil. God unites and the devil divides.
“If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25). Satan knows the truth of those words―and Satan’s stooges and minions in this world (Satanists and all the various enemies of God, from the unknown elites down to the Freemasons and Communists) all know the truth of those words. That is why Communism has always used human infiltration and ideological subversion as a basic and primary means of causing division―around which is based the fourfold stage of overcoming its enemies: Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization.
The two chief tactics of Satan and his stooges are: (1) to cut us off from our supernatural supply lines, and (2) to divide and conquer. Those two chief tactics are firmly enmeshed in Communism’s fourfold plan of subversion of nations, states, organizations, etc. ― Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization.
The Shock Doctrine and Ideological Subversion
Interestingly, in a book by the Canadian social activist, Naomi Klein, entitled The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Klein argues that neo-Liberal free market policies have risen to prominence in some developed countries because of a deliberate strategy of “shock therapy”. This centers on the exploitation of national crises (disasters or upheavals) to establish controversial and questionable policies, while citizens are too distracted (emotionally and physically) to engage and develop an adequate response, and resist effectively. The book suggests that some man-made events, such as the Iraq War, were undertaken with the intention of pushing through such unpopular policies in their wake. Today, we have the fabricated crisis of Coronavirus, which is achieving the exact same thing―gaining a stranglehold on the world economy through distracting world citizens by a concoction of erupting fears, emotions and physical threats of disease and death.
Naomi Klein―though she does hit the nail on the head―comes from the very background that specializes in this Communist “Demoralization, Destabilization, Insurgency, Normalization” or “Shock Doctrine” as Klein calls it. Klein was born into a pro-Communist Jewish family with multi-generational ties to the radical Left. Her grandparents, Anne and Philip Klein were secret Communists in the 1930s and 1940s. Her grandfather’s brother was also a hardcore Communist, and relocated permanently to the Soviet Union. Her grandparents, however, became disillusioned with Soviet Communism after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which made Hitler and Stalin allies. They left the Communist Party―but remained committed far-Leftists. Michael Klein, Naomi’s father, is a physician, who, following in his parents’ Leftist footsteps, protested against the war in Vietnam and joined left-wing groups like Physicians for Social Responsibility. He met and married Bonnie Sherr (Naomi’s mother to be), a young activist and film-maker who made films on such subjects as far-Left organizing pioneer Saul Alinsky (rabid Communist).
Naomi is married to Avi Lewis, a prominent Jewish leftwing broadcaster who also comes from a radical Left family. His great-grandfather, Moishe Losz, was a member of Russia’s Socialist Jewish Bund. He fled Europe in 1921 for Canada where he anglicized his name to Lewis. Moishe’s son David helped found Canada’s socialist New Democratic Party (NDP)―which is allied with the Socialist International.
You Might “Know” Something―But Do You “Understand” It?
The USA has long-since been losing the ideological war with Communism, Socialism, or whatever “ism” the puppet-masters of this world (and their boss, the devil) decided to create. Hopefully you are not one of those idiots who blithely believes the superficial events that are “dished-up” for your distraction and consumption! Hopefully your mind is capable of going deeper than that, capable of “understanding”―that is to say, grasping what “stands-under” the superficial and cosmetic distractions custom-made for the “sheeple” of the world. The mushy-minds of the vast majority of people are being radically transformed away from seeking the truth to believing the lie. They no longer know how to get to the truth, how to research, where to search―and so they are left at the mercy of the MSM (mainstream media) and Social Media with their “Truth-on-a-plate-ready-cooked”. The former-KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov, who fled to America and Canada in 1970. This is what he had to say about the ideological subversion of America:
“Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate and open. You can see it with your own eyes.... It has nothing to do with espionage. I know that intelligence gathering looks more romantic.... That’s probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.
“It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being “demoralization”. It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy, exposed to the ideology of their enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism....
“The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 1960s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Russian “Pavlov’s Dog” experiments]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black―you still cannot change their basic perception and the logic of behavior.
“In other words, for these people, the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people, who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
“When they experience the psychological shock, when they will see, in the future, what the beautiful society of equality and social justice actually means in practice―obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy and frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the ranks of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. Now you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In the future these people will simply be [Bezmenov makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful and noble ideas of equality. This they don’t understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That’s the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
“The next stage is destabilization.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some ... sensitive areas such as defense and the economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.
“Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living in a peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war―undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course ― it’s the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, it is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot. If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you.” (KGB-defector, Yuri Bezmenov).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday October 18th to Tuesday October 20th
Article 7
Putting on the Armor of God!
(Boy, Are We Going to Need It!)
Sunday October 18th to Tuesday October 20th
Article 7
Putting on the Armor of God!
(Boy, Are We Going to Need It!)
Fighting Among Selves―But Not the Enemy
Most Catholics have “no stomach for the fight”―unless it means fighting among themselves! Most Catholics have never even read the words of Scripture where is said: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). What we see is quite the opposite―which is, of course, the main reason why we find ourselves in the current dangers and threats to both Faith and Freedom. Quite honestly and brutally, instead of fighting the enemies of God, Faith and Mankind, we have traitorously fraternizing with the enemy. We actually show a closer resemblance to the enemy than we do to a true Soldier of Christ!
Cast-Off the Works of Darkness―Put-On the Armor of God
If ever there was a message for our day, then it is: “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Armor Against What? This!
The following is a personal and private communication sent by a very concerned and worried elected member of the Canadian government, who is aghast at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) plans for the immediate future of Canada, adding that the same plans are in place for all nations of the world. This is a nightmare unfolding! The elected member of the Canadian government writes:
“I want to provide you some very important information. I’m a committee member within the Liberal Party of Canada. I sit within several committee groups, but the information I am providing is originating from the Strategic Planning Committee (which is steered by the Prime Minister’s Office). I need to start off by saying that I’m not happy doing this―but I have to. [Firstly, I do this] as a Canadian and more importantly as a parent, who wants a better future not only for my children, but for other children as well. The other reason I am doing this is because roughly 30% of the [government] committee members are not pleased with the direction this will take Canada―but our opinions have been ignored and they plan on moving forward toward their goals. They have also made it very clear that nothing will stop the planned outcomes.
“The road map and aim was set out by the Prime Minister’s Office and is as follows:
● Phase in secondary lock down restrictions on a rolling basis, starting with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward. Expected by November 2020.
● Rush the acquisition of (or construction of) isolation facilities across every province and territory. Expected by December 2020.
● Daily new cases of COVID-19 will surge beyond capacity of testing, including increases in COVID related deaths following the same growth curves. Expected by end of November 2020.
● Complete and total secondary lock down (much stricter than the first and second rolling phase restrictions). Expected by end of December 2020 or early January 2021
● Reform and expansion of the Unemployment Program to be transitioned into the Universal Basic Income Program. Expected by the first quarter of 2021.
● Projected COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with secondary virus (referred to as COVID-21) leading to a third wave, with much higher mortality rate and higher rate of infection. Expected by February 2021.
● Daily new cases of COVID-21 hospitalizations and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related deaths will exceed medical care facilities capacity. Expected by the first quarter or second quarter of 2021.
● Enhanced lock down restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected second quarter of 2021.
● Transitioning of individuals into the Universal Basic Income Program. Expected mid second quarter of 2021.
● Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late second quarter of 2021.
● Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas, as well as all major roadways, to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by third quarter of 2021.
“Along with that provided road map, the Strategic Planning Committee was asked to design an effective way of transitioning Canadians to meet an unprecedented economic endeavor. One that would change the face of Canada and forever alter the lives of Canadians. What we were told was that, in order to offset what was essentially an economic collapse on an international scale, that the federal government was going to offer Canadians a total debt relief. This is how it works:
“The federal government will offer to eliminate all personal debts (mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc) which all funding will be provided to Canada by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) under what will become known as the ‘World Debt Reset’ program. In exchange for acceptance of this Total Debt Forgiveness the individual would forfeit ownership of any and all property and assets forever. The individual would also have to agree to partake in the COVID-19 and COVID-21 vaccination schedule, which would provide the individual with unrestricted travel and unrestricted living―even under a full lock down (through the use of photo identification referred to as Canada’s HealthPass).
Committee Members asked who would become the owner of the forfeited property and assets in that scenario; and what would happen to lenders or financial institutions―we were simply told ‘the World Debt Reset program will handle all of the details’.
“Several Committee Members also questioned what would happen to individuals if they refused to participate in the World Debt Reset Program, or the HealthPass, or the vaccination schedule, and the answer we got was very troubling. Essentially we were told it was our duty to make sure we came up with a plan to ensure that would never happen. We were told it was in the best interest of individuals to participate. When several Committee Members pushed relentlessly to get an answer, we were told that those who refused would first live under the lock down restrictions indefinitely. And that over a short period of time, as more Canadians transitioned into the debt forgiveness program, the ones who refused to participate would be deemed a public safety risk and would be relocated into isolation facilities. Once in those facilities they would be given two options, participate in the debt forgiveness program and be released, or stay indefinitely in the isolation facility under the classification of a serious public health risk and have all their assets seized.
“So, as you can imagine, after hearing all of this―it turned into quite the heated discussion and escalated beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed before. In the end it was implied by the Prime Minister’s Office that the whole agenda will move forward no matter who agrees with it or not. That it won’t just be Canada―but in fact all nations will have similar roadmaps and agendas. That we need to take advantage of the situations before us to promote change on a grander scale for the betterment of everyone. The members who were opposed and ones who brought up key issues that would arise from such a thing were completely ignored. Our opinions and concerns were ignored. We were simply told to just do it. All I know is that I don’t like it and I think it’s going to place Canadians into a dark future.”
This very much fits with something that came out on October 8th, 2020, via televised proceedings in Parliament. Here a Member of Parliament asks if “the people of Ontario should prepare for Internment camps?” He was told “yes” but in a vague and ambiguous way.
Still the Wrong Solutions!
The above New World Order agenda, the gradually increasing totalitarian stranglehold over the world, the manipulation of finance, politics, media, culture, etc. The man-made diseases―the man-made economic meltdown―the man-made lockdowns―the man-made narrative of terror and lies―the man-made masks that mask the imbecile scientific minds with their unscientific reasoning―the man-made vaccine that is to be forced on everyone―the man-made HealthPasses, or electronic HealthID chips that are to be forced on everyone―the man-made 24/7 monitoring of people through their phones, tablets, computers, televisions, smartmeters―the man-made cashless society (cash carries Covid) operating only on electronic money, etc, etc, etc. All of these man-made (Satan inspired) tools of control, manipulation and espionage have now captivated, cornered and coerced mankind into the “sheeple” pens provided by the kindly, caring New World Order enforcers. Finally, mention must be made of the man-made or self-made stupidity of most people, whose intellectual capacities have been so decomposed by fun and entertainment, that these atrophied minds have no more muscle to really think―and so they gullibly eat the mush and drink the Kool-Aid offered to them by the Mainstream Media (MSM) and their controllers.
The most disconcerting factor, in all of this, is the stupidity of choice with regard to the solutions to the predicament! What is the armor that is recommended? What are weapons they say we should use? What are solutions to the threats and dangers? Almost all of the solutions offered are ultimately laughable―and nobody is laughing more than the devil and his stooges and minions. They don’t mind you knowing the truth anymore, they chiefly want to distract you and discourage you with all this information, so that you will just talk, and talk and talk about it―running round like a headless chicken―in the hope that you will do nothing about it, that is to say do nothing SPIRITUAL AND SUPERNATURAL about it―for the devil knows that it is only the spiritual and supernatural that can defeat him.
Now since most of the world is not Catholic―6.5 billion people out of 7.8 total world population―and, of the remaining 1.3 billion Catholics, most of them (80%) no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly, and an even larger number being in a state of mortal sin―in view of all this, are those 7.5 or 7.6 billion of non-believers or “not-in-a-state-of-grace” Catholics likely to use SPIRITUAL AND SUPERNATURAL weapons to combat all these Satanically inspired evils? Of course not! They will NEVER USE THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AS A WEAPON―because they do not even believe that Mass=Calvary, they don’t even believe that Christ is really present in the Mass/Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! Add onto this the fact that if a person is in a state of mortal sin, then that person’s prayers are useless if they are offered for some other person, cause, intention―God will only return them to sender with a grace to bring about their own conversion―but their prayers can help nobody else. So they resort to their childish human solutions―pass on this email to everyone in your address book; make this YouTube video go viral before they take it down; subscribe to this website if you want to know the truth; etc. etc. “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). All that these people can do―some of them are bona-fide and sincere, others are “controlled opposition”―is (1) distract you more and more, (2) keep you away from praying and sacrificing, while (3) creating an “intellectual constipation” or “information constipation” within you and little else!
Catholics to Blame!
Let us not play the “blame-game” and point the finger of blame at others for the mess we are in! You were called by God to be Catholic for a purpose―that purpose is to fight for the Faith as a Soldier of Christ, conquering souls for the Faith and protecting the Faith of those who are already Catholic. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Is that a fair description of your life so far? Warfare for the Faith? Not entangled with secular and worldly things? Fighting the good fight? Fighting violently (intensely)? Who are you trying to fool? Yes―perhaps you will find one in ten-thousand or one in a hundred-thousand who are like that―but is that you? If we only would not have become entangled with the world (the enemy of God), then perhaps things would not be as bad as they are now! Have we really been praying many extra Rosaries each and every day for the conversion of sinners, for the conversion of our rulers, for the conversion of America to Catholicism? We can barely manage five decades daily―never mind many extra Rosaries! Then what about the many sacrifices Our Lady of Fatima asked for? We are all post-Fatima children―born after 1917―and so there is nobody who is unaware of Our Lady’s Fatima comments and demands. Instead of turning the multitude of daily inconveniences and setbacks into sacrifices by humbly accepting, we instead turn them into sins by complaining, whining, moaning and groaning when we receive them!
In case you forgot, here is reminder of that the Angel of Portugal (Angel of Peace) said. When the Angel found the children playing (which is pretty much our chief occupation today), he scolded them: “What are you doing? “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.” To which Our Lady later added: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! For many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Aha! The life of a true Catholic! Not just an adult Catholic, but also a Catholic child―the children were merely 10, 9 and 7 years-old when Our Lady asked this from them! Do you realize that mortal sin can also be committed by NEGLECT? There is a very powerful case to be made that our neglect to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, for the conversion of these corrupt politicians who govern us, for the conversion of America to the Catholic Faith―can very easily become a mortal sin of neglect. Holy Scripture says: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3).
As Catholics, we have fallen far short of the true Catholic level that we should have had with regard to the conversion of America to Catholicism and purification of government! Our Lady’s and Angel’s pleas for many prayers and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners in general, further translates to the conversion of America to Catholicism. To some American Catholics that seems too much of an American Pie in the Sky―so impossible and unlikely―that they never ever bothered praying and sacrificing for that in the first place.
Most Catholics have “no stomach for the fight”―unless it means fighting among themselves! Most Catholics have never even read the words of Scripture where is said: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). What we see is quite the opposite―which is, of course, the main reason why we find ourselves in the current dangers and threats to both Faith and Freedom. Quite honestly and brutally, instead of fighting the enemies of God, Faith and Mankind, we have traitorously fraternizing with the enemy. We actually show a closer resemblance to the enemy than we do to a true Soldier of Christ!
Cast-Off the Works of Darkness―Put-On the Armor of God
If ever there was a message for our day, then it is: “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Armor Against What? This!
The following is a personal and private communication sent by a very concerned and worried elected member of the Canadian government, who is aghast at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) plans for the immediate future of Canada, adding that the same plans are in place for all nations of the world. This is a nightmare unfolding! The elected member of the Canadian government writes:
“I want to provide you some very important information. I’m a committee member within the Liberal Party of Canada. I sit within several committee groups, but the information I am providing is originating from the Strategic Planning Committee (which is steered by the Prime Minister’s Office). I need to start off by saying that I’m not happy doing this―but I have to. [Firstly, I do this] as a Canadian and more importantly as a parent, who wants a better future not only for my children, but for other children as well. The other reason I am doing this is because roughly 30% of the [government] committee members are not pleased with the direction this will take Canada―but our opinions have been ignored and they plan on moving forward toward their goals. They have also made it very clear that nothing will stop the planned outcomes.
“The road map and aim was set out by the Prime Minister’s Office and is as follows:
● Phase in secondary lock down restrictions on a rolling basis, starting with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward. Expected by November 2020.
● Rush the acquisition of (or construction of) isolation facilities across every province and territory. Expected by December 2020.
● Daily new cases of COVID-19 will surge beyond capacity of testing, including increases in COVID related deaths following the same growth curves. Expected by end of November 2020.
● Complete and total secondary lock down (much stricter than the first and second rolling phase restrictions). Expected by end of December 2020 or early January 2021
● Reform and expansion of the Unemployment Program to be transitioned into the Universal Basic Income Program. Expected by the first quarter of 2021.
● Projected COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with secondary virus (referred to as COVID-21) leading to a third wave, with much higher mortality rate and higher rate of infection. Expected by February 2021.
● Daily new cases of COVID-21 hospitalizations and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related deaths will exceed medical care facilities capacity. Expected by the first quarter or second quarter of 2021.
● Enhanced lock down restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected second quarter of 2021.
● Transitioning of individuals into the Universal Basic Income Program. Expected mid second quarter of 2021.
● Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late second quarter of 2021.
● Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas, as well as all major roadways, to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by third quarter of 2021.
“Along with that provided road map, the Strategic Planning Committee was asked to design an effective way of transitioning Canadians to meet an unprecedented economic endeavor. One that would change the face of Canada and forever alter the lives of Canadians. What we were told was that, in order to offset what was essentially an economic collapse on an international scale, that the federal government was going to offer Canadians a total debt relief. This is how it works:
“The federal government will offer to eliminate all personal debts (mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc) which all funding will be provided to Canada by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) under what will become known as the ‘World Debt Reset’ program. In exchange for acceptance of this Total Debt Forgiveness the individual would forfeit ownership of any and all property and assets forever. The individual would also have to agree to partake in the COVID-19 and COVID-21 vaccination schedule, which would provide the individual with unrestricted travel and unrestricted living―even under a full lock down (through the use of photo identification referred to as Canada’s HealthPass).
Committee Members asked who would become the owner of the forfeited property and assets in that scenario; and what would happen to lenders or financial institutions―we were simply told ‘the World Debt Reset program will handle all of the details’.
“Several Committee Members also questioned what would happen to individuals if they refused to participate in the World Debt Reset Program, or the HealthPass, or the vaccination schedule, and the answer we got was very troubling. Essentially we were told it was our duty to make sure we came up with a plan to ensure that would never happen. We were told it was in the best interest of individuals to participate. When several Committee Members pushed relentlessly to get an answer, we were told that those who refused would first live under the lock down restrictions indefinitely. And that over a short period of time, as more Canadians transitioned into the debt forgiveness program, the ones who refused to participate would be deemed a public safety risk and would be relocated into isolation facilities. Once in those facilities they would be given two options, participate in the debt forgiveness program and be released, or stay indefinitely in the isolation facility under the classification of a serious public health risk and have all their assets seized.
“So, as you can imagine, after hearing all of this―it turned into quite the heated discussion and escalated beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed before. In the end it was implied by the Prime Minister’s Office that the whole agenda will move forward no matter who agrees with it or not. That it won’t just be Canada―but in fact all nations will have similar roadmaps and agendas. That we need to take advantage of the situations before us to promote change on a grander scale for the betterment of everyone. The members who were opposed and ones who brought up key issues that would arise from such a thing were completely ignored. Our opinions and concerns were ignored. We were simply told to just do it. All I know is that I don’t like it and I think it’s going to place Canadians into a dark future.”
This very much fits with something that came out on October 8th, 2020, via televised proceedings in Parliament. Here a Member of Parliament asks if “the people of Ontario should prepare for Internment camps?” He was told “yes” but in a vague and ambiguous way.
Still the Wrong Solutions!
The above New World Order agenda, the gradually increasing totalitarian stranglehold over the world, the manipulation of finance, politics, media, culture, etc. The man-made diseases―the man-made economic meltdown―the man-made lockdowns―the man-made narrative of terror and lies―the man-made masks that mask the imbecile scientific minds with their unscientific reasoning―the man-made vaccine that is to be forced on everyone―the man-made HealthPasses, or electronic HealthID chips that are to be forced on everyone―the man-made 24/7 monitoring of people through their phones, tablets, computers, televisions, smartmeters―the man-made cashless society (cash carries Covid) operating only on electronic money, etc, etc, etc. All of these man-made (Satan inspired) tools of control, manipulation and espionage have now captivated, cornered and coerced mankind into the “sheeple” pens provided by the kindly, caring New World Order enforcers. Finally, mention must be made of the man-made or self-made stupidity of most people, whose intellectual capacities have been so decomposed by fun and entertainment, that these atrophied minds have no more muscle to really think―and so they gullibly eat the mush and drink the Kool-Aid offered to them by the Mainstream Media (MSM) and their controllers.
The most disconcerting factor, in all of this, is the stupidity of choice with regard to the solutions to the predicament! What is the armor that is recommended? What are weapons they say we should use? What are solutions to the threats and dangers? Almost all of the solutions offered are ultimately laughable―and nobody is laughing more than the devil and his stooges and minions. They don’t mind you knowing the truth anymore, they chiefly want to distract you and discourage you with all this information, so that you will just talk, and talk and talk about it―running round like a headless chicken―in the hope that you will do nothing about it, that is to say do nothing SPIRITUAL AND SUPERNATURAL about it―for the devil knows that it is only the spiritual and supernatural that can defeat him.
Now since most of the world is not Catholic―6.5 billion people out of 7.8 total world population―and, of the remaining 1.3 billion Catholics, most of them (80%) no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly, and an even larger number being in a state of mortal sin―in view of all this, are those 7.5 or 7.6 billion of non-believers or “not-in-a-state-of-grace” Catholics likely to use SPIRITUAL AND SUPERNATURAL weapons to combat all these Satanically inspired evils? Of course not! They will NEVER USE THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AS A WEAPON―because they do not even believe that Mass=Calvary, they don’t even believe that Christ is really present in the Mass/Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! Add onto this the fact that if a person is in a state of mortal sin, then that person’s prayers are useless if they are offered for some other person, cause, intention―God will only return them to sender with a grace to bring about their own conversion―but their prayers can help nobody else. So they resort to their childish human solutions―pass on this email to everyone in your address book; make this YouTube video go viral before they take it down; subscribe to this website if you want to know the truth; etc. etc. “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). All that these people can do―some of them are bona-fide and sincere, others are “controlled opposition”―is (1) distract you more and more, (2) keep you away from praying and sacrificing, while (3) creating an “intellectual constipation” or “information constipation” within you and little else!
Catholics to Blame!
Let us not play the “blame-game” and point the finger of blame at others for the mess we are in! You were called by God to be Catholic for a purpose―that purpose is to fight for the Faith as a Soldier of Christ, conquering souls for the Faith and protecting the Faith of those who are already Catholic. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Is that a fair description of your life so far? Warfare for the Faith? Not entangled with secular and worldly things? Fighting the good fight? Fighting violently (intensely)? Who are you trying to fool? Yes―perhaps you will find one in ten-thousand or one in a hundred-thousand who are like that―but is that you? If we only would not have become entangled with the world (the enemy of God), then perhaps things would not be as bad as they are now! Have we really been praying many extra Rosaries each and every day for the conversion of sinners, for the conversion of our rulers, for the conversion of America to Catholicism? We can barely manage five decades daily―never mind many extra Rosaries! Then what about the many sacrifices Our Lady of Fatima asked for? We are all post-Fatima children―born after 1917―and so there is nobody who is unaware of Our Lady’s Fatima comments and demands. Instead of turning the multitude of daily inconveniences and setbacks into sacrifices by humbly accepting, we instead turn them into sins by complaining, whining, moaning and groaning when we receive them!
In case you forgot, here is reminder of that the Angel of Portugal (Angel of Peace) said. When the Angel found the children playing (which is pretty much our chief occupation today), he scolded them: “What are you doing? “Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers unceasingly and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.” To which Our Lady later added: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! For many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Aha! The life of a true Catholic! Not just an adult Catholic, but also a Catholic child―the children were merely 10, 9 and 7 years-old when Our Lady asked this from them! Do you realize that mortal sin can also be committed by NEGLECT? There is a very powerful case to be made that our neglect to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, for the conversion of these corrupt politicians who govern us, for the conversion of America to the Catholic Faith―can very easily become a mortal sin of neglect. Holy Scripture says: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3).
As Catholics, we have fallen far short of the true Catholic level that we should have had with regard to the conversion of America to Catholicism and purification of government! Our Lady’s and Angel’s pleas for many prayers and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners in general, further translates to the conversion of America to Catholicism. To some American Catholics that seems too much of an American Pie in the Sky―so impossible and unlikely―that they never ever bothered praying and sacrificing for that in the first place.
Friday October 16th & Saturday October 17th
Article 6
Part 2 of the Mind-Blowing Tactic That Will Change the World!
STATING THE SOLUTION
Article 6
Part 2 of the Mind-Blowing Tactic That Will Change the World!
STATING THE SOLUTION
Part 1 covered some of the many evils afflicting the Church and Mankind
Part 2 will now cover the solution to this ever-increasing stranglehold of evil
The previous article―by no means being all encompassing and exhaustive―gave the tip of the iceberg of sin and corruption found throughout the world today. It was also stressed that the current state of the world is largely the responsibility and fault of Catholics―who were supposed to be “the light of the world” and “the salt of the Earth”, something that they have either neglected or refused to do. We are not on this Earth for a “free-ride” and “worlds of fun”―but “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). We are Soldiers of Christ―not “tin soldiers” or “toy soldiers”―but real Soldiers: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
This fight―though it is not at first apparent―is a fight against the devil and his minions. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Pope Paul VI―on three occasions―stated that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church. Fr. Gabriele Amorth―the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome―also confirmed that the devil was in the Vatican, further adding that Satan loves to possess politicians, leaders and ‘money men’. He repeatedly warned that the world was becoming increasingly Satanic due our negligence, lack of vigilance and indifference. Sr. Lucia of Fatima―along the same lines―says: “She [Our Lady] told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Four centuries earlier, Our Lady had said: “Satan will reign almost completely” with Our Lady of La Salette adding in 1846: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little.” At Akita, in 1973, Our Lady said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church!”
The testimony and evidence is the same, no matter who you consult―Satan has his teeth sunk into the Church, Culture, Politics, Finance, Media, Entertainment, etc―and he will not let go or release his grip. This has been a planned invasion and take-over that has lasted centuries―it is rolling satanic juggernaut of a movement which has been slowly crushing any and all opposition in its path―which we have recently seen close down the entire world and churches as it increases its satanic stranglehold universally. Yet this is only the beginning of things―yes, all things seem to be lost (in theory) but we have not yet seen the full practical application yet.
Some Home Truths
The main reason all this has happened is the fault of Catholics―the “light of the world” and “the salt of the Earth”―who have been so caught up in the world, that they have been indifferent to the inroads Satan has made, and have neglected or refused to take the measures that could have prevented all this. If you think all of this will “just go away” by itself, or that “Mommy will kiss it and make it better” or that “Daddy will shoo-away all those bad monsters” or that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart will appear out of the blue and save us all ― then you deluded, infantile, a dreamer, a wishful thinker who has little or no grasp of reality or prophecy. You just don’t want to suffer―and keep on enjoying the things that prince of this world has served-up in his worldly princedom to keep you distracted from truth and from God.
Man―by himself―is absolutely no match for the devil in knowledge, in planning, in tactics, in deceit, in disguising evil as good, in power over nature. Man knows barely anything about Satan―whereas Satan knows man better than man knows himself. Man rarely thinks about the devil―but the devil thinks about man and how to plot his downfall, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, and each and every year while man still lives. One single angel―be it a good angel or even a bad angel―could destroy the whole universe if God were to allow it.
We need to wake up from our infantile knowledge and realize than human endeavors against the devils are totally useless, unless we bring Our Lord, Our Lady, our angels, the grace of God, the Sacramentals and the Sacraments of the Church into play. Therefore, let us now focus on what solutions we have at our disposal.
Not Every Solution is the Right Solution
Just as all medicine’s are not equal―likewise all solutions are not equal. In health matters, infections can be localized (just one organ or one area of the body) or they can be systemic (affecting the whole body). Localized disease examples include: (1) an ear infection; (2) a boil on the hand; (3) an abscess on the leg; (4) a localized cancer that has not extended beyond the margins of the organ involved. Systemic disease example include: (1) Influenza; (2) Diabetes mellitus; (3) Hypertension; (4) High cholesterol; (5) Chronic fatigue syndrome; (6) Lupus.
A systemic disease may come directly to the whole body. Or diseases that begin as local, can end up developing into systemic diseases. For example, a case of pneumonia might begin in one or both lungs and then spread throughout the body in a potentially life-threatening condition called sepsis. The microbe responsible for the pneumonia enters the bloodstream or lymphatic system and is carried to other parts of the body. What was once a localized disease has now become a systemic, or disseminated, disease. Another example is that of a cancer that metastasizes from a localized region into other organs, the blood or the bones―is a systemic disease. Yet not all systemic diseases are serious. For example, the common cold is a systemic infection―however, it is usually not particularly serious.
Medicines can either cure, halt, or prevent disease; or ease symptoms. Systemic drugs (drugs for the whole system) are usually more potent―sometimes to the point of having dangerous side effects―yet they are judged to be necessary because of the gravity of the situation. Furthermore, you have medicines that only work on specific diseases (such as asthma inhalers or nasal sprays) and medicines that have the capacity to work on many different diseases. For example, ECHINACEA has long been used to treat a variety of ailments, including wounds, burns, toothaches, sore throat, upset stomach, and to treat or prevent the common cold. Or GINSENG, utilized to reduce inflammation and boost immunity, brain function, and energy levels. It also has neuro-protective, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, and immune-supporting properties. Another example is CHAMOMILE―which for thousands of years, has been used as a remedy for nausea, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, urinary tract infections, wounds, upper respiratory infections, diarrhea, emotional disturbances as well as cramping associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and pain and inflammation linked to osteo-arthritis. It also has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. Finally, there is GARLIC, used throughout history to treat bronchitis, hypertension (high blood pressure), TB (tuberculosis), liver disorders, dysentery, flatulence, colic, intestinal worms, rheumatism, diabetes, fevers, for several conditions linked to the blood system and heart, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high cholesterol, heart attack, coronary heart disease, and hypertension, for the prevention of lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and colon cancer.
As a whole, you will find that God’s natural ‘medicines’ are very wide-ranging and have minimal side-effects; whereas man-made medicines are much narrower in their scope and have far more side-effects.
The same is true of our SPIRITUAL PHARMACY. Some ‘medicines’ are mild and sweet, others are powerful and bitter. Some require small dosages, others require large dosages. Some are for specific ‘ailments’, others work on anything and everything. Some are like “patches” that we wear on the body―such as the many scapulars and medals. Some have to be taken orally―our vocal prayers. Some involve exercise―such as prayer combined with fasting. Some involve amputation―severing oneself from the occasions of sin. Some have only a short course of treatment―whereas others never see the treatment end. Some have long-lasting benefits and may need to be taken only intermittently―others have short-lasting effects and need to be taken constantly. Just think along the lines of eating, drinking and breathing. You can a long time between eating―sometimes for weeks―but you cannot go weeks without drinking―even less so can you go weeks without breathing. In general, the brain can withstand up to three to six minutes without oxygen before brain damage occurs. The “rule of threes” is brief way to summarize all that―three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food.
The two chief sections of our SPIRITUAL PHARMACY are those of the SACRAMENTS and the SACRAMENTALS. The SACRAMENTS are said to work “ex opere operato”―whereas the SACRAMENTALS are said to work “ex opera operantis.” Ex opere operato is a Latin expression meaning “by the work worked.” It refers to the fact that the SACRAMENTS confer grace when the sign is validly effected — not as the result of activity on the part of the recipient, but by the power and promise of God. The peculiar nature of a Sacrament consists in this, (1) that the outward sign, (2) in virtue of its institution by Christ, (3) brings about or effects the grace which it signifies. It does so by its own power, ex opere operato, as theologians call it, and not through the piety of the minister nor of the recipient, which would be called ex opere operantis. Thus if a wicked man baptizes an infant, the same effect is produced as if a saintly priest did the act. Now, to receive the fruits of the Sacraments, you should be properly disposed. At least in adults, there must be a predispositional receptivity to receive the grace that is always available in a validly effected Sacrament. For example, you could be baptized―but if in your mind you were against Baptism and were only going through with it for appearances or to gain something―then, despite the priest baptizing you, you would not receive the grace of Baptism. This means reception of grace, via the Sacraments, is not automatic―but can be stifled or prevented by our will. But the ex opere operato nature of the Sacraments reminds us that, while a proper disposition is necessary to receive grace in the Sacraments, it isn’t the cause of that grace.
The SACRAMENTS will help you―in some minimal degree―even if you are lacking in dispositions of a love of God, fervor, confidence, etc. Whereas the SACRAMENTALS always require the correct dispositions and will only work in proportion to your fervor and confidence―though, having said that, the same is true of the SACRAMENTS, whereby you will get a certain degree of benefit from a SACRAMENT without any love of God, fervor or confidence on your part, you can also greatly increase that minimal degree by manifesting a great love of God, fervor and confidence.
THE SACRAMENTALS work “ex opera operantis”― a technical term literally meaning “from the work of the doer” to be distinguished from ex opere operato of the Sacaraments. Ex opere operantis refers to the role and value of the recipient’s or minister’s moral condition and spiritual condition in causing or receiving sacramental grace. Sacramentals confer grace dependent on the subjective devotion of the individual using them. The more fervent the recipient is in using the sacramental, the greater the increase of grace. They work through (1) the power and prayers of the Church (ex opere operantis Ecclesiae) and, (2) subjectively, ex opere operantis, that is, through the subjective dispositions of the person using them. Sacramentals can drive away evil spirit, and, when fervently used, can remit venial sin and prepare the soul for graces―but all that is only in proportion to the degree of devotion, love, confidence and belief in the person using the Sacramental.
SACRAMENTALS can be material things (blessed objects, such as Scapulars, Rosaries, Crucifixes, Medals, Holy Water, etc.), Sacramentals can be actions (making the Sign of the Cross, a genuflection, saying prayers, the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, etc.). Note that only a priest has the power to bless an object and make it a Sacramental. Lay Catholics are free to bless objects, even using the prayers priests use ― and they do so often in blessing their children, blessing meals, blessing Advent wreaths, or Mary Gardens, etc. ― but their ‘blessings’ act as mere pleas or requests to God. Priests alone have been given the power to bless with a guarantee of a blessing ― as it were ― and it is priests and they alone who can take a new Crucifix, Rosary, Scapular, Medal, picture or statue and turn them into Sacramentals with the power and prayers of the entire Church behind them.
SACRAMENTS versus SACRAMENTALS
We know in theory that the Sacraments are superior to the Sacramentals―some of the chief reasons are that:
(1) The Sacraments are directly from God, instituted by Christ Himself; whereas the Sacramentals are man-made or created by the Church.
(2) The Sacraments directly giving us Sanctifying Grace (which stays with us if do not sin mortally), some of the Sacraments (Baptism and Confession) can give us Sanctifying Grace when we are dead in Mortal Sin; whereas Sacramentals cannot give us Sanctifying Grace, but are potential sources of Actual Graces (temporary graces)
(3) The Sacraments do not depend upon our faith, holiness, fervor or confidence in giving Sanctifying Grace to us, they essentially require a valid execution of the Sacrament (though greater fervor can incidentally acquire more grace for us); whereas with Sacramentals if there a mere mechanical, robotic, automatic and lukewarm use of the Sacramental, it risks obtaining no graces at all for us.
The Greatest of them All―The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
There is much talk about the Rosary being the greatest weapon we have. St. Padre Pio saying: “The Rosary is THE Weapon!” While Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Also, we read that when Our Lady forced the devils to speak during an exorcism, they reluctantly admitted: “Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Thirty-Third Rose”).
Therefore, we should assiduously, fervently, and constantly pray AND meditate MANY Rosaries. We should increase our output and our fervor. There should nobody―during these perilous times―who is should be praying less than 15 decades per day. Some people are regularly praying (not merely saying) anywhere from 40 decades to as many as 100 decades a day.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the root cause of all graces and so it is the life-giving support to the Sacramentals as well. The Rosary draws it power from the Sacrifice of the Mass―for it is God Himself (Jesus Christ) who both offers the Mass and is the victim for the Mass. There is just no comparison between the two. There is no God in the Rosary with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The neglect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a weapon is both tragic and disastrous. You could say a trillion Rosaries, but they would reach nowhere near the power of one single Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It would be like trying to compare a bullet with nuclear bomb.
Satan Hates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
The devil is fully aware of this and the devil is fully behind minimizing the effects of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in both private lives of individuals and public lives of nations. He knows what it is that defeated in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago―it wasn’t any prayer or fasting, but the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Christ was the victim sacrificed and Christ was the priest sacrificing―the same has taken place in every valid Holy Sacrifice of the Mass since that day. Hence it is that saw the infiltration of the Church, first by the Freemasons, later joined by the Communists. Dr. Bella Dodd, one of leaders of the Communist Party of America, testified to the US Senate that merely her cell alone had managed to place over 1,100 Communist infiltrators in America seminaries―some of whom were now in highest positions in the Church, including bishops and cardinals in Rome. In the early 1990s it was discovered that were four Masonic Lodges in the Vatican for cardinals and bishops. If you get you own people to be “pretend” priests, then you are going to have “pretend Masses”―and if your “pretend” priests manage to weasel their way into the episcopacy, then the real damage begins to be done, for you have “pretend” bishops ordaining not only the next wave of infiltrators, but also the sincere Catholic seminarians who want to be real priests, but will not end being real priests but only “priest” look-alikes without having the power of orders―which means the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is on look-alike Mass without actually being a Mass. Furthermore, you can also tamper with the traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and replace it with a dubious Mass (which is what they did). To throw more hellish fire on the gasoline, you can then tamper with words of the Rite of Ordination for both priests and bishops (which is what they did) and create even greater likelihood of invalid Masses being said. Thus is devilish satanic tactic of Hell―destroy the greatest weapon that your ‘enemy’ (the Catholic Church) has, namely, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Fr. Michael Müller, in chapter 36 of his book, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, writes:
“Before the coming of our Redeemer, mankind was groaning under the tyranny of the devil. He was lord, and even caused himself to be worshiped as God, with incense and with sacrifices, not only of animals, but even of children and human lives. And what return did he make them? He tortured their bodies with the most barbarous cruelty, he blinded their minds, and by a path of pain and misery led them down to torment everlasting. It was to overthrow this tyrant, and release mankind from its wretched slavery … of Satan … this heartless master exacts from the poor sinners, who become his slaves, heavy tribute in the shape of passions, hatreds, disorderly affections, by means of which, while he scourges, he binds them in a still faster servitude. Our Savior came to release us from the slavery of this deadly foe; but in what manner did he effect this release? By offering His sufferings and death in satisfaction to the divine justice for the punishment due to our sins; by the sacrifice of His life upon the Cross He overthrew the empire of Satan over mankind.
“When St. Bridget was assisting at Mass one day, she saw at the moment of consecration how all the powers of Heaven were set in motion; she saw how numbers of angels came down, and the devils commenced to tremble and take to flight in the greatest confusion and terror.
“Satan has always borne an implacable hatred to the Mass as to the most powerful weapon against all his evil machinations. It is for this reason that ever since the institution of the Holy Sacrifice he has repeatedly tried to destroy this impregnable fortress of the Catholic Church by undermining the Faith in the Real Presence, being fully persuaded that a complete success in this point is the only means for him of opening the way to the introduction of idolatry. It took Satan more than fifteen hundred years to gain any great victory over the Faith in the Real Presence among European nations. Meanwhile his endeavor to re-establish his fallen empire was untiring. Not being able to reconstruct it on the same basis of idolatry—the worship of himself—he has, at all times, endeavored to indemnify himself by the introduction of new sects and heresies, such as the erroneous and infernal doctrines of Arius, Pelagius, Luther, Henry VIII, and other wicked heresiarchs. In this undertaking he has succeeded admirably among many nations who had renounced idolatry and embraced the only true doctrine of the Catholic Church, but afterwards listening to perverse men—the agents of Satan, in the reconstruction of his empire on Earth—apostatized and fell into heresy or false doctrines—a finer and more subtle species of idolatry.
“The great and long hoped-for day arrived for Satan at last; the hour had struck in which he found two men according to his heart—men who listened most attentively to all his crafty suggestions, and carried out most faithfully all his malicious designs. These men were Martin Luther, an apostate priest of the Catholic Church in Germany, and Henry VIII, King of England. By those two agents and their associates Satan succeeded in depriving their numerous followers of the Faith in the Real Presence in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
“Let it be remembered that Satan will succeed in introducing idol-worship universally through Antichrist, because the great power in his way will then have been removed —the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will not be offered for three years and a half. Then will it become evident that, as our dear Savior had St. John the Baptist as His forerunner, to prepare the hearts of men by penance for His reception, so Antichrist had Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, and men of the same stamp as his forerunners to abolish Mass, and thus prepare the hearts of their followers by pride, arrogance, want of submission to Christ’s Vicar, irreligion, infidelity, and immorality, to follow and worship him—the soul of perdition as their sovereign Lord and God.
“During that dreadful time, the sun shall rise only to show that the altar has been torn down, the priest banished, the lights put out; it will be a time of calamity, of darkness and sorrow for the faithful worshipers of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. When there shall be no Mass any more, when sacrifice and libation are cut off from the House of God, when Jesus Christ shall not be allowed to be worshiped on our altars In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, then the tie between Earth and Heaven shall have been broken; then will the heavens over our head will be like brass, and the earth under our feet will be like iron; then the power and blessings of the Mass will be better known and understood than ever before.
“Who are those that will remain firm in their Faith in those days of unheard-of tribulation? Who will not be conquered, but will fight the good battle of the Lord? They will be those especially who, in the course of their life, assisted regularly at Mass with fervor and devotion. We have seen how the early Christians prepared themselves for their severe trials, by assisting at, and partaking of, the sacred mysteries. They knew that it was only from the Lamb of God, sacrificed on the altar, that they could receive that heroic courage which was requisite to sacrifice all, even their own lives, for the sake of Him who sacrificed Himself upon their altars. In like manner Catholics who will live in the days of Antichrist and have heard Mass regularly, will be endowed with a strength supernatural to baffle all the efforts of the son of perdition and his infernal agents to make them apostatize and to pass over to his army.” (Fr. Michael Müller, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 36).
Time to Roll-Out the Mass Missiles!
Of course the Mass is being said, pretty much, by every priest every day―which is good, apart from the fact that a certain growing number of those “priests” are infiltrators and their Mass is no more a Mass than if you yourself were to say one! Yet that should not discourage us― there might be some who we feel might be infiltrators but who might not be―and there may be some who we think are good priests, but they might be infiltrators. We leave that in capable hands of Our Lord, Who knows all the names and locations of these infiltrator “priests”. What we have to do is to channel the Mass of every priest, away from the less important intentions such as the health of Uncle Bill or the soul of Aunt Sally, onto the issues threatening the Church and Mankind at this very moment in time. WE ARE AT WAR―if you cannot see that, then something fundamentally catastrophic has happened to your mind―you can no longer see reality and believe the false narratives of your enemies. Even Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Of yourself, by yourself, you can do very little. Our Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing!” Our Lord is our bomber pilot and also our bomber airplane―just as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass He is both victim and priest offering the victim. We need to do some blanket-bombing or carpet-bombing―meaning that we have drop a constant stream of spiritual bombs or send a constant stream of spiritual missiles against these current Satanic enemies that are tightening their totalitarian New World Order grip over the Earth. It is not enough to simply go to as many Masses as you can―which is good, but grossly incomplete. WE NEED MASSES BEING OFFERED BY PRIESTS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF CHURCH AND MANKIND. Not just an occasional Mass, but MANY MASSES EVERY DAY. We should be in this for the long haul―until Satan and his minions and stooges have either been converted, or destroyed in they refuse to convert. As Our Lady of Akita said: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” What is the “sign left by my Son”? ― it is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ― yet very few people are using it, or are using it in the wrong way, on trivial intentions, while not pointing the Mass at the real threats. You―as a lay person―might not be able to say the Mass, but you can make the priest aim in the right direction by your Mass stipend, for the priest has to honor the intentions that you stipulate for the Mass.
The Intention for the Masses You will Request to Have Offered
What should be the intention for the Mass you ask the priest to say? It should be an all-embracing, umbrella-like intention, because God know precisely what needs to be done, who needs converting, who needs destroying and the order in which things should be done―let not our puffed-up, empty-headed, prideful minds have the audacity to try to tell God what to do―it would like the patient trying to tell the brain-surgeon how to proceed with the surgery, or a kindergartner trying to tell a car-mechanic how to fix the car. Our Lady has often spoken of the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart―triumph over whom? Friends? Of course not! Triumph over the enemies of God and mankind. Yes―everyone would like their conversion―but, as with a gangrened leg that refuses to respond to medicine, there comes a time for that gangrened leg to be amputated. Likewise, the gangrenous enemies of God―if they will not respond to the medicine of grace and convert, then they need to be amputated and destroyed. So our intention is a twofold intention―like the two opposite sides of a coin―(1) THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, and (2) THE CONVERSION OR DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND.
Not One―But Many Masses―Utilizing Many Priests
We need to seriously start “blanket-bombing” and “non-stop bombing” these Satanic enemies of God, the Church and Mankind. Not just a few Masses a day but hundreds of Masses a day for that double intention. We need to hold the feet of the enemy to the fire―the divine fire: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no!” says Our Lord (Luke 12:49-50). THERE IS NO HUMAN SOLUTION TO THIS! “Without Me, you can do nothing!” Our Lord adds (John 15:5). Don’t waste your breathe and your time. Can you do better the Christ Himself? So why are you trying? A waste of time and a delight to the devil―who sees our greatest Weapon unused. As already said―yes, you need to PRAY (not merely SAY) many Rosaries―because we are at war―but the Rosary can be compared to the Mass as bullets to a nuclear bomb. Have the Rosaries helped over the years―no, they have not. The constant progress of evil proves that point. Yes―they might have slowed the progress of evil down a little―but evil has progressed. We need bring out the spiritual nuclear weapon―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―and point it in the direction of the enemies of the Church: the devil and his minions and stooges. UNBELIEVABLY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE AND WE ARE PAYING THE PRICE. You would have thought the Pope, or bishops, would have even encouraged the faithful to offer as many stipends as they can afford for the above intention. You would have thought that they would have told their priests to offer Mass first and foremost and above all for the above intention. NOT A WHISPER! Like a boxer who keeps punching until he wins, or a soldier who keeps shooting until he kills the enemy―we need to keep punching and shooting until the enemy gives up and converts, or, if he won’t convert, then we need to keep punching and shooting until he is destroyed. This is “Final Battle between the Virgin and Satan” that Sister Lucia of Fatima speaks of:
“She [Our Lady] told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … God is giving two last remedies to the world … Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yes―prayer and sacrifice―the prayer of the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Can you imagine that God would ignore a perpetual daily barrage of Masses being offered for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of God, Church and Mankind? He would have to be a heartless God to do so! The devil knows the power that the Sacrifice of the Mass has over him―and so a perpetual daily barrage of Masses being offered against him is an intolerable thought. He will go to incredible lengths to stop you from this, or to distract you from doing it, or offer fallacious arguments as to why you should not do this!
This is not meant to be a miraculous cure-all, where God will wave a kind of a ‘spiritual magic wand’ and all His enemies will disappear! That is ludicrous and totally ignores the heavy debt of sin that Mankind is carrying and increasing daily, and the just desserts deserved by those sins in justice. The following words of Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello CAN NEVER BE REPEATED TOO MANY TIMES: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet at the same time we should also remember the power of fervor and sincerity in God’s service―which is also well-stated for our hope by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said, what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
No Excuses
Furthermore, Catholics―faced by this impending satanic totalitarian New World Order that has now brazenly manifested itself―have no excuse from the fight, nor have they an excuse that they have no weapons. As has already been stated, every Catholic can gain access to the weapon that even the devils are terrified of―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Every Catholic should not only attend more Masses during the week, but that is of little good if you can aim the missile of the Mass at the devil (and his stooges and minions) but neglect to do so! Which Catholic can say with all honesty that they cannot afford to launch several Mass-missiles each and every week? Nobody! Yet most will never do that! Hardly surprising that most Catholics end up in Hell!
Such neglectful Catholics are similar to the lazy man in the Parable of the Talents: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
We bury the Mass and do not use it! It will be to our eternal loss and pain! There is no real excuse that we can give Our Lord―besides, to whom more is given, more is also expected in return―as the Parable of the Talents also indicates, to which Scripture adds: “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). You have been given access to the greatest Weapon the Church has―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―yet you neglect to use it! Yes―you attend Mass regularly, perhaps even daily―but you are not having the missile of the Mass pointed in the direction it needs pointing, and so it ends up being offered for Uncle Joe’s aches and pains, Aunt Sally’s needs, or one of a thousand other more trivial intentions rather being offered against the satanic monster currently facing us―a waste of ammunition, a missile missing the target.
Part 2 will now cover the solution to this ever-increasing stranglehold of evil
The previous article―by no means being all encompassing and exhaustive―gave the tip of the iceberg of sin and corruption found throughout the world today. It was also stressed that the current state of the world is largely the responsibility and fault of Catholics―who were supposed to be “the light of the world” and “the salt of the Earth”, something that they have either neglected or refused to do. We are not on this Earth for a “free-ride” and “worlds of fun”―but “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). We are Soldiers of Christ―not “tin soldiers” or “toy soldiers”―but real Soldiers: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
This fight―though it is not at first apparent―is a fight against the devil and his minions. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Pope Paul VI―on three occasions―stated that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church. Fr. Gabriele Amorth―the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome―also confirmed that the devil was in the Vatican, further adding that Satan loves to possess politicians, leaders and ‘money men’. He repeatedly warned that the world was becoming increasingly Satanic due our negligence, lack of vigilance and indifference. Sr. Lucia of Fatima―along the same lines―says: “She [Our Lady] told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the devil―there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Four centuries earlier, Our Lady had said: “Satan will reign almost completely” with Our Lady of La Salette adding in 1846: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little.” At Akita, in 1973, Our Lady said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church!”
The testimony and evidence is the same, no matter who you consult―Satan has his teeth sunk into the Church, Culture, Politics, Finance, Media, Entertainment, etc―and he will not let go or release his grip. This has been a planned invasion and take-over that has lasted centuries―it is rolling satanic juggernaut of a movement which has been slowly crushing any and all opposition in its path―which we have recently seen close down the entire world and churches as it increases its satanic stranglehold universally. Yet this is only the beginning of things―yes, all things seem to be lost (in theory) but we have not yet seen the full practical application yet.
Some Home Truths
The main reason all this has happened is the fault of Catholics―the “light of the world” and “the salt of the Earth”―who have been so caught up in the world, that they have been indifferent to the inroads Satan has made, and have neglected or refused to take the measures that could have prevented all this. If you think all of this will “just go away” by itself, or that “Mommy will kiss it and make it better” or that “Daddy will shoo-away all those bad monsters” or that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart will appear out of the blue and save us all ― then you deluded, infantile, a dreamer, a wishful thinker who has little or no grasp of reality or prophecy. You just don’t want to suffer―and keep on enjoying the things that prince of this world has served-up in his worldly princedom to keep you distracted from truth and from God.
Man―by himself―is absolutely no match for the devil in knowledge, in planning, in tactics, in deceit, in disguising evil as good, in power over nature. Man knows barely anything about Satan―whereas Satan knows man better than man knows himself. Man rarely thinks about the devil―but the devil thinks about man and how to plot his downfall, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, and each and every year while man still lives. One single angel―be it a good angel or even a bad angel―could destroy the whole universe if God were to allow it.
We need to wake up from our infantile knowledge and realize than human endeavors against the devils are totally useless, unless we bring Our Lord, Our Lady, our angels, the grace of God, the Sacramentals and the Sacraments of the Church into play. Therefore, let us now focus on what solutions we have at our disposal.
Not Every Solution is the Right Solution
Just as all medicine’s are not equal―likewise all solutions are not equal. In health matters, infections can be localized (just one organ or one area of the body) or they can be systemic (affecting the whole body). Localized disease examples include: (1) an ear infection; (2) a boil on the hand; (3) an abscess on the leg; (4) a localized cancer that has not extended beyond the margins of the organ involved. Systemic disease example include: (1) Influenza; (2) Diabetes mellitus; (3) Hypertension; (4) High cholesterol; (5) Chronic fatigue syndrome; (6) Lupus.
A systemic disease may come directly to the whole body. Or diseases that begin as local, can end up developing into systemic diseases. For example, a case of pneumonia might begin in one or both lungs and then spread throughout the body in a potentially life-threatening condition called sepsis. The microbe responsible for the pneumonia enters the bloodstream or lymphatic system and is carried to other parts of the body. What was once a localized disease has now become a systemic, or disseminated, disease. Another example is that of a cancer that metastasizes from a localized region into other organs, the blood or the bones―is a systemic disease. Yet not all systemic diseases are serious. For example, the common cold is a systemic infection―however, it is usually not particularly serious.
Medicines can either cure, halt, or prevent disease; or ease symptoms. Systemic drugs (drugs for the whole system) are usually more potent―sometimes to the point of having dangerous side effects―yet they are judged to be necessary because of the gravity of the situation. Furthermore, you have medicines that only work on specific diseases (such as asthma inhalers or nasal sprays) and medicines that have the capacity to work on many different diseases. For example, ECHINACEA has long been used to treat a variety of ailments, including wounds, burns, toothaches, sore throat, upset stomach, and to treat or prevent the common cold. Or GINSENG, utilized to reduce inflammation and boost immunity, brain function, and energy levels. It also has neuro-protective, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, and immune-supporting properties. Another example is CHAMOMILE―which for thousands of years, has been used as a remedy for nausea, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, urinary tract infections, wounds, upper respiratory infections, diarrhea, emotional disturbances as well as cramping associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and pain and inflammation linked to osteo-arthritis. It also has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. Finally, there is GARLIC, used throughout history to treat bronchitis, hypertension (high blood pressure), TB (tuberculosis), liver disorders, dysentery, flatulence, colic, intestinal worms, rheumatism, diabetes, fevers, for several conditions linked to the blood system and heart, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high cholesterol, heart attack, coronary heart disease, and hypertension, for the prevention of lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and colon cancer.
As a whole, you will find that God’s natural ‘medicines’ are very wide-ranging and have minimal side-effects; whereas man-made medicines are much narrower in their scope and have far more side-effects.
The same is true of our SPIRITUAL PHARMACY. Some ‘medicines’ are mild and sweet, others are powerful and bitter. Some require small dosages, others require large dosages. Some are for specific ‘ailments’, others work on anything and everything. Some are like “patches” that we wear on the body―such as the many scapulars and medals. Some have to be taken orally―our vocal prayers. Some involve exercise―such as prayer combined with fasting. Some involve amputation―severing oneself from the occasions of sin. Some have only a short course of treatment―whereas others never see the treatment end. Some have long-lasting benefits and may need to be taken only intermittently―others have short-lasting effects and need to be taken constantly. Just think along the lines of eating, drinking and breathing. You can a long time between eating―sometimes for weeks―but you cannot go weeks without drinking―even less so can you go weeks without breathing. In general, the brain can withstand up to three to six minutes without oxygen before brain damage occurs. The “rule of threes” is brief way to summarize all that―three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food.
The two chief sections of our SPIRITUAL PHARMACY are those of the SACRAMENTS and the SACRAMENTALS. The SACRAMENTS are said to work “ex opere operato”―whereas the SACRAMENTALS are said to work “ex opera operantis.” Ex opere operato is a Latin expression meaning “by the work worked.” It refers to the fact that the SACRAMENTS confer grace when the sign is validly effected — not as the result of activity on the part of the recipient, but by the power and promise of God. The peculiar nature of a Sacrament consists in this, (1) that the outward sign, (2) in virtue of its institution by Christ, (3) brings about or effects the grace which it signifies. It does so by its own power, ex opere operato, as theologians call it, and not through the piety of the minister nor of the recipient, which would be called ex opere operantis. Thus if a wicked man baptizes an infant, the same effect is produced as if a saintly priest did the act. Now, to receive the fruits of the Sacraments, you should be properly disposed. At least in adults, there must be a predispositional receptivity to receive the grace that is always available in a validly effected Sacrament. For example, you could be baptized―but if in your mind you were against Baptism and were only going through with it for appearances or to gain something―then, despite the priest baptizing you, you would not receive the grace of Baptism. This means reception of grace, via the Sacraments, is not automatic―but can be stifled or prevented by our will. But the ex opere operato nature of the Sacraments reminds us that, while a proper disposition is necessary to receive grace in the Sacraments, it isn’t the cause of that grace.
The SACRAMENTS will help you―in some minimal degree―even if you are lacking in dispositions of a love of God, fervor, confidence, etc. Whereas the SACRAMENTALS always require the correct dispositions and will only work in proportion to your fervor and confidence―though, having said that, the same is true of the SACRAMENTS, whereby you will get a certain degree of benefit from a SACRAMENT without any love of God, fervor or confidence on your part, you can also greatly increase that minimal degree by manifesting a great love of God, fervor and confidence.
THE SACRAMENTALS work “ex opera operantis”― a technical term literally meaning “from the work of the doer” to be distinguished from ex opere operato of the Sacaraments. Ex opere operantis refers to the role and value of the recipient’s or minister’s moral condition and spiritual condition in causing or receiving sacramental grace. Sacramentals confer grace dependent on the subjective devotion of the individual using them. The more fervent the recipient is in using the sacramental, the greater the increase of grace. They work through (1) the power and prayers of the Church (ex opere operantis Ecclesiae) and, (2) subjectively, ex opere operantis, that is, through the subjective dispositions of the person using them. Sacramentals can drive away evil spirit, and, when fervently used, can remit venial sin and prepare the soul for graces―but all that is only in proportion to the degree of devotion, love, confidence and belief in the person using the Sacramental.
SACRAMENTALS can be material things (blessed objects, such as Scapulars, Rosaries, Crucifixes, Medals, Holy Water, etc.), Sacramentals can be actions (making the Sign of the Cross, a genuflection, saying prayers, the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, etc.). Note that only a priest has the power to bless an object and make it a Sacramental. Lay Catholics are free to bless objects, even using the prayers priests use ― and they do so often in blessing their children, blessing meals, blessing Advent wreaths, or Mary Gardens, etc. ― but their ‘blessings’ act as mere pleas or requests to God. Priests alone have been given the power to bless with a guarantee of a blessing ― as it were ― and it is priests and they alone who can take a new Crucifix, Rosary, Scapular, Medal, picture or statue and turn them into Sacramentals with the power and prayers of the entire Church behind them.
SACRAMENTS versus SACRAMENTALS
We know in theory that the Sacraments are superior to the Sacramentals―some of the chief reasons are that:
(1) The Sacraments are directly from God, instituted by Christ Himself; whereas the Sacramentals are man-made or created by the Church.
(2) The Sacraments directly giving us Sanctifying Grace (which stays with us if do not sin mortally), some of the Sacraments (Baptism and Confession) can give us Sanctifying Grace when we are dead in Mortal Sin; whereas Sacramentals cannot give us Sanctifying Grace, but are potential sources of Actual Graces (temporary graces)
(3) The Sacraments do not depend upon our faith, holiness, fervor or confidence in giving Sanctifying Grace to us, they essentially require a valid execution of the Sacrament (though greater fervor can incidentally acquire more grace for us); whereas with Sacramentals if there a mere mechanical, robotic, automatic and lukewarm use of the Sacramental, it risks obtaining no graces at all for us.
The Greatest of them All―The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
There is much talk about the Rosary being the greatest weapon we have. St. Padre Pio saying: “The Rosary is THE Weapon!” While Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Also, we read that when Our Lady forced the devils to speak during an exorcism, they reluctantly admitted: “Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Thirty-Third Rose”).
Therefore, we should assiduously, fervently, and constantly pray AND meditate MANY Rosaries. We should increase our output and our fervor. There should nobody―during these perilous times―who is should be praying less than 15 decades per day. Some people are regularly praying (not merely saying) anywhere from 40 decades to as many as 100 decades a day.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the root cause of all graces and so it is the life-giving support to the Sacramentals as well. The Rosary draws it power from the Sacrifice of the Mass―for it is God Himself (Jesus Christ) who both offers the Mass and is the victim for the Mass. There is just no comparison between the two. There is no God in the Rosary with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The neglect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a weapon is both tragic and disastrous. You could say a trillion Rosaries, but they would reach nowhere near the power of one single Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It would be like trying to compare a bullet with nuclear bomb.
Satan Hates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
The devil is fully aware of this and the devil is fully behind minimizing the effects of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in both private lives of individuals and public lives of nations. He knows what it is that defeated in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago―it wasn’t any prayer or fasting, but the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Christ was the victim sacrificed and Christ was the priest sacrificing―the same has taken place in every valid Holy Sacrifice of the Mass since that day. Hence it is that saw the infiltration of the Church, first by the Freemasons, later joined by the Communists. Dr. Bella Dodd, one of leaders of the Communist Party of America, testified to the US Senate that merely her cell alone had managed to place over 1,100 Communist infiltrators in America seminaries―some of whom were now in highest positions in the Church, including bishops and cardinals in Rome. In the early 1990s it was discovered that were four Masonic Lodges in the Vatican for cardinals and bishops. If you get you own people to be “pretend” priests, then you are going to have “pretend Masses”―and if your “pretend” priests manage to weasel their way into the episcopacy, then the real damage begins to be done, for you have “pretend” bishops ordaining not only the next wave of infiltrators, but also the sincere Catholic seminarians who want to be real priests, but will not end being real priests but only “priest” look-alikes without having the power of orders―which means the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is on look-alike Mass without actually being a Mass. Furthermore, you can also tamper with the traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and replace it with a dubious Mass (which is what they did). To throw more hellish fire on the gasoline, you can then tamper with words of the Rite of Ordination for both priests and bishops (which is what they did) and create even greater likelihood of invalid Masses being said. Thus is devilish satanic tactic of Hell―destroy the greatest weapon that your ‘enemy’ (the Catholic Church) has, namely, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Fr. Michael Müller, in chapter 36 of his book, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, writes:
“Before the coming of our Redeemer, mankind was groaning under the tyranny of the devil. He was lord, and even caused himself to be worshiped as God, with incense and with sacrifices, not only of animals, but even of children and human lives. And what return did he make them? He tortured their bodies with the most barbarous cruelty, he blinded their minds, and by a path of pain and misery led them down to torment everlasting. It was to overthrow this tyrant, and release mankind from its wretched slavery … of Satan … this heartless master exacts from the poor sinners, who become his slaves, heavy tribute in the shape of passions, hatreds, disorderly affections, by means of which, while he scourges, he binds them in a still faster servitude. Our Savior came to release us from the slavery of this deadly foe; but in what manner did he effect this release? By offering His sufferings and death in satisfaction to the divine justice for the punishment due to our sins; by the sacrifice of His life upon the Cross He overthrew the empire of Satan over mankind.
“When St. Bridget was assisting at Mass one day, she saw at the moment of consecration how all the powers of Heaven were set in motion; she saw how numbers of angels came down, and the devils commenced to tremble and take to flight in the greatest confusion and terror.
“Satan has always borne an implacable hatred to the Mass as to the most powerful weapon against all his evil machinations. It is for this reason that ever since the institution of the Holy Sacrifice he has repeatedly tried to destroy this impregnable fortress of the Catholic Church by undermining the Faith in the Real Presence, being fully persuaded that a complete success in this point is the only means for him of opening the way to the introduction of idolatry. It took Satan more than fifteen hundred years to gain any great victory over the Faith in the Real Presence among European nations. Meanwhile his endeavor to re-establish his fallen empire was untiring. Not being able to reconstruct it on the same basis of idolatry—the worship of himself—he has, at all times, endeavored to indemnify himself by the introduction of new sects and heresies, such as the erroneous and infernal doctrines of Arius, Pelagius, Luther, Henry VIII, and other wicked heresiarchs. In this undertaking he has succeeded admirably among many nations who had renounced idolatry and embraced the only true doctrine of the Catholic Church, but afterwards listening to perverse men—the agents of Satan, in the reconstruction of his empire on Earth—apostatized and fell into heresy or false doctrines—a finer and more subtle species of idolatry.
“The great and long hoped-for day arrived for Satan at last; the hour had struck in which he found two men according to his heart—men who listened most attentively to all his crafty suggestions, and carried out most faithfully all his malicious designs. These men were Martin Luther, an apostate priest of the Catholic Church in Germany, and Henry VIII, King of England. By those two agents and their associates Satan succeeded in depriving their numerous followers of the Faith in the Real Presence in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
“Let it be remembered that Satan will succeed in introducing idol-worship universally through Antichrist, because the great power in his way will then have been removed —the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will not be offered for three years and a half. Then will it become evident that, as our dear Savior had St. John the Baptist as His forerunner, to prepare the hearts of men by penance for His reception, so Antichrist had Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, and men of the same stamp as his forerunners to abolish Mass, and thus prepare the hearts of their followers by pride, arrogance, want of submission to Christ’s Vicar, irreligion, infidelity, and immorality, to follow and worship him—the soul of perdition as their sovereign Lord and God.
“During that dreadful time, the sun shall rise only to show that the altar has been torn down, the priest banished, the lights put out; it will be a time of calamity, of darkness and sorrow for the faithful worshipers of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. When there shall be no Mass any more, when sacrifice and libation are cut off from the House of God, when Jesus Christ shall not be allowed to be worshiped on our altars In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, then the tie between Earth and Heaven shall have been broken; then will the heavens over our head will be like brass, and the earth under our feet will be like iron; then the power and blessings of the Mass will be better known and understood than ever before.
“Who are those that will remain firm in their Faith in those days of unheard-of tribulation? Who will not be conquered, but will fight the good battle of the Lord? They will be those especially who, in the course of their life, assisted regularly at Mass with fervor and devotion. We have seen how the early Christians prepared themselves for their severe trials, by assisting at, and partaking of, the sacred mysteries. They knew that it was only from the Lamb of God, sacrificed on the altar, that they could receive that heroic courage which was requisite to sacrifice all, even their own lives, for the sake of Him who sacrificed Himself upon their altars. In like manner Catholics who will live in the days of Antichrist and have heard Mass regularly, will be endowed with a strength supernatural to baffle all the efforts of the son of perdition and his infernal agents to make them apostatize and to pass over to his army.” (Fr. Michael Müller, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 36).
Time to Roll-Out the Mass Missiles!
Of course the Mass is being said, pretty much, by every priest every day―which is good, apart from the fact that a certain growing number of those “priests” are infiltrators and their Mass is no more a Mass than if you yourself were to say one! Yet that should not discourage us― there might be some who we feel might be infiltrators but who might not be―and there may be some who we think are good priests, but they might be infiltrators. We leave that in capable hands of Our Lord, Who knows all the names and locations of these infiltrator “priests”. What we have to do is to channel the Mass of every priest, away from the less important intentions such as the health of Uncle Bill or the soul of Aunt Sally, onto the issues threatening the Church and Mankind at this very moment in time. WE ARE AT WAR―if you cannot see that, then something fundamentally catastrophic has happened to your mind―you can no longer see reality and believe the false narratives of your enemies. Even Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Of yourself, by yourself, you can do very little. Our Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing!” Our Lord is our bomber pilot and also our bomber airplane―just as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass He is both victim and priest offering the victim. We need to do some blanket-bombing or carpet-bombing―meaning that we have drop a constant stream of spiritual bombs or send a constant stream of spiritual missiles against these current Satanic enemies that are tightening their totalitarian New World Order grip over the Earth. It is not enough to simply go to as many Masses as you can―which is good, but grossly incomplete. WE NEED MASSES BEING OFFERED BY PRIESTS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF CHURCH AND MANKIND. Not just an occasional Mass, but MANY MASSES EVERY DAY. We should be in this for the long haul―until Satan and his minions and stooges have either been converted, or destroyed in they refuse to convert. As Our Lady of Akita said: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” What is the “sign left by my Son”? ― it is, of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ― yet very few people are using it, or are using it in the wrong way, on trivial intentions, while not pointing the Mass at the real threats. You―as a lay person―might not be able to say the Mass, but you can make the priest aim in the right direction by your Mass stipend, for the priest has to honor the intentions that you stipulate for the Mass.
The Intention for the Masses You will Request to Have Offered
What should be the intention for the Mass you ask the priest to say? It should be an all-embracing, umbrella-like intention, because God know precisely what needs to be done, who needs converting, who needs destroying and the order in which things should be done―let not our puffed-up, empty-headed, prideful minds have the audacity to try to tell God what to do―it would like the patient trying to tell the brain-surgeon how to proceed with the surgery, or a kindergartner trying to tell a car-mechanic how to fix the car. Our Lady has often spoken of the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart―triumph over whom? Friends? Of course not! Triumph over the enemies of God and mankind. Yes―everyone would like their conversion―but, as with a gangrened leg that refuses to respond to medicine, there comes a time for that gangrened leg to be amputated. Likewise, the gangrenous enemies of God―if they will not respond to the medicine of grace and convert, then they need to be amputated and destroyed. So our intention is a twofold intention―like the two opposite sides of a coin―(1) THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, and (2) THE CONVERSION OR DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND.
Not One―But Many Masses―Utilizing Many Priests
We need to seriously start “blanket-bombing” and “non-stop bombing” these Satanic enemies of God, the Church and Mankind. Not just a few Masses a day but hundreds of Masses a day for that double intention. We need to hold the feet of the enemy to the fire―the divine fire: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no!” says Our Lord (Luke 12:49-50). THERE IS NO HUMAN SOLUTION TO THIS! “Without Me, you can do nothing!” Our Lord adds (John 15:5). Don’t waste your breathe and your time. Can you do better the Christ Himself? So why are you trying? A waste of time and a delight to the devil―who sees our greatest Weapon unused. As already said―yes, you need to PRAY (not merely SAY) many Rosaries―because we are at war―but the Rosary can be compared to the Mass as bullets to a nuclear bomb. Have the Rosaries helped over the years―no, they have not. The constant progress of evil proves that point. Yes―they might have slowed the progress of evil down a little―but evil has progressed. We need bring out the spiritual nuclear weapon―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―and point it in the direction of the enemies of the Church: the devil and his minions and stooges. UNBELIEVABLY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE AND WE ARE PAYING THE PRICE. You would have thought the Pope, or bishops, would have even encouraged the faithful to offer as many stipends as they can afford for the above intention. You would have thought that they would have told their priests to offer Mass first and foremost and above all for the above intention. NOT A WHISPER! Like a boxer who keeps punching until he wins, or a soldier who keeps shooting until he kills the enemy―we need to keep punching and shooting until the enemy gives up and converts, or, if he won’t convert, then we need to keep punching and shooting until he is destroyed. This is “Final Battle between the Virgin and Satan” that Sister Lucia of Fatima speaks of:
“She [Our Lady] told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground … God is giving two last remedies to the world … Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yes―prayer and sacrifice―the prayer of the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Can you imagine that God would ignore a perpetual daily barrage of Masses being offered for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of God, Church and Mankind? He would have to be a heartless God to do so! The devil knows the power that the Sacrifice of the Mass has over him―and so a perpetual daily barrage of Masses being offered against him is an intolerable thought. He will go to incredible lengths to stop you from this, or to distract you from doing it, or offer fallacious arguments as to why you should not do this!
This is not meant to be a miraculous cure-all, where God will wave a kind of a ‘spiritual magic wand’ and all His enemies will disappear! That is ludicrous and totally ignores the heavy debt of sin that Mankind is carrying and increasing daily, and the just desserts deserved by those sins in justice. The following words of Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello CAN NEVER BE REPEATED TOO MANY TIMES: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Yet at the same time we should also remember the power of fervor and sincerity in God’s service―which is also well-stated for our hope by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said, what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
No Excuses
Furthermore, Catholics―faced by this impending satanic totalitarian New World Order that has now brazenly manifested itself―have no excuse from the fight, nor have they an excuse that they have no weapons. As has already been stated, every Catholic can gain access to the weapon that even the devils are terrified of―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Every Catholic should not only attend more Masses during the week, but that is of little good if you can aim the missile of the Mass at the devil (and his stooges and minions) but neglect to do so! Which Catholic can say with all honesty that they cannot afford to launch several Mass-missiles each and every week? Nobody! Yet most will never do that! Hardly surprising that most Catholics end up in Hell!
Such neglectful Catholics are similar to the lazy man in the Parable of the Talents: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
We bury the Mass and do not use it! It will be to our eternal loss and pain! There is no real excuse that we can give Our Lord―besides, to whom more is given, more is also expected in return―as the Parable of the Talents also indicates, to which Scripture adds: “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). You have been given access to the greatest Weapon the Church has―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―yet you neglect to use it! Yes―you attend Mass regularly, perhaps even daily―but you are not having the missile of the Mass pointed in the direction it needs pointing, and so it ends up being offered for Uncle Joe’s aches and pains, Aunt Sally’s needs, or one of a thousand other more trivial intentions rather being offered against the satanic monster currently facing us―a waste of ammunition, a missile missing the target.
Wednesday October 14th & Thursday October 15th
Article 5
Part 1 of the Mind-Blowing Tactic That Will Change the World!
STATING THE PROBLEM
Article 5
Part 1 of the Mind-Blowing Tactic That Will Change the World!
STATING THE PROBLEM
Master of Distraction and Overwhelming
The devil is a master of distraction―especially when something risks hurting his empire. Another tactic of his to make us feel overwhelmed―so much going on, so many problems, with the hope that we will see no solutions. Especially today―we seem to be living in a whirlpool of crises, civil unrest, health uncertainty, job loss, financial collapses, etc. Add to those the ever-sickening numbers of abortions, and the stomach-wrenching same sex laws that have “canonized” what the Bible calls an “abomination”. Furthermore, how can a Catholic feel happy at seeing America as the purveyor of a false religion when God wants all the world to be Catholic? Yet that no longer fazes Catholics―who have made their peace with the enemy and have compromised their Faith. We live among so much moral, political, cultural dung, that we have become accustomed to its feel, taste and smell.
Have We Become Dung-Eaters?
Pope Francis has blasted media organizations that focus on scandals and smears and promote fake news as a means of discrediting people in public life. Spreading disinformation was “probably the greatest damage that the media can do”, the Pope told the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio, back in December of 2016. It is a sin to defame people, he added. Using striking and shocking terminology, Francis said journalists and the media must avoid falling into “coprophilia” ― an abnormal preoccupation with excrement (dung). Those reading or watching such stories risked behaving like coprophagics, people who eat dung, the Pope added. The pope excused himself for using terminology that some might find repellent. “I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into – no offence intended – the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to report scandals, reporting nasty things, even if they are true! And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.” He also spoke of the danger of using the media to slander political rivals. “The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them, this above all in the world of politics. They can be used as means of defamation. No one has a right to do this. It is a sin and it is hurtful.” the Pope said. Disinformation was the greatest potential harm the media could cause, he said, because “it directs opinion in only one direction and omits the other part of the truth”.
As the Pope says, “the media have to be very clear, very transparent [which it is not], and not fall into the sickness of coprophilia [they have already fallen into it], that is, always wanting to report scandals, reporting nasty things, even if they are true! And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.” There is so much dung served-up out there that we breathe in its stench, we absorb it through the pores, we might even get to have morbid ‘taste’ for it―feeling unfulfilled, dissatisfied if we cannot get our daily ration of dung from one source or another―the mainstream media, social media, the internet, the television, etc. Dung becomes the spice of life!
Politics of Death
Politics is sick! Politics today is a politic of death! It is a politic of spiritual suicide! It is “Pied-Piper” politic leading to perpetual perdition. It is doomed to damnation―and a nation following today’s damnable politics will be damned with it. It is a politic that is spiritually blind―and both its leaders and its led will fall into the pit. “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” says Our Lord (Matthew 15:14).
Why? Well, Our Lady explains it thus: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). Hey! Look around you! What do you see?
► ABORTION (murder) on demand―to hell with God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not kill!” ― especially innocent babies, not criminals guilty of capital punishment. Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Talk and complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► LGBT, same sex marriages, transgenderism, etc. ― even being introduced as part of the curriculum in many schools. What God calls an “abomination” is now called “liberation” and God is now said to have made them the way they are! Just recently, in the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings on the Supreme Court of the United States on whether to confirm the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as the replacement Supreme Justice for the recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we have seen the Catholic mother of 7, Justice Amy Barrett, being unsuccessfully coerced into stating that she was all for the LGBT agenda―but she refused to compromise her Faith, yet having to give a vague, wishy-washy, “please-all” kind of answer. Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Many have already jumped on rainbow bandwagon―including bishops and clergy―some might still complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► PORNOGRAPHY is high on the list. Our Lady of Fatima revealed that impurity was the most common cause of damnation of souls―and that was back in 1917―before the advent of television and the internet. Access to porn is increasingly easy due to the wide variety of formats now available, such as printed materials, the internet, DVDs, television, and more. Over 40 million Americans are regular visitors to porn sites. The average visit lasts 6 minutes and 29 seconds. There are around 42 million porn websites, which totals around 370 million pages of porn. The porn industry’s annual revenue is more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. It is also more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Statistics show that every single second: 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet; every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet; every second 372 people are typing the word “adult” into a search engine. Every Single Day: 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States; every day 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received; every day 68 million search queries are generated in relation to pornography ― which is 25% of total internet searches; every day 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received.
● About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.”
● Over 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites.
● 47% of families in the United States reported that pornography is a problem in their home.
● 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
● 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails.
The research studies, primarily by the Barna Group and Covenant Eyes, reveal that initial exposure to porn begins in childhood and progresses.
● 68% of church-going men and over 50% of pastors view porn on a regular basis.
● 59% of pastors said that married men seek their help for porn use (you can understand that two-ways!).
● Of young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76% actively search for porn.
● Only 13% of self identified Christian women say they never watch porn ― 87% of Christian women have watched porn.
● 33% of women aged 25-and-under search for porn at least once per month.
● 55% of married Christian men and 25% of married Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month.
● Eleven is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn, and 94% of children will see porn by the age of 14.
● According to research from Family Safe Media, the largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children between ages 12 and 17.
● 57% of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation. And 69% say porn has adversely impacted the church.
● Pornography use increases the marital infidelity rate by more than 300%.
● 68% of divorce cases involve one party meeting a new paramour over the internet while 56% involve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.
● 56% of American divorces involve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.
● 40% of people identified as “sex addicts” lose their spouses, 58% suffer considerable financial losses, and about 33% lose their jobs.
Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Many Catholics are already wallowing in the swamp―including bishops and clergy―some might still complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► APOSTASY FROM THE FAITH is a level never before seen. All the false “lovey-dovey” approach of the New Religion of the Second Vatican Council has brought forth―not the stupidly imagined rejuvenation of the Church―but its depopulation. Back in late 1950s, a Notre Dame study showed that over 75% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly―today it is less than 20%. The falsely optimistic fruits that were supposed for follow Vatican II’s aggiornamento which literally means “a bringing up to date”―soon showed their bitter and mushy, rotten fruits. Guitar Masses, Folk Masses, Rock Masses, Clown Masses, Dancing Masses, etc. Was the result a massive increase in Mass attendance? No, a massive decrease! Once they naively opened the doors and windows of the Church to let in some fresh air in the expectation of the world flocking into the Church through those doors and windows, they merely found that their Catholics were leaving through those opened doors and windows and entering the world. Failed experiment? Stupid question! It’s obvious! It’s a little silly and much too late to bolt the barn-door once the horse has bolted! The current stats show that WELL OVER 90% of the youth will have ceased to regularly practice the Faith by the time they graduate (high-school / college / university). So what happens to their children when they have them? Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Most don’t even care―for they themselves are walking close to the edge! No solutions. Apostasy escalates! Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► IGNORANCE AND INDIFFERENCE OF CATHOLICS. Pope St. Pius X said that greatest enemy of the Catholic was not Freemasonry, nor Protestantism, nor Atheism (though all of those are most certainly enemies or threatening ‘viruses’), but he said that the greatest enemy of the Church was IGNORANCE among Catholics. In his encyclical on the Dangers of Ignorance to Catholics, the Pope writes: “It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect … the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian.”
That same ‘virus’ of Catholic IGNORANCE continues infect, weaken and destroy the Faith of Catholics today and destroys their hopes and chances of eternal life tomorrow. Never has the Catholic world been so ignorant about what really matters as it is evidently ignorant today. One distraction after another has the Catholic world spellbound and hypnotized―even many of the clergy and religious. The Pied Piper of Hell is leading most in a merry dance down the broad, wide road that leads to you-know-where! The Catholic world has become godless, gross, giddy gossipy, graceless and gormless―(“gormless” means lacking intelligence or vitality; stupid or dull).
Once you start spending hours on end on your electronic appliances, then there is less and less time for God (perhaps a few prayers) and the things of God, which include constantly learning about Faith. Ignorance quickly leads to sinfulness―you cannot really love and serve what you do not know. This is clearly seen today, when over 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin (because they fail to attend Sunday Mass regularly and then rarely ever go to Confession) ― yet in their stupid ignorance many “feel you can be a good Catholic without going to Church every Sunday”―while the ignorance of others makes many them “feel” that LGBT is acceptable, while the ignorance of others makes them “feel” that abortion is an option. Of the other 20%, many are caught in the snares of pornography and thus mortal sin―thus leaving perhaps only a tiny percentage in a state of grace. Yes, a tiny percentage, for there are many other mortal sins that can be and are committed besides not attending Sunday Mass and pornography―revealing the secret mortal sins of others, looks and thoughts of impurity about those that you encounter, using God’s Name in vain, blasphemy, merely watching immodest shows (which are most shows the way people dress nowadays), telling serious lies, fraud, serious neglect of duty, enabling others to sin mortally, silence in face of sin―these are just the tip of the iceberg of mortal sin. Any solutions? Stupid and humanistic one’s only! No real solutions. Everyone is too busy with the glitzy things of the world to care! Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► TIP OF THE ICEBERG. All of this is the mere tip of the iceberg of sin―you could show a tiny bit more of the tip of the iceberg and give statistics on the increase in murder, on the increase of violent crimes, on the increase of property crime, on the increase in fraud, on the increase in sexual crimes, on the increase in drug use and alcohol abuse―the whole point is the truth of Our Lady’s prediction: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). Hey! Look around you! What do you see? Don’t fool yourself―governments could stop all the above atrocities in a heartbeat―something the world’s government showed in shutting-down their countries and locking-down people in their own homes over this scaremongering Plannedemic over Covid-19. But they don’t do that and will not do that with this iceberg of sin―because, as Our Lady said: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Do the Math―There is No Human Solution
There are around 7,800 million (7.8 billion) people in the world, and that includes the 1,300 million (1.3 billion) Catholics. That means that out of every six people, one is a Catholic. Catholics are supposed to be light of the world: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). Sadly, Catholics are not the light of the world―but the world is light of Catholics!
The Englishman Douglas Hyde, In his youth he was active in a number of political organizations which brought him into contact with Communists. He was an early convert to Communism, at the age of 17, in 1928. He later became a Methodist lay preacher and continued this work for some time, in parallel with membership of the Communist Party. After a period working in North Wales, he moved to London, in 1938, and became the news editor of the Daily Worker. He became an English political journalist and writer. He remained the news editor of the Daily Worker until 1948, when he converted to Catholicism and resigned. After his resignation, he published an autobiography, I Believed. The Autobiography of a Former British Communist. He also wrote a book, Dedication and Leadership, about his experiences and the specific tactics of the Communists especially in the way that they recruited their members and built them into leaders. Hyde points out:
“When I left Communism [in 1948] after twenty years in the Party, I knew its evils. But I also believed that the Communists were right in some important respects. For example, when they said that there is a great battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls ... I believe that they are right, too, when they say that, although we may not see the end of the battle, its outcome will most probably be decided in this period in which we are living. In short, this is a turning‑point in man’s history, a terrible, yet tremendous time in which to live. This has, of course, been said before by other generations. In the past, however, when men talked of the fate of ‘the whole world’ and ‘all mankind’ being at stake they could mean only a small part of the surface of the globe, the one in which lived only a minority of the human race. When we talk of a worldwide battle today we mean one which involves men in every country everywhere. When, therefore, the Communists speak of launching the world on the way to Communism in the period in which we are living, it is this that they mean—not the whole world with the exception of the United States, or the United Kingdom or whichever country, being your own, you may feel is proof against assault. Their aim is quite clear. They have never concealed it—it is something that is immensely meaningful to every Communist. It is a Communist world. In the past half-century [1917-1967] they have achieved one‑third of that aim. On any reckoning, that is a remarkable achievement, probably an unprecedented one. Nonetheless the world in which we live is still predominantly non‑Communist. Twice as many people live in the non‑Communist world as live under Communism. There is no basis here for defeatism.
“Even so, it is probably true to say of the Communists that never in man’s history has a small group of people set out to win a world and achieved more in less time. Certainly, they have brought far more people under their sway by the methods they employ than anyone else has done during the same period. Moreover, they have always worked through a minority. This is, however, less exceptional than would appear. In practice, most organizations and causes work through minorities. Even those who believe most deeply in majority rule ― still depend upon the faithful few to do the work, to make the necessary sacrifices in time, energy and devotion to keep the movement going. The Communists have learned from experience how best they can make the maximum impact upon others, even though they must work through a minority. The Communist Party throughout the world has thirty-six million members [he writes this in the 1960s]. Of these, a very high proportion live in lands ruled by Communism. There, quite consciously and deliberately the party is kept small so that it may retain the character of an elite. Only a few million live and work in the non‑Communist world. Yet the impact they make upon it is such that we are conscious of their presence the whole of the time. They have profoundly influenced the thought of the majority. The policies of other parties are notably different from what they would otherwise have been because the Communists exist.
“Communists are a very small minority, in comparison with some of the other groups who are also contending for men’s hearts and minds. There are, for example, 400 million Moslems and more than 500 million Catholics [today 1,900 million Moslems and 1,300 million Catholics], the majority of whom live outside the Communist countries. These other great world movements have immensely larger human resources at their disposal than have the combined Communist parties. Yet no one could claim that in the period in which Communism has been in our midst they have had anything like its success ... Marx concluded his Communist Manifesto with the words “You have a world to win”. Here is a tremendous aim. In material terms, one could hardly aim higher. The belief that the world is there to be won and that Communists can win it is firmly implanted in the mind of every Communist cadre. It is with him all the time. He has a clear goal. He knows what he is working for. And it is something which he believes is capable of realization. From the time that I joined the Communist Party, practically to the time when twenty years later I left it, I was conscious of the fact that our members firmly believed that, relatively few though they might be, they had a world to win and were going to win it. I came to the Catholic Church prepared for most of what I found and it would be the sheerest hypocrisy to pretend that I either expected or found everything to be good. But one thing I had not bargained for was the many people I met who told me that the Catholic community in Britain suffered from something they described as a minority complex. I had not expected this, because I was coming from an organization which at that time had some 45,000 members in UK, to one [the Catholic Church in the UK] which was numerically 100 times as strong [4,500,000 Catholics] and which represented some 10 percent of Britain’s population [almost 50 million]. Even in the days when we UK Communists could only boast some 15,000 members, we believed that when the right circumstances came, as come they must, we would make Britain Communist and would do so with the support of the mass of the people. Whatever else we may have suffered from, we had no minority complex.
Douglas Hyde then points out why Communism is more successful than Catholicism―mainly because Communists are dedicated, Catholics are not. He writes: “If you ask me what is the distinguishing mark of the Communist? I would say that beyond any shadow of doubt it is their idealism, their zeal, dedication, devotion to their cause and willingness to sacrifice. This is no accident. It does not just happen. The Communists have evolved their own means by which they are able to evoke an exceptional degree of dedication. The Communist recruit comes to the Party expecting to have to sacrifice and expecting also to have to go into action. He is conditioned right from the start for this. Youth is a period of idealism. The Communists attract young people by appealing directly to that idealism. The West has nothing to offer the young idealist but cynicism, an expression of the decadence of our way of life. It has led the youth to believe that if you are interested in improving man’s lot on Earth, if you want to change the world, then it is to the Communists, not to the Christians, you must turn. Communism becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Communist. It is something to which he gives himself completely. The Communists’ appeal to idealism is direct and audacious.
"They say that if you make mean little demands upon people, you will get a mean little response which is all you deserve, but, if you make big demands on them, you will get an heroic response. They prove in practice that this is so, over and over again. They work on the assumption that if you call for big sacrifices people will respond to this and, moreover, the relatively smaller sacrifices will come quite naturally. Like attracts like. Those who are attracted by the dedication they see within the movement will themselves be possessed of a capacity for dedication. Thus dedication perpetuates itself. It sets the tone and pace of the movement as a whole. This being so, the movement can make big demands upon its followers, knowing that the response will come. If the majority of members of an organization are half‑hearted and largely inactive, then it is not surprising if others who join it soon conform to the general pattern. If the organization makes relatively few demands upon its members and if they quite obviously feel under no obligation to give a very great deal to it, then those who join may be forgiven for supposing that this is the norm and that this is what membership entails. If, on the other hand, the majority of members, from the leaders down, are characterized by their single‑minded devotion to the cause, if it is quite clear that the majority are giving until it hurts, putting their time, money, thought and if necessary life itself at its disposal, then those who consider joining will assume that this is what will be expected of them. If they nonetheless make the decision to join, they will come already conditioned to sacrifice till it hurts. There is no mystery about the indisputable fact that Communists exert an influence out of all proportion to their numbers, once one grasps the point that practically every party member is a dedicated man in whose life, from the time he rises in the morning till the time he goes to bed at night, for 365 days of the year, Communism is the dominant force.
“What distinguishes the Communist movement from most others―and makes it possible for so small a minority to make so great an impact upon our time―is the dedication of the average individual member and the immense and dynamic force this represents when all those individuals collectively make their contribution to the cause. Without that, they would not be prepared to accept the organization, the discipline, the unending ‘Marxist education’, the incessant appeals for ever more action. All these contribute to the Communist impact, but the starting point is dedication. The Communists themselves fully appreciate this. Any Communist tutor would insist right at the start that the very foundation and starting point must be dedication. This is something for others who are concerned with producing leaders to appreciate too. It is of course quite possible to produce leaders of some sort by teaching certain techniques. You can learn certain techniques and so become a leader who leads for himself—if by leadership you simply mean getting to the top, whether it be of an organization, a business, a profession or the political system. But the first requirement, if you are going to produce a leader for a cause, is that he should be dedicated.”
“The Communists make far bigger demands upon their people than the average Christian organization would ever dare to make. As I have already noted, they believe that if you make big demands upon people you will get a big response. So this is made a deliberate policy on their part. They never make the small demand if they can make the big one. Contrary to what is often believed by those who have never been Communists, they do not, at any rate in non‑Communist countries, normally achieve this by putting a gun, either real or metaphorical, at the member’s head. This would not achieve its purpose. Dedication and willingness to sacrifice must be developed within a person, then drawn out of them, not forced in.”
“To the Christian there is an element of sheer tragedy in this—that people with such potentialities should give so much energy, zeal and dedication to such a cause, whilst those who believe that they have the best cause on Earth, often give so little to it. And their leaders are so often afraid to ask for more than the merest minimum! The Christian may say that the Communists have the worst creed on Earth―but what they have to appreciate is that the Communists shout it from the housetops; whilst, too often, those who believe they have the best creed, speak with a muted voice, that is when they speak at all! If anyone is going to change the world for the better, it may be argued, it ought to be the Christians, not the Communists.”
“It is ludicrous to suppose that half‑hearted Christians can conduct a fruitful dialogue with fully‑dedicated Communists. Perhaps it is this which underlies the fear felt by some Christians. They take it for granted that in any such dialogue the Communists must come out on top, that the Marxists will be the gainers, the Christians the losers. The well‑instructed, fully committed, totally dedicated Christian has little to fear [but where will you find such Christians today?]. But dedication must be met with dedication. Ideally it should be backed by a genuine understanding of one’s own beliefs and of the other man’s too [sounds like too much hard work already, huh?]. This must be the starting point for any dialogue with the Communists.”
Dedicated Communists―Dead-n-Crated Catholics
Very few Catholics today possess the depth of knowledge that mature, adult, Soldier of Christ should possess. They are merely “Tin-Soldiers” or “Toy-Soldiers”―they play at being Catholics, but without any real dedication being seen in their lives. As Our Lord said, the children of the world are wiser in what they do, than they children of light in what they do: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Communists plan to conquer the world―Catholics merely plan to enjoy the world!
Are we realistically expecting God to “turn-a-blind-eye” to the enormity of Catholic sins where only 20% regularly attend Sunday Mass? Nor does the 20% who do attend, guarantee that they are all in a state of grace―for there are hundreds of potential mortal sins besides that of missing Mass on Sunday. Not counting infants and those who have lost their mind, you can safely estimate that well over 95% are in a state of mortal sin! “Hey!” you say, “isn’t that a bit over the top?” No―because if Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and many theologians tell us that the vast majority of souls are lost―then, ask yourself, how can you be lost if you were not in a state of mortal sin? Impossible! What is God going to do to a Catholic Church where over 95% of souls are in a state of enmity with Him? Will He pat them on the head? Will He praise them? Or will He punish His Church? Chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus spells it out clearly.
Catholics were meant to be “the light of the world” and today you will find 1 Catholic among every 6 people. Now, as Douglas Hyde said, the Communists had great successes where out of every 1,000 people, 1 person was Communist. That means that Catholics are over 160 times better off than Communists but have achieved diddly-squat in comparison to the Communists―and we are even to supposed to have God on our side! “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). Instead of winning the world to God, we have been losing it to Satan―with many Catholics having “jumped-ship” in the process! “Ah!” you say: “God is love and mercies of God are above all His works!” True―but don’t just look at one side of the coin, the flip side is: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Don’t look at the pagans and pride yourself that you are not like them―this is what Our Lord condemned in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:10-14). “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). The fact that world is not Catholics, the fact that America is not Catholic, the fact that Communism (and its puppet masters) have most of the world in its grip―all these things are the fault of Catholics. We have not really lived our Faith and taken it as seriously as we should have done. We are the ones to blame! And blamed we will be!
Hence you can understand the words of Our Lady―spoken back in 1956 to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
God has inflicted upon us one of His worst punishments―whereby He leaves a person or persons to themselves. Hence it is that we have received the leaders that we deserve. Because we have not desired, nor prayed, nor fought for America to be Catholic―we are left with and are semi-content with garbage governments century after century. Instead of being given the Sweet Bread of Heaven―like the Prodigal Son who wasted and misspent what was given him: “He would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him” (Luke 15:16). Likewise, in the political pig-sty, we, likewise are not getting the husks of swine, but are reduced to being given dung and urine! A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Yes―Biden a self-proclaimed Catholic though he may be, and he might utter pious words such as: “I find great peace in the Mass and the Rosary” ― but does he find as much peace in the numbers of murdered babies which he has helped to indirectly kill by his support of Roe vs. Wade saying it cannot be reversed? Does he find as much peace in his support of the LGBTQ agenda, not to forget his taking the role of minister in presiding over the ‘marriage’ of two men in the White House? Is Biden of God? Is God for Biden? No! Yet we live with it and swallow the bilge. Trump may be against abortions―he said: “We are making it harder to get an abortion now, want to overturn federal protections and would support a near-total ban.” Neither is Trump a bedfellow of the LGBT movement―even though some sources say that Trump is seeking to decriminalize homosexuality. But, hey! ― God does not just focus on two kinds of sin, abortion and homosexuality ― there are a lot more sins that will make you His enemy.
Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Trump is a blatant and obsessive lover of the world―thus an enemy of God. The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. It includes real estate development, investing, brokerage, sales and marketing, property management, owns and operates hotels, resorts, residential towers, and golf courses in various countries. They also operate or have operated in construction, hospitality, casinos, entertainment, book and magazine publishing, broadcast media, model management, retail, financial services, food and beverages, business education, online travel, commercial and private aviation and beauty pageants. Retail operations include or have included fashion apparel, jewelry and accessories, books, home furnishings, lighting products, bath textiles and accessories, bedding, home fragrance products, small leather goods, vodka, wine, barware, steaks, chocolate bars, and bottled spring water.
As for wealth, Trump, at a 2016 presidential rally in Iowa, said: “Now, I’ll tell you, I’m good at that ― so, you know, I’ve always taken in money! I like money. I’m very greedy! I’m a greedy person! I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy ― I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right? But, you know what? I want to be greedy for our country. I want to be greedy. I want to be so greedy for our country. I want to take back money … But I’ve built an unbelievable company. Very, very little debt! Tremendous! Some of the greatest assets in the world. Tremendous cash flow! Tremendous cash sitting there!”
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ .The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! [Not quite the case with Trump]. What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Touching upon one other aspect―of which both Trump and Biden are offenders―though Trump leaves Biden in the starting blocks―is marriage―divorce and remarriage―adultery―sexual assault. Trump has been accused by over 26 women of various degrees of sexual impropriety, sexual assault, and even rape. To think that 26 is a top number―is to lack common sense and a sense of reality. If you have read Trump’s life in any detail, from multiple different sources, then you realize that there could be over 100 more for every single one of those 26 accusations. Trump himself has admitted on several media shows his love of impurity―so don’t think for one minute that all those 26 accusations are all false―there might be some scope for debate on details, but not really on reality of Trump’s predilection with the mortal sin of impurity and his frequent travels down that road. Somehow Our Lord does not look favorably on this: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28). “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbor's wife, let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress” (Leviticus 20:10).
The devil is a master of distraction―especially when something risks hurting his empire. Another tactic of his to make us feel overwhelmed―so much going on, so many problems, with the hope that we will see no solutions. Especially today―we seem to be living in a whirlpool of crises, civil unrest, health uncertainty, job loss, financial collapses, etc. Add to those the ever-sickening numbers of abortions, and the stomach-wrenching same sex laws that have “canonized” what the Bible calls an “abomination”. Furthermore, how can a Catholic feel happy at seeing America as the purveyor of a false religion when God wants all the world to be Catholic? Yet that no longer fazes Catholics―who have made their peace with the enemy and have compromised their Faith. We live among so much moral, political, cultural dung, that we have become accustomed to its feel, taste and smell.
Have We Become Dung-Eaters?
Pope Francis has blasted media organizations that focus on scandals and smears and promote fake news as a means of discrediting people in public life. Spreading disinformation was “probably the greatest damage that the media can do”, the Pope told the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio, back in December of 2016. It is a sin to defame people, he added. Using striking and shocking terminology, Francis said journalists and the media must avoid falling into “coprophilia” ― an abnormal preoccupation with excrement (dung). Those reading or watching such stories risked behaving like coprophagics, people who eat dung, the Pope added. The pope excused himself for using terminology that some might find repellent. “I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into – no offence intended – the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to report scandals, reporting nasty things, even if they are true! And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.” He also spoke of the danger of using the media to slander political rivals. “The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them, this above all in the world of politics. They can be used as means of defamation. No one has a right to do this. It is a sin and it is hurtful.” the Pope said. Disinformation was the greatest potential harm the media could cause, he said, because “it directs opinion in only one direction and omits the other part of the truth”.
As the Pope says, “the media have to be very clear, very transparent [which it is not], and not fall into the sickness of coprophilia [they have already fallen into it], that is, always wanting to report scandals, reporting nasty things, even if they are true! And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.” There is so much dung served-up out there that we breathe in its stench, we absorb it through the pores, we might even get to have morbid ‘taste’ for it―feeling unfulfilled, dissatisfied if we cannot get our daily ration of dung from one source or another―the mainstream media, social media, the internet, the television, etc. Dung becomes the spice of life!
Politics of Death
Politics is sick! Politics today is a politic of death! It is a politic of spiritual suicide! It is “Pied-Piper” politic leading to perpetual perdition. It is doomed to damnation―and a nation following today’s damnable politics will be damned with it. It is a politic that is spiritually blind―and both its leaders and its led will fall into the pit. “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” says Our Lord (Matthew 15:14).
Why? Well, Our Lady explains it thus: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). Hey! Look around you! What do you see?
► ABORTION (murder) on demand―to hell with God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not kill!” ― especially innocent babies, not criminals guilty of capital punishment. Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Talk and complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► LGBT, same sex marriages, transgenderism, etc. ― even being introduced as part of the curriculum in many schools. What God calls an “abomination” is now called “liberation” and God is now said to have made them the way they are! Just recently, in the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings on the Supreme Court of the United States on whether to confirm the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as the replacement Supreme Justice for the recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we have seen the Catholic mother of 7, Justice Amy Barrett, being unsuccessfully coerced into stating that she was all for the LGBT agenda―but she refused to compromise her Faith, yet having to give a vague, wishy-washy, “please-all” kind of answer. Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Many have already jumped on rainbow bandwagon―including bishops and clergy―some might still complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► PORNOGRAPHY is high on the list. Our Lady of Fatima revealed that impurity was the most common cause of damnation of souls―and that was back in 1917―before the advent of television and the internet. Access to porn is increasingly easy due to the wide variety of formats now available, such as printed materials, the internet, DVDs, television, and more. Over 40 million Americans are regular visitors to porn sites. The average visit lasts 6 minutes and 29 seconds. There are around 42 million porn websites, which totals around 370 million pages of porn. The porn industry’s annual revenue is more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. It is also more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Statistics show that every single second: 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet; every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet; every second 372 people are typing the word “adult” into a search engine. Every Single Day: 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States; every day 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received; every day 68 million search queries are generated in relation to pornography ― which is 25% of total internet searches; every day 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received.
● About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.”
● Over 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites.
● 47% of families in the United States reported that pornography is a problem in their home.
● 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
● 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails.
The research studies, primarily by the Barna Group and Covenant Eyes, reveal that initial exposure to porn begins in childhood and progresses.
● 68% of church-going men and over 50% of pastors view porn on a regular basis.
● 59% of pastors said that married men seek their help for porn use (you can understand that two-ways!).
● Of young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76% actively search for porn.
● Only 13% of self identified Christian women say they never watch porn ― 87% of Christian women have watched porn.
● 33% of women aged 25-and-under search for porn at least once per month.
● 55% of married Christian men and 25% of married Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month.
● Eleven is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn, and 94% of children will see porn by the age of 14.
● According to research from Family Safe Media, the largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children between ages 12 and 17.
● 57% of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation. And 69% say porn has adversely impacted the church.
● Pornography use increases the marital infidelity rate by more than 300%.
● 68% of divorce cases involve one party meeting a new paramour over the internet while 56% involve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.
● 56% of American divorces involve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.
● 40% of people identified as “sex addicts” lose their spouses, 58% suffer considerable financial losses, and about 33% lose their jobs.
Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Many Catholics are already wallowing in the swamp―including bishops and clergy―some might still complain! No solutions. Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► APOSTASY FROM THE FAITH is a level never before seen. All the false “lovey-dovey” approach of the New Religion of the Second Vatican Council has brought forth―not the stupidly imagined rejuvenation of the Church―but its depopulation. Back in late 1950s, a Notre Dame study showed that over 75% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly―today it is less than 20%. The falsely optimistic fruits that were supposed for follow Vatican II’s aggiornamento which literally means “a bringing up to date”―soon showed their bitter and mushy, rotten fruits. Guitar Masses, Folk Masses, Rock Masses, Clown Masses, Dancing Masses, etc. Was the result a massive increase in Mass attendance? No, a massive decrease! Once they naively opened the doors and windows of the Church to let in some fresh air in the expectation of the world flocking into the Church through those doors and windows, they merely found that their Catholics were leaving through those opened doors and windows and entering the world. Failed experiment? Stupid question! It’s obvious! It’s a little silly and much too late to bolt the barn-door once the horse has bolted! The current stats show that WELL OVER 90% of the youth will have ceased to regularly practice the Faith by the time they graduate (high-school / college / university). So what happens to their children when they have them? Who has the solution? Nobody! What do Catholics do? Most don’t even care―for they themselves are walking close to the edge! No solutions. Apostasy escalates! Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► IGNORANCE AND INDIFFERENCE OF CATHOLICS. Pope St. Pius X said that greatest enemy of the Catholic was not Freemasonry, nor Protestantism, nor Atheism (though all of those are most certainly enemies or threatening ‘viruses’), but he said that the greatest enemy of the Church was IGNORANCE among Catholics. In his encyclical on the Dangers of Ignorance to Catholics, the Pope writes: “It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect … the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian.”
That same ‘virus’ of Catholic IGNORANCE continues infect, weaken and destroy the Faith of Catholics today and destroys their hopes and chances of eternal life tomorrow. Never has the Catholic world been so ignorant about what really matters as it is evidently ignorant today. One distraction after another has the Catholic world spellbound and hypnotized―even many of the clergy and religious. The Pied Piper of Hell is leading most in a merry dance down the broad, wide road that leads to you-know-where! The Catholic world has become godless, gross, giddy gossipy, graceless and gormless―(“gormless” means lacking intelligence or vitality; stupid or dull).
Once you start spending hours on end on your electronic appliances, then there is less and less time for God (perhaps a few prayers) and the things of God, which include constantly learning about Faith. Ignorance quickly leads to sinfulness―you cannot really love and serve what you do not know. This is clearly seen today, when over 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin (because they fail to attend Sunday Mass regularly and then rarely ever go to Confession) ― yet in their stupid ignorance many “feel you can be a good Catholic without going to Church every Sunday”―while the ignorance of others makes many them “feel” that LGBT is acceptable, while the ignorance of others makes them “feel” that abortion is an option. Of the other 20%, many are caught in the snares of pornography and thus mortal sin―thus leaving perhaps only a tiny percentage in a state of grace. Yes, a tiny percentage, for there are many other mortal sins that can be and are committed besides not attending Sunday Mass and pornography―revealing the secret mortal sins of others, looks and thoughts of impurity about those that you encounter, using God’s Name in vain, blasphemy, merely watching immodest shows (which are most shows the way people dress nowadays), telling serious lies, fraud, serious neglect of duty, enabling others to sin mortally, silence in face of sin―these are just the tip of the iceberg of mortal sin. Any solutions? Stupid and humanistic one’s only! No real solutions. Everyone is too busy with the glitzy things of the world to care! Sins escalate! Sick! Sick! Sick!
► TIP OF THE ICEBERG. All of this is the mere tip of the iceberg of sin―you could show a tiny bit more of the tip of the iceberg and give statistics on the increase in murder, on the increase of violent crimes, on the increase of property crime, on the increase in fraud, on the increase in sexual crimes, on the increase in drug use and alcohol abuse―the whole point is the truth of Our Lady’s prediction: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette). Hey! Look around you! What do you see? Don’t fool yourself―governments could stop all the above atrocities in a heartbeat―something the world’s government showed in shutting-down their countries and locking-down people in their own homes over this scaremongering Plannedemic over Covid-19. But they don’t do that and will not do that with this iceberg of sin―because, as Our Lady said: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
Do the Math―There is No Human Solution
There are around 7,800 million (7.8 billion) people in the world, and that includes the 1,300 million (1.3 billion) Catholics. That means that out of every six people, one is a Catholic. Catholics are supposed to be light of the world: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:14-16). Sadly, Catholics are not the light of the world―but the world is light of Catholics!
The Englishman Douglas Hyde, In his youth he was active in a number of political organizations which brought him into contact with Communists. He was an early convert to Communism, at the age of 17, in 1928. He later became a Methodist lay preacher and continued this work for some time, in parallel with membership of the Communist Party. After a period working in North Wales, he moved to London, in 1938, and became the news editor of the Daily Worker. He became an English political journalist and writer. He remained the news editor of the Daily Worker until 1948, when he converted to Catholicism and resigned. After his resignation, he published an autobiography, I Believed. The Autobiography of a Former British Communist. He also wrote a book, Dedication and Leadership, about his experiences and the specific tactics of the Communists especially in the way that they recruited their members and built them into leaders. Hyde points out:
“When I left Communism [in 1948] after twenty years in the Party, I knew its evils. But I also believed that the Communists were right in some important respects. For example, when they said that there is a great battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls ... I believe that they are right, too, when they say that, although we may not see the end of the battle, its outcome will most probably be decided in this period in which we are living. In short, this is a turning‑point in man’s history, a terrible, yet tremendous time in which to live. This has, of course, been said before by other generations. In the past, however, when men talked of the fate of ‘the whole world’ and ‘all mankind’ being at stake they could mean only a small part of the surface of the globe, the one in which lived only a minority of the human race. When we talk of a worldwide battle today we mean one which involves men in every country everywhere. When, therefore, the Communists speak of launching the world on the way to Communism in the period in which we are living, it is this that they mean—not the whole world with the exception of the United States, or the United Kingdom or whichever country, being your own, you may feel is proof against assault. Their aim is quite clear. They have never concealed it—it is something that is immensely meaningful to every Communist. It is a Communist world. In the past half-century [1917-1967] they have achieved one‑third of that aim. On any reckoning, that is a remarkable achievement, probably an unprecedented one. Nonetheless the world in which we live is still predominantly non‑Communist. Twice as many people live in the non‑Communist world as live under Communism. There is no basis here for defeatism.
“Even so, it is probably true to say of the Communists that never in man’s history has a small group of people set out to win a world and achieved more in less time. Certainly, they have brought far more people under their sway by the methods they employ than anyone else has done during the same period. Moreover, they have always worked through a minority. This is, however, less exceptional than would appear. In practice, most organizations and causes work through minorities. Even those who believe most deeply in majority rule ― still depend upon the faithful few to do the work, to make the necessary sacrifices in time, energy and devotion to keep the movement going. The Communists have learned from experience how best they can make the maximum impact upon others, even though they must work through a minority. The Communist Party throughout the world has thirty-six million members [he writes this in the 1960s]. Of these, a very high proportion live in lands ruled by Communism. There, quite consciously and deliberately the party is kept small so that it may retain the character of an elite. Only a few million live and work in the non‑Communist world. Yet the impact they make upon it is such that we are conscious of their presence the whole of the time. They have profoundly influenced the thought of the majority. The policies of other parties are notably different from what they would otherwise have been because the Communists exist.
“Communists are a very small minority, in comparison with some of the other groups who are also contending for men’s hearts and minds. There are, for example, 400 million Moslems and more than 500 million Catholics [today 1,900 million Moslems and 1,300 million Catholics], the majority of whom live outside the Communist countries. These other great world movements have immensely larger human resources at their disposal than have the combined Communist parties. Yet no one could claim that in the period in which Communism has been in our midst they have had anything like its success ... Marx concluded his Communist Manifesto with the words “You have a world to win”. Here is a tremendous aim. In material terms, one could hardly aim higher. The belief that the world is there to be won and that Communists can win it is firmly implanted in the mind of every Communist cadre. It is with him all the time. He has a clear goal. He knows what he is working for. And it is something which he believes is capable of realization. From the time that I joined the Communist Party, practically to the time when twenty years later I left it, I was conscious of the fact that our members firmly believed that, relatively few though they might be, they had a world to win and were going to win it. I came to the Catholic Church prepared for most of what I found and it would be the sheerest hypocrisy to pretend that I either expected or found everything to be good. But one thing I had not bargained for was the many people I met who told me that the Catholic community in Britain suffered from something they described as a minority complex. I had not expected this, because I was coming from an organization which at that time had some 45,000 members in UK, to one [the Catholic Church in the UK] which was numerically 100 times as strong [4,500,000 Catholics] and which represented some 10 percent of Britain’s population [almost 50 million]. Even in the days when we UK Communists could only boast some 15,000 members, we believed that when the right circumstances came, as come they must, we would make Britain Communist and would do so with the support of the mass of the people. Whatever else we may have suffered from, we had no minority complex.
Douglas Hyde then points out why Communism is more successful than Catholicism―mainly because Communists are dedicated, Catholics are not. He writes: “If you ask me what is the distinguishing mark of the Communist? I would say that beyond any shadow of doubt it is their idealism, their zeal, dedication, devotion to their cause and willingness to sacrifice. This is no accident. It does not just happen. The Communists have evolved their own means by which they are able to evoke an exceptional degree of dedication. The Communist recruit comes to the Party expecting to have to sacrifice and expecting also to have to go into action. He is conditioned right from the start for this. Youth is a period of idealism. The Communists attract young people by appealing directly to that idealism. The West has nothing to offer the young idealist but cynicism, an expression of the decadence of our way of life. It has led the youth to believe that if you are interested in improving man’s lot on Earth, if you want to change the world, then it is to the Communists, not to the Christians, you must turn. Communism becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Communist. It is something to which he gives himself completely. The Communists’ appeal to idealism is direct and audacious.
"They say that if you make mean little demands upon people, you will get a mean little response which is all you deserve, but, if you make big demands on them, you will get an heroic response. They prove in practice that this is so, over and over again. They work on the assumption that if you call for big sacrifices people will respond to this and, moreover, the relatively smaller sacrifices will come quite naturally. Like attracts like. Those who are attracted by the dedication they see within the movement will themselves be possessed of a capacity for dedication. Thus dedication perpetuates itself. It sets the tone and pace of the movement as a whole. This being so, the movement can make big demands upon its followers, knowing that the response will come. If the majority of members of an organization are half‑hearted and largely inactive, then it is not surprising if others who join it soon conform to the general pattern. If the organization makes relatively few demands upon its members and if they quite obviously feel under no obligation to give a very great deal to it, then those who join may be forgiven for supposing that this is the norm and that this is what membership entails. If, on the other hand, the majority of members, from the leaders down, are characterized by their single‑minded devotion to the cause, if it is quite clear that the majority are giving until it hurts, putting their time, money, thought and if necessary life itself at its disposal, then those who consider joining will assume that this is what will be expected of them. If they nonetheless make the decision to join, they will come already conditioned to sacrifice till it hurts. There is no mystery about the indisputable fact that Communists exert an influence out of all proportion to their numbers, once one grasps the point that practically every party member is a dedicated man in whose life, from the time he rises in the morning till the time he goes to bed at night, for 365 days of the year, Communism is the dominant force.
“What distinguishes the Communist movement from most others―and makes it possible for so small a minority to make so great an impact upon our time―is the dedication of the average individual member and the immense and dynamic force this represents when all those individuals collectively make their contribution to the cause. Without that, they would not be prepared to accept the organization, the discipline, the unending ‘Marxist education’, the incessant appeals for ever more action. All these contribute to the Communist impact, but the starting point is dedication. The Communists themselves fully appreciate this. Any Communist tutor would insist right at the start that the very foundation and starting point must be dedication. This is something for others who are concerned with producing leaders to appreciate too. It is of course quite possible to produce leaders of some sort by teaching certain techniques. You can learn certain techniques and so become a leader who leads for himself—if by leadership you simply mean getting to the top, whether it be of an organization, a business, a profession or the political system. But the first requirement, if you are going to produce a leader for a cause, is that he should be dedicated.”
“The Communists make far bigger demands upon their people than the average Christian organization would ever dare to make. As I have already noted, they believe that if you make big demands upon people you will get a big response. So this is made a deliberate policy on their part. They never make the small demand if they can make the big one. Contrary to what is often believed by those who have never been Communists, they do not, at any rate in non‑Communist countries, normally achieve this by putting a gun, either real or metaphorical, at the member’s head. This would not achieve its purpose. Dedication and willingness to sacrifice must be developed within a person, then drawn out of them, not forced in.”
“To the Christian there is an element of sheer tragedy in this—that people with such potentialities should give so much energy, zeal and dedication to such a cause, whilst those who believe that they have the best cause on Earth, often give so little to it. And their leaders are so often afraid to ask for more than the merest minimum! The Christian may say that the Communists have the worst creed on Earth―but what they have to appreciate is that the Communists shout it from the housetops; whilst, too often, those who believe they have the best creed, speak with a muted voice, that is when they speak at all! If anyone is going to change the world for the better, it may be argued, it ought to be the Christians, not the Communists.”
“It is ludicrous to suppose that half‑hearted Christians can conduct a fruitful dialogue with fully‑dedicated Communists. Perhaps it is this which underlies the fear felt by some Christians. They take it for granted that in any such dialogue the Communists must come out on top, that the Marxists will be the gainers, the Christians the losers. The well‑instructed, fully committed, totally dedicated Christian has little to fear [but where will you find such Christians today?]. But dedication must be met with dedication. Ideally it should be backed by a genuine understanding of one’s own beliefs and of the other man’s too [sounds like too much hard work already, huh?]. This must be the starting point for any dialogue with the Communists.”
Dedicated Communists―Dead-n-Crated Catholics
Very few Catholics today possess the depth of knowledge that mature, adult, Soldier of Christ should possess. They are merely “Tin-Soldiers” or “Toy-Soldiers”―they play at being Catholics, but without any real dedication being seen in their lives. As Our Lord said, the children of the world are wiser in what they do, than they children of light in what they do: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5). Communists plan to conquer the world―Catholics merely plan to enjoy the world!
Are we realistically expecting God to “turn-a-blind-eye” to the enormity of Catholic sins where only 20% regularly attend Sunday Mass? Nor does the 20% who do attend, guarantee that they are all in a state of grace―for there are hundreds of potential mortal sins besides that of missing Mass on Sunday. Not counting infants and those who have lost their mind, you can safely estimate that well over 95% are in a state of mortal sin! “Hey!” you say, “isn’t that a bit over the top?” No―because if Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and many theologians tell us that the vast majority of souls are lost―then, ask yourself, how can you be lost if you were not in a state of mortal sin? Impossible! What is God going to do to a Catholic Church where over 95% of souls are in a state of enmity with Him? Will He pat them on the head? Will He praise them? Or will He punish His Church? Chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus spells it out clearly.
Catholics were meant to be “the light of the world” and today you will find 1 Catholic among every 6 people. Now, as Douglas Hyde said, the Communists had great successes where out of every 1,000 people, 1 person was Communist. That means that Catholics are over 160 times better off than Communists but have achieved diddly-squat in comparison to the Communists―and we are even to supposed to have God on our side! “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). Instead of winning the world to God, we have been losing it to Satan―with many Catholics having “jumped-ship” in the process! “Ah!” you say: “God is love and mercies of God are above all His works!” True―but don’t just look at one side of the coin, the flip side is: “Be not deceived! God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Don’t look at the pagans and pride yourself that you are not like them―this is what Our Lord condemned in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:10-14). “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). The fact that world is not Catholics, the fact that America is not Catholic, the fact that Communism (and its puppet masters) have most of the world in its grip―all these things are the fault of Catholics. We have not really lived our Faith and taken it as seriously as we should have done. We are the ones to blame! And blamed we will be!
Hence you can understand the words of Our Lady―spoken back in 1956 to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
God has inflicted upon us one of His worst punishments―whereby He leaves a person or persons to themselves. Hence it is that we have received the leaders that we deserve. Because we have not desired, nor prayed, nor fought for America to be Catholic―we are left with and are semi-content with garbage governments century after century. Instead of being given the Sweet Bread of Heaven―like the Prodigal Son who wasted and misspent what was given him: “He would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him” (Luke 15:16). Likewise, in the political pig-sty, we, likewise are not getting the husks of swine, but are reduced to being given dung and urine! A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Yes―Biden a self-proclaimed Catholic though he may be, and he might utter pious words such as: “I find great peace in the Mass and the Rosary” ― but does he find as much peace in the numbers of murdered babies which he has helped to indirectly kill by his support of Roe vs. Wade saying it cannot be reversed? Does he find as much peace in his support of the LGBTQ agenda, not to forget his taking the role of minister in presiding over the ‘marriage’ of two men in the White House? Is Biden of God? Is God for Biden? No! Yet we live with it and swallow the bilge. Trump may be against abortions―he said: “We are making it harder to get an abortion now, want to overturn federal protections and would support a near-total ban.” Neither is Trump a bedfellow of the LGBT movement―even though some sources say that Trump is seeking to decriminalize homosexuality. But, hey! ― God does not just focus on two kinds of sin, abortion and homosexuality ― there are a lot more sins that will make you His enemy.
Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Trump is a blatant and obsessive lover of the world―thus an enemy of God. The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. It includes real estate development, investing, brokerage, sales and marketing, property management, owns and operates hotels, resorts, residential towers, and golf courses in various countries. They also operate or have operated in construction, hospitality, casinos, entertainment, book and magazine publishing, broadcast media, model management, retail, financial services, food and beverages, business education, online travel, commercial and private aviation and beauty pageants. Retail operations include or have included fashion apparel, jewelry and accessories, books, home furnishings, lighting products, bath textiles and accessories, bedding, home fragrance products, small leather goods, vodka, wine, barware, steaks, chocolate bars, and bottled spring water.
As for wealth, Trump, at a 2016 presidential rally in Iowa, said: “Now, I’ll tell you, I’m good at that ― so, you know, I’ve always taken in money! I like money. I’m very greedy! I’m a greedy person! I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy ― I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right? But, you know what? I want to be greedy for our country. I want to be greedy. I want to be so greedy for our country. I want to take back money … But I’ve built an unbelievable company. Very, very little debt! Tremendous! Some of the greatest assets in the world. Tremendous cash flow! Tremendous cash sitting there!”
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ .The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! [Not quite the case with Trump]. What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25).
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Touching upon one other aspect―of which both Trump and Biden are offenders―though Trump leaves Biden in the starting blocks―is marriage―divorce and remarriage―adultery―sexual assault. Trump has been accused by over 26 women of various degrees of sexual impropriety, sexual assault, and even rape. To think that 26 is a top number―is to lack common sense and a sense of reality. If you have read Trump’s life in any detail, from multiple different sources, then you realize that there could be over 100 more for every single one of those 26 accusations. Trump himself has admitted on several media shows his love of impurity―so don’t think for one minute that all those 26 accusations are all false―there might be some scope for debate on details, but not really on reality of Trump’s predilection with the mortal sin of impurity and his frequent travels down that road. Somehow Our Lord does not look favorably on this: “I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28). “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbor's wife, let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress” (Leviticus 20:10).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday October 7th to Friday October 9th
Article 4
Modern Day Lepanto! Are You Ready, Soldier?
Wednesday October 7th to Friday October 9th
Article 4
Modern Day Lepanto! Are You Ready, Soldier?
Huh? What Are You Talking About?
We are talking about war! We are talking about battles to be fought! We are talking about leaving entertainment aside and doing something for God and the Faith! We are talking about fulfilling our calling in life―which is to FIGHT and not have fun. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Our life on Earth is warfare―as the Book of Job says―and Our Lord, reflects this warfare when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
The bottom line is this―if you don’t fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven―vast, vast multitudes of lost souls now see the truth of that. We are in the mess that we are in because we have long since given up fighting the world―most Catholic today love the world (even though some might protest that they do not). Not that Catholics agree with everything that the world does―but they no longer look upon the world as an enemy. That has always been the fatal flaw for Catholics―their so-called ‘Achilles Heel’, their weakness. Hence it has always been the case that most souls―in all centuries―have been lost and damned. It is not a popular thing to say in these “sugar-coated” days―but by ignoring the obvious, even though it is unpleasant, is not going to give you a better chance of being one of the few that gets to Heaven―on the contrary, by ignoring that truth, it will only make it increasingly likely that you will be among the many who are lost! If you don’t fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven. In this modern age revolution―especially with exported French and American Revolution of the late 1700s―one pope after another has pointed out that each and every one of the faithful have an integral and important part to play in countering the modern spirit of revolution.
► Pope Gregory XVI states: “We have lost no opportunity of ...spurring on the charity of the faithful ... This is indeed the time when ‘the Christian army must unite in face of the Devil’s fury’ (St. Leo’s sermon). But also it is the time to see to it that the faithful unite themselves in this holy association to the priests who are weeping, praying and laboring for the Faith.” (Pope Gregory XVI, Encyclical Probe Nostis, September 18th, 1840).
► Pope Pius IX states: “The devout wish which We formed long ago [of there being the faithful] full of piety, resolved to fight ardently for the cause of the Church and the salvation of souls … Strive to add to your numbers more and more members, so that arrayed in an army which is more solid and strong, fighting, to right and to left, with the arms of justice, you may easily vanquish the enemies of Christian Faith” (Pope Pius IX, Letter Dum filii Belial, May 2nd, 1868, to the President of the Italian Catholic Youth).
► Pope Pius IX adds: “Among such great troubles for the Church, it is to God that We attribute the most useful organizations that have been founded, each one, like a well-trained army, seeks its own sphere in which to fight the battles of the Lord. They strive to repulse and frustrate the attempts of wicked men by most excellent works, to uncover the snares of evil men and to fight the devil himself.” (Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Maxime sine, February 23rd, 1872).
► Pope Pius IX, in another letter, writes: “While in fact all rights of ecclesiastical authority are taken away, the liberty of God’s ministers restricted and the voices of priests silenced, there would be none to oppose, lawfully and effectively, the enemies of religion and to protect it against their arbitrary will, unless the Catholic laity rallied together and exercised their right to defend their Faith ... Called as you are, by Divine Providence, in the midst of this general upheaval, to come to the aid of an oppressed clergy in defense of the Church and Catholic religion, you will not overstep the bounds of duty, if led by the same clergy, you fight in the foremost ranks.” (Pope Pius IX, Letter Dum insectationem, February 10th, 1873 to the German Catholic Society).
► Pope Leo XIII has some string words to say in his Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae: “A striking proof of the lessening and weakening of the Christian Faith is seen in the insults too often done to the Catholic Church, openly and publicly--insults, indeed, which, in an age cherishing religion, would not have tolerated. For these reasons, an incredible multitude of men is in danger of not achieving salvation ... We have fallen upon times when a violent and well-nigh daily battle is being fought about matters of highest importance, a battle in which it is hard not to be sometimes deceived, not to go astray and, for many, not to lose heart. It cannot be doubted that duties more numerous and of greater importance fall-upon on Catholics.
“Now, if the Natural Law obliges us to love devotedly and to defend the country in which we had birth, and in which we were brought up―so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land―very much more is it the urgent duty of Christians to be ever moved by similar feelings toward the Church. We are bound, then, to love dearly the country from which we have received the means of enjoyment that this mortal life affords, but we have a much more urgent obligation to love, with ardent love, the Church to which we owe the life of the soul, a life that will endure forever.
“It is a high crime indeed to withdraw allegiance from God in order to please men, an act of consummate wickedness to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church ― ‘we ought to obey God rather than men!’ (Acts 5:29).
“The office of the Church to undertake the defense of truth … But, when necessity compels, not those only who are invested with power of rule are bound to safeguard the integrity of Faith, but, as St. Thomas Aquinas maintains: ‘Each one is under obligation to show forth his Faith, either to instruct and encourage others of the faithful, or to repel the attacks of unbelievers.’
“To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence―when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth―is the part of a man either devoid of character, or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases, such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God, and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitable only to the enemies of the Faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good.
“Moreover, lack of vigor on the part of Christians is so much the more blameworthy, as very often, little would be needed on their part to bring to naught false charges and refute erroneous opinions, and by always exerting themselves more strenuously they might reckon upon being successful … Nor is there any ground for alleging that Jesus Christ, the Guardian and Champion of the Church, needs not in any manner the help of men. Power certainly is not wanting to Him, but in His loving kindness He would assign to us a share in obtaining and applying the fruits of salvation procured through His grace.
“For the salvation of mankind, the Church is enjoined by her Founder, that she is to fight ‘as an army drawn up in battle array.’ The organization and constitution of Christian society can in no way be changed, neither can any one of its members live as he may choose, nor elect that mode of fighting which best pleases him. For, in effect, he scatters and gathers not who gathers not with the Church and with Jesus Christ, and all who fight not jointly with him and with the Church are in very truth fighting against God.” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae, January 10th, 1890).
► Pope St. Pius X urges: “There is no need to remind you that, when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms. But for you, it is not only a question of sounding the alert, the enemy is in the very interior of the Empire, in the towns and even in country districts. All the faithful, then, must be gathered together, and especially the most valiant among them...Regardless of private interests, convince yourselves profoundly of one thing: that you will bring about your own prosperity, and that of your country, only by placing, before all else, the interests of the Catholic cause.” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter Qui apparando, September 4th, 1905 to the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna).
► Pope St. Pius X warns: “Who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand what this disease is—it is apostasy from God ... God recommended everyone to have a care for his neighbor (Ecclesiasticus 27:12). For it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who must concern themselves with the interests of God and souls” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical E Supremi, October 4th, 1903).
► Pope St. Pius X, in the Motu Proprio Id praeclaro semper, points out: “Not only those resplendent with the glory of the priesthood should strive to promote the interests of the Catholic Faith; but that these should be joined by the great number of faithful, united by a pious community of thought and organized in formal associations of various kinds. In all times―and perhaps never more than in our own time―the Church has always willingly accepted these auxiliaries in her glorious work.” (Pope St. Pius X, Motu Proprio Id praeclaro semper, May 26th, 1909).
► Pope Pius XI, in the Encyclical Ubi Arcano, commands: “Tell your faithful children of the laity that when, united with their pastors and their bishops, they participate in the works of the apostolate, then they are more than ever ‘a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people,’ of whom St. Peter spoke in such laudatory terms. (1 Peter 2:9).” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Ubi Arcano, December 23rd, 1922).
► Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Iniquis afflictisque, writing of the persecutions in Mexico, the Pope says: “A word of special praise is due to those Catholic organizations, which, during all these trying times, have stood like soldiers, side by side with the clergy. Without going into details about their work, We desire to call your attention but a single fact, that all the members of these organizations, both men and women, are so brave that, instead of fleeing danger, they go out in search of it and even rejoice when it falls their turn to suffer persecution from the enemies of the Church. What a beautiful spectacle, which is thus given to angels and to men! ... Many individuals have been taken to prison handcuffed, through the public streets, surrounded by armed soldiers, locked up in foul jails, harshly treated and punished with prison sentences or fines ... Some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, their Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips. Young girls, too, who were imprisoned, were criminally outraged, and these acts were deliberately made public in order to intimidate other young women and to cause them, the more easily, to fail in their duties towards the Church.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Iniquis afflictisque, November 18th, 1926).
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter Quae Nobis haud ita, writes: “Catholic Action must indeed be the universal and concerted action of all Catholics, regardless of age, sex, condition and culture, without distinction of race or party, provided that these latter do not depart in any way from the teaching of the Gospel or Christian Law ― in short, it is action which embraces the whole man, in his private as well as his public life.” (Pope Pius XI, Letter Quae Nobis haud ita, November 13th, 1928).
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter Ex Officiosis litteris, writes: “To this end, it will be useful to make them fully understand—for many of the faithful are still unaware of it—that, in reality, the apostolate is one of the duties inherent in the Christian life, and that Catholic Action is—of all forms of the apostolate now in existence—the best fitted to the needs of our time...And if we look at them closely, it is the very sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation which impose, among other obligations, that of the apostolate—that is to say, spiritual help to one’s neighbor. In truth, it is by Confirmation that one becomes a soldier of Christ. Now who cannot see that the soldier must face fatigue and battle, not so much for himself as for others?
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter to the Archbishop of Bogota, states: “Faced with the intense and varied activity of the enemies of the Faith, who leave no stone unturned to bring about lamentable downfalls among people, the ministers of the Catholic Church are no longer numerous enough to fight alone against the many propagandists of evil and their powerful resources. Priests cannot penetrate all strata of society … Hence the necessity for collaboration of the faithful … The very precept of charity should inspire lay people to prevent, by every possible means and effort, the offences committed against God and the spiritual harm done to their neighbor, for it was not only to priests, but to all, that God ‘gave commandment concerning their neighbor’ and it has become a noble necessity, for all those who appreciate the precious gift of Faith, to spread that Faith and awaken it in the souls of others, since it is the property of good to spread itself around … Whatever their age, whatever their social class, all faithful are called to collaborate in it.” (Pope Pius XI, Letter to the Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia Observantissimas litteras, February 14th, 1943).
► Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, adds: “Man cannot be exempted from his divinely-imposed obligations toward civil society, and the representatives of authority have the right to coerce him when he refuses without reason to do his duty.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, March 19th, 1937).
Strong Words! Weak Souls!
It is guaranteed that you will have felt uncomfortable and even repulsed at some of those quotes―after all, who wants to fight for the Faith these days? The following combination of the chief comments of the popes leave us with a sour taste in the mouth―for we are very far from fulfilling their recommendations! Here is the message in brief― “on the rocks” and unsweetened:
“There is no need to remind you that, when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms.In truth, it is by Confirmation that one becomes a soldier of Christ. Who cannot see that the soldier must face fatigue and battle? To fight ardently for the cause of the Church and the salvation of souls. Catholic Action must indeed be the universal and concerted action of all Catholics, regardless of age, sex, condition and culture, without distinction of race or party. All the faithful without exception, must concern themselves with the interests of God and soul. Whatever their age, whatever their social class, all faithful are called to collaborate in it. Add to your numbers more and more members, so that arrayed in an army which is ever more solid and strong, fighting, to right and to left, with the arms of justice, so that you may easily vanquish the enemies of Christian Faith. All the faithful, regardless of private interests, convince yourselves profoundly of one thing―that you will bring about your own prosperity, and that of your country, only by placing, before all else, the interests of the Catholic cause. Many Catholic men and women, are so brave that, instead of fleeing danger, they go out in search of it and even rejoice when it falls their turn to suffer persecution from the enemies of the Church. What a beautiful spectacle, which is thus given to angels and to men! ... Many individuals have been taken to prison handcuffed, through the public streets, surrounded by armed soldiers, locked up in foul jails, harshly treated and punished with prison sentences or fines ... Some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, their Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips! Man cannot be exempted from his divinely-imposed obligations toward civil society, and the representatives of authority have the right to coerce him when he refuses without reason to do his duty.” (Compilation and arrangement of the key papal quotes).
We are talking about war! We are talking about battles to be fought! We are talking about leaving entertainment aside and doing something for God and the Faith! We are talking about fulfilling our calling in life―which is to FIGHT and not have fun. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; so that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” ― namely God (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Our life on Earth is warfare―as the Book of Job says―and Our Lord, reflects this warfare when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
The bottom line is this―if you don’t fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven―vast, vast multitudes of lost souls now see the truth of that. We are in the mess that we are in because we have long since given up fighting the world―most Catholic today love the world (even though some might protest that they do not). Not that Catholics agree with everything that the world does―but they no longer look upon the world as an enemy. That has always been the fatal flaw for Catholics―their so-called ‘Achilles Heel’, their weakness. Hence it has always been the case that most souls―in all centuries―have been lost and damned. It is not a popular thing to say in these “sugar-coated” days―but by ignoring the obvious, even though it is unpleasant, is not going to give you a better chance of being one of the few that gets to Heaven―on the contrary, by ignoring that truth, it will only make it increasingly likely that you will be among the many who are lost! If you don’t fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven. In this modern age revolution―especially with exported French and American Revolution of the late 1700s―one pope after another has pointed out that each and every one of the faithful have an integral and important part to play in countering the modern spirit of revolution.
► Pope Gregory XVI states: “We have lost no opportunity of ...spurring on the charity of the faithful ... This is indeed the time when ‘the Christian army must unite in face of the Devil’s fury’ (St. Leo’s sermon). But also it is the time to see to it that the faithful unite themselves in this holy association to the priests who are weeping, praying and laboring for the Faith.” (Pope Gregory XVI, Encyclical Probe Nostis, September 18th, 1840).
► Pope Pius IX states: “The devout wish which We formed long ago [of there being the faithful] full of piety, resolved to fight ardently for the cause of the Church and the salvation of souls … Strive to add to your numbers more and more members, so that arrayed in an army which is more solid and strong, fighting, to right and to left, with the arms of justice, you may easily vanquish the enemies of Christian Faith” (Pope Pius IX, Letter Dum filii Belial, May 2nd, 1868, to the President of the Italian Catholic Youth).
► Pope Pius IX adds: “Among such great troubles for the Church, it is to God that We attribute the most useful organizations that have been founded, each one, like a well-trained army, seeks its own sphere in which to fight the battles of the Lord. They strive to repulse and frustrate the attempts of wicked men by most excellent works, to uncover the snares of evil men and to fight the devil himself.” (Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Maxime sine, February 23rd, 1872).
► Pope Pius IX, in another letter, writes: “While in fact all rights of ecclesiastical authority are taken away, the liberty of God’s ministers restricted and the voices of priests silenced, there would be none to oppose, lawfully and effectively, the enemies of religion and to protect it against their arbitrary will, unless the Catholic laity rallied together and exercised their right to defend their Faith ... Called as you are, by Divine Providence, in the midst of this general upheaval, to come to the aid of an oppressed clergy in defense of the Church and Catholic religion, you will not overstep the bounds of duty, if led by the same clergy, you fight in the foremost ranks.” (Pope Pius IX, Letter Dum insectationem, February 10th, 1873 to the German Catholic Society).
► Pope Leo XIII has some string words to say in his Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae: “A striking proof of the lessening and weakening of the Christian Faith is seen in the insults too often done to the Catholic Church, openly and publicly--insults, indeed, which, in an age cherishing religion, would not have tolerated. For these reasons, an incredible multitude of men is in danger of not achieving salvation ... We have fallen upon times when a violent and well-nigh daily battle is being fought about matters of highest importance, a battle in which it is hard not to be sometimes deceived, not to go astray and, for many, not to lose heart. It cannot be doubted that duties more numerous and of greater importance fall-upon on Catholics.
“Now, if the Natural Law obliges us to love devotedly and to defend the country in which we had birth, and in which we were brought up―so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land―very much more is it the urgent duty of Christians to be ever moved by similar feelings toward the Church. We are bound, then, to love dearly the country from which we have received the means of enjoyment that this mortal life affords, but we have a much more urgent obligation to love, with ardent love, the Church to which we owe the life of the soul, a life that will endure forever.
“It is a high crime indeed to withdraw allegiance from God in order to please men, an act of consummate wickedness to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church ― ‘we ought to obey God rather than men!’ (Acts 5:29).
“The office of the Church to undertake the defense of truth … But, when necessity compels, not those only who are invested with power of rule are bound to safeguard the integrity of Faith, but, as St. Thomas Aquinas maintains: ‘Each one is under obligation to show forth his Faith, either to instruct and encourage others of the faithful, or to repel the attacks of unbelievers.’
“To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence―when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth―is the part of a man either devoid of character, or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases, such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God, and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitable only to the enemies of the Faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good.
“Moreover, lack of vigor on the part of Christians is so much the more blameworthy, as very often, little would be needed on their part to bring to naught false charges and refute erroneous opinions, and by always exerting themselves more strenuously they might reckon upon being successful … Nor is there any ground for alleging that Jesus Christ, the Guardian and Champion of the Church, needs not in any manner the help of men. Power certainly is not wanting to Him, but in His loving kindness He would assign to us a share in obtaining and applying the fruits of salvation procured through His grace.
“For the salvation of mankind, the Church is enjoined by her Founder, that she is to fight ‘as an army drawn up in battle array.’ The organization and constitution of Christian society can in no way be changed, neither can any one of its members live as he may choose, nor elect that mode of fighting which best pleases him. For, in effect, he scatters and gathers not who gathers not with the Church and with Jesus Christ, and all who fight not jointly with him and with the Church are in very truth fighting against God.” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae, January 10th, 1890).
► Pope St. Pius X urges: “There is no need to remind you that, when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms. But for you, it is not only a question of sounding the alert, the enemy is in the very interior of the Empire, in the towns and even in country districts. All the faithful, then, must be gathered together, and especially the most valiant among them...Regardless of private interests, convince yourselves profoundly of one thing: that you will bring about your own prosperity, and that of your country, only by placing, before all else, the interests of the Catholic cause.” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter Qui apparando, September 4th, 1905 to the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna).
► Pope St. Pius X warns: “Who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand what this disease is—it is apostasy from God ... God recommended everyone to have a care for his neighbor (Ecclesiasticus 27:12). For it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who must concern themselves with the interests of God and souls” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical E Supremi, October 4th, 1903).
► Pope St. Pius X, in the Motu Proprio Id praeclaro semper, points out: “Not only those resplendent with the glory of the priesthood should strive to promote the interests of the Catholic Faith; but that these should be joined by the great number of faithful, united by a pious community of thought and organized in formal associations of various kinds. In all times―and perhaps never more than in our own time―the Church has always willingly accepted these auxiliaries in her glorious work.” (Pope St. Pius X, Motu Proprio Id praeclaro semper, May 26th, 1909).
► Pope Pius XI, in the Encyclical Ubi Arcano, commands: “Tell your faithful children of the laity that when, united with their pastors and their bishops, they participate in the works of the apostolate, then they are more than ever ‘a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people,’ of whom St. Peter spoke in such laudatory terms. (1 Peter 2:9).” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Ubi Arcano, December 23rd, 1922).
► Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Iniquis afflictisque, writing of the persecutions in Mexico, the Pope says: “A word of special praise is due to those Catholic organizations, which, during all these trying times, have stood like soldiers, side by side with the clergy. Without going into details about their work, We desire to call your attention but a single fact, that all the members of these organizations, both men and women, are so brave that, instead of fleeing danger, they go out in search of it and even rejoice when it falls their turn to suffer persecution from the enemies of the Church. What a beautiful spectacle, which is thus given to angels and to men! ... Many individuals have been taken to prison handcuffed, through the public streets, surrounded by armed soldiers, locked up in foul jails, harshly treated and punished with prison sentences or fines ... Some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, their Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips. Young girls, too, who were imprisoned, were criminally outraged, and these acts were deliberately made public in order to intimidate other young women and to cause them, the more easily, to fail in their duties towards the Church.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Iniquis afflictisque, November 18th, 1926).
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter Quae Nobis haud ita, writes: “Catholic Action must indeed be the universal and concerted action of all Catholics, regardless of age, sex, condition and culture, without distinction of race or party, provided that these latter do not depart in any way from the teaching of the Gospel or Christian Law ― in short, it is action which embraces the whole man, in his private as well as his public life.” (Pope Pius XI, Letter Quae Nobis haud ita, November 13th, 1928).
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter Ex Officiosis litteris, writes: “To this end, it will be useful to make them fully understand—for many of the faithful are still unaware of it—that, in reality, the apostolate is one of the duties inherent in the Christian life, and that Catholic Action is—of all forms of the apostolate now in existence—the best fitted to the needs of our time...And if we look at them closely, it is the very sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation which impose, among other obligations, that of the apostolate—that is to say, spiritual help to one’s neighbor. In truth, it is by Confirmation that one becomes a soldier of Christ. Now who cannot see that the soldier must face fatigue and battle, not so much for himself as for others?
► Pope Pius XI in the Letter to the Archbishop of Bogota, states: “Faced with the intense and varied activity of the enemies of the Faith, who leave no stone unturned to bring about lamentable downfalls among people, the ministers of the Catholic Church are no longer numerous enough to fight alone against the many propagandists of evil and their powerful resources. Priests cannot penetrate all strata of society … Hence the necessity for collaboration of the faithful … The very precept of charity should inspire lay people to prevent, by every possible means and effort, the offences committed against God and the spiritual harm done to their neighbor, for it was not only to priests, but to all, that God ‘gave commandment concerning their neighbor’ and it has become a noble necessity, for all those who appreciate the precious gift of Faith, to spread that Faith and awaken it in the souls of others, since it is the property of good to spread itself around … Whatever their age, whatever their social class, all faithful are called to collaborate in it.” (Pope Pius XI, Letter to the Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia Observantissimas litteras, February 14th, 1943).
► Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, adds: “Man cannot be exempted from his divinely-imposed obligations toward civil society, and the representatives of authority have the right to coerce him when he refuses without reason to do his duty.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, March 19th, 1937).
Strong Words! Weak Souls!
It is guaranteed that you will have felt uncomfortable and even repulsed at some of those quotes―after all, who wants to fight for the Faith these days? The following combination of the chief comments of the popes leave us with a sour taste in the mouth―for we are very far from fulfilling their recommendations! Here is the message in brief― “on the rocks” and unsweetened:
“There is no need to remind you that, when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms.In truth, it is by Confirmation that one becomes a soldier of Christ. Who cannot see that the soldier must face fatigue and battle? To fight ardently for the cause of the Church and the salvation of souls. Catholic Action must indeed be the universal and concerted action of all Catholics, regardless of age, sex, condition and culture, without distinction of race or party. All the faithful without exception, must concern themselves with the interests of God and soul. Whatever their age, whatever their social class, all faithful are called to collaborate in it. Add to your numbers more and more members, so that arrayed in an army which is ever more solid and strong, fighting, to right and to left, with the arms of justice, so that you may easily vanquish the enemies of Christian Faith. All the faithful, regardless of private interests, convince yourselves profoundly of one thing―that you will bring about your own prosperity, and that of your country, only by placing, before all else, the interests of the Catholic cause. Many Catholic men and women, are so brave that, instead of fleeing danger, they go out in search of it and even rejoice when it falls their turn to suffer persecution from the enemies of the Church. What a beautiful spectacle, which is thus given to angels and to men! ... Many individuals have been taken to prison handcuffed, through the public streets, surrounded by armed soldiers, locked up in foul jails, harshly treated and punished with prison sentences or fines ... Some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, their Rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips! Man cannot be exempted from his divinely-imposed obligations toward civil society, and the representatives of authority have the right to coerce him when he refuses without reason to do his duty.” (Compilation and arrangement of the key papal quotes).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday October 5th & Tuesday October 6th
Article 3
You Won't Like Hearing This! But ...
Monday October 5th & Tuesday October 6th
Article 3
You Won't Like Hearing This! But ...
This article will be dealing the ever-increasing mountain and burden inflicting upon us by the escalating events throughout the world in the ongoing different crises that are arising. Yet before we delve into that planned pit of perversion and propaganda, let us first paint a backdrop by looking at our own personal mountains and burdens.
Paradoxical World
We live in a paradoxical world―meaning, a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory world. We hate bad news but love news that is bad―in the sense that we hate our faults, failings and sins having to be focal point in news or gossip, but we don’t mind listening to the faults, failings and sins of others in the news or gossip that we listen to. We hate having our faults, failures and sins being listed―but we often run through the faults, failures and sins of others. Our Lord puts it this way: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged―and with what measure you give out to others, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).
Think About This Thought!
We have a very low tolerance for our own sins being focused upon―but we just love to focus upon the sins of others! Presumably it is because the more sinful we see others to be, the less serious our own sins seem to be! Sometimes hearing a lot of bad news can overwhelm us. Just think of the overwhelming list of bad things we will hear at our final judgment upon leaving this world through death! Every single teeny-weeny sin that you had ever committed―the big sins too―will be placed before you! Can you imagine how long that list must be? We sin far more than we care to notice or admit! St. Thomas Aquinas says that EVERY thought, word, action or omission that GOES AGAINST RIGHT REASON, IS A SIN.
Mountain of Thought
There is a whole mountain of sin in our silent thoughts―or compare it to a giant iceberg hidden beneath the ocean and waves of our minds. We never stop thinking about something from the moment that we rise to meet the day. No matter what else we might be doing exteriorly―our thoughts are like perpetual generator running in the background―and, let’s face it, our thoughts are not always the best, are they? Thoughts of dissatisfaction, complaint, criticism, self-justification, pride, vanity, distracting thoughts, idle thoughts of daydreaming, fantasizing, fault-finding, envy, jealousy, indignation, anger, sadness, hurt-feelings, discouragement, bitterness, deception, rash judgment, revenge, vengeance, plotting, misinterpreting, exaggerating, twisting truth, not to mention the ‘big-killer’ of lustful thoughts, etc. Some people are so “out of tune” with the Faith and its teachings that they would refuse to accept most sinful thoughts as even being sinful! How many thoughts against the different teachings and disciplines of the Faith? A danger is that we quickly forget what we have thought―but each thought can have eternal consequences!
Research has found that the average person has about 12,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day―some people are fast thinkers, imaginative thinkers, others can be slow and dull thinkers―which translates staggeringly to around 750 thoughts to 5,000 thoughts per hour―or, over a 70 year long life, anywhere from 306,600,000 (3.6 million) to 2,044,000,000 (over 2 billion) thoughts that have passed through our minds. Of those thousands of thoughts, researchers found that 80% of all thoughts were negative (hence likely to be sinful in some degree), and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before―for we creatures of habit, for better or for worse.
It is so easy to sin by our thoughts because it seems to be in ‘secrecy’ of our own minds! Yet on Judgment Day, this mountain or iceberg of thought will be no longer a secret. Thoughts that were long since forgotten will be brought back to mind by the grace of God―every single thought we ever had! Don’t imagine that such a judgment will take an ‘eternity’ to get through―by the inexplicable power of the grace of God, it will all take place in an instant―as though you were given the power of a super computer that can process searches at the rate of trillions per second―yet each thought will leave an impression as though we had spent days considering it and its consequences.
Same for Words, Actions and Omissions
The same will be true of our words, actions and omissions―most of them quickly forgotten―but every single one will be brought back before our minds, as well as the FAR REACHING CONSEQUENCES (which we rarely ever consider when actually sinning) of each and every words, action and omission. “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36) … “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me! … Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40 & 45) and, as regards the punishment due for those innumerable sins, Our Lord says that we shall not be released from Purgatory (if we have had the good fortune of having avoided Hell) until the very last cent or penny has been paid: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
A study led by Dr. Matthias Mehl, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology conducted a study as to how many words humans use in a day. His findings show that on average an adult used 15,000 to 16,000 words a day―though that is the overall average. In producing that average, there were some persons who used just under 1,000 words per day and some who used over 47,000 words per day. Based on the 16,000 per day average, 70 years of life would produce a total of 408,800,000 (just over 400 million) words. If a person was a high-end jibberjabberer, at the 47,000 words per day scale, then they would jibber jabber over 1,200,850,000 (1,200 million or 1.2 billion) words over the course of their lifetime. How many of those words will have been blasphemous or using God’s Name in vain? How many words against God and the Faith? How many hastily prayed Masses? How many hastily said prayers? How many words will have been dedicated to complaint, criticism, cheating, false testimony, calumny (lies), detraction (revealing sins of others), making rash judgments, injustice, self-excusing or blaming others, boasting, pretending to know more than we do, ridicule, insults, causing division, envy, dissatisfaction, jealousy, provocation, flattery, seduction, lust, indecency, immodesty, worldliness, coarse and bad-language, swearing, cursing, anger, threats, extortion, blackmail, hatred, vengefulness, etc. Whether it be only 400 million words or 1,200 million words―there is an enormous and very likely scope for much sin to be committed through the tongue.
As Holy Scripture says: “In many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man―but the tongue no man can tame: it is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing!” (James 3:2-10).
When you look at those numbers of potential sins, then it is hardly surprising to hear Our Lady say, in 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” So what do you expect? Do you really think that God is going to turn a “blind-eye” to the ever-escalating numbers of sins? Such a stupid thought would go in the face of the whole of Holy Scripture and Tradition, which is filled with statements to the contrary. For one such example―just go read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus. The Bible is filled with similar statements. No, my friend, I prefer Our Lady’s words to you wishful thinking imagination:
“In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Our Lady knows that her words are not very popular―but she has repeatedly said the same thing for around 400 years―from the time of Our Lady of Good Success, who appeared in the late 16th century (1500s) and early 17th century (1600s), down to her recent apparition at Akita in Japan in 1973.
Judgment Day will be No Wrestling Match
Some imagine the scene as God angrily pointing the finger at us and shouting in anger―but the reality of it all is that, no matter who we are, super-sinner or little-sinner, we will see the incredible love that God had for us all the time that we were sinning and it is not God that will judge us, but we will judge ourselves―God will merely give to us penetrating light of His truth to help us make that judgment and make a correct pronouncement as to what exactly we deserve―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Some may imagine the sentencing to Purgatory or Hell to be like a struggle or wrestling with Christ on the edge of imaginary cliffs that fall down into Purgatory and Hell―but, no, there is no struggle, no wrestling, no fight, no nothing―the soul, having been given the penetrating light of truth―willingly casts itself into Purgatory or Hell.
Paradoxical World
We live in a paradoxical world―meaning, a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory world. We hate bad news but love news that is bad―in the sense that we hate our faults, failings and sins having to be focal point in news or gossip, but we don’t mind listening to the faults, failings and sins of others in the news or gossip that we listen to. We hate having our faults, failures and sins being listed―but we often run through the faults, failures and sins of others. Our Lord puts it this way: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged―and with what measure you give out to others, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).
Think About This Thought!
We have a very low tolerance for our own sins being focused upon―but we just love to focus upon the sins of others! Presumably it is because the more sinful we see others to be, the less serious our own sins seem to be! Sometimes hearing a lot of bad news can overwhelm us. Just think of the overwhelming list of bad things we will hear at our final judgment upon leaving this world through death! Every single teeny-weeny sin that you had ever committed―the big sins too―will be placed before you! Can you imagine how long that list must be? We sin far more than we care to notice or admit! St. Thomas Aquinas says that EVERY thought, word, action or omission that GOES AGAINST RIGHT REASON, IS A SIN.
Mountain of Thought
There is a whole mountain of sin in our silent thoughts―or compare it to a giant iceberg hidden beneath the ocean and waves of our minds. We never stop thinking about something from the moment that we rise to meet the day. No matter what else we might be doing exteriorly―our thoughts are like perpetual generator running in the background―and, let’s face it, our thoughts are not always the best, are they? Thoughts of dissatisfaction, complaint, criticism, self-justification, pride, vanity, distracting thoughts, idle thoughts of daydreaming, fantasizing, fault-finding, envy, jealousy, indignation, anger, sadness, hurt-feelings, discouragement, bitterness, deception, rash judgment, revenge, vengeance, plotting, misinterpreting, exaggerating, twisting truth, not to mention the ‘big-killer’ of lustful thoughts, etc. Some people are so “out of tune” with the Faith and its teachings that they would refuse to accept most sinful thoughts as even being sinful! How many thoughts against the different teachings and disciplines of the Faith? A danger is that we quickly forget what we have thought―but each thought can have eternal consequences!
Research has found that the average person has about 12,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day―some people are fast thinkers, imaginative thinkers, others can be slow and dull thinkers―which translates staggeringly to around 750 thoughts to 5,000 thoughts per hour―or, over a 70 year long life, anywhere from 306,600,000 (3.6 million) to 2,044,000,000 (over 2 billion) thoughts that have passed through our minds. Of those thousands of thoughts, researchers found that 80% of all thoughts were negative (hence likely to be sinful in some degree), and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before―for we creatures of habit, for better or for worse.
It is so easy to sin by our thoughts because it seems to be in ‘secrecy’ of our own minds! Yet on Judgment Day, this mountain or iceberg of thought will be no longer a secret. Thoughts that were long since forgotten will be brought back to mind by the grace of God―every single thought we ever had! Don’t imagine that such a judgment will take an ‘eternity’ to get through―by the inexplicable power of the grace of God, it will all take place in an instant―as though you were given the power of a super computer that can process searches at the rate of trillions per second―yet each thought will leave an impression as though we had spent days considering it and its consequences.
Same for Words, Actions and Omissions
The same will be true of our words, actions and omissions―most of them quickly forgotten―but every single one will be brought back before our minds, as well as the FAR REACHING CONSEQUENCES (which we rarely ever consider when actually sinning) of each and every words, action and omission. “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36) … “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me! … Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40 & 45) and, as regards the punishment due for those innumerable sins, Our Lord says that we shall not be released from Purgatory (if we have had the good fortune of having avoided Hell) until the very last cent or penny has been paid: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
A study led by Dr. Matthias Mehl, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology conducted a study as to how many words humans use in a day. His findings show that on average an adult used 15,000 to 16,000 words a day―though that is the overall average. In producing that average, there were some persons who used just under 1,000 words per day and some who used over 47,000 words per day. Based on the 16,000 per day average, 70 years of life would produce a total of 408,800,000 (just over 400 million) words. If a person was a high-end jibberjabberer, at the 47,000 words per day scale, then they would jibber jabber over 1,200,850,000 (1,200 million or 1.2 billion) words over the course of their lifetime. How many of those words will have been blasphemous or using God’s Name in vain? How many words against God and the Faith? How many hastily prayed Masses? How many hastily said prayers? How many words will have been dedicated to complaint, criticism, cheating, false testimony, calumny (lies), detraction (revealing sins of others), making rash judgments, injustice, self-excusing or blaming others, boasting, pretending to know more than we do, ridicule, insults, causing division, envy, dissatisfaction, jealousy, provocation, flattery, seduction, lust, indecency, immodesty, worldliness, coarse and bad-language, swearing, cursing, anger, threats, extortion, blackmail, hatred, vengefulness, etc. Whether it be only 400 million words or 1,200 million words―there is an enormous and very likely scope for much sin to be committed through the tongue.
As Holy Scripture says: “In many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man―but the tongue no man can tame: it is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing!” (James 3:2-10).
When you look at those numbers of potential sins, then it is hardly surprising to hear Our Lady say, in 1956, to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” So what do you expect? Do you really think that God is going to turn a “blind-eye” to the ever-escalating numbers of sins? Such a stupid thought would go in the face of the whole of Holy Scripture and Tradition, which is filled with statements to the contrary. For one such example―just go read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus. The Bible is filled with similar statements. No, my friend, I prefer Our Lady’s words to you wishful thinking imagination:
“In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Our Lady knows that her words are not very popular―but she has repeatedly said the same thing for around 400 years―from the time of Our Lady of Good Success, who appeared in the late 16th century (1500s) and early 17th century (1600s), down to her recent apparition at Akita in Japan in 1973.
Judgment Day will be No Wrestling Match
Some imagine the scene as God angrily pointing the finger at us and shouting in anger―but the reality of it all is that, no matter who we are, super-sinner or little-sinner, we will see the incredible love that God had for us all the time that we were sinning and it is not God that will judge us, but we will judge ourselves―God will merely give to us penetrating light of His truth to help us make that judgment and make a correct pronouncement as to what exactly we deserve―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Some may imagine the sentencing to Purgatory or Hell to be like a struggle or wrestling with Christ on the edge of imaginary cliffs that fall down into Purgatory and Hell―but, no, there is no struggle, no wrestling, no fight, no nothing―the soul, having been given the penetrating light of truth―willingly casts itself into Purgatory or Hell.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday October 3rd & Sunday October 4th
Article 2
Sorry to Have to Remind You!
Saturday October 3rd & Sunday October 4th
Article 2
Sorry to Have to Remind You!
Remind Me!
Today’s life is full of post-it notes, Google calendar notifications, to-do lists, notes on the iPhone all of which are meant to help jog the memory. They are the daily reminders that help us to be better organized, cram more into our day and be more efficient. If you like, these are “productivity” reminders. Then there’s the other side of the coin―the “nostalgia” reminders that evoke memories of the past―some pleasant, others unpleasant; some joyous, some saddening; some funny, some serious, etc.
Reminders exist because we forget stuff. Sometimes our brains just don’t work the way we want them to. Other times we get caught up in the world around us – the hive of activity, the busyness we feel pressure to assimilate to or we’ll be left behind. We need a nudge from time to time to regain focus on what we really care about. We need to remember the good times and the bad.
Reminders help us to see opportunity amongst uncertainty. They give hope and strength to persevere. They help recall lessons learned, now forgotten. They help us get back on track when we’ve lost our way. They help us get off the beaten path of complacency when we’ve grown too comfortable. Everyone knows how important it is to be reminded. Our culture is filled with a commitment to remember. We build monuments to World War II to help us remember the carnage of war, and to remember those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom. We take pictures of events, creation and loved ones in order to remember what we saw, what we did and who we care about.
Reminders Not to Forget God, His Teachings and Laws
We need to remember and be reminded again and again of God’s Word in order to live it. This was the instruction given by God Himself―already in the Old Testament, in the time of Moses and for centuries afterwards:
“Forget not the words that thy eyes have read, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons … Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God … Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt! … Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies! … If thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish!” (Deuteronomy 4:9; 4:23; 6:13; 8:11; 8:19). “Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish” (Job 8:1). “Understand these things, you that forget God―lest He snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalms 49:22).
“And Moses said to the people: ‘Remember this day in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place!’” (Exodus 13:3). “Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm … Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians … Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or not … Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord … Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free … Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God delivered thee from thence … Remember the days of old, think upon every generation! Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee―Ask thy elders and they will tell thee! … Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house:” (Deuteronomy 5:15; 7:18; 9:7; 15:15; 24:18; 32:7; 11:18-20). Many generations later, the Chosen People are still reminded: “Remember in what manner our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharao pursued them with a great army!” (1 Machabees 4:9). “He exhorted his people not to fear the coming of the nations, but to remember the help they had before received from Heaven, and now to hope for victory from the Almighty” (2 Machabees 15:8).
More Old Testament Reminders
The Old Testament is filled with flurries of more reminders, some of them being: “Remember the former age―for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to Me!” (Isaias 46:9). “Remember the fear of God” (Ecclesiasticus 28:8). “Forget not My law, and let thy heart keep My commandments” (Proverbs 3:1). “Remember His works … and praise the Lord God! … Remember His wonderful works, which He hath done―His signs and the judgments of His mouth! … Remember for ever His covenant” (1 Paralipomenon 16:4; 16:12; 16:15). “Remember the Lord who is great and terrible!” (2 Esdras 4:14). “Remember how Abraham was tempted, and, being proved by many tribulations, was made the friend of God!” (Judith 8:22). “All the ends of the Earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord!” (Psalm 21:28). “Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee―this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh” (Ecclesiasticus 41:5). “Remember that we are all worthy of reproof!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:6). “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin” (Ecclesiasticus 7:40). “Remember that death is not slow, and that the covenant of Hell hath been shown to thee―for the covenant of this world shall surely die!” (Ecclesiasticus 14:12).
New Testament Reminders
In the New Testament Our Lord upbraids forgetfulness and is forced to remind the Apostles: “Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?” (Matthew 16:9). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master!’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you!” (John 15:20).
St. Peter, in speaking of certain teachings of the Faith, stresses the importance of reminders―saying that he will always remind them of these things, even though they already know them: “I will begin to put you always in remembrance of these things―though indeed you know them, and are confirmed in the present truth. But I think it is fitting to stir you up by putting you in remembrance ... I will endeavor, that you frequently … may keep a memory of these things” (2 Peter 1:12-15). “Remember the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:35) … “not becoming a forgetful hearer” (James 1:25). St. Paul, speaking of reminders, adds: “To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not wearisome―but to you it is necessary!” (Philippians 3:1).
A Reminder of God’s Punishments
In the same epistle, St. Peter reminds us of God’s punishments upon sinful angels and men: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower Hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the original world, but preserved Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And reducing the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorrhites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly. And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked. For in sight and hearing he was just: dwelling among them, who from day to day vexed the just soul with unjust works. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented!” (2 Peter 2:4-9).
A Reminder Not to Be Complacent
St. Paul reminds us of the dangers of complacency―lest we imagine that being Catholic we shall most certainly be saved! “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted―and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Are We Complacent?
Spiritual complacency is a dangerous spiritual condition. It is divorced from the truth―for it creates its own false truth. It minimizes the reality of the dangers that threaten us and so leaves us vulnerable to the spiritual dangers around us. It weakens and drains any zeal that we might have―and thus renders our spiritual immune system or “fighting system” impotent. It leads to apathy and if it allowed to grow unchecked it can lead, first of all, to a filtering of the Faith―accepting what we like and ignoring what we don’t like―and finally to an outright rejection of Christ and his teachings and demands.
► We view ourselves as being better than what God determines to be true. In other words, we think we are doing okay spiritually when in fact, we are not. We compare ourselves with others, or even with our past failures, faults and sin―we still somehow paint ourselves in a good light. Instead, Scripture encourages us to humble ourselves rather than exalt ourselves. Our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Publican manifests this complacent self-assessment of the Pharisee: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled―and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:10-14)
► We live in an attitude of self-sufficiency. “I can handle life and what it brings me,” is what we say. Every day, we trust in our own ability to understand, decide and act, believing that constant dependence on God is either a dream or a nightmare, or a cop-out or easy-way-out! This kind of self-dependence and independence from God is not a reality we should experience. “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps” (Proverbs 3:5-6). As Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―so why are we trying to do things without Him? The words of God in the Book of the Apocalypse hit hard against such kind of self-sufficiency: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18).
► We are comfortable, satisfied and happy in the culture in which we live. A true follower of Christ can never be comfortable, satisfied and happy with this world! When we align ourselves too closely with political philosophies, groups, systems, lifestyles, cultures―then we stop thinking and evaluating things critically and spiritually. In other words, we have “bought into” the world and take on the spirit of the world. If we are too settled in this world, we no longer strive for the Kingdom of Heaven. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof―but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17)
► We are spiritually satisfied without possessing real spiritual knowledge―apart from some fundamental, superficial facts and phrases. Our Faith is very deep―yet most Catholics merely fish on the surface. They are superficial Catholics who cannot even remember their First Holy Communion Catechism, or Confirmation Catechism! Their Faith is superficially reduced to an almost superficial state― “I go to Mass! I pray the Rosary! I wear the Scapular! I must be going to Heaven!” Sin is no big deal―for “I go to Confession and say my three Hail Marys as a penance! All is forgiven! All is paid for!” We live like forgiveness of sin is a one-time transaction, but we don’t live in constant repentance and penance: “No, I say to you― unless you shall do penance―you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Our prayers are for shallow, hollow, mechanical things―that come more from the lips and not from the heart: “This people honoreth me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8)―and thus they do bring any or many blessings, and bring little or no spiritual victories over the forces of darkness: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:12-18)
What is the danger of complacency? We aren’t paying attention to real spiritual danger. And…
► We lose our intimacy with Christ: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
► We are unprofitable and no longer part of His purposes: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself―unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches―he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he burneth! In this is My Father glorified―that you bring forth very much fruit and become My disciples!” (John 15:1-8).
► We are no longer prepared for the future. And it is coming! “The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. I cannot of myself do anything. As I hear, so I judge―and My judgment is just because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 5:28-30).
Today’s life is full of post-it notes, Google calendar notifications, to-do lists, notes on the iPhone all of which are meant to help jog the memory. They are the daily reminders that help us to be better organized, cram more into our day and be more efficient. If you like, these are “productivity” reminders. Then there’s the other side of the coin―the “nostalgia” reminders that evoke memories of the past―some pleasant, others unpleasant; some joyous, some saddening; some funny, some serious, etc.
Reminders exist because we forget stuff. Sometimes our brains just don’t work the way we want them to. Other times we get caught up in the world around us – the hive of activity, the busyness we feel pressure to assimilate to or we’ll be left behind. We need a nudge from time to time to regain focus on what we really care about. We need to remember the good times and the bad.
Reminders help us to see opportunity amongst uncertainty. They give hope and strength to persevere. They help recall lessons learned, now forgotten. They help us get back on track when we’ve lost our way. They help us get off the beaten path of complacency when we’ve grown too comfortable. Everyone knows how important it is to be reminded. Our culture is filled with a commitment to remember. We build monuments to World War II to help us remember the carnage of war, and to remember those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom. We take pictures of events, creation and loved ones in order to remember what we saw, what we did and who we care about.
Reminders Not to Forget God, His Teachings and Laws
We need to remember and be reminded again and again of God’s Word in order to live it. This was the instruction given by God Himself―already in the Old Testament, in the time of Moses and for centuries afterwards:
“Forget not the words that thy eyes have read, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons … Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God … Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt! … Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies! … If thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish!” (Deuteronomy 4:9; 4:23; 6:13; 8:11; 8:19). “Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish” (Job 8:1). “Understand these things, you that forget God―lest He snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you!” (Psalms 49:22).
“And Moses said to the people: ‘Remember this day in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place!’” (Exodus 13:3). “Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm … Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians … Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or not … Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord … Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free … Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God delivered thee from thence … Remember the days of old, think upon every generation! Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee―Ask thy elders and they will tell thee! … Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house:” (Deuteronomy 5:15; 7:18; 9:7; 15:15; 24:18; 32:7; 11:18-20). Many generations later, the Chosen People are still reminded: “Remember in what manner our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharao pursued them with a great army!” (1 Machabees 4:9). “He exhorted his people not to fear the coming of the nations, but to remember the help they had before received from Heaven, and now to hope for victory from the Almighty” (2 Machabees 15:8).
More Old Testament Reminders
The Old Testament is filled with flurries of more reminders, some of them being: “Remember the former age―for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to Me!” (Isaias 46:9). “Remember the fear of God” (Ecclesiasticus 28:8). “Forget not My law, and let thy heart keep My commandments” (Proverbs 3:1). “Remember His works … and praise the Lord God! … Remember His wonderful works, which He hath done―His signs and the judgments of His mouth! … Remember for ever His covenant” (1 Paralipomenon 16:4; 16:12; 16:15). “Remember the Lord who is great and terrible!” (2 Esdras 4:14). “Remember how Abraham was tempted, and, being proved by many tribulations, was made the friend of God!” (Judith 8:22). “All the ends of the Earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord!” (Psalm 21:28). “Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee―this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh” (Ecclesiasticus 41:5). “Remember that we are all worthy of reproof!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:6). “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin” (Ecclesiasticus 7:40). “Remember that death is not slow, and that the covenant of Hell hath been shown to thee―for the covenant of this world shall surely die!” (Ecclesiasticus 14:12).
New Testament Reminders
In the New Testament Our Lord upbraids forgetfulness and is forced to remind the Apostles: “Do you not yet understand, neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up?” (Matthew 16:9). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master!’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you!” (John 15:20).
St. Peter, in speaking of certain teachings of the Faith, stresses the importance of reminders―saying that he will always remind them of these things, even though they already know them: “I will begin to put you always in remembrance of these things―though indeed you know them, and are confirmed in the present truth. But I think it is fitting to stir you up by putting you in remembrance ... I will endeavor, that you frequently … may keep a memory of these things” (2 Peter 1:12-15). “Remember the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:35) … “not becoming a forgetful hearer” (James 1:25). St. Paul, speaking of reminders, adds: “To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not wearisome―but to you it is necessary!” (Philippians 3:1).
A Reminder of God’s Punishments
In the same epistle, St. Peter reminds us of God’s punishments upon sinful angels and men: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower Hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the original world, but preserved Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And reducing the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorrhites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly. And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked. For in sight and hearing he was just: dwelling among them, who from day to day vexed the just soul with unjust works. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented!” (2 Peter 2:4-9).
A Reminder Not to Be Complacent
St. Paul reminds us of the dangers of complacency―lest we imagine that being Catholic we shall most certainly be saved! “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink―and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand! Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted―and perished by the serpents! Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure―and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Are We Complacent?
Spiritual complacency is a dangerous spiritual condition. It is divorced from the truth―for it creates its own false truth. It minimizes the reality of the dangers that threaten us and so leaves us vulnerable to the spiritual dangers around us. It weakens and drains any zeal that we might have―and thus renders our spiritual immune system or “fighting system” impotent. It leads to apathy and if it allowed to grow unchecked it can lead, first of all, to a filtering of the Faith―accepting what we like and ignoring what we don’t like―and finally to an outright rejection of Christ and his teachings and demands.
► We view ourselves as being better than what God determines to be true. In other words, we think we are doing okay spiritually when in fact, we are not. We compare ourselves with others, or even with our past failures, faults and sin―we still somehow paint ourselves in a good light. Instead, Scripture encourages us to humble ourselves rather than exalt ourselves. Our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Publican manifests this complacent self-assessment of the Pharisee: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers―as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled―and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:10-14)
► We live in an attitude of self-sufficiency. “I can handle life and what it brings me,” is what we say. Every day, we trust in our own ability to understand, decide and act, believing that constant dependence on God is either a dream or a nightmare, or a cop-out or easy-way-out! This kind of self-dependence and independence from God is not a reality we should experience. “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps” (Proverbs 3:5-6). As Our Lord said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―so why are we trying to do things without Him? The words of God in the Book of the Apocalypse hit hard against such kind of self-sufficiency: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18).
► We are comfortable, satisfied and happy in the culture in which we live. A true follower of Christ can never be comfortable, satisfied and happy with this world! When we align ourselves too closely with political philosophies, groups, systems, lifestyles, cultures―then we stop thinking and evaluating things critically and spiritually. In other words, we have “bought into” the world and take on the spirit of the world. If we are too settled in this world, we no longer strive for the Kingdom of Heaven. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof―but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17)
► We are spiritually satisfied without possessing real spiritual knowledge―apart from some fundamental, superficial facts and phrases. Our Faith is very deep―yet most Catholics merely fish on the surface. They are superficial Catholics who cannot even remember their First Holy Communion Catechism, or Confirmation Catechism! Their Faith is superficially reduced to an almost superficial state― “I go to Mass! I pray the Rosary! I wear the Scapular! I must be going to Heaven!” Sin is no big deal―for “I go to Confession and say my three Hail Marys as a penance! All is forgiven! All is paid for!” We live like forgiveness of sin is a one-time transaction, but we don’t live in constant repentance and penance: “No, I say to you― unless you shall do penance―you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Our prayers are for shallow, hollow, mechanical things―that come more from the lips and not from the heart: “This people honoreth me with their lips―but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8)―and thus they do bring any or many blessings, and bring little or no spiritual victories over the forces of darkness: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:12-18)
What is the danger of complacency? We aren’t paying attention to real spiritual danger. And…
► We lose our intimacy with Christ: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
► We are unprofitable and no longer part of His purposes: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, so that it may bring forth more fruit! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself―unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches―he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he burneth! In this is My Father glorified―that you bring forth very much fruit and become My disciples!” (John 15:1-8).
► We are no longer prepared for the future. And it is coming! “The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. I cannot of myself do anything. As I hear, so I judge―and My judgment is just because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 5:28-30).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday October 1st & Friday October 2nd
Article 1
Safely Chained to Mary by Her Rosary
Thursday October 1st & Friday October 2nd
Article 1
Safely Chained to Mary by Her Rosary
It’s That Simple!
Simple, but powerful! That is what can be said of the Holy Rosary. In fact, when we look at how God works, it can be generally said that God acts simply, but powerfully. The magnificent act of Creation could not have been simpler—God simply said a few words and it happened! Not much fuss, just simple and powerful. “And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made.” (Genesis 1:3) and so on throughout the remaining days of Creation. God simply said, and it happened.
Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s simple, yet powerful, way of acting. He has Moses simply strike a rock in the desert, and, miraculously, water flows forth.
God’s prophets also followed the same pattern.
The Prophet Elias “stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body!’ And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.” (3 Kings 21-22).
The Prophet Eliseus tells Naaman the leper, to simply wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman thought this was ridiculously simplistic and was about to go home, until his servant persuaded him to try it—and lo and behold, he was cured (4 Kings 1-14).
A boy with a simple sling shot and one pebble kills Goliath, whom the weapons and soldiers of the Israelites had failed to defeat.
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “As Jesus was in the ship: and there were other ships with Him. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And He was sleeping; and they awake Him, and say to Him: ‘Master, doth it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. And the wind ceased: and there was made a great calm.” (Mark 4:36-39). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
This same simplicity, yet power, carries over into our day and age.
Simply Simple Sacraments
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful!
Building Good Foundations
Now what has thing long-winded, interminably dragging, endless article got to do with Our Lady, the Rosary or the month of October? Well, before you build a house upwards, you have to go in the opposite direction beforehand, namely, dig-out and lay the foundations.
The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish the principle (not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time. The Rosary is one of those simple things that Heaven has given to us. It is so simple, that some, like Naaman the Leper, think it is beneath them, and they are tempted to turn away from the Rosary and go their own way. They would be foolish to do so! We often seek complicated human solutions, when Heaven wants us to use simple divine solutions! Do we really think that Our Lady does not know what she is talking about, when she tells us to pray the Rosary daily?
The Rosary consists of a few very short prayers, very simple prayers, but they have a most powerful effect. The Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be form the backbone and are the essence of the Rosary. If these simple prayers are used well—and are prayed slowly and with devotion—then marvelous results can flow forth. But mark well the words “prayed slowly and with devotion”! That can be a real challenge, even for the best of folk! God is not mocked, and, therefore, we should pray in a manner that manifests our seriousness about what we are doing, and shows that we really want to pray, thereby, saying what we mean, and meaning what we say! Then, a simple prayer can be powerful and will simply produce powerful results. I think that the power of the simple Rosary is beautifully shown by St. Louis de Montfort, when he relates an wonderful incident in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, in the chapter entitled “Thirty-Third Rose” :
Simple Satanic Confession
When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils, who were in possession of this wretched man, were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions, in spite of themselves. They said:
(1) That there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary;
(2) That by the Rosary which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary.
(3) They revealed several other things.
St. Dominic put his Rosary around the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should, therefore, be the most loved and revered by men.
At this, they let out such unearthly screams, that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way, that many of the people wept also, out of pure natural pity. The devils, speaking through the mouth of the Albigensian, pleaded in a heart‑rending voice,
“Dominic, Dominic, have pity on us, we promise you we will never harm you. You have always had compassion for sinners and those in distress; have pity on us, for we are in grievous straits. We are suffering so much already! Why do you delight in increasing our pains? Can’t you be satisfied with the pains we now endure? Have mercy on us, have mercy on us!”
St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer, in such a way, that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders.
So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.”
No sooner had he said this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried, “Dominic, we beseech you, by the passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of his holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further; for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars –so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us.”
“Woe to you, wretched spirits, who do not deserve to be heard,” St. Dominic said, and kneeling down he prayed to the Blessed Virgin: “O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. I beg you, for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth here and now before the people.”
St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod, that she held, and said, “Answer my servant Dominic at once.” (It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, only St. Dominic.)
Then the devils started screaming:
“Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness.
“Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective.
“We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants.
“Many Christians, who call on her at the hour of death, and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards, are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity.
“Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains, for her servants, the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.”
Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary, which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body, under the guise of red‑hot coals. When the devils had all been expelled and the heretic completely delivered from them, Our Lady, although invisible, gave her blessing to the assembled company, and they were filled with joy. (The Secret of the Rosary, “Thirty-Third Rose”).
Let us take heart from this wonderful incident, and make a resolution to reform ourselves by praying our Rosaries better. Let us pray them more slowly, more deliberately, and with more devotion. Ave Maria!
Simple, but powerful! That is what can be said of the Holy Rosary. In fact, when we look at how God works, it can be generally said that God acts simply, but powerfully. The magnificent act of Creation could not have been simpler—God simply said a few words and it happened! Not much fuss, just simple and powerful. “And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made.” (Genesis 1:3) and so on throughout the remaining days of Creation. God simply said, and it happened.
Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s simple, yet powerful, way of acting. He has Moses simply strike a rock in the desert, and, miraculously, water flows forth.
God’s prophets also followed the same pattern.
The Prophet Elias “stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body!’ And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.” (3 Kings 21-22).
The Prophet Eliseus tells Naaman the leper, to simply wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman thought this was ridiculously simplistic and was about to go home, until his servant persuaded him to try it—and lo and behold, he was cured (4 Kings 1-14).
A boy with a simple sling shot and one pebble kills Goliath, whom the weapons and soldiers of the Israelites had failed to defeat.
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “As Jesus was in the ship: and there were other ships with Him. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And He was sleeping; and they awake Him, and say to Him: ‘Master, doth it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. And the wind ceased: and there was made a great calm.” (Mark 4:36-39). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
This same simplicity, yet power, carries over into our day and age.
Simply Simple Sacraments
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful!
Building Good Foundations
Now what has thing long-winded, interminably dragging, endless article got to do with Our Lady, the Rosary or the month of October? Well, before you build a house upwards, you have to go in the opposite direction beforehand, namely, dig-out and lay the foundations.
The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish the principle (not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time. The Rosary is one of those simple things that Heaven has given to us. It is so simple, that some, like Naaman the Leper, think it is beneath them, and they are tempted to turn away from the Rosary and go their own way. They would be foolish to do so! We often seek complicated human solutions, when Heaven wants us to use simple divine solutions! Do we really think that Our Lady does not know what she is talking about, when she tells us to pray the Rosary daily?
The Rosary consists of a few very short prayers, very simple prayers, but they have a most powerful effect. The Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be form the backbone and are the essence of the Rosary. If these simple prayers are used well—and are prayed slowly and with devotion—then marvelous results can flow forth. But mark well the words “prayed slowly and with devotion”! That can be a real challenge, even for the best of folk! God is not mocked, and, therefore, we should pray in a manner that manifests our seriousness about what we are doing, and shows that we really want to pray, thereby, saying what we mean, and meaning what we say! Then, a simple prayer can be powerful and will simply produce powerful results. I think that the power of the simple Rosary is beautifully shown by St. Louis de Montfort, when he relates an wonderful incident in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, in the chapter entitled “Thirty-Third Rose” :
Simple Satanic Confession
When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils, who were in possession of this wretched man, were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions, in spite of themselves. They said:
(1) That there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary;
(2) That by the Rosary which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary.
(3) They revealed several other things.
St. Dominic put his Rosary around the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should, therefore, be the most loved and revered by men.
At this, they let out such unearthly screams, that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way, that many of the people wept also, out of pure natural pity. The devils, speaking through the mouth of the Albigensian, pleaded in a heart‑rending voice,
“Dominic, Dominic, have pity on us, we promise you we will never harm you. You have always had compassion for sinners and those in distress; have pity on us, for we are in grievous straits. We are suffering so much already! Why do you delight in increasing our pains? Can’t you be satisfied with the pains we now endure? Have mercy on us, have mercy on us!”
St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer, in such a way, that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders.
So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question.”
No sooner had he said this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried, “Dominic, we beseech you, by the passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of his holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further; for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars –so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us.”
“Woe to you, wretched spirits, who do not deserve to be heard,” St. Dominic said, and kneeling down he prayed to the Blessed Virgin: “O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. I beg you, for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth here and now before the people.”
St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod, that she held, and said, “Answer my servant Dominic at once.” (It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, only St. Dominic.)
Then the devils started screaming:
“Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness.
“Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective.
“We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants.
“Many Christians, who call on her at the hour of death, and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards, are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity.
“Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains, for her servants, the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.”
Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary, which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body, under the guise of red‑hot coals. When the devils had all been expelled and the heretic completely delivered from them, Our Lady, although invisible, gave her blessing to the assembled company, and they were filled with joy. (The Secret of the Rosary, “Thirty-Third Rose”).
Let us take heart from this wonderful incident, and make a resolution to reform ourselves by praying our Rosaries better. Let us pray them more slowly, more deliberately, and with more devotion. Ave Maria!
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE SORROWFUL HEART OF MARY
THE MONTH OF THE SORROWFUL HEART OF MARY
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday September 28th & Tuesday September 29th & Wednesday September 30th
Article 13
Satan & Covid-19
Monday September 28th & Tuesday September 29th & Wednesday September 30th
Article 13
Satan & Covid-19
Is This Some Crazy Wild Far-Fetched Conspiracy Theory?
“What the heck?” you say, “I’ve heard everything now! Satan and Covid? What the heck next? Go see a psychiatrist! This is crazy!” On this eve of the September 29th feast of St. Michael the Archangel―the combatant and victor over the devil―and in the build-up or lead-up to the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels on October 2nd―we would do well to consider the role of the angels in our lives―both good angels and evil angels―for their activity is ceaseless and powerful, and their number is unimaginable.
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, said: “One day, during an exorcism, Father Candido Amantini — a Passionist priest and my great teacher — asked a demon: «How many are you?» The demon responded: «We are so many that if we were visible we would obscure [hide] the sun!» The demon, on that occasion, gave information that we have no reason to disbelieve―because it is confirmed in the Bible … The existence of the Devil and his wicked influence on people is an indisputable fact of the Church … The Fathers of the Church have always taught this truth without hesitation … Officially, the Church has always affirmed the existence of Satan and his negative influence, but in practice, the clergy have been influenced by theories which question the existence of Satan. Only in the last few centuries has this doctrine lost its strength — not because of the Church’s teaching, but because of some theologians … Many theologians claim to ‘interpret’ Sacred Scripture about this stinging issue. The reality is too serious, harsh and terrible to be accepted to the letter and so for this reason they turn to ‘interpretations’. Interpretations which are wrong and which go against the Gospel! … Contemporary religious culture―while not denying the existence of Satan and the other rebellious angels―is inclined to diminish their influence over people. Discrediting this influence [of Satan and the devils] is almost compulsory and is considered a sign of wisdom ...
“Satan’s greatest success has been to succeed in making people believe that he doesn’t exist. And in this he has almost succeeded. Even within the Church. We have a clergy and an episcopate who no longer believe in the devil, in exorcisms, in the extraordinary evil that the devil can cause … This mentality, which is completely wrong, is commonplace not only among lay people, but also among priests, theologians and even bishops, the practical consequences of which are far-reaching … I realized that many bishops and priests didn’t believe that the Devil could cause disease and other physical disturbances in people and, when asked for help, they recommend doctors or psychoanalysts. So I told myself that I needed to inform people and thus I began writing, giving interviews, and participating in TV and radio debates …
“Some time ago, a researcher carried out an enquiry among Catholic priests — and the results showed that two thirds accepted, in theory, traditional doctrine about the Devil, but that they rejected the practical consequences … Ninety-nine percent of bishops do not believe in extraordinary action of devil! … I speak with the Devil every day! I talk to him in Latin. He answers in Italian. I have been wrestling with him, day in day out, for 14 years!” [Fr. Amorth says this back in the year 2000―all in all, up to his death in 2016, he spent 30 years dealing with the devil each and every day] … The problems I am called to deal with every day, concern people who are suffering physically, psychologically and spiritually. These problems are caused by the Devil. At times they are so serious they lead a person to suicide or death. Faced with many priests who reveal themselves to be skeptical, indifferent or who consider these problems to be the fruit of imagination or obsession, I get very angry! … Remember―when we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist―that is when he is happiest!” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, former chief exorcist of Rome).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth continues: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past―but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, idolatry and irrationality increase, superstition grows and man looks elsewhere for answers to his meaningful questions. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan … There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil [from our thoughts and/or beliefs]. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great! … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works … His [Satan's] strategy is always along the same lines. I have told him this and he admits it ... He makes people believe that Hell does not exist, that sin does not exist, and that he is nothing but one more experience to try out. Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies.Whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest.”
Devil’s Dupes & Suckers of Satan
“Once, it happened that I asked a demon why, despite his superior intelligence, he preferred to descend into Hell; he answered, ‘I rebelled against God―thus, I showed that I am stronger than He is!’ Therefore, for them, rebellion is a sign of victory and superiority.” Fr. Amorth goes on to say that Satan seeks to pass on this ‘virus’ of rebellion: “Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God ... Even though they broke with God―Satan and his angels maintain their power and rank (thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and so on), even if they use them for evil purposes. Saint Augustine does not exaggerate when he claims that, if God gave Satan a free hand, no man would be left alive. Since Satan cannot kill us, he tries to make us into his followers in opposition to God, just as he is in opposition to God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … They are torn apart by various attractions; they reunite and separate again, in couples, families, homes, in different countries and with different children. This breakdown [in the family] leads to delinquency, wickedness, and evil” and provokes people to “violence, suicide, sexual perversion, and acts of destruction against the state, the civic order, and the Church of God.” Fr. Amorth adds that the three rules of Satanism are: “(1) You may do all you wish, (2) no one has the right to command you, and (3) you are the god of yourself. One doesn’t need to be exposed to the satanic heavy metal band, Slayer, to see those three elements alive and operating in our culture.”
“Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office … Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office.” So-called Christian politicians such as Trump and others―especially Catholics ones like Biden, Pelosi, Pence (apostate) and others, would do well to digest Fr. Amorth’s words about merely believing without behaving is not enough: “I have never―in my 45,000 exorcisms―come across a devil who does not believe in God. Believing doesn’t mean anything―instead, it is necessary to do what Jesus has told us to do!”
He continues: “All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God … Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches. I refer to those who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining satanic sects. They are secret groups which are difficult to pinpoint―but which exist and operate. They are well-organized, they have meeting places, priests and rites which finish in so-called ‘Black Masses’ … Whoever enters these sects finds it hard to get out. They usually enter for very base reasons―in order to have immediate benefits―for example: money, pleasure, success and power. They tie themselves to Satan with real blood pacts. I have seen many of these pacts, because when someone tries to escape this situation, he or she brings me the written ‘document’ and we burn it together. These pacts usually read: ‘Satan, you are my god, I give myself to you, I want to be yours for all eternity, I adore you.’” Among these persons are politicians and people who have high ranking positions in finance, corporations, the media, medical and military fields―for as Fr. Amorth said: Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office … Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office.”
Sick Souls & Sick Bodies
God, in creating us, has given us a body and a soul. The Catechism teaches us that our soul is more important than our body—which is based upon Our Lord’s words: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul—but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Who is your master? Is your body mastering your soul? Or is your soul mastering your body? Is your Faith mastering your worldliness? Or is your worldliness mastering your Faith?
Normally speaking—and spiritually speaking—it should be your soul that masters, guides and disciplines your body with its passions and concupiscences, much like parents should master, guide and discipline their children. Yet if the parents are sick (in body or in soul), if they are weak, if they themselves are undisciplined—then they will have little effect upon and little success with their children.
Some people imagine that physical illness is totally independent of the spiritual sphere—this seems to be a very modern, “divorced-from-God”, humanistic viewpoint—for just as Jesus says: “Without Me you cannot do nothing!” (John 15:5), likewise, without God nothing can happen—and that includes sickness. In that little gem of a book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. «Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives» is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, «and God intervenes everywhere» … «I am the Lord,» He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, «and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things» (Isaias 45:6‑7). «It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them» He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). «The Lord killeth and maketh alive» it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, «He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, He humbleth and He exalteth» (1 Kings 2:6‑7). «Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?» asks the prophet Amos (Amos 3:6). «Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God» Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 1).
The Causes of Illness and Suffering
Some hold that all illness and suffering is caused by sin. Others recoil and revolt at such a thought. Yet the truth—like virtue—stands in the middle between exaggeration and neglect. Illness and suffering is caused by sin and yet it can be inflicted by God upon the sinless (as in the case of Jesus and Mary—who suffered greatly, even though they had never sinned and did not merit to suffer afflictions, nor suffer illness, nor suffer death). Yet, ultimately, Jesus and Mary suffered and died for sin—our sins and the sins of the world. So ultimately you can say that illness (and all kinds of sufferings) are caused by sin.
As Holy Scripture says: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:22) for Satan tempted Eve and she in turn tempted Adam to disobey God and thereby sin: “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death—and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Common sense tells us that illness is a means or a passage to death—we do not die of good health (except murder and accidents) but we usually die of ill-health, we die of one illness or another, or from several illnesses.
We see Our Lord Himself connect sickness with sin in the miraculous curing of the paralytic man, who had suffered from paralysis for 38 years—and, after curing him, tells him to SIN NO MORE, IN CASE SOME WORSE THING HAPPEN TO HIM:
“Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been under his infirmity for thirty- eight years. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been there a long time, He said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered Him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole—and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the Sabbath that day. The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: ‘It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed!’ He answered them: ‘He that made me whole, He said to me: “Take up thy bed, and walk!”’ They asked him therefore: ‘Who is that man who said to thee, “Take up thy bed, and walk”?’ But he who was healed, knew not who it was—for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. Afterwards, Jesus, found him in the temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:1-14).
Our Lady alludes to the same principle at Fatima, where Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were inundated with requests from many people, begging favors and cures from Our Lady. Of one such request for a cure from an illness, Our Lady said: “If he is converted, he will be cured during the year” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917).
Satan is Behind the Illnesses and Afflictions of Job
We are shown a striking example of Satan being the cause of the illnesses and afflictions that beset Job in the Old Testament—but Satan COULD ONLY DO THIS WITH THE PERMISSION OF GOD. In the Book of Job we read:
“Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil … Now on a certain day when the sons of God [the angels] came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. And the Lord said to him: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? And Satan answering, said: ‘Does Job fear God in vain? Hast not Thou made a [protective] fence for him and his house, and all his substance round about, and blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the Earth? But stretch forth Thy hand a little, and touch [afflict] all that he hath, and see if he blesses Thee not to Thy face!’ Then the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand! Only put not forth thy hand upon his person!’ [in other words, you have control over what he has, but you cannot do anything to his person, that is to say, his body]. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord [and the troubles of Job would begin].
“Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.
“And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: ‘The fire of God fell from Heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.’
“And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: ‘The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’
“He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother. A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’
“Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said: ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord—so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!’ In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.
“And it came to pass again, when on a certain day the sons of God [the angels] came and stood before the Lord, and Satan came among them, and stood in His sight. And the Lord said to Satan: ‘ Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved me against him, so that I should afflict him without cause!’ And Satan answered, and said: ‘Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life! But just put forth Thy hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see if he will bless thee to Thy face!’
“And the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold he is in thy hand—but yet save his life!’ [in other words, attack his body but you cannot take his life]. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head. And Job took a potsherd [a broken piece of ceramic material, like a vase] and scraped the corrupt matter [from his body], sitting on a dunghill. And his wife said to him: ‘Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? Bless God and die!’ And he said to her: ‘Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women! If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?’ In all these things Job did not sin with his lips” (Job, chapters 1 & 2).
Sin and Sickness
There are some modern day Catholics—clergy included—who are horrified at the thought of sickness being thought of as a punishment for sin. Yet such is not the statement of Holy Scripture. We read in the very first book of the Bible—the Book of Genesis—that God Himself implicitly links sin with sickness when He commands Adam: “And He [God] commanded him [Adam], saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat—but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17). In other words—sin and you shall die. Now, death is usually the result one illness or another, or from several illnesses—unless, of course, it results from murder or an accident. Hence, sin indirectly is the cause of sickness and illness which leads to death—which is “wage of sin” (Romans 6:23).
We see this same threat—of sickness as a consequence for sin—announced by God in the Book of Leviticus: “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me … I will quickly visit you … and consume your lives … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins! … If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins …I will send the pestilence in the midst of you! … If you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me, then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-28).
Back in April of 2020, the Pennsylvania Patriot News reported: “The suggestion offered by Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, a conservative evangelical, parallels similar religious castigation to health and natural upheavals from religious conservatives. In the 1980s, as the HIV / AIDS epidemic claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, some Christian Conservatives characterized the epidemic as punishment from God to the gay community. Now, as the coronavirus grips the nation in fear and anxiety, some religious Conservatives have once again invoked the idea of an angry God looking to punish humanity for its sins. The Clinton County Republican is calling on lawmakers to designate March 30th as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. ‘It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow; and with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth,’ wrote Borowicz in her resolution. Borowicz is far from being alone. Some of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders have seized the crisis to invoke the idea that the pandemic is God’s punishment for a sinful world. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Dallas, for instance, last week delivered a sermon suggesting that the coronavirus is a judgment from God. ‘All natural disasters can ultimately be traced to sin.’ This brand of religious zealotry, however, isn’t shared by all faith leaders. Plenty of them have pushed back against the rhetoric and idea that God is vengeful or punishing the human race for its wrongdoing — or that the pandemic is a manifestation of that.” (Pennsylvania Patriot News).
Well, it is high time that the Pennsylvania Patriot News people started reading the Bible instead of their own news! God IS vengeful—just read Leviticus 26:14-40! End of story! End of argument! If you want some “one-liners” that also speak of God’s vengefulness, then take these: “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35); “The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth! The God of revenge hath acted freely!” (Psalm 93:1)—which is echoed in the New Testament: “It is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). “For we know Him that hath said: ‘Vengeance belongeth to Me, and I will repay!’ And again: ‘The Lord shall judge His people!’” (Hebrews 10:30). “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven in a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ—who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord!” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
“What the heck?” you say, “I’ve heard everything now! Satan and Covid? What the heck next? Go see a psychiatrist! This is crazy!” On this eve of the September 29th feast of St. Michael the Archangel―the combatant and victor over the devil―and in the build-up or lead-up to the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels on October 2nd―we would do well to consider the role of the angels in our lives―both good angels and evil angels―for their activity is ceaseless and powerful, and their number is unimaginable.
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, said: “One day, during an exorcism, Father Candido Amantini — a Passionist priest and my great teacher — asked a demon: «How many are you?» The demon responded: «We are so many that if we were visible we would obscure [hide] the sun!» The demon, on that occasion, gave information that we have no reason to disbelieve―because it is confirmed in the Bible … The existence of the Devil and his wicked influence on people is an indisputable fact of the Church … The Fathers of the Church have always taught this truth without hesitation … Officially, the Church has always affirmed the existence of Satan and his negative influence, but in practice, the clergy have been influenced by theories which question the existence of Satan. Only in the last few centuries has this doctrine lost its strength — not because of the Church’s teaching, but because of some theologians … Many theologians claim to ‘interpret’ Sacred Scripture about this stinging issue. The reality is too serious, harsh and terrible to be accepted to the letter and so for this reason they turn to ‘interpretations’. Interpretations which are wrong and which go against the Gospel! … Contemporary religious culture―while not denying the existence of Satan and the other rebellious angels―is inclined to diminish their influence over people. Discrediting this influence [of Satan and the devils] is almost compulsory and is considered a sign of wisdom ...
“Satan’s greatest success has been to succeed in making people believe that he doesn’t exist. And in this he has almost succeeded. Even within the Church. We have a clergy and an episcopate who no longer believe in the devil, in exorcisms, in the extraordinary evil that the devil can cause … This mentality, which is completely wrong, is commonplace not only among lay people, but also among priests, theologians and even bishops, the practical consequences of which are far-reaching … I realized that many bishops and priests didn’t believe that the Devil could cause disease and other physical disturbances in people and, when asked for help, they recommend doctors or psychoanalysts. So I told myself that I needed to inform people and thus I began writing, giving interviews, and participating in TV and radio debates …
“Some time ago, a researcher carried out an enquiry among Catholic priests — and the results showed that two thirds accepted, in theory, traditional doctrine about the Devil, but that they rejected the practical consequences … Ninety-nine percent of bishops do not believe in extraordinary action of devil! … I speak with the Devil every day! I talk to him in Latin. He answers in Italian. I have been wrestling with him, day in day out, for 14 years!” [Fr. Amorth says this back in the year 2000―all in all, up to his death in 2016, he spent 30 years dealing with the devil each and every day] … The problems I am called to deal with every day, concern people who are suffering physically, psychologically and spiritually. These problems are caused by the Devil. At times they are so serious they lead a person to suicide or death. Faced with many priests who reveal themselves to be skeptical, indifferent or who consider these problems to be the fruit of imagination or obsession, I get very angry! … Remember―when we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist―that is when he is happiest!” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, former chief exorcist of Rome).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth continues: “The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past―but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, idolatry and irrationality increase, superstition grows and man looks elsewhere for answers to his meaningful questions. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan … There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil [from our thoughts and/or beliefs]. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great! … There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works … His [Satan's] strategy is always along the same lines. I have told him this and he admits it ... He makes people believe that Hell does not exist, that sin does not exist, and that he is nothing but one more experience to try out. Concupiscence, success and power are the three great passions on which Satan relies.Whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest.”
Devil’s Dupes & Suckers of Satan
“Once, it happened that I asked a demon why, despite his superior intelligence, he preferred to descend into Hell; he answered, ‘I rebelled against God―thus, I showed that I am stronger than He is!’ Therefore, for them, rebellion is a sign of victory and superiority.” Fr. Amorth goes on to say that Satan seeks to pass on this ‘virus’ of rebellion: “Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God ... Even though they broke with God―Satan and his angels maintain their power and rank (thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and so on), even if they use them for evil purposes. Saint Augustine does not exaggerate when he claims that, if God gave Satan a free hand, no man would be left alive. Since Satan cannot kill us, he tries to make us into his followers in opposition to God, just as he is in opposition to God … He hates God and that is why he seeks to convince people to commit sins and thus drag them down to Hell ... The devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side … Today, families are among the most targeted by the ordinary action of Satan … They are torn apart by various attractions; they reunite and separate again, in couples, families, homes, in different countries and with different children. This breakdown [in the family] leads to delinquency, wickedness, and evil” and provokes people to “violence, suicide, sexual perversion, and acts of destruction against the state, the civic order, and the Church of God.” Fr. Amorth adds that the three rules of Satanism are: “(1) You may do all you wish, (2) no one has the right to command you, and (3) you are the god of yourself. One doesn’t need to be exposed to the satanic heavy metal band, Slayer, to see those three elements alive and operating in our culture.”
“Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office … Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office.” So-called Christian politicians such as Trump and others―especially Catholics ones like Biden, Pelosi, Pence (apostate) and others, would do well to digest Fr. Amorth’s words about merely believing without behaving is not enough: “I have never―in my 45,000 exorcisms―come across a devil who does not believe in God. Believing doesn’t mean anything―instead, it is necessary to do what Jesus has told us to do!”
He continues: “All I can say now is that the evidence of what’s happening is obvious. We are living a disastrous moment. These wars and natural disasters are only the beginning―the antipasti (the first course of the meal). What’s coming is going to be much worse. I am optimistic for the future, but I know that we will be struck and they will be judged—these people who want to build a world without God … Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches. I refer to those who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining satanic sects. They are secret groups which are difficult to pinpoint―but which exist and operate. They are well-organized, they have meeting places, priests and rites which finish in so-called ‘Black Masses’ … Whoever enters these sects finds it hard to get out. They usually enter for very base reasons―in order to have immediate benefits―for example: money, pleasure, success and power. They tie themselves to Satan with real blood pacts. I have seen many of these pacts, because when someone tries to escape this situation, he or she brings me the written ‘document’ and we burn it together. These pacts usually read: ‘Satan, you are my god, I give myself to you, I want to be yours for all eternity, I adore you.’” Among these persons are politicians and people who have high ranking positions in finance, corporations, the media, medical and military fields―for as Fr. Amorth said: Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office … Evil exists in politics―quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office.”
Sick Souls & Sick Bodies
God, in creating us, has given us a body and a soul. The Catechism teaches us that our soul is more important than our body—which is based upon Our Lord’s words: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul—but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Who is your master? Is your body mastering your soul? Or is your soul mastering your body? Is your Faith mastering your worldliness? Or is your worldliness mastering your Faith?
Normally speaking—and spiritually speaking—it should be your soul that masters, guides and disciplines your body with its passions and concupiscences, much like parents should master, guide and discipline their children. Yet if the parents are sick (in body or in soul), if they are weak, if they themselves are undisciplined—then they will have little effect upon and little success with their children.
Some people imagine that physical illness is totally independent of the spiritual sphere—this seems to be a very modern, “divorced-from-God”, humanistic viewpoint—for just as Jesus says: “Without Me you cannot do nothing!” (John 15:5), likewise, without God nothing can happen—and that includes sickness. In that little gem of a book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, we read: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. «Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives» is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, «and God intervenes everywhere» … «I am the Lord,» He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, «and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things» (Isaias 45:6‑7). «It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them» He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). «The Lord killeth and maketh alive» it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, «He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, He humbleth and He exalteth» (1 Kings 2:6‑7). «Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?» asks the prophet Amos (Amos 3:6). «Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God» Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture” (Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, chapter 1).
The Causes of Illness and Suffering
Some hold that all illness and suffering is caused by sin. Others recoil and revolt at such a thought. Yet the truth—like virtue—stands in the middle between exaggeration and neglect. Illness and suffering is caused by sin and yet it can be inflicted by God upon the sinless (as in the case of Jesus and Mary—who suffered greatly, even though they had never sinned and did not merit to suffer afflictions, nor suffer illness, nor suffer death). Yet, ultimately, Jesus and Mary suffered and died for sin—our sins and the sins of the world. So ultimately you can say that illness (and all kinds of sufferings) are caused by sin.
As Holy Scripture says: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:22) for Satan tempted Eve and she in turn tempted Adam to disobey God and thereby sin: “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death—and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Common sense tells us that illness is a means or a passage to death—we do not die of good health (except murder and accidents) but we usually die of ill-health, we die of one illness or another, or from several illnesses.
We see Our Lord Himself connect sickness with sin in the miraculous curing of the paralytic man, who had suffered from paralysis for 38 years—and, after curing him, tells him to SIN NO MORE, IN CASE SOME WORSE THING HAPPEN TO HIM:
“Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been under his infirmity for thirty- eight years. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been there a long time, He said to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered Him: ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond! For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus said to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole—and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the Sabbath that day. The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: ‘It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed!’ He answered them: ‘He that made me whole, He said to me: “Take up thy bed, and walk!”’ They asked him therefore: ‘Who is that man who said to thee, “Take up thy bed, and walk”?’ But he who was healed, knew not who it was—for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. Afterwards, Jesus, found him in the temple, and said to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:1-14).
Our Lady alludes to the same principle at Fatima, where Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were inundated with requests from many people, begging favors and cures from Our Lady. Of one such request for a cure from an illness, Our Lady said: “If he is converted, he will be cured during the year” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917).
Satan is Behind the Illnesses and Afflictions of Job
We are shown a striking example of Satan being the cause of the illnesses and afflictions that beset Job in the Old Testament—but Satan COULD ONLY DO THIS WITH THE PERMISSION OF GOD. In the Book of Job we read:
“Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil … Now on a certain day when the sons of God [the angels] came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. And the Lord said to him: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? And Satan answering, said: ‘Does Job fear God in vain? Hast not Thou made a [protective] fence for him and his house, and all his substance round about, and blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the Earth? But stretch forth Thy hand a little, and touch [afflict] all that he hath, and see if he blesses Thee not to Thy face!’ Then the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand! Only put not forth thy hand upon his person!’ [in other words, you have control over what he has, but you cannot do anything to his person, that is to say, his body]. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord [and the troubles of Job would begin].
“Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.
“And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: ‘The fire of God fell from Heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.’
“And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: ‘The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’
“He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother. A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee!’
“Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said: ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord—so is it done! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!’ In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.
“And it came to pass again, when on a certain day the sons of God [the angels] came and stood before the Lord, and Satan came among them, and stood in His sight. And the Lord said to Satan: ‘ Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved me against him, so that I should afflict him without cause!’ And Satan answered, and said: ‘Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life! But just put forth Thy hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see if he will bless thee to Thy face!’
“And the Lord said to Satan: ‘Behold he is in thy hand—but yet save his life!’ [in other words, attack his body but you cannot take his life]. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head. And Job took a potsherd [a broken piece of ceramic material, like a vase] and scraped the corrupt matter [from his body], sitting on a dunghill. And his wife said to him: ‘Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? Bless God and die!’ And he said to her: ‘Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women! If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?’ In all these things Job did not sin with his lips” (Job, chapters 1 & 2).
Sin and Sickness
There are some modern day Catholics—clergy included—who are horrified at the thought of sickness being thought of as a punishment for sin. Yet such is not the statement of Holy Scripture. We read in the very first book of the Bible—the Book of Genesis—that God Himself implicitly links sin with sickness when He commands Adam: “And He [God] commanded him [Adam], saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat—but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17). In other words—sin and you shall die. Now, death is usually the result one illness or another, or from several illnesses—unless, of course, it results from murder or an accident. Hence, sin indirectly is the cause of sickness and illness which leads to death—which is “wage of sin” (Romans 6:23).
We see this same threat—of sickness as a consequence for sin—announced by God in the Book of Leviticus: “If you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me … I will quickly visit you … and consume your lives … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins! … If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! … And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins …I will send the pestilence in the midst of you! … If you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me, then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins!” (Leviticus 26:14-28).
Back in April of 2020, the Pennsylvania Patriot News reported: “The suggestion offered by Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, a conservative evangelical, parallels similar religious castigation to health and natural upheavals from religious conservatives. In the 1980s, as the HIV / AIDS epidemic claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, some Christian Conservatives characterized the epidemic as punishment from God to the gay community. Now, as the coronavirus grips the nation in fear and anxiety, some religious Conservatives have once again invoked the idea of an angry God looking to punish humanity for its sins. The Clinton County Republican is calling on lawmakers to designate March 30th as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. ‘It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow; and with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth,’ wrote Borowicz in her resolution. Borowicz is far from being alone. Some of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders have seized the crisis to invoke the idea that the pandemic is God’s punishment for a sinful world. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Dallas, for instance, last week delivered a sermon suggesting that the coronavirus is a judgment from God. ‘All natural disasters can ultimately be traced to sin.’ This brand of religious zealotry, however, isn’t shared by all faith leaders. Plenty of them have pushed back against the rhetoric and idea that God is vengeful or punishing the human race for its wrongdoing — or that the pandemic is a manifestation of that.” (Pennsylvania Patriot News).
Well, it is high time that the Pennsylvania Patriot News people started reading the Bible instead of their own news! God IS vengeful—just read Leviticus 26:14-40! End of story! End of argument! If you want some “one-liners” that also speak of God’s vengefulness, then take these: “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35); “The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth! The God of revenge hath acted freely!” (Psalm 93:1)—which is echoed in the New Testament: “It is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). “For we know Him that hath said: ‘Vengeance belongeth to Me, and I will repay!’ And again: ‘The Lord shall judge His people!’” (Hebrews 10:30). “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven in a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ—who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord!” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday September 26th & Sunday September 27th
Article 12
Avoid the Distractions! Focus on the Right Target!
Saturday September 26th & Sunday September 27th
Article 12
Avoid the Distractions! Focus on the Right Target!
The Universal Pandemic
They call this current hyper-inflated and falsely reported Covid-19 scare a “pandemic”—with an estimated 33 million people having contracted the virus worldwide—which, in relation to the world population of 7.8 billion, is only 0.4% or 1 in every 236 people. Yet there is an even greater pandemic which sees a virus ever circulating that strikes and affects all of the human race—and always has and always will. That virus is the virus of distraction. The fatalities caused by the virus of distraction are millions and billions and trillions of times greater than these current Covid-19 ‘fatalities’ that the official narrative has been trying to ram down our throats!
Here is a selection of definitions from various different dictionaries of the verb “to distract” and the noun “distraction”.
Definition of the verb “to distract”
To distract is to draw away or divert, as the mind or attention
To distract is to disturb or trouble greatly in mind; beset:
To distract is to provide a pleasant diversion for; amuse; entertain:
To distract is to separate or divide by dissension or strife.
Definition of the noun “distraction”
A distraction is an obstacle to attention.
A distraction is the process of interrupting attention.
A distraction is an object that directs one's attention away from something.
A distraction is something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else.
A distraction is a stimulus or task that draws attention away from the task of primary interest.
A distraction is something that turns your attention away from something you want to concentrate on.
A distraction is that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration.
A distraction is the diverting of the attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction.
A distraction is division or disorder caused by dissension, tumult, uproar, uprising, etc.
A distraction is mental distress, mental turmoil, or derangement, as in “That child will drive me to distraction!”
A distraction is that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration, as in “The distractions of the city interfere with my studies.”
A distraction is that which amuses, entertains, or diverts; amusement; entertainment, as in “Fishing is his major distraction.”
Psychologists tell us:
● Distraction is the diverting of the attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by one of the following: lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; greater interest in something other than the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of the source of distraction.
● Distractions come from both external sources (physical stimulus through the five senses) or internal sources (thought, daydreams, etc.).
● Divided attention is also defined as “distraction” in situations requiring full attention on a single object (sports, academic tests, performance, etc.). A handful of interruptions may or may not be considered distractions, because their value or importance is greater than the object of attention; such as a welcomed phone call, creative inspiration, or a medical emergency. Distraction is a major cause of procrastination.
The Distraction Pandemic
Holy Scripture, speaking of the danger of distractions, says: “I applied my heart to know wisdom and to understand the distraction that is upon Earth—for there are some that, day and night, take no sleep with their eyes” [being continually distracted by the world] (Ecclesiastes 8:16). “Let thy eyes look straight on … Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left” (Proverbs 4:25-27). “And the Lord said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful [full of cares about material things] and art troubled about many things! But only one thing is necessary!” (Luke 10:41-42). “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” [the distraction of money, treasures, pleasures, possessions] (Matthew 6:24). The rich young man of the Gospel tried to serve both God and mammon, but was too distracted by his possessions to follow Christ fully:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25). That pretty much summarizes most Catholics today—for, relatively speaking in comparison to earlier centuries, today’s typical American (or Western) Catholic lives like a king compared to people of old—large comfortable heated houses with glass windows, cars, televisions, computers, internet, phones, refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers, laundry-machines, power tools, electricity, gas, running water, indoor toilets, bathroom/showers, incredible variety of foods in supermarkets, high technology medical care, dental care, insurance, etc.
So what is your “poison”—that is to say “distraction” that distracts you from truly serving God and becoming the saint that God expects you be—and which you MUST BE before you can gain entrance to Heaven? Just as they say: “Hell is full of good intentions”—you can equally say: “Hell is full of people who loved distractions!” So what is your “poison” or “distraction” that risks making you lose your way and lose your soul? For just as Holy Scripture says that we are all sinners — “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10) — so too can it be said: “If we say that we have no distractions, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not been distracted, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!”
The Devil and Distraction
Distraction makes us lose the traction in our focus! We know from experience that so many things go wrong when we are distracted—whether it is while driving, working, cooking, cleaning, etc. The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul; if you don’t pay attention, you may pay for eternity! The devil is a master of distraction. It is usually one of the first steps he will take in the long devious road to your intended damnation.
The initial distraction will not be an “evil” thing, but a good thing. That is now con-men or con-artists work—they start legitimately, they may even “make a loss” on you at first, just to win your confidence. The devil will often distract you from holy things by ‘lesser’ holy things. He knows the power of everything and what it can do for you—so, instead of having you pray the Rosary, he will suggest some other ‘lesser’ prayer that might not seem as boring as the Rosary! Instead of going to an extra Mass, he might suggest that you go visit some sick person instead, or do something for the children, or even say a ‘boring’ Rosary. He will always try to distract with lesser things to keep you away from what can help you the most. The less grace you get, the weaker you become. He cannot win if you are strong.
Also, distraction allows him to work unnoticed. If you have ever been to Rome, you may have noticed the famous “Roma Pickpockets” at work. They used to be mainly Gypsy families, but now they also include many other immigrants too. The travel agencies, on their websites, warn you against them. Here is an extract of one such warning:
“…Others will work in groups, swarming you, babbling excitedly, and sometimes holding up bits of cardboard with messages scrawled on them to distract you. Then, faster than you can say “Hey!...”, they'll rifle your pockets while the cardboard shields their hands from view. Near walls and in subway tunnels, they might even be so bold as to pin you against the wall with the cardboard so as to fleece you more easily. Some may spill a drink they are carrying on you and effusively apologize as they wipe you down, while in the pandemonium their cohorts are pickpocketing you, or unzipping some of your back pack compartments, etc. They aren’t really physically dangerous, but they are very skillful at rifling and taking your stuff. If they get near enough to touch you, push them away—don’t hold back just because they’re kids. They are trying to steal from you!”
Even the military and terrorists will use distraction as part of their attack maneuvers. The devil is no different. Beware of being distracted, especially by ‘good’ things, for the devil has no problem with you doing ‘good’ things if that means keeping you away from better things. The devil’s use of distraction does not just occur at the start of his long and winding road into temptation and sin, but it is something he will use all along the road—using hundreds of different ways of distracting, hundreds of times. Distraction is like the breathing air—it is takes place all the time. Get used to it—it won’t go away, just as the devil won’t go away—but be aware of it and don’t fall for it!
Deception Lies Behind Distraction
The devil deceives, the world deceived, the children of the world deceive. “Lies, lies and more damned lies!” Our Lord calls the devil a liar and the father of lies. In speaking to some of the Jews and Pharisees, Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). We see the devil “ply his trade”, or should it be “lie his trade” with Eve. He lies about God and he lies about what the forbidden fruit would do for them. He has been lying ever since then! Yet, he will always clothe his lies with some semblance of truth—otherwise who would “buy into it”?
Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, in his book, Rules for Discerning the Spirits, writes: “Fallacious reasoning is an unmistakable sign of the devil. One must be very skeptical of certain false theories, of certain slogans which engender many sins, and often grave sins against the Faith, against Justice or Charity. For example: ‘They can choose their own religion when they grow up!’”
Furthermore, the devil will cement his deception through the people that surround in family, at work, in school, in the parish, among friends and relatives—for he will use “dummies” who know little about the Faith, or who practice little virtue, to pour more fuel onto the fire of deceit that he has set alight. They will “add their own two-cents worth” of half-baked wisdom, which is usually based more on the principles and attitudes of the world (of whom, Jesus says, the devil is prince), rather than the principles of the Faith (which they know very little about).
We are familiar with the expression: “Don’t believe everything you hear!” How true and wise that statement is! How many times have we been wrong? Countless and still counting! The more stupid, or ignorant, or uninformed a person is, the easier it is to sell that person a lie. Truth is our measuring stick—but if you know so little about the Faith, then what will you measure with? Catholics today have been sold all kinds of lies because they did not know the truth! Isn’t that the truth, eh? We see that deception used by the devil on Our Lord during the temptation in the desert—the devil is deceptive in the way he employs quotes from Holy Scripture. Our Lord “shoots him down” by other quotes from Holy Scripture that “trump” the ones the devil tried to deceptively use.
As Our Lord said: “Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32). When you know little of the truths of the Faith, then you are more easily deceived—that is why so many Catholics today accept living in sin, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, worldliness, addictions, promiscuity, etc. Someone has managed to persuade them (deceive them) into thinking these things are now acceptable for one reason or another. “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit”(Matthew 15:14) while they rationalize to each other that they are not blind at all! ‘Dumb’ people do ‘dumb’ things! That is why Pope St. Pius X lamented the ignorance of Catholics (read about it here).
Distraction Through Discussion, Debate & Dialectics
The word “dialectics” means seeking the resolution of a disagreement between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject, by the use of logical argument. Debate is similar, but it allows emotions to enter into the disagreement and does not remain on the level of logic alone. Modern dialectic is essentially a compromise. In more technical terms, there is a THESIS that it proposed, which is then opposed by and ANTITHESIS (the opposing view) and then, after a back and forth discussion, you are meant to arrive at the SYNTHESIS (the compromise between the two opposing sides or views). Then this SYNTHESIS becomes the new THESIS, waiting for the next wave of opposition to it (the next ANTITHESIS) which will produce the next SYNTHESIS (compromise or “watering-down” or “dilution” of truth).
For our purposes, the THESIS is God’s truth—the Faith. The ANTITHESIS is the devil’s untruth, or lies. The danger lies in the SYNTHESIS of compromise between the two, or should we say the danger lies in the “sin-thesis” of compromise—for, as Holy Scripture says: “What concord [compromise or synthesis] hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore: ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17)—NO DIALECTIC, NO DISCUSSION, NO DEBATE, NO COMPROMISE!
The whole point of the devil’s opening moves of distraction and deceit is to draw you into a discussion and a debate with him—just as he did with Eve. Once the devil has you distracted and deceived (or at least partially deceived), he will then build on that deception or deceptive truth getting you to enter into further discussion about something—not necessarily about the sinful thing he wants you to think, say, do or go to—but about something more trivial that will “start the conversation”. Yet, at the same time, he does not want you to realize that you are talking with him, so he makes it seem as though you merely talking with yourself in the secrecy of your mind. In this way, the conversation with him will feel ‘normal’ and innocuous—nothing to worry about!―because you imagine you are talking to yourself. The problem is that we have spent all our life under the deception of thinking that all of our interior conversations were with ourselves—it is hard to accept and believe that not all of them were with ourselves, but many were with the devil. The devil hopes you will refuse to accept that truth—so that he can carry on his work undisturbed!
Once again, the advice of Fr. Barrielle should be stated: “As soon as one knows that it comes from the devil, it must be rejected without any discussion. My master of novices, Fr. Terradas said: ‘One does not play with the devil!’ He calls ‘playing with the devil’ the fact of tarrying with a thought that one knows to be not good, and thus, from the devil, while reassuring oneself, with a firm will, not to consent to it. Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil (who is much stronger that we). Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. After having told her that God had forbidden it, the devil followed up with new reasons. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him: ‘If we eat of it, we will die!’ The devil lied and said: ‘No, you will not die! You will become like gods, knowing good and evil!’ She discussed, and the devil finished by making her fall” (Fr. Barrielle, Rules for Discerning the Spirits).
They call this current hyper-inflated and falsely reported Covid-19 scare a “pandemic”—with an estimated 33 million people having contracted the virus worldwide—which, in relation to the world population of 7.8 billion, is only 0.4% or 1 in every 236 people. Yet there is an even greater pandemic which sees a virus ever circulating that strikes and affects all of the human race—and always has and always will. That virus is the virus of distraction. The fatalities caused by the virus of distraction are millions and billions and trillions of times greater than these current Covid-19 ‘fatalities’ that the official narrative has been trying to ram down our throats!
Here is a selection of definitions from various different dictionaries of the verb “to distract” and the noun “distraction”.
Definition of the verb “to distract”
To distract is to draw away or divert, as the mind or attention
To distract is to disturb or trouble greatly in mind; beset:
To distract is to provide a pleasant diversion for; amuse; entertain:
To distract is to separate or divide by dissension or strife.
Definition of the noun “distraction”
A distraction is an obstacle to attention.
A distraction is the process of interrupting attention.
A distraction is an object that directs one's attention away from something.
A distraction is something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else.
A distraction is a stimulus or task that draws attention away from the task of primary interest.
A distraction is something that turns your attention away from something you want to concentrate on.
A distraction is that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration.
A distraction is the diverting of the attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction.
A distraction is division or disorder caused by dissension, tumult, uproar, uprising, etc.
A distraction is mental distress, mental turmoil, or derangement, as in “That child will drive me to distraction!”
A distraction is that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration, as in “The distractions of the city interfere with my studies.”
A distraction is that which amuses, entertains, or diverts; amusement; entertainment, as in “Fishing is his major distraction.”
Psychologists tell us:
● Distraction is the diverting of the attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by one of the following: lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; greater interest in something other than the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of the source of distraction.
● Distractions come from both external sources (physical stimulus through the five senses) or internal sources (thought, daydreams, etc.).
● Divided attention is also defined as “distraction” in situations requiring full attention on a single object (sports, academic tests, performance, etc.). A handful of interruptions may or may not be considered distractions, because their value or importance is greater than the object of attention; such as a welcomed phone call, creative inspiration, or a medical emergency. Distraction is a major cause of procrastination.
The Distraction Pandemic
Holy Scripture, speaking of the danger of distractions, says: “I applied my heart to know wisdom and to understand the distraction that is upon Earth—for there are some that, day and night, take no sleep with their eyes” [being continually distracted by the world] (Ecclesiastes 8:16). “Let thy eyes look straight on … Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left” (Proverbs 4:25-27). “And the Lord said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful [full of cares about material things] and art troubled about many things! But only one thing is necessary!” (Luke 10:41-42). “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” [the distraction of money, treasures, pleasures, possessions] (Matthew 6:24). The rich young man of the Gospel tried to serve both God and mammon, but was too distracted by his possessions to follow Christ fully:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10:17-23; Luke 18:18-25). That pretty much summarizes most Catholics today—for, relatively speaking in comparison to earlier centuries, today’s typical American (or Western) Catholic lives like a king compared to people of old—large comfortable heated houses with glass windows, cars, televisions, computers, internet, phones, refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers, laundry-machines, power tools, electricity, gas, running water, indoor toilets, bathroom/showers, incredible variety of foods in supermarkets, high technology medical care, dental care, insurance, etc.
So what is your “poison”—that is to say “distraction” that distracts you from truly serving God and becoming the saint that God expects you be—and which you MUST BE before you can gain entrance to Heaven? Just as they say: “Hell is full of good intentions”—you can equally say: “Hell is full of people who loved distractions!” So what is your “poison” or “distraction” that risks making you lose your way and lose your soul? For just as Holy Scripture says that we are all sinners — “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10) — so too can it be said: “If we say that we have no distractions, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not been distracted, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!”
The Devil and Distraction
Distraction makes us lose the traction in our focus! We know from experience that so many things go wrong when we are distracted—whether it is while driving, working, cooking, cleaning, etc. The same can be true in the spiritual life—lose your focus, and you might lose your soul; if you don’t pay attention, you may pay for eternity! The devil is a master of distraction. It is usually one of the first steps he will take in the long devious road to your intended damnation.
The initial distraction will not be an “evil” thing, but a good thing. That is now con-men or con-artists work—they start legitimately, they may even “make a loss” on you at first, just to win your confidence. The devil will often distract you from holy things by ‘lesser’ holy things. He knows the power of everything and what it can do for you—so, instead of having you pray the Rosary, he will suggest some other ‘lesser’ prayer that might not seem as boring as the Rosary! Instead of going to an extra Mass, he might suggest that you go visit some sick person instead, or do something for the children, or even say a ‘boring’ Rosary. He will always try to distract with lesser things to keep you away from what can help you the most. The less grace you get, the weaker you become. He cannot win if you are strong.
Also, distraction allows him to work unnoticed. If you have ever been to Rome, you may have noticed the famous “Roma Pickpockets” at work. They used to be mainly Gypsy families, but now they also include many other immigrants too. The travel agencies, on their websites, warn you against them. Here is an extract of one such warning:
“…Others will work in groups, swarming you, babbling excitedly, and sometimes holding up bits of cardboard with messages scrawled on them to distract you. Then, faster than you can say “Hey!...”, they'll rifle your pockets while the cardboard shields their hands from view. Near walls and in subway tunnels, they might even be so bold as to pin you against the wall with the cardboard so as to fleece you more easily. Some may spill a drink they are carrying on you and effusively apologize as they wipe you down, while in the pandemonium their cohorts are pickpocketing you, or unzipping some of your back pack compartments, etc. They aren’t really physically dangerous, but they are very skillful at rifling and taking your stuff. If they get near enough to touch you, push them away—don’t hold back just because they’re kids. They are trying to steal from you!”
Even the military and terrorists will use distraction as part of their attack maneuvers. The devil is no different. Beware of being distracted, especially by ‘good’ things, for the devil has no problem with you doing ‘good’ things if that means keeping you away from better things. The devil’s use of distraction does not just occur at the start of his long and winding road into temptation and sin, but it is something he will use all along the road—using hundreds of different ways of distracting, hundreds of times. Distraction is like the breathing air—it is takes place all the time. Get used to it—it won’t go away, just as the devil won’t go away—but be aware of it and don’t fall for it!
Deception Lies Behind Distraction
The devil deceives, the world deceived, the children of the world deceive. “Lies, lies and more damned lies!” Our Lord calls the devil a liar and the father of lies. In speaking to some of the Jews and Pharisees, Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). We see the devil “ply his trade”, or should it be “lie his trade” with Eve. He lies about God and he lies about what the forbidden fruit would do for them. He has been lying ever since then! Yet, he will always clothe his lies with some semblance of truth—otherwise who would “buy into it”?
Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, in his book, Rules for Discerning the Spirits, writes: “Fallacious reasoning is an unmistakable sign of the devil. One must be very skeptical of certain false theories, of certain slogans which engender many sins, and often grave sins against the Faith, against Justice or Charity. For example: ‘They can choose their own religion when they grow up!’”
Furthermore, the devil will cement his deception through the people that surround in family, at work, in school, in the parish, among friends and relatives—for he will use “dummies” who know little about the Faith, or who practice little virtue, to pour more fuel onto the fire of deceit that he has set alight. They will “add their own two-cents worth” of half-baked wisdom, which is usually based more on the principles and attitudes of the world (of whom, Jesus says, the devil is prince), rather than the principles of the Faith (which they know very little about).
We are familiar with the expression: “Don’t believe everything you hear!” How true and wise that statement is! How many times have we been wrong? Countless and still counting! The more stupid, or ignorant, or uninformed a person is, the easier it is to sell that person a lie. Truth is our measuring stick—but if you know so little about the Faith, then what will you measure with? Catholics today have been sold all kinds of lies because they did not know the truth! Isn’t that the truth, eh? We see that deception used by the devil on Our Lord during the temptation in the desert—the devil is deceptive in the way he employs quotes from Holy Scripture. Our Lord “shoots him down” by other quotes from Holy Scripture that “trump” the ones the devil tried to deceptively use.
As Our Lord said: “Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:32). When you know little of the truths of the Faith, then you are more easily deceived—that is why so many Catholics today accept living in sin, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, worldliness, addictions, promiscuity, etc. Someone has managed to persuade them (deceive them) into thinking these things are now acceptable for one reason or another. “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit”(Matthew 15:14) while they rationalize to each other that they are not blind at all! ‘Dumb’ people do ‘dumb’ things! That is why Pope St. Pius X lamented the ignorance of Catholics (read about it here).
Distraction Through Discussion, Debate & Dialectics
The word “dialectics” means seeking the resolution of a disagreement between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject, by the use of logical argument. Debate is similar, but it allows emotions to enter into the disagreement and does not remain on the level of logic alone. Modern dialectic is essentially a compromise. In more technical terms, there is a THESIS that it proposed, which is then opposed by and ANTITHESIS (the opposing view) and then, after a back and forth discussion, you are meant to arrive at the SYNTHESIS (the compromise between the two opposing sides or views). Then this SYNTHESIS becomes the new THESIS, waiting for the next wave of opposition to it (the next ANTITHESIS) which will produce the next SYNTHESIS (compromise or “watering-down” or “dilution” of truth).
For our purposes, the THESIS is God’s truth—the Faith. The ANTITHESIS is the devil’s untruth, or lies. The danger lies in the SYNTHESIS of compromise between the two, or should we say the danger lies in the “sin-thesis” of compromise—for, as Holy Scripture says: “What concord [compromise or synthesis] hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore: ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17)—NO DIALECTIC, NO DISCUSSION, NO DEBATE, NO COMPROMISE!
The whole point of the devil’s opening moves of distraction and deceit is to draw you into a discussion and a debate with him—just as he did with Eve. Once the devil has you distracted and deceived (or at least partially deceived), he will then build on that deception or deceptive truth getting you to enter into further discussion about something—not necessarily about the sinful thing he wants you to think, say, do or go to—but about something more trivial that will “start the conversation”. Yet, at the same time, he does not want you to realize that you are talking with him, so he makes it seem as though you merely talking with yourself in the secrecy of your mind. In this way, the conversation with him will feel ‘normal’ and innocuous—nothing to worry about!―because you imagine you are talking to yourself. The problem is that we have spent all our life under the deception of thinking that all of our interior conversations were with ourselves—it is hard to accept and believe that not all of them were with ourselves, but many were with the devil. The devil hopes you will refuse to accept that truth—so that he can carry on his work undisturbed!
Once again, the advice of Fr. Barrielle should be stated: “As soon as one knows that it comes from the devil, it must be rejected without any discussion. My master of novices, Fr. Terradas said: ‘One does not play with the devil!’ He calls ‘playing with the devil’ the fact of tarrying with a thought that one knows to be not good, and thus, from the devil, while reassuring oneself, with a firm will, not to consent to it. Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil (who is much stronger that we). Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. After having told her that God had forbidden it, the devil followed up with new reasons. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him: ‘If we eat of it, we will die!’ The devil lied and said: ‘No, you will not die! You will become like gods, knowing good and evil!’ She discussed, and the devil finished by making her fall” (Fr. Barrielle, Rules for Discerning the Spirits).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday September 23rd to Friday September 25th
Article 11
Biden & Trump—Opposite Sides of the Same Bad Penny?
Wednesday September 23rd to Friday September 25th
Article 11
Biden & Trump—Opposite Sides of the Same Bad Penny?
Common Sense is No Longer Common!
C’mon now! Where is your common sense? Can you no longer join the dots? Can you not think deeply? Can you not see beyond the end of your nose? Is your “broad vision” merely a scan of what’s in the fridge or what’s on your digital widescreen TV? Is your knowledge of history merely limited to remembering yesterday’s basketball/baseball/football results or who your grandparents are and where they came from? Do you only read words—or do you understand what those words mean? Do you merely look at the surface, only read the headlines and perhaps a few more lines—or can you penetrate below the surface and read between the lines? Do you see each jigsaw piece of the puzzle of life as a separate little picture—or can you see how all the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle of life all fit together to give you the “big picture”? Is your mind sharp as a tack, or is your mind as heavy and dull as a stone? Can you work things out for yourself, or do you merely drink-in all that is placed before you and believe all that you are told? “Inquire carefully and diligently the truth of the thing by looking well into it!” (Deuteronomy 13:14). “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Our Lord and Holy Scripture phrase it like this: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut—lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “As it is written: God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they see not” (Psalm 134:16). “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge—because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6). “O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “And their days were consumed in vanity” (Psalm 77:33). “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain” (Psalm 93:11). “Vain are the sons of men” (Psalm 61:10). “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10). “They have spoken vain things, everyone to his neighbor!” (Psalm 11:3). “He that lacks understanding thinks vain things!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:23). The vain (empty) person “openeth his mouth in vain, and multiplieth words without knowledge” (Job 35:16). They “are turned aside unto vain babbling” (1 Timothy 1:6). “There are many words that have much vanity in disputing” (Ecclesiastes 6:11). “Why do you speak vain things?” (Job 27:12). “These things they thought, and were deceived―for their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “Let their eyes be darkened that they see not!” (Psalm 68:24). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Flooding the Senses—But Not With Common Sense!
Much of the above is applicable to most people today. Due to the overwhelming sensuality that floods the world, titillating the five senses of every man, woman and child, we have seen “common sense” sink and drown amidst the pleasurable indulgence of the senses. The feeling of pleasure has dethroned the joy of correct thinking—we prefer to feel pleasure more than we prefer to think. We feed our five senses more than we feed our mind—unless, of course, we feed our mind nothing but junk—which is easy to digest and is often spiced with salacious seasonings. Scandalous truths will always be more popular than spiritual truths. The sexual will always trump the intellectual. Rather than feed our minds pure, natural, organic truth—we have developed a taste for GM truths, or Grossly Modified truths, which we find in plentiful supply on the ‘shelves’ (or pages) of the countless GM Supermarkets (websites and blogs), as well as in the MSM (mainstream media). For the most part, we have entrusted our education and formation into their hands—and we will not bite the hand feeds us our pleasurable junk-food.
The Bread of Truth or the Dough of Lies
Our Lord was right when He said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) — but today you could say: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that the proceeds from the mainstream media and governmental propaganda”, most of which is junk-food or false information. We would do well to never forget the words of William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who briefed President Reagan after he took office, telling the President: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” The incident is explained by Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan, who said: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he replied with this quote, which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
You are probably of the mindset that everything that you hear on the mainstream media is false, or at best partially true. If you are cynical, then you probably believe the opposite of what the mainstream media wants you to believe.
Sham Election Shame?
A sham election, or show election, is an election that is held purely for show; that is, without any significant political choice or real impact on results of election. Sham or show elections are a common event in dictatorial regimes, who feel the need to feign the appearance of public support and legitimacy. Published results usually show nearly 100% voter turnout and high support (typically at least 80%, and close to 100% in many cases) for the prescribed candidate(s), or for the referendum choice that favors the political party in power. Dictatorial regimes can also organize sham or show elections with results simulating those that might be achieved in democratic countries.
Examples of sham elections are (1) the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy, (2) elections in Nazi Germany, (3) the 1940 elections of the People’s Parliaments in the then Soviet occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, (4) the 1928, 1935, 1942, 1949, 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, (5) the elections in post-revolutionary Iran, (6) the 1991 Kazakh presidential election, and (7) the elections in most Communist and Socialist states, e.g. East Germany, the Soviet Union, China.
Sometimes, only one government approved candidate is allowed to run in sham elections with no opposition candidates allowed, or opposition candidates are arrested on false charges (or even without any charges) before the election to prevent them from running. A predetermined conclusion is always established by the regime through suppression of the opposition, coercion of voters, vote rigging, reporting a number of votes received greater than the number of voters, outright lying, or some combination of these.
Shams Shamed
You don’t have to look very far for any accusations of sham elections. Just recently the Belarus election was said to be rigged; the challenger was forced to leave the country; protesters are being beaten and jailed. The accused perpetrator is Alexander Lukashenko, a 65-year-old dictator, who has ruled the former Soviet republic of Belarus for most of its 30 years of independence.
Back in 2018, the Trump administration dismissed Venezuela’s presidential election as a “sham” and ramped up economic and diplomatic pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered government.
Also in March of 2018, the Russian election rubber-stamped Vladimir Putin’s fourth (de facto fifth) term as president with nearly 77% of the “official” vote. The defining feature of Russia’s 2018 presidential vote was that it was an election without choice. Two major opposition figures, who had planned to run against Putin, were absent from the ballot. Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister and leader of the People’s Freedom Party, was shot and killed on a bridge in front of the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was barred from running, thanks to a trumped-up Russian court sentence. It isn’t difficult to win when your opponents are not on the ballot.
Satan’s Shams and Stooges
Sometimes, when things get complicated and clogged-up, you need to press the “reset” button to clear everything up. Mentally that is also true. There are times when we can too complicated in our reasoning with the result that we lose sight of the basic truths that should be guiding us. The “reset” button, in this case, “reboots” our thinking and understanding of all matters pertaining to Church and State, Faith and Politics, Truth and Lies, Spirituality and Worldliness.
God’s creation is one big bundle of “positives and negatives”—everything has a positive and a negative. We live and we die. We are healthy and we are sick. We are strong and we are weak. We practice virtue and we dabble in sin. We are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. We tell the truth and we tell lies. Christ is Truth itself and Satan is a Liar.
Of Himself, Christ says: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the truth” (John 14:6). “For this was I born and for this came I into the world—that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice!” (John 18:37).
Of Satan, Christ says: “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). “The devil … stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44). “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord!” (Proverbs 12:22).
What does that say of those politicians and governments who refuse to hear and accept the truth of Christ? They are of the devil—as Christ Himself said: “But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:44-45). If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me! ... Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! … He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:42-47; 8:23). “He that committeth sin is of the devil—for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). The politicians and governments have opened the floodgates to sin by many of their godless laws and Satanic legislation—which allows abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex sexual relationships and same-sex marriages, trangenderism, euthanasia, immodesty and pornography, immoral movies and television shows, etc. This is not of God, but of the devil—and those who vote for and legislate such things are minions of the devil, doing the will of the devil: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do!”
Pressing the Papal “Reset” Button— Pressing the Political “Reset” Button
Even today’s papacy could do with pressing the “reset” button—or perhaps “Control+Alt+Delete”. The papacy has lost its way—some will say accidentally, others will say deliberately. Regardless of which of the two, or even both, cases it might be, the papacy is, without doubt, increasingly doing the will of Satan rather than the will of God. Has the Church in general, and the papacy in particular, caught the virus of the devil? Yes, without the slightest doubt! Our Lady has said so and even the Liberal-Modernist Pope Paul VI admitted so—not to mention the same admission coming from the former chief-exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth (died 2016), who knew a thing or two about the devil!
► Our Lady of La Salette said that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God.” Our Lady of Akita stated: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church!”
► Pope Paul VI said the same thing on three different occasions: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► Fr. Gabriele Amorth, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, adds: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! ”
Sham Trees and Sham Fruits
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Going back to more sane papal days—when popes sounded like popes by being in harmony with Scripture and Tradition—we see Pope Leo XIII saying the following in his encyclical Humanum Genus:
“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, through the envy of the devil, separated into two diverse and opposite parts—of which one part steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, whorl the other part for those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the Kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader [Satan] and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.
“This twofold kingdom, like two cities, opposites in their laws because they striving for contrary objects. Two loves formed two cities—one city is the love of self, an earthly city, reaching even to contempt of God; and the other city is the love of God, reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly city. At every period of time each city has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although not always with equal zeal and assault. At this period in time, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
“At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name, it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries, and, to the best of Our power, to make headway against their plans and devices, so that those whose salvation is committed to Us may not perish, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge may only not stand firm and remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth throughout the world. The Roman Pontiffs, Our predecessors, were prompt in detecting the presence and the purpose of this capital enemy [Freemasonry] once it sprang into the light, instead of hiding as a dark conspiracy [Oops! There is that word “conspiracy” again—Pope Leo XIII must be a crazy conspiracy theorist like Our Lady!]. They were on their guard, and did not allow themselves to be caught by the devices and snares laid out to deceive them! … As soon as the constitution and the spirit of the Masonic sect were clearly discovered … this Apostolic See [Rome] denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly declared its constitution as contrary to law and right, to be pernicious no less to Christendom than to the State … The sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity in a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling power … Such a condition has been reached that henceforth there will be grave reason to fear … for those States in which prevails the power, either of the sect of [Freemasonry] or of other similar sects which lend themselves to Freemasonry as disciples and subordinates.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
Crazy Conspiracies? Only Crazies Think Conspiracy Theories Are Crazy!
Huh? Freemasons? Conspiracy theory! It’s a conspiracy theory! No it’s not—even Our Lady speaks of them—go tell her that she’s a crazy conspiracy theorist! Our Lady said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church (Our Lady of Akita) … “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous [sinful] laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Pope Leo XIII continues: “We clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty to use Our authority to the very utmost against so vast an evil. Already, We have several times attacked certain chief points of teaching which showed the perverse influence of Masonic opinions. We endeavored to refute the monstrous doctrines of the Socialists and Communists … We took pains to defend and explain the true and genuine idea of domestic life, of which marriage is the spring and origin … We described the ideal of political government conformed to the principles of Christian wisdom … It is now Our intention to directly treat of the Masonic society itself, of its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner of thinking and acting, in order to bring more and more into the light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the contagion of this fatal plague [the real pandemic].
The Pope then speaks of not just Freemasonry, but all the other sects that are affiliated with the Masons or which have been created by them. These next paragraphs can and should be read with the American political system in mind—for the Republic was founded on Masonic principles and a large number of the founders were Freemasons.
“There are several organized bodies which—though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin—are nevertheless so bound together by their common goals and by the similarity of their chief opinions, which, in fact, make all of them to be one and the same thing as the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center from which they all come forth, and to which they all return. Now, these societies no longer show a desire to remain concealed—for they hold their meetings in the daylight and before the public eye, and publish their own newspaper organs—and yet, when thoroughly understood, they are found still to retain the nature and the habits of secret societies. There are many things, like mysteries, which it is the fixed rule to hide with extreme care—not only from strangers, but from very many of their own members—also, they hide such things as their secret and final designs, the names of the chief leaders, and certain secret and inner meetings, as well as their decisions, and the ways and means of carrying them out.
“Candidates are generally commanded to promise with a special oath, to swear that they will never make known—to any person, at any time or in any way—the members, the passes, or the subjects discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent external appearance and with a style of simulation, the Freemasons strive to conceal themselves and to admit no witnesses but their own members. To hide themselves more easily, they assume the character of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be the improvement of the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life! Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that the candidates promise and undertake to be strictly obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient, then to have to submit to the direst penalties and even death itself. As a fact, if any are judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect, or to have resisted commands given by the sect, then punishment is frequently inflicted on them, and with so much audacity and skill, that the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime.
“But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act; to arm men’s right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime — all this is an enormity from which nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth itself make it plain that the society of which we are speaking is in opposition with justice and natural uprightness ... No matter how great may be men’s cleverness in concealing and their experience in lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing in some way: “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit.” Now, the Masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and of the bitterest taste. For their ultimate purpose forces itself into view — namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism.”
That last paragraph dovetails perfectly with Our Lady’s statements: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous [sinful] laws … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Two Cities Opposed to Each Other
In his encyclical, Pope Leo XIII quotes St. Augustine on the existence of “two cities” — “St. Augustine keenly discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because striving for contrary objects … Two loves formed two cities— an earthly city, the love of self, reaching even to contempt of God; and a heavenly city, the love of God, reaching to contempt of self.”
You may have heard—and perhaps even read—Charles Dickens’ 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in the cities of London and Paris, before and during the 1789 French Revolution. Dickens’ opening lines of his book are appropriate for today: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period.”
If you know your history, then you will already of the various factors that contributed to the infamous 1789 French Revolution, which helped ushered in a “New Age” throughout the world—a New Age” of constant and universal revolution . If you know your history, then you will also realize that there were other revolutions taking place that “dovetailed” with the French Revolution—revolutions in religion, revolutions in finance, revolutions in music, revolutions in art, revolutions in culture, revolutions in society’s structure. Knowing your history, you will be aware that the Protestant Reformation (early 1500s) or “Protestant Revolution” (which is a more correct title for it—for it was more of a “Deformation” of the Faith than a “Reformation” of the Faith)—anyhow, the Protestant “Reformation, Deformation, or Revolution” was the Godfather or “Granddaddy” of many future revolutions—the Financial Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Social Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, the Political Revolution, the Musical Revolution, the Art Revolution, etc.
Revolution is in America’s DNA
If you take Satan out of the equation of revolution then it is like taking the heart out of the body—Satan, the first revolutionary, is at the heart of all revolution. In a weird way, just as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), you could have Satan saying: “Without me, there would be no revolution!” The Book of the Apocalypse describes the First Revolutionary War in Heaven: “And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels—and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world—and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apocalypse 12:7-9). Since that First War of Revolution—in a certain sense a War of Independence from the yoke of Christ, whom Satan would not serve, proudly crying out: “I will not serve!”
Like a rolling snowball gathering snow and growing in size, revolutions have increased to the point where we now call these last few hundred years as “The Age of Revolution” — with revolutions in both Church and State, in Faith and Morals, in Theology and Philosophy, in Politics and Finance, in Culture and Society, in Music and Art, in Industry and Technology, in Family and the Workplace. In this Age of Revolution there were numerous political revolutions—of which the American Revolution was but one of many. As they say — “Like father, like son” which owes its origins to the more ancient Holy Scripture verse: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44) — a similar idiom being “like begets like.” If you inherit certain genetic attributes derived from your parents, and your parents inherited such genetic attributes from their parents, then the passing on of such hereditary traits from one generation to another generation is summarized by the expression “Like Begets Like.”
Our Lord implicitly warns of revolution in speaking of false prophets—who revolt against the teaching of Christ by trying to teach something new and different: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-20). Today we can clearly see the fruits of revolution everywhere—you have to be blind not to see them.
Rarely is revolution a good thing—though propaganda can make anything sound to be good. They even make the murderous act of abortion and the abomination of homosexuality sound good! Just like sin leads to more sin, revolution leads to more revolution. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20). Adam and Eve committed the First Sin—which we call Original Sin—and we are all born with “DNA” of their sin. America was born in revolution and that revolutionary DNA has been passed down from generation to generation — “Like father, like son” … “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” … “Like Begets Like.”
Two Cities Opposed to Each Other? Republicans and Democrats? No! They Are Both of the Same City!
You could, in a certain sense, compare the Republicans and Democrats to the relationship of Pontius Pilate and Herod. Both Pilate and Herod disliked each other—yet when Christ came into the picture, they became friends and Christ was executed—even though each of them knew that Christ was guilty of nothing. You have, today, many nations that disagree over many things—but for the most part they all agree in leaving Christ out of their thoughts, laws, politics and government. “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). They are of the world—and the world has no place for Christ. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5)—whereas Christ says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Whether it be the Republicans or the Democrats, they are of the world and the world they speak—they are not of God, which is why many of the laws desired or passed by either party are diametrically opposed to the Laws of God. They are equally opposed to the true Faith of God—the Catholic Church—which they seek to fetter and chain as much as possible. That fear was evident during the presidential election that saw the Democrat John F. Kennedy elected as the first Catholic President of the USA—but only achieved that election to the presidency after assuring everyone that he would an American first and Catholic second, and that he would not allow his Faith to interfere with his politics (which had to be anti-Catholic if was to stand any chance of being elected). The only kind of Catholic that is good for American politics is a bad Catholic—only bad Catholics need apply! Thus you see among the current ranks of politicians bad Catholics—who are supportive of abortion and homosexuality to name but two issues—such as Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and many other Catholic politicians who support abortion and homosexuality. Mike Pence—the current vice-president for Donald Trump is against abortion and homosexuality—but he is also against the Catholic Church because he is an apostate Catholic who left the Church to join another false religion. The same kind of story is to found in both the Republican and Democratic parties—they are not of God, no matter how much they protest that they are—of such Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Other examples are found in the Supreme Court of the United States. It has already ruled upon and upheld abortion ever since the infamous Ro vs. Wade case in 1973. It also legislated for same-sex marriages. It recently ruled, on June 15th, 2020, that people working at faith-based organizations—who have been fired because of their gender identity or sexual orientation—will be able to sue their employers. Hey! Maybe all those homosexuals—whom God has “fired” by sending them to the fires of Hell for their homosexual sins—could now sue God for unfair dismissal from Heaven! Such a legal ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States is a revolutionary “shot across the bows” and a “slap in the face” to God and His Laws.
God is clear on this matter: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err—neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind [homosexuals] … shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart—unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense” (Romans 1:21-28).
Both the Republicans and Democrats support abortion. Both parties support LGBT. Both parties support divorce and remarriage. Both parties support contraception. Both parties refuse any religious principle to influence politics. Ultimately and irrefutably both parties are of the “City of Satan” and not the “City of God” — because, as Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31)—neither party does so with the WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength—at best, they only give God lip service and state: “In God we trust”, but perhaps they should add: “In God we trust that He will keep out of way!” They are NOT OF THE CITY OF GOD because they do not keep His Commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24).
Both the Republicans and Democrats support abortion. Both parties support LGBT. Both parties support divorce and remarriage. Both parties support contraception. Both parties refuse any religious principle to influence politics. Just recently (September 2020) we are witnessing the volatile reaction against President Trump’s nominee to replace the recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court—that nominee is the Catholic Amy Coney Barrett. The public political outcry and protest is that the Catholic Amy Coney Barret will allow her Faith to influence her judicial work! Well, hey buddy! Ain’t that how things are supposed to be? Shouldn’t man be obeying God? “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Sadly, Amy Coney Barrett compromises her Faith and publicly states that she will not let her Faith influence her decisions.
Today, the popular and hypocritical argument for obeying the government at all times, no matter what, are the Scriptural quotes: “Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake—whether it be to the king as excelling; or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of the good” (1 Peter 2:14). “Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation. For princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil” (Romans 13:1-3)—which is all well and good, fine and dandy—but what if the “higher power”, the government or ruler, refuses to obey God and promotes evil? What if the governors punish the good and praise the evildoers? Well, in that case, “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice!” (Matthew 6:33; Luke 121:31).
Ultimately and irrefutably both parties are not “wholly” supportive of God and His Laws—they may accept this or that law, but not the “whole” of God’s Law. Thus they are of the “City of Satan” and not the “City of God” — because, as Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31)—neither party does so with the WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength—at best, they only give God lip service and state: “In God we trust”, but perhaps they should add: “In God we trust that He will keep out of way!” They are NOT OF THE CITY OF GOD because they do not keep His Commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). Both parties have members who are big on talking about “love of others” and “charity to everyone” — but as the Apostle of Love, St. John the Evangelist, writes: “And this is charity, that we walk according to His commandments!” (2 John 1:6). The political parties today are walking according to their own commandments—or rather the commandments of the world—which are, ultimately, the commandments of Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:7-11) and of those who follow those commandments, Our Lord says: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me ... Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47).
Think on this and remember this—a person might believe absolutely everything the Church teaches—but REJECTS JUST ONE DOGMATIC TEACHING (for example the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist). That rejection of JUST ONE of many dogmas makes that Catholic a heretic—which means that if they die in that state of refusal, they are damned. JUST ONE DOGMA out of many dogmas! “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a bit unfair? Hey! He scored 99 out of 100 — and you still ‘FAIL’ him?” Look upon it another way—you are often provoked to anger and you “bite-the-bullet’ and patiently endure the things or people that anger you. Then, on one occasion, you say: “I’ve had enough!” and you take a gun and shoot that person. What will you say in court? “Hey! I could have shot people on countless occasions for provoking me—but I never did! I put up with them! So now you are going to pronounce me guilty of murder just because I shot one out of 100 persons?”
It is the same with mortal sin—one single unrepented and unconfessed mortal sin, no matter how virtuous you may have been, just one single unrepented and unconfessed mortal sin is enough to send you to Hell for eternity! Yes, the soul in Hell for “one single mortal sin” might have been closer to God than the soul that committed hundreds or thousands of mortal sins—but, at the end of the day, the reality is the same for both of them—they ARE NOT OF GOD and they are NOT IN THE CITY OF GOD—they are in the CITY OF SATAN, in Hell for eternity. Similarly, for politicians and governments to accept God’s Law, it means accepting the WHOLE Law—all the laws of God—and not just those laws that please you or please the public, while rejecting the laws of God that do not please you, nor please the public. If you poison the Law of God, then you are not of God. If you put only one tiny drop of a powerful poison in an eight-ounce glass of water—you have just made all of that water poisonous. If you commit just one mortal sin, you have poisoned all of your soul, no matter how grace there might have been in it! That is exactly what both the Republicans and Democrats have done—some have rejected more of God’s laws, other have rejected less of God’s laws—but rejection is rejection. Just as murder is murder—whether you killed the person with one bullet or a hundred bullets.
What is the Solution—or Soul-Ution—or Sole-Ution?
All of this puts the well-meaning Catholic in a great dilemma! Who is the Catholic supposed to vote for? If both parties are ultimately “not of God” and “opposed to God” in varying degrees. Does the Catholic vote for what is perceived to be the lesser of two evils? In a certain sense, it is like choosing between being slowly cut to pieces, or being slowly killed in bath of acid—the end result is the same—death! “For the wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). But Our Lord said: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10). The solution is simple—so simple that it is overlooked. It is not a new solution. It is not some kind of radical, never before heard of solution. It is a great solution—in fact, the greatest solution. The solution is Our Lord—Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Therein lies our problem—we are trying to find solutions without including Our Lord. We are substituting impotent human solutions for the most potent of all solutions—a Divine Solution.
The solution has been revealed to us at Our Lady’s apparitions—it is a combination of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Rosary, prayer and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners (Republicans and Democrats included), and prayer and penance for OUR OWN SINS. All of these solutions—or dovetailing parts of the solution—are for the most part ignored, neglected, or even rejected. In the USA, less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly (which obliges us under the pain of mortal sin); only 2% to 4% pray the Rosary daily; and most Catholics are objectively speaking in a state of mortal sin—thus meriting punishments rather than help and assistance in the current crises in Church and State.
Yet of all these parts to the solution, it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that is the most powerful, most efficacious and also the most neglected. It is as though we have lost the sense of the greatness of the Holy Mass—which is absolutely true, for most Catholics no longer think it is a real sacrifice, but just a symbol or commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice. To put it another way, they look upon it as being a photo of some medicine and not the actual medicine itself—so why should they bother looking for “cure” to their problems from a mere photo? Thus very few Catholics look upon the Holy Mass as a “super-weapon” or a “super-medicine” or a “super-tool” for overcoming personal problems and even less so in overcoming national or international problems.
Yet the saints tell us otherwise. “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Start Using the Mass!
St. John Chrysostom, one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, tells us that on Judgment Day we will be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! Part of that judgment on the Day of Judgment will include the political situation in the country in which you live. You might protest: “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a little unfair and over the top? Hey! How can I control what happens in the whole world? I’m not God! Everyone has a free will to do as they please! Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sorry buddy, sorry honey! Yes you are your brother’s keeper and, yes, you can affect what happens in the whole world!
So—coming back to the thorny truth that on Judgment Day you will be judge for all that happened in the world during your lifetime—it is true that of your own powers you can do little to influence the current political and moral environment of your country or the entire world. Yet it is not your own puny human powers that God expects you to use—Our Lord Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, in each Sacrifice of the Mass it is that very same Our Lord who offers the Mass through the hands of His priest—each Mass is Our Lord’s Mass, with Our Lord offering His Sacrifice of Calvary all over again, with its infinite power. That one sacrifice of Our Lord on Calvary was enough to save the WHOLE WORLD, yet He continues to perpetuate that sacrifice in an unbloody and mystical manner throughout all centuries—if we would only profit from it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Children are taught, but not all children learn. There is nothing stopping you from using the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in many ways to sanctify yourself and change the world—if only you would have a greater respect, faith and confidence in the infinite power of the Mass.
You could—and should—attend Mass more often. If you cannot physically attend Mass due to work commitments or other obligations, then what prevents you from reading the prayers of each daily Mass—thus attending spiritually if you cannot attend physically. Hey! It will only take one-half-hour of your precious time!
Furthermore, what is there to prevent you giving stipends on a regular basis to have Masses offered—not just for minor intentions like Aunt Hilda’s birthday, or Uncle Joe’s health, or a soul in Purgatory—why not have Mass offered for more serious and apocalyptic situations such as the ones facing the Church and world today? It is not in your power to turn back all the enemies of the Church, but it is in your power to have a Mass of infinite power offered for that intention. In other words, you can do little or nothing—but Christ can do everything—and it is in the sacrifice of Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, that Christ manifests His supreme power. What will your excuse be on Judgment Day, for not having Masses offered to ward off the terrible threats faced by the Church and the world today? “Sorry Lord! I couldn’t spare a few dollars for a Mass because I needed my weekly “six-pack” or bottle of wine, or candies and chocolates!” or whatever! The Mass is the most powerful weapon in the universe and it is accessible to every Catholic—whether it be to attend Mass or have Mass offered for the above mentioned intention. There is no excuse for failing to profit from it!
START USING THE MASS THIS WEEKEND! Give your parish priest—and any other priests you know or can get in touch with—and given as many Mass stipends as you can afford, for them to offer each Mass for double intention—both intentions are actually flip sides of the same coin. The first intention is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and all that it requires for it to happen. The second intention is for the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church, the State and mankind—whoever they may be—God knows who they are. DO THIS NOW! Then try to convince as many other people to do the same thing. We need a bombardment or blitzkrieg of Masses against these forces of evil. There is NO WAY that you can say that this is impossible for you! All you have to do is to give the priests or priests as many Mass stipends as you can afford—and put aside for now your important but lesser intentions, such as the health of Uncle Bill or the soul of Aunt Sally. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said—Satan has engaged in a Final Battle against Our Lady, a battle in which only one side will win, and there can be no neutral spectators or bystanders in this war—we are either on the side of Our Lady (and prove it by DOING something), or we are on the side of Satan (and prove it by DOING NOTHING!). GET THOSE MASSES SAID—SATAN WILL DO ALL HE CAN TO DELAY YOU OR TALK YOU OUT OF IT!
If St. Padre Pio said that the Rosary was THE weapon—then how much more powerful is the Holy Mass. You just cannot compare the two! One is infinite in power and merit, the other is finite in power and merit. USE THE MASS! GET THE MASS SAID! NOT JUST ONE, BUT MANY!
C’mon now! Where is your common sense? Can you no longer join the dots? Can you not think deeply? Can you not see beyond the end of your nose? Is your “broad vision” merely a scan of what’s in the fridge or what’s on your digital widescreen TV? Is your knowledge of history merely limited to remembering yesterday’s basketball/baseball/football results or who your grandparents are and where they came from? Do you only read words—or do you understand what those words mean? Do you merely look at the surface, only read the headlines and perhaps a few more lines—or can you penetrate below the surface and read between the lines? Do you see each jigsaw piece of the puzzle of life as a separate little picture—or can you see how all the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle of life all fit together to give you the “big picture”? Is your mind sharp as a tack, or is your mind as heavy and dull as a stone? Can you work things out for yourself, or do you merely drink-in all that is placed before you and believe all that you are told? “Inquire carefully and diligently the truth of the thing by looking well into it!” (Deuteronomy 13:14). “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Our Lord and Holy Scripture phrase it like this: “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut—lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “As it is written: God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they see not” (Psalm 134:16). “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge—because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:6). “O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “And their days were consumed in vanity” (Psalm 77:33). “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain” (Psalm 93:11). “Vain are the sons of men” (Psalm 61:10). “Their heart is vain!” (Psalm 5:10). “They have spoken vain things, everyone to his neighbor!” (Psalm 11:3). “He that lacks understanding thinks vain things!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:23). The vain (empty) person “openeth his mouth in vain, and multiplieth words without knowledge” (Job 35:16). They “are turned aside unto vain babbling” (1 Timothy 1:6). “There are many words that have much vanity in disputing” (Ecclesiastes 6:11). “Why do you speak vain things?” (Job 27:12). “These things they thought, and were deceived―for their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “Let their eyes be darkened that they see not!” (Psalm 68:24). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Flooding the Senses—But Not With Common Sense!
Much of the above is applicable to most people today. Due to the overwhelming sensuality that floods the world, titillating the five senses of every man, woman and child, we have seen “common sense” sink and drown amidst the pleasurable indulgence of the senses. The feeling of pleasure has dethroned the joy of correct thinking—we prefer to feel pleasure more than we prefer to think. We feed our five senses more than we feed our mind—unless, of course, we feed our mind nothing but junk—which is easy to digest and is often spiced with salacious seasonings. Scandalous truths will always be more popular than spiritual truths. The sexual will always trump the intellectual. Rather than feed our minds pure, natural, organic truth—we have developed a taste for GM truths, or Grossly Modified truths, which we find in plentiful supply on the ‘shelves’ (or pages) of the countless GM Supermarkets (websites and blogs), as well as in the MSM (mainstream media). For the most part, we have entrusted our education and formation into their hands—and we will not bite the hand feeds us our pleasurable junk-food.
The Bread of Truth or the Dough of Lies
Our Lord was right when He said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) — but today you could say: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that the proceeds from the mainstream media and governmental propaganda”, most of which is junk-food or false information. We would do well to never forget the words of William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who briefed President Reagan after he took office, telling the President: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” The incident is explained by Barbara Honegger ― Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan, who said: “I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director, William Casey, at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries, to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80% of the ‘intelligence’― that the analysis side of the CIA produced ― was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he replied with this quote, which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.” (Barbara Honegger, Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Reagan).
You are probably of the mindset that everything that you hear on the mainstream media is false, or at best partially true. If you are cynical, then you probably believe the opposite of what the mainstream media wants you to believe.
Sham Election Shame?
A sham election, or show election, is an election that is held purely for show; that is, without any significant political choice or real impact on results of election. Sham or show elections are a common event in dictatorial regimes, who feel the need to feign the appearance of public support and legitimacy. Published results usually show nearly 100% voter turnout and high support (typically at least 80%, and close to 100% in many cases) for the prescribed candidate(s), or for the referendum choice that favors the political party in power. Dictatorial regimes can also organize sham or show elections with results simulating those that might be achieved in democratic countries.
Examples of sham elections are (1) the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy, (2) elections in Nazi Germany, (3) the 1940 elections of the People’s Parliaments in the then Soviet occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, (4) the 1928, 1935, 1942, 1949, 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, (5) the elections in post-revolutionary Iran, (6) the 1991 Kazakh presidential election, and (7) the elections in most Communist and Socialist states, e.g. East Germany, the Soviet Union, China.
Sometimes, only one government approved candidate is allowed to run in sham elections with no opposition candidates allowed, or opposition candidates are arrested on false charges (or even without any charges) before the election to prevent them from running. A predetermined conclusion is always established by the regime through suppression of the opposition, coercion of voters, vote rigging, reporting a number of votes received greater than the number of voters, outright lying, or some combination of these.
Shams Shamed
You don’t have to look very far for any accusations of sham elections. Just recently the Belarus election was said to be rigged; the challenger was forced to leave the country; protesters are being beaten and jailed. The accused perpetrator is Alexander Lukashenko, a 65-year-old dictator, who has ruled the former Soviet republic of Belarus for most of its 30 years of independence.
Back in 2018, the Trump administration dismissed Venezuela’s presidential election as a “sham” and ramped up economic and diplomatic pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered government.
Also in March of 2018, the Russian election rubber-stamped Vladimir Putin’s fourth (de facto fifth) term as president with nearly 77% of the “official” vote. The defining feature of Russia’s 2018 presidential vote was that it was an election without choice. Two major opposition figures, who had planned to run against Putin, were absent from the ballot. Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister and leader of the People’s Freedom Party, was shot and killed on a bridge in front of the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was barred from running, thanks to a trumped-up Russian court sentence. It isn’t difficult to win when your opponents are not on the ballot.
Satan’s Shams and Stooges
Sometimes, when things get complicated and clogged-up, you need to press the “reset” button to clear everything up. Mentally that is also true. There are times when we can too complicated in our reasoning with the result that we lose sight of the basic truths that should be guiding us. The “reset” button, in this case, “reboots” our thinking and understanding of all matters pertaining to Church and State, Faith and Politics, Truth and Lies, Spirituality and Worldliness.
God’s creation is one big bundle of “positives and negatives”—everything has a positive and a negative. We live and we die. We are healthy and we are sick. We are strong and we are weak. We practice virtue and we dabble in sin. We are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. We tell the truth and we tell lies. Christ is Truth itself and Satan is a Liar.
Of Himself, Christ says: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the truth” (John 14:6). “For this was I born and for this came I into the world—that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice!” (John 18:37).
Of Satan, Christ says: “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). “The devil … stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44). “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord!” (Proverbs 12:22).
What does that say of those politicians and governments who refuse to hear and accept the truth of Christ? They are of the devil—as Christ Himself said: “But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:44-45). If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me! ... Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! … He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God! … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:42-47; 8:23). “He that committeth sin is of the devil—for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). The politicians and governments have opened the floodgates to sin by many of their godless laws and Satanic legislation—which allows abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex sexual relationships and same-sex marriages, trangenderism, euthanasia, immodesty and pornography, immoral movies and television shows, etc. This is not of God, but of the devil—and those who vote for and legislate such things are minions of the devil, doing the will of the devil: “You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do!”
Pressing the Papal “Reset” Button— Pressing the Political “Reset” Button
Even today’s papacy could do with pressing the “reset” button—or perhaps “Control+Alt+Delete”. The papacy has lost its way—some will say accidentally, others will say deliberately. Regardless of which of the two, or even both, cases it might be, the papacy is, without doubt, increasingly doing the will of Satan rather than the will of God. Has the Church in general, and the papacy in particular, caught the virus of the devil? Yes, without the slightest doubt! Our Lady has said so and even the Liberal-Modernist Pope Paul VI admitted so—not to mention the same admission coming from the former chief-exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth (died 2016), who knew a thing or two about the devil!
► Our Lady of La Salette said that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God.” Our Lady of Akita stated: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church!”
► Pope Paul VI said the same thing on three different occasions: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► Fr. Gabriele Amorth, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, adds: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences! … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! ”
Sham Trees and Sham Fruits
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Going back to more sane papal days—when popes sounded like popes by being in harmony with Scripture and Tradition—we see Pope Leo XIII saying the following in his encyclical Humanum Genus:
“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, through the envy of the devil, separated into two diverse and opposite parts—of which one part steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, whorl the other part for those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the Kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader [Satan] and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.
“This twofold kingdom, like two cities, opposites in their laws because they striving for contrary objects. Two loves formed two cities—one city is the love of self, an earthly city, reaching even to contempt of God; and the other city is the love of God, reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly city. At every period of time each city has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although not always with equal zeal and assault. At this period in time, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
“At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name, it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries, and, to the best of Our power, to make headway against their plans and devices, so that those whose salvation is committed to Us may not perish, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge may only not stand firm and remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth throughout the world. The Roman Pontiffs, Our predecessors, were prompt in detecting the presence and the purpose of this capital enemy [Freemasonry] once it sprang into the light, instead of hiding as a dark conspiracy [Oops! There is that word “conspiracy” again—Pope Leo XIII must be a crazy conspiracy theorist like Our Lady!]. They were on their guard, and did not allow themselves to be caught by the devices and snares laid out to deceive them! … As soon as the constitution and the spirit of the Masonic sect were clearly discovered … this Apostolic See [Rome] denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly declared its constitution as contrary to law and right, to be pernicious no less to Christendom than to the State … The sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity in a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling power … Such a condition has been reached that henceforth there will be grave reason to fear … for those States in which prevails the power, either of the sect of [Freemasonry] or of other similar sects which lend themselves to Freemasonry as disciples and subordinates.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
Crazy Conspiracies? Only Crazies Think Conspiracy Theories Are Crazy!
Huh? Freemasons? Conspiracy theory! It’s a conspiracy theory! No it’s not—even Our Lady speaks of them—go tell her that she’s a crazy conspiracy theorist! Our Lady said: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church (Our Lady of Akita) … “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous [sinful] laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Pope Leo XIII continues: “We clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty to use Our authority to the very utmost against so vast an evil. Already, We have several times attacked certain chief points of teaching which showed the perverse influence of Masonic opinions. We endeavored to refute the monstrous doctrines of the Socialists and Communists … We took pains to defend and explain the true and genuine idea of domestic life, of which marriage is the spring and origin … We described the ideal of political government conformed to the principles of Christian wisdom … It is now Our intention to directly treat of the Masonic society itself, of its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner of thinking and acting, in order to bring more and more into the light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the contagion of this fatal plague [the real pandemic].
The Pope then speaks of not just Freemasonry, but all the other sects that are affiliated with the Masons or which have been created by them. These next paragraphs can and should be read with the American political system in mind—for the Republic was founded on Masonic principles and a large number of the founders were Freemasons.
“There are several organized bodies which—though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin—are nevertheless so bound together by their common goals and by the similarity of their chief opinions, which, in fact, make all of them to be one and the same thing as the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center from which they all come forth, and to which they all return. Now, these societies no longer show a desire to remain concealed—for they hold their meetings in the daylight and before the public eye, and publish their own newspaper organs—and yet, when thoroughly understood, they are found still to retain the nature and the habits of secret societies. There are many things, like mysteries, which it is the fixed rule to hide with extreme care—not only from strangers, but from very many of their own members—also, they hide such things as their secret and final designs, the names of the chief leaders, and certain secret and inner meetings, as well as their decisions, and the ways and means of carrying them out.
“Candidates are generally commanded to promise with a special oath, to swear that they will never make known—to any person, at any time or in any way—the members, the passes, or the subjects discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent external appearance and with a style of simulation, the Freemasons strive to conceal themselves and to admit no witnesses but their own members. To hide themselves more easily, they assume the character of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be the improvement of the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life! Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that the candidates promise and undertake to be strictly obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient, then to have to submit to the direst penalties and even death itself. As a fact, if any are judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect, or to have resisted commands given by the sect, then punishment is frequently inflicted on them, and with so much audacity and skill, that the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime.
“But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act; to arm men’s right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime — all this is an enormity from which nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth itself make it plain that the society of which we are speaking is in opposition with justice and natural uprightness ... No matter how great may be men’s cleverness in concealing and their experience in lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing in some way: “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit.” Now, the Masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and of the bitterest taste. For their ultimate purpose forces itself into view — namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism.”
That last paragraph dovetails perfectly with Our Lady’s statements: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous [sinful] laws … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Two Cities Opposed to Each Other
In his encyclical, Pope Leo XIII quotes St. Augustine on the existence of “two cities” — “St. Augustine keenly discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because striving for contrary objects … Two loves formed two cities— an earthly city, the love of self, reaching even to contempt of God; and a heavenly city, the love of God, reaching to contempt of self.”
You may have heard—and perhaps even read—Charles Dickens’ 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in the cities of London and Paris, before and during the 1789 French Revolution. Dickens’ opening lines of his book are appropriate for today: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period.”
If you know your history, then you will already of the various factors that contributed to the infamous 1789 French Revolution, which helped ushered in a “New Age” throughout the world—a New Age” of constant and universal revolution . If you know your history, then you will also realize that there were other revolutions taking place that “dovetailed” with the French Revolution—revolutions in religion, revolutions in finance, revolutions in music, revolutions in art, revolutions in culture, revolutions in society’s structure. Knowing your history, you will be aware that the Protestant Reformation (early 1500s) or “Protestant Revolution” (which is a more correct title for it—for it was more of a “Deformation” of the Faith than a “Reformation” of the Faith)—anyhow, the Protestant “Reformation, Deformation, or Revolution” was the Godfather or “Granddaddy” of many future revolutions—the Financial Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Social Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, the Political Revolution, the Musical Revolution, the Art Revolution, etc.
Revolution is in America’s DNA
If you take Satan out of the equation of revolution then it is like taking the heart out of the body—Satan, the first revolutionary, is at the heart of all revolution. In a weird way, just as Our Lord says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5), you could have Satan saying: “Without me, there would be no revolution!” The Book of the Apocalypse describes the First Revolutionary War in Heaven: “And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels—and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world—and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apocalypse 12:7-9). Since that First War of Revolution—in a certain sense a War of Independence from the yoke of Christ, whom Satan would not serve, proudly crying out: “I will not serve!”
Like a rolling snowball gathering snow and growing in size, revolutions have increased to the point where we now call these last few hundred years as “The Age of Revolution” — with revolutions in both Church and State, in Faith and Morals, in Theology and Philosophy, in Politics and Finance, in Culture and Society, in Music and Art, in Industry and Technology, in Family and the Workplace. In this Age of Revolution there were numerous political revolutions—of which the American Revolution was but one of many. As they say — “Like father, like son” which owes its origins to the more ancient Holy Scripture verse: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44) — a similar idiom being “like begets like.” If you inherit certain genetic attributes derived from your parents, and your parents inherited such genetic attributes from their parents, then the passing on of such hereditary traits from one generation to another generation is summarized by the expression “Like Begets Like.”
Our Lord implicitly warns of revolution in speaking of false prophets—who revolt against the teaching of Christ by trying to teach something new and different: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-20). Today we can clearly see the fruits of revolution everywhere—you have to be blind not to see them.
Rarely is revolution a good thing—though propaganda can make anything sound to be good. They even make the murderous act of abortion and the abomination of homosexuality sound good! Just like sin leads to more sin, revolution leads to more revolution. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20). Adam and Eve committed the First Sin—which we call Original Sin—and we are all born with “DNA” of their sin. America was born in revolution and that revolutionary DNA has been passed down from generation to generation — “Like father, like son” … “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” … “Like Begets Like.”
Two Cities Opposed to Each Other? Republicans and Democrats? No! They Are Both of the Same City!
You could, in a certain sense, compare the Republicans and Democrats to the relationship of Pontius Pilate and Herod. Both Pilate and Herod disliked each other—yet when Christ came into the picture, they became friends and Christ was executed—even though each of them knew that Christ was guilty of nothing. You have, today, many nations that disagree over many things—but for the most part they all agree in leaving Christ out of their thoughts, laws, politics and government. “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). They are of the world—and the world has no place for Christ. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5)—whereas Christ says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
Whether it be the Republicans or the Democrats, they are of the world and the world they speak—they are not of God, which is why many of the laws desired or passed by either party are diametrically opposed to the Laws of God. They are equally opposed to the true Faith of God—the Catholic Church—which they seek to fetter and chain as much as possible. That fear was evident during the presidential election that saw the Democrat John F. Kennedy elected as the first Catholic President of the USA—but only achieved that election to the presidency after assuring everyone that he would an American first and Catholic second, and that he would not allow his Faith to interfere with his politics (which had to be anti-Catholic if was to stand any chance of being elected). The only kind of Catholic that is good for American politics is a bad Catholic—only bad Catholics need apply! Thus you see among the current ranks of politicians bad Catholics—who are supportive of abortion and homosexuality to name but two issues—such as Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and many other Catholic politicians who support abortion and homosexuality. Mike Pence—the current vice-president for Donald Trump is against abortion and homosexuality—but he is also against the Catholic Church because he is an apostate Catholic who left the Church to join another false religion. The same kind of story is to found in both the Republican and Democratic parties—they are not of God, no matter how much they protest that they are—of such Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Other examples are found in the Supreme Court of the United States. It has already ruled upon and upheld abortion ever since the infamous Ro vs. Wade case in 1973. It also legislated for same-sex marriages. It recently ruled, on June 15th, 2020, that people working at faith-based organizations—who have been fired because of their gender identity or sexual orientation—will be able to sue their employers. Hey! Maybe all those homosexuals—whom God has “fired” by sending them to the fires of Hell for their homosexual sins—could now sue God for unfair dismissal from Heaven! Such a legal ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States is a revolutionary “shot across the bows” and a “slap in the face” to God and His Laws.
God is clear on this matter: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err—neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind [homosexuals] … shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart—unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense” (Romans 1:21-28).
Both the Republicans and Democrats support abortion. Both parties support LGBT. Both parties support divorce and remarriage. Both parties support contraception. Both parties refuse any religious principle to influence politics. Ultimately and irrefutably both parties are of the “City of Satan” and not the “City of God” — because, as Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31)—neither party does so with the WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength—at best, they only give God lip service and state: “In God we trust”, but perhaps they should add: “In God we trust that He will keep out of way!” They are NOT OF THE CITY OF GOD because they do not keep His Commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24).
Both the Republicans and Democrats support abortion. Both parties support LGBT. Both parties support divorce and remarriage. Both parties support contraception. Both parties refuse any religious principle to influence politics. Just recently (September 2020) we are witnessing the volatile reaction against President Trump’s nominee to replace the recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court—that nominee is the Catholic Amy Coney Barrett. The public political outcry and protest is that the Catholic Amy Coney Barret will allow her Faith to influence her judicial work! Well, hey buddy! Ain’t that how things are supposed to be? Shouldn’t man be obeying God? “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Sadly, Amy Coney Barrett compromises her Faith and publicly states that she will not let her Faith influence her decisions.
Today, the popular and hypocritical argument for obeying the government at all times, no matter what, are the Scriptural quotes: “Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake—whether it be to the king as excelling; or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of the good” (1 Peter 2:14). “Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation. For princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil” (Romans 13:1-3)—which is all well and good, fine and dandy—but what if the “higher power”, the government or ruler, refuses to obey God and promotes evil? What if the governors punish the good and praise the evildoers? Well, in that case, “Obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice!” (Matthew 6:33; Luke 121:31).
Ultimately and irrefutably both parties are not “wholly” supportive of God and His Laws—they may accept this or that law, but not the “whole” of God’s Law. Thus they are of the “City of Satan” and not the “City of God” — because, as Our Lord said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31)—neither party does so with the WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength—at best, they only give God lip service and state: “In God we trust”, but perhaps they should add: “In God we trust that He will keep out of way!” They are NOT OF THE CITY OF GOD because they do not keep His Commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). Both parties have members who are big on talking about “love of others” and “charity to everyone” — but as the Apostle of Love, St. John the Evangelist, writes: “And this is charity, that we walk according to His commandments!” (2 John 1:6). The political parties today are walking according to their own commandments—or rather the commandments of the world—which are, ultimately, the commandments of Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:7-11) and of those who follow those commandments, Our Lord says: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me ... Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47).
Think on this and remember this—a person might believe absolutely everything the Church teaches—but REJECTS JUST ONE DOGMATIC TEACHING (for example the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist). That rejection of JUST ONE of many dogmas makes that Catholic a heretic—which means that if they die in that state of refusal, they are damned. JUST ONE DOGMA out of many dogmas! “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a bit unfair? Hey! He scored 99 out of 100 — and you still ‘FAIL’ him?” Look upon it another way—you are often provoked to anger and you “bite-the-bullet’ and patiently endure the things or people that anger you. Then, on one occasion, you say: “I’ve had enough!” and you take a gun and shoot that person. What will you say in court? “Hey! I could have shot people on countless occasions for provoking me—but I never did! I put up with them! So now you are going to pronounce me guilty of murder just because I shot one out of 100 persons?”
It is the same with mortal sin—one single unrepented and unconfessed mortal sin, no matter how virtuous you may have been, just one single unrepented and unconfessed mortal sin is enough to send you to Hell for eternity! Yes, the soul in Hell for “one single mortal sin” might have been closer to God than the soul that committed hundreds or thousands of mortal sins—but, at the end of the day, the reality is the same for both of them—they ARE NOT OF GOD and they are NOT IN THE CITY OF GOD—they are in the CITY OF SATAN, in Hell for eternity. Similarly, for politicians and governments to accept God’s Law, it means accepting the WHOLE Law—all the laws of God—and not just those laws that please you or please the public, while rejecting the laws of God that do not please you, nor please the public. If you poison the Law of God, then you are not of God. If you put only one tiny drop of a powerful poison in an eight-ounce glass of water—you have just made all of that water poisonous. If you commit just one mortal sin, you have poisoned all of your soul, no matter how grace there might have been in it! That is exactly what both the Republicans and Democrats have done—some have rejected more of God’s laws, other have rejected less of God’s laws—but rejection is rejection. Just as murder is murder—whether you killed the person with one bullet or a hundred bullets.
What is the Solution—or Soul-Ution—or Sole-Ution?
All of this puts the well-meaning Catholic in a great dilemma! Who is the Catholic supposed to vote for? If both parties are ultimately “not of God” and “opposed to God” in varying degrees. Does the Catholic vote for what is perceived to be the lesser of two evils? In a certain sense, it is like choosing between being slowly cut to pieces, or being slowly killed in bath of acid—the end result is the same—death! “For the wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). But Our Lord said: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10). The solution is simple—so simple that it is overlooked. It is not a new solution. It is not some kind of radical, never before heard of solution. It is a great solution—in fact, the greatest solution. The solution is Our Lord—Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Therein lies our problem—we are trying to find solutions without including Our Lord. We are substituting impotent human solutions for the most potent of all solutions—a Divine Solution.
The solution has been revealed to us at Our Lady’s apparitions—it is a combination of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Rosary, prayer and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners (Republicans and Democrats included), and prayer and penance for OUR OWN SINS. All of these solutions—or dovetailing parts of the solution—are for the most part ignored, neglected, or even rejected. In the USA, less than 20% attend Sunday Mass regularly (which obliges us under the pain of mortal sin); only 2% to 4% pray the Rosary daily; and most Catholics are objectively speaking in a state of mortal sin—thus meriting punishments rather than help and assistance in the current crises in Church and State.
Yet of all these parts to the solution, it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that is the most powerful, most efficacious and also the most neglected. It is as though we have lost the sense of the greatness of the Holy Mass—which is absolutely true, for most Catholics no longer think it is a real sacrifice, but just a symbol or commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice. To put it another way, they look upon it as being a photo of some medicine and not the actual medicine itself—so why should they bother looking for “cure” to their problems from a mere photo? Thus very few Catholics look upon the Holy Mass as a “super-weapon” or a “super-medicine” or a “super-tool” for overcoming personal problems and even less so in overcoming national or international problems.
Yet the saints tell us otherwise. “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Start Using the Mass!
St. John Chrysostom, one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, tells us that on Judgment Day we will be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! Part of that judgment on the Day of Judgment will include the political situation in the country in which you live. You might protest: “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a little unfair and over the top? Hey! How can I control what happens in the whole world? I’m not God! Everyone has a free will to do as they please! Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sorry buddy, sorry honey! Yes you are your brother’s keeper and, yes, you can affect what happens in the whole world!
So—coming back to the thorny truth that on Judgment Day you will be judge for all that happened in the world during your lifetime—it is true that of your own powers you can do little to influence the current political and moral environment of your country or the entire world. Yet it is not your own puny human powers that God expects you to use—Our Lord Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, in each Sacrifice of the Mass it is that very same Our Lord who offers the Mass through the hands of His priest—each Mass is Our Lord’s Mass, with Our Lord offering His Sacrifice of Calvary all over again, with its infinite power. That one sacrifice of Our Lord on Calvary was enough to save the WHOLE WORLD, yet He continues to perpetuate that sacrifice in an unbloody and mystical manner throughout all centuries—if we would only profit from it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Children are taught, but not all children learn. There is nothing stopping you from using the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in many ways to sanctify yourself and change the world—if only you would have a greater respect, faith and confidence in the infinite power of the Mass.
You could—and should—attend Mass more often. If you cannot physically attend Mass due to work commitments or other obligations, then what prevents you from reading the prayers of each daily Mass—thus attending spiritually if you cannot attend physically. Hey! It will only take one-half-hour of your precious time!
Furthermore, what is there to prevent you giving stipends on a regular basis to have Masses offered—not just for minor intentions like Aunt Hilda’s birthday, or Uncle Joe’s health, or a soul in Purgatory—why not have Mass offered for more serious and apocalyptic situations such as the ones facing the Church and world today? It is not in your power to turn back all the enemies of the Church, but it is in your power to have a Mass of infinite power offered for that intention. In other words, you can do little or nothing—but Christ can do everything—and it is in the sacrifice of Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, that Christ manifests His supreme power. What will your excuse be on Judgment Day, for not having Masses offered to ward off the terrible threats faced by the Church and the world today? “Sorry Lord! I couldn’t spare a few dollars for a Mass because I needed my weekly “six-pack” or bottle of wine, or candies and chocolates!” or whatever! The Mass is the most powerful weapon in the universe and it is accessible to every Catholic—whether it be to attend Mass or have Mass offered for the above mentioned intention. There is no excuse for failing to profit from it!
START USING THE MASS THIS WEEKEND! Give your parish priest—and any other priests you know or can get in touch with—and given as many Mass stipends as you can afford, for them to offer each Mass for double intention—both intentions are actually flip sides of the same coin. The first intention is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and all that it requires for it to happen. The second intention is for the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church, the State and mankind—whoever they may be—God knows who they are. DO THIS NOW! Then try to convince as many other people to do the same thing. We need a bombardment or blitzkrieg of Masses against these forces of evil. There is NO WAY that you can say that this is impossible for you! All you have to do is to give the priests or priests as many Mass stipends as you can afford—and put aside for now your important but lesser intentions, such as the health of Uncle Bill or the soul of Aunt Sally. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said—Satan has engaged in a Final Battle against Our Lady, a battle in which only one side will win, and there can be no neutral spectators or bystanders in this war—we are either on the side of Our Lady (and prove it by DOING something), or we are on the side of Satan (and prove it by DOING NOTHING!). GET THOSE MASSES SAID—SATAN WILL DO ALL HE CAN TO DELAY YOU OR TALK YOU OUT OF IT!
If St. Padre Pio said that the Rosary was THE weapon—then how much more powerful is the Holy Mass. You just cannot compare the two! One is infinite in power and merit, the other is finite in power and merit. USE THE MASS! GET THE MASS SAID! NOT JUST ONE, BUT MANY!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday September 21st & Tuesday September 22nd
Article 10
The Titanic, Noe's Ark & America
Monday September 21st & Tuesday September 22nd
Article 10
The Titanic, Noe's Ark & America
False Sense of Security
Today we have slogans like: “Make America Great Again!” (2016 Election) and “Keep America Great!” (2020 election). In 1912, the Titanic was the largest and greatest cruise ship on the water. Phillip Franklin, White Star Line vice-president, the shipping company that built and owned the Titanic, said: “There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers!” In retrospect, death is one hell of an inconvenience!
Talking of death—the casualties surrounding Noe’s Ark were far greater! The whole world drowned! Yet it was because they were on the Ark that they drowned—they drowned because they were not on the Ark! In fact, it was the reverse of the Titanic narrative. The Ark was the safest place to be—whereas the Titanic was not the safest place to be!
There are some lessons to be learnt from the Titanic and Noe’s Ark for both the Church and America—or perhaps the order should be “America and the Church”, for some say that most Catholic Americans think themselves to be Americans first, and Catholics second—placing country before Faith, which is like placing the body above the soul. This, of course, is erroneous, as Our Lord pointed out: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). We have a tendency to more earnestly seek happiness in this world rather than the next—but we should remember Our Lady’s words to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” How many souls have been shipwrecked because they primarily sought happiness in this world, and now suffer eternal misery in the next? “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Mankind is continually seeking technological advances in order to make life easier, more comfortable, more convenient, more pleasurable. What mankind is forgetting is that what it is searching for is actually opposed to what Christ is telling us to search for! Christ tells us not to search for material things, earthly happiness—but to search for spiritual things and heavenly happiness, and that the cross (not ease, comfort, convenience and pleasure) is the way in which we will find it.
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Pleasure versus Pain — Titanic versus Noe’s Ark
Funnily enough, the opposition between the world and Heaven, between worldly pleasure and the pain of the cross, can be seen in the imagery of two ships—the splendid, luxurious, lauded Titanic on the one side, and the primitive, basic, plain, rugged Noe’s Ark on the other side. The Titanic was made of and furnished with all the splendid materials available to man, while the Ark was mainly made of wood and had no furnishings.
The Titanic was bigger, heavier, stronger and far more comfortable than Noe’s Ark, but it sank anyway, while Noe’s Ark got the job done. One was designed by God, the other designed by man. Noe’s Ark was around 450 feet long (about 1½ lengths of a football field), while the Titanic was almost twice as long as Noe’s Ark, at 883 feet (almost 3 football fields). The Ark was around 75 feet wide, compared to the slightly wider Titanic at 92 feet wide. The height of the Ark was about 45 feet, compared to the 104 feet of the Titanic. The Ark was made of God created wood; the Titanic was constructed from man-made steel. In a certain way, you could say that the Titanic was a modern-day Tower of Babel, the pride of human endeavor!
Science versus Creation
As a brief side-point, it is interesting how God’s designs are usually far more effective than man’s designs—unless, of course, God inspires man to do something. In fact, only God can create—for strictly speaking, “creation” means making something out of nothing—science can only play around with what God has created. We think of the billions spent in researching vaccines—but they are more unsuccessful (and harmful) than they are successful. For instance, over the last 10 years—you would think that by the 2010s the god of Science would be at its pinnacle as regards knowledge and capabilities—the best year for the flu vaccine only had a 60% success rate and that was in 2011. In 2010 it was 56%; 2011 was 60%; 2012 was 47%; 2013 was 49%; 2014 was 52%; 2015 was only 19%; 2016 was 48%; 2017 dropped to 40%; 2018 dropped further to 38%; 2019 dropped even more to 29%. The god of Science will protest that its vaccines at least alleviated some of the symptoms of the flu if it could not prevent it—but God’s “vaccines”, non-GMO, non-processed, without additives, unadulterated, natural organic food and plants alleviate such symptoms even better! But the god of Science says there is no scientific proof for that claim—but that is because the god of Science refuses to conduct serious studies on the matter (because it knows the truth, but there is no profit in that truth—because you cannot patent God’s natural creation and so you cannot get rich on it!). Anyway, enough of that little aside—now back to the Titanic and the Ark.
A 1993 Korean study, headed by Dr. Seon Won Hong, found no fault with the Ark’s dimensions. Such a vessel would have been seaworthy and able to handle waves as high as 100 feet. God’s blueprints were more than adequate! Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Ark (tebah) is used only one other time in the Bible, as the name of the basket that carried baby Moses down the Nile. Some scholars think tebah is more accurately translated “lifeboat” or “life-saving boat.” The Ark was certainly the only lifeboat available to survive the judgment of the Flood. The authorities in charge of the Titanic are said to have refused to place the required number of lifeboats to cater for all passengers in the case of an emergency, because (1) they said that too many visible lifeboats would make the passengers feel uneasy and nervous, and (2) that the Titanic should sink was something unthinkable, for it was unsinkable!
Modern Man—the Unsinkable Titan
The Titans were the deities or gods in Greek mythology. The Titans were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and his mother, Gaia (Earth) — we might think of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, or the Twelve Apostles, or the Twelve Kings who will be the forerunners of the Antichrist. The Titans fell from grace and became known as “former gods”— they were the banished gods, who were no longer part of the upper world. Rather they were the gods who dwelt underground in Tartarus, and as such, they may have been thought of as “gods of the underworld”, who were the antithesis of, and in opposition to, the Olympians, the gods of the heavens. The word “Titan” has come to be defined as “one that is gigantic in size or power; one that stands out for greatness of achievement” — and that just fits the bill and the ego of modern man! It also explains the choice of name for god of the seas in 1912 — the Titanic.
Today, modern man and modern science give the impression that they are “titanic”, “untouchable” and “unsinkable” — to them, religion, if it is not already dead and buried, if it has not already sunk, is sinking fast, whereas science sails proudly on the waters of life. Science—the word comes from the Latin “scientia” meaning knowledge—truly inflates and puffs-up the ego of modern man! You could say that “Science” is the modern day “forbidden fruit” of Adam and Eve that is bringing a new kind of death to the world—an eternal ‘death’ or eternal damnation—as it becomes the idol that makes us like gods and brings us the knowledge [“scientia”] of good and evil—leading us to look upon true good as being something evil, and true evil as being something good—which is the trademark of Satan, to always reverse values and turn things upside-down. Science, likewise, seeks to turn the Faith upside-down, inside-out, while denigrating and ridiculing the values of religion. You could, with very little stretch of the imagination, replace Satan with Science in the Bible’s account of Eve’s temptation in the Paradise of Pleasure:
“And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein He placed man whom He had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of— the tree of life also in the midst of paradise; and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” [to which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond that which God was pleased to give] … And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And He commanded him, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death! … Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 2:8-9; 2:15-17; 3:1-5).
Satan—and our own Original Sin infected nature—incessantly drives us on beyond the boundaries that God placed in our lives. Eat more than you need! Drink more than you need! Buy more than you need! Amass more money than you need! Grab more power than you need! Have more possessions than you need! Spend more time on entertainment and fun than you need!
God’s Great Design
You have to remember that God was the first designer—and not only that, but He designed and made all things—down to the tiniest cell. God coordinated His designs in such an incredible way that they have stood the test of time and work just as well today as when they were first designed. Take, for example, the Sun. Few things are more important to us in our physical life on Earth than the Sun. The importance of the Sun has long been recognized and primitive people even worshiped the Sun as a god and were afraid when it would disappear during an eclipse. Without the Sun’s heat and light, the Earth would be a lifeless ball of ice-coated rock. The Sun warms our seas, stirs our atmosphere, generates our weather patterns, and gives energy to the growing green plants that provide the food and oxygen for life on Earth. Energetic atomic particles and X-rays from solar flares and other disturbances on the Sun, often affect radio waves on Earth, causing interference and even blackouts of long-distance radio communications. Disturbances of the Earth’s magnetic field by solar phenomena sometimes produce huge voltage fluctuations in power lines, threatening to black out cities. Even such seemingly unrelated activities as the flight of homing pigeons, transatlantic cable traffic, and the control of oil flow in the Alaska pipeline apparently are interfered with by magnetic disturbances caused by events on the Sun. When will man’s god of Science be able to make its own Sun? It never will—because it is a mini-god, a false god, a mere idol. Yet God has designed and made countless suns in the universe—we see some of them when we look at the stars at night!
Then take your gaze from God’s gigantic creation, the Sun (which is 109 times wider than the Earth), and look upon a tiny cell. Here, too, you will see the marvels of God’s designing abilities which cannot be imitated by man. Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. A single cell is often a complete organism in itself. Though they are incredibly tiny—a human cell is less than one thousandth of an inch, cells have many parts, each with a different function. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body’s hereditary material and can make copies of themselves. The average human body consists of some 37.2 trillion cells (for those who do not know what a “trillion” is, apart from being a big number, a trillion is one million times one million—thus, your body has around 32 million millions of cells. That is how much care God put into designing Adam and Eve—and the rest of us! You could say that God has not just invested millions in you, not just billions, but trillions! God knows what is happening with every single cell in every single human being! Now that is greatness!
Making America Great
So what about the poitical slogans “Make America Great” (2016) and “Keep America Great” (2020)? It all depends upon what you mean by “great”. Without doubt America is in a “great” mess—as of September 2020 it has a debt of $26,636,913,440,875 (over 26 million million dollars or 26 trillion dollars), which, if divided by the total population of America gives each person—man, woman, child and baby—a debt of over $81,000 each. Great?
► Based on available state-level data, approximately 876,000 abortions took place in the United States in 2018 and that it is only a low conservative estimate, since the USA does not require abortions to be reported. That is around 2,400 abortions a day, or 100 per hour—every day, all year long! Great?
► Every 13 seconds there is one divorce in America. That equates to 277 divorces per hour, 6,646 divorces per day, 46,523 divorces per week, and 2,419,196 (2.4 million) divorces per year. Great?
► Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared in the United States. In 1965, 24% of black infants and 3% percent of white infants were born to single mothers. By 1990 the rates had risen to 64% for black infants, 18% for whites. In 2018 the overall U.S. average of children born out of wedlock was 40%. For blacks, the number is 70%; for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 68% (Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders were at 50%); for Hispanics, 52% percent; for whites, 28% percent; and for Asian Americans, 12% percent. Every year over one million children are born into fatherless families out of around 3 million births. Great?
► In the United States, the availability of legally-recognized same-sex marriage expanded from one state in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015. Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (37%) favored allowing gays and lesbians to wed in 2009, a percentage that rose to 62% in 2017. But views are largely unchanged over the last few years. About six-in-ten Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage in the most recent Pew Research Center survey on the issue, conducted in March 2019. 79% of Americans who are not religiously affiliated favor same-sex marriage. 66% of white mainline Protestants and 61% of Catholics also favor same sex marriage. Great?
► In the United States pornography is rampant. Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet. Every second $3,075 is being spent on pornography on the internet. Every second 372 people are typing the word “adult” into a search engine. Every day 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States. Every day 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received. Every day 68 million search queries related to pornography — 25% of total searches — are generated. Every day 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received. About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.” 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails. Great?
► By the time Catholic youth finish their education—high school or college graduation—over 90% have stopped regularly practicing their Faith. A 2018 study on young adults leaving the Catholic Church found people stopped identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13, long before they ceased attending a parish. Around 13% percent of U.S. adults are former Catholics who have left the Church! The number of Catholics who attend Sunday Mass every week is a meager 1 in 5 or 20%. Great? More like a great apostasy!
All of this is, if you pardon the pun, merely “the tip of the iceberg” to which the Great Titanic Ship of America is sailing towards and is about collide with. You could give stats with regard to murder, violence, child abuse, theft, property damage and vandalism, sexual perversions, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. America is not great, nor will it be great until there is a radical and fundamental return to God and godly living. Currently, the only thing that can be said to be “great” in America, is the amount of sin committed daily—which brings to mind Our Lady’s ominous words to Blessed Elena Aiello back in 1956, when the amount of sin would have been tiny compared to the amount of sin today. Our Lady said in the “good old days” (or less sinful days) of 1956:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
What makes those words more frightening is that they were spoken with regard to the amount of sin committed in 1956!!! We are deluded if we think that America is great today! The only way to make America great is to make it holy—and the only way it will be holy is if it becomes Catholic! Now there is a challenge to your Faith! Do you believe it can happen? Do you believe it will happen? Are you willing to play your part to make it happen?
America On The Rocks? Is That With Ice?
“On the rocks” is bar slang for “served undiluted and with ice cubes” — it also means a relationship or enterprise that is experiencing difficulties, is in trouble, is breaking down, in pieces, shattered, beyond repair, and likely to fail. The Titanic could be said to been “on the rocks” when it hit the iceberg and was quickly “downed” and drowned. Is America heading the same way? Is America “on the rocks”? If America keeps imbibing or drinking the undiluted spirits of secularism and materialism, then for certain it is “on the rocks” and one can already see America “rocking”.
Ironically, in researching the phrase “Rock of America”, the following song popped up among the search topics—it is entitled “Rock of America” by Bad Company, an English hard-rock supergroup formed in England in 1973. In their 1988 LP album entitled Dangerous Age, you will find the song “Rock of America” with the following lyrics, which somehow typify and encapsulate the present mood of abandon, indifferentism and increasing wildness of America—no longer just the Wild West, but the wild North, South, East and West! The hard-rock bands name--Bad Company—and the title of the album--Dangerous Age—plus the lyrics that follow below, portray this “couldn’t-care-less” attitude that, like a spreading virus, risks becoming a pandemic of anarchy:
She knocked down my money, she knocked down my fame
Just wanna feel I’m a part of the game
On the radio, on TV, it’s like a heartbeat deep inside of me
Know what I want, know how to get, it’s like the sound of a hot corvette
Start it up, let it roll, come on baby, let’s lose control
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up, oh no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah baby rock the rock of America, ooh yeah
I hear the beat everywhere, smalltown streets, union squares
Every city’s got that sound, it’s in the open, not underground
Turn it up all the way, you can’t escape it, it’s here to stay
Sounds like thunder in my soul, come on babe, let’s lose control
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up now, no no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah baby rock the rock of America, ooh yeah
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up now, no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah rock the rock of America
An’ I’ve gotta rock the rock of America, you know what I want
Rock the rock of America, yeah
Amazing how bland and revolting most modern day lyrics have become! This musical devolution (or devil-ution) dovetails with the ugliness and banality that has entered modern art! That same revolting, bland, banal and ugly music and art has also made its way into elements of Post-Vatican II Catholic liturgy, church ‘décor’ and religious art!
Tale of Two Cities—Story of Two Rocks—Rock of Christ or Rock n Roll—Which Rock Influences You More?
All throughout time and history there have been “two sides” or “two cities” or “two factions” — God and Satan, Heaven and Hell, Theism (belief in God) and Atheism (no belief in God), Christianity and Paganism, Good and Evil, Morality and Immorality, Obedience and Disobedience, Truth and Lies, Love and Hatred, Peace and War, etc., etc.
Our Lord Himself speaks of two opposite camps when speaking of God and mammon—mammon meaning the world with all its pleasures and treasures. “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). To the well-meaning, perfection searching rich young man, Our Lord said: “ ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24). Elsewhere, Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Christ is Our Rock—Yet Rock Rules the World!
“The rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).The Church is “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in Whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21). “Jesus saith to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner”? By the Lord this has been done and it is wonderful in our eyes!’” (Matthew 21:42). Our Lord is that corner stone, as St. Peter later states: “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, Whom God hath raised from the dead … This is the Stone which was rejected by you the builders, Which is become the Head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10-12). To listen to Christ and follow His words, is to build a house on rock: “Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Much of today’s souls have not been raised on the Rock of Christ, but upon Rock and Roll—or if they were once placed on the Rock of Christ, they quickly and gladly abandoned that Rock for the more glittering and seductive words, sounds, attitudes and way of life offered by the gospel of Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll—a child of America—was born as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. Not only does Rock music find its origins in the US, but it has had a major influence in American society and youth culture. Rock and roll is not only just a musical style — beyond that musical style, rock and roll, as depicted in movies, in fan magazines, and on television, has universally influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. Rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African American and White American teenagers enjoyed the music. Many early Rock and Roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, and clothing.
The lyrics [gospel] of Rock and Roll songs described events and conflicts that most listeners could relate to through personal experience. Topics such as sex—that had generally been considered taboo—began to appear [be preached] in Rock and Roll lyrics. This new music tried to break boundaries and express emotions that people were actually feeling—but had not talked about. An awakening began to take place in American youth culture. Ultimately, Rock and Roll became a gospel of sin and its evangelists were the innumerous rock bands that sprung up as soon as the seed was sown. Just as Christianity later splintered into many different Christian sects—so too has Rock and Roll splintered into many different purveyors of sin, giving birth to a long string of rock related musical genres, all of them having the DNA of Rock and Roll in their genes.
Today we have slogans like: “Make America Great Again!” (2016 Election) and “Keep America Great!” (2020 election). In 1912, the Titanic was the largest and greatest cruise ship on the water. Phillip Franklin, White Star Line vice-president, the shipping company that built and owned the Titanic, said: “There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers!” In retrospect, death is one hell of an inconvenience!
Talking of death—the casualties surrounding Noe’s Ark were far greater! The whole world drowned! Yet it was because they were on the Ark that they drowned—they drowned because they were not on the Ark! In fact, it was the reverse of the Titanic narrative. The Ark was the safest place to be—whereas the Titanic was not the safest place to be!
There are some lessons to be learnt from the Titanic and Noe’s Ark for both the Church and America—or perhaps the order should be “America and the Church”, for some say that most Catholic Americans think themselves to be Americans first, and Catholics second—placing country before Faith, which is like placing the body above the soul. This, of course, is erroneous, as Our Lord pointed out: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). We have a tendency to more earnestly seek happiness in this world rather than the next—but we should remember Our Lady’s words to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” How many souls have been shipwrecked because they primarily sought happiness in this world, and now suffer eternal misery in the next? “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Mankind is continually seeking technological advances in order to make life easier, more comfortable, more convenient, more pleasurable. What mankind is forgetting is that what it is searching for is actually opposed to what Christ is telling us to search for! Christ tells us not to search for material things, earthly happiness—but to search for spiritual things and heavenly happiness, and that the cross (not ease, comfort, convenience and pleasure) is the way in which we will find it.
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Pleasure versus Pain — Titanic versus Noe’s Ark
Funnily enough, the opposition between the world and Heaven, between worldly pleasure and the pain of the cross, can be seen in the imagery of two ships—the splendid, luxurious, lauded Titanic on the one side, and the primitive, basic, plain, rugged Noe’s Ark on the other side. The Titanic was made of and furnished with all the splendid materials available to man, while the Ark was mainly made of wood and had no furnishings.
The Titanic was bigger, heavier, stronger and far more comfortable than Noe’s Ark, but it sank anyway, while Noe’s Ark got the job done. One was designed by God, the other designed by man. Noe’s Ark was around 450 feet long (about 1½ lengths of a football field), while the Titanic was almost twice as long as Noe’s Ark, at 883 feet (almost 3 football fields). The Ark was around 75 feet wide, compared to the slightly wider Titanic at 92 feet wide. The height of the Ark was about 45 feet, compared to the 104 feet of the Titanic. The Ark was made of God created wood; the Titanic was constructed from man-made steel. In a certain way, you could say that the Titanic was a modern-day Tower of Babel, the pride of human endeavor!
Science versus Creation
As a brief side-point, it is interesting how God’s designs are usually far more effective than man’s designs—unless, of course, God inspires man to do something. In fact, only God can create—for strictly speaking, “creation” means making something out of nothing—science can only play around with what God has created. We think of the billions spent in researching vaccines—but they are more unsuccessful (and harmful) than they are successful. For instance, over the last 10 years—you would think that by the 2010s the god of Science would be at its pinnacle as regards knowledge and capabilities—the best year for the flu vaccine only had a 60% success rate and that was in 2011. In 2010 it was 56%; 2011 was 60%; 2012 was 47%; 2013 was 49%; 2014 was 52%; 2015 was only 19%; 2016 was 48%; 2017 dropped to 40%; 2018 dropped further to 38%; 2019 dropped even more to 29%. The god of Science will protest that its vaccines at least alleviated some of the symptoms of the flu if it could not prevent it—but God’s “vaccines”, non-GMO, non-processed, without additives, unadulterated, natural organic food and plants alleviate such symptoms even better! But the god of Science says there is no scientific proof for that claim—but that is because the god of Science refuses to conduct serious studies on the matter (because it knows the truth, but there is no profit in that truth—because you cannot patent God’s natural creation and so you cannot get rich on it!). Anyway, enough of that little aside—now back to the Titanic and the Ark.
A 1993 Korean study, headed by Dr. Seon Won Hong, found no fault with the Ark’s dimensions. Such a vessel would have been seaworthy and able to handle waves as high as 100 feet. God’s blueprints were more than adequate! Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Ark (tebah) is used only one other time in the Bible, as the name of the basket that carried baby Moses down the Nile. Some scholars think tebah is more accurately translated “lifeboat” or “life-saving boat.” The Ark was certainly the only lifeboat available to survive the judgment of the Flood. The authorities in charge of the Titanic are said to have refused to place the required number of lifeboats to cater for all passengers in the case of an emergency, because (1) they said that too many visible lifeboats would make the passengers feel uneasy and nervous, and (2) that the Titanic should sink was something unthinkable, for it was unsinkable!
Modern Man—the Unsinkable Titan
The Titans were the deities or gods in Greek mythology. The Titans were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and his mother, Gaia (Earth) — we might think of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, or the Twelve Apostles, or the Twelve Kings who will be the forerunners of the Antichrist. The Titans fell from grace and became known as “former gods”— they were the banished gods, who were no longer part of the upper world. Rather they were the gods who dwelt underground in Tartarus, and as such, they may have been thought of as “gods of the underworld”, who were the antithesis of, and in opposition to, the Olympians, the gods of the heavens. The word “Titan” has come to be defined as “one that is gigantic in size or power; one that stands out for greatness of achievement” — and that just fits the bill and the ego of modern man! It also explains the choice of name for god of the seas in 1912 — the Titanic.
Today, modern man and modern science give the impression that they are “titanic”, “untouchable” and “unsinkable” — to them, religion, if it is not already dead and buried, if it has not already sunk, is sinking fast, whereas science sails proudly on the waters of life. Science—the word comes from the Latin “scientia” meaning knowledge—truly inflates and puffs-up the ego of modern man! You could say that “Science” is the modern day “forbidden fruit” of Adam and Eve that is bringing a new kind of death to the world—an eternal ‘death’ or eternal damnation—as it becomes the idol that makes us like gods and brings us the knowledge [“scientia”] of good and evil—leading us to look upon true good as being something evil, and true evil as being something good—which is the trademark of Satan, to always reverse values and turn things upside-down. Science, likewise, seeks to turn the Faith upside-down, inside-out, while denigrating and ridiculing the values of religion. You could, with very little stretch of the imagination, replace Satan with Science in the Bible’s account of Eve’s temptation in the Paradise of Pleasure:
“And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein He placed man whom He had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of— the tree of life also in the midst of paradise; and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” [to which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond that which God was pleased to give] … And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And He commanded him, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat! But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death! … Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 2:8-9; 2:15-17; 3:1-5).
Satan—and our own Original Sin infected nature—incessantly drives us on beyond the boundaries that God placed in our lives. Eat more than you need! Drink more than you need! Buy more than you need! Amass more money than you need! Grab more power than you need! Have more possessions than you need! Spend more time on entertainment and fun than you need!
God’s Great Design
You have to remember that God was the first designer—and not only that, but He designed and made all things—down to the tiniest cell. God coordinated His designs in such an incredible way that they have stood the test of time and work just as well today as when they were first designed. Take, for example, the Sun. Few things are more important to us in our physical life on Earth than the Sun. The importance of the Sun has long been recognized and primitive people even worshiped the Sun as a god and were afraid when it would disappear during an eclipse. Without the Sun’s heat and light, the Earth would be a lifeless ball of ice-coated rock. The Sun warms our seas, stirs our atmosphere, generates our weather patterns, and gives energy to the growing green plants that provide the food and oxygen for life on Earth. Energetic atomic particles and X-rays from solar flares and other disturbances on the Sun, often affect radio waves on Earth, causing interference and even blackouts of long-distance radio communications. Disturbances of the Earth’s magnetic field by solar phenomena sometimes produce huge voltage fluctuations in power lines, threatening to black out cities. Even such seemingly unrelated activities as the flight of homing pigeons, transatlantic cable traffic, and the control of oil flow in the Alaska pipeline apparently are interfered with by magnetic disturbances caused by events on the Sun. When will man’s god of Science be able to make its own Sun? It never will—because it is a mini-god, a false god, a mere idol. Yet God has designed and made countless suns in the universe—we see some of them when we look at the stars at night!
Then take your gaze from God’s gigantic creation, the Sun (which is 109 times wider than the Earth), and look upon a tiny cell. Here, too, you will see the marvels of God’s designing abilities which cannot be imitated by man. Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. A single cell is often a complete organism in itself. Though they are incredibly tiny—a human cell is less than one thousandth of an inch, cells have many parts, each with a different function. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body’s hereditary material and can make copies of themselves. The average human body consists of some 37.2 trillion cells (for those who do not know what a “trillion” is, apart from being a big number, a trillion is one million times one million—thus, your body has around 32 million millions of cells. That is how much care God put into designing Adam and Eve—and the rest of us! You could say that God has not just invested millions in you, not just billions, but trillions! God knows what is happening with every single cell in every single human being! Now that is greatness!
Making America Great
So what about the poitical slogans “Make America Great” (2016) and “Keep America Great” (2020)? It all depends upon what you mean by “great”. Without doubt America is in a “great” mess—as of September 2020 it has a debt of $26,636,913,440,875 (over 26 million million dollars or 26 trillion dollars), which, if divided by the total population of America gives each person—man, woman, child and baby—a debt of over $81,000 each. Great?
► Based on available state-level data, approximately 876,000 abortions took place in the United States in 2018 and that it is only a low conservative estimate, since the USA does not require abortions to be reported. That is around 2,400 abortions a day, or 100 per hour—every day, all year long! Great?
► Every 13 seconds there is one divorce in America. That equates to 277 divorces per hour, 6,646 divorces per day, 46,523 divorces per week, and 2,419,196 (2.4 million) divorces per year. Great?
► Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared in the United States. In 1965, 24% of black infants and 3% percent of white infants were born to single mothers. By 1990 the rates had risen to 64% for black infants, 18% for whites. In 2018 the overall U.S. average of children born out of wedlock was 40%. For blacks, the number is 70%; for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 68% (Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders were at 50%); for Hispanics, 52% percent; for whites, 28% percent; and for Asian Americans, 12% percent. Every year over one million children are born into fatherless families out of around 3 million births. Great?
► In the United States, the availability of legally-recognized same-sex marriage expanded from one state in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015. Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (37%) favored allowing gays and lesbians to wed in 2009, a percentage that rose to 62% in 2017. But views are largely unchanged over the last few years. About six-in-ten Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage in the most recent Pew Research Center survey on the issue, conducted in March 2019. 79% of Americans who are not religiously affiliated favor same-sex marriage. 66% of white mainline Protestants and 61% of Catholics also favor same sex marriage. Great?
► In the United States pornography is rampant. Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet. Every second $3,075 is being spent on pornography on the internet. Every second 372 people are typing the word “adult” into a search engine. Every day 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States. Every day 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received. Every day 68 million search queries related to pornography — 25% of total searches — are generated. Every day 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received. About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.” 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography. 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails. Great?
► By the time Catholic youth finish their education—high school or college graduation—over 90% have stopped regularly practicing their Faith. A 2018 study on young adults leaving the Catholic Church found people stopped identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13, long before they ceased attending a parish. Around 13% percent of U.S. adults are former Catholics who have left the Church! The number of Catholics who attend Sunday Mass every week is a meager 1 in 5 or 20%. Great? More like a great apostasy!
All of this is, if you pardon the pun, merely “the tip of the iceberg” to which the Great Titanic Ship of America is sailing towards and is about collide with. You could give stats with regard to murder, violence, child abuse, theft, property damage and vandalism, sexual perversions, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. America is not great, nor will it be great until there is a radical and fundamental return to God and godly living. Currently, the only thing that can be said to be “great” in America, is the amount of sin committed daily—which brings to mind Our Lady’s ominous words to Blessed Elena Aiello back in 1956, when the amount of sin would have been tiny compared to the amount of sin today. Our Lady said in the “good old days” (or less sinful days) of 1956:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
What makes those words more frightening is that they were spoken with regard to the amount of sin committed in 1956!!! We are deluded if we think that America is great today! The only way to make America great is to make it holy—and the only way it will be holy is if it becomes Catholic! Now there is a challenge to your Faith! Do you believe it can happen? Do you believe it will happen? Are you willing to play your part to make it happen?
America On The Rocks? Is That With Ice?
“On the rocks” is bar slang for “served undiluted and with ice cubes” — it also means a relationship or enterprise that is experiencing difficulties, is in trouble, is breaking down, in pieces, shattered, beyond repair, and likely to fail. The Titanic could be said to been “on the rocks” when it hit the iceberg and was quickly “downed” and drowned. Is America heading the same way? Is America “on the rocks”? If America keeps imbibing or drinking the undiluted spirits of secularism and materialism, then for certain it is “on the rocks” and one can already see America “rocking”.
Ironically, in researching the phrase “Rock of America”, the following song popped up among the search topics—it is entitled “Rock of America” by Bad Company, an English hard-rock supergroup formed in England in 1973. In their 1988 LP album entitled Dangerous Age, you will find the song “Rock of America” with the following lyrics, which somehow typify and encapsulate the present mood of abandon, indifferentism and increasing wildness of America—no longer just the Wild West, but the wild North, South, East and West! The hard-rock bands name--Bad Company—and the title of the album--Dangerous Age—plus the lyrics that follow below, portray this “couldn’t-care-less” attitude that, like a spreading virus, risks becoming a pandemic of anarchy:
She knocked down my money, she knocked down my fame
Just wanna feel I’m a part of the game
On the radio, on TV, it’s like a heartbeat deep inside of me
Know what I want, know how to get, it’s like the sound of a hot corvette
Start it up, let it roll, come on baby, let’s lose control
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up, oh no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah baby rock the rock of America, ooh yeah
I hear the beat everywhere, smalltown streets, union squares
Every city’s got that sound, it’s in the open, not underground
Turn it up all the way, you can’t escape it, it’s here to stay
Sounds like thunder in my soul, come on babe, let’s lose control
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up now, no no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah baby rock the rock of America, ooh yeah
Ooh yeah, I wanna live it up, ooh yeah, don’t wanna give it up now, no
I wanna rock the rock of America, yeah rock the rock of America
An’ I’ve gotta rock the rock of America, you know what I want
Rock the rock of America, yeah
Amazing how bland and revolting most modern day lyrics have become! This musical devolution (or devil-ution) dovetails with the ugliness and banality that has entered modern art! That same revolting, bland, banal and ugly music and art has also made its way into elements of Post-Vatican II Catholic liturgy, church ‘décor’ and religious art!
Tale of Two Cities—Story of Two Rocks—Rock of Christ or Rock n Roll—Which Rock Influences You More?
All throughout time and history there have been “two sides” or “two cities” or “two factions” — God and Satan, Heaven and Hell, Theism (belief in God) and Atheism (no belief in God), Christianity and Paganism, Good and Evil, Morality and Immorality, Obedience and Disobedience, Truth and Lies, Love and Hatred, Peace and War, etc., etc.
Our Lord Himself speaks of two opposite camps when speaking of God and mammon—mammon meaning the world with all its pleasures and treasures. “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). To the well-meaning, perfection searching rich young man, Our Lord said: “ ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:16-24). Elsewhere, Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Christ is Our Rock—Yet Rock Rules the World!
“The rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).The Church is “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in Whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21). “Jesus saith to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner”? By the Lord this has been done and it is wonderful in our eyes!’” (Matthew 21:42). Our Lord is that corner stone, as St. Peter later states: “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, Whom God hath raised from the dead … This is the Stone which was rejected by you the builders, Which is become the Head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10-12). To listen to Christ and follow His words, is to build a house on rock: “Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Much of today’s souls have not been raised on the Rock of Christ, but upon Rock and Roll—or if they were once placed on the Rock of Christ, they quickly and gladly abandoned that Rock for the more glittering and seductive words, sounds, attitudes and way of life offered by the gospel of Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll—a child of America—was born as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. Not only does Rock music find its origins in the US, but it has had a major influence in American society and youth culture. Rock and roll is not only just a musical style — beyond that musical style, rock and roll, as depicted in movies, in fan magazines, and on television, has universally influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. Rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African American and White American teenagers enjoyed the music. Many early Rock and Roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, and clothing.
The lyrics [gospel] of Rock and Roll songs described events and conflicts that most listeners could relate to through personal experience. Topics such as sex—that had generally been considered taboo—began to appear [be preached] in Rock and Roll lyrics. This new music tried to break boundaries and express emotions that people were actually feeling—but had not talked about. An awakening began to take place in American youth culture. Ultimately, Rock and Roll became a gospel of sin and its evangelists were the innumerous rock bands that sprung up as soon as the seed was sown. Just as Christianity later splintered into many different Christian sects—so too has Rock and Roll splintered into many different purveyors of sin, giving birth to a long string of rock related musical genres, all of them having the DNA of Rock and Roll in their genes.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday September 19th & Sunday September 20th
Article 9
Playing the Blame Game or Shame Game!
Lessons from La Salette? Or Lessons from the World?
Saturday September 19th & Sunday September 20th
Article 9
Playing the Blame Game or Shame Game!
Lessons from La Salette? Or Lessons from the World?
La Salette “Blame Game”? La Salette “Shame Game”?
Today—September 19th—we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of La Salette, who appeared to two shepherd children (Melanie Calvet, aged 14, and Maximin Giraud, aged 10) on September 19th, 1846. What—if anything—can we learn from La Salette and apply to our own lives and those around us? There are numerous things to be learnt and applied—but for this particular article, let us focus on the opening words of Our Lady, whereby she laments and complains about the lack of gratitude towards her and the tremendous merciful work that she does in trying to save sinners from eternal damnation. The essence of her complaints amounts to a prevalence of indifference and superficiality among Catholics. In a certain sense, without wanting to be demeaning of Our Lady, she is ‘playing’ a “Blame Game” or a “Shame Game” — but only in a good sense, whereby she is justly and correctly placing “blame” on our shoulders and is trying to “shame” into making changes. Here are her own words on the subject:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!
“I gave you six days to work, I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much. Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle of what they say. These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much. If the harvest is spoiled, it is only because of the rest of you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes but you took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the Name of my Son. They will continue to go bad, at Christmas there will be none left. You do not understand, my children. I will tell it to you another way. If the harvest is spoiled, it does not seem to affect you! I made you see this last year with the potatoes. You took little account of this! It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes—you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son in those oaths. They will continue to go bad and at Christmas, there will be none left. If you have corn—you must not sow it—the beasts will eat all that you sow; and all that grows will fall to dust when you thresh it. A great famine will come! Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them! The others will do penance through hunger! The nuts will go bad, the grapes will become rotten!”
The undertone in all of this is indifferent and superficial Catholicism and its terrible consequences—Catholics who call themselves “Catholics” but who live more like worldlings or pagans than true Catholics. Such a hypocritical lifestyle inevitably merits the punishments and chastisements of God—which Our Lady speaks of and threatens future ones—despite the fact the she is toiling to try hold back her Divine Son’s chastising arm. You reap what you sow—we cannot sow worldliness in our souls (bad Catholicism) and expect holy fruits (good Catholicism) to be produced: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19). The fruits of the present day world are nowhere near being Catholic fruits or holy fruits—the majority of fruit is evil.
Are We Risking Becoming Catholic in Name Only and Not Catholic in Nature?
What is a Catholic? Good question! A question that would probably elicit hundreds of different answers—some of them similar, some of them dissimilar; some of them true, some of them false. Strangely enough, most Catholics imagine themselves to be good Catholics and they would bristle and bark if you said anything to the contrary! Yet Our Lord—in speaking of our “latter day” times—says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is actually making a rhetorical question—to make a point rather than to get an answer—by which He is indicating that there will be very little Faith to be found on Earth. Later saints would prophesy of a coming “Minor Apostasy” and “Great Apostasy” that will come about in the “End Times”—times which, according to Our Lady of Fatima, we have already entered. This lack of Faith or little Faith is something that was later corroborated by Our Lady of Good Success, who spoke of the “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” and Our Lady of La Salette, who warned that in our days, “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls.”
It is amazing—and also terrifying and disheartening—that today most Catholics think that you can be a good Catholic without attending Sunday Mass regularly! Pushing the envelope a little further—most Catholics think nothing of practicing contraception (95% of woman have or still do). Going further still, the majority of Catholics accept divorce and remarriage; cohabitation before marriage or in place of marriage; masturbation; adultery; same sex relationships and marriages; homosexuality, immodesty, promiscuity, pornography, etc. and still imagine that they are ‘good’ Catholics! Others—who may not be quite as radical—nevertheless have no problem committing other more ‘tasteful’ and ‘refined’ and socially acceptable mortal sins such as detraction (revealing the unknown mortal sins of others) or calumny (lies, exaggerations, misrepresentations). Others will happily indulge in drunkenness or drug abuse; others in physical, emotional, psychological violence; others in theft, misappropriation of funds, property damage, etc. — all the while imagining, thinking and protesting that they are still ‘good’ Catholics! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). In general, the Catholic world has degenerated to the point where many or most mortal sins are looked upon as being venial sins, and venial sins are looked upon as being fun and socially acceptable.
Baptism is Only a Beginning
The first necessity in being a Catholic is a valid Baptism—which gives you a CHANCE of saving your soul, but NO GUARANTEES—for there can be “Good Catholics” and “Bad Catholics” and all the shades of “Gray Catholicism” that are found in between.
The Many and the Few! Who’s Who in the Pew?
This brings to mind the warning of Our Lord when questioned as to how many souls are saved: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
There are some Catholics today—especially amongst Traditional and Conservative Catholics—who think along the lines of the Jews who thought their salvation was guaranteed because they were the “Sons of Abraham” (today: “Sons of the Catholic Church”) and not like the rest of men—to which Our Lord replies: “Think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ [or— ‘We have the Church for our Mother!’]. For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones!” (Matthew 3:9). There was no GUARANTEE that the “children of Abraham” would be saved—in fact, St. Paul writes to the contrary: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with MOST OF THEM God was not well pleased—for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us … All these things happened to them in figure—and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Our Lord highlights this presumptuous spirit in His all-too-true-and-lifelike Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Lip Service Nominal Catholics
The Pharisee is an all-too-true-and-lifelike figure of modern-day Catholics, who trust themselves to be just and despise others. The fact that they are baptized Catholics may well give them a head-start in the race for Heaven, but it holds NO GUARANTEES. Nominal Catholicism—being Catholic in name only through Baptism—is not the same as Real Catholicism, which not only is baptized, but also studies the Faith, grows in the Faith and, above all, practices the Faith. To the Nominal Catholic Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Don’t “Lord! Lord!” Me
“Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:46-47).
Attack is the Best Form of Defense
As the saying goes: “Attack is the best form of defense!” The best way to cover-up our own mistakes or sins is to reveal and attack the sins of others. Our Lord hit this nail on the head when He said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). What Our Lord is in effect saying is: “Attacking oneself is the best form of defense!”
When we go to the Sacrament of Confession it is exactly that which we must do—attack ourselves, accuse ourselves, blame ourselves. We go to Confession to reveal OUR faults, failing and sins—and not those of OTHERS. We go to Confession to blame ourselves—not others. Yet even in Confession the principle of “Attack is the best form of defense” can rear its ugly head. By attacking, accusing, blaming others we sometimes hope to make ourselves look better (or not as bad as we really are).
The Blame Game or Shame Game
The “Blame Game” or the “Shame Game” is a universal strategy used by everyone. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the “Blame Game” as “a situation in which people try to blame each other for something bad that has happened.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the “Blame Game” as “a situation in which different individuals or groups attempt to assign blame to each other for some problem or failure.” The Free Dictionary defines it as: “The exchange of accusations and blame between two or more parties during a dispute or some undesirable event.”
A “Shame Game” is an attempt to manipulate others by shaming them and thus weakening their position, credibility, influence, power, good standing, etc. The dictionary defines “shame” as “(1) the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another; (2) disgrace; ignominy; (3) a painful feeling that's a mix of regret, self-hate, and dishonor; an unpleasant self-conscious emotion typically associated with a negative evaluation of the self; withdrawal motivations; and feelings of distress, exposure, mistrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness.”
Our modern-era is truly a “Blame Game” era and a “Shame Game” era—you see it in politics (especially during the current 2020 U.S. Presidential Election campaign), you see it in the media and, as a result, the “Blame Game” and “Shame Game” viruses have pretty much infected every family, workplace, school, parish and community—it is a true pandemic!
In Psychology Today, we read: “Not everyone is equally likely to engage in the blame game, but there is little scientific research to advise us on who is most likely to do so. We can, however, define a dimension of blame-acceptance by adopting a few simple principles: On the extreme Blame side of our scale would be people who can always find something else to blame: You could attribute the burned meal to your partner, who doesn’t help enough around the house, forcing you to multitask and forget the chicken simmering in the pan. You do not blame your cat for its misbehavior, but you might blame your neighbor who waved hello at just the wrong time. Slipping on the sidewalk as a result of your clumsiness? Of course not; people should sweep the leaves up off the ground before they become a hazard. At the other end of the spectrum are people who blame themselves for everything, even when they’ve had nothing to do with an unfortunate outcome. This isn’t just false modesty or fishing for reassurance; some people do believe that they cause every bad thing all or most of the time.”
“Here are five reasons we play the blame game.
(1) Blame is an excellent defense mechanism. Whether you call it projection, denial, or displacement, blame helps you preserve your sense of self-esteem by avoiding awareness of your own flaws or failings.
(2) Blame is a tool we use when we’re in attack mode. Falling into the category of a destructive conflict resolution method, blame is a way to try to hurt our partners.
(3) We’re not very good at figuring out the causes of other people's behavior, or even our own. The attributions we make, whether to luck or ability, can be distorted by our tendency to make illogical judgments. And we're just as bad at making judgments involving the blameworthiness of actions in terms of intent vs. outcome.
(4) It’s easier to blame someone else than to accept responsibility. There’s less effort involved in recognizing your contributions to a bad situation than in accepting the fact that you're actually at fault, and changing so you don't do it again.
(5) People lie. As my colleague, Robert Feldman, discovered, “Everybody lies.” [Or as Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4)]. It’s pretty easy just to lie and blame someone else—even though you know you’re at fault. You may figure that no one will know it was really you who spilled coffee all over the break room, so you just blame someone else who’s not there—and hope that person never finds out.”
Signs and Symptoms of Playing the Blame Game
Another website on the same subject states: “Are you playing “The Blame Game”? Consider the following seven questions carefully and honestly to determine how you may be avoiding personal responsibility.
(1) Do you find it hard to admit when you’re wrong? (And more importantly, would the people who know you best agree with your answer?)
(2) Do you focus a lot on the past instead of looking toward the future?
(3) Do you use other people’s irresponsible behavior to justify your own? (For example, “They’re driving way over the speed limit, so why shouldn’t I?”)
(4) Do you find it difficult to apologize to others? Do you view apologizing as a sign of weakness or as a sign of strength?
(5) Do you believe life is unfair and often feel sorry for yourself?
(6) Do you view negative occurrences/relationships in your life as being out of your control? Do you see yourself as a victim?
(7) Do you feel powerless to change anything in your life for the better?
Take Responsibility For Your Life Now!
The website continues: “We all make the mistake of blaming others and making excuses from time to time. But the key to living a successful life is accepting personal responsibility for our choices and our actions. Here are a few tips to start taking great ownership of your life…
(1) Apologize when you’re wrong (and accept the fact that you’re not always right!)
(2) Admit when you’ve made a mistake.
(3) Learn to forgive and let go of the past.
(4) Be open to the ideas and opinions of others. Your viewpoint is not the only valid one.
(5) Identify the things in your life that you’re not happy about, and do something to change them.
(6) Practice saying, “I am responsible” until you start to believe it.
(7) Take smart risks, and realize that you are responsible for the outcomes.
(8) Adopt a positive outlook on life (i.e. the glass is half-full as opposed to half-empty).
(9) Recognize and embrace your own shortcomings, and ask others for help when you need it.”
The Pot and the Kettle
“The pot calling the kettle black” is a proverbial idiom of Spanish origin, which entered the English language in the first half of the 17th century—and the reality of it has entered everyday life, and especially so during the current presidential election season! The idiom, of course, refers to a person who is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy. The sad reality of it all is that every family and every workplace and every school and every parish is filled with these “pots” and “kettles”. We are all “dirty black pots” who often make out our fellow humans of being “dirty black kettles” — and in this sense we fall into the same hypocrisy which Our Lord depicts in the above quote about the splinter and plank in the eye. For “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “All have transgressed Thy law, and have turned away from hearing Thy voice” (Daniel 9:11). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy] of God” (Romans 3:23). “Blessed are the peacemakers—for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You
“All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law!” (Matthew 7:12). As you sow, so shall you reap! If you sow rebukes—you will reap or get rebukes yourself. If you sow mercy—you will reap or get mercy for yourself. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another—even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “You pray: ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors!’ … For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:12-15).
When Can I Stop Forgiving?
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $16 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $112 million in today’s money) was 560,000 times more than the 100 pence ($200 in today’s money).
“For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13). “So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not, everyone his brother, from your hearts” (Matthew 18:35).
Attack Yourself and Not Others—Then You Will Change Others and Yourself!
So if we want God’s mercy, we had better turn aside from practicing the principle of “Attack is the best form of defense!” and change it to: “Attack yourself and defend others—even your enemies!” for this is the best form of self-defense! We would do well to reflect upon the wording—unpalatable as it may be—of the Church’s Prayers from the Masses Against Her Enemies: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles” … “In Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins!” Tough, huh? Our Lord, speaking on the subject of enemies, says:
“But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to everyone that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner. And if you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? for sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much. But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to all, it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:27-38).
“Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another—being merciful, modest, humble! Not rendering evil for evil, nor reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, blessing—for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing!” (1 Peter 3:8-9). “When thy enemy shall fall, be not glad, and in his ruin let not thy heart rejoice!” (Proverbs 24:17). “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.” (Romans 12:18-21). “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:21-22) … “That you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Tough stuff, huh? It is so tough that we should—as an incentive—remind ourselves of Our Lord’s words quoted above:
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Focus On Yourself!
Focusing on self is almost a self-made commandment—for we have no problem focusing on ourselves, but, sadly, we are out of focus! In other words, we focus on ourselves in the wrong way, in a bad way—not perhaps as much as the term “navel-gazing” suggests—but certainly tending more towards self-love and self-flattery than self-hatred (for sin) and humility. As God says in Holy Scripture: “Let us search our ways—and seek the Lord and return to the Lord!” (Lamentations 3:40). “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my crimes and offences!” (Job 13:23). “Because I was silent about my sin, my bones grew old whilst I cried out all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me! I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened. I have acknowledged my sin to Thee and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord—and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin!” (Psalm 31:3-5). “If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just—to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9). ‘Confessing’ the sins of others never does any good—apart from increasing our own sins if we reveal the sins of others without real necessity or good reason—but, then, we rationalize and excuse our selves, saying that we always have a good reason for revealing the sins of others, even exaggerating them or adding to them!
“Bear ye one another’s burdens—and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:2-3). “Let everyone examine his own work … For every one shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:4-5).
Today—September 19th—we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of La Salette, who appeared to two shepherd children (Melanie Calvet, aged 14, and Maximin Giraud, aged 10) on September 19th, 1846. What—if anything—can we learn from La Salette and apply to our own lives and those around us? There are numerous things to be learnt and applied—but for this particular article, let us focus on the opening words of Our Lady, whereby she laments and complains about the lack of gratitude towards her and the tremendous merciful work that she does in trying to save sinners from eternal damnation. The essence of her complaints amounts to a prevalence of indifference and superficiality among Catholics. In a certain sense, without wanting to be demeaning of Our Lady, she is ‘playing’ a “Blame Game” or a “Shame Game” — but only in a good sense, whereby she is justly and correctly placing “blame” on our shoulders and is trying to “shame” into making changes. Here are her own words on the subject:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!
“I gave you six days to work, I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much. Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle of what they say. These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much. If the harvest is spoiled, it is only because of the rest of you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes but you took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the Name of my Son. They will continue to go bad, at Christmas there will be none left. You do not understand, my children. I will tell it to you another way. If the harvest is spoiled, it does not seem to affect you! I made you see this last year with the potatoes. You took little account of this! It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes—you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son in those oaths. They will continue to go bad and at Christmas, there will be none left. If you have corn—you must not sow it—the beasts will eat all that you sow; and all that grows will fall to dust when you thresh it. A great famine will come! Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them! The others will do penance through hunger! The nuts will go bad, the grapes will become rotten!”
The undertone in all of this is indifferent and superficial Catholicism and its terrible consequences—Catholics who call themselves “Catholics” but who live more like worldlings or pagans than true Catholics. Such a hypocritical lifestyle inevitably merits the punishments and chastisements of God—which Our Lady speaks of and threatens future ones—despite the fact the she is toiling to try hold back her Divine Son’s chastising arm. You reap what you sow—we cannot sow worldliness in our souls (bad Catholicism) and expect holy fruits (good Catholicism) to be produced: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19). The fruits of the present day world are nowhere near being Catholic fruits or holy fruits—the majority of fruit is evil.
Are We Risking Becoming Catholic in Name Only and Not Catholic in Nature?
What is a Catholic? Good question! A question that would probably elicit hundreds of different answers—some of them similar, some of them dissimilar; some of them true, some of them false. Strangely enough, most Catholics imagine themselves to be good Catholics and they would bristle and bark if you said anything to the contrary! Yet Our Lord—in speaking of our “latter day” times—says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is actually making a rhetorical question—to make a point rather than to get an answer—by which He is indicating that there will be very little Faith to be found on Earth. Later saints would prophesy of a coming “Minor Apostasy” and “Great Apostasy” that will come about in the “End Times”—times which, according to Our Lady of Fatima, we have already entered. This lack of Faith or little Faith is something that was later corroborated by Our Lady of Good Success, who spoke of the “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” and Our Lady of La Salette, who warned that in our days, “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls.”
It is amazing—and also terrifying and disheartening—that today most Catholics think that you can be a good Catholic without attending Sunday Mass regularly! Pushing the envelope a little further—most Catholics think nothing of practicing contraception (95% of woman have or still do). Going further still, the majority of Catholics accept divorce and remarriage; cohabitation before marriage or in place of marriage; masturbation; adultery; same sex relationships and marriages; homosexuality, immodesty, promiscuity, pornography, etc. and still imagine that they are ‘good’ Catholics! Others—who may not be quite as radical—nevertheless have no problem committing other more ‘tasteful’ and ‘refined’ and socially acceptable mortal sins such as detraction (revealing the unknown mortal sins of others) or calumny (lies, exaggerations, misrepresentations). Others will happily indulge in drunkenness or drug abuse; others in physical, emotional, psychological violence; others in theft, misappropriation of funds, property damage, etc. — all the while imagining, thinking and protesting that they are still ‘good’ Catholics! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). In general, the Catholic world has degenerated to the point where many or most mortal sins are looked upon as being venial sins, and venial sins are looked upon as being fun and socially acceptable.
Baptism is Only a Beginning
The first necessity in being a Catholic is a valid Baptism—which gives you a CHANCE of saving your soul, but NO GUARANTEES—for there can be “Good Catholics” and “Bad Catholics” and all the shades of “Gray Catholicism” that are found in between.
The Many and the Few! Who’s Who in the Pew?
This brings to mind the warning of Our Lord when questioned as to how many souls are saved: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
There are some Catholics today—especially amongst Traditional and Conservative Catholics—who think along the lines of the Jews who thought their salvation was guaranteed because they were the “Sons of Abraham” (today: “Sons of the Catholic Church”) and not like the rest of men—to which Our Lord replies: “Think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ [or— ‘We have the Church for our Mother!’]. For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones!” (Matthew 3:9). There was no GUARANTEE that the “children of Abraham” would be saved—in fact, St. Paul writes to the contrary: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with MOST OF THEM God was not well pleased—for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us … All these things happened to them in figure—and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
Our Lord highlights this presumptuous spirit in His all-too-true-and-lifelike Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Lip Service Nominal Catholics
The Pharisee is an all-too-true-and-lifelike figure of modern-day Catholics, who trust themselves to be just and despise others. The fact that they are baptized Catholics may well give them a head-start in the race for Heaven, but it holds NO GUARANTEES. Nominal Catholicism—being Catholic in name only through Baptism—is not the same as Real Catholicism, which not only is baptized, but also studies the Faith, grows in the Faith and, above all, practices the Faith. To the Nominal Catholic Our Lord says: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Don’t “Lord! Lord!” Me
“Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). “If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:46-47).
Attack is the Best Form of Defense
As the saying goes: “Attack is the best form of defense!” The best way to cover-up our own mistakes or sins is to reveal and attack the sins of others. Our Lord hit this nail on the head when He said: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). What Our Lord is in effect saying is: “Attacking oneself is the best form of defense!”
When we go to the Sacrament of Confession it is exactly that which we must do—attack ourselves, accuse ourselves, blame ourselves. We go to Confession to reveal OUR faults, failing and sins—and not those of OTHERS. We go to Confession to blame ourselves—not others. Yet even in Confession the principle of “Attack is the best form of defense” can rear its ugly head. By attacking, accusing, blaming others we sometimes hope to make ourselves look better (or not as bad as we really are).
The Blame Game or Shame Game
The “Blame Game” or the “Shame Game” is a universal strategy used by everyone. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the “Blame Game” as “a situation in which people try to blame each other for something bad that has happened.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the “Blame Game” as “a situation in which different individuals or groups attempt to assign blame to each other for some problem or failure.” The Free Dictionary defines it as: “The exchange of accusations and blame between two or more parties during a dispute or some undesirable event.”
A “Shame Game” is an attempt to manipulate others by shaming them and thus weakening their position, credibility, influence, power, good standing, etc. The dictionary defines “shame” as “(1) the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another; (2) disgrace; ignominy; (3) a painful feeling that's a mix of regret, self-hate, and dishonor; an unpleasant self-conscious emotion typically associated with a negative evaluation of the self; withdrawal motivations; and feelings of distress, exposure, mistrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness.”
Our modern-era is truly a “Blame Game” era and a “Shame Game” era—you see it in politics (especially during the current 2020 U.S. Presidential Election campaign), you see it in the media and, as a result, the “Blame Game” and “Shame Game” viruses have pretty much infected every family, workplace, school, parish and community—it is a true pandemic!
In Psychology Today, we read: “Not everyone is equally likely to engage in the blame game, but there is little scientific research to advise us on who is most likely to do so. We can, however, define a dimension of blame-acceptance by adopting a few simple principles: On the extreme Blame side of our scale would be people who can always find something else to blame: You could attribute the burned meal to your partner, who doesn’t help enough around the house, forcing you to multitask and forget the chicken simmering in the pan. You do not blame your cat for its misbehavior, but you might blame your neighbor who waved hello at just the wrong time. Slipping on the sidewalk as a result of your clumsiness? Of course not; people should sweep the leaves up off the ground before they become a hazard. At the other end of the spectrum are people who blame themselves for everything, even when they’ve had nothing to do with an unfortunate outcome. This isn’t just false modesty or fishing for reassurance; some people do believe that they cause every bad thing all or most of the time.”
“Here are five reasons we play the blame game.
(1) Blame is an excellent defense mechanism. Whether you call it projection, denial, or displacement, blame helps you preserve your sense of self-esteem by avoiding awareness of your own flaws or failings.
(2) Blame is a tool we use when we’re in attack mode. Falling into the category of a destructive conflict resolution method, blame is a way to try to hurt our partners.
(3) We’re not very good at figuring out the causes of other people's behavior, or even our own. The attributions we make, whether to luck or ability, can be distorted by our tendency to make illogical judgments. And we're just as bad at making judgments involving the blameworthiness of actions in terms of intent vs. outcome.
(4) It’s easier to blame someone else than to accept responsibility. There’s less effort involved in recognizing your contributions to a bad situation than in accepting the fact that you're actually at fault, and changing so you don't do it again.
(5) People lie. As my colleague, Robert Feldman, discovered, “Everybody lies.” [Or as Holy Scripture says: “Every man is a liar” (Psalm 115:11) … “God is true; and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4)]. It’s pretty easy just to lie and blame someone else—even though you know you’re at fault. You may figure that no one will know it was really you who spilled coffee all over the break room, so you just blame someone else who’s not there—and hope that person never finds out.”
Signs and Symptoms of Playing the Blame Game
Another website on the same subject states: “Are you playing “The Blame Game”? Consider the following seven questions carefully and honestly to determine how you may be avoiding personal responsibility.
(1) Do you find it hard to admit when you’re wrong? (And more importantly, would the people who know you best agree with your answer?)
(2) Do you focus a lot on the past instead of looking toward the future?
(3) Do you use other people’s irresponsible behavior to justify your own? (For example, “They’re driving way over the speed limit, so why shouldn’t I?”)
(4) Do you find it difficult to apologize to others? Do you view apologizing as a sign of weakness or as a sign of strength?
(5) Do you believe life is unfair and often feel sorry for yourself?
(6) Do you view negative occurrences/relationships in your life as being out of your control? Do you see yourself as a victim?
(7) Do you feel powerless to change anything in your life for the better?
Take Responsibility For Your Life Now!
The website continues: “We all make the mistake of blaming others and making excuses from time to time. But the key to living a successful life is accepting personal responsibility for our choices and our actions. Here are a few tips to start taking great ownership of your life…
(1) Apologize when you’re wrong (and accept the fact that you’re not always right!)
(2) Admit when you’ve made a mistake.
(3) Learn to forgive and let go of the past.
(4) Be open to the ideas and opinions of others. Your viewpoint is not the only valid one.
(5) Identify the things in your life that you’re not happy about, and do something to change them.
(6) Practice saying, “I am responsible” until you start to believe it.
(7) Take smart risks, and realize that you are responsible for the outcomes.
(8) Adopt a positive outlook on life (i.e. the glass is half-full as opposed to half-empty).
(9) Recognize and embrace your own shortcomings, and ask others for help when you need it.”
The Pot and the Kettle
“The pot calling the kettle black” is a proverbial idiom of Spanish origin, which entered the English language in the first half of the 17th century—and the reality of it has entered everyday life, and especially so during the current presidential election season! The idiom, of course, refers to a person who is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy. The sad reality of it all is that every family and every workplace and every school and every parish is filled with these “pots” and “kettles”. We are all “dirty black pots” who often make out our fellow humans of being “dirty black kettles” — and in this sense we fall into the same hypocrisy which Our Lord depicts in the above quote about the splinter and plank in the eye. For “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “All have transgressed Thy law, and have turned away from hearing Thy voice” (Daniel 9:11). “For all have sinned, and do need the glory [mercy] of God” (Romans 3:23). “Blessed are the peacemakers—for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You
“All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law!” (Matthew 7:12). As you sow, so shall you reap! If you sow rebukes—you will reap or get rebukes yourself. If you sow mercy—you will reap or get mercy for yourself. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another—even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32). “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “You pray: ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors!’ … For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 6:12-15).
When Can I Stop Forgiving?
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $16 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35).
The 10,000 talents (or $112 million in today’s money) was 560,000 times more than the 100 pence ($200 in today’s money).
“For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13). “So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not, everyone his brother, from your hearts” (Matthew 18:35).
Attack Yourself and Not Others—Then You Will Change Others and Yourself!
So if we want God’s mercy, we had better turn aside from practicing the principle of “Attack is the best form of defense!” and change it to: “Attack yourself and defend others—even your enemies!” for this is the best form of self-defense! We would do well to reflect upon the wording—unpalatable as it may be—of the Church’s Prayers from the Masses Against Her Enemies: “O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles” … “In Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins!” Tough, huh? Our Lord, speaking on the subject of enemies, says:
“But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to everyone that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner. And if you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? for sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much. But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall give to all, it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:27-38).
“Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another—being merciful, modest, humble! Not rendering evil for evil, nor reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, blessing—for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing!” (1 Peter 3:8-9). “When thy enemy shall fall, be not glad, and in his ruin let not thy heart rejoice!” (Proverbs 24:17). “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.” (Romans 12:18-21). “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:21-22) … “That you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Tough stuff, huh? It is so tough that we should—as an incentive—remind ourselves of Our Lord’s words quoted above:
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Focus On Yourself!
Focusing on self is almost a self-made commandment—for we have no problem focusing on ourselves, but, sadly, we are out of focus! In other words, we focus on ourselves in the wrong way, in a bad way—not perhaps as much as the term “navel-gazing” suggests—but certainly tending more towards self-love and self-flattery than self-hatred (for sin) and humility. As God says in Holy Scripture: “Let us search our ways—and seek the Lord and return to the Lord!” (Lamentations 3:40). “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my crimes and offences!” (Job 13:23). “Because I was silent about my sin, my bones grew old whilst I cried out all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me! I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened. I have acknowledged my sin to Thee and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord—and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin!” (Psalm 31:3-5). “If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just—to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9). ‘Confessing’ the sins of others never does any good—apart from increasing our own sins if we reveal the sins of others without real necessity or good reason—but, then, we rationalize and excuse our selves, saying that we always have a good reason for revealing the sins of others, even exaggerating them or adding to them!
“Bear ye one another’s burdens—and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:2-3). “Let everyone examine his own work … For every one shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:4-5).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday September 16th to Friday September 18th
Article 8
Sorry Catholics Who Add to Mary's Sorrows!
Wednesday September 16th to Friday September 18th
Article 8
Sorry Catholics Who Add to Mary's Sorrows!
Sorry to Say We’re in a Sorry, Sorry State!
Sorry to say this! Nobody likes bad news! Or maybe they do—for most of the news we listen to is for the most part bad news! There is no news in good news—except rarely! Who wants to publish a story about a good deed, when you will attract far attention and readership by publishing a story about some evil deed? You could even say that Heaven also follows that principle—at least in our days. Our Lady has repeatedly come bearing bad news—invariably about punishments and chastisements. At La Salette she weeps. At Fatima she never smiled—not even once! At Akita her statue weeps tears of blood! All of this sounds more like a House of Horrors rather than a Heavenly House—all tears and no laughter!
Anyhow—back to being sorry for having to say this! Say what? The sorry thing is that the world is in a very sorry state—and it is not sorry about it! One pope after another, after Pope Pius XII, has lamented that the world at large and Catholics in particular have lost the sense of sin—and that was and is being said even by the current crop of Liberal and Modernist popes!
What is meant by “a loss of the sense of sin”? It is, in a sense, a repeat of the sin of Adam and Eve—who fell for Satan’s lies and believed that they could become like God themselves, judging for themselves what is good and what is evil: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth … And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods—knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5).
Losing the sense of sin means being a god unto yourself--you make the laws; you decide on what’s right and wrong; you accept no law or rule unless it seems right to you! In matters of Faith, you believe what you want to believe! You may be shocked, but most Catholics have tweaked and twisted their Faith in one way or another—some only a little, others a lot. Our own self-promotion to ‘godliness’—following the example of Adam and Eve—begins to think that some aspects, teachings, laws, customs and commands of the Church are a little unreasonable. We start to twist the truth, make excuses for not following God’s laws; we twist Church teachings to modernize them a little (or a lot) and make them more palatable for modern-man (and ourselves); we rationalize things to the point where good gradually becomes evil and evil gradually becomes good—which is what most Catholics do today. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
This tweaking and twisting of Catholic Faith and Morals—to the point of thinking that some “good” is “evil” and that some “evils” are “good”—has led us the point where today most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist; where most Catholics think you can still be a “good “ Catholic without attending Sunday Mass; where most Catholics have or still do practice contraception; where most Catholics are accepting of masturbation; where most Catholics accept cohabitation before marriage or in place of marriage; where most Catholics are accepting of divorce and remarriage; where most Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages; where most Catholics are accepting of abortion; etc. — these being just the tip of the iceberg of the moral reverse, an upside down turning of true morality, that has gradually infected the Catholic world and led them to lose the sense of sin. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Senseless Sinners Have Lost the Sense of Sin
It is very striking that not only more Conservative popes lament the loss of the sense of sin, but also the recent crop of Liberal and Modernist popes.
► POPE PIUS XII—In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
► POPE JOHN PAUL II — Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI — In a homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
► POPE FRANCIS — In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
► OUR LADY herself adds her own “negativity” to pot on “the loss of the sense of sin” by saying: ““If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady adds: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lady continues: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956).
Our Lady warns: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
Sorrow of Sorrows
“O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow!” (Lamentations 1:12).
Modern-day Catholics—if they think of Mary at all—are more likely to imagine her as sweet, smiling, sugary Lady. Sure—she is sweet, she can be smiling … but sugary? No! Our Lady is realistic and honest, besides being caring and merciful. To be honest, the reality that Our Lady sees today is not something she wants to be sweetly smiling about! What causes Our Lady so much sorrow—besides the terrible offence given to God by our sins—is the enormous multitude of souls that end up being damned for those sins. At Fatima she complains about the great number of sinners who are losing their souls to Hell—asking for our cooperation in their salvation: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The Sorry State of Sin
Sin is a sorry state—a damnable state—a state that we should be sorry for, but are usually insufficiently sorry, or, worse still, not at all sorry for! When someone dies, we often announce their death with a preface similar to: “I am sorry to have tell you that X has just died!” Death is a sorry state—a sorrowful state—the thought of which should make us sorry for our sins—for death is the result of sin. What is even more sorry and sorrowful is the enormous number of souls that are lost forever in Hell after their death—of which Our Lady sorrowfully says: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (Akita 1973).
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
The vision of Hell was shown at the beginning of this century to impress upon men and to confirm the doctrine of Hell; thereby urging man to stop offending God by sin. The vision of Hell—which the three children were favored with—is not an exaggeration of the reality it represented. It is a presentation of it within the grasp of the human mind. In 1992, Lucia, who had been a Carmelite in Coimbra, Portugal since 1948, told a Cardinal who had come to visit her: “Hell is a reality ... Continue to preach about Hell, for Our Lord Himself spoke of Hell and it is in the Holy Scriptures. God condemns no one to Hell. People condemn themselves to Hell. God has given mankind the freedom of choice, and He respects this human freedom.”
In the book put together from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Lucia adds: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear. Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: “Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!” At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
God’s Good Creation Changed to a Sorry State
God did not make the angels or man to be destined for Hell. Though we know that God also made Hell—we could, in a loose and broad sense, say that we, or the angels and men, have made Hell for themselves. As Holy Scripture tells us—all that God made was good (Genesis chapter 1). God made the angels, God made man, God made all things—and for each group of things that Genesis recounts God as making, it repeatedly says: “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:12) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:18) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:21) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25) … “And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good!” (Genesis 1:31). Pretty good, huh?
The angels were not created for Hell. Man was not created or Hell. All that God created was good and not evil. Well, in that case, where did all the evil in world come from? The evil in the world is a result of the misuse of the free will that God gave to the angels and to man. The misuse of free will is an evil. It brings disorder, disobedience and chaos to the order that God has willed for the world and all His creation and creatures within that world. Evil—defined correctly and philosophically—is the absence of certain good that is due to something. Thus, death is called an “evil”—because it is the loss of life that is due to a person. Likewise, the loss of sanctifying grace is “evil”—since one would expect it to be preserved in the soul after being granted and received in the Sacrament of Baptism. Damnation and the loss of Heaven is an “evil”—or the absence of a good that is due to a person—because it throws away the ticket to salvation, which is sanctifying grace. Outside of God Himself—sanctifying is subjectively our “greatest good” for it guarantees entry to Heaven; which is why mortal sin (and venial sin, because it gradually leads to mortal sin) is our “greatest evil”, because it makes us lose our “greatest good.”
The Sorry State of Sin
“All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death!” (1 John 5:17). “For the wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23).
“Death reigned from Adam” (Romans 5:14). “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Adam was not seduced; but the woman being seduced, was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:15). “The sting of death is sin!” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21).
This does not excuse Eve, but it does lay the blame more fairly and squarely upon Adam, because he sinned when he knew better. So it is said that sin came through Adam. But that is not to say it came from him.
If I let a fly into the house, that doesn’t make me the source of the fly. Adam was the one who let sin in, but he was not the source.
Our Sorry Sinful State
First of all, right off the bat, let us not pretend that we are not sinners--“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10)—which is something we all agree with it comes to the “theory”, but when it comes to “practice”, we might well act as though we were righteous and just, or at least not as bad as the rest of the world! That was the interior secret thought of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
So, yes, we are all sinners—Our Lady excepted—and we all the mercy and redemption of God. “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).
Sorry! No Spectators!
Scripture tells us that Satan and his angels rebelled against the Creator before man was made: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments” (2 Peter 2:4); “For the angels—who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation—He hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6), so that when the first human beings appeared “And I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent—which is the devil and Satan—and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time” (Apocalypse 20:1-3). That “loosed a little time” refers to our time—as testified by Our Lady of La Salette, who says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God” and later corroborated by Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who says that our present days are Satan’s final battle with the Virgin: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil — there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Satan and Our Sorry Sinful State
“He that committeth sin is of the devil—for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Satan is the source of sin. Sin is disorder, a failure to keep the order of God, sin is disobedience to God—Satan was the first to sin with his rebellious proud independent cry of: “I will not serve!” — “Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:20). It is right to trace moral evil back to Satan as its patron, promoter, producer, director, and instigatory cause. That spirit of independence, rebellion, pride and disobedience Satan has tried sow, like cockle, in the minds and hearts of mankind. He proceeds the only way he knows how to proceed—by lies. He fell from grace because he deceived himself and now he seeks to deceive everyone else. As Our Lord said of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
The devil’s lies are the source of sin. The fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are a manifestation of this truth. Adam sinned because he accepted and believed the lie and error of Eve, offered him the forbidden fruit. Eve sinned because she believed the lie that the devil told her. So the Original Sin of our First Parents, originated in the devil’s lie. People sin when they exchange God’s truth for the deceit of the debased mind of Satan: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie … And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy” (Romans 1:25 & 28 to 31).
Sin is living the lie, and all sinners are, in that sense, liars: “God is true; and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Some live the devil’s lie after the manner of Eve. They sin in ignorance, being deceived. Others live the devil’s lie after the manner of Adam. They know full well that they are doing wrong. As Scripture says: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“The prince of this world cometh” (John 14:30) … “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) … “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). St. Paul sends Timothy to help the church Thessalonica, “lest perhaps he that tempteth should have tempted you, and our labor should be made vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). “Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils, and He tempteth no man. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence [desires], being drawn away and allured. Then when concupiscence [desire] hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:13-15). “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man!” (Mark 7:21-23).
Catholics’ Sorry State of Surrender to Satanic Seduction and Stratagems
Think what you want, say what you want—but the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of the Catholic world—both clergy and laity—have capitulated and surrendered to the “prince of this world”, the devil. The last few generations have even surrendered without a fight. In fact, they have willingly taken-up dual citizenship—counting themselves as being citizens of the Church and citizens of the world—and they think little of this, in fact, they look upon it as being a good thing.
Our Lord and Holy Scripture has clearly stated otherwise—but who reads Scripture anymore in these days of smartphones (the really “smart” ones would read Scripture on their smartphones!). Our Lord said that we cannot be “two-faced” hypocrites, saying that we love God while simultaneously loving the world. “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet, today, the world is full Catholic mammonizers! “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
Sorry to say this! Nobody likes bad news! Or maybe they do—for most of the news we listen to is for the most part bad news! There is no news in good news—except rarely! Who wants to publish a story about a good deed, when you will attract far attention and readership by publishing a story about some evil deed? You could even say that Heaven also follows that principle—at least in our days. Our Lady has repeatedly come bearing bad news—invariably about punishments and chastisements. At La Salette she weeps. At Fatima she never smiled—not even once! At Akita her statue weeps tears of blood! All of this sounds more like a House of Horrors rather than a Heavenly House—all tears and no laughter!
Anyhow—back to being sorry for having to say this! Say what? The sorry thing is that the world is in a very sorry state—and it is not sorry about it! One pope after another, after Pope Pius XII, has lamented that the world at large and Catholics in particular have lost the sense of sin—and that was and is being said even by the current crop of Liberal and Modernist popes!
What is meant by “a loss of the sense of sin”? It is, in a sense, a repeat of the sin of Adam and Eve—who fell for Satan’s lies and believed that they could become like God themselves, judging for themselves what is good and what is evil: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth … And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods—knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5).
Losing the sense of sin means being a god unto yourself--you make the laws; you decide on what’s right and wrong; you accept no law or rule unless it seems right to you! In matters of Faith, you believe what you want to believe! You may be shocked, but most Catholics have tweaked and twisted their Faith in one way or another—some only a little, others a lot. Our own self-promotion to ‘godliness’—following the example of Adam and Eve—begins to think that some aspects, teachings, laws, customs and commands of the Church are a little unreasonable. We start to twist the truth, make excuses for not following God’s laws; we twist Church teachings to modernize them a little (or a lot) and make them more palatable for modern-man (and ourselves); we rationalize things to the point where good gradually becomes evil and evil gradually becomes good—which is what most Catholics do today. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
This tweaking and twisting of Catholic Faith and Morals—to the point of thinking that some “good” is “evil” and that some “evils” are “good”—has led us the point where today most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist; where most Catholics think you can still be a “good “ Catholic without attending Sunday Mass; where most Catholics have or still do practice contraception; where most Catholics are accepting of masturbation; where most Catholics accept cohabitation before marriage or in place of marriage; where most Catholics are accepting of divorce and remarriage; where most Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages; where most Catholics are accepting of abortion; etc. — these being just the tip of the iceberg of the moral reverse, an upside down turning of true morality, that has gradually infected the Catholic world and led them to lose the sense of sin. “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Senseless Sinners Have Lost the Sense of Sin
It is very striking that not only more Conservative popes lament the loss of the sense of sin, but also the recent crop of Liberal and Modernist popes.
► POPE PIUS XII—In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
► POPE JOHN PAUL II — Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
► POPE BENEDICT XVI — In a homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
► POPE FRANCIS — In a homily on January 31st, 2014, Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
► OUR LADY herself adds her own “negativity” to pot on “the loss of the sense of sin” by saying: ““If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady adds: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lady continues: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, December 8th, 1956).
Our Lady warns: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
Sorrow of Sorrows
“O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow!” (Lamentations 1:12).
Modern-day Catholics—if they think of Mary at all—are more likely to imagine her as sweet, smiling, sugary Lady. Sure—she is sweet, she can be smiling … but sugary? No! Our Lady is realistic and honest, besides being caring and merciful. To be honest, the reality that Our Lady sees today is not something she wants to be sweetly smiling about! What causes Our Lady so much sorrow—besides the terrible offence given to God by our sins—is the enormous multitude of souls that end up being damned for those sins. At Fatima she complains about the great number of sinners who are losing their souls to Hell—asking for our cooperation in their salvation: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
The Sorry State of Sin
Sin is a sorry state—a damnable state—a state that we should be sorry for, but are usually insufficiently sorry, or, worse still, not at all sorry for! When someone dies, we often announce their death with a preface similar to: “I am sorry to have tell you that X has just died!” Death is a sorry state—a sorrowful state—the thought of which should make us sorry for our sins—for death is the result of sin. What is even more sorry and sorrowful is the enormous number of souls that are lost forever in Hell after their death—of which Our Lady sorrowfully says: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (Akita 1973).
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
The vision of Hell was shown at the beginning of this century to impress upon men and to confirm the doctrine of Hell; thereby urging man to stop offending God by sin. The vision of Hell—which the three children were favored with—is not an exaggeration of the reality it represented. It is a presentation of it within the grasp of the human mind. In 1992, Lucia, who had been a Carmelite in Coimbra, Portugal since 1948, told a Cardinal who had come to visit her: “Hell is a reality ... Continue to preach about Hell, for Our Lord Himself spoke of Hell and it is in the Holy Scriptures. God condemns no one to Hell. People condemn themselves to Hell. God has given mankind the freedom of choice, and He respects this human freedom.”
In the book put together from Sr. Lucia’s memoirs, entitled Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Lucia adds: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear. Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”Now Your Excellency will understand how my own impression was that the final words of this prayer refer to souls in greatest danger of damnation, or those who are nearest to it. Jacinta remained on her knees like this for long periods of time, saying the same prayer over and over again. From time to time, like someone awaking from sleep, she called out to her brother or myself: “Francisco! Francisco! Are you praying with me? We must pray very much, to save souls from Hell! So many go there! So many!” At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
God’s Good Creation Changed to a Sorry State
God did not make the angels or man to be destined for Hell. Though we know that God also made Hell—we could, in a loose and broad sense, say that we, or the angels and men, have made Hell for themselves. As Holy Scripture tells us—all that God made was good (Genesis chapter 1). God made the angels, God made man, God made all things—and for each group of things that Genesis recounts God as making, it repeatedly says: “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:12) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:18) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:21) … “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25) … “And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good!” (Genesis 1:31). Pretty good, huh?
The angels were not created for Hell. Man was not created or Hell. All that God created was good and not evil. Well, in that case, where did all the evil in world come from? The evil in the world is a result of the misuse of the free will that God gave to the angels and to man. The misuse of free will is an evil. It brings disorder, disobedience and chaos to the order that God has willed for the world and all His creation and creatures within that world. Evil—defined correctly and philosophically—is the absence of certain good that is due to something. Thus, death is called an “evil”—because it is the loss of life that is due to a person. Likewise, the loss of sanctifying grace is “evil”—since one would expect it to be preserved in the soul after being granted and received in the Sacrament of Baptism. Damnation and the loss of Heaven is an “evil”—or the absence of a good that is due to a person—because it throws away the ticket to salvation, which is sanctifying grace. Outside of God Himself—sanctifying is subjectively our “greatest good” for it guarantees entry to Heaven; which is why mortal sin (and venial sin, because it gradually leads to mortal sin) is our “greatest evil”, because it makes us lose our “greatest good.”
The Sorry State of Sin
“All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death!” (1 John 5:17). “For the wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23).
“Death reigned from Adam” (Romans 5:14). “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Adam was not seduced; but the woman being seduced, was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:15). “The sting of death is sin!” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21).
This does not excuse Eve, but it does lay the blame more fairly and squarely upon Adam, because he sinned when he knew better. So it is said that sin came through Adam. But that is not to say it came from him.
If I let a fly into the house, that doesn’t make me the source of the fly. Adam was the one who let sin in, but he was not the source.
Our Sorry Sinful State
First of all, right off the bat, let us not pretend that we are not sinners--“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10)—which is something we all agree with it comes to the “theory”, but when it comes to “practice”, we might well act as though we were righteous and just, or at least not as bad as the rest of the world! That was the interior secret thought of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican: “And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
So, yes, we are all sinners—Our Lady excepted—and we all the mercy and redemption of God. “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).
Sorry! No Spectators!
Scripture tells us that Satan and his angels rebelled against the Creator before man was made: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments” (2 Peter 2:4); “For the angels—who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation—He hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6), so that when the first human beings appeared “And I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent—which is the devil and Satan—and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time” (Apocalypse 20:1-3). That “loosed a little time” refers to our time—as testified by Our Lady of La Salette, who says: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God” and later corroborated by Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who says that our present days are Satan’s final battle with the Virgin: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil — there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Satan and Our Sorry Sinful State
“He that committeth sin is of the devil—for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Satan is the source of sin. Sin is disorder, a failure to keep the order of God, sin is disobedience to God—Satan was the first to sin with his rebellious proud independent cry of: “I will not serve!” — “Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:20). It is right to trace moral evil back to Satan as its patron, promoter, producer, director, and instigatory cause. That spirit of independence, rebellion, pride and disobedience Satan has tried sow, like cockle, in the minds and hearts of mankind. He proceeds the only way he knows how to proceed—by lies. He fell from grace because he deceived himself and now he seeks to deceive everyone else. As Our Lord said of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
The devil’s lies are the source of sin. The fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are a manifestation of this truth. Adam sinned because he accepted and believed the lie and error of Eve, offered him the forbidden fruit. Eve sinned because she believed the lie that the devil told her. So the Original Sin of our First Parents, originated in the devil’s lie. People sin when they exchange God’s truth for the deceit of the debased mind of Satan: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie … And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy” (Romans 1:25 & 28 to 31).
Sin is living the lie, and all sinners are, in that sense, liars: “God is true; and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Some live the devil’s lie after the manner of Eve. They sin in ignorance, being deceived. Others live the devil’s lie after the manner of Adam. They know full well that they are doing wrong. As Scripture says: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“The prince of this world cometh” (John 14:30) … “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) … “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). St. Paul sends Timothy to help the church Thessalonica, “lest perhaps he that tempteth should have tempted you, and our labor should be made vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). “Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils, and He tempteth no man. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence [desires], being drawn away and allured. Then when concupiscence [desire] hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:13-15). “For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man!” (Mark 7:21-23).
Catholics’ Sorry State of Surrender to Satanic Seduction and Stratagems
Think what you want, say what you want—but the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of the Catholic world—both clergy and laity—have capitulated and surrendered to the “prince of this world”, the devil. The last few generations have even surrendered without a fight. In fact, they have willingly taken-up dual citizenship—counting themselves as being citizens of the Church and citizens of the world—and they think little of this, in fact, they look upon it as being a good thing.
Our Lord and Holy Scripture has clearly stated otherwise—but who reads Scripture anymore in these days of smartphones (the really “smart” ones would read Scripture on their smartphones!). Our Lord said that we cannot be “two-faced” hypocrites, saying that we love God while simultaneously loving the world. “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). Yet, today, the world is full Catholic mammonizers! “They are of the world—therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
Tuesday September 15th
The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Article 7
Too Many Swords in Her Heart!
The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Article 7
Too Many Swords in Her Heart!
Let the Sorrowful Hearts Speak
Today being the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is only fitting that we let our Sorrowful Mother and her Sorrowful Son—the Man of Sorrows—do most of the talking, while we, like Mary Magdalen place ourselves at their feet—either listening attentively to their words, or weeping sincerely over their feet for our may sins.
Too Many Sins! Too Many Swords!
The swords that pierce Our Lady’s Heart are not swords of joy, but swords of sorrow—more particularly, swords of sin. Today, more than ever, the world is piercing Our Lady’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart by their swords of sin—so many are those sins, that you could say that they have made her Heart a pin-cushion of sin.
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Seventeen years later, in 1973 at Akita in Japan, Our Lady would further add: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Our Lord Wants…
Berthe Petit, was a humble Franciscan Tertiary, a victim soul and apostle of Devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Born January 23rd, 1870 in Enghien, Belgium and dying during the Second World War in 1943, Berthe had been privileged with visions of both Our Lord and The Blessed Virgin Mary since she was 4-years-old. From the age of 38, for the last 35 years of her life, she lived only on Holy Communion, taking no other food. To Berthe Petit, Our Lord said: “Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced with sorrow that transfixed My Own Heart.”
“My Mother’s Heart has the right to the title of Sorrowful. I desire that it be set before her title of Immaculate, because she herself has won it. The Church has recognized what I Myself did for My Mother: her Immaculate Conception. Now it is necessary, and it is My wish, that this title, which is, by right, My Mother’s, should be understood and recognized. This title she earned by her identification with all My sufferings, by her sorrow, her sacrifice, her immolation on Calvary, and indeed for the salvation of mankind.”
“My desire flows from My love on Calvary. In giving John to My Mother as a son, I entrusted the whole world to her Sorrowful Motherhood.”
“The title of Immaculate belongs to the whole being of My Mother and not specially to her Heart. The title flows from my gratuitous gift to the Virgin, who was to give Me birth. My Mother has acquired, from her Heart, the title of ‘Sorrowful’ by sharing generously in all the sufferings of My Heart and My Body—from the crib to the cross. There is not one of these Sorrows which did not pierce the Heart of My Mother. Living image of My crucified Body, her virginal flesh bore the invisible marks of My wounds, as her Heart felt the Sorrows of My own. Nothing could ever tarnish the incorruptibility of her Immaculate Heart. The title of ‘Sorrowful’ belongs, therefore, to the Heart of My Mother, and more than any other, this title is dear to her, because it springs from the union of her Heart with Mine in the redemption of humanity. This title has been acquired by her through her full participation in My Calvary, and it precedes the gratuitous title ‘Immaculate’ which My love bestowed upon her by a singular privilege.”
“The time is now ripe and I wish mankind to turn to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother. Let this prayer be uttered by every soul: ‘Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.’ Let this prayer dictated by My Love as a supreme succor be approved and indulgenced, no longer partially and for a small portion of My flock, but for the whole universe, so that it may spread as a refreshing and purifying balm of reparation that will appease My anger. This Devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother will restore faith and hope to broken hearts and to ruined families: it will help to repair the destruction: it will sweeten sorrow. It will be a new strength for My Church, bringing souls, not only to confidence in My Heart, but also to abandonment to the Sorrowful Heart of My Mother.”
“It is hearts that must be changed. This will be accomplished only by the Devotion proclaimed, explained, preached and recommended everywhere. Recourse to My Mother under the title I wish for her universally, is the last help I shall give before the end of time.”
“This is the last help which I give before the end of time: the recourse to My Mother under the title which I desire shall be hers throughout the whole world.”
“In the hour of triumph” Our Lord said to Berthe one day “it will be made clearly manifest that I Myself have inspired, in those whom I have freely chosen, a devotion similar to that given to My own Heart. It is as a Son that I have conceived this devotion for My Mother. It is as God that I impose it.”
“Let every soul cry out: Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.”
Fatima and the Sorrowful Heart of Mary
Our Lady explicitly spoke of her Sorrowful Heart at her fifth apparition at Fatima:”Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel” (Our Lady at Fatima, September 13th).
By 1925, Lucia, who was now 18, had become a postulant with the Sisters of St. Dorothy at Pontevedra in Spain, and on Thursday, December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus on a little cloud, appeared to her in her cell. Lucia recounted that Mary rested her hand on her shoulder, while showing her a Heart encircled by thorns in her other hand. The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.”
Then Mary said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me, and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Listen to Your Mother
The following passages are all excerpts taken from the words spoken by Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, as recounted in her book, The Mystical City of God.
Many Called, Few Chosen…Why?
“By the divine teaching, thou knowest the mysteries of the Passion and Death of Christ and the one true way of life, which is the Cross; and thou knowest that not all who are called, are chosen. Many there are who wish to follow Christ, but very few truly dispose themselves to imitate Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh. On this account there are so many among mortals, who seek the flesh and the continual indulgence of its pleasures. They ardently seek honors and fly from injuries: they strive after riches, and despise poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. All these are enemies of the Cross of Christ and with dreadful aversion they fly from it” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Deluded Christians Fooling Themselves
“Another deceit has spread through the world—many imagine that they are following Christ their Master, though they neither suffer affliction nor engage in any exertion or labor. They are content with avoiding boldness in committing sins, and place all their perfection in a certain prudence or hollow self-love, which prevents them from denying anything to their will and from practicing any virtues at the cost of their flesh. They would easily escape this deception, if they would consider that my Son, although He well could do it, He chose not a life of softness and ease for the flesh, but one full of labors and pains; for He judged his instructions to be incomplete and insufficient, if He failed to teach them how to overcome the demon, the flesh and their own self. He wished to inculcate, that this magnificent victory is gained by the Cross, by labors, penances, mortifications and the acceptance of contempt: all of which are the trademarks and evidences of true love and the special watchwords of the predestined” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Giving “Bottom-Dollar’ for Heaven
“Tell me then, my daughter: if my Lord and Master has made Himself the Life and the Way for men through His Passion and Death, is it not evident that, in order to go that way and live up to this Truth, they must follow Christ crucified, afflicted, scourged and affronted? Consider the ignorance of men who wish to come to the Father without following Christ, since they expect to reign with God without suffering, or imitating His Passion, without even a thought of accepting any part of His Suffering and Death, or of thanking Him for it. They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as those of Eternal Life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments, in order to enter Heaven and to show them, by His example, how they are to find the Way of Light” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Our Lady is Angry and Incensed!
“All the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have the Passion and Death of my Divine Son before their eyes. What then are the thoughts of the Angels and Saints, and what are my thoughts, in beholding this world and the small return made by heartless and ungrateful men for all our pains; and the lack of attention displayed by mortals through their lukewarmness and negligence? I am much incensed to find so few who console me and who try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them, on the Day of Judgment; since they will then see, with irreparable sorrow, not only that they were ungrateful, but were also inhuman and cruel towards my Divine Son, towards me and towards themselves” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His, Son, which I offer to the Eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, and delay the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
False and Fake Piety
“Weigh in thy heart, how much it cost my Lord to reconcile mankind to the Eternal Father and regain for them His friendship. Weep and afflict thyself that so many should live in such forgetfulness! And that so many should labor, with all their might, at destroying and losing what was bought by the Blood of God. Awaken in thy heart the deepest grief, that, in His Holy Church, there should be many followers of the hypocritical and sacriligious priests who, under cover of a false piety, still condemn Christ; that pride and sumptuousness, with other grave vices, should be placed in authority and exalted, while humility, truth, justice and all virtues be so oppressed and debased, while avarice and vanity should prevail. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. Holy Faith is hindered, and is not spread among the nations, on account of the boundless ambition of the mighty of this earth. The Faith, in many Catholics, is inactive and dead, and, what should be living, is near to death and to eternal perdition. The counsels of the Gospel are forgotten, its precepts trodden under foot, true charity is almost extinct”(Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The Science of Saints
“My daughter, in all that thou art made to understand and write concerning these mysteries, thou drawest upon thyself, and upon mortals, a severe judgment, if thou dost not overcome thy pusillanimity, ingratitude and baseness, by meditating day and night on the Passion and Death of Jesus crucified. This is the great Science of the Saints, so little heeded by the worldly, it is the Bread of Life and the Spiritual Food of the little ones, which gives Wisdom to them and the lack of which starves the lovers of this proud world . In this science I wish thee to be studious and wise, for with it thou canst buy thyself all good things. My Son and Lord taught us this Science when He said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: no one cometh to My Father except through Me’ (John 14:6). “ (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The School of Saints
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find, among those who have arrived at the Way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine Science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the Doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“By such standards must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of his blessings and pledges of his glorious love” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Don’t Just Listen ... Do Something
With the advent of modern technology and the internet, we are living in an intellectually constipated world—where knowledge comes into our minds at an alarmingly easy and fast rate, but very little is done with that knowledge—thus our heads swell with knowledge as we become intellectually constipated by not turning knowledge into deeds and actions (except perhaps mere gossip, detraction or calumny). “With meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was” (James 1:21-24). “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Time for a Soul to Soul, or Heart to Heart, with the Sorrowful Heart?
On this feast of the Seven Sorrows, it might be a good idea to have a ‘soul to soul’ or ‘heart to heart’ conversation with our Sorrowful Mother, and let her tell us some of the things that cause her pain. We speak of the Seven Swords of Sorrow that pierced her Sorrowful Heart, but there are not only Seven Sorrows, they must be as innumerable as the grains of sand on the beach or the stars in the sky. We often say, “A problem shared is a problem halved!” Perhaps Our Lady will share some of her anxieties and sufferings with us! We will take her at her word by the words she spoke to the Venerable Mary of Agreda—whose body still lies incorrupted today, just as Our Lady’s words are still as incorrupt today as they were back in the 1600s.
Holy Soul
The physical body of the Venerable Mary of Agreda is incorruptible, that is, not subject to rot and decay after death. During an opening of her casket in 1909, a cursory scientific examination was performed on the body. In 1989, a Spanish physician, named Andreas Medina, participated in another examination of Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda, as she lay in the convent of the Conceptionist nuns, the same monastery where she had lived in the 17th century. Dr. Medina told investigative journalist Javier Sierra, in 1991: “What most surprised me about that case is that when we compared the state of the body, as it was described in the medical report from 1909, with how it appeared in 1989, we realized it had absolutely not deteriorated at all in the last eighty years.” Complete photographic and other evidence was obtained by investigators before her casket was re-sealed. Now, her incorrupt body can be visited in the Church of the Convent of Ágreda.
The words that follow are almost exclusively the words of Our Lady, as she dictated them to the Venerable Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda. A short comment or liasing phrase may be inserted here or there. The subtitles are, of course, added to give or create a uniformity of thought.
Backward Souls
“Many other souls have reached the heights of perfection and have then fallen most unfortunately, arriving at a state in which they almost despaired, or found themselves incapable of rising. This sad state causes many things. The first is the dismay and endless confusion of one who feels that he has fallen from an exalted state of virtue; for he knows that he has not only lost great blessings, but now he does not expect to obtain greater ones than those of the past and those he has lost; nor can he guarantee more firmness with himself in keeping those he can obtain, through renewed efforts, than he has shown in the past with those blessings he acquired but has now lost through his ingratitude” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Hopeless Souls
“From this dangerous distrust of self, in not knowing if he will do better in the future, originates lukewarmness, lack of fervor and diligence, absence of zeal and devotion; such a heavy and distrustful heart extinguishes all these in the soul, just as the opposite, the liveliness of ardent hope, overcomes many difficulties, and strengthens weak human creatures to undertake great works” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Negligent Irreverent Souls
“Another obstacle there is, not less formidable, namely: that the souls accustomed to the blessings of God, either through their office—as priests and religious—or by the exercise of virtues and the abundance of divine favors—as spiritual minded persons—these souls usually aggravate their sins by a certain contempt of these very blessings and a certain abuse of divine things. For, because of the abundance of the divine favors, they fall into a dangerous dullness of mind. They begin to think little of the divine favors and become irreverent. Thus failing to cooperate with God’s grace, they hinder its effect. They lose the grace of holy fear of the Lord, which arouses and stimulates the will to obey the divine commandments and to be alert in the avoidance of sin and pursuit of eternal life in the friendship of God” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Lukewarm Souls
“This is an evident danger for lukewarm priests, who frequent the Holy Eucharist and other Sacraments, without fear and reverence; also for the souls of the learned and wise, as well as those who hold some power in this world, who are so reluctant to correct and amend their lives. They have lost the appreciation and veneration of the remedial helps of the Church, namely, the Sacraments, preaching and instruction. Thus, these medicines, which for other sinners are so salutary and counteract ignorance, end up weakening those who are the physicians of the spiritual life” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“The worldlings in their lukewarmess are moved, neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Sinful Souls
“Ordinarily the demons have no power over souls, unless they gain entrance by some venial or mortal fault. Mortal sin gives them a sort of direct right over those who commit it; while venial sin weakens the strength of the soul and invites their attacks. Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous lukewarmness” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Careless Neglectful Souls
“The same enemy instills into the parents a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Unrestrained Souls
They live amid the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and show no care for where they walk, even if it is to the most dangerous precipices” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Tormented Souls
“Imagine what ought to be the grief of losing God really by sin! But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men: with a most perverse blindness they continue to acquire and make much of the visible and fictitious goods of the world, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste, or recognize, the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or reckoning of It. O sorrow, how easily Charity [which is a love of God, first and foremost] is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Faithless Souls
“If the faithful do not feel these and even more wonderful effects of Faith, it is not because Faith has not the strength and efficacy to produce them, but it is because some of the faithful are so forgetting and negligent, while others give themselves up so much to a carnal and bestial life and thereby counteract the blessing of Faith. They think so rarely of it, that they might as well not have received it at all. As they live like the infidels, who have never enjoyed its advantages, and, as they gradually become conscious of their unhappy infidelity, they fall into greater wickedness than the unbelievers. For such is the result of their abominable ingratitude and contempt for this exalted and sovereign gift of their Faith” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Unhappy Souls
“Hence thou canst judge of the blind ignorance with which their deadly enemies have fascinated mortals, since all men, in the inordinate desire and pursuit of happiness, neglect the divine law, where alone it can be found; and hence few really attain happiness” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Pleasure-Seeking Souls
“Consider then, whether anything deserves greater pity, than to see so many men misled into danger and made forgetful of it; how some of them cast themselves into it, on account of their lightheartedness, some of them for trivial reasons, others for a short and instantaneous pleasure, others through negligence, and yet others on account of their inordinate appetites” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, fromThe Mystical City of God).
Fearless Souls
“In this life, any punishment or tribulation fills mortals with fear and dread, but the guilt of sin does not fill them with dread. Men are entirely taken up by that which is visible, and they therefore do not look upon the ultimate consequences of sin, which is the eternal punishment of Hell. The human heart becomes so forgetful that it remains, as if it were stupefied, in its wickedness, because it does not feel it present in its senses. Though it could see and feel it by Faith, its Faith is itself listless and dead. (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Blind Souls
“O most unhappy blindness of mortals! O lukewarm negligence, that holds so many souls in deceit! There are not words or sentences sufficient to describe this terrible and tremendous danger. Fear and flee such an unhappy state, and deliver thyself up to all the troubles and torments of life, which pass soon, rather than incur such a danger; for nothing will be lacking to thee, if thou do not lose God. Be convinced that there are no small faults! Fear greatly the small things, for in despising small faults the Most High knows, that the human heart invites other greater ones” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Preoccupied Souls
“In conversing with or worshiping the Most High, they fail to form a worthy concept of His infinite greatness, and fail to free themselves from thoughts of their earthly occupations, which thus make them lukewarm and carnal, unworthy and unfit for the magnificent communication with God [through prayer]. And this ill-bred coarseness entails another disorder: namely, that whenever they talk with their neighbors, they do it without order, measure or discretion; they become entangled in their outward actions, and losing the memory and presence of God in the excitement of their passions, and become completely entangled in what is earthly”(Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Thankless Souls
“If the children of the Holy Church would pause in their vain occupations and be ashamed of their lukewarm forgetfulness and repudiate their vile ingratitude. Let them be undeceived, for most terrible punishments await them” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Lost Souls
“They are surrounded by innumerable enemies [the invisible devils], who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the damned should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men? May God preserve thee from such a misfortune; and do thou weep and deplore the misfortunes of thy brethren, continually asking for their salvation, as far as is possible” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Fervent Souls
“The fulfillment of the precepts of the Lord must not be cold and lukewarm, but most fervent and devoted” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“Thou must continue without intervals of lukewarmness, lest thou disgust Him. At all times and in all places, occupations and operations, thou must keep God in sight. I command thee to treat Him with a magnanimous heart, with decorum and reverence, with deep felt fear of the soul. And whatever pertains to His divine worship, I desire that thou handle with all attention and care. Above all, in order to enter into His presence by prayer and petitions, free thyself from all sensible and earthly images” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“It is necessary, that thou live retired within thyself, forgetful of all the visible and terrestrial things, most attentive to the divine light, which assists thee and protects thy sensible faculties with double vestments against the influences of lukewarmness and coldness on the way of perfection; and it is necessary, that thou resist the incitements of thy unruly passions” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Abandoned Souls
“Receive knowledge and enlightenment for avoiding such dangerous and gross lukewarmess. Jesus withdraws from the lukewarm and negligent souls, or deals with them only according to the general rules of His divine Providence … [which will then bring about] “the losses sustained by them through their lukewarmness and negligence” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Reformed Souls
Let us take these words to heart and reform our souls! Who is there, among us, who can say: “I am good enough! I have no need to change anything in my life! I have nobody else to reach and convert! I have paid all my debts for past sin! I will go straight to Heaven with no fear of Purgatory or Hell!” If there is someone like that out there reading this—then please pray for the rest of us!!
Today being the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is only fitting that we let our Sorrowful Mother and her Sorrowful Son—the Man of Sorrows—do most of the talking, while we, like Mary Magdalen place ourselves at their feet—either listening attentively to their words, or weeping sincerely over their feet for our may sins.
Too Many Sins! Too Many Swords!
The swords that pierce Our Lady’s Heart are not swords of joy, but swords of sorrow—more particularly, swords of sin. Today, more than ever, the world is piercing Our Lady’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart by their swords of sin—so many are those sins, that you could say that they have made her Heart a pin-cushion of sin.
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Seventeen years later, in 1973 at Akita in Japan, Our Lady would further add: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Our Lord Wants…
Berthe Petit, was a humble Franciscan Tertiary, a victim soul and apostle of Devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Born January 23rd, 1870 in Enghien, Belgium and dying during the Second World War in 1943, Berthe had been privileged with visions of both Our Lord and The Blessed Virgin Mary since she was 4-years-old. From the age of 38, for the last 35 years of her life, she lived only on Holy Communion, taking no other food. To Berthe Petit, Our Lord said: “Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced with sorrow that transfixed My Own Heart.”
“My Mother’s Heart has the right to the title of Sorrowful. I desire that it be set before her title of Immaculate, because she herself has won it. The Church has recognized what I Myself did for My Mother: her Immaculate Conception. Now it is necessary, and it is My wish, that this title, which is, by right, My Mother’s, should be understood and recognized. This title she earned by her identification with all My sufferings, by her sorrow, her sacrifice, her immolation on Calvary, and indeed for the salvation of mankind.”
“My desire flows from My love on Calvary. In giving John to My Mother as a son, I entrusted the whole world to her Sorrowful Motherhood.”
“The title of Immaculate belongs to the whole being of My Mother and not specially to her Heart. The title flows from my gratuitous gift to the Virgin, who was to give Me birth. My Mother has acquired, from her Heart, the title of ‘Sorrowful’ by sharing generously in all the sufferings of My Heart and My Body—from the crib to the cross. There is not one of these Sorrows which did not pierce the Heart of My Mother. Living image of My crucified Body, her virginal flesh bore the invisible marks of My wounds, as her Heart felt the Sorrows of My own. Nothing could ever tarnish the incorruptibility of her Immaculate Heart. The title of ‘Sorrowful’ belongs, therefore, to the Heart of My Mother, and more than any other, this title is dear to her, because it springs from the union of her Heart with Mine in the redemption of humanity. This title has been acquired by her through her full participation in My Calvary, and it precedes the gratuitous title ‘Immaculate’ which My love bestowed upon her by a singular privilege.”
“The time is now ripe and I wish mankind to turn to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother. Let this prayer be uttered by every soul: ‘Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.’ Let this prayer dictated by My Love as a supreme succor be approved and indulgenced, no longer partially and for a small portion of My flock, but for the whole universe, so that it may spread as a refreshing and purifying balm of reparation that will appease My anger. This Devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother will restore faith and hope to broken hearts and to ruined families: it will help to repair the destruction: it will sweeten sorrow. It will be a new strength for My Church, bringing souls, not only to confidence in My Heart, but also to abandonment to the Sorrowful Heart of My Mother.”
“It is hearts that must be changed. This will be accomplished only by the Devotion proclaimed, explained, preached and recommended everywhere. Recourse to My Mother under the title I wish for her universally, is the last help I shall give before the end of time.”
“This is the last help which I give before the end of time: the recourse to My Mother under the title which I desire shall be hers throughout the whole world.”
“In the hour of triumph” Our Lord said to Berthe one day “it will be made clearly manifest that I Myself have inspired, in those whom I have freely chosen, a devotion similar to that given to My own Heart. It is as a Son that I have conceived this devotion for My Mother. It is as God that I impose it.”
“Let every soul cry out: Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.”
Fatima and the Sorrowful Heart of Mary
Our Lady explicitly spoke of her Sorrowful Heart at her fifth apparition at Fatima:”Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel” (Our Lady at Fatima, September 13th).
By 1925, Lucia, who was now 18, had become a postulant with the Sisters of St. Dorothy at Pontevedra in Spain, and on Thursday, December 10th, 1925, the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by the Child Jesus on a little cloud, appeared to her in her cell. Lucia recounted that Mary rested her hand on her shoulder, while showing her a Heart encircled by thorns in her other hand. The Child Jesus spoke first: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.”
Then Mary said: “My daughter, look at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me, and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Listen to Your Mother
The following passages are all excerpts taken from the words spoken by Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, as recounted in her book, The Mystical City of God.
Many Called, Few Chosen…Why?
“By the divine teaching, thou knowest the mysteries of the Passion and Death of Christ and the one true way of life, which is the Cross; and thou knowest that not all who are called, are chosen. Many there are who wish to follow Christ, but very few truly dispose themselves to imitate Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh. On this account there are so many among mortals, who seek the flesh and the continual indulgence of its pleasures. They ardently seek honors and fly from injuries: they strive after riches, and despise poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. All these are enemies of the Cross of Christ and with dreadful aversion they fly from it” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Deluded Christians Fooling Themselves
“Another deceit has spread through the world—many imagine that they are following Christ their Master, though they neither suffer affliction nor engage in any exertion or labor. They are content with avoiding boldness in committing sins, and place all their perfection in a certain prudence or hollow self-love, which prevents them from denying anything to their will and from practicing any virtues at the cost of their flesh. They would easily escape this deception, if they would consider that my Son, although He well could do it, He chose not a life of softness and ease for the flesh, but one full of labors and pains; for He judged his instructions to be incomplete and insufficient, if He failed to teach them how to overcome the demon, the flesh and their own self. He wished to inculcate, that this magnificent victory is gained by the Cross, by labors, penances, mortifications and the acceptance of contempt: all of which are the trademarks and evidences of true love and the special watchwords of the predestined” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Giving “Bottom-Dollar’ for Heaven
“Tell me then, my daughter: if my Lord and Master has made Himself the Life and the Way for men through His Passion and Death, is it not evident that, in order to go that way and live up to this Truth, they must follow Christ crucified, afflicted, scourged and affronted? Consider the ignorance of men who wish to come to the Father without following Christ, since they expect to reign with God without suffering, or imitating His Passion, without even a thought of accepting any part of His Suffering and Death, or of thanking Him for it. They want it to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as those of Eternal Life, while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments, in order to enter Heaven and to show them, by His example, how they are to find the Way of Light” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Our Lady is Angry and Incensed!
“All the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have the Passion and Death of my Divine Son before their eyes. What then are the thoughts of the Angels and Saints, and what are my thoughts, in beholding this world and the small return made by heartless and ungrateful men for all our pains; and the lack of attention displayed by mortals through their lukewarmness and negligence? I am much incensed to find so few who console me and who try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them, on the Day of Judgment; since they will then see, with irreparable sorrow, not only that they were ungrateful, but were also inhuman and cruel towards my Divine Son, towards me and towards themselves” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His, Son, which I offer to the Eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, and delay the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
False and Fake Piety
“Weigh in thy heart, how much it cost my Lord to reconcile mankind to the Eternal Father and regain for them His friendship. Weep and afflict thyself that so many should live in such forgetfulness! And that so many should labor, with all their might, at destroying and losing what was bought by the Blood of God. Awaken in thy heart the deepest grief, that, in His Holy Church, there should be many followers of the hypocritical and sacriligious priests who, under cover of a false piety, still condemn Christ; that pride and sumptuousness, with other grave vices, should be placed in authority and exalted, while humility, truth, justice and all virtues be so oppressed and debased, while avarice and vanity should prevail. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. Holy Faith is hindered, and is not spread among the nations, on account of the boundless ambition of the mighty of this earth. The Faith, in many Catholics, is inactive and dead, and, what should be living, is near to death and to eternal perdition. The counsels of the Gospel are forgotten, its precepts trodden under foot, true charity is almost extinct”(Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The Science of Saints
“My daughter, in all that thou art made to understand and write concerning these mysteries, thou drawest upon thyself, and upon mortals, a severe judgment, if thou dost not overcome thy pusillanimity, ingratitude and baseness, by meditating day and night on the Passion and Death of Jesus crucified. This is the great Science of the Saints, so little heeded by the worldly, it is the Bread of Life and the Spiritual Food of the little ones, which gives Wisdom to them and the lack of which starves the lovers of this proud world . In this science I wish thee to be studious and wise, for with it thou canst buy thyself all good things. My Son and Lord taught us this Science when He said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: no one cometh to My Father except through Me’ (John 14:6). “ (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The School of Saints
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find, among those who have arrived at the Way of the Cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine Science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the Doctrine of the Cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“By such standards must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of his blessings and pledges of his glorious love” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda).
Don’t Just Listen ... Do Something
With the advent of modern technology and the internet, we are living in an intellectually constipated world—where knowledge comes into our minds at an alarmingly easy and fast rate, but very little is done with that knowledge—thus our heads swell with knowledge as we become intellectually constipated by not turning knowledge into deeds and actions (except perhaps mere gossip, detraction or calumny). “With meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was” (James 1:21-24). “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Time for a Soul to Soul, or Heart to Heart, with the Sorrowful Heart?
On this feast of the Seven Sorrows, it might be a good idea to have a ‘soul to soul’ or ‘heart to heart’ conversation with our Sorrowful Mother, and let her tell us some of the things that cause her pain. We speak of the Seven Swords of Sorrow that pierced her Sorrowful Heart, but there are not only Seven Sorrows, they must be as innumerable as the grains of sand on the beach or the stars in the sky. We often say, “A problem shared is a problem halved!” Perhaps Our Lady will share some of her anxieties and sufferings with us! We will take her at her word by the words she spoke to the Venerable Mary of Agreda—whose body still lies incorrupted today, just as Our Lady’s words are still as incorrupt today as they were back in the 1600s.
Holy Soul
The physical body of the Venerable Mary of Agreda is incorruptible, that is, not subject to rot and decay after death. During an opening of her casket in 1909, a cursory scientific examination was performed on the body. In 1989, a Spanish physician, named Andreas Medina, participated in another examination of Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda, as she lay in the convent of the Conceptionist nuns, the same monastery where she had lived in the 17th century. Dr. Medina told investigative journalist Javier Sierra, in 1991: “What most surprised me about that case is that when we compared the state of the body, as it was described in the medical report from 1909, with how it appeared in 1989, we realized it had absolutely not deteriorated at all in the last eighty years.” Complete photographic and other evidence was obtained by investigators before her casket was re-sealed. Now, her incorrupt body can be visited in the Church of the Convent of Ágreda.
The words that follow are almost exclusively the words of Our Lady, as she dictated them to the Venerable Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda. A short comment or liasing phrase may be inserted here or there. The subtitles are, of course, added to give or create a uniformity of thought.
Backward Souls
“Many other souls have reached the heights of perfection and have then fallen most unfortunately, arriving at a state in which they almost despaired, or found themselves incapable of rising. This sad state causes many things. The first is the dismay and endless confusion of one who feels that he has fallen from an exalted state of virtue; for he knows that he has not only lost great blessings, but now he does not expect to obtain greater ones than those of the past and those he has lost; nor can he guarantee more firmness with himself in keeping those he can obtain, through renewed efforts, than he has shown in the past with those blessings he acquired but has now lost through his ingratitude” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Hopeless Souls
“From this dangerous distrust of self, in not knowing if he will do better in the future, originates lukewarmness, lack of fervor and diligence, absence of zeal and devotion; such a heavy and distrustful heart extinguishes all these in the soul, just as the opposite, the liveliness of ardent hope, overcomes many difficulties, and strengthens weak human creatures to undertake great works” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Negligent Irreverent Souls
“Another obstacle there is, not less formidable, namely: that the souls accustomed to the blessings of God, either through their office—as priests and religious—or by the exercise of virtues and the abundance of divine favors—as spiritual minded persons—these souls usually aggravate their sins by a certain contempt of these very blessings and a certain abuse of divine things. For, because of the abundance of the divine favors, they fall into a dangerous dullness of mind. They begin to think little of the divine favors and become irreverent. Thus failing to cooperate with God’s grace, they hinder its effect. They lose the grace of holy fear of the Lord, which arouses and stimulates the will to obey the divine commandments and to be alert in the avoidance of sin and pursuit of eternal life in the friendship of God” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Lukewarm Souls
“This is an evident danger for lukewarm priests, who frequent the Holy Eucharist and other Sacraments, without fear and reverence; also for the souls of the learned and wise, as well as those who hold some power in this world, who are so reluctant to correct and amend their lives. They have lost the appreciation and veneration of the remedial helps of the Church, namely, the Sacraments, preaching and instruction. Thus, these medicines, which for other sinners are so salutary and counteract ignorance, end up weakening those who are the physicians of the spiritual life” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“The worldlings in their lukewarmess are moved, neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Sinful Souls
“Ordinarily the demons have no power over souls, unless they gain entrance by some venial or mortal fault. Mortal sin gives them a sort of direct right over those who commit it; while venial sin weakens the strength of the soul and invites their attacks. Weep in deepest sorrow over the ruin of so many souls absorbed in such dangerous lukewarmness” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Careless Neglectful Souls
“The same enemy instills into the parents a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Unrestrained Souls
They live amid the darkness of their passions and depraved inclinations, forgetful of the danger, unmoved by their losses, and heedless of their dealings. Instead of fearing and avoiding the occasions of evil, they encounter and seek for them in blind ignorance. In senseless fury they follow their pleasures, place no restraint on their passionate desires, and show no care for where they walk, even if it is to the most dangerous precipices” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Tormented Souls
“Imagine what ought to be the grief of losing God really by sin! But this wisdom seems far from the mind of carnal men: with a most perverse blindness they continue to acquire and make much of the visible and fictitious goods of the world, and they torment themselves and are disconsolate, whenever it fails them. Because they never taste, or recognize, the highest and truest Good, they take no thought or reckoning of It. O sorrow, how easily Charity [which is a love of God, first and foremost] is wasted and set aside for any kind of pleasure, and how often Faith remains without any fruit and is involved in death!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Faithless Souls
“If the faithful do not feel these and even more wonderful effects of Faith, it is not because Faith has not the strength and efficacy to produce them, but it is because some of the faithful are so forgetting and negligent, while others give themselves up so much to a carnal and bestial life and thereby counteract the blessing of Faith. They think so rarely of it, that they might as well not have received it at all. As they live like the infidels, who have never enjoyed its advantages, and, as they gradually become conscious of their unhappy infidelity, they fall into greater wickedness than the unbelievers. For such is the result of their abominable ingratitude and contempt for this exalted and sovereign gift of their Faith” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Unhappy Souls
“Hence thou canst judge of the blind ignorance with which their deadly enemies have fascinated mortals, since all men, in the inordinate desire and pursuit of happiness, neglect the divine law, where alone it can be found; and hence few really attain happiness” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Pleasure-Seeking Souls
“Consider then, whether anything deserves greater pity, than to see so many men misled into danger and made forgetful of it; how some of them cast themselves into it, on account of their lightheartedness, some of them for trivial reasons, others for a short and instantaneous pleasure, others through negligence, and yet others on account of their inordinate appetites” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, fromThe Mystical City of God).
Fearless Souls
“In this life, any punishment or tribulation fills mortals with fear and dread, but the guilt of sin does not fill them with dread. Men are entirely taken up by that which is visible, and they therefore do not look upon the ultimate consequences of sin, which is the eternal punishment of Hell. The human heart becomes so forgetful that it remains, as if it were stupefied, in its wickedness, because it does not feel it present in its senses. Though it could see and feel it by Faith, its Faith is itself listless and dead. (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Blind Souls
“O most unhappy blindness of mortals! O lukewarm negligence, that holds so many souls in deceit! There are not words or sentences sufficient to describe this terrible and tremendous danger. Fear and flee such an unhappy state, and deliver thyself up to all the troubles and torments of life, which pass soon, rather than incur such a danger; for nothing will be lacking to thee, if thou do not lose God. Be convinced that there are no small faults! Fear greatly the small things, for in despising small faults the Most High knows, that the human heart invites other greater ones” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Preoccupied Souls
“In conversing with or worshiping the Most High, they fail to form a worthy concept of His infinite greatness, and fail to free themselves from thoughts of their earthly occupations, which thus make them lukewarm and carnal, unworthy and unfit for the magnificent communication with God [through prayer]. And this ill-bred coarseness entails another disorder: namely, that whenever they talk with their neighbors, they do it without order, measure or discretion; they become entangled in their outward actions, and losing the memory and presence of God in the excitement of their passions, and become completely entangled in what is earthly”(Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Thankless Souls
“If the children of the Holy Church would pause in their vain occupations and be ashamed of their lukewarm forgetfulness and repudiate their vile ingratitude. Let them be undeceived, for most terrible punishments await them” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Lost Souls
“They are surrounded by innumerable enemies [the invisible devils], who pursue them with diabolical treachery, unceasing vigilance, unquenchable wrath and restless diligence. What wonder then, that from such extremes, or rather from such unequal combat, irreparable defeats should arise among the mortals? And that, since the number of fools is infinite, the number of the damned should also be uncountable, and that the demon should be inflated by his triumphs in the perdition of so many men? May God preserve thee from such a misfortune; and do thou weep and deplore the misfortunes of thy brethren, continually asking for their salvation, as far as is possible” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Fervent Souls
“The fulfillment of the precepts of the Lord must not be cold and lukewarm, but most fervent and devoted” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“Thou must continue without intervals of lukewarmness, lest thou disgust Him. At all times and in all places, occupations and operations, thou must keep God in sight. I command thee to treat Him with a magnanimous heart, with decorum and reverence, with deep felt fear of the soul. And whatever pertains to His divine worship, I desire that thou handle with all attention and care. Above all, in order to enter into His presence by prayer and petitions, free thyself from all sensible and earthly images” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
“It is necessary, that thou live retired within thyself, forgetful of all the visible and terrestrial things, most attentive to the divine light, which assists thee and protects thy sensible faculties with double vestments against the influences of lukewarmness and coldness on the way of perfection; and it is necessary, that thou resist the incitements of thy unruly passions” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Abandoned Souls
“Receive knowledge and enlightenment for avoiding such dangerous and gross lukewarmess. Jesus withdraws from the lukewarm and negligent souls, or deals with them only according to the general rules of His divine Providence … [which will then bring about] “the losses sustained by them through their lukewarmness and negligence” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, from The Mystical City of God).
Reformed Souls
Let us take these words to heart and reform our souls! Who is there, among us, who can say: “I am good enough! I have no need to change anything in my life! I have nobody else to reach and convert! I have paid all my debts for past sin! I will go straight to Heaven with no fear of Purgatory or Hell!” If there is someone like that out there reading this—then please pray for the rest of us!!
Monday September 14th
The Feast of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Article 6
Have You Thrown-Away or Lost the Key to Heaven?
Seek and You Shall Find!
The Feast of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Article 6
Have You Thrown-Away or Lost the Key to Heaven?
Seek and You Shall Find!
The Key is Key!
The door is locked! No key—no entrance! Heaven has no “open borders”! If you want to get in—then you must have a key! It’s as simple as that! No exceptions! “And the Lord said to me: ‘This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it—because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut!’” (Ezechiel 44:2). “He openeth and no man shutteth; He shutteth and no man openeth!” (Apocalypse 3:7). God has done for Heaven what He did when He created the sea: “I set my boundaries around it, and made it bars and doors” (Job 38:10).
God not only has the keys to Heaven, but also the keys to Hell: “Behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of Hell” (Apocalypse 1:18). Nevertheless, make no mistake about it—God wants to save everyone: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). God gives everyone a key to Heaven: “I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:19)—but not everyone keeps the key with them at all times—some lose it, some even throw it away! “Woe to you! For you have taken away the key of knowledge! You yourselves have not entered in, and those that were entering in, you have hindered!” (Luke 11:52).
The Key is Buried Under Piles of Worldly Stuff!
Foolishly, most persons load their minds and hearts with knowledge of the world and worldly things, rather than the knowledge of God and heavenly things! Thus parents and teachers keep filling the minds and hearts of those entrusted to them with knowledge that is only secondary, whilst giving them little or no knowledge as to how to save their souls and get to Heaven! “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut—lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
As Our Lord warns: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). What profit is all that worldly knowledge and how get rich, when it only serves to increase their chances of damnation? “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
We put too much store in the wrong kind of knowledge and spend precious little time acquiring the right kind of knowledge. This brings to mind Our Lord’s parable of the wise and foolish virgins: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the ten virgins, who, taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them — but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil—for our lamps are gone out! The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came—and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
In Our Lord’s parable, He puts the number of foolish ones at 50% — yet today you would have to say that it is 99.9% — “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) — for all are foolishly sleeping in the bed of worldliness. “The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities! There is none that doth good! God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:1-4).
The usual route to Heaven is a long-walk along the narrow path, carrying our crosses. The passport that we have to show at the gates of Heaven is that which is stamped with the Cross of Christ and with visas showing evidence that we traveled throughout this world carrying a cross, eating and drinking His Body and Blood (not champagne and caviar), as we followed Christ’s path of joyful suffering, while increasingly dying to the world and living more and more for God. The cross is the key to Heaven.
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Of course, the ultimate key to Heaven is sanctity—which is being in a state of sanctifying grace AND having achieved the personal level of perfection expected of us, whilst having repaid the damage and expiated the debt of all our sins. Yet it is the cross that is the means of achieving that required level of sanctity. Thus it is the cross—or the friction of the cross—that “cuts the key” and “shapes the key” of sanctity that will open to us the gates of Heaven. The actual part of the key that unlocks a lock—the part with the various different shaped notches at the end of the shaft of the key—is called the “bit”. Each bit has a variety of notches, cuts, grooves of varying sizes and shapes called “wards”. You could, in a broad sense, say that the “bit” of our key to Heaven has to contain a variety of virtues or “wards” of ‘different shapes and sizes’—and it is with this in mind that we can read the following passage from St. Louis de Montfort’s book, The Secret of Mary:
The door is locked! No key—no entrance! Heaven has no “open borders”! If you want to get in—then you must have a key! It’s as simple as that! No exceptions! “And the Lord said to me: ‘This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it—because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut!’” (Ezechiel 44:2). “He openeth and no man shutteth; He shutteth and no man openeth!” (Apocalypse 3:7). God has done for Heaven what He did when He created the sea: “I set my boundaries around it, and made it bars and doors” (Job 38:10).
God not only has the keys to Heaven, but also the keys to Hell: “Behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of Hell” (Apocalypse 1:18). Nevertheless, make no mistake about it—God wants to save everyone: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). God gives everyone a key to Heaven: “I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:19)—but not everyone keeps the key with them at all times—some lose it, some even throw it away! “Woe to you! For you have taken away the key of knowledge! You yourselves have not entered in, and those that were entering in, you have hindered!” (Luke 11:52).
The Key is Buried Under Piles of Worldly Stuff!
Foolishly, most persons load their minds and hearts with knowledge of the world and worldly things, rather than the knowledge of God and heavenly things! Thus parents and teachers keep filling the minds and hearts of those entrusted to them with knowledge that is only secondary, whilst giving them little or no knowledge as to how to save their souls and get to Heaven! “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut—lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
As Our Lord warns: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). What profit is all that worldly knowledge and how get rich, when it only serves to increase their chances of damnation? “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
We put too much store in the wrong kind of knowledge and spend precious little time acquiring the right kind of knowledge. This brings to mind Our Lord’s parable of the wise and foolish virgins: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the ten virgins, who, taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them — but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil—for our lamps are gone out! The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came—and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
In Our Lord’s parable, He puts the number of foolish ones at 50% — yet today you would have to say that it is 99.9% — “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) — for all are foolishly sleeping in the bed of worldliness. “The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities! There is none that doth good! God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:1-4).
The usual route to Heaven is a long-walk along the narrow path, carrying our crosses. The passport that we have to show at the gates of Heaven is that which is stamped with the Cross of Christ and with visas showing evidence that we traveled throughout this world carrying a cross, eating and drinking His Body and Blood (not champagne and caviar), as we followed Christ’s path of joyful suffering, while increasingly dying to the world and living more and more for God. The cross is the key to Heaven.
“And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
Of course, the ultimate key to Heaven is sanctity—which is being in a state of sanctifying grace AND having achieved the personal level of perfection expected of us, whilst having repaid the damage and expiated the debt of all our sins. Yet it is the cross that is the means of achieving that required level of sanctity. Thus it is the cross—or the friction of the cross—that “cuts the key” and “shapes the key” of sanctity that will open to us the gates of Heaven. The actual part of the key that unlocks a lock—the part with the various different shaped notches at the end of the shaft of the key—is called the “bit”. Each bit has a variety of notches, cuts, grooves of varying sizes and shapes called “wards”. You could, in a broad sense, say that the “bit” of our key to Heaven has to contain a variety of virtues or “wards” of ‘different shapes and sizes’—and it is with this in mind that we can read the following passage from St. Louis de Montfort’s book, The Secret of Mary:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next. It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? [In other words, what is the KEY to achieving this and unlocking the door to holiness and Heaven]. What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means [or the notches on the key’s bit] are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God [add all these things together and you find your lifelong cross]. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure … You must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Mary is Key
“It is Mary alone to whom God has given the keys … Our Blessed Lady will give you also a portion of her Faith … a Faith active and piercing, which like a mysterious pass-key, will give you entrance into all the mysteries of Jesus … This devotion to Mary is an easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with Our Lord. It is an easy way. It is the way which Jesus Christ Himself trod in coming to us, and in which there is no obstacle in reaching Him. It is true that we can attain divine union by other roads—but it is by many more crosses and strange deaths, and with many more difficulties, which we shall find it hard to overcome. We must pass through obscure nights, through combats, through strange agonies, over craggy mountains, through cruel thorns and over frightful deserts. But by the path of Mary we pass more gently and more tranquilly. We do find, it is true, great battles to fight, and great hardships to master; but that good Mother makes herself so present and so near to her faithful servants, to enlighten them in their darkness and their doubts, to strengthen them in their fears, and to sustain them in their struggles and their difficulties, that in truth this virginal path to find Jesus Christ is a path of roses and honey compared with the other paths” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“This does not mean that one who has discovered Mary through a genuine devotion is exempt from crosses and sufferings. Far from it! One is tried even more than others, because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them, she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. If, from time to time, they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which, we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates, in them, a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Our Lady’s Own Cross Words
If you have ever read The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, then you will have noticed how much Our Lady speaks of the beauty and importance of the Cross and of the sufferings it brings. Such words are not popular in this modern-day environment of sweetness and comfort—yet what is popular is often damnable. That is why so few souls are saved—because they follow the “popular opinion” and not the prudent opinion. On this feast of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, it is fitting to have Our Lady exalt the Cross in her own words. Here are a series of extracts of Our Lady’s words, taken from various parts of the book and “sewn together” to make one narrative:
“I was made to comprehend the high value which the Lord sets upon the labors, the Passion and Death of my Son, and upon all those who were to imitate and follow Jesus in the way of the Cross. Knowing this, I not only offered to deliver my Son over to Passion and Death, but I asked Him to make me His companion and partaker of all His sorrows, sufferings and torments—which request the eternal Father granted. Then, in order to begin following in the footsteps of His bitterness, I besought my Son and Lord to deprive me of interior delights—and this petition was inspired in me by the Lord Himself, because He wished it so, and because my own love taught me and urged me thereto. This desire for suffering and the wishes of my divine Son led me on in the way of suffering.
“The Cross was an ignominious thing before my Son and Lord honored and sanctified it by His Passion and Death—and, solely on account of this Passion and Death, the adoration and reverence, shown to it by the Church, is now due to it. If anyone, who was ignorant of the mysteries, which were connected with it and which were so well known to me and Saint John, would have given it such worship and honor as I have before the Redemption, he would have been guilty of error and idolatry; for he would have worshipped a creature of which he did not know that it was worthy of such honor. But we showed this veneration to the Cross for several reasons:
“We knew for certain, that the Redeemer was to accomplish His work upon the Cross; we knew also that, before dying upon it, He had begun to sanctify this sacred emblem by his contact in placing Himself upon it during his prayers and in offering Himself freely to die upon it. The eternal Father moreover had accepted these foreseen works of the Cross from his divine Son by an unalterable decree. All the actions and the contacts of the incarnate Word were of infinite value and thus sanctified the sacred wood, making it worthy of the highest veneration.
“Whenever I, or St. John the Baptist, showed this reverence to the Cross, we had before our minds these mysteries and truths: we did not adore the Cross in itself, nor the material of which it was made—for the divine worship was not yet due to it, until the works of the Redemption should have been completed upon it—but we waited for the formal execution of the work intended to be performed upon it by the incarnate Word. This was the real object of our reverence and worship of the Cross. And this is also now the meaning and intent of the practice of the adoration of the Cross in the Holy Church.
“Accordingly thou must reflect well on thy obligation and that of all the mortals in regard to the reverence and esteem due to the holy Cross; for if I and the holy Precursor, St. John the Baptist—even before the Death of my divine Son upon it—so eagerly imitated Him in His love and reverence of it and in the exercises which He performed in connection therewith, what then should not the faithful children of the Church do after they have seen their Creator and their Redeemer crucified upon it, and when they have the image of the Crucified before their very eyes? I desire, then, that thou embrace the Cross with boundless esteem, that thou use it as the priceless jewel of thy Spouse.
“By such standards must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. The divine influence, which accompanies them, will urge and draw thee on, inflaming thy heart to chaste love and reverence of God to acknowledgment of thy littleness, to abhorrence of the earthly vanities, to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest, to aspire to the purest, the most perfect and refined in virtue, to deny thyself thy own inclinations, and to unite thyself to the highest and truest good.
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be Our disciple, then enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance. With this wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example.
“My most holy Son and I were eminent Masters in the practice of this doctrine. My Son began to teach it from the moment in which He was conceived in my womb. For already then He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and his sufferings continued until He died on the Cross. I also labored to the end of my life, as thou wilt be informed more and more in the writing of this history. Since, therefore, We suffered so much for creatures and for their salvation, I desire thee to imitate Us in this conformity to the divine will as being his spouse and my daughter. Suffer with a magnanimous heart, and labor to increase the possessions of thy Lord and Master, namely, souls—which are so precious in His sight and which He has purchased with His life-Blood. Never shouldst thou fly from labors, difficulties, bitterness and sorrows—if, by any of them, thou canst gain a soul for the Lord, or if thou canst thereby induce a soul to leave the path of sin and enter the path of life. Accept then, this doctrine and engrave it deeply into thy heart. Understand that as my disciple, even if from no other motive, thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to thy Lord.
“The greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. If the condition of mortals were not so low, they would covet sufferings merely for the sake of their God and Lord—Who has proclaimed them to be according to His will and pleasure—for the faithful and loving servant should always prefer the likings of his Lord to his own convenience. But the worldlings, in their torpidity, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings and that His sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief.”
“It is a great shame—and a great boldness—on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them and when so many of the just before His Death were led to embrace the cross solely by the hope that Christ would once suffer upon it, although they would never live to see it. Hence thou wilt understand the ignorance and error of mortals, and how far they drift from the way of light, when, as a rule, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they do not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering and my own, and deprive themselves of the true and highest blessing of this life; but they make their recovery impossible, since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering.
“By the bitterness of sorrow and affliction, sinning slows down; the excesses of the passions are crushed; pride and haughtiness are humiliated; the flesh is subdued; the inclination to evil, to the sensible and earthly creatures, is repressed; passions are corrected; and, above all, divine love and pity are drawn down upon the afflicted, who embrace suffering with patience, or who seek it to imitate my most holy Son. In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures; those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science are foolish.
“When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness and in disgrace before the Almighty?
“In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions—which are the paths left open for returning to God—in rejecting the light of the intellect, which is the means of recognizing the deceptiveness of visible things; in refusing the nourishment of the just, which is the only means of grace, the price of glory; and, above all, in repudiating the legitimate inheritance, selected by my Son and Lord for Himself and for all His elect, since He was born and lived continually in afflictions and died upon the cross.
“I exhort thee to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts; and rather embrace afflictions, than desire to be visited with caresses—for in choosing favors and delights thou mayest be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, thou canst be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights—wherever it can be done without sin—what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
“His true servants must not seek His favors for the purpose of avoiding the cross, but in order to seek and bear it with the Lord, patiently enduring the sufferings which His divine Providence chooses to send. When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried. Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refusest to embrace the cross and rejoice in it. Embrace with Him tribulations and the cross, take up the cross, tread in His footsteps!”
Mary is Key
“It is Mary alone to whom God has given the keys … Our Blessed Lady will give you also a portion of her Faith … a Faith active and piercing, which like a mysterious pass-key, will give you entrance into all the mysteries of Jesus … This devotion to Mary is an easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with Our Lord. It is an easy way. It is the way which Jesus Christ Himself trod in coming to us, and in which there is no obstacle in reaching Him. It is true that we can attain divine union by other roads—but it is by many more crosses and strange deaths, and with many more difficulties, which we shall find it hard to overcome. We must pass through obscure nights, through combats, through strange agonies, over craggy mountains, through cruel thorns and over frightful deserts. But by the path of Mary we pass more gently and more tranquilly. We do find, it is true, great battles to fight, and great hardships to master; but that good Mother makes herself so present and so near to her faithful servants, to enlighten them in their darkness and their doubts, to strengthen them in their fears, and to sustain them in their struggles and their difficulties, that in truth this virginal path to find Jesus Christ is a path of roses and honey compared with the other paths” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
“This does not mean that one who has discovered Mary through a genuine devotion is exempt from crosses and sufferings. Far from it! One is tried even more than others, because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them, she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. If, from time to time, they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which, we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates, in them, a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary).
Our Lady’s Own Cross Words
If you have ever read The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, then you will have noticed how much Our Lady speaks of the beauty and importance of the Cross and of the sufferings it brings. Such words are not popular in this modern-day environment of sweetness and comfort—yet what is popular is often damnable. That is why so few souls are saved—because they follow the “popular opinion” and not the prudent opinion. On this feast of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, it is fitting to have Our Lady exalt the Cross in her own words. Here are a series of extracts of Our Lady’s words, taken from various parts of the book and “sewn together” to make one narrative:
“I was made to comprehend the high value which the Lord sets upon the labors, the Passion and Death of my Son, and upon all those who were to imitate and follow Jesus in the way of the Cross. Knowing this, I not only offered to deliver my Son over to Passion and Death, but I asked Him to make me His companion and partaker of all His sorrows, sufferings and torments—which request the eternal Father granted. Then, in order to begin following in the footsteps of His bitterness, I besought my Son and Lord to deprive me of interior delights—and this petition was inspired in me by the Lord Himself, because He wished it so, and because my own love taught me and urged me thereto. This desire for suffering and the wishes of my divine Son led me on in the way of suffering.
“The Cross was an ignominious thing before my Son and Lord honored and sanctified it by His Passion and Death—and, solely on account of this Passion and Death, the adoration and reverence, shown to it by the Church, is now due to it. If anyone, who was ignorant of the mysteries, which were connected with it and which were so well known to me and Saint John, would have given it such worship and honor as I have before the Redemption, he would have been guilty of error and idolatry; for he would have worshipped a creature of which he did not know that it was worthy of such honor. But we showed this veneration to the Cross for several reasons:
“We knew for certain, that the Redeemer was to accomplish His work upon the Cross; we knew also that, before dying upon it, He had begun to sanctify this sacred emblem by his contact in placing Himself upon it during his prayers and in offering Himself freely to die upon it. The eternal Father moreover had accepted these foreseen works of the Cross from his divine Son by an unalterable decree. All the actions and the contacts of the incarnate Word were of infinite value and thus sanctified the sacred wood, making it worthy of the highest veneration.
“Whenever I, or St. John the Baptist, showed this reverence to the Cross, we had before our minds these mysteries and truths: we did not adore the Cross in itself, nor the material of which it was made—for the divine worship was not yet due to it, until the works of the Redemption should have been completed upon it—but we waited for the formal execution of the work intended to be performed upon it by the incarnate Word. This was the real object of our reverence and worship of the Cross. And this is also now the meaning and intent of the practice of the adoration of the Cross in the Holy Church.
“Accordingly thou must reflect well on thy obligation and that of all the mortals in regard to the reverence and esteem due to the holy Cross; for if I and the holy Precursor, St. John the Baptist—even before the Death of my divine Son upon it—so eagerly imitated Him in His love and reverence of it and in the exercises which He performed in connection therewith, what then should not the faithful children of the Church do after they have seen their Creator and their Redeemer crucified upon it, and when they have the image of the Crucified before their very eyes? I desire, then, that thou embrace the Cross with boundless esteem, that thou use it as the priceless jewel of thy Spouse.
“By such standards must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. The divine influence, which accompanies them, will urge and draw thee on, inflaming thy heart to chaste love and reverence of God to acknowledgment of thy littleness, to abhorrence of the earthly vanities, to desire of being despised by creatures, to joyful suffering, to love of the cross and an earnest and generous acceptation of it; it will move thee to seek the last place, to love those that persecute thee, to fear and abhor sin, even the slightest, to aspire to the purest, the most perfect and refined in virtue, to deny thyself thy own inclinations, and to unite thyself to the highest and truest good.
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be Our disciple, then enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance. With this wisdom the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the blear-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example.
“My most holy Son and I were eminent Masters in the practice of this doctrine. My Son began to teach it from the moment in which He was conceived in my womb. For already then He began to suffer, and as soon as He was born into the world He and I were banished by Herod into a desert, and his sufferings continued until He died on the Cross. I also labored to the end of my life, as thou wilt be informed more and more in the writing of this history. Since, therefore, We suffered so much for creatures and for their salvation, I desire thee to imitate Us in this conformity to the divine will as being his spouse and my daughter. Suffer with a magnanimous heart, and labor to increase the possessions of thy Lord and Master, namely, souls—which are so precious in His sight and which He has purchased with His life-Blood. Never shouldst thou fly from labors, difficulties, bitterness and sorrows—if, by any of them, thou canst gain a soul for the Lord, or if thou canst thereby induce a soul to leave the path of sin and enter the path of life. Accept then, this doctrine and engrave it deeply into thy heart. Understand that as my disciple, even if from no other motive, thou must acquire the precious gem of suffering and thus become pleasing to thy Lord.
“The greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. If the condition of mortals were not so low, they would covet sufferings merely for the sake of their God and Lord—Who has proclaimed them to be according to His will and pleasure—for the faithful and loving servant should always prefer the likings of his Lord to his own convenience. But the worldlings, in their torpidity, are moved neither by the duty of conforming to their Father and Lord, nor by His declaration that all their salvation consists in following Christ in His sufferings and that His sinful children must reap the fruit of the Redemption by imitation of their sinless Chief.”
“It is a great shame—and a great boldness—on the part of the faithful, that they should abhor suffering, even after my most holy Son did suffer for them and when so many of the just before His Death were led to embrace the cross solely by the hope that Christ would once suffer upon it, although they would never live to see it. Hence thou wilt understand the ignorance and error of mortals, and how far they drift from the way of light, when, as a rule, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they do not only abhor resemblance to Christ’s suffering and my own, and deprive themselves of the true and highest blessing of this life; but they make their recovery impossible, since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering.
“By the bitterness of sorrow and affliction, sinning slows down; the excesses of the passions are crushed; pride and haughtiness are humiliated; the flesh is subdued; the inclination to evil, to the sensible and earthly creatures, is repressed; passions are corrected; and, above all, divine love and pity are drawn down upon the afflicted, who embrace suffering with patience, or who seek it to imitate my most holy Son. In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures; those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science are foolish.
“When gold is untouched by the furnace-heat, the iron by the file, the grain by the grinding stone or flail, the grapes by the winepress, they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why then will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness and in disgrace before the Almighty?
“In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions—which are the paths left open for returning to God—in rejecting the light of the intellect, which is the means of recognizing the deceptiveness of visible things; in refusing the nourishment of the just, which is the only means of grace, the price of glory; and, above all, in repudiating the legitimate inheritance, selected by my Son and Lord for Himself and for all His elect, since He was born and lived continually in afflictions and died upon the cross.
“I exhort thee to select the sufferings of His Cross in preference to His favors and gifts; and rather embrace afflictions, than desire to be visited with caresses—for in choosing favors and delights thou mayest be moved by self-love, but in accepting tribulations and sorrows, thou canst be moved only by the love of Christ. And if preference is to be given to sufferings rather than to delights—wherever it can be done without sin—what foolishness is it, when men pursue so blindly the deceitful and vile delights of the senses, and when they abhor so much all that pertains to suffering for Christ and for the good of their soul?
“His true servants must not seek His favors for the purpose of avoiding the cross, but in order to seek and bear it with the Lord, patiently enduring the sufferings which His divine Providence chooses to send. When the occasion of tasting the chalice and the cross of suffering is at hand, thou must not turn away in sorrow and affliction from the sufferings, by which the sincerity of a loving and affectionate heart is to be tried. Thou canst not follow Christ, if thou refusest to embrace the cross and rejoice in it. Embrace with Him tribulations and the cross, take up the cross, tread in His footsteps!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday September 12th & Sunday September 13th
Article 5
Avoid the Pit for a Pittance!
Saturday September 12th & Sunday September 13th
Article 5
Avoid the Pit for a Pittance!
What Price Protection? What Price Salvation?
In 2020, the U.S. national average for home insurance is about $2,300 per year. The national average cost of car insurance is around $1,400 per year. In 2020 the average national cost for health insurance is $5,400 for an individual and $13,000 for a family per year. Of course, some areas of the country are more expensive and others are less expensive. Prices will further differ in relation to the degree of coverage you require. All in all, for house, health and car insurance, the national average then would be a total of around $9,000 per year for an individual person, or $750 a month, or $173 per week, or $24 per day. Or, in the case of a family health insurance plan being taken into account, the average total for the family would be almost $17,000 per year, or $1,400 per month, or $326 per week, or $46 per day. The average person or family pays a decent amount of money annually for protection and safety. Yet only about one in 20 insured homes has a claim each year. On average, a car driver files a collision insurance claim once every 18 years. On the other hand, most souls end up being damned—and most of those souls never took out a soul insurance policy. The chances of damnation of your soul are far greater than the chances collision of your car or of property damage—yet we pay thousands of dollars each year for car, property and health insurance, but next to nothing for soul insurance! Crazy, huh? Damned crazy!
The more expensive a thing is, the more you pay to insure it. What price are you going to put on Heaven? Don’t even try! It’s priceless! Yet what insurance are we taking out to ensure we get there? Hardly any! It’s as though we thought Heaven was a guaranteed freebie! Or as if Heaven was owed to us! Or we downplay and ignore the risks and consequences of mortal sin. Or we have fallen into the modern day heresy of imagining that everyone goes to Heaven. Hell, no! Most souls are damned—but they need not be damned and would not have been damned had they only taken out some form of spiritual insurance coverage.
Salvation is Open to All—But There Are Few Takers!
We cannot say that Our Lord did not warn us: “And a certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And He answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!” There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
The saints have likewise warned us of the dangers of damnation—thereby implicitly telling us to take out some form of ‘insurance policy’ against damnation.
► St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased — for they were overthrown in the desert! … Now all these things happened to them in figure—and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5, 11).
► Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604) says: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect? … They who are meant to be saved as saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls—shall not be saved!” (Gregory: “On the Gospels,” Homily 19, Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers).
► St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church, says: “The majority of men shall not see God!”
► St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church, states: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown” (Commentary on Matthew: “Many begin well, but there are few who persevere”). “Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved!”
► St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church, adds: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!” … “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.”
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, warns: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … The Lord called the world a ‘field’ and all the faithful who draw near to him ‘wheat.’ But the greater part is chaff; the lesser part is wheat, for which is prepared a barn not a fire. The good also are many, but in comparison with the wicked the good are few. Many are the grains of wheat, but compared with the chaff, the grains are few … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved . . They are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil … Beyond any doubt, the elect are few … It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, also warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, adds: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
► St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, states: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.”
► St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church, laments: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
► St. Alphonsus (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians, writes: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by him … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are—yet among those few I wish to be!”
► Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964), in his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, writes: “Progressive sanctification is the very way of salvation [in other words, progressive sanctification is our insurance policy]. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity!”
Insurance Payments in Cross Currency
That sanctity is acquired by daily payments with the currency of the cross. Our Lord—Who, in His own words, points that out to us: “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Simple, clear, blunt, brutal, stark and uncompromising—if you want insurance against damnation, then you must pay the premium with the cross.
That cross is also found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the previous articles, we have been speaking of the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the Popes and saints have said striking things—such as:
“The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Mass Premium
You might be pleasantly surprised (or terribly shocked if you are worldly and your Faith is weak) to find out that if you were to have a Mass offered for your intentions each and every day of the year—365 Masses a year—then it would compare favorably with the insurance premiums you pay annually. For a Mass stipend—much like insurance premiums—can vary from place to place. Some parishes may have them as low as $10 while other parishes may have at $20 or $25. It would be an interesting survey to see how much value people put on the “protective” value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! It would, of course, largely depend upon how great and deep their Faith was! St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Doctor of the Church, points to the value of a Mass, saying: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross!” As St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), a Doctor of the Church, says: “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.” Or as Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) wrote: “The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death” (Pope Benedict XV).
► With a $10 stipend, your annual premium (for a Mass every day of the year) would total $3,650 per year, or around $300 per month, or $70 per week, or $10 per day.
► With a $20 stipend, your annual premium (for a Mass every day of the year) would total $7,300 per year, or around $600 per month, or $140 per week, or $20 per day.
Obviously, no priest is going to offer Mass for your intentions each and every day, all year round. If that is what you want, then you would have to spread your Mass stipends around many different priests. Some might even think it would be going too far! Well, once you get to see Heaven—if you get to see Heaven—see if you still think that way! As Holy Scripture says: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth—where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal [despite your insurance policies]. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven—where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal!” (Matthew 6:19-20).
Why do people ‘religiously’ pay insurance premiums for material things month after month, year after year—when ultimately they will either be lost, destroyed or taken away? As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be compared to the precious pearl that Our Lord speaks of: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13:4-46). Likewise, it can be said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights!” (Job 28:13).
In 2020, the U.S. national average for home insurance is about $2,300 per year. The national average cost of car insurance is around $1,400 per year. In 2020 the average national cost for health insurance is $5,400 for an individual and $13,000 for a family per year. Of course, some areas of the country are more expensive and others are less expensive. Prices will further differ in relation to the degree of coverage you require. All in all, for house, health and car insurance, the national average then would be a total of around $9,000 per year for an individual person, or $750 a month, or $173 per week, or $24 per day. Or, in the case of a family health insurance plan being taken into account, the average total for the family would be almost $17,000 per year, or $1,400 per month, or $326 per week, or $46 per day. The average person or family pays a decent amount of money annually for protection and safety. Yet only about one in 20 insured homes has a claim each year. On average, a car driver files a collision insurance claim once every 18 years. On the other hand, most souls end up being damned—and most of those souls never took out a soul insurance policy. The chances of damnation of your soul are far greater than the chances collision of your car or of property damage—yet we pay thousands of dollars each year for car, property and health insurance, but next to nothing for soul insurance! Crazy, huh? Damned crazy!
The more expensive a thing is, the more you pay to insure it. What price are you going to put on Heaven? Don’t even try! It’s priceless! Yet what insurance are we taking out to ensure we get there? Hardly any! It’s as though we thought Heaven was a guaranteed freebie! Or as if Heaven was owed to us! Or we downplay and ignore the risks and consequences of mortal sin. Or we have fallen into the modern day heresy of imagining that everyone goes to Heaven. Hell, no! Most souls are damned—but they need not be damned and would not have been damned had they only taken out some form of spiritual insurance coverage.
Salvation is Open to All—But There Are Few Takers!
We cannot say that Our Lord did not warn us: “And a certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate! For many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And He answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!” There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
The saints have likewise warned us of the dangers of damnation—thereby implicitly telling us to take out some form of ‘insurance policy’ against damnation.
► St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased — for they were overthrown in the desert! … Now all these things happened to them in figure—and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5, 11).
► Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604) says: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect? … They who are meant to be saved as saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls—shall not be saved!” (Gregory: “On the Gospels,” Homily 19, Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers).
► St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church, says: “The majority of men shall not see God!”
► St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church, states: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown” (Commentary on Matthew: “Many begin well, but there are few who persevere”). “Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved!”
► St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church, adds: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!” … “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.”
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, warns: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … The Lord called the world a ‘field’ and all the faithful who draw near to him ‘wheat.’ But the greater part is chaff; the lesser part is wheat, for which is prepared a barn not a fire. The good also are many, but in comparison with the wicked the good are few. Many are the grains of wheat, but compared with the chaff, the grains are few … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved . . They are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil … Beyond any doubt, the elect are few … It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, also warns: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church, adds: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
► St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, states: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.”
► St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church, laments: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
► St. Alphonsus (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians, writes: “God, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by him … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are—yet among those few I wish to be!”
► Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964), in his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, writes: “Progressive sanctification is the very way of salvation [in other words, progressive sanctification is our insurance policy]. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity!”
Insurance Payments in Cross Currency
That sanctity is acquired by daily payments with the currency of the cross. Our Lord—Who, in His own words, points that out to us: “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Simple, clear, blunt, brutal, stark and uncompromising—if you want insurance against damnation, then you must pay the premium with the cross.
That cross is also found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the previous articles, we have been speaking of the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the Popes and saints have said striking things—such as:
“The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” (St. Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Mass Premium
You might be pleasantly surprised (or terribly shocked if you are worldly and your Faith is weak) to find out that if you were to have a Mass offered for your intentions each and every day of the year—365 Masses a year—then it would compare favorably with the insurance premiums you pay annually. For a Mass stipend—much like insurance premiums—can vary from place to place. Some parishes may have them as low as $10 while other parishes may have at $20 or $25. It would be an interesting survey to see how much value people put on the “protective” value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! It would, of course, largely depend upon how great and deep their Faith was! St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Doctor of the Church, points to the value of a Mass, saying: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross!” As St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), a Doctor of the Church, says: “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.” Or as Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) wrote: “The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death” (Pope Benedict XV).
► With a $10 stipend, your annual premium (for a Mass every day of the year) would total $3,650 per year, or around $300 per month, or $70 per week, or $10 per day.
► With a $20 stipend, your annual premium (for a Mass every day of the year) would total $7,300 per year, or around $600 per month, or $140 per week, or $20 per day.
Obviously, no priest is going to offer Mass for your intentions each and every day, all year round. If that is what you want, then you would have to spread your Mass stipends around many different priests. Some might even think it would be going too far! Well, once you get to see Heaven—if you get to see Heaven—see if you still think that way! As Holy Scripture says: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth—where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal [despite your insurance policies]. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven—where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal!” (Matthew 6:19-20).
Why do people ‘religiously’ pay insurance premiums for material things month after month, year after year—when ultimately they will either be lost, destroyed or taken away? As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be compared to the precious pearl that Our Lord speaks of: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13:4-46). Likewise, it can be said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights!” (Job 28:13).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday September 10th & Friday September 11th
Article 4
This MASSive Mistake Will Cost Us Big-Time!
Thursday September 10th & Friday September 11th
Article 4
This MASSive Mistake Will Cost Us Big-Time!
Mass Missive Missed by Many
In Latin, “Missa” means “Mass” and “Missale” means “Missal” — the Missal being the Church’s liturgical book containing the prayers and rites used by the priest in celebrating Mass over the course of the entire year. The Mass is a mission. The Mass is a missive. The nouns “mission” and “missive” come from the Latin verb “mittere” meaning “to send”, and its past participle “missus”, meaning “sent.” We are given or sent on missions that we must accomplish. We are sent missives (see more below) by others in order to rouse us to action of some kind. Yet, the Mass—sadly—is dismissively dismissed by most Catholics as being of little or no importance compared to the many other ‘more important’ things that preoccupy their minds. The name “Mass” comes from the Latin phrase “Ite, missa est!” For those who used to, or still do, attend the Latin Mass—you will know that just before the final blessing at the end of Mass, the priest turns to you and says: “Ite, missa est!” which indicates a “sending forth” into the world, synonymous with Christ’s words to His Apostles at the end of His life on Earth, before ascending into Heaven, when He said:
“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!’” (Matthew 28:18-20)—which is an echo of what He had earlier said to them: “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men! For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles!” (Matthew 10:16-18). Here Christ’s “missive” gives them their “mission”—Christ is the “sender” and they are the “sent”.
After His Resurrection, Our Lord again echoes this same “missive”: “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you!” (John 20:21)—which is the spirit in which the priest says the “Ite, missa est!” at the final dismissal at the end of Mass—meaning in essence: “Go! You are now being sent forth into the world to testify to Christ and Christ’s redemptive death—in which you have just participated in this Mass! Going, therefore, show Christ to all the persons you might encounter, teaching them, by your words and example, to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded you!”
You may have heard the phrase, “fire off a missive,” meaning urgently sending a note, memo or dispatch that was written and sent with urgency and conveys an important message. Our Lady has been “firing-off missives” for a long time now—but, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima says, her missives are being largely ignored and consigned to the bin. “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message [missive]; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying mind to this message [missive]―they do not unite their lives to the message [missive] of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the message [missive], because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yet Mary’s “missive” is dismissively dismissed. Most Catholics have missed their mission by dismissively dismissing the missives they were sent! Or, to put it more simply and bluntly—they have screwed up their Catholic life by not doing what they were told to do—“doing their own thing” instead.
A MASSive Missive
Our Lord’s mission was Calvary—He was “missioned” or “commissioned” or “sent” to accomplish the rescue and redemption of sinful mankind, who had fallen into the captivity of the devil through their sins. Calvary was Christ’s mission and since the Mass is Christ re-enacting Calvary all over again each time the Mass is offered, then you could say that the Mass is a mission—a mission for the redemption of captives of sin; a redemptive mission of mercy.
We, being the recipients of that redemptive mercy of Christ on Calvary, are meant to pass on the benefits of that redemptive sacrifice to others. Thus Holy Scripture says: “Do not forget to do good, and to impart!” (Hebrews 13:16). “Freely have you received, freely give!” (Matthew 10:8). “It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive!” (Acts 20:35). “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves!” (James 1:22).
“What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food and one of you say to them: ‘Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled!’ — yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body — what shall it profit? So Faith, also, if it have not works, is dead in itself!” (James 2:14-17). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him—how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
A MASSive Missile
You have more than you think or imagine. You have the Mass. You can plant the Mass. You can plant a stipend for a Mass often. You can plant an intention for that Mass with the priest. The Mass is a mission and the Mass is your mission. The Mass is like a missile — the word “missile” means “an object which is forcibly propelled at a target” coming from the Latin “missilis”, from the verb “mittere” meaning “to throw, send.”
An atomic bomb, or nuclear bomb, or nuclear missile are comparatively little innocuous things that pack a powerful punch. Who would have thought that a mere missile with a nuclear warhead could cause such an incredible amount of damage?!! A nuclear bomb or missile can release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
Likewise with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—a relatively short, inconspicuous, innocuous ceremony packs an unimaginably powerful punch. If St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina could say of the Holy Rosary: “The Rosary is the weapon!” — then what could be said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? As Our Lady said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” — that “sign left by my Son” is the Sign of the Cross, not just the Sign of the Cross that we make over ourselves before we pray, but the REAL, TRUE, EFFICACIOUS SIGN OF THE CROSS which is found in the REAL and TRUE SACRIFICE of Christ that is made upon our altars at every valid SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.
Hence the Popes and Saints say: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914).
A Weapon of MASS Destruction
As was said above—the Mass is Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, perpetuated, re-enacted, reproduced, re-offered by Christ Himself every time a priest offers a valid Sacrifice of the Mass. A seemingly little innocuous thing packs a powerful punch. Who would have thought that a mere missile with a nuclear warhead could cause such an incredible amount of damage?!! A nuclear bomb or missile can release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. So too for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—which you could call a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”. This tremendous power is implied by the following quotes:
“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to the Mass … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Satan Knows the Power and Cowers from the Power
Outside of Heaven, nobody knows and appreciates (or hates) the power of the Mass more than Satan. It was the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary that fooled him and defeated him. That is why Satan will try to use his own mass weapons against the power of Mass destruction inherent in the Holy Mass.
► Satan uses the weapon of mass distraction. He will cause us to lose our focus on the things of eternal value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with all kinds of trinkets and gizmos designed to get our attention off the thing that can really damage him and his earthly empire. This is especially easy in these days of modern technology, which helps dull our spirituality and distracts from the supernatural with the amazingly natural inventions he helps create. If he sees that he cannot distract from the spiritual, then he will try to make you pick other things—anything but the Mass. Say more novenas, pray more Rosaries if you must, but above all do not go to more Masses and most definitely do have Masses offered for your intentions!
► Satan uses the weapon of mass denial. In the Garden of Eden he used this weapon of denial by telling Eve: “No, you shall not die the death!” (Genesis 3:4). He denied the truthfulness of a direct statement from God who had said: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:17).
► Satan uses the weapon of mass downplay. Satan will downplay, minimize and trivialize the spiritual, whispering: “It’s not a big deal!” He also downplays what is wrong, bad, evil and sinful, whispering: “It’s not a big deal! You won’t to Hell for that! Everyone does it! Besides, you can always confess it later if you feel you need to!” But so many things in life that are not really a big deal, when not nipped in the bud, can become a big deal—Hell is full of living proof of that truth.
► Satan uses the weapon of mass distortion. His cunning ways are seen again in the Garden when he distorted God’s truth by stating to Eve: “Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?” (Genesis 3:1). But God actually said, “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat—but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16,17). The lesson here is that we must know God’s Word thoroughly—not merely superficially or loosely—so that we can guard ourselves against distorted teachings that may even include an element of Holy Scripture. For Satan will admit nine truths so that he can slip in a lie in the end. Jesus showed mastery over this during His times of temptation in desert—where Satan was quoting Scripture to Him.
Satan’s Success in Attacking the Holy Mass
Have you ever stopped to think about Satan’s wide-ranging and progressively intensified attacks against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and all that is directly or intimately linked to it? Go back to the auditory-vision that Pope Leo XIII had of a conversation between Christ and Satan around the year 1883, whereby Satan proudly boasted that he could destroy Christ’s Church if he would only be given free rein and enough time to do so. Christ gave him that time [read more about the vision here]. Look at the development of things from that time onward.
► Communists boast about the power of their subtle, invasive and eroding tactic of “ideological subversion”—whereby they subtly plant false ideas in the people or nation whose downfall they are targeting. Satan was in that sense the ultimate and initial Communist — for he planted bad ideas in the mind of Eve that then led to bad actions. The insidious poison of Liberalism already existed in the Church in increasingly large doses since the explosion of the Liberal French Revolution of 1789 and its roots were well and truly sunk deep into the Church—awaiting its morphing or evolution into “Modernism.”
► Modernism was a movement that emerged in the last decade of the 19th century (right after the above mentioned audio-vision of Pope Leo XIII) and first decade of the 20th century (the reign of Pope St. Pius X—who tried to fight Modernism, but only succeeded in making it hide underground). Modernism wanted to reinterpret traditional Catholic teaching in the light of 19th-century philosophical, historical, and psychological theories and called for freedom of conscience.
► Liberalism—the forerunner to Modernism—is the belief that the human person is the ultimate source of freedom and goodness, and so must be freed, not only from restrictive and repressive political and social systems, but also freed from the Church, religion and even God Himself. Satan was the first and ultimate Liberal—with his infamous cry: “I will not serve!” — in other words, “I want to be free from all restraint!” — and the ultimate inescapable restraint is that of God Himself. Thus Liberalism is above all a spiritual rebellion—that is almost inevitably combined with Modernism.
Satan’s Use of Modernism Against the Holy Mass
Modernism is the belief that human culture, fashions and trends are the lenses through which reality must be seen. Modernism takes the facts of Faith and transforms them into fiction or fables—it then takes its own self-created fiction or fables and transforms them into facts. Pope St. Pius X said that Modernism starts with the false notion that we can only believe what we can see or sense—what is visible or tangible to the senses. If we can’t see, feel, taste, touch or smell it—then we cannot be sure and know that something is there. Thus, the existence of God, the soul and the supernatural cannot be known—because these things are not visible to the senses, so we can know nothing about them, nor can we even really know if they exist. This “I-don’t- know-ism” is called “Agnosticism”. Modernism and Agnosticism are bedfellows—together with Liberalism. As a result of this Agnosticism or “I-don’t- know-ism”, a God “out there” can never be a real or direct object of our study—for how can you study what you cannot see or measure in any way? Nor can any belief be given to the idea of “miracles,” the “supernatural” or “revelation” — since these things, according to the Modernist, cannot be known. Thus the old religion of a God “out there” is to be treated as of no value — and by implication and association, neither can the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be objectively studied, nor can it have any supernatural value—because you cannot see what you “imagine” takes place. The “sacrifice” is merely a figment or opinion or a wishful thinking of your mind without any external evidence to back it up. O what a web Satan weaves!
But the Modernist will admit to you that it can be seen that religion exists. He sees men the world over leading moral lives in compliance with their religious creed. He sees the houses of worship, hears the religious hymns, smells the incense. Where has all this come from? How did it all come about? What is meaning of all this? This must be explained somehow. Since the Modernist has already determined that religion does not come from some kind of a God “out there” — because this is unknowable by our minds — the Modernist comes to the rash conclusion that all religion comes from inside of man. Man has an inbuilt religious sentiment, a religious feeling, a need for religion, and so man has constructed a God and a religion to fulfill this inner religious feelings and needs. For the Modernist, all divine things are not really divine, but actually come from within man and have their source or origins from within man. This “divine-within-man” the Modernist calls “Vital Immanence”. In the opinion of the Modernist, those who are called “believers”, by their inner religious feelings and needs, subjectively change the human Christ into a God-Man. Modernists claim that the imagination created “Christ of Faith” is a distortion and an exaggeration of the true and real “Christ of history” — who, the Modernists claim, is not divine. Nor did Christ work any miracles—thus the Mass is not a miracle, the Mass does not really change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ—it is only religious minded people who do this in order to satisfy their inner religious feelings, hopes and needs. The “divine elements” attributed to Jesus Christ were only what the believers — or consensus of believers — of the time, attributed to Christ in order to satisfy their inner religious needs.
Applying the Poison of Modernism to the Holy Mass
To put in simplistic terms (which Modernism rarely does, for it prefers to hide behind difficult words and confusion), Modernism is all about “think-what-you-want”, “believe-what-you-want”, “do-what-you-want”—just don’t try force your opinions and beliefs on other and try make everyone else follow you or agree with you—for that goes against everyone’s freedom to choose what they want. So if you think that the Mass is a real sacrifice, a real miracle, a real changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ—then fine, you can think whatever you want—as long as you don’t expect others to conform to YOUR ‘religion’ and YOUR way of seeing things. That is a pretty successful “sales-pitch” by Satan and the Modernists—for today that is exactly what has happened and still is happening. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist—yet they still consider themselves to be ‘good Catholics’ despite that. Most Catholics no longer think that Holy Mass—hey, drop the “Holy” bit and simply call it Mass”—no longer think that Mass is a real sacrifice, but only a symbolic sacrifice, a reminder of a sacrifice, or—let’s just drop the word “sacrifice” since we no longer believe it—just simply a meal and a commemoration or reminder of the Last Supper. There is no super-power in the Mass, nor super-power behind the Mass—it is just a human ceremony with religious overtones. That is why most Catholics will go to Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin—that is if they even believe in mortal sin anymore—for they argue: “How can it be a sacrilege to receive just a piece of bread?” Besides—many modern-day Catholics argue that some mortal sins are not sins at all—such as missing Mass on Sunday; receiving Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin; abortion; contraception; cohabitation; same sex relations; LGBTQ adherence; masturbation; impure thoughts; drunkenness; drug use; blasphemy, etc., etc.
Applying the Poison of Infiltration to the Holy Mass
Another masterstroke of Satan’s is to have succeeded in infiltrating the Catholic Church in general and the Catholic clergy in particular. We need only cite the case of the Freemasonic infiltration of the Church and the Communist infiltration of the Church. A current Conservative bishop of the Catholic Church, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, writes in a Foreword to a book by Dr. Taylor Marshall, Infiltration, the following words—which simply echo the words of many a pope and bishop through the last 200 years:
“Many wonder how it could happen that the Church’s doctrine, morals, and liturgy have been disfigured to such a large extent ... We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons — an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process … The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration … The first infiltration in the Church happened with the apostate apostle Judas Iscariot. Since then, there have been in the Church intruders — priests, bishops, and even in very rare cases, popes — whom Our Lord called ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ … With devastation and confusion in the Church now in full public view, it is time to expose the historical roots and the perpetrators of this harm.” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, April 11th, 2019).
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Quod Multum, spoke of the “bold obstinacy of secret societies” and their influence and domination through “conspiracies” and “corruptions.” Pope Leo XIII would write four encyclicals against Freemasonry and consistently fought against Liberalism. Over a century ago the Freemasons dreamt of hijacking the papacy and thus controlling the Church. The Alta Vendita was the highest lodge of the Carbonari, an Italian secret society with links to Freemasonry. Fr. E. Cahill, S.J., in his book Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement, states that the Alta Vendita was commonly supposed to have been at the time the governing center of European Freemasonry. In the Freemasonic document The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, a secret document written in the early 19th century that mapped out a blueprint for the subversion of the Catholic Church, the Alta Vendita dreamed of “a pope according to our heart.” He would be sprung from a generation won over to Freemasonic dogmas from its youth, via the corruption of families, books, and education. He would be elected by a corrupted clergy and would be similarly “imbued with the Italian and humanitarian principles which we are about to put into circulation.”
“Let the clergy march under your banner, while they naïvely believe they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic Keys … You will have preached revolution in tiara and cope … a revolution that will need only a little help to set the corners of the world on fire!” stated The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, which was ultimately acquired by the Church and published with comments by multiple popes.
Already in the time of Pope Leo XIII, Cardinal Rampolla—who was almost elected to the papacy in place of Pope Pius X—was alleged to have been a Freemason. In later years, one of the chief architects of the New Mass, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini was accused of being a Freemason. In a 1996 interview Dom Alcuin Reid asked Cardinal Stickler if he believed that Bugnini was a Freemason and if this was the reason Paul VI dismissed him. “No,” the cardinal replied, “it was something far worse!” Today it is said that there are FOUR FREEMASONIC LODGES for the higher clergy—that is to say cardinals and bishops—existing in the Vatican!
Add to this Freemasonic infiltration the Communist infiltration of the Church which began in the years following the First World War and was especially rampant and successful in the 1930s and 1940s—and you have a very worrisome situation with regards to the Holy Mass—as will be explained in a moment.
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904 –1969) was born in Italy and came to the USA as a young child. A schoolteacher and lawyer by profession, Dodd was an organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. Her book, School of Darkness (1954) reveals that Communism was perpetrated by financiers “to control the common man” and to advance world tyranny. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Dr. Bella Dodd made a public affidavit which was witnessed by a number of people, including Paul and Johnine Leininger. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger confirmed that other people could also verify that Dr. Bella V. Dodd had made these statements regarding the infiltration of Communists into Roman Catholic seminaries. Mrs. Leininger has also said that she herself knows some Roman Catholic priests who were “sleepers” ― an espionage term for individuals or groups who refrain from any subversive, espionage, and/or infiltrator functions until they become “active”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger stated that she knows of several priests who faithfully taught the Catholic religion, until they became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, and then, upon becoming “active”, immediately exhibited hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed. Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Now What Were All Those Infiltrators Thinking?
What was and is the purpose of all this infiltration of the Church? Well—as Satan said to Christ as heard in a vision by Pope Leo XIII—the destruction of Christ’s Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. In any human body there are essential and non-essential body parts. You can survive without some of your body parts—such as a kidney, an eye, an arm or a leg—but you cannot survive without your head and your heart. That is why people who shoot to kill will aim for the head or the heart. Decapitation or beheading is also another form of killing or capital punishment. Our Lord is the Head of the Mystical Body and Our Lady is its Heart. It stands to reason that Satan will primarily attack those elements (and persons) of the Church that focus on Jesus and Mary, devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, or things connected with them, such as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (in which Jesus offers Himself as a sacrifice) and the Holy Rosary. The Mass is, of course, more important and more powerful than the Rosary—the Rosary draws its power from the Sacrifice of the Mass which is the Sacrifice of Christ.
The fact that Jesus and Mary—or the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, or the Holy Mass and the Holy Rosary—are the primary focus for Satan’s attack, also explains why, in recent centuries, Heaven has been trying to strengthen our devotion to Jesus and Mary—the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart—the Holy Mass and the Holy Rosary—the Holy Eucharist and the Brown Scapular. Hence we have elements of the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary, devotion to the Immaculate Heart and the Brown Scapular all entwined and present in the Fatima apparitions of Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal. We also see these elements in the vision granted to St. John Bosco concerning the Church, pictured as a ship on the sea, being attacked on all sides by enemies—but the ship eventually find safety and shelter by being chained to two large pillars that miraculously arise out of the stormy sea—one pillar supporting the Holy Eucharist, and the other pillar supporting Our Lady [read more here]—who confirmed that the Host was actually a human myocardium (the inner wall of a human heart) and that the coagulated wine pellets from the chalice were actually living human blood! All of this came at a time when belief and devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist were starting to crumble—especially with the advent of the New Mass and the explosion of modern technology as a distraction.
Those who have infiltrated the clergy, did not desire to become priests—their desire was the opposite. They infiltrated the clergy in order to destroy the priesthood. Not that the priesthood was the main focus or concern—their chief goal was to destroy the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the Church’s chief protection and weapon against its earthly and hellish enemies—the destruction of the priesthood is only a means to arrive at the real goal—the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If there is no priest—then there is no Mass. There can be no Sacrifice of the Mass without a priest to offer it.
How, then, do you destroy the priesthood? Certainly not by butchering them—for martyrdom is the seed of Faith for the Church and the enemies of the Church have learnt their lesson the hard way by having martyrdom backfire on them in the past. No—the modern way is to destroy the Church while leaving it standing! Remove the priesthood while leaving it in place! Remove the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and have another sacrifice offered in its place—that looks like the Sacrifice of the Mass, but is merely a chimera, a fake. Remove the Holy Eucharist by giving them a Eucharistic substitute—one that looks like the Eucharist, tastes like the Eucharist, but is not the Eucharist. All of this can be achieved if your infiltrators of the clergy become ordained as priests and withhold the intention of really wanting to be priests—which will result in “fake priests” who look like priests, talk like priests, preach like priests, offer the Sacrifice of the Mass like priests, dispense the other Sacraments like priests—but in reality they will not be priests because they deliberately withheld the intention of becoming priests at their ordination. The same is true of an adult who might go through with the ceremony of adult baptism—but interiorly, in his mind and heart, has absolutely no intention of being baptized. So, even though he was externally baptized by a priest for all to see—the Sacrament of Baptism never too effect and he remains unbaptized.
The next step—and even more important step in achieving this goal of destroying the priesthood—is to get your infiltrator ‘priests’ raised to the episcopacy by being consecrated as bishops. These infiltrator ‘priests’ would not really become bishops—because they would again interiorly withhold all desire and intention of becoming bishops, so that even though the external ceremony of episcopal consecration took place, it would be invalidated by the contrary intention of the infiltrator. Hence you end up with bishops who are not bishops—and, even more importantly, anyone that these fake bishops would ordain to the priesthood in the future, would not end up being priests because the ordaining bishop is not really a bishop. In this way, over a period of time, you can destroy much of the priesthood of the Catholic Church—and this is what has been going on, according to Dr. Bella Dodd, since the early and mid 20th century.
Church Admits Satanic Infiltration
Pope Paul VI alludes to this infiltration several times after the Second Vatican Council.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock, no doubt, some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read: essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’ In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
It's Your Problem—Like It or Not
So there you have it! A pretty big mess in which most people do not like to see, do not like to hear about, do not want to face and think about—and most definitely do not want to do anything about. Their attitude is one of: “Well, it’s not my mess! I didn’t make it! I shouldn’t have to do anything about it! It’s not my problem!” Maybe so—but if the hand is careless and cuts itself, do the feet say: “I am not going to take the hand to the hospital because I am not responsible for the cut!”? It would be detrimental if not suicidal to think and act that way! It is almost like the parable of the Good Samaritan, where a man is attacked, beaten, robbed and left dying by the roadside—and the Priest and Levite both pass him by without helping him in any way—no doubt thinking: “Hey! It’s not my problem! I might even get attacked myself!” That is how we are with regard to the problems in the Church and the world today. However, it is our problem—indirectly at least—for we are “the salt of the Earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14) and if we fail to be “salty” and “enlightening” then we become “good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men” (Matthew 5:13).
St. John Chrysostom, one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, tells us that on Judgment Day we will be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! You might protest: “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a little unfair and over the top? Hey! How can I control what happens in the whole world? I’m not God! Everyone has a free will to do as they please! Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sorry buddy, sorry honey! Yes you are your brother’s keeper and, yes, you can affect what happens in the whole world! On a purely physical or material level it is of course impossible—but on a spiritual level it is not impossible, but possible and necessary!
The Unlimited Power of the Mass
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not limited in its power—it is infinite in its power! It we that hinder and limit and bottleneck that power by our lack of Faith, our lukewarmness, our indifference and our neglect. Think again on the words of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who said: “Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Yet she adds what commonly applies to most priests: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil!” — words which are echoed by Our Lady of La Salette: “There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world!” We have lost all sense of the power and benefits of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Statements such as — “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751) — such statements seem to be exaggerations to us. That is why most Catholics rarely go to extra Masses, rarely seek to have Masses offered for the resolution of various problems and difficulties, and even feel it a burden to simply attend Sunday Mass each week! Even priests have lost a sense of awe and faith in the power of the Mass. To Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Our Lady of Good Success foretells that in our times, “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” Our Lord also added these words: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
We do well to consider and contemplate the words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange—one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century—taken from his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, wherein he writes: “The life of grace, given to us in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, is the seed or germ of eternal life ... At every Mass, when the priest raises the Precious Blood high above the altar, our Faith in its redemptive power and virtue ought to become greater and more intense … The sacrifice of Calvary substantially perpetuated on the altar during the Mass, and of the mystery of the Cross which should be reproduced in any true and profound Christian life … The Savior transmits the lights of Faith … especially through the Eucharist … for the Eucharist is the most perfect of the Sacraments, containing, not only grace. but the Author of grace; and it is a sacrifice of infinite value … He renews it every day in the Sacrifice of the Mass … He gives Himself to us in daily Communion … The heart of our Savior is called ‘Eucharistic’ because it has given us the greatest of the Sacraments … He instituted the priesthood to perpetuate—Sacramentally, by means of the Eucharist—the sacrifice of the cross until the end of time … Christ's love did not give us the Eucharist only once—but gives it to us daily. He might have willed that Mass should be celebrated only once or twice a year, in some great sanctuary, to which people would come from afar. On the contrary, not only one Mass, but numbers of them are celebrated continually, at every minute of the day, over the surface of the Earth. Thus He grants to His Church the graces it needs at the various moments of its history.”
Start Using the Mass!
So—coming back to the thorny truth that on Judgment Day you will be judge for all that happened in the world during your lifetime—it is true that of your own powers you can do little to influence the entire world. Yet it is not your own puny human powers that God expects you to use—Our Lord Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, in each Sacrifice of the Mass it is that very same Our Lord who offers the Mass through the hands of His priest—each Mass is Our Lord’s Mass, with Our Lord offering His Sacrifice of Calvary all over again, with its infinite power. That one sacrifice of Our Lord on Calvary was enough to save the WHOLE WORLD, yet He continues to perpetuate that sacrifice in an unbloody and mystical manner throughout all centuries—if we would only profit from it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Children are taught, but not all children learn. There is nothing stopping you from using the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in many ways to sanctify yourself and change the world—if only you would have a greater respect, faith and confidence in the infinite power of the Mass.
You could—and should—attend Mass more often. If you cannot physically attend Mass due to work commitments or other obligations, then what prevents you from reading the prayers of each daily Mass—thus attending spiritually if you cannot attend physically. Hey! It will only take one-half-hour of your precious time!
Furthermore, what is there to prevent you giving stipends on a regular basis to have Masses offered—not just for minor intentions like Aunt Hilda’s birthday, or Uncle Joe’s health, or a soul in Purgatory—why not have Mass offered for more serious and apocalyptic situations such as the ones facing the Church and world today? It is not in your power to turn back all the enemies of the Church, but it is in your power to have a Mass of infinite power offered for that intention. In other words, you can do little or nothing—but Christ can do everything—and it is in the sacrifice of Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, that Christ manifests His supreme power. What will your excuse be on Judgment Day, for not having Masses offered to ward off the terrible threats faced by the Church and the world today? “Sorry Lord! I couldn’t spare a few dollars for a Mass because I needed my weekly “six-pack” or bottle of wine, or candies and chocolates!” or whatever! The Mass is the most powerful weapon in the universe and it is accessible to every Catholic—whether it be to attend Mass or have Mass offered for the above mentioned intention. There is no excuse for failing to profit from it!
In Latin, “Missa” means “Mass” and “Missale” means “Missal” — the Missal being the Church’s liturgical book containing the prayers and rites used by the priest in celebrating Mass over the course of the entire year. The Mass is a mission. The Mass is a missive. The nouns “mission” and “missive” come from the Latin verb “mittere” meaning “to send”, and its past participle “missus”, meaning “sent.” We are given or sent on missions that we must accomplish. We are sent missives (see more below) by others in order to rouse us to action of some kind. Yet, the Mass—sadly—is dismissively dismissed by most Catholics as being of little or no importance compared to the many other ‘more important’ things that preoccupy their minds. The name “Mass” comes from the Latin phrase “Ite, missa est!” For those who used to, or still do, attend the Latin Mass—you will know that just before the final blessing at the end of Mass, the priest turns to you and says: “Ite, missa est!” which indicates a “sending forth” into the world, synonymous with Christ’s words to His Apostles at the end of His life on Earth, before ascending into Heaven, when He said:
“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!’” (Matthew 28:18-20)—which is an echo of what He had earlier said to them: “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men! For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles!” (Matthew 10:16-18). Here Christ’s “missive” gives them their “mission”—Christ is the “sender” and they are the “sent”.
After His Resurrection, Our Lord again echoes this same “missive”: “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you!” (John 20:21)—which is the spirit in which the priest says the “Ite, missa est!” at the final dismissal at the end of Mass—meaning in essence: “Go! You are now being sent forth into the world to testify to Christ and Christ’s redemptive death—in which you have just participated in this Mass! Going, therefore, show Christ to all the persons you might encounter, teaching them, by your words and example, to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded you!”
You may have heard the phrase, “fire off a missive,” meaning urgently sending a note, memo or dispatch that was written and sent with urgency and conveys an important message. Our Lady has been “firing-off missives” for a long time now—but, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima says, her missives are being largely ignored and consigned to the bin. “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message [missive]; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate, without paying mind to this message [missive]―they do not unite their lives to the message [missive] of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the message [missive], because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Yet Mary’s “missive” is dismissively dismissed. Most Catholics have missed their mission by dismissively dismissing the missives they were sent! Or, to put it more simply and bluntly—they have screwed up their Catholic life by not doing what they were told to do—“doing their own thing” instead.
A MASSive Missive
Our Lord’s mission was Calvary—He was “missioned” or “commissioned” or “sent” to accomplish the rescue and redemption of sinful mankind, who had fallen into the captivity of the devil through their sins. Calvary was Christ’s mission and since the Mass is Christ re-enacting Calvary all over again each time the Mass is offered, then you could say that the Mass is a mission—a mission for the redemption of captives of sin; a redemptive mission of mercy.
We, being the recipients of that redemptive mercy of Christ on Calvary, are meant to pass on the benefits of that redemptive sacrifice to others. Thus Holy Scripture says: “Do not forget to do good, and to impart!” (Hebrews 13:16). “Freely have you received, freely give!” (Matthew 10:8). “It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive!” (Acts 20:35). “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves!” (James 1:22).
“What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food and one of you say to them: ‘Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled!’ — yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body — what shall it profit? So Faith, also, if it have not works, is dead in itself!” (James 2:14-17). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him—how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
A MASSive Missile
You have more than you think or imagine. You have the Mass. You can plant the Mass. You can plant a stipend for a Mass often. You can plant an intention for that Mass with the priest. The Mass is a mission and the Mass is your mission. The Mass is like a missile — the word “missile” means “an object which is forcibly propelled at a target” coming from the Latin “missilis”, from the verb “mittere” meaning “to throw, send.”
An atomic bomb, or nuclear bomb, or nuclear missile are comparatively little innocuous things that pack a powerful punch. Who would have thought that a mere missile with a nuclear warhead could cause such an incredible amount of damage?!! A nuclear bomb or missile can release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
Likewise with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—a relatively short, inconspicuous, innocuous ceremony packs an unimaginably powerful punch. If St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina could say of the Holy Rosary: “The Rosary is the weapon!” — then what could be said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? As Our Lady said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” — that “sign left by my Son” is the Sign of the Cross, not just the Sign of the Cross that we make over ourselves before we pray, but the REAL, TRUE, EFFICACIOUS SIGN OF THE CROSS which is found in the REAL and TRUE SACRIFICE of Christ that is made upon our altars at every valid SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.
Hence the Popes and Saints say: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914).
A Weapon of MASS Destruction
As was said above—the Mass is Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, perpetuated, re-enacted, reproduced, re-offered by Christ Himself every time a priest offers a valid Sacrifice of the Mass. A seemingly little innocuous thing packs a powerful punch. Who would have thought that a mere missile with a nuclear warhead could cause such an incredible amount of damage?!! A nuclear bomb or missile can release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. So too for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—which you could call a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”. This tremendous power is implied by the following quotes:
“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to the Mass … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
Satan Knows the Power and Cowers from the Power
Outside of Heaven, nobody knows and appreciates (or hates) the power of the Mass more than Satan. It was the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary that fooled him and defeated him. That is why Satan will try to use his own mass weapons against the power of Mass destruction inherent in the Holy Mass.
► Satan uses the weapon of mass distraction. He will cause us to lose our focus on the things of eternal value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with all kinds of trinkets and gizmos designed to get our attention off the thing that can really damage him and his earthly empire. This is especially easy in these days of modern technology, which helps dull our spirituality and distracts from the supernatural with the amazingly natural inventions he helps create. If he sees that he cannot distract from the spiritual, then he will try to make you pick other things—anything but the Mass. Say more novenas, pray more Rosaries if you must, but above all do not go to more Masses and most definitely do have Masses offered for your intentions!
► Satan uses the weapon of mass denial. In the Garden of Eden he used this weapon of denial by telling Eve: “No, you shall not die the death!” (Genesis 3:4). He denied the truthfulness of a direct statement from God who had said: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:17).
► Satan uses the weapon of mass downplay. Satan will downplay, minimize and trivialize the spiritual, whispering: “It’s not a big deal!” He also downplays what is wrong, bad, evil and sinful, whispering: “It’s not a big deal! You won’t to Hell for that! Everyone does it! Besides, you can always confess it later if you feel you need to!” But so many things in life that are not really a big deal, when not nipped in the bud, can become a big deal—Hell is full of living proof of that truth.
► Satan uses the weapon of mass distortion. His cunning ways are seen again in the Garden when he distorted God’s truth by stating to Eve: “Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?” (Genesis 3:1). But God actually said, “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat—but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16,17). The lesson here is that we must know God’s Word thoroughly—not merely superficially or loosely—so that we can guard ourselves against distorted teachings that may even include an element of Holy Scripture. For Satan will admit nine truths so that he can slip in a lie in the end. Jesus showed mastery over this during His times of temptation in desert—where Satan was quoting Scripture to Him.
Satan’s Success in Attacking the Holy Mass
Have you ever stopped to think about Satan’s wide-ranging and progressively intensified attacks against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and all that is directly or intimately linked to it? Go back to the auditory-vision that Pope Leo XIII had of a conversation between Christ and Satan around the year 1883, whereby Satan proudly boasted that he could destroy Christ’s Church if he would only be given free rein and enough time to do so. Christ gave him that time [read more about the vision here]. Look at the development of things from that time onward.
► Communists boast about the power of their subtle, invasive and eroding tactic of “ideological subversion”—whereby they subtly plant false ideas in the people or nation whose downfall they are targeting. Satan was in that sense the ultimate and initial Communist — for he planted bad ideas in the mind of Eve that then led to bad actions. The insidious poison of Liberalism already existed in the Church in increasingly large doses since the explosion of the Liberal French Revolution of 1789 and its roots were well and truly sunk deep into the Church—awaiting its morphing or evolution into “Modernism.”
► Modernism was a movement that emerged in the last decade of the 19th century (right after the above mentioned audio-vision of Pope Leo XIII) and first decade of the 20th century (the reign of Pope St. Pius X—who tried to fight Modernism, but only succeeded in making it hide underground). Modernism wanted to reinterpret traditional Catholic teaching in the light of 19th-century philosophical, historical, and psychological theories and called for freedom of conscience.
► Liberalism—the forerunner to Modernism—is the belief that the human person is the ultimate source of freedom and goodness, and so must be freed, not only from restrictive and repressive political and social systems, but also freed from the Church, religion and even God Himself. Satan was the first and ultimate Liberal—with his infamous cry: “I will not serve!” — in other words, “I want to be free from all restraint!” — and the ultimate inescapable restraint is that of God Himself. Thus Liberalism is above all a spiritual rebellion—that is almost inevitably combined with Modernism.
Satan’s Use of Modernism Against the Holy Mass
Modernism is the belief that human culture, fashions and trends are the lenses through which reality must be seen. Modernism takes the facts of Faith and transforms them into fiction or fables—it then takes its own self-created fiction or fables and transforms them into facts. Pope St. Pius X said that Modernism starts with the false notion that we can only believe what we can see or sense—what is visible or tangible to the senses. If we can’t see, feel, taste, touch or smell it—then we cannot be sure and know that something is there. Thus, the existence of God, the soul and the supernatural cannot be known—because these things are not visible to the senses, so we can know nothing about them, nor can we even really know if they exist. This “I-don’t- know-ism” is called “Agnosticism”. Modernism and Agnosticism are bedfellows—together with Liberalism. As a result of this Agnosticism or “I-don’t- know-ism”, a God “out there” can never be a real or direct object of our study—for how can you study what you cannot see or measure in any way? Nor can any belief be given to the idea of “miracles,” the “supernatural” or “revelation” — since these things, according to the Modernist, cannot be known. Thus the old religion of a God “out there” is to be treated as of no value — and by implication and association, neither can the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be objectively studied, nor can it have any supernatural value—because you cannot see what you “imagine” takes place. The “sacrifice” is merely a figment or opinion or a wishful thinking of your mind without any external evidence to back it up. O what a web Satan weaves!
But the Modernist will admit to you that it can be seen that religion exists. He sees men the world over leading moral lives in compliance with their religious creed. He sees the houses of worship, hears the religious hymns, smells the incense. Where has all this come from? How did it all come about? What is meaning of all this? This must be explained somehow. Since the Modernist has already determined that religion does not come from some kind of a God “out there” — because this is unknowable by our minds — the Modernist comes to the rash conclusion that all religion comes from inside of man. Man has an inbuilt religious sentiment, a religious feeling, a need for religion, and so man has constructed a God and a religion to fulfill this inner religious feelings and needs. For the Modernist, all divine things are not really divine, but actually come from within man and have their source or origins from within man. This “divine-within-man” the Modernist calls “Vital Immanence”. In the opinion of the Modernist, those who are called “believers”, by their inner religious feelings and needs, subjectively change the human Christ into a God-Man. Modernists claim that the imagination created “Christ of Faith” is a distortion and an exaggeration of the true and real “Christ of history” — who, the Modernists claim, is not divine. Nor did Christ work any miracles—thus the Mass is not a miracle, the Mass does not really change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ—it is only religious minded people who do this in order to satisfy their inner religious feelings, hopes and needs. The “divine elements” attributed to Jesus Christ were only what the believers — or consensus of believers — of the time, attributed to Christ in order to satisfy their inner religious needs.
Applying the Poison of Modernism to the Holy Mass
To put in simplistic terms (which Modernism rarely does, for it prefers to hide behind difficult words and confusion), Modernism is all about “think-what-you-want”, “believe-what-you-want”, “do-what-you-want”—just don’t try force your opinions and beliefs on other and try make everyone else follow you or agree with you—for that goes against everyone’s freedom to choose what they want. So if you think that the Mass is a real sacrifice, a real miracle, a real changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ—then fine, you can think whatever you want—as long as you don’t expect others to conform to YOUR ‘religion’ and YOUR way of seeing things. That is a pretty successful “sales-pitch” by Satan and the Modernists—for today that is exactly what has happened and still is happening. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist—yet they still consider themselves to be ‘good Catholics’ despite that. Most Catholics no longer think that Holy Mass—hey, drop the “Holy” bit and simply call it Mass”—no longer think that Mass is a real sacrifice, but only a symbolic sacrifice, a reminder of a sacrifice, or—let’s just drop the word “sacrifice” since we no longer believe it—just simply a meal and a commemoration or reminder of the Last Supper. There is no super-power in the Mass, nor super-power behind the Mass—it is just a human ceremony with religious overtones. That is why most Catholics will go to Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin—that is if they even believe in mortal sin anymore—for they argue: “How can it be a sacrilege to receive just a piece of bread?” Besides—many modern-day Catholics argue that some mortal sins are not sins at all—such as missing Mass on Sunday; receiving Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin; abortion; contraception; cohabitation; same sex relations; LGBTQ adherence; masturbation; impure thoughts; drunkenness; drug use; blasphemy, etc., etc.
Applying the Poison of Infiltration to the Holy Mass
Another masterstroke of Satan’s is to have succeeded in infiltrating the Catholic Church in general and the Catholic clergy in particular. We need only cite the case of the Freemasonic infiltration of the Church and the Communist infiltration of the Church. A current Conservative bishop of the Catholic Church, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, writes in a Foreword to a book by Dr. Taylor Marshall, Infiltration, the following words—which simply echo the words of many a pope and bishop through the last 200 years:
“Many wonder how it could happen that the Church’s doctrine, morals, and liturgy have been disfigured to such a large extent ... We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons — an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process … The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration … The first infiltration in the Church happened with the apostate apostle Judas Iscariot. Since then, there have been in the Church intruders — priests, bishops, and even in very rare cases, popes — whom Our Lord called ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ … With devastation and confusion in the Church now in full public view, it is time to expose the historical roots and the perpetrators of this harm.” (Bishop Athanasius Schneider, April 11th, 2019).
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Quod Multum, spoke of the “bold obstinacy of secret societies” and their influence and domination through “conspiracies” and “corruptions.” Pope Leo XIII would write four encyclicals against Freemasonry and consistently fought against Liberalism. Over a century ago the Freemasons dreamt of hijacking the papacy and thus controlling the Church. The Alta Vendita was the highest lodge of the Carbonari, an Italian secret society with links to Freemasonry. Fr. E. Cahill, S.J., in his book Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement, states that the Alta Vendita was commonly supposed to have been at the time the governing center of European Freemasonry. In the Freemasonic document The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, a secret document written in the early 19th century that mapped out a blueprint for the subversion of the Catholic Church, the Alta Vendita dreamed of “a pope according to our heart.” He would be sprung from a generation won over to Freemasonic dogmas from its youth, via the corruption of families, books, and education. He would be elected by a corrupted clergy and would be similarly “imbued with the Italian and humanitarian principles which we are about to put into circulation.”
“Let the clergy march under your banner, while they naïvely believe they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic Keys … You will have preached revolution in tiara and cope … a revolution that will need only a little help to set the corners of the world on fire!” stated The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, which was ultimately acquired by the Church and published with comments by multiple popes.
Already in the time of Pope Leo XIII, Cardinal Rampolla—who was almost elected to the papacy in place of Pope Pius X—was alleged to have been a Freemason. In later years, one of the chief architects of the New Mass, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini was accused of being a Freemason. In a 1996 interview Dom Alcuin Reid asked Cardinal Stickler if he believed that Bugnini was a Freemason and if this was the reason Paul VI dismissed him. “No,” the cardinal replied, “it was something far worse!” Today it is said that there are FOUR FREEMASONIC LODGES for the higher clergy—that is to say cardinals and bishops—existing in the Vatican!
Add to this Freemasonic infiltration the Communist infiltration of the Church which began in the years following the First World War and was especially rampant and successful in the 1930s and 1940s—and you have a very worrisome situation with regards to the Holy Mass—as will be explained in a moment.
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904 –1969) was born in Italy and came to the USA as a young child. A schoolteacher and lawyer by profession, Dodd was an organizer for the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) from 1932–1948, and from 1944 to 1948 sat on the CPUSA’s National Council. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radicals to enter Roman Catholic seminaries. Her book, School of Darkness (1954) reveals that Communism was perpetrated by financiers “to control the common man” and to advance world tyranny. In front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, speaking as a former high-ranking official of the American Communist Party, Mrs. Dodd testified about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church: “In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Dr. Bella Dodd made a public affidavit which was witnessed by a number of people, including Paul and Johnine Leininger. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger confirmed that other people could also verify that Dr. Bella V. Dodd had made these statements regarding the infiltration of Communists into Roman Catholic seminaries. Mrs. Leininger has also said that she herself knows some Roman Catholic priests who were “sleepers” ― an espionage term for individuals or groups who refrain from any subversive, espionage, and/or infiltrator functions until they become “active”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger stated that she knows of several priests who faithfully taught the Catholic religion, until they became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, and then, upon becoming “active”, immediately exhibited hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed. Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.”
Now What Were All Those Infiltrators Thinking?
What was and is the purpose of all this infiltration of the Church? Well—as Satan said to Christ as heard in a vision by Pope Leo XIII—the destruction of Christ’s Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. In any human body there are essential and non-essential body parts. You can survive without some of your body parts—such as a kidney, an eye, an arm or a leg—but you cannot survive without your head and your heart. That is why people who shoot to kill will aim for the head or the heart. Decapitation or beheading is also another form of killing or capital punishment. Our Lord is the Head of the Mystical Body and Our Lady is its Heart. It stands to reason that Satan will primarily attack those elements (and persons) of the Church that focus on Jesus and Mary, devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, or things connected with them, such as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (in which Jesus offers Himself as a sacrifice) and the Holy Rosary. The Mass is, of course, more important and more powerful than the Rosary—the Rosary draws its power from the Sacrifice of the Mass which is the Sacrifice of Christ.
The fact that Jesus and Mary—or the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, or the Holy Mass and the Holy Rosary—are the primary focus for Satan’s attack, also explains why, in recent centuries, Heaven has been trying to strengthen our devotion to Jesus and Mary—the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart—the Holy Mass and the Holy Rosary—the Holy Eucharist and the Brown Scapular. Hence we have elements of the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Rosary, devotion to the Immaculate Heart and the Brown Scapular all entwined and present in the Fatima apparitions of Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal. We also see these elements in the vision granted to St. John Bosco concerning the Church, pictured as a ship on the sea, being attacked on all sides by enemies—but the ship eventually find safety and shelter by being chained to two large pillars that miraculously arise out of the stormy sea—one pillar supporting the Holy Eucharist, and the other pillar supporting Our Lady [read more here]—who confirmed that the Host was actually a human myocardium (the inner wall of a human heart) and that the coagulated wine pellets from the chalice were actually living human blood! All of this came at a time when belief and devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist were starting to crumble—especially with the advent of the New Mass and the explosion of modern technology as a distraction.
Those who have infiltrated the clergy, did not desire to become priests—their desire was the opposite. They infiltrated the clergy in order to destroy the priesthood. Not that the priesthood was the main focus or concern—their chief goal was to destroy the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the Church’s chief protection and weapon against its earthly and hellish enemies—the destruction of the priesthood is only a means to arrive at the real goal—the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If there is no priest—then there is no Mass. There can be no Sacrifice of the Mass without a priest to offer it.
How, then, do you destroy the priesthood? Certainly not by butchering them—for martyrdom is the seed of Faith for the Church and the enemies of the Church have learnt their lesson the hard way by having martyrdom backfire on them in the past. No—the modern way is to destroy the Church while leaving it standing! Remove the priesthood while leaving it in place! Remove the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and have another sacrifice offered in its place—that looks like the Sacrifice of the Mass, but is merely a chimera, a fake. Remove the Holy Eucharist by giving them a Eucharistic substitute—one that looks like the Eucharist, tastes like the Eucharist, but is not the Eucharist. All of this can be achieved if your infiltrators of the clergy become ordained as priests and withhold the intention of really wanting to be priests—which will result in “fake priests” who look like priests, talk like priests, preach like priests, offer the Sacrifice of the Mass like priests, dispense the other Sacraments like priests—but in reality they will not be priests because they deliberately withheld the intention of becoming priests at their ordination. The same is true of an adult who might go through with the ceremony of adult baptism—but interiorly, in his mind and heart, has absolutely no intention of being baptized. So, even though he was externally baptized by a priest for all to see—the Sacrament of Baptism never too effect and he remains unbaptized.
The next step—and even more important step in achieving this goal of destroying the priesthood—is to get your infiltrator ‘priests’ raised to the episcopacy by being consecrated as bishops. These infiltrator ‘priests’ would not really become bishops—because they would again interiorly withhold all desire and intention of becoming bishops, so that even though the external ceremony of episcopal consecration took place, it would be invalidated by the contrary intention of the infiltrator. Hence you end up with bishops who are not bishops—and, even more importantly, anyone that these fake bishops would ordain to the priesthood in the future, would not end up being priests because the ordaining bishop is not really a bishop. In this way, over a period of time, you can destroy much of the priesthood of the Catholic Church—and this is what has been going on, according to Dr. Bella Dodd, since the early and mid 20th century.
Church Admits Satanic Infiltration
Pope Paul VI alludes to this infiltration several times after the Second Vatican Council.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock, no doubt, some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read: essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’ In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
It's Your Problem—Like It or Not
So there you have it! A pretty big mess in which most people do not like to see, do not like to hear about, do not want to face and think about—and most definitely do not want to do anything about. Their attitude is one of: “Well, it’s not my mess! I didn’t make it! I shouldn’t have to do anything about it! It’s not my problem!” Maybe so—but if the hand is careless and cuts itself, do the feet say: “I am not going to take the hand to the hospital because I am not responsible for the cut!”? It would be detrimental if not suicidal to think and act that way! It is almost like the parable of the Good Samaritan, where a man is attacked, beaten, robbed and left dying by the roadside—and the Priest and Levite both pass him by without helping him in any way—no doubt thinking: “Hey! It’s not my problem! I might even get attacked myself!” That is how we are with regard to the problems in the Church and the world today. However, it is our problem—indirectly at least—for we are “the salt of the Earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14) and if we fail to be “salty” and “enlightening” then we become “good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men” (Matthew 5:13).
St. John Chrysostom, one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, tells us that on Judgment Day we will be judged for everything that happened in the world during our lifetime! You might protest: “Hey, Lord! Isn’t that a little unfair and over the top? Hey! How can I control what happens in the whole world? I’m not God! Everyone has a free will to do as they please! Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sorry buddy, sorry honey! Yes you are your brother’s keeper and, yes, you can affect what happens in the whole world! On a purely physical or material level it is of course impossible—but on a spiritual level it is not impossible, but possible and necessary!
The Unlimited Power of the Mass
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not limited in its power—it is infinite in its power! It we that hinder and limit and bottleneck that power by our lack of Faith, our lukewarmness, our indifference and our neglect. Think again on the words of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who said: “Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” Yet she adds what commonly applies to most priests: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil!” — words which are echoed by Our Lady of La Salette: “There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world!” We have lost all sense of the power and benefits of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Statements such as — “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751) — such statements seem to be exaggerations to us. That is why most Catholics rarely go to extra Masses, rarely seek to have Masses offered for the resolution of various problems and difficulties, and even feel it a burden to simply attend Sunday Mass each week! Even priests have lost a sense of awe and faith in the power of the Mass. To Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Our Lady of Good Success foretells that in our times, “the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” Our Lord also added these words: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
We do well to consider and contemplate the words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange—one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century—taken from his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, wherein he writes: “The life of grace, given to us in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, is the seed or germ of eternal life ... At every Mass, when the priest raises the Precious Blood high above the altar, our Faith in its redemptive power and virtue ought to become greater and more intense … The sacrifice of Calvary substantially perpetuated on the altar during the Mass, and of the mystery of the Cross which should be reproduced in any true and profound Christian life … The Savior transmits the lights of Faith … especially through the Eucharist … for the Eucharist is the most perfect of the Sacraments, containing, not only grace. but the Author of grace; and it is a sacrifice of infinite value … He renews it every day in the Sacrifice of the Mass … He gives Himself to us in daily Communion … The heart of our Savior is called ‘Eucharistic’ because it has given us the greatest of the Sacraments … He instituted the priesthood to perpetuate—Sacramentally, by means of the Eucharist—the sacrifice of the cross until the end of time … Christ's love did not give us the Eucharist only once—but gives it to us daily. He might have willed that Mass should be celebrated only once or twice a year, in some great sanctuary, to which people would come from afar. On the contrary, not only one Mass, but numbers of them are celebrated continually, at every minute of the day, over the surface of the Earth. Thus He grants to His Church the graces it needs at the various moments of its history.”
Start Using the Mass!
So—coming back to the thorny truth that on Judgment Day you will be judge for all that happened in the world during your lifetime—it is true that of your own powers you can do little to influence the entire world. Yet it is not your own puny human powers that God expects you to use—Our Lord Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Yet, in each Sacrifice of the Mass it is that very same Our Lord who offers the Mass through the hands of His priest—each Mass is Our Lord’s Mass, with Our Lord offering His Sacrifice of Calvary all over again, with its infinite power. That one sacrifice of Our Lord on Calvary was enough to save the WHOLE WORLD, yet He continues to perpetuate that sacrifice in an unbloody and mystical manner throughout all centuries—if we would only profit from it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Children are taught, but not all children learn. There is nothing stopping you from using the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in many ways to sanctify yourself and change the world—if only you would have a greater respect, faith and confidence in the infinite power of the Mass.
You could—and should—attend Mass more often. If you cannot physically attend Mass due to work commitments or other obligations, then what prevents you from reading the prayers of each daily Mass—thus attending spiritually if you cannot attend physically. Hey! It will only take one-half-hour of your precious time!
Furthermore, what is there to prevent you giving stipends on a regular basis to have Masses offered—not just for minor intentions like Aunt Hilda’s birthday, or Uncle Joe’s health, or a soul in Purgatory—why not have Mass offered for more serious and apocalyptic situations such as the ones facing the Church and world today? It is not in your power to turn back all the enemies of the Church, but it is in your power to have a Mass of infinite power offered for that intention. In other words, you can do little or nothing—but Christ can do everything—and it is in the sacrifice of Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, that Christ manifests His supreme power. What will your excuse be on Judgment Day, for not having Masses offered to ward off the terrible threats faced by the Church and the world today? “Sorry Lord! I couldn’t spare a few dollars for a Mass because I needed my weekly “six-pack” or bottle of wine, or candies and chocolates!” or whatever! The Mass is the most powerful weapon in the universe and it is accessible to every Catholic—whether it be to attend Mass or have Mass offered for the above mentioned intention. There is no excuse for failing to profit from it!
FOUR DAY ARTICLE
Sunday September 6th to Wednesday September 9th
Article 3
This WILL Work! Use It! Do It! Before It's Too Late!
Sunday September 6th to Wednesday September 9th
Article 3
This WILL Work! Use It! Do It! Before It's Too Late!
We Have a Problem! The Problem With Problems!
There are various ways in which you can view a problem―but one thing that has to be common to all these ways is that you have to FACE THE PROBLEM! A problem cannot be solved unless it is admitted that it exists in the first place!
(1) The first way to view a problem is the unrealistic and escapist view that stubbornly and stupidly insists that there is no problem in the first place! Thus, nothing is ever done about the problem.
(2) The second way is to see the problem, but to underestimate or downplay the problem, to write it off as no consequence―treating it as a mere glitch or nothing to worry about. Hence, if there is nothing to worry about, then there is no need for any action.
(3) The third way is to see the problem and do nothing but talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk about the problem―while continually moaning and groaning, weeping, wailing and whining about the problem―which also gets you nowhere.
(4) The fourth way is to see the problem, recognize its magnitude, think about and discuss possible solutions―but then choose and take ineffective, inappropriate, unsuited, counter-productive or totally wrong solutions.
(5) The fifth way is to see the problem, recognize its magnitude or seriousness, think about and discuss possible solutions―discarding the potentially bad solutions and opting for the most effective and viable solutions that are available.
Problem Quotes for Problematic Situations
“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one!”
“A problem shared is a problem halved!”
“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
“There is no use talking about the problem unless you talk about the solution.”
“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” said Albert Einstein. We are in the mess that we are in because of naturalistic godless thinking and naturalistic godless behavior. By continuing down a naturalistic godless path, we will never stumble across a solution to our problems and will never get out of this mess. We have to take a different path―a path that might seem strange and clumsy to us; a path that might seem too simplistic for our complicated technological mindset; a path that might test our faith and confidence; a path that might feel uncomfortable; a path that might even demand some sacrifices. What is that path? It is not a naturalistic godless path, but a supernatural path, a spiritual path, a path that includes, not excludes, God―a path that recognizes and admits the truth of Christ’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
So What’s the Problem?
In one word―Satan. Or from another perspective―Sin. In fact, both words start with the same letter and end in the same letter. Satan starts with temptation and it often ends with sin. You could say from one perspective that Satan is the source of all the problems in the world―and Satan is, of course, the prince of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” says Our Lord (John 14:30). Yet from another perspective, Sin is the source of all the problems in the world―as Our Lady of La Salette stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” and, as St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima said, sharing what was said to her by Our Lady before she died: “Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world!” While the the saintly mystic Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966), who was personally acknowledged and praised by St. Padre Pio, said: “With the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God!”
Ultimately, apart from Hell, death is our greatest problem that nobody―do doctor, no scientist―has managed to solve or cure, and death is a consequence of sin! “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
If you really want to get to the bottom of the problems and the current mess increasingly besieging both Church and State, in Religion and Politics, in our spiritual lives and material lives―then you will necessarily, inevitably, undoubtedly find that it is our ungodliness, our neglect of the spiritual and supernatural, our over-preoccupation with man to the neglect and detriment of God―or, hitting the nail on the head, it is our SINFULNESS that has placed us in this mess. It is an unholy mess because we are unholy. Like begets like. Unholiness in mind produces unholiness in action. Ideas have consequences―and unholy ideas produce unholy consequences. Worldliness―which ultimately comes from its prince, the devil―leads to worldliness and Hell.
We are surrounded by sin. We live amongst sin. We see and breathe sin wherever we go. We are no longer shocked by sin―and when sin loses its shock factor in our minds and hearts, then we only a step away from partaking of and indulging in those sins that surround us. As Our Lady so correctly foretold: “The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Everywhere we turn we encounter sin. Sin in the Church. Sin in the State. Sin in Governments. Sin in the medical field. Sin in the financial field. Sin in culture. Sin in fashion. Sin in art. Sin in music. Sin on television. Sin on the internet. Sin at the workplace. Sin in social interactions. Sin in the home. Sin in the schools. Sin in the parishes. Sin in our own soul?
Everywhere sin is on the rise―it is NOT decreasing. Abortions. Contraception. Sterilizations. Euthanasia. Divorce and remarriage. Same sex marriages. Transgenderism. Adultery. Children born out of wedlock. Cohabitation. Sexual perversion. Homosexuality. Sexual abuse. Rape. Masturbation. Pornography. Immodesty. Impure thoughts, fantasies and conversations. Physical violence. Murder. Property damage and vandalization. Theft. Embezzlement. Finanical injustice. Social injustice. Racism. Religious persecution. Blasphemy. Calumnies (lies). Detraction (revealing unknown/secret/private sins of others). Rash judgment. False accusations. Character assassinations. Corruption of children through education. Add to this the Masonic control of governments which Our Lady of Good Success foretells. The infiltration of the Church as boasted of by the Freemasons well over a century ago―not to mention the Communist infiltration of the Church throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s as revealed by Dr. Bella Dodd to the U.S. Senate. Add to this the fact that well over 50% of Catholics today refuse to accept and believe in many of the key teachings of the Church―some of them being dogmas, like that of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. All of this is a problem. A gigantic problem. This is merely the tip of the mammoth iceberg of sin that lies hidden under the waters of the world―shipwrecking and sinking countless souls who should be sailing to Heaven, but only end up sinking into Hell.
That is the problem. You can bury your head in the sands of this materialistic world and refuse to see it. Or you can see it, but laugh at it and downplay it. Or you can see its seriousness, but take no measures or largely insufficient measures to combat and cure it. Or you can see its seriousness and take the serious measures that are the only remedies for the problem. It’s your life! It’s your choice! It’s your fate! Do as you wish and take the consequences!
What’s the problem? The problems are many and plainly clear for all to see―Our Lady sums them up thus. At Fatima, she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Nearly 40 years later, in speaking to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956, Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” At Akita, in 1973, she further warned: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
God is Love―But God is also Just! That’s Our Problem!
God is loving God―but if He is not loved, then He will show the other side of His Divine Nature―a side we do not like to think about, and a side that we most certainly do not want to experience―but a side that we most likely to experience, given the current state of affairs and lethargy in doing anything much about them. The 26th chapter of the Book of Leviticus should almost be compulsory daily reading during the present times that we have entered―it clearly sets forth the two diametrically opposite sides of God, that are triggered by two opposite approaches of man towards God. In that chapter, God clearly explains the problems and consequences of sin, as opposed to the benefits and consequences of obedience to God. Here are a few morsels for you to chew over:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Satan Vice-Like Grip of Sin on the World
We are undoubtedly having the life of grace squeezed out of us under the vice-like grip of Satan and Sin. The problem is that not too many people are worried about it! Once the immune-system ceases to fight invading diseases, germs, bacteria and viruses―then you can almost say: “It’s all over!” Death is on the doorstep.
Funnily enough, or perhaps the choice of word is wrong―should it be strangely―whilst speaking to a medical doctor, he said: “You know, a person can only take so much negativity before they switch-off!” The response was: “But doctor, all you ever deal with is negativity! Sickness is not positive, but negative! You cannot go round telling all your sick patients that they are healthy! You have to tell them the truth! It is how it is! At best you can say IF YOU DO THIS, then there is a chance that you may get better―but IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, then I am afraid things will get worse!” Hopefully, the doctor got the message and the “penny-dropped”―for that is all that Our Lady has ever been doing with our sick, sinful world. She has not come to praise and be upbeat and positive―she has come to warn and she has been deadly serious in her diagnosis of the problem and her prognosis of the problem. In fact, at La Salette Our Lady was weeping―and at Fatima, Sister Lucia reveals that they “always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). At Akita, in Japan, in 1973, the statue of Our Lady wept tears of blood!
However, as the saying goes: “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!” Or in our case, “It ain’t over while Our Lady sings!” or “It ain’t over while we sing to Our Lady!” ― ‘singing’ the prayers of the Rosary. As she herself said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary because only she can help you … In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph” adding at Akita: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Super Problems Require Super Solutions
Yet―surprising as it may be―Our Lady is not the key or the chief element in saving the seriously sick, stubbornly sinful world from its just desserts. Even Our Lady owes her power and role to something way above and way more powerful than anything personally within her own capabilities. She has alluded to that superior power in her messages and Heaven has also alluded to it in its manifestations. What is that “super power”? What is that “super weapon”? What is that “super solution”? Our Lady of Akita refers to it as “the sign left by my Son”.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―Our “Super-Weapon”
The “sign left by Son” of which Our Lady speaks, is the “Sign of the Cross”, the “Crucifixion of Christ on the Cross”, the “Holy Sacrifice of the Cross”―which is reproduced, re-enacted, re-presented in a mystical and unbloody manner every time Holy Mass is offered. Calvary is the focal point of attention in the story of our Redemption. Calvary was the scene of Christ’s victory over Satan and the redeeming of captive souls―giving them an opportunity for eternal blessedness and happiness in Heaven. Calvary ―being reproduced, re-enacted, re-presented in a mystical and unbloody manner in every Holy Mass―is the timeless weapon which is more powerful than anything else in our arsenal. A mere glance at some of the comments of the Saints upon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should serve to convince us of this truth.
► The Popes say that “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death” (Pope Benedict XV, reigned 1914-1922). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604).
► The Fathers and Doctors of the Church say: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in the Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407).
► The Saints say: “If you yourself could but understand the full significance of the Holy Sacrifice, its value, its fruit, you would not wish to pass a single day without participating in it.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard, 1811-1868). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751).
“Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
► Our Lord says: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―of Our Lady of Good Success fame).
We Were Made to Fight, Not to Have Fun!
First of all we must remember that we are on this Earth to FIGHT! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Sadly, many Catholics forget that and have evolved into “pacifists” when it comes to fighting the enemies of God and the Church, but suddenly become fearsome soldiers when it comes to fighting among themselves! The devil has succeeded — as is his characteristic — in turning things upside-down, inside-out, back-to-front.
We were made “Soldiers of Christ” by the Sacrament of Confirmation—and the slap, that the bishop gave to the cheek on our face, was not an indication that we have slap each other around, but that we will have undergo such treatment at the hands of the world:
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-16).
“If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
We Need to Turn to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―Use It Lest You Lose It!
Despite the escalation of problems, despite the multiplication of crises, despite the encroachment by our enemies, despite the increasing stranglehold on the Church and the World by the totalitarian forces and their sinister ‘puppet-masters’ or ‘handlers’—we are stupidly and naively, or proudly and preposterously proposing ridiculous and impotent solutions to apocalyptic situations! It amounts to trying to win a nuclear war with bows and arrows, or trying to fight a forest-fire with a child’s water pistol.
Today, most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist—and so we must also presume, by association, that they also no longer believe that the Mass is the Holy SACRIFICE of Christ on Calvary re-offered, re-presented (not represented), re-enacted mystically but really re-enacted in an unbloody manner upon our altars. For if you don’t believe Christ is REALLY present in the Holy Eucharist—then how can you believe that Christ is really present to really re-enact His sacrifice on Calvary during Mass? For most Catholics, the Mass is NOT a sacrifice, but a mere commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice, a reminder of His sacrifice on Calvary, a symbol of His sacrifice on Calvary. Thus by going to Mass, they do not think they are going to a re-enactment of Calvary, but only to a symbolic sacrifice, not a real sacrifice. Similarly, they think that in receiving Holy Communion, they do not really receive Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—but only a symbol of Christ. This kind of attitude and belief grossly and gravely reduces the potency and efficacity of the Holy Sacrifice. In their minds, they think: “If it not a real sacrifice, how can it have the power of Christ’s real sacrifice?”
A photo of doctor on the wall does very little to help a sick person, in comparison to having a real, living, doctor in the room to diagnose your illness and apply a cure. It is hardly surprising that such disbelieving Catholics are not going to believe that the Mass can cure the ills and crises of the world today. To them, it would be as ridiculous as saying that taking an aspirin is going cure cancer.
As St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, states: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you” (Sermon 169, §13). We cannot just sit-back and idly wait in expectation for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, while we merely watch like spectators on the sidelines. This is OUR battle too! “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1) and Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary are the weapons that Heaven requires us to use today. As Our Lady said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” — that “sign left by my Son” is the Sign of the Cross, not just the Sign of the Cross that we make over ourselves before we pray, but the REAL, TRUE, EFFICACIOUS SIGN OF THE CROSS which is found in the REAL and TRUE SACRIFICE of Christ that is made upon our altars at every valid SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. We must look to Christ on Calvary. We must accompany Christ to Calvary. We must suffer with Christ on Calvary. If necessary, we must die with Christ on Calvary. We must unite ourselves to Christ’s death on Calvary. We must use and diffuse Christ’s sacrifice of Calvary by going to as many Masses as we can and having as many Masses offered as we can afford for the DOUBLE INTENTION (in reality, merely flip sides of the same coin) of (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world. Those two intentions are flip sides of the same coin—for the triumph of Our Lady entails the destruction of the plans of her enemies.
You—yes, YOU, not somebody else—need to get off your haunches and give to as many priests as you can Mass stipends with the specific DOUBLE INTENTION for each Mass as listed above, namely: (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world. There is NO CATHOLIC FAMILY that cannot afford to give AT LEAST one stipend a month for a Mass according to the above DOUBLE INTENTION. Your goal should be to have MANY CATHOLICS DOING THE SAME THING—so that Heaven is bombarded with a constant stream of Masses with those intentions. Personally, a Mass has now been offered for those intentions EVERY SINGLE DAY since Easter of this year (2020). Yet MANY MORE Masses are needed and MANY MORE PRIESTS are needed to participate. The Catholic laity can ensure those MANY MORE MASSES and the participation by MANY MORE PRIESTS by simply giving as many priests as possible a Mass stipend listing that DOUBLE INTENTION: (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world.
Bear in mind, once again, the above listed quotes on the Sacrifice of the Mass. “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
You do not have a more powerful weapon at your disposal. Even though you cannot make this weapon (since you do not have the power of a priest to offer Mass), you can nevertheless use and fire this weapon by directing a priest to offer Mass for the above DOUBLE INTENTION. You are a Catholic with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at your disposal—not many people have that privilege nor that power! “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). You should be able to say with St. Paul: “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void—but I have labored more abundantly than all they! Yet not I, but the grace of God with me!” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Don’t just stand there and sigh
The stakes are far too high
Too high for you or I
So to God we must now fly
And for help we must humbly cry
With prayers that pierce the sky
And with penance we must buy
Mercy from God Most High
For as each month and year goes by
On Earth’s stinking moral pig-sty
Where men God’s Laws openly defy
And increasingly their sins quantify
Even so-called ‘Catholics’ their Faith belie
Doing the bare minimum to get by
Whilst seeking to live out a lie
Whose name Catholicism does imply
But who live like pagans in God’s eye
All this we must decry
For soon Heaven will reply
With chastisements that are nigh
Unless enough of us try
Prayers and penances to intensify
And potent remedies to apply
So we hopefully can thereby
God’s vengeful hands mercifully tie
And by prayer and penance God satisfy
Yet the Mass far more God does pacify
Where with Christ we mystically ourselves crucify
In the next article you will see what you can be doing right now to bring about major changes to the catastrophic direction in which we are currently and apparently unavoidably headed.
There are various ways in which you can view a problem―but one thing that has to be common to all these ways is that you have to FACE THE PROBLEM! A problem cannot be solved unless it is admitted that it exists in the first place!
(1) The first way to view a problem is the unrealistic and escapist view that stubbornly and stupidly insists that there is no problem in the first place! Thus, nothing is ever done about the problem.
(2) The second way is to see the problem, but to underestimate or downplay the problem, to write it off as no consequence―treating it as a mere glitch or nothing to worry about. Hence, if there is nothing to worry about, then there is no need for any action.
(3) The third way is to see the problem and do nothing but talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk about the problem―while continually moaning and groaning, weeping, wailing and whining about the problem―which also gets you nowhere.
(4) The fourth way is to see the problem, recognize its magnitude, think about and discuss possible solutions―but then choose and take ineffective, inappropriate, unsuited, counter-productive or totally wrong solutions.
(5) The fifth way is to see the problem, recognize its magnitude or seriousness, think about and discuss possible solutions―discarding the potentially bad solutions and opting for the most effective and viable solutions that are available.
Problem Quotes for Problematic Situations
“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one!”
“A problem shared is a problem halved!”
“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
“There is no use talking about the problem unless you talk about the solution.”
“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” said Albert Einstein. We are in the mess that we are in because of naturalistic godless thinking and naturalistic godless behavior. By continuing down a naturalistic godless path, we will never stumble across a solution to our problems and will never get out of this mess. We have to take a different path―a path that might seem strange and clumsy to us; a path that might seem too simplistic for our complicated technological mindset; a path that might test our faith and confidence; a path that might feel uncomfortable; a path that might even demand some sacrifices. What is that path? It is not a naturalistic godless path, but a supernatural path, a spiritual path, a path that includes, not excludes, God―a path that recognizes and admits the truth of Christ’s words: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
So What’s the Problem?
In one word―Satan. Or from another perspective―Sin. In fact, both words start with the same letter and end in the same letter. Satan starts with temptation and it often ends with sin. You could say from one perspective that Satan is the source of all the problems in the world―and Satan is, of course, the prince of this world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” says Our Lord (John 14:30). Yet from another perspective, Sin is the source of all the problems in the world―as Our Lady of La Salette stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!” and, as St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima said, sharing what was said to her by Our Lady before she died: “Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world!” While the the saintly mystic Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966), who was personally acknowledged and praised by St. Padre Pio, said: “With the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God!”
Ultimately, apart from Hell, death is our greatest problem that nobody―do doctor, no scientist―has managed to solve or cure, and death is a consequence of sin! “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “By one man sin entered into this world [like a virus―the virus of Original Sin], and, by sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die!” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
If you really want to get to the bottom of the problems and the current mess increasingly besieging both Church and State, in Religion and Politics, in our spiritual lives and material lives―then you will necessarily, inevitably, undoubtedly find that it is our ungodliness, our neglect of the spiritual and supernatural, our over-preoccupation with man to the neglect and detriment of God―or, hitting the nail on the head, it is our SINFULNESS that has placed us in this mess. It is an unholy mess because we are unholy. Like begets like. Unholiness in mind produces unholiness in action. Ideas have consequences―and unholy ideas produce unholy consequences. Worldliness―which ultimately comes from its prince, the devil―leads to worldliness and Hell.
We are surrounded by sin. We live amongst sin. We see and breathe sin wherever we go. We are no longer shocked by sin―and when sin loses its shock factor in our minds and hearts, then we only a step away from partaking of and indulging in those sins that surround us. As Our Lady so correctly foretold: “The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Everywhere we turn we encounter sin. Sin in the Church. Sin in the State. Sin in Governments. Sin in the medical field. Sin in the financial field. Sin in culture. Sin in fashion. Sin in art. Sin in music. Sin on television. Sin on the internet. Sin at the workplace. Sin in social interactions. Sin in the home. Sin in the schools. Sin in the parishes. Sin in our own soul?
Everywhere sin is on the rise―it is NOT decreasing. Abortions. Contraception. Sterilizations. Euthanasia. Divorce and remarriage. Same sex marriages. Transgenderism. Adultery. Children born out of wedlock. Cohabitation. Sexual perversion. Homosexuality. Sexual abuse. Rape. Masturbation. Pornography. Immodesty. Impure thoughts, fantasies and conversations. Physical violence. Murder. Property damage and vandalization. Theft. Embezzlement. Finanical injustice. Social injustice. Racism. Religious persecution. Blasphemy. Calumnies (lies). Detraction (revealing unknown/secret/private sins of others). Rash judgment. False accusations. Character assassinations. Corruption of children through education. Add to this the Masonic control of governments which Our Lady of Good Success foretells. The infiltration of the Church as boasted of by the Freemasons well over a century ago―not to mention the Communist infiltration of the Church throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s as revealed by Dr. Bella Dodd to the U.S. Senate. Add to this the fact that well over 50% of Catholics today refuse to accept and believe in many of the key teachings of the Church―some of them being dogmas, like that of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. All of this is a problem. A gigantic problem. This is merely the tip of the mammoth iceberg of sin that lies hidden under the waters of the world―shipwrecking and sinking countless souls who should be sailing to Heaven, but only end up sinking into Hell.
That is the problem. You can bury your head in the sands of this materialistic world and refuse to see it. Or you can see it, but laugh at it and downplay it. Or you can see its seriousness, but take no measures or largely insufficient measures to combat and cure it. Or you can see its seriousness and take the serious measures that are the only remedies for the problem. It’s your life! It’s your choice! It’s your fate! Do as you wish and take the consequences!
What’s the problem? The problems are many and plainly clear for all to see―Our Lady sums them up thus. At Fatima, she said: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Nearly 40 years later, in speaking to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956, Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” At Akita, in 1973, she further warned: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them! … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind! … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
God is Love―But God is also Just! That’s Our Problem!
God is loving God―but if He is not loved, then He will show the other side of His Divine Nature―a side we do not like to think about, and a side that we most certainly do not want to experience―but a side that we most likely to experience, given the current state of affairs and lethargy in doing anything much about them. The 26th chapter of the Book of Leviticus should almost be compulsory daily reading during the present times that we have entered―it clearly sets forth the two diametrically opposite sides of God, that are triggered by two opposite approaches of man towards God. In that chapter, God clearly explains the problems and consequences of sin, as opposed to the benefits and consequences of obedience to God. Here are a few morsels for you to chew over:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Satan Vice-Like Grip of Sin on the World
We are undoubtedly having the life of grace squeezed out of us under the vice-like grip of Satan and Sin. The problem is that not too many people are worried about it! Once the immune-system ceases to fight invading diseases, germs, bacteria and viruses―then you can almost say: “It’s all over!” Death is on the doorstep.
Funnily enough, or perhaps the choice of word is wrong―should it be strangely―whilst speaking to a medical doctor, he said: “You know, a person can only take so much negativity before they switch-off!” The response was: “But doctor, all you ever deal with is negativity! Sickness is not positive, but negative! You cannot go round telling all your sick patients that they are healthy! You have to tell them the truth! It is how it is! At best you can say IF YOU DO THIS, then there is a chance that you may get better―but IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, then I am afraid things will get worse!” Hopefully, the doctor got the message and the “penny-dropped”―for that is all that Our Lady has ever been doing with our sick, sinful world. She has not come to praise and be upbeat and positive―she has come to warn and she has been deadly serious in her diagnosis of the problem and her prognosis of the problem. In fact, at La Salette Our Lady was weeping―and at Fatima, Sister Lucia reveals that they “always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). At Akita, in Japan, in 1973, the statue of Our Lady wept tears of blood!
However, as the saying goes: “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!” Or in our case, “It ain’t over while Our Lady sings!” or “It ain’t over while we sing to Our Lady!” ― ‘singing’ the prayers of the Rosary. As she herself said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary because only she can help you … In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph” adding at Akita: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Super Problems Require Super Solutions
Yet―surprising as it may be―Our Lady is not the key or the chief element in saving the seriously sick, stubbornly sinful world from its just desserts. Even Our Lady owes her power and role to something way above and way more powerful than anything personally within her own capabilities. She has alluded to that superior power in her messages and Heaven has also alluded to it in its manifestations. What is that “super power”? What is that “super weapon”? What is that “super solution”? Our Lady of Akita refers to it as “the sign left by my Son”.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―Our “Super-Weapon”
The “sign left by Son” of which Our Lady speaks, is the “Sign of the Cross”, the “Crucifixion of Christ on the Cross”, the “Holy Sacrifice of the Cross”―which is reproduced, re-enacted, re-presented in a mystical and unbloody manner every time Holy Mass is offered. Calvary is the focal point of attention in the story of our Redemption. Calvary was the scene of Christ’s victory over Satan and the redeeming of captive souls―giving them an opportunity for eternal blessedness and happiness in Heaven. Calvary ―being reproduced, re-enacted, re-presented in a mystical and unbloody manner in every Holy Mass―is the timeless weapon which is more powerful than anything else in our arsenal. A mere glance at some of the comments of the Saints upon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should serve to convince us of this truth.
► The Popes say that “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death” (Pope Benedict XV, reigned 1914-1922). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604).
► The Fathers and Doctors of the Church say: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in the Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407).
► The Saints say: “If you yourself could but understand the full significance of the Holy Sacrifice, its value, its fruit, you would not wish to pass a single day without participating in it.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard, 1811-1868). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751).
“Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
► Our Lord says: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres―of Our Lady of Good Success fame).
We Were Made to Fight, Not to Have Fun!
First of all we must remember that we are on this Earth to FIGHT! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Sadly, many Catholics forget that and have evolved into “pacifists” when it comes to fighting the enemies of God and the Church, but suddenly become fearsome soldiers when it comes to fighting among themselves! The devil has succeeded — as is his characteristic — in turning things upside-down, inside-out, back-to-front.
We were made “Soldiers of Christ” by the Sacrament of Confirmation—and the slap, that the bishop gave to the cheek on our face, was not an indication that we have slap each other around, but that we will have undergo such treatment at the hands of the world:
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-16).
“If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
We Need to Turn to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―Use It Lest You Lose It!
Despite the escalation of problems, despite the multiplication of crises, despite the encroachment by our enemies, despite the increasing stranglehold on the Church and the World by the totalitarian forces and their sinister ‘puppet-masters’ or ‘handlers’—we are stupidly and naively, or proudly and preposterously proposing ridiculous and impotent solutions to apocalyptic situations! It amounts to trying to win a nuclear war with bows and arrows, or trying to fight a forest-fire with a child’s water pistol.
Today, most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist—and so we must also presume, by association, that they also no longer believe that the Mass is the Holy SACRIFICE of Christ on Calvary re-offered, re-presented (not represented), re-enacted mystically but really re-enacted in an unbloody manner upon our altars. For if you don’t believe Christ is REALLY present in the Holy Eucharist—then how can you believe that Christ is really present to really re-enact His sacrifice on Calvary during Mass? For most Catholics, the Mass is NOT a sacrifice, but a mere commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice, a reminder of His sacrifice on Calvary, a symbol of His sacrifice on Calvary. Thus by going to Mass, they do not think they are going to a re-enactment of Calvary, but only to a symbolic sacrifice, not a real sacrifice. Similarly, they think that in receiving Holy Communion, they do not really receive Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—but only a symbol of Christ. This kind of attitude and belief grossly and gravely reduces the potency and efficacity of the Holy Sacrifice. In their minds, they think: “If it not a real sacrifice, how can it have the power of Christ’s real sacrifice?”
A photo of doctor on the wall does very little to help a sick person, in comparison to having a real, living, doctor in the room to diagnose your illness and apply a cure. It is hardly surprising that such disbelieving Catholics are not going to believe that the Mass can cure the ills and crises of the world today. To them, it would be as ridiculous as saying that taking an aspirin is going cure cancer.
As St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, states: “God, Who created you without you, will not save you without you” (Sermon 169, §13). We cannot just sit-back and idly wait in expectation for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, while we merely watch like spectators on the sidelines. This is OUR battle too! “The life of man on Earth is warfare!” (Job 7:1) and Sr. Lucia of Fatima adds: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary are the weapons that Heaven requires us to use today. As Our Lady said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” — that “sign left by my Son” is the Sign of the Cross, not just the Sign of the Cross that we make over ourselves before we pray, but the REAL, TRUE, EFFICACIOUS SIGN OF THE CROSS which is found in the REAL and TRUE SACRIFICE of Christ that is made upon our altars at every valid SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. We must look to Christ on Calvary. We must accompany Christ to Calvary. We must suffer with Christ on Calvary. If necessary, we must die with Christ on Calvary. We must unite ourselves to Christ’s death on Calvary. We must use and diffuse Christ’s sacrifice of Calvary by going to as many Masses as we can and having as many Masses offered as we can afford for the DOUBLE INTENTION (in reality, merely flip sides of the same coin) of (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world. Those two intentions are flip sides of the same coin—for the triumph of Our Lady entails the destruction of the plans of her enemies.
You—yes, YOU, not somebody else—need to get off your haunches and give to as many priests as you can Mass stipends with the specific DOUBLE INTENTION for each Mass as listed above, namely: (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world. There is NO CATHOLIC FAMILY that cannot afford to give AT LEAST one stipend a month for a Mass according to the above DOUBLE INTENTION. Your goal should be to have MANY CATHOLICS DOING THE SAME THING—so that Heaven is bombarded with a constant stream of Masses with those intentions. Personally, a Mass has now been offered for those intentions EVERY SINGLE DAY since Easter of this year (2020). Yet MANY MORE Masses are needed and MANY MORE PRIESTS are needed to participate. The Catholic laity can ensure those MANY MORE MASSES and the participation by MANY MORE PRIESTS by simply giving as many priests as possible a Mass stipend listing that DOUBLE INTENTION: (1) to foil and destroy of the current diabolical plans of the enemies of the Church and world; and (2) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world.
Bear in mind, once again, the above listed quotes on the Sacrifice of the Mass. “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross” (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274). “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us!” (St. John Vianney, 1786-1859). “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!” (Pope Paul V, reigned 1605-1621). “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar” (Pope St. Pius X, reigned 1903-1914). “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, reigned 590-604). “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass―provided they be fitting for us; and often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him―if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way” (St. Jerome, 347-420). “Are we in affliction? We shall find all manner of consolation at Mass. Are we tempted? Let us hear Holy Mass, and we shall find there a way of overcoming the Devil.” (St. John Chrysostom, 347-407). “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass” (St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968). “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base” (St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 1676-1751). “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! ... I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, 1774-1824).
You do not have a more powerful weapon at your disposal. Even though you cannot make this weapon (since you do not have the power of a priest to offer Mass), you can nevertheless use and fire this weapon by directing a priest to offer Mass for the above DOUBLE INTENTION. You are a Catholic with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at your disposal—not many people have that privilege nor that power! “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). You should be able to say with St. Paul: “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void—but I have labored more abundantly than all they! Yet not I, but the grace of God with me!” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Don’t just stand there and sigh
The stakes are far too high
Too high for you or I
So to God we must now fly
And for help we must humbly cry
With prayers that pierce the sky
And with penance we must buy
Mercy from God Most High
For as each month and year goes by
On Earth’s stinking moral pig-sty
Where men God’s Laws openly defy
And increasingly their sins quantify
Even so-called ‘Catholics’ their Faith belie
Doing the bare minimum to get by
Whilst seeking to live out a lie
Whose name Catholicism does imply
But who live like pagans in God’s eye
All this we must decry
For soon Heaven will reply
With chastisements that are nigh
Unless enough of us try
Prayers and penances to intensify
And potent remedies to apply
So we hopefully can thereby
God’s vengeful hands mercifully tie
And by prayer and penance God satisfy
Yet the Mass far more God does pacify
Where with Christ we mystically ourselves crucify
In the next article you will see what you can be doing right now to bring about major changes to the catastrophic direction in which we are currently and apparently unavoidably headed.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday September 3rd & Friday September 4th & Saturday September 5th
Article 2
We Need Another Pope St. Pius X!
Thursday September 3rd & Friday September 4th & Saturday September 5th
Article 2
We Need Another Pope St. Pius X!
Convert a King―Convert a Kingdom
It is the superiors who form and mold the inferiors―and not the inferiors who form and mold the superiors. This was acknowledged to be true from the earliest centuries―which is why we have the saying: “Convert the king and you will convert the people!” In our modern world, with widespread political and religious liberty (which is an erroneous idea), it is often assumed that conversion to a religion is fundamentally a personal choice and merely an interior, private, invisible, spiritual event. Throughout history, however, one of the most significant factors in religious success or failure has been the conversion of rulers. Convert a king, convert a kingdom.
If you know your history, then you will recall an example of this “Convert a king, convert a nation” phenomenon in the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine the Great―who was the pagan son of St. Helena. Before Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312, it is estimated that less than 10% of Romans were Christian―and persecution of Christians abounded. Yet in less than a century after his death, the numbers of Christians had risen to the 80% to 90% level, making them by far the majority within the Empire. Constantine’s example―by his conversion and successive patronage of Christianity―was a key factor in Christianity’s ultimate success. Constantine, however, was not the first pagan or last ruler who brought his empire or kingdom to Christianity as a result of personal conversion.
A similar, though less striking case was that Tiridates III of Armenia, who converted in 301. Not long after, another case was that of the conversion of Ezana of Axum (Ethiopia) around 350. Another example would be that of the conversion of the Frankish barbarian king, Clovis, in 486. Even though by that time France had for the most part been Christianized under the Roman Empire, nevertheless, the conversion of Clovis led to the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the kingdom of the Franks.
Similarly, the Anglo-Saxons―pagans for many centuries―began to convert to Christianity soon after the conversion of one of chief Anglo-Saxon kings―Ethelred. King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, upon ascending the throne in 995, tried to force the Vikings to convert to Christianity―which led to many years of civil war in Scandinavia. In Lithuania, among the last European people to be Christianized, the conversion of Duke Mindaugas of Lithuania to Christianity around 1250, led to the conversion of the Lithuanians under his rule.
The conversion to Christianity of the the Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev saw the Slavs of Russia to convert to Greek Orthodoxy. At his baptism in 987, he ordered the entire population of Kiev to be baptized in the river following his example. Further to the east, the Turkish Khazars, to the north of the Caspian Sea, converted to Judaism following the example of their Khan.
The pagan Mongols, after conquering Iran, ended up converting to Islam, in imitation of their Khan (king) Ghazan, who became a Muslim in 1295. West African king Mansa Musa (1312-1337), a Muslim, was instrumental in spreading Islam through the empire of Mali.
Buddhism also furnishes many cases of the conversion of kings as being the trigger for the conversion of their subjects. For example, Ashoka, the Hindu emperor of India, converted to Buddhism around 270 BC, and cause Buddhism to spread throughout India. Further east, towards the end of the 13th century, we see Kubla Khan convert to Buddhism and make Buddhism the official religion of China. Likewise, the conversion to Tibetan Buddhism in the 16th century of the Mongol Altan Khan helped spread Buddhism throughout Mongolia.
The Protestant Reformation (or Protestant Revolution) at the start of the 16th century, was made possible to a great degree by the fact that many German princes found it politically and financially profitable to convert to Protestantism. The present day Catholic-Protestant demographics still reflect the geographical locations of the princes of the 16th century, whether they converted to Lutheranism or remained Catholic. Most notoriously, Henry VIII’s allegiance to Protestantism was instrumental in the later conversion of England from Catholicism to Anglicanism.
So, as you can see, all throughout history―until the concrete development of the heretical notion of separation of Church and State in the 18th century―the religion of kings has been a decisive factor in the conversions of peoples. The secular ideology and religious beliefs of rulers continue to play an important, though no longer decisive, role in societies today.
Corrupt the King―Corrupt the Nation
Now―if you stop and think about that for a moment―and toss up that ‘coin’ or coined phrase up in the air and let it fall upon its “flip-side”, then you should be able to see that opposite is also somewhat true. Corrupt a king, corrupt a kingdom! Corrupt the government, corrupt the nation. Corrupt the father, corrupt the family. That is where we find ourselves today―corrupted. There is widespread corruption of in the halls of power―in the Church, in the State, in Finance, in Education, in Philosophy, in Thinking, in Culture, in Fashion, etc.
Back in May of 2018, at the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated: “Corruption affects developed and developing countries alike … It cripples economic development, stifles entrepreneurship and deters investment. Society cannot function equitably and efficiently when public officials – from doctors to police, judges and politicians – enrich themselves rather than perform their duties with integrity. Corruption robs funds from schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other vital services. Human trafficking and migrant smuggling, illicit financial flows and illegal trade in natural resources, weapons, drugs and cultural heritage are all made possible because of corruption. It fuels conflict, and when peace is achieved, corruption undermines recovery. Corruption and impunity (thinking you cannot be caught/punished) are corrosive, breeding frustration and fostering further corruption when people see no other way of achieving their goals … The UN Convention Against Corruption represents the fundamental recognition that corruption is neither an acceptable cost of doing business, nor a necessary evil. It is a serious crime, and simply unacceptable … If governments are serious about doing the best for their citizens, then pledges to promote integrity and clamp down on corruption must be more than campaign promises and words on paper. Millions will go to the polls this year with corruption high on their agenda … By tackling corruption, governments can show they mean business. We must all do more.”
Though many of the things stated by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, are true―Our Lord would no doubt say: “Physician, heal thyself!” (Luke 4:23)―because the United Nations has often fallen foul of accusations of corruption within its own organization, as “oft-cited points of criticism include a perceived lack of the body’s efficacy, rampant anti-Semitism, appeasement, promotion of globalism, abuse of power by nations exerting general control over the assembly, a number of legislative decisions seen as abandonment of, among other things, the prevention of armed conflict clause(s) detailed in the Charter of the United Nations, corruption, a total lack of efficacy in both pre-emptive measures and de-escalation of existing conflicts which have ranged from social disputes to all-out wars, and misappropriation of resources.” (Wikipedia, article: “Criticism of the United Nations”).
Corruptio Optimi Pessima―Corruption of the Best is the Worst
As the famous Latin proverb says: “Corruptio optimi pessima”― meaning “corruption of the best is the worst of all.” There is a similar phrase that can be linked to the above proverb, found in a statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, made in a letter to an Anglican bishop, wherein he says: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men...” Though Lord Acton may have coined the phrase, he was not the originator of the idea―since power has been corrupting the powerful throughout all time. Lucifer was the most powerful angel created―and look what happened to him! Power corrupted King Saul, also King David and King Solomon. Power corrupted the two sons of the High Priest Heli. History is loaded with example of power leading to corruption. It has been the same old story through the ages. William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, said something similar to Lord Acton’s quote in a speech to the England’s House of Lords in 1770: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it!” We find a similar quote in Alphonse Lamartine’s 1848 essay, France and England: a Vision of the Future, which states: “Absolute power corrupts the best natures.”
To a Catholic, all of this should hardly be surprising―for we know that all persons are born with Original Sin, which, in its essence, is a sin of Pride and Disobedience, which carries with it an ever-present tendency to sin. This is why St. John the Evangelist and Apostle writes: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). This is also why St. Paul laments that he does not do the good he wants to do and ends up doing the evil that he does not want to do: “We know that the law is spiritual―but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do! … For to want what is good, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want, I do not do; but the evil which I do not want, that I do. Now if I do that which I do want, it is no longer I that do it, but it is sin that dwells in me. I find, then, a law, that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the interior man! But I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin. Unhappy man that I am―who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, I serve the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
The Smoke of Satan in the Church
After Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, on October 13th, 1884, where he was attended by some Cardinals and other members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until Vatican II. When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice of Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord:
“I can destroy Your Church.”
The gentle voice of Our Lord:
“You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
Since that time, the powers of Hell have infiltrated the powers of the Church. This was the chilling message of Pope Paul VI―not just once, but on several occasions:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
All of this brings back to mind the above mentioned proverb: “Corruptio optimi pessima” ― meaning “corruption of the best is the worst of all.”
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me―who was a nobody―to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock, no doubt, some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read: essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’”
“In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
The Coming of a Holy Pope? Only After Some Not-So-Holy Popes!
The much vaunted and promised Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, seems likely to be connected with the advent of the so-called “Holy Pope” for the Church and the rise of the “Great Monarch” in the secular field. Prior to that―as Our Lady warned―Communism (or one of the many other names under which it masquerades or hides behind) will take over the world. We are seeing a foretaste of that totalitarianism right now, with this world orchestrated “Con-all-avirus Plannedemic” or “Stupid-Man’s Scamdemic” that has fooled, duped, conned and terrified the stupid sheeple of the world, who willingly muzzle themselves and isolate themselves in their own sheeple-pen upon command.
Once the world is totally taken over by the totalitarianism of Communism (and its aliases and friends), then it will need the holiness of the “Holy Pope” and the “Great Monarch” to re-conquer the world for Christ, under the banner of the Immaculate Heart. Some foolish people― “and the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―might be tempted to falsely and foolishly think that perhaps we are living in the era of “Holy Popes” ― not just one, but many ― in view of the recent canonizations by the ‘Holy’ Father, Pope Francis, of some papal pillars of the revolution within the Church―namely, Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II―all pillars of Liberalism and Modernism and Fathers of the Church Destruction.
Just as we have been fed a false propaganda concerning the dangers of Covid-19, so too have we been fed a false propaganda on the alleged sanctity of some of the key destroyers of the Church. Since the Second Vatican Council there have been a number of spurious or dubious ‘canonizations’ that, upon examination and reflection, seem to qualify more as ‘propaganda canonizations’ than authentic canonizations. If you were cynical about it, you could call it a “Con-onization Pandemic”, whereby we are conned into thinking along the lines of: “Well, if these people have been canonized as saints, then all that they said, did and taught must automatically be true, acceptable, holy and therefore believable!” An additional problem is that since the Second Vatican Council there have also be canonizations which we would have expected according to the Church’s Traditional and Conservative manner of analysis, requirements, evaluation, assessment and proclamation. Such ‘real’ saints include personages as Peter Julian Eymard, Claude de la Colombière, Vincent Pallotti, Julie Billiart, John of Avila, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Neumann, Charbal Makhlouf, Padre Pio, Francisco and Jacinta Marto of 1917 Fatima apparitions, Maximilian Kolbe, etc. Yet there have been some questionable canonizations―not just the canonizations of the three popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John-Paul II, but also those of persons such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Josemaria Escriva to mention but some.
● Pope Leo XIII only canonized 12 saints in 20 years ― giving an average of 0.6 per year.
● Pope St. Pius X only canonized 4 saints in 11 years ― giving an even lower average of 0.3 per year.
● Pope Benedict XV only canonized 3 saints in 8 years ― giving an average of 0.4 per year.
● Pope Pius XI canonized 29 in 13 years ― giving an average of 2.2 per year.
● Pope Pius XII canonized 34 in 19 years ― giving an average of 1.7 per year.
● Pope John XXIII canonized 10 in 4 years ― giving an average of 2.5 per year.
● Pope Paul VI canonized 63 in 13 years ― giving a notable increased average of 5 per year.
An Explosion of Saints in Sinful Times? Wolves Among Sheep?
● Pope John Paul II brought about an “explosion of canonizations” during his reign from 1982 to 2004 canonizing 466 saints in 22 years ― giving an average of 21 per year ― some of them “absolute certainties” for the Traditionally minded Catholic, but some of them of “dubious” quality.
● Pope Benedict XVI was slightly more restrained and quelled the “saintly tsunami” of his predecessor, by dropping the number to 45 canonizations in 7 years ― giving an average of 6.5 per year, but still well over double the highest average of the previous Pre-Vatican II popes since Leo XIII (averages of 0.6 per year; 0.3 per year; 0.4 per year; 2.2 per year; 1.7 per year; and 2.5 per year).
● Pope Francis has so far canonized 898 in 7 years, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a group ― giving an average of 128 per year. Take out those 813 martyrs (which is unfair) and you have 85 in 7 years ― still giving a very high average of 12 per year. Pope Francis also has the dubious fame of canonizing three Liberal/Modernist of Post-Vatican II pedigree to the sainthood ― Pope ‘Saint’ John XIII, Pope ‘Saint’ Paul VI and Pope ‘Saint’ John-Paul II. Much has been said and written by eminent theologians on the dubious and unmerited ‘canonization’ of these three ‘saintly’ popes―the volume of material on this matter could fill several books!
Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have canonized a total of 1,509 saints? That number far exceeds the combined total of saints canonized since 1588. Ultimately, you have question the reason for massive increase in the canonization of persons to sainthood. Why? Pope John Paul II began the call for more saints during his pontificate, based on the teachings of Vatican II. His inspiration came specifically from Lumen Gentium and the chapter entitled, “The Universal Call of Holiness in the Church.” By canonizing a vast number of people John Paul II wanted to show the world that anyone could become a saint! Pope Benedict XVI continued this theme and spoke during a general audience, “We might ask ourselves―Can we, with our limitations, with our weaknesses, aim so high? … It is possible for everyone to take this road. In every epoch of the Church’s history, on every latitude of the world map, the saints belong to all the ages and to every state of life, they are actual faces of every people, language and nation.” Pope Francis has also spoken about the universal call to sanctity: “Every state of life leads to holiness, always! At home, on the streets, at work, at church, in the moment and with the state of life that you have, a door is opened on the road to sainthood. Do not be discouraged to travel this road. God gives you the grace to do so. And this is all that the Lord asks, is that we are in communion with Him and serve others.” Hey! It seems so easy! A saint in every home, factory and school!
The question has to be asked is if this seems to make people think that sanctity is easy and that most souls go to Heaven―which is a false idea or a lie. It is a little like the attitude adopted by many schools in these modern days, whereby the intellectual levels of students have fallen considerably, so the schools make the tests easier and grade more generously. This false idea of sanctity or “lowered-bar” of sanctity has been applied to the recently canonized Liberal/Modernist popes.
A Hole in the Holiness of the Holy Fathers?
► Pope John XXIII was certainly not the “Holy Pope” that would lead the Church to victory. In his encyclical Pacem in terris, he defended religious liberty. He states that the ideal society is founded on the dignity of the human person―where is God in all of this? Christ said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Lastly, without openly joining the modernist camp, John XXIII showed a Liberal attitude. His affection went out naturally to anything that sought to reconcile the modern world with the Faith―yet Holy Scripture tells us that world is not our friend, but our enemy: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Pope John XXIII admitted that he himself went back and forth between his attraction for, as he said, “the light of the new times” and the old spirit, incarnated in the old parish priests that had marked his youth. Not the markings and makings of a saint! A spirit of compromise that one cannot canonize!
► Pope Paul VI has been studied by many who, after studying the life and pontificate of Pope Paul VI, are convinced that he was far from exemplary in his conduct as pastor; that he not only did not possess heroic virtue, but lacked certain key virtues; that his promulgation of a titanic liturgical reform was incompatible with his papal office of handing on that which he had received; that he offers us a portrait of failed governance and tradition betrayed. In short, for us, it is impossible to accept that a pope such as this could ever be canonized.
► Pope John-Paul II also manifests elements that would lead one to doubt the validity of his beatification. First of all, there is the unheard-of speed with which the case was processed, and also by the verified “unholy” facts that, sadly, punctuated his pontificate, and, above all, the blemish of “humanism” that formed the fundamental unity between Karol Wojtlya’s thoughts and his actions. These same doubts remained undispelled at the announcement of his forthcoming canonization, all the more because not one Roman authority could or would respond to them.
Fast Food―Fast Track―Fast Tracked Saints
We live in a “fast” world, each day is sped through in the “fast lane”, we want to “fast track” as many things as we can―all of this would be fine if the “fast” that we refer to would be “fasting” as in doing without food for an act of penance or sacrifice. However, sadly, that is not the “fast track” that rules the world today. The same insidious “fast track” and “fast lane” has entered the Church and Her operations. Today’s “New Mass” (Novus Ordo Missae) is a “fast-tracked” streamlined version of the Old Mass (Latin Tridentine Mass). The Sacraments have been “fast tracked” and are now shorter―with parts no longer seen as important, being dispensed with, and ditched―as for example, in the new rite of Baptism the exorcisms have been ditched. Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) former chief-exorcist of Rome, complained together with many other exorcists worldwide, that the new rite of exorcism was ineffective due to the changes and shortenings of many of the prayers. Many Traditional and Conservative theologians say that the new post-Vatican II legislation (new Mass and new liturgy, new canonizations, new Code of Canon Law) is not infallible and does not oblige because we have serious reasons to doubt its very nature as law.
The renowned Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, who died in 1949, wrote the following: “No secular court trying a man for his life is more thorough and scrupulous than the Congregation of Rites in seeking to establish whether or not the servant of God practiced virtues both theological and cardinal, and to a heroic degree. If that is established, the advocate of the cause must next prove that his presence in Heaven has been indicated by at least two miracles, while a cardinal who is an expert theologian does all he can to discredit the evidence—hence his popular title of advocatus diaboli, or Devil’s Advocate. If the evidence survives every attempt to destroy it after months, years and sometimes centuries of discussion, he is then beatified, that is, he is declared to be blessed. The final stage of canonization, the last of twenty distinct steps, may take even more years or centuries. It must be proved beyond any reasonable doubt that two additional miracles have been performed through the instance of the servant of God, since the beatification. When and if this is done, the Pope issues a bull (a sealed letter) of canonization.”
More Questionable Saints
Today’s ditching or discarding of the “thorough and scrupulous” approach praised by Mr. Walsh, can only cause doubt over the integrity of the new canonization process—especially in the case of “fast-track” canonizations.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a popular figure recognized as a “saint” while she was still alive, even though, despite her many good works, she seemed to embrace a theology of indifferentism. She is on record saying, “I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.” In 1976, Mother Teresa organized a 25th anniversary celebration of the Missionaries of Charity. As part of the celebration, she obtained permission from the Archbishop of Calcutta for her and her sisters to pray in some pagan temples—non-Christian houses of worship—each day of the jubilee. Her desire was for each group to hold its own worship service of thanksgiving. Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and so forth joined her and her sisters to thank the one true God in their own way. She and her sisters prayed at eighteen different worship sites, including Hindu temples.
Dubious Miracles to Make Dubious Saints
The central “miracle” employed to justify Mother Teresa’s 2003 “beatification” was the alleged cure of Monica Besra in September 1998. Besra, from Dangram, 460 miles northeast of Calcutta, claimed to have been cured of a tumor after praying to Mother Teresa while pressing a medallion of Mother Teresa’s image to her side. Despite this claim, Besra’s doctors insist the cure had nothing miraculous about it, but was the result of strong anti-TB drugs administered over a period of nine months.
“This miraculous claim is absolute nonsense and should be condemned by everyone,” said Dr. R. K. Musafi. “She had a medium-sized tumor in her lower abdomen caused by tuberculosis. The drugs she was given eventually reduced the cystic mass and it disappeared after a year’s treatment.” Likewise, Dr. T. K. Biswas, the first doctor to treat Besra, said, “With all due respect to Mother Teresa, there should not be any talk of a miracle by her. We advised her a prolonged anti-tubercular treatment and she was cured.” Dr. Manju Murshet, Superintendent of the Balurghat Hospital, complained that the doctors were under pressure from Church members to declare a miraculous cure: “They want us to say Monica Besra’s recovery was a miracle and beyond the comprehension of medical science.” Besra’s husband Deiku also challenges the claim of a miraculous cure. “It is much ado about nothing,” he said, “My wife was cured by the doctors, not by any miracle.” Furthermore, Besra’s medical records have disappeared from the hospital. The records containing her physician’s notes, prescriptions, and sonograms were taken by Sister Betta of the Missionaries of Charity. When Time magazine contacted Sister Betta to ask about Besra’s medical records, the only response was: “No comment.”
Remember, the Catholic Church has always demanded that a miraculous cure requires rigorous proof beyond any reasonable doubt. The integrity of the Mother Teresa “miracle” is thus seriously compromised.
This Unholy Mess Needs a Holy Solution!
If you really want to get to the bottom of the current mess in both Church and State, in Religion and Politics, in our spiritual lives and material lives―then you will necessarily, inevitably, undoubtedly find that it is our ungodliness, our neglect of the spiritual and supernatural, our preoccupation with man to the detriment of God―or, hitting the nail on the head, our SINFULNESS that has got us into this mess. It is an unholy mess because we are unholy. Like begets like. Unholiness in mind produces unholiness in action. Ideas have consequences―and unholy ideas produce unholy consequences. Worldliness―which ultimately comes from its prince, the devil―leads to worldliness and Hell.
“The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” said Our Lady of La Salette.
“Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world” said St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima before she died.
“If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” said Our Lady of Akita.
“With the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God!” said Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of Fr. Pel to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
If you really analyze things as they are―then in theory (we will soon arrive at the practice) all is lost. Humanly speaking, there is no way to turn around the Satanic juggernaut that is leading mankind to destruction and Hell. The only solution―or soul-ution―is a supernatural solution, a spiritual solution, a holy solution, a solution requiring holiness and not this worldliness to which even the best of Catholics has become addicted.
You Get What You Pay For!
You may have read in Catholic prophecy about the so-called “Holy Pope” and his counterpart in the secular world, the “Great Monarch”, who are said to be the ones who turn back this ever-increasing tsunami of evil and restore both Church and State under the reign of God, Christ the King and Our Lady. Yet, as they say, “You get the leaders that you deserve!” … “You get what you pay for!” and “Nothing in this world is free!” ― well, Heaven applies the same principles. The “Holy Pope” and “Great Monarch” won’t come for free―they are not Heaven’s “freebies” or “hand-outs”―they come at a price. We can choose our payment plan! One plan means having to go through horrendous suffering in order to pay the price for their “coming”―that plan means small payments but an incredible amount of interest levied on the price. Another plan means having to pay much more―but it saves on the interest (suffering). It is much like paying for sin―we can either pay by suffering or by loving. “Charity covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) ― and that is how Mary Magdalen paid for her sins, of whom Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). The other way to pay is like the Good Thief on the cross―who paid by the excruciating pains of crucifixion, admitting as he suffered deathly pain: “We receive the due reward of our deeds!” (Luke 23:41). It is hardly a manifestation of love towards God to spend many hours the world’s technological appliances―such as television, smartphone, computer, tablet, internet, social media, etc. ― while giving God a fraction of that time! Our Lady has been constantly telling us to pray―but all we want to do is play! At Lourdes: “Pray for sinners … Penance! Penance! Penance!”
At Fatima: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer… Sacrifice yourselves for sinners!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917).
To these words we must add those of the Angel of Portugal, who appeared to the Fatima children shortly before Our Lady’s apparitions. One apparition saw the children playing games―which brought forth the following chiding remarks from the angel: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country” (The Angel of Portugal).
Around 12 years later, Our Lady again appeared to Lucia, saying: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops in the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!” (Our Lady to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
At Akita Our Lady adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Look around―what do you see? Do you see much praying or much playing? Sacrifice or mobile-device? Fasting or tasting? Hours of meditation or hours of recreation? What we need is a reformation of our deformation! We are the salt of the world that has lost its saltiness. The world has sweetened the Catholic salt so much that it has become sickly sweet! We have forgotten what it is that keeps the devil and sin at bay. We have lost the sense of sin and lost the sense of the spiritual and supernatural―we are ruled by the material and the physical, among which is the technological. Our “dumbed-down” minds are in the process of capitulating to Artificial Intelligence, while our souls have already succumbed to wiles of devilish intelligence.
As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Are You Wasting Time and Grace?
Do you appreciate the graces and the time granted to you? Will you profit from the graces and time given to you? Or will you dig a hole in the ground for the talent given to you, and bury it? Are you digging a hole for yourself? If we want a turnaround of events―if we want a less sinful world that increases our chances of saving our own souls―if we want the advent of the “Holy Pope” and the coming of the “Great Monarch” who Our Lady will undoubtedly use as a subservient factor in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart―then we are going to have to pay. Pay by pain and suffering or pay by charity and love―the choice is ours. The only certain thing is that God will make us pay―for we are responsible in part for the damage we see all around us.
It comes back to the idea with which we started out―convert the king, and you will convert the kingdom; convert the pope, and you will convert the Church. The enemies have done so to their own advantage―converting the popes, bishops, priests and religious to Liberalism, Modernism and even worse elements. That has to be reversed―and the papacy, episcopacy, clergy and religious orders need to be re-conquered for Christ. This is the crux of what Sister Lucia of Fatima referred to as the “Devil’s Final Battle with the Virgin”, whereby she says: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
It is the superiors who form and mold the inferiors―and not the inferiors who form and mold the superiors. This was acknowledged to be true from the earliest centuries―which is why we have the saying: “Convert the king and you will convert the people!” In our modern world, with widespread political and religious liberty (which is an erroneous idea), it is often assumed that conversion to a religion is fundamentally a personal choice and merely an interior, private, invisible, spiritual event. Throughout history, however, one of the most significant factors in religious success or failure has been the conversion of rulers. Convert a king, convert a kingdom.
If you know your history, then you will recall an example of this “Convert a king, convert a nation” phenomenon in the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine the Great―who was the pagan son of St. Helena. Before Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312, it is estimated that less than 10% of Romans were Christian―and persecution of Christians abounded. Yet in less than a century after his death, the numbers of Christians had risen to the 80% to 90% level, making them by far the majority within the Empire. Constantine’s example―by his conversion and successive patronage of Christianity―was a key factor in Christianity’s ultimate success. Constantine, however, was not the first pagan or last ruler who brought his empire or kingdom to Christianity as a result of personal conversion.
A similar, though less striking case was that Tiridates III of Armenia, who converted in 301. Not long after, another case was that of the conversion of Ezana of Axum (Ethiopia) around 350. Another example would be that of the conversion of the Frankish barbarian king, Clovis, in 486. Even though by that time France had for the most part been Christianized under the Roman Empire, nevertheless, the conversion of Clovis led to the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the kingdom of the Franks.
Similarly, the Anglo-Saxons―pagans for many centuries―began to convert to Christianity soon after the conversion of one of chief Anglo-Saxon kings―Ethelred. King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, upon ascending the throne in 995, tried to force the Vikings to convert to Christianity―which led to many years of civil war in Scandinavia. In Lithuania, among the last European people to be Christianized, the conversion of Duke Mindaugas of Lithuania to Christianity around 1250, led to the conversion of the Lithuanians under his rule.
The conversion to Christianity of the the Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev saw the Slavs of Russia to convert to Greek Orthodoxy. At his baptism in 987, he ordered the entire population of Kiev to be baptized in the river following his example. Further to the east, the Turkish Khazars, to the north of the Caspian Sea, converted to Judaism following the example of their Khan.
The pagan Mongols, after conquering Iran, ended up converting to Islam, in imitation of their Khan (king) Ghazan, who became a Muslim in 1295. West African king Mansa Musa (1312-1337), a Muslim, was instrumental in spreading Islam through the empire of Mali.
Buddhism also furnishes many cases of the conversion of kings as being the trigger for the conversion of their subjects. For example, Ashoka, the Hindu emperor of India, converted to Buddhism around 270 BC, and cause Buddhism to spread throughout India. Further east, towards the end of the 13th century, we see Kubla Khan convert to Buddhism and make Buddhism the official religion of China. Likewise, the conversion to Tibetan Buddhism in the 16th century of the Mongol Altan Khan helped spread Buddhism throughout Mongolia.
The Protestant Reformation (or Protestant Revolution) at the start of the 16th century, was made possible to a great degree by the fact that many German princes found it politically and financially profitable to convert to Protestantism. The present day Catholic-Protestant demographics still reflect the geographical locations of the princes of the 16th century, whether they converted to Lutheranism or remained Catholic. Most notoriously, Henry VIII’s allegiance to Protestantism was instrumental in the later conversion of England from Catholicism to Anglicanism.
So, as you can see, all throughout history―until the concrete development of the heretical notion of separation of Church and State in the 18th century―the religion of kings has been a decisive factor in the conversions of peoples. The secular ideology and religious beliefs of rulers continue to play an important, though no longer decisive, role in societies today.
Corrupt the King―Corrupt the Nation
Now―if you stop and think about that for a moment―and toss up that ‘coin’ or coined phrase up in the air and let it fall upon its “flip-side”, then you should be able to see that opposite is also somewhat true. Corrupt a king, corrupt a kingdom! Corrupt the government, corrupt the nation. Corrupt the father, corrupt the family. That is where we find ourselves today―corrupted. There is widespread corruption of in the halls of power―in the Church, in the State, in Finance, in Education, in Philosophy, in Thinking, in Culture, in Fashion, etc.
Back in May of 2018, at the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated: “Corruption affects developed and developing countries alike … It cripples economic development, stifles entrepreneurship and deters investment. Society cannot function equitably and efficiently when public officials – from doctors to police, judges and politicians – enrich themselves rather than perform their duties with integrity. Corruption robs funds from schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other vital services. Human trafficking and migrant smuggling, illicit financial flows and illegal trade in natural resources, weapons, drugs and cultural heritage are all made possible because of corruption. It fuels conflict, and when peace is achieved, corruption undermines recovery. Corruption and impunity (thinking you cannot be caught/punished) are corrosive, breeding frustration and fostering further corruption when people see no other way of achieving their goals … The UN Convention Against Corruption represents the fundamental recognition that corruption is neither an acceptable cost of doing business, nor a necessary evil. It is a serious crime, and simply unacceptable … If governments are serious about doing the best for their citizens, then pledges to promote integrity and clamp down on corruption must be more than campaign promises and words on paper. Millions will go to the polls this year with corruption high on their agenda … By tackling corruption, governments can show they mean business. We must all do more.”
Though many of the things stated by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, are true―Our Lord would no doubt say: “Physician, heal thyself!” (Luke 4:23)―because the United Nations has often fallen foul of accusations of corruption within its own organization, as “oft-cited points of criticism include a perceived lack of the body’s efficacy, rampant anti-Semitism, appeasement, promotion of globalism, abuse of power by nations exerting general control over the assembly, a number of legislative decisions seen as abandonment of, among other things, the prevention of armed conflict clause(s) detailed in the Charter of the United Nations, corruption, a total lack of efficacy in both pre-emptive measures and de-escalation of existing conflicts which have ranged from social disputes to all-out wars, and misappropriation of resources.” (Wikipedia, article: “Criticism of the United Nations”).
Corruptio Optimi Pessima―Corruption of the Best is the Worst
As the famous Latin proverb says: “Corruptio optimi pessima”― meaning “corruption of the best is the worst of all.” There is a similar phrase that can be linked to the above proverb, found in a statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, made in a letter to an Anglican bishop, wherein he says: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men...” Though Lord Acton may have coined the phrase, he was not the originator of the idea―since power has been corrupting the powerful throughout all time. Lucifer was the most powerful angel created―and look what happened to him! Power corrupted King Saul, also King David and King Solomon. Power corrupted the two sons of the High Priest Heli. History is loaded with example of power leading to corruption. It has been the same old story through the ages. William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, said something similar to Lord Acton’s quote in a speech to the England’s House of Lords in 1770: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it!” We find a similar quote in Alphonse Lamartine’s 1848 essay, France and England: a Vision of the Future, which states: “Absolute power corrupts the best natures.”
To a Catholic, all of this should hardly be surprising―for we know that all persons are born with Original Sin, which, in its essence, is a sin of Pride and Disobedience, which carries with it an ever-present tendency to sin. This is why St. John the Evangelist and Apostle writes: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). This is also why St. Paul laments that he does not do the good he wants to do and ends up doing the evil that he does not want to do: “We know that the law is spiritual―but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do! … For to want what is good, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want, I do not do; but the evil which I do not want, that I do. Now if I do that which I do want, it is no longer I that do it, but it is sin that dwells in me. I find, then, a law, that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the interior man! But I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin. Unhappy man that I am―who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, I serve the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
The Smoke of Satan in the Church
After Pope Leo XIII had finished saying Mass in the Vatican Chapel, on October 13th, 1884, where he was attended by some Cardinals and other members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar, where he stood for about ten minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. The, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions that it be said after all the Low Masses everywhere, which it was until Vatican II. When asked what happened, the Pontiff explained that as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices—two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to be coming from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice of Satan, in his pride, boasted to Our Lord:
“I can destroy Your Church.”
The gentle voice of Our Lord:
“You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan: “To do so, I need more time and power.”
Our Lord: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Pope Leo XIII understood that Satan was to be given a certain amount of time in order to accomplish his purpose; and a greater power to spread evil, through those human agents who would dedicate themselves to his cause. He was given further to understand that, if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit given, he would suffer a most crushing and humiliating defeat. Furthermore, the forces of good would not be helpless in the face of the onslaught of Satan and his legions. They, too, were given a greater power for good, if only they would use it. Through their prayers and sacrifices and good Catholic lives, they could offset the power of the devil and his human agents.
Since that time, the powers of Hell have infiltrated the powers of the Church. This was the chilling message of Pope Paul VI―not just once, but on several occasions:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
All of this brings back to mind the above mentioned proverb: “Corruptio optimi pessima” ― meaning “corruption of the best is the worst of all.”
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me―who was a nobody―to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
FR. MALACHI MARTIN was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock, no doubt, some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read: essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
In his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, Fr. Martin describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary! Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity!”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men! Adore a general god! Be good! Be compassionate! Be humanitarian! Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world!’”
“In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
The Coming of a Holy Pope? Only After Some Not-So-Holy Popes!
The much vaunted and promised Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, seems likely to be connected with the advent of the so-called “Holy Pope” for the Church and the rise of the “Great Monarch” in the secular field. Prior to that―as Our Lady warned―Communism (or one of the many other names under which it masquerades or hides behind) will take over the world. We are seeing a foretaste of that totalitarianism right now, with this world orchestrated “Con-all-avirus Plannedemic” or “Stupid-Man’s Scamdemic” that has fooled, duped, conned and terrified the stupid sheeple of the world, who willingly muzzle themselves and isolate themselves in their own sheeple-pen upon command.
Once the world is totally taken over by the totalitarianism of Communism (and its aliases and friends), then it will need the holiness of the “Holy Pope” and the “Great Monarch” to re-conquer the world for Christ, under the banner of the Immaculate Heart. Some foolish people― “and the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―might be tempted to falsely and foolishly think that perhaps we are living in the era of “Holy Popes” ― not just one, but many ― in view of the recent canonizations by the ‘Holy’ Father, Pope Francis, of some papal pillars of the revolution within the Church―namely, Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II―all pillars of Liberalism and Modernism and Fathers of the Church Destruction.
Just as we have been fed a false propaganda concerning the dangers of Covid-19, so too have we been fed a false propaganda on the alleged sanctity of some of the key destroyers of the Church. Since the Second Vatican Council there have been a number of spurious or dubious ‘canonizations’ that, upon examination and reflection, seem to qualify more as ‘propaganda canonizations’ than authentic canonizations. If you were cynical about it, you could call it a “Con-onization Pandemic”, whereby we are conned into thinking along the lines of: “Well, if these people have been canonized as saints, then all that they said, did and taught must automatically be true, acceptable, holy and therefore believable!” An additional problem is that since the Second Vatican Council there have also be canonizations which we would have expected according to the Church’s Traditional and Conservative manner of analysis, requirements, evaluation, assessment and proclamation. Such ‘real’ saints include personages as Peter Julian Eymard, Claude de la Colombière, Vincent Pallotti, Julie Billiart, John of Avila, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Neumann, Charbal Makhlouf, Padre Pio, Francisco and Jacinta Marto of 1917 Fatima apparitions, Maximilian Kolbe, etc. Yet there have been some questionable canonizations―not just the canonizations of the three popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John-Paul II, but also those of persons such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Josemaria Escriva to mention but some.
● Pope Leo XIII only canonized 12 saints in 20 years ― giving an average of 0.6 per year.
● Pope St. Pius X only canonized 4 saints in 11 years ― giving an even lower average of 0.3 per year.
● Pope Benedict XV only canonized 3 saints in 8 years ― giving an average of 0.4 per year.
● Pope Pius XI canonized 29 in 13 years ― giving an average of 2.2 per year.
● Pope Pius XII canonized 34 in 19 years ― giving an average of 1.7 per year.
● Pope John XXIII canonized 10 in 4 years ― giving an average of 2.5 per year.
● Pope Paul VI canonized 63 in 13 years ― giving a notable increased average of 5 per year.
An Explosion of Saints in Sinful Times? Wolves Among Sheep?
● Pope John Paul II brought about an “explosion of canonizations” during his reign from 1982 to 2004 canonizing 466 saints in 22 years ― giving an average of 21 per year ― some of them “absolute certainties” for the Traditionally minded Catholic, but some of them of “dubious” quality.
● Pope Benedict XVI was slightly more restrained and quelled the “saintly tsunami” of his predecessor, by dropping the number to 45 canonizations in 7 years ― giving an average of 6.5 per year, but still well over double the highest average of the previous Pre-Vatican II popes since Leo XIII (averages of 0.6 per year; 0.3 per year; 0.4 per year; 2.2 per year; 1.7 per year; and 2.5 per year).
● Pope Francis has so far canonized 898 in 7 years, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a group ― giving an average of 128 per year. Take out those 813 martyrs (which is unfair) and you have 85 in 7 years ― still giving a very high average of 12 per year. Pope Francis also has the dubious fame of canonizing three Liberal/Modernist of Post-Vatican II pedigree to the sainthood ― Pope ‘Saint’ John XIII, Pope ‘Saint’ Paul VI and Pope ‘Saint’ John-Paul II. Much has been said and written by eminent theologians on the dubious and unmerited ‘canonization’ of these three ‘saintly’ popes―the volume of material on this matter could fill several books!
Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have canonized a total of 1,509 saints? That number far exceeds the combined total of saints canonized since 1588. Ultimately, you have question the reason for massive increase in the canonization of persons to sainthood. Why? Pope John Paul II began the call for more saints during his pontificate, based on the teachings of Vatican II. His inspiration came specifically from Lumen Gentium and the chapter entitled, “The Universal Call of Holiness in the Church.” By canonizing a vast number of people John Paul II wanted to show the world that anyone could become a saint! Pope Benedict XVI continued this theme and spoke during a general audience, “We might ask ourselves―Can we, with our limitations, with our weaknesses, aim so high? … It is possible for everyone to take this road. In every epoch of the Church’s history, on every latitude of the world map, the saints belong to all the ages and to every state of life, they are actual faces of every people, language and nation.” Pope Francis has also spoken about the universal call to sanctity: “Every state of life leads to holiness, always! At home, on the streets, at work, at church, in the moment and with the state of life that you have, a door is opened on the road to sainthood. Do not be discouraged to travel this road. God gives you the grace to do so. And this is all that the Lord asks, is that we are in communion with Him and serve others.” Hey! It seems so easy! A saint in every home, factory and school!
The question has to be asked is if this seems to make people think that sanctity is easy and that most souls go to Heaven―which is a false idea or a lie. It is a little like the attitude adopted by many schools in these modern days, whereby the intellectual levels of students have fallen considerably, so the schools make the tests easier and grade more generously. This false idea of sanctity or “lowered-bar” of sanctity has been applied to the recently canonized Liberal/Modernist popes.
A Hole in the Holiness of the Holy Fathers?
► Pope John XXIII was certainly not the “Holy Pope” that would lead the Church to victory. In his encyclical Pacem in terris, he defended religious liberty. He states that the ideal society is founded on the dignity of the human person―where is God in all of this? Christ said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Lastly, without openly joining the modernist camp, John XXIII showed a Liberal attitude. His affection went out naturally to anything that sought to reconcile the modern world with the Faith―yet Holy Scripture tells us that world is not our friend, but our enemy: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Pope John XXIII admitted that he himself went back and forth between his attraction for, as he said, “the light of the new times” and the old spirit, incarnated in the old parish priests that had marked his youth. Not the markings and makings of a saint! A spirit of compromise that one cannot canonize!
► Pope Paul VI has been studied by many who, after studying the life and pontificate of Pope Paul VI, are convinced that he was far from exemplary in his conduct as pastor; that he not only did not possess heroic virtue, but lacked certain key virtues; that his promulgation of a titanic liturgical reform was incompatible with his papal office of handing on that which he had received; that he offers us a portrait of failed governance and tradition betrayed. In short, for us, it is impossible to accept that a pope such as this could ever be canonized.
► Pope John-Paul II also manifests elements that would lead one to doubt the validity of his beatification. First of all, there is the unheard-of speed with which the case was processed, and also by the verified “unholy” facts that, sadly, punctuated his pontificate, and, above all, the blemish of “humanism” that formed the fundamental unity between Karol Wojtlya’s thoughts and his actions. These same doubts remained undispelled at the announcement of his forthcoming canonization, all the more because not one Roman authority could or would respond to them.
Fast Food―Fast Track―Fast Tracked Saints
We live in a “fast” world, each day is sped through in the “fast lane”, we want to “fast track” as many things as we can―all of this would be fine if the “fast” that we refer to would be “fasting” as in doing without food for an act of penance or sacrifice. However, sadly, that is not the “fast track” that rules the world today. The same insidious “fast track” and “fast lane” has entered the Church and Her operations. Today’s “New Mass” (Novus Ordo Missae) is a “fast-tracked” streamlined version of the Old Mass (Latin Tridentine Mass). The Sacraments have been “fast tracked” and are now shorter―with parts no longer seen as important, being dispensed with, and ditched―as for example, in the new rite of Baptism the exorcisms have been ditched. Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the recently deceased (2016) former chief-exorcist of Rome, complained together with many other exorcists worldwide, that the new rite of exorcism was ineffective due to the changes and shortenings of many of the prayers. Many Traditional and Conservative theologians say that the new post-Vatican II legislation (new Mass and new liturgy, new canonizations, new Code of Canon Law) is not infallible and does not oblige because we have serious reasons to doubt its very nature as law.
The renowned Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh, who died in 1949, wrote the following: “No secular court trying a man for his life is more thorough and scrupulous than the Congregation of Rites in seeking to establish whether or not the servant of God practiced virtues both theological and cardinal, and to a heroic degree. If that is established, the advocate of the cause must next prove that his presence in Heaven has been indicated by at least two miracles, while a cardinal who is an expert theologian does all he can to discredit the evidence—hence his popular title of advocatus diaboli, or Devil’s Advocate. If the evidence survives every attempt to destroy it after months, years and sometimes centuries of discussion, he is then beatified, that is, he is declared to be blessed. The final stage of canonization, the last of twenty distinct steps, may take even more years or centuries. It must be proved beyond any reasonable doubt that two additional miracles have been performed through the instance of the servant of God, since the beatification. When and if this is done, the Pope issues a bull (a sealed letter) of canonization.”
More Questionable Saints
Today’s ditching or discarding of the “thorough and scrupulous” approach praised by Mr. Walsh, can only cause doubt over the integrity of the new canonization process—especially in the case of “fast-track” canonizations.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a popular figure recognized as a “saint” while she was still alive, even though, despite her many good works, she seemed to embrace a theology of indifferentism. She is on record saying, “I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.” In 1976, Mother Teresa organized a 25th anniversary celebration of the Missionaries of Charity. As part of the celebration, she obtained permission from the Archbishop of Calcutta for her and her sisters to pray in some pagan temples—non-Christian houses of worship—each day of the jubilee. Her desire was for each group to hold its own worship service of thanksgiving. Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and so forth joined her and her sisters to thank the one true God in their own way. She and her sisters prayed at eighteen different worship sites, including Hindu temples.
Dubious Miracles to Make Dubious Saints
The central “miracle” employed to justify Mother Teresa’s 2003 “beatification” was the alleged cure of Monica Besra in September 1998. Besra, from Dangram, 460 miles northeast of Calcutta, claimed to have been cured of a tumor after praying to Mother Teresa while pressing a medallion of Mother Teresa’s image to her side. Despite this claim, Besra’s doctors insist the cure had nothing miraculous about it, but was the result of strong anti-TB drugs administered over a period of nine months.
“This miraculous claim is absolute nonsense and should be condemned by everyone,” said Dr. R. K. Musafi. “She had a medium-sized tumor in her lower abdomen caused by tuberculosis. The drugs she was given eventually reduced the cystic mass and it disappeared after a year’s treatment.” Likewise, Dr. T. K. Biswas, the first doctor to treat Besra, said, “With all due respect to Mother Teresa, there should not be any talk of a miracle by her. We advised her a prolonged anti-tubercular treatment and she was cured.” Dr. Manju Murshet, Superintendent of the Balurghat Hospital, complained that the doctors were under pressure from Church members to declare a miraculous cure: “They want us to say Monica Besra’s recovery was a miracle and beyond the comprehension of medical science.” Besra’s husband Deiku also challenges the claim of a miraculous cure. “It is much ado about nothing,” he said, “My wife was cured by the doctors, not by any miracle.” Furthermore, Besra’s medical records have disappeared from the hospital. The records containing her physician’s notes, prescriptions, and sonograms were taken by Sister Betta of the Missionaries of Charity. When Time magazine contacted Sister Betta to ask about Besra’s medical records, the only response was: “No comment.”
Remember, the Catholic Church has always demanded that a miraculous cure requires rigorous proof beyond any reasonable doubt. The integrity of the Mother Teresa “miracle” is thus seriously compromised.
This Unholy Mess Needs a Holy Solution!
If you really want to get to the bottom of the current mess in both Church and State, in Religion and Politics, in our spiritual lives and material lives―then you will necessarily, inevitably, undoubtedly find that it is our ungodliness, our neglect of the spiritual and supernatural, our preoccupation with man to the detriment of God―or, hitting the nail on the head, our SINFULNESS that has got us into this mess. It is an unholy mess because we are unholy. Like begets like. Unholiness in mind produces unholiness in action. Ideas have consequences―and unholy ideas produce unholy consequences. Worldliness―which ultimately comes from its prince, the devil―leads to worldliness and Hell.
“The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” said Our Lady of La Salette.
“Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world” said St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima before she died.
“If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” said Our Lady of Akita.
“With the sins of the world increasing in horror, as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God!” said Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of Fr. Pel to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
If you really analyze things as they are―then in theory (we will soon arrive at the practice) all is lost. Humanly speaking, there is no way to turn around the Satanic juggernaut that is leading mankind to destruction and Hell. The only solution―or soul-ution―is a supernatural solution, a spiritual solution, a holy solution, a solution requiring holiness and not this worldliness to which even the best of Catholics has become addicted.
You Get What You Pay For!
You may have read in Catholic prophecy about the so-called “Holy Pope” and his counterpart in the secular world, the “Great Monarch”, who are said to be the ones who turn back this ever-increasing tsunami of evil and restore both Church and State under the reign of God, Christ the King and Our Lady. Yet, as they say, “You get the leaders that you deserve!” … “You get what you pay for!” and “Nothing in this world is free!” ― well, Heaven applies the same principles. The “Holy Pope” and “Great Monarch” won’t come for free―they are not Heaven’s “freebies” or “hand-outs”―they come at a price. We can choose our payment plan! One plan means having to go through horrendous suffering in order to pay the price for their “coming”―that plan means small payments but an incredible amount of interest levied on the price. Another plan means having to pay much more―but it saves on the interest (suffering). It is much like paying for sin―we can either pay by suffering or by loving. “Charity covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) ― and that is how Mary Magdalen paid for her sins, of whom Our Lord said: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). The other way to pay is like the Good Thief on the cross―who paid by the excruciating pains of crucifixion, admitting as he suffered deathly pain: “We receive the due reward of our deeds!” (Luke 23:41). It is hardly a manifestation of love towards God to spend many hours the world’s technological appliances―such as television, smartphone, computer, tablet, internet, social media, etc. ― while giving God a fraction of that time! Our Lady has been constantly telling us to pray―but all we want to do is play! At Lourdes: “Pray for sinners … Penance! Penance! Penance!”
At Fatima: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer… Sacrifice yourselves for sinners!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917).
To these words we must add those of the Angel of Portugal, who appeared to the Fatima children shortly before Our Lady’s apparitions. One apparition saw the children playing games―which brought forth the following chiding remarks from the angel: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country” (The Angel of Portugal).
Around 12 years later, Our Lady again appeared to Lucia, saying: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops in the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray!” (Our Lady to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
At Akita Our Lady adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Look around―what do you see? Do you see much praying or much playing? Sacrifice or mobile-device? Fasting or tasting? Hours of meditation or hours of recreation? What we need is a reformation of our deformation! We are the salt of the world that has lost its saltiness. The world has sweetened the Catholic salt so much that it has become sickly sweet! We have forgotten what it is that keeps the devil and sin at bay. We have lost the sense of sin and lost the sense of the spiritual and supernatural―we are ruled by the material and the physical, among which is the technological. Our “dumbed-down” minds are in the process of capitulating to Artificial Intelligence, while our souls have already succumbed to wiles of devilish intelligence.
As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Are You Wasting Time and Grace?
Do you appreciate the graces and the time granted to you? Will you profit from the graces and time given to you? Or will you dig a hole in the ground for the talent given to you, and bury it? Are you digging a hole for yourself? If we want a turnaround of events―if we want a less sinful world that increases our chances of saving our own souls―if we want the advent of the “Holy Pope” and the coming of the “Great Monarch” who Our Lady will undoubtedly use as a subservient factor in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart―then we are going to have to pay. Pay by pain and suffering or pay by charity and love―the choice is ours. The only certain thing is that God will make us pay―for we are responsible in part for the damage we see all around us.
It comes back to the idea with which we started out―convert the king, and you will convert the kingdom; convert the pope, and you will convert the Church. The enemies have done so to their own advantage―converting the popes, bishops, priests and religious to Liberalism, Modernism and even worse elements. That has to be reversed―and the papacy, episcopacy, clergy and religious orders need to be re-conquered for Christ. This is the crux of what Sister Lucia of Fatima referred to as the “Devil’s Final Battle with the Virgin”, whereby she says: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 31st to Wednesday September 2nd
Article 1
We Are Going to Need Our Lady Soon―Big Time!
Monday August 31st to Wednesday September 2nd
Article 1
We Are Going to Need Our Lady Soon―Big Time!
How Long Can It Go On?
The Church is approaching the beginnings of a schism. The USA is approaching the likelihood of the Civil War that has been prophesied. The world is on the verge of universal totalitarianism―which is fulfilling Our Lady’s warning that Communism will take over the whole world. The rights and freedoms of the “common man” are being increasingly eroded as all this takes place.
Over 50 to 60 million babies are aborted―murdered―each year, which translates to well over 1 million per week; over 160,000 a day, or over nearly 7,000 every hour, or 114 every minute, or almost 2 babies every second or every beat of your heart! By the time you drink your coffee, eat you doughnut, smoke your cigarette―hundreds of babies will have been murdered. Covid-19 is not even a grain of sand on a beach compared to those numbers. Even after the universal falsification of death certificates, the “over-inflated” Covid-19 average death rate per week so far in 2020 is 855,000 over 35 weeks, or just under 25,000 a week compared to 1 million abortions a week, making Covid deaths a tiny fraction of the abortion deaths by comparison―only 2.5% of the abortion total, the percentage of course being same, whether you at like it annually, monthly, weekly, daily or hourly―there are around 50 times more babies murdered daily than there are Covid deaths―and remember, many of those Covid death certificates have been fraudulently filled-out to cite Covid as the cause of death. The truth is that most of the people died WITH Covid, NOT BECAUSE OF Covid.
In America alone, there is 1 divorce approximately every 36 seconds. That's nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year. The divorce rate for a first marriage is around 41%. The divorce rate is 60% for a second marriage and 73% for a third marriage. Cumulatively 1 in every 4 families will face divorce. Looking at divorce worldwide―here are some of the divorce rates among the chief countries in the “Top Twenty” of Divorce: Russian Federation 65% of marriages end in divorce; Sweden 64%; Belgium 56%; United Kingdom 53%; United States 50%; Canada 45%; France 43%; Germany 41%; Netherlands 41%; Switzerland 40%. Some 1.9 million marriages and an estimated 0.8 million divorces took place in the European Union in 2017, according to the most recent data available for all European Union Member States. One has to also question some of the marriages that do not end in divorce―for Our Lady of Fatima revealed that many marriages are not of God.
How many mortal sins are committed daily through impure thoughts and glances alone―not even counting the millions of acts of masturbation, sodomy, onanism and adultery? Our Lady of Fatima said that impurity was the common sin and frequent sin on the souls (besides other mortal sins too) of those who were damned―and that statement by Our Lady was made back in 1917. With the incessant and ubiquitous amount of immodesty that now prevails on the television, the internet, commercials, advertizing, newspapers, magazines, books, photos, as well as immodest fashions―the daily number of impure mortal sins of thought and glance must be almost incalculable.
Worldwide, an estimated 400,000 people were killed in homicides in 2016 ― which increased by 16% to 464,000 in 2017, surpassing by far the 89,000 killed in armed conflicts in the same period. In the USA, in 2018, there were about 1.2 million violent crimes, according to the report, according to Crime in the United States, 2018, the annual crime statistics report produced by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. USA homicide reached over 19,000 cases; Rape and sexual assault saw over 434,000 reported (most go unreported); Robbery over 310,000; Aggravated assault over 810,000; Total violent crime over 1,300,000 (1.3 million) cases; Burglary over 3.7 million cases; Larceny-theft over 6.2 million cases; Motor vehicle theft over 773,000 cases; Total property crimes were over 11 million cases. Remember all of those numbers are for USA ALONE! Nice world, huh? Heaven must be pleased, eh? We can become numb and deadened by over-exposure to sin and crime to the point where it all seems to flow off us like water off a duck’s back! Yet Heaven―which has been exposed to such sins and crimes for thousands of years―does not become numb and deadened to it all. Heaven never ceases to warn us and threaten us with the consequences of such actions―as Our Lady in recent times said to Blessed Elena Aiello:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady, December 8th, 1956). We might be sick and tired of hearing those words―but we will be even more sick, sick to the stomach, when what Our Lady threatens eventually happens and that “slender thread shall snap and Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs!”
These Things Need Not Be!
There are certain things that are―but need not be as they are! Most of humanity is now tormented in Hell―but it need not have ended that way for them! Most souls today are living in mortal sin―but it need not be that way! Most children today abandon the regular practice of their Catholic Faith by the time they finish their education―but it need not be that way! Most Catholic adults no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly―but it need not be that way. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics no longer, or very, very rarely go to Confession― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics have lost all sense of what actions are mortal sins― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics no longer pray the daily Rosary―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics could not even list the Ten Commandments in order, or in any order― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics know very, very little about their Faith― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics practice contraception―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics now accept or agree with abortion, same-sex relations, masturbation, immodesty, drug-use, etc. ― but it need not be that way! These things are, of course, merely the tip of an iceberg of things that are, but that should not be!
Lamentable Loss
Our Lady lamented the loss of so many souls: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness” (Our Lady of Akita) … “Unbridled luxury will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls!” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “If mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … There are not any souls who, by their lives of immolation and sacrifice, appease the Divine Justice! … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Penance! Penance! Penance!” (Our Lady of Lourdes) … “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”(Our Lady of Fatima). Once again, Our Lady emphasizes what is (the loss of many souls) and stresses that this need not be so (if we were to pray much and do much penance).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima insisted many times on the number of souls that would be lost. One such instance was in 1954 in an interview with Fr. Lombardi, who was very complacent about the salvation of souls―thinking most souls would be saved. Sr. Lucia corrected him, saying: “Father, many will be lost!” When Fr. Lombardi tried to argue otherwise, Sr. Lucia repeated: “No Father! Many will be lost.” Some years later, to Fr. Fuentes, she revealed: “My mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). In her memoirs, now published in a book entitled, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Sr. Lucia writes: “Some people―even the most devout―refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of―I would almost dare to say―withering away with fear!”
Yes―Hell is a sobering reality and most souls end up there, but it need not be that way! Our Lady said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” At Akita in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady essentially said the same thing: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” Yet all of this falls on deaf ears and eyes that refuse to open and look reality in the face ― “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “O foolish people and without understanding: who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see and see not: and ears to hear and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
That is why Sr. Lucia revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Why won’t we listen? Well―perhaps we do listen, but why won’t we do as we are told to do? Why are we so brazenly indifferent and nonchalant to warnings and counsels of Our Lady? Do we think it all to be optional? Do we imagine that there will no consequences for our refusal to act as requested? Do we think that we have a spiritual immune system that gives us immunity from punishment and a license to sin with impunity?
“What sin?” you might ask in protest. The sin of negligence of not praying and offering sacrifices to prevent the countless sinners falling into Hell. You will try offering Cain’s lame excuse to God concerning his brother Abel, when God asked him where Abel was―for Cain had killed Abel: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’” (Genesis 4:2-16). Yes, we are the keepers of other persons on Earth―as Our Lord said to the damned in his parable of the Judgment of the Sheep and the Goats: “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment!” (Matthew 25:41-46). “He that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth―how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20).
The Church is approaching the beginnings of a schism. The USA is approaching the likelihood of the Civil War that has been prophesied. The world is on the verge of universal totalitarianism―which is fulfilling Our Lady’s warning that Communism will take over the whole world. The rights and freedoms of the “common man” are being increasingly eroded as all this takes place.
Over 50 to 60 million babies are aborted―murdered―each year, which translates to well over 1 million per week; over 160,000 a day, or over nearly 7,000 every hour, or 114 every minute, or almost 2 babies every second or every beat of your heart! By the time you drink your coffee, eat you doughnut, smoke your cigarette―hundreds of babies will have been murdered. Covid-19 is not even a grain of sand on a beach compared to those numbers. Even after the universal falsification of death certificates, the “over-inflated” Covid-19 average death rate per week so far in 2020 is 855,000 over 35 weeks, or just under 25,000 a week compared to 1 million abortions a week, making Covid deaths a tiny fraction of the abortion deaths by comparison―only 2.5% of the abortion total, the percentage of course being same, whether you at like it annually, monthly, weekly, daily or hourly―there are around 50 times more babies murdered daily than there are Covid deaths―and remember, many of those Covid death certificates have been fraudulently filled-out to cite Covid as the cause of death. The truth is that most of the people died WITH Covid, NOT BECAUSE OF Covid.
In America alone, there is 1 divorce approximately every 36 seconds. That's nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year. The divorce rate for a first marriage is around 41%. The divorce rate is 60% for a second marriage and 73% for a third marriage. Cumulatively 1 in every 4 families will face divorce. Looking at divorce worldwide―here are some of the divorce rates among the chief countries in the “Top Twenty” of Divorce: Russian Federation 65% of marriages end in divorce; Sweden 64%; Belgium 56%; United Kingdom 53%; United States 50%; Canada 45%; France 43%; Germany 41%; Netherlands 41%; Switzerland 40%. Some 1.9 million marriages and an estimated 0.8 million divorces took place in the European Union in 2017, according to the most recent data available for all European Union Member States. One has to also question some of the marriages that do not end in divorce―for Our Lady of Fatima revealed that many marriages are not of God.
How many mortal sins are committed daily through impure thoughts and glances alone―not even counting the millions of acts of masturbation, sodomy, onanism and adultery? Our Lady of Fatima said that impurity was the common sin and frequent sin on the souls (besides other mortal sins too) of those who were damned―and that statement by Our Lady was made back in 1917. With the incessant and ubiquitous amount of immodesty that now prevails on the television, the internet, commercials, advertizing, newspapers, magazines, books, photos, as well as immodest fashions―the daily number of impure mortal sins of thought and glance must be almost incalculable.
Worldwide, an estimated 400,000 people were killed in homicides in 2016 ― which increased by 16% to 464,000 in 2017, surpassing by far the 89,000 killed in armed conflicts in the same period. In the USA, in 2018, there were about 1.2 million violent crimes, according to the report, according to Crime in the United States, 2018, the annual crime statistics report produced by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. USA homicide reached over 19,000 cases; Rape and sexual assault saw over 434,000 reported (most go unreported); Robbery over 310,000; Aggravated assault over 810,000; Total violent crime over 1,300,000 (1.3 million) cases; Burglary over 3.7 million cases; Larceny-theft over 6.2 million cases; Motor vehicle theft over 773,000 cases; Total property crimes were over 11 million cases. Remember all of those numbers are for USA ALONE! Nice world, huh? Heaven must be pleased, eh? We can become numb and deadened by over-exposure to sin and crime to the point where it all seems to flow off us like water off a duck’s back! Yet Heaven―which has been exposed to such sins and crimes for thousands of years―does not become numb and deadened to it all. Heaven never ceases to warn us and threaten us with the consequences of such actions―as Our Lady in recent times said to Blessed Elena Aiello:
“People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind―only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady, December 8th, 1956). We might be sick and tired of hearing those words―but we will be even more sick, sick to the stomach, when what Our Lady threatens eventually happens and that “slender thread shall snap and Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs!”
These Things Need Not Be!
There are certain things that are―but need not be as they are! Most of humanity is now tormented in Hell―but it need not have ended that way for them! Most souls today are living in mortal sin―but it need not be that way! Most children today abandon the regular practice of their Catholic Faith by the time they finish their education―but it need not be that way! Most Catholic adults no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly―but it need not be that way. Most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics no longer, or very, very rarely go to Confession― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics have lost all sense of what actions are mortal sins― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics no longer pray the daily Rosary―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics could not even list the Ten Commandments in order, or in any order― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics know very, very little about their Faith― but it need not be that way! Most Catholics practice contraception―but it need not be that way! Most Catholics now accept or agree with abortion, same-sex relations, masturbation, immodesty, drug-use, etc. ― but it need not be that way! These things are, of course, merely the tip of an iceberg of things that are, but that should not be!
Lamentable Loss
Our Lady lamented the loss of so many souls: “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness” (Our Lady of Akita) … “Unbridled luxury will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls!” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “If mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall! … There are not any souls who, by their lives of immolation and sacrifice, appease the Divine Justice! … Will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time? … Weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie!” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Penance! Penance! Penance!” (Our Lady of Lourdes) … “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”(Our Lady of Fatima). Once again, Our Lady emphasizes what is (the loss of many souls) and stresses that this need not be so (if we were to pray much and do much penance).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima insisted many times on the number of souls that would be lost. One such instance was in 1954 in an interview with Fr. Lombardi, who was very complacent about the salvation of souls―thinking most souls would be saved. Sr. Lucia corrected him, saying: “Father, many will be lost!” When Fr. Lombardi tried to argue otherwise, Sr. Lucia repeated: “No Father! Many will be lost.” Some years later, to Fr. Fuentes, she revealed: “My mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). In her memoirs, now published in a book entitled, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Sr. Lucia writes: “Some people―even the most devout―refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of―I would almost dare to say―withering away with fear!”
Yes―Hell is a sobering reality and most souls end up there, but it need not be that way! Our Lady said: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” At Akita in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady essentially said the same thing: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” Yet all of this falls on deaf ears and eyes that refuse to open and look reality in the face ― “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “O foolish people and without understanding: who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see and see not: and ears to hear and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2).
That is why Sr. Lucia revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying attention to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Why won’t we listen? Well―perhaps we do listen, but why won’t we do as we are told to do? Why are we so brazenly indifferent and nonchalant to warnings and counsels of Our Lady? Do we think it all to be optional? Do we imagine that there will no consequences for our refusal to act as requested? Do we think that we have a spiritual immune system that gives us immunity from punishment and a license to sin with impunity?
“What sin?” you might ask in protest. The sin of negligence of not praying and offering sacrifices to prevent the countless sinners falling into Hell. You will try offering Cain’s lame excuse to God concerning his brother Abel, when God asked him where Abel was―for Cain had killed Abel: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’” (Genesis 4:2-16). Yes, we are the keepers of other persons on Earth―as Our Lord said to the damned in his parable of the Judgment of the Sheep and the Goats: “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment!” (Matthew 25:41-46). “He that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth―how can he love God, Whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20).
Sunday August 30th
Article 13
Don't Mess-Up Her Birthday This Year!
Article 13
Don't Mess-Up Her Birthday This Year!
No “Last-Minute Shopping” for Our Lady
On September 8th, we celebrate Our Lady’s birthday—the most important birthday in history, after that of Our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25th). Are you preparing for that “second-greatest-birthday-in-the-history-of-the-world”? Were you even aware that is coming up and is only 9 days away? A lot of people tend to be “last-minute” people―they leave everything to the “last-minute” thinking that they can still do a “good job” in “the blink of an eye” or “in a jiffy”! This is often seen to be case in the proverbial case―but true case―of the “Last Minute Christmas Shopper.” When you really stop and think about what is involved in “last-minute-shopping” and what it reveals―you have to admit that the message it sends is one of “Right now, I have much more important things to do than shop for this-or-that, or so-and-so!” In other words, you have put whoever or whatever you have to shop for, way down the list of your priorities―you want to do other things first before tackling the shopping business.
Just Another Old Day!
What does Our Lady’s birthday mean to you? Will it be “just another day” that will passed doing “the same old things” with little or nothing to make that day special and important? Will everyone just “go their own way” doing the usual mundane working day things they like to do? This year Our Lady’s birthday falls on a Tuesday! A day when the vast majority of people have to work. This will sort out the men from the boys. Who will make a special effort on a work day to celebrate Our Lady's birthday in a special way?
Raw-Deal Meal
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps will we be throwing at Our Lady on her birthday?
Masterpiece Ignored
Will that day be an important day for you? Does Our Lady really matter to you? How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece― “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday will fare no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday, just like Christmas, will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthay? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―will they manage a full 15 decade Rosary, or at least another 5 decades on top of the norm? How many Catholics will plan on attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Our Lady’s birthday? There are many, many way we can sanctify Our Lady’s birthday —and we will look at these ways during the remaining days—but how many will have the courage to run the gauntlet of human respect and insist upon them with family, relatives and visitors? Yes, we should “lay on a spread”―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but even that is done, unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., will take precedence in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Likewise, therefore, the obedience in keeping the Commandments is also a child of love― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). What is true of Our Lord is equally true of Our Lady. If we truly love her, we will keep her words, we will do what she says.
No Real Love―No Real Devotion
If there is little or no love, there cannot possibly be any devotion―or at least no true devotion―since, as St. Francis de Sales says: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love ... all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God [or in this case, Our Lady]―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God” [or Our Lady]. Faulty, or fake and false devotions are “ten-a-penny” and make-up the vast majority of “made-up” or “make-up” cosmetic devotion that hides the ugliness underneath. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of those false devotions to Our Lady―in his True Devotion to Mary―listing them as seven in number: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees. All of these are faulty, false or fake. They are not true devotions for they come not from a true love of Mary, but from a love of self. Hence their love is not fervent, but lukewarm. Let us not be of those whom Our Lord condemns, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
You can imagine the pain a mother feels when her children―even though they turn up at her birthday―nevertheless are glib, insincere, superficial and hypocritical in the “lip-service-only” congratulations on her birthday and likewise with their protestations of “I love you, mom!” It is merely the “politically correct” thing to say and do―without there being any real heart and sincerity behind what they are saying and doing. The mother knows that and she feels the pain in her motherly sensitivity but does not show it due to her heroic stoicity or stoicism. They say that the more perfect a person is, then the more sensitive they are―thus, Our Lord, who was the most perfect of all, was also the most sensitive of all. Our Lady comes second in perfection and sensitivity. Like her Son, she keenly and deeply feels our inconsideration to her, our neglect of her, our indifference towards her, our lack of real love and devotion in her regard. Is it not the time to put that right? Is it not time to try and give her what she deserves?
Time to Turn to Mary
In the same book, Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales makes a timely encouragement, as we approach the birthday of Our Lady, to devotedly turn to her AT ALL TIMES and in ALL OUR NEEDS: “With a special love, give honor, reverence and respect to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary. As the Mother of Jesus, our Brother, she is truly our mother. Let us therefore turn to her for help. We are her little children, so let us, with complete confidence, throw ourselves in her arms. At every moment, in every circumstance, let us call to this loving mother. Let us ask earnestly for her motherly love. With our hearts full of a true filial love for her, let us strive to imitate her virtues.”
In the case of a good person, it is only natural for a child to imitate the virtues of its mother―a bad child will imitate the vices of its mother. If you have ever read The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, you will have noted that Our Lady continually insists that her example be imitated. The proverb― “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” ― means that a person imitates someone else because they admire that person or value what that person is doing. Another version adds a phrase at the end of that proverb, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness!” ― and that sums up our self and Our Lady ― we are mediocrity personified and she is greatness personified. Much as Christ became man to make us like unto God―Our Lady wants to raise us out of our mediocrity and make us holy and acceptable to God. She was born to bring God to man―on this her upcoming birthday―let her be truly born in your life and soul, so that she can bring you to God.
What to Do and How to Prepare
► The first thing to do is to CONCRETELY, DEFINITELY, IRREVOCABLY, UNCHANGINGLY and ABSOLUTELY SET ASIDE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH FOR OUR LADY. It is the birthday of the Mother of God. It is the birthday of your spiritual mother. It is the birthday of her who has said: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
► The second thing to do is to tell everyone that everyone is staying at home (and perhaps invite other relatives and friends―as you would for any family member’s birthday―for Mary is “family” is she not? You hope to part of her “family” in Heaven, don’t you?). Make the phone calls, send the texts and e-mails THIS WEEKEND. Commit yourself! It is the best way to guarantee that it will happen―because other people have been told about and will expect it to happen.
► The third thing to do is to create some kind of loose schedule for Tuesday, September 8th. Be “loose” and plan more generally than specifically―because you may get a better idea on what to actually do on the day as a result of who will accept and who refuses your invitation. Then you can plan more specifically based upon what you know of the persons who will be accept your invitation and will attend Our Lady’s birthday party.
► The fourth thing to do is to invite everyone to PREPARE SPIRITUALLY for Our Lady’s birthday. You could send out the link to the NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR OUR LADY’S NATIVITY [click here]―if it is started today, then you get a full nine days up to and including Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could send out some other prayers that last a lesser time―for example a TRIDUUM OF PRAYERS (which means “prayers for three days”), or ask them to pray an extra Rosary in her honor; or pray the LITANY OF LORETO (the Litany of Our Lady); or some other prayers. The whole point is to PLACE THE SPIRITUAL ABOVE THE MATERIAL PREPARATIONS―for the spiritual is more important than the material, just as the soul is more important than the body, and the life and welfare of the soul is more important than the life and welfare of the body. Thus, both Our Lady and all the participants will appreciate and enjoy her birthday all the more if they will have prepared spiritually and prepared for a prolonged period of time. It will mean that you are honoring her more with your heart than your lips, more with your prayers than your belly.
► The fifth thing to do is to plan a balanced schedule for the day―and, as said above, make it general plan, much like giving “chapter headings” for what will take place, rather than listing things in “fine details”. With it being a Tuesday, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is perhaps more difficult to "fit-in" and the temptation might be not to even try and attend Mass since it is not a “Shotgun-Mass”―meaning a Sunday Mass that everyone is obliged to and bound to attend. Attending the Sacrifice of the Mass on a Tuesday might mean making a real sacrifice! How much do you love Our Lady? Additionally, you could ask that everyone make an Act of Consecration to Our Lady at some point during Mass―it could be before Mass, during Mass at the Offertory, or after the Consecration, or after Holy Communion, or after Mass at Our Lady’s side altar, statue or image―or, even better, multiple times: meaning before, during and after Mass―just as you would probably say “Happy Birthday” to somebody several times on the day of their birthday.
► The sixth thing to do would be ask everyone to make their Holy Communion, on September 8th, in honor of Our Lady. Later this coming week, we will publish potential texts and examples of what to do and say during such a Holy Communion.
► The seventh thing to do is to prepare the “soil” of your mind and soul for Our Lady by “weeding-out” the world and “planting seeds” of Our Lady throughout this entire week that leads up to her birthday on Tuesday, September 8th. You can do this in many different ways. First of all add some short little prayers to Our Lady onto your usual devotions and prayers. It might be the recitation of the Angelus (morning, noon and evening), or perhaps the Memorare prayer (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it know that anyone who had recourse to …etc.), or it could be the daily singing of some hymn to Our Lady, etc. Another way to “plant seeds” of Our Lady would be to make a daily reading from anyone of the countless books that there are in print about Mary―many of which are available for free online; or take various extracts for your reading from other internet resources; or you could focus on the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). If you need help with this latter option, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues.
► The eighth thing to do is to focus on imitating the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). You could divide up the chief ten virtues among family members―keeping the allocated virtue throughout the whole build-up to Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could pick “a virtue per day” if you wish. If you need help with these options, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues as well as ideas on how to practice those virtues in multiple scenarios.
► The ninth thing to do is to focus on the chief apparitions of Our Lady as we lead up to her birthday. A suggestion―and it merely a suggestion, for you can do as you like, change the order or even ignore the idea―would be:
September 1st: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) 1531
September 2nd: Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) late 1500s and early 1600s
September 3rd: Rue de Bac 1830 (Paris, France) the Miraculous Medal apparitions
September 3th: La Salette (France) 1846
September 5th: Lourdes (France) 1858
September 6th: Fatima (Portugal) 1917
September 7th: Akita (Japan) 1973
► The tenth thing to do is to prepare a little altar or oratory (place of prayer) for Our Lady’s birthday. It does not have to be an entire room, any dignified part of a room is acceptable if a separate exclusive room is not available. Decorate it with the best things that you have―cloth to cover the table; your best or favorite statue or image of Our Lady placed on it; candles and flowers to surround it; perhaps even have votive lights burning before it throughout the entire period, day and night, leading up to Our Lady’s birthday. As regards prayer―ensure that some prayers are guaranteed to be said before your little shrine or altar to Our Lady each and every day. Similarly, a little shrine could erected in your garden in readiness for her birthday.
► The eleventh thing to do is to gradually finalize the actual schedule you will use on Our Lady’s birthday. Here is an example of what you could do―but your own imagination and ingenuity will most likely better these very basic ideas:
(1) Start the day of Tuesday, September 8th, with a decent amount of FAMILY PRAYER before going to Mass (if attendance is possible) ―even if, or especially if, your family is not accustomed to saying morning prayers together as a family. It might mean rising around half-an-hour earlier than usual. This morning prayer session could include (a) the Daily Morning Offering, (b) an Act of Consecration to Our Lady, (c) at least one decade of the Rosary, but preferably all five decades of the Joyful Mysteries, for, on this day, you should aim at praying all 15 decades of the Rosary (or an extra 15 decades on top of the Rosaries you would normally pray) in honor of Our Lady and as present to her―otherwise you would not be giving her anything more than on every usual day, (d) make a short reading of one or a few paragraphs from anyone of the many books available on Our Lady, (e) follow the reading with the recitation or singing of the first Angelus of the day―morning, noon and evening―use bells if you have them, which are sounded during the invocations that precede each of the three Hail Marys, (f) finish with a hymn to Our Lady. All of this should take no more than around 30 minutes―give or take a few minutes.
(2) On the way to church for Mass, refrain from any worldly, trivial or vain talk and discussions, but sanctify the drive by either prayers being recited or someone reading something from a book on Our Lady―or even both. Alternatively, or additionally, you could have an informal discussion about Our Lady―which, if you have read a passage from a book, could be based upon that reading. The possibilities are really endless and go well beyond these meager suggestions.
(3) Arrange to do something special at church for Our Lady―either before, during or after Mass. You could recite, once more, your Act of Consecration to Our Lady as a family at her side altar. Or you could suggest that every family member write his or her own special prayer to Our Lady for her birthday―and then each of you could silently recite that personal prayer to Our Lady, either before, during or after Mass. Receive and offer your Holy Communions in honor of Our Lady. If the parish priest agrees and allows you, then you have a mini-hymn singing session to honor Our Lady after Mass. Or, even more daringly, get the priest to agree to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of Our Lady, or even a little procession in her honor―though you might have to pay in advance for getting the priest’s agreement by doing lots of penance, fasting and praying beforehand.
(4) On the way home from Mass, for those who have time and are not obliged to go to work, perhaps there is a little shrine of Our Lady’s that you could visit on her birthday. If not, then perhaps there is a church somewhere nearby that is dedicated to Our Lady―meaning that it has Our Lady’s name or one of her many titles incorporated in the name of the church, e.g. Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Immaculate Conception, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima, etc. Make a short stop there and recite some prayers or sing some hymns in her honor―this could be an opportunity for praying the next 5 decades of the Rosary―the Sorrowful Mysteries―or you could pray them later.
(5) Upon arriving home, it will probably be not too far from midday―which would allow you to pray the midday Angelus. Use the bells once again as you did during the morning Angelus. Remind everyone that this is Our Lady’s birthday and the focus is on her today. As a sacrifice for her, you could and should postpone all worldly activities for this one day―such as avoid watching worldly TV shows, listening to worldly music, going out to participate in worldly activities, etc.
(6) At some point you will have to eat lunch or dinner―make it a real banquet in honor of Our Lady. There are many possibilities by way of menus that could reflect a profound and beautiful symbolism of Our Lady, while also being delicious in the process. More on that later. Hopefully, without promising anything, the website might be able to present with a whole menu consisting of many courses, all of them symbolizing and reflecting Our Lady in some way―together with a print-out explanation of how and why the ingredients are symbolic of Our Lady. This is a mammoth task―thus no promises are made. Even if an entire multi-course menu might not be completed in time for Tuesday―meaning designed and published several days before her birthday to allow for purchase of items and preparation of food―then at least some recipes will be available in good time.
(7) Get everyone involved in some way for preparing for an afternoon or evening with Our Lady. This coming week could be used productively in preparing a little family concert in her honor during her birthday. The concert could include hymns, songs, poetry, musical instruments (solo or as a group) or even recitations (speeches) about Our Lady’s miracles, interventions, apparitions, etc., or little thumbnail talks about certain saints who had a great devotion to Our Lady, recounting and relating how they showed their devotion to her.
(8) The concert could be followed by watching a movie about Our Lady. There are several available out there―but you need to plan early and act quickly to secure or rent one―unless you already have those movies in your library or possession.
(9) After the movie you could recite the remaining five EXTRA decades of the Rosary―the Glorious Mysteries―which should be additional to the decades you are accustomed to praying each day―otherwise where is the special present for Our Lady?). After the Rosary, you could recite or sing the evening Angelus―once again using bells in the manner described above.
(10) The evening meal could again contain foods that are symbolic of Our Lady―and this symbolism should be explained to those present at the meal, for they would otherwise be clueless and ignorant of the spiritual aspect of the meal.
(11) Finally, before retiring for the night, the night prayers (if you are used to saying them as a family) should have a very definite Marian flavor injected into them―to distinguish them and raise them a notch above the night prayers you are accustomed to praying. To finish night prayers, another short and inspiring reading from a book on Our Lady would be ideal as a last thought of the day. If you are accustomed to reading bedtime stories to the young ones before turning out the light, make sure you have a wonderful story based on Our Lady prepared.
All of the above constitutes the EXTERNAL ASPECTS of what is meant by TRUE DEVOTION to Our Lady, but these are mere pieces of firewood that need an interior flame of love to really set alight a true fire of devotion―for someone could perform all the above exteriorly or externally while having no real interior love or devotion while doing so. If you think the above is overwhelming, then realize that the word DEVOTION is a word that indicated a HIGH DEGREE of love and attention, as indicated above by St. Francis de Sales in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, in which he speaks of and describes TRUE DEVOTION as follows:
“Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
On September 8th, we celebrate Our Lady’s birthday—the most important birthday in history, after that of Our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25th). Are you preparing for that “second-greatest-birthday-in-the-history-of-the-world”? Were you even aware that is coming up and is only 9 days away? A lot of people tend to be “last-minute” people―they leave everything to the “last-minute” thinking that they can still do a “good job” in “the blink of an eye” or “in a jiffy”! This is often seen to be case in the proverbial case―but true case―of the “Last Minute Christmas Shopper.” When you really stop and think about what is involved in “last-minute-shopping” and what it reveals―you have to admit that the message it sends is one of “Right now, I have much more important things to do than shop for this-or-that, or so-and-so!” In other words, you have put whoever or whatever you have to shop for, way down the list of your priorities―you want to do other things first before tackling the shopping business.
Just Another Old Day!
What does Our Lady’s birthday mean to you? Will it be “just another day” that will passed doing “the same old things” with little or nothing to make that day special and important? Will everyone just “go their own way” doing the usual mundane working day things they like to do? This year Our Lady’s birthday falls on a Tuesday! A day when the vast majority of people have to work. This will sort out the men from the boys. Who will make a special effort on a work day to celebrate Our Lady's birthday in a special way?
Raw-Deal Meal
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps will we be throwing at Our Lady on her birthday?
Masterpiece Ignored
Will that day be an important day for you? Does Our Lady really matter to you? How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece― “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday will fare no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday, just like Christmas, will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthay? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―will they manage a full 15 decade Rosary, or at least another 5 decades on top of the norm? How many Catholics will plan on attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Our Lady’s birthday? There are many, many way we can sanctify Our Lady’s birthday —and we will look at these ways during the remaining days—but how many will have the courage to run the gauntlet of human respect and insist upon them with family, relatives and visitors? Yes, we should “lay on a spread”―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but even that is done, unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., will take precedence in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Likewise, therefore, the obedience in keeping the Commandments is also a child of love― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). What is true of Our Lord is equally true of Our Lady. If we truly love her, we will keep her words, we will do what she says.
No Real Love―No Real Devotion
If there is little or no love, there cannot possibly be any devotion―or at least no true devotion―since, as St. Francis de Sales says: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love ... all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God [or in this case, Our Lady]―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God” [or Our Lady]. Faulty, or fake and false devotions are “ten-a-penny” and make-up the vast majority of “made-up” or “make-up” cosmetic devotion that hides the ugliness underneath. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of those false devotions to Our Lady―in his True Devotion to Mary―listing them as seven in number: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees. All of these are faulty, false or fake. They are not true devotions for they come not from a true love of Mary, but from a love of self. Hence their love is not fervent, but lukewarm. Let us not be of those whom Our Lord condemns, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
You can imagine the pain a mother feels when her children―even though they turn up at her birthday―nevertheless are glib, insincere, superficial and hypocritical in the “lip-service-only” congratulations on her birthday and likewise with their protestations of “I love you, mom!” It is merely the “politically correct” thing to say and do―without there being any real heart and sincerity behind what they are saying and doing. The mother knows that and she feels the pain in her motherly sensitivity but does not show it due to her heroic stoicity or stoicism. They say that the more perfect a person is, then the more sensitive they are―thus, Our Lord, who was the most perfect of all, was also the most sensitive of all. Our Lady comes second in perfection and sensitivity. Like her Son, she keenly and deeply feels our inconsideration to her, our neglect of her, our indifference towards her, our lack of real love and devotion in her regard. Is it not the time to put that right? Is it not time to try and give her what she deserves?
Time to Turn to Mary
In the same book, Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales makes a timely encouragement, as we approach the birthday of Our Lady, to devotedly turn to her AT ALL TIMES and in ALL OUR NEEDS: “With a special love, give honor, reverence and respect to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary. As the Mother of Jesus, our Brother, she is truly our mother. Let us therefore turn to her for help. We are her little children, so let us, with complete confidence, throw ourselves in her arms. At every moment, in every circumstance, let us call to this loving mother. Let us ask earnestly for her motherly love. With our hearts full of a true filial love for her, let us strive to imitate her virtues.”
In the case of a good person, it is only natural for a child to imitate the virtues of its mother―a bad child will imitate the vices of its mother. If you have ever read The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, you will have noted that Our Lady continually insists that her example be imitated. The proverb― “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” ― means that a person imitates someone else because they admire that person or value what that person is doing. Another version adds a phrase at the end of that proverb, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness!” ― and that sums up our self and Our Lady ― we are mediocrity personified and she is greatness personified. Much as Christ became man to make us like unto God―Our Lady wants to raise us out of our mediocrity and make us holy and acceptable to God. She was born to bring God to man―on this her upcoming birthday―let her be truly born in your life and soul, so that she can bring you to God.
What to Do and How to Prepare
► The first thing to do is to CONCRETELY, DEFINITELY, IRREVOCABLY, UNCHANGINGLY and ABSOLUTELY SET ASIDE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH FOR OUR LADY. It is the birthday of the Mother of God. It is the birthday of your spiritual mother. It is the birthday of her who has said: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
► The second thing to do is to tell everyone that everyone is staying at home (and perhaps invite other relatives and friends―as you would for any family member’s birthday―for Mary is “family” is she not? You hope to part of her “family” in Heaven, don’t you?). Make the phone calls, send the texts and e-mails THIS WEEKEND. Commit yourself! It is the best way to guarantee that it will happen―because other people have been told about and will expect it to happen.
► The third thing to do is to create some kind of loose schedule for Tuesday, September 8th. Be “loose” and plan more generally than specifically―because you may get a better idea on what to actually do on the day as a result of who will accept and who refuses your invitation. Then you can plan more specifically based upon what you know of the persons who will be accept your invitation and will attend Our Lady’s birthday party.
► The fourth thing to do is to invite everyone to PREPARE SPIRITUALLY for Our Lady’s birthday. You could send out the link to the NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR OUR LADY’S NATIVITY [click here]―if it is started today, then you get a full nine days up to and including Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could send out some other prayers that last a lesser time―for example a TRIDUUM OF PRAYERS (which means “prayers for three days”), or ask them to pray an extra Rosary in her honor; or pray the LITANY OF LORETO (the Litany of Our Lady); or some other prayers. The whole point is to PLACE THE SPIRITUAL ABOVE THE MATERIAL PREPARATIONS―for the spiritual is more important than the material, just as the soul is more important than the body, and the life and welfare of the soul is more important than the life and welfare of the body. Thus, both Our Lady and all the participants will appreciate and enjoy her birthday all the more if they will have prepared spiritually and prepared for a prolonged period of time. It will mean that you are honoring her more with your heart than your lips, more with your prayers than your belly.
► The fifth thing to do is to plan a balanced schedule for the day―and, as said above, make it general plan, much like giving “chapter headings” for what will take place, rather than listing things in “fine details”. With it being a Tuesday, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is perhaps more difficult to "fit-in" and the temptation might be not to even try and attend Mass since it is not a “Shotgun-Mass”―meaning a Sunday Mass that everyone is obliged to and bound to attend. Attending the Sacrifice of the Mass on a Tuesday might mean making a real sacrifice! How much do you love Our Lady? Additionally, you could ask that everyone make an Act of Consecration to Our Lady at some point during Mass―it could be before Mass, during Mass at the Offertory, or after the Consecration, or after Holy Communion, or after Mass at Our Lady’s side altar, statue or image―or, even better, multiple times: meaning before, during and after Mass―just as you would probably say “Happy Birthday” to somebody several times on the day of their birthday.
► The sixth thing to do would be ask everyone to make their Holy Communion, on September 8th, in honor of Our Lady. Later this coming week, we will publish potential texts and examples of what to do and say during such a Holy Communion.
► The seventh thing to do is to prepare the “soil” of your mind and soul for Our Lady by “weeding-out” the world and “planting seeds” of Our Lady throughout this entire week that leads up to her birthday on Tuesday, September 8th. You can do this in many different ways. First of all add some short little prayers to Our Lady onto your usual devotions and prayers. It might be the recitation of the Angelus (morning, noon and evening), or perhaps the Memorare prayer (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it know that anyone who had recourse to …etc.), or it could be the daily singing of some hymn to Our Lady, etc. Another way to “plant seeds” of Our Lady would be to make a daily reading from anyone of the countless books that there are in print about Mary―many of which are available for free online; or take various extracts for your reading from other internet resources; or you could focus on the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). If you need help with this latter option, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues.
► The eighth thing to do is to focus on imitating the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). You could divide up the chief ten virtues among family members―keeping the allocated virtue throughout the whole build-up to Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could pick “a virtue per day” if you wish. If you need help with these options, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues as well as ideas on how to practice those virtues in multiple scenarios.
► The ninth thing to do is to focus on the chief apparitions of Our Lady as we lead up to her birthday. A suggestion―and it merely a suggestion, for you can do as you like, change the order or even ignore the idea―would be:
September 1st: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) 1531
September 2nd: Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) late 1500s and early 1600s
September 3rd: Rue de Bac 1830 (Paris, France) the Miraculous Medal apparitions
September 3th: La Salette (France) 1846
September 5th: Lourdes (France) 1858
September 6th: Fatima (Portugal) 1917
September 7th: Akita (Japan) 1973
► The tenth thing to do is to prepare a little altar or oratory (place of prayer) for Our Lady’s birthday. It does not have to be an entire room, any dignified part of a room is acceptable if a separate exclusive room is not available. Decorate it with the best things that you have―cloth to cover the table; your best or favorite statue or image of Our Lady placed on it; candles and flowers to surround it; perhaps even have votive lights burning before it throughout the entire period, day and night, leading up to Our Lady’s birthday. As regards prayer―ensure that some prayers are guaranteed to be said before your little shrine or altar to Our Lady each and every day. Similarly, a little shrine could erected in your garden in readiness for her birthday.
► The eleventh thing to do is to gradually finalize the actual schedule you will use on Our Lady’s birthday. Here is an example of what you could do―but your own imagination and ingenuity will most likely better these very basic ideas:
(1) Start the day of Tuesday, September 8th, with a decent amount of FAMILY PRAYER before going to Mass (if attendance is possible) ―even if, or especially if, your family is not accustomed to saying morning prayers together as a family. It might mean rising around half-an-hour earlier than usual. This morning prayer session could include (a) the Daily Morning Offering, (b) an Act of Consecration to Our Lady, (c) at least one decade of the Rosary, but preferably all five decades of the Joyful Mysteries, for, on this day, you should aim at praying all 15 decades of the Rosary (or an extra 15 decades on top of the Rosaries you would normally pray) in honor of Our Lady and as present to her―otherwise you would not be giving her anything more than on every usual day, (d) make a short reading of one or a few paragraphs from anyone of the many books available on Our Lady, (e) follow the reading with the recitation or singing of the first Angelus of the day―morning, noon and evening―use bells if you have them, which are sounded during the invocations that precede each of the three Hail Marys, (f) finish with a hymn to Our Lady. All of this should take no more than around 30 minutes―give or take a few minutes.
(2) On the way to church for Mass, refrain from any worldly, trivial or vain talk and discussions, but sanctify the drive by either prayers being recited or someone reading something from a book on Our Lady―or even both. Alternatively, or additionally, you could have an informal discussion about Our Lady―which, if you have read a passage from a book, could be based upon that reading. The possibilities are really endless and go well beyond these meager suggestions.
(3) Arrange to do something special at church for Our Lady―either before, during or after Mass. You could recite, once more, your Act of Consecration to Our Lady as a family at her side altar. Or you could suggest that every family member write his or her own special prayer to Our Lady for her birthday―and then each of you could silently recite that personal prayer to Our Lady, either before, during or after Mass. Receive and offer your Holy Communions in honor of Our Lady. If the parish priest agrees and allows you, then you have a mini-hymn singing session to honor Our Lady after Mass. Or, even more daringly, get the priest to agree to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of Our Lady, or even a little procession in her honor―though you might have to pay in advance for getting the priest’s agreement by doing lots of penance, fasting and praying beforehand.
(4) On the way home from Mass, for those who have time and are not obliged to go to work, perhaps there is a little shrine of Our Lady’s that you could visit on her birthday. If not, then perhaps there is a church somewhere nearby that is dedicated to Our Lady―meaning that it has Our Lady’s name or one of her many titles incorporated in the name of the church, e.g. Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Immaculate Conception, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima, etc. Make a short stop there and recite some prayers or sing some hymns in her honor―this could be an opportunity for praying the next 5 decades of the Rosary―the Sorrowful Mysteries―or you could pray them later.
(5) Upon arriving home, it will probably be not too far from midday―which would allow you to pray the midday Angelus. Use the bells once again as you did during the morning Angelus. Remind everyone that this is Our Lady’s birthday and the focus is on her today. As a sacrifice for her, you could and should postpone all worldly activities for this one day―such as avoid watching worldly TV shows, listening to worldly music, going out to participate in worldly activities, etc.
(6) At some point you will have to eat lunch or dinner―make it a real banquet in honor of Our Lady. There are many possibilities by way of menus that could reflect a profound and beautiful symbolism of Our Lady, while also being delicious in the process. More on that later. Hopefully, without promising anything, the website might be able to present with a whole menu consisting of many courses, all of them symbolizing and reflecting Our Lady in some way―together with a print-out explanation of how and why the ingredients are symbolic of Our Lady. This is a mammoth task―thus no promises are made. Even if an entire multi-course menu might not be completed in time for Tuesday―meaning designed and published several days before her birthday to allow for purchase of items and preparation of food―then at least some recipes will be available in good time.
(7) Get everyone involved in some way for preparing for an afternoon or evening with Our Lady. This coming week could be used productively in preparing a little family concert in her honor during her birthday. The concert could include hymns, songs, poetry, musical instruments (solo or as a group) or even recitations (speeches) about Our Lady’s miracles, interventions, apparitions, etc., or little thumbnail talks about certain saints who had a great devotion to Our Lady, recounting and relating how they showed their devotion to her.
(8) The concert could be followed by watching a movie about Our Lady. There are several available out there―but you need to plan early and act quickly to secure or rent one―unless you already have those movies in your library or possession.
(9) After the movie you could recite the remaining five EXTRA decades of the Rosary―the Glorious Mysteries―which should be additional to the decades you are accustomed to praying each day―otherwise where is the special present for Our Lady?). After the Rosary, you could recite or sing the evening Angelus―once again using bells in the manner described above.
(10) The evening meal could again contain foods that are symbolic of Our Lady―and this symbolism should be explained to those present at the meal, for they would otherwise be clueless and ignorant of the spiritual aspect of the meal.
(11) Finally, before retiring for the night, the night prayers (if you are used to saying them as a family) should have a very definite Marian flavor injected into them―to distinguish them and raise them a notch above the night prayers you are accustomed to praying. To finish night prayers, another short and inspiring reading from a book on Our Lady would be ideal as a last thought of the day. If you are accustomed to reading bedtime stories to the young ones before turning out the light, make sure you have a wonderful story based on Our Lady prepared.
All of the above constitutes the EXTERNAL ASPECTS of what is meant by TRUE DEVOTION to Our Lady, but these are mere pieces of firewood that need an interior flame of love to really set alight a true fire of devotion―for someone could perform all the above exteriorly or externally while having no real interior love or devotion while doing so. If you think the above is overwhelming, then realize that the word DEVOTION is a word that indicated a HIGH DEGREE of love and attention, as indicated above by St. Francis de Sales in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, in which he speaks of and describes TRUE DEVOTION as follows:
“Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Saturday August 29th
Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Article 12
Are There Any St. John the Baptists Among You?
Ready to Lose Your Head for the Truth?
Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Article 12
Are There Any St. John the Baptists Among You?
Ready to Lose Your Head for the Truth?
Who Are You? What Are You? What Are You Doing? Where Are You Going?
Who are you? What are you? Are you what you should be? Are you what you were made to be? Are you what you were contracted to be? Who and what are you? Are these stupid questions? No! It would be stupid not to ask those questions repeatedly as we trudge through life on our way to who knows where! St. Thomas Aquinas maintains that there is an ultimate end of human existence and that it consists of conscious union with God. St. Thomas says that every human being acts for an end―that is to say, aims at some target in life, lives for a goal, seeks to achieve something. He also says that if we do not frequently remind ourselves of our goal, then we soon find ourselves living aimlessly, because we will have lost sight of our goal or end. When you shoot―be it a bullet or an arrow―you need to have your eye on the target or bulls-eye; otherwise you risk missing the target. Furthermore, just because you had your eye on the target for your first shot, it does not mean that you look away from the target for all your successive shots. You need to remain focused on your target.
What is your target? What is your goal? What is your aim in life? What is your purpose in life? For most people, their goals are things that they imagine will bring happiness―but eventually only lead to eternal misery! St. Thomas states that this world is too plagued with unsatisfied desires to achieve that ultimate good which we all seek by nature. Furthermore―whether we know it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―God has basically created us with a desire to come to perfect knowledge of Him, but this is only possible by a completely purified soul―a soul purified of an attachment to the things of this world. When this occurs, we will experience the ultimate pleasure—a pure and everlasting bliss that will be the satisfaction of every human desire and the obliteration of every sadness or worry.
Happiness in Death? Weird!
Today, August 29th, we celebrate the beheading of St. John the Baptist. That sounds a little weird, doesn’t it―“celebrating a beheading” of a person! How bizarre or warped can you get? It is normal to celebrate life, not death! Celebrating the beheading of a person sounds like something a terrorist would do! All that is true―yet it also too natural and not very supernatural. We were not primarily made for life on Earth, but for life in Heaven. The only way most people can get to Heaven is by walking through the doors of death―there is no other way. Our Lord even said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die―itself remaineth alone. But if it die, then it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
Our Lady says something similar to St. Bernadette of Lourdes―which we would all do well to drill into our worldly minds. Our Lady told St. Bernadette that she would not make Bernadette happy in this world, but in the next life―which means after death. In other words, to be happy she would have to die first―only then would happiness come.
Or, to put in another way, “You can’t have your cake and eat it!” If you seek ultimate happiness in this world, you will not find it in the next world―at best, if you are lucky enough to avoid Hell, you will still burn in Purgatory’s fires, which St. Thomas says are the same as the fires of Hell, except that they don’t last forever. Whereas if you detach yourself increasingly from the many imperfect happinesses that this world dangles before you, then you will increase your chances of eternal happiness in Heaven as a reward for sacrificing the false happiness offered by this life on Earth.
Or, as Our Lord succinctly says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The Pedigree of “Desert-John”
We all know that St. John the Baptist was detached from the things of this world―who else but a detached person would live in the desert, survive by mainly eating locusts and honey, and cloth himself with camel hair: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘A voice of one crying in the desert: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camel hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:1-4).
This desert-man, clothed in camel hair, and eater of locusts would seem like a weirdo to the world today―but in fact he had a high pedigree in the eyes of Our Lord, as related by Holy Scripture: “Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen! The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you―and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen―among them that are born of women―a greater than John the Baptist! Yet he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John―and if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’” (Matthew 11:2-15).
What’s Your Pedigree?
We could paraphrase the words used by Christ in describing the pedigree of St. John the Baptist and apply them to the pedigree that Christ would expect to see in every Catholic: “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning Catholics: ‘What did you expect to see in a Catholic? A reed shaken with the wind of latest opinions and fashions? But what went you out to see? A person clothed in soft fancy clothing? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, live as though they are kings and not Christians! But what went you out to see? A modern-day prophet? Yes, I tell you―and more than a prophet! For a Catholic today should be someone of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there should not be―among them that are born of women―anyone greater than a Catholic! They are meant to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! If Catholics refuse to do violence to their desires and cravings, then they will never reach the Kingdom of Heaven! He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’”
Forgotten Pedigree
Pope St. Leo the Great, in one of his homilies for Christmas, underlines and stresses our pedigree and duties as members of the Mystical Body of Christ: “Let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins, He brought us to life with Christ, so that in Him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways, and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh. Christian, remember your dignity! And now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition! Bear in mind Who is your Head and of Whose Body you are a member! Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s Kingdom. Through the Sacrament of Baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil―for your liberty was bought by the Blood of Christ!”
Yes, “Christian, remember your dignity! You share in God’s own nature! Do not return by sin to your former base condition! Bear in mind Who is your Head and of Whose Body you are a member!” Yet how sad it is to see today Catholics who have forgotten their dignity, who, soon after Baptism, soil their soul with the base trivialities of the world, who never give serious thought to the fact that Christ is their Head and they are members of His Mystical Body and soldiers of Christ!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his little booklet, The Secret of Mary, speaks in the same vein as Pope St. Leo the Great, when he writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are ― sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. No one can contest these principles.”
St. John the Baptist Was No Respecter of Persons, But a Respecter of Truth
On one occasion, St. John the Baptist does not spare the feelings of both the Pharisees (the unofficial religious leaders) and the Sadducees (the official religious leaders, the priests): “Seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, John the Baptist said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: “We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!’” (Matthew 3:7-10).
Later, St. John the Baptist reproaches King Herod for living in adultery with his own brother’s wife. “For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife” (Mark 6:17-18). After a foolish promise to the daughter of Herodias, Herod ended up committing murder. “Sending an executioner, Herod commanded that John’s head should be brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish: and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother” (Mark 16:27-28). St. John perhaps knew or sensed his fate before even reprimanding Herod, but he corrected him anyway, not worrying about Herod’s feelings, or his own security or life—the truth was what worried him.
No Respect for Abortion, Divorce and Remarriage, Same-Sex Marriages, Contraception, etc.
What would St. John the Baptist say today about issues such as abortion, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, contraception, cohabitation, immodest fashions and images, pornography, modern music and its lyrics, etc.? He would say what we should be saying, but are not saying! Or, as Our Lady said: “Those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita). “Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” (Our Lady of Good Success). St. John the Baptist would once again be prepared to lose his head for the sake of the truth―he would much prefer to have his head removed from his body, than to have the truth removed from his head and his heart. Today, he would pretty much find himself standing alone in that attitude―for most Catholics have chopped-off truth from their minds and hearts, in order to make way for the lies and propaganda of the world.
Man of Penance—Living Rough
The desert where St. John lived and fasted and prayed was actually a grazing land, unfit for growing crops, but able to sustain the life of hermits and herds; nor was it rare in those days for hermits to seek a life of solitude in the desert. That he ate locusts (grasshoppers, if you prefer) invariably draws a shudder, but this was not uncommon, and is not today, when Arab and African people still dry and save them as protection against famine. Or they may have been carob beans, a common “fruit” used for thousands of years in Mediterranean lands and called by the name of locust. Wild honey, on the other hand, sounds quite delicious. In any case, what we regularly eat is like the banquet of a king and queen of old in comparison to the meager, plain food of St. John the Baptist.
Rough Clothes, Tough Food
His garment, like the tents of Saul of Tarsus, was cloth woven of camel’s hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his loins. We should blush alongside John the Baptist with our wardrobes stacked full of clothes and shoes! We are far cry from being simple and plain like John the Baptist. This is the extent of his physical description. It is only when we meet him in public life that we discover what he was like; and when we hear him addressing the Pharisees and Sadducees in almost the same words Our Lord used later, we realize the divine cunning and wisdom in naming “John the Voice” that would announce “Christ the Word”.
Calling Others to Penance
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,”―this was John’s oft-repeated theme, much as it Our Lady’s oft-repeated theme today! Some things never change, huh? For the evils of the times his remedy was individual purification. “Every tree,” he said, “that is not bringing forth good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” The reformation of each person’s life must be complete—the wheat must be separated from the chaff and the chaff burned “with unquenchable fire.”
“Brood of vipers! Who has shown you how to flee from the wrath to come?” he cried out to their faces.
“Serpents, brood of vipers, how are you to escape the judgment of Hell?” Jesus would cry, perhaps to the same faces.
But John was also tender hearted, and when earnest truth-seekers asked him what to do, he gave them straight truthful answers that they could understand. “Let him who has two coats share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.”
When the soldiers asked what they should do, he said: “Do not plunder, nor accuse the innocent falsely, and be content with your pay.” He told the tax collectors to take no more than was due from the people they taxed.
Foundation of Humility
He lived in humble surroundings; he ate humble food; he dressed humbly; and he had a humble opinion of himself. When the followers, who loved him, began to wonder if he was the Messias, he finally spoke the words for which he is most famous: “I, indeed, baptize you with water. But one mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose!”
Humility was his staple diet—in dwelling, in food, in clothing. It is humility that attracts the love and graces of God—as Our Lady said in her Magnificat, spoken to St. John’s mother, St. Elizabeth: “He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid … He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.”
Humility to a Point and No Further
Rarely does anyone sincerely say: “I am not worthy.” Most sinners, even pint-size sinners, are certain that their business is far too important to be interrupted for the tying of someone shoes. But when St. John says he is unworthy to tie Our Lord’s shoe, it is what all of us would say, isn’t it? Likewise when St. Peter said, at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday night, that he was not worthy to have Our Lord wash his feet—it is what anyone would say, right? Yet it is not just about Jesus, but all the other members of His Mystical Body.
We, Catholics, are the arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, etc., of Christ in His Mystical Body. Our Lord said that whatever we do to the least of His brethren, we do unto Him: “Amen I say to you, as long as you DID it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me ... as long as you DID IT NOT to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me” (Matthew 25:40, 45). This is not just about seeing Christ in Christ, but in seeing Christ in others.
Looking For and Seeing Christ in Others
If we are to see Christ in our brothers and sisters, then like St. John we are not even worthy to tie their shoes. We tend to want to lord it over others, but Jesus did the work of a servant before us, and told us to imitate Him: “Whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all” (Mark 10:44). It is being another Christ and seeing Christ in one another, at one and the same time. To be like Him we must do as He did. To see Him in one another, we must feel as St. John did.
He Must Increase and I Must Decrease
John said, concerning Christ: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Once again, we have no problem if this refers to Christ—but if it refers to other Members of Christ’s Mystical Body, then we might be reluctant to say the same. After all, modern man’s attitude is one of “another man’s gain is my loss.” Much like the Apostles, who were arguing among themselves as to who was the greatest among them, we tend to bicker and squabble in a similar selfish way.
“And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater. And he said to them: ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them, are called beneficent. But you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is the leader, as he that serveth. For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth? Is it not he that sitteth at table? But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth.’” (Luke 22:24-27).
Amazing Life—Ignominious Death
John was an amazing man. Imagine the Faith of him, doggedly preaching the advent of Christ, Whom he would not recognize if he saw Him. That day Jesus approached to be baptized, he guessed, but not until it was done did he know. It had been so many years since their childhood and they had both changed so much.
Ironically enough, after all those years of self-denial and hardship; the reputation he had earned; the glowing testimonial Jesus had given of him, his final curtain-call and final bow was not what the world would look upon as successful—he was imprisoned and beheaded at the behest of a dancer! His death became an entertainment at a king’s birthday party. Another Herod was king, a son of the Herod who was king when John and Jesus were born; and beside him on the throne sat the impure wife of his brother.
In the course of John’s preaching, he had denounced in unmeasured terms the immorality of Herod’s petty court, and had even boldly upbraided Herod to his face for his defiance of old Jewish law, especially in having taken to himself the wife of his half-brother, Philip. This woman, the dissolute Herodias, was also Herod’s niece. Herod feared and reverenced John, knowing him to be a holy man, and he followed his advice in many matters; but he could not endure having his private life castigated.
Herodias stoked-up Herod’s anger by lies and artifices. His resentment at length got the better of his judgment and he had John cast into the fortress of Machaerus, near the Dead Sea. When Jesus heard of this, and knew that some of His disciples had gone to see John, He spoke thus of him: “What went you to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say to you, amongst those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:10-12).
Herodias, Herod’s invalid wife, hated John because he had shouted at the sinfulness of their invalid adulterous marriage. Not content with having had him thrown in prison, she was determined to take his life. Slyly she watched Herod admire the dancing of her daughter. Greedily she waited for Herod to offer the girl a gift. When he did, the mother viciously whispered what it should be, and the child ran back to the king and said: “I want thee right away to give me on a dish the head of John the Baptist.” The strange thing is that Herod didn’t want to kill John, just as Pilate didn’t want the death of Jesus. But high men in high places cannot bear to lose face. St. Mark tells that because of his promise, and “because of his oath and because of his guests,” he sent an executioner and commanded that his head be brought on a dish.
John’s death, like Christ’s, was a spectacle, and St. Mark concludes his account of it with words that could refer to the death of Our Lord. “And his disciples, hearing it, came and took away his body, and laid it in a tomb”, while the angels with joy took away his soul to Heaven.
Learning from and Imitating St. John the Baptist
What do we learn from this man of whom Jesus said: “there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11)? We learn many things that can and should be imitated:
The Archangel Gabriel, when announcing the future birth of St. John the Baptist to his father, St. Zacahry, had said: “Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and they wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John: and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people” (1:8-17).
► DETACHMENT FROM THE WORLD: St. John the Baptist—as great as he was in God’s eyes—lived away from the world in the barren, bleak lands of the desert.
► POVERTY: St. John was the son of a priest—he could have had an illustrious and comfortable ‘career’ in the service of the Temple, yet his temple was the desert and rich trappings of the Temple he exchanged for the rich trappings of virtues in his soul. Life was far from comfortable, but life was far richer spiritually. His treasure was in Heaven, where thief cannot break in and steal, nor rust or moth corrupt. As Jesus would say: “Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal” (Matthew 6:20).
► PRAYER: What was St. John doing for those many years in the desert before God finally launched his public ministry? Building sand-castles? Counting grains of sand? Of course, not! His mind and heart would have been raised to God—which is the definition of prayer. Would Jesus give that glowing testimonial of St. John if he was not a man of prayer? Of course not! The desert is conducive to prayer—for there was little else there and little else to do. When God’s future chastisement renders Earth desert-like (as prophecies have foretold), then those who survive will have little else to do but pray and clean up the mess.
► PENANCE: “And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching” (Luke 3:1-3), clothed not in the soft garments of a courtier (Matthew 11:8; Luke 7:24), but in those “of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins”; and “his meat” — he looked as if he came neither eating nor drinking (Matthew 11:18; Luke 7:33) — “was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6); his whole countenance, far from suggesting the idea of a reed shaken by the wind (Matthew 11:7; Luke 7:24), manifested undaunted constancy. A few incredulous scoffers feigned to be scandalized: “He hath a devil” (Matthew 11:18). Nevertheless, “Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan” (Matthew 3:5), drawn by his strong and winning personality, went out to him; the austerity of his life added immensely to the weight of his words; for the simple folk, he was truly a prophet (Matthew 11:9; Luke 1:76-77). “Do penance: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2), such was the burden of his teaching. Men of all conditions flocked round him.
► COURAGE: St. John was not afraid to lay his life on the line for God and His Law. Just like Christ would do some time later. He could have remained silent, but Herod was living in sin. Truth would cost him his life, just as truth cost Jesus His life. For Catholics today, besieged by Liberalism, Modernism and a false Ecumenism with false religions, there is a temptation to turn a blind-eye; to be silent about compromises of the Faith; to go along with these false –ISMS and to scornfully say, like Pilate, “What is truth?” St. John may have lost his head, but he did not lose his soul, which reminds us of the words of Our Lord: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
► APOSTOLIC SPIRIT: The Archangel Gabriel said that St. John would be filled with the Holy Ghost and the spirit of the prophet Elias and that he would convert many souls to God. This is everyone’s calling to a certain degree. Our Lord said that we should go and preach and teach all nations, every creature and bring them to the Faith (Matthew 28:19-20). Priests alone (a little over 400,000) cannot convert and given spiritual maintenance to almost 8,000,000,000 (8 billion or 8,000 million) souls by themselves—which is a ratio of 1 priest to 20,000 people―this work at conversion is the work of the entire Mystical Body of Christ. That is why everyone, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, is made a soldier for Christ—to not only defend the Faith, but go out and conquer more souls for the Faith.
► HUMILITY: So transcendent was the power radiating out from the holy man that, after hearing him, many believed he was indeed the long-awaited Messias. John quickly put them right, saying he had come only to prepare the way, and that he was not worthy to unloose the Master’s sandals. Although his preaching and baptizing continued for some months during the Savior’s own ministry, John always made plain that he was merely the Forerunner. His humility remained incorruptible even when his fame spread to Jerusalem and members of the higher priesthood came to make inquiries and to hear him. His whole desire was to efface himself, which is typified by his words: “He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Today, sadly, the opposite is true―Christ must decrease and I and the world must increase! We spend increasing amounts of time on self and the world, while decreasing the time spent with Christ and the things of Christ.
What Are We Losing Our Heads Over?
St. John the Baptist lost his head for the truth and law of God. What are we losing our heads over? We have lost our heads over the things of this world! We have lost our heads―lost our common sense and reason―over the seductive false propaganda that the world endlessly whispers in our ears with its slogans, jargon, enticements and promises of riches, fame, comfort, ease, prosperity, health, recognition, acceptance, etc. We are sunk up to our heads in the quicksand and swamps of worldliness. We have lost our heads and “bought into” these lies and misrepresentations and exaggerations! The worst part of this is that by losing our heads over the world, we might well lose our souls to Hell.
Who are you? What are you? Are you what you should be? Are you what you were made to be? Are you what you were contracted to be? Who and what are you? Are these stupid questions? No! It would be stupid not to ask those questions repeatedly as we trudge through life on our way to who knows where! St. Thomas Aquinas maintains that there is an ultimate end of human existence and that it consists of conscious union with God. St. Thomas says that every human being acts for an end―that is to say, aims at some target in life, lives for a goal, seeks to achieve something. He also says that if we do not frequently remind ourselves of our goal, then we soon find ourselves living aimlessly, because we will have lost sight of our goal or end. When you shoot―be it a bullet or an arrow―you need to have your eye on the target or bulls-eye; otherwise you risk missing the target. Furthermore, just because you had your eye on the target for your first shot, it does not mean that you look away from the target for all your successive shots. You need to remain focused on your target.
What is your target? What is your goal? What is your aim in life? What is your purpose in life? For most people, their goals are things that they imagine will bring happiness―but eventually only lead to eternal misery! St. Thomas states that this world is too plagued with unsatisfied desires to achieve that ultimate good which we all seek by nature. Furthermore―whether we know it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―God has basically created us with a desire to come to perfect knowledge of Him, but this is only possible by a completely purified soul―a soul purified of an attachment to the things of this world. When this occurs, we will experience the ultimate pleasure—a pure and everlasting bliss that will be the satisfaction of every human desire and the obliteration of every sadness or worry.
Happiness in Death? Weird!
Today, August 29th, we celebrate the beheading of St. John the Baptist. That sounds a little weird, doesn’t it―“celebrating a beheading” of a person! How bizarre or warped can you get? It is normal to celebrate life, not death! Celebrating the beheading of a person sounds like something a terrorist would do! All that is true―yet it also too natural and not very supernatural. We were not primarily made for life on Earth, but for life in Heaven. The only way most people can get to Heaven is by walking through the doors of death―there is no other way. Our Lord even said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die―itself remaineth alone. But if it die, then it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
Our Lady says something similar to St. Bernadette of Lourdes―which we would all do well to drill into our worldly minds. Our Lady told St. Bernadette that she would not make Bernadette happy in this world, but in the next life―which means after death. In other words, to be happy she would have to die first―only then would happiness come.
Or, to put in another way, “You can’t have your cake and eat it!” If you seek ultimate happiness in this world, you will not find it in the next world―at best, if you are lucky enough to avoid Hell, you will still burn in Purgatory’s fires, which St. Thomas says are the same as the fires of Hell, except that they don’t last forever. Whereas if you detach yourself increasingly from the many imperfect happinesses that this world dangles before you, then you will increase your chances of eternal happiness in Heaven as a reward for sacrificing the false happiness offered by this life on Earth.
Or, as Our Lord succinctly says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The Pedigree of “Desert-John”
We all know that St. John the Baptist was detached from the things of this world―who else but a detached person would live in the desert, survive by mainly eating locusts and honey, and cloth himself with camel hair: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘A voice of one crying in the desert: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camel hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:1-4).
This desert-man, clothed in camel hair, and eater of locusts would seem like a weirdo to the world today―but in fact he had a high pedigree in the eyes of Our Lord, as related by Holy Scripture: “Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen! The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you―and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen―among them that are born of women―a greater than John the Baptist! Yet he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John―and if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’” (Matthew 11:2-15).
What’s Your Pedigree?
We could paraphrase the words used by Christ in describing the pedigree of St. John the Baptist and apply them to the pedigree that Christ would expect to see in every Catholic: “Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning Catholics: ‘What did you expect to see in a Catholic? A reed shaken with the wind of latest opinions and fashions? But what went you out to see? A person clothed in soft fancy clothing? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, live as though they are kings and not Christians! But what went you out to see? A modern-day prophet? Yes, I tell you―and more than a prophet! For a Catholic today should be someone of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there should not be―among them that are born of women―anyone greater than a Catholic! They are meant to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! If Catholics refuse to do violence to their desires and cravings, then they will never reach the Kingdom of Heaven! He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!’”
Forgotten Pedigree
Pope St. Leo the Great, in one of his homilies for Christmas, underlines and stresses our pedigree and duties as members of the Mystical Body of Christ: “Let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins, He brought us to life with Christ, so that in Him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways, and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh. Christian, remember your dignity! And now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition! Bear in mind Who is your Head and of Whose Body you are a member! Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s Kingdom. Through the Sacrament of Baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil―for your liberty was bought by the Blood of Christ!”
Yes, “Christian, remember your dignity! You share in God’s own nature! Do not return by sin to your former base condition! Bear in mind Who is your Head and of Whose Body you are a member!” Yet how sad it is to see today Catholics who have forgotten their dignity, who, soon after Baptism, soil their soul with the base trivialities of the world, who never give serious thought to the fact that Christ is their Head and they are members of His Mystical Body and soldiers of Christ!
St. Louis de Montfort, in his little booklet, The Secret of Mary, speaks in the same vein as Pope St. Leo the Great, when he writes: “Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are ― sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. No one can contest these principles.”
St. John the Baptist Was No Respecter of Persons, But a Respecter of Truth
On one occasion, St. John the Baptist does not spare the feelings of both the Pharisees (the unofficial religious leaders) and the Sadducees (the official religious leaders, the priests): “Seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, John the Baptist said to them: ‘Ye brood of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: “We have Abraham for our father!” For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!’” (Matthew 3:7-10).
Later, St. John the Baptist reproaches King Herod for living in adultery with his own brother’s wife. “For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife” (Mark 6:17-18). After a foolish promise to the daughter of Herodias, Herod ended up committing murder. “Sending an executioner, Herod commanded that John’s head should be brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish: and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother” (Mark 16:27-28). St. John perhaps knew or sensed his fate before even reprimanding Herod, but he corrected him anyway, not worrying about Herod’s feelings, or his own security or life—the truth was what worried him.
No Respect for Abortion, Divorce and Remarriage, Same-Sex Marriages, Contraception, etc.
What would St. John the Baptist say today about issues such as abortion, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, contraception, cohabitation, immodest fashions and images, pornography, modern music and its lyrics, etc.? He would say what we should be saying, but are not saying! Or, as Our Lady said: “Those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita). “Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” (Our Lady of Good Success). St. John the Baptist would once again be prepared to lose his head for the sake of the truth―he would much prefer to have his head removed from his body, than to have the truth removed from his head and his heart. Today, he would pretty much find himself standing alone in that attitude―for most Catholics have chopped-off truth from their minds and hearts, in order to make way for the lies and propaganda of the world.
Man of Penance—Living Rough
The desert where St. John lived and fasted and prayed was actually a grazing land, unfit for growing crops, but able to sustain the life of hermits and herds; nor was it rare in those days for hermits to seek a life of solitude in the desert. That he ate locusts (grasshoppers, if you prefer) invariably draws a shudder, but this was not uncommon, and is not today, when Arab and African people still dry and save them as protection against famine. Or they may have been carob beans, a common “fruit” used for thousands of years in Mediterranean lands and called by the name of locust. Wild honey, on the other hand, sounds quite delicious. In any case, what we regularly eat is like the banquet of a king and queen of old in comparison to the meager, plain food of St. John the Baptist.
Rough Clothes, Tough Food
His garment, like the tents of Saul of Tarsus, was cloth woven of camel’s hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his loins. We should blush alongside John the Baptist with our wardrobes stacked full of clothes and shoes! We are far cry from being simple and plain like John the Baptist. This is the extent of his physical description. It is only when we meet him in public life that we discover what he was like; and when we hear him addressing the Pharisees and Sadducees in almost the same words Our Lord used later, we realize the divine cunning and wisdom in naming “John the Voice” that would announce “Christ the Word”.
Calling Others to Penance
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,”―this was John’s oft-repeated theme, much as it Our Lady’s oft-repeated theme today! Some things never change, huh? For the evils of the times his remedy was individual purification. “Every tree,” he said, “that is not bringing forth good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” The reformation of each person’s life must be complete—the wheat must be separated from the chaff and the chaff burned “with unquenchable fire.”
“Brood of vipers! Who has shown you how to flee from the wrath to come?” he cried out to their faces.
“Serpents, brood of vipers, how are you to escape the judgment of Hell?” Jesus would cry, perhaps to the same faces.
But John was also tender hearted, and when earnest truth-seekers asked him what to do, he gave them straight truthful answers that they could understand. “Let him who has two coats share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.”
When the soldiers asked what they should do, he said: “Do not plunder, nor accuse the innocent falsely, and be content with your pay.” He told the tax collectors to take no more than was due from the people they taxed.
Foundation of Humility
He lived in humble surroundings; he ate humble food; he dressed humbly; and he had a humble opinion of himself. When the followers, who loved him, began to wonder if he was the Messias, he finally spoke the words for which he is most famous: “I, indeed, baptize you with water. But one mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose!”
Humility was his staple diet—in dwelling, in food, in clothing. It is humility that attracts the love and graces of God—as Our Lady said in her Magnificat, spoken to St. John’s mother, St. Elizabeth: “He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid … He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.”
Humility to a Point and No Further
Rarely does anyone sincerely say: “I am not worthy.” Most sinners, even pint-size sinners, are certain that their business is far too important to be interrupted for the tying of someone shoes. But when St. John says he is unworthy to tie Our Lord’s shoe, it is what all of us would say, isn’t it? Likewise when St. Peter said, at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday night, that he was not worthy to have Our Lord wash his feet—it is what anyone would say, right? Yet it is not just about Jesus, but all the other members of His Mystical Body.
We, Catholics, are the arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, etc., of Christ in His Mystical Body. Our Lord said that whatever we do to the least of His brethren, we do unto Him: “Amen I say to you, as long as you DID it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me ... as long as you DID IT NOT to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me” (Matthew 25:40, 45). This is not just about seeing Christ in Christ, but in seeing Christ in others.
Looking For and Seeing Christ in Others
If we are to see Christ in our brothers and sisters, then like St. John we are not even worthy to tie their shoes. We tend to want to lord it over others, but Jesus did the work of a servant before us, and told us to imitate Him: “Whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all” (Mark 10:44). It is being another Christ and seeing Christ in one another, at one and the same time. To be like Him we must do as He did. To see Him in one another, we must feel as St. John did.
He Must Increase and I Must Decrease
John said, concerning Christ: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Once again, we have no problem if this refers to Christ—but if it refers to other Members of Christ’s Mystical Body, then we might be reluctant to say the same. After all, modern man’s attitude is one of “another man’s gain is my loss.” Much like the Apostles, who were arguing among themselves as to who was the greatest among them, we tend to bicker and squabble in a similar selfish way.
“And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater. And he said to them: ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them, are called beneficent. But you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is the leader, as he that serveth. For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth? Is it not he that sitteth at table? But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth.’” (Luke 22:24-27).
Amazing Life—Ignominious Death
John was an amazing man. Imagine the Faith of him, doggedly preaching the advent of Christ, Whom he would not recognize if he saw Him. That day Jesus approached to be baptized, he guessed, but not until it was done did he know. It had been so many years since their childhood and they had both changed so much.
Ironically enough, after all those years of self-denial and hardship; the reputation he had earned; the glowing testimonial Jesus had given of him, his final curtain-call and final bow was not what the world would look upon as successful—he was imprisoned and beheaded at the behest of a dancer! His death became an entertainment at a king’s birthday party. Another Herod was king, a son of the Herod who was king when John and Jesus were born; and beside him on the throne sat the impure wife of his brother.
In the course of John’s preaching, he had denounced in unmeasured terms the immorality of Herod’s petty court, and had even boldly upbraided Herod to his face for his defiance of old Jewish law, especially in having taken to himself the wife of his half-brother, Philip. This woman, the dissolute Herodias, was also Herod’s niece. Herod feared and reverenced John, knowing him to be a holy man, and he followed his advice in many matters; but he could not endure having his private life castigated.
Herodias stoked-up Herod’s anger by lies and artifices. His resentment at length got the better of his judgment and he had John cast into the fortress of Machaerus, near the Dead Sea. When Jesus heard of this, and knew that some of His disciples had gone to see John, He spoke thus of him: “What went you to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say to you, amongst those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:10-12).
Herodias, Herod’s invalid wife, hated John because he had shouted at the sinfulness of their invalid adulterous marriage. Not content with having had him thrown in prison, she was determined to take his life. Slyly she watched Herod admire the dancing of her daughter. Greedily she waited for Herod to offer the girl a gift. When he did, the mother viciously whispered what it should be, and the child ran back to the king and said: “I want thee right away to give me on a dish the head of John the Baptist.” The strange thing is that Herod didn’t want to kill John, just as Pilate didn’t want the death of Jesus. But high men in high places cannot bear to lose face. St. Mark tells that because of his promise, and “because of his oath and because of his guests,” he sent an executioner and commanded that his head be brought on a dish.
John’s death, like Christ’s, was a spectacle, and St. Mark concludes his account of it with words that could refer to the death of Our Lord. “And his disciples, hearing it, came and took away his body, and laid it in a tomb”, while the angels with joy took away his soul to Heaven.
Learning from and Imitating St. John the Baptist
What do we learn from this man of whom Jesus said: “there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11)? We learn many things that can and should be imitated:
The Archangel Gabriel, when announcing the future birth of St. John the Baptist to his father, St. Zacahry, had said: “Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and they wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John: and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people” (1:8-17).
► DETACHMENT FROM THE WORLD: St. John the Baptist—as great as he was in God’s eyes—lived away from the world in the barren, bleak lands of the desert.
► POVERTY: St. John was the son of a priest—he could have had an illustrious and comfortable ‘career’ in the service of the Temple, yet his temple was the desert and rich trappings of the Temple he exchanged for the rich trappings of virtues in his soul. Life was far from comfortable, but life was far richer spiritually. His treasure was in Heaven, where thief cannot break in and steal, nor rust or moth corrupt. As Jesus would say: “Lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal” (Matthew 6:20).
► PRAYER: What was St. John doing for those many years in the desert before God finally launched his public ministry? Building sand-castles? Counting grains of sand? Of course, not! His mind and heart would have been raised to God—which is the definition of prayer. Would Jesus give that glowing testimonial of St. John if he was not a man of prayer? Of course not! The desert is conducive to prayer—for there was little else there and little else to do. When God’s future chastisement renders Earth desert-like (as prophecies have foretold), then those who survive will have little else to do but pray and clean up the mess.
► PENANCE: “And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching” (Luke 3:1-3), clothed not in the soft garments of a courtier (Matthew 11:8; Luke 7:24), but in those “of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins”; and “his meat” — he looked as if he came neither eating nor drinking (Matthew 11:18; Luke 7:33) — “was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6); his whole countenance, far from suggesting the idea of a reed shaken by the wind (Matthew 11:7; Luke 7:24), manifested undaunted constancy. A few incredulous scoffers feigned to be scandalized: “He hath a devil” (Matthew 11:18). Nevertheless, “Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan” (Matthew 3:5), drawn by his strong and winning personality, went out to him; the austerity of his life added immensely to the weight of his words; for the simple folk, he was truly a prophet (Matthew 11:9; Luke 1:76-77). “Do penance: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2), such was the burden of his teaching. Men of all conditions flocked round him.
► COURAGE: St. John was not afraid to lay his life on the line for God and His Law. Just like Christ would do some time later. He could have remained silent, but Herod was living in sin. Truth would cost him his life, just as truth cost Jesus His life. For Catholics today, besieged by Liberalism, Modernism and a false Ecumenism with false religions, there is a temptation to turn a blind-eye; to be silent about compromises of the Faith; to go along with these false –ISMS and to scornfully say, like Pilate, “What is truth?” St. John may have lost his head, but he did not lose his soul, which reminds us of the words of Our Lord: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
► APOSTOLIC SPIRIT: The Archangel Gabriel said that St. John would be filled with the Holy Ghost and the spirit of the prophet Elias and that he would convert many souls to God. This is everyone’s calling to a certain degree. Our Lord said that we should go and preach and teach all nations, every creature and bring them to the Faith (Matthew 28:19-20). Priests alone (a little over 400,000) cannot convert and given spiritual maintenance to almost 8,000,000,000 (8 billion or 8,000 million) souls by themselves—which is a ratio of 1 priest to 20,000 people―this work at conversion is the work of the entire Mystical Body of Christ. That is why everyone, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, is made a soldier for Christ—to not only defend the Faith, but go out and conquer more souls for the Faith.
► HUMILITY: So transcendent was the power radiating out from the holy man that, after hearing him, many believed he was indeed the long-awaited Messias. John quickly put them right, saying he had come only to prepare the way, and that he was not worthy to unloose the Master’s sandals. Although his preaching and baptizing continued for some months during the Savior’s own ministry, John always made plain that he was merely the Forerunner. His humility remained incorruptible even when his fame spread to Jerusalem and members of the higher priesthood came to make inquiries and to hear him. His whole desire was to efface himself, which is typified by his words: “He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Today, sadly, the opposite is true―Christ must decrease and I and the world must increase! We spend increasing amounts of time on self and the world, while decreasing the time spent with Christ and the things of Christ.
What Are We Losing Our Heads Over?
St. John the Baptist lost his head for the truth and law of God. What are we losing our heads over? We have lost our heads over the things of this world! We have lost our heads―lost our common sense and reason―over the seductive false propaganda that the world endlessly whispers in our ears with its slogans, jargon, enticements and promises of riches, fame, comfort, ease, prosperity, health, recognition, acceptance, etc. We are sunk up to our heads in the quicksand and swamps of worldliness. We have lost our heads and “bought into” these lies and misrepresentations and exaggerations! The worst part of this is that by losing our heads over the world, we might well lose our souls to Hell.
Friday August 28th
Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo
Article 11
All You Augustines Out There―Take Heart!
Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo
Article 11
All You Augustines Out There―Take Heart!
Hey! You Sinner!
It’s funny how we hate to be called sinners―yet we are quick to view others as sinners! We are often “blind as a bat” when it comes to our own sins, failing and imperfections―but we have “the eye of an eagle” when it comes to the sins, failing and imperfections of others. We are as “quiet as mouse” when it comes to speaking out about our sins, failing and imperfections―but we “roar like a lion” when speaking of the sins, failing and imperfections of others. We are more ready to attack others than attack ourselves―more ready to blame others than blame ourselves. We adamantly and vociferously protest that we attack others “in the name of truth”―but we become bold two-faced liars when it comes to exposing and admitting our own sins, failing and imperfections.
We fail to consider that others, by the mysterious dispositions of Divine Providence, were perhaps far more severely tempted and tempted for much longer than we have ever been tempted. To put in a banal way―we might have only been in the “oven of temptation” for 1 hour at 350 degrees―whereas they might have been in the “oven of temptation” for a many hours at 500 degrees. The closer you draw to God, the more heavily you will be tempted―but for a beginner any and every temptation seems heavy, but God is protecting those beginners, like little babies, from more severe temptations. Only God knows these things exactly. We are always looking to “pass the buck” so as to “get off the hook”! We shift the responsibility for our sins, failings and imperfections to someone else in order to escape responsibility or blame.
Our Lord refers to the “blind as a bat” … “eye of an eagle” syndrome (or should we say “sin-drome”) in the following example: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
Yet even though we have read those words of Our Lord many times, we still cannot escape the “blind as a bat” … “eye of an eagle” syndrome (“sin-drome”). We still need to have hammered into our thick skulls and hard hearts the fact that we are all sinners―and that we are liars if we deny that truth: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [admit we are sinners], He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Just in case we think we are “not that bad” ― here are the words of Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, back in 1956, when you would imagine the world was far less sinful than it is today―no legalized abortion, minimal divorce, minimal contraception, no same sex marriages or homosexual/lesbian relationships, no pornography, relatively mild immodesty compared to today, etc. Here is what Our Lady said IN THE YEAR 1956: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Are You Looking for Ph.D. or a pH.d?
You know, of course, that “Ph.D.” stands for “Doctor of Philosophy”―but do you know what “pH” stands for? You have no doubt heard of the pH scale―but what exactly does it mean? The pH scale stands for the “potential hydrogen” in a certain substance or solution. The pH scale (potential of hydrogen scale) is the measurement of acidity or alkalinity of a substance when dissolved in water. The pH scale measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution and assigns it a number. A low pH level means your body (or any other substance or liquid) is acidic, whereas a high pH level means it is alkaline. The pH scale runs from 0 to 14, with a reading of “0” being completely acidic, a reading of “14” being totally alkaline and a reading of “7” being neutral. Unlike the temperature scale, the pH scale is logarithmic. In other words, each number is 10 times more powerful or less powerful than the next, or preceding, number. Thus, a pH of 8 is 10 times more alkaline than a pH of 7, and a pH of 9 is 100 times more alkaline than a pH of 7, and so on.
Our bodies are finely tuned in order to function as efficiently and healthily as possible. This includes maintaining a stable temperature, and a correct balance in out nutrient/vitamin/mineral pH levels. Your body needs to maintain an optimum acid-base balance, or pH level, to ensure the various processes within your body occur without problems. Your blood has a normal pH range of 7.35 to 7.45. This means that blood is naturally slightly alkaline. In fact, the body is more susceptible to healing when it is slightly more alkaline than acidic. When the blood pH level (the measurement of the level of acidity or alkalinity in the blood) goes too high or too low, it causes significant health problems in the body.
Acid and alkaline are two opposite extremes that describe the property of a chemical―in a similar way as how “hot” and “cold” are used to describe the two extremes of temperature. Even Scripture speaks of this: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Mixing acids and alkalines can cancel out their extreme effects, much like mixing hot and cold water can “even out” water temperature.
Just as “degrees” are used to measure precise temperature, the pH scale gives us the precise measurement of acidity or alkalinity. Extremely acidic or alkaline materials are called “reactive”, and can cause severe burns. Examples include automobile battery acid, which is very acidic, and drain cleaner, which is very alkaline. All of which leads us to the “burns” of sin and a spiritual pH scale. Huh? Hang on in there! You’ll where this is leading to in a moment!
Sugar is sweet and sugar is acidic―and acidity is not good for the body, being the cause of most diseases. Foods that have an alkaline pH, such as baking soda, often have a bitter flavor. Our Lord fives us His “cross” for food―and the cross is not sweet, but bitter―as the saying goes: “Bitter is better.” All foods can be categorized as acidic, alkaline, or neutral. A food’s pH isn’t measured by its physical properties, but by the residue that’s left in the body once the food has been metabolized―an example being a lemon, which is highly acidic when you first put it into your mouth, but which becomes highly alkaline after being digested and metabolized by your body. A food that might be alkaline in its raw state, quickly turns acidic through “food processing” ― that is to say through cooking or other modifications such as pickling, drying, etc. Looking at this from a spiritual perspective, you can form a principle that says: “The sweetness of sin when consummated leads to the bitterness of regret and punishment; whereas the bitterness of the cross and sufferings, when accepted patiently, leads to the sweetness of eternal joy.”
The spiritual pH scale (which stands for and includes the range “Proud Humans” … “Puffed-up Humans” … “Pretentious Humans” … “Pleasing Humans” … “Poor Humans” … “Prevaricating Humans” … “Perverse Humans.” In Holy Scripture, we see Our Lord implicitly refer to this pH scale in His parable about the pHarisee and the pHublican (okay, okay, so we have to add a silent “h” to Publican).
The Spiritual pH Level of Sin of the pHarisee and the pHublican
Before we read Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican―it is important that you bear in mind that BOTH were guilty of sin, but different kinds of sin. The Pharisee―though he did good things―sinned by doing them with the wrong attitude. The Publican was a public sinner―someone who farmed the taxes (e.g., Zacheus, Luke 19:2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain pre-arranged amount, keeping the rest for himself. The publicans, for their own ends and profit, were often guilty of extortion and speculation. In New Testament times these publically collected taxes by publicans, were then paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes (publicans), who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very nasty terms. Jesus was accused of being a “friend of publicans and sinners” (Luke 7:34).
As stated above, the optimal pH level is one that is slightly alkaline (slightly bitter). Alkalinity is healthier than acidity―but too much alkalinity (bitterness) will harm you just as too much acidity (sweetness) will harm you. The Publican had a low pH level (very sweet and acidic) and found that extorting money unjustly made him richer and richer―and that tasted sweet, but would burn him with its “acid” unless he repented. The Pharisee was on the healthier side of spiritual pH scale―for he was doing good things like giving away his money (in tithes) and praying to God―but he let this spiritual alkalinity go too far and his “caustic” remarks, stemming from the “lye” of pride, burnt and destroyed whatever good he had done. Here then, is the parable of Our Lord on the Pharisee (pHarisee) and the Publican (pHublican):
“And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Elsewhere, Our Lord says to the Pharisees: “Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31)― and as He died on the cross, He had a thief (St. Dismas) whom He saved by His side and a harlot (St. Mary Magdalen) at his feet! The Scribes and Pharisees were not included among the sinners Our Lord chose to save. To St. Dismas, the Good Thief, and St. Mary Magdalen, the reformed harlot, the pH of Calvary was bitter―but, as they say: “Bitter is better!” To the Scribes and Pharisees, the sufferings of Christ were “sweet” to behold―but that “sweetness” brought no salvation!
“Then were crucified with him two thieves” (Matthew 27:38). “And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If thou be Christ, save thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’ And he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:39-43). The Scribes and Pharisees were also standing there on Calvary as Jesus died―but those words were not addressed to them, but the thief, the robber, the murderer (which often went hand-in-hand with thievery and robbery).
Museum or Hospital?
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. They came to Heaven’s Hospital wounded by sin, and they found a cure—sometimes a painful cure—in Christ’s care.
Time to Start Rising From the Ashes
In case the discouraging thoughts of impossibility―Satan’s favorite “trump card”―should paralyze our efforts before we even start, let us remember some incredible examples of “the phoenix rising from its ashes” in the personages of some big sinners who became great saints―one of which we celebrate today, on August 28th, being St. Augustine. For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Let us look at some big sinners “rising out of the ashes” of sin―for the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints. Or, more precisely, the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and virtues of holiness.
► St. Mary Magdalen (1st century): Possessed by Seven Devils & Adulteress
During the life of Our Lord on Earth, we encounter St. Mary Magdalen―who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. The notion of Mary Magdalene being a repentant sinner, can be traced at least as far back as St. Ephraim the Syrian, in the fourth century, and became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity after the homily of Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) in about 591. We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). In the end, love cured Mary Magdalen―but the right kind of love, a love of God, not of sin―thus Our Lord said of her: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
► St. Dismas (1st century): Robber & Thief
Another sinner from the time of Our Lord. St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
► St. Callixtus (died 222): Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus (170-235): Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Moses the Black (330-405): Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Mary of Egypt (344-421): Seductress & Whore
At age 12, Mary ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Augustine (354-430): Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had ― to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone ― was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theater. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished―for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled around me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
► St. Pelagia (4th / 5th century): Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga (900? - 969): Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she had unknowingly planted the seeds of Faith which would germinate after her death and flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir (958-1015): Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson, Vladimir, became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women. He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism. Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) had planted, now flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Thomas Becket (1118-1170): Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297): Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became the mistress of a rich man, named Arsenio. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona, where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309): Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men. When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely. Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest. As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick. Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Philip Howard (1557-1595): Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis (1550-1614): Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! For every great sinners who becomes a saint, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands who do not become saints—not because God does not want them to be saints, but because they refuse to take the steps required to change from being a great sinner into a great saint. They have only themselves to blame—God would have gladly helped them, but they refused His help and refused His terms. For those few sinners who eventually chose to change—who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory, in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. For “be not deceive―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Rising From Ashes of Sin Through Grace and Mary
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins AFTER conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change! And there we have that key word―GRACE. Without God’s grace we can do nothing! That means NOTHING! What part of the word NOTHING do you not understand? Utter, total, inescapable dependence―even for those who hate God, for: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven, maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45).
That grace of conversion―and any and every grace―God has chosen to give to us through Mary, whom the Church calls the “Mediatrix of All Grace”―meaning that all graces that are given to mankind pass through her hands, so to speak. If we have a problem with that, then our theology is weak and faulty―as Fr. Faber says of the minds of those who contest and dispute Mary’s role in our salvation: “Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy.”
As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
You’d Better Believe It and Want It!
Let it be said and let it be understood and let it be believed and let it be desired —God expects you to be a saint and Our Lady will help you be a saint! Don’t question it and don’t doubt it―even if you are or have been a great sinner! It is not, as you may think, an act of pride to want and expect to be a saint—it is an act of insanity not to do so! What’s the alternative to not wanting to and actually becoming a saint in this life? It is either Hell or Purgatory! Either way, it is insanity! Why pay a thousand times more, or pay eternally, for what could have been bought and paid for at a fraction of the effort and pain here below? You are expected to be a saint. Are you a sinner? You can be a saint! Are you depressed and discourages by your sins? You must become a saint! Only saints go to Heaven!
Even the Saints Were Worldly and Sinful
This does not mean that it is acceptable to be worldly and sinful, but it is an encouragement for us—for if they were once worldly and sinful like we are, then we can also be as saintly as they were! Not just can be, but MUST be! The problem is that most people say that if the saints were worldly, then we can be and remain worldly! This is the blindness of the worldly and the lukewarm, who twist truth to make excuses for their tepidity and sinfulness.
There have been many saints who were sinners, but that does not mean we have a license to sin. The saints have been punished for their sins—make no mistake about that! Ponder these words of the Sacred Heart spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “I cannot bear tepid and cowardly souls, and, if I am gentle in bearing with thy weakness, I shall not be less severe and exact in correcting and punishing thy infidelities!”
All the Apostles suffered intensely after Our Lord ascended into Heaven—they were all martyred, except St. John, though they tried to boil him alive! St. Paul, for persecuting Christians, suffered greatly afterwards—Our Lord had forewarned this: “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).
If we want to imitate the saints in sin, then we must also take on board their sufferings for sin! Read the lives of those saints or soon to be canonized saints: Mary Magdalen, Dismas the Thief, Augustine of Hippo, Hippolytus, Callixtus, Camillus, Moses the Black, Mary of Egypt, Olga of Kiev, Vladimir of Kiev, Margaret of Cortona, Angela of Foligno, Pelagia, Thomas Becket, Philip Howard, John of God, Matthew Talbot and many others. If we want to sin as they did, are we prepared to pay the price that they paid?
It’s the First Step That Counts―the First Step is Always the Hardest
Mary Magdalen shows the path and steps to Heaven that are possible for all sinners―humility, repentance, contrition, compunction, renouncement of all worldly thing, a great love of God and penance. If Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils, then these are the seven steps back to God. Yet, as they say, “The first step is the hardest!” Why so? Because the first step is that of humility―which is the exact opposite of what led us into sin and what keeps us in sin―which is, of course, PRIDE. The spiritual writers tell us that pride is the last thing to collapse in the spiritual warfare we must all wage in our quest for Heaven.
Once we, through our pride, have turned away from God and walked off the narrow path that leads to Heaven, in preference for the broad, wide, easy, gratifying road that leads to sin and Hell―then, in order to make an “about-face” or a “U-Turn” back towards God, we must first “swallow our pride” and “eat some humble-pie.” The proud person will be full of excuses and finger-pointing―the humble person will have no excuses and will point the finger at himself. That―in this proud and boastful world―is very hard to do. Yet there can be no conversion without humility―just as there is no sin that is not based on pride.
It’s funny how we hate to be called sinners―yet we are quick to view others as sinners! We are often “blind as a bat” when it comes to our own sins, failing and imperfections―but we have “the eye of an eagle” when it comes to the sins, failing and imperfections of others. We are as “quiet as mouse” when it comes to speaking out about our sins, failing and imperfections―but we “roar like a lion” when speaking of the sins, failing and imperfections of others. We are more ready to attack others than attack ourselves―more ready to blame others than blame ourselves. We adamantly and vociferously protest that we attack others “in the name of truth”―but we become bold two-faced liars when it comes to exposing and admitting our own sins, failing and imperfections.
We fail to consider that others, by the mysterious dispositions of Divine Providence, were perhaps far more severely tempted and tempted for much longer than we have ever been tempted. To put in a banal way―we might have only been in the “oven of temptation” for 1 hour at 350 degrees―whereas they might have been in the “oven of temptation” for a many hours at 500 degrees. The closer you draw to God, the more heavily you will be tempted―but for a beginner any and every temptation seems heavy, but God is protecting those beginners, like little babies, from more severe temptations. Only God knows these things exactly. We are always looking to “pass the buck” so as to “get off the hook”! We shift the responsibility for our sins, failings and imperfections to someone else in order to escape responsibility or blame.
Our Lord refers to the “blind as a bat” … “eye of an eagle” syndrome (or should we say “sin-drome”) in the following example: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
Yet even though we have read those words of Our Lord many times, we still cannot escape the “blind as a bat” … “eye of an eagle” syndrome (“sin-drome”). We still need to have hammered into our thick skulls and hard hearts the fact that we are all sinners―and that we are liars if we deny that truth: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [admit we are sinners], He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Just in case we think we are “not that bad” ― here are the words of Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello, back in 1956, when you would imagine the world was far less sinful than it is today―no legalized abortion, minimal divorce, minimal contraception, no same sex marriages or homosexual/lesbian relationships, no pornography, relatively mild immodesty compared to today, etc. Here is what Our Lady said IN THE YEAR 1956: ““People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Are You Looking for Ph.D. or a pH.d?
You know, of course, that “Ph.D.” stands for “Doctor of Philosophy”―but do you know what “pH” stands for? You have no doubt heard of the pH scale―but what exactly does it mean? The pH scale stands for the “potential hydrogen” in a certain substance or solution. The pH scale (potential of hydrogen scale) is the measurement of acidity or alkalinity of a substance when dissolved in water. The pH scale measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution and assigns it a number. A low pH level means your body (or any other substance or liquid) is acidic, whereas a high pH level means it is alkaline. The pH scale runs from 0 to 14, with a reading of “0” being completely acidic, a reading of “14” being totally alkaline and a reading of “7” being neutral. Unlike the temperature scale, the pH scale is logarithmic. In other words, each number is 10 times more powerful or less powerful than the next, or preceding, number. Thus, a pH of 8 is 10 times more alkaline than a pH of 7, and a pH of 9 is 100 times more alkaline than a pH of 7, and so on.
Our bodies are finely tuned in order to function as efficiently and healthily as possible. This includes maintaining a stable temperature, and a correct balance in out nutrient/vitamin/mineral pH levels. Your body needs to maintain an optimum acid-base balance, or pH level, to ensure the various processes within your body occur without problems. Your blood has a normal pH range of 7.35 to 7.45. This means that blood is naturally slightly alkaline. In fact, the body is more susceptible to healing when it is slightly more alkaline than acidic. When the blood pH level (the measurement of the level of acidity or alkalinity in the blood) goes too high or too low, it causes significant health problems in the body.
Acid and alkaline are two opposite extremes that describe the property of a chemical―in a similar way as how “hot” and “cold” are used to describe the two extremes of temperature. Even Scripture speaks of this: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Mixing acids and alkalines can cancel out their extreme effects, much like mixing hot and cold water can “even out” water temperature.
Just as “degrees” are used to measure precise temperature, the pH scale gives us the precise measurement of acidity or alkalinity. Extremely acidic or alkaline materials are called “reactive”, and can cause severe burns. Examples include automobile battery acid, which is very acidic, and drain cleaner, which is very alkaline. All of which leads us to the “burns” of sin and a spiritual pH scale. Huh? Hang on in there! You’ll where this is leading to in a moment!
Sugar is sweet and sugar is acidic―and acidity is not good for the body, being the cause of most diseases. Foods that have an alkaline pH, such as baking soda, often have a bitter flavor. Our Lord fives us His “cross” for food―and the cross is not sweet, but bitter―as the saying goes: “Bitter is better.” All foods can be categorized as acidic, alkaline, or neutral. A food’s pH isn’t measured by its physical properties, but by the residue that’s left in the body once the food has been metabolized―an example being a lemon, which is highly acidic when you first put it into your mouth, but which becomes highly alkaline after being digested and metabolized by your body. A food that might be alkaline in its raw state, quickly turns acidic through “food processing” ― that is to say through cooking or other modifications such as pickling, drying, etc. Looking at this from a spiritual perspective, you can form a principle that says: “The sweetness of sin when consummated leads to the bitterness of regret and punishment; whereas the bitterness of the cross and sufferings, when accepted patiently, leads to the sweetness of eternal joy.”
The spiritual pH scale (which stands for and includes the range “Proud Humans” … “Puffed-up Humans” … “Pretentious Humans” … “Pleasing Humans” … “Poor Humans” … “Prevaricating Humans” … “Perverse Humans.” In Holy Scripture, we see Our Lord implicitly refer to this pH scale in His parable about the pHarisee and the pHublican (okay, okay, so we have to add a silent “h” to Publican).
The Spiritual pH Level of Sin of the pHarisee and the pHublican
Before we read Our Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican―it is important that you bear in mind that BOTH were guilty of sin, but different kinds of sin. The Pharisee―though he did good things―sinned by doing them with the wrong attitude. The Publican was a public sinner―someone who farmed the taxes (e.g., Zacheus, Luke 19:2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain pre-arranged amount, keeping the rest for himself. The publicans, for their own ends and profit, were often guilty of extortion and speculation. In New Testament times these publically collected taxes by publicans, were then paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes (publicans), who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very nasty terms. Jesus was accused of being a “friend of publicans and sinners” (Luke 7:34).
As stated above, the optimal pH level is one that is slightly alkaline (slightly bitter). Alkalinity is healthier than acidity―but too much alkalinity (bitterness) will harm you just as too much acidity (sweetness) will harm you. The Publican had a low pH level (very sweet and acidic) and found that extorting money unjustly made him richer and richer―and that tasted sweet, but would burn him with its “acid” unless he repented. The Pharisee was on the healthier side of spiritual pH scale―for he was doing good things like giving away his money (in tithes) and praying to God―but he let this spiritual alkalinity go too far and his “caustic” remarks, stemming from the “lye” of pride, burnt and destroyed whatever good he had done. Here then, is the parable of Our Lord on the Pharisee (pHarisee) and the Publican (pHublican):
“And Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray―the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God! I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: “God! Be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other―for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Elsewhere, Our Lord says to the Pharisees: “Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31)― and as He died on the cross, He had a thief (St. Dismas) whom He saved by His side and a harlot (St. Mary Magdalen) at his feet! The Scribes and Pharisees were not included among the sinners Our Lord chose to save. To St. Dismas, the Good Thief, and St. Mary Magdalen, the reformed harlot, the pH of Calvary was bitter―but, as they say: “Bitter is better!” To the Scribes and Pharisees, the sufferings of Christ were “sweet” to behold―but that “sweetness” brought no salvation!
“Then were crucified with him two thieves” (Matthew 27:38). “And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: ‘If thou be Christ, save thyself and us!’ But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: ‘Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil!’ And he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise!’” (Luke 23:39-43). The Scribes and Pharisees were also standing there on Calvary as Jesus died―but those words were not addressed to them, but the thief, the robber, the murderer (which often went hand-in-hand with thievery and robbery).
Museum or Hospital?
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. They came to Heaven’s Hospital wounded by sin, and they found a cure—sometimes a painful cure—in Christ’s care.
Time to Start Rising From the Ashes
In case the discouraging thoughts of impossibility―Satan’s favorite “trump card”―should paralyze our efforts before we even start, let us remember some incredible examples of “the phoenix rising from its ashes” in the personages of some big sinners who became great saints―one of which we celebrate today, on August 28th, being St. Augustine. For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Let us look at some big sinners “rising out of the ashes” of sin―for the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints. Or, more precisely, the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and virtues of holiness.
► St. Mary Magdalen (1st century): Possessed by Seven Devils & Adulteress
During the life of Our Lord on Earth, we encounter St. Mary Magdalen―who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. The notion of Mary Magdalene being a repentant sinner, can be traced at least as far back as St. Ephraim the Syrian, in the fourth century, and became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity after the homily of Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) in about 591. We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). In the end, love cured Mary Magdalen―but the right kind of love, a love of God, not of sin―thus Our Lord said of her: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
► St. Dismas (1st century): Robber & Thief
Another sinner from the time of Our Lord. St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
► St. Callixtus (died 222): Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus (170-235): Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Moses the Black (330-405): Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Mary of Egypt (344-421): Seductress & Whore
At age 12, Mary ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Augustine (354-430): Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had ― to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone ― was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theater. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished―for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled around me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
► St. Pelagia (4th / 5th century): Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga (900? - 969): Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she had unknowingly planted the seeds of Faith which would germinate after her death and flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir (958-1015): Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson, Vladimir, became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women. He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism. Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) had planted, now flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Thomas Becket (1118-1170): Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297): Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became the mistress of a rich man, named Arsenio. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona, where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309): Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men. When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely. Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest. As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick. Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Philip Howard (1557-1595): Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis (1550-1614): Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! For every great sinners who becomes a saint, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands who do not become saints—not because God does not want them to be saints, but because they refuse to take the steps required to change from being a great sinner into a great saint. They have only themselves to blame—God would have gladly helped them, but they refused His help and refused His terms. For those few sinners who eventually chose to change—who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory, in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. For “be not deceive―God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Rising From Ashes of Sin Through Grace and Mary
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins AFTER conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change! And there we have that key word―GRACE. Without God’s grace we can do nothing! That means NOTHING! What part of the word NOTHING do you not understand? Utter, total, inescapable dependence―even for those who hate God, for: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven, maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45).
That grace of conversion―and any and every grace―God has chosen to give to us through Mary, whom the Church calls the “Mediatrix of All Grace”―meaning that all graces that are given to mankind pass through her hands, so to speak. If we have a problem with that, then our theology is weak and faulty―as Fr. Faber says of the minds of those who contest and dispute Mary’s role in our salvation: “Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy.”
As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
You’d Better Believe It and Want It!
Let it be said and let it be understood and let it be believed and let it be desired —God expects you to be a saint and Our Lady will help you be a saint! Don’t question it and don’t doubt it―even if you are or have been a great sinner! It is not, as you may think, an act of pride to want and expect to be a saint—it is an act of insanity not to do so! What’s the alternative to not wanting to and actually becoming a saint in this life? It is either Hell or Purgatory! Either way, it is insanity! Why pay a thousand times more, or pay eternally, for what could have been bought and paid for at a fraction of the effort and pain here below? You are expected to be a saint. Are you a sinner? You can be a saint! Are you depressed and discourages by your sins? You must become a saint! Only saints go to Heaven!
Even the Saints Were Worldly and Sinful
This does not mean that it is acceptable to be worldly and sinful, but it is an encouragement for us—for if they were once worldly and sinful like we are, then we can also be as saintly as they were! Not just can be, but MUST be! The problem is that most people say that if the saints were worldly, then we can be and remain worldly! This is the blindness of the worldly and the lukewarm, who twist truth to make excuses for their tepidity and sinfulness.
There have been many saints who were sinners, but that does not mean we have a license to sin. The saints have been punished for their sins—make no mistake about that! Ponder these words of the Sacred Heart spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “I cannot bear tepid and cowardly souls, and, if I am gentle in bearing with thy weakness, I shall not be less severe and exact in correcting and punishing thy infidelities!”
All the Apostles suffered intensely after Our Lord ascended into Heaven—they were all martyred, except St. John, though they tried to boil him alive! St. Paul, for persecuting Christians, suffered greatly afterwards—Our Lord had forewarned this: “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).
If we want to imitate the saints in sin, then we must also take on board their sufferings for sin! Read the lives of those saints or soon to be canonized saints: Mary Magdalen, Dismas the Thief, Augustine of Hippo, Hippolytus, Callixtus, Camillus, Moses the Black, Mary of Egypt, Olga of Kiev, Vladimir of Kiev, Margaret of Cortona, Angela of Foligno, Pelagia, Thomas Becket, Philip Howard, John of God, Matthew Talbot and many others. If we want to sin as they did, are we prepared to pay the price that they paid?
It’s the First Step That Counts―the First Step is Always the Hardest
Mary Magdalen shows the path and steps to Heaven that are possible for all sinners―humility, repentance, contrition, compunction, renouncement of all worldly thing, a great love of God and penance. If Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils, then these are the seven steps back to God. Yet, as they say, “The first step is the hardest!” Why so? Because the first step is that of humility―which is the exact opposite of what led us into sin and what keeps us in sin―which is, of course, PRIDE. The spiritual writers tell us that pride is the last thing to collapse in the spiritual warfare we must all wage in our quest for Heaven.
Once we, through our pride, have turned away from God and walked off the narrow path that leads to Heaven, in preference for the broad, wide, easy, gratifying road that leads to sin and Hell―then, in order to make an “about-face” or a “U-Turn” back towards God, we must first “swallow our pride” and “eat some humble-pie.” The proud person will be full of excuses and finger-pointing―the humble person will have no excuses and will point the finger at himself. That―in this proud and boastful world―is very hard to do. Yet there can be no conversion without humility―just as there is no sin that is not based on pride.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 26th & Thursday Augsut 27th
Article 10
Too Blind to See the Obvious!
Wednesday August 26th & Thursday Augsut 27th
Article 10
Too Blind to See the Obvious!
Willful Blindness
In a book by Daniel Kahneman, entitled Thinking, Fast and Slow, referring as to how our minds work, Kahneman writes that not only are we sometimes “blind to the obvious,” but also we are “blind to our blindness.” This is one of those obvious simple insights―which is very obvious once you think about it―but somehow incredibly easy to forget when caught up in the whirlwind of events in our everyday life―which then inevitably leads to poor decision making.
In the book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, author Margaret Heffernan examines the intellectual and emotional mechanisms by which we choose―sometimes consciously but mostly not―to remain unseeing by “turning a blind-eye” in situations where “we could know, and should know, but don’t know because it makes us feel better not to know.”
Ignorance of the Law Does Not Excuse From the Law
The concept of “willful blindness,” Heffernan explains, comes from the law and originates from legislature passed in the 19th century — it’s the somewhat counterintuitive idea that you’re responsible “if you could have known, and should have known, something that instead you strove not to see.” What’s most uneasy-making about the concept is the implication that it doesn’t matter whether the avoidance of truth is conscious. This basic mechanism of keeping ourselves in the dark, Heffernan argues, plays out in just about every aspect of life, but there are things we can do — as individuals, organizations, and nations — to lift our blinders before we walk into perilous situations that later produce the inevitable exclamation: “How could I have been so blind?” The problem is that not only are we blind to the obvious, but we are also blind to our blindness!
Heffernan explores the “friendly alibis” we manufacture for our own inertia — the same ones fueling what Heffernan calls the “backfire effect” ― which explains why it is so hard for us to change our minds. She writes in the book:
“Whether individual or collective, willful blindness doesn’t have a single driver, but many. It is a human phenomenon to which we all succumb in matters little and large. We can’t notice and know everything: the cognitive limits of our brain simply won’t let us. That means we have to filter or edit what we take in. So what we choose to let through and to leave out is crucial. We mostly admit the information that makes us feel great about ourselves, while conveniently filtering whatever unsettles our fragile egos and most vital beliefs. It’s a truism that love is blind; what’s less obvious is just how much evidence it can ignore. Ideology powerfully masks what, to the uncaptivated mind, is obvious, dangerous, or absurd and there’s much about how, and even where, we live that leaves us in the dark. Fear of conflict, fear of change keeps us that way. An unconscious (and much denied) impulse to obey and conform shields us from confrontation and crowds provide friendly alibis for our inertia. And money has the power to blind us, even to our better selves.”
Blind to Self and Self’s Friends
One of the subtlest yet most common areas of our willful blindness is our choice of friends and future spouses (not to mention politicians and presidents). Data from 25 million questionnaires reveals that “we mostly marry and live with people very like ourselves” — a finding that Heffernan points out always annoys people:
“We all want to feel that we have made our own choices, that they weren’t predictable, that we aren’t so vain as to choose ourselves, and that we are freer spirits, with a broader, more eclectic range of taste than the data imply. We don’t like to feel that we’re blind to the allure of those who are not like us; we don’t like to see how trapped we are inside our own identity.We like ourselves, not least because we are known and familiar to ourselves. So we like people similar to us — or that we just imagine might have some attributes in common with us. They feel familiar too, and safe. And those feelings of familiarity and security make us like ourselves more because we aren’t anxious. We belong. Our self-esteem rises. We feel happy. Human beings want to feel good about themselves and to feel safe, and being surrounded by familiarity and similarity satisfies those needs very efficiently … The search for what is familiar and comfortable underlies our media consumption habits in just the same way as it makes us yearn for Mom’s mac ’n’ cheese … The problem with this is that everything outside that warm, safe circle is our blind spot.”
Self-Created Ruts of the Mind
Remarkably, these blind spots turn out to have a physical foundation in the brain. Heffernan quotes neurologist Robert Burton, who studies the biological basis of bias and why our brains tend to reject information that broadens our outlook:
“Neural networks don’t give you a direct route from, say, a flash of light straight to your consciousness. There are all kinds of committees that vote along the way, whether that flash of light is going to go straight to your consciousness or not. And if there are enough ‘yes’ votes, then yes you can see it. If there aren’t, you could miss it.”
But here’s the thing: What does your brain like? What gets the “yes” vote? It likes the stuff it already recognizes. It likes what is familiar. So you will see the familiar stuff right away. The other stuff may take longer, or it may never impinge on your consciousness. You just won’t see it. Burton points this out with the following analogy:
“Imagine the gradual formation of a riverbed. The initial flow of water might be completely random — there are no preferred routes in the beginning. But once a creek is formed, water is more likely to follow this newly created path of least resistance. As the water continues, the creek deepens and a river develops.”
Over the course of our lives, our accumulation of experiences, relationships, and ideas shapes the proverbial “riverbed of the mind”, and the water begins to flow with less and less resistance, which in turn produces a sense of certainty and ease that only deepens the riverbed. Heffernan contemplates the repercussions:
“Our blindness grows out of the small, daily decisions that we make, which embed us more snugly inside our affirming thoughts and values. And what’s most frightening about this process is that as we see less and less, we feel more comfort and greater certainty. We think we see more — even as the landscape shrinks.”
Love is Blind
Hardly anywhere is our willful blindness more unrelenting than in love―and there is nobody that we love more than ourselves (until our blindness to self is removed―and then we begin to hate ourselves). Our Lord―knowing how much we love ourselves―uses self love as a measuring-stick for loving others: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Matthew 19:19) … “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39) … “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Mark 12:31) ― and the Apostles say likewise: “And if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Romans 13:9) … “All the Law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). “If then you fulfill the royal Law, according to the Scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; you do well!” (James 2:8).
Our Lord then alludes to this blindness of self when He says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). The old proverb that “love is blind,” it turns out, has strong psychological roots:
“When we love someone, we see them as smarter, wittier, prettier, stronger than anyone else sees them. To us, a beloved parent, partner, or child has endlessly more talent, potential, and virtue than mere strangers can ever discern. Being loved, when we are born, keeps us alive; without love for her child, how could any new mother manage or any child survive? And if we grow up surrounded by love, we feel secure in the knowledge that others believe in us, will champion and defend us. That confidence — that we are loved and therefore lovable — is an essential building block of our identity and self-confidence. We believe in ourselves, at least in part, because others believe in us and we depend mightily on their belief. As human beings, we are highly driven to find and to protect the relationships that make us feel good about ourselves and that make us feel safe. Those mirrors confirms our sense of self-worth. Love does the same thing … and that seems to be just as true even if our love is based on illusion. Indeed, there seems to be some evidence not only that all love is based on illusion — but that love positively requires illusion in order to endure.”
Because of how integral love is to our sense of identity — lest we forget: “Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love or what we love” — we are remarkably averse to seeing anything that threatens that sense of identity and unity by placing the virtues of our loved ones into question. In other words: “My little Johnnie can do no wrong―because he is my little Johnnie and I love him!”
Heffernan states: “Nations, institutions, individuals can all be blinded by love, by the need to believe themselves good and worthy and valued. We simply could not function if we believed ourselves to be otherwise. But when we are blind to the flaws and failings of what we love, we aren’t effective either … We make ourselves powerless when we pretend we don’t know. That’s the paradox of blindness! We think it will make us safe even as it puts us in danger.”
Lord! That I May See!
And yet willful blindness, Heffernan argues, isn’t a fatal diagnosis of the human condition — it may be our natural, cultivated tendency, but it is within our capability to diffuse it and remove it with the right combination of intention and attention. Heffernan points out:
“The most crucial learning that has emerged from this science, is the recognition that we continue to change right up to the moment we die. Every experience and encounter, each piece of new learning, each relationship or reassessment, alters how our minds work. And no two experiences are the same. In his work on the human genome, the Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner reminds us that even identical twins will have different experiences in different environments and that that makes them fundamentally different beings. Identical twins develop different immune systems. Mental practice alone can change how our brains operate. The plasticity and responsiveness of our minds is what makes each of us most remarkable … We aren’t automatons or robots serving the master computer in our heads, and our capacity for change can never be underestimated. We make ourselves powerless when we choose not to know. But we give ourselves hope when we insist on looking. The very fact that willful blindness is willed―that it is a product of a rich mix of experience, knowledge, thinking, neurons, and neuroses―is what gives us the capacity to change it. We can learn to see better, not just because our brain changes―but because we do. As all wisdom does―seeing starts with simple questions: ‘What could I know, should I know, that I don’t know? Just what am I missing here?’”
Know Any Blind Catholics?
That is exactly what “blind” Catholics should be saying to themselves: “What could I know? What should I know that I don’t know?” The answer is pretty obvious―if we are willing to really look at it and not turn our eyes away from it! We could know a heck of a lot more than we do know! We should know a heck of a lot of things that we know nothing about! That is not just true of Catholics today―it was true of Catholics back in the time of Pope St. Pius X, over 100 years ago, when he wrote a papal encyclical on the dangers of ignorance [read it here]. If it was true of Catholics more than 100 years ago, then it could be said to be 100 times more true of Catholics today, for their ignorance is relatively and proportionately greater since they devote hours and hours to acquiring secular worldly knowledge―and barely any minutes increasing their religious knowledge. This is what Pope St. Pius X had to say:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found, above all, in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in agreement with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses, or to those in the lower walks of life, … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world―but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … They rarely give thought to God … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it … Our Predecessor, Pope Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect!’ … There is then, no reason for surprise that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian … This erring will of man―being blinded by its own evil desires―has need of a guide to lead it back to the paths of justice from which it has so unfortunately strayed. The intellect itself is this guide … but if the intellect lacks light, the knowledge of divine things, then it will be only a case of the blind leading the blind―so that both will fall into the pit … Christian teaching not only bestows on the intellect the light by which it attains truth, but from this light [of Christian teachings] our will draws that fervor by which we are raised up to God and joined with Him in the practice of virtue ... How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical on the dangers of ignorance, Acerbo Nimis, April 15th, 1905).
Of Course You Know―But What Do You Know?
Everyone knows something―but is that something worth knowing? Sure you know how to read―but what do you read? Sure you know how to speak―but what do you speak about? Sure you are good DIY person who can maintain and beautify the house, fine-tune and fix the car―but how is the beautification, maintenance, fine-tuning and fixing of your soul doing? Sure you are a hard worker and an innovative investor who is growing richer with each passing year―but how hard are you working at sanctity and holiness and how much are you growing in grace with each passing year? All of the knowledge concerning the things of the world and all the skills of the world are as nothing when placed alongside knowledge and skills concerning God and our salvation. As Holy Scripture says: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 3:19). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36).
Our Ignorance is a Naked Truth
We cloth ourselves with trivial knowledge and boast of it―yet we are naked or almost naked when it comes to religious or spiritual knowledge. The little religious or spiritual knowledge that we might possess, has grown threadbare over the years―leaving us bare ourselves with barely any knowledge! The world keeps feeding us trivia and makes it all sound and seem like earth shattering information―but it is a nothing and fails to cloth us with any heavenly garments. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale about “The Emperor’s New Suit of Clothes”―also known as “The Invisible Suit of Clothes” or “The Naked Emperor with No Clothes”―fits perfectly with this idea of being puffed-up with trivial worldly knowledge and pretending as though it was something substantial and splendid. Here it is―just exchange the “invisible thread” and “invisible cloth” and “invisible clothes” for the idea of “trivial worldly knowledge”.
The Emperor’s New Clothes―The King With No Clothes―The Invisible Suit of Clothes
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes [worldly things and knowledge] that he spent all his money on being well dressed [well-informed about worldly things]. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage―except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always joyful and entertaining. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me!” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all!” But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy!” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s enchanting!” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors! I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that!” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound!”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials―the ones who had been to the weavers―he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent!” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people!” … “Oh! It’s very pretty!” he said. “It has my highest approval!” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty!” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were words bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him!”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly!” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something ―that was his train―as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look! Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside!”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on! A child says he hasn’t anything on!”
“But he HASN’T got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on!” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
Does That Remind You Of Something?
Some people might be thinking COVID-19 at this point! Masks! Hand-washing! Social-distancing! Quarantining! Lockdowns! Fines for disobeying! Yes, you could draw some parallels! You could apply it to many things that we are being told and have been told over the years. In fact, the words of William Casey, the former CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who said in a staff meeting with the newly elected President Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Applying the above Fairy Tale to the spiritual life, in like manner, there are so many persons who imagine they are clothed with sanctifying grace, clothed with many ‘virtues’, that they are in God’s ‘good books’, that they are ‘good’ Catholics, that they have a great devotion to Mary, that they are very charitable, that they pray sufficiently well, that they are definitely on the road to Heaven, etc. ― but the reality is that in many cases they are NAKED! As Holy Scripture says―with words that are perfect fit, or a perfect suit of clothes for the above Fairy Tale, but which are not a “Fairy Tale” but a “Faith Truth”― “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and BLIND, and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest BE CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS, AND THAT THE SHAME OF THY NAKEDNESS MAY NOT APPEAR; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou MAYEST SEE. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-29).
In a book by Daniel Kahneman, entitled Thinking, Fast and Slow, referring as to how our minds work, Kahneman writes that not only are we sometimes “blind to the obvious,” but also we are “blind to our blindness.” This is one of those obvious simple insights―which is very obvious once you think about it―but somehow incredibly easy to forget when caught up in the whirlwind of events in our everyday life―which then inevitably leads to poor decision making.
In the book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, author Margaret Heffernan examines the intellectual and emotional mechanisms by which we choose―sometimes consciously but mostly not―to remain unseeing by “turning a blind-eye” in situations where “we could know, and should know, but don’t know because it makes us feel better not to know.”
Ignorance of the Law Does Not Excuse From the Law
The concept of “willful blindness,” Heffernan explains, comes from the law and originates from legislature passed in the 19th century — it’s the somewhat counterintuitive idea that you’re responsible “if you could have known, and should have known, something that instead you strove not to see.” What’s most uneasy-making about the concept is the implication that it doesn’t matter whether the avoidance of truth is conscious. This basic mechanism of keeping ourselves in the dark, Heffernan argues, plays out in just about every aspect of life, but there are things we can do — as individuals, organizations, and nations — to lift our blinders before we walk into perilous situations that later produce the inevitable exclamation: “How could I have been so blind?” The problem is that not only are we blind to the obvious, but we are also blind to our blindness!
Heffernan explores the “friendly alibis” we manufacture for our own inertia — the same ones fueling what Heffernan calls the “backfire effect” ― which explains why it is so hard for us to change our minds. She writes in the book:
“Whether individual or collective, willful blindness doesn’t have a single driver, but many. It is a human phenomenon to which we all succumb in matters little and large. We can’t notice and know everything: the cognitive limits of our brain simply won’t let us. That means we have to filter or edit what we take in. So what we choose to let through and to leave out is crucial. We mostly admit the information that makes us feel great about ourselves, while conveniently filtering whatever unsettles our fragile egos and most vital beliefs. It’s a truism that love is blind; what’s less obvious is just how much evidence it can ignore. Ideology powerfully masks what, to the uncaptivated mind, is obvious, dangerous, or absurd and there’s much about how, and even where, we live that leaves us in the dark. Fear of conflict, fear of change keeps us that way. An unconscious (and much denied) impulse to obey and conform shields us from confrontation and crowds provide friendly alibis for our inertia. And money has the power to blind us, even to our better selves.”
Blind to Self and Self’s Friends
One of the subtlest yet most common areas of our willful blindness is our choice of friends and future spouses (not to mention politicians and presidents). Data from 25 million questionnaires reveals that “we mostly marry and live with people very like ourselves” — a finding that Heffernan points out always annoys people:
“We all want to feel that we have made our own choices, that they weren’t predictable, that we aren’t so vain as to choose ourselves, and that we are freer spirits, with a broader, more eclectic range of taste than the data imply. We don’t like to feel that we’re blind to the allure of those who are not like us; we don’t like to see how trapped we are inside our own identity.We like ourselves, not least because we are known and familiar to ourselves. So we like people similar to us — or that we just imagine might have some attributes in common with us. They feel familiar too, and safe. And those feelings of familiarity and security make us like ourselves more because we aren’t anxious. We belong. Our self-esteem rises. We feel happy. Human beings want to feel good about themselves and to feel safe, and being surrounded by familiarity and similarity satisfies those needs very efficiently … The search for what is familiar and comfortable underlies our media consumption habits in just the same way as it makes us yearn for Mom’s mac ’n’ cheese … The problem with this is that everything outside that warm, safe circle is our blind spot.”
Self-Created Ruts of the Mind
Remarkably, these blind spots turn out to have a physical foundation in the brain. Heffernan quotes neurologist Robert Burton, who studies the biological basis of bias and why our brains tend to reject information that broadens our outlook:
“Neural networks don’t give you a direct route from, say, a flash of light straight to your consciousness. There are all kinds of committees that vote along the way, whether that flash of light is going to go straight to your consciousness or not. And if there are enough ‘yes’ votes, then yes you can see it. If there aren’t, you could miss it.”
But here’s the thing: What does your brain like? What gets the “yes” vote? It likes the stuff it already recognizes. It likes what is familiar. So you will see the familiar stuff right away. The other stuff may take longer, or it may never impinge on your consciousness. You just won’t see it. Burton points this out with the following analogy:
“Imagine the gradual formation of a riverbed. The initial flow of water might be completely random — there are no preferred routes in the beginning. But once a creek is formed, water is more likely to follow this newly created path of least resistance. As the water continues, the creek deepens and a river develops.”
Over the course of our lives, our accumulation of experiences, relationships, and ideas shapes the proverbial “riverbed of the mind”, and the water begins to flow with less and less resistance, which in turn produces a sense of certainty and ease that only deepens the riverbed. Heffernan contemplates the repercussions:
“Our blindness grows out of the small, daily decisions that we make, which embed us more snugly inside our affirming thoughts and values. And what’s most frightening about this process is that as we see less and less, we feel more comfort and greater certainty. We think we see more — even as the landscape shrinks.”
Love is Blind
Hardly anywhere is our willful blindness more unrelenting than in love―and there is nobody that we love more than ourselves (until our blindness to self is removed―and then we begin to hate ourselves). Our Lord―knowing how much we love ourselves―uses self love as a measuring-stick for loving others: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Matthew 19:19) … “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39) … “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Mark 12:31) ― and the Apostles say likewise: “And if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Romans 13:9) … “All the Law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). “If then you fulfill the royal Law, according to the Scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; you do well!” (James 2:8).
Our Lord then alludes to this blindness of self when He says: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). The old proverb that “love is blind,” it turns out, has strong psychological roots:
“When we love someone, we see them as smarter, wittier, prettier, stronger than anyone else sees them. To us, a beloved parent, partner, or child has endlessly more talent, potential, and virtue than mere strangers can ever discern. Being loved, when we are born, keeps us alive; without love for her child, how could any new mother manage or any child survive? And if we grow up surrounded by love, we feel secure in the knowledge that others believe in us, will champion and defend us. That confidence — that we are loved and therefore lovable — is an essential building block of our identity and self-confidence. We believe in ourselves, at least in part, because others believe in us and we depend mightily on their belief. As human beings, we are highly driven to find and to protect the relationships that make us feel good about ourselves and that make us feel safe. Those mirrors confirms our sense of self-worth. Love does the same thing … and that seems to be just as true even if our love is based on illusion. Indeed, there seems to be some evidence not only that all love is based on illusion — but that love positively requires illusion in order to endure.”
Because of how integral love is to our sense of identity — lest we forget: “Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love or what we love” — we are remarkably averse to seeing anything that threatens that sense of identity and unity by placing the virtues of our loved ones into question. In other words: “My little Johnnie can do no wrong―because he is my little Johnnie and I love him!”
Heffernan states: “Nations, institutions, individuals can all be blinded by love, by the need to believe themselves good and worthy and valued. We simply could not function if we believed ourselves to be otherwise. But when we are blind to the flaws and failings of what we love, we aren’t effective either … We make ourselves powerless when we pretend we don’t know. That’s the paradox of blindness! We think it will make us safe even as it puts us in danger.”
Lord! That I May See!
And yet willful blindness, Heffernan argues, isn’t a fatal diagnosis of the human condition — it may be our natural, cultivated tendency, but it is within our capability to diffuse it and remove it with the right combination of intention and attention. Heffernan points out:
“The most crucial learning that has emerged from this science, is the recognition that we continue to change right up to the moment we die. Every experience and encounter, each piece of new learning, each relationship or reassessment, alters how our minds work. And no two experiences are the same. In his work on the human genome, the Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner reminds us that even identical twins will have different experiences in different environments and that that makes them fundamentally different beings. Identical twins develop different immune systems. Mental practice alone can change how our brains operate. The plasticity and responsiveness of our minds is what makes each of us most remarkable … We aren’t automatons or robots serving the master computer in our heads, and our capacity for change can never be underestimated. We make ourselves powerless when we choose not to know. But we give ourselves hope when we insist on looking. The very fact that willful blindness is willed―that it is a product of a rich mix of experience, knowledge, thinking, neurons, and neuroses―is what gives us the capacity to change it. We can learn to see better, not just because our brain changes―but because we do. As all wisdom does―seeing starts with simple questions: ‘What could I know, should I know, that I don’t know? Just what am I missing here?’”
Know Any Blind Catholics?
That is exactly what “blind” Catholics should be saying to themselves: “What could I know? What should I know that I don’t know?” The answer is pretty obvious―if we are willing to really look at it and not turn our eyes away from it! We could know a heck of a lot more than we do know! We should know a heck of a lot of things that we know nothing about! That is not just true of Catholics today―it was true of Catholics back in the time of Pope St. Pius X, over 100 years ago, when he wrote a papal encyclical on the dangers of ignorance [read it here]. If it was true of Catholics more than 100 years ago, then it could be said to be 100 times more true of Catholics today, for their ignorance is relatively and proportionately greater since they devote hours and hours to acquiring secular worldly knowledge―and barely any minutes increasing their religious knowledge. This is what Pope St. Pius X had to say:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found, above all, in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in agreement with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish.’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses, or to those in the lower walks of life, … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world―but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion … It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … They rarely give thought to God … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it … Our Predecessor, Pope Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect!’ … There is then, no reason for surprise that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian … This erring will of man―being blinded by its own evil desires―has need of a guide to lead it back to the paths of justice from which it has so unfortunately strayed. The intellect itself is this guide … but if the intellect lacks light, the knowledge of divine things, then it will be only a case of the blind leading the blind―so that both will fall into the pit … Christian teaching not only bestows on the intellect the light by which it attains truth, but from this light [of Christian teachings] our will draws that fervor by which we are raised up to God and joined with Him in the practice of virtue ... How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical on the dangers of ignorance, Acerbo Nimis, April 15th, 1905).
Of Course You Know―But What Do You Know?
Everyone knows something―but is that something worth knowing? Sure you know how to read―but what do you read? Sure you know how to speak―but what do you speak about? Sure you are good DIY person who can maintain and beautify the house, fine-tune and fix the car―but how is the beautification, maintenance, fine-tuning and fixing of your soul doing? Sure you are a hard worker and an innovative investor who is growing richer with each passing year―but how hard are you working at sanctity and holiness and how much are you growing in grace with each passing year? All of the knowledge concerning the things of the world and all the skills of the world are as nothing when placed alongside knowledge and skills concerning God and our salvation. As Holy Scripture says: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own craftiness!’” (1 Corinthians 3:19). To which Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36).
Our Ignorance is a Naked Truth
We cloth ourselves with trivial knowledge and boast of it―yet we are naked or almost naked when it comes to religious or spiritual knowledge. The little religious or spiritual knowledge that we might possess, has grown threadbare over the years―leaving us bare ourselves with barely any knowledge! The world keeps feeding us trivia and makes it all sound and seem like earth shattering information―but it is a nothing and fails to cloth us with any heavenly garments. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale about “The Emperor’s New Suit of Clothes”―also known as “The Invisible Suit of Clothes” or “The Naked Emperor with No Clothes”―fits perfectly with this idea of being puffed-up with trivial worldly knowledge and pretending as though it was something substantial and splendid. Here it is―just exchange the “invisible thread” and “invisible cloth” and “invisible clothes” for the idea of “trivial worldly knowledge”.
The Emperor’s New Clothes―The King With No Clothes―The Invisible Suit of Clothes
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes [worldly things and knowledge] that he spent all his money on being well dressed [well-informed about worldly things]. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage―except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always joyful and entertaining. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me!” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all!” But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy!” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s enchanting!” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors! I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that!” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound!”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials―the ones who had been to the weavers―he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent!” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people!” … “Oh! It’s very pretty!” he said. “It has my highest approval!” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty!” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were words bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him!”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly!” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something ―that was his train―as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look! Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside!”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on! A child says he hasn’t anything on!”
“But he HASN’T got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on!” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
Does That Remind You Of Something?
Some people might be thinking COVID-19 at this point! Masks! Hand-washing! Social-distancing! Quarantining! Lockdowns! Fines for disobeying! Yes, you could draw some parallels! You could apply it to many things that we are being told and have been told over the years. In fact, the words of William Casey, the former CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, who said in a staff meeting with the newly elected President Reagan: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Applying the above Fairy Tale to the spiritual life, in like manner, there are so many persons who imagine they are clothed with sanctifying grace, clothed with many ‘virtues’, that they are in God’s ‘good books’, that they are ‘good’ Catholics, that they have a great devotion to Mary, that they are very charitable, that they pray sufficiently well, that they are definitely on the road to Heaven, etc. ― but the reality is that in many cases they are NAKED! As Holy Scripture says―with words that are perfect fit, or a perfect suit of clothes for the above Fairy Tale, but which are not a “Fairy Tale” but a “Faith Truth”― “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and BLIND, and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest BE CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS, AND THAT THE SHAME OF THY NAKEDNESS MAY NOT APPEAR; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou MAYEST SEE. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-29).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 24th & Tuesday August 25th
Article 9
Lie Down and Surrender! ... Or Fight the Lies and Win!
Monday August 24th & Tuesday August 25th
Article 9
Lie Down and Surrender! ... Or Fight the Lies and Win!
Flee, Fight or Freeze and Fold
Faced with an enemy, there are basically three chief solutions. You either (1) flee from the enemy, or you (2) freeze, fold and surrender to the enemy, or you (3) fight and overcome the enemy. Flee, fight or freeze and fold. Your decision largely depends upon your courage, your resources and the strength and resources of the enemy.
When we are afraid, we flee and hide. When we are courageous, we stand our ground and fight. “The Philistines were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened―for the people were distressed―and they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits” (1 Kings 13:5-6). Yet Our Lord tells us to fear God more than men: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Young children are much the same when they are afraid―they hide in the “cave” of their room and will not come out; or even bury themselves in the “cave” or “pit” of their beds underneath the blankets. Similarly, we “bury” our sins so deep that we hope that they will be forgotten. Sin brings fear with it―and so it should, for “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)―and death is to be feared, especially ‘eternal death’ or the killing of the life of grace in the soul through mortal sin. We hide our mortal sins in the “cave” of the confessional and deep within the “cave” of our conscience, thinking and hoping that nobody, not even the priest, will find them―but that only makes matters worse through a sacrilegious confession. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their new found nakedness behind a crudely assembled apron of leaves, we try to hide our worldliness and our guilt behind the “leaves” of excuses―and we blame others, just as Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
Just as Adam and Eve feared and fled from God after they had sinned and hid themselves from His sight, Isaias warns everyone of the “Day of the Lord” and foretells that―like Adam and Eve, after they had sinned―mankind will seek to flee from the face of the Lord and hide wherever he can: “Enter thou [flee] into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty! The lofty eyes and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. And upon every high tower and every fenced wall. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed. And they shall [flee and] go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the Earth from the face of the fear of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold―which he had made for himself―to adore, moles and bats. And he shall [flee and] go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth!” (Isaias 2:10-21).
Faith and Fights―Flip Sides of Same Coin
Heaven is our home, which we have to fight to reach by escaping the imprisonment of this world of exile: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Fighting Talk that We Hate to Hear and Fear to Hear
A fight implies division―it implies two opposing sides, two mutual enemies, two incompatible opponents. That is exactly what Christ and Holy Scripture has been trying to instill into our thick skulls. Our Lord clearly and unambiguously stated: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) ― mammon being the pleasures and treasures of this world. Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy:
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Peace, Brother! Peace!
For those of us who have become more or less enamored with the world and with the pleasures and treasures it offers us and dangles before our eyes―such fighting-talk is unpleasant, unwanted, unnecessary and unwelcome. We prefer not to fight the world―we invoke the peaceful side of Christ and Christianity, vainly and falsely preaching a brotherhood of mankind, whereby we should all try to get along and live in peace with one another―regardless of our roots, race, beliefs or personal opinions! To which Holy Scripture brutally and truthfully answers with more fighting talk: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
As Catholics―if we are good and faithful Catholics―we have to say to the world that opposes us, what Christ said to the Jews who opposed Him: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Scary, huh?
To put it into present day language, we would have to say to the world―its rulers and citizens: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love and embrace the Catholic Faith. For from God the Catholic Faith proceeded and came; for it came not just for me, but it was meant for all mankind! Why do you not accept the Catholic Faith? Because you cannot hear the word of God. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―if I preach the Catholic Faith to you―you do not believe! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God―and the Catholic Faith is the word of God. Therefore you hear them not and accept them not, because you are not of God!”
Who would have the courage to come out with fighting-talk like that in face of the world? We would either freeze, fold or flee―but not fight! Why? Because―to one degree or another―we are peace with the world, we have accepted the world or large portions of it, we are accustomed to the world, we feel comfortable in the world and we quite like the world! Besides―to confront the world with the truths of the Catholic Faith requires that you know those truths, know how to present them and know how to defend them. Sadly, most Catholics know “diddly-squat” about their Faith. Most cannot even give you the Ten Commandments in order, or in any order! As for any kind of in-depth presentation, or argument, debate or defense of the truths and credentials of the Catholic Faith―forget it! Their knowledge is as flimsy as cotton-candy (candy-floss) compared to meat or other proper food.
Fiery Talk―Divisive Talk
Our Lord is no pacifist―He Himself proclaimed that: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
A Time to Flee and a Time to FIght
As the Book of Ecclesiastes so wisely says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) ― to which you could add: “A time to fight and a time to flee!”
St. Thomas Aquinas says that the man who says he has no fear is a fool. A courageous man is a man who is afraid, but acts bravely and prudently when faced with danger. In war, as in sports, armies and teams both attack and defend, they advance and they retreat, they put their opponents “under the cosh” and they also find themselves “under the cosh” of their opponents. We see, in Our Lord, both instances of “fleeing” and “fighting”. Yes―Our Lord did flee, but it was not out of cowardice, but prudence. The first time we see Him flee was already in His infancy, when God commanded Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee from King Herod into Egypt: “An angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: ‘Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt―and be there until I shall tell thee! For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child to destroy Him. Who arose and took the Child and His Mother by night, and retired into Egypt―and he was there until the death of Herod” (Matthew 2:13-14).
In His adult life, Jesus fled more than once: “Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come to take Him by force, and make Him king, fled again into the mountain, Himself alone” (John 6:15). He also fled when the Pharisees tried to kill Him: “And the Pharisees going out made a consultation against Him, how they might destroy Him. But Jesus knowing it, retired from thence” (Matthew 12:14-15). “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1).
The fact that Jesus “fled” was not due to any cowardice on His part, but simply because it was not the time to fight. At the start of His public ministry, at the marriage feast in Cana, Our Lord told Our Lady: “My hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). Some time later, when Jesus was teaching in the Temple, “They sought to apprehend Him―and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 7:30). On another occasion, “Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the Temple―and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 8:20). As the time for His pre-arranged “fight” during His Passion and Death approached, Jesus would speak of it being time to fight. “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from thee! This shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me―because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). “And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill Him!’” (Matthew 17:21-22). “And He taught His disciples, and said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed!’ … But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask Him” (Mark 9:30-31). “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve disciples apart, and said to them: ‘Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death; and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified!’” (Matthew 20:18-19). Just days before the fight, “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘You know that after two days shall be the Pasch, and the Son of man shall be delivered up to be crucified!’” (Matthew 26:1-2).
Jesus was No Fool―He was Brave
As St. Thomas Aquinas says―a person who has no fear is a fool; a courageous man has fear, but he acts despite that fear. When the time for the fight came, Jesus showed both fear and courage. He showed that he was a normal human being with normal human passions―of which fear is one. It is not wrong to be afraid―it is normal to be afraid―fear is a passion that God has planted in the soul of every person. Thus, “they came to a farm called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Sit you here, while I pray!’ And he taketh Peter and James and John with Him; and He began to fear and to be heavy. And He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay you here, and watch!’ And when He was gone forward a little, He fell flat on the ground; and He prayed, that, if it might be, the hour might pass from Him. And He said: ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me! But not what I will, but what Thou wilt!’” (Mark 14:32-36). “And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 23:43-44).
Do Not Fool Yourself―the Time for Being Brave Approaches
A large part of being Christian means sharing in Christ’s suffering. Hey! Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body of Christ and we are the members, or remaining parts, or cells of that Mystical Body of Christ. The heart takes a bullet, yet the whole body eventually suffers and dies. The mouth swallows a poison, yet the whole body eventually suffers and dies. What happens to Christ, must also happen to His Mystical Body. Our Lord said of St. Paul what He, to a certain degree, says to all of us: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!” (Acts 9:16). St. Paul responds: “I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us―so also, by Christ, doth our comfort abound” (2 Corinthians 1:5). “But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
Catholics Are Fleeing the Church and the Cross
Sadly, most Catholics leave Our Lord alone in His sufferings―they do not want to carry His cross nor participate in His sufferings. Our Lord says: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with Me! I have trampled on them in My indignation, and have trodden them down in My wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My clothing. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, the year of My redemption is come. I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3-5).
Speaking of the end times of the world, Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which is actually a rhetorical question by which He is pointing out that He will not find much Faith on Earth. Our Lady of Good Success confirms this when she speaks of … “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me.” Our Lady of La Salette adds: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith fades, a false light brightens the people.” At Fatima, Our Lady implies that most nations will lose the Faith, by her implicit statement that the dogmas of Faith will still exist in Portugal. All of this adds up to the likelihood―which has already begun―of a worldwide and massive loss of Faith.
The Scattered Sheep of Today
Nowadays, 80% of the Catholic flock finds its regular pastures away from the Catholic Church. For every person converting to Catholicism these days, six are leaving Catholicism. Only 20% of the flock are found to be regularly grazing in the Church’s “Sunday pasture”―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The rest prefer to be somewhere else, doing something else.
Already in the 1950s, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger―later to become Cardinal Ratzinger and then Pope Benedict XVI―wrote the essay “The new Pagans and the Church” which lamented and described what was then the relatively new phenomenon of people who felt and proclaimed they were Catholic, bit did not live and fully practice their Catholic Faith.
The Second Vatican Council was supposed to be a response to that widespread issue. Yet the way the Council chose, was not to fight the world, but to “go with the flow” and adapt to the signs of the times. It was an ‘updating’ of the Church that (vainly) claimed you could approach and mix with the world in a way that was not traditional, but while remaining well grounded in tradition. In effect, it was merely a melting-pot of diluting the Church with the world.
After the pharmaceutical blending of the Church with the world by the Second Vatican Council, religious things began to be described and valued with secular, rather than religious, criteria. The decision to climb onto the slippery slope secularism was irrevocably made―and the Church has been sliding down that secular slope ever since! Some Church leaders had some minor qualms of conscience about the direction that was being taken and tried to apply the brakes―but even if you lock the wheels by braking, you will still continue to slide down the greasy, slippery slope with you locked wheels!
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae tried to reinforce sexual morality and guide the discussion back to religious, rather than secular, issues―but by and large it failed to stop the slide. He would be Pope for the following ten years, but never wrote another encyclical. Pope John Paul II also tried to stop the slide―but like all the other Liberal popes, hitting the brakes while at the same time pressing down on the gas pedal, is not going to do it. Pope Benedict XVI also highlighted the core issues. He delivered two important speeches on the issue: one during his 2011 trip to Germany, the other to Swiss bishops at the beginning of the Pontificate. Benedict XVI nailed the issue of a too worldly Church that needed to be less worldly. In 2011, in addressing the German Church, Benedict XVI made his call for a less worldly Church in front of the powerful Central Committee of Lay people of the Catholic Church in Germany―the ZDK. The German Cardinal Karl Lehman said he was embittered by Pope Benedict‘s speech, and the General Assembly of the German Catholic Church held after the trip took instead the progressive side an became more worldly.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Shepherds, Like Sheep
As Holy Scripture wisely says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we no doubt get our modern day cliché: “Like father, like son!” The same can be said of the clergy and the laity. The kind of priest a parish has, is reflected in the laity. In fact, this brings to mind an age old French saying: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same is true for parents in relation to their children. Likewise, for teachers in relation to their students.
Are We Fighting a Losing Battle?
With most souls ending up in Hell; with most children leaving the Faith or ceasing to regularly practice the Faith; with attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays continually dropping universally―one has to ask the question: “Are we fighting a losing battle?” Yet that is perhaps the wrong way to phrase the question! We should be asking: “Why are we losing this battle?” More precisely, “Why are we losing a battle that we should be winning!” For as Holy Scripture says: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) … “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Our God will fight for us!” (2 Esdras 4:20). “Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Be of good courage and let us fight for the city of our God: and the Lord will do what is good in his sight!” (2 Kings 10:12).
So why are we losing the battle? Why are we losing our children in the battle? Why are our children losing their Faith? Or are in the process of losing their Faith? The answer is quite simply the same answer that St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) gave to the question: “Why are our prayers not answered by God?” He gives three chief reasons: (1) because we pray for what is bad, (2) we pray badly, and (3) we are bad. In our case, we are losing the battle for similar reasons: (1) because we are fighting over the wrong things, (2) we are fighting in the wrong or bad way, using the wrong weapons, and (3) we are bad and therefore unworthy of God fighting for us.
Sole Solution to the Soul-ution
Yes―we have countless books on the Faith in general and devotion to Our Lady in particular. Yes―we have religion and catechism taught in Catholics schools and on Sundays in Catholic parishes. Yes―there are even religious movies and documentaries available for viewing. Yes―countless sermons have been heard on Sundays. Yes―families have some form of religious customs and spiritual exercises that they adhere to in their homes. Yet, as Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, most of these things and practices are bearing little fruit and are leading nowhere. Ponder these words carefully and resolve to do something about them―too much is at stake by neglecting to do so!
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul [and the souls of his children], will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! [and how different would our children be!]. Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we [and our children] be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Take Devotion Seriously―Or End Up in Serious Trouble
THE VERY FIRST THING WE MUST CHANGE IN PRACTICE IS THE WAY WE THINK! Whether you are aware of it or not; whether you have forgotten it or not; whether you like it or not―you are SOLDIER OF CHRIST by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation that you have received. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must either fight or be killed. Most do not want to fight this spiritual warfare―hence most are killed in warfare and consequently damned. “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
By opting to follow Our Lady, by devotion to Mary, you, the Soldier of Christ, are choosing to fight for Christ in the regiment of Our Lady. Her soldiers are elite soldiers―they are the equivalent of the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets); or the United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (commonly known as Navy SEALs)― the U.S. Navy SEALs are an elite unit, more exclusive and harder to be admitted to than the U.S. Marines. In the UK, you have the elite British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS); the British Commandos which evolved into the SAS after the Second World War. Our Lady is the greatest and best person God ever created―so it is only fitting that her soldiers have the desire to be the greatest and best soldiers within the Catholic Church. The demands are great, but the rewards are even greater. Do not insult Our Lady by enlisting with the intention of doing little or nothing for her on the field of battle! That is the overriding and underlying thought that should govern all of us in our devotion to Our Lady. It is not a joke―it is a serious business―the business of saving our souls and saving many other souls in this field of battle.
There is No Middle Path―No Neutrality
Perhaps it is oversimplifying things, but essentially there are only two kinds of persons―WINNERS and LOSERS. The winners go to Heaven―the losers go to Hell. There is NO IN-BETWEEN, there are NO SPECTATORS―everyone finds themselves on the battlefield and we either side and fight with Christ, or we decide not to fight and side with Satan (either implicitly or explicitly). Our Lord Himself says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-34). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
The problem with most people is that they do not see themselves as being in middle of a battle; they do not see the world as their enemy; their end or goal or target is not primarily to save their souls and get to Heaven, but to have a pleasant life here on Earth. They fight more for money and possessions than they fight for salvation and souls. Is it really surprising that most souls are lost? Unless you change your attitude from the very beginning, you will inevitably be a casualty on the battlefield―either seriously wounded (Purgatory) or even killed (Hell). Most are killed. The fight for salvation is violent―“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)―and that is why Our Lord speaks, not of entertainment, nor comforts, nor pleasures, nor fun and games, but He speaks only of the Cross: “And Jesus said to ALL: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). How many priests REGULARLY drill home that message to their parishioners? How many parents drill home those truths to their children on a REGULAR basis? How many teachers REGULARLY teach those truths to the students? Is it really surprising that most souls are lost?
Faced with an enemy, there are basically three chief solutions. You either (1) flee from the enemy, or you (2) freeze, fold and surrender to the enemy, or you (3) fight and overcome the enemy. Flee, fight or freeze and fold. Your decision largely depends upon your courage, your resources and the strength and resources of the enemy.
When we are afraid, we flee and hide. When we are courageous, we stand our ground and fight. “The Philistines were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened―for the people were distressed―and they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits” (1 Kings 13:5-6). Yet Our Lord tells us to fear God more than men: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
Young children are much the same when they are afraid―they hide in the “cave” of their room and will not come out; or even bury themselves in the “cave” or “pit” of their beds underneath the blankets. Similarly, we “bury” our sins so deep that we hope that they will be forgotten. Sin brings fear with it―and so it should, for “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)―and death is to be feared, especially ‘eternal death’ or the killing of the life of grace in the soul through mortal sin. We hide our mortal sins in the “cave” of the confessional and deep within the “cave” of our conscience, thinking and hoping that nobody, not even the priest, will find them―but that only makes matters worse through a sacrilegious confession. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their new found nakedness behind a crudely assembled apron of leaves, we try to hide our worldliness and our guilt behind the “leaves” of excuses―and we blame others, just as Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
Just as Adam and Eve feared and fled from God after they had sinned and hid themselves from His sight, Isaias warns everyone of the “Day of the Lord” and foretells that―like Adam and Eve, after they had sinned―mankind will seek to flee from the face of the Lord and hide wherever he can: “Enter thou [flee] into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty! The lofty eyes and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. And upon every high tower and every fenced wall. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed. And they shall [flee and] go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the Earth from the face of the fear of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold―which he had made for himself―to adore, moles and bats. And he shall [flee and] go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth!” (Isaias 2:10-21).
Faith and Fights―Flip Sides of Same Coin
Heaven is our home, which we have to fight to reach by escaping the imprisonment of this world of exile: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Fighting Talk that We Hate to Hear and Fear to Hear
A fight implies division―it implies two opposing sides, two mutual enemies, two incompatible opponents. That is exactly what Christ and Holy Scripture has been trying to instill into our thick skulls. Our Lord clearly and unambiguously stated: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24) ― mammon being the pleasures and treasures of this world. Our Lord clearly and emphatically states that the world is His enemy and that the world is ruled by its prince, the devil, who is Christ’s ultimate enemy:
“The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own! But because you are not of the world―for I have chosen you out of the world―therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds fighting-talk that we mainly choose and like to ignore: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh―but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death―but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God―for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Peace, Brother! Peace!
For those of us who have become more or less enamored with the world and with the pleasures and treasures it offers us and dangles before our eyes―such fighting-talk is unpleasant, unwanted, unnecessary and unwelcome. We prefer not to fight the world―we invoke the peaceful side of Christ and Christianity, vainly and falsely preaching a brotherhood of mankind, whereby we should all try to get along and live in peace with one another―regardless of our roots, race, beliefs or personal opinions! To which Holy Scripture brutally and truthfully answers with more fighting talk: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
As Catholics―if we are good and faithful Catholics―we have to say to the world that opposes us, what Christ said to the Jews who opposed Him: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love Me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of Myself, but He sent Me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:42-47). Scary, huh?
To put it into present day language, we would have to say to the world―its rulers and citizens: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love and embrace the Catholic Faith. For from God the Catholic Faith proceeded and came; for it came not just for me, but it was meant for all mankind! Why do you not accept the Catholic Faith? Because you cannot hear the word of God. You are of your father―the devil―and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But if I say the truth―if I preach the Catholic Faith to you―you do not believe! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God―and the Catholic Faith is the word of God. Therefore you hear them not and accept them not, because you are not of God!”
Who would have the courage to come out with fighting-talk like that in face of the world? We would either freeze, fold or flee―but not fight! Why? Because―to one degree or another―we are peace with the world, we have accepted the world or large portions of it, we are accustomed to the world, we feel comfortable in the world and we quite like the world! Besides―to confront the world with the truths of the Catholic Faith requires that you know those truths, know how to present them and know how to defend them. Sadly, most Catholics know “diddly-squat” about their Faith. Most cannot even give you the Ten Commandments in order, or in any order! As for any kind of in-depth presentation, or argument, debate or defense of the truths and credentials of the Catholic Faith―forget it! Their knowledge is as flimsy as cotton-candy (candy-floss) compared to meat or other proper food.
Fiery Talk―Divisive Talk
Our Lord is no pacifist―He Himself proclaimed that: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled! … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
“For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-22).
“Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
A Time to Flee and a Time to FIght
As the Book of Ecclesiastes so wisely says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) ― to which you could add: “A time to fight and a time to flee!”
St. Thomas Aquinas says that the man who says he has no fear is a fool. A courageous man is a man who is afraid, but acts bravely and prudently when faced with danger. In war, as in sports, armies and teams both attack and defend, they advance and they retreat, they put their opponents “under the cosh” and they also find themselves “under the cosh” of their opponents. We see, in Our Lord, both instances of “fleeing” and “fighting”. Yes―Our Lord did flee, but it was not out of cowardice, but prudence. The first time we see Him flee was already in His infancy, when God commanded Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee from King Herod into Egypt: “An angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: ‘Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt―and be there until I shall tell thee! For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child to destroy Him. Who arose and took the Child and His Mother by night, and retired into Egypt―and he was there until the death of Herod” (Matthew 2:13-14).
In His adult life, Jesus fled more than once: “Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come to take Him by force, and make Him king, fled again into the mountain, Himself alone” (John 6:15). He also fled when the Pharisees tried to kill Him: “And the Pharisees going out made a consultation against Him, how they might destroy Him. But Jesus knowing it, retired from thence” (Matthew 12:14-15). “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1).
The fact that Jesus “fled” was not due to any cowardice on His part, but simply because it was not the time to fight. At the start of His public ministry, at the marriage feast in Cana, Our Lord told Our Lady: “My hour is not yet come!” (John 2:4). Some time later, when Jesus was teaching in the Temple, “They sought to apprehend Him―and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 7:30). On another occasion, “Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the Temple―and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come” (John 8:20). As the time for His pre-arranged “fight” during His Passion and Death approached, Jesus would speak of it being time to fight. “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from thee! This shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me―because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23). “And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill Him!’” (Matthew 17:21-22). “And He taught His disciples, and said to them: ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed!’ … But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask Him” (Mark 9:30-31). “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve disciples apart, and said to them: ‘Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death; and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified!’” (Matthew 20:18-19). Just days before the fight, “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘You know that after two days shall be the Pasch, and the Son of man shall be delivered up to be crucified!’” (Matthew 26:1-2).
Jesus was No Fool―He was Brave
As St. Thomas Aquinas says―a person who has no fear is a fool; a courageous man has fear, but he acts despite that fear. When the time for the fight came, Jesus showed both fear and courage. He showed that he was a normal human being with normal human passions―of which fear is one. It is not wrong to be afraid―it is normal to be afraid―fear is a passion that God has planted in the soul of every person. Thus, “they came to a farm called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Sit you here, while I pray!’ And he taketh Peter and James and John with Him; and He began to fear and to be heavy. And He said to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay you here, and watch!’ And when He was gone forward a little, He fell flat on the ground; and He prayed, that, if it might be, the hour might pass from Him. And He said: ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee! Remove this chalice from Me! But not what I will, but what Thou wilt!’” (Mark 14:32-36). “And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 23:43-44).
Do Not Fool Yourself―the Time for Being Brave Approaches
A large part of being Christian means sharing in Christ’s suffering. Hey! Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body of Christ and we are the members, or remaining parts, or cells of that Mystical Body of Christ. The heart takes a bullet, yet the whole body eventually suffers and dies. The mouth swallows a poison, yet the whole body eventually suffers and dies. What happens to Christ, must also happen to His Mystical Body. Our Lord said of St. Paul what He, to a certain degree, says to all of us: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!” (Acts 9:16). St. Paul responds: “I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us―so also, by Christ, doth our comfort abound” (2 Corinthians 1:5). “But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
Catholics Are Fleeing the Church and the Cross
Sadly, most Catholics leave Our Lord alone in His sufferings―they do not want to carry His cross nor participate in His sufferings. Our Lord says: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with Me! I have trampled on them in My indignation, and have trodden them down in My wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My clothing. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, the year of My redemption is come. I looked about, and there was none to help! I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3-5).
Speaking of the end times of the world, Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which is actually a rhetorical question by which He is pointing out that He will not find much Faith on Earth. Our Lady of Good Success confirms this when she speaks of … “the small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me.” Our Lady of La Salette adds: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith fades, a false light brightens the people.” At Fatima, Our Lady implies that most nations will lose the Faith, by her implicit statement that the dogmas of Faith will still exist in Portugal. All of this adds up to the likelihood―which has already begun―of a worldwide and massive loss of Faith.
The Scattered Sheep of Today
Nowadays, 80% of the Catholic flock finds its regular pastures away from the Catholic Church. For every person converting to Catholicism these days, six are leaving Catholicism. Only 20% of the flock are found to be regularly grazing in the Church’s “Sunday pasture”―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The rest prefer to be somewhere else, doing something else.
Already in the 1950s, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger―later to become Cardinal Ratzinger and then Pope Benedict XVI―wrote the essay “The new Pagans and the Church” which lamented and described what was then the relatively new phenomenon of people who felt and proclaimed they were Catholic, bit did not live and fully practice their Catholic Faith.
The Second Vatican Council was supposed to be a response to that widespread issue. Yet the way the Council chose, was not to fight the world, but to “go with the flow” and adapt to the signs of the times. It was an ‘updating’ of the Church that (vainly) claimed you could approach and mix with the world in a way that was not traditional, but while remaining well grounded in tradition. In effect, it was merely a melting-pot of diluting the Church with the world.
After the pharmaceutical blending of the Church with the world by the Second Vatican Council, religious things began to be described and valued with secular, rather than religious, criteria. The decision to climb onto the slippery slope secularism was irrevocably made―and the Church has been sliding down that secular slope ever since! Some Church leaders had some minor qualms of conscience about the direction that was being taken and tried to apply the brakes―but even if you lock the wheels by braking, you will still continue to slide down the greasy, slippery slope with you locked wheels!
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae tried to reinforce sexual morality and guide the discussion back to religious, rather than secular, issues―but by and large it failed to stop the slide. He would be Pope for the following ten years, but never wrote another encyclical. Pope John Paul II also tried to stop the slide―but like all the other Liberal popes, hitting the brakes while at the same time pressing down on the gas pedal, is not going to do it. Pope Benedict XVI also highlighted the core issues. He delivered two important speeches on the issue: one during his 2011 trip to Germany, the other to Swiss bishops at the beginning of the Pontificate. Benedict XVI nailed the issue of a too worldly Church that needed to be less worldly. In 2011, in addressing the German Church, Benedict XVI made his call for a less worldly Church in front of the powerful Central Committee of Lay people of the Catholic Church in Germany―the ZDK. The German Cardinal Karl Lehman said he was embittered by Pope Benedict‘s speech, and the General Assembly of the German Catholic Church held after the trip took instead the progressive side an became more worldly.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Shepherds, Like Sheep
As Holy Scripture wisely says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we no doubt get our modern day cliché: “Like father, like son!” The same can be said of the clergy and the laity. The kind of priest a parish has, is reflected in the laity. In fact, this brings to mind an age old French saying: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same is true for parents in relation to their children. Likewise, for teachers in relation to their students.
Are We Fighting a Losing Battle?
With most souls ending up in Hell; with most children leaving the Faith or ceasing to regularly practice the Faith; with attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays continually dropping universally―one has to ask the question: “Are we fighting a losing battle?” Yet that is perhaps the wrong way to phrase the question! We should be asking: “Why are we losing this battle?” More precisely, “Why are we losing a battle that we should be winning!” For as Holy Scripture says: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) … “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Our God will fight for us!” (2 Esdras 4:20). “Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Be of good courage and let us fight for the city of our God: and the Lord will do what is good in his sight!” (2 Kings 10:12).
So why are we losing the battle? Why are we losing our children in the battle? Why are our children losing their Faith? Or are in the process of losing their Faith? The answer is quite simply the same answer that St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) gave to the question: “Why are our prayers not answered by God?” He gives three chief reasons: (1) because we pray for what is bad, (2) we pray badly, and (3) we are bad. In our case, we are losing the battle for similar reasons: (1) because we are fighting over the wrong things, (2) we are fighting in the wrong or bad way, using the wrong weapons, and (3) we are bad and therefore unworthy of God fighting for us.
Sole Solution to the Soul-ution
Yes―we have countless books on the Faith in general and devotion to Our Lady in particular. Yes―we have religion and catechism taught in Catholics schools and on Sundays in Catholic parishes. Yes―there are even religious movies and documentaries available for viewing. Yes―countless sermons have been heard on Sundays. Yes―families have some form of religious customs and spiritual exercises that they adhere to in their homes. Yet, as Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, most of these things and practices are bearing little fruit and are leading nowhere. Ponder these words carefully and resolve to do something about them―too much is at stake by neglecting to do so!
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul [and the souls of his children], will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! [and how different would our children be!]. Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we [and our children] be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Take Devotion Seriously―Or End Up in Serious Trouble
THE VERY FIRST THING WE MUST CHANGE IN PRACTICE IS THE WAY WE THINK! Whether you are aware of it or not; whether you have forgotten it or not; whether you like it or not―you are SOLDIER OF CHRIST by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation that you have received. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must either fight or be killed. Most do not want to fight this spiritual warfare―hence most are killed in warfare and consequently damned. “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
By opting to follow Our Lady, by devotion to Mary, you, the Soldier of Christ, are choosing to fight for Christ in the regiment of Our Lady. Her soldiers are elite soldiers―they are the equivalent of the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets); or the United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (commonly known as Navy SEALs)― the U.S. Navy SEALs are an elite unit, more exclusive and harder to be admitted to than the U.S. Marines. In the UK, you have the elite British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS); the British Commandos which evolved into the SAS after the Second World War. Our Lady is the greatest and best person God ever created―so it is only fitting that her soldiers have the desire to be the greatest and best soldiers within the Catholic Church. The demands are great, but the rewards are even greater. Do not insult Our Lady by enlisting with the intention of doing little or nothing for her on the field of battle! That is the overriding and underlying thought that should govern all of us in our devotion to Our Lady. It is not a joke―it is a serious business―the business of saving our souls and saving many other souls in this field of battle.
There is No Middle Path―No Neutrality
Perhaps it is oversimplifying things, but essentially there are only two kinds of persons―WINNERS and LOSERS. The winners go to Heaven―the losers go to Hell. There is NO IN-BETWEEN, there are NO SPECTATORS―everyone finds themselves on the battlefield and we either side and fight with Christ, or we decide not to fight and side with Satan (either implicitly or explicitly). Our Lord Himself says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-34). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
The problem with most people is that they do not see themselves as being in middle of a battle; they do not see the world as their enemy; their end or goal or target is not primarily to save their souls and get to Heaven, but to have a pleasant life here on Earth. They fight more for money and possessions than they fight for salvation and souls. Is it really surprising that most souls are lost? Unless you change your attitude from the very beginning, you will inevitably be a casualty on the battlefield―either seriously wounded (Purgatory) or even killed (Hell). Most are killed. The fight for salvation is violent―“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)―and that is why Our Lord speaks, not of entertainment, nor comforts, nor pleasures, nor fun and games, but He speaks only of the Cross: “And Jesus said to ALL: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). How many priests REGULARLY drill home that message to their parishioners? How many parents drill home those truths to their children on a REGULAR basis? How many teachers REGULARLY teach those truths to the students? Is it really surprising that most souls are lost?
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday August 21st & Saturday August 22nd & Sunday August 23rd
Article 8
Don't Wait For Rome! You Might Regret It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Friday August 21st & Saturday August 22nd & Sunday August 23rd
Article 8
Don't Wait For Rome! You Might Regret It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Who is the Boss?
God has created a hierarchy in the universe and God usually works through that hierarchy. It is usually by a filter-down system from top to bottom. The angels are created in a hierarchical structure―with the higher angels instructing and commanding the lower angels. The same is true of the human race―with man usually commanding the woman and his family. Even in our own selves there is a hierarchy―where our mind and will-power command our body with its passions, emotions and feelings. Adults command children. Teachers command students. The military is based on the same principle. Government is based upon the same principle. “Orders”, as they say, “come from the top.”
Be Subject to Higher Powers
That is why Holy Scripture says: “Let every soul be subject to higher powers―for there is no power but from God … Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation!” (Romans 13:1-2). “Obey your prelates and be subject to them” (Hebrews 13:17). “Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word” (Titus 3:1). “Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord―because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the Head of the Church. Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things” (Ephesians 5:22-24). “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just” (Ephesians 6:1). “Servants, be obedient to them that are your lords” (Ephesians 6:5).
But What If…?
But what if the person we are supposed to obey, commands us to do something that goes against the commands of God? In that case: “Peter and the Apostles said: ‘We ought to obey God, rather than men!’” (Acts 5:29). In a similar vein, St. Paul writes: “Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6-7), elsewhere adding: “For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder―for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). “But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you―let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a Gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema!” (Galatians 1:8-9).
Laws Butting Heads
In Canon Law―whenever two laws seem to contradict each other―the problem is solved by going to a superior law, a higher ranking law, and letting that higher law solve the contradiction and show the direction that must be followed. When there is a conflict between human law and divine law―the higher of the two is divine law, and thus divine law must be followed at the expense of human law. “Obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). In fact, Canon Law also states that a bad law has no force of law. For example, making it a law for women to have abort all children except for their first child, is a bad law and cannot even be called a law in the first place. Similarly, if the State passes a law that forbids attendance at Mass on Sundays, it is a bad law, it is also a human law that contradicts divine law―and therefore it has no force of law.
Burned Alive for Refusing to Obey
We have a classic case of virtuous disobedience (good and rightful disobedience) in the Old Testament, where the three young men are thrown into a furnace of fire for refusing to adore a gold statue of King Nabuchodonosor. The account is found in the Third Book of Daniel, and reads as follows:
“King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold and the king sent to call together the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all the princes of the provinces, were gathered together to come to the dedication of the statue, which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. And they stood before the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then a herald cried with a strong voice: ‘To you it is commanded―O nations, tribes, and languages―that in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music; ye fall down and adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor hath set up. But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire!’ Upon this therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music: all the nations, tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
“And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused the Jews, and said to King Nabuchodonosor: ‘Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue: and that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast into a furnace of burning fire. Now there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the works of the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago: these men, O king, have slighted thy decree: they worship not thy gods, nor do they adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’
“Then Nabuchodonosor in fury, and in wrath, commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago should be brought: who immediately were brought before the king. And Nabuchodonosor spoke to them, and said: ‘Is it true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden statue that I have set up? Now, therefore, if you be ready at what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves, and adore the statue which I have made! But, if you do not adore, you shall be cast the same hour into the furnace of burning fire―and who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hand?’
“Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago answered and said to king Nabuchodonosor: ‘We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this matter. For behold our God, Whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king. But if He will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’
“Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. For the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord.
“Now the king's servants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat the furnace with brimstone, and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks, and the flame mounted up above seventy-feet―and it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the furnace. But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm.
“Then Nabuchodonosor the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered the king, and said: ‘True, O king!’ He answered, and said: ‘Behold I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!’ Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: ‘Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the most high God, go ye forth, and come!’ And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago went out from the midst of the fire. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.
“Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: ‘Blessed be the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, Who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that believed in Him and changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies that they might not serve, nor adore any god, except their own God. By me, therefore, this decree is made, that every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other God that can save in this manner!’ Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon.” (Daniel 3:1-97).
Our Lord Disobeyed Laws
► Jesus’ response to the Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8:1-11). Rather than obey this law to kill her, he calls those around him to recognize their shared participation in sin. Jesus teaches us that preservation of life and restorative justice is the far greater law, rather than one that privatizes the sin and focuses on punishment and death.
► Jesus feeds and heals on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28; John 5:1-16). Rather than worrying about a law that says a person cannot work on the Sabbath, Jesus sees that human dignity and life is far more important. Disobeying such a law upholds the importance of dignity and life, rather than merely following the religious laws.
► Jesus in the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13, John 2:13-17). Jesus challenges the laws of the sacrificial system and the selling of items in the Temple by turning over the tables and chasing out the animals―because people had lost the sense and purpose behind the sacrifice, whereby the spiritual was taking second place behind the material: “And entering into the Temple, Jesus began to cast out them that [lawfully] sold therein, and them that bought. Saying to them: ‘It is written: “My House is the House of prayer!” But you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Luke 19:45-46). He uses this direct disobedience of the religious law and physical disruption of the structures to point to an alternative system of mercy, not sacrifice: “Go then and learn what this meaneth ― ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice’ ― For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13).
The Virtuous and Holy Disobedience of the Early Martyrs
Early Christians disobeyed laws commanding the adoration of false gods. They were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks and a variety or cruel tortures rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. Our Christian brothers and sisters were willing to face such punishments, rather than submit to the unjust laws of an occupying power. This was key to the evangelization, growth and development of the Church.
What Are You Waiting For?
Right now anyone with the slightest dose of common sense can see that the world is a catastrophic mess that is increasing exponentially. When something is increasing exponentially, it is increasing rapidly in a predictable way. Exponential growth isn’t just fast—it gets increasingly fast as it goes along. Exponential growth describes how viruses spread—the more people who become infected, the more people there are who have the ability to spread the virus. The virus of godlessness is hitting us from all sides, in greater and greater numbers and more and more frequently. Many of the “laws” that are being enforced are increasingly stacked against the Faith and common sense. As already stated above―a bad law can have no force of law. The increasing number of bad “laws” is increasingly making life to be “Hell on Earth”. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette said: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost!”
When all Hell breaks loose ― which Our Lady said will happen: “The wicked will make use of all their evil ways ... There will be desecration of holy places ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ...The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. People will believe that all is lost!” ― yes, when all Hell breaks loose, do not expect your local police officer to come to your rescue; do not expect your government to “bail you out” of the mess; do not expect you local parish priest to put an announcement in the bulletin telling you what to do; do not expect Rome to come up with a rescue plan “after the fact”.
Sister Lucia of Fatima speaks along these lines when, in 1957, she says: “We should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
“The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
“The Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons.
The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat.
The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others.
The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies.”
“The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Even Some Liberal Clergy See the Problem
Even Liberal and Modernist bishops of the Post-Conciliar Church (Post-Vatican II Church) admit to the successes of Satan in what Sister Lucia called “a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin.” One such bishop is Arthur Serratelli (born 1944; ordained a priest in 1968 after Vatican II (1962-1965); consecrated a bishop by the infamous Archbishop Theodore McCarrick in 2000; and has co-chaired many an ecumenical meeting with Baptists in Rome and elsewhere. Here are the words of the Liberal Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the diocese of Paterson, New Jersey:
In his works Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Renaissance priest, doctor and scientist Rabelais popularized this idea with the phrase Natura abhorret vacuum (“nature abhors a vacuum”). Where there is a void, either mass or energy rushes in to occupy the empty space. In truth, this theory applies not merely to physics, but to life.
For the last thirty years, the secularization of culture and the banishing of God from the public forum have created a great religious void. More and more Americans have been abandoning the practice of religion. Since 1990, the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has tripled from eight percent to twenty-two percent.
Today there are about five million fewer mainline Protestants and three million fewer Catholics than there were ten years ago. For every new convert to Catholicism, six others leave the Church. Young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are much less interested in religion than their parents. As Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research for the Pew Research Center, has observed, “the country is becoming less religious as a whole, and it’s happening across the board.”
Nonetheless, the human person is innately religious. More than just being a material creature on the same level as irrational animals, the human person has reason and is always in search of meaning. “Nature abhors a vacuum.” And, so into the void created by abandoning religion as a source of meaning, other forms of discovering meaning have rushed in.
In an attempt to respond to the spiritual dimension of human life, some people are turning to New Age beliefs. New Age adherents, now nearly one-fourth of the population, have replaced the personal God of revelation with a spiritual energy that animates the cosmos. They are making use of crystals, tarot cards, astrology, psychics, and even yoga as a spiritual exercise to tap into this impersonal energy in order to manage their lives and find self-fulfillment.
For New Age adherents, there is no absolute truth. All beliefs are of equal value. And, since they deny the existence of sin, they do not accept the need for a Redeemer. At best, New Age adherents trade the transcendental for the immanent, the spiritual for the physical. At worse, they reject God and unwittingly fall into the hands of the Adversary.
And, then there are others who reject God and consciously choose to turn to one form or another of the occult. It is astounding to realize that there are almost 1.5 million people who are involved in Wicca, a pagan form of witchcraft. Ever since the Garden of Eden and our first parents’ sin of attempting to be like God, people have been looking for ways to have the same knowledge and power as God himself. Today there are more witches than Presbyterians, more people involved in the occult than there are Muslims in the United States.
The more individuals extol themselves as self-sufficient and exalt reason over Faith, they turn from God and enthrone Satan. Attempting to control their lives through the use of the occult, they hand themselves over to Satan who uses them to destroy the peace and harmony God plans for us. Satan is the great deceiver. He makes people believe that they have absolute control of their lives. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “[Satan’s] logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment, then evil is good and good is evil.”
It would be foolish to close our eyes to the unmistakable increase of the devil’s activity in our society. Lack of civility. Hate speech. The tearing down of people’s good name. The blood shed on our streets. The breakdown of family life. The widespread extolling of vices contrary to the Gospel. The delight in exposing the sins of others. Abuse in all its forms. Abortion. The persecution of the Church. All these are born of anger, hatred, envy, pride, greed and lust. They cause division and are the fingerprints of the Evil One. On the day after his election to the papacy, Pope Francis shocked the cardinals who had placed him on the Chair of Peter. He said, “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil. When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil.” (Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, November 29th, 2018, Catholic News Agency CNA article, entitled: God or Satan: making no room for evil in our world).
Don’t Blame the Church―Blame Yourself!
We live in a “finger-pointing” world and “finger-pointing” culture―it is fashionable to “point the finger” at others and “pass-the-buck” of blame onto others. It is nothing new―you could call it “The Adam and Eve Syndrome” (or Sin-drome), whereby Adam blames Eve for eating the “forbidden fruit” and Eve, in turn, blames the devil: “And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:1-15). Mankind has been pointing fingers ever since. “Every way of a man seemeth right to himself” (Proverbs 21:2). It is never our fault―somebody else made us do it or provoked us to do it or we didn’t really know what we were doing or we thought it was okay to do it or a million other “pass-the-buck” excuses.
God has created a hierarchy in the universe and God usually works through that hierarchy. It is usually by a filter-down system from top to bottom. The angels are created in a hierarchical structure―with the higher angels instructing and commanding the lower angels. The same is true of the human race―with man usually commanding the woman and his family. Even in our own selves there is a hierarchy―where our mind and will-power command our body with its passions, emotions and feelings. Adults command children. Teachers command students. The military is based on the same principle. Government is based upon the same principle. “Orders”, as they say, “come from the top.”
Be Subject to Higher Powers
That is why Holy Scripture says: “Let every soul be subject to higher powers―for there is no power but from God … Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation!” (Romans 13:1-2). “Obey your prelates and be subject to them” (Hebrews 13:17). “Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word” (Titus 3:1). “Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord―because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the Head of the Church. Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things” (Ephesians 5:22-24). “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just” (Ephesians 6:1). “Servants, be obedient to them that are your lords” (Ephesians 6:5).
But What If…?
But what if the person we are supposed to obey, commands us to do something that goes against the commands of God? In that case: “Peter and the Apostles said: ‘We ought to obey God, rather than men!’” (Acts 5:29). In a similar vein, St. Paul writes: “Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6-7), elsewhere adding: “For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder―for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). “But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you―let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a Gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema!” (Galatians 1:8-9).
Laws Butting Heads
In Canon Law―whenever two laws seem to contradict each other―the problem is solved by going to a superior law, a higher ranking law, and letting that higher law solve the contradiction and show the direction that must be followed. When there is a conflict between human law and divine law―the higher of the two is divine law, and thus divine law must be followed at the expense of human law. “Obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). In fact, Canon Law also states that a bad law has no force of law. For example, making it a law for women to have abort all children except for their first child, is a bad law and cannot even be called a law in the first place. Similarly, if the State passes a law that forbids attendance at Mass on Sundays, it is a bad law, it is also a human law that contradicts divine law―and therefore it has no force of law.
Burned Alive for Refusing to Obey
We have a classic case of virtuous disobedience (good and rightful disobedience) in the Old Testament, where the three young men are thrown into a furnace of fire for refusing to adore a gold statue of King Nabuchodonosor. The account is found in the Third Book of Daniel, and reads as follows:
“King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold and the king sent to call together the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all the princes of the provinces, were gathered together to come to the dedication of the statue, which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. And they stood before the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. Then a herald cried with a strong voice: ‘To you it is commanded―O nations, tribes, and languages―that in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music; ye fall down and adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor hath set up. But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire!’ Upon this therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music: all the nations, tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
“And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused the Jews, and said to King Nabuchodonosor: ‘Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue: and that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast into a furnace of burning fire. Now there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the works of the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago: these men, O king, have slighted thy decree: they worship not thy gods, nor do they adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’
“Then Nabuchodonosor in fury, and in wrath, commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago should be brought: who immediately were brought before the king. And Nabuchodonosor spoke to them, and said: ‘Is it true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden statue that I have set up? Now, therefore, if you be ready at what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves, and adore the statue which I have made! But, if you do not adore, you shall be cast the same hour into the furnace of burning fire―and who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hand?’
“Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago answered and said to king Nabuchodonosor: ‘We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this matter. For behold our God, Whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king. But if He will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!’
“Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. For the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord.
“Now the king's servants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat the furnace with brimstone, and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks, and the flame mounted up above seventy-feet―and it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the furnace. But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm.
“Then Nabuchodonosor the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered the king, and said: ‘True, O king!’ He answered, and said: ‘Behold I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!’ Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: ‘Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the most high God, go ye forth, and come!’ And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago went out from the midst of the fire. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.
“Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: ‘Blessed be the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, Who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that believed in Him and changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies that they might not serve, nor adore any god, except their own God. By me, therefore, this decree is made, that every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other God that can save in this manner!’ Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon.” (Daniel 3:1-97).
Our Lord Disobeyed Laws
► Jesus’ response to the Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8:1-11). Rather than obey this law to kill her, he calls those around him to recognize their shared participation in sin. Jesus teaches us that preservation of life and restorative justice is the far greater law, rather than one that privatizes the sin and focuses on punishment and death.
► Jesus feeds and heals on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28; John 5:1-16). Rather than worrying about a law that says a person cannot work on the Sabbath, Jesus sees that human dignity and life is far more important. Disobeying such a law upholds the importance of dignity and life, rather than merely following the religious laws.
► Jesus in the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13, John 2:13-17). Jesus challenges the laws of the sacrificial system and the selling of items in the Temple by turning over the tables and chasing out the animals―because people had lost the sense and purpose behind the sacrifice, whereby the spiritual was taking second place behind the material: “And entering into the Temple, Jesus began to cast out them that [lawfully] sold therein, and them that bought. Saying to them: ‘It is written: “My House is the House of prayer!” But you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Luke 19:45-46). He uses this direct disobedience of the religious law and physical disruption of the structures to point to an alternative system of mercy, not sacrifice: “Go then and learn what this meaneth ― ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice’ ― For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13).
The Virtuous and Holy Disobedience of the Early Martyrs
Early Christians disobeyed laws commanding the adoration of false gods. They were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks and a variety or cruel tortures rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. Our Christian brothers and sisters were willing to face such punishments, rather than submit to the unjust laws of an occupying power. This was key to the evangelization, growth and development of the Church.
What Are You Waiting For?
Right now anyone with the slightest dose of common sense can see that the world is a catastrophic mess that is increasing exponentially. When something is increasing exponentially, it is increasing rapidly in a predictable way. Exponential growth isn’t just fast—it gets increasingly fast as it goes along. Exponential growth describes how viruses spread—the more people who become infected, the more people there are who have the ability to spread the virus. The virus of godlessness is hitting us from all sides, in greater and greater numbers and more and more frequently. Many of the “laws” that are being enforced are increasingly stacked against the Faith and common sense. As already stated above―a bad law can have no force of law. The increasing number of bad “laws” is increasingly making life to be “Hell on Earth”. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette said: “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed ... People will believe that all is lost!”
When all Hell breaks loose ― which Our Lady said will happen: “The wicked will make use of all their evil ways ... There will be desecration of holy places ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ...The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. People will believe that all is lost!” ― yes, when all Hell breaks loose, do not expect your local police officer to come to your rescue; do not expect your government to “bail you out” of the mess; do not expect you local parish priest to put an announcement in the bulletin telling you what to do; do not expect Rome to come up with a rescue plan “after the fact”.
Sister Lucia of Fatima speaks along these lines when, in 1957, she says: “We should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
“The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
“The Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons.
The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat.
The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others.
The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies.”
“The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Even Some Liberal Clergy See the Problem
Even Liberal and Modernist bishops of the Post-Conciliar Church (Post-Vatican II Church) admit to the successes of Satan in what Sister Lucia called “a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin.” One such bishop is Arthur Serratelli (born 1944; ordained a priest in 1968 after Vatican II (1962-1965); consecrated a bishop by the infamous Archbishop Theodore McCarrick in 2000; and has co-chaired many an ecumenical meeting with Baptists in Rome and elsewhere. Here are the words of the Liberal Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the diocese of Paterson, New Jersey:
In his works Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Renaissance priest, doctor and scientist Rabelais popularized this idea with the phrase Natura abhorret vacuum (“nature abhors a vacuum”). Where there is a void, either mass or energy rushes in to occupy the empty space. In truth, this theory applies not merely to physics, but to life.
For the last thirty years, the secularization of culture and the banishing of God from the public forum have created a great religious void. More and more Americans have been abandoning the practice of religion. Since 1990, the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has tripled from eight percent to twenty-two percent.
Today there are about five million fewer mainline Protestants and three million fewer Catholics than there were ten years ago. For every new convert to Catholicism, six others leave the Church. Young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are much less interested in religion than their parents. As Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research for the Pew Research Center, has observed, “the country is becoming less religious as a whole, and it’s happening across the board.”
Nonetheless, the human person is innately religious. More than just being a material creature on the same level as irrational animals, the human person has reason and is always in search of meaning. “Nature abhors a vacuum.” And, so into the void created by abandoning religion as a source of meaning, other forms of discovering meaning have rushed in.
In an attempt to respond to the spiritual dimension of human life, some people are turning to New Age beliefs. New Age adherents, now nearly one-fourth of the population, have replaced the personal God of revelation with a spiritual energy that animates the cosmos. They are making use of crystals, tarot cards, astrology, psychics, and even yoga as a spiritual exercise to tap into this impersonal energy in order to manage their lives and find self-fulfillment.
For New Age adherents, there is no absolute truth. All beliefs are of equal value. And, since they deny the existence of sin, they do not accept the need for a Redeemer. At best, New Age adherents trade the transcendental for the immanent, the spiritual for the physical. At worse, they reject God and unwittingly fall into the hands of the Adversary.
And, then there are others who reject God and consciously choose to turn to one form or another of the occult. It is astounding to realize that there are almost 1.5 million people who are involved in Wicca, a pagan form of witchcraft. Ever since the Garden of Eden and our first parents’ sin of attempting to be like God, people have been looking for ways to have the same knowledge and power as God himself. Today there are more witches than Presbyterians, more people involved in the occult than there are Muslims in the United States.
The more individuals extol themselves as self-sufficient and exalt reason over Faith, they turn from God and enthrone Satan. Attempting to control their lives through the use of the occult, they hand themselves over to Satan who uses them to destroy the peace and harmony God plans for us. Satan is the great deceiver. He makes people believe that they have absolute control of their lives. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “[Satan’s] logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment, then evil is good and good is evil.”
It would be foolish to close our eyes to the unmistakable increase of the devil’s activity in our society. Lack of civility. Hate speech. The tearing down of people’s good name. The blood shed on our streets. The breakdown of family life. The widespread extolling of vices contrary to the Gospel. The delight in exposing the sins of others. Abuse in all its forms. Abortion. The persecution of the Church. All these are born of anger, hatred, envy, pride, greed and lust. They cause division and are the fingerprints of the Evil One. On the day after his election to the papacy, Pope Francis shocked the cardinals who had placed him on the Chair of Peter. He said, “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil. When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil.” (Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, November 29th, 2018, Catholic News Agency CNA article, entitled: God or Satan: making no room for evil in our world).
Don’t Blame the Church―Blame Yourself!
We live in a “finger-pointing” world and “finger-pointing” culture―it is fashionable to “point the finger” at others and “pass-the-buck” of blame onto others. It is nothing new―you could call it “The Adam and Eve Syndrome” (or Sin-drome), whereby Adam blames Eve for eating the “forbidden fruit” and Eve, in turn, blames the devil: “And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’” (Genesis 3:1-15). Mankind has been pointing fingers ever since. “Every way of a man seemeth right to himself” (Proverbs 21:2). It is never our fault―somebody else made us do it or provoked us to do it or we didn’t really know what we were doing or we thought it was okay to do it or a million other “pass-the-buck” excuses.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 17th & Tuesday August 18th & Wednesday August 19th
Article 7
Our Lady and America
Part 3 : A Warning and a Hope for America
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Monday August 17th & Tuesday August 18th & Wednesday August 19th
Article 7
Our Lady and America
Part 3 : A Warning and a Hope for America
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Down to the Nitty-Gritty
The previous two articles have pointed out that (1) America has not been left on the sidelines by Our Lady as seen by her apparitions and communications in Wisconsin to Adele Brise in 1859, and almost 100 years later to Sister Mary Ephrem in Indiana and Ohio from 1956 to 1959, and (2) though in 2010 Bishop David L. Ricken, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, decreed with “moral certainty” that the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Good Help had indeed appeared, on three occasions in October of 1859, to Adele Brise and that public devotions to Our Lady of Good Help could be conducted―the other apparitions did not receive the same official recognition and acceptance merely 10 years later, in April of 2020, when Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, decreed that:
“We do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes … The visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin ― in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate) ― thus I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world ... Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.” (Bishop Rhoades and five other diocesan bishops, Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America).
We would like to focus on the actual messages of Our Lady of America―but we cannot do that while the specter of St. Joseph hangs around and casts a shadow of doubt upon any “alleged” messages of Our Lady. It seems as though Our Lady’s messages are judged to be guilty by association with St. Joseph! So before we tackle the messages, we must tackle St. Joseph!
Joseph “Co-Redeemer”?
Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops state that “there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.” For that matter, even though millions of Catholics have for a long time now spoken of Our Lady as being a “Co-Redemptrix” to Christ the Redeemer―the Church has held back from pronouncing that title as being a dogma, even though many bishops, priest and laity have been petitioning that dogma for many decades.
A lack of theological understanding and a readiness to “shoot from the hip” or should we say, “shoot from the lip” but not the mind―often puts us in “deep-water” or the “deep-end”. It can be said without doubt that ever since the Second Vatican Council, theological skills have “taken a hit” ― a prime example of this is Pope Francis himself, whose glib and untheological statements have some of the better trained theologians in the Vatican scurrying around trying to patch and correct the theological blunders made the pope. Francis is good at “shooting from the lip” ― but much of what he says “misses the target”. Rather than firing theological bullets, he often fires theological blanks.
The idea of St. Joseph being a “Co-Redeemer” initially sounds like being more than a bit “overboard” or exaggerated, if not just plain heretical! Is it, or isn’t it? When we look at other Catholic concepts―which are generally accepted by many if not most members of both the clergy and laity―then upon careful reflection we will see that also seem to “go overboard” when first presented or heard.
Why Not Question and Protest Over These?
► OUR LORD: For example, take the following words of Our Lord Himself, where He seems to “go overboard”:
(1) Our Lord says to St. Peter: “I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven!” (Matthew 16:19). Hey! Who’s the boss here? Jesus or Peter? Jesus―of course! Yet Our Lord is essentially saying to Peter: “Whatever you decide here on Earth, I will follow and enforce in Heaven!” Here it seems to be, not a case of “Co-Redeemer”, but “Co-Ruler”! Hmm! Why is nobody protesting?
(2) Our Lord further says to His Apostles: “Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel!” (Matthew 19:28). Hey! Who’s the judge here? Jesus or the Apostles? Jesus―of course! Yet Our Lord seems to be promoting His Apostles to be, not so much “Co-Redeemers”, but “Co-Judges” participating in an action that should be reserved to God alone! Why is nobody protesting?
(3) Another case is where Our Lord “elevates” or “promotes” multitudes to the rank of His Mother and family relatives: “And His mother and His brethren came; and, standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him. And the multitude sat about Him; and they said to Him: ‘Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren are outside and seek Thee!’ And answering them, Jesus said: ‘Who is My mother and My brethren?’ And looking round about, on them who sat about Him, He said: ‘Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and Mother!’” (Mark 3:31-35). Hey! Who’s the real family around here? Jesus seems to be elevating multitudes to family status! Why is nobody protesting?
(4) In another place Our Lord says: “Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do―and greater than these shall he do!” (John 14:12). Hey! Aren’t miracles the work of God? Yet here Our Lord is taking on board “Co-Miracle-Workers”! Not only that, He is also saying that they will perform greater miracles than He performs! Isn’t that just way overboard? Why is nobody protesting?
There are many more examples―but let us not belabor the point: for that is not the purpose of this article.
► OUR LADY: Let us now turn to Our Lady and look at where she seems to “go overboard”:
Our Lady of Fatima―speaking of herself under the title of “Our Lady of the Rosary”―said: “Only she can help you now!” (July 13th, 1917). Hey! What about Jesus? Can He not help us? Has He lost His power? Did He not say: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―yet here is Our Lady saying that she is the only one who can help! Why is nobody protesting?
Our Lady of Akita also said the same thing: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). What about placing confidence in Jesus? Can He no longer save us? Why is Our Lady saying that she alone is able to save us? Why is nobody protesting?
Our Lady of Good Success seems to place religious convents monasteries above God, by saying: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents.” Hey! Doesn’t salvation come from God? Doesn’t conversion come from God? Isn’t it God’s Providence that is behind things like fertility of land or drought; harmony and wars; health and pestilence? It seems as though these religious in monasteries and convents have been made to be "Co-Redeemers" by Our Lady! Our Lady seems to have gone overboard here!
► POPES: Even the popes seem to have gone overboard with their theological statements―both Traditional and Conservative popes, as well as Liberal and Modernist popes.
BEFORE VATICAN II―Pope Pius XI summed up the identity of the priest as follows: “The priest … continues the work of the redemption in all its world-embracing universality and divine efficacy … Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed ‘another Christ’” (Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii). Hey! The pope is saying that the priest continues the work of salvation! That means he is a “co-redeemer”! Why is nobody protesting?
BEFORE VATICAN II―Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei, wrote: “A holy priest is a savior and another Christ, taking the Master’s place on Earth.” Hey! Come on! Another Christ? Taking the place of Christ? Why is nobody protesting?
AFTER VATICAN II―Pope Benedict XVI speaks of priest being “another Christ” (in Latin: alter Christus). Hey! Isn’t there just ONE Christ? Pope Benedict says: “As an alter Christus [another Christ], the priest is profoundly united to the Word of the Father” (Pope Benedict XVI, June 24th, 2009). He later stated: “It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus [another Christ]” (Pope Benedict XVI, January 27th, 2010).
► SAINTS: Even the saints seem to have gone overboard!
St. John Eudes stated: “To be a priest is to be a visible god on Earth. All Christians are called gods in Sacred Scripture: ‘I said you are gods’ (John 10:34) … Priests are gods in power and dignity, clothed with the infinite power of God. If it were not through this divine power, how could they bring God down upon the altar at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? How could they form Him in the hearts of the faithful and give the Holy Ghost to their souls? How could they forgive sin and communicate sanctifying grace? God gives His divine power to priests in such an exalted degree that they may effectuate many marvels that He alone accomplishes. He created this world and can create others. To his priests He gave the power to produce Christ in the Blessed Eucharist, which is indeed greater than to create an infinite number of physical worlds!” (St. John Eudes, Le bon Confesseur). Hey! Wasn't Lucifer cast into Hell for trying to be like God? What is this stuff― “A priest is to be a visible god on Earth … Priests are gods in power and dignity” ? Why is nobody protesting?
► PRIEST AND THEOLOGIANS: This is turning into a “Co-Redeemer Pandemic” ― even mere mortal priests seem to have gone overboard!
Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, even dares to speak of mere lay people as being “co-redeemers” with Christ! “None of us really wants to carry a cross, which is a brutal instrument of suffering and death. Like Simon, we may need to be compelled to do it at the beginning. But it’s through our encounter with Christ on the Cross that we come to an ever deeper union with him and share in his redeeming work. What was it about carrying the Cross of a half-dead convict that brought Simon to conversion and to the Faith? It’s impossible, of course, to know precisely how grace worked in his soul. But I’ve always imagined that it was along the way to Calvary that Simon had an intimation that he wasn’t shamefully carrying a cross that Jesus deserved, but that Jesus had been carrying all along the cross Simon deserved. It wasn’t he who was doing the favor for Jesus but the other way around: Jesus was preparing to die for Simon on the Cross Simon was now bearing. It was in this way that Jesus unleashed a cycle of compassion. Simon realized that Jesus was carrying the cross for him and he converted from being an unwilling participant to a co-redeemer and Good Samaritan.” (Fr. Roger Landry, “Co-Redeemers”, April 10th, 2009, CatholicCity.com).
Dr. Mark Miravalle, Ph.D., holds the St. John Paul II Chair of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also President, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici (Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix), an international lay organization that seeks to work for the papal definition of our Lady as “Co-Redemptrix”. In a December 21st, 2019, article entitled: “Pope Francis’ Guadalupe Homily and Mary Co-Redemptrix”, Dr. Miravalle writes:
“When Pope John Paul II (and Pope Pius XI before him) repeatedly used the title “Co-Redemptrix” for Our Lady, he likewise did not seek to take anything from Jesus and give it to Mary, but rather to identify Mary’s unique cooperation in the redemptive work accomplished by Christ. The “Co-Redemptrix” title for Our Lady has been part of the Church’s Tradition since the 14th century, and is typically used correctly to identify Our Lady’s unequalled cooperation with and under Jesus Christ in the redemption by popes, saints, mystics, bishops, clergy, theologians and the faithful People of God. The extraordinary lineup of recently canonized saints who have legitimately referred to Mary as the “Co-Redemptrix” include St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Josemaría Escrivá, St. John Henry Newman and … the great Fatima seer, Sister Lucia, uses and sublimely explains the “Co-Redemptrix” title for Mary on seven occasions in her final writing, Calls from the Message of Fatima. The “Co-Redemptrix” title seeks to represent, in one term, the Church’s official doctrine of Mary’s unrivaled participation in the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, the sole Divine Redeemer. The official and undeniable Marian doctrine of the Church is repeatedly taught at the Second Vatican Council and by the papal Magisterium of the last three centuries. Our Lady’s cooperative role with Jesus in the work of redemption is theologically based on the central Catholic principle of “participation” where we, as disciples of Jesus, truly share in his divine life of grace, but without adding or subtracting anything from Jesus Himself. Our Lady’s role as “Co-Redemptrix” is the perfect human model for all Christians to likewise participate in Jesus’ great work of redemption [thus implicitly be “co-redeemers” with Christ], in properly responding to the words of St. Paul to “make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24), or as Pope John Paul II instructs us, to be “co-redeemers in Christ.” (Dr. Mark Miravalle. Ph.D., Chair of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville). Hey! This is modern-day Liberal pope―John Paul II―who is explicitly telling us WE should all be “co-redeemers” in Christ! Yet St. Joseph is not allowed to be a “co-redeemer” in Christ!
► CATHOLIC LAITY: This really has become a “Co-Redeemer pandemic” ― the virus has even spread to the laity!
Glenn Dallaire, owner of Mystics of the Church website, in an article under the subheading “Co-redeemers with Christ” writes: “A victim soul is a person especially called by God to sacrifice and suffer in union with Him for the conversion of souls, and in reparation for the sins of mankind. In other words, their mission is to lead souls to God. Most notably is the special union between Jesus and the soul victim. Jesus is not only with them, He is in them, and they are thus united to God in a special way for the conversion of sinners. Thus united, they are in a special sense, co-redeemers with Christ. With this in mind we have St. Paul who says: ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!’ (Galatians 2:20).”
Is St. Joseph the Problem? Is Mary the Problem? Or is Ecumenism the Problem?
When you start to look at the big picture and start to connect the dots―then you start to see a reality emerge out from all the smoke and mirrors. The more we go down the tunnel of darkness that the Second Vatican Council led us into, the more we realize that the problems that modern theologians have with the title “Co-Redemptrix” for Mary, or “co-redeemer” for St. Joseph or any other saint or member of the laity―is not so much on the grounds that this idea might rob Christ of His glory, but more a case of fearing that it might upset our heretical friends―or, “separated brethren” as they are more euphemistically or politely called. This is unashamedly admitted and clearly seen in many official theological discussions, debates, conferences―of which a couple of examples are shown below.
► The Theological Commission of the International Marian Association, a group of more than 100 theologians, bishops, priests, religious, and lay leaders from over 20 countries, issued a statement saying: “The Co-Redemptrix title never places Mary on a level of equality with Jesus Christ, the only divine Redeemer, as to do so would constitute both heresy and blasphemy … The Co-Redemptrix title is meaningless without Jesus the Redeemer, and in itself focuses upon the Cross of Jesus Christ. Mary Co-Redemptrix proclaims to the world that suffering is redemptive when united to the sufferings of Christ.” Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Professor of Mariology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, that Our Lady’s title of “Co-Redemptrix” goes back to the 10th century, when some Marian litanies included the title of Mary as Redemptrix, along with her son. It was a development of the idea of Mary as the “New Eve,” a Marian title that has been used since the 2nd century. The prefix of “co-” was added by the 15th century, to clarify that Mary was not the Redeemer, but rather someone who uniquely cooperated in the work of redemption. After the prefix “co-“ was added, the title continued to catch on, so much so that the 17th century was considered the “golden age” of the title of Mary as Co-Redemptrix. Still, it didn’t receive Magisterial recognition until 1908, when the Sacred Congregation for Rites used it in a decree elevating the rank of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Since then, it has been referenced multiple times by the Magisterium, including during the Second Vatican Council―which ultimately decided against any formal recognition of the title “Co-Redemptrix” in the document Lumen Gentium. Dr. Fastiggi explains that “The term, however was not rejected because it was false. In the praenotanda or explanatory note that accompanied the first Marian schema of 1962, we are told that, ‘Certain terms and expressions used by Roman Pontiffs have been omitted, which, although most true in themselves (in se verissima), may be difficult for the separated brethren (as in the case of the Protestants) to understand.’” So we stuff Mary into a closet because we are afraid she might offend our “separated brethren” or, in other words, our heretical brethren might be offended by hearing the truth.
►The International Mariological Congress at Czestochowa, Poland, August 18th to 23rd, 1996, a meeting composed of representatives from the Marian theological faculties and the Mariological societies was held to consider the advisability of petitioning the Holy See for the dogmatic definition of the Virgin Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. This meeting at the International Mariological Congress was held at the request of the Holy See. Among the twenty-two members present at the meeting were Rene Laurentin, Stefano de Fiores, S.M.M., Jesus Castellano Cervera, O.C.D., Ignatio M. Calabuig, O.S.M., Johann Roten, S.M. The moderator of the meeting was Candido Pozo, S.J., president of the Spanish Mariological Society. Representatives from the Orthodox, Reformed, and Anglican churches were also present. There was unanimous agreement at the meeting that the Holy See should not make such a declaration at this time. There were two reasons for this decision: the first dealt with the theological clarifications which must first be made, and the second dealt with the ecumenical dialogue. In accord with the precedent set at Vatican II, the participants agreed that a doctrinal declaration should not “settle questions which have not yet been fully clarified by the work of theologians” (Lumen Gentium 54). So we stuff Mary into a closet because we are afraid she might offend our “separated brethren” or, in other words, our heretical brethren might be offended by hearing the truth.
Ecumenism is Placed Above Truth
St. John the Baptist said concerning Our Lord: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30). Today, the modern Liberal and Modernist Post-Conciliar Catholic Church says concerning Mary: “She must decrease so that Ecumenism can increase!” This false spirit of Ecumenism can clearly be seen by its bad fruits. Instead of leading Protestants and pagans to the Catholic Church―it has led Catholicism into Protestantism and paganism. This whole charade brings to mind the words of Fr. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) from the Preface of his own personal translation from the French of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he writes:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber Preface, translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary).
So Let Us Turn to Mary and Our Lady of America
Hopefully, the above discussion with all the quotes, puts to rest the “false flag” attack on any supposed or “alleged” heresy in calling St. Joseph a “co-redeemer” since, to quote the Liberal Pope John Paul II, we must all be “co-redeemers in Christ.” Let us not turn our attention to the things that Our Lady of America said and measure them by the yardstick or ruler of Holy Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium of the Church and the writings of the saints and reputable and classic theologians.
Obviously―so as not to lengthen the article too much―not every iota or dot of what Our Lady said will be quoted. Primarily, we shall stick to those things that impact us at this current time and which could save us a lot of heartache and suffering by paying attention to her requests and commands.
To speak of Mary, one must speak of her Son―Jesus―for they are, in a sense, inseparable. Holy Scripture specifically and explicitly links them together at birth, in life and in death. They are linked together when the Three Kings, or Magi, arrived at Bethlehem in their search for the newly born king, “entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother, and falling down they adored Him; and opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).
They are again linked together when “an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: ‘Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt―and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy Him!’ Who arose, and took the Child and his Mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod” (Matthew 2:13-14). Then, after the death of Herod, the same linking occurs when “an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child. Who arose, and took the Child and His Mother, and came into the land of Israel” (Matthew 2:19-21).
They are linked together at His death on Calvary: “There stood by the cross of Jesus, His Mother” (John 19:25).
► Likewise they are linked together in the revelations made to Sr. Mary Ephrem―which began at the end of the 1930s and the start of the 1940s, when OUR LORD revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so … Pray, pray, pray ― pray and sacrifice yourself for the souls of poor sinners. How many are lost because there are no prayers said for them, no sacrifices made for them!”
► Here is an extract of the words of OUR LORD spoken on May 22nd, 1954: “If the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give it life. I am the resurrection and the life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they will find only death and destruction. They fear man-made destroyers of life, yet destruction is in themselves. Man destroys himself through the evil that is in himself. Implements of war kill only that which is without [destroying external things]. Man kills that which is within himself, which none but he can kill. God is light, man is darkness, and unless he comes into the light, he will be forever darkness. The Voice of My Heart is the Voice of Mercy. If man will not listen, there is no more I can do, for he ties My hands.”
► Here is an extract of the words of OUR LORD spoken on May 29th, 1954: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh, how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part, by his own guilt! But alas, he will have none of My help. So I am forced to stand by the side of the road and watch him struggle hopelessly in his agony. O man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid? Do you know what I find most lacking in the world today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without Faith there can be no love. Pray and sacrifice yourself, My child, that Faith may once again find entrance into the hearts of men.”
► Extracts of the words of OUR LORD, spoken on July 11th, 1954: “I am not loved in the homes of men. Children are not taught to love Me. My Heart grieves over My children in the world. Their hearts are being drawn farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother, because they have never been taught to listen. I am a Beggar for love, but how few give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept. My Father is angry. If My children will not listen to My Heart, which is a Voice of mercy and instruction, punishment will come swiftly and none shall be able to stop it. The pleadings of My Heart have held back the divine justice about to descend on an ungrateful and sinful generation. Woe to parents who set a bad example to their children! Terrible will be their judgment. I will demand a strict account of every soul entrusted to their care. Woe to parents who teach their children how to gain materially in this world and neglect to prepare them for the next! Woe to children who disobey and show disrespect towards their parents! ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ On this shall they be judged most severely.”
► Extracts of the words of OUR LORD, spoken over three days from July 12th to July 14th, 1954: “Blessed are the homes that honor My Name and the Name of My Father. Blessed are the homes where I am loved, for there the Holy Trinity dwells. Blessed are the parents and children who have made a home for God in their hearts. Write these instructions for the sanctification of My people. My Father’s house is a house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves. My children, every home and every soul is My Father’s house, for He made them and they are His. But many of them are no longer sanctified by His Presence. Thieves have entered in and stolen from Him His temples of prayer. It is you, My children, who have let them in. If, My children, you will cleanse your temples, My Father will return and We will come and make our abode with you. Return, My people, for My Heart hungers and thirsts for your love. If you will not return, the just anger of My Father will descend upon you. What do you want―My love or My Father’s anger? Choose, and as you choose, so shall it be done. I will not force your free will, for that is yours to use as you desire.”
► During the Winter of 1954, OUR LORD not only expressed His sorrow at the loss of Faith in the world, but those of chosen souls: “Where are your prayers, O My priests and religious? Where are your sacrifices? Do you not know that sinners will not be converted unless prayer and sacrifices call down the grace of God upon them? My chosen ones, you in particular are responsible for the souls of poor sinners! It is to you I have entrusted them! You their spiritual fathers and mothers you must care for them and by your unceasing prayers on their behalf, lead them safely to My Father’s House!”
Now before we go any further and examine what Our Lady revealed to Sister Mary Ephrem ― what is objectionable about the above words of Our Lord? ― and, no, nothing has been hidden or swept under the rug! There is nothing “new” here, nothing “controversial”, nothing that has not been already heard before, nothing that you cannot find in Holy Scripture, nothing that has no already been recommended by popes and saints. Yet―as often is the case―these messages, words and warnings go in one ear and out the other ear. We are too superficial in our reading of them, to shallow in our understanding of them, too offhand in considering their seriousness. Read the above quotes again―slowly, with reflection, applying them to your own life and those around you!
Our Lady of America’s Messages
► November 8th, 1954
On November 8th, 1954, Our Lady addressed Sister Mary Ephrem with the following words: “It is the wish of my Son that fathers and mothers strive to imitate me and my chaste spouse in our holy life at Nazareth. We practiced the simple virtues of family life, Jesus our Son being the center of all our love and activity. The Holy Trinity dwelt with us in a manner far surpassing anything that can ever be imagined. For ours was the earthly paradise, where, once again, God walked among men. As in our little home no sin was to be found, so it is the wish of the Heart of my Son and my Immaculate Heart that sin should, as far as possible, be unheard of in the homes of our children. The Divine Trinity will dwell in your midst only if you are faithful in practicing the virtues of our life at Nazareth. Then, you also, my children, you also will become another paradise. God will then walk among you and you will have peace. I need your help to bring peace into the world. Do not disappoint me.”
► September 25th, 1956
Almost two years later, September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, while Sister Mary Ephrem was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem, and, among other things, Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America, the United States in particular, if we would do as she desires. Our Lady added:
“I am pleased, my child, with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working miracles of grace among them through the power of my Son’s Heart and my Immaculate Heart. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul. For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and, in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, I promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
Our Lady again appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem the next day. It was at this apparition that she spoke of her title of “Our Lady of America”. Here, in the words taken from the Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, is an account of the apparitions of that day, in Sister Mary Ephrem’s own words:
► September 26th, 1956
The next morning, September 26th, 1956, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light. I knew with unmistakable certainty that it was she, though she did not speak immediately. She continued to smile. Then I saw her heart appear, encircled with red roses, the symbol of suffering as it was revealed to me, and sending forth flames of fire. Then solemnly and distinctly, in calm yet majestic tones, I heard these words: “I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives.”
She was very beautiful and her smile held me. But I became conscious of the fact that the other Sisters were leaving the chapel, and I, too, had to go as obedience directed me. I said to Our Lady, “Please forgive me, Mother, but I do have to go now, or my work will not get finished.”
Our Lady understood, but she did not leave me. When I entered my room, she was there waiting for me. As I had to hurry about my tasks, I could not give Our Lady all the attention I longed to, but every now and then I would direct a glance of love toward her. Our Lady stood there smiling as I had seen her in the chapel. All that day I was conscious of Our Lady’s presence in a very special manner, in a way that was distinctly new to me.
On the afternoon of the same day, during the last half of the Holy Hour between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length in these words: “My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the soul. They must have Faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of Faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.”
► On September 27th, 1956
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt. It was then that I heard these words filled with sorrow and longing:
“Behold, O my children, the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Relieve the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in, so that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother. These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
Later, in a letter written to the Archbishop Liebold, her spiritual director, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes: “It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me. Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence.
“This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful, of course, there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made, as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, she desires that it be enshrined there in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
► October 13th, 1956
Our Lady’s next visit occurred on October 13th, 1956:
Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak. Her presence overwhelmed me with its holiness. I was compelled to stop my work, for it was impossible to go on. I then knelt down and wrote Our Lady’s words as she desired:
“This is my shrine, my daughter. I am very pleased with it. Tell my children I thank them. Let them finish it quickly and make it a place of pilgrimage. It will be a place of wonders. I promise this, I will bless all those who, either by prayers, labor, or material aid, help to erect this shrine.”
[COMMENTS: You probably are not aware of the history behind the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Since there is repeated mention of the Shrine in the messages of Our Lady, here is a brief overview of its history for your benefit and understanding. In 1792 John Carroll, the bishop of Baltimore and the United States’s first Catholic bishop, consecrated the newly created United States under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. In 1847, the 7th Provincial Councils of Baltimore reiterated this episcopal choice to name the title Virgin Mary, conceived without sin as the principal patroness of the land. Pope Pius IX formalized the decision in 1847. In the early 1900s, Bishop Thomas Joseph Shahan, the fourth rector of The Catholic University of America in Washington, proposed the construction of a National Shrine to commemorate the Immaculate Conception in the country’s capital.
Bishop Shahan took his appeal to Pope St. Pius X on August 15th, 1913. Shahan received the pope’s enthusiastic support and returned to the United States and persuaded the board of trustees of The Catholic University of America to donate land at the southwest corner of the campus for the Shrine. The news of the Shrine project was circulated to dioceses throughout the country and financial donations began to pour into Washington. Work on the Shrine eventually started and Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, blessed the foundation stone on September 23rd, 1920. In 1929, the Great Depression halted the construction above the Crypt Church level. The beginning of American involvement in World War II stalled plans even further. After the war, in 1953, American bishops pledged to raise the funds necessary to complete the Great Upper Church of the National Shrine. On November 20th, 1959, thousands of Catholics gathered with the bishops for the dedication of the Great Upper Church. The final stages of the Shrine were being completed while Our Lady was appearing to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of America.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington houses 81 chapels honoring Mary and various other saints and events in Catholic history, and reflecting the origins of the Catholic immigrants and religious orders whose generosity erected them. Our Lady in honored in many of those 81 side chapels under a variety of different titles, some of them being: “Mary, Help of Christians Chapel; Mary, Queen of All Hearts Chapel; Mary, Queen of Ireland Chapel; Mary of the Miraculous Medal Chapel; Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel; Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel; Our Lady Star of the Sea Chapel; The Assumption of Mary Chapel; The Coronation of Mary Chapel; Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel; Our Lady of Hope Chapel; Our Lady of Ephesus Oratory; Our Mother of Divine Providence Oratory; Our Mother of Good Counsel Chapel.
Many of those chapels also manifest the international flavor of Catholicism with chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Altotting (Germany) Oratory; Our Lady of Czestochowa (Poland) Chapel; Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) Chapel; Our Lady of La Salette (France) Chapel; Our Lady of Pompei (Italy) Chapel; Our Lady of Siluva (Lithuania) Chapel; Our Lady of Antipolo (Philippines) Chapel; Our Lady of Bistrica (Croatia) Chapel; Our Lady of Brezje (Slovenia) Chapel; Our Lady of Hostyn (Czech) Chapel; Our Lady of Lourdes (France) Chapel; Our Lady of Mariazell (Austria) Chapel; Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu (Malta) Oratory; Our Lady of Vailankanni (India) Oratory; Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnam) Chapel; Our Lady of Hungary Chapel; Our Lady of Lebanon Chapel; Our Mother of Africa Chapel―but they cannot find place for an “Our Lady of America Chapel”!!! ]
► November 15th, 1956
On the morning of November 15th, 1956, Our Lady taught me this little prayer: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Our Lady then asked me to draw a picture of her first appearance. She also requested a statue made according to this likeness and placed, which, after being solemnly carried in procession in the Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., she wishes to be honored there in a special way as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
► January 1957
These are her words spoken in January 1957:
“The hour grows late. My Son’s patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God’s peace upon the world.”
To my spiritual director I was asked to send this message: “Hurry, my son, for the time is short but the punishment will be long, and for many, forever. Tell the Bishops of the United States, my loyal sons, of my desires and how I wish them to be carried out. Through him who is head over you, make known the longings of my Immaculate Heart to establish the reign of my Divine Son in the hearts of men and thus save them from the scourge of Heaven, both now and hereafter.”
Our Lady, again addressing herself to me, spoke sadly yet hopefully: “My daughter, will my children in America listen to my pleadings and console my Immaculate Heart? Will my loyal sons carry out my desires and thus help me bring the peace of Christ once again to mankind? Pray and do penance, my sweet child, that this may come to pass. Trust me and love me; I so desire it. Do not forget your poor Mother, who weeps over the loss of so many of her children.”
► February 3rd, 1957
Our Lady, on the morning of February 3rd, 1957, stated: “My Son asks of souls love, that true love willing to sacrifice itself for the One loved. Man fears to sacrifice himself because he is selfish. If souls would place themselves into my keeping, I would teach them the way of true love. If men truly loved my Son, they would not quarrel with each other and they would have peace in their own hearts. Peace is from within, not from without. If mankind were at peace with itself, there would be peace in the world. Man will only have peace if he has in his heart that true love of neighbor that springs from a whole-hearted love for my Son. My sweet child, if love does not have its roots implanted deeply within the soul, it will die out or be rooted up by the first storm that besets it. O child of my Pure Heart, tell my children to come to me and learn this true love of my Son, which is so necessary for their peace of soul.”
Sometime later the same day, Our Lady spoke again: “Reform of life is what I ask as the sign and proof of my children’s love for me. God looks at the heart, and if it resembles the Heart of His Divine Son, it is with the greatest pleasure He regards it. But to make your hearts grow more and more like to the Heart of the Son, you must go to the Mother, whose heart is most like His. From this Pure and Immaculate Heart you will learn all that will make you more pleasing to the Divine Heart of the Son of God. The Holy Trinity looks down with infinite delight upon such souls and makes them Its Heaven upon Earth. Come to me, my children, come to me and learn. There is much I would teach you. It is for your own happiness and eternal salvation. Do not disregard the voice of your Mother. It is the voice of love trying to save you from eternal ruin.”
► March 1957
In March of this same year, Our Lady spoke in the following manner: “O my sweet child, when will my desires be realized? My Immaculate Heart desires with great desire to see the kingdom of Jesus my Son established in all hearts. Now I have pleaded with my children to open their hearts to Him, but most are cold and indifferent. Has ever a mother shown more love and interest in her children’s welfare than I have done? O my little one, daughter of my Pure Heart, you must pray with greater fervor and offer yourself with greater love to the Heart of my Son.”
► April 1957
Our Lord Himself appeared to me with these words of warning: “My sweet child, unless my children reform their lives, they will suffer great persecution. If man himself will not take upon himself the penance necessary to atone for his sins and those of others, God in His justice will have to send upon him the punishment necessary to atone for his transgressions.”
► August 5th, 1957
In the evening of August 5th, the feast of Our Lady of the Snow, as I knelt in my room, Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly, always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him Who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. As Our Lady spoke this, she seemed at the time to be deeply occupied. Though the serenity of her countenance never left her, she spoke with a gravity that made her words all the more solemn. She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.
► August 22nd, 1957 (Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Excerpts from Our Lady’s address during her visit on the feast of the Immaculate Heart: “My heart, my Immaculate Heart, is the channel through which the graces of the Sacred Heart are given to men. Time passes and with it wasted graces and constant refusals on the part of man to co-operate with me in the accomplishment of the Divine Will for his own sanctification and salvation. What am I to do, child of my heart, when my children turn from me? The false peace of this world lures them and in the end will destroy them. They think they have done enough in consecrating themselves to my Immaculate Heart. It is not enough. That which I ask for and is most important many have not given me. What I ask, have asked, and will continue to ask is reformation of life. There must be sanctification from within. I will work my miracles of grace only in those who ask for them and empty their souls of the love and attachment to sin and all that is displeasing to my Son. Souls who cling to sin cannot have their hands free to receive the treasures of grace that I hold out to them. Behold, behold then my Heart pierced by a cruel sword! Oh, what grief my children have caused me! We must have more souls who love, love unselfishly and without reserve. Who does anything who does not love? I wish to gather about me an army of brave lovers, who as my torchbearers will enkindle the fire of Divine Love in the souls of men. Only those who are strong in love can become my soldiers to bear aloft, not the sword of destruction, but the sword of fire, the flaming torch of Divine Charity. The Will of the Father must be dearer to you than all else. This is the lesson every soul desiring intimate union with my Son must strive to learn.
In the afternoon of the same day I received this directive from Our Lady: “Go to the Bishop. Tell him of the desires of my Heart. He will help you.”
► September 26th-27th, 1957
The words of Our Lady as recorded under the dates of September 26th-27th, 1957: “My dear daughter, write my words carefully, because they are of the utmost importance. I address them to my beloved sons, the priests, dedicated to the most intense and extraordinary imitation of my Son in the perfect carrying on of His Eternal Priesthood.
“Beloved sons, so cherished and greatly blessed among the sons of men, be careful to uphold the sanctity and dignity of your calling. Let the faithful see in you the favored and especially loved imitators of the Son of God. Be modest in your dress and speech as becomes those of so exalted a vocation. The apparel and manners of a man of the world is not for you, who, though living in the world, must not take on its ways. It is through you that the grace of the Sacraments is given to souls. Strive then to make yourselves more worthy receptacles to receive these graces and transmit them in turn to the souls under your care. Dear sons, I ask you to practice self-denial and penance in a special manner, because it is you who must lead my children in the way of peace. Yet this peace will come only by way of the sword, the flaming sword of love. If, therefore, you love my Son and wish to honor me, heed my admonition and be the first to give the example of a life of penance and self-denial. Thus, by sanctification from within you, you will become a bright and burning light to the faithful, who look to you for help and guidance. I am pleased, dearly beloved sons, by the honor and love you have until now accorded me. Will you now go further and honor me yet more by taking my words to your hearts and doing what I ask?”
► October 7th, 1957 (Feast of the Holy Rosary)
On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, October 7th, 1957, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality, I was conscious of the fact that what she was about to say to me was, not only very grave, but of the utmost importance. Our Lady reiterated in a similar manner her first warnings:
“My beloved daughter, what I am about to tell you concerns in a particular way my children in America. Unless they do penance by mortification and self-denial and thus reform their lives, God will visit them with punishments hitherto unknown to them. My child, there will be peace, as has been promised, but not until my children are purified and cleansed from defilement, and clothed thus with the white garment of grace, are made ready to receive this peace, so long promised and so long held back because of the sins of men. My dear children, either you will do as I desire and reform your lives, or God Himself will need to cleanse you in the fires of untold punishment. You must be prepared to receive His great gift of peace. If you will not prepare yourselves, God will Himself be forced to do so in His justice and mercy. Making the Rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the Rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my Rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him. Write these words upon your hearts, my dear children, because of the compassion I have for you in my Immaculate Heart. Oh, if you knew the punishments I am holding back from you by my pleading and intercession on your behalf! Will you do as I wish at last, my children?”
► February 10th, 1958
On the eve of February 11th, 1958 [that is to say, February 10th], Our Lady said: “My Immaculate Heart will win in the end, and the Spirit of Christ will dwell in the hearts of men. Those in whom this Spirit is not found will be condemned to eternal Hell-fire.”
► February 11th, 1958 (Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)
The next day Our Lady spoke again: “My child, nothing is accomplished without pain. Prepare to suffer much. You see the sword in the Heart of your Mother. Suffering completed the work of divine grace in my soul. He who refuses to suffer will never abide in the Spirit of Christ, will never be formed into His image. My sweet child, the Father will never recognize a soul as His own unless He sees in it the likeness of His beloved Son. Souls must attain to the perfection of the Father through the Spirit of the Son. Beloved daughter, you wonder at the sword and the deep wound it has made in my Heart. It is the sword of grief plunged therein by my children who refuse to let me teach them the true way. There is only one true way to the Father, my child, only one way to eternal union. It is the way of the divine humanity. It is through my Son, the Only-begotten of the Father, that souls attain perfect union with the Divinity, as perfect as human nature is capable of, aided by divine grace. But my children will not heed; they will not listen. Every other way they will take, but not this one. I ask greater sacrifices of the most favored and beloved of my children. I ask in the Name and for the love of my Son, Who so desires this. If I ask for reform of life, it is first from the chosen that I look for it. They must by the example of a sacrificial life lead the way for souls to union with Christ, honoring the Father by putting on His Spirit and His likeness in all things. Prepare yourself by prayer, penance, and suffering for what is to come.”
Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the Mother of the sacred humanity, and it is my special work as co-redemptrix of the human race to help souls reach the sanctity of the Father in eternal union by showing them how to put on Christ, to imbibe His Spirit, and thus become one with Him.”
Further accounts relating to the “mission” given me and to others closely connected with it:
Our Lady made known to me that she is particularly interested in the youth of our nation. It is they who are to be the leaders of this movement of renewal on the face of the Earth. Their ranks will be swelled by the youths of other nations whom Our Lady also calls to help in the accomplishment of this great renewal. But the youth must be prepared, and this must be done by instilling into them, not only the knowledge of the Divine Indwelling, but a serious study of It, living It in such a way that the Divine Presence becomes, as it were, an intimate and necessary part of their life and daily living. From this will flow a great love, a conflagration that will envelop the world in the flames of Divine Charity. This is what Our Lady is working for, because this is the great desire of her Divine Son, and it is to the youth of America that she is holding out this challenge. A medal which Our Lady asked to be made is to be their shield against evil, the picture or statue of Our Lady, the protection of the home, the statue at the Shrine in Washington, D.C., a special safeguard for our country. America, the United States in particular, is being given the tremendous, yet privileged, opportunity to lead all nations in a spiritual renewal never before so necessary, so important, so vital.
► February 12th, 1958
The next day I was interiorly enlightened during Mass. It was made known to me that those, particularly the youth, who are willing wholeheartedly to follow Our Lady, in her great battle against evil, would bear the special title of “Torchbearers of the Queen.” This torch, of course, is Divine Love, for it is Love alone that will conquer hate and all that hate brings with it.
In regard to the medal that Our Lady requested to be made, I was told that as long as it bore the form of a shield, the medal itself could be of any shape desired. Around the image of Our Lady, as she appeared September 26th, 1956, these words are to be engraved: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Those who wear the medal with great Faith and fervent devotion to Our Lady will receive the grace of intense purity of heart and the particular love of the Holy Virgin and her Divine Son. Sinners will receive the grace of repentance and the spiritual strength to live as true children of Mary. As in life, so in death, this blessed medal will be as a shield to protect them against the evil spirits, and St. Michael himself will be at their side to allay their fears at the final hour. As mentioned before, Our Lady also requested a picture or statue of herself as she appeared on September 26th, 1956, to be honored and venerated in every Christian Home.
► June 1958
In June 1958, several weeks after I had entered the Cloister, I was walking in the enclosure courtyard before going to prayer. I felt overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and heaviness of heart. As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me as she had done on September 26th, 1956. She said to me: “Do not be afraid. I will keep my promise. Everything will be all right. Do not fear.” These words consoled me very much, and I went to prayer with a peaceful heart.
► July 18th, 1959
On July 18th, 1959, Our Lord spoke these words: “Oh, the pride of souls! How they resist my grace! O My priests, My religious, what would I not do for you if you would only let me? I come daily laden with graces which you daily refuse. What am I to say of you, my best beloved? How long will you resist My love? It is from you I expect everything, and you give Me but the husks of your affections. How long will I bear with you, O My chosen ones? How long will you spurn My approaches? It was this ingratitude on the part of My priests and My religious that caused Me so much sorrow in My passion. Oh, how they resist My grace! How they fight against My love! So fearful are they―that I will deprive them of their tawdry trinkets―that they turn their backs lest they see the reproach in My eyes.”
► December 20th, 1959
Our Lady came to me again on December 20th, 1959. These were her words to me as I understood them: “O my child, tell your spiritual father that I come again to warn and to plead. Oh, penance, penance! How little my children understand it! They give me many words, but sacrifice themselves they will not. It is not me they love but themselves. Oh, what blindness, sweet child, what blindness! How it pierces my heart! See, I weep, but my children show me no compassion. They behold the sword in my heart, but will make no move to withdraw it. I give them love; they give me only ingratitude. Weep, then, dear child, weep with your Mother over the sins of men. Intercede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away.”
Where is the Heresy? What is Weird About That?
The previous two articles have pointed out that (1) America has not been left on the sidelines by Our Lady as seen by her apparitions and communications in Wisconsin to Adele Brise in 1859, and almost 100 years later to Sister Mary Ephrem in Indiana and Ohio from 1956 to 1959, and (2) though in 2010 Bishop David L. Ricken, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, decreed with “moral certainty” that the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Good Help had indeed appeared, on three occasions in October of 1859, to Adele Brise and that public devotions to Our Lady of Good Help could be conducted―the other apparitions did not receive the same official recognition and acceptance merely 10 years later, in April of 2020, when Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, decreed that:
“We do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes … The visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin ― in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate) ― thus I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world ... Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.” (Bishop Rhoades and five other diocesan bishops, Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America).
We would like to focus on the actual messages of Our Lady of America―but we cannot do that while the specter of St. Joseph hangs around and casts a shadow of doubt upon any “alleged” messages of Our Lady. It seems as though Our Lady’s messages are judged to be guilty by association with St. Joseph! So before we tackle the messages, we must tackle St. Joseph!
Joseph “Co-Redeemer”?
Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops state that “there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.” For that matter, even though millions of Catholics have for a long time now spoken of Our Lady as being a “Co-Redemptrix” to Christ the Redeemer―the Church has held back from pronouncing that title as being a dogma, even though many bishops, priest and laity have been petitioning that dogma for many decades.
A lack of theological understanding and a readiness to “shoot from the hip” or should we say, “shoot from the lip” but not the mind―often puts us in “deep-water” or the “deep-end”. It can be said without doubt that ever since the Second Vatican Council, theological skills have “taken a hit” ― a prime example of this is Pope Francis himself, whose glib and untheological statements have some of the better trained theologians in the Vatican scurrying around trying to patch and correct the theological blunders made the pope. Francis is good at “shooting from the lip” ― but much of what he says “misses the target”. Rather than firing theological bullets, he often fires theological blanks.
The idea of St. Joseph being a “Co-Redeemer” initially sounds like being more than a bit “overboard” or exaggerated, if not just plain heretical! Is it, or isn’t it? When we look at other Catholic concepts―which are generally accepted by many if not most members of both the clergy and laity―then upon careful reflection we will see that also seem to “go overboard” when first presented or heard.
Why Not Question and Protest Over These?
► OUR LORD: For example, take the following words of Our Lord Himself, where He seems to “go overboard”:
(1) Our Lord says to St. Peter: “I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven!” (Matthew 16:19). Hey! Who’s the boss here? Jesus or Peter? Jesus―of course! Yet Our Lord is essentially saying to Peter: “Whatever you decide here on Earth, I will follow and enforce in Heaven!” Here it seems to be, not a case of “Co-Redeemer”, but “Co-Ruler”! Hmm! Why is nobody protesting?
(2) Our Lord further says to His Apostles: “Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel!” (Matthew 19:28). Hey! Who’s the judge here? Jesus or the Apostles? Jesus―of course! Yet Our Lord seems to be promoting His Apostles to be, not so much “Co-Redeemers”, but “Co-Judges” participating in an action that should be reserved to God alone! Why is nobody protesting?
(3) Another case is where Our Lord “elevates” or “promotes” multitudes to the rank of His Mother and family relatives: “And His mother and His brethren came; and, standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him. And the multitude sat about Him; and they said to Him: ‘Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren are outside and seek Thee!’ And answering them, Jesus said: ‘Who is My mother and My brethren?’ And looking round about, on them who sat about Him, He said: ‘Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and Mother!’” (Mark 3:31-35). Hey! Who’s the real family around here? Jesus seems to be elevating multitudes to family status! Why is nobody protesting?
(4) In another place Our Lord says: “Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do―and greater than these shall he do!” (John 14:12). Hey! Aren’t miracles the work of God? Yet here Our Lord is taking on board “Co-Miracle-Workers”! Not only that, He is also saying that they will perform greater miracles than He performs! Isn’t that just way overboard? Why is nobody protesting?
There are many more examples―but let us not belabor the point: for that is not the purpose of this article.
► OUR LADY: Let us now turn to Our Lady and look at where she seems to “go overboard”:
Our Lady of Fatima―speaking of herself under the title of “Our Lady of the Rosary”―said: “Only she can help you now!” (July 13th, 1917). Hey! What about Jesus? Can He not help us? Has He lost His power? Did He not say: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―yet here is Our Lady saying that she is the only one who can help! Why is nobody protesting?
Our Lady of Akita also said the same thing: “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). What about placing confidence in Jesus? Can He no longer save us? Why is Our Lady saying that she alone is able to save us? Why is nobody protesting?
Our Lady of Good Success seems to place religious convents monasteries above God, by saying: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents.” Hey! Doesn’t salvation come from God? Doesn’t conversion come from God? Isn’t it God’s Providence that is behind things like fertility of land or drought; harmony and wars; health and pestilence? It seems as though these religious in monasteries and convents have been made to be "Co-Redeemers" by Our Lady! Our Lady seems to have gone overboard here!
► POPES: Even the popes seem to have gone overboard with their theological statements―both Traditional and Conservative popes, as well as Liberal and Modernist popes.
BEFORE VATICAN II―Pope Pius XI summed up the identity of the priest as follows: “The priest … continues the work of the redemption in all its world-embracing universality and divine efficacy … Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed ‘another Christ’” (Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii). Hey! The pope is saying that the priest continues the work of salvation! That means he is a “co-redeemer”! Why is nobody protesting?
BEFORE VATICAN II―Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei, wrote: “A holy priest is a savior and another Christ, taking the Master’s place on Earth.” Hey! Come on! Another Christ? Taking the place of Christ? Why is nobody protesting?
AFTER VATICAN II―Pope Benedict XVI speaks of priest being “another Christ” (in Latin: alter Christus). Hey! Isn’t there just ONE Christ? Pope Benedict says: “As an alter Christus [another Christ], the priest is profoundly united to the Word of the Father” (Pope Benedict XVI, June 24th, 2009). He later stated: “It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus [another Christ]” (Pope Benedict XVI, January 27th, 2010).
► SAINTS: Even the saints seem to have gone overboard!
St. John Eudes stated: “To be a priest is to be a visible god on Earth. All Christians are called gods in Sacred Scripture: ‘I said you are gods’ (John 10:34) … Priests are gods in power and dignity, clothed with the infinite power of God. If it were not through this divine power, how could they bring God down upon the altar at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? How could they form Him in the hearts of the faithful and give the Holy Ghost to their souls? How could they forgive sin and communicate sanctifying grace? God gives His divine power to priests in such an exalted degree that they may effectuate many marvels that He alone accomplishes. He created this world and can create others. To his priests He gave the power to produce Christ in the Blessed Eucharist, which is indeed greater than to create an infinite number of physical worlds!” (St. John Eudes, Le bon Confesseur). Hey! Wasn't Lucifer cast into Hell for trying to be like God? What is this stuff― “A priest is to be a visible god on Earth … Priests are gods in power and dignity” ? Why is nobody protesting?
► PRIEST AND THEOLOGIANS: This is turning into a “Co-Redeemer Pandemic” ― even mere mortal priests seem to have gone overboard!
Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, even dares to speak of mere lay people as being “co-redeemers” with Christ! “None of us really wants to carry a cross, which is a brutal instrument of suffering and death. Like Simon, we may need to be compelled to do it at the beginning. But it’s through our encounter with Christ on the Cross that we come to an ever deeper union with him and share in his redeeming work. What was it about carrying the Cross of a half-dead convict that brought Simon to conversion and to the Faith? It’s impossible, of course, to know precisely how grace worked in his soul. But I’ve always imagined that it was along the way to Calvary that Simon had an intimation that he wasn’t shamefully carrying a cross that Jesus deserved, but that Jesus had been carrying all along the cross Simon deserved. It wasn’t he who was doing the favor for Jesus but the other way around: Jesus was preparing to die for Simon on the Cross Simon was now bearing. It was in this way that Jesus unleashed a cycle of compassion. Simon realized that Jesus was carrying the cross for him and he converted from being an unwilling participant to a co-redeemer and Good Samaritan.” (Fr. Roger Landry, “Co-Redeemers”, April 10th, 2009, CatholicCity.com).
Dr. Mark Miravalle, Ph.D., holds the St. John Paul II Chair of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also President, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici (Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix), an international lay organization that seeks to work for the papal definition of our Lady as “Co-Redemptrix”. In a December 21st, 2019, article entitled: “Pope Francis’ Guadalupe Homily and Mary Co-Redemptrix”, Dr. Miravalle writes:
“When Pope John Paul II (and Pope Pius XI before him) repeatedly used the title “Co-Redemptrix” for Our Lady, he likewise did not seek to take anything from Jesus and give it to Mary, but rather to identify Mary’s unique cooperation in the redemptive work accomplished by Christ. The “Co-Redemptrix” title for Our Lady has been part of the Church’s Tradition since the 14th century, and is typically used correctly to identify Our Lady’s unequalled cooperation with and under Jesus Christ in the redemption by popes, saints, mystics, bishops, clergy, theologians and the faithful People of God. The extraordinary lineup of recently canonized saints who have legitimately referred to Mary as the “Co-Redemptrix” include St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Josemaría Escrivá, St. John Henry Newman and … the great Fatima seer, Sister Lucia, uses and sublimely explains the “Co-Redemptrix” title for Mary on seven occasions in her final writing, Calls from the Message of Fatima. The “Co-Redemptrix” title seeks to represent, in one term, the Church’s official doctrine of Mary’s unrivaled participation in the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, the sole Divine Redeemer. The official and undeniable Marian doctrine of the Church is repeatedly taught at the Second Vatican Council and by the papal Magisterium of the last three centuries. Our Lady’s cooperative role with Jesus in the work of redemption is theologically based on the central Catholic principle of “participation” where we, as disciples of Jesus, truly share in his divine life of grace, but without adding or subtracting anything from Jesus Himself. Our Lady’s role as “Co-Redemptrix” is the perfect human model for all Christians to likewise participate in Jesus’ great work of redemption [thus implicitly be “co-redeemers” with Christ], in properly responding to the words of St. Paul to “make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24), or as Pope John Paul II instructs us, to be “co-redeemers in Christ.” (Dr. Mark Miravalle. Ph.D., Chair of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville). Hey! This is modern-day Liberal pope―John Paul II―who is explicitly telling us WE should all be “co-redeemers” in Christ! Yet St. Joseph is not allowed to be a “co-redeemer” in Christ!
► CATHOLIC LAITY: This really has become a “Co-Redeemer pandemic” ― the virus has even spread to the laity!
Glenn Dallaire, owner of Mystics of the Church website, in an article under the subheading “Co-redeemers with Christ” writes: “A victim soul is a person especially called by God to sacrifice and suffer in union with Him for the conversion of souls, and in reparation for the sins of mankind. In other words, their mission is to lead souls to God. Most notably is the special union between Jesus and the soul victim. Jesus is not only with them, He is in them, and they are thus united to God in a special way for the conversion of sinners. Thus united, they are in a special sense, co-redeemers with Christ. With this in mind we have St. Paul who says: ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!’ (Galatians 2:20).”
Is St. Joseph the Problem? Is Mary the Problem? Or is Ecumenism the Problem?
When you start to look at the big picture and start to connect the dots―then you start to see a reality emerge out from all the smoke and mirrors. The more we go down the tunnel of darkness that the Second Vatican Council led us into, the more we realize that the problems that modern theologians have with the title “Co-Redemptrix” for Mary, or “co-redeemer” for St. Joseph or any other saint or member of the laity―is not so much on the grounds that this idea might rob Christ of His glory, but more a case of fearing that it might upset our heretical friends―or, “separated brethren” as they are more euphemistically or politely called. This is unashamedly admitted and clearly seen in many official theological discussions, debates, conferences―of which a couple of examples are shown below.
► The Theological Commission of the International Marian Association, a group of more than 100 theologians, bishops, priests, religious, and lay leaders from over 20 countries, issued a statement saying: “The Co-Redemptrix title never places Mary on a level of equality with Jesus Christ, the only divine Redeemer, as to do so would constitute both heresy and blasphemy … The Co-Redemptrix title is meaningless without Jesus the Redeemer, and in itself focuses upon the Cross of Jesus Christ. Mary Co-Redemptrix proclaims to the world that suffering is redemptive when united to the sufferings of Christ.” Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Professor of Mariology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, that Our Lady’s title of “Co-Redemptrix” goes back to the 10th century, when some Marian litanies included the title of Mary as Redemptrix, along with her son. It was a development of the idea of Mary as the “New Eve,” a Marian title that has been used since the 2nd century. The prefix of “co-” was added by the 15th century, to clarify that Mary was not the Redeemer, but rather someone who uniquely cooperated in the work of redemption. After the prefix “co-“ was added, the title continued to catch on, so much so that the 17th century was considered the “golden age” of the title of Mary as Co-Redemptrix. Still, it didn’t receive Magisterial recognition until 1908, when the Sacred Congregation for Rites used it in a decree elevating the rank of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Since then, it has been referenced multiple times by the Magisterium, including during the Second Vatican Council―which ultimately decided against any formal recognition of the title “Co-Redemptrix” in the document Lumen Gentium. Dr. Fastiggi explains that “The term, however was not rejected because it was false. In the praenotanda or explanatory note that accompanied the first Marian schema of 1962, we are told that, ‘Certain terms and expressions used by Roman Pontiffs have been omitted, which, although most true in themselves (in se verissima), may be difficult for the separated brethren (as in the case of the Protestants) to understand.’” So we stuff Mary into a closet because we are afraid she might offend our “separated brethren” or, in other words, our heretical brethren might be offended by hearing the truth.
►The International Mariological Congress at Czestochowa, Poland, August 18th to 23rd, 1996, a meeting composed of representatives from the Marian theological faculties and the Mariological societies was held to consider the advisability of petitioning the Holy See for the dogmatic definition of the Virgin Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. This meeting at the International Mariological Congress was held at the request of the Holy See. Among the twenty-two members present at the meeting were Rene Laurentin, Stefano de Fiores, S.M.M., Jesus Castellano Cervera, O.C.D., Ignatio M. Calabuig, O.S.M., Johann Roten, S.M. The moderator of the meeting was Candido Pozo, S.J., president of the Spanish Mariological Society. Representatives from the Orthodox, Reformed, and Anglican churches were also present. There was unanimous agreement at the meeting that the Holy See should not make such a declaration at this time. There were two reasons for this decision: the first dealt with the theological clarifications which must first be made, and the second dealt with the ecumenical dialogue. In accord with the precedent set at Vatican II, the participants agreed that a doctrinal declaration should not “settle questions which have not yet been fully clarified by the work of theologians” (Lumen Gentium 54). So we stuff Mary into a closet because we are afraid she might offend our “separated brethren” or, in other words, our heretical brethren might be offended by hearing the truth.
Ecumenism is Placed Above Truth
St. John the Baptist said concerning Our Lord: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30). Today, the modern Liberal and Modernist Post-Conciliar Catholic Church says concerning Mary: “She must decrease so that Ecumenism can increase!” This false spirit of Ecumenism can clearly be seen by its bad fruits. Instead of leading Protestants and pagans to the Catholic Church―it has led Catholicism into Protestantism and paganism. This whole charade brings to mind the words of Fr. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) from the Preface of his own personal translation from the French of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, wherein he writes:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber Preface, translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary).
So Let Us Turn to Mary and Our Lady of America
Hopefully, the above discussion with all the quotes, puts to rest the “false flag” attack on any supposed or “alleged” heresy in calling St. Joseph a “co-redeemer” since, to quote the Liberal Pope John Paul II, we must all be “co-redeemers in Christ.” Let us not turn our attention to the things that Our Lady of America said and measure them by the yardstick or ruler of Holy Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium of the Church and the writings of the saints and reputable and classic theologians.
Obviously―so as not to lengthen the article too much―not every iota or dot of what Our Lady said will be quoted. Primarily, we shall stick to those things that impact us at this current time and which could save us a lot of heartache and suffering by paying attention to her requests and commands.
To speak of Mary, one must speak of her Son―Jesus―for they are, in a sense, inseparable. Holy Scripture specifically and explicitly links them together at birth, in life and in death. They are linked together when the Three Kings, or Magi, arrived at Bethlehem in their search for the newly born king, “entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother, and falling down they adored Him; and opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).
They are again linked together when “an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: ‘Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt―and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy Him!’ Who arose, and took the Child and his Mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod” (Matthew 2:13-14). Then, after the death of Herod, the same linking occurs when “an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child. Who arose, and took the Child and His Mother, and came into the land of Israel” (Matthew 2:19-21).
They are linked together at His death on Calvary: “There stood by the cross of Jesus, His Mother” (John 19:25).
► Likewise they are linked together in the revelations made to Sr. Mary Ephrem―which began at the end of the 1930s and the start of the 1940s, when OUR LORD revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so … Pray, pray, pray ― pray and sacrifice yourself for the souls of poor sinners. How many are lost because there are no prayers said for them, no sacrifices made for them!”
► Here is an extract of the words of OUR LORD spoken on May 22nd, 1954: “If the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give it life. I am the resurrection and the life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they will find only death and destruction. They fear man-made destroyers of life, yet destruction is in themselves. Man destroys himself through the evil that is in himself. Implements of war kill only that which is without [destroying external things]. Man kills that which is within himself, which none but he can kill. God is light, man is darkness, and unless he comes into the light, he will be forever darkness. The Voice of My Heart is the Voice of Mercy. If man will not listen, there is no more I can do, for he ties My hands.”
► Here is an extract of the words of OUR LORD spoken on May 29th, 1954: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh, how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part, by his own guilt! But alas, he will have none of My help. So I am forced to stand by the side of the road and watch him struggle hopelessly in his agony. O man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid? Do you know what I find most lacking in the world today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without Faith there can be no love. Pray and sacrifice yourself, My child, that Faith may once again find entrance into the hearts of men.”
► Extracts of the words of OUR LORD, spoken on July 11th, 1954: “I am not loved in the homes of men. Children are not taught to love Me. My Heart grieves over My children in the world. Their hearts are being drawn farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother, because they have never been taught to listen. I am a Beggar for love, but how few give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept. My Father is angry. If My children will not listen to My Heart, which is a Voice of mercy and instruction, punishment will come swiftly and none shall be able to stop it. The pleadings of My Heart have held back the divine justice about to descend on an ungrateful and sinful generation. Woe to parents who set a bad example to their children! Terrible will be their judgment. I will demand a strict account of every soul entrusted to their care. Woe to parents who teach their children how to gain materially in this world and neglect to prepare them for the next! Woe to children who disobey and show disrespect towards their parents! ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ On this shall they be judged most severely.”
► Extracts of the words of OUR LORD, spoken over three days from July 12th to July 14th, 1954: “Blessed are the homes that honor My Name and the Name of My Father. Blessed are the homes where I am loved, for there the Holy Trinity dwells. Blessed are the parents and children who have made a home for God in their hearts. Write these instructions for the sanctification of My people. My Father’s house is a house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves. My children, every home and every soul is My Father’s house, for He made them and they are His. But many of them are no longer sanctified by His Presence. Thieves have entered in and stolen from Him His temples of prayer. It is you, My children, who have let them in. If, My children, you will cleanse your temples, My Father will return and We will come and make our abode with you. Return, My people, for My Heart hungers and thirsts for your love. If you will not return, the just anger of My Father will descend upon you. What do you want―My love or My Father’s anger? Choose, and as you choose, so shall it be done. I will not force your free will, for that is yours to use as you desire.”
► During the Winter of 1954, OUR LORD not only expressed His sorrow at the loss of Faith in the world, but those of chosen souls: “Where are your prayers, O My priests and religious? Where are your sacrifices? Do you not know that sinners will not be converted unless prayer and sacrifices call down the grace of God upon them? My chosen ones, you in particular are responsible for the souls of poor sinners! It is to you I have entrusted them! You their spiritual fathers and mothers you must care for them and by your unceasing prayers on their behalf, lead them safely to My Father’s House!”
Now before we go any further and examine what Our Lady revealed to Sister Mary Ephrem ― what is objectionable about the above words of Our Lord? ― and, no, nothing has been hidden or swept under the rug! There is nothing “new” here, nothing “controversial”, nothing that has not been already heard before, nothing that you cannot find in Holy Scripture, nothing that has no already been recommended by popes and saints. Yet―as often is the case―these messages, words and warnings go in one ear and out the other ear. We are too superficial in our reading of them, to shallow in our understanding of them, too offhand in considering their seriousness. Read the above quotes again―slowly, with reflection, applying them to your own life and those around you!
Our Lady of America’s Messages
► November 8th, 1954
On November 8th, 1954, Our Lady addressed Sister Mary Ephrem with the following words: “It is the wish of my Son that fathers and mothers strive to imitate me and my chaste spouse in our holy life at Nazareth. We practiced the simple virtues of family life, Jesus our Son being the center of all our love and activity. The Holy Trinity dwelt with us in a manner far surpassing anything that can ever be imagined. For ours was the earthly paradise, where, once again, God walked among men. As in our little home no sin was to be found, so it is the wish of the Heart of my Son and my Immaculate Heart that sin should, as far as possible, be unheard of in the homes of our children. The Divine Trinity will dwell in your midst only if you are faithful in practicing the virtues of our life at Nazareth. Then, you also, my children, you also will become another paradise. God will then walk among you and you will have peace. I need your help to bring peace into the world. Do not disappoint me.”
► September 25th, 1956
Almost two years later, September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, while Sister Mary Ephrem was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem, and, among other things, Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America, the United States in particular, if we would do as she desires. Our Lady added:
“I am pleased, my child, with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working miracles of grace among them through the power of my Son’s Heart and my Immaculate Heart. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul. For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and, in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, I promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
Our Lady again appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem the next day. It was at this apparition that she spoke of her title of “Our Lady of America”. Here, in the words taken from the Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, is an account of the apparitions of that day, in Sister Mary Ephrem’s own words:
► September 26th, 1956
The next morning, September 26th, 1956, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light. I knew with unmistakable certainty that it was she, though she did not speak immediately. She continued to smile. Then I saw her heart appear, encircled with red roses, the symbol of suffering as it was revealed to me, and sending forth flames of fire. Then solemnly and distinctly, in calm yet majestic tones, I heard these words: “I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives.”
She was very beautiful and her smile held me. But I became conscious of the fact that the other Sisters were leaving the chapel, and I, too, had to go as obedience directed me. I said to Our Lady, “Please forgive me, Mother, but I do have to go now, or my work will not get finished.”
Our Lady understood, but she did not leave me. When I entered my room, she was there waiting for me. As I had to hurry about my tasks, I could not give Our Lady all the attention I longed to, but every now and then I would direct a glance of love toward her. Our Lady stood there smiling as I had seen her in the chapel. All that day I was conscious of Our Lady’s presence in a very special manner, in a way that was distinctly new to me.
On the afternoon of the same day, during the last half of the Holy Hour between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length in these words: “My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the soul. They must have Faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of Faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.”
► On September 27th, 1956
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt. It was then that I heard these words filled with sorrow and longing:
“Behold, O my children, the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Relieve the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in, so that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother. These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
Later, in a letter written to the Archbishop Liebold, her spiritual director, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes: “It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me. Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence.
“This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful, of course, there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made, as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, she desires that it be enshrined there in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
► October 13th, 1956
Our Lady’s next visit occurred on October 13th, 1956:
Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak. Her presence overwhelmed me with its holiness. I was compelled to stop my work, for it was impossible to go on. I then knelt down and wrote Our Lady’s words as she desired:
“This is my shrine, my daughter. I am very pleased with it. Tell my children I thank them. Let them finish it quickly and make it a place of pilgrimage. It will be a place of wonders. I promise this, I will bless all those who, either by prayers, labor, or material aid, help to erect this shrine.”
[COMMENTS: You probably are not aware of the history behind the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Since there is repeated mention of the Shrine in the messages of Our Lady, here is a brief overview of its history for your benefit and understanding. In 1792 John Carroll, the bishop of Baltimore and the United States’s first Catholic bishop, consecrated the newly created United States under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. In 1847, the 7th Provincial Councils of Baltimore reiterated this episcopal choice to name the title Virgin Mary, conceived without sin as the principal patroness of the land. Pope Pius IX formalized the decision in 1847. In the early 1900s, Bishop Thomas Joseph Shahan, the fourth rector of The Catholic University of America in Washington, proposed the construction of a National Shrine to commemorate the Immaculate Conception in the country’s capital.
Bishop Shahan took his appeal to Pope St. Pius X on August 15th, 1913. Shahan received the pope’s enthusiastic support and returned to the United States and persuaded the board of trustees of The Catholic University of America to donate land at the southwest corner of the campus for the Shrine. The news of the Shrine project was circulated to dioceses throughout the country and financial donations began to pour into Washington. Work on the Shrine eventually started and Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, blessed the foundation stone on September 23rd, 1920. In 1929, the Great Depression halted the construction above the Crypt Church level. The beginning of American involvement in World War II stalled plans even further. After the war, in 1953, American bishops pledged to raise the funds necessary to complete the Great Upper Church of the National Shrine. On November 20th, 1959, thousands of Catholics gathered with the bishops for the dedication of the Great Upper Church. The final stages of the Shrine were being completed while Our Lady was appearing to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of America.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington houses 81 chapels honoring Mary and various other saints and events in Catholic history, and reflecting the origins of the Catholic immigrants and religious orders whose generosity erected them. Our Lady in honored in many of those 81 side chapels under a variety of different titles, some of them being: “Mary, Help of Christians Chapel; Mary, Queen of All Hearts Chapel; Mary, Queen of Ireland Chapel; Mary of the Miraculous Medal Chapel; Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel; Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel; Our Lady Star of the Sea Chapel; The Assumption of Mary Chapel; The Coronation of Mary Chapel; Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel; Our Lady of Hope Chapel; Our Lady of Ephesus Oratory; Our Mother of Divine Providence Oratory; Our Mother of Good Counsel Chapel.
Many of those chapels also manifest the international flavor of Catholicism with chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Altotting (Germany) Oratory; Our Lady of Czestochowa (Poland) Chapel; Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) Chapel; Our Lady of La Salette (France) Chapel; Our Lady of Pompei (Italy) Chapel; Our Lady of Siluva (Lithuania) Chapel; Our Lady of Antipolo (Philippines) Chapel; Our Lady of Bistrica (Croatia) Chapel; Our Lady of Brezje (Slovenia) Chapel; Our Lady of Hostyn (Czech) Chapel; Our Lady of Lourdes (France) Chapel; Our Lady of Mariazell (Austria) Chapel; Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu (Malta) Oratory; Our Lady of Vailankanni (India) Oratory; Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnam) Chapel; Our Lady of Hungary Chapel; Our Lady of Lebanon Chapel; Our Mother of Africa Chapel―but they cannot find place for an “Our Lady of America Chapel”!!! ]
► November 15th, 1956
On the morning of November 15th, 1956, Our Lady taught me this little prayer: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Our Lady then asked me to draw a picture of her first appearance. She also requested a statue made according to this likeness and placed, which, after being solemnly carried in procession in the Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., she wishes to be honored there in a special way as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
► January 1957
These are her words spoken in January 1957:
“The hour grows late. My Son’s patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God’s peace upon the world.”
To my spiritual director I was asked to send this message: “Hurry, my son, for the time is short but the punishment will be long, and for many, forever. Tell the Bishops of the United States, my loyal sons, of my desires and how I wish them to be carried out. Through him who is head over you, make known the longings of my Immaculate Heart to establish the reign of my Divine Son in the hearts of men and thus save them from the scourge of Heaven, both now and hereafter.”
Our Lady, again addressing herself to me, spoke sadly yet hopefully: “My daughter, will my children in America listen to my pleadings and console my Immaculate Heart? Will my loyal sons carry out my desires and thus help me bring the peace of Christ once again to mankind? Pray and do penance, my sweet child, that this may come to pass. Trust me and love me; I so desire it. Do not forget your poor Mother, who weeps over the loss of so many of her children.”
► February 3rd, 1957
Our Lady, on the morning of February 3rd, 1957, stated: “My Son asks of souls love, that true love willing to sacrifice itself for the One loved. Man fears to sacrifice himself because he is selfish. If souls would place themselves into my keeping, I would teach them the way of true love. If men truly loved my Son, they would not quarrel with each other and they would have peace in their own hearts. Peace is from within, not from without. If mankind were at peace with itself, there would be peace in the world. Man will only have peace if he has in his heart that true love of neighbor that springs from a whole-hearted love for my Son. My sweet child, if love does not have its roots implanted deeply within the soul, it will die out or be rooted up by the first storm that besets it. O child of my Pure Heart, tell my children to come to me and learn this true love of my Son, which is so necessary for their peace of soul.”
Sometime later the same day, Our Lady spoke again: “Reform of life is what I ask as the sign and proof of my children’s love for me. God looks at the heart, and if it resembles the Heart of His Divine Son, it is with the greatest pleasure He regards it. But to make your hearts grow more and more like to the Heart of the Son, you must go to the Mother, whose heart is most like His. From this Pure and Immaculate Heart you will learn all that will make you more pleasing to the Divine Heart of the Son of God. The Holy Trinity looks down with infinite delight upon such souls and makes them Its Heaven upon Earth. Come to me, my children, come to me and learn. There is much I would teach you. It is for your own happiness and eternal salvation. Do not disregard the voice of your Mother. It is the voice of love trying to save you from eternal ruin.”
► March 1957
In March of this same year, Our Lady spoke in the following manner: “O my sweet child, when will my desires be realized? My Immaculate Heart desires with great desire to see the kingdom of Jesus my Son established in all hearts. Now I have pleaded with my children to open their hearts to Him, but most are cold and indifferent. Has ever a mother shown more love and interest in her children’s welfare than I have done? O my little one, daughter of my Pure Heart, you must pray with greater fervor and offer yourself with greater love to the Heart of my Son.”
► April 1957
Our Lord Himself appeared to me with these words of warning: “My sweet child, unless my children reform their lives, they will suffer great persecution. If man himself will not take upon himself the penance necessary to atone for his sins and those of others, God in His justice will have to send upon him the punishment necessary to atone for his transgressions.”
► August 5th, 1957
In the evening of August 5th, the feast of Our Lady of the Snow, as I knelt in my room, Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly, always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him Who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. As Our Lady spoke this, she seemed at the time to be deeply occupied. Though the serenity of her countenance never left her, she spoke with a gravity that made her words all the more solemn. She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.
► August 22nd, 1957 (Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Excerpts from Our Lady’s address during her visit on the feast of the Immaculate Heart: “My heart, my Immaculate Heart, is the channel through which the graces of the Sacred Heart are given to men. Time passes and with it wasted graces and constant refusals on the part of man to co-operate with me in the accomplishment of the Divine Will for his own sanctification and salvation. What am I to do, child of my heart, when my children turn from me? The false peace of this world lures them and in the end will destroy them. They think they have done enough in consecrating themselves to my Immaculate Heart. It is not enough. That which I ask for and is most important many have not given me. What I ask, have asked, and will continue to ask is reformation of life. There must be sanctification from within. I will work my miracles of grace only in those who ask for them and empty their souls of the love and attachment to sin and all that is displeasing to my Son. Souls who cling to sin cannot have their hands free to receive the treasures of grace that I hold out to them. Behold, behold then my Heart pierced by a cruel sword! Oh, what grief my children have caused me! We must have more souls who love, love unselfishly and without reserve. Who does anything who does not love? I wish to gather about me an army of brave lovers, who as my torchbearers will enkindle the fire of Divine Love in the souls of men. Only those who are strong in love can become my soldiers to bear aloft, not the sword of destruction, but the sword of fire, the flaming torch of Divine Charity. The Will of the Father must be dearer to you than all else. This is the lesson every soul desiring intimate union with my Son must strive to learn.
In the afternoon of the same day I received this directive from Our Lady: “Go to the Bishop. Tell him of the desires of my Heart. He will help you.”
► September 26th-27th, 1957
The words of Our Lady as recorded under the dates of September 26th-27th, 1957: “My dear daughter, write my words carefully, because they are of the utmost importance. I address them to my beloved sons, the priests, dedicated to the most intense and extraordinary imitation of my Son in the perfect carrying on of His Eternal Priesthood.
“Beloved sons, so cherished and greatly blessed among the sons of men, be careful to uphold the sanctity and dignity of your calling. Let the faithful see in you the favored and especially loved imitators of the Son of God. Be modest in your dress and speech as becomes those of so exalted a vocation. The apparel and manners of a man of the world is not for you, who, though living in the world, must not take on its ways. It is through you that the grace of the Sacraments is given to souls. Strive then to make yourselves more worthy receptacles to receive these graces and transmit them in turn to the souls under your care. Dear sons, I ask you to practice self-denial and penance in a special manner, because it is you who must lead my children in the way of peace. Yet this peace will come only by way of the sword, the flaming sword of love. If, therefore, you love my Son and wish to honor me, heed my admonition and be the first to give the example of a life of penance and self-denial. Thus, by sanctification from within you, you will become a bright and burning light to the faithful, who look to you for help and guidance. I am pleased, dearly beloved sons, by the honor and love you have until now accorded me. Will you now go further and honor me yet more by taking my words to your hearts and doing what I ask?”
► October 7th, 1957 (Feast of the Holy Rosary)
On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, October 7th, 1957, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality, I was conscious of the fact that what she was about to say to me was, not only very grave, but of the utmost importance. Our Lady reiterated in a similar manner her first warnings:
“My beloved daughter, what I am about to tell you concerns in a particular way my children in America. Unless they do penance by mortification and self-denial and thus reform their lives, God will visit them with punishments hitherto unknown to them. My child, there will be peace, as has been promised, but not until my children are purified and cleansed from defilement, and clothed thus with the white garment of grace, are made ready to receive this peace, so long promised and so long held back because of the sins of men. My dear children, either you will do as I desire and reform your lives, or God Himself will need to cleanse you in the fires of untold punishment. You must be prepared to receive His great gift of peace. If you will not prepare yourselves, God will Himself be forced to do so in His justice and mercy. Making the Rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the Rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my Rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him. Write these words upon your hearts, my dear children, because of the compassion I have for you in my Immaculate Heart. Oh, if you knew the punishments I am holding back from you by my pleading and intercession on your behalf! Will you do as I wish at last, my children?”
► February 10th, 1958
On the eve of February 11th, 1958 [that is to say, February 10th], Our Lady said: “My Immaculate Heart will win in the end, and the Spirit of Christ will dwell in the hearts of men. Those in whom this Spirit is not found will be condemned to eternal Hell-fire.”
► February 11th, 1958 (Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)
The next day Our Lady spoke again: “My child, nothing is accomplished without pain. Prepare to suffer much. You see the sword in the Heart of your Mother. Suffering completed the work of divine grace in my soul. He who refuses to suffer will never abide in the Spirit of Christ, will never be formed into His image. My sweet child, the Father will never recognize a soul as His own unless He sees in it the likeness of His beloved Son. Souls must attain to the perfection of the Father through the Spirit of the Son. Beloved daughter, you wonder at the sword and the deep wound it has made in my Heart. It is the sword of grief plunged therein by my children who refuse to let me teach them the true way. There is only one true way to the Father, my child, only one way to eternal union. It is the way of the divine humanity. It is through my Son, the Only-begotten of the Father, that souls attain perfect union with the Divinity, as perfect as human nature is capable of, aided by divine grace. But my children will not heed; they will not listen. Every other way they will take, but not this one. I ask greater sacrifices of the most favored and beloved of my children. I ask in the Name and for the love of my Son, Who so desires this. If I ask for reform of life, it is first from the chosen that I look for it. They must by the example of a sacrificial life lead the way for souls to union with Christ, honoring the Father by putting on His Spirit and His likeness in all things. Prepare yourself by prayer, penance, and suffering for what is to come.”
Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the Mother of the sacred humanity, and it is my special work as co-redemptrix of the human race to help souls reach the sanctity of the Father in eternal union by showing them how to put on Christ, to imbibe His Spirit, and thus become one with Him.”
Further accounts relating to the “mission” given me and to others closely connected with it:
Our Lady made known to me that she is particularly interested in the youth of our nation. It is they who are to be the leaders of this movement of renewal on the face of the Earth. Their ranks will be swelled by the youths of other nations whom Our Lady also calls to help in the accomplishment of this great renewal. But the youth must be prepared, and this must be done by instilling into them, not only the knowledge of the Divine Indwelling, but a serious study of It, living It in such a way that the Divine Presence becomes, as it were, an intimate and necessary part of their life and daily living. From this will flow a great love, a conflagration that will envelop the world in the flames of Divine Charity. This is what Our Lady is working for, because this is the great desire of her Divine Son, and it is to the youth of America that she is holding out this challenge. A medal which Our Lady asked to be made is to be their shield against evil, the picture or statue of Our Lady, the protection of the home, the statue at the Shrine in Washington, D.C., a special safeguard for our country. America, the United States in particular, is being given the tremendous, yet privileged, opportunity to lead all nations in a spiritual renewal never before so necessary, so important, so vital.
► February 12th, 1958
The next day I was interiorly enlightened during Mass. It was made known to me that those, particularly the youth, who are willing wholeheartedly to follow Our Lady, in her great battle against evil, would bear the special title of “Torchbearers of the Queen.” This torch, of course, is Divine Love, for it is Love alone that will conquer hate and all that hate brings with it.
In regard to the medal that Our Lady requested to be made, I was told that as long as it bore the form of a shield, the medal itself could be of any shape desired. Around the image of Our Lady, as she appeared September 26th, 1956, these words are to be engraved: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Those who wear the medal with great Faith and fervent devotion to Our Lady will receive the grace of intense purity of heart and the particular love of the Holy Virgin and her Divine Son. Sinners will receive the grace of repentance and the spiritual strength to live as true children of Mary. As in life, so in death, this blessed medal will be as a shield to protect them against the evil spirits, and St. Michael himself will be at their side to allay their fears at the final hour. As mentioned before, Our Lady also requested a picture or statue of herself as she appeared on September 26th, 1956, to be honored and venerated in every Christian Home.
► June 1958
In June 1958, several weeks after I had entered the Cloister, I was walking in the enclosure courtyard before going to prayer. I felt overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and heaviness of heart. As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me as she had done on September 26th, 1956. She said to me: “Do not be afraid. I will keep my promise. Everything will be all right. Do not fear.” These words consoled me very much, and I went to prayer with a peaceful heart.
► July 18th, 1959
On July 18th, 1959, Our Lord spoke these words: “Oh, the pride of souls! How they resist my grace! O My priests, My religious, what would I not do for you if you would only let me? I come daily laden with graces which you daily refuse. What am I to say of you, my best beloved? How long will you resist My love? It is from you I expect everything, and you give Me but the husks of your affections. How long will I bear with you, O My chosen ones? How long will you spurn My approaches? It was this ingratitude on the part of My priests and My religious that caused Me so much sorrow in My passion. Oh, how they resist My grace! How they fight against My love! So fearful are they―that I will deprive them of their tawdry trinkets―that they turn their backs lest they see the reproach in My eyes.”
► December 20th, 1959
Our Lady came to me again on December 20th, 1959. These were her words to me as I understood them: “O my child, tell your spiritual father that I come again to warn and to plead. Oh, penance, penance! How little my children understand it! They give me many words, but sacrifice themselves they will not. It is not me they love but themselves. Oh, what blindness, sweet child, what blindness! How it pierces my heart! See, I weep, but my children show me no compassion. They behold the sword in my heart, but will make no move to withdraw it. I give them love; they give me only ingratitude. Weep, then, dear child, weep with your Mother over the sins of men. Intercede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away.”
Where is the Heresy? What is Weird About That?
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday August 14th & Saturday August 15th & Sunday August 16th
Article 6
Our Lady and America
Part 2 : Our Lady's 1950s Apparitions in Indiana and Ohio to Sr. Mary Ephrem
Friday August 14th & Saturday August 15th & Sunday August 16th
Article 6
Our Lady and America
Part 2 : Our Lady's 1950s Apparitions in Indiana and Ohio to Sr. Mary Ephrem
Controversial and Contested
What is wrong with the “Our Lady of America” devotion? Not a lot―there is more wrong with the Church than with the devotion! Before getting into the “rights” and “wrongs” of the devotion―let us first take a brief look at its history and the “chief players” in the devotion.
Where did the apparitions of Our Lady of America take place?
The apparitions of Our Lady of America to Sister Mary Ephrem took place in the chapel of the Precious Blood Sisters Convent in Kneipp Springs Sanitarium (also spelt “Sanatorium”), near Rome City, Indiana, and later, the apparitions continued in Fostoria, Ohio.
When did Our Lady of America appear to Sister Mary Ephrem?
On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of Lourdes. The next day, September 26th, 1956, on the actual feast of the North American Martyrs, she appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem for the first time as Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin.
On October 13th, 1956, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of America, but instead of a lily in her hand, she held, with both hands, a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She gave thanks to the Bishops and the faithful of America for this great gift in honor of her Immaculate Conception.
On October 7th, 1957, the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared.
Strong warnings were repeated by Our Lady throughout 1957 and 1958.
What did Our Lady of America promise?
Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America if we would do as she desires.
The Blessed Virgin Mary has promised that her statue as Our Lady of America, once placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, would be a safeguard for our country.
Our Lady promised that a picture or statue honored in all homes would be a safeguard for the family.
She also promised that the medal would be a safeguard against evil for those who wear it with great Faith and devotion.
Timeline of Sister Marie Ephrem’s Life
► 1916 ― Midred Marie Neuzil was born on August 2nd in Brooklyn, New York and was baptized at Most Holy Trinity Church. Shortly after, the family moved to Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Cleveland, Ohio.
► 1930 ― At age 14, on September 11th, 1930, feast of the Holy Name of Mary, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood in Dayton, Ohio, a papal religious community.
► 1933 ― Three years later, on August 15th, 1933, at age 17, Mildred took first vows and was given the name Sister Mary Ephrem and was later sent to Washington D.C.
► 1937 ― Midred Marie Neuzil (Sister Mary Ephrem) is sent to the Chancery in Cincinnati, Ohio.
► 1939 ― On August 15th, 1939, she made her final vows in religious life. At this time she began to have mystical experiences which she thought were common to all religious. As they intensified, Sister began to write down and share these experiences with her confessor, Fr. Paul Leibold (who would later become a bishop in 1958 and an archbishop in 1969). Father/Bishop/Archbishop Leibold would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, when he died.
► 1940s ― In the early 1940s, she was given a clear indication, in locutions with Jesus and Mary, that her mission was for the sanctification of the family whose stability was being threatened by Modernism in society and the errors of atheism spreading throughout the world.
► 1947 ― Sister Mary Ephrem helped at the sanitarium at Kneipp Springs, Rome City, Indiana, then some time later at Denver, Colorado
► 1948 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to a convent in North Dakota
► 1949 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was sent back to Cincinnati.
► 1953 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was assigned to Ottawa, Ohio.
► 1954 ― Bishop George J. Rehring gave permission for the cloister to be established in the Our Lady of Nativity Convent in New Riegel, Ohio, the Toledo diocese. The cloister gate was closed to the outside world in the ceremony presided over by Bishop Rehring on July 1st, 1957, the feast of the Most Precious Blood, establishing it as a truly Benedictine papal enclosure.
► 1956 ― On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the North American Martyrs at that time, Sister Mary Ephrem received the first visit from Our Lady while stationed a second time in Rome City, Indiana, the place where she was engaged in a fierce battle with Satan.
► 1958 ― In the month of May, 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered the recently founded Our Lady of Nativity cloister (in New Riegel, Ohio) to live a hidden contemplative life.
► 1961 ― Sister Mary Ephrem fulfilled Our Lady’s request to spread the messages with her Diary and to have the Medallion struck after Bishop Paul F. Leibold put his imprimatur on her sketch of it on May 1st, 1961. Leaflets with the two prayers essential to the message and explaining the medal were printed for distribution.
► 1962-1965 ― The Second Vatican Council was held and ushered in sweeping changes and a Liberalization and Modernization of the Church.
► 1969 ― Bishop Leibold is promoted to the rank of Archbishop.
► 1972 ― The death of Archbishop Leibold, who had been the spiritual director and supporter of Sister Mary Ephrem since the 1930s.
► 1978 ― Sister Mary Ephrem’s contemplative group requested separation from the active community in order to preserve their way of life. Rejection and abandonment followed.
► 1980s ― Sister Mary Ephrem continues to receive warnings from Heaven about the state of the world and America.
► 1984 ― Sister Mary Ephrem receives her final message from Heaven.
► 2000 ― Sister Mary Ephrem dies on January 10th, 2000, at age 83. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at the Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio.
Our Lady Under the Ecclesiastical Microscope
Most people know very little about “Our Lady of America” ― except perhaps how to spell it correctly! In November 2017, His Eminence, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, then President of the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), received instructions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome that the competent ecclesiastical authority for conducting the investigation should be the local bishop of the diocese where the alleged apparitions and private revelations of “Our Lady of America” occurred, or another bishop who demonstrates such competence. The lead bishop, who conducts the investigation, was to arrive at a first conclusion. In doing so, he was instructed to call upon whatever assistance was deemed necessary, although the enlistment of one or two experts in Mariology, along with experts in the field of spiritual theology, was highly encouraged, so the authenticity of the presumed mystical phenomena could be established.
Unless you are a practicing Catholic living in the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and regularly read Catholic newspapers―then you are probably unaware of the fact that on April 24th, 2020―after prolonged investigations into the “Our Lady of America” alleged apparitions and revelations― Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend and five other bishops made a pronouncement on their findings.
In accord with these instructions, the other five diocesan bishops, where the apparitions and private revelations were said to have occurred, requested that Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, serve as the lead bishop, since the purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary allegedly began on September 25th, 1956 at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, where people still gather and pray for the Blessed Mother’s intercession under the title, “Our Lady of America.” Bishop Rhoades agreed to the request of the other five bishops to conduct the investigation and formed a commission of theological and canonical experts to assist in evaluating the evidence, including personal interviews with witnesses who knew Sister Neuzil personally.
The Good―The Bad―The Ugly
In the words of the official decree issued by Bishop Rhoades and the other five bishops conducting the investigation, the key finding of the commission are as follows:
1. First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.
2. Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.
3. Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.
4. Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.
5. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.
At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati, had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
In 1963, the prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of then Monsignor Leibold when he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. This imprimatur was granted after receiving the nihil obstat from the censor librorum, then-Assistant Chancellor Father Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who later became Archbishop of Cincinnati. Years later, on July 28th, 2005, responding to an inquiry about the devotion to Our Lady of America, Archbishop Pilarczyk wrote, “While I am not able to find anything that would indicate that Archbishop Leibold granted approval to the apparitions, he remained Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972. He also arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was obviously very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972. In your letter, you ask if devotion to Our Lady of America is being fostered in the Archdiocese [of Cincinnati]. I do not know of any campaign to promote it.”
It should be noted that Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970. In that letter written two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings. He noted that he “helped her with some private printing of some material and also in having a medal struck, all strictly as a private devotion.” Archbishop Leibold wrote: “I have never taken any action to promote her devotion publicly and of course never followed through on the Shrine request.” (N.B. The “Shrine request” refers to the alleged request of Our Lady of America that her statue be placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception).
Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.
Signed on April 24th, 2020, by:
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati
Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit
Most Reverend Timothy L. Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana
Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix
Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas, Bishop of Toledo in Ohio
Glass Half-Full or Glass Half-Empty?
So what exactly is being said in the above Decree and Statement issued by the six bishops on April 24th, 2020? Are they against Our Lady of America or in favor of Our Lady of America? What are they refusing to believe and what do they believe? Is it a hoax or is it authentic?
► THE POSITIVE: On the one hand the six bishops say: “There is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection―but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax, or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness … It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience … Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error … The Immaculate Virgin reportedly first identified herself as “Our Lady of America” in grateful response to the devotion given by the Catholic faithful in America to her unique privilege as the “Immaculate Conception.” The message attributed to Our Lady was essentially to promote the sanctification of the family and purity of heart … along with the purported request of Our Lady for a procession of the bishops of the United States and placement of the statue of Our Lady of America in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. … Archbishop Leibold … Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972 … did attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings … and arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972 … The use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
Additionally, the Statement of the six bishops points out that other bishops have willingly and enthusiastically embraced the Our Lady of America devotion: “As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated. Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
► THE NEGATIVE: Yet on the other hand, the six bishops dare not go so far as to say that they are morally certain that that these apparitions and revelations―though not containing anything against the Faith or Morals―are of objective divine origin with the affirmation and confirmation or “rubber-stamp” of some accompanying miracles to prove the case. Thus they stop short―with the elevator not quite reaching the top floor―and say:
“We cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles … Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970 … two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated in that letter that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings … While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation … Her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements … We cannot conclude that any of these events [physical healings] are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
If It Walks Like a Duck―It Will Judge Like a Duck
Now most Catholics will take the Decree and Statement of Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops at face value―without more ado, without thinking more about it, without digging deeper or thinking deeper. That is our problem today―we do not think, or we do think enough, or our thinking is too superficial and not deep enough. Who is Bishop Rhoades?
Some simple research will tell you that Bishop Kevin Rhoades is a child of the Second Vatican Council and firm believer in its principles and direction. He was born in 1957 and would have been 7-years old when the Latin Mass was replaced by the Mass in English on November 29th, 1964 and 8-years old when the Second Vatican Council ended. He would have been 12 years old when Latin was totally removed from the Mass in 1969. By the time he graduated from high-school in 1975, the Catholic Church in both America and the world was in free-fall. Discipline was lax, morals were loose, Faith was questioned, the world with its worldliness had gained a stranglehold on Catholics. Science was on the rise and Faith was on the decline. The supernatural was increasingly questioned and doubted. You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room for very long without them taking on the smell of smoke. Most of today’s clergy found themselves growing-up in that smoky room of worldliness and faithlessness; the smoky room of doubt, incredulity, rationalism, agnosticism, atheism and paganism. Liberalism and Modernism were not the exception, but the norm in the Church―and, if you read Pope St. Pius X’s encyclical on Modernism, Pascendi, you will see that he describes Modernists as being two-faced. At one moment they will speak the most sublime traditional doctrine, yet a moment later they will spout Modernism with its doubts, questioning, rationalizing, de-supernaturalizing, modernizing and denaturizing of the Faith. The new gods for Modernism are science and philosophy and they will only believe and accept what can be measured or experienced by the senses. If the senses cannot measure or experience something, then the truthfulness of it has to questioned and rejected.
Truth, according to the Modernist, depends upon each individual’s subjective perceptions and beliefs, not upon any objective, universal order descending from God. Truth thus changes from person to person, from age to age, from place to place, and Modernism insists that human reason alone can determine what is right and wrong, good and bad, true and false. Most importantly, all individuals have a right by their very existence to exercise this subjective judgment as best pleases them, so long as they do not injure the rights of another individual. You can clearly see this Modernist principle and approach in the Decree and Statement of Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops―they respect the subjective, personal, individual experiences and feelings of Sister Mary Ephrem but leave them in vacuum of the unknowable, uncertain, non-measurable filed of subjectivity. Therefore, with great respect, but in true Modernist fashion, they relegate the supernatural to the realm of the unknowable, saying:
“There is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection―but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax, or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness … It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error…” BUT “We cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough …[we are] unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions … While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation … Her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements.”
The Church Today Shows Less Supernaturality Than Sister Mary Ephrem's "Revelations"
If truth be told, then there are far more questionable things happening in the Church today that dwarf the Our Lady of America issue like the Statue of Liberty being placed next to a grain of sand. One has to really question the supernaturality of a large part of the clergy and ‘faithful’ in the world today―and ask: “Is this really from God?”
The New York Times in its August 24th 1964 edition, reporting on events from St. Louis, Missouri on August 23rd, wrote: “The first major step in the modernization of the Roman Catholic liturgy in this country, the inauguration of the Mass in English, will be here tomorrow afternoon. Thousands of priests, nuns and laymen are expected to crowd into Kiel Auditorium at 5 p.m. to hear the Rev. Fr. Frederick R. McManus of Catholic University of America celebrate the first Mass. Masses will also be celebrated in English on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Priests from most of the nation’s dioceses―which embrace 45 million American Catholics―have been sent by their superiors to observe the first celebrations. The English Mass is expected to come into general use in this country on November 29th, 1964, the first day of the ecclesiastical year.”
Not only did the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass change from Latin to English, from being a Sacrifice to being a mere commemorative meal, from Gregorian Chant being sung to the guitars of Rock Masses or Folk Masses―but the Faith was about to undergo radical changes too. The religious instruction in Catholic school would undergo a radical change―from being “substantial food” to being mere “cotton-candy” or “candy-floss”. Instead of seeking to convert non-Catholics to the Faith, a false, deformed, warped, twisted notion of Ecumenism was introduced which was most certainly not from God, whereby all religions possessed a degree of God’s truth and all religions had to be respected―leading to interfaith religious worship with Protestants and even pagan religions―which was now no longer a mortal sin, but fun!
The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) website states: “On November 20th, 2019, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend led an interfaith prayer service alongside Rabbi Paula Jayne Winnig, interim clergy leader of Congregation Achduth Vesholom Jewish congregation in Fort Wayne.”
The Diocese of Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) website states: “Cardinal William H. Keeler [who ordained the future Bishop Rhoades to the priesthood] was a champion of interfaith and ecumenical understanding, regarded as one of the world’s leading figures in the field. When Jewish conductor Maestro Gilbert Levine, the “pope’s conductor,” visited Baltimore in 2000 to conduct a special performance of Haydn’s “Creation” for an international interfaith musical pilgrimage, he asserted that Cardinal Keeler’s “very body is in the rhythm of interfaith.” Cardinal Keeler was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 1994. He also served as episcopal moderator of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs from 1984 to 1987. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, former Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William Keeler (later, Cardinal) on July 9, 1983 and is also former Assistant Chancellor under then-Bishop Keeler. Bishop Rhoades said ecumenism was one of the cardinal’s top priorities: “He had many friends in the ecumenical movement and promoted good and strong relations with other Christians on the local level in the diocese. He was also very committed to a close relationship with the Jewish community,” Bishop Rhoades said. “He had a passion for ecumenism and good inter-faith relations. He was involved in many theological dialogues, but he also formed good friendships with our ecumenical and interreligious partners … Cardinal Keeler was truly a bridge-builder in all these activities. It was not always easy … He was persevering because he believed so deeply in the importance of ecumenism and in Christ’s will that all his disciples be one. I think this priority of his was inspired by his experience at the Second Vatican Council,” Bishop Rhoades concluded.”
Modernism believes that all religious knowledge comes from the individual. This knowledge arises from within a person as a subjective impulse of their conscious or subconscious state, from their reasoning or their instinct or feelings. All religions, therefore, are more or less good and praiseworthy―since they all, in different ways, manifest and signify man’s inborn religious instinct―hence this current false spirit of Ecumenism. There are thus as many different understandings of God as there are men. All these various and different notions of truth and of divine things―all deserve respect, for they are all legitimate expressions of the human spirit. Through mutual dialogue, different religions come to understand and respect one another, and this in turn promotes healthy peace and compromise. That is the Modernist principle that drives this false Ecumenical spirit.
The Church No Longer Speaks the Language of Faith
Perhaps that is an exaggerated statement―because many still do have the Faith―but less and less people (clergy included) understand the Faith and can articulate the Faith. Languages often change and corrupt over time―the same is true for the Faith. The causes behind language corruption are very similar to those that change and corrupt the Faith. The chief ones are:
► SPEECH ECONOMY: People tend to change and shorten their words to be as efficient and effective (with as little effort) as possible, while still being able to communicate the meaning. Text messaging is notorious for this abbreviation of language: LOL = laughing out loud; TBH = to be honest; 2G2BT = too good to be true, etc.
► LANGUAGE MIXING: Words and constructions are borrowed from one language into another.
► SEPARATION: When people with one language move away from their roots or family, the language will gradually corrupt and diverge into dialects, due to different experiences.
► CULTURAL INFLUENCE: As a culture evolves, new places, situations, and objects inevitably enter its language, whether or not the culture encounters different people.
► MIGRATION/MOVEMENT: People moving into a region with a new or more complex language, will influence, and be influenced by, language change; they sometimes even end up with entirely new languages, such as pidgins and creoles.
► IMPERFECT LEARNING: Children often learn the adult forms of expression imperfectly, and the changed forms then turn into a new standard. Alternatively, imperfect learning occurs regularly in one part of society, such as an immigrant group, who find difficulty in acquiring the new language.
In the case of the Faith, the false Ecumenism that allows and encourages mixing with false religions, inevitably leads to a corruption of the ideals of the Faith by intermixing the false principles of those religions with the Catholic Faith. The same applies with the Aggiornamento (the opening of the doors and windows of the Church to the world), which has led to a corruption of the Faith by worldliness. The result of all this is that the language of Catholicism today is no longer the language of Catholicism of yesterday―it has been and still is being changed and corrupted on a regular basis. The popes of today no longer speak like the popes of old. The same is true for much of the clergy and the religious orders. They might still use the “same old words” or terminology of old―but its meaning is now different.
For example―the Mass. In the past the Mass was understood as being a “Sacrifice”―today it is increasingly seen as a commemoration of a sacrifice, but not a real sacrifice. The “Holy Eucharist” in the past was seen as being as the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ under the appearance of Bread and Wine―today it is increasingly seen a symbolic or spiritual presence of Christ, but not the real Christ. These and other such things like “Faith”, “Truth”, “Sin”, “Salvation”, etc. mean different things to different people―there is no longer any objectivity in these terms, for they have become victims to subjectivity―whereby they can mean whatever you want them to mean.
How About Eating What is Good―Leaving Aside What is Bad?
In a moment―which will probably mean in the next article―we will look at the contents of the revelations “allegedly” made to Sister Mary Ephrem. However, before doing that, let it be asked why the US Catholic Church hierarchy has not followed and tried to put into practice those aspects of the revelations/messages that Bishop Rhoades and his five other fellow bishops state: “Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error.”
► The question that should be asked of Bishop Rhoades, and his five fellow bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States, is this: “If much of what is expressed in the ‘alleged revelations does not contain any doctrinal error’ ― then, for the love of Heaven and the salvation of souls entrusted to you in the USA, why do you not speak about, highlight, praise, promote, encourage, stress, implement, enforce and achieve all those many other things in the ‘alleged revelations’ that do not contain any doctrinal error?”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops―answer that question!
When you buy a piece of fruit, a small portion of which is spoiled or rotten, do you not cut-out and throw away the rotten part and eat the remaining majority which is still good and healthy? Or do you throw away the healthy part with the rotten part?
When a person has a cancer on one small part of the body―do you not cut out the cancerous growth and leave the healthy parts alone? Or do you kill the patient because one small of the body has a cancerous growth?
When a person comes to you confessing a mortal sin―by which he/she has lost sanctifying grace and is consequently in a state of potential damnation―do you remove the sin through sacramental absolution and try ‘heal’ the tendencies of the person, or do you tell them to go to Hell?
Does not Holy Scripture say: “Extinguish not the spirit! Despise not prophecies! But prove all things! Hold fast that which is good!” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21).
► A further question that needs answering by Bishop Rhoades and all the Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States is this: “If you object to the ‘alleged revelations’ as not being of God because they mention St. Joseph as being a ‘co-redeemer’, then why do you mingle and worship together with non-Catholic religions in your false spirit of Ecumenism―these non-Catholic relgions are false religions, they are not of God and religions which do not redeem―so why mingle with them? Because it seems that by mingling with these false religions, you are in a certain sense calling them ‘co-redeemers’ alongside the Catholic Church? It seems contradictory―for you refuse a reference to St. Joseph as being a ‘co-redeemer’ (more on that later), but then you accept non-Catholic religions as being ‘co-redeemers’!”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States―answer that question! Clarify your position! Clear up your obvious contradiction! Otherwise―using your own argumentation―could it be said, as you say of the ‘alleged revelations’ made to Sister Mary Ephrem, that (paraphrasing your own words): “The visions and revelations [in this case, the interfaith prayer meetings, concelebrations and Ecumenical spirit] cannot be said to be of supernatural origin (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, we cannot approve or support public support”? Please, Bishop Rhoades all the Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States, answer this question and explain your contradictory position.
► One more question needs to be asked! The question will have to prefaced with a brief summary of some facts. Since you, Bishop Rhoades, and your five fellow bishops, are being very cautious and are rightfully exercising great prudence and circumspection―perhaps other events, occurring around the same time as the “alleged revelations” were being made to Sister Mary Ephrem. Those events involve Dr. Bella Dodd, who was a leader of the Communist Party of America (CPUSA) in the 1930s and 1940s, who testified in front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church. Dr. Bella Dodd stated: “In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Dr. Bella Dodd made a public affidavit which was witnessed by a number of people, including Paul and Johnine Leininger. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries”. Pope Pius XII admitted that he knew there were infiltrators in the Catholic Church, but he was uncertain as to their numbers and names.
Mrs. Johnine Leininger confirmed that other people could also verify that Dr. Bella Dodd had made these statements regarding the infiltration of Communists into Roman Catholic seminaries. Mrs. Leininger has also said that she herself knows some Roman Catholic priests who were “sleepers” ― an espionage term for individuals or groups who refrain from any subversive, espionage, and/or infiltrator functions until they become “active”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger stated that she knows of several priests who faithfully taught the Catholic religion, until they became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, and then, upon becoming “active”, immediately exhibited hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed. Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council, Dr. Bella Dodd stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, the theologian, that: “When she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]” (Christian Order magazine, “The Church in Crisis”). Dr. Alice von Hildebrand confirmed that Dr. Bella Dodd had publicly stated the same things, to which she attested in her public affidavit. On April 7th, 1952, she was received back into the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.
Bishop―later Archbishop―Fulton Sheen spoke of this Communist infiltration in relation to the Antichrist, saying: “The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. His logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect. The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves ... His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s. In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ .... But the twentieth century will join the counter-church because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world Communism.” (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West, pp. 22-25).
► Now let us pose the question: “In view of this ‘alleged’ infiltration of the Church―admitted and acknowledged by many of your fellow bishops over the years―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact that they have reached the highest places within the Church, both in Rome and the Church worldwide (America included)―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact that Sister Lucia said that Our Lady had revealed to the her that Communism would take over the whole world (America included)―and in view of the ‘alleged’ words of Our Lady at Akita who said that Satan would infiltrate the Catholic Church and its clergy―and in view of the ‘alleged’ words of Pope Paul VI (on three major public occasions) saying that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church and reached the highest places―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact of the vision Pope Leo XIII had in which Satan boasted to Christ that he could destroy the Church if given enough time (which Christ then gave him)―in view of all these ‘alleged’ facts, is it not possible―nay, is it not even more likely―that Satan and his infiltrator stooges would be working hard to neutralize, water-down, sideline or even cast out anything supernatural that could hinder, delay, set-back or even stop Satan’s desire and plans to destroy the Church?”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States―answer that question!
Our Lady is Sad! Why?
According to Sister Lucia of Fatima, Our Lady is “sad” because her messages and warnings are either being neglected or deliberately ignored. Around the same time that Sister Mary Ephrem was being given her “alleged” revelations by Our Lady (1956 to 1959), Sister Lucia, in speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Are we ignoring Our Lady’s messages and warnings? It seems so―because, apart from a few select circles, hardly anybody is speaking about, nor encouraging, nor fulfilling the requests of Our Lady according to the quantity and quality requested. Ecumenism is not the answer―conversion is the answer. Ecumenism―if you can excuse the brutal expression―is nothing else than ecumenism with the devil.
Christ did not come to merely to eat and drink and talk with sinners―He came to convert sinners, point out their errors and call them to the truth. He did not make them feel “comfy” and “cozy” in the wrong paths and directions they had chosen, but told them to change direction and change their ways. To the woman caught in adultery “Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11). To the paralytic whom Jesus cured, “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). To the Jews who refused to accept His teaching, Jesus warned: “I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24).
To the Scribes and Pharisees―who professed to adore the same to adore the one and the same that Jesus adored (and was God Himself)―Jesus did not get “ecumenical” with them, but pointed out their errors: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and Faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness” (Matthew 23:13-27). “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
What would Jesus say of the modern-day “Scribes and Pharisees” in the Catholic Church today? What would Jesus say of this false Ecumenism that BLATANTLY goes against Holy Scripture, the infallible Word of God, which says: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
If the ‘teachings’ or ‘revelations’ or ‘messages’ given to Sr. Mary Ephrem are to be doubted because of the statement that St. Joseph was a “co-redeemer” (more on that later), then should the teachings, revelations, messages and sermons of the present-day Post-Conciliar Church (Post-Vatican II Church) also be doubted because of its clearly un-Scriptural and un-Christlike pursuance of a false Ecumenism that is afraid to speak the truth to those who are in error, and adopts a friendly stance to those errors by engaging in actions that confuse the faithful and compromise the truth, such as joint public prayer meetings, shared Communions, etc.? Should not the faithful adopt the same principles that are used in the case of Our Lady of America, and say: “Much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error … However,
looking at the nature and quality of the teachings of some members of the Post-Concialiar clergy, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences and worldly or human opinions, rather than objective Catholic teaching. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to the subjective religious opinions of that clergy, we do not find evidence pointing to their experiences opinions as being in the category of objective Catholic teaching and Divine Revelation … Thus, we cannot approve or support them publicly!” Those are essentially the principles invoked in dealing with the “alleged” Our Lady of America revelations―so why can they not also be applied to the modern Post-Conciliar Catholic Church of today? What is good for the goose, is also good for the gander!
What is wrong with the “Our Lady of America” devotion? Not a lot―there is more wrong with the Church than with the devotion! Before getting into the “rights” and “wrongs” of the devotion―let us first take a brief look at its history and the “chief players” in the devotion.
Where did the apparitions of Our Lady of America take place?
The apparitions of Our Lady of America to Sister Mary Ephrem took place in the chapel of the Precious Blood Sisters Convent in Kneipp Springs Sanitarium (also spelt “Sanatorium”), near Rome City, Indiana, and later, the apparitions continued in Fostoria, Ohio.
When did Our Lady of America appear to Sister Mary Ephrem?
On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, Our Lady appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem as Our Lady of Lourdes. The next day, September 26th, 1956, on the actual feast of the North American Martyrs, she appeared to Sister Mary Ephrem for the first time as Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin.
On October 13th, 1956, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of America, but instead of a lily in her hand, she held, with both hands, a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She gave thanks to the Bishops and the faithful of America for this great gift in honor of her Immaculate Conception.
On October 7th, 1957, the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared.
Strong warnings were repeated by Our Lady throughout 1957 and 1958.
What did Our Lady of America promise?
Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America if we would do as she desires.
The Blessed Virgin Mary has promised that her statue as Our Lady of America, once placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, would be a safeguard for our country.
Our Lady promised that a picture or statue honored in all homes would be a safeguard for the family.
She also promised that the medal would be a safeguard against evil for those who wear it with great Faith and devotion.
Timeline of Sister Marie Ephrem’s Life
► 1916 ― Midred Marie Neuzil was born on August 2nd in Brooklyn, New York and was baptized at Most Holy Trinity Church. Shortly after, the family moved to Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Cleveland, Ohio.
► 1930 ― At age 14, on September 11th, 1930, feast of the Holy Name of Mary, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood in Dayton, Ohio, a papal religious community.
► 1933 ― Three years later, on August 15th, 1933, at age 17, Mildred took first vows and was given the name Sister Mary Ephrem and was later sent to Washington D.C.
► 1937 ― Midred Marie Neuzil (Sister Mary Ephrem) is sent to the Chancery in Cincinnati, Ohio.
► 1939 ― On August 15th, 1939, she made her final vows in religious life. At this time she began to have mystical experiences which she thought were common to all religious. As they intensified, Sister began to write down and share these experiences with her confessor, Fr. Paul Leibold (who would later become a bishop in 1958 and an archbishop in 1969). Father/Bishop/Archbishop Leibold would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, when he died.
► 1940s ― In the early 1940s, she was given a clear indication, in locutions with Jesus and Mary, that her mission was for the sanctification of the family whose stability was being threatened by Modernism in society and the errors of atheism spreading throughout the world.
► 1947 ― Sister Mary Ephrem helped at the sanitarium at Kneipp Springs, Rome City, Indiana, then some time later at Denver, Colorado
► 1948 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to a convent in North Dakota
► 1949 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was sent back to Cincinnati.
► 1953 ― Sister Mary Ephrem was assigned to Ottawa, Ohio.
► 1954 ― Bishop George J. Rehring gave permission for the cloister to be established in the Our Lady of Nativity Convent in New Riegel, Ohio, the Toledo diocese. The cloister gate was closed to the outside world in the ceremony presided over by Bishop Rehring on July 1st, 1957, the feast of the Most Precious Blood, establishing it as a truly Benedictine papal enclosure.
► 1956 ― On September 25th, 1956, the eve of the North American Martyrs at that time, Sister Mary Ephrem received the first visit from Our Lady while stationed a second time in Rome City, Indiana, the place where she was engaged in a fierce battle with Satan.
► 1958 ― In the month of May, 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered the recently founded Our Lady of Nativity cloister (in New Riegel, Ohio) to live a hidden contemplative life.
► 1961 ― Sister Mary Ephrem fulfilled Our Lady’s request to spread the messages with her Diary and to have the Medallion struck after Bishop Paul F. Leibold put his imprimatur on her sketch of it on May 1st, 1961. Leaflets with the two prayers essential to the message and explaining the medal were printed for distribution.
► 1962-1965 ― The Second Vatican Council was held and ushered in sweeping changes and a Liberalization and Modernization of the Church.
► 1969 ― Bishop Leibold is promoted to the rank of Archbishop.
► 1972 ― The death of Archbishop Leibold, who had been the spiritual director and supporter of Sister Mary Ephrem since the 1930s.
► 1978 ― Sister Mary Ephrem’s contemplative group requested separation from the active community in order to preserve their way of life. Rejection and abandonment followed.
► 1980s ― Sister Mary Ephrem continues to receive warnings from Heaven about the state of the world and America.
► 1984 ― Sister Mary Ephrem receives her final message from Heaven.
► 2000 ― Sister Mary Ephrem dies on January 10th, 2000, at age 83. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at the Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio.
Our Lady Under the Ecclesiastical Microscope
Most people know very little about “Our Lady of America” ― except perhaps how to spell it correctly! In November 2017, His Eminence, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, then President of the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), received instructions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome that the competent ecclesiastical authority for conducting the investigation should be the local bishop of the diocese where the alleged apparitions and private revelations of “Our Lady of America” occurred, or another bishop who demonstrates such competence. The lead bishop, who conducts the investigation, was to arrive at a first conclusion. In doing so, he was instructed to call upon whatever assistance was deemed necessary, although the enlistment of one or two experts in Mariology, along with experts in the field of spiritual theology, was highly encouraged, so the authenticity of the presumed mystical phenomena could be established.
Unless you are a practicing Catholic living in the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and regularly read Catholic newspapers―then you are probably unaware of the fact that on April 24th, 2020―after prolonged investigations into the “Our Lady of America” alleged apparitions and revelations― Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend and five other bishops made a pronouncement on their findings.
In accord with these instructions, the other five diocesan bishops, where the apparitions and private revelations were said to have occurred, requested that Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, serve as the lead bishop, since the purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary allegedly began on September 25th, 1956 at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, where people still gather and pray for the Blessed Mother’s intercession under the title, “Our Lady of America.” Bishop Rhoades agreed to the request of the other five bishops to conduct the investigation and formed a commission of theological and canonical experts to assist in evaluating the evidence, including personal interviews with witnesses who knew Sister Neuzil personally.
The Good―The Bad―The Ugly
In the words of the official decree issued by Bishop Rhoades and the other five bishops conducting the investigation, the key finding of the commission are as follows:
1. First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.
2. Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.
3. Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.
4. Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.
5. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.
At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati, had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
In 1963, the prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of then Monsignor Leibold when he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. This imprimatur was granted after receiving the nihil obstat from the censor librorum, then-Assistant Chancellor Father Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who later became Archbishop of Cincinnati. Years later, on July 28th, 2005, responding to an inquiry about the devotion to Our Lady of America, Archbishop Pilarczyk wrote, “While I am not able to find anything that would indicate that Archbishop Leibold granted approval to the apparitions, he remained Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972. He also arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was obviously very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972. In your letter, you ask if devotion to Our Lady of America is being fostered in the Archdiocese [of Cincinnati]. I do not know of any campaign to promote it.”
It should be noted that Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970. In that letter written two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings. He noted that he “helped her with some private printing of some material and also in having a medal struck, all strictly as a private devotion.” Archbishop Leibold wrote: “I have never taken any action to promote her devotion publicly and of course never followed through on the Shrine request.” (N.B. The “Shrine request” refers to the alleged request of Our Lady of America that her statue be placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception).
Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.
Signed on April 24th, 2020, by:
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati
Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit
Most Reverend Timothy L. Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana
Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix
Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas, Bishop of Toledo in Ohio
Glass Half-Full or Glass Half-Empty?
So what exactly is being said in the above Decree and Statement issued by the six bishops on April 24th, 2020? Are they against Our Lady of America or in favor of Our Lady of America? What are they refusing to believe and what do they believe? Is it a hoax or is it authentic?
► THE POSITIVE: On the one hand the six bishops say: “There is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection―but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax, or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness … It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience … Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error … The Immaculate Virgin reportedly first identified herself as “Our Lady of America” in grateful response to the devotion given by the Catholic faithful in America to her unique privilege as the “Immaculate Conception.” The message attributed to Our Lady was essentially to promote the sanctification of the family and purity of heart … along with the purported request of Our Lady for a procession of the bishops of the United States and placement of the statue of Our Lady of America in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. … Archbishop Leibold … Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972 … did attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings … and arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972 … The use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
Additionally, the Statement of the six bishops points out that other bishops have willingly and enthusiastically embraced the Our Lady of America devotion: “As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated. Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
► THE NEGATIVE: Yet on the other hand, the six bishops dare not go so far as to say that they are morally certain that that these apparitions and revelations―though not containing anything against the Faith or Morals―are of objective divine origin with the affirmation and confirmation or “rubber-stamp” of some accompanying miracles to prove the case. Thus they stop short―with the elevator not quite reaching the top floor―and say:
“We cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles … Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970 … two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated in that letter that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings … While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation … Her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements … We cannot conclude that any of these events [physical healings] are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles.” (Statement of Bishop Rhoades and Five Other Bishops, Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America, April 24th, 2020).
If It Walks Like a Duck―It Will Judge Like a Duck
Now most Catholics will take the Decree and Statement of Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops at face value―without more ado, without thinking more about it, without digging deeper or thinking deeper. That is our problem today―we do not think, or we do think enough, or our thinking is too superficial and not deep enough. Who is Bishop Rhoades?
Some simple research will tell you that Bishop Kevin Rhoades is a child of the Second Vatican Council and firm believer in its principles and direction. He was born in 1957 and would have been 7-years old when the Latin Mass was replaced by the Mass in English on November 29th, 1964 and 8-years old when the Second Vatican Council ended. He would have been 12 years old when Latin was totally removed from the Mass in 1969. By the time he graduated from high-school in 1975, the Catholic Church in both America and the world was in free-fall. Discipline was lax, morals were loose, Faith was questioned, the world with its worldliness had gained a stranglehold on Catholics. Science was on the rise and Faith was on the decline. The supernatural was increasingly questioned and doubted. You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room for very long without them taking on the smell of smoke. Most of today’s clergy found themselves growing-up in that smoky room of worldliness and faithlessness; the smoky room of doubt, incredulity, rationalism, agnosticism, atheism and paganism. Liberalism and Modernism were not the exception, but the norm in the Church―and, if you read Pope St. Pius X’s encyclical on Modernism, Pascendi, you will see that he describes Modernists as being two-faced. At one moment they will speak the most sublime traditional doctrine, yet a moment later they will spout Modernism with its doubts, questioning, rationalizing, de-supernaturalizing, modernizing and denaturizing of the Faith. The new gods for Modernism are science and philosophy and they will only believe and accept what can be measured or experienced by the senses. If the senses cannot measure or experience something, then the truthfulness of it has to questioned and rejected.
Truth, according to the Modernist, depends upon each individual’s subjective perceptions and beliefs, not upon any objective, universal order descending from God. Truth thus changes from person to person, from age to age, from place to place, and Modernism insists that human reason alone can determine what is right and wrong, good and bad, true and false. Most importantly, all individuals have a right by their very existence to exercise this subjective judgment as best pleases them, so long as they do not injure the rights of another individual. You can clearly see this Modernist principle and approach in the Decree and Statement of Bishop Rhoades and his five fellow bishops―they respect the subjective, personal, individual experiences and feelings of Sister Mary Ephrem but leave them in vacuum of the unknowable, uncertain, non-measurable filed of subjectivity. Therefore, with great respect, but in true Modernist fashion, they relegate the supernatural to the realm of the unknowable, saying:
“There is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection―but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax, or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness … It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience … Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error…” BUT “We cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough …[we are] unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions … While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation … Her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements.”
The Church Today Shows Less Supernaturality Than Sister Mary Ephrem's "Revelations"
If truth be told, then there are far more questionable things happening in the Church today that dwarf the Our Lady of America issue like the Statue of Liberty being placed next to a grain of sand. One has to really question the supernaturality of a large part of the clergy and ‘faithful’ in the world today―and ask: “Is this really from God?”
The New York Times in its August 24th 1964 edition, reporting on events from St. Louis, Missouri on August 23rd, wrote: “The first major step in the modernization of the Roman Catholic liturgy in this country, the inauguration of the Mass in English, will be here tomorrow afternoon. Thousands of priests, nuns and laymen are expected to crowd into Kiel Auditorium at 5 p.m. to hear the Rev. Fr. Frederick R. McManus of Catholic University of America celebrate the first Mass. Masses will also be celebrated in English on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Priests from most of the nation’s dioceses―which embrace 45 million American Catholics―have been sent by their superiors to observe the first celebrations. The English Mass is expected to come into general use in this country on November 29th, 1964, the first day of the ecclesiastical year.”
Not only did the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass change from Latin to English, from being a Sacrifice to being a mere commemorative meal, from Gregorian Chant being sung to the guitars of Rock Masses or Folk Masses―but the Faith was about to undergo radical changes too. The religious instruction in Catholic school would undergo a radical change―from being “substantial food” to being mere “cotton-candy” or “candy-floss”. Instead of seeking to convert non-Catholics to the Faith, a false, deformed, warped, twisted notion of Ecumenism was introduced which was most certainly not from God, whereby all religions possessed a degree of God’s truth and all religions had to be respected―leading to interfaith religious worship with Protestants and even pagan religions―which was now no longer a mortal sin, but fun!
The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) website states: “On November 20th, 2019, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend led an interfaith prayer service alongside Rabbi Paula Jayne Winnig, interim clergy leader of Congregation Achduth Vesholom Jewish congregation in Fort Wayne.”
The Diocese of Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) website states: “Cardinal William H. Keeler [who ordained the future Bishop Rhoades to the priesthood] was a champion of interfaith and ecumenical understanding, regarded as one of the world’s leading figures in the field. When Jewish conductor Maestro Gilbert Levine, the “pope’s conductor,” visited Baltimore in 2000 to conduct a special performance of Haydn’s “Creation” for an international interfaith musical pilgrimage, he asserted that Cardinal Keeler’s “very body is in the rhythm of interfaith.” Cardinal Keeler was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 1994. He also served as episcopal moderator of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs from 1984 to 1987. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, former Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William Keeler (later, Cardinal) on July 9, 1983 and is also former Assistant Chancellor under then-Bishop Keeler. Bishop Rhoades said ecumenism was one of the cardinal’s top priorities: “He had many friends in the ecumenical movement and promoted good and strong relations with other Christians on the local level in the diocese. He was also very committed to a close relationship with the Jewish community,” Bishop Rhoades said. “He had a passion for ecumenism and good inter-faith relations. He was involved in many theological dialogues, but he also formed good friendships with our ecumenical and interreligious partners … Cardinal Keeler was truly a bridge-builder in all these activities. It was not always easy … He was persevering because he believed so deeply in the importance of ecumenism and in Christ’s will that all his disciples be one. I think this priority of his was inspired by his experience at the Second Vatican Council,” Bishop Rhoades concluded.”
Modernism believes that all religious knowledge comes from the individual. This knowledge arises from within a person as a subjective impulse of their conscious or subconscious state, from their reasoning or their instinct or feelings. All religions, therefore, are more or less good and praiseworthy―since they all, in different ways, manifest and signify man’s inborn religious instinct―hence this current false spirit of Ecumenism. There are thus as many different understandings of God as there are men. All these various and different notions of truth and of divine things―all deserve respect, for they are all legitimate expressions of the human spirit. Through mutual dialogue, different religions come to understand and respect one another, and this in turn promotes healthy peace and compromise. That is the Modernist principle that drives this false Ecumenical spirit.
The Church No Longer Speaks the Language of Faith
Perhaps that is an exaggerated statement―because many still do have the Faith―but less and less people (clergy included) understand the Faith and can articulate the Faith. Languages often change and corrupt over time―the same is true for the Faith. The causes behind language corruption are very similar to those that change and corrupt the Faith. The chief ones are:
► SPEECH ECONOMY: People tend to change and shorten their words to be as efficient and effective (with as little effort) as possible, while still being able to communicate the meaning. Text messaging is notorious for this abbreviation of language: LOL = laughing out loud; TBH = to be honest; 2G2BT = too good to be true, etc.
► LANGUAGE MIXING: Words and constructions are borrowed from one language into another.
► SEPARATION: When people with one language move away from their roots or family, the language will gradually corrupt and diverge into dialects, due to different experiences.
► CULTURAL INFLUENCE: As a culture evolves, new places, situations, and objects inevitably enter its language, whether or not the culture encounters different people.
► MIGRATION/MOVEMENT: People moving into a region with a new or more complex language, will influence, and be influenced by, language change; they sometimes even end up with entirely new languages, such as pidgins and creoles.
► IMPERFECT LEARNING: Children often learn the adult forms of expression imperfectly, and the changed forms then turn into a new standard. Alternatively, imperfect learning occurs regularly in one part of society, such as an immigrant group, who find difficulty in acquiring the new language.
In the case of the Faith, the false Ecumenism that allows and encourages mixing with false religions, inevitably leads to a corruption of the ideals of the Faith by intermixing the false principles of those religions with the Catholic Faith. The same applies with the Aggiornamento (the opening of the doors and windows of the Church to the world), which has led to a corruption of the Faith by worldliness. The result of all this is that the language of Catholicism today is no longer the language of Catholicism of yesterday―it has been and still is being changed and corrupted on a regular basis. The popes of today no longer speak like the popes of old. The same is true for much of the clergy and the religious orders. They might still use the “same old words” or terminology of old―but its meaning is now different.
For example―the Mass. In the past the Mass was understood as being a “Sacrifice”―today it is increasingly seen as a commemoration of a sacrifice, but not a real sacrifice. The “Holy Eucharist” in the past was seen as being as the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ under the appearance of Bread and Wine―today it is increasingly seen a symbolic or spiritual presence of Christ, but not the real Christ. These and other such things like “Faith”, “Truth”, “Sin”, “Salvation”, etc. mean different things to different people―there is no longer any objectivity in these terms, for they have become victims to subjectivity―whereby they can mean whatever you want them to mean.
How About Eating What is Good―Leaving Aside What is Bad?
In a moment―which will probably mean in the next article―we will look at the contents of the revelations “allegedly” made to Sister Mary Ephrem. However, before doing that, let it be asked why the US Catholic Church hierarchy has not followed and tried to put into practice those aspects of the revelations/messages that Bishop Rhoades and his five other fellow bishops state: “Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error.”
► The question that should be asked of Bishop Rhoades, and his five fellow bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States, is this: “If much of what is expressed in the ‘alleged revelations does not contain any doctrinal error’ ― then, for the love of Heaven and the salvation of souls entrusted to you in the USA, why do you not speak about, highlight, praise, promote, encourage, stress, implement, enforce and achieve all those many other things in the ‘alleged revelations’ that do not contain any doctrinal error?”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops―answer that question!
When you buy a piece of fruit, a small portion of which is spoiled or rotten, do you not cut-out and throw away the rotten part and eat the remaining majority which is still good and healthy? Or do you throw away the healthy part with the rotten part?
When a person has a cancer on one small part of the body―do you not cut out the cancerous growth and leave the healthy parts alone? Or do you kill the patient because one small of the body has a cancerous growth?
When a person comes to you confessing a mortal sin―by which he/she has lost sanctifying grace and is consequently in a state of potential damnation―do you remove the sin through sacramental absolution and try ‘heal’ the tendencies of the person, or do you tell them to go to Hell?
Does not Holy Scripture say: “Extinguish not the spirit! Despise not prophecies! But prove all things! Hold fast that which is good!” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21).
► A further question that needs answering by Bishop Rhoades and all the Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States is this: “If you object to the ‘alleged revelations’ as not being of God because they mention St. Joseph as being a ‘co-redeemer’, then why do you mingle and worship together with non-Catholic religions in your false spirit of Ecumenism―these non-Catholic relgions are false religions, they are not of God and religions which do not redeem―so why mingle with them? Because it seems that by mingling with these false religions, you are in a certain sense calling them ‘co-redeemers’ alongside the Catholic Church? It seems contradictory―for you refuse a reference to St. Joseph as being a ‘co-redeemer’ (more on that later), but then you accept non-Catholic religions as being ‘co-redeemers’!”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States―answer that question! Clarify your position! Clear up your obvious contradiction! Otherwise―using your own argumentation―could it be said, as you say of the ‘alleged revelations’ made to Sister Mary Ephrem, that (paraphrasing your own words): “The visions and revelations [in this case, the interfaith prayer meetings, concelebrations and Ecumenical spirit] cannot be said to be of supernatural origin (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, we cannot approve or support public support”? Please, Bishop Rhoades all the Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States, answer this question and explain your contradictory position.
► One more question needs to be asked! The question will have to prefaced with a brief summary of some facts. Since you, Bishop Rhoades, and your five fellow bishops, are being very cautious and are rightfully exercising great prudence and circumspection―perhaps other events, occurring around the same time as the “alleged revelations” were being made to Sister Mary Ephrem. Those events involve Dr. Bella Dodd, who was a leader of the Communist Party of America (CPUSA) in the 1930s and 1940s, who testified in front of the US House Un-American Activities Committee, about the plans of a Communist infiltration of Catholic Church. Dr. Bella Dodd stated: “In the 1930’s we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Dr. Bella Dodd made a public affidavit which was witnessed by a number of people, including Paul and Johnine Leininger. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Roman Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,100 men in Roman Catholic seminaries”. Pope Pius XII admitted that he knew there were infiltrators in the Catholic Church, but he was uncertain as to their numbers and names.
Mrs. Johnine Leininger confirmed that other people could also verify that Dr. Bella Dodd had made these statements regarding the infiltration of Communists into Roman Catholic seminaries. Mrs. Leininger has also said that she herself knows some Roman Catholic priests who were “sleepers” ― an espionage term for individuals or groups who refrain from any subversive, espionage, and/or infiltrator functions until they become “active”. Mrs. Johnine Leininger stated that she knows of several priests who faithfully taught the Catholic religion, until they became bishops, or were promoted to other influential posts, and then, upon becoming “active”, immediately exhibited hostility to that same Faith, which they had previously professed. Around ten years before the Second Vatican Council, Dr. Bella Dodd stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, the theologian, that: “When she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]” (Christian Order magazine, “The Church in Crisis”). Dr. Alice von Hildebrand confirmed that Dr. Bella Dodd had publicly stated the same things, to which she attested in her public affidavit. On April 7th, 1952, she was received back into the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.
Bishop―later Archbishop―Fulton Sheen spoke of this Communist infiltration in relation to the Antichrist, saying: “The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. His logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect. The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves ... His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s. In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ .... But the twentieth century will join the counter-church because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world Communism.” (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West, pp. 22-25).
► Now let us pose the question: “In view of this ‘alleged’ infiltration of the Church―admitted and acknowledged by many of your fellow bishops over the years―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact that they have reached the highest places within the Church, both in Rome and the Church worldwide (America included)―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact that Sister Lucia said that Our Lady had revealed to the her that Communism would take over the whole world (America included)―and in view of the ‘alleged’ words of Our Lady at Akita who said that Satan would infiltrate the Catholic Church and its clergy―and in view of the ‘alleged’ words of Pope Paul VI (on three major public occasions) saying that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church and reached the highest places―and in view of the ‘alleged’ fact of the vision Pope Leo XIII had in which Satan boasted to Christ that he could destroy the Church if given enough time (which Christ then gave him)―in view of all these ‘alleged’ facts, is it not possible―nay, is it not even more likely―that Satan and his infiltrator stooges would be working hard to neutralize, water-down, sideline or even cast out anything supernatural that could hinder, delay, set-back or even stop Satan’s desire and plans to destroy the Church?”
Please, Bishop Rhoades―and all the other five bishops, as well as the whole Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States―answer that question!
Our Lady is Sad! Why?
According to Sister Lucia of Fatima, Our Lady is “sad” because her messages and warnings are either being neglected or deliberately ignored. Around the same time that Sister Mary Ephrem was being given her “alleged” revelations by Our Lady (1956 to 1959), Sister Lucia, in speaking to Fr. Fuentes, said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Are we ignoring Our Lady’s messages and warnings? It seems so―because, apart from a few select circles, hardly anybody is speaking about, nor encouraging, nor fulfilling the requests of Our Lady according to the quantity and quality requested. Ecumenism is not the answer―conversion is the answer. Ecumenism―if you can excuse the brutal expression―is nothing else than ecumenism with the devil.
Christ did not come to merely to eat and drink and talk with sinners―He came to convert sinners, point out their errors and call them to the truth. He did not make them feel “comfy” and “cozy” in the wrong paths and directions they had chosen, but told them to change direction and change their ways. To the woman caught in adultery “Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11). To the paralytic whom Jesus cured, “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). To the Jews who refused to accept His teaching, Jesus warned: “I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24).
To the Scribes and Pharisees―who professed to adore the same to adore the one and the same that Jesus adored (and was God Himself)―Jesus did not get “ecumenical” with them, but pointed out their errors: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and Faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness” (Matthew 23:13-27). “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
What would Jesus say of the modern-day “Scribes and Pharisees” in the Catholic Church today? What would Jesus say of this false Ecumenism that BLATANTLY goes against Holy Scripture, the infallible Word of God, which says: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
If the ‘teachings’ or ‘revelations’ or ‘messages’ given to Sr. Mary Ephrem are to be doubted because of the statement that St. Joseph was a “co-redeemer” (more on that later), then should the teachings, revelations, messages and sermons of the present-day Post-Conciliar Church (Post-Vatican II Church) also be doubted because of its clearly un-Scriptural and un-Christlike pursuance of a false Ecumenism that is afraid to speak the truth to those who are in error, and adopts a friendly stance to those errors by engaging in actions that confuse the faithful and compromise the truth, such as joint public prayer meetings, shared Communions, etc.? Should not the faithful adopt the same principles that are used in the case of Our Lady of America, and say: “Much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error … However,
looking at the nature and quality of the teachings of some members of the Post-Concialiar clergy, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences and worldly or human opinions, rather than objective Catholic teaching. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to the subjective religious opinions of that clergy, we do not find evidence pointing to their experiences opinions as being in the category of objective Catholic teaching and Divine Revelation … Thus, we cannot approve or support them publicly!” Those are essentially the principles invoked in dealing with the “alleged” Our Lady of America revelations―so why can they not also be applied to the modern Post-Conciliar Catholic Church of today? What is good for the goose, is also good for the gander!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 12th & Thursday August 13th
Article 5
Our Lady and America
Part 1 : Our Lady's 1859 Apparitions in Wisconsin to Adele Brise
Wednesday August 12th & Thursday August 13th
Article 5
Our Lady and America
Part 1 : Our Lady's 1859 Apparitions in Wisconsin to Adele Brise
Has Our Lady Forgotten America?
As regards the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in fairly modern times, we read of Our Lady of La Salette in France, Our Lady of Lourdes in France, Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Akita in Japan―going back a few years we have Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and Our Lady of Good Success in Ecuador, South America. These are all regarded as major apparitions―there have been numerous minor apparitions of Our Lady throughout the world also in fairly recent times or centuries. But what about America? What about the United States of America? Has America been forlorn and forgotten by Our Lady? That would not be like Our Lady―for the Church places in her mouth the following words of Holy Scripture: “And Sion said: ‘The Lord hath forsaken me and the Lord hath forgotten me!’ Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And even if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee!” (Isaias 49:14-15).
Yet the problem is not so much about Our Lady forgetting about America―it is more a case of America forgetting about Our Lady! Today, there are more exciting things available on television, on the internet and social media! Who cares about Our Lady’s apparitions when you have all these other exciting options to consider and watch! Even back in 1957, before television really took hold and possession of the world in the way we know it today, Our Lady’s messages were far less regarded than text messages today. Sister Lucia said that “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.”
Sorting-Out the True from the False
There is a long list of “alleged” apparitions of Our Lady in America― There have been twenty-nine alleged apparitions since the Second War War alone―Detroit 1944; Necedal 1949; Denver 1950; Binghamton 1950; Philadelphia 1953; Sausalito 1957; Fort Kent 1968; Bayside 1970; Canton 1982; Bakersfield 1984; Cleveland 1985; Santa Fe 1985; Lubbock 1988; Scottsdale 1988; Phoenix 1988; Tiktaw 1988; Marlboro 1989; Denver 1990; Conyers 1990; Hillside 1990; Arkansas (TX) 1991; San Bruno 1991; Falmouth 1992; Enfield 1992; Belleville 1993; Cincinnati 1993; Rochester 1993; Emmitsburg 1994; Brooklyn 1996―but only one has received “official recognition” by the Church.
Our Lady and Adele Brise of Champion (Robinsonville), Wisconsin
That one accepted and recognized apparition was that of Our Lady to a Belgian immigrant to America―Adele Brise―in 1859. With approval from Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a chapel in the town of Champion is now the first approved Marian apparition site in the United States. On December 8th, 2010 -- the Feast of the Immaculate Conception — Bishop David L. Ricken, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, decreed with “moral certainty” that the Virgin Mary had indeed appeared, on three occasions in October of 1859, to a young Belgian immigrant woman, Adele Brise, who had intended to become a nun, before coming to America. The 28-year-old Adele and her family lived on a small homestead in Wisconsin, which had become a U.S. state only 11 years earlier.
Our Lady visited her [read more here] — first on October 8th, 1859, and again two times on the following day, October 9th, 1859. During each of those three apparitions, a lady in shining white clothes appeared to Adele. The third time, she identified herself: “I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more ... Make a general confession and offer Holy Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my son will be obliged to punish them.” Our Lady also admonished Adel Brise, saying: “What are you doing here in idleness,while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son? Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation! Teach them their catechism, and how to approach the Sacraments―that is what I wish you to do! Go and fear nothing! I will help you!”
For an exact account of what happened to Adele on these two days let read from the memoirs of Sister Pauline LaPlante, a Third Order Franciscan, who was one of Adele Brise’s closest friends and helpers.
“She [Adele] was going to the grist mill about four miles from here [Champion] with a sack of wheat on her head […]. As Adele came near the place, she saw a lady, all in white, standing between two trees, one a maple, the other a hemlock. Adele was frightened and stood still. The vision slowly disappeared, leaving a white cloud after it. Adele continued on her errand and returned home without seeing anything more. She told her parents what had happened, and they wondered what it could be — maybe a poor soul who needed prayers?
“On the following Sunday, she had to pass here again on her way to Mass at Bay Settlement, about eleven miles from her home […]. This time, she was not alone, but was accompanied by her sister Isabel and a neighbor woman [Mrs. Vander Niessen]. When they came near the trees, the same lady in white was at the place where Adele had seen her before. Adele was again frightened and said, almost in a tone of reproach, ‘Oh, there is that lady again.’
“Adele had not the courage to go on. The other two did not see anything, but they could tell by Adele’s look that she was afraid. They thought, too, that it might be a poor soul that needed prayers. They waited a few minutes, and Adele told them it was gone. It had disappeared as the first time, and all she could see was a little mist or white cloud. After Mass, Adele went to confession and told her confessor how she had been frightened at the sight of a lady in white. He [Father William Verhoef] bade her not to fear, and to speak to him of this outside of the confessional. Father Verhoef told her that if it were a heavenly messenger, she would see it again, and it would not harm her, but to ask, in God’s Name, who it was and what it desired of her. After that, Adele had more courage. She started home with her two companions, and a man who was clearing land for the Holy Cross Fathers, at Bay Settlement, accompanied them.
“As they approached the hallowed spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long, golden, wavy hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Such a heavenly light shone around her that Adele could hardly look back at her sweet face. Overcome by this heavenly light and the beauty of her amiable visitor, Adele fell on her knees.
“ ‘In God’s Name, who are you and what do you want of me?’ asked Adele, as she had been directed.
“ ‘I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning―and that is well. But you must do more! Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!’
“ ‘Adele, who is it?” said one of the women. ‘O why can’t we see her as you do?’ said another weeping.
“ ‘Kneel,’ said Adele, ‘the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.’ Our Blessed Lady turned, looked kindly at them, and said, ‘Blessed are they that believe without seeing. What are you doing here in idleness…while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’
“ ‘What more can I do, dear Lady?’ said Adele, weeping.
“ ‘Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation!’
“ ‘But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?’ replied Adele.
“ ‘Teach them,’ replied her radiant visitor, ‘their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the Sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.’”
Starting Work for Our Lady
The pioneering communities in the Green Bay area at that time were mostly Belgian and all of these were French ― or Flemish ― speaking. Several single women offered to assist Adele and, before long, although they did not take vows, they formed a religious community called the Sisters of Good Help. For immediate religious affiliation, however, the sisters were accepted as Third Order Franciscans. Already since 1861, the site of those apparitions has been home to a chapel tiny shrine chapel―10 feet by 12 feet―that had been built by Mr. Brise on the site of the apparitions and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of “Our Lady of Good Help.” A larger one was completed before the opening of the school. In 1865, a devoted priest, Father Philip Crud, was appointed pastor to the Belgian colony. He advised Sister Adele to do some serious fund-raising while visiting other communities and to seek financial help from English-speaking Catholics. This would relieve the sisters of the crippling effects of hazardous traveling and enable the children to come to them―rather than their always going to distant outposts. By 1867, Sister Adele was able to open a school. By 1871, the school, St. Mary’s Academy, had ninety-five boarding students―many of whom were orphans. The last thing the sisters had built was a convent.
Peshtigo―A Microcosm of the Macrocosm of Modern Day America
As they say: “There is nothing new under the sun!” Or, to put it another way: “Sin is always the same!” People are punished both in this life and in the next for sin―the ways they choose to sin may differ, but the fact of sin remains. Peshtigo was a “boom-town” a little north of Champion (or Robertsonville as it was then called). Peshtigo in 1871 could well be America in 2020. Peshtigo was a town of mills and factories, 4 hotels, 15 stores, an ever increasing number of saloons and brothels, and 360 homes, and a total population of 2,000 people, but, at that time, it was in “boom-town” mode, with anywhere from 50 to 100 immigrants arriving each week. In the book Firestorm in Peshtigo, by Denise Gess and William Lutz, a description of how the place was on the eve of the firestorm:
“A bridge joining the east and west sides of Peshtigo had just been completed. There were two new churches, Lutheran and Presbyterian. Reverend Edwin R. Beach’s Congregational church had just received “a fresh coat of white paint.” Another new church, Father Peter Pernin’s Catholic church, was nearly finished. Oconto Avenue, once a nameless stretch of trees and sand, had become a wide street cut on a diagonal, flanked by stores. It sliced through the center of Peshtigo where there were two hotels, a sash-and-blind factory, a grist mill, the Peshtigo Company store, and T “Tommy” A. Hay’s new jewelry shop in Nick Cavoit’s building on the northwest corner of Oconto Avenue and French Street. Hay advertised the lowest-priced and best-quality watches, gold-plated jewelry in the “latest styles,” and a promise of repair “of every character.”
“So far Peshtigo did not have a fire company or a firehouse. If a serious fire broke out, people relied on the Black Hawk, a single hand-pumper fire-engine, that was housed next to the Peshtigo Company store on the east side of the river. Nor did Peshtigo have a police force, or a jail, but just as new machine shops, dry goods stores, hotels, and houses were being built, so, too, were more saloons being erected. With close to sixty saloons spread out through the region and almost as many houses of prostitution, the town would eventually need professional law enforcement to keep the flow of lumberjacks, loggers, and railroad workers in line.
“Peshtigo was a town split between devotion and indulgence. On Sundays the people filled the Congregational, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches. But on Saturday nights, the streets belonged to Miss Delia and Hatty Baker and to the men who frequented the saloons. Fights among the drunken loggers were expected and they’d use knives, ropes, guns, even the metal of their caulked boots to settle a dispute. Men were lynched for something as serious as a theft or as insignificant as a dirty look; if they freed their victim before the noose was tightened, it was apt to be more the result of intoxication and exhaustion rather than mercy.
“Within a year there would be a vaccination for smallpox, and the first words out of a person’s mouth would be, “Did you get yer vaccinate yet?” but in the fall of 1871 the only pox a man needed to be wary of was logger’s pox, an affliction brought on whenever a gang of loggers stomped on their victim with their caulked boots. The caulking, consisting of sharp metal cleats that provided grip for the lumberjacks and railroad workers in the woods, became a weapon in town. Stomping a victim riddled the victim’s back and legs with puncture wounds or bloody “pox.”
“Half wild, half civilized, Peshtigo was synonymous with progress. For the solitary lumberjacks who had successfully denuded the forests of Maine, New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania before migrating west, Peshtigo promised steady work. The place was overflowing with trees—at least 1 billion covering more than 1 million acres.
“The immigrants hailed from Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Prussia, and they would have suffered any inconvenience, borne any burden, in order to be self-sufficient farmers on this new frontier. Many eagerly took jobs working at the Peshtigo sawmill in town, until they’d saved enough for their grubstake, the money that would enable them to purchase eighty acres of their own forested land.
“Then, as landowners, the immigrants cleared their parcels. Clearing was an arduous process that required cutting the trees, hauling boulders and stones out of the way, pulling the stumps, then burning the stumps to prepare the acres for homestead building and farming. Since many of the immigrants had arrived in Peshtigo with little more than a trunk of belongings, a hoe, and an ax, clearing could take a man between five and ten years to complete.
“Bands of hopeful farmers also migrated to the peninsula that jutted between Green Bay and Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin. There, nearly three hundred Belgian families from Antwerp were building the settlements and sawmills of Brussels and Williamsonville. The Belgian immigrants brought their farming practices with them to Wisconsin.
“Wherever people chose to put down roots in the five thousand square miles of forests, lumber towns, farms, and prairies that comprised Oconto County, all agreed with the Detroit Post correspondent who had visited the area: “It is my humble opinion,” he wrote, “that Wisconsin is the Eden of our country.” (Firestorm in Peshtigo, by Denise Gess and William Lutz).
With the original Eden came the Original Sin of Adam and Eve—the first ‘pioneers’ on Earth―and ended with them being driven out of Eden by an angel with a flaming sword. With this “Eden of our country” there many not so ‘original sins’ being committed that Our Lady had to threaten a similar punishment. Like Adam and Eve, they would have to “die the death” and instead of a flaming sword, there would flaming forests.
The greed for wealth, the drunkenness, the debauchery, the violence, etc, are all pits that we are deepening today. God never changes. He punished Sodom and Gomorrah for it and has continued to punish throughout all centuries. Mother Mariana (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) was shown a vision of Our Lord in His Agony. She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity.” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era. As Fr. Peter Pernin of Peshtigo wrote of the some of the townsfolk that day: “they had passed the holy time of Mass, in the saloons, drinking and carousing there. Their intoxicated condition caused quarreling, wrestling, wild shouts and horrid blasphemies.” Our Lady had warned the area once before―sparks would now have to fly!
Our Lady Does Not Speak in Vain
“If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!” said Our Lady of the Americans of Adele Brise’s time. Our Lady had already said the same thing at La Salette in France―25 years previously in 1846: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” At Lourdes in 1858―12 years after La Salette and 1 year before appearing to Adele Brise in 1859―Our Lady had emphatically demanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” and commanded Bernadette to do penance for sinners. At Fatima in 1917―58 years after appearing to Adele Brise in Wisconsin―Our Lady asked for the same thing: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Whereas, at Akita, in 1973, Our Lady again speaks along the same lines: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Our Lady’s words at Akita were not in vain―the fire that she speaks about, falling from Heaven, already occurred as a fulfillment of her warning to Adel Brise in Wisconsin, USA, in 1859: “If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!” Twelve years later―to the very day (October 8th 1859 to October 8th 1871) after Our Lady said those words―fire fell from the heavens upon Wisconsin and the punishment she threatened was inflicted―because they did not convert and do penance [read more here].
I Have Come to Cast Fire on the Earth
Our Lord had said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49) … “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “I say to you― unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Our Lady had said to Adele Brise in Wisconsin: “If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them.” As Holy Scripture says: “For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). On the evening of October 8th, 1871―exactly 12 years to the very day after Our Lady had uttered her warning―the worst recorded forest fire in North American history, even to this day, raged through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, destroying millions of dollars-worth (in 1870s currency values) of property and timberland, and taking thousands of lives. Before the night was over, the heat (over 2,000 degrees), the flames, the smoke, the poisoned air and the flying debris would destroy over one million acres (2,400 square miles) of old growth forest and incinerate at least a dozen communities. Entire villages were consumed. Thousands died. Large numbers of victims had no burns or injuries; they simply suffocated in the oxygenless air. Remember that the population of the United States (then only 37 states) was much smaller than today. In 1871 there were 38 million people in the whole USA, today there are 380 million—ten times more. Chicago, which today has just under 3 million inhabitants, only had 340,000 in 1871―which is around 10 times less.
The intense heat, as high as 2,000 degrees, sometimes reduced people to ash in a matter of moments as their family members looked on. A wall of fire, a mile high and five miles wide, leveled forests and towns as it raced along, sucking in the fueling oxygen from an incoming cold front, and causing what is called a “firestorm” with hurricane-force winds of 90 to100 miles per hour. In Peshtigo, stone buildings were reduced to burned ash. One large house was observed to burst into flame and rise 85 feet in the air on its own updraft. As for Peshtigo, in a matter of minutes, 1,152 people died (that was the “confirmed” number, but many more were missing). The largest number of survivors escaped into the woods surrounding the town. The conditions were hot, dry, and windless. The same conditions prevailed at all the sites of the 1871 fires.
By the evening of October 8th, the settlers in the village of Robinsonville (now renamed as Champion), could see the fire in the east and it was heading their way, rapidly. There was no escape. There seemed to be nowhere to run and nowhere that was safe―with one hopeful exception. Unable to fight it and with no hope of outrunning it, the terrified people headed for the only place they could think of ― the chapel and shrine where Adele lived ― the site of Adele’s 1859 apparition, which, by now, contained a convent, school house, and chapel on several cleared acres ― although the site lay directly in the path of the worst part of the blaze. The compound was now about five acres in size and enclosed by a white picket fence. No one knows how many people eventually crowded in―but it was a large number. They brought their livestock with them and there were reports that forest animals were also inside the fence.
Adele Brise led them in prayer. They prayed the Rosary. They knelt in prayer at the chapel altar and prayed. They walked around the chapel, in a procession, with a statue of Mary lifted high. Adele Brise then led her terrified students, and whoever else had found their way to her, in an outdoor procession around the perimeter of the grounds, holding aloft a statue of Mary, praying the Rosary as they processed and pleading for salvation from the fires. When the wind and fire exposed them to suffocation, they turned in another direction, and continued to hope and pray, praying the Rosary over and over again. Soon the fire was all around them. Flames arched over the compound. People watched nearby farms explode in flames. The outside of the picket fence was charred black. The air grew hotter and hotter as they prayed and prayed into the ghastly-lit night. Nevertheless, they persevered in praying and processing. All during the night they processed around the grounds with Sister Adele carrying a statue of Mary, while praying the Rosary over and over again. Suddenly, the sky grew less brilliant and a cooler wind rushed in from the west. With the rising of the sun it began to rain and the rain became a downpour. They were all saved. The fire was extinguished from Heaven.
Morning brought a scene of total devastation as far as the eye could see. A total of nine towns in four Wisconsin counties were essentially exterminated at the same time. In one town of 260, the death rate was 100% ― no one survived! It was the largest and deadliest fire in American history ― before or since. It took years for the region to recover and some of the destroyed communities never re-built. In the middle of it was Our Lady of Good Help, a green oasis in a desert of destruction. Everyone and everything inside the fence were alive, uninjured and undamaged. If the people of the Belgian colony ever had any doubts that the Virgin Mary had appeared to Adele, provided for her and protected her― there were no doubts now. The Belgian community interpreted this dramatic event as irrefutable proof of the authenticity of the apparition. Mary had been among them in the woods of Wisconsin, and she had indeed spoken to one of them. The proof was that her warning about Christ’s coming wrath had been affirmed and fulfilled.
Sister M. Dominica wrote in The Chapel, in 1955: “After hours of horror and suspense, the heavens sent relief in the form of a downpour. The fervent prayers to the Mother of God were heard. The fire was extinguished, but dawn revealed the ravages wrought by the conflagration. Everything about them was destroyed; miles of desolation everywhere. But the convent school, chapel and the five acres of land consecrated to the Virgin Mary shone like an emerald isle in a sea of ashes... tongues of fire had reached the Chapel fence ... but the fire had not entered Chapel grounds!”
Lessons to be Learned?
There are, of course, many lessons to be learned from the above. First and foremost― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21).
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? … Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Lesson on Love―Or Lack of It
Today it is popular to speak about the God of love and the Scriptural quote: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). All we here about is “love, love, love”! Well, if you want to hear about love, then listen to Our Lord―God Himself―speak about love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition [man-made laws]. Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
From this it is clear that very few people in the world today love God―because His commandments have been trashed and ignored. Man-made commandments of abortion, divorce, remarriage, same-sex marriages, acceptance of homosexuality, contraception, transgenderism, etc. have replaced the commandments of God. It has become a “hate-crime” to insist upon the commandments of God. If we have lost the “fire of love” for God, then it will quickly be replaced by the “fires of Hell”.
Uphill or Downhill?
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and He will teach us his ways, and we will walk in His paths” (Isaias 2:3). Another lesson to be learned is that if we cease to climb uphill towards the peak of the mountain of God, then we will quickly slide downhill into a valley of tears and the pit of Hell. As the spiritual writers say: “There is no standing still in the spiritual life―we are either going forwards or backwards.” You cannot tread water―for the spiritual life is a case of perpetually swimming upstream against the current of the world, which is constantly trying to carry you downstream into Hell. “Going with the flow” and letting the current of the world carry you downstream is easy. Swimming against the current is hard―and few choose to do so. Our Lord affirmed this, saying: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Another Lesson―God is Not Afraid to Punish
Why on earth―or why the hell―does puny man sin with impunity? Why does he think that there will no consequences for his sins? Why do Catholics think that you sin, then go to Confession (which they rarely do anymore anyway) and then forget about it all because all is forgiven? Insanity! Idiocy! Imbecility! Hell is full of such idiots and imbeciles! To the devil, such people are what Communists like to call “Useful Idiots”―and the devil has a Hell full of “Useful Idiots”. Every single sin―even the tiniest venial sin―carries has a consequence and carries a penalty. Sin is the greatest evil in the world―and we, idiots and imbeciles that we are, cannot fully grasp and understand that truth. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Oh yes―we agree with that truth in theory. Yet in practice―we live as though sin was one of smallest evils in the world. We look upon losing some object, or some money, or having to miss our favorite TV show as a greater evil.
We would never dream of running-up financial debts in the way that we run-up our debts for sin. Sin is a mockery of the authority of God―you just cannot get away with mocking God and expect to be unpunished. Once again, insanity! Yes, God is patient―as St. Peter writes: “The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up!” (2 Peter 3:9-10). “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). The Great Fires of 1871 in the United States came about when God’s patience finally snapped. They were warned, God gave them 12 years to change before He purified them by fire―much like Sodom and Gomorrha. Furthermore, in case we think that God only punishes here and there―remember that in the time of Noe, God wiped-out (or washed-out) the whole world with the Great Flood. Our Lady has warned that a repeat performance on the part of God is imminent: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge―such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity―the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
The way things are going in the Church and in the world today―we are truly hanging by a thread, as Our Lady said to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961) on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” That was said back in 1956―before the advent of widespread abortion, divorce, remarriage, same-sex marriages, acceptance of homosexuality, contraception, transgenderism, etc. Yet we still live in an insane dream-world, detached from reality, vainly imagining that we have no responsibility as Soldiers of Christ (AWOL―absent without leave) and that there will somehow be no consequences for all those sins and our refusal to counteract them by much prayer, penance and sacrifice! “His watchmen [Catholics] are all blind! They are all ignorant! Dumb dogs―not able to bark! Seeing vain things! Sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
That is why “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message [just like in Wisconsin in 1859]; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! [just like in Wisconsin in 1871]” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
As regards the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in fairly modern times, we read of Our Lady of La Salette in France, Our Lady of Lourdes in France, Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Akita in Japan―going back a few years we have Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and Our Lady of Good Success in Ecuador, South America. These are all regarded as major apparitions―there have been numerous minor apparitions of Our Lady throughout the world also in fairly recent times or centuries. But what about America? What about the United States of America? Has America been forlorn and forgotten by Our Lady? That would not be like Our Lady―for the Church places in her mouth the following words of Holy Scripture: “And Sion said: ‘The Lord hath forsaken me and the Lord hath forgotten me!’ Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And even if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee!” (Isaias 49:14-15).
Yet the problem is not so much about Our Lady forgetting about America―it is more a case of America forgetting about Our Lady! Today, there are more exciting things available on television, on the internet and social media! Who cares about Our Lady’s apparitions when you have all these other exciting options to consider and watch! Even back in 1957, before television really took hold and possession of the world in the way we know it today, Our Lady’s messages were far less regarded than text messages today. Sister Lucia said that “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.”
Sorting-Out the True from the False
There is a long list of “alleged” apparitions of Our Lady in America― There have been twenty-nine alleged apparitions since the Second War War alone―Detroit 1944; Necedal 1949; Denver 1950; Binghamton 1950; Philadelphia 1953; Sausalito 1957; Fort Kent 1968; Bayside 1970; Canton 1982; Bakersfield 1984; Cleveland 1985; Santa Fe 1985; Lubbock 1988; Scottsdale 1988; Phoenix 1988; Tiktaw 1988; Marlboro 1989; Denver 1990; Conyers 1990; Hillside 1990; Arkansas (TX) 1991; San Bruno 1991; Falmouth 1992; Enfield 1992; Belleville 1993; Cincinnati 1993; Rochester 1993; Emmitsburg 1994; Brooklyn 1996―but only one has received “official recognition” by the Church.
Our Lady and Adele Brise of Champion (Robinsonville), Wisconsin
That one accepted and recognized apparition was that of Our Lady to a Belgian immigrant to America―Adele Brise―in 1859. With approval from Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a chapel in the town of Champion is now the first approved Marian apparition site in the United States. On December 8th, 2010 -- the Feast of the Immaculate Conception — Bishop David L. Ricken, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, decreed with “moral certainty” that the Virgin Mary had indeed appeared, on three occasions in October of 1859, to a young Belgian immigrant woman, Adele Brise, who had intended to become a nun, before coming to America. The 28-year-old Adele and her family lived on a small homestead in Wisconsin, which had become a U.S. state only 11 years earlier.
Our Lady visited her [read more here] — first on October 8th, 1859, and again two times on the following day, October 9th, 1859. During each of those three apparitions, a lady in shining white clothes appeared to Adele. The third time, she identified herself: “I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more ... Make a general confession and offer Holy Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my son will be obliged to punish them.” Our Lady also admonished Adel Brise, saying: “What are you doing here in idleness,while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son? Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation! Teach them their catechism, and how to approach the Sacraments―that is what I wish you to do! Go and fear nothing! I will help you!”
For an exact account of what happened to Adele on these two days let read from the memoirs of Sister Pauline LaPlante, a Third Order Franciscan, who was one of Adele Brise’s closest friends and helpers.
“She [Adele] was going to the grist mill about four miles from here [Champion] with a sack of wheat on her head […]. As Adele came near the place, she saw a lady, all in white, standing between two trees, one a maple, the other a hemlock. Adele was frightened and stood still. The vision slowly disappeared, leaving a white cloud after it. Adele continued on her errand and returned home without seeing anything more. She told her parents what had happened, and they wondered what it could be — maybe a poor soul who needed prayers?
“On the following Sunday, she had to pass here again on her way to Mass at Bay Settlement, about eleven miles from her home […]. This time, she was not alone, but was accompanied by her sister Isabel and a neighbor woman [Mrs. Vander Niessen]. When they came near the trees, the same lady in white was at the place where Adele had seen her before. Adele was again frightened and said, almost in a tone of reproach, ‘Oh, there is that lady again.’
“Adele had not the courage to go on. The other two did not see anything, but they could tell by Adele’s look that she was afraid. They thought, too, that it might be a poor soul that needed prayers. They waited a few minutes, and Adele told them it was gone. It had disappeared as the first time, and all she could see was a little mist or white cloud. After Mass, Adele went to confession and told her confessor how she had been frightened at the sight of a lady in white. He [Father William Verhoef] bade her not to fear, and to speak to him of this outside of the confessional. Father Verhoef told her that if it were a heavenly messenger, she would see it again, and it would not harm her, but to ask, in God’s Name, who it was and what it desired of her. After that, Adele had more courage. She started home with her two companions, and a man who was clearing land for the Holy Cross Fathers, at Bay Settlement, accompanied them.
“As they approached the hallowed spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long, golden, wavy hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Such a heavenly light shone around her that Adele could hardly look back at her sweet face. Overcome by this heavenly light and the beauty of her amiable visitor, Adele fell on her knees.
“ ‘In God’s Name, who are you and what do you want of me?’ asked Adele, as she had been directed.
“ ‘I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning―and that is well. But you must do more! Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!’
“ ‘Adele, who is it?” said one of the women. ‘O why can’t we see her as you do?’ said another weeping.
“ ‘Kneel,’ said Adele, ‘the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.’ Our Blessed Lady turned, looked kindly at them, and said, ‘Blessed are they that believe without seeing. What are you doing here in idleness…while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’
“ ‘What more can I do, dear Lady?’ said Adele, weeping.
“ ‘Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation!’
“ ‘But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?’ replied Adele.
“ ‘Teach them,’ replied her radiant visitor, ‘their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the Sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.’”
Starting Work for Our Lady
The pioneering communities in the Green Bay area at that time were mostly Belgian and all of these were French ― or Flemish ― speaking. Several single women offered to assist Adele and, before long, although they did not take vows, they formed a religious community called the Sisters of Good Help. For immediate religious affiliation, however, the sisters were accepted as Third Order Franciscans. Already since 1861, the site of those apparitions has been home to a chapel tiny shrine chapel―10 feet by 12 feet―that had been built by Mr. Brise on the site of the apparitions and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of “Our Lady of Good Help.” A larger one was completed before the opening of the school. In 1865, a devoted priest, Father Philip Crud, was appointed pastor to the Belgian colony. He advised Sister Adele to do some serious fund-raising while visiting other communities and to seek financial help from English-speaking Catholics. This would relieve the sisters of the crippling effects of hazardous traveling and enable the children to come to them―rather than their always going to distant outposts. By 1867, Sister Adele was able to open a school. By 1871, the school, St. Mary’s Academy, had ninety-five boarding students―many of whom were orphans. The last thing the sisters had built was a convent.
Peshtigo―A Microcosm of the Macrocosm of Modern Day America
As they say: “There is nothing new under the sun!” Or, to put it another way: “Sin is always the same!” People are punished both in this life and in the next for sin―the ways they choose to sin may differ, but the fact of sin remains. Peshtigo was a “boom-town” a little north of Champion (or Robertsonville as it was then called). Peshtigo in 1871 could well be America in 2020. Peshtigo was a town of mills and factories, 4 hotels, 15 stores, an ever increasing number of saloons and brothels, and 360 homes, and a total population of 2,000 people, but, at that time, it was in “boom-town” mode, with anywhere from 50 to 100 immigrants arriving each week. In the book Firestorm in Peshtigo, by Denise Gess and William Lutz, a description of how the place was on the eve of the firestorm:
“A bridge joining the east and west sides of Peshtigo had just been completed. There were two new churches, Lutheran and Presbyterian. Reverend Edwin R. Beach’s Congregational church had just received “a fresh coat of white paint.” Another new church, Father Peter Pernin’s Catholic church, was nearly finished. Oconto Avenue, once a nameless stretch of trees and sand, had become a wide street cut on a diagonal, flanked by stores. It sliced through the center of Peshtigo where there were two hotels, a sash-and-blind factory, a grist mill, the Peshtigo Company store, and T “Tommy” A. Hay’s new jewelry shop in Nick Cavoit’s building on the northwest corner of Oconto Avenue and French Street. Hay advertised the lowest-priced and best-quality watches, gold-plated jewelry in the “latest styles,” and a promise of repair “of every character.”
“So far Peshtigo did not have a fire company or a firehouse. If a serious fire broke out, people relied on the Black Hawk, a single hand-pumper fire-engine, that was housed next to the Peshtigo Company store on the east side of the river. Nor did Peshtigo have a police force, or a jail, but just as new machine shops, dry goods stores, hotels, and houses were being built, so, too, were more saloons being erected. With close to sixty saloons spread out through the region and almost as many houses of prostitution, the town would eventually need professional law enforcement to keep the flow of lumberjacks, loggers, and railroad workers in line.
“Peshtigo was a town split between devotion and indulgence. On Sundays the people filled the Congregational, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches. But on Saturday nights, the streets belonged to Miss Delia and Hatty Baker and to the men who frequented the saloons. Fights among the drunken loggers were expected and they’d use knives, ropes, guns, even the metal of their caulked boots to settle a dispute. Men were lynched for something as serious as a theft or as insignificant as a dirty look; if they freed their victim before the noose was tightened, it was apt to be more the result of intoxication and exhaustion rather than mercy.
“Within a year there would be a vaccination for smallpox, and the first words out of a person’s mouth would be, “Did you get yer vaccinate yet?” but in the fall of 1871 the only pox a man needed to be wary of was logger’s pox, an affliction brought on whenever a gang of loggers stomped on their victim with their caulked boots. The caulking, consisting of sharp metal cleats that provided grip for the lumberjacks and railroad workers in the woods, became a weapon in town. Stomping a victim riddled the victim’s back and legs with puncture wounds or bloody “pox.”
“Half wild, half civilized, Peshtigo was synonymous with progress. For the solitary lumberjacks who had successfully denuded the forests of Maine, New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania before migrating west, Peshtigo promised steady work. The place was overflowing with trees—at least 1 billion covering more than 1 million acres.
“The immigrants hailed from Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Prussia, and they would have suffered any inconvenience, borne any burden, in order to be self-sufficient farmers on this new frontier. Many eagerly took jobs working at the Peshtigo sawmill in town, until they’d saved enough for their grubstake, the money that would enable them to purchase eighty acres of their own forested land.
“Then, as landowners, the immigrants cleared their parcels. Clearing was an arduous process that required cutting the trees, hauling boulders and stones out of the way, pulling the stumps, then burning the stumps to prepare the acres for homestead building and farming. Since many of the immigrants had arrived in Peshtigo with little more than a trunk of belongings, a hoe, and an ax, clearing could take a man between five and ten years to complete.
“Bands of hopeful farmers also migrated to the peninsula that jutted between Green Bay and Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin. There, nearly three hundred Belgian families from Antwerp were building the settlements and sawmills of Brussels and Williamsonville. The Belgian immigrants brought their farming practices with them to Wisconsin.
“Wherever people chose to put down roots in the five thousand square miles of forests, lumber towns, farms, and prairies that comprised Oconto County, all agreed with the Detroit Post correspondent who had visited the area: “It is my humble opinion,” he wrote, “that Wisconsin is the Eden of our country.” (Firestorm in Peshtigo, by Denise Gess and William Lutz).
With the original Eden came the Original Sin of Adam and Eve—the first ‘pioneers’ on Earth―and ended with them being driven out of Eden by an angel with a flaming sword. With this “Eden of our country” there many not so ‘original sins’ being committed that Our Lady had to threaten a similar punishment. Like Adam and Eve, they would have to “die the death” and instead of a flaming sword, there would flaming forests.
The greed for wealth, the drunkenness, the debauchery, the violence, etc, are all pits that we are deepening today. God never changes. He punished Sodom and Gomorrah for it and has continued to punish throughout all centuries. Mother Mariana (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) was shown a vision of Our Lord in His Agony. She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity.” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era. As Fr. Peter Pernin of Peshtigo wrote of the some of the townsfolk that day: “they had passed the holy time of Mass, in the saloons, drinking and carousing there. Their intoxicated condition caused quarreling, wrestling, wild shouts and horrid blasphemies.” Our Lady had warned the area once before―sparks would now have to fly!
Our Lady Does Not Speak in Vain
“If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!” said Our Lady of the Americans of Adele Brise’s time. Our Lady had already said the same thing at La Salette in France―25 years previously in 1846: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” At Lourdes in 1858―12 years after La Salette and 1 year before appearing to Adele Brise in 1859―Our Lady had emphatically demanded: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” and commanded Bernadette to do penance for sinners. At Fatima in 1917―58 years after appearing to Adele Brise in Wisconsin―Our Lady asked for the same thing: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” Whereas, at Akita, in 1973, Our Lady again speaks along the same lines: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Our Lady’s words at Akita were not in vain―the fire that she speaks about, falling from Heaven, already occurred as a fulfillment of her warning to Adel Brise in Wisconsin, USA, in 1859: “If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them!” Twelve years later―to the very day (October 8th 1859 to October 8th 1871) after Our Lady said those words―fire fell from the heavens upon Wisconsin and the punishment she threatened was inflicted―because they did not convert and do penance [read more here].
I Have Come to Cast Fire on the Earth
Our Lord had said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49) … “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) … “I came to call sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32) … “I say to you― unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). Our Lady had said to Adele Brise in Wisconsin: “If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them.” As Holy Scripture says: “For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). On the evening of October 8th, 1871―exactly 12 years to the very day after Our Lady had uttered her warning―the worst recorded forest fire in North American history, even to this day, raged through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, destroying millions of dollars-worth (in 1870s currency values) of property and timberland, and taking thousands of lives. Before the night was over, the heat (over 2,000 degrees), the flames, the smoke, the poisoned air and the flying debris would destroy over one million acres (2,400 square miles) of old growth forest and incinerate at least a dozen communities. Entire villages were consumed. Thousands died. Large numbers of victims had no burns or injuries; they simply suffocated in the oxygenless air. Remember that the population of the United States (then only 37 states) was much smaller than today. In 1871 there were 38 million people in the whole USA, today there are 380 million—ten times more. Chicago, which today has just under 3 million inhabitants, only had 340,000 in 1871―which is around 10 times less.
The intense heat, as high as 2,000 degrees, sometimes reduced people to ash in a matter of moments as their family members looked on. A wall of fire, a mile high and five miles wide, leveled forests and towns as it raced along, sucking in the fueling oxygen from an incoming cold front, and causing what is called a “firestorm” with hurricane-force winds of 90 to100 miles per hour. In Peshtigo, stone buildings were reduced to burned ash. One large house was observed to burst into flame and rise 85 feet in the air on its own updraft. As for Peshtigo, in a matter of minutes, 1,152 people died (that was the “confirmed” number, but many more were missing). The largest number of survivors escaped into the woods surrounding the town. The conditions were hot, dry, and windless. The same conditions prevailed at all the sites of the 1871 fires.
By the evening of October 8th, the settlers in the village of Robinsonville (now renamed as Champion), could see the fire in the east and it was heading their way, rapidly. There was no escape. There seemed to be nowhere to run and nowhere that was safe―with one hopeful exception. Unable to fight it and with no hope of outrunning it, the terrified people headed for the only place they could think of ― the chapel and shrine where Adele lived ― the site of Adele’s 1859 apparition, which, by now, contained a convent, school house, and chapel on several cleared acres ― although the site lay directly in the path of the worst part of the blaze. The compound was now about five acres in size and enclosed by a white picket fence. No one knows how many people eventually crowded in―but it was a large number. They brought their livestock with them and there were reports that forest animals were also inside the fence.
Adele Brise led them in prayer. They prayed the Rosary. They knelt in prayer at the chapel altar and prayed. They walked around the chapel, in a procession, with a statue of Mary lifted high. Adele Brise then led her terrified students, and whoever else had found their way to her, in an outdoor procession around the perimeter of the grounds, holding aloft a statue of Mary, praying the Rosary as they processed and pleading for salvation from the fires. When the wind and fire exposed them to suffocation, they turned in another direction, and continued to hope and pray, praying the Rosary over and over again. Soon the fire was all around them. Flames arched over the compound. People watched nearby farms explode in flames. The outside of the picket fence was charred black. The air grew hotter and hotter as they prayed and prayed into the ghastly-lit night. Nevertheless, they persevered in praying and processing. All during the night they processed around the grounds with Sister Adele carrying a statue of Mary, while praying the Rosary over and over again. Suddenly, the sky grew less brilliant and a cooler wind rushed in from the west. With the rising of the sun it began to rain and the rain became a downpour. They were all saved. The fire was extinguished from Heaven.
Morning brought a scene of total devastation as far as the eye could see. A total of nine towns in four Wisconsin counties were essentially exterminated at the same time. In one town of 260, the death rate was 100% ― no one survived! It was the largest and deadliest fire in American history ― before or since. It took years for the region to recover and some of the destroyed communities never re-built. In the middle of it was Our Lady of Good Help, a green oasis in a desert of destruction. Everyone and everything inside the fence were alive, uninjured and undamaged. If the people of the Belgian colony ever had any doubts that the Virgin Mary had appeared to Adele, provided for her and protected her― there were no doubts now. The Belgian community interpreted this dramatic event as irrefutable proof of the authenticity of the apparition. Mary had been among them in the woods of Wisconsin, and she had indeed spoken to one of them. The proof was that her warning about Christ’s coming wrath had been affirmed and fulfilled.
Sister M. Dominica wrote in The Chapel, in 1955: “After hours of horror and suspense, the heavens sent relief in the form of a downpour. The fervent prayers to the Mother of God were heard. The fire was extinguished, but dawn revealed the ravages wrought by the conflagration. Everything about them was destroyed; miles of desolation everywhere. But the convent school, chapel and the five acres of land consecrated to the Virgin Mary shone like an emerald isle in a sea of ashes... tongues of fire had reached the Chapel fence ... but the fire had not entered Chapel grounds!”
Lessons to be Learned?
There are, of course, many lessons to be learned from the above. First and foremost― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21).
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? … Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Lesson on Love―Or Lack of It
Today it is popular to speak about the God of love and the Scriptural quote: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). All we here about is “love, love, love”! Well, if you want to hear about love, then listen to Our Lord―God Himself―speak about love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition [man-made laws]. Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
From this it is clear that very few people in the world today love God―because His commandments have been trashed and ignored. Man-made commandments of abortion, divorce, remarriage, same-sex marriages, acceptance of homosexuality, contraception, transgenderism, etc. have replaced the commandments of God. It has become a “hate-crime” to insist upon the commandments of God. If we have lost the “fire of love” for God, then it will quickly be replaced by the “fires of Hell”.
Uphill or Downhill?
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and He will teach us his ways, and we will walk in His paths” (Isaias 2:3). Another lesson to be learned is that if we cease to climb uphill towards the peak of the mountain of God, then we will quickly slide downhill into a valley of tears and the pit of Hell. As the spiritual writers say: “There is no standing still in the spiritual life―we are either going forwards or backwards.” You cannot tread water―for the spiritual life is a case of perpetually swimming upstream against the current of the world, which is constantly trying to carry you downstream into Hell. “Going with the flow” and letting the current of the world carry you downstream is easy. Swimming against the current is hard―and few choose to do so. Our Lord affirmed this, saying: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Another Lesson―God is Not Afraid to Punish
Why on earth―or why the hell―does puny man sin with impunity? Why does he think that there will no consequences for his sins? Why do Catholics think that you sin, then go to Confession (which they rarely do anymore anyway) and then forget about it all because all is forgiven? Insanity! Idiocy! Imbecility! Hell is full of such idiots and imbeciles! To the devil, such people are what Communists like to call “Useful Idiots”―and the devil has a Hell full of “Useful Idiots”. Every single sin―even the tiniest venial sin―carries has a consequence and carries a penalty. Sin is the greatest evil in the world―and we, idiots and imbeciles that we are, cannot fully grasp and understand that truth. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Oh yes―we agree with that truth in theory. Yet in practice―we live as though sin was one of smallest evils in the world. We look upon losing some object, or some money, or having to miss our favorite TV show as a greater evil.
We would never dream of running-up financial debts in the way that we run-up our debts for sin. Sin is a mockery of the authority of God―you just cannot get away with mocking God and expect to be unpunished. Once again, insanity! Yes, God is patient―as St. Peter writes: “The Lord delayeth not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake―not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up!” (2 Peter 3:9-10). “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). The Great Fires of 1871 in the United States came about when God’s patience finally snapped. They were warned, God gave them 12 years to change before He purified them by fire―much like Sodom and Gomorrha. Furthermore, in case we think that God only punishes here and there―remember that in the time of Noe, God wiped-out (or washed-out) the whole world with the Great Flood. Our Lady has warned that a repeat performance on the part of God is imminent: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge―such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity―the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
The way things are going in the Church and in the world today―we are truly hanging by a thread, as Our Lady said to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961) on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” That was said back in 1956―before the advent of widespread abortion, divorce, remarriage, same-sex marriages, acceptance of homosexuality, contraception, transgenderism, etc. Yet we still live in an insane dream-world, detached from reality, vainly imagining that we have no responsibility as Soldiers of Christ (AWOL―absent without leave) and that there will somehow be no consequences for all those sins and our refusal to counteract them by much prayer, penance and sacrifice! “His watchmen [Catholics] are all blind! They are all ignorant! Dumb dogs―not able to bark! Seeing vain things! Sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
That is why “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message [just like in Wisconsin in 1859]; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! [just like in Wisconsin in 1871]” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
“For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin! We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday August 8th & Sunday August 9th & Monday August 10th
Article 4
Let Mary Transform Your Life and Family
Saturday August 8th & Sunday August 9th & Monday August 10th
Article 4
Let Mary Transform Your Life and Family
Are You Happy?
Is this a silly question, or what? No. Seriously―are you happy? The answer will be―for the majority of people who are honest― “With some things I am happy! With other things I am not!” Yet if we are totally honest, we would probably say (or should say): “I am not happy about most things!” Why so? Well, how the heck can you be happy when the Faith is collapsing? How can you be happy about more than 55 million babies being murdered by abortion each year and most countries allowing that murder by their laws. How can you be happy about the fact that most souls in the world being damned? How can you be happy about the apostasy of nations and their governments? How can you be happy about laws that promote and allow abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, sodomy, pornography? How can you be happy about the doctrinal and moral rape of Holy Mother Church? Add to that the increasing totalitarian encroachment of governments and their agencies. Add to that the financial manipulations and demolitions by the money-men. Add to that the ever increasing social and cultural collapse into immorality, violence and anarchy. The list is endless! What is there to be happy about?
Where to Find Happiness
Yet, despite all this, as our Catechism tells us: “God made me to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life―so that I can be happy with Him in the next life!” Our Lady said much the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” It all comes down to which basket we hope to find our eggs of happiness―the basket of this world, or the basket of Heaven. It is Heaven’s basket into which we should be placing our eggs of happiness. For, as Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also [and thy happiness] ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that man was made to be happy: “All human beings have the same nature, that is, the same human essence equipped for normal human operations. Therefore all men have the same last end, the same ultimate goal. This last end is complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment; such fulfillment is called beatitude or happiness. But all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and consequent happiness are to be found. Some think to attain the end by becoming rich, some by enjoying pleasures, some by exercising power, some by being praised and honored, and so on. It is as though all men were determinately set to reach a certain city, but were not all in agreement about the right road they must take to get there. In this case, surely, prudence suggests that the men of soundest and most studious judgment should be permitted to indicate the way.” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q. 1, art. 7).
Can You Be Happy and Not Know It?
It may seem to be a silly question―but can you be happy and not know it? Happiness and joy belong exclusively to the soul and not to the body. The equivalent of happiness in the body is strictly speaking “pleasure.” Since the soul is more important than the body―it therefore stands to reason that happiness of the soul is more important than pleasure for the body. Or, as Our Lord puts it: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
St. Thomas Aquinas says that “Beatitude, or happiness, or blessedness, is the perfect good of an intellectual nature. It consists in the fact that an intellectual being (that is, being with understanding and free will) knows that it possesses its true good in sufficient measure” (Summa 1a, q.26, art 1). Therefore, we can only be happy if we know that we are happy―even though we might still seek happiness in the wrong areas, sinful areas. St. Thomas goes on to say that “Hence God is infinitely happy. God is infinite beatitude. Only God is infinitely happy … Men and angels seek God as the object that will fulfill them, and make them perfectly happy. God is their objective happiness. And the possession of God in the beatific vision constitutes their subjective happiness, that is, the happiness which is in them … Inasmuch as all the blessed in Heaven have not all the same degree of charity and the same light of glory, there are in heaven different subjective beatitudes [happinesses]” (Summa 1a, q.26, art 1 & 3).
Where is Happiness? Where is the Road to Happiness?
Is happiness to found by following the proverbial “Yellow Brick Road”? In a certain sense, yes―if you take “yellow-brick” to mean charity. For then you can say that charity leads to God, as “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). St. Thomas puts it a little more dryly, saying: “All men seek fulfillment or satisfaction, that is to say, all seek beatitude or happiness. This is the subjective last end [goal/target] of man. Now, the objective last end [goal/target] of man is the object which, when possessed, will give him happiness. The objective last end of man, the object he seeks to attain so that he may have perfect satisfaction in it, is the infinite good―that infinite good is God. In this, man differs from all other earthly substances, minerals, plants, animals. For, while all these things are the products of divine goodness [God] and exist to reflect and manifest that goodness [God], they do not seek to attain the infinite good [God] subjectively; only man does that. Hence man does not have the active help of earthly creatures in his own ultimate quest of God and eternal happiness” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q.1, art. 8).
St. Thomas continues: “Man’s happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves his normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth which can provide the items of natural wealth, that is, money. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Hence it cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him enduringly and completely happy.”
“Nor can man’s full happiness consist in honors bestowed because of some excellence in him. Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore boners cannot themselves be the constituting elements of perfect happiness.”
“Nor can man’s happiness be found in fame and glory. These, like honors bestowed, presuppose some degree of happiness already attained, and this they publicize and praise. Fame and glory are consequent upon an imperfect happiness, and are, in some sense, the product of it. They cannot, therefore, be the essential elements of perfect happiness.”
“Man’s perfect happiness cannot consist in the possession of power, for power is not a complete end, but a means; power is valuable according to the use to which it may be put. In a word, power looks on to something further; it cannot itself be the ultimate goal.”
“Man’s ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body-life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Goods of the body are to be used by reason (intellect and will) somewhat as a ship is used by its master; the master does not use the ship merely to preserve the ship, but to carry profitable cargoes to desired ports. Thus it appears that the goods of the body are means [ways to achieve it], not complete ends [goals/targets]. Besides, man is a rational being as well as a bodily being; he can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods.”
“Pleasures, whether bodily or intellectual, cannot bring a man ultimate happiness. We have just seen that bodily things cannot be man's perfect fulfillment. And mental enjoyments presuppose the end already attained; enjoyment follows upon possession of some good or end; what is consequent upon the end cannot itself be the end [goal/target].”
“The goods of the soul―its essence, faculties, acts, habits, perfections―cannot constitute man’s ultimate end [goal/target]. Happiness is for the soul, and to be attained by the soul. The objective ultimate happiness is something outside the soul, which the soul seeks to bring into itself and possess subjectively. Hence this ultimate end [goal/target] is not the soul itself, nor the goods belonging to the soul. Indeed, no created good can give man perfect happiness. Only the essential, universal, and boundless good can bring man complete and unfading fulfillment. No created good is universal, essential, and boundless; only the uncreated good can be the ultimate end of man. And this uncreated good is God” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q.2, art. 1-8).
We might imagine or convince ourselves that we can find happiness in the things of this world―“I say, brethren; the time is short! It remaineth that they who have wives, be as if they had none! And they that weep, be as though they wept not! And they that rejoice, be as if they rejoiced not! And they that buy, be as though they possessed not!
And they that use this world, be as if they used it not―for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
“Dead-End” Happiness
The Chosen People of old, as St. Paul points out, were often thinking about eating, drinking and playing―but this irritated God: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And all did eat the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink―they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with MOST OF THEM God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted [thinking it would make them happy]. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them [thinking it would make them happy], as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication―as some of them committed fornication [thinking it would make them happy], and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured [because they were not happy with the circumstances of God’s will for them] and were destroyed by the destroyer!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-10).
The pride of the Israelites led them to desire their own preferences to God’s preferences, to seek happiness by their own paths rather than by God’s chosen path. They wanted things according to their own whims and tastes, rather than those of God. Similarly, today, we think we can get to Heaven “doing it our way” rather than God’s way. We think that we can get to Heaven by loving and serving both God and mammon (pleasures and treasures) and ignoring Christ’s statement to the contrary: “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners … But whose will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet! Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him!” (Psalm 33:9).
Christ “said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which St. Paul adds: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). That teaching has been largely scrapped and trashed by most Catholics today―for whom the Faith has become an unbearable cross. Thus they hypocritically cast off the cross of Christ as they cross over to the world―while still pretending and professing to be Catholics, whereas as they have become worldlings and citizens of the “prince of this world” (John 14:30)―the devil―ignoring Our Lord’s words: “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. For the prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 12:31; 14:30). These worldly Catholics spend their time going through the revolving doors of the world and Confession, seeking sin and mercy. Such will never find real happiness―or at least enduring happiness: “The flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God!” (Romans 8:7-8) ― they only please themselves, give pleasure to themselves, for a short while ― but the Day of Reckoning for that pleasure will come. Of such Catholics Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
The End of Happiness is the Start of Happiness
We need to shop for happiness in the right places! “The end of happiness is the start of happiness”―sounds a little like “So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 20:16). As St. Thomas says, only God is infinitely or endlessly happy―and men and angels must seek God if they wish to share in true happiness. It is only when we find God that we find true happiness. It is a little like the claim: “You have never tasted olive oil until you have tasted fresh olive oil!” It is also why we say that the day of death of saints is their birthday―it sounds like an oxymoron―but it is like saying: “You ain’t lived till you have lived in Heaven!” Which is why Our Lady does not want to give us the “rancid olive oil” of this life, but the “fresh olive oil” of eternal life in Heaven―hence she said to St. Bernadette, as she says to all of us: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” Just as in the fairy tale, the Ugly Duckling becomes a Beautiful Swan―Our Lady wants to transform the ugliness of our sinfulness into a sanctity worthy of happiness. Or, as Holy Scripture puts it: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18).
What can bring a greater happiness―apart from getting to Heaven and seeing God―than the forgiveness of sins? If there is no forgiveness of sins, then there is no chance of Heaven! Yet, sadly, we take forgiveness of sin for granted! Why is that? The reason is our warped sense of values! We underestimate both Heaven and sin. We slash the cost of getting to Heaven and we minimize the price of sin. We almost look upon Heaven and being like a “public park” to which everyone has right of access―and we almost think that a traffic speeding ticket is more expensive than sin! We forget―or brush-off―the Catechism, which tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Mankind Happy to Lose the Sense of Sin
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Even the Liberal Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
Likewise, in homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, the also Liberal Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, the even more Liberal Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
If even Liberal popes are saying we have lost the sense of sin, then that speaks volumes! We cannot sin and he happy―at least not in the long term. “We shall all stand at the judgment-seat of God ... everyone of us will render an account for himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12). Just as “crime doesn’t pay”, likewise “sin doesn’t pay.” Sin offends God who is infinite happiness―therefore sin will backfire on our ‘happiness’ when God’s justice rightfully addresses, redresses and pays back those offences. “The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them that work iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42) … “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Doesn’t sound like a “happy ending” for sin, does it?
The End of Sin is the Start of Happiness
Ultimately, though not necessarily immediately, sin brings unhappiness. God is God and nobody ever has or ever will “get away” with sinning. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels! And then will He render to every man according to his works!” (Matthew 16:27). “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). “We shall all stand at the judgment-seat of God ... everyone of us will render an account for himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12). Then, as regards paying for sin: “I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last penny” (Luke 12:59).
You have no doubt heard the phrases: “The joy of good conscience” and “Pangs of conscience.” The “joy of a good conscience is the peace and happiness that comes from doing what is right, doing what is good, doing God’s will, keeping God’s commandments. Joy and happiness are synonymous with love―we are happy and joyous when in the presence of those whom we truly love, whereas we are saddened and disconsolate in their absence.
The “pangs of conscience” are feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment, resulting from behavior which is regretted. We don’t get “pangs of conscience” from doing what is right, doing what is good, doing God’s will, keeping God’s commandments, we only get “pangs of conscience” when we do what is wrong, do what is evil, when we oppose God’s will or break God’s commandments―then, like the proverbial “pebble in the shoe” that causes irritation and pain, we get a “pebble in the conscience” that does not cease to cause irritation and pain―even though we may try to anesthetize it with alcohol, drugs, entertainment, activity, etc.
When a true love of God reigns in our soul―not the hypocritical “lip-service” love mentioned above―then we find the “joy of a good conscience” ― a true joy, and not a cosmetic joy; a joy of heart and not just a cosmetic, “put-on” joy on the face. This can only come with the killing of sin, the absence of sin and a love for and a keeping of God’s commandments, as Christ Himself said: “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him [= joy and happiness] ... If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:23; 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
The whole idea of love seems to automatically include joy and happiness. True love also implies loving what is good, and not evil: “Hate evil, and love good” (Amos 5:15). “You, that love the Lord―hate evil” (Psalm 96:10). Yet, we have to cry out in anxiety and fear with St. Paul: “I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do! … Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15, 24-25). When we lose “the grace of God” we lose the innate happiness and peace that it brings. You may have experienced the return of this peace and happiness after having confessed your mortal sins (or even venial sins) ― this is the “peace of Christ” which the world cannot give: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Grace and the Kiss of Peace and Happiness
It is this grace of God what we must both seek and treasure―for if we obtain that grace and die in that grace, then we are guaranteed Heaven―even if might mean many years, or many decades or even centuries in the fires of Purgatory! What is a century compared to eternity? Nothing! Besides, sin is the greatest evil and the world―and nobody “gets away” with any sin. We either punish ourselves in this life, or get punished for it after death―that is why Our Lady is constantly asking for penance―which is a form of self-punishment for sin. As Holy Scripture says: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11) ― if we want mercy, then we have to meet it with truth―the truth being that we have sinned and we must truthfully admit those sins and take responsibility for them (not blame someone or something else). Furthermore, to receive that mercy, we must also “do justice”―meaning, make reparation for our sins―and only then will we receive the kiss of peace and happiness: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11).
Queen of Transformations
Of all the many titles given to Our Lady, there is one―tongue in cheek―that she does not have: “Queen of Transformations.” She is ever seeking, endlessly seeking, universally seeking to transform sinners into saints. Perhaps the nearest we get to that title is “Refuge of Sinners” or “Mother of Mercy” or “Help of Christians” ― but, once again tongue in cheek, “Our Lady of Transformations” would sum them all up. St. Louis de Montfort alludes to this in this passage from his book, The Secret of Mary, in which he says:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous TRANSFORMATION is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this!
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
“The GRACE AND HELP OF GOD are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say « not in the same measure » because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.
“It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. MY CONTENTION IS THAT YOU MUST FIRST DISCOVER MARY IF YOU WOULD OBTAIN THIS GRACE FROM GOD” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §3 to §6).
Those words of TRANFORMATION spoken by St. Louis de Montfort are also echoed by Fr. Frederick William Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation, from the original French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s larger work, True Devotion to Mary. Fr. Faber writes on the need and potential transformation that can be caused by Mary in the following words:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the TRANSFORMATIONS it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Our Lady herself implicitly speaks of her power to transform sinners into saints in the following revelation to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then Our Lady concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners ... I tell you so now: Nobody in the world is so great a sinner ― provided he says in his heart that my Son is the Creator and Redeemer of the universe and that my Son is dear to him in his inmost heart ― that I am not prepared to come to him immediately, like a loving mother to her son, and hug him and say: ‘What would you like, my son?’ Even if he had deserved the lowest punishment in Hell, nevertheless, if only he has the intention of not caring for worldly honors, or greed, or carnal lust, such as the Church condemns, and desires nothing but his own sustenance, then he and I will right away get along quite well together.” (Revelations, Book IV, Chapter 32).
It is in light of all this that St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book Glories of Mary, can write: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them [by TRANSFORMING them], and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
Is this a silly question, or what? No. Seriously―are you happy? The answer will be―for the majority of people who are honest― “With some things I am happy! With other things I am not!” Yet if we are totally honest, we would probably say (or should say): “I am not happy about most things!” Why so? Well, how the heck can you be happy when the Faith is collapsing? How can you be happy about more than 55 million babies being murdered by abortion each year and most countries allowing that murder by their laws. How can you be happy about the fact that most souls in the world being damned? How can you be happy about the apostasy of nations and their governments? How can you be happy about laws that promote and allow abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriages, sodomy, pornography? How can you be happy about the doctrinal and moral rape of Holy Mother Church? Add to that the increasing totalitarian encroachment of governments and their agencies. Add to that the financial manipulations and demolitions by the money-men. Add to that the ever increasing social and cultural collapse into immorality, violence and anarchy. The list is endless! What is there to be happy about?
Where to Find Happiness
Yet, despite all this, as our Catechism tells us: “God made me to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life―so that I can be happy with Him in the next life!” Our Lady said much the same thing to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” It all comes down to which basket we hope to find our eggs of happiness―the basket of this world, or the basket of Heaven. It is Heaven’s basket into which we should be placing our eggs of happiness. For, as Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also [and thy happiness] ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that man was made to be happy: “All human beings have the same nature, that is, the same human essence equipped for normal human operations. Therefore all men have the same last end, the same ultimate goal. This last end is complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment; such fulfillment is called beatitude or happiness. But all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and consequent happiness are to be found. Some think to attain the end by becoming rich, some by enjoying pleasures, some by exercising power, some by being praised and honored, and so on. It is as though all men were determinately set to reach a certain city, but were not all in agreement about the right road they must take to get there. In this case, surely, prudence suggests that the men of soundest and most studious judgment should be permitted to indicate the way.” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q. 1, art. 7).
Can You Be Happy and Not Know It?
It may seem to be a silly question―but can you be happy and not know it? Happiness and joy belong exclusively to the soul and not to the body. The equivalent of happiness in the body is strictly speaking “pleasure.” Since the soul is more important than the body―it therefore stands to reason that happiness of the soul is more important than pleasure for the body. Or, as Our Lord puts it: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
St. Thomas Aquinas says that “Beatitude, or happiness, or blessedness, is the perfect good of an intellectual nature. It consists in the fact that an intellectual being (that is, being with understanding and free will) knows that it possesses its true good in sufficient measure” (Summa 1a, q.26, art 1). Therefore, we can only be happy if we know that we are happy―even though we might still seek happiness in the wrong areas, sinful areas. St. Thomas goes on to say that “Hence God is infinitely happy. God is infinite beatitude. Only God is infinitely happy … Men and angels seek God as the object that will fulfill them, and make them perfectly happy. God is their objective happiness. And the possession of God in the beatific vision constitutes their subjective happiness, that is, the happiness which is in them … Inasmuch as all the blessed in Heaven have not all the same degree of charity and the same light of glory, there are in heaven different subjective beatitudes [happinesses]” (Summa 1a, q.26, art 1 & 3).
Where is Happiness? Where is the Road to Happiness?
Is happiness to found by following the proverbial “Yellow Brick Road”? In a certain sense, yes―if you take “yellow-brick” to mean charity. For then you can say that charity leads to God, as “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). St. Thomas puts it a little more dryly, saying: “All men seek fulfillment or satisfaction, that is to say, all seek beatitude or happiness. This is the subjective last end [goal/target] of man. Now, the objective last end [goal/target] of man is the object which, when possessed, will give him happiness. The objective last end of man, the object he seeks to attain so that he may have perfect satisfaction in it, is the infinite good―that infinite good is God. In this, man differs from all other earthly substances, minerals, plants, animals. For, while all these things are the products of divine goodness [God] and exist to reflect and manifest that goodness [God], they do not seek to attain the infinite good [God] subjectively; only man does that. Hence man does not have the active help of earthly creatures in his own ultimate quest of God and eternal happiness” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q.1, art. 8).
St. Thomas continues: “Man’s happiness is not to be found in wealth, whether this be natural wealth which serves his normal needs (such as food, clothing, housing), or artificial wealth which can provide the items of natural wealth, that is, money. Wealth of any kind is a means for acquiring something else; it is a thing that serves; it does not fulfill. Hence it cannot be the true last end of man and the object that will render him enduringly and completely happy.”
“Nor can man’s full happiness consist in honors bestowed because of some excellence in him. Any excellence in a man is in him by reason of some good already possessed; it means that he already has some degree of happiness. Honors come to him because of this happiness, and therefore boners cannot themselves be the constituting elements of perfect happiness.”
“Nor can man’s happiness be found in fame and glory. These, like honors bestowed, presuppose some degree of happiness already attained, and this they publicize and praise. Fame and glory are consequent upon an imperfect happiness, and are, in some sense, the product of it. They cannot, therefore, be the essential elements of perfect happiness.”
“Man’s perfect happiness cannot consist in the possession of power, for power is not a complete end, but a means; power is valuable according to the use to which it may be put. In a word, power looks on to something further; it cannot itself be the ultimate goal.”
“Man’s ultimate happiness does not consist in goods of the body-life, health, strength, beauty, agility, etc. for these goods preserve the body and its perfections. Merely to preserve life cannot be the end of life. Goods of the body are to be used by reason (intellect and will) somewhat as a ship is used by its master; the master does not use the ship merely to preserve the ship, but to carry profitable cargoes to desired ports. Thus it appears that the goods of the body are means [ways to achieve it], not complete ends [goals/targets]. Besides, man is a rational being as well as a bodily being; he can never be completely fulfilled and satisfied by bodily goods.”
“Pleasures, whether bodily or intellectual, cannot bring a man ultimate happiness. We have just seen that bodily things cannot be man's perfect fulfillment. And mental enjoyments presuppose the end already attained; enjoyment follows upon possession of some good or end; what is consequent upon the end cannot itself be the end [goal/target].”
“The goods of the soul―its essence, faculties, acts, habits, perfections―cannot constitute man’s ultimate end [goal/target]. Happiness is for the soul, and to be attained by the soul. The objective ultimate happiness is something outside the soul, which the soul seeks to bring into itself and possess subjectively. Hence this ultimate end [goal/target] is not the soul itself, nor the goods belonging to the soul. Indeed, no created good can give man perfect happiness. Only the essential, universal, and boundless good can bring man complete and unfading fulfillment. No created good is universal, essential, and boundless; only the uncreated good can be the ultimate end of man. And this uncreated good is God” (Tour of the Summa, 1a-2ae; q.2, art. 1-8).
We might imagine or convince ourselves that we can find happiness in the things of this world―“I say, brethren; the time is short! It remaineth that they who have wives, be as if they had none! And they that weep, be as though they wept not! And they that rejoice, be as if they rejoiced not! And they that buy, be as though they possessed not!
And they that use this world, be as if they used it not―for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
“Dead-End” Happiness
The Chosen People of old, as St. Paul points out, were often thinking about eating, drinking and playing―but this irritated God: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And all did eat the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink―they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with MOST OF THEM God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted [thinking it would make them happy]. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them [thinking it would make them happy], as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication―as some of them committed fornication [thinking it would make them happy], and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ―as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur―as some of them murmured [because they were not happy with the circumstances of God’s will for them] and were destroyed by the destroyer!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-10).
The pride of the Israelites led them to desire their own preferences to God’s preferences, to seek happiness by their own paths rather than by God’s chosen path. They wanted things according to their own whims and tastes, rather than those of God. Similarly, today, we think we can get to Heaven “doing it our way” rather than God’s way. We think that we can get to Heaven by loving and serving both God and mammon (pleasures and treasures) and ignoring Christ’s statement to the contrary: “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners … But whose will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet! Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him!” (Psalm 33:9).
Christ “said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which St. Paul adds: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). That teaching has been largely scrapped and trashed by most Catholics today―for whom the Faith has become an unbearable cross. Thus they hypocritically cast off the cross of Christ as they cross over to the world―while still pretending and professing to be Catholics, whereas as they have become worldlings and citizens of the “prince of this world” (John 14:30)―the devil―ignoring Our Lord’s words: “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. For the prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 12:31; 14:30). These worldly Catholics spend their time going through the revolving doors of the world and Confession, seeking sin and mercy. Such will never find real happiness―or at least enduring happiness: “The flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God!” (Romans 8:7-8) ― they only please themselves, give pleasure to themselves, for a short while ― but the Day of Reckoning for that pleasure will come. Of such Catholics Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6).
The End of Happiness is the Start of Happiness
We need to shop for happiness in the right places! “The end of happiness is the start of happiness”―sounds a little like “So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 20:16). As St. Thomas says, only God is infinitely or endlessly happy―and men and angels must seek God if they wish to share in true happiness. It is only when we find God that we find true happiness. It is a little like the claim: “You have never tasted olive oil until you have tasted fresh olive oil!” It is also why we say that the day of death of saints is their birthday―it sounds like an oxymoron―but it is like saying: “You ain’t lived till you have lived in Heaven!” Which is why Our Lady does not want to give us the “rancid olive oil” of this life, but the “fresh olive oil” of eternal life in Heaven―hence she said to St. Bernadette, as she says to all of us: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life―but in the next!” Just as in the fairy tale, the Ugly Duckling becomes a Beautiful Swan―Our Lady wants to transform the ugliness of our sinfulness into a sanctity worthy of happiness. Or, as Holy Scripture puts it: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18).
What can bring a greater happiness―apart from getting to Heaven and seeing God―than the forgiveness of sins? If there is no forgiveness of sins, then there is no chance of Heaven! Yet, sadly, we take forgiveness of sin for granted! Why is that? The reason is our warped sense of values! We underestimate both Heaven and sin. We slash the cost of getting to Heaven and we minimize the price of sin. We almost look upon Heaven and being like a “public park” to which everyone has right of access―and we almost think that a traffic speeding ticket is more expensive than sin! We forget―or brush-off―the Catechism, which tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Mankind Happy to Lose the Sense of Sin
In an October 1946 Radio Message to the participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States―in Boston, Massachusetts, USA―Pope Pius XII spoke a prophetic word: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” Pope Pius XII said this in the wake of the horrors of World War II and John Paul II, Benedict and Francis have all repeated it.
Even the Liberal Pope John Paul II, on March 14th, 2005, in a message to the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, wrote: “We live in a society that seems to have lost the sense of God and of sin. Christ's invitation to conversion is all the more urgent!”
Likewise, in homily on March 13th, 2011, the first Sunday of Lent, the also Liberal Pope Benedict XVI said: “The word ‘sin’ is not accepted by many, because it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so, too, the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin ― which is a different thing from ‘guilt feelings’ as these are understood in psychology ― is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God … God’s response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because He is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that He does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live.”
In a homily on January 31st, 2014, the even more Liberal Pope Francis also echoed Pope Pius XII’s statement and lament: “When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost … When we lose the sense of sin, when we let the Kingdom of God crumble … It would be good for us to pray today, that the Lord gives us the grace to not lose the sense of sin, so that the Kingdom of God doesn't crumble!”
If even Liberal popes are saying we have lost the sense of sin, then that speaks volumes! We cannot sin and he happy―at least not in the long term. “We shall all stand at the judgment-seat of God ... everyone of us will render an account for himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12). Just as “crime doesn’t pay”, likewise “sin doesn’t pay.” Sin offends God who is infinite happiness―therefore sin will backfire on our ‘happiness’ when God’s justice rightfully addresses, redresses and pays back those offences. “The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them that work iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42) … “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Doesn’t sound like a “happy ending” for sin, does it?
The End of Sin is the Start of Happiness
Ultimately, though not necessarily immediately, sin brings unhappiness. God is God and nobody ever has or ever will “get away” with sinning. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels! And then will He render to every man according to his works!” (Matthew 16:27). “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). “We shall all stand at the judgment-seat of God ... everyone of us will render an account for himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12). Then, as regards paying for sin: “I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last penny” (Luke 12:59).
You have no doubt heard the phrases: “The joy of good conscience” and “Pangs of conscience.” The “joy of a good conscience is the peace and happiness that comes from doing what is right, doing what is good, doing God’s will, keeping God’s commandments. Joy and happiness are synonymous with love―we are happy and joyous when in the presence of those whom we truly love, whereas we are saddened and disconsolate in their absence.
The “pangs of conscience” are feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment, resulting from behavior which is regretted. We don’t get “pangs of conscience” from doing what is right, doing what is good, doing God’s will, keeping God’s commandments, we only get “pangs of conscience” when we do what is wrong, do what is evil, when we oppose God’s will or break God’s commandments―then, like the proverbial “pebble in the shoe” that causes irritation and pain, we get a “pebble in the conscience” that does not cease to cause irritation and pain―even though we may try to anesthetize it with alcohol, drugs, entertainment, activity, etc.
When a true love of God reigns in our soul―not the hypocritical “lip-service” love mentioned above―then we find the “joy of a good conscience” ― a true joy, and not a cosmetic joy; a joy of heart and not just a cosmetic, “put-on” joy on the face. This can only come with the killing of sin, the absence of sin and a love for and a keeping of God’s commandments, as Christ Himself said: “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him [= joy and happiness] ... If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:23; 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
The whole idea of love seems to automatically include joy and happiness. True love also implies loving what is good, and not evil: “Hate evil, and love good” (Amos 5:15). “You, that love the Lord―hate evil” (Psalm 96:10). Yet, we have to cry out in anxiety and fear with St. Paul: “I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do! … Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15, 24-25). When we lose “the grace of God” we lose the innate happiness and peace that it brings. You may have experienced the return of this peace and happiness after having confessed your mortal sins (or even venial sins) ― this is the “peace of Christ” which the world cannot give: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Grace and the Kiss of Peace and Happiness
It is this grace of God what we must both seek and treasure―for if we obtain that grace and die in that grace, then we are guaranteed Heaven―even if might mean many years, or many decades or even centuries in the fires of Purgatory! What is a century compared to eternity? Nothing! Besides, sin is the greatest evil and the world―and nobody “gets away” with any sin. We either punish ourselves in this life, or get punished for it after death―that is why Our Lady is constantly asking for penance―which is a form of self-punishment for sin. As Holy Scripture says: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11) ― if we want mercy, then we have to meet it with truth―the truth being that we have sinned and we must truthfully admit those sins and take responsibility for them (not blame someone or something else). Furthermore, to receive that mercy, we must also “do justice”―meaning, make reparation for our sins―and only then will we receive the kiss of peace and happiness: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11).
Queen of Transformations
Of all the many titles given to Our Lady, there is one―tongue in cheek―that she does not have: “Queen of Transformations.” She is ever seeking, endlessly seeking, universally seeking to transform sinners into saints. Perhaps the nearest we get to that title is “Refuge of Sinners” or “Mother of Mercy” or “Help of Christians” ― but, once again tongue in cheek, “Our Lady of Transformations” would sum them all up. St. Louis de Montfort alludes to this in this passage from his book, The Secret of Mary, in which he says:
“Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like Him in this life, and glorious like Him in the next (Matthew 5:48). It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake, must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God, in not doing the work for which He created you and for which He is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous TRANSFORMATION is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving His grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this!
“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
“The GRACE AND HELP OF GOD are absolutely necessary for us to practice all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say « not in the same measure » because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.
“It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. MY CONTENTION IS THAT YOU MUST FIRST DISCOVER MARY IF YOU WOULD OBTAIN THIS GRACE FROM GOD” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §3 to §6).
Those words of TRANFORMATION spoken by St. Louis de Montfort are also echoed by Fr. Frederick William Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation, from the original French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s larger work, True Devotion to Mary. Fr. Faber writes on the need and potential transformation that can be caused by Mary in the following words:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the TRANSFORMATIONS it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Our Lady herself implicitly speaks of her power to transform sinners into saints in the following revelation to St. Bridget of Sweden: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then Our Lady concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners ... I tell you so now: Nobody in the world is so great a sinner ― provided he says in his heart that my Son is the Creator and Redeemer of the universe and that my Son is dear to him in his inmost heart ― that I am not prepared to come to him immediately, like a loving mother to her son, and hug him and say: ‘What would you like, my son?’ Even if he had deserved the lowest punishment in Hell, nevertheless, if only he has the intention of not caring for worldly honors, or greed, or carnal lust, such as the Church condemns, and desires nothing but his own sustenance, then he and I will right away get along quite well together.” (Revelations, Book IV, Chapter 32).
It is in light of all this that St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book Glories of Mary, can write: “This Mother of Mercy is all kindness and all sweetness, not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids them [by TRANSFORMING them], and obtains their pardon from her Son. She neglects none, however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection; she consoles all; and no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to their help. With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and raises those sinners who are most averse to God, and who are the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices that she may dispose them to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal glory. God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to her intercession” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday August 5th & Thursday August 6th & Friday August 7th
Article 3
Need a Miracle?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Wednesday August 5th & Thursday August 6th & Friday August 7th
Article 3
Need a Miracle?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
In a Mess? Don’t Give a Hoot!
If you think that things are bad right now―then, as they say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” As Our Lord says: “These things are the beginning of sorrows!” (Matthew 13:8). We are merely seeing the “lighting of the touch-paper or fuse”―the “big-bang” is yet to come! Our Lady is no exaggerator, she is not fairy tale teller―when she speaks, she says the truth and the truth of the matter is that we have not listened to the truths that she has been telling us! She warned that due to lack of prayer and penance, and a love of comfort, money, amusements and luxury, the devil would use persons to overcome the world, almost totally destroy the Faith and damn a horde of souls. She said many times that whole nations would be annihilated, that famines, plagues and pestilences would come. She warned that most of the human race would be destroyed. She even gives us Heaven’s prescription for solutions. Yet it seems as though she was talking to brick-wall. Her warnings go in one ear and out the other. We know what to do―but refuse to do it. We know we should change―but then change our minds about changing, or at least postpone the change. We are currently dangling and hanging by a thread―and we don’t really give a hoot!
Many a parent, teacher, coach, instructor or doctor has experienced the infuriating frustration of having someone not listen to their instructions―having tried time and time again to get some point across to their thick-skulls, or trying to get them to take a path that would benefit them greatly, or even save their lives―yet to no avail. Their words, instructions and commands merely flow off that person like water off a duck’s back! The result is often unpleasant―having to tell the child to leave the family home, or dismiss the student from school, or drop the player from the team roster, or tell the patient that there is nothing more you can do for him or her.
Sin and Indifference will be the two blades on scissors of humanity that will cut the thread and snap God’s patience. This is epitomized by the words Sister Lucia uses with regard to our sinfulness and indifference: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message―neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them very soon; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” So what? Who the heck cares? Isn’t the Immaculate Heart supposed to triumph anyway? Yes―but at what cost? At the cost of how many damned souls in the meantime? Perhaps at the cost of your soul too―for “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! … That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48).
Only A Miracle Can Save Us!
We are like a person in the fourth stage of cancer―who has been given only a few weeks or months to live. We could and should have avoided the cancer in the first place by living correctly, eating correctly, exercising correctly, and sleeping correctly. Instead, we did as we pleased, ate what we pleased, drank what we pleased, smoked what we pleased. Now, only the proverbial miracle can save the cancer patient. We need that miracle in the world today. Just as with many cancers―what is going on invisibly, behind the scenes, deep inside the body is not noticed until it is too late. As the proverb says: “A stitch in time, saves nine!” The only one in stitches in the devil―as he laughs at our laziness, indifference, complacency and stupidity.
Before talking about a miracle―let us talk about the health, or lack of health, of the patient―the health of the world. The world is sick. Very sick. Far more sick than it thinks. Our Lady’s diagnosis and prognosis of this sickness: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (La Salette in 1846). “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956).
Unfazed by the Diagnosis and Prognosis
That diagnosis (what is wrong) and prognosis (where it is leading to) does not faze or frighten us in the slightest―it is like a joke or a criticism or a reprimand we have heard hundreds of times and it no longer has any effect upon us. All of that proves that we are almost incurably sick. When Heaven’s medicine―when Our Lady’s words―no longer produce an effect, then the soul is either incurable or needs a massive dose of something far, far stronger. That is―most sadly―our current situation and plight. We have not paid sufficient attention to the ordinary means or measures offered to us and have not used them as told―therefore extraordinary measures will be required. As is the case with many extraordinary measures―they are extraordinarily expensive. Prevention is always a better option to a cure―and prevention is usually far less expensive than a cure. We have not use the preventative measures that Heaven offered us―so now we have to pay the price of the extraordinary measures and cure. Yet somehow the stupidity of Catholics lets them imagine that in some way the extraordinary measures and cure will come at no cost! That they will require no payments, punishments or sufferings on their part! Only fools believe foolish things! “And the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Our Only Hope is Hopelessly Neglected
Our Lady has implied that only a miracle can save us now. At Fatima, referring to herself as Our Lady of the Rosary, she said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). At Akita, Our Lady says much the same thing: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). At La Salette, Our Lady of Good Success suggests the miraculous manner in which she will save the world: “Humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny.” Whereas Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of that triumph: “People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846). Our Lady of Fatima puts the icing on the cake by promising the eventual triumph of her Immaculate Heart: “Various nations will be annihilated [but] In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917).
All fine and dandy―but a terrible cost! The reason why “evil will seem to triumph” and “people will believe that all is lost” because “nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy” and “various nations will be annihilated” is simply down to the INDIFFERENCE and NEGLIGENCE of Catholics in applying the remedies and using the weapons that Heaven offered to us. You may not like to here this―but our salvation and damnation largely depends upon not just what we positively do, but also on the negative aspect of what we leave undone or refuse to do. The world is like it is because we are like we are―INDIFFERENT and NEGLIGENT.
If you think that things are bad right now―then, as they say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” As Our Lord says: “These things are the beginning of sorrows!” (Matthew 13:8). We are merely seeing the “lighting of the touch-paper or fuse”―the “big-bang” is yet to come! Our Lady is no exaggerator, she is not fairy tale teller―when she speaks, she says the truth and the truth of the matter is that we have not listened to the truths that she has been telling us! She warned that due to lack of prayer and penance, and a love of comfort, money, amusements and luxury, the devil would use persons to overcome the world, almost totally destroy the Faith and damn a horde of souls. She said many times that whole nations would be annihilated, that famines, plagues and pestilences would come. She warned that most of the human race would be destroyed. She even gives us Heaven’s prescription for solutions. Yet it seems as though she was talking to brick-wall. Her warnings go in one ear and out the other. We know what to do―but refuse to do it. We know we should change―but then change our minds about changing, or at least postpone the change. We are currently dangling and hanging by a thread―and we don’t really give a hoot!
Many a parent, teacher, coach, instructor or doctor has experienced the infuriating frustration of having someone not listen to their instructions―having tried time and time again to get some point across to their thick-skulls, or trying to get them to take a path that would benefit them greatly, or even save their lives―yet to no avail. Their words, instructions and commands merely flow off that person like water off a duck’s back! The result is often unpleasant―having to tell the child to leave the family home, or dismiss the student from school, or drop the player from the team roster, or tell the patient that there is nothing more you can do for him or her.
Sin and Indifference will be the two blades on scissors of humanity that will cut the thread and snap God’s patience. This is epitomized by the words Sister Lucia uses with regard to our sinfulness and indifference: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message―neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them very soon; they also continue on their path of sinfulness, ignoring the Message. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” So what? Who the heck cares? Isn’t the Immaculate Heart supposed to triumph anyway? Yes―but at what cost? At the cost of how many damned souls in the meantime? Perhaps at the cost of your soul too―for “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more! … That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47-48).
Only A Miracle Can Save Us!
We are like a person in the fourth stage of cancer―who has been given only a few weeks or months to live. We could and should have avoided the cancer in the first place by living correctly, eating correctly, exercising correctly, and sleeping correctly. Instead, we did as we pleased, ate what we pleased, drank what we pleased, smoked what we pleased. Now, only the proverbial miracle can save the cancer patient. We need that miracle in the world today. Just as with many cancers―what is going on invisibly, behind the scenes, deep inside the body is not noticed until it is too late. As the proverb says: “A stitch in time, saves nine!” The only one in stitches in the devil―as he laughs at our laziness, indifference, complacency and stupidity.
Before talking about a miracle―let us talk about the health, or lack of health, of the patient―the health of the world. The world is sick. Very sick. Far more sick than it thinks. Our Lady’s diagnosis and prognosis of this sickness: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (La Salette in 1846). “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” (Our Lady to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956).
Unfazed by the Diagnosis and Prognosis
That diagnosis (what is wrong) and prognosis (where it is leading to) does not faze or frighten us in the slightest―it is like a joke or a criticism or a reprimand we have heard hundreds of times and it no longer has any effect upon us. All of that proves that we are almost incurably sick. When Heaven’s medicine―when Our Lady’s words―no longer produce an effect, then the soul is either incurable or needs a massive dose of something far, far stronger. That is―most sadly―our current situation and plight. We have not paid sufficient attention to the ordinary means or measures offered to us and have not used them as told―therefore extraordinary measures will be required. As is the case with many extraordinary measures―they are extraordinarily expensive. Prevention is always a better option to a cure―and prevention is usually far less expensive than a cure. We have not use the preventative measures that Heaven offered us―so now we have to pay the price of the extraordinary measures and cure. Yet somehow the stupidity of Catholics lets them imagine that in some way the extraordinary measures and cure will come at no cost! That they will require no payments, punishments or sufferings on their part! Only fools believe foolish things! “And the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Our Only Hope is Hopelessly Neglected
Our Lady has implied that only a miracle can save us now. At Fatima, referring to herself as Our Lady of the Rosary, she said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). At Akita, Our Lady says much the same thing: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). At La Salette, Our Lady of Good Success suggests the miraculous manner in which she will save the world: “Humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny.” Whereas Our Lady of La Salette also speaks of that triumph: “People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846). Our Lady of Fatima puts the icing on the cake by promising the eventual triumph of her Immaculate Heart: “Various nations will be annihilated [but] In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917).
All fine and dandy―but a terrible cost! The reason why “evil will seem to triumph” and “people will believe that all is lost” because “nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy” and “various nations will be annihilated” is simply down to the INDIFFERENCE and NEGLIGENCE of Catholics in applying the remedies and using the weapons that Heaven offered to us. You may not like to here this―but our salvation and damnation largely depends upon not just what we positively do, but also on the negative aspect of what we leave undone or refuse to do. The world is like it is because we are like we are―INDIFFERENT and NEGLIGENT.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday August 3rd & Tuesday August 4th
Article 2
Mobilizing the Masses!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Monday August 3rd & Tuesday August 4th
Article 2
Mobilizing the Masses!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Massive Problems Call For Massive Solutions!
If you don’t think that we have massive global problem that is perpetually escalating right now―then there is massive problem with your powers of perception and your cognitive or thinking abilities. If you cannot see the overwhelming coordinated threats thickening ominously like dark, turbulent clouds before a mighty storm lets loose its vehemence―then you are looking in the wrong direction or looking at the wrong things or reading the wrong things or listening to the wrong people. If you fail to see the potential consequences of this man and media manufactured melodrama* that has been placed center-stage since January of 2020―then you need to take a pin and prick yourself to see if everything in your body―and perhaps brain―has gone numb, or perhaps even dumb.
* the word melodrama means a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions, with lots of exaggerated emotion, tension or excitement. A soap opera is an example of a melodrama. What we are seeing worldwide is an exaggerated soap opera ― which (pun intended) is telling us to constantly wash our hands with soap, disinfect our cart handles, etc., while the media exaggeratedly rams up our nostril and down our throats the latest sensationalized, “through the ceiling and roof”, “never before witnessed”, “record spikes” of this inflated and overrated flu that is a threat to humanity and the world as we know it!
The masses have been brainwashed to be frogs in the pan of heated water―with the media telling them to keep sitting in place (self-quarantined in the pan of water), while the evil powers that be (in governments, media, medical field, etc.) gradually keep turning up the heat and begin anesthetizing your mind and body with a mixture of Covid-Media-Mind-Vaccines and Covid-Needle-the-Arm-Vaccines―which are meant to squeeze the truth out of your mind and the life out of your body. Conspiracy theory? Repeat a lie enough times and people will believe it! Say it is conspiracy theory enough times and people will believe it is a conspiracy theory! It is more like a conspiracy fact than a conspiracy theory!
Conspiracies are a Fact of Life
What is a “Conspiracy Theory”? It’s a term used by many to brush off something that clashes with what they believe in, or have believed in for a long period of time. Taking in new information ― that runs counter to a current belief system ― is not easy and can cause the feeling of cognitive dissonance ― a term used in modern psychology to describe the feeling of discomfort that arises from being confronted with two or more conflicting ideas, beliefs, or values. It suggests that we have an inner drive to hold onto all of our beliefs and attitudes ― avoiding the feelings of discomfort and instability that accompany new ideas ― regardless of whether those ideas are backed by evidence and sound logic.
Why do we always believe, without further consideration, what is presented to us through mainstream sources? Why do we hold it to be true, without question? One reason is that we are insufficiently informed and poorly educated. If you do not understand how a car works, then the mechanic could tell you all kinds of lies about what needs to be done to fix your car and would believe him. The same is true for history, religion, economics, health issues, etc.
Dumb and Blind is What You Find
When one is dumb and blind, what you will find, is that thoughts of conspiracy are far from one’s mind. Dumb people couldn’t recognize a conspiracy, even it was staring them in the face. This is what the former Russian KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov said about many Americans today: “Ideological subversion, or psychological warfare is a great brainwashing process ... What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country … Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students … The result? The result you can see ... The people who graduated in the 60’s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Pavlov dog experiments]. You cannot change their minds ― even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change their basic [false] perceptions and the [false] logic of [behind their] behavior. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Pavlov dog experiments]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information―even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change their basic [false] perceptions and the [false] logic of [behind their] behavior … Exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it .... You are stuck with them!” (Yuri Bezmenov, Interview with Ed Griffin, 1984).
Dumb People Believe the Conspiracy to Discredit Conspiracies
To start asking too many questions might betray their ‘dumbness’ and so they “go with the flow.” It really pays to have dumb people. They are at the mercy of whatever someone else tells them. This ‘dumbness’ is more often than not the result of laziness. They could read more, research more, study more, think more deeply, analyze more—it would make them more intelligent and ‘sharp’—but they have more important trivial and fun things to attend to—watch the TV, listen to music, surf the internet for trivial stuff, follow some sport, spend time on social media, catch-up on the latest gossip, pursue a hobby, etc.
Why is it so common for many of us to not even acknowledge, listen, or look at evidence which runs counter to the accepted ideology? To ignore available information which presents an alternative to what is so commonly believed by many – or what we ourselves believe can place the human race in a very vulnerable, gullible state. Even if there is an overwhelming amount of evidence, many find it easy to dismiss. The world laughs at Catholic conspiracy theories. Catholics laugh at Catholic conspiracy theories. Those who hold to conspiracy theories are looked upon as lunatics! It is actually those who think that there is no conspiracy, who are the real lunatics. As they say: “Truth is stranger than fiction!” From the very beginning of time conspiracy has been around. Satan ― the ultimate conspirator before his fall from grace after his conspiracy failed ― later conspired against Adam and Eve. The brothers of Joseph (of colorful coat fame) conspired to kill him. Saul conspired to kill David. David conspired to kill his general Urias. The Pharisees conspired to kill Jesus. This is not even the tip of the iceberg.
Conspiracy is as old as time and Holy Scripture gives many examples of it. There was a conspiracy among the angels and, after St. Michael destroyed that conspiracy, Lucifer and his fellow conspirators were driven out into Hell. Then the devil conspires against Adam and Eve: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ etc…” (Genesis 3:1-5). We see Cain conspire to kill Abel (Genesis 4:8). Conspiracies then flow freely: “There was a strong conspiracy” (2 Kings 15:12) … “Baasa conspired against him and slew him in Gebbethon” (3 Kings 15:27) … “Jehu conspired against Joram” (4 Kings 9:14) … “ I conspired against my master, and slew him” (4 Kings 10:9) … “She rent her garments, and cried: ‘A conspiracy! A conspiracy!’” (4 Kings 11:14) … “And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew Joas” (4 Kings 12:20) … “Sellum conspired against him and killed him, and reigned in his place” (4 Kings 15:10) … “And Phacee conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria” (4 Kings 15:25) … “Osee conspired, and formed a plot against Phacee” (4 Kings 15:30) … “But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amen” (4 Kings 21:24) … “Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad and Jozabad” (2 Para. 24:26) … “His servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house” (2 Paralipomenon 33:24).
The Prophet Jeremias writes: “And the Lord said to me: ‘A conspiracy is found among the men of Juda, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem!’”
King Saul says: “All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one to inform me, especially when even my son hath entered into league with the soil of Isai? There is not one of you that pitieth my case, nor that giveth me any information: because my son hath raised up my servant against me, plotting against me to this day! … Why have you conspired against me?” (1 Kings 22:8, 13).
The Book of Psalms says: “O God, Thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy people, and have consulted against Thy saints. They have said: ‘Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a covenant together against Thee!” (Psalm 82:2-6). (Jeremias 11:9).
St. Matthew relates: “Then were gathered together the chief priests and ancients of the people into the court of the high priest, who was called Caiphas: and they consulted together, that by subtlety they might apprehend Jesus, and put Him to death” (Matthew 26:2-4).
St. Mark reports: “And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against Jesus, how they might destroy Him.” (Mark 3:6).
St. Luke writes: “And when day was come, some of the Jews gathered together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying, that they would neither eat, nor drink, till they killed Paul. And they were more than forty men that had made this conspiracy. Who came to the chief priests and the ancients, and said: ‘We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing till we have slain Paul!’” (Acts 23:12-14).
Add to this the clear statements of Our Lord that family members will revolt and conspire against other family members and betray them: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). While Our Lady of Akita states: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops.” Is Our Lord a lunatic? Is Our Lady a lunatic? Of course not, but the best way to deflect attention is to attack and discredit anyone who points out what is going-on and ridicule them to ‘high-heaven’.
Every day there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of conspiracies in families, in the work place, in politics, in the business world, in the financial world, between nations, etc. Those who treat conspiracy theories are being automatic lunacy are themselves lunatics! Not all conspiracy theories are true―but that does not automatically mean that all conspiracy theories are untrue or false! Yet that is the “one-size-fits-all” attitude of those lunatics who go around squawking like a brainless parrot: “It’s only a conspiracy theory! Squawk, squawk! It’s all a conspiracy theory! Squawk, squawk!” Brainless parrots they are and brainless people gullibly listen to them squawking! It is a case of squawk enough times and they will be the squawking lie to be a squawking truth! O what a bunch of squawking fools―brainless birds of a feather flock together!
Do Things “Just Happen”?
All revolutions are, at the end of the day, conspiracies. Did the Russian Revolution “just happen” or was it staged to happen? Do we believe the sanitized version of ‘surface history’ or does something more lie beneath the surface? If something lies beneath the surface, then there are lies on the surface! Franklin D. Roosevelt was alleged to have said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Though some dispute that he ever said that, there can be little dispute over the truth of the statement—especially in the political theater over the last 200 to 250 years. Some may say that smells of a “Conspiracy Theory” attitude, but then we would have to condemn Our Lady as also being a “Conspiracy Theorist”—for she herself said: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Who Really Is A Lunatic?
All of this should put the gainsayers and mockers of “Conspiracy Theories” in the lunatic asylum, for it is crazier to imagine that there are no conspiracies than to think there are conspiracies. The devils are constantly conspiring and plotting how to ensnare and damn souls, and they use humans as pawns in that task. Whether or not Franklin D. Roosevelt actually said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way” is of little importance. What is important is that such a statement is very true—especially in the major events of the world.
The Crême-de-la- Crême of Conspiracies
Today, more than ever in past history, we are seeing the realization and actualization of the words of Holy Scripture: “The Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things. The kings of the Earth stood up and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:1-3). This is what the rulers of the modern world are trying to do today—they are conspiring to cast-off Christ and His yoke.
Or as Our Lady foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
The Wooden Horse of Troy has resurfaced as the Coronavirus Plannedemic of 2020
The Wooden Horse of Troy, or Trojan Horse, is a story (from the Trojan War about the subterfuge or slyness used by the Greeks against the independent city of Troy in order to win the war, after a unsuccessful 10-year siege by the Greeks. The Trojan Horse was huge hollow wooden horse constructed by the Greeks in order to slyly gain entrance into Troy during the Trojan War. The horse was built to secretly accommodate many Greek soldiers and was left behind, outside the city walls of Troy while the Greeks, pretending to desert the war, sailed to the nearby island of Tenedos, leaving behind a Greek called Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the horse (vaccine) was an offering to Athena (the goddess of war) that would make Troy impregnable (healthy and immune against Covid-19). The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse (vaccine) into their city as a victory trophy (victory over Covid-19). Despite the warnings of some citizens of Troy (warnings from those who see through Covid Plannedemic), the horse (vaccine) was taken inside the city gates (taken on board by governments and citizens). That night Greek warriors (the chemicals of the vaccine) crept out of the horse and opened the gates (the body’s defense against disease) for the rest of the Greek army (Covid-19 and future Covid family members and children), which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war and resistance of the valiant and brave citizens of Troy.
Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or tactic that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer program that tricks users into willingly running it is also called a “Trojan horse” or simply a “Trojan”. This Coronavirus Plannedemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic is a “Trojan Horse” that is meant to con you into inviting the enemy into your securely protected God-given human rights and freedoms, and then being enslaved by having those rights being taken away, by vaccines and chips being forced upon you, and having your life controlled as to whether or not you are free to travel, work, shop and receive medical care.
The mainstream media have built a sister for their “Frankenstein” Conspiracy Theory monster which terrifies people into disbelieving the existence of conspiracies―that “Sister of Frankenstein”― could you call her “Miss Francescastein” ― has been given the label “Misinformation”. What a twisted, complicated and conspiratorial world we live in! The actual real authors of misinformation (a polite word for “liars”) are the mainstream media (MSM), who have built up this man-made disease, which is a little worse than the common flu, into a terrifying fictional monster, a medical “Frankenstein” that is lurking in every alleyway, supermarket, church, school, workplace, nursing home, hospital, store, bus, airplane just waiting to breath his deadly droplets all over you and consign you to a fate worse than death!
The only way to protect yourself against the droplet drooling, sickness sneezing, fever fomenting, cough causing monster is to tremblingly wash your hands with soap and hot water as much as you can, while hiding behind a mask and face shield, under the cover of a plastic pouch, fervently praying for the Savior of mankind, Mr. Bill Gates, to miraculously conjure up a life-saving vaccine for mandatory mass consumption, which will then automatically ‘baptize’ you into the Church of Chips at whose head will be the Pope of Syringes. Just like the Catholic Church―which it will ape as the devil apes God―you will bound under pain of mortal social sin to receive the sacrament of vaccination at least once a year and confess to your whereabouts at all times by contact-tracing and chip-tracking. The all-seeing eye of this New World Order Church of Chip will monitor your every move and all your contacts. If you repeatedly are found to have crossed the paths or been in contact with ‘heretics’ or ‘schismatics’ who do not believe, hold to and preach the New World Order Church of Chip propaganda dogmas and narratives, then you will be ‘excommunicated’ by being refused access to the ‘sacraments’ of entering stores, banking, medicine, travel, etc. You will be anathematized by and from society―and will left to wilt and die in your stubborn ‘heresy’ of truth and logic. You will be punished for refusing to admit that real cures are in fact cures―and failing to accept false cures that are being touted as real cures by the infallibly dogmatic establishment and its ‘papal encyclicals’ in the mainstream media (MSM). Truth will become falsehood and falsehood will become truth. You will be forced to believe the lie and disbelieve the truth. Woe to our days! As Holy Scripture says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Right now, what we find to be evil and bitter to take, is being propagandized as being good and sweet to take. The confinement to the home, the self-quarantining, the social-distancing, the wearing of masks and face shields and even protective clothing, the disinfecting of a multitude of things, the confrontations at stores and other public places over these measures, the loss of jobs, the closing of businesses, the bankruptcy of small businesses, the consequential shortages especially potential food shortages―and a whole lot more, which to mind possessing common-sense, a decent education and God-given logic, are profoundly ridiculous, exaggerated and unnecessary measures, are being foisted and hoisted upon as a dogmatic truths, the disbelief of which will be severely punished and which will lead to our being labeled and “health terrorists”, “threats to mankind”, “rebels against humanity”, etc. Soon you might be fined or arrested for not wearing a mask―but will nevertheless be allowed to have an abortion with no harassment and no penalties.
Today’s Evil Calls for a Mass Uprising
Enough is enough! Many people agree with this. Yet most disagree on how to combat this insanity (the best case scenario label) or downright evil machinations (the more probable scenario). The vast majority of solutions range from “read this article” … “tell everyone” … “pass on this YouTube video, make it go viral” … “sign this petition” … “write to your governor/senator/congressman” to more radical and violent measures that threaten gun violence and mass uprisings. With all due respect, these solutions are ridiculous, infantile and futile. You cannot defeat something that is ultimately satanic with mere human means. It is like taking on military tanks with water-pistols. Or trying to shoot down planes with a bow and arrow.
We are living what Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima as being the Final Battle of the Devil with the Virgin. It is not going to be some human tactic that will defeat Satan―it is going to have to be a supernatural tactic, a supernatural approach. Our Lord told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and Our Lady said of herself: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Fatima) and “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is the Holy Mass―see also St. John Bosco’s vision of the Two Pillars, click here]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary.” (Akita).
What we really need is MASS UPRISINGS―but not the kind of “mass uprisings” that most people speak about―meaning taking to streets and starting a revolution. The MASS UPRISING that we need ― and THE ONLY MASS UPRISING THAT WILL REALLY WORK ― is the “uprising” or “rise in numbers” of Masses.”
(1) Masses that are offered up to God by priests for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind, and also ...
(2) A far greater frequency of attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the part of Catholics―to the point of even attending daily Mass and receiving Holy Communion for the double intention listed above.
What other option or suggestion is there to the option of the weapon of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What do you suggest? What is greater than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary that overcame Satan’s wiles. The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ Himself by Christ Himself―for in the Mass it is Christ that sacrifices, not the priest who sacrifices. The priest is a mere instrument in the hands of Christ―which is why the words of consecration are: “This is My Body” and not “This is Christ’s Body.”
There is no better defense against evil than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us remind ourselves once again what the Saints and Blesseds have said about the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross.” St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”. St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.” Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers ― both seen and unseen.” St. Padre Pio points out that “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich said: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
What is Stopping You?
What is stopping you from approaching a priest, presenting him whatever the local customary stipend offering is for a Mass ($10, $15, $20, $25) once a month―or even once a week if you can afford it―or even a novena of Masses―and asking him to offer the Mass(es) for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind―what is stopping you? How hard is that? How traumatic a thing can it be? How much courage and bravery will it drain? Will it be an earth-shattering embarrassment? Will you never be able to look that priest in the eye again? Will you be thrown out of the parish? Will you lose all your friends because of it?
Furthermore, you need to convince others to do the same thing―to approach their priests, asking those priests to offer the Masses, once again, for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind.
Secondly―Start Attending Mass More for this Cause
This is why Father Mateo, SS.CC., the famous apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and propagator of the Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart, said: “Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE! The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom, hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass. How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of ‘annoying’ the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!”
Mobilize the Masses
That is the chief way out of this massive mess that we find ourselves in―a mess that will only become more massive as the months roll by. The media hyped “Second Wave” is said to be coming―or having already started. Lockdowns that had been lifted are being enforced again. Nations are planning for mandatory mass vaccinations―ramming propaganda down everyone’s throats and injecting propaganda into the feeble minds that vaccination is the only solution! Electronic identification is already planned for the world population―to track and control―under the usual propaganda that lists all the security and health benefits that it will bring. The first shots across the bow of the Ark of the Church have already been fired―with the Church handing over the keys to the State on matters that are outside State authority. In other words, the noose is tightening as the propaganda gets more frightening. The fear-mongering and propagandizing―repeated as it has been, day-in-day-out for over six months―is beginning to take effect. Repeat a lie enough times and people will start to believe it.
Today, we see the gradual erosion of truth and common sense by twisted, exaggerated, falsified narrative on the earth-shattering, apocalyptic, potentially mortal and fatal effects of this hyped, bloated, inflated flu that has been DELIBERATELY MANUFACTURED BY MEN in biological warfare laboratories. Covid-19 is merely a symptom of a deeper-lying cause. We should not just treat the symptom, but attack the cause. Don’t just chop-off the weed above the ground―dig down, pull up, and destroy its roots. Yet those roots are so well hidden underground, that only God really knows where they are and who they are. That is why we need to turn to the MEDICINE OF THE MASS―which can penetrate everywhere and destroy all the ‘weeds’ wherever they may be lurking. Once again, ponder these quotes: St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”. St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.” St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.”
Talking of holding back God’s arm―Our Lady of La Salette warned and complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!” As St. Teresa of Avila says: “The Holy Mass … alone can hold back God’s arm!” The Mass must come first―it is our greatest treasure, our most powerful weapon that we can use, it is the “Sign” ― the sign of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary―left by Christ for us to use as a weapon: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” (Our Lady of Akita). Are we using that weapon―or have we dug a hole in the ground and buried it, like the man in the Parable of the Talents. If we do not treasure this weapon, this treasure of Christ’s―then, as with the man who buried the talent or treasure given to him by his lord, it will be taken away from us: “He that had received the one talent, came and said: … ‘Being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth!’ … And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! … Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it to him that hath ten talents!’” (Matthew 25:24-28). Or, the modern phrase says: “Use it―or lose it!”
At the moment we are losing it fast―we are losing ground fast, while the enemies of God, the Church, the Faith and mankind are gaining ground fast. As with disease, there comes a point where it is too late to do anything―a case of “too little, too late!” That is what we are risking right now with our lukewarm, indifferent, self-centered, selfish, complacent, “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” reaction and attitude. We have morphed from being Soldiers of Christ into being “Couch-Potatoes-of-Christ” ― with little muscle, little energy, little desire to “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Masses of Catholics with a Massacred Faith
Our Lord, in speaking of our times―which are to experience both a Minor Apostasy and the Great Apostasy―said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is not here yet―but the Faith is collapsing all around us. What have you done with your “Faith”? What are doing with your “Faith” right now? Yes―of course you believe, of course you have the Faith―but, as Holy Scripture says: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord said: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). What works have you produced with your Faith?
“Seeing is believing” ― as they say ― but “believing is not saving.” As Holy Scripture says: “The devils also believe and tremble!” ― and they are in Hell. To which you could add: “Most of damned souls believed, but they are now damned!” Many of those living in a state of mortal sin right now, have the Faith, but that will not save them by itself. Being given the “talent” of the Faith is not enough to be saved by itself. Believing in God does not save by itself. Having the Catholic Faith does not save by itself. Having a University Degree does not guarantee a successful career. Having all the best tools does not make you a successful mechanic. Being given a bicycle does not mean you will win the bike race. Having a sword or a gun does not mean you won’t be killed. Having an army does not guarantee that you will win a war. Knowing how to fight does not mean you will win the fight. ALL OF THESE THINGS REQUIRE THE ADDITION OF EFFORT, WHICH PUTS THE THEORY INTO PRACTICE.
“The just man lives by Faith” (Romans 1:17) ― meaning that he puts the theory of the Faith into practice. “My just man lives by Faith; but if he withdraws himself, he shall not please My soul. We are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition [withdrawing from practicing the Faith], but of Faith to the saving of the soul” [by putting the Faith into practice]. (Hebrews 10:38-39). “By Faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain … By Faith Noe built the ark for the saving of his house … By faith Abraham obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; not knowing where he was going … By Faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up as a sacrifice Isaac, his only begotten son … By Faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharao’s daughter, rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a short time … Time would fail to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets ― who by Faith conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners … And others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of chains and prisons. They were stoned, they were cut in two, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the Earth” (Hebrews 11:4-37) ― all for the Faith.
If you don’t think that we have massive global problem that is perpetually escalating right now―then there is massive problem with your powers of perception and your cognitive or thinking abilities. If you cannot see the overwhelming coordinated threats thickening ominously like dark, turbulent clouds before a mighty storm lets loose its vehemence―then you are looking in the wrong direction or looking at the wrong things or reading the wrong things or listening to the wrong people. If you fail to see the potential consequences of this man and media manufactured melodrama* that has been placed center-stage since January of 2020―then you need to take a pin and prick yourself to see if everything in your body―and perhaps brain―has gone numb, or perhaps even dumb.
* the word melodrama means a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions, with lots of exaggerated emotion, tension or excitement. A soap opera is an example of a melodrama. What we are seeing worldwide is an exaggerated soap opera ― which (pun intended) is telling us to constantly wash our hands with soap, disinfect our cart handles, etc., while the media exaggeratedly rams up our nostril and down our throats the latest sensationalized, “through the ceiling and roof”, “never before witnessed”, “record spikes” of this inflated and overrated flu that is a threat to humanity and the world as we know it!
The masses have been brainwashed to be frogs in the pan of heated water―with the media telling them to keep sitting in place (self-quarantined in the pan of water), while the evil powers that be (in governments, media, medical field, etc.) gradually keep turning up the heat and begin anesthetizing your mind and body with a mixture of Covid-Media-Mind-Vaccines and Covid-Needle-the-Arm-Vaccines―which are meant to squeeze the truth out of your mind and the life out of your body. Conspiracy theory? Repeat a lie enough times and people will believe it! Say it is conspiracy theory enough times and people will believe it is a conspiracy theory! It is more like a conspiracy fact than a conspiracy theory!
Conspiracies are a Fact of Life
What is a “Conspiracy Theory”? It’s a term used by many to brush off something that clashes with what they believe in, or have believed in for a long period of time. Taking in new information ― that runs counter to a current belief system ― is not easy and can cause the feeling of cognitive dissonance ― a term used in modern psychology to describe the feeling of discomfort that arises from being confronted with two or more conflicting ideas, beliefs, or values. It suggests that we have an inner drive to hold onto all of our beliefs and attitudes ― avoiding the feelings of discomfort and instability that accompany new ideas ― regardless of whether those ideas are backed by evidence and sound logic.
Why do we always believe, without further consideration, what is presented to us through mainstream sources? Why do we hold it to be true, without question? One reason is that we are insufficiently informed and poorly educated. If you do not understand how a car works, then the mechanic could tell you all kinds of lies about what needs to be done to fix your car and would believe him. The same is true for history, religion, economics, health issues, etc.
Dumb and Blind is What You Find
When one is dumb and blind, what you will find, is that thoughts of conspiracy are far from one’s mind. Dumb people couldn’t recognize a conspiracy, even it was staring them in the face. This is what the former Russian KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov said about many Americans today: “Ideological subversion, or psychological warfare is a great brainwashing process ... What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country … Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students … The result? The result you can see ... The people who graduated in the 60’s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Pavlov dog experiments]. You cannot change their minds ― even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change their basic [false] perceptions and the [false] logic of [behind their] behavior. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Pavlov dog experiments]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information―even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change their basic [false] perceptions and the [false] logic of [behind their] behavior … Exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it .... You are stuck with them!” (Yuri Bezmenov, Interview with Ed Griffin, 1984).
Dumb People Believe the Conspiracy to Discredit Conspiracies
To start asking too many questions might betray their ‘dumbness’ and so they “go with the flow.” It really pays to have dumb people. They are at the mercy of whatever someone else tells them. This ‘dumbness’ is more often than not the result of laziness. They could read more, research more, study more, think more deeply, analyze more—it would make them more intelligent and ‘sharp’—but they have more important trivial and fun things to attend to—watch the TV, listen to music, surf the internet for trivial stuff, follow some sport, spend time on social media, catch-up on the latest gossip, pursue a hobby, etc.
Why is it so common for many of us to not even acknowledge, listen, or look at evidence which runs counter to the accepted ideology? To ignore available information which presents an alternative to what is so commonly believed by many – or what we ourselves believe can place the human race in a very vulnerable, gullible state. Even if there is an overwhelming amount of evidence, many find it easy to dismiss. The world laughs at Catholic conspiracy theories. Catholics laugh at Catholic conspiracy theories. Those who hold to conspiracy theories are looked upon as lunatics! It is actually those who think that there is no conspiracy, who are the real lunatics. As they say: “Truth is stranger than fiction!” From the very beginning of time conspiracy has been around. Satan ― the ultimate conspirator before his fall from grace after his conspiracy failed ― later conspired against Adam and Eve. The brothers of Joseph (of colorful coat fame) conspired to kill him. Saul conspired to kill David. David conspired to kill his general Urias. The Pharisees conspired to kill Jesus. This is not even the tip of the iceberg.
Conspiracy is as old as time and Holy Scripture gives many examples of it. There was a conspiracy among the angels and, after St. Michael destroyed that conspiracy, Lucifer and his fellow conspirators were driven out into Hell. Then the devil conspires against Adam and Eve: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ etc…” (Genesis 3:1-5). We see Cain conspire to kill Abel (Genesis 4:8). Conspiracies then flow freely: “There was a strong conspiracy” (2 Kings 15:12) … “Baasa conspired against him and slew him in Gebbethon” (3 Kings 15:27) … “Jehu conspired against Joram” (4 Kings 9:14) … “ I conspired against my master, and slew him” (4 Kings 10:9) … “She rent her garments, and cried: ‘A conspiracy! A conspiracy!’” (4 Kings 11:14) … “And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew Joas” (4 Kings 12:20) … “Sellum conspired against him and killed him, and reigned in his place” (4 Kings 15:10) … “And Phacee conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria” (4 Kings 15:25) … “Osee conspired, and formed a plot against Phacee” (4 Kings 15:30) … “But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amen” (4 Kings 21:24) … “Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad and Jozabad” (2 Para. 24:26) … “His servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house” (2 Paralipomenon 33:24).
The Prophet Jeremias writes: “And the Lord said to me: ‘A conspiracy is found among the men of Juda, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem!’”
King Saul says: “All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one to inform me, especially when even my son hath entered into league with the soil of Isai? There is not one of you that pitieth my case, nor that giveth me any information: because my son hath raised up my servant against me, plotting against me to this day! … Why have you conspired against me?” (1 Kings 22:8, 13).
The Book of Psalms says: “O God, Thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy people, and have consulted against Thy saints. They have said: ‘Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a covenant together against Thee!” (Psalm 82:2-6). (Jeremias 11:9).
St. Matthew relates: “Then were gathered together the chief priests and ancients of the people into the court of the high priest, who was called Caiphas: and they consulted together, that by subtlety they might apprehend Jesus, and put Him to death” (Matthew 26:2-4).
St. Mark reports: “And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against Jesus, how they might destroy Him.” (Mark 3:6).
St. Luke writes: “And when day was come, some of the Jews gathered together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying, that they would neither eat, nor drink, till they killed Paul. And they were more than forty men that had made this conspiracy. Who came to the chief priests and the ancients, and said: ‘We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing till we have slain Paul!’” (Acts 23:12-14).
Add to this the clear statements of Our Lord that family members will revolt and conspire against other family members and betray them: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). While Our Lady of Akita states: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops.” Is Our Lord a lunatic? Is Our Lady a lunatic? Of course not, but the best way to deflect attention is to attack and discredit anyone who points out what is going-on and ridicule them to ‘high-heaven’.
Every day there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of conspiracies in families, in the work place, in politics, in the business world, in the financial world, between nations, etc. Those who treat conspiracy theories are being automatic lunacy are themselves lunatics! Not all conspiracy theories are true―but that does not automatically mean that all conspiracy theories are untrue or false! Yet that is the “one-size-fits-all” attitude of those lunatics who go around squawking like a brainless parrot: “It’s only a conspiracy theory! Squawk, squawk! It’s all a conspiracy theory! Squawk, squawk!” Brainless parrots they are and brainless people gullibly listen to them squawking! It is a case of squawk enough times and they will be the squawking lie to be a squawking truth! O what a bunch of squawking fools―brainless birds of a feather flock together!
Do Things “Just Happen”?
All revolutions are, at the end of the day, conspiracies. Did the Russian Revolution “just happen” or was it staged to happen? Do we believe the sanitized version of ‘surface history’ or does something more lie beneath the surface? If something lies beneath the surface, then there are lies on the surface! Franklin D. Roosevelt was alleged to have said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Though some dispute that he ever said that, there can be little dispute over the truth of the statement—especially in the political theater over the last 200 to 250 years. Some may say that smells of a “Conspiracy Theory” attitude, but then we would have to condemn Our Lady as also being a “Conspiracy Theorist”—for she herself said: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Who Really Is A Lunatic?
All of this should put the gainsayers and mockers of “Conspiracy Theories” in the lunatic asylum, for it is crazier to imagine that there are no conspiracies than to think there are conspiracies. The devils are constantly conspiring and plotting how to ensnare and damn souls, and they use humans as pawns in that task. Whether or not Franklin D. Roosevelt actually said: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way” is of little importance. What is important is that such a statement is very true—especially in the major events of the world.
The Crême-de-la- Crême of Conspiracies
Today, more than ever in past history, we are seeing the realization and actualization of the words of Holy Scripture: “The Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things. The kings of the Earth stood up and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:1-3). This is what the rulers of the modern world are trying to do today—they are conspiring to cast-off Christ and His yoke.
Or as Our Lady foretold: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
The Wooden Horse of Troy has resurfaced as the Coronavirus Plannedemic of 2020
The Wooden Horse of Troy, or Trojan Horse, is a story (from the Trojan War about the subterfuge or slyness used by the Greeks against the independent city of Troy in order to win the war, after a unsuccessful 10-year siege by the Greeks. The Trojan Horse was huge hollow wooden horse constructed by the Greeks in order to slyly gain entrance into Troy during the Trojan War. The horse was built to secretly accommodate many Greek soldiers and was left behind, outside the city walls of Troy while the Greeks, pretending to desert the war, sailed to the nearby island of Tenedos, leaving behind a Greek called Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the horse (vaccine) was an offering to Athena (the goddess of war) that would make Troy impregnable (healthy and immune against Covid-19). The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse (vaccine) into their city as a victory trophy (victory over Covid-19). Despite the warnings of some citizens of Troy (warnings from those who see through Covid Plannedemic), the horse (vaccine) was taken inside the city gates (taken on board by governments and citizens). That night Greek warriors (the chemicals of the vaccine) crept out of the horse and opened the gates (the body’s defense against disease) for the rest of the Greek army (Covid-19 and future Covid family members and children), which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war and resistance of the valiant and brave citizens of Troy.
Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or tactic that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer program that tricks users into willingly running it is also called a “Trojan horse” or simply a “Trojan”. This Coronavirus Plannedemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic is a “Trojan Horse” that is meant to con you into inviting the enemy into your securely protected God-given human rights and freedoms, and then being enslaved by having those rights being taken away, by vaccines and chips being forced upon you, and having your life controlled as to whether or not you are free to travel, work, shop and receive medical care.
The mainstream media have built a sister for their “Frankenstein” Conspiracy Theory monster which terrifies people into disbelieving the existence of conspiracies―that “Sister of Frankenstein”― could you call her “Miss Francescastein” ― has been given the label “Misinformation”. What a twisted, complicated and conspiratorial world we live in! The actual real authors of misinformation (a polite word for “liars”) are the mainstream media (MSM), who have built up this man-made disease, which is a little worse than the common flu, into a terrifying fictional monster, a medical “Frankenstein” that is lurking in every alleyway, supermarket, church, school, workplace, nursing home, hospital, store, bus, airplane just waiting to breath his deadly droplets all over you and consign you to a fate worse than death!
The only way to protect yourself against the droplet drooling, sickness sneezing, fever fomenting, cough causing monster is to tremblingly wash your hands with soap and hot water as much as you can, while hiding behind a mask and face shield, under the cover of a plastic pouch, fervently praying for the Savior of mankind, Mr. Bill Gates, to miraculously conjure up a life-saving vaccine for mandatory mass consumption, which will then automatically ‘baptize’ you into the Church of Chips at whose head will be the Pope of Syringes. Just like the Catholic Church―which it will ape as the devil apes God―you will bound under pain of mortal social sin to receive the sacrament of vaccination at least once a year and confess to your whereabouts at all times by contact-tracing and chip-tracking. The all-seeing eye of this New World Order Church of Chip will monitor your every move and all your contacts. If you repeatedly are found to have crossed the paths or been in contact with ‘heretics’ or ‘schismatics’ who do not believe, hold to and preach the New World Order Church of Chip propaganda dogmas and narratives, then you will be ‘excommunicated’ by being refused access to the ‘sacraments’ of entering stores, banking, medicine, travel, etc. You will be anathematized by and from society―and will left to wilt and die in your stubborn ‘heresy’ of truth and logic. You will be punished for refusing to admit that real cures are in fact cures―and failing to accept false cures that are being touted as real cures by the infallibly dogmatic establishment and its ‘papal encyclicals’ in the mainstream media (MSM). Truth will become falsehood and falsehood will become truth. You will be forced to believe the lie and disbelieve the truth. Woe to our days! As Holy Scripture says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
Right now, what we find to be evil and bitter to take, is being propagandized as being good and sweet to take. The confinement to the home, the self-quarantining, the social-distancing, the wearing of masks and face shields and even protective clothing, the disinfecting of a multitude of things, the confrontations at stores and other public places over these measures, the loss of jobs, the closing of businesses, the bankruptcy of small businesses, the consequential shortages especially potential food shortages―and a whole lot more, which to mind possessing common-sense, a decent education and God-given logic, are profoundly ridiculous, exaggerated and unnecessary measures, are being foisted and hoisted upon as a dogmatic truths, the disbelief of which will be severely punished and which will lead to our being labeled and “health terrorists”, “threats to mankind”, “rebels against humanity”, etc. Soon you might be fined or arrested for not wearing a mask―but will nevertheless be allowed to have an abortion with no harassment and no penalties.
Today’s Evil Calls for a Mass Uprising
Enough is enough! Many people agree with this. Yet most disagree on how to combat this insanity (the best case scenario label) or downright evil machinations (the more probable scenario). The vast majority of solutions range from “read this article” … “tell everyone” … “pass on this YouTube video, make it go viral” … “sign this petition” … “write to your governor/senator/congressman” to more radical and violent measures that threaten gun violence and mass uprisings. With all due respect, these solutions are ridiculous, infantile and futile. You cannot defeat something that is ultimately satanic with mere human means. It is like taking on military tanks with water-pistols. Or trying to shoot down planes with a bow and arrow.
We are living what Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima as being the Final Battle of the Devil with the Virgin. It is not going to be some human tactic that will defeat Satan―it is going to have to be a supernatural tactic, a supernatural approach. Our Lord told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) and Our Lady said of herself: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Fatima) and “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son [which is the Holy Mass―see also St. John Bosco’s vision of the Two Pillars, click here]. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary.” (Akita).
What we really need is MASS UPRISINGS―but not the kind of “mass uprisings” that most people speak about―meaning taking to streets and starting a revolution. The MASS UPRISING that we need ― and THE ONLY MASS UPRISING THAT WILL REALLY WORK ― is the “uprising” or “rise in numbers” of Masses.”
(1) Masses that are offered up to God by priests for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind, and also ...
(2) A far greater frequency of attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the part of Catholics―to the point of even attending daily Mass and receiving Holy Communion for the double intention listed above.
What other option or suggestion is there to the option of the weapon of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What do you suggest? What is greater than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary that overcame Satan’s wiles. The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ Himself by Christ Himself―for in the Mass it is Christ that sacrifices, not the priest who sacrifices. The priest is a mere instrument in the hands of Christ―which is why the words of consecration are: “This is My Body” and not “This is Christ’s Body.”
There is no better defense against evil than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us remind ourselves once again what the Saints and Blesseds have said about the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross.” St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”. St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.” Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers ― both seen and unseen.” St. Padre Pio points out that “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.” Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich said: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
What is Stopping You?
What is stopping you from approaching a priest, presenting him whatever the local customary stipend offering is for a Mass ($10, $15, $20, $25) once a month―or even once a week if you can afford it―or even a novena of Masses―and asking him to offer the Mass(es) for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind―what is stopping you? How hard is that? How traumatic a thing can it be? How much courage and bravery will it drain? Will it be an earth-shattering embarrassment? Will you never be able to look that priest in the eye again? Will you be thrown out of the parish? Will you lose all your friends because of it?
Furthermore, you need to convince others to do the same thing―to approach their priests, asking those priests to offer the Masses, once again, for the double intention of (a) the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (b) the intention of defeating these nefarious (ultimately satanic) enemies of the God, the Church, the Faith and mankind.
Secondly―Start Attending Mass More for this Cause
This is why Father Mateo, SS.CC., the famous apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and propagator of the Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart, said: “Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE! The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom, hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass. How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of ‘annoying’ the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!”
Mobilize the Masses
That is the chief way out of this massive mess that we find ourselves in―a mess that will only become more massive as the months roll by. The media hyped “Second Wave” is said to be coming―or having already started. Lockdowns that had been lifted are being enforced again. Nations are planning for mandatory mass vaccinations―ramming propaganda down everyone’s throats and injecting propaganda into the feeble minds that vaccination is the only solution! Electronic identification is already planned for the world population―to track and control―under the usual propaganda that lists all the security and health benefits that it will bring. The first shots across the bow of the Ark of the Church have already been fired―with the Church handing over the keys to the State on matters that are outside State authority. In other words, the noose is tightening as the propaganda gets more frightening. The fear-mongering and propagandizing―repeated as it has been, day-in-day-out for over six months―is beginning to take effect. Repeat a lie enough times and people will start to believe it.
Today, we see the gradual erosion of truth and common sense by twisted, exaggerated, falsified narrative on the earth-shattering, apocalyptic, potentially mortal and fatal effects of this hyped, bloated, inflated flu that has been DELIBERATELY MANUFACTURED BY MEN in biological warfare laboratories. Covid-19 is merely a symptom of a deeper-lying cause. We should not just treat the symptom, but attack the cause. Don’t just chop-off the weed above the ground―dig down, pull up, and destroy its roots. Yet those roots are so well hidden underground, that only God really knows where they are and who they are. That is why we need to turn to the MEDICINE OF THE MASS―which can penetrate everywhere and destroy all the ‘weeds’ wherever they may be lurking. Once again, ponder these quotes: St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”. St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.” St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.”
Talking of holding back God’s arm―Our Lady of La Salette warned and complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!” As St. Teresa of Avila says: “The Holy Mass … alone can hold back God’s arm!” The Mass must come first―it is our greatest treasure, our most powerful weapon that we can use, it is the “Sign” ― the sign of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary―left by Christ for us to use as a weapon: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son!” (Our Lady of Akita). Are we using that weapon―or have we dug a hole in the ground and buried it, like the man in the Parable of the Talents. If we do not treasure this weapon, this treasure of Christ’s―then, as with the man who buried the talent or treasure given to him by his lord, it will be taken away from us: “He that had received the one talent, came and said: … ‘Being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth!’ … And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! … Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it to him that hath ten talents!’” (Matthew 25:24-28). Or, the modern phrase says: “Use it―or lose it!”
At the moment we are losing it fast―we are losing ground fast, while the enemies of God, the Church, the Faith and mankind are gaining ground fast. As with disease, there comes a point where it is too late to do anything―a case of “too little, too late!” That is what we are risking right now with our lukewarm, indifferent, self-centered, selfish, complacent, “frog-in-the-heated-pan-of-water” reaction and attitude. We have morphed from being Soldiers of Christ into being “Couch-Potatoes-of-Christ” ― with little muscle, little energy, little desire to “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Masses of Catholics with a Massacred Faith
Our Lord, in speaking of our times―which are to experience both a Minor Apostasy and the Great Apostasy―said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is not here yet―but the Faith is collapsing all around us. What have you done with your “Faith”? What are doing with your “Faith” right now? Yes―of course you believe, of course you have the Faith―but, as Holy Scripture says: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord said: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). What works have you produced with your Faith?
“Seeing is believing” ― as they say ― but “believing is not saving.” As Holy Scripture says: “The devils also believe and tremble!” ― and they are in Hell. To which you could add: “Most of damned souls believed, but they are now damned!” Many of those living in a state of mortal sin right now, have the Faith, but that will not save them by itself. Being given the “talent” of the Faith is not enough to be saved by itself. Believing in God does not save by itself. Having the Catholic Faith does not save by itself. Having a University Degree does not guarantee a successful career. Having all the best tools does not make you a successful mechanic. Being given a bicycle does not mean you will win the bike race. Having a sword or a gun does not mean you won’t be killed. Having an army does not guarantee that you will win a war. Knowing how to fight does not mean you will win the fight. ALL OF THESE THINGS REQUIRE THE ADDITION OF EFFORT, WHICH PUTS THE THEORY INTO PRACTICE.
“The just man lives by Faith” (Romans 1:17) ― meaning that he puts the theory of the Faith into practice. “My just man lives by Faith; but if he withdraws himself, he shall not please My soul. We are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition [withdrawing from practicing the Faith], but of Faith to the saving of the soul” [by putting the Faith into practice]. (Hebrews 10:38-39). “By Faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain … By Faith Noe built the ark for the saving of his house … By faith Abraham obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; not knowing where he was going … By Faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up as a sacrifice Isaac, his only begotten son … By Faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharao’s daughter, rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a short time … Time would fail to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets ― who by Faith conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners … And others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of chains and prisons. They were stoned, they were cut in two, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the Earth” (Hebrews 11:4-37) ― all for the Faith.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday August 1st & Sunday August 2nd
Article 1
Catholics! Time for a Mass Uprising!
Saturday August 1st & Sunday August 2nd
Article 1
Catholics! Time for a Mass Uprising!
A Time Comes When Enough Is Enough!
On this feast day of the Holy Machabees [read about them here], it is fitting to talk about saying: “Enough is enough!” There comes a time when things snap, a time called “the last straw” ― referring to the proverbially phrase: “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” ― meaning that there comes a time when we have had enough of little additional burdens or demands being placed on us and we “crack”, our patience “snaps” and we take some evasive or aggressive action to counter whatever has been incrementally and progressively “piled upon us.”
Brutal Wars and Subtle Wars―Visible Wars and Invisible Wars
This is often the scenario that leads up to a war between two or more nations, or other smaller groups or organizations. Talks have become strained, provocative words or actions raise the tensions and finally something snaps or breaks and war explodes. Yuri Bezmenov, the former Russian KGB agent spoke of two kinds of wars―a traditional war with weapons such as missiles, planes, bombs, tanks, bullets and soldiers on the ground invading another country, and then he spoke of the silent, invisible, almost undetectable war as in the case of espionage and the even more subtle war of ideological subversion. He pointed out that today, Russia only spends around 15% of its time, efforts, money and manpower on the traditional “James Bond” kind of espionage, while spending 85% of its time, efforts, money and manpower on subversion. That does not mean that it will not resort to a mass murder of Catholics, but it is better to kill an apostatized Catholic than a fervent Catholic―so, through ideological subversion, you can destroy the Faith in the souls of Catholics before you destroy their bodies.
A Silent Sly Successful Sabotaging of the Faith
The Communists (and you can include all the other chief enemies of the Church―Modernists, Freemasons, Jews et al) no longer want to bloodily destroy the Church because they have “wised-up” to the fact that bloody martyrdom only serves to ultimately strengthen the Church and helps Her “bounce-back”. Therefore, the modern tactic is to infiltrate the Church, preserve the Church, but to change the Church so much that it is no longer the true Church of Christ―while all along the “soft-head” (a Bezmenov term that is synonymous with the Communist term “useful-idiots”) stupidly and naively think that they are still true Catholics, following a true Catholic teaching, and are truly pleasing to God―whereas, in reality, they are “new” Catholics, “changed” Catholics, “modernized” Catholics, “Protestantized” Catholics, “Paganized” Catholics who no longer believe what Catholics have always believed.
The results of this steady, silent, sly sabotaging of the Faith are now clearly visible and apparent―unless you have your head stuck in the sand, or eyes glued to your smartphone, or headphones glued to your ears. The Catholic Faith has CHANGED GREATLY. Remember this―to be a heretic, you DO NOT HAVE TO DENY ALL THE DOGMAS that the Catholic Church teaches―you are a heretic IF YOU DENY ONLY ONE DOGMA. The same applies to poison. For a drink to be poisonous or a food to be poisonous, it DOES NOT REQUIRE 100% of the drink or food to be pure poison―a drop or two of a powerful poison in a glass of water is enough to make that water poisonous, even if the contents are 99% water and 1% poison.
Let us then look at what the typical modern-day “Catholic” now believes! Depending on where you live―anywhere from 60$ to 80% of baptized Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. A similar percentage range no longer believes that the Mass is a true Sacrifice. Over half of Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages. The majority of Catholics accept homosexuality and lesbianism. Most Catholics accept divorce and remarriage. Most Catholics accept contraception. Most Catholics “feel” that you can be a “good” Catholic without going to Sunday Mass―that must be what they call the “feel good” feeling! Most Catholics have stopped going to Confession―probably because they “feel” that they are holy enough! The list goes on and on.
All of this proves that the subversion of the Faith has gone according to plan and is mostly successful all throughout the world―with there only being pockets of resistance here and there. We are fast approaching the time that Our Lady referred to when she said: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France). A perfect description of what we are seeing today! We could not describe it any better ourselves―yet Our Lady was foretelling this hundreds of years ago (in Heaven there is no time―everything of the past and the future is seen in the present).
Some Sow and Reap ― From Others There is Not a Peep!
As Holy Scripture says ― what we sow is what we reap, or if we sow nothing, then we get nothing: “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Mathew 7:16). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8). “He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils” (Proverbs 22:8). That is exactly what we are reaping as a result of our spiritual sloth and negligence over the years―even prior to the sowing of cockle that took place at the Second Vatican Council, where Satan and his human minions sowed the cockle that has now choked the Catholic Church while the Catholic world soundly slept in comfort amidst the pleasures and treasures of the post-Second World War era. As Our Lady so correctly said: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten.”
With all that addiction to fun, games, sports, entertainment, amusement and pleasures of all kinds, there is little or no time for any “spiritual yard-work” or “spiritual farming”―consequently, no “spiritual sowing” of prayers and sacrifices ever gets made and the spiritual building falls gradually into disrepair and the land is overgrown by worldly weeds that choke the spiritual life out the diminishing “Catholic plants” or souls. We are currently reaping the fruits of our own complacency, indifference and negligence. Yes, you could protest like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable, saying: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” (Luke 18:11-12) ― yet, as Our Lord said, this Pharisee was not justified, even though he was actually doing far beyond what was expected of him by Law―for the Law demanded tithes (taxes) on only 5 to 10 items, but this Pharisee was willingly paying taxes on ALL that he owned! Elsewhere Our Lord warns us: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). The reason for this is because “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).
As Catholics―and presumably Conservative or Traditional Catholics, rather than Liberal and Modernist Cockle-Catholics―we have been given immeasurably more than the other folk on this planet. Yet what have we done with that “talent” of the Faith? Most folk have buried or even destroyed the “talent” of the Faith that was given them―much like the man, in another of Our Lord’s parables, who dug a hole and buried his lord’s talent instead of using to bring about profit. The condemnation given to the man in the parable will most likely be given to most Catholic “slouches” or “sloths” on Judgment Day for not having profited from the Faith and produced many fruits from that Faith: “Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30).
We Have Received Far More Than One Talent!
First of all, let clarify what very few Catholics care to research due to their general indifference about matters of the Faith and the spiritual life. Hopefully―though, as years go by, hope wears thin―hopefully most Catholics are aware that the “talent” spoken of in Our Lord’s “Parable of the Talents” is not the kind of “talent” we imagine today―as in a “Talent Show” or “talent” as in skill or dexterity in being able to do something. The “talent” of the parable was monetary―one single being 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $22 an ounce, that would translate into today’s dollars as 1 talent being $16,500, 2 talents being $33,000 and 5 talents $82,500.
How Much Would You Pay?
What price would you put on the Faith? What price would you put on winning Heaven―which you cannot do without the Faith? What price on ETERNAL happiness and joy? What price on NO MORE SUFFERING FOR ETERNITY? What price would you be willing to pay monthly for a mansion , or a house, or even an apartment in Heaven? Think of trillions and trillions of dollars that would have to spent for ETERNITY! What price on the removal of all envy, jealousy, suspicion, resentment, bitterness, anger or even hatred from your life, whereby you and everyone would be guaranteed to get on wonderfully and harmoniously for ETERNITY?
The Seeds of Baptism and Seedy Parables
All this is what God has potentially given you at your Baptism, when you received His Sanctifying Grace, as well as the seeds of Faith and all the other Theological and Cardinal Virtues with their offshoots. What has happened to those sown-seeds? Our expounded several “seedy” parables! Since we mentioned the seeds of grace and virtue being sown in your soul at Baptism, which example are you in Our Lord’s “seedy” parable of the Sower of the Seed?
“Behold the sower went forth to sow. And whilst he soweth some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold ... Hear you therefore the [meaning of the] parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the Kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23).
Which of those example applies to you? Is your soul shallow with no depth? Is your soul stony? Is your soul fickle―faithful in fair weather, unfaithful under stress? Have your produced a hundredfold with the Faith that was given to you? Remember―Faith without works is dead! “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord said: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). What works have you produced with your Faith?
In another “seedy” parable, Our Lord uses the mustard seed as an example of what our Faith should be like and what it should be producing: “Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches thereof!’” (Matthew 13:31-32). “For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from here to there!’ ― and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19).
In yet another “seedy” parable, Our Lord speaks of negligence leading to the sowing of cockle among the wheat―which not only happened at the Second Vatican Council, but has been happening on a regular basis in most Catholic families. “Another parable Jesus proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No―lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30). What cockle is there in your life? What have allowed the world to sow in your soul because of your sleepy negligent spiritual life?
When Little is Great and Great is Little
We may think ourselves to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things―proverbially unable “to change the course of the stars.” Yet that is not God’s view of things―for He has said: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). For, as Jesus said: “I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones!” (Matthew 11:25)―which is echoed by Our Lady’s words in her Magnificat: “He hath showed might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52).
Just as Our Lord says: “So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 20:16) ― you could also say: “The great shall be belittled and the little shall be elevated!” We see something along these lines in another of Our Lord’s parables: “When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him―and he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee: ‘Give this man place!’ ― and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee, cometh, he may say to thee: ‘Friend, go up higher!’ Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 14:8).
We see this play out in the lives of David and Goliath. The Israelites [or Catholics today] were in terror of the Philistines [the world today] on account of Goliath. They were, so to speak, paralyzed with fear. The Philistine soldier, Goliath, was massive man, ‘armed-to-the-teeth’ with the best weapons, a renowned warrior, who boasted of his strength and skill―whereas the Israelite, David, was only a young boy, a shepherd not a soldier, his only weapon being a sling, and he was a mere “nobody” in the eyes of others. This is much like the situation that Catholics find themselves in this current political, immoral, irreligious climate―and just like the Israelites back then, Catholics tremble in the face of the enemy [the devil and the world], seemingly feeling helpless and hopeless. Yet that is now God seems to want it to be―so that we are forced to turn to Him for help and acknowledge that our own power is insufficient.
This was clearly the case when the Israelites―on another occasion―were threatened by the 135,000 strong Madianite army, against which Gedeon could only muster 32,000 Israelites for the battle. They were thus outnumbered by just over 4 to 1. “And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are too many and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands―lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people and proclaim in the hearing of all, that whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return home!’ So twenty-two thousand men [out of the 32,000] went away from Mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many! Bring them to the waters and there I will test them―and of whom I shall say to thee: “This shall go with thee!” let him go; and whom I shall forbid to go, let him return!’ And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side!’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men―and all the rest of the multitude [9,700 men] had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand!’” (Judges 7:1-7).
God Loves It When the Odds Are Against Him
It seems as though God loves having the odds-stacked-against-Him! In the time of Noe, the whole world was basically against Him by being so sinful―yet God won and destroyed the world’s population apart from Noe and his family. In the time Moses, God repeatedly had the odds stacked against Him―with the vast majority of the millions of Israelites moaning and groaning, whinging and whining, complaining and disobeying God―yet God put them in their place, keeping them in the desert for a forty-year “jail sentence” until all the complainers of adult age at the time they left Egypt, died in the desert as a punishment. Against the odds, God fed those millions each and every day miraculously with manna and provided water so that they would not die of thirst. He miraculously kept their clothes and shoes from wearing-out and miraculously delivered them from their enemies! These and many more example can be added to that of David and Goliath, Gedeon and the Madianites, Moses and the Egyptians, etc. You could write a whole book on how God deliberately stacked the odds against Himself and His chosen ones―only to win in the end.
Today―the Odds Are Greatly Stacked Against God and the Faith
If we can pull ourselves away from the television/computer/tablet/smartphone screens, put down our beer/wine/soda, drag ourselves away from the fridge or dining table, and for a moment stop munching our cookies/candies/chocolate/ice-cream/pretzels/chips/chicken-wings with barbecue sauce and calculate the odds that are stacked against God, the Church, the Faith and Catholics―then we will find them to be overwhelming. So much so that Our Lady’s prediction that “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” seems to be a massive understatement―unless, of course, we have had our “heads buried in sand” ― which means that our butts are up in the air, waiting to be kicked!
Only 20% of Catholics regularly fulfill the mortal-sin-bound obligation of attending Mass on Sundays―while almost nobody goes to Confession. That means two things―it means that 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin and do not care two hoots about getting out of mortal sin, since they don’t and won’t go to Confession. It also indicates the high probability that many of meager, tiny 20% that still do attend Sunday Mass regularly are probably also in a state of mortal sin―because Mass attendance does not guarantee a state of grace and there are many pitfalls of “easy-to-commit” mortal sins available these days, due to advent of the television and then the later advent of the internet, coupled with the alarming decrease in modesty and virtuous speech. As regards another bulwark or defense against sin―the Holy Rosary―only around 2% pray the Rosary daily, and you have question how well they pray it, or rather “say” it. Besides―if you are in mortal sin―your prayers are useless for any other cause, person, or thing―apart from your own conversion. So Catholic “Soldiers of Christ” who are in a state of mortal sin, can shoot at the enemy all they want―they are only shooting blanks, or, at best, their bullets, like boomerangs, come back to hit or bite their own conscience with the goal of trying to convert them from mortal sin and bring them back to a state of grace. Thus, such mortal sin troops―Soldiers of Christ mortally wounded by sin―are useless on the battlefield against the enemy. They need treatment themselves and need to be healed of their own wounds before they can hope to strike a blow and wound the enemy.
All in all―if you were pluck an arbitrary number based on calculations that are probable―you would have to say that currently, out of a total world population of 7.8 billion (7,800 million people) of which nominal baptized Catholics make up a total of around 1.3 billion (1,300 million), there are perhaps little more than 200 million that attend Sunday Mass regularly but not all of them are in a state of sanctifying grace due to other mortal sins (usually impure thoughts, glances, words and actions). The numbers of Catholics in a state of grace might be as low as 1 to 2 million in the entire world. That would roughly translate to only 1 or 2 persons in 7,800 people in the whole world being in a state of grace. This should not be surprising ― since Our Lord, Our Lady and many Saints and theologians tell us [read more here] that most souls go to Hell―and you cannot go to Hell if you are in a state of sanctifying grace.
So What Do We Do? How We Overcome the Devil and His World?
It does not take a rocket-scientist, or a professor, or top theologian to come up with the answer. Actually, we have been told how to do it many times―but we stubbornly refuse to take the advice and stir ourselves into action. God solutions are always pretty simple―but we simply won’t do what He tells us!
No matter what the problem―with God the solution is only a Word away! The Word of God is all powerful. The word of God made all things―He did not need a team of scientists, doctors, architects, designers, craftsmen, builders, plumbers, electricians, etc. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made! … And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!” (John 1:1-3, 14).
With the Word of God things happen quickly. We see Jesus heal merely by saying the word―with no need for doctors, medicines, X-Rays, MRIs, CAT scans, surgery, etc. A simple word or a single touch is enough to heal.
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their Faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He brake, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when evening was come, they brought to Jesus many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with his word! And all that were sick, He healed” (Matthew 8:16). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves―but He was asleep. And they came to Him and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then, rising up, He commanded the winds and the sea―and there came a great calm. But the men wondered, saying: ‘What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey him?’” (Matthew 8:23-27). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy Faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
God even uses mere humans in a simple way to manifest His power: “And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided” (Exodus 14:21). Later, when the Israelites were in the desert and short of water―“when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank” (Numbers 20:11).
We see the tremendous power of God work through the simple words of Elias His Prophet. When King Ochozias wanted to consult the devil Beelzebub as to whether or not he would recover from an illness. Here is the impressive and frightening account:
“And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ‘Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: “Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Wherefore thus saith the Lord: ‘From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!’”’ And Elias went away. And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: ‘Why are you come back?’ But they answered Ochozias: ‘A man met us and said to us: “Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die!”’ And King Ochozias sent to Elias a captain of fifty men, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to Elias, and, as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God! The king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty men: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him. And again King Ochozias sent to Elias another captain of fifty men, and his fifty men with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!” Elias answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And fire came down from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. Again Ochozias sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty men that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: ‘Man of God! Despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me! Behold fire came down from Heaven and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them! But now I beseech thee to spare my life!’ And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: ‘Go down with him, fear not!’ He arose, therefore, and went down with him to the king, and said to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel of whom thou mightest inquire the word―therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!” So he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elias spoke” (4 Kings 1:3-17).
The Answer is Simple―But Is it Too Simplistic?
As the saying goes: “Life is simple―don’t complicate it!” Similarly, “The answer to the many present crises is also simple―don’t complicate matters!” Or, if you like, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”―just use it! Funnily enough, man is far more complicated than God! God raises people from the dead by a few simple words. He calms storms with mere words. He performs stupendous miracles with mere words. He kills and destroys with His sharp words. He casts out devils with words. As the Angel Gabriel said to Our Lady at the Annunciation of the Incarnation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37) and as Jesus later reiterated: “With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!” (Mark 10:27) … “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27) adding: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
The Sacraments are in a sense miracles―being above the natural level, capability and expectation of human nature. Yet those Sacramental miracles are performed with mere simple words. In his Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology), St. Thomas Aquinas in his usual simple direct way, points out to us these simple words―theologically called “the form”―of the Sacraments: “The form of Baptism is: “I baptize thee,” and the form of Confirmation is: “I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation,”; while in the Sacrament of the Eucharist it consists in the words: “This is My Body!” [and, of course, “This is My Blood!”]. The Sacrament of Penance, which consists in the removal of sin, wherefore the most fitting form of this Sacrament: “I absolve thee!””
Of all the Seven Sacraments, it is the Holy Eucharist that is the greatest―for while all Seven Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist not only gives us grace, but the actual Author and Source of all grace―Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who becomes really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in what we call “The Real Presence”.
Getting to the Heart or Core of the Matter
Of all the Seven Sacraments, it is the Holy Eucharist that is the greatest―for while all Seven Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist not only gives us grace, but the actual Author and Source of all grace―Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who becomes really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in what we call “The Real Presence”. That Eucharistic Presence of Christ comes about when both the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the mere use of FOUR WORDS on each item. The words, of course, are THIS IS MY BODY (for the bread) and THIS IS MY BLOOD (for the wine). Even though these SIMPLE WORDS are embodied into the more complicated ritual or rite of what we call the Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the actual consecration and miraculous transubstantiation take place by the utterance of those SIMPLE WORDS―THIS IS MY BODY and THIS IS MY BLOOD.
What more powerful an ally can you hope to recruit than Our Lord Jesus Christ? Our reliance and confidence MUST NOT be in ourselves or man-made things. This ever-escalating storm is not man-made, but Satan-made―and man, by himself, is no match for Satan. “Hope in the Name of the Lord, and lean upon God!” (Isaias 50:10). “Blessed is he who hath God for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God!” (Psalm 145:5). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Our help is in the Name of the Lord―Who made Heaven and Earth!” (Psalm 123:8). “Our God is in Heaven―He hath done all things whatsoever He would” (Psalm 113:11). “In God is my salvation and my glory! He is the God of my help―and my hope is in God!” (Psalm 61:8). “It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God!” (Psalm 72:28). “Put not your trust in princes [human actions and human interventions] (Psalm 145:2). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalms 19:8). “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalm 43:7). “He that holdeth the bow shall not stand; and the swift of foot shall not escape; neither shall the rider of the horse save his life!” (Amos 2:15). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes! [presidents, politicians, money-men, etc.]” (Psalms 117:9).
It is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that Our Lord comes to us! It is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that Our Lord is given to us in Holy Communion. It is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we obtain the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by which Our Lord remains with us―day and night in the tabernacles―once the Sacrifice of the Mass has ended. It was on the Cross on Calvary that Christ defeated Satan and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an unbloody perpetuation of Christ’s bloody death on Calvary. It is one and same with Calvary. It is the one and same weapon used by one and same Soldier―Christ Himself―for it is not the priest who independently offers Mass, it is Christ who offers each and every Mass using the priest as an instrument.
The Mass is a Massive Defense Against Evil
There is no better defense against evil than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This has been stated numerous times by Saints and theologians of the Church―of which here are just a few such affirmations.
► St. Thomas Aquinas says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross.”
► St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.”
► St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”.
► St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.”
► Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers ― both seen and unseen.”
► St. Padre Pio points out that “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.”
► St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.”
► St. Antoninus conveys this very important lesson. Two youths, both sinners, went into the forest one day. One of them having heard Mass, the other not. Soon there arose a furious tempest. They heard amidst, thunder and lightning, a voice cry out: “SLAY!” and instantly there came a flash which reduced to ashes the one who had not heard Mass. The other one terrified was seeking escape, when he heard anew the same voice: “SLAY!” The poor youth expected instant death, when he heard another voice, “I cannot! I cannot! Today he heard ‘Verbum caro factum est’ (meaning ― ‘the Word was made flesh’ ― words from the Last Gospel at the end of Mass) his Mass will not let me strike.” This story is rather direct and to the point, it demonstrates, rather dramatically the power of the Mass!
► St. John Vianney says: “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist! If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us! All good works taken together cannot have the value of one Holy Mass, because they are the works of men, whereas the Holy Mass is the work of God!”
► St. Francis of Assisi said: “Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.”
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich said: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
The Redeeming Power of the Mass
Father Mateo, SS.CC., the famous apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement, in a talk given in Tucson, Arizona, said:
Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE! The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom, hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass.
How often have I heard people say to me: “Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!” Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of ‘annoying’ the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. You have a right to ask for such miracles. Do you know what a conversion is? It is the resurrection of a soul. It is far greater to see the resurrection of a soul than the resurrection of a corpse. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! If you have anyone at home sick, or dying, oh, pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!
Go One Step Further―Have Masses Offered
The above words of Fr. Matteo are so true―but you could go even beyond his recommendation of attending “one more Mass” or even daily Mass. You could have Masses offered for the present crisis that is assailing both the Church and the world. You could and should have Masse offered for the double intention of the defeat of the enemies of the Church and mankind, as well as the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―which are, in reality, flip sides of the same coin―for Our Lady’s triumph means the defeat of the enemies. As Sister Lucia said: “Our Lady told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
There is no more powerful weapon than that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―even the Rosary, which St. Padre Pio calls “THE weapon” derives it power from Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary which is perpetuated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If there ever was a time, then NOW IS THE TIME FOR MASS UPRISING! An uprising of Masses petitioned by the masses―whereby Catholics everywhere continuously bombard their priests with continual requests (stipends) for Masses to be offered FOR THE DOUBLE INTENTION OF THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND & THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY until this happens. It will not happen in a matter of weeks or just a few months―the evil has become so great that this will require a prolonged, sustained persevering effort. Not just on the part of a handful of Catholics―but MANY Catholics. Catholics who will not be satisfied by offering a one-time-only stipend for a Mass―but will repeatedly, whether it be weekly or monthly, or several times weekly, ask their priests to offer Mass for this double intention: THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND & THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY until this happens. As Sister Lucia said: “Our Lady told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
On this feast day of the Holy Machabees [read about them here], it is fitting to talk about saying: “Enough is enough!” There comes a time when things snap, a time called “the last straw” ― referring to the proverbially phrase: “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” ― meaning that there comes a time when we have had enough of little additional burdens or demands being placed on us and we “crack”, our patience “snaps” and we take some evasive or aggressive action to counter whatever has been incrementally and progressively “piled upon us.”
Brutal Wars and Subtle Wars―Visible Wars and Invisible Wars
This is often the scenario that leads up to a war between two or more nations, or other smaller groups or organizations. Talks have become strained, provocative words or actions raise the tensions and finally something snaps or breaks and war explodes. Yuri Bezmenov, the former Russian KGB agent spoke of two kinds of wars―a traditional war with weapons such as missiles, planes, bombs, tanks, bullets and soldiers on the ground invading another country, and then he spoke of the silent, invisible, almost undetectable war as in the case of espionage and the even more subtle war of ideological subversion. He pointed out that today, Russia only spends around 15% of its time, efforts, money and manpower on the traditional “James Bond” kind of espionage, while spending 85% of its time, efforts, money and manpower on subversion. That does not mean that it will not resort to a mass murder of Catholics, but it is better to kill an apostatized Catholic than a fervent Catholic―so, through ideological subversion, you can destroy the Faith in the souls of Catholics before you destroy their bodies.
A Silent Sly Successful Sabotaging of the Faith
The Communists (and you can include all the other chief enemies of the Church―Modernists, Freemasons, Jews et al) no longer want to bloodily destroy the Church because they have “wised-up” to the fact that bloody martyrdom only serves to ultimately strengthen the Church and helps Her “bounce-back”. Therefore, the modern tactic is to infiltrate the Church, preserve the Church, but to change the Church so much that it is no longer the true Church of Christ―while all along the “soft-head” (a Bezmenov term that is synonymous with the Communist term “useful-idiots”) stupidly and naively think that they are still true Catholics, following a true Catholic teaching, and are truly pleasing to God―whereas, in reality, they are “new” Catholics, “changed” Catholics, “modernized” Catholics, “Protestantized” Catholics, “Paganized” Catholics who no longer believe what Catholics have always believed.
The results of this steady, silent, sly sabotaging of the Faith are now clearly visible and apparent―unless you have your head stuck in the sand, or eyes glued to your smartphone, or headphones glued to your ears. The Catholic Faith has CHANGED GREATLY. Remember this―to be a heretic, you DO NOT HAVE TO DENY ALL THE DOGMAS that the Catholic Church teaches―you are a heretic IF YOU DENY ONLY ONE DOGMA. The same applies to poison. For a drink to be poisonous or a food to be poisonous, it DOES NOT REQUIRE 100% of the drink or food to be pure poison―a drop or two of a powerful poison in a glass of water is enough to make that water poisonous, even if the contents are 99% water and 1% poison.
Let us then look at what the typical modern-day “Catholic” now believes! Depending on where you live―anywhere from 60$ to 80% of baptized Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. A similar percentage range no longer believes that the Mass is a true Sacrifice. Over half of Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages. The majority of Catholics accept homosexuality and lesbianism. Most Catholics accept divorce and remarriage. Most Catholics accept contraception. Most Catholics “feel” that you can be a “good” Catholic without going to Sunday Mass―that must be what they call the “feel good” feeling! Most Catholics have stopped going to Confession―probably because they “feel” that they are holy enough! The list goes on and on.
All of this proves that the subversion of the Faith has gone according to plan and is mostly successful all throughout the world―with there only being pockets of resistance here and there. We are fast approaching the time that Our Lady referred to when she said: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France). A perfect description of what we are seeing today! We could not describe it any better ourselves―yet Our Lady was foretelling this hundreds of years ago (in Heaven there is no time―everything of the past and the future is seen in the present).
Some Sow and Reap ― From Others There is Not a Peep!
As Holy Scripture says ― what we sow is what we reap, or if we sow nothing, then we get nothing: “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Mathew 7:16). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8). “He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils” (Proverbs 22:8). That is exactly what we are reaping as a result of our spiritual sloth and negligence over the years―even prior to the sowing of cockle that took place at the Second Vatican Council, where Satan and his human minions sowed the cockle that has now choked the Catholic Church while the Catholic world soundly slept in comfort amidst the pleasures and treasures of the post-Second World War era. As Our Lady so correctly said: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten.”
With all that addiction to fun, games, sports, entertainment, amusement and pleasures of all kinds, there is little or no time for any “spiritual yard-work” or “spiritual farming”―consequently, no “spiritual sowing” of prayers and sacrifices ever gets made and the spiritual building falls gradually into disrepair and the land is overgrown by worldly weeds that choke the spiritual life out the diminishing “Catholic plants” or souls. We are currently reaping the fruits of our own complacency, indifference and negligence. Yes, you could protest like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable, saying: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” (Luke 18:11-12) ― yet, as Our Lord said, this Pharisee was not justified, even though he was actually doing far beyond what was expected of him by Law―for the Law demanded tithes (taxes) on only 5 to 10 items, but this Pharisee was willingly paying taxes on ALL that he owned! Elsewhere Our Lord warns us: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). The reason for this is because “unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).
As Catholics―and presumably Conservative or Traditional Catholics, rather than Liberal and Modernist Cockle-Catholics―we have been given immeasurably more than the other folk on this planet. Yet what have we done with that “talent” of the Faith? Most folk have buried or even destroyed the “talent” of the Faith that was given them―much like the man, in another of Our Lord’s parables, who dug a hole and buried his lord’s talent instead of using to bring about profit. The condemnation given to the man in the parable will most likely be given to most Catholic “slouches” or “sloths” on Judgment Day for not having profited from the Faith and produced many fruits from that Faith: “Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:26-30).
We Have Received Far More Than One Talent!
First of all, let clarify what very few Catholics care to research due to their general indifference about matters of the Faith and the spiritual life. Hopefully―though, as years go by, hope wears thin―hopefully most Catholics are aware that the “talent” spoken of in Our Lord’s “Parable of the Talents” is not the kind of “talent” we imagine today―as in a “Talent Show” or “talent” as in skill or dexterity in being able to do something. The “talent” of the parable was monetary―one single being 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $22 an ounce, that would translate into today’s dollars as 1 talent being $16,500, 2 talents being $33,000 and 5 talents $82,500.
How Much Would You Pay?
What price would you put on the Faith? What price would you put on winning Heaven―which you cannot do without the Faith? What price on ETERNAL happiness and joy? What price on NO MORE SUFFERING FOR ETERNITY? What price would you be willing to pay monthly for a mansion , or a house, or even an apartment in Heaven? Think of trillions and trillions of dollars that would have to spent for ETERNITY! What price on the removal of all envy, jealousy, suspicion, resentment, bitterness, anger or even hatred from your life, whereby you and everyone would be guaranteed to get on wonderfully and harmoniously for ETERNITY?
The Seeds of Baptism and Seedy Parables
All this is what God has potentially given you at your Baptism, when you received His Sanctifying Grace, as well as the seeds of Faith and all the other Theological and Cardinal Virtues with their offshoots. What has happened to those sown-seeds? Our expounded several “seedy” parables! Since we mentioned the seeds of grace and virtue being sown in your soul at Baptism, which example are you in Our Lord’s “seedy” parable of the Sower of the Seed?
“Behold the sower went forth to sow. And whilst he soweth some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold ... Hear you therefore the [meaning of the] parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the Kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23).
Which of those example applies to you? Is your soul shallow with no depth? Is your soul stony? Is your soul fickle―faithful in fair weather, unfaithful under stress? Have your produced a hundredfold with the Faith that was given to you? Remember―Faith without works is dead! “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Our Lord said: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). What works have you produced with your Faith?
In another “seedy” parable, Our Lord uses the mustard seed as an example of what our Faith should be like and what it should be producing: “Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches thereof!’” (Matthew 13:31-32). “For, amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from here to there!’ ― and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19).
In yet another “seedy” parable, Our Lord speaks of negligence leading to the sowing of cockle among the wheat―which not only happened at the Second Vatican Council, but has been happening on a regular basis in most Catholic families. “Another parable Jesus proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No―lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30). What cockle is there in your life? What have allowed the world to sow in your soul because of your sleepy negligent spiritual life?
When Little is Great and Great is Little
We may think ourselves to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things―proverbially unable “to change the course of the stars.” Yet that is not God’s view of things―for He has said: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). For, as Jesus said: “I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones!” (Matthew 11:25)―which is echoed by Our Lady’s words in her Magnificat: “He hath showed might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52).
Just as Our Lord says: “So shall the last be first, and the first last!” (Matthew 20:16) ― you could also say: “The great shall be belittled and the little shall be elevated!” We see something along these lines in another of Our Lord’s parables: “When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him―and he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee: ‘Give this man place!’ ― and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee, cometh, he may say to thee: ‘Friend, go up higher!’ Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 14:8).
We see this play out in the lives of David and Goliath. The Israelites [or Catholics today] were in terror of the Philistines [the world today] on account of Goliath. They were, so to speak, paralyzed with fear. The Philistine soldier, Goliath, was massive man, ‘armed-to-the-teeth’ with the best weapons, a renowned warrior, who boasted of his strength and skill―whereas the Israelite, David, was only a young boy, a shepherd not a soldier, his only weapon being a sling, and he was a mere “nobody” in the eyes of others. This is much like the situation that Catholics find themselves in this current political, immoral, irreligious climate―and just like the Israelites back then, Catholics tremble in the face of the enemy [the devil and the world], seemingly feeling helpless and hopeless. Yet that is now God seems to want it to be―so that we are forced to turn to Him for help and acknowledge that our own power is insufficient.
This was clearly the case when the Israelites―on another occasion―were threatened by the 135,000 strong Madianite army, against which Gedeon could only muster 32,000 Israelites for the battle. They were thus outnumbered by just over 4 to 1. “And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people that are with thee are too many and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands―lest Israel should glory against Me, and say: “I was delivered by my own strength!” Speak to the people and proclaim in the hearing of all, that whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return home!’ So twenty-two thousand men [out of the 32,000] went away from Mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘The people are still too many! Bring them to the waters and there I will test them―and of whom I shall say to thee: “This shall go with thee!” let him go; and whom I shall forbid to go, let him return!’ And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘They that shall lap the water with their tongues as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves―but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side!’ And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men―and all the rest of the multitude [9,700 men] had drunk kneeling. And the Lord said to Gedeon: ‘By the three hundred men that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand!’” (Judges 7:1-7).
God Loves It When the Odds Are Against Him
It seems as though God loves having the odds-stacked-against-Him! In the time of Noe, the whole world was basically against Him by being so sinful―yet God won and destroyed the world’s population apart from Noe and his family. In the time Moses, God repeatedly had the odds stacked against Him―with the vast majority of the millions of Israelites moaning and groaning, whinging and whining, complaining and disobeying God―yet God put them in their place, keeping them in the desert for a forty-year “jail sentence” until all the complainers of adult age at the time they left Egypt, died in the desert as a punishment. Against the odds, God fed those millions each and every day miraculously with manna and provided water so that they would not die of thirst. He miraculously kept their clothes and shoes from wearing-out and miraculously delivered them from their enemies! These and many more example can be added to that of David and Goliath, Gedeon and the Madianites, Moses and the Egyptians, etc. You could write a whole book on how God deliberately stacked the odds against Himself and His chosen ones―only to win in the end.
Today―the Odds Are Greatly Stacked Against God and the Faith
If we can pull ourselves away from the television/computer/tablet/smartphone screens, put down our beer/wine/soda, drag ourselves away from the fridge or dining table, and for a moment stop munching our cookies/candies/chocolate/ice-cream/pretzels/chips/chicken-wings with barbecue sauce and calculate the odds that are stacked against God, the Church, the Faith and Catholics―then we will find them to be overwhelming. So much so that Our Lady’s prediction that “There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” seems to be a massive understatement―unless, of course, we have had our “heads buried in sand” ― which means that our butts are up in the air, waiting to be kicked!
Only 20% of Catholics regularly fulfill the mortal-sin-bound obligation of attending Mass on Sundays―while almost nobody goes to Confession. That means two things―it means that 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin and do not care two hoots about getting out of mortal sin, since they don’t and won’t go to Confession. It also indicates the high probability that many of meager, tiny 20% that still do attend Sunday Mass regularly are probably also in a state of mortal sin―because Mass attendance does not guarantee a state of grace and there are many pitfalls of “easy-to-commit” mortal sins available these days, due to advent of the television and then the later advent of the internet, coupled with the alarming decrease in modesty and virtuous speech. As regards another bulwark or defense against sin―the Holy Rosary―only around 2% pray the Rosary daily, and you have question how well they pray it, or rather “say” it. Besides―if you are in mortal sin―your prayers are useless for any other cause, person, or thing―apart from your own conversion. So Catholic “Soldiers of Christ” who are in a state of mortal sin, can shoot at the enemy all they want―they are only shooting blanks, or, at best, their bullets, like boomerangs, come back to hit or bite their own conscience with the goal of trying to convert them from mortal sin and bring them back to a state of grace. Thus, such mortal sin troops―Soldiers of Christ mortally wounded by sin―are useless on the battlefield against the enemy. They need treatment themselves and need to be healed of their own wounds before they can hope to strike a blow and wound the enemy.
All in all―if you were pluck an arbitrary number based on calculations that are probable―you would have to say that currently, out of a total world population of 7.8 billion (7,800 million people) of which nominal baptized Catholics make up a total of around 1.3 billion (1,300 million), there are perhaps little more than 200 million that attend Sunday Mass regularly but not all of them are in a state of sanctifying grace due to other mortal sins (usually impure thoughts, glances, words and actions). The numbers of Catholics in a state of grace might be as low as 1 to 2 million in the entire world. That would roughly translate to only 1 or 2 persons in 7,800 people in the whole world being in a state of grace. This should not be surprising ― since Our Lord, Our Lady and many Saints and theologians tell us [read more here] that most souls go to Hell―and you cannot go to Hell if you are in a state of sanctifying grace.
So What Do We Do? How We Overcome the Devil and His World?
It does not take a rocket-scientist, or a professor, or top theologian to come up with the answer. Actually, we have been told how to do it many times―but we stubbornly refuse to take the advice and stir ourselves into action. God solutions are always pretty simple―but we simply won’t do what He tells us!
No matter what the problem―with God the solution is only a Word away! The Word of God is all powerful. The word of God made all things―He did not need a team of scientists, doctors, architects, designers, craftsmen, builders, plumbers, electricians, etc. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made! … And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!” (John 1:1-3, 14).
With the Word of God things happen quickly. We see Jesus heal merely by saying the word―with no need for doctors, medicines, X-Rays, MRIs, CAT scans, surgery, etc. A simple word or a single touch is enough to heal.
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their Faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He brake, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when evening was come, they brought to Jesus many that were possessed with devils―and He cast out the spirits with his word! And all that were sick, He healed” (Matthew 8:16). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves―but He was asleep. And they came to Him and awakened Him, saying: ‘Lord! Save us! We perish!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?’ Then, rising up, He commanded the winds and the sea―and there came a great calm. But the men wondered, saying: ‘What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey him?’” (Matthew 8:23-27). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy Faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
God even uses mere humans in a simple way to manifest His power: “And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided” (Exodus 14:21). Later, when the Israelites were in the desert and short of water―“when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank” (Numbers 20:11).
We see the tremendous power of God work through the simple words of Elias His Prophet. When King Ochozias wanted to consult the devil Beelzebub as to whether or not he would recover from an illness. Here is the impressive and frightening account:
“And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ‘Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: “Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Wherefore thus saith the Lord: ‘From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!’”’ And Elias went away. And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: ‘Why are you come back?’ But they answered Ochozias: ‘A man met us and said to us: “Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die!”’ And King Ochozias sent to Elias a captain of fifty men, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to Elias, and, as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: ‘Man of God! The king hath commanded that thou come down!’ And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty men: ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him. And again King Ochozias sent to Elias another captain of fifty men, and his fifty men with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the king: “Make haste and come down!” Elias answering, said: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty men!’ And fire came down from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. Again Ochozias sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty men that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: ‘Man of God! Despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me! Behold fire came down from Heaven and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them! But now I beseech thee to spare my life!’ And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: ‘Go down with him, fear not!’ He arose, therefore, and went down with him to the king, and said to him: ‘Thus saith the Lord: “Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel of whom thou mightest inquire the word―therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die!” So he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elias spoke” (4 Kings 1:3-17).
The Answer is Simple―But Is it Too Simplistic?
As the saying goes: “Life is simple―don’t complicate it!” Similarly, “The answer to the many present crises is also simple―don’t complicate matters!” Or, if you like, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”―just use it! Funnily enough, man is far more complicated than God! God raises people from the dead by a few simple words. He calms storms with mere words. He performs stupendous miracles with mere words. He kills and destroys with His sharp words. He casts out devils with words. As the Angel Gabriel said to Our Lady at the Annunciation of the Incarnation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37) and as Jesus later reiterated: “With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!” (Mark 10:27) … “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27) adding: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
The Sacraments are in a sense miracles―being above the natural level, capability and expectation of human nature. Yet those Sacramental miracles are performed with mere simple words. In his Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology), St. Thomas Aquinas in his usual simple direct way, points out to us these simple words―theologically called “the form”―of the Sacraments: “The form of Baptism is: “I baptize thee,” and the form of Confirmation is: “I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation,”; while in the Sacrament of the Eucharist it consists in the words: “This is My Body!” [and, of course, “This is My Blood!”]. The Sacrament of Penance, which consists in the removal of sin, wherefore the most fitting form of this Sacrament: “I absolve thee!””
Of all the Seven Sacraments, it is the Holy Eucharist that is the greatest―for while all Seven Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist not only gives us grace, but the actual Author and Source of all grace―Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who becomes really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in what we call “The Real Presence”.
Getting to the Heart or Core of the Matter
Of all the Seven Sacraments, it is the Holy Eucharist that is the greatest―for while all Seven Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist not only gives us grace, but the actual Author and Source of all grace―Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who becomes really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in what we call “The Real Presence”. That Eucharistic Presence of Christ comes about when both the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the mere use of FOUR WORDS on each item. The words, of course, are THIS IS MY BODY (for the bread) and THIS IS MY BLOOD (for the wine). Even though these SIMPLE WORDS are embodied into the more complicated ritual or rite of what we call the Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the actual consecration and miraculous transubstantiation take place by the utterance of those SIMPLE WORDS―THIS IS MY BODY and THIS IS MY BLOOD.
What more powerful an ally can you hope to recruit than Our Lord Jesus Christ? Our reliance and confidence MUST NOT be in ourselves or man-made things. This ever-escalating storm is not man-made, but Satan-made―and man, by himself, is no match for Satan. “Hope in the Name of the Lord, and lean upon God!” (Isaias 50:10). “Blessed is he who hath God for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God!” (Psalm 145:5). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Our help is in the Name of the Lord―Who made Heaven and Earth!” (Psalm 123:8). “Our God is in Heaven―He hath done all things whatsoever He would” (Psalm 113:11). “In God is my salvation and my glory! He is the God of my help―and my hope is in God!” (Psalm 61:8). “It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God!” (Psalm 72:28). “Put not your trust in princes [human actions and human interventions] (Psalm 145:2). “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses―but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God!” (Psalms 19:8). “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalm 43:7). “He that holdeth the bow shall not stand; and the swift of foot shall not escape; neither shall the rider of the horse save his life!” (Amos 2:15). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes! [presidents, politicians, money-men, etc.]” (Psalms 117:9).
It is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that Our Lord comes to us! It is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that Our Lord is given to us in Holy Communion. It is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we obtain the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by which Our Lord remains with us―day and night in the tabernacles―once the Sacrifice of the Mass has ended. It was on the Cross on Calvary that Christ defeated Satan and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an unbloody perpetuation of Christ’s bloody death on Calvary. It is one and same with Calvary. It is the one and same weapon used by one and same Soldier―Christ Himself―for it is not the priest who independently offers Mass, it is Christ who offers each and every Mass using the priest as an instrument.
The Mass is a Massive Defense Against Evil
There is no better defense against evil than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This has been stated numerous times by Saints and theologians of the Church―of which here are just a few such affirmations.
► St. Thomas Aquinas says: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the Cross.”
► St. Alphonsus of Liguori stated: “God Himself cannot bring about an action more holy and greater than the celebration of one Holy Mass.”
► St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina once said: “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass”.
► St. Leonard of Port Maurice states: “I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. The Mass is the potent prop that holds the world on its base.”
► Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, adds: “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers ― both seen and unseen.”
► St. Padre Pio points out that “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.”
► St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “Without the Holy Mass what would become of us? All of us here below would perish, because that alone can hold back God’s arm.”
► St. Antoninus conveys this very important lesson. Two youths, both sinners, went into the forest one day. One of them having heard Mass, the other not. Soon there arose a furious tempest. They heard amidst, thunder and lightning, a voice cry out: “SLAY!” and instantly there came a flash which reduced to ashes the one who had not heard Mass. The other one terrified was seeking escape, when he heard anew the same voice: “SLAY!” The poor youth expected instant death, when he heard another voice, “I cannot! I cannot! Today he heard ‘Verbum caro factum est’ (meaning ― ‘the Word was made flesh’ ― words from the Last Gospel at the end of Mass) his Mass will not let me strike.” This story is rather direct and to the point, it demonstrates, rather dramatically the power of the Mass!
► St. John Vianney says: “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist! If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us! All good works taken together cannot have the value of one Holy Mass, because they are the works of men, whereas the Holy Mass is the work of God!”
► St. Francis of Assisi said: “Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.”
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich said: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!”
The Redeeming Power of the Mass
Father Mateo, SS.CC., the famous apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement, in a talk given in Tucson, Arizona, said:
Pay the ransom of souls with the Chalice, with the CHALICE! The greatest means of converting souls is one more Mass, one more Mass during the week, and, with sacrifice, two or three more Masses; if possible, daily Mass, to pay for the eternal salvation of souls. That is the great thing ― the Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. You will never see souls go astray if you pay the ransom, hearing one more Mass, two, three, four, and, if possible, daily Mass.
How often have I heard people say to me: “Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!” Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of ‘annoying’ the saints with novena after novena―why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. You have a right to ask for such miracles. Do you know what a conversion is? It is the resurrection of a soul. It is far greater to see the resurrection of a soul than the resurrection of a corpse. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! If you have anyone at home sick, or dying, oh, pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!
Go One Step Further―Have Masses Offered
The above words of Fr. Matteo are so true―but you could go even beyond his recommendation of attending “one more Mass” or even daily Mass. You could have Masses offered for the present crisis that is assailing both the Church and the world. You could and should have Masse offered for the double intention of the defeat of the enemies of the Church and mankind, as well as the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―which are, in reality, flip sides of the same coin―for Our Lady’s triumph means the defeat of the enemies. As Sister Lucia said: “Our Lady told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
There is no more powerful weapon than that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―even the Rosary, which St. Padre Pio calls “THE weapon” derives it power from Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary which is perpetuated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If there ever was a time, then NOW IS THE TIME FOR MASS UPRISING! An uprising of Masses petitioned by the masses―whereby Catholics everywhere continuously bombard their priests with continual requests (stipends) for Masses to be offered FOR THE DOUBLE INTENTION OF THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND & THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY until this happens. It will not happen in a matter of weeks or just a few months―the evil has become so great that this will require a prolonged, sustained persevering effort. Not just on the part of a handful of Catholics―but MANY Catholics. Catholics who will not be satisfied by offering a one-time-only stipend for a Mass―but will repeatedly, whether it be weekly or monthly, or several times weekly, ask their priests to offer Mass for this double intention: THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AND MANKIND & THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY until this happens. As Sister Lucia said: “Our Lady told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
THE MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday July 29th, Thursday July 30th & Friday JUly 31st
Article 13
Mass Weapon of Destruction!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Wednesday July 29th, Thursday July 30th & Friday JUly 31st
Article 13
Mass Weapon of Destruction!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
When the Going Gets Tough … The Tough Get Going!
There are many proverbial phrases that could be applied to the situation in which we find ourselves today. Things are tough and are getting tougher with each day or week. Though the hurricane may not have quite arrived yet―the showers have started and the rain is falling. As the saying goes: “It ain’t gonna get better before it gets worse!” or “It’s gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better!” ― whichever way round you prefer it, the outcome is the same. Or if want it presenting along the “Good News―Bad News” approach―then the good news is that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph; but the bad news is that it will look like Satan will have triumphed before that happens. The clouds are darkening and thickening, daylight recedes as darkness gathers, any remaining calm becomes threatening―like the calm before the storm. The once mocked and laughed at “Conspiracy Theories” no longer seem conspiratorial―but forebodingly realistic. Even the MSM (mainstream media) is now speaking of an imminent civil war! Has the MSM suddenly converted to being the Alternative Media? No! But you have no alternative but to admit the truth when it is staring you in the face!
Uncivil Behavior and Civil War
►THE WASHINGTON POST ― A March 2nd, 2019, The Washington Post headline said: “In America, talk turns to something not spoken of for 150 years: Civil War.” The story referenced and quoted, among others experts, Stanford University historian Victor Davis Hanson, who asked in a National Review essay already back in the summer of 2018: “How, when, and why has the United States now arrived at the brink of a veritable civil war?” Another Washington Post story reports how Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King recently posted a meme warning that red states have “8 trillion bullets” in the event of a civil war. And a poll, already conducted way back in June of 2018―before the current 2020 events had escalated―by Rasmussen Reports, found that 31% of probable US voters surveyed believe “it’s likely that the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years.”
► DALLAS MORNING NEWS ― Interestingly, in another mainstream media (MSM) newspaper― The Dallas Morning News ―Joshua J. Whitfield, a Catholic and pastoral administrator for St. Rita Catholic Community (modern jargon for St. Rita’s Catholic Church) in Dallas and a frequent contributor to The Dallas Morning News, in his December 8th, 2019, article entitled: “Is America on the brink of Civil War? More like a coming Reign of Terror!” looks beyond an American Civil War to a potential American Reign of Terror―much like the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror” at the end of the 18th century. Joshua Whitfield writes: “Are we headed for civil war? December’s newly designed cover of ‘The Atlantic’ features a handprint in red and blue paint, smeared and bloodlike. Underneath it reads: ‘How to Stop Civil War.’ It’s a cover that both haunts and sells like a paperback thriller. Might America be in store for another civil war? Such is the idea of the image, nerving current civic fears by the suggestion that something might be coming, something bad. Inside, the editor of ‘The Atlantic’, Jeffrey Goldberg, manages this advertised fear. ‘We do not believe that conditions in the United States today resemble those of 1850s America,’ he writes. ‘But we worry that the ties that bind us are fraying at alarming speed — we are becoming contemptuous of each other in ways that are both dire and possibly irreversible.’ … What if instead of Civil War, we should fear another Reign of Terror? What if, unlike in France, our reign of terror is but delayed? Unlike the editors of ‘The Atlantic’, it’s not civil wars I worry about―but reigns of terror. I catch glimpses of Donald Trump rallies [and] the hateful rhetoric of the president and the glee and hard, volatile edge of his adoring crowds … But then … I hear progressive politicians push their plainly false tolerance, their thinly veiled hatred of traditional moralities and politics unlike their own ... The left has their mobs too, and they would unleash terror as well ... Can this outcome be avoided? I don’t know!”
At a moment when America has never seemed angrier, two political commentators from opposite sides of the divide recently agreed on one point that was once nearly unthinkable: The country is on the verge of another “Civil War.” First came former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova, a Fox News regular, said back in 2018: “We are in a civil war. The suggestion that there’s ever going to be civil discourse in this country for the foreseeable future is over ― It’s going to be total war!” The next day, Nicolle Wallace, a former Republican operative, who became a MSNBC commentator, played a clip of diGenova’s commentary on her show and agreed with him. All of this comes from the mainstream media―and it was being said way before the Coronavirus Plannedemic, way before the lockdowns and shutdowns, way before the lockdown/shutdown triggered unemployment tsunami that has seen over 40 million Americans lose their jobs, way before the carefully planned riots and looting in over 100 American cities after the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis, way before the planned mandatory vaccination of the population (not just USA, but the whole world), way before the rebellious and revolutionary creation of “autonomous zones” in Seattle and Portland which claimed to “cop-free-zones”―in other words, lawless zones, where law enforcement is banned. Another “autonomous zone” was created by rioters and protesters in Washington DC, which they called “Black House Autonomous Zone” in contrast to the nearby White House. President Donald Trump had vowed in a tweet to meet protesters with “serious force.”
► FORBES ― On May 13th, 2020, even the respected mainstream media business news outlet, Forbes, runs the headline: “Rush Limbaugh Predicts A ‘Veritable’ Civil War — Could He Be Right?” in it says: “Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh gave an extended monologue about the current Coronavirus-induced state shutdowns. In Limbaugh’s view, the Democratic-controlled ‘blue states’ are conspiring to keep shutdowns in effect in order to drive unemployment while the actions of the Republican-controlled ‘red states’ are trying to help expedite the country’s recovery … It was the usual Limbaugh radio fare that both delights his followers and infuriates his detractors and that might not merit mention... until he said this: ‘Folks, I’m gonna tell you―these next four months are gonna be a veritable war like we have not seen!’ And suddenly, Rush Limbaugh doesn’t seem so crazy. Because the truth of the matter is that we ARE heading down a dangerous path of outright national conflict. The signals are everywhere. In Michigan, armed protestors and self-identified right wing militias are marching on the state capital, protesting Governor Whitmer’s extension of her stay-at-home order. Similarly, in Pennsylvania not only businesses, but local officials, are defying Governor Tom Wolf’s guidelines for reopening. But the frustration and anger around the nature and pace of reopening is also sparking dangerous acts of civil disobedience. In Owosso, Michigan, armed citizens came out to help a barbershop open in contravention of the state orders. In California, a resident openly wore a KKK hood while shopping at a grocery store, and a Target shopper broke the arm of an security guard trying to enforce the store’s face-covering policy. The list of these types of occurrences continues to grow, especially while Americans’ nerves get more frayed as the Coronavirus spring melts into a curve-defying summer.
“But are we on the edge of a real civil war? … [T]here are some troubling parallels to a similar time 160 years ago during the run-up to the Civil War. Back then, the fractious 1860 election … with the northern and southern states at deep odds over the future of the nation. Lincoln, the Republican candidate, claimed an electoral landslide over the three other candidates, yet only won 40% of the popular vote. The election results caused a national rupture, and before Lincoln could be inaugurated, a majority of the southern states had seceded from the Union. Within weeks, the confrontation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina sparked the Civil War, and the rest is history. With the 2020 election only months away, and a divided nation is once again grappling with the issue of states’ rights, it is reasonable to wonder whether the aftermath of this election could similarly spark open civil conflict on a nationally contentious issue … We are coming perilously close to those days in 1860 when an election became a referendum of whether a divided nation could hold itself together. A vacuum of public leadership is being filled by fear and loathing, and where language is becoming more vitriolic and firearms are becoming more visible, the question remains ― how can we prevent the next civil war?” (Business magazine, Forbes, May 13th, 2020).
► THE NEW YORKER―The left-of-center, nationally and internationally read magazine, The New Yorker, in an August 14th, 2017, article entitled “Is America Headed for a New Kind of Civil War?” says the following: “How fragile is the Union, our republic, and a country that has long been considered the world’s most stable democracy? … Earlier this year, I began a conversation with Keith Mines about America’s turmoil. Mines has spent his career—in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the United Nations, and now the State Department—navigating civil wars in other countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. He returned to Washington after sixteen years to find conditions that he had seen nurture conflict abroad now visible at home. It haunts him. In March [2017], Mines was one of several national-security experts whom Foreign Policy magazine [American news publication on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy] asked to evaluate the risks of a second civil war—with percentages. Mines concluded that the United States faces a 60% chance of civil war over the next ten to fifteen years. Other experts’ predictions ranged from 5% to 95%.
“ ‘We keep saying, “It can’t happen here!” but then, holy smokes, it can!’ Mines told me. The pattern of civil strife has evolved worldwide over the past sixty years. Today, few civil wars involve pitched battles from trenches along neat geographic front lines. Many are low-intensity conflicts with episodic violence in constantly moving locales. Mines’s definition of a civil war is large-scale violence that includes a rejection of traditional political authority and requires the National Guard to deal with it [and we have seen the beginnings of that during these recent lockdown/shutdown/racist riots in 2020]. Based on his experience in civil wars on three continents, Mines cited five conditions that support his prediction: (1) entrenched national polarization, with no obvious meeting place for resolution; (2) increasingly divisive press coverage and information flows; (3) weakened institutions, notably Congress and the judiciary; (4) a sellout or abandonment of responsibility by political leadership; and (5) the legitimization of violence as the ‘in’ way to either conduct discourse or solve disputes. Mines wrote in ‘Foreign Policy’ that President Trump “modeled violence as a way to advance politically and validated bullying during and after the campaign. Judging from recent events the left is now fully on board with this,” he continued, citing anarchists in anti-globalization riots as one of several flashpoints. “It is like 1859, everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.”
► GEORGETOWN POLITICAL POLL ― According to the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service Battleground Civility Poll, the second component of the Battleground Poll, a majority of Americans believe political, racial, and class divisions are getting worse. This includes three-quarters or more of men and women; urban, suburban, and rural voters; approximately 7-in-10 or more voters in every age cohort; white, black, and Latino voters; and nearly two-thirds of voters of all partisan stripes. These observations contribute to the Civility Poll’s additional finding that the average voter believes the U.S. is two-thirds of the way to the edge of a civil war. On a 0%-100% scale with 100% being right on the edge of a civil war―the response is 67%.
All of this―once labeled as being a mere “Conspiracy Theory” by the mainstream media (MSM) is now finding its way onto more and more mainstream media newspapers and websites. Suddenly, “conspiracy theories” are become “in-your-face realities”! For Catholics who know and understand their Faith, and are well-versed in Our Lady’s warnings at her many apparitions―this is neither new nor strange. These “divisions” among people―that are mentioned above―Our Lady already foretold: “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Even Non-Americans Are Talking of the New Civil War
► UK : THE INDEPENDENT ― The UK mainstream newspaper, The Independent, ran the following article headline back in May of 2020: “The second American Civil War is underway. Only this time, it's not North versus South” the article going on to say: “The death toll of the first US Civil War is astonishing considering soldiers had rather crude weapons like muskets, which had to be refilled frequently, and bayonets. The Second Civil War is being waged with weapons that are anything but crude: indifference, bitterness, grievance and old-fashioned hate. Rural America is ready to lock and load. Urban America is cowering in a lockdown. A heavily armed group of Rural citizens stormed Michigan's State Capitol on April 30th, powerful assault rifles at the ready. But this Second Civil War won't be a shooting war, likely to the chagrin of some on the far right — and, let's be honest, the not-so-far right. Rather, this war will be — no, already is being — waged with microscopic Covid-19 cells as Republican-leaning Rural America throws open its businesses, schools and sporting venues, ensuring they keep the deadly virus in circulation — at the expense of more densely populated Democratic-leaning Urban areas. Red vs. Blue. Rural vs. Urban. Us vs. Them.” ― which is only the tip of the iceberg, to which you could add: Patriots & Nationalists vs. Globalists & Internationalists. Conservative vs. Liberal. Black vs. White. Poor vs. Rich. Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice. Religious vs. Non-Religious. Law & Order vs. Lawlessness & Chaos. Gun Ownership vs. Gun Confiscation. Truth vs. Propaganda. God-made Medicine vs. Man-made Medicine. Anti-Vaccine vs. Pro-Vaccine. Faith vs. Science. Church vs. World. The list is endless―all of these opponents are merely and ultimately battalions or regiments in the standing armies in the battle between Christ and Satan―as shown and proved in the previous article.
► NEW EUROPE NEWS ― In its June 12th 2020 edition, in an article entitled “America’s new Civil War (II)” the founder of the independent European affairs newspaper, New Europe, writes: “The tiny virus that was either purposely or accidentally dripped from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, has created world-wide chaos, and we are just at the beginning. Our society has just entered into a large-scale evolution, seemingly far from a final settlement. How far that end is, nobody can seriously predict. Nor can they imagine exactly how it will end as the process is taking on the shape a major social confrontation. Everybody is taking positions against everybody else. At present, very few people understand what kind of situation the world is getting to. The general panic caused by the virus was just the excuse to trigger a large-scale evolution, which for the time being remains under the radar, due to the fact that it is only the very beginning. When coupled with an unreasonable and prolonged lockdown, which added unemployment and misery to an already toxic mix, you have the perfect recipe for a social uprising. The United States is in civil war and one intelligent exercise would be to figure out what title future historians will give to this hopefully short, chapter in their history.
“The first battles of the Second American Civil War began when Donald Trump was elected president and he began to openly take on the entrenched powers that be on Wall Street. Trump is not a politician. He is a successful businessman who sees his country through the prism of a business, and thus makes his plans accordingly, in what he assesses are the best opportunities and biggest threats for the country. Its weakness is that there are at least three major centers of power in the country ― the White House, Wall Street, and the administration ― each one reflecting different interests. If Trump manages to continue to prosecute the war against China, the first to suffer losses will be Wall Street, as it will have to contend with a rash of bulk bankruptcies. It’s because of this that Wall Street launched its war against Trump using the Democratic Party’s impeachment, which ended without a conviction, and now street fights involving large numbers of people from the country’s racial and ethnic populations. In this fight, the battering ram of the American establishment is the Democratic Party – the pseudo-intellectuals of the East Village who drive the war ideologically and the useful idiots who take to the streets thinking that they will overthrow Trump. Obviously, nobody told them that in democratic countries, governments rise and fall through parliamentary majorities or, as is the case with the American representative republic system, through national elections. That is why the sponsors of the ongoing attacks against Trump think that the coming US election in November will be the most crucial election for the country since 1860, the year the Americans first found themselves engaged in a civil war.”
► AUSTRALIA : ABC NEWS ― On the other side of the world, the Australian ABC NEWS published an article on June 17th, 2020, entitled: “This Model Forecast the US's Current Unrest a Decade Ago. It Now Says ‘Civil War’” in which the article stated: “Is the US headed for another civil war? In a word, yes ... In an unpublished paper submitted for peer review, Professor Goldstone, who is a sociologist, and Peter Turchin, an expert on the mathematical modeling of historical societies, have concluded that the US is headed for another civil war. The conditions for civil violence, they say, are the worst since the 19th century — in particular the years leading up to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The reason for this are trends that began in the 1980s, with regard to inequality, selfish elites, and polarization that have crippled the ability of the US government to mount an effective response to the pandemic disease. This has also hampered our ability to deliver an inclusive economic relief policy, and exacerbated the tensions over racial injustice. Professor Goldstone predicts the real problems will begin after July 31, when Americans' $600 a week COVID-19 unemployment welfare expires. ‘Social tensions likely continue to grow as we move to November. The risks of violence in November are very high.’ he said. November is the US presidential election … As the big date nears, the tone of predictions are darkening. Both Republicans and Democrats see a loss as a cataclysm — not just a setback, but the end of America. Four more years of Trump would 'destroy democracy', one side says. The other claims that Biden would destroy the economy as well as 'law and order'. The Trump campaign has launched an ‘Army for Trump’ website to ‘recruit and mobilize Americans ... committed to fighting to re-elect President Trump.’ Professor Goldstone said: ‘There's a real risk that, if the election is close, whichever side loses will be strongly motivated to mobilize people to challenge the result.”
► THE TIMES (END TIMES) ― Even Heaven’s news outlets and correspondents speak of wars and civil wars! Our Lord speaks of wars, saying: You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars! Fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows! … And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death!” (Mark 13:7-8; 13:12).
Our Lady warned at La Salette in 1846 that civil war is coming worldwide: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian [which obviously means civil wars]. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
The same was reported over 200 years earlier by Our Lady of Good Success: “There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow [“native blood” obviously indicates a civil war and “foreign blood” obviously indicates international wars], including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph” (Our Lady of Good Success).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady reports: “God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church! … The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Various nations will be annihilated!” Twelve years later, Our Lord adds: “They did not wish to heed My request. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer!” (Our Lord to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
Twenty-one years later, on Good Friday, April 16th 1950, Our Lord appeared to another of His mystics―Blessed Elena Aiello, and warned: “The world has lowered itself in overflowing corruption. The governments of the people have risen like demons incarnated, and, while they speak of peace they prepare for war with the most devastating implements to destroy peoples and nations.”
Only sixty years ago, on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd, 1960, Our Lady revealed to the same Blessed Elena Aiello that: “The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death. If the people do not recognize in these scourges (of nature) the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another terrible war will come from the East to the West. Russia with her SECRET ARMIES will battle America and will overrun Europe. The river Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and the Pope will suffer terribly. Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might.”
The following year, on March 23rd, 1961, Our Lady again appeared to Blessed Elena Aiello, saying: “People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong evermore into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations.”
A Lot of Talk About Blood!
You might think that all of the above is a little too bloody! However, we are at the end of the month of the Precious Blood and, as Our Lord said to one of His mystics, what He demands now―as a solution to this increasingly terrible crisis or should we say, in the plural, crises of many different kinds―is blood. Our Lord wants blood! Scary thought, huh? Well perhaps it is scary, but we should be more scared at the amount of sin that is being thrown in His Divine Face on a daily basis! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
In 1830, at the Rue du Bac in Paris, France, where Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal through St. Catherine Labouré, Our Lady warned: “Times are evil in France and in the world. The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground. Blood will flow; they will open up again the side of Our Lord. The streets will run with blood ... The whole world will be in sadness. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery.”
In 1846, at La Salette, Our Lady further warned: “There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Also, Sister Lucia told Fr. Joachim Maria Alonso, the official historian of Fatima, in a little known response: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears.”
Yet it not just our blood that must flow―but just as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―likewise with His Precious Blood we can nothing! These many different crises that buzz around like demented mosquitoes―seeking to sting and harm―can only be neutralized and defeated by the repellant of Christ’s Precious Blood. We can this being indicated in a vision that Sister Lucia of Fatima had in 1929, which she relates thus:
“Suddenly the whole chapel was illumined by a supernatural light, and above the altar appeared a Cross of light, reaching to the ceiling. In a brighter light on the upper part of the Cross, could be seen the face of a man and his body as far as the waist; upon his breast was a dove of light; nailed to the Cross was the body of another man. A little below the waist, I could see a chalice and a large Host suspended in the air, onto which drops of Blood were falling from the Face of Jesus Crucified and from the wound in His side. These drops [of Blood] ran down onto the Host and fell into the chalice. Beneath the right arm of the Cross was Our Lady and in her hand was her Immaculate Heart. It was Our Lady of Fatima, with her Immaculate Heart in her left hand, without sword or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames. Under the left arm of the Cross, large letters, as if of crystal clear water which ran down upon the altar, formed these words: ‘Grace and Mercy.’” (Personal account by Sr. Lucia of Fatima of her vision at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
We Need a Lot of Precious Blood
Even though one single drop of Christ’s Blood is enough to save the entire world―Christ would shed far more than one drop during His bloody Passion and Death. One Holy Communion is enough to make anybody into a saint―yet after thousands of Holy Communions we are still miles away from being saints! Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich reveals to us what Our Lady said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” ― yet hundreds of thousands of Masses are offered each day and noose nevertheless still tightens around the neck of Holy Mother Church! Obviously the priests saying those Masses are greatly lacking in devotion, or respect, or confidence, or zeal, or whatever―because the fact that things are not improving but are getting worse, cannot be blamed on the Mass itself, but has to blamed on those who offer, use, say, celebrate the Mass. It is obvious that they lack the sentiments and devotion of the Apostles, otherwise, as Our Lady says, those Masses would easily “ward off all calamities from the Church.”
Why Has the Mass Become Less Effective or Even Ineffective?
If the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is such a powerful weapon and if there are over 400,000 priests offering Mass in the world each day―then why do we find ourselves in such a spiritual, moral, material mess today? Obviously the priests saying those Masses are greatly lacking in devotion, or respect, or confidence, or zeal, or whatever―because the fact that things are not improving but are getting worse, cannot be blamed on the Mass itself, but has to blamed on those who offer, use, say, celebrate the Mass. It is obvious that they lack the sentiments and devotion of the Apostles, otherwise, as Our Lady says, those Masses would easily “ward off all calamities from the Church.” A weapon―not matter how powerful―is only as effective as the skill of the person who uses it. The less skill, the lesser the effect. There is no weapon more powerful than the Holy Sacrifice of Mass―but, as Our Lady said:
“The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity … There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor, with cruel and subtle astuteness, to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war where blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death.” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
“Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood ― shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death ― that He might take pity on His ministers!”
Hopefully that explains to some degree the lessening effect or even ineffectiveness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the world today. Another reason―which is quite well known but largely underestimated―is the fact that the Mass has weakened or even rendered ineffective by two fairly recent developments. Those are (1) the Communist and Masonic infiltration of the Catholic Church, and (2) the launching of the New Mass by Pope Paul VI in the late 1960s.
Infiltration Leads to a Coagulation
Once mocked and rejected as being a “crazy conspiracy theory”, the infiltration of the Catholic Church has long since left the Kindergarten of Fiction and has graduated from the University of Fact. A current mainstream Conservative bishop of the Catholic Church―Bishop Athanasius Schneider―wrote in his Foreword to a book entitled Infiltration by Dr. Taylor Marshall: “It would be dishonest and irresponsible only to state the facts of the Church’s current internal crisis, and to deal with the symptoms. We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons ― an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process … point[ing] to the existence of a kind of ominous red thread which systematically runs through the history of the past century-and-a-half of the Church’s history. The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration.”
In these modern times, the Catholic Church has long since been infiltrated. For over a century, the organizers of Freemasonry, Liberalism, and Modernism infiltrated the Catholic Church in order to change her doctrine, her liturgy, and her mission from something supernatural to something chiefly secular, worldly and non-religious. It is an agenda to replace the supernatural religion of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ with the natural religion of humanism and globalism.
FREEMASONIC INFILTRATION: Over a century before the St. Gallen mafia (1996 onwards) plotted to seize the papacy, a Freemasonic document, The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita (1859) dreamed of “a pope according to our heart.” He would be sprung from a generation won over to Freemasonic dogmas from its youth, via the corruption of families, books, and education. He would be elected by a corrupted clergy and would be similarly “imbued with the Italian and humanitarian principles which we are about to put into circulation … Let the clergy march under your banner, while they naïvely believe they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic Keys … You will have preached revolution in tiara and cope … a revolution that will need only a little help to set the corners of the world on fire” stated The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, which was ultimately acquired by the Church and published with the encouragement of multiple popes.
COMMUNIST INFILTRATION: Dr. Bella Dodd, a fallen-away Catholic, was one of chief members of the Communist Party of America (CPUSA) in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Dodd served as legal council (attorney) for the Communists. Her book, “School of Darkness” (1954) revealed that Communism was perpetrated by financiers “to control the common man” and to advance world tyranny. After leaving the Communist Party in disillusionment, Dr. Bella Dodd testified before the US House Un-American Activities Committee that “In the 1930s we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Twelve years before the Second Vatican Council (which ran from 1962 to 1965) she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Furthermore, Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, a Catholic theologian, that: “When she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]” (Christian Order magazine, “The Church in Crisis”, reprinted from The Latin Mass magazine).
THE SMOKE OF SATAN HAS ENTERED THE CHURCH: During the closing ceremonies at the end of the Council, Pope Paul VI joyously informed the world that Vatican Council II had been “assembled in the Holy Spirit and under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary … and of Saint Joseph … and of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.” (Pope Paul VI, In Spiritu Sancto (Apostolic Brief For the Closing of the Council), December 8th, 1965). Seven years later the same Paul VI, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election as Pope, issued the following lament:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
Fr. Gabriele Amorth the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.” Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world ... In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
The Precious Blood, Our Lady and the Machabees
This year, 2020, it is very fitting that the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus transitions into the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on a Friday/Saturday combination―with Friday being the day on which Our Lord shed His Precious Blood for us and Saturday traditionally being Our Lady’s day. Furthermore this transition from the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus transitions into the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary happens to take place on the First Saturday of the month, which, of course, is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart devotion and reparation. Yet it does not end there―because August 1st is also the feast of the Holy Machabees, which is especially fitting and inspiring for the times that we live in―increasingly impious, neo-pagan, irreligious times―for the Machabees were faced with a similar problem which gave birth to the renowned Machabean Resistance. We will pursue these connections in the next article and show how we too can have a Machabean Resistance here and now in our own day―a Catholic Mass Uprising of a scale perhaps never seen before.
There are many proverbial phrases that could be applied to the situation in which we find ourselves today. Things are tough and are getting tougher with each day or week. Though the hurricane may not have quite arrived yet―the showers have started and the rain is falling. As the saying goes: “It ain’t gonna get better before it gets worse!” or “It’s gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better!” ― whichever way round you prefer it, the outcome is the same. Or if want it presenting along the “Good News―Bad News” approach―then the good news is that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph; but the bad news is that it will look like Satan will have triumphed before that happens. The clouds are darkening and thickening, daylight recedes as darkness gathers, any remaining calm becomes threatening―like the calm before the storm. The once mocked and laughed at “Conspiracy Theories” no longer seem conspiratorial―but forebodingly realistic. Even the MSM (mainstream media) is now speaking of an imminent civil war! Has the MSM suddenly converted to being the Alternative Media? No! But you have no alternative but to admit the truth when it is staring you in the face!
Uncivil Behavior and Civil War
►THE WASHINGTON POST ― A March 2nd, 2019, The Washington Post headline said: “In America, talk turns to something not spoken of for 150 years: Civil War.” The story referenced and quoted, among others experts, Stanford University historian Victor Davis Hanson, who asked in a National Review essay already back in the summer of 2018: “How, when, and why has the United States now arrived at the brink of a veritable civil war?” Another Washington Post story reports how Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King recently posted a meme warning that red states have “8 trillion bullets” in the event of a civil war. And a poll, already conducted way back in June of 2018―before the current 2020 events had escalated―by Rasmussen Reports, found that 31% of probable US voters surveyed believe “it’s likely that the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years.”
► DALLAS MORNING NEWS ― Interestingly, in another mainstream media (MSM) newspaper― The Dallas Morning News ―Joshua J. Whitfield, a Catholic and pastoral administrator for St. Rita Catholic Community (modern jargon for St. Rita’s Catholic Church) in Dallas and a frequent contributor to The Dallas Morning News, in his December 8th, 2019, article entitled: “Is America on the brink of Civil War? More like a coming Reign of Terror!” looks beyond an American Civil War to a potential American Reign of Terror―much like the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror” at the end of the 18th century. Joshua Whitfield writes: “Are we headed for civil war? December’s newly designed cover of ‘The Atlantic’ features a handprint in red and blue paint, smeared and bloodlike. Underneath it reads: ‘How to Stop Civil War.’ It’s a cover that both haunts and sells like a paperback thriller. Might America be in store for another civil war? Such is the idea of the image, nerving current civic fears by the suggestion that something might be coming, something bad. Inside, the editor of ‘The Atlantic’, Jeffrey Goldberg, manages this advertised fear. ‘We do not believe that conditions in the United States today resemble those of 1850s America,’ he writes. ‘But we worry that the ties that bind us are fraying at alarming speed — we are becoming contemptuous of each other in ways that are both dire and possibly irreversible.’ … What if instead of Civil War, we should fear another Reign of Terror? What if, unlike in France, our reign of terror is but delayed? Unlike the editors of ‘The Atlantic’, it’s not civil wars I worry about―but reigns of terror. I catch glimpses of Donald Trump rallies [and] the hateful rhetoric of the president and the glee and hard, volatile edge of his adoring crowds … But then … I hear progressive politicians push their plainly false tolerance, their thinly veiled hatred of traditional moralities and politics unlike their own ... The left has their mobs too, and they would unleash terror as well ... Can this outcome be avoided? I don’t know!”
At a moment when America has never seemed angrier, two political commentators from opposite sides of the divide recently agreed on one point that was once nearly unthinkable: The country is on the verge of another “Civil War.” First came former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova, a Fox News regular, said back in 2018: “We are in a civil war. The suggestion that there’s ever going to be civil discourse in this country for the foreseeable future is over ― It’s going to be total war!” The next day, Nicolle Wallace, a former Republican operative, who became a MSNBC commentator, played a clip of diGenova’s commentary on her show and agreed with him. All of this comes from the mainstream media―and it was being said way before the Coronavirus Plannedemic, way before the lockdowns and shutdowns, way before the lockdown/shutdown triggered unemployment tsunami that has seen over 40 million Americans lose their jobs, way before the carefully planned riots and looting in over 100 American cities after the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis, way before the planned mandatory vaccination of the population (not just USA, but the whole world), way before the rebellious and revolutionary creation of “autonomous zones” in Seattle and Portland which claimed to “cop-free-zones”―in other words, lawless zones, where law enforcement is banned. Another “autonomous zone” was created by rioters and protesters in Washington DC, which they called “Black House Autonomous Zone” in contrast to the nearby White House. President Donald Trump had vowed in a tweet to meet protesters with “serious force.”
► FORBES ― On May 13th, 2020, even the respected mainstream media business news outlet, Forbes, runs the headline: “Rush Limbaugh Predicts A ‘Veritable’ Civil War — Could He Be Right?” in it says: “Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh gave an extended monologue about the current Coronavirus-induced state shutdowns. In Limbaugh’s view, the Democratic-controlled ‘blue states’ are conspiring to keep shutdowns in effect in order to drive unemployment while the actions of the Republican-controlled ‘red states’ are trying to help expedite the country’s recovery … It was the usual Limbaugh radio fare that both delights his followers and infuriates his detractors and that might not merit mention... until he said this: ‘Folks, I’m gonna tell you―these next four months are gonna be a veritable war like we have not seen!’ And suddenly, Rush Limbaugh doesn’t seem so crazy. Because the truth of the matter is that we ARE heading down a dangerous path of outright national conflict. The signals are everywhere. In Michigan, armed protestors and self-identified right wing militias are marching on the state capital, protesting Governor Whitmer’s extension of her stay-at-home order. Similarly, in Pennsylvania not only businesses, but local officials, are defying Governor Tom Wolf’s guidelines for reopening. But the frustration and anger around the nature and pace of reopening is also sparking dangerous acts of civil disobedience. In Owosso, Michigan, armed citizens came out to help a barbershop open in contravention of the state orders. In California, a resident openly wore a KKK hood while shopping at a grocery store, and a Target shopper broke the arm of an security guard trying to enforce the store’s face-covering policy. The list of these types of occurrences continues to grow, especially while Americans’ nerves get more frayed as the Coronavirus spring melts into a curve-defying summer.
“But are we on the edge of a real civil war? … [T]here are some troubling parallels to a similar time 160 years ago during the run-up to the Civil War. Back then, the fractious 1860 election … with the northern and southern states at deep odds over the future of the nation. Lincoln, the Republican candidate, claimed an electoral landslide over the three other candidates, yet only won 40% of the popular vote. The election results caused a national rupture, and before Lincoln could be inaugurated, a majority of the southern states had seceded from the Union. Within weeks, the confrontation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina sparked the Civil War, and the rest is history. With the 2020 election only months away, and a divided nation is once again grappling with the issue of states’ rights, it is reasonable to wonder whether the aftermath of this election could similarly spark open civil conflict on a nationally contentious issue … We are coming perilously close to those days in 1860 when an election became a referendum of whether a divided nation could hold itself together. A vacuum of public leadership is being filled by fear and loathing, and where language is becoming more vitriolic and firearms are becoming more visible, the question remains ― how can we prevent the next civil war?” (Business magazine, Forbes, May 13th, 2020).
► THE NEW YORKER―The left-of-center, nationally and internationally read magazine, The New Yorker, in an August 14th, 2017, article entitled “Is America Headed for a New Kind of Civil War?” says the following: “How fragile is the Union, our republic, and a country that has long been considered the world’s most stable democracy? … Earlier this year, I began a conversation with Keith Mines about America’s turmoil. Mines has spent his career—in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the United Nations, and now the State Department—navigating civil wars in other countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. He returned to Washington after sixteen years to find conditions that he had seen nurture conflict abroad now visible at home. It haunts him. In March [2017], Mines was one of several national-security experts whom Foreign Policy magazine [American news publication on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy] asked to evaluate the risks of a second civil war—with percentages. Mines concluded that the United States faces a 60% chance of civil war over the next ten to fifteen years. Other experts’ predictions ranged from 5% to 95%.
“ ‘We keep saying, “It can’t happen here!” but then, holy smokes, it can!’ Mines told me. The pattern of civil strife has evolved worldwide over the past sixty years. Today, few civil wars involve pitched battles from trenches along neat geographic front lines. Many are low-intensity conflicts with episodic violence in constantly moving locales. Mines’s definition of a civil war is large-scale violence that includes a rejection of traditional political authority and requires the National Guard to deal with it [and we have seen the beginnings of that during these recent lockdown/shutdown/racist riots in 2020]. Based on his experience in civil wars on three continents, Mines cited five conditions that support his prediction: (1) entrenched national polarization, with no obvious meeting place for resolution; (2) increasingly divisive press coverage and information flows; (3) weakened institutions, notably Congress and the judiciary; (4) a sellout or abandonment of responsibility by political leadership; and (5) the legitimization of violence as the ‘in’ way to either conduct discourse or solve disputes. Mines wrote in ‘Foreign Policy’ that President Trump “modeled violence as a way to advance politically and validated bullying during and after the campaign. Judging from recent events the left is now fully on board with this,” he continued, citing anarchists in anti-globalization riots as one of several flashpoints. “It is like 1859, everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.”
► GEORGETOWN POLITICAL POLL ― According to the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service Battleground Civility Poll, the second component of the Battleground Poll, a majority of Americans believe political, racial, and class divisions are getting worse. This includes three-quarters or more of men and women; urban, suburban, and rural voters; approximately 7-in-10 or more voters in every age cohort; white, black, and Latino voters; and nearly two-thirds of voters of all partisan stripes. These observations contribute to the Civility Poll’s additional finding that the average voter believes the U.S. is two-thirds of the way to the edge of a civil war. On a 0%-100% scale with 100% being right on the edge of a civil war―the response is 67%.
All of this―once labeled as being a mere “Conspiracy Theory” by the mainstream media (MSM) is now finding its way onto more and more mainstream media newspapers and websites. Suddenly, “conspiracy theories” are become “in-your-face realities”! For Catholics who know and understand their Faith, and are well-versed in Our Lady’s warnings at her many apparitions―this is neither new nor strange. These “divisions” among people―that are mentioned above―Our Lady already foretold: “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Even Non-Americans Are Talking of the New Civil War
► UK : THE INDEPENDENT ― The UK mainstream newspaper, The Independent, ran the following article headline back in May of 2020: “The second American Civil War is underway. Only this time, it's not North versus South” the article going on to say: “The death toll of the first US Civil War is astonishing considering soldiers had rather crude weapons like muskets, which had to be refilled frequently, and bayonets. The Second Civil War is being waged with weapons that are anything but crude: indifference, bitterness, grievance and old-fashioned hate. Rural America is ready to lock and load. Urban America is cowering in a lockdown. A heavily armed group of Rural citizens stormed Michigan's State Capitol on April 30th, powerful assault rifles at the ready. But this Second Civil War won't be a shooting war, likely to the chagrin of some on the far right — and, let's be honest, the not-so-far right. Rather, this war will be — no, already is being — waged with microscopic Covid-19 cells as Republican-leaning Rural America throws open its businesses, schools and sporting venues, ensuring they keep the deadly virus in circulation — at the expense of more densely populated Democratic-leaning Urban areas. Red vs. Blue. Rural vs. Urban. Us vs. Them.” ― which is only the tip of the iceberg, to which you could add: Patriots & Nationalists vs. Globalists & Internationalists. Conservative vs. Liberal. Black vs. White. Poor vs. Rich. Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice. Religious vs. Non-Religious. Law & Order vs. Lawlessness & Chaos. Gun Ownership vs. Gun Confiscation. Truth vs. Propaganda. God-made Medicine vs. Man-made Medicine. Anti-Vaccine vs. Pro-Vaccine. Faith vs. Science. Church vs. World. The list is endless―all of these opponents are merely and ultimately battalions or regiments in the standing armies in the battle between Christ and Satan―as shown and proved in the previous article.
► NEW EUROPE NEWS ― In its June 12th 2020 edition, in an article entitled “America’s new Civil War (II)” the founder of the independent European affairs newspaper, New Europe, writes: “The tiny virus that was either purposely or accidentally dripped from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, has created world-wide chaos, and we are just at the beginning. Our society has just entered into a large-scale evolution, seemingly far from a final settlement. How far that end is, nobody can seriously predict. Nor can they imagine exactly how it will end as the process is taking on the shape a major social confrontation. Everybody is taking positions against everybody else. At present, very few people understand what kind of situation the world is getting to. The general panic caused by the virus was just the excuse to trigger a large-scale evolution, which for the time being remains under the radar, due to the fact that it is only the very beginning. When coupled with an unreasonable and prolonged lockdown, which added unemployment and misery to an already toxic mix, you have the perfect recipe for a social uprising. The United States is in civil war and one intelligent exercise would be to figure out what title future historians will give to this hopefully short, chapter in their history.
“The first battles of the Second American Civil War began when Donald Trump was elected president and he began to openly take on the entrenched powers that be on Wall Street. Trump is not a politician. He is a successful businessman who sees his country through the prism of a business, and thus makes his plans accordingly, in what he assesses are the best opportunities and biggest threats for the country. Its weakness is that there are at least three major centers of power in the country ― the White House, Wall Street, and the administration ― each one reflecting different interests. If Trump manages to continue to prosecute the war against China, the first to suffer losses will be Wall Street, as it will have to contend with a rash of bulk bankruptcies. It’s because of this that Wall Street launched its war against Trump using the Democratic Party’s impeachment, which ended without a conviction, and now street fights involving large numbers of people from the country’s racial and ethnic populations. In this fight, the battering ram of the American establishment is the Democratic Party – the pseudo-intellectuals of the East Village who drive the war ideologically and the useful idiots who take to the streets thinking that they will overthrow Trump. Obviously, nobody told them that in democratic countries, governments rise and fall through parliamentary majorities or, as is the case with the American representative republic system, through national elections. That is why the sponsors of the ongoing attacks against Trump think that the coming US election in November will be the most crucial election for the country since 1860, the year the Americans first found themselves engaged in a civil war.”
► AUSTRALIA : ABC NEWS ― On the other side of the world, the Australian ABC NEWS published an article on June 17th, 2020, entitled: “This Model Forecast the US's Current Unrest a Decade Ago. It Now Says ‘Civil War’” in which the article stated: “Is the US headed for another civil war? In a word, yes ... In an unpublished paper submitted for peer review, Professor Goldstone, who is a sociologist, and Peter Turchin, an expert on the mathematical modeling of historical societies, have concluded that the US is headed for another civil war. The conditions for civil violence, they say, are the worst since the 19th century — in particular the years leading up to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The reason for this are trends that began in the 1980s, with regard to inequality, selfish elites, and polarization that have crippled the ability of the US government to mount an effective response to the pandemic disease. This has also hampered our ability to deliver an inclusive economic relief policy, and exacerbated the tensions over racial injustice. Professor Goldstone predicts the real problems will begin after July 31, when Americans' $600 a week COVID-19 unemployment welfare expires. ‘Social tensions likely continue to grow as we move to November. The risks of violence in November are very high.’ he said. November is the US presidential election … As the big date nears, the tone of predictions are darkening. Both Republicans and Democrats see a loss as a cataclysm — not just a setback, but the end of America. Four more years of Trump would 'destroy democracy', one side says. The other claims that Biden would destroy the economy as well as 'law and order'. The Trump campaign has launched an ‘Army for Trump’ website to ‘recruit and mobilize Americans ... committed to fighting to re-elect President Trump.’ Professor Goldstone said: ‘There's a real risk that, if the election is close, whichever side loses will be strongly motivated to mobilize people to challenge the result.”
► THE TIMES (END TIMES) ― Even Heaven’s news outlets and correspondents speak of wars and civil wars! Our Lord speaks of wars, saying: You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars! Fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows! … And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death!” (Mark 13:7-8; 13:12).
Our Lady warned at La Salette in 1846 that civil war is coming worldwide: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian [which obviously means civil wars]. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be a series of wars, until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
The same was reported over 200 years earlier by Our Lady of Good Success: “There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow [“native blood” obviously indicates a civil war and “foreign blood” obviously indicates international wars], including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph” (Our Lady of Good Success).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady reports: “God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church! … The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Various nations will be annihilated!” Twelve years later, Our Lord adds: “They did not wish to heed My request. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer!” (Our Lord to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
Twenty-one years later, on Good Friday, April 16th 1950, Our Lord appeared to another of His mystics―Blessed Elena Aiello, and warned: “The world has lowered itself in overflowing corruption. The governments of the people have risen like demons incarnated, and, while they speak of peace they prepare for war with the most devastating implements to destroy peoples and nations.”
Only sixty years ago, on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd, 1960, Our Lady revealed to the same Blessed Elena Aiello that: “The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death. If the people do not recognize in these scourges (of nature) the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another terrible war will come from the East to the West. Russia with her SECRET ARMIES will battle America and will overrun Europe. The river Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and the Pope will suffer terribly. Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might.”
The following year, on March 23rd, 1961, Our Lady again appeared to Blessed Elena Aiello, saying: “People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong evermore into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations.”
A Lot of Talk About Blood!
You might think that all of the above is a little too bloody! However, we are at the end of the month of the Precious Blood and, as Our Lord said to one of His mystics, what He demands now―as a solution to this increasingly terrible crisis or should we say, in the plural, crises of many different kinds―is blood. Our Lord wants blood! Scary thought, huh? Well perhaps it is scary, but we should be more scared at the amount of sin that is being thrown in His Divine Face on a daily basis! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
In 1830, at the Rue du Bac in Paris, France, where Our Lady gave us the Miraculous Medal through St. Catherine Labouré, Our Lady warned: “Times are evil in France and in the world. The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The Cross will be treated with contempt; they will hurl it to the ground. Blood will flow; they will open up again the side of Our Lord. The streets will run with blood ... The whole world will be in sadness. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery.”
In 1846, at La Salette, Our Lady further warned: “There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases … Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
Also, Sister Lucia told Fr. Joachim Maria Alonso, the official historian of Fatima, in a little known response: “The final triumph of Mary’s Heart is certain, and it will be definitive. But it will take place ‘in the end,’ that is to say, after a terrible purification of sinful mankind in a baptism of fire, blood and tears.”
Yet it not just our blood that must flow―but just as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―likewise with His Precious Blood we can nothing! These many different crises that buzz around like demented mosquitoes―seeking to sting and harm―can only be neutralized and defeated by the repellant of Christ’s Precious Blood. We can this being indicated in a vision that Sister Lucia of Fatima had in 1929, which she relates thus:
“Suddenly the whole chapel was illumined by a supernatural light, and above the altar appeared a Cross of light, reaching to the ceiling. In a brighter light on the upper part of the Cross, could be seen the face of a man and his body as far as the waist; upon his breast was a dove of light; nailed to the Cross was the body of another man. A little below the waist, I could see a chalice and a large Host suspended in the air, onto which drops of Blood were falling from the Face of Jesus Crucified and from the wound in His side. These drops [of Blood] ran down onto the Host and fell into the chalice. Beneath the right arm of the Cross was Our Lady and in her hand was her Immaculate Heart. It was Our Lady of Fatima, with her Immaculate Heart in her left hand, without sword or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames. Under the left arm of the Cross, large letters, as if of crystal clear water which ran down upon the altar, formed these words: ‘Grace and Mercy.’” (Personal account by Sr. Lucia of Fatima of her vision at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
We Need a Lot of Precious Blood
Even though one single drop of Christ’s Blood is enough to save the entire world―Christ would shed far more than one drop during His bloody Passion and Death. One Holy Communion is enough to make anybody into a saint―yet after thousands of Holy Communions we are still miles away from being saints! Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich reveals to us what Our Lady said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” ― yet hundreds of thousands of Masses are offered each day and noose nevertheless still tightens around the neck of Holy Mother Church! Obviously the priests saying those Masses are greatly lacking in devotion, or respect, or confidence, or zeal, or whatever―because the fact that things are not improving but are getting worse, cannot be blamed on the Mass itself, but has to blamed on those who offer, use, say, celebrate the Mass. It is obvious that they lack the sentiments and devotion of the Apostles, otherwise, as Our Lady says, those Masses would easily “ward off all calamities from the Church.”
Why Has the Mass Become Less Effective or Even Ineffective?
If the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is such a powerful weapon and if there are over 400,000 priests offering Mass in the world each day―then why do we find ourselves in such a spiritual, moral, material mess today? Obviously the priests saying those Masses are greatly lacking in devotion, or respect, or confidence, or zeal, or whatever―because the fact that things are not improving but are getting worse, cannot be blamed on the Mass itself, but has to blamed on those who offer, use, say, celebrate the Mass. It is obvious that they lack the sentiments and devotion of the Apostles, otherwise, as Our Lady says, those Masses would easily “ward off all calamities from the Church.” A weapon―not matter how powerful―is only as effective as the skill of the person who uses it. The less skill, the lesser the effect. There is no weapon more powerful than the Holy Sacrifice of Mass―but, as Our Lady said:
“The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity … There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor, with cruel and subtle astuteness, to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war where blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death.” (Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of La Salette).
“Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood ― shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death ― that He might take pity on His ministers!”
Hopefully that explains to some degree the lessening effect or even ineffectiveness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the world today. Another reason―which is quite well known but largely underestimated―is the fact that the Mass has weakened or even rendered ineffective by two fairly recent developments. Those are (1) the Communist and Masonic infiltration of the Catholic Church, and (2) the launching of the New Mass by Pope Paul VI in the late 1960s.
Infiltration Leads to a Coagulation
Once mocked and rejected as being a “crazy conspiracy theory”, the infiltration of the Catholic Church has long since left the Kindergarten of Fiction and has graduated from the University of Fact. A current mainstream Conservative bishop of the Catholic Church―Bishop Athanasius Schneider―wrote in his Foreword to a book entitled Infiltration by Dr. Taylor Marshall: “It would be dishonest and irresponsible only to state the facts of the Church’s current internal crisis, and to deal with the symptoms. We must examine the very roots of the crisis, which, to a decisive extent, can be identified as an infiltration of the Church by the unbelieving world, and especially by Freemasons ― an infiltration that, by human standards, could effectively succeed only through a long, methodical process … point[ing] to the existence of a kind of ominous red thread which systematically runs through the history of the past century-and-a-half of the Church’s history. The Church of Christ has always and will always be persecuted; she will always be infiltrated by her enemies. The question is always only about the extent of such an infiltration.”
In these modern times, the Catholic Church has long since been infiltrated. For over a century, the organizers of Freemasonry, Liberalism, and Modernism infiltrated the Catholic Church in order to change her doctrine, her liturgy, and her mission from something supernatural to something chiefly secular, worldly and non-religious. It is an agenda to replace the supernatural religion of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ with the natural religion of humanism and globalism.
FREEMASONIC INFILTRATION: Over a century before the St. Gallen mafia (1996 onwards) plotted to seize the papacy, a Freemasonic document, The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita (1859) dreamed of “a pope according to our heart.” He would be sprung from a generation won over to Freemasonic dogmas from its youth, via the corruption of families, books, and education. He would be elected by a corrupted clergy and would be similarly “imbued with the Italian and humanitarian principles which we are about to put into circulation … Let the clergy march under your banner, while they naïvely believe they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic Keys … You will have preached revolution in tiara and cope … a revolution that will need only a little help to set the corners of the world on fire” stated The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, which was ultimately acquired by the Church and published with the encouragement of multiple popes.
COMMUNIST INFILTRATION: Dr. Bella Dodd, a fallen-away Catholic, was one of chief members of the Communist Party of America (CPUSA) in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Dodd served as legal council (attorney) for the Communists. Her book, “School of Darkness” (1954) revealed that Communism was perpetrated by financiers “to control the common man” and to advance world tyranny. After leaving the Communist Party in disillusionment, Dr. Bella Dodd testified before the US House Un-American Activities Committee that “In the 1930s we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” Twelve years before the Second Vatican Council (which ran from 1962 to 1965) she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” Furthermore, Dr. Bella Dodd told her friend, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, a Catholic theologian, that: “When she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]” (Christian Order magazine, “The Church in Crisis”, reprinted from The Latin Mass magazine).
THE SMOKE OF SATAN HAS ENTERED THE CHURCH: During the closing ceremonies at the end of the Council, Pope Paul VI joyously informed the world that Vatican Council II had been “assembled in the Holy Spirit and under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary … and of Saint Joseph … and of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.” (Pope Paul VI, In Spiritu Sancto (Apostolic Brief For the Closing of the Council), December 8th, 1965). Seven years later the same Paul VI, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election as Pope, issued the following lament:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
Fr. Gabriele Amorth the recently deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.” Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world ... In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
The Precious Blood, Our Lady and the Machabees
This year, 2020, it is very fitting that the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus transitions into the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on a Friday/Saturday combination―with Friday being the day on which Our Lord shed His Precious Blood for us and Saturday traditionally being Our Lady’s day. Furthermore this transition from the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus transitions into the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary happens to take place on the First Saturday of the month, which, of course, is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart devotion and reparation. Yet it does not end there―because August 1st is also the feast of the Holy Machabees, which is especially fitting and inspiring for the times that we live in―increasingly impious, neo-pagan, irreligious times―for the Machabees were faced with a similar problem which gave birth to the renowned Machabean Resistance. We will pursue these connections in the next article and show how we too can have a Machabean Resistance here and now in our own day―a Catholic Mass Uprising of a scale perhaps never seen before.
MULTIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday July 25th & Sunday July 26th & Monday July 27th & Tuesday July 28th
Article 12
More Than Just Fake News!
Saturday July 25th & Sunday July 26th & Monday July 27th & Tuesday July 28th
Article 12
More Than Just Fake News!
The Power of Repetition
“If at first you don’t succeed―then try and try again!” That very simple and truthful phrase conveys to us the importance of repetition and the power of repetition in its simplicity. A message heard repeatedly is more likely to stay in your mind. An action repeated many times will be performed with more and more ease and more and more skill. An idea repeated more and more times will create more and more conviction. The more senses (see, hear, touch, taste, smell) an idea or statement reaches, and the more times it is heard, the more likely it is that the message will deliver the desired results. The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote that there is no harm in repeating a good thing. The danger and harm arises when we start to repeat what is not good in our thoughts, words and actions or even omissions―in other words, what is untruthful, exaggerated, misrepresented, sinful and evil, or repeatedly ignore and take no action against what is untruthful, exaggerated, misrepresented, sinful and evil.
It is repetition that forms virtues and vices―for one single good action is not yet a virtue, just as one single sin is not yet a vice. Virtues and vices are HABITS and habits are defined as repetitious actions. Repetition brings about ease of action and skill in action. On the intellectual level, repeating something many times reinforces the message and―unless contrary information is acquired―this constantly repeated information eventually gets accepted by the subconscious as being the truth―even if it is not true.
Everyone Does It―Because It Works
This kind of repetition of key points or key ideas has long since been widely used in the media, advertising, politics and where ever and whenever people want other people to think the same way as they do. We see ads for the same products over and over and over again ― ad nauseam. Politicians, no matter what the issue might be, repeat the same messages endlessly. News media formulate and repeat the same opinions and messages day after day. Parents, coaches and teachers know the power of repetition. Child-rearing, physical and athletic training, military training, as well the school educational process―are just some of the many areas that heavily on repetition. Satan in his temptations also uses repetition. Our Lady uses repetition in her warnings to us. The reason repetition is used so much is that it really works. Repetition can be really persuasive. It may seem too simplistic―but by simply repeating a message its persuasive effect is increased dramatically.
Repetition is not strictly confined to the human species. In fact, repetition is one of the characteristics scientists use to identify animal vocalizations as music. We are all familiar with hearing bird songs that clearly repeat themselves, either in quick succession or after a complex series of vocalizations. Repetition is also prevalent in whale and dolphin songs. As whales migrate over the course of a year, utterances and phrases may repeat by region. Humpback whales produce a series of repetitious sounds at varying frequencies that marine biologist, Dr. Philip Clapham, describes as, “probably the most complex in the animal kingdom.” Scientists believe whale songs could be their story, mnemonic devices, or perhaps strategies for coping with oral transmission of information. Whatever it is, it’s clear that other species of animals use repetition to express something we might describe as musical. Perhaps they use it for the same reason human composers employ repetition — for the pure joy and pleasure of creating a hypnotic rhythm. We mere mortals cannot know that―only God, their Creator, fully understands.
The Psychology of Repetition
Psychology studies prove repetition to be one of the most simple, but highly effective, ways to hammer home information or pass on a message. A new study by psychologists finds that repeating key points is a good way to sway the decisions of others. It states that repetition is one of the easiest, most powerful and also widespread methods of persuasion― despite the fact that we often overlook it. A trio of German psychological scientists noticed that during discussions, people tend to repeat the information that supports their view. In two major experiments, the psychologist Stefan Schulz-Hardt (Georg-August-University) and two colleagues demonstrated that repeating specific information during a discussion was enough to change someone’s mind. The researchers stated that from a mere theoretical and rational point of view, repetition would seem to be pointless and normally should not affect the decisions of the person who is hearing those repetitions. However, in two major experiments they demonstrated that by selectively repeating information in favor of a particular decision alternative or option, changed preference ratings in favor of the alternative or option being offered and this repetition of information made a decision for this alternative or option much more likely. In other words, you could be told that not wearing a mask is fine, but wearing a mask is much more prudent and far safer. Or that not accepting a vaccine is okay, but that being vaccinated is a far safer course of action to take which will probably guarantee the protection of your health.
Studies suggest that selectively repeating certain information could be just one way to make your argument more convincing, more attractive, and likely to change more than a few minds. Research has further shown that the more a statement is repeated, then the more validity or truth it engenders, even when the person saying the statement is lying (Research by Begg et al., 1992). Studies have shown that the truer something is, the more validity we give to it and the more persuaded we are by it. Now, the more we hear something, the more we believe it. Also, the easier the message is to understand, then the more it is adopted as being the truth―even if it not the truth. This is often described by psychologists as the illusion of truth. It arises because familiarity breeds liking, familiarity breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds validity. The simpler the message the better and we even know the ideal amount of repetitions required for maximum effect (Research by Brinol et al., 2008).
The Hypnotism or Mesmerism of Repetition
The Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami, says: “The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism.” Mesmerism, for those who don’t understand the word, is a method or power of gaining control over someone’s personality or actions, as in hypnosis or suggestion. Mesmerism refers to a type of hypnosis developed by Franz Mesmer, who was a German doctor during the 18th century. Mesmerism and Hypnotism are two techniques used by practitioners to create a trance-like state in a person. This is used in psychology by psychologists to relieve patients from various psychological conditions. There exists a key difference between these two techniques. In hypnotism, words and sounds play a major role, unlike in mesmerism where the significance given to words ad sounds is minimal. Mesmerism is also known as animal magnetism. A person who practices mesmerism is known as a magnetizer. Although Mesmerism was not recognized as a scientific technique, there was much interest in this practice, especially in the 19th century. It is even considered as a very early form of Hypnotism, and inspired the techniques used in Hypnotism.
But nowhere does rhythmic repetition mesmerize us more powerfully than in music, with its singular way of enchanting the brain. How and why this happens is precisely what cognitive scientist Dr. Elizabeth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas, explores in On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind.
Mesmerizing Music Melts the Mind
It is not uncommon for modern music―especially rock music and heavy metal music. Colin Morris, a computer scientist who created a tool to prove that popular music has become more repetitive over the years. Morris states: “This question has always been an internal topic of debate. It’s something that everyone has an opinion on―whether music is getting worse, and it’s getting more mindless and repetitive.”
Repetition and music are so intimately linked that their relationship seems almost invisible. The author and music scholar, Dr. Elizabeth Margulis, who directs the music cognition lab at the University of Arkansas, says that repetition in music is both, “entirely ordinary and entirely mysterious.” Dr. Margulis has spent a lot of time investigating why repetition has a profound effect on us. One root cause is what psychologists call the “mere exposure” effect. We tend to like things that we’ve either consciously or unconsciously encountered before, and this applies to food, shapes and music. But beyond just the mere exposure effect, Dr. Margulis says that one of the reasons this kind of repeat exposure can cause that earworm to burrow in our mental soundtrack is because repetition actually changes the way we listen to music (or see things or think about things). As Dr. Margulis points out in her book, On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind, repetition changes nothing in the object repeated, but it does change something in the mind that is listening to the repetition and contemplates it.
No other art form so passionately embraces repetition as music. Music is repetitive on many levels. Not only is it repetitive in its lyrics or musical ‘phrases’ or ‘phases’―it is also repetitive in its consumption by people. They listen to a piece of music or a song over and over again, during the course of hours, weeks, or months. The same exact song, the same exact rendition, the same composition of notes with all the same instruments and treatments — and we download it or stream it or return the needle to the starting groove again and again. Very often, the music plays inside our heads when we stop listening to it. When something repeats over and over, especially music, an interesting phenomenon takes place in our brains.
Andrea Ordanini and Joseph Nunes analyzed more than 2,400 pop songs over 50 years. Their study, based at the University of Southern California, found that there was a strong correlation between the number of times a song repeated its chorus and the popularity of that song. More repetitive songs were more likely to chart in the Top 40.
Satanic Repetition in Music, Media and Politics
There is no doubt―as any serious examination shows―that Satan is deeply involved in much of today’s modern music. Now you might agree that this is so in the case of such musical genres as “Heavy Metal Music”, “Death Metal Music”, “Doom Metal Music”, “Pagan Metal Music”, etc. ― but Satan is also heavily involved in the more popular, mainstream, seemingly less innocuous genres of music such as “Country Music”, “Rock Music”, etc. For those genres of music also sing of sinful, anti-Christian, Godless and worldly things. Remember―the world is an enemy of God― “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). The litmus test is the same litmus test presented by Our Lord:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep―but inwardly they are ravening wolves! By their fruits you shall know them! Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). “Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:33-35). “There is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns; nor from a bramble bush do they gather the grape. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:43-35). When we listen to “heart and mouth that speaketh” in most of today’s modern music―then we clearly see that it is not from the mouth of God. If it is not from the mouth of God, then, by the simple process of elimination, it must from the ‘mouth’ of Satan―who is the prince and ruler of this world and its fruits. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). We too must cast out the prince of this world and the worldly influence that prince uses to seduce us into worldliness.
Mesmerizing Politcians
The same can be said―not only of modern-day musicians, but also the vast majority of modern-day politicians. Of those politicians Our Lord could just as well say: “Beware of false politicians who come to you in the clothing of sheep―but inwardly they are ravening wolves! By their laws you shall know them! Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good politician brings forth good laws, and the evil politician brings forth evil laws. A good politician cannot bring forth evil laws, neither can an evil politician bring forth good laws. Every politician that brings not forth good laws, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their laws you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20). What are the chief current laws that dominate the world? Legalized abortion, contraception, sterilization, divorce, remarriage of divorcees, same sex marriages, sodomy, fornication, gender change, euthanasia, pornography, drug abuse, etc.
Such persons are “false politicians” ― or “devilish demagogues” or “servants of Satan”, which is what they ultimately are in the light of Our Lord’s words: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). Today, the words “politician” or “politics” are almost synonymous with the notion of lying. If these “false politicians” were of God, then they would promulgate and uphold the laws of God: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) ― or, in more modern terms, “Why do you say to Me, ‘In God We Trust’ or ‘One Nation Under God’ and do not do the things which I say?”
Yet these “false politicians” ― or “devilish demagogues” or “servants of Satan” continually imitate the devil, the father of lies, in their comments and speeches and addresses to the people (or mindless “sheeple”) who idolize them, shout for them, promote them and vote for them. Among those “sheeple” are the mindless Catholics who anesthetize themselves with their imaginary innocuous inoculations that protest vainly and repeatedly: “I am voting for the lesser of two evils!” “I am voting for the lesser of two evils!” “I am voting for the lesser of two evils!” Whereas they fail to take the supernatural measures that would remove all those evils in the first place!
The more these “sheeple” listen to the “false politicians” or “ravening wolves” ― who like their ultimate master, “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) ― the more their Faith, their morality, their freedoms, their rights and their plain good old common sense are all devoured, one by one, little by little, year by year―until they will one day find themselves living a Hell on Earth. All of this being fruit of a constant repetition of lies that eventually starts to sound like the truth. William Casey, CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, allegedly said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” How is this achieved? Well, it can only be achieved through the media―which is something every American devours daily with their burger and beer. Control the media and you control the “thought chain” giving them junk to think about, and lies to digest―which is exactly what is happening today.
Mesmerizing Testimony of a Former Communist KGB Agent
In a 1984 interview, Yuri Bezmenov, a former Russian KGB agent who defected to the West, later living in USA and Canada, echoes what was just said above and explains how Marxist ideology is deconstructing America’s values, destabilizing the economy, and provoking crises in order to Sovietize the free world.
Bezmenov says: “Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. Only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare … There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight ― by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy’s country. Ideological Subversion is a method of cultural warfare – is a slow method – to change the perception of reality, where despite the availability of abundance of information, citizens of a country cannot make out the reality ... The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY [on the level of ideas] … An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION [corrupting ideas and perceptions] — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world … Expose your [Communist] ideology to your nation’s “soft heads.” At the higher stage, the citizens of that country start brainwashing their own countrymen … What it basically means is that it seeks to change the perception of reality of every American, so that, despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country … It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slowly … And unless―even if you start right now, here this minute―you start educating a new generation of Americans, it will still take you fifteen to twenty years to turn the tide of ideological perception of reality back to normalcy and patriotism.
“My KGB instructors specifically made a point―never bother with Leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes! Aim higher! This was my instruction. Try to get into wide circulation, into the established Conservative media. Reach filthy rich movie-makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical, egocentric people, who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people, people who lack moral principles, who are either too greedy or … who suffer from self-importance, who feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.
“Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism .... The result? The results you can see! ... The people who graduated in the 1960s―dropouts or half-baked intellectuals―are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind―even if you expose them to authentic information.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years (since the early 1960s). Actually, it’s over fulfilled … The influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago, when I landed in this part of the world, that the process would go that fast ... Most of it is done by Americans to Americans―thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it … Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system, train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False! The United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the system ― the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy ... The time bomb is ticking. With every second, the disaster is coming closer and closer … Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot! If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you!”
Breaking Down People Through Repetition―Breaking Down Truth Through Repetition
In what we call the “Chinese Water Torture”, a prisoner’s resistance is broken down by a irritatingly painful and repetitive process in which cold water is slowly dripped onto the scalp, forehead or face for a prolonged period of time, until the prisoner breaks down and cooperates, or allegedly the restrained victim becomes insane. In a similar way we now have a “Worldwide Media Torture” whereby propaganda and lies are slowly, repeatedly, endlessly ‘dripped’ into our minds until we break down and believe the lies or become ‘insane’―or are labeled as ‘insane’. The ‘controlled’ Mainstream Media (MSM), which is almost totally owned by the ‘money-men’ or ‘elitists’ or ‘Satanists’ or call them what you will―is repeatedly punching us in the face―bam-bam-bam-bam-bam―until it knocks all sense of truth out of us and hammers in its lies. It can be no other way―since Satan, as Our Lord says, is the father of lies and a murderer and the truth is not in him: “You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of gradually getting to like what you initially hated? It might have been a song, which, when you first heard it, you thought was not very musical, bad, corny, distasteful, etc. ― but with constant repetition it “kind of grew on you” and months later, or even years later, you found yourself humming it or singing it. The same phenomenon might have occurred with a person, whom initially disliked but later grew to like―simply because you frequently found yourself in the company of that person and, with time, the dislike wore-off. It might also have been the case with scientific or historical teachings which you once believed―but with the constant repetition of a contrary, contradictory, opposite teaching, you began to see things differently and believe differently. In other words, you gradually move from holding the truth into accepting contrary lies.
Even drug addicts become used to the drugs by repeated use. We become used to committing sin in the same way―a sin that initially scared and shocked us at the very thought of committing it, becomes an easily committed sin over time due to repetition, and we become addicted to it. The right reasoning of the Catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD)―but with time and sufficient repetition of our sins, we no longer believe that to be true “in practice”, even though we might still weakly believe it “in theory”.
Similarly, the phrase or motto ― “In God We Trust” ― has been relegated from a marriage or union of “theory” and “practice” to the now ‘divorced’ or ‘separated’ state of “in theory” but not “in practice”. Most Americans (and non-Americans) are clueless as to the origin of the motto ― “In God We Trust”. In November of 1861, a Pennsylvanian Protestant pastor wrote to the government of the United States, saying:
“One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins. You are probably a Christian ... Would not succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the all-seeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW. This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.”
The Congress of the United States passed an legislative Act in 1864 that changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. “In God We Trust” first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin. Since 1938, all United States coins bear the inscription “In God We Trust”. By the late 1950s the motto “In God We Trust” began to appear on some paper money and by the mid-1960s “In God We Trust” was found on all paper banknotes. Yet even though the motto “In God We Trust” was found on all coin and paper money, the trust in God was increasingly limited to and only found in people’s pockets and wallets. The divorce between Church and State, between God and man, was increasingly annually―whereby the money which bore the inscription “In God We Trust” began to become a god unto itself. Nowadays people worship the god of money more than they worship the God of Heaven. Just as God said of the Israelites of the Old Testament, through His prophet Isaias―words repeated by Our Lord in the New Testament: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6), so too would Our Lord say of the USA today: “This people honoureth Me on their banknotes, but their heart is far from Me!” (Mark 7:6).
In modern-day politics, the honor of God has been relegated beneath the higher honor given to money and those who own that money―the honor and trust in God is mere hypocritical lip service and no more. As Holy Scripture says in the Old Testament: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ” (Psalm 2:2)―which is again repeated in the New Testament: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ” (Acts 4:26). Today, more than ever, those words are so truly fitting for the rulers of the world today. They are not ruling in God’s Name. If they are not ruling in God’s Name, then there is only one alternative―they are knowingly or unknowingly ruling in name of the prince of this world―the devil or Satan. The original Hebrew term sâtan is a generic noun meaning “the enemy” or “adversary” or “accuser” or “trouble-maker”―while the word “devil” comes from the Latin diabolus, which in turn was borrowed from the Greek diábolos, meaning “slanderer” or “liar” or “accuser”. These meanings aptly sum up the general mood of our times―which are times of enmity, trouble, slander, accusation and lies―all hallmarks of the devil and his activity. Pretty blunt and scary―but true. As Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) ― and the devil always “scattereth” in his age old tactic of “divide and conquer”.
Information (or Misinformation) Constipation
You can easily see that “divide and conquer” tactic in any and every age of history you wish to examine―but it is especially visible today, largely due to the ease with which the devil and his minions can reach people with the advent of modern technology―with its television, radio, internet, emails, text-messages, social media and smartphones. Millions and even billions of people can be reached, informed, instructed, organized and activated in a matter of minutes. Just as drug and alcohol addiction has reached never-before-seen heights―so too has “information addiction” (or “misinformation addiction”) reached never-before-seen heights. We have become addicted to information (plus misinformation) and the electronic media’s information/misinformation overload caters to our addiction. Yet though we are gluttons for information/misinformation, we do very little or nothing with it―apart from feeding the addiction of others with latest piece of news or gossip that we have discovered―like a drug addict sharing his “needle” with other addicts. Information keeps going in, but no meaningful action comes out―we eventually become intellectually constipated with all this information overload―a case of information constipation. All of this is akin to what Holy Scripture describes as what could be termed “Faith constipation”, when Scripture says: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26).
Faith but No Fight
Most people have Faith in the soul―but no “fire in the belly” to fight for that Faith. Holy Scripture tells us that the chief “work” of Faith is quite logically that of overcoming the enemies of the Faith by fighting them. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). We will not overcome the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh by being pacifists and spectators! Our Lord clearly says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided―three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me ― [And he that loves his nation or political party or his job or his very own life more than Christ, is not worthy of Christ] ― And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:34-38).
Applying this to the above quote about Faith being dead without works, you could rephrase it to read as follows: “Faith also, if it will not fight, is dead in itself. Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by my fighting spirit, my Faith! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without a fight for the Faith is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without combat is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Hence Faith without the fight is dead. This is true in the case of most Catholics―they believe in God, they believe in the teachings of the Church, they pray, they go to Mass―but they are like comatose patient. They are still alive, but in coma―a “Faith coma” living a “Comatose Catholicism” which just lies there in its Catholic bed. A war cannot be won with comatose combatants or sleeping soldiers ― “His watchmen are all blind! They are all ignorant! Dumb dogs―not able to bark! Seeing vain things! Sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). You could not find more fitting words to describe the vast majority of present day Catholicism! Most of the “barking” that Catholics “dogs” do today is “barking” at each other and not the enemy. As regards having a “bite”, they mainly “bite” each other and not the enemy!
As regards the plots, plans, agendas, machinations, infiltrations, advances, conquests and progressive enslavement at the hands of the enemy, most “Comatose Catholics” lay motionless in their “bed” of Faith moaning: “I am just one person! What can little-old-me do against such an evil force? I am powerless to stop it!” Holy Scripture replies: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in God!” (Psalm 41:12). To which Christ adds: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26). “O thou of little Faith, why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:21). “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ― ‘Remove from here to there!’ ― and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19).
At the Last Supper, Our Lord clearly laid down some fundamental truths and protocols that must be followed if we are to achieve the so-called “impossible”. First of all He warned: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Just as a gardener, while watering his garden, must keep his hosepipe attached to the faucet which is his water supply, for if he yanks it off the faucet the water will cease to flow from the hosepipe―likewise our souls must remain attached to the faucet of grace, which is Christ, if we are to achieve anything, for “Without Me, you can do nothing!” The full text reads as: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman [farmer]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine [faucet] you the branches [hosepipe]. He that abideth in Me [remains attached to Me], and I in him―the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing! If anyone abides not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
The Solutions are Found in God―Not Man―Trust in God―Not in Man
Our reliance and confidence MUST NOT be in ourselves or man-made things. This ever-escalating storm is not man-made, but Satan-made―and man, by himself, is no match for Satan. “Hope in the Name of the Lord, and lean upon God!” (Isaias 50:10). “Blessed is he who hath God for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God!” (Psalm 145:5). “God hath not forsaken them that hope in Him!” (Judith 13:17). “Our help is in the Name of the Lord―Who made Heaven and Earth!” (Psalm 123:8). “Our God is in heaven―He hath done all things whatsoever He would” (Psalm 113:11). “In God is my salvation and my glory! He is the God of my help―and my hope is in God!” (Psalm 61:8). “It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God!” (Psalm 72:28). “Put not your trust in princes [human actions and human interventions] (Psalm 145:2). “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalm 43:7). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes! [presidents, politicians, money-men, etc.]” (Psalms 117:9).
Our Lord clearly points out: “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, that will I do! If you shall ask me anything in My Name―that I will do!” (John 14:13-14). “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you!” (John 15:16). “Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in My Name―He will give it you! Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name. Ask, and you shall receive―that your joy may be full!” (John 16:23-24).
In the Meantime―Kings, Princes and Presidents Wage War Against God
“The Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things. The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder! And let us cast away Their yoke from us!” (Psalm 2:1-3). How true is this of our day and age! We live in a rage! We have devised vain electronic idols of entertainment and communication! The nations and their leaders have blatantly risen up against God and cast off the yoke of His Laws and Commandments―replacing them with commandments of sin and Satan―abortion, contraception, divorce, remarriage of divorcees, same-sex marriages, cohabitation, gender change, permitting blasphemy, permitting witchcraft, permitting Satanism, etc.
Even more true for our day and age are these words of Holy Scripture: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways! The way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They devour My people as they eat bread! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:2-5).
Yet, at the same time, the so-called “Soldiers of Christ” ― Catholics who entered Christ’s military service through the Sacrament of Confirmation ― are AWOL (absent-without-leave) and are happily fraternizing with the enemy (the world)!
From Distraction to Destruction
How do you stop a dog from barking? Throw him a bone, or throw a ball for him to run after! How do you stop a Catholic from ‘barking’ and fighting for the Faith? Throw him a bone or a ball for him to run after. Distraction is the name of the game and modern technology makes the game easier. Modern technology is being used by Satan (and his human minions) to distract us away from God and attract us to the path of our destruction. Like a dumb dog―we fall for it every time.
The Roman Emperor Nero would distract the Roman citizens from the political situation by providing them with the circus games and bread. The proverbial phrase “Bread and circuses” (or bread and games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a phrase referring to superficial appeasement. The origin of the phrase is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman poet in the late first and early second century AD — and is used commonly in a political context, where the phrase means a generating of public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace — by offering a political or cultural painkiller or anesthetic to numb the people to what is really going on: for example giving them food (bread) or entertainment (circuses). Juvenal, who gave birth to the phrase, used it to criticize the “selfishness” of common people and their neglect of wider, more important concerns―while focusing only what immediately pleases, satisfies and entertains them. The phrase thus implies a population’s neglect or ignorance of their civic duty as a priority over self-interest―or the superiority of the common good over any individual good. Today, distraction along the lines of “bread and circuses” is a piece of cake―selling propaganda and lies to the populace is as easy as taking candy from a baby, because the intellectual level of most people (as to what is really going on) is on the level of baby’s intelligence― dumb people who are be ripe for indoctrination.
Distraction of Lies and Misinformation
Common folk, living common lives, have a common desire―they want something to distract them from the commonality and banality and boredom of their lives. Distraction is the common man’s drug addiction. Everyone has problems and they love to be distracted from those ever-present problems. That is why some turn to alcohol, some turn to drugs, some turn to sexual encounters, some turn to lesser evils like movies, television, internet, social media or just plain old-fashioned gossip. All of these things can have a drug-like effect upon persons―giving them a temporary thrill and momentary escape from their common humdrum boring lives. The devil is a master of distraction and, like a “Pied-Piper”, has distracted countless souls away from God into the pit of pits. As the proverbial phrase indicates ― “Like father, like son. Like mother, like daughter” ― or the proverbial saying “The apple never falls far from the tree”, that a person inevitably shares traits with or resembles his or her parents or family; that children take after their parents. Similarly, worldly people take after the prince of the world, the devil―and so they do the devil’s work for him, distracting other souls away from God into the pit of the devil―Hell.
We compare this distractive technique to the techniques used by so-called ‘magicians’ in their shows. Why do people enjoy watching magic shows or acts? Everyone knows these are tricks and not “real”. It's not as though they don't know their senses are being fooled and deceived. But they still watch the fake and wait for the fake ‘miracle’. Dr. Gustav Kuhn, part of the psychology department at Goldsmiths, University of London, is head of the Magic Lab ― which stands for Mind Attention and General Illusory Cognition. Dr. Kuhn says the principles behind magic are rooted in areas that overlap with psychology ― perception, attention and how we process information. Magic is about manipulating our perceptions, exploiting cognitive loopholes. Misdirection is a key part of magic ― getting people to not look at what is important, but to distract them, to change the subject, to use a dramatic prop and push their attention elsewhere, so they do not see what is happening in front of their eyes.
All the distractions of the devil and world are lies―promising what they cannot deliver: eternal happiness. Hence Our Lord says: “You [the worldly people] are of your father the devil [the prince of this world] and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The problem is that the devil is a master magician who distracts our minds and efforts away from our salvation, and instead focuses them on much less important things, or even trivial things. Like babies and dogs―we are easily distracted because our intelligence has atrophied through a junk diet of trivia and lack intellectual exercise.
Distraction and Division over Disease
We have all witnessed what could be called the greatest distraction of the 21st century thus far―the Coronavirus hysteria, or the “Con-all-a-virus” or the “Covid-Plannedemic” or whatever else you choose to call one of the most amazing propaganda cons or mental hijackings the world has ever seen. It can only work if the world has enough, what Communists like to call, “Useful Idiots”―meaning stupid “sheeple” who think very little for themselves and gullibly gobble all that is fed to them. For the “puppet-masters” or “pied-pipers” or “money-men” who pulling the strings, playing the dance tune that everyone dances to, and funding the frauds―the minority who see and understand what is going on are of little or no concern to them. When the time comes, they will be quickly and easily disposed of like garbage. It is the majority that they fear―for the controllers are few in number and they fear an uprising by the large numbers that they seek to control. The dumber the masses are, the more easily they can be led and fooled. The results of the worldwide “examinations” and “tests” of the last 7 or 8 months have shown that the world is pretty dumb!
Even if you show them the evidence, they refuse to believe―which brings to mind the words of the former Russian KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov, who mockingly, yet truthfully, spoke of Americans (and it is true of the rest of the world also) as being “soft-heads”, “useful idiots”, “unable to assess true information. The facts say nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures ― he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When the military boot crashes his, then he will understand, but not before that!” … “The results? The results you can see! Most of the people who graduated in the 1960s―drop outs or half-baked intellectuals―are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to the Pavlov dog experiments]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information.” … “Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system, trains another generation of people who think they are living at the peace time. False! The United States is in a state of war―undeclared, total war!” This recent man-planned, man-made, man-released, man-propagated and man-propagandized Covid-19 Plannedemic is precisely that―“undeclared, total war!” Even the governors of various states referred to it―in their scaremongering manner―as a war! [click here and read the Coronavirus page for more insights]
Distraction and Division over Self-Isolation, Quarantining, Social-Distancing and Masks
The whole hoopla over self-isolation, quarantining, social-distancing and masks―which, in effect, has been as masterful a con as selling air-conditioning units to Eskimos in the Arctic, or heating furnaces to Arabs in the Sahara Desert―has caused great division throughout the world, between the intelligent and the stupid. If it wasn’t so tragic, then it would be hilariously funny―watching people argue, scream, shout, threaten and assault each other over such a stupid thing as wearing masks or not wearing masks in stores or in any public place. The height of stupidity and comedy is to see police arresting folk for not wearing a mask! The masks are a distraction and mere masked propaganda that is meant to continually put before our eyes the over-hyped, over-exaggerated threat of a disease that is nowhere near as deadly as the relentless lying propaganda would have us believe. It is like asking people to paint a gunshot wound on their foreheads to serve as a warning of the dangers of owning a gun. It is a joke! Yet it is not funny to see so many people terrorized into accepting self-imprisonment, unemployment and financial ruin by the imposition of ridiculous, stupid, ineffective, draconian, totalitarian and Communistic measures that do far more harm than good. But then, who is there who still has the intelligence to really see this? Some of the world’s best epidemiologist, immunologists, and virologists have told us that the face mask, in relation to the size of the droplets it is meant to either keep-in or keep-out, is like trying to catch or filter-out dust with a tennis-racket. Hey! Why not use the mask as a makeshift parachute if your plane goes down or if you fall off the edge of high building? The masks work wonderfully well in keeping an exaggerated threat continually and publicly visible in the eyes of a terrified stupid populace. The masks are a propagandists dream―as well as a cash-cow for those producing them. The ‘intelligent’ powers that advise the stupid “sheeple” are even telling them to make home-made masks! This is even worse than trying to catch or filter-out dust with a tennis-racket―it is trying to do that with a wire fence! Idiots believe idiots! “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
DR. JUDY MIKOVITS, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, says: “Can you believe they told everybody to wear a mask? If you have COPD and you wear a mask, you will kill yourself.! You will cause the very disease you’re trying to prevent. Wearing the mask literally activates your own virus. You’re getting sick from your own reactivated Coronavirus expressions, and if it happens to be SARS-CoV-2, then you’ve got a big problem. Number one, if your mask is just this scarf cover of your face―all that does is make you breathe in and out. I see people running and riding bikes with these masks. It doesn’t prevent mold, mildew, all the stuff that’s in the air, the pollens [from] allergy season. Those go right there into your sinus cavity. You’re exercising. You’re breathing hard. You’re sucking that stuff into your lungs and you’re sucking back in CO2. We don’t do photosynthesis! We’re humans, not plants! We have to breathe oxygen. We can’t breathe back in our own toxic air. That’s why you exhale―to get rid of toxic air! That’s why you breathe deeply―to get in lots of oxygien! That’s why you cough―to expel a pathogen! If you cough in your own mask, then you suppress your own immune system. You use your own type one interferons in your throat, in your nose, in your blood. It’s horribly immune suppressive. Probably most people have never worn a mask before all day. Nurses and doctors who have to, they’re keeping themselves from getting sick from their patients. The patient certainly doesn’t wear a mask. They deliver oxygen through a cannula. For healthy people, you’re not getting fresh air. You’re suppressing your immune response. You’re activating endogenous viruses. When you activate endogenous viruses, your immune system has to go and knock down those viruses. Inflammatory mass cells respond to pollen. Say you get allergies or whatever. When you wear that mask, you’re concentrating those antigens and you’re making yourself sicker. It’s warm; it’s wet. You touch it―it’s abnormal; it’s uncomfortable. Those are all things that are immune system draining, not immune system boosting! You’re making yourself sick with other sources. It makes no sense! You’re not preventing infection. You have of “carriers.” What does that mean? They’re not infectious if they’re not coughing. You don’t cough RNA. You don’t have particles in your nose. They’re looking at RNA in your nose. You have particles in your blood. You don’t cough that. You certainly don’t cough it six feet. When you’re sick, what do you do? You feel horrible. You have a bit of a fever. You don’t even want to get out of bed. You can’t open your eyes. You lay there. That’s sickness behavior. That’s your immune response clearing the pathogen. You don’t leave the house. If you’re recovered, like my husband from COPD, you must go out there and get fresh air. He’s not infectious to anybody just because he coughs, nor am I just because I cough. Mine is a congenital pleurisy I got because I was born six weeks early as an identical twin. Pleurisy means filled with fluid. I always have to clear my lungs, and I always cough. I will not wear a mask. I just walk in the store and say, “Hey, I have a congenital lung disease, and I can’t wear a mask. Thank you very much for” ― I don’t say “for your stupidity” but ― “protecting me!” You don’t protect anybody. I worked in a biosafety level three facility with HIV for 30 years. I pulled viruses out of saliva and blood. I never once wore a mask. I reminded Dr. Rossetti of this the other day. He said, “We wore masks.” I was like, “No, we didn’t! No, we didn’t!” We weren’t at risk until 2011 [when] it was realized that that mouse cancer causing retrovirus is contagious. Please take off the mask. Go outside if you’re healthy.” [click here and read the Coronavirus page for more insights]
Distraction and Division over Lockdowns
Stupidity seems to grow like a cancer―eating out all common sense from people. Truly Communists love “Useful Idiots”―who are useful to the Communist agenda of lies and propaganda, but useless to God and the cause of truth. How on earth could the population of the whole Earth be fooled into imprisoning themselves and even closing down their business and compromising or even destroying their livelihood over a disease (Covid-19) which the honest and highest experts in the medical field tell us is little more than the common flu―although man-made with the intention of being more fatal. We have here a similar situation to Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the Emperor New Suit of Clothes, also known as The Invisible Suit of Clothes, or The Emperor With No Clothes On. The Emperor or King is conned by two conmen into believing that they could make him a suit of clothes which would be invisible to those who were stupid. Not wishing to appear stupid, the king and all his courtiers pretended that they could see what did not actually exist! The stupidity of the people in the fairy tale comes to life in tale of Covid-19. All the stupid people do not want to look stupid, so they “buy” and “swallow” the stupid narrative. You could, if you want, rename our present stupidity as “Fauci’s Fairy Tale” about “The Governors and People With No Brains―Wearing Nothing But a Mask!” Our Lord’s words ― ““The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) ― could be rendered as “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, brains on Earth?” No, He will not find many brains, just a lot of masks that mask the stupidity of Catholics.
YORAM LASS former Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Health, is a staunch critic of the lockdown policy adopted in his native Israel and around the world. He has described our response to COVID-19 as a form of hysteria. He says: “It is the first epidemic in history which is accompanied by another epidemic ― the virus of the social networks. These new media have brainwashed entire populations. What you get is fear and anxiety, and an inability to look at real data. And therefore you have all the ingredients for monstrous hysteria. It is what is known in science as positive feedback or a snowball effect. The government is afraid of its constituents. Therefore, it implements draconian measures. The constituents look at the draconian measures and become even more hysterical. They feed each other and the snowball becomes larger and larger until you reach irrational territory. This is nothing more than a flu epidemic if you care to look at the numbers and the data, but people who are in a state of anxiety are blind. If I were making the decisions, I would try to give people the real numbers. And I would never destroy my country.”
DR. JUDY MIKOVITS, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, says: “Why would you close the beach? You’ve got [healing microbial] sequences in the soil, in the sand. You’ve got healing microbes in the ocean in the salt water. That’s insanity!”
Distraction over Economic Failure and Unemployment
Money and food go hand-in-hand when it comes to survival―you need food to survive and you need money for food. It is a commonly accepted principle that whoever controls the money and the food, ends up controlling the people. You could add medicine to the equation―but more on that aspect later―though it is no coincidence that the “do-gooder”, the lover of humanity and lover of depopulization, Mr. Bill Gates, has invested gigantic amounts of money in controlling both the Pharmaceutical and Food industries. Back in March of 2020, Gates was very vocal in proposing a total lockdown and shutdown. The eventual lockdowns and shutdowns resulted in over 30 to 40 million people losing their jobs. The $600 a week additional payment that the US approved to top up unemployment benefits during the pandemic will expire on July 31st, 2020. In many states, recipients have already received their last check.
THE WASHINGTON POST, in its May 25th, 2020, article “The COVID-19 Shutdown Will Cost Americans Millions of Years of Life”, states: “Our governmental COVID-19 mitigation policy of broad societal lockdown focuses on containing the spread of the disease at all costs … Although well-intentioned, the lockdown was imposed without consideration of its consequences beyond those directly from the pandemic. The policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. These financial losses have been falsely portrayed as purely economic … These policies will cause devastating non-economic consequences that will total millions of accumulated years of life lost in the United States, far beyond what the virus itself has caused. Pandemics have afflicted humankind throughout history. They devastated the Roman and Byzantine empires, Medieval Europe, China and India, and they continue to the present day despite medical progress. The past century has witnessed three pandemics with at least 100,000 U.S. fatalities: The “Spanish Flu,” 1918-1919, with between 20 million and 50 million fatalities worldwide, including 675,000 in the U.S.; the “Asian Flu,” 1957-1958, with about 1.1 million deaths worldwide, 116,000 of those in the U.S.; and the “Hong Kong Flu,” 1968-1972, with about 1 million people worldwide, including 100,000 in the U.S. So far, the current pandemic has produced almost 100,000 U.S. deaths, but the reaction of a near-complete economic shutdown is unprecedented …
“Lost income results in lost lives as the stresses of unemployment and providing basic needs increase the incidence of suicide, alcohol or drug abuse, and stress-induced illnesses. These effects are particularly severe on the lower-income populace, as they are more likely to lose their jobs, and mortality rates are much higher for lower-income individuals. Statistically, every $10 million to $24 million lost in U.S. incomes results in one additional death. One portion of this effect is through unemployment, which leads to an average increase in mortality of at least 60%. That translates into 7,200 lives lost per month among the 36 million newly unemployed Americans, over 40% of whom are not expected to regain their jobs. In addition, many small business owners are near financial collapse, creating lost wealth that results in mortality increases of 50%. With an average estimate of one additional lost life per $17 million income loss, that would translate to 65,000 lives lost in the U.S. for each month because of the economic shutdown.
“In addition to lives lost because of lost income, lives also are lost due to delayed or foregone health care imposed by the shutdown and the fear it creates among patients ... about half of their patients have not appeared for treatment of disease which, left untreated, risks brain hemorrhage, paralysis or death. Emergency stroke evaluations are down 40%. Of the 650,000 cancer patients, an estimated half are missing their treatments. Of the 150,000 new cancer cases typically discovered each month in the U.S., most ― as elsewhere in the world ― are not being diagnosed, and two-thirds to three-fourths of routine cancer screenings are not happening because of shutdown policies and fear among the population … The implications of treatment delays result in 8,000 U.S. deaths for each month of the shutdown, or about 120,000 years of remaining life. Missed strokes contribute an additional loss of 100,000 years of life for each month; late cancer diagnoses lose 250,000 years of remaining life for each month; missing living-donor transplants, another 5,000 years of life per month. These unintended consequences of missed health care amount to more than 500,000 lost years of life per month, not including all the other known skipped care. If we only consider unemployment-related fatalities from the economic shutdown, that would total at least an additional 7,200 lives per month. Assuming these deaths occur proportionally across the ages of current U.S. mortality data, and equally among men and women, this amounts to more than 200,000 lost years of life for each month of the economic shutdown.
“In comparison, COVID-19 fatalities have fallen disproportionately on the elderly, particularly in nursing homes, and those with co-morbidities. Based on the expected remaining lifetimes of these COVID-19 patients, and given that 40% of deaths are in nursing homes, the disease has been responsible for 800,000 lost years of life so far [in a total of 6 months]. Considering only the losses of life from missed health care and unemployment due solely to the lockdown policy, we conservatively estimate that the national lockdown is responsible for at least 700,000 lost years of life every month, or about 1.5 million so far [in only 2 months] ― already far surpassing the COVID-19 total. Policymakers combating the effects of COVID-19 must recognize and consider the full impact of their decisions. They need to be aware of the devastating effects in terms of lost life from shutting down significant parts of the economy. They need to widely inform the public of these serious consequences and reassure them of their concern for all human life by strongly articulating the rationale for reopening society. To end the loss of life from the economic lockdown, businesses as well as K-12 schools, public transportation, parks and beaches should smartly reopen with enhanced hygiene and science-based protection warnings for any in the high-risk population. For most of the country, that reopening should occur now, without any unnecessary fear-based restrictions, many of which repeat the error of disregarding the evidence. By following a thoughtful analysis that finally recognizes all available actions and their consequences, we can save millions of years of American life.”
THE WASHINGTON POST, in its April 3rd, 2020, article “Stop the COVID-19 Shutdown Madness”, states: “How do you like being under house arrest? A bit of an overstatement — perhaps — but not by much. How much longer are you willing to endure it? The COVID-19 crisis has caused government — federal, state and local — to strip away many basic liberties. Do you think the politicians will give them all back now that they have tasted the power to corral the people while being met with little more than a whimper? We are told we will get our liberties back on the basis of “what the data and models show” — whatever that might mean. The main model that the government was using a couple of weeks ago projected there would be 240,000 deaths in the United States, even after all of the mitigation efforts. After a series of revisions, their projected total deaths is now approximately 60,000. Sixty thousand deaths is terrible, but almost 3 million Americans die each year from all causes (a little less than 1 percent of the population). If the new 60,000 projected COVID-19 deaths is at all accurate, it will mean that about one out of every 5,500 Americans will die from the virus. Less than 1 percent of the COVID-19 deaths will occur among those who are younger than 34. Yet, if you are 65 or older, your chance of dying from COVID-19 is one in 1,250, but your chance of dying from all causes is already one in 24 in any given year. To put it another way, last year, among the roughly 50 million Americans 65 or older, there were 2,067,400 deaths. According to the latest CDC model, about 40,000 Americans 65 or older will die as a result of COVID-19, less than 2 percent of those who would die if there were no virus. Most of those in the 65-plus age who die are the oldest, 80 and above, with underlying conditions, and who have very short additional life expectancy.
“So, why is the government shutting down the entire economy to lengthen the average life span of the oldest Americans by a few months at most? Yes, there are a few young people who will be infected and tragically die, but the odds of this happening to any given individual are so small as being almost impossible to measure with any certainty. The CDC data on death rates show if one is under 35 the chances of dying from COVID-19 is much lower than that of being in a bicycle accident. Why are we not banning bicycles? The authorities say (in a rare display of good sense) it is OK to shop in grocery stores and drug stores (thank goodness), but these stores sell many items other than groceries, particularly the Walmarts. On the basis of fairness and common sense alone, should not stores that sell anything sold in a Walmart, Target, CVS or Walgreens also be allowed to open?” (The Washington Post, April 3rd, 2020, article “Stop the COVID-19 Shutdown Madness”).
Distraction over Food Shortage
When you are hungry―very, very hungry―you are unavoidably distracted from many other things, even very important things, for life and survival takes precedence. Furthermore, very hungry people can get very desperate in their bid to survive. Someone who is truly at the starvation level will DO ALMOST ANYTHING for food. You could dangle mandatory vaccination before their eyes and they would willingly accept it if it meant receiving food as a reward. In its April 22nd, 2020, article entitled “Instead of Coronavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us. A Global Food Crisis Looms”, the New York Times states: “The world has never faced a hunger emergency like this, experts say. It could double the number of people facing acute hunger to 265 million by the end of this year … The Coronavirus pandemic has brought hunger to millions of people around the world. National lockdowns and social distancing measures are drying up work and incomes, and are likely to disrupt agricultural production and supply routes — leaving millions to worry how they will get enough to eat … Already, 135 million people had been facing acute food shortages, but now with the pandemic, 130 million more could go hungry in 2020, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the World Food Program, a United Nations agency. Altogether, an estimated 265 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by year’s end.”
All of this distraction is like the ‘magicians’ sleight of hand which uses distraction as means of taking any potential focus or attention away from his performance trickery―and distracted we are, inattentive we are, focused on the wrong things we are, tricked we are―and so we allow and make it easy for the devil and the world to work their black magic trickery behind the scenes. Hey! That is why the real puppet-masters are always behind the scenes, creating, manipulating and profiting from the many distractions that they produce―at the expense of the “sheeple”, human guinea pigs and goyim that they manipulate.
Distraction of Side Issues to Avoid Seeing the Real Issue
BLACK LIVER MATTER: “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) is one of the most popular phrases in America today ― the mantra that's been sweeping the world since the murder of George Floyd. On its website, it lists many goals ― the majority of which most people would support: “We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people.” But despite such mainstream ideas, leaders of Black Lives Matter come from a far-Left, Marxist, point of view. Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors revealed: “Myself and Alicia, in particular, are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” The organization, Black Lives Matter, are radically pro-abortion. They have publicly announced solidarity with the abortion industry. Back in 2015, there's actually a solidarity statement standing with Planned Parenthood ― so how can they say “Black Lives Matter” on the one hand and then partner with the leading killer of Black lives by supporting abortion?
Once again the stupidity of most people is exposed over this issue of “Black Lives Matter”. What about white lives? Brown lives? Yellow lives? All lives? Hey! “What about the whales?” says the Save-the-Whales organization. What about the critically endangered Black Rhino species? What about the critically endangered Eastern Lowland Gorillas? The Bornean Orangutan? The Sumatran Elephant? Yangtze Finless Porpoise? ― all of which are listed as critically endangered species by the World Wildlife organization. What about the endangered species of human embryos being slaughtered daily through abortion?
It’s time to “Get real!” The only real life that really matters is ETERNAL LIFE―all the rest is just mere smoke and mirrors that distract us from the real purpose of life! “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it!” (Luke 17:33). “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it!” (Matthew 16:25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it!” (Luke 9:24). “He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:39). “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die ― itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). What a bunch of losers we are! We focus on the secondary things and in the process lose the one essential thing. All of this distraction is like the ‘magicians’ sleight of hand which uses distraction as means of taking any potential focus or attention away from his performance trickery―and distracted we are, inattentive we are, focused on the wrong things we are, tricked we are―and so we allow and make it easy for the devil and the world to work their black magic trickery behind the scenes. Hey! That is why the real puppet-masters are always behind the scenes, creating, manipulating and profiting from the many distractions that they produce.
Distraction of Civil Disturbance
Civil disturbance is the “divide and conquer” tactic par excellence and the distraction par excellence―it creates concrete division, it creates violence, it creates fear, it creates demoralization, it destabilizes, it creates anarchy, it creates a sense of helplessness and it creates a potential submission and surrender to whoever or whatever can stop that civil disturbance. In a sense, it is the icing on cake of the process of distraction. It is part of the FOUR-STEP Communist maneuver of Demoralization, Destabilization, Crisis and Normalization that overthrows opponents―be it nations or states or whoever. As Our Lord warns: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25).
If you read the US Congressional Record–Appendix, pp. A34-A35―for January 10th, 1963, you will see a record of Congressman Albert S. Herlong Jr. of Florida alerting Congress to the dangers of Communism in America by have a list of 45 Communist goals for the USA, read and recorded into the Congressional Record. The list was taken the book, The Naked Communist by Willard Cleon Skousen (1913–2006), a former FBI Special Agent, a lecturer at Brigham Young University, and also police chief of Salt Lake City. In his 1963 address to Congress, Congressman Herlong listed―among the 45 Communist goals for the USA―the following goals which are pertinent to what we are discussing here:
COMMUNIST GOALS FOR THE USA
#15―CAPTURE ONE OR BOTH OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES
The Democrats are already quasi-Socialist. As the Washington Examiner, on February 20th, 2019, reports: “Socialism used to be a dirty word in our politics, but not anymore. Democratic politicians saw the wave of grassroots enthusiasm in 2016 surrounding the self-declared Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent for Vermont, and they were quick to jump on the bandwagon. Leading the charge of opportunistic socialism is Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat for Massachusetts … The new Democratic Party will stop at nothing to achieve greater federal control … The Democratic Party is making it clear they are not interested in connecting with America. They are only interested in controlling America.” On August 233th, 2018, the Investors Business Daily ran an editorial entitled: “Socialists Have Officially Taken Over The Democratic Party” in which it said: “Democrats have a positive view of Socialism than of Capitalism. This is bad news for Democrats, and worse news for the country as a whole. We have been documenting the Democratic Party's drift to the fringe left for many years. New polling data from Gallup show that its transformation into a far-left Socialist party is more or less complete. Overall, just 37% of Americans say they have a positive view of Socialism.”
In The Federal Observer’s October 8th, 2019, article entitled “2019 list of Socialists and Communists in Congress”, we read: “I’ve been asked to compile a list of Socialists and Communists in Congress. A friend of mine was challenged to name “even two Socialists in Congress.” Altogether, if you add in Islamist connections I think about 100 members of the House of Representatives would struggle to pass a low-level background security check ― but guess what? There are no security checks in Congress. Here’s my list of 50 of the most obvious Socialists in the House, with links to my website Keywiki for the backup evidence. Apologies to the many [Socialists] I’ve omitted!” [the list is too lengthy to post in this article, click on this link https://federalobserver.com/2019/10/2019-list-of-socialists-and-communists-in-congress/ if you want to see all the names of the “Top Fifty” Socialists in Congress as of October 2019]
In addition to all this, current news outlets are reporting that since the time the Socialist-Democrat, Bernie Sanders, withdrew from the Presidential Election race, the Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden, has adopted almost all of Bernie Sanders’ Socialist/Communist platform. Thus Joe Biden has taken a gigantic leap to the far-Left. On matters such as climate change, criminal justice reform, education, immigration, health care, and the economy Biden agrees with almost all of Sanders’s positions. Surprising? Not really when you consider Our Lady’s warning to us through the mouthpiece of Sister Lucia of Fatima, who told us that the whole world would be taken over by Communists―including America. Socialism has destroyed far more lives than any single pandemic ever could. We must not let panic over one threat drive us into the jaws of a much greater one.
#16―USE TECHNICAL DECISIONS OF THE COURTS TO WEAKEN BASIC AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
#17―GET CONTROL OF THE SCHOOLS. USE THEM AS TRANSMISSION BELTS FOR SOCIALISM AND CURRENT COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
In a March 31st, 2019, article in the American Thinker, entitled: “Communism in Our Schools and in Our Politics”, the author E. Jeffrey Ludwig writes: “Even in high school, I found myself offended by my fellow students who were card-carrying Communists in their beliefs and sympathies. In fact, a sizeable number of students clung to Marxism as dogma. The high school was Central High School for Boys, a school for gifted boys located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later, as I continued my studies in the Ivy League, I saw that there was a consistently strong element of intellectuals who were not in the least embarrassed to express their interest in Communism. Once, as I stood with a crowd of students who were watching to see the outcome of events when a cadre of students locked themselves into the Harvard administration building and chained the doors, I was standing next to H.G., a fellow graduate student who had gone to the same high school and college as I had. He was rooting for the locked in students and for ‘the revolution,’ which he hoped was near. I asked him, ‘Herb! How can you be for Communism or for “revolution”? You are the same as I am — a Jewish, son of working people or middle-class people — we went to the same high school, the same college! How can revolution or Communism be good for anyone?’ He said nothing but looked at me with eyes filled with contempt. Later, he would become a professor of economics at Harvard University. Years after these early contacts with Communists, I was converted to Christ.”
#18―Gain control of all student newspapers.
#19―Use student RIOTS to foment PUBLIC PROTESTS against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
#20―INFILTRATE THE PRESS. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.
A June 3rd, 2019, Conservative Daily News article, entitled “Are We Becoming The United Socialist States Of America?” states: “I remember when the Soviet Union fell, I said, ‘Watch it fall there and rise here!’ That’s just what seems to be happening here now. In the old Soviet Union, they had only one news source and that was a huge propaganda paper called Pravda. It only told how great Russia was and didn’t allow much from the outside. Russia was then known as the U.S.S.R (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) … Today our Liberal media is fast becoming like the old Pravda. They just broadcast one side, and censor or deny anything counter to their ideas. The vast TV news stations are all one sided like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC … In recent polls, 4 out of 10 people support Socialism which is Communism’s little brother. The problem is that our kids have not been taught much in school that would inform them what Socialism and Communism is. They are much dumbed down about all of this. They are not being told anything that would make them patriots. They are bombarded with the bad social behavior that the radicals want them to react too. This has been a long and planned doctrine that our kids have been taught for years. Just look―the teachers, etc. are mostly Liberals. Lots of kids today have no idea about anything we stand for and how we fought to protect our country. We all have allowed this to happen. The entire school system should be revamped and go back to years before all this social influence has brainwashed them. Sad but true.”
#21―Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and movie industry [now also the internet and social media].
#24―Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
#25―BREAK DOWN CULTURAL STANDARDS OF MORALITY by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
ABC News, on June 21st, 2020, reports that: “From the start, the founders of Black Lives Matter [run by Marxists] have always put LGBTQ voices at the center of the conversation. The movement was founded by three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of whom identify as queer.”
#26―Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
#27―Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
#28―Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
#29―DISCREDIT THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
EAG-News, on October 8th, 2015, reported: “Blake Simons, a self-described Black Lives Matter [run by Marxists] leader at the University of California-Berkeley, has a message for America: It’s a new constitution or “the bullet.” The Cal senior is a member of the Black Student Union and Deputy Comms Director of the Afrikan Black Coalition at UC Berkeley, where he’s led repeated protests in recent months over police shootings and the allegedly racist learning environment at the school, according to the Berkeleyside. Now, Simons is peddling an enlightening article about his ideas on racism in America that centers on an ultimatum: either the U.S. rewrites its beloved Constitution with special considerations for black people, or ‘it will be the bullet,’ he threatens.”
#30―DISCREDIT THE AMERICAN FOUNDING FATHERS. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.” [see #31 below]
#31―BELITTLE ALL FORMS OF AMERICAN CULTURE and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.”
“Statues of Confederate leaders and the explorer Christopher Columbus have been torn down in the US, as pressure grows on authorities to remove monuments connected to slavery and colonialism. A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was toppled in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday night. Statues of Columbus in Boston, Miami and Virginia have been vandalized … Many cities and organizations have taken steps to remove Confederate symbols … Last week, for example, Virginia's Governor Ralph Northam announced that a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee would be removed from Richmond.” reported the BBC on June 11th, 2020. On June 19th, CBS News reported: “A statue of George Washington was pulled down by protesters on Thursday night, June 18th, reports CBS Portland affiliate KOIN-TV. The nation's first president owned slaves … A separate group of about 20 people met around 10 p.m. at the site of the large bronze statue of Washington. Some wrapped the statue's head in an American flag and lit the flag on fire. Their numbers grew over the next hour until there were enough people to pull it down. They quickly scattered. A KOIN news crew found the statue face down and covered in graffiti.” Over a month later, CBC News reported, on July 24th, 2020, that “A statue of Christopher Columbus in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park was taken down early Friday, a week after protesters trying to topple the monument to the Italian explorer clashed with police. Crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal as a small crowd gathered to watch. The crowd cheered and passing cars honked as the statue came down at about 3 a.m. local time. Several work trucks were seen in the area, but it was unclear where the statue would be taken. A second statue of Columbus was also removed at about 5:30 a.m. Friday from Arrigo Park in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood.”
#32―Support any Socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
#33―Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
#35―DISCREDIT AND EVENTUALLY DISMANTLE THE F.B.I. [and the Police Force? ― see #38 below].
#36―Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
#37―Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
#38―TRANSFER SOME OF THE POWERS OF ARREST FROM THE POLICE TO SOCIAL AGENCIES.
NBC News, on June 8th, 2020, reported: “On Sunday night, a majority of the Minneapolis City Council agreed to dismantle the city's police department. In an interview with NBC News, Councilman Jeremiah Ellison said the council would work to disband the department in its ‘current iteration.’ ‘The plan has to start somewhere,’ he said. ‘We are not going to hit the eject button without a plan, so today was the announcement of the formulation of that plan.’ But the decision to ‘dismantle’ the police department doesn't mean the city would just form a new one, as Camden, New Jersey, did when it dismantled its department. After disbanding its force in 2012, Camden created what city leaders say was a different kind of police force, focused on community policing, but the city still very much has a police department.”
#40―DISCREDIT THE FAMILY AS AN INSTITUTION [the Black Lives Matter movement does this]. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. [see #41 below].
#41―EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO RAISE CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENTS. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
The Black Lives Matter movement [run by Marxists] claims to make their organization family friendly, but in the very next paragraph states, “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement [= a family unit consisting of a mother and father and their children] by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another….”
#42―CREATE THE IMPRESSION THAT VIOLENCE AND INSURRECTION ARE LEGITIMATE ASPECTS OF THE AMERICAN TRADITION; that students and special-interest GROUPS SHOULD RISE UP AND USE “UNITED FORCE” to solve economic, political or social problems.
As the New York Times reports on June 5th, 2020: “Driven by the Black Lives Matter movement [run by Marxists], this shift has primed the country for a new groundswell — one that has quickly earned the sympathy of most Americans, polling shows. As a result, in less than two weeks, it has already forced local governments and national politicians to make tangible policy commitments.”
Distraction over Internal Political Divisions
Modern man―following the mistake of the Israelites of the Old Testament―has fallen for a demoncracy method of government. Initially, the Israelites, being God’s Chosen People―were a “theocracy”, the word “theocracy” means being ruled by God Himself―which is how it should be, don’t you think? Adam and Eve were ruled by God, until the demon came along and suggested to them that by disobeying God, they would become like God and be rulers of themselves! “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5)
The Israelites―by God’s purposeful and wise design―were made to be a theocracy. “For this is the testament which I will make to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will give My laws into their mind, and in their heart will I write them! And I will be their God and they shall be My people” (Hebrews 8:10)―which was fine and dandy until they eventually got to the Promised Land. There―after a period of time being “ruled” by God’s Prophets and Judges―they again rebelled against God their King and demanded a human king―just like all the nations had that surrounded them. They were not happy sticking-out like a sore thumb by being under the rule of God―they wanted to be like the world; they wanted a human king to rule over them, just like everyone else in world around them. God’s ruling prophet, Samuel, was reluctant to anoint a king, because he saw monarchy—in which political power and leadership is determined by inheritance, rather than on godliness and proven merit (as was the case with the ‘Judges’ system)—as being susceptible to the ills and problems of all monarchies―which inevitably lead to corruption, nepotism, distancing between leadership and the people, heavy taxation, and so forth.
“And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. And his sons walked not in his ways―but they turned aside after wealth and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha. And they said to him: ‘Behold thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways! Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: ‘Give us a king, to judge us!’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee, but Me―that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:1-7).
Thus did Samuel obey the rejected God and anointed the person chosen by God to be the first human king of Israel―Saul. This was the beginning of envy, jealousy, political division and intrigue, in-fighting and murder which would not cease from that day onwards. After Saul’s death, the kingdom of Israel split into two―the Northern Kingdom (you could call them the Democrats) and the Southern Kingdom (you could call them Republicans)―and both became ungodly and idolatrous. The common thread being―implicitly or explicitly―Satan’s cry of “I will not serve!” ― “Non serviam!” ― and this has largely been the attitude and cry of most governments or rulers throughout history. “I will not serve! Or I will partially serve, but do my own thing!”
Thus the Israelites pass from the superior state of being a theocracy (ruled by the divine God) to being a mere monarchy (ruled by a mere man). That downward spiral has been repeatedly imitated throughout history―spiralling increasing deeper, away from God and towards Satan and Hell. “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The workers of iniquity eat up My people as they eat bread … Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! They have not called upon God! There is no fear of God before their eyes! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men―they have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 13:2-5; Psalm 52:3-7).
You could, in a certain broad sense, place all these non-theocracies under the umbrella term of a “demoncracy” where the people become “demoncrats” who reject the rights and authority of God and enthrone themselves, in one crazy “-cracy” or “-archy” or another that emerges from the Satanic rebellion of rule and government by God and His Christ―there being only rare exceptions and those exceptions were often filled with many imperfections:
► “THEOCRACY” (the best government of all―being ruled by God Himself―in this sense Catholics should seek to establish the Social Reign of Christ the King on Earth).
► “MONARCHY” (a form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a king, and whose powers can vary from those of an absolute despot to those of a figurehead).
► “DEMOCRACY” (government by the people, either directly or through elected representatives, with the common people being considered as the primary source of political power). This makes the people like God―to which Christ would say, as He said to Pontius Pilate’s claim: “‘Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and I have power to release thee?’ Jesus answered: ‘Thou shouldst not have any power against Me, unless it were given thee from above!’” (John 19:11). The American democracy or republic might well say: “In God we trust” ― but in reality they are saying: “We trust God will stay out of our way and not cramp our style!” ― which totally ignores or even rejects Christ’s reminder that “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
► “ARISTOCRACY” (rule by elite or privileged upper class).
► “PLUTOCRACY” (government by the wealthy class, rule by ‘elites’).
► “TECHNOCRACY” (a government or social system controlled by scientists and technical experts).
► “MERITOCRACY” (rule by persons chosen not because of birth or wealth, but for their superior talents or intellect).
► “AUTOCRACY” (government by a single person having unlimited power)―which makes man to be like God.
► “ANARCHY” – (which is the truly demonic state of affairs, the absence of laws or government―which is Hell on Earth).
Unity is strength―disunity or division is weakness. You would have thought that modern Americans would have learned something from the following quote of one of their first presidents: “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil.” (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States of America).
The Great Illusion of the two-party system is that it allows the voter a choice ― usually between a Liberal and a Conservative government. The reality is that, whichever party wins the election, the government is, in truth, a totalitarian one. The “choice” is a mere distraction from the true objective. People need to believe that they have a choice. Interestingly, though, they seem to be content with only two choices. A skilled politician therefore limits the number of choices to two and, today, this is the way it’s done in most “advanced” countries. Whether it’s Democrat vs. Republican (in the USA), or Conservative vs. Labour (in the UK)―there are two dominant parties. Each is represented by a group of individuals seeking to gain or maintain public office. Initially, in order to sell the two-party concept to voters, it’s important for each party to have a philosophical identity. The USA did, indeed, follow this route in developing its own primary ‘sports teams’―the Democrats and the Republicans. And, along the way, it learned that the public can be best manipulated if they are blindly devoted to either one team or the other―with those in the red T-shirts detesting those in the blue, and vice versa.
The UK Guardian newspaper, in its June 1st, 2000, article entitled “People Power? It is Often Just a Manipulative Sham!” states that “people power can be a manipulative sham” saying the consulting of people with questions and surveys “is a thoroughly modern piece of manipulation. It observes the rule that the people must appear to be involved, but its pretensions could not be more bogus. How could the thing be other than an expensive fake?”
Quoting William H. Vanderbilt, railroad magnate, as saying in 1882, “The public be damned!” the Washington focused news outlet, The Hill, in its August 12th 2014, article entitled “Who rules America?” states that “A shattering new study by two political science professors has found that ordinary Americans have virtually no impact whatsoever on the making of national policy in our country. The analysts found that rich individuals and business-controlled interest groups largely shape policy outcomes in the United States. The analysts found that when controlling for the power of economic elites and organized interest groups, the influence of ordinary Americans registers at a "non-significant, near-zero level." The analysts further discovered that rich individuals and business-dominated interest groups dominate the policymaking process. The mass-based interest groups had minimal influence compared to the business-based interest groups. The study also debunks the notion that the policy preferences of business and the rich reflect the views of common citizens. They found to the contrary that such preferences often sharply diverge and when they do, the economic elites and business interests almost always win and the ordinary Americans lose.”
Warnings by Presidents About the Invisible Government Running the U.S.
The warnings listed below, which appear in chronological order, began with the first U.S. president ― George Washington. The last president to speak out was John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated. Read what they and other political leaders have said about the invisible government.
► GEORGE WASHINGTON wrote that the Illuminati want to separate the People from their Government: “It was not my intention to doubt that the Doctrines of the Illuminati and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea, that I meant to convey, was that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavored to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation). That Individuals of them may … actually had a separation of the People from their Government in view, is too evident to be questioned.” (George Washington, 1st President of the United States (1789―1797), from a letter that Washington wrote on October 24th, 1798, which can be found in the Library of Congress. For an analysis of Washington’s warning, see the article “Library of Congress: George Washington Warns of Illuminati”).
► THOMAS JEFFERSON wrote: “I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” (Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (1801―1809) and principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), in a letter written to John Taylor on May 28th, 1816).
► JOHN C. CALHOUN stated:“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests, combined in one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks.” (John C. Calhoun, Vice President (1825-1832) and U.S. Senator, from a speech given on May 27th, 1836).
Note that it appears that Washington’s and Jefferson’s concerns regarding bankers and separation of the people from the government was realized by 1836. This fact was confirmed in a letter written by Franklyn D. Roosevelt in 1933 (see below) in which he wrote that “a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” Jackson was the seventh president of the United States (1829-1837). Calhoun served as Jackson’s vice-president from 1829-1832.
► THEODORE ROOSEVELT said: “Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.” (Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography, 1913, Appendix B).
► WOODROW WILSON said: “A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men … [W]e have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.” (Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913).
► WOODROW WILSON also said: “Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” (Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913).
► NEW YORK CITY MAYOR JOHN F. HYLAN stated: “The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation… The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties, … and control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.” (New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, New York Times, March 26th, 1922).
► CONGRESSMAN LOUIS T. MCFADDEN said: “Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt…Mr. Chairman, when the Federal Reserve act was passed, the people of the United States did not perceive that a world system was being set up here… and that this country was to supply financial power to an international superstate — a superstate controlled by international bankers and international industrialists acting together to enslave the world for their own pleasure.” (Congressman Louis T. McFadden, from a speech delivered to the House of Representatives on June 10th, 1932).
► FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT stated: “The real truth of the matter is―as you and I know―that a financial element, in the large centers, has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933―1945), in a letter to Colonel Edward M. House, dated November 21st, 1933, as quoted in F.D.R. ― His Personal Letters, 1928-1945).
► SENATOR WILLIAM JENNER said: “Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means … We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state … It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government … This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century… This group…is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.” (Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech).
► J. EDGAR HOOVER stated: “The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous, he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.” (J. Edgar Hoover, The Elks Magazine, 1956).
John F. Kennedy said: “The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings … Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe … No war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of “clear and present danger,” then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent … For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy, that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence―on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources, into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine, that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.” (John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, from a speech delivered to the American Newspaper Publishers Association on April 27th, 1961 and known as the “Secret Society” speech).
► CONGRESSMAN LARRY P. MCDONALD stated: “The Rockefellers and their allies have, for at least fifty years, been carefully following a plan to use their economic power to gain political control of first America, and then the rest of the world. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” (Congressman Larry P. McDonald, November 1975, from the introduction to a book titled The Rockefeller File).
► SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE said: “There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.” (Daniel K. Inouye, US Senator from Hawaii, testimony at the Iran Contra Hearings, 1986).
You could write a book on this since the quotes and testimonies are so numerous. Politics is a theater, a puppet, a front, a pacifier that occupies the gullible minds of the populace, making them believe that they actually have some say in the direction that their country is heading.
Distraction of International Political Intrigues and Divisions
If you don’t believe in the existence of God and the existence of the devil, then you will be unable to understand the global political “theater” or political “game”. In fact, if you wanted to reduce it all to modern-day banality, you could almost compare it to a modern-day video game―where, unlike the theater of two-party politics competing and fighting each to fool and entertain the populace, here you have theatrical contest or battle, but a real-life battle between God and Satan, Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons, Saints and Sinners―resulting in either eternal joy and eternal life, or eternal pain and damnation. Heck! Maybe the only way to teach the technology, video-game addicts of today would be to actually create such a video-game that would teach the realities of the Faith through its virtual reality setting! Hey! If it can save one of the countless Hell-bound world addicted souls―then why not? Go do it if you know how! Just make sure it teaches the real, no-holds-barred, gritty, hard-hitting truthful Faith―and NOT the cozy, comfortable, sweetened, sanitized, sterilized, watered-down, padded, cross-less, thorn-less, nail-less, inoffensive, feel-good, happy-ending, fairy-tale version of the Faith as taught by Liberals and Modernists today!
But back to the point of international political intrigues and divisions! You cannot abstract God and His Divine Providence from the events within the world. Nor can you eliminate or ignore the evil machinations of Satan on each and every single person walking this Earth―whether they be important or unimportant in the grand scale of things, whether they be rich or poor. Christ went through terrible pains to try and save the very least soul―and Satan is going through terrible pains to try and damn the very least soul. The world as a whole and each nation in particular is ultimately made up of these souls―and each soul is the object of a tug-of-war between Heaven and Hell.
We just cannot imagine, nor possibly comprehend the incredible complexity, subtlety, astuteness, depth and breadth of the incessant and long-term planning on the part of Heaven and Hell, on the part of God and Satan. It is not for nothing that Holy Scripture describes Satan as being the most cunning of all creatures: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:11) … “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies” [sounds like a politician, huh?] (John 8:44) … “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The fact that “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder: and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3) ― comes down to Satan’s temptation with his own “homemade recipe” or “Hell-made recipe” of “I will not serve! ― Non serviam!” (Jeremias 2:20). Satan serves only the “Pie of Pride” with puffed-up pastry and detests the “Humble Pie” of Christ: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29).
Much of the discord, competition, criticism, maneuvering, disagreeing―not to even mention the lying, spying, fabrications, machinations, accusations, sabotage, assassinations, economic manipulations―are simply and plainly a manifestation of the Satanic seed of pride that has been sown in the minds and hearts of the rulers of many countries. We would do well to remember the words of the lately deceased (2016) former chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, who revealed:
“The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan’s hands are free! [Our Lady of La Salette said: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God”]. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily because, today, we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Apart from this, the media have put in the limelight and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians―and so they give publicity to their evil works. The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase! Today Satan rules the world! The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! … Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― the whole world is in the power of the evil one, as it says in 1 John 5:19. Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. [When you at the sinful laws that politicians have created and sinfulness of social culture and fashions―then you have to admit that at the moment Satan is winning his battle hands-down!]. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of a third of the angels, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God … I have had cases involving people from all walks of life: simple people, housewives, but also professors, doctors and politicians, lay people as well as priests and nuns. It is important to specify that demonic possession and obsession involves the body. Satan can affect someone’s body―but never their soul. He can only become the master of someone’s soul if that person hands it over to him by his/her own free will. Thus anyone can end up in Satan’s grip. There have even been saints who have been seriously disturbed by Satan’s force.” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, former chief exorcist of Rome).
Hopefully this convinces you that Satan plays an integral part in the daily politics of nations―both internal politics within each nation, and international politics between nations. Obviously Satan uses his minions and stooges to introduce his game-plan, and, as Fr. Amorth said, there is no shortage of politicians and business leaders (the rich, the ‘money-men’) who are especially targeted by Satan and no shortage of politicians and business leaders who have given their souls over to Satan. Hence, as Fr. Amorth laments: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere! Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase! Today Satan rules the world! Satan continually tries to dominate the world! The whole world is in the power of the evil one!” Satan's masterstroke is to have you perpetually distracted with a whole host of other things, so that you are oblivious to his Satanic maneuvers, plots, plans and agendas throughout the world for the damnation of souls.
As Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette warned: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church. These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them.”
Distraction of Wars
As Our Lady revealed at Fatima―wars are a punishment for sin. There is no shortage of sin in the world today―so there is no shortage of war. “What war? There is no war!” you might protest―but in vain! Some people are so blind that they cannot see that we are actually in middle of a worldwide war―only it is without (at least for now) guns, bullets, bombs, etc. It is a more subversive war―a silent war, a disguised war―but a war nevertheless. In fact―if you look beyond the end of your nose and gaze back into history, then you will see that Satan has been waging a perpetual war against God and souls from the time of Adam and Eve. As Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) ― and that means EVERY man, woman and child who has ever existed. Most souls have fallen in that war with Satan and have fallen into Hell―because they were too complacent, too confident, or too indifferent, or unbelieving that they were actually in a war―and so they failed to “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay a hold on eternal life, whereunto they were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). They were too distracted with Satan’s world to see their “adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). This idea of war with Satan is also reinforced by Sister Lucia of Fatima, who said: “Our Lady told me that the devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the devil; there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Another masterstroke of Satan is to distract us from our spiritual war with him by fomenting physical wars throughout the world―for it hard to focus on your spiritual war with Satan, when missiles and bullets are flying around, and bombs are falling! Plus―another masterstroke for damnation―there is the indisputable fact that wars are also the sources of an immense amount of sin. Wars not only help Satan kill people―for Satan detests the human race―but also to kill the life of grace in the few number of souls who still manage to live in a state of sanctifying grace. Killing in self-defense very easily transitions or morphs into killing in cold blood―especially when soldiers have been raised in a godless society and trained by a godless military. Wars see the shedding of much innocent blood; the needless and heedless infliction of sufferings and humiliations such as torture, rape, and other wartime atrocities. No wonder that Our Lady revealed that most of those who die in a war end up going to Hell. How happy Satan must be with war!
At La Salette, Our Lady warned: Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy.”
If you pardon the deliberately nuanced expression ― “What the hell can we do in this war against Hell?” The answer is ― We must resort to and use freely and frequently the weapons of mass destruction that we have within our reach. More on that in the next article: “Mass Weapon of Destruction.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 23rd & Friday July 24th
Article 11
There is Only One Way Out of This!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Thursday July 23rd & Friday July 24th
Article 11
There is Only One Way Out of This!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Still the Hot Topic
We are now in the seventh month of what the mainstream media―aided and abetted and controlled by you-know-who―has made out to be, not only the hottest topic of this year, but the hottest topic of last 100 years or even more. The media made mania about the man-made masked murderer―which is known by its many aliases of Coronavirus, Covid-19, the China Flu, the Plannedemic, the Media Fever, etc.―and which brings with it the nefarious baggage of totalitarian and Communistic tactics and measures such as shutdowns, lockdowns, economic sabotage, mass unemployment, suppression of rights and freedoms, imposition of insane rules, media propaganda, manipulative lies, fake science, fake news, draconian rules, police state, military interventions, and eventually martial law.
The MSM and government bodies have firmly grabbed our weak-minded heads and pushed and rubbed our noses constantly, daily, even hourly in their own self-made false scaremongering, browbeating, psyop (psychological operation) excrement for seven months. You could say it is a new form of the “Chinese Water Torture”. They will just not let-up on the browbeating and brainwashing―despite clear and reputable evidence of their lies, exaggerations, machinations and manipulations. Never before has a topic dominated the MSM (mainstream media) and the alternative media as much this one―perhaps excepting wars―but is not this a “war” of sorts? An undercover war against mankind and ultimately the Church and God. It is what Sister Lucia called the “Devil’s Final Battle with the Virgin”. As Lucia revealed: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Standing in the Middle Ground―Sitting on the Fence
A battle or war demands action―the Church even speaks of “Catholic Action” as a legitimate arm of the Church. Today―in this present war which, in its current form, has lasted almost 300 years, since the advent of Freemasonry―“Catholic Action” is barely found. All that we see is Catholic inaction, Catholic under-reaction, Catholic abstraction (living only in the realm of theories and talk), Catholic stupefaction, Catholic distraction and Catholic detraction. There is more Catholic “in-fighting” than the fighting of the true enemies of the Church―though it has to be admitted that many enemies have infiltrated and penetrated the walls of the Church (Freemasons, Communists, Modernists, Liberals, etc.) and are masquerading as Catholics. Yet, whoever these enemies may be―whether inside the Church or outside the Church―the ultimate truth remains: today, we are caught up in the middle of a final battle between the Devil and the Virgin―as revealed by Our Lady to Sister Lucia of Fatima.
A further truth is that we are not really fighting in this battle―but we are trying to appease and please both sides. We want to be part of the Church and part of the world. We want to be friends with God and friends with the world. We want the impossible! We want to prove Our Lord was wrong when He said: “You cannot serve God and mammon! … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). Our Lord has already drawn the battle lines for the war we find ourselves in: “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, for I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
To which the Word of God, Holy Scripture, adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Candy-Floss or Cotton-Candy Catholics
All the above quotes taste like rancid vinegar to us! We have been raised on chocolate and candy! We forget that we are “spoilt children” in the history of the world―not even Our Lord or Our Lady enjoyed the unprecedented privileges that have spoiled us rotten―electricity, gas lines, running water, indoor flushing toilets, showers, gas/electric ovens and stoves, central heating, air conditioning, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, laundry washers and dryers, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, a multitude of electric kitchen appliances, a magnitude of power tools, cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, trains, planes, luxury ships, hospitals with all their modern diagnostics and medical equipment, TVs, radios, phones, computers, the immense lightning-fast research and communications tool which is the Internet, and now the latest kid on the block: Artificial Intelligence. All of those things merely scratch the surface of the plethora of things that surround us, weaken us and spoil us rotten.
As said before―not even Our Lady and Our Lord, the creator of all things, had or chose to have those things at their disposal. These things are things of the world―our enemy. When your enemy gives you so many things―then you find it hard to hate your enemy and fight your enemy! That is precisely our dilemma and downfall today. We don’t the “fire in the belly” to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12). Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49) and we smother that fire with the things of this world. We don’t want to fight the world. We secretly quite like the world―some even ardently love the world! The world does not want us be warrior Catholics, nor soldiers of Christ―the world wants us to be Candy-Floss Catholics or Cotton-Candy Catholics with a sweet-tooth for the world. We stupidly and sadly oblige!
God tells us: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Instead, the world tells us: “Put you on the armor of the world, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the Church. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against outdated conservative clergy, against the rulers of the world of this outdated religion, against the old-fashioned unrealistic bishops and priests in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of the world, that you may be able to resist them every day, and to stand in all things a perfect follower of the world. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with exaggerations and lies, and having on the breastplate of complaints about injustice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of revolution and change. In all things taking the shield of propaganda, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the truthful darts of the most wicked Church. And take unto you the helmet of earbuds or headphones, and the sword of the Smartphone―which deals in the words of the world. By all browsing and posting, communicating at all times through the airwaves and radio waves of your electronic appliances; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication all the TV shows and newscasts that you can!” (Satan’s Gospel 66:6).
Our Lady is Looking for a Fight―Looking For Us to Fight Alongside Her
Sure! Of course the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph! But it will not triumph with us as mere spectators―cheering her on in the arena from the comfort of our seats in the bleachers or stands! She wants us out there with her! She is our general―there is no victory without her―but she wants an army to command. Hence, at La Salette, she says: “. I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Just in case you wishfully think and hopefully argue that “the time of times”―to which Our Lady refers to― will be some time in the future, let Sister Lucia of Fatima burst your hopeful bubble and let you fall back down to reality. In an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia said:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands.
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
We Know the Weapons―But Do Not Use Them
Why do most people become sick? They become sick because they fail to use correctly and well the things that God has placed in this world for our health. They either eat too little of the good healthy foods and eat too much junk food. Or they eat too much of the healthy foods and become obese just like those who binge on junk foods. They also eat too much sugar―preferring the sweet to the bitter―forgetting (or not even knowing in the first place) that “bitter is better”. A teaspoon of fresh ground garlic is far more beneficial than a teaspoon of sugar. The bitter rind or peel of lemons and oranges contain more than twice the amount of Vitamin C than the equivalent weight in either lemon/orange flesh or juice, which is much sweeter.
Most people know―or should know, but are intellectually lazy―what it takes to be healthy and live a long healthy disease free life. Yet most people end up being sick and live painful lives crippled or at least greatly hindered by one disease or another―heart diseases, cancers, diabetes, obesity, arthritic joints, respiratory problems, etc. Yet many years ago, many of those diseases were barely found. A study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet. This merely corroborates the findings of many other honest scientists throughout the world. Professor Rosalie David, at the Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data. In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”
Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States today. The 20th century was the first century in which heart disease was the most common cause of death in the USA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that heart disease causes about 1 in 4 deaths in the United States each year. Yet Heart disease is considered one of the top preventable causes of death in the United States. Why is it not prevented? Because even though people are told what to do to prevent heart disease―they just will not do follow the advice!
The same can be said of so, so, so many other diseases―if we would only follow the sound advice of common sense, wise recommendations of honest nutritionists and health practitioners, which should above all be based on God’s creation and not some man-made deviation.
In addition to eating correct amounts of healthy foods, other “weapons” against disease are the simple things of life―sufficient sleep at the correct times (go to sleep with the sun and rise with the sun), sufficient exercise for the body and not just the fingers exercising on the TV remote control and computers and smartphones, nor the feet exercising on the car brake, gas/accelerator pedals; and the sufficient intake of fresh water (not city contaminated) instead of the alcohol, sodas and other man-made beverages we imbibe; and finally the breathing of fresh air (not city polluted, nor air-conditioner chemicalized, nor household chemical tainted). Those simply things―Food, Water, Air, Exercise and Sleep―taken in their appropriate quantities, go a long way towards guaranteeing a long and healthy life and freedom from disease.
A Healthy Body makes for a Healthy Soul―Healthy Soul makes for a Healthy Body
The spiritual life and supernatural world closely reflects the physical and natural life. Hence the problems, failings and consequences are also similar. Just as God has given us “weapons” that help us fight-off disease and protect our health, the same applies to the weapons to be used in the spiritual life. We should use the correct weapons, in the correct required measures, and use them in a correct way―if not, then spiritual disease and terrible consequences will follow. As the saying goes: “A healthy body makes for a healthy soul!” St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that virtue stands in the middle between excess and insufficiency, between too much and too little, between overstating and understating, between overestimation and underestimation―just like meat perfectly cooked, neither overcooked nor undercooked. If you eat and drink too much―you will sooner or later find that you have lost your health. Eat and drink too little―and you will likewise lose your health. We should eat and drink sensibly―eating and drinking in order to live, and not living in order to eat and drink. Each person is different―just like cars―some have to travel further and carry heavier loads and thus they need more fuel. Others have less traveling to do and carry light loads and thus need less fuel. That is common sense and right reason.
St. Thomas also tells us that ANY THOUGHT, WORD OR ACTION THAT GOES AGAINST RIGHT REASON, IS A SIN. The word “any” means “every”―therefore the tiniest misdemeanor against right reason, against what is logical, against sane thinking―is either a venial or a mortal sin. Take that a stage further, and right reason―or the right reasoning of the Catechism―tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Thus, if sin―even the tiniest venial sin―is the greatest evil on Earth, then what should be the punishment for sin? Certainly nothing trivial! In fact, God tells us in His Holy Scriptures: “Every one shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
The ultimate disease is death―or rather death is the final stage of disease. Sin leads to disease and the ultimate level of disease―which is not only death, but eternal ‘death’ in Hell as opposed to eternal life in Heaven. “For the wages of sin is death―but the grace of God, life everlasting” (Romans 6:23). “Wherefore as by one man [Adam] sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―for in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work―shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered ― for in the prevarication [avoiding the truth, avoiding right reason, lying, hypocritically pretending], by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin which he hath committed―in them he shall die ... For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: for in the injustice that he hath done he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath done, and does judgment and justice―then he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities which he hath done―he shall surely live, and not die! ... Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11).
Our Lord came to give life: eternal life― “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10), but sadly, “you will not come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40), so “if you believe not that I am he, then you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24) … “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Sin Brings Death to Souls―Sin Brings Death to Nations
It is not only souls that are punished for sin―nations are punished also. The difference, however, is that while souls are punished for sin both in this world and the next (Purgatory or Hell), nations, on the other hand, are punished in this world. When you look at the enormous, uncountable, unheard of number of sins being committed throughout all nations today―by those nations in the form of legislating sinful laws, allowing sinful cultures to flourish, and the putting aside of God, or even outright rejection of God and His commandments―then you must surely tremble at the scale of punishment that has to applied to nations in order to redress things in justice! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello, already as far back as the less sinful days of 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
This fits perfectly with Holy Scripture where we see a constant stream of nations punished for their sins―not excluding God’s Chosen People, who were punished during the Exodus from Egypt with millions being made to die in the desert on account of their continual murmuring and sins. Later they were punished with the destruction of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel for idolatry among other sins. After which Jerusalem and its Temple were utterly destroyed for similar sins, and the 70 year Babylonian captivity began. Then, after rejecting Our Lord, Jerusalem and its Temple were again destroyed and all of the inhabitants at time―over 1 million with the influx of pilgrims for the Passover―were killed, with a small number being taken into slavery. In addition to that we see all the nations of the Earth destroyed in Noe’s time by the Great Flood, due to their sinfulness: “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air―for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-7). To list all the other occasions that God has punished nations is too long for this article―indeed it would take a book to fully recount and explain those events! Suffice it to say that we should be trembling in our boots―or lush plush leather slippers―at the thought of what lays in store for the nations that are overloaded with sin and corruption in our day (and we are a part of those nations, are we not?).
Our Lady’s words come to mind: ““As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Those words only echo what Our Lady had said MANY times (though it is often reported as being said only once) that many nations would be annihilated. Regarding the annihilation of nations, it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia of Fatima puts the record straight when she says that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François [Brother Francis], Tragedy and Triumph, 1994, p. 27).
Even though we Catholics are God’s new Chosen People, do we think that we can ignore Our Lady with impunity―thinking that there will be no punishment for ignoring her, or neglecting her message? Every tiny action of ours has consequences and will be both judged and punished: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” says Our Lord (Matthew 12:36). Believe it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―the fact is that we are in the mess that we are in today because of the neglect of Catholics, who, instead of fighting the enemy (the devil, the world and their own flesh with its passions), have instead been fraternizing with the enemy. “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). It is time to acknowledge our failure in this regard, to admit to our treachery towards God, to put right our treason and to take up arms and weapons against the enemy we had made peace with and with whom we were happily and contentedly fraternizing.
What makes things worse is that we know in our hearts of hearts that we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing, or that we are at least doing what we should doing halfheartedly, a half-pace and without much effect―which makes us more guilty: “That servant who knew the will of his Lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). Yet, with God, there is always the chance of “turning around” and finding a “way back”―but not without consequences―otherwise why is there a Purgatory (and hence, also a ‘Purgatory’ of sorts on Earth)?
The Way Out and the Way Back and the Way to Victory
Just as God is prepared to show mercy to individuals― if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing―then he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him―for he hath done judgment and justice, and he shall surely live!” (Ezechiel 33:12-16)―so too is God prepared to show mercy to nations: “I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them” (Jeremias 18:7-8).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains that God’s threatened punishments are conditional upon whether or not a nation repents and puts right its wrongs. St. Thomas writes: “A punishment threatened prophetically is only then commuted when there is a change in the merits of the person threatened. Hence: ‘I will suddenly speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation . . . shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them’ (Jeremias 18:7). Therefore, since the merits of the damned cannot be changed, the threatened punishment will ever be fulfilled in them. Nevertheless the prophecy of commination [= threatening divine vengeance] is always fulfilled in a certain sense, because as Augustine says: ‘Nineve has been overthrown, that was evil, and a good Nineve is built up, that was not: for while the walls and the houses remained standing, the city was overthrown in its wicked ways.’” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, q. 99, art 3).
A case in point from the Old Testament is the plight of the sinful city of Nineve: “The word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it: for the wickedness thereof is come up before Me!’” (Jonas 1:2). At first Jonas disobeyed God and fled in the opposite direction to Nineve―but after the famous “Jonas and whale” incident (Jonas 1:3-16; 2:1-11), Jonas changed his attitude and went to Nineve to fulfill God’s command: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee! And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey [across the city]. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried, and said: ‘Yet forty more days, and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water! And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let everyone turn from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands! Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive―and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not!” (Jonas 3:1-10).
Yet, on the other hand, we see the tragic yet just fate of Sodom and Gomorrha―who potentially had an even better “deal” than the city of Nineve! Abraham pleaded and ‘bargained’ with God to spare Sodom―and God was willing to do that for a mere pittance, a paltry number of 10 just men out of many thousands―but not even that pittance could be mustered up―and thus Sodom was destroyed. Estimates for the population of Sodom vary greatly. Some scholars estimate that the Sodom, Gomorrha and the other destroyed cities of Adama and Seboim, was around the 200,000 mark, with Sodom having around 45,000 to 65,000 inhabitants. Thus God was being extremely and incredibly lenient in being prepared to spare the region if only 10 just and righteous men could be found. Yet such men did not exist and their fate was sealed.
“And the Lord said: ‘Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?’ … And the Lord said: ‘The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous!’ … But Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And drawing near, he said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered, and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for five and forty destroy the whole city?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty!’ And again he said to Him: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ ‘Lord!’ saith he, ‘be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ He answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ ‘Seeing,’ saith he, ‘I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ ‘I beseech thee,’ saith he, ‘be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after He had left speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:17-33).
Alas, to no avail was the pleading and bargaining of Abraham. Not even 50, nor 45, nor 40, nor 30, nor 20 and not even 10 just and righteous men could be found! “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth ... And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, He delivered Lot [Abraham’s nephew] out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him―for he was afraid to stay in Segor―and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him” (Genesis 19:24-30).
We are now in the seventh month of what the mainstream media―aided and abetted and controlled by you-know-who―has made out to be, not only the hottest topic of this year, but the hottest topic of last 100 years or even more. The media made mania about the man-made masked murderer―which is known by its many aliases of Coronavirus, Covid-19, the China Flu, the Plannedemic, the Media Fever, etc.―and which brings with it the nefarious baggage of totalitarian and Communistic tactics and measures such as shutdowns, lockdowns, economic sabotage, mass unemployment, suppression of rights and freedoms, imposition of insane rules, media propaganda, manipulative lies, fake science, fake news, draconian rules, police state, military interventions, and eventually martial law.
The MSM and government bodies have firmly grabbed our weak-minded heads and pushed and rubbed our noses constantly, daily, even hourly in their own self-made false scaremongering, browbeating, psyop (psychological operation) excrement for seven months. You could say it is a new form of the “Chinese Water Torture”. They will just not let-up on the browbeating and brainwashing―despite clear and reputable evidence of their lies, exaggerations, machinations and manipulations. Never before has a topic dominated the MSM (mainstream media) and the alternative media as much this one―perhaps excepting wars―but is not this a “war” of sorts? An undercover war against mankind and ultimately the Church and God. It is what Sister Lucia called the “Devil’s Final Battle with the Virgin”. As Lucia revealed: “She [Our Lady] told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Standing in the Middle Ground―Sitting on the Fence
A battle or war demands action―the Church even speaks of “Catholic Action” as a legitimate arm of the Church. Today―in this present war which, in its current form, has lasted almost 300 years, since the advent of Freemasonry―“Catholic Action” is barely found. All that we see is Catholic inaction, Catholic under-reaction, Catholic abstraction (living only in the realm of theories and talk), Catholic stupefaction, Catholic distraction and Catholic detraction. There is more Catholic “in-fighting” than the fighting of the true enemies of the Church―though it has to be admitted that many enemies have infiltrated and penetrated the walls of the Church (Freemasons, Communists, Modernists, Liberals, etc.) and are masquerading as Catholics. Yet, whoever these enemies may be―whether inside the Church or outside the Church―the ultimate truth remains: today, we are caught up in the middle of a final battle between the Devil and the Virgin―as revealed by Our Lady to Sister Lucia of Fatima.
A further truth is that we are not really fighting in this battle―but we are trying to appease and please both sides. We want to be part of the Church and part of the world. We want to be friends with God and friends with the world. We want the impossible! We want to prove Our Lord was wrong when He said: “You cannot serve God and mammon! … Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). Our Lord has already drawn the battle lines for the war we find ourselves in: “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, for I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
To which the Word of God, Holy Scripture, adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Candy-Floss or Cotton-Candy Catholics
All the above quotes taste like rancid vinegar to us! We have been raised on chocolate and candy! We forget that we are “spoilt children” in the history of the world―not even Our Lord or Our Lady enjoyed the unprecedented privileges that have spoiled us rotten―electricity, gas lines, running water, indoor flushing toilets, showers, gas/electric ovens and stoves, central heating, air conditioning, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, laundry washers and dryers, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, a multitude of electric kitchen appliances, a magnitude of power tools, cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, trains, planes, luxury ships, hospitals with all their modern diagnostics and medical equipment, TVs, radios, phones, computers, the immense lightning-fast research and communications tool which is the Internet, and now the latest kid on the block: Artificial Intelligence. All of those things merely scratch the surface of the plethora of things that surround us, weaken us and spoil us rotten.
As said before―not even Our Lady and Our Lord, the creator of all things, had or chose to have those things at their disposal. These things are things of the world―our enemy. When your enemy gives you so many things―then you find it hard to hate your enemy and fight your enemy! That is precisely our dilemma and downfall today. We don’t the “fire in the belly” to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12). Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49) and we smother that fire with the things of this world. We don’t want to fight the world. We secretly quite like the world―some even ardently love the world! The world does not want us be warrior Catholics, nor soldiers of Christ―the world wants us to be Candy-Floss Catholics or Cotton-Candy Catholics with a sweet-tooth for the world. We stupidly and sadly oblige!
God tells us: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Instead, the world tells us: “Put you on the armor of the world, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the Church. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against outdated conservative clergy, against the rulers of the world of this outdated religion, against the old-fashioned unrealistic bishops and priests in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of the world, that you may be able to resist them every day, and to stand in all things a perfect follower of the world. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with exaggerations and lies, and having on the breastplate of complaints about injustice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of revolution and change. In all things taking the shield of propaganda, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the truthful darts of the most wicked Church. And take unto you the helmet of earbuds or headphones, and the sword of the Smartphone―which deals in the words of the world. By all browsing and posting, communicating at all times through the airwaves and radio waves of your electronic appliances; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication all the TV shows and newscasts that you can!” (Satan’s Gospel 66:6).
Our Lady is Looking for a Fight―Looking For Us to Fight Alongside Her
Sure! Of course the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph! But it will not triumph with us as mere spectators―cheering her on in the arena from the comfort of our seats in the bleachers or stands! She wants us out there with her! She is our general―there is no victory without her―but she wants an army to command. Hence, at La Salette, she says: “. I make an urgent appeal to the Earth! I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Just in case you wishfully think and hopefully argue that “the time of times”―to which Our Lady refers to― will be some time in the future, let Sister Lucia of Fatima burst your hopeful bubble and let you fall back down to reality. In an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia said:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands.
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
We Know the Weapons―But Do Not Use Them
Why do most people become sick? They become sick because they fail to use correctly and well the things that God has placed in this world for our health. They either eat too little of the good healthy foods and eat too much junk food. Or they eat too much of the healthy foods and become obese just like those who binge on junk foods. They also eat too much sugar―preferring the sweet to the bitter―forgetting (or not even knowing in the first place) that “bitter is better”. A teaspoon of fresh ground garlic is far more beneficial than a teaspoon of sugar. The bitter rind or peel of lemons and oranges contain more than twice the amount of Vitamin C than the equivalent weight in either lemon/orange flesh or juice, which is much sweeter.
Most people know―or should know, but are intellectually lazy―what it takes to be healthy and live a long healthy disease free life. Yet most people end up being sick and live painful lives crippled or at least greatly hindered by one disease or another―heart diseases, cancers, diabetes, obesity, arthritic joints, respiratory problems, etc. Yet many years ago, many of those diseases were barely found. A study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet. This merely corroborates the findings of many other honest scientists throughout the world. Professor Rosalie David, at the Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data. In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”
Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States today. The 20th century was the first century in which heart disease was the most common cause of death in the USA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that heart disease causes about 1 in 4 deaths in the United States each year. Yet Heart disease is considered one of the top preventable causes of death in the United States. Why is it not prevented? Because even though people are told what to do to prevent heart disease―they just will not do follow the advice!
The same can be said of so, so, so many other diseases―if we would only follow the sound advice of common sense, wise recommendations of honest nutritionists and health practitioners, which should above all be based on God’s creation and not some man-made deviation.
In addition to eating correct amounts of healthy foods, other “weapons” against disease are the simple things of life―sufficient sleep at the correct times (go to sleep with the sun and rise with the sun), sufficient exercise for the body and not just the fingers exercising on the TV remote control and computers and smartphones, nor the feet exercising on the car brake, gas/accelerator pedals; and the sufficient intake of fresh water (not city contaminated) instead of the alcohol, sodas and other man-made beverages we imbibe; and finally the breathing of fresh air (not city polluted, nor air-conditioner chemicalized, nor household chemical tainted). Those simply things―Food, Water, Air, Exercise and Sleep―taken in their appropriate quantities, go a long way towards guaranteeing a long and healthy life and freedom from disease.
A Healthy Body makes for a Healthy Soul―Healthy Soul makes for a Healthy Body
The spiritual life and supernatural world closely reflects the physical and natural life. Hence the problems, failings and consequences are also similar. Just as God has given us “weapons” that help us fight-off disease and protect our health, the same applies to the weapons to be used in the spiritual life. We should use the correct weapons, in the correct required measures, and use them in a correct way―if not, then spiritual disease and terrible consequences will follow. As the saying goes: “A healthy body makes for a healthy soul!” St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that virtue stands in the middle between excess and insufficiency, between too much and too little, between overstating and understating, between overestimation and underestimation―just like meat perfectly cooked, neither overcooked nor undercooked. If you eat and drink too much―you will sooner or later find that you have lost your health. Eat and drink too little―and you will likewise lose your health. We should eat and drink sensibly―eating and drinking in order to live, and not living in order to eat and drink. Each person is different―just like cars―some have to travel further and carry heavier loads and thus they need more fuel. Others have less traveling to do and carry light loads and thus need less fuel. That is common sense and right reason.
St. Thomas also tells us that ANY THOUGHT, WORD OR ACTION THAT GOES AGAINST RIGHT REASON, IS A SIN. The word “any” means “every”―therefore the tiniest misdemeanor against right reason, against what is logical, against sane thinking―is either a venial or a mortal sin. Take that a stage further, and right reason―or the right reasoning of the Catechism―tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). Thus, if sin―even the tiniest venial sin―is the greatest evil on Earth, then what should be the punishment for sin? Certainly nothing trivial! In fact, God tells us in His Holy Scriptures: “Every one shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
The ultimate disease is death―or rather death is the final stage of disease. Sin leads to disease and the ultimate level of disease―which is not only death, but eternal ‘death’ in Hell as opposed to eternal life in Heaven. “For the wages of sin is death―but the grace of God, life everlasting” (Romans 6:23). “Wherefore as by one man [Adam] sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―for in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work―shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered ― for in the prevarication [avoiding the truth, avoiding right reason, lying, hypocritically pretending], by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin which he hath committed―in them he shall die ... For when the just turneth himself away from his justice and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: for in the injustice that he hath done he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath done, and does judgment and justice―then he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers and turns away himself from all his iniquities which he hath done―he shall surely live, and not die! ... Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11).
Our Lord came to give life: eternal life― “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10), but sadly, “you will not come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40), so “if you believe not that I am he, then you shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24) … “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Sin Brings Death to Souls―Sin Brings Death to Nations
It is not only souls that are punished for sin―nations are punished also. The difference, however, is that while souls are punished for sin both in this world and the next (Purgatory or Hell), nations, on the other hand, are punished in this world. When you look at the enormous, uncountable, unheard of number of sins being committed throughout all nations today―by those nations in the form of legislating sinful laws, allowing sinful cultures to flourish, and the putting aside of God, or even outright rejection of God and His commandments―then you must surely tremble at the scale of punishment that has to applied to nations in order to redress things in justice! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello, already as far back as the less sinful days of 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
This fits perfectly with Holy Scripture where we see a constant stream of nations punished for their sins―not excluding God’s Chosen People, who were punished during the Exodus from Egypt with millions being made to die in the desert on account of their continual murmuring and sins. Later they were punished with the destruction of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel for idolatry among other sins. After which Jerusalem and its Temple were utterly destroyed for similar sins, and the 70 year Babylonian captivity began. Then, after rejecting Our Lord, Jerusalem and its Temple were again destroyed and all of the inhabitants at time―over 1 million with the influx of pilgrims for the Passover―were killed, with a small number being taken into slavery. In addition to that we see all the nations of the Earth destroyed in Noe’s time by the Great Flood, due to their sinfulness: “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air―for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-7). To list all the other occasions that God has punished nations is too long for this article―indeed it would take a book to fully recount and explain those events! Suffice it to say that we should be trembling in our boots―or lush plush leather slippers―at the thought of what lays in store for the nations that are overloaded with sin and corruption in our day (and we are a part of those nations, are we not?).
Our Lady’s words come to mind: ““As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Those words only echo what Our Lady had said MANY times (though it is often reported as being said only once) that many nations would be annihilated. Regarding the annihilation of nations, it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia of Fatima puts the record straight when she says that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François [Brother Francis], Tragedy and Triumph, 1994, p. 27).
Even though we Catholics are God’s new Chosen People, do we think that we can ignore Our Lady with impunity―thinking that there will be no punishment for ignoring her, or neglecting her message? Every tiny action of ours has consequences and will be both judged and punished: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” says Our Lord (Matthew 12:36). Believe it or not, admit it or not, like it or not―the fact is that we are in the mess that we are in today because of the neglect of Catholics, who, instead of fighting the enemy (the devil, the world and their own flesh with its passions), have instead been fraternizing with the enemy. “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). It is time to acknowledge our failure in this regard, to admit to our treachery towards God, to put right our treason and to take up arms and weapons against the enemy we had made peace with and with whom we were happily and contentedly fraternizing.
What makes things worse is that we know in our hearts of hearts that we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing, or that we are at least doing what we should doing halfheartedly, a half-pace and without much effect―which makes us more guilty: “That servant who knew the will of his Lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47). Yet, with God, there is always the chance of “turning around” and finding a “way back”―but not without consequences―otherwise why is there a Purgatory (and hence, also a ‘Purgatory’ of sorts on Earth)?
The Way Out and the Way Back and the Way to Victory
Just as God is prepared to show mercy to individuals― if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing―then he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him―for he hath done judgment and justice, and he shall surely live!” (Ezechiel 33:12-16)―so too is God prepared to show mercy to nations: “I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them” (Jeremias 18:7-8).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains that God’s threatened punishments are conditional upon whether or not a nation repents and puts right its wrongs. St. Thomas writes: “A punishment threatened prophetically is only then commuted when there is a change in the merits of the person threatened. Hence: ‘I will suddenly speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation . . . shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them’ (Jeremias 18:7). Therefore, since the merits of the damned cannot be changed, the threatened punishment will ever be fulfilled in them. Nevertheless the prophecy of commination [= threatening divine vengeance] is always fulfilled in a certain sense, because as Augustine says: ‘Nineve has been overthrown, that was evil, and a good Nineve is built up, that was not: for while the walls and the houses remained standing, the city was overthrown in its wicked ways.’” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, q. 99, art 3).
A case in point from the Old Testament is the plight of the sinful city of Nineve: “The word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it: for the wickedness thereof is come up before Me!’” (Jonas 1:2). At first Jonas disobeyed God and fled in the opposite direction to Nineve―but after the famous “Jonas and whale” incident (Jonas 1:3-16; 2:1-11), Jonas changed his attitude and went to Nineve to fulfill God’s command: “And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Ninive the great city and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee! And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey [across the city]. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried, and said: ‘Yet forty more days, and Ninive shall be destroyed!’ And the men of Ninive believed in God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water! And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let everyone turn from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands! Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive―and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not!” (Jonas 3:1-10).
Yet, on the other hand, we see the tragic yet just fate of Sodom and Gomorrha―who potentially had an even better “deal” than the city of Nineve! Abraham pleaded and ‘bargained’ with God to spare Sodom―and God was willing to do that for a mere pittance, a paltry number of 10 just men out of many thousands―but not even that pittance could be mustered up―and thus Sodom was destroyed. Estimates for the population of Sodom vary greatly. Some scholars estimate that the Sodom, Gomorrha and the other destroyed cities of Adama and Seboim, was around the 200,000 mark, with Sodom having around 45,000 to 65,000 inhabitants. Thus God was being extremely and incredibly lenient in being prepared to spare the region if only 10 just and righteous men could be found. Yet such men did not exist and their fate was sealed.
“And the Lord said: ‘Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?’ … And the Lord said: ‘The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous!’ … But Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And drawing near, he said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered, and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for five and forty destroy the whole city?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty!’ And again he said to Him: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ ‘Lord!’ saith he, ‘be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ He answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ ‘Seeing,’ saith he, ‘I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ ‘I beseech thee,’ saith he, ‘be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after He had left speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:17-33).
Alas, to no avail was the pleading and bargaining of Abraham. Not even 50, nor 45, nor 40, nor 30, nor 20 and not even 10 just and righteous men could be found! “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth ... And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, He delivered Lot [Abraham’s nephew] out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him―for he was afraid to stay in Segor―and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him” (Genesis 19:24-30).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday July 21st & Wednesday July 22nd
Article 10
Wakey! Wakey! HBITS?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Tuesday July 21st & Wednesday July 22nd
Article 10
Wakey! Wakey! HBITS?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Salt and Leaven
Whether we know it or not, like it not, want it or not, our purpose in life―besides the chief obligation of giving glory to God―is to be the “salt of the Earth” and the “leaven” for the world: “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:13-15). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal [the world], until the whole [world] was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).
Watchdogs and Watchmen
We Catholics are the watchdogs or watchmen, not only within the Church, but also within the world today. We are supposed to be the “light” and the “leaven” of God. “The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man [O Catholic], speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them―and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and then sounds the trumpet [warning] and tells the people― then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself when the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. Because he heard the sound of the trumpet [warning] and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him! But if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and sounds not the trumpet [warning] and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then he is rightfully taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the [negligent] watchman. So thou, O son of man [O Catholic], I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel [the Catholic Church today]. Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth and shalt tell My words to them on My behalf. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!” ― if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand! [because of your negligence]. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he does not convert from his ways, then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul [because you were not negligent in giving the warning]. Thou therefore, O son of man [O Catholic], say to the house of Israel [your fellow Catholics]: “Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?” Say to them: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezechiel 33:1-11).
Catholics Hit By The HBITS VIrus
Unfortunately, today, “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). We are blind because of the HBITS virus. We have our Heads Buried In The Sand―HBITS.We have our heads buried in the sands of entertainment―as Our Lady of La Salette said: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” We have our heads buried in comforts and luxuries―as warned by Our Lady of Good Success: “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.” We have our heads buried in sensuality, immodesty and impurity―as warned by Our Lady of Good Success: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
Priests have capitulated! Parents have surrendered! Teachers have given up! The parishes, homes and schools that should have been centers of prayer and sacrifice, have become play-centers―as Our Lord said: “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:13). Families, schools and parishes are no longer living the Faith and the Commandments in their fullness ― which means loving God above all and with ALL our mind, ALL our heart, ALL our soul and ALL our strength ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). God is no longer glorified and loved above all other things in the home (if He ever was in the first place)―the idol of entertainment, with its many different heads, now sits on the throne where God should rightfully sit.
When you look at the many hours spent DAILY on one form of entertainment or another―and compare that to the time spent in prayer or spiritual reading or meditation or assistance at extra Masses or visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament―then there cannot be any argument offered in defense of such families and persons. Our Lord’s words to His Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane are an indictment of such persons: “He cometh to His disciples and findeth them asleep [immersed in entertainment], and He saith to Peter: ‘What? Could you not watch one hour with me?’” (Matthew 26:40). Children (adults too) spend hours in entertainment and parents say nothing― His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10) ― as their children surrender themselves to the smartphone idol in their hands, in effect replacing the Rosary beads that should be in their hands with the worldly smartphone! Not so smart after all―as they will see on Judgment Day!
As The Imitation of Christ says: “Why do you not provide for yourself against the Day of Judgment when no man can be excused or defended by another―because each will have enough to do to answer for himself? It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning. For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. There the lazy will be driven with burning prongs, and gluttons tormented with unspeakable hunger and thirst; the wanton and lust-loving will be bathed in burning pitch and foul brimstone; the envious will howl in their grief like mad dogs. Every vice will have its own proper punishment. The proud will be faced with every confusion and the avaricious pinched with the most abject want. One hour of suffering there will be more bitter than a hundred years of the most severe penance here. In this life men sometimes rest from work and enjoy the comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or consolation. In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. Simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having lived daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will Hell fire do? In truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24). “To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!’ (Matthew 16:24) seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ (Matthew 25:41).” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12).
Taken a Wrong Turn on the Road of Life
Today more than ever you could say that most Catholics have taken a wrong turn on the “Road of Life” that should lead them to Heaven. They feel safe among the crowds―thinking there is safety in numbers―but once again the HBITS virus strikes again! In their besottedness and infatuation with entertainment, amusement and fun they have blinded themselves to the words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, takes up the same theme, saying: “Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? … Two groups appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. The world’s group, the devil’s in fact, is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (cf. Matthew 7:13-14) … Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
O Catholics! Get Real if You Really Want to Get to Heaven!
How much stupid can Catholics become? How is it that they cannot see that they have one foot in Hell already? Why do they not believe Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians who tell us that MOST souls are lost―not just in our very dangerous days, but that has ALWAYS been the case, from Our Lord’s day until our day! What will it take to drive that truth into the thick skulls of complacent Catholics? God wants to save everyone―but not everyone accepts God’s terms for salvation. It is not a case of God wanting to damn most people―it is a case of most people living like they don’t give a damn! It is sad, tragic, unnecessary and infuriating! Stop burying your head in the sand! Stop running and hiding from the truth! Stop twisting the truth to create your own palatable truth! For Heaven’s sake, do the math for yourself! Add together these following quotes and see for yourself the sum total!
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lord? “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And He answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’” (Luke 13:23-27). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Good Success? “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... [From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” (Our Lady of Good Success). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of La Salette? “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... and men will become more and more perverted … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.” Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Fatima? “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Akita? “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Sister Lucia of Fatima? The following words are from an interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these additional words of Sister Lucia of Fatima? “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these additional words of St. Alphonsus—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians? “God, as the Apostle St. Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other fathers, teach that, as God has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which he will give him, so he has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offence? St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin.’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Say not then, O sinner, ‘As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it!’ Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Listen, then, sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: ‘My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee’ (Ecclesiasticus 21:1). Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of the divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever.”
Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of the following Saints, Fathers and Doctors of the Church? Remember this―that these saints were living in times which had far less temptations that we face today and were hence much less sinful ages than our age. Bear in mind also the words that Our Lady spoke to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604): “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect?”
St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.”
St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!”
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment … It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved. . . They are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil.”
St. Remigius of Rheims (437-533): “With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned.”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved … Those who are saved are in the minority.”
St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost … In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … All would wish to be saved and to enjoy the glory of paradise; but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commandments ... The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be! … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved; but these cases are very rare: ordinarily he that leads a bad life dies a bad death … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape, especially among seculars. Scarcely anyone is saved … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned.”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow ... Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.”
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552): “Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!”
St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660): “Ah! A great many persons live constantly in the state of damnation!”
St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved…I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist.”
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, (1769-1837): “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter.”
St. John Marie Vianney (1786-1859): “The number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vineyard-pickers have passed … We shall find out at the day of judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion.”
St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.”
Still Craving Entertainment? Or Perhaps You Are Acquiring a Taste for Prayer and Penance?
Is your head still buried in the sands of entertainment, or the sands of comfort and luxury, or the sands of daydreams and wishful thinking, or the sands of vain imagination, or the sands of a virtual reality, or the sands of your own little world? Or have you pulled your head out those fatal sands and are coming to grips and terms with reality? Speaking of “sands” ― Our Lord’s words come to mind: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). In addition: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Whether we know it or not, like it not, want it or not, our purpose in life―besides the chief obligation of giving glory to God―is to be the “salt of the Earth” and the “leaven” for the world: “You are the salt of the Earth! But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men! You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a table, but upon a candlestick, so that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:13-15). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal [the world], until the whole [world] was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).
Watchdogs and Watchmen
We Catholics are the watchdogs or watchmen, not only within the Church, but also within the world today. We are supposed to be the “light” and the “leaven” of God. “The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man [O Catholic], speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them―and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and then sounds the trumpet [warning] and tells the people― then he that hears the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and does not look to himself when the sword come and cut him off, then his blood shall be upon his own head. Because he heard the sound of the trumpet [warning] and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him! But if he looks to himself, then he shall save his life. And if the watchman sees the sword coming and sounds not the trumpet [warning] and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, then he is rightfully taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the [negligent] watchman. So thou, O son of man [O Catholic], I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel [the Catholic Church today]. Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth and shalt tell My words to them on My behalf. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!” ― if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand! [because of your negligence]. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he does not convert from his ways, then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul [because you were not negligent in giving the warning]. Thou therefore, O son of man [O Catholic], say to the house of Israel [your fellow Catholics]: “Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?” Say to them: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezechiel 33:1-11).
Catholics Hit By The HBITS VIrus
Unfortunately, today, “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). We are blind because of the HBITS virus. We have our Heads Buried In The Sand―HBITS.We have our heads buried in the sands of entertainment―as Our Lady of La Salette said: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” We have our heads buried in comforts and luxuries―as warned by Our Lady of Good Success: “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost.” We have our heads buried in sensuality, immodesty and impurity―as warned by Our Lady of Good Success: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
Priests have capitulated! Parents have surrendered! Teachers have given up! The parishes, homes and schools that should have been centers of prayer and sacrifice, have become play-centers―as Our Lord said: “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:13). Families, schools and parishes are no longer living the Faith and the Commandments in their fullness ― which means loving God above all and with ALL our mind, ALL our heart, ALL our soul and ALL our strength ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). God is no longer glorified and loved above all other things in the home (if He ever was in the first place)―the idol of entertainment, with its many different heads, now sits on the throne where God should rightfully sit.
When you look at the many hours spent DAILY on one form of entertainment or another―and compare that to the time spent in prayer or spiritual reading or meditation or assistance at extra Masses or visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament―then there cannot be any argument offered in defense of such families and persons. Our Lord’s words to His Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane are an indictment of such persons: “He cometh to His disciples and findeth them asleep [immersed in entertainment], and He saith to Peter: ‘What? Could you not watch one hour with me?’” (Matthew 26:40). Children (adults too) spend hours in entertainment and parents say nothing― His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10) ― as their children surrender themselves to the smartphone idol in their hands, in effect replacing the Rosary beads that should be in their hands with the worldly smartphone! Not so smart after all―as they will see on Judgment Day!
As The Imitation of Christ says: “Why do you not provide for yourself against the Day of Judgment when no man can be excused or defended by another―because each will have enough to do to answer for himself? It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning. For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. There the lazy will be driven with burning prongs, and gluttons tormented with unspeakable hunger and thirst; the wanton and lust-loving will be bathed in burning pitch and foul brimstone; the envious will howl in their grief like mad dogs. Every vice will have its own proper punishment. The proud will be faced with every confusion and the avaricious pinched with the most abject want. One hour of suffering there will be more bitter than a hundred years of the most severe penance here. In this life men sometimes rest from work and enjoy the comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or consolation. In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. Simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on Earth. Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having lived daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will Hell fire do? In truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ.” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 24). “To many the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!’ (Matthew 16:24) seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ (Matthew 25:41).” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12).
Taken a Wrong Turn on the Road of Life
Today more than ever you could say that most Catholics have taken a wrong turn on the “Road of Life” that should lead them to Heaven. They feel safe among the crowds―thinking there is safety in numbers―but once again the HBITS virus strikes again! In their besottedness and infatuation with entertainment, amusement and fun they have blinded themselves to the words of Our Lord: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). St. Louis de Montfort, in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, takes up the same theme, saying: “Is the way you follow the one that leads to this goal? Is it the true way of life, the narrow way, the thorn-strewn way to Calvary? Or are you unconsciously traveling the world’s broad road, the road to perdition? Do you realize that there is a highroad which to all appearances is straight and safe for man to travel, but which in reality leads to death? … Two groups appear before you each day―the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. The world’s group, the devil’s in fact, is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver (cf. Matthew 7:13-14) … Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure,’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
O Catholics! Get Real if You Really Want to Get to Heaven!
How much stupid can Catholics become? How is it that they cannot see that they have one foot in Hell already? Why do they not believe Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians who tell us that MOST souls are lost―not just in our very dangerous days, but that has ALWAYS been the case, from Our Lord’s day until our day! What will it take to drive that truth into the thick skulls of complacent Catholics? God wants to save everyone―but not everyone accepts God’s terms for salvation. It is not a case of God wanting to damn most people―it is a case of most people living like they don’t give a damn! It is sad, tragic, unnecessary and infuriating! Stop burying your head in the sand! Stop running and hiding from the truth! Stop twisting the truth to create your own palatable truth! For Heaven’s sake, do the math for yourself! Add together these following quotes and see for yourself the sum total!
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lord? “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us!’ And He answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!’ And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’” (Luke 13:23-27). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Good Success? “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... [From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” (Our Lady of Good Success). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of La Salette? “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... and men will become more and more perverted … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.” Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Fatima? “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Our Lady of Akita? “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of Sister Lucia of Fatima? The following words are from an interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these additional words of Sister Lucia of Fatima? “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these additional words of St. Alphonsus—a Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians? “God, as the Apostle St. Paul says, ‘will have all men to be saved,’ (1 Timothy 2:4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other fathers, teach that, as God has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which he will give him, so he has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand, from God, a reason why He pardons one person a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offence? St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. ‘Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin.’ (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Say not then, O sinner, ‘As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it!’ Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Listen, then, sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: ‘My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee’ (Ecclesiasticus 21:1). Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of the divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever.”
Pull your head out of the optimistic sands, “get real” for once and digest those words―then let them lead you to some kind of positive action! It is time to have many Masses offered against the enemies of the Church! It is time to put down the smartphones and pick up the Rosaries! It is time to spend hours each day praying and sacrificing instead of hours each day browsing and posting! It is time to stop watching so much TV and do some watching in front of the tabernacles! Containment of the enemy (the world), not entertainment by the enemy (the world).
► What don’t you understand about these words of the following Saints, Fathers and Doctors of the Church? Remember this―that these saints were living in times which had far less temptations that we face today and were hence much less sinful ages than our age. Bear in mind also the words that Our Lady spoke to Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604): “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect?”
St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.”
St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.”
St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!”
St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment … It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate … Not all, nor even a majority, are saved. . . They are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil.”
St. Remigius of Rheims (437-533): “With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned.”
St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved … Those who are saved are in the minority.”
St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost … In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … All would wish to be saved and to enjoy the glory of paradise; but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commandments ... The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be! … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved; but these cases are very rare: ordinarily he that leads a bad life dies a bad death … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape, especially among seculars. Scarcely anyone is saved … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned.”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow ... Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.”
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552): “Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!”
St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660): “Ah! A great many persons live constantly in the state of damnation!”
St. Benedict Joseph of Labre (1748-1783): “Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved… Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved…I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist.”
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, (1769-1837): “The greater number of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few ― not as many as ten ― went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in midwinter.”
St. John Marie Vianney (1786-1859): “The number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vineyard-pickers have passed … We shall find out at the day of judgment that the greater number of Christians who are lost were damned because they did not know their own religion.”
St. John Neumann (1811-1860): “Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.”
Still Craving Entertainment? Or Perhaps You Are Acquiring a Taste for Prayer and Penance?
Is your head still buried in the sands of entertainment, or the sands of comfort and luxury, or the sands of daydreams and wishful thinking, or the sands of vain imagination, or the sands of a virtual reality, or the sands of your own little world? Or have you pulled your head out those fatal sands and are coming to grips and terms with reality? Speaking of “sands” ― Our Lord’s words come to mind: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). In addition: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday July 18th & Sunday July 19th & Monday July 20th
Article 9
Are You Trying to Avoid the Unavoidable and Inevitable?
Saturday July 18th & Sunday July 19th & Monday July 20th
Article 9
Are You Trying to Avoid the Unavoidable and Inevitable?
Mission Impossible? Or Impossible Attitude?
Most people have already packed their bags for Heaven! These are the eternal optimists who might end up being eternally disappointed! Sure! God wants to save all souls―but will all souls be saved? Of that we are not so sure! In fact, Our Lord’s words should surely dispel all assurity! “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Many are the Catholic children who attend Catholic schools―but few are the children who keep the Faith at the end of their ‘Catholic’ schooling. What agony it must be for parents and teachers (hopefully they are in agony) to see their children and students falling away from the Faith while still under parental care and teacher tutelage! Perhaps that is wishful thinking―for, today, it seems that most parents and teachers are pretty much indifferent about those under their care and charge falling away from the Faith―in fact, many if not most parents and teachers themselves have also fallen away from the Faith.
Catastrophically Crumbling Catholic Children
A 2018 study on young adults leaving the Catholic Church found people stopped identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13, long before they ceased attending a parish. 80% of Catholics are no longer Catholic by the time they turn 23. Interviews with youth and young adults who had left the Catholic Faith revealed that the typical age for this decision to leave was made at 13. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, 63%, said they stopped being Catholic between the ages of 10 and 17. Another 23% say they left the Faith before the age of 10. About half of those who left Catholicism joined another religion, while 35% (7 out of 20) became “nones”― unaffiliated with any particular religious tradition. Less than 20% (1 out of 5) of respondents became atheists or agnostics.
Around 13% of U.S. adults are former Catholics. Parents raised as Catholics increasingly choose not to baptize their children―even though Catholic fertility rates largely reflect that of the general population, fewer infants are baptized today than in the 1940s. At least three-quarters of people raised Catholic say they attended Mass at least once a week as children, including those who later left the Catholic Church. But those who have become unaffiliated exhibit a sharp decline in worship service attendance progressively throughout their lifetime: 74% attended regularly as children, 44% did so as teens and only 2% do so as adults.
Majorities of former Catholics who are now unaffiliated also cite having stopped believing in Catholicism’s teachings overall (65%) or dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about abortion and homosexuality (56%), and almost half (48%) say that they are dissatisfied with Church teachings about birth control, as reasons for leaving Catholicism.
No Wonder Our Lady Complains and Cries!
► 1917 ― Our Lady of Fatima warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Many souls go to Hell!”
► 1929 ― Our Lady later said to Sister Lucia of Fatima: “So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed” (Vision of Our Lady at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
► 1954 ― The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
► 1956 ― To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Our Lady is speaking of 1956―how much worse is the situation in 2020!
► 1957 ― “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions! She never smiled at us! Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► 1973 ― “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Our Lady is speaking in 1973―how much worse is the situation in 2020!
► 2020 ― What would Our Lady say today―for in our day sins have increased greatly in number and gravity. When Our Lady said in 1917 “” and later repeated the warning at Akita “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” ― at that time there was no legislation allowing the abortion of 40-50 million babies each year, which corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. 24% percent of women who procure abortions identify as Catholic. When Our Lady spoke those words, there was no legislation that permitted no-fault divorces, until the 1970s―which opened the floodgates to divorce and remarriage. Today, it is thought approximately 42%-45% of marriages in the United States end in divorce (this does not include legal separations). When you break that down by number of marriages: 42%-45% percent of first marriages end in divorce. 60% of second marriages end in divorce. An estimated 28% of American Catholic adults who have ever been married have since divorced, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. When Our Lady spoke those words, the sin of contraception had not advanced to its present day degree―whereby it is said that 95% of American Catholics women have practiced contraception at some point in their lives. More than 99% of women aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method. Some 60% of all women of reproductive age are currently using a contraceptive method. On the topic of homosexuality, that too has increased exponentially due to its legalization. Approximately one in 100 American women and two in 100 American men identify as homosexual, with another 4% of Americans identifying as bisexual.
Corrupted Contemporary Children
Today, children―and sadly Catholic children―grow up in an environment where abortion is acceptable, where contraception is acceptable, where living in sin is acceptable, where homosexual relations are acceptable, where divorce is acceptable, where drug use is acceptable, where pornography is acceptable. No wonder they fall away from the Faith by the time they finish their education by the ages of 18 or 23! As Our Lady warned: “These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Building on Rock or Sand?
You could just as easily put the following words of Our Lord into the mouth of Our Lady―as applied to the warnings she has given us in her many modern-day apparitions: “Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
In fact, Our Lady of La Salette herself foretells something similar: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... People will believe that all is lost.”
Can You See It Coming?
If you are one of the few who is not besotted by entertainment, amusement, fun and games―then you most likely are seeing all these things “coming to a boil” right now, before our very own eyes. Those minions of Satan, who currently control and orchestrate the chief events throughout the world, are setting us up for all the above calamities.
Our Lord has already spoken of and warned us of the events that are now unfolding: “The disciples came to Him privately, saying: ‘Tell us when shall these things be?’ And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved ... For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but, for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened.’” (Matthew 24:3-22).
Our Lord has told us to watch and pray: “Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33). There are far too many people “watching” without doing the “praying”! With the advent of the internet and TV, we have become a race of “watchers” who merely seek “to know” what’s going on and then to merely “talk” about what’s happening, without actually “doing” anything about what’s happening. We have become just like the comfortable croaking frog laying back complacently in the ever-increasingly heated pan of water, oblivious to the fact and the agenda that he is being slowly boiled to death. We stupidly imagine that we are “doing” something by “knowing” what is going on, without actually “doing” something to prevent what is going on. We fall into the trap of thinking “Knowledge is power!” whereas, in reality, we are merely becoming “intellectually constipated” or “constipated with knowledge”―we put more and more knowledge into our minds with our gluttony for information overload, without actually “digesting” and “processing” and “changing” that knowledge into “energy” for action. All of this is very similar to the Parable of the Talents, where the man who was giving one talent did nothing with it, but buried it in the ground. Or it is like having the Faith and doing nothing with it: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith!” Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Many Today Who Have the Faith Are Dead!
Holy Scripture “hits the nail on the head” or points out the “final nail in the coffin” for most Catholics―they have the Faith, but they have very little works of Faith, or even no works of Faith. They are merely Catholic “bodies” without the Catholic “spirit”―they are like the “walking dead” or “Catholic zombies”. This is especially true of almost all of today’s Catholic youth―which is why they lose the Faith, or at least stop practicing the works of Faith by the time they finish their education somewhere around the ages of 18 to 23, or when they leave the home of their parents. They are nothing other than what Our Lord calls “the blind” ― “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). The same could be said of many or most of the parents and teachers who raised, formed and taught those children―they too are blind and blind leaders, for many have fallen away from the Faith, or at least know very little about the Faith―hence they cannot pass on to others what they do not have themselves. “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).
Can Catholic Zombies Be Resurrected and Pulled Out of the Pit?
Without a shadow of a doubt, Catholics today―especially most of the youth―are “the pits’. It is pitiful to see God replaced by a smartphone; attendance at Holy Mass replaced by worshiping social media; prayer replaced by text messages, email, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These things are false idols―proved by the disproportionate time spent on them―false idols that are idolized in our day and age―and those idols have to be ‘destroyed’ if they are getting in the way of God, and that idolatry has to be punished. Has the situation become hopeless, or can it be reversed, or at least made to be less worse than it is?
Learning From Alcoholics
“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8) said Our Lord. In some things we have to admit that there is a lot to be learnt from the way worldly people approach things. If we only had the zeal for spiritual things like sinners have zeal for sin―then we would probably guarantee our salvation. Possibly or even probably there is nobody on this planet―no matter how bad they are―that we could not learn something from them. This is especially true in the way the organization Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) approaches, guides and treats alcoholics. You will have undoubtedly heard of “12 Steps” program used by Alcoholics Anonymous, which lays down a pathway of 12 ordered steps which is intended to be the framework or “walker” that will help the “disabled” alcoholic walk out of his addiction and disease.
Interestingly, even though Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] does not see itself as a religious institution, it nevertheless borrows and leans upon many religious principles that were deliberately taken from the Bible. Many AA members would be surprised to learn that in the very earliest days of AA, the 12 steps had not yet been written down. Bob Smith described the situation in 1935 in this way: “We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them . . . as a result of our study of the Good Book.” [Dr. Bob and the Good Old-timers (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1991 [1980]), 97]. One early AA member recalls that the founder of AA, Dr. Bob Smith used to stand up at the meeting with the Bible under his arm, saying that “the answers were there if you looked for them―because people back in the Old Testament were just like people of this century and had the same problems.” [Ibid., 228].
The Bible served as AA’s earliest meditation book. Dr. Bob Smith and his wife Anne, were especially fond of the Epistle of St. James, with its emphasis on a Faith that works through charity: “For Faith without works is dead,” as Anne would often conclude the morning devotion. In the early years, Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] was so impressed with the necessity of following St. James, in putting their Faith to work, that they often thought of calling their new fellowship “The James Club.” They also often meditated on the meaning of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and on St. Paul’s words about true charity (in 1 Corinthians 13:1-9). The Bible was the only reading material allowed to hospitalized alcoholics, and Dr. Bob Smith regularly described AA as a Christian fellowship when inquirers came to him. At meetings, he cited his favorite Scriptures and used stories in much the same way that parables are used in the Bible.
AA’s Big Book puts it this way: “Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them―even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help.” [Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1992 [1976]), 62]. St. Paul said the same thing. “I can want what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:18-19). Deliverance from this state must come from outside the self and not from within. The central Christian belief is that Christ in his own Person is the Deliverer. AA’s Big Book states frankly that the alcoholic had to “quit playing God” because “it didn’t work.” [A.A. , 62].
The other of the two founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson himself, wrote that “it seems absolutely necessary for most of us to get over the idea that man is God.” With regard to spiritual growth, the founder of AA, Bill Wilson, always spoke in biblical terms of “growing in the image and likeness of God.” Bill Wilson had a deep attraction to the Catholic Faith, and even corresponded with Bishop Fulton Sheen. In the early days of AA, a Jesuit priest named Fr. Edward Dowling befriended Wilson after reading AA’s publication (the Big Book). He saw a similarity between the 12 steps of AA and Ignatian spirituality; in fact, at AA’s twentieth anniversary celebration, Fr. Dowling spoke about the parallels between the steps of recovery and Jesus Christ’s redemption of mankind. Through his friendship with Fr. Dowling, Wilson came to love the Catholic Church, but sadly he never converted because some of the doctrines, especially infallibility and the Sacraments, did not seem to correspond with his experience of God working in his life.
The 12 Steps to Recovery of Alcoholics Anonymous
The 12-Step approach follows a set of guidelines designed as “steps” toward recovery, and members can revisit these steps at any time. The 12 Steps are:
(1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
(2) We came to believe that [God] a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
(3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
(4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
(5) We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
(6) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
(7) We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
(8) We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
(9) We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
(10) We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
(11) We sought, through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Catholicism and Alcoholism? What’s the Point?
You might well say: “Where is all this leading to? What the heck has Alcoholics Anonymous got to do with Catholicism and the present messes or crises that we find ourselves in? Seems stupid to me!” Hold your horses! Not so fast! There is a connection―besides that of Our Lord saying: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8).
The point is―or the connection is―that just as we are all born with Original Sin and a capacity to sin, we are likewise all born with the strong cravings and a capacity for addiction. In fact―don’t be shocked at this statement―we are all born addicts, we are all meant to be addicts, we are all meant to have an addiction. That addiction is meant to be, intended to be, an addiction to God! Who else but an addict could fulfill the commandment of “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Similarly, who else but an addict can “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and “always pray, and not faint” (Luke 18:1).
If someone was talking about something all the time, without ceasing, giving that thing all their heart, soul, mind and strength―what you call them? You would call them a “fanatic”, an “addict”―you would say that they were addicted to that thing, whether it be sport, a hobby, work, etc.
The problem with most people today is that they are abusing and misusing their God-given gift of addiction on things and not using or focusing that addiction on God. That is why we are essentially in the mess that find ourselves in today. Can we expect to be blessed by God for not doing what we were supposed to do? Can we expect praise and rewards for disobedience and rebellion? We have become addicts of things and not the Thing that really matters, the Thing that we were created to be addicted to―God Himself. Our children, our students, our parishioners have fallen-away from the Faith or are growing weaker and weaker in the Faith because we have either not restrained, or allowed, or even encouraged and fostered their addiction to the world and all it has to offer at the expense of God. More often than not, it is our own misguided addiction that has led to this―for how will our children, our students, our parishioners foster an addiction to God if they do not see in on a daily basis in us?
Bad Attitude Brings Bad Fruits
The bad fruits that we see in both the Church and the world are a direct result of our bad attitude towards our responsibilities to both the Church and the world. The ultimate reason why the Church is as lukewarm, sinful, Liberal and Modernist as it is―all comes down to a lack of prayer and sacrifice on the part of the whole Mystical Body of Christ. Our Lady―in many of her apparitions―begged for many Rosaries to be prayed daily and for many prayers to be said for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.
Our Lady appealed: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need’” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on at night, but only to wear it during the daytime” (Our Lady of Fatima, September 1917). Continue always to pray the Rosary every day ... Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (Our Lady of Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much—very much!” (Our Lady of Akita, July 6th, 1973). Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men” (Our Lady of Akita, August 3rd, 1973). “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
One saintly bishop once said that the Second Vatican Council would have turned out the way it did if the faithful had been praying for the pope, the bishops and the priests.
Tired of hearing all this AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN? Our Lady is probably more tired than you by her having to repeat these things to the world AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN! She herself lamented at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima later lamented in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet all the while―like a stubborn immature rebellious teenager―we stubbornly, stupidly and sadly resist the commands of the Mother of God, somehow thinking ourselves to be exempt, independent and untouchable despite our disobedience and indifference. We sin with impunity―impunity being defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.” On the Day of Judgment―when Our Lord says that every idle word will be judged: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―we will also find our idleness also judged and we will have to render an account for our indifference, laziness, neglect and outright disobedience. “The Lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not … And that servant, who knew the will of his Lord and prepared not himself and did not according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:46-48).
As Our Lady of Good Success stated: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Prayer, penance and sacrifices draw down grace from Heaven to control, “put the brakes on”, restrain, reform, change and convert the sinful world, the sinful Church and our sinful selves. A lack of prayer, penance and sacrifice results in a absence of those saving graces and allows the sinful world, the sinful Church and our sinful selves to spiral out of control and largely contributes to the fact that most souls are damned. The vain excuse of Cain― “Am I my brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9) ― will be just as vain an excuse for us as it was vain for Cain! As the great Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom warns, on the Day of Judgment we will be judged for EVERYTHING that happened in the world while we were alive. Does that sound harsh, unfair, unreasonable, over-exaggerated? You will protest: “How could I possibly influence everything that happened in the world while I was alive? I am not ubiquitous (= present everywhere) and omnipotent (=all powerful) like God!” That is true―but your prayers and sacrifices can be applied to anyone anywhere and everyone everywhere. Yet we pray so little and sacrifice so little―while giving much time and much talk to the things of the world and things that interest us! What a waste of time! You were put on Earth―not to have fun time, independent of God, to follow our whims and fancies. You were put on Earth to serve God as a soldier of Christ and to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), knowing that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Sadly, the only fighting we now do is to fight amongst ourselves―giving a free rein to the enemies of Church (inside and outside the Church) to wreak their havoc and perform their destruction of both Church and society.
“And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our present day civilization is about to fall―and great will be the fall thereof―because we have ignored or even rejected the words of Christ and His Blessed Mother. As we have sown, so shall we reap! Unless …
Our Lord had said to Sister Lucia of Fatima in 1931: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” But that was almost 90 years ago―and still the requests {commands] of Heaven have not been obeyed and completed. Strangely―we don’t seem to care! It does not worry us! We don’t really “give a hoot”!
Once again, to repeat what was just said above: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
If there are less and less monasteries and convents today―because of less and less vocations to the religious life today―then the onus or burden falls upon the Catholic laity and what you could call the “monastery” or “convent” of the family home. It is from those “monasteries” or “convents” that those neessary prayers, penances and sacrifices must rise up to Heaven. But is that likely to happen? Will it happen? Will it happen in your “monastery” or “convent”? Or has the pagan, barbaric world with its worldliness already invaded your “monastery” or “convent” and neutralized or contaminated your Catholicism? If so, then as Our Lady said: “This contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
Most people have already packed their bags for Heaven! These are the eternal optimists who might end up being eternally disappointed! Sure! God wants to save all souls―but will all souls be saved? Of that we are not so sure! In fact, Our Lord’s words should surely dispel all assurity! “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate―for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Many are the Catholic children who attend Catholic schools―but few are the children who keep the Faith at the end of their ‘Catholic’ schooling. What agony it must be for parents and teachers (hopefully they are in agony) to see their children and students falling away from the Faith while still under parental care and teacher tutelage! Perhaps that is wishful thinking―for, today, it seems that most parents and teachers are pretty much indifferent about those under their care and charge falling away from the Faith―in fact, many if not most parents and teachers themselves have also fallen away from the Faith.
Catastrophically Crumbling Catholic Children
A 2018 study on young adults leaving the Catholic Church found people stopped identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13, long before they ceased attending a parish. 80% of Catholics are no longer Catholic by the time they turn 23. Interviews with youth and young adults who had left the Catholic Faith revealed that the typical age for this decision to leave was made at 13. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, 63%, said they stopped being Catholic between the ages of 10 and 17. Another 23% say they left the Faith before the age of 10. About half of those who left Catholicism joined another religion, while 35% (7 out of 20) became “nones”― unaffiliated with any particular religious tradition. Less than 20% (1 out of 5) of respondents became atheists or agnostics.
Around 13% of U.S. adults are former Catholics. Parents raised as Catholics increasingly choose not to baptize their children―even though Catholic fertility rates largely reflect that of the general population, fewer infants are baptized today than in the 1940s. At least three-quarters of people raised Catholic say they attended Mass at least once a week as children, including those who later left the Catholic Church. But those who have become unaffiliated exhibit a sharp decline in worship service attendance progressively throughout their lifetime: 74% attended regularly as children, 44% did so as teens and only 2% do so as adults.
Majorities of former Catholics who are now unaffiliated also cite having stopped believing in Catholicism’s teachings overall (65%) or dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about abortion and homosexuality (56%), and almost half (48%) say that they are dissatisfied with Church teachings about birth control, as reasons for leaving Catholicism.
No Wonder Our Lady Complains and Cries!
► 1917 ― Our Lady of Fatima warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go … Many souls go to Hell!”
► 1929 ― Our Lady later said to Sister Lucia of Fatima: “So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed” (Vision of Our Lady at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
► 1954 ― The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
► 1956 ― To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! If I were to show all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” Our Lady is speaking of 1956―how much worse is the situation in 2020!
► 1957 ― “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions! She never smiled at us! Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! “The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
► 1973 ― “The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). Our Lady is speaking in 1973―how much worse is the situation in 2020!
► 2020 ― What would Our Lady say today―for in our day sins have increased greatly in number and gravity. When Our Lady said in 1917 “” and later repeated the warning at Akita “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” ― at that time there was no legislation allowing the abortion of 40-50 million babies each year, which corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. 24% percent of women who procure abortions identify as Catholic. When Our Lady spoke those words, there was no legislation that permitted no-fault divorces, until the 1970s―which opened the floodgates to divorce and remarriage. Today, it is thought approximately 42%-45% of marriages in the United States end in divorce (this does not include legal separations). When you break that down by number of marriages: 42%-45% percent of first marriages end in divorce. 60% of second marriages end in divorce. An estimated 28% of American Catholic adults who have ever been married have since divorced, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. When Our Lady spoke those words, the sin of contraception had not advanced to its present day degree―whereby it is said that 95% of American Catholics women have practiced contraception at some point in their lives. More than 99% of women aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method. Some 60% of all women of reproductive age are currently using a contraceptive method. On the topic of homosexuality, that too has increased exponentially due to its legalization. Approximately one in 100 American women and two in 100 American men identify as homosexual, with another 4% of Americans identifying as bisexual.
Corrupted Contemporary Children
Today, children―and sadly Catholic children―grow up in an environment where abortion is acceptable, where contraception is acceptable, where living in sin is acceptable, where homosexual relations are acceptable, where divorce is acceptable, where drug use is acceptable, where pornography is acceptable. No wonder they fall away from the Faith by the time they finish their education by the ages of 18 or 23! As Our Lady warned: “These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Building on Rock or Sand?
You could just as easily put the following words of Our Lord into the mouth of Our Lady―as applied to the warnings she has given us in her many modern-day apparitions: “Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
In fact, Our Lady of La Salette herself foretells something similar: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes … The Earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds―in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread ... People will believe that all is lost.”
Can You See It Coming?
If you are one of the few who is not besotted by entertainment, amusement, fun and games―then you most likely are seeing all these things “coming to a boil” right now, before our very own eyes. Those minions of Satan, who currently control and orchestrate the chief events throughout the world, are setting us up for all the above calamities.
Our Lord has already spoken of and warned us of the events that are now unfolding: “The disciples came to Him privately, saying: ‘Tell us when shall these things be?’ And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved ... For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but, for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened.’” (Matthew 24:3-22).
Our Lord has told us to watch and pray: “Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is!” (Mark 13:33). There are far too many people “watching” without doing the “praying”! With the advent of the internet and TV, we have become a race of “watchers” who merely seek “to know” what’s going on and then to merely “talk” about what’s happening, without actually “doing” anything about what’s happening. We have become just like the comfortable croaking frog laying back complacently in the ever-increasingly heated pan of water, oblivious to the fact and the agenda that he is being slowly boiled to death. We stupidly imagine that we are “doing” something by “knowing” what is going on, without actually “doing” something to prevent what is going on. We fall into the trap of thinking “Knowledge is power!” whereas, in reality, we are merely becoming “intellectually constipated” or “constipated with knowledge”―we put more and more knowledge into our minds with our gluttony for information overload, without actually “digesting” and “processing” and “changing” that knowledge into “energy” for action. All of this is very similar to the Parable of the Talents, where the man who was giving one talent did nothing with it, but buried it in the ground. Or it is like having the Faith and doing nothing with it: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works―and I will show thee, by works, my Faith!” Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
Many Today Who Have the Faith Are Dead!
Holy Scripture “hits the nail on the head” or points out the “final nail in the coffin” for most Catholics―they have the Faith, but they have very little works of Faith, or even no works of Faith. They are merely Catholic “bodies” without the Catholic “spirit”―they are like the “walking dead” or “Catholic zombies”. This is especially true of almost all of today’s Catholic youth―which is why they lose the Faith, or at least stop practicing the works of Faith by the time they finish their education somewhere around the ages of 18 to 23, or when they leave the home of their parents. They are nothing other than what Our Lord calls “the blind” ― “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). The same could be said of many or most of the parents and teachers who raised, formed and taught those children―they too are blind and blind leaders, for many have fallen away from the Faith, or at least know very little about the Faith―hence they cannot pass on to others what they do not have themselves. “When they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).
Can Catholic Zombies Be Resurrected and Pulled Out of the Pit?
Without a shadow of a doubt, Catholics today―especially most of the youth―are “the pits’. It is pitiful to see God replaced by a smartphone; attendance at Holy Mass replaced by worshiping social media; prayer replaced by text messages, email, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These things are false idols―proved by the disproportionate time spent on them―false idols that are idolized in our day and age―and those idols have to be ‘destroyed’ if they are getting in the way of God, and that idolatry has to be punished. Has the situation become hopeless, or can it be reversed, or at least made to be less worse than it is?
Learning From Alcoholics
“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8) said Our Lord. In some things we have to admit that there is a lot to be learnt from the way worldly people approach things. If we only had the zeal for spiritual things like sinners have zeal for sin―then we would probably guarantee our salvation. Possibly or even probably there is nobody on this planet―no matter how bad they are―that we could not learn something from them. This is especially true in the way the organization Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) approaches, guides and treats alcoholics. You will have undoubtedly heard of “12 Steps” program used by Alcoholics Anonymous, which lays down a pathway of 12 ordered steps which is intended to be the framework or “walker” that will help the “disabled” alcoholic walk out of his addiction and disease.
Interestingly, even though Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] does not see itself as a religious institution, it nevertheless borrows and leans upon many religious principles that were deliberately taken from the Bible. Many AA members would be surprised to learn that in the very earliest days of AA, the 12 steps had not yet been written down. Bob Smith described the situation in 1935 in this way: “We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them . . . as a result of our study of the Good Book.” [Dr. Bob and the Good Old-timers (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1991 [1980]), 97]. One early AA member recalls that the founder of AA, Dr. Bob Smith used to stand up at the meeting with the Bible under his arm, saying that “the answers were there if you looked for them―because people back in the Old Testament were just like people of this century and had the same problems.” [Ibid., 228].
The Bible served as AA’s earliest meditation book. Dr. Bob Smith and his wife Anne, were especially fond of the Epistle of St. James, with its emphasis on a Faith that works through charity: “For Faith without works is dead,” as Anne would often conclude the morning devotion. In the early years, Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] was so impressed with the necessity of following St. James, in putting their Faith to work, that they often thought of calling their new fellowship “The James Club.” They also often meditated on the meaning of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and on St. Paul’s words about true charity (in 1 Corinthians 13:1-9). The Bible was the only reading material allowed to hospitalized alcoholics, and Dr. Bob Smith regularly described AA as a Christian fellowship when inquirers came to him. At meetings, he cited his favorite Scriptures and used stories in much the same way that parables are used in the Bible.
AA’s Big Book puts it this way: “Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them―even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help.” [Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1992 [1976]), 62]. St. Paul said the same thing. “I can want what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:18-19). Deliverance from this state must come from outside the self and not from within. The central Christian belief is that Christ in his own Person is the Deliverer. AA’s Big Book states frankly that the alcoholic had to “quit playing God” because “it didn’t work.” [A.A. , 62].
The other of the two founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson himself, wrote that “it seems absolutely necessary for most of us to get over the idea that man is God.” With regard to spiritual growth, the founder of AA, Bill Wilson, always spoke in biblical terms of “growing in the image and likeness of God.” Bill Wilson had a deep attraction to the Catholic Faith, and even corresponded with Bishop Fulton Sheen. In the early days of AA, a Jesuit priest named Fr. Edward Dowling befriended Wilson after reading AA’s publication (the Big Book). He saw a similarity between the 12 steps of AA and Ignatian spirituality; in fact, at AA’s twentieth anniversary celebration, Fr. Dowling spoke about the parallels between the steps of recovery and Jesus Christ’s redemption of mankind. Through his friendship with Fr. Dowling, Wilson came to love the Catholic Church, but sadly he never converted because some of the doctrines, especially infallibility and the Sacraments, did not seem to correspond with his experience of God working in his life.
The 12 Steps to Recovery of Alcoholics Anonymous
The 12-Step approach follows a set of guidelines designed as “steps” toward recovery, and members can revisit these steps at any time. The 12 Steps are:
(1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
(2) We came to believe that [God] a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
(3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
(4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
(5) We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
(6) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
(7) We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
(8) We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
(9) We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
(10) We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
(11) We sought, through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Catholicism and Alcoholism? What’s the Point?
You might well say: “Where is all this leading to? What the heck has Alcoholics Anonymous got to do with Catholicism and the present messes or crises that we find ourselves in? Seems stupid to me!” Hold your horses! Not so fast! There is a connection―besides that of Our Lord saying: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8).
The point is―or the connection is―that just as we are all born with Original Sin and a capacity to sin, we are likewise all born with the strong cravings and a capacity for addiction. In fact―don’t be shocked at this statement―we are all born addicts, we are all meant to be addicts, we are all meant to have an addiction. That addiction is meant to be, intended to be, an addiction to God! Who else but an addict could fulfill the commandment of “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). Similarly, who else but an addict can “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and “always pray, and not faint” (Luke 18:1).
If someone was talking about something all the time, without ceasing, giving that thing all their heart, soul, mind and strength―what you call them? You would call them a “fanatic”, an “addict”―you would say that they were addicted to that thing, whether it be sport, a hobby, work, etc.
The problem with most people today is that they are abusing and misusing their God-given gift of addiction on things and not using or focusing that addiction on God. That is why we are essentially in the mess that find ourselves in today. Can we expect to be blessed by God for not doing what we were supposed to do? Can we expect praise and rewards for disobedience and rebellion? We have become addicts of things and not the Thing that really matters, the Thing that we were created to be addicted to―God Himself. Our children, our students, our parishioners have fallen-away from the Faith or are growing weaker and weaker in the Faith because we have either not restrained, or allowed, or even encouraged and fostered their addiction to the world and all it has to offer at the expense of God. More often than not, it is our own misguided addiction that has led to this―for how will our children, our students, our parishioners foster an addiction to God if they do not see in on a daily basis in us?
Bad Attitude Brings Bad Fruits
The bad fruits that we see in both the Church and the world are a direct result of our bad attitude towards our responsibilities to both the Church and the world. The ultimate reason why the Church is as lukewarm, sinful, Liberal and Modernist as it is―all comes down to a lack of prayer and sacrifice on the part of the whole Mystical Body of Christ. Our Lady―in many of her apparitions―begged for many Rosaries to be prayed daily and for many prayers to be said for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.
Our Lady appealed: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917). “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need’” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on at night, but only to wear it during the daytime” (Our Lady of Fatima, September 1917). Continue always to pray the Rosary every day ... Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (Our Lady of Fatima, October 1917). “Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much—very much!” (Our Lady of Akita, July 6th, 1973). Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... Pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men” (Our Lady of Akita, August 3rd, 1973). “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
One saintly bishop once said that the Second Vatican Council would have turned out the way it did if the faithful had been praying for the pope, the bishops and the priests.
Tired of hearing all this AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN? Our Lady is probably more tired than you by her having to repeat these things to the world AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN! She herself lamented at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Sister Lucia of Fatima later lamented in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet all the while―like a stubborn immature rebellious teenager―we stubbornly, stupidly and sadly resist the commands of the Mother of God, somehow thinking ourselves to be exempt, independent and untouchable despite our disobedience and indifference. We sin with impunity―impunity being defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.” On the Day of Judgment―when Our Lord says that every idle word will be judged: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―we will also find our idleness also judged and we will have to render an account for our indifference, laziness, neglect and outright disobedience. “The Lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not … And that servant, who knew the will of his Lord and prepared not himself and did not according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required―and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:46-48).
As Our Lady of Good Success stated: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Prayer, penance and sacrifices draw down grace from Heaven to control, “put the brakes on”, restrain, reform, change and convert the sinful world, the sinful Church and our sinful selves. A lack of prayer, penance and sacrifice results in a absence of those saving graces and allows the sinful world, the sinful Church and our sinful selves to spiral out of control and largely contributes to the fact that most souls are damned. The vain excuse of Cain― “Am I my brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9) ― will be just as vain an excuse for us as it was vain for Cain! As the great Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom warns, on the Day of Judgment we will be judged for EVERYTHING that happened in the world while we were alive. Does that sound harsh, unfair, unreasonable, over-exaggerated? You will protest: “How could I possibly influence everything that happened in the world while I was alive? I am not ubiquitous (= present everywhere) and omnipotent (=all powerful) like God!” That is true―but your prayers and sacrifices can be applied to anyone anywhere and everyone everywhere. Yet we pray so little and sacrifice so little―while giving much time and much talk to the things of the world and things that interest us! What a waste of time! You were put on Earth―not to have fun time, independent of God, to follow our whims and fancies. You were put on Earth to serve God as a soldier of Christ and to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), knowing that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Sadly, the only fighting we now do is to fight amongst ourselves―giving a free rein to the enemies of Church (inside and outside the Church) to wreak their havoc and perform their destruction of both Church and society.
“And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our present day civilization is about to fall―and great will be the fall thereof―because we have ignored or even rejected the words of Christ and His Blessed Mother. As we have sown, so shall we reap! Unless …
Our Lord had said to Sister Lucia of Fatima in 1931: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” But that was almost 90 years ago―and still the requests {commands] of Heaven have not been obeyed and completed. Strangely―we don’t seem to care! It does not worry us! We don’t really “give a hoot”!
Once again, to repeat what was just said above: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
If there are less and less monasteries and convents today―because of less and less vocations to the religious life today―then the onus or burden falls upon the Catholic laity and what you could call the “monastery” or “convent” of the family home. It is from those “monasteries” or “convents” that those neessary prayers, penances and sacrifices must rise up to Heaven. But is that likely to happen? Will it happen? Will it happen in your “monastery” or “convent”? Or has the pagan, barbaric world with its worldliness already invaded your “monastery” or “convent” and neutralized or contaminated your Catholicism? If so, then as Our Lady said: “This contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 16th, Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & Friday July 17th, the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne, France
Article 8
Resurrect Your Scapular! Resurrect Your Life!
Thursday July 16th, Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & Friday July 17th, the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne, France
Article 8
Resurrect Your Scapular! Resurrect Your Life!
The Scapular is Dead and Buried!
The current statistics show that only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily! If the numbers are so pathetically low for those who pray the Rosary―what do you think the numbers must be for those who still wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel? You cannot even find any statistics on the number of people still wearing the Brown Scapular! Why is that? It is probably because almost nobody wears it anymore! Most youngsters will not even be able to tell you anything about the Brown Scapular, they are clueless about its origins, its purpose, its promises and its obligations―and many adults are in the same boat. If only 2 or 3 out of every 100 Catholics pray the Rosary daily―then the number of Scapular wearers will possibly or probably be even less that 1 or 2 out of every 1,000 Catholics. Of course, in some groups―Conservatives or Traditionalists―the number would be much higher, but taking Catholics overall, throughout the whole world, the number must be alarmingly pitiful.
How sad and painful, how insulting and offensive this must be to Our Lady of Mount Carmel―who has gone to such lengths to give us the Brown Scapular as well as insisting at Fatima that we all wear it. Shortly after the apparitions in 1917, Lucia told interrogators that the vision of Our Lady of the Scapular, on October 13th, “Looked just like the picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the parish church.” This picture is the very old, universally-used portrayal of Our Lady in the Carmelite Habit, with the Infant Jesus holding the little Scapular in His Hands and Angels descending into Purgatory―apparently at Our Lady’s bidding―freeing souls from the flames. From an explanation which Lucia gave in 1946, it is apparent her reference in 1917 to this picture, referred only to the Habit and general appearance of Our Lady. In the Fatima vision Our Lady herself held the Scapular in her hands and, instead of the Infant in her arms, Our Lord stood at her side, in the fullness of manhood, blessing the crowd below. “Why do you think Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in this last vision?” Sr. Lucia was asked in 1950. Sr. Lucia replied, “Because she wants everyone to wear the Scapular.”
In 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Lucia for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked “if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered, ‘Most definitely, the Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.’”
In 1950, on the Solemnity of the Assumption (August 15th), Sister Lucia was very firm with the Very Rev. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm., Provincial Director of the Third Order Secular of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in the United States, who began his interview with Sister Lucia by remarking that most of the recent writers on Fatima (up to 1950) made no mention of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and some even denied that the Scapular Devotion was a part of the Fatima message. “Oh, they are wrong!” Lucia exclaimed, “Our Lady wants everyone to wear the Scapular.’” She added: “[T]he Holy Father [Pope Pius XII] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!”
Salvation Requires More Than Baptism―Salvation Requires More Than Merely Wearing the Scapular
Our Lady wants EVERYONE to wear the Scapular―because, just like God, she would like to save EVERYONE from Hell. But not everyone wears the Scapular―in fact, hardly anyone wears the Scapular! This neglect, indifference or disobedience pains Our Lady greatly, since it hampers and hinders the graces that she could gain for those unfortunate souls who refuse to faithfully wear the Scapular AND live the Scapular obligations. You could compare the Brown Scapular, which is a Sacramental, to Baptism, which is a Sacrament. Our Lady promises to SAVE us from Hell if we wear the Brown Scapular faithfully―just as Jesus promised salvation through Baptism: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved!” (Mark 16:16). Merely wearing the Brown Scapular is like merely getting Baptized―it is a great step in the right direction, but of itself and by itself, it does not guarantee salvation. There has to be something more than a mere wearing of the Scapular―this “something more” is a giving of oneself to Our Lady in entirety, consecrating ourselves to Our Lady. On the 700th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to St. Simon Stock, Pope Pius XII referred to the Scapular as “the sign of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The Pope further wrote: “There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed … For we are here concerned, not with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself … May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself … a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended … But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation’” (Philippians 2:12).
Apart from being Baptized and thereby becoming a Christian, you also have to LIVE LIKE A CHRISTIAN and thereby keep, preserve, retain the sanctifying grace that you received in your soul by Baptism. Remember! Most souls end up being damned! We are not just talking about non-Catholic unbaptized souls, but also Catholic souls that have been baptized [if you can’t, don’t or won’t believe that, then read more here]. There is no salvation without Baptism in one of its forms, but salvation is not automatically guaranteed with Baptism. You must not only RECEIVE Baptism―you must also LIVE-OUT your Baptism by a holy life, by putting-on Christ, by living in the spirit of Christ: “For as many of you as have been Baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The Scapular also represents the sweet yoke of Jesus Christ which Mary helps us to bear.
A person can be given a supernatural spiritual life through Baptism, but then become spiritually dead through sin. Holy Scripture refers to our being DEAD IN SIN and also the opposite―of our being DEAD TO SIN: “Even when we were DEAD IN SINS” (Ephesians 2:5) … “When you were DEAD IN YOUR SINS” (Colossians 2:13) … “And you, when you were DEAD IN YOUR OFFENCES AND SINS” (Ephesians 2:1) ― but rather than being DEAD IN SIN, we should DEAD TO SIN: “We, being DEAD TO SINS, should live to justice” (1 Peter 2:24). “For we that are DEAD TO SIN, how shall we live any longer in sin?” (Romans 6:2). When a person is enrolled in the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular and vested in that tiny habit of brown wool, the priest says to him: “Receive this blessed Scapular and ask the most Holy Virgin that, by her merits, IT MAY BE WORN WITH NO STAIN OF SIN and may protect you from all harm and bring you into everlasting life.”
Milk or Meat? Easy or Tough?
The following Scriptural passage on the incompatibility of Baptism with Sin, can equally be applied to the incompatibility of the Brown Scapular with Sin. Some of you may find the Scriptural passage difficult to read―because in modern times we have been raised on baby sized words where everything has been blended down to a liquid paste, because we do not have the intellectual teeth to chew over more solid things and tougher things, such as ‘meat’ for the mind, instead preferring milk for the mind. St. Paul explains this when writes: “Brethren, I could not speak to you as unto spiritual persons, but as unto carnal persons. As unto little ones [babies] in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, and not meat to eat; for you were not as yet able to eat meat. But neither indeed are you now able to eat meat―for you are still too carnal!” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). When we, even as adults, are raised on childish vocabulary, simple short words and short sentences, that are easily “chewed” and “digested”―much like a baby receiving its mother’s milk―then harder, tougher, longer words and sentences, more challenging concepts are all unpalatable and repulsive. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child!” (1 Corinthians 13:11)―so persevere with tougher Scriptural passages for they contain a lot of nourishment that is often not found in the simple, easily digested passages. Anyway―let us now return to the aforementioned passage about Baptism that can also be linked to the wearing of the Brown Scapular―as you read it, add the word “Scapular” to each reference to Baptism or, to invent a new word, “scapularized” to each reference of being baptized.
Baptism Requires We Be Dead to Sin―The Scapular Also Requires We Be Dead to Sin
“What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer in sin? Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by Baptism into death; so that as Christ is risen from the dead, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ―knowing that Christ, by rising again from the dead, dies now no more, and death shall no more have power over Him. For in that He died to sin, he died once; but in that He liveth, he liveth unto God. So do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither make the members of your body to be instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God. For sin shall not have power over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid! Know you not, that to whomever you yield yourselves as servants to obey, then you become the servants if him whom you obey―whether it be servants of sin unto death, or servants of obedience unto justice. But thanks be to God, that you were once the servants of sin, but now have obeyed from the heart, unto that form of doctrine, into which you have been delivered. Being then freed from sin, we have been made servants of justice. I speak a human thing―because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have given the members of your body to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield the members of your body to serve justice, unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin … what fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, the end of which is life everlasting. For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 6:1-23).
Surface Catholics and Deep Catholics
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying
that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a Sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became “the sons of her choice” is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues:“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in the Brown Scapular a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
What is More Important than Salvation? Most Things!!!
There is nothing more important than salvation―most people would agree with that statement, IN THEORY. But when it comes to PRACTICE, then the lives of most people would seem to contradict what they claim to believe in theory. In PRACTICE, there are hundreds―or even thousands―of things more important than salvation. You have to agree that, usually, the more important a thing is in our lives, then the more time, attention, money and effort we dedicate to it. For example, to someone to whom sport is important, that person will spend many hours a week (even many hours a day) following his or her preferred sport or sports team―they will read, listen, watch, talk, blog, post frequently on the subject of their interest. Therefore, just look at the time people spend on the phone, on the internet, on social media, or watching television, or watching movies, listening to music, listening to talk shows, etc. The total time spent on some of these things is mind-boggling. In the USA, the average adult spends around 3 to 4 hours on their smartphone each day! Seems like that is more important than salvation! Our Lord would be flattered if that time was spent on Him―for He even complained that ONE HOUR was not spent with Him, saying to His sleeping trio of Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What! Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40).
Talking of “watching”―in the USA, the average adult watches television for around 5 hours each day. Looks like TV is also more important than salvation! Only 20% or 1 out of 5 Catholics regularly goes to Holy Mass ONCE a week on Sundays―yet probably 99% of Catholics regularly watch television and/or regularly spend time on the smartphone/internet/social media for many hours each day. Time spent on their salvation comes nowhere near that kind of time. The ominous words of Our Lady of La Salette hauntingly come back to mind, when she speaks of the people of our times: “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement!”
The words of Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda are most appropriate in the matter we are discussing. Our Lady said: “It is an act of justice, due to the eternal God, that the creature coming to the use of reason, direct its very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord. The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children, from their infancy, in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end, and seek it in their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children and would instruct them from their infancy in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him. And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the light of Faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself never to lose Him from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and reverencing Him … If man neglects to rise above his low desires and his forgetfulness, he yields to the enemy of God and man. The more he alienates himself from the goodness of God, so much the more unworthy does he become of the secret callings of the Most High … Thereon, my dear daughter, rests the whole salvation or condemnation of souls, that is, in commencing to admit or resist the advances of the Lord.”
Being clothed with the mini-habit of the Brown Scapular means that we are linked to and are a spiritual part of the religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Even though we do not become “religious” in the strict sense of the word, we nevertheless should take on the religious spirit of the true Carmelite religious. Our Lady, speaking to Venerable Mary of Agreda, says: “The greatest happiness, which can befall any soul in this mortal life, is that the Almighty call her to his house consecrated to his service. The better part is religious life and retirement; in it is found security, outside is a torment and a stormy sea, full of sorrow and unhappiness. For by this benefit He rescues the soul from a dangerous slavery and relieves her of the vile servitude of the world … Through the hardness of their heart and the total forgetfulness of themselves, men do not know this truth and are not attracted by its blessings … Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? … Lovers of earthly riches do not consider, although they feel and suffer, the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver in great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that know not what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more when they have come into their possession? Let the countless hosts that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! … The soul is never more a master of itself than when it despises riches―only then has the soul the more firm possession and makes the more excellent use of riches, when she gives them away or leaves them of her own free will; only then her appetite for them is best gratified, when she does not care to possess them …
“The temporal goods are created by the Most High for the sale purpose of sustaining life; having attained this end, the need of them ceases. And as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied, there is no reason that the care for the immortal soul should be only sporadic and temporary, while the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and unending―as it has now come to be among men. It is the height of perverseness for man, in an affair so important and urgent, to mix-up the end or purpose of life with the means given to him attain that end―so that he devotes all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to benefit the life of his body―of which he knows not the duration nor the end―and that, on the other hand, in all the many years of his existence on Earth, he spares for his poor soul only one hour, and that very often the last hour and the worst hour of his whole life.”
The current statistics show that only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily! If the numbers are so pathetically low for those who pray the Rosary―what do you think the numbers must be for those who still wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel? You cannot even find any statistics on the number of people still wearing the Brown Scapular! Why is that? It is probably because almost nobody wears it anymore! Most youngsters will not even be able to tell you anything about the Brown Scapular, they are clueless about its origins, its purpose, its promises and its obligations―and many adults are in the same boat. If only 2 or 3 out of every 100 Catholics pray the Rosary daily―then the number of Scapular wearers will possibly or probably be even less that 1 or 2 out of every 1,000 Catholics. Of course, in some groups―Conservatives or Traditionalists―the number would be much higher, but taking Catholics overall, throughout the whole world, the number must be alarmingly pitiful.
How sad and painful, how insulting and offensive this must be to Our Lady of Mount Carmel―who has gone to such lengths to give us the Brown Scapular as well as insisting at Fatima that we all wear it. Shortly after the apparitions in 1917, Lucia told interrogators that the vision of Our Lady of the Scapular, on October 13th, “Looked just like the picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the parish church.” This picture is the very old, universally-used portrayal of Our Lady in the Carmelite Habit, with the Infant Jesus holding the little Scapular in His Hands and Angels descending into Purgatory―apparently at Our Lady’s bidding―freeing souls from the flames. From an explanation which Lucia gave in 1946, it is apparent her reference in 1917 to this picture, referred only to the Habit and general appearance of Our Lady. In the Fatima vision Our Lady herself held the Scapular in her hands and, instead of the Infant in her arms, Our Lord stood at her side, in the fullness of manhood, blessing the crowd below. “Why do you think Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in this last vision?” Sr. Lucia was asked in 1950. Sr. Lucia replied, “Because she wants everyone to wear the Scapular.”
In 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Lucia for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked “if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered, ‘Most definitely, the Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.’”
In 1950, on the Solemnity of the Assumption (August 15th), Sister Lucia was very firm with the Very Rev. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm., Provincial Director of the Third Order Secular of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in the United States, who began his interview with Sister Lucia by remarking that most of the recent writers on Fatima (up to 1950) made no mention of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and some even denied that the Scapular Devotion was a part of the Fatima message. “Oh, they are wrong!” Lucia exclaimed, “Our Lady wants everyone to wear the Scapular.’” She added: “[T]he Holy Father [Pope Pius XII] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!”
Salvation Requires More Than Baptism―Salvation Requires More Than Merely Wearing the Scapular
Our Lady wants EVERYONE to wear the Scapular―because, just like God, she would like to save EVERYONE from Hell. But not everyone wears the Scapular―in fact, hardly anyone wears the Scapular! This neglect, indifference or disobedience pains Our Lady greatly, since it hampers and hinders the graces that she could gain for those unfortunate souls who refuse to faithfully wear the Scapular AND live the Scapular obligations. You could compare the Brown Scapular, which is a Sacramental, to Baptism, which is a Sacrament. Our Lady promises to SAVE us from Hell if we wear the Brown Scapular faithfully―just as Jesus promised salvation through Baptism: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved!” (Mark 16:16). Merely wearing the Brown Scapular is like merely getting Baptized―it is a great step in the right direction, but of itself and by itself, it does not guarantee salvation. There has to be something more than a mere wearing of the Scapular―this “something more” is a giving of oneself to Our Lady in entirety, consecrating ourselves to Our Lady. On the 700th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to St. Simon Stock, Pope Pius XII referred to the Scapular as “the sign of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The Pope further wrote: “There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed … For we are here concerned, not with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself … May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself … a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended … But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation’” (Philippians 2:12).
Apart from being Baptized and thereby becoming a Christian, you also have to LIVE LIKE A CHRISTIAN and thereby keep, preserve, retain the sanctifying grace that you received in your soul by Baptism. Remember! Most souls end up being damned! We are not just talking about non-Catholic unbaptized souls, but also Catholic souls that have been baptized [if you can’t, don’t or won’t believe that, then read more here]. There is no salvation without Baptism in one of its forms, but salvation is not automatically guaranteed with Baptism. You must not only RECEIVE Baptism―you must also LIVE-OUT your Baptism by a holy life, by putting-on Christ, by living in the spirit of Christ: “For as many of you as have been Baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The Scapular also represents the sweet yoke of Jesus Christ which Mary helps us to bear.
A person can be given a supernatural spiritual life through Baptism, but then become spiritually dead through sin. Holy Scripture refers to our being DEAD IN SIN and also the opposite―of our being DEAD TO SIN: “Even when we were DEAD IN SINS” (Ephesians 2:5) … “When you were DEAD IN YOUR SINS” (Colossians 2:13) … “And you, when you were DEAD IN YOUR OFFENCES AND SINS” (Ephesians 2:1) ― but rather than being DEAD IN SIN, we should DEAD TO SIN: “We, being DEAD TO SINS, should live to justice” (1 Peter 2:24). “For we that are DEAD TO SIN, how shall we live any longer in sin?” (Romans 6:2). When a person is enrolled in the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular and vested in that tiny habit of brown wool, the priest says to him: “Receive this blessed Scapular and ask the most Holy Virgin that, by her merits, IT MAY BE WORN WITH NO STAIN OF SIN and may protect you from all harm and bring you into everlasting life.”
Milk or Meat? Easy or Tough?
The following Scriptural passage on the incompatibility of Baptism with Sin, can equally be applied to the incompatibility of the Brown Scapular with Sin. Some of you may find the Scriptural passage difficult to read―because in modern times we have been raised on baby sized words where everything has been blended down to a liquid paste, because we do not have the intellectual teeth to chew over more solid things and tougher things, such as ‘meat’ for the mind, instead preferring milk for the mind. St. Paul explains this when writes: “Brethren, I could not speak to you as unto spiritual persons, but as unto carnal persons. As unto little ones [babies] in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, and not meat to eat; for you were not as yet able to eat meat. But neither indeed are you now able to eat meat―for you are still too carnal!” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). When we, even as adults, are raised on childish vocabulary, simple short words and short sentences, that are easily “chewed” and “digested”―much like a baby receiving its mother’s milk―then harder, tougher, longer words and sentences, more challenging concepts are all unpalatable and repulsive. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child!” (1 Corinthians 13:11)―so persevere with tougher Scriptural passages for they contain a lot of nourishment that is often not found in the simple, easily digested passages. Anyway―let us now return to the aforementioned passage about Baptism that can also be linked to the wearing of the Brown Scapular―as you read it, add the word “Scapular” to each reference to Baptism or, to invent a new word, “scapularized” to each reference of being baptized.
Baptism Requires We Be Dead to Sin―The Scapular Also Requires We Be Dead to Sin
“What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer in sin? Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by Baptism into death; so that as Christ is risen from the dead, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ―knowing that Christ, by rising again from the dead, dies now no more, and death shall no more have power over Him. For in that He died to sin, he died once; but in that He liveth, he liveth unto God. So do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither make the members of your body to be instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God. For sin shall not have power over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid! Know you not, that to whomever you yield yourselves as servants to obey, then you become the servants if him whom you obey―whether it be servants of sin unto death, or servants of obedience unto justice. But thanks be to God, that you were once the servants of sin, but now have obeyed from the heart, unto that form of doctrine, into which you have been delivered. Being then freed from sin, we have been made servants of justice. I speak a human thing―because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have given the members of your body to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield the members of your body to serve justice, unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin … what fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, the end of which is life everlasting. For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 6:1-23).
Surface Catholics and Deep Catholics
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying
that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a Sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became “the sons of her choice” is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues:“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in the Brown Scapular a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
What is More Important than Salvation? Most Things!!!
There is nothing more important than salvation―most people would agree with that statement, IN THEORY. But when it comes to PRACTICE, then the lives of most people would seem to contradict what they claim to believe in theory. In PRACTICE, there are hundreds―or even thousands―of things more important than salvation. You have to agree that, usually, the more important a thing is in our lives, then the more time, attention, money and effort we dedicate to it. For example, to someone to whom sport is important, that person will spend many hours a week (even many hours a day) following his or her preferred sport or sports team―they will read, listen, watch, talk, blog, post frequently on the subject of their interest. Therefore, just look at the time people spend on the phone, on the internet, on social media, or watching television, or watching movies, listening to music, listening to talk shows, etc. The total time spent on some of these things is mind-boggling. In the USA, the average adult spends around 3 to 4 hours on their smartphone each day! Seems like that is more important than salvation! Our Lord would be flattered if that time was spent on Him―for He even complained that ONE HOUR was not spent with Him, saying to His sleeping trio of Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What! Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40).
Talking of “watching”―in the USA, the average adult watches television for around 5 hours each day. Looks like TV is also more important than salvation! Only 20% or 1 out of 5 Catholics regularly goes to Holy Mass ONCE a week on Sundays―yet probably 99% of Catholics regularly watch television and/or regularly spend time on the smartphone/internet/social media for many hours each day. Time spent on their salvation comes nowhere near that kind of time. The ominous words of Our Lady of La Salette hauntingly come back to mind, when she speaks of the people of our times: “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement!”
The words of Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda are most appropriate in the matter we are discussing. Our Lady said: “It is an act of justice, due to the eternal God, that the creature coming to the use of reason, direct its very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord. The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children, from their infancy, in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end, and seek it in their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children and would instruct them from their infancy in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him. And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the light of Faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself never to lose Him from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and reverencing Him … If man neglects to rise above his low desires and his forgetfulness, he yields to the enemy of God and man. The more he alienates himself from the goodness of God, so much the more unworthy does he become of the secret callings of the Most High … Thereon, my dear daughter, rests the whole salvation or condemnation of souls, that is, in commencing to admit or resist the advances of the Lord.”
Being clothed with the mini-habit of the Brown Scapular means that we are linked to and are a spiritual part of the religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Even though we do not become “religious” in the strict sense of the word, we nevertheless should take on the religious spirit of the true Carmelite religious. Our Lady, speaking to Venerable Mary of Agreda, says: “The greatest happiness, which can befall any soul in this mortal life, is that the Almighty call her to his house consecrated to his service. The better part is religious life and retirement; in it is found security, outside is a torment and a stormy sea, full of sorrow and unhappiness. For by this benefit He rescues the soul from a dangerous slavery and relieves her of the vile servitude of the world … Through the hardness of their heart and the total forgetfulness of themselves, men do not know this truth and are not attracted by its blessings … Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men? … Lovers of earthly riches do not consider, although they feel and suffer, the heavy weight of riches, which pins them to the Earth and drives them into its very bowels to seek gold and silver in great anxiety, sleeplessness, labors and sweat―as if they were not men, but wild beasts that know not what they are suffering and doing. And if they are thus weighed down before acquiring riches, how much more when they have come into their possession? Let the countless hosts that have fallen into Hell with their burden, proclaim it! … The soul is never more a master of itself than when it despises riches―only then has the soul the more firm possession and makes the more excellent use of riches, when she gives them away or leaves them of her own free will; only then her appetite for them is best gratified, when she does not care to possess them …
“The temporal goods are created by the Most High for the sale purpose of sustaining life; having attained this end, the need of them ceases. And as this need is limited, soon and easily satisfied, there is no reason that the care for the immortal soul should be only sporadic and temporary, while the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and unending―as it has now come to be among men. It is the height of perverseness for man, in an affair so important and urgent, to mix-up the end or purpose of life with the means given to him attain that end―so that he devotes all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers and all the alertness of his mind to benefit the life of his body―of which he knows not the duration nor the end―and that, on the other hand, in all the many years of his existence on Earth, he spares for his poor soul only one hour, and that very often the last hour and the worst hour of his whole life.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday July 14th & Wednesday July 15th
Article 7
How to Make Your Scapular Work When Most Fail
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Tuesday July 14th & Wednesday July 15th
Article 7
How to Make Your Scapular Work When Most Fail
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
It Works―But It Doesn’t!
Have you ever bought something, taken it home and found that it does not work, or does not work in the way that it is supposed to? It might have been a tool, an appliance, a phone, a car, etc. You take it back to the store or seller to complain―only to find that you were using it in the wrong way. Some people book a vacation to a destination of their dreams―only to have it become a veritable nightmare, with everything going wrong for them. Well, that is exactly how it is with the Brown Scapular. Most people who accept it, who are enrolled in it, who wear it―do not really know how to use it or how to get the maximum benefits from it. Their number is legion. It is true of most Catholics. Hence, what is supposed to help them, in many cases harms them―leading to the very opposite of what they thought it would do.
You could rightly call the Brown Scapular a “weapon” ― especially a “shield” against the attacks and wiles of the devil. This idea is actually presented in the Brown Scapular prayers of enrollment and investiture: “Save Thy servant! … And watch over him (her) from Sion. Let the enemy have no power over him (her). And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm him (her) … Let Thy gracious blessing come upon this garment. May it be blessed and endowed with Thy power to repel all vicious assaults of our visible and invisible enemies … Take this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that you may be shielded by her from all adversity … Protect Thy servant … let him (her) be safe from all adversaries … We pray to Our Lady of Mount Carmel that, in the hour of your death, she will crush the head of your adversary, the serpent.”
When you think that most souls―in the “good old days”―were enrolled in the Brown Scapular as early as their First Holy Communion, being told that Our Lady promises to save from Hell all those who die wearing the Brown Scapular―and then relate that to the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints say that most souls are lost―then you seem to have a discrepancy, a problem, a case where the guarantee of salvation does not seem to work! Why is this? How is this? What causes this to happen? Was Our Lady lying when she first gave the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock in 1251, at the same time promising: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Did Our Lady change her mind somewhere along the line? Did she renege on her promise? Has she cancelled the “agreement” or “contract”?
Weapon Implies War―War Implies Fighting
As was already said in an earlier article―the Brown Scapular is not a “good luck charm” or a spiritual “rabbit’s foot” that we can dangle from our necks and avoid Hell without any further ado! The above extracts from the enrollment ceremony imply a battle, a war, a fight, a struggle―for as Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!!” (Hebrews 12:4).
There you have the essence of the Scapular promise of salvation. It is that salvation is only promised to those who FIGHT AGAINST SIN. Too many Catholics idiotically think that the Scapular is somehow a ‘permission’ to sin, a ‘trump-card’ that will out-trump any sins we commit―all of which leads to making a false peace with sin and an acceptance of sin. It is, as Our Lord condemns, an attempt to serve both God and mammon: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Luke 16:13). With such an attitude, the Scapular will not ‘work’ for us.
Significance of Elias the Battling Prophet and the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel
When we consider this contest, this battle, this fight with Baal (Satan) and his false prophets (the world), we often focus on Elias with his great example of heroic Faith and willingness to stand alone for God with 450 prophets of Baal opposing him.
First Perspective: Church versus World
This idea can firstly be applied to situation of the Catholic Church versus the world, or the Catholic Church versus the other false religions in the world. There is only true religion—and that is the Catholic Faith. All the other religions, Protestants included, are man-made religions and therefore false. Yet, as was the case in the time of Elias, the false prophets seem to have the upper hand at the moment. The Catholic Church is weakening so badly and quickly, that just recently, on July 15th 2017, the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, said in message delivered at the July 15th funeral of Cardinal Meisner, that “the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.” By “boat” Benedict XVI means the Catholic Church. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was given visions of exactly the thing that Benedict was referring to—she states:
“I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper-hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … It was as if people were splitting into two camps. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms, be it only long enough to say three Our Fathers. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … All over the world, good and devout people, especially the clergy, were harassed, oppressed, and put into prison ... I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect [Freemasons], while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it].”
“I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church; I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city (Rome/the Church). I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening ... I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … I see the Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before and he admits only a limited number of friends near him. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies. I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
Second Perspective: Two-Minded Fence-Sitting Catholics
A second perspective could consider, in this battle between Elias and the false prophets of Baal, the unwillingness of the Israelites to commit to following either God or Baal. They were “fence-sitting”, so to speak, trying to blend in with and please everybody—like the Liberals and Modernists within the Catholic Church (of which the Israelites are a symbol).
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates from her visions:
“It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded … The Pope is still attached to the things of this Earth in many ways … The ecclesiastics in the inner circle [of the Pope] looked insincere and lacking in zeal … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand.”
Third Perspective: Church Collapsing From Within
A third perspective could be found in comparing Elias, the prophets of Baal and the Israelite people to the traditional clergy (Elias), the Modernist clergy (prophets of Baal) and the laity in the Church (the Israelites). Once again, uncannily, the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich seem to echo this terrible plight. Our Lady of Akita, in 1973, also mentions this “in-fighting” within the Church, saying: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres. Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates from her visions:
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly ... I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins and so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction – none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others … Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known.”
At La Salette, Our Lady foretold that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … People will think of nothing but amusement.”
To the above, we can add the words of Our Lady of Fatima, who, as part of the Third Secret, seems to indicate that the Faith will collapse throughout the world and that this worldwide apostasy will begin or be caused by the upper levels of the Catholic clergy. This is confirmed by comments made by cardinals who have read the Third Secret of Fatima, such as Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, who said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Battling Elias Is Our Example For Today
The religious Order of Carmelites traces its routes to the prophet Elias, who dwelt on Mount Carmel, and is often regarded as the founder and first patriarch of the Order of Carmelites, dating back to 850 BC. On Mount Carmel there is a grotto known as the “Grotto of the Prophet” which is believed to have served as an oratory for Elias, and attached to this grotto is a chapel erected to Our Lady of Mount Carmel which dates back to 83 AD. Elias heard the voice of the Lord telling him to go and drink of the stream (3 Kings 17:2-5). He obeyed the voice of the Lord, and was chosen by God as a leader to bring Israelites back to Him. According to tradition, Elias beheld a manifestation of a “type” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “the little cloud like a man’s hand” arising out of the sea (3 Kings 18:44), and some have traced the title of Mary “Star of the Sea” to this vision of Elias.
Much can be known about Elias from his significant role in the history of salvation. According to many saints, he is a model of virtue, and is often referred to as the “chief of Prophets”. In the Old Testament Elias first is mentioned in 3 Kings 17:1 and is last seen in 4 Kings 2:13 when he is taken up into the heavens in a fiery chariot. Elias is a prophet to point the way of the true religion of Israel verses the pagan gods. Elias was the prophet and instrument of God to preserve the true religion of Israel and to restore the people to the covenant with God―which is our role today, faced with rampant Liberalism, Modernism and apostasy. Elias sought to bring the truth of God’s Word to burn the hardness out of the people’s hearts and he proclaimed the truth, calling them to repentance, to turn from false gods―as we should study God’s Word in order to burn the errors of our day and shine a light of truth back to the traditional, non-Modernistic, truths of old. His life of prayer, contemplation and love of Our Lord, disposed him to bring God’s Word in purity to the Israelites.
The conflict between Elias and Ahab culminated on Mount Carmel. During a long drought, Elias and the prophets of Baal each offered a sacrifice. They determined that the God that answers by fire is the true God. The prophets of Baal called upon their god from morning until evening to no avail. Elias, rebuilt the altar of the Lord with twelve stones, prepared a holocaust and even surrounded it with water. He cried out to the Lord: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back.” In the midst of the drought, the Lord consumed the sacrifice and the true God was revealed. The drought ended and the God of Israel was acknowledged as the true God. After this triumph, which revealed God’s power and glory, Elias then went up to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed himself down, putting his face between his knees (cf. 3 Kings 18:17-46).
He was told by the Lord, to “Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord” (3 Kings 19:11). A great wind passed him by, an earthquake, and a fire; but the Lord was not in these, but rather “…after the fire, a still small voice. And when Elias heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (3 Kings 19:12-13). Elias was told by the Lord that he was not alone and that all of Israel has not forsaken the Lord, that there were 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed to Baal. (3 Kings 19:18). This history speaks a great magnitude of the spirit of Elias, the founder and patriarch of the Order of Carmel. His charism reveals a singular devotion and love for Our Lord, zeal for the salvation of souls and a deep life of prayer.
Our Lady of La Salette refers to Elias in her prophecy for our days, saying: “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Elias will come, filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of good will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the power of the Holy Ghost and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist.” So we see that the mission of Elias did not end with him leaving Carmel behind all those years ago!
Taking On The Spirit of Elias
Yet, taking on the Scapular of Mount Carmel, we in a sense also need to take upon ourselves the spirit of Elias, who is one of the patron saints of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. From the time of Elias, the prophet, a garment has had tremendous significance in Carmel. When the time came for the great prophet to retire from the spiritual combat of his day, God sent Elias to anoint Eliseus to be prophet in his place. And when Elias came to him, he cast his mantle upon him. Eliseus immediately understood the significance of the gesture, for the sacred text adds, “And rising up he went away, followed Elias and ministered to him” (3 Kings 19:21). And when the time came for the ascent of Elias in the fiery chariot, his successor asked Elias to leave him his double spirit. Elias informed him that he had asked for a very difficult thing, but promised it would be his, and, as he ascended into the clouds, his mantle fell upon Eliseus, bringing him the double spirit of his master (4 Kings 2:9-15). The casting the mantle of Elias, over the shoulders of Eliseus, as Elias was taken up into Heaven in a fiery chariot, was symbolic of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, that the Church casts upon our shoulders so that we might acquire the spirit of Our Lady.
This spirit of Our Lady is a fighting spirit―as she patently made clear at La Salette in speaking of the “Last Times”, saying: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Unfortunately, most Catholics are not “up for the fight” ― their spiritual muscles have atrophied and wasted away due to excessive indulgence on what the world has offered by means of distractions from their real and only purpose in life―giving glory to God and fighting to save their own souls by fighting against sin in all its forms from all its avenues, which are the devil, the world and our own flesh with its pride and concupiscences. The Promises attached to the Brown Scapular are stupendous—almost unbelievable—but there are few that manage to obtain them. “Everyone should strive for it,” said Pope Pius XI, but there are many who miss this great Privilege. “Although many wear my Scapular,” Our Lady complained to the Venerable Dominic of Jesus and Mary, “only a few fulfill the conditions for the Sabbatine Privilege.” (R. P. Bauss, Das Fegfeuer (Mainz, 1883); cf. Scapulier-Biichlein (Graz, 1892), pg. 34). Similarly, at her death the saintly Carmelite, Frances of the Blessed Sacrament, exclaimed: “There are only a few who receive the Privilege because only a few fulfill the conditions.”
Mary’s Promise of Salvation Leads Many to Scapular Abuses
Our Lady’s Promise does not mean a removal of God’s sanction of the moral law, i.e., that regardless of what we do, we shall not be eternally punished. Saints and Popes often warn us of the foolhardiness of abusing Mary’s Promise. At the same time that Pope Pius XI joyfully professed: “I learned to love the Scapular Virgin in the arms of my mother,” the pope also warned all the faithful that “although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper at the hour of death, must in life merit such a signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.” (Letter of His Holiness Pope Pius XI on the occasion of the Centenary of the Sabbatine Privilege). One can take it as certain that if he continually sins because of Mary’s Scapular Promise, he shall not die in the Scapular. To lead a sinful life while trusting in the Scapular Promise is to commit a sin the horror of which borders on sacrilege; its punishment will not only be eternal but far worse than if one had led a sinful life without making the Mother of God an excuse for crucifying her Son.
There are times when a person is tempted to some great sin, such as impurity or theft, that the suggestion comes: “Why not do it? You wear the Scapular and after this moment is passed you will still have no fear about your eternal Salvation.” It is Satan using the Scapular Promise to draw a soul to sin, a worse sin than the objective act itself. Like all sin, it can become a habit. A typical and warningful example is found in a certain well-testified Scapular miracle. A man openly excused a wicked life by boasting that he wore the Scapular; he claimed surety of salvation while he disedified his neighbors by abominable excesses. In this presumptuous belief he persevered until death overtook him. Then those whom he had disedified became witnesses to an event that has not been uncommon in the years that men have sought to realize Mary’s promise. As death approached, the poor wretch thought that the Scapular was the cause of his agony. He cried out painfully that it was burning him. In a last supreme effort, tearing it off, he flung it from him―and went to meet a Divine Judge. (P. Huguet: La Devotion a Marie en exemples, t. II, 62).
We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
A perverse, sinful will can defeat the “suppliant omnipotence” of the Mother of mercy. Even Christ had to admit defeat, for He extended his crucified hands all day to an unbelieving and contradicting people that refused to return to the forgiving embrace of his Sacred Heart. How often would He have gathered his chosen children into his Sacred Heart and they would not! But if we turn to Our Lady, she will turn her eyes of mercy towards us and show us the fruit of her womb.
It is clear from the words of St. Alphonsus that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is in itself an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen.
The Fuel That Drives the Scapular
There is only one heavenly fuel―or one type of fuel used by Heaven. That fuel is the fuel of charity or love―because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) … “Charity is of God and every one that loveth, is born of God” (1 John 4:7), which is why Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
If “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “Charity is of God” (1 John 4:7), then Our Lady―who is the Mother of God―must also be the Mother of Charity! This is why Holy Mother Church, on many occasions, puts the following words into the mouth of Our Lady: “I am the mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24) ― words which are used in many Masses of Our Lady, such as on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th), the vigil of the Assumption (August 15th), the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary (September 12th), the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel (April 26th) and in the common Masses of Our Lady―Salve Sancte Parens, plus several more Masses. Thus there must be a great importance to the title of Our Lady as “the Mother of fair love”―and understandably so, for if “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), then Our Lady must be the “Mother of Charity” or the “Mother of Love.”
Hence we should also pay great attention to these other words, that Holy Mother Church likewise puts into the mouth of Mary, the “Mother of Fair Love”― words which you will also find in the readings of the Carmelite Votive Masses of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (before Septuagesima, during Septuagesima, and during Lent) which say: “I love them that love me!” (Proverbs 8:17).
Thus the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel can be said to be a “Scapular of Love” and a “Scapular of Devotion” ― devotion being the high-end or upper-level on the ladder of love. It is that LOVE which makes the Scapular work―the more love you have for Our Lady, the more devotion you show to Our Lady, the more the Scapular will work for you! Fr. Frederick William Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation from the original French into English of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, speaks of the remedy for the many various kinds of problems in the world today: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor!”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his True Devotion to Mary, adds: “We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service! … This is the reason why the reprobate, such as heretics, schismatics and others, who hate our Blessed Lady or regard her with contempt and indifference, have not God for their Father, however much they boast of it, simply because they have not Mary for their Mother. For if they had her for their Mother, they would love and honor her as a true child naturally loves and honors the mother who has given him life … True devotion to Our Lady is interior; that is to say, it comes from the mind and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her ... It is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and no love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her … The predestinate … will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere … They shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body … They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. Among all the passages of the holy Fathers and Doctors, I shall for brevity’s sake quote but one: ‘To be devout to you, O holy Virgin,’ says St. John Damascene, ‘is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.’ God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been.”
“The most holy Virgin, who is a Mother of sweetness and mercy, and who never lets herself be outdone in love and liberality, seeing that we give ourselves entirely to her, to honor and to serve her, and for that end strip ourselves of all that is dearest to us, in order to adorn her, meets us in the same spirit. She also gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner, to him who gives all to her. She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her merits; she supports him with her power; she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates to him her virtues: her humility, her Faith, her purity and the rest. She makes herself his bail, his supplement, and his dear all toward Jesus. In a word, as that consecrated person is all Mary’s, so Mary is all his, after such a fashion that we can say of that perfect servant and child of Mary what St. John the Evangelist said of himself, that he took the holy Virgin for his own: ‘The disciple took her for his own’ (John 19:27). It is this which produces in the soul, if it is faithful, a great distrust, contempt and hatred of self, and a great confidence in and self-abandonment to the Blessed Virgin, its good Mistress. A man no longer, as before, relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works; because, having made an entire sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ by that good Mother, he has but one treasure now, where all his goods are laid up, and that is no longer in himself, for his treasure is Mary.”
Have you ever bought something, taken it home and found that it does not work, or does not work in the way that it is supposed to? It might have been a tool, an appliance, a phone, a car, etc. You take it back to the store or seller to complain―only to find that you were using it in the wrong way. Some people book a vacation to a destination of their dreams―only to have it become a veritable nightmare, with everything going wrong for them. Well, that is exactly how it is with the Brown Scapular. Most people who accept it, who are enrolled in it, who wear it―do not really know how to use it or how to get the maximum benefits from it. Their number is legion. It is true of most Catholics. Hence, what is supposed to help them, in many cases harms them―leading to the very opposite of what they thought it would do.
You could rightly call the Brown Scapular a “weapon” ― especially a “shield” against the attacks and wiles of the devil. This idea is actually presented in the Brown Scapular prayers of enrollment and investiture: “Save Thy servant! … And watch over him (her) from Sion. Let the enemy have no power over him (her). And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm him (her) … Let Thy gracious blessing come upon this garment. May it be blessed and endowed with Thy power to repel all vicious assaults of our visible and invisible enemies … Take this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that you may be shielded by her from all adversity … Protect Thy servant … let him (her) be safe from all adversaries … We pray to Our Lady of Mount Carmel that, in the hour of your death, she will crush the head of your adversary, the serpent.”
When you think that most souls―in the “good old days”―were enrolled in the Brown Scapular as early as their First Holy Communion, being told that Our Lady promises to save from Hell all those who die wearing the Brown Scapular―and then relate that to the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints say that most souls are lost―then you seem to have a discrepancy, a problem, a case where the guarantee of salvation does not seem to work! Why is this? How is this? What causes this to happen? Was Our Lady lying when she first gave the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock in 1251, at the same time promising: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Did Our Lady change her mind somewhere along the line? Did she renege on her promise? Has she cancelled the “agreement” or “contract”?
Weapon Implies War―War Implies Fighting
As was already said in an earlier article―the Brown Scapular is not a “good luck charm” or a spiritual “rabbit’s foot” that we can dangle from our necks and avoid Hell without any further ado! The above extracts from the enrollment ceremony imply a battle, a war, a fight, a struggle―for as Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!!” (Hebrews 12:4).
There you have the essence of the Scapular promise of salvation. It is that salvation is only promised to those who FIGHT AGAINST SIN. Too many Catholics idiotically think that the Scapular is somehow a ‘permission’ to sin, a ‘trump-card’ that will out-trump any sins we commit―all of which leads to making a false peace with sin and an acceptance of sin. It is, as Our Lord condemns, an attempt to serve both God and mammon: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Luke 16:13). With such an attitude, the Scapular will not ‘work’ for us.
Significance of Elias the Battling Prophet and the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel
When we consider this contest, this battle, this fight with Baal (Satan) and his false prophets (the world), we often focus on Elias with his great example of heroic Faith and willingness to stand alone for God with 450 prophets of Baal opposing him.
First Perspective: Church versus World
This idea can firstly be applied to situation of the Catholic Church versus the world, or the Catholic Church versus the other false religions in the world. There is only true religion—and that is the Catholic Faith. All the other religions, Protestants included, are man-made religions and therefore false. Yet, as was the case in the time of Elias, the false prophets seem to have the upper hand at the moment. The Catholic Church is weakening so badly and quickly, that just recently, on July 15th 2017, the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, said in message delivered at the July 15th funeral of Cardinal Meisner, that “the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.” By “boat” Benedict XVI means the Catholic Church. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was given visions of exactly the thing that Benedict was referring to—she states:
“I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper-hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction … It was as if people were splitting into two camps. I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that people must pray fervently with outstretched arms, be it only long enough to say three Our Fathers. This was the way her Son prayed for them on the Cross. They must rise at twelve at night, and pray in this manner; and they must keep coming to the Church. They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome … All over the world, good and devout people, especially the clergy, were harassed, oppressed, and put into prison ... I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect [Freemasons], while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it].”
“I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church; I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city (Rome/the Church). I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening ... I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … I see the Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before and he admits only a limited number of friends near him. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies. I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.”
Second Perspective: Two-Minded Fence-Sitting Catholics
A second perspective could consider, in this battle between Elias and the false prophets of Baal, the unwillingness of the Israelites to commit to following either God or Baal. They were “fence-sitting”, so to speak, trying to blend in with and please everybody—like the Liberals and Modernists within the Catholic Church (of which the Israelites are a symbol).
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates from her visions:
“It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded … The Pope is still attached to the things of this Earth in many ways … The ecclesiastics in the inner circle [of the Pope] looked insincere and lacking in zeal … I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand.”
Third Perspective: Church Collapsing From Within
A third perspective could be found in comparing Elias, the prophets of Baal and the Israelite people to the traditional clergy (Elias), the Modernist clergy (prophets of Baal) and the laity in the Church (the Israelites). Once again, uncannily, the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich seem to echo this terrible plight. Our Lady of Akita, in 1973, also mentions this “in-fighting” within the Church, saying: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres. Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates from her visions:
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly ... I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins and so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction – none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others … Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness … Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known.”
At La Salette, Our Lady foretold that “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … People will think of nothing but amusement.”
To the above, we can add the words of Our Lady of Fatima, who, as part of the Third Secret, seems to indicate that the Faith will collapse throughout the world and that this worldwide apostasy will begin or be caused by the upper levels of the Catholic clergy. This is confirmed by comments made by cardinals who have read the Third Secret of Fatima, such as Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, who said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Battling Elias Is Our Example For Today
The religious Order of Carmelites traces its routes to the prophet Elias, who dwelt on Mount Carmel, and is often regarded as the founder and first patriarch of the Order of Carmelites, dating back to 850 BC. On Mount Carmel there is a grotto known as the “Grotto of the Prophet” which is believed to have served as an oratory for Elias, and attached to this grotto is a chapel erected to Our Lady of Mount Carmel which dates back to 83 AD. Elias heard the voice of the Lord telling him to go and drink of the stream (3 Kings 17:2-5). He obeyed the voice of the Lord, and was chosen by God as a leader to bring Israelites back to Him. According to tradition, Elias beheld a manifestation of a “type” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “the little cloud like a man’s hand” arising out of the sea (3 Kings 18:44), and some have traced the title of Mary “Star of the Sea” to this vision of Elias.
Much can be known about Elias from his significant role in the history of salvation. According to many saints, he is a model of virtue, and is often referred to as the “chief of Prophets”. In the Old Testament Elias first is mentioned in 3 Kings 17:1 and is last seen in 4 Kings 2:13 when he is taken up into the heavens in a fiery chariot. Elias is a prophet to point the way of the true religion of Israel verses the pagan gods. Elias was the prophet and instrument of God to preserve the true religion of Israel and to restore the people to the covenant with God―which is our role today, faced with rampant Liberalism, Modernism and apostasy. Elias sought to bring the truth of God’s Word to burn the hardness out of the people’s hearts and he proclaimed the truth, calling them to repentance, to turn from false gods―as we should study God’s Word in order to burn the errors of our day and shine a light of truth back to the traditional, non-Modernistic, truths of old. His life of prayer, contemplation and love of Our Lord, disposed him to bring God’s Word in purity to the Israelites.
The conflict between Elias and Ahab culminated on Mount Carmel. During a long drought, Elias and the prophets of Baal each offered a sacrifice. They determined that the God that answers by fire is the true God. The prophets of Baal called upon their god from morning until evening to no avail. Elias, rebuilt the altar of the Lord with twelve stones, prepared a holocaust and even surrounded it with water. He cried out to the Lord: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back.” In the midst of the drought, the Lord consumed the sacrifice and the true God was revealed. The drought ended and the God of Israel was acknowledged as the true God. After this triumph, which revealed God’s power and glory, Elias then went up to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed himself down, putting his face between his knees (cf. 3 Kings 18:17-46).
He was told by the Lord, to “Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord” (3 Kings 19:11). A great wind passed him by, an earthquake, and a fire; but the Lord was not in these, but rather “…after the fire, a still small voice. And when Elias heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (3 Kings 19:12-13). Elias was told by the Lord that he was not alone and that all of Israel has not forsaken the Lord, that there were 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed to Baal. (3 Kings 19:18). This history speaks a great magnitude of the spirit of Elias, the founder and patriarch of the Order of Carmel. His charism reveals a singular devotion and love for Our Lord, zeal for the salvation of souls and a deep life of prayer.
Our Lady of La Salette refers to Elias in her prophecy for our days, saying: “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Elias will come, filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of good will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the power of the Holy Ghost and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist.” So we see that the mission of Elias did not end with him leaving Carmel behind all those years ago!
Taking On The Spirit of Elias
Yet, taking on the Scapular of Mount Carmel, we in a sense also need to take upon ourselves the spirit of Elias, who is one of the patron saints of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. From the time of Elias, the prophet, a garment has had tremendous significance in Carmel. When the time came for the great prophet to retire from the spiritual combat of his day, God sent Elias to anoint Eliseus to be prophet in his place. And when Elias came to him, he cast his mantle upon him. Eliseus immediately understood the significance of the gesture, for the sacred text adds, “And rising up he went away, followed Elias and ministered to him” (3 Kings 19:21). And when the time came for the ascent of Elias in the fiery chariot, his successor asked Elias to leave him his double spirit. Elias informed him that he had asked for a very difficult thing, but promised it would be his, and, as he ascended into the clouds, his mantle fell upon Eliseus, bringing him the double spirit of his master (4 Kings 2:9-15). The casting the mantle of Elias, over the shoulders of Eliseus, as Elias was taken up into Heaven in a fiery chariot, was symbolic of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, that the Church casts upon our shoulders so that we might acquire the spirit of Our Lady.
This spirit of Our Lady is a fighting spirit―as she patently made clear at La Salette in speaking of the “Last Times”, saying: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Unfortunately, most Catholics are not “up for the fight” ― their spiritual muscles have atrophied and wasted away due to excessive indulgence on what the world has offered by means of distractions from their real and only purpose in life―giving glory to God and fighting to save their own souls by fighting against sin in all its forms from all its avenues, which are the devil, the world and our own flesh with its pride and concupiscences. The Promises attached to the Brown Scapular are stupendous—almost unbelievable—but there are few that manage to obtain them. “Everyone should strive for it,” said Pope Pius XI, but there are many who miss this great Privilege. “Although many wear my Scapular,” Our Lady complained to the Venerable Dominic of Jesus and Mary, “only a few fulfill the conditions for the Sabbatine Privilege.” (R. P. Bauss, Das Fegfeuer (Mainz, 1883); cf. Scapulier-Biichlein (Graz, 1892), pg. 34). Similarly, at her death the saintly Carmelite, Frances of the Blessed Sacrament, exclaimed: “There are only a few who receive the Privilege because only a few fulfill the conditions.”
Mary’s Promise of Salvation Leads Many to Scapular Abuses
Our Lady’s Promise does not mean a removal of God’s sanction of the moral law, i.e., that regardless of what we do, we shall not be eternally punished. Saints and Popes often warn us of the foolhardiness of abusing Mary’s Promise. At the same time that Pope Pius XI joyfully professed: “I learned to love the Scapular Virgin in the arms of my mother,” the pope also warned all the faithful that “although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper at the hour of death, must in life merit such a signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.” (Letter of His Holiness Pope Pius XI on the occasion of the Centenary of the Sabbatine Privilege). One can take it as certain that if he continually sins because of Mary’s Scapular Promise, he shall not die in the Scapular. To lead a sinful life while trusting in the Scapular Promise is to commit a sin the horror of which borders on sacrilege; its punishment will not only be eternal but far worse than if one had led a sinful life without making the Mother of God an excuse for crucifying her Son.
There are times when a person is tempted to some great sin, such as impurity or theft, that the suggestion comes: “Why not do it? You wear the Scapular and after this moment is passed you will still have no fear about your eternal Salvation.” It is Satan using the Scapular Promise to draw a soul to sin, a worse sin than the objective act itself. Like all sin, it can become a habit. A typical and warningful example is found in a certain well-testified Scapular miracle. A man openly excused a wicked life by boasting that he wore the Scapular; he claimed surety of salvation while he disedified his neighbors by abominable excesses. In this presumptuous belief he persevered until death overtook him. Then those whom he had disedified became witnesses to an event that has not been uncommon in the years that men have sought to realize Mary’s promise. As death approached, the poor wretch thought that the Scapular was the cause of his agony. He cried out painfully that it was burning him. In a last supreme effort, tearing it off, he flung it from him―and went to meet a Divine Judge. (P. Huguet: La Devotion a Marie en exemples, t. II, 62).
We might apply here what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
A perverse, sinful will can defeat the “suppliant omnipotence” of the Mother of mercy. Even Christ had to admit defeat, for He extended his crucified hands all day to an unbelieving and contradicting people that refused to return to the forgiving embrace of his Sacred Heart. How often would He have gathered his chosen children into his Sacred Heart and they would not! But if we turn to Our Lady, she will turn her eyes of mercy towards us and show us the fruit of her womb.
It is clear from the words of St. Alphonsus that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is in itself an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen.
The Fuel That Drives the Scapular
There is only one heavenly fuel―or one type of fuel used by Heaven. That fuel is the fuel of charity or love―because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) … “Charity is of God and every one that loveth, is born of God” (1 John 4:7), which is why Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
If “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “Charity is of God” (1 John 4:7), then Our Lady―who is the Mother of God―must also be the Mother of Charity! This is why Holy Mother Church, on many occasions, puts the following words into the mouth of Our Lady: “I am the mother of fair love!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:24) ― words which are used in many Masses of Our Lady, such as on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th), the vigil of the Assumption (August 15th), the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary (September 12th), the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel (April 26th) and in the common Masses of Our Lady―Salve Sancte Parens, plus several more Masses. Thus there must be a great importance to the title of Our Lady as “the Mother of fair love”―and understandably so, for if “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), then Our Lady must be the “Mother of Charity” or the “Mother of Love.”
Hence we should also pay great attention to these other words, that Holy Mother Church likewise puts into the mouth of Mary, the “Mother of Fair Love”― words which you will also find in the readings of the Carmelite Votive Masses of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (before Septuagesima, during Septuagesima, and during Lent) which say: “I love them that love me!” (Proverbs 8:17).
Thus the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel can be said to be a “Scapular of Love” and a “Scapular of Devotion” ― devotion being the high-end or upper-level on the ladder of love. It is that LOVE which makes the Scapular work―the more love you have for Our Lady, the more devotion you show to Our Lady, the more the Scapular will work for you! Fr. Frederick William Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation from the original French into English of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, speaks of the remedy for the many various kinds of problems in the world today: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor!”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his True Devotion to Mary, adds: “We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service! … This is the reason why the reprobate, such as heretics, schismatics and others, who hate our Blessed Lady or regard her with contempt and indifference, have not God for their Father, however much they boast of it, simply because they have not Mary for their Mother. For if they had her for their Mother, they would love and honor her as a true child naturally loves and honors the mother who has given him life … True devotion to Our Lady is interior; that is to say, it comes from the mind and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her ... It is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem and no love for the holy Virgin; while on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her … The predestinate … will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere … They shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body … They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. Among all the passages of the holy Fathers and Doctors, I shall for brevity’s sake quote but one: ‘To be devout to you, O holy Virgin,’ says St. John Damascene, ‘is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.’ God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been.”
“The most holy Virgin, who is a Mother of sweetness and mercy, and who never lets herself be outdone in love and liberality, seeing that we give ourselves entirely to her, to honor and to serve her, and for that end strip ourselves of all that is dearest to us, in order to adorn her, meets us in the same spirit. She also gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner, to him who gives all to her. She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her merits; she supports him with her power; she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates to him her virtues: her humility, her Faith, her purity and the rest. She makes herself his bail, his supplement, and his dear all toward Jesus. In a word, as that consecrated person is all Mary’s, so Mary is all his, after such a fashion that we can say of that perfect servant and child of Mary what St. John the Evangelist said of himself, that he took the holy Virgin for his own: ‘The disciple took her for his own’ (John 19:27). It is this which produces in the soul, if it is faithful, a great distrust, contempt and hatred of self, and a great confidence in and self-abandonment to the Blessed Virgin, its good Mistress. A man no longer, as before, relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works; because, having made an entire sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ by that good Mother, he has but one treasure now, where all his goods are laid up, and that is no longer in himself, for his treasure is Mary.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday July 11th & Sunday July 12th & Monday July 13th
Article 6
One Day the Rosary and Scapular Will Save the World
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Saturday July 11th & Sunday July 12th & Monday July 13th
Article 6
One Day the Rosary and Scapular Will Save the World
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Fable or Fact? Tale or Truth?
Possibly, you might have heard of the alleged prophecy that Our Lady would one day save the world by the Rosary and the Scapular. What lays behind that prophecy? Where and with whom did it originate? Is it credible or incredible? What are we to think of it? Is it even realistic? To find the answer to these questions requires that we delve back into the annals of time and look at the historical origins of this prophecy.
In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order—written in medieval Latin by a priest named Fr. Marianus Ventimiglia, which was published in 1773 in Naples—we find this historical account:
“Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher. At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. St. Angelus foretold the stigmata of St. Francis, and St. Dominic said: ‘One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.’”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
The Rosary and Scapular are Interlinked and Inseparable
On July 13th, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima—speaking of herself in the third person—said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” Three months later, on October 13th, 1917, at her final appearance at Fatima during the miracle of the sun, she was first seen as being dressed in white and holding the Rosary, while St. Joseph, holding the Infant, stood at her side; then secondly, she was seen as dressed in blue, while Our Lord appeared at her side; thirdly and finally, dressed in the brown of Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular in her hands, while Our Lord, slowly raised His hand and blessed the great crowd in the Cova da Iria below. Sr. Lucia said that, of the three different consecutive appearances of Our Lady on October 13th, the most beautiful and resplendent was that of Our Lady dressed in the religious habit of Mount Carmel (Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
In 1946, in an interview lasting several hours, John M. Haffert, author of The Sign of Her Heart, asked Sr. Lucia, then the sole survivor of the three children who saw Our Lady of Fatima, about that last apparition on October 13th of Our Lady of the Scapular. She confirmed what Archbishop Ryan and a few other early writers on the subject had said. But there had been found, especially among some of the so-called “authorities” on Fatima in the United States, an inexplicable hostility to the inclusion of the Scapular in the Fatima message. We feel today that this was in the Providence of God because it led to an incontrovertible statement on the subject from Sr. Lucia on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th, 1950.
It was in an interview which two Carmelite Fathers had with Sr. Lucia, who had herself become a Carmelite nun with the name, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, in the Carmel of Coimbra, Portugal. The interrogator in the interview was the Very Rev. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm., Provincial Director of the Third Order Secular of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in the United States. He began by remarking that most of the recent writers on Fatima (up to 1950) made no mention of the Scapular, and some even denied that the Scapular Devotion was a part of the Fatima message. “Oh, they are wrong!” Lucia exclaimed.
Shortly after the apparitions in 1917, Lucia told interrogators that the vision of Our Lady of the Scapular, on October 13th, “Looked just like the picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the parish church.” This picture is the very old, universally-used portrayal of Our Lady in the Carmelite Habit, with the Infant Jesus holding the little Scapular in His Hands and Angels descending into Purgatory―apparently at Our Lady’s bidding―freeing souls from the flames. From an explanation which Lucia gave in 1946, it is apparent her reference, in 1917 to this picture, referred only to the Habit and general appearance of Our Lady. In the Fatima vision Our Lady herself held the Scapular in her hands and, instead of the Infant in her arms, Our Lord stood at her side, in the fullness of manhood, blessing the crowd below. “Why do you think Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in this last vision?” Sr. Lucia was asked in 1950. Sr. Lucia replied, “Because she wants everyone to wear the Scapular.”
Great Promises―Little Interest
There was a time when everyone knew what the Brown Scapular was and were enrolled in the Brown Scapular at the time of their First Holy Communion. There was also a time when most people prayed the Rosary in parish, at school and at home. Today there is little or no interest in the Rosary and the Scapular. Only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily and it must be wondered as to how many Catholics today could even tell what you what the Brown Scapular is and means―never mind the “trying to find a needle in a haystack” number of people who actually wear it! O how Satan must be pleased with Catholics being dispossessed of their sword (Rosary) and shield (Scapular)―fighting and overcoming Catholics is like taking candy from a baby these days!
Sister Lucia of Fatima warned: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). But Satan not only attacks and weakens or destroys the clergy, thus leaving the Catholic with weak shepherds or no shepherds, Satan furthermore attacks the key weapons of those Catholics, leaving them even more weakened and exposed to his Satanic attacks through the medium of the world―which is his princedom―by its multiform and multitudinous temptations.
Even at La Salette, in France (1846), Our Lady pitifully complained about our lack of interest and concern with regard to what she has done, is doing and could for us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Only Our Lady Can Help Us Now
Our Lady of Good Success clearly stated that it is she who will overcome Satan in our times and will lead to God’s mercy those who turn to her and have recourse to her. She stated that she desires “that men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love ... They should come to me, for I will lead them to Him … You do not realize that I am an all-powerful Queen … When all will seem to be lost and paralyzed this, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss.”
At La Salette, Our Lady requires our cooperation―for as St. Thomas Aquinas says that God could save mankind without any cooperation on the part of mankind, God WILL NOT save mankind without mankind’s cooperation in that salvation―likewise, Our Lady could save us without our cooperation, but she WILL NOT save us without our cooperation. Hence Our Lady of La Salette says: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
“Fight, children of light” she says―but fight with what? With the Rosary and the Scapular―the Rosary being our sword, “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword!” (Hebrews 4:12). “The sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Whereas the Brown Scapular can be seen as being a shield of Faith―a Faith in the role, power and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). The fact that the Brown Scapular can be seen as shield is seen from a miraculous incident soon after St. Simon Stock was given the Brown Scapular by Our Lady. On the very day that Our Lady gave the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock, he was hurriedly called by Lord Peter of Linton: “Come quickly, Father, my brother is dying in despair!” Saint Simon Stock left at once for the bedside of the dying man. Upon arrival, he placed his large Scapular over the man, asking Our Blessed Mother to keep her promise. Immediately the man repented, and died in the grace of God. That night the dead man appeared to his brother and said, “I have been saved through the most powerful Queen and the habit [Brown Scapular] of that man as a shield.”
Our Lady of Fatima, referring to herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary”, warned: O “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary―because only she can help you.” (July 13th, 1917). At Akita, she essentially repeated the same thing, saying: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
No Laughing Matter―Our Lady is Sad and Weeps
Our Lady of Akita laments: The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). This sadness of Our Lady was also mentioned by Sister Lucia of Fatima, who revealed: “My cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices. For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
This sadness of Our Lady was also seen in the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. One day in 1582, as she was praying before the altar, she saw the Tabernacle open and Christ Himself emerged, suffering as He had at Golgotha. The Blessed Virgin, at His feet, was shedding tears. Mother Mariana asked her, “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?” “No,” she replied, “it is not you, but the criminal world.” Then as Our Lord began His Agony, she heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying, “This punishment will be for the 20th century [you can confidently say that the period of punishment has started and is warning up with each successive year].” She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity.” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era. The Holy Virgin continued: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time?” ― which is exactly the question Our Lady of Fatima asked at the start of the 20th century, in 1917, at Fatima, when she said to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Sister Lucia adds: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Are we REALLY heeding Our Lady’s messages? Are we REALLY PRAYING the Rosary and not just merely and mechanically and parrot-like chirping out a bunch of Hail Marys without meditating them―which Our Lady herself described as being a body (the Rosary) without a soul (the meditation)? Are we REALLY wearing the Brown Scapular as it should be worn―not just as a spiritual good-luck charm, or a license to sin (even venially)―but, as Pope Pius XII calls it, in a letter which he wrote to the Generals of the Carmelite Order, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the Scapular of Mount Carmel on February 11th, 1950, wherein he explicitly said that we should all recognize that the Scapular is the sign of our “consecration to the most holy Heart of the Immaculate Virgin.”
Have we made such an act of consecration to Our Lady? Are we living-out the terms of such a consecration fully? Or was it merely a “lip-service” consecration? “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Am I To Blame For This Sadness? Are You?
At the sight of a saddened and weeping Our Lady of Good Success, Mother Mariana asked her, “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?” Heck! She was a saintly sister, a mystic! What the heck are we? Our Lady’s response to Mother Mariana was: “No, it is not you, but the criminal world.” Perhaps we might not be “too bad”―we regularly go to Sunday Mass, or perhaps even daily Mass! We might not yet pray the Rosary (meditate the Rosary), but at least we say the Rosary daily―perhaps we say several Rosaries daily! We are not conscious of any mortal sin―though it is likely that for many souls, venial sins are like steady rainfall daily. We might do some spiritual reading―though mostly it is reading that we like to read, rather than reading that forces us to become holier and more mortified. So we say to ourselves: “I’m not that bad after all! I am not as bad as so-and-so, him or her!” [as we reel off a list of names of all the dirty doggone sinners we know].
We might “not be as bad as all that” but that very idea brings to mind Our Lord’s Parable that warned against pride and complacency: “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee was doing a lot of things correctly and according to the Law of God―but in that alone he was not justified! Scary, huh?
Elsewhere, Our Lord said to the same Scribes and Pharisees: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). Then elsewhere Our Lord “lays into” the Scribes and Pharisees―despite the many good things that they did―saying: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell―twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness!” (Matthew 23:13-27).
Without a doubt we are far more likely to be categorized by Our Lord and Our Lady as being complacent, proud and most certainly over-exaggerating our goodness and underestimating our sinfulness. If Our Lord said to one of His mystics, Josefa Menendez: “The word ‘little’ still implies some being, but, Josefa, you are less than that―you are nothingness personified.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 173). To another mystic of His, Our Lord said that if she could see herself as He saw her, then she would die in terror―nevertheless assuring her that He still loved her and sought her salvation! What would Our Lord say of us? We tremble to think!
The point is that if we are “better than most people” or, as the Pharisee says, “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men!” ― then we might well be gravely fooling ourselves, because the world is exceedingly sinful and it is partially so because of our neglect in allowing such a sinful “forest-fire” of sin to spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, using the “Cain-excuse” with God does not and will not work: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yes, we are our brother’s keeper―in the sense that, by our prayers and sacrifices, we should be keeping others from sinning and going to Hell. “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth [to us, God would say: “The voice of thy brother’s soul crieth to Me from Hell”]. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:9-11). We are the salt of the Earth that should prevent the Earth from “spoiling” or going “rotten” ― that is to say prevent the Earth from sinning by our prayers and sacrifices, as Our Lady of Fatima revealed. “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13).
Get Real and Really Use Your Rosary and Scapular!
The time of playing or pretending at being Christians has to come to an end! The time for really being Christians has arrived or had better arrive soon―or we might well find ourselves among the ranks of the majority of Catholics who have always found themselves damned. Sister Lucia lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” while Our Lady of La Salette warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!”
How many more times do we need to hear those simple, clear, unambiguous, unmistakable words of Our Lady before the proverbial “penny drops” and the “scales fall from our eyes” and the “elevator finally reaches the top floor” and the “light finally goes on in our heads”? Her message is as clear as 1+1=2 ― yet we gawk and gape, drag our feet and distract our minds, putting forward or presenting a pitiful product that pretends it is complying with her requests. Our Lady repeatedly says: “ “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Why is it that we merely “say” the Rosary, but rarely or never “pray” the Rosary―which means meditating its mysteries? Probably, the most common excuse will be that it TAKES TOO LONG to meditate the Rosary, or that we don’t know how to meditate! Heaven had better thank its lucky stars that even take time to “say” the Rosary in the first place! Heck! I mean, really―haven’t we got more important daily obligations and tasks than saying the Rosary? That, sadly, is something akin to the attitude of most Catholics―and they expect, nay, they demand salvation as though it were an inborn right and that it would be an act of discrimination against them if they were not allowed into Heaven! Such Catholics make a mockery of the Faith―they cheapen the Faith, they distort the Faith, they twist the Faith to fit their own preferences and imagination, they reduce the Faith to a skeleton of what it should be. Such an attitude leads them to vain imagination that if a person simply dies wearing a Brown Scapular, then they must automatically be saved―which is nothing else than reducing a Sacramental of the Church to a mere lottery ticket or spiritual “rabbit’s foot” or lucky charm.
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular by Fr. Clarke, in which he writes:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this ‘magical’ Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is ot crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks … Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV (1740 to 1758) is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them ... If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, article “The Brown Scapular”, The Month, London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
What does it REALLY mean to be enrolled in the Brown Scapular? It is NOT a “one-sided-contract” but a “two-way-contract”―Our Lady promises to save you … IF … and ONLY IF … you KEEP YOUR SIDE OF THE CONTRACT! So what is YOUR side of the contract with Our Lady of Mount Carmel if you want her to guarantee you salvation? In his letter to the Carmelites on the occasion of their 700th anniversary of St. Simon Stock receiving the Scapular from Our Lady, Pope Pius XII clearly states the essence of the Brown Scapular: “The Holy Scapular, which may be called the habit or Garment of Mary, is a sign and a pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit―for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation’ (Philippians 2:12) … May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself a mirror of humility and purity: may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day night and day, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended.” (Pope Pius XII, Letter to the Carmelites for the occasion of the seventh centenary (1251-1951) of the Brown Scapular).
The Brown Scapular and Consecration to Mary
Consecration to Mary is an inseparable aspect and the culmination or goal of being enrolled in the Brown Scapular―just as graduation day is the culmination of being enrolled in school 13 years earlier. Consecration to Mary and the Brown Scapular go hand-in-hand. On the day of your enrolment in the Brown Scapular, these are some of the words from the prayers that were said in blessing the Scapular and investing you with that Scapular:
“Almighty God and everlasting Father, who willed that Thy only-begotten Son be clothed in our mortal nature, we humbly beg Thee in Thy boundless goodness to let Thy blessing flow out on this garment … that he (she), who is to wear it, may likewise put on Our Lord Jesus Christ … Pour out Thy blessing on this habit, so that he (she) who is to wear it, aided from on high, may be filled with true Faith, firm Hope, desired Charity, and may never be separated from Thee … May he (she), by Thy bounty, remain loyal to the Church and make progress in virtue … Take, dear brother (sister), this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that, by her merits, you may keep it spotless, be shielded by her from all adversity, and attain everlasting life …”
In the year 1950, Fr. Kilian Lynch, O. Carm., Prior General of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959, traveled to the Carmel of Coimbra, Portugal, to meet with Fatima seer, Lucia dos Santos, after she had joined the Carmelites in 1948, in order to speak about the Brown Scapular and its place and meaning at Fatima. In his book Our Lady of Fatima and the Brown Scapular, Fr. Lynch recounts two major conversations other Carmelite priests had with her on the same question. He mentions that in 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Lucia for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked “if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered, ‘Most definitely! The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.’” Fr. Lynch also mentions that Sister Lucia was firm with Carmelite Father Howard Rafferty on the Solemnity of the Assumption in 1950: “Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular.’” She added: “[T]he Holy Father [Pope Pius XII] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!”
In his book, The Brown Scapular, the Carmelite Prior General (1947-1959), Fr. Kilian Lynch, pursues this link of the Brown Scapular to Consecration to Mary: “The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary ... As a matter of fact, devotion―in the old and true sense of the term―always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way … As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property―if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders―but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ … If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day. The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ―says St. Bernard―is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
Lip-Service Devotion is Doomed to be Damned
Sadly―and dangerously―we tend to be content with giving God, Christ and Our Lady a “lip-service-devotion”―a devotion that is not really sincere, but a pretence. You can see something similar in many families, where the often touted words ― “I love you” ― are hollow, mechanical, fading, wilting, insincere, lukewarm, etc. Our Lord vehemently rejects and condemns such lukewarm, insincere “lip-service”, saying: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). The frightening thing is that those words no longer frighten us!
Putting Things Straight―Getting Things Right
You have possibly heard of the saying: “Love makes the world go around!” Well, love is also the vital ingredient in the spiritual life and the life of Heaven, because God is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). It is ultimately love or charity that gets us to Heaven: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
To the above words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Mercy is a property of love―or you could say that mercy is one of the many rooms in the mansion of love. God is love “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and as Our Lord says, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions” (John 14:2). One of those mansions in His Father’s house is that of mercy: “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). If we are Godlike, then we must also be charitable and merciful to others―as God is towards us. Our Lord―Love and Mercy Itself―commands: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12) … “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man―so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25) … “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15) … “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37) … “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture echoes those commands of Our Lord: “And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:32) … “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13) … “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment!” (James 2:13). Sadly, we exalt judgment above mercy and are all too willing to judge others, but are very stingy with showing mercy to others. As we do unto others, so shall it be done unto us. If we seek mercy through the Brown Scapular, then we should show that same mercy to others.
Sadly―and dangerously―we are not a merciful race. We are―in the broadest sense of the word―“racist”. Meaning that we prefer one set of human beings over others. In this case, we prefer that mercy be show to ourselves and our nearest and dearest, while, at the same time, we are pretty merciless to others. Our Lord’s Parable of the Unjust Steward hits the mark really well:
“Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me,Today and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him; and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts” (Matthew 18:23-35).
A talent was 750 ounces of silver and so ten thousand talents came to 7,500,000 (7½ million ounces). At today’s silver prices―July 14th, 2020―silver was listed at $19 per ounce (nineteen dollars)―that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $142 million. The Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver—so a hundred pence would be a mere 12½ ounces of silver (or $237) compared to the larger debt of 7½ million ounces ($142 million)! Our Lord is painting a striking picture here. With the forgiveness of the large debt, it encourages us in seeing that even very grave sins can be cured and forgiven—showing the extreme kindness of the God of mercy. Even more importantly, it tells us be careful in harshly judging the sins of others. The above parable should go hand -in-hand with what Our Lord said in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). Today, most folk are blind as bats when it comes their own sins―but have the eye of an eagle when it comes to the sins of others. They lack a merciful spirit―which is seen by their readiness to pound the hammer of justice, while neglecting the balm of mercy. Woe to them! Woe to them on the Day of Judgment! “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37).
Even the Apostles, James and John, showed the same kind of misplaced righteous indignation towards the Samaritan city that gave Our Lord the “cold-shoulder”: Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Showing the Right Kind of Mercy
Showing mercy to others does not mean kicking-out or casting-away justice. “I have not hid Thy justice … I have not concealed Thy mercy” (Psalm 39:11). God never has and never will act by showing only mercy or only justice―in God, mercy and justice are intermingled, intertwined, to form―so to speak―a cocktail of justice and mercy: “Justice and judgment … Mercy and truth shall go before Thy face!” (Psalm 88:15). “Mercy and truth have met each other―justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). We will only receive mercy if we truthfully admit our sins, and we will only receive peace after we have been punished―hence souls gladly thrown themselves into Purgatory to be punished bt its fires, because they know they would find no peace in Heaven if they were to remain unpunished.
Why are Our Lady’s dire warnings almost certain to come to pass? Because of a lack of mercy! Like her Son, Who said He had come to save souls and show mercy to them―“I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 5:32; 19:10)―Our Lady likewise came to seek and save those that were lost: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917) … “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Praying and working for the conversion of sinners―the very ones we hate and want to lynch―is a means of bringing mercy upon the world and avoiding the terrible chastisements foretold by Our Lady. Failure to pray and work for the conversion of sinners merely allows the number sins to increase exponentially and thereby increases the chastisement due to those sins. As Our Lady of Akita said: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” Those words merely echo what Our Lady had said 17 years previously, on December 8th, 1957, to Blessed Elena Aliello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
That is how the Rosary and the Scapular is meant to save the world. We are meant to pray the Rosary “assiduously” (as even stated by the Liberal and Modernist Pope John Paul II), which merely echoes Our Lady’s constant pleadings: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” One aspirin will not cure a disease. Not even one antibiotic will cure a disease―it requires that they be taken regularly and sometimes several times a day until the disease has abated. One fired bullet or one fired shell does not end a war―it takes much more than that―and WE ARE IN A WAR! We need to step-up our Rosary output and take a much better aim (through meditating the mysteries) with the weapon Heaven has put in our hands.
If we fail to obtain the conversion of sinners―by our indifference and neglect―then we shall also fail to avoid the just and merited chastisements for sin that we have indirectly helped to increase.
Possibly, you might have heard of the alleged prophecy that Our Lady would one day save the world by the Rosary and the Scapular. What lays behind that prophecy? Where and with whom did it originate? Is it credible or incredible? What are we to think of it? Is it even realistic? To find the answer to these questions requires that we delve back into the annals of time and look at the historical origins of this prophecy.
In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order—written in medieval Latin by a priest named Fr. Marianus Ventimiglia, which was published in 1773 in Naples—we find this historical account:
“Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher. At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. St. Angelus foretold the stigmata of St. Francis, and St. Dominic said: ‘One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.’”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
The Rosary and Scapular are Interlinked and Inseparable
On July 13th, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima—speaking of herself in the third person—said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” Three months later, on October 13th, 1917, at her final appearance at Fatima during the miracle of the sun, she was first seen as being dressed in white and holding the Rosary, while St. Joseph, holding the Infant, stood at her side; then secondly, she was seen as dressed in blue, while Our Lord appeared at her side; thirdly and finally, dressed in the brown of Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular in her hands, while Our Lord, slowly raised His hand and blessed the great crowd in the Cova da Iria below. Sr. Lucia said that, of the three different consecutive appearances of Our Lady on October 13th, the most beautiful and resplendent was that of Our Lady dressed in the religious habit of Mount Carmel (Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
In 1946, in an interview lasting several hours, John M. Haffert, author of The Sign of Her Heart, asked Sr. Lucia, then the sole survivor of the three children who saw Our Lady of Fatima, about that last apparition on October 13th of Our Lady of the Scapular. She confirmed what Archbishop Ryan and a few other early writers on the subject had said. But there had been found, especially among some of the so-called “authorities” on Fatima in the United States, an inexplicable hostility to the inclusion of the Scapular in the Fatima message. We feel today that this was in the Providence of God because it led to an incontrovertible statement on the subject from Sr. Lucia on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th, 1950.
It was in an interview which two Carmelite Fathers had with Sr. Lucia, who had herself become a Carmelite nun with the name, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, in the Carmel of Coimbra, Portugal. The interrogator in the interview was the Very Rev. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm., Provincial Director of the Third Order Secular of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in the United States. He began by remarking that most of the recent writers on Fatima (up to 1950) made no mention of the Scapular, and some even denied that the Scapular Devotion was a part of the Fatima message. “Oh, they are wrong!” Lucia exclaimed.
Shortly after the apparitions in 1917, Lucia told interrogators that the vision of Our Lady of the Scapular, on October 13th, “Looked just like the picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the parish church.” This picture is the very old, universally-used portrayal of Our Lady in the Carmelite Habit, with the Infant Jesus holding the little Scapular in His Hands and Angels descending into Purgatory―apparently at Our Lady’s bidding―freeing souls from the flames. From an explanation which Lucia gave in 1946, it is apparent her reference, in 1917 to this picture, referred only to the Habit and general appearance of Our Lady. In the Fatima vision Our Lady herself held the Scapular in her hands and, instead of the Infant in her arms, Our Lord stood at her side, in the fullness of manhood, blessing the crowd below. “Why do you think Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in this last vision?” Sr. Lucia was asked in 1950. Sr. Lucia replied, “Because she wants everyone to wear the Scapular.”
Great Promises―Little Interest
There was a time when everyone knew what the Brown Scapular was and were enrolled in the Brown Scapular at the time of their First Holy Communion. There was also a time when most people prayed the Rosary in parish, at school and at home. Today there is little or no interest in the Rosary and the Scapular. Only around 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily and it must be wondered as to how many Catholics today could even tell what you what the Brown Scapular is and means―never mind the “trying to find a needle in a haystack” number of people who actually wear it! O how Satan must be pleased with Catholics being dispossessed of their sword (Rosary) and shield (Scapular)―fighting and overcoming Catholics is like taking candy from a baby these days!
Sister Lucia of Fatima warned: “The Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). But Satan not only attacks and weakens or destroys the clergy, thus leaving the Catholic with weak shepherds or no shepherds, Satan furthermore attacks the key weapons of those Catholics, leaving them even more weakened and exposed to his Satanic attacks through the medium of the world―which is his princedom―by its multiform and multitudinous temptations.
Even at La Salette, in France (1846), Our Lady pitifully complained about our lack of interest and concern with regard to what she has done, is doing and could for us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Only Our Lady Can Help Us Now
Our Lady of Good Success clearly stated that it is she who will overcome Satan in our times and will lead to God’s mercy those who turn to her and have recourse to her. She stated that she desires “that men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love ... They should come to me, for I will lead them to Him … You do not realize that I am an all-powerful Queen … When all will seem to be lost and paralyzed this, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss.”
At La Salette, Our Lady requires our cooperation―for as St. Thomas Aquinas says that God could save mankind without any cooperation on the part of mankind, God WILL NOT save mankind without mankind’s cooperation in that salvation―likewise, Our Lady could save us without our cooperation, but she WILL NOT save us without our cooperation. Hence Our Lady of La Salette says: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
“Fight, children of light” she says―but fight with what? With the Rosary and the Scapular―the Rosary being our sword, “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword!” (Hebrews 4:12). “The sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Whereas the Brown Scapular can be seen as being a shield of Faith―a Faith in the role, power and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). The fact that the Brown Scapular can be seen as shield is seen from a miraculous incident soon after St. Simon Stock was given the Brown Scapular by Our Lady. On the very day that Our Lady gave the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock, he was hurriedly called by Lord Peter of Linton: “Come quickly, Father, my brother is dying in despair!” Saint Simon Stock left at once for the bedside of the dying man. Upon arrival, he placed his large Scapular over the man, asking Our Blessed Mother to keep her promise. Immediately the man repented, and died in the grace of God. That night the dead man appeared to his brother and said, “I have been saved through the most powerful Queen and the habit [Brown Scapular] of that man as a shield.”
Our Lady of Fatima, referring to herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary”, warned: O “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary―because only she can help you.” (July 13th, 1917). At Akita, she essentially repeated the same thing, saying: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third reason, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!”
No Laughing Matter―Our Lady is Sad and Weeps
Our Lady of Akita laments: The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973). This sadness of Our Lady was also mentioned by Sister Lucia of Fatima, who revealed: “My cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices. For this reason, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
This sadness of Our Lady was also seen in the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. One day in 1582, as she was praying before the altar, she saw the Tabernacle open and Christ Himself emerged, suffering as He had at Golgotha. The Blessed Virgin, at His feet, was shedding tears. Mother Mariana asked her, “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?” “No,” she replied, “it is not you, but the criminal world.” Then as Our Lord began His Agony, she heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying, “This punishment will be for the 20th century [you can confidently say that the period of punishment has started and is warning up with each successive year].” She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each was written, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity.” With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in the present era. The Holy Virgin continued: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time?” ― which is exactly the question Our Lady of Fatima asked at the start of the 20th century, in 1917, at Fatima, when she said to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!”
Sister Lucia adds: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Are we REALLY heeding Our Lady’s messages? Are we REALLY PRAYING the Rosary and not just merely and mechanically and parrot-like chirping out a bunch of Hail Marys without meditating them―which Our Lady herself described as being a body (the Rosary) without a soul (the meditation)? Are we REALLY wearing the Brown Scapular as it should be worn―not just as a spiritual good-luck charm, or a license to sin (even venially)―but, as Pope Pius XII calls it, in a letter which he wrote to the Generals of the Carmelite Order, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the Scapular of Mount Carmel on February 11th, 1950, wherein he explicitly said that we should all recognize that the Scapular is the sign of our “consecration to the most holy Heart of the Immaculate Virgin.”
Have we made such an act of consecration to Our Lady? Are we living-out the terms of such a consecration fully? Or was it merely a “lip-service” consecration? “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Am I To Blame For This Sadness? Are You?
At the sight of a saddened and weeping Our Lady of Good Success, Mother Mariana asked her, “My Lady, am I to blame for this sadness?” Heck! She was a saintly sister, a mystic! What the heck are we? Our Lady’s response to Mother Mariana was: “No, it is not you, but the criminal world.” Perhaps we might not be “too bad”―we regularly go to Sunday Mass, or perhaps even daily Mass! We might not yet pray the Rosary (meditate the Rosary), but at least we say the Rosary daily―perhaps we say several Rosaries daily! We are not conscious of any mortal sin―though it is likely that for many souls, venial sins are like steady rainfall daily. We might do some spiritual reading―though mostly it is reading that we like to read, rather than reading that forces us to become holier and more mortified. So we say to ourselves: “I’m not that bad after all! I am not as bad as so-and-so, him or her!” [as we reel off a list of names of all the dirty doggone sinners we know].
We might “not be as bad as all that” but that very idea brings to mind Our Lord’s Parable that warned against pride and complacency: “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee was doing a lot of things correctly and according to the Law of God―but in that alone he was not justified! Scary, huh?
Elsewhere, Our Lord said to the same Scribes and Pharisees: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). Then elsewhere Our Lord “lays into” the Scribes and Pharisees―despite the many good things that they did―saying: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell―twofold more than yourselves! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness!” (Matthew 23:13-27).
Without a doubt we are far more likely to be categorized by Our Lord and Our Lady as being complacent, proud and most certainly over-exaggerating our goodness and underestimating our sinfulness. If Our Lord said to one of His mystics, Josefa Menendez: “The word ‘little’ still implies some being, but, Josefa, you are less than that―you are nothingness personified.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 173). To another mystic of His, Our Lord said that if she could see herself as He saw her, then she would die in terror―nevertheless assuring her that He still loved her and sought her salvation! What would Our Lord say of us? We tremble to think!
The point is that if we are “better than most people” or, as the Pharisee says, “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men!” ― then we might well be gravely fooling ourselves, because the world is exceedingly sinful and it is partially so because of our neglect in allowing such a sinful “forest-fire” of sin to spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, using the “Cain-excuse” with God does not and will not work: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yes, we are our brother’s keeper―in the sense that, by our prayers and sacrifices, we should be keeping others from sinning and going to Hell. “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And Cain answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth [to us, God would say: “The voice of thy brother’s soul crieth to Me from Hell”]. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:9-11). We are the salt of the Earth that should prevent the Earth from “spoiling” or going “rotten” ― that is to say prevent the Earth from sinning by our prayers and sacrifices, as Our Lady of Fatima revealed. “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13).
Get Real and Really Use Your Rosary and Scapular!
The time of playing or pretending at being Christians has to come to an end! The time for really being Christians has arrived or had better arrive soon―or we might well find ourselves among the ranks of the majority of Catholics who have always found themselves damned. Sister Lucia lamented: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” while Our Lady of La Salette warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!”
How many more times do we need to hear those simple, clear, unambiguous, unmistakable words of Our Lady before the proverbial “penny drops” and the “scales fall from our eyes” and the “elevator finally reaches the top floor” and the “light finally goes on in our heads”? Her message is as clear as 1+1=2 ― yet we gawk and gape, drag our feet and distract our minds, putting forward or presenting a pitiful product that pretends it is complying with her requests. Our Lady repeatedly says: “ “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Why is it that we merely “say” the Rosary, but rarely or never “pray” the Rosary―which means meditating its mysteries? Probably, the most common excuse will be that it TAKES TOO LONG to meditate the Rosary, or that we don’t know how to meditate! Heaven had better thank its lucky stars that even take time to “say” the Rosary in the first place! Heck! I mean, really―haven’t we got more important daily obligations and tasks than saying the Rosary? That, sadly, is something akin to the attitude of most Catholics―and they expect, nay, they demand salvation as though it were an inborn right and that it would be an act of discrimination against them if they were not allowed into Heaven! Such Catholics make a mockery of the Faith―they cheapen the Faith, they distort the Faith, they twist the Faith to fit their own preferences and imagination, they reduce the Faith to a skeleton of what it should be. Such an attitude leads them to vain imagination that if a person simply dies wearing a Brown Scapular, then they must automatically be saved―which is nothing else than reducing a Sacramental of the Church to a mere lottery ticket or spiritual “rabbit’s foot” or lucky charm.
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular by Fr. Clarke, in which he writes:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this ‘magical’ Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is ot crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks … Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV (1740 to 1758) is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them ... If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, article “The Brown Scapular”, The Month, London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
What does it REALLY mean to be enrolled in the Brown Scapular? It is NOT a “one-sided-contract” but a “two-way-contract”―Our Lady promises to save you … IF … and ONLY IF … you KEEP YOUR SIDE OF THE CONTRACT! So what is YOUR side of the contract with Our Lady of Mount Carmel if you want her to guarantee you salvation? In his letter to the Carmelites on the occasion of their 700th anniversary of St. Simon Stock receiving the Scapular from Our Lady, Pope Pius XII clearly states the essence of the Brown Scapular: “The Holy Scapular, which may be called the habit or Garment of Mary, is a sign and a pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit―for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation’ (Philippians 2:12) … May they all see in this keepsake of the Virgin herself a mirror of humility and purity: may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day night and day, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most sacred Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which (consecration) in recent times we have so strongly recommended.” (Pope Pius XII, Letter to the Carmelites for the occasion of the seventh centenary (1251-1951) of the Brown Scapular).
The Brown Scapular and Consecration to Mary
Consecration to Mary is an inseparable aspect and the culmination or goal of being enrolled in the Brown Scapular―just as graduation day is the culmination of being enrolled in school 13 years earlier. Consecration to Mary and the Brown Scapular go hand-in-hand. On the day of your enrolment in the Brown Scapular, these are some of the words from the prayers that were said in blessing the Scapular and investing you with that Scapular:
“Almighty God and everlasting Father, who willed that Thy only-begotten Son be clothed in our mortal nature, we humbly beg Thee in Thy boundless goodness to let Thy blessing flow out on this garment … that he (she), who is to wear it, may likewise put on Our Lord Jesus Christ … Pour out Thy blessing on this habit, so that he (she) who is to wear it, aided from on high, may be filled with true Faith, firm Hope, desired Charity, and may never be separated from Thee … May he (she), by Thy bounty, remain loyal to the Church and make progress in virtue … Take, dear brother (sister), this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that, by her merits, you may keep it spotless, be shielded by her from all adversity, and attain everlasting life …”
In the year 1950, Fr. Kilian Lynch, O. Carm., Prior General of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959, traveled to the Carmel of Coimbra, Portugal, to meet with Fatima seer, Lucia dos Santos, after she had joined the Carmelites in 1948, in order to speak about the Brown Scapular and its place and meaning at Fatima. In his book Our Lady of Fatima and the Brown Scapular, Fr. Lynch recounts two major conversations other Carmelite priests had with her on the same question. He mentions that in 1949, Father Donald O’Callaghan asked Lucia for her interpretation of Our Lady coming as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She answered that “the Scapular devotion was pleasing to Our Lady and that she desired it to be propagated.” The priest asked “if she thought the Scapular was a part of the Fatima message. She answered, ‘Most definitely! The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.’” Fr. Lynch also mentions that Sister Lucia was firm with Carmelite Father Howard Rafferty on the Solemnity of the Assumption in 1950: “Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular.’” She added: “[T]he Holy Father [Pope Pius XII] has already told this to the whole world, saying that the Scapular is a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart. Nobody can disagree now!”
In his book, The Brown Scapular, the Carmelite Prior General (1947-1959), Fr. Kilian Lynch, pursues this link of the Brown Scapular to Consecration to Mary: “The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary ... As a matter of fact, devotion―in the old and true sense of the term―always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way … As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property―if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders―but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ … If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day. The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ―says St. Bernard―is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
Lip-Service Devotion is Doomed to be Damned
Sadly―and dangerously―we tend to be content with giving God, Christ and Our Lady a “lip-service-devotion”―a devotion that is not really sincere, but a pretence. You can see something similar in many families, where the often touted words ― “I love you” ― are hollow, mechanical, fading, wilting, insincere, lukewarm, etc. Our Lord vehemently rejects and condemns such lukewarm, insincere “lip-service”, saying: “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship Me!” (Matthew 15:7-9). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). The frightening thing is that those words no longer frighten us!
Putting Things Straight―Getting Things Right
You have possibly heard of the saying: “Love makes the world go around!” Well, love is also the vital ingredient in the spiritual life and the life of Heaven, because God is love itself: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). It is ultimately love or charity that gets us to Heaven: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
To the above words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Mercy is a property of love―or you could say that mercy is one of the many rooms in the mansion of love. God is love “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and as Our Lord says, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions” (John 14:2). One of those mansions in His Father’s house is that of mercy: “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). If we are Godlike, then we must also be charitable and merciful to others―as God is towards us. Our Lord―Love and Mercy Itself―commands: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12) … “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any man―so that your Father also, Who is in Heaven, may forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:25) … “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15) … “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37) … “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture echoes those commands of Our Lord: “And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ!” (Ephesians 4:32) … “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also!” (Colossians 3:13) … “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment!” (James 2:13). Sadly, we exalt judgment above mercy and are all too willing to judge others, but are very stingy with showing mercy to others. As we do unto others, so shall it be done unto us. If we seek mercy through the Brown Scapular, then we should show that same mercy to others.
Sadly―and dangerously―we are not a merciful race. We are―in the broadest sense of the word―“racist”. Meaning that we prefer one set of human beings over others. In this case, we prefer that mercy be show to ourselves and our nearest and dearest, while, at the same time, we are pretty merciless to others. Our Lord’s Parable of the Unjust Steward hits the mark really well:
“Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me,Today and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him; and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts” (Matthew 18:23-35).
A talent was 750 ounces of silver and so ten thousand talents came to 7,500,000 (7½ million ounces). At today’s silver prices―July 14th, 2020―silver was listed at $19 per ounce (nineteen dollars)―that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $142 million. The Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce of silver—so a hundred pence would be a mere 12½ ounces of silver (or $237) compared to the larger debt of 7½ million ounces ($142 million)! Our Lord is painting a striking picture here. With the forgiveness of the large debt, it encourages us in seeing that even very grave sins can be cured and forgiven—showing the extreme kindness of the God of mercy. Even more importantly, it tells us be careful in harshly judging the sins of others. The above parable should go hand -in-hand with what Our Lord said in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5). Today, most folk are blind as bats when it comes their own sins―but have the eye of an eagle when it comes to the sins of others. They lack a merciful spirit―which is seen by their readiness to pound the hammer of justice, while neglecting the balm of mercy. Woe to them! Woe to them on the Day of Judgment! “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37).
Even the Apostles, James and John, showed the same kind of misplaced righteous indignation towards the Samaritan city that gave Our Lord the “cold-shoulder”: Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:51-56).
Showing the Right Kind of Mercy
Showing mercy to others does not mean kicking-out or casting-away justice. “I have not hid Thy justice … I have not concealed Thy mercy” (Psalm 39:11). God never has and never will act by showing only mercy or only justice―in God, mercy and justice are intermingled, intertwined, to form―so to speak―a cocktail of justice and mercy: “Justice and judgment … Mercy and truth shall go before Thy face!” (Psalm 88:15). “Mercy and truth have met each other―justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). We will only receive mercy if we truthfully admit our sins, and we will only receive peace after we have been punished―hence souls gladly thrown themselves into Purgatory to be punished bt its fires, because they know they would find no peace in Heaven if they were to remain unpunished.
Why are Our Lady’s dire warnings almost certain to come to pass? Because of a lack of mercy! Like her Son, Who said He had come to save souls and show mercy to them―“I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance! … The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 5:32; 19:10)―Our Lady likewise came to seek and save those that were lost: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917) … “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Praying and working for the conversion of sinners―the very ones we hate and want to lynch―is a means of bringing mercy upon the world and avoiding the terrible chastisements foretold by Our Lady. Failure to pray and work for the conversion of sinners merely allows the number sins to increase exponentially and thereby increases the chastisement due to those sins. As Our Lady of Akita said: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” Those words merely echo what Our Lady had said 17 years previously, on December 8th, 1957, to Blessed Elena Aliello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
That is how the Rosary and the Scapular is meant to save the world. We are meant to pray the Rosary “assiduously” (as even stated by the Liberal and Modernist Pope John Paul II), which merely echoes Our Lady’s constant pleadings: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” One aspirin will not cure a disease. Not even one antibiotic will cure a disease―it requires that they be taken regularly and sometimes several times a day until the disease has abated. One fired bullet or one fired shell does not end a war―it takes much more than that―and WE ARE IN A WAR! We need to step-up our Rosary output and take a much better aim (through meditating the mysteries) with the weapon Heaven has put in our hands.
If we fail to obtain the conversion of sinners―by our indifference and neglect―then we shall also fail to avoid the just and merited chastisements for sin that we have indirectly helped to increase.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday July 9th & Friday July 10th
Article 5
Carmel Contract Conditions
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Thursday July 9th & Friday July 10th
Article 5
Carmel Contract Conditions
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Do You Wear Your Scapular? Or Do You Live Your Scapular? Surface Catholics and Deep Catholics
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a Sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became “the sons of her choice” is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Popes on the Scapular
Pius XI and Pius XII have urged those wearing the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be especially attentive in their personal lives to the requirements of true Marian devotion. They point out that the Scapular is not a unilateral (one-sided) contract, whereby Our Lady promises to help us―but it a bilateral (two-sided) contract, whereby we are obligated to do certain things for Our Lady and her honor.
POPE PIUS XI wrote: “... although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper in [the hour of] death, must in life merit such signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.”
POPE PIUS XII stressed the spiritual importance of the Scapular devotion: “We are not here concerned with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of the promise of the most Blessed Virgin, which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely ... But not for this reason may they, who wear the Scapular, think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation!’ (Philippians 2:12).”
POPE PIUS XII likewise emphasized the value of the Scapular devotion for society itself: “There is no one, who is not aware, how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, must be placed that of the holy Carmelite Scapular—a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits.”
Therefore, let us not imagine that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of omnipotent absolute supernatural power, which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin! We do well to prudently reflect upon what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their own devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke Her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
Other Testimonies Against Abusing the Scapular
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular, within which you will find the following passages:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this magical Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is to crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks. The words of Bossuet are quoted to this effect, in which Bossuet takes care to add that Mary will be our Mother “if we live in Our Lord Jesus Christ”―the truth of which is undeniable, but in which we read, between the lines, that Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV (1740 to 1758) is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them.
“Now, it is perfectly true that such an abuse of the Brown Scapular is theoretically possible―and, in the controversy with various heretics, Catholic writers are careful to point out that unless in the heart of the dying sinner there is present the love of God and contrition for sin, nothing in the world can save his soul. If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point.
“But this is not the point at issue. The question is not whether a Catholic wearing the Scapular and dying in sin, would lose his soul. Everyone must admit that he would. The real question is whether any Catholic, who wears the Scapular up to the point of death, does actually die in a state of mortal sin. This is the real meaning of Our Lady’s promise―that everyone who dies with this Scapular upon him, shall previously obtain from God the grace of contrition; that his devotion to the Holy Mother of God, evidenced in his wearing of her badge and livery, shall earn for him such good dispositions at the hour of his death, that, in virtue of them, through the merits of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he shall be received into the Kingdom of Heaven [either immediately, or after passing through Purgatory].
“It may be objected that this, too, is a demoralizing doctrine, in that it encourages men to remain in sin because, indeed, by wearing the Scapular, they can ensure their conversion before their death! They can indulge in every possible vice and yet need not fear, since saving grace can be obtained, and Heaven can be purchased by the very simple device of putting on a little bit of brown stuff, in honor of the Mother of God, before they die!
“We answer to this, that is equally demoralizing to teach the sinner that everyone, who makes a genuine act of contrition at the last moment of his life, will certainly enjoy the eternal bliss of Heaven, whatever may have been the abomination of his past life. Yet every Catholic knows full well [or should do] that is true. For the simple reason that Catholics know that a just God watches over us, and that he who abuses the mercy of God, by continuing in sin, will fail in the end of obtaining that necessary true contrition. If a man trusts to a death-bed repentance, and avails himself of it to go on sinning, the death-bed repentance will probably never take place. The sinner will be struck-down all of a sudden. He will have no time for repentance―or else delirium or insensibility will creep over him before the arrival of the priest―or it may be that he will, in punishment for his presumption, have lost the power of making an act of contrition at all―or, even if he makes one, some subsequent later temptation will overcome him, and the devil will regain his victim before the last moment comes.
“Now it just the same with anyone who should abuse the privilege of the Scapular. If God has granted this privilege to Mary, He will not allow His Holy Mother to be insulted by her Scapular being made an excuse for sin. To trust presumptuously to the Scapular, is no less dangerous that to trust presumptuously to a death-bed repentance. The Scapular, in which the sinner trusts, will somehow disappear or be taken away. The strings will break and he will lose it, and will not take the trouble to provide himself with another, or will not be able to get another in time. Very often, he will himself tear it off, under the influence of an evil conscience and a heart hardened against God [and from inspirations of the devil]. Somehow or other, when the hour of death arrives, it will be gone. [Personal experience has seen the Scapular very frequently removed by nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, during the course of administering one procedure or another]. The vanished Scapular will be, ultimately through his own fault, the just punishment for continuance in sin. One of the strongest practical arguments in favor of the privilege attached to it, is that a continuance in sin almost always carries with it the voluntary or involuntary abandonment of the Scapular. A person may be bad, but not so bad as to insult the Holy Mother of God by wearing her uniform while he is outraging her Divine Son. More often, the indifference to holy things, which is one of the effects of sin, will make him careless, and, one day, he will forget or neglect to put the Scapular back on, after it has been taken off. Somehow or other, and many readers, from their own knowledge, will confirm the truth of what I am saying, that the abandonment of the Scapular is one of the most certain signs which accompanies willful persistency in wrong-doing and determined resistance to the grace of God.
“All of this does not prove that we must believe in the efficacy of the Scapular; it only proves that we may believe in it with the most implicit confidence, without laying ourselves open to the charge of superstition, or of encouraging a dangerous abuse. But it proves more than this―it proves that there is a certain connection between the presence of grace in the soul and the wearing of the Scapular, and between the loss of grace [prolonged loss of grace] and the loss of the Scapular. This at least points to the further conclusion that, he who wears it to the end, will either retain or recover the grace of God before he dies―and, again, this confirms the fact of the apparition in which Our Lady gave us the Scapular and of the promise she made” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, “The Brown Scapular”, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
A Serious Contract
In order for a contract to be formed, the parties must reach mutual agreement (also called “a meeting of the minds”). This is typically reached through offer and an acceptance which does not vary the offer’s terms―which is known as the “mirror image rule”. An offer is a definite statement of the offeror’s willingness to be bound should certain conditions be met.
In the Anglo-American common law, formation of a contract generally requires (1) an offer, (2) its acceptance, (3) its consideration, and (4) a mutual intent to be bound. Each party must have capacity to enter the contract. Although most oral contracts are binding, some types of contracts may require formalities, such as being in writing or by deed. In the civil law tradition, contract law is a branch of the law of obligations. “Consideration”―a concept of English common law―is required for simple contracts. “Consideration” is a promise of “something of value” given by a promissor in exchange for “something of value” given by a promisee―and typically the “thing of value” is goods, money, or an act. “Consideration” must be given as part of entering the contract.
In the context of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (the promissor), she promises to persons (the promisees) salvation (the thing of value promised by Our Lady the promissor), in return for the person (the promisee) faithfully wearing (which is “the thing of value” given in return by the promisee) the Brown Scapular (which is the sign of the contract). In a nutshell it looks like this:
(1) Our Lady is the Promissor
(2) You are the Promisee (to whom she promises)
(3) The “thing of value” she promises you is salvation
(4) The “thing of value” that you give to Our Lady in return, is faithful service.
(5) The Brown Scapular that she gives you and which you faithfully wear is a sign of that contract.
Contracts may be bilateral or unilateral. A bilateral contract is an agreement in which each of the parties to the contract makes a promise or set of promises to each other. Less common are unilateral contracts in which one party makes a promise, but the other side does not promise anything.
The priest, while enrolling you in the Brown Scapular [read the prayers here], in reading Psalm 132, pronounces the following verse that indicates that you are entering into a ‘contract’ with Heaven:
“Behold, how good it is, and how pleasant, where brethren dwell as one!” A contract unites various parties—it makes them “dwell as one”―much as in marriage, where two individuals unite as one: “Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). With the Scapular enrollment ceremony, we, in a sense, leave the world (or at least the spirit of the world behind), because “the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) and we become one with the Holy Trinity, Our Lady and Heaven: “one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32)—which is how Holy Scripture describes the attitude of the first Christians in the time of the Apostles.
If you read all the various prayers of the Brown Scapular enrollment ceremony, you will find in them the “two sides of the contract” which is being made by that ceremony. Heaven—or God and Our Lady—undertake to do certain things, and you are told that you must also undertake certain things. This constitutes the bi-lateral, or two-sided, contract. Each party pledges to do its required duties and play its proper part.
Heaven’s Side of the Contract
The various prayers of the enrollment ceremony clearly state the part that God and Our Lady will play in this contract: “I enroll you as a partaker of all the spiritual benefits of this Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.” What are some of those benefits? The prayers of enrollment give us some indication of them: “I receive you and enroll you as a partaker of all the prayers, penances, suffrages, alms-deeds, fasts, vigils, Masses, canonical hours, as well as all other spiritual favors which, by the merciful help of Jesus Christ, are performed day and night, in various places, by the members of our whole order” … “Deliver us from evil” … “Save Thy servant” … “Send him (her) aid” … “Watch over him (her)” … … “Let the enemy have no power over him (her)” … “And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm him (her)” … “with Thy power to repel all vicious assaults of our visible and invisible enemies” … “May Christ add you to the number of His faithful” … so that he (she) may “be shielded by her from all adversity” … “May he (she), by Thy bounty, remain loyal to the Church and make progress in virtue” … “Assisted by the prayers of our holy Order, may he (she) deserve to attain everlasting life” … “We pray to her that, in the hour of your death, she will crush the head of your adversary, the serpent, so that you may finally and triumphantly possess the palm and crown of the everlasting inheritance.”
Your Side of the Contract
Just as true love cannot be one-sided, but is reciprocal—a give and take, a “two-way-street”—so too is this contract with God and Our Lady, which is seen clearly in the following extracts from the enrollment prayers:
“Take, dear brother (sister), this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that, by her merits, you may keep it spotless and attain everlasting life” … “Let its mystical significance be preserved, both in the body and soul of him (her) who is to wear it” … “This garment, which our holy fathers have sanctioned to be worn by those who renounce the world, in token of innocence and lowliness” … “this habit, which is to be worn by Thy servant in love and devotion to Thee and Thy Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Mount Carmel” ... “To be ever constant and true to your proposal, and to serve Thee in all holiness” … “To live well, to do good, to persevere in your resolution, and to attain the inheritance of everlasting life” … “Pour out Thy blessing on this habit, so that he (she) who is to wear it, aided from on high, may be filled with true faith, firm hope, desired charity, and may never be separated from Thee” … “That he (she), who is to wear it, may likewise put on Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ignoring the Terms of the Contract
Most Scapular wearers treat this heavenly contract like a one-sided contract—Heaven gives, I take, I give nothing back! You could say that they have entered into a contract with Heaven “without reading the small print” on the contract. In fact, the so-called “small-print” is not so small—as the above extracts from the prayers have shown. They want Heaven “for free”—or at least at a “knockdown-price”! In their minds, Heaven should be a “freebie”—or pretty close to it! To them the Blood of Christ and the terrible sufferings of Christ are just a little thing—they know, they’ve read, they’ve heard—but it is not too important, there are far more important things in life to be preoccupied with! They ignore and sweep under the carpet such warnings from Holy Scripture as: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
What is Expected by the Scapular Contract?
What is it that you expect from this Scapular Contract? You expect Heaven, don’t you? What are you prepared to give to obtain it? This is not just about “taking”, but it is about “give and take” or “take and give”—it is a bilateral contract, not a unilateral contract! How about putting a price on Heaven? How about giving something towards its price? Holy Scripture says: “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” 1 Corinthians 2:9). Our Lord tries to convey to us the value of Heaven in some of His parables, notably in chapter 13 of St. Matthew:
The Value and Price of Heaven
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:44-46). The exceedingly great value of the Kingdom of Heaven is seen in that it is compared to both a treasure and a pearl of great price. The Kingdom of Heaven is of inestimable value because it cost the Son of God His very life and life-Blood. Jesus gave His Precious Blood to purchase Heaven for us! “…which He hath purchased with His own Blood … Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh! How much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Acts 20:28; Hebrews 9:12-14).
Heaven is expensive! Let us never depreciate it! Let us never undervalue it! Let us never dare try acquire it “on the cheap”! If we truly valued Heaven, then, as a genuine Catholic, we would sacrifice our time, efforts, talents and money in the interests of the kingdom of God—like the men in the parable: “Having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field ... Who, when he had found it, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” Alas, for most, Heaven is not priceless—they want it for a lesser price! They are prepared to take Heaven, but they are not prepared to pay for it! Yet, apart from God and Our Lady, there is nothing greater than Heaven—it is an eternal place; a place with no death, no sickness, no fear, no guilt, no excuses, no lies, no detraction, no insults, no mockery, no suspicion, no selfishness, no sorrow, no sadness, no depression, no losses, no criticism, no arguing, no anger, no hatred, no blaming, no pride, no greed, no envy, no jealousy, no lust, no impurity, no drunkenness, no drugs, no addictions, no poverty, no persecution, no self-pity, no sulking, no whining, etc., etc., etc. And you want freedom from all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
Besides the elimination of all those negatives, Heaven will be a life of eternal sincere unfeigned charity, humility, compassion, mercy, justice, joy, peace, patience, understanding, consolation, comfort, pleasure, health, companionship, respect, gratitude, modesty, purity, sobriety, honesty, selflessness, etc., etc., etc. And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
Our Lord speaks of many mansions in Heaven! “Let not your heart be troubled. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be!” (John 14:1-3). Hey! You can’t even afford a mansion here on Earth! Our Lord promises you a mansion in Heaven! A mansion for eternity! No rent, no mortgage, no utility bills, no taxes, no house insurance, no maintenance, no repairs, no mice, no ants, no bugs, no security problems, the best neighborhood in the whole universe! And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
“Okay!” you say, “but I never asked for a mansion in the first place! I’d be happy living in an eternal tent!” Even so, there would be no camping fees, perfect weather for eternity, perfect temperature for eternity, no storms, no bugs, no mosquitoes, no stray cows, no security problems, the best neighborhood in the whole universe! And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
‘Cheap’ Catholics Craving ‘Complimentary Tickets’
Let’s be totally honest and admit that our valuation of Heaven is on par with the efforts we are making to get there—in other words, way below the “market price”. Our efforts are second-rate, half-hearted and sporadic. We magnify the little we do and shrink in value the magnificent offer presented to us. We are ‘cheap’ Catholics! We are ‘cheap’ Catholics bought at a great price—the Blood of Christ! Yet we will barely add a drop of our sweat to the Precious Blood He shed for us! We want the Scapular to be a ‘Complimentary Ticket’ to Heaven—which hardly compliments Christ and the shedding of His Precious Blood!
You have been given a phenomenal promise attached to the faithful wearing of your Brown Scapular! What greater promise could you ask for? Salvation means everything! “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). Yet we slap Our Lord and Our Lady in the face by focusing more on daily life in the world than eternal life in Heaven—salvation is “filed-away” for later, we are too busy right now! Sure, we wear the Scapular—but not quite as “faithfully” as it ought to be worn. We use it, but abuse it! We forget that to whom more is given, more is expected: “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
The Real Meaning and Obligation of the Brown Scapular
If there is anyone who should be able to tell us something about the real meaning and obligations of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, then it should be the Superior General of Order of Mount Carmel, don’t you think? Therefore, let us turn to Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General (Prior General) of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and let him explain the Scapular to us in some more depth. The following is taken from his booklet, The Scapular of Carmel, written in readiness of the 7th Centenary (1251-1951) celebration of the Brown Scapular. Fr. Kilian Lynch writes:
“Like many good and holy things that have come down to us from the past, the Scapular (to be understood properly) has to be seen in the light of its historical setting; to take it away from the century of its origin is to deprive it of a great deal of its significance and to rob it of its value as a religious symbol. Since the rise of monasticism a Scapular, consisting of two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down back and breast, has been a part of the monastic Habit. The fact that it hung from the shoulders immediately suggested a spiritual meaning, for Christ spoke of the Faith in terms of a burden to be carried. “My yoke,” He said, “is sweet and my burden light.” As the monk rose in the morning to begin a new day, the putting on of the Scapular reminded him that he had taken the sweet burden of divine service upon him and that the day ahead was to be all for God.
“When one is acquainted with the desire of the Church that we put our Faith into our daily lives and sanctify even the little things of life, one can easily see how the wearing of a Scapular could be a strong incentive to faithful and generous service in the vineyard of the Master. Even the sight of it could be a reminder of a promise made, but easily forgotten, by the ordinary person.
“The birth and ascendancy of the Mendicant Orders served to strengthen the spiritual significance of the religious Habit of which the Scapular was the principal part. Coming as it did in the thirteenth century, the Friar Movement was bound to be affected by the feudal system which was then at its height. The Friars were, by profession if not by origin, poor men who identified themselves with the poorer classes and worked among them. Their Habit, even though similar to that of the monk, was that of the common folk. It was inevitable that the relation of vassal to lord that dominated the whole economic, social and political life of the Middle Ages would affect their religious outlook and that the timeless relation of creature to Creator would be expressed in terms of it.
“Living as we do in an age very different from that of the Middle Ages, we find it hard to visualize the dependence of the vassal upon his lord. While Feudalism held sway, it was a matter of life and death to belong to a lord. Before the rise of towns, commerce and industry, land was the only means of livelihood; and since it belonged to the lord, one had to have the right to till it in order to live. The vassal’s act of homage gave him the right as well as that of protection, which was as important then as it is now.
“Knowing how much Faith and actual living were one in the Middle Ages, one can see how feudal ideas influenced religious ideas and practices and how the Habit, of which the Scapular is the principal part, took on a new meaning. Being a man of God, the Friar was keenly aware that God is our one and only Master. but, after the manner of the time, he presented himself before his Divine Master as the vassal presented himself before his lord “to pay his homage” and to receive the investiture from his hands. The religious ceremony of receiving the Habit, although different in meaning, was the same as that of feudal investiture. Just as the vassal placed his hands in or between his lord’s and pronounced his oath of fealty or homage, so did the friar present himself before a Superior, who took the place of God, to make his vows. The Scapular, hanging from the shoulders, was an outward sign that the friar was “God’s man,” that he belonged entirely to Him and that he would pay Him the homage of his whole life. It is in this medieval setting that one must see the brown Scapular that is the Habit of the Carmelite Friars in miniature form” (taken from The Scapular of Carmel, by Fr. Edward Kilian Lynch, O.Carm. Prior General from 1947-1959).
Where’s the Profit? Show Me What You’ve Done!
To rephrase the above in simple and more modern terms, we can say that just as land belonged to a lord, who then loaned it out to vassals to till the land in order to live, likewise the whole world and the whole Church belongs to God, Who has ‘loaned-out’ to us a portion of the world and elements of His Church for us to ‘till’ and ‘trade’ with His belongings and render an account of our tillage or work, much like the servants were given talents by their master and were expected to show a profit from those talents:
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.
“And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The Brown Scapular is a Sacramental of the Church—therefore, it is a source of grace. How much grace we get through the Scapular depends upon how much ‘work’, ‘effort’ and fervor we put into using it. Sacraments give a minimal amount of grace ‘automatically’—we call this mode of operation “ex opere operato”, which broadly means that grace is given by the mere performance of the rite. However, the Scapular is not a Sacrament, but a Sacramental, and Sacramentals are said to give grace “ex opere operantis”—which means, NOT by simply wearing it, but dependent upon the fervor of soul we have in wearing it. So, like the parable of the talents above, one person’s fervor could earn ‘five talents’ (or graces or higher degrees of grace), whereas the fervor of another might be less and so will only earn ‘two talents’ (or graces or a lower degree of grace). Most people are like the man who buried his talent in the earth and did nothing with it—they just wear the Scapular and do nothing else! Learn from moral of the parable the dangers of doing this!
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a Sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became “the sons of her choice” is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Popes on the Scapular
Pius XI and Pius XII have urged those wearing the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be especially attentive in their personal lives to the requirements of true Marian devotion. They point out that the Scapular is not a unilateral (one-sided) contract, whereby Our Lady promises to help us―but it a bilateral (two-sided) contract, whereby we are obligated to do certain things for Our Lady and her honor.
POPE PIUS XI wrote: “... although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper in [the hour of] death, must in life merit such signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.”
POPE PIUS XII stressed the spiritual importance of the Scapular devotion: “We are not here concerned with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of the promise of the most Blessed Virgin, which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely ... But not for this reason may they, who wear the Scapular, think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation!’ (Philippians 2:12).”
POPE PIUS XII likewise emphasized the value of the Scapular devotion for society itself: “There is no one, who is not aware, how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, must be placed that of the holy Carmelite Scapular—a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits.”
Therefore, let us not imagine that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of omnipotent absolute supernatural power, which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin! We do well to prudently reflect upon what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their own devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke Her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
Other Testimonies Against Abusing the Scapular
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular, within which you will find the following passages:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this magical Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is to crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks. The words of Bossuet are quoted to this effect, in which Bossuet takes care to add that Mary will be our Mother “if we live in Our Lord Jesus Christ”―the truth of which is undeniable, but in which we read, between the lines, that Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV (1740 to 1758) is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them.
“Now, it is perfectly true that such an abuse of the Brown Scapular is theoretically possible―and, in the controversy with various heretics, Catholic writers are careful to point out that unless in the heart of the dying sinner there is present the love of God and contrition for sin, nothing in the world can save his soul. If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point.
“But this is not the point at issue. The question is not whether a Catholic wearing the Scapular and dying in sin, would lose his soul. Everyone must admit that he would. The real question is whether any Catholic, who wears the Scapular up to the point of death, does actually die in a state of mortal sin. This is the real meaning of Our Lady’s promise―that everyone who dies with this Scapular upon him, shall previously obtain from God the grace of contrition; that his devotion to the Holy Mother of God, evidenced in his wearing of her badge and livery, shall earn for him such good dispositions at the hour of his death, that, in virtue of them, through the merits of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he shall be received into the Kingdom of Heaven [either immediately, or after passing through Purgatory].
“It may be objected that this, too, is a demoralizing doctrine, in that it encourages men to remain in sin because, indeed, by wearing the Scapular, they can ensure their conversion before their death! They can indulge in every possible vice and yet need not fear, since saving grace can be obtained, and Heaven can be purchased by the very simple device of putting on a little bit of brown stuff, in honor of the Mother of God, before they die!
“We answer to this, that is equally demoralizing to teach the sinner that everyone, who makes a genuine act of contrition at the last moment of his life, will certainly enjoy the eternal bliss of Heaven, whatever may have been the abomination of his past life. Yet every Catholic knows full well [or should do] that is true. For the simple reason that Catholics know that a just God watches over us, and that he who abuses the mercy of God, by continuing in sin, will fail in the end of obtaining that necessary true contrition. If a man trusts to a death-bed repentance, and avails himself of it to go on sinning, the death-bed repentance will probably never take place. The sinner will be struck-down all of a sudden. He will have no time for repentance―or else delirium or insensibility will creep over him before the arrival of the priest―or it may be that he will, in punishment for his presumption, have lost the power of making an act of contrition at all―or, even if he makes one, some subsequent later temptation will overcome him, and the devil will regain his victim before the last moment comes.
“Now it just the same with anyone who should abuse the privilege of the Scapular. If God has granted this privilege to Mary, He will not allow His Holy Mother to be insulted by her Scapular being made an excuse for sin. To trust presumptuously to the Scapular, is no less dangerous that to trust presumptuously to a death-bed repentance. The Scapular, in which the sinner trusts, will somehow disappear or be taken away. The strings will break and he will lose it, and will not take the trouble to provide himself with another, or will not be able to get another in time. Very often, he will himself tear it off, under the influence of an evil conscience and a heart hardened against God [and from inspirations of the devil]. Somehow or other, when the hour of death arrives, it will be gone. [Personal experience has seen the Scapular very frequently removed by nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, during the course of administering one procedure or another]. The vanished Scapular will be, ultimately through his own fault, the just punishment for continuance in sin. One of the strongest practical arguments in favor of the privilege attached to it, is that a continuance in sin almost always carries with it the voluntary or involuntary abandonment of the Scapular. A person may be bad, but not so bad as to insult the Holy Mother of God by wearing her uniform while he is outraging her Divine Son. More often, the indifference to holy things, which is one of the effects of sin, will make him careless, and, one day, he will forget or neglect to put the Scapular back on, after it has been taken off. Somehow or other, and many readers, from their own knowledge, will confirm the truth of what I am saying, that the abandonment of the Scapular is one of the most certain signs which accompanies willful persistency in wrong-doing and determined resistance to the grace of God.
“All of this does not prove that we must believe in the efficacy of the Scapular; it only proves that we may believe in it with the most implicit confidence, without laying ourselves open to the charge of superstition, or of encouraging a dangerous abuse. But it proves more than this―it proves that there is a certain connection between the presence of grace in the soul and the wearing of the Scapular, and between the loss of grace [prolonged loss of grace] and the loss of the Scapular. This at least points to the further conclusion that, he who wears it to the end, will either retain or recover the grace of God before he dies―and, again, this confirms the fact of the apparition in which Our Lady gave us the Scapular and of the promise she made” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, “The Brown Scapular”, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
A Serious Contract
In order for a contract to be formed, the parties must reach mutual agreement (also called “a meeting of the minds”). This is typically reached through offer and an acceptance which does not vary the offer’s terms―which is known as the “mirror image rule”. An offer is a definite statement of the offeror’s willingness to be bound should certain conditions be met.
In the Anglo-American common law, formation of a contract generally requires (1) an offer, (2) its acceptance, (3) its consideration, and (4) a mutual intent to be bound. Each party must have capacity to enter the contract. Although most oral contracts are binding, some types of contracts may require formalities, such as being in writing or by deed. In the civil law tradition, contract law is a branch of the law of obligations. “Consideration”―a concept of English common law―is required for simple contracts. “Consideration” is a promise of “something of value” given by a promissor in exchange for “something of value” given by a promisee―and typically the “thing of value” is goods, money, or an act. “Consideration” must be given as part of entering the contract.
In the context of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (the promissor), she promises to persons (the promisees) salvation (the thing of value promised by Our Lady the promissor), in return for the person (the promisee) faithfully wearing (which is “the thing of value” given in return by the promisee) the Brown Scapular (which is the sign of the contract). In a nutshell it looks like this:
(1) Our Lady is the Promissor
(2) You are the Promisee (to whom she promises)
(3) The “thing of value” she promises you is salvation
(4) The “thing of value” that you give to Our Lady in return, is faithful service.
(5) The Brown Scapular that she gives you and which you faithfully wear is a sign of that contract.
Contracts may be bilateral or unilateral. A bilateral contract is an agreement in which each of the parties to the contract makes a promise or set of promises to each other. Less common are unilateral contracts in which one party makes a promise, but the other side does not promise anything.
The priest, while enrolling you in the Brown Scapular [read the prayers here], in reading Psalm 132, pronounces the following verse that indicates that you are entering into a ‘contract’ with Heaven:
“Behold, how good it is, and how pleasant, where brethren dwell as one!” A contract unites various parties—it makes them “dwell as one”―much as in marriage, where two individuals unite as one: “Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). With the Scapular enrollment ceremony, we, in a sense, leave the world (or at least the spirit of the world behind), because “the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) and we become one with the Holy Trinity, Our Lady and Heaven: “one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32)—which is how Holy Scripture describes the attitude of the first Christians in the time of the Apostles.
If you read all the various prayers of the Brown Scapular enrollment ceremony, you will find in them the “two sides of the contract” which is being made by that ceremony. Heaven—or God and Our Lady—undertake to do certain things, and you are told that you must also undertake certain things. This constitutes the bi-lateral, or two-sided, contract. Each party pledges to do its required duties and play its proper part.
Heaven’s Side of the Contract
The various prayers of the enrollment ceremony clearly state the part that God and Our Lady will play in this contract: “I enroll you as a partaker of all the spiritual benefits of this Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.” What are some of those benefits? The prayers of enrollment give us some indication of them: “I receive you and enroll you as a partaker of all the prayers, penances, suffrages, alms-deeds, fasts, vigils, Masses, canonical hours, as well as all other spiritual favors which, by the merciful help of Jesus Christ, are performed day and night, in various places, by the members of our whole order” … “Deliver us from evil” … “Save Thy servant” … “Send him (her) aid” … “Watch over him (her)” … … “Let the enemy have no power over him (her)” … “And the son of iniquity be powerless to harm him (her)” … “with Thy power to repel all vicious assaults of our visible and invisible enemies” … “May Christ add you to the number of His faithful” … so that he (she) may “be shielded by her from all adversity” … “May he (she), by Thy bounty, remain loyal to the Church and make progress in virtue” … “Assisted by the prayers of our holy Order, may he (she) deserve to attain everlasting life” … “We pray to her that, in the hour of your death, she will crush the head of your adversary, the serpent, so that you may finally and triumphantly possess the palm and crown of the everlasting inheritance.”
Your Side of the Contract
Just as true love cannot be one-sided, but is reciprocal—a give and take, a “two-way-street”—so too is this contract with God and Our Lady, which is seen clearly in the following extracts from the enrollment prayers:
“Take, dear brother (sister), this blessed garment, and call on the most Holy Virgin, that, by her merits, you may keep it spotless and attain everlasting life” … “Let its mystical significance be preserved, both in the body and soul of him (her) who is to wear it” … “This garment, which our holy fathers have sanctioned to be worn by those who renounce the world, in token of innocence and lowliness” … “this habit, which is to be worn by Thy servant in love and devotion to Thee and Thy Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Mount Carmel” ... “To be ever constant and true to your proposal, and to serve Thee in all holiness” … “To live well, to do good, to persevere in your resolution, and to attain the inheritance of everlasting life” … “Pour out Thy blessing on this habit, so that he (she) who is to wear it, aided from on high, may be filled with true faith, firm hope, desired charity, and may never be separated from Thee” … “That he (she), who is to wear it, may likewise put on Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ignoring the Terms of the Contract
Most Scapular wearers treat this heavenly contract like a one-sided contract—Heaven gives, I take, I give nothing back! You could say that they have entered into a contract with Heaven “without reading the small print” on the contract. In fact, the so-called “small-print” is not so small—as the above extracts from the prayers have shown. They want Heaven “for free”—or at least at a “knockdown-price”! In their minds, Heaven should be a “freebie”—or pretty close to it! To them the Blood of Christ and the terrible sufferings of Christ are just a little thing—they know, they’ve read, they’ve heard—but it is not too important, there are far more important things in life to be preoccupied with! They ignore and sweep under the carpet such warnings from Holy Scripture as: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
What is Expected by the Scapular Contract?
What is it that you expect from this Scapular Contract? You expect Heaven, don’t you? What are you prepared to give to obtain it? This is not just about “taking”, but it is about “give and take” or “take and give”—it is a bilateral contract, not a unilateral contract! How about putting a price on Heaven? How about giving something towards its price? Holy Scripture says: “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” 1 Corinthians 2:9). Our Lord tries to convey to us the value of Heaven in some of His parables, notably in chapter 13 of St. Matthew:
The Value and Price of Heaven
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it!” (Matthew 13:44-46). The exceedingly great value of the Kingdom of Heaven is seen in that it is compared to both a treasure and a pearl of great price. The Kingdom of Heaven is of inestimable value because it cost the Son of God His very life and life-Blood. Jesus gave His Precious Blood to purchase Heaven for us! “…which He hath purchased with His own Blood … Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh! How much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Acts 20:28; Hebrews 9:12-14).
Heaven is expensive! Let us never depreciate it! Let us never undervalue it! Let us never dare try acquire it “on the cheap”! If we truly valued Heaven, then, as a genuine Catholic, we would sacrifice our time, efforts, talents and money in the interests of the kingdom of God—like the men in the parable: “Having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field ... Who, when he had found it, went his way and sold all that he had, and bought it!” Alas, for most, Heaven is not priceless—they want it for a lesser price! They are prepared to take Heaven, but they are not prepared to pay for it! Yet, apart from God and Our Lady, there is nothing greater than Heaven—it is an eternal place; a place with no death, no sickness, no fear, no guilt, no excuses, no lies, no detraction, no insults, no mockery, no suspicion, no selfishness, no sorrow, no sadness, no depression, no losses, no criticism, no arguing, no anger, no hatred, no blaming, no pride, no greed, no envy, no jealousy, no lust, no impurity, no drunkenness, no drugs, no addictions, no poverty, no persecution, no self-pity, no sulking, no whining, etc., etc., etc. And you want freedom from all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
Besides the elimination of all those negatives, Heaven will be a life of eternal sincere unfeigned charity, humility, compassion, mercy, justice, joy, peace, patience, understanding, consolation, comfort, pleasure, health, companionship, respect, gratitude, modesty, purity, sobriety, honesty, selflessness, etc., etc., etc. And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
Our Lord speaks of many mansions in Heaven! “Let not your heart be troubled. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be!” (John 14:1-3). Hey! You can’t even afford a mansion here on Earth! Our Lord promises you a mansion in Heaven! A mansion for eternity! No rent, no mortgage, no utility bills, no taxes, no house insurance, no maintenance, no repairs, no mice, no ants, no bugs, no security problems, the best neighborhood in the whole universe! And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
“Okay!” you say, “but I never asked for a mansion in the first place! I’d be happy living in an eternal tent!” Even so, there would be no camping fees, perfect weather for eternity, perfect temperature for eternity, no storms, no bugs, no mosquitoes, no stray cows, no security problems, the best neighborhood in the whole universe! And you want all those things AT WHAT PRICE?!!!
‘Cheap’ Catholics Craving ‘Complimentary Tickets’
Let’s be totally honest and admit that our valuation of Heaven is on par with the efforts we are making to get there—in other words, way below the “market price”. Our efforts are second-rate, half-hearted and sporadic. We magnify the little we do and shrink in value the magnificent offer presented to us. We are ‘cheap’ Catholics! We are ‘cheap’ Catholics bought at a great price—the Blood of Christ! Yet we will barely add a drop of our sweat to the Precious Blood He shed for us! We want the Scapular to be a ‘Complimentary Ticket’ to Heaven—which hardly compliments Christ and the shedding of His Precious Blood!
You have been given a phenomenal promise attached to the faithful wearing of your Brown Scapular! What greater promise could you ask for? Salvation means everything! “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). Yet we slap Our Lord and Our Lady in the face by focusing more on daily life in the world than eternal life in Heaven—salvation is “filed-away” for later, we are too busy right now! Sure, we wear the Scapular—but not quite as “faithfully” as it ought to be worn. We use it, but abuse it! We forget that to whom more is given, more is expected: “That servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
The Real Meaning and Obligation of the Brown Scapular
If there is anyone who should be able to tell us something about the real meaning and obligations of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, then it should be the Superior General of Order of Mount Carmel, don’t you think? Therefore, let us turn to Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General (Prior General) of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and let him explain the Scapular to us in some more depth. The following is taken from his booklet, The Scapular of Carmel, written in readiness of the 7th Centenary (1251-1951) celebration of the Brown Scapular. Fr. Kilian Lynch writes:
“Like many good and holy things that have come down to us from the past, the Scapular (to be understood properly) has to be seen in the light of its historical setting; to take it away from the century of its origin is to deprive it of a great deal of its significance and to rob it of its value as a religious symbol. Since the rise of monasticism a Scapular, consisting of two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down back and breast, has been a part of the monastic Habit. The fact that it hung from the shoulders immediately suggested a spiritual meaning, for Christ spoke of the Faith in terms of a burden to be carried. “My yoke,” He said, “is sweet and my burden light.” As the monk rose in the morning to begin a new day, the putting on of the Scapular reminded him that he had taken the sweet burden of divine service upon him and that the day ahead was to be all for God.
“When one is acquainted with the desire of the Church that we put our Faith into our daily lives and sanctify even the little things of life, one can easily see how the wearing of a Scapular could be a strong incentive to faithful and generous service in the vineyard of the Master. Even the sight of it could be a reminder of a promise made, but easily forgotten, by the ordinary person.
“The birth and ascendancy of the Mendicant Orders served to strengthen the spiritual significance of the religious Habit of which the Scapular was the principal part. Coming as it did in the thirteenth century, the Friar Movement was bound to be affected by the feudal system which was then at its height. The Friars were, by profession if not by origin, poor men who identified themselves with the poorer classes and worked among them. Their Habit, even though similar to that of the monk, was that of the common folk. It was inevitable that the relation of vassal to lord that dominated the whole economic, social and political life of the Middle Ages would affect their religious outlook and that the timeless relation of creature to Creator would be expressed in terms of it.
“Living as we do in an age very different from that of the Middle Ages, we find it hard to visualize the dependence of the vassal upon his lord. While Feudalism held sway, it was a matter of life and death to belong to a lord. Before the rise of towns, commerce and industry, land was the only means of livelihood; and since it belonged to the lord, one had to have the right to till it in order to live. The vassal’s act of homage gave him the right as well as that of protection, which was as important then as it is now.
“Knowing how much Faith and actual living were one in the Middle Ages, one can see how feudal ideas influenced religious ideas and practices and how the Habit, of which the Scapular is the principal part, took on a new meaning. Being a man of God, the Friar was keenly aware that God is our one and only Master. but, after the manner of the time, he presented himself before his Divine Master as the vassal presented himself before his lord “to pay his homage” and to receive the investiture from his hands. The religious ceremony of receiving the Habit, although different in meaning, was the same as that of feudal investiture. Just as the vassal placed his hands in or between his lord’s and pronounced his oath of fealty or homage, so did the friar present himself before a Superior, who took the place of God, to make his vows. The Scapular, hanging from the shoulders, was an outward sign that the friar was “God’s man,” that he belonged entirely to Him and that he would pay Him the homage of his whole life. It is in this medieval setting that one must see the brown Scapular that is the Habit of the Carmelite Friars in miniature form” (taken from The Scapular of Carmel, by Fr. Edward Kilian Lynch, O.Carm. Prior General from 1947-1959).
Where’s the Profit? Show Me What You’ve Done!
To rephrase the above in simple and more modern terms, we can say that just as land belonged to a lord, who then loaned it out to vassals to till the land in order to live, likewise the whole world and the whole Church belongs to God, Who has ‘loaned-out’ to us a portion of the world and elements of His Church for us to ‘till’ and ‘trade’ with His belongings and render an account of our tillage or work, much like the servants were given talents by their master and were expected to show a profit from those talents:
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.
“And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The Brown Scapular is a Sacramental of the Church—therefore, it is a source of grace. How much grace we get through the Scapular depends upon how much ‘work’, ‘effort’ and fervor we put into using it. Sacraments give a minimal amount of grace ‘automatically’—we call this mode of operation “ex opere operato”, which broadly means that grace is given by the mere performance of the rite. However, the Scapular is not a Sacrament, but a Sacramental, and Sacramentals are said to give grace “ex opere operantis”—which means, NOT by simply wearing it, but dependent upon the fervor of soul we have in wearing it. So, like the parable of the talents above, one person’s fervor could earn ‘five talents’ (or graces or higher degrees of grace), whereas the fervor of another might be less and so will only earn ‘two talents’ (or graces or a lower degree of grace). Most people are like the man who buried his talent in the earth and did nothing with it—they just wear the Scapular and do nothing else! Learn from moral of the parable the dangers of doing this!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday July 7th & Wednesday July 8th
Article 4
The Protective Shield of the Scapular
Tuesday July 7th & Wednesday July 8th
Article 4
The Protective Shield of the Scapular
What Do You Know?
Before we get into the “Protective Shield” aspect of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel―whose feast we will celebrate in 9 days, on July 16th [click here for the Novena in preparation for the feast], let us lay some foundations about the Mount Carmel and the Scapular. Yes! We all have heard about Mount Carmel, likewise Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Yet how much do we know about Mount Carmel, its history, its relevance, its link to Our Lady and its link to the Brown Scapular? Most probably our knowledge falls more on the superficial and flimsy side, rather than on the side of a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation. On this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is also the feast of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (since tradition records that on this day Our Lady gave the Scapular to St. Simon Stock in Aylesford, England), let us therefore explore matters a little more deeply and see what we can learn from the connections between Mount Carmel, Our Lady and the Scapular.
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel is on the north-western coast of the Holy Land. Mount Carmel is a ridge of mountains which rises to 1,740 feet above sea level. It is a continuation of the hills of Samaria which extend Northwest to the Mediterranean Sea. The mountain drops steeply into the Mediterranean Sea and around its cliffs are numerous caves, some of which have many wall paintings from ancient times. [click here for a photographic and visual history of Mount Carmel].
Most of the land around Carmel contains thick rich soil and therefore producing abundant vegetation. The Bible mentions it as a symbol of beauty (Isaias 33:9; Canticles 7:5) and is often compared with Libanus [Lebanon] and Bason [Bashan] (Isaias 29:17; 32:15; Jeremias 50:19).
The Hebrew word for Carmel means “Beautiful Garden”. Truly that is what Our Lady is―the beautiful and fruitful garden, that brought forth the fruit of her womb, Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
Holy Mountain
The origin of Mount Carmel's sacredness goes back to about 860 BC, to the time of the prophet Elias, who would work around that area and would frequent and live in some of the caves that littered the slopes of Mount Carmel. It was on this holy mountain that Elias gained his famous victory over the pagan prophets and their god, Baal. According to Christian tradition, the event of Elias and prophets of Baal, and the altars that they built, was located at the southwest side of the mountain. The account of this event is given in 3 Kings 18:19-40. The Israelites had taken to worshiping false gods, especially the god Baal. Their evil King Achab had married the Gentile, Jezabel, who worshiped Baal. The king built a temple to this pagan deity. When the prophets of the true God denounced him for this, he had them killed. Elias stood firm and, through his prayers, he managed to bring about a drought in Israel that lasted over three years.
The Duel on Mount Carmel
In the meantime, Elias challenged the prophets of Baal to gather on Mount Carmel to determine which God, Baal or the Lord was the true God. Each built a stone altar with firewood and had a sacrificial bull placed upon it. The “God” who would send fire from Heaven, upon the altar, would be accepted as the true God.
The prophets of Baal prayed and danced and chanted all day to no avail. Elias, though before beginning his prayer, poured gallons of water over his sacrifice, making it humanly impossible to light the fire. Elias then called upon the Lord and immediately a bolt of lightning came down from Heaven, setting the altar on fire and consuming the sacrifice and the stones of the altar.
The pagan prophets were killed at Elias' command―thus Mount Carmel was already a location of victory over the devil, under the guise of the Baal. Elias, fearing the revenge of Jezabel for his having killed her prophets, went into hiding on Mount Carmel. Thus Mount Carmel offered Elias a protective shield or protective mantel from his enemies. Later a community of prophets joined him. They dwelt in caves, praying to God, and living lives of hermits.
Our Lady Saw Mount Carmel Daily
At the base of this holy mountain; about nine-miles to the east, was the little village of Nazareth, where Our Lady lived and where the Incarnation took place. The Blessed Virgin Mary, there in the shadow of Mount Carmel, uttered her sublime “fiat” thus enabling the second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become Man for our salvation.
Tradition has it that, to the wondrous delight of the hermits, Our Lady, with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, visited Mount Carmel upon returning from their years of exile in Egypt. As a result of this visit, the contemplatives of Carmel professed their unqualified belief in Jesus as the long awaited Messias, the Savior of the World. Tradition assures us that, because of their childlike Faith, the Carmelites were among the first to be baptized by the Apostles after Pentecost.
Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Likewise, their great love for the Mother of God led them to build, on Mount Carmel, the first church honoring Our Lady. Moreover, as a reward for their devotion to Mary, the Carmelites were the first to be entrusted with the guardianship of the Holy House of Nazareth, following Our Lady’s death and Assumption into Heaven. So great was their love for Our Blessed Mother that the Carmelites were known as the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel”.
Carmel in the Middle Ages
Now let us fast-forward to the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Carmelites were hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of Elias. They led a life of contemplation, modeled after the prophet.
Driven Out By Persecution
Many of the holy Carmelites were forced to leave the Holy Land because of the Saracen invasion. King St. Louis IX of France brought them to Europe. As they were sailing away from the shore of the Holy Land, they sang the Salva Regina. Our Lady then appeared to them and promised to be their Star of the Sea. Along the way some stayed on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, others in Naples in southern Italy. Another group went to France to live. A few went on to England, where Lord Richard de Grey gave them a property in Alyesford in Kent (southeast England, about 35 miles southeast from London).
St. Simon Stock, Vicar General of the Carmelite Order
It was in England that Simon Stock joined the group of Carmelites, and he was later to be elected the first Vicar General of the Carmelites. Many problems plagued the new religious order. The people made fun of the “striped bedouin mantle” – they looked like bees, but perhaps they really were busy-bees, busy with the work of the 'Queen Bee'! Others felt there were enough religious orders already. To make matters worse there was internal strife and bickering between the older and younger monks.
By 1251, St. Simon realized that Our Lady was his only hope. With tears in eyes, he saluted her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea. He prayed fervently for her “privilegium” which was the special protection a lord gave to his vassals. The lord would protect the vassal’s life and property, in return for the loyalty and service of the one making the request.
Livelihood and Protection in the Middle Ages
In the 13th century there was no commerce or industry. Land was the only means of a livelihood. The vassals paid homage to the lord of the land. The lords owned the land and by this act of homage the vassal was given the right to till the land and had to give part of what he grew to the lord. The vassal was thereby guaranteed the protection of the lord.
The Yoke of the Lord
The scapular was not something new to medieval Europe. It had been around since around 550, when the monastic orders came about. The two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down the back and breast had deep spiritual meaning. Our Lord said in the Gospels, “My yoke is sweet and my burden is light.” The monks by putting on this garment realized that the sweet burden of Divine service was upon him and the whole day was dedicated to God.
Faith and actual living were one in the Middle Ages. The monk presented himself to God, His Divine Master, just as a vassal presented himself to his lord “to pay homage.” So too, did the friar make his vows to God. So the idea of the scapular and the giving of yourself to another for protection was not a novel idea. Our Lady chose that which was traditional and widely practiced.
Our Lady Appears to St. Simon Stock
While he was praying to her, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular and making this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
The Saints have spoken often and eloquently of the hope that we should have in Mary and her protection and intercession. St. Ephrem cries out: “Hail, then, O hope of my soul! Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” St. Ephrem states that all who are saved are saved by the means of Mary, thus addresses her: “O Lady, cease not to watch over us; preserve and guard us under the wings of thy compassion and mercy, for, after God, we have no hope but in thee.” St. Thomas of Villanova repeats the same thing, calling her “our only refuge, help, and asylum” ― we would be mad to turn down such an asylum! St. Bernard gives the reason for this when he says, “See, O man, the designs of God—designs by which He is able to dispense His mercy more abundantly to us; for, desiring to redeem the whole human race, He has placed the whole price of redemption in the hands of Mary, that she may dispense it at will.” St. Louis de Montfort echoes this, saying: “He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces”
The Mercy-Seat
In the book of Exodus we read that God commanded Moses to make a ‘mercy-seat’ of the purest gold, because it was from this ‘mercy-seat’ that God would speak to him. “Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold . . . Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee” (Exodus 25:17). St. Andrew of Crete says that “the whole world embraces Mary as being this propitiatory (atonement).” And commenting on his words an anonymous ancient author exclaims, “Thou, O Mary, art the propitiatory (atonement) of the whole world. From thee does our most compassionate Lord speak to our hearts; from thee he speaks words of pardon and mercy; from thee he bestows his gifts; from thee all good flows to us.” Blessed Raymond Jordano also says, “That every good, every help, every grace that men have received and will receive from God until the end of time, came, and will come, to them by the intercession and through the hands of Mary.”
Even of the Despairing
The famous A Benedictine abbot and spiritual writer Blosius (1606-1660), writes: “O Mary, O though who art so loving and gracious towards all who love thee, tell me, who can be so unfortunate as not to love thee? Thou, in the midst of their doubts and difficulties, enlightenest the minds of all who, in their afflictions, have recourse to thee. Thou encouragest those who fly to thee in time of danger; thou helpest those who call upon thee; thou, after thy divine Son, art the certain salvation of thy faithful servants. Hail, then, O hope of those who are in despair, O help of those who are abandoned.”
St. Germanus, recognizing in Mary the source of all our good, and that she delivers us from every evil, thus invokes her: “O, my sovereign Lady, thou alone art the one whom God has appointed to be my solace here below; thou art the guide of my pilgrimage, the strength of my weakness, the riches of my poverty, remedy for the healing of my wounds, the soother of my pains, the end of my captivity, the hope of my salvation! Hear my prayers, have pity on my tears, I entreat thee, O thou who art my queen, my refuge, my love, my help, my hope and my strength”
Finding All in Mary
We need not, then, be surprised that St. Antoninus applies the following verse of the Book of Wisdom to Mary: “Now all good things came to me together with her.” For as this Blessed Virgin is the Mother and dispenser of all good things, the whole world, and more particularly each individual, who lives in it as a devout client of this great Queen, may say with truth, that with devotion to Mary, both he and the world have obtained everything good and perfect.
The Blessed Abbot of Celles expressly declares, “that when we find Mary, we find all.” Whoever finds Mary finds every good thing, obtains all graces and all virtues; for, by her powerful intercession, she obtains all that is necessary to enrich him with divine grace. In the Book of Proverbs, Mary, herself, tells us that she possesses all the riches of God, that is to say, His mercies, that she may dispense them in favor of her lovers. “With me are riches . . . and glorious riches . . . that I may enrich them that love me” (Proverbs 8:18).
Look at Her Track Record!
O, how many, who were once proud, have become humble by devotion to Mary! How many, who were passionately angry, have become meek! How many, who were once impure, have found purity! How many, in the midst of darkness, have found light! How many, who were in despair, have found confidence! How many, who were on the verge of being lost and damned, have found salvation! And this she clearly foretold in the house of Elizabeth, in her own sublime canticle, the Magnificat: “Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” St. Bernard, commenting upon her words, says: “All generations call thee blessed, because thou has given life and glory to all nations … For in thee sinners find pardon, and the just perseverance in the grace of God.”
Lanspergius, Carthusian monk and spiritual writer, 1489-1539), makes Our Lord address the world with these words: “Men, poor children of Adam, who live surrounded by so many enemies and in the midst of so many trials, endeavor to honor my Mother, and yours, in a special manner: for I have given Mary to the world, that she may be your model, and that, from her, you may learn to lead good lives; and also that she may be refuge, to which you can fly, in all your afflictions and trials. I have made this, my daughter, such that no one need fear, or have the least repugnance, to have recourse to her; and, for this purpose, I have created her of so benign and compassionate a disposition, that she knows not how to despise anyone who takes refuge with her, nor can she deny her favor to anyone who seeks it. The mantle of her mercy is open to all, and she allows no one to leave her feet without consoling him.”
Even if God Rejects You…
St. Bonaventure states: “If my Redeemer rejects me on account of my sins, and drives me from His sacred feet, I will cast myself at those of His beloved Mother Mary, and there I will remain prostrate, until she has obtained my forgiveness; for this Mother of Mercy knows not, and has never known, how to do otherwise than to show compassion to the miserable, and to comply with the desires of the most destitute, who fly to her for help; and, therefore, if not by duty, at least by compassion, she will engage her Son to pardon me.”
A Story Worth a Thousand Words
There is the famous anecdote of a certain bishop, which reflects this. There are many versions of it floating around—I guess this will be just another version! The story is as follows:
Our Lord and St. Peter are walking through the gardens of Heaven and, lo and behold, they keep bumping into quite a few “big sinners”! At each encounter, Our Lord remains silent, but gives Peter one of those looks—like He must have given him during His Passion, when Peter had betrayed Him three times! Peter tries hding them the best he can—pusing them behind boulders and trees—but to no avail. Peter grows increasingly uncomfortable with each encounter.
Eventually, Peter cannot take it any more—he falls down at Our Lord’s feet and cries out in anguish: “Lord, I know what You must be thinking! I promise you—I am doing my job! When each of those big sinners came to the Gates of Heaven, I refused them entry and told them to go to the other place down below! That’s the Gospel truth! I swear! Believe me!”
Our Lord looks compassionately at Peter; then lifting him up off the floor, says with a smile: “I know, Peter! I know! But every time you go and slam the door in their face, My Mother goes and opens a window for them somewhere!”
Now, let us not get giddy and complacent with this! Our Lady will help us if we desire to change, no matter how sinful we are or have been. But she will not cooperate with or condone our attitude if we wish to continue sinning, while expecting her to “get us off the hook” at the end of the day! That is a sin of presumption upon God’s mercy! But for sinner who wishes to change, even if he or she feels they are too weak to change, she will lend her helping hand! And the only hand stronger than hers is God’s Hand. No devil, no human forces, can resist her hand.
A Saving Scapular
We all know, of course, that eternal salvation and the avoidance of the fires of Hell, is a promise given to those who faithfully wear the Brown Scapular around their necks. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, Superior General of the Carmelite Order, on July 16th, 1251, and in her hand she held the Brown Scapular and gave this promise: “Take this Scapular; it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Yet we should also remember the prophecy that “One day through the Rosary and the Scapular she will save the world!” In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order—written in medieval Latin by a priest named Fr. Marianus Ventimiglia, which was published in 1773 in Naples—we find this historical account:
“Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher. At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. St. Angelus foretold the stigmata of St. Francis, and St. Dominic said: ‘One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.’”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
Only She Can Help Us Now
On July 13th, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima—speaking of herself in the third person—said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” Three months later, on October 13th, 1917, at her final appearance at Fatima during the miracle of the sun, she was first seen as being dressed in white and holding the Rosary, while St. Joseph, holding the Infant, stood at her side; then secondly, she was seen as dressed in blue, while Our Lord appeared at her side; thirdly and finally, dressed in the brown of Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular in her hands, while Our Lord, slowly raised His hand and blessed the great crowd in the Cova da Iria below. Sr. Lucia said that, of the three different consecutive appearances of Our Lady on October 13th, the most beautiful and resplendent was that of Our Lady dressed in the religious habit of Mount Carmel (Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
Miracles Demonstrating Our Lady’s Promise of Protection
One day in 1944, a Carmelite missionary in the Holy Land was called to an internment camp to give the Last Rites. The Arab bus driver made the priest get off the bus four miles from the camp because the road was dangerously muddy. After two miles, the missionary found his feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Trying to get solid footing, he slipped into a muddy pool. Sinking to his death in this desolate place, he thought of Our Lady and her Scapular.
He kissed his great Scapular — for he was wearing the full habit — and looked toward the holy mountain of Carmel, the birthplace of devotion to God’s Mother. He cried out, “Holy Mother of Carmel! Help me! Save me!” A moment later, he found himself on solid ground. Later he said, “I know I was saved by the Blessed Virgin through her Brown Scapular. My shoes were lost in the mud, and I was covered with it, but I walked the remaining two miles praising Mary.”
Saved from the Sea
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, with his wife and children and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Among the crew was a young Irishman, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, the youth opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed the deck, bringing with it the Scapular which came to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the minister (a Mr. Fisher) had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin and her Scapular. Mr. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after landing in Australia.
Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The pious inhabitants of a home in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged amidst the destruction was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people who came to see the place Our Lady had saved are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular, and called on Mary for help. She suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames.
Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
Miracle of Grace
In 1834, an elderly soldier living in Angouleme, France, no longer able to bear certain sorrows, resolved to take his own life. He decided to kill himself with poison, thinking that he could more easily hide his crime from the public. Upon taking the poison, he did not have to wait long to suffer the effects. Immediately he went to the hospital and asked to spend the night, thinking that the cause of his death would be undiscovered and his name would not be blackened because of commission of the cowardly sin of suicide.
But the hospital supervisor would not allow him to be admitted without an administration pass — which would mean discovery of his impending death by his own hand. The unhappy soldier was forced to abandon the idea of spending the night in the hospital. While wondering what course of action to take, he suddenly heard a voice telling him to go to Saint Peter’s and confess to Father X. The soldier went to the designated church and asked Father X to hear his confession.
Father X, overcome with fatigue, told the man to wait — it was Lent and it was three o’clock in the afternoon and he had not yet had a bite to eat. The unhappy soldier made a new plea and assured the priest that there was not time to wait.
The priest entered the confessional and the penitent confessed that he had just poisoned himself. The confessor showed him his obligation before God, which included divulging the penitent’s secret.
The soldier, touched by this grace, gave the priest permission, and like the fire which burned his insides, the sufferings he felt threw him into a state of perfect hopelessness.
The charitable priest pulled him out of the confessional and took him to the hospital.
He immediately asked for an antidote, but while they were preparing it, he took the pulse of the sick man, and no longer found any: a deathly pale complexion, misty eyes — everything heralded the coming death.
His heart pierced with sadness, but full of confidence in the Divine Mercy, the fervent priest threw himself to his knees, and recited the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
At the first invocation, he sensed the pulse of the dying man return, and a short time later he heard the soldier speak a few words. “O my good Father,” he said in a weak voice, “my Father, pray, pray some more!” And he let out a breath and said: “Holy Mary, pray for me!” And soon his consciousness returned. Father X, in his enthusiasm over such a marvelous change, asked the soldier if he hadn’t kept some pious practices — “No, my Father, I have not said any prayers in a long time.” But after having reflected for an instant, he showed a Scapular: “Here is the only sign of piety that I have preserved.” — “Ah! My friend,” notes the priest, “I am no longer surprised by the miracle which just occurred; it’s Mary who protected you, it’s to her that you owe being alive.” Nevertheless the doctor arrived, and after having heard the necessary details on the condition of the patient, he assured them that only a superior power could prolong his life for longer than two hours after having taken the poison, one of the most active that we know; and five hours had gone by since the fatal moment! The antidote became useless. The doctor proposed to record a statement to attest the truth of the miracle; but the humble priest, fearing that they would perhaps attribute the miracle to the fervor of his prayers, did not think about making the miracle public. It was told to me by others, that it may give you a new confidence in Mary. (Told by Father Michaud in The Month of Mary and recorded in the book Vertu Miraculeuse Du Scapulaire, 1869, pp. 30-32).
The full promise of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to Saint Simon Stock July 16, 1251:
“Accept this Scapular. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies clothed in this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.3
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.4
Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
Protection Against the Devil
In 2005, a priest was giving a talk about the growth of satanic worship in the world and how adults and young children are becoming possessed by the devil because of the use of things such as the ouija board, saying the incantations that open the door to the demonic in “children’s books” such as the Harry Potter series, and going to fortune tellers, etc.
When someone asked the priest how to protect oneself from the demonic, besides the obvious path of avoiding things that call upon Satan, the priest answered, “Wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for protection from curses and the devil.”
One can understand why the devil works against those who promote the Scapular after hearing the story of Venerable Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.
One day a young woman, before entering the religious life, went to see the Curé of Ars, and during the conversation, he asked her, “Do you recall, my child, at the certain evening of dancing, where you were? There was a very young man, very pretty, unknown, distinguished, admired, and all the girls wanted to dance with him.” “Yes, I recall when he never came to ask me, I was sad, yet all the other girls were privileged to dance with that young man.” “You would have liked to dance with him, wouldn’t you?” “Yes.” “Do you recall, when that young man was leaving the dance hall, you saw under his feet two blue flames? And you thought it was an illusion of your eyes? When you saw that young man leave the dance hall, you saw fire under his feet! It was not an illusion of your eyes, my daughter. That man was a demon. And if he did not come to you to ask you to dance, it’s for one reason: you were wearing the vestment of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”
Traditional Protection for Modern Times
As they say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “ain’t broke” but is alive and kicking―but how many Catholics still wear it and use it? A weapon is only useful if it is loaded and in your hands―not unloaded and locked away in the gun closet. Likewise, the Brown Scapular is only useful if it around your neck and you are loaded with sanctifying grace―not stuffed away in some drawer while you live in sin.
While St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection”, he also adds: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who, by their devotion to Mary, think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.” A perverse, sinful will can defeat the Mother of mercy. Even Christ had to admit defeat, for He extended His crucified hands all day to an unbelieving and contradicting people, that rejected and refused to return Christ’s forgiving embrace: “Father! Forgive them! They know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). How often would He have gathered His chosen children ― but they would not let Him! Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), in his booklet, The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, states that:
“It is clear, from the words of St. Alphonsus, that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is, in itself, an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen. ‘Other pious practices,’ writes Fr. Chaignon, S.J., ‘are attached to certain times and to certain place, but the devotion to the Scapular belongs to all time and places. Thanks to my little Habit, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, Mary never sees me without seeing on my body an evidence of my devotion to her. Always and everywhere my Scapular pleads for me, recommends me to her tenderness, tells her that I love her and that I confide all my interests to her maternal care.’ The constant, daily practice of wearing the Scapular is, therefore, an act of faithful homage to Our Lady but, as St. Alphonsus adds, the desire to amend one’s life is also necessary, before we can be morally certain that she will be the cause of our eternal salvation.” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), in his booklet, The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
As You Sow Your Scapular―So Shall You Reap
The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not a “spiritual rabbit’s foot” or a “spiritual good-luck charm”―it is to be used and not abused. It is not a license to sin, nor a “spiritual trump card” against sin, nor a “spiritual get-out-of-jail-free card” or anything of the like. Neither God, nor Our Lord, nor Our Lady are “patsies” or “doormats” upon which we can happily wipe our sinful muddy feet as we traipse indifferently into Heaven whistling and laughing, while ignoring our sinful state. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
When Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular, she made this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” She will keep that promise, but she does not promise that we shall die wearing the Scapular―she only promises to save those who are lucky enough to die wearing it. If we live a life of ceaseless and escalating sin, then we making a mockery of God, Our Lord’s Passion and Death and Our Lady’s generous promise. This risks Divine Providence arranging for our death without the Brown Scapular. If you have ever visited hospitals and nursing homes on a regular basis―as priests might do―then you might have noticed that many nurses and care-assistants remove the Brown Scapular when bathing a patient, but never put it back on again. That is just one of a thousand different possible scenarios that could happen to someone who deliberately and wantonly abuses the Scapular “contract”―you might even forget to put it on after bathing on the day that God schedules your death! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Don’t Take It For Granted
The Rosary and the Scapular are “Sacramentals” of the Church. A “sacramental” is not to be confused with a “Sacrament”—there are only seven Sacraments, but many more Sacramentals. What is a Sacramental? A Sacramental is anything set apart, or blessed, by the Church, which is meant to excite within us spiritual thoughts and to increase devotion, and, through these movements of the heart, to remit venial sin. Therefore, it is not the Sacramental itself that gives grace, but the devotion, the love of God, or sorrow for sin that it inspires within us.
When we receive the any one of the seven Sacraments, we always get the grace of the Sacraments if we are rightly disposed and in a state of sanctifying grace. The Sacrament gives us a minimal amount of grace that we automatically receive, whether or not we have devotion in our souls; but in using the Sacramentals, we do not automatically receive grace as we do with the Sacraments, but the grace given by the use of Sacramentals depends upon our having a pre-requisite devotion in our soul; and the more devotion we have., then the more grace we receive. With the Sacraments, even though we get a minimal amount of grace automatically, this can also be increased by a proportionate increase in our devotion. Ultimately, it comes to down to you reap what you sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8), which is only to be expected from God, Who is Justice Itself, and justice means giving to others according to their merit.
We must therefore avoid looking at the Sacramentals as though they were ‘spiritual good-luck charms’ that work automatically, regardless of what we think, feel, or do. There are some who wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, thinking that they will be saved from Hell, no matter how much they sin! St. Alphonsus Liguori warns such persons that they will receive an even more severe judgment that most other souls. During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Seven Communists were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tries to prepare the men for death; they refused. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion, in a short while they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed, one refused. Soon all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continues to refuse―only to please them did he put on the Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and as the time of the execution came near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for a priest. Although wearing the Scapular he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died Without the Scapular. St. Claude Colombière gives us the solution to Mystery of the Missing Scapular: “You ask: ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’ I answer: ‘Then you will die in your sins but YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOU SCAPULAR!’” St. Claude tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times. He was rescued against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish and died in his sins.
On the contrary, the Sacramentals are like a flint that is there to create a spark that will set something on fire. In this case, the Sacramental is meant to give a spark to our devotion and set it afire. As Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49), yet sadly, “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). If we knelt down before a plain white wall we would find it harder to pray with devotion than if we were kneeling before a Crucifix. We see the representation of the nails in the hands and feet, the blood on the side, the thorns on the head; and all these must make us think of Our Lord’s terrible sufferings. The picture of a friend, hanging on the wall before us, will often make us think of him when we would otherwise forget him. So also will the pictures of Our Lord and of the saints, keep them often in our minds, and therefore are more likely to spark a devotion within us. The Scapular is there to remind us of Our Lady, it is like wearing the uniform of Our Lady in her service and reminds us that we belong to her.
Talking of “belonging to her” ― should remind you of the words spoken by Sister Lucia of Fatima on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
Before we get into the “Protective Shield” aspect of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel―whose feast we will celebrate in 9 days, on July 16th [click here for the Novena in preparation for the feast], let us lay some foundations about the Mount Carmel and the Scapular. Yes! We all have heard about Mount Carmel, likewise Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Yet how much do we know about Mount Carmel, its history, its relevance, its link to Our Lady and its link to the Brown Scapular? Most probably our knowledge falls more on the superficial and flimsy side, rather than on the side of a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation. On this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is also the feast of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (since tradition records that on this day Our Lady gave the Scapular to St. Simon Stock in Aylesford, England), let us therefore explore matters a little more deeply and see what we can learn from the connections between Mount Carmel, Our Lady and the Scapular.
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel is on the north-western coast of the Holy Land. Mount Carmel is a ridge of mountains which rises to 1,740 feet above sea level. It is a continuation of the hills of Samaria which extend Northwest to the Mediterranean Sea. The mountain drops steeply into the Mediterranean Sea and around its cliffs are numerous caves, some of which have many wall paintings from ancient times. [click here for a photographic and visual history of Mount Carmel].
Most of the land around Carmel contains thick rich soil and therefore producing abundant vegetation. The Bible mentions it as a symbol of beauty (Isaias 33:9; Canticles 7:5) and is often compared with Libanus [Lebanon] and Bason [Bashan] (Isaias 29:17; 32:15; Jeremias 50:19).
The Hebrew word for Carmel means “Beautiful Garden”. Truly that is what Our Lady is―the beautiful and fruitful garden, that brought forth the fruit of her womb, Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
Holy Mountain
The origin of Mount Carmel's sacredness goes back to about 860 BC, to the time of the prophet Elias, who would work around that area and would frequent and live in some of the caves that littered the slopes of Mount Carmel. It was on this holy mountain that Elias gained his famous victory over the pagan prophets and their god, Baal. According to Christian tradition, the event of Elias and prophets of Baal, and the altars that they built, was located at the southwest side of the mountain. The account of this event is given in 3 Kings 18:19-40. The Israelites had taken to worshiping false gods, especially the god Baal. Their evil King Achab had married the Gentile, Jezabel, who worshiped Baal. The king built a temple to this pagan deity. When the prophets of the true God denounced him for this, he had them killed. Elias stood firm and, through his prayers, he managed to bring about a drought in Israel that lasted over three years.
The Duel on Mount Carmel
In the meantime, Elias challenged the prophets of Baal to gather on Mount Carmel to determine which God, Baal or the Lord was the true God. Each built a stone altar with firewood and had a sacrificial bull placed upon it. The “God” who would send fire from Heaven, upon the altar, would be accepted as the true God.
The prophets of Baal prayed and danced and chanted all day to no avail. Elias, though before beginning his prayer, poured gallons of water over his sacrifice, making it humanly impossible to light the fire. Elias then called upon the Lord and immediately a bolt of lightning came down from Heaven, setting the altar on fire and consuming the sacrifice and the stones of the altar.
The pagan prophets were killed at Elias' command―thus Mount Carmel was already a location of victory over the devil, under the guise of the Baal. Elias, fearing the revenge of Jezabel for his having killed her prophets, went into hiding on Mount Carmel. Thus Mount Carmel offered Elias a protective shield or protective mantel from his enemies. Later a community of prophets joined him. They dwelt in caves, praying to God, and living lives of hermits.
Our Lady Saw Mount Carmel Daily
At the base of this holy mountain; about nine-miles to the east, was the little village of Nazareth, where Our Lady lived and where the Incarnation took place. The Blessed Virgin Mary, there in the shadow of Mount Carmel, uttered her sublime “fiat” thus enabling the second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become Man for our salvation.
Tradition has it that, to the wondrous delight of the hermits, Our Lady, with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, visited Mount Carmel upon returning from their years of exile in Egypt. As a result of this visit, the contemplatives of Carmel professed their unqualified belief in Jesus as the long awaited Messias, the Savior of the World. Tradition assures us that, because of their childlike Faith, the Carmelites were among the first to be baptized by the Apostles after Pentecost.
Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Likewise, their great love for the Mother of God led them to build, on Mount Carmel, the first church honoring Our Lady. Moreover, as a reward for their devotion to Mary, the Carmelites were the first to be entrusted with the guardianship of the Holy House of Nazareth, following Our Lady’s death and Assumption into Heaven. So great was their love for Our Blessed Mother that the Carmelites were known as the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel”.
Carmel in the Middle Ages
Now let us fast-forward to the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Carmelites were hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. They believed themselves to be the spiritual sons of Elias. They led a life of contemplation, modeled after the prophet.
Driven Out By Persecution
Many of the holy Carmelites were forced to leave the Holy Land because of the Saracen invasion. King St. Louis IX of France brought them to Europe. As they were sailing away from the shore of the Holy Land, they sang the Salva Regina. Our Lady then appeared to them and promised to be their Star of the Sea. Along the way some stayed on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, others in Naples in southern Italy. Another group went to France to live. A few went on to England, where Lord Richard de Grey gave them a property in Alyesford in Kent (southeast England, about 35 miles southeast from London).
St. Simon Stock, Vicar General of the Carmelite Order
It was in England that Simon Stock joined the group of Carmelites, and he was later to be elected the first Vicar General of the Carmelites. Many problems plagued the new religious order. The people made fun of the “striped bedouin mantle” – they looked like bees, but perhaps they really were busy-bees, busy with the work of the 'Queen Bee'! Others felt there were enough religious orders already. To make matters worse there was internal strife and bickering between the older and younger monks.
By 1251, St. Simon realized that Our Lady was his only hope. With tears in eyes, he saluted her as the Flower of Carmel and the Star of the Sea. He prayed fervently for her “privilegium” which was the special protection a lord gave to his vassals. The lord would protect the vassal’s life and property, in return for the loyalty and service of the one making the request.
Livelihood and Protection in the Middle Ages
In the 13th century there was no commerce or industry. Land was the only means of a livelihood. The vassals paid homage to the lord of the land. The lords owned the land and by this act of homage the vassal was given the right to till the land and had to give part of what he grew to the lord. The vassal was thereby guaranteed the protection of the lord.
The Yoke of the Lord
The scapular was not something new to medieval Europe. It had been around since around 550, when the monastic orders came about. The two pieces of cloth joined at the shoulders and hanging down the back and breast had deep spiritual meaning. Our Lord said in the Gospels, “My yoke is sweet and my burden is light.” The monks by putting on this garment realized that the sweet burden of Divine service was upon him and the whole day was dedicated to God.
Faith and actual living were one in the Middle Ages. The monk presented himself to God, His Divine Master, just as a vassal presented himself to his lord “to pay homage.” So too, did the friar make his vows to God. So the idea of the scapular and the giving of yourself to another for protection was not a novel idea. Our Lady chose that which was traditional and widely practiced.
Our Lady Appears to St. Simon Stock
While he was praying to her, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular and making this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
The Saints have spoken often and eloquently of the hope that we should have in Mary and her protection and intercession. St. Ephrem cries out: “Hail, then, O hope of my soul! Hail, O certain salvation of Christians! Hail, O helper of sinners! Hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!” St. Ephrem states that all who are saved are saved by the means of Mary, thus addresses her: “O Lady, cease not to watch over us; preserve and guard us under the wings of thy compassion and mercy, for, after God, we have no hope but in thee.” St. Thomas of Villanova repeats the same thing, calling her “our only refuge, help, and asylum” ― we would be mad to turn down such an asylum! St. Bernard gives the reason for this when he says, “See, O man, the designs of God—designs by which He is able to dispense His mercy more abundantly to us; for, desiring to redeem the whole human race, He has placed the whole price of redemption in the hands of Mary, that she may dispense it at will.” St. Louis de Montfort echoes this, saying: “He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces”
The Mercy-Seat
In the book of Exodus we read that God commanded Moses to make a ‘mercy-seat’ of the purest gold, because it was from this ‘mercy-seat’ that God would speak to him. “Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold . . . Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee” (Exodus 25:17). St. Andrew of Crete says that “the whole world embraces Mary as being this propitiatory (atonement).” And commenting on his words an anonymous ancient author exclaims, “Thou, O Mary, art the propitiatory (atonement) of the whole world. From thee does our most compassionate Lord speak to our hearts; from thee he speaks words of pardon and mercy; from thee he bestows his gifts; from thee all good flows to us.” Blessed Raymond Jordano also says, “That every good, every help, every grace that men have received and will receive from God until the end of time, came, and will come, to them by the intercession and through the hands of Mary.”
Even of the Despairing
The famous A Benedictine abbot and spiritual writer Blosius (1606-1660), writes: “O Mary, O though who art so loving and gracious towards all who love thee, tell me, who can be so unfortunate as not to love thee? Thou, in the midst of their doubts and difficulties, enlightenest the minds of all who, in their afflictions, have recourse to thee. Thou encouragest those who fly to thee in time of danger; thou helpest those who call upon thee; thou, after thy divine Son, art the certain salvation of thy faithful servants. Hail, then, O hope of those who are in despair, O help of those who are abandoned.”
St. Germanus, recognizing in Mary the source of all our good, and that she delivers us from every evil, thus invokes her: “O, my sovereign Lady, thou alone art the one whom God has appointed to be my solace here below; thou art the guide of my pilgrimage, the strength of my weakness, the riches of my poverty, remedy for the healing of my wounds, the soother of my pains, the end of my captivity, the hope of my salvation! Hear my prayers, have pity on my tears, I entreat thee, O thou who art my queen, my refuge, my love, my help, my hope and my strength”
Finding All in Mary
We need not, then, be surprised that St. Antoninus applies the following verse of the Book of Wisdom to Mary: “Now all good things came to me together with her.” For as this Blessed Virgin is the Mother and dispenser of all good things, the whole world, and more particularly each individual, who lives in it as a devout client of this great Queen, may say with truth, that with devotion to Mary, both he and the world have obtained everything good and perfect.
The Blessed Abbot of Celles expressly declares, “that when we find Mary, we find all.” Whoever finds Mary finds every good thing, obtains all graces and all virtues; for, by her powerful intercession, she obtains all that is necessary to enrich him with divine grace. In the Book of Proverbs, Mary, herself, tells us that she possesses all the riches of God, that is to say, His mercies, that she may dispense them in favor of her lovers. “With me are riches . . . and glorious riches . . . that I may enrich them that love me” (Proverbs 8:18).
Look at Her Track Record!
O, how many, who were once proud, have become humble by devotion to Mary! How many, who were passionately angry, have become meek! How many, who were once impure, have found purity! How many, in the midst of darkness, have found light! How many, who were in despair, have found confidence! How many, who were on the verge of being lost and damned, have found salvation! And this she clearly foretold in the house of Elizabeth, in her own sublime canticle, the Magnificat: “Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” St. Bernard, commenting upon her words, says: “All generations call thee blessed, because thou has given life and glory to all nations … For in thee sinners find pardon, and the just perseverance in the grace of God.”
Lanspergius, Carthusian monk and spiritual writer, 1489-1539), makes Our Lord address the world with these words: “Men, poor children of Adam, who live surrounded by so many enemies and in the midst of so many trials, endeavor to honor my Mother, and yours, in a special manner: for I have given Mary to the world, that she may be your model, and that, from her, you may learn to lead good lives; and also that she may be refuge, to which you can fly, in all your afflictions and trials. I have made this, my daughter, such that no one need fear, or have the least repugnance, to have recourse to her; and, for this purpose, I have created her of so benign and compassionate a disposition, that she knows not how to despise anyone who takes refuge with her, nor can she deny her favor to anyone who seeks it. The mantle of her mercy is open to all, and she allows no one to leave her feet without consoling him.”
Even if God Rejects You…
St. Bonaventure states: “If my Redeemer rejects me on account of my sins, and drives me from His sacred feet, I will cast myself at those of His beloved Mother Mary, and there I will remain prostrate, until she has obtained my forgiveness; for this Mother of Mercy knows not, and has never known, how to do otherwise than to show compassion to the miserable, and to comply with the desires of the most destitute, who fly to her for help; and, therefore, if not by duty, at least by compassion, she will engage her Son to pardon me.”
A Story Worth a Thousand Words
There is the famous anecdote of a certain bishop, which reflects this. There are many versions of it floating around—I guess this will be just another version! The story is as follows:
Our Lord and St. Peter are walking through the gardens of Heaven and, lo and behold, they keep bumping into quite a few “big sinners”! At each encounter, Our Lord remains silent, but gives Peter one of those looks—like He must have given him during His Passion, when Peter had betrayed Him three times! Peter tries hding them the best he can—pusing them behind boulders and trees—but to no avail. Peter grows increasingly uncomfortable with each encounter.
Eventually, Peter cannot take it any more—he falls down at Our Lord’s feet and cries out in anguish: “Lord, I know what You must be thinking! I promise you—I am doing my job! When each of those big sinners came to the Gates of Heaven, I refused them entry and told them to go to the other place down below! That’s the Gospel truth! I swear! Believe me!”
Our Lord looks compassionately at Peter; then lifting him up off the floor, says with a smile: “I know, Peter! I know! But every time you go and slam the door in their face, My Mother goes and opens a window for them somewhere!”
Now, let us not get giddy and complacent with this! Our Lady will help us if we desire to change, no matter how sinful we are or have been. But she will not cooperate with or condone our attitude if we wish to continue sinning, while expecting her to “get us off the hook” at the end of the day! That is a sin of presumption upon God’s mercy! But for sinner who wishes to change, even if he or she feels they are too weak to change, she will lend her helping hand! And the only hand stronger than hers is God’s Hand. No devil, no human forces, can resist her hand.
A Saving Scapular
We all know, of course, that eternal salvation and the avoidance of the fires of Hell, is a promise given to those who faithfully wear the Brown Scapular around their necks. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, Superior General of the Carmelite Order, on July 16th, 1251, and in her hand she held the Brown Scapular and gave this promise: “Take this Scapular; it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Yet we should also remember the prophecy that “One day through the Rosary and the Scapular she will save the world!” In the pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order—written in medieval Latin by a priest named Fr. Marianus Ventimiglia, which was published in 1773 in Naples—we find this historical account:
“Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher. At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Spirit each of the three men recognized each other and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. St. Angelus foretold the stigmata of St. Francis, and St. Dominic said: ‘One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.’”
Today, a chapel on that very street corner in Rome, commemorates the meeting of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus.
Only She Can Help Us Now
On July 13th, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima—speaking of herself in the third person—said: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you.” Three months later, on October 13th, 1917, at her final appearance at Fatima during the miracle of the sun, she was first seen as being dressed in white and holding the Rosary, while St. Joseph, holding the Infant, stood at her side; then secondly, she was seen as dressed in blue, while Our Lord appeared at her side; thirdly and finally, dressed in the brown of Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular in her hands, while Our Lord, slowly raised His hand and blessed the great crowd in the Cova da Iria below. Sr. Lucia said that, of the three different consecutive appearances of Our Lady on October 13th, the most beautiful and resplendent was that of Our Lady dressed in the religious habit of Mount Carmel (Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
Miracles Demonstrating Our Lady’s Promise of Protection
One day in 1944, a Carmelite missionary in the Holy Land was called to an internment camp to give the Last Rites. The Arab bus driver made the priest get off the bus four miles from the camp because the road was dangerously muddy. After two miles, the missionary found his feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Trying to get solid footing, he slipped into a muddy pool. Sinking to his death in this desolate place, he thought of Our Lady and her Scapular.
He kissed his great Scapular — for he was wearing the full habit — and looked toward the holy mountain of Carmel, the birthplace of devotion to God’s Mother. He cried out, “Holy Mother of Carmel! Help me! Save me!” A moment later, he found himself on solid ground. Later he said, “I know I was saved by the Blessed Virgin through her Brown Scapular. My shoes were lost in the mud, and I was covered with it, but I walked the remaining two miles praising Mary.”
Saved from the Sea
Another Scapular miracle took place in 1845. In the late summer of that year, the English ship, King of the Ocean, on its way to Australia, not far from Cape Hope, found itself in the middle of a hurricane. As wind and sea mercilessly lashed the ship, a Protestant minister, with his wife and children and other passengers, struggled to the deck to pray for mercy and forgiveness, as the end seemed at hand. Among the crew was a young Irishman, John McAuliffe. On seeing the urgency of the situation, the youth opened his shirt, took off his Scapular, and, making the Sign of the Cross with it over the raging waves, tossed it into the ocean. At that very moment, the wind calmed. Only one more wave washed the deck, bringing with it the Scapular which came to rest at the young man’s feet. All the while the minister (a Mr. Fisher) had been carefully observing McAuliffe’s actions and the miraculous effect of those actions. Upon questioning the young man, he was told about the Holy Virgin and her Scapular. Mr. Fisher and his family became determined to enter the Catholic Church as soon as possible, and thereby enjoy the same protection of Our Lady’s Scapular. This they did shortly after landing in Australia.
Saved from Fire
In May of 1957, a Carmelite priest in Germany published the unusual story of how the Scapular saved a home from fire. An entire row of homes had caught fire in Westboden, Germany. The pious inhabitants of a home in the middle of this row, seeing the fire, immediately fastened a Scapular to the main door of the house. Sparks flew over it and around it, but the house remained unharmed. Within 5 hours, 22 homes had been reduced to ashes. The one structure which stood undamaged amidst the destruction was that which had the Scapular attached to its door. The hundreds of people who came to see the place Our Lady had saved are eyewitnesses to the power of the Scapular and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saved from an Explosion
In 1955, a miracle occurred in the mid-western part of the United States. A 3rd-grader stopped in a gasoline station to put air in his bicycle tires, and at that very moment an explosion occurred. The boy’s clothing was burned off, but his Brown Scapular remained unaffected: a symbol of Mary’s protection. Today, although he still bears a few scars from the explosion, this man has special reason to remember the Blessed Mother’s protection in time of danger.
Saved in a Plane Crash
A Jesuit missionary in Guatemala relayed the following incident of Our Lady’s Scapular protection. In November of 1955 a plane carrying 27 passengers crashed. All died except one young lady. When this girl saw the plane was going down, she took hold of her Scapular, and called on Mary for help. She suffered burns, her clothing was reduced to ashes, but her Scapular was not touched by the flames.
Saved from a Bullet
In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer. Astonished by the miracle, the officer told all that were around him. Those who surrounded him, witnesses to this wonder, spread it through the army from rank to rank. Eventually news of the miracle reached the monarch’s ear. Louis XIII came forward to see this wonder that had been brought to his attention. He examined the facts very carefully, and after having convinced himself with his own eyes of the reality of the wonder, he wanted to dress himself in this heavenly armor, to receive the Scapular from the hands of the Carmelites and be enrolled as one of the members of the Confraternity.
Saved from Lightning
On August 27th, 1602 Barthelemi Lopez, a Spanish soldier, on duty in the Castle of Saint Elme, in Naples, was saying prayers in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose Scapular he was wearing, when all of a sudden lightning and thunder exploded above his head. The lightning bolt hit his shoulder, and without making any sort of injury, left on his shoulder the print of a cross — as a sign of salvation which demonstrates that it was to a special help from Heaven that he owed the favor of having been preserved from the terrible effects of the lightning.
Miracle of Grace
In 1834, an elderly soldier living in Angouleme, France, no longer able to bear certain sorrows, resolved to take his own life. He decided to kill himself with poison, thinking that he could more easily hide his crime from the public. Upon taking the poison, he did not have to wait long to suffer the effects. Immediately he went to the hospital and asked to spend the night, thinking that the cause of his death would be undiscovered and his name would not be blackened because of commission of the cowardly sin of suicide.
But the hospital supervisor would not allow him to be admitted without an administration pass — which would mean discovery of his impending death by his own hand. The unhappy soldier was forced to abandon the idea of spending the night in the hospital. While wondering what course of action to take, he suddenly heard a voice telling him to go to Saint Peter’s and confess to Father X. The soldier went to the designated church and asked Father X to hear his confession.
Father X, overcome with fatigue, told the man to wait — it was Lent and it was three o’clock in the afternoon and he had not yet had a bite to eat. The unhappy soldier made a new plea and assured the priest that there was not time to wait.
The priest entered the confessional and the penitent confessed that he had just poisoned himself. The confessor showed him his obligation before God, which included divulging the penitent’s secret.
The soldier, touched by this grace, gave the priest permission, and like the fire which burned his insides, the sufferings he felt threw him into a state of perfect hopelessness.
The charitable priest pulled him out of the confessional and took him to the hospital.
He immediately asked for an antidote, but while they were preparing it, he took the pulse of the sick man, and no longer found any: a deathly pale complexion, misty eyes — everything heralded the coming death.
His heart pierced with sadness, but full of confidence in the Divine Mercy, the fervent priest threw himself to his knees, and recited the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
At the first invocation, he sensed the pulse of the dying man return, and a short time later he heard the soldier speak a few words. “O my good Father,” he said in a weak voice, “my Father, pray, pray some more!” And he let out a breath and said: “Holy Mary, pray for me!” And soon his consciousness returned. Father X, in his enthusiasm over such a marvelous change, asked the soldier if he hadn’t kept some pious practices — “No, my Father, I have not said any prayers in a long time.” But after having reflected for an instant, he showed a Scapular: “Here is the only sign of piety that I have preserved.” — “Ah! My friend,” notes the priest, “I am no longer surprised by the miracle which just occurred; it’s Mary who protected you, it’s to her that you owe being alive.” Nevertheless the doctor arrived, and after having heard the necessary details on the condition of the patient, he assured them that only a superior power could prolong his life for longer than two hours after having taken the poison, one of the most active that we know; and five hours had gone by since the fatal moment! The antidote became useless. The doctor proposed to record a statement to attest the truth of the miracle; but the humble priest, fearing that they would perhaps attribute the miracle to the fervor of his prayers, did not think about making the miracle public. It was told to me by others, that it may give you a new confidence in Mary. (Told by Father Michaud in The Month of Mary and recorded in the book Vertu Miraculeuse Du Scapulaire, 1869, pp. 30-32).
The full promise of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to Saint Simon Stock July 16, 1251:
“Accept this Scapular. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies clothed in this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
Food Provided in Time of Famine Through the Scapular
In the Fourteenth Century, Spain faced a deadly famine due to a shortage of all sorts of grains. A general procession was ordered, and in the area of Spain in which the Holy Scapular was triumphantly shown, immediately abundance returned and brought joy and consolation to the hearts of all.3
In the 16th Century, in Sicily, a drought occurred like that which happened in the days of Elias the prophet. The people appealed to Our Lady, and the Brown Scapular was offered everywhere in the streets for veneration by the people; suddenly the sky opened, the rain came, and soon the people had their lofts full with abundance.4
Miracles in Battle
In the year 1618, Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria and general of the imperial army in the war with Prague, in order to acquire God’s benediction on his armies, put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin by receiving the holy Scapular with his whole army. Full of confidence in this precious shield of the Queen of Heaven, he gave battle against prince Palatin, who had usurped the crown from Ferdinand II, and the Duke won a complete victory with very few losses of his own. The Emperor Ferdinand II, desirous of giving a public witness to Our Lady for her protection, received, along with the Queen and the princes, the Blessed Scapular from the hands of Father Dominique, a Discalced Carmelite.
Edward II, King of England, hearing about some miracles that were happening in all parts of his kingdom by virtue of the sacred habit, was one of the first princes to once again wear the Scapular, and he received with devotion this precious proof of Mary’s love; shortly thereafter, he experienced the effect of the protection of the Blessed Virgin, to Whom he was devoted. His army, which had already suffered two defeats, was on the verge of complete surrender. He invoked Mary and promised her that he would establish a monastery of the Order of Mount Carmel. Immediately, by a miraculous assistance, he won a complete victory over his enemies, who at that point thought they had already won the battle. Edward, wanting to perpetuate the memory of this powerful protection and to keep his vow, gave to the Carmelites his palace at Oxford to establish a monastery.
Protection Against the Devil
In 2005, a priest was giving a talk about the growth of satanic worship in the world and how adults and young children are becoming possessed by the devil because of the use of things such as the ouija board, saying the incantations that open the door to the demonic in “children’s books” such as the Harry Potter series, and going to fortune tellers, etc.
When someone asked the priest how to protect oneself from the demonic, besides the obvious path of avoiding things that call upon Satan, the priest answered, “Wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for protection from curses and the devil.”
One can understand why the devil works against those who promote the Scapular after hearing the story of Venerable Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.
One day a young woman, before entering the religious life, went to see the Curé of Ars, and during the conversation, he asked her, “Do you recall, my child, at the certain evening of dancing, where you were? There was a very young man, very pretty, unknown, distinguished, admired, and all the girls wanted to dance with him.” “Yes, I recall when he never came to ask me, I was sad, yet all the other girls were privileged to dance with that young man.” “You would have liked to dance with him, wouldn’t you?” “Yes.” “Do you recall, when that young man was leaving the dance hall, you saw under his feet two blue flames? And you thought it was an illusion of your eyes? When you saw that young man leave the dance hall, you saw fire under his feet! It was not an illusion of your eyes, my daughter. That man was a demon. And if he did not come to you to ask you to dance, it’s for one reason: you were wearing the vestment of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”
Traditional Protection for Modern Times
As they say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “ain’t broke” but is alive and kicking―but how many Catholics still wear it and use it? A weapon is only useful if it is loaded and in your hands―not unloaded and locked away in the gun closet. Likewise, the Brown Scapular is only useful if it around your neck and you are loaded with sanctifying grace―not stuffed away in some drawer while you live in sin.
While St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection”, he also adds: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who, by their devotion to Mary, think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.” A perverse, sinful will can defeat the Mother of mercy. Even Christ had to admit defeat, for He extended His crucified hands all day to an unbelieving and contradicting people, that rejected and refused to return Christ’s forgiving embrace: “Father! Forgive them! They know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). How often would He have gathered His chosen children ― but they would not let Him! Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), in his booklet, The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, states that:
“It is clear, from the words of St. Alphonsus, that a certain measure of fidelity is required on the part of those who wish to gain the special love and protection of Our Lady. The very wearing of the Scapular is, in itself, an act of devotion, and when it is done faithfully, it renders habitual homage to its Queen. ‘Other pious practices,’ writes Fr. Chaignon, S.J., ‘are attached to certain times and to certain place, but the devotion to the Scapular belongs to all time and places. Thanks to my little Habit, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, Mary never sees me without seeing on my body an evidence of my devotion to her. Always and everywhere my Scapular pleads for me, recommends me to her tenderness, tells her that I love her and that I confide all my interests to her maternal care.’ The constant, daily practice of wearing the Scapular is, therefore, an act of faithful homage to Our Lady but, as St. Alphonsus adds, the desire to amend one’s life is also necessary, before we can be morally certain that she will be the cause of our eternal salvation.” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Carmelite Superior General (1947-1959), in his booklet, The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
As You Sow Your Scapular―So Shall You Reap
The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not a “spiritual rabbit’s foot” or a “spiritual good-luck charm”―it is to be used and not abused. It is not a license to sin, nor a “spiritual trump card” against sin, nor a “spiritual get-out-of-jail-free card” or anything of the like. Neither God, nor Our Lord, nor Our Lady are “patsies” or “doormats” upon which we can happily wipe our sinful muddy feet as we traipse indifferently into Heaven whistling and laughing, while ignoring our sinful state. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
When Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular, she made this promise: “Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” She will keep that promise, but she does not promise that we shall die wearing the Scapular―she only promises to save those who are lucky enough to die wearing it. If we live a life of ceaseless and escalating sin, then we making a mockery of God, Our Lord’s Passion and Death and Our Lady’s generous promise. This risks Divine Providence arranging for our death without the Brown Scapular. If you have ever visited hospitals and nursing homes on a regular basis―as priests might do―then you might have noticed that many nurses and care-assistants remove the Brown Scapular when bathing a patient, but never put it back on again. That is just one of a thousand different possible scenarios that could happen to someone who deliberately and wantonly abuses the Scapular “contract”―you might even forget to put it on after bathing on the day that God schedules your death! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Don’t Take It For Granted
The Rosary and the Scapular are “Sacramentals” of the Church. A “sacramental” is not to be confused with a “Sacrament”—there are only seven Sacraments, but many more Sacramentals. What is a Sacramental? A Sacramental is anything set apart, or blessed, by the Church, which is meant to excite within us spiritual thoughts and to increase devotion, and, through these movements of the heart, to remit venial sin. Therefore, it is not the Sacramental itself that gives grace, but the devotion, the love of God, or sorrow for sin that it inspires within us.
When we receive the any one of the seven Sacraments, we always get the grace of the Sacraments if we are rightly disposed and in a state of sanctifying grace. The Sacrament gives us a minimal amount of grace that we automatically receive, whether or not we have devotion in our souls; but in using the Sacramentals, we do not automatically receive grace as we do with the Sacraments, but the grace given by the use of Sacramentals depends upon our having a pre-requisite devotion in our soul; and the more devotion we have., then the more grace we receive. With the Sacraments, even though we get a minimal amount of grace automatically, this can also be increased by a proportionate increase in our devotion. Ultimately, it comes to down to you reap what you sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:8), which is only to be expected from God, Who is Justice Itself, and justice means giving to others according to their merit.
We must therefore avoid looking at the Sacramentals as though they were ‘spiritual good-luck charms’ that work automatically, regardless of what we think, feel, or do. There are some who wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, thinking that they will be saved from Hell, no matter how much they sin! St. Alphonsus Liguori warns such persons that they will receive an even more severe judgment that most other souls. During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Seven Communists were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tries to prepare the men for death; they refused. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion, in a short while they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: “Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?” Six agreed, one refused. Soon all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continues to refuse―only to please them did he put on the Scapular, but he would do nothing more. Morning came, and as the time of the execution came near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for a priest. Although wearing the Scapular he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously a Scapular was found approximately 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary’s Scapular; the seventh died Without the Scapular. St. Claude Colombière gives us the solution to Mystery of the Missing Scapular: “You ask: ‘What if I desire to die in my sins?’ I answer: ‘Then you will die in your sins but YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOU SCAPULAR!’” St. Claude tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times. He was rescued against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary’s protective garment he accomplished his wish and died in his sins.
On the contrary, the Sacramentals are like a flint that is there to create a spark that will set something on fire. In this case, the Sacramental is meant to give a spark to our devotion and set it afire. As Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49), yet sadly, “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). If we knelt down before a plain white wall we would find it harder to pray with devotion than if we were kneeling before a Crucifix. We see the representation of the nails in the hands and feet, the blood on the side, the thorns on the head; and all these must make us think of Our Lord’s terrible sufferings. The picture of a friend, hanging on the wall before us, will often make us think of him when we would otherwise forget him. So also will the pictures of Our Lord and of the saints, keep them often in our minds, and therefore are more likely to spark a devotion within us. The Scapular is there to remind us of Our Lady, it is like wearing the uniform of Our Lady in her service and reminds us that we belong to her.
Talking of “belonging to her” ― should remind you of the words spoken by Sister Lucia of Fatima on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground.”
Monday July 6th
Article 3
From Independence Back to Dependence
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 3
From Independence Back to Dependence
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
An Independent Month!
Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa. It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). The enticement and allure to independence: “in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so of course we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites wanted independence from God. From the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (meaning God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen the royal office and subjected its clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science? Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of who?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, which is a part of the package of Original Sin and all sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences! The ultimate bad consequence of the bad idea of independence is Hell—as the independently minded Lucifer and his independent minded angels found out.
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
The Independence of Liberalism
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
The Cure for Modern Independence is Christ’s Yoke of Dependence
As the famous religious axiom says: “Servire est Regnare” meaning “To Serve is to Reign”. The only real, lasting solution is to take up, once again, the yoke of Christ. “Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light” (Matthew 11:29-30). The ultimate yoke or dependence is that of the religious life (if properly lived) and Our Lady makes this clear to us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Glorification of Independence and Denigration of Dependence
IIt is difficult for us to grasp the concept of obedience because we have been educated in a tradition that glorifies independence. It is an alarming and disgusting fact that only 5 tiny nations still hold on to Catholicism as the official religion of the state:
► Costa Rica with a population 5,000,000 (5 million) of which 53% are Catholics (2,600,000).
► El Salvador with a population 7,000,000 (7 million) of which 81% are Catholics (2,700,000).
► Liechtenstein with a population 33,000 of which 53% are Catholics (26,000).
► Malta with a population 428,000 of which 84% are Catholics (361,000).
► Monaco with a population 36,000 of which 82% are Catholics (30,000).
In addition to these there are some cantons of Switzerland that have Catholicism as their official religion, and well Vatican City (population 842 and 100% Catholic).
The disgusting and shameful fact is that just over 12,000,000 (12 million) people―out of a world population of 7,800,000,000 (7.8 billion) live in a country which has Catholicism as the official religion of the state―which is 1 in every 650 people or 0.15%.
Latin America―that is to say, South America and Central America, makes up almost 33% of the Catholic world―in other words, 1 in 3 Catholics live in Latin America. Yet most of Latin America―in its secular governments―is independent of the Catholic Faith and God. They do not accept Catholicism for their state religion. Ever since the South America’s nations gained independence from Spain, governments have struggled with the Catholic hierarchy over the role of the church in relation to the state. Throughout the nineteenth century, liberal politicians and intellectuals—emboldened by Enlightenment ideas about the separation of church and state—tried to restrict the powers, property, and privileges that the clergy had held since the colonial period. Conservatives, by contrast, tried to preserve a central role for the church in the public sphere, especially in education. As a result, the institutional church tended to support conservative governments in the nineteenth century, even though the majority of the Catholic populus—and often, the lower-level Catholic clergy—were more Liberal.
Since the 1990s, Latin Americans have become more socially liberal on issues such as same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and Uruguay in 2013. Mexico City, which hosts an enormous gay-pride parade every year, legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay all allow same-sex marriages, while Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama are in various stages of discussions that will inevitably lead to the acceptance of same-sex marriages. Of the other major South American countries, only Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela still reject same-sex marriages in their legislation―but they are experiencing increased protests and demonstrations against their godly stance.
Although abortion is still widely restricted across the region (and is completely banned in five countries), Mexico City legalized abortion in 2007, and Uruguay voted to legalize abortion in 2012. Argentina came close to legalizing abortion, but it held off for the time being. Guatemala, Venezuela, and Paraguay allow abortion to save the life of the pregnant person; Brazil, Chile, and Panama have similar laws, but also allow abortion in the case of rape. Finally, the Church’s position on contraception is widely ignored in most countries, some of which have initiated state-sponsored programs that distribute contraceptives.
A Return to Dependence on God
Holy Scripture is filled with a steady stream of words that remind and reinforce the truth of our dependence upon God―here is a handful of those quotes:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made!” (John 1:1-3) … “the angels and powers and virtues being made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:22). “The Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the Earth … It is He that gives strength to the weary, and increases force and might to them that have it not ... They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength!” (Isaias 40:28-31). “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps. Be not wise in thy own conceit!” (Proverbs 3:5-7). “He that abideth in Me and I in him―the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “The Lord ruleth me! … He hath brought me up … He hath led me” (Psalm 22:1-3). “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1). “Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and Thou didst afflict and cast them out. For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword; neither did their own arm save them―but Thy right hand and Thy arm!” (Psalm 43:3-4). “I am the Lord thy God, Who takes thee by the hand, and says to thee: ‘Fear not! I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:13). “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. The Lord is my helper … It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:6-9). “He that is mighty, hath done great things to me … He hath showed might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat! He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away!” (Luke 1:49-53). “I am thy God: I have strengthened thee and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee!” (Isaias 41:10). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord!’” (Jeremias 17:5). “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa. It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). The enticement and allure to independence: “in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so of course we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites wanted independence from God. From the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (meaning God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen the royal office and subjected its clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science? Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of who?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, which is a part of the package of Original Sin and all sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences! The ultimate bad consequence of the bad idea of independence is Hell—as the independently minded Lucifer and his independent minded angels found out.
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
The Independence of Liberalism
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
The Cure for Modern Independence is Christ’s Yoke of Dependence
As the famous religious axiom says: “Servire est Regnare” meaning “To Serve is to Reign”. The only real, lasting solution is to take up, once again, the yoke of Christ. “Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My burden light” (Matthew 11:29-30). The ultimate yoke or dependence is that of the religious life (if properly lived) and Our Lady makes this clear to us: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Glorification of Independence and Denigration of Dependence
IIt is difficult for us to grasp the concept of obedience because we have been educated in a tradition that glorifies independence. It is an alarming and disgusting fact that only 5 tiny nations still hold on to Catholicism as the official religion of the state:
► Costa Rica with a population 5,000,000 (5 million) of which 53% are Catholics (2,600,000).
► El Salvador with a population 7,000,000 (7 million) of which 81% are Catholics (2,700,000).
► Liechtenstein with a population 33,000 of which 53% are Catholics (26,000).
► Malta with a population 428,000 of which 84% are Catholics (361,000).
► Monaco with a population 36,000 of which 82% are Catholics (30,000).
In addition to these there are some cantons of Switzerland that have Catholicism as their official religion, and well Vatican City (population 842 and 100% Catholic).
The disgusting and shameful fact is that just over 12,000,000 (12 million) people―out of a world population of 7,800,000,000 (7.8 billion) live in a country which has Catholicism as the official religion of the state―which is 1 in every 650 people or 0.15%.
Latin America―that is to say, South America and Central America, makes up almost 33% of the Catholic world―in other words, 1 in 3 Catholics live in Latin America. Yet most of Latin America―in its secular governments―is independent of the Catholic Faith and God. They do not accept Catholicism for their state religion. Ever since the South America’s nations gained independence from Spain, governments have struggled with the Catholic hierarchy over the role of the church in relation to the state. Throughout the nineteenth century, liberal politicians and intellectuals—emboldened by Enlightenment ideas about the separation of church and state—tried to restrict the powers, property, and privileges that the clergy had held since the colonial period. Conservatives, by contrast, tried to preserve a central role for the church in the public sphere, especially in education. As a result, the institutional church tended to support conservative governments in the nineteenth century, even though the majority of the Catholic populus—and often, the lower-level Catholic clergy—were more Liberal.
Since the 1990s, Latin Americans have become more socially liberal on issues such as same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and Uruguay in 2013. Mexico City, which hosts an enormous gay-pride parade every year, legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay all allow same-sex marriages, while Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama are in various stages of discussions that will inevitably lead to the acceptance of same-sex marriages. Of the other major South American countries, only Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela still reject same-sex marriages in their legislation―but they are experiencing increased protests and demonstrations against their godly stance.
Although abortion is still widely restricted across the region (and is completely banned in five countries), Mexico City legalized abortion in 2007, and Uruguay voted to legalize abortion in 2012. Argentina came close to legalizing abortion, but it held off for the time being. Guatemala, Venezuela, and Paraguay allow abortion to save the life of the pregnant person; Brazil, Chile, and Panama have similar laws, but also allow abortion in the case of rape. Finally, the Church’s position on contraception is widely ignored in most countries, some of which have initiated state-sponsored programs that distribute contraceptives.
A Return to Dependence on God
Holy Scripture is filled with a steady stream of words that remind and reinforce the truth of our dependence upon God―here is a handful of those quotes:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made!” (John 1:1-3) … “the angels and powers and virtues being made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:22). “The Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the Earth … It is He that gives strength to the weary, and increases force and might to them that have it not ... They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength!” (Isaias 40:28-31). “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps. Be not wise in thy own conceit!” (Proverbs 3:5-7). “He that abideth in Me and I in him―the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “The Lord ruleth me! … He hath brought me up … He hath led me” (Psalm 22:1-3). “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1). “Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and Thou didst afflict and cast them out. For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword; neither did their own arm save them―but Thy right hand and Thy arm!” (Psalm 43:3-4). “I am the Lord thy God, Who takes thee by the hand, and says to thee: ‘Fear not! I have helped thee!’” (Isaias 41:13). “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. The Lord is my helper … It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:6-9). “He that is mighty, hath done great things to me … He hath showed might in His arm! He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat! He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away!” (Luke 1:49-53). “I am thy God: I have strengthened thee and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee!” (Isaias 41:10). “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord!’” (Jeremias 17:5). “I can do all these things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday July 3rd & Saturday July 4th & Sunday July 5th
Article 2
Why Are We Not Doing This?
Friday July 3rd & Saturday July 4th & Sunday July 5th
Article 2
Why Are We Not Doing This?
Why O Why?
“Not every one that saith to Me ― “Lord! Lord!” ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
The Holy Trinity ― Father, Son and Holy Ghost ― and Our Lady have called you to the fight! You ― by the Sacrament of Confirmation ― were made a soldier of Christ, a soldier of Heaven, a soldier of Our Lady. Like it or not, want it or not, you have been “mobilized” and called to action! Are you standing about idle, scanning your phone, surfing the internet, plunged deep into social media? Or are you fully engaged in what Sr. Lucia called the Devil’s “Final Battle” with Mary: “You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!”
Go Get Your BB GUN!
We are in a war―whether we like it or not! If you cannot see that we are in a war―then you will probably not recognize Hell when you get there. In fact, the whole life of a Catholic is meant to be a perpetual war ― “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you are told to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) “because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) ― and the devil has succeeded in devouring most souls because they have refused to fight him, nor have they fought against his princedom, the world. Which is why St. Paul writes: “I so fight, not as one beating the air, But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
You might not defeat the Devil and the world with a water-pistol, or even a holy-water-pistol. You won’t even defeat the Devil and world with a BB Gun―but you can defeat the Devil and the world with your SPIRITUAL BB GUN―the double-barreled gun of “Blood and Beads”.
Too simplistic? Fairy-tale? Wild imagination? Nope! Based on historical fact! It has worked before and it will work again―but only if YOU put it good use! Do you believe? Or do you―like the doubting St. Thomas―want proof before you will believe and DO SOMETHING about it? Okay! Here is the proof.
Proof that BBs Are Successful and Work
First of all, let us look at the “Blood” and then the “Beads”. The “Blood” of course is the Blood of Christ in general, and in particular it is the Blood that Christ shed during His Passion and Death on Calvary. That shedding of the Blood of Christ is still with us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, says that “the celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.” St. Jerome, another Doctor of the Church, adds: “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us; and, which is a matter of great wonder, often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him, if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice points out that “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary―I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina said: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun, than to do without Holy Mass.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
In a conference in Tucson, Arizona, by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC. ― Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in Homes ― Fr. Mateo said: “How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena, why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. You have a right to ask for such miracles. Do you know what a conversion is? It is the resurrection of a soul. It is far greater to see the resurrection of a soul than the resurrection of a corpse. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! If you have anyone at home sick, or dying, oh, pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!”
You have no doubt read of St. Clare defending her convent against Saracen (Arab/Muslim) invaders. If not, then here is a recap of the event. The famous incident, which we call the Miracle of the Eucharist of Assisi, took place at the convent of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy, in September of 1240. The German prince, Frederick II of Swabia, was waging a war against the Pope and the Church. Having recruited Saracen (Arab/Muslim) mercenaries to be his army, who had a reputation of being merciless cut-throats, Frederick proceeded to march against Assisi―in pursuit of his dream of creating an empire for himself by conquering the lands between Assisi in the north of Italy all the way down to Sicily in the south.
The convent of the Poor Clares of San Damiano stood in the path between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens, who hated Christians and had a perverse appetite for raping Caucasian women. One of the Poor Clare Sisters ran to St. Clare to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out. At the time, St. Clare was too ill to walk. Clare had two Sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel, and removed a Monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament. St. Clare prostrated herself before her Eucharistic Lord and then, holding the Blessed Sacrament in her hands, pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord for Him to protect His handmaids.
She spoke to the Lord, and He answered her. She implored, “Behold, my Lord, is it possible that Thou desire to deliver into the hands of pagans, Thy defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught out of love for Thee? I pray Thee, Lord, protect these Thy handmaids whom I cannot save by myself.”
A voice, like that of a young child, answered her: “I will take care of you!”
Clare added another prayer. “My Lord, protect also, as it pleases Thee, this city [Assisi] that, by Thy love, supports us!”
The reply she received was: “It will have to go through trials and suffering―but it will be defended by My protection.”
Strengthened by these words, Clare turned to her Sisters, who were terrified by the prospects of the attack of the feared Saracens and firmly said: “I guarantee you, my daughters, that you will not suffer any evil! Only have Faith in Christ!”
Assisted by her religious sisters, Clare walked to a large open window that looked down onto the courtyard below. She took the monstrance and held it high in the air. When the attackers saw the courage of the sisters in the presence of the Sacramental Eucharist, the advancing Saracens were filled with fear and froze in their tracks at the courtyard of the Convent. They looked up at Clare, at the Monstrance in her hand. Petrified with fear―as if they could recognize the God Who was there―they turned and ran, fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her Sisters in peace. Neither did they attack Assisi. The next day, the people of Assisi were overwhelmed with joy and relief, but astonished that the Saracens had not attacked their city. Faced by the Blessed Sacrament, it seemed that survival not conquest, was uppermost in their minds, and the invaders had left without ever setting foot in the town of Assisi.
Use it or Lose It!
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is without doubt what Our Lady refers to at Akita when she says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood …” The “Sign left by my son” is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which produces the Holy Eucharist, which Christ instituted and left behind for us to use as a weapon and a safeguard against evil ― which is why St. Padre Pio says: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun, than to do without Holy Mass!” and it is also the reason why St. Leonard of Port Maurice says: “were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base.”
Choose Your Weapons!
No water-pistol, even a holy-water-pistol, has weakened, defeated and routed the devils as much as the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. All the Church’s power with regard to blessings and exorcisms comes from Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. The saints tell us that all the Sacraments of the Church revolve around the Holy Eucharist as the planets revolve around the sun. All the graces, helps and victories we read about in the Old Testament were granted as “credit” in advance, waiting for the time when Christ would “make full payment” by His Passion and Death. It is the Blood of Christ―shed on the way to Calvary and shed on the Cross of Calvary―that is the payment and power and guarantee behind all the actual and potential blessings and mercies of God. Hence we say, during the Stations of the Cross: “We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee―because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!” Christ has saved the world by His Blood and sufferings and will continue to save the world in the same way―but ONLY IF WE PUT THOSE SUFFERINGS, THAT BLOOD, THAT SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS TO GOOD USE!
It is a case of “use it, or lose it” ― by using the Sacrifice of the Cross (which is identical to the Sacrifice of the Mass, but in an unbloody manner), we can turn the tide of evil, no matter how great it might be, and overcome all the plots, plans and agendas of Satan―for, make no mistake about it, Satan is behind most of the evil things and evil turn of events that are occurring around us today: “…because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Satan is the prince of this world and he uses this world―as well the unwitting dumb-dopes and clueless-clones, which Communists disdainfully and mockingly call “Useful Idiots”―as part of his satanic maneuvers and strategies.
Our many different fights might be with the “Elites”, the “Money-Men”, corrupt governments, Big Pharma, the Communists, terrorists, ISIS, Deep State, or whatever else we choose to add to the list―but ultimately, their “Supreme Commander” is Satan. Hence, no human being and no human endeavors or inventions or machinery or technology is going to defeat Satan―even if it has seemed as though some of the saints defeated him, it was only because of Christ and His Sacrifice on the Cross―it can only happen “through Him, with Him and in Him” (as we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass), for as He Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” The extension of that is that without the Mass we can do nothing. We need the Mass like our bodies need blood. We need the Mass because it give us the Blood of Christ!
How to Use the Weapon of the Mass―Weapon of Mass Destruction!
Let’s face it―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is underrated, underused, abused―and, since the major drastic changes to the Mass after the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and published in the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal, people have been (gladly?) forced to accept and a swallow a watered-down, Protestantized, hybrid, and (as argue by some theologians) a Mass of doubtful validity. All of this led to “rock music Masses”, “Guitar-Masses”, “Clown-Masses”, Cookie-Masses”, etc. That is Satan’s master-stroke―for Satan knows that the Mass is a prolongation of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary, a sacrifice that defeated Satan when he thought he was winning. It is in Satan’s best interests to destroy the Mass if possible―and do destroy attendance at Mass if possible. If only 20% of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass, then you can say that Satan has pretty successful thus far. It is no wonder that on several occasions Pope Paul VI admitted that the “smoke of Satan had entered the Church”.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Pope Paul VI Echoes the Visions Given to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
If we look at a compilation and arrangement of the pertinent parts concerning the crisis in the Church, revealed to stigmatic, mystic and visionary, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, we shall see that they correspond to and amplify the comments of Pope Paul VI. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich states: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [Bishops of the Second Vatican Council?], but only a small number were perfectly sound ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upperhand and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of new-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction ... Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests ... In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness ... All must be rebuilt ― for everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy it and ruin is at hand.”
“When I saw the Church of St Peter in ruins and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction ― none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others ― I was in such distress that I cried out to Jesus with all my might, imploring His mercy. Then I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse, and He spoke to me for a long time…He said, among other things, that this translation of the Church from one place to another meant that she would seem to be in complete decline. But she would rise again; even if there remained but one Catholic, the Church would conquer again because she does not rest on human counsels and intelligence. It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word.”
“I saw a strange church being built against every rule … They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock ... No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above … There was only division and chaos. It is a church of human creation, following the latest fashion … There was nothing holy in it ... I saw no altar in it, but only benches, and in the middle of it something like a pulpit ... In place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one … They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it … The church―although the worshippers were so few―was crowded with idols ... I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church. I saw it increase … I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city. I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size … Heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome.
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes The local clergy grew lukewarm and I saw a great darkness ... I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, restricted, and deprived of liberty, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. All over the world, good and devout people especially the clergy were harassed oppressed and put into prison ... I saw common, ignorant people offering violent resistance―but this state of things lasted not long.
“‘Very evil times are coming,’ [my guide] said. ‘The non-Catholics will mislead many. They will use every possible means to entice them from the Church, and great disturbances will follow.’ I had then another vision in which I saw the King’s Daughter [Our Lady] armed for the struggle. Multitudes contributed to this with prayers, good works, all sorts of labors and self-victories which passed from hand to hand up to Heaven where each was wrought, according to its kind, into a piece of armor for the virgin warrior. The perfect adjustment of the various pieces was most remarkable, as also their wonderful signification. She was armed from head to foot. I knew many of those who contributed the armor, and I saw with surprise that whole institutions and great and learned people furnished nothing. The contribution was made chiefly by the poor and lowly. And now I saw the battle. The enemy ranks were by far the more numerous; but the little body of the faithful cut down whole rows of them. The armed Virgin stood nearby upon a hill. I ran to her, pleading for my country and those other places for which I had to pray. She was armed singularly, but significantly, with helmet, shield, and coat of mail, and the soldiers were like those of our own day. The battle was terrible; only a handful of victorious champions survived!”
“When the [true] Church had been for the most part destroyed by the secret sect [Freemasons and infiltrators], and when only the sanctuary and main altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child, because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion …. Then, I saw in the great distance great legion approaching. In the foreground I saw a man on a white horse. Prisoners were set free and joined them. All enemies were pursued. Then, I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt, and she was more magnificent than ever before ...”
To Turn the Tables, Turn to the Mass
To turn the tables, to stem and turn back the tide, we need to return to the Mass of all time―the Mass that today is popularly called “The Latin Tridentine Mass” or what Pope Benedict XVI called “The Mass in the Extraordinary Rite” when he gave each and every priest in the world the power and the right (which had never been legally taken away in the first place) to say the Latin Tridentine Mass, even without asking the local bishop’s permission (though few dare do that, nor do many even want to say the “Old Mass”). Nevertheless, ever since Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7th, 2007―which “freed” the already free Latin Mass―more and more priests and bishops have begun saying the “Old Mass” once again or for the first time in their still young lives.
Using the Mass as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
This section is of utmost importance. It requires a total change of focus and method on the part of both priests and the faithful. It is also within the scope and capacity of every priest and lay person―but it requires a firm, unflinching, persevering, dogged approach, for, as Our Lord says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, that I will do” (John 14:13) … “Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you!” (John 15:16) … “Amen, amen I say to you―if you ask the Father anything in My Name, He will give it you!” (John 16:23).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest of all prayers―a prayer par excellence―even more powerful than the Rosary. If we to “pray without ceasing”, then we should offer the Mass without ceasing. We should furthermore, offer the Mass for the chief intentions of Heaven (the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church)―and not merely our own “little” personal intentions (that Billy pass his exams; or Aunt Sally’s health improve; or that someone can find a job, etc.). There is hardly one single Catholic family that cannot afford to give a priest a monthly Mass stipend asking him to offer Mass for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church. If every Catholic family did this―then the result would a perpetual stream of Masses, many Masses being offered each hour of the day, for those intentions. Do you think that such a deluge of Masses is going to have no effect upon the current situation in the world and the current crisis in the Church? It would almost be heretical and blasphemous to say so!
Make that your resolution as of today―to have a Mass said monthly for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church. Then take another resolution on top of that! That other resolution is to persuade as many Catholics as possible to follow your good example. You should be like the mustard seed Our Lord speaks about: “It is as a grain of mustard seed: which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth. And when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the birds of the air may dwell under the shadow thereof” (Mark 4:31-32). “For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). Your “mustard seed” is the first Mass that you have offered by a priest―from then on, the “mustard seed” must grow in two directions―the roots must grow deeper under the ground and the branches must spread far and wide above the ground―meaning that the Masses that you ask priests to offer must grow in number underground, while above the ground you spread the message and recruit more and more people to do the same “so that the birds of the air [other people] may dwell under the shadow thereof.” You must also encourage them to do what you will be doing―having as many Masses offered as possible and affordable for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church, while at the same time recruiting more and more Catholics to do the same. You must keep those Masses going and the Precious Blood flowing till victory is complete, even if it takes many years. The sower of the seed does not immediately expect a field ripe for harvest behind his heels as he sows. In the next few days, a PDF file will be posted that will give you some basic guidelines for “planting and growing your ‘mustard seed’”―for spreading your Mass requests around and also providing you with cogent powerful reasons and arguments for convincing others to follow your lead and example.
A Spiritual Solution to the Worldwide DIssolution
The solution to the man-made, Satan inspired, troubles, crises, diseases, religious, economic and social shutdowns and lockdowns, blatant lies and propaganda from media and governments, mandatory health inoculations, ultimate chipping and tracking, etc. will not be a human solution, man-made solution, but a divine solution that integrally involves Christ and His Holy Mother, Jesus and Mary, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary. For as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5) and Our Lady of Akita said: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” echoing the words she had already said at Fatima: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
That Brings Us to the Holy Rosary
Besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament―which Our Lady refers to as “the Sign left by my Son”―the other solution to worldwide dissolution is the Holy Rosary. Our Lady could not have made it more abundantly clear―for she has REPEATEDLY told us pray the Holy Rosary. There was not one single Fatima apparition at which Our Lady did not insist upon this: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (First apparition, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (Second apparition, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Third apparition, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day!” (Fourth apparition, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fifth apparition, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Sixth apparition, October 1917).
What is that we don’t understand about those commands? Today, the world is even under greater threat than at the time Our Lady appeared―which was during the First World War, which is a walk in park compared to what is threatening us today! Are we going to be so stupid as to ignore the remedy Our Lady offers? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― which is true in our day, since only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary every day! Yet one single Rosary hardly seems enough for an age that boasts of so much sin as has never before been seen on Earth―as Our Lady revealed to the mystic and stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956 (arguably the dawn of the present Era of Sin): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament―which Our Lady refers to as “the Sign left by my Son”―the other solution to worldwide dissolution is the Holy Rosary. Our Lady could not have made it more abundantly clear―for she has REPEATEDLY told us pray the Holy Rosary. There was not one single Fatima apparition at which Our Lady did not insist upon this: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (First apparition, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (Second apparition, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Third apparition, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day!” (Fourth apparition, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fifth apparition, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Sixth apparition, October 1917).
What is that we don’t understand about those commands? Today, the world is even under greater threat than at the time Our Lady appeared―which was during the First World War, which is a walk in park compared to what is threatening us today! Are we going to be so stupid as to ignore the remedy Our Lady offers? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― which is true in our day, since only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary every day! Yet one single Rosary hardly seems enough for an age that boasts of so much sin as has never before been seen on Earth―as Our Lady revealed to the mystic and stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956 (arguably the dawn of the present Era of Sin): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Sadly, however, we have become so accustomed and desensitized to sin that we no longer see sin as being the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). As Our Lady of La Salette stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!”
“Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
In the light of those words and warnings, do you really think that one hastily SAID (but not meditated) Rosary a day is really going to “cut-it”―especially when only 2% to 3% of Catholics do so daily? If that’s what you think―then you need to see a psychiatrist as soon as possible, before you totally lose your mind! Think back to what Our Lady said about one of the three little seers at Fatima―nine-year-old Francisco Marto: “He will only go to Heaven once he has prayed many Rosaries!” What on Earth had a little nine-year-old boy done to deserve the ‘burden’ of having to pray many Rosaries? We don’t know―but we do know that Our Lady never spoke to Francesco, speaking only to the girls and passing her messages for Francisco through Lucia and Jacinta. Nevertheless, Francisco obeyed and took upon himself the praying of MANY Rosaries daily.
Listen to the Rosary Apostle
Before we pray many Rosaries, it is important to acquire the habit of praying the Rosary well. The Rosary―well prayed, meditated and not just mechanically said―can undo much of the damage caused by sin and bring about the reformation of―not only ourselves―but of the whole world. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, gives us several pointers on how not to pray and how to pray the Rosary.
► MORE THAN YOU THINK! “I beg of you to beware of thinking of the Rosary as something of little importance ― as do ignorant people, and even several great but proud scholars. Far from being insignificant, the Rosary is a priceless treasure which is inspired by God. Almighty God has given it to you because He wants you to use it as a means to convert the most hardened sinners and the most obstinate heretics. He has attached to it grace in this life and glory in the next. The saints have said it faithfully and the Popes have endorsed it ... The vast majority of people fail to know this secret, or else only know it superficially. If a priest really understands this secret, he will say the Rosary EACH DAY and will encourage others to say it. God and His blessed Mother will pour abundant grace into his soul, so that he may become God’s instrument for His glory; and his word, though simple, will do more good in one month than that of other preachers in several years. Therefore, my dear brothers and fellow priests [you can apply this to parents and teachers also], it will not be enough for us to preach this devotion to others―we must practice it ourselves! For if we firmly believed in the importance of the Holy Rosary, but never said it ourselves, people could hardly be expected to act upon our advice―since no one can give what he does not have: ‘Jesus began to do and to teach’.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
►HEAVEN’S WEAPON! “It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners. St. Dominic, seeing the gravity of people’s sins, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse in France, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said, ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? … I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Holy Rosary], which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter [Rosary] ... Before doing anything else, priests should try to kindle a love of prayer in people’s hearts and especially a love of my Angelic Psalter [Rosary]. If only they would all start saying it and would really persevere, God in his mercy could hardly refuse to give them his grace. So I want you to preach my Rosary!” [Those words of Our Lady dovetail with the prophecy that was made in the lifetime of St. Dominic, that one day Our Lady would save the world through the Rosary and the Brown Scapular]. “It is scarcely possible for me to put into words how Our Lady esteems the Rosary and how she prefers it to all other devotions. Nor can I sufficiently express how wonderfully she rewards those who work to make known the devotion, to establish it and spread it nor, on the other hand, how strictly she punishes those who work against it ... Our Lady not only blesses those who preach her Rosary but she highly rewards all those who, by their example, get others to say it … They will receive great graces here on Earth and finally eternal life. ‘Those who explain me will have life everlasting.’ The Angelic Salutation is the remedy for all ills that we suffer, as long as we say it devoutly in honor of Our Lady … As long as priests followed Saint Dominic’s example and preached devotion to the Holy Rosary, piety and fervor thrived throughout the Christian world and in those religious orders which were devoted to the Rosary. But since people have neglected this gift from Heaven, all kinds of sin and disorder have spread far and wide … Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God’s reprobation, think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► DAILY, ENTIRELY AND WELL! “EVERY DAY unbelievers and unrepentant sinners cry: ‘Let us crown ourselves with roses!’ But our cry should be: ‘Let us crown ourselves with the roses of the Holy Rosary!’ How different are theirs from ours! Their roses are pleasures of the flesh, worldly honors and passing riches which wilt and decay in no time, but ours, which are the Our Father and Hail Mary which we have said DEVOUTLY over and over again, and to which we have added good penitential acts, will never wilt or die, and they will be just as exquisite thousands of years from now as they are today. On the contrary, sinners’ roses only look like roses, while in point of fact they are cruel thorns which prick them during life by giving them pangs of conscience, at their death they pierce them with bitter regret and, still worse, in eternity they turn to burning shafts of anger and despair. But if our roses have thorns, they are the thorns of Jesus Christ, who changes them into roses. If our roses prick us, it is only for a short time, and only in order to cure the illness of sin and to save our souls. So by all means we should eagerly crown ourselves with these roses from Heaven, and RECITE THE ENTIRE ROSARY EVERY DAY, that is to say, three Rosaries each of five decades. If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins ‘you shall receive a never‑fading crown of glory’ (1 Peter 5:4). Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if ― and mark well what I say ― if you say the Rosary DEVOUTLY EVERY DAY until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins …
“Our Lady appeared to the Venerable Dominic, a Carthusian devoted to the Holy Rosary, who lived at Treves, and said to him: ‘Whenever one of the faithful, in a state of grace, says the Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and passion of Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins.’ She also said to Blessed Alan, “I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, (1) free from serious sin, (2) say them with devotion, (3) on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life. And let this not seem incredible to you; it is easy for me because I am the Mother of the King of Heaven, and he calls me full of grace. And being filled with grace, I am able to dispense it freely to my dear children.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► THE REAL ROSARY: “The Rosary is made up of TWO THINGS: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practiced in the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. So the Rosary is a blessed blending of mental and vocal prayer by which we honor and learn to imitate the mysteries and the virtues of the life, death, passion and glory of Jesus and Mary … Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this MEDITATION IS THE SOUL OF THIS PRAYER!’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be A BODY WITHOUT A SOUL, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions …
“If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore, the laity should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary … ‘Ever since the devil was crushed by the humility and the passion of Jesus Christ,’ says Cardinal Hugues, ‘he has been practically unable to attack a soul that is armed with meditation on the mysteries of Our Lord’s life, and, if he does trouble such a soul, he is sure to be shamefully defeated.’ ‘Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’”
“A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: ‘I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!’ Let us meditate, then, on the life and sufferings of our Savior by means of the Holy Rosary; let us learn to know Him well and to be grateful for all His blessings, so that, on the Day of Judgment, He may number us among His children and His friends … The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies … One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask him what he was doing, and he answered: ‘I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said―this is the money with which you purchase Heaven.’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► WEAPON AGAINST SATAN AND HIS DEVILS: “Arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed … Blessed Alan relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him―but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan de la Roache also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks … Father Jean Amât, of the Order of St. Dominic, was giving a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year, when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success, he put his Rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking, ‘Take it off, take it off! These beads are tormenting me!’ …
“When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people―it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said that by the Rosary, which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world―because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary. St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most … Using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in a pitiful way … St. Dominic was not in the least moved … He knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: ‘Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question!’ … St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, ‘Answer my servant Dominic at once!’
“Then the devils started screaming at her: ‘Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness. Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants. Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.’
“Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body under the guise of red‑hot coals.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► USE IT, DON’T ABUSE IT: “Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God’s reprobation, think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner ... The Rosary, is the prayer and the infallible touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit of God from those who are deceived by the devil … A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity; in other words, to recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace, or at least seeking it.
“In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).”
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Don’t Be a Thorn in Our Lady’s Heart, Nor a Pain in Her Neck!
You know how exasperating it can be to tell a child to do something ten, twenty, thirty times and meet with no reaction nor response. That is how Our Lady feels about us. As Sr. Lucia revealed to Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
Our Lady could well apply to us the words that Our Lord complainingly spoke: “Why call you Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). We would do well to recall her complaining words at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
History has shown us many striking Rosary victories and miracles to bolster our Faith and shore-up our confidence―Lepanto in 1571, Hiroshima in 1945, Austria in the 1950s, Brazil in the 1960s. Most of those are in our modern era―what more proof do we want? The many different crises that have happened in the world in modern times―the world wars, the civil wars, the rise of Communism, the saturation with Materialism, the infiltration of the Church and governments, the iron-vice grip that the Elites and bankers have on the world, and the tsunami of sins such as abortion, contraception, gender-change, same-sex marriages and sexual relations, divorce and remarriage, pornography, drug and alcohol addiction, etc. ― are all basically and ultimately, not just the responsibility of the actual perpetrators, but also OUR RESPONSIBILITY ALSO!
As St. John Chrysostom warns―after our death, at our Final Judgment, we will be judged for EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE WORLD WHILE WE WERE ALIVE. We cannot be everywhere at the same time―like God can―but our prayers and sacrifices (Sacrifice of the Mass included) can be applied to everyone and everywhere. It is just that we are too lazy, too indifferent, too nonchalant, too absorbed with ourselves and our own lives―with the result that we have no time to be “our brother’s keeper”. Cain vainly tried to pass-off responsibility by making excuses to God: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9).
Now we might not have actually killed our ‘brother’ or neighbor―but at the same time we have not SAVED him. We are the keeper of our neighbors, even the sinful ones. Our Lord said: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me … Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45). Which is why Our Lady of Fatima even asked little children (if children are not exempt, neither are adults who are more capable) to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Yes, “pray, pray very much”―but sadly most Catholics “play, play very much” (spending on average anywhere from 4 to 8 hours on their phones, TV, internet, social media, etc. each day) and there is less and less time and inclination for prayer. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―whereas, given the current conditions, ALL Catholics should be praying several if not many Rosaries daily. For, as Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, “Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
The world and Church are in a mess because of sin. Our Lady has given us a way out―the Rosary and the Sign left by her Son. We either take her advice and use those weapons, or we pay the consequences now and also on Judgment Day. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap [or what he fails to sow, he fails to reap]. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith!” (Galatians 6:7-10). Let us sow many well prayed Rosaries, meditated Rosaries, and sow many Masses. Then we will see the victory when we use the weapons given to us for that victory.
“Not every one that saith to Me ― “Lord! Lord!” ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
The Holy Trinity ― Father, Son and Holy Ghost ― and Our Lady have called you to the fight! You ― by the Sacrament of Confirmation ― were made a soldier of Christ, a soldier of Heaven, a soldier of Our Lady. Like it or not, want it or not, you have been “mobilized” and called to action! Are you standing about idle, scanning your phone, surfing the internet, plunged deep into social media? Or are you fully engaged in what Sr. Lucia called the Devil’s “Final Battle” with Mary: “You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!”
Go Get Your BB GUN!
We are in a war―whether we like it or not! If you cannot see that we are in a war―then you will probably not recognize Hell when you get there. In fact, the whole life of a Catholic is meant to be a perpetual war ― “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you are told to “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) “because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) ― and the devil has succeeded in devouring most souls because they have refused to fight him, nor have they fought against his princedom, the world. Which is why St. Paul writes: “I so fight, not as one beating the air, But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection―lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
You might not defeat the Devil and the world with a water-pistol, or even a holy-water-pistol. You won’t even defeat the Devil and world with a BB Gun―but you can defeat the Devil and the world with your SPIRITUAL BB GUN―the double-barreled gun of “Blood and Beads”.
Too simplistic? Fairy-tale? Wild imagination? Nope! Based on historical fact! It has worked before and it will work again―but only if YOU put it good use! Do you believe? Or do you―like the doubting St. Thomas―want proof before you will believe and DO SOMETHING about it? Okay! Here is the proof.
Proof that BBs Are Successful and Work
First of all, let us look at the “Blood” and then the “Beads”. The “Blood” of course is the Blood of Christ in general, and in particular it is the Blood that Christ shed during His Passion and Death on Calvary. That shedding of the Blood of Christ is still with us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, says that “the celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.” St. Jerome, another Doctor of the Church, adds: “Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us; and, which is a matter of great wonder, often times He also grants that also which is not demanded of Him, if we, on our part, put no obstacle in the way.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice points out that “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary―I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base.” St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina said: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun, than to do without Holy Mass.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich revealed the following, based upon the visions and revelations granted to her by God and Our Lady: “Mass, badly celebrated, is an enormous evil. Ah! It is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it … Our Lady said what is most painful for me to repeat―that if only one priest offered the unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church!” (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
In a conference in Tucson, Arizona, by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC. ― Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founder of the Work of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in Homes ― Fr. Mateo said: “How often have I heard people say to me: ‘Father, we are making novena after novena for certain conversions but to no avail!’ Do you know what I reply? I do not blame that―that is all right―but instead of annoying the saints with novena after novena, why do you not make a novena of Masses? THAT IS THE GREAT NOVENA. And all the saints will applaud you for they realize the greatness of Holy Mass. I do not blame your novenas to the saints―but I say transform your novenas into something divine, omnipotent ― the Chalice ― one more Mass ― two, three or four more Masses ― if possible daily Mass. You are asking for a miracle? I approve! But I tell you that you must pay the ransom for the conversions you make. You have a right to ask for such miracles. Do you know what a conversion is? It is the resurrection of a soul. It is far greater to see the resurrection of a soul than the resurrection of a corpse. Oh one more Mass! Please ― one more Mass! Pay the ransom with the Chalice. One more Mass! If you have anyone at home sick, or dying, oh, pay the ransom with the Chalice ― one more Mass!”
You have no doubt read of St. Clare defending her convent against Saracen (Arab/Muslim) invaders. If not, then here is a recap of the event. The famous incident, which we call the Miracle of the Eucharist of Assisi, took place at the convent of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy, in September of 1240. The German prince, Frederick II of Swabia, was waging a war against the Pope and the Church. Having recruited Saracen (Arab/Muslim) mercenaries to be his army, who had a reputation of being merciless cut-throats, Frederick proceeded to march against Assisi―in pursuit of his dream of creating an empire for himself by conquering the lands between Assisi in the north of Italy all the way down to Sicily in the south.
The convent of the Poor Clares of San Damiano stood in the path between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens, who hated Christians and had a perverse appetite for raping Caucasian women. One of the Poor Clare Sisters ran to St. Clare to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out. At the time, St. Clare was too ill to walk. Clare had two Sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel, and removed a Monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament. St. Clare prostrated herself before her Eucharistic Lord and then, holding the Blessed Sacrament in her hands, pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord for Him to protect His handmaids.
She spoke to the Lord, and He answered her. She implored, “Behold, my Lord, is it possible that Thou desire to deliver into the hands of pagans, Thy defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught out of love for Thee? I pray Thee, Lord, protect these Thy handmaids whom I cannot save by myself.”
A voice, like that of a young child, answered her: “I will take care of you!”
Clare added another prayer. “My Lord, protect also, as it pleases Thee, this city [Assisi] that, by Thy love, supports us!”
The reply she received was: “It will have to go through trials and suffering―but it will be defended by My protection.”
Strengthened by these words, Clare turned to her Sisters, who were terrified by the prospects of the attack of the feared Saracens and firmly said: “I guarantee you, my daughters, that you will not suffer any evil! Only have Faith in Christ!”
Assisted by her religious sisters, Clare walked to a large open window that looked down onto the courtyard below. She took the monstrance and held it high in the air. When the attackers saw the courage of the sisters in the presence of the Sacramental Eucharist, the advancing Saracens were filled with fear and froze in their tracks at the courtyard of the Convent. They looked up at Clare, at the Monstrance in her hand. Petrified with fear―as if they could recognize the God Who was there―they turned and ran, fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her Sisters in peace. Neither did they attack Assisi. The next day, the people of Assisi were overwhelmed with joy and relief, but astonished that the Saracens had not attacked their city. Faced by the Blessed Sacrament, it seemed that survival not conquest, was uppermost in their minds, and the invaders had left without ever setting foot in the town of Assisi.
Use it or Lose It!
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is without doubt what Our Lady refers to at Akita when she says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood …” The “Sign left by my son” is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which produces the Holy Eucharist, which Christ instituted and left behind for us to use as a weapon and a safeguard against evil ― which is why St. Padre Pio says: “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun, than to do without Holy Mass!” and it is also the reason why St. Leonard of Port Maurice says: “were it not for the Holy Mass, at this moment the world would be in the abyss, unable to bear up under the mighty load of its iniquities. Mass is the powerful prop that holds the world on its base.”
Choose Your Weapons!
No water-pistol, even a holy-water-pistol, has weakened, defeated and routed the devils as much as the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. All the Church’s power with regard to blessings and exorcisms comes from Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. The saints tell us that all the Sacraments of the Church revolve around the Holy Eucharist as the planets revolve around the sun. All the graces, helps and victories we read about in the Old Testament were granted as “credit” in advance, waiting for the time when Christ would “make full payment” by His Passion and Death. It is the Blood of Christ―shed on the way to Calvary and shed on the Cross of Calvary―that is the payment and power and guarantee behind all the actual and potential blessings and mercies of God. Hence we say, during the Stations of the Cross: “We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee―because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!” Christ has saved the world by His Blood and sufferings and will continue to save the world in the same way―but ONLY IF WE PUT THOSE SUFFERINGS, THAT BLOOD, THAT SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS TO GOOD USE!
It is a case of “use it, or lose it” ― by using the Sacrifice of the Cross (which is identical to the Sacrifice of the Mass, but in an unbloody manner), we can turn the tide of evil, no matter how great it might be, and overcome all the plots, plans and agendas of Satan―for, make no mistake about it, Satan is behind most of the evil things and evil turn of events that are occurring around us today: “…because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Satan is the prince of this world and he uses this world―as well the unwitting dumb-dopes and clueless-clones, which Communists disdainfully and mockingly call “Useful Idiots”―as part of his satanic maneuvers and strategies.
Our many different fights might be with the “Elites”, the “Money-Men”, corrupt governments, Big Pharma, the Communists, terrorists, ISIS, Deep State, or whatever else we choose to add to the list―but ultimately, their “Supreme Commander” is Satan. Hence, no human being and no human endeavors or inventions or machinery or technology is going to defeat Satan―even if it has seemed as though some of the saints defeated him, it was only because of Christ and His Sacrifice on the Cross―it can only happen “through Him, with Him and in Him” (as we say at the end of the Canon of the Mass), for as He Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” The extension of that is that without the Mass we can do nothing. We need the Mass like our bodies need blood. We need the Mass because it give us the Blood of Christ!
How to Use the Weapon of the Mass―Weapon of Mass Destruction!
Let’s face it―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is underrated, underused, abused―and, since the major drastic changes to the Mass after the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and published in the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal, people have been (gladly?) forced to accept and a swallow a watered-down, Protestantized, hybrid, and (as argue by some theologians) a Mass of doubtful validity. All of this led to “rock music Masses”, “Guitar-Masses”, “Clown-Masses”, Cookie-Masses”, etc. That is Satan’s master-stroke―for Satan knows that the Mass is a prolongation of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary, a sacrifice that defeated Satan when he thought he was winning. It is in Satan’s best interests to destroy the Mass if possible―and do destroy attendance at Mass if possible. If only 20% of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass, then you can say that Satan has pretty successful thus far. It is no wonder that on several occasions Pope Paul VI admitted that the “smoke of Satan had entered the Church”.
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Pope Paul VI Echoes the Visions Given to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
If we look at a compilation and arrangement of the pertinent parts concerning the crisis in the Church, revealed to stigmatic, mystic and visionary, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, we shall see that they correspond to and amplify the comments of Pope Paul VI. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich states: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was a long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world [Bishops of the Second Vatican Council?], but only a small number were perfectly sound ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upperhand and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of new-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction ... Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests ... In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away. Everywhere I see great misery, hatred, treason, rancor, confusion and utter blindness ... All must be rebuilt ― for everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy it and ruin is at hand.”
“When I saw the Church of St Peter in ruins and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction ― none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others ― I was in such distress that I cried out to Jesus with all my might, imploring His mercy. Then I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse, and He spoke to me for a long time…He said, among other things, that this translation of the Church from one place to another meant that she would seem to be in complete decline. But she would rise again; even if there remained but one Catholic, the Church would conquer again because she does not rest on human counsels and intelligence. It was shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word.”
“I saw a strange church being built against every rule … They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock ... No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above … There was only division and chaos. It is a church of human creation, following the latest fashion … There was nothing holy in it ... I saw no altar in it, but only benches, and in the middle of it something like a pulpit ... In place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one … They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it … The church―although the worshippers were so few―was crowded with idols ... I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church. I saw it increase … I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city. I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church … Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size … Heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome.
“I had a vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern. I saw also the relationship between two popes The local clergy grew lukewarm and I saw a great darkness ... I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, restricted, and deprived of liberty, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. All over the world, good and devout people especially the clergy were harassed oppressed and put into prison ... I saw common, ignorant people offering violent resistance―but this state of things lasted not long.
“‘Very evil times are coming,’ [my guide] said. ‘The non-Catholics will mislead many. They will use every possible means to entice them from the Church, and great disturbances will follow.’ I had then another vision in which I saw the King’s Daughter [Our Lady] armed for the struggle. Multitudes contributed to this with prayers, good works, all sorts of labors and self-victories which passed from hand to hand up to Heaven where each was wrought, according to its kind, into a piece of armor for the virgin warrior. The perfect adjustment of the various pieces was most remarkable, as also their wonderful signification. She was armed from head to foot. I knew many of those who contributed the armor, and I saw with surprise that whole institutions and great and learned people furnished nothing. The contribution was made chiefly by the poor and lowly. And now I saw the battle. The enemy ranks were by far the more numerous; but the little body of the faithful cut down whole rows of them. The armed Virgin stood nearby upon a hill. I ran to her, pleading for my country and those other places for which I had to pray. She was armed singularly, but significantly, with helmet, shield, and coat of mail, and the soldiers were like those of our own day. The battle was terrible; only a handful of victorious champions survived!”
“When the [true] Church had been for the most part destroyed by the secret sect [Freemasons and infiltrators], and when only the sanctuary and main altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child, because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion …. Then, I saw in the great distance great legion approaching. In the foreground I saw a man on a white horse. Prisoners were set free and joined them. All enemies were pursued. Then, I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt, and she was more magnificent than ever before ...”
To Turn the Tables, Turn to the Mass
To turn the tables, to stem and turn back the tide, we need to return to the Mass of all time―the Mass that today is popularly called “The Latin Tridentine Mass” or what Pope Benedict XVI called “The Mass in the Extraordinary Rite” when he gave each and every priest in the world the power and the right (which had never been legally taken away in the first place) to say the Latin Tridentine Mass, even without asking the local bishop’s permission (though few dare do that, nor do many even want to say the “Old Mass”). Nevertheless, ever since Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7th, 2007―which “freed” the already free Latin Mass―more and more priests and bishops have begun saying the “Old Mass” once again or for the first time in their still young lives.
Using the Mass as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
This section is of utmost importance. It requires a total change of focus and method on the part of both priests and the faithful. It is also within the scope and capacity of every priest and lay person―but it requires a firm, unflinching, persevering, dogged approach, for, as Our Lord says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, that I will do” (John 14:13) … “Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you!” (John 15:16) … “Amen, amen I say to you―if you ask the Father anything in My Name, He will give it you!” (John 16:23).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest of all prayers―a prayer par excellence―even more powerful than the Rosary. If we to “pray without ceasing”, then we should offer the Mass without ceasing. We should furthermore, offer the Mass for the chief intentions of Heaven (the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church)―and not merely our own “little” personal intentions (that Billy pass his exams; or Aunt Sally’s health improve; or that someone can find a job, etc.). There is hardly one single Catholic family that cannot afford to give a priest a monthly Mass stipend asking him to offer Mass for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church. If every Catholic family did this―then the result would a perpetual stream of Masses, many Masses being offered each hour of the day, for those intentions. Do you think that such a deluge of Masses is going to have no effect upon the current situation in the world and the current crisis in the Church? It would almost be heretical and blasphemous to say so!
Make that your resolution as of today―to have a Mass said monthly for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church. Then take another resolution on top of that! That other resolution is to persuade as many Catholics as possible to follow your good example. You should be like the mustard seed Our Lord speaks about: “It is as a grain of mustard seed: which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth. And when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the birds of the air may dwell under the shadow thereof” (Mark 4:31-32). “For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: ‘Remove from here to there!’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). Your “mustard seed” is the first Mass that you have offered by a priest―from then on, the “mustard seed” must grow in two directions―the roots must grow deeper under the ground and the branches must spread far and wide above the ground―meaning that the Masses that you ask priests to offer must grow in number underground, while above the ground you spread the message and recruit more and more people to do the same “so that the birds of the air [other people] may dwell under the shadow thereof.” You must also encourage them to do what you will be doing―having as many Masses offered as possible and affordable for the double intention of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the conversion or destruction of the enemies of the Church, while at the same time recruiting more and more Catholics to do the same. You must keep those Masses going and the Precious Blood flowing till victory is complete, even if it takes many years. The sower of the seed does not immediately expect a field ripe for harvest behind his heels as he sows. In the next few days, a PDF file will be posted that will give you some basic guidelines for “planting and growing your ‘mustard seed’”―for spreading your Mass requests around and also providing you with cogent powerful reasons and arguments for convincing others to follow your lead and example.
A Spiritual Solution to the Worldwide DIssolution
The solution to the man-made, Satan inspired, troubles, crises, diseases, religious, economic and social shutdowns and lockdowns, blatant lies and propaganda from media and governments, mandatory health inoculations, ultimate chipping and tracking, etc. will not be a human solution, man-made solution, but a divine solution that integrally involves Christ and His Holy Mother, Jesus and Mary, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Rosary. For as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5) and Our Lady of Akita said: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” echoing the words she had already said at Fatima: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
That Brings Us to the Holy Rosary
Besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament―which Our Lady refers to as “the Sign left by my Son”―the other solution to worldwide dissolution is the Holy Rosary. Our Lady could not have made it more abundantly clear―for she has REPEATEDLY told us pray the Holy Rosary. There was not one single Fatima apparition at which Our Lady did not insist upon this: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (First apparition, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (Second apparition, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Third apparition, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day!” (Fourth apparition, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fifth apparition, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Sixth apparition, October 1917).
What is that we don’t understand about those commands? Today, the world is even under greater threat than at the time Our Lady appeared―which was during the First World War, which is a walk in park compared to what is threatening us today! Are we going to be so stupid as to ignore the remedy Our Lady offers? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― which is true in our day, since only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary every day! Yet one single Rosary hardly seems enough for an age that boasts of so much sin as has never before been seen on Earth―as Our Lady revealed to the mystic and stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956 (arguably the dawn of the present Era of Sin): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament―which Our Lady refers to as “the Sign left by my Son”―the other solution to worldwide dissolution is the Holy Rosary. Our Lady could not have made it more abundantly clear―for she has REPEATEDLY told us pray the Holy Rosary. There was not one single Fatima apparition at which Our Lady did not insist upon this: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (First apparition, May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (Second apparition, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Third apparition, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day!” (Fourth apparition, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fifth apparition, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Sixth apparition, October 1917).
What is that we don’t understand about those commands? Today, the world is even under greater threat than at the time Our Lady appeared―which was during the First World War, which is a walk in park compared to what is threatening us today! Are we going to be so stupid as to ignore the remedy Our Lady offers? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) ― which is true in our day, since only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary every day! Yet one single Rosary hardly seems enough for an age that boasts of so much sin as has never before been seen on Earth―as Our Lady revealed to the mystic and stigmatist, Blessed Elena Aiello in 1956 (arguably the dawn of the present Era of Sin): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Sadly, however, we have become so accustomed and desensitized to sin that we no longer see sin as being the greatest evil in the world: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). As Our Lady of La Salette stated: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth!”
“Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
In the light of those words and warnings, do you really think that one hastily SAID (but not meditated) Rosary a day is really going to “cut-it”―especially when only 2% to 3% of Catholics do so daily? If that’s what you think―then you need to see a psychiatrist as soon as possible, before you totally lose your mind! Think back to what Our Lady said about one of the three little seers at Fatima―nine-year-old Francisco Marto: “He will only go to Heaven once he has prayed many Rosaries!” What on Earth had a little nine-year-old boy done to deserve the ‘burden’ of having to pray many Rosaries? We don’t know―but we do know that Our Lady never spoke to Francesco, speaking only to the girls and passing her messages for Francisco through Lucia and Jacinta. Nevertheless, Francisco obeyed and took upon himself the praying of MANY Rosaries daily.
Listen to the Rosary Apostle
Before we pray many Rosaries, it is important to acquire the habit of praying the Rosary well. The Rosary―well prayed, meditated and not just mechanically said―can undo much of the damage caused by sin and bring about the reformation of―not only ourselves―but of the whole world. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, gives us several pointers on how not to pray and how to pray the Rosary.
► MORE THAN YOU THINK! “I beg of you to beware of thinking of the Rosary as something of little importance ― as do ignorant people, and even several great but proud scholars. Far from being insignificant, the Rosary is a priceless treasure which is inspired by God. Almighty God has given it to you because He wants you to use it as a means to convert the most hardened sinners and the most obstinate heretics. He has attached to it grace in this life and glory in the next. The saints have said it faithfully and the Popes have endorsed it ... The vast majority of people fail to know this secret, or else only know it superficially. If a priest really understands this secret, he will say the Rosary EACH DAY and will encourage others to say it. God and His blessed Mother will pour abundant grace into his soul, so that he may become God’s instrument for His glory; and his word, though simple, will do more good in one month than that of other preachers in several years. Therefore, my dear brothers and fellow priests [you can apply this to parents and teachers also], it will not be enough for us to preach this devotion to others―we must practice it ourselves! For if we firmly believed in the importance of the Holy Rosary, but never said it ourselves, people could hardly be expected to act upon our advice―since no one can give what he does not have: ‘Jesus began to do and to teach’.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
►HEAVEN’S WEAPON! “It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners. St. Dominic, seeing the gravity of people’s sins, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse in France, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances, in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said, ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? … I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Holy Rosary], which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter [Rosary] ... Before doing anything else, priests should try to kindle a love of prayer in people’s hearts and especially a love of my Angelic Psalter [Rosary]. If only they would all start saying it and would really persevere, God in his mercy could hardly refuse to give them his grace. So I want you to preach my Rosary!” [Those words of Our Lady dovetail with the prophecy that was made in the lifetime of St. Dominic, that one day Our Lady would save the world through the Rosary and the Brown Scapular]. “It is scarcely possible for me to put into words how Our Lady esteems the Rosary and how she prefers it to all other devotions. Nor can I sufficiently express how wonderfully she rewards those who work to make known the devotion, to establish it and spread it nor, on the other hand, how strictly she punishes those who work against it ... Our Lady not only blesses those who preach her Rosary but she highly rewards all those who, by their example, get others to say it … They will receive great graces here on Earth and finally eternal life. ‘Those who explain me will have life everlasting.’ The Angelic Salutation is the remedy for all ills that we suffer, as long as we say it devoutly in honor of Our Lady … As long as priests followed Saint Dominic’s example and preached devotion to the Holy Rosary, piety and fervor thrived throughout the Christian world and in those religious orders which were devoted to the Rosary. But since people have neglected this gift from Heaven, all kinds of sin and disorder have spread far and wide … Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God’s reprobation, think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► DAILY, ENTIRELY AND WELL! “EVERY DAY unbelievers and unrepentant sinners cry: ‘Let us crown ourselves with roses!’ But our cry should be: ‘Let us crown ourselves with the roses of the Holy Rosary!’ How different are theirs from ours! Their roses are pleasures of the flesh, worldly honors and passing riches which wilt and decay in no time, but ours, which are the Our Father and Hail Mary which we have said DEVOUTLY over and over again, and to which we have added good penitential acts, will never wilt or die, and they will be just as exquisite thousands of years from now as they are today. On the contrary, sinners’ roses only look like roses, while in point of fact they are cruel thorns which prick them during life by giving them pangs of conscience, at their death they pierce them with bitter regret and, still worse, in eternity they turn to burning shafts of anger and despair. But if our roses have thorns, they are the thorns of Jesus Christ, who changes them into roses. If our roses prick us, it is only for a short time, and only in order to cure the illness of sin and to save our souls. So by all means we should eagerly crown ourselves with these roses from Heaven, and RECITE THE ENTIRE ROSARY EVERY DAY, that is to say, three Rosaries each of five decades. If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins ‘you shall receive a never‑fading crown of glory’ (1 Peter 5:4). Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if ― and mark well what I say ― if you say the Rosary DEVOUTLY EVERY DAY until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins …
“Our Lady appeared to the Venerable Dominic, a Carthusian devoted to the Holy Rosary, who lived at Treves, and said to him: ‘Whenever one of the faithful, in a state of grace, says the Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and passion of Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins.’ She also said to Blessed Alan, “I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, (1) free from serious sin, (2) say them with devotion, (3) on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life. And let this not seem incredible to you; it is easy for me because I am the Mother of the King of Heaven, and he calls me full of grace. And being filled with grace, I am able to dispense it freely to my dear children.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► THE REAL ROSARY: “The Rosary is made up of TWO THINGS: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practiced in the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. So the Rosary is a blessed blending of mental and vocal prayer by which we honor and learn to imitate the mysteries and the virtues of the life, death, passion and glory of Jesus and Mary … Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this MEDITATION IS THE SOUL OF THIS PRAYER!’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be A BODY WITHOUT A SOUL, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions …
“If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore, the laity should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary … ‘Ever since the devil was crushed by the humility and the passion of Jesus Christ,’ says Cardinal Hugues, ‘he has been practically unable to attack a soul that is armed with meditation on the mysteries of Our Lord’s life, and, if he does trouble such a soul, he is sure to be shamefully defeated.’ ‘Put on the armor of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil!’”
“A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: ‘I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!’ Let us meditate, then, on the life and sufferings of our Savior by means of the Holy Rosary; let us learn to know Him well and to be grateful for all His blessings, so that, on the Day of Judgment, He may number us among His children and His friends … The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies … One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask him what he was doing, and he answered: ‘I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said―this is the money with which you purchase Heaven.’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► WEAPON AGAINST SATAN AND HIS DEVILS: “Arm yourself with the arms of God, with the Holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of Rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed … Blessed Alan relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him―but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his Rosary round his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan de la Roache also testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting a Rosary round their necks … Father Jean Amât, of the Order of St. Dominic, was giving a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year, when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success, he put his Rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking, ‘Take it off, take it off! These beads are tormenting me!’ …
“When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people―it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said that by the Rosary, which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world―because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary. St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most … Using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in a pitiful way … St. Dominic was not in the least moved … He knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: ‘Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question!’ … St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, ‘Answer my servant Dominic at once!’
“Then the devils started screaming at her: ‘Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness. Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants. Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.’
“Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body under the guise of red‑hot coals.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
► USE IT, DON’T ABUSE IT: “Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God’s reprobation, think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner ... The Rosary, is the prayer and the infallible touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit of God from those who are deceived by the devil … A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. The stronger our Faith the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity; in other words, to recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in God’s grace, or at least seeking it.
“In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: ‘Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently’ (Jeremias 48:10).”
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Don’t Be a Thorn in Our Lady’s Heart, Nor a Pain in Her Neck!
You know how exasperating it can be to tell a child to do something ten, twenty, thirty times and meet with no reaction nor response. That is how Our Lady feels about us. As Sr. Lucia revealed to Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
Our Lady could well apply to us the words that Our Lord complainingly spoke: “Why call you Me ― ‘Lord! Lord!’ ― and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). We would do well to recall her complaining words at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
History has shown us many striking Rosary victories and miracles to bolster our Faith and shore-up our confidence―Lepanto in 1571, Hiroshima in 1945, Austria in the 1950s, Brazil in the 1960s. Most of those are in our modern era―what more proof do we want? The many different crises that have happened in the world in modern times―the world wars, the civil wars, the rise of Communism, the saturation with Materialism, the infiltration of the Church and governments, the iron-vice grip that the Elites and bankers have on the world, and the tsunami of sins such as abortion, contraception, gender-change, same-sex marriages and sexual relations, divorce and remarriage, pornography, drug and alcohol addiction, etc. ― are all basically and ultimately, not just the responsibility of the actual perpetrators, but also OUR RESPONSIBILITY ALSO!
As St. John Chrysostom warns―after our death, at our Final Judgment, we will be judged for EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE WORLD WHILE WE WERE ALIVE. We cannot be everywhere at the same time―like God can―but our prayers and sacrifices (Sacrifice of the Mass included) can be applied to everyone and everywhere. It is just that we are too lazy, too indifferent, too nonchalant, too absorbed with ourselves and our own lives―with the result that we have no time to be “our brother’s keeper”. Cain vainly tried to pass-off responsibility by making excuses to God: “And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother's keeper?’ And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand!’” (Genesis 4:9).
Now we might not have actually killed our ‘brother’ or neighbor―but at the same time we have not SAVED him. We are the keeper of our neighbors, even the sinful ones. Our Lord said: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me … Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45). Which is why Our Lady of Fatima even asked little children (if children are not exempt, neither are adults who are more capable) to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
Yes, “pray, pray very much”―but sadly most Catholics “play, play very much” (spending on average anywhere from 4 to 8 hours on their phones, TV, internet, social media, etc. each day) and there is less and less time and inclination for prayer. Only 2% to 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―whereas, given the current conditions, ALL Catholics should be praying several if not many Rosaries daily. For, as Our Lady revealed to Blessed Elena Aiello, “Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
The world and Church are in a mess because of sin. Our Lady has given us a way out―the Rosary and the Sign left by her Son. We either take her advice and use those weapons, or we pay the consequences now and also on Judgment Day. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap [or what he fails to sow, he fails to reap]. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith!” (Galatians 6:7-10). Let us sow many well prayed Rosaries, meditated Rosaries, and sow many Masses. Then we will see the victory when we use the weapons given to us for that victory.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday July 1st & Thursday July 2nd
Article 1
Beads of Blood ― Blood and Beads
Wednesday July 1st & Thursday July 2nd
Article 1
Beads of Blood ― Blood and Beads
Heart and Blood
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxta-positioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus. On an even bigger scale, we have the “months of Jesus’ Heart and Blood” sandwiched between the Marian months of May and August (August 15th being the Assumption and August 22nd traditionally being the feast of the Immaculate Heart).
If you want a further connection between the Precious Blood and Our Lady, then we can read the section from The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, concerning the Incarnation of Christ in Mary womb: “And having conferred with herself and with the heavenly messenger, Gabriel, about the grandeur of these high and divine mysteries, and finding herself in excellent condition to receive the message sent to her, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and holy Spirit, into the body of Christ our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy humanity of the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, inclining slightly her head and joining her hands, She pronounced these words, which were the beginning of our salvation: ‘Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum!’ (Luke 1:31) ― ‘Be it done unto me according to they word!’ At the pronouncing of this ‘fiat’―so sweet to the hearing of God and so fortunate for us―in one instant, four things happened. First, the most holy body of Christ our Lord was formed from the three drops of blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary. Secondly, the most holy soul of the same Lord was created, just as the other souls. Thirdly, the soul and the body united in order to compose his perfect humanity. Fourthly, the Divinity united Itself in the Person of the Word with the humanity, which together became one composite being in hypostatical union; and thus was formed Christ true God and Man, our Lord and Redeemer.” (Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God, Volume 2: The Incarnation).
Mary and the Precious Blood in the Past
Devotion to the Precious Blood is very important to true devotees of Mary, especially today. Faithful Catholics must learn to take full advantage of this beautiful and inspiring devotion. The Mother of Jesus standing beneath the Cross is the one to enkindle this devotion in the hearts of men. She is the Mother of the Precious Blood and knows well the great love that made her Divine Son shed His Precious Blood for our salvation. It is through Mary that men will learn to glorify and honor the Precious Blood of Jesus.
Since Mary is really the Mother of Jesus, she gave Him everything that a mother gives to her child. She gave Him His human life; to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood, since it was formed in her body through the power of the Holy Ghost. And Mary, in turn, owes all her holiness and privileges to the Divine Blood of her Son. All beauty and grandeur that men admire in Mary come from the merits of the Precious Blood. Since Our Lady was more closely united to this Blood than anyone else, she enjoyed the most advantages from it. All the splendors of her beauty, all the glories of her graces, all the honor of her motherhood come from the Divine Blood. She, too, was saved by the Precious Blood, but in a very special way. For others, the Precious Blood was shed to take away sin; for Mary, it was shed to protect and defend her from harm. She was not freed from sin, rather, she was ever preserved from its least contagion. She received this privilege in view of the future merits of the Divine Blood. Her Immaculate Conception is the first and greatest grace of Jesus’ victory.
Mary united herself closely to her Divine Son’s sacrifice. She was always near Him. Certainly her cooperation in man’s salvation was not absolutely necessary. But God chose that His Son should suffer and shed His Blood to the last drop to save the world. It was His plan that Mary should join in this work of love. Her consent was needed for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become man, so that He could suffer and die for the redemption of the human race. Jesus was the Savior not only on Calvary, but all throughout His life. His death on the Cross completed His sacrifice. He began His work of saving souls at the moment of His Incarnation; He began it in union with Mary. And He also ended it in union with her. As Mary was the handmaid of God at the Annunciation, so was she still that handmaid on Calvary. The Gospel says: “Now there was standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother” (John 19:25). Mary’s presence at this great moment is significant. It shows that she suffered with Jesus for the Redemption of mankind.
The benefits of the Precious Blood are very many. It gave to men the “power to be made sons of God,” freeing them from the chains of sin. It promises eternal life to those who renounce sin through the power obtained for them through the Precious Blood. Thereby it brings peace between God and men; It draws souls to the Heart of Jesus, our Savior. But, the Church teaches that all graces of the Precious Blood come through Mary. No grace is given without her intercession. Saint Bernard, the great Marian theologian, says: “God wants us to receive all things through Mary; no grace comes from Heaven to Earth without passing through her hands.” This same thought was expressed often throughout the ages: “Mother of God, no one is freed from his sins, no one receives a gift, except through thee.”
Already in the lifetime of Jesus, He granted graces and blessings at the request of His Mother. The first miracles that He worked were carried out in union with Mary. She brought Jesus, Who was not yet born, to her cousin’s house to sanctify John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth; later, at Cana, she asked her Son to work a miracle to help the young couple in their temporal need. It is natural that Mary should share in granting the graces of the Precious Blood, since she cooperated so much in gaining them. It is also right for her to have a part in giving graces, because she is the Mother given to us by Jesus from the Cross. As Mother, she has the duty of helping her children and protecting them. Mary receives her greatness from the Precious Blood. All her excellence and beauty come from this Blood. She has many claims for honor, but the most beautiful gem in her crown of glory is her relation to the Divine Blood of her Son. It recalls her Divine Maternity; it reminds men of the offering that she made of that Blood at the foot of the Cross; it recalls that Mary was protected and made beautiful through that same Blood.
Mary and the Precious Blood in the Present Time
For life to continue existing in the human body, blood must flow. Once blood stops flowing, life ceases. Blood is essential to life. Blood circulates through our body and delivers essential substances like oxygen and nutrients to the body's cells. It also transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. There is no substitute for blood. What is true for the human body, is also true for the Mystical Body of Christ. All our invisible spiritual oxygen (grace) and our spiritual nutrients that give us strength (virtues) depend upon the Blood of Christ. “The life of the flesh is in the blood and the blood is an expiation for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him” (John 6:54-57).
If you want to go to Heaven, if you want forgiveness for your sins, if you want to avoid the anger and punishments of God ― then you need the Blood of Christ. “Being justified by the Blood of Christ. We shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Precious Blood, the Hour of None). “We have redemption through His Blood―the remission of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). “All things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood―and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). “Being justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). Christ will “reconcile all things unto Himself, making peace through the Blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).
Therefore the Blood of Christ must flow within the Mystical Body of Christ just as much today as in days of old. Without that Blood of Christ, we are “dead and gone”!
The Blood of Jesus is precious in and of itself. First of all, it is precious in its source―for it was drawn from the veins of Mary, the purest of virgins, the greatest of all God’s creatures. It is precious above all because it is the Blood of the One True God―the divinity is united to it, and it is truly a Divine Blood, to which is owed the same homage of adoration which we give to God Himself. On Calvary, the Angels adored the Blood flowing from the wounds of Jesus and saturating the soil; at the altar they are still there by the thousands, adoring that same Blood hidden under the sacred species of Bread and Wine at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To every human being their own blood is precious―without it there can be no life, only death. Yet Christ―being true to His own words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―laid down His life and His Blood, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Truly that Blood is precious and powerful!
The Blood of Jesus is precious to God Himself―since it gave Him the greatest possible homage of glorification by repairing the dishonor that sin had caused Him, and gave God the most touching witness of love. Remember that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is the same Blood of Christ that is offered again to the heavenly Father. The power of the Precious Blood remains the same throughout all ages.
The Blood of Jesus is precious to our Divine Savior Himself. It is His Blood, the principle of His natural life, which is the cause of all the acts He performed on Earth. But above all, His Blood was precious to Him in His Passion, for it cost Him so many pains when He shed it in the scourging, the crowning of thorns and the horrible torment of the crucifixion. The Blood of Jesus is also precious to Him in its effects. If there are so many holy souls that love and glorify Him, if in the hearts of so many martyrs, missionaries and virgins there are flames of most pure charity and the greatest zeal for the glory of God―then it is due to the Blood of Jesus. If in Heaven there are thousands of Elect who will glorify the Lord eternally―then it is also because of the adorable Blood: it is what redeemed and sanctified them.
The Blood of Jesus is also very precious to Mary. It is because she was to provide the first drops of this Blood that God had given to her with so much grace and sanctity―as though it were a reflection of His own divine perfections. Since Mary is really the Mother of Jesus, she gave Him everything that a mother gives to her child. She gave Him His human life―to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood, since it was formed in her body through the power of the Holy Ghost. And Mary, in turn, owes all her holiness and privileges to the Divine Blood of her Son. Mary united herself closely to her Divine Son’s sacrifice. She was always near Him. Certainly her cooperation in man’s salvation was not absolutely necessary―but God chose that His Son should suffer and shed His Blood to the last drop to save the world. It was His plan that Mary should join in this work of love. Mary watched that Precious Blood grow and then flow during the Passion of Christ. His Blood was her blood! His sufferings were her sufferings. His pain was her pain. His death was her death. They were united in Blood. Since Our Lady was more closely united to this Blood than anyone else, she enjoyed the most advantages from it. All the splendors of her beauty, all the glories of her graces, all the honor of her motherhood come from the Divine Blood. She, too, was saved by the Precious Blood, but in a very special way. For others, the Precious Blood was shed to take away sin; for Mary, it was shed to protect and defend her from harm. She was not freed from sin, rather, she was ever preserved from its least contagion. She received this privilege in view of the future merits of the Divine Blood. Her Immaculate Conception is the first and greatest grace of Jesus’ victory.
But above all, the Blood of Jesus is precious to us. We truly have every reason to call it the Precious Blood, for it is so precious in every way! And how precious our own life becomes, since it is totally consecrated to what is most precious! If we cast a glance over our past life, we see how our poor soul has so many times been withered, defiled, spreading the infection of sin; but when one drop of the Blood of Jesus falls upon it through absolution in the Sacrament of Confession, it is washed, purified, healed and restored by that Precious Blood―its ugliness turns into beauty and its infection into the sweet perfume of sanctifying grace. And, in the Holy Eucharist, how precious is the Blood of Jesus to us! When we receive Holy Communion in a state of sanctifying grace, that Precious Blood nourishes and strengthens our weak soul. Yes, the Blood of Jesus is for us the source of the greatest happiness. The Blood of Jesus is our greatest need!
Don’t Presume Blindly on the Precious Blood
Inevitably, life passes by, and it passes quickly! Death soon arrives! After death, what shall be our place? Since most souls are lost―because they refused to profit from the Precious Blood, what will our fate be? Alas, after our numerous iniquities, it ought to be Hell with those devouring flames in which we should burn eternally. But Jesus shed His Blood to prevent us from falling into that abyss of fire! If we follow His holy law and keep in a state of sanctifying grace, then we will go to Heaven, which He purchased for us with His sufferings and the shedding of His Blood. Yet we should not vainly, proudly and presumptuously fall into a insane complacency regarding our “automatic” “guaranteed” salvation when in reality most souls are lost! As Holy Scripture says: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Not every one that saith to Me ― “Lord! Lord!” ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
We’re In Trouble Because We Won’t Do As He Says!
As they say, “Who’s the boss around here?” Well, God could say the same thing! He is the “Boss”! What the “Boss” says―goes! It is His way or the highway―first the highway to big trouble, then the highway to Hell if we stubbornly and proudly refuse to take and execute His commands.
The present mess that we find ourselves in―a mess that will not get better, but only worse―is simply because of sin and the refusal to take the medicine for sin that Heaven not only offers, but commands that we take and use.
● Already in the 17th Century, Our Lord revealed: “Know, moreover that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations … for the sins of the people” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
● In 1846, Our Lady of La Salette warned: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.”
● At Fatima, before the apparitions of Our Lady in 1917, the Angel of Portugal commanded the three children to make “reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences whereby He is offended.” Later, Our Lady of Fatima would add: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” … “If people do not cease offending God, a worse [war] will break out!”
● Thirty-nine years later, in 1956, Our Lady revealed to the mystic, stigmatic, victim soul and prophetess, Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961), that the deluge of daily sin is inestimable: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
● Seventeen years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady further added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Pray in reparation for the sins of men. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
So What’s Our Reply?
The messages from Heaven are as clear as daylight! Even a child can understand them! Which is one of the reasons why Our Lady usually passes them on to us through children―nobody is really exempt from receiving and fulfilling these orders. The things that are currently happening in the world and in the Church are a direct consequence of the indifference, neglect, refusal and insubordination of the overwhelming majority of Catholic Soldiers of Christ. We prefer to play rather than pray. We prefer gratification to mortification. We prefer electronic devices to sacrifices. Rather than watch one hour with Our Lord in front of his tabernacle, we watch for hours in front of the TV.
Even the good that we do is, in a sense, “not good enough” in the eyes of Heaven―as revealed by Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
So What’s the Solution? Blood and Beads!
Our Lady repeatedly stated that she was part of the solution―that is something we already know, or should know.
► AT QUITO, ECUADOR, already at the end of the 16th Century and the start of the 17th Century, Our Lady wanted to spread the devotion to Our Lady of Good Success, “so that men in the future might realize how powerful I am in placating Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner, who comes to me with a contrite heart. For I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love … When tribulations of spirit and sufferings of the body oppress them and they seem to be drowning in this bottomless sea, let them gaze at my holy image, and I will always be there ready to listen to their cries and soothe their pain. Tell them that they should always run to their Mother with confidence and love!” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1599). “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611). How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss!” (Our Lady of Good Success, December 8th, 1634). Our Lady underlines her role in our age, saying: “In the 20th century, it [devotion to Our Lady of Good Success] will effect prodigies in the spiritual as well as temporal spheres, because it is the will of God to reserve this invocation [Our Lady of Good Success] for this century, when the corruption of morals will be almost general and the precious light of Faith almost extinguished.”
► AT LA SALETTE, Our Lady once again states the importance of her role―but she requires that we allow ourselves to be used as her instruments, that we become her soldiers, and not stand idly by as mere spectators: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … As true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. But the children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. I shall fight at their side ... I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
► AT FATIMA, IN PORTUGAL, Our Lady explicitly said that only she could help us in her role as Our Lady of the Rosary: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war―because only she can help you!” Later, Sister Lucia of Fatima stated that Our Lady had revealed to her the necessity and power of the Holy Rosary for our times and our troubles: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is ― whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations ― that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
The Beads and the Blood
What is meant by “The Beads and the Blood”? Quite simply the Rosary and the Mass. Since the Rosary brings to mind, reflects and is linked to Our Lady, while the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass brings to mind, reflects and is linked to Our Lord’s redeeming Sacrifice on Calvary―you could also, instead of saying “The Rosary and the Mass”, equally say “Devotion to Mary and Devotion to Jesus”, or “Devotion to the Immaculate Heart and Devotion to the Sacred Heart”, or “Devotion to Our Lady’s Sacramentals (Scapulars and Medals) and Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament (Holy Eucharist)―whichever way you look at it, it all ultimately boils down to the same thing.
The only way that we are going to come out of the catastrophic dive that the world and the Church is entering (or has entered for a while now), is by the use of the “The Beads and the Blood”, by the use of the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by an immense increase in devotion to the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart, by the use of Our Lady’s Sacramentals and the Blessed Sacrament.
As regards the best way of doing this―the next article will enter into the matter in some depth, giving you concrete and attainable guidelines that you need to put into practice NOW. For as Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!” and as Holy Scripture puts into the mouth of Our Lord the following words: “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16), to which Our Lord Himself adds: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxta-positioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus. On an even bigger scale, we have the “months of Jesus’ Heart and Blood” sandwiched between the Marian months of May and August (August 15th being the Assumption and August 22nd traditionally being the feast of the Immaculate Heart).
If you want a further connection between the Precious Blood and Our Lady, then we can read the section from The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, concerning the Incarnation of Christ in Mary womb: “And having conferred with herself and with the heavenly messenger, Gabriel, about the grandeur of these high and divine mysteries, and finding herself in excellent condition to receive the message sent to her, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and holy Spirit, into the body of Christ our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy humanity of the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, inclining slightly her head and joining her hands, She pronounced these words, which were the beginning of our salvation: ‘Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum!’ (Luke 1:31) ― ‘Be it done unto me according to they word!’ At the pronouncing of this ‘fiat’―so sweet to the hearing of God and so fortunate for us―in one instant, four things happened. First, the most holy body of Christ our Lord was formed from the three drops of blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary. Secondly, the most holy soul of the same Lord was created, just as the other souls. Thirdly, the soul and the body united in order to compose his perfect humanity. Fourthly, the Divinity united Itself in the Person of the Word with the humanity, which together became one composite being in hypostatical union; and thus was formed Christ true God and Man, our Lord and Redeemer.” (Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God, Volume 2: The Incarnation).
Mary and the Precious Blood in the Past
Devotion to the Precious Blood is very important to true devotees of Mary, especially today. Faithful Catholics must learn to take full advantage of this beautiful and inspiring devotion. The Mother of Jesus standing beneath the Cross is the one to enkindle this devotion in the hearts of men. She is the Mother of the Precious Blood and knows well the great love that made her Divine Son shed His Precious Blood for our salvation. It is through Mary that men will learn to glorify and honor the Precious Blood of Jesus.
Since Mary is really the Mother of Jesus, she gave Him everything that a mother gives to her child. She gave Him His human life; to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood, since it was formed in her body through the power of the Holy Ghost. And Mary, in turn, owes all her holiness and privileges to the Divine Blood of her Son. All beauty and grandeur that men admire in Mary come from the merits of the Precious Blood. Since Our Lady was more closely united to this Blood than anyone else, she enjoyed the most advantages from it. All the splendors of her beauty, all the glories of her graces, all the honor of her motherhood come from the Divine Blood. She, too, was saved by the Precious Blood, but in a very special way. For others, the Precious Blood was shed to take away sin; for Mary, it was shed to protect and defend her from harm. She was not freed from sin, rather, she was ever preserved from its least contagion. She received this privilege in view of the future merits of the Divine Blood. Her Immaculate Conception is the first and greatest grace of Jesus’ victory.
Mary united herself closely to her Divine Son’s sacrifice. She was always near Him. Certainly her cooperation in man’s salvation was not absolutely necessary. But God chose that His Son should suffer and shed His Blood to the last drop to save the world. It was His plan that Mary should join in this work of love. Her consent was needed for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become man, so that He could suffer and die for the redemption of the human race. Jesus was the Savior not only on Calvary, but all throughout His life. His death on the Cross completed His sacrifice. He began His work of saving souls at the moment of His Incarnation; He began it in union with Mary. And He also ended it in union with her. As Mary was the handmaid of God at the Annunciation, so was she still that handmaid on Calvary. The Gospel says: “Now there was standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother” (John 19:25). Mary’s presence at this great moment is significant. It shows that she suffered with Jesus for the Redemption of mankind.
The benefits of the Precious Blood are very many. It gave to men the “power to be made sons of God,” freeing them from the chains of sin. It promises eternal life to those who renounce sin through the power obtained for them through the Precious Blood. Thereby it brings peace between God and men; It draws souls to the Heart of Jesus, our Savior. But, the Church teaches that all graces of the Precious Blood come through Mary. No grace is given without her intercession. Saint Bernard, the great Marian theologian, says: “God wants us to receive all things through Mary; no grace comes from Heaven to Earth without passing through her hands.” This same thought was expressed often throughout the ages: “Mother of God, no one is freed from his sins, no one receives a gift, except through thee.”
Already in the lifetime of Jesus, He granted graces and blessings at the request of His Mother. The first miracles that He worked were carried out in union with Mary. She brought Jesus, Who was not yet born, to her cousin’s house to sanctify John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth; later, at Cana, she asked her Son to work a miracle to help the young couple in their temporal need. It is natural that Mary should share in granting the graces of the Precious Blood, since she cooperated so much in gaining them. It is also right for her to have a part in giving graces, because she is the Mother given to us by Jesus from the Cross. As Mother, she has the duty of helping her children and protecting them. Mary receives her greatness from the Precious Blood. All her excellence and beauty come from this Blood. She has many claims for honor, but the most beautiful gem in her crown of glory is her relation to the Divine Blood of her Son. It recalls her Divine Maternity; it reminds men of the offering that she made of that Blood at the foot of the Cross; it recalls that Mary was protected and made beautiful through that same Blood.
Mary and the Precious Blood in the Present Time
For life to continue existing in the human body, blood must flow. Once blood stops flowing, life ceases. Blood is essential to life. Blood circulates through our body and delivers essential substances like oxygen and nutrients to the body's cells. It also transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. There is no substitute for blood. What is true for the human body, is also true for the Mystical Body of Christ. All our invisible spiritual oxygen (grace) and our spiritual nutrients that give us strength (virtues) depend upon the Blood of Christ. “The life of the flesh is in the blood and the blood is an expiation for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him” (John 6:54-57).
If you want to go to Heaven, if you want forgiveness for your sins, if you want to avoid the anger and punishments of God ― then you need the Blood of Christ. “Being justified by the Blood of Christ. We shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Precious Blood, the Hour of None). “We have redemption through His Blood―the remission of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). “All things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood―and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). “Being justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). Christ will “reconcile all things unto Himself, making peace through the Blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).
Therefore the Blood of Christ must flow within the Mystical Body of Christ just as much today as in days of old. Without that Blood of Christ, we are “dead and gone”!
The Blood of Jesus is precious in and of itself. First of all, it is precious in its source―for it was drawn from the veins of Mary, the purest of virgins, the greatest of all God’s creatures. It is precious above all because it is the Blood of the One True God―the divinity is united to it, and it is truly a Divine Blood, to which is owed the same homage of adoration which we give to God Himself. On Calvary, the Angels adored the Blood flowing from the wounds of Jesus and saturating the soil; at the altar they are still there by the thousands, adoring that same Blood hidden under the sacred species of Bread and Wine at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To every human being their own blood is precious―without it there can be no life, only death. Yet Christ―being true to His own words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―laid down His life and His Blood, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Truly that Blood is precious and powerful!
The Blood of Jesus is precious to God Himself―since it gave Him the greatest possible homage of glorification by repairing the dishonor that sin had caused Him, and gave God the most touching witness of love. Remember that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is the same Blood of Christ that is offered again to the heavenly Father. The power of the Precious Blood remains the same throughout all ages.
The Blood of Jesus is precious to our Divine Savior Himself. It is His Blood, the principle of His natural life, which is the cause of all the acts He performed on Earth. But above all, His Blood was precious to Him in His Passion, for it cost Him so many pains when He shed it in the scourging, the crowning of thorns and the horrible torment of the crucifixion. The Blood of Jesus is also precious to Him in its effects. If there are so many holy souls that love and glorify Him, if in the hearts of so many martyrs, missionaries and virgins there are flames of most pure charity and the greatest zeal for the glory of God―then it is due to the Blood of Jesus. If in Heaven there are thousands of Elect who will glorify the Lord eternally―then it is also because of the adorable Blood: it is what redeemed and sanctified them.
The Blood of Jesus is also very precious to Mary. It is because she was to provide the first drops of this Blood that God had given to her with so much grace and sanctity―as though it were a reflection of His own divine perfections. Since Mary is really the Mother of Jesus, she gave Him everything that a mother gives to her child. She gave Him His human life―to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood, since it was formed in her body through the power of the Holy Ghost. And Mary, in turn, owes all her holiness and privileges to the Divine Blood of her Son. Mary united herself closely to her Divine Son’s sacrifice. She was always near Him. Certainly her cooperation in man’s salvation was not absolutely necessary―but God chose that His Son should suffer and shed His Blood to the last drop to save the world. It was His plan that Mary should join in this work of love. Mary watched that Precious Blood grow and then flow during the Passion of Christ. His Blood was her blood! His sufferings were her sufferings. His pain was her pain. His death was her death. They were united in Blood. Since Our Lady was more closely united to this Blood than anyone else, she enjoyed the most advantages from it. All the splendors of her beauty, all the glories of her graces, all the honor of her motherhood come from the Divine Blood. She, too, was saved by the Precious Blood, but in a very special way. For others, the Precious Blood was shed to take away sin; for Mary, it was shed to protect and defend her from harm. She was not freed from sin, rather, she was ever preserved from its least contagion. She received this privilege in view of the future merits of the Divine Blood. Her Immaculate Conception is the first and greatest grace of Jesus’ victory.
But above all, the Blood of Jesus is precious to us. We truly have every reason to call it the Precious Blood, for it is so precious in every way! And how precious our own life becomes, since it is totally consecrated to what is most precious! If we cast a glance over our past life, we see how our poor soul has so many times been withered, defiled, spreading the infection of sin; but when one drop of the Blood of Jesus falls upon it through absolution in the Sacrament of Confession, it is washed, purified, healed and restored by that Precious Blood―its ugliness turns into beauty and its infection into the sweet perfume of sanctifying grace. And, in the Holy Eucharist, how precious is the Blood of Jesus to us! When we receive Holy Communion in a state of sanctifying grace, that Precious Blood nourishes and strengthens our weak soul. Yes, the Blood of Jesus is for us the source of the greatest happiness. The Blood of Jesus is our greatest need!
Don’t Presume Blindly on the Precious Blood
Inevitably, life passes by, and it passes quickly! Death soon arrives! After death, what shall be our place? Since most souls are lost―because they refused to profit from the Precious Blood, what will our fate be? Alas, after our numerous iniquities, it ought to be Hell with those devouring flames in which we should burn eternally. But Jesus shed His Blood to prevent us from falling into that abyss of fire! If we follow His holy law and keep in a state of sanctifying grace, then we will go to Heaven, which He purchased for us with His sufferings and the shedding of His Blood. Yet we should not vainly, proudly and presumptuously fall into a insane complacency regarding our “automatic” “guaranteed” salvation when in reality most souls are lost! As Holy Scripture says: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Not every one that saith to Me ― “Lord! Lord!” ― shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) … “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
We’re In Trouble Because We Won’t Do As He Says!
As they say, “Who’s the boss around here?” Well, God could say the same thing! He is the “Boss”! What the “Boss” says―goes! It is His way or the highway―first the highway to big trouble, then the highway to Hell if we stubbornly and proudly refuse to take and execute His commands.
The present mess that we find ourselves in―a mess that will not get better, but only worse―is simply because of sin and the refusal to take the medicine for sin that Heaven not only offers, but commands that we take and use.
● Already in the 17th Century, Our Lord revealed: “Know, moreover that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations … for the sins of the people” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
● In 1846, Our Lady of La Salette warned: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.”
● At Fatima, before the apparitions of Our Lady in 1917, the Angel of Portugal commanded the three children to make “reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences whereby He is offended.” Later, Our Lady of Fatima would add: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” … “If people do not cease offending God, a worse [war] will break out!”
● Thirty-nine years later, in 1956, Our Lady revealed to the mystic, stigmatic, victim soul and prophetess, Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961), that the deluge of daily sin is inestimable: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
● Seventeen years later, at Akita in Japan, Our Lady further added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Pray in reparation for the sins of men. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
So What’s Our Reply?
The messages from Heaven are as clear as daylight! Even a child can understand them! Which is one of the reasons why Our Lady usually passes them on to us through children―nobody is really exempt from receiving and fulfilling these orders. The things that are currently happening in the world and in the Church are a direct consequence of the indifference, neglect, refusal and insubordination of the overwhelming majority of Catholic Soldiers of Christ. We prefer to play rather than pray. We prefer gratification to mortification. We prefer electronic devices to sacrifices. Rather than watch one hour with Our Lord in front of his tabernacle, we watch for hours in front of the TV.
Even the good that we do is, in a sense, “not good enough” in the eyes of Heaven―as revealed by Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground! Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to me ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world if the conversion of that poor Nation is not obtained beforehand!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
So What’s the Solution? Blood and Beads!
Our Lady repeatedly stated that she was part of the solution―that is something we already know, or should know.
► AT QUITO, ECUADOR, already at the end of the 16th Century and the start of the 17th Century, Our Lady wanted to spread the devotion to Our Lady of Good Success, “so that men in the future might realize how powerful I am in placating Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner, who comes to me with a contrite heart. For I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love … When tribulations of spirit and sufferings of the body oppress them and they seem to be drowning in this bottomless sea, let them gaze at my holy image, and I will always be there ready to listen to their cries and soothe their pain. Tell them that they should always run to their Mother with confidence and love!” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1599). “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611). How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss!” (Our Lady of Good Success, December 8th, 1634). Our Lady underlines her role in our age, saying: “In the 20th century, it [devotion to Our Lady of Good Success] will effect prodigies in the spiritual as well as temporal spheres, because it is the will of God to reserve this invocation [Our Lady of Good Success] for this century, when the corruption of morals will be almost general and the precious light of Faith almost extinguished.”
► AT LA SALETTE, Our Lady once again states the importance of her role―but she requires that we allow ourselves to be used as her instruments, that we become her soldiers, and not stand idly by as mere spectators: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … As true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. But the children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. I shall fight at their side ... I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
► AT FATIMA, IN PORTUGAL, Our Lady explicitly said that only she could help us in her role as Our Lady of the Rosary: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war―because only she can help you!” Later, Sister Lucia of Fatima stated that Our Lady had revealed to her the necessity and power of the Holy Rosary for our times and our troubles: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is ― whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations ― that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
The Beads and the Blood
What is meant by “The Beads and the Blood”? Quite simply the Rosary and the Mass. Since the Rosary brings to mind, reflects and is linked to Our Lady, while the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass brings to mind, reflects and is linked to Our Lord’s redeeming Sacrifice on Calvary―you could also, instead of saying “The Rosary and the Mass”, equally say “Devotion to Mary and Devotion to Jesus”, or “Devotion to the Immaculate Heart and Devotion to the Sacred Heart”, or “Devotion to Our Lady’s Sacramentals (Scapulars and Medals) and Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament (Holy Eucharist)―whichever way you look at it, it all ultimately boils down to the same thing.
The only way that we are going to come out of the catastrophic dive that the world and the Church is entering (or has entered for a while now), is by the use of the “The Beads and the Blood”, by the use of the Rosary and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by an immense increase in devotion to the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart, by the use of Our Lady’s Sacramentals and the Blessed Sacrament.
As regards the best way of doing this―the next article will enter into the matter in some depth, giving you concrete and attainable guidelines that you need to put into practice NOW. For as Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “The Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil―there is no middle ground!” and as Holy Scripture puts into the mouth of Our Lord the following words: “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16), to which Our Lord Himself adds: “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART
THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday June 28th & Monday June 29th
Article 17
Help is Available! ― But Help Comes at a Price!
Sunday June 28th & Monday June 29th
Article 17
Help is Available! ― But Help Comes at a Price!
Need Help? Who Doesn’t?
Help with chores, work and projects? Help with finances and payments? Help with the kids? Help with marriage problems? Help with you health? Most people would like some help in these areas―but all of these fade away into insignificance and become trivial when you look at the things we are going to need help with in the near future if things are allowed to escalate and deteriorate at the current rate we are experiencing.
We Are Here to Help You!!!
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY VACCINES & MICROCHIPS―Very soon you are going to need help in avoiding mandatory or forced vaccinations under the guise of bringing help to you in face of the “danger” from the red-herring COVID-19―all of which is merely the thin-end of a wedge that opens a horrific “Pandora’s Box” that inevitably leads to microchipping the world’s population with more and more complex microchips. The initial hurdle and goal is to come up with sufficiently motivating propaganda that will convince people to accept the first chip―after that, it is merely one upgrade after another. Once the devil gets you to commit the first mortal sin against some commandment or moral law, then after that it is plain sailing. Mass global vaccination for reasons of health is the opening of the door to the eventual microchipping of every human being.
You can just imagine some of the propaganda that will surround the human microchip―you will have all your essential data and information within you, no more worries about lost, misplaced or stolen credit cards, wallets, house, car and work keys, passport, driver’s license, insurance information, etc. With a RFID (radio-frequency identification) micropchip, all of your money, information, medical history and EVERYTHING will be programmed into this chip. No more social security cards, birth certificates, ID Cards/driver's licenses, credit/debit cards, bank accounts or ANYTHING. All will instantly accessible and useable through your own personal microchip.
Furthermore, your health will be in good hands―access to your entire health records will be accessible through your “life-saving” “health-helping” microchip. If you suffer a stroke, a heart-attack, are attacked and injured, beaten unconscious, or in a car crash, or knocked-down by a car, etc., you can rest assured that the first-responders to the scene or the paramedics/police will know who you are and the general state of your health and things that can further endanger your health―thus making them capable of giving you the exact and safest treatment that your personal health records state that you need or will best respond to! In addition, you will not have to worry about contact-tracing for COVID-19 or any other disease―the new god of “Artificial Intelligence” will do all this for you and tell you if were exposed to a disease carrier or not. Since everyone would be tracked―you could even profit from that by letting “Artificial Intelligence” plan the safest routes for you, avoiding all kinds of threats, such as known existing threats from disease carriers, or even avoiding areas where there are persons with criminal records, etc.
Furthermore, you will never have to worry about the whereabouts of your children and their safety―the microchip will instantly inform you of their whereabouts, and, if someone tries to kidnap them, then you will know where they are and who they are with (for the kidnappers will have microchips implanted too)―all of which could put an end to such abductions of children! If someone breaks into your home―the chip identification reader will tell you who it was and when it occurred! Once everyone is chipped and tracked―you will be able to trace large crowds like the weather forecasters can trace storm clouds―just imagine knowing where the mobs of rioters are and in which way they are headed, and how close they are to your neighborhood! Furthermore, looting would be restrained and perhaps wiped-out―for you could track every single person who illegally enters a store that is being looted! Wonderful, huh? O please! O please! Gimme a whole bag of chips! I can’t wait! O please! Chip me! Chip me! Especially if it is a case of “No chip, no travel!” … “No chip, no access to this store!” … “No chip, no banking!” … “No chip, no employment!” … “No chip, no medical care!” etc.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY MASS TOTAL SURVEILLANCE―Most people have older brothers and sometimes those older brothers take good care of their younger siblings. Hence he is a good “big brother” ― a term also applied to non-family members who are helpful, as these definitions show: “a man who serves as a companion, father figure, and role model for a boy” or “a man who individually or as a member of an organized group undertakes to sponsor or assist a boy in need of help or guidance.” However, if your brother is not a good person and is a “bossy-boots”―then you could have a problem. This non-good “big brother” notion is behind the modern idiom “Big Brother” ― which is a shorthand reference to oppressive rule that was popularized by George Orwell’s dystopian* novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which the leader of the government, Big Brother, had total control over people. The idiom “Big Brother” is defined as “a way of referring to a government, ruler, or person in authority that has complete power and tries to control people’s behavior and thoughts and limit their freedom” or as another dictionary has it, “the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance, or the aggregate of officials and policy makers of a powerful and pervasive state.” Invariably, the bad “Big Brother” pretends that he is a good “Big Brother” who is only looking after your interests and as one who knows the state of things far better than you ― his “dumb” little brother ― hence the phrases like “I am only doing this for your own good! I know better than you! Leave this to me!”
* The word Dystopian = an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be.
When the Russian dictator Josef Stalin rose to supreme power after Lenin’s death in 1924, he was already notorious for his tendency for mass violence in the 1918-1919 Civil War. Once he came to rule, he drove the Russian peasantry into collective farms causing millions of deaths. He drastically expanded the network of labor camps and instigated the Great Terror of 1937 to 1938―arresting, torturing and murdering further millions of innocent Soviet citizens. Terror campaigns continued in the Second World War and afterwards. Millions of people died in Stalin’s Russia, many of them transported to labor camps to work in extreme temperatures, or to be executed in mass killings of political prisoners, while others died in disastrous famines. Stalin starved to death millions, in a deliberately created famine, that was intended to impose collectivization of farms in the Soviet Union. The estimates of the number of human beings killed by their own government in Stalin’s Russia ranges from 20 to 40 million people. If ever there was someone whose personality defied the normal vocabulary of description, it was Stalin. During a time of willful ignorance toward what Stalin had been doing to his own people, he was often called “Uncle Joe” — with affection, in the West. The bad “Big Brother” Stalin was named “Uncle Joe” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his propaganda. Roosevelt went to great lengths to warm the image of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the eyes of the Western public opinion.
Today, we have many “do-gooder” “Uncle Joe” politicians and entrepreneurs―who, with a smile on their face, protest that all the draconian and totalitarian measures that they are increasingly taking (or enforcing) are for the good and for the security and safety of the people ― always insisting that they know better than most people as to what do and how to do it. The latest Coronavirus Plannedemic is but one example of the nefarious “Big Brother” care-system. That “Big Brother” is both growing in size and in strength. Welfare, health, security and safety are not the ultimate goals of Big Brother―unless, of course, you mean the welfare, health, security and safety of Big Brother and his personal interests. If you understand the Communist system of operating, then you are seeing it clearly unfold in the U.S.A. at the present time. The Communist system of ideological subversion (corrupting the way we think) was already introduced or planted in the U.S.A. decades ago―and in the meantime it has become so well rooted and entrenched, that it can now confidently sprout forth its shoots and flowers without fear of being recognized. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima firmly stated―in revealing what Our Lady had told her―all the world would be under the Communist yoke, even the U.S.A. You are a privileged owner of a “ring-side-seat” to this impending Communist takeover and totalitarian stranglehold―which is supposed to be for your own good, health, safety and security! Just hand over one freedom and one right after another!
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY THE ELIMINATION OF CASH―Cash (and checks) will be the next things that will go! When you deal in cash, the powers brokers do have a clear idea on what you are doing. Neither can they stop you from spending your cash (or checks) on whatever you want. However, if they can replace cash with electronic “money”―which means that every single purchase you make has to be “verified”, “passed”, “permitted”, recorded, etc. Who you contribute to, how much you contribute, what you buy, who you buy from, how much you buy, etc. ― all will be recorded by your kindly, caring “Big Brother”. Your purchasing power can be electronically disabled at any time and the vendor will tell you: “Sorry! You card [or microchip] has not been accepted [or disabled]!” ― and there will no cash option with which to purchase whatever you need or want. Furthermore, the fact that the cash is no longer in your wallet, but on somebody’s hard-drive, means that you do not have total control over access to your electronic money, nor total control over the use of your electronic money. If you wish to rebel and keep your paper and coin cash instead―then know that it will be worthless―you might as well use Monopoly money.
Additionally, by no longer having total control over your electronic money, the totalitarian government will ultimately have the ability to withdraw money from your electronic account for any “money” you “owe” them ― anytime they want ― and they will be able to withdraw your money to pay for the “fines” that the government will impose on you for undesirable behavior―such as going to church, reading “illicit” Conservative materials, mixing with undesirables who have been blacklisted by the government―such as Conservatives Catholics, Conservative citizens, etc. ―all of this to be done with or without your consent or knowledge. Yet all the while you will be told that you are now better off with your electronic money―which at the end of the day will be more worthless than paper money, not being based on gold or silver―for it is mere electronic number that can appear and disappear at someone’s whim. The propaganda will tell you that your money is safe from theft, from being mugged, from being swindled, etc. Yet you will have been mugged and swindled by willingly buying into this electronic cash replacement.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY ENFORCED VACCINATIONS―Nobody “loves” you more than Bill Gates, the current vaccine king, and his band of merry vaccinators or Big Pharma. They love the fact that they can “needle” you as much as they want―without incurring any indemnification (compensation for harm or loss that is caused). A little-known deal protects drug companies in the U.S.A. from being sued. Vaccines are produced by privately held pharmaceutical companies, but they have a unique arrangement with the U.S. government. When a person reports harm that could feasibly be related to a vaccine, a government program—not a pharmaceutical company—pays compensation.
How Effective is Flu Vaccination? Quoting “straight from the horse’s mouth” ― the CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they say that: “While vaccine effectiveness can vary, recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine. How well the flu vaccine works (or its ability to prevent flu illness) can vary from season to season. The vaccine’s effectiveness also can vary depending on who is being vaccinated ... the benefits of flu vaccination will vary … It is possible that little or no benefit from flu vaccination may be observed … Protection against influenza type A flu viruses has been less consistent.”
WebMD reports: “The flu vaccine doesn’t work equally well in all people. It’s most effective in healthy adults. After middle age, immunity naturally becomes weaker. The flu vaccine won’t work as well as it once did. Vaccines work by spurring the immune system into action. So the effectiveness of a vaccine depends on how vigorously the immune system responds to it. If you have a weak immune system to begin with, a vaccine may just not work as well.”
CNN (Cable News Network) reported that “The [flu] shot’s success varies based on your age, the CDC noted. Among children up to 17, its overall effectiveness against flu was 61%, while just 24% of adults 50 and older who received the shot gained protection against infection.
BILL GATES in his blog “GatesNotes”, on April 30th, 2020, wrote: “One of the questions I get asked the most these days is when the world will be able to go back to the way things were in December before the coronavirus pandemic. My answer is always the same―when we have an almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19, or when almost every person on the planet has been vaccinated against Coronavirus … Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for Coronavirus. Realistically, if we’re going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible … That sounds daunting, because it is. Our foundation is the biggest funder of vaccines in the world, and this effort dwarfs anything we’ve ever worked on before. It’s going to require a global cooperative effort like the world has never seen. But I know it’ll get done. There’s simply no alternative.” See how much Bill Gates loves you!!??
In early 2019, the WHO (World Health Organization) named “hesitancy to vaccinate” as one the ten gravest threats to global health. As a result, governments around the world are considering policies that would make vaccinations mandatory. Some U.S. states are doubling down on existing vaccination requirements for schoolchildren by removing the ability for parents to legally refuse vaccines for non-medical reasons. In May of 2020, a New York State Bar Association task-force group, entirely staffed by lawyers, said it should be mandatory for all Americans to have a COVID-19 vaccination, when one is available, including those who won’t want it for “religious, philosophical or personal reasons.” The one and only exception, says the bar association group’s report—which calls for legislation to be enacted—should be for people who shouldn’t medically have the vaccination, as directed by their doctors. New York State Bar Association task-force stated that “some Americans may push back on the COVID-19 vaccination for religious, philosophical or personal reasons,” but “for the sake of public health, mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 should be required in the United States as soon as it is available. Mandatory vaccinations are supported by the authority of the state police power when the vaccinations are necessary to protect the health of the community” ― citing the 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY ENFORCEMENT OF HATE SPEECH, HATE CRIME AND THOUGHT CRIMELAWS―In the USA, it increasingly seems Democrats have fallen out of love with free speech and lost all tolerance for opposing views. The Democrats are seeking to use corporations like Facebook to do what the government cannot do under the U.S. Constitution. In another example, San Francisco recently declared the National Rifle Association to be a terrorist organization while banning official business with roughly half of the states for failing to “reflect our values” on abortion or LGBTQ rights. Likewise, Democratic leaders like former Vermont Governor Howard Dean have dismissed the notion that hate speech is protected under the First Amendment. Yet the most chilling aspect of the recent calls for speech controls is the call for the adoption of European-style hate crime laws.
Free speech is in free fall in Europe where countries like France, Germany and England routinely charge people for speech deemed offensive or insulting to any group. In France, 12 protesters were fined for supporting the boycott of Israel. In Denmark, a politician was convicted for burning Korans. A German politician was criminally charged for calling migrants “scum.” In England, a Baptist minister was jailed overnight for preaching against homosexuality and a man was investigated for telling a Nelson Mandela joke. France bars incitement to racial discrimination, hatred, or violence on basis of race, origin, ethic group, religion or national identity. That includes such statements in private communications. In the United Kingdom, you can be arrested for language deemed “threatening, abusive, insulting” or “likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.” The impact of these laws was evident in a recent poll of German citizens. Only 18% of Germans feel free to express their opinions in public. 59% of Germans did not even feel free expressing themselves in private among friends. And just 17% felt free to express themselves on the Internet. That is the real success of hate speech laws. These laws are so generally worded that no one can be sure that they are not committing a crime.
►HATE SPEECH―Unlike many European countries, “hate speech” doesn’t yet have a legal definition under U.S. law, just as there is no legal definition for evil ideas, rudeness, unpatriotic speech, or any other kind of speech that people might condemn. Generally, however, hate speech is any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin. In the United States, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Courts extend this protection on the grounds that the First Amendment requires the government to strictly protect robust debate on matters of public concern even when such debate devolves into distasteful, offensive, or hateful speech that causes others to feel grief, anger, or fear. Under current First Amendment jurisprudence, hate speech can only be criminalized when it directly incites imminent criminal activity, or consists of specific threats of violence targeted against a person or group.
► HATE CRIME―For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” including skin color and national origin. Hate crimes are unconcealed, open and intentional acts that can include acts of violence against persons or property, violation or deprivation of civil rights, certain “true threats,” or acts of intimidation, or conspiracy to commit these crimes. The Supreme Court has upheld laws that either criminalize these acts or impose a harsher punishment when it can be proven that the defendant targeted the victim because of the victim’s race, ethnicity, identity, or beliefs. A hate crime is more than offensive speech or conduct; it is specific criminal behavior that ranges from property crimes like vandalism and arson to acts of intimidation, assault, and murder. Victims of hate crimes can include institutions, religious organizations and government entities as well as individuals.
When tyrants seek to control a people, they make sure none can vocalize their opposition. In Europe, freedom of expression is eroding before our eyes. Roughly 70 years ago, Justice William O. Douglas accepted a prestigious award with a speech entitled “The One Un-American Act,” about the greatest threat to a free nation. He warned that the restriction of free speech “is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.” For decades since Douglas’ famous speech, the Democratic Party has been a champion of free speech in fighting that subversion. Yet recently, the Democratic Party seems to have abandoned its historic fealty to free speech. Democratic writers and leaders are publicly calling for everything from censorship to the criminalization of free speech. Such a demand appeared in The Washington Post by the former managing editor of Time magazine, also a MSNBC column analyst and former Obama State-Department official, Richard Stengel, made a chilling call for Americans to give up their free speech. Stengel insists “the First Amendment protects the ‘thought that we hate’ but it should not protect hateful speech that can cause violence by one group against another. In an age when everyone has a megaphone, that seems like a design flaw.” That “design flaw” is free speech itself. The push for corporate speech controls is particularly chilling because our first amendment protects against government regulation of speech. The Democrats are seeking to use corporations like Facebook to do what the government cannot do under our Constitution―which sees Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg censoring truth in favor of the Liberal, Leftist, anti-Right establishment.
► THOUGHT CRIME―Not only are words and actions potentially criminal offences, but now thoughts have also entered the arena of crime. A “thought crime” is defined as “an instance of unorthodox or controversial thinking, considered as a criminal offense or as socially unacceptable.”
In George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four―which with each passing year seems to be more of a reality than merely a novel―the most frightening aspect of dystopian* society is its demand that people must be penalized, not just for what they do, but for what they think — their “thought crimes.” Even in the time when Orwell published the book in 1949, examples of regimes like this had been seen under Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party, Stalin’s Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Mao’s Chinese Communist Party. All three regimes had their own forms of “thought crimes” and people risked imprisonment or death for opposing the ruling regimes.
* The word Dystopian = an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be.
That idea runs counter to our understanding of liberty and justice, not to mention 500-plus years of Western jurisprudence, as embodied by the Bill of Rights.
Yet, as we are witnessing at this present time―not just in the USA but also worldwide―there are some persons in power that seem intent on making Orwell’s make-believe nightmare become a living reality. They have already succeeded in punishing people socially — if not legally — for harboring unapproved views. Now the term “unapproved views” is purely subjective, since it begs the question: “Unapproved by whom? Unapproved by sinful or evil men? Or unapproved by godly and virtuous men?” A godly man will disapprove of abortion, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriages and gender change―whereas a sinful and evil man will approve of those things. On the other hand, a sinful and evil man will disapprove of the worship of God, of marital fidelity, of religion being taught in schools, of laws being in agreement with God’s laws and such like things―but a godly and virtuous man will disapprove of these things.
Unfortunately, when “thought criminals” are routinely hounded from the public sphere and fired from their jobs, legal sanctions cannot be far behind. That’s already happening in England and Canada. Here in the United States, “Thought Crimes Exhibit A” would be, for example, the March 2019 furor over the Covington Catholic school kids, who were accused of being racially abusive, but, after an independent investigation, were “guilty” of nothing more than wearing red “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) hats, which, in the mainstream media’s fevered brains somehow equates to racism.
So―on the question of what is a “thought crime”―it all comes down to who is in power and in control of the nation, its laws and its brainwashing media. For, as they say, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” and what a good man approves of is poisonous to an evil man. Most nations are, for the most part, run by godless men, or men who are ‘Christian’ in name only. Therefore, more often than not, virtuous thoughts will not be approved of, while sinful thoughts will find approval―which then makes virtuous thoughts to be “thought crime” and sinful thoughts (which are the real “thought crime”) masquerade as good thoughts, acceptable thoughts, mainstream culture thoughts.
God has some thoughts about that: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY NEUTERING AND SHACKLING OF RELIGION―For the ever increasing number of godless and atheist people, religion is seen as being the cause of many troubles for society. Religion, in their eyes, is more of a hindrance than a help, it causes more harm than good, it is bigoted, judgmental, intolerant and insensitive to the feelings of the godless and the sinful. Religion is seen as an escapism that believes in fables rather than reality. Hence, in their eyes, it is better that religion be severely restrained, curtailed, neutered or, better still, totally done away with. The atheists, the agnostics, the godless, the immoral, the hedonsists (pleasure seekers), the humanists, the scientists and the materialists look upon religion with either a bemused and pitying attitude that seems to say: “How can these poor imbeciles be conned by the fables of religion?” or they look upon religion with satanic fury that cannot wait to get its clutches on religion and tear it to pieces. Their goal, therefore varies and includes all the degrees that fall between “liberating saving people from religion” all the way to “uprooting religion and stripping it from the people”.
Well into the 20th century around 9 out 10 (90%) Americans said they believed in God (believing in any kind of god would qualify for “believing in God”) and claimed that belonged to some kind of organized religion―a large majority of them calling themselves “Christian”. In 1972, 1 in 20 (5%) Americans categorized themselves as being atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers . The fluctuating 90% of “believers” remained somewhat stable (though increasingly superficial and hypocritical)—through the sexual-revolution 1960s, through the rootless and anxious 1970s, and through the “greed is good” 1980s. However, in the early 1990s, the long-lasting link or tie between American identity and faith was eroded and snapped. Religious non-affiliation in the U.S.A. began to increase—and increase, and increase. By the early 2000s, the number of Americans who said they didn’t associate with any established religion (also known as “nones”) had doubled. By the 2010s, this grab bag of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers had multiplied five times in size―climbing from 5% in 1972 to 25% by 2019. According to recent Pew Research reports, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as religiously affiliated has shrunk while the percentage describing themselves as unaffiliated has grown from 2007 to 2014. The percentage who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists fell to 63% from 71% during the same time period.
Today, the general demographic is that the younger you are, the less of a believer you are―with even the Catholic Church statistics showing worrisome traits that indicate over 90% of current youth ceasing to practice the Faith regularly (and many of those even ceasing to believe) by the time they graduate from college or university. They might still call themselves “Catholic”―but the chief resemblance is in name only. With that kind of non-religious attitude, it is only a matter of time―since youth mixes with youth―until you have irreligious pandemic worse than any virus you can imagine. They pass on that religious indifferentism in a variety of ways―by comments, jokes, fashions, lifestyles, activities, music, social media, etc. The virus spreads at an alarming rate to the point where even Satan must be suffering from the gluttony of having so many souls to devour in Hell. According to Pew Research Center, 2 out of every 15 (13%) Americans today self-identify as “former Catholics,” and many of them leave organized religion altogether.
Our Lord’s words ring ominously true: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―He will only find Faith in name, not in nature―many might still call themselves “Catholic” but will have little resemblance to Catholicism, they fall into the category of people of whom Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Sadly, that is the category that most Catholics fall into today―even many well-intentioned Catholics―for they have entered into a false peace with the world, which is, at the end of the day, an enemy of God’s: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Not that the world has the word “enemy of God” tattooed on its forehead―Satan, the prince of this world, is not such a fool. He prefers to kill and damn souls with a smile rather than a snarl―because you win few people over by snarling at them, but you win bucket-loads with smiles.
Even Time magazine acknowledges the war of erosion or war of attrition against traditional Christianity and traditional Christian values. In Time’s June 29th, 2016, article entitled “Regular Christians Are No Longer Welcome in American Culture”, it says: “For many American Christians, who lean in toward traditionalism, these are anxious times. Traditional American Christians have long been on the losing end of culture-war contests—on school prayer, same-sex marriage and other issues. But recent events, including the Supreme Court decision overruling Texas’ restrictions on abortion clinics and the mandate that employers provide access to contraception, have added to the sense that religious expression is under attack. This new vigorous secularism has catapulted mockery of Christianity and other forms of religious traditionalism into the mainstream and set a new low for what counts as civil criticism of people’s most-cherished beliefs. In some precincts, the “faith of our fathers” is controversial as never before. Some of the faithful have paid unexpected prices for their beliefs lately: the teacher in New Jersey suspended for giving a student a Bible; the football coach in Washington placed on leave for saying a prayer on the field at the end of a game; the fire chief in Atlanta fired for self-publishing a book defending Christian moral teaching; the Marine court-martialed for pasting a Bible verse above her desk; and other examples of the new intolerance. Anti-Christian activists hurl smears like “bigot” and “hater” at Americans who hold traditional beliefs about marriage and accuse anti-abortion Christians of waging a supposed “war on women.” Some Christian institutions face pressure to conform to secularist ideology—or else. Flagship evangelical schools like Gordon College in Massachusetts and Kings College in New York have had their accreditation questioned. Some secularists argue that Christian schools don’t deserve accreditation, period. Activists have targeted home-schooling for being a Christian thing; atheist Richard Dawkins and others have even called it tantamount to child abuse. Student groups like InterVarsity have been kicked off campuses. Christian charities, including adoption agencies, Catholic hospitals and crisis pregnancy centers have become objects of attack.” (Time magazine, June 29th, 2016, article “Regular Christians Are No Longer Welcome in American Culture”).
Help with chores, work and projects? Help with finances and payments? Help with the kids? Help with marriage problems? Help with you health? Most people would like some help in these areas―but all of these fade away into insignificance and become trivial when you look at the things we are going to need help with in the near future if things are allowed to escalate and deteriorate at the current rate we are experiencing.
We Are Here to Help You!!!
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY VACCINES & MICROCHIPS―Very soon you are going to need help in avoiding mandatory or forced vaccinations under the guise of bringing help to you in face of the “danger” from the red-herring COVID-19―all of which is merely the thin-end of a wedge that opens a horrific “Pandora’s Box” that inevitably leads to microchipping the world’s population with more and more complex microchips. The initial hurdle and goal is to come up with sufficiently motivating propaganda that will convince people to accept the first chip―after that, it is merely one upgrade after another. Once the devil gets you to commit the first mortal sin against some commandment or moral law, then after that it is plain sailing. Mass global vaccination for reasons of health is the opening of the door to the eventual microchipping of every human being.
You can just imagine some of the propaganda that will surround the human microchip―you will have all your essential data and information within you, no more worries about lost, misplaced or stolen credit cards, wallets, house, car and work keys, passport, driver’s license, insurance information, etc. With a RFID (radio-frequency identification) micropchip, all of your money, information, medical history and EVERYTHING will be programmed into this chip. No more social security cards, birth certificates, ID Cards/driver's licenses, credit/debit cards, bank accounts or ANYTHING. All will instantly accessible and useable through your own personal microchip.
Furthermore, your health will be in good hands―access to your entire health records will be accessible through your “life-saving” “health-helping” microchip. If you suffer a stroke, a heart-attack, are attacked and injured, beaten unconscious, or in a car crash, or knocked-down by a car, etc., you can rest assured that the first-responders to the scene or the paramedics/police will know who you are and the general state of your health and things that can further endanger your health―thus making them capable of giving you the exact and safest treatment that your personal health records state that you need or will best respond to! In addition, you will not have to worry about contact-tracing for COVID-19 or any other disease―the new god of “Artificial Intelligence” will do all this for you and tell you if were exposed to a disease carrier or not. Since everyone would be tracked―you could even profit from that by letting “Artificial Intelligence” plan the safest routes for you, avoiding all kinds of threats, such as known existing threats from disease carriers, or even avoiding areas where there are persons with criminal records, etc.
Furthermore, you will never have to worry about the whereabouts of your children and their safety―the microchip will instantly inform you of their whereabouts, and, if someone tries to kidnap them, then you will know where they are and who they are with (for the kidnappers will have microchips implanted too)―all of which could put an end to such abductions of children! If someone breaks into your home―the chip identification reader will tell you who it was and when it occurred! Once everyone is chipped and tracked―you will be able to trace large crowds like the weather forecasters can trace storm clouds―just imagine knowing where the mobs of rioters are and in which way they are headed, and how close they are to your neighborhood! Furthermore, looting would be restrained and perhaps wiped-out―for you could track every single person who illegally enters a store that is being looted! Wonderful, huh? O please! O please! Gimme a whole bag of chips! I can’t wait! O please! Chip me! Chip me! Especially if it is a case of “No chip, no travel!” … “No chip, no access to this store!” … “No chip, no banking!” … “No chip, no employment!” … “No chip, no medical care!” etc.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY MASS TOTAL SURVEILLANCE―Most people have older brothers and sometimes those older brothers take good care of their younger siblings. Hence he is a good “big brother” ― a term also applied to non-family members who are helpful, as these definitions show: “a man who serves as a companion, father figure, and role model for a boy” or “a man who individually or as a member of an organized group undertakes to sponsor or assist a boy in need of help or guidance.” However, if your brother is not a good person and is a “bossy-boots”―then you could have a problem. This non-good “big brother” notion is behind the modern idiom “Big Brother” ― which is a shorthand reference to oppressive rule that was popularized by George Orwell’s dystopian* novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which the leader of the government, Big Brother, had total control over people. The idiom “Big Brother” is defined as “a way of referring to a government, ruler, or person in authority that has complete power and tries to control people’s behavior and thoughts and limit their freedom” or as another dictionary has it, “the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance, or the aggregate of officials and policy makers of a powerful and pervasive state.” Invariably, the bad “Big Brother” pretends that he is a good “Big Brother” who is only looking after your interests and as one who knows the state of things far better than you ― his “dumb” little brother ― hence the phrases like “I am only doing this for your own good! I know better than you! Leave this to me!”
* The word Dystopian = an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be.
When the Russian dictator Josef Stalin rose to supreme power after Lenin’s death in 1924, he was already notorious for his tendency for mass violence in the 1918-1919 Civil War. Once he came to rule, he drove the Russian peasantry into collective farms causing millions of deaths. He drastically expanded the network of labor camps and instigated the Great Terror of 1937 to 1938―arresting, torturing and murdering further millions of innocent Soviet citizens. Terror campaigns continued in the Second World War and afterwards. Millions of people died in Stalin’s Russia, many of them transported to labor camps to work in extreme temperatures, or to be executed in mass killings of political prisoners, while others died in disastrous famines. Stalin starved to death millions, in a deliberately created famine, that was intended to impose collectivization of farms in the Soviet Union. The estimates of the number of human beings killed by their own government in Stalin’s Russia ranges from 20 to 40 million people. If ever there was someone whose personality defied the normal vocabulary of description, it was Stalin. During a time of willful ignorance toward what Stalin had been doing to his own people, he was often called “Uncle Joe” — with affection, in the West. The bad “Big Brother” Stalin was named “Uncle Joe” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his propaganda. Roosevelt went to great lengths to warm the image of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the eyes of the Western public opinion.
Today, we have many “do-gooder” “Uncle Joe” politicians and entrepreneurs―who, with a smile on their face, protest that all the draconian and totalitarian measures that they are increasingly taking (or enforcing) are for the good and for the security and safety of the people ― always insisting that they know better than most people as to what do and how to do it. The latest Coronavirus Plannedemic is but one example of the nefarious “Big Brother” care-system. That “Big Brother” is both growing in size and in strength. Welfare, health, security and safety are not the ultimate goals of Big Brother―unless, of course, you mean the welfare, health, security and safety of Big Brother and his personal interests. If you understand the Communist system of operating, then you are seeing it clearly unfold in the U.S.A. at the present time. The Communist system of ideological subversion (corrupting the way we think) was already introduced or planted in the U.S.A. decades ago―and in the meantime it has become so well rooted and entrenched, that it can now confidently sprout forth its shoots and flowers without fear of being recognized. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima firmly stated―in revealing what Our Lady had told her―all the world would be under the Communist yoke, even the U.S.A. You are a privileged owner of a “ring-side-seat” to this impending Communist takeover and totalitarian stranglehold―which is supposed to be for your own good, health, safety and security! Just hand over one freedom and one right after another!
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY THE ELIMINATION OF CASH―Cash (and checks) will be the next things that will go! When you deal in cash, the powers brokers do have a clear idea on what you are doing. Neither can they stop you from spending your cash (or checks) on whatever you want. However, if they can replace cash with electronic “money”―which means that every single purchase you make has to be “verified”, “passed”, “permitted”, recorded, etc. Who you contribute to, how much you contribute, what you buy, who you buy from, how much you buy, etc. ― all will be recorded by your kindly, caring “Big Brother”. Your purchasing power can be electronically disabled at any time and the vendor will tell you: “Sorry! You card [or microchip] has not been accepted [or disabled]!” ― and there will no cash option with which to purchase whatever you need or want. Furthermore, the fact that the cash is no longer in your wallet, but on somebody’s hard-drive, means that you do not have total control over access to your electronic money, nor total control over the use of your electronic money. If you wish to rebel and keep your paper and coin cash instead―then know that it will be worthless―you might as well use Monopoly money.
Additionally, by no longer having total control over your electronic money, the totalitarian government will ultimately have the ability to withdraw money from your electronic account for any “money” you “owe” them ― anytime they want ― and they will be able to withdraw your money to pay for the “fines” that the government will impose on you for undesirable behavior―such as going to church, reading “illicit” Conservative materials, mixing with undesirables who have been blacklisted by the government―such as Conservatives Catholics, Conservative citizens, etc. ―all of this to be done with or without your consent or knowledge. Yet all the while you will be told that you are now better off with your electronic money―which at the end of the day will be more worthless than paper money, not being based on gold or silver―for it is mere electronic number that can appear and disappear at someone’s whim. The propaganda will tell you that your money is safe from theft, from being mugged, from being swindled, etc. Yet you will have been mugged and swindled by willingly buying into this electronic cash replacement.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY ENFORCED VACCINATIONS―Nobody “loves” you more than Bill Gates, the current vaccine king, and his band of merry vaccinators or Big Pharma. They love the fact that they can “needle” you as much as they want―without incurring any indemnification (compensation for harm or loss that is caused). A little-known deal protects drug companies in the U.S.A. from being sued. Vaccines are produced by privately held pharmaceutical companies, but they have a unique arrangement with the U.S. government. When a person reports harm that could feasibly be related to a vaccine, a government program—not a pharmaceutical company—pays compensation.
How Effective is Flu Vaccination? Quoting “straight from the horse’s mouth” ― the CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they say that: “While vaccine effectiveness can vary, recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine. How well the flu vaccine works (or its ability to prevent flu illness) can vary from season to season. The vaccine’s effectiveness also can vary depending on who is being vaccinated ... the benefits of flu vaccination will vary … It is possible that little or no benefit from flu vaccination may be observed … Protection against influenza type A flu viruses has been less consistent.”
WebMD reports: “The flu vaccine doesn’t work equally well in all people. It’s most effective in healthy adults. After middle age, immunity naturally becomes weaker. The flu vaccine won’t work as well as it once did. Vaccines work by spurring the immune system into action. So the effectiveness of a vaccine depends on how vigorously the immune system responds to it. If you have a weak immune system to begin with, a vaccine may just not work as well.”
CNN (Cable News Network) reported that “The [flu] shot’s success varies based on your age, the CDC noted. Among children up to 17, its overall effectiveness against flu was 61%, while just 24% of adults 50 and older who received the shot gained protection against infection.
BILL GATES in his blog “GatesNotes”, on April 30th, 2020, wrote: “One of the questions I get asked the most these days is when the world will be able to go back to the way things were in December before the coronavirus pandemic. My answer is always the same―when we have an almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19, or when almost every person on the planet has been vaccinated against Coronavirus … Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for Coronavirus. Realistically, if we’re going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible … That sounds daunting, because it is. Our foundation is the biggest funder of vaccines in the world, and this effort dwarfs anything we’ve ever worked on before. It’s going to require a global cooperative effort like the world has never seen. But I know it’ll get done. There’s simply no alternative.” See how much Bill Gates loves you!!??
In early 2019, the WHO (World Health Organization) named “hesitancy to vaccinate” as one the ten gravest threats to global health. As a result, governments around the world are considering policies that would make vaccinations mandatory. Some U.S. states are doubling down on existing vaccination requirements for schoolchildren by removing the ability for parents to legally refuse vaccines for non-medical reasons. In May of 2020, a New York State Bar Association task-force group, entirely staffed by lawyers, said it should be mandatory for all Americans to have a COVID-19 vaccination, when one is available, including those who won’t want it for “religious, philosophical or personal reasons.” The one and only exception, says the bar association group’s report—which calls for legislation to be enacted—should be for people who shouldn’t medically have the vaccination, as directed by their doctors. New York State Bar Association task-force stated that “some Americans may push back on the COVID-19 vaccination for religious, philosophical or personal reasons,” but “for the sake of public health, mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 should be required in the United States as soon as it is available. Mandatory vaccinations are supported by the authority of the state police power when the vaccinations are necessary to protect the health of the community” ― citing the 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY ENFORCEMENT OF HATE SPEECH, HATE CRIME AND THOUGHT CRIMELAWS―In the USA, it increasingly seems Democrats have fallen out of love with free speech and lost all tolerance for opposing views. The Democrats are seeking to use corporations like Facebook to do what the government cannot do under the U.S. Constitution. In another example, San Francisco recently declared the National Rifle Association to be a terrorist organization while banning official business with roughly half of the states for failing to “reflect our values” on abortion or LGBTQ rights. Likewise, Democratic leaders like former Vermont Governor Howard Dean have dismissed the notion that hate speech is protected under the First Amendment. Yet the most chilling aspect of the recent calls for speech controls is the call for the adoption of European-style hate crime laws.
Free speech is in free fall in Europe where countries like France, Germany and England routinely charge people for speech deemed offensive or insulting to any group. In France, 12 protesters were fined for supporting the boycott of Israel. In Denmark, a politician was convicted for burning Korans. A German politician was criminally charged for calling migrants “scum.” In England, a Baptist minister was jailed overnight for preaching against homosexuality and a man was investigated for telling a Nelson Mandela joke. France bars incitement to racial discrimination, hatred, or violence on basis of race, origin, ethic group, religion or national identity. That includes such statements in private communications. In the United Kingdom, you can be arrested for language deemed “threatening, abusive, insulting” or “likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.” The impact of these laws was evident in a recent poll of German citizens. Only 18% of Germans feel free to express their opinions in public. 59% of Germans did not even feel free expressing themselves in private among friends. And just 17% felt free to express themselves on the Internet. That is the real success of hate speech laws. These laws are so generally worded that no one can be sure that they are not committing a crime.
►HATE SPEECH―Unlike many European countries, “hate speech” doesn’t yet have a legal definition under U.S. law, just as there is no legal definition for evil ideas, rudeness, unpatriotic speech, or any other kind of speech that people might condemn. Generally, however, hate speech is any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin. In the United States, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Courts extend this protection on the grounds that the First Amendment requires the government to strictly protect robust debate on matters of public concern even when such debate devolves into distasteful, offensive, or hateful speech that causes others to feel grief, anger, or fear. Under current First Amendment jurisprudence, hate speech can only be criminalized when it directly incites imminent criminal activity, or consists of specific threats of violence targeted against a person or group.
► HATE CRIME―For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” including skin color and national origin. Hate crimes are unconcealed, open and intentional acts that can include acts of violence against persons or property, violation or deprivation of civil rights, certain “true threats,” or acts of intimidation, or conspiracy to commit these crimes. The Supreme Court has upheld laws that either criminalize these acts or impose a harsher punishment when it can be proven that the defendant targeted the victim because of the victim’s race, ethnicity, identity, or beliefs. A hate crime is more than offensive speech or conduct; it is specific criminal behavior that ranges from property crimes like vandalism and arson to acts of intimidation, assault, and murder. Victims of hate crimes can include institutions, religious organizations and government entities as well as individuals.
When tyrants seek to control a people, they make sure none can vocalize their opposition. In Europe, freedom of expression is eroding before our eyes. Roughly 70 years ago, Justice William O. Douglas accepted a prestigious award with a speech entitled “The One Un-American Act,” about the greatest threat to a free nation. He warned that the restriction of free speech “is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.” For decades since Douglas’ famous speech, the Democratic Party has been a champion of free speech in fighting that subversion. Yet recently, the Democratic Party seems to have abandoned its historic fealty to free speech. Democratic writers and leaders are publicly calling for everything from censorship to the criminalization of free speech. Such a demand appeared in The Washington Post by the former managing editor of Time magazine, also a MSNBC column analyst and former Obama State-Department official, Richard Stengel, made a chilling call for Americans to give up their free speech. Stengel insists “the First Amendment protects the ‘thought that we hate’ but it should not protect hateful speech that can cause violence by one group against another. In an age when everyone has a megaphone, that seems like a design flaw.” That “design flaw” is free speech itself. The push for corporate speech controls is particularly chilling because our first amendment protects against government regulation of speech. The Democrats are seeking to use corporations like Facebook to do what the government cannot do under our Constitution―which sees Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg censoring truth in favor of the Liberal, Leftist, anti-Right establishment.
► THOUGHT CRIME―Not only are words and actions potentially criminal offences, but now thoughts have also entered the arena of crime. A “thought crime” is defined as “an instance of unorthodox or controversial thinking, considered as a criminal offense or as socially unacceptable.”
In George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four―which with each passing year seems to be more of a reality than merely a novel―the most frightening aspect of dystopian* society is its demand that people must be penalized, not just for what they do, but for what they think — their “thought crimes.” Even in the time when Orwell published the book in 1949, examples of regimes like this had been seen under Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party, Stalin’s Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Mao’s Chinese Communist Party. All three regimes had their own forms of “thought crimes” and people risked imprisonment or death for opposing the ruling regimes.
* The word Dystopian = an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be.
That idea runs counter to our understanding of liberty and justice, not to mention 500-plus years of Western jurisprudence, as embodied by the Bill of Rights.
Yet, as we are witnessing at this present time―not just in the USA but also worldwide―there are some persons in power that seem intent on making Orwell’s make-believe nightmare become a living reality. They have already succeeded in punishing people socially — if not legally — for harboring unapproved views. Now the term “unapproved views” is purely subjective, since it begs the question: “Unapproved by whom? Unapproved by sinful or evil men? Or unapproved by godly and virtuous men?” A godly man will disapprove of abortion, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriages and gender change―whereas a sinful and evil man will approve of those things. On the other hand, a sinful and evil man will disapprove of the worship of God, of marital fidelity, of religion being taught in schools, of laws being in agreement with God’s laws and such like things―but a godly and virtuous man will disapprove of these things.
Unfortunately, when “thought criminals” are routinely hounded from the public sphere and fired from their jobs, legal sanctions cannot be far behind. That’s already happening in England and Canada. Here in the United States, “Thought Crimes Exhibit A” would be, for example, the March 2019 furor over the Covington Catholic school kids, who were accused of being racially abusive, but, after an independent investigation, were “guilty” of nothing more than wearing red “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) hats, which, in the mainstream media’s fevered brains somehow equates to racism.
So―on the question of what is a “thought crime”―it all comes down to who is in power and in control of the nation, its laws and its brainwashing media. For, as they say, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” and what a good man approves of is poisonous to an evil man. Most nations are, for the most part, run by godless men, or men who are ‘Christian’ in name only. Therefore, more often than not, virtuous thoughts will not be approved of, while sinful thoughts will find approval―which then makes virtuous thoughts to be “thought crime” and sinful thoughts (which are the real “thought crime”) masquerade as good thoughts, acceptable thoughts, mainstream culture thoughts.
God has some thoughts about that: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20).
► YOU WILL BE HELPED BY NEUTERING AND SHACKLING OF RELIGION―For the ever increasing number of godless and atheist people, religion is seen as being the cause of many troubles for society. Religion, in their eyes, is more of a hindrance than a help, it causes more harm than good, it is bigoted, judgmental, intolerant and insensitive to the feelings of the godless and the sinful. Religion is seen as an escapism that believes in fables rather than reality. Hence, in their eyes, it is better that religion be severely restrained, curtailed, neutered or, better still, totally done away with. The atheists, the agnostics, the godless, the immoral, the hedonsists (pleasure seekers), the humanists, the scientists and the materialists look upon religion with either a bemused and pitying attitude that seems to say: “How can these poor imbeciles be conned by the fables of religion?” or they look upon religion with satanic fury that cannot wait to get its clutches on religion and tear it to pieces. Their goal, therefore varies and includes all the degrees that fall between “liberating saving people from religion” all the way to “uprooting religion and stripping it from the people”.
Well into the 20th century around 9 out 10 (90%) Americans said they believed in God (believing in any kind of god would qualify for “believing in God”) and claimed that belonged to some kind of organized religion―a large majority of them calling themselves “Christian”. In 1972, 1 in 20 (5%) Americans categorized themselves as being atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers . The fluctuating 90% of “believers” remained somewhat stable (though increasingly superficial and hypocritical)—through the sexual-revolution 1960s, through the rootless and anxious 1970s, and through the “greed is good” 1980s. However, in the early 1990s, the long-lasting link or tie between American identity and faith was eroded and snapped. Religious non-affiliation in the U.S.A. began to increase—and increase, and increase. By the early 2000s, the number of Americans who said they didn’t associate with any established religion (also known as “nones”) had doubled. By the 2010s, this grab bag of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers had multiplied five times in size―climbing from 5% in 1972 to 25% by 2019. According to recent Pew Research reports, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as religiously affiliated has shrunk while the percentage describing themselves as unaffiliated has grown from 2007 to 2014. The percentage who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists fell to 63% from 71% during the same time period.
Today, the general demographic is that the younger you are, the less of a believer you are―with even the Catholic Church statistics showing worrisome traits that indicate over 90% of current youth ceasing to practice the Faith regularly (and many of those even ceasing to believe) by the time they graduate from college or university. They might still call themselves “Catholic”―but the chief resemblance is in name only. With that kind of non-religious attitude, it is only a matter of time―since youth mixes with youth―until you have irreligious pandemic worse than any virus you can imagine. They pass on that religious indifferentism in a variety of ways―by comments, jokes, fashions, lifestyles, activities, music, social media, etc. The virus spreads at an alarming rate to the point where even Satan must be suffering from the gluttony of having so many souls to devour in Hell. According to Pew Research Center, 2 out of every 15 (13%) Americans today self-identify as “former Catholics,” and many of them leave organized religion altogether.
Our Lord’s words ring ominously true: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―He will only find Faith in name, not in nature―many might still call themselves “Catholic” but will have little resemblance to Catholicism, they fall into the category of people of whom Our Lord says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Sadly, that is the category that most Catholics fall into today―even many well-intentioned Catholics―for they have entered into a false peace with the world, which is, at the end of the day, an enemy of God’s: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Not that the world has the word “enemy of God” tattooed on its forehead―Satan, the prince of this world, is not such a fool. He prefers to kill and damn souls with a smile rather than a snarl―because you win few people over by snarling at them, but you win bucket-loads with smiles.
Even Time magazine acknowledges the war of erosion or war of attrition against traditional Christianity and traditional Christian values. In Time’s June 29th, 2016, article entitled “Regular Christians Are No Longer Welcome in American Culture”, it says: “For many American Christians, who lean in toward traditionalism, these are anxious times. Traditional American Christians have long been on the losing end of culture-war contests—on school prayer, same-sex marriage and other issues. But recent events, including the Supreme Court decision overruling Texas’ restrictions on abortion clinics and the mandate that employers provide access to contraception, have added to the sense that religious expression is under attack. This new vigorous secularism has catapulted mockery of Christianity and other forms of religious traditionalism into the mainstream and set a new low for what counts as civil criticism of people’s most-cherished beliefs. In some precincts, the “faith of our fathers” is controversial as never before. Some of the faithful have paid unexpected prices for their beliefs lately: the teacher in New Jersey suspended for giving a student a Bible; the football coach in Washington placed on leave for saying a prayer on the field at the end of a game; the fire chief in Atlanta fired for self-publishing a book defending Christian moral teaching; the Marine court-martialed for pasting a Bible verse above her desk; and other examples of the new intolerance. Anti-Christian activists hurl smears like “bigot” and “hater” at Americans who hold traditional beliefs about marriage and accuse anti-abortion Christians of waging a supposed “war on women.” Some Christian institutions face pressure to conform to secularist ideology—or else. Flagship evangelical schools like Gordon College in Massachusetts and Kings College in New York have had their accreditation questioned. Some secularists argue that Christian schools don’t deserve accreditation, period. Activists have targeted home-schooling for being a Christian thing; atheist Richard Dawkins and others have even called it tantamount to child abuse. Student groups like InterVarsity have been kicked off campuses. Christian charities, including adoption agencies, Catholic hospitals and crisis pregnancy centers have become objects of attack.” (Time magazine, June 29th, 2016, article “Regular Christians Are No Longer Welcome in American Culture”).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday June 25th & Friday June 26th
Article 16
Don't Be Ashamed! Do This!
Thursday June 25th & Friday June 26th
Article 16
Don't Be Ashamed! Do This!
Much Shame in the Psalms
You could call the Book of Psalms a Book of Shame! Firstly because it puts us to shame by bringing to the fore the virtues that we could and should be practicing―but are not. Secondly, because it speaks out against all the sins that we tend to commit. Thirdly, because it calls down shame upon those seek to evil to us, who rejoice in our troubles and who shamelessly taunt us for our failings and sins. Fourthly, because the Book of Psalms not only covers our shame for sin, but also removes our shame by replacing it with a hope and a trust in God’s mercy and help.
“In Thee, O my God, I put my trust―let me not be ashamed!” (Psalm 24:2). “Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for Thee, O Lord! Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek Thee, O God” (Psalm 68:7). “I shall not be ashamed―for I have hoped in Thee!” (Psalm 24:20). “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me―for unjust witnesses have risen up against me!” (Psalm 26:12). “Let the proud be ashamed, because they have done unjustly towards me” (Psalm 118:78). “Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils! Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak things against me!” (Psalm 34:26). “Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away! Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me!” (Psalm 39:15). “Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul! Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise plots against me!” (Psalm 34:4). “Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul” (Psalm 69:3). “Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever―and let them be confounded and perish” (Psalm 82:18). “Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to Hell!” (Psalm 30:18).
Ashamed of the Truth
Another area of shame is that of truth―we are often afraid or ashamed to speak the truth―especially unpleasant truths. “Be not ashamed to say the truth!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:24). “Be not ashamed to confess thy sins!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:31). “Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not” (Ecclesiasticus 41:28). “Be not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish, and the aged” (Ecclesiasticus 42:8). “In no way speak against the truth―but be ashamed of the lie [that comes] of thy ignorance” (Ecclesiasticus 4:30). “I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth!” (Romans 1:16).
More Ashamed to Offend the World Than Offend God
“I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings: and I was not ashamed” (Psalm 118:46). We are citizens of God, of Heaven, of the Church before being citizens of the world or of any country. “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Our allegiance, first and foremost, should be to God, not to men: “We ought to obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). That allegiance to God even outranks our family allegiances, as Our Lord said: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
Our Lord Came to Fight―We Come to Have Fun
The goals and purposes of man’s life on Earth have been progressively watered-down, twisted, misinterpreted, re-interpreted, and even reversed. We were made by God and for God―now we live as though we were made by the world and for the world. Our Lord tells us that we are always in a state of war with the world―yet today we seek to be at peace with the world. Holy Scripture tells us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― while the world tells us: “The life of man upon Earth should be fun!”
Our Lord clearly says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Aimless, Purposeless Existence
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, states: “What is the destiny of man? ― Man’s high destiny is to go to God, because man comes from God, and belongs entirely to God!” We have lost sight and lost our understanding of what this life is all about! We have been blinded by the world to the true purpose of existence on Earth. “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). We were not made primarily for life on Earth, nor were we made for the pit of Hell, but for life in Heaven (or, God forbid, Hell). One of those two places in our final forwarding address for eternity. “For here we have no permanent city―but we seek for the City that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Life on Earth is merely a journey filled with wrong turns and right turns. “He made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 99:3). “All things have been created through and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). “The Lord hath made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4).
Living in the Womb of Holy Mother Church and Mary
In this world, we are as though in the womb of Our Lady, until she gives birth to us in Heaven at our death―unless we provoke a miscarriage or allow the world to abort us. St. Louis speaks of this in his book, True Devotion to Mary ― “all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death.”
In this period of gestation or pregnancy on Earth, we are attached to Holy Mother Church and Our Lady by an umbilical cord of grace. We must stay attached by grace and fight for eternal life: “I am the true Vine! … Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself―unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you the branches―he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For, without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
Mixing with Spiritual Abortionists
Despite the warnings of Holy Scripture, for some stupid reason we imagine that the world and the worldly citizens of this worldly world, are somehow our friends―rather than the enemies that Scripture marks them out to be:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony that its works are evil!” (John 7:7). “He that loveth his life shall lose it―and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). Is that what we teach our children, our students, our parishioners?
Good Smartphoners rather than Good Samaritans
The Church in particular and mankind in general are in grave need of Good Samaritans who will come to their rescue. Yet, just as in Our Lord’s Good Samaritan parable, we see the need but pass by beaten, dying, robbed victim (Church and mankind) like the Priest and Levite.
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’” (Luke 10:30-35).
You could modify that to read: “Holy Mother Church went downhill from Tradition to Modernism, and fell among worldly robbers, who also stripped her, and having wounded Her went away, leaving Her half dead. And it chanced, that a certain Catholic priest went down the same way and seeing Her, passed by. In like manner also a Catholic Layman, when he was near the place and saw Her, passed by. But a certain Samaritan [is that you?] being on his journey, came near Her; and seeing Her, was moved with compassion. And going up to Her, bound up Her wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting Her upon his own beast, brought Her back to Her ancient Traditions, and took care of Her. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of Her; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’”
Are there any Good Samaritans left who still sincerely care for Holy Mother Church―not the new adulterous church that fornicates with the world―but the Church of old, the supposedly never-changing Church, the faithful Bride of Christ.
Who Will Help the Church and Mankind in this Growing Crisis
Just as in the Good Samaritan parable, there are many bystanders, spectators, witnesses who simply stand around, observe and do nothing other than talk about it. They are akin to the silent watchmen, the dogs who will not bark, that Holy Scripture condemns. “His watchmen are all blind! They are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). As Our Lady of La Salette said: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” ― which echoes Holy Scriptures condemnation: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers [the Chosen People of old] were all … baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink― they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Today, once again, the idols of eating, drinking, playing, etc. have taken over the minds and energies and time of Catholics―and, as of old, with most of them God is not well pleased.
God wants help for His Church! “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16). “I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:5). “They encompassed Me on every side―and there was no one that would help Me! I looked for the help of men―and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady sought to recruit help from the three children at Fatima―but they were only the thin-edge of the wedge―for Our Lady appealed to the whole world through them to concern themselves about the salvation of souls―not only their own, but also the souls of sinners throughout the world.
Already back in 1619, Our Lord invited Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) to share His cross more profoundly. She was asked to accompany Our Lord in the major steps of His sorrowful passion. “I will be with you always,” He promised her. “Unite yourself to My aggrieved Heart and, in the company of My Most Holy Mother, bear these tribulations. Carry with valor and perseverance the cross that I will place on your shoulders for you to bear. For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world.”
“Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
In one apparition to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Our Lord showed her His Sacred Heart, riddled with small, piercing thorns that stung Him cruelly. “Understand that these are the serious as well as slight faults ... It is their ingratitude and indifference that so cruelly wounds My Heart. Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces as a consequence by the sins that they commit! The times will come when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls. For this reason saints will become rare. {Many] will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see. For that reason, I desire that there be souls in whom I can rest from My fatigues and in whom I might take My repose. Their afflicted and sacrificial lives will be the caressing and compassionate hands that will remove these minute thorns from My Heart and apply the required balsam” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Our Lord warned that the ingratitude and betrayal of souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My justice fall upon My beloved cloisters — and even over cities — when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My Spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them.” He also warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory, in order to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Our Lady Warns of Trouble Ahead
Our Lady of Good Success also warned Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of the troubles that would lay ahead in our present times: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... The years that will follow, will be ill-fated ones for the Church. These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!”
“It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation. Making use of persons in positions of authority, the devil will assiduously try to destroy the Sacrament of Confession ... This restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Confession, is so forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men, who, in their foolish madness, do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievious is that even the ministers of My Most Holy Son do not give to it the value that they should, viewing with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. The same will happen with Holy Communion … The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor, with cruel and subtle astuteness, to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The Sacrament of Extreme Unction will be little esteemed. Many people will die without receiving it — either because of the negligence of their families or their false sentimentality that tries to protect the sick from seeing the gravity of their situations, or because they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
As regards the Holy Eucharist, Our Lady of Good Success says: “Comprehend the sublimity of this mystery and the reverence with which it should be treated and received by the faithful. It will be their antidote against sin, and an easy and powerful means for souls to unite themselves to their God and Redeemer, who, in the excess of His love, hides Himself in the accidents of the Host, exposed to the sacrilegious profanations of His ungrateful sons ... Alas! How deeply I grieve upon manifesting to you the many and horrible sacrileges — both public and also secret — that will occur from profanations of the Holy Eucharist! Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by irreverent feet” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings, and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed.” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Why Is All This Happening?
A simple three-letter-word is the explanation for all that exists―GOD. A simple three-letter-word is the explanation for all the pain and suffering, all the trouble and trials that exist―SIN. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” God is the greatest good, the ultimate good that exists. Sin is the greatest evil that exists. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
That catechetical statement is as simple as you can get―the bare bones or skeleton. Holy Scripture fleshes it out some more showing both the goodness of God and evil and painful consequences of sin: ““If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Lack of Spiritual Medicine and Remedies
Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the fortunate countries that possess monasteries and convents. They purify the air polluted by those in the world delivered over to the most shameful vices and passions ... Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents ... Oh, if mortals―and in particular religious souls―could know what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live! Nor would they spare themselves any sacrifice in order to possess Him!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
She especially warned us to guard against that “cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” Instead, she counseled, we should conform their lives to the norms of the Gospel. “Oh if only human beings what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity, which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me … Oh if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives―how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a prelate and father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“Many hearts will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession, he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people so numerous that, like a black cloud, it will obscure the pure heavens. With these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me. In order to dissipate this black cloud, which impedes the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
God Never Demands the Impossible―Nothing is Ever Impossible
God is omnipotent. Omnipotent comes from the Latin words “omnis” meaning “all” and “potens” meaning “powerful”―hence God is all powerful, there is nothing that he cannot do, nothing is impossible for God: “Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26). “Jesus looking said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27). “He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27). “Because no word shall be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
God is not selfish―He is willing to share, at times, His omnipotence with those who are worthy: “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ― “Remove from here to there!” ― and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “And Jesus said: ‘If thou canst believe―all things are possible to him that believeth!’” (Mark 9:22). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). “Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you” (Mark 11:24). “Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells that it is Heaven’s wish that in our present times we use the Holy Rosary to achieve what we think is impossible. Sr. Lucia said: ““Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
Yet even though Our Lord says: “Ask and you shall receive” (Matthew 7:7) ― as we only too well know, not everyone who asks actually receives what they ask for; neither do we get what we ask for each and every time! Why? The answer should be obvious: “You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss” (James 4:3) ― meaning that we pray in a wrong way.
St. Augustine elaborates on that quote and says that we essentially pray amiss or pray badly in three ways: (1) we ask for what is bad for us; (2) we pray badly; (3) we ourselves are bad.
(1) WE ASK FOR WHAT IS BAD FOR US ― We are so short-sighted in what we pray for―imagining that what we request is the best thing for us. However, we should learn a lesson from Our Lord praying in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, whereby He asks for one thing, but then adds a clause that bows down before the wisdom of His heavenly Father: “Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me―but yet not My will, but Thine be done!” (Luke 22:42). Most Catholics pray for what is their own will, totally disregarding what God’s will in the matter might be. Remember God’s words to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
(2) WE PRAY BADLY ― Perhaps very few persons actually pray well! We do well to listen to the advice of St. Louis de Montfort on praying the Holy Rosary: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all … The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said … It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary).
Now, perhaps you yourself might not be a “Rosary Speedster” ― it might be the members of your family, or your students, or your parishioners ― but you might be reluctantly “going along” with it out of a vain human respect that fears to correct for fear of being disliked, or being seen as a “Holy Joe”, etc. Yet in keeping silent, you are aiding and abetting their sin of praying badly. If you saw a young immature child about to inadvertently drink from a bottle of ammonia, or vinegar, or hydrogen-peroxide, thinking it to be water or a soda―would you not immediately smack the bottle away out of the child’s hand? Well why do we let others poison their spiritual life by allowing them to pray badly?
(3) WE OURSELVES ARE BAD ― St. Louis de Montfort again tells us: “To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary). When we are in a state of mortal sin, our prayers are useless for whatever we are praying for―unless it is for our conversion. It is not that the prayers will be totally unheard by God―they will be heard, but they will only be applied towards your repentance and contrition, so that you finally confess your mortal sins and return to a state of grace. So, for example, if, when in a state of mortal sin, you were praying for the cure of some sick person, or for the success of some good venture―your prayers would fail to be applied for those causes, and would merely rebound back on yourself in the hope that you convert and confess your mortal sins. When you consider how few Catholics regularly fulfill the obligation of their Sunday Mass attendance (only 20% on a worldwide average ― and that is a generous estimation), that means the other 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin. Furthermore, when you consider that of that 80% who do not attend Sunday Mass regularly, hardly anyone goes to Confession anymore―then you can clearly see the ineffectiveness and uselessness of the prayers of that 80% for any other cause other than their own conversion. Yet, to make matters even worse, out of that 80% of irregular Sunday Mass attendance (or total non-attendance), very few even pray! Or if they do pray, they pray very little―to little or no avail, other than their own conversion, which seems to rarely happen! Heaven help us!
Your state of grace (being in a state of sanctifying grace) is of paramount importance. Do not take it for granted and do not lightly presume that you are in a state of grace! Remember―Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints have said that most souls are lost―you can only lose your soul by NOT being in a state of sanctifying grace. Other than that, it is impossible to be damned. So why are most souls damned? Who the hell deliberately wants to go to Hell? Who the hell thinks they are destined for Hell? Very few! Most people complacently “feel” that they are in state of grace!
“Ah, but!” you say, “To commit a mortal sin, you have to fulfill three conditions: (1) the thought, word, action or omission has to be serious in the first place; (2) you have to know, at the time of committing the sin, that it is serious; and (3) you have to fully want to do it!” That is true―but remember―there is also such a thing as WILFULL IGNORANCE, or DELIBERATE IGNORANCE, an ignorance that is CULPABLE or BLAMEWORTHY!
Take the case of a hunter who is out in the woods and sees a bush shaking. He opens fire, thinking there is a deer hiding behind it. If it turns out that he actually shoots another hunter, can he plead innocence based on ignorance? Hardly. He had the duty to be certain of what he was shooting at. His ignorance in this case was grossly, if not criminally, negligent. So, if a person makes little or no effort to find out whether certain things are sinful, or if he ignores his conscience and doesn’t do any research, then his guilt would be culpable. We can’t get off the hook here by just pretending ignorance, or by willfully remaining ignorant to justify some behavior. This actually increases our culpability! It’s also no excuse if we fail to make the real effort to form our conscience by serious study based on divine law as revealed in Scripture and Church teaching. Hey! What’s more serious than salvation? So a serious goal―salvation―requires a serious approach, which in turn requires a serious study of the Faith!
Today, most Catholics make very little effort to know their Faith, to hone or sharpen their conscience, and to research things―thus they are guilty of INTENTIONAL IGNORANCE, because they do not know WHAT THEY SHOULD KNOW―especially in this day and age, when books are so easily available, mail is easily deliverable, people can be easily consulted by the modern media of telephone, internet, e-mail and texting, not to mention the unprecedented access to almost countless documents on the internet. There is far less excuse for ignorance in matters of the Faith today, than merely 70 years ago, never mind 700 years ago! These deliberately ignorant Catholics know little but talk much. They shoot from the hip and shoot from the lip without worrying about who they are hitting, and how serious the ‘wound’ might be!
You could call the Book of Psalms a Book of Shame! Firstly because it puts us to shame by bringing to the fore the virtues that we could and should be practicing―but are not. Secondly, because it speaks out against all the sins that we tend to commit. Thirdly, because it calls down shame upon those seek to evil to us, who rejoice in our troubles and who shamelessly taunt us for our failings and sins. Fourthly, because the Book of Psalms not only covers our shame for sin, but also removes our shame by replacing it with a hope and a trust in God’s mercy and help.
“In Thee, O my God, I put my trust―let me not be ashamed!” (Psalm 24:2). “Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for Thee, O Lord! Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek Thee, O God” (Psalm 68:7). “I shall not be ashamed―for I have hoped in Thee!” (Psalm 24:20). “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me―for unjust witnesses have risen up against me!” (Psalm 26:12). “Let the proud be ashamed, because they have done unjustly towards me” (Psalm 118:78). “Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils! Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak things against me!” (Psalm 34:26). “Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away! Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me!” (Psalm 39:15). “Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul! Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise plots against me!” (Psalm 34:4). “Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul” (Psalm 69:3). “Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever―and let them be confounded and perish” (Psalm 82:18). “Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to Hell!” (Psalm 30:18).
Ashamed of the Truth
Another area of shame is that of truth―we are often afraid or ashamed to speak the truth―especially unpleasant truths. “Be not ashamed to say the truth!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:24). “Be not ashamed to confess thy sins!” (Ecclesiasticus 4:31). “Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not” (Ecclesiasticus 41:28). “Be not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish, and the aged” (Ecclesiasticus 42:8). “In no way speak against the truth―but be ashamed of the lie [that comes] of thy ignorance” (Ecclesiasticus 4:30). “I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth!” (Romans 1:16).
More Ashamed to Offend the World Than Offend God
“I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings: and I was not ashamed” (Psalm 118:46). We are citizens of God, of Heaven, of the Church before being citizens of the world or of any country. “No man can serve two masters! For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other! You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). Our allegiance, first and foremost, should be to God, not to men: “We ought to obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). That allegiance to God even outranks our family allegiances, as Our Lord said: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
Our Lord Came to Fight―We Come to Have Fun
The goals and purposes of man’s life on Earth have been progressively watered-down, twisted, misinterpreted, re-interpreted, and even reversed. We were made by God and for God―now we live as though we were made by the world and for the world. Our Lord tells us that we are always in a state of war with the world―yet today we seek to be at peace with the world. Holy Scripture tells us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) ― while the world tells us: “The life of man upon Earth should be fun!”
Our Lord clearly says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Aimless, Purposeless Existence
The catechism, My Catholic Faith, states: “What is the destiny of man? ― Man’s high destiny is to go to God, because man comes from God, and belongs entirely to God!” We have lost sight and lost our understanding of what this life is all about! We have been blinded by the world to the true purpose of existence on Earth. “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). We were not made primarily for life on Earth, nor were we made for the pit of Hell, but for life in Heaven (or, God forbid, Hell). One of those two places in our final forwarding address for eternity. “For here we have no permanent city―but we seek for the City that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Life on Earth is merely a journey filled with wrong turns and right turns. “He made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 99:3). “All things have been created through and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). “The Lord hath made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4).
Living in the Womb of Holy Mother Church and Mary
In this world, we are as though in the womb of Our Lady, until she gives birth to us in Heaven at our death―unless we provoke a miscarriage or allow the world to abort us. St. Louis speaks of this in his book, True Devotion to Mary ― “all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death.”
In this period of gestation or pregnancy on Earth, we are attached to Holy Mother Church and Our Lady by an umbilical cord of grace. We must stay attached by grace and fight for eternal life: “I am the true Vine! … Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself―unless it abide in the vine―so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you the branches―he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For, without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
Mixing with Spiritual Abortionists
Despite the warnings of Holy Scripture, for some stupid reason we imagine that the world and the worldly citizens of this worldly world, are somehow our friends―rather than the enemies that Scripture marks them out to be:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you!” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony that its works are evil!” (John 7:7). “He that loveth his life shall lose it―and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25). Is that what we teach our children, our students, our parishioners?
Good Smartphoners rather than Good Samaritans
The Church in particular and mankind in general are in grave need of Good Samaritans who will come to their rescue. Yet, just as in Our Lord’s Good Samaritan parable, we see the need but pass by beaten, dying, robbed victim (Church and mankind) like the Priest and Levite.
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’” (Luke 10:30-35).
You could modify that to read: “Holy Mother Church went downhill from Tradition to Modernism, and fell among worldly robbers, who also stripped her, and having wounded Her went away, leaving Her half dead. And it chanced, that a certain Catholic priest went down the same way and seeing Her, passed by. In like manner also a Catholic Layman, when he was near the place and saw Her, passed by. But a certain Samaritan [is that you?] being on his journey, came near Her; and seeing Her, was moved with compassion. And going up to Her, bound up Her wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting Her upon his own beast, brought Her back to Her ancient Traditions, and took care of Her. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: ‘Take care of Her; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!’”
Are there any Good Samaritans left who still sincerely care for Holy Mother Church―not the new adulterous church that fornicates with the world―but the Church of old, the supposedly never-changing Church, the faithful Bride of Christ.
Who Will Help the Church and Mankind in this Growing Crisis
Just as in the Good Samaritan parable, there are many bystanders, spectators, witnesses who simply stand around, observe and do nothing other than talk about it. They are akin to the silent watchmen, the dogs who will not bark, that Holy Scripture condemns. “His watchmen are all blind! They are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). As Our Lady of La Salette said: “People will think of nothing but amusement!” ― which echoes Holy Scriptures condemnation: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers [the Chosen People of old] were all … baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink― they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Today, once again, the idols of eating, drinking, playing, etc. have taken over the minds and energies and time of Catholics―and, as of old, with most of them God is not well pleased.
God wants help for His Church! “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 93:16). “I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:5). “They encompassed Me on every side―and there was no one that would help Me! I looked for the help of men―and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10).
At Fatima, in 1917, Our Lady sought to recruit help from the three children at Fatima―but they were only the thin-edge of the wedge―for Our Lady appealed to the whole world through them to concern themselves about the salvation of souls―not only their own, but also the souls of sinners throughout the world.
Already back in 1619, Our Lord invited Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) to share His cross more profoundly. She was asked to accompany Our Lord in the major steps of His sorrowful passion. “I will be with you always,” He promised her. “Unite yourself to My aggrieved Heart and, in the company of My Most Holy Mother, bear these tribulations. Carry with valor and perseverance the cross that I will place on your shoulders for you to bear. For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world.”
“Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito, Ecuador).
In one apparition to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Our Lord showed her His Sacred Heart, riddled with small, piercing thorns that stung Him cruelly. “Understand that these are the serious as well as slight faults ... It is their ingratitude and indifference that so cruelly wounds My Heart. Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces as a consequence by the sins that they commit! The times will come when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls. For this reason saints will become rare. {Many] will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see. For that reason, I desire that there be souls in whom I can rest from My fatigues and in whom I might take My repose. Their afflicted and sacrificial lives will be the caressing and compassionate hands that will remove these minute thorns from My Heart and apply the required balsam” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Our Lord warned that the ingratitude and betrayal of souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My justice fall upon My beloved cloisters — and even over cities — when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My Spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them.” He also warned her that the chastisement would be severe for those who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory, in order to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Our Lady Warns of Trouble Ahead
Our Lady of Good Success also warned Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of the troubles that would lay ahead in our present times: “At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... The years that will follow, will be ill-fated ones for the Church. These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times!”
“It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation. Making use of persons in positions of authority, the devil will assiduously try to destroy the Sacrament of Confession ... This restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Confession, is so forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men, who, in their foolish madness, do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievious is that even the ministers of My Most Holy Son do not give to it the value that they should, viewing with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. The same will happen with Holy Communion … The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor, with cruel and subtle astuteness, to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The Sacrament of Extreme Unction will be little esteemed. Many people will die without receiving it — either because of the negligence of their families or their false sentimentality that tries to protect the sick from seeing the gravity of their situations, or because they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
As regards the Holy Eucharist, Our Lady of Good Success says: “Comprehend the sublimity of this mystery and the reverence with which it should be treated and received by the faithful. It will be their antidote against sin, and an easy and powerful means for souls to unite themselves to their God and Redeemer, who, in the excess of His love, hides Himself in the accidents of the Host, exposed to the sacrilegious profanations of His ungrateful sons ... Alas! How deeply I grieve upon manifesting to you the many and horrible sacrileges — both public and also secret — that will occur from profanations of the Holy Eucharist! Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by irreverent feet” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings, and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed.” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
Why Is All This Happening?
A simple three-letter-word is the explanation for all that exists―GOD. A simple three-letter-word is the explanation for all the pain and suffering, all the trouble and trials that exist―SIN. As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” God is the greatest good, the ultimate good that exists. Sin is the greatest evil that exists. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
That catechetical statement is as simple as you can get―the bare bones or skeleton. Holy Scripture fleshes it out some more showing both the goodness of God and evil and painful consequences of sin: ““If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Lack of Spiritual Medicine and Remedies
Our Lady of Good Success speaks of “the fortunate countries that possess monasteries and convents. They purify the air polluted by those in the world delivered over to the most shameful vices and passions ... Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents ... Oh, if mortals―and in particular religious souls―could know what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live! Nor would they spare themselves any sacrifice in order to possess Him!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
She especially warned us to guard against that “cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’” Instead, she counseled, we should conform their lives to the norms of the Gospel. “Oh if only human beings what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity, which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me … Oh if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives―how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a prelate and father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
“Many hearts will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession, he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people so numerous that, like a black cloud, it will obscure the pure heavens. With these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me. In order to dissipate this black cloud, which impedes the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres).
God Never Demands the Impossible―Nothing is Ever Impossible
God is omnipotent. Omnipotent comes from the Latin words “omnis” meaning “all” and “potens” meaning “powerful”―hence God is all powerful, there is nothing that he cannot do, nothing is impossible for God: “Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26). “Jesus looking said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God―for all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:27). “He said to them: ‘The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!’” (Luke 18:27). “Because no word shall be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
God is not selfish―He is willing to share, at times, His omnipotence with those who are worthy: “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ― “Remove from here to there!” ― and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). “And Jesus said: ‘If thou canst believe―all things are possible to him that believeth!’” (Mark 9:22). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). “Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you” (Mark 11:24). “Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells that it is Heaven’s wish that in our present times we use the Holy Rosary to achieve what we think is impossible. Sr. Lucia said: ““Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
Yet even though Our Lord says: “Ask and you shall receive” (Matthew 7:7) ― as we only too well know, not everyone who asks actually receives what they ask for; neither do we get what we ask for each and every time! Why? The answer should be obvious: “You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss” (James 4:3) ― meaning that we pray in a wrong way.
St. Augustine elaborates on that quote and says that we essentially pray amiss or pray badly in three ways: (1) we ask for what is bad for us; (2) we pray badly; (3) we ourselves are bad.
(1) WE ASK FOR WHAT IS BAD FOR US ― We are so short-sighted in what we pray for―imagining that what we request is the best thing for us. However, we should learn a lesson from Our Lord praying in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, whereby He asks for one thing, but then adds a clause that bows down before the wisdom of His heavenly Father: “Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me―but yet not My will, but Thine be done!” (Luke 22:42). Most Catholics pray for what is their own will, totally disregarding what God’s will in the matter might be. Remember God’s words to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
(2) WE PRAY BADLY ― Perhaps very few persons actually pray well! We do well to listen to the advice of St. Louis de Montfort on praying the Holy Rosary: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all … The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said … It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary).
Now, perhaps you yourself might not be a “Rosary Speedster” ― it might be the members of your family, or your students, or your parishioners ― but you might be reluctantly “going along” with it out of a vain human respect that fears to correct for fear of being disliked, or being seen as a “Holy Joe”, etc. Yet in keeping silent, you are aiding and abetting their sin of praying badly. If you saw a young immature child about to inadvertently drink from a bottle of ammonia, or vinegar, or hydrogen-peroxide, thinking it to be water or a soda―would you not immediately smack the bottle away out of the child’s hand? Well why do we let others poison their spiritual life by allowing them to pray badly?
(3) WE OURSELVES ARE BAD ― St. Louis de Montfort again tells us: “To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary). When we are in a state of mortal sin, our prayers are useless for whatever we are praying for―unless it is for our conversion. It is not that the prayers will be totally unheard by God―they will be heard, but they will only be applied towards your repentance and contrition, so that you finally confess your mortal sins and return to a state of grace. So, for example, if, when in a state of mortal sin, you were praying for the cure of some sick person, or for the success of some good venture―your prayers would fail to be applied for those causes, and would merely rebound back on yourself in the hope that you convert and confess your mortal sins. When you consider how few Catholics regularly fulfill the obligation of their Sunday Mass attendance (only 20% on a worldwide average ― and that is a generous estimation), that means the other 80% of Catholics are in mortal sin. Furthermore, when you consider that of that 80% who do not attend Sunday Mass regularly, hardly anyone goes to Confession anymore―then you can clearly see the ineffectiveness and uselessness of the prayers of that 80% for any other cause other than their own conversion. Yet, to make matters even worse, out of that 80% of irregular Sunday Mass attendance (or total non-attendance), very few even pray! Or if they do pray, they pray very little―to little or no avail, other than their own conversion, which seems to rarely happen! Heaven help us!
Your state of grace (being in a state of sanctifying grace) is of paramount importance. Do not take it for granted and do not lightly presume that you are in a state of grace! Remember―Our Lord, Our Lady and many saints have said that most souls are lost―you can only lose your soul by NOT being in a state of sanctifying grace. Other than that, it is impossible to be damned. So why are most souls damned? Who the hell deliberately wants to go to Hell? Who the hell thinks they are destined for Hell? Very few! Most people complacently “feel” that they are in state of grace!
“Ah, but!” you say, “To commit a mortal sin, you have to fulfill three conditions: (1) the thought, word, action or omission has to be serious in the first place; (2) you have to know, at the time of committing the sin, that it is serious; and (3) you have to fully want to do it!” That is true―but remember―there is also such a thing as WILFULL IGNORANCE, or DELIBERATE IGNORANCE, an ignorance that is CULPABLE or BLAMEWORTHY!
Take the case of a hunter who is out in the woods and sees a bush shaking. He opens fire, thinking there is a deer hiding behind it. If it turns out that he actually shoots another hunter, can he plead innocence based on ignorance? Hardly. He had the duty to be certain of what he was shooting at. His ignorance in this case was grossly, if not criminally, negligent. So, if a person makes little or no effort to find out whether certain things are sinful, or if he ignores his conscience and doesn’t do any research, then his guilt would be culpable. We can’t get off the hook here by just pretending ignorance, or by willfully remaining ignorant to justify some behavior. This actually increases our culpability! It’s also no excuse if we fail to make the real effort to form our conscience by serious study based on divine law as revealed in Scripture and Church teaching. Hey! What’s more serious than salvation? So a serious goal―salvation―requires a serious approach, which in turn requires a serious study of the Faith!
Today, most Catholics make very little effort to know their Faith, to hone or sharpen their conscience, and to research things―thus they are guilty of INTENTIONAL IGNORANCE, because they do not know WHAT THEY SHOULD KNOW―especially in this day and age, when books are so easily available, mail is easily deliverable, people can be easily consulted by the modern media of telephone, internet, e-mail and texting, not to mention the unprecedented access to almost countless documents on the internet. There is far less excuse for ignorance in matters of the Faith today, than merely 70 years ago, never mind 700 years ago! These deliberately ignorant Catholics know little but talk much. They shoot from the hip and shoot from the lip without worrying about who they are hitting, and how serious the ‘wound’ might be!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday June 23rd & Wednesday June 24th
Article 15
This is How to Fight! This is How to Win!
Tuesday June 23rd & Wednesday June 24th
Article 15
This is How to Fight! This is How to Win!
PART ONE : THE ATTITUDE AND FORMATION
PART TWO : THE WEAPONRY AND TACTICS
PART ONE : THE ATTITUDE AND FORMATION
Clear Minds for Clear Ideas
Our Lord said: “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:17-19). You could similarly say: “Every clear mind brings forth clear ideas and clear goals, and every muddled mind brings forth muddled ideas and muddled goals. A clear mind cannot bring forth muddled ideas or muddles goals, nor can a muddled mind bring forth clear ideas and clear goals. Every mind that does not bring forth clear ideas and clear goals will be doomed and cast into the fire!”
There is no room for muddled, confused, unclear thinking among soldiers and the military. Experts have been raising concerns about the state of critical thinking in the nation’s armed forces since the early 2000s, and it has been 100 years since the Navy even performed a comprehensive review of its education system. The Army has now developed a way to combat “rigid thinking” in the field. The Navy is doing far more to emphasize critical thinking skills in its training and development programs. General Martin Dempsey stated in an interview that Special Operations Soldiers are required to have a high degree of knowledge, mental agility and critical thinking skills, for understanding the geopolitical environment, in order to be creative in complex problems, and apply the best methods and tactics to any given situation which arises and then changes. Intellectual tools are required to be employed in the domains of clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic and significance. All this contributes to the battlefield process of taking available information, analyzing it and making decisions. Critical thinking must become second nature and requires much practice to sharpen an analytical mindset to see how details relate to the big picture. A dumb soldier is as good as a dead soldier! On that note―are we not Soldiers of Christ through the Sacrament of Confirmation? Yes we are! However, what kind of soldiers are we? Clear-headed soldiers or muddled soldiers? Do we know the many different aspects of our Faith as much as we know the many different aspects of our worldly life? Can we apply the concepts and ideas of the Faith to our earthly life? We are big on smartphones―but how smart are we as soldiers?
Critical Thinking is Critical
Today―sadly―there is much more critical talking (criticism) going on, and not very much critical thinking. You could loosely link this to the saying: “Think before you speak!” or as some even have it: “Think twice before you speak!” Today, too many people speak without really thinking through the things they are about to say―Are they true? Are they important? Are they necessary? Are they morally sound? Are they evil? Are they motivated by pride or selfishness? Are they helpful―in the sense of leading to a solution rather than pouring gasoline onto a fire?
Our words can be medicine or they can be weapons―they can heal or they can do damage. Sometimes it is necessary to fight with words: “Take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). “Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it e may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty!” (Apocalypse 19:15).
Critical thinking is the process used to analyze, interpret, synthesize, comprehend, apply and evaluate problems. Critical thinking focuses on “how” to think versus “what” to think. When used correctly, this skill will work in any facet of one’s life (personally or professionally). Institutions and schools, including businesses (large and small), for profit, non-profit, government, non-governmental, and especially the military, both individuals and organizations use elements of critical thinking to solve day-to-day problems. This skill involves understanding not just your own point of view but also the multiple perspectives within and outside of your organization. Keeping and maintaining an open mind is extremely important in this process and ultimately helps a person achieve their desired outcome much more rapidly.
Qualities Required of a Soldier
We know, of course, that after having received the Sacrament of Confirmation, every Catholic becomes a soldier of Christ. The words of Our Lord should be taken to heart by these soldiers: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). In most cases, those Catholics merely become soldiers in name only―they fight little for Christ and Faith, while more often than not they are found to be fighting among themselves.
Our Lord complains that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). This is all the more true when it comes to soldiers―you could rephrase Our Lord’s to say: “The soldiers of this world are far more valiant that the soldiers of Christ!” The Catechism tells us that the soul is of far greater importance than the body―therefore the spiritual is far more important than the material, and the supernatural far more important than the natural. This logically means that the soldier of Christ should be greater than any soldier of this world―but that is far from being the case. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be the case. Let us examine some basic requirements with regard the qualities necessary to become a U.S. Marine. What is said and required of the Marines, should be all the more said and required of the soldiers of Christ―that is no exaggeration.
The Marine Corps is one of the most elite fighting forces in the world. The Marine Corps is the nation's 911 force. Recruit training is rigorous, demanding, and challenging. The overall goal of recruit training is to instill in the recruits the military skills, knowledge, discipline, pride and self-confidence necessary to be a United States Marine. The United States Marine Corps are renowned for their toughness, courage and devastating effectiveness. Often sent into dangerous situations, Marines work tirelessly to maintain combat readiness through mental, psychological and physical training. The skills and abilities of a Marine revolve around the tactically sound use of any and all weapons in order to complete the mission.
Members of the United States Marine Corps have the ability to pass a variety of strength and endurance benchmarks, ensuring combat readiness. The physical fitness test (PFT) consists of crunches and pull-ups and requires a Marine to run three miles in 28 minutes if male, 31 minutes if female. The combat fitness test (CFT) consists of repeatedly lifting a 30-pound ammo container, an outdoor 880-yard run and a shorter 300-yard course that includes chores such as resupplying ammo, crawling and grenade throwing.
Marines are highly skilled in combat, able to defend against a variety of threats, even when unarmed. The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) trains Marines to utilize a variety of strikes, holds and chokes through study of martial arts from around the world. "One mind, any weapon" is the motto of MCMAP, which replaced the linear infighting neural-override engagement (LINE) system utilized in the last two decades of the twentieth century. All Marines must achieve a minimum of a tan belt in this martial art.
In addition to unarmed proficiency, Marines have significant weapons skills and abilities. MCMAP teaches Marines to employ force through knives, bayonets and rifle blocks and strikes. Marines also master every aspect of becoming a rifleman. In training, Marines spend a week learning complete body and weapon control before firing a single live round. When ready, Marines hit the firing range to develop lethal accuracy with their M16 rifle, beginning with slow fire and graduating to rapid bursts.
Marines develop the psychological discipline necessary to employ their combat skills through excellent tactical, decision-making abilities that do not waver under duress. The MCMAP adds character discipline and mental discipline to aforementioned physical training in the creation of a more complete Marine. A Marine is familiar with the history and art of war and learns tactics in all aspects of war. In order to control this lethal force, Marines are taught personal skills such as confidence and self-discipline, ethics and leadership abilities.
The Marine Corps website list three core principles for the Marines:
► HONOR ― This is the bedrock of our character. It is the quality that empowers Marines to exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior: to never lie, cheat, or steal; to abide by an uncompromising code of integrity; to respect human dignity; and to have respect and concern for each other. It represents the maturity, dedication, trust, and dependability that commit Marines to act responsibly, be accountable for their actions, fulfill their obligations, and hold others accountable for their actions.
► COURAGE ― The heart of our Core Values, courage is the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines that sees them through the challenges of combat and the mastery of fear, and to do what is right, to adhere to a higher standard of personal conduct, to lead by example, and to make tough decisions under stress and pressure. It is the inner strength that enables a Marine to take that extra step.
► COMMITMENT ―This is the spirit of determination and dedication within members of a force of arms that leads to professionalism and mastery of the art of war. It promotes the highest order of discipline for unit and self and is the ingredient that instills dedication to Corps and country 24 hours a day, pride, concern for others, and an unrelenting determination to achieve a standard of excellence in every endeavor. Commitment is the value that establishes the Marine as the warrior and citizen others strive to emulate.
How Do Catholic Soldiers of Christ Compare?
Just review some of the above qualities and then look upon them in the light of Our Lord’s words to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were highly trained and highly committed: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). You could rephrase that to say: “I tell you, unless you commitment and effort is greater than that of earthly soldiers, such as the Marines, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
To summarize the above and hold it as yardstick for Catholic soldiers of Christ, the Marines are renowned for their toughness, courage, devastating effectiveness … work tirelessly to maintain combat readiness through mental, psychological and physical training … skills and abilities of a Marine revolve around the tactically sound use of any and all weapons in order to complete the mission … the ability to pass a variety of strength and endurance benchmarks, ensuring combat readiness ... highly skilled in combat, able to defend against a variety of threats, even when unarmed … significant weapons skills and abilities … psychological discipline necessary to employ their combat skills through excellent tactical, decision-making abilities that do not waver under duress … exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior: to never lie, cheat, or steal; to abide by an uncompromising code of integrity … respect human dignity … respect and concern for each … maturity, dedication, trust, and dependability … act responsibly … fulfill their obligations … accountable for their actions … hold others accountable … courage is the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines that sees them through the challenges of combat and the mastery of fear, and to do what is right, to adhere to a higher standard of personal conduct … lead by example … make tough decisions under stress and pressure … inner strength … spirit of determination and … professionalism and mastery of the art of war … highest order of discipline … dedication to Corps (Church) and country (Faith) 24 hours a day … concern for others … unrelenting determination.
General David Berger of the U.S. Marine Corps says that the Marine Corps is dedicated to remaining a “fight tonight” force for the United States. “We are mandated by law to be the nation’s most ready force … The unique part about the Navy-Marine Corps team is that this is your ‘force in readiness’ ― that has to be ready to respond to a problem around the world, and we’ve never been given advanced notice when that’ll happen, so we have to be ready all the time. The guidance to commanders is pretty clear―our force has to be ready to respond when we’re given the direction to do so. So you need to conduct the training that’s necessary to maintain your readiness ... You expect your Marine Corps to be ready to go when called to do so―and that’s what their responsibility is.”
Marine Corps or Marian Corps
Playing with words―you could say that if the Marines are an elite earthly fighting force, then “Marians” should be an elite heavenly or Church fighting force under the leadership of Our Lady. Fr. Faber―in the Preface of his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, produces some “fighting-talk” of his own. In addressing the problems and evils of the world, he writes:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable (now Saint Louis) Grignion de Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber, Preface in his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, published 1863).
In 1917, Our Lady of Fatima pretty much confirmed grace given opinion, when she said: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (July 1917). At Akita, Japan, in 1973, Our Lady reiterates by adding: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
St. Louis de Montfort’s Description of Our Lady’s Soldiers
St. Louis de Montfort, in his True Devotion to Mary, paints an admirable picture of Our Lady’s army of soldiers in the latter days: “Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, because the Most High, with His holy Mother, has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties ... By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone … But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings. They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics; and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel―and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ (Psalm 39:2)” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
There you have a most fitting and rousing description of what is expected of the soldiers of Christ and the soldiers of Mary.
Our Lady’s Requirements ― Salvation Could Depend On Them
There you have a most fitting and rousing description of what is expected of the soldiers of Christ and the soldiers of Mary. Our Lady has been appointed by God as the general to lead Heaven’s “Final Battle against the Devil” ― which Sr. Lucia describes thus: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground!”
Our Lady’s army is, of course, God’s army―but it is led into battle at this particular time by Our Lady. Holy Scripture says: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1)―the same is true of those called to the service as soldiers of the Immaculate Heart. The words that she addressed to mere children at Fatima, equally apply to all adults: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917).
The battle―as we can already see―has started. Sadly, the Catholic army has been caught asleep or AWOL (absent without leave) at one place of entertainment or another. The Catholic Army’s Sergeant-Majors or Trainers (the bishops and priests) have not been barking-out orders and instructions on how to fight this battle―but have merely spoken about trivial, secondary things―totally underestimating the enormous unprecedented threat that the Catholic Faith is under. A threat so great that Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which of course refers to the two prophesied apostasies from the Faith in the End Times or Last Days.
The Third Secret of Fatima refers to the first of the two apostasies, which is already implicitly indicated by the words Sister Lucia when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.” In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.
FR. SCHWEIGLE, who was personally sent to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74).
FR. J. ALONSO, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
CARDINAL CIAPPI, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Sr. Lucia adds: “Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice! That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Augustine Fuentes on December 26th, 1957).
Our Fight is Supernatural, Not Natural
Even though some Catholics can see the dangers that surround us―they are sadly oblivious as to the sources of those troubles and the means to get out those troubles. The fight is ultimately against the devil and those minions and stooges of the devil who are being supported and guided by his powers. This is echoed by the words of Holy Scripture: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” (Our Lady of La Salette) and as Our Lady of Akita said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son.”
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … People think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
PART TWO : THE WEAPONRY AND TACTICS
PART ONE : THE ATTITUDE AND FORMATION
Clear Minds for Clear Ideas
Our Lord said: “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:17-19). You could similarly say: “Every clear mind brings forth clear ideas and clear goals, and every muddled mind brings forth muddled ideas and muddled goals. A clear mind cannot bring forth muddled ideas or muddles goals, nor can a muddled mind bring forth clear ideas and clear goals. Every mind that does not bring forth clear ideas and clear goals will be doomed and cast into the fire!”
There is no room for muddled, confused, unclear thinking among soldiers and the military. Experts have been raising concerns about the state of critical thinking in the nation’s armed forces since the early 2000s, and it has been 100 years since the Navy even performed a comprehensive review of its education system. The Army has now developed a way to combat “rigid thinking” in the field. The Navy is doing far more to emphasize critical thinking skills in its training and development programs. General Martin Dempsey stated in an interview that Special Operations Soldiers are required to have a high degree of knowledge, mental agility and critical thinking skills, for understanding the geopolitical environment, in order to be creative in complex problems, and apply the best methods and tactics to any given situation which arises and then changes. Intellectual tools are required to be employed in the domains of clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic and significance. All this contributes to the battlefield process of taking available information, analyzing it and making decisions. Critical thinking must become second nature and requires much practice to sharpen an analytical mindset to see how details relate to the big picture. A dumb soldier is as good as a dead soldier! On that note―are we not Soldiers of Christ through the Sacrament of Confirmation? Yes we are! However, what kind of soldiers are we? Clear-headed soldiers or muddled soldiers? Do we know the many different aspects of our Faith as much as we know the many different aspects of our worldly life? Can we apply the concepts and ideas of the Faith to our earthly life? We are big on smartphones―but how smart are we as soldiers?
Critical Thinking is Critical
Today―sadly―there is much more critical talking (criticism) going on, and not very much critical thinking. You could loosely link this to the saying: “Think before you speak!” or as some even have it: “Think twice before you speak!” Today, too many people speak without really thinking through the things they are about to say―Are they true? Are they important? Are they necessary? Are they morally sound? Are they evil? Are they motivated by pride or selfishness? Are they helpful―in the sense of leading to a solution rather than pouring gasoline onto a fire?
Our words can be medicine or they can be weapons―they can heal or they can do damage. Sometimes it is necessary to fight with words: “Take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). “Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it e may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty!” (Apocalypse 19:15).
Critical thinking is the process used to analyze, interpret, synthesize, comprehend, apply and evaluate problems. Critical thinking focuses on “how” to think versus “what” to think. When used correctly, this skill will work in any facet of one’s life (personally or professionally). Institutions and schools, including businesses (large and small), for profit, non-profit, government, non-governmental, and especially the military, both individuals and organizations use elements of critical thinking to solve day-to-day problems. This skill involves understanding not just your own point of view but also the multiple perspectives within and outside of your organization. Keeping and maintaining an open mind is extremely important in this process and ultimately helps a person achieve their desired outcome much more rapidly.
Qualities Required of a Soldier
We know, of course, that after having received the Sacrament of Confirmation, every Catholic becomes a soldier of Christ. The words of Our Lord should be taken to heart by these soldiers: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying]: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). In most cases, those Catholics merely become soldiers in name only―they fight little for Christ and Faith, while more often than not they are found to be fighting among themselves.
Our Lord complains that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). This is all the more true when it comes to soldiers―you could rephrase Our Lord’s to say: “The soldiers of this world are far more valiant that the soldiers of Christ!” The Catechism tells us that the soul is of far greater importance than the body―therefore the spiritual is far more important than the material, and the supernatural far more important than the natural. This logically means that the soldier of Christ should be greater than any soldier of this world―but that is far from being the case. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be the case. Let us examine some basic requirements with regard the qualities necessary to become a U.S. Marine. What is said and required of the Marines, should be all the more said and required of the soldiers of Christ―that is no exaggeration.
The Marine Corps is one of the most elite fighting forces in the world. The Marine Corps is the nation's 911 force. Recruit training is rigorous, demanding, and challenging. The overall goal of recruit training is to instill in the recruits the military skills, knowledge, discipline, pride and self-confidence necessary to be a United States Marine. The United States Marine Corps are renowned for their toughness, courage and devastating effectiveness. Often sent into dangerous situations, Marines work tirelessly to maintain combat readiness through mental, psychological and physical training. The skills and abilities of a Marine revolve around the tactically sound use of any and all weapons in order to complete the mission.
Members of the United States Marine Corps have the ability to pass a variety of strength and endurance benchmarks, ensuring combat readiness. The physical fitness test (PFT) consists of crunches and pull-ups and requires a Marine to run three miles in 28 minutes if male, 31 minutes if female. The combat fitness test (CFT) consists of repeatedly lifting a 30-pound ammo container, an outdoor 880-yard run and a shorter 300-yard course that includes chores such as resupplying ammo, crawling and grenade throwing.
Marines are highly skilled in combat, able to defend against a variety of threats, even when unarmed. The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) trains Marines to utilize a variety of strikes, holds and chokes through study of martial arts from around the world. "One mind, any weapon" is the motto of MCMAP, which replaced the linear infighting neural-override engagement (LINE) system utilized in the last two decades of the twentieth century. All Marines must achieve a minimum of a tan belt in this martial art.
In addition to unarmed proficiency, Marines have significant weapons skills and abilities. MCMAP teaches Marines to employ force through knives, bayonets and rifle blocks and strikes. Marines also master every aspect of becoming a rifleman. In training, Marines spend a week learning complete body and weapon control before firing a single live round. When ready, Marines hit the firing range to develop lethal accuracy with their M16 rifle, beginning with slow fire and graduating to rapid bursts.
Marines develop the psychological discipline necessary to employ their combat skills through excellent tactical, decision-making abilities that do not waver under duress. The MCMAP adds character discipline and mental discipline to aforementioned physical training in the creation of a more complete Marine. A Marine is familiar with the history and art of war and learns tactics in all aspects of war. In order to control this lethal force, Marines are taught personal skills such as confidence and self-discipline, ethics and leadership abilities.
The Marine Corps website list three core principles for the Marines:
► HONOR ― This is the bedrock of our character. It is the quality that empowers Marines to exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior: to never lie, cheat, or steal; to abide by an uncompromising code of integrity; to respect human dignity; and to have respect and concern for each other. It represents the maturity, dedication, trust, and dependability that commit Marines to act responsibly, be accountable for their actions, fulfill their obligations, and hold others accountable for their actions.
► COURAGE ― The heart of our Core Values, courage is the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines that sees them through the challenges of combat and the mastery of fear, and to do what is right, to adhere to a higher standard of personal conduct, to lead by example, and to make tough decisions under stress and pressure. It is the inner strength that enables a Marine to take that extra step.
► COMMITMENT ―This is the spirit of determination and dedication within members of a force of arms that leads to professionalism and mastery of the art of war. It promotes the highest order of discipline for unit and self and is the ingredient that instills dedication to Corps and country 24 hours a day, pride, concern for others, and an unrelenting determination to achieve a standard of excellence in every endeavor. Commitment is the value that establishes the Marine as the warrior and citizen others strive to emulate.
How Do Catholic Soldiers of Christ Compare?
Just review some of the above qualities and then look upon them in the light of Our Lord’s words to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were highly trained and highly committed: “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20). You could rephrase that to say: “I tell you, unless you commitment and effort is greater than that of earthly soldiers, such as the Marines, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
To summarize the above and hold it as yardstick for Catholic soldiers of Christ, the Marines are renowned for their toughness, courage, devastating effectiveness … work tirelessly to maintain combat readiness through mental, psychological and physical training … skills and abilities of a Marine revolve around the tactically sound use of any and all weapons in order to complete the mission … the ability to pass a variety of strength and endurance benchmarks, ensuring combat readiness ... highly skilled in combat, able to defend against a variety of threats, even when unarmed … significant weapons skills and abilities … psychological discipline necessary to employ their combat skills through excellent tactical, decision-making abilities that do not waver under duress … exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior: to never lie, cheat, or steal; to abide by an uncompromising code of integrity … respect human dignity … respect and concern for each … maturity, dedication, trust, and dependability … act responsibly … fulfill their obligations … accountable for their actions … hold others accountable … courage is the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines that sees them through the challenges of combat and the mastery of fear, and to do what is right, to adhere to a higher standard of personal conduct … lead by example … make tough decisions under stress and pressure … inner strength … spirit of determination and … professionalism and mastery of the art of war … highest order of discipline … dedication to Corps (Church) and country (Faith) 24 hours a day … concern for others … unrelenting determination.
General David Berger of the U.S. Marine Corps says that the Marine Corps is dedicated to remaining a “fight tonight” force for the United States. “We are mandated by law to be the nation’s most ready force … The unique part about the Navy-Marine Corps team is that this is your ‘force in readiness’ ― that has to be ready to respond to a problem around the world, and we’ve never been given advanced notice when that’ll happen, so we have to be ready all the time. The guidance to commanders is pretty clear―our force has to be ready to respond when we’re given the direction to do so. So you need to conduct the training that’s necessary to maintain your readiness ... You expect your Marine Corps to be ready to go when called to do so―and that’s what their responsibility is.”
Marine Corps or Marian Corps
Playing with words―you could say that if the Marines are an elite earthly fighting force, then “Marians” should be an elite heavenly or Church fighting force under the leadership of Our Lady. Fr. Faber―in the Preface of his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s book, True Devotion to Mary, produces some “fighting-talk” of his own. In addressing the problems and evils of the world, he writes:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable (now Saint Louis) Grignion de Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick William Faber, Preface in his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, published 1863).
In 1917, Our Lady of Fatima pretty much confirmed grace given opinion, when she said: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (July 1917). At Akita, Japan, in 1973, Our Lady reiterates by adding: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
St. Louis de Montfort’s Description of Our Lady’s Soldiers
St. Louis de Montfort, in his True Devotion to Mary, paints an admirable picture of Our Lady’s army of soldiers in the latter days: “Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her … I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, because the Most High, with His holy Mother, has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity … These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties ... By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone … But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings. They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics; and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel―and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: ‘With expectation I have waited!’ (Psalm 39:2)” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
There you have a most fitting and rousing description of what is expected of the soldiers of Christ and the soldiers of Mary.
Our Lady’s Requirements ― Salvation Could Depend On Them
There you have a most fitting and rousing description of what is expected of the soldiers of Christ and the soldiers of Mary. Our Lady has been appointed by God as the general to lead Heaven’s “Final Battle against the Devil” ― which Sr. Lucia describes thus: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God, or we belong to the demon—there is no middle ground!”
Our Lady’s army is, of course, God’s army―but it is led into battle at this particular time by Our Lady. Holy Scripture says: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1)―the same is true of those called to the service as soldiers of the Immaculate Heart. The words that she addressed to mere children at Fatima, equally apply to all adults: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917).
The battle―as we can already see―has started. Sadly, the Catholic army has been caught asleep or AWOL (absent without leave) at one place of entertainment or another. The Catholic Army’s Sergeant-Majors or Trainers (the bishops and priests) have not been barking-out orders and instructions on how to fight this battle―but have merely spoken about trivial, secondary things―totally underestimating the enormous unprecedented threat that the Catholic Faith is under. A threat so great that Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which of course refers to the two prophesied apostasies from the Faith in the End Times or Last Days.
The Third Secret of Fatima refers to the first of the two apostasies, which is already implicitly indicated by the words Sister Lucia when she inserted into her fourth memoir the phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret: “‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.” In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If “in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.
FR. SCHWEIGLE, who was personally sent to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952, said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74).
FR. J. ALONSO, the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981, said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI said: “According to the most probable interpretation, the Third Secret – which John XXIII did not consider opportune to reveal – is not about the conversion of Russia, which is still far from occurring, but the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church … What happened in 1960 that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II… I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church; grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself.”
CARDINAL CIAPPI, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Sr. Lucia adds: “Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice! That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Augustine Fuentes on December 26th, 1957).
Our Fight is Supernatural, Not Natural
Even though some Catholics can see the dangers that surround us―they are sadly oblivious as to the sources of those troubles and the means to get out those troubles. The fight is ultimately against the devil and those minions and stooges of the devil who are being supported and guided by his powers. This is echoed by the words of Holy Scripture: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). As Our Lady of La Salette said: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.” (Our Lady of La Salette) and as Our Lady of Akita said: “The only weapons that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by my Son.”
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … People think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday June 21st & Monday June 22nd
Article 14
It Is Time To Wage War!
Sunday June 21st & Monday June 22nd
Article 14
It Is Time To Wage War!
God and War
Even though God has commanded “Thou shalt not kill!” (Exodus 20:13), God has also commanded killings: “Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle!” (Deuteronomy 13:15). Furthermore, we read: “The Lord is as a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). Even the angels went to war: “There was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels―and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apocalypse 12:7-9).
Yet when the cohort of Roman soldiers and Temple police came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, “behold, one of them that were with Jesus [Peter], stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place―for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me presently more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:51-55). Thus we see the pacifism of Our Lord come out in this scenario―which backs up what Our Lord had earlier said in His “Sermon on the Mount”:
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you ... You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you―what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only―what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:91-12; 5:38-39; 5:43-48).
To throw another “curved ball” or a “spanner in the spokes”, Our Lord speaks of fleeing and not fighting! “When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth let him understand―then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened!” (Matthew 24:15-18).
Thus we begin to intuitively see that there seems to be a time when we must fight and times when must not fight. As Holy Scripture says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Angels in Human Wars
Those same angels would help humans in battle―as was seen in the case of the Machabees and even in our own days, during the Korean War in the 1950s in which American troops were engaged. When Judas Machabeus would lead his men into battle after having prayed much―angels were seen to accompany him in battle and protect him whilst slaying the enemy: “Machabeus and they that were with him, when he drew near [to the place of battle], prayed to the Lord, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins with haircloth, and lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, besought the Lord to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries. And so after prayer, taking their arms, they went forth further from the city, and, when they were come very near the enemies, they rested. But as soon as the sun was risen both sides joined battle―the one part having with their valor the Lord for a surety of victory and success; but the other side making their rage their leader in battle. But when they were in the heat of the engagement there appeared to the enemies―from Heaven―five men [angels] upon horses, comely with golden bridles, conducting the Jews. Two of whom took Machabeus between them, and covered him on every side with their arms, and kept him safe: but cast darts and fireballs against the enemy, so that they fell down, being both confounded with blindness, and filled with trouble. And there were slain twenty thousand five hundred, and six hundred horsemen” (2 Machabees 10:25-31).
St. Michael the Archangel in the Korean War
What follows is a copy of a letter that was written by a young Marine to his mother while he was hospitalized after being wounded on a Korean battlefield in 1950. It came into the hands of a Navy Chaplain, who read the letter before 5,060 Marines at a San Diego Naval Base in 1951.
The Navy chaplain had talked to the boy, to the boy’s mother and to the Sergeant in charge of the patrol. This navy chaplain, Father Walter Muldy, would always assure anyone who asked that this is a true story.
This letter had been read once a year in the 1960s over a Midwestern radio station at Christmas time. Since October is the month of the Holy Angels, we thought our readers would find it of interest. We present the letter and let it stand on its own merits.
Dear Mom,
I wouldn’t dare write this letter to anyone but you because no one else would believe it. Maybe even you will find it hard but I have got to tell somebody. First off, I am in a hospital. Now, don’t worry, you hear me don’t worry. I was wounded but I am okay you understand. Okay. The doctor says that I will be up and around in a month. But that is not what I want to tell you.
Remember when I joined the Marines last year; remember when I left, how you told me to say a prayer to St. Michael everyday. You really didn’t have to tell me that. Ever since I can remember you always told me to pray to St. Michael the Archangel. You even named me after him. Well I always have.
When I got to Korea, I prayed even harder. Remember the prayer that you taught me? “Michael, Michael of the morning, fresh corps of Heaven adorning,..” you know the rest of it. Well I said it everyday. Sometimes when I was marching or sometimes resting. But always before I went to sleep. I even got some of the other fellas to say it.
Well, one day I was with an advance detail way up over the front lines. We were scouting for the Commies. I was plodding along in the bitter cold, my breath was like cigar smoke. I thought I knew every guy in the patrol, when another Marine I never met before, comes beside me. He was bigger than any other Marine I’d ever seen. He must have been 6’ 4” and built in proportion. It gave me a feeling of security to have such a body near.
Anyway, there we were trudging along. The rest of the patrol spread out. Just to start a conversation I said, “Cold ain’t it?” And then I laughed. Here I was with a good chance of getting killed any minute and I am talking about the weather.
My companion seemed to understand. I heard him laugh softly.
I looked at him, “I have never seen you before; I thought I knew every man in the outfit.”
“I just joined at the last minute”, he replied. “The name is Michael.”
“Is that so!” I said surprised. “That is my name too!”
“I know,” he said and then went on, “Michael, Michael of the morning...”
I was too amazed to say anything for a minute. How did he know my name, and a prayer that you had taught me? Then I smiled to myself, every guy in the outfit knew about me. Hadn’t I taught the prayer to anybody who would listen? Why now and then, they even referred to me as St. Michael!
Neither of us spoke for a time and then he broke the silence. “We are going to have some trouble up ahead!”
He must have been in fine physical shape, or he was breathing so lightly that I couldn’t see his breath. Mine poured out in great clouds. There was no smile on his face now. Trouble ahead, I thought to myself, well with the Commies all around us, that is no great revelation.
Snow began to fall in great thick globs. In a brief moment the whole countryside was blotted out. And I was marching in a white fog of wet sticky particles. My companion disappeared.
“Michael!” I shouted in sudden alarm.
I felt his hand on my arm, his voice was rich and strong, “This will stop shortly.”
His prophecy proved to be correct. In a few minutes the snow stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The sun was a hard shining disc.
I looked back for the rest of the patrol, there was no one in sight. We lost them in that heavy fall of snow. I looked ahead as we came over a little rise. Mom, my heart stopped. There were seven of them. Seven Commies in their padded pants and jackets and their funny hats. Only there wasn’t anything funny about them now. Seven rifles were aimed at us.
“Down Michael!” I screamed and hit the frozen earth. I heard those rifles fire almost as one. I heard the bullets. There was Michael still standing. Mom, those guys couldn’t have missed, not at that range. I expected to see him literally blown to bits. But there he stood, making no effort to fire himself. He was paralyzed with fear. It happens sometimes, Mom, even to the bravest. He was like a bird fascinated by a snake. At least, that was what I thought then. I jumped up to pull him down and that was when I got mine. I felt a sudden flame in my chest. I often wondered what it felt like to be hit, now I know.
I remember feeling strong arms about me, arms that laid me ever so gently on a pillow of snow. I opened my eyes, for one last look. I was dying. Maybe I was even dead, I remember thinking "Well, this is not so bad!" Maybe I was looking into the sun. Maybe I was in shock. But it seemed I saw Michael standing erect again only this time his face was shining with a terrible splendor.
As I say, maybe it was the sun in my eyes, but he seemed to change as I watched him. He grew bigger, his arms stretched out wide, maybe it was the snow falling again, but there was a brightness around him like the wings of an angel. In his hand was a sword. A sword that flashed with a million lights.
Well, that is the last thing I remember until the rest of the fellas came up and found me. I do not now how much time had passed. Now and then I had but a moment’s rest from the pain and fever. I remember telling them of the enemy just ahead.
“Where is Michael?” I asked. I saw them look at one another.
“Where’s who?” asked one.
“Michael--that big Marine I was walking with, just before the snow squall hit us.”
“Kid,” said the sergeant, “You weren’t walking with anyone. I had my eyes on you the whole time. You were getting too far out. I was just going to call you in, when you disappeared in the snow.”
He looked at me, curiously. “How did you do it kid?”
“How’d I do what?” I asked half angry despite my wound. “This marine named Michael and I were just...”
“Son,” said the sergeant kindly, “I picked this outfit myself and there just ain’t another Michael in it. You are the only Mike in it.”
He paused for a minute, “Just how did you do it kid? We heard shots. There hasn’t been a shot fired from your rifle. And there isn’t a bit of lead in them seven bodies over the hill there!”
I didn’t say anything, what could I say. I could only look open-mouthed with amazement.
It was then the sergeant spoke again, “Kid,” he said gently, “every one of those seven Commies was killed by a sword stroke.”
That is all I can tell you Mom. As I say, it may have been the sun in my eyes, it may have been the cold or the pain. But that is what happened. Love, Michael
God a Leader and Helper in War
In the Book of Jeremias, we read of God pronouncing chastisement and death upon those who have persecuted His Chosen People―the whole fifty-first chapter is “War Speech” by God―from which the following extracts are taken:
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against Me! And I will … destroy her land … destroy all her army ... For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God, but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let everyone save his own life! Be not silent upon her iniquity―for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, he will render unto her what she hath deserved. Babylon hath been a golden cup … that made all the Earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered. But Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed … We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed … Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings and His mind is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord … Thy end is come for thy entire destruction … Hammer together for Me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth up into it; and with thee I will break in pieces man and woman; and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child; and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin; and with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion …
“Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain … Thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord. Set ye up a standard in the land! Sound with the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kings! … For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor and this is the time of her thrashing―yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and Babylon shall be reduced to heaps! … Go out of the midst of her, my people―that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord! … Therefore, behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon―and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her … And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel―so of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the Earth. … The Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice … her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, Who is a strong revenger, will surely repay. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labors of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish … Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed!” (Jeremias 51:1-64).
Our Lord Himself speaks of wars: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death!” (Matthew 24:6-9).
As stated above, Holy Scripture even speaks of a season for war” ―“All things have their season … A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance … A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away … A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Yet, at the end of the day, who wants war? “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). Normally speaking, nobody with a “right-mind” and common sense wants war. The psychopaths (chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior) or money-men (who always make huge profits from wars), the depopulation advocates or godless power-hungry minions of Satan―these are the kinds of people that salivate and drool at the thought of war, bloodletting, killing and control. War can be an obsession or an addiction for some people. “From whence are these wars and contentions among you? Are they not your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not! You envy and kill―but cannot obtain! You argue and war―and you have not! You ask that you may consume it on your concupiscences! Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:1-4).
War and Peace!
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace is known for its realism, something Tolstoy achieved through intensive research. The novel focuses on the fortunes and misfortunes of a certain number of Russian characters beginning with the year 1812, when the West invaded the East―with the French Revolution’s (1789) self-appointed Emperor, Napoleon, invading Russia, and thereby forcing the Russian Tsar, Alexander, to declare war on France. Today―instead of the West invading East, we have East invading the West. Communism in general, and, in the words of Our Lady of Fatima, Russia in particular, is spreading a Communism that has been specially adorned, wrapped and packaged to appeal to the intellectually dumbed-down minds and passion-ruling sensibilities of what Communists call “Useful Idiots” of the West.
In 1970, the Communist journalist and KGB espionage trained Yuri Bezmenov, defected to the West and subsequently revealed a lot about Communist policies and tactics with regard to infiltrating and subverting the West. Bezmenov had been forced to be a KGB informer while still maintaining his position as a Novosti journalist. He then used his journalistic duties to help gather information and to spread disinformation to foreign countries for the purposes of Soviet propaganda and subversion. When the Communists opened a new secret department in all embassies of the Soviet Union around the world, titled the “Research and Counter-Propaganda Group” ― Bezmenov became a deputy chief of that department. Bezmenov stated that he was also instructed not to waste time with idealistic leftists, as these would become disillusioned, bitter, and adversarial when they realized the true nature of Soviet Communism. To his surprise, he discovered that many such were listed for execution once the Soviets achieved control. During that period, increasingly seeing the Soviet system as insidious and ruthless, Bezmenov began careful planning to defect―which he finally did in 1970. In 1984, in an interview granted to G. Edward Griffin, Bezmenov revealed and explained the KGB methods used in the gradual subversion of the political system of the United States. The main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence and espionage ― for only around 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage and such. The other 85% of time, money, and manpower is spent on a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, or active measures (including stirring-up division and hatred in people and classes so that they take an active part in demonstrations, riots, division, etc.), or psychological warfare.
Four Steps to Hell on Earth
As Bezmenov explains in the interview, there are four steps to transform the thinking and behavior of the population:
(1) DEMORALIZATION ― this is a process which can take about 15-30 years to perform (a generation). During this stage, the moral fiber and integrity of the country is put into question, thereby creating doubt in the minds of the people. Division is the tactic―divide one group against another in as many areas of life as possible―for, as Our Lord says: “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24). Bezmenov says: “What it basically means is to change the perception of reality for every American to such an extent that ― despite the abundance of information ― no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community and their countries.” To do so, manipulation of the media and academia is required to influence young people―and the recent (1990s) invention and widespread popularization of the internet and now, its offspring, social media outlets, has made this ever so easy. As the younger generation embraces new values, such as Marxism and Leninism, or at least increasing Liberal anarchical values, whereby the older traditional or Conservative generation slowly loses control simply through a war of attrition (belligerent attempts to win a war by gradually and persistently wearing down the enemy by propaganda and division). Again, true facts no longer matter during this stage, but rather it is of paramount importance to create perceptions or beliefs in people based―not on true facts―but fake facts or distorted facts. If you own most of the media―then this is easily done.
(2) DESTABILIZATION ― the purpose of this step is to change the status quo, particularly the country’s economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. The intent is to create a massive government permeation of society, whereby government becomes intrusive in as many aspects of the lives of its citizens as possible. This can take from two to five years to perform, again with the active support of academia pushing youth in this direction. It is found that the youth readily accept and comply with revolutionary ideas and practices―it seems to be part of their nature in seeking independence. Thus they will readily rebel at home, in family, in school and in society. Here, entitlements, perks, rewards and benefits are promised to the populace to encourage their support. Basically, they are bribing the people to accept their programs. Bezmenov claims after this stage is completed, the naive college professors are no longer needed and since they will undoubtedly protest government policies when they discover the truth, they will be disposed of quickly. He cites examples of this occurring, in his time, in Nicaragua, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
(3) CRISIS ― this is a major step lasting up to six weeks and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event upsets and divides the country thereby creating panic among the citizens. Recent examples include the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East, most notably Egypt and Libya. To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly martial law.
(4) NORMALIZATION ― the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate Communism and the solutions offered by Communism to the crisis that Communism created in the first place! This can take up to two decades to complete.
It does take a genius or a rocket scientist to see how perfectly the above can be superimposed on the events that have been happening in the USA (and many other parts of the world) over the last few decades. Do NOT think that the above “four-step-subversion” is a ONE TIME PROCESS, that is never to be repeated. Far from it! The four-step-process is like building a foundation or floor in a building―once one floor is completed, you then add another, and another, and another―as many as your subversive tactics successfully allow you to build. In some cases they will achieve mammoth strides in one operation―in other cases the progress has to be more incremental, advancing little by little. Or you can compare it to the making of a Communist Cake―where one layer is after another―with the icing on the cake being absolute totalitarianism under Communist or Socialist rule (or whatever disguised name they wish to give it).
Talking of Communism and Hell on Earth ...
You have no doubt heard the expressions: “Speak of the devil, and he is sure to appear!” Well you can speak of Communism in the same vein. Communism is the appearance of Satan among us―regardless of what other name or alias Communism might like to hide behind and disguise itself, such as Marxism, Totalitarianism, Socialism, Social Democracy, Collectivism, State Ownership, etc. ― like the reptile, the chameleon, which changes its colors to fit in unnoticed in whatever habitat it finds itself. The chameleon also has and a long, slender projectile tongue―which Communism imitates by its projectile-like poisoned words or ideas that it injects or inserts into the minds of its intended victims. Make no mistake about it―Communism is satanic. Communism is Hell on Earth. Communism is atheistic―which is defined as “disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods”―thus atheism is satanic, or arguably worse than satanic―because even devils believe in God as Holy Scripture states: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). What is the definition of Hell? Hell is essentially defined as the absence of God. It this absence of God or separation from God that is the greatest pain in Hell, because all those who are damned will be given to realize how incredibly much God loved them and they chose to reject God and His love―hence they condemn themselves to eternal Godlessness and hatred. The fires of Hell―unimaginably painful as they are―serve only as slight distraction from the great pain that comes from the absence of God. Even the modern Catechism defines Hell as the “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.”
Communism―and many other “isms” too, for that matter―have excluded God from their lives and their “isms”. Consequently they have excluded TRUE love from their lives and “isms”―and a FALSE love reigns, which is a love of self, a love of pleasures, a love of sin and a love of evil one or more of its innumerable forms. Mortal sin results in the loss of sanctifying grace (God living in the soul) as well as the loss of TRUE charity (which, once again, is God living in the soul―for “God is charity” 1 John 4:8). Once you have lost the one TRUE God and lost TRUE charity, then you are left with substitute FALSE gods and FALSE harmful loves―in other words, you have sown in your soul (or in your “ism”) the seed of Hell while you are still on Earth.
The DNA of Communism and Hell
Can You Spot the Marxist and Communist DNA in all the recent troubles―the DNA is one of creating divisions and tensions between supposed or perceived “opposing groups” ― such as government and the people, the police and the policed, whites and blacks, the rich and the poor, the Christians and non-Christians, between those who think with their minds and those who think with their feelings, passions and bellies: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ! Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven!” (Philippians 3:18-20).
The ‘godfather’ (but false god) of Communism―Karl Marx― stated in the opening paragraph of the first part of The Communist Manifesto:
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” (Karl Marx).
Marx believed that it would be this type of opposition and tension--between the ruling and the working classes--that would eventually reach a boiling point and lead to a Socialist revolution. This, in turn, would lead to a system of government in which the large majority of the people, not just a small ruling elite, would dominate. Unfortunately or deviously, Marx was vague about what type of political system would materialize after a Socialist revolution. He imagined the gradual emergence of a type of egalitarian utopia—Communism—that would witness the elimination of elitism and the homogenization of the masses along economic and political lines. Indeed, Marx believed that as this Communism emerged, it would gradually eliminate the very need for a state, government, or economic system altogether. Once again―try comparing this theory or DNA of Communism with the DNA of many tensions, demonstrations, riots and revolts that we are increasingly seeing―most of which, as even the police and other non-conspiratorial observers are stating, have been found to be deliberately fomented, stirred and organized by outside forces, who have supplied the spark, the weapons and the know-how to the unwitting and clueless mobs, whom Communism laughingly calls “Useful Idiots”!
Our Fight is More Against Satan than Man
There are many people who are not stupid and ignorant as to what is going on in the world today and they do not buy into the MSM (mainstream media) propaganda. Yet, at the same time, those non-stupid people are very stupid when it comes to finding a solution to the problems and threats. Their solutions vary from spreading the news about the truth of the situation to actively counseling uprisings, revolts and revolutions. Their stupidity is based upon their meager or non-existent Faith in God, which places its confidence in the measures taken by man and relies upon human knowledge, human planning, human skill, human daring and human strength and power. God is nowhere mentioned, nowhere in the reckoning―God is, if they even belief in Him, relegated to the closet. The attitude comically seems to be one of: “Now just step back out of the way God! We don’t want You to get hurt! Leave this to us! We know how to handle these things and this kind of enemy! We’ll tell you when it’s all over and when it’s safe to come out!”
Holy Scripture warns against such a proud and independent spirit: “If thou think that battles consist in the strength of the army―then God will make thee to be overcome by the enemies! For it belongs to God both to help, and to put to flight!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:8). “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it! Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it!” (Psalm 126:1). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalms 145:2). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength. Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength” (Psalm 32:17). “I will not trust in my bow; neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalm 43:7). “I will save them by the Lord their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen!” (Osee 1:7). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
Sadly and shockingly, even on the part of Traditional and Conservative Catholics, there is very little mention of trusting in God and His promises and what appears to them to be over-simplistic Heaven sent solutions―while, on the other hand, there is an overabundance of reliance of human wisdom, methods and solutions. This betrays the fact that most Traditional and Conservative Catholics have so humanized by the world and their acceptance of worldly standards and methods, that they now either smirk at Heaven’s weapons regarding them as being almost suicidal if used, or they have implicitly or explicitly lost all trust and Faith in God’s Divine Providence.
Fighting Talk―Armor and Weapons for the Fight
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God―for the pulling down of fortifications, destroying arguments and every lofty opinion that exhalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Choose Weapons Carefully―Not the Latest Weapons, but the Sling and Pebbles
Our Lady has said much about the fight to come and the weapons to be used. To us, her advice might seem like insanity―much like King Saul and his soldiers thought David was insane in refusing the weapons and armor that they gave him to fight the mighty Goliath, but David chose to go into the fight or ‘war’ with Goliath armed with nothing but a sling and five smooth pebbles. Our Lady, on the subject of weapons, says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). Our hands are being taught and trained to pick up our weapons―the Holy Rosary―and our fingers are being taught and trained to move over the beads―the bullets and bombs―of the Rosary.
Then she goes on to tell us how to use those weapons: “Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
She then speaks of the victory: “This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
Even though God has commanded “Thou shalt not kill!” (Exodus 20:13), God has also commanded killings: “Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle!” (Deuteronomy 13:15). Furthermore, we read: “The Lord is as a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). Even the angels went to war: “There was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels―and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apocalypse 12:7-9).
Yet when the cohort of Roman soldiers and Temple police came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, “behold, one of them that were with Jesus [Peter], stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place―for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me presently more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:51-55). Thus we see the pacifism of Our Lord come out in this scenario―which backs up what Our Lord had earlier said in His “Sermon on the Mount”:
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you ... You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you―what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only―what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:91-12; 5:38-39; 5:43-48).
To throw another “curved ball” or a “spanner in the spokes”, Our Lord speaks of fleeing and not fighting! “When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth let him understand―then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! … For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened!” (Matthew 24:15-18).
Thus we begin to intuitively see that there seems to be a time when we must fight and times when must not fight. As Holy Scripture says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Angels in Human Wars
Those same angels would help humans in battle―as was seen in the case of the Machabees and even in our own days, during the Korean War in the 1950s in which American troops were engaged. When Judas Machabeus would lead his men into battle after having prayed much―angels were seen to accompany him in battle and protect him whilst slaying the enemy: “Machabeus and they that were with him, when he drew near [to the place of battle], prayed to the Lord, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins with haircloth, and lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, besought the Lord to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries. And so after prayer, taking their arms, they went forth further from the city, and, when they were come very near the enemies, they rested. But as soon as the sun was risen both sides joined battle―the one part having with their valor the Lord for a surety of victory and success; but the other side making their rage their leader in battle. But when they were in the heat of the engagement there appeared to the enemies―from Heaven―five men [angels] upon horses, comely with golden bridles, conducting the Jews. Two of whom took Machabeus between them, and covered him on every side with their arms, and kept him safe: but cast darts and fireballs against the enemy, so that they fell down, being both confounded with blindness, and filled with trouble. And there were slain twenty thousand five hundred, and six hundred horsemen” (2 Machabees 10:25-31).
St. Michael the Archangel in the Korean War
What follows is a copy of a letter that was written by a young Marine to his mother while he was hospitalized after being wounded on a Korean battlefield in 1950. It came into the hands of a Navy Chaplain, who read the letter before 5,060 Marines at a San Diego Naval Base in 1951.
The Navy chaplain had talked to the boy, to the boy’s mother and to the Sergeant in charge of the patrol. This navy chaplain, Father Walter Muldy, would always assure anyone who asked that this is a true story.
This letter had been read once a year in the 1960s over a Midwestern radio station at Christmas time. Since October is the month of the Holy Angels, we thought our readers would find it of interest. We present the letter and let it stand on its own merits.
Dear Mom,
I wouldn’t dare write this letter to anyone but you because no one else would believe it. Maybe even you will find it hard but I have got to tell somebody. First off, I am in a hospital. Now, don’t worry, you hear me don’t worry. I was wounded but I am okay you understand. Okay. The doctor says that I will be up and around in a month. But that is not what I want to tell you.
Remember when I joined the Marines last year; remember when I left, how you told me to say a prayer to St. Michael everyday. You really didn’t have to tell me that. Ever since I can remember you always told me to pray to St. Michael the Archangel. You even named me after him. Well I always have.
When I got to Korea, I prayed even harder. Remember the prayer that you taught me? “Michael, Michael of the morning, fresh corps of Heaven adorning,..” you know the rest of it. Well I said it everyday. Sometimes when I was marching or sometimes resting. But always before I went to sleep. I even got some of the other fellas to say it.
Well, one day I was with an advance detail way up over the front lines. We were scouting for the Commies. I was plodding along in the bitter cold, my breath was like cigar smoke. I thought I knew every guy in the patrol, when another Marine I never met before, comes beside me. He was bigger than any other Marine I’d ever seen. He must have been 6’ 4” and built in proportion. It gave me a feeling of security to have such a body near.
Anyway, there we were trudging along. The rest of the patrol spread out. Just to start a conversation I said, “Cold ain’t it?” And then I laughed. Here I was with a good chance of getting killed any minute and I am talking about the weather.
My companion seemed to understand. I heard him laugh softly.
I looked at him, “I have never seen you before; I thought I knew every man in the outfit.”
“I just joined at the last minute”, he replied. “The name is Michael.”
“Is that so!” I said surprised. “That is my name too!”
“I know,” he said and then went on, “Michael, Michael of the morning...”
I was too amazed to say anything for a minute. How did he know my name, and a prayer that you had taught me? Then I smiled to myself, every guy in the outfit knew about me. Hadn’t I taught the prayer to anybody who would listen? Why now and then, they even referred to me as St. Michael!
Neither of us spoke for a time and then he broke the silence. “We are going to have some trouble up ahead!”
He must have been in fine physical shape, or he was breathing so lightly that I couldn’t see his breath. Mine poured out in great clouds. There was no smile on his face now. Trouble ahead, I thought to myself, well with the Commies all around us, that is no great revelation.
Snow began to fall in great thick globs. In a brief moment the whole countryside was blotted out. And I was marching in a white fog of wet sticky particles. My companion disappeared.
“Michael!” I shouted in sudden alarm.
I felt his hand on my arm, his voice was rich and strong, “This will stop shortly.”
His prophecy proved to be correct. In a few minutes the snow stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The sun was a hard shining disc.
I looked back for the rest of the patrol, there was no one in sight. We lost them in that heavy fall of snow. I looked ahead as we came over a little rise. Mom, my heart stopped. There were seven of them. Seven Commies in their padded pants and jackets and their funny hats. Only there wasn’t anything funny about them now. Seven rifles were aimed at us.
“Down Michael!” I screamed and hit the frozen earth. I heard those rifles fire almost as one. I heard the bullets. There was Michael still standing. Mom, those guys couldn’t have missed, not at that range. I expected to see him literally blown to bits. But there he stood, making no effort to fire himself. He was paralyzed with fear. It happens sometimes, Mom, even to the bravest. He was like a bird fascinated by a snake. At least, that was what I thought then. I jumped up to pull him down and that was when I got mine. I felt a sudden flame in my chest. I often wondered what it felt like to be hit, now I know.
I remember feeling strong arms about me, arms that laid me ever so gently on a pillow of snow. I opened my eyes, for one last look. I was dying. Maybe I was even dead, I remember thinking "Well, this is not so bad!" Maybe I was looking into the sun. Maybe I was in shock. But it seemed I saw Michael standing erect again only this time his face was shining with a terrible splendor.
As I say, maybe it was the sun in my eyes, but he seemed to change as I watched him. He grew bigger, his arms stretched out wide, maybe it was the snow falling again, but there was a brightness around him like the wings of an angel. In his hand was a sword. A sword that flashed with a million lights.
Well, that is the last thing I remember until the rest of the fellas came up and found me. I do not now how much time had passed. Now and then I had but a moment’s rest from the pain and fever. I remember telling them of the enemy just ahead.
“Where is Michael?” I asked. I saw them look at one another.
“Where’s who?” asked one.
“Michael--that big Marine I was walking with, just before the snow squall hit us.”
“Kid,” said the sergeant, “You weren’t walking with anyone. I had my eyes on you the whole time. You were getting too far out. I was just going to call you in, when you disappeared in the snow.”
He looked at me, curiously. “How did you do it kid?”
“How’d I do what?” I asked half angry despite my wound. “This marine named Michael and I were just...”
“Son,” said the sergeant kindly, “I picked this outfit myself and there just ain’t another Michael in it. You are the only Mike in it.”
He paused for a minute, “Just how did you do it kid? We heard shots. There hasn’t been a shot fired from your rifle. And there isn’t a bit of lead in them seven bodies over the hill there!”
I didn’t say anything, what could I say. I could only look open-mouthed with amazement.
It was then the sergeant spoke again, “Kid,” he said gently, “every one of those seven Commies was killed by a sword stroke.”
That is all I can tell you Mom. As I say, it may have been the sun in my eyes, it may have been the cold or the pain. But that is what happened. Love, Michael
God a Leader and Helper in War
In the Book of Jeremias, we read of God pronouncing chastisement and death upon those who have persecuted His Chosen People―the whole fifty-first chapter is “War Speech” by God―from which the following extracts are taken:
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against Me! And I will … destroy her land … destroy all her army ... For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God, but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let everyone save his own life! Be not silent upon her iniquity―for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, he will render unto her what she hath deserved. Babylon hath been a golden cup … that made all the Earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered. But Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed … We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed … Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings and His mind is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord … Thy end is come for thy entire destruction … Hammer together for Me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth up into it; and with thee I will break in pieces man and woman; and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child; and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin; and with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion …
“Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain … Thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord. Set ye up a standard in the land! Sound with the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kings! … For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor and this is the time of her thrashing―yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and Babylon shall be reduced to heaps! … Go out of the midst of her, my people―that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord! … Therefore, behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon―and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her … And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel―so of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the Earth. … The Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice … her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, Who is a strong revenger, will surely repay. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labors of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish … Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed!” (Jeremias 51:1-64).
Our Lord Himself speaks of wars: “You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled! For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death!” (Matthew 24:6-9).
As stated above, Holy Scripture even speaks of a season for war” ―“All things have their season … A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance … A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away … A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Yet, at the end of the day, who wants war? “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). Normally speaking, nobody with a “right-mind” and common sense wants war. The psychopaths (chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior) or money-men (who always make huge profits from wars), the depopulation advocates or godless power-hungry minions of Satan―these are the kinds of people that salivate and drool at the thought of war, bloodletting, killing and control. War can be an obsession or an addiction for some people. “From whence are these wars and contentions among you? Are they not your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not! You envy and kill―but cannot obtain! You argue and war―and you have not! You ask that you may consume it on your concupiscences! Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:1-4).
War and Peace!
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace is known for its realism, something Tolstoy achieved through intensive research. The novel focuses on the fortunes and misfortunes of a certain number of Russian characters beginning with the year 1812, when the West invaded the East―with the French Revolution’s (1789) self-appointed Emperor, Napoleon, invading Russia, and thereby forcing the Russian Tsar, Alexander, to declare war on France. Today―instead of the West invading East, we have East invading the West. Communism in general, and, in the words of Our Lady of Fatima, Russia in particular, is spreading a Communism that has been specially adorned, wrapped and packaged to appeal to the intellectually dumbed-down minds and passion-ruling sensibilities of what Communists call “Useful Idiots” of the West.
In 1970, the Communist journalist and KGB espionage trained Yuri Bezmenov, defected to the West and subsequently revealed a lot about Communist policies and tactics with regard to infiltrating and subverting the West. Bezmenov had been forced to be a KGB informer while still maintaining his position as a Novosti journalist. He then used his journalistic duties to help gather information and to spread disinformation to foreign countries for the purposes of Soviet propaganda and subversion. When the Communists opened a new secret department in all embassies of the Soviet Union around the world, titled the “Research and Counter-Propaganda Group” ― Bezmenov became a deputy chief of that department. Bezmenov stated that he was also instructed not to waste time with idealistic leftists, as these would become disillusioned, bitter, and adversarial when they realized the true nature of Soviet Communism. To his surprise, he discovered that many such were listed for execution once the Soviets achieved control. During that period, increasingly seeing the Soviet system as insidious and ruthless, Bezmenov began careful planning to defect―which he finally did in 1970. In 1984, in an interview granted to G. Edward Griffin, Bezmenov revealed and explained the KGB methods used in the gradual subversion of the political system of the United States. The main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence and espionage ― for only around 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage and such. The other 85% of time, money, and manpower is spent on a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, or active measures (including stirring-up division and hatred in people and classes so that they take an active part in demonstrations, riots, division, etc.), or psychological warfare.
Four Steps to Hell on Earth
As Bezmenov explains in the interview, there are four steps to transform the thinking and behavior of the population:
(1) DEMORALIZATION ― this is a process which can take about 15-30 years to perform (a generation). During this stage, the moral fiber and integrity of the country is put into question, thereby creating doubt in the minds of the people. Division is the tactic―divide one group against another in as many areas of life as possible―for, as Our Lord says: “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand!” (Mark 3:24). Bezmenov says: “What it basically means is to change the perception of reality for every American to such an extent that ― despite the abundance of information ― no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community and their countries.” To do so, manipulation of the media and academia is required to influence young people―and the recent (1990s) invention and widespread popularization of the internet and now, its offspring, social media outlets, has made this ever so easy. As the younger generation embraces new values, such as Marxism and Leninism, or at least increasing Liberal anarchical values, whereby the older traditional or Conservative generation slowly loses control simply through a war of attrition (belligerent attempts to win a war by gradually and persistently wearing down the enemy by propaganda and division). Again, true facts no longer matter during this stage, but rather it is of paramount importance to create perceptions or beliefs in people based―not on true facts―but fake facts or distorted facts. If you own most of the media―then this is easily done.
(2) DESTABILIZATION ― the purpose of this step is to change the status quo, particularly the country’s economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. The intent is to create a massive government permeation of society, whereby government becomes intrusive in as many aspects of the lives of its citizens as possible. This can take from two to five years to perform, again with the active support of academia pushing youth in this direction. It is found that the youth readily accept and comply with revolutionary ideas and practices―it seems to be part of their nature in seeking independence. Thus they will readily rebel at home, in family, in school and in society. Here, entitlements, perks, rewards and benefits are promised to the populace to encourage their support. Basically, they are bribing the people to accept their programs. Bezmenov claims after this stage is completed, the naive college professors are no longer needed and since they will undoubtedly protest government policies when they discover the truth, they will be disposed of quickly. He cites examples of this occurring, in his time, in Nicaragua, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
(3) CRISIS ― this is a major step lasting up to six weeks and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event upsets and divides the country thereby creating panic among the citizens. Recent examples include the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East, most notably Egypt and Libya. To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly martial law.
(4) NORMALIZATION ― the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate Communism and the solutions offered by Communism to the crisis that Communism created in the first place! This can take up to two decades to complete.
It does take a genius or a rocket scientist to see how perfectly the above can be superimposed on the events that have been happening in the USA (and many other parts of the world) over the last few decades. Do NOT think that the above “four-step-subversion” is a ONE TIME PROCESS, that is never to be repeated. Far from it! The four-step-process is like building a foundation or floor in a building―once one floor is completed, you then add another, and another, and another―as many as your subversive tactics successfully allow you to build. In some cases they will achieve mammoth strides in one operation―in other cases the progress has to be more incremental, advancing little by little. Or you can compare it to the making of a Communist Cake―where one layer is after another―with the icing on the cake being absolute totalitarianism under Communist or Socialist rule (or whatever disguised name they wish to give it).
Talking of Communism and Hell on Earth ...
You have no doubt heard the expressions: “Speak of the devil, and he is sure to appear!” Well you can speak of Communism in the same vein. Communism is the appearance of Satan among us―regardless of what other name or alias Communism might like to hide behind and disguise itself, such as Marxism, Totalitarianism, Socialism, Social Democracy, Collectivism, State Ownership, etc. ― like the reptile, the chameleon, which changes its colors to fit in unnoticed in whatever habitat it finds itself. The chameleon also has and a long, slender projectile tongue―which Communism imitates by its projectile-like poisoned words or ideas that it injects or inserts into the minds of its intended victims. Make no mistake about it―Communism is satanic. Communism is Hell on Earth. Communism is atheistic―which is defined as “disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods”―thus atheism is satanic, or arguably worse than satanic―because even devils believe in God as Holy Scripture states: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). What is the definition of Hell? Hell is essentially defined as the absence of God. It this absence of God or separation from God that is the greatest pain in Hell, because all those who are damned will be given to realize how incredibly much God loved them and they chose to reject God and His love―hence they condemn themselves to eternal Godlessness and hatred. The fires of Hell―unimaginably painful as they are―serve only as slight distraction from the great pain that comes from the absence of God. Even the modern Catechism defines Hell as the “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.”
Communism―and many other “isms” too, for that matter―have excluded God from their lives and their “isms”. Consequently they have excluded TRUE love from their lives and “isms”―and a FALSE love reigns, which is a love of self, a love of pleasures, a love of sin and a love of evil one or more of its innumerable forms. Mortal sin results in the loss of sanctifying grace (God living in the soul) as well as the loss of TRUE charity (which, once again, is God living in the soul―for “God is charity” 1 John 4:8). Once you have lost the one TRUE God and lost TRUE charity, then you are left with substitute FALSE gods and FALSE harmful loves―in other words, you have sown in your soul (or in your “ism”) the seed of Hell while you are still on Earth.
The DNA of Communism and Hell
Can You Spot the Marxist and Communist DNA in all the recent troubles―the DNA is one of creating divisions and tensions between supposed or perceived “opposing groups” ― such as government and the people, the police and the policed, whites and blacks, the rich and the poor, the Christians and non-Christians, between those who think with their minds and those who think with their feelings, passions and bellies: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ! Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven!” (Philippians 3:18-20).
The ‘godfather’ (but false god) of Communism―Karl Marx― stated in the opening paragraph of the first part of The Communist Manifesto:
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” (Karl Marx).
Marx believed that it would be this type of opposition and tension--between the ruling and the working classes--that would eventually reach a boiling point and lead to a Socialist revolution. This, in turn, would lead to a system of government in which the large majority of the people, not just a small ruling elite, would dominate. Unfortunately or deviously, Marx was vague about what type of political system would materialize after a Socialist revolution. He imagined the gradual emergence of a type of egalitarian utopia—Communism—that would witness the elimination of elitism and the homogenization of the masses along economic and political lines. Indeed, Marx believed that as this Communism emerged, it would gradually eliminate the very need for a state, government, or economic system altogether. Once again―try comparing this theory or DNA of Communism with the DNA of many tensions, demonstrations, riots and revolts that we are increasingly seeing―most of which, as even the police and other non-conspiratorial observers are stating, have been found to be deliberately fomented, stirred and organized by outside forces, who have supplied the spark, the weapons and the know-how to the unwitting and clueless mobs, whom Communism laughingly calls “Useful Idiots”!
Our Fight is More Against Satan than Man
There are many people who are not stupid and ignorant as to what is going on in the world today and they do not buy into the MSM (mainstream media) propaganda. Yet, at the same time, those non-stupid people are very stupid when it comes to finding a solution to the problems and threats. Their solutions vary from spreading the news about the truth of the situation to actively counseling uprisings, revolts and revolutions. Their stupidity is based upon their meager or non-existent Faith in God, which places its confidence in the measures taken by man and relies upon human knowledge, human planning, human skill, human daring and human strength and power. God is nowhere mentioned, nowhere in the reckoning―God is, if they even belief in Him, relegated to the closet. The attitude comically seems to be one of: “Now just step back out of the way God! We don’t want You to get hurt! Leave this to us! We know how to handle these things and this kind of enemy! We’ll tell you when it’s all over and when it’s safe to come out!”
Holy Scripture warns against such a proud and independent spirit: “If thou think that battles consist in the strength of the army―then God will make thee to be overcome by the enemies! For it belongs to God both to help, and to put to flight!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:8). “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it! Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it!” (Psalm 126:1). “Put not your trust in princes!” (Psalms 145:2). “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9). “The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength. Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength” (Psalm 32:17). “I will not trust in my bow; neither shall my sword save me!” (Psalm 43:7). “I will save them by the Lord their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen!” (Osee 1:7). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1).
Sadly and shockingly, even on the part of Traditional and Conservative Catholics, there is very little mention of trusting in God and His promises and what appears to them to be over-simplistic Heaven sent solutions―while, on the other hand, there is an overabundance of reliance of human wisdom, methods and solutions. This betrays the fact that most Traditional and Conservative Catholics have so humanized by the world and their acceptance of worldly standards and methods, that they now either smirk at Heaven’s weapons regarding them as being almost suicidal if used, or they have implicitly or explicitly lost all trust and Faith in God’s Divine Providence.
Fighting Talk―Armor and Weapons for the Fight
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God―for the pulling down of fortifications, destroying arguments and every lofty opinion that exhalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
“Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood―but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Choose Weapons Carefully―Not the Latest Weapons, but the Sling and Pebbles
Our Lady has said much about the fight to come and the weapons to be used. To us, her advice might seem like insanity―much like King Saul and his soldiers thought David was insane in refusing the weapons and armor that they gave him to fight the mighty Goliath, but David chose to go into the fight or ‘war’ with Goliath armed with nothing but a sling and five smooth pebbles. Our Lady, on the subject of weapons, says: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war!” (Psalm 143:1). Our hands are being taught and trained to pick up our weapons―the Holy Rosary―and our fingers are being taught and trained to move over the beads―the bullets and bombs―of the Rosary.
Then she goes on to tell us how to use those weapons: “Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!”
She then speaks of the victory: “This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere.” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday June 19th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus & Saturday June 20th
Article 13
Love God―And Do What You Want!
Friday June 19th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus & Saturday June 20th
Article 13
Love God―And Do What You Want!
Love God and Do What You Want?
You may have heard of the saying: “Love God and do whatever you want!” It sounds good, huh? Sounds too good to be true! Before we fittingly examine the claim on the very fitting feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus―a Heart of Divine Love, let us first establish the source of the saying. Where does it come from? The saying is loosely based on the words of St. Augustine, from one of his homilies, where he says: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee―Love, and do what thou wilt! Whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good!” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Seventh Homily on 1 John 4:4-12).
Notice that St. Augustine did NOT say: “Because God loves you, you can do whatever you please: for love covers a multitude of sins!” or something similar. It is not God’s love for us that covers a multitude of sins―but our love for God that covers a multitude of sins: “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). It’s not true that God’s love for us is a license to sin or causes God to turn a blind eye to our sins. Unfortunately, many people have adopted that false notion and have somehow attributed it as being biblical.
This is tragic, false, dangerous and wrong. Yes, God loves us unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean He is indifferent toward what we believe and how we act. God loves the sinner―but He also hates sin. That is why He created Hell and Purgatory―sin does not and cannot go unpunished. We cannot fall into the Protestant pit and trap of thinking that Faith in God is enough―and that regardless of how bad we are, we will still be saved. Luther was of this opinion―which is reflected in his infamous phrase: “Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ!” Yet many a Catholic has accepted a similar viewpoint, whereby they say: “Be a sinner and sin strongly, don’t worry about it―just go to Confession and confess it! Then start all over again! Don’t worry―God loves you!” That, just like Luther’s statement, is simply satanic insanity! Let us not be deceived into thinking that just because God loves us, or because we have the Faith, and therefore our behavior doesn’t have to conform to God’s moral laws.
So What Does St. Augustine Mean?
St. Augustine is saying nothing other than what Our Lord said in Holy Scripture―but in slightly different way. He is paraphrasing the following quotes: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture implies the same thing: “Love worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). “Hate evil and love good!” (Amos 5:15). “You that love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psalm 96:10). “Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling-block” (Psalm 118:165). “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). “This commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother!” (1 John 4:21).
The so-called “hymn of charity” also applies: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The Sacred Heart is All About Love
God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Sacred Heart is God―therefore the Sacred Heart is love and charity. This is exactly what the Sacred Heart said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
Taking Things For Granted―Taking God For Granted―Taking Love For Granted
Sometimes we can take God for granted. In our spiritual lives, we just go through the motions: automatic and thoughtless signs of the cross; mindless half-hearted prayers; robotic genuflections; chore-like and mundane assistance at Mass; empty-headed and profitless spiritual reading; sleepy and drowsy meditations; machine-gun-like and aimless Rosaries; absent-minded and ill-prepared confessions; fast-food or fast-track style Holy Communions and many other ways of showing the truth of Our Lord’s words: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
“Familiarity breeds contempt” is what they say, and that so readily applies to our Faith and our relationship with God. What was once a period of awe, amazement and attraction, has now for many become something bland, boring and burdensome. They say that routine is the prime killer of devotion—this is true not only in the natural sphere, but also in the supernatural sphere. This routine affects the relationship between spouses, parents and children, friends and work colleagues and even our relationship with God Himself.
We have been in God’s workplace, the Church, for so long, that familiarity has bred, if not contempt, then at least a growing indifference to God and the things of God. We hear the same readings at Mass year after year; we say the same prayers year after year; we hear the same sermons and appeals year after year; we see the same unimproved faults and weaknesses among our fellow Catholics year after year; we confess the same sins year after year; we seem to get away unpunished by God year after year—so it is hardly surprising that we find ourselves slipping into the fatal fantasy of feeling that God is somehow far away and couldn’t care less about what we are really doing or not doing. This helps us make a compromise with indifference and lukewarmness—at first uneasy, but more and more easy with each passing year.
This is one of the several ingredients that make us go through our spiritual and liturgical exercises in a half-awake, partially attentive, automatic, mindless, thoughtless and loveless manner, like some sort of cloned Catholic robot. Sure, we go through the motions, but our minds, thoughts, hearts and affections—if not yet divorced—are living separated from what we are doing, with only occasional ‘weekend visiting rights.’ The fact that so many religious and spiritual activities have become boring, bland and burdensome, inevitably makes this cancer slowly grow to rapidly approaching fatal levels.
Love to Judge but Won’t Budge to Love
But the Pharisees, who were self-professed upholders of tradition and judges of religious matters, were not afraid to judge, but their judgment was merely superficial and biased. In fact, they judged those who were better than themselves and those who were worse than themselves in the same way—because neither was like themselves. They judged Our Lord as being possessed by a devil, in the same way as they judged the adulteress (St. Mary Magdalen), a whore who actually was possessed by seven devils. Yet both the innocent Jesus and the guilty Mary Magdalen were accepted by God, whereas the Pharisees and their middle of road lukewarmness were rejected and cursed (cf. Matthew chapter 23) with Our Lord imprecating one woe after another in His tirade of indignation against them.
We remember well the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ... I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:11-14). We see this parable play-out in reality at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee.
Love and Penance
Jesus burnt Himself out with pure love as a penance for our sins. Mary Magdalen burnt out her impure love with penance performed out of love for the Pure Love―Jesus. This is why she wept at Our Lord’s feet at the banquet of another Pharisee, Simon (Luke, chapter 7). Simon the Pharisee, “who had invited Him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: ‘This man, if He were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Simon, I have something to say to thee … Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And He said to her: ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’” (Luke 7:36-50).
Where Mary Magdalen had once burned with impure love, she now burned with a pure love. Love, like fires or flames, can be of differing temperatures. To one who loves much, much is forgiven; to one who loves less, less is forgiven: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47). That is why a perfect act of contrition―which, by its very essence, is based upon love―can wipe out, not only the guilt of even the worst imaginable sins, but also all the temporal punishment due to sin in this world and in the next. In other words, someone who is the worst sinner in the world, can―only by God’s grace―make such a perfect act of contrition out of a deep love of God and sorrow for having abused that love, which will then take that sinner past the souls of persons who had lived much holier lives, but at a low degree of love, but are still languishing in Purgatory, and take that sinner straight to Heaven. Don’t you just love that?!!
The ‘Fast-Track’ of Love
It is like seeing someone at the back of a super long airport check-in line, or a supermarket check-out line, being ‘fast-tracked’ to the other side in a matter of seconds, while we may been standing in that line for well over half-an-hour! The instinctive feeling is just like that of the laborers in the vineyard, who had borne the brunt of the work under the scorching heat—a reaction of indignation, injustice, anger and protest! The reply will be the same: “Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15).
The priest is also instructed to approach penitents the same way in confession. If he judges that the penitent truly has great sorrow and remorse for what he/she has done, then he is instructed to give a lesser penance than he would give to somebody who merely confesses the sin as just a matter of course, as something trivial. And if the priest discovers that the penitent has already done much penance for his/her transgression, then even less penance is to be given to the penitent. Such is the mind of the Church, which reflects the mind of Christ—as seen at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee. “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8).
Whom Does Jesus Love?
So when we encounter “sinners” in the world, we never know what has transpired in their heart or in the confessional. The sinner, whom I may hold in contempt, might well be very close to Our Lord and Our Lady, as was Mary Magdalen. The love of Jesus embraces all and He gives chances to all—but they must take and profit from those offers of His love. There are three kinds of persons of whom the Bible says that Jesus loved them:
(1) The fervent and ever-present Apostle, the virgin, St. John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 20:2): “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). John’s virginal soul burned with divine love to the end.
(2) The two women, Martha (the hard-working virgin) and her sister Mary Magdalen (the converted possessed whore), and their brother Lazarus: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Here we see both sinner and non-sinner, but of the three, Jesus loved Mary Magdalen the most—she was sat at His feet listening to His words; another time laid weeping over His feet and drying them with her hair; standing at His feet as died on the Cross; and stood at His feet as He was lying in the tomb. Her sorrowful repentant love burned to the end.
(3) The third case was that of the rich young man “And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me’” (Mark 10:21). But whereas the fisherman John left everything to follow Jesus, and Mary left sin to follow Jesus, this young man could not pull himself away from his love of his present state in the world: “Who being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22). He would not light a fire of divine love in heart, because there was already a fire of love for worldly things burning there!
Words of Love
Here are a few quotes from Our Lord, taken from the book Words of Love, by Fr. Bartholomew Gottemoller, which is compilation of extracts of revelations made by the Sacred Heart to three mystics of the last century: Sr. Josefa Menendez, Sr. Consolata Betrone and Sr. Mary of the Trinity.
“Love is sanctity. The more you love Me, the more you will become holy!” … “He who never needs forgiveness is not the most happy, but rather he who has humbled himself many times.”
“I want to tell you this, that My best-loved and specially favored souls—My priests and My consecrated nuns—may learn it through you. My Heart is never wounded unless it be by My chosen souls. If their infidelities wound Me deeply, their love consoles and delights My Heart to such a degree that I, so to speak, forget the sins of many others on their account. I do not say that by the fact of My choice, a [chosen] soul is freed from her faults and wretchedness. That soul may and will fall often again, but if she humbles herself, if she recognizes her nothingness, if she tries to repair her faults by little acts of generosity and love, if she confides and surrenders herself once more to My Heart ... she gives Me more glory and can do more good to other souls than if she had never fallen. Miseries and weaknesses are of no consequence―what I do ask of them is love.”
“The obstinacy of a guilty soul wounds My Heart deeply―but the tender affection of one who loves Me, not only heals the wound, but turns away the effects of My Father’s Justice” … “As soon as a soul throws itself at My feet and implores My forgiveness, I forget all her sins” … “Love is reparation and reparation is love” … “It is love that makes reparation, because that which offends God in sin is the absence of love.”
“A soul will profit even after the greatest sins, if she humbles herself. I will raise up the humble, and make little of their frailties, and even of their falls, provided they have humility and love.” … “Yes, I love all souls, but with very special affection those who are the most weak and little.”
“Think no longer about yourself, about your perfection, on how to attain to sanctity, or about your defects, your present and future troubles. No. I will see to your sanctification, to your sanctity. You must henceforth think only of Me and of souls; of Me to love Me, and of souls to save them!”
“A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so; to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy―My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me―on the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful. The souls are Mine―for them I have given all My Blood!”
“I ask only for love. Ah, what are you doing about it? … I prefer an act of love and a Communion of love to any other gift ... I thirst for love.” … “That soul is dearest to Me who loves Me the most.”
The World’s Attitude is the Opposite of Christ’s Attitude
Can you imagine today’s demonstrators, rioters, accusers, vigilantes and bloodhounds feeling that way about sinners? You would sooner see Satan as a saint than those people having the spirit of Our Lord! Everywhere there are cries for justice to be done―justice over the George Floyd killing by a Minneapolis police officer; justice for Breonna Taylor after being murdered by Louisville police officers; justice for Michael Thomas who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy; and the list goes on and on. Yet the MSM (mainstream media) and their puppet-masters merely put the white man’s injustices against the black man under the microscope and under the “cross-hairs” or “sights” of their “justice rifles or shotguns” while ignoring, hiding and failing to place the many black man’s injustices against the white man under the microscope at the same time, or any other mixture of racial justice involving other races or skin colors! What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Even our loving and just and merciful God is not a respecter of persons: “And Peter opening his mouth, said: ‘In very deed I perceive, that God is not a respecter of persons!’” (Acts 10:34) … “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11).
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph William Louis “Rudy” Giuliani was excoriated by the mainstream media for citing statistics that prove white cops killing black males is minor compared to the thousands who are killed every year by other blacks. Giuliani pointed out that “93% of blacks are killed by other blacks.” A six-year FBI study conducted between 2007 and 2012 found that, on average, local police forces kill 400 people every year in America. Of those, only 96, or 25%, involved blacks being killed by white police officers. It is worth noting that, according to the nonprofit New Century Foundation, of the nearly 1 million violent crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites in America, blacks commit 85% and whites commit 15%. Every crime needs protesting and every crime needs justice ― not just “white crime” ― that is not justice, for justice is defined as “giving to others their due”. Yet justice needs to be mixed with mercy and truth if we are to be Godlike and Christian, “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!’” (Matthew 9:13) ― call sinners to what or where? To call sinners to His mercy through repentance and penance. Is not America supposed “One nation under God” as is said in the Pledge of Allegiance? Surveys show that 87% of Americans claim they believe in God!
What Does the God of America Say on Justice and Mercy?
What does that God―under Whom America claims to be and in Whom they profess to believe―say about justice and mercy? God says: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel [America]? Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him in what day soever he shall sin―and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness―and the just shall not be able to live in his justice in what day soever he shall sin. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity―all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die! And if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!” ― and he do penance for his sin and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing―then he shall surely live, and shall not die! None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him―for he hath done judgment and justice, and so he shall surely live. And the children of thy people have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not equitable [fair] !’ ― whereas [in reality] their own way is unjust! For when the just shall depart from his justice and commit iniquities―then he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness and shall do judgments and justice―then he shall live in them. And you say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel [America]” (Ezechiel 33:11-20).
Putting these figures in perspective then, for every black killed by a white police officer in the U.S. every year, there are about 71 blacks killed by other blacks. Worse, if you take—on average—9,252 black-on-black murders every year for the past 35 years, you arrive at a staggering 323,820 blacks killed by other blacks on America’s mean streets in just three-and-a-half short decades. The problem, of course, is that this grim statistic will never be mentioned by the liberal media or any of the other race baiters out there, who are busy pointing the finger at racist white policemen killing “innocent, unarmed black children.” By the way, last year 105 policemen were killed in the line of duty. This year 112 have been killed to date. That’s more than the number of blacks killed by white policemen, yet the media sheds no tears for any of them. Tears should be shed for all―but in all honesty, we live in a “couldn’t care less”, tearless, heartless world―unless it involves ourselves or our interests and advantage. What really exists is selective justice, selective mercy, selective compassion, selective tears! That is not of God and it is not the spirit of Christ. It is a spirit that comes from somewhere else―from the prince of this world and his minions and stooges.
Then you have cries for justice for Florida protester Oluwatoyin Salau after her disappearance and death. One of the steps taken by “Justice for Salau” movement was a petition aimed at the Tallahassee Police Department and Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, to further investigate Salau's death. “Toyin had her whole life ahead of her and she was failed by the system. We demand justice for Toyin!” the petition description read. All of this is fine and true―but all of this is a merely selective tip of an iceberg which ignores the large hidden mass of the iceberg that is underwater.
You could also put those same words to a petition for justice for aborted babies―“The baby had its whole life ahead of it and the baby was failed by the system. We demand justice for the murdered baby!” What about justice for the 62 million babies aborted [murdered] in the USA since 1973? What about justice for the 18 million black babies aborted [murdered] in the USA since 1973? What about justice for the 2,500 to 3,000 babies aborted [murdered] daily in the USA? What about justice for the estimated 13-23 million abortions that happen annually in China? That number for one single year is 2 to 4 times greater than the numbers the Jews claim in the holocaust―and those abortions take place EACH AND EVERY YEAR!
Justice is selective today. Justice is hypocritical today. Justice is a joke today. They rightfully rage about child molesters, but keep silent about the baby molesters or baby butchers. Men and women who have killed their babies in abortion, rant and rave about lesser crimes that occur in the world. What would they say to Our Lord, who would tell them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7) … “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you hand out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye! ― and behold there is a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
O what a hateful and loveless world we live! What a vindictive and merciless world we live in! What a godless and satanic world we live in! “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying: ‘Where is His promise or His coming? … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise―as some imagine―but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-12).
There is No Love Without Anger―There is No Mercy Without Justice
Yes, “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but God is also angry: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:9-10). “Thou didst provoke Him and He was angry, and would have destroyed thee!” (Deuteronomy 9:8). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man [America or any other nation] shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8)―America is not sowing in the spirit of God, but in the spirit of the world, a godless world, a world that has the spirit of its prince, the devil―even though it professes or pretends to be under God. Our Lord’s words apply perfectly: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Mark 7:6]). “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It takes no genius, or rocket scientist, or university professor to see that any nation that allows abortion, contraception, same-sex marriages, that legalizes sodomy, canonizes homosexuality, eulogizes immodesty, glamorizes pornography, overemphasizes materiality but demonizes religiosity―that such a nation cannot avoid falling under the “loving wrath” and “chastising love” of all just and merciful God. To pretend to be “one nation under God” and say that “in God we trust” is―at the present time―one hell of a hypocrisy.
In a letter dated February 28th, 1943, Sister Lucia addressed issues to the Bishop of Gurza, that concerned both Portugal and Spain. She wrote: “The Good Lord will allow Himself to be appeased, but He complains bitterly and sadly about the very limited number of souls in the state of grace, disposed to deny themselves according to what the observance of His law requires of them. Here is the true penance which the Good Lord requests today: the sacrifice which everybody must impose on himself to lead a life of justice in the observance of His law. And He desires that this law be clearly made known to souls, for many give to the word ‘penance’ the sense of great austerities, and as they feel neither the strength nor the generosity for that, they get discouraged and let themselves go into a life of lukewarmness and sin. From Thursday to Friday, being in the chapel with my superiors’ permission, at midnight, Our Lord told me: ‘The penance that I request and require now is the sacrifice demanded of everybody by the accomplishment of his own duty and the observance of My law.’ If the bishops of Spain take into account Our Lord’s desires and undertake a true reform among the people and clergy, good! If not, (Russia) will again be the enemy through which God will chastise them once more!” (Letter of Sr. Lucia to the Bishop of Gurza, February 28th, 1943). Hey folks! In case you didn’t realize―Russia has already subverted America ideologically. Most people don’t even understand what that means―which means it is all the more easy to achieve if people don’t understand what you are trying to achieve! O the fruits of being dumbed-down and fed and raised on fun and entertainment! Just keep enjoying life while the enemy takes over!
Badness Leads to Sadness
At La Salette, Our loving Lady said it brutally but sweetly: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” Do those words strike fear into our lukewarm and indifferent hearts? Or do they fail to penetrate our “waterproofed” or “wordproofed” hears and merely flow off our hearts like the proverbial water flowing off a duck’s back? We listen to and believe the ‘prophecies’ made by politicians and professors about COVID and other things and comply with their demands and commands, however reluctantly―but we are reluctant to listen to the demands and commands of the Queen of Heaven!
Sad, so sad! In 1957, Sister Lucia of Fatima said to Fr. Fuentes: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad! Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Light the Fires of Charity and Burn the Debt of Sin by Penance
Heaven is trying, year after year, from apparition to apparition, to light and enkindle a fire in our hearts—but the wood is green, soaked in materialism and hedonism (pleasure seeking) and the fire won’t take hold. But if we don’t allow the Holy Ghost to enkindle in our hearts the fire of His love, while we are still living on this Earth, then our charity is going to have to fired-up by the fires of Purgatory after we die. In a nutshell, we were made to burn! Either we burn the debt of sins with the fires of love in our hearts here below; or we burn for the debt of our sins in either Purgatory or Hell. God wants us to do it the least painful way—what do we want to do? It’s a simple logical case of burn now, or burn later!
We love God so little―yet He has a thousand claims on our love for the thousands of things he has done for us. Yet, we treat Him with coldness, indifference and base ingratitude. He died for each one of us. How many thousands of sins has He not forgiven us? Do we ever thank Him as we ought? Do we repay Him the debt with penance as we ought? He remains day and night on the Altar, waiting for our visits, anxious to help us. How seldom we go to Him! He longs to come into our souls in Holy Communion, and we refuse Him entrance. He offers Himself up for us on the Altar every morning at Mass and gives oceans of graces to those who assist at this great Sacrifice. Yet many are too lazy to go to this Calvary! What an abuse of grace! What an abuse of love! What an abuse of mercy! What an abuse of God! A “child abuser” might be evil, but not as evil as a “God abuser”―yet our earthly, materialistic minds never look at things in this way, nor judge things in that way!
Our hearts are mean and hard, full of self-love. We have happy homes, splendid food, warm clothing, an abundance of all good things. Many around us live in hunger and misery, and we give them so little; whereas, we spend lavishly and needlessly on ourselves.
Life is given to us, as the Catechism says, “to know, love and serve God, to save our souls.” Most Catholics―80%―no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly―neither do they go to Confession after missing Sunday Mass―so, objectively speaking, they are living in mortal sin and at enmity with their loving God on that basis of that one sin alone, never mind what other mortal sins they might be committing on daily basis. Thus 80% of Catholics are implicitly or explicitly declared enemies of God. Most Christians, Catholics and Protestants together, are satisfied to give God a mere average of five minutes of prayer in the morning, five minutes at night! If Catholics say the Rosary―but only 2% do that―then add on 15 microwaved minutes on the fast setting. The rest of the 24 hours is given to work, rest and pleasure. Ten or thirty minutes to God, to our immortal souls, to the great work we have to do―namely, our salvation. Twenty‑three hours and 50 minutes (or 23 hours and 30 minutes or so) to this transitory life! Is it fair to God? Is that what we call loving God? It is an abuse of God’s love! We live pretty much for free in God’s apartment―the Earth―with free air, free water through rainfall, free soil, free vegetation (even though selfish man wants to harness or steal these things and then make a profit on them by charging us by selling God’s free gifts).
If We Only Knew...
Fr. Schouppe, in his book Purgatory Explained, writes: “God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. His Justice is terrible because His Sanctity is infinite. The Justice of God is terrible, and it punishes with extreme rigor even the most trivial faults. The reason is, that these faults, light in our eyes, are in nowise so before God. The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended, the slightest transgression assumes enormous proportions, and demands enormous atonement. This explains the terrible severity of the pains of the other life, and should penetrate us with a holy fear. This fear of Purgatory is a salutary fear; its effect is, not only to animate us with a charitable compassion towards the poor suffering souls, but also with a vigilant zeal for our own spiritual welfare. Think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will endeavor to avoid the least faults; think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will practice penance, that you may satisfy Divine Justice in this world rather than in the next.”
Reproaches for our Presumption on God’s Love and Mercy
In chapter 15 of St. Catherine of Genoa’s Treatise on Purgatory, we read of reproaches made to her by a soul from Purgatory, who says: “If only I were able utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror, and say to them: O wretched beings! Why are you so blinded by this world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision for the great necessity that will then come upon you? You shelter yourselves beneath your hope in the mercy of God, which you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain you to do His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His justice is unfailing, it must necessarily be in some way fully satisfied. Have not the boldness to say: ‘I will go to confession and gain a plenary indulgence and thus I shall be saved.’ Remember that the full confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of gaining them.”
All the more do we presume on God’s loving mercy when we fail to show mercy to those who have sinned against us, or those who have sinned in general―the people we read or hear about, but do nothing about praying for them or sacrificing for their conversion. Yes, “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9)―but are we like that? Our Lord said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “As long as you did it to one of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, I repent; forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). Note here that forgiveness only comes after sinning has stopped and penance has started. The same is true for confession—lip service repentance is not real repentance. A firm purpose of amendment is one of the conditions for a valid confession.
“For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
Love God―And Do What You Want!
The statement: “Love―and do what you want!”―uttered by St. Augustine, does not mean that if we love God, then we can commit all the sins that we want! If we truly love God―then we will not sin. Our Lord’s comments at the Last Supper show this, where He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me ... He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words ... If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15; John 14:21, 24; John 15:10, 14). St. John later writes: “For this is the charity of God, that we keep His commandments―and His commandments are not heavy” (1 John 5:3).
We would all admit to the principle that the more we love someone, the more we avoid hurting them in any way. On the negative side, if, unfortunately, we have hurt them, then we are inclined to put things right by doing more, by way of reparation, than we would do for someone whom we had injured, but did not love. On the positive side, we tend to do far more for those whom we love, than we do for those whom we do not love. This same principle can, and should, be applied to our relationship with God, and God Himself operates the same way. “I love them that love Me: and they that in the morning early watch for Me, shall find Me” (Proverbs 8:17)
For example, at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus said of the woman, the public sinner, who was weeping over His feet and drying them with her hair: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47) and “the eyes of God are upon them that love Him” (Ecclesiasticus 34:15). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). After having been protected from death in the lion’s den, Daniel cried out: “O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love Thee” (Daniel 14:37). “The Lord keepeth all them that love Him; but all the wicked He will destroy” (Psalms 144:20)
How We Judge Our Own Faults is How We Love
St. Catherine of Genoa sees souls, stained with the slightest fault, receiving the mercy of Purgatory! We are quick to see and criticize―not only the great faults and sins of others―but also their little faults and sins! What is our attitude to our slightest faults? Of course, we ignore them, we think them to be nothing, we never seek to correct them and so they pile up over the years, like a tiny drops of dripping water filling up a thousand gallon tank over many years. But the fire of love can evaporate that ever-increasing pool of stagnant water. Just as the dripping-drops of little faults fill a thousand-gallon-tank of sin, likewise many little-flames of charity can evaporate that collecting putrid water. Those flames can do their work in Purgatory by souls suffering its fires, or those flames can be present in our daily life on Earth, with its ceaseless “gives and takes,” whereby we give to others out of a love God, and we take the good and evil that comes our way, out of a love of God.
St. Catherine continues: “I behold such a great conformity between God and the soul, that, when He finds her pure as when His divine majesty first created her, He gives the soul an attractive force of ardent love, which would annihilate her if she were not immortal. He so transforms her into Himself that, forgetting all, the soul no longer sees anything except Him; and He continues to draw her toward Him, inflames her with love, and never leaves her, until He has brought her to that state from whence she first came forth, that is, to the perfect purity in which she was created.”
Just like the storm strengthens the roots of the young plant, and the bitter cold kills all the bugs that surround the plant, so too do the torments and sufferings of Purgatory (or during our life on Earth) strengthen and purify the love of the souls suffering therein. “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength” (Psalms 17:2). The Sacred Heart is a symbol of love. The Sacred Heart is example of love. That is why Jesus says to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
These same or similar sentiments were expressed by Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame), when He said: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Time is Short―Let Us Not Be Short on Charity or Mercy
Let us not presume on the mercy of God and let us not abuse the love of God. Time is short―eternity is long! Let us not spend eternity lamenting the time we wasted by abusing the love and mercy of God while here on Earth! God is good and God is merciful―but God helps those who help themselves by following His demands and commands. One of those many demands and commands is to love our neighbor and to show mercy to others―and St. Thomas Aquinas puts mercy as a child of charity, or a room in the mansion of charity. We would do well to FREQUENTLY and SERIOUSLY reflect upon these Our Lord and Holy Scripture:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me! … As long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Love worketh no evil. “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). . “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’ ― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee―and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:2). Thus, in the Our Father that Our Lord taught us pray, we say: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” which is based on the Scriptural verse “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors!” (Matthew 6:12). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father, Who is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
The Sacred Heart is a merciful heart ― but that merciful Sacred Heart requires that we have the same merciful spirit. The world today does not have that spirit. Do not let yourself be influenced or moved by that merciless spirit of the world. You will regret it for eternity. If most Catholic souls―not even counting non-Catholic souls―are lost, then don’t make it any harder for yourself by absorbing and following the world’s merciless spirit. The spirit of Christ is a spirit of charity―the spirit of the world is a spirit of hatred―first of all a hatred of God’s laws and secondly a hidden or not so hidden hatred of all that is connected to God or that follows God and His laws. That is why Holy Scripture says: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
You may have heard of the saying: “Love God and do whatever you want!” It sounds good, huh? Sounds too good to be true! Before we fittingly examine the claim on the very fitting feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus―a Heart of Divine Love, let us first establish the source of the saying. Where does it come from? The saying is loosely based on the words of St. Augustine, from one of his homilies, where he says: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee―Love, and do what thou wilt! Whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good!” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Seventh Homily on 1 John 4:4-12).
Notice that St. Augustine did NOT say: “Because God loves you, you can do whatever you please: for love covers a multitude of sins!” or something similar. It is not God’s love for us that covers a multitude of sins―but our love for God that covers a multitude of sins: “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). It’s not true that God’s love for us is a license to sin or causes God to turn a blind eye to our sins. Unfortunately, many people have adopted that false notion and have somehow attributed it as being biblical.
This is tragic, false, dangerous and wrong. Yes, God loves us unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean He is indifferent toward what we believe and how we act. God loves the sinner―but He also hates sin. That is why He created Hell and Purgatory―sin does not and cannot go unpunished. We cannot fall into the Protestant pit and trap of thinking that Faith in God is enough―and that regardless of how bad we are, we will still be saved. Luther was of this opinion―which is reflected in his infamous phrase: “Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ!” Yet many a Catholic has accepted a similar viewpoint, whereby they say: “Be a sinner and sin strongly, don’t worry about it―just go to Confession and confess it! Then start all over again! Don’t worry―God loves you!” That, just like Luther’s statement, is simply satanic insanity! Let us not be deceived into thinking that just because God loves us, or because we have the Faith, and therefore our behavior doesn’t have to conform to God’s moral laws.
So What Does St. Augustine Mean?
St. Augustine is saying nothing other than what Our Lord said in Holy Scripture―but in slightly different way. He is paraphrasing the following quotes: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture implies the same thing: “Love worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). “Hate evil and love good!” (Amos 5:15). “You that love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psalm 96:10). “Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling-block” (Psalm 118:165). “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother―then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). “This commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother!” (1 John 4:21).
The so-called “hymn of charity” also applies: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The Sacred Heart is All About Love
God is love: “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and the Sacred Heart is God―therefore the Sacred Heart is love and charity. This is exactly what the Sacred Heart said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
Taking Things For Granted―Taking God For Granted―Taking Love For Granted
Sometimes we can take God for granted. In our spiritual lives, we just go through the motions: automatic and thoughtless signs of the cross; mindless half-hearted prayers; robotic genuflections; chore-like and mundane assistance at Mass; empty-headed and profitless spiritual reading; sleepy and drowsy meditations; machine-gun-like and aimless Rosaries; absent-minded and ill-prepared confessions; fast-food or fast-track style Holy Communions and many other ways of showing the truth of Our Lord’s words: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
“Familiarity breeds contempt” is what they say, and that so readily applies to our Faith and our relationship with God. What was once a period of awe, amazement and attraction, has now for many become something bland, boring and burdensome. They say that routine is the prime killer of devotion—this is true not only in the natural sphere, but also in the supernatural sphere. This routine affects the relationship between spouses, parents and children, friends and work colleagues and even our relationship with God Himself.
We have been in God’s workplace, the Church, for so long, that familiarity has bred, if not contempt, then at least a growing indifference to God and the things of God. We hear the same readings at Mass year after year; we say the same prayers year after year; we hear the same sermons and appeals year after year; we see the same unimproved faults and weaknesses among our fellow Catholics year after year; we confess the same sins year after year; we seem to get away unpunished by God year after year—so it is hardly surprising that we find ourselves slipping into the fatal fantasy of feeling that God is somehow far away and couldn’t care less about what we are really doing or not doing. This helps us make a compromise with indifference and lukewarmness—at first uneasy, but more and more easy with each passing year.
This is one of the several ingredients that make us go through our spiritual and liturgical exercises in a half-awake, partially attentive, automatic, mindless, thoughtless and loveless manner, like some sort of cloned Catholic robot. Sure, we go through the motions, but our minds, thoughts, hearts and affections—if not yet divorced—are living separated from what we are doing, with only occasional ‘weekend visiting rights.’ The fact that so many religious and spiritual activities have become boring, bland and burdensome, inevitably makes this cancer slowly grow to rapidly approaching fatal levels.
Love to Judge but Won’t Budge to Love
But the Pharisees, who were self-professed upholders of tradition and judges of religious matters, were not afraid to judge, but their judgment was merely superficial and biased. In fact, they judged those who were better than themselves and those who were worse than themselves in the same way—because neither was like themselves. They judged Our Lord as being possessed by a devil, in the same way as they judged the adulteress (St. Mary Magdalen), a whore who actually was possessed by seven devils. Yet both the innocent Jesus and the guilty Mary Magdalen were accepted by God, whereas the Pharisees and their middle of road lukewarmness were rejected and cursed (cf. Matthew chapter 23) with Our Lord imprecating one woe after another in His tirade of indignation against them.
We remember well the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ... I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18:11-14). We see this parable play-out in reality at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee.
Love and Penance
Jesus burnt Himself out with pure love as a penance for our sins. Mary Magdalen burnt out her impure love with penance performed out of love for the Pure Love―Jesus. This is why she wept at Our Lord’s feet at the banquet of another Pharisee, Simon (Luke, chapter 7). Simon the Pharisee, “who had invited Him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: ‘This man, if He were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Simon, I have something to say to thee … Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And He said to her: ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’” (Luke 7:36-50).
Where Mary Magdalen had once burned with impure love, she now burned with a pure love. Love, like fires or flames, can be of differing temperatures. To one who loves much, much is forgiven; to one who loves less, less is forgiven: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47). That is why a perfect act of contrition―which, by its very essence, is based upon love―can wipe out, not only the guilt of even the worst imaginable sins, but also all the temporal punishment due to sin in this world and in the next. In other words, someone who is the worst sinner in the world, can―only by God’s grace―make such a perfect act of contrition out of a deep love of God and sorrow for having abused that love, which will then take that sinner past the souls of persons who had lived much holier lives, but at a low degree of love, but are still languishing in Purgatory, and take that sinner straight to Heaven. Don’t you just love that?!!
The ‘Fast-Track’ of Love
It is like seeing someone at the back of a super long airport check-in line, or a supermarket check-out line, being ‘fast-tracked’ to the other side in a matter of seconds, while we may been standing in that line for well over half-an-hour! The instinctive feeling is just like that of the laborers in the vineyard, who had borne the brunt of the work under the scorching heat—a reaction of indignation, injustice, anger and protest! The reply will be the same: “Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15).
The priest is also instructed to approach penitents the same way in confession. If he judges that the penitent truly has great sorrow and remorse for what he/she has done, then he is instructed to give a lesser penance than he would give to somebody who merely confesses the sin as just a matter of course, as something trivial. And if the priest discovers that the penitent has already done much penance for his/her transgression, then even less penance is to be given to the penitent. Such is the mind of the Church, which reflects the mind of Christ—as seen at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee. “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8).
Whom Does Jesus Love?
So when we encounter “sinners” in the world, we never know what has transpired in their heart or in the confessional. The sinner, whom I may hold in contempt, might well be very close to Our Lord and Our Lady, as was Mary Magdalen. The love of Jesus embraces all and He gives chances to all—but they must take and profit from those offers of His love. There are three kinds of persons of whom the Bible says that Jesus loved them:
(1) The fervent and ever-present Apostle, the virgin, St. John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 20:2): “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). John’s virginal soul burned with divine love to the end.
(2) The two women, Martha (the hard-working virgin) and her sister Mary Magdalen (the converted possessed whore), and their brother Lazarus: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Here we see both sinner and non-sinner, but of the three, Jesus loved Mary Magdalen the most—she was sat at His feet listening to His words; another time laid weeping over His feet and drying them with her hair; standing at His feet as died on the Cross; and stood at His feet as He was lying in the tomb. Her sorrowful repentant love burned to the end.
(3) The third case was that of the rich young man “And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me’” (Mark 10:21). But whereas the fisherman John left everything to follow Jesus, and Mary left sin to follow Jesus, this young man could not pull himself away from his love of his present state in the world: “Who being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22). He would not light a fire of divine love in heart, because there was already a fire of love for worldly things burning there!
Words of Love
Here are a few quotes from Our Lord, taken from the book Words of Love, by Fr. Bartholomew Gottemoller, which is compilation of extracts of revelations made by the Sacred Heart to three mystics of the last century: Sr. Josefa Menendez, Sr. Consolata Betrone and Sr. Mary of the Trinity.
“Love is sanctity. The more you love Me, the more you will become holy!” … “He who never needs forgiveness is not the most happy, but rather he who has humbled himself many times.”
“I want to tell you this, that My best-loved and specially favored souls—My priests and My consecrated nuns—may learn it through you. My Heart is never wounded unless it be by My chosen souls. If their infidelities wound Me deeply, their love consoles and delights My Heart to such a degree that I, so to speak, forget the sins of many others on their account. I do not say that by the fact of My choice, a [chosen] soul is freed from her faults and wretchedness. That soul may and will fall often again, but if she humbles herself, if she recognizes her nothingness, if she tries to repair her faults by little acts of generosity and love, if she confides and surrenders herself once more to My Heart ... she gives Me more glory and can do more good to other souls than if she had never fallen. Miseries and weaknesses are of no consequence―what I do ask of them is love.”
“The obstinacy of a guilty soul wounds My Heart deeply―but the tender affection of one who loves Me, not only heals the wound, but turns away the effects of My Father’s Justice” … “As soon as a soul throws itself at My feet and implores My forgiveness, I forget all her sins” … “Love is reparation and reparation is love” … “It is love that makes reparation, because that which offends God in sin is the absence of love.”
“A soul will profit even after the greatest sins, if she humbles herself. I will raise up the humble, and make little of their frailties, and even of their falls, provided they have humility and love.” … “Yes, I love all souls, but with very special affection those who are the most weak and little.”
“Think no longer about yourself, about your perfection, on how to attain to sanctity, or about your defects, your present and future troubles. No. I will see to your sanctification, to your sanctity. You must henceforth think only of Me and of souls; of Me to love Me, and of souls to save them!”
“A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so; to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart. That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls―though they be ugly, soiled, filthy―My love considers them always beautiful. I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me―on the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with My parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful. The souls are Mine―for them I have given all My Blood!”
“I ask only for love. Ah, what are you doing about it? … I prefer an act of love and a Communion of love to any other gift ... I thirst for love.” … “That soul is dearest to Me who loves Me the most.”
The World’s Attitude is the Opposite of Christ’s Attitude
Can you imagine today’s demonstrators, rioters, accusers, vigilantes and bloodhounds feeling that way about sinners? You would sooner see Satan as a saint than those people having the spirit of Our Lord! Everywhere there are cries for justice to be done―justice over the George Floyd killing by a Minneapolis police officer; justice for Breonna Taylor after being murdered by Louisville police officers; justice for Michael Thomas who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy; and the list goes on and on. Yet the MSM (mainstream media) and their puppet-masters merely put the white man’s injustices against the black man under the microscope and under the “cross-hairs” or “sights” of their “justice rifles or shotguns” while ignoring, hiding and failing to place the many black man’s injustices against the white man under the microscope at the same time, or any other mixture of racial justice involving other races or skin colors! What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Even our loving and just and merciful God is not a respecter of persons: “And Peter opening his mouth, said: ‘In very deed I perceive, that God is not a respecter of persons!’” (Acts 10:34) … “For there is no respect of persons with God!” (Romans 2:11).
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph William Louis “Rudy” Giuliani was excoriated by the mainstream media for citing statistics that prove white cops killing black males is minor compared to the thousands who are killed every year by other blacks. Giuliani pointed out that “93% of blacks are killed by other blacks.” A six-year FBI study conducted between 2007 and 2012 found that, on average, local police forces kill 400 people every year in America. Of those, only 96, or 25%, involved blacks being killed by white police officers. It is worth noting that, according to the nonprofit New Century Foundation, of the nearly 1 million violent crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites in America, blacks commit 85% and whites commit 15%. Every crime needs protesting and every crime needs justice ― not just “white crime” ― that is not justice, for justice is defined as “giving to others their due”. Yet justice needs to be mixed with mercy and truth if we are to be Godlike and Christian, “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!’” (Matthew 9:13) ― call sinners to what or where? To call sinners to His mercy through repentance and penance. Is not America supposed “One nation under God” as is said in the Pledge of Allegiance? Surveys show that 87% of Americans claim they believe in God!
What Does the God of America Say on Justice and Mercy?
What does that God―under Whom America claims to be and in Whom they profess to believe―say about justice and mercy? God says: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel [America]? Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him in what day soever he shall sin―and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness―and the just shall not be able to live in his justice in what day soever he shall sin. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity―all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die! And if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!” ― and he do penance for his sin and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing―then he shall surely live, and shall not die! None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him―for he hath done judgment and justice, and so he shall surely live. And the children of thy people have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not equitable [fair] !’ ― whereas [in reality] their own way is unjust! For when the just shall depart from his justice and commit iniquities―then he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness and shall do judgments and justice―then he shall live in them. And you say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel [America]” (Ezechiel 33:11-20).
Putting these figures in perspective then, for every black killed by a white police officer in the U.S. every year, there are about 71 blacks killed by other blacks. Worse, if you take—on average—9,252 black-on-black murders every year for the past 35 years, you arrive at a staggering 323,820 blacks killed by other blacks on America’s mean streets in just three-and-a-half short decades. The problem, of course, is that this grim statistic will never be mentioned by the liberal media or any of the other race baiters out there, who are busy pointing the finger at racist white policemen killing “innocent, unarmed black children.” By the way, last year 105 policemen were killed in the line of duty. This year 112 have been killed to date. That’s more than the number of blacks killed by white policemen, yet the media sheds no tears for any of them. Tears should be shed for all―but in all honesty, we live in a “couldn’t care less”, tearless, heartless world―unless it involves ourselves or our interests and advantage. What really exists is selective justice, selective mercy, selective compassion, selective tears! That is not of God and it is not the spirit of Christ. It is a spirit that comes from somewhere else―from the prince of this world and his minions and stooges.
Then you have cries for justice for Florida protester Oluwatoyin Salau after her disappearance and death. One of the steps taken by “Justice for Salau” movement was a petition aimed at the Tallahassee Police Department and Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, to further investigate Salau's death. “Toyin had her whole life ahead of her and she was failed by the system. We demand justice for Toyin!” the petition description read. All of this is fine and true―but all of this is a merely selective tip of an iceberg which ignores the large hidden mass of the iceberg that is underwater.
You could also put those same words to a petition for justice for aborted babies―“The baby had its whole life ahead of it and the baby was failed by the system. We demand justice for the murdered baby!” What about justice for the 62 million babies aborted [murdered] in the USA since 1973? What about justice for the 18 million black babies aborted [murdered] in the USA since 1973? What about justice for the 2,500 to 3,000 babies aborted [murdered] daily in the USA? What about justice for the estimated 13-23 million abortions that happen annually in China? That number for one single year is 2 to 4 times greater than the numbers the Jews claim in the holocaust―and those abortions take place EACH AND EVERY YEAR!
Justice is selective today. Justice is hypocritical today. Justice is a joke today. They rightfully rage about child molesters, but keep silent about the baby molesters or baby butchers. Men and women who have killed their babies in abortion, rant and rave about lesser crimes that occur in the world. What would they say to Our Lord, who would tell them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7) … “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you hand out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye! ― and behold there is a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5).
O what a hateful and loveless world we live! What a vindictive and merciless world we live in! What a godless and satanic world we live in! “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
“In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying: ‘Where is His promise or His coming? … But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord delayeth not His promise―as some imagine―but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the Earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:3-12).
There is No Love Without Anger―There is No Mercy Without Justice
Yes, “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but God is also angry: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘See how this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them and that I may destroy them!” (Exodus 32:9-10). “Thou didst provoke Him and He was angry, and would have destroyed thee!” (Deuteronomy 9:8). “Be not deceived―God is not mocked! For what things a man [America or any other nation] shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8)―America is not sowing in the spirit of God, but in the spirit of the world, a godless world, a world that has the spirit of its prince, the devil―even though it professes or pretends to be under God. Our Lord’s words apply perfectly: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Mark 7:6]). “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
It takes no genius, or rocket scientist, or university professor to see that any nation that allows abortion, contraception, same-sex marriages, that legalizes sodomy, canonizes homosexuality, eulogizes immodesty, glamorizes pornography, overemphasizes materiality but demonizes religiosity―that such a nation cannot avoid falling under the “loving wrath” and “chastising love” of all just and merciful God. To pretend to be “one nation under God” and say that “in God we trust” is―at the present time―one hell of a hypocrisy.
In a letter dated February 28th, 1943, Sister Lucia addressed issues to the Bishop of Gurza, that concerned both Portugal and Spain. She wrote: “The Good Lord will allow Himself to be appeased, but He complains bitterly and sadly about the very limited number of souls in the state of grace, disposed to deny themselves according to what the observance of His law requires of them. Here is the true penance which the Good Lord requests today: the sacrifice which everybody must impose on himself to lead a life of justice in the observance of His law. And He desires that this law be clearly made known to souls, for many give to the word ‘penance’ the sense of great austerities, and as they feel neither the strength nor the generosity for that, they get discouraged and let themselves go into a life of lukewarmness and sin. From Thursday to Friday, being in the chapel with my superiors’ permission, at midnight, Our Lord told me: ‘The penance that I request and require now is the sacrifice demanded of everybody by the accomplishment of his own duty and the observance of My law.’ If the bishops of Spain take into account Our Lord’s desires and undertake a true reform among the people and clergy, good! If not, (Russia) will again be the enemy through which God will chastise them once more!” (Letter of Sr. Lucia to the Bishop of Gurza, February 28th, 1943). Hey folks! In case you didn’t realize―Russia has already subverted America ideologically. Most people don’t even understand what that means―which means it is all the more easy to achieve if people don’t understand what you are trying to achieve! O the fruits of being dumbed-down and fed and raised on fun and entertainment! Just keep enjoying life while the enemy takes over!
Badness Leads to Sadness
At La Salette, Our loving Lady said it brutally but sweetly: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” Do those words strike fear into our lukewarm and indifferent hearts? Or do they fail to penetrate our “waterproofed” or “wordproofed” hears and merely flow off our hearts like the proverbial water flowing off a duck’s back? We listen to and believe the ‘prophecies’ made by politicians and professors about COVID and other things and comply with their demands and commands, however reluctantly―but we are reluctant to listen to the demands and commands of the Queen of Heaven!
Sad, so sad! In 1957, Sister Lucia of Fatima said to Fr. Fuentes: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad! Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent! It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Light the Fires of Charity and Burn the Debt of Sin by Penance
Heaven is trying, year after year, from apparition to apparition, to light and enkindle a fire in our hearts—but the wood is green, soaked in materialism and hedonism (pleasure seeking) and the fire won’t take hold. But if we don’t allow the Holy Ghost to enkindle in our hearts the fire of His love, while we are still living on this Earth, then our charity is going to have to fired-up by the fires of Purgatory after we die. In a nutshell, we were made to burn! Either we burn the debt of sins with the fires of love in our hearts here below; or we burn for the debt of our sins in either Purgatory or Hell. God wants us to do it the least painful way—what do we want to do? It’s a simple logical case of burn now, or burn later!
We love God so little―yet He has a thousand claims on our love for the thousands of things he has done for us. Yet, we treat Him with coldness, indifference and base ingratitude. He died for each one of us. How many thousands of sins has He not forgiven us? Do we ever thank Him as we ought? Do we repay Him the debt with penance as we ought? He remains day and night on the Altar, waiting for our visits, anxious to help us. How seldom we go to Him! He longs to come into our souls in Holy Communion, and we refuse Him entrance. He offers Himself up for us on the Altar every morning at Mass and gives oceans of graces to those who assist at this great Sacrifice. Yet many are too lazy to go to this Calvary! What an abuse of grace! What an abuse of love! What an abuse of mercy! What an abuse of God! A “child abuser” might be evil, but not as evil as a “God abuser”―yet our earthly, materialistic minds never look at things in this way, nor judge things in that way!
Our hearts are mean and hard, full of self-love. We have happy homes, splendid food, warm clothing, an abundance of all good things. Many around us live in hunger and misery, and we give them so little; whereas, we spend lavishly and needlessly on ourselves.
Life is given to us, as the Catechism says, “to know, love and serve God, to save our souls.” Most Catholics―80%―no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly―neither do they go to Confession after missing Sunday Mass―so, objectively speaking, they are living in mortal sin and at enmity with their loving God on that basis of that one sin alone, never mind what other mortal sins they might be committing on daily basis. Thus 80% of Catholics are implicitly or explicitly declared enemies of God. Most Christians, Catholics and Protestants together, are satisfied to give God a mere average of five minutes of prayer in the morning, five minutes at night! If Catholics say the Rosary―but only 2% do that―then add on 15 microwaved minutes on the fast setting. The rest of the 24 hours is given to work, rest and pleasure. Ten or thirty minutes to God, to our immortal souls, to the great work we have to do―namely, our salvation. Twenty‑three hours and 50 minutes (or 23 hours and 30 minutes or so) to this transitory life! Is it fair to God? Is that what we call loving God? It is an abuse of God’s love! We live pretty much for free in God’s apartment―the Earth―with free air, free water through rainfall, free soil, free vegetation (even though selfish man wants to harness or steal these things and then make a profit on them by charging us by selling God’s free gifts).
If We Only Knew...
Fr. Schouppe, in his book Purgatory Explained, writes: “God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. His Justice is terrible because His Sanctity is infinite. The Justice of God is terrible, and it punishes with extreme rigor even the most trivial faults. The reason is, that these faults, light in our eyes, are in nowise so before God. The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended, the slightest transgression assumes enormous proportions, and demands enormous atonement. This explains the terrible severity of the pains of the other life, and should penetrate us with a holy fear. This fear of Purgatory is a salutary fear; its effect is, not only to animate us with a charitable compassion towards the poor suffering souls, but also with a vigilant zeal for our own spiritual welfare. Think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will endeavor to avoid the least faults; think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will practice penance, that you may satisfy Divine Justice in this world rather than in the next.”
Reproaches for our Presumption on God’s Love and Mercy
In chapter 15 of St. Catherine of Genoa’s Treatise on Purgatory, we read of reproaches made to her by a soul from Purgatory, who says: “If only I were able utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror, and say to them: O wretched beings! Why are you so blinded by this world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision for the great necessity that will then come upon you? You shelter yourselves beneath your hope in the mercy of God, which you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain you to do His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His justice is unfailing, it must necessarily be in some way fully satisfied. Have not the boldness to say: ‘I will go to confession and gain a plenary indulgence and thus I shall be saved.’ Remember that the full confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of gaining them.”
All the more do we presume on God’s loving mercy when we fail to show mercy to those who have sinned against us, or those who have sinned in general―the people we read or hear about, but do nothing about praying for them or sacrificing for their conversion. Yes, “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9)―but are we like that? Our Lord said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “As long as you did it to one of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26). “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, I repent; forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). Note here that forgiveness only comes after sinning has stopped and penance has started. The same is true for confession—lip service repentance is not real repentance. A firm purpose of amendment is one of the conditions for a valid confession.
“For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
Love God―And Do What You Want!
The statement: “Love―and do what you want!”―uttered by St. Augustine, does not mean that if we love God, then we can commit all the sins that we want! If we truly love God―then we will not sin. Our Lord’s comments at the Last Supper show this, where He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me ... He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words ... If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15; John 14:21, 24; John 15:10, 14). St. John later writes: “For this is the charity of God, that we keep His commandments―and His commandments are not heavy” (1 John 5:3).
We would all admit to the principle that the more we love someone, the more we avoid hurting them in any way. On the negative side, if, unfortunately, we have hurt them, then we are inclined to put things right by doing more, by way of reparation, than we would do for someone whom we had injured, but did not love. On the positive side, we tend to do far more for those whom we love, than we do for those whom we do not love. This same principle can, and should, be applied to our relationship with God, and God Himself operates the same way. “I love them that love Me: and they that in the morning early watch for Me, shall find Me” (Proverbs 8:17)
For example, at the banquet of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus said of the woman, the public sinner, who was weeping over His feet and drying them with her hair: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47) and “the eyes of God are upon them that love Him” (Ecclesiasticus 34:15). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). After having been protected from death in the lion’s den, Daniel cried out: “O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love Thee” (Daniel 14:37). “The Lord keepeth all them that love Him; but all the wicked He will destroy” (Psalms 144:20)
How We Judge Our Own Faults is How We Love
St. Catherine of Genoa sees souls, stained with the slightest fault, receiving the mercy of Purgatory! We are quick to see and criticize―not only the great faults and sins of others―but also their little faults and sins! What is our attitude to our slightest faults? Of course, we ignore them, we think them to be nothing, we never seek to correct them and so they pile up over the years, like a tiny drops of dripping water filling up a thousand gallon tank over many years. But the fire of love can evaporate that ever-increasing pool of stagnant water. Just as the dripping-drops of little faults fill a thousand-gallon-tank of sin, likewise many little-flames of charity can evaporate that collecting putrid water. Those flames can do their work in Purgatory by souls suffering its fires, or those flames can be present in our daily life on Earth, with its ceaseless “gives and takes,” whereby we give to others out of a love God, and we take the good and evil that comes our way, out of a love of God.
St. Catherine continues: “I behold such a great conformity between God and the soul, that, when He finds her pure as when His divine majesty first created her, He gives the soul an attractive force of ardent love, which would annihilate her if she were not immortal. He so transforms her into Himself that, forgetting all, the soul no longer sees anything except Him; and He continues to draw her toward Him, inflames her with love, and never leaves her, until He has brought her to that state from whence she first came forth, that is, to the perfect purity in which she was created.”
Just like the storm strengthens the roots of the young plant, and the bitter cold kills all the bugs that surround the plant, so too do the torments and sufferings of Purgatory (or during our life on Earth) strengthen and purify the love of the souls suffering therein. “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength” (Psalms 17:2). The Sacred Heart is a symbol of love. The Sacred Heart is example of love. That is why Jesus says to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity … If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love!”
These same or similar sentiments were expressed by Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame), when He said: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Time is Short―Let Us Not Be Short on Charity or Mercy
Let us not presume on the mercy of God and let us not abuse the love of God. Time is short―eternity is long! Let us not spend eternity lamenting the time we wasted by abusing the love and mercy of God while here on Earth! God is good and God is merciful―but God helps those who help themselves by following His demands and commands. One of those many demands and commands is to love our neighbor and to show mercy to others―and St. Thomas Aquinas puts mercy as a child of charity, or a room in the mansion of charity. We would do well to FREQUENTLY and SERIOUSLY reflect upon these Our Lord and Holy Scripture:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me! … As long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves―for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Love worketh no evil. “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). “Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). . “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying, ‘I repent!’ ― then forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee―and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:2). Thus, in the Our Father that Our Lord taught us pray, we say: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” which is based on the Scriptural verse “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors!” (Matthew 6:12). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father, Who is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26). “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences!” (Matthew 6:14-15). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13).
The Sacred Heart is a merciful heart ― but that merciful Sacred Heart requires that we have the same merciful spirit. The world today does not have that spirit. Do not let yourself be influenced or moved by that merciless spirit of the world. You will regret it for eternity. If most Catholic souls―not even counting non-Catholic souls―are lost, then don’t make it any harder for yourself by absorbing and following the world’s merciless spirit. The spirit of Christ is a spirit of charity―the spirit of the world is a spirit of hatred―first of all a hatred of God’s laws and secondly a hidden or not so hidden hatred of all that is connected to God or that follows God and His laws. That is why Holy Scripture says: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Thursday June 18th
Article 12
It's Time to Act ! Do This!
Article 12
It's Time to Act ! Do This!
BLM―Black Lives Matter―Take the Knee!
The popular slogan spreading throughout the world is the acronym BLM or “Black Lives Matter” and more and more people are “taking the knee” in support of it. This, of course is true, but all lives matter. In fact eternal lives matter more than earthly lives―as Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Could we take the BLM and say Our Blessed Lady Matters? Or more to the point, Our Blessed Lady’s Message Matters! That is the BLM that matters even more―and we should not only “take the knee” over it―but we get down on both knees for it!
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Consider Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan in the light of the present multiple crises being experienced by the Church and the world. “Behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Jesus, and saying: ‘Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind―and thy neighbor as thyself.!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered rightly! This do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:25-230).
For Those Who Don’t Know
In case you do not know―and in our day, religious ignorance is common―Our Lord chose the types for His parable very deliberately. In fact, the Parable would have been seen as a volatile, rebellious, anti-establishment, slap-in-the-face statement from the perspective of the Jews―the persons whom Our Lord was addressing the Parable of the Good Samaritan―especially from the perspective of the Jewish lawyer (Scribe = Lawyer). Why would they be so offended? Well, because the Jews and the Samaritans were at “loggerheads” with each other. They hated each other.
Imagine the hatred between Serbs and Muslims in modern Bosnia, the enmity between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, or the increasing hatred between Republicans and Democrats in the USA, or the racial hatred you find in most countries, or the feuding between street gangs in Los Angeles or New York, and you have some idea of the feeling and its causes between Jews and Samaritans in the time of Jesus. Both politics and religion were involved. Here is the story behind the story.
History of the Hatred
A little bit of history goes a long way towards avoiding having to repeat the mistakes of history. If you don’t know your history, you will repeat the mistakes made in history. The Jewish-Samaritan history has been repeated many times over―with the Catholic-Protestant divide being just one case. Other such cases are the two main sects within Islam―Sunni and Shia―who might agree on most of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam, but the bitter split between the two goes back some 14 centuries. In the Catholic Church, you had a similar split or division with the Arian controversy in the 4th century, which was a series of theological disputes that arose between Arius and St. Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. These disagreements divided the Church into two opposing theological factions for over 55 years, from the time before the First Council of Nicaea in 325 until after the First Council of Constantinople in 381. The hatred shown to St. Athanasius by the heretical Arians was extreme.
So what is the history behind the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans? Satan's divide and conquer policy has a large part to play in this. Once we lose sight of God and replace Him with our own preferred idols, then we are easily divided―for God withdraws His unifying grace because we have removed our allegiane. After the first three kings―King Saul, King David and King Solomon―ruled over God’s Chosen people, the Israelites, the unwise, greedy, selfish actions of Solomon’s son Roboam, in the 10th century BC, led to a schism, in which the kingdom was split into two kingdoms, each with its own king ― the northern Kingdom of Israel, consisting of 10 of the Tribes of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Juda (containing Jerusalem and the Temple) consisting of 2 remaining Tribes of Israel―Juda and Benjamin.
Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom―for it didn’t help that the Temple, where God’s people were to worship, was located in the southern Kingdom in Jerusalem. King Jeroboam feared that if his people kept going to Jerusalem in the southern Kingdom of Juda, to worship in the Temple, they might, with time, lose allegiance to him and even rebel against him. So Jeroboam set up idols in Dan and Bethel and no longer did the inhabitants of the north travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and worship.
A later king, King Amri of the northern Kingdom, purchased the hill of Samaria from Semer (3 Kings 16:24). He built there the city of Samaria which became his capital for the northern Kingdom of Isreal. It was strong defensively and controlled the valley through which the main road ran between Jerusalem and Galilee.
With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors. The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers.
By God’s punishing Providence, in 722-721 BC, the city of Samaria, in the northern Kingdom of Israel, fell to the invading Assyrians and became the headquarters of the Assyrian province which they called “Samarina”. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The people who now inhabited the former northern Kingdom—the Samaritans, offspring of intermarriages of Jews and foreigners—vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation. For their part, the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins. So walls of bitterness were erected on both sides and did nothing but harden for the next 550 years.
In 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Juda fell to the Babylonian Empire once and for all, as the walls of Jerusalem were breached, the Temple was destroyed, and the city walls torn down.
When Cyrus, the King of Persia, who had conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews were now living in exile), permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile, the Samaritans were ready to welcome them back. The exiled Jews, however, despised the Samaritans as renegades. When the Samaritans wanted to participate in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, their assistance was also rejected. That further inflamed long-felt animosities. This was the beginning of a long-lasting hatred between Jews and Samaritans. With the rejection came political hostility and opposition. The Samaritans tried to undermine the Jews with their Persian rulers and slowed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple.
Tensions increased when the Samaritans built their own Temple for worship on Mount Garizim, and stated that their mountain was the dwelling place of the Lord, not the Temple in Jerusalem. A Jew named Manasses, of priestly lineage in Juda, married a Samaritan and was expelled around 432 BC by the Jewish governor Nehemias―who was a strict separatist, adhering to “Juda is only for Jews” policy. Manasses went to Samaria and became high priest of the temple built on Mount Garizim where the Samaritans offered sacrifices of the Law. In their nationalistic zeal they claimed that both their temple and their copy of the Law were greater than those at Jerusalem. On the other hand, Jewish animosity was so entrenched that a traveler went around Samaria on his journey from Judaea to Galilee. With that, any hope of reconciliation between the two peoples was lost.
The Samaritans later allied themselves with the Seleucids against the Jews, in the Machabean wars. Then, in 128 BC, the leader of Juda, John Hyrcanus, completely destroyed the Samaritan capital. The Samaritans rebuilt it a hundred years later and continued their blasphemous sacrifices. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a band of Samaritans profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by scattering the bones of dead people in the sanctuary.
By the first century and most likely long before, both Jewish and Samaritan priests taught their people that it was sinful to have any contact with the other. Jews were to avoid the impure land of the Samaritans and Samaritans were not to speak to Jews. In addition, Samaritans and the Jews fed their mutual hatred with insult and injury.
Jews called the Samaritans a ‘herd’, not a nation. A widely used Jewish proverb stated that “a piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.” Sometime early in the first century, Samaritans threw human bones into the Temple in Jerusalem on the day of Passover. This heinous act, according to the Jews, defiled the sanctuary making it impossible to celebrate the most important feast of the year. The worst insult that a Jew could use was to call someone a Samaritan, such as in John 8:48 when the hostile Pharisees answered Jesus by saying, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?”
Samaritans were known to lie in wait for Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the feast days. Sometimes these attacks escalated into death, and in at least one instance Rome intervened. As a result, Galileans (except Jesus) used the longer route on the other side of the Jordan when traveling from the north (Galilee) to the south (Judea and Jerusalem).
The ruling Roman legions could hardly distinguish Jews from Samaritans, but that didn’t keep the two groups from using Rome against each other. Some Samaritan men would enlist in the Roman auxiliary troops for a chance to legally harass their Jewish neighbors. Both groups are said to have bribed Roman soldiers to persecute the other.
The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) such force! It also shows the volatility and provocation of Jesus’ Parable, where Jesus (a Jew) makes the Samaritan a hero, and makes the Jews in the Parable look like bad men―for Jesus has the Samaritan rise above centuries of mutual bigotry and prejudice and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew―his enemy―after the Jew’s own countrymen pass him by! Here endeth the history lesson! Now back to the article’s theme and purpose.
Human Nature Does Not Change ― Enemies are Hated ― Real Charity is Rare
So now you know―if you didn’t already know―the background to Our Lord’s very provocative Parable about the Good Samaritan―or could you say, “Good Bad-Guy”―in which Jesus casts the non-Jewish, Jew hating, “Bad Guy” in the role of the “Good Guy” or hero who helps the poor, robbed, beaten, naked, dying Jew that he finds on the road side ―while casting the two Jewish compatriots of the robbed Jew―the Priest and the Levite―in the role of “Bad Guys”! You could transpose it to our day, and imagine Jesus telling the same Parable to Catholics, with the robbed man being a Catholic, and a Catholic priest and Catholic layman pass him by without helping him, whereas an “enemy” of the Catholic Faith (be it a Protestant, Jew, Muslim, pagan, or whatever) stops, helps and takes care of the Catholic. Think of the reaction Jesus’ Catholic hearers would have!
When it comes to enemies, we rarely think twice. Our response is emotional and reflexive. If something comes from them, we’re against it. Whatever it is they’re saying, it’s wrong. Whatever they want is bad. Whatever they’re doing must be stopped. We carry this attitude forward to our nation’s formal opponents as well as to rivals at work, political adversaries, neighbors who bug us, and family members who press our buttons. Nothing these people are up to can be good. It would help if they would just disappear.
Weakness and insecurity―which grow by leaps and bounds once we turn our backs to God―lead to over-reactive mindsets and attitudes. True virtue stands in the middle ground between exaggeration and neglect. With God on our side―what is there to fear? However, if we have partially or totally turned our backs to God, in order to chase after what titillates us more than God, then we have everything to fear. If we have stopped relying on God for help―instead, relying on ourselves or other human beings (or electronic devices), then we again have much to fear. The worst punishment God can serve up is to leave to ourselves and our own devices!
Absence of Love Invites Hatred―There Can Be No Vacuum
Once we partially or totally turn our back upon God―then we also turn our backs upon charity, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). We cannot truly love without God and His assisting grace―as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Without charity, we can do what we want―even heroic things―but they will be supernaturally useless and meritless, even though we might attract human applause. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Today, there is very little true charity in the world―even among Catholics, even among Conservative and Traditional Catholics―in fact, there has never been, in the history of world, much true charity! How so? Why? How can we know that? Because of the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints tell us that most souls are damned! Charity is essentially a love of God ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “And the second is like to this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
That love of God (and neighbor) is not mere lip-service, it not a lip-love, but a love that comes from the heart and is shown through our actions―without this kind of love, Our Lord would have to say to us: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!’ For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men!” (Mark 7:6-8). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Hey! You can’t be damned for keeping the commandments of God! Keeping God’s commandments is the first and lowest degree of a love of God. The next degree above that is of continually seeking God in prayer, in our neighbor and in the world around us. The highest degree of charity is to keenly desire to suffer much for God―as Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Without charity, we are doomed to be damned. Venial sin is a partial turning away from the love of God―but mortal sin is a total turning away from the love of God. It is well worth reading these following words of St. Thomas Aquinas on charity:
“By mortal sin man becomes deserving of eternal death, according to Romans 6:23: ‘The wages of sin is death.’ On the other hand whoever has charity is deserving of eternal life, for it is written (in John 14:21): ‘He that loveth Me, shall be loved by My Father: and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him’ ― in which manifestation everlasting life consists, according to John 17:3: ‘This is eternal life; that they may know Thee the ... true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.’ Now no man can be worthy, at one and the same time, of eternal life and of eternal death. Therefore it is impossible for a man to have charity with a mortal sin. Therefore charity is destroyed by one mortal sin. Every mortal sin is contrary to charity by its very nature―which consists in man’s loving God above all things, and subjecting himself to Him entirely, by referring all that is his to God. It is therefore essential to charity that man should so love God as to wish to submit to Him in all things, and always to follow the rule of His commandments―since whatever is contrary to His commandments is manifestly contrary to charity, and therefore, by its very nature, is capable of destroying charity. Consequently, just as the light would cease at once in the air, were an obstacle placed to its being lit up by the sun, even so charity ceases at once to be in the soul through the placing of an obstacle to the outpouring of charity by God into the soul. it is evident that through every mortal sin which is contrary to God’s commandments, an obstacle is placed to the outpouring of charity, since from the very fact that a man chooses to prefer sin to God’s friendship―which friendship requires that we should obey His will―it follows that the habit of charity is lost at once through one mortal sin. Hence St. Augustine says that ‘man is enlightened by God’s presence, but he is darkened at once by God’s absence, because distance from Him is effected not by change of place but by aversion of the will.’” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae q. 24, article 12).
Therefore, the fact that most souls are damned is down to the fact that most souls lack charity―you cannot love God and prove that love by keeping His commandments and be damned at the same time! Impossible! Consequently, living in a world such as ours―where there very little “heart love” of God (though there is “lip-love” galore) and very little keeping of His commandments (proved by the laws of governments that allow abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, sinful cohabitation, same-sex relations with sodomy legalized, gender change, pornography, increasingly legalized drug use, etc.)―living in such a world tends to beget and breed hatred. This hatred is now increasingly seen in all shades of Catholicism―Traditional, Conservative, Liberal and Modernist―and that hatred is shown to both Catholics (by infighting) and those outside the Faith. As Holy Scripture says of our days: “And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
Hatred Will Not Change the World―Only Charity Can Change the World
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in her book, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, writes: “When I saw Jacinta deep in thought, and asked her: “Jacinta, what are you thinking about?” ― she frequently replied: “About the war which is coming, and all the people who are going to die and go to Hell! How dreadful! If they would only stop offending God, then there wouldn’t be any war and they wouldn’t go to Hell!”
Perhaps it is too obvious a thing to even mention―but Our Lady did not tell the three Fatima seers to “hate” sinners, but to pray for them! Hatred of the sinner merely gives the sinner an excuse for remaining in sin. Our Lord says: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). That is exactly what Our Lady asked of Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―to seek and save by their prayers and sacrifices, those who are lost and on the road to damnation: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mar. “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
We accept this―like so many other things―in theory, but when it comes to practicing it, we fail. Our natural inclination is to hate the sinner, we are disgusted by the sinner, we want to avoid the sinner, we want to punish the sinner, etc. ― especially so if we have been on the receiving end of the sinner’s sin! This is what makes TRUE charity so difficult! It is what makes our Faith so challenging! It is also this natural tendency to hatred that damns so many Catholic souls. The hatred that we should have is a hatred for sin―not for the sinner. As Our Lord said: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you ... You have heard that it was said to them of old ― ‘Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment!’ ― but I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother ― ‘Raca!’ ― shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say ― ‘Thou Fool!’ ― shall be in danger of Hell fire ... You have heard that it hath been said ― ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ ― but I say to you not to resist evil: but if someone strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other … You have heard that it hath been said ― ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ ― but I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:11-12; 5:21-22; 5:38-39; 5:43-48).
A Leaf from the Life of Don Bosco
When John Bosco was nine years old, the heavenly Master called him openly. In a “dream”, John found himself fighting a large crowd of rowdy lads who were cursing and carrying on abominably. He angrily and forcefully tried to stop them, but they refused to listen to him. Suddenly, a Man appeared, who called John to Him and said: “Not with punches will you help these boys, but with goodness and kindness!” The astonished John Bosco gasped: “Who are you?” At this moment a Woman appeared. Putting her arms around him, she said: “Watch what I do, John!” John looked on and saw the boys suddenly change into a pack of snarling wild animals, whose growls sent terror to his heart. Then the woman put out her hand. The beasts changed again, to a frolicking flock of lambs. “But what does it all mean? I'm just a farm boy. What can I do?” He burst into tears. The Lady's answer came to him, ever to resound in his heart, to be repeated audibly several times in his life: “This is the field of your work! Be humble, steadfast, and strong!”
Today, many Catholics―imitating the non-Catholics in the world―have been changed into a pack of snarling wild animals, whose growls send terror into hearts. They are like the Jews, with stones in hand, ready to stone the women caught in adultery. They are St. James and St. John, who indignantly wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy the Samaritan town. Such attitudes are most certainly not the mannerisms and ways of Christ and God, Who said: “You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!" (Luke 9:55-56) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Some Advice from Pope St. Pius X
In his very first encyclical, E Supremi, Pope St. Pius X says in order “that Christ may be formed in all, be it remembered that no means is more efficacious than charity.” He adds, “…it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity.” Here are some more quotes by which the Pope addresses the evils of the world and best manner of addressing them:
“In addressing you for the first time from the Chair of the supreme apostolate to which We have, by the inscrutable disposition of God, been elevated … We were terrified beyond all else by the disastrous state of human society today. For who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is — apostasy from God … We must hasten to find a remedy for this great evil … We have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate but that ‘of restoring all things in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:10), so that ‘Christ may be all and in all’ (Colossians 3:2) …
“As might be expected we find extinguished among the majority of men all respect for the Eternal God, and no regard paid in the manifestations of public and private life to the Supreme Will — nay, every effort and every artifice is used to destroy utterly the memory and the knowledge of God … When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the ‘Son of Perdition’ of whom the Apostle speaks (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Such, in truth, is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in combating the dogmas of the Faith, in brazen effort to uproot and destroy all relations between man and the Divinity! … Who can avoid being appalled and afflicted when he beholds, in the midst of a progress in civilization which is justly extolled, the greater part of mankind fighting among themselves so savagely as to make it seem as though strife were universal?
“The desire for peace is certainly harbored in every breast … But to want peace without God is an absurdity ― seeing that where God is absent, thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away, it is vain to cherish the hope of peace … To restore all things in Christ and to lead men back to submission to God is one and the same aim … The way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the Church. Rightly does St. John Chrysostom state: ‘The Church is thy hope, the Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge!’ … The duty that has been imposed alike upon Us and upon you of bringing back human society to the discipline of the Church … If our desire to obtain this is to be fulfilled, we must use every means and exert all our energy to bring about the utter disappearance of the enormous and detestable wickedness, so characteristic of our time — the substitution of man for God … Do not then pay heed to private interests of any kind, but have at heart only God and the Church and the eternal welfare of souls …
“But in order that the desired fruit may be derived from this apostolate and this zeal for teaching, and that Christ may be formed in all, be it remembered, Venerable Brethren, that no means is more efficacious than charity. ‘For the Lord is not in the earthquake’ (3 Kings 19:11) — it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity. True the Apostle exhorted Timothy: ‘Accuse, beseech, rebuke,’ but he took care to add: ‘with all patience’ (2 Timothy 4:2). Jesus has certainly left us examples of this. ‘Come to me,’ we find Him saying, ‘come to me all ye that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you’ (Matthew 11:28). And by those that labor and are burdened he meant only those who are slaves of sin and error. What gentleness was that shown by the Divine Master! What tenderness, what compassion towards all kinds of misery! Isaias has marvelously described His heart in the words: ‘I will set My spirit upon Him; He shall not contend, nor cry out; the bruised reed He will not break, He will not extinguish the smoking flax’ (Isaias 42:1 ff) … This charity, ‘patient and kind’ (1 Corinthians 13:4), will extend itself also to those who are hostile to us and persecute us. ‘We are reviled,’ thus did St. Paul protest, ‘and we bless; we are persecuted and we suffer it; we are blasphemed and we entreat’ (1 Corinthians 4:12, ff). They perhaps seem to be worse than they really are. Their associations with others, prejudice, the counsel, advice and example of others, and finally an ill-advised shame have dragged them to the side of the impious; but their wills are not so depraved as they themselves would seek to make people believe. Who will prevent us from hoping that the flame of Christian charity may dispel the darkness from their minds and bring to them light and the peace of God? It may be that the fruit of our labors may be slow in coming, but charity wearies not with waiting, knowing that God prepares His rewards not for the results of toil but for the good will shown in it.” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical E Supremi Apostolatus).
Tough Love? Love is Tough!
Such is our Faith! Such is the teaching of Christ! Such is the teaching of the Popes! Yet, sadly, such is NOT the common attitude of Catholics! Unfortunately they have been poisoned by the spirit of hatred fomented by the world. They have been born into such a world and have been raised in a world where hatred is the norm―to the point that the world almost ‘canonizes’ hatred and sees it as being a virtue. As the saying goes: “You cannot leave clothes for very long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” Well, hatred in Satan’s smoke―and there is plenty of it in the world today. By regularly and willingly exposing ourselves to that smoke of hatred, we will invariably and inescapably take on that smoke hatred for ourselves―thinking that its only ‘normal’, perhaps even thinking it is ‘good’ and ‘virtuous’. Alas, we are only doing the work of the devil―as Our Lord said to the Jews who hated Him: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). Just as “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), God is also truth: “O Lord, the God of truth!” (Psalm 30:6). Hatred is both the opposite of charity, and the opposite of truth―for its hides, or counters, or opposes the compassion, mercy and kindness of God: “Mercy and truth have met each other―justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and his tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). For the world today, rather than mercy and truth meeting together, and justice and peace kissing each other―it is more a case of hatred and lies have met together, while injustice and riots have kissed.
This world is an unforgiving world! Where is the mercy and charity in this world? O yes―there is some mercy, but it is reserved for abortionists and abortion seekers, there is mercy for LGBT and gender change seekers, mercy for those practicing contraception, mercy for divorce seekers, mercy for medical murderers, mercy for purveyors of immodest fashions, mercy for pornographers, mercy for a few elite politicians who have been guilty of rape and child sexual abuse. But there is no mercy for any Church members who do the same. No mercy for Conservatives. No mercy for those opposing the New World Order. We cannot be a part of such a godless world―no matter what the perks might be. This is why Holy Scripture tells us what we should be repeating and telling others ― our family, our children, our relatives, our friends, our neighbors and colleagues ―FREQUENTLY if not CONSTANTLY:
“Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Those words should be printed out and posted in every Catholic home―on the refrigerator door, framed and placed on the walls on the rooms throughout the house, in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the entrance hallway―as a constant reminder of the dangers of the world and God’s command that we not be part of this world, but live apart from the world as much as possible. Yet who is there who DARE say this and do this? Who would even listen―for most Catholics are addicted to certain elements of the world. Should we then remain silent? Our Lady of Good Success laments that “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... People will think of nothing but amusement ... Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Saint Jacinta Marto of Fatima, revealed that Our Lady told her many things including: “The sins of the world are very great ... If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” As regards worldliness, Our Lady had told her to “Fly from riches and luxury; love poverty and silence; have charity, even for bad people!” Such is tough Faith that we have embraced! We need a dose of violence to really live that Faith―violence done to self, not others! Violence to our passions in the form of mortification, sacrifice, spiritual “self-isolation” and spiritual “quarantining”, regular checks not for COVID but for worldliness. That is the violence that is needed―and not the kind that we are seeing―for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Love, Not Violence, is the Weapon for Change
But remember―it is not the violence of hatred that wins Heaven, but the violence of love: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His love” (Colossians 1:13) … “the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:5). It is not the merciless that please God, but the merciful: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). It is not casting stones in hatred at others, or a buildings and stores that will gain Heaven―for, as Christ said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7) … “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you hand out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye! ― and behold there is a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). O how far away we are from truly living a true Catholic Faith! No wonder most souls end up being damned―they have twisted and distorted the true Faith into one that is tailor-made and cut to their own likings, preferences and prejudices! “They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:21).
Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy! But first of all, let us have mercy on our fellow men! Then we shall receive mercy because we have shown mercy! Yes, sin is to be hated. Sin is to be attacked! Sin is to be uprooted and extirpated. But not sinner! Our Lord said: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Yet that is hardly the attitude of most people today. They not only attack the sin, but also the sinner. It is like chemotherapy, or radiation for cancer―these things not only kill the cancer, but also the patient. Or the ventilators used on COVID patients―they end up killing the patient rather than helping the patient. Yes, we have to take tough measures against sin―but the goal SHOULD BE (but often is not) one of helping, curing and saving the sinner―whereas mostly it ends up being a “lynching” of the sinner by a “lynch-mob” of godless, clueless, emotion and hate driven people.
The anger and aggression should be directed at the sources of sin―the bad laws, the lax censorship, the second-rate upbringing of children, the immoral media content (lies, propaganda, detraction, calumny, scandal mongering, sowing seeds of immorality and crime by reporting mainly the negative news and very little positive and virtuous news, the immodest, indecent, blasphemous, immoral TV shows and movies. These are just some of the causes of disease of godlessness and immorality in the Church and world today. A doctor SHOULD always seek to treat the CAUSE OF A DISEASE and NOT JUST THE SYMPTOM of the disease―if you only treat the symptom and ignore the cause, then the disease, like a weed that has not been pulled out by its roots, will quickly return. Furthermore, a doctor will only amputate a limb as a last resort―he will first of all seek to cure the patient by less brutal methods. Let us then apply these same principles in dealing with the sinner and the sin―remembering that all of us are also sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him to be a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
Following the example of Christ Himself, we must love the sinner even while we hate the sin. As St. Paul advised his disciple, Timothy: “Accuse, beseech, rebuke” but he adds “with all patience” (2 Timothy 4:2). We will not be successful in converting those enslaved to sin and blinded by error unless we first love them. Such was the teaching of Christ Himself―Who came to call sinners and save those who were lost. He called them to conversion, of course―but with great gentleness and compassion.
Today in America political discourse is increasingly filled with shrill polemics, accusations and hatred―that generate much heat but little light. Politics increasingly relies on influencing the emotions and passions with lies, half-truths and propaganda, rather than influencing the mind and intelligence with truth and godliness. The phrases ― “In God we trust” and “One nation under God” ― are pure hypocrisy today. Politics thrives on creating hatred. “Hatred stirreth up strifes and charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). Such divisive partisanship perhaps is the way of the world but it cannot be the way of the Church, for the way of the Church must be, as Saint Paul told the contentious Corinthians, a “more excellent way”, the way of love (cf. 1 Corinthians 12: 31- 13: 13). A “bitter zeal”, rather than witnessing to the Truth and Charity of God, will undermine it. And instead of restoring all things to Christ―who prayed that all His followers be one ― bitter zeal will fracture the unity of His Mystical Body, the Church, as well the unity of any country. Indeed the cause of so many ruptures in the Body of Christ―that resulted in schisms over the course of history―can be traced to such “bitter zeal” among those who fancied themselves as “reformers”. The only true reformer is God―we cannot, of ourselves, give anyone the Faith; nor can we make anyone repent; nor can we make anyone sincerely change and amend their life―all of this is the work of God, the work of His grace ― “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― and we must pay for that work of grace by payments of prayer, sacrifice, penance and charity.
Yet a Church that embraces sinners will always be in need of reform. And many of the problems we face: the decline in Mass attendance, the crisis in vocations, the ignoring of Church teachings on matters of morality, the “religious illiteracy” among many of the faithful, not to mention the sexual abuse crisis of recent years, all underscore the need for what Pope John Paul II called “a new evangelization”. Saint Pius X wrote: “…it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who must concern themselves with the interests of God and souls – not, of course, according to their own views, but always under the direction and orders of the bishops.” However, without this direction from the bishops “who preside in charity”, those who insist on “their own views” can easily become consumed with a bitter zeal. And no true reform or revitalization of Church life has ever been the fruit of a bitter zeal. The sad and unfortunate thing is that the bishops have, for the most part, lost the true spirit of Christ and His Church―and they themselves are in need of reform. Nevertheless, that does not excuse us from making the necessary efforts. As Sister Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes already back in 1957: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention [and even many bishops are no longer paying attention]. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
The popular slogan spreading throughout the world is the acronym BLM or “Black Lives Matter” and more and more people are “taking the knee” in support of it. This, of course is true, but all lives matter. In fact eternal lives matter more than earthly lives―as Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Could we take the BLM and say Our Blessed Lady Matters? Or more to the point, Our Blessed Lady’s Message Matters! That is the BLM that matters even more―and we should not only “take the knee” over it―but we get down on both knees for it!
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Consider Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan in the light of the present multiple crises being experienced by the Church and the world. “Behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Jesus, and saying: ‘Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’’ He answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind―and thy neighbor as thyself.!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered rightly! This do, and thou shalt live!’ But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ And Jesus, answering, said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee!” Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among the robbers?’ But he said: ‘He that showed mercy to him!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner!’” (Luke 10:25-230).
For Those Who Don’t Know
In case you do not know―and in our day, religious ignorance is common―Our Lord chose the types for His parable very deliberately. In fact, the Parable would have been seen as a volatile, rebellious, anti-establishment, slap-in-the-face statement from the perspective of the Jews―the persons whom Our Lord was addressing the Parable of the Good Samaritan―especially from the perspective of the Jewish lawyer (Scribe = Lawyer). Why would they be so offended? Well, because the Jews and the Samaritans were at “loggerheads” with each other. They hated each other.
Imagine the hatred between Serbs and Muslims in modern Bosnia, the enmity between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, or the increasing hatred between Republicans and Democrats in the USA, or the racial hatred you find in most countries, or the feuding between street gangs in Los Angeles or New York, and you have some idea of the feeling and its causes between Jews and Samaritans in the time of Jesus. Both politics and religion were involved. Here is the story behind the story.
History of the Hatred
A little bit of history goes a long way towards avoiding having to repeat the mistakes of history. If you don’t know your history, you will repeat the mistakes made in history. The Jewish-Samaritan history has been repeated many times over―with the Catholic-Protestant divide being just one case. Other such cases are the two main sects within Islam―Sunni and Shia―who might agree on most of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam, but the bitter split between the two goes back some 14 centuries. In the Catholic Church, you had a similar split or division with the Arian controversy in the 4th century, which was a series of theological disputes that arose between Arius and St. Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. These disagreements divided the Church into two opposing theological factions for over 55 years, from the time before the First Council of Nicaea in 325 until after the First Council of Constantinople in 381. The hatred shown to St. Athanasius by the heretical Arians was extreme.
So what is the history behind the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans? Satan's divide and conquer policy has a large part to play in this. Once we lose sight of God and replace Him with our own preferred idols, then we are easily divided―for God withdraws His unifying grace because we have removed our allegiane. After the first three kings―King Saul, King David and King Solomon―ruled over God’s Chosen people, the Israelites, the unwise, greedy, selfish actions of Solomon’s son Roboam, in the 10th century BC, led to a schism, in which the kingdom was split into two kingdoms, each with its own king ― the northern Kingdom of Israel, consisting of 10 of the Tribes of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Juda (containing Jerusalem and the Temple) consisting of 2 remaining Tribes of Israel―Juda and Benjamin.
Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom―for it didn’t help that the Temple, where God’s people were to worship, was located in the southern Kingdom in Jerusalem. King Jeroboam feared that if his people kept going to Jerusalem in the southern Kingdom of Juda, to worship in the Temple, they might, with time, lose allegiance to him and even rebel against him. So Jeroboam set up idols in Dan and Bethel and no longer did the inhabitants of the north travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and worship.
A later king, King Amri of the northern Kingdom, purchased the hill of Samaria from Semer (3 Kings 16:24). He built there the city of Samaria which became his capital for the northern Kingdom of Isreal. It was strong defensively and controlled the valley through which the main road ran between Jerusalem and Galilee.
With time, both kingdoms ― Israel and Juda ― descended into corruption and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned, they would be overtaken by conquerors. The northern Kingdom of Israel fared worse than the southern Kingdom of Juda―because they had a long line of wicked rulers.
By God’s punishing Providence, in 722-721 BC, the city of Samaria, in the northern Kingdom of Israel, fell to the invading Assyrians and became the headquarters of the Assyrian province which they called “Samarina”. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria― foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. The offspring of these intermarriages between Samarians and the foreigners―now being half-Jewish, half-Gentile people―became known as the Samaritans.
Meanwhile, the southern Kingdom of Juda, which had also fallen into idolatry and sin, also fell, by God’s punishing Providence, to Babylon in a series of invasions and deportations from around 597 BC to 582 BC. Many people of Jerusalem―an estimated 20,000 from a population of around 70,000―were carried off into captivity. However, that number of 20,000 Jews grew into 1 million Jews (500 times larger―families grow quickly without contraception and abortion) over the 70 years to the time when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews lived in exile), and permitted the 1 million Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Most of the Jews loved their exile and chose not to return―for life was so good in Babylon! Only 43,000 (around 4%) Jews chose to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
The people who now inhabited the former northern Kingdom—the Samaritans, offspring of intermarriages of Jews and foreigners—vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation. For their part, the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins. So walls of bitterness were erected on both sides and did nothing but harden for the next 550 years.
In 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Juda fell to the Babylonian Empire once and for all, as the walls of Jerusalem were breached, the Temple was destroyed, and the city walls torn down.
When Cyrus, the King of Persia, who had conquered Babylon (where many of the Jews were now living in exile), permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile, the Samaritans were ready to welcome them back. The exiled Jews, however, despised the Samaritans as renegades. When the Samaritans wanted to participate in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, their assistance was also rejected. That further inflamed long-felt animosities. This was the beginning of a long-lasting hatred between Jews and Samaritans. With the rejection came political hostility and opposition. The Samaritans tried to undermine the Jews with their Persian rulers and slowed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple.
Tensions increased when the Samaritans built their own Temple for worship on Mount Garizim, and stated that their mountain was the dwelling place of the Lord, not the Temple in Jerusalem. A Jew named Manasses, of priestly lineage in Juda, married a Samaritan and was expelled around 432 BC by the Jewish governor Nehemias―who was a strict separatist, adhering to “Juda is only for Jews” policy. Manasses went to Samaria and became high priest of the temple built on Mount Garizim where the Samaritans offered sacrifices of the Law. In their nationalistic zeal they claimed that both their temple and their copy of the Law were greater than those at Jerusalem. On the other hand, Jewish animosity was so entrenched that a traveler went around Samaria on his journey from Judaea to Galilee. With that, any hope of reconciliation between the two peoples was lost.
The Samaritans later allied themselves with the Seleucids against the Jews, in the Machabean wars. Then, in 128 BC, the leader of Juda, John Hyrcanus, completely destroyed the Samaritan capital. The Samaritans rebuilt it a hundred years later and continued their blasphemous sacrifices. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a band of Samaritans profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by scattering the bones of dead people in the sanctuary.
By the first century and most likely long before, both Jewish and Samaritan priests taught their people that it was sinful to have any contact with the other. Jews were to avoid the impure land of the Samaritans and Samaritans were not to speak to Jews. In addition, Samaritans and the Jews fed their mutual hatred with insult and injury.
Jews called the Samaritans a ‘herd’, not a nation. A widely used Jewish proverb stated that “a piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.” Sometime early in the first century, Samaritans threw human bones into the Temple in Jerusalem on the day of Passover. This heinous act, according to the Jews, defiled the sanctuary making it impossible to celebrate the most important feast of the year. The worst insult that a Jew could use was to call someone a Samaritan, such as in John 8:48 when the hostile Pharisees answered Jesus by saying, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?”
Samaritans were known to lie in wait for Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the feast days. Sometimes these attacks escalated into death, and in at least one instance Rome intervened. As a result, Galileans (except Jesus) used the longer route on the other side of the Jordan when traveling from the north (Galilee) to the south (Judea and Jerusalem).
The ruling Roman legions could hardly distinguish Jews from Samaritans, but that didn’t keep the two groups from using Rome against each other. Some Samaritan men would enlist in the Roman auxiliary troops for a chance to legally harass their Jewish neighbors. Both groups are said to have bribed Roman soldiers to persecute the other.
The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) such force! It also shows the volatility and provocation of Jesus’ Parable, where Jesus (a Jew) makes the Samaritan a hero, and makes the Jews in the Parable look like bad men―for Jesus has the Samaritan rise above centuries of mutual bigotry and prejudice and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew―his enemy―after the Jew’s own countrymen pass him by! Here endeth the history lesson! Now back to the article’s theme and purpose.
Human Nature Does Not Change ― Enemies are Hated ― Real Charity is Rare
So now you know―if you didn’t already know―the background to Our Lord’s very provocative Parable about the Good Samaritan―or could you say, “Good Bad-Guy”―in which Jesus casts the non-Jewish, Jew hating, “Bad Guy” in the role of the “Good Guy” or hero who helps the poor, robbed, beaten, naked, dying Jew that he finds on the road side ―while casting the two Jewish compatriots of the robbed Jew―the Priest and the Levite―in the role of “Bad Guys”! You could transpose it to our day, and imagine Jesus telling the same Parable to Catholics, with the robbed man being a Catholic, and a Catholic priest and Catholic layman pass him by without helping him, whereas an “enemy” of the Catholic Faith (be it a Protestant, Jew, Muslim, pagan, or whatever) stops, helps and takes care of the Catholic. Think of the reaction Jesus’ Catholic hearers would have!
When it comes to enemies, we rarely think twice. Our response is emotional and reflexive. If something comes from them, we’re against it. Whatever it is they’re saying, it’s wrong. Whatever they want is bad. Whatever they’re doing must be stopped. We carry this attitude forward to our nation’s formal opponents as well as to rivals at work, political adversaries, neighbors who bug us, and family members who press our buttons. Nothing these people are up to can be good. It would help if they would just disappear.
Weakness and insecurity―which grow by leaps and bounds once we turn our backs to God―lead to over-reactive mindsets and attitudes. True virtue stands in the middle ground between exaggeration and neglect. With God on our side―what is there to fear? However, if we have partially or totally turned our backs to God, in order to chase after what titillates us more than God, then we have everything to fear. If we have stopped relying on God for help―instead, relying on ourselves or other human beings (or electronic devices), then we again have much to fear. The worst punishment God can serve up is to leave to ourselves and our own devices!
Absence of Love Invites Hatred―There Can Be No Vacuum
Once we partially or totally turn our back upon God―then we also turn our backs upon charity, for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). We cannot truly love without God and His assisting grace―as Jesus said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Without charity, we can do what we want―even heroic things―but they will be supernaturally useless and meritless, even though we might attract human applause. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Today, there is very little true charity in the world―even among Catholics, even among Conservative and Traditional Catholics―in fact, there has never been, in the history of world, much true charity! How so? Why? How can we know that? Because of the fact that Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints tell us that most souls are damned! Charity is essentially a love of God ― “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “And the second is like to this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
That love of God (and neighbor) is not mere lip-service, it not a lip-love, but a love that comes from the heart and is shown through our actions―without this kind of love, Our Lord would have to say to us: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!’ For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men!” (Mark 7:6-8). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Hey! You can’t be damned for keeping the commandments of God! Keeping God’s commandments is the first and lowest degree of a love of God. The next degree above that is of continually seeking God in prayer, in our neighbor and in the world around us. The highest degree of charity is to keenly desire to suffer much for God―as Our Lord says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Without charity, we are doomed to be damned. Venial sin is a partial turning away from the love of God―but mortal sin is a total turning away from the love of God. It is well worth reading these following words of St. Thomas Aquinas on charity:
“By mortal sin man becomes deserving of eternal death, according to Romans 6:23: ‘The wages of sin is death.’ On the other hand whoever has charity is deserving of eternal life, for it is written (in John 14:21): ‘He that loveth Me, shall be loved by My Father: and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him’ ― in which manifestation everlasting life consists, according to John 17:3: ‘This is eternal life; that they may know Thee the ... true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.’ Now no man can be worthy, at one and the same time, of eternal life and of eternal death. Therefore it is impossible for a man to have charity with a mortal sin. Therefore charity is destroyed by one mortal sin. Every mortal sin is contrary to charity by its very nature―which consists in man’s loving God above all things, and subjecting himself to Him entirely, by referring all that is his to God. It is therefore essential to charity that man should so love God as to wish to submit to Him in all things, and always to follow the rule of His commandments―since whatever is contrary to His commandments is manifestly contrary to charity, and therefore, by its very nature, is capable of destroying charity. Consequently, just as the light would cease at once in the air, were an obstacle placed to its being lit up by the sun, even so charity ceases at once to be in the soul through the placing of an obstacle to the outpouring of charity by God into the soul. it is evident that through every mortal sin which is contrary to God’s commandments, an obstacle is placed to the outpouring of charity, since from the very fact that a man chooses to prefer sin to God’s friendship―which friendship requires that we should obey His will―it follows that the habit of charity is lost at once through one mortal sin. Hence St. Augustine says that ‘man is enlightened by God’s presence, but he is darkened at once by God’s absence, because distance from Him is effected not by change of place but by aversion of the will.’” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae q. 24, article 12).
Therefore, the fact that most souls are damned is down to the fact that most souls lack charity―you cannot love God and prove that love by keeping His commandments and be damned at the same time! Impossible! Consequently, living in a world such as ours―where there very little “heart love” of God (though there is “lip-love” galore) and very little keeping of His commandments (proved by the laws of governments that allow abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, sinful cohabitation, same-sex relations with sodomy legalized, gender change, pornography, increasingly legalized drug use, etc.)―living in such a world tends to beget and breed hatred. This hatred is now increasingly seen in all shades of Catholicism―Traditional, Conservative, Liberal and Modernist―and that hatred is shown to both Catholics (by infighting) and those outside the Faith. As Holy Scripture says of our days: “And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12).
Hatred Will Not Change the World―Only Charity Can Change the World
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in her book, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, writes: “When I saw Jacinta deep in thought, and asked her: “Jacinta, what are you thinking about?” ― she frequently replied: “About the war which is coming, and all the people who are going to die and go to Hell! How dreadful! If they would only stop offending God, then there wouldn’t be any war and they wouldn’t go to Hell!”
Perhaps it is too obvious a thing to even mention―but Our Lady did not tell the three Fatima seers to “hate” sinners, but to pray for them! Hatred of the sinner merely gives the sinner an excuse for remaining in sin. Our Lord says: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). That is exactly what Our Lady asked of Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta―to seek and save by their prayers and sacrifices, those who are lost and on the road to damnation: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mar. “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”
We accept this―like so many other things―in theory, but when it comes to practicing it, we fail. Our natural inclination is to hate the sinner, we are disgusted by the sinner, we want to avoid the sinner, we want to punish the sinner, etc. ― especially so if we have been on the receiving end of the sinner’s sin! This is what makes TRUE charity so difficult! It is what makes our Faith so challenging! It is also this natural tendency to hatred that damns so many Catholic souls. The hatred that we should have is a hatred for sin―not for the sinner. As Our Lord said: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you ... You have heard that it was said to them of old ― ‘Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment!’ ― but I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother ― ‘Raca!’ ― shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say ― ‘Thou Fool!’ ― shall be in danger of Hell fire ... You have heard that it hath been said ― ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ ― but I say to you not to resist evil: but if someone strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other … You have heard that it hath been said ― ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ ― but I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you―so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:11-12; 5:21-22; 5:38-39; 5:43-48).
A Leaf from the Life of Don Bosco
When John Bosco was nine years old, the heavenly Master called him openly. In a “dream”, John found himself fighting a large crowd of rowdy lads who were cursing and carrying on abominably. He angrily and forcefully tried to stop them, but they refused to listen to him. Suddenly, a Man appeared, who called John to Him and said: “Not with punches will you help these boys, but with goodness and kindness!” The astonished John Bosco gasped: “Who are you?” At this moment a Woman appeared. Putting her arms around him, she said: “Watch what I do, John!” John looked on and saw the boys suddenly change into a pack of snarling wild animals, whose growls sent terror to his heart. Then the woman put out her hand. The beasts changed again, to a frolicking flock of lambs. “But what does it all mean? I'm just a farm boy. What can I do?” He burst into tears. The Lady's answer came to him, ever to resound in his heart, to be repeated audibly several times in his life: “This is the field of your work! Be humble, steadfast, and strong!”
Today, many Catholics―imitating the non-Catholics in the world―have been changed into a pack of snarling wild animals, whose growls send terror into hearts. They are like the Jews, with stones in hand, ready to stone the women caught in adultery. They are St. James and St. John, who indignantly wanted to call fire down from Heaven to destroy the Samaritan town. Such attitudes are most certainly not the mannerisms and ways of Christ and God, Who said: “You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!" (Luke 9:55-56) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Some Advice from Pope St. Pius X
In his very first encyclical, E Supremi, Pope St. Pius X says in order “that Christ may be formed in all, be it remembered that no means is more efficacious than charity.” He adds, “…it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity.” Here are some more quotes by which the Pope addresses the evils of the world and best manner of addressing them:
“In addressing you for the first time from the Chair of the supreme apostolate to which We have, by the inscrutable disposition of God, been elevated … We were terrified beyond all else by the disastrous state of human society today. For who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is — apostasy from God … We must hasten to find a remedy for this great evil … We have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate but that ‘of restoring all things in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:10), so that ‘Christ may be all and in all’ (Colossians 3:2) …
“As might be expected we find extinguished among the majority of men all respect for the Eternal God, and no regard paid in the manifestations of public and private life to the Supreme Will — nay, every effort and every artifice is used to destroy utterly the memory and the knowledge of God … When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the ‘Son of Perdition’ of whom the Apostle speaks (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Such, in truth, is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in combating the dogmas of the Faith, in brazen effort to uproot and destroy all relations between man and the Divinity! … Who can avoid being appalled and afflicted when he beholds, in the midst of a progress in civilization which is justly extolled, the greater part of mankind fighting among themselves so savagely as to make it seem as though strife were universal?
“The desire for peace is certainly harbored in every breast … But to want peace without God is an absurdity ― seeing that where God is absent, thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away, it is vain to cherish the hope of peace … To restore all things in Christ and to lead men back to submission to God is one and the same aim … The way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the Church. Rightly does St. John Chrysostom state: ‘The Church is thy hope, the Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge!’ … The duty that has been imposed alike upon Us and upon you of bringing back human society to the discipline of the Church … If our desire to obtain this is to be fulfilled, we must use every means and exert all our energy to bring about the utter disappearance of the enormous and detestable wickedness, so characteristic of our time — the substitution of man for God … Do not then pay heed to private interests of any kind, but have at heart only God and the Church and the eternal welfare of souls …
“But in order that the desired fruit may be derived from this apostolate and this zeal for teaching, and that Christ may be formed in all, be it remembered, Venerable Brethren, that no means is more efficacious than charity. ‘For the Lord is not in the earthquake’ (3 Kings 19:11) — it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity. True the Apostle exhorted Timothy: ‘Accuse, beseech, rebuke,’ but he took care to add: ‘with all patience’ (2 Timothy 4:2). Jesus has certainly left us examples of this. ‘Come to me,’ we find Him saying, ‘come to me all ye that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you’ (Matthew 11:28). And by those that labor and are burdened he meant only those who are slaves of sin and error. What gentleness was that shown by the Divine Master! What tenderness, what compassion towards all kinds of misery! Isaias has marvelously described His heart in the words: ‘I will set My spirit upon Him; He shall not contend, nor cry out; the bruised reed He will not break, He will not extinguish the smoking flax’ (Isaias 42:1 ff) … This charity, ‘patient and kind’ (1 Corinthians 13:4), will extend itself also to those who are hostile to us and persecute us. ‘We are reviled,’ thus did St. Paul protest, ‘and we bless; we are persecuted and we suffer it; we are blasphemed and we entreat’ (1 Corinthians 4:12, ff). They perhaps seem to be worse than they really are. Their associations with others, prejudice, the counsel, advice and example of others, and finally an ill-advised shame have dragged them to the side of the impious; but their wills are not so depraved as they themselves would seek to make people believe. Who will prevent us from hoping that the flame of Christian charity may dispel the darkness from their minds and bring to them light and the peace of God? It may be that the fruit of our labors may be slow in coming, but charity wearies not with waiting, knowing that God prepares His rewards not for the results of toil but for the good will shown in it.” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical E Supremi Apostolatus).
Tough Love? Love is Tough!
Such is our Faith! Such is the teaching of Christ! Such is the teaching of the Popes! Yet, sadly, such is NOT the common attitude of Catholics! Unfortunately they have been poisoned by the spirit of hatred fomented by the world. They have been born into such a world and have been raised in a world where hatred is the norm―to the point that the world almost ‘canonizes’ hatred and sees it as being a virtue. As the saying goes: “You cannot leave clothes for very long in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” Well, hatred in Satan’s smoke―and there is plenty of it in the world today. By regularly and willingly exposing ourselves to that smoke of hatred, we will invariably and inescapably take on that smoke hatred for ourselves―thinking that its only ‘normal’, perhaps even thinking it is ‘good’ and ‘virtuous’. Alas, we are only doing the work of the devil―as Our Lord said to the Jews who hated Him: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44). Just as “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), God is also truth: “O Lord, the God of truth!” (Psalm 30:6). Hatred is both the opposite of charity, and the opposite of truth―for its hides, or counters, or opposes the compassion, mercy and kindness of God: “Mercy and truth have met each other―justice and peace have kissed!” (Psalm 84:11). “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and his tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). For the world today, rather than mercy and truth meeting together, and justice and peace kissing each other―it is more a case of hatred and lies have met together, while injustice and riots have kissed.
This world is an unforgiving world! Where is the mercy and charity in this world? O yes―there is some mercy, but it is reserved for abortionists and abortion seekers, there is mercy for LGBT and gender change seekers, mercy for those practicing contraception, mercy for divorce seekers, mercy for medical murderers, mercy for purveyors of immodest fashions, mercy for pornographers, mercy for a few elite politicians who have been guilty of rape and child sexual abuse. But there is no mercy for any Church members who do the same. No mercy for Conservatives. No mercy for those opposing the New World Order. We cannot be a part of such a godless world―no matter what the perks might be. This is why Holy Scripture tells us what we should be repeating and telling others ― our family, our children, our relatives, our friends, our neighbors and colleagues ―FREQUENTLY if not CONSTANTLY:
“Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Those words should be printed out and posted in every Catholic home―on the refrigerator door, framed and placed on the walls on the rooms throughout the house, in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the entrance hallway―as a constant reminder of the dangers of the world and God’s command that we not be part of this world, but live apart from the world as much as possible. Yet who is there who DARE say this and do this? Who would even listen―for most Catholics are addicted to certain elements of the world. Should we then remain silent? Our Lady of Good Success laments that “In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... People will think of nothing but amusement ... Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Saint Jacinta Marto of Fatima, revealed that Our Lady told her many things including: “The sins of the world are very great ... If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” As regards worldliness, Our Lady had told her to “Fly from riches and luxury; love poverty and silence; have charity, even for bad people!” Such is tough Faith that we have embraced! We need a dose of violence to really live that Faith―violence done to self, not others! Violence to our passions in the form of mortification, sacrifice, spiritual “self-isolation” and spiritual “quarantining”, regular checks not for COVID but for worldliness. That is the violence that is needed―and not the kind that we are seeing―for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Love, Not Violence, is the Weapon for Change
But remember―it is not the violence of hatred that wins Heaven, but the violence of love: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His love” (Colossians 1:13) … “the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:5). It is not the merciless that please God, but the merciful: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). It is not casting stones in hatred at others, or a buildings and stores that will gain Heaven―for, as Christ said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7) … “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you hand out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye! ― and behold there is a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:2-5). O how far away we are from truly living a true Catholic Faith! No wonder most souls end up being damned―they have twisted and distorted the true Faith into one that is tailor-made and cut to their own likings, preferences and prejudices! “They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:21).
Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy! But first of all, let us have mercy on our fellow men! Then we shall receive mercy because we have shown mercy! Yes, sin is to be hated. Sin is to be attacked! Sin is to be uprooted and extirpated. But not sinner! Our Lord said: “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56) … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Yet that is hardly the attitude of most people today. They not only attack the sin, but also the sinner. It is like chemotherapy, or radiation for cancer―these things not only kill the cancer, but also the patient. Or the ventilators used on COVID patients―they end up killing the patient rather than helping the patient. Yes, we have to take tough measures against sin―but the goal SHOULD BE (but often is not) one of helping, curing and saving the sinner―whereas mostly it ends up being a “lynching” of the sinner by a “lynch-mob” of godless, clueless, emotion and hate driven people.
The anger and aggression should be directed at the sources of sin―the bad laws, the lax censorship, the second-rate upbringing of children, the immoral media content (lies, propaganda, detraction, calumny, scandal mongering, sowing seeds of immorality and crime by reporting mainly the negative news and very little positive and virtuous news, the immodest, indecent, blasphemous, immoral TV shows and movies. These are just some of the causes of disease of godlessness and immorality in the Church and world today. A doctor SHOULD always seek to treat the CAUSE OF A DISEASE and NOT JUST THE SYMPTOM of the disease―if you only treat the symptom and ignore the cause, then the disease, like a weed that has not been pulled out by its roots, will quickly return. Furthermore, a doctor will only amputate a limb as a last resort―he will first of all seek to cure the patient by less brutal methods. Let us then apply these same principles in dealing with the sinner and the sin―remembering that all of us are also sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him to be a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).
Following the example of Christ Himself, we must love the sinner even while we hate the sin. As St. Paul advised his disciple, Timothy: “Accuse, beseech, rebuke” but he adds “with all patience” (2 Timothy 4:2). We will not be successful in converting those enslaved to sin and blinded by error unless we first love them. Such was the teaching of Christ Himself―Who came to call sinners and save those who were lost. He called them to conversion, of course―but with great gentleness and compassion.
Today in America political discourse is increasingly filled with shrill polemics, accusations and hatred―that generate much heat but little light. Politics increasingly relies on influencing the emotions and passions with lies, half-truths and propaganda, rather than influencing the mind and intelligence with truth and godliness. The phrases ― “In God we trust” and “One nation under God” ― are pure hypocrisy today. Politics thrives on creating hatred. “Hatred stirreth up strifes and charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12). Such divisive partisanship perhaps is the way of the world but it cannot be the way of the Church, for the way of the Church must be, as Saint Paul told the contentious Corinthians, a “more excellent way”, the way of love (cf. 1 Corinthians 12: 31- 13: 13). A “bitter zeal”, rather than witnessing to the Truth and Charity of God, will undermine it. And instead of restoring all things to Christ―who prayed that all His followers be one ― bitter zeal will fracture the unity of His Mystical Body, the Church, as well the unity of any country. Indeed the cause of so many ruptures in the Body of Christ―that resulted in schisms over the course of history―can be traced to such “bitter zeal” among those who fancied themselves as “reformers”. The only true reformer is God―we cannot, of ourselves, give anyone the Faith; nor can we make anyone repent; nor can we make anyone sincerely change and amend their life―all of this is the work of God, the work of His grace ― “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― and we must pay for that work of grace by payments of prayer, sacrifice, penance and charity.
Yet a Church that embraces sinners will always be in need of reform. And many of the problems we face: the decline in Mass attendance, the crisis in vocations, the ignoring of Church teachings on matters of morality, the “religious illiteracy” among many of the faithful, not to mention the sexual abuse crisis of recent years, all underscore the need for what Pope John Paul II called “a new evangelization”. Saint Pius X wrote: “…it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who must concern themselves with the interests of God and souls – not, of course, according to their own views, but always under the direction and orders of the bishops.” However, without this direction from the bishops “who preside in charity”, those who insist on “their own views” can easily become consumed with a bitter zeal. And no true reform or revitalization of Church life has ever been the fruit of a bitter zeal. The sad and unfortunate thing is that the bishops have, for the most part, lost the true spirit of Christ and His Church―and they themselves are in need of reform. Nevertheless, that does not excuse us from making the necessary efforts. As Sister Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes already back in 1957: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention [and even many bishops are no longer paying attention]. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday June 16th & Wednesday June 17th
Article 11
It's Time for a Spiritual Riot!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Tuesday June 16th & Wednesday June 17th
Article 11
It's Time for a Spiritual Riot!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Fighting Fire with Fire―Fighting Riots with Riots
The phrase goes back at least as far as 1597, when William Shakespeare wrote “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror” in his play The Life and Death of King John. In other words―match intensity with intensity. Match fervor with fervor. Meet aggression with aggression. Meet violence with violence. Take an eye for an eye.
The phrase ― “fight fire with fire” ― takes on literal significance in the world of preventing and fighting forest fires. When faced with a massive, woodland-consuming storm of flames and ash, your first instinct might not be to apply more fire to the dire situation. But think about it for a second! A fire needs oxygen and fuel―such as leaves and vegetation―to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. When faced with an oil-well fire, firefighters have been known to remove the oxygen from the equation by detonating a little dynamite. The blast eats up all the local oxygen, leaving nothing to keep the fire going. When an entire forest is ablaze, however, a different tactic is in order. Firefighters remove the fuel -- and what better way to quickly remove combustible underbrush than to carefully set it on fire?
There are three primary ingredients for a fire―which we could also apply to the spiritual life. First is combustion―which is the chemical reaction of a fuel with oxygen―that results in glowing, flaming, and heat release. Then there’s a transfer of energy, as by radiation (the release of heat) or convection (the movement of hot gases or fluids). The third ingredient is the ignition of new fuels that are encountered by the released energy. Similarly, in the spiritual life, the fire of charity is a ‘chemical’ reaction of the charitable thoughts, words and actions (the fuel) with the inspiration, sparking and guidance of grace (the invisible ‘oxygen’). Under this inspiration, sparking or igniting, and guiding grace, there is a transfer of energy―whereby mere human or naturalistic charity becomes a supernatural and spiritualized charity, a Divine charity. This Divine charity then seek to inflame everything that we do―so that we do it all for the love of God and for mere selfish or human motives.
This Divine charity is the “fire” that Our Lord has come to cast on Earth. “I am come to cast fire on the Earth. And what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). As He would later say: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “And the second is like to this―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [40] On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.’” (Matthew 22:39-40).
Fighting the Hellfire of Hate with the Heavenly fire of Charity
Strangely enough, fire is everywhere―in Heaven, on Earth, in Purgatory and in Hell. Our Lord warns us of the “danger of Hell-fire” (Matthew 5:22) and the great risk that we run of being “cast into Hell fire” (Matthew 18:9), the “everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41) and man also can “go into Hell, into unquenchable fire … the Hell of unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:42-44).
Yet there is also a fire of Heaven―a positive fire and a negative fire. The “positive” manifests the glory of God and also shows the good pleasure of God in the offerings made to Him: “Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Madian: and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and … came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:1-2). “When Moses had brought them forth to meet God, from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the Mount. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke―because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the Mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:17-18). “And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Exodus 24:17).
As for the holocausts: “And he [David] built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending fire from Heaven upon the altar of the holocaust” (1 Paralipomenon 21:26). “And as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the holocaust: so Solomon also prayed, and fire came down from Heaven and consumed the holocaust” (2 Machabees 2:10). “By the word of the Lord he [Elias] shut up the Heaven, and he brought down fire from Heaven thrice” (Ecclesiasticus 48:3).
The ‘negative’ fire fights evil and the fire of Hell and punishes sinners: “And the Lord thundered from Heaven, and the Highest gave His voice―hail and coals of fire” (Psalm 17:14). “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven” (Genesis 19:24). “And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:29). Elias calls down the fire of Heaven upon some soldiers: “And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty-men: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty-men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him and the fifty-men that were with him” (4 Kings 1:10). In the time of Job, “the fire of God fell from Heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, consumed them” (Job 1:16). “And there cane down fire from God out of Heaven and devoured them―and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Apocalypse 20:9-10).
The Apostles Initially Want to Use the Wrong Fire
No doubt remembering several Old Testament events, where the fire of Heaven was called down upon God’s enemies and sinners―St. James and St. John wanted to do the same thing to a city of Samaria that had rejected and shown the “cold-shoulder” to Our Lord: “They entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him [Jesus]. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Samaritans hated Jerusalem and the Jews]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56).
There we see a fundamental problem―a chasm that exists between the human and the Divine. Our ways of thinking and acting and God’s ways of thinking and acting. It is not for nothing that God says to His Prophet Isaias: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The Shocking Approach of Jesus
We see this truth play-out in the case of St. Peter and Our Lord, when Jesus starts to tell the Apostles that He must go to Jerusalem to be persecuted, arrested, tortured and killed. Peter rebels at this idea and tells Our Lord that he will not let it happen. Our Lord replies by calling Peter “Satan” because of his human, earthly way of thinking: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
The other incident was at the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Peter drew his sword and wanted to fight to prevent this unjust arrest of His Master―but this was not the intention of Our Lord, who went quietly, without seeking to flee or fight His way out of trouble: “Then they came up, and laid hands on Jesus, and held him. And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place―for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and he will give Me presently more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:50-54). “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them [Peter] struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer ye thus far!’ And when He had touched his ear, He healed him” (Luke 22:49-51). “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. Jesus therefore said to Peter: ‘Put up thy sword into the scabbard! The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’” (John 18:10-11). Our Lord’s thoughts were not Peter’s thoughts: nor Peter’s ways Our Lord’s ways―for as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so were Our Lord’s ways exalted above Peter’s ways, and Our Lord’s thoughts above Peter’s thoughts! Our Lord did not fight his enemies―He did good to His enemies. As they say, “The pen is mightier than the sword” ― which could be said to mean that words can penetrate the soul of a person, whereas the sword can only penetrate the body. Our prayers are words that can make grace penetrate the souls of our enemies―whereas our guns, rifles, bullets and knives can only penetrate the body and often serve only to increase hatred rather than move to a conversion.
The Unpopular Teaching of Jesus
In the Old Testament we read: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:22-23)―which is also repeated in the New Testament: “To no man rendering evil for evil. Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head!’” (Romans 12:17-20).
Our Lord came to seek and save that which was lost―“The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32)―and if they will not come to penance, then Our Lady of Fatima came to ask us to pray and sacrifice for them, so that eventually the necessary graces for conversion can finally break through and penetrate their “grace=proof” hardened exterior. The Law of the New Testament is predominantly that of charity, not vengeance or revenge. James and John wanted to call down the fires of Heaven as retribution on the Samaritan city that rejected Jesus―but Jesus said: “You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:55-56). Which is why He also said: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:7-12).
Our Lord goes on to say: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away. You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45). Not quite our “cup of tea” is it? We prefer the “eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” approach to enemies, don’t we?
Does This Sound Like Us?
Elsewhere we read: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $16 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not―but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26).
The 10,000 talents (or $112 million in today’s money) was 560,000 times more than the 100 pence ($200 in today’s money).
And we are amazed that most souls are lost! Our Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts: nor our ways Our Lord’s ways―for as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are Our Lord’s ways exalted above our ways, and Our Lord’s thoughts above our thoughts! Just like St. James and St. John―who in their indignation wanted to call down fire from Heaven on the Samaritans―we have the wrong spirit! It is not the spirit of Our Lord, but a mere human spirit influenced by Original Sin.
The liturgical prayers of the Church also echo this unpalatable fact that we should pray for our enemies. Here are the prayers―Collect―Secret―Postcommunion for enemies!
COLLECT: O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles. Through Our Lord, etc.
SECRET: Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins. Through Our Lord, etc.
POSTCOMMUNION: May this communion, O Lord, deliver us from our sins, and defend us from the wiles of our enemies. Through Our Lord, etc.
An Eye for an Eye is a Sign of Spiritual Blindness
All things teach us about God―since God created all things. “The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands. Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night showeth knowledge” (Psalm 18:2-3). That is why the Church Fathers and the Desert Fathers studied nature―God’s creation―so much, because it reflected God like a painting reflects the artist, or a musical composition reflects the composer. “For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers―the moon and the stars which thou hast founded!” (Psalm 8:4). “The world was framed by the word of God―so that from invisible things visible things might be made” (Hebrews 11:3).
Holy Scripture―the Word of God Himself―testifies that “nature” or “creation” gives clear testimony to God's existence. Everyone, everywhere, in all ages has had and will have this testimony. Furthermore, the more modern science discovers about nature―the more in awe and stupefaction should science be at being faced with such unimaginable intelligent design. Such phenomenal intricacy and coordination cannot come from some supposed “Bing Bang”. The only “Bing Bang” that there is―consists of the big bang that some scientists heads must have taken to make them so stupid as to believe that nature could have evolved without intelligent design― the design of God. Natural revelation is more than sufficient to make humanity responsible and to show them they are “without excuse” in acknowledging God’s existence in the first place, and then seeking out that God in the second place: “Seek the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). "Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God” (1 Paralipomenon 22:19). Consequently every person should attempt to find out who this Creator is and what He requires of them. Unfortunately, many people have corrupted the revelation of God in nature and have chosen to worship and serve the creation rather than the Creator. Instead of worshiping the Creator, they have turned creation into a god. For this, God has pronounced judgment upon them.
“But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who―by these good things that are seen―could not understand Him that is [God], neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the Workman [God]” (Wisdom 13:1). “That which is known of God is manifest in them [creation and creatures]. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him [God]―from the creation of the world―are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made! So that they are inexcusable!” (Romans 1:18-20). “Hear, O foolish people, without understanding―who have eyes, and see not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having eyes, see you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart!” (Isaias 44:18). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
This lack of interest begets a punishment from God which allows them to become entrenched in their spiritual sloth and religious inertia. “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear’ ― until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (John 12:40). Laziness begets laziness, sloth leads to more sloth, indifference breeds more indifference, inertia merely cements inertia.
It is precisely this lethargic spirit that Our Lady was referring to when she complained to Sister Lucia of Fatima that nobody was paying attention to her message. Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
Newton’s Law of Motion (Law of Inertia) and Inert Catholics
The English mathematician, physicist and astronomer, Isaac Newton (1642-1727), pointed out that motion, speed and accelaration require force. Newton’s First Law of Motion (sometimes also called the Law of Inertia), says that an object in motion will stay in motion, and that an object at rest will stay at rest―unless acted upon by an outside force (unbalanced force). For example, a tree or a plant will stay at rest in its position in the ground, unless some outside force―a hurricane, tornado moves the tree by uprooting it, or a human hand pulls the plant out of the soil. Similarly with a car―it will stay parked where it is unless someone starts the engine, which provides the energy to the motionless to make it move, or the lesser energy of some human pushing the car could also make it move, but at a lesser speed. Some outside force with some source of energy is required to change your speed―to either increase it or decrease it. If you want to increase or decrease your speed a lot, then you need more force or energy. One of the things that Newton’s Theory of Relativity says, is that if you want to want to get close to the speed of light, then you need a lot more energy. To increase speed takes a lot of energy and to decrease speed takes a lot of energy. It takes much less energy to stay as you are.
Ultimately, in the spiritual domain, the two opposing forces are Christ (God) and Satan (the devils). God’s force is exercised by Divine Grace, while Satan’s force is exercised by satanic ‘grace’ or worldliness and all that comes with it. It is like a tug of war over the soul of each person in this world―the problem being is that each person is holding on to both God and the world―which Our Lord said cannot be done: “No man can serve [hold on to] two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). The inertia―or non-movement―on the part of Catholics is due to the fact that they are holding on to the world and trying to hold on to the Faith. It will NOT work! For Heaven’s sake―let go of the world and hold on to God, His Church and the Faith with both hands―instead of holding on the world with one hand and to the Faith with the other hand. You are going nowhere―except the fires of Hell perhaps, or at least most certainly to a very long painful spell in the fires of Purgatory!
Spiritual inertia has damned many―and will continue to damn many. The Catholic “couch-potato” has replaced the Catholic soldier of Christ. Spiritual flabbiness has replaced spiritual muscle. A spiritual atrophy risks losing the heavenly trophy―salvation. Satan’s greatest deception today is spiritual inertia. He seeks to form the “Believe all, but do nothing Catholic” and he is incredibly successful in his attempts. He whispers: “Do not try to save yourself, let God save you! Leave it in His hands! Works are not important! You are saved by Faith! You have the Faith, so why worry? Leave it all to God!” Holy Scripture, however, says the exact opposite. Yes, of course, we cannot be saved without God, without Christ―Scripture also says that: “Jesus Christ of Nazareth … is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). He has “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and "to call sinners to penance" (Luke 5:32). Nevertheless, we have a lot to do ourselves ― “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not merely say: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’” (Luke 3:8) ― equivalent to “We have the Faith! We need no penance!” Instead we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works” (Matthew 5:16) … “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:17-20) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay a hold on eternal life, to which thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). No sign or mention of inertia in all that, is there?
So why is that, in spiritual matters, most Catholics are so inert, so motionless, so indifferent, so apathetic, so slow to take any real effective measures that might save their souls? Remember―most Catholic souls are lost―not because they are meant to be lost, predestined to be lost, or made to be lost―but because they won’t do what it takes to be saved. Inertia, putting things off, doing things half-heartedly or inefficiently, living too complacently, picking and choosing what religious things you want to hear (take the sweet, trash the bitter)―these are things that lead to the loss of most souls. What makes it even worse is the fact that most Catholics know this―at least intuitively―but like the proverbial complacent frog in the slowly heated pan of water, they will not jump into action and jump out of the water―and before they know it, they are ‘boiling’ in Hell. Sad―but true. A tragic reality that need not be so! That unpopular and unpalatable truth will not go away or change by merely being silent about it―as Our Lady of Akita complained about those in the Church: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
However, that was not the case with Sr. Lucia of Fatima, whose conversation with a priest sent from Rome―Fr. Lombardi―was the exact opposite, for she was not silent on the matter. The rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sister Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved!”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity!” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sister Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation!”
Sister Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
That statement by Sr. Lucia was made back in 1954! How much worse is the world in 2020? How many more souls are being lost in the more modern days than back in 1954? [read more on that here]. Today, modern culture and human respect has almost classified talk about Hell as being something sinful, a taboo, something that must never be talked about―yet Saint Jacinta of Fatima, Sister Lucia’s cousin, said before she died in 1920: “Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell!” … “Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives!” “If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives!” Often she would say to her brother, “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!” At times she would ask of Lucia, “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again.” Finally she said, “Look, I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there!” Those are the words of a nine-year-old girl! What an embarrassment to us!
Will We Rise From Our Catholic Inertia?
Is it possible for Catholics to rise from their present spiritual inertia and atrophication of spiritual muscle? It seems that the only way, as Newton says in his Laws of Motion, that it will only happen if a massive force is exerted upon them. This could be exerted either from an outbreak of persecution or a massive chastisement directly from Heaven―in any case, it is going to take something BIG and something very FORCEFUL. We are not going to do it BY OURSELVES and the push will not come FROM WITHIN OURSELVES. Yet rise we must―or the world will fall. The increasing tell-tale signs of collapse do not recede, but boldly encroach with every passing month. The problem is that we have become used to it―and it no longer triggers any alarm in our souls.
As Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell―they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
A lot of what Our Lady foretold is with us right now―although only in its earliest stages.
Is It Time for a Spiritual Riot?
Coming back to what a riot is― Did Our Lord come to cause riots? The word “riot” is defined as “(noun): a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd; (verb): take part in a violent public disturbance.” If we are talking about “disturbing the peace” ― then Our Lord Himself professed that He had come, not bring peace, but to bring the sword (a weapon of violent conflict) and to create division (to disturb the peace): “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lady of La Salette seeks to stir us out of complacent comfortableness and seeks to be the force that agitates us into action: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
The phrase goes back at least as far as 1597, when William Shakespeare wrote “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror” in his play The Life and Death of King John. In other words―match intensity with intensity. Match fervor with fervor. Meet aggression with aggression. Meet violence with violence. Take an eye for an eye.
The phrase ― “fight fire with fire” ― takes on literal significance in the world of preventing and fighting forest fires. When faced with a massive, woodland-consuming storm of flames and ash, your first instinct might not be to apply more fire to the dire situation. But think about it for a second! A fire needs oxygen and fuel―such as leaves and vegetation―to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. When faced with an oil-well fire, firefighters have been known to remove the oxygen from the equation by detonating a little dynamite. The blast eats up all the local oxygen, leaving nothing to keep the fire going. When an entire forest is ablaze, however, a different tactic is in order. Firefighters remove the fuel -- and what better way to quickly remove combustible underbrush than to carefully set it on fire?
There are three primary ingredients for a fire―which we could also apply to the spiritual life. First is combustion―which is the chemical reaction of a fuel with oxygen―that results in glowing, flaming, and heat release. Then there’s a transfer of energy, as by radiation (the release of heat) or convection (the movement of hot gases or fluids). The third ingredient is the ignition of new fuels that are encountered by the released energy. Similarly, in the spiritual life, the fire of charity is a ‘chemical’ reaction of the charitable thoughts, words and actions (the fuel) with the inspiration, sparking and guidance of grace (the invisible ‘oxygen’). Under this inspiration, sparking or igniting, and guiding grace, there is a transfer of energy―whereby mere human or naturalistic charity becomes a supernatural and spiritualized charity, a Divine charity. This Divine charity then seek to inflame everything that we do―so that we do it all for the love of God and for mere selfish or human motives.
This Divine charity is the “fire” that Our Lord has come to cast on Earth. “I am come to cast fire on the Earth. And what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). As He would later say: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “And the second is like to this―Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [40] On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.’” (Matthew 22:39-40).
Fighting the Hellfire of Hate with the Heavenly fire of Charity
Strangely enough, fire is everywhere―in Heaven, on Earth, in Purgatory and in Hell. Our Lord warns us of the “danger of Hell-fire” (Matthew 5:22) and the great risk that we run of being “cast into Hell fire” (Matthew 18:9), the “everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41) and man also can “go into Hell, into unquenchable fire … the Hell of unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:42-44).
Yet there is also a fire of Heaven―a positive fire and a negative fire. The “positive” manifests the glory of God and also shows the good pleasure of God in the offerings made to Him: “Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Madian: and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and … came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt” (Exodus 3:1-2). “When Moses had brought them forth to meet God, from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the Mount. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke―because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the Mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:17-18). “And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Exodus 24:17).
As for the holocausts: “And he [David] built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending fire from Heaven upon the altar of the holocaust” (1 Paralipomenon 21:26). “And as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the holocaust: so Solomon also prayed, and fire came down from Heaven and consumed the holocaust” (2 Machabees 2:10). “By the word of the Lord he [Elias] shut up the Heaven, and he brought down fire from Heaven thrice” (Ecclesiasticus 48:3).
The ‘negative’ fire fights evil and the fire of Hell and punishes sinners: “And the Lord thundered from Heaven, and the Highest gave His voice―hail and coals of fire” (Psalm 17:14). “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven” (Genesis 19:24). “And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:29). Elias calls down the fire of Heaven upon some soldiers: “And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty-men: ‘If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty-men!’ And there came down fire from Heaven and consumed him and the fifty-men that were with him” (4 Kings 1:10). In the time of Job, “the fire of God fell from Heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, consumed them” (Job 1:16). “And there cane down fire from God out of Heaven and devoured them―and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Apocalypse 20:9-10).
The Apostles Initially Want to Use the Wrong Fire
No doubt remembering several Old Testament events, where the fire of Heaven was called down upon God’s enemies and sinners―St. James and St. John wanted to do the same thing to a city of Samaria that had rejected and shown the “cold-shoulder” to Our Lord: “They entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him [Jesus]. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [the Samaritans hated Jerusalem and the Jews]. And when His disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56).
There we see a fundamental problem―a chasm that exists between the human and the Divine. Our ways of thinking and acting and God’s ways of thinking and acting. It is not for nothing that God says to His Prophet Isaias: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The Shocking Approach of Jesus
We see this truth play-out in the case of St. Peter and Our Lord, when Jesus starts to tell the Apostles that He must go to Jerusalem to be persecuted, arrested, tortured and killed. Peter rebels at this idea and tells Our Lord that he will not let it happen. Our Lord replies by calling Peter “Satan” because of his human, earthly way of thinking: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
The other incident was at the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Peter drew his sword and wanted to fight to prevent this unjust arrest of His Master―but this was not the intention of Our Lord, who went quietly, without seeking to flee or fight His way out of trouble: “Then they came up, and laid hands on Jesus, and held him. And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Put up again thy sword into its place―for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword! Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and he will give Me presently more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?’” (Matthew 26:50-54). “And they that were about Him, seeing what would follow, said to Him: ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them [Peter] struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer ye thus far!’ And when He had touched his ear, He healed him” (Luke 22:49-51). “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. Jesus therefore said to Peter: ‘Put up thy sword into the scabbard! The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’” (John 18:10-11). Our Lord’s thoughts were not Peter’s thoughts: nor Peter’s ways Our Lord’s ways―for as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so were Our Lord’s ways exalted above Peter’s ways, and Our Lord’s thoughts above Peter’s thoughts! Our Lord did not fight his enemies―He did good to His enemies. As they say, “The pen is mightier than the sword” ― which could be said to mean that words can penetrate the soul of a person, whereas the sword can only penetrate the body. Our prayers are words that can make grace penetrate the souls of our enemies―whereas our guns, rifles, bullets and knives can only penetrate the body and often serve only to increase hatred rather than move to a conversion.
The Unpopular Teaching of Jesus
In the Old Testament we read: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink! For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee!” (Proverbs 25:22-23)―which is also repeated in the New Testament: “To no man rendering evil for evil. Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head!’” (Romans 12:17-20).
Our Lord came to seek and save that which was lost―“The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32)―and if they will not come to penance, then Our Lady of Fatima came to ask us to pray and sacrifice for them, so that eventually the necessary graces for conversion can finally break through and penetrate their “grace=proof” hardened exterior. The Law of the New Testament is predominantly that of charity, not vengeance or revenge. James and John wanted to call down the fires of Heaven as retribution on the Samaritan city that rejected Jesus―but Jesus said: “You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:55-56). Which is why He also said: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:7-12).
Our Lord goes on to say: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away. You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:38-45). Not quite our “cup of tea” is it? We prefer the “eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” approach to enemies, don’t we?
Does This Sound Like Us?
Elsewhere we read: “Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of $16 an ounce, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“ ‘But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not―but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“ ‘Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!’” (Matthew 18:21-35). “If you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:26).
The 10,000 talents (or $112 million in today’s money) was 560,000 times more than the 100 pence ($200 in today’s money).
And we are amazed that most souls are lost! Our Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts: nor our ways Our Lord’s ways―for as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are Our Lord’s ways exalted above our ways, and Our Lord’s thoughts above our thoughts! Just like St. James and St. John―who in their indignation wanted to call down fire from Heaven on the Samaritans―we have the wrong spirit! It is not the spirit of Our Lord, but a mere human spirit influenced by Original Sin.
The liturgical prayers of the Church also echo this unpalatable fact that we should pray for our enemies. Here are the prayers―Collect―Secret―Postcommunion for enemies!
COLLECT: O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant unto all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles. Through Our Lord, etc.
SECRET: Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by these gifts which we offer unto Thee, and in Thy mercy deliver us from our enemies, granting them the pardon of their sins. Through Our Lord, etc.
POSTCOMMUNION: May this communion, O Lord, deliver us from our sins, and defend us from the wiles of our enemies. Through Our Lord, etc.
An Eye for an Eye is a Sign of Spiritual Blindness
All things teach us about God―since God created all things. “The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands. Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night showeth knowledge” (Psalm 18:2-3). That is why the Church Fathers and the Desert Fathers studied nature―God’s creation―so much, because it reflected God like a painting reflects the artist, or a musical composition reflects the composer. “For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers―the moon and the stars which thou hast founded!” (Psalm 8:4). “The world was framed by the word of God―so that from invisible things visible things might be made” (Hebrews 11:3).
Holy Scripture―the Word of God Himself―testifies that “nature” or “creation” gives clear testimony to God's existence. Everyone, everywhere, in all ages has had and will have this testimony. Furthermore, the more modern science discovers about nature―the more in awe and stupefaction should science be at being faced with such unimaginable intelligent design. Such phenomenal intricacy and coordination cannot come from some supposed “Bing Bang”. The only “Bing Bang” that there is―consists of the big bang that some scientists heads must have taken to make them so stupid as to believe that nature could have evolved without intelligent design― the design of God. Natural revelation is more than sufficient to make humanity responsible and to show them they are “without excuse” in acknowledging God’s existence in the first place, and then seeking out that God in the second place: “Seek the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). "Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God” (1 Paralipomenon 22:19). Consequently every person should attempt to find out who this Creator is and what He requires of them. Unfortunately, many people have corrupted the revelation of God in nature and have chosen to worship and serve the creation rather than the Creator. Instead of worshiping the Creator, they have turned creation into a god. For this, God has pronounced judgment upon them.
“But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who―by these good things that are seen―could not understand Him that is [God], neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the Workman [God]” (Wisdom 13:1). “That which is known of God is manifest in them [creation and creatures]. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him [God]―from the creation of the world―are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made! So that they are inexcusable!” (Romans 1:18-20). “Hear, O foolish people, without understanding―who have eyes, and see not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having eyes, see you not?” (Mark 8:18). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart!” (Isaias 44:18). “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and their eyes they have shut―lest at any time they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
This lack of interest begets a punishment from God which allows them to become entrenched in their spiritual sloth and religious inertia. “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear’ ― until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (John 12:40). Laziness begets laziness, sloth leads to more sloth, indifference breeds more indifference, inertia merely cements inertia.
It is precisely this lethargic spirit that Our Lady was referring to when she complained to Sister Lucia of Fatima that nobody was paying attention to her message. Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
Newton’s Law of Motion (Law of Inertia) and Inert Catholics
The English mathematician, physicist and astronomer, Isaac Newton (1642-1727), pointed out that motion, speed and accelaration require force. Newton’s First Law of Motion (sometimes also called the Law of Inertia), says that an object in motion will stay in motion, and that an object at rest will stay at rest―unless acted upon by an outside force (unbalanced force). For example, a tree or a plant will stay at rest in its position in the ground, unless some outside force―a hurricane, tornado moves the tree by uprooting it, or a human hand pulls the plant out of the soil. Similarly with a car―it will stay parked where it is unless someone starts the engine, which provides the energy to the motionless to make it move, or the lesser energy of some human pushing the car could also make it move, but at a lesser speed. Some outside force with some source of energy is required to change your speed―to either increase it or decrease it. If you want to increase or decrease your speed a lot, then you need more force or energy. One of the things that Newton’s Theory of Relativity says, is that if you want to want to get close to the speed of light, then you need a lot more energy. To increase speed takes a lot of energy and to decrease speed takes a lot of energy. It takes much less energy to stay as you are.
Ultimately, in the spiritual domain, the two opposing forces are Christ (God) and Satan (the devils). God’s force is exercised by Divine Grace, while Satan’s force is exercised by satanic ‘grace’ or worldliness and all that comes with it. It is like a tug of war over the soul of each person in this world―the problem being is that each person is holding on to both God and the world―which Our Lord said cannot be done: “No man can serve [hold on to] two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). The inertia―or non-movement―on the part of Catholics is due to the fact that they are holding on to the world and trying to hold on to the Faith. It will NOT work! For Heaven’s sake―let go of the world and hold on to God, His Church and the Faith with both hands―instead of holding on the world with one hand and to the Faith with the other hand. You are going nowhere―except the fires of Hell perhaps, or at least most certainly to a very long painful spell in the fires of Purgatory!
Spiritual inertia has damned many―and will continue to damn many. The Catholic “couch-potato” has replaced the Catholic soldier of Christ. Spiritual flabbiness has replaced spiritual muscle. A spiritual atrophy risks losing the heavenly trophy―salvation. Satan’s greatest deception today is spiritual inertia. He seeks to form the “Believe all, but do nothing Catholic” and he is incredibly successful in his attempts. He whispers: “Do not try to save yourself, let God save you! Leave it in His hands! Works are not important! You are saved by Faith! You have the Faith, so why worry? Leave it all to God!” Holy Scripture, however, says the exact opposite. Yes, of course, we cannot be saved without God, without Christ―Scripture also says that: “Jesus Christ of Nazareth … is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). He has “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and "to call sinners to penance" (Luke 5:32). Nevertheless, we have a lot to do ourselves ― “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not merely say: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’” (Luke 3:8) ― equivalent to “We have the Faith! We need no penance!” Instead we are told: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works” (Matthew 5:16) … “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:17-20) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay a hold on eternal life, to which thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). No sign or mention of inertia in all that, is there?
So why is that, in spiritual matters, most Catholics are so inert, so motionless, so indifferent, so apathetic, so slow to take any real effective measures that might save their souls? Remember―most Catholic souls are lost―not because they are meant to be lost, predestined to be lost, or made to be lost―but because they won’t do what it takes to be saved. Inertia, putting things off, doing things half-heartedly or inefficiently, living too complacently, picking and choosing what religious things you want to hear (take the sweet, trash the bitter)―these are things that lead to the loss of most souls. What makes it even worse is the fact that most Catholics know this―at least intuitively―but like the proverbial complacent frog in the slowly heated pan of water, they will not jump into action and jump out of the water―and before they know it, they are ‘boiling’ in Hell. Sad―but true. A tragic reality that need not be so! That unpopular and unpalatable truth will not go away or change by merely being silent about it―as Our Lady of Akita complained about those in the Church: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!”
However, that was not the case with Sr. Lucia of Fatima, whose conversation with a priest sent from Rome―Fr. Lombardi―was the exact opposite, for she was not silent on the matter. The rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sister Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved!”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity!” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sister Lucia: “Father, many will be lost!”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation!”
Sister Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost!”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
That statement by Sr. Lucia was made back in 1954! How much worse is the world in 2020? How many more souls are being lost in the more modern days than back in 1954? [read more on that here]. Today, modern culture and human respect has almost classified talk about Hell as being something sinful, a taboo, something that must never be talked about―yet Saint Jacinta of Fatima, Sister Lucia’s cousin, said before she died in 1920: “Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell!” … “Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives!” “If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives!” Often she would say to her brother, “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!” At times she would ask of Lucia, “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again.” Finally she said, “Look, I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there!” Those are the words of a nine-year-old girl! What an embarrassment to us!
Will We Rise From Our Catholic Inertia?
Is it possible for Catholics to rise from their present spiritual inertia and atrophication of spiritual muscle? It seems that the only way, as Newton says in his Laws of Motion, that it will only happen if a massive force is exerted upon them. This could be exerted either from an outbreak of persecution or a massive chastisement directly from Heaven―in any case, it is going to take something BIG and something very FORCEFUL. We are not going to do it BY OURSELVES and the push will not come FROM WITHIN OURSELVES. Yet rise we must―or the world will fall. The increasing tell-tale signs of collapse do not recede, but boldly encroach with every passing month. The problem is that we have become used to it―and it no longer triggers any alarm in our souls.
As Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell―they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops!
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.”
A lot of what Our Lady foretold is with us right now―although only in its earliest stages.
Is It Time for a Spiritual Riot?
Coming back to what a riot is― Did Our Lord come to cause riots? The word “riot” is defined as “(noun): a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd; (verb): take part in a violent public disturbance.” If we are talking about “disturbing the peace” ― then Our Lord Himself professed that He had come, not bring peace, but to bring the sword (a weapon of violent conflict) and to create division (to disturb the peace): “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:49-53).
Our Lady of La Salette seeks to stir us out of complacent comfortableness and seeks to be the force that agitates us into action: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Monday June 15th
Article 10
Don't Just Sit There―Do Something!
Article 10
Don't Just Sit There―Do Something!
So What’s the Problem?
Sometimes problems grow so slowly that we don’t even notice there is a problem. Why? Because each little growth in the problem seems insignificant when looked at by itself in isolation from the bigger picture. This is easily done in the case of those Catholics who pretty much live for today―ignoring the past and refusing to look to the future. You could say that this is perfectly reflected in the way most Americans live with regard to finances. Reports over the last three years consistently show that around 78% to 80% of workers are living from paycheck to paycheck. The reports add that even among those who earn over $100,000 a year, most would struggle to pay an unexpected $400 expense.
Problems accumulate like houses deteriorate―little by little, from one spot to another. The same is true for disease. Unless it is an accident―like a car crash, a fall, a cut, etc. ― all diseases are problems that progress and advance little by little, whereby the initial stages seem to be non-existent, minor or trivial―and each successive stage is the progress of the disease likewise seems like a trivial advance. Many people literally drop-dead from a heart attack, oblivious to the fact that for years they were ‘suffering’ (without feeling it) from heart disease.
The same is true of cancer. The Cancer Association says that the early warning signs of cancer may be difficult to detect because the symptoms may be similar to less serious conditions, such as the flu. Also, some cancers, such as lung or pancreatic cancer, may not show warning signs in early stages. Many cancers share common early warning signs, while some are specific to certain cancers. General early warning signs of cancer include:
● Fatigue
● Unexplained weight loss/gain
● Fever
● Pain that does not go away
● Loss of appetite
● Nausea, vomiting
● Skin changes, such as a rash, redness, tenderness or swelling
● Blood in the stool, urine, semen or sputum
● Persistent cough or hoarseness
● Difficulty emptying the bowel or bladder
As the Cancer Association says ― the early warning signs of cancer may be difficult to detect because the symptoms may be similar to less serious conditions. So when someone meets with these symptoms, OPTIMISM PREVAILS, and the symptoms are ignored―and the problem grows!
Likewise with obesity. Over 40% of America is obese. The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among older adults aged 60 and older. Overall, 1 child out of every 6 children is obese. In the range of students from 5th Grade to 9th Grade―40% are overweight or obese. The American Medical Association (AMA) designated obesity a disease in 2013 and as a result, the idea that obesity is caused by insufficient willpower, lack of discipline, and bad choices began to transform. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a disease is “a condition . . . that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.” Obesity is a chronic disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity affects 42.8% of middle-age adults. Obesity is closely related to several other chronic diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, certain cancers, joint diseases, and more. Yet after all that information on obesity, how do you become obese? The answer is, of course, slowly―little by little―and not really caring about it once you start to notice it, which, in turn, means you will not take any action to prevent it, or very little action―which turns out to be futile and pointless, and so even the little measures soon cease to be taken.
Symptoms in the World Today
Let us now transpose the above to the world of spirituality, politics, culture, philosophy, education, medicine, finance, etc. We will then see that nothing really changes―the “diseases” grow little by little, resulting in our indifference also growing little by little, and our acceptance of the “diseases” growing little by little. Some people protest and it “seems” to have an effect. But all that really happens is that hypocritical words are spoken condemning the “diseases”, cosmetic measures are taken to counteract the “diseases”―yet all this achieves is merely a slowing down of the progression of the “diseases” but not a regression of them. So they advance, taking three steps forward and two steps back―then again, three steps forward and now perhaps only one step back, etc.
Almost like Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” ― also known as, “The King With No Clothes On” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes” ― whereby everyone sees the obvious truth in that (1) there is no new set of clothes, and (2) the king is entirely naked when he thinks he is clothed by this invisible set of clothes. We see here the case of the ruler or king (government) buying into the lies told by the con-men (the ‘money men’ or ‘puppet-masters’), and the rest of the king’s courtiers (politicians) and finally the common people―watching the magnificent, pompous procession of the naked king (citizens)―also accepting a lie they knew to be a lie, purely out of human respect and fear of reprisals by the king (government).
In the Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, it took a little innocent boy (not accustomed to lies and lying) to break the spell by shouting out loudly: “Look! The king is naked! He is not wearing any clothes!” This expression by the little young innocent boy reminds us the words of our innocent God in Heaven, who says in the Book of Apocalypse (which is fitting, since we are in apocalyptic times): “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind [to the truth], and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
But we won’t be zealous and we won’t do penance―because, just as in the fairy tale above, we are surrounded by a crowd who are not zealous, but lukewarm; who do no penance, but only seek self-gratification. So, we follow the crowd and merely try not to be as bad as the crowd. Our human respect and fear of reprisals makes us “put-up and shut-up” and makes us “sit-down for fear of rocking the boat”.
Deliberately Blind to Fatal Disease of the World
We see―but we don’t want to see! We hear―but we don’t want to hear! We put our hands in front of our eyes―but peek between our fingers. We cup our ears―but only enough so that we can still hear something. We live among the diseased―but don’t anything about their disease. Instead, like Cain who killed Abel, we say to God: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)―yet God replies as He did to Cain: “What hast thou done? [Or in our case: “What hast thou NOT done about it?”] The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10).
St. John Chrysostom―a Father and Doctor of the Church―teaches that upon our death, at our Day of Judgment, we shall be judged for EVERYTHING that occurred in this world while we were alive! Why? Because we are part of the body of the human race―everyone is, so to speak, our brother or sister. It is natural for everyone to take care of their own human body―it should likewise be natural to take care of the more extended human body―that is to say, the “body of mankind” or “The Mystical Body of Christ”. This is echoed in the words of Christ in Holy Scripture:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
If Christ came to seek and save that which was lost―then what on earth are we doing? “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). This is exactly what Our Lady echoed at Fatima, when she said to the three children in particular―and to all of us in general: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
What is the Blood that Crieth to God for Vengeance?
Now, coming back to God’s words to Abel: The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10). Let us first take a natural look at blood and then supernaturalize what we find. In your body―which is a microcosm of the Mystical Body of Christ―plaque can build up in arteries ― which are the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrient-rich blood from your heart to your body’s tissues. Plaque in the arteries is a fatty, waxy substance that forms deposits in the artery wall. These deposits can narrow the artery and reduce blood flow. This is called atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries.” Plaques can also rupture and create a blood clot at the rupture site, as your body’s natural processes try to repair the “injury.” The blood clot can cut off blood flow through the artery and starve your body’s tissues of oxygen and nutrients. Therefore, a ruptured plaque can be serious. It is the most common cause of a heart attack or stroke.
The real key to preventing heart disease is to use a combined approach, one that treats all facets of your physical and emotional health. It is extremely important to eat real nourishing foods based on your metabolic type (to determine whether a low-fat, high-fat or other diet is best for you) and to get out and exercise--regularly and intensely enough. Further, you must address stress and your emotions, as too much stress and negative emotions will contribute significantly to this disease.
The same applies to the spiritual life―we must “eat” and “digest” nourishing things. As Our Lord said: “It is written: ‘Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4)―whereby He quotes the Old Testament passage: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The Word of God should be our food―is it? How much of it do we “eat”? Are we on a diet? Similarly, we should be getting lots of “spiritual exercise” ― prayers, sacrifices, penances, spiritual reading, daily meditation, daily examination of conscience, as many weekday Masses as our schedule allows―perhaps tweak the schedule to allow for more! We must also address our stress and emotions by a lively strong trust in Divine Providence―for nothing happens to us that we either do not deserve or cannot from.
When to Seek Medical Help?
Here is a PARTIAL list of things from a hospital website listing incidents that should make you seek medical help. We have taken the medical perspective and added to it a spiritual or moral perspective:
(1) You experience any sudden or severe pain
Are we not pained by the deluge of sin in the world today? Do you not feel the pain? Heaven does! On December 8th, 1956, Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.” At Akita, in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.” Sudden, severe pain! Are we pained by the sin in the world, or have we been anesthetized to the pain by an overabundance of pleasure and entertainment?
(2) You have a persistent, high fever
Hopefully your spiritual fever is rising by your indignation boiling over! Unless, of course, just as “familiarity breeds contempt”, perhaps “sin has bred indifference” on your part. If we were truly Catholic―fervently Catholic―then we would feverishly praying that God put an end to all this evil in the world.
(3) Your symptoms continue to escalate and become unusually bad
Any Catholic worth his salt should be able to see the escalating symptoms of evil and that they are becoming unusually bad! “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). The words of Our Lady of Akita―concerning escalating ‘symptoms’ or ‘sin-toms’―should come to mind: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
(4) You have lost weight suddenly and without explanation
The Mystical Body of Christ has drastically “lost weight” over the last 50 years! Only 20% of that Mystical Body of Christ regularly assist at Holy Mass every Sunday―meaning that 80% of the Mystical Body has fallen into a moral disease of sin―leaving the Mystical Body more than a little lightweight.
(5) You are short of breath, have difficulty breathing
St. John Eudes (1601-1680) said: “The air which we breathe, is not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.” Holy Scripture tells us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is a rhythmic, constant act ― just like breathing. As air gives us the oxygen our cells need for life―prayer fills souls with the grace needed for our spiritual life. Once the oxygen levels drop, the effects are progression from giddiness, mental confusion, loss of judgment, loss of coordination, weakness, nausea, to later fainting, loss of consciousness and death. Similarly for the spiritual life once we start to pray less, or if we give up prayer altogether. The soul finds it hard “to breathe” ― and the world is choking us more and more, so that our “breathing” or praying becomes less and less.
(6) You have difficulty speaking
Once you overdose or binge on the world―you invariably will find that you find it difficult to speak of spiritual things. All you can babble about is the world and worldly things. Today, even among Traditional and Conservative Catholics there is very little spiritual conversation or talk about matters of the Faith. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
(7) You experience seizure
A seizure, for those who don’t know, is defined as “changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.” Today we can see many “spiritual seizures” or changes in behavior brought about by abnormal electrical activity with the smartphone, tablet, laptop, or television screen. Just about every Catholic now has these “seizures” which can last for many hours each day!
(8) You experience severe chest, abdominal or pelvic pain
If your current 4G smartphone is not giving you pains―then just wait for 5G to roll-out! Talking of pains―how many consciences are in pain? How many of those pained consciences have been anesthetized? Sadly, it is the case for most Catholics.
(9) You experience a sudden face drooping
Your jaw should be dropping at the sight of all that is going on in the world! Our faces should be drooping and downcast at the tsunami of sin that is ceaselessly flooding the world―just as Our Lady of Good Success said: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.”
(10) You suspect you have a concussion
Do you feel the concussion yet? You should with your mind being constantly beaten with lie, after lie, after lie. Some Catholics are in a mental stupor―no longer able to think like Catholics―due to this constant brainwashing or “brain-beating” with lies and propaganda.
(11) Your bowel movement or urination has changed
Everyone’s bowel movements or urination should have increased drastically by now―with the perpetual worry of what comes next? Will I lose my job? Where will the money come from? What will we eat? When will they try to vaccinate me? Etc.
(12) Your vision is interrupted by bright flashes
Every day our vision is interrupted by bright flashes―sometimes for hours on end―these being the television news flashes, reporting the latest crime, riot, scandal, sin, murder, demonstration, resignation, confiscation, Coronavirus escalation, etc. Everyone now experiences these bright flashes or news flashes!
(13) You experience confusion or changes in mood
Who wouldn’t experience a change in mood during these times. Everyone’s mood is changed―whether they like it or not. Even the “puppet-masters” are keen on mood-changing―for they send their stooges to stir up and change the mood of peaceful protestors into that of a raging rioting mob. The goal is to pit one mood against another.
(14) You experience uncontrolled bleeding
Sanctifying Grace in the soul has been compared to blood in the arteries or body. Once the body is wounded, blood flows―a mortal wound can lead to death. Similarly, a mortal sin wounds the soul and resulting “bleeding” of grace can lead to eternal ‘death’ ― and the loss of eternal life. Today, without doubt, the vast majority of Catholics are in mortal sin―not to mention the other 6 billion or more non-Catholics in the world. We have a mortal situation on our hands―a bloody mess.
(15) You experience severe or persistent vomiting or diarrhea
If this doesn’t make you want to throw-up, then there is something wrong with your Catholic sensibilities. The Catholic conscience has become numb and unresponsive―which is indicative of a very serious problem in itself!
You can take most of these things and transpose onto the persistent, recurring, chronic crises that the Church and mankind has been suffering decade after decade. We are in a mess! We are diseased! We are―or should be―in critical care, in some Intensive Care Unit (ICU)―but we are not! We are happily going along with our daily life as if none of this was happening, or as though it were merely a movie! Sad! Dangerously sad! Fatally sad!
When to Seek Spiritual Help and Heavenly Help?
With one crisis after another, year after year, decade after decade―what on earth is stopping us from seeking the help of the only ones who can help us? How dumb has the Catholic world become when it cannot realize that what we have been seeing, are seeing and will see―is not just a mere trivial human malfunction―but a fully fledged and carefully coordinated Satanic stranglehold and siege of the Church and the world!? When the body of mankind and the Mystical Body of the Church show symptoms of godlessness, lawlessness and sinfulness, while claiming blamelessness it its remorselessness―then we have an emergency! But―just as you can become accustomed to horror movies and violent movies―you can become accustomed to the horror and violence produced by a progressive but endless drift away from God into the charming, seductive façade of Satan’s princedom, a.k.a. the world. The world is strangling godliness out of people like the police officer seemingly strangled life out of the man that he held to the ground with a knee to the neck.
We have seen an unprecedented (organized) series of protests worldwide over the death of one man―yet there is no protest about the VAST MAJORITY of mankind of all races and colors that are damned daily. Every single day 160,032 people die. Every single week 1,123,303 (1.1 million) people die. Every single month (4.8 million) 4,867,646 people die.
Every single year over 58 million people die ― and the VAST MAJORITY of mankind of all races and colors that are damned. Who says so? Our Lord says so! Our Lady says so! Many of the saints say so! [read the evidence here].
One extract from the sermon―that St. Leonard of Port Maurice preached to a crowd that included the pope and many cardinals and bishops―will illustrate that stark and sad truth. If you cannot see from that we are in a STATE OF EMERGENCY―and have been in almost every century―then you yourself need to see a medical doctor, and a psychiatrist and a good spiritual director.
Sermon of a Saint
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751) was an Italian Franciscan preacher and spiritual writer. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. One of his contemporaries, who also lived in Italy, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696 –1787), called St. Leonard “the great missionary of the 18th century.” He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks’ mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him. Here is what St. Leonard of Port Maurice told the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, Priests and laity:
“Let us apply this truth to various states, and you will understand that you must either throw away reason, experience and the common sense of the faithful, or confess that the greater number of Catholics is damned. Is there any state in the world more favorable to innocence in which salvation seems easier and of which people have a higher idea than that of priests, the lieutenants of God?
“At first glance, who would not think that most of them are not only good but even perfect; yet I am horror-struck when I hear Saint Jerome declaring that although the world is full of priests, barely one in a hundred is living in a manner in conformity with state; when I hear a servant of God attesting that he has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell each day is so great that it seemed impossible to him that there be any left on earth; when I hear Saint John Chrysostom exclaiming with tears in his eyes: “I do not believe that many priests are saved―I believe the contrary, that the number of those who are damned is greater!”
“Look higher still, and see the prelates of the Holy Church, pastors who have the charge of souls. Is the number of those who are saved among them greater than the number of those who are damned? Listen to Cantimpre; he will relate an event to you, and you may draw the conclusions. There was a synod being held in Paris, and a great number of prelates and pastors who had the charge of souls were in attendance; the king and princes also came to add luster to that assembly by their presence. A famous preacher was invited to preach. While he was preparing his sermon, a horrible demon appeared to him and said: “Lay your books aside! If you want to give a sermon that will be useful to these princes and prelates, content yourself with telling them on our part, ‘We the princes of darkness thank you, princes, prelates, and pastors of souls, that due to your negligence, the greater number of the faithful are damned; also, we are saving a reward for you for this favor, when you shall be with us in Hell.’”
“Woe to you who command others! If so many are damned by your fault, what will happen to you? If few out of those who are first in the Church of God are saved, what will happen to you? Take all states, both sexes, every condition: husbands, wives, widows, young women, young men, soldiers, merchants, craftsmen, rich and poor, noble and plebian. What are we to say about all these people who are living so badly? The following narrative from Saint Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him: “Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to Heaven without delay, three went to Purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.”
“Our chronicles relate an even more dreadful happening. One of our brothers, well-known for his doctrine and holiness, was preaching in Germany. He represented the ugliness of the sin of impurity so forceful that a woman fell dead of sorrow in front of everyone. Then, coming back to life, she said: “When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, sixty thousand people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned.” [Meaning that not one single soul of the 60,000 went immediately to Heaven. Have the morals of the world improved in our times?].
“O abyss of the judgments of God! Out of thirty thousand, only five were saved! And out of sixty thousand, only three went to Heaven! You sinners who are listening to me, in what category will you be numbered? ... What do you say? ... What do you think? I see almost all of you lowering your heads, filled with astonishment and horror. But let us lay our stupor aside, and instead of flattering ourselves, let us try to draw some profit from our fear. Is it not true that there are two roads which lead to Heaven: innocence and repentance?”
Repent! Repent! The End is Nigh!
The proverbial mantra, which has many times heard and many times mocked― “Repent! Repent! The End is Nigh!” ― is no longer a laughing matter! As Sister Lucia revealed to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
So―as you see―we have actually entered those dreaded “Last Times” and they will last a while―for we have to yet witness the Minor Apostasy (which actually will be very large), the world falling to totalitarianism and Communism to the point where Our Lady of Good Success says all will seem lost, then the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, then a period of peace, then the coming of the Antichrist with the Major Apostasy and finally Christ’s triumph.
Meanwhile, back at the worldly ranch, life goes on with the One World Government edging closer and closer, while people edge closer and closer to their smartphones, computers and TVs―still trying to find as much fun as they can, while souls cascade into Hell by well over a hundred thousand every day. That tragedy beats the COVID-19 numbers “hands-down”―with the number of damned souls in three days (perhaps as many as 480,000 from a death rate of 160,032 daily) beating the current COVID-19 estimated at being 440,000 over a period of 6 months. Hmm! Why wouldn’t the MSM (mainstream media) report about things like that? If the MSM liked creating panic and fear all over the world with COVID-19, then think how much fear and panic they could cause reporting on the estimated number of damned souls!
It’s Time to Rise from the Armchair
As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.”
“For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
Sure “Black Lives Matter”―But What Life Matters Most?
What good is earthly life if it leads you to Hell? What good is it being rich if it leads you to Hell? What good is it breaking God’s Laws, or tinkering with and modifying God’s Laws if it leads you to Hell? What good is it living for pleasure if it eventually leads you to the torments and pains of Hell?
Wrong Solutions to the Crisis
“It’s time we sent that message loud and clear. So please, write your representatives. Spread the truth even if you are mocked. Remember these actions when the time comes to vote for our leaders. But most importantly, it’s time to start practicing civil disobedience. It’s time that we stand tall against the wave of tyranny that is upon us and declare that we will not go quietly. God created mankind to be free. Let no man take what God has given us.”
“[We] will soon be banned from all deep state controlled networks such as Youtube, Twitter (already banned from Facebook in 2013) and all the rest. So in the meantime it is still possible to contact through email newsletters. Sign up so that when they finally lock down all the tech giants’ ‘social’ networks of control you can stay connected.”
With regard the widespread May-June protests and riots throughout hundreds of USA cities, on account of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 26th, 2020, the town of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho was scheduled to hold a peaceful protest on the night of June 1st, 2020. Word got out that the ANTIFA (Anti-Facism) movement was planning to ship-in a number of rioters, to mingle with peaceful protestors and turn a peaceful protest into a riot. This rumor―which turned out to be true―quickly circulated with the result that a thousand or two heavily armed citizens came out to support peaceful protestors and protect local businesses and citizens against shipped-in ANTIFA (Anti-Facism) members, who turned up in several white Mercedes vans. A well organized local group of concerned armed citizens had posts directly in front of local businesses while others walked the sidewalks making their powerful presence known.
On the internet, a Conservative or Traditional Catholic commented: “It is scary to see that the Liberals can mass thousands of protesters all over the country, hopefully those thousands can be contained in their liberal land and not spread to overwhelm less populated conservative towns and cities. Those of us that can see, we need to organize in our own towns to make sure we are willing to defend it like those in Coeur D'Alene.”
It is saddening and pitiable to see how few Conservative or Traditional Catholic internet posters are advocating a spiritual warfare against all the upheavals, riots, revolts and take-overs. Most of their talk is on a naturalistic level, focusing on human means, human actions, human plans―while apparently being oblivious to what is going to stop this! They are merely firing a bullets at tanks. Using a bow and arrow against jet fighter planes. Trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella. Our Lady has already given us the battle-plan and told us what weapons to use―and we stubbornly and stupidly ignore her!
The Isolated Cry of a Priest
Few and far between are the priests who are rousing their faithful to a spiritual warfare―which is the only way to hold back or overcome what is happening before our very eyes. Here is a bulletin insert from one such priest.“Please continue praying for all our law enforcement personnel, who are standing on the front lines resisting the agents of anarchy and revolution. The satanic thrust intensifies this coming Sunday, June 21st, with the Luciferian March for One World Government. It is the global tyranny of Antichrist they are screaming for. We should be there to overwhelm the park and drown-out those hellish shrieks with the words of the Rosary!”
Sometimes problems grow so slowly that we don’t even notice there is a problem. Why? Because each little growth in the problem seems insignificant when looked at by itself in isolation from the bigger picture. This is easily done in the case of those Catholics who pretty much live for today―ignoring the past and refusing to look to the future. You could say that this is perfectly reflected in the way most Americans live with regard to finances. Reports over the last three years consistently show that around 78% to 80% of workers are living from paycheck to paycheck. The reports add that even among those who earn over $100,000 a year, most would struggle to pay an unexpected $400 expense.
Problems accumulate like houses deteriorate―little by little, from one spot to another. The same is true for disease. Unless it is an accident―like a car crash, a fall, a cut, etc. ― all diseases are problems that progress and advance little by little, whereby the initial stages seem to be non-existent, minor or trivial―and each successive stage is the progress of the disease likewise seems like a trivial advance. Many people literally drop-dead from a heart attack, oblivious to the fact that for years they were ‘suffering’ (without feeling it) from heart disease.
The same is true of cancer. The Cancer Association says that the early warning signs of cancer may be difficult to detect because the symptoms may be similar to less serious conditions, such as the flu. Also, some cancers, such as lung or pancreatic cancer, may not show warning signs in early stages. Many cancers share common early warning signs, while some are specific to certain cancers. General early warning signs of cancer include:
● Fatigue
● Unexplained weight loss/gain
● Fever
● Pain that does not go away
● Loss of appetite
● Nausea, vomiting
● Skin changes, such as a rash, redness, tenderness or swelling
● Blood in the stool, urine, semen or sputum
● Persistent cough or hoarseness
● Difficulty emptying the bowel or bladder
As the Cancer Association says ― the early warning signs of cancer may be difficult to detect because the symptoms may be similar to less serious conditions. So when someone meets with these symptoms, OPTIMISM PREVAILS, and the symptoms are ignored―and the problem grows!
Likewise with obesity. Over 40% of America is obese. The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among older adults aged 60 and older. Overall, 1 child out of every 6 children is obese. In the range of students from 5th Grade to 9th Grade―40% are overweight or obese. The American Medical Association (AMA) designated obesity a disease in 2013 and as a result, the idea that obesity is caused by insufficient willpower, lack of discipline, and bad choices began to transform. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a disease is “a condition . . . that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.” Obesity is a chronic disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity affects 42.8% of middle-age adults. Obesity is closely related to several other chronic diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, certain cancers, joint diseases, and more. Yet after all that information on obesity, how do you become obese? The answer is, of course, slowly―little by little―and not really caring about it once you start to notice it, which, in turn, means you will not take any action to prevent it, or very little action―which turns out to be futile and pointless, and so even the little measures soon cease to be taken.
Symptoms in the World Today
Let us now transpose the above to the world of spirituality, politics, culture, philosophy, education, medicine, finance, etc. We will then see that nothing really changes―the “diseases” grow little by little, resulting in our indifference also growing little by little, and our acceptance of the “diseases” growing little by little. Some people protest and it “seems” to have an effect. But all that really happens is that hypocritical words are spoken condemning the “diseases”, cosmetic measures are taken to counteract the “diseases”―yet all this achieves is merely a slowing down of the progression of the “diseases” but not a regression of them. So they advance, taking three steps forward and two steps back―then again, three steps forward and now perhaps only one step back, etc.
Almost like Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” ― also known as, “The King With No Clothes On” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes” ― whereby everyone sees the obvious truth in that (1) there is no new set of clothes, and (2) the king is entirely naked when he thinks he is clothed by this invisible set of clothes. We see here the case of the ruler or king (government) buying into the lies told by the con-men (the ‘money men’ or ‘puppet-masters’), and the rest of the king’s courtiers (politicians) and finally the common people―watching the magnificent, pompous procession of the naked king (citizens)―also accepting a lie they knew to be a lie, purely out of human respect and fear of reprisals by the king (government).
In the Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, it took a little innocent boy (not accustomed to lies and lying) to break the spell by shouting out loudly: “Look! The king is naked! He is not wearing any clothes!” This expression by the little young innocent boy reminds us the words of our innocent God in Heaven, who says in the Book of Apocalypse (which is fitting, since we are in apocalyptic times): “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind [to the truth], and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
But we won’t be zealous and we won’t do penance―because, just as in the fairy tale above, we are surrounded by a crowd who are not zealous, but lukewarm; who do no penance, but only seek self-gratification. So, we follow the crowd and merely try not to be as bad as the crowd. Our human respect and fear of reprisals makes us “put-up and shut-up” and makes us “sit-down for fear of rocking the boat”.
Deliberately Blind to Fatal Disease of the World
We see―but we don’t want to see! We hear―but we don’t want to hear! We put our hands in front of our eyes―but peek between our fingers. We cup our ears―but only enough so that we can still hear something. We live among the diseased―but don’t anything about their disease. Instead, like Cain who killed Abel, we say to God: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)―yet God replies as He did to Cain: “What hast thou done? [Or in our case: “What hast thou NOT done about it?”] The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10).
St. John Chrysostom―a Father and Doctor of the Church―teaches that upon our death, at our Day of Judgment, we shall be judged for EVERYTHING that occurred in this world while we were alive! Why? Because we are part of the body of the human race―everyone is, so to speak, our brother or sister. It is natural for everyone to take care of their own human body―it should likewise be natural to take care of the more extended human body―that is to say, the “body of mankind” or “The Mystical Body of Christ”. This is echoed in the words of Christ in Holy Scripture:
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
If Christ came to seek and save that which was lost―then what on earth are we doing? “The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!” (Luke 9:56). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). This is exactly what Our Lady echoed at Fatima, when she said to the three children in particular―and to all of us in general: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
What is the Blood that Crieth to God for Vengeance?
Now, coming back to God’s words to Abel: The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the Earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth!” (Genesis 4:10). Let us first take a natural look at blood and then supernaturalize what we find. In your body―which is a microcosm of the Mystical Body of Christ―plaque can build up in arteries ― which are the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrient-rich blood from your heart to your body’s tissues. Plaque in the arteries is a fatty, waxy substance that forms deposits in the artery wall. These deposits can narrow the artery and reduce blood flow. This is called atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries.” Plaques can also rupture and create a blood clot at the rupture site, as your body’s natural processes try to repair the “injury.” The blood clot can cut off blood flow through the artery and starve your body’s tissues of oxygen and nutrients. Therefore, a ruptured plaque can be serious. It is the most common cause of a heart attack or stroke.
The real key to preventing heart disease is to use a combined approach, one that treats all facets of your physical and emotional health. It is extremely important to eat real nourishing foods based on your metabolic type (to determine whether a low-fat, high-fat or other diet is best for you) and to get out and exercise--regularly and intensely enough. Further, you must address stress and your emotions, as too much stress and negative emotions will contribute significantly to this disease.
The same applies to the spiritual life―we must “eat” and “digest” nourishing things. As Our Lord said: “It is written: ‘Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4)―whereby He quotes the Old Testament passage: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The Word of God should be our food―is it? How much of it do we “eat”? Are we on a diet? Similarly, we should be getting lots of “spiritual exercise” ― prayers, sacrifices, penances, spiritual reading, daily meditation, daily examination of conscience, as many weekday Masses as our schedule allows―perhaps tweak the schedule to allow for more! We must also address our stress and emotions by a lively strong trust in Divine Providence―for nothing happens to us that we either do not deserve or cannot from.
When to Seek Medical Help?
Here is a PARTIAL list of things from a hospital website listing incidents that should make you seek medical help. We have taken the medical perspective and added to it a spiritual or moral perspective:
(1) You experience any sudden or severe pain
Are we not pained by the deluge of sin in the world today? Do you not feel the pain? Heaven does! On December 8th, 1956, Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.” At Akita, in Japan, in 1973, Our Lady added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.” Sudden, severe pain! Are we pained by the sin in the world, or have we been anesthetized to the pain by an overabundance of pleasure and entertainment?
(2) You have a persistent, high fever
Hopefully your spiritual fever is rising by your indignation boiling over! Unless, of course, just as “familiarity breeds contempt”, perhaps “sin has bred indifference” on your part. If we were truly Catholic―fervently Catholic―then we would feverishly praying that God put an end to all this evil in the world.
(3) Your symptoms continue to escalate and become unusually bad
Any Catholic worth his salt should be able to see the escalating symptoms of evil and that they are becoming unusually bad! “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt lose its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more, but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men!” (Matthew 5:13). The words of Our Lady of Akita―concerning escalating ‘symptoms’ or ‘sin-toms’―should come to mind: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
(4) You have lost weight suddenly and without explanation
The Mystical Body of Christ has drastically “lost weight” over the last 50 years! Only 20% of that Mystical Body of Christ regularly assist at Holy Mass every Sunday―meaning that 80% of the Mystical Body has fallen into a moral disease of sin―leaving the Mystical Body more than a little lightweight.
(5) You are short of breath, have difficulty breathing
St. John Eudes (1601-1680) said: “The air which we breathe, is not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.” Holy Scripture tells us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is a rhythmic, constant act ― just like breathing. As air gives us the oxygen our cells need for life―prayer fills souls with the grace needed for our spiritual life. Once the oxygen levels drop, the effects are progression from giddiness, mental confusion, loss of judgment, loss of coordination, weakness, nausea, to later fainting, loss of consciousness and death. Similarly for the spiritual life once we start to pray less, or if we give up prayer altogether. The soul finds it hard “to breathe” ― and the world is choking us more and more, so that our “breathing” or praying becomes less and less.
(6) You have difficulty speaking
Once you overdose or binge on the world―you invariably will find that you find it difficult to speak of spiritual things. All you can babble about is the world and worldly things. Today, even among Traditional and Conservative Catholics there is very little spiritual conversation or talk about matters of the Faith. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them!” (1 John 4:5).
(7) You experience seizure
A seizure, for those who don’t know, is defined as “changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.” Today we can see many “spiritual seizures” or changes in behavior brought about by abnormal electrical activity with the smartphone, tablet, laptop, or television screen. Just about every Catholic now has these “seizures” which can last for many hours each day!
(8) You experience severe chest, abdominal or pelvic pain
If your current 4G smartphone is not giving you pains―then just wait for 5G to roll-out! Talking of pains―how many consciences are in pain? How many of those pained consciences have been anesthetized? Sadly, it is the case for most Catholics.
(9) You experience a sudden face drooping
Your jaw should be dropping at the sight of all that is going on in the world! Our faces should be drooping and downcast at the tsunami of sin that is ceaselessly flooding the world―just as Our Lady of Good Success said: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.”
(10) You suspect you have a concussion
Do you feel the concussion yet? You should with your mind being constantly beaten with lie, after lie, after lie. Some Catholics are in a mental stupor―no longer able to think like Catholics―due to this constant brainwashing or “brain-beating” with lies and propaganda.
(11) Your bowel movement or urination has changed
Everyone’s bowel movements or urination should have increased drastically by now―with the perpetual worry of what comes next? Will I lose my job? Where will the money come from? What will we eat? When will they try to vaccinate me? Etc.
(12) Your vision is interrupted by bright flashes
Every day our vision is interrupted by bright flashes―sometimes for hours on end―these being the television news flashes, reporting the latest crime, riot, scandal, sin, murder, demonstration, resignation, confiscation, Coronavirus escalation, etc. Everyone now experiences these bright flashes or news flashes!
(13) You experience confusion or changes in mood
Who wouldn’t experience a change in mood during these times. Everyone’s mood is changed―whether they like it or not. Even the “puppet-masters” are keen on mood-changing―for they send their stooges to stir up and change the mood of peaceful protestors into that of a raging rioting mob. The goal is to pit one mood against another.
(14) You experience uncontrolled bleeding
Sanctifying Grace in the soul has been compared to blood in the arteries or body. Once the body is wounded, blood flows―a mortal wound can lead to death. Similarly, a mortal sin wounds the soul and resulting “bleeding” of grace can lead to eternal ‘death’ ― and the loss of eternal life. Today, without doubt, the vast majority of Catholics are in mortal sin―not to mention the other 6 billion or more non-Catholics in the world. We have a mortal situation on our hands―a bloody mess.
(15) You experience severe or persistent vomiting or diarrhea
If this doesn’t make you want to throw-up, then there is something wrong with your Catholic sensibilities. The Catholic conscience has become numb and unresponsive―which is indicative of a very serious problem in itself!
You can take most of these things and transpose onto the persistent, recurring, chronic crises that the Church and mankind has been suffering decade after decade. We are in a mess! We are diseased! We are―or should be―in critical care, in some Intensive Care Unit (ICU)―but we are not! We are happily going along with our daily life as if none of this was happening, or as though it were merely a movie! Sad! Dangerously sad! Fatally sad!
When to Seek Spiritual Help and Heavenly Help?
With one crisis after another, year after year, decade after decade―what on earth is stopping us from seeking the help of the only ones who can help us? How dumb has the Catholic world become when it cannot realize that what we have been seeing, are seeing and will see―is not just a mere trivial human malfunction―but a fully fledged and carefully coordinated Satanic stranglehold and siege of the Church and the world!? When the body of mankind and the Mystical Body of the Church show symptoms of godlessness, lawlessness and sinfulness, while claiming blamelessness it its remorselessness―then we have an emergency! But―just as you can become accustomed to horror movies and violent movies―you can become accustomed to the horror and violence produced by a progressive but endless drift away from God into the charming, seductive façade of Satan’s princedom, a.k.a. the world. The world is strangling godliness out of people like the police officer seemingly strangled life out of the man that he held to the ground with a knee to the neck.
We have seen an unprecedented (organized) series of protests worldwide over the death of one man―yet there is no protest about the VAST MAJORITY of mankind of all races and colors that are damned daily. Every single day 160,032 people die. Every single week 1,123,303 (1.1 million) people die. Every single month (4.8 million) 4,867,646 people die.
Every single year over 58 million people die ― and the VAST MAJORITY of mankind of all races and colors that are damned. Who says so? Our Lord says so! Our Lady says so! Many of the saints say so! [read the evidence here].
One extract from the sermon―that St. Leonard of Port Maurice preached to a crowd that included the pope and many cardinals and bishops―will illustrate that stark and sad truth. If you cannot see from that we are in a STATE OF EMERGENCY―and have been in almost every century―then you yourself need to see a medical doctor, and a psychiatrist and a good spiritual director.
Sermon of a Saint
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751) was an Italian Franciscan preacher and spiritual writer. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. One of his contemporaries, who also lived in Italy, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696 –1787), called St. Leonard “the great missionary of the 18th century.” He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks’ mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him. Here is what St. Leonard of Port Maurice told the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, Priests and laity:
“Let us apply this truth to various states, and you will understand that you must either throw away reason, experience and the common sense of the faithful, or confess that the greater number of Catholics is damned. Is there any state in the world more favorable to innocence in which salvation seems easier and of which people have a higher idea than that of priests, the lieutenants of God?
“At first glance, who would not think that most of them are not only good but even perfect; yet I am horror-struck when I hear Saint Jerome declaring that although the world is full of priests, barely one in a hundred is living in a manner in conformity with state; when I hear a servant of God attesting that he has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell each day is so great that it seemed impossible to him that there be any left on earth; when I hear Saint John Chrysostom exclaiming with tears in his eyes: “I do not believe that many priests are saved―I believe the contrary, that the number of those who are damned is greater!”
“Look higher still, and see the prelates of the Holy Church, pastors who have the charge of souls. Is the number of those who are saved among them greater than the number of those who are damned? Listen to Cantimpre; he will relate an event to you, and you may draw the conclusions. There was a synod being held in Paris, and a great number of prelates and pastors who had the charge of souls were in attendance; the king and princes also came to add luster to that assembly by their presence. A famous preacher was invited to preach. While he was preparing his sermon, a horrible demon appeared to him and said: “Lay your books aside! If you want to give a sermon that will be useful to these princes and prelates, content yourself with telling them on our part, ‘We the princes of darkness thank you, princes, prelates, and pastors of souls, that due to your negligence, the greater number of the faithful are damned; also, we are saving a reward for you for this favor, when you shall be with us in Hell.’”
“Woe to you who command others! If so many are damned by your fault, what will happen to you? If few out of those who are first in the Church of God are saved, what will happen to you? Take all states, both sexes, every condition: husbands, wives, widows, young women, young men, soldiers, merchants, craftsmen, rich and poor, noble and plebian. What are we to say about all these people who are living so badly? The following narrative from Saint Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him: “Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to Heaven without delay, three went to Purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.”
“Our chronicles relate an even more dreadful happening. One of our brothers, well-known for his doctrine and holiness, was preaching in Germany. He represented the ugliness of the sin of impurity so forceful that a woman fell dead of sorrow in front of everyone. Then, coming back to life, she said: “When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, sixty thousand people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned.” [Meaning that not one single soul of the 60,000 went immediately to Heaven. Have the morals of the world improved in our times?].
“O abyss of the judgments of God! Out of thirty thousand, only five were saved! And out of sixty thousand, only three went to Heaven! You sinners who are listening to me, in what category will you be numbered? ... What do you say? ... What do you think? I see almost all of you lowering your heads, filled with astonishment and horror. But let us lay our stupor aside, and instead of flattering ourselves, let us try to draw some profit from our fear. Is it not true that there are two roads which lead to Heaven: innocence and repentance?”
Repent! Repent! The End is Nigh!
The proverbial mantra, which has many times heard and many times mocked― “Repent! Repent! The End is Nigh!” ― is no longer a laughing matter! As Sister Lucia revealed to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.”
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother. If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us!” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
So―as you see―we have actually entered those dreaded “Last Times” and they will last a while―for we have to yet witness the Minor Apostasy (which actually will be very large), the world falling to totalitarianism and Communism to the point where Our Lady of Good Success says all will seem lost, then the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, then a period of peace, then the coming of the Antichrist with the Major Apostasy and finally Christ’s triumph.
Meanwhile, back at the worldly ranch, life goes on with the One World Government edging closer and closer, while people edge closer and closer to their smartphones, computers and TVs―still trying to find as much fun as they can, while souls cascade into Hell by well over a hundred thousand every day. That tragedy beats the COVID-19 numbers “hands-down”―with the number of damned souls in three days (perhaps as many as 480,000 from a death rate of 160,032 daily) beating the current COVID-19 estimated at being 440,000 over a period of 6 months. Hmm! Why wouldn’t the MSM (mainstream media) report about things like that? If the MSM liked creating panic and fear all over the world with COVID-19, then think how much fear and panic they could cause reporting on the estimated number of damned souls!
It’s Time to Rise from the Armchair
As Sr. Lucia of Fatima said to Fr. Fuentes: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.”
“For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin.
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.”
Sure “Black Lives Matter”―But What Life Matters Most?
What good is earthly life if it leads you to Hell? What good is it being rich if it leads you to Hell? What good is it breaking God’s Laws, or tinkering with and modifying God’s Laws if it leads you to Hell? What good is it living for pleasure if it eventually leads you to the torments and pains of Hell?
Wrong Solutions to the Crisis
“It’s time we sent that message loud and clear. So please, write your representatives. Spread the truth even if you are mocked. Remember these actions when the time comes to vote for our leaders. But most importantly, it’s time to start practicing civil disobedience. It’s time that we stand tall against the wave of tyranny that is upon us and declare that we will not go quietly. God created mankind to be free. Let no man take what God has given us.”
“[We] will soon be banned from all deep state controlled networks such as Youtube, Twitter (already banned from Facebook in 2013) and all the rest. So in the meantime it is still possible to contact through email newsletters. Sign up so that when they finally lock down all the tech giants’ ‘social’ networks of control you can stay connected.”
With regard the widespread May-June protests and riots throughout hundreds of USA cities, on account of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 26th, 2020, the town of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho was scheduled to hold a peaceful protest on the night of June 1st, 2020. Word got out that the ANTIFA (Anti-Facism) movement was planning to ship-in a number of rioters, to mingle with peaceful protestors and turn a peaceful protest into a riot. This rumor―which turned out to be true―quickly circulated with the result that a thousand or two heavily armed citizens came out to support peaceful protestors and protect local businesses and citizens against shipped-in ANTIFA (Anti-Facism) members, who turned up in several white Mercedes vans. A well organized local group of concerned armed citizens had posts directly in front of local businesses while others walked the sidewalks making their powerful presence known.
On the internet, a Conservative or Traditional Catholic commented: “It is scary to see that the Liberals can mass thousands of protesters all over the country, hopefully those thousands can be contained in their liberal land and not spread to overwhelm less populated conservative towns and cities. Those of us that can see, we need to organize in our own towns to make sure we are willing to defend it like those in Coeur D'Alene.”
It is saddening and pitiable to see how few Conservative or Traditional Catholic internet posters are advocating a spiritual warfare against all the upheavals, riots, revolts and take-overs. Most of their talk is on a naturalistic level, focusing on human means, human actions, human plans―while apparently being oblivious to what is going to stop this! They are merely firing a bullets at tanks. Using a bow and arrow against jet fighter planes. Trying to stop a tsunami with an umbrella. Our Lady has already given us the battle-plan and told us what weapons to use―and we stubbornly and stupidly ignore her!
The Isolated Cry of a Priest
Few and far between are the priests who are rousing their faithful to a spiritual warfare―which is the only way to hold back or overcome what is happening before our very eyes. Here is a bulletin insert from one such priest.“Please continue praying for all our law enforcement personnel, who are standing on the front lines resisting the agents of anarchy and revolution. The satanic thrust intensifies this coming Sunday, June 21st, with the Luciferian March for One World Government. It is the global tyranny of Antichrist they are screaming for. We should be there to overwhelm the park and drown-out those hellish shrieks with the words of the Rosary!”
Sunday June 14th, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi
Article 9
Corpus Christi―Take Two!
As they say: “You can never have too much of a good thing!” Or can you? You can have too much of earthly things―but
can you have too much of God? Never! So enjoy the repeat of Thursday’s Corpus Christi this Sunday!
Article 9
Corpus Christi―Take Two!
As they say: “You can never have too much of a good thing!” Or can you? You can have too much of earthly things―but
can you have too much of God? Never! So enjoy the repeat of Thursday’s Corpus Christi this Sunday!
Corpus Christi Again?
What? Corpus Christi again? Didn’t we celebrate the feast last Thursday? Sure we did! What harm is there celebrating it again on Sunday? Hey! Isn’t the Holy Eucharist called “The Greatest Treasure this side of Heaven”? Don’t some people celebrate their birthday twice? ― The first celebration being on the actual day when it falls during on a working weekday (Monday to Thursday)―and then again at the weekend (Friday to Sunday) when most people are able to attend! If we can do that for a human being―why can’t we do it for someone Divine?
Add on to that the fact the feast of Corpus Christi is―in the Universal Calendar of the Church―a holy day of obligation. That enhances the importance of the feast considerably. If you want or need a little refresher course in your knowledge of the holy days of obligation in the Universal Calendar of the Church, then here you are. If you already know all those dates, skip the next three paragraphs:
The current list of holy days of obligation for Latin Rite Catholics are listed in canon 1246 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which remains faithful to canon 1247 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Placed in the order of the liturgical calendar, the ten days (apart from Sundays) that this canon mentions are:
December 8th: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 25th: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
January 1st: Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (in the Traditional Latin Rite: The Circumcision of Jesus)
January 6th: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
March 19th: Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thursday after the sixth week of Easter: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
Thursday after Trinity Sunday: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
June 29th: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
August 15th: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1st: Solemnity of All Saints
The number of holy days of obligation was once much greater. With the motu proprio of July 2nd, 1911, Supremi Disciplinae, Pope St. Pius X reduced the number of such non-Sunday holy days of obligation from 36 days down to 8 days―which were the above 10 dates (January 1st was then the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) minus the feasts the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), and Saint Joseph. The present list was already established over 100 years ago, in canon 1247 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which is now canon 1246 of the current 1983 New Code of Canon Law. Even before the time of Pius X, the bishops in many countries had obtained the Holy See's approval to diminish the number of non-Sunday holy days of obligation, making it less than 36. Today too, Episcopal Conferences have availed themselves of the authority granted them to reduce the number below the ten mentioned above―which you could call the “thermometer of lukewarmness”, which ultimately ends up bowing to the gods of the world―which include the god of work with the work calendar taking precedence over the Divine calendar or Church’s liturgical calendar.
Today, only Indonesia and Lebanon adhere to the 10 holy days of obligation of the Church’s Universal Calendar―they are also joined by one single diocese in Switzerland (Lugano). Ukraine has replaced 6 of the Universal Holy Days of Obligation with 5 of its own choosing. Out go the Immaculate Conception (December 8th), Circumcision (January 1st), St. Joseph (March 19th), Corpus Christi, All Saints (November 1st), Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th). The replacement Holy Days of Obligation being the Presentation of the Lord (February 2nd), Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary (March 25th), Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6th), Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8th), Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th) and the Presentation of Mary (November 21st)―the holy days of obligation that were retained are: the Epiphany; the Feast of the Ascension; the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christmas. All the other countries oblige a lesser number of holy days of obligation.
Back to Corpus Christi!
Nevertheless, coming back to the topic under discussion―the importance of Corpus Christi―furthermore note, that according to older, more venerable and more God-centered rite―before all the cheapening and watering-down of the Second Vatican Council era―the feast of Corpus Christi also had its own Octave, much like the Octaves of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
Add to that the fact of the many, many processions with the Blessed Sacrament that were common in every sizeable parish throughout the world―something that has been increasingly neglected and downplayed over the last 50 years or so. Special altars of benediction were erected along the processional route. Children would throw a ceaseless ‘snowfall’ of flower petals for Our Lord as they walked along in procession in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Artwork of wide variety was displayed on both pavement and along the processional route. Banners and flags would be carried. Which other feast in the Church’s year gets such fanfare and attention?
To top it all off, don’t forget the many Eucharistic miracles that have occurred over the centuries―literally in their thousands. Read the account of some of them here.
So, yeah, it’s a special day, alright!
A “Microwaved” or an “Octaved” Feast?
Was your Feast of Corpus Christi pretty much over before it really got started? Or is your Feast of Corpus Christi going to be in line and in spirit with the previously celebrated Octave of Corpus Christi―which, incidentally, takes you up to the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi)? Do you “microwave” your feasts or “slow-cook” your feasts? A litmus test or thermometer reading (not always foolproof, but pretty close) is to look at your Holy Communion preparations and thanksgivings―are they “microwaved” fast on the high speed setting; or are they “slow-cooked” for a long time?
St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his book The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, puts it this way: “Now, tell me whether―when you enter church to hear Mass―you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God.”
What Was Your Mass Attendance Like?
Do you, and your family, approach the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass like you would Calvary? What is your preparation for Mass like? Read about St. Charbal Maklouf—a Maronite monk-priest—who had a great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. That is all he lived for—he lived and said Mass in a cave, having been given permission to live a hermit-like existence. Already before sunrise, he would be at prayer—reciting his Divine Office (breviary) and other prayers in preparation for his 11:00 a.m. Mass. A monk would come up to his cave from the nearby monastery, to serve Mass and bring him a meager lunch. After Mass, he would spend at least one hour or even two in thanksgiving, before eating his lunch, and would then return to his thanksgiving—which he continued into the early evening. Then he would begin his prayers of preparation for the next day’s Mass. That was his life―day in, day out! His body lies incorrupt to this day. Who do you think will enjoy a happier eternity and will have reaped greater rewards? Someone like Charbal Maklouf―who just lives for the boring spiritual life―day after day? Or someone who wanted lots of fun in this world and neglected their spiritual duties and never grew in them?
On the Way to Mass
When you drive to Mass, what is the mood of the passengers in the car? Is it a prayerful mood, or a worldly mood—peppered with worldly or frivolous conversation, perhaps worldly music? If so, it weakens the notion of what the Sacrifice of the Mass is and the serious and awesome action you are about to take part in—there is no greater action taking place anywhere in the world, on any day, than that of the Mass. Perhaps passengers need to be told that henceforth, the approach to traveling to Sunday (daily/weekday) Masses will be different. Prayers could be said; hymns sung or played; suitable spiritual material read out aloud; or at least spiritual conversations held.
Arrival Time for Mass
Do you arrive in plenty of time to make a proper preparation for Mass in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Let’s face it—it is GOD HIMSELF that you are visiting when you go to Mass! It is not a commemoration of Calvary; it is not a mere human action; it is not a social function—you are there TO SEE GOD. Is there enough time made for God, or is it a last minute arrival? Or if you do make it on time, does everyone actually GO INSIDE TO SPEAK TO GOD, or do they spend time chatting with other parishioners prior to Mass starting? Worldly talk, frivolous talk, socializing, joking around and laughing? If the Mass is a sacrifice, then sacrifice something yourself and get right in there! The answers to these questions show the value we place on God and whether or not He is “Number One” in our lives.
Assistance at Mass
How do we assist at Mass? Some people clearly show that, even though their bodies are present at Mass, their minds most certainly are not—they gaze around, fidget with their ‘little-ones’, keeping them entertained so that they don’t cry, etc. Others may have a Missal, prayer book or Rosary in their hands—but their heart can be lukewarm and they listlessly, carelessly and mechanically go through the motions of praying, fitting the description of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Lining up for Holy Communion is no different to lining up at the supermarket check-out—cold, indifferent, with no devotion or zeal.
Holy Communion
The reception of Holy Communion makes you wonder if they really believe that God is present—but of course nearly 70% of Catholics do not believe that He is present. Thanksgiving after Communion, if there is one, is frequently seen to be a mechanical repetition of the same old prayers, said without any real feeling and without any personal heart-to-heart conversation with the God that now rests within them! Once Mass is over, hardly anyone stays behind to continue their thanksgiving and to continue talking to their God—for friends beckon in the parking lot or the parish hall, and, instead of a tasteless Host, coffee and donuts with a variety of sweet fillings are available in the parish hall—and the early bird gets the best donuts! I guess the redeeming factor must be that the donut looks like a fat halo! Friends, coffee and donuts are “Number One”—“Number Two”—and “Number Three”—God came in fourth!
Once a Year is Not Enough!
We can easily fall into the same spiritual trap that we fall into at home, in family. We think that by honoring Our Lord once a year with something special―like a Corpus Christi procession, that adds on many minutes or even an hour or more, to our regular Sunday Mass “pop-in-and-out” obligation, somehow sends shivers of joy down the ‘spine’ of Our Lord. It much like a person who does something really special for their spouse on their birthday―and then does little or nothing for the rest of the year. Love is a daily thing―not an annual thing! Of such superficial ‘worshipers’―who prefer to spend Sunday as ‘worshoppers’―Our Lord says: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
St. John Vianney and the Eucharist
When St. John Marie Vianney arrived at the remote little village of Ars, someone said to him sourly, "Here there is nothing to be done."
"Then, there is everything to be done," replied the Saint.
And he began immediately to act. What did he do? He rose at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and went to pray near the altar in the dark church. He recited the Divine Office, he made his meditation, and he prepared himself for Holy Mass. After the Holy Sacrifice, he made his thanksgiving. Then he remained at prayer until noon. He would be always kneeling on the floor without any support, with a Rosary in his hand and his eyes fixed on the tabernacle.
Things continued this way for a short time. Then he had to start changing his timetable; and things reached a point requiring radical changes in his program. The Eucharistic Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, little by little, drew souls to that poor parish, until the Church did not seem big enough to contain the crowds, and the confessional of the holy Curé became swamped with endless lines of penitents. He was obliged to hear confession for ten, fifteen, eighteen hours in a day!
How did such a transformation ever come about? There had been a poor Church, an altar long unused, an abandoned tabernacle, an ancient confessional, and a priest with no resources and little talent. How could such a wonderful change develop in that unknown village?
St. Padre Pio and the Eucharist
We can ask the same question today regarding San Giovanni Rotondo, a town on Mt. Gargano, Italy. Until a few decades ago it was an obscure, unknown place amid the rough crags of a promontory. Today, San Giovanni Rotondo is a center of spiritual and cultural life and its reputation is international. Here, too, there had been an unpromising, sickly friar, an ancient, dilapidated little friary, a small neglected Church, with altar and tabernacle left ever alone to this poor friar, who wore out his beads and his hands in the untiring recitation of the Holy Rosary.
How did the change come about? What caused the wonderful transformation that came to Ars and to San Giovanni Rotondo, so that hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, of persons have come to these places from every part of the earth?
Only God could work such transformations using, according to His ways, "those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something" (1 Corinthians 1:28). It is all due to Him, to the divine and infinite power of the Eucharist, to the almighty force of attraction which radiates from every tabernacle, and which radiated from the tabernacles of Ars and San Giovanni Rotondo, reaching souls through the ministry of those two priests, true "ministers of the tabernacle" (Heb. 13:10) and "dispensers of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1).
The Emmanuel
Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, the "God with us" (Matthew 1:23).
The Eucharistic Jesus is here with us as a brother, as a friend, as spouse of our souls. He wishes to enter within us to be our Food for eternal life, our love, our support. He wants to make us part of His mystical Body in which He would redeem us and save us, and then take us into the kingdom of Heaven to settle us in an everlasting bliss of love.
With the Eucharist, God has truly given us everything. St. Augustine exclaimed: "Although God is all-powerful, He is unable to give more; though supremely wise, He knows not how to give more; though vastly rich, He has not more to give."
When St. Peter Julian Eymard came to Paris, he was lodged in a very poor house in which many necessities were lacking. But when someone complained and another took pity on him, the Saint would respond, "The Blessed Sacrament is there. That is all that I need." When persons would approach him to obtain graces, help and comfort, the Saint would respond, "You will find all in the Eucharist―he warm words you want to hear, the knowledge and the miracles you need—yes, even the miracles."
What More Do You Want?
To the Eucharist, then, we should go. To Jesus we should turn—to Jesus, who wishes to make Himself ours in order to make us His by rendering us "godlike." "O Jesus, Food of strong souls," St. Gemma Galgani used to say, "strengthen me, purify me, make me godlike." Let us receive the Eucharist with a pure and ardent heart. That is what the saints have done.
It should never be too much trouble for us to grow familiar with this unspeakable Mystery. Meditation, study and reflection on the Eucharist should have an important place each day on our timetable. It will be the time of our day richest in blessings.
Lack of Faith and Respect
It will do good to our soul and body. We read in the life of Pope St. Pius X that one day, when he was the parish priest of Salzano, he went on a visit to a sick altar boy. At that very moment the doctor also arrived and asked the sick boy how he was. The boy answered that on that day he was feeling better, because he had been able to give a little instruction on the Eucharist to a few other boys. At this response the doctor exclaimed with overtones of ridicule, "Oh! That’s rich! During my medical studies I never heard that a little Christian teaching could have such effects!"
At this sour remark, the priest immediately intervened in defense of the boy and said to the doctor: "Oh, we see very well the effects of your science, doctor, and even a nearsighted person would see them well, too, because the cemetery is full of them. But Christian doctrine fills up a place which only those who are intellectually shortsighted would not be able to see: Heaven!"
Our Greatest Treasure
The Eucharist is the heavenly "leaven" (Matthew 13:33) which is capable of fermenting, in the human nature of every person, all spiritual and temporal goods. It is so great a good Itself that one cannot desire anything else greater. What, in fact, could one desire more, when within himself he has Jesus, living and real, the God-made-man, the Word made flesh and blood for our salvation and happiness?
On his deathbed St. Peter Julian Eymard gave this excellent reply to a religious who requested a final point for reflection: "I have nothing more to tell you. You already have the Eucharist. What more do you want?"
What? Corpus Christi again? Didn’t we celebrate the feast last Thursday? Sure we did! What harm is there celebrating it again on Sunday? Hey! Isn’t the Holy Eucharist called “The Greatest Treasure this side of Heaven”? Don’t some people celebrate their birthday twice? ― The first celebration being on the actual day when it falls during on a working weekday (Monday to Thursday)―and then again at the weekend (Friday to Sunday) when most people are able to attend! If we can do that for a human being―why can’t we do it for someone Divine?
Add on to that the fact the feast of Corpus Christi is―in the Universal Calendar of the Church―a holy day of obligation. That enhances the importance of the feast considerably. If you want or need a little refresher course in your knowledge of the holy days of obligation in the Universal Calendar of the Church, then here you are. If you already know all those dates, skip the next three paragraphs:
The current list of holy days of obligation for Latin Rite Catholics are listed in canon 1246 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which remains faithful to canon 1247 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Placed in the order of the liturgical calendar, the ten days (apart from Sundays) that this canon mentions are:
December 8th: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 25th: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
January 1st: Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (in the Traditional Latin Rite: The Circumcision of Jesus)
January 6th: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
March 19th: Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thursday after the sixth week of Easter: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
Thursday after Trinity Sunday: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
June 29th: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
August 15th: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1st: Solemnity of All Saints
The number of holy days of obligation was once much greater. With the motu proprio of July 2nd, 1911, Supremi Disciplinae, Pope St. Pius X reduced the number of such non-Sunday holy days of obligation from 36 days down to 8 days―which were the above 10 dates (January 1st was then the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) minus the feasts the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), and Saint Joseph. The present list was already established over 100 years ago, in canon 1247 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which is now canon 1246 of the current 1983 New Code of Canon Law. Even before the time of Pius X, the bishops in many countries had obtained the Holy See's approval to diminish the number of non-Sunday holy days of obligation, making it less than 36. Today too, Episcopal Conferences have availed themselves of the authority granted them to reduce the number below the ten mentioned above―which you could call the “thermometer of lukewarmness”, which ultimately ends up bowing to the gods of the world―which include the god of work with the work calendar taking precedence over the Divine calendar or Church’s liturgical calendar.
Today, only Indonesia and Lebanon adhere to the 10 holy days of obligation of the Church’s Universal Calendar―they are also joined by one single diocese in Switzerland (Lugano). Ukraine has replaced 6 of the Universal Holy Days of Obligation with 5 of its own choosing. Out go the Immaculate Conception (December 8th), Circumcision (January 1st), St. Joseph (March 19th), Corpus Christi, All Saints (November 1st), Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th). The replacement Holy Days of Obligation being the Presentation of the Lord (February 2nd), Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary (March 25th), Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6th), Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8th), Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th) and the Presentation of Mary (November 21st)―the holy days of obligation that were retained are: the Epiphany; the Feast of the Ascension; the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christmas. All the other countries oblige a lesser number of holy days of obligation.
Back to Corpus Christi!
Nevertheless, coming back to the topic under discussion―the importance of Corpus Christi―furthermore note, that according to older, more venerable and more God-centered rite―before all the cheapening and watering-down of the Second Vatican Council era―the feast of Corpus Christi also had its own Octave, much like the Octaves of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
Add to that the fact of the many, many processions with the Blessed Sacrament that were common in every sizeable parish throughout the world―something that has been increasingly neglected and downplayed over the last 50 years or so. Special altars of benediction were erected along the processional route. Children would throw a ceaseless ‘snowfall’ of flower petals for Our Lord as they walked along in procession in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Artwork of wide variety was displayed on both pavement and along the processional route. Banners and flags would be carried. Which other feast in the Church’s year gets such fanfare and attention?
To top it all off, don’t forget the many Eucharistic miracles that have occurred over the centuries―literally in their thousands. Read the account of some of them here.
So, yeah, it’s a special day, alright!
A “Microwaved” or an “Octaved” Feast?
Was your Feast of Corpus Christi pretty much over before it really got started? Or is your Feast of Corpus Christi going to be in line and in spirit with the previously celebrated Octave of Corpus Christi―which, incidentally, takes you up to the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi)? Do you “microwave” your feasts or “slow-cook” your feasts? A litmus test or thermometer reading (not always foolproof, but pretty close) is to look at your Holy Communion preparations and thanksgivings―are they “microwaved” fast on the high speed setting; or are they “slow-cooked” for a long time?
St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his book The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, puts it this way: “Now, tell me whether―when you enter church to hear Mass―you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God.”
What Was Your Mass Attendance Like?
Do you, and your family, approach the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass like you would Calvary? What is your preparation for Mass like? Read about St. Charbal Maklouf—a Maronite monk-priest—who had a great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. That is all he lived for—he lived and said Mass in a cave, having been given permission to live a hermit-like existence. Already before sunrise, he would be at prayer—reciting his Divine Office (breviary) and other prayers in preparation for his 11:00 a.m. Mass. A monk would come up to his cave from the nearby monastery, to serve Mass and bring him a meager lunch. After Mass, he would spend at least one hour or even two in thanksgiving, before eating his lunch, and would then return to his thanksgiving—which he continued into the early evening. Then he would begin his prayers of preparation for the next day’s Mass. That was his life―day in, day out! His body lies incorrupt to this day. Who do you think will enjoy a happier eternity and will have reaped greater rewards? Someone like Charbal Maklouf―who just lives for the boring spiritual life―day after day? Or someone who wanted lots of fun in this world and neglected their spiritual duties and never grew in them?
On the Way to Mass
When you drive to Mass, what is the mood of the passengers in the car? Is it a prayerful mood, or a worldly mood—peppered with worldly or frivolous conversation, perhaps worldly music? If so, it weakens the notion of what the Sacrifice of the Mass is and the serious and awesome action you are about to take part in—there is no greater action taking place anywhere in the world, on any day, than that of the Mass. Perhaps passengers need to be told that henceforth, the approach to traveling to Sunday (daily/weekday) Masses will be different. Prayers could be said; hymns sung or played; suitable spiritual material read out aloud; or at least spiritual conversations held.
Arrival Time for Mass
Do you arrive in plenty of time to make a proper preparation for Mass in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Let’s face it—it is GOD HIMSELF that you are visiting when you go to Mass! It is not a commemoration of Calvary; it is not a mere human action; it is not a social function—you are there TO SEE GOD. Is there enough time made for God, or is it a last minute arrival? Or if you do make it on time, does everyone actually GO INSIDE TO SPEAK TO GOD, or do they spend time chatting with other parishioners prior to Mass starting? Worldly talk, frivolous talk, socializing, joking around and laughing? If the Mass is a sacrifice, then sacrifice something yourself and get right in there! The answers to these questions show the value we place on God and whether or not He is “Number One” in our lives.
Assistance at Mass
How do we assist at Mass? Some people clearly show that, even though their bodies are present at Mass, their minds most certainly are not—they gaze around, fidget with their ‘little-ones’, keeping them entertained so that they don’t cry, etc. Others may have a Missal, prayer book or Rosary in their hands—but their heart can be lukewarm and they listlessly, carelessly and mechanically go through the motions of praying, fitting the description of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Lining up for Holy Communion is no different to lining up at the supermarket check-out—cold, indifferent, with no devotion or zeal.
Holy Communion
The reception of Holy Communion makes you wonder if they really believe that God is present—but of course nearly 70% of Catholics do not believe that He is present. Thanksgiving after Communion, if there is one, is frequently seen to be a mechanical repetition of the same old prayers, said without any real feeling and without any personal heart-to-heart conversation with the God that now rests within them! Once Mass is over, hardly anyone stays behind to continue their thanksgiving and to continue talking to their God—for friends beckon in the parking lot or the parish hall, and, instead of a tasteless Host, coffee and donuts with a variety of sweet fillings are available in the parish hall—and the early bird gets the best donuts! I guess the redeeming factor must be that the donut looks like a fat halo! Friends, coffee and donuts are “Number One”—“Number Two”—and “Number Three”—God came in fourth!
Once a Year is Not Enough!
We can easily fall into the same spiritual trap that we fall into at home, in family. We think that by honoring Our Lord once a year with something special―like a Corpus Christi procession, that adds on many minutes or even an hour or more, to our regular Sunday Mass “pop-in-and-out” obligation, somehow sends shivers of joy down the ‘spine’ of Our Lord. It much like a person who does something really special for their spouse on their birthday―and then does little or nothing for the rest of the year. Love is a daily thing―not an annual thing! Of such superficial ‘worshipers’―who prefer to spend Sunday as ‘worshoppers’―Our Lord says: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). “Hypocrites! Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:6-9).
St. John Vianney and the Eucharist
When St. John Marie Vianney arrived at the remote little village of Ars, someone said to him sourly, "Here there is nothing to be done."
"Then, there is everything to be done," replied the Saint.
And he began immediately to act. What did he do? He rose at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and went to pray near the altar in the dark church. He recited the Divine Office, he made his meditation, and he prepared himself for Holy Mass. After the Holy Sacrifice, he made his thanksgiving. Then he remained at prayer until noon. He would be always kneeling on the floor without any support, with a Rosary in his hand and his eyes fixed on the tabernacle.
Things continued this way for a short time. Then he had to start changing his timetable; and things reached a point requiring radical changes in his program. The Eucharistic Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, little by little, drew souls to that poor parish, until the Church did not seem big enough to contain the crowds, and the confessional of the holy Curé became swamped with endless lines of penitents. He was obliged to hear confession for ten, fifteen, eighteen hours in a day!
How did such a transformation ever come about? There had been a poor Church, an altar long unused, an abandoned tabernacle, an ancient confessional, and a priest with no resources and little talent. How could such a wonderful change develop in that unknown village?
St. Padre Pio and the Eucharist
We can ask the same question today regarding San Giovanni Rotondo, a town on Mt. Gargano, Italy. Until a few decades ago it was an obscure, unknown place amid the rough crags of a promontory. Today, San Giovanni Rotondo is a center of spiritual and cultural life and its reputation is international. Here, too, there had been an unpromising, sickly friar, an ancient, dilapidated little friary, a small neglected Church, with altar and tabernacle left ever alone to this poor friar, who wore out his beads and his hands in the untiring recitation of the Holy Rosary.
How did the change come about? What caused the wonderful transformation that came to Ars and to San Giovanni Rotondo, so that hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, of persons have come to these places from every part of the earth?
Only God could work such transformations using, according to His ways, "those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something" (1 Corinthians 1:28). It is all due to Him, to the divine and infinite power of the Eucharist, to the almighty force of attraction which radiates from every tabernacle, and which radiated from the tabernacles of Ars and San Giovanni Rotondo, reaching souls through the ministry of those two priests, true "ministers of the tabernacle" (Heb. 13:10) and "dispensers of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1).
The Emmanuel
Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, the "God with us" (Matthew 1:23).
The Eucharistic Jesus is here with us as a brother, as a friend, as spouse of our souls. He wishes to enter within us to be our Food for eternal life, our love, our support. He wants to make us part of His mystical Body in which He would redeem us and save us, and then take us into the kingdom of Heaven to settle us in an everlasting bliss of love.
With the Eucharist, God has truly given us everything. St. Augustine exclaimed: "Although God is all-powerful, He is unable to give more; though supremely wise, He knows not how to give more; though vastly rich, He has not more to give."
When St. Peter Julian Eymard came to Paris, he was lodged in a very poor house in which many necessities were lacking. But when someone complained and another took pity on him, the Saint would respond, "The Blessed Sacrament is there. That is all that I need." When persons would approach him to obtain graces, help and comfort, the Saint would respond, "You will find all in the Eucharist―he warm words you want to hear, the knowledge and the miracles you need—yes, even the miracles."
What More Do You Want?
To the Eucharist, then, we should go. To Jesus we should turn—to Jesus, who wishes to make Himself ours in order to make us His by rendering us "godlike." "O Jesus, Food of strong souls," St. Gemma Galgani used to say, "strengthen me, purify me, make me godlike." Let us receive the Eucharist with a pure and ardent heart. That is what the saints have done.
It should never be too much trouble for us to grow familiar with this unspeakable Mystery. Meditation, study and reflection on the Eucharist should have an important place each day on our timetable. It will be the time of our day richest in blessings.
Lack of Faith and Respect
It will do good to our soul and body. We read in the life of Pope St. Pius X that one day, when he was the parish priest of Salzano, he went on a visit to a sick altar boy. At that very moment the doctor also arrived and asked the sick boy how he was. The boy answered that on that day he was feeling better, because he had been able to give a little instruction on the Eucharist to a few other boys. At this response the doctor exclaimed with overtones of ridicule, "Oh! That’s rich! During my medical studies I never heard that a little Christian teaching could have such effects!"
At this sour remark, the priest immediately intervened in defense of the boy and said to the doctor: "Oh, we see very well the effects of your science, doctor, and even a nearsighted person would see them well, too, because the cemetery is full of them. But Christian doctrine fills up a place which only those who are intellectually shortsighted would not be able to see: Heaven!"
Our Greatest Treasure
The Eucharist is the heavenly "leaven" (Matthew 13:33) which is capable of fermenting, in the human nature of every person, all spiritual and temporal goods. It is so great a good Itself that one cannot desire anything else greater. What, in fact, could one desire more, when within himself he has Jesus, living and real, the God-made-man, the Word made flesh and blood for our salvation and happiness?
On his deathbed St. Peter Julian Eymard gave this excellent reply to a religious who requested a final point for reflection: "I have nothing more to tell you. You already have the Eucharist. What more do you want?"
Saturday June 13th, Second Apparition at Fatima in 1917
Article 9
June 13th! Lucky 13 or Unlucky 13?
Article 9
June 13th! Lucky 13 or Unlucky 13?
Fatima Revisited
Here we are again! June 13th! Huh? June 13th? What’s so special about June 13th? It is the date of Our Lady’s second apparition―in a series of six―at Fatima in 1917. Our Lady revisited Fatima―and so it is only fitting that we revisit Our Lady, or revisit Fatima with Our Lady. Did Our Lady come back because she had forgotten to say or forgotten to do something? Of course not―Heaven never gets anything wrong, nor makes a mistake, nor forgets to do anything. Our Lady came back for our benefit!
Like young children―who are being taught at school―we sometimes need to have a lesson or a principle hammered home repeatedly, just so that “we get it” or comprehend it. Our Lady could have said in one single apparition―as she did at La Salette in 1846―all that she wanted to say and then left it at that, but she didn’t . She came again … and again … and again … and again … and again … and again for the sixth time ― and each time she hammered home command or a rule that most people have given up obeying. What was that rule or command? “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray! Pray very much!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary! Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Tired of the Same Old Thing?
Are you tired of hearing the same old thing? Tired of the same old message? Same thing―year in year out, from month to month, week to week, day to day? Perhaps―but do you grow tired of breathing the same old air―year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute? Are you tired of drinking the same old water― hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year? Then there are the same old drinks: tea, coffee, wine, beer, juices or sodas―taken daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. We usually eat the same old meals, using the same old foods―from day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year. The same old brushing of the teeth―each day, every week, each month, for years. The same old sleeping―night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year? We use the same old walking pillars―our legs and feet―year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute?
We probably have the same old habits that we always had―and most likely always will have! We use the same old vocabulary, tell the same old jokes, complain about the same old things, listen to the same old music. We drive the same old route to work or school―day after day. We are faced with the same old road signs as we drive. The school or workplace is in the same old place where it always was. We shop in the same old stores―week after week. We endure the same old order in the seasons―spring, summer, fall and winter―without there ever being a change in the sequence! We automatically and robotically go through the same old seven days of the week, in their same old order, from the day we are born to the day we die! All of this is merely the tip of the same old iceberg we all have in our lives. The vast majority of most people’s lives is filled with the “same old” this and the “same old” that.
Even the Church gives us the same old readings on the same old Sundays of the Liturgical Year―year after year from our birth until our death. We receive the same old Holy Communion each and every time we go to Mass. We recite the same old Our Fathers and Hail Marys every time we pray the Rosary―regardless of which mystery we are praying. We keep confessing the same old sins every time we go to confession. We assist at the same old Mass each time we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Even those who now go to the “New Mass” end up going to the same old “New Mass” week after week after week―that is if they go at all, for an average of only 20% of all Catholics (and that is a generous number) attend Sunday Mass regularly! We recite the same old prayers in preparation for and thanksgiving after Mass (if we recite them at all).
Even God is the same old God and always will be: “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “In the beginning, O Lord, Thou founded the Earth and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest! And all of them shall grow old like a garment! And, like a garment, Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed! But Thou art always the self-same!” (Psalm 101:26-28). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). God is perfection itself, He is all perfect―and perfection of such a degree cannot change by becoming more perfect, for it already is at the pinnacle of perfection; nor can such a perfection change for the worse, for that would imply a weakness in the perfection, which would mean it was not perfect in the first place. Thus, God’s will cannot change―for God’s will, like everything else in God, is absolute perfection. Even the concessions that God sometimes grants―are not a change in His will, for He has foreseen and willed those concessions from eternity, way before the circumstances and need ever arose. St. Thomas Aquinas states: “It is impossible for God to be in any way changeable … God alone is altogether immutable [unchangeable]; whereas every creature is in some way mutable [changeable] … The will of God is entirely unchangeable … God and His knowledge are entirely unchangeable. Therefore His will must be entirely unchangeable” (Summa, Ia, q. 9, articles 1 & 2 & 7).
Luck or Bad Luck? Chance, Coincidence or Planned?
Are there such things as good luck” and “bad luck” and “chance” or “coincidences”? It all depends upon whose perspective or viewpoint you are looking at things. The answer to the question is “No” when you look at it from God’s all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-capable perspective―there is nothing that God does not foresee, there is nothing outside of or independent of God’s power, and there is nothing that God is incapable of planning, arranging and achieving―down the tiniest, most infinitesimal detail. As Our Lord said: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father [knowing and willing it]. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore―better are you than many sparrows!” (Matthew 10:29-31).
St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “The ordering of human actions, the principle of which is the will, must be ascribed to God alone … Nothing hinders certain things happening by luck or by chance, if compared to their proximate causes―but not if compared to Divine Providence, whereby, as Augustine says: ‘Nothing happens at random in the world!’” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 116, article 1). What St. Thomas is saying is that the “proximate cause” of the dog running into the middle of the road, causing you to swerve your car away from the dog and resulting in you hitting a tree, might seem like “bad luck” or “misfortune” on a “chance” happening that was not thought-out or planned by anybody. Yet the ultimate cause―or “remote cause”―of this event is the Providence of God, which foresees every tiniest, minutest happening or event in the world throughout all the history and future of the world.
Relative to our human perspective―that is to say, “subjectively speaking”― things seem to happen by chance. St. Thomas Aquinas comments: “In this world some things seem to happen by luck or chance. Now it happens sometimes that something is lucky or chance-like as compared to inferior causes, which, if compared to some higher cause, is directly intended. For instance, if two servants are sent by their master to the same place; the meeting of the two servants in regard to themselves is by chance; but as compared to the master, who had ordered it, it is directly intended.” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 116, article 1). Notice that St. Thomas explains that something is said to be “lucky” or to “happen by chance” only when viewed from the subjective viewpoint of man (or the viewpoint of what St. Thomas calls an “inferior cause”). However, when viewed from the perspective of a “higher cause”, that is to say the objective perspective of God, the event is seen as being directly intended by God, no matter how insignificant. Are you lost? Is your brain over-heating? Okay, let us take St. Thomas’s brief skeleton example and flesh-it-out a little, and that will cool the brain, lift the fog and bring out the sunshine of understanding.
For example, suppose you are trying to instill obedience to authority in your one of your daughters―and so, in the middle of her watching a movie she likes, or doing something else she loves to do, you tell her to walk to the local grocery store to purchase a long list of items, that you know will be on the heavy side for her to carry by herself. Once she has obediently (or not so obediently) left for the store, after a little while, you send your usually helpful son to the same store (who does not know his sister was sent by you on her errand) to buy you one or two additional items. The fact that they meet in the store and the fact that your son will help your daughter carry her heavy load―will seem like “good luck” as a result of a “chance meeting” from the perspective of your son and daughter. However, what seems like “good luck” or a “chance meeting” from their viewpoint, is directly intended by pure planning and careful execution on your part.
Are the Events of the Current Crises Luck or Bad Luck? Chance, Coincidence or Planned?
That wonderful little book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, furnishes us with a solid explanation to this question: “Treating of the Will of God, St. Thomas, following St. Augustine, teaches that it is the cause of all that exists. If God then has produced all these things, is it not supremely right and reasonable as well as absolutely necessary that they should be preserved and governed by Him according to the counsel of His will? … Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. “Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives” is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, “and God intervenes everywhere.”
“‘I am the Lord,’ He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, ‘and there is none else! I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things!’ (Isaias 45:6‑7). ‘It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them!’ He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive,’ it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, ‘He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth’ (1 Kings 2:6‑7). ‘Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?’ (Amos 3:6) asks the prophet Amos. ‘Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,’ Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture.”
“Perhaps―you will say―that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action, the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if―you will object―someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame―you will conclude―can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission.”
“Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews who attributed their captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes other than the will of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: ‘Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? Do not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a living man murmur―a man suffering for his sins? Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens, saying: “We have done wickedly and provoked thee to wrath! Therefore Thou art inexorable!”’”
“Are not these words clear enough? We should take them to heart for our own good. Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God and believe that all is guided by His paternal hand.” (From the book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
Though Evil Comes From Man―It Must First Be Permitted by God
Once again, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, explains matters: “However―you will perhaps now say―there is sinfulness in all these actions. How then can God will them and take part in them if He is all‑holy and can have nothing in common with sin? God indeed is not and cannot be the author of sin. But it must be remembered that in every sin there are two parts to be distinguished, one natural and the other moral. Thus, in the action of the man you think you have a grievance against there is, for example, the movement of the arm that strikes you or the tongue that offends you, and the movement of the will that turns aside from right reason and the law of God. The physical action of the arm or the tongue, like all natural things, is quite good in itself and there is nothing to prevent its being produced with and by God’s cooperation. What is evil, what God could not cooperate with, is the sinful intention which the will of man contributes to the act.
“When a man walks with a crippled leg the movement he makes comes both from the soul and the leg, but the defect which causes him to walk badly is only in the leg. In the same way all evil actions must be attributed to God and to man in so far as they are natural, physical acts, but they can be attributed only to the will of man in so far as they are sinful and blameworthy.
“If then someone strikes you or slanders you, as the movement of the arm or tongue is in no way a sin, God can very well be, and actually is, the author of it; for existence and movement in man not less than in any other creature proceed not from himself but from God , who acts in him and by him. “For in Him” says St. Paul, “we live and move and have our being.” 9 As for the malice of the intention, it proceeds entirely from man and in it alone is the sinfulness in which God has no share but which He yet permits in order not to interfere with our freedom of will.
“Moreover, when God co-operates with the person who attacks or robs you, He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul. But He does not intend that the attacker or robber should take them from you by a sin. That is the part of human malice, not God’s design.
“An example may make the matter clearer. A criminal is condemned to death by fair trial. But the executioner happens to be a personal enemy of his, and instead of carrying out the judge’s sentence as a duty, he does so in a spirit of hate and revenge. Obviously the judge has no share in the executioner’s sin. The will and intention of the judge is not that this sin should be committed, but that justice should take its course and the criminal be punished.
“In the same way God has no share at all in the wickedness of the man who strikes or robs you. That is something particular to the man himself. God, as we have said, wishes to make you see your own faults, to humble you, deprive you of what you possess, in order to free you from vice and lead you to virtue; but this good and merciful design, which He could carry out in numerous other ways without any sin being involved, has nothing. in common with the sin of the man who acts as His instrument. And in fact it is not this man’s evil intention or sin that causes you to suffer, humiliates or impoverishes you, but the loss of your well-being, your good name or your possessions. The sin harms only the person who is guilty of it. This is the way we ought to separate the good from the evil in events of this kind, and distinguish what God operates through men from what men add to the act by their own will.” (From the book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
Here we are again! June 13th! Huh? June 13th? What’s so special about June 13th? It is the date of Our Lady’s second apparition―in a series of six―at Fatima in 1917. Our Lady revisited Fatima―and so it is only fitting that we revisit Our Lady, or revisit Fatima with Our Lady. Did Our Lady come back because she had forgotten to say or forgotten to do something? Of course not―Heaven never gets anything wrong, nor makes a mistake, nor forgets to do anything. Our Lady came back for our benefit!
Like young children―who are being taught at school―we sometimes need to have a lesson or a principle hammered home repeatedly, just so that “we get it” or comprehend it. Our Lady could have said in one single apparition―as she did at La Salette in 1846―all that she wanted to say and then left it at that, but she didn’t . She came again … and again … and again … and again … and again … and again for the sixth time ― and each time she hammered home command or a rule that most people have given up obeying. What was that rule or command? “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war!” (June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! Pray! Pray very much!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary! Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917).
Tired of the Same Old Thing?
Are you tired of hearing the same old thing? Tired of the same old message? Same thing―year in year out, from month to month, week to week, day to day? Perhaps―but do you grow tired of breathing the same old air―year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute? Are you tired of drinking the same old water― hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year? Then there are the same old drinks: tea, coffee, wine, beer, juices or sodas―taken daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. We usually eat the same old meals, using the same old foods―from day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year. The same old brushing of the teeth―each day, every week, each month, for years. The same old sleeping―night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year? We use the same old walking pillars―our legs and feet―year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute?
We probably have the same old habits that we always had―and most likely always will have! We use the same old vocabulary, tell the same old jokes, complain about the same old things, listen to the same old music. We drive the same old route to work or school―day after day. We are faced with the same old road signs as we drive. The school or workplace is in the same old place where it always was. We shop in the same old stores―week after week. We endure the same old order in the seasons―spring, summer, fall and winter―without there ever being a change in the sequence! We automatically and robotically go through the same old seven days of the week, in their same old order, from the day we are born to the day we die! All of this is merely the tip of the same old iceberg we all have in our lives. The vast majority of most people’s lives is filled with the “same old” this and the “same old” that.
Even the Church gives us the same old readings on the same old Sundays of the Liturgical Year―year after year from our birth until our death. We receive the same old Holy Communion each and every time we go to Mass. We recite the same old Our Fathers and Hail Marys every time we pray the Rosary―regardless of which mystery we are praying. We keep confessing the same old sins every time we go to confession. We assist at the same old Mass each time we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Even those who now go to the “New Mass” end up going to the same old “New Mass” week after week after week―that is if they go at all, for an average of only 20% of all Catholics (and that is a generous number) attend Sunday Mass regularly! We recite the same old prayers in preparation for and thanksgiving after Mass (if we recite them at all).
Even God is the same old God and always will be: “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “In the beginning, O Lord, Thou founded the Earth and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest! And all of them shall grow old like a garment! And, like a garment, Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed! But Thou art always the self-same!” (Psalm 101:26-28). “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). God is perfection itself, He is all perfect―and perfection of such a degree cannot change by becoming more perfect, for it already is at the pinnacle of perfection; nor can such a perfection change for the worse, for that would imply a weakness in the perfection, which would mean it was not perfect in the first place. Thus, God’s will cannot change―for God’s will, like everything else in God, is absolute perfection. Even the concessions that God sometimes grants―are not a change in His will, for He has foreseen and willed those concessions from eternity, way before the circumstances and need ever arose. St. Thomas Aquinas states: “It is impossible for God to be in any way changeable … God alone is altogether immutable [unchangeable]; whereas every creature is in some way mutable [changeable] … The will of God is entirely unchangeable … God and His knowledge are entirely unchangeable. Therefore His will must be entirely unchangeable” (Summa, Ia, q. 9, articles 1 & 2 & 7).
Luck or Bad Luck? Chance, Coincidence or Planned?
Are there such things as good luck” and “bad luck” and “chance” or “coincidences”? It all depends upon whose perspective or viewpoint you are looking at things. The answer to the question is “No” when you look at it from God’s all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-capable perspective―there is nothing that God does not foresee, there is nothing outside of or independent of God’s power, and there is nothing that God is incapable of planning, arranging and achieving―down the tiniest, most infinitesimal detail. As Our Lord said: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father [knowing and willing it]. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore―better are you than many sparrows!” (Matthew 10:29-31).
St. Thomas Aquinas adds: “The ordering of human actions, the principle of which is the will, must be ascribed to God alone … Nothing hinders certain things happening by luck or by chance, if compared to their proximate causes―but not if compared to Divine Providence, whereby, as Augustine says: ‘Nothing happens at random in the world!’” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 116, article 1). What St. Thomas is saying is that the “proximate cause” of the dog running into the middle of the road, causing you to swerve your car away from the dog and resulting in you hitting a tree, might seem like “bad luck” or “misfortune” on a “chance” happening that was not thought-out or planned by anybody. Yet the ultimate cause―or “remote cause”―of this event is the Providence of God, which foresees every tiniest, minutest happening or event in the world throughout all the history and future of the world.
Relative to our human perspective―that is to say, “subjectively speaking”― things seem to happen by chance. St. Thomas Aquinas comments: “In this world some things seem to happen by luck or chance. Now it happens sometimes that something is lucky or chance-like as compared to inferior causes, which, if compared to some higher cause, is directly intended. For instance, if two servants are sent by their master to the same place; the meeting of the two servants in regard to themselves is by chance; but as compared to the master, who had ordered it, it is directly intended.” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q. 116, article 1). Notice that St. Thomas explains that something is said to be “lucky” or to “happen by chance” only when viewed from the subjective viewpoint of man (or the viewpoint of what St. Thomas calls an “inferior cause”). However, when viewed from the perspective of a “higher cause”, that is to say the objective perspective of God, the event is seen as being directly intended by God, no matter how insignificant. Are you lost? Is your brain over-heating? Okay, let us take St. Thomas’s brief skeleton example and flesh-it-out a little, and that will cool the brain, lift the fog and bring out the sunshine of understanding.
For example, suppose you are trying to instill obedience to authority in your one of your daughters―and so, in the middle of her watching a movie she likes, or doing something else she loves to do, you tell her to walk to the local grocery store to purchase a long list of items, that you know will be on the heavy side for her to carry by herself. Once she has obediently (or not so obediently) left for the store, after a little while, you send your usually helpful son to the same store (who does not know his sister was sent by you on her errand) to buy you one or two additional items. The fact that they meet in the store and the fact that your son will help your daughter carry her heavy load―will seem like “good luck” as a result of a “chance meeting” from the perspective of your son and daughter. However, what seems like “good luck” or a “chance meeting” from their viewpoint, is directly intended by pure planning and careful execution on your part.
Are the Events of the Current Crises Luck or Bad Luck? Chance, Coincidence or Planned?
That wonderful little book, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, furnishes us with a solid explanation to this question: “Treating of the Will of God, St. Thomas, following St. Augustine, teaches that it is the cause of all that exists. If God then has produced all these things, is it not supremely right and reasonable as well as absolutely necessary that they should be preserved and governed by Him according to the counsel of His will? … Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. “Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives” is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, “and God intervenes everywhere.”
“‘I am the Lord,’ He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, ‘and there is none else! I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things!’ (Isaias 45:6‑7). ‘It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them!’ He said to Moses (Deuteronomy 32:39). ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive,’ it is written in the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, ‘He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth’ (1 Kings 2:6‑7). ‘Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done?’ (Amos 3:6) asks the prophet Amos. ‘Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God,’ Solomon proclaims (Ecclesiasticus 11:14). And so on in numerous other passages of Scripture.”
“Perhaps―you will say―that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action, the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if―you will object―someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame―you will conclude―can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission. It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission.”
“Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews who attributed their captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes other than the will of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: ‘Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? Do not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a living man murmur―a man suffering for his sins? Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens, saying: “We have done wickedly and provoked thee to wrath! Therefore Thou art inexorable!”’”
“Are not these words clear enough? We should take them to heart for our own good. Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God and believe that all is guided by His paternal hand.” (From the book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
Though Evil Comes From Man―It Must First Be Permitted by God
Once again, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, explains matters: “However―you will perhaps now say―there is sinfulness in all these actions. How then can God will them and take part in them if He is all‑holy and can have nothing in common with sin? God indeed is not and cannot be the author of sin. But it must be remembered that in every sin there are two parts to be distinguished, one natural and the other moral. Thus, in the action of the man you think you have a grievance against there is, for example, the movement of the arm that strikes you or the tongue that offends you, and the movement of the will that turns aside from right reason and the law of God. The physical action of the arm or the tongue, like all natural things, is quite good in itself and there is nothing to prevent its being produced with and by God’s cooperation. What is evil, what God could not cooperate with, is the sinful intention which the will of man contributes to the act.
“When a man walks with a crippled leg the movement he makes comes both from the soul and the leg, but the defect which causes him to walk badly is only in the leg. In the same way all evil actions must be attributed to God and to man in so far as they are natural, physical acts, but they can be attributed only to the will of man in so far as they are sinful and blameworthy.
“If then someone strikes you or slanders you, as the movement of the arm or tongue is in no way a sin, God can very well be, and actually is, the author of it; for existence and movement in man not less than in any other creature proceed not from himself but from God , who acts in him and by him. “For in Him” says St. Paul, “we live and move and have our being.” 9 As for the malice of the intention, it proceeds entirely from man and in it alone is the sinfulness in which God has no share but which He yet permits in order not to interfere with our freedom of will.
“Moreover, when God co-operates with the person who attacks or robs you, He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods, because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul. But He does not intend that the attacker or robber should take them from you by a sin. That is the part of human malice, not God’s design.
“An example may make the matter clearer. A criminal is condemned to death by fair trial. But the executioner happens to be a personal enemy of his, and instead of carrying out the judge’s sentence as a duty, he does so in a spirit of hate and revenge. Obviously the judge has no share in the executioner’s sin. The will and intention of the judge is not that this sin should be committed, but that justice should take its course and the criminal be punished.
“In the same way God has no share at all in the wickedness of the man who strikes or robs you. That is something particular to the man himself. God, as we have said, wishes to make you see your own faults, to humble you, deprive you of what you possess, in order to free you from vice and lead you to virtue; but this good and merciful design, which He could carry out in numerous other ways without any sin being involved, has nothing. in common with the sin of the man who acts as His instrument. And in fact it is not this man’s evil intention or sin that causes you to suffer, humiliates or impoverishes you, but the loss of your well-being, your good name or your possessions. The sin harms only the person who is guilty of it. This is the way we ought to separate the good from the evil in events of this kind, and distinguish what God operates through men from what men add to the act by their own will.” (From the book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday June 11th, Feast of Corpus Christi & Friday June 12th
Article 8
Corpus Christi!
Corpus Christi―Our Greatest Treasure, Our Greatest Weapon,
Our Greatest Neglect!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Thursday June 11th, Feast of Corpus Christi & Friday June 12th
Article 8
Corpus Christi!
Corpus Christi―Our Greatest Treasure, Our Greatest Weapon,
Our Greatest Neglect!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
The “What?” and the “Why?”
Hopefully most Catholics know what feast day we celebrate today! It is, of course, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, historically known by its Latin name, Corpus Christi, and the feast celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday following the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The feast dates to the Middle-Ages and originated with a visionary nun and a Eucharistic miracle. So much for the “WHAT?”
But how many Catholics know “WHY” this feast was instituted? What was the purpose? What was the need? It wasn’t instituted on a whim by a pope who had nothing better to do! The Feast of Corpus Christi was instituted when devotion to the Eucharist was at a low point. The purpose for Our Lord pushing for and instituting this feast was: (1) so that the Catholic doctrine would receive aid from the institution of this festival at a time when the Faith of the world was growing cold and heresies were rife; (2) that the faithful might be enabled to draw from this source of life new strength and vigor a time of increasing lukewarmness, in order to walk continually in the way of virtue; (3) that irreverence and sacrilegious behavior towards the Divine Majesty in this adorable Sacrament may, by sincere and profound adoration, be destroyed and repaired; (4) to announce to the Christian world His will that the feast be observed.
Today, we seem to be repeating history―for in our day also, devotion to the Eucharist is at a low point. Today, too, there is much irreverence and sacrilegious behavior towards the Divine Majesty in this adorable Sacrament. Today, we see belief and Faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist weakening and dwindling―whereby anywhere from 60% to 80% (depending where you live) of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence.
The Greatest Treasure
There is nothing, this side of Heaven, that is greater than the Holy Eucharist! The Holy Eucharist is both a SACRAMENT and a SACRIFICE. It is during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we obtain the Holy Eucharist and we receive it in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, after which Christ remains with us in the tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar! Numerous miracles have been performed in relation to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We hope that, at this time, you are making some time to read through some of the wonderful Faith-strengthening Eucharistic miracles that God has allowed to happen throughout the world in all centuries. Through such wondrous signs God calls souls to belief and conversion. [click here for an account of some Eucharistic Miracles]
There are increasing numbers of Catholics who are refusing to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Many think of the Eucharist as a mere symbol of Christ, and look upon the Mass as a mere commemoration of the Last Supper, and not the Sacrifice that it really and truly is! What an offense this must be to Our Lord! If already, in the more believing day of St. Margaret Mary (in the 1600s) Our Lord appeared to her and complained about the lack of love and devotion shown to Him—what would He have to say about our times?
Greatest Neglect
The Holy Eucharist is our “Greatest Treasure” and at the same time it is the modern era’s “Greatest Neglect.” It is impossible to identify the Holy Eucharist too closely with Jesus Christ. We should remember He is in the Holy Eucharist not merely with His substance. Some may say: “Transubstantiation means that the substance of bread and wine become the substance of Jesus Christ.”
No, it is not just an academic definition or philosophical explanation that is relegated to to the memory banks of our mind—a cerebral thing. Transubstantiation means the substance of bread and wine are no longer there. The substance of bread and wine is replaced not only by the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. What replaces the substance of bread and wine is Jesus Christ! Everything that makes Him Christ, replaces what had been the substance of bread and wine. The substance of bread and wine become the whole Christ—that is what we mean by “Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity”—the whole Christ.
Living Heart
Therefore, Christ in the Holy Eucharist is here with His human heart and His Sacred Heart. Is it a living heart? Yes! This is seen in the Miracles of Lanciano and Buenos Aires. This is also why the revelations Our Lord made to St. Margaret Mary about promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart were all made from the Holy Eucharist.
Why do we equate the Sacred Heart with the Holy Eucharist? Because the Holy Eucharist is the whole Christ with His human heart. According to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart is the Holy Eucharist. So it follows that devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Holy Eucharist. It is infinite Love Incarnate living in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive the living Christ—total, entire, living!
If Jesus causes the Host to become what science has identified as a human heart—and especially a muscle of the heart that is responsible for the contraction of a human heart, a heart that suffers like that of someone who has been beaten severely about the chest—if He does such things, it is in order to arouse and enliven our Faith in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. He thus enables us to see that Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a re-presentation (i.e. a making present once again) of the entire drama of our salvation: namely, Christ’s Passion and Death on Calvary, but now in an unbloody manner in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
Signs-a-Plenty
Jesus says to His disciples: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (John 4:48). There is no need to actively seek out wondrous signs. But if Jesus chooses to give them to us, then we ought to accept them with meekness and humility in Faith, seeking to understand what He desires to tell us by them. Thanks to these signs, many people have discovered Faith in God—the One God in the Holy Trinity, Who reveals His Son to us: Jesus Christ, Who abides in the tabernacles of the world, Who workd through the Sacraments and Who teaches us through Holy Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church—the triple cord of our Faith, of which Scripture says: “a threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
Miracles Seekers Are Often Blind
We have the “Greatest Treasure” staring us in the face, yet we run around trying to fill our minds and hearts with lesser spiritual treasures. We run after apparitions, we study prophecies, we delight over relics, we travel to holy sites where Our Lady or Our Lord might have appeared once, twice or a few times—but the place where Our Lord appears every day, which is the Altar upon which Mass is said, we often leave neglected and we place it way down in our rankings of holy places and things to see and visit. The Imitation of Christ puts it thus:
“Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the Altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels! Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the Altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received.”
A Mystery that Surpasses our Understanding
The Holy Eucharist—the actual presence of the risen person of Jesus under the appearances of bread and wine—is one of the most important and most difficult truths, revealed to us by Christ. Eucharistic miracles are merely visible confirmations of what He tells us about Himself; namely, that He really does give us His glorified Body and Blood as spiritual food and drink.
Jesus established the Eucharist on the eve of His Passion and Death. During the Last Supper, “Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat. This is My Body.’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28). When Jesus took and gave the Apostles the bread and wine, He said, “this is My Body….this is My Blood” by which He clearly meant that the bread and wine, which He gave them to eat and drink, really was His Body and Blood, and not some sort of symbol.
Jesus’ Eucharistic Sermon Shocks
Earlier, in the famous Eucharistic sermon recorded by St. John the Evangelist, Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him’” (John 6:54-57).
Shocked by Jesus’ words, the Jews said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:53). Many of Jesus’ disciples were also scandalized. “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” they objected. Knowing that the truth of the Eucharist was a shock and a scandal to many of His listeners, Jesus responded, not by retracting His words, but by raising the stakes: “Doth this scandalize you? The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life” (John 6: 62-63). Many refused to believe Him: “After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:67).
Today, we see a repeat of both the incredulity and disbelief in the Real Presence—with anywhere from 65% to 80% of Catholics no longer believing that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist—as well as a repeat of “many walked no more with Him”—as only around 20% to 25% come to Mass regularly on Sundays, for the rest it ends up being a Sinday.
Jesus Throws Down the Gauntlet
Our Lord throws down the gauntlet of Faith before His Apostles, as He does before us: “Then Jesus said to the Twelve: Will you also go away?” (John 6:68). St. Peter replies for them, and for us, with words of Faith—not understanding but believing nevertheless—”Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” Here Jesus goes to the heart of the mystery, the “Eucharistic Heart” of the mystery and that “Eucharistic Heart” we still have with us in our tabernacles! But though Jesus is really in the tabernacle, is Faith really in our hearts?
Not all Jesus’ listeners accepted His teaching of the Eucharist. Thus He turned to them, saying, “But there are some of you that believe not.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray Him” (John 6:65). Judas’ betrayal began with his rejection of Jesus’ teaching about His real presence in the Eucharist. In confirmation of this fact, Jesus said, “‘Have not I chosen you Twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now He meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray Him, whereas he was one of the Twelve.” (John 6:71-72).
Lack of Faith Today
How many today have not betrayed their Faith in Christ by refusing to believe in His Real Presence—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—in the Holy Eucharist? How many refuse to believe that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is more than just a commemoration of the Last Supper, but is also, and more importantly, the unbloody re-offering of Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary—in a way, a kind prolongation of that Sacrifice of Calvary through time. Read Articles 14 to 25 in our Easter Daily Thoughts section to see the damage done to the Church by a falling away from the Faith.
The Eucharist is our Pillar of Faith. It is our strengthener and comfort in these increasingly evil days. The Eucharist is the Risen Jesus Himself in His glorified, and thus invisible, humanity. This is the essence of His teaching of the Eucharist (John 6:62-63). By its death and resurrection, the humanity of Jesus takes on a divine nature; it assumes a new order of existence: “For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity, bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In His glorified humanity, the Risen Jesus, becoming omnipresent, gives of Himself in the gift of the Eucharist. He shares with us, not only His life of suffering, but also His resurrected life and divine love, so that we may, even here on Earth, experience the reality of Heaven and partake of the life of the Holy Trinity.
Your Transubstantiation
He wishes to work a ‘transubstantiation’ of sorts in our minds and hearts—as He changes the Bread and Wine into Himself, so too does He wish to change us Body and Soul into Himself. Like He said to so many people while He walked upon this Earth: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28). We have to reply with the leper: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst!” (Luke 5:11). Confronting the mystery of the Eucharist, human reason feels its impotence and limitations. Yet St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are His Body and His Blood: Faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”
Visiting His Temple, Delighting in the Lord
“One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit His temple” (Psalms 26:4). How many souls could truthfully say these words today? The houses of the Lord—the churches—are empty for most, if not all, the day. Few “see the delight of the Lord”—the Holy Eucharist—and “visit His temple”, the tabernacle.
Some souls might spend time in front of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and pride themselves upon it, but why do they not encourage and work ‘tooth-and-nail’ to try get others to do likewise, instead of just priding themselves upon their practices of piety. This smacks of the Pharisee, condemned by Our Lord in His parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, who self-righteously boasts: “And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5). “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:10-12).
Modern Day Pharisaical Boast
Today, the boast might be—”I go to Sunday Mass, whereas most Catholics no longer do! I say my Rosary every day, whereas only 96% of Catholics do not!” Yet, to whom more is given, more is expected! We should not be comparing ourselves with the sinners below us, but with the saints above us. Then, our position will suddenly look weak and precarious! 96% of Catholics may not pray the Rosary every day, but St. Padre Pio was among those who did pray it every day—and he prayed anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries (150 to 250 decades) every day! “Ah, well!” you say, “That was Padre Pio! I am no priest and stigmatic! That’s an unfair example that you are trying to hoist upon us!” Okay! Well what about a little 9 year old boy, Francisco Marto, one of seers at Fatima, would say many Rosaries each day and, like St. Padre Pio, was rarely seen without the Rosary beads in his little hands. “They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to Him” (Ecclesiasticus 2:19).
Sacrifice of the Mass—the Greatest Thing in the World
St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his book The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, writes: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary: with this sole difference, that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice.” Sadly, today, this notion of the Mass has been, at best, blurred; or, at worst, is no longer believed.
In 1957, 75% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly each week. By 1965 this had dropped to 65%. In 2004, there were only 25% of Catholics attending Sunday Mass regularly each week. Most of the 25% who attend weekly Mass today are 50 years old or older.
As for believe in the Real Presence (Jesus Christ being really and truly present with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist and Blessed Sacrament), over 66% of Catholics believe that the Holy Eucharist is only symbolic and not the Body and Blood of Christ.
St. Leonard of Port Maurice continues: “Now, tell me whether, when you enter church to hear Mass, you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God.”
What is Your Mass Attendance Like?
Do you, and your family, approach the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass like you would Calvary? What is your preparation for Mass like? Read about St. Charbal Maklouf—a Maronite monk-priest—who had a great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. That is all he lived for—he lived and said Mass in a cave, having been given permission to live a hermit-like existence. Already before sunrise, he would be at prayer—reciting his Divine Office (breviary) and other prayers in preparation for his 11:00 a.m. Mass. A monk would come up to his cave from the nearby monastery, to serve Mass and bring him a meager lunch. After Mass, he would spend at least one hour or even two, before eating his lunch, and would then return to his thanksgiving—which he continued into the early evening. Then he would begin his prayers of preparation for the next day’s Mass. His body lies incorrupt to this day.
On the Way to Mass
When you drive to Mass, what is the mood of the passengers in the car? Is it a prayerful mood, or a worldly mood—peppered with worldly or frivolous conversation, perhaps worldly music? If so, it weakens the notion of what the Sacrifice of the Mass is and the serious and awesome action you are about to take part in—there is no greater action taking place anywhere in the world, on any day, than that of the Mass. Perhaps passengers need to be told that henceforth, the approach to traveling to Sunday (daily/weekday) Masses will be different. Prayers could be said; hymns sung or played; suitable spiritual material read out aloud; or at least spiritual conversations held.
Arrival Time for Mass
Do you arrive in plenty of time to make a proper preparation for Mass in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Let’s face it—it is GOD HIMSELF that you are visiting when you go to Mass! It is not a commemoration of Calvary; it is not a mere human action; it is not a social function—you are there TO SEE GOD. Is there enough time made for God, or is it a last minute arrival? Or if you do make it on time, does everyone actually GO INSIDE TO SPEAK TO GOD, or do they spend time chatting with other parishioners prior to Mass starting? Worldly talk, frivolous talk, socializing, joking around and laughing? If the Mass is a sacrifice, then sacrifice something yourself and get right in there! The answers to these questions show the value we place on God and whether or not He is “Number One” in our lives.
Assistance at Mass
How do we assist at Mass? Some people clearly show that, even though their bodies are present at Mass, their minds most certainly are not—they gaze around, fidget with their ‘little-ones’, keeping them entertained so that they don’t cry, etc. Others may have a Missal, prayer book or Rosary in their hands—but their heart can be lukewarm and they listlessly, carelessly and mechanically go through the motions of praying, fitting the description of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Lining up for Holy Communion is no different to lining up at the supermarket check-out—cold, indifferent, with no devotion or zeal.
Holy Communion
The reception of Holy Communion makes you wonder if they really believe that God is present—but of course nearly 70% of Catholics do not believe that He is present. Thanksgiving after Communion, if there is one, is frequently seen to be a mechanical repetition of the same old prayers, said without any real feeling and without any personal heart-to-heart conversation with the God that now rests within them! Once Mass is over, hardly anyone stays behind to continue their thanksgiving and to continue talking to their God—for friends beckon in the parking lot or the parish hall, and, instead of a tasteless Host, coffee and donuts with a variety of sweet fillings are available in the parish hall—and the early bird gets the best donuts! I guess the redeeming factor must be that the donut looks like a fat halo! Friends, coffee and donuts are “Number One”—”Number Two”—and “Number Three”—God came in fourth!
On this feast of Corpus Christi―which is a holy day of obligation in the Universal Calendar of the Church, but not observed as such in most countries―let us strive to rekindle our esteem, appreciation, love and manner of assistance at the greatest Treasure we have this side of Heaven. Let us strive to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass more often; to assist at it with greater reverence and fervor; to make better thanksgivings after Mass, and to visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament much more frequently.
If, with the eyes of Faith, we REALLY saw GOD PRESENT in the Holy Eucharist and in the Sacrifice of the Mass, then this should not be too hard. But if our eyes of Faith have become myopic, or even blind, then we will go the way of the majority. It is not a path that we should be taking, for it ends in misery.
St. Clare Defeats and the Blessed Sacrament
St. Clare was a beautiful Italian noblewoman, born to a noble family of the town of Assisi, in Umbria, Italy in the year 1193. She was destined to become the foundress of an order of nuns called “The Poor Clares.” She was converted upon hearing St. Francis of Assisi preach. Thereafter, she developed a great desire to live a poor humble life for Jesus. Francis had given away all his possessions to follow Jesus in poverty and prayer, Clare felt herself drawn to follow his example. She ran away from home, and in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God. Under the direction of St. Francis, she founded an order of contemplative nuns vowed to poverty, chastity, and obedience who are often known today as the “Poor Clares.” St. Francis cut off her hair and gave her a rough brown habit to wear, tied with a plain cord around her waist. During her lifetime, Clare was renowned for her deep holiness and great wisdom. She gave herself over to prayer and contemplation, leading her charges by her great example of consuming love for the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, looking to Him to lead her in all her decisions.
In the opinion of many people, the poverty Clare and the nuns embraced, was absurd. Some thought the poverty and sacrifices of the nuns was too harsh, too much to be asked. To Clare this was simply not true, nothing was too great a sacrifice to offer her Beloved Lord, and her nuns joyfully followed her in this life. St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time in the Blessed Sacrament.
They knew in their hearts the truths so often lost in today’s modern world―that, sacrifices done out of love for another, are made lighter by a true love. To truly love another requires sacrifices, emotions of love are the reward that comes from giving of one’s self. To these dear nuns there was true peace and often joy in the submission of their will, the complete laying down of their life to God. They wanted to give their all to Him, in loving return for His lovingly giving His very life on the Cross for all.
The next truth they found was that poverty, willingly undertaken, was not a burden, rather, it was freeing to not be weighed down by material concerns, or caring for all manner of possessions. Many of them were of noble birth, they had experienced all the world had to offer, and yet they chose to abandon it all for a higher calling, namely the total giving of their all for Love of God. They found the more they emptied themselves out of their own interests and desires, the more they were filled. They experienced great peace in the simplicity they lived. The nuns trusted in God to provide their needs, through the generosity of others. This has been the way of the Poor Clares for over 800 years now, and He has never let them down, often times providing miraculously.
St. Clare’s deep union with the Lord and persistent prayers, often were rewarded by miracles. Twice, God saved the convent through the intercession of St. Clare.
St. Clare Defeats Saracens with the Blessed Sacrament
A famous incident in her life, in September of 1240, which we call the Miracle of the Eucharist of Assisi, took place at San Damiano in 1241, twelve years before St. Clare died. The catalyst that the Lord, used to bring about this miracle, was a German prince, Frederick II of Swabia. There is a tradition that Frederick was born in Assisi at the same time as St. Francis, and was baptized on the same day in the church of San Ruffino. The Pope had treated this Frederick very well, being sure he was brought up comfortably, showing him every courtesy. The young German repaid his kindness nastily, by turning on the Pope and the Church, waging a war against them, and the people of the Umbria. He had visions of an empire that would spread itself from Assisi down to Sicily. To this end, he recruited a band of Saracen (Arab) mercenaries to be his army. reinforced by this band of merciless cut-throat Saracens, Frederick proceeded to march upon Assisi.
The convent of San Damiano stood between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens―who hated Christians, and had a lusty appetite for Caucasian women. They proceeded to attack the Convent. Clare was sick in bed at this time. Her ladies rushed to her, crying, in a state of panic. What would they do? Could she protect them from the attacking soldiers? One of the Sisters ran into the room to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out.
Clare had two Sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel and prostrated herself before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. She then removed the silver and ivory case containing the Blessed Sacrament, holding it in her hands, she pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord. She spoke to the Lord, and He answered her. She implored: “Behold, my Lord! Is it possible that Thou desirest to deliver, into the hands of pagans, Thy defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught and raised out of love for Thee? I pray Thee, Lord―protect these Thy handmaids, whom I cannot now save by myself!”
A very gentle voice, like that of a young child, answered her: “I will take care of you―always!”
Clare added another petition: “My Lord, protect also―because it pleases you―this town of Assisi that, out of love for Thee, supports us!”
The reply she received was: “It will have to go through suffering, but it will be defended by My protection.”
Strengthened by these words, Clare turned to her Sisters, who were terrified by the prospects of the attack of the feared Saracens. “I promise you, my daughters, that you will not suffer any evil. Only have Faith in Christ!”
The fierce Saracens had invaded San Damiano and entered the confines of the monastery. St. Clare took the silver and ivory case containing the Blessed Sacrament and held it high in the air. The advancing Saracens froze in their tracks at the courtyard of the Convent. They looked up at Clare and the Blessed Sacrament in her hand. What happened next has no humanly explicable reason. The Saracens, witnessing blinding rays of bright light coming from the Blessed Sacrament, were petrified with fear―as if they could recognize the God Who was there―they turned and ran, fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her Sisters in peace. Neither did they attack Assisi as planned. St. Clare immediately admonished her Sisters―who had heard the voice of Christ speaking to Clare―telling them severely: “Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters!”
The next day, the people of Assisi were delighted, but astonished that the Saracens had not attacked their city. Survival not conquest, uppermost in their minds, the invaders had left without ever setting foot in the town.
A similar situation occurred when the troops of Vitalis d’Aversa attacked Assisi in June of 1241. Again her deep devotion to the Eucharist brought her before the Blessed Sacrament and again the city was spared. Olive Jars were filled with oil after she blessed them. On another occasion St. Clare experienced her own “multiplication of the loaves” when she fed 50 sisters and all the Franciscan friars with a single loaf of bread.
Fewer and Fewer Miracles Today!
God never changes ― “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17). “God is not a man, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed!” (Numbers 23:19). God is willing to perform miracles and come to our aid today―just as much as in the past. What has changed is our Faith in God, our trust in God and our confidence in God―all of these things have increasingly weakened over the years. Instead―we now place our faith in technology more than God, we trust science and technology more than God, and we have confidence in science and technology more than God! So God leaves us to our newly found gods!
The Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is still the greatest Treasure the world has―but it also the greatest neglected Treasure the world has. You reap what you sow―that is why we reaping so few miracles today, because the seed of the Faith has been choked up by the mammon of the world. “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22).
Hopefully most Catholics know what feast day we celebrate today! It is, of course, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, historically known by its Latin name, Corpus Christi, and the feast celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday following the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The feast dates to the Middle-Ages and originated with a visionary nun and a Eucharistic miracle. So much for the “WHAT?”
But how many Catholics know “WHY” this feast was instituted? What was the purpose? What was the need? It wasn’t instituted on a whim by a pope who had nothing better to do! The Feast of Corpus Christi was instituted when devotion to the Eucharist was at a low point. The purpose for Our Lord pushing for and instituting this feast was: (1) so that the Catholic doctrine would receive aid from the institution of this festival at a time when the Faith of the world was growing cold and heresies were rife; (2) that the faithful might be enabled to draw from this source of life new strength and vigor a time of increasing lukewarmness, in order to walk continually in the way of virtue; (3) that irreverence and sacrilegious behavior towards the Divine Majesty in this adorable Sacrament may, by sincere and profound adoration, be destroyed and repaired; (4) to announce to the Christian world His will that the feast be observed.
Today, we seem to be repeating history―for in our day also, devotion to the Eucharist is at a low point. Today, too, there is much irreverence and sacrilegious behavior towards the Divine Majesty in this adorable Sacrament. Today, we see belief and Faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist weakening and dwindling―whereby anywhere from 60% to 80% (depending where you live) of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence.
The Greatest Treasure
There is nothing, this side of Heaven, that is greater than the Holy Eucharist! The Holy Eucharist is both a SACRAMENT and a SACRIFICE. It is during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we obtain the Holy Eucharist and we receive it in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, after which Christ remains with us in the tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar! Numerous miracles have been performed in relation to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We hope that, at this time, you are making some time to read through some of the wonderful Faith-strengthening Eucharistic miracles that God has allowed to happen throughout the world in all centuries. Through such wondrous signs God calls souls to belief and conversion. [click here for an account of some Eucharistic Miracles]
There are increasing numbers of Catholics who are refusing to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Many think of the Eucharist as a mere symbol of Christ, and look upon the Mass as a mere commemoration of the Last Supper, and not the Sacrifice that it really and truly is! What an offense this must be to Our Lord! If already, in the more believing day of St. Margaret Mary (in the 1600s) Our Lord appeared to her and complained about the lack of love and devotion shown to Him—what would He have to say about our times?
Greatest Neglect
The Holy Eucharist is our “Greatest Treasure” and at the same time it is the modern era’s “Greatest Neglect.” It is impossible to identify the Holy Eucharist too closely with Jesus Christ. We should remember He is in the Holy Eucharist not merely with His substance. Some may say: “Transubstantiation means that the substance of bread and wine become the substance of Jesus Christ.”
No, it is not just an academic definition or philosophical explanation that is relegated to to the memory banks of our mind—a cerebral thing. Transubstantiation means the substance of bread and wine are no longer there. The substance of bread and wine is replaced not only by the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. What replaces the substance of bread and wine is Jesus Christ! Everything that makes Him Christ, replaces what had been the substance of bread and wine. The substance of bread and wine become the whole Christ—that is what we mean by “Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity”—the whole Christ.
Living Heart
Therefore, Christ in the Holy Eucharist is here with His human heart and His Sacred Heart. Is it a living heart? Yes! This is seen in the Miracles of Lanciano and Buenos Aires. This is also why the revelations Our Lord made to St. Margaret Mary about promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart were all made from the Holy Eucharist.
Why do we equate the Sacred Heart with the Holy Eucharist? Because the Holy Eucharist is the whole Christ with His human heart. According to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart is the Holy Eucharist. So it follows that devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Holy Eucharist. It is infinite Love Incarnate living in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive the living Christ—total, entire, living!
If Jesus causes the Host to become what science has identified as a human heart—and especially a muscle of the heart that is responsible for the contraction of a human heart, a heart that suffers like that of someone who has been beaten severely about the chest—if He does such things, it is in order to arouse and enliven our Faith in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. He thus enables us to see that Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a re-presentation (i.e. a making present once again) of the entire drama of our salvation: namely, Christ’s Passion and Death on Calvary, but now in an unbloody manner in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
Signs-a-Plenty
Jesus says to His disciples: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (John 4:48). There is no need to actively seek out wondrous signs. But if Jesus chooses to give them to us, then we ought to accept them with meekness and humility in Faith, seeking to understand what He desires to tell us by them. Thanks to these signs, many people have discovered Faith in God—the One God in the Holy Trinity, Who reveals His Son to us: Jesus Christ, Who abides in the tabernacles of the world, Who workd through the Sacraments and Who teaches us through Holy Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church—the triple cord of our Faith, of which Scripture says: “a threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
Miracles Seekers Are Often Blind
We have the “Greatest Treasure” staring us in the face, yet we run around trying to fill our minds and hearts with lesser spiritual treasures. We run after apparitions, we study prophecies, we delight over relics, we travel to holy sites where Our Lady or Our Lord might have appeared once, twice or a few times—but the place where Our Lord appears every day, which is the Altar upon which Mass is said, we often leave neglected and we place it way down in our rankings of holy places and things to see and visit. The Imitation of Christ puts it thus:
“Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the Altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels! Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the Altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received.”
A Mystery that Surpasses our Understanding
The Holy Eucharist—the actual presence of the risen person of Jesus under the appearances of bread and wine—is one of the most important and most difficult truths, revealed to us by Christ. Eucharistic miracles are merely visible confirmations of what He tells us about Himself; namely, that He really does give us His glorified Body and Blood as spiritual food and drink.
Jesus established the Eucharist on the eve of His Passion and Death. During the Last Supper, “Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, and said: ‘Take ye, and eat. This is My Body.’ And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this. For this is My Blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28). When Jesus took and gave the Apostles the bread and wine, He said, “this is My Body….this is My Blood” by which He clearly meant that the bread and wine, which He gave them to eat and drink, really was His Body and Blood, and not some sort of symbol.
Jesus’ Eucharistic Sermon Shocks
Earlier, in the famous Eucharistic sermon recorded by St. John the Evangelist, Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him’” (John 6:54-57).
Shocked by Jesus’ words, the Jews said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:53). Many of Jesus’ disciples were also scandalized. “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” they objected. Knowing that the truth of the Eucharist was a shock and a scandal to many of His listeners, Jesus responded, not by retracting His words, but by raising the stakes: “Doth this scandalize you? The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life” (John 6: 62-63). Many refused to believe Him: “After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him” (John 6:67).
Today, we see a repeat of both the incredulity and disbelief in the Real Presence—with anywhere from 65% to 80% of Catholics no longer believing that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist—as well as a repeat of “many walked no more with Him”—as only around 20% to 25% come to Mass regularly on Sundays, for the rest it ends up being a Sinday.
Jesus Throws Down the Gauntlet
Our Lord throws down the gauntlet of Faith before His Apostles, as He does before us: “Then Jesus said to the Twelve: Will you also go away?” (John 6:68). St. Peter replies for them, and for us, with words of Faith—not understanding but believing nevertheless—”Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” Here Jesus goes to the heart of the mystery, the “Eucharistic Heart” of the mystery and that “Eucharistic Heart” we still have with us in our tabernacles! But though Jesus is really in the tabernacle, is Faith really in our hearts?
Not all Jesus’ listeners accepted His teaching of the Eucharist. Thus He turned to them, saying, “But there are some of you that believe not.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray Him” (John 6:65). Judas’ betrayal began with his rejection of Jesus’ teaching about His real presence in the Eucharist. In confirmation of this fact, Jesus said, “‘Have not I chosen you Twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now He meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray Him, whereas he was one of the Twelve.” (John 6:71-72).
Lack of Faith Today
How many today have not betrayed their Faith in Christ by refusing to believe in His Real Presence—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—in the Holy Eucharist? How many refuse to believe that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is more than just a commemoration of the Last Supper, but is also, and more importantly, the unbloody re-offering of Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary—in a way, a kind prolongation of that Sacrifice of Calvary through time. Read Articles 14 to 25 in our Easter Daily Thoughts section to see the damage done to the Church by a falling away from the Faith.
The Eucharist is our Pillar of Faith. It is our strengthener and comfort in these increasingly evil days. The Eucharist is the Risen Jesus Himself in His glorified, and thus invisible, humanity. This is the essence of His teaching of the Eucharist (John 6:62-63). By its death and resurrection, the humanity of Jesus takes on a divine nature; it assumes a new order of existence: “For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity, bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In His glorified humanity, the Risen Jesus, becoming omnipresent, gives of Himself in the gift of the Eucharist. He shares with us, not only His life of suffering, but also His resurrected life and divine love, so that we may, even here on Earth, experience the reality of Heaven and partake of the life of the Holy Trinity.
Your Transubstantiation
He wishes to work a ‘transubstantiation’ of sorts in our minds and hearts—as He changes the Bread and Wine into Himself, so too does He wish to change us Body and Soul into Himself. Like He said to so many people while He walked upon this Earth: “Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?” (Matthew 9:28). We have to reply with the leper: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst!” (Luke 5:11). Confronting the mystery of the Eucharist, human reason feels its impotence and limitations. Yet St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are His Body and His Blood: Faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”
Visiting His Temple, Delighting in the Lord
“One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit His temple” (Psalms 26:4). How many souls could truthfully say these words today? The houses of the Lord—the churches—are empty for most, if not all, the day. Few “see the delight of the Lord”—the Holy Eucharist—and “visit His temple”, the tabernacle.
Some souls might spend time in front of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and pride themselves upon it, but why do they not encourage and work ‘tooth-and-nail’ to try get others to do likewise, instead of just priding themselves upon their practices of piety. This smacks of the Pharisee, condemned by Our Lord in His parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, who self-righteously boasts: “And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5). “Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess!’” (Luke 18:10-12).
Modern Day Pharisaical Boast
Today, the boast might be—”I go to Sunday Mass, whereas most Catholics no longer do! I say my Rosary every day, whereas only 96% of Catholics do not!” Yet, to whom more is given, more is expected! We should not be comparing ourselves with the sinners below us, but with the saints above us. Then, our position will suddenly look weak and precarious! 96% of Catholics may not pray the Rosary every day, but St. Padre Pio was among those who did pray it every day—and he prayed anywhere from 30 to 50 Rosaries (150 to 250 decades) every day! “Ah, well!” you say, “That was Padre Pio! I am no priest and stigmatic! That’s an unfair example that you are trying to hoist upon us!” Okay! Well what about a little 9 year old boy, Francisco Marto, one of seers at Fatima, would say many Rosaries each day and, like St. Padre Pio, was rarely seen without the Rosary beads in his little hands. “They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to Him” (Ecclesiasticus 2:19).
Sacrifice of the Mass—the Greatest Thing in the World
St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), in his book The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, writes: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary: with this sole difference, that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice.” Sadly, today, this notion of the Mass has been, at best, blurred; or, at worst, is no longer believed.
In 1957, 75% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly each week. By 1965 this had dropped to 65%. In 2004, there were only 25% of Catholics attending Sunday Mass regularly each week. Most of the 25% who attend weekly Mass today are 50 years old or older.
As for believe in the Real Presence (Jesus Christ being really and truly present with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist and Blessed Sacrament), over 66% of Catholics believe that the Holy Eucharist is only symbolic and not the Body and Blood of Christ.
St. Leonard of Port Maurice continues: “Now, tell me whether, when you enter church to hear Mass, you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God.”
What is Your Mass Attendance Like?
Do you, and your family, approach the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass like you would Calvary? What is your preparation for Mass like? Read about St. Charbal Maklouf—a Maronite monk-priest—who had a great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. That is all he lived for—he lived and said Mass in a cave, having been given permission to live a hermit-like existence. Already before sunrise, he would be at prayer—reciting his Divine Office (breviary) and other prayers in preparation for his 11:00 a.m. Mass. A monk would come up to his cave from the nearby monastery, to serve Mass and bring him a meager lunch. After Mass, he would spend at least one hour or even two, before eating his lunch, and would then return to his thanksgiving—which he continued into the early evening. Then he would begin his prayers of preparation for the next day’s Mass. His body lies incorrupt to this day.
On the Way to Mass
When you drive to Mass, what is the mood of the passengers in the car? Is it a prayerful mood, or a worldly mood—peppered with worldly or frivolous conversation, perhaps worldly music? If so, it weakens the notion of what the Sacrifice of the Mass is and the serious and awesome action you are about to take part in—there is no greater action taking place anywhere in the world, on any day, than that of the Mass. Perhaps passengers need to be told that henceforth, the approach to traveling to Sunday (daily/weekday) Masses will be different. Prayers could be said; hymns sung or played; suitable spiritual material read out aloud; or at least spiritual conversations held.
Arrival Time for Mass
Do you arrive in plenty of time to make a proper preparation for Mass in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Let’s face it—it is GOD HIMSELF that you are visiting when you go to Mass! It is not a commemoration of Calvary; it is not a mere human action; it is not a social function—you are there TO SEE GOD. Is there enough time made for God, or is it a last minute arrival? Or if you do make it on time, does everyone actually GO INSIDE TO SPEAK TO GOD, or do they spend time chatting with other parishioners prior to Mass starting? Worldly talk, frivolous talk, socializing, joking around and laughing? If the Mass is a sacrifice, then sacrifice something yourself and get right in there! The answers to these questions show the value we place on God and whether or not He is “Number One” in our lives.
Assistance at Mass
How do we assist at Mass? Some people clearly show that, even though their bodies are present at Mass, their minds most certainly are not—they gaze around, fidget with their ‘little-ones’, keeping them entertained so that they don’t cry, etc. Others may have a Missal, prayer book or Rosary in their hands—but their heart can be lukewarm and they listlessly, carelessly and mechanically go through the motions of praying, fitting the description of Our Lord: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Lining up for Holy Communion is no different to lining up at the supermarket check-out—cold, indifferent, with no devotion or zeal.
Holy Communion
The reception of Holy Communion makes you wonder if they really believe that God is present—but of course nearly 70% of Catholics do not believe that He is present. Thanksgiving after Communion, if there is one, is frequently seen to be a mechanical repetition of the same old prayers, said without any real feeling and without any personal heart-to-heart conversation with the God that now rests within them! Once Mass is over, hardly anyone stays behind to continue their thanksgiving and to continue talking to their God—for friends beckon in the parking lot or the parish hall, and, instead of a tasteless Host, coffee and donuts with a variety of sweet fillings are available in the parish hall—and the early bird gets the best donuts! I guess the redeeming factor must be that the donut looks like a fat halo! Friends, coffee and donuts are “Number One”—”Number Two”—and “Number Three”—God came in fourth!
On this feast of Corpus Christi―which is a holy day of obligation in the Universal Calendar of the Church, but not observed as such in most countries―let us strive to rekindle our esteem, appreciation, love and manner of assistance at the greatest Treasure we have this side of Heaven. Let us strive to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass more often; to assist at it with greater reverence and fervor; to make better thanksgivings after Mass, and to visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament much more frequently.
If, with the eyes of Faith, we REALLY saw GOD PRESENT in the Holy Eucharist and in the Sacrifice of the Mass, then this should not be too hard. But if our eyes of Faith have become myopic, or even blind, then we will go the way of the majority. It is not a path that we should be taking, for it ends in misery.
St. Clare Defeats and the Blessed Sacrament
St. Clare was a beautiful Italian noblewoman, born to a noble family of the town of Assisi, in Umbria, Italy in the year 1193. She was destined to become the foundress of an order of nuns called “The Poor Clares.” She was converted upon hearing St. Francis of Assisi preach. Thereafter, she developed a great desire to live a poor humble life for Jesus. Francis had given away all his possessions to follow Jesus in poverty and prayer, Clare felt herself drawn to follow his example. She ran away from home, and in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God. Under the direction of St. Francis, she founded an order of contemplative nuns vowed to poverty, chastity, and obedience who are often known today as the “Poor Clares.” St. Francis cut off her hair and gave her a rough brown habit to wear, tied with a plain cord around her waist. During her lifetime, Clare was renowned for her deep holiness and great wisdom. She gave herself over to prayer and contemplation, leading her charges by her great example of consuming love for the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, looking to Him to lead her in all her decisions.
In the opinion of many people, the poverty Clare and the nuns embraced, was absurd. Some thought the poverty and sacrifices of the nuns was too harsh, too much to be asked. To Clare this was simply not true, nothing was too great a sacrifice to offer her Beloved Lord, and her nuns joyfully followed her in this life. St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time in the Blessed Sacrament.
They knew in their hearts the truths so often lost in today’s modern world―that, sacrifices done out of love for another, are made lighter by a true love. To truly love another requires sacrifices, emotions of love are the reward that comes from giving of one’s self. To these dear nuns there was true peace and often joy in the submission of their will, the complete laying down of their life to God. They wanted to give their all to Him, in loving return for His lovingly giving His very life on the Cross for all.
The next truth they found was that poverty, willingly undertaken, was not a burden, rather, it was freeing to not be weighed down by material concerns, or caring for all manner of possessions. Many of them were of noble birth, they had experienced all the world had to offer, and yet they chose to abandon it all for a higher calling, namely the total giving of their all for Love of God. They found the more they emptied themselves out of their own interests and desires, the more they were filled. They experienced great peace in the simplicity they lived. The nuns trusted in God to provide their needs, through the generosity of others. This has been the way of the Poor Clares for over 800 years now, and He has never let them down, often times providing miraculously.
St. Clare’s deep union with the Lord and persistent prayers, often were rewarded by miracles. Twice, God saved the convent through the intercession of St. Clare.
St. Clare Defeats Saracens with the Blessed Sacrament
A famous incident in her life, in September of 1240, which we call the Miracle of the Eucharist of Assisi, took place at San Damiano in 1241, twelve years before St. Clare died. The catalyst that the Lord, used to bring about this miracle, was a German prince, Frederick II of Swabia. There is a tradition that Frederick was born in Assisi at the same time as St. Francis, and was baptized on the same day in the church of San Ruffino. The Pope had treated this Frederick very well, being sure he was brought up comfortably, showing him every courtesy. The young German repaid his kindness nastily, by turning on the Pope and the Church, waging a war against them, and the people of the Umbria. He had visions of an empire that would spread itself from Assisi down to Sicily. To this end, he recruited a band of Saracen (Arab) mercenaries to be his army. reinforced by this band of merciless cut-throat Saracens, Frederick proceeded to march upon Assisi.
The convent of San Damiano stood between the troops of Frederick II and the city of Assisi. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was particularly appealing to the Saracens―who hated Christians, and had a lusty appetite for Caucasian women. They proceeded to attack the Convent. Clare was sick in bed at this time. Her ladies rushed to her, crying, in a state of panic. What would they do? Could she protect them from the attacking soldiers? One of the Sisters ran into the room to report that she had seen soldiers in the fields close to the convent. A general state of alarm broke out.
Clare had two Sisters help her up out of bed. She went to their little Chapel and prostrated herself before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. She then removed the silver and ivory case containing the Blessed Sacrament, holding it in her hands, she pressed her head against it, and prayed to the Lord. She spoke to the Lord, and He answered her. She implored: “Behold, my Lord! Is it possible that Thou desirest to deliver, into the hands of pagans, Thy defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught and raised out of love for Thee? I pray Thee, Lord―protect these Thy handmaids, whom I cannot now save by myself!”
A very gentle voice, like that of a young child, answered her: “I will take care of you―always!”
Clare added another petition: “My Lord, protect also―because it pleases you―this town of Assisi that, out of love for Thee, supports us!”
The reply she received was: “It will have to go through suffering, but it will be defended by My protection.”
Strengthened by these words, Clare turned to her Sisters, who were terrified by the prospects of the attack of the feared Saracens. “I promise you, my daughters, that you will not suffer any evil. Only have Faith in Christ!”
The fierce Saracens had invaded San Damiano and entered the confines of the monastery. St. Clare took the silver and ivory case containing the Blessed Sacrament and held it high in the air. The advancing Saracens froze in their tracks at the courtyard of the Convent. They looked up at Clare and the Blessed Sacrament in her hand. What happened next has no humanly explicable reason. The Saracens, witnessing blinding rays of bright light coming from the Blessed Sacrament, were petrified with fear―as if they could recognize the God Who was there―they turned and ran, fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and her Sisters in peace. Neither did they attack Assisi as planned. St. Clare immediately admonished her Sisters―who had heard the voice of Christ speaking to Clare―telling them severely: “Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters!”
The next day, the people of Assisi were delighted, but astonished that the Saracens had not attacked their city. Survival not conquest, uppermost in their minds, the invaders had left without ever setting foot in the town.
A similar situation occurred when the troops of Vitalis d’Aversa attacked Assisi in June of 1241. Again her deep devotion to the Eucharist brought her before the Blessed Sacrament and again the city was spared. Olive Jars were filled with oil after she blessed them. On another occasion St. Clare experienced her own “multiplication of the loaves” when she fed 50 sisters and all the Franciscan friars with a single loaf of bread.
Fewer and Fewer Miracles Today!
God never changes ― “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17). “God is not a man, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed!” (Numbers 23:19). God is willing to perform miracles and come to our aid today―just as much as in the past. What has changed is our Faith in God, our trust in God and our confidence in God―all of these things have increasingly weakened over the years. Instead―we now place our faith in technology more than God, we trust science and technology more than God, and we have confidence in science and technology more than God! So God leaves us to our newly found gods!
The Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is still the greatest Treasure the world has―but it also the greatest neglected Treasure the world has. You reap what you sow―that is why we reaping so few miracles today, because the seed of the Faith has been choked up by the mammon of the world. “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22).
Wednesday June 10th
Article 7
Fight or Fall! Pray or Perish!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 7
Fight or Fall! Pray or Perish!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Fight Who? Fight What?
Hey! The sun’s shining! The “lockdowns” are lifting! The States are “re-opening” ― and so are the churches! The demonstrations are quieting down! What’s all this stupid talk about fighting? Fighting who? Fighting what? Hey, quit the fighting, man! Calm down, bro! Peace, man! Peace!
The truth of the matter is that there can be no peace without the “Peace of Christ” and there can be no “Peace of Christ” outside of the “Kingdom of Christ” and, right now, there is no kingdom or nation that is truly Christ’s―they are more Satan’s kingdoms and nations than they are Christ’s. There can be no peace until Christ’s reign over society―the Social Kingship of Christ―is established. Unfortunately, the way things are headed and the way the prophecies predict, there will be no true “Peace of Christ” without a bloody battle on two fronts―the spiritual front and the physical front―for we are made of both soul and body, we are spiritual and physical, and both elements belong to God and must serve God.
Can’t You See? Are You Blind, Deaf and Dumb?
If you―as a Catholic―still cannot see the enemy, then you are hopelessly spiritually blind, or logically inept, or mentally atrophied, or just plain dumb! What is it about the following Scriptural quotes that you fail to understand? They clearly point out BOTH, the need for the fight and show who the enemy is in that fight!
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ: [saying] ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). Our Lord Himself clearly draws the battle-lines, saying: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23), adding that, “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings, on one side of the battle-line, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers, on the other side of the battle-line, Our Lord says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Did you get that? Our Lord said THE WORLD IS EVIL!
The Word of God adds: “Our wrestling [fighting] is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). These “rulers of the world of darkness” are both devils and men―devils who have taken possession and taken control of certain men―as Our Lady warned.
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE in 1846, foretold:“God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA, in Japan, in 1973, added: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops! The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres! ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God!”
► POPE PAUL VI, even as Liberal and Modernistic as he was, had to admit to this!
● In 1972, Pope Paul VI said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
● In 1972, some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
● 1977: A few years later Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me ― who was a nobody ― to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
► FR. MALACHI MARTIN, (died 1999) in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.” Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world.’ In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
Fr. Malachi Martin was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock ― no doubt ― some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read ― essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
A Fight-less Faith is a Fake Faith!
If you think you can get to Heaven without a fight, then you are a deluded victim of an illusion. No pain―no gain! If you think you can save your soul without a fight, then your Faith is no more realistic than a Walt Disney cartoon. There is no Heaven and no salvation without a fight―and you know it (or should know it), for Holy Scripture, which is the infallible word of God, tells us on numerous occasions that to get to Heaven means carrying a heavy burden in bloody battle. You will not win that battle with a feather-duster and pea-shooter and five-minutes of your time! Most Catholics spend many hours on fun―but few hours in the fight (unless they fight among themselves).
Parents fail to raise their children for the fight―they raise them to have fun, but not to fight! Look at the kind of children Our Lady produced at Fatima. They were only 10, 9 and 7 years old―yet they fought the fight every day of their lives after Our Lady enlisted them in her army. They would pray many Rosaries, forego what little meals they had as a sacrifice, and even slept at night with ropes tightly tied around their waists as a form of penance! These children had not even received the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes us soldiers of Christ! [read more about their lives here]. What an stinging thorn they must be in the sides of the majority of comfort-loving, fun-loving, social-media-loving, non-praying Catholic youth of today!
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in the book, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, writes: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell [it is Sr. Lucia who writes those words], in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
There are certain Scriptural quotes that we need to drill into our heads constantly―just as a coach repeatedly hammers home the tactics that need to be used to all of the players on his team. In the U.S. Marines “Boot Camp”, the instructions are repeatedly screamed at the recruits―over and over again. The whole purpose is to make them into worthy and efficient soldiers.
Young Soldiers Ready to Fight!
Parents fail to raise their children for the fight―they raise them to have fun, but not to fight! Look at the kind of children Our Lady produced at Fatima. They were only 10, 9 and 7 years old―yet they fought the fight every day of their lives after Our Lady enlisted them in her army. They would pray many Rosaries, forego what little meals they had as a sacrifice, and even slept at night with ropes tightly tied around their waists as a form of penance! These children had not even received the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes us soldiers of Christ! [read more about their lives here]. What an stinging thorn they must be in the sides of the majority of comfort-loving, fun-loving, social-media-loving, non-praying Catholic youth of today!
Now, of course, you will say: “Ah, yes! But they had been scared by a vision of Hell!” Good and fine! But if Our Lady chose to expose such young children, at such a tender age, to a vision of the fires of Hell―what the Hell are parents doing by not imitating Our Lady, and seeking to give their children a “shocking” view of Hell by all and various means? Why do parents―and teachers and priests for that matter―not seek to instill in children a salutary and holy fear of Hell and its horrific realities? The conversation that SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA, in later life (1946), with a priest from Rome, Fr. Lombardi, on the subject of Hell, should serve as an example on how to speak of the realities of life (our life being a continual warfare against Hell). It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
FR. LOMBARDI: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, many will be lost.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
SISTER LUCIA: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Along the same lines, ST. JACINTA MARTO OF FATIMA―who was only 7 seven years old when Our Lady showed the three Fatima children the vision of Hell, shortly before her death at 9 years old, would often speak of Hell. Here are a few quotes from Jacinta [read more here].:
“Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell! … Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives … If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.”
Often she would say to her brother, “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!”
Jacinta showed the greatest compassion, especially when it concerned some sinner, saying: “We must pray and offer sacrifices to Our Lord, so that he will be converted and not go to Hell, poor man!”
At times she would ask of Lucia: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again. Look―I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima recalls another incident:
That day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian! Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: “That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it ― that’s how my mother used to explain it to me ― and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?” asked Jacinta.
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?” questioned Jacinta.
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?” Jacinta asked.
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?” Jacinta further asked.
“They’re eternal―don’t you see! They never end!”
That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: “But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?”
Or again: “Those people burning in Hell―don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners―won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!”
At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
There was a woman in our neighborhood who insulted us every time we met her. We came upon her one day, as she was leaving a tavern, somewhat the worse for drink. Not satisfied with mere insults, she went still further. When she had finished, Jacinta said to me: “We have to plead with Our Lady and offer sacrifices for the conversion of this woman. She says so many sinful things that if she doesn’t go to confession, she’ll go to Hell.”
Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.” (Testimony of Sister Lucia, taken from Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words). [read more here]
If a Child Can Do It ― Then So Can You!
There is no doubt about it―the three children of Fatima outshine 99.9% of Catholic adults! How can that be? In relation to a child, the adult should be able to say: “Anything you can do, I can do better―I can do anything better than you!” But they don’t―it is not that they can’t―it is just that they don’t want to! Most adult Catholics live in secularized spiritual rut―they have lost whatever pristine spirituality they may once have had as children. Instead of progressing, they regressed. Instead of growing spiritual muscle, they grew lazy and lukewarm. They are as close to being a spiritual athlete or spiritual soldier, as a 350lb couch potato has a chance of passing successfully through a Marine Boot Camp or of winning a 100 yard sprint. It is of little wonder and surprise that most souls are lost―not because there are not enough rooms in Heaven, but because they refuse to make the efforts to get there. The words that end Fr. Faber’s chapter on lukewarmness, in his book, Growth in Holiness, chillingly come to mind:
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25).
Pray or Perish! Penance or Pitfall!
The current Pandemic of Lukewarmness will not end well―as God Himself attests: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold, nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Our Lord puts it this way: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Mark 7:6). Coming back to the Apocalypse, in the very next verses after being told we would be vomited out of God’s mouth―God adds a escape clause that contains a solution: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked? I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity/love] ― fire tried ― that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve [the Faith], that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:17-19). To which Our Lord adds: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and two verses later he repeats] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:35). Without that “eye-salve” we are blinded and to us must be applied the words: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Penance is not very high on our “To Do List” ― and in most lists it is not even listed! The Liberal and Modernist Church of our age even had the audacity to give us a 95% discount on Lenten penance―reducing the days of fasting and abstinence from 40 day down to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday―at a time when sin was increasing exponentially! That sent a very dangerous message to the ‘faithful’ ― who were already lukewarm for the most part ― implying that sin is no big deal and that penance is not important. We are still reaping the evil fruits of that 1966 decision by Pope Paul VI ― those fruits are an abuse and a neglect of penance.
For Heaven’s sake! Never has the world been as sinful as it is our present age! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Penance is a mandatory “vaccine” that everyone must take ― “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned, and do need … [the vaccine of penance] (Romans 3:23). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die” (Ezechiel 18:20-21).
Hey! The sun’s shining! The “lockdowns” are lifting! The States are “re-opening” ― and so are the churches! The demonstrations are quieting down! What’s all this stupid talk about fighting? Fighting who? Fighting what? Hey, quit the fighting, man! Calm down, bro! Peace, man! Peace!
The truth of the matter is that there can be no peace without the “Peace of Christ” and there can be no “Peace of Christ” outside of the “Kingdom of Christ” and, right now, there is no kingdom or nation that is truly Christ’s―they are more Satan’s kingdoms and nations than they are Christ’s. There can be no peace until Christ’s reign over society―the Social Kingship of Christ―is established. Unfortunately, the way things are headed and the way the prophecies predict, there will be no true “Peace of Christ” without a bloody battle on two fronts―the spiritual front and the physical front―for we are made of both soul and body, we are spiritual and physical, and both elements belong to God and must serve God.
Can’t You See? Are You Blind, Deaf and Dumb?
If you―as a Catholic―still cannot see the enemy, then you are hopelessly spiritually blind, or logically inept, or mentally atrophied, or just plain dumb! What is it about the following Scriptural quotes that you fail to understand? They clearly point out BOTH, the need for the fight and show who the enemy is in that fight!
“The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ: [saying] ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3). Our Lord Himself clearly draws the battle-lines, saying: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23), adding that, “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings, on one side of the battle-line, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers, on the other side of the battle-line, Our Lord says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Did you get that? Our Lord said THE WORLD IS EVIL!
The Word of God adds: “Our wrestling [fighting] is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). These “rulers of the world of darkness” are both devils and men―devils who have taken possession and taken control of certain men―as Our Lady warned.
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE in 1846, foretold:“God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA, in Japan, in 1973, added: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops! The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres! ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God!”
► POPE PAUL VI, even as Liberal and Modernistic as he was, had to admit to this!
● In 1972, Pope Paul VI said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
● In 1972, some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
● 1977: A few years later Pope Paul VI repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► FR. GABRIELE AMORTH (died 2016), the former chief exorcist in Rome, referring to Pope Paul VI’s comments about Satan entering the Church, said: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me ― who was a nobody ― to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
► FR. MALACHI MARTIN, (died 1999) in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.” Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world.’ In Rome, there is a force which, at the present moment, is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
Fr. Malachi Martin was the personal secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council and together with Bea was allowed to read the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. In 1996, on the Art Bell radio show, Fr. Martin admitted he had read the Third Secret of Fatima, being shown it by Cardinal Bea, who had just read it himself. Fr. Martin said: “One early morning in February of 1960 ― before I read the Third Secret ― I had to take a vow not to reveal it. It would be a shock ― no doubt ― some would become very angry. The Cardinal, who showed it to me, had been present at a meeting with Pope John XXIII to outline, to a certain number of Cardinals, what should be done with the secret. He, Pope John XXIII, thought it would ruin his ongoing negotiations with Khrushchev and the Kremlin.”
When presented with text of the alleged Third Secret of Fatima, which had been published in 1963, in the German newspaper, Neues Europa ― Fr. Martin replied: “It is not the text given to me to read in 1960. There are elements in it that belong in the text of the Third Secret ― that’s the most measured response I could give to it. The real Third Secret is much more traumatic than what you’ve just read. The central element is awful ― it’s not in what you’ve just read ... What is in the Secret is more horrible than what you’ve just read ― essentially, the onslaught of natural powers … terrible catastrophes, chastisements―and that’s not the essence of the Third Secret; it’s not the frightening one! … Besides, it’s a question of shock, of frightening people, of polarizing society … This will fill up the confessionals on Saturday evening. It will fill up the churches with worshipers striking their breasts!”
A Fight-less Faith is a Fake Faith!
If you think you can get to Heaven without a fight, then you are a deluded victim of an illusion. No pain―no gain! If you think you can save your soul without a fight, then your Faith is no more realistic than a Walt Disney cartoon. There is no Heaven and no salvation without a fight―and you know it (or should know it), for Holy Scripture, which is the infallible word of God, tells us on numerous occasions that to get to Heaven means carrying a heavy burden in bloody battle. You will not win that battle with a feather-duster and pea-shooter and five-minutes of your time! Most Catholics spend many hours on fun―but few hours in the fight (unless they fight among themselves).
Parents fail to raise their children for the fight―they raise them to have fun, but not to fight! Look at the kind of children Our Lady produced at Fatima. They were only 10, 9 and 7 years old―yet they fought the fight every day of their lives after Our Lady enlisted them in her army. They would pray many Rosaries, forego what little meals they had as a sacrifice, and even slept at night with ropes tightly tied around their waists as a form of penance! These children had not even received the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes us soldiers of Christ! [read more about their lives here]. What an stinging thorn they must be in the sides of the majority of comfort-loving, fun-loving, social-media-loving, non-praying Catholic youth of today!
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in the book, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, writes: “Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell [it is Sr. Lucia who writes those words], in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare to say, withering away with fear.”
There are certain Scriptural quotes that we need to drill into our heads constantly―just as a coach repeatedly hammers home the tactics that need to be used to all of the players on his team. In the U.S. Marines “Boot Camp”, the instructions are repeatedly screamed at the recruits―over and over again. The whole purpose is to make them into worthy and efficient soldiers.
Young Soldiers Ready to Fight!
Parents fail to raise their children for the fight―they raise them to have fun, but not to fight! Look at the kind of children Our Lady produced at Fatima. They were only 10, 9 and 7 years old―yet they fought the fight every day of their lives after Our Lady enlisted them in her army. They would pray many Rosaries, forego what little meals they had as a sacrifice, and even slept at night with ropes tightly tied around their waists as a form of penance! These children had not even received the Sacrament of Confirmation―which makes us soldiers of Christ! [read more about their lives here]. What an stinging thorn they must be in the sides of the majority of comfort-loving, fun-loving, social-media-loving, non-praying Catholic youth of today!
Now, of course, you will say: “Ah, yes! But they had been scared by a vision of Hell!” Good and fine! But if Our Lady chose to expose such young children, at such a tender age, to a vision of the fires of Hell―what the Hell are parents doing by not imitating Our Lady, and seeking to give their children a “shocking” view of Hell by all and various means? Why do parents―and teachers and priests for that matter―not seek to instill in children a salutary and holy fear of Hell and its horrific realities? The conversation that SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA, in later life (1946), with a priest from Rome, Fr. Lombardi, on the subject of Hell, should serve as an example on how to speak of the realities of life (our life being a continual warfare against Hell). It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
FR. LOMBARDI: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, many will be lost.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
SISTER LUCIA: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Along the same lines, ST. JACINTA MARTO OF FATIMA―who was only 7 seven years old when Our Lady showed the three Fatima children the vision of Hell, shortly before her death at 9 years old, would often speak of Hell. Here are a few quotes from Jacinta [read more here].:
“Oh, Hell! Oh, Hell! … Mother of God have pity on those who do not amend their lives … If men only know what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.”
Often she would say to her brother, “Francisco, are you praying with me? We must pray very much to save souls from Hell, so many go there! So many!”
Jacinta showed the greatest compassion, especially when it concerned some sinner, saying: “We must pray and offer sacrifices to Our Lord, so that he will be converted and not go to Hell, poor man!”
At times she would ask of Lucia: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If only they saw it, they would never commit sins again. Look―I am going to Heaven soon but you are to stay here. If Our Lady lets you, tell everyone what Hell is like so that they won’t sin anymore and not go there.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima recalls another incident:
That day, when we reached the pasture, Jacinta sat thoughtfully on a rock.
“Jacinta, come and play.”
“I don’t want to play today.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m thinking. That Lady told us to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. So from now on, when we say the Rosary we must say the whole Hail Mary and the whole Our Father! And the sacrifices, how are we going to make them?”
Right away, Francisco thought of a good sacrifice: “Let’s give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without it.”
In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch-bag had been divided among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere Carthusian! Jacinta remained sitting on her rock, looking very thoughtful, and asked: “That Lady also said that many souls go to Hell! What is Hell, then?”
“lt’s like a big deep pit of wild beasts, with an enormous fire in it ― that’s how my mother used to explain it to me ― and that’s where people go who commit sins and don’t confess them. They stay there and burn for ever!”
“And they never get out of there again?” asked Jacinta.
“No!”
“Not even after many, many years?” questioned Jacinta.
“No! Hell never ends!”
“And Heaven never ends either?” Jacinta asked.
“Whoever goes to Heaven, never leaves it again!”
“And whoever goes to Hell, never leaves it either?” Jacinta further asked.
“They’re eternal―don’t you see! They never end!”
That was how, for the first time, we made a meditation on Hell and eternity. What made the biggest impression on Jacinta was the idea of eternity. Even in the middle of a game, she would stop and ask: “But listen! Doesn’t Hell end after many, many years, then?”
Or again: “Those people burning in Hell―don’t they ever die? And don’t they turn into ashes? And if people pray very much for sinners―won’t Our Lord get them out of there? And if they make sacrifices as well? Poor sinners! We have to pray and make many sacrifices for them!”
At other times, she asked: “Why doesn’t Our Lady show Hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show Hell to all the people (referring to those who were in the Cova da Iria at the time of the Apparition). You’ll see how they will be converted!”
There was a woman in our neighborhood who insulted us every time we met her. We came upon her one day, as she was leaving a tavern, somewhat the worse for drink. Not satisfied with mere insults, she went still further. When she had finished, Jacinta said to me: “We have to plead with Our Lady and offer sacrifices for the conversion of this woman. She says so many sinful things that if she doesn’t go to confession, she’ll go to Hell.”
Jacinta often sat thoughtfully on the ground or on a rock, and exclaimed: “Oh, Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to Hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire!” Then, shuddering, she knelt down with her hands joined, and recited the prayer that Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.” (Testimony of Sister Lucia, taken from Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words). [read more here]
If a Child Can Do It ― Then So Can You!
There is no doubt about it―the three children of Fatima outshine 99.9% of Catholic adults! How can that be? In relation to a child, the adult should be able to say: “Anything you can do, I can do better―I can do anything better than you!” But they don’t―it is not that they can’t―it is just that they don’t want to! Most adult Catholics live in secularized spiritual rut―they have lost whatever pristine spirituality they may once have had as children. Instead of progressing, they regressed. Instead of growing spiritual muscle, they grew lazy and lukewarm. They are as close to being a spiritual athlete or spiritual soldier, as a 350lb couch potato has a chance of passing successfully through a Marine Boot Camp or of winning a 100 yard sprint. It is of little wonder and surprise that most souls are lost―not because there are not enough rooms in Heaven, but because they refuse to make the efforts to get there. The words that end Fr. Faber’s chapter on lukewarmness, in his book, Growth in Holiness, chillingly come to mind:
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” (Fr. Faber, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25).
Pray or Perish! Penance or Pitfall!
The current Pandemic of Lukewarmness will not end well―as God Himself attests: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm―and neither cold, nor hot―I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Our Lord puts it this way: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Mark 7:6). Coming back to the Apocalypse, in the very next verses after being told we would be vomited out of God’s mouth―God adds a escape clause that contains a solution: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked? I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity/love] ― fire tried ― that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve [the Faith], that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:17-19). To which Our Lord adds: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … [and two verses later he repeats] … No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:35). Without that “eye-salve” we are blinded and to us must be applied the words: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
Penance is not very high on our “To Do List” ― and in most lists it is not even listed! The Liberal and Modernist Church of our age even had the audacity to give us a 95% discount on Lenten penance―reducing the days of fasting and abstinence from 40 day down to a mere 2 days―Ash Wednesday and Good Friday―at a time when sin was increasing exponentially! That sent a very dangerous message to the ‘faithful’ ― who were already lukewarm for the most part ― implying that sin is no big deal and that penance is not important. We are still reaping the evil fruits of that 1966 decision by Pope Paul VI ― those fruits are an abuse and a neglect of penance.
For Heaven’s sake! Never has the world been as sinful as it is our present age! As Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello, in 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Penance is a mandatory “vaccine” that everyone must take ― “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned, and do need … [the vaccine of penance] (Romans 3:23). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance” (Job 21:2). “Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die” (Ezechiel 18:20-21).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday June 8th & Tuesday June 9th
Article 6
From Feast to Farce to Famine to Fight!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Monday June 8th & Tuesday June 9th
Article 6
From Feast to Farce to Famine to Fight!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
From Feast Back to the Abnormal “Normal”
The Feast of the Holy Trinity has come and gone! It’s now business as usual! We now return to the farce, famine and fight found in our faithless, futile and fake world. Dumbed-down, deluded and duped ― it is amazing how low Catholics have stooped. They’ve stopped fighting the world and have made peace with the world. Instead of going to the fight, in the world we take delight! The enemy has become a friend as our Faith we no longer defend! The prince of the world, with his banner unfurled, countless souls into Hell has hurled!
You are a Catholic! You are a member of the Militant Church on Earth! You are a soldier not a tourist! You were created for the fight, not for the fun! Your soul is not your own! Your time is not your own! Your vocation on Earth is to battle for Heaven! The life of man on Earth is warfare, not software! The weapons we must own are not laptop and smartphone! While we sit in our armchairs, the world is being taken over! While we surf the internet, the devil catches souls in his infernal net! Instead of praying for sinners, we are playing with sinners. While we seek gratification souls fall to their damnation! The Sacred Heart seeks our salvation, but we live as though on vacation! We want to live in peace, but the Sacred has not come to bring peace!
The Sacred Stirrer
The Sacred Heart came to do some sacred stirring―much like the angel of God would come to the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem and stir the waters: “Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick [just like the sick, sick, sick world today]―of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under” (John 5:2-4).
Our Lord, the Sacred Stirrer of the waters of our lives, said: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
““I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Did Our Lord Come to Cause Riots?
Our Lord undoubtedly and certainly came to “stir things up” and “shake things up”―but did He come to cause riots like the riots the elites are stirring up and fomenting today? Well, the answer is a little nuanced or complicated―in short, the answer is both YES and NO.
There is no doubt that Our Lord was looked upon as being radical and extreme. The Priests, Scribes and Pharisees saw Him as a rebel and a rabble-rouser, an opponent of the official narrative, a provocateur and a revolutionary. You might be scratching your head and thinking: “Huh? That sounds a bit radical and extreme to me! I cannot see Our Lord as being all those things!” Well that is because you don’t really read Holy Scripture―or you read it without thinking as you read. You have a pre-packaged idea of the events―which you receive “pre-packaged and off-the-shelf” at Sunday Mass (or even daily Mass), which are merely one little piece of the jigsaw-puzzle of the whole Bible, taken out of the big-picture and presented to you as “bite-sized-piece” at Mass for your easy consumption and digestion―with rarely a word of explanation (especially at daily Masses). On top of that, very, very, very few Catholics read the Bible in its entirety―and many of clergy are Bible-deficient too. Catholics―clergy and laity alike―could be said to suffer from “Bibleanemia”!
Anyway, to come back to the point―Did Our Lord come to cause riots? The word “riot” is defined as “(noun): a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd; (verb): take part in a violent public disturbance.” If we are talking about “disturbing the peace” ― then Our Lord Himself professed that He had come, not bring peace, but to bring the sword (a weapon of violent conflict) and to create division (to disturb the peace): “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:49-53).
If you want some added violence to this disturbing of the peace and the causing of division―then look no further than the following words of Our Lord: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Want some more divisive, riotous, violent, hate-arousing talk? Okay! Here you are: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me―and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). A little “radical” and “extreme”, huh?
Divine Hate Speech? Christ's Hate Crime?
Want to hear some more “Divine Hate Speech”? Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.”
The Divine Word of God in Holy Scripture says: “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) … “There is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) … “The Lord … is in Heaven; and there is no respect of persons with Him” (Ephesians 6:9). Of Our Lord, it is written: “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not … the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “This is the judgment―because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We are blasphemed [by the world], and we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all―even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:13). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Divine Divisiveness
The Divine Word of God divides some more: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Catholics Won’t Fight or They’ll Fight the Wrong Way
Most Catholics would prefer to frolic and have fun than to fight. They find themselves outnumbered by the world by just over 6 to 1 ― overwhelming odds that make them cower into silence and acceptance of the world. Nobody wants to stand up and rock the boat! Our Lord would say: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith? … Why are you fearful? Have you not Faith yet?” (Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:40). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a Kingdom!” (Luke 12:32), but “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Yet instead of fighting the world and worldliness―Catholics, more often than not, end up fighting amongst themselves. It is almost the same as the so-called “Cytokine Storm” that some COVID-19 patients experience, where it seems the worst damage is driven by a deranged immune response to the infection, rather than the virus itself. In many of the sickest patients with COVID-19, their blood is teeming with high levels of immune system proteins called “cytokines”. Scientists believe these cytokines are evidence of an immune response called a “cytokine storm”, where the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just fighting off the virus. Cytokine storms are known to happen in auto-immune diseases. This is so true of many Catholics―rather than the Mystical Body of Christ fighting off viruses such as worldliness, paganism, heresy, materialism, Liberalism, Modernism, etc. ― instead the Mystical Body attacks itself in a kind of a “Catholic Cytokine Storm” and we are witnessing endless storms of this kind within the Church today, even among Conservatives and Traditionalists. How the devil must be laughing and rubbing his hands in glee―Catholics fighting each instead of fighting him and his princedom―the world.
Therefore, adds Holy Scripture, “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil … Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the Gospel … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God―by all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Called to Fight the Final Battle!
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in her conversation with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, said: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.”
Our Lady of La Salette calls us to the fight: “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
We need to fight! We need to fight the world! The world is our enemy because it is the princedom of Satan! We need to fight the lies of the devil and the world! We need to fight the fabricated facts. Fight the falsehood! Fight the fake farce! Fight the famine of grace due to the drought of prayer! Numbers do not matter―we are like “Gedeon’s 300” leagued against the invading 135,000 strong Madianite army. Gedeon initially managed to muster 32,000 Israelites for the forthcoming defensive battle against the Madianites ― thus being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 ― but God told him that 32,000 was too large an army ―because, once the victory would be won, they would claim the glory for victory to themselves and not give glory to God. So God told Gedeon to release anyone who was in any way frightened of the imminent battle. As a result, 22,000 of the 32,000 turned tail and disappeared over the horizon. God then told Gedeon that even 10,000 soldiers (now outnumbered by more than 13 to 1) was too large an army! God further reduced the size to a mere 300 men ― now outnumbered by more than 40 to 1). It was with these 300, merely using trumpets, torches and pitchers, that God defeated the 135,000 army of soldiers in the middle of the night! (Read chapter 7 of the Book of Judges for the full version of the event).
Christianity Perpetually Outnumbered
History repeated itself in the New Testament times, where a handful of Christ’s disciples weathered and overcame the storm of both Jewish and Roman persecution to grow into today’s 1.4 million body of believers (though ‘believer’ is a misnomer for most of today’s faithless Catholics). By the 16th century, for a long time, Christendom had been disintegrating and the Muslim Ottoman Empire was on the ascendancy, to the point that it by the time of the Battle of Lepanto, it had total naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. Pope St. Pius V’s Rosary Crusade together with the heavily outnumbered Rosary praying Christian fleet, overcame the long reigning supremacy of the Muslim Ottoman navy in an epic battle [read more here] ― showing us that the fact of being outnumbered matters little when you have God and Our Lady on your side.
The same is seen in the 20th century―with Rosary victories over Communism in Austria in the 1950s and Brazil in the 1960s―as though these were like a trailer for a movie where Our Lady would triumph over a worldwide totalitarian Communism in the much awaited “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart”.
Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll, the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed a five-decade Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary!
Hey Buddy! Hey Honey! We Are at War! Wake Up!
The lethargy of most Catholics beggars belief! They totally fail to see that we are in the middle of a war―an ideological war―that will turn very bloody and very nasty very soon! As Our Lady of La Salette said: Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” What on earth do you not understand about that message? Can you not see the plainly evident early warning signs? Can you not see the elephant in the room? As Holy Scripture says:
“Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not; and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!’” (Romans 11:8). How true that is of our day!!!
What will it take for Catholics to see that the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart are the only solution to the revolution!
What will it take to wake-up and mobilize Catholics―or the few that can still be called “Catholic”?
What will it take to open their eyes to the blatant “Communist” or “Socialist” invasion and subversion that has been oing on for many years?
What will it take to open their eyes to the Schism that is growing in the Church―de facto, though not yet de jure―and which will soon explode.
What will it take to open their ears to Our Lady’s warnings and solutions?
What will it take to make Catholics see that their infatuation with world is but one step from their damnation in Hell?
Our Lady could not have explained things more clearly in all of her modern-day apparitions! What don’t we understand?
● Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war (Fatima 1917).
● “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! (Akita 1973).
● Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls … God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
● Sister Lucia adds: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
● “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Still Need Convincing?
Is all this washing-off you like the proverbial “water flowing off the duck’s back”? Still skeptical? Still sitting like a frog in the proverbially slowly heated pot of water? Well, in that case, here is some more.
In November, 1980, Pope John Paull II visited the Cathedral of Fulda, in Germany, and there he spoke of the Third Secret to a small group. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?” Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.” But we don’t pray it assiduously, we pray it complacently—if we pray it at all! It is estimated that only around 2% of USA Catholics pray the Rosary daily! We can’t call that a “rescue team” or a “spiritual army”!
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
FR. LOMBARDI: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, many will be lost.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
SISTER LUCIA: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Wars Are Not Fun! Chastisements Are Not Entertaining!
People see so much war, fighting and violence on TV and in movies, that it has drugged their sensibility, dulled their sensitivity, warped their sense of reality. Most Catholics probably have a vague attitude that dupes and dopes them into imagining the forthcoming chastisement as some kind of blockbuster movie that we will be able to watch on the TV or movie screen from the safety of our own homes or some movie theater! It must be something like the attitude and reaction of people in Noe’s day, when they saw him building his ark in preparation for the chastisement of the Great Flood. They probably laughed at him, ridiculed him ― silly ridiculous religious fanatic ― and ignored the fact that their sins were going to be soon punished. They did nothing about it until the torrential rains started―then, perhaps, they realized it was all going to be for real! Our Lady echoes this at Akita, in 1973, when she says: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity―the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Black Lives Matter! All Lives Matter! Souls Matter Most!
Of course black lives matter! All lives matter! The lives of the 378,539 USA aborted (murdered) babies since January 1st, 2020, until the start of June 2020, which is around 2,400 murders per day. For 2019, the USA carried out a little under 1 million abortions. If they could speak, they would also say: “I cannot breathe!” But the life of the soul is FAR more important than the life of the body―as Our Lord Himself attests: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “What doth it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Health of the soul, in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
All nations and races and colors are called to be the children of God: “You are all the children of God by Faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek―there is neither bond nor free―there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth―to the Jew first, and to the Greek” (Roman 1:16). “There is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11). “God is not a respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh justice, is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:34-35) … “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). It was not just Jews who were called to Baptism, not just Europeans, not just whites―but every single person living on this Earth: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature!” (Mark 16:15). “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!” (Matthew 28:19).
God is No Racist, Nor Divine Supremacist! But God is Just and Not Intimidated!
God is no racist―all souls can be saved―but not all religions can save those souls and very few souls will be saved. Why? Because there is only one true Faith and God expects the commandments of that one true Faith to be kept and very few want to truly adhere to that one true Faith! The result? Hell! Not because of some whim from a “Divine Supremacist” but because of the stubborn independence seeking rebelliousness of His creatures―who have learned and will continue to learn that if you rebel like Lucifer ― “I will not serve!” ― then you have a Hell of future awaiting you. You lose you chance of promotion to Heaven and get demoted and damned to Hell instead. The vast majority of mankind have chosen and still are choosing that option.
There is only one religion that has been instituted by God and Christ to save souls―and that is the Catholic religion, the Catholic Faith, the only one true Christian Faith, being distinct from all other heretical Christian faiths. There is only “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all!” (Ephesians 4:5-6). “And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:19). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). Most choose to despise ― either politely, aggressively or even violently ― and the fate of such is that they “shall be cast out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12) … God “shall cast them into the furnace of fire―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:42).
There is no secular power above the Faith! There is no government above the Faith! There can be no independence or separation of the State from the one true Church of God―the Catholic Church. Neither can the State choose to be godless without committing a grave sin against God. “The Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder! And let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ [they say]. He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them! Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
Sure, you reject that truth and create your own false, fake ‘truth’―but the truth is that it will only lead you Hell―even if imagine Hell does not exist! The current status of every State and Country in the world is one of enmity towards God, because―even if some of them call themselves “Catholic”―they are hypocritically “Catholic” since they have long since abandoned the laws of God and replaced them with man-made laws that suit the whims of man. They have become “unbelieving believers” who make a mockery of any pretension of believing in God―for Faith is not enough: “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26).
Kissing Boots or Kissing Beads?
So where do you stand? Are you kneeling down and kissing the boots of the world and its rulers? Or are you kneeling down and kissing the beads of your Rosary as you pray against the world and its rulers? Make no mistake about it ― this is a Satanic world clothed with pretty things and flashing fake smiles! You might want to be a bystander or a spectator or a neutral in the battle that is escalating all around us and will continue to escalate until Communism in one of its many various disguises (and the Satanism behind it and all other similar groups and ideologies) takes over the whole world―but God will accept no neutrals, bystanders or spectators who might vainly and excusingly plead: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).
Christ Himself said: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against Me!” (Psalms 55:3). “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalms 93:16). “For if My enemy had reviled Me, I would verily have borne with it! And if he that hated Me had spoken great things against Me, I would perhaps have hidden Myself from him. But thou, a man of one mind [having the Faith], and My friend [through Baptism], who didst take sweetmeats [Holy Communion] together with Me! In the house of God we walked with consent! Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into Hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings ― in the midst of them!” (Psalm 54:13-16). “Woe to them―for they have departed from Me! They shall be wasted―because they have transgressed against Me! And I redeemed them―and they have spoken lies against Me!” (Osee 7:13). Just like Judas betrayed Christ for money―many have betrayed Christ for what the world offers.
How Long Will You Be Spiritually Idle?
As Our Lord’s Parable of the Vineyard of the Vineyard is especially applicable to our present plight. We need soldiers in the Church’s battlefield like the Master of the Vineyard needed laborers: “The Kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard [battlefield]. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [battlefield], and I will give you what shall be just!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [battlefield]!’” (Matthew 20:1-7).
False Solutions to the Current Crisis
One of the chief goals of any enemy is to confuse you as much as possible and to make you “spin your wheels” as much as possible. The enemy wants you to shoot at the wrong targets and put out the wrong fires. He wants you to waste your ammunition and wear down your energy. To wants to make you feel overwhelmed and helpless. To achieve all these things, he floods you with masses and masses of information―some of which is true, some partially true, some of which is a blatant lie. The modern technological age makes it easy to brainwash the “prisoners” of technology. The advantage that the enemy has today is that we have become so dumbed-down that our brains are no longer in our heads, but in our hands. We carry our “brains” around with us in the form of smartphones, tablets and laptops. Increasingly, for decades now, we have ceased to think with our minds and have resorted to thinking with our appliances―and the technological advent of the Messianic “Artificial Intelligence” has seen the Nativity of a New Age. “Ain’t it a shame” that our electronic gadgets and smartphones are not smart enought and so cannot pray in our place, or meditate in our place, examine our conscience in our place, or save our souls in our place!
Sooner or later―and you should not bet on it being later―the world is going to take a BIG HIT. Prophecies seem to indicate that God will first of all permit His enemies to inflict some massive chastisement upon us―which is fair and just, since we have not prayed very much (if at all) against the enemies of God and His Church. However, God will clearly show His hand by further Divine chastisements―which will also be fair and just, since we dislodged God from His throne and placed upon it our own personal little idols; neither have we given God the adoration, praise, thanksgiving and reparation that is due to Him. Hence, as Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As Pope John Paul II said in 1980―referring to the Third Secret of Fatima― “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, especially if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God! … We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
The Feast of the Holy Trinity has come and gone! It’s now business as usual! We now return to the farce, famine and fight found in our faithless, futile and fake world. Dumbed-down, deluded and duped ― it is amazing how low Catholics have stooped. They’ve stopped fighting the world and have made peace with the world. Instead of going to the fight, in the world we take delight! The enemy has become a friend as our Faith we no longer defend! The prince of the world, with his banner unfurled, countless souls into Hell has hurled!
You are a Catholic! You are a member of the Militant Church on Earth! You are a soldier not a tourist! You were created for the fight, not for the fun! Your soul is not your own! Your time is not your own! Your vocation on Earth is to battle for Heaven! The life of man on Earth is warfare, not software! The weapons we must own are not laptop and smartphone! While we sit in our armchairs, the world is being taken over! While we surf the internet, the devil catches souls in his infernal net! Instead of praying for sinners, we are playing with sinners. While we seek gratification souls fall to their damnation! The Sacred Heart seeks our salvation, but we live as though on vacation! We want to live in peace, but the Sacred has not come to bring peace!
The Sacred Stirrer
The Sacred Heart came to do some sacred stirring―much like the angel of God would come to the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem and stir the waters: “Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick [just like the sick, sick, sick world today]―of blind, of lame, of withered―waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under” (John 5:2-4).
Our Lord, the Sacred Stirrer of the waters of our lives, said: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
““I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:49-53).
Did Our Lord Come to Cause Riots?
Our Lord undoubtedly and certainly came to “stir things up” and “shake things up”―but did He come to cause riots like the riots the elites are stirring up and fomenting today? Well, the answer is a little nuanced or complicated―in short, the answer is both YES and NO.
There is no doubt that Our Lord was looked upon as being radical and extreme. The Priests, Scribes and Pharisees saw Him as a rebel and a rabble-rouser, an opponent of the official narrative, a provocateur and a revolutionary. You might be scratching your head and thinking: “Huh? That sounds a bit radical and extreme to me! I cannot see Our Lord as being all those things!” Well that is because you don’t really read Holy Scripture―or you read it without thinking as you read. You have a pre-packaged idea of the events―which you receive “pre-packaged and off-the-shelf” at Sunday Mass (or even daily Mass), which are merely one little piece of the jigsaw-puzzle of the whole Bible, taken out of the big-picture and presented to you as “bite-sized-piece” at Mass for your easy consumption and digestion―with rarely a word of explanation (especially at daily Masses). On top of that, very, very, very few Catholics read the Bible in its entirety―and many of clergy are Bible-deficient too. Catholics―clergy and laity alike―could be said to suffer from “Bibleanemia”!
Anyway, to come back to the point―Did Our Lord come to cause riots? The word “riot” is defined as “(noun): a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd; (verb): take part in a violent public disturbance.” If we are talking about “disturbing the peace” ― then Our Lord Himself professed that He had come, not bring peace, but to bring the sword (a weapon of violent conflict) and to create division (to disturb the peace): “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:49-53).
If you want some added violence to this disturbing of the peace and the causing of division―then look no further than the following words of Our Lord: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Want some more divisive, riotous, violent, hate-arousing talk? Okay! Here you are: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me―and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). A little “radical” and “extreme”, huh?
Divine Hate Speech? Christ's Hate Crime?
Want to hear some more “Divine Hate Speech”? Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.”
The Divine Word of God in Holy Scripture says: “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) … “There is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) … “The Lord … is in Heaven; and there is no respect of persons with Him” (Ephesians 6:9). Of Our Lord, it is written: “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not … He came unto His own, and His own received Him not … the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5-11). “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “This is the judgment―because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We are blasphemed [by the world], and we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all―even until now!” (1 Corinthians 4:13). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Divine Divisiveness
The Divine Word of God divides some more: “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Catholics Won’t Fight or They’ll Fight the Wrong Way
Most Catholics would prefer to frolic and have fun than to fight. They find themselves outnumbered by the world by just over 6 to 1 ― overwhelming odds that make them cower into silence and acceptance of the world. Nobody wants to stand up and rock the boat! Our Lord would say: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith? … Why are you fearful? Have you not Faith yet?” (Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:40). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a Kingdom!” (Luke 12:32), but “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Yet instead of fighting the world and worldliness―Catholics, more often than not, end up fighting amongst themselves. It is almost the same as the so-called “Cytokine Storm” that some COVID-19 patients experience, where it seems the worst damage is driven by a deranged immune response to the infection, rather than the virus itself. In many of the sickest patients with COVID-19, their blood is teeming with high levels of immune system proteins called “cytokines”. Scientists believe these cytokines are evidence of an immune response called a “cytokine storm”, where the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just fighting off the virus. Cytokine storms are known to happen in auto-immune diseases. This is so true of many Catholics―rather than the Mystical Body of Christ fighting off viruses such as worldliness, paganism, heresy, materialism, Liberalism, Modernism, etc. ― instead the Mystical Body attacks itself in a kind of a “Catholic Cytokine Storm” and we are witnessing endless storms of this kind within the Church today, even among Conservatives and Traditionalists. How the devil must be laughing and rubbing his hands in glee―Catholics fighting each instead of fighting him and his princedom―the world.
Therefore, adds Holy Scripture, “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil … Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the Gospel … In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God―by all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit!” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Called to Fight the Final Battle!
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in her conversation with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, said: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.”
Our Lady of La Salette calls us to the fight: “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
We need to fight! We need to fight the world! The world is our enemy because it is the princedom of Satan! We need to fight the lies of the devil and the world! We need to fight the fabricated facts. Fight the falsehood! Fight the fake farce! Fight the famine of grace due to the drought of prayer! Numbers do not matter―we are like “Gedeon’s 300” leagued against the invading 135,000 strong Madianite army. Gedeon initially managed to muster 32,000 Israelites for the forthcoming defensive battle against the Madianites ― thus being outnumbered by more than 4 to 1 ― but God told him that 32,000 was too large an army ―because, once the victory would be won, they would claim the glory for victory to themselves and not give glory to God. So God told Gedeon to release anyone who was in any way frightened of the imminent battle. As a result, 22,000 of the 32,000 turned tail and disappeared over the horizon. God then told Gedeon that even 10,000 soldiers (now outnumbered by more than 13 to 1) was too large an army! God further reduced the size to a mere 300 men ― now outnumbered by more than 40 to 1). It was with these 300, merely using trumpets, torches and pitchers, that God defeated the 135,000 army of soldiers in the middle of the night! (Read chapter 7 of the Book of Judges for the full version of the event).
Christianity Perpetually Outnumbered
History repeated itself in the New Testament times, where a handful of Christ’s disciples weathered and overcame the storm of both Jewish and Roman persecution to grow into today’s 1.4 million body of believers (though ‘believer’ is a misnomer for most of today’s faithless Catholics). By the 16th century, for a long time, Christendom had been disintegrating and the Muslim Ottoman Empire was on the ascendancy, to the point that it by the time of the Battle of Lepanto, it had total naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. Pope St. Pius V’s Rosary Crusade together with the heavily outnumbered Rosary praying Christian fleet, overcame the long reigning supremacy of the Muslim Ottoman navy in an epic battle [read more here] ― showing us that the fact of being outnumbered matters little when you have God and Our Lady on your side.
The same is seen in the 20th century―with Rosary victories over Communism in Austria in the 1950s and Brazil in the 1960s―as though these were like a trailer for a movie where Our Lady would triumph over a worldwide totalitarian Communism in the much awaited “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart”.
Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll, the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed a five-decade Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary!
Hey Buddy! Hey Honey! We Are at War! Wake Up!
The lethargy of most Catholics beggars belief! They totally fail to see that we are in the middle of a war―an ideological war―that will turn very bloody and very nasty very soon! As Our Lady of La Salette said: Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” What on earth do you not understand about that message? Can you not see the plainly evident early warning signs? Can you not see the elephant in the room? As Holy Scripture says:
“Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not; and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “As it is written: ‘God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!’” (Romans 11:8). How true that is of our day!!!
What will it take for Catholics to see that the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart are the only solution to the revolution!
What will it take to wake-up and mobilize Catholics―or the few that can still be called “Catholic”?
What will it take to open their eyes to the blatant “Communist” or “Socialist” invasion and subversion that has been oing on for many years?
What will it take to open their eyes to the Schism that is growing in the Church―de facto, though not yet de jure―and which will soon explode.
What will it take to open their ears to Our Lady’s warnings and solutions?
What will it take to make Catholics see that their infatuation with world is but one step from their damnation in Hell?
Our Lady could not have explained things more clearly in all of her modern-day apparitions! What don’t we understand?
● Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war (Fatima 1917).
● “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! (Akita 1973).
● Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls … God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
● Sister Lucia adds: “Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. We should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway!” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
● “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent.” (Words of Sister Lucia spoken on December 26th, 1957, to Fr. Augustine Fuentes).
Still Need Convincing?
Is all this washing-off you like the proverbial “water flowing off the duck’s back”? Still skeptical? Still sitting like a frog in the proverbially slowly heated pot of water? Well, in that case, here is some more.
In November, 1980, Pope John Paull II visited the Cathedral of Fulda, in Germany, and there he spoke of the Third Secret to a small group. The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?” Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God!”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?” He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.” But we don’t pray it assiduously, we pray it complacently—if we pray it at all! It is estimated that only around 2% of USA Catholics pray the Rosary daily! We can’t call that a “rescue team” or a “spiritual army”!
The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
FR. LOMBARDI: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
SISTER LUCIA: “Father, many will be lost.”
FR. LOMBARDI: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
SISTER LUCIA: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Wars Are Not Fun! Chastisements Are Not Entertaining!
People see so much war, fighting and violence on TV and in movies, that it has drugged their sensibility, dulled their sensitivity, warped their sense of reality. Most Catholics probably have a vague attitude that dupes and dopes them into imagining the forthcoming chastisement as some kind of blockbuster movie that we will be able to watch on the TV or movie screen from the safety of our own homes or some movie theater! It must be something like the attitude and reaction of people in Noe’s day, when they saw him building his ark in preparation for the chastisement of the Great Flood. They probably laughed at him, ridiculed him ― silly ridiculous religious fanatic ― and ignored the fact that their sins were going to be soon punished. They did nothing about it until the torrential rains started―then, perhaps, they realized it was all going to be for real! Our Lady echoes this at Akita, in 1973, when she says: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity! It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before! Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity―the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!”
Black Lives Matter! All Lives Matter! Souls Matter Most!
Of course black lives matter! All lives matter! The lives of the 378,539 USA aborted (murdered) babies since January 1st, 2020, until the start of June 2020, which is around 2,400 murders per day. For 2019, the USA carried out a little under 1 million abortions. If they could speak, they would also say: “I cannot breathe!” But the life of the soul is FAR more important than the life of the body―as Our Lord Himself attests: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “What doth it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Health of the soul, in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver!” (Ecclesiasticus 30:15).
All nations and races and colors are called to be the children of God: “You are all the children of God by Faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek―there is neither bond nor free―there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth―to the Jew first, and to the Greek” (Roman 1:16). “There is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11). “God is not a respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh justice, is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:34-35) … “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). It was not just Jews who were called to Baptism, not just Europeans, not just whites―but every single person living on this Earth: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature!” (Mark 16:15). “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!” (Matthew 28:19).
God is No Racist, Nor Divine Supremacist! But God is Just and Not Intimidated!
God is no racist―all souls can be saved―but not all religions can save those souls and very few souls will be saved. Why? Because there is only one true Faith and God expects the commandments of that one true Faith to be kept and very few want to truly adhere to that one true Faith! The result? Hell! Not because of some whim from a “Divine Supremacist” but because of the stubborn independence seeking rebelliousness of His creatures―who have learned and will continue to learn that if you rebel like Lucifer ― “I will not serve!” ― then you have a Hell of future awaiting you. You lose you chance of promotion to Heaven and get demoted and damned to Hell instead. The vast majority of mankind have chosen and still are choosing that option.
There is only one religion that has been instituted by God and Christ to save souls―and that is the Catholic religion, the Catholic Faith, the only one true Christian Faith, being distinct from all other heretical Christian faiths. There is only “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all!” (Ephesians 4:5-6). “And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:19). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16). Most choose to despise ― either politely, aggressively or even violently ― and the fate of such is that they “shall be cast out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12) … God “shall cast them into the furnace of fire―there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:42).
There is no secular power above the Faith! There is no government above the Faith! There can be no independence or separation of the State from the one true Church of God―the Catholic Church. Neither can the State choose to be godless without committing a grave sin against God. “The Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder! And let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ [they say]. He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them! Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
Sure, you reject that truth and create your own false, fake ‘truth’―but the truth is that it will only lead you Hell―even if imagine Hell does not exist! The current status of every State and Country in the world is one of enmity towards God, because―even if some of them call themselves “Catholic”―they are hypocritically “Catholic” since they have long since abandoned the laws of God and replaced them with man-made laws that suit the whims of man. They have become “unbelieving believers” who make a mockery of any pretension of believing in God―for Faith is not enough: “So Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26).
Kissing Boots or Kissing Beads?
So where do you stand? Are you kneeling down and kissing the boots of the world and its rulers? Or are you kneeling down and kissing the beads of your Rosary as you pray against the world and its rulers? Make no mistake about it ― this is a Satanic world clothed with pretty things and flashing fake smiles! You might want to be a bystander or a spectator or a neutral in the battle that is escalating all around us and will continue to escalate until Communism in one of its many various disguises (and the Satanism behind it and all other similar groups and ideologies) takes over the whole world―but God will accept no neutrals, bystanders or spectators who might vainly and excusingly plead: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).
Christ Himself said: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against Me!” (Psalms 55:3). “Who shall rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who shall stand with Me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalms 93:16). “For if My enemy had reviled Me, I would verily have borne with it! And if he that hated Me had spoken great things against Me, I would perhaps have hidden Myself from him. But thou, a man of one mind [having the Faith], and My friend [through Baptism], who didst take sweetmeats [Holy Communion] together with Me! In the house of God we walked with consent! Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into Hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings ― in the midst of them!” (Psalm 54:13-16). “Woe to them―for they have departed from Me! They shall be wasted―because they have transgressed against Me! And I redeemed them―and they have spoken lies against Me!” (Osee 7:13). Just like Judas betrayed Christ for money―many have betrayed Christ for what the world offers.
How Long Will You Be Spiritually Idle?
As Our Lord’s Parable of the Vineyard of the Vineyard is especially applicable to our present plight. We need soldiers in the Church’s battlefield like the Master of the Vineyard needed laborers: “The Kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard [battlefield]. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [battlefield], and I will give you what shall be just!’ And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard [battlefield]!’” (Matthew 20:1-7).
False Solutions to the Current Crisis
One of the chief goals of any enemy is to confuse you as much as possible and to make you “spin your wheels” as much as possible. The enemy wants you to shoot at the wrong targets and put out the wrong fires. He wants you to waste your ammunition and wear down your energy. To wants to make you feel overwhelmed and helpless. To achieve all these things, he floods you with masses and masses of information―some of which is true, some partially true, some of which is a blatant lie. The modern technological age makes it easy to brainwash the “prisoners” of technology. The advantage that the enemy has today is that we have become so dumbed-down that our brains are no longer in our heads, but in our hands. We carry our “brains” around with us in the form of smartphones, tablets and laptops. Increasingly, for decades now, we have ceased to think with our minds and have resorted to thinking with our appliances―and the technological advent of the Messianic “Artificial Intelligence” has seen the Nativity of a New Age. “Ain’t it a shame” that our electronic gadgets and smartphones are not smart enought and so cannot pray in our place, or meditate in our place, examine our conscience in our place, or save our souls in our place!
Sooner or later―and you should not bet on it being later―the world is going to take a BIG HIT. Prophecies seem to indicate that God will first of all permit His enemies to inflict some massive chastisement upon us―which is fair and just, since we have not prayed very much (if at all) against the enemies of God and His Church. However, God will clearly show His hand by further Divine chastisements―which will also be fair and just, since we dislodged God from His throne and placed upon it our own personal little idols; neither have we given God the adoration, praise, thanksgiving and reparation that is due to Him. Hence, as Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered! God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other! The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events! Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!”
As Pope John Paul II said in 1980―referring to the Third Secret of Fatima― “It should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired. Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, especially if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God! … We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Sunday June 7th
Holy Trinity Sunday
Article 5
It Comes in Threes! It Goes in Threes!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Holy Trinity Sunday
Article 5
It Comes in Threes! It Goes in Threes!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
St. Patrick’s Irish Trinity Sermon
It is said that King Laoghaire, wanted to know more about the religion which St. Patrick intended to spread throughout Ireland. Patrick stated that unlike the Gaels, Christians only worshiped one God. And when St. Patrick desperately tried to explain the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost), the druids started to laugh at his attempts, which they believed to be ridiculous. Patrick, in his desperation, took a shamrock and told the audience: “There is one stem but there are three leaves on it. So it is with the Blessed Trinity. There is one God, but three persons stemming from the same divinity.” King Laoghaire allowed St. Patrick to spread the Gospel throughout Ireland, but he said he would refuse to accept Christianity for himself, as it would betray his ancestors, who entrusted him with the land and his tradition.
Dumbfounded at Today’s Dumbness!
This reminds us of the shocking levels of knowledge (or lack of it) that exist among the young Christians in Ireland today (though the same could be said of most young Catholics throughout the world). A survey conducted in 2007―for the Iona Institute, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Evangelical Alliance of Northern Ireland—uncovered a lack of religious knowledge among both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. It found that Catholics in Northern Ireland show the same level of religious knowledge as those in the south [the Republic of Ireland]. Overall, only 42% of the poll respondents (Catholic and Protestant) knew that there are four Gospels, and just 54% could name the persons of the Trinity. The survey uncovered a striking decline in religious knowledge among younger respondents. We are not even talking about theological debate and argument — we are merely talking about having the skill of a parrot and remembering some basic words and phrases that you were once taught! In instances like these, G.K. Chesterton’s famous quip about someone could well be applied: “I never met a man who knew so much and understood so little.”
Catholics scored substantially higher results, however, only 21% of those Catholics aged 16-24 knew the number of the Gospels, and only 33% of those young Catholics could identify the persons of the Trinity. This indicates that the Christian Faith is becoming less meaningful to those under twenty-five years of age and the idea that Christianity is being transmitted―through the culture from one generation to the next―is invalid.
Temples of the Trinity or Malls of Madness?
We are meant to be temples for God, but we have become malls of materialism and madness! “Seek the things that are above, mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
We were made by God and for God, but we have remodeled ourselves—and, in the process, have remodeled our religion and Faith. As Our Lady warned: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “God will abandon mankind to itself” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness” (Psalm 72:6).
Neglect of the Spiritual Temple
Holy Scripture speaks of not casting our pearls before swine: “Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning upon you, they tear you” (Matthew 7:6).
This is precisely that Heaven is doing with us today. At Lourdes, Our Lady explained to Bernadette why Bernadette had not seen Our Lady one particular time, because, “There were people here who wanted to see your face in my presence, and they were unworthy of it. They spent the night at the Grotto and profaned it.” (Our Lady at Lourdes, 1858). At Fatima, Our Lady refused to “give that which is holy to dogs; and cast pearls before swine” by refusing to cure some people, saying that first they much pray much. She required that people amend their lives and ask forgiveness of their sins if they wanted healings or conversions. “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” A similar thing was said to Francisco, the 8 year old boy, to whom Our Lady would not even speak directly, but only through the two girls, Lucia and Jacinta—he was told he could not go to Heaven until he had said many Rosaries. Our Lady also insisted, at Fatima, upon much prayer and penance: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell!”
At La Salette, Our Lady was displeased with the spirituality of the two children to whom she appeared, and with the people in general. She asked the children: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” They both replied: “Oh! No, Madame, not so much!” Our Lady chided them: “Oh! My children, you must say them morning and evening. When you can do no more, say a Pater and an Ave Maria; and when you have the time to do better, you will say more. Only a few old women go to Mass; in the summer, the rest work all day Sunday and in the winter, when they are at a loose end, they only go to Mass to make fun of religion. During Lent, they go to the butcher’s like hungry dogs” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846).
At Fatima, the three children were in the lukewarm habit of shortening their daily Rosary by condensing each prayer to three words only: “Our Father. Amen” and “Hail Mary. Amen”, so that the Rosary would be over sooner and they could have more time to play.
It was after another lukewarm Rosary, as the children were playing, that the Angel appeared to them and chided them for their lukewarmness. Seeing them playing, he said: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High.” He then taught them the “Most Holy Trinity” prayer, which included a clause about lukewarmness: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … in reparation for all the … indifferences [which is a part of lukewarmness] whereby He is offended…etc..” This reference to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity is not the only "three" to be found in our Faith.
It Comes in Threes!
It is not just the Holy Trinity that is associated with the number “three” ― as in “Three Persons in One God” ― but a whole host of other religious things are also grouped in threes.
● We have the three members of the Holy Family―Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
● The three Magi at the Nativity―Melchior, Caspar (Gaspar) and Balthasar.
● The three gifts that the Magi bring―gold, frankincense and myrrh.
● The loss of the Child Jesus for three days by Mary and Joseph, before finding Him in the Temple.
● The 30 years (three times ten) of Our Lord’s hidden life.
● The three years of Our Lord’s Public Ministry.
● The three servants in the Parable of the Talents ― one receiving 5 talents, another 2 talents and the third 1 talent.
● The three favorite Apostles of Our Lord―Peter, James and John.
● The three Marys on Calvary.
● The three crosses on Calvary ― Our Lord’s cross and those of the Good Thief and the Bad Thief.
● The three nails with which Jesus was nailed to the cross.
● The three days Christ spent in the tomb―Friday evening, Saturday, and the early hours of Sunday.
● The triple questioning of St. Peter by Christ after His resurrection ― “Do you love Me?”
● The Catechism tells us that we have three basic duties towards God ― to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him.
● We have the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
● The three chief feasts of the Church’s Liturgical Year ― Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
● Usually, there are three steps in ascending to the Altar during Mass.
● The three essential parts of the Mass―the Offertory, the Canon, and the Communion.
● A triple sign of the cross―on forehead, lips and heart―is made at the Gospel during Mass.
● The triple ringing of the bell at each Consecration (Bread and also Wine) at Mass ― at the genuflection, at the elevation, at the genuflection.
● The triple repetition of the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God prayer before Communion at Mass.
● During Mass, the sign of the cross is often made in groups of three crosses at a time.
● When blessing objects, the priest usually sprinkles the object three times with holy water. The same if incensing.
● The three types of Holy Oil consecrated by a bishop on Holy Thursday ― Oil of the Catechumens, Oil of Sick, and Chrism.
● The three parts of the Rosary―the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries.
● The triple pouring of water on the forehead in the form of a cross during Baptism.
● The three Sacraments that give us an indelible mark―Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.
● Before the Sacrament of Matrimony, the banns of marriage are announced three times.
● The Church has the triple power of teaching, governing and legislating.
● The Church is divided into three sections―the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant in Heaven.
● The three stages of the spiritual life everyone must pass through before gaining entrance to Heaven ― (1) the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way, (2) the Way of Proficients or the Illuminative Way, and (3) the Way of the Perfect or the Unitive Way.
● We are warned of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
● Let us make the 33rd and final point the fact of Our Lord’s 33 years of life on Earth!
It Goes in Threes!
The above “threes” are mainly “positive threes” ― but there are also what could be called “negative threes” dealing largely with and related to the “negativity” of sin and temptation. Thus we have:
● The triple temptation of Christ by devil in the desert.
● The triple denial of Christ by St. Peter during the Passion.
● The three times Our Lord went away from Peter, James and John in Gethsemane in order to pray.
● The three times the favorite Apostles of Our Lord―Peter, James and John―let Our Lord down by sleeping and not praying in Gethsemane.
● There are three chief ways by which we sin ― by our thoughts, by our words, and by our actions.
● There are three conditions that must be present for a sin to be a mortal sin ― (1) the sin must be objectively serious or subjectively thought to be serious, (2) the person committing the sin must know of its seriousness at the time of committing the sin, and (3) the person must fully want to do it.
● The striking of the breast three times during the Confiteor or “I confess” prayer at Mass.
● The three times three invocations of the Holy Trinity during Mass―Lord have mercy (x3), Christ have mercy (x3), Lord have mercy (x3).
● The triple “Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word, etc.” before Communion.
● Our Lord teaches us the three escalating stages of correction for sin ― first of all correcting privately, then in the presence of another, and finally in the presence of the Church.
● The Sacrament of Confession requires that we (1) do penance, (2) make amends or restore any damage, and (3) have a firm purpose to change our lives and not repeat the sins we are confessing.
● After death and judgment, we have three possible destinations―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell.
Secular Threes
● We also see, to a certain degree, some of these religious principle reflected in secular criminal law. For example, in the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) were first implemented on March 7th, 1994. These laws require both a severe violent felony and two other previous convictions to serve a mandatory life sentence in prison.
● With regard to motorist driving laws, a license is at risk of being suspended if a driver gets three or more tickets in a short period.
● In the business world, it is customary―though not obligatory―to give three warnings before termination. There is no strict rule, but it is advisable to give two warning letters plus a final warning letter, or one verbal warning and two written warnings before dismissal. If there is no improvement then the letter of dismissal is the final step.
● In some universities students are limited to attempt any given course a maximum of three times.
● It is a common practice in schools to allow students a maxiumum of three attempts in submitting an assignment.
● Some websites implement locking and denial of service after three failed password attempts.
● On a lighter note, you have the baseball rule of “three strikes and you’re out” ― whereby the batter swings at the ball three times in a row and misses each time, after which he us deemed to be “out” and must leave the batter’s box and give way to next man in the batting order.
● In the game of soccer, there is also a similar “three strikes and you’re out of the game” principle. When a player commits a foul (some unlawful action) on another player which does not merit immediate expulsion, he is usually firstly given a verbal warning. If he does something similar again (and which does not merit immediate expulsion), he will be shown, what is called a “yellow card” ― meaning that he is being booked for the offence. If he again commits a second “yellow card” offence, then upon this third offence, he is shown a “red card” which means that he is being expelled from the field for the remainder of the game.
Trinitarian Prayer
Even though the Holy Trinity has existed for eternity, it is not old-fashioned in the sense of being “out of fashion”. In fact, even before Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima, they were prepared by the Angel ― who appeared to them on three occasions ― and during one of those three apparitions, he taught them a Trinitarian prayer to say: “Most Holy Trinity―Father, Son, and Holy Spirit―I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles in the world, in reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”
Three Days of Prayer
We have all heard of the word triduum--it is compound Latin noun, blending together the word tres (meaning “three”) and dies (meaning “day”), thus giving us “three days.” We most commonly use the word in relation to the Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, Paschal Triduum, or The Three Days—which is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, includes all of Good Friday, and the Paschal Vigil ceremonies on Holy Saturday, ending on the evening of Easter Sunday. Though it spans four days, it is in reality 72 hours or three days—DAY 1 is from Thursday evening to Friday evening; DAY 2 is from Friday evening to Saturday evening; and DAY 3 is from Saturday evening to Sunday evening. It recalls the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
Nine Days of Prayer (Three Times Three Days)
The Novena is a three day times three (nine day) method of prayer, which reflects the Trinitarian prayer during the Mass ― the Kyrie Eleison ― which, before it was decimated and cropped by the modern-day Church, used to consist of nine invocations ― three to each person of the Holy Trinity. The first three are addresses to God the Father ― Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy); the next three are addressed to God the Son ― Christe Eleison, Christe Eleison, Christe Eleison (Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy); and the last three are addressed to God the Holy Ghost: Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy). Put it all together and you have a mini-novena to the Holy Trinity. 3 x 3 = 9.
The Number Three
After His death and burial, Jesus spent three days in the tomb—the evening of Friday, all of Saturday and the early hours of Sunday. We have a custom of burying the deceased on the third day after their death. We have the “three” marriage banns that are announced before a couple marries. There are the “three” warnings given to a person before they can be excommunicated, based on Our Lord’s own words: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:15-17).
We have the “three” building blocks of our relationship with God—Faith, Hope and Charity—but the key one, the engine-room, the heart or soul of them all is charity, which is a love of God and love of His Word: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
We Know in Part
The Holy Trinity is a mystery that cannot be fully understood or explained. If anyone professes to you that they fully understand the Holy Trinity—call for a doctor and keep the patient calm and restrained! However, though we cannot fully grasp, understand and explain the Trinity in its inexhaustible depth, we can, nevertheless, grasps something about the Trinity that helps our frail and finite human reason have some idea of this impenetrable mystery.
A supernatural mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand, but which we firmly believe because we have God’s word for it. A supernatural mystery is above reason, but not contrary to it. No man can explain a mystery; neither can anyone know it unless it is revealed by God. “Great art thou, O Lord, in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought” (Jeremias 32:19).
It is not unreasonable to believe in a supernatural mystery. There are many natural mysteries around us that no one has yet been able to explain, yet we believe them: electricity, magnetism, force, and many of the processes of life. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is a strict mystery; that is, we cannot learn it from reason, nor understand it completely, even after it has been revealed to us.
Some Things We Just Cannot Understand
The doctrine contains two truths our reason cannot fully understand: (1) that there is only one God; and (2) that each of the three Persons is God. We can understand each of these truths separately, but not when taken together. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity is not a contradiction. We do not say that there are three gods in one God, nor that the three divine Persons are one Person.
We only say that there are three Persons in one God, that is, three Persons, and one nature or essence. Somewhat similarly, the soul of man has will, understanding, and memory, but it is only one soul. Also, the sun has form, light, and heat, but it is only one sun. Three flames put together make only one flame.
This is why saints like Patrick would use a three-leaf-clover to give the Irish a basic grasp of this mystery, telling them that the Trinity was One God, but Three Persons—like the clover had one stem, but three leaves that came forth from the same stem. One could humanize this botanical example and present the hypothesis of, not Siamese-Twins, but imagine instead Siamese-Triplets! Three-in-one. One being, yet three separate persons! Yet, in the order of nature, this would not be a perfection, but an imperfection—with God there is no such imperfection with its consequent limitations and restraints. Analogies are always imperfect and impractical, even though they help somewhat in understanding a concept.
Eh? What is it?
What do we mean by the Blessed Trinity? The technical, theological, catechetical answer would be: “By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three divine Persons.” The Athanasian Creed, which was composed in order to refute the Arian heresy, which held that the Jesus Christ was not fully God, says the following:
“So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity nothing is afore or after, nothing is greater or less; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as in aforesaid, the unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity is to be worshiped’’ (Extract from the Athanasian Creed ).
Job Description
The Father is God and the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. Omnipotence, and especially the work of creation, is attributed to God the Father. God the Father could have created millions of beings instead of you yourself; but He chose you out of a love wholly undeserved, saying, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremias 31:3). Let us then cry in thanksgiving, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). Let us show our gratitude by avoiding all that could displease God the Father, by trying to please Him with virtue, by trying to attain an ever greater perfection, in obedience to that command Our Lord’s: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
The Son is God and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. To God the Son we owe our redemption from sin and eternal death; by His death He gave us life. For us God the Son debased Himself, taking the form of a servant ... “becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). In Holy Communion we are united with Him, for He Himself said; “He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:57). In return we should be “other Christs,” and, as the Apostle urged, “walk even as He walked.”
The Holy Ghost is God and the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He manifests Himself in us particularly in our sanctification. The word “Ghost” applied to the Third Person means “Spirit.” In Latin, the word used in “Spiritus.”
At our Baptism God the Holy Ghost purifies us from all sin and fills our souls with divine grace, so that we become truly children of God, sons and heirs, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. By Baptism we become living temples of the Holy Ghost: “Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Trinitarian Spiritual Life
The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, can be found to symbolized or reflected in the Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life (cf. the book of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange under that title). The first way, or first conversion, which is called the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way, can be seen to symbolize God the Father, the Creator, Who, in the beginning created all things, Who creates our soul and sets it out on its path which is intended to lead to Heaven. The second way, or second conversion, which is called the Way of Proficients or the Illuminative Way, can be seen to symbolize Jesus Christ, Who is the Light of the World that has come into the world to illuminate the world. The third way, or the third conversion, which is called the Way of the Perfect or the Unitive Way, can be seen to symbolize the Holy Ghost, Who is the Spirit of Unity and Love, that passes to and fro between the Father and the Son, and is meant to lead us to perfection and union with God through love.
Mary and the Holy Trinity
Christ promises a sort of Trinitarian in-dwelling for those who persevere in love and obedience: “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). The Immaculate Virgin Mary is the exemplar of this Trinitarian in-dwelling, as we see from the Annunciation. The Archangel Gabriel’s message to Mary consists of three distinct parts (each of which she responds to separately), and relating the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Mary and the Father (Luke 1:26-29)
In the sixth month the Archangel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. It’s interesting that Mary isn’t described as being troubled the appearance of an angel (which would be normal: Matthew 28:5; Luke 1:13). Rather, Luke says that she was troubled by the saying, and wondered what it might mean. Luke doesn’t tell us why she was greatly troubled, but some propose one possibility.
The Archangel calls Mary by the title “Full of Grace,” a reference to her Immaculate Conception (which is why, confusingly, this is the Gospel for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception). And then he tells her, “the Lord is with thee,” a reference to Nathan’s message to King David, after the king wanted to build the Temple (2 Kings 7:3). It was Nathan giving a green light to proceed with the Temple, but has to backtrack on this, after God puts a stop to the plans. Elsewhere, we’re told that this is because the blood on David’s hands made him unworthy to build the temple (1 Paralipomenon 28:3). So now, the Archangel Gabriel is giving the green light to Mary to build the Temple (John 2:21), after declaring her sinless. An astute Jew would recognize this for what it is: a Messianic promise.
Mary and the Son (Luke 1:30-34)
And the angel said to her: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David his father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end.” And Mary said to the angel: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” So having found favor with the Father, Mary is promised that she will bear the Son, Jesus. This raises an obvious question: how can that occur, given that Mary is a perpetual Virgin?
Mary and the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35-38)
And the angel said to her: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God.” And Mary said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her. So Mary finds favor with the Father, bears the Son, and is overshadowed by the Trinity. This is what I mean by saying that she is the exemplar of Trinitarian in-dwelling: after all, she literally grew the Son of God in her body, offered to her by the Father, through the angel, and produced by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Edel Quinn and the In-dwelling of the Trinity
The Venerable Edel Quinn (1907-1944), was a young Irish girl who was one of the jewels of the Legion of Mary. Edel Quinn felt a call to religious life at a young age. She wished to join the Poor Clares but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. After spending eighteen months in a sanatorium, her condition unchanged, she decided to become active in the Legion of Mary, which she joined in Dublin at age 20. She gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin. In 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, Quinn became a Legion of Mary Envoy, a very active missionary to East and Central Africa, departing in December 1936 for Mombasa. By the outbreak of World War II, she was working as far off as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius. Fighting her illness, in seven and a half years she established hundreds of Legion branches and councils in today’s Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Mauritius.
Edel Quinn had an extraordinary devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Anselm Moynihan O.P., who was the very dedicated vice-postulator for her Cause wrote: “To be deprived of Communion was one of the greatest sufferings she could conceive. At one period in Africa she was a patient in a non-Catholic sanatorium and was able to receive Holy Communion only once a week. She said later that the privation of daily Communion gave her an experience of what Hell must be like.” In her own words she says: “Without the Eucharist what a desolation life would be... Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift... We want to be united with Him, to give ourselves to Him utterly. Our Faith tells us He is in the Eucharist; let us seek Him there.” Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of Legion Spirituality.
From Eucharist to Trinity
The Eucharist led to another aspect of Edel’s interior life, namely, the in-dwelling of the Holy Trinity through grace in her soul. An Irish Carthusian nun, who was a very close friend of Edel, tells us how she and Edel read together again and again the little book: From Holy Communion to the Blessed Trinity by Fr. Bernadot O.P. The central theme of this book is that the Holy Eucharist is the supreme means of enabling us to live the mystery of the In-dwelling of the Trinity in our souls. Edel grasped this magnificent principle both in theory and daily practice. It was not surprising to learn that another of her favorite authors was St. Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906). St. Elizabeth is one of the great teachers concerning this mystery of God’s extraordinary intimacy with us in the very depths of our being through grace. For St. Elizabeth, and for Edel too, there is no substantial difference between the In-dwelling Trinity and the reality of Heaven. The only difference between the two is that we live the mystery of In-dwelling by Faith and Heaven by direct and beatific vision. Once this is grasped it is easy to understand why Edel craved moments of time and indeed long hours if possible, of gentle silence and recollection. Several key witnesses at the tribunal for her beatification testified under oath that despite the extraordinary business of her apostolic life her most striking characteristic was her spirit of recollection.
In one of Edel’s private notebooks, we read: “We are sharers in the very life of the Blessed Trinity, with the Incarnate Word as our Brother, His Father as our Father, His Spirit as the Soul of our souls. Yet we can never forget the transcendent holiness of God. And as a consequence, underlying, though not weakening the sublime intimacy we enjoy with the Divine Persons, will be an attitude of profound reverence and adoration... She knew her soul to be the living sanctuary of the Triune God. She snatched at every opportunity of quiet and silence to recollect herself and be alone with God and offer Him the incense of her adoration.”
Edel Quinn wrote the following in her little spiritual notebook: “Let us ask the grace to live in realization of our life in Christ, through Mary, adoring the Trinity” … “In Christ Jesus we have all. Realize this. Often offer Him to the Trinity, present in our soul, giving all honor, reparation and glory throughout the day” … “Realize that I am the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Trinity. In Christ we adore the Trinity. Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Try and adore the Trinity in our soul, even in the midst of troubles and external duties” … “With Christ and helped by Mary, let us adore the Trinity. Cut out useless worrying thoughts... to adore with and in union with Jesus... the Trinity in my soul... per Mariam.”
Temple of God
“Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. In whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
“But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:17). “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves: And He said to them: ‘It is written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer!” but you have made it a den of thieves’” (Matthew 21:12-23).
It is said that King Laoghaire, wanted to know more about the religion which St. Patrick intended to spread throughout Ireland. Patrick stated that unlike the Gaels, Christians only worshiped one God. And when St. Patrick desperately tried to explain the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost), the druids started to laugh at his attempts, which they believed to be ridiculous. Patrick, in his desperation, took a shamrock and told the audience: “There is one stem but there are three leaves on it. So it is with the Blessed Trinity. There is one God, but three persons stemming from the same divinity.” King Laoghaire allowed St. Patrick to spread the Gospel throughout Ireland, but he said he would refuse to accept Christianity for himself, as it would betray his ancestors, who entrusted him with the land and his tradition.
Dumbfounded at Today’s Dumbness!
This reminds us of the shocking levels of knowledge (or lack of it) that exist among the young Christians in Ireland today (though the same could be said of most young Catholics throughout the world). A survey conducted in 2007―for the Iona Institute, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Evangelical Alliance of Northern Ireland—uncovered a lack of religious knowledge among both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. It found that Catholics in Northern Ireland show the same level of religious knowledge as those in the south [the Republic of Ireland]. Overall, only 42% of the poll respondents (Catholic and Protestant) knew that there are four Gospels, and just 54% could name the persons of the Trinity. The survey uncovered a striking decline in religious knowledge among younger respondents. We are not even talking about theological debate and argument — we are merely talking about having the skill of a parrot and remembering some basic words and phrases that you were once taught! In instances like these, G.K. Chesterton’s famous quip about someone could well be applied: “I never met a man who knew so much and understood so little.”
Catholics scored substantially higher results, however, only 21% of those Catholics aged 16-24 knew the number of the Gospels, and only 33% of those young Catholics could identify the persons of the Trinity. This indicates that the Christian Faith is becoming less meaningful to those under twenty-five years of age and the idea that Christianity is being transmitted―through the culture from one generation to the next―is invalid.
Temples of the Trinity or Malls of Madness?
We are meant to be temples for God, but we have become malls of materialism and madness! “Seek the things that are above, mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
We were made by God and for God, but we have remodeled ourselves—and, in the process, have remodeled our religion and Faith. As Our Lady warned: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “God will abandon mankind to itself” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846). “Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness” (Psalm 72:6).
Neglect of the Spiritual Temple
Holy Scripture speaks of not casting our pearls before swine: “Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning upon you, they tear you” (Matthew 7:6).
This is precisely that Heaven is doing with us today. At Lourdes, Our Lady explained to Bernadette why Bernadette had not seen Our Lady one particular time, because, “There were people here who wanted to see your face in my presence, and they were unworthy of it. They spent the night at the Grotto and profaned it.” (Our Lady at Lourdes, 1858). At Fatima, Our Lady refused to “give that which is holy to dogs; and cast pearls before swine” by refusing to cure some people, saying that first they much pray much. She required that people amend their lives and ask forgiveness of their sins if they wanted healings or conversions. “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” A similar thing was said to Francisco, the 8 year old boy, to whom Our Lady would not even speak directly, but only through the two girls, Lucia and Jacinta—he was told he could not go to Heaven until he had said many Rosaries. Our Lady also insisted, at Fatima, upon much prayer and penance: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell!”
At La Salette, Our Lady was displeased with the spirituality of the two children to whom she appeared, and with the people in general. She asked the children: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” They both replied: “Oh! No, Madame, not so much!” Our Lady chided them: “Oh! My children, you must say them morning and evening. When you can do no more, say a Pater and an Ave Maria; and when you have the time to do better, you will say more. Only a few old women go to Mass; in the summer, the rest work all day Sunday and in the winter, when they are at a loose end, they only go to Mass to make fun of religion. During Lent, they go to the butcher’s like hungry dogs” (Our Lady at La Salette, 1846).
At Fatima, the three children were in the lukewarm habit of shortening their daily Rosary by condensing each prayer to three words only: “Our Father. Amen” and “Hail Mary. Amen”, so that the Rosary would be over sooner and they could have more time to play.
It was after another lukewarm Rosary, as the children were playing, that the Angel appeared to them and chided them for their lukewarmness. Seeing them playing, he said: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High.” He then taught them the “Most Holy Trinity” prayer, which included a clause about lukewarmness: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … in reparation for all the … indifferences [which is a part of lukewarmness] whereby He is offended…etc..” This reference to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity is not the only "three" to be found in our Faith.
It Comes in Threes!
It is not just the Holy Trinity that is associated with the number “three” ― as in “Three Persons in One God” ― but a whole host of other religious things are also grouped in threes.
● We have the three members of the Holy Family―Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
● The three Magi at the Nativity―Melchior, Caspar (Gaspar) and Balthasar.
● The three gifts that the Magi bring―gold, frankincense and myrrh.
● The loss of the Child Jesus for three days by Mary and Joseph, before finding Him in the Temple.
● The 30 years (three times ten) of Our Lord’s hidden life.
● The three years of Our Lord’s Public Ministry.
● The three servants in the Parable of the Talents ― one receiving 5 talents, another 2 talents and the third 1 talent.
● The three favorite Apostles of Our Lord―Peter, James and John.
● The three Marys on Calvary.
● The three crosses on Calvary ― Our Lord’s cross and those of the Good Thief and the Bad Thief.
● The three nails with which Jesus was nailed to the cross.
● The three days Christ spent in the tomb―Friday evening, Saturday, and the early hours of Sunday.
● The triple questioning of St. Peter by Christ after His resurrection ― “Do you love Me?”
● The Catechism tells us that we have three basic duties towards God ― to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him.
● We have the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
● The three chief feasts of the Church’s Liturgical Year ― Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
● Usually, there are three steps in ascending to the Altar during Mass.
● The three essential parts of the Mass―the Offertory, the Canon, and the Communion.
● A triple sign of the cross―on forehead, lips and heart―is made at the Gospel during Mass.
● The triple ringing of the bell at each Consecration (Bread and also Wine) at Mass ― at the genuflection, at the elevation, at the genuflection.
● The triple repetition of the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God prayer before Communion at Mass.
● During Mass, the sign of the cross is often made in groups of three crosses at a time.
● When blessing objects, the priest usually sprinkles the object three times with holy water. The same if incensing.
● The three types of Holy Oil consecrated by a bishop on Holy Thursday ― Oil of the Catechumens, Oil of Sick, and Chrism.
● The three parts of the Rosary―the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries.
● The triple pouring of water on the forehead in the form of a cross during Baptism.
● The three Sacraments that give us an indelible mark―Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.
● Before the Sacrament of Matrimony, the banns of marriage are announced three times.
● The Church has the triple power of teaching, governing and legislating.
● The Church is divided into three sections―the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant in Heaven.
● The three stages of the spiritual life everyone must pass through before gaining entrance to Heaven ― (1) the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way, (2) the Way of Proficients or the Illuminative Way, and (3) the Way of the Perfect or the Unitive Way.
● We are warned of the “Three Days of Darkness”.
● Let us make the 33rd and final point the fact of Our Lord’s 33 years of life on Earth!
It Goes in Threes!
The above “threes” are mainly “positive threes” ― but there are also what could be called “negative threes” dealing largely with and related to the “negativity” of sin and temptation. Thus we have:
● The triple temptation of Christ by devil in the desert.
● The triple denial of Christ by St. Peter during the Passion.
● The three times Our Lord went away from Peter, James and John in Gethsemane in order to pray.
● The three times the favorite Apostles of Our Lord―Peter, James and John―let Our Lord down by sleeping and not praying in Gethsemane.
● There are three chief ways by which we sin ― by our thoughts, by our words, and by our actions.
● There are three conditions that must be present for a sin to be a mortal sin ― (1) the sin must be objectively serious or subjectively thought to be serious, (2) the person committing the sin must know of its seriousness at the time of committing the sin, and (3) the person must fully want to do it.
● The striking of the breast three times during the Confiteor or “I confess” prayer at Mass.
● The three times three invocations of the Holy Trinity during Mass―Lord have mercy (x3), Christ have mercy (x3), Lord have mercy (x3).
● The triple “Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word, etc.” before Communion.
● Our Lord teaches us the three escalating stages of correction for sin ― first of all correcting privately, then in the presence of another, and finally in the presence of the Church.
● The Sacrament of Confession requires that we (1) do penance, (2) make amends or restore any damage, and (3) have a firm purpose to change our lives and not repeat the sins we are confessing.
● After death and judgment, we have three possible destinations―Heaven, Purgatory or Hell.
Secular Threes
● We also see, to a certain degree, some of these religious principle reflected in secular criminal law. For example, in the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) were first implemented on March 7th, 1994. These laws require both a severe violent felony and two other previous convictions to serve a mandatory life sentence in prison.
● With regard to motorist driving laws, a license is at risk of being suspended if a driver gets three or more tickets in a short period.
● In the business world, it is customary―though not obligatory―to give three warnings before termination. There is no strict rule, but it is advisable to give two warning letters plus a final warning letter, or one verbal warning and two written warnings before dismissal. If there is no improvement then the letter of dismissal is the final step.
● In some universities students are limited to attempt any given course a maximum of three times.
● It is a common practice in schools to allow students a maxiumum of three attempts in submitting an assignment.
● Some websites implement locking and denial of service after three failed password attempts.
● On a lighter note, you have the baseball rule of “three strikes and you’re out” ― whereby the batter swings at the ball three times in a row and misses each time, after which he us deemed to be “out” and must leave the batter’s box and give way to next man in the batting order.
● In the game of soccer, there is also a similar “three strikes and you’re out of the game” principle. When a player commits a foul (some unlawful action) on another player which does not merit immediate expulsion, he is usually firstly given a verbal warning. If he does something similar again (and which does not merit immediate expulsion), he will be shown, what is called a “yellow card” ― meaning that he is being booked for the offence. If he again commits a second “yellow card” offence, then upon this third offence, he is shown a “red card” which means that he is being expelled from the field for the remainder of the game.
Trinitarian Prayer
Even though the Holy Trinity has existed for eternity, it is not old-fashioned in the sense of being “out of fashion”. In fact, even before Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima, they were prepared by the Angel ― who appeared to them on three occasions ― and during one of those three apparitions, he taught them a Trinitarian prayer to say: “Most Holy Trinity―Father, Son, and Holy Spirit―I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles in the world, in reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”
Three Days of Prayer
We have all heard of the word triduum--it is compound Latin noun, blending together the word tres (meaning “three”) and dies (meaning “day”), thus giving us “three days.” We most commonly use the word in relation to the Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, Paschal Triduum, or The Three Days—which is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, includes all of Good Friday, and the Paschal Vigil ceremonies on Holy Saturday, ending on the evening of Easter Sunday. Though it spans four days, it is in reality 72 hours or three days—DAY 1 is from Thursday evening to Friday evening; DAY 2 is from Friday evening to Saturday evening; and DAY 3 is from Saturday evening to Sunday evening. It recalls the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
Nine Days of Prayer (Three Times Three Days)
The Novena is a three day times three (nine day) method of prayer, which reflects the Trinitarian prayer during the Mass ― the Kyrie Eleison ― which, before it was decimated and cropped by the modern-day Church, used to consist of nine invocations ― three to each person of the Holy Trinity. The first three are addresses to God the Father ― Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy); the next three are addressed to God the Son ― Christe Eleison, Christe Eleison, Christe Eleison (Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy); and the last three are addressed to God the Holy Ghost: Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy). Put it all together and you have a mini-novena to the Holy Trinity. 3 x 3 = 9.
The Number Three
After His death and burial, Jesus spent three days in the tomb—the evening of Friday, all of Saturday and the early hours of Sunday. We have a custom of burying the deceased on the third day after their death. We have the “three” marriage banns that are announced before a couple marries. There are the “three” warnings given to a person before they can be excommunicated, based on Our Lord’s own words: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:15-17).
We have the “three” building blocks of our relationship with God—Faith, Hope and Charity—but the key one, the engine-room, the heart or soul of them all is charity, which is a love of God and love of His Word: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
We Know in Part
The Holy Trinity is a mystery that cannot be fully understood or explained. If anyone professes to you that they fully understand the Holy Trinity—call for a doctor and keep the patient calm and restrained! However, though we cannot fully grasp, understand and explain the Trinity in its inexhaustible depth, we can, nevertheless, grasps something about the Trinity that helps our frail and finite human reason have some idea of this impenetrable mystery.
A supernatural mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand, but which we firmly believe because we have God’s word for it. A supernatural mystery is above reason, but not contrary to it. No man can explain a mystery; neither can anyone know it unless it is revealed by God. “Great art thou, O Lord, in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought” (Jeremias 32:19).
It is not unreasonable to believe in a supernatural mystery. There are many natural mysteries around us that no one has yet been able to explain, yet we believe them: electricity, magnetism, force, and many of the processes of life. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is a strict mystery; that is, we cannot learn it from reason, nor understand it completely, even after it has been revealed to us.
Some Things We Just Cannot Understand
The doctrine contains two truths our reason cannot fully understand: (1) that there is only one God; and (2) that each of the three Persons is God. We can understand each of these truths separately, but not when taken together. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity is not a contradiction. We do not say that there are three gods in one God, nor that the three divine Persons are one Person.
We only say that there are three Persons in one God, that is, three Persons, and one nature or essence. Somewhat similarly, the soul of man has will, understanding, and memory, but it is only one soul. Also, the sun has form, light, and heat, but it is only one sun. Three flames put together make only one flame.
This is why saints like Patrick would use a three-leaf-clover to give the Irish a basic grasp of this mystery, telling them that the Trinity was One God, but Three Persons—like the clover had one stem, but three leaves that came forth from the same stem. One could humanize this botanical example and present the hypothesis of, not Siamese-Twins, but imagine instead Siamese-Triplets! Three-in-one. One being, yet three separate persons! Yet, in the order of nature, this would not be a perfection, but an imperfection—with God there is no such imperfection with its consequent limitations and restraints. Analogies are always imperfect and impractical, even though they help somewhat in understanding a concept.
Eh? What is it?
What do we mean by the Blessed Trinity? The technical, theological, catechetical answer would be: “By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three divine Persons.” The Athanasian Creed, which was composed in order to refute the Arian heresy, which held that the Jesus Christ was not fully God, says the following:
“So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity nothing is afore or after, nothing is greater or less; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as in aforesaid, the unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity is to be worshiped’’ (Extract from the Athanasian Creed ).
Job Description
The Father is God and the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. Omnipotence, and especially the work of creation, is attributed to God the Father. God the Father could have created millions of beings instead of you yourself; but He chose you out of a love wholly undeserved, saying, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremias 31:3). Let us then cry in thanksgiving, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). Let us show our gratitude by avoiding all that could displease God the Father, by trying to please Him with virtue, by trying to attain an ever greater perfection, in obedience to that command Our Lord’s: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
The Son is God and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. To God the Son we owe our redemption from sin and eternal death; by His death He gave us life. For us God the Son debased Himself, taking the form of a servant ... “becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). In Holy Communion we are united with Him, for He Himself said; “He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:57). In return we should be “other Christs,” and, as the Apostle urged, “walk even as He walked.”
The Holy Ghost is God and the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He manifests Himself in us particularly in our sanctification. The word “Ghost” applied to the Third Person means “Spirit.” In Latin, the word used in “Spiritus.”
At our Baptism God the Holy Ghost purifies us from all sin and fills our souls with divine grace, so that we become truly children of God, sons and heirs, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. By Baptism we become living temples of the Holy Ghost: “Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Trinitarian Spiritual Life
The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, can be found to symbolized or reflected in the Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life (cf. the book of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange under that title). The first way, or first conversion, which is called the Way of Beginners or the Purgative Way, can be seen to symbolize God the Father, the Creator, Who, in the beginning created all things, Who creates our soul and sets it out on its path which is intended to lead to Heaven. The second way, or second conversion, which is called the Way of Proficients or the Illuminative Way, can be seen to symbolize Jesus Christ, Who is the Light of the World that has come into the world to illuminate the world. The third way, or the third conversion, which is called the Way of the Perfect or the Unitive Way, can be seen to symbolize the Holy Ghost, Who is the Spirit of Unity and Love, that passes to and fro between the Father and the Son, and is meant to lead us to perfection and union with God through love.
Mary and the Holy Trinity
Christ promises a sort of Trinitarian in-dwelling for those who persevere in love and obedience: “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). The Immaculate Virgin Mary is the exemplar of this Trinitarian in-dwelling, as we see from the Annunciation. The Archangel Gabriel’s message to Mary consists of three distinct parts (each of which she responds to separately), and relating the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Mary and the Father (Luke 1:26-29)
In the sixth month the Archangel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. It’s interesting that Mary isn’t described as being troubled the appearance of an angel (which would be normal: Matthew 28:5; Luke 1:13). Rather, Luke says that she was troubled by the saying, and wondered what it might mean. Luke doesn’t tell us why she was greatly troubled, but some propose one possibility.
The Archangel calls Mary by the title “Full of Grace,” a reference to her Immaculate Conception (which is why, confusingly, this is the Gospel for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception). And then he tells her, “the Lord is with thee,” a reference to Nathan’s message to King David, after the king wanted to build the Temple (2 Kings 7:3). It was Nathan giving a green light to proceed with the Temple, but has to backtrack on this, after God puts a stop to the plans. Elsewhere, we’re told that this is because the blood on David’s hands made him unworthy to build the temple (1 Paralipomenon 28:3). So now, the Archangel Gabriel is giving the green light to Mary to build the Temple (John 2:21), after declaring her sinless. An astute Jew would recognize this for what it is: a Messianic promise.
Mary and the Son (Luke 1:30-34)
And the angel said to her: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David his father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end.” And Mary said to the angel: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” So having found favor with the Father, Mary is promised that she will bear the Son, Jesus. This raises an obvious question: how can that occur, given that Mary is a perpetual Virgin?
Mary and the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35-38)
And the angel said to her: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God.” And Mary said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her. So Mary finds favor with the Father, bears the Son, and is overshadowed by the Trinity. This is what I mean by saying that she is the exemplar of Trinitarian in-dwelling: after all, she literally grew the Son of God in her body, offered to her by the Father, through the angel, and produced by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Edel Quinn and the In-dwelling of the Trinity
The Venerable Edel Quinn (1907-1944), was a young Irish girl who was one of the jewels of the Legion of Mary. Edel Quinn felt a call to religious life at a young age. She wished to join the Poor Clares but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. After spending eighteen months in a sanatorium, her condition unchanged, she decided to become active in the Legion of Mary, which she joined in Dublin at age 20. She gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin. In 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, Quinn became a Legion of Mary Envoy, a very active missionary to East and Central Africa, departing in December 1936 for Mombasa. By the outbreak of World War II, she was working as far off as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius. Fighting her illness, in seven and a half years she established hundreds of Legion branches and councils in today’s Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Mauritius.
Edel Quinn had an extraordinary devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Anselm Moynihan O.P., who was the very dedicated vice-postulator for her Cause wrote: “To be deprived of Communion was one of the greatest sufferings she could conceive. At one period in Africa she was a patient in a non-Catholic sanatorium and was able to receive Holy Communion only once a week. She said later that the privation of daily Communion gave her an experience of what Hell must be like.” In her own words she says: “Without the Eucharist what a desolation life would be... Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift... We want to be united with Him, to give ourselves to Him utterly. Our Faith tells us He is in the Eucharist; let us seek Him there.” Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of Legion Spirituality.
From Eucharist to Trinity
The Eucharist led to another aspect of Edel’s interior life, namely, the in-dwelling of the Holy Trinity through grace in her soul. An Irish Carthusian nun, who was a very close friend of Edel, tells us how she and Edel read together again and again the little book: From Holy Communion to the Blessed Trinity by Fr. Bernadot O.P. The central theme of this book is that the Holy Eucharist is the supreme means of enabling us to live the mystery of the In-dwelling of the Trinity in our souls. Edel grasped this magnificent principle both in theory and daily practice. It was not surprising to learn that another of her favorite authors was St. Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906). St. Elizabeth is one of the great teachers concerning this mystery of God’s extraordinary intimacy with us in the very depths of our being through grace. For St. Elizabeth, and for Edel too, there is no substantial difference between the In-dwelling Trinity and the reality of Heaven. The only difference between the two is that we live the mystery of In-dwelling by Faith and Heaven by direct and beatific vision. Once this is grasped it is easy to understand why Edel craved moments of time and indeed long hours if possible, of gentle silence and recollection. Several key witnesses at the tribunal for her beatification testified under oath that despite the extraordinary business of her apostolic life her most striking characteristic was her spirit of recollection.
In one of Edel’s private notebooks, we read: “We are sharers in the very life of the Blessed Trinity, with the Incarnate Word as our Brother, His Father as our Father, His Spirit as the Soul of our souls. Yet we can never forget the transcendent holiness of God. And as a consequence, underlying, though not weakening the sublime intimacy we enjoy with the Divine Persons, will be an attitude of profound reverence and adoration... She knew her soul to be the living sanctuary of the Triune God. She snatched at every opportunity of quiet and silence to recollect herself and be alone with God and offer Him the incense of her adoration.”
Edel Quinn wrote the following in her little spiritual notebook: “Let us ask the grace to live in realization of our life in Christ, through Mary, adoring the Trinity” … “In Christ Jesus we have all. Realize this. Often offer Him to the Trinity, present in our soul, giving all honor, reparation and glory throughout the day” … “Realize that I am the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Trinity. In Christ we adore the Trinity. Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Try and adore the Trinity in our soul, even in the midst of troubles and external duties” … “With Christ and helped by Mary, let us adore the Trinity. Cut out useless worrying thoughts... to adore with and in union with Jesus... the Trinity in my soul... per Mariam.”
Temple of God
“Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. In whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
“But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:17). “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves: And He said to them: ‘It is written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer!” but you have made it a den of thieves’” (Matthew 21:12-23).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday June 5th & Saturday June 6th
Article 4
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Friday June 5th & Saturday June 6th
Article 4
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Love is Tough!
In this season of the Holy Ghost―the Spirit of Love―and the month of the Sacred Heart―a symbol of God’s love for us―it would sinful not to speak of love. It’s hard to love. These days it doesn’t seem to come naturally any more—if it ever did. One act of perfect love of God can wipe away all the guilt and debt of temporal punishment due to sin—no matter how much one has sinned! Yet that act of perfect love―though not impossible―is not easy. We love the persons, places and things of this world more than we love God—or at least our love for them is more vehement than is our love of God. As Our Lord warned us, towards the End Times, evil would be so rampant that charity would grow cold. Yet if that charity could be rekindled and inflamed, then it would probably put an end to what is happening all around us today. It is charity or love that is the engine and powerhouse of prayer―the more intense our love of God is, the more we achieve and receive through our prayers. Thus it is said that one sigh of Our Lady was more powerful than all the prayers and sacrifices of the saints put together―it is her deep and great love of God that makes that possible.
Spiritual Cardiac Arrest
We have all, more or less, become spiritual cardiacs, our every move is conditioned by the dread possibility of imminent spiritual heart failure. How can you love what you are tempted to hate? Loving in the face of the malice, that confronts us at every turn, is such uphill work, so great a strain, only the force and power of a divine command, driving us from behind, could keep us at it. Reason alone would tell us to relax. Lots of us have, and that hasn’t helped our environment, nor our spiritual life!
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength”(Deuteronomy 6:4‑5).
Thou Shalt Love!
To refuse to love, is to disobey God. Thou shalt love—or else. The Crisis of Faith in our thinking today, manifests itself as a Crisis of Love in our wills. Not believing, we can’t love; not loving, we stop believing. All God’s lesser commandments depend on His command to love. To disobey it, disqualifies us for all other tests, whereas obeying it, automatically leads us to do everything God wants us to do, and to avoid everything He doesn’t want us to do. It eliminates all quibbling and arguing, it dispels all minor confusions and hesitations. It makes life rough, but exceedingly meaningful and, ultimately, very rewarding.
Tempted to Give Up!
The vast majority of us give up. “For the Lord tries you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all your soul—or not” (Deuteronomy 13:3). For those who don’t give up, suddenly everything is relevant. If we persist in trying to love God, we find that idleness and boredom are luxuries we can’t afford. There isn’t time.
Whoever says loving is easy either lies or hasn’t tried it, or both. It’s the most difficult achievement that man in his fallen state, after Original Sin, could possibly tackle, yet his eternal life and salvation depends on it. It’s so difficult God himself had to come down eventually and show us how to love, because we hadn’t the heart for it. As things developed, He had to give us that too. And that wasn’t easy for Him either.
Hard To Let Oneself Be Loved
If loving is hard, allowing himself to be loved seems to be even harder for modern man. He finds it almost impossible to believe he is loved, that anybody really wants him. This requires Faith, he discovers. His receiving mechanisms are so deranged, that he cannot humbly and gratefully accept the free gift of love even when it is offered. Psychiatrists’ offices are filled with people, who sincerely feel themselves so rejected—even when they are not—they can no longer function as healthy human beings.
Your Just a ....!
Who can blame them? From the cradle we’re told we’re a nuisance, a pest, trouble, a pain-in-the-neck: some of us by our very mothers, who look upon our birth as little more than an obstacle to self‑fulfillment in a brave new world. Others have fathers who resent having to support them. Nursery schools and academia are filled with young outcasts. If current statistics are to be believed, more children are conceived out of wedlock than in marriage—and of those conceived out of wedlock, many never see the light of day as they are aborted. There is modern man’s love for you!
Lucky to be Born
Even so, there are some lucky ones, who are conceived and born despite the dangers that threatened them and have successfully run the gauntlet of contraceptive traps, slaps, loops, jellies, misinformation and propaganda. Somehow they were spared the ministrations of assorted vasectomists, abortionists, zero population planners, programmed gynecologists and fetal researchers who had (like God) only one message to deliver, but in reverse: “We don’t want you! Maybe a few selected others, but not you!”
They are quite specific in any given case. It’s personal, and we take it personally. “Not only we don’t want you,” we are told, “but ideally, we don’t want you even to be, not for one moment. Abortions are messy. Contraception is the real answer, because we don’t want you to have life at all. WE HATE YOU! And we hate irresponsible people who clutter the world with you!” Have you ever stopped to consider that there are more babies that are either “contracepted” or aborted than there are babies actually conceived and born! How many billions have been robbed of a chance of seeing God in Heaven!
Obstacle Course
Whoever manages to be born and reaches maturity, must then face other tests. They must survive child engineering of all descriptions, perverted history texts and scientism, impure sex education, volleys of adult literature and art, mutilated worship—and already, in dark corners, sterilization of the unfit and euthanasia, all implemented by the technological craft harnessed to the goals of the concentration camp.
Most Destined to Be Killed
If the plans of the New World Order people are to be believed, then abortion is not good enough for controlling the population numbers—they now want to drastically reduce the world population (7.8 billion) to around 500 million, meaning that as many as 14-out-of-15 people needing to be eliminated! Pandemics, riots, civil wars and international wars are an ideal “vaccine” for achieving that! There is modern man’s love for you! Even Our Lady’s prophecies speak of the vast majority of people being killed! Are you the holder of the lucky lottery ticket that will make you the lucky one out of twelve? Probably not! But then Heaven is a nicer place to live than Earth, even if it means sitting in the lobby of Purgatory, until a room becomes available!
God is Love ... But There is No God!
That our neighbor doesn’t love us, is only too evident in the vast majority of our human encounters, but this is the lesser blow to our hearts. There are crazed philosophers who labor to acquaint us with what, down deep, we are bitterly tempted to suspect: that God doesn’t want us either! Could a God, Who loves us, make us live in such a world? He must hate us!
That’s silly, they tell us. How could God hate you? God is dead! Whether He loves us or not is academic and pointless, because He doesn’t exist, and never did. He was invented by us, you idiots. He is us. Why don’t you grow up and admit it? Be mature! Grow up! Stand on your own feet for a change!
Only God Can Help
Only God could help at a time like this. Only He can tell us He is alive and loves us, because, at this point in history, we don’t dare believe anyone else. We have been so fed on lies, so betrayed by those responsible for us, no one less than God could restore our Faith, not only in Him but faith and confidence in ourselves. Our trust in man is gone. The credibility gap devours everything he tells us. He’s too treacherous, too unreliable. We’re exhorted on all sides to “open ourselves to one another in mutual trust,” but, we who have been betrayed, know better. We are “closed” and wary. We wouldn’t trust our own grandmothers―in some cases with very good reason.
You Will Be Hated by the World
Well, let’s not feel guilty about it. While on Earth, God Himself reached the same conclusion, and said so: “Beware of men,” He told His disciples. “For they will deliver you up in councils (parish? national? ecumenical?), and they will scourge you in their synagogues ... Brother shall deliver brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death” (Matthew 10:17, 21). “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22).
Like us, God has been rejected. When He was born as man, there was no room for Him at the inn in Bethlehem, and, in His maturity, He was rejected in His own temple in Jerusalem, eventually put to death outside its walls. Before that had come a time when He could no longer walk openly among His own people (John 11:54). Often He had to hide, as He does even now. He “wouldn’t trust Himself to them, because He knew what was in man” (John 2:23‑25). He told us plainly, “One is good: God” (Matthew 19:17).
Trust in God, Follow God!
In the final analysis the only man who can be trusted is in fact God, and He must be trusted and believed in utterly. “You believe in God, believe also in Me ... And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4). “Follow Me!” (Matthew 16:24).
Patiently He explained the outrageous task that lay before us, how, all the while never trusting our fellow man, we must nevertheless love him—to the point of laying down our life for him. All the while being wise as serpents, we must be innocent as doves, prepared to forgive our fellow man seventy-times-seven-times for what he does to us, will continue to do to us, and will do to us ever more viciously the more perfectly we follow Christ. What’s hard about liking people who like us? As He himself noted, that’s easy! “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this?” (Matthew 5:46).
Yet our main love, our chief love, should be God―and not any person, place or thing in this life: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” as well as you can.
Love is Not in Feelings
Or, as someone else cynically put it, you shall love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart. Whether we like it or not, “On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37‑40). Luckily, love isn’t a function of the feelings, for God never commands the impossible. Love is an operation of the will, directed by the intellect. The feelings can go along or not―they can do as they please. If they do go along, then so much the better; if not, too bad for them, not us. Wanting to love, doing the works of love―that is what it is to love. Feelings are not a true measure of love, nor are feelings a guarantee that love is or is not present.
In order to show us exactly how this is done in real life, God led us personally, step by step, from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth, to Calvary and to heaven. “Learn of Me,” He said, “because I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). “As I have loved you, you also love one another” (John 13:34).
This, knowing what we do about Calvary and all that led up to it, is preposterous! Especially for people with heart conditions! You’d have to have the heart of God to do that sort of thing, really to do it.
And that’s the heart of the matter.
We Need a New Heart!
That’s why He promised us centuries ago through His prophet Ezechiel that in the last days He would replace our calcified hearts with a heart of flesh in order to love so impossibly. He knew we didn’t have the heart for it, that we would have to have a brand new one:
“And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Ezechiel couldn’t have known what we know now, that the heart of flesh, that God intended to give us, was nothing less than His own―not just the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. With God’s heart in our breasts we can love as God loves, and do His will.
In this season of the Holy Ghost―the Spirit of Love―and the month of the Sacred Heart―a symbol of God’s love for us―it would sinful not to speak of love. It’s hard to love. These days it doesn’t seem to come naturally any more—if it ever did. One act of perfect love of God can wipe away all the guilt and debt of temporal punishment due to sin—no matter how much one has sinned! Yet that act of perfect love―though not impossible―is not easy. We love the persons, places and things of this world more than we love God—or at least our love for them is more vehement than is our love of God. As Our Lord warned us, towards the End Times, evil would be so rampant that charity would grow cold. Yet if that charity could be rekindled and inflamed, then it would probably put an end to what is happening all around us today. It is charity or love that is the engine and powerhouse of prayer―the more intense our love of God is, the more we achieve and receive through our prayers. Thus it is said that one sigh of Our Lady was more powerful than all the prayers and sacrifices of the saints put together―it is her deep and great love of God that makes that possible.
Spiritual Cardiac Arrest
We have all, more or less, become spiritual cardiacs, our every move is conditioned by the dread possibility of imminent spiritual heart failure. How can you love what you are tempted to hate? Loving in the face of the malice, that confronts us at every turn, is such uphill work, so great a strain, only the force and power of a divine command, driving us from behind, could keep us at it. Reason alone would tell us to relax. Lots of us have, and that hasn’t helped our environment, nor our spiritual life!
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength”(Deuteronomy 6:4‑5).
Thou Shalt Love!
To refuse to love, is to disobey God. Thou shalt love—or else. The Crisis of Faith in our thinking today, manifests itself as a Crisis of Love in our wills. Not believing, we can’t love; not loving, we stop believing. All God’s lesser commandments depend on His command to love. To disobey it, disqualifies us for all other tests, whereas obeying it, automatically leads us to do everything God wants us to do, and to avoid everything He doesn’t want us to do. It eliminates all quibbling and arguing, it dispels all minor confusions and hesitations. It makes life rough, but exceedingly meaningful and, ultimately, very rewarding.
Tempted to Give Up!
The vast majority of us give up. “For the Lord tries you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all your soul—or not” (Deuteronomy 13:3). For those who don’t give up, suddenly everything is relevant. If we persist in trying to love God, we find that idleness and boredom are luxuries we can’t afford. There isn’t time.
Whoever says loving is easy either lies or hasn’t tried it, or both. It’s the most difficult achievement that man in his fallen state, after Original Sin, could possibly tackle, yet his eternal life and salvation depends on it. It’s so difficult God himself had to come down eventually and show us how to love, because we hadn’t the heart for it. As things developed, He had to give us that too. And that wasn’t easy for Him either.
Hard To Let Oneself Be Loved
If loving is hard, allowing himself to be loved seems to be even harder for modern man. He finds it almost impossible to believe he is loved, that anybody really wants him. This requires Faith, he discovers. His receiving mechanisms are so deranged, that he cannot humbly and gratefully accept the free gift of love even when it is offered. Psychiatrists’ offices are filled with people, who sincerely feel themselves so rejected—even when they are not—they can no longer function as healthy human beings.
Your Just a ....!
Who can blame them? From the cradle we’re told we’re a nuisance, a pest, trouble, a pain-in-the-neck: some of us by our very mothers, who look upon our birth as little more than an obstacle to self‑fulfillment in a brave new world. Others have fathers who resent having to support them. Nursery schools and academia are filled with young outcasts. If current statistics are to be believed, more children are conceived out of wedlock than in marriage—and of those conceived out of wedlock, many never see the light of day as they are aborted. There is modern man’s love for you!
Lucky to be Born
Even so, there are some lucky ones, who are conceived and born despite the dangers that threatened them and have successfully run the gauntlet of contraceptive traps, slaps, loops, jellies, misinformation and propaganda. Somehow they were spared the ministrations of assorted vasectomists, abortionists, zero population planners, programmed gynecologists and fetal researchers who had (like God) only one message to deliver, but in reverse: “We don’t want you! Maybe a few selected others, but not you!”
They are quite specific in any given case. It’s personal, and we take it personally. “Not only we don’t want you,” we are told, “but ideally, we don’t want you even to be, not for one moment. Abortions are messy. Contraception is the real answer, because we don’t want you to have life at all. WE HATE YOU! And we hate irresponsible people who clutter the world with you!” Have you ever stopped to consider that there are more babies that are either “contracepted” or aborted than there are babies actually conceived and born! How many billions have been robbed of a chance of seeing God in Heaven!
Obstacle Course
Whoever manages to be born and reaches maturity, must then face other tests. They must survive child engineering of all descriptions, perverted history texts and scientism, impure sex education, volleys of adult literature and art, mutilated worship—and already, in dark corners, sterilization of the unfit and euthanasia, all implemented by the technological craft harnessed to the goals of the concentration camp.
Most Destined to Be Killed
If the plans of the New World Order people are to be believed, then abortion is not good enough for controlling the population numbers—they now want to drastically reduce the world population (7.8 billion) to around 500 million, meaning that as many as 14-out-of-15 people needing to be eliminated! Pandemics, riots, civil wars and international wars are an ideal “vaccine” for achieving that! There is modern man’s love for you! Even Our Lady’s prophecies speak of the vast majority of people being killed! Are you the holder of the lucky lottery ticket that will make you the lucky one out of twelve? Probably not! But then Heaven is a nicer place to live than Earth, even if it means sitting in the lobby of Purgatory, until a room becomes available!
God is Love ... But There is No God!
That our neighbor doesn’t love us, is only too evident in the vast majority of our human encounters, but this is the lesser blow to our hearts. There are crazed philosophers who labor to acquaint us with what, down deep, we are bitterly tempted to suspect: that God doesn’t want us either! Could a God, Who loves us, make us live in such a world? He must hate us!
That’s silly, they tell us. How could God hate you? God is dead! Whether He loves us or not is academic and pointless, because He doesn’t exist, and never did. He was invented by us, you idiots. He is us. Why don’t you grow up and admit it? Be mature! Grow up! Stand on your own feet for a change!
Only God Can Help
Only God could help at a time like this. Only He can tell us He is alive and loves us, because, at this point in history, we don’t dare believe anyone else. We have been so fed on lies, so betrayed by those responsible for us, no one less than God could restore our Faith, not only in Him but faith and confidence in ourselves. Our trust in man is gone. The credibility gap devours everything he tells us. He’s too treacherous, too unreliable. We’re exhorted on all sides to “open ourselves to one another in mutual trust,” but, we who have been betrayed, know better. We are “closed” and wary. We wouldn’t trust our own grandmothers―in some cases with very good reason.
You Will Be Hated by the World
Well, let’s not feel guilty about it. While on Earth, God Himself reached the same conclusion, and said so: “Beware of men,” He told His disciples. “For they will deliver you up in councils (parish? national? ecumenical?), and they will scourge you in their synagogues ... Brother shall deliver brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death” (Matthew 10:17, 21). “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22).
Like us, God has been rejected. When He was born as man, there was no room for Him at the inn in Bethlehem, and, in His maturity, He was rejected in His own temple in Jerusalem, eventually put to death outside its walls. Before that had come a time when He could no longer walk openly among His own people (John 11:54). Often He had to hide, as He does even now. He “wouldn’t trust Himself to them, because He knew what was in man” (John 2:23‑25). He told us plainly, “One is good: God” (Matthew 19:17).
Trust in God, Follow God!
In the final analysis the only man who can be trusted is in fact God, and He must be trusted and believed in utterly. “You believe in God, believe also in Me ... And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4). “Follow Me!” (Matthew 16:24).
Patiently He explained the outrageous task that lay before us, how, all the while never trusting our fellow man, we must nevertheless love him—to the point of laying down our life for him. All the while being wise as serpents, we must be innocent as doves, prepared to forgive our fellow man seventy-times-seven-times for what he does to us, will continue to do to us, and will do to us ever more viciously the more perfectly we follow Christ. What’s hard about liking people who like us? As He himself noted, that’s easy! “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this?” (Matthew 5:46).
Yet our main love, our chief love, should be God―and not any person, place or thing in this life: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” as well as you can.
Love is Not in Feelings
Or, as someone else cynically put it, you shall love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart. Whether we like it or not, “On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37‑40). Luckily, love isn’t a function of the feelings, for God never commands the impossible. Love is an operation of the will, directed by the intellect. The feelings can go along or not―they can do as they please. If they do go along, then so much the better; if not, too bad for them, not us. Wanting to love, doing the works of love―that is what it is to love. Feelings are not a true measure of love, nor are feelings a guarantee that love is or is not present.
In order to show us exactly how this is done in real life, God led us personally, step by step, from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth, to Calvary and to heaven. “Learn of Me,” He said, “because I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). “As I have loved you, you also love one another” (John 13:34).
This, knowing what we do about Calvary and all that led up to it, is preposterous! Especially for people with heart conditions! You’d have to have the heart of God to do that sort of thing, really to do it.
And that’s the heart of the matter.
We Need a New Heart!
That’s why He promised us centuries ago through His prophet Ezechiel that in the last days He would replace our calcified hearts with a heart of flesh in order to love so impossibly. He knew we didn’t have the heart for it, that we would have to have a brand new one:
“And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Ezechiel couldn’t have known what we know now, that the heart of flesh, that God intended to give us, was nothing less than His own―not just the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. With God’s heart in our breasts we can love as God loves, and do His will.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday June 3rd & Thursday June 4th
Article 3
The Fear of the Lord versus The Fear of the World
Wednesday June 3rd & Thursday June 4th
Article 3
The Fear of the Lord versus The Fear of the World
The Fear Factor
Everyone knows what fears feels like―but few people understand fear. Strictly speaking, fear is not something that is in the soul, but something that is in the passions or emotions, which seeks to influence the soul (intellect/mind and heart/will power). Fear is a powerful emotion. When God created mankind, he placed a number of basic passions or emotions in human beings―fear being one of them. St. Thomas Aquinas lists eleven passions or emotions of the soul―pairing them as opposites or positive/negatives. They are the six concupiscible passions of LOVE and HATE; DESIRE and AVERSION, and JOY and SORROW; and the five irascible passions of HOPE and DESPAIR, CONFIDENCE (COURAGE) and FEAR, and ANGER. Notice that the last one, ANGER, has no opposite―for anger itself can be either positive as in reasonable and justified anger, or negative as in unreasonable or unjust anger.
The word passion means an undergoing. Passion is a kind of recoil or kick-back of our natural instinct. Passions should be controlled by intelligence, reason and correct judgment―just as children should be controlled by parents, Church and schoolmasters―otherwise you drift towards anarchy where the children begin to control the parents, the mob controls the government, etc. Passions could be said to be like workhorses that should be harnessed to the cart are driven by the rider.
The concupiscible passions stand related to good and evil―simply of itself. LOVE is for good, HATRED for evil; DESIRE is for good, AVERSION for evil; JOY is for good, SORROW for evil. But the irascible passions are related to good and evil under the aspect of difficulty. HOPE is for a good in some degree difficult to achieve; DESPAIR is for an evil too difficult to avoid; FEAR is for an evil hard to escape; CONFIDENCE or COURAGE is for a good difficult to attain; ANGER is resentment of an evil that is difficult to throw off. As they work out, all irascible passions turn into concupiscible passions: hope and courage, once successful, are turned into love and joy; anger, fear, and despair, when their force is spent, end in sorrow, and sometimes, when they have been mistaken or groundless, they end in joy. Anger is the only passion of the soul which is not paired off with a contrary passion. For anger stands alone among the passions in having no natural contrary.
Everyone is Afraid! Fear Strikes All Folk!
Since God has placed the passion of fear within us―consequently everyone fears something. A person with no fear is insane! Even Our Lord had the passion of fear and that fear motivated Him on several occasions. During the time that the Jews began persecuting Jesus, “Jesus walked in Galilee―for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1). At the time of His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Jesus took Peter and James and John with Him; and He began to fear and to be heavy” (Mark 14:33).”
Our Lady, St. Joseph, the Apostles and disciples were also afraid:
● At the Annunciation, “the angel said to her: ‘Fear not, Mary!’” (Luke 1:30).
● St. Joseph was confused about how Mary became pregnant, “while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David! Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost!’” (Matthew 1:20).
● At the Transfiguration, “And the disciples (Peter, James and John) fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’” (Matthew 17:6-7).
● “And they seeing Him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not!’” (Matthew 14:26-27).
● After the Resurrection, “the angel answering, said to the women: ‘Fear you not! For I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified!’” (Matthew 28:5).
● After the Resurrection, “Jesus stood in the midst of them and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you! It is I―Fear not!’” (Luke 24:36).
Fear is a God-given “alarm” or “brake” ― that warns us of danger and tries to stop us from entering into potential danger. If, as said above, we control the passion of fear with right reasoning―then we will fear the right things. However, our reasoning is flawed, perverted, erroneous, or if our reasoning mind and will power cannot control our passions―then we will fear the wrong things.”
For example, a God-fearing man who loves God will not fear to correct a friend, or work colleague or boss if he sees them doing wrong―and does not fear losing his job or his friend as a consequence. On the other hand, a godless man who has no fear of God, will fear to correct a friend or boss for fear of losing the friendship or losing his job.
A rich godless man will fear losing his money―whereas a spiritual man will fear being rich: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
A godless person has no fear of God and sin, but he will fear death―whereas a spiritual person will fear God and sin and fear the loss of eternal life even more than death: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28). “I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you―Fear Him!” (Luke 12:5).
Thus, what you fear tends to be related to what you are and what you think. Consequently and objectively speaking, some fears are legitimate fears while others are vain or empty fears. Likewise, some fears are logical or reasonable fears, while others are illogical and unreasonable fears.
Often, from a purely human perspective, we look upon “fear” as being synonymous with “cowardice”. We imagine that only babies and cowards fear―but that “real men” have no fear. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that someone who claims they have no fear is insane. Only fools have no fear ― which is echoed by the popular saying: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” He goes on to say that daring, bravery and courage is not an “absence of fear”, but merely a daring, bravery or courage to proceed despite being afraid, after a careful and prudent assessment and understanding of the true risks, dangers, opportunities and necessities in any given situation, and keeping those things in prudent balance. Prudence is said to be the Queen of all virtues―the bit, bridle and rein that controls and guides all horses.
Fear―as stated above―is like an alarm or warning of potential danger. Often, it is not based on rational thought or, at listen to warnings, alarms or sirens of fear and then logically and supernaturally assess the validity and likelihood of those warnings or alarms. For example, a car alarm or a burglar alarm can be accidentally triggered by natural means without there being a real danger present. The mind must analyze and assess the situation. Was the car alarm triggered by high winds rocking the car. When batteries are weak/low, sensors in your system can trigger a false burglar alarm.
God Wants Us to Be Afraid of Him!
That might sound like a very strange statement: “God wants us to be afraid of Him!” ― especially when you look at it in the light of seemingly contradictory statements made by Our Lord Himself: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). You might also object that “Fear is not in charity―but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity!” (1 John 4:18). That is very true, but perfect charity does not pop out of a slot machine or vending machine every time a Hail Mary is popped into the slot! Likewise the “no more fear” life of Heaven is only attained after a long life of fear and trembling! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). “With fear and trembling give ye glory to Him!” (Tobias 13:6).
Holy Scripture frequently underlines the importance of a “Fear of the Lord” ― “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom … The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord ... To fear God is the fullness of wisdom … The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom … The fear of the Lord driveth out sin … He that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath of his high spirits is his ruin … It shall go well with him that feareth the Lord, and, in the days of his end, he shall be blessed” (Ecclesiasticus 1:16, 1:25; 1:20; 1:22; 1:27-28; 1:19).
Fear ― Pride ― Humility ― Charity
Fear is an essential tool to our salvation―just as Pride is the obstacle to our salvation. It is pride that leads us to resist God, to make self our last end, in a word, to work our own ruin and damnation. Humility alone can save us from this terrible danger. Who will give us humility? The Holy Ghost; and this, by infusing into us the Gift of the Fear of God.
Pride gives birth to the spirit of independence and of false liberty―which is so prevalent amongst us nowadays. Pride is a great enemy to the Fear of God―and one of the miseries of our age is that there is little Fear of God. Familiarity with God too frequently usurps the place of that essential foundation of the God-centeredness or Christ-centeredness of Christian life. The result is that the Gift of Fear has been replaced by a conceited, smug, self-complacency. Humility has no further importance or role to play―a secret and habitual pride has paralyzed the soul. Seeing that these people laugh at the very idea of their ever trembling before the great God of Heaven―we may well ask if they know Who God REALLY is? Most people have “changed” God in a caricature of their own making―a kind of a “Walt Disney” God or a “cartoon” God or a “convenience” God. The result is that there is no progress in virtue, such people are deluded and their ideas about a spiritual life are a mere illusion.
Fear can be said to be the “kindling-wood” or beginning of the fire of Charity or the love of God, as well as the “weed-killer” of pride or self-love. Yes, “perfect charity casteth out fear” ― but what is perfect starts out as imperfect. A man starts out as a baby. Every genius began life with a “blank blackboard” or empty brain. Every skilled doctor, professor, soldier, athlete―starts out unskilled in their chosen profession. A garden starts out as an overgrown plot of land filled with grasses, weeds and rocks. Almost every saint starts out as a sinner, or as St. Augustine beautifully says, “Every saint has a past―and every sinner has a future!” Perfection is the goal or arrival point―not the beginning or departure point.
Fear is often the departure point, the starting point―much like the fear some people have when starting a new job, or first driving a car, or making a first parachute jump, or learning to swim, etc. The more experience we get, the more the fears subside―but fear, like an alarm system or warning system, should never be “switched-off” or totally ignored. Fear is there to help and not hinder.
Coming back to the connection between Fear and Charity or Fear and Love―Holy Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of His love and the beginning of Faith” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). It was also said that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). St. Thomas Aquinas links Charity and Wisdom by saying that wisdom is to the mind or intellect what charity is to the heart or will. In a very simplistic way, you could say that wisdom and charity are like husband and wife―similar to the analogy which says that “the husband is the head of the family, and the wife is the heart of the family” ― which reflects itself in reality whereby the man usually is guided by logic or reasoning mind (thinks with his head), whereas the woman is often guided by her feelings or heart (thinks with her heart).
Of all the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost ― Fear of the Lord is the first and the least, while wisdom is the last and the greatest. In the 1922 Catechism of the Summa Theologica, by Fr. Thomas Pègues, O.P., we read that “there is a gift of the Holy Ghost that corresponds to the virtue of charity … It is the gift of wisdom, which is the most perfect of all the gifts ... [In the field of knowing] after the virtue of Faith, the most perfect is the gift of wisdom … The gift of wisdom is that gift of the Holy Ghost where man, under the direct action of the Holy Spirit, judges of all things by reference to the highest and most sublime of all causes, which is the wisdom itself of God.” Hence, in the sphere of the mind, wisdom is the highest form of knowledge―seeing things as God sees them. Whereas in the sphere of the heart, charity, or love of God, is the highest form of love―loving God with your whole soul, heart, mind and strength. Of both wisdom and charity―the so-called “husband and wife team” of the soul, Holy Scripture tells us that it is the Fear of the Lord that is the beginning of both: “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).
Parents, Teachers and Priests Need to Teach the Fear of the Lord
Tobias taught his son to fear the Lord and all went well for him, all the days of his life: “From his infancy he taught him to fear God, and to abstain from all sin … and he continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life … And the rest of his life was in joy, and with great increase of the fear of God he departed in peace” (Tobias 1:10; 2:14; 14:4). (Tobias).
The ever increasing variety and escalating intensity of messes that we are witnessing with our own eyes, is largely due to an absence of the Fear of the Lord. Hey! Doesn’t crime increase and escalate when people lose their fear of law enforcement? Don’t children become more and more unruly when they lose their fear of parental authority? Don’t students take more and more liberties once they lose all fear of the teacher? Of course they do! It is the same with their attitude towards God. “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee! Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not with thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts … Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 2:19; 5:22).
“They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:3-4).
“I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God!” (Exodus 9:30). “O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge? Turn ye at My reproof! … I called, and you refused! I stretched out My hand, and there was none that looked. You have despised all My counsel, and have neglected My reprimands. I will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand; when tribulation and distress shall come upon you―then shall they call upon Me, and I will not hear! They shall rise in the morning and shall not find Me―because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to My counsel, but despised all My reproof!” (Proverbs 1:22-30). Those words are perfectly applicable to the messes we find ourselves in today!
“Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear Me, and to keep all My commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?” (Deuteronomy 5:29). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin.” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed; and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6). “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee―but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12). “And the Lord, Who is your leader, He Himself will be with thee: He will not leave thee, nor forsake thee! Fear not, neither be dismayed!” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me all days―and that it may be well with them and with their children after them.” (Jeremias 32:39). “If then you obey My commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul, then He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil, and your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them and the Lord, being angry, shut up Heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you. Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up.” (Deuteronomy 11:13-19).
Fear of Sin and Hell
As already mentioned above, everyone has fears―it is a God-given mechanism. Nobody can escape fear or dismantle that fear―the only difference is that different people fear different things. “Phobos” is the Greek word for “fear” or “horror” from which we get “phobia” and it is attached to the word for whatever thing it is that we fear. For example, Acrophobia, fear of heights; Aerophobia, fear of flying; Autophobia, fear of being alone; Claustrophobia, fear of confined or crowded spaces; Koinoniphobia, Fear of rooms full of people; Astraphobia, fear of thunder and lightning; Latrophobia, fear of doctors; Dentophobia, fear of dentists; Hemophobia, fear of blood; Hydrophobia, fear of water; Arachnophobia, fear of spiders; Cynophobia, fear of dogs; Ophidiophobia, fear of snakes; etc.
From a psychological perspective, phobias are usually defined as “an irrational fear of something that’s unlikely to cause harm.” You could apply to this notion of phobia the following Scriptural verse: “There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:3-4). Yet, in staying true to the original Greek notion of the word “phobos”―which is “fear” or “horror”― then not all phobias are irrational―they only become irrational if a fear of one of a species is applied to all the species―for example, this one particular dog is dangerous, but it would be irrational to apply my fear of this particular dog to all dogs that I will ever encounter in the future. This particular person is evil―but that does not mean that I must see every person as being evil. A person of this or that nation, or this or that family is evil―but that does not mean that I must fear every person of this or that nation or family as being evil. Nevertheless, a “phobos” of sin ― a “fear” or “horror” of sin and Hell ― is far from being irrational, and is supremely rational. The Catechism tells us that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Believe it or not, the annihilation of nations by natural disasters is a lesser evil than sin. Shocking? Yes, but true! Sin is the greatest evil in world—even what we mistakenly call “a teeny-weeny sin”! Not only the worst Mortal Sin, but also the least Venial Sin, is the GREATEST EVILS IN THE WORLD. That is what our Faith teaches and that is what we cringe at when we hear it said: “Mortal Sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world ― a greater evil than disease, or war ... Mortal Sin must be a most terrible thing indeed, to make a just and merciful God create Hell for the eternal punishment of sinners who die with even only one Mortal Sin” (The Catechism, My Catholic Faith, chapter 22, “Mortal Sin”). If an eternal Hell is created to punish just one single Mortal Sin, then how on earth can war, flooding, earthquakes, pestilence, disease, death or fire from Heaven be thought to be worse than Hell? No matter what punishment Heaven sends us, it will still be like being tickled in comparison to the punishment of Hell.
As for Venial Sin, the same Catechism says: “Although Venial Sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is, nevertheless, a great moral evil, next alone to Mortal Sin. We are prone to look upon Venial Sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that IT IS SECOND ONLY IN EVIL CONSEQUENCE TO MORTAL SIN. In Holy Scripture we see, from many examples, how God regards Venial Sin. Even in this life He has punished it most severely. For only a slight doubt about God’s mercy, because of the wickedness of his people, Moses was punished. He was not permitted to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land [and died at its borders]” (The Catechism, My Catholic Faith, chapter 23, “Venial Sin”).
How many children have been taught that sin is the greatest evil in the world? How many children know that? How many parents know that? How many teachers know that? Obviously very little―since sin is rampant in the world today. There are hundreds and thousands of “greatest evils” that most people would come up with before mentioning sin! This is witnessed by the impatience, complaints, anger and even rage that is produced by such trivial things as the smartphone or computer not working properly, or being stuck in a traffic jam or at missing a green traffic light, or something not available at the store, or our plans not working out as expected, or a tool or appliance breaking-down, etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum and ad nauseam. Do we ever see such impatience, complaint, anger and rage shown towards their own personal sins? Never! Or hardly ever!
Yet Heaven thinks differently―sin is the evil that Heaven watches for above all other evils. As Our Lady said at Fatima (1917): “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” … and to Blessed Elena Aiello (1956): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” … and at Akita (1973): “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
For mankind, it is quite the contrary―sin is no big deal. “Just sin and confess―that’s all there is too it!” they think. Yet Holy Scripture warns: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin.” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
We Fear Man More Than God!
Rather than fearing God, fearing sin and its consequences―we show more fear of the world and our fellow man! It is not just physical violence and death that we fear from our fellow men, but even little things―like hatred, dislike, unpopularity, ridicule, criticism, ostracization, being fired or sacked, being given the “cold-shoulder”, being talked about, etc. We allow our fear of all these things to modify our attitude and behavior towards all those that surround us―whether it be in family, at work, in school, in social life, etc.
This is a psychological battle within us that we all have to deal with. From an early age we work to get approval of other people, whether it was proving to our parents that we could ride a bike without training wheels, or taking our first step—caring what other people think seems evitable. Through the years it can become a problem for us as it can cripple us emotionally and spiritually. Some people struggle with this more than others. You change the way you do things and you try to impress others instead. Your mind is going in so many different directions that it can cause you to just stall in anxiety. The greatest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think. One of the greatest mental freedoms is truly not caring what anyone else thinks of you. We need to get to the point where we don’t care what the media says, how colleagues feel about us, or live in state of constant fear or agony of what others think.
Holy Scripture often warns us against this “fear of man” or “human respect” ― “He that feareth man, shall quickly fall” (Proverbs 29:25). “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ!” (Galatians 1:10). “We ought to obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29) ― which also implies that “We ought to fear offending God, rather than fear offending men!”
We won’t even admit to this and call this fear― fear of what others will think, say or do ― by the name of “fear”, but we change it into a more pleasant sounding flaw by changing “fear of what other will think, say or do” into the more cosmetic and pleasant euphemism of “human respect”. A euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression, which is substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt, when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing ― so “abortion” becomes “family planning”, or “homosexual” becomes “gay”, or “impure behavior” becomes “flirting”, “living in sin” becomes “cohabitation” or “common law marriage”, “detraction” (revealing the sins of others) becomes “truth-telling”, etc. Likewise, to lessen the harsh and blunt descriptions of sin, we find alternative euphemistic, sweet or mild sounding words that will serve to anesthetize our conscience in its protests against sin.
The Fear-Mongering World
Fear is an overwhelmingly disturbing force of the human mind that has the power to sway, distort and rupture the conventions of the human mind. From a non-supernatural perspective, which fails to take account of Divine Providence, day-to-day life is a gamble that can change with the tick of the clock. The uncertainties of life are around every corner and ready to meet us head-first, whether we are prepared or not. Danger and fear are prominent components of life that can knock us off our feet. Fear almost always correlates to a fear of death. Fear of death is the primordial, instinctual fear that promotes the human-race to strive for longevity and safety. It is responsible for the precautions we take in every day life, to looking both ways before crossing a street to taking the long way home through the brightly-lit city streets on a late Saturday night.
The enemies of the Church and the enemies of mankind fully realize and appreciate the power of fear―and they are very adept in harnessing and using fear in pursuing their nefarious ends and goals. Much as they say about money: “Every man has his price” ― meaning that, if you offer a person enough money, they will do what you want. The same could be said of fear ― frighten a person enough and they will do what you want.
You could say that current manufactured crises―first the Coronavirus and now the Racial Riots―have been like a “Vaccine Test” that is tried out on a limited number of people to see what reaction they will have to vaccine and if the vaccine is achieving its purpose. The result has been successful for the world’s “puppet-masters” ― for their “vaccine of fear” has brought about many changes already and they can only be drooling, driveling, slobbering and slavering at the mouth in anticipation of more and more changes and more and more control.
Fear of the Unknown
Fear is often heightened and intensified with the element of the unknown. Somehow, our fear soars when certain happenings are uncertain and outcomes are unknown―it gives our imagination a free-rein to race through our mind like an ever-escalating forest fire that is out of control. That is why the enemies of the Church and the enemies of mankind like to keep us “unknowing” and dumb. Knowledge helps us deal with danger. If you know how to handle a snake, or how to disarm an armed assailant, or how control a skidding or careering car―then you will not be as fear-stricken and paralyzed and somebody who is ignorant of those things.
Much of what is happening in the world―and much of what is yet to happen in the world―has been foretold to us by Our Lord in Holy Scripture and backed-up by Our Lady in many of her apparitions, not to mention, nor to forget, the many prophecies of the saints over the centuries. It is like the repeated briefings, lessons or classes given to soldiers about what to expect when they go behind enemy lines ― “to be forewarned is to be forearmed” as they say.
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come in my name saying: ‘I am Christ!” ― and they will seduce many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved! When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place! He that readeth, let him understand! Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: “Lo here is Christ!” or “There!”― do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive―if possible―even the elect. BEHOLD I HAVE TOLD IT TO YOU, BEFOREHAND! If, therefore, they shall say to you: ‘Behold He is in the desert!’ ― go ye not out! ‘Behold He is in the closets!’―believe it not!’” (Matthew 24:3-26). Our Lord is telling us all this BEFOREHAND so that we do not become troubled or afraid when all these things come to pass ― as they are starting to do in our own days.
Our Lady has, likewise, both echoed and reiterated the warnings of Our Lord and has kindly warned us beforehand, in good time, of what is to unfold and is actually unfolding before our very eyes. She revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima that we have already entered the period of the “Last Days” or “End Times” ― and recently popes, cardinals, bishops and priests have affirmed their own belief in that truth.
Those revelations and prophecies are meant to calm our fears and remind us of the fact that God is always in control of everything that happens in this world. Even the devil can do nothing without the permission of God. Therefore, no matter how much evil there is in the world, or how many evil people there are in the world, God is always in charge. Which is why Our Lord often reproves and criticizes an all too human, non-supernatural attitude to happenings that seem to be frightening or terrifying to humanistic mind. Hence Our Lord says:
“Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid!” (John 14:27). “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be―but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7). “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yea―I say to you―fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). Holy Scrpiture adds: “That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear!” (Luke 1:74).
On the contrary, we see St. Peter sink into the waves of the storm because of having first sunk into the waves of fear: “But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea. And they seeing him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart! It is I ― fear ye not!’ And Peter making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus, stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased” (Matthew 14:24-32).
Fight the World! Fight the Fear! Fight the Fear of the World!
God is ultimately in charge of everything―things good and evil, persons good and evil―nothing escapes His attention, nothing happens without His permission. Our Lady has also added that “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” That does not mean there will no struggle, no pain, no suffering, no wounds, no loss of life―no! On the contrary, as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) with Holy Scripture adding: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Yet the problem is that we NOT fighting! That is the greatest fear ― that we have put down our armor and weapons and are cavorting and gallivanting with the enemy ― the world! We are enjoying the “mammon” while pretending to love God! That is frightening! That is traitorous and treacherous! ). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
We Do Not Fear Sin ― But We Fear the Purification of Sin!
Strangely and sadly, we have far less fear of sin than the massive fear have of being purified for our sins―much like the person who less fear of taking drugs or speeding, than the great fear the person has of a prison sentence or losing their driver’s license as a consequence. Or the adulterer who fears not committing adultery, but only fears the consequences of being caught.
The word “impunity” is defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.” Most of world―and, sadly, most Catholics―now sin with impunity. Criminals cause an outcry when punished by the State―often claiming that they are being victimized. Matters are not helped by the fact that―after the recent destruction wreaked by rioters through many U.S. cities, some authorities showed their insanity by releasing those who had been arrested for property damage and looting. Missouri State’s Attorney General, Eric Schmitt, criticized St. Louis' chief prosecutor over the release of suspected rioters and looters arrested over several days of protests, which have seen four police officers shot and a retired police captain killed. Schmitt said: “In a stunning development, our office has learned that every single one of the St. Louis looters and rioters arrested were released back onto the streets by local prosecutor Kim Gardner. To see that kind of level of violence and rioting that went on, police officers being shot and shot at, a retired police captain being murdered, people throwing rocks and gasoline and frozen water bottles at police officers, firefighters being assaulted and blocked from doing their job, businesses that have served the community for years being burned to the ground, it’s unfathomable that every single person arrested that night has been released!”
That same kind of attitude prevails in the Catholic Church with regard to sin and its consequences. If you commit a sin―and nowadays less and less things are counted as being sinful―you just go to Confession (very few even do that) and then forget about it! Go sin some more if you want and then “wash it off” at your next confession! It is this kind of attitude that needs to feared after the greatest of all fears―which is sin itself.
Various Kinds of Fear
There are various kinds of fear: there is fear of pain and fear of blame; there is also a fear of the world that makes us conform to the world and forget the holy commandments of God and commit sin — fear, that is, of some earthly, temporal evil. How many there are who separate themselves from God through such earthly fear!
► WORLDLY FEAR ― Worldly or mundane fear is that which would not hesitate to offend God in order to avoid some temporal evil. This fear is always evil because it places its end and goal in this world and turns its back upon God. Wordly fear dreads the loss of temporal goods, such as riches and honors. Innocent in itself, it becomes injurious when we prefer to sin rather than lose these goods. History is filled with cruelties that worldly fear has caused. It is the fear of a Pilate who condemned Jesus to death because he feared to lose the esteem of Caesar. It is the fear of a Herod who put the Holy Innocents to death, because he feared for his crown. It is the fear of a Pharaoh who dreads the multiplication of the Israelites in Egypt. It is the fear of thousands of young men and women today, who deny their religion and abandon their most sacred duties, the frequentation of the Sacraments and the sanctification of Sunday, on account of human respect.
► CARNAL FEAR ― Carnal fear is that, of bodily inconveniences, fear of sickness or of death carried to the extent of losing the goods of the soul. It is the fear of a Peter denying his Master, lest he meet the same fate. Ah, how many Peters has the course of ages not seen? It is indeed lamentable how the sight of torture, or the fear of death, turns the mind from the thought of Heaven, and to preserve the body, the soul is lost: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). This is a common fear. Do we not see it every day dictating recourse to sinful means in order to avoid the ordinary inconveniences of life? We witness it many times daily—perhaps from ourselves too! A lie here and there to avoid something, or to get an advantage; afraid to correct others for fear of reprisals or fear of losing one’s popularity; sleeping on the job and misusing our employer’s time; conforming to the world for fear of being an outcast, etc., etc.
► SERVILE FEAR ― There is another fear that keeps us from sin and brings us close to God, but which is imperfect: theologians call it “servile fear,” the fear of punishment. Servile fear is the fear of God because of the punishment He dishes out to sinners; it is the avoiding of sin purely and simply because there is a Hell. It serves God and fulfills His Divine Will because of the punishment that would fall upon it if it did not do so. This fear, although imperfect, is substantially good; it enables us to avoid sin, and it is directed to God as to its end. There is no doubt that this fear keeps us many times from falling into sin; but the motive is of an inferior order, and without the nobility proper to love. Servile fear is not the Gift of Fear of God.
► INITIAL FEAR ― is that which occupies an intermediate place between imperfect servile fear and the more perfect filial fear (see below). It flees from sin principally as an offense against God, but there is mixed with this flight a certain fear of punishment. This fear is better than servile fear, but it is not as perfect as filial fear.
► FILIAL FEAR ― There is another fear that is called filial (also called reverential fear). It consists in the repugnance that the soul feels at the thought of being separated from God. It serves God and fulfills His Divine Will, fleeing from sin, because it is an offense against God and it fears being separated from Him. This fear, as is evident, is good and perfect. It flees from sin without taking any account of punishment. This fear comes from love. It is true that perfect love casts out a certain type of fear, but there is also a fear that is, we might say, the basis of love. Whosoever desires, whosoever loves, experiences a profound fear of being separated from the loved one, of displeasing him. Love cannot be conceived of without this fear. One who loves deeply has a fear that is above all other fears — fear of separation from the beloved. This is the Gift of Fear which is directed by the Holy Ghost. In a more perfect sense filial fear is the beginning of wisdom, because, in order to possess divine wisdom, we need to unite ourselves so closely to God that nothing can separate us from Him. The Gift of Fear unites us with God in this way. It hinders us from ever separating ourselves from the Beloved, and in that sense it is the beginning of wisdom.
Fear of the Lord Delivers From Fears
The Fear of the Lord is necessary that we may work out our salvation; it is necessary for us lest we degrade ourselves to the level of brute creation. It is the only guardian of our liberty and of our honor, because it alone is capable of delivering us from all other fear, from servile, worldly and carnal fear.
The first service rendered by the Gift of Holy Fear is to deliver us from this shameful tyranny. Servile gives way to filial fear, that fear to offend God because He is so good; it is always accompanied by confidence and love. As for worldly and carnal fear they no longer possess an illegitimate dominion, as filial fear either absorbs or banishes them. It regrets, deplores one and only one thing—sin.
This Fear of the Lord is, moreover, the only safeguard of that for which the whole world strives, liberty. Man cannot live without fear. If he does not fear God, he fears creatures, and if he fears a creature he is a creature’s slave; for, his freedom and his dignity belong to him whom he fears. To fear aught else except God, is to be under the yoke of tyranny. This is not understood by those who pretend to freedom by shaking off the yoke of God. In vain are revolutions begun; they but plunge their slaves into deeper distress. He alone is free who fears God; for, where the Spirit of God is, there, too, is liberty. Hence, we should only “fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
The Spirit of God unites us to Himself in such a way that He infuses in us an instinctive, profound, efficacious horror of being separated from God. This fear overrides all other fears.
Everyone knows what fears feels like―but few people understand fear. Strictly speaking, fear is not something that is in the soul, but something that is in the passions or emotions, which seeks to influence the soul (intellect/mind and heart/will power). Fear is a powerful emotion. When God created mankind, he placed a number of basic passions or emotions in human beings―fear being one of them. St. Thomas Aquinas lists eleven passions or emotions of the soul―pairing them as opposites or positive/negatives. They are the six concupiscible passions of LOVE and HATE; DESIRE and AVERSION, and JOY and SORROW; and the five irascible passions of HOPE and DESPAIR, CONFIDENCE (COURAGE) and FEAR, and ANGER. Notice that the last one, ANGER, has no opposite―for anger itself can be either positive as in reasonable and justified anger, or negative as in unreasonable or unjust anger.
The word passion means an undergoing. Passion is a kind of recoil or kick-back of our natural instinct. Passions should be controlled by intelligence, reason and correct judgment―just as children should be controlled by parents, Church and schoolmasters―otherwise you drift towards anarchy where the children begin to control the parents, the mob controls the government, etc. Passions could be said to be like workhorses that should be harnessed to the cart are driven by the rider.
The concupiscible passions stand related to good and evil―simply of itself. LOVE is for good, HATRED for evil; DESIRE is for good, AVERSION for evil; JOY is for good, SORROW for evil. But the irascible passions are related to good and evil under the aspect of difficulty. HOPE is for a good in some degree difficult to achieve; DESPAIR is for an evil too difficult to avoid; FEAR is for an evil hard to escape; CONFIDENCE or COURAGE is for a good difficult to attain; ANGER is resentment of an evil that is difficult to throw off. As they work out, all irascible passions turn into concupiscible passions: hope and courage, once successful, are turned into love and joy; anger, fear, and despair, when their force is spent, end in sorrow, and sometimes, when they have been mistaken or groundless, they end in joy. Anger is the only passion of the soul which is not paired off with a contrary passion. For anger stands alone among the passions in having no natural contrary.
Everyone is Afraid! Fear Strikes All Folk!
Since God has placed the passion of fear within us―consequently everyone fears something. A person with no fear is insane! Even Our Lord had the passion of fear and that fear motivated Him on several occasions. During the time that the Jews began persecuting Jesus, “Jesus walked in Galilee―for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1). At the time of His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Jesus took Peter and James and John with Him; and He began to fear and to be heavy” (Mark 14:33).”
Our Lady, St. Joseph, the Apostles and disciples were also afraid:
● At the Annunciation, “the angel said to her: ‘Fear not, Mary!’” (Luke 1:30).
● St. Joseph was confused about how Mary became pregnant, “while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David! Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost!’” (Matthew 1:20).
● At the Transfiguration, “And the disciples (Peter, James and John) fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’” (Matthew 17:6-7).
● “And they seeing Him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not!’” (Matthew 14:26-27).
● After the Resurrection, “the angel answering, said to the women: ‘Fear you not! For I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified!’” (Matthew 28:5).
● After the Resurrection, “Jesus stood in the midst of them and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you! It is I―Fear not!’” (Luke 24:36).
Fear is a God-given “alarm” or “brake” ― that warns us of danger and tries to stop us from entering into potential danger. If, as said above, we control the passion of fear with right reasoning―then we will fear the right things. However, our reasoning is flawed, perverted, erroneous, or if our reasoning mind and will power cannot control our passions―then we will fear the wrong things.”
For example, a God-fearing man who loves God will not fear to correct a friend, or work colleague or boss if he sees them doing wrong―and does not fear losing his job or his friend as a consequence. On the other hand, a godless man who has no fear of God, will fear to correct a friend or boss for fear of losing the friendship or losing his job.
A rich godless man will fear losing his money―whereas a spiritual man will fear being rich: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23-24).
A godless person has no fear of God and sin, but he will fear death―whereas a spiritual person will fear God and sin and fear the loss of eternal life even more than death: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28). “I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you―Fear Him!” (Luke 12:5).
Thus, what you fear tends to be related to what you are and what you think. Consequently and objectively speaking, some fears are legitimate fears while others are vain or empty fears. Likewise, some fears are logical or reasonable fears, while others are illogical and unreasonable fears.
Often, from a purely human perspective, we look upon “fear” as being synonymous with “cowardice”. We imagine that only babies and cowards fear―but that “real men” have no fear. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that someone who claims they have no fear is insane. Only fools have no fear ― which is echoed by the popular saying: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” He goes on to say that daring, bravery and courage is not an “absence of fear”, but merely a daring, bravery or courage to proceed despite being afraid, after a careful and prudent assessment and understanding of the true risks, dangers, opportunities and necessities in any given situation, and keeping those things in prudent balance. Prudence is said to be the Queen of all virtues―the bit, bridle and rein that controls and guides all horses.
Fear―as stated above―is like an alarm or warning of potential danger. Often, it is not based on rational thought or, at listen to warnings, alarms or sirens of fear and then logically and supernaturally assess the validity and likelihood of those warnings or alarms. For example, a car alarm or a burglar alarm can be accidentally triggered by natural means without there being a real danger present. The mind must analyze and assess the situation. Was the car alarm triggered by high winds rocking the car. When batteries are weak/low, sensors in your system can trigger a false burglar alarm.
God Wants Us to Be Afraid of Him!
That might sound like a very strange statement: “God wants us to be afraid of Him!” ― especially when you look at it in the light of seemingly contradictory statements made by Our Lord Himself: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). You might also object that “Fear is not in charity―but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity!” (1 John 4:18). That is very true, but perfect charity does not pop out of a slot machine or vending machine every time a Hail Mary is popped into the slot! Likewise the “no more fear” life of Heaven is only attained after a long life of fear and trembling! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). “With fear and trembling give ye glory to Him!” (Tobias 13:6).
Holy Scripture frequently underlines the importance of a “Fear of the Lord” ― “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom … The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord ... To fear God is the fullness of wisdom … The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom … The fear of the Lord driveth out sin … He that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath of his high spirits is his ruin … It shall go well with him that feareth the Lord, and, in the days of his end, he shall be blessed” (Ecclesiasticus 1:16, 1:25; 1:20; 1:22; 1:27-28; 1:19).
Fear ― Pride ― Humility ― Charity
Fear is an essential tool to our salvation―just as Pride is the obstacle to our salvation. It is pride that leads us to resist God, to make self our last end, in a word, to work our own ruin and damnation. Humility alone can save us from this terrible danger. Who will give us humility? The Holy Ghost; and this, by infusing into us the Gift of the Fear of God.
Pride gives birth to the spirit of independence and of false liberty―which is so prevalent amongst us nowadays. Pride is a great enemy to the Fear of God―and one of the miseries of our age is that there is little Fear of God. Familiarity with God too frequently usurps the place of that essential foundation of the God-centeredness or Christ-centeredness of Christian life. The result is that the Gift of Fear has been replaced by a conceited, smug, self-complacency. Humility has no further importance or role to play―a secret and habitual pride has paralyzed the soul. Seeing that these people laugh at the very idea of their ever trembling before the great God of Heaven―we may well ask if they know Who God REALLY is? Most people have “changed” God in a caricature of their own making―a kind of a “Walt Disney” God or a “cartoon” God or a “convenience” God. The result is that there is no progress in virtue, such people are deluded and their ideas about a spiritual life are a mere illusion.
Fear can be said to be the “kindling-wood” or beginning of the fire of Charity or the love of God, as well as the “weed-killer” of pride or self-love. Yes, “perfect charity casteth out fear” ― but what is perfect starts out as imperfect. A man starts out as a baby. Every genius began life with a “blank blackboard” or empty brain. Every skilled doctor, professor, soldier, athlete―starts out unskilled in their chosen profession. A garden starts out as an overgrown plot of land filled with grasses, weeds and rocks. Almost every saint starts out as a sinner, or as St. Augustine beautifully says, “Every saint has a past―and every sinner has a future!” Perfection is the goal or arrival point―not the beginning or departure point.
Fear is often the departure point, the starting point―much like the fear some people have when starting a new job, or first driving a car, or making a first parachute jump, or learning to swim, etc. The more experience we get, the more the fears subside―but fear, like an alarm system or warning system, should never be “switched-off” or totally ignored. Fear is there to help and not hinder.
Coming back to the connection between Fear and Charity or Fear and Love―Holy Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of His love and the beginning of Faith” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). It was also said that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). St. Thomas Aquinas links Charity and Wisdom by saying that wisdom is to the mind or intellect what charity is to the heart or will. In a very simplistic way, you could say that wisdom and charity are like husband and wife―similar to the analogy which says that “the husband is the head of the family, and the wife is the heart of the family” ― which reflects itself in reality whereby the man usually is guided by logic or reasoning mind (thinks with his head), whereas the woman is often guided by her feelings or heart (thinks with her heart).
Of all the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost ― Fear of the Lord is the first and the least, while wisdom is the last and the greatest. In the 1922 Catechism of the Summa Theologica, by Fr. Thomas Pègues, O.P., we read that “there is a gift of the Holy Ghost that corresponds to the virtue of charity … It is the gift of wisdom, which is the most perfect of all the gifts ... [In the field of knowing] after the virtue of Faith, the most perfect is the gift of wisdom … The gift of wisdom is that gift of the Holy Ghost where man, under the direct action of the Holy Spirit, judges of all things by reference to the highest and most sublime of all causes, which is the wisdom itself of God.” Hence, in the sphere of the mind, wisdom is the highest form of knowledge―seeing things as God sees them. Whereas in the sphere of the heart, charity, or love of God, is the highest form of love―loving God with your whole soul, heart, mind and strength. Of both wisdom and charity―the so-called “husband and wife team” of the soul, Holy Scripture tells us that it is the Fear of the Lord that is the beginning of both: “The fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).
Parents, Teachers and Priests Need to Teach the Fear of the Lord
Tobias taught his son to fear the Lord and all went well for him, all the days of his life: “From his infancy he taught him to fear God, and to abstain from all sin … and he continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life … And the rest of his life was in joy, and with great increase of the fear of God he departed in peace” (Tobias 1:10; 2:14; 14:4). (Tobias).
The ever increasing variety and escalating intensity of messes that we are witnessing with our own eyes, is largely due to an absence of the Fear of the Lord. Hey! Doesn’t crime increase and escalate when people lose their fear of law enforcement? Don’t children become more and more unruly when they lose their fear of parental authority? Don’t students take more and more liberties once they lose all fear of the teacher? Of course they do! It is the same with their attitude towards God. “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee! Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not with thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts … Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 2:19; 5:22).
“They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:3-4).
“I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God!” (Exodus 9:30). “O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge? Turn ye at My reproof! … I called, and you refused! I stretched out My hand, and there was none that looked. You have despised all My counsel, and have neglected My reprimands. I will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand; when tribulation and distress shall come upon you―then shall they call upon Me, and I will not hear! They shall rise in the morning and shall not find Me―because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to My counsel, but despised all My reproof!” (Proverbs 1:22-30). Those words are perfectly applicable to the messes we find ourselves in today!
“Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear Me, and to keep all My commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?” (Deuteronomy 5:29). “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin.” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). “By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed; and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6). “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee―but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12). “And the Lord, Who is your leader, He Himself will be with thee: He will not leave thee, nor forsake thee! Fear not, neither be dismayed!” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me all days―and that it may be well with them and with their children after them.” (Jeremias 32:39). “If then you obey My commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul, then He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil, and your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them and the Lord, being angry, shut up Heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you. Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up.” (Deuteronomy 11:13-19).
Fear of Sin and Hell
As already mentioned above, everyone has fears―it is a God-given mechanism. Nobody can escape fear or dismantle that fear―the only difference is that different people fear different things. “Phobos” is the Greek word for “fear” or “horror” from which we get “phobia” and it is attached to the word for whatever thing it is that we fear. For example, Acrophobia, fear of heights; Aerophobia, fear of flying; Autophobia, fear of being alone; Claustrophobia, fear of confined or crowded spaces; Koinoniphobia, Fear of rooms full of people; Astraphobia, fear of thunder and lightning; Latrophobia, fear of doctors; Dentophobia, fear of dentists; Hemophobia, fear of blood; Hydrophobia, fear of water; Arachnophobia, fear of spiders; Cynophobia, fear of dogs; Ophidiophobia, fear of snakes; etc.
From a psychological perspective, phobias are usually defined as “an irrational fear of something that’s unlikely to cause harm.” You could apply to this notion of phobia the following Scriptural verse: “There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:3-4). Yet, in staying true to the original Greek notion of the word “phobos”―which is “fear” or “horror”― then not all phobias are irrational―they only become irrational if a fear of one of a species is applied to all the species―for example, this one particular dog is dangerous, but it would be irrational to apply my fear of this particular dog to all dogs that I will ever encounter in the future. This particular person is evil―but that does not mean that I must see every person as being evil. A person of this or that nation, or this or that family is evil―but that does not mean that I must fear every person of this or that nation or family as being evil. Nevertheless, a “phobos” of sin ― a “fear” or “horror” of sin and Hell ― is far from being irrational, and is supremely rational. The Catechism tells us that “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [Venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Believe it or not, the annihilation of nations by natural disasters is a lesser evil than sin. Shocking? Yes, but true! Sin is the greatest evil in world—even what we mistakenly call “a teeny-weeny sin”! Not only the worst Mortal Sin, but also the least Venial Sin, is the GREATEST EVILS IN THE WORLD. That is what our Faith teaches and that is what we cringe at when we hear it said: “Mortal Sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world ― a greater evil than disease, or war ... Mortal Sin must be a most terrible thing indeed, to make a just and merciful God create Hell for the eternal punishment of sinners who die with even only one Mortal Sin” (The Catechism, My Catholic Faith, chapter 22, “Mortal Sin”). If an eternal Hell is created to punish just one single Mortal Sin, then how on earth can war, flooding, earthquakes, pestilence, disease, death or fire from Heaven be thought to be worse than Hell? No matter what punishment Heaven sends us, it will still be like being tickled in comparison to the punishment of Hell.
As for Venial Sin, the same Catechism says: “Although Venial Sin is not a grievous offense against God, it is, nevertheless, a great moral evil, next alone to Mortal Sin. We are prone to look upon Venial Sin as of no consequence, and to be careless about guarding against it, forgetting that IT IS SECOND ONLY IN EVIL CONSEQUENCE TO MORTAL SIN. In Holy Scripture we see, from many examples, how God regards Venial Sin. Even in this life He has punished it most severely. For only a slight doubt about God’s mercy, because of the wickedness of his people, Moses was punished. He was not permitted to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land [and died at its borders]” (The Catechism, My Catholic Faith, chapter 23, “Venial Sin”).
How many children have been taught that sin is the greatest evil in the world? How many children know that? How many parents know that? How many teachers know that? Obviously very little―since sin is rampant in the world today. There are hundreds and thousands of “greatest evils” that most people would come up with before mentioning sin! This is witnessed by the impatience, complaints, anger and even rage that is produced by such trivial things as the smartphone or computer not working properly, or being stuck in a traffic jam or at missing a green traffic light, or something not available at the store, or our plans not working out as expected, or a tool or appliance breaking-down, etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum and ad nauseam. Do we ever see such impatience, complaint, anger and rage shown towards their own personal sins? Never! Or hardly ever!
Yet Heaven thinks differently―sin is the evil that Heaven watches for above all other evils. As Our Lady said at Fatima (1917): “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” … and to Blessed Elena Aiello (1956): “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread! When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs! All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!” … and at Akita (1973): “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
For mankind, it is quite the contrary―sin is no big deal. “Just sin and confess―that’s all there is too it!” they think. Yet Holy Scripture warns: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin.” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
We Fear Man More Than God!
Rather than fearing God, fearing sin and its consequences―we show more fear of the world and our fellow man! It is not just physical violence and death that we fear from our fellow men, but even little things―like hatred, dislike, unpopularity, ridicule, criticism, ostracization, being fired or sacked, being given the “cold-shoulder”, being talked about, etc. We allow our fear of all these things to modify our attitude and behavior towards all those that surround us―whether it be in family, at work, in school, in social life, etc.
This is a psychological battle within us that we all have to deal with. From an early age we work to get approval of other people, whether it was proving to our parents that we could ride a bike without training wheels, or taking our first step—caring what other people think seems evitable. Through the years it can become a problem for us as it can cripple us emotionally and spiritually. Some people struggle with this more than others. You change the way you do things and you try to impress others instead. Your mind is going in so many different directions that it can cause you to just stall in anxiety. The greatest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think. One of the greatest mental freedoms is truly not caring what anyone else thinks of you. We need to get to the point where we don’t care what the media says, how colleagues feel about us, or live in state of constant fear or agony of what others think.
Holy Scripture often warns us against this “fear of man” or “human respect” ― “He that feareth man, shall quickly fall” (Proverbs 29:25). “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ!” (Galatians 1:10). “We ought to obey God, rather than men!” (Acts 5:29) ― which also implies that “We ought to fear offending God, rather than fear offending men!”
We won’t even admit to this and call this fear― fear of what others will think, say or do ― by the name of “fear”, but we change it into a more pleasant sounding flaw by changing “fear of what other will think, say or do” into the more cosmetic and pleasant euphemism of “human respect”. A euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression, which is substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt, when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing ― so “abortion” becomes “family planning”, or “homosexual” becomes “gay”, or “impure behavior” becomes “flirting”, “living in sin” becomes “cohabitation” or “common law marriage”, “detraction” (revealing the sins of others) becomes “truth-telling”, etc. Likewise, to lessen the harsh and blunt descriptions of sin, we find alternative euphemistic, sweet or mild sounding words that will serve to anesthetize our conscience in its protests against sin.
The Fear-Mongering World
Fear is an overwhelmingly disturbing force of the human mind that has the power to sway, distort and rupture the conventions of the human mind. From a non-supernatural perspective, which fails to take account of Divine Providence, day-to-day life is a gamble that can change with the tick of the clock. The uncertainties of life are around every corner and ready to meet us head-first, whether we are prepared or not. Danger and fear are prominent components of life that can knock us off our feet. Fear almost always correlates to a fear of death. Fear of death is the primordial, instinctual fear that promotes the human-race to strive for longevity and safety. It is responsible for the precautions we take in every day life, to looking both ways before crossing a street to taking the long way home through the brightly-lit city streets on a late Saturday night.
The enemies of the Church and the enemies of mankind fully realize and appreciate the power of fear―and they are very adept in harnessing and using fear in pursuing their nefarious ends and goals. Much as they say about money: “Every man has his price” ― meaning that, if you offer a person enough money, they will do what you want. The same could be said of fear ― frighten a person enough and they will do what you want.
You could say that current manufactured crises―first the Coronavirus and now the Racial Riots―have been like a “Vaccine Test” that is tried out on a limited number of people to see what reaction they will have to vaccine and if the vaccine is achieving its purpose. The result has been successful for the world’s “puppet-masters” ― for their “vaccine of fear” has brought about many changes already and they can only be drooling, driveling, slobbering and slavering at the mouth in anticipation of more and more changes and more and more control.
Fear of the Unknown
Fear is often heightened and intensified with the element of the unknown. Somehow, our fear soars when certain happenings are uncertain and outcomes are unknown―it gives our imagination a free-rein to race through our mind like an ever-escalating forest fire that is out of control. That is why the enemies of the Church and the enemies of mankind like to keep us “unknowing” and dumb. Knowledge helps us deal with danger. If you know how to handle a snake, or how to disarm an armed assailant, or how control a skidding or careering car―then you will not be as fear-stricken and paralyzed and somebody who is ignorant of those things.
Much of what is happening in the world―and much of what is yet to happen in the world―has been foretold to us by Our Lord in Holy Scripture and backed-up by Our Lady in many of her apparitions, not to mention, nor to forget, the many prophecies of the saints over the centuries. It is like the repeated briefings, lessons or classes given to soldiers about what to expect when they go behind enemy lines ― “to be forewarned is to be forearmed” as they say.
“And Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come in my name saying: ‘I am Christ!” ― and they will seduce many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows! Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved! When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place! He that readeth, let him understand! Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: “Lo here is Christ!” or “There!”― do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive―if possible―even the elect. BEHOLD I HAVE TOLD IT TO YOU, BEFOREHAND! If, therefore, they shall say to you: ‘Behold He is in the desert!’ ― go ye not out! ‘Behold He is in the closets!’―believe it not!’” (Matthew 24:3-26). Our Lord is telling us all this BEFOREHAND so that we do not become troubled or afraid when all these things come to pass ― as they are starting to do in our own days.
Our Lady has, likewise, both echoed and reiterated the warnings of Our Lord and has kindly warned us beforehand, in good time, of what is to unfold and is actually unfolding before our very eyes. She revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima that we have already entered the period of the “Last Days” or “End Times” ― and recently popes, cardinals, bishops and priests have affirmed their own belief in that truth.
Those revelations and prophecies are meant to calm our fears and remind us of the fact that God is always in control of everything that happens in this world. Even the devil can do nothing without the permission of God. Therefore, no matter how much evil there is in the world, or how many evil people there are in the world, God is always in charge. Which is why Our Lord often reproves and criticizes an all too human, non-supernatural attitude to happenings that seem to be frightening or terrifying to humanistic mind. Hence Our Lord says:
“Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid!” (John 14:27). “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars―fear ye not! For such things must needs be―but the end is not yet!” (Mark 13:7). “Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do! But I will show you Whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yea―I say to you―fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). Holy Scrpiture adds: “That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear!” (Luke 1:74).
On the contrary, we see St. Peter sink into the waves of the storm because of having first sunk into the waves of fear: “But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea. And they seeing him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart! It is I ― fear ye not!’ And Peter making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus, stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little Faith! Why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased” (Matthew 14:24-32).
Fight the World! Fight the Fear! Fight the Fear of the World!
God is ultimately in charge of everything―things good and evil, persons good and evil―nothing escapes His attention, nothing happens without His permission. Our Lady has also added that “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” That does not mean there will no struggle, no pain, no suffering, no wounds, no loss of life―no! On the contrary, as Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) with Holy Scripture adding: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Yet the problem is that we NOT fighting! That is the greatest fear ― that we have put down our armor and weapons and are cavorting and gallivanting with the enemy ― the world! We are enjoying the “mammon” while pretending to love God! That is frightening! That is traitorous and treacherous! ). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
We Do Not Fear Sin ― But We Fear the Purification of Sin!
Strangely and sadly, we have far less fear of sin than the massive fear have of being purified for our sins―much like the person who less fear of taking drugs or speeding, than the great fear the person has of a prison sentence or losing their driver’s license as a consequence. Or the adulterer who fears not committing adultery, but only fears the consequences of being caught.
The word “impunity” is defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.” Most of world―and, sadly, most Catholics―now sin with impunity. Criminals cause an outcry when punished by the State―often claiming that they are being victimized. Matters are not helped by the fact that―after the recent destruction wreaked by rioters through many U.S. cities, some authorities showed their insanity by releasing those who had been arrested for property damage and looting. Missouri State’s Attorney General, Eric Schmitt, criticized St. Louis' chief prosecutor over the release of suspected rioters and looters arrested over several days of protests, which have seen four police officers shot and a retired police captain killed. Schmitt said: “In a stunning development, our office has learned that every single one of the St. Louis looters and rioters arrested were released back onto the streets by local prosecutor Kim Gardner. To see that kind of level of violence and rioting that went on, police officers being shot and shot at, a retired police captain being murdered, people throwing rocks and gasoline and frozen water bottles at police officers, firefighters being assaulted and blocked from doing their job, businesses that have served the community for years being burned to the ground, it’s unfathomable that every single person arrested that night has been released!”
That same kind of attitude prevails in the Catholic Church with regard to sin and its consequences. If you commit a sin―and nowadays less and less things are counted as being sinful―you just go to Confession (very few even do that) and then forget about it! Go sin some more if you want and then “wash it off” at your next confession! It is this kind of attitude that needs to feared after the greatest of all fears―which is sin itself.
Various Kinds of Fear
There are various kinds of fear: there is fear of pain and fear of blame; there is also a fear of the world that makes us conform to the world and forget the holy commandments of God and commit sin — fear, that is, of some earthly, temporal evil. How many there are who separate themselves from God through such earthly fear!
► WORLDLY FEAR ― Worldly or mundane fear is that which would not hesitate to offend God in order to avoid some temporal evil. This fear is always evil because it places its end and goal in this world and turns its back upon God. Wordly fear dreads the loss of temporal goods, such as riches and honors. Innocent in itself, it becomes injurious when we prefer to sin rather than lose these goods. History is filled with cruelties that worldly fear has caused. It is the fear of a Pilate who condemned Jesus to death because he feared to lose the esteem of Caesar. It is the fear of a Herod who put the Holy Innocents to death, because he feared for his crown. It is the fear of a Pharaoh who dreads the multiplication of the Israelites in Egypt. It is the fear of thousands of young men and women today, who deny their religion and abandon their most sacred duties, the frequentation of the Sacraments and the sanctification of Sunday, on account of human respect.
► CARNAL FEAR ― Carnal fear is that, of bodily inconveniences, fear of sickness or of death carried to the extent of losing the goods of the soul. It is the fear of a Peter denying his Master, lest he meet the same fate. Ah, how many Peters has the course of ages not seen? It is indeed lamentable how the sight of torture, or the fear of death, turns the mind from the thought of Heaven, and to preserve the body, the soul is lost: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). This is a common fear. Do we not see it every day dictating recourse to sinful means in order to avoid the ordinary inconveniences of life? We witness it many times daily—perhaps from ourselves too! A lie here and there to avoid something, or to get an advantage; afraid to correct others for fear of reprisals or fear of losing one’s popularity; sleeping on the job and misusing our employer’s time; conforming to the world for fear of being an outcast, etc., etc.
► SERVILE FEAR ― There is another fear that keeps us from sin and brings us close to God, but which is imperfect: theologians call it “servile fear,” the fear of punishment. Servile fear is the fear of God because of the punishment He dishes out to sinners; it is the avoiding of sin purely and simply because there is a Hell. It serves God and fulfills His Divine Will because of the punishment that would fall upon it if it did not do so. This fear, although imperfect, is substantially good; it enables us to avoid sin, and it is directed to God as to its end. There is no doubt that this fear keeps us many times from falling into sin; but the motive is of an inferior order, and without the nobility proper to love. Servile fear is not the Gift of Fear of God.
► INITIAL FEAR ― is that which occupies an intermediate place between imperfect servile fear and the more perfect filial fear (see below). It flees from sin principally as an offense against God, but there is mixed with this flight a certain fear of punishment. This fear is better than servile fear, but it is not as perfect as filial fear.
► FILIAL FEAR ― There is another fear that is called filial (also called reverential fear). It consists in the repugnance that the soul feels at the thought of being separated from God. It serves God and fulfills His Divine Will, fleeing from sin, because it is an offense against God and it fears being separated from Him. This fear, as is evident, is good and perfect. It flees from sin without taking any account of punishment. This fear comes from love. It is true that perfect love casts out a certain type of fear, but there is also a fear that is, we might say, the basis of love. Whosoever desires, whosoever loves, experiences a profound fear of being separated from the loved one, of displeasing him. Love cannot be conceived of without this fear. One who loves deeply has a fear that is above all other fears — fear of separation from the beloved. This is the Gift of Fear which is directed by the Holy Ghost. In a more perfect sense filial fear is the beginning of wisdom, because, in order to possess divine wisdom, we need to unite ourselves so closely to God that nothing can separate us from Him. The Gift of Fear unites us with God in this way. It hinders us from ever separating ourselves from the Beloved, and in that sense it is the beginning of wisdom.
Fear of the Lord Delivers From Fears
The Fear of the Lord is necessary that we may work out our salvation; it is necessary for us lest we degrade ourselves to the level of brute creation. It is the only guardian of our liberty and of our honor, because it alone is capable of delivering us from all other fear, from servile, worldly and carnal fear.
The first service rendered by the Gift of Holy Fear is to deliver us from this shameful tyranny. Servile gives way to filial fear, that fear to offend God because He is so good; it is always accompanied by confidence and love. As for worldly and carnal fear they no longer possess an illegitimate dominion, as filial fear either absorbs or banishes them. It regrets, deplores one and only one thing—sin.
This Fear of the Lord is, moreover, the only safeguard of that for which the whole world strives, liberty. Man cannot live without fear. If he does not fear God, he fears creatures, and if he fears a creature he is a creature’s slave; for, his freedom and his dignity belong to him whom he fears. To fear aught else except God, is to be under the yoke of tyranny. This is not understood by those who pretend to freedom by shaking off the yoke of God. In vain are revolutions begun; they but plunge their slaves into deeper distress. He alone is free who fears God; for, where the Spirit of God is, there, too, is liberty. Hence, we should only “fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
The Spirit of God unites us to Himself in such a way that He infuses in us an instinctive, profound, efficacious horror of being separated from God. This fear overrides all other fears.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday May 31st & Monday June 1st
Article 2
The Spirit of Love versus The Spirit of Hatred
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Sunday May 31st & Monday June 1st
Article 2
The Spirit of Love versus The Spirit of Hatred
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
A World of Hate Fights the Spirit of Love
Pentecost is the Feast of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit (Sanctus Spiritus). It is a feast of supreme importance in the eyes of the Church ― one of a “Trinity” of Feasts, the other two being Christmas and Easter. It is the feast of the Holy Spirit of God: “I go to the Father and … I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:13-17).
At the Last Supper, the Apostles apparently could not understand why their Divine Master attached so much importance to the coming of the Holy Ghost. He had told them that the presence of this Divine Spirit in their hearts, would mean much more to them than would even their continued possession of His own human presence. “It is expedient to you that I go,” He told them, “for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). When this Divine Spirit, however, actually came down upon them on the day of Pentecost, they realized at once that Christ had not exaggerated in the slightest the importance of what the Holy Ghost was to do for them. They found that He kindled in their hearts a far greater love for Christ than they had ever known before.
Who is the “Father”? The Father is God! Who is Jesus Christ, the “Son”? The Son, Jesus Christ is God! Who is the “Holy Spirit”? The Holy Spirit is God! What is God? “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and, as Our Lord said, the world does not know “The Spirit”, nor can the world receive “The Spirit” because He is a Spirit of Truth and a Spirit of Love, while the world, being the princedom of the devil its prince, can only possess a spirit of lies (not truth) and a spirit of hatred (not love). This is borne out by Our Lord’s words: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
As Our Lord says, the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. For he is a liar and the father of lies!” A murderer has no love, but only hatred. A liar loves not the truth, but falsehood and deception. It is this spirit of hatred and lies that governs the world, which stems from Satan the prince of this world.
The spirit of the devil or Satan rules the world and possesses the world, for the devil is the prince of this world. Our Lord says: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16).
Catholics Falling Out of Love
Increasingly, more and more Catholics are falling out of love! They no longer love what matters, but love the secondary things, the inconsequential things, the trivial things, the worldly things―the things that will end up damning them! “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21).
The proof of love―which separates true love from lip-love, or lip-service love―is quite simply the keeping of the commandments of God. Our Lord, alluding to this, says: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-22). Lip-love is easy and costs nothing―true love is as hard as keeping the Commandments of God.
They say “Love makes the world go around!” ― well, in a sense, it is true, for God is Love and God makes the world go around. Love is what should fuel and fire our lives too: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Sadly, however, today it is more a case of “Hatred makes the world go around!” Hatred seems to rouse people more than love these days.
Sowing Seeds of Love and Sowing Seeds of Hate
If―as Holy Scripture tells us―God is love itself, then Satan―the antithesis of God, the anti-truth, the ultimate antichrist, and hence the ultimate anti-love―then Satan must be hatred itself. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Satan does not love anyone―except himself (and even then he hates himself for the position he now finds himself in―just like all souls in Hell hate themselves and everyone else).
Whereas Satan is the opposite of charity and love―he neither loves the truth, nor does he love God’s creation―he seeks to destroy, twist, warp and deform both truth and souls, for he is a liar and a murderer: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer” ― “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44-45). Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that?
Everyone in this world is targeted and “worked-upon” by Satan and the devils ― EVERYONE. There are no spectators. There is no neutrality. There can be no passive bystanders watching the battle for souls. Holy Scripture clearly says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and if we wish to avoid Hell and get to Heaven, then “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). For “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Just as good trees bear good fruits and bad trees bear bad fruits―likewise does charity or love produce good fruits―charitable fruits: “Charity is patient; kind; is not envious; deals not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeks not her own advantage; is not provoked to anger; thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believes all things; hopes all things; endureth all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Yet hatred will produce fruits of hatred, enmity, vengeance, revenge, hostility, etc. “In the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves [just like Satan], covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up and lovers of pleasures more than of God! Indeed, having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
You are free to choose where you plant yourself―but you must plant yourself somewhere. You can either plant yourself in the vineyard of God’s charity, or you can plant yourself in the swamp of Satan’s hatred. We can either hate what Satan hates and love what Satan loves Or we can hate what Satan loves and love what Satan hates.
More and more people ― like modern-day Adams and Eves―are being sucked and seduced into loving what Satan loves and hating what Satan hates. As Our Lady of La Salette so terrifyingly predicted ― “The devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. [That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called “resurrected dead”, who will be nothing but the devil in this form, will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies]. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people ... The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Just Look at the Hatred that Surrounds You!
Turn wherever you will or want―you will find hatred staring you in the face. It is the “face” of the world. It is the “face” of Satan. It will even “smile” at you while it hates. It will pretend to speak peaceably with you while it hates: “Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:3). “Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips. Who have proposed to supplant my steps. The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the wayside” (Psalm 139:3-6).
Such is the world ― the subtle, sly, seductive, princedom or kingdom of Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 14:30). If we wish to reach Heaven, then we must fight this world and its prince. “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27) … “Resist the devil, and he will fly from you!” (James 4:7). Jesus tells us that we must cast out the influence of the devil from our lives: “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). For, “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The world cannot stop talking about the bogus “Climate Change” ― yet there is a REAL “Climate Change” that they should be talking about. It is the changing climate of Faith and Charity! Our Lord warned about this “climate change” when he said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) … “And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Those cold hateful faithless days are upon us!
It is in days such as these that we shall see more and more of the following: “And Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come in My Name saying: “I am Christ!” and they will seduce many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then many shall betray one another and shall hate one another! And many false prophets [scientist and politicians included] shall rise, and shall seduce many! And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days [part of the woes will be famine and vaccinations]. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened! For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand!’” (Matthew 24:3-26).
If we truly love God, we cannot be a peace with the world―which essentially belongs to and is ruled by his spirit. There can be no peace with those who are opposed to Christ. “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—”He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
By Their Hateful Fruits You Shall Know Them!
As mentioned above, a tree is known by its fruits. Today those fruits are blatantly obvious―while being disguised and couched and presented with deceitful, emotional, irrational and twisted words. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good! Or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil! For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers! How can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things―and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things! … By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:33-37).
Words of hatred have gradually grown over the years to the point where true words of love ― Christian love ― have been well and truly strangled and silenced. The world nowadays seems to want to try and pass-off its hatred as being love! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil! Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness! Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). You could extend that quote to include this “love-hate misrelationship” and have it say: “Woe to you that call hatred love, and love hateful! Who put violence in place of justice and hold true justice as violating your desire for violence! Who place justice above mercy!”
Such persons reject the words of God, which say: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13). “Love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:35-37). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy … Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14). “He that despiseth his neighbor, sinneth: but he that showeth mercy shall be blessed. He that believeth in the Lord, loveth mercy” (Proverbs 14:21). “But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:26).
“Speak evil of no man! Do not be litigious, but gentle―showing all mildness towards all men. For we ourselves also were some time unwise, erring, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy, … that, being justified by His grace, we may be heirs, according to hope of life everlasting” (Titus 3:2-7). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “God―Who is rich in mercy―by His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by Whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done and in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “The Lord is compassionate and merciful; longsuffering and plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 102:8).
This is not how the world operates―the world is selective, biased and hypocritical in its treatment of sinners. Since the leaders and followers of the world are mainly godless, then their mercy generously extends to the godless sinners, but little or no mercy is shown to godly sinners or Christian sinners. That is seen to be clearly true with each passing year. Look at how the world pillories and attacks the sinful clergy, yet does nothing of the sort to the sinful politicians―such as those who advocate abortion, same-sex relations and marriages, advocate divorce and remarriage, allow relative freedom for pornography, defend gender change and vote to pass laws that permit all these abhorrent behaviors. Look at their hypocrisy in castigating child sex-abuse (which is abominable) while wholeheartedly supporting abortion (which is even more abominable, since it is the outright blatant willful murder of a child). The worldly standards and ‘morals’ are increasingly aligning themselves with Satanic standards and ‘morals’ ― which is why we are warned:
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The World Will Not Recover Until Charity is Recovered
“Hatred stirreth up strifes and charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). The more godless the world becomes, the more hatred surfaces. Just as a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:15-20), similarly hatred or a hostile environment cannot produce charity, nor will the little charity that we have, flourish in a hostile, sinful environment: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
We have a choice―we can either get caught up in the whirlpool of godless hostility and hatred, or we can go against the grain of public opinion and fashion by insisting upon a true godly charity. “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8). It is not easy to show charity in “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” environment and culture, but Our Lord clearly said:
“Blessed are the peacemakers―for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake―be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:9-46). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:36-37).
Pentecost is the Feast of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit (Sanctus Spiritus). It is a feast of supreme importance in the eyes of the Church ― one of a “Trinity” of Feasts, the other two being Christmas and Easter. It is the feast of the Holy Spirit of God: “I go to the Father and … I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:13-17).
At the Last Supper, the Apostles apparently could not understand why their Divine Master attached so much importance to the coming of the Holy Ghost. He had told them that the presence of this Divine Spirit in their hearts, would mean much more to them than would even their continued possession of His own human presence. “It is expedient to you that I go,” He told them, “for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). When this Divine Spirit, however, actually came down upon them on the day of Pentecost, they realized at once that Christ had not exaggerated in the slightest the importance of what the Holy Ghost was to do for them. They found that He kindled in their hearts a far greater love for Christ than they had ever known before.
Who is the “Father”? The Father is God! Who is Jesus Christ, the “Son”? The Son, Jesus Christ is God! Who is the “Holy Spirit”? The Holy Spirit is God! What is God? “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and, as Our Lord said, the world does not know “The Spirit”, nor can the world receive “The Spirit” because He is a Spirit of Truth and a Spirit of Love, while the world, being the princedom of the devil its prince, can only possess a spirit of lies (not truth) and a spirit of hatred (not love). This is borne out by Our Lord’s words: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
As Our Lord says, the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. For he is a liar and the father of lies!” A murderer has no love, but only hatred. A liar loves not the truth, but falsehood and deception. It is this spirit of hatred and lies that governs the world, which stems from Satan the prince of this world.
The spirit of the devil or Satan rules the world and possesses the world, for the devil is the prince of this world. Our Lord says: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16).
Catholics Falling Out of Love
Increasingly, more and more Catholics are falling out of love! They no longer love what matters, but love the secondary things, the inconsequential things, the trivial things, the worldly things―the things that will end up damning them! “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21).
The proof of love―which separates true love from lip-love, or lip-service love―is quite simply the keeping of the commandments of God. Our Lord, alluding to this, says: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21-22). Lip-love is easy and costs nothing―true love is as hard as keeping the Commandments of God.
They say “Love makes the world go around!” ― well, in a sense, it is true, for God is Love and God makes the world go around. Love is what should fuel and fire our lives too: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Sadly, however, today it is more a case of “Hatred makes the world go around!” Hatred seems to rouse people more than love these days.
Sowing Seeds of Love and Sowing Seeds of Hate
If―as Holy Scripture tells us―God is love itself, then Satan―the antithesis of God, the anti-truth, the ultimate antichrist, and hence the ultimate anti-love―then Satan must be hatred itself. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Satan does not love anyone―except himself (and even then he hates himself for the position he now finds himself in―just like all souls in Hell hate themselves and everyone else).
Whereas Satan is the opposite of charity and love―he neither loves the truth, nor does he love God’s creation―he seeks to destroy, twist, warp and deform both truth and souls, for he is a liar and a murderer: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer” ― “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44-45). Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that?
Everyone in this world is targeted and “worked-upon” by Satan and the devils ― EVERYONE. There are no spectators. There is no neutrality. There can be no passive bystanders watching the battle for souls. Holy Scripture clearly says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and if we wish to avoid Hell and get to Heaven, then “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). For “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Just as good trees bear good fruits and bad trees bear bad fruits―likewise does charity or love produce good fruits―charitable fruits: “Charity is patient; kind; is not envious; deals not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeks not her own advantage; is not provoked to anger; thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believes all things; hopes all things; endureth all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Yet hatred will produce fruits of hatred, enmity, vengeance, revenge, hostility, etc. “In the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves [just like Satan], covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up and lovers of pleasures more than of God! Indeed, having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
You are free to choose where you plant yourself―but you must plant yourself somewhere. You can either plant yourself in the vineyard of God’s charity, or you can plant yourself in the swamp of Satan’s hatred. We can either hate what Satan hates and love what Satan loves Or we can hate what Satan loves and love what Satan hates.
More and more people ― like modern-day Adams and Eves―are being sucked and seduced into loving what Satan loves and hating what Satan hates. As Our Lady of La Salette so terrifyingly predicted ― “The devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. [That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on Earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called “resurrected dead”, who will be nothing but the devil in this form, will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies]. Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true Faith has faded and false light brightens the people ... The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Just Look at the Hatred that Surrounds You!
Turn wherever you will or want―you will find hatred staring you in the face. It is the “face” of the world. It is the “face” of Satan. It will even “smile” at you while it hates. It will pretend to speak peaceably with you while it hates: “Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:3). “Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips. Who have proposed to supplant my steps. The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the wayside” (Psalm 139:3-6).
Such is the world ― the subtle, sly, seductive, princedom or kingdom of Satan, the “prince of this world” (John 14:30). If we wish to reach Heaven, then we must fight this world and its prince. “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27) … “Resist the devil, and he will fly from you!” (James 4:7). Jesus tells us that we must cast out the influence of the devil from our lives: “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). For, “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The world cannot stop talking about the bogus “Climate Change” ― yet there is a REAL “Climate Change” that they should be talking about. It is the changing climate of Faith and Charity! Our Lord warned about this “climate change” when he said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8) … “And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold!” (Matthew 24:12). Those cold hateful faithless days are upon us!
It is in days such as these that we shall see more and more of the following: “And Jesus said to them: ‘Take heed that no man seduce you! For many will come in My Name saying: “I am Christ!” and they will seduce many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places! Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then many shall betray one another and shall hate one another! And many false prophets [scientist and politicians included] shall rise, and shall seduce many! And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains! And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house! And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat! And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days [part of the woes will be famine and vaccinations]. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be! And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved―but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened! For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand!’” (Matthew 24:3-26).
If we truly love God, we cannot be a peace with the world―which essentially belongs to and is ruled by his spirit. There can be no peace with those who are opposed to Christ. “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—”He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
By Their Hateful Fruits You Shall Know Them!
As mentioned above, a tree is known by its fruits. Today those fruits are blatantly obvious―while being disguised and couched and presented with deceitful, emotional, irrational and twisted words. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good! Or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil! For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers! How can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things―and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things! … By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned!” (Matthew 12:33-37).
Words of hatred have gradually grown over the years to the point where true words of love ― Christian love ― have been well and truly strangled and silenced. The world nowadays seems to want to try and pass-off its hatred as being love! “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil! Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness! Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). You could extend that quote to include this “love-hate misrelationship” and have it say: “Woe to you that call hatred love, and love hateful! Who put violence in place of justice and hold true justice as violating your desire for violence! Who place justice above mercy!”
Such persons reject the words of God, which say: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “Blessed are the merciful―for they shall obtain mercy!” (Matthew 5:7). “For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. And mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (James 2:13). “Love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:35-37). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). “Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy … Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another―even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14). “He that despiseth his neighbor, sinneth: but he that showeth mercy shall be blessed. He that believeth in the Lord, loveth mercy” (Proverbs 14:21). “But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in Heaven, forgive you your sins!” (Mark 11:26).
“Speak evil of no man! Do not be litigious, but gentle―showing all mildness towards all men. For we ourselves also were some time unwise, erring, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy, … that, being justified by His grace, we may be heirs, according to hope of life everlasting” (Titus 3:2-7). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “God―Who is rich in mercy―by His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by Whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6). “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done and in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “The Lord is compassionate and merciful; longsuffering and plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 102:8).
This is not how the world operates―the world is selective, biased and hypocritical in its treatment of sinners. Since the leaders and followers of the world are mainly godless, then their mercy generously extends to the godless sinners, but little or no mercy is shown to godly sinners or Christian sinners. That is seen to be clearly true with each passing year. Look at how the world pillories and attacks the sinful clergy, yet does nothing of the sort to the sinful politicians―such as those who advocate abortion, same-sex relations and marriages, advocate divorce and remarriage, allow relative freedom for pornography, defend gender change and vote to pass laws that permit all these abhorrent behaviors. Look at their hypocrisy in castigating child sex-abuse (which is abominable) while wholeheartedly supporting abortion (which is even more abominable, since it is the outright blatant willful murder of a child). The worldly standards and ‘morals’ are increasingly aligning themselves with Satanic standards and ‘morals’ ― which is why we are warned:
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The World Will Not Recover Until Charity is Recovered
“Hatred stirreth up strifes and charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). The more godless the world becomes, the more hatred surfaces. Just as a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:15-20), similarly hatred or a hostile environment cannot produce charity, nor will the little charity that we have, flourish in a hostile, sinful environment: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
We have a choice―we can either get caught up in the whirlpool of godless hostility and hatred, or we can go against the grain of public opinion and fashion by insisting upon a true godly charity. “God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:8). It is not easy to show charity in “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” environment and culture, but Our Lord clearly said:
“Blessed are the peacemakers―for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake―be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’ So that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:9-46). “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:36-37).
Saturday May 30th
Article 1
The Holy Ghost Comes for a Holy War! Are You Ready?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 1
The Holy Ghost Comes for a Holy War! Are You Ready?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
The Ascension Sends the Apostles to War
“Let not your heart be troubled … I shall go, and prepare a place for you! … I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive―because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him―but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you … The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you … Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid! ... The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing … You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own―but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you ... If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you … All these things they will do to you for My Name’s sake―because they know not Him who sent Me … They will put you out of the synagogues [today ― churches]: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God ... But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go―for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you ... And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment … because they believed not in Me … Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own … In the world you shall have distress―but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (extracts from the Last Supper discourse of Jesus, Gospel of St. John, chapters 14 to 18).
This Pentecost Sees the World at War
“At war? Don’t be ridiculous! There is no war!” you will say. What is war?
● Defined in its simplest form: “War is social conflict.” Taking things a little deeper, war is defined in simple terms as “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states [as in international wars or interstate wars], or different groups within a nation or state [as in civil wars, or religious wars].” Though it is not always necessary to be armed in the conventional manner with guns, tanks, planes, ships, etc. Modern warfare is much more subtle these days. Remember the words of Yuri Bezmenov, the Russian KGB defector of the 1980s, who said: “According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is that it seeks to change the perception of reality of every American, so that, despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.”
● A further and even deeper definition of war is: “Three pure types of war are distinguished, namely: (1) absolute war which seeks annihilation of an enemy as much as possible, (2) instrumental war which seeks as many advantages as possible over the enemy, and (3) agonistic fighting which seeks self-glory and the shaming or humiliation of the enemy.”
● War is further defined thus: “War is a species in the genus of violence; more specifically it is collective, direct, manifest, personal, intentional, organized, institutionalized, instrumental, sanctioned, and sometimes ritualized and regulated, violence. Violence violates something. Violence can be done to your body, your health, your mind, your beliefs, your freedoms, your possessions, your rights.” Our Lord, in this sense, speaks of our having to take sides and having to fight to get to Heaven: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword!” (Matthew 10:34). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Luke 12:51-52). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), with Holy Scripture adding: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
● The 19th century Prussian general and military theorist, Carl von Clausewitz, defined war thus: “War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale … an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will,” directed by political motives and morality. (Clausewitz 1940: Book I, Ch. I). War is neither a scientific game nor an international sport―it is an act of violence, characterized by destruction. (Clausewitz 1940: Book IV, Ch. XI). In terms of absolute war, Clausewitz discusses three characteristics that make it unique. First, the utmost use of force is necessary. Second, the aim is to disarm the enemy. Lastly, absolute war calls for the utmost exertion of powers. In what Clausewitz refers to as the theoretical concept of war, he outlines three objectives for success. First, the armed forces of the opponent must be destroyed. Second, the country must be occupied. Third, the will of the enemy must be broken. Peace simply cannot be achieved until all three objectives are met “… the hostile feeling and action of hostile agencies, cannot be considered at an end, as long as the will of the enemy is not subdued.” To Clausewitz, “War is only a branch of political activity … the influence of politics on war is a matter of political choice, reflecting all the variety of political purposes that make wars into exterminations.” (Doyle 1997: 23). Clausewitz warns that politicians must not attempt to use war as an instrument through which to achieve purposes for which it is unsuited.
Finally, since man is multi-faceted and exists in a variety of circumstances, you can therefore have (1) physical warfare, (2) psychological warfare, (3) ideological warfare, (4) moral warfare, (5) economic or financial warfare, (6) territorial warfare, (7) racial warfare, (8) political warfare, (9) cultural warfare, (10) drug warfare, (11) gang warfare, (12) religious warfare, (13) family warfare, etc.
Thus, in a certain sense, the world has never ceased experience wars of one kind or another over the last few thousand years. Yet, without a doubt, as the population of the Earth increases, so do wars increase. Our Lord has even warned us that wars will herald in and be the precursors of the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days” that so many prophecies refer to―as well as Our Lady, who revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima that we have already entered the “Last Days.”
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes in 1957, Sister Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.”
Those words ― “we are in the last times of the world” and “the devil is engaging in a final battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle” ― should not be taken lightly, yet, sadly, they are taken lightly. They roll-off us like water flows-off the duck’s back. We hear those words, but they have little or no impact upon us. As Our Lord says: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Kill or Be Killed!
We need to get things straight in our minds! We are in a war—whether we want it or not, whether we like or not, whether we fight or not! It is a war of Faith! Even though the axiom insists: “It takes two to make a fight”—in this particular war, the enemy will fight us even if we refuse to fight—and then we are lost. We should rather focus on the axiom that says: “Kill, or be killed!” That is closer to the truth of the matter in the fight that we must fight.
Holy Scripture is loaded with quotes on the war that we must wage against the enemies of our Faith, we will just present a few of the hundreds to be found:
A Life-long Warfare
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)—notice it says the “LIFE” meaning the entire life, and not just “part of man’s life”! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
We Must Fight
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8). “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Hebrews 12:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1).
Confirmation made you a Soldier for Christ
This whole idea of warfare in the service of Christ is the foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we are confirmed, we become Soldiers for Christ. The Holy Ghost grants to our souls, among other graces and gifts, the Gift of Fortitude or courage for the fight. This is also indicated by the slap (now a gentle tap) that the bishop administers on the cheek of the confirmand—as a reminder that he or she will have receive blows from the enemy in the fight for the Faith unto which they are called.
Who are the enemy?
We all know the superficial off-the-cuff answer by heart: the devil, the world and the flesh! But let us look at the enemy in some more depth—especially since, at the present time, the enemy certainly has the upper-hand in the battles being waged throughout the world.
The Devil
Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer”! Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that? St. Peter warns us that “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). St. Paul says: “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), to which St. James adds: “but resist the devil, and he will fly from you” (James 4:7). Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and further states that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). So we have a lifelong fight against the devil, who hates us more than we can imagine and who never ceases nor sleeps in his fight against us.
The World
St. Augustine writes: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be ... By ‘the world’, we must understand the lovers of the world, a love which cometh not of the Father. And therefore it is that this love of the world, which we strive to lessen and to destroy in ourselves, is contrary to the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.”
St. James clearly tells us that the world and God are incompatible—that they are enmity with one another—and this is understandable if Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The world is the devil’s tool and his playground—that is why the world is one of the triple enemies of our soul. “The field, is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one.” (Matthew 13:38). St. James could not say it any more clearly than when he states: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Surrounded by Cockle
Sadly, however, our family, relatives, friends and work colleagues can be the cockle! Even Our Lord had this problem, as many of His relatives were not enamored with His teaching—“For neither did His brethren believe in Him” (John 7:5). Which leads Jesus to complain: “Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
God Comes Before Family
“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) ... “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). “Everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29).
Our Lord could not put it more clearly than this: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that we have to literally “hate” what is not evil. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. If those nearest and dearest to us risk leading us away from Christ and our salvation—then we are to hate that sinful behavior and separate ourselves from it—much as Christ said to St. Peter, “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). Shocking words indeed, but St. Peter was trying to turn Our Lord aside from the path He had chosen to take.
The Flesh
The third enemy is our flesh, this means more than just the body, but our whole selves, body and soul with all passions and concupiscences included. If the devil is called the “father of lies”, then we are not very far behind, for we are inclined to lie to ourselves and to others to cover our tendencies, guilt and true intentions. We are proud as peacocks, slow as tortoises, slimy as toads, slithery as snakes, with an eagle-eye for the faults of others, yet blind as a bat to our own faults, timid as mouse when it comes to spreading the Faith, roaring like a lion when offended, and bristling like a porcupine or hedgehog, smelly as a sinful skunk ... yet God still wants to save us! But to be saved we must fight and overcome ourselves! For “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that violence is primarily directed at ourselves with our passions and concupiscences. That is why Our Lord tells us: “unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
So Fight We Must
Some of the above scenarios are not what we dream about and look forwards to—far from it—they are very painful to envisage and even more painful to have to live through. Abel suffered at the hands of Cain; Jacob at the hands of Esau; Joseph at the hands of his brothers and so on through history. We will not be the first, nor will we be the last. What we have to do is to clearly place, before our minds and hearts, the fact that God comes first—that we cannot serve God and mammon; that we cannot please our family and friends if it means not standing up for God; that we cannot reconcile two irreconcilables—God and the world, Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers (Matthew 6:24; 2 Corinthians 6:15). We cannot, at the same time, pine for the fleshpots of Egypt and the milk and honey of the Promised Land. We must make a choice and fight for the choice we have made. If we choose not to fight, it does not mean the enemy will not fight. They will kill us, or at least kill the life of grace in our soul. Let us not be afraid—“Fear not, little flock” (Luke 12:32) ...”I say to you, my friends: ‘Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!’” (Luke 12:4-5). So “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Armor and Weapons
“Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not [just] against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: in all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Fight With the Word of God
“The word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12) … “And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16) … “I will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (Apocalypse 2:16) ... “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands: to execute vengeance upon the nations, and chastisements among the people” (Psalm 149:6-7). “And they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (Jeremias 1:19).
So Can You See The Wars?
Tonight, May 30th, 2020 ― the eve or vigil of Pentecost ― sees many fires burning. Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). On Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Ghost came down upon Earth, upon Our Lady and the Apostles, in the visible form of tongues of fire: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And, suddenly, there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts of Apostles 2:1-4).
However, it is not a heavenly fire that burns in some cities of the USA, but a hellish fire, a lawless fire, a fire enkindled, not by God, but a fire of Hell endkindled by Satan and his minions, instruments, tools and stooges. These are not “filled with the Holy Ghost” but are filled with the spirit of Satan, the spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of hatred, the spirit of vengeance which says: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25) ― totally ignoring the words of Our Lord, Who said:
“You have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:38-48).
What is taking place throughout the USA ― in protest over the killing of man arrested by the police by a police officer in Minneapolis on Monday, May 25th, 2020 ― is a reflection of the hypocritical godlessness to which this nation and all nations has descended into. Just as a side-issue, some sources are suggesting that this police “murder” or “killing” of the arrested black-man was a “false flag” operation rigged to spark the fires of public racial unrest and revolt. For that unlikely scenario to be true, it would have required a massive complicity and cooperation by the local Minneapolis authorities and police department.
Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction―only time and God will tell―the result is that huge demonstrations have taken place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people also marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews have been imposed in nearly 40 cities this May30th - 31st weekend, among them Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland, Louisville, Cleveland, Syracuse ― and other cities are following suit with each day and hour ― but people have largely ignored the curfews, leading to tense stand-offs. At least five people have been killed in violence that flared as demonstrations in parts of the country devolved into mayhem. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities over the weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city has been turned into a war-zone and more cities no doubt will follow suit in the foreseeable future. It is interesting to note that in all of these cities the police and other authorities are reporting that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, are not locals, but from cities sometimes hundreds or miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur.
MAP BELOW: Protests have erupted in at least 140 cities across the United States in the days after George Floyd, a black man, died on May 25th, 2020, in police custody. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states.
“Let not your heart be troubled … I shall go, and prepare a place for you! … I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive―because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him―but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you … The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you … Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid! ... The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing … You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own―but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you ... If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you … All these things they will do to you for My Name’s sake―because they know not Him who sent Me … They will put you out of the synagogues [today ― churches]: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God ... But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go―for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you ... And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment … because they believed not in Me … Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own … In the world you shall have distress―but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (extracts from the Last Supper discourse of Jesus, Gospel of St. John, chapters 14 to 18).
This Pentecost Sees the World at War
“At war? Don’t be ridiculous! There is no war!” you will say. What is war?
● Defined in its simplest form: “War is social conflict.” Taking things a little deeper, war is defined in simple terms as “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states [as in international wars or interstate wars], or different groups within a nation or state [as in civil wars, or religious wars].” Though it is not always necessary to be armed in the conventional manner with guns, tanks, planes, ships, etc. Modern warfare is much more subtle these days. Remember the words of Yuri Bezmenov, the Russian KGB defector of the 1980s, who said: “According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is that it seeks to change the perception of reality of every American, so that, despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.”
● A further and even deeper definition of war is: “Three pure types of war are distinguished, namely: (1) absolute war which seeks annihilation of an enemy as much as possible, (2) instrumental war which seeks as many advantages as possible over the enemy, and (3) agonistic fighting which seeks self-glory and the shaming or humiliation of the enemy.”
● War is further defined thus: “War is a species in the genus of violence; more specifically it is collective, direct, manifest, personal, intentional, organized, institutionalized, instrumental, sanctioned, and sometimes ritualized and regulated, violence. Violence violates something. Violence can be done to your body, your health, your mind, your beliefs, your freedoms, your possessions, your rights.” Our Lord, in this sense, speaks of our having to take sides and having to fight to get to Heaven: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword!” (Matthew 10:34). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three!” (Luke 12:51-52). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12), with Holy Scripture adding: “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12).
● The 19th century Prussian general and military theorist, Carl von Clausewitz, defined war thus: “War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale … an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will,” directed by political motives and morality. (Clausewitz 1940: Book I, Ch. I). War is neither a scientific game nor an international sport―it is an act of violence, characterized by destruction. (Clausewitz 1940: Book IV, Ch. XI). In terms of absolute war, Clausewitz discusses three characteristics that make it unique. First, the utmost use of force is necessary. Second, the aim is to disarm the enemy. Lastly, absolute war calls for the utmost exertion of powers. In what Clausewitz refers to as the theoretical concept of war, he outlines three objectives for success. First, the armed forces of the opponent must be destroyed. Second, the country must be occupied. Third, the will of the enemy must be broken. Peace simply cannot be achieved until all three objectives are met “… the hostile feeling and action of hostile agencies, cannot be considered at an end, as long as the will of the enemy is not subdued.” To Clausewitz, “War is only a branch of political activity … the influence of politics on war is a matter of political choice, reflecting all the variety of political purposes that make wars into exterminations.” (Doyle 1997: 23). Clausewitz warns that politicians must not attempt to use war as an instrument through which to achieve purposes for which it is unsuited.
Finally, since man is multi-faceted and exists in a variety of circumstances, you can therefore have (1) physical warfare, (2) psychological warfare, (3) ideological warfare, (4) moral warfare, (5) economic or financial warfare, (6) territorial warfare, (7) racial warfare, (8) political warfare, (9) cultural warfare, (10) drug warfare, (11) gang warfare, (12) religious warfare, (13) family warfare, etc.
Thus, in a certain sense, the world has never ceased experience wars of one kind or another over the last few thousand years. Yet, without a doubt, as the population of the Earth increases, so do wars increase. Our Lord has even warned us that wars will herald in and be the precursors of the so-called “End Times” or “Last Days” that so many prophecies refer to―as well as Our Lady, who revealed to Sister Lucia of Fatima that we have already entered the “Last Days.”
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes in 1957, Sister Lucia said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.”
Those words ― “we are in the last times of the world” and “the devil is engaging in a final battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle” ― should not be taken lightly, yet, sadly, they are taken lightly. They roll-off us like water flows-off the duck’s back. We hear those words, but they have little or no impact upon us. As Our Lord says: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15).
Kill or Be Killed!
We need to get things straight in our minds! We are in a war—whether we want it or not, whether we like or not, whether we fight or not! It is a war of Faith! Even though the axiom insists: “It takes two to make a fight”—in this particular war, the enemy will fight us even if we refuse to fight—and then we are lost. We should rather focus on the axiom that says: “Kill, or be killed!” That is closer to the truth of the matter in the fight that we must fight.
Holy Scripture is loaded with quotes on the war that we must wage against the enemies of our Faith, we will just present a few of the hundreds to be found:
A Life-long Warfare
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)—notice it says the “LIFE” meaning the entire life, and not just “part of man’s life”! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
We Must Fight
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8). “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Hebrews 12:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1).
Confirmation made you a Soldier for Christ
This whole idea of warfare in the service of Christ is the foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we are confirmed, we become Soldiers for Christ. The Holy Ghost grants to our souls, among other graces and gifts, the Gift of Fortitude or courage for the fight. This is also indicated by the slap (now a gentle tap) that the bishop administers on the cheek of the confirmand—as a reminder that he or she will have receive blows from the enemy in the fight for the Faith unto which they are called.
Who are the enemy?
We all know the superficial off-the-cuff answer by heart: the devil, the world and the flesh! But let us look at the enemy in some more depth—especially since, at the present time, the enemy certainly has the upper-hand in the battles being waged throughout the world.
The Devil
Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer”! Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that? St. Peter warns us that “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). St. Paul says: “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), to which St. James adds: “but resist the devil, and he will fly from you” (James 4:7). Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and further states that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). So we have a lifelong fight against the devil, who hates us more than we can imagine and who never ceases nor sleeps in his fight against us.
The World
St. Augustine writes: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be ... By ‘the world’, we must understand the lovers of the world, a love which cometh not of the Father. And therefore it is that this love of the world, which we strive to lessen and to destroy in ourselves, is contrary to the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.”
St. James clearly tells us that the world and God are incompatible—that they are enmity with one another—and this is understandable if Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The world is the devil’s tool and his playground—that is why the world is one of the triple enemies of our soul. “The field, is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one.” (Matthew 13:38). St. James could not say it any more clearly than when he states: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Surrounded by Cockle
Sadly, however, our family, relatives, friends and work colleagues can be the cockle! Even Our Lord had this problem, as many of His relatives were not enamored with His teaching—“For neither did His brethren believe in Him” (John 7:5). Which leads Jesus to complain: “Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
God Comes Before Family
“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) ... “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). “Everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29).
Our Lord could not put it more clearly than this: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that we have to literally “hate” what is not evil. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. If those nearest and dearest to us risk leading us away from Christ and our salvation—then we are to hate that sinful behavior and separate ourselves from it—much as Christ said to St. Peter, “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). Shocking words indeed, but St. Peter was trying to turn Our Lord aside from the path He had chosen to take.
The Flesh
The third enemy is our flesh, this means more than just the body, but our whole selves, body and soul with all passions and concupiscences included. If the devil is called the “father of lies”, then we are not very far behind, for we are inclined to lie to ourselves and to others to cover our tendencies, guilt and true intentions. We are proud as peacocks, slow as tortoises, slimy as toads, slithery as snakes, with an eagle-eye for the faults of others, yet blind as a bat to our own faults, timid as mouse when it comes to spreading the Faith, roaring like a lion when offended, and bristling like a porcupine or hedgehog, smelly as a sinful skunk ... yet God still wants to save us! But to be saved we must fight and overcome ourselves! For “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that violence is primarily directed at ourselves with our passions and concupiscences. That is why Our Lord tells us: “unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
So Fight We Must
Some of the above scenarios are not what we dream about and look forwards to—far from it—they are very painful to envisage and even more painful to have to live through. Abel suffered at the hands of Cain; Jacob at the hands of Esau; Joseph at the hands of his brothers and so on through history. We will not be the first, nor will we be the last. What we have to do is to clearly place, before our minds and hearts, the fact that God comes first—that we cannot serve God and mammon; that we cannot please our family and friends if it means not standing up for God; that we cannot reconcile two irreconcilables—God and the world, Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers (Matthew 6:24; 2 Corinthians 6:15). We cannot, at the same time, pine for the fleshpots of Egypt and the milk and honey of the Promised Land. We must make a choice and fight for the choice we have made. If we choose not to fight, it does not mean the enemy will not fight. They will kill us, or at least kill the life of grace in our soul. Let us not be afraid—“Fear not, little flock” (Luke 12:32) ...”I say to you, my friends: ‘Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!’” (Luke 12:4-5). So “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Armor and Weapons
“Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not [just] against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: in all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Fight With the Word of God
“The word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12) … “And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16) … “I will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (Apocalypse 2:16) ... “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands: to execute vengeance upon the nations, and chastisements among the people” (Psalm 149:6-7). “And they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (Jeremias 1:19).
So Can You See The Wars?
Tonight, May 30th, 2020 ― the eve or vigil of Pentecost ― sees many fires burning. Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). On Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Ghost came down upon Earth, upon Our Lady and the Apostles, in the visible form of tongues of fire: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And, suddenly, there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts of Apostles 2:1-4).
However, it is not a heavenly fire that burns in some cities of the USA, but a hellish fire, a lawless fire, a fire enkindled, not by God, but a fire of Hell endkindled by Satan and his minions, instruments, tools and stooges. These are not “filled with the Holy Ghost” but are filled with the spirit of Satan, the spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of hatred, the spirit of vengeance which says: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25) ― totally ignoring the words of Our Lord, Who said:
“You have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ … You have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! And pray for them that persecute and calumniate you! That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:38-48).
What is taking place throughout the USA ― in protest over the killing of man arrested by the police by a police officer in Minneapolis on Monday, May 25th, 2020 ― is a reflection of the hypocritical godlessness to which this nation and all nations has descended into. Just as a side-issue, some sources are suggesting that this police “murder” or “killing” of the arrested black-man was a “false flag” operation rigged to spark the fires of public racial unrest and revolt. For that unlikely scenario to be true, it would have required a massive complicity and cooperation by the local Minneapolis authorities and police department.
Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction―only time and God will tell―the result is that huge demonstrations have taken place in at least 140 cities across the USA. Thousands of people also marched through the streets of Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many other cities. Curfews have been imposed in nearly 40 cities this May30th - 31st weekend, among them Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland, Louisville, Cleveland, Syracuse ― and other cities are following suit with each day and hour ― but people have largely ignored the curfews, leading to tense stand-offs. At least five people have been killed in violence that flared as demonstrations in parts of the country devolved into mayhem. Police arrested about 4,100 people in U.S. cities over the weekend of May 30th-31st. Many a city has been turned into a war-zone and more cities no doubt will follow suit in the foreseeable future. It is interesting to note that in all of these cities the police and other authorities are reporting that many of those rioting and stirring up the people, are not locals, but from cities sometimes hundreds or miles away, implying that they are some form of agent provocateur.
MAP BELOW: Protests have erupted in at least 140 cities across the United States in the days after George Floyd, a black man, died on May 25th, 2020, in police custody. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states.
Riot police clashed with protesters in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, firing tear gas and pepper bullets to try to disperse the crowds. Police vehicles were set on fire and shops were looted in several cities. In New York City, rioters have clashed with police and authorities in Los Angeles said people on the streets were "acting like terrorists." In several cities, scores of police vehicles were damaged and set fire.
The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― said on Sunday May 31st, that 5,000 of its personnel had been activated in 15 states ― with the expected deployment number expected to rise soon to at least 11,000. Yet by Monday night, June 1st, the National Guard activated 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities have issued a state of emergency.
Minneapolis has seen violent protests every single day since Monday, May 25th. In Minnesota, hundreds of troops from the National Guard ― a reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies ― were brought in late on Friday. Some 700 National Guard officers are aiding police in Minneapolis on Saturday and they acted quickly to enforce the curfew imposed there. The Star Tribune said the action had so far headed off the unrest of the previous night.
Initially, one of the cities worst affected by unrest was Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard ― the reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies. The entire city is under an 8:00 pm to 5:30 am curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Police in Los Angeles fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons, as they tried to disperse protesters who threw bottles and set fire to their squad cars. Hundreds of arrests have been made.
In Chicago, protesters threw stones at riot officers, who responded by launching tear gas canisters. Several people were arrested on Saturday. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a 21:00 to 06:00 curfew until further notice, saying she was disgusted at the violence: “I've seen protesters hurl projectiles at our police department... bottles of water, urine and Lord knows what else,” she said.
For the second day running, a large crowd once again converged on the White House in Washington, DC., this time lighting fires and throwing stones at riot officers. The President was initially taken to an underground bunker in the White as a precaution for his safety.
In Atlanta, Georgia, where buildings were vandalized on Friday, a state of emergency was declared for some areas to protect people and property. Georgia National Guard troops underwent riot control training today to prepare for tonight’s potential protests. Governor Kemp authorized up to 3,000 troops to help local authorities keep the peace. Hundreds of protestors have been arrested for various violations of the law.
In under-curfew Philadelphia, 13 police officers were hurt and at least 35 arrests made as stores were looted, police cars torched and buildings defaced.
San Francisco is the latest to impose a curfew, announced by Mayor London Breed for 20:00 local time on Sunday, after looting and violence.
The list goes on and on ― with new incidents being added daily by the hour. You have no doubt read much more on the multitude of events than needs to be posted here. You can clearly see the anarchy and the lawlessness ― pretending that you can do evil to combat evil.
The mass demonstrations in the USA have since spread to Europe, Australia, Canada and other countries.
We see such an eruption of protest and cases of violent, destructive protest over the killing of one man ― which, of itself, is truly tragic ― yet where is the public, mainstream media, social media, nationwide uproar and protest and taking to court on trial all those who have been complicit in the murder of, not one, but hundreds of thousands of aborted babies this year? (around 3,000 babies a day, which makes it around 450,000 babies, in the USA alone, since January 1st 2020). The killing of the arrested man was without doubt brutal―but the butchery and cutting-up and dismemberment of innocent babies IS FAR MORE BRUTAL! Hypocrisy of the greatest magnitude! One single death produces a nationwide reaction 500,000 times greater or a million times greater reaction and uproar than the death of 450,000 innocent “I want to live and breathe! Please don’t kill me!” babies. Interestingly―it is to wondered how many of those thousands of protesters, screaming for justice, in all those cities, actually have had an abortion themselves or have helped someone else procure an abortion? “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils. And they shed innocent blood” (Psalm 105:37-38). Why are those killers and their accomplices not brought to justice? Typical hypocritical godless behavior that cries out to Heaven for vengeance―and vengeance will come: “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide! The day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35), which is why Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved―for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
Our Lady Says―I Told You So! I Warned You! But You Wouldn't Listen!
All that has happened (and will continue to happen) has to be taken in the light of Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies―which we have ignored by refusing to take the remedies and solutions she wanted.
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead …
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … A general war will follow which will be appalling.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Plannedemics, Plannedemonstrations, Plannedemographics, etc.
So now the foundation or basic floor plan of the Plannedemic and Plannedemographics is now seeing the superstructure grow by the addition of the Plannedemonstrations and Plannedriots! Satan and his minions, instruments and stooges are successfully lighting fire after fire―not just to police cars, police stations and stores―but also lighting fires in the passions of godless sheeple and creating a rampant forest fire that will gradually envelope the whole country. To keep those fires burning, they will create more kindling wood and firewood by means of food shortages and medical supply shortages.
It cannot be stressed enough times―especially in an age where most people have allowed their mental muscles to atrophy and wither―that all of what is currently happening (and has been happening for decades) often or largely follows the basic Marxist or Communist principle of overcoming and enslaving people. First Demoralization, then Destabilization, then Crisis by Insurgency, and finally Normalization according to the Communist dictates of what is “normal” which is NEVER a good “normal” or the original “normal”.
Now just superimpose what has been happening recently upon that “blueprint” (or should we call “redprint” or even “Satan’s footprint” or “Satan’s fingerprint”) and you will see that it fits very well indeed, if not even perfectly. Pay attention to what the “solution” is, or what the “normalization” will be! The “official narrative” is constantly telling us that THINGS WILL NEVER BE NORMAL LIKE THEY USED TO BE BEFORE―THAT WE ARE ENTERING AN AGE OF “NEW NORMALITY”!!! First Demoralization, then Destabilization, then Crisis by Insurgency, and finally Normalization according to the Communist or Elitist dictates of what is “normal”―that is what is being done in so many different areas of life right now―in health, in business, in security, etc. The stupid "sheeple" are blindly following the script written for them without even knowing it!
War Has Been Declared―But People Are Too Stupid Notice!
An adage, long since attributed to politicians, says: “I Don't Keep Any Promises But My Voters Are Too Stupid to Notice!” For the puppet-masters of the world, one of most critical and crucial factors is to make and keep the people (or sheeple) as stupid as possible. Whether or not Abraham Lincoln actually said: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time!” ― does not matter, for the puppet-masters of the world are content to fool MOST people MOST of the time―if you can do that, you have the world in your pocket. The recent Plannedemic exercise or “trial run” ― which was like a testing of their “Stupidity Vaccine” that they tried to inject into everyone through the mainstream media (MSM) which they own ― was largely a success, for it has most certainly fooled MOST of the people for MOST if not ALL of the time.
Their disguised VIOLENCE ― by which they have violated the rights and freedoms and livelihoods of most of the world ― has been forcefully injected with a benign smile, crocodile tears, and forked-tongue. The world has been poisoned and the poisoners will now play the role of “Uncle Doctor” or “Auntie Nurse” pretending to try and “normalize” a situation that they have themselves deliberately created. “He that committeth sin is of the devil―for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). Of them, Our Lord would say: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Such a violation of truths, beliefs, rights, freedoms and livelihoods is just as much an act of violence as firing bullets at somebody. Poisoning the mind is like poisoning the body. In fact, since (as our Catechism teaches) the soul is more important than the body―it is an even graver violence that physical violence. However, since the soul (mind) of most people is half-dead (half-educated, half-witted), they fail to see that war has been declared upon them and are too stupid (godless) to see a way out of all this! As the saying goes: “Stupid is as stupid does!” ― meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their actions; our actions show whether we are stupid or not ― and the reactions and actions in response to what is happening today, clearly show that most people are stupid. As Holy Scripture would say: “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Our Lord, quoting Isaias the Prophet, says: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut ― lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15) ― and this is also echoed by St. Paul: “And some believed the things that were said; but some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, Paul speaking this one word: ‘Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our fathers by Isaias the prophet, saying: “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut ― lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!”’” (Acts 28:24-27).
Just look at all that is currently happening and then ask yourself if these prophetic words of God in Holy Scripture are applicable to our present day: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulchere! With their tongues they acted deceitfully―the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Psalm 52 echoes the above words of Psalm 13: “The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities―there is none that doth good! God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
We see Our Lady’s warnings unfolding before our eyes: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We see Our Lady’s warnings unfolding before our eyes: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
What we are seeing is still a "trial run" to test the waters and how people will react. All of the current upheavals―medical and social thus far―are merely the proverbial “trailer for the movie”―it is only a little foretaste of what is to come. Yet all the while we just look on like a deer at night standing, immovably standing seemingly frozen or paralyzed, looked blankly into the headlights of the onrushing car. We Catholics currently have the “deer in the headlights” look about us. We refuse to put into play the remedies Heaven has offered and commanded us to use! “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
The National Guard ― the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies ― said on Sunday May 31st, that 5,000 of its personnel had been activated in 15 states ― with the expected deployment number expected to rise soon to at least 11,000. Yet by Monday night, June 1st, the National Guard activated 67,000 troops. Six states and 13 cities have issued a state of emergency.
Minneapolis has seen violent protests every single day since Monday, May 25th. In Minnesota, hundreds of troops from the National Guard ― a reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies ― were brought in late on Friday. Some 700 National Guard officers are aiding police in Minneapolis on Saturday and they acted quickly to enforce the curfew imposed there. The Star Tribune said the action had so far headed off the unrest of the previous night.
Initially, one of the cities worst affected by unrest was Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard ― the reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies. The entire city is under an 8:00 pm to 5:30 am curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Police in Los Angeles fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons, as they tried to disperse protesters who threw bottles and set fire to their squad cars. Hundreds of arrests have been made.
In Chicago, protesters threw stones at riot officers, who responded by launching tear gas canisters. Several people were arrested on Saturday. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a 21:00 to 06:00 curfew until further notice, saying she was disgusted at the violence: “I've seen protesters hurl projectiles at our police department... bottles of water, urine and Lord knows what else,” she said.
For the second day running, a large crowd once again converged on the White House in Washington, DC., this time lighting fires and throwing stones at riot officers. The President was initially taken to an underground bunker in the White as a precaution for his safety.
In Atlanta, Georgia, where buildings were vandalized on Friday, a state of emergency was declared for some areas to protect people and property. Georgia National Guard troops underwent riot control training today to prepare for tonight’s potential protests. Governor Kemp authorized up to 3,000 troops to help local authorities keep the peace. Hundreds of protestors have been arrested for various violations of the law.
In under-curfew Philadelphia, 13 police officers were hurt and at least 35 arrests made as stores were looted, police cars torched and buildings defaced.
San Francisco is the latest to impose a curfew, announced by Mayor London Breed for 20:00 local time on Sunday, after looting and violence.
The list goes on and on ― with new incidents being added daily by the hour. You have no doubt read much more on the multitude of events than needs to be posted here. You can clearly see the anarchy and the lawlessness ― pretending that you can do evil to combat evil.
The mass demonstrations in the USA have since spread to Europe, Australia, Canada and other countries.
We see such an eruption of protest and cases of violent, destructive protest over the killing of one man ― which, of itself, is truly tragic ― yet where is the public, mainstream media, social media, nationwide uproar and protest and taking to court on trial all those who have been complicit in the murder of, not one, but hundreds of thousands of aborted babies this year? (around 3,000 babies a day, which makes it around 450,000 babies, in the USA alone, since January 1st 2020). The killing of the arrested man was without doubt brutal―but the butchery and cutting-up and dismemberment of innocent babies IS FAR MORE BRUTAL! Hypocrisy of the greatest magnitude! One single death produces a nationwide reaction 500,000 times greater or a million times greater reaction and uproar than the death of 450,000 innocent “I want to live and breathe! Please don’t kill me!” babies. Interestingly―it is to wondered how many of those thousands of protesters, screaming for justice, in all those cities, actually have had an abortion themselves or have helped someone else procure an abortion? “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils. And they shed innocent blood” (Psalm 105:37-38). Why are those killers and their accomplices not brought to justice? Typical hypocritical godless behavior that cries out to Heaven for vengeance―and vengeance will come: “Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide! The day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come!” (Deuteronomy 32:35), which is why Holy Scripture says elsewhere: “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved―for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine, I will repay!’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
Our Lady Says―I Told You So! I Warned You! But You Wouldn't Listen!
All that has happened (and will continue to happen) has to be taken in the light of Our Lady’s warnings and prophecies―which we have ignored by refusing to take the remedies and solutions she wanted.
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead …
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … A general war will follow which will be appalling.” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Plannedemics, Plannedemonstrations, Plannedemographics, etc.
So now the foundation or basic floor plan of the Plannedemic and Plannedemographics is now seeing the superstructure grow by the addition of the Plannedemonstrations and Plannedriots! Satan and his minions, instruments and stooges are successfully lighting fire after fire―not just to police cars, police stations and stores―but also lighting fires in the passions of godless sheeple and creating a rampant forest fire that will gradually envelope the whole country. To keep those fires burning, they will create more kindling wood and firewood by means of food shortages and medical supply shortages.
It cannot be stressed enough times―especially in an age where most people have allowed their mental muscles to atrophy and wither―that all of what is currently happening (and has been happening for decades) often or largely follows the basic Marxist or Communist principle of overcoming and enslaving people. First Demoralization, then Destabilization, then Crisis by Insurgency, and finally Normalization according to the Communist dictates of what is “normal” which is NEVER a good “normal” or the original “normal”.
Now just superimpose what has been happening recently upon that “blueprint” (or should we call “redprint” or even “Satan’s footprint” or “Satan’s fingerprint”) and you will see that it fits very well indeed, if not even perfectly. Pay attention to what the “solution” is, or what the “normalization” will be! The “official narrative” is constantly telling us that THINGS WILL NEVER BE NORMAL LIKE THEY USED TO BE BEFORE―THAT WE ARE ENTERING AN AGE OF “NEW NORMALITY”!!! First Demoralization, then Destabilization, then Crisis by Insurgency, and finally Normalization according to the Communist or Elitist dictates of what is “normal”―that is what is being done in so many different areas of life right now―in health, in business, in security, etc. The stupid "sheeple" are blindly following the script written for them without even knowing it!
War Has Been Declared―But People Are Too Stupid Notice!
An adage, long since attributed to politicians, says: “I Don't Keep Any Promises But My Voters Are Too Stupid to Notice!” For the puppet-masters of the world, one of most critical and crucial factors is to make and keep the people (or sheeple) as stupid as possible. Whether or not Abraham Lincoln actually said: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time!” ― does not matter, for the puppet-masters of the world are content to fool MOST people MOST of the time―if you can do that, you have the world in your pocket. The recent Plannedemic exercise or “trial run” ― which was like a testing of their “Stupidity Vaccine” that they tried to inject into everyone through the mainstream media (MSM) which they own ― was largely a success, for it has most certainly fooled MOST of the people for MOST if not ALL of the time.
Their disguised VIOLENCE ― by which they have violated the rights and freedoms and livelihoods of most of the world ― has been forcefully injected with a benign smile, crocodile tears, and forked-tongue. The world has been poisoned and the poisoners will now play the role of “Uncle Doctor” or “Auntie Nurse” pretending to try and “normalize” a situation that they have themselves deliberately created. “He that committeth sin is of the devil―for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). Of them, Our Lord would say: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Such a violation of truths, beliefs, rights, freedoms and livelihoods is just as much an act of violence as firing bullets at somebody. Poisoning the mind is like poisoning the body. In fact, since (as our Catechism teaches) the soul is more important than the body―it is an even graver violence that physical violence. However, since the soul (mind) of most people is half-dead (half-educated, half-witted), they fail to see that war has been declared upon them and are too stupid (godless) to see a way out of all this! As the saying goes: “Stupid is as stupid does!” ― meaning that a person’s lack of intelligence may be judged by their actions; our actions show whether we are stupid or not ― and the reactions and actions in response to what is happening today, clearly show that most people are stupid. As Holy Scripture would say: “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Our Lord, quoting Isaias the Prophet, says: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut ― lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15) ― and this is also echoed by St. Paul: “And some believed the things that were said; but some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, Paul speaking this one word: ‘Well did the Holy Ghost speak to our fathers by Isaias the prophet, saying: “Go to this people, and say to them: ‘With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive!’ For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut ― lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!”’” (Acts 28:24-27).
Just look at all that is currently happening and then ask yourself if these prophetic words of God in Holy Scripture are applicable to our present day: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men―to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulchere! With their tongues they acted deceitfully―the poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes! They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
Psalm 52 echoes the above words of Psalm 13: “The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities―there is none that doth good! God looked down from Heaven on the children of men―to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good―no, not one! They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 52:1-6).
We see Our Lady’s warnings unfolding before our eyes: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). We see Our Lady’s warnings unfolding before our eyes: “God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
What we are seeing is still a "trial run" to test the waters and how people will react. All of the current upheavals―medical and social thus far―are merely the proverbial “trailer for the movie”―it is only a little foretaste of what is to come. Yet all the while we just look on like a deer at night standing, immovably standing seemingly frozen or paralyzed, looked blankly into the headlights of the onrushing car. We Catholics currently have the “deer in the headlights” look about us. We refuse to put into play the remedies Heaven has offered and commanded us to use! “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15).
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE EASTER SEASON
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday May 28th & Friday May 29th
Article 23
Is it Time for a Pentecostal Revival? A Holy Ghost "Boot Camp"?
Thursday May 28th & Friday May 29th
Article 23
Is it Time for a Pentecostal Revival? A Holy Ghost "Boot Camp"?
Revive the Patient! He’s Dying!
There is a lot of talk about disease and death, positive tested patients, symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, Coronavirus or COVID-19, previously known as “2019 Novel Coronavirus” and now also known as SARS-CoV-2, which stands for “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2” or whatever else you want to call it!
Governors of States were emptying hospitals to make way for the expected plague of Coronavirus deaths―yet in most States, those hospitals remained relatively empty! Makeshift “tent-hospitals” were being ceremoniously erected here, there and everywhere―which remain empty to this day!
Governor Cuomo of New York State was screaming for more ventilators when he was sent 400 ventilators by FEMA, saying on CBS: “What am I going to do with 400 ventilators? When I need 30,000! You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die! Because you only sent 400 ventilators!” He then projected that the State of New York would need as much as 140,000 beds, with an additional 40,000 ICU beds―yet The Associated Press reported that New York City officials have said, on April 8th, 2020, that at least 80% of Coronavirus patients who were on ventilators in the city died and some doctors are trying to reduce their reliance on ventilators for Coronavirus patients, because of reports of abnormally high death rates for patients using the machines. Unusually high death rates due to ventilator use have also been recorded elsewhere in the US and the world. Doctors have also said ventilators can damage the lungs by forcing too much oxygen into the lungs at high pressure — and while the machines may be an effective way to treat other respiratory illnesses, some are looking for alternative treatments. The Daily Mail (UK) also reported: “A frontline nurse working in New York on Coronavirus patients claims the city is killing sufferers by putting them on ventilators, advocating against them. The nurse persuaded a friend, a nurse practitioner who is not working on coronavirus patients, to make the video to get the word out. ‘It’s a horror movie! Not because of the disease, but the way it is being handled!’ the frontline nurse said through the friend, who only was identified as Sara NP (=Nurse Practitioner). Sara said COVID-19 patients are placed on ventilators rather than less invasive CPAP or BiPAP machines due to fears about the virus spreading. She explained: ‘The ventilators have high pressure, which then causes barotrauma, it causes trauma to the lungs!’” Governor Cuomo of New York State is screaming for more death machines! The ‘cure’ is sometimes worse than the disease, Governor!
On the other side of the fence, God’s medicine is being restricted, refused or even ridiculed. Sufficient tests―by THOSE WHO REALLY WANT TO TEST―have shown that God has already placed many things in Nature―WHICH CANNOT BE PATENTED―for our health and well-being. As regards COVID-19, some of those things include plain-old and simple FRESH AIR―which many sane and honest doctors tell you is the basic and foundational “medicine” for all respiratory diseases. Yet the professed “medics” of the “establishment” have been hounding everyone to stay indoors―away from the fresh air. Statistics show that INDOOR AIR is four times worse that the modern contaminated OUTDOOR AIR that we currently breathe.
Another closely linked “medicine” that God has provided us with is God-made SUNLIGHT. It is an undisputed and proven fact that sunlight is a major health benefit―producing VITAMIN D in the body. Recent research also shows vitamin D levels are strongly correlated to the severity of the illness experienced Recent scientific papers have highlighted the role vitamin D may be playing in the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in severe cases. In view of the fact that researchers have also shown that COVID-19 is rapidly inactivated by sunlight, States that are banning people from parks and beaches, are undoubtedly committing a grave error. In fact, it has been nearly impossible to uncover and document outdoor transmission of the disease. This is because one factor for catching disease is dependent on the viral load ― the amount of exposure which is quickly diluted outdoors and inactivated by sunlight. Exposure to sunlight is also seen to increase the brain’s release of a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with boosting mood and helping a person feel calm and focused.
There are many other things in Nature, not least in foods, that have been shown to be effective against COVID-19, but the godless establishment “narrative” and “medical know-how” merely “pooh-poohs” all of these God-given gifts and medicines! For what reasons? Be your own judge of that!
Where is the Plague of Death?
Despite all the hype and hoopla over the predicted death rate of millions and millions around the world―with the worst case scenario for the USA being placed in the millions. Back in mid-March, one projected model from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that between 160 million and 210 million, out of the entire US population of 330 million Americans, could contract the disease over as long as a year. Based on mortality data and current hospital capacity, the number of deaths, under the CDC’s scenarios, ranged from 200,000 to as many as 1.7 million. The CDC stated that as many as 21 million Americans (1 in 15) might need hospitalization, a daunting figure in a nation with just about 925,000 hospital beds.
As of May 28th, 2020, we are nowhere near the scare-mongering prediction of 1.7 million deaths out of 160 to 210 infected Americans. The current “inflated” and “fudged” death rate is “officially” placed at 103,118 deaths out of a 1,762,152 (1.7 million) reported cases. Where are the 21 million hospitalized Americans? Where are the 210 million infected Americans. Truth be told―the vast majority of cases throughout the USA and the world have been MILD cases (98% MILD and only 2% CRITICAL).
Talking of death rates, in the USA, in 2017, an average of 7,708 deaths occurred each day―giving a total of just over 2,813,503 (2.8 million) American deaths annually. In 2018, a total of 2,839,205 (2.83 million) resident deaths were registered in the United States—25,702 more deaths than in 2017.
January, February, and December were the months with the highest average daily number of deaths in the USA. (8,478, 8,351, and 8,344, respectively). June, July, and August were the months with the lowest average daily number of deaths (7,298, 7,157, and 7,158, respectively). Since the time of the Coronovirus or COVID-19 death, February 29th, 2020, up to the current date of May 28th, 2020, there have been a “purported” total (inflated total) of 103,000 deaths claimed for the USA―yet last year, for the same period of March 1st to May 31st, 2019, the total of USA deaths from all diseases was 700,000. Compared to the “over-inflated”, “fudged-figures” and “death certificate misrepresentations” to exaggerate COVID-19 deaths and raise them to a false high total of 103,000 deaths―which now the CDC sheepishly admits is over-reported and over-estimated by around 25% ― when you compare that (25% inflated) 103,000 to the 80,000 flu deaths in 2018, it does not quite look like the world-shattering, cataclysmic, never-before-seen event that the media and certain government agencies have made it out to be. Take away the fake inflation of 25% from the USA COVID-19 deaths and you are left with 75,000 COVID deaths compared to the 2018 80,000 flu deaths―granted that the flu deaths were over a full flu season, which is more than the 3 months of COVID deaths thus far. But still … what a load of hype and hoopla and destruction of the lives and livelihood of people! Immoral, illegal and insidious!
The CDC published the following stats:
Number of deaths: In 2017 it was 2,813,503 (2.81 million American deaths; in 2018 it was 2,839,205 (2.83 million American deaths)
Death rate: 864 deaths per 100,000 population (which is, brace yourself, 1 in every 115 Americans die each year―which has been a fairly constant average for the last 12 years)
Life expectancy: 78.6 years. The CDC, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released demographic data showing that COVID-19 is hard on the elderly, with those aged 65 and older accounting for 80% of the U.S. deaths from the COVID-19 disease, for which. But this is true of most illnesses: In 2018, 78% of all U.S. deaths from internal causes (that is, excluding accidents, murders, overdoses and the like) were among those 65 and older―so COVID-19 brings nothing new to the table there.
The Modern-Day "Fire-and Brimstone" Preacher
The media―and especially the people behind the media―have run a relentless fear-mongering campaign for many months now―which puts to shame even the most fervent and assiduous “fire-and-brimstone” preacher, telling his congregation that “The end is nigh! Repent! Repent! The end is nigh!”
One can imagine today’s media mocking and ridiculing such a “fire-and-brimstone” preacher or priest, yet the media has stolen the priest’s surplice and stole, or vestments, and given the longest sermon in the history of mankind on the “fire-and-brimstone” of COVID-19, endlessly, tirelessly, ubiquitously warning us: “The end is nigh! This will never go away! Death! Death! Everywhere! Things will never be normal again! Isolate before it’s too late! Quarantine! Wear your mask! Keep your distance! Don’t shake hands! Wear gloves! Wash your hands! Wash them all over! Wash for at least 20 seconds! Carry your hand-sanitizer with you always! Above all, to be saved―you must be vaccinated! If you are not vaccinated, you cannot go to work! You cannot go shopping! You cannot leave your house! Hurry! Hurry! Get vaccinated by the church of Bill Gates―our ‘god’-sent Messias! He really cares for your health and the health of all the world! The end is nigh! This will never go away! Act now before it’s too late! Vaccinate! Vaccinate! Save yourself!”
What sounds more ridiculous? The above message, or the following message? The message that follows is that of God and His One True Holy Apostolic Catholic Church―a message mocked by the world, but a message that is more sane and less ridiculous than the message being preached from the pulpits of media and government agencies and podiums of governors!
“The end is nigh!” [says Our Lady of Fatima]. “The chastisement will not go away!” [says Our Lady, and reiterated by Pope John Paul II, who said we can no longer prevent what is about to come, we can only mitigate, i.e. soften it]. “Most souls die and go to Hell” [says Our Lord, Our Lady and numerous saints―Sr. Lucia of Fatima also says this]. “Isolate yourself from the world!” [Scripture says this, as well as Our Lady]. “Quarantine or separate yourselves from the world, lest you be contaminated by the world!” [Scripture again says this, as well as Our Lady]. “Wear your Scapular!”… “Carry your Rosary with you everywhere and use it!” … “Get yourself tested for the virus of sin often by an daily examination of conscience!” … “Wash your soul with grace in Confession!” … “Take the vaccines the Church offers you―the vaccines of Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion!” … “Above all, get yourself baptized―otherwise you will not be saved! Get vaccinated in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ! He alone really cares for you!”
Which Message Matters Most?
Which message is more important? A message that is not entirely true or sound and that only seeks to preserve (or pretends to seek and preserve) your short, meager earthly life―actually, it cannot preserve it, but only prolong it for a short while! Or is the most important message the true and sound message, that seeks to preserve you for ETERNAL LIFE, which, even though it has you pass through the gates of death, it is only to lead you into an ETERNAL LIFE of happiness, peace, joy, security, love and bliss―devoid of any disease, with no suffering, no pain, no anxiety, no fear, no enmity, no rivalry, no plots and agendas, no harm, no hatred, no vengeance, no isolation and no quarantine―FOR EVER AND EVER. Which message should be given the most attention? Which message matters most?
The truth is that sin matters more than disease―in fact, disease and death is the effect, offspring, or child of sin: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “By one man sin entered into this world, and. by sin, death! And so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20).
Our Lord came―not to save us from disease, though He did heal many and raise some from the dead, only to let them die later―but He came to save us from eternal death in Hell, which is the eternal disease with its eternal pain that sin brings upon us. Our Lord Himself clearly said: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation!” (Luke 12:51). He has come to separate us from sin and sinners. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill!” (Matthew 5:17). “I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see!” (John 9:39). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Part of that “fire” is to burn the bridges with the world, sin and its allurements.
One of chief reasons most souls fall into the fires of Hell is because there is too little said and too little preached upon―not just the fires of Hell―but also insufficient preaching on the fires of love. Even though the modern-day Church will talk about the love, love, love of God until it comes out of your ears and nostrils, it does not speak of a true love or a true charity, which, if it is true, will burn away all sin and cover all debt for sin―for it leads to a hatred of sin, a dislike for and a distancing from the world, and to fervent penance.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12).
Lukewarmness is a Lack of Love
Lukewarmness is “love gone cold” or “love no longer hot”. God, in Holy Scripture, has these strong words for the lukewarm: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity/love], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous, therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
In the previous article, we spoke of the frequency of lukewarmness and the discomfort or even hatred people have in acknowledging the fact that they are lukewarm. Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness―has a whole chapter dedicated to lukewarmness, its causes, effects and remedies―in which he states his opinion that the vast majority of Catholics are lukewarm―and he is speaking of the 1840s and 1850s!!! There were no technological ‘viruses’ and ‘diseases’ to spur on and increase that lukewarmness, of the kind that we have today. Yet, today, we have a great difficulty in admitting to any lukewarmness. Yet St. Teresa of Avila has no problem in doing so, she even admits to it publicly in her own writings. This is, at the same time, consoling, strengthening and inspirational: for it shows us that saints are like us, they have the same problems, difficulties and temptations as we do; yet they show us a way through all these things and out of all these things. With that in mind, we shall let St. Teresa continue with her most enlightening and instructive account of her lukewarmness, with its causes and effects. We shall add a few comments, in color, in an attempt to relate what St. Teresa says to our present day and age―and the terrible consequences that threaten us―as individuals and the world as a whole―if we do nothing about our state and do not change. In other words, we really need to sign-up for a spiritual ”Boot Camp” if we are in earnest about saving our souls―for most souls are lost! Even St. Teresa of Avila, after being shown her place in Hell if she would not change, said that she saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard! Let us take the path she took and bring about a radical change before we fall into such a grim but very realistic fate!
CHAPTER SEVEN OF ST. TERESA’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
World is Fun, God is Not
1. So, then, going on from pastime to pastime, from vanity to vanity, from one occasion of sin to another, I began to expose myself exceedingly to the very greatest dangers: my soul was so distracted by many vanities, that I was ashamed to draw near unto God in an act of such special friendship as that of prayer. As my sins multiplied, I began to lose the pleasure and comfort I had in virtuous things: and that loss contributed to the abandonment of prayer. I see now most clearly, O my Lord, that this comfort departed from me because I had departed from Thee.
Doing Only the Minimum
2. It was the most fearful delusion into which Satan could plunge me—to give up prayer under the pretense of humility. I began to be afraid of giving myself to prayer, because I saw myself so lost. Seeing that in my wickedness I was one of the most wicked, I thought it would be better for me to live like the multitude—to say only the prayers which I was bound to say, and say those prayers vocally: not to practice mental prayer, nor communicate with God so much; for I deserved to be with the devils, and was deceiving those who were lived around me, because I made an outward show of goodness; and therefore the community, in which I dwelt, is not to be blamed; for with my cunning I so managed matters, that all had a good opinion of me; and yet I did not seek this deliberately by pretending or simulating devotion.
[Too often we fall into the same temptation—”to be like the rest.” We know what is right and proper, but “we go along to get along” and shy away from “rocking the boat.” Yet we forget that the multitude is not saved, and that the majority lose their souls: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). The devil, human respect and the desire to be liked, blinds us to this truth, so “we go along to get along” for fear of what others may think, say or do if they see us getting to be too religious!]
For in all that relates to hypocrisy and ostentation (doing things so that everyone notices)—glory be to God!—I do not remember that I ever offended Him, so far as I know. The very first movements towards hypocrisy and ostentation gave me such pain, that the devil would depart from me with loss, and the gain remained with me; and thus, accordingly, he never tempted me much in this way. Perhaps, however, if God had permitted Satan to tempt me as sharply herein as he tempted me in other things, I should have fallen also into this; but His Majesty has preserved me until now. May He be blessed for evermore! It was rather a heavy affliction to me that I should be thought so well of; for I knew my own secret.
Vanity Knows How to Manipulate
3. The reason why they thought I was not so wicked was this: they saw that I, who was so young, and exposed to so many occasions of sin, withdrew myself so often into solitude for prayer, read much, spoke of God, that I liked to have His image painted in many places, to have an oratory of my own, and furnish it with objects of devotion, that I spoke ill of no one, and other things of the same kind in me which have the appearance of virtue. Yet all the while—I was so vain—I knew how to procure respect for myself by doing those things which in the world are usually regarded with respect.
Too Much Freedom and Independence
4. In consequence of this, they gave me as much freedom as they did to the oldest nuns, and even more, and had great confidence in me; for as to taking any liberty for myself, or doing anything without leave—such as conversing through the door, or in secret, or by night—I do not think I could have brought myself to speak with anybody in the monastery in that way, and I never did it; for Our Lord held me back. It seemed to me—for I considered many things carefully and of set purpose—that it would be a very evil deed on my part, wicked as I was, to risk the credit of so many nuns, who were all good—as if everything else I did was well done! In truth, the evil I did was not the result of deliberation, as this would have been, if I had done it, although it was too much so.
[Though, in the next few paragraphs, St. Teresa speaks of life in the monastery or convent, we can very readily and easily apply this to Catholic family life or the Catholic school. For the Catholic family should be like a cloister that protects its members from the world and its worldly influences, just like the monastery or convent should protect the religious, who live within its walls, from the spirit of the outside world. We can also apply these paragraphs to our Catholic schools, which should also be cloisters for Catholic children, likewise protecting them from the world and its worldliness. Looked at from this perspective, the next few paragraphs teach us a great deal].
A Monastery (School or Home) Without Walls
5. Therefore, I think that it did me much harm to be in a monastery that was not not enclosed [meaning that the nuns had frequent contact with the world]. The freedom or liberty, which those who were good might have with advantage—they not being obliged to do more than they do, because they had not bound themselves to enclosure—would certainly have led me, who am wicked, straight to Hell, if Our Lord, by so many remedies and means of His most singular mercy, had not delivered me out of that danger—and it is, I believe, the very greatest danger—namely, a monastery of women unenclosed—yea, more, I think it is, for those who tend to or want to be wicked, a road to Hell, rather than a help to their weakness.
This is not to be understood of my monastery; for there are so many there who in the utmost sincerity, and in great perfection, serve Our Lord [likewise, not all Catholic families or schools are lax and worldly], so that His Majesty, according to His goodness, cannot but be gracious unto them; neither is it one of those which are most open, because all religious observances are kept in it; and I am speaking only of others which I have seen and known.
[How many parents, principals and teachers do the work of the devil for him, by not building ‘walls’ that will enclose and protect the children from the world. It is not enough to protect them from only the worst things, but also the little things, because forest fires are started by a small spark, and adult criminals were once merely naughty undisciplined children].
Calling Some Sins ‘Virtues’!
6. I am exceedingly sorry for these houses, because Our Lord must of necessity send His special inspirations not merely once, but many times, if the nuns therein are to be saved, seeing that the honors and amusements of the world are allowed among them, and the obligations of their state are so ill-understood. God grant they may not count that to be virtue which is really a sin, as I did so often! It is very difficult to make people understand this; it is necessary Our Lord Himself should take the matter seriously into His own hands.
[Alas! Those amusements of the world! How many families and schools think nothing of allowing the ‘amusements’ of the world into the home and school environment; some even encourage, praise and extol them! Our Lady bewailed this at La Salette, when, speaking of future times, she said that “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement.”]
Take Care Where You Allow Your Children to Go!
7. If parents would take my advice, now that they are at no pains to place their daughters where they may walk in the way of salvation, without incurring a greater risk than they would do if they were left in the world, let them look at least at that which concerns their good name. Let them marry them to persons of a much lower degree, rather than place them in monasteries of this kind, unless they be of extremely good inclinations, and God grant that these inclinations may come to good! Or let them keep them at home.
[What St. Teresa is saying here is that even though a monastery is a monastery, it is not necessarily a good monastery, but it may be a bad monastery and therefore a danger to the soul. Likewise, just because a home or school is a Catholic home or school, does not necessarily make it a good Catholic home or school. It does not take much to light the fuse that will eventually lead to the destruction of a child’s (or an adult’s) soul. Just like the example of the mustard seed that Our Lord gives in the Bible, a little tiny seed grows into a massive plant. Likewise, a little exposure to evil or bad example, will sow the seed that will grow into future sin].
If they will be wicked at home, their evil life can be hidden only for a short time; but in monasteries it can be hidden long, and, in the end, it is Our Lord that discovers it. They injure not only themselves, but all the nuns also. And all the while the poor things are not in fault; for they walk in the way that is shown them. Many of them are to be pitied; for they wished to withdraw from the world, and, thinking to escape from the dangers of it, and that they were going to serve Our Lord, have found themselves in ten worlds at once, without knowing what to do, or how to help themselves. Youth and sensuality and the devil invite them and incline them to follow certain ways which are of the essence of worldliness. They see these ways, so to speak, considered as safe there.
[Many Catholic schools today, even some of the most conservative or traditional, can be hotbeds of corruption, because they do only the minimal in keeping out the world and worldliness from within its walls. They forget the words of Scripture, which warn us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). The hallmark of Liberalism is not to offend anyone, to be nice to everyone, to ‘understand’ others—even if those ‘others’ are destroying everything!! Alas, how many good schools have fallen in battle with this Liberal approach!]
Blinded to Truth
8. Now, these seem to me to be, in some degree, like those wretched heretics who will make themselves blind, and who will consider that which they do to be good, and so believe, but without really believing; for they have within themselves something that tells them it is wrong. [It is amazing how much willful blindness there is amongst Catholics; they see, but they see as they want to see, they see things as they would like them to be, but they see not reality. Almost like the heretics that St. Teresa speaks of, they deform and reform certain parts of the Faith so that it fits with their mindset and attitude. This kind of way of thinking and acting is the essence of Liberalism and Modernism, and it is rampant today. It is so prevalent, that most people think there is nothing wrong with it!]
Trying to Serve God and Mammon
9. Oh, what utter ruin! Utter ruin of religious persons—I am not speaking now more of women than of men, but of both—where the rules of the Order are not kept; where the same monastery offers two roads: one of virtue and observance, the other of inobservance, and both equally frequented! I have spoken incorrectly: they are not equally frequented; for, on account of our sins, the way of the greatest imperfection is the most frequented; and because it is the broadest, it is also the most in favor.
[Again we have to say: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This is true of so many, many Catholic families and schools, who live in a false sense of security, sheltering under the complacency of the false idea of safety in numbers!].
The way of religious observance is so little used, that the friar and the nun who would really begin to follow their vocation thoroughly have reason to fear the members of their communities more than all the devils together. They must be more cautious, and dissemble more, when they would speak of that friendship with God which they desire to have, than when they would speak of those friendships and affections which the devil arranges in monasteries. [This friendship with the world and the worldly is the ruin of so many souls: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31). We are commanded to love God first; our neighbor only comes after God!].
I know not why we are astonished that the Church is in so much trouble, when we see those, who ought to be an example of every virtue to others, so disfigure the work which the spirit of the Saints departed wrought in their Orders. May it please His Divine Majesty to apply a remedy to this, as He sees it to be needful! Amen.
[As Our Lady said at La Salette: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... [who] by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures ... are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads ... Rome will lose the Faith ... and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops”].
(click here to read Our Lady of La Salette’s entire message)
Praying Less and Less
“I had become so dissipated, and had ceased to pray, and yet saw that he [Teresa’s father] still thought I was what I used to be, I could not endure it, and so undeceived him. I had been a year and more without praying, thinking it an act of greater humility to abstain … When that blessed man [her father], having that good opinion of me, came to visit me, it pained me to see him so deceived as to think that I used to pray to God as before. So I told him that I did not pray; but I did not tell him why. I put my infirmities forward as an excuse … My father believed me when I gave him that for a reason, as he never told a lie himself; neither should I have done so … [Alas, how true it is that we make excuses, exaggerate, twist, hide or deny the truth, just so that we can continue in our ‘hidden’ state of lukewarmness. St. Teresa publicly admits to it in her autobiography, we, on the other hand deny it and hide it].
Double Standards
“At this time, that illness befell my father of which he died; it lasted some days. I went to nurse him, being more sick in spirit than he was in body, owing to my many vanities—though not, so far as I know, to the extent of being in mortal sin—through the whole of that wretched time of which I am speaking; for, if I knew myself to be in mortal sin, I would not have continued in it on any account ...
[That is a typical, common and universal trait of lukewarmness: “mortal sin never, venial sin forever!” For the lukewarm, venial sin is sometimes not even ‘on the radar’! The only thing that worries them is mortal sin. There is no real love of God in this attitude: for both mortal sin and venial sin are the TWO GREATEST EVILS in the world, as our catechism teaches us. To put it into concrete terms, it is like saying: “I will not knife or shoot Our Lord (mortal sin), but I have no problems in punching Him, kicking Him, spitting at Him and mocking Him (venial sin)!” Lukewarmness is this walking contradiction. If any lukewarm soul manages to escape Hell, it is not through their pretended ‘love’ of God, but simply because of God’s pity and mercy upon their pitiable state.
Comparing this state of lukewarmness to the current Coronavirus Plannedemic, you could say that LUKEWARMNESS IS OUR WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM―WEAKENED SPIRITUAL SYSTEM. This has been brought about by years of laboring under MULTIPLE CO-MORBITITIES (underlying health problems), but in this case, MULTIPLE SPIRITUAL CO-MORBIDITIES, whereby the HEART (LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOUR) IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY; and DIABETES (TOO MANY SWEET WORLDLY PLEASURES AND COMFORTS) together with INSULIN (GRACE) RESISTANCE; and INFLAMMATION (PRIDE). Just like COVID-19 affects and kills mostly those with compromised immune systems and co-morbidities, likewise do the temptations of Satan and the world mostly affect and kill the life of grace in those who have a weak love of God and neighbor, a love of pleasure and comfort, and who are infected with high levels of pride, whether it be subtle hidden pride, or brash, outward pride manifested visibly and audibly].
God Sends a Rescuer
St. Teresa continues: “How much the more I am to be blamed for my wickedness; for after seeing such a death [of her father], and knowing what his life had been, I, in order to be in any wise like unto such a father, ought to have grown better. His confessor, a most learned Dominican, used to say that he had no doubt he went straight to Heaven. He had heard his confession for some years, and spoke with praise of the purity of his conscience.
“This Dominican father, who was a very good God-fearing man, did me a very great service; for I confessed to him. He took upon himself the task of helping my soul in earnest, and of making me see the perilous state I was in. He sent me to Communion once a fortnight [at that time people went to Communion very, very rarely, it was only after Pope St. Pius X allowed frequent Communion, in the early 1900s, that we entered the current period of frequent Communion]; and I, by degrees beginning to speak to him, told him about my prayer life. He commanded me never to omit it: that, anyhow, it could not do me anything but good. So I began to return to my prayer life—though I did not cut off the occasions of sin—and never afterwards gave it up. [Once again, Teresa admits to being a walking contradiction: she wants to love God, yet continues to hold fast to the friendship of the world and its occasions of sin: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Our Lord said that we cannot love and serve both God and mammon].
Under the Microscope of Prayer
St. Teresa says: “My life became most wretched, because I learned in prayer more and more of my faults. On one side, God was calling me; on the other, I was following the world. All the things of God gave me great pleasure; and I was a prisoner to the things of the world. It seemed as if I wished to reconcile two contradictions, so much at variance one with another, as are the life of the spirit and the joys and pleasures and amusements of sense. I suffered much in prayer; for the spirit was slave, and not master; and so I was not able to shut myself up within myself—that was my whole method of prayer—without shutting up with me a thousand vanities at the same time. I spent many years in this way; and I am now astonished that anyone could have borne it without abandoning either the one or the other.
[Some people live in this state for more than the “many years” that St. Teresa speaks of―their entire lives are spent in lukewarmness, without even realizing or suspecting that they are lukewarm. This is because, as the already quoted opinions of the spiritual masters state, most of the world is lukewarm; and, as the Fr. Faber states, lukewarmness is a spiritual blindness, and the blind lead the blind into the pit. Generations of lukewarm families are like one long chain, ‘dancing-the-conga’ into the pit. Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter. Generations of successive lukewarm ‘Pied-Pipers’ leading others into the same lukewarm dance! A lukewarm tree will produce lukewarm fruit. You cannot give what you haven’t got].
The Need for Spiritual Friends
St. Teresa point out: “It is a great evil for a soul to be alone in the midst of such great dangers; it seems to me that if I had had anyone with whom I could have spoken of all this, it might have helped me not to fall. I might, at least, have been ashamed before him—and yet I was not ashamed before God! For this reason, I would advise those who give themselves to over to prayer, particularly at first, to form friendships; and converse familiarly, with others who are doing the same thing [Birds of a feather flock together. Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you what you are]. It is a matter of the greatest importance, even if it leads only to helping one another by prayer: how much more, seeing that it has led to much greater gain!
“Now [in secular matters], if in their conversations with one with another, and in the indulgence of human affections, even not of the best kind, men seek with whom they may refresh themselves, and for the purpose of having greater satisfaction in speaking of their empty joys; then I know no reason why it should also not be lawful for him, who is beginning to love and serve God in earnest, to confide to another person his joys and sorrows; for they, who are given to prayer, are thoroughly accustomed to both joy and sorrow. [How little spiritual conversation is heard in the home, at the dinner table, in recreation, in the work place, etc. All this is both an indication of our lukewarmness, and it is also conducive to (leads to) lukewarmness—for there are no logs being thrown on the fires of our love for God, and so, naturally, those fires start to cool and go out. On the contrary, how wonderful and joyful it is to be able to speak for long hours on the things of God with like-minded souls, and how strengthening is such a sublime pursuit!].
Two Heads Are Better Than One
St. Teresa continues: “For if that friendship with God, which he desires, be real, I believe that he who will discuss the matter, with this intention, will profit both himself and those who hear him, and thus will derive more light for his own understanding, as well as for the instruction of his friends. He who in discussing his method of prayer falls into vain-glory, will do so also when he hears Mass devoutly, if he is seen by men, and in doing other good works, which [hearing Mass and doing good works] must be done under pain of being no Christian; and yet these things must not be omitted through fear of vain-glory.
“Moreover, it is a most important matter for those souls who are not strong in virtue; for they have so many people, enemies as well as friends, to urge them the wrong way, that I do not see how this point is capable of exaggeration. It seems to me that Satan has employed this ruse—and it is of the greatest service to him—namely, that men, who really wish to love and please God, should hide the fact, while others, at his suggestion, make open show of their malicious dispositions; and this is so common, that it seems a matter of boasting now, and the offenses committed against God are thus published abroad. [We see this all the more today, where everywhere the world seeks to publish “bad news” but rarely “good news”; we are very quick to speak of the faults of others, but ever so slow or reluctant to speak of their virtues. Why is this? Partially, it is because we are so lukewarm; and, therefore, to expose and point out the sins and failings of others makes us feel less culpable in our lukewarmness: as they say in sports, “attack is the best form of defense.” Speaking of the virtues of others would put us, with our lukewarmness, in bad light and bring unwanted pressure upon us to improve our state.]
Lie of Living Safe Among Worldly Vanities & Pleasures
“I do not know whether the things I am saying are foolish or not ... [but] the things that relate to the service of God are so feebly managed, that it is necessary for those, who would serve Him, to join shoulder to shoulder, if they are to advance at all; for it is considered ‘safe’ to live amidst the vanities and pleasures of the world, and few there be who regard them with unfavorable eyes. But if any one begins to give himself up to the service of God, there are so many people who will suddenly find fault with him, that it becomes necessary for him to seek companions, in order that he may find protection among them, till he grows strong enough not to feel what he may be made to suffer. If he does not, he will find himself in great straits. [Sadly, what she says is all the more true today: “it is considered ‘safe’ to live amidst the vanities and pleasures of the world.” Whether it be in home-life, school-life, work-life or social-life, most Catholics have not only made peace with the vanities and pleasures of the world, but they think more of them, talk more of them and pursue them more often than they do God!]
“This, I believe, must have been the reason why some of the Saints withdrew into the desert. [Today, it is almost necessary to withdraw into a desert within ourselves: we live in the world, we work in the world, but we must strive not to be a part of the world. In a certain sense, the reverse of the image we have of an oasis in a desert, whereby we become a desert of safety surrounded by the many worldly oases of pleasure and vanities. We cannot expect to flirt with danger and save our souls: “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The world is our danger]. And it is a kind of humility in man, not to trust to himself, but to believe that God will help him in his relations with those [she speaks of the friendship of good persons, not evil persons] with whom he converses; and charity grows by being shared and diffused; and there are a thousand blessings herein which I would not dare to speak of, if I had not known by experience the great importance of it. It is very true that I am the most wicked and the basest of all who are born of women; but I believe that he who, humbling himself, though strong, yet trusteth not in himself, and believeth another who in this matter has had experience, will lose nothing.
Good Friends, Bad Friends
“Of myself, I may say that, if Our Lord had not revealed to me this truth, and given me the opportunity of speaking very frequently to persons given over to prayer, I should have gone on falling and rising till I eventually tumbled into Hell. I had many ‘friends’ to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was left to myself so much, that I wonder how it was that I was not always on the ground. I praise God for His mercy; for it was He only Who stretched out His hand to me. May He be blessed for ever! Amen.”
Lukewarmness Twists the Truth
There is a danger of falling into a false sense of security, which is what lukewarmness is forever seeking and advocating. Lukewarmness pleads and serenades us with thoughts such as: “Don’t worry! See! Teresa was lukewarm for many years and SHE became a saint! It will be the same for you! Besides, becoming a saint doesn’t happen overnight—it takes time! Soooo, take your time! Anyway, you’re not really lukewarm, you’re just prudent! If you try to do too much too soon, you might pull a spiritual muscle—and then what good will you be?” The false seductive reasoning of the devil is all that this is!
Out of all the hoards of lukewarm persons who lived many years or decades in lukewarmness, how many St. Teresas came out of their ranks? Very few! We sow as we reap; and God “will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6), “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). That is why God says in the Book of Apocalypse:
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched [a sinner], and miserable [finding joy in the world, not God], and poor [in grace and merits], and blind [lukewarm], and naked [without virtues]. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried [true charity], that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Teresa’s Medicine Cabinet for the Virus of Lukewarmness
Having confessed to her lukewarmness, and having painted a picture to illustrate parts of it, St. Teresa now leads us to the medicine cabinet to look for a cure. In these next paragraphs from her autobiography, she shows us how, after many years of languishing in lukewarmness, she begins to emerge from its consumptive cloud.
There is a saying in the spiritual life, especially encountered in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, that says: “Agere contra” which literally means “Act against”, which in its intended meaning says: “Do the opposite.” If we are tempted to be mean, let us be generous; if we are tempted to be angry, let us be meek; if we are tempted to be proud, let us be humble, and so on.
In her ‘confessions’, St. Teresa has been telling us about her lack of prayer. Prayer is a primary source of grace; and without grace we cannot fight the temptations offered to us by the devil, the world and the flesh. Lack of prayer means lack of grace; and lack of grace means lack of strength; and lack of strength means lack of effort; and lack of effort results in lukewarmness.
So, St. Teresa’s recommendation is to force ourselves back into prayer, cost what it may, no matter how painful it may be. We must approach it like a ‘couch-potato’ would have to approach physical exercise: it is an abhorrent thought to him, but it is the only way back to full health, a very painful way at first, but less painful with each week, as the body starts to get accustomed to the increased strains and efforts that are encountered and demanded
Once again, we will quote St. Teresa (this time from chapter 8 of her autobiography) and add occasional comments in colored text.
Ignoring the Strong Pillar of Prayer
“1. It is not without reason that I have dwelt so long on this portion of my life. I see clearly that it will give no one pleasure to see anything so base; and certainly I wish those, who may read this, to have me in abhorrence, as a soul so obstinate and so ungrateful to Him Who did so much for me. I could wish, too, I had permission to say how often at this time I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.
“I passed nearly twenty years on this stormy sea, falling and rising, but rising to no good purpose, seeing that I went and fell again. My life was one of [supposed] perfection; but it was so mean, that I scarcely made any account whatever of venial sins; and, though of mortal sins I was afraid, I was not so afraid of them as I ought to have been, because I did not avoid the perilous occasions of them.”
[Here we see St. Teresa in a kind of ‘no-man’s land’ or ‘half-way-house’ where she wants to leave the world and go to God, but still feels the gravity or ‘pull’ of the world more than she feels the ‘pull’ of God. It makes us recall the words of St. Paul, when he says: “The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin ... For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do ... For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do ... For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
That rescuing grace of God, comes to us mainly through prayer, sometimes very painful prayer, sometimes seemingly ineffective prayer. But just like exercise can seem painful and ineffective at the outset, it quickly becomes, if persevered in, increasingly productive.]
Neither God nor World is Sweet
St. Teresa then adds: “I may say that it was the most painful life that can be imagined, because I had no sweetness in God, and no pleasure in the world.” [It is like the ‘couch-potato’ who finds no fun in his flab, but at the same time finds no fun in exercise either. Yet what a great grace from God: to begin to find dissatisfaction with the world! It is sign of a likely cure to our ills!]
“2. When I was in the midst of the pleasures of the world, the remembrance of what I owed to God made me sad; and when I was praying to God, my worldly affections disturbed me. This is so painful a struggle, that I know not how I could have borne it for a month, let alone for so many years.”
[We can relate to her struggles for we have the same struggles, and we should take heart from her struggles to courageously follow her down the path of recovery from the same very same disease with which she was afflicted!]
Courage in Prayer
“Nevertheless, I can trace distinctly the great mercy of Our Lord to me, while thus immersed in the world, in that I had still the courage to pray. I say courage, because I know of nothing in the whole world which requires greater courage than plotting treason against the King, knowing that He knows it, and yet never withdrawing from His presence; for, granting that we are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray, are in His presence in a very different sense; for they, as it were, see that He is looking upon them; while others may be for days together without even once recollecting that God sees them.
[She says: “I still had the courage to pray!” It is that prayer that the devil seeks to uproot from our soul; and if he cannot uproot it, then the next best thing is to make us pray badly (too quickly, distractedly, sleepily, etc). That is why St. Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Prayer is one of the key elements to Our Lady’s messages in her modern-day apparitions. But those prayers must be said well, as she asked at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers well?”]
Ups and Downs
“3. It is true, indeed, that during these years there were many months, and, I believe, occasionally a whole year, in which I so kept guard over myself that I did not offend Our Lord, gave myself much to prayer, and took some pains, and that successfully, not to offend Him. I speak of this now, because all I am saying is strictly true; but I remember very little of those good days, and so they must have been few, while my evil days were many. Still, the days that passed over, without my spending a great part of them in prayer, were few, unless I was very ill, or very much occupied.
Eighteen Years! Can You Believe it?
“4. When I was ill, I was well with God. I contrived that those about me should be so, too, and I made supplications to Our Lord for this grace, and spoke frequently of Him. Thus, with the exception of that year of which I have been speaking, during eight-and-twenty years of prayer, I spent more than eighteen in that strife and contention which arose out of my attempts to reconcile God and the world.”
[What amazes is the length of the combat in the arena of lukewarmness and worldliness―it was eighteen years! It is almost akin to St. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica, spending all those years and tears in praying for the conversion of her son from his problems and sins! Hey, soldier! This could be a long battle! Maybe it’s already been a long one! Hang on in there!]
Persevere in Prayer! But What Kind of Prayer?
“5. The reason, then, of my telling this at so great a length is that, as I have just said, the mercy of God and my ingratitude, on the one hand, may become known; and, on the other, that men may understand how great is the good which God works in a soul when He gives it a disposition to pray in earnest, though it may not be so well prepared as it ought to be.
“If that soul perseveres in spite of sins, temptations, and relapses—brought about in a thousand ways by Satan—Our Lord will bring it at last—I am certain of it—to the harbor of salvation, as He has brought me myself; for so it seems to me now. May His Majesty grant I may never go back and be lost! He who gives himself to prayer is in possession of a great blessing, of which many saintly and good men have written—I am speaking of mental prayer—glory be to God for it; and, if they had not done so, I am not proud enough, though I have but little humility, to presume to discuss it.”
[Now here is the key! The “Prayer” that she is speaking of, is, as she says, MENTAL PRAYER. She is not speaking of just praying Rosaries and the prayers we have in our prayer books, but she talking about putting aside time for MEDITATION, which is what mental prayer really is. Now, of course, you can practice mental prayer and pray the Rosary at the same time, this is what “meditating the mysteries is all about; but how people actually do that? At best it might be a surface, window-shopping, drive-by meditation, rather than the deeper version Our Lady is looking for and which she calls the “soul” of the Rosary].
Pray! No Matter How Bad You Are!
“6. I may speak of that which I know by experience; and so I say, let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked; for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult. Let him not be tempted by Satan, as I was, to give it up, on the pretense of humility; let him rather believe that His words are true Who says that, if we truly repent, and resolve never to offend Him, He will take us into His favor again, give us the graces He gave us before, and occasionally even greater, if our repentance deserves it. And as to him who has not begun to pray, I implore him by the love of our Lord not to deprive himself of so great a good.”
[This dovetails with what St. Louis de Montfort says in particular of the prayer of the Holy Rosary: “Poor men and women who are sinners … If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins ‘you shall receive a never‑fading crown of glory’ (1 Peter 5:4). Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if ― and mark well what I say ― if you say the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, Introduction: “A Red Rose”). Many other saints say similar things about the power of prayer―especially prayer to Our Lady and praying the Rosary].
That leads us to the coming of the Holy Ghost. We read that in preparation for receiving the Holy Ghost, Our Lady, the Apostles and the disciples of Our Lord, were all together in the Upper Room PERSEVERING IN PRAYER FOR NINE DAYS prior to the descent of the Holy Ghost from Heaven. No prayer, no Holy Ghost, no Gifts of the Holy Ghost! No prayer, no spirit of God! No spirit of God means a weak and crippled soldier of God and Christ—useless or of little use and little effect in the battle against the devil, the world and the flesh.
There is a lot of talk about disease and death, positive tested patients, symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, Coronavirus or COVID-19, previously known as “2019 Novel Coronavirus” and now also known as SARS-CoV-2, which stands for “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2” or whatever else you want to call it!
Governors of States were emptying hospitals to make way for the expected plague of Coronavirus deaths―yet in most States, those hospitals remained relatively empty! Makeshift “tent-hospitals” were being ceremoniously erected here, there and everywhere―which remain empty to this day!
Governor Cuomo of New York State was screaming for more ventilators when he was sent 400 ventilators by FEMA, saying on CBS: “What am I going to do with 400 ventilators? When I need 30,000! You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die! Because you only sent 400 ventilators!” He then projected that the State of New York would need as much as 140,000 beds, with an additional 40,000 ICU beds―yet The Associated Press reported that New York City officials have said, on April 8th, 2020, that at least 80% of Coronavirus patients who were on ventilators in the city died and some doctors are trying to reduce their reliance on ventilators for Coronavirus patients, because of reports of abnormally high death rates for patients using the machines. Unusually high death rates due to ventilator use have also been recorded elsewhere in the US and the world. Doctors have also said ventilators can damage the lungs by forcing too much oxygen into the lungs at high pressure — and while the machines may be an effective way to treat other respiratory illnesses, some are looking for alternative treatments. The Daily Mail (UK) also reported: “A frontline nurse working in New York on Coronavirus patients claims the city is killing sufferers by putting them on ventilators, advocating against them. The nurse persuaded a friend, a nurse practitioner who is not working on coronavirus patients, to make the video to get the word out. ‘It’s a horror movie! Not because of the disease, but the way it is being handled!’ the frontline nurse said through the friend, who only was identified as Sara NP (=Nurse Practitioner). Sara said COVID-19 patients are placed on ventilators rather than less invasive CPAP or BiPAP machines due to fears about the virus spreading. She explained: ‘The ventilators have high pressure, which then causes barotrauma, it causes trauma to the lungs!’” Governor Cuomo of New York State is screaming for more death machines! The ‘cure’ is sometimes worse than the disease, Governor!
On the other side of the fence, God’s medicine is being restricted, refused or even ridiculed. Sufficient tests―by THOSE WHO REALLY WANT TO TEST―have shown that God has already placed many things in Nature―WHICH CANNOT BE PATENTED―for our health and well-being. As regards COVID-19, some of those things include plain-old and simple FRESH AIR―which many sane and honest doctors tell you is the basic and foundational “medicine” for all respiratory diseases. Yet the professed “medics” of the “establishment” have been hounding everyone to stay indoors―away from the fresh air. Statistics show that INDOOR AIR is four times worse that the modern contaminated OUTDOOR AIR that we currently breathe.
Another closely linked “medicine” that God has provided us with is God-made SUNLIGHT. It is an undisputed and proven fact that sunlight is a major health benefit―producing VITAMIN D in the body. Recent research also shows vitamin D levels are strongly correlated to the severity of the illness experienced Recent scientific papers have highlighted the role vitamin D may be playing in the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in severe cases. In view of the fact that researchers have also shown that COVID-19 is rapidly inactivated by sunlight, States that are banning people from parks and beaches, are undoubtedly committing a grave error. In fact, it has been nearly impossible to uncover and document outdoor transmission of the disease. This is because one factor for catching disease is dependent on the viral load ― the amount of exposure which is quickly diluted outdoors and inactivated by sunlight. Exposure to sunlight is also seen to increase the brain’s release of a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with boosting mood and helping a person feel calm and focused.
There are many other things in Nature, not least in foods, that have been shown to be effective against COVID-19, but the godless establishment “narrative” and “medical know-how” merely “pooh-poohs” all of these God-given gifts and medicines! For what reasons? Be your own judge of that!
Where is the Plague of Death?
Despite all the hype and hoopla over the predicted death rate of millions and millions around the world―with the worst case scenario for the USA being placed in the millions. Back in mid-March, one projected model from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that between 160 million and 210 million, out of the entire US population of 330 million Americans, could contract the disease over as long as a year. Based on mortality data and current hospital capacity, the number of deaths, under the CDC’s scenarios, ranged from 200,000 to as many as 1.7 million. The CDC stated that as many as 21 million Americans (1 in 15) might need hospitalization, a daunting figure in a nation with just about 925,000 hospital beds.
As of May 28th, 2020, we are nowhere near the scare-mongering prediction of 1.7 million deaths out of 160 to 210 infected Americans. The current “inflated” and “fudged” death rate is “officially” placed at 103,118 deaths out of a 1,762,152 (1.7 million) reported cases. Where are the 21 million hospitalized Americans? Where are the 210 million infected Americans. Truth be told―the vast majority of cases throughout the USA and the world have been MILD cases (98% MILD and only 2% CRITICAL).
Talking of death rates, in the USA, in 2017, an average of 7,708 deaths occurred each day―giving a total of just over 2,813,503 (2.8 million) American deaths annually. In 2018, a total of 2,839,205 (2.83 million) resident deaths were registered in the United States—25,702 more deaths than in 2017.
January, February, and December were the months with the highest average daily number of deaths in the USA. (8,478, 8,351, and 8,344, respectively). June, July, and August were the months with the lowest average daily number of deaths (7,298, 7,157, and 7,158, respectively). Since the time of the Coronovirus or COVID-19 death, February 29th, 2020, up to the current date of May 28th, 2020, there have been a “purported” total (inflated total) of 103,000 deaths claimed for the USA―yet last year, for the same period of March 1st to May 31st, 2019, the total of USA deaths from all diseases was 700,000. Compared to the “over-inflated”, “fudged-figures” and “death certificate misrepresentations” to exaggerate COVID-19 deaths and raise them to a false high total of 103,000 deaths―which now the CDC sheepishly admits is over-reported and over-estimated by around 25% ― when you compare that (25% inflated) 103,000 to the 80,000 flu deaths in 2018, it does not quite look like the world-shattering, cataclysmic, never-before-seen event that the media and certain government agencies have made it out to be. Take away the fake inflation of 25% from the USA COVID-19 deaths and you are left with 75,000 COVID deaths compared to the 2018 80,000 flu deaths―granted that the flu deaths were over a full flu season, which is more than the 3 months of COVID deaths thus far. But still … what a load of hype and hoopla and destruction of the lives and livelihood of people! Immoral, illegal and insidious!
The CDC published the following stats:
Number of deaths: In 2017 it was 2,813,503 (2.81 million American deaths; in 2018 it was 2,839,205 (2.83 million American deaths)
Death rate: 864 deaths per 100,000 population (which is, brace yourself, 1 in every 115 Americans die each year―which has been a fairly constant average for the last 12 years)
Life expectancy: 78.6 years. The CDC, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released demographic data showing that COVID-19 is hard on the elderly, with those aged 65 and older accounting for 80% of the U.S. deaths from the COVID-19 disease, for which. But this is true of most illnesses: In 2018, 78% of all U.S. deaths from internal causes (that is, excluding accidents, murders, overdoses and the like) were among those 65 and older―so COVID-19 brings nothing new to the table there.
The Modern-Day "Fire-and Brimstone" Preacher
The media―and especially the people behind the media―have run a relentless fear-mongering campaign for many months now―which puts to shame even the most fervent and assiduous “fire-and-brimstone” preacher, telling his congregation that “The end is nigh! Repent! Repent! The end is nigh!”
One can imagine today’s media mocking and ridiculing such a “fire-and-brimstone” preacher or priest, yet the media has stolen the priest’s surplice and stole, or vestments, and given the longest sermon in the history of mankind on the “fire-and-brimstone” of COVID-19, endlessly, tirelessly, ubiquitously warning us: “The end is nigh! This will never go away! Death! Death! Everywhere! Things will never be normal again! Isolate before it’s too late! Quarantine! Wear your mask! Keep your distance! Don’t shake hands! Wear gloves! Wash your hands! Wash them all over! Wash for at least 20 seconds! Carry your hand-sanitizer with you always! Above all, to be saved―you must be vaccinated! If you are not vaccinated, you cannot go to work! You cannot go shopping! You cannot leave your house! Hurry! Hurry! Get vaccinated by the church of Bill Gates―our ‘god’-sent Messias! He really cares for your health and the health of all the world! The end is nigh! This will never go away! Act now before it’s too late! Vaccinate! Vaccinate! Save yourself!”
What sounds more ridiculous? The above message, or the following message? The message that follows is that of God and His One True Holy Apostolic Catholic Church―a message mocked by the world, but a message that is more sane and less ridiculous than the message being preached from the pulpits of media and government agencies and podiums of governors!
“The end is nigh!” [says Our Lady of Fatima]. “The chastisement will not go away!” [says Our Lady, and reiterated by Pope John Paul II, who said we can no longer prevent what is about to come, we can only mitigate, i.e. soften it]. “Most souls die and go to Hell” [says Our Lord, Our Lady and numerous saints―Sr. Lucia of Fatima also says this]. “Isolate yourself from the world!” [Scripture says this, as well as Our Lady]. “Quarantine or separate yourselves from the world, lest you be contaminated by the world!” [Scripture again says this, as well as Our Lady]. “Wear your Scapular!”… “Carry your Rosary with you everywhere and use it!” … “Get yourself tested for the virus of sin often by an daily examination of conscience!” … “Wash your soul with grace in Confession!” … “Take the vaccines the Church offers you―the vaccines of Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion!” … “Above all, get yourself baptized―otherwise you will not be saved! Get vaccinated in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ! He alone really cares for you!”
Which Message Matters Most?
Which message is more important? A message that is not entirely true or sound and that only seeks to preserve (or pretends to seek and preserve) your short, meager earthly life―actually, it cannot preserve it, but only prolong it for a short while! Or is the most important message the true and sound message, that seeks to preserve you for ETERNAL LIFE, which, even though it has you pass through the gates of death, it is only to lead you into an ETERNAL LIFE of happiness, peace, joy, security, love and bliss―devoid of any disease, with no suffering, no pain, no anxiety, no fear, no enmity, no rivalry, no plots and agendas, no harm, no hatred, no vengeance, no isolation and no quarantine―FOR EVER AND EVER. Which message should be given the most attention? Which message matters most?
The truth is that sin matters more than disease―in fact, disease and death is the effect, offspring, or child of sin: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “By one man sin entered into this world, and. by sin, death! And so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20).
Our Lord came―not to save us from disease, though He did heal many and raise some from the dead, only to let them die later―but He came to save us from eternal death in Hell, which is the eternal disease with its eternal pain that sin brings upon us. Our Lord Himself clearly said: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no―but separation!” (Luke 12:51). He has come to separate us from sin and sinners. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill!” (Matthew 5:17). “I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see!” (John 9:39). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Part of that “fire” is to burn the bridges with the world, sin and its allurements.
One of chief reasons most souls fall into the fires of Hell is because there is too little said and too little preached upon―not just the fires of Hell―but also insufficient preaching on the fires of love. Even though the modern-day Church will talk about the love, love, love of God until it comes out of your ears and nostrils, it does not speak of a true love or a true charity, which, if it is true, will burn away all sin and cover all debt for sin―for it leads to a hatred of sin, a dislike for and a distancing from the world, and to fervent penance.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:12). “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). “Charity covereth all sins!” (Proverbs 10:12).
Lukewarmness is a Lack of Love
Lukewarmness is “love gone cold” or “love no longer hot”. God, in Holy Scripture, has these strong words for the lukewarm: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold [charity/love], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous, therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
In the previous article, we spoke of the frequency of lukewarmness and the discomfort or even hatred people have in acknowledging the fact that they are lukewarm. Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness―has a whole chapter dedicated to lukewarmness, its causes, effects and remedies―in which he states his opinion that the vast majority of Catholics are lukewarm―and he is speaking of the 1840s and 1850s!!! There were no technological ‘viruses’ and ‘diseases’ to spur on and increase that lukewarmness, of the kind that we have today. Yet, today, we have a great difficulty in admitting to any lukewarmness. Yet St. Teresa of Avila has no problem in doing so, she even admits to it publicly in her own writings. This is, at the same time, consoling, strengthening and inspirational: for it shows us that saints are like us, they have the same problems, difficulties and temptations as we do; yet they show us a way through all these things and out of all these things. With that in mind, we shall let St. Teresa continue with her most enlightening and instructive account of her lukewarmness, with its causes and effects. We shall add a few comments, in color, in an attempt to relate what St. Teresa says to our present day and age―and the terrible consequences that threaten us―as individuals and the world as a whole―if we do nothing about our state and do not change. In other words, we really need to sign-up for a spiritual ”Boot Camp” if we are in earnest about saving our souls―for most souls are lost! Even St. Teresa of Avila, after being shown her place in Hell if she would not change, said that she saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes in a blizzard! Let us take the path she took and bring about a radical change before we fall into such a grim but very realistic fate!
CHAPTER SEVEN OF ST. TERESA’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
World is Fun, God is Not
1. So, then, going on from pastime to pastime, from vanity to vanity, from one occasion of sin to another, I began to expose myself exceedingly to the very greatest dangers: my soul was so distracted by many vanities, that I was ashamed to draw near unto God in an act of such special friendship as that of prayer. As my sins multiplied, I began to lose the pleasure and comfort I had in virtuous things: and that loss contributed to the abandonment of prayer. I see now most clearly, O my Lord, that this comfort departed from me because I had departed from Thee.
Doing Only the Minimum
2. It was the most fearful delusion into which Satan could plunge me—to give up prayer under the pretense of humility. I began to be afraid of giving myself to prayer, because I saw myself so lost. Seeing that in my wickedness I was one of the most wicked, I thought it would be better for me to live like the multitude—to say only the prayers which I was bound to say, and say those prayers vocally: not to practice mental prayer, nor communicate with God so much; for I deserved to be with the devils, and was deceiving those who were lived around me, because I made an outward show of goodness; and therefore the community, in which I dwelt, is not to be blamed; for with my cunning I so managed matters, that all had a good opinion of me; and yet I did not seek this deliberately by pretending or simulating devotion.
[Too often we fall into the same temptation—”to be like the rest.” We know what is right and proper, but “we go along to get along” and shy away from “rocking the boat.” Yet we forget that the multitude is not saved, and that the majority lose their souls: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). The devil, human respect and the desire to be liked, blinds us to this truth, so “we go along to get along” for fear of what others may think, say or do if they see us getting to be too religious!]
For in all that relates to hypocrisy and ostentation (doing things so that everyone notices)—glory be to God!—I do not remember that I ever offended Him, so far as I know. The very first movements towards hypocrisy and ostentation gave me such pain, that the devil would depart from me with loss, and the gain remained with me; and thus, accordingly, he never tempted me much in this way. Perhaps, however, if God had permitted Satan to tempt me as sharply herein as he tempted me in other things, I should have fallen also into this; but His Majesty has preserved me until now. May He be blessed for evermore! It was rather a heavy affliction to me that I should be thought so well of; for I knew my own secret.
Vanity Knows How to Manipulate
3. The reason why they thought I was not so wicked was this: they saw that I, who was so young, and exposed to so many occasions of sin, withdrew myself so often into solitude for prayer, read much, spoke of God, that I liked to have His image painted in many places, to have an oratory of my own, and furnish it with objects of devotion, that I spoke ill of no one, and other things of the same kind in me which have the appearance of virtue. Yet all the while—I was so vain—I knew how to procure respect for myself by doing those things which in the world are usually regarded with respect.
Too Much Freedom and Independence
4. In consequence of this, they gave me as much freedom as they did to the oldest nuns, and even more, and had great confidence in me; for as to taking any liberty for myself, or doing anything without leave—such as conversing through the door, or in secret, or by night—I do not think I could have brought myself to speak with anybody in the monastery in that way, and I never did it; for Our Lord held me back. It seemed to me—for I considered many things carefully and of set purpose—that it would be a very evil deed on my part, wicked as I was, to risk the credit of so many nuns, who were all good—as if everything else I did was well done! In truth, the evil I did was not the result of deliberation, as this would have been, if I had done it, although it was too much so.
[Though, in the next few paragraphs, St. Teresa speaks of life in the monastery or convent, we can very readily and easily apply this to Catholic family life or the Catholic school. For the Catholic family should be like a cloister that protects its members from the world and its worldly influences, just like the monastery or convent should protect the religious, who live within its walls, from the spirit of the outside world. We can also apply these paragraphs to our Catholic schools, which should also be cloisters for Catholic children, likewise protecting them from the world and its worldliness. Looked at from this perspective, the next few paragraphs teach us a great deal].
A Monastery (School or Home) Without Walls
5. Therefore, I think that it did me much harm to be in a monastery that was not not enclosed [meaning that the nuns had frequent contact with the world]. The freedom or liberty, which those who were good might have with advantage—they not being obliged to do more than they do, because they had not bound themselves to enclosure—would certainly have led me, who am wicked, straight to Hell, if Our Lord, by so many remedies and means of His most singular mercy, had not delivered me out of that danger—and it is, I believe, the very greatest danger—namely, a monastery of women unenclosed—yea, more, I think it is, for those who tend to or want to be wicked, a road to Hell, rather than a help to their weakness.
This is not to be understood of my monastery; for there are so many there who in the utmost sincerity, and in great perfection, serve Our Lord [likewise, not all Catholic families or schools are lax and worldly], so that His Majesty, according to His goodness, cannot but be gracious unto them; neither is it one of those which are most open, because all religious observances are kept in it; and I am speaking only of others which I have seen and known.
[How many parents, principals and teachers do the work of the devil for him, by not building ‘walls’ that will enclose and protect the children from the world. It is not enough to protect them from only the worst things, but also the little things, because forest fires are started by a small spark, and adult criminals were once merely naughty undisciplined children].
Calling Some Sins ‘Virtues’!
6. I am exceedingly sorry for these houses, because Our Lord must of necessity send His special inspirations not merely once, but many times, if the nuns therein are to be saved, seeing that the honors and amusements of the world are allowed among them, and the obligations of their state are so ill-understood. God grant they may not count that to be virtue which is really a sin, as I did so often! It is very difficult to make people understand this; it is necessary Our Lord Himself should take the matter seriously into His own hands.
[Alas! Those amusements of the world! How many families and schools think nothing of allowing the ‘amusements’ of the world into the home and school environment; some even encourage, praise and extol them! Our Lady bewailed this at La Salette, when, speaking of future times, she said that “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement.”]
Take Care Where You Allow Your Children to Go!
7. If parents would take my advice, now that they are at no pains to place their daughters where they may walk in the way of salvation, without incurring a greater risk than they would do if they were left in the world, let them look at least at that which concerns their good name. Let them marry them to persons of a much lower degree, rather than place them in monasteries of this kind, unless they be of extremely good inclinations, and God grant that these inclinations may come to good! Or let them keep them at home.
[What St. Teresa is saying here is that even though a monastery is a monastery, it is not necessarily a good monastery, but it may be a bad monastery and therefore a danger to the soul. Likewise, just because a home or school is a Catholic home or school, does not necessarily make it a good Catholic home or school. It does not take much to light the fuse that will eventually lead to the destruction of a child’s (or an adult’s) soul. Just like the example of the mustard seed that Our Lord gives in the Bible, a little tiny seed grows into a massive plant. Likewise, a little exposure to evil or bad example, will sow the seed that will grow into future sin].
If they will be wicked at home, their evil life can be hidden only for a short time; but in monasteries it can be hidden long, and, in the end, it is Our Lord that discovers it. They injure not only themselves, but all the nuns also. And all the while the poor things are not in fault; for they walk in the way that is shown them. Many of them are to be pitied; for they wished to withdraw from the world, and, thinking to escape from the dangers of it, and that they were going to serve Our Lord, have found themselves in ten worlds at once, without knowing what to do, or how to help themselves. Youth and sensuality and the devil invite them and incline them to follow certain ways which are of the essence of worldliness. They see these ways, so to speak, considered as safe there.
[Many Catholic schools today, even some of the most conservative or traditional, can be hotbeds of corruption, because they do only the minimal in keeping out the world and worldliness from within its walls. They forget the words of Scripture, which warn us: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” (1 Peter 5:8). The hallmark of Liberalism is not to offend anyone, to be nice to everyone, to ‘understand’ others—even if those ‘others’ are destroying everything!! Alas, how many good schools have fallen in battle with this Liberal approach!]
Blinded to Truth
8. Now, these seem to me to be, in some degree, like those wretched heretics who will make themselves blind, and who will consider that which they do to be good, and so believe, but without really believing; for they have within themselves something that tells them it is wrong. [It is amazing how much willful blindness there is amongst Catholics; they see, but they see as they want to see, they see things as they would like them to be, but they see not reality. Almost like the heretics that St. Teresa speaks of, they deform and reform certain parts of the Faith so that it fits with their mindset and attitude. This kind of way of thinking and acting is the essence of Liberalism and Modernism, and it is rampant today. It is so prevalent, that most people think there is nothing wrong with it!]
Trying to Serve God and Mammon
9. Oh, what utter ruin! Utter ruin of religious persons—I am not speaking now more of women than of men, but of both—where the rules of the Order are not kept; where the same monastery offers two roads: one of virtue and observance, the other of inobservance, and both equally frequented! I have spoken incorrectly: they are not equally frequented; for, on account of our sins, the way of the greatest imperfection is the most frequented; and because it is the broadest, it is also the most in favor.
[Again we have to say: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This is true of so many, many Catholic families and schools, who live in a false sense of security, sheltering under the complacency of the false idea of safety in numbers!].
The way of religious observance is so little used, that the friar and the nun who would really begin to follow their vocation thoroughly have reason to fear the members of their communities more than all the devils together. They must be more cautious, and dissemble more, when they would speak of that friendship with God which they desire to have, than when they would speak of those friendships and affections which the devil arranges in monasteries. [This friendship with the world and the worldly is the ruin of so many souls: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31). We are commanded to love God first; our neighbor only comes after God!].
I know not why we are astonished that the Church is in so much trouble, when we see those, who ought to be an example of every virtue to others, so disfigure the work which the spirit of the Saints departed wrought in their Orders. May it please His Divine Majesty to apply a remedy to this, as He sees it to be needful! Amen.
[As Our Lady said at La Salette: “Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches to protect their authority and dominate with pride ... [who] by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures ... are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads ... Rome will lose the Faith ... and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops”].
(click here to read Our Lady of La Salette’s entire message)
Praying Less and Less
“I had become so dissipated, and had ceased to pray, and yet saw that he [Teresa’s father] still thought I was what I used to be, I could not endure it, and so undeceived him. I had been a year and more without praying, thinking it an act of greater humility to abstain … When that blessed man [her father], having that good opinion of me, came to visit me, it pained me to see him so deceived as to think that I used to pray to God as before. So I told him that I did not pray; but I did not tell him why. I put my infirmities forward as an excuse … My father believed me when I gave him that for a reason, as he never told a lie himself; neither should I have done so … [Alas, how true it is that we make excuses, exaggerate, twist, hide or deny the truth, just so that we can continue in our ‘hidden’ state of lukewarmness. St. Teresa publicly admits to it in her autobiography, we, on the other hand deny it and hide it].
Double Standards
“At this time, that illness befell my father of which he died; it lasted some days. I went to nurse him, being more sick in spirit than he was in body, owing to my many vanities—though not, so far as I know, to the extent of being in mortal sin—through the whole of that wretched time of which I am speaking; for, if I knew myself to be in mortal sin, I would not have continued in it on any account ...
[That is a typical, common and universal trait of lukewarmness: “mortal sin never, venial sin forever!” For the lukewarm, venial sin is sometimes not even ‘on the radar’! The only thing that worries them is mortal sin. There is no real love of God in this attitude: for both mortal sin and venial sin are the TWO GREATEST EVILS in the world, as our catechism teaches us. To put it into concrete terms, it is like saying: “I will not knife or shoot Our Lord (mortal sin), but I have no problems in punching Him, kicking Him, spitting at Him and mocking Him (venial sin)!” Lukewarmness is this walking contradiction. If any lukewarm soul manages to escape Hell, it is not through their pretended ‘love’ of God, but simply because of God’s pity and mercy upon their pitiable state.
Comparing this state of lukewarmness to the current Coronavirus Plannedemic, you could say that LUKEWARMNESS IS OUR WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM―WEAKENED SPIRITUAL SYSTEM. This has been brought about by years of laboring under MULTIPLE CO-MORBITITIES (underlying health problems), but in this case, MULTIPLE SPIRITUAL CO-MORBIDITIES, whereby the HEART (LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOUR) IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY; and DIABETES (TOO MANY SWEET WORLDLY PLEASURES AND COMFORTS) together with INSULIN (GRACE) RESISTANCE; and INFLAMMATION (PRIDE). Just like COVID-19 affects and kills mostly those with compromised immune systems and co-morbidities, likewise do the temptations of Satan and the world mostly affect and kill the life of grace in those who have a weak love of God and neighbor, a love of pleasure and comfort, and who are infected with high levels of pride, whether it be subtle hidden pride, or brash, outward pride manifested visibly and audibly].
God Sends a Rescuer
St. Teresa continues: “How much the more I am to be blamed for my wickedness; for after seeing such a death [of her father], and knowing what his life had been, I, in order to be in any wise like unto such a father, ought to have grown better. His confessor, a most learned Dominican, used to say that he had no doubt he went straight to Heaven. He had heard his confession for some years, and spoke with praise of the purity of his conscience.
“This Dominican father, who was a very good God-fearing man, did me a very great service; for I confessed to him. He took upon himself the task of helping my soul in earnest, and of making me see the perilous state I was in. He sent me to Communion once a fortnight [at that time people went to Communion very, very rarely, it was only after Pope St. Pius X allowed frequent Communion, in the early 1900s, that we entered the current period of frequent Communion]; and I, by degrees beginning to speak to him, told him about my prayer life. He commanded me never to omit it: that, anyhow, it could not do me anything but good. So I began to return to my prayer life—though I did not cut off the occasions of sin—and never afterwards gave it up. [Once again, Teresa admits to being a walking contradiction: she wants to love God, yet continues to hold fast to the friendship of the world and its occasions of sin: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Our Lord said that we cannot love and serve both God and mammon].
Under the Microscope of Prayer
St. Teresa says: “My life became most wretched, because I learned in prayer more and more of my faults. On one side, God was calling me; on the other, I was following the world. All the things of God gave me great pleasure; and I was a prisoner to the things of the world. It seemed as if I wished to reconcile two contradictions, so much at variance one with another, as are the life of the spirit and the joys and pleasures and amusements of sense. I suffered much in prayer; for the spirit was slave, and not master; and so I was not able to shut myself up within myself—that was my whole method of prayer—without shutting up with me a thousand vanities at the same time. I spent many years in this way; and I am now astonished that anyone could have borne it without abandoning either the one or the other.
[Some people live in this state for more than the “many years” that St. Teresa speaks of―their entire lives are spent in lukewarmness, without even realizing or suspecting that they are lukewarm. This is because, as the already quoted opinions of the spiritual masters state, most of the world is lukewarm; and, as the Fr. Faber states, lukewarmness is a spiritual blindness, and the blind lead the blind into the pit. Generations of lukewarm families are like one long chain, ‘dancing-the-conga’ into the pit. Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter. Generations of successive lukewarm ‘Pied-Pipers’ leading others into the same lukewarm dance! A lukewarm tree will produce lukewarm fruit. You cannot give what you haven’t got].
The Need for Spiritual Friends
St. Teresa point out: “It is a great evil for a soul to be alone in the midst of such great dangers; it seems to me that if I had had anyone with whom I could have spoken of all this, it might have helped me not to fall. I might, at least, have been ashamed before him—and yet I was not ashamed before God! For this reason, I would advise those who give themselves to over to prayer, particularly at first, to form friendships; and converse familiarly, with others who are doing the same thing [Birds of a feather flock together. Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you what you are]. It is a matter of the greatest importance, even if it leads only to helping one another by prayer: how much more, seeing that it has led to much greater gain!
“Now [in secular matters], if in their conversations with one with another, and in the indulgence of human affections, even not of the best kind, men seek with whom they may refresh themselves, and for the purpose of having greater satisfaction in speaking of their empty joys; then I know no reason why it should also not be lawful for him, who is beginning to love and serve God in earnest, to confide to another person his joys and sorrows; for they, who are given to prayer, are thoroughly accustomed to both joy and sorrow. [How little spiritual conversation is heard in the home, at the dinner table, in recreation, in the work place, etc. All this is both an indication of our lukewarmness, and it is also conducive to (leads to) lukewarmness—for there are no logs being thrown on the fires of our love for God, and so, naturally, those fires start to cool and go out. On the contrary, how wonderful and joyful it is to be able to speak for long hours on the things of God with like-minded souls, and how strengthening is such a sublime pursuit!].
Two Heads Are Better Than One
St. Teresa continues: “For if that friendship with God, which he desires, be real, I believe that he who will discuss the matter, with this intention, will profit both himself and those who hear him, and thus will derive more light for his own understanding, as well as for the instruction of his friends. He who in discussing his method of prayer falls into vain-glory, will do so also when he hears Mass devoutly, if he is seen by men, and in doing other good works, which [hearing Mass and doing good works] must be done under pain of being no Christian; and yet these things must not be omitted through fear of vain-glory.
“Moreover, it is a most important matter for those souls who are not strong in virtue; for they have so many people, enemies as well as friends, to urge them the wrong way, that I do not see how this point is capable of exaggeration. It seems to me that Satan has employed this ruse—and it is of the greatest service to him—namely, that men, who really wish to love and please God, should hide the fact, while others, at his suggestion, make open show of their malicious dispositions; and this is so common, that it seems a matter of boasting now, and the offenses committed against God are thus published abroad. [We see this all the more today, where everywhere the world seeks to publish “bad news” but rarely “good news”; we are very quick to speak of the faults of others, but ever so slow or reluctant to speak of their virtues. Why is this? Partially, it is because we are so lukewarm; and, therefore, to expose and point out the sins and failings of others makes us feel less culpable in our lukewarmness: as they say in sports, “attack is the best form of defense.” Speaking of the virtues of others would put us, with our lukewarmness, in bad light and bring unwanted pressure upon us to improve our state.]
Lie of Living Safe Among Worldly Vanities & Pleasures
“I do not know whether the things I am saying are foolish or not ... [but] the things that relate to the service of God are so feebly managed, that it is necessary for those, who would serve Him, to join shoulder to shoulder, if they are to advance at all; for it is considered ‘safe’ to live amidst the vanities and pleasures of the world, and few there be who regard them with unfavorable eyes. But if any one begins to give himself up to the service of God, there are so many people who will suddenly find fault with him, that it becomes necessary for him to seek companions, in order that he may find protection among them, till he grows strong enough not to feel what he may be made to suffer. If he does not, he will find himself in great straits. [Sadly, what she says is all the more true today: “it is considered ‘safe’ to live amidst the vanities and pleasures of the world.” Whether it be in home-life, school-life, work-life or social-life, most Catholics have not only made peace with the vanities and pleasures of the world, but they think more of them, talk more of them and pursue them more often than they do God!]
“This, I believe, must have been the reason why some of the Saints withdrew into the desert. [Today, it is almost necessary to withdraw into a desert within ourselves: we live in the world, we work in the world, but we must strive not to be a part of the world. In a certain sense, the reverse of the image we have of an oasis in a desert, whereby we become a desert of safety surrounded by the many worldly oases of pleasure and vanities. We cannot expect to flirt with danger and save our souls: “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The world is our danger]. And it is a kind of humility in man, not to trust to himself, but to believe that God will help him in his relations with those [she speaks of the friendship of good persons, not evil persons] with whom he converses; and charity grows by being shared and diffused; and there are a thousand blessings herein which I would not dare to speak of, if I had not known by experience the great importance of it. It is very true that I am the most wicked and the basest of all who are born of women; but I believe that he who, humbling himself, though strong, yet trusteth not in himself, and believeth another who in this matter has had experience, will lose nothing.
Good Friends, Bad Friends
“Of myself, I may say that, if Our Lord had not revealed to me this truth, and given me the opportunity of speaking very frequently to persons given over to prayer, I should have gone on falling and rising till I eventually tumbled into Hell. I had many ‘friends’ to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was left to myself so much, that I wonder how it was that I was not always on the ground. I praise God for His mercy; for it was He only Who stretched out His hand to me. May He be blessed for ever! Amen.”
Lukewarmness Twists the Truth
There is a danger of falling into a false sense of security, which is what lukewarmness is forever seeking and advocating. Lukewarmness pleads and serenades us with thoughts such as: “Don’t worry! See! Teresa was lukewarm for many years and SHE became a saint! It will be the same for you! Besides, becoming a saint doesn’t happen overnight—it takes time! Soooo, take your time! Anyway, you’re not really lukewarm, you’re just prudent! If you try to do too much too soon, you might pull a spiritual muscle—and then what good will you be?” The false seductive reasoning of the devil is all that this is!
Out of all the hoards of lukewarm persons who lived many years or decades in lukewarmness, how many St. Teresas came out of their ranks? Very few! We sow as we reap; and God “will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6), “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). That is why God says in the Book of Apocalypse:
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched [a sinner], and miserable [finding joy in the world, not God], and poor [in grace and merits], and blind [lukewarm], and naked [without virtues]. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried [true charity], that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Teresa’s Medicine Cabinet for the Virus of Lukewarmness
Having confessed to her lukewarmness, and having painted a picture to illustrate parts of it, St. Teresa now leads us to the medicine cabinet to look for a cure. In these next paragraphs from her autobiography, she shows us how, after many years of languishing in lukewarmness, she begins to emerge from its consumptive cloud.
There is a saying in the spiritual life, especially encountered in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, that says: “Agere contra” which literally means “Act against”, which in its intended meaning says: “Do the opposite.” If we are tempted to be mean, let us be generous; if we are tempted to be angry, let us be meek; if we are tempted to be proud, let us be humble, and so on.
In her ‘confessions’, St. Teresa has been telling us about her lack of prayer. Prayer is a primary source of grace; and without grace we cannot fight the temptations offered to us by the devil, the world and the flesh. Lack of prayer means lack of grace; and lack of grace means lack of strength; and lack of strength means lack of effort; and lack of effort results in lukewarmness.
So, St. Teresa’s recommendation is to force ourselves back into prayer, cost what it may, no matter how painful it may be. We must approach it like a ‘couch-potato’ would have to approach physical exercise: it is an abhorrent thought to him, but it is the only way back to full health, a very painful way at first, but less painful with each week, as the body starts to get accustomed to the increased strains and efforts that are encountered and demanded
Once again, we will quote St. Teresa (this time from chapter 8 of her autobiography) and add occasional comments in colored text.
Ignoring the Strong Pillar of Prayer
“1. It is not without reason that I have dwelt so long on this portion of my life. I see clearly that it will give no one pleasure to see anything so base; and certainly I wish those, who may read this, to have me in abhorrence, as a soul so obstinate and so ungrateful to Him Who did so much for me. I could wish, too, I had permission to say how often at this time I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.
“I passed nearly twenty years on this stormy sea, falling and rising, but rising to no good purpose, seeing that I went and fell again. My life was one of [supposed] perfection; but it was so mean, that I scarcely made any account whatever of venial sins; and, though of mortal sins I was afraid, I was not so afraid of them as I ought to have been, because I did not avoid the perilous occasions of them.”
[Here we see St. Teresa in a kind of ‘no-man’s land’ or ‘half-way-house’ where she wants to leave the world and go to God, but still feels the gravity or ‘pull’ of the world more than she feels the ‘pull’ of God. It makes us recall the words of St. Paul, when he says: “The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin ... For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do ... For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do ... For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
That rescuing grace of God, comes to us mainly through prayer, sometimes very painful prayer, sometimes seemingly ineffective prayer. But just like exercise can seem painful and ineffective at the outset, it quickly becomes, if persevered in, increasingly productive.]
Neither God nor World is Sweet
St. Teresa then adds: “I may say that it was the most painful life that can be imagined, because I had no sweetness in God, and no pleasure in the world.” [It is like the ‘couch-potato’ who finds no fun in his flab, but at the same time finds no fun in exercise either. Yet what a great grace from God: to begin to find dissatisfaction with the world! It is sign of a likely cure to our ills!]
“2. When I was in the midst of the pleasures of the world, the remembrance of what I owed to God made me sad; and when I was praying to God, my worldly affections disturbed me. This is so painful a struggle, that I know not how I could have borne it for a month, let alone for so many years.”
[We can relate to her struggles for we have the same struggles, and we should take heart from her struggles to courageously follow her down the path of recovery from the same very same disease with which she was afflicted!]
Courage in Prayer
“Nevertheless, I can trace distinctly the great mercy of Our Lord to me, while thus immersed in the world, in that I had still the courage to pray. I say courage, because I know of nothing in the whole world which requires greater courage than plotting treason against the King, knowing that He knows it, and yet never withdrawing from His presence; for, granting that we are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray, are in His presence in a very different sense; for they, as it were, see that He is looking upon them; while others may be for days together without even once recollecting that God sees them.
[She says: “I still had the courage to pray!” It is that prayer that the devil seeks to uproot from our soul; and if he cannot uproot it, then the next best thing is to make us pray badly (too quickly, distractedly, sleepily, etc). That is why St. Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Prayer is one of the key elements to Our Lady’s messages in her modern-day apparitions. But those prayers must be said well, as she asked at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers well?”]
Ups and Downs
“3. It is true, indeed, that during these years there were many months, and, I believe, occasionally a whole year, in which I so kept guard over myself that I did not offend Our Lord, gave myself much to prayer, and took some pains, and that successfully, not to offend Him. I speak of this now, because all I am saying is strictly true; but I remember very little of those good days, and so they must have been few, while my evil days were many. Still, the days that passed over, without my spending a great part of them in prayer, were few, unless I was very ill, or very much occupied.
Eighteen Years! Can You Believe it?
“4. When I was ill, I was well with God. I contrived that those about me should be so, too, and I made supplications to Our Lord for this grace, and spoke frequently of Him. Thus, with the exception of that year of which I have been speaking, during eight-and-twenty years of prayer, I spent more than eighteen in that strife and contention which arose out of my attempts to reconcile God and the world.”
[What amazes is the length of the combat in the arena of lukewarmness and worldliness―it was eighteen years! It is almost akin to St. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica, spending all those years and tears in praying for the conversion of her son from his problems and sins! Hey, soldier! This could be a long battle! Maybe it’s already been a long one! Hang on in there!]
Persevere in Prayer! But What Kind of Prayer?
“5. The reason, then, of my telling this at so great a length is that, as I have just said, the mercy of God and my ingratitude, on the one hand, may become known; and, on the other, that men may understand how great is the good which God works in a soul when He gives it a disposition to pray in earnest, though it may not be so well prepared as it ought to be.
“If that soul perseveres in spite of sins, temptations, and relapses—brought about in a thousand ways by Satan—Our Lord will bring it at last—I am certain of it—to the harbor of salvation, as He has brought me myself; for so it seems to me now. May His Majesty grant I may never go back and be lost! He who gives himself to prayer is in possession of a great blessing, of which many saintly and good men have written—I am speaking of mental prayer—glory be to God for it; and, if they had not done so, I am not proud enough, though I have but little humility, to presume to discuss it.”
[Now here is the key! The “Prayer” that she is speaking of, is, as she says, MENTAL PRAYER. She is not speaking of just praying Rosaries and the prayers we have in our prayer books, but she talking about putting aside time for MEDITATION, which is what mental prayer really is. Now, of course, you can practice mental prayer and pray the Rosary at the same time, this is what “meditating the mysteries is all about; but how people actually do that? At best it might be a surface, window-shopping, drive-by meditation, rather than the deeper version Our Lady is looking for and which she calls the “soul” of the Rosary].
Pray! No Matter How Bad You Are!
“6. I may speak of that which I know by experience; and so I say, let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked; for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult. Let him not be tempted by Satan, as I was, to give it up, on the pretense of humility; let him rather believe that His words are true Who says that, if we truly repent, and resolve never to offend Him, He will take us into His favor again, give us the graces He gave us before, and occasionally even greater, if our repentance deserves it. And as to him who has not begun to pray, I implore him by the love of our Lord not to deprive himself of so great a good.”
[This dovetails with what St. Louis de Montfort says in particular of the prayer of the Holy Rosary: “Poor men and women who are sinners … If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins ‘you shall receive a never‑fading crown of glory’ (1 Peter 5:4). Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if ― and mark well what I say ― if you say the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, Introduction: “A Red Rose”). Many other saints say similar things about the power of prayer―especially prayer to Our Lady and praying the Rosary].
That leads us to the coming of the Holy Ghost. We read that in preparation for receiving the Holy Ghost, Our Lady, the Apostles and the disciples of Our Lord, were all together in the Upper Room PERSEVERING IN PRAYER FOR NINE DAYS prior to the descent of the Holy Ghost from Heaven. No prayer, no Holy Ghost, no Gifts of the Holy Ghost! No prayer, no spirit of God! No spirit of God means a weak and crippled soldier of God and Christ—useless or of little use and little effect in the battle against the devil, the world and the flesh.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday May 26th & Wednesday May 27th
Article 22
Preparing for Pentecost! Renew Yourself as a Soldier of Christ!
Tuesday May 26th & Wednesday May 27th
Article 22
Preparing for Pentecost! Renew Yourself as a Soldier of Christ!
Pentecost―a Time of Soldiers
What has Pentecost got to do with soldiers? Well, Pentecost is the time when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples who were “isolated” and “quarantined” in “lockdown” and “fear” in the Upper Room and, after His coming, they were “unlocked” and “fearless”. The same Holy Ghost comes down upon Catholic souls in the Sacrament of Confirmation and “unlocks” the Seven Gifts of the Holy which they had received in a the latent, dormant, seed-form at their Baptism and thereby makes them Soldiers of Christ―no longer children of God, as they were after Baptism, but now, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, they are spiritually matured and hardened so as become “grown-up” spiritual soldiers.
The Life of Man is Warfare―Not the Armchair
In this age of comfort and plenitude it is difficult to convince yourself that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and that you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) knowing that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). The only warfare we most likely know is family warfare over “What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or with what shall we be clothed?” (Matthew 6:31). We have, through neglect and indifference, become much like those sloppy slobs who think they are soldiers, but “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19).
Lifelong Warfare―Lifelong Training
The whole Sacramental system is like a recruitment and training ground for our warfare with the devil, the world and the flesh. Our Lord has recruited us for warfare: “I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Sadly, most Catholics have long since stopped seeing the world as an enemy and love the world―or at least much of it. The majority are Christian Soldiers only in name. The words once addressed by Alexander the Great to a cowardly soldier, should be applied to these people: “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
Our lifelong training for this warfare against the devil, the world and our own flesh being with Baptism. In a sense, by Baptism we sign-on for “Boot-Camp” in God’s army. Not being ready for the fight―especially babies―there has to be years of training before graduating from “Boot Camp.” Baptism is a safe and healthy spiritual birth into the army of God―which expels the enemy of sin, pours in God’s grace, signs or brands us with the seal of God, gives us all the essential virtues in seed form that are required for salvation, not to forget the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that will be activated later in life in Confirmation. Confession is our infirmary, where we can go to be treated and healed for any spiritual disease or injury whatsoever―and sometimes the healing of sin can bring healing from bodily illness, for illness and death are often the fruit of sin: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Then we have the Holy Eucharist, where we receive the best possible nourishment in Holy Communion, where receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself.
As we grow older, we are prepared for our ‘working life’ or our ‘job’ as a soldier of Christ by the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Church even makes children into soldiers with the sacrament of Confirmation—which is given to children many years before adulthood—in which they are slapped across the face to remind them of the combat for the Faith they must undergo under the title of “Soldiers for Christ.” Today we see photos of children employed in earthly wars, carrying knives, guns, grenades and bazookas—yet the children who are enlisted as Soldiers for Christ “shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in contempt of the world … according to the Holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §59).
The Sacrament of Confirmation activates, perfects and strengthens the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that we received in seed form at our Baptism. Most people will rise to the rank of an officer, having command of other souls and the responsibility or training others, either through Matrimony or Holy Orders. Lastly, whether wounded and dying in the battle of life, or simply dying of old age as a veteran, we have the Sacrament of Extreme-Unction to help us through our final battle before meeting God.
Serious Soldiers or Slapstick Soldiers?
Sure―we all know that “whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). God has given us many weapons for the fight― “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17). In addition, we have the Sacraments―especially Confession and the Holy Eucharist in all its forms, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which produces the Eucharist) and Holy Communion (which gives our souls the Eucharist) and the Blessed Sacrament (which is the Holy Eucharist living among us).
Furthermore, we have the Holy Rosary, of which Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed: “She [Our Lady] told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others … As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet any weapon―all weapons―are only as good as the person is skilled in using them. Give a bow-and-arrow to a blind man, or put a child in cockpit of a fighter-jet, or ask a mere man-on-the-street to manually guide a missile to its target―and in all three cases you will have abject failure.
Sidetracked Soldiers
Another modern-day phenomenon―even amongst those “Soldiers of Christ” who have good intentions―is the satanic snare of sidetracking. Satan subtly sidetracks or distracts even well-meaning Catholics from doing what is best and most effective. You could arguably say that Satan probably has a 90% success rate in sidetracking and distracting well-intentioned, regularly practicing Catholics―and, on average, only 20% of Catholics practice their Faith regularly by attending Mass every Sunday (barring illness or other excusing factors). Satan’s policy could be said to be one of “If you can’t stop them, then sidetrack them!”
If he can’t stop you attending Mass, then he will seek to have you assist at Mass lukewarmly or distractedly―using other people, or your children, or whatever else to achieve his goals. If he cannot stop you praying the Rosary daily―and only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―then he will have you pray it less fervently (e.g. sitting down instead of kneeling, or merely saying the prayers without any meditation), or hurriedly (no pauses during Our Fathers and Hail Marys―verbal diarrhea in other words), or distractedly (doing or watching other things while praying). Additionally, Satan will willingly help you magnify your tiny sacrifices―making mountains out of your molehills. He will distract you from your obvious failings by making you focus on the failings of others―helping you to find failings of such a great magnitude that will help you canonize your lukewarmness into a “make-believe sanctity” and leave you comfortable in you spiritual poverty.
While tolerating for the moment the fact that you are not committing mortal sins, Satan will chip away at your defenses with a constant bombardment of venial sins through distraction and urging you to choose the lesser or the easiest of two spiritual goods (e.g. pray a Rosary instead of going to an extra Mass; or watching a religious movie instead of praying a Rosary, etc.). Happily for Satan, lukewarm souls rarely see venial sins on their radar and so they allow them to slip in constantly under the radar―all of which gradually clogs up the spiritual mechanisms of the soul (like plaque clogging the arteries), until one day you are ripe for the mortal sin (or spiritual heart attack). Thus Satan makes the best use of modern technology―which is a perfect weapon for him, since it is like a multiple tool, or multiple warhead, which different kinds of damage at the same time.
Stupid Soldiers
If there is one thing that Satan loves―it is a stupid army full of stupid soldiers doing stupid things and thinking stupid things. The Catholic world is choc-a-bloc full of such stupid soldiers: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “For My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15).
“The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully and the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
It is this lack of knowledge of God and matters of the Faith among the faithful which led Pope St. Pius X to write in his encyclical Acerbo Nimis on the dangers of religious ignorance, from which are taken the following excerpts:
“At this very troublesome and difficult time … The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, the prediction of the Apostle [St. Paul] seems to be verified: ‘I know that ... fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock!’ (Acts 20:29). Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion. Coming to a different explanation, each points out, according to his own view, a different plan for the protection and restoration of the Kingdom of God on Earth. But it seems to Us, that while we should not overlook other considerations, We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in IGNORANCE of things divine.
“This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is NO KNOWLEDGE of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood [are we not living in an impure and bloody world right now?]. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish’ (Osee 4:1-3) [and our lack religious and spirtiual knowledge and lack of correct Catholic action is the cause of our current languishing and mourning]. It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are ENTIRELY IGNORANT of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life ― for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of ABUNDANT KNOWLEDGE regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it.
“And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’ (Instit., 27:18). There is, then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples, but even in those very nations that are called Christian … This erring will, blinded by its own evil desires, has need therefore of a guide to lead it back to the paths of justice whence it has so unfortunately strayed. The intellect itself is this guide, which need not be sought elsewhere, but is provided by nature itself. It is a guide, though, that, if it lack its companion light, the knowledge of divine things, will be only an instance of the blind leading the blind so that both will fall into the pit!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis on the dangers of religious ignorance).
Dom Chautard, in his wonderful book, Soul of the Apostolate, on the primacy of importance of the spiritual life above the active life, writes: “Happening to be one day amidst a group of Cardinals, the Holy Father (Pope Saint Pius X) said to them: ‘What is the thing most necessary at the present time to save society?’ ‘Build Catholic schools,’ said one. ‘No!’ said the Pope. ‘Multiply churches,’ replied another. ‘No again!’ said the Pope. ‘Increase the recruiting of the clergy,’ said a third. ‘No, no,’ replied the Pope. ‘What is most necessary at the present time is to have in each parish a group of laymen at the same time virtuous, enlightened, determined, and really apostolic. This holy Pope, at the end of his life, counted for the salvation of the world on the training, by the zeal of the clergy, of Catholics devoting themselves to the apostolate by word and action, but above all, by example. In the dioceses in which, before being Pope, he had exercised the ministry, he attached less importance to the census of parishioners than to the list of Catholics capable of radiating an apostolate. He considered that in any class whatever chosen ones could be formed. And so he classified his priests according to the results which their zeal and their abilities had obtained on this point.” (Dom Chautard, The Soul of the Apostolate, IV, l.f., also quoted by the Handbook of the Legion of Mary, Chapter 6, §3).
Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners
Some who seem saintly are sinners―and some who seem to be sinners are saintly. In Our Lord’s parable, the apparently “saintly” Pharisee ended up not being justified, while the apparently “sinful” Publican ended up being justified! “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray―the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” [Note that the Jews were only supposed to pay tithes on just a few things NOT ALL things―so he was tithing “way over the odds”]. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man [the sinful Publican] went down into his house justified rather than the other [the high-tithing and much praying Pharisee]―because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:9-14).
If you need some encouragement, then realize this―saints are not born saints by some kind of privilege. Saints are sinners who have their sinfulness knocked out of them and are reformed into saints in God’s “Boot Camp.” Many examples of sinner-saints can be given―simply because “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). Which is why a sinner par-excellence, St. Augustine of Hippo, who lived in sin with a woman for many years and fathered a child by her, says: “There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future!” ― having been there, seen it and done it himself. If you are a sinner―and you are, since we all are―then you must realize that there is no Heaven in store for you unless and until you leave your sins and purge yourself of them through sufficient prayer and penance and acts of charity:
“He will open his mouth in prayer and will make supplication for his sins” (Ecclesiasticus 39:7). “He that loveth God, shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer, and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer of days” (Ecclesiasticus 3:4). “Prayer is good with fasting and alms―more than to lay up treasures of gold” (Tobias 12:8) “Alms deliver from all sin and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness” (Tobias 4:11). “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
Soldiers Need Training―Sinners Need Reforming
If we want to succeed at something, then our principles of action would something along the lines of what the Holy Ghost teaches us through St. Paul teaches: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
St. Thomas also tells us that he who desires a particular end or goal, must also necessarily desire the means that lead to that end or goal. So if I want to win a race, then I must learn to run, cycle, swim or drive well—not just learn, but learn very well—if I am to have a chance of reaching my goal.
One of the great Desert Fathers, those holy recluses of ancient times, Abbot Moses, said: “Every art and profession has its proper end or object, and the appropriate means for the attainment of that end. The student―anxious to excel in any art or science―directs to this end all the dangers he may encounter, the labors he endures, and the expense which he may incur in this pursuit. The farmer tills his ground―at one time under a burning sun, at another amidst frost and snow; by frequently ploughing and harrowing it, and cutting up the weeds, he brings it into cultivation―so that the soil may be clean and well prepared for the seed. But his object or end in all this labor is to reap an abundant harvest, which will provide for his subsistence, or increase his present store.
“Likewise, merchants do not dread the perils of the sea or the fatigues of a long journey, so long as they have before them the prospect of an adequate financial reward. The aspirants to military fame fear no dangers, no inconveniences, shrink from no assault or enterprise―so long as glory and honor are to be the reward of their valor. And as archers trained to warfare―when they wish to show their skill in the presence of kings―endeavor to shoot their arrows within the circle of the target on which the prize is painted; so if they can catch a clear view of their object, and give a right direction to their shaft, they feel confident of winning the reward, which was the end they proposed to themselves in their practice. But if anything distracts their attention, or clouds their view, or turns their weapon from its direct course, however trifling this may be, their arrow will fly wide of the mark through their unskillfulness. Their unpracticed and unsteady sight did not permit them to take the right aim, and so their shaft missed the target.”
The Children of Darkness Show the Example
Our Lord made the following stinging comment: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that worldly people put far more effort in pursuing worldliness than the meager efforts Christians put into living their Faith and pursuing Heaven. Now, if in natural things men are wise enough and zealous enough to act according to the end which they desire for themselves, if the prospect of glory, riches, and earthly rewards exercise a prompt influence on the mind of the student, the soldier, the merchant, the farmer, and the archer, so as to move them to select and to zealously use the means to gain their respective ends or goals or targets, how can we account for Christians and Religious having the prospect of eternal happiness before them as their end, and yet are barely living and moving sufficiently in the seeking of this glorious aim?
How little of the care and vigilance of the farmer do such Christians show! How little of the interest and energy of the merchant! How little of the industry of the student, of the courage of the soldier, of the steady aim of the archer! Sad, indeed, it is for us to have less interest and care in spiritual things than worldlings have in things temporal!
Hot and Cold
As St. Gregory said long before: “They are dull to heavenly things, in which they ought to have been ardent; and they are ardent in earthly things, to which they might have laudably been dull.” The Imitation of Christ tells us: “That which is of little or no profit takes up our thoughts; and that which is above all things necessary is negligently passed over” (Book 3, ch. 44). The Psalmist says: “We have eyes and see not” (113:13). “We are all hot in earthly things, and all cold in heavenly things” writes St. Augustine.
St. Bernard felt this when he addressed his monks as follows: “Would, O brothers, that we were as desirous of spiritual goods as seculars are of temporal. We ought, indeed, to desire them more, by how much the more precious they are. Would that we might but equal them! For it is a great, a very great confusion to us to find that they desire pernicious things more ardently than we do things so beneficial. They run quicker to eternal death than we do to eternal life.”
Back to Running the Race
So—to end these quotes and come back to the beginning and St. Paul’s analogy about running the race—where are we running to, in which direction are running, to whom are we running? As St. Bernard says, some are running quicker to their damnation than we are to our salvation! God should be our ultimate end, but is He? In theory, yes; but in practice? Many of those who know that God should be their ultimate end, are running round in circles or running to and fro. For God is around the corner or up over the hill, and so they cannot see Him yet; but they sure can see all the ‘goodies’ that lie along the path! Consequently, in practice, that’s the end to God being their ultimate end! The ‘goodies’ win hands-down (even though they are ‘baddies’ in reality, as they turn us aside from the narrow path to God, and lead us down some other broad wide road, at the end of which lie the real ‘baddies’).
Look to the End
As St. Thomas Aquinas says, in all things look to the end. In other words keep your eye on the target and do not be distracted by what you see lying in between you and the target, or what is going on around you or behind you. We must remember St. Thomas’ plainly stated truth that “man’s desires can be satisfied by none but God alone; nor is desire satisfied until he reaches to God” (On Virtues, art. 10).
Soft Slothful Sister Becomes Super Spiritual Soldier
St Teresa of Avila fell into a pattern. While ill, she would pray fervently. When she was better, she wouldn’t pray as much, or would stop praying at all. This is the lukewarmness that she talks about; a period of 15 years. When she turned 40, it all changed. By God’s grace, she was able to see, admit and combat her lukewarmness.
Here is what St. Teresa had to say about that vision:
“Ever since that time, as I was saying, everything seems endurable in comparison with one instant of suffering such as those I had then to bear in Hell. I am filled with fear when I see that, after frequently reading books which describe in some manner the pains of Hell, I was not afraid of them, nor made any account of them. Where was I? How could I possibly take any pleasure in those things which led me directly to so dreadful a place? Blessed forever be Thou, O my God! And oh, how manifest is it that Thou didst love me much more than I did love Thee! How often, O Lord, didst Thou save me from that fearful prison! And how I used to get back to it contrary to Thy will.”
In one of the many versions of her Autobiography, the Preface states:
“There are souls whom God, in a way, constrains to enter on the way of perfection, and who, if they relaxed in their fervor, could not keep a middle course, but would immediately fall into the other extreme of sins, and for souls of this kind it is of the utmost necessity that they should watch and pray without ceasing; and, in short, there is nobody whom lukewarmness does not injure. Let every man examine his own conscience, and he will find this to be the truth … I firmly believe that if God for a time bears with the lukewarm, it is owing to the prayers of the fervent” (Preface of David Lewis to the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila’s life).
How Dare You Say That?!?!
If you mention the word “lukewarmness” to some people, they begin to bristle and feel uncomfortable; some are even downright insulted at what they perceive to be an accusation or an association with the word! It is like bringing-up a taboo subject at a family gathering; the response is one of “We don’t talk about those kind of things here!”
Yet we see that great saint, St. Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, no less, openly admit to being lukewarm in the earlier years of her life. Why can she admit to that? Because she is both honest and humble. It is our pride and self-deceit that leads us to make a false image of ourselves.
Most Souls ARE Lukewarm
Yet Our Lord sees us as we are, not as we imagine ourselves to be; and the truth of the matter is that most souls are lukewarm for a greater or lesser part of their lives. The lukewarmness of souls was already the complaint of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary in 1673! How much worse is not the world today? The Fr. Faber adamantly states this at the end of his chapter on lukewarmness in his book Growth in Holiness, saying:
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then‑lost forever” (Growth in Holiness, chapter 25, “Lukewarmness”).
Another great spiritual authority and master, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., is of the opinion that most souls are not even beginners in the spiritual life. Speaking of the lukewarm or tepid souls, he writes:
“After conversion there ought to be a serious beginning of the purgative life, in which beginners love God by avoiding mortal sin and deliberate venial sin, through exterior and interior mortification and through prayer. But in actual fact this purgative life is found under two very different forms: in some, admittedly very few, this life is intense, generous; it is the narrow way of perfect self-denial described by the saints. In many others the purgative life appears in an attenuated form, varying from good souls, who are a little weak, down to those tepid and retarded souls, who from time to time fall into mortal sin” (The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange).
Let’s Be Honest!
Let us not be afraid of admitting our lukewarmness, whether it be acute or chronic,, temporary or long-term; for if you hide your symptoms from the doctor, there is nothing he can do for you. As the Preface of St. Teresa’s autobiography states: “there is nobody whom lukewarmness does not injure.”
Let us then read St. Teresa’s interesting account and admission on how she became so lukewarm in the first place, so that we may find a lesson therein fro our own lives. In the next article article, we will read of St. Teresa’s recommendations on how cure the spiritual disease. The subtitles will be our own, so as to enable the mind to have a clear overview of what St. Teresa presents.
CHAPTER TWO OF ST. TERESA’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
False Reasoning and Complacency
1. What I shall now speak of was, I believe, the beginning of great harm to me. I often think how wrong it is of parents not to be very careful that their children should always, and in every way, see only that which is good; for though my mother was, as I have just said, so good herself, nevertheless I, when I came to the use of reason, did not derive so much good from her as I ought to have done—almost none at all; and the evil I learned did me much harm.
She was very fond of books of chivalry; but this pastime did not hurt her so much as it hurt me, because she never wasted her time on them; only we, her children, were left at liberty to read them; and perhaps she did this to distract her thoughts from her great sufferings, and occupy her children, that they might not go astray in other ways.
It annoyed my father so much, that we had to be careful he never saw us. I contracted a habit of reading these books; and this little fault which I observed in my mother was the beginning of lukewarmness in my good desires, and the occasion of my falling away in other respects. I thought there was no harm in it when I wasted many hours night and day in so vain an occupation, even when I kept it a secret from my father. So completely was I mastered by this passion, that I thought I could never be happy without a new book.
Superficiality
2. I began to make much of dress, to wish to please others by my appearance. I took pains with my hands and my hair, used perfumes, and all vanities within my reach—and they were many, for I was very much given to them. I had no evil intention, because I never wished any one to offend God for me. This fastidiousness of excessive neatness lasted some years; and so also did other practices, which I thought then were not at all sinful; now, I see how wrong all this must have been.
Bad (or Lukewarm) Friends and Relatives
3. I had some cousins; for into my father’s house no others were allowed an entrance. In this he was very cautious; and would to God he had been cautious about them!—for I see now the danger of conversing, at an age when virtue should begin to grow, with persons who, knowing nothing themselves of the vanity of the world, provoke others to throw themselves into the midst of it. These cousins were nearly of mine own age—a little older, perhaps. We were always together; and they had a great affection for me. In everything that gave them pleasure, I kept the conversation alive—listened to the stories of their affections and childish follies, good for nothing; and, what was still worse, my soul began to give itself up to that which was the cause of all its disorders. If I were to give advice, I would say to parents that they ought to be very careful whom they allow to mix with their children when young; for much mischief thence ensues, and our natural inclinations are unto evil rather than unto good.
Frivolity and Worldliness
4. So it was with me; for I had a sister much older than myself, from whose modesty and goodness, which were great, I learned nothing; and learned every evil from a relative who was often in the house. She was so light and frivolous, that my mother took great pains to keep her out of the house, as if she foresaw the evil I should learn from her; but she could not succeed, there being so many reasons for her coming. I was very fond of this person’s company, gossiped and talked with her; for she helped me in all the amusements I liked, and, what is more, found some for me, and communicated to me her own conversations and her vanities. Until I knew her, I mean, until she became friendly with me, and communicated to me her own affairs—I was then about fourteen years old, a little more, I think—I do not believe that I turned away from God in mortal sin, or lost the fear of Him, though I had a greater fear of disgrace.
This latter fear had such sway over me, that I never wholly forfeited my good name—and, as to that, there was nothing in the world for which I would have bartered it, and nobody in the world I liked well enough who could have persuaded me to do it. Thus I might have had the strength never to do anything against the honor of God, as I had it by nature not to fail in that wherein I thought the honor of the world consisted; and I never observed that I was failing in many other ways. In vainly seeking after it I was extremely careful; but in the use of the means necessary for preserving it I was utterly careless. I was anxious only not to be lost altogether.
Bad Companions
5. This friendship distressed my father and sister exceedingly. They often blamed me for it; but, as they could not hinder that person from coming into the house, all their efforts were in vain; for I was very adroit in doing anything that was wrong. Now and then, I am amazed at the evil one bad companion can do—nor could I believe it if I did not know it by experience—especially when we are young: then is it that the evil must be greatest. Oh, that parents would take this warning by me, and look carefully to this! So it was; the conversation of this person so changed me, that no trace was left of my soul’s natural disposition to virtue, and I became a reflection of her and of another who was given to the same kind of amusements.
Losing the Fear of God
6. I know from this the great advantage of good companions; and I am certain that if at that tender age I had been thrown among good people, I should have persevered in virtue; for if at that time I had found any one to teach me the fear of God, my soul would have grown strong enough not to fall away. Afterwards, when the fear of God had utterly departed from me, the fear of dishonor alone remained, and was a torment to me in all I did. When I thought that nobody would ever know, I ventured upon many things that were neither honorable nor pleasing unto God.
Small Seeds Grow into Big Trees
7. In the beginning, these conversations did me harm—I believe so. The fault was perhaps not hers, but mine; for afterwards my own wickedness was enough to lead me astray, together with the servants about me, whom I found ready enough for all evil. If any one of these had given me good advice, I might perhaps have profited by it; but they were blinded by interest, as I was by passion. Still, I was never inclined to much evil—for I hated naturally anything dishonorable—but only to the amusement of a pleasant conversation. The occasion of sin, however, being present, danger was at hand, and I exposed to it my father and brothers. God delivered me out of it all, so that I should not be lost, in a manner visibly against my will, yet not so secretly as to allow me to escape without the loss of my good name and the suspicions of my father.
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, but...
8. I had not spent, I think, three months in these vanities, when they took me to a monastery in the city where I lived, in which children like myself were brought up, though their way of life was not so wicked as mine. This was done with the utmost concealment of the true reason, which was known only to myself and one of my relatives. They waited for an opportunity which would make the change seem nothing out of the way; for, as my sister was married, it was not fitting I should remain alone, without a mother, in the house.
Excessive Blind Love
9. So excessive was my father’s love for me, and so deep my dissembling, that he never would believe me to be so wicked as I was; and hence I was never in disgrace with him. Though some remarks were made, yet, as the time had been short, nothing could be positively asserted; and, as I was so much afraid about my good name, I had taken every care to be secret; and yet I never considered that I could conceal nothing from Him Who seeth all things. O my God, what evil is done in the world by disregarding this, and thinking that anything can be kept secret that is done against Thee! I am quite certain that great evils would be avoided if we clearly understood that what we have to do is, not to be on our guard against men, but on our guard against displeasing Thee.
Pride and Vanity
10. For the first eight days, I suffered much; but more from the suspicion that my vanity was known, than from being in the monastery; for I was already weary of myself—and, though I offended God, I never ceased to have a great fear of Him, and contrived to go to confession as quickly as I could. I was very uncomfortable; but within eight days, I think sooner, I was much more contented than I had been in my father’s house. All the nuns were pleased with me; for our Lord had given me the grace to please everyone, wherever I might be. I was therefore made much of in the monastery. Though, at this time, I hated to be a nun, yet I was delighted at the sight of nuns so good; for they were very good in that house—very prudent, observant of the rule, and recollected.
Religious and Worldly
11. Yet, for all this, the devil did not cease to tempt me; and people in the world sought means to trouble my rest with messages and presents. As this could not be allowed, it was soon over, and my soul began to return to the good habits of my earlier years; and I recognized the great mercy of God to those whom He places among good people. It seems as if His Majesty had sought and sought again how to convert me to Himself. Blessed be Thou, O Lord, for having borne with me so long! Amen.
Does It Sound Familiar, Soldier?
No doubt much of the above sounds familiar―much of the above is also found in your life, is it not? Nothing changes! Everything is, as they say, “as old as the sun” or “There is nothing new under the sun” or as Scripture says: “What is it that hath been? The same thing that shall be! What is it that hath been done? The same that shall be done! Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us … I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and, behold, all is vanity, and vexation of spirit! The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-15) ― meaning: same old devil, same old human nature, same old Original Sin, same old temptations, same old sins, same old excuses, same old finger-pointing, same old self-justification―and what is even worse, in most cases, the same old fate, which is, God forbid, Hell.
Just as nobody was born a surgeon, or doctor, or dentist, or pilot, or teacher, etc., ― likewise nobody is conceived a saint (barring Our Lady), but is conceived and born weakened by wounds and scars of Original Sin. That is why everyone sins and everyone is a sinner―some more, some less. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). Which is why a sinner par-excellence, St. Augustine of Hippo, who lived in sin with a woman for many years and fathered a child by her, says: “There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future!”
In the above texts―written by St. Teresa of Avila herself in her autobiography―we see St. Teresa (or simply “Teresa” for as yet she was no saint, but, by her own admission, a sinner)―we see her humbly and honestly paint a clear picture of her inadequacy with regard to sanctity. Most of us could relate far more to “Teresa the Sinner” than “Teresa the Saint”! So how did she change from being a sinner into a saint―which is of great interest and great importance for anyone who hopes to get to Heaven? The next article will look at “Teresa’s Boot Camp” and lay the foundations for our own “Boot Camp”, the path we must follow and the methods and weapons we must use ― if we wish to overcome this COVID-19 Plannedemic and its ultimate goal, as well as overcoming the countless obstacles and pitfalls scattered across the path that is meant to lead you out of this sinful life into a saintly Heaven.
What has Pentecost got to do with soldiers? Well, Pentecost is the time when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and disciples who were “isolated” and “quarantined” in “lockdown” and “fear” in the Upper Room and, after His coming, they were “unlocked” and “fearless”. The same Holy Ghost comes down upon Catholic souls in the Sacrament of Confirmation and “unlocks” the Seven Gifts of the Holy which they had received in a the latent, dormant, seed-form at their Baptism and thereby makes them Soldiers of Christ―no longer children of God, as they were after Baptism, but now, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, they are spiritually matured and hardened so as become “grown-up” spiritual soldiers.
The Life of Man is Warfare―Not the Armchair
In this age of comfort and plenitude it is difficult to convince yourself that “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and that you must “fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12) knowing that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). The only warfare we most likely know is family warfare over “What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or with what shall we be clothed?” (Matthew 6:31). We have, through neglect and indifference, become much like those sloppy slobs who think they are soldiers, but “Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19).
Lifelong Warfare―Lifelong Training
The whole Sacramental system is like a recruitment and training ground for our warfare with the devil, the world and the flesh. Our Lord has recruited us for warfare: “I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). Sadly, most Catholics have long since stopped seeing the world as an enemy and love the world―or at least much of it. The majority are Christian Soldiers only in name. The words once addressed by Alexander the Great to a cowardly soldier, should be applied to these people: “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
Our lifelong training for this warfare against the devil, the world and our own flesh being with Baptism. In a sense, by Baptism we sign-on for “Boot-Camp” in God’s army. Not being ready for the fight―especially babies―there has to be years of training before graduating from “Boot Camp.” Baptism is a safe and healthy spiritual birth into the army of God―which expels the enemy of sin, pours in God’s grace, signs or brands us with the seal of God, gives us all the essential virtues in seed form that are required for salvation, not to forget the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that will be activated later in life in Confirmation. Confession is our infirmary, where we can go to be treated and healed for any spiritual disease or injury whatsoever―and sometimes the healing of sin can bring healing from bodily illness, for illness and death are often the fruit of sin: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Then we have the Holy Eucharist, where we receive the best possible nourishment in Holy Communion, where receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself.
As we grow older, we are prepared for our ‘working life’ or our ‘job’ as a soldier of Christ by the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Church even makes children into soldiers with the sacrament of Confirmation—which is given to children many years before adulthood—in which they are slapped across the face to remind them of the combat for the Faith they must undergo under the title of “Soldiers for Christ.” Today we see photos of children employed in earthly wars, carrying knives, guns, grenades and bazookas—yet the children who are enlisted as Soldiers for Christ “shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in contempt of the world … according to the Holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §59).
The Sacrament of Confirmation activates, perfects and strengthens the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that we received in seed form at our Baptism. Most people will rise to the rank of an officer, having command of other souls and the responsibility or training others, either through Matrimony or Holy Orders. Lastly, whether wounded and dying in the battle of life, or simply dying of old age as a veteran, we have the Sacrament of Extreme-Unction to help us through our final battle before meeting God.
Serious Soldiers or Slapstick Soldiers?
Sure―we all know that “whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4) … “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). God has given us many weapons for the fight― “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17). In addition, we have the Sacraments―especially Confession and the Holy Eucharist in all its forms, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which produces the Eucharist) and Holy Communion (which gives our souls the Eucharist) and the Blessed Sacrament (which is the Holy Eucharist living among us).
Furthermore, we have the Holy Rosary, of which Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed: “She [Our Lady] told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others … As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, in the personal life of each one of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families, of the families of the world, or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Yet any weapon―all weapons―are only as good as the person is skilled in using them. Give a bow-and-arrow to a blind man, or put a child in cockpit of a fighter-jet, or ask a mere man-on-the-street to manually guide a missile to its target―and in all three cases you will have abject failure.
Sidetracked Soldiers
Another modern-day phenomenon―even amongst those “Soldiers of Christ” who have good intentions―is the satanic snare of sidetracking. Satan subtly sidetracks or distracts even well-meaning Catholics from doing what is best and most effective. You could arguably say that Satan probably has a 90% success rate in sidetracking and distracting well-intentioned, regularly practicing Catholics―and, on average, only 20% of Catholics practice their Faith regularly by attending Mass every Sunday (barring illness or other excusing factors). Satan’s policy could be said to be one of “If you can’t stop them, then sidetrack them!”
If he can’t stop you attending Mass, then he will seek to have you assist at Mass lukewarmly or distractedly―using other people, or your children, or whatever else to achieve his goals. If he cannot stop you praying the Rosary daily―and only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―then he will have you pray it less fervently (e.g. sitting down instead of kneeling, or merely saying the prayers without any meditation), or hurriedly (no pauses during Our Fathers and Hail Marys―verbal diarrhea in other words), or distractedly (doing or watching other things while praying). Additionally, Satan will willingly help you magnify your tiny sacrifices―making mountains out of your molehills. He will distract you from your obvious failings by making you focus on the failings of others―helping you to find failings of such a great magnitude that will help you canonize your lukewarmness into a “make-believe sanctity” and leave you comfortable in you spiritual poverty.
While tolerating for the moment the fact that you are not committing mortal sins, Satan will chip away at your defenses with a constant bombardment of venial sins through distraction and urging you to choose the lesser or the easiest of two spiritual goods (e.g. pray a Rosary instead of going to an extra Mass; or watching a religious movie instead of praying a Rosary, etc.). Happily for Satan, lukewarm souls rarely see venial sins on their radar and so they allow them to slip in constantly under the radar―all of which gradually clogs up the spiritual mechanisms of the soul (like plaque clogging the arteries), until one day you are ripe for the mortal sin (or spiritual heart attack). Thus Satan makes the best use of modern technology―which is a perfect weapon for him, since it is like a multiple tool, or multiple warhead, which different kinds of damage at the same time.
Stupid Soldiers
If there is one thing that Satan loves―it is a stupid army full of stupid soldiers doing stupid things and thinking stupid things. The Catholic world is choc-a-bloc full of such stupid soldiers: “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “For My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15).
“The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good―no, not one! The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully and the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear!” (Psalm 13:1-5).
It is this lack of knowledge of God and matters of the Faith among the faithful which led Pope St. Pius X to write in his encyclical Acerbo Nimis on the dangers of religious ignorance, from which are taken the following excerpts:
“At this very troublesome and difficult time … The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, the prediction of the Apostle [St. Paul] seems to be verified: ‘I know that ... fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock!’ (Acts 20:29). Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion. Coming to a different explanation, each points out, according to his own view, a different plan for the protection and restoration of the Kingdom of God on Earth. But it seems to Us, that while we should not overlook other considerations, We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in IGNORANCE of things divine.
“This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is NO KNOWLEDGE of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood [are we not living in an impure and bloody world right now?]. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish’ (Osee 4:1-3) [and our lack religious and spirtiual knowledge and lack of correct Catholic action is the cause of our current languishing and mourning]. It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are ENTIRELY IGNORANT of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life ― for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of ABUNDANT KNOWLEDGE regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it.
“And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’ (Instit., 27:18). There is, then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples, but even in those very nations that are called Christian … This erring will, blinded by its own evil desires, has need therefore of a guide to lead it back to the paths of justice whence it has so unfortunately strayed. The intellect itself is this guide, which need not be sought elsewhere, but is provided by nature itself. It is a guide, though, that, if it lack its companion light, the knowledge of divine things, will be only an instance of the blind leading the blind so that both will fall into the pit!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Acerbo Nimis on the dangers of religious ignorance).
Dom Chautard, in his wonderful book, Soul of the Apostolate, on the primacy of importance of the spiritual life above the active life, writes: “Happening to be one day amidst a group of Cardinals, the Holy Father (Pope Saint Pius X) said to them: ‘What is the thing most necessary at the present time to save society?’ ‘Build Catholic schools,’ said one. ‘No!’ said the Pope. ‘Multiply churches,’ replied another. ‘No again!’ said the Pope. ‘Increase the recruiting of the clergy,’ said a third. ‘No, no,’ replied the Pope. ‘What is most necessary at the present time is to have in each parish a group of laymen at the same time virtuous, enlightened, determined, and really apostolic. This holy Pope, at the end of his life, counted for the salvation of the world on the training, by the zeal of the clergy, of Catholics devoting themselves to the apostolate by word and action, but above all, by example. In the dioceses in which, before being Pope, he had exercised the ministry, he attached less importance to the census of parishioners than to the list of Catholics capable of radiating an apostolate. He considered that in any class whatever chosen ones could be formed. And so he classified his priests according to the results which their zeal and their abilities had obtained on this point.” (Dom Chautard, The Soul of the Apostolate, IV, l.f., also quoted by the Handbook of the Legion of Mary, Chapter 6, §3).
Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners
Some who seem saintly are sinners―and some who seem to be sinners are saintly. In Our Lord’s parable, the apparently “saintly” Pharisee ended up not being justified, while the apparently “sinful” Publican ended up being justified! “And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray―the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” [Note that the Jews were only supposed to pay tithes on just a few things NOT ALL things―so he was tithing “way over the odds”]. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I say to you, this man [the sinful Publican] went down into his house justified rather than the other [the high-tithing and much praying Pharisee]―because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!” (Luke 18:9-14).
If you need some encouragement, then realize this―saints are not born saints by some kind of privilege. Saints are sinners who have their sinfulness knocked out of them and are reformed into saints in God’s “Boot Camp.” Many examples of sinner-saints can be given―simply because “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). Which is why a sinner par-excellence, St. Augustine of Hippo, who lived in sin with a woman for many years and fathered a child by her, says: “There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future!” ― having been there, seen it and done it himself. If you are a sinner―and you are, since we all are―then you must realize that there is no Heaven in store for you unless and until you leave your sins and purge yourself of them through sufficient prayer and penance and acts of charity:
“He will open his mouth in prayer and will make supplication for his sins” (Ecclesiasticus 39:7). “He that loveth God, shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer, and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer of days” (Ecclesiasticus 3:4). “Prayer is good with fasting and alms―more than to lay up treasures of gold” (Tobias 12:8) “Alms deliver from all sin and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness” (Tobias 4:11). “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins!” (1 Peter 4:8). “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47).
Soldiers Need Training―Sinners Need Reforming
If we want to succeed at something, then our principles of action would something along the lines of what the Holy Ghost teaches us through St. Paul teaches: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
St. Thomas also tells us that he who desires a particular end or goal, must also necessarily desire the means that lead to that end or goal. So if I want to win a race, then I must learn to run, cycle, swim or drive well—not just learn, but learn very well—if I am to have a chance of reaching my goal.
One of the great Desert Fathers, those holy recluses of ancient times, Abbot Moses, said: “Every art and profession has its proper end or object, and the appropriate means for the attainment of that end. The student―anxious to excel in any art or science―directs to this end all the dangers he may encounter, the labors he endures, and the expense which he may incur in this pursuit. The farmer tills his ground―at one time under a burning sun, at another amidst frost and snow; by frequently ploughing and harrowing it, and cutting up the weeds, he brings it into cultivation―so that the soil may be clean and well prepared for the seed. But his object or end in all this labor is to reap an abundant harvest, which will provide for his subsistence, or increase his present store.
“Likewise, merchants do not dread the perils of the sea or the fatigues of a long journey, so long as they have before them the prospect of an adequate financial reward. The aspirants to military fame fear no dangers, no inconveniences, shrink from no assault or enterprise―so long as glory and honor are to be the reward of their valor. And as archers trained to warfare―when they wish to show their skill in the presence of kings―endeavor to shoot their arrows within the circle of the target on which the prize is painted; so if they can catch a clear view of their object, and give a right direction to their shaft, they feel confident of winning the reward, which was the end they proposed to themselves in their practice. But if anything distracts their attention, or clouds their view, or turns their weapon from its direct course, however trifling this may be, their arrow will fly wide of the mark through their unskillfulness. Their unpracticed and unsteady sight did not permit them to take the right aim, and so their shaft missed the target.”
The Children of Darkness Show the Example
Our Lord made the following stinging comment: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that worldly people put far more effort in pursuing worldliness than the meager efforts Christians put into living their Faith and pursuing Heaven. Now, if in natural things men are wise enough and zealous enough to act according to the end which they desire for themselves, if the prospect of glory, riches, and earthly rewards exercise a prompt influence on the mind of the student, the soldier, the merchant, the farmer, and the archer, so as to move them to select and to zealously use the means to gain their respective ends or goals or targets, how can we account for Christians and Religious having the prospect of eternal happiness before them as their end, and yet are barely living and moving sufficiently in the seeking of this glorious aim?
How little of the care and vigilance of the farmer do such Christians show! How little of the interest and energy of the merchant! How little of the industry of the student, of the courage of the soldier, of the steady aim of the archer! Sad, indeed, it is for us to have less interest and care in spiritual things than worldlings have in things temporal!
Hot and Cold
As St. Gregory said long before: “They are dull to heavenly things, in which they ought to have been ardent; and they are ardent in earthly things, to which they might have laudably been dull.” The Imitation of Christ tells us: “That which is of little or no profit takes up our thoughts; and that which is above all things necessary is negligently passed over” (Book 3, ch. 44). The Psalmist says: “We have eyes and see not” (113:13). “We are all hot in earthly things, and all cold in heavenly things” writes St. Augustine.
St. Bernard felt this when he addressed his monks as follows: “Would, O brothers, that we were as desirous of spiritual goods as seculars are of temporal. We ought, indeed, to desire them more, by how much the more precious they are. Would that we might but equal them! For it is a great, a very great confusion to us to find that they desire pernicious things more ardently than we do things so beneficial. They run quicker to eternal death than we do to eternal life.”
Back to Running the Race
So—to end these quotes and come back to the beginning and St. Paul’s analogy about running the race—where are we running to, in which direction are running, to whom are we running? As St. Bernard says, some are running quicker to their damnation than we are to our salvation! God should be our ultimate end, but is He? In theory, yes; but in practice? Many of those who know that God should be their ultimate end, are running round in circles or running to and fro. For God is around the corner or up over the hill, and so they cannot see Him yet; but they sure can see all the ‘goodies’ that lie along the path! Consequently, in practice, that’s the end to God being their ultimate end! The ‘goodies’ win hands-down (even though they are ‘baddies’ in reality, as they turn us aside from the narrow path to God, and lead us down some other broad wide road, at the end of which lie the real ‘baddies’).
Look to the End
As St. Thomas Aquinas says, in all things look to the end. In other words keep your eye on the target and do not be distracted by what you see lying in between you and the target, or what is going on around you or behind you. We must remember St. Thomas’ plainly stated truth that “man’s desires can be satisfied by none but God alone; nor is desire satisfied until he reaches to God” (On Virtues, art. 10).
Soft Slothful Sister Becomes Super Spiritual Soldier
St Teresa of Avila fell into a pattern. While ill, she would pray fervently. When she was better, she wouldn’t pray as much, or would stop praying at all. This is the lukewarmness that she talks about; a period of 15 years. When she turned 40, it all changed. By God’s grace, she was able to see, admit and combat her lukewarmness.
Here is what St. Teresa had to say about that vision:
“Ever since that time, as I was saying, everything seems endurable in comparison with one instant of suffering such as those I had then to bear in Hell. I am filled with fear when I see that, after frequently reading books which describe in some manner the pains of Hell, I was not afraid of them, nor made any account of them. Where was I? How could I possibly take any pleasure in those things which led me directly to so dreadful a place? Blessed forever be Thou, O my God! And oh, how manifest is it that Thou didst love me much more than I did love Thee! How often, O Lord, didst Thou save me from that fearful prison! And how I used to get back to it contrary to Thy will.”
In one of the many versions of her Autobiography, the Preface states:
“There are souls whom God, in a way, constrains to enter on the way of perfection, and who, if they relaxed in their fervor, could not keep a middle course, but would immediately fall into the other extreme of sins, and for souls of this kind it is of the utmost necessity that they should watch and pray without ceasing; and, in short, there is nobody whom lukewarmness does not injure. Let every man examine his own conscience, and he will find this to be the truth … I firmly believe that if God for a time bears with the lukewarm, it is owing to the prayers of the fervent” (Preface of David Lewis to the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila’s life).
How Dare You Say That?!?!
If you mention the word “lukewarmness” to some people, they begin to bristle and feel uncomfortable; some are even downright insulted at what they perceive to be an accusation or an association with the word! It is like bringing-up a taboo subject at a family gathering; the response is one of “We don’t talk about those kind of things here!”
Yet we see that great saint, St. Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, no less, openly admit to being lukewarm in the earlier years of her life. Why can she admit to that? Because she is both honest and humble. It is our pride and self-deceit that leads us to make a false image of ourselves.
Most Souls ARE Lukewarm
Yet Our Lord sees us as we are, not as we imagine ourselves to be; and the truth of the matter is that most souls are lukewarm for a greater or lesser part of their lives. The lukewarmness of souls was already the complaint of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary in 1673! How much worse is not the world today? The Fr. Faber adamantly states this at the end of his chapter on lukewarmness in his book Growth in Holiness, saying:
“I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor, the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then‑lost forever” (Growth in Holiness, chapter 25, “Lukewarmness”).
Another great spiritual authority and master, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., is of the opinion that most souls are not even beginners in the spiritual life. Speaking of the lukewarm or tepid souls, he writes:
“After conversion there ought to be a serious beginning of the purgative life, in which beginners love God by avoiding mortal sin and deliberate venial sin, through exterior and interior mortification and through prayer. But in actual fact this purgative life is found under two very different forms: in some, admittedly very few, this life is intense, generous; it is the narrow way of perfect self-denial described by the saints. In many others the purgative life appears in an attenuated form, varying from good souls, who are a little weak, down to those tepid and retarded souls, who from time to time fall into mortal sin” (The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange).
Let’s Be Honest!
Let us not be afraid of admitting our lukewarmness, whether it be acute or chronic,, temporary or long-term; for if you hide your symptoms from the doctor, there is nothing he can do for you. As the Preface of St. Teresa’s autobiography states: “there is nobody whom lukewarmness does not injure.”
Let us then read St. Teresa’s interesting account and admission on how she became so lukewarm in the first place, so that we may find a lesson therein fro our own lives. In the next article article, we will read of St. Teresa’s recommendations on how cure the spiritual disease. The subtitles will be our own, so as to enable the mind to have a clear overview of what St. Teresa presents.
CHAPTER TWO OF ST. TERESA’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
False Reasoning and Complacency
1. What I shall now speak of was, I believe, the beginning of great harm to me. I often think how wrong it is of parents not to be very careful that their children should always, and in every way, see only that which is good; for though my mother was, as I have just said, so good herself, nevertheless I, when I came to the use of reason, did not derive so much good from her as I ought to have done—almost none at all; and the evil I learned did me much harm.
She was very fond of books of chivalry; but this pastime did not hurt her so much as it hurt me, because she never wasted her time on them; only we, her children, were left at liberty to read them; and perhaps she did this to distract her thoughts from her great sufferings, and occupy her children, that they might not go astray in other ways.
It annoyed my father so much, that we had to be careful he never saw us. I contracted a habit of reading these books; and this little fault which I observed in my mother was the beginning of lukewarmness in my good desires, and the occasion of my falling away in other respects. I thought there was no harm in it when I wasted many hours night and day in so vain an occupation, even when I kept it a secret from my father. So completely was I mastered by this passion, that I thought I could never be happy without a new book.
Superficiality
2. I began to make much of dress, to wish to please others by my appearance. I took pains with my hands and my hair, used perfumes, and all vanities within my reach—and they were many, for I was very much given to them. I had no evil intention, because I never wished any one to offend God for me. This fastidiousness of excessive neatness lasted some years; and so also did other practices, which I thought then were not at all sinful; now, I see how wrong all this must have been.
Bad (or Lukewarm) Friends and Relatives
3. I had some cousins; for into my father’s house no others were allowed an entrance. In this he was very cautious; and would to God he had been cautious about them!—for I see now the danger of conversing, at an age when virtue should begin to grow, with persons who, knowing nothing themselves of the vanity of the world, provoke others to throw themselves into the midst of it. These cousins were nearly of mine own age—a little older, perhaps. We were always together; and they had a great affection for me. In everything that gave them pleasure, I kept the conversation alive—listened to the stories of their affections and childish follies, good for nothing; and, what was still worse, my soul began to give itself up to that which was the cause of all its disorders. If I were to give advice, I would say to parents that they ought to be very careful whom they allow to mix with their children when young; for much mischief thence ensues, and our natural inclinations are unto evil rather than unto good.
Frivolity and Worldliness
4. So it was with me; for I had a sister much older than myself, from whose modesty and goodness, which were great, I learned nothing; and learned every evil from a relative who was often in the house. She was so light and frivolous, that my mother took great pains to keep her out of the house, as if she foresaw the evil I should learn from her; but she could not succeed, there being so many reasons for her coming. I was very fond of this person’s company, gossiped and talked with her; for she helped me in all the amusements I liked, and, what is more, found some for me, and communicated to me her own conversations and her vanities. Until I knew her, I mean, until she became friendly with me, and communicated to me her own affairs—I was then about fourteen years old, a little more, I think—I do not believe that I turned away from God in mortal sin, or lost the fear of Him, though I had a greater fear of disgrace.
This latter fear had such sway over me, that I never wholly forfeited my good name—and, as to that, there was nothing in the world for which I would have bartered it, and nobody in the world I liked well enough who could have persuaded me to do it. Thus I might have had the strength never to do anything against the honor of God, as I had it by nature not to fail in that wherein I thought the honor of the world consisted; and I never observed that I was failing in many other ways. In vainly seeking after it I was extremely careful; but in the use of the means necessary for preserving it I was utterly careless. I was anxious only not to be lost altogether.
Bad Companions
5. This friendship distressed my father and sister exceedingly. They often blamed me for it; but, as they could not hinder that person from coming into the house, all their efforts were in vain; for I was very adroit in doing anything that was wrong. Now and then, I am amazed at the evil one bad companion can do—nor could I believe it if I did not know it by experience—especially when we are young: then is it that the evil must be greatest. Oh, that parents would take this warning by me, and look carefully to this! So it was; the conversation of this person so changed me, that no trace was left of my soul’s natural disposition to virtue, and I became a reflection of her and of another who was given to the same kind of amusements.
Losing the Fear of God
6. I know from this the great advantage of good companions; and I am certain that if at that tender age I had been thrown among good people, I should have persevered in virtue; for if at that time I had found any one to teach me the fear of God, my soul would have grown strong enough not to fall away. Afterwards, when the fear of God had utterly departed from me, the fear of dishonor alone remained, and was a torment to me in all I did. When I thought that nobody would ever know, I ventured upon many things that were neither honorable nor pleasing unto God.
Small Seeds Grow into Big Trees
7. In the beginning, these conversations did me harm—I believe so. The fault was perhaps not hers, but mine; for afterwards my own wickedness was enough to lead me astray, together with the servants about me, whom I found ready enough for all evil. If any one of these had given me good advice, I might perhaps have profited by it; but they were blinded by interest, as I was by passion. Still, I was never inclined to much evil—for I hated naturally anything dishonorable—but only to the amusement of a pleasant conversation. The occasion of sin, however, being present, danger was at hand, and I exposed to it my father and brothers. God delivered me out of it all, so that I should not be lost, in a manner visibly against my will, yet not so secretly as to allow me to escape without the loss of my good name and the suspicions of my father.
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, but...
8. I had not spent, I think, three months in these vanities, when they took me to a monastery in the city where I lived, in which children like myself were brought up, though their way of life was not so wicked as mine. This was done with the utmost concealment of the true reason, which was known only to myself and one of my relatives. They waited for an opportunity which would make the change seem nothing out of the way; for, as my sister was married, it was not fitting I should remain alone, without a mother, in the house.
Excessive Blind Love
9. So excessive was my father’s love for me, and so deep my dissembling, that he never would believe me to be so wicked as I was; and hence I was never in disgrace with him. Though some remarks were made, yet, as the time had been short, nothing could be positively asserted; and, as I was so much afraid about my good name, I had taken every care to be secret; and yet I never considered that I could conceal nothing from Him Who seeth all things. O my God, what evil is done in the world by disregarding this, and thinking that anything can be kept secret that is done against Thee! I am quite certain that great evils would be avoided if we clearly understood that what we have to do is, not to be on our guard against men, but on our guard against displeasing Thee.
Pride and Vanity
10. For the first eight days, I suffered much; but more from the suspicion that my vanity was known, than from being in the monastery; for I was already weary of myself—and, though I offended God, I never ceased to have a great fear of Him, and contrived to go to confession as quickly as I could. I was very uncomfortable; but within eight days, I think sooner, I was much more contented than I had been in my father’s house. All the nuns were pleased with me; for our Lord had given me the grace to please everyone, wherever I might be. I was therefore made much of in the monastery. Though, at this time, I hated to be a nun, yet I was delighted at the sight of nuns so good; for they were very good in that house—very prudent, observant of the rule, and recollected.
Religious and Worldly
11. Yet, for all this, the devil did not cease to tempt me; and people in the world sought means to trouble my rest with messages and presents. As this could not be allowed, it was soon over, and my soul began to return to the good habits of my earlier years; and I recognized the great mercy of God to those whom He places among good people. It seems as if His Majesty had sought and sought again how to convert me to Himself. Blessed be Thou, O Lord, for having borne with me so long! Amen.
Does It Sound Familiar, Soldier?
No doubt much of the above sounds familiar―much of the above is also found in your life, is it not? Nothing changes! Everything is, as they say, “as old as the sun” or “There is nothing new under the sun” or as Scripture says: “What is it that hath been? The same thing that shall be! What is it that hath been done? The same that shall be done! Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us … I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and, behold, all is vanity, and vexation of spirit! The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-15) ― meaning: same old devil, same old human nature, same old Original Sin, same old temptations, same old sins, same old excuses, same old finger-pointing, same old self-justification―and what is even worse, in most cases, the same old fate, which is, God forbid, Hell.
Just as nobody was born a surgeon, or doctor, or dentist, or pilot, or teacher, etc., ― likewise nobody is conceived a saint (barring Our Lady), but is conceived and born weakened by wounds and scars of Original Sin. That is why everyone sins and everyone is a sinner―some more, some less. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). Which is why a sinner par-excellence, St. Augustine of Hippo, who lived in sin with a woman for many years and fathered a child by her, says: “There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future!”
In the above texts―written by St. Teresa of Avila herself in her autobiography―we see St. Teresa (or simply “Teresa” for as yet she was no saint, but, by her own admission, a sinner)―we see her humbly and honestly paint a clear picture of her inadequacy with regard to sanctity. Most of us could relate far more to “Teresa the Sinner” than “Teresa the Saint”! So how did she change from being a sinner into a saint―which is of great interest and great importance for anyone who hopes to get to Heaven? The next article will look at “Teresa’s Boot Camp” and lay the foundations for our own “Boot Camp”, the path we must follow and the methods and weapons we must use ― if we wish to overcome this COVID-19 Plannedemic and its ultimate goal, as well as overcoming the countless obstacles and pitfalls scattered across the path that is meant to lead you out of this sinful life into a saintly Heaven.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Sunday May 24th & Monday May 25th
Article 21
Hey! I Told You So!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Sunday May 24th & Monday May 25th
Article 21
Hey! I Told You So!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Don’t You Hate It When They Say It?
If there is one phrase that most people hate, then it must be being told by someone: “I told you so!” Four little words―ten letters in total―but each one hammers in the nails that tell us: “You were wrong!” which is what “I told you so!” means, but in a more polite, but only slightly less brutal manner. Why does “I told you so!” sting or hurt so much? It stings and hurts because nobody likes to be proved wrong! Somehow―for some insane reason―we like to think that we are always right. Some people are so adamant about always being right, that they will argue for hours trying to twist and camouflage their “wrong” as actually being “right” in some twisted, devious, proud way. “I told you so!” is like a dagger held at your throat demanding capitulation by admitting you were wrong! Admitting to having a wrong-opinion, or wrong-doing, is one of the most repugnant things that proud human beings experience―which is why many people have a repugnance, or at least a dislike, in going to the Sacrament of Confession―for, therein, they are not allowed or supposed to boast of any and all good things they have done, but, instead, they are meant to admit everything in which they have been wrong or done wrong―by their thoughts, words, actions or omissions. The instinctive feelings are “Ugh! Yuck! Argh!”
If you search for a definition or explanation for the phrase, then you will find something similar to the following: “‘I told you so!’ is a phrase that is used to remind someone that they were already warned by the speaker or writer that a certain event would happen” or “a phrase that is used when you have warned someone about a possible danger that has now happened and they have ignored your warning”, or “a phrase used to remind someone that you were right and they were wrong”, etc. The very use of that phrase dispels all possible excuse of ignorance: “But I didn’t know!” or “Nobody told me!”― for you were told beforehand of the bad outcome, hence the words: “I told you so!” So no excuse! That is the sting! That is what makes it painful!
Sin Always Seems Right
In some stupid way, sin always seems right in some way―otherwise we wouldn’t sin, would we? We sin because we wrongly―there’s that yuck word again―we wrongly imagine that there will be more good, or more pleasure found in the sin―which we contemplate committing―than any negative, harmful, painful side-effects of that sin. You could say it is similar to listening, reading or watching any one of the many Big Pharma commercials about their pharmaceuticals or vaccines that they offer―which, in very few words, tell you what ‘good’ they will do for you, and then they have ten times as more things to say―which, in a radio or TV commercial, they then rattle-off at machine-gun pace―so fast that you barely take in what they are saying―over 10 or 15 seconds, listing all the possible dangerous side-effects or complications that threaten you by taking their ‘good’ drug. Nothing is more fitting than this to the saying: “The supposed cure is more dangerous than the disease!”
This false security and wrong evaluation of sin is what St. Louis de Montfort speaks about in his short booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, wherein he writes: “Two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. Only a handful of people follow Him. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
As St. Louis de Montfort says of these false notions of sin and its dangers: “The world’s group … is far superior in number … far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk … hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent ... Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! We shall not die!” To such persons could be applied the phrase: “I warned them―but they only laughed!”
One Day We Will All Hear Those Words―“I Told You So!”
Not only will St. Louis de Montfort say on Judgment Day: “I told you so!” ― but so too will Our Lord, the Judge Himself, for He too warned us beforehand―as the pages of Holy Scripture constantly testify, generation after generation, for thousands of years:
“Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: [ I TOLD YOU SO] ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:26-28). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)―I TOLD YOU SO, BUT YOU WOULD NOT LISTEN.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ... Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). Many have heard and will hear the words that Our Lord addressed to St. Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but that are of men!” (Mark 8:31-33).
Our Lady will also remind us―on that dreadful Day of Judgment―of her countless warnings to which we turned a “deaf ear” as related by Sister Lucia of Fatima: ““Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Then the words of Our Lady will come flooding back to us as one big “I TOLD YOU SO!” We will then remember and bemoan her words of motherly advice―at Quito, La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima and Akita―that we failed to heed:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace!”
Shut Up! Stop! This Is All You Ever Say! I Know All This! Shut Up!
We all are tired of hearing this! Yet Our Lady has never ceased saying this! Don’t shoot the messenger―go shoot at Our Lady if you don’t like the message. After all, it is her message! Yet, as Our Lady of Good Success warned―those who should be speaking out and passing on her message and warnings, WILL REMAIN SILENT. “Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success). The SILENT ONES include popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents. All are tired of hearing the message, tired of thinking about the message and tired of speaking or writing about the message.
We have become like “sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not so much as one dog bark against…” [the evils that surround us and which we plunge ourselves into] (Judith 11:15) because “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Most popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents no longer want to be guard-dogs, watch-dogs, sheep-dogs that bark at the sheep and snap at their heels in order to warn and protect the sheep―they now want to be popular with sheep, mix and be friendly with the sheep―so much so that Our Lord will have to address to them the following words: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Why is it that most souls “fall into the pit”? It is because the devil manages to distract us from God’s messages and warnings, or the devil makes us tired of hearing God’s messages and warnings. If you can disable the burglar alarm, then you are ready to break-in and steal―thus the devil seeks to disable God’s “burglar alarm” [messages and warnings] so that he can then freely break-in and steal the defenseless soul.
Winning Teams and Winning Athletes Win by Hearing the Same Monotonous Messages
How is it that some teams always seem to win? Why are some athletes always winners? One of the major factors is repetitious and monotonous training regimes. They do not tire of constantly hearing the monotonous repetition of tactics being drilled into them―and they do tire of constantly repeating monotonous training drills that gradually perfect their skills and strengthen their endurance and build muscle.
Today―largely due to modern technological advances―we are accustomed to living in an atmosphere of constant change, a perpetual exposure to the “new”―so much so that the “old” become boring, monotonous, aggravating and intolerable. We crave the “new” and look down on the “old”. That same attitude―largely fueled by technological advances―easily and readily flows over into other areas of life. We grow tired of “old” relationships and want “new” ones. A spouse will grow tired of their “old” spouse and want a “new” one―which is facilitated by the worldwide divorce laws. The Church grew tired of the “old” Mass and brought in a “new” Mass―which was then tweaked and made even more “new” by a license to change―hence the clown Masses, rock Masses, cookie Masses, walkabout Masses, etc. This can also overflow into the field of apparitions―whereby people are tired of focusing on the “old” and accepted apparitions and enthusiastically seek and follow as many “new” apparitions as possible, without caring much about authenticity. Change or “newness” becomes more important than truth. The same is true of Our Lady’s messages and warnings―many tire of hearing the same message, the same instruction, the same warning, the same “doom and gloom” as the Modernist and Liberal Pope John XXIII indirectly called Our Lady’s Fatima message―especially referring to the Third Secret of Fatima.
The laws of physics do not change. The mathematical laws do not change. The biological laws do not change. The laws of chemistry do not change. Poisonous substances remain poisonous substances. Nutritious foods remain nutritious foods. The human body does not essentially change. Animal species do not essentially change. Above all―GOD HIMSELF DOES NOT CHANGE! “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17). St. Thomas Aquinas also tells us that God cannot change His Will: “His will cannot change … The will of God is entirely unchangeable … The substance of God and His knowledge are entirely unchangeable, therefore His will must be entirely unchangeable” (Summa, Ia, q.19, articles 3 & 7). Thus the requirements for salvation do not change, nor do the criteria of the judgment of God change. This is why Our Lady’s warnings and counsels will never change―regardless of what we may think of them. The USA might hold firm to the principle of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” ― but Heaven, Our Lady and God do not adhere to such democratic or republican principles. It is, to put it in modern terms, “God’s way or the highway!” ― and God has clearly told us where that “highway” or “broadway” leads to: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). That truth never has changed and never will change. Either we change or we fall into the pit with the majority. God will never change His messages and warnings―we must change our attitudes and lives to fit-in with God’s will. If you want a clear explanation of what will happen when you follow God’s will and what happens when oppose or reject God’s will―then here is God telling you in His own words! As you start to read, you will no doubt say: “Hey! I’ve read this before!” Well, bingo! Guess what? God’s message has not changed―it is the same today as it was thousands of years ago! You can wait till you are “blue in the face” for some new message to come―but “It ain’t comin! Y’all hear! It ain’t comin’!” Here is what He has to say and here is what is coming:
God’s Way or the Highway
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Abbreviated extracts from Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Abbreviated extracts from Leviticus 26:16-41). Remember―God is not addressing those words to pagans, but to HIS OWN CHOSEN PEOPLE, HIS FAVORITES, HIS BELOVED ONES!
On Judgment Day, God will simply say: “I TOLD YOU SO!” … “O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes and see not: and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut―lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
Stubborn as a Mule! Dumb as an Ox! Blind as a Bat!
Most persons are as stubborn as a mule, dumb as an ox and as blind as a bat! These idioms reflect the idiocy of the world―which, paradoxically, imagines itself to pretty clever! Yet how clever are you if you end up in Hell? Well Hell is full of these “clever” idiots ― “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:22). Those fools who tired of hearing the same message over and over again, who tired of hearing the same warnings again and again―will, now, in Hell, hear them again and again for eternity in their own consciences and will be tormented by the devils who will eternally remind them of the same messages and warnings which they stupidly “tuned-out”, ignored or rejected. The devils will constantly nag and torment them, saying: “THEY TOLD YOU SO! BUT YOU DIDN’T LISTEN!”
Coming back to this idea of stubborn as a mule, dumb as an ox and as blind as a bat―in the Old Testament, Holy Scripture puts it thus: “Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!” (Isaias 6:10). Which Our Lord repeats thus in the New Testament: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15) and which St. Paul repeats in the Acts of the Apostles: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27). It looks as though God wanted this idea to repeated again and again again! We need to be told this over and over so that it eventually gets through our “thick-skin” and finally “sinks-in” and “sparks us” into some kind of serious religious reaction and action. There is no such thing as a “laissez-faire” or “pick-and-choose” or “selective hearing” with God’s messages and warnings―we either listen and obey, or we turn a “deaf-ear” and ignore. However, if we turn a “deaf-ear” to Him, we will still hear Him on Judgment Day sentencing us with the prefix “I TOLD YOU SO! BUT YOU WOULDN’T LISTEN!”
If there is one phrase that most people hate, then it must be being told by someone: “I told you so!” Four little words―ten letters in total―but each one hammers in the nails that tell us: “You were wrong!” which is what “I told you so!” means, but in a more polite, but only slightly less brutal manner. Why does “I told you so!” sting or hurt so much? It stings and hurts because nobody likes to be proved wrong! Somehow―for some insane reason―we like to think that we are always right. Some people are so adamant about always being right, that they will argue for hours trying to twist and camouflage their “wrong” as actually being “right” in some twisted, devious, proud way. “I told you so!” is like a dagger held at your throat demanding capitulation by admitting you were wrong! Admitting to having a wrong-opinion, or wrong-doing, is one of the most repugnant things that proud human beings experience―which is why many people have a repugnance, or at least a dislike, in going to the Sacrament of Confession―for, therein, they are not allowed or supposed to boast of any and all good things they have done, but, instead, they are meant to admit everything in which they have been wrong or done wrong―by their thoughts, words, actions or omissions. The instinctive feelings are “Ugh! Yuck! Argh!”
If you search for a definition or explanation for the phrase, then you will find something similar to the following: “‘I told you so!’ is a phrase that is used to remind someone that they were already warned by the speaker or writer that a certain event would happen” or “a phrase that is used when you have warned someone about a possible danger that has now happened and they have ignored your warning”, or “a phrase used to remind someone that you were right and they were wrong”, etc. The very use of that phrase dispels all possible excuse of ignorance: “But I didn’t know!” or “Nobody told me!”― for you were told beforehand of the bad outcome, hence the words: “I told you so!” So no excuse! That is the sting! That is what makes it painful!
Sin Always Seems Right
In some stupid way, sin always seems right in some way―otherwise we wouldn’t sin, would we? We sin because we wrongly―there’s that yuck word again―we wrongly imagine that there will be more good, or more pleasure found in the sin―which we contemplate committing―than any negative, harmful, painful side-effects of that sin. You could say it is similar to listening, reading or watching any one of the many Big Pharma commercials about their pharmaceuticals or vaccines that they offer―which, in very few words, tell you what ‘good’ they will do for you, and then they have ten times as more things to say―which, in a radio or TV commercial, they then rattle-off at machine-gun pace―so fast that you barely take in what they are saying―over 10 or 15 seconds, listing all the possible dangerous side-effects or complications that threaten you by taking their ‘good’ drug. Nothing is more fitting than this to the saying: “The supposed cure is more dangerous than the disease!”
This false security and wrong evaluation of sin is what St. Louis de Montfort speaks about in his short booklet, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, wherein he writes: “Two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. Our kind Master is in the lead, barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. Only a handful of people follow Him. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! Away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue!” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
As St. Louis de Montfort says of these false notions of sin and its dangers: “The world’s group … is far superior in number … far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk … hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent ... Worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that! We shall not die!” To such persons could be applied the phrase: “I warned them―but they only laughed!”
One Day We Will All Hear Those Words―“I Told You So!”
Not only will St. Louis de Montfort say on Judgment Day: “I told you so!” ― but so too will Our Lord, the Judge Himself, for He too warned us beforehand―as the pages of Holy Scripture constantly testify, generation after generation, for thousands of years:
“Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: [ I TOLD YOU SO] ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:26-28). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)―I TOLD YOU SO, BUT YOU WOULD NOT LISTEN.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ... Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). Many have heard and will hear the words that Our Lord addressed to St. Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan! Because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but that are of men!” (Mark 8:31-33).
Our Lady will also remind us―on that dreadful Day of Judgment―of her countless warnings to which we turned a “deaf ear” as related by Sister Lucia of Fatima: ““Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Then the words of Our Lady will come flooding back to us as one big “I TOLD YOU SO!” We will then remember and bemoan her words of motherly advice―at Quito, La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima and Akita―that we failed to heed:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace!”
Shut Up! Stop! This Is All You Ever Say! I Know All This! Shut Up!
We all are tired of hearing this! Yet Our Lady has never ceased saying this! Don’t shoot the messenger―go shoot at Our Lady if you don’t like the message. After all, it is her message! Yet, as Our Lady of Good Success warned―those who should be speaking out and passing on her message and warnings, WILL REMAIN SILENT. “Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success). The SILENT ONES include popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents. All are tired of hearing the message, tired of thinking about the message and tired of speaking or writing about the message.
We have become like “sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not so much as one dog bark against…” [the evils that surround us and which we plunge ourselves into] (Judith 11:15) because “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Most popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, teachers and parents no longer want to be guard-dogs, watch-dogs, sheep-dogs that bark at the sheep and snap at their heels in order to warn and protect the sheep―they now want to be popular with sheep, mix and be friendly with the sheep―so much so that Our Lord will have to address to them the following words: “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Why is it that most souls “fall into the pit”? It is because the devil manages to distract us from God’s messages and warnings, or the devil makes us tired of hearing God’s messages and warnings. If you can disable the burglar alarm, then you are ready to break-in and steal―thus the devil seeks to disable God’s “burglar alarm” [messages and warnings] so that he can then freely break-in and steal the defenseless soul.
Winning Teams and Winning Athletes Win by Hearing the Same Monotonous Messages
How is it that some teams always seem to win? Why are some athletes always winners? One of the major factors is repetitious and monotonous training regimes. They do not tire of constantly hearing the monotonous repetition of tactics being drilled into them―and they do tire of constantly repeating monotonous training drills that gradually perfect their skills and strengthen their endurance and build muscle.
Today―largely due to modern technological advances―we are accustomed to living in an atmosphere of constant change, a perpetual exposure to the “new”―so much so that the “old” become boring, monotonous, aggravating and intolerable. We crave the “new” and look down on the “old”. That same attitude―largely fueled by technological advances―easily and readily flows over into other areas of life. We grow tired of “old” relationships and want “new” ones. A spouse will grow tired of their “old” spouse and want a “new” one―which is facilitated by the worldwide divorce laws. The Church grew tired of the “old” Mass and brought in a “new” Mass―which was then tweaked and made even more “new” by a license to change―hence the clown Masses, rock Masses, cookie Masses, walkabout Masses, etc. This can also overflow into the field of apparitions―whereby people are tired of focusing on the “old” and accepted apparitions and enthusiastically seek and follow as many “new” apparitions as possible, without caring much about authenticity. Change or “newness” becomes more important than truth. The same is true of Our Lady’s messages and warnings―many tire of hearing the same message, the same instruction, the same warning, the same “doom and gloom” as the Modernist and Liberal Pope John XXIII indirectly called Our Lady’s Fatima message―especially referring to the Third Secret of Fatima.
The laws of physics do not change. The mathematical laws do not change. The biological laws do not change. The laws of chemistry do not change. Poisonous substances remain poisonous substances. Nutritious foods remain nutritious foods. The human body does not essentially change. Animal species do not essentially change. Above all―GOD HIMSELF DOES NOT CHANGE! “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17). St. Thomas Aquinas also tells us that God cannot change His Will: “His will cannot change … The will of God is entirely unchangeable … The substance of God and His knowledge are entirely unchangeable, therefore His will must be entirely unchangeable” (Summa, Ia, q.19, articles 3 & 7). Thus the requirements for salvation do not change, nor do the criteria of the judgment of God change. This is why Our Lady’s warnings and counsels will never change―regardless of what we may think of them. The USA might hold firm to the principle of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” ― but Heaven, Our Lady and God do not adhere to such democratic or republican principles. It is, to put it in modern terms, “God’s way or the highway!” ― and God has clearly told us where that “highway” or “broadway” leads to: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). That truth never has changed and never will change. Either we change or we fall into the pit with the majority. God will never change His messages and warnings―we must change our attitudes and lives to fit-in with God’s will. If you want a clear explanation of what will happen when you follow God’s will and what happens when oppose or reject God’s will―then here is God telling you in His own words! As you start to read, you will no doubt say: “Hey! I’ve read this before!” Well, bingo! Guess what? God’s message has not changed―it is the same today as it was thousands of years ago! You can wait till you are “blue in the face” for some new message to come―but “It ain’t comin! Y’all hear! It ain’t comin’!” Here is what He has to say and here is what is coming:
God’s Way or the Highway
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Abbreviated extracts from Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Abbreviated extracts from Leviticus 26:16-41). Remember―God is not addressing those words to pagans, but to HIS OWN CHOSEN PEOPLE, HIS FAVORITES, HIS BELOVED ONES!
On Judgment Day, God will simply say: “I TOLD YOU SO!” … “O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes and see not: and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut―lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27).
Stubborn as a Mule! Dumb as an Ox! Blind as a Bat!
Most persons are as stubborn as a mule, dumb as an ox and as blind as a bat! These idioms reflect the idiocy of the world―which, paradoxically, imagines itself to pretty clever! Yet how clever are you if you end up in Hell? Well Hell is full of these “clever” idiots ― “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:22). Those fools who tired of hearing the same message over and over again, who tired of hearing the same warnings again and again―will, now, in Hell, hear them again and again for eternity in their own consciences and will be tormented by the devils who will eternally remind them of the same messages and warnings which they stupidly “tuned-out”, ignored or rejected. The devils will constantly nag and torment them, saying: “THEY TOLD YOU SO! BUT YOU DIDN’T LISTEN!”
Coming back to this idea of stubborn as a mule, dumb as an ox and as blind as a bat―in the Old Testament, Holy Scripture puts it thus: “Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them!” (Isaias 6:10). Which Our Lord repeats thus in the New Testament: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15) and which St. Paul repeats in the Acts of the Apostles: “For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears have they heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut; lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them!” (Acts 28:27). It looks as though God wanted this idea to repeated again and again again! We need to be told this over and over so that it eventually gets through our “thick-skin” and finally “sinks-in” and “sparks us” into some kind of serious religious reaction and action. There is no such thing as a “laissez-faire” or “pick-and-choose” or “selective hearing” with God’s messages and warnings―we either listen and obey, or we turn a “deaf-ear” and ignore. However, if we turn a “deaf-ear” to Him, we will still hear Him on Judgment Day sentencing us with the prefix “I TOLD YOU SO! BUT YOU WOULDN’T LISTEN!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday May 22nd & Saturday May 23rd
Article 20
Christless, Rudderless ― But Not Helpless!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Friday May 22nd & Saturday May 23rd
Article 20
Christless, Rudderless ― But Not Helpless!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Gone For Good—Gone For the Good of Their Souls
“And He led them out as far as Bethania: and lifting up His hands, He blessed them. And it came to pass, whilst He blessed them, He departed from them, and was carried up to Heaven. And they adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:50-52). Our Lord could have stayed on Earth for centuries, for millennia, teaching, healing, performing miracles—what a great advantage it would have been.
But no! He leaves! He goes HOME! He goes to prepare a place for us to show us that HEAVEN is intended to be our true and only HOME. It is too easy to get attached to what you can see, over what you cannot see. Yet therein lies the test, the examination. Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.
Christless and Rudderless!
With the current Coronavirus Plannedemic or Coronahoax Plannedpanic ― which has a real virus, a deliberately man-made virus, used to deliberately stage a worldwide panic for nefarious goals―we find ourselves in somewhat a similar position to the Apostles and disciples after the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. They were deprived of Our Lord for good and we have been (more or less) deprived of Our Lord in the Mass due to the deliberate, barely disguised, anti-Christian measures enforced by godless States and Governments throughout the world.
Apostles and Disciples “Quarantine” and “Self-Isolate”
The response of the Apostles was to “quarantine” and “self-isolate” themselves for 9 days in the Upper Room where the first Mass had been held, because they were now Christless and rudderless and in fear of the Jews and possible reprisals and persecution―just as they had done immediately after Our Lord’s crucifixion and prior to His resurrection: “And the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Scripture tells us that in seeing Our Lord ascend into Heaven, the Apostles and disciples, “adoring, went back into Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52) and “returned to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Jude the brother of James. All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:12-14).
Yet, as with Catholics, who have seen Jesus taken away from them with public Sunday Masses prohibited or severely restricted, and who are being “quarantined” and told to “self-isolate”, the Apostles and disciples, even though they were “persevering with one mind in prayer”, would have realized more and more, with each passing day, that their beloved Jesus was NO LONGER COMING BACK! Life for them would never return to normal―which is what Plannedemic Puppeteers are telling us today: “The world will not go back to normal anymore!” The Apostles would have, with each passing Christless day, perhaps grown more and more melancholic, more apprehensive, more and more uncertain about the future, more and more unsure about what they would have to do in spreading Christ’s message, and perhaps also more and more fearful of the world in general (which is an enemy of God) and of the Jews in particular.
Our Christless Age
For us, today, though we might have seen Christ “taken away” from us―we know that public Masses will be resuming shortly―but will they be “normal” Masses? Will the way we assist at Mass be {attemptedly) changed forever? There are other things that we know too.
YES―we know there is a real virus and, the more we know about it, the more insidious it is seen to be.
NO―the virus does not have a natural origin, but is man-made in a lab.
NO―not all so-called Coronavirus deaths were really caused by Coronavirus, but nevertheless were still falsely classified as Coronavirus deaths, in order to help increase the worldwide panic.
NO―the predicted millions and millions of deaths never happened, except in the imagination.
YES―the Plannedemic Puppeteers are intensely propagandizing that the virus will be coming back to us in a “second coming” later this year.
YES―those people who financed and manufactured this virus should be quarantined and isolated for ever―by being given a prison life-sentence because they are the real murderous threat to humanity and not the poor people whom they have infected with their creation.
YES―they should be joined in prison by all those who are seeking to commit “medical rape” by threateningly forcing everyone to be injected against their will with the usually ineffective, potentially disease enhancing and potentially life-threatening “messianic vaccine”. Funny, isn’t it, that Bill Gates never vaccinated his own children!
YES―it is the truth and not a conspiracy theory to say that all of this Coronavirus hullabaloo was carefully planned and staged with a view of achieving some far more nefarious, totalitarian and potentially fatal goals.
NO―closing down economies and creating a gigantic unemployment crisis is not the way to handle this man-made and man-staged Plannedemic, because it makes the cure (unemployment and food shortages) far worse and far more dangerous than the disease.
YES―most Catholics, since their Faith has been “dumbed-down” and their focus and trust is in the world, most Catholics have “bought into” the lies and propaganda surrounding the Plannedemic Panic, and many quite like being dispensed from going to Mass on Sundays and have grown accustomed to “attending” Mass on a screen.
NO―very few Catholics have approached these threatening times in the supernatural and spiritual manner expected of them, by multiplying their prayers and penances against the enemies of the Church.
Our Lord Makes a Heavenly Statement
Our Lord could not have put it any more clearly: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
In other words, Heaven is Our Lord’s true and one and only home―and the same applies to us. We should be putting all our energies into striving for the things of Heaven and not the things of Earth.
Heaven Is Meant For All—Not All Get There
“The rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Him. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to him that sent me. You shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither you cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves: ‘Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What is this saying that He hath said: “You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come?”’” (John 7:32-36).
“Again therefore Jesus said to them: ‘I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come!’ The Jews therefore said: ‘Will He kill himself, because He said: “Whither I go, you cannot come?”‘ And He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins’” (John 8:21-24).
“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me; and as I said to the Jews—’Whither I go you cannot come’— so I say to you now” (John 13:33).
Heavenly Realty is a Heavenly Reality
“Jesus saith to them: ‘Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know.’
Do We Know The Way? Or Have We Lost Our Way?
“Thomas saith to Him: ‘Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?’ Jesus saith to him: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would without doubt have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him.’
“Philip saith to him: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, show us the Father? Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of Myself. But the Father who abideth in Me, he doth the works. Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Otherwise believe for the very works’ sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do. Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask Me anything in My name, that I will do’” (John 14:1-14).
Christ’s Sad Idea of Happiness
“But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:6-7).
“A little while, and now you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father. Then some of the disciples said one to another: ‘What is this that he saith to us: “A little while, and you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me, and, because I go to the Father?”‘ They said therefore: ‘What is this that He saith, “A little while?” We know not what He speaketh!’
“And Jesus knew that they had a mind to ask Him; and He said to them: ‘Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said: “A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me?” Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ... So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you .. . In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father.” (John 16:16-22, 28, 33).
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’s sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Where’s Your Bank Account?
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Actions More Than Just Words
“Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “And calling the multitude together with His disciples, He said to them: ‘If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Mark 8:34). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me … He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:35-37-38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Seed or Weed?
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way ... The man said: “Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30) … “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Do We “Cut The Mustard”? Do We Make The Grade?
“Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32) — thereby telling us that we must not be spiritually stagnant, but that we must grow spiritually and share our spiritual treasures with others; otherwise we become like the man, in the Parable of Talents, who buried his talent and did nothing with it.
Too many souls are lost because they choose to be spiritually stunted or spiritually selfish. God expects our spiritually tree to bear fruit and He will purge it so that it bears even more fruit: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit ... I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
Are We Rising?
“Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened’” (Matthew 13:33) — thereby teaching us that the spiritual must penetrate all material and physical aspects of our life and raise them to a higher supernatural level, whereby we do all things for God.
Treasure and Pearls
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46) — hereby teaching us that the spiritual is of far greater value than all material possessions. As St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, that one single soul in a state of grace is worth far more than all the material treasures of the universe.
However, we have the example of the rich young man, who asked Our Lord what he had to do to get to Heaven. Our Lord told him to sell all he had and then come follow Him. “And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:22-24).
How do we rate in this area? Are our possessions—whether things, hobbies or places—hindering our passage to Heaven? What comes first—God or mammon, morning prayers or morning coffee, to pray or to play?
Net Savings
“Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 13:47-50) — this echoes the above quoted words: “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Got the Message?
“‘Have ye understood all these things?’ They say to Him: ‘Yes!’” (Matthew 13:51). “And He said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 18:3). “If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!” (Mark 8:34). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Ideas of Happiness That Are Too Material
After the resurrection of Our Lord, the Apostles were still expecting Him to conquer all that lay before Him in a physical, material and worldly manner: “They therefore who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” Jesus would conquer, but He would conquer spiritually. He had told Pilate, before being crucified: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence” (John 18:36).
Which kingdom do we seek to live in? Which kingdom do we love the most? Which kingdom takes up most of our time? The litmus test is really simple. Perhaps the answer is confusing and humiliating. Perhaps we are even afraid to take the test for fear of seeing the result!
Home is where your heart is! People long to be at home. Your home is whatever place you long to be. We’ve all heard or made similar expressions to the following: “I’ve had a lovely time visiting with you, but it’s time I was getting home!” or “It’s great to be home!” or again, “I’m homesick! I want to go home!” or something similar that you say which means that your true home is with the person or in the place that you love most.
We Envision Heaven in Different Ways
In meditating upon the happiness in store for the children of God, we are very apt to build up a Heaven of our own, which naturally takes the shape and color which our sorrows, needs, and sufferings lend to it. The poor man, for instance, who has suffered much from toil and want, looks upon Heaven as a place of rest, abounding with all that can satisfy the cravings of nature. Another, who has often endured the pangs of disease, looks upon it as a place where he shall enjoy perpetual health of body and mind. Another again, who, in the practice of virtue, has had all manner of temptations from the Devil, the world, and his own flesh, delights in viewing Heaven as a place totally free from temptation, where the danger, or even the possibility, of sin shall be no more.
All these, and other similar views of Heaven, are true inasmuch as they represent it as a place entirely free from evil and suffering, and, at the same time, as an abode of positive happiness. Nevertheless, they are all imperfect views, because not one of them takes in the whole of heavenly bliss, such as God has revealed it to us. They all ignore the Beatific Vision, which is the essential happiness of Heaven. Very few indeed understand what is implied in the vision of God. Many imagine that we shall simply gaze upon an object whose surpassing perfection will make us happy in a way that we do not understand. These do not fully comprehend what is meant by the Beatific Vision, although they view Heaven as a place where we shall see God.
Elusive Perfect Happiness
Perfect happiness cannot be found in this world. It certainly cannot be found in creatures—persons, places or things—for they were not clothed with the power to give it. God has promised a happiness so unspeakably great, that the Apostle St. Paul, who “was caught up into Paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:4) and was favored with a glimpse of Heaven, tells us that mortal “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). This happiness—which is now so incomprehensible to us—is none other than the possession and enjoyment of God Himself in the Beatific Vision, as well as the perfect satisfaction of every rational craving of our nature in the glorious resurrection of the body.
Man-Made Heaven
In thinking about the happiness in store for the children of God, we are very likely to build up a Heaven of our own making, which naturally takes the shape and color that our sorrows, needs, and sufferings lend to it. The poor man, for example, who has suffered much from toil and want, looks upon Heaven as a place of rest, abounding with all that can satisfy the cravings of nature. Another, who has often endured the pangs of disease, looks upon it as a place where he shall enjoy perpetual health of body and mind. Someone who has endured hatred and persecution, envisages a place of love and peace. Another again, who, in the practice of virtue, has had all manner of temptations from the devil, the world, and his own flesh, delights in viewing Heaven as a place totally free from temptation, where the danger, or even the possibility, of sin shall be no more.
All these, and other similar views of Heaven, are true inasmuch as they represent it as a place entirely free from evil and suffering, and, at the same time, as a place of positive happiness. Nevertheless, they are all imperfect views, because not one of them takes in the whole of heavenly bliss, such as God has revealed it to us. They all ignore the Beatific Vision, which is the essential happiness of Heaven. Very few indeed understand what is implied in the vision of God. Many imagine that we shall simply eternally gaze upon an object whose surpassing perfection will make us happy in a way that we do not understand. These do not fully comprehend what is meant by the Beatific Vision, although they view Heaven as a place where we shall see God.
God Prepares You for Heaven
God is the great and mighty King who finds your soul in the wilderness of this world. To use the forcible words of Scripture, He found you “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Apocalypse 3:17). Moved with compassion, He brought you into His holy Church. There, He washed you with His own Precious Blood, clothed you with the spotless robe of innocence, adorned you with the gifts of grace, and adopted you as His own child. Then He commanded His ministers and others to educate you for Heaven. By His grace, and your own cooperation, your soul is being gradually developed into a more perfect resemblance to Jesus Christ, who, in His human nature, is the standard of all created perfection.
Blind to Heaven
But you are blind yet, and must remain so until your heavenly Father calls you home. When that happy day dawns, you will leave this world, your eyes will be opened by the light of glory, and you will see God as He is, in all His glory and magnificence. You will see yourself as you are, adorned with the jewels of the many graces He has bestowed upon you. You will also see the beautiful angels and saints, clothed with the beauty of God Himself, standing around His throne to hear the sentence that will admit you into their society.
This sight of the living God, and of all the magnificence which surrounds Him, will fill your soul with a perfect knowledge of Him; and this knowledge will produce a most ardent and perfect love. And when He presses you to His bosom, proclaims you one of His children, and commands all to honor and love you as such, your joy will be full. This will be emphatically a Beatific Vision for you. You will then enter into the possession and enjoyment of God, who alone can fill the soul with pure and permanent happiness.
God Offers, But No Guarantees
That is what is offered, but not guaranteed! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). It requires work on you part—hard work: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Yet we should be hopeful of obtaining it: “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Take note of the words “little flock” for elsewhere Our Lord says: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). If we find that we are just like the majority of people, then that must be danger sign!
Why don’t the majority find it? Does God hide it from them? No! They are too busy with the world—“And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22).
What Will You Do?
So during this Ascension season―that leads to the feast of Pentecost―you should follow the advice of the Church and “lift up your hearts” to Heaven as it says in the Preface of the Mass. “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41). Heaven is your true and only home. Rise above the things of this world that prevent you from rising above it: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). We cannot have both—mammon and God, earthly pleasures and heavenly pleasures—there is no loophole in God’s contract! What will it be? Will you sign on for Heaven? Or…
“And He led them out as far as Bethania: and lifting up His hands, He blessed them. And it came to pass, whilst He blessed them, He departed from them, and was carried up to Heaven. And they adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:50-52). Our Lord could have stayed on Earth for centuries, for millennia, teaching, healing, performing miracles—what a great advantage it would have been.
But no! He leaves! He goes HOME! He goes to prepare a place for us to show us that HEAVEN is intended to be our true and only HOME. It is too easy to get attached to what you can see, over what you cannot see. Yet therein lies the test, the examination. Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.
Christless and Rudderless!
With the current Coronavirus Plannedemic or Coronahoax Plannedpanic ― which has a real virus, a deliberately man-made virus, used to deliberately stage a worldwide panic for nefarious goals―we find ourselves in somewhat a similar position to the Apostles and disciples after the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. They were deprived of Our Lord for good and we have been (more or less) deprived of Our Lord in the Mass due to the deliberate, barely disguised, anti-Christian measures enforced by godless States and Governments throughout the world.
Apostles and Disciples “Quarantine” and “Self-Isolate”
The response of the Apostles was to “quarantine” and “self-isolate” themselves for 9 days in the Upper Room where the first Mass had been held, because they were now Christless and rudderless and in fear of the Jews and possible reprisals and persecution―just as they had done immediately after Our Lord’s crucifixion and prior to His resurrection: “And the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Scripture tells us that in seeing Our Lord ascend into Heaven, the Apostles and disciples, “adoring, went back into Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52) and “returned to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Jude the brother of James. All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:12-14).
Yet, as with Catholics, who have seen Jesus taken away from them with public Sunday Masses prohibited or severely restricted, and who are being “quarantined” and told to “self-isolate”, the Apostles and disciples, even though they were “persevering with one mind in prayer”, would have realized more and more, with each passing day, that their beloved Jesus was NO LONGER COMING BACK! Life for them would never return to normal―which is what Plannedemic Puppeteers are telling us today: “The world will not go back to normal anymore!” The Apostles would have, with each passing Christless day, perhaps grown more and more melancholic, more apprehensive, more and more uncertain about the future, more and more unsure about what they would have to do in spreading Christ’s message, and perhaps also more and more fearful of the world in general (which is an enemy of God) and of the Jews in particular.
Our Christless Age
For us, today, though we might have seen Christ “taken away” from us―we know that public Masses will be resuming shortly―but will they be “normal” Masses? Will the way we assist at Mass be {attemptedly) changed forever? There are other things that we know too.
YES―we know there is a real virus and, the more we know about it, the more insidious it is seen to be.
NO―the virus does not have a natural origin, but is man-made in a lab.
NO―not all so-called Coronavirus deaths were really caused by Coronavirus, but nevertheless were still falsely classified as Coronavirus deaths, in order to help increase the worldwide panic.
NO―the predicted millions and millions of deaths never happened, except in the imagination.
YES―the Plannedemic Puppeteers are intensely propagandizing that the virus will be coming back to us in a “second coming” later this year.
YES―those people who financed and manufactured this virus should be quarantined and isolated for ever―by being given a prison life-sentence because they are the real murderous threat to humanity and not the poor people whom they have infected with their creation.
YES―they should be joined in prison by all those who are seeking to commit “medical rape” by threateningly forcing everyone to be injected against their will with the usually ineffective, potentially disease enhancing and potentially life-threatening “messianic vaccine”. Funny, isn’t it, that Bill Gates never vaccinated his own children!
YES―it is the truth and not a conspiracy theory to say that all of this Coronavirus hullabaloo was carefully planned and staged with a view of achieving some far more nefarious, totalitarian and potentially fatal goals.
NO―closing down economies and creating a gigantic unemployment crisis is not the way to handle this man-made and man-staged Plannedemic, because it makes the cure (unemployment and food shortages) far worse and far more dangerous than the disease.
YES―most Catholics, since their Faith has been “dumbed-down” and their focus and trust is in the world, most Catholics have “bought into” the lies and propaganda surrounding the Plannedemic Panic, and many quite like being dispensed from going to Mass on Sundays and have grown accustomed to “attending” Mass on a screen.
NO―very few Catholics have approached these threatening times in the supernatural and spiritual manner expected of them, by multiplying their prayers and penances against the enemies of the Church.
Our Lord Makes a Heavenly Statement
Our Lord could not have put it any more clearly: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
In other words, Heaven is Our Lord’s true and one and only home―and the same applies to us. We should be putting all our energies into striving for the things of Heaven and not the things of Earth.
Heaven Is Meant For All—Not All Get There
“The rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Him. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to him that sent me. You shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither you cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves: ‘Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What is this saying that He hath said: “You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come?”’” (John 7:32-36).
“Again therefore Jesus said to them: ‘I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come!’ The Jews therefore said: ‘Will He kill himself, because He said: “Whither I go, you cannot come?”‘ And He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins’” (John 8:21-24).
“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me; and as I said to the Jews—’Whither I go you cannot come’— so I say to you now” (John 13:33).
Heavenly Realty is a Heavenly Reality
“Jesus saith to them: ‘Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know.’
Do We Know The Way? Or Have We Lost Our Way?
“Thomas saith to Him: ‘Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?’ Jesus saith to him: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would without doubt have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him.’
“Philip saith to him: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, show us the Father? Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of Myself. But the Father who abideth in Me, he doth the works. Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Otherwise believe for the very works’ sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do. Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask Me anything in My name, that I will do’” (John 14:1-14).
Christ’s Sad Idea of Happiness
“But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:6-7).
“A little while, and now you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father. Then some of the disciples said one to another: ‘What is this that he saith to us: “A little while, and you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me, and, because I go to the Father?”‘ They said therefore: ‘What is this that He saith, “A little while?” We know not what He speaketh!’
“And Jesus knew that they had a mind to ask Him; and He said to them: ‘Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said: “A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me?” Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ... So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you .. . In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father.” (John 16:16-22, 28, 33).
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’s sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Where’s Your Bank Account?
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Actions More Than Just Words
“Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “And calling the multitude together with His disciples, He said to them: ‘If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Mark 8:34). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me … He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:35-37-38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
Seed or Weed?
“Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way ... The man said: “Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30) … “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Do We “Cut The Mustard”? Do We Make The Grade?
“Another parable He proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32) — thereby telling us that we must not be spiritually stagnant, but that we must grow spiritually and share our spiritual treasures with others; otherwise we become like the man, in the Parable of Talents, who buried his talent and did nothing with it.
Too many souls are lost because they choose to be spiritually stunted or spiritually selfish. God expects our spiritually tree to bear fruit and He will purge it so that it bears even more fruit: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit ... I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
Are We Rising?
“Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened’” (Matthew 13:33) — thereby teaching us that the spiritual must penetrate all material and physical aspects of our life and raise them to a higher supernatural level, whereby we do all things for God.
Treasure and Pearls
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46) — hereby teaching us that the spiritual is of far greater value than all material possessions. As St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, that one single soul in a state of grace is worth far more than all the material treasures of the universe.
However, we have the example of the rich young man, who asked Our Lord what he had to do to get to Heaven. Our Lord told him to sell all he had and then come follow Him. “And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:22-24).
How do we rate in this area? Are our possessions—whether things, hobbies or places—hindering our passage to Heaven? What comes first—God or mammon, morning prayers or morning coffee, to pray or to play?
Net Savings
“Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 13:47-50) — this echoes the above quoted words: “Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Got the Message?
“‘Have ye understood all these things?’ They say to Him: ‘Yes!’” (Matthew 13:51). “And He said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 18:3). “If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!” (Mark 8:34). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
Ideas of Happiness That Are Too Material
After the resurrection of Our Lord, the Apostles were still expecting Him to conquer all that lay before Him in a physical, material and worldly manner: “They therefore who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” Jesus would conquer, but He would conquer spiritually. He had told Pilate, before being crucified: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence” (John 18:36).
Which kingdom do we seek to live in? Which kingdom do we love the most? Which kingdom takes up most of our time? The litmus test is really simple. Perhaps the answer is confusing and humiliating. Perhaps we are even afraid to take the test for fear of seeing the result!
Home is where your heart is! People long to be at home. Your home is whatever place you long to be. We’ve all heard or made similar expressions to the following: “I’ve had a lovely time visiting with you, but it’s time I was getting home!” or “It’s great to be home!” or again, “I’m homesick! I want to go home!” or something similar that you say which means that your true home is with the person or in the place that you love most.
We Envision Heaven in Different Ways
In meditating upon the happiness in store for the children of God, we are very apt to build up a Heaven of our own, which naturally takes the shape and color which our sorrows, needs, and sufferings lend to it. The poor man, for instance, who has suffered much from toil and want, looks upon Heaven as a place of rest, abounding with all that can satisfy the cravings of nature. Another, who has often endured the pangs of disease, looks upon it as a place where he shall enjoy perpetual health of body and mind. Another again, who, in the practice of virtue, has had all manner of temptations from the Devil, the world, and his own flesh, delights in viewing Heaven as a place totally free from temptation, where the danger, or even the possibility, of sin shall be no more.
All these, and other similar views of Heaven, are true inasmuch as they represent it as a place entirely free from evil and suffering, and, at the same time, as an abode of positive happiness. Nevertheless, they are all imperfect views, because not one of them takes in the whole of heavenly bliss, such as God has revealed it to us. They all ignore the Beatific Vision, which is the essential happiness of Heaven. Very few indeed understand what is implied in the vision of God. Many imagine that we shall simply gaze upon an object whose surpassing perfection will make us happy in a way that we do not understand. These do not fully comprehend what is meant by the Beatific Vision, although they view Heaven as a place where we shall see God.
Elusive Perfect Happiness
Perfect happiness cannot be found in this world. It certainly cannot be found in creatures—persons, places or things—for they were not clothed with the power to give it. God has promised a happiness so unspeakably great, that the Apostle St. Paul, who “was caught up into Paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:4) and was favored with a glimpse of Heaven, tells us that mortal “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). This happiness—which is now so incomprehensible to us—is none other than the possession and enjoyment of God Himself in the Beatific Vision, as well as the perfect satisfaction of every rational craving of our nature in the glorious resurrection of the body.
Man-Made Heaven
In thinking about the happiness in store for the children of God, we are very likely to build up a Heaven of our own making, which naturally takes the shape and color that our sorrows, needs, and sufferings lend to it. The poor man, for example, who has suffered much from toil and want, looks upon Heaven as a place of rest, abounding with all that can satisfy the cravings of nature. Another, who has often endured the pangs of disease, looks upon it as a place where he shall enjoy perpetual health of body and mind. Someone who has endured hatred and persecution, envisages a place of love and peace. Another again, who, in the practice of virtue, has had all manner of temptations from the devil, the world, and his own flesh, delights in viewing Heaven as a place totally free from temptation, where the danger, or even the possibility, of sin shall be no more.
All these, and other similar views of Heaven, are true inasmuch as they represent it as a place entirely free from evil and suffering, and, at the same time, as a place of positive happiness. Nevertheless, they are all imperfect views, because not one of them takes in the whole of heavenly bliss, such as God has revealed it to us. They all ignore the Beatific Vision, which is the essential happiness of Heaven. Very few indeed understand what is implied in the vision of God. Many imagine that we shall simply eternally gaze upon an object whose surpassing perfection will make us happy in a way that we do not understand. These do not fully comprehend what is meant by the Beatific Vision, although they view Heaven as a place where we shall see God.
God Prepares You for Heaven
God is the great and mighty King who finds your soul in the wilderness of this world. To use the forcible words of Scripture, He found you “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Apocalypse 3:17). Moved with compassion, He brought you into His holy Church. There, He washed you with His own Precious Blood, clothed you with the spotless robe of innocence, adorned you with the gifts of grace, and adopted you as His own child. Then He commanded His ministers and others to educate you for Heaven. By His grace, and your own cooperation, your soul is being gradually developed into a more perfect resemblance to Jesus Christ, who, in His human nature, is the standard of all created perfection.
Blind to Heaven
But you are blind yet, and must remain so until your heavenly Father calls you home. When that happy day dawns, you will leave this world, your eyes will be opened by the light of glory, and you will see God as He is, in all His glory and magnificence. You will see yourself as you are, adorned with the jewels of the many graces He has bestowed upon you. You will also see the beautiful angels and saints, clothed with the beauty of God Himself, standing around His throne to hear the sentence that will admit you into their society.
This sight of the living God, and of all the magnificence which surrounds Him, will fill your soul with a perfect knowledge of Him; and this knowledge will produce a most ardent and perfect love. And when He presses you to His bosom, proclaims you one of His children, and commands all to honor and love you as such, your joy will be full. This will be emphatically a Beatific Vision for you. You will then enter into the possession and enjoyment of God, who alone can fill the soul with pure and permanent happiness.
God Offers, But No Guarantees
That is what is offered, but not guaranteed! “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). It requires work on you part—hard work: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Yet we should be hopeful of obtaining it: “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Take note of the words “little flock” for elsewhere Our Lord says: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). If we find that we are just like the majority of people, then that must be danger sign!
Why don’t the majority find it? Does God hide it from them? No! They are too busy with the world—“And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22).
What Will You Do?
So during this Ascension season―that leads to the feast of Pentecost―you should follow the advice of the Church and “lift up your hearts” to Heaven as it says in the Preface of the Mass. “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41). Heaven is your true and only home. Rise above the things of this world that prevent you from rising above it: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). We cannot have both—mammon and God, earthly pleasures and heavenly pleasures—there is no loophole in God’s contract! What will it be? Will you sign on for Heaven? Or…
Thursday May 21st
Article 19
Heart in Heaven ― Feet on Earth!
Article 19
Heart in Heaven ― Feet on Earth!
Lift Up Your Hearts, But Keep Your Feet Firmly Planted on the Earth!
On this Ascension Thursday, “lift up your hearts” to Heaven as we say in the Preface of the Mass. “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41). Heaven is your true and only home. Rise above the things of this world that prevent you from rising above it: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). We cannot have both—mammon and God, earthly pleasures and heavenly pleasures—there is no loophole in God’s contract! What will it be? Will you sign on for Heaven? Or do have a contract signed with mammon? Trying to serve two masters is more a recipe for sadness than happiness―as Our Lord said: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Luke 16:13).
Happy and Sad
Today we ‘celebrate’ the Ascension into Heaven of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. We may be celebrating it today, but back then, at the time of actual Ascension of Our Lord, there was very little ‘celebrating’ going on! There were a lot of sad faces around on that mountain, after Our Lord had left them behind and was now ‘gone-for-good’! It might have been a ‘good’ thing for Our Lord—going to Heaven, who wouldn’t want that!?! Yet, for the Apostles, this was no ‘Heaven’—it was a similar feeling to the one they had when Jesus had been arrested, was tried, tortured and put to death! Their initial reaction was the same—they went back the Upper Room and locked themselves in, out of fear of the Jews.
Our Lady, too, took the least joyful path on that day. According to revelations made to the mystics, she was offered the choice of going to Heaven with Our Lord, or staying upon the Earth to help the fledgling Church get off the ground. Though Heaven would have been the ‘happier’ choice, she chose the ‘sadder’ option and remained behind.
The Hollywood Ascension or the Real Ascension?
In a Hollywood version of the Ascension, things would be portrayed much differently to the real version of the Ascension. Hollywood would focus upon the glittering and beautiful and extraordinary aspect of the Ascension. Heavenly music, heavenly cherubs, bright lights, triumphalism, etc. But rather than being a “launch-pad” for Jesus’ flight to Heaven, the Ascension was the “launch-pad” for the Church’s fight on Earth, and its battles in a war on Earth against the devil, the world and the flesh!
Here is the account of the Ascension from the book The Life of Mary As Seen By The Mystics:
“When all had gathered on the top of the hill, Jesus stood on a large, flat stone and spoke to them with calm affection. Then the Savior spread out His hands and directed His gaze toward Heaven. His whole body became increasingly luminous. The wounds of His hands glistened, and those of His feet shone brightly. A dazzling multicolored circle of light descended from the sky and completely enveloped Him. Then He slowly began to ascend into the air. While the stupefied disciples gazed after Him with intense amazement and awe, His figure became so small and distant that it could scarcely be distinguished, until finally a cloud took Him out of their sight.
“The dazed and shaken disciples were still staring at the sky in complete silence. All who were present bowed their heads and remained thus for some moments. For now, with a profound shock, they fully realized what had just happened to them: their beloved Savior had returned to His Father in Heaven, leaving them to themselves on Earth! Some of them were so grieved and heartbroken that they fell to the ground and wept disconsolately, like children. Others began to talk excitedly to one another. Often they looked up into the sky again, as if hoping to catch another glimpse of Jesus. Only Mary, Peter and John were calm and serene, though deeply moved. Then gradually their first sorrow over the sudden separation changed into profound happiness as they understood that their Redeemer was watching over them from the throne of His Father in Heaven, and as they also recalled His promise to be with them always.
“During the Ascension of Christ, the Blessed Virgin underwent a marvelous mystical experience: by the will and power of Almighty God her soul was raised with her divine Son, and she was told to choose between remaining henceforth in the glory of Heaven or returning to the world to guide and assist the new Church. But when she looked down and saw the pitiful condition of the bewildered followers of Christ just after His Ascension, she was stirred by compassion for them and for all mankind, and by her own free choice and with the blessing of God, Mary returned to help in founding the Church Militant on Earth.” (The Life of Mary As Seen By The Mystics, Raphael Brown).
The Ascension Foretold
Jesus’ farewell talks—at the Last Supper and now again after the Resurrection—were a preparation for the battles to come. “Knowing that the Father had given Him all things into His hands, and that He came from God, and goeth to God … Jesus said: ‘Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews: Where I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow hereafter ... I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be ... I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive … If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.”
The Ascension Sends the Apostles to War
“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you … They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you ... In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (extracts from the Last Supper discourse, Gospel of St. John).
Kill or Be Killed!
We need to get things straight in our minds! We are in a war—whether we want it or not, whether we like or not, whether we fight or not! It is a war of Faith! Even though the axiom insists: “It takes two to make a fight”—in this particular war, the enemy will fight us even if we refuse to fight—and then we are lost. We should rather focus on the axiom that says: “Kill, or be killed!” That is closer to the truth of the matter in the fight that we must fight. This is all the more true today with the nefarious bi-warfare in the form of the Coronavirus Plannedemic attacking mankind in general and the Church “on the side” ― a fact that has been increasingly voiced by the Catholic bishops of the world, not least of all the Minnesota bishops just recently, who proclaimed on May 20th, 2020:
“The Catholic Bishops of Minnesota, along with many people of Faith, were disappointed in Governor Walz’s May 13 announcement that he would end the Stay-at-Home order to allow more commerce―but prohibit religious gatherings of more than ten people. We have attempted to work collaboratively with the Walz Administration up to this time … Given our willingness to coordinate with the Governor, we are especially disappointed that his most recent order (20-56) does not address both the vital importance that Faith plays in the lives of Americans, especially in this time of pandemic, … The Governor’s remarks today further underscored a failure to appreciate the role of our Church … The bishops of Minnesota are united in our conviction that we can safely resume public Masses in accordance with both our religious duties and with accepted public health and safety standards …We have attempted to engage in dialogue with the Administration. We have twice sent the Governor letters asking for a dialogue … We have not received a concrete timeline and roadmap for resuming public worship … Our decision to suspend the public celebration of Mass was painful. We made that decision not because we were compelled to do so, but because we judged that the circumstances required it. We believe that those circumstances have changed, as confirmed by the Governor’s decision to end the Stay-at-Home order and allow more commerce. It is now permissible for an unspecified number of people to go to shopping malls and enter stores, so long as no more than 50 percent of the occupancy capacity is reached. Big-box stores have hundreds of people inside at any one time, and the number of goods that are being handled and distributed in one store by many people—stock staff, customers, cashiers—is astounding. Workers are present for many hours per day, often in close proximity. There is no state mandate that customers wear masks in those malls or stores, wash their hands consistently, or follow any specific cleaning protocol. In these circumstances … how can reason require us any longer to keep our faithful from the Eucharist? We are blessed to live in a nation that guarantees the free exercise of religion … We think that the executive order issued last Wednesday fails this test. An order that sweeps so broadly that it prohibits, for example, a gathering of 11 people in a Cathedral with a seating capacity of several thousand―defies reason. Therefore, we have chosen to move forward in the absence of any specific timeline laid out by Governor Walz and his Administration. We cannot allow an indefinite suspension of the public celebration of the Mass.”
Holy Scripture is loaded with quotes on the war that we must wage against the enemies of our Faith, we will just present a few of the hundreds to be found:
A Life-long Warfare
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)—notice it says the “LIFE” meaning the entire life, and not just “part of man’s life”! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
We Must Fight
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8). “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Hebrews 12:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1).
Fight With the Word of God
“The word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12) … “And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16) … “I will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (Apocalypse 2:16) ... “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands: to execute vengeance upon the nations, and chastisements among the people” (Psalm 149:6-7). “And they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (Jeremias 1:19).
Confirmation made you a Soldier for Christ
This whole idea of warfare in the service of Christ is the foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we are confirmed, we become Soldiers for Christ. The Holy Ghost grants to our souls, among other graces and gifts, the Gift of Fortitude or courage for the fight. This is also indicated by the slap (now a gentle tap) that the bishop administers on the cheek of the confirmand—as a reminder that he or she will have receive blows from the enemy in the fight for the Faith unto which they are called.
Who are the enemy?
We all know the superficial off-the-cuff answer by heart: the devil, the world and the flesh! But let us look at the enemy in some more depth—especially since, at the present time, the enemy certainly has the upper-hand in the battles being waged throughout the world.
The Devil
Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer”! Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that? St. Peter warns us that “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). St. Paul says: “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), to which St. James adds: “but resist the devil, and he will fly from you” (James 4:7). Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and further states that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). So we have a lifelong fight against the devil, who hates us more than we can imagine and who never ceases nor sleeps in his fight against us.
The World
If you are talking of the devil, then you must also include his princedom, the world. For the devil is the prince of this world. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). St. James clearly tells us that the world and God are incompatible—that they are enmity with one another—and this is understandable if Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The world is the devil’s tool and his playground—that is why the world is one of the triple enemies of our soul. “The field, is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one.” (Matthew 13:38). St. James could not say it any more clearly than when he states: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Surrounded by Cockle
Sadly, however, our family, relatives, friends and work colleagues can be the cockle! Even Our Lord had this problem, as many of His relatives were not enamored with His teaching—“For neither did His brethren believe in Him” (John 7:5). Which leads Jesus to complain: “Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
God Comes Before Family or Country
“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) ... “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). “Everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29).
Our Lord could not put it more clearly than this: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that we have to literally “hate” what is not evil. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. If those nearest and dearest to us risk leading us away from Christ and our salvation—then we are to hate that sinful behavior and separate ourselves from it—much as Christ said to St. Peter, “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). Shocking words indeed, but St. Peter was trying to turn Our Lord aside from the path He had chosen to take.
The Flesh
The third enemy is our flesh, this means more than just the body, but our whole selves, body and soul with all passions and concupiscences included. If the devil is called the “father of lies”, then we are not very far behind, for we are inclined to lie to ourselves and to others to cover our tendencies, guilt and true intentions. We are proud as peacocks, slow as tortoises, slimy as toads, slithery as snakes, with an eagle-eye for the faults of others, yet blind as a bat to our own faults, timid as mouse when it comes to spreading the Faith, roaring like a lion when offended, and bristling like a porcupine or hedgehog, smelly as a sinful skunk ... yet God still wants to save us! But to be saved we must fight and overcome ourselves! For “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that violence is primarily directed at ourselves with our passions and concupiscences. That is why Our Lord tells us: “unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
So Fight We Must
Some of the above scenarios are not what we dream about and look forwards to—far from it—they are very painful to envisage and even more painful to have to live through. Abel suffered at the hands of Cain; Jacob at the hands of Esau; Joseph at the hands of his brothers and so on through history. We will not be the first, nor will we be the last. What we have to do is to clearly place, before our minds and hearts, the fact that God comes first—that we cannot serve God and mammon; that we cannot please our family and friends if it means not standing up for God; that we cannot reconcile two irreconcilables—God and the world, Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers (Matthew 6:24; 2 Corinthians 6:15). We cannot, at the same time, pine for the fleshpots of Egypt and the milk and honey of the Promised Land. We must make a choice and fight for the choice we have made. If we choose not to fight, it does not mean the enemy will not fight. They will kill us, or at least kill the life of grace in our soul. Let us not be afraid—“Fear not, little flock” (Luke 12:32) ...”I say to you, my friends: ‘Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!’” (Luke 12:4-5). So “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Armor and Weapons
“Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not [just] against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: in all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
A Lack of Faith Fuels Vain and Useless Fears
There are many things that we fear that are pointless objects of fear. Our Lord would put these fears down to A LACK OF FAITH! “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26). “Why are you fearful? Have you not Faith yet?” (Mark 4:40). “Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’” (Luke 24:36). “Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not” (Matthew 14:27).
Of course, we are consoled in our weakness and fearfulness by the fact that the Apostles were also fearful, but that does not make it right! God wants us to be confident in Him. As the angel said to Mary: “Because no word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). If we are in His grace, He is by our side! In fact, I imagine that He would be offended to witness our fearfulness despite His presence! It manifests our lack of Faith and confidence!
“The word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector!’” (Genesis 15:1). “Take courage, and be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go” (Josue 1:9). “I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee” (Exodus 23:27). “Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible” (Deuteronomy 7:21). “Fear ye not, and be not dismayed at this multitude: for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Paralipomenon 20:15). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians” (Deuteronomy 7:18). “Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them! The Lord God, Who is your Leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 1:29-30). “Fear not, neither be ye dismayed, take courage and be strong: for so will the Lord do to all your enemies, against whom you fight” (Josue 10:25). “And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thy hands: none of them shall be able to stand against thee!’” (Josue 10:8). “I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me” (Psalm 22:4).
Too Much Hope in Man and Materials―Not Enough Hope and Trust in God
When things take a turn for the worse―too many people reach out for natural solutions instead of supernatural solutions. We fear too much because we trust God too little. A lack of Faith in God weakens our Hope in God and can even destroy our Hope in God. Ultimately, God is the ONLY SOLUTION―for, as Jesus Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). What is there in that sentence that fail to understand? It could be put any more clearly and simply! Much of the messes that we find ourselves in are simply down to the fact that we do not first and foremost seek God’s help―as Our Lord said: “Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name! Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full!” (John 16:24). Yet we must not forget the role and power of Faith: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22)―and that is where most fail, because their Faith is weak. “Ask of God―Who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not―and it shall be given. But ask in Faith, not wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Therefore let not that man [who wavers] think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord!” (James 1:5-7).
God is Our True Helper and Ultimate Helper
Too many of us “go it alone” ― we only turn to God when everything else fails! How stupid and dumb is that!!? Once again ― Jesus Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― then why even bother to try and prove Him wrong? As Holy Scripture says: “Put not your trust in princes” [rich persons, powerful persons, world leaders, etc.] (Psalm 145:2) … “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9) … “Trust not in spears, nor in arrows” (Judith 7:8) … “Trust not in iniquity” (Psalm 61:11) … “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4) ... “Trust not in any brother” (Jeremias 9:4) … “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28) … “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9) … “Put thy trust in Me! saith the Lord” (Jeremias 39:18).
“For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword! Neither did their own arm save them! But Thy right hand and Thy arm, and the light of Thy countenance―because Thou wast pleased with them. Thou art Thyself my king and my God, Who commandest the saving of Jacob. Through Thee we will push down our enemies and through Thy Name we will despise them that rise up against us! For I will not trust in my bow! Neither shall my sword save me! But Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us and hast put them to shame that hate us! In God shall we glory all the day long! And in Thy Name we will give praise for ever!” (Psalm 43:4-9).
On this Ascension Thursday, “lift up your hearts” to Heaven as we say in the Preface of the Mass. “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41). Heaven is your true and only home. Rise above the things of this world that prevent you from rising above it: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth!” (Colossians 3:1). “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). We cannot have both—mammon and God, earthly pleasures and heavenly pleasures—there is no loophole in God’s contract! What will it be? Will you sign on for Heaven? Or do have a contract signed with mammon? Trying to serve two masters is more a recipe for sadness than happiness―as Our Lord said: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Luke 16:13).
Happy and Sad
Today we ‘celebrate’ the Ascension into Heaven of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. We may be celebrating it today, but back then, at the time of actual Ascension of Our Lord, there was very little ‘celebrating’ going on! There were a lot of sad faces around on that mountain, after Our Lord had left them behind and was now ‘gone-for-good’! It might have been a ‘good’ thing for Our Lord—going to Heaven, who wouldn’t want that!?! Yet, for the Apostles, this was no ‘Heaven’—it was a similar feeling to the one they had when Jesus had been arrested, was tried, tortured and put to death! Their initial reaction was the same—they went back the Upper Room and locked themselves in, out of fear of the Jews.
Our Lady, too, took the least joyful path on that day. According to revelations made to the mystics, she was offered the choice of going to Heaven with Our Lord, or staying upon the Earth to help the fledgling Church get off the ground. Though Heaven would have been the ‘happier’ choice, she chose the ‘sadder’ option and remained behind.
The Hollywood Ascension or the Real Ascension?
In a Hollywood version of the Ascension, things would be portrayed much differently to the real version of the Ascension. Hollywood would focus upon the glittering and beautiful and extraordinary aspect of the Ascension. Heavenly music, heavenly cherubs, bright lights, triumphalism, etc. But rather than being a “launch-pad” for Jesus’ flight to Heaven, the Ascension was the “launch-pad” for the Church’s fight on Earth, and its battles in a war on Earth against the devil, the world and the flesh!
Here is the account of the Ascension from the book The Life of Mary As Seen By The Mystics:
“When all had gathered on the top of the hill, Jesus stood on a large, flat stone and spoke to them with calm affection. Then the Savior spread out His hands and directed His gaze toward Heaven. His whole body became increasingly luminous. The wounds of His hands glistened, and those of His feet shone brightly. A dazzling multicolored circle of light descended from the sky and completely enveloped Him. Then He slowly began to ascend into the air. While the stupefied disciples gazed after Him with intense amazement and awe, His figure became so small and distant that it could scarcely be distinguished, until finally a cloud took Him out of their sight.
“The dazed and shaken disciples were still staring at the sky in complete silence. All who were present bowed their heads and remained thus for some moments. For now, with a profound shock, they fully realized what had just happened to them: their beloved Savior had returned to His Father in Heaven, leaving them to themselves on Earth! Some of them were so grieved and heartbroken that they fell to the ground and wept disconsolately, like children. Others began to talk excitedly to one another. Often they looked up into the sky again, as if hoping to catch another glimpse of Jesus. Only Mary, Peter and John were calm and serene, though deeply moved. Then gradually their first sorrow over the sudden separation changed into profound happiness as they understood that their Redeemer was watching over them from the throne of His Father in Heaven, and as they also recalled His promise to be with them always.
“During the Ascension of Christ, the Blessed Virgin underwent a marvelous mystical experience: by the will and power of Almighty God her soul was raised with her divine Son, and she was told to choose between remaining henceforth in the glory of Heaven or returning to the world to guide and assist the new Church. But when she looked down and saw the pitiful condition of the bewildered followers of Christ just after His Ascension, she was stirred by compassion for them and for all mankind, and by her own free choice and with the blessing of God, Mary returned to help in founding the Church Militant on Earth.” (The Life of Mary As Seen By The Mystics, Raphael Brown).
The Ascension Foretold
Jesus’ farewell talks—at the Last Supper and now again after the Resurrection—were a preparation for the battles to come. “Knowing that the Father had given Him all things into His hands, and that He came from God, and goeth to God … Jesus said: ‘Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews: Where I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow hereafter ... I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be ... I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive … If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.”
The Ascension Sends the Apostles to War
“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you … They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you ... In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world ... Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (extracts from the Last Supper discourse, Gospel of St. John).
Kill or Be Killed!
We need to get things straight in our minds! We are in a war—whether we want it or not, whether we like or not, whether we fight or not! It is a war of Faith! Even though the axiom insists: “It takes two to make a fight”—in this particular war, the enemy will fight us even if we refuse to fight—and then we are lost. We should rather focus on the axiom that says: “Kill, or be killed!” That is closer to the truth of the matter in the fight that we must fight. This is all the more true today with the nefarious bi-warfare in the form of the Coronavirus Plannedemic attacking mankind in general and the Church “on the side” ― a fact that has been increasingly voiced by the Catholic bishops of the world, not least of all the Minnesota bishops just recently, who proclaimed on May 20th, 2020:
“The Catholic Bishops of Minnesota, along with many people of Faith, were disappointed in Governor Walz’s May 13 announcement that he would end the Stay-at-Home order to allow more commerce―but prohibit religious gatherings of more than ten people. We have attempted to work collaboratively with the Walz Administration up to this time … Given our willingness to coordinate with the Governor, we are especially disappointed that his most recent order (20-56) does not address both the vital importance that Faith plays in the lives of Americans, especially in this time of pandemic, … The Governor’s remarks today further underscored a failure to appreciate the role of our Church … The bishops of Minnesota are united in our conviction that we can safely resume public Masses in accordance with both our religious duties and with accepted public health and safety standards …We have attempted to engage in dialogue with the Administration. We have twice sent the Governor letters asking for a dialogue … We have not received a concrete timeline and roadmap for resuming public worship … Our decision to suspend the public celebration of Mass was painful. We made that decision not because we were compelled to do so, but because we judged that the circumstances required it. We believe that those circumstances have changed, as confirmed by the Governor’s decision to end the Stay-at-Home order and allow more commerce. It is now permissible for an unspecified number of people to go to shopping malls and enter stores, so long as no more than 50 percent of the occupancy capacity is reached. Big-box stores have hundreds of people inside at any one time, and the number of goods that are being handled and distributed in one store by many people—stock staff, customers, cashiers—is astounding. Workers are present for many hours per day, often in close proximity. There is no state mandate that customers wear masks in those malls or stores, wash their hands consistently, or follow any specific cleaning protocol. In these circumstances … how can reason require us any longer to keep our faithful from the Eucharist? We are blessed to live in a nation that guarantees the free exercise of religion … We think that the executive order issued last Wednesday fails this test. An order that sweeps so broadly that it prohibits, for example, a gathering of 11 people in a Cathedral with a seating capacity of several thousand―defies reason. Therefore, we have chosen to move forward in the absence of any specific timeline laid out by Governor Walz and his Administration. We cannot allow an indefinite suspension of the public celebration of the Mass.”
Holy Scripture is loaded with quotes on the war that we must wage against the enemies of our Faith, we will just present a few of the hundreds to be found:
A Life-long Warfare
“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1)—notice it says the “LIFE” meaning the entire life, and not just “part of man’s life”! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)—meaning that you may even have to fight your own parents, spouse, children and relatives for the sake of the Faith—“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
We Must Fight
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8). “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Hebrews 12:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Blessed be the Lord my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1).
Fight With the Word of God
“The word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12) … “And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16) … “I will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (Apocalypse 2:16) ... “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands: to execute vengeance upon the nations, and chastisements among the people” (Psalm 149:6-7). “And they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (Jeremias 1:19).
Confirmation made you a Soldier for Christ
This whole idea of warfare in the service of Christ is the foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we are confirmed, we become Soldiers for Christ. The Holy Ghost grants to our souls, among other graces and gifts, the Gift of Fortitude or courage for the fight. This is also indicated by the slap (now a gentle tap) that the bishop administers on the cheek of the confirmand—as a reminder that he or she will have receive blows from the enemy in the fight for the Faith unto which they are called.
Who are the enemy?
We all know the superficial off-the-cuff answer by heart: the devil, the world and the flesh! But let us look at the enemy in some more depth—especially since, at the present time, the enemy certainly has the upper-hand in the battles being waged throughout the world.
The Devil
Our Lord calls him the “prince of this world” and the “father of lies” and a “murderer”! Holy Scripture adds that “by the envy of the devil, death came into the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Who needs friends like that? St. Peter warns us that “the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). St. Paul says: “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), to which St. James adds: “but resist the devil, and he will fly from you” (James 4:7). Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and further states that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). So we have a lifelong fight against the devil, who hates us more than we can imagine and who never ceases nor sleeps in his fight against us.
The World
If you are talking of the devil, then you must also include his princedom, the world. For the devil is the prince of this world. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). St. James clearly tells us that the world and God are incompatible—that they are enmity with one another—and this is understandable if Jesus calls the devil the “prince of this world” (John 14:30) and that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The world is the devil’s tool and his playground—that is why the world is one of the triple enemies of our soul. “The field, is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one.” (Matthew 13:38). St. James could not say it any more clearly than when he states: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Surrounded by Cockle
Sadly, however, our family, relatives, friends and work colleagues can be the cockle! Even Our Lord had this problem, as many of His relatives were not enamored with His teaching—“For neither did His brethren believe in Him” (John 7:5). Which leads Jesus to complain: “Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12).
God Comes Before Family or Country
“He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) ... “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). “Everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matthew 19:29).
Our Lord could not put it more clearly than this: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).
This does not mean that we have to literally “hate” what is not evil. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. If those nearest and dearest to us risk leading us away from Christ and our salvation—then we are to hate that sinful behavior and separate ourselves from it—much as Christ said to St. Peter, “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!” (Matthew 16:23). Shocking words indeed, but St. Peter was trying to turn Our Lord aside from the path He had chosen to take.
The Flesh
The third enemy is our flesh, this means more than just the body, but our whole selves, body and soul with all passions and concupiscences included. If the devil is called the “father of lies”, then we are not very far behind, for we are inclined to lie to ourselves and to others to cover our tendencies, guilt and true intentions. We are proud as peacocks, slow as tortoises, slimy as toads, slithery as snakes, with an eagle-eye for the faults of others, yet blind as a bat to our own faults, timid as mouse when it comes to spreading the Faith, roaring like a lion when offended, and bristling like a porcupine or hedgehog, smelly as a sinful skunk ... yet God still wants to save us! But to be saved we must fight and overcome ourselves! For “the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that violence is primarily directed at ourselves with our passions and concupiscences. That is why Our Lord tells us: “unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
So Fight We Must
Some of the above scenarios are not what we dream about and look forwards to—far from it—they are very painful to envisage and even more painful to have to live through. Abel suffered at the hands of Cain; Jacob at the hands of Esau; Joseph at the hands of his brothers and so on through history. We will not be the first, nor will we be the last. What we have to do is to clearly place, before our minds and hearts, the fact that God comes first—that we cannot serve God and mammon; that we cannot please our family and friends if it means not standing up for God; that we cannot reconcile two irreconcilables—God and the world, Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers (Matthew 6:24; 2 Corinthians 6:15). We cannot, at the same time, pine for the fleshpots of Egypt and the milk and honey of the Promised Land. We must make a choice and fight for the choice we have made. If we choose not to fight, it does not mean the enemy will not fight. They will kill us, or at least kill the life of grace in our soul. Let us not be afraid—“Fear not, little flock” (Luke 12:32) ...”I say to you, my friends: ‘Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!’” (Luke 12:4-5). So “Fight the good fight of Faith … whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Armor and Weapons
“Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not [just] against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: in all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
A Lack of Faith Fuels Vain and Useless Fears
There are many things that we fear that are pointless objects of fear. Our Lord would put these fears down to A LACK OF FAITH! “Why are you fearful, O ye of little Faith?” (Matthew 8:26). “Why are you fearful? Have you not Faith yet?” (Mark 4:40). “Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’” (Luke 24:36). “Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not” (Matthew 14:27).
Of course, we are consoled in our weakness and fearfulness by the fact that the Apostles were also fearful, but that does not make it right! God wants us to be confident in Him. As the angel said to Mary: “Because no word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). If we are in His grace, He is by our side! In fact, I imagine that He would be offended to witness our fearfulness despite His presence! It manifests our lack of Faith and confidence!
“The word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector!’” (Genesis 15:1). “Take courage, and be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go” (Josue 1:9). “I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee” (Exodus 23:27). “Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible” (Deuteronomy 7:21). “Fear ye not, and be not dismayed at this multitude: for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Paralipomenon 20:15). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians” (Deuteronomy 7:18). “Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them! The Lord God, Who is your Leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 1:29-30). “Fear not, neither be ye dismayed, take courage and be strong: for so will the Lord do to all your enemies, against whom you fight” (Josue 10:25). “And the Lord said to Josue: ‘Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thy hands: none of them shall be able to stand against thee!’” (Josue 10:8). “I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me” (Psalm 22:4).
Too Much Hope in Man and Materials―Not Enough Hope and Trust in God
When things take a turn for the worse―too many people reach out for natural solutions instead of supernatural solutions. We fear too much because we trust God too little. A lack of Faith in God weakens our Hope in God and can even destroy our Hope in God. Ultimately, God is the ONLY SOLUTION―for, as Jesus Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). What is there in that sentence that fail to understand? It could be put any more clearly and simply! Much of the messes that we find ourselves in are simply down to the fact that we do not first and foremost seek God’s help―as Our Lord said: “Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name! Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full!” (John 16:24). Yet we must not forget the role and power of Faith: “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22)―and that is where most fail, because their Faith is weak. “Ask of God―Who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not―and it shall be given. But ask in Faith, not wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Therefore let not that man [who wavers] think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord!” (James 1:5-7).
God is Our True Helper and Ultimate Helper
Too many of us “go it alone” ― we only turn to God when everything else fails! How stupid and dumb is that!!? Once again ― Jesus Himself said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) ― then why even bother to try and prove Him wrong? As Holy Scripture says: “Put not your trust in princes” [rich persons, powerful persons, world leaders, etc.] (Psalm 145:2) … “It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes!” (Psalm 117:9) … “Trust not in spears, nor in arrows” (Judith 7:8) … “Trust not in iniquity” (Psalm 61:11) … “Trust not in lying words!” (Jeremias 7:4) ... “Trust not in any brother” (Jeremias 9:4) … “Trust not thyself!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:28) … “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Corinthians 1:9) … “Put thy trust in Me! saith the Lord” (Jeremias 39:18).
“For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword! Neither did their own arm save them! But Thy right hand and Thy arm, and the light of Thy countenance―because Thou wast pleased with them. Thou art Thyself my king and my God, Who commandest the saving of Jacob. Through Thee we will push down our enemies and through Thy Name we will despise them that rise up against us! For I will not trust in my bow! Neither shall my sword save me! But Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us and hast put them to shame that hate us! In God shall we glory all the day long! And in Thy Name we will give praise for ever!” (Psalm 43:4-9).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday May 19th & Wednesday May 20th
Article 18
Are the Apparitions and Messages of Our Lady of America Believable?
Tuesday May 19th & Wednesday May 20th
Article 18
Are the Apparitions and Messages of Our Lady of America Believable?
To Believe or Not to Believe? Who Do You Believe?
The revelations and prophecies concerning Our Lady of America, Our Lady’s requests, warnings and prophecies regarding America―which were made to Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Marie Neuzil) from the 1940s, but especially in the 1950s―have recently been brought into the spotlight with the April 24th, 2020, “Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America” made by six bishops, who are from the dioceses in which Sister Mary Ephrem had lived.
Before any comments are made upon this epicopal “Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America”, here it is in its entirety. The key quotes―which will serve as the basis for further comment afterwards―are highlighted in red.
Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America
DIOCESE OF FORT WAYNE – SOUTH BEND
915 South Clinton Street
Post Office Box 390
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801
April 24th, 2020
The undersigned bishops issue the following statement in our capacity as the bishops of the dioceses where alleged visions, locutions and private revelations were said to have occurred in relation to the devotion to “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.”
The devotion of “Our Lady of America” originated in a series of private revelations to Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil, many of which took place within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Neuzil was born in 1916 and was professed in 1933 into the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, whose generalate resided in Dayton, Ohio (within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati). On June 16th, 1957, Sister Neuzil became part of a contemplative branch of the same congregation, which was located at Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio (in the Diocese of Toledo-in-America). The contemplative branch of the congregation was suppressed in 1979, at which time the sisters took up residence in Seneca County, Ohio.
Sister Neuzil reported that she started to experience mystical events in 1938 while assigned to the Chancery at Cincinnati, Ohio. These eventually led to a series of purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which began on September 25th, 1956, at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The following day, September 26th, 1956, the Feast of the North American Martyrs, (also at Rome City, Indiana) the Immaculate Virgin reportedly first identified herself as “Our Lady of America” in grateful response to the devotion given by the Catholic faithful in America to her unique privilege as the “Immaculate Conception.” The message attributed to Our Lady was essentially to promote the sanctification of the family and purity of heart.
Sister Neuzil reported that she continued to receive apparitions of “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin” at various locations until December 20th, 1959, after which time the communication between Our Lady and the visionary principally took on the nature of locutions until her death in 2000. Besides the dioceses mentions above, these other locations include the Archdiocese of Detroit, the Diocese of Phoenix, and the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. Due to the number of dioceses involved and inquiries being received from various parts of the country regarding “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin” along with the purported request of Our Lady for a procession of the bishops of the United States and placement of the statue of Our Lady of America in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., it was decided to request the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to intervene in this matter in accord with the Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations, issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on February 25th, 1978.
In November 2017, His Eminence, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, then-USCCB President, received instructions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the competent ecclesiastical authority for conducting the investigation should be the local bishop of the diocese where the alleged apparitions and private revelations occurred, or another bishop who demonstrates such competence. The lead bishop who conducts the investigation was to arrive at a first conclusion. In doing so, he was instructed to call upon whatever assistance was deemed necessary, although the enlistment of one or two experts in Mariology, along with experts in the field of spiritual theology, was highly encouraged, so the authenticity of the presumed mystical phenomena could be established.
Given the supra-diocesan nature of this case, moreover, the Congregation observed that the bishop designated to lead the examination could involve the bishops of the other dioceses in whose territories the apparitions and private revelations have allegedly occurred.
In accord with these instructions, the other five diocesan bishops, where the apparitions and private revelations were said to have occurred, requested that Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, serve as the lead bishop, since the purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary allegedly began on September 25th, 1956 at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, where people still gather and pray for the Blessed Mother’s intercession under the title, “Our Lady of America.” Bishop Rhoades agreed to the request of the other five bishops to conduct the investigation and formed a commission of theological and canonical experts to assist in evaluating the evidence, including personal interviews with witnesses who knew Sister Neuzil personally.
The key finding of the commission are as follows:
1. First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.
2. Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.
3. Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.
4. Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.
5. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.
At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati, had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
In 1963, the prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of then Monsignor Leibold when he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. This imprimatur was granted after receiving the nihil obstat from the censor librorum, then-Assistant Chancellor Father Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who later became Archbishop of Cincinnati. Years later, on July 28th, 2005, responding to an inquiry about the devotion to Our Lady of America, Archbishop Pilarczyk wrote, “While I am not able to find anything that would indicate that Archbishop Leibold granted approval to the apparitions, he remained Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972. He also arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was obviously very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972. In your letter, you ask if devotion to Our Lady of America is being fostered in the Archdiocese [of Cincinnati]. I do not know of any campaign to promote it.”
It should be noted that Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970. In that letter written two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings. He noted that he “helped her with some private printing of some material and also in having a medal struck, all strictly as a private devotion.” Archbishop Leibold wrote: “I have never taken any action to promote her devotion publicly and of course never followed through on the Shrine request.” (N.B. The “Shrine request” refers to the alleged request of Our Lady of America that her statue be placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception).
Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.
In his first pastoral letter of May 28th, 1792, America’s first bishop, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, dedicated the United States to the Mother of Jesus and our Spiritual Mother. On May 5th, 1846, the Sixth Provincial Council of the Church in America passed a resolution choosing Mary Immaculate as the Patroness of the United States of America and making December 8th the national patronal feast. Subsequently, in 1847, the Sacred Congregation, Propaganda Fide, announced that “our Holy Father Pius IX most willingly confirmed the wishes of the Council that has selected the Blessed Virgin, conceived without sin, as the patroness of the Church in the United States of America.” On November 20th, 1959, the occasion of the dedication of the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Bishops of the United States consecrated our nation to Mary Immaculate, in a renewal of the national Marian entrustments of Bishop Carroll (1792) and the Sixth Provincial Council (1846).
While Our Lady of Guadalupe is recognized as the Patroness of North, Central, and South America, Our Lady is the specific Patroness of the United States of America under her title as the Immaculate Virgin. As such, the faithful may indeed pray to Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, as the Patroness of America. At the same time, such private devotion should in no way imply approval or acceptance of purported revelations, visions, or locutions to be attributed to Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred) Neuzil other than as her own subjective inner religious experiences.
April 24th, 2020
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati
Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit
Most Reverend Timothy L. Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana
Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix
Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas, Bishop of Toledo in Ohio
Letter of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke
Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, in a 2007 letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops―while he was serving as the Ordinary of St. Louis, Missouri (2004-2008), later becoming the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome (2008-2014)―revealed the results of his review of the history and canonical status of devotion to Our Lady of America.
May 31st, 2007 — Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
To the Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Dear brothers in Christ,
During the November meeting of our Conference of Bishops, you may have had occasion to view the statue of Our Lady of America, which was displayed in one of the meeting rooms; and to receive one of the Our Lady of America prayer cards, or other information about Our Lady of America, which was available, thanks to the devout lay faithful who made the arrangements for the display of the statue. The faithful involved in the promotion of the devotion to Our Lady of America have asked me, some months ago, to review the history and present state of the devotion to Our Lady of America, in what pertains to its canonical status. Finally, I am able to give them a report of the results of my study, which I want also to communicate to you.
The devotion to Our Lady of America has its source in private revelations to Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil, who was born in 1916 and was professed, in 1933, in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, which has its generalate in Dayton, Ohio. She later became part of a contemplative branch of the same congregation. The contemplative branch was located at Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio. After the suppression of the contemplative branch in 1979, the Sisters who were members took up residence in Seneca County, Ohio. From the time of the suppression, Sister Mary Ephrem used her baptismal name, Sister Mary Mildred Neuzil. Sister Mary Ephrem (Mary Mildred) died in 2000. One of the Sisters survives and continues to live in Seneca County, Ohio.
Having reviewed the correspondence between Sister Mary Ephrem and her spiritual director of many years, Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and, then, Archbishop of Cincinnati, it is clear that the devotion, as proposed by Sister Mary Ephrem, received his approbation. In addition to the correspondence by which Monsignor Leibold declared the approval of the devotion, he also carried out the first of Our Lady of America’s requests, made through Sister Mary Ephrem, namely, he had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America on one side and the coat of arms of the Christian family on the other.
The coat of arms symbolically represents the substance of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem, namely, the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the Christian home, which is the source of life and unity in the family. The coat of arms points to the purity and selflessness of love in the family, because of the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity, the model of which is the Mother of God, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of our nation. In a particular way, Our Lady of America expressed her desire that the United States of America, through her intercession, be devoted to the purity of love. She identified herself to Sister Mary Ephrem as “Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin.” In the consecration of our nation to our Blessed Mother, made in 1959 at the National Shrine and renewed, in our name, by Bishop David Ricken on November 11th, 2006, the Saturday before the November meeting of our Conference of Bishops, our Blessed Mother is addressed as “Immaculate Virgin.”
The contents of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem were published in a booklet, first in 1960, and, again, in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the Imprimatur of Archbishop Leibold. A final edition, with some new contents, was published in 1989. The new contents were added at the direction of Father Edmund Morman, S.V.D., the last chaplain of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel. Father Morman was sadly killed in an automobile accident on February 17th, 1986.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, at which it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent.
Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg, permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the very same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
A specific request of Our Lady of America was that her statue be placed in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There is a providential connection between Sister Mary Ephrem and the late Archbishop Bishop John Francis Noll of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, who is celebrated as the Apostle of the National Shrine. The principal apparitions of Our Lady of America, to Sister Mary Ephrem, took place in the chapel of the Precious Blood Sisters Convent, in Kneipp Springs Sanitorium, near Rome City, Indiana. Archbishop Bishop Noll, who died in 1956, maintained a summer residence at the Sanitorium, within a few hundred feet of the place of the apparitions. While the National Shrine is the largest shrine in the world at which there was not a previous apparition, the private revelation to Sister Mary Ephrem very much confirms the mission of the National Shrine.
The prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of the then Monsignor Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Archbishop Leibold was Sister Mary Ephrem’s spiritual director, from the time that he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, until he died in 1972. Archbishop Leibold was always clear that the approved devotion had its origin in private revelation, received by Sister Mary Ephrem over many years.
What can be concluded canonically, is that the devotion was both approved by Archbishop Leibold and, what is more, was actively promoted by him. In addition, over the years, other Bishops have approved the devotion and have participated in public devotion to the Mother of God, under the title of Our Lady of America.
Although the devotion to Our Lady of America has remained constant over the years, in recent years the devotion has spread very much and has been embraced by many with special fervor. Seemingly, as has been suggested by Father Peter Damian Mary Fehlner, F.I., in his homily of August 5th, 2006, at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, the moral crisis of our time, which demands a new teaching and living of the virtue of purity, has found an especially fitting response of loving care from the Mother of God in her message to Sister Mary Ephrem.
Some have raised with me the canonical question regarding the status of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent in Seneca County, Ohio, which has been the residence of any remaining member of the suppressed contemplative branch of the Congregation of Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. In response, I observe that the canonical question has no bearing on the devotion or its approbation.
As one deeply devoted to fostering the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe in our nation, I have wondered about the relationship of the devotion to Our Lady of America to the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Archbishop Leibold, in fact, raised the question with Sister Mary Ephrem. Sister Mary Ephrem responded that Our Lady of Guadalupe is Empress of all the Americas, whereas “Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin,” is the patroness of our nation, the United States of America. The two devotions are, in fact, completely harmonious. As our late and most beloved Pope John Paul II reminded us, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, draws all of the nations of America into unity in carrying out the new evangelization. Our Lady of America calls the people of our nation to the new evangelization through a renewed dedication to purity in love.
I hope that the above may be of some help to you in responding to questions regarding the devotion to Our Lady of America.
May the Immaculate Virgin intercede for the intentions of our dioceses and our nation. With fraternal gratitude and esteem, I remain
Yours devotedly in Christ,
(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of Saint Louis
Unpacking and Examining the Above Statements
What is really being said in the above statement by the six bishops and in the letter of Cardinal Burke? Do they contradict each other? Do they agree with each other? Are the bishops saying that Our Lady never appeared or communicated with Sister Mary Ephrem? Are they rejecting the “Our Lady of America” messages? If so, why are they accepting devotion to “Our Lady of America”? Do they reject the title “Our Lady of America”? At the end of the day―is it all false? Is it true? Is the ruling absolute and set in stone? Or is the matter still potentially open? What on earth is going on?
What is Prophecy? What is Private Revelation? How Can You Judge Authenticity?
The Catholic Encyclopedia presents the Church’s traditional teaching on Prophecy: “The gift of prophecy is an extraordinary grace bestowed by God. It has never been confined to any particular tribe, family, or class of persons. There is no distinct faculty, in human nature, by which any normal or abnormal person can prophesy, neither is any special preparation required beforehand for the reception of this gift. Hence Cornely remarks: “Modern authors speak inaccurately of ‘schools of prophets’, an expression never found in the Scriptures or the Fathers” (Comp. Introduct. in N.T., n. 463). Neither was there ever any external rite by which the office of prophet was inaugurated; its exercise was always extraordinary and depended on the immediate call of God. The prophetic light, according to St. Thomas, is in the soul of the prophet―not as a permanent form or habit, but after the manner of a passion or passing impression (Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q. 171, art.2). Hence the ancient prophets, by their prayers, petitioned for this Divine light (3 Kings 8:6; Jeremias 32:16; 23:2 sq.; 42:4 sq.), and they were liable to error if they gave an answer before invoking God (2 Kings 7:2-3).
The Catholic Encyclopedia continues: “Writing on the recipients of prophecy, Benedict XIV (1675–1758), in Heroic Virtue, III, 144, 150, says: “The recipients of prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children, heathens, or gentiles; nor is it necessary that a man should be gifted with any particular disposition in order to receive the light of prophecy provided his intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the things which God reveals to him. Though moral goodness is most profitable to a prophet, yet it is not necessary in order to obtain the gift of prophecy.”
In the same work, Pope Benedict XIV, cites Cardinal Cajetan as saying: “Human actions are of two kinds, one of which relates to public duties, and especially to ecclesiastical affairs, such as preaching, celebrating Mass, pronouncing judicial decisions, and the like; with respect to these the question is settled in the Canon Law, where it is said that no credence is to be publicly given to him who says he has privately received a mission from God, unless he confirms it by a miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture. The other class of human actions consists of those of private persons, and speaking of these, he distinguishes between (1) a prophet who enjoins or advises them, according to the universal laws of the Church, and (2) a prophet who does the same without reference to those laws. In the first case every man may abound in his own sense whether or not to direct his actions according to the will of the prophet; in the second case a prophet is not to be listened to” (Heroic Virtue, III, 192).
The Catholic Encyclopedia continues: “The Church allows freedom in accepting or rejecting particular or private prophecies according to the evidence for or against them. We should be slow to admit and slow to reject them, and in either case treat them with respect when they come to us from trustworthy sources, and are in accordance with Catholic doctrine and the rules of Catholic morality. The real test of these predictions is their fulfillment; they may be only pious anticipations of the ways of Providence, and they may sometimes be fulfilled in part and in part contradicted by events. The minatory prophecies which announce calamities, being for the most part conditional, may or may not be fulfilled.”
The last prophetic work which the Church acknowledges as Divinely inspired is the Apocalypse. The prophetic spirit did not disappear with the Apostolic times, but the Church has not pronounced any work prophetic since then, though she has canonized numberless saints who were more or less endowed with the gift of prophecy.
Cardinal Cajetan answers, as stated by Benedict XIV: “Human actions are of two kinds, one of which relates to public duties, and especially to ecclesiastical affairs, such as preaching, celebrating Mass, pronouncing judicial decisions, and the like; with respect to these the question is settled in the Canon Law, where it is said that no credence is to be publicly given to him who says he has privately received a mission from God, unless he confirms it by a miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture. The other class of human actions consists of those of private persons, and speaking of these, he distinguishes between a prophet who enjoins or advises them, according to the universal laws of the Church, and a prophet who does the same without reference to those laws. In the first case every man may abound in his own sense whether or not to direct his actions according to the will of the prophet; in the second case a prophet is not to be listened to” (Heroic Virtue, III, 192).
The Church makes a distinction between DIVINE PUBLIC REVELATION and DIVINE PRIVATE REVELATION.
(1) Divine Public Revelation
This is a universal revelation (meaning that they are meant for everybody), which is contained in the Bible, or in the deposit of teachings coming from Apostolic tradition, and transmitted down through the ages by the Church. Divine Public Revelation ended with the preaching of the Apostles, the last of whom (St. John) died in the early 100’s A.D., and this Divine Public Revelation must be believed by all.
(2) Divine Private Revelations
Private revelations (i.e., apparitions and locutions with or without prophecies) are those which have been recorded since the death of Christ and His Apostles. These are private and particular revelations, which are constantly occurring among Christians. They are contained neither in the Bible, nor in the deposit of Apostolic Tradition. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. Nevertheless it is certain that many saints were deceived and that their revelations contradict one another.
Revelations and visions are subject to many illusions. Hence the need for prudence and caution, so as not to be caught up in the fatal and dangerous mixture of curiosity and naivety, which can make us plunge, unreservedly and incautiously, into those things that are beyond our natural experience and understanding. We see this caution in the fact that Maximin, at La Salette, threw stones at the apparition of Our Lady, due to his fear and natural suspicion. Likewise with St. Bernadette, at Lourdes, who, after seeing the apparition, brought much holy water with her the next time, and ‘soaked’ Our Lady with it as a result of her natural fear and suspicion. Also, Lucia, at Fatima, who had decided to stop going to the place where the apparitions were taking place―due to her suspicions as to the origins of the apparition, thinking it might be coming from the devil.
What is the Purpose or Goal of Private Revelation?
The function of Divine Private Revelation is merely re-focus our minds on what is contained in Divine Public Revelation. It may make us do something that we should be doing, but are no longer doing; or it may command us to cease doing what we should not be doing, but have started to do through either malice or weakness. Thus at Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady reminds us by Private Revelation, what is already contained in Public Revelation, namely, the need for prayer and penance: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Therefore, Our Lady is adding nothing new, but simply reminding us what is commanded by Divine Public Revelation, in this case in the form of Holy Scripture.
The above example is clear and incontestable; for prayer and penance are both clearly mentioned and commanded in the pages of Holy Scripture. However, what are we to think of Private Revelations that command things that are not so clear―such as devotion to the Sacred Heart; devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary; devotion to the Holy Rosary, etc.? These things are not seen in Scripture, nor are they commanded by Scripture.
True, they are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, but they are there implicitly. Theology can arrive at conclusions that are certain by combing two or more principles—much as mathematics does. If you know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, then you know for certain that there has to be a number in between 2 and 4, which is the result of 1+1+1 or 1+2. That number is 3―you can call it what I want to call it, but it exists—for certain it exists. In this way the Church has arrived at many conclusions that have been embodied into the teaching of the Church. She has even pronounced dogmas on that same principle, such as the Immaculate Conception, which is not found explicitly anywhere in Holy Scripture. Yet when the Church pronounced the dogma in 1854, Our Lady appeared at Lourdes in 1858 and, in that Private Revelation, confirmed what the Church had done, by calling herself the Immaculate Conception. Similarly with the Person of Christ, being one Person with two natures: the divine nature and the human nature. We do not find that definition anywhere in Holy Scripture, but it is theologically reasoned and deduced from those principles and truths that are found in Holy Scripture.
Church Approval of Private Revelation
When the Church approves Private Revelations, she declares only that there is nothing in them contrary Faith or good morals, and that they may be read without danger, or even read with profit. No obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to believe them.
Speaking of such revelations as, for example, those of St. Hildegard (approved in part by Pope Eugenius III), St. Bridget (by Pope Boniface IX), and St. Catherine of Siena (by Pope Gregory XI), Pope Benedict XIV says: “It is not obligatory, nor even possible, to give them the assent of Catholic Faith, but only of human faith, in conformity with the dictates of prudence, which presents them to us as probable and worthy of pious belief.” (De canon., III, liii, xxii, II).
The Dangers of Private Revelations
What are known as private and particular revelations are those contained neither in the Bible, nor in the deposit of Apostolic tradition. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. Nevertheless it is certain that many saints were deceived and that their revelations contradict one another. What follows will explain the reason of this.
Revelations and visions are subject to many illusions. Some of them are at first thought surprising. Thus a vision of an historical scene (e.g., of the life or death of Christ) is often only approximately accurate, although the visionary may be unaware of this fact, and he may be misled, if he believes in its absolute historical fidelity.
This error is quite natural, being based on the assumption that, if the vision comes from God, all its details (the landscape, dress, words, actions, etc.) should be a faithful reproduction of the historical past. This assumption is not justified, for accuracy in secondary details is not necessary; the main point is that the fact, event, or communication revealed be strictly true.
It may be objected that the Bible contains historical books, and that thus God may sometimes wish to reveal certain facts in religious history to us exactly. That doubtless is true, when there is question of facts which are necessary or useful as a basis for religion, in which case the revelation is accompanied by proofs that guarantee its accuracy. A vision need not guarantee its accuracy in every detail.
One should thus beware of concluding, without any examination, that revelations are to be rejected; the prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them, unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and as a rule in unimportant matters only.
Proof of the Divine
There are cases in which we can be certain that a revelation is Divine.
(1) God can give this certainty to the person who receives the revelation (at least during it), by granting an insight and an evidence so compelling as to exclude all possibility of doubt. We can find an analogy in the natural order: our senses are subject to many illusions, and yet we frequently perceive clearly that we have not been deceived.
(2) At times others can be equally certain of the revelation thus vouchsafed. For instance, the Prophets of the Old Testament gave indubitable signs of their mission; otherwise they would not have been believed. There were always false prophets, who deceived some of the people but, inasmuch as the faithful were counseled by Holy Scripture to distinguish the false from the true, it was possible so to distinguish. One incontrovertible proof is the working of a miracle, if it be wrought for this purpose and circumstances show this to be so. A prophecy realized is equally convincing, when it is precise and cannot be the result of chance or of a conjecture of the evil spirit.
Importance of Divine Private Revelation
Private revelations do not belong to the deposit of Faith and, as such, are not binding upon our Faith. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that Almighty God often speaks to His servants in an unmistakable manner. Many Catholic devotions are based solely on private revelations―such as the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, are cases in point. More recently, devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima were accepted and encouraged by the Church. There is ample evidence that revelations have taken place throughout the centuries right up to the present time, and it is likely that some are taking place at this very moment.
Differences Between Apparitions, Locutions and Imagination―Can All Be Acceptable?
However―as you may have noticed―the Private Revelations that introduced the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima all involved VISIBLE apparitions. Does there have to be a VISIBLE manifestation or apparition for something to fall into the category of a “Private Revelation”?
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, classifies these things for us:
(1) VISIONS are supernatural perceptions of some object naturally invisible to man. They are revelations only when they disclose hidden truths. They are of three kinds, sensible, imaginative, or purely intellectual.
(a) Sensible or corporeal visions, also called apparitions, are those in which the senses perceive some real object that is naturally invisible to man. It is not necessary that the object be a real human body; it suffices that it be a sensible or luminous form.
The opinion of St. Thomas, which is generally held, is that after His Ascension, Our Lord rarely appeared in Person; He merely appeared in a visible form, but not in His real body. His apparitions in the Eucharist may be explained in two ways, says St. Thomas: either by a miraculous impression made on the sense of sight (which is the case when He manifests Himself to a single person) or by a form that is real and visible, but distinct from His own body; for, the Saint adds, the Body of Our Savior cannot be seen in its own proper form except in the one place which actually contains it (Summa Theologica III, q. 76, art. 8).
The same conclusion is deduced from the testimony of St. Teresa, Relation XIII, where she says: “By some things which He told me, I understood that after He ascended into Heaven He never descended on Earth to converse with anyone, except in the Holy Sacrament.”
What has been said of Our Lord applies also to the Blessed Virgin. When she appeared at Lourdes for instance, her body remained in Heaven, and at the spot of the apparition there was but a sensible form which represented her. This explains how she could appear now under one aspect, now under another.
(b) Imaginative visions are those produced in the imagination by God or by the Angels, either during sleep or while one is awake. Thus an Angel appeared several times to St. Joseph in his sleep, and St. Teresa relates several imaginative visions she had of Our Lord while she was awake. These visions are frequently accompanied by an intellectual vision which explains their meaning. At times, one travels in vision through distant countries: such visions are for the most part imaginative.
(c) Intellectual visions are those in which the mind perceives a spiritual truth without the aid of sensible impressions: such was St. Teresa’s vision of the Holy Trinity. These visions take place either through ideas already acquired, but which are coordinated or modified by God, or through infused ideas which represent divine things even better than do acquired ideas. Sometimes these visions are obscure and manifest only the presence of the object; at other times they are clear, but last only for a moment: they are like intuitions which leave a deep impression.
Some visions are at once sensible, imaginative and intellectual. Such was St. Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus. He beheld with his eyes blinding light; he saw with his imagination the personal traits of Ananias; and his mind understood God’s will.
(2) SUPERNATURAL WORDS are manifestations of the divine thought conveyed to the exterior or to the interior senses, or directly to the intelligence. They are called auricular when they come to the ear in the form of sound-waves, miraculously produced; imaginative when such manifestations are directed to the imagination; intellectual when addressed directly to the intellect.
(3) DIVINE TOUCHES are spiritual sentiments full of sweetness, impressed upon the will by a kind of divine contact and accompanied by a vivid intellectual light. (Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life).
From all of the above, as Fr. Tanquerey has pointed out, God is not limited to any particular kind of communication with His creatures. God, or anyone in Heaven, can communicate with us visually (apparition), verbally (locution where actual words are heard), mentally (where the words are silent―as in thoughts) or by images or signs (which use and affect our imagination and impressions). We see something similarly in (1) the worship of God is not limited to any one single form or worship; and (2) likewise with learning―which is not limited to one single form of learning.
(1) With regard to the worship of God―we can have a “full-blown” or “deluxe” form of worship―such as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which we have lots of visible objects (visible people other than ourselves; an altar, a tabernacle; altar clothes and Mass linens; wine, hosts and water; vestments; candles and flames; thurible, charcoal and incense; bells; prayer-books and hymnals; organ and choir; etc. The prayers of the Mass also cover the whole range of prayer―sung prayers, prayers said out loud; prayers that are read; whispered prayers; silent prayer within the mind; meditation in the mind using the help of imagination; contemplation by the mind, etc. This could be, by analogy, compared to a “full-blown” apparition―where Our Lord, Our Lady, an angel or a saint, visibly appears to someone and speaks to them.
A lesser form of worship would be a family praying together―which would not have the same number or kind of items listed above for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Occasionally, there might be some singing of hymns in addition to the more customary recitation of prayers out loud. Perhaps candles might also be used. Yet, on the whole, it will be much more limited or “toned-down” form of worship when compared to that of the Holy Mass.
Going even further down the scale would be individual prayer―where one person worships more or less according to the blueprint or method offered by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
As noted above―the worship of God can be visible (where we worship with both body and soul―for example, when we bow, make the Sigh of the Cross, kneel, genuflect, etc.) or they can be invisible (where we pray in the silence of our minds, without giving any indication to those around us that we are praying).
All the above forms are all true forms of worship. They are all true methods and manners for communication with God―whether they be physical, vocal, visual or mental. Some methods are better, more efficacious, more profitable, more meaningful, more impressionable than others―but we are not limited to anyone of them.
As already stated above, the same applies to the art of learning―we learn by many different methods and means―all of which come under the umbrella of learning. We learn by watching, we learn by doing, we learn by hearing, we learn by reading, we learn by experience, we learn by thinking.
Rules for Discerning the Divine
The Catholic Encyclopedia gives us a very coherent and well categorized and coherent overview upon how the Divine is discerned in alleged Divine Private Revelations:
There are two kinds of revelations: (1) universal revelations [Divine Public Revelations], which are contained in the Bible or in the depositum of Apostolic tradition transmitted by the Church. These ended with the preaching of the Apostles and must be believed by all; (2) particular or private revelations [Divine Private Revelations] which are constantly occurring among Christians (see article under CONTEMPLATION). When the Church approves private revelations, she declares only that there is nothing in them contrary to Faith or good Morals, and that they may be read without danger or even with profit; no obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to believe them. Speaking of such revelations as those of St. Hildegard (approved in part by Pope Eugenius III), St. Bridget (by Pope Boniface IX), and St. Catherine of Siena (by Pope Gregory XI) Pope Benedict XIV says: “It is not obligatory nor even possible to give them the assent of Catholic Faith, but only of human faith, in conformity with the dictates of prudence, which presents them to us as probable and worthy of pious belief” (De canon., III, liii, xxii, II).
Illusions connected with private revelations have been explained in the article CONTEMPLATION. Some of them are at first thought surprising. Thus a vision of an historical scene (e.g., of the life or death of Christ) is often only approximately accurate, although the visionary may be unaware of this fact, and he may be misled, if he believes in its absolute historical fidelity. This error is quite natural, being based on the assumption that, if the vision comes from God, all its details (the landscape, dress, words, actions, etc.) should be a faithful reproduction of the historical past. This assumption is not justified, for accuracy in secondary details is not necessary; the main point is that the fact, event, or communication revealed be strictly true. It may be objected that the Bible contains historical books, and that thus God may sometimes wish to reveal certain facts in religious history to us exactly. That doubtless is true, when there is question of facts which are necessary or useful as a basis for religion, in which case the revelation is accompanied by proofs that guarantee its accuracy. A vision need not guarantee its accuracy in every detail. One should thus beware of concluding―without examination―that revelations are to be rejected. The prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and, as a rule, in unimportant matters only.
► THERE ARE CASES IN WHICH WE CAN BE CERTAIN THAT A REVELATION IS DIVINE.
(1) God can give this certainty to the person who receives the revelation (at least during it), by granting an insight and an evidence so compelling as to exclude all possibility of doubt. We can find an analogy in the natural order: our senses are subject to many illusions, and yet we frequently perceive clearly that we have not been deceived. (2) At times others can be equally certain of the revelation thus vouchsafed. For instance, the Prophets of the Old Testament gave indubitable signs of their mission; otherwise they would not have been believed. There were always false prophets, who deceived some of the people but, inasmuch as the faithful were counseled by Holy Scripture to distinguish the false from the true, it was possible so to distinguish. One incontrovertible proof is the working of a miracle, if it be wrought for this purpose and circumstances show this to be so. A prophecy realized [that comes true] is equally convincing, when it is precise and cannot be the result of chance or of a conjecture of the evil spirit.
► BESIDES THESE RATHER RARE MEANS OF FORMING AN OPINION, THERE IS ANOTHER, BUT LONGER AND MORE INTRICATE METHOD: TO DISCUSS THE REASONS FOR AND AGAINST.
Practically, this examination will often give only a probability more or less great. It may be also that the revelation can be regarded as Divine in its broad outlines, but doubtful in minor details. Concerning the revelations of [Venerable] Mary of Agreda and [Blessed] Anne Catherine Emmerich, for example, contradictory opinions have been expressed―some believe unhesitatingly everything they contain, and are annoyed when anyone does not share their confidence; others give the revelations no credence whatsoever; finally there are many who are sympathetic, but do not know what to reply when asked what degree of credibility is to be attributed to the writings of these two ecstatics.
The truth seems to be between the two extreme opinions indicated above. If there is question of a particular fact related in these books and not mentioned elsewhere―then we cannot be certain that it is true, especially in minor details. In particular instances, these visionaries have been mistaken. If there be question of the general statement of facts given in these works―then we can admit with probability that many of them are true. For these two visionaries led lives that were regarded as very holy. Competent authorities have judged their ecstasies as divine. It is therefore prudent to admit that they received a special assistance from God, preserving them, not absolutely, but in the main, from error.
► IN JUDGING OF REVELATIONS OR VISIONS WE MAY PROCEED IN THIS MANNER:
(1) get detailed information about the person who believes himself thus favored;
(2) also about the fact of the revelation and the circumstances attending it. To prove that a revelation is Divine (at least in its general outlines), the method of exclusion is sometimes employed. It consists in proving that neither the demon nor the ecstatic’s own ideas have interfered (at least on important points) with God’s action, and that no one has retouched the revelation after its occurrence. This method differs from the preceding one only in the manner of arranging the information obtained, but it is not so convenient. To judge revelations or visions, we must be acquainted with the character of the person favored with them from a triple point of view: natural, ascetical, and mystical. (For those who have been beatified or canonized, this inquiry has been already made by the Church.)
► OUR INQUIRY INTO THE VISIONARY’S CHARACTER MIGHT BE PURSUED AS FOLLOWS:
● What are his natural qualities or defects, from a physical, intellectual, and especially moral standpoint? If the information is favorable (if the person is of sound judgment, calm imagination; if his acts are dictated by reason and not by enthusiasm, etc.), many causes of illusion are thereby excluded. However, a momentary aberration is still possible.
● How has the person been educated? Can the knowledge of the visionary have been derived from books or from conversations with theologians?
● What are the virtues exhibited before and after the revelation? Has he made progress in holiness and especially in humility? The tree can be judged by its fruits.
● What extraordinary graces of union with God have been received? The greater they are the greater the probability in favor of the revelation, at least in the main.
● Has the person had other revelations that have been judged Divine? Has he made any predictions that have been clearly realized?
● Has he been subjected to heavy trials? It is almost impossible for extraordinary favors to be conferred without heavy crosses; for both are marks of God’s friendship, and each is a preparation for the other.
● Does he practice the following rules: fear deception; be open with your director; do not desire to have revelations?
► OUR INFORMATION CONCERNING A REVELATION CONSIDERED IN ITSELF OR CONCERNING THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ACCOMPANIED IT MIGHT BE SECURED AS FOLLOWS:
● Is there an authentic account, in which nothing has been added, suppressed, or corrected?
● Does the revelation agree with the teaching of the Church or with the recognized facts of history or natural science?
● Does it teach nothing contrary to good morals, and is it unaccompanied by any indecent action? The commandments of God are addressed to everyone without exception. More than once the demon has persuaded false visionaries that they were chosen souls, and that God loved them so much as to dispense them from the burdensome restrictions imposed on ordinary mortals. On the contrary, the effect of Divine visitations is to remove us more and more from the life of sense, and make us more rigorous towards ourselves.
● Is the reaching helpful towards the obtaining of eternal salvation? In spiritism we find the spirits evoked treat only of trifles. They reply to idle questions, or descend to providing amusement for an assembly (e.g., by moving furniture about); deceased relatives or the great philosophers are interrogated and their replies are woefully commonplace. A revelation is also suspect if its aim is to decide a disputed question in theology, history, astronomy, etc. Eternal salvation ● Is the only thing of importance in the eyes of God. “In all other matters”, says St. John of the Cross, “He wishes men to have recourse to human means” (Ascent, II, xxii). Finally, a revelation is suspect if it is commonplace, telling only what is to be found in every book. It is then probable that the visionary is unconsciously repeating what he has learnt by reading.
● After examining all the circumstances accompanying the vision (the attitudes, acts, words, etc.), do we find that the dignity and seriousness which become the Divine Majesty? The spirits evoked by Spiritists often speak in a trivial manner. Communications with these degraded beings is evidently dangerous. In Protestant “revivals” assembled crowds bewail their sins, but in a strange, exaggerated way, as if frenzied or intoxicated. It must be admitted that they are inspired by a good principle―a very ardent sentiment of the love of God and of repentance. But to this is added another element that cannot be regarded as Divine―a neuropathic enthusiasm, which is contagious and sometimes develops so far as to produce convulsions or repugnant contortions. Sometimes a kind of unknown language is spoken, but it consists in reality of a succession of meaningless sounds.
● What sentiments of peace, or, on the other hand, of disturbance, are experienced during or after the revelations? Here is the rule as formulated by St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ignatius: “With persons of good will [it is only of such that we are here treating] the action of the good spirit [God or His Angels] is characterized by the production of peace, joy, security, courage; except perhaps at the first moment.” Note the restriction. The Bible often mentions this disturbance at the first moment of the revelation; the Blessed Virgin experienced it when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. The action of the demon produces quite the contrary effect: “With persons of good will he produces, except perhaps at the first moment, disturbance, sorrow, discouragement, perturbation, gloom.” In a word the action of Satan encounters a mysterious resistance of the soul.
● It often happens that the revelation inspires an exterior work ― for instance, the establishment of a new devotion, the foundation of a new religious congregation or association, the revision of the constitutions of a congregation, etc., the building of a church or the creation of a pilgrimage, the reformation of the lax spirit in a certain body, the preaching of a new spirituality, etc. In these cases the value of the proposed work must be carefully examined; is it good in itself, useful, filling a need, not injurious to other works, etc.?
● Have the revelations been subjected to the tests of time and discussion?
● If any work has been begun as a result of the revelation, has it produced great spiritual fruit? Have the sovereign pontiffs and the bishops believed this to be so, and have they assisted the progress of the work? This is very well illustrated in the cases of the Scapular of Mount Carmel, the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the miraculous medal. These are the signs that enable us to judge with probability if a revelation is Divine. In the case of certain persons very closely united to God, the slow study of these signs has been sometimes aided or replaced by a supernatural intuition; this is what is known as the infused gift of the discernment of spirits.
► AS REGARDS THE RULES OF CONDUCT, THE TWO PRINCIPAL HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED IN THE ARTICLE ON CONTEMPLATION, NAMELY:
● if the revelation leads solely to the love of God and the saints, the director may provisionally regard it as Divine;
● at the beginning the visionary should do his best to repulse the revelation quietly. He should not desire to receive it, otherwise he will be exposing himself to the risk of being deceived.
► HERE ARE SOME FURTHER RULES:
● The director must be content to proceed slowly, not to express astonishment, to treat the person gently. If he were to be harsh or distrustful, he would intimidate the soul he is directing, and incline it to conceal important details from him;
● He must be very careful to urge the soul to make progress in the way of sanctity. He will point out that the only value of the visions is in the spiritual fruit that they produce;
● He will pray fervently, and have the subject he is directing pray, that the necessary light may be granted. God cannot fail to make known the true path to those who ask Him humbly. If on the contrary a person confided solely in his natural prudence, he would expose himself to punishment for his self-sufficiency;
● The visionary should be perfectly calm and patient if his superiors do not allow him to carry out the enterprises that he deems inspired by Heaven or revealed. One who, when confronted with this opposition, becomes impatient or discouraged, shows that he has very little confidence in the power of God and is but little conformed to His will. If God wishes the project to succeed, He can make the obstacles suddenly disappear at the time appointed by Him. A very striking example of this divine delay is to be found in the life of St. Juliana, the Cistercian prioress of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège (1192-1258). It is to her that the institution of the feast of the Blessed Sacrament is due. All of her life was passed in awaiting the hour of God, which she was never to see, for it came only more than a century after the beginning of the revelations.
As regards inspirations ordinarily, those who have not passed the period of tranquility or a complete union, must beware of the idea that they hear supernatural words; unless the evidence is irresistible, they should attribute them to the activity of their own imaginations. But they may at least experience inspirations or impulses more or less strong, which seem to point out to them how to act in difficult circumstances. This is a minor form of revelation. The same line of conduct should be followed as in the latter case. We must not accept them blindly and against the dictates of reason, but weigh the reasons for and against, consult a prudent director, and decide only after applying the rules for the discernment of spirits. The attitude of reserve that has just been laid down does not apply to the simple, sudden and illuminating views of Faith, which enables one to understand in a higher manner not novelties, but the truths admitted by the Church. Such enlightenment cannot have any evil result. It is on the contrary a very precious grace, which should be very carefully welcomed and utilized. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, under the entries of “Private Revelation” and “Contemplation”).
Applying the Above Rules to Sr. Mary Ephrem and the “Our Lady of America” Message and Devotion
First of all, from the extracts found in Sr. Mary Ephrem’s Diary―which she wrote in obedience to a command given to her by her spiritual director―we see that she experienced all of the possible means or types of Divine communication mentioned above by Fr. Tanquerey.
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of INSPIRATIONS and SILENT COMMUNICATION:
● INSPIRATION: “Our Lord … made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family” (Early 1940s).
● INSPIRATION: “I felt suddenly urged to write a prayer to Our Lady, Patroness of our land. I knelt by the little table in my room, and as I did so Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me. Though I did not hear any words, the thoughts came into my mind one after the other, and I wrote without stopping until the prayer was finished. Then Our Lady disappeared” (October 5th, 1956).
● INSPIRATION: “I was interiorly enlightened during Mass” (February, 1958).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of VISIONS IN A DREAM:
● VISIONS: “I found myself in a half-sleeping and half-waking state, which I had often experienced before. It gave one the strange effect of being in two worlds. I find no other way to explain this state. I entered a small room, strange and unknown to me. As I was looking around in a rather bewildered fashion, I sensed another presence in the room. I turned toward the doorway, and confronting me was an angel. He was dressed in white, but his garments were arranged in a different manner from those of St. Michael. Although the room was very light, I saw a bright halo surrounding his head. His arms were extended, bent at the elbows, his fingers pointing upwards. A sort of supernatural dread came over me.” (November 20th, 1955).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of LOCUTIONS:
● LOCUTION: “Our Lord often spoke to me in the past, and already, in the early 1940s, it was made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family” (Early 1940s).
● LOCUTION: “Our Lady spoke to me” (November, 1954).
● LOCUTION: “the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length” (September 26th, 1956).
● LOCUTION: “In early October, about a week after Our Lady’s appearance, St. Joseph, though I did not see him at this time, spoke to me” (October, 1956)
● LOCUTION: “Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady” (February 11th, 1958).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem also speaks of APPARITIONS:
● APPARITION: “During a night vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1956, He revealed the sorrow of His Heart over the ingratitude and indifference shown to Him in the Sacrament of His love. Jesus came to me holding a large cross and a crown of thorns” (Vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 1956).
● APPARITION: “On the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, as I was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., I was conscious of the distinct and special feeling of the presence of Our Lady. She stood by my side and spoke to me.” (September 25th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “The next morning, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light” … “Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt” (September 26th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me” (October 5th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak” (October 13th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality” (October 7th, 1957).
● APPARITION: “Our dear Mother showed herself to me in a special way around 11:30 on the morning of November 22nd. The next day, a Saturday, the experience was more detailed as more was shown me, or perhaps I had not noticed details the day before. This vision of herself is very important, as it reveals Our Lady as she really and truly was, the Immaculate Tabernacle of the Indwelling God. A strong beam of light streamed from the Divine Presence within Our Lady onto the globe at her feet” (November 22nd-23rd, 1957).
● APPARITION: On another occasion she writes: “I saw an Angel. I knew this immediately, although the apparition did not reveal itself as such until later. I saw the Angel standing before me towards the left. He was dressed in a white robe or garment, which was perfectly plain and perfectly white. The whiteness of his robe stood out against the darkness about him. It was like a light in the midst of darkness. He was holding a green palm and a drawn sword in his left hand, the tips of both palm and sword resting against his left shoulder.” (Fall of the year 1954).
● APPARITION: “I was visited by the Archangel Michael, who spoke in these forceful words…” (May 8th, 1957).
● APPARITION: “St. Michael came to me one evening shortly after Our Lady’s visit, holding an immense flaming torch. He held it towards me saying: ‘My little sister, you must carry this torch through the world!’ He came again the next night in the same manner” (February, 1958).
● APPARITION: “As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me” (June, 1958).
● APPARITION: “Our Lady came to me again” (December 20th, 1959).
We also see that Sr. Mary Ephrem showed caution, suspicion and even outright rejection of anything that she felt was not Divine or that would lead to pride.
► Sr. Mary Ephrem EXERCISED CAUTION
● CAUTION: when, as she writes: “The Angel said to me, ‘Receive the palm of victory!’ I became suspicious. I could not think of any victory of mine that deserved such a reward. Besides, it sounded a bit like flattery to me. I have always been wary of words of praise; they put me on my guard. Why was the palm not given to someone else more deserving of it than I? So I shook my head and resolutely went back to my prayers. But the Angel would not go.” (Fall of the year 1954).
Absence of Pride and Self-Assertion and Self-Interest
In 1938, just five years after her First Profession, Sister Mary Ephrem began to have mystical experiences, which, in her simplicity, she thought were common to all religious―so she paid little attention to them. By 1940, Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family. Sister Mary Ephrem began to share these experiences with her confessor, Rev. Fr. Paul Leibold, who cautioned her of an overactive imagination. He would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, at which point he died. In 1947, Fr. Leibold, by now familiar with the mystical prayer life of Sister Mary Ephrem, began to instruct Sister to write down her experiences in a diary―which would later become the basis of the published booklet, Our Lady of America Diary. By 1948, the messages were becoming more and more pressing and more insistent. She wrote them down and when they were examined by various priests and theologians, nothing was found therein that was against Faith or Morals. In May of 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered Our Lady of Nativity Cloister, in order to live a more hidden life―thus further retiring from any potential public attention and potential limelight. In 1960, Fr. Paul Leibold―by now Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Cincinnati―personally compiled the handwritten Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, wrote a Foreword, had it printed and distributed to only the necessary religious superiors, Church officials and several sisters within the cloister.
Thus, Sister Mary Ephrem was under the continued guidance of a priest who would later be named Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati in 1958, a position he held for eight years until being named Bishop of Evansville from 1958 to 1969. In 1969, he returned as Archbishop of Cincinnati. He died suddenly in 1972 at the age of 57.
The Modern-Church’s Bishops Acknowledge the Qualities of Sr. Mary Ephrem
The following excerpts from the full statement (see above) issued on April 24th, 2020, by the six bishops examining the Our Lady of America revelations and Sr. Mary Ephrem, testify to and acknowledge the holiness, humility, honesty and forthrightness of Sr. Mary Ephrem’s life and character:
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 1. “First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.”
So what they are saying is that there is no problem at all with Sr. Mary Ephrem with regards to her person and character. That she was not the victim of a hoax, nor was she deluded. The fact that they found imperfections is only normal and to be expected―for all the officially accepted visionaries had their own personal imperfections and sins. As Holy Scripture says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 2. “Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.”
What they are admitting here is that only good spiritual fruits have emerged from the “alleged” apparitions―but they do not dare go further and say they “cannot conclude … these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles” ― but proven miracles are not always seen to be present in Church approved apparitions. Yes―we see miracles at Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima and Akita. But there was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition to St. Simon Stock that gave us the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition at La Salette. There was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition at at the Rue de Bac in Paris―even though the “Miraculous Medal” later produced many miracles. Miracles are helpful in confirming Divine intervention―but they are not always given.
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 3. “Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.”
As Cardinal Burke noted in his letter supporting the devotion to Our Lady of America: “the substance of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem, [is] namely, the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the Christian home.” In fact, the focus on the family―and its sanctification and God and Holy Trinity centeredness―is totally in line with what Sister of Lucia of Fatima was revealing around the same time―namely, that Satan’s “final battle” with Our Lady will be centered upon the family. The truth of this is as clear as daylight to anyone who has eyes to see! The modern-day marriage has evolved to include Satanic “time-bombs” of divorce with remarriage, contraception, abortion, same-sex ‘marriages’, gender changes, etc. Our Lady of America’s focus on the family and desire for the sanctification of the family is in line what she had revealed at some point to Sister Lucia. Secondly, the focus on purity by Our Lady of America is a antidote that is diametrically opposed to the impurity which she, as Our Lady of Fatima, said was the chief cause these days behind the damnation of most souls, and of which, as Our Lady of Good Success, she had lamented that “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
As regards error―we see that error even creeps into the revelations and prophecies made by Saints and Blesseds themselves. As Fr. Tanquerey writes, in his book The Spiritual Life:
“A revelation may be true in the main and yet contain some incidental errors. God does not multiply miracles without reason, and He does not right the prejudices or errors that they may lodge in the minds of the seers … Thus, in private revelations, we find the errors of the times, in what relates to the physical or historical sciences. St. Frances of Rome asserts that she had beheld a heaven of crystal between the empyreal and the starry heavens and attributed the blueness of the sky to the starry heaven. Mary of Agreda thought she knew through revelation that this crystal heaven was divided into eleven parts at the moment of the Incarnation … At times we also meet with the prejudices and the systems of the spiritual directors of the seers. Relying upon her directors, St. Colletta thought she had seen in visions that St. Anne had been thrice married and was coming to visit her with her numerous family. Sometimes Dominican and Franciscan Saints speak in their visions according to the systems peculiar to their Orders.
“Historical errors also find their way into revelations: God is not wont to reveal the precise details of the life of Our Lord or of our Blessed Lady, when these have but little bearing on piety. Now, many seers, intertwining their own devout meditations with the revelations they receive, give details, numbers, dates, which contradict historical documents or other revelations. Thus, among the various accounts of the Passion, many little details related in visions, are either contradictory (for example, details regarding the number of strokes Christ received in His flagellation), or in opposition to the best historical authorities. For example, St. Joan of Arc having asked of her “voices” whether she would be burnt, received the reply that she should trust in Our Lord, Who would assist her, and that she would be delivered through a great victory. In reality, her deliverance and victory were her martyrdom and her entrance into Heaven. St. Norbert affirmed that he knew through revelation and with certainty that the Antichrist would come in his generation (12th Century). Questioned closely, St. Bernard, he said that at least he would not die before seeing a general persecution of the Church. St. Vincent Ferrer announced the Last Judgment as nigh, and seemed to confirm the prediction by miracles. St. Brigid realized herself that at times she re-touched her revelations, the better to explain them; these added explanations are not always free from errors” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 4. “Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.”
Whether it be a “subjective inner religious experience” or an “external vision and revelation” ― God can choose either way to manifest His Divine Will to us. Obviously, a physical, visible, witness verified miracle is the best guarantee of authenticity―but it is not the way that God always chooses to work.
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 5. “While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.”
It is important to note that the six bishops DO NOT RULE OUT the “that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience” ― what they are saying is that whatever evidence they have been presented with (and nowhere do they give a list of what they have looked at and how much or how little information there was in the available evidence)―they tentatively come to, what could be called a “temporary conclusion” rather than an “absolute conclusion”, that tentatively says: “We do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation” and “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences” while, on the other hand admitting “that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience.”
Cannot Support Public Devotion ― But …
THE BISHOPS WRITE: Though the six bishops arrive at a conclusion―which should really be termed in simple language as “a conclusion for now, based on current evidence” ― they also are faced with a conundrum or problem posed by the support given to the alleged apparitions by a bishop who knew all the tiniest details of it by being the personal spiritual director of Sr. Mary Ephrem. That person was of course Archbishop Leipold of Cincinnati. This is why they have to sheepishly admit: “At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold―Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati―had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.”
It must be remembered that Blessed Julienne of Liege, chosen by God to bring about the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, did not submit her project to the theologians until twenty-two years after her first visions; fully sixteen years elapsed before the Bishop of Liege instituted the feast for his diocese, and it was six years after the death of Blessed Julienne herself that Pope Urban IV made it a feast of the entire Church. In like manner, the feast of the Sacred Heart was not approved until long after the revelations had been made to St. Margaret Mary, and then for reasons quite apart from these revelations.
The bottom line―or “take-away” from all this can be summed up by the Church’s teaching that one must be SLOW TO BELIEVE PRIVATE REVELATIONS AND SLOW TO REJECT PRIVATE REVELATIONS―because ultimately, TIME WILL TELL.
The revelations and prophecies concerning Our Lady of America, Our Lady’s requests, warnings and prophecies regarding America―which were made to Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Marie Neuzil) from the 1940s, but especially in the 1950s―have recently been brought into the spotlight with the April 24th, 2020, “Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America” made by six bishops, who are from the dioceses in which Sister Mary Ephrem had lived.
Before any comments are made upon this epicopal “Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America”, here it is in its entirety. The key quotes―which will serve as the basis for further comment afterwards―are highlighted in red.
Statement Regarding the Devotion to Our Lady of America
DIOCESE OF FORT WAYNE – SOUTH BEND
915 South Clinton Street
Post Office Box 390
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801
April 24th, 2020
The undersigned bishops issue the following statement in our capacity as the bishops of the dioceses where alleged visions, locutions and private revelations were said to have occurred in relation to the devotion to “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.”
The devotion of “Our Lady of America” originated in a series of private revelations to Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil, many of which took place within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Neuzil was born in 1916 and was professed in 1933 into the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, whose generalate resided in Dayton, Ohio (within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati). On June 16th, 1957, Sister Neuzil became part of a contemplative branch of the same congregation, which was located at Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio (in the Diocese of Toledo-in-America). The contemplative branch of the congregation was suppressed in 1979, at which time the sisters took up residence in Seneca County, Ohio.
Sister Neuzil reported that she started to experience mystical events in 1938 while assigned to the Chancery at Cincinnati, Ohio. These eventually led to a series of purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which began on September 25th, 1956, at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The following day, September 26th, 1956, the Feast of the North American Martyrs, (also at Rome City, Indiana) the Immaculate Virgin reportedly first identified herself as “Our Lady of America” in grateful response to the devotion given by the Catholic faithful in America to her unique privilege as the “Immaculate Conception.” The message attributed to Our Lady was essentially to promote the sanctification of the family and purity of heart.
Sister Neuzil reported that she continued to receive apparitions of “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin” at various locations until December 20th, 1959, after which time the communication between Our Lady and the visionary principally took on the nature of locutions until her death in 2000. Besides the dioceses mentions above, these other locations include the Archdiocese of Detroit, the Diocese of Phoenix, and the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. Due to the number of dioceses involved and inquiries being received from various parts of the country regarding “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin” along with the purported request of Our Lady for a procession of the bishops of the United States and placement of the statue of Our Lady of America in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., it was decided to request the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to intervene in this matter in accord with the Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations, issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on February 25th, 1978.
In November 2017, His Eminence, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, then-USCCB President, received instructions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the competent ecclesiastical authority for conducting the investigation should be the local bishop of the diocese where the alleged apparitions and private revelations occurred, or another bishop who demonstrates such competence. The lead bishop who conducts the investigation was to arrive at a first conclusion. In doing so, he was instructed to call upon whatever assistance was deemed necessary, although the enlistment of one or two experts in Mariology, along with experts in the field of spiritual theology, was highly encouraged, so the authenticity of the presumed mystical phenomena could be established.
Given the supra-diocesan nature of this case, moreover, the Congregation observed that the bishop designated to lead the examination could involve the bishops of the other dioceses in whose territories the apparitions and private revelations have allegedly occurred.
In accord with these instructions, the other five diocesan bishops, where the apparitions and private revelations were said to have occurred, requested that Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, serve as the lead bishop, since the purported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary allegedly began on September 25th, 1956 at Rome City, Indiana, in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, where people still gather and pray for the Blessed Mother’s intercession under the title, “Our Lady of America.” Bishop Rhoades agreed to the request of the other five bishops to conduct the investigation and formed a commission of theological and canonical experts to assist in evaluating the evidence, including personal interviews with witnesses who knew Sister Neuzil personally.
The key finding of the commission are as follows:
1. First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.
2. Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.
3. Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.
4. Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.
5. Thus, while it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.
At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati, had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, where it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent. Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
In 1963, the prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of then Monsignor Leibold when he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. This imprimatur was granted after receiving the nihil obstat from the censor librorum, then-Assistant Chancellor Father Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who later became Archbishop of Cincinnati. Years later, on July 28th, 2005, responding to an inquiry about the devotion to Our Lady of America, Archbishop Pilarczyk wrote, “While I am not able to find anything that would indicate that Archbishop Leibold granted approval to the apparitions, he remained Sister’s spiritual director until his death in 1972. He also arranged for a striking of a medal, the carving of some relief plaques, and the design of a statue of Our Lady of America. He was obviously very supportive of Sister and her message until the time of his death in 1972. In your letter, you ask if devotion to Our Lady of America is being fostered in the Archdiocese [of Cincinnati]. I do not know of any campaign to promote it.”
It should be noted that Archbishop Leibold himself wrote to the Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on June 17th, 1970. In that letter written two years before his death, Archbishop Leibold stated that he was unable to make a judgment on the supernatural nature of the visions or apparitions reported by Sister Neuzil. He did, however, attest to Sister Neuzil’s holiness and to the solid doctrinal content of her writings. He noted that he “helped her with some private printing of some material and also in having a medal struck, all strictly as a private devotion.” Archbishop Leibold wrote: “I have never taken any action to promote her devotion publicly and of course never followed through on the Shrine request.” (N.B. The “Shrine request” refers to the alleged request of Our Lady of America that her statue be placed in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception).
Given this history of prayers and religious articles being given approval by competent ecclesiastical authority, the use of such prayers religious articles may continue as a matter of private devotion, but not as a public devotion of the Church. Indeed, such private devotion would be consistent with the history of the United States of America being dedicated to Our Lady.
In his first pastoral letter of May 28th, 1792, America’s first bishop, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, dedicated the United States to the Mother of Jesus and our Spiritual Mother. On May 5th, 1846, the Sixth Provincial Council of the Church in America passed a resolution choosing Mary Immaculate as the Patroness of the United States of America and making December 8th the national patronal feast. Subsequently, in 1847, the Sacred Congregation, Propaganda Fide, announced that “our Holy Father Pius IX most willingly confirmed the wishes of the Council that has selected the Blessed Virgin, conceived without sin, as the patroness of the Church in the United States of America.” On November 20th, 1959, the occasion of the dedication of the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Bishops of the United States consecrated our nation to Mary Immaculate, in a renewal of the national Marian entrustments of Bishop Carroll (1792) and the Sixth Provincial Council (1846).
While Our Lady of Guadalupe is recognized as the Patroness of North, Central, and South America, Our Lady is the specific Patroness of the United States of America under her title as the Immaculate Virgin. As such, the faithful may indeed pray to Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, as the Patroness of America. At the same time, such private devotion should in no way imply approval or acceptance of purported revelations, visions, or locutions to be attributed to Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred) Neuzil other than as her own subjective inner religious experiences.
April 24th, 2020
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati
Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit
Most Reverend Timothy L. Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana
Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix
Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas, Bishop of Toledo in Ohio
Letter of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke
Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, in a 2007 letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops―while he was serving as the Ordinary of St. Louis, Missouri (2004-2008), later becoming the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome (2008-2014)―revealed the results of his review of the history and canonical status of devotion to Our Lady of America.
May 31st, 2007 — Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
To the Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Dear brothers in Christ,
During the November meeting of our Conference of Bishops, you may have had occasion to view the statue of Our Lady of America, which was displayed in one of the meeting rooms; and to receive one of the Our Lady of America prayer cards, or other information about Our Lady of America, which was available, thanks to the devout lay faithful who made the arrangements for the display of the statue. The faithful involved in the promotion of the devotion to Our Lady of America have asked me, some months ago, to review the history and present state of the devotion to Our Lady of America, in what pertains to its canonical status. Finally, I am able to give them a report of the results of my study, which I want also to communicate to you.
The devotion to Our Lady of America has its source in private revelations to Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil, who was born in 1916 and was professed, in 1933, in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, which has its generalate in Dayton, Ohio. She later became part of a contemplative branch of the same congregation. The contemplative branch was located at Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio. After the suppression of the contemplative branch in 1979, the Sisters who were members took up residence in Seneca County, Ohio. From the time of the suppression, Sister Mary Ephrem used her baptismal name, Sister Mary Mildred Neuzil. Sister Mary Ephrem (Mary Mildred) died in 2000. One of the Sisters survives and continues to live in Seneca County, Ohio.
Having reviewed the correspondence between Sister Mary Ephrem and her spiritual director of many years, Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and, then, Archbishop of Cincinnati, it is clear that the devotion, as proposed by Sister Mary Ephrem, received his approbation. In addition to the correspondence by which Monsignor Leibold declared the approval of the devotion, he also carried out the first of Our Lady of America’s requests, made through Sister Mary Ephrem, namely, he had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America on one side and the coat of arms of the Christian family on the other.
The coat of arms symbolically represents the substance of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem, namely, the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the Christian home, which is the source of life and unity in the family. The coat of arms points to the purity and selflessness of love in the family, because of the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity, the model of which is the Mother of God, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of our nation. In a particular way, Our Lady of America expressed her desire that the United States of America, through her intercession, be devoted to the purity of love. She identified herself to Sister Mary Ephrem as “Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin.” In the consecration of our nation to our Blessed Mother, made in 1959 at the National Shrine and renewed, in our name, by Bishop David Ricken on November 11th, 2006, the Saturday before the November meeting of our Conference of Bishops, our Blessed Mother is addressed as “Immaculate Virgin.”
The contents of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem were published in a booklet, first in 1960, and, again, in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the Imprimatur of Archbishop Leibold. A final edition, with some new contents, was published in 1989. The new contents were added at the direction of Father Edmund Morman, S.V.D., the last chaplain of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel. Father Morman was sadly killed in an automobile accident on February 17th, 1986.
As Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop Leibold commissioned a wooden plaque with the image of Our Lady of America, which he gave to the cloister at New Riegel, at which it was displayed for many years in a public area. He had the wooden plaque created for the specific purpose of its use in processions at the New Riegel convent.
Archbishop Leibold also authorized the Weberding Woodcarving Shop at Batesville, Indiana, to carve a statue of Our Lady of America. The statue was carved for Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio, at which public devotions to Our Lady of America were regularly celebrated.
Other bishops have permitted the public display of a statue of Our Lady of America for devotion. For instance, the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg, permitted a statue to be displayed at the Carmel of the Assumption at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Also, a statue of Our Lady of America was carried in procession in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on several occasions by the Apostolatus Uniti and other groups. On May 31st, 2006, a statue of Our Lady of America was enthroned at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The statue which was enthroned at Hanceville is the very same statue which Bishop Connare authorized for public devotion at Latrobe.
A specific request of Our Lady of America was that her statue be placed in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There is a providential connection between Sister Mary Ephrem and the late Archbishop Bishop John Francis Noll of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, who is celebrated as the Apostle of the National Shrine. The principal apparitions of Our Lady of America, to Sister Mary Ephrem, took place in the chapel of the Precious Blood Sisters Convent, in Kneipp Springs Sanitorium, near Rome City, Indiana. Archbishop Bishop Noll, who died in 1956, maintained a summer residence at the Sanitorium, within a few hundred feet of the place of the apparitions. While the National Shrine is the largest shrine in the world at which there was not a previous apparition, the private revelation to Sister Mary Ephrem very much confirms the mission of the National Shrine.
The prayer attached to the devotion also received the imprimatur of the then Monsignor Leibold, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Archbishop Leibold was Sister Mary Ephrem’s spiritual director, from the time that he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, until he died in 1972. Archbishop Leibold was always clear that the approved devotion had its origin in private revelation, received by Sister Mary Ephrem over many years.
What can be concluded canonically, is that the devotion was both approved by Archbishop Leibold and, what is more, was actively promoted by him. In addition, over the years, other Bishops have approved the devotion and have participated in public devotion to the Mother of God, under the title of Our Lady of America.
Although the devotion to Our Lady of America has remained constant over the years, in recent years the devotion has spread very much and has been embraced by many with special fervor. Seemingly, as has been suggested by Father Peter Damian Mary Fehlner, F.I., in his homily of August 5th, 2006, at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, the moral crisis of our time, which demands a new teaching and living of the virtue of purity, has found an especially fitting response of loving care from the Mother of God in her message to Sister Mary Ephrem.
Some have raised with me the canonical question regarding the status of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent in Seneca County, Ohio, which has been the residence of any remaining member of the suppressed contemplative branch of the Congregation of Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. In response, I observe that the canonical question has no bearing on the devotion or its approbation.
As one deeply devoted to fostering the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe in our nation, I have wondered about the relationship of the devotion to Our Lady of America to the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Archbishop Leibold, in fact, raised the question with Sister Mary Ephrem. Sister Mary Ephrem responded that Our Lady of Guadalupe is Empress of all the Americas, whereas “Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin,” is the patroness of our nation, the United States of America. The two devotions are, in fact, completely harmonious. As our late and most beloved Pope John Paul II reminded us, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, draws all of the nations of America into unity in carrying out the new evangelization. Our Lady of America calls the people of our nation to the new evangelization through a renewed dedication to purity in love.
I hope that the above may be of some help to you in responding to questions regarding the devotion to Our Lady of America.
May the Immaculate Virgin intercede for the intentions of our dioceses and our nation. With fraternal gratitude and esteem, I remain
Yours devotedly in Christ,
(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of Saint Louis
Unpacking and Examining the Above Statements
What is really being said in the above statement by the six bishops and in the letter of Cardinal Burke? Do they contradict each other? Do they agree with each other? Are the bishops saying that Our Lady never appeared or communicated with Sister Mary Ephrem? Are they rejecting the “Our Lady of America” messages? If so, why are they accepting devotion to “Our Lady of America”? Do they reject the title “Our Lady of America”? At the end of the day―is it all false? Is it true? Is the ruling absolute and set in stone? Or is the matter still potentially open? What on earth is going on?
What is Prophecy? What is Private Revelation? How Can You Judge Authenticity?
The Catholic Encyclopedia presents the Church’s traditional teaching on Prophecy: “The gift of prophecy is an extraordinary grace bestowed by God. It has never been confined to any particular tribe, family, or class of persons. There is no distinct faculty, in human nature, by which any normal or abnormal person can prophesy, neither is any special preparation required beforehand for the reception of this gift. Hence Cornely remarks: “Modern authors speak inaccurately of ‘schools of prophets’, an expression never found in the Scriptures or the Fathers” (Comp. Introduct. in N.T., n. 463). Neither was there ever any external rite by which the office of prophet was inaugurated; its exercise was always extraordinary and depended on the immediate call of God. The prophetic light, according to St. Thomas, is in the soul of the prophet―not as a permanent form or habit, but after the manner of a passion or passing impression (Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q. 171, art.2). Hence the ancient prophets, by their prayers, petitioned for this Divine light (3 Kings 8:6; Jeremias 32:16; 23:2 sq.; 42:4 sq.), and they were liable to error if they gave an answer before invoking God (2 Kings 7:2-3).
The Catholic Encyclopedia continues: “Writing on the recipients of prophecy, Benedict XIV (1675–1758), in Heroic Virtue, III, 144, 150, says: “The recipients of prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children, heathens, or gentiles; nor is it necessary that a man should be gifted with any particular disposition in order to receive the light of prophecy provided his intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the things which God reveals to him. Though moral goodness is most profitable to a prophet, yet it is not necessary in order to obtain the gift of prophecy.”
In the same work, Pope Benedict XIV, cites Cardinal Cajetan as saying: “Human actions are of two kinds, one of which relates to public duties, and especially to ecclesiastical affairs, such as preaching, celebrating Mass, pronouncing judicial decisions, and the like; with respect to these the question is settled in the Canon Law, where it is said that no credence is to be publicly given to him who says he has privately received a mission from God, unless he confirms it by a miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture. The other class of human actions consists of those of private persons, and speaking of these, he distinguishes between (1) a prophet who enjoins or advises them, according to the universal laws of the Church, and (2) a prophet who does the same without reference to those laws. In the first case every man may abound in his own sense whether or not to direct his actions according to the will of the prophet; in the second case a prophet is not to be listened to” (Heroic Virtue, III, 192).
The Catholic Encyclopedia continues: “The Church allows freedom in accepting or rejecting particular or private prophecies according to the evidence for or against them. We should be slow to admit and slow to reject them, and in either case treat them with respect when they come to us from trustworthy sources, and are in accordance with Catholic doctrine and the rules of Catholic morality. The real test of these predictions is their fulfillment; they may be only pious anticipations of the ways of Providence, and they may sometimes be fulfilled in part and in part contradicted by events. The minatory prophecies which announce calamities, being for the most part conditional, may or may not be fulfilled.”
The last prophetic work which the Church acknowledges as Divinely inspired is the Apocalypse. The prophetic spirit did not disappear with the Apostolic times, but the Church has not pronounced any work prophetic since then, though she has canonized numberless saints who were more or less endowed with the gift of prophecy.
Cardinal Cajetan answers, as stated by Benedict XIV: “Human actions are of two kinds, one of which relates to public duties, and especially to ecclesiastical affairs, such as preaching, celebrating Mass, pronouncing judicial decisions, and the like; with respect to these the question is settled in the Canon Law, where it is said that no credence is to be publicly given to him who says he has privately received a mission from God, unless he confirms it by a miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture. The other class of human actions consists of those of private persons, and speaking of these, he distinguishes between a prophet who enjoins or advises them, according to the universal laws of the Church, and a prophet who does the same without reference to those laws. In the first case every man may abound in his own sense whether or not to direct his actions according to the will of the prophet; in the second case a prophet is not to be listened to” (Heroic Virtue, III, 192).
The Church makes a distinction between DIVINE PUBLIC REVELATION and DIVINE PRIVATE REVELATION.
(1) Divine Public Revelation
This is a universal revelation (meaning that they are meant for everybody), which is contained in the Bible, or in the deposit of teachings coming from Apostolic tradition, and transmitted down through the ages by the Church. Divine Public Revelation ended with the preaching of the Apostles, the last of whom (St. John) died in the early 100’s A.D., and this Divine Public Revelation must be believed by all.
(2) Divine Private Revelations
Private revelations (i.e., apparitions and locutions with or without prophecies) are those which have been recorded since the death of Christ and His Apostles. These are private and particular revelations, which are constantly occurring among Christians. They are contained neither in the Bible, nor in the deposit of Apostolic Tradition. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. Nevertheless it is certain that many saints were deceived and that their revelations contradict one another.
Revelations and visions are subject to many illusions. Hence the need for prudence and caution, so as not to be caught up in the fatal and dangerous mixture of curiosity and naivety, which can make us plunge, unreservedly and incautiously, into those things that are beyond our natural experience and understanding. We see this caution in the fact that Maximin, at La Salette, threw stones at the apparition of Our Lady, due to his fear and natural suspicion. Likewise with St. Bernadette, at Lourdes, who, after seeing the apparition, brought much holy water with her the next time, and ‘soaked’ Our Lady with it as a result of her natural fear and suspicion. Also, Lucia, at Fatima, who had decided to stop going to the place where the apparitions were taking place―due to her suspicions as to the origins of the apparition, thinking it might be coming from the devil.
What is the Purpose or Goal of Private Revelation?
The function of Divine Private Revelation is merely re-focus our minds on what is contained in Divine Public Revelation. It may make us do something that we should be doing, but are no longer doing; or it may command us to cease doing what we should not be doing, but have started to do through either malice or weakness. Thus at Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady reminds us by Private Revelation, what is already contained in Public Revelation, namely, the need for prayer and penance: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Therefore, Our Lady is adding nothing new, but simply reminding us what is commanded by Divine Public Revelation, in this case in the form of Holy Scripture.
The above example is clear and incontestable; for prayer and penance are both clearly mentioned and commanded in the pages of Holy Scripture. However, what are we to think of Private Revelations that command things that are not so clear―such as devotion to the Sacred Heart; devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary; devotion to the Holy Rosary, etc.? These things are not seen in Scripture, nor are they commanded by Scripture.
True, they are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, but they are there implicitly. Theology can arrive at conclusions that are certain by combing two or more principles—much as mathematics does. If you know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, then you know for certain that there has to be a number in between 2 and 4, which is the result of 1+1+1 or 1+2. That number is 3―you can call it what I want to call it, but it exists—for certain it exists. In this way the Church has arrived at many conclusions that have been embodied into the teaching of the Church. She has even pronounced dogmas on that same principle, such as the Immaculate Conception, which is not found explicitly anywhere in Holy Scripture. Yet when the Church pronounced the dogma in 1854, Our Lady appeared at Lourdes in 1858 and, in that Private Revelation, confirmed what the Church had done, by calling herself the Immaculate Conception. Similarly with the Person of Christ, being one Person with two natures: the divine nature and the human nature. We do not find that definition anywhere in Holy Scripture, but it is theologically reasoned and deduced from those principles and truths that are found in Holy Scripture.
Church Approval of Private Revelation
When the Church approves Private Revelations, she declares only that there is nothing in them contrary Faith or good morals, and that they may be read without danger, or even read with profit. No obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to believe them.
Speaking of such revelations as, for example, those of St. Hildegard (approved in part by Pope Eugenius III), St. Bridget (by Pope Boniface IX), and St. Catherine of Siena (by Pope Gregory XI), Pope Benedict XIV says: “It is not obligatory, nor even possible, to give them the assent of Catholic Faith, but only of human faith, in conformity with the dictates of prudence, which presents them to us as probable and worthy of pious belief.” (De canon., III, liii, xxii, II).
The Dangers of Private Revelations
What are known as private and particular revelations are those contained neither in the Bible, nor in the deposit of Apostolic tradition. The Church does not oblige us to believe in them, but it is prudent not to reject them lightly when they are affirmed by saints. Nevertheless it is certain that many saints were deceived and that their revelations contradict one another. What follows will explain the reason of this.
Revelations and visions are subject to many illusions. Some of them are at first thought surprising. Thus a vision of an historical scene (e.g., of the life or death of Christ) is often only approximately accurate, although the visionary may be unaware of this fact, and he may be misled, if he believes in its absolute historical fidelity.
This error is quite natural, being based on the assumption that, if the vision comes from God, all its details (the landscape, dress, words, actions, etc.) should be a faithful reproduction of the historical past. This assumption is not justified, for accuracy in secondary details is not necessary; the main point is that the fact, event, or communication revealed be strictly true.
It may be objected that the Bible contains historical books, and that thus God may sometimes wish to reveal certain facts in religious history to us exactly. That doubtless is true, when there is question of facts which are necessary or useful as a basis for religion, in which case the revelation is accompanied by proofs that guarantee its accuracy. A vision need not guarantee its accuracy in every detail.
One should thus beware of concluding, without any examination, that revelations are to be rejected; the prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them, unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and as a rule in unimportant matters only.
Proof of the Divine
There are cases in which we can be certain that a revelation is Divine.
(1) God can give this certainty to the person who receives the revelation (at least during it), by granting an insight and an evidence so compelling as to exclude all possibility of doubt. We can find an analogy in the natural order: our senses are subject to many illusions, and yet we frequently perceive clearly that we have not been deceived.
(2) At times others can be equally certain of the revelation thus vouchsafed. For instance, the Prophets of the Old Testament gave indubitable signs of their mission; otherwise they would not have been believed. There were always false prophets, who deceived some of the people but, inasmuch as the faithful were counseled by Holy Scripture to distinguish the false from the true, it was possible so to distinguish. One incontrovertible proof is the working of a miracle, if it be wrought for this purpose and circumstances show this to be so. A prophecy realized is equally convincing, when it is precise and cannot be the result of chance or of a conjecture of the evil spirit.
Importance of Divine Private Revelation
Private revelations do not belong to the deposit of Faith and, as such, are not binding upon our Faith. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that Almighty God often speaks to His servants in an unmistakable manner. Many Catholic devotions are based solely on private revelations―such as the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, are cases in point. More recently, devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima were accepted and encouraged by the Church. There is ample evidence that revelations have taken place throughout the centuries right up to the present time, and it is likely that some are taking place at this very moment.
Differences Between Apparitions, Locutions and Imagination―Can All Be Acceptable?
However―as you may have noticed―the Private Revelations that introduced the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima all involved VISIBLE apparitions. Does there have to be a VISIBLE manifestation or apparition for something to fall into the category of a “Private Revelation”?
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, classifies these things for us:
(1) VISIONS are supernatural perceptions of some object naturally invisible to man. They are revelations only when they disclose hidden truths. They are of three kinds, sensible, imaginative, or purely intellectual.
(a) Sensible or corporeal visions, also called apparitions, are those in which the senses perceive some real object that is naturally invisible to man. It is not necessary that the object be a real human body; it suffices that it be a sensible or luminous form.
The opinion of St. Thomas, which is generally held, is that after His Ascension, Our Lord rarely appeared in Person; He merely appeared in a visible form, but not in His real body. His apparitions in the Eucharist may be explained in two ways, says St. Thomas: either by a miraculous impression made on the sense of sight (which is the case when He manifests Himself to a single person) or by a form that is real and visible, but distinct from His own body; for, the Saint adds, the Body of Our Savior cannot be seen in its own proper form except in the one place which actually contains it (Summa Theologica III, q. 76, art. 8).
The same conclusion is deduced from the testimony of St. Teresa, Relation XIII, where she says: “By some things which He told me, I understood that after He ascended into Heaven He never descended on Earth to converse with anyone, except in the Holy Sacrament.”
What has been said of Our Lord applies also to the Blessed Virgin. When she appeared at Lourdes for instance, her body remained in Heaven, and at the spot of the apparition there was but a sensible form which represented her. This explains how she could appear now under one aspect, now under another.
(b) Imaginative visions are those produced in the imagination by God or by the Angels, either during sleep or while one is awake. Thus an Angel appeared several times to St. Joseph in his sleep, and St. Teresa relates several imaginative visions she had of Our Lord while she was awake. These visions are frequently accompanied by an intellectual vision which explains their meaning. At times, one travels in vision through distant countries: such visions are for the most part imaginative.
(c) Intellectual visions are those in which the mind perceives a spiritual truth without the aid of sensible impressions: such was St. Teresa’s vision of the Holy Trinity. These visions take place either through ideas already acquired, but which are coordinated or modified by God, or through infused ideas which represent divine things even better than do acquired ideas. Sometimes these visions are obscure and manifest only the presence of the object; at other times they are clear, but last only for a moment: they are like intuitions which leave a deep impression.
Some visions are at once sensible, imaginative and intellectual. Such was St. Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus. He beheld with his eyes blinding light; he saw with his imagination the personal traits of Ananias; and his mind understood God’s will.
(2) SUPERNATURAL WORDS are manifestations of the divine thought conveyed to the exterior or to the interior senses, or directly to the intelligence. They are called auricular when they come to the ear in the form of sound-waves, miraculously produced; imaginative when such manifestations are directed to the imagination; intellectual when addressed directly to the intellect.
(3) DIVINE TOUCHES are spiritual sentiments full of sweetness, impressed upon the will by a kind of divine contact and accompanied by a vivid intellectual light. (Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life).
From all of the above, as Fr. Tanquerey has pointed out, God is not limited to any particular kind of communication with His creatures. God, or anyone in Heaven, can communicate with us visually (apparition), verbally (locution where actual words are heard), mentally (where the words are silent―as in thoughts) or by images or signs (which use and affect our imagination and impressions). We see something similarly in (1) the worship of God is not limited to any one single form or worship; and (2) likewise with learning―which is not limited to one single form of learning.
(1) With regard to the worship of God―we can have a “full-blown” or “deluxe” form of worship―such as in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which we have lots of visible objects (visible people other than ourselves; an altar, a tabernacle; altar clothes and Mass linens; wine, hosts and water; vestments; candles and flames; thurible, charcoal and incense; bells; prayer-books and hymnals; organ and choir; etc. The prayers of the Mass also cover the whole range of prayer―sung prayers, prayers said out loud; prayers that are read; whispered prayers; silent prayer within the mind; meditation in the mind using the help of imagination; contemplation by the mind, etc. This could be, by analogy, compared to a “full-blown” apparition―where Our Lord, Our Lady, an angel or a saint, visibly appears to someone and speaks to them.
A lesser form of worship would be a family praying together―which would not have the same number or kind of items listed above for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Occasionally, there might be some singing of hymns in addition to the more customary recitation of prayers out loud. Perhaps candles might also be used. Yet, on the whole, it will be much more limited or “toned-down” form of worship when compared to that of the Holy Mass.
Going even further down the scale would be individual prayer―where one person worships more or less according to the blueprint or method offered by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
As noted above―the worship of God can be visible (where we worship with both body and soul―for example, when we bow, make the Sigh of the Cross, kneel, genuflect, etc.) or they can be invisible (where we pray in the silence of our minds, without giving any indication to those around us that we are praying).
All the above forms are all true forms of worship. They are all true methods and manners for communication with God―whether they be physical, vocal, visual or mental. Some methods are better, more efficacious, more profitable, more meaningful, more impressionable than others―but we are not limited to anyone of them.
As already stated above, the same applies to the art of learning―we learn by many different methods and means―all of which come under the umbrella of learning. We learn by watching, we learn by doing, we learn by hearing, we learn by reading, we learn by experience, we learn by thinking.
Rules for Discerning the Divine
The Catholic Encyclopedia gives us a very coherent and well categorized and coherent overview upon how the Divine is discerned in alleged Divine Private Revelations:
There are two kinds of revelations: (1) universal revelations [Divine Public Revelations], which are contained in the Bible or in the depositum of Apostolic tradition transmitted by the Church. These ended with the preaching of the Apostles and must be believed by all; (2) particular or private revelations [Divine Private Revelations] which are constantly occurring among Christians (see article under CONTEMPLATION). When the Church approves private revelations, she declares only that there is nothing in them contrary to Faith or good Morals, and that they may be read without danger or even with profit; no obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to believe them. Speaking of such revelations as those of St. Hildegard (approved in part by Pope Eugenius III), St. Bridget (by Pope Boniface IX), and St. Catherine of Siena (by Pope Gregory XI) Pope Benedict XIV says: “It is not obligatory nor even possible to give them the assent of Catholic Faith, but only of human faith, in conformity with the dictates of prudence, which presents them to us as probable and worthy of pious belief” (De canon., III, liii, xxii, II).
Illusions connected with private revelations have been explained in the article CONTEMPLATION. Some of them are at first thought surprising. Thus a vision of an historical scene (e.g., of the life or death of Christ) is often only approximately accurate, although the visionary may be unaware of this fact, and he may be misled, if he believes in its absolute historical fidelity. This error is quite natural, being based on the assumption that, if the vision comes from God, all its details (the landscape, dress, words, actions, etc.) should be a faithful reproduction of the historical past. This assumption is not justified, for accuracy in secondary details is not necessary; the main point is that the fact, event, or communication revealed be strictly true. It may be objected that the Bible contains historical books, and that thus God may sometimes wish to reveal certain facts in religious history to us exactly. That doubtless is true, when there is question of facts which are necessary or useful as a basis for religion, in which case the revelation is accompanied by proofs that guarantee its accuracy. A vision need not guarantee its accuracy in every detail. One should thus beware of concluding―without examination―that revelations are to be rejected. The prudent course is neither to believe nor to deny them unless there is sufficient reason for so doing. Much less should one suspect that the saints have been always, or very often deceived in their vision. On the contrary, such deception is rare, and, as a rule, in unimportant matters only.
► THERE ARE CASES IN WHICH WE CAN BE CERTAIN THAT A REVELATION IS DIVINE.
(1) God can give this certainty to the person who receives the revelation (at least during it), by granting an insight and an evidence so compelling as to exclude all possibility of doubt. We can find an analogy in the natural order: our senses are subject to many illusions, and yet we frequently perceive clearly that we have not been deceived. (2) At times others can be equally certain of the revelation thus vouchsafed. For instance, the Prophets of the Old Testament gave indubitable signs of their mission; otherwise they would not have been believed. There were always false prophets, who deceived some of the people but, inasmuch as the faithful were counseled by Holy Scripture to distinguish the false from the true, it was possible so to distinguish. One incontrovertible proof is the working of a miracle, if it be wrought for this purpose and circumstances show this to be so. A prophecy realized [that comes true] is equally convincing, when it is precise and cannot be the result of chance or of a conjecture of the evil spirit.
► BESIDES THESE RATHER RARE MEANS OF FORMING AN OPINION, THERE IS ANOTHER, BUT LONGER AND MORE INTRICATE METHOD: TO DISCUSS THE REASONS FOR AND AGAINST.
Practically, this examination will often give only a probability more or less great. It may be also that the revelation can be regarded as Divine in its broad outlines, but doubtful in minor details. Concerning the revelations of [Venerable] Mary of Agreda and [Blessed] Anne Catherine Emmerich, for example, contradictory opinions have been expressed―some believe unhesitatingly everything they contain, and are annoyed when anyone does not share their confidence; others give the revelations no credence whatsoever; finally there are many who are sympathetic, but do not know what to reply when asked what degree of credibility is to be attributed to the writings of these two ecstatics.
The truth seems to be between the two extreme opinions indicated above. If there is question of a particular fact related in these books and not mentioned elsewhere―then we cannot be certain that it is true, especially in minor details. In particular instances, these visionaries have been mistaken. If there be question of the general statement of facts given in these works―then we can admit with probability that many of them are true. For these two visionaries led lives that were regarded as very holy. Competent authorities have judged their ecstasies as divine. It is therefore prudent to admit that they received a special assistance from God, preserving them, not absolutely, but in the main, from error.
► IN JUDGING OF REVELATIONS OR VISIONS WE MAY PROCEED IN THIS MANNER:
(1) get detailed information about the person who believes himself thus favored;
(2) also about the fact of the revelation and the circumstances attending it. To prove that a revelation is Divine (at least in its general outlines), the method of exclusion is sometimes employed. It consists in proving that neither the demon nor the ecstatic’s own ideas have interfered (at least on important points) with God’s action, and that no one has retouched the revelation after its occurrence. This method differs from the preceding one only in the manner of arranging the information obtained, but it is not so convenient. To judge revelations or visions, we must be acquainted with the character of the person favored with them from a triple point of view: natural, ascetical, and mystical. (For those who have been beatified or canonized, this inquiry has been already made by the Church.)
► OUR INQUIRY INTO THE VISIONARY’S CHARACTER MIGHT BE PURSUED AS FOLLOWS:
● What are his natural qualities or defects, from a physical, intellectual, and especially moral standpoint? If the information is favorable (if the person is of sound judgment, calm imagination; if his acts are dictated by reason and not by enthusiasm, etc.), many causes of illusion are thereby excluded. However, a momentary aberration is still possible.
● How has the person been educated? Can the knowledge of the visionary have been derived from books or from conversations with theologians?
● What are the virtues exhibited before and after the revelation? Has he made progress in holiness and especially in humility? The tree can be judged by its fruits.
● What extraordinary graces of union with God have been received? The greater they are the greater the probability in favor of the revelation, at least in the main.
● Has the person had other revelations that have been judged Divine? Has he made any predictions that have been clearly realized?
● Has he been subjected to heavy trials? It is almost impossible for extraordinary favors to be conferred without heavy crosses; for both are marks of God’s friendship, and each is a preparation for the other.
● Does he practice the following rules: fear deception; be open with your director; do not desire to have revelations?
► OUR INFORMATION CONCERNING A REVELATION CONSIDERED IN ITSELF OR CONCERNING THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ACCOMPANIED IT MIGHT BE SECURED AS FOLLOWS:
● Is there an authentic account, in which nothing has been added, suppressed, or corrected?
● Does the revelation agree with the teaching of the Church or with the recognized facts of history or natural science?
● Does it teach nothing contrary to good morals, and is it unaccompanied by any indecent action? The commandments of God are addressed to everyone without exception. More than once the demon has persuaded false visionaries that they were chosen souls, and that God loved them so much as to dispense them from the burdensome restrictions imposed on ordinary mortals. On the contrary, the effect of Divine visitations is to remove us more and more from the life of sense, and make us more rigorous towards ourselves.
● Is the reaching helpful towards the obtaining of eternal salvation? In spiritism we find the spirits evoked treat only of trifles. They reply to idle questions, or descend to providing amusement for an assembly (e.g., by moving furniture about); deceased relatives or the great philosophers are interrogated and their replies are woefully commonplace. A revelation is also suspect if its aim is to decide a disputed question in theology, history, astronomy, etc. Eternal salvation ● Is the only thing of importance in the eyes of God. “In all other matters”, says St. John of the Cross, “He wishes men to have recourse to human means” (Ascent, II, xxii). Finally, a revelation is suspect if it is commonplace, telling only what is to be found in every book. It is then probable that the visionary is unconsciously repeating what he has learnt by reading.
● After examining all the circumstances accompanying the vision (the attitudes, acts, words, etc.), do we find that the dignity and seriousness which become the Divine Majesty? The spirits evoked by Spiritists often speak in a trivial manner. Communications with these degraded beings is evidently dangerous. In Protestant “revivals” assembled crowds bewail their sins, but in a strange, exaggerated way, as if frenzied or intoxicated. It must be admitted that they are inspired by a good principle―a very ardent sentiment of the love of God and of repentance. But to this is added another element that cannot be regarded as Divine―a neuropathic enthusiasm, which is contagious and sometimes develops so far as to produce convulsions or repugnant contortions. Sometimes a kind of unknown language is spoken, but it consists in reality of a succession of meaningless sounds.
● What sentiments of peace, or, on the other hand, of disturbance, are experienced during or after the revelations? Here is the rule as formulated by St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ignatius: “With persons of good will [it is only of such that we are here treating] the action of the good spirit [God or His Angels] is characterized by the production of peace, joy, security, courage; except perhaps at the first moment.” Note the restriction. The Bible often mentions this disturbance at the first moment of the revelation; the Blessed Virgin experienced it when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. The action of the demon produces quite the contrary effect: “With persons of good will he produces, except perhaps at the first moment, disturbance, sorrow, discouragement, perturbation, gloom.” In a word the action of Satan encounters a mysterious resistance of the soul.
● It often happens that the revelation inspires an exterior work ― for instance, the establishment of a new devotion, the foundation of a new religious congregation or association, the revision of the constitutions of a congregation, etc., the building of a church or the creation of a pilgrimage, the reformation of the lax spirit in a certain body, the preaching of a new spirituality, etc. In these cases the value of the proposed work must be carefully examined; is it good in itself, useful, filling a need, not injurious to other works, etc.?
● Have the revelations been subjected to the tests of time and discussion?
● If any work has been begun as a result of the revelation, has it produced great spiritual fruit? Have the sovereign pontiffs and the bishops believed this to be so, and have they assisted the progress of the work? This is very well illustrated in the cases of the Scapular of Mount Carmel, the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the miraculous medal. These are the signs that enable us to judge with probability if a revelation is Divine. In the case of certain persons very closely united to God, the slow study of these signs has been sometimes aided or replaced by a supernatural intuition; this is what is known as the infused gift of the discernment of spirits.
► AS REGARDS THE RULES OF CONDUCT, THE TWO PRINCIPAL HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED IN THE ARTICLE ON CONTEMPLATION, NAMELY:
● if the revelation leads solely to the love of God and the saints, the director may provisionally regard it as Divine;
● at the beginning the visionary should do his best to repulse the revelation quietly. He should not desire to receive it, otherwise he will be exposing himself to the risk of being deceived.
► HERE ARE SOME FURTHER RULES:
● The director must be content to proceed slowly, not to express astonishment, to treat the person gently. If he were to be harsh or distrustful, he would intimidate the soul he is directing, and incline it to conceal important details from him;
● He must be very careful to urge the soul to make progress in the way of sanctity. He will point out that the only value of the visions is in the spiritual fruit that they produce;
● He will pray fervently, and have the subject he is directing pray, that the necessary light may be granted. God cannot fail to make known the true path to those who ask Him humbly. If on the contrary a person confided solely in his natural prudence, he would expose himself to punishment for his self-sufficiency;
● The visionary should be perfectly calm and patient if his superiors do not allow him to carry out the enterprises that he deems inspired by Heaven or revealed. One who, when confronted with this opposition, becomes impatient or discouraged, shows that he has very little confidence in the power of God and is but little conformed to His will. If God wishes the project to succeed, He can make the obstacles suddenly disappear at the time appointed by Him. A very striking example of this divine delay is to be found in the life of St. Juliana, the Cistercian prioress of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège (1192-1258). It is to her that the institution of the feast of the Blessed Sacrament is due. All of her life was passed in awaiting the hour of God, which she was never to see, for it came only more than a century after the beginning of the revelations.
As regards inspirations ordinarily, those who have not passed the period of tranquility or a complete union, must beware of the idea that they hear supernatural words; unless the evidence is irresistible, they should attribute them to the activity of their own imaginations. But they may at least experience inspirations or impulses more or less strong, which seem to point out to them how to act in difficult circumstances. This is a minor form of revelation. The same line of conduct should be followed as in the latter case. We must not accept them blindly and against the dictates of reason, but weigh the reasons for and against, consult a prudent director, and decide only after applying the rules for the discernment of spirits. The attitude of reserve that has just been laid down does not apply to the simple, sudden and illuminating views of Faith, which enables one to understand in a higher manner not novelties, but the truths admitted by the Church. Such enlightenment cannot have any evil result. It is on the contrary a very precious grace, which should be very carefully welcomed and utilized. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, under the entries of “Private Revelation” and “Contemplation”).
Applying the Above Rules to Sr. Mary Ephrem and the “Our Lady of America” Message and Devotion
First of all, from the extracts found in Sr. Mary Ephrem’s Diary―which she wrote in obedience to a command given to her by her spiritual director―we see that she experienced all of the possible means or types of Divine communication mentioned above by Fr. Tanquerey.
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of INSPIRATIONS and SILENT COMMUNICATION:
● INSPIRATION: “Our Lord … made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family” (Early 1940s).
● INSPIRATION: “I felt suddenly urged to write a prayer to Our Lady, Patroness of our land. I knelt by the little table in my room, and as I did so Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me. Though I did not hear any words, the thoughts came into my mind one after the other, and I wrote without stopping until the prayer was finished. Then Our Lady disappeared” (October 5th, 1956).
● INSPIRATION: “I was interiorly enlightened during Mass” (February, 1958).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of VISIONS IN A DREAM:
● VISIONS: “I found myself in a half-sleeping and half-waking state, which I had often experienced before. It gave one the strange effect of being in two worlds. I find no other way to explain this state. I entered a small room, strange and unknown to me. As I was looking around in a rather bewildered fashion, I sensed another presence in the room. I turned toward the doorway, and confronting me was an angel. He was dressed in white, but his garments were arranged in a different manner from those of St. Michael. Although the room was very light, I saw a bright halo surrounding his head. His arms were extended, bent at the elbows, his fingers pointing upwards. A sort of supernatural dread came over me.” (November 20th, 1955).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem writes of LOCUTIONS:
● LOCUTION: “Our Lord often spoke to me in the past, and already, in the early 1940s, it was made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family” (Early 1940s).
● LOCUTION: “Our Lady spoke to me” (November, 1954).
● LOCUTION: “the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length” (September 26th, 1956).
● LOCUTION: “In early October, about a week after Our Lady’s appearance, St. Joseph, though I did not see him at this time, spoke to me” (October, 1956)
● LOCUTION: “Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady” (February 11th, 1958).
► Sr. Mary Ephrem also speaks of APPARITIONS:
● APPARITION: “During a night vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1956, He revealed the sorrow of His Heart over the ingratitude and indifference shown to Him in the Sacrament of His love. Jesus came to me holding a large cross and a crown of thorns” (Vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 1956).
● APPARITION: “On the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, as I was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., I was conscious of the distinct and special feeling of the presence of Our Lady. She stood by my side and spoke to me.” (September 25th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “The next morning, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light” … “Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt” (September 26th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me” (October 5th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak” (October 13th, 1956).
● APPARITION: “On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality” (October 7th, 1957).
● APPARITION: “Our dear Mother showed herself to me in a special way around 11:30 on the morning of November 22nd. The next day, a Saturday, the experience was more detailed as more was shown me, or perhaps I had not noticed details the day before. This vision of herself is very important, as it reveals Our Lady as she really and truly was, the Immaculate Tabernacle of the Indwelling God. A strong beam of light streamed from the Divine Presence within Our Lady onto the globe at her feet” (November 22nd-23rd, 1957).
● APPARITION: On another occasion she writes: “I saw an Angel. I knew this immediately, although the apparition did not reveal itself as such until later. I saw the Angel standing before me towards the left. He was dressed in a white robe or garment, which was perfectly plain and perfectly white. The whiteness of his robe stood out against the darkness about him. It was like a light in the midst of darkness. He was holding a green palm and a drawn sword in his left hand, the tips of both palm and sword resting against his left shoulder.” (Fall of the year 1954).
● APPARITION: “I was visited by the Archangel Michael, who spoke in these forceful words…” (May 8th, 1957).
● APPARITION: “St. Michael came to me one evening shortly after Our Lady’s visit, holding an immense flaming torch. He held it towards me saying: ‘My little sister, you must carry this torch through the world!’ He came again the next night in the same manner” (February, 1958).
● APPARITION: “As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me” (June, 1958).
● APPARITION: “Our Lady came to me again” (December 20th, 1959).
We also see that Sr. Mary Ephrem showed caution, suspicion and even outright rejection of anything that she felt was not Divine or that would lead to pride.
► Sr. Mary Ephrem EXERCISED CAUTION
● CAUTION: when, as she writes: “The Angel said to me, ‘Receive the palm of victory!’ I became suspicious. I could not think of any victory of mine that deserved such a reward. Besides, it sounded a bit like flattery to me. I have always been wary of words of praise; they put me on my guard. Why was the palm not given to someone else more deserving of it than I? So I shook my head and resolutely went back to my prayers. But the Angel would not go.” (Fall of the year 1954).
Absence of Pride and Self-Assertion and Self-Interest
In 1938, just five years after her First Profession, Sister Mary Ephrem began to have mystical experiences, which, in her simplicity, she thought were common to all religious―so she paid little attention to them. By 1940, Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family. Sister Mary Ephrem began to share these experiences with her confessor, Rev. Fr. Paul Leibold, who cautioned her of an overactive imagination. He would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, at which point he died. In 1947, Fr. Leibold, by now familiar with the mystical prayer life of Sister Mary Ephrem, began to instruct Sister to write down her experiences in a diary―which would later become the basis of the published booklet, Our Lady of America Diary. By 1948, the messages were becoming more and more pressing and more insistent. She wrote them down and when they were examined by various priests and theologians, nothing was found therein that was against Faith or Morals. In May of 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered Our Lady of Nativity Cloister, in order to live a more hidden life―thus further retiring from any potential public attention and potential limelight. In 1960, Fr. Paul Leibold―by now Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Cincinnati―personally compiled the handwritten Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, wrote a Foreword, had it printed and distributed to only the necessary religious superiors, Church officials and several sisters within the cloister.
Thus, Sister Mary Ephrem was under the continued guidance of a priest who would later be named Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati in 1958, a position he held for eight years until being named Bishop of Evansville from 1958 to 1969. In 1969, he returned as Archbishop of Cincinnati. He died suddenly in 1972 at the age of 57.
The Modern-Church’s Bishops Acknowledge the Qualities of Sr. Mary Ephrem
The following excerpts from the full statement (see above) issued on April 24th, 2020, by the six bishops examining the Our Lady of America revelations and Sr. Mary Ephrem, testify to and acknowledge the holiness, humility, honesty and forthrightness of Sr. Mary Ephrem’s life and character:
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 1. “First, regarding Sister Neuzil herself, there is much evidence that she was honest, morally upright, psychologically balanced, devoted to religious life and without guile. Alongside these many signs of goodness, we also found signs of imperfection, but no evidence that she was the perpetrator of a hoax or the victim of delusion. What she communicated about her alleged experiences, she believed to be true, and her communication of these alleged experiences are filled with humility and forthrightness.”
So what they are saying is that there is no problem at all with Sr. Mary Ephrem with regards to her person and character. That she was not the victim of a hoax, nor was she deluded. The fact that they found imperfections is only normal and to be expected―for all the officially accepted visionaries had their own personal imperfections and sins. As Holy Scripture says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 2. “Regarding spiritual fruits, there are numerous reports of good fruits, including some conversions, spiritual refreshment, and consolations, and even some physical healings at the Rome City site of the alleged apparitions. However, upon study of these reports, we cannot conclude that any of these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles. It seems likely that in such personal contexts of Faith and prayer, God’s graces were received.”
What they are admitting here is that only good spiritual fruits have emerged from the “alleged” apparitions―but they do not dare go further and say they “cannot conclude … these events are conclusive enough to warrant certification as miracles” ― but proven miracles are not always seen to be present in Church approved apparitions. Yes―we see miracles at Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima and Akita. But there was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition to St. Simon Stock that gave us the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition at La Salette. There was no proven miracle to guarantee Our Lady’s Church approved apparition at at the Rue de Bac in Paris―even though the “Miraculous Medal” later produced many miracles. Miracles are helpful in confirming Divine intervention―but they are not always given.
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 3. “Regarding the alleged revelations themselves, much of what is expressed does not contain any doctrinal error. However, there is a claim regarding Saint Joseph which has never been expressed as Catholic doctrine and must be seen as an error, namely, that he was a “co-redeemer” with Christ for the salvation of the world.”
As Cardinal Burke noted in his letter supporting the devotion to Our Lady of America: “the substance of the private revelation received by Sister Mary Ephrem, [is] namely, the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the Christian home.” In fact, the focus on the family―and its sanctification and God and Holy Trinity centeredness―is totally in line with what Sister of Lucia of Fatima was revealing around the same time―namely, that Satan’s “final battle” with Our Lady will be centered upon the family. The truth of this is as clear as daylight to anyone who has eyes to see! The modern-day marriage has evolved to include Satanic “time-bombs” of divorce with remarriage, contraception, abortion, same-sex ‘marriages’, gender changes, etc. Our Lady of America’s focus on the family and desire for the sanctification of the family is in line what she had revealed at some point to Sister Lucia. Secondly, the focus on purity by Our Lady of America is a antidote that is diametrically opposed to the impurity which she, as Our Lady of Fatima, said was the chief cause these days behind the damnation of most souls, and of which, as Our Lady of Good Success, she had lamented that “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
As regards error―we see that error even creeps into the revelations and prophecies made by Saints and Blesseds themselves. As Fr. Tanquerey writes, in his book The Spiritual Life:
“A revelation may be true in the main and yet contain some incidental errors. God does not multiply miracles without reason, and He does not right the prejudices or errors that they may lodge in the minds of the seers … Thus, in private revelations, we find the errors of the times, in what relates to the physical or historical sciences. St. Frances of Rome asserts that she had beheld a heaven of crystal between the empyreal and the starry heavens and attributed the blueness of the sky to the starry heaven. Mary of Agreda thought she knew through revelation that this crystal heaven was divided into eleven parts at the moment of the Incarnation … At times we also meet with the prejudices and the systems of the spiritual directors of the seers. Relying upon her directors, St. Colletta thought she had seen in visions that St. Anne had been thrice married and was coming to visit her with her numerous family. Sometimes Dominican and Franciscan Saints speak in their visions according to the systems peculiar to their Orders.
“Historical errors also find their way into revelations: God is not wont to reveal the precise details of the life of Our Lord or of our Blessed Lady, when these have but little bearing on piety. Now, many seers, intertwining their own devout meditations with the revelations they receive, give details, numbers, dates, which contradict historical documents or other revelations. Thus, among the various accounts of the Passion, many little details related in visions, are either contradictory (for example, details regarding the number of strokes Christ received in His flagellation), or in opposition to the best historical authorities. For example, St. Joan of Arc having asked of her “voices” whether she would be burnt, received the reply that she should trust in Our Lord, Who would assist her, and that she would be delivered through a great victory. In reality, her deliverance and victory were her martyrdom and her entrance into Heaven. St. Norbert affirmed that he knew through revelation and with certainty that the Antichrist would come in his generation (12th Century). Questioned closely, St. Bernard, he said that at least he would not die before seeing a general persecution of the Church. St. Vincent Ferrer announced the Last Judgment as nigh, and seemed to confirm the prediction by miracles. St. Brigid realized herself that at times she re-touched her revelations, the better to explain them; these added explanations are not always free from errors” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 4. “Looking at the nature and quality of the experiences themselves, we find that they are more to be described as subjective inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations.”
Whether it be a “subjective inner religious experience” or an “external vision and revelation” ― God can choose either way to manifest His Divine Will to us. Obviously, a physical, visible, witness verified miracle is the best guarantee of authenticity―but it is not the way that God always chooses to work.
THE BISHOPS WRITE: 5. “While it may be said that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience, we do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation. Sister Neuzil herself describes her experience as “inner vision” (p. 143), and we find that her experiences were of a type where her own imagination and intellect were involved in the formation of the events. It seems that these were authentically graced moments, even perhaps of a spiritual quality beyond what most people experience, but subjective ones in which her own imagination and intellect were constitutively engaged, putting form to inner spiritual movements. However, we do not find evidence that these were objective visions and revelations of the type seen at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Based on these findings, Bishop Rhoades came to the conclusion that “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences (non constat de supernaturalitate); thus further, I cannot approve or support public devotion or cult.” The bishops of the other five dioceses have read and also accept these findings and conclusions.”
It is important to note that the six bishops DO NOT RULE OUT the “that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience” ― what they are saying is that whatever evidence they have been presented with (and nowhere do they give a list of what they have looked at and how much or how little information there was in the available evidence)―they tentatively come to, what could be called a “temporary conclusion” rather than an “absolute conclusion”, that tentatively says: “We do not find evidence pointing to her experiences as being in the category of objective private revelation” and “the visions and revelations themselves cannot be said to be of supernatural origin in the sense of objective occurrences” while, on the other hand admitting “that there is possibly an authenticity to Sister Neuzil’s subjective religious experience.”
Cannot Support Public Devotion ― But …
THE BISHOPS WRITE: Though the six bishops arrive at a conclusion―which should really be termed in simple language as “a conclusion for now, based on current evidence” ― they also are faced with a conundrum or problem posed by the support given to the alleged apparitions by a bishop who knew all the tiniest details of it by being the personal spiritual director of Sr. Mary Ephrem. That person was of course Archbishop Leipold of Cincinnati. This is why they have to sheepishly admit: “At the same time, it should be noted that Sister Neuzil’s spiritual director of many years, the late Monsignor Paul F. Leibold―Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who later became the Bishop of Evansville and then Archbishop of Cincinnati―had a medal struck with the image of Our Lady of America. The contents of the purported private revelation received by Sister Neuzil were published in a booklet, first in 1960 and again in 1971. Both of these editions were published with the approval of Archbishop Leibold.”
It must be remembered that Blessed Julienne of Liege, chosen by God to bring about the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, did not submit her project to the theologians until twenty-two years after her first visions; fully sixteen years elapsed before the Bishop of Liege instituted the feast for his diocese, and it was six years after the death of Blessed Julienne herself that Pope Urban IV made it a feast of the entire Church. In like manner, the feast of the Sacred Heart was not approved until long after the revelations had been made to St. Margaret Mary, and then for reasons quite apart from these revelations.
The bottom line―or “take-away” from all this can be summed up by the Church’s teaching that one must be SLOW TO BELIEVE PRIVATE REVELATIONS AND SLOW TO REJECT PRIVATE REVELATIONS―because ultimately, TIME WILL TELL.
Monday May 18th
Article 17
Our Lady of America Speaks of America's Future
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 17
Our Lady of America Speaks of America's Future
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil and Our Lady of America
On August 2nd, 1916, Mildred Marie Neuzil was born of Austrian parents, John and Anna (Smerda) Neuzil. Born in Brooklyn, NY, baptized at Most Holy Trinity, and shortly after moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In Austria, her father had been a gardener to Johann Strauss (a renowned Austrian composer), and in America he was a homebuilder.
At the age of 14, Mildred Neuzil entered the active religious congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, a papal community, in Dayton, Ohio. Three years later Mildred made her first vows as a professed religious. She received the name Sister Mary Ephrem, a name that means “doubly fruitful”. She carried out her duties mostly in domestic work and as a kindergarten teacher. Her first mission of activity included multiple diocesan jurisdictions in Washington, DC, where she remained until 1937, when she was sent to the Chancery in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was here that God gives her a holy man, priest and later Archbishop to guide her.
In 1938, just five years after her First Profession, Sister Mary Ephrem began to have mystical experiences, which, in her simplicity, she thought were common to all religious―so she paid little attention to them.
By 1940, Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family. Sister began to share these experiences with her confessor Rev. Fr. Paul Leibold, who cautioned her of an overactive imagination. He would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, when he died.
In 1947, Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to help out at Kneipp Springs, in Rome City, Indiana―after which she spent a year in Denver, Colorado. Fr. Leibold, by now familiar with the mystical prayer life of Sister Mary Ephrem, began to instruct Sister to write down her experiences in a diary―which would later become the basis of the published booklet “Our Lady of America” Diary.
By 1948, the messages were becoming more and more pressing and more insistent. She wrote them down and when they were examined by various priests and theologians, nothing was found therein that was against Faith or Morals.
In 1954, Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to Arizona, where the locutions from Heaven began to take on a specific program of a special devotion to Mary and a devotion to the Holy Family―in the sense of imitating the humility, charity, chastity and other virtues of the Holy Family.
In May of 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered Our Lady of Nativity Cloister, in order to live a more hidden life.
In 1960, Fr. Paul Leibold―by now Bishop Leibold of Diocese of Cincinnati―personally compiled the handwritten Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, wrote a Foreword, had it printed and distributed to only the necessary religious superiors, Church officials and several sisters within the cloister.
Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil) died on January 10th, 2000 in Fostoria, Ohio, USA.
THE APPARITIONS
Introduction
The following lines were penned by a religious Sister, Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil), from her cloister cell. She was professed as a religious in 1933. Exteriorly she was much like any other Sister in the Community, trying to be faithful to the Rule and the religious practices of the Community. She received her assignments to work in various houses, mostly in domestic work. From 1951 to 1954 she taught kindergarten classes in a parish school and enjoyed very much working with the little ones.
About 1938 she began to have what seemed like mystical experiences. They may be described as flights of the spirit, interior locutions, etc. Having these did not disturb nor overawe her in any way. In fact, by her own admission she thought they were a common thing to all religious.
In 1948 these experiences were brought to the attention of her confessor. He prudently advised her to be very cautious, lest it be a case of an overactive imagination. The experiences became more vivid and the messages more pressing. She considered seriously entering a cloister, perhaps to find her fulfillment of God’s Will there. But various events indicated otherwise. Finally, her own Community established a cloistered group within the active, and in May 1958 she was permitted to enter this cloister.
These supernatural happenings, referred to above, included many things that concerned only her own personal spiritual life: special espousals with Christ, designation as the Little White Dove, etc. During all this time there were no external signs that she was different from any other member of the Community.
After some years she began to write down briefly the happenings during these occasions of special communication with God. These were read by one of the other priest to whom she had gone for direction, and in general they never found in them anything contrary to Faith and morals, nor anything to indicate mental debility. On the contrary, some points, especially the great emphasis on the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, showed a theological understanding beyond what this Sister had been able to obtain from her regular courses in Religion.
Finally, in 1954 these visits took on the nature of a specific program of special devotion to Mary which this Sister was commanded to propagate. In fulfillment of these expressions of Our Lady which this Sister is convinced Mary wants her to carry out, she has set down in writing this Message of Mary, who presents herself here as Our Lady of America.
Nihil Obstat: Daniel Pilarczyk, S.T.D.
Imprimatur: + Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General
Cincinnati, OH – January 25th, 1963
OUR LADY OF AMERICA
Our Lord often spoke to me in the past, and already, in the early 1940s, it was made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family. I was not further enlightened at that time as to how this was to be accomplished. [Our Lord had said]: “Tell your spiritual father―him whom I have placed over you― to guide and direct you. Tell him that My Heart is pleased with his efforts to make Me loved. I will bless him and make his work fruitful in behalf of all the souls entrusted to his care and priestly ministrations. Tell him if he would please Me more to double his efforts in making known the love of My Heart for poor sinners ... As a priest after My own Heart, I will be with him in all his trials and sorrows. Tell him not to become discouraged at the crosses awaiting him, for I, the great High-Priest, go before him carrying the heaviest part of his cross ... I seek always the humble and lowly of heart … And since I have found two such souls, I have entrusted to them a great mission.”
► 1940s
Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family [this is particularly interesting since Sister Lucia of Fatima says that the devil, in his final battle, will focus on destroying the family in any way he can]: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so.”
Our Lord confides His sorrow over sinful man: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part by his own guilt! But, alas, he will have none of My help. Pray, pray, pray, oh My Little White Dove pray and sacrifice yourself for the souls of poor sinners. How many are lost because there are no prayers said for them, no sacrifices made for them.”
► May 22nd, 1954
In the year 1954, however, Our Lord addressed the following words to me. As they coincided in every way with Our Lady’s message concerning the spiritual renewal of souls, I have placed them at the beginning of this manuscript.
“If the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give it life. I am the resurrection and the life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they will find only death and destruction. They fear man-made destroyers of life, yet destruction is in themselves. Man destroys himself through the evil that is in himself. Implements of war kill only that which is external. Man kills that within himself, which none but he can kill. God is light, man is darkness, and unless he comes into the light, he will be forever darkness. The Voice of My Heart is the Voice of Mercy. If man will not listen, there is no more I can do, for he ties My hands.”
► May 29th, 1954
Our Lord says: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh, how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part, by his own guilt! But alas, he will have none of My help. So I am forced to stand by the side of the road and watch him struggle hopelessly in his agony. O man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid? Do you know what I find most lacking in the world today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without Faith there can be no love. Pray and sacrifice yourself, that Faith may once again find entrance into the hearts of men.”
► July 11th, 1954
Extracts of the words of Our Lord, spoken on July 11th: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so. My Heart grieves over My children in the world. Their hearts are being drawn farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother, because they have never been taught to listen. I am a Beggar for love, but how few give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept. My Father is angry. If My children will not listen to My Heart, which is a Voice of mercy and instruction, punishment will come swiftly and none shall be able to stop it. The pleadings of My Heart have held back the divine justice about to descend on an ungrateful and sinful generation. Woe to parents who set a bad example to their children! Terrible will be their judgment. I will demand a strict account of every soul entrusted to their care. Woe to parents who teach their children how to gain materially in this world and neglect to prepare them for the next! Woe to children who disobey and show disrespect towards their parents! ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ On this shall they be judged most severely.”
► July 12th, 13th, 14th, 1954
Extracts of the words of Our Lord, spoken over these three days of July 12th to July 14th:
“Blessed are the homes that honor My Name and the Name of My Father. Blessed are the homes where I am loved, for there the Holy Trinity dwells. Blessed are the parents and children who have made a home for God in their hearts. Write these instructions for the sanctification of My people. My Father’s house is a house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves. My children, every home and every soul is My Father’s house, for He made them and they are His. But many of them are no longer sanctified by His Presence. Thieves have entered in and stolen from Him His temples of prayer. It is you, My children, who have let them in. If, My children, you will cleanse your temples, My Father will return and We will come and make our abode with you. Return, My people, for My Heart hungers and thirsts for your love. If you will not return, the just anger of My Father will descend upon you. What do you want―My love or My Father’s anger? Choose, and as you choose, so shall it be done. I will not force your free will, for that is yours to use as you desire.”
► During Fall of 1954
The next incident took place in the fall of the year 1954, when I was stationed at a different house of the Congregation. I do not remember the exact date, as I did not intend ever saying anything about it. I was sitting in the room next to the kitchen with the intention of saying some of my prayers. Almost at the very moment I began to pray, I saw an Angel. I knew this immediately, although the apparition did not reveal itself as such until later. I saw the Angel standing before me towards the left. He was dressed in a white robe or garment, which was perfectly plain and perfectly white. The whiteness of his robe stood out against the darkness about him. It was like a light in the midst of darkness. He was holding a green palm and a drawn sword in his left hand, the tips of both palm and sword resting against his left shoulder. I saw all this at a glance.
The Angel said to me, “Receive the palm of victory.”
I became suspicious. I could not think of any victory of mine that deserved such a reward. Besides, it sounded a bit like flattery to me. I have always been wary of words of praise; they put me on my guard. Why was the palm not given to someone else more deserving of it than I? So I shook my head and resolutely went back to my prayers. But the Angel would not go.
He spoke again: “You do not believe me! Will you accept the cross?”
For me this struck more nearly home. I said: “Yes, I will accept the cross.”
To this he replied: “Then you will accept the palm and the sword. With the sword the saints conquered themselves, the world, and the devil. I am the Angel of Peace. I come to those whose hearts are attuned to the Voice of God. To such as these I remain a perpetual light through blinding darkness. I was sent by Him Who said, ‘I am the Light of the world.’ “
Later it was made known to me that the Angel of Peace was St. Michael.
► During Winter of 1954
In the winter of 1954, Our Lord warns souls not become vain for He has chosen them out of their unworthiness and lack of virtue: “Let this thought be with you always that you may remember that it is I working through you, who sanctify you for His glory and the salvation of souls ... through you a great work will be accomplished. I am the Great Sculptor of souls. With hammer and chisel I form them, that they may glorify My Father by their beauty and perfection. Be pliant in My Hands, and then will you be formed into My likeness and through you, I will be formed in souls.”
Our Lord not only expressed His sorrow at the loss of Faith in the world, but those of chosen souls: “Where are your prayers, O My priests and religious? Where are your sacrifices? Do you not know that sinners will not be converted unless prayer and sacrifices call down the grace of God upon them? My chosen ones, you in particular are responsible for the souls of poor sinners! It is to you I have entrusted them! You their spiritual fathers and mothers you must care for them and by your unceasing prayers on their behalf, lead them safely to My Father’s House!”
► November 8th, 1954
On November 8th, 1954, a short time after the visit of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady spoke to me in these words: “It is the wish of my Son that fathers and mothers strive to imitate me and my chaste spouse in our holy life at Nazareth. We practiced the simple virtues of family life, Jesus our Son being the center of all our love and activity. The Holy Trinity dwelt with us in a manner far surpassing anything that can ever be imagined. For ours was the earthly paradise where once again God walked among men. As in our little home no sin was to be found, so it is the wish of the Heart of my Son and my Immaculate Heart that sin should, as far as possible, be unheard of in the homes of our children. The Divine Trinity will dwell in your midst only if you are faithful in practicing the virtues of our life at Nazareth. Then, you also, my children, you also will become another paradise. God will then walk among you and you will have peace. I need your help to bring peace into the world. Do not disappoint me.”
► November 20th, 1955
The next incident happened at another mission where I was sent the following year. This date was recorded as November 20th, 1955. I found myself in a half-sleeping and half-waking state, which I had often experienced before. It gave one the strange effect of being in two worlds. I find no other way to explain this state. I entered a small room, strange and unknown to me. As I was looking around in a rather bewildered fashion, I sensed another presence in the room. I turned toward the doorway, and confronting me was an angel. He was dressed in white, but his garments were arranged in a different manner from those of St. Michael. Although the room was very light, I saw a bright halo surrounding his head. His arms were extended, bent at the elbows, his fingers pointing upwards. A sort of supernatural dread came over me.
I knelt down, then asked him:, “Who are you?”
He replied: “I am the Angel Gabriel. I have come to tell you that Our Lord is pleased with your effort to do good. He asks that you go to His Mother and learn great purity of heart.”
I awakened gradually. The image of the Angel was so impressed upon my mind that he was as a living person beside me.
► The Vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1956
During a night vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 1956 He reveals the sorrow of His Heart over the ingratitude and indifference shown to Him in the Sacrament of His love. Jesus came to me holding a large cross and a crown of thorns. He said to me: “So I come with My cross and My crown of thorns. Will you accept Me, My spouse?”
Of course I accepted, who could refuse Jesus anything?
On the anniversary of my perpetual union with Jesus, He asked me again:
“Bride of My Heart do you still wish to suffer all things to give Me to souls?”
I answered, “Yes! Yes, dear Lord, I am poor and wretched and unworthy but You know what is in my heart.”
► September 25th, 1956
On the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, September 25th, 1956, as I was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., I was conscious of the distinct and special feeling of the presence of Our Lady. She stood by my side and spoke to me. Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America, the United States in particular, if we would do as she desires.
These are the words she spoke to me at this time: “I am pleased with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working through the power of my Son’s Heart and my Immaculate Heart miracles of grace among them. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul.”
Our Lady emphasized this very much. She is anxiously concerned about our inner [spiritual] life. She continued: “For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
► September 26th, 1956
The next morning, September 26th, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light. Then solemnly and distinctly, in calm yet majestic tones, I heard these words: “I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives.”
On the afternoon of the same day, during the last half of the Holy Hour between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length in these words:
“My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the Soul. They must have Faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of Faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.”
Our Blessed Mother called herself Our Lady of America in response to the love and desire that reached out for this special title in the hearts of her children in America. This title was the sign of her pleasure at the confidence our land places in her and as a reward for its staunch and childlike devotion to her. Her children longed for this personal visit of Our Lady, whether consciously or otherwise, and in her kindness and mercy she responded far beyond all expectations.
Though she came in this manner as a token of her love for us, nevertheless Our Lady of America welcomes her children of all nations to her feet, for there will be found true peace. So she has given me to understand, and such are her desires as she revealed them to me. Our Lady, moreover, often emphasized her desire that the Shrine in Washington, D.C., be made a place of special pilgrimage. She wishes to be honored there as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin. After this date I saw Our Lady frequently. She seemed anxious to impress me with the truth and importance of her appearance.
► September 27th, 1956
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt. It was then that I heard these words filled with sorrow and longing:
“Behold, O my children, the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Console the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother. These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
[Later, in a letter written to the archbishop, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes:]
“It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me.”
“Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence. This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful of course there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. She desires that there it be enshrined in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
► Early October, 1956
In early October, 1956, about a week after Our Lady’s first appearance, St. Joseph, though I did not see him at this time, spoke to me the following words: “It is true my daughter, that immediately after my conception, I was, through the future merits of Jesus and because of my exceptional role of future Virgin-Father, cleansed from the stain of Original Sin. I was from that moment confirmed in grace and never had the slightest stain on my soul. This is my unique privilege among men. My pure heart also was from the first moment of existence inflamed with love for God. Immediately, at the moment when my soul was cleansed from original sin, grace was infused into it in such abundance that, excluding my holy spouse, I surpassed the holiness of the highest angel in the angelic choir. My heart suffered with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Mine was a silent suffering, for it was my special vocation to hide and shield as long as God willed, the Virgin Mother and Son from the malice and hatred of men. The most painful of my sorrows was that I knew beforehand of their passion, yet would not be there to console them. Their future suffering was ever present to me and became my daily cross. I became, in union with my holy spouse, co-redemptor of the human race. Through compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and Mary I co-operated, as no other, in the salvation of the world.”
► October 5th, 1956
On October 5th, 1956, I felt suddenly urged to write a prayer to Our Lady, Patroness of our land. I knelt by the little table in my room, and as I did so Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me. Though I did not hear any words, the thoughts came into my mind one after the other, and I wrote without stopping until the prayer was finished. Then Our Lady disappeared.
► October 13th, 1956
Following is the account of Our Lady’s next visit, which occurred on October 13th, 1956:
Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak. Her presence overwhelmed me with its holiness. I was compelled to stop my work, for it was impossible to go on. I then knelt down and wrote Our Lady’s words as she desired:
“This is my shrine, my daughter. I am very pleased with it. Tell my children I thank them. Let them finish it quickly and make it a place of pilgrimage. It will be a place of wonders. I promise this, I will bless all those who, either by prayers, labor, or material aid, help to erect this shrine.”
► November 15th, 1956
On the morning of November 15th, 1956, Our Lady taught me this little prayer: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Our Lady then asked me to draw a picture of her first appearance. She also requested a statue made according to this likeness and placed, after being solemnly carried in procession, in the Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. She wishes to be honored there in a special way as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
► January 1957
These are her words spoken in January 1957: “The hour grows late. My Son’s patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God’s peace upon the world.”
To my spiritual director I was asked to send this message: “Hurry, my son, for the time is short but the punishment will be long, and for many, forever. Tell the Bishops of the United States, my loyal sons, of my desires and how I wish them to be carried out. Through him who is head over you, make known the longings of my Immaculate Heart to establish the reign of my Divine Son in the hearts of men and thus save them from the scourge of Heaven, both now and hereafter.”
Our Lady, again addressing herself to me, spoke sadly yet hopefully: “My daughter, will my children in America listen to my pleadings and console my Immaculate Heart? Will my loyal sons carry out my desires and thus help me bring the peace of Christ once again to mankind? Pray and do penance, my sweet child, that this may come to pass. Trust me and love me; I so desire it. Do not forget your poor Mother, who weeps over the loss of so many of her children.”
► February 3rd, 1957
Our Lady, on the morning of February 3rd, 1957: “My Son asks of souls love, that true love willing to sacrifice itself for the One loved. Man fears to sacrifice himself because he is selfish. If souls would place themselves into my keeping, I would teach them the way of true love. If men truly loved my Son, they would not quarrel with each other and they would have peace in their own hearts. Peace is from within, not from without. If mankind were at peace with itself, there would be peace in the world. Man will only have peace if he has in his heart that true love of neighbor that springs from a whole-hearted love for my Son. My sweet child, if love does not have its roots implanted deeply within the soul, it will die out or be rooted up by the first storm that besets it. O child of my Pure Heart, tell my children to come to me and learn this true love of my Son, which is so necessary for their peace of soul.”
Sometime later the same day, Our Lady spoke again: “Reform of life is what I ask as the sign and proof of my children’s love for me. God looks at the heart, and if it resembles the Heart of His Divine Son, it is with the greatest pleasure He regards it. But to make your hearts grow more and more like to the Heart of the Son, you must go to the Mother, whose heart is most like His. From this Pure and Immaculate Heart you will learn all that will make you more pleasing to the Divine Heart of the Son of God. The Holy Trinity looks down with infinite delight upon such souls and makes them Its Heaven upon Earth. Come to me, my children, come to me and learn. There is much I would teach you. It is for your own happiness and eternal salvation. Do not disregard the voice of your Mother. It is the voice of love trying to save you from eternal ruin.”
► March 1957
In March of this same year, Our Lady spoke in the following manner: “O my sweet child, when will my desires be realized? My Immaculate Heart desires with great desire to see the kingdom of Jesus my Son established in all hearts. Now I have pleaded with my children to open their hearts to Him, but most are cold and indifferent. Has ever a mother shown more love and interest in her children’s welfare than I have done? O my little one, daughter of my Pure Heart, you must pray with greater fervor and offer yourself with greater love to the Heart of my Son.”
► April 1957
Our Lord’s words contained this warning: “My sweet child, unless my children reform their lives, they will suffer great persecution. If man himself will not take upon himself the penance necessary to atone for his sins and those of others, God in His justice will have to send upon him the punishment necessary to atone for his transgressions.”
► May 8th, 1957
On May 8th, I was visited by the Archangel Michael, who spoke in these forceful words: “Write! I am Michael, Angel Captain of the Lord God of Hosts. I come to announce the coming of the kingdom, the kingdom of peace. The time is at hand. Repent, bestir yourselves, O sons of men, repent and make ready your hearts that the King may establish His Kingdom within you. Do not delay, or the time of grace will pass and with it the peace you seek. Behold, the Queen of angels and of men comes beforehand to make all things ready for her King-Son. My little sister, the message is a clear one, there is no doubt. Make it known, do not hesitate. I, Michael, have spoken!”
► August 5th, 1957
In the evening of August 5th, the feast of Our Lady of the Snow, as I knelt in my room, Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly, always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him Who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within.
As Our Lady spoke this, she seemed at the time to be deeply occupied. Though the serenity of her countenance never left her, she spoke with a gravity that made her words all the more solemn. She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.
► August 22nd, 1957 (Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Excerpts from Our Lady’s address during her visit on the feast of the Immaculate Heart: “My heart, my Immaculate Heart, is the channel through which the graces of the Sacred Heart are given to men … Time passes and with it wasted graces and constant refusals on the part of man to co-operate with me in the accomplishment of the Divine Will for his own sanctification and salvation … What am I to do, when my children turn from me? The false peace of this world lures them and in the end will destroy them. They think they have done enough in consecrating themselves to my Immaculate Heart. It is not enough. That which I ask for and is most important many have not given me. What I ask, have asked, and will continue to ask is reformation of life. There must be sanctification from within. I will work my miracles of grace only in those who ask for them and empty their souls of the love and attachment to sin and all that is displeasing to my Son. Souls who cling to sin cannot have their hands free to receive the treasures of grace that I hold out to them …
“Behold, behold then my Heart pierced by a cruel sword! Oh, what grief my children have caused me! … We must have more souls who love, love unselfishly and without reserve. Who does anything who does not love? … I wish to gather about me an army of brave lovers, who as my torchbearers will enkindle the fire of Divine Love in the souls of men. Only those who are strong in love can become my soldiers to bear aloft, not the sword of destruction, but the sword of fire, the flaming torch of Divine Charity … My poor child, you have suffered much, but do not fear. Take courage, for soon a haven of rest will be given you―not a refuge from suffering and pain, but a nest of solitude. Patience, sweet child! The Will of the Father must be dearer to you than all else. This is the lesson every soul desiring intimate union with my Son must strive to learn … This is enough now. Other duties call you. Go in peace!”
In the afternoon of the same day I received this directive from Our Lady: “Go to the Bishop. Tell him of the desires of my Heart. He will help you.”
► September 26th-27th, 1957
The words of Our Lady as recorded under the dates of September 26th-27th, 1957: “My dear daughter, write my words carefully, because they are of the utmost importance. I address them to my beloved sons, the priests, dedicated to the most intense and extraordinary imitation of my Son in the perfect carrying on of His Eternal Priesthood. Beloved sons, so cherished and greatly blessed among the sons of men, be careful to uphold the sanctity and dignity of your calling. Let the faithful see in you the favored and especially loved imitators of the Son of God. Be modest in your dress and speech as becomes those of so exalted a vocation. The apparel and manners of a man of the world is not for you, who, though living in the world, must not take on its ways. It is through you that the grace of the Sacraments is given to souls. Strive then to make yourselves more worthy receptacles to receive these graces and transmit them in turn to the souls under your care.
“Dear sons, I ask you to practice self-denial and penance in a special manner, because it is you who must lead my children in the way of peace. Yet this peace will come only by way of the sword, the flaming sword of love. If, therefore, you love my Son and wish to honor me, heed my admonition and be the first to give the example of a life of penance and self-denial. Thus, by sanctification from within you, you will become a bright and burning light to the faithful, who look to you for help and guidance. I am pleased, dearly beloved sons, by the honor and love you have until now accorded me. Will you now go further and honor me yet more by taking my words to your hearts and doing what I ask?”
► October 7th, 1957 (Feast of the Holy Rosary)
On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, October 7th, 1957, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality, I was conscious of the fact that what she was about to say to me was, not only very grave, but of the utmost importance. Our Lady reiterated in a similar manner her first warnings:
“My beloved daughter, what I am about to tell you concerns in a particular way my children in America. Unless they do penance by mortification and self-denial and thus reform their lives, God will visit them with punishments hitherto unknown to them. My child, there will be peace, as has been promised, but not until my children are purified and cleansed from defilement, and clothed thus with the white garment of grace, are made ready to receive this peace, so long promised and so long held back because of the sins of men. My dear children, either you will do as I desire and reform your lives, or God Himself will need to cleanse you in the fires of untold punishment. You must be prepared to receive His great gift of peace. If you will not prepare yourselves, God will Himself be forced to do so in His justice and mercy. Making the Rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so [sadly, only 2% pray the Rosary daily]. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the Rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my Rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him. Write these words upon your hearts, my dear children, because of the compassion I have for you in my Immaculate Heart. Oh, if you knew the punishments I am holding back from you by my pleading and intercession on your behalf! Will you do as I wish at last, my children?”
► November 22nd-23rd, 1957
Our dear Mother showed herself to me in a special way around 11:30 on the morning of November 22nd. The next day, a Saturday, the experience was more detailed as more was shown me, or perhaps I had not noticed details the day before. This vision of herself is very important, as it reveals Our Lady as she really and truly was, the Immaculate Tabernacle of the Indwelling God. A strong beam of light streamed from the Divine Presence within Our Lady onto the globe at her feet. Then halfway around the figure of Our Lady above her head appeared a scroll on which were written in letters of gold the words: “All the glory of the King’s daughter is within.” Though it did not appear that her lips moved, yet I heard these words quite plainly: “I am Our Lady of the Divine Indwelling, handmaid of Him Who dwells within.”
► February 10th, 1958
On the eve of February 11th, 1958 [that is to say, February 10th], Our Lady said: “My Immaculate Heart will win in the end, and the Spirit of Christ will dwell in the hearts of men. Those in whom this Spirit is not found will be condemned to eternal Hell-fire.”
► February 11th, 1958 (Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)
The next day Our Lady spoke again: “My child, nothing is accomplished without pain. Prepare to suffer much. You see the sword in the Heart of your Mother. Suffering completed the work of divine grace in my soul. He who refuses to suffer will never abide in the Spirit of Christ, will never be formed into His image. The Father will never recognize a soul as His own unless He sees in it the likeness of His beloved Son. Souls must attain to the perfection of the Father through the Spirit of the Son. You wonder at the sword and the deep wound it has made in my Heart. It is the sword of grief plunged therein by my children who refuse to let me teach them the true way. There is only one true way to the Father, only one way to eternal union. It is through my Son, the Only-begotten of the Father, that souls attain perfect union with the Divinity, as perfect as human nature is capable of, aided by divine grace. But my children will not heed; they will not listen. Every other way they will take, but not this one. I ask greater sacrifices of the most favored and beloved of my children. I ask in the Name and for the love of my Son, Who so desires this. If I ask for reform of life, it is first from the chosen that I look for it. They must by the example of a sacrificial life lead the way for souls to union with Christ, honoring the Father by putting on His Spirit and His likeness in all things. Prepare yourself by prayer, penance, and suffering for what is to come. Your Mother has many more things to tell you, but this is enough for now. Take your rest now. I wish it. Good night, sweet child.”
Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the Mother of the sacred humanity [we are made sacred by Baptism and Sanctifying Grace], and it is my special work as co-redemptrix of the human race to help souls reach the sanctity of the Father in eternal union by showing them how to put on Christ, to imbibe His Spirit, and thus become one with Him.”
Further accounts relating to the “mission” given me and to others closely connected with it. Our Lady made known to me that she is particularly interested in the youth of our nation [but the youth of this nation is not interested in Mary―only their smartphones and social media]. It is they who are to be the leaders of this movement of renewal on the face of the Earth. Their ranks will [could have been] be swelled by the youths of other nations whom Our Lady also calls to help in the accomplishment of this great renewal.
But the youth must be prepared, and this must be done by instilling into them, not only the knowledge of the Divine Indwelling, but a serious study of It, living It in such a way that the Divine Presence becomes, as it were, an intimate and necessary part of their life and daily living. From this will flow a great love, a conflagration that will envelop the world in the flames of Divine Charity. This is what Our Lady is working for, because this is the great desire of her Divine Son, and it is to the youth of America that she is holding out this challenge. A medal, which Our Lady asked to be made, is to be their shield against evil, the picture or statue of Our Lady, the protection of the home, the statue at the Shrine in Washington, D.C., a special safeguard for our country. America, the United States in particular, is being given the tremendous, yet privileged, opportunity to lead all nations in a spiritual renewal never before so necessary, so important, so vital. [Sadly, the last 62 years have merely confirmed that America has “blown” its mission. It has been “aborted” and the “rocket” never left the launch-pad! That is why we find ourselves in our current crisis which will only worsen].
► February 1958
St. Michael came to me one evening shortly after Our Lady’s visit, holding an immense flaming torch. He held it towards me saying: “My little sister, you must carry this torch through the world.”
He came again the next night in the same manner.
The next day I was interiorly enlightened during Mass. It was made known to me that those, particularly the youth, who are willing wholeheartedly to follow Our Lady, in her great battle against evil, would bear the special title of “Torchbearers of the Queen.” This torch, of course, is Divine Love, for it is Love alone that will conquer hate and all that hate brings with it [and America has become a hate-filled country―more and more over the years]. As mentioned before, Our Lady also requested a picture or statue of herself as she appeared on September 26th, 1956, to be honored and venerated in every Christian Home.
► June 1958
In June 1958, several weeks after I had entered the Cloister, I was walking in the enclosure courtyard before going to prayer. I felt overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and heaviness of heart. As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me as she had done on September 26th, 1956. She said to me: “Do not be afraid. I will keep my promise. Everything will be all right. Do not fear.” These words consoled me very much, and I went to prayer with a peaceful heart.
► February 23rd, 1959
On February 23rd, 1959, Our Lady came to me and admonished me to work on the “message” as soon as possible so that it might be placed in the hands of the Bishops who would be responsible for its fulfillment. In a very serious manner Our Lady warned me that I must not delay any longer to do this, as the time is now.
► July 18th, 1959
On July 18th, 1959, Our Lord spoke these words: “Oh, the pride of souls! How they resist my grace! O My priests, My religious, what would I not do for you if you would only let me? I come daily laden with graces which you daily refuse. What am I to say of you, my best beloved? How long will you resist My love? It is from you I expect everything, and you give Me but the husks of your affections. How long will I bear with you, O My chosen ones? How long will you spurn My approaches? It was this ingratitude on the part of My priests and My religious that caused Me so much sorrow in my passion. Oh, how they resist My grace! How they fight against My love! So fearful are they that I will deprive them of their tawdry trinkets that they turn their backs lest they see the reproach in My eyes.”
► December 20th, 1959
Our Lady came to me again on December 20th, 1959. These were her words to me as I understood them: “O my child, tell your spiritual father that I come again to warn and to plead. Oh, penance, penance! How little my children understand it! They give me many words, but sacrifice themselves they will not. It is not me they love―but themselves. Oh, what blindness, what blindness! How it pierces my heart! See, I weep―but my children show me no compassion. They behold the sword in my heart―but will make no move to withdraw it. I give them love―they give me only ingratitude. Weep, then, weep with your Mother over the sins of men! Intercede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away.”
On August 2nd, 1916, Mildred Marie Neuzil was born of Austrian parents, John and Anna (Smerda) Neuzil. Born in Brooklyn, NY, baptized at Most Holy Trinity, and shortly after moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In Austria, her father had been a gardener to Johann Strauss (a renowned Austrian composer), and in America he was a homebuilder.
At the age of 14, Mildred Neuzil entered the active religious congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, a papal community, in Dayton, Ohio. Three years later Mildred made her first vows as a professed religious. She received the name Sister Mary Ephrem, a name that means “doubly fruitful”. She carried out her duties mostly in domestic work and as a kindergarten teacher. Her first mission of activity included multiple diocesan jurisdictions in Washington, DC, where she remained until 1937, when she was sent to the Chancery in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was here that God gives her a holy man, priest and later Archbishop to guide her.
In 1938, just five years after her First Profession, Sister Mary Ephrem began to have mystical experiences, which, in her simplicity, she thought were common to all religious―so she paid little attention to them.
By 1940, Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family. Sister began to share these experiences with her confessor Rev. Fr. Paul Leibold, who cautioned her of an overactive imagination. He would remain her spiritual director for 32 years, from 1940-1972, when he died.
In 1947, Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to help out at Kneipp Springs, in Rome City, Indiana―after which she spent a year in Denver, Colorado. Fr. Leibold, by now familiar with the mystical prayer life of Sister Mary Ephrem, began to instruct Sister to write down her experiences in a diary―which would later become the basis of the published booklet “Our Lady of America” Diary.
By 1948, the messages were becoming more and more pressing and more insistent. She wrote them down and when they were examined by various priests and theologians, nothing was found therein that was against Faith or Morals.
In 1954, Sister Mary Ephrem was sent to Arizona, where the locutions from Heaven began to take on a specific program of a special devotion to Mary and a devotion to the Holy Family―in the sense of imitating the humility, charity, chastity and other virtues of the Holy Family.
In May of 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem entered Our Lady of Nativity Cloister, in order to live a more hidden life.
In 1960, Fr. Paul Leibold―by now Bishop Leibold of Diocese of Cincinnati―personally compiled the handwritten Diary of Sister Mary Ephrem, wrote a Foreword, had it printed and distributed to only the necessary religious superiors, Church officials and several sisters within the cloister.
Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil) died on January 10th, 2000 in Fostoria, Ohio, USA.
THE APPARITIONS
Introduction
The following lines were penned by a religious Sister, Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil), from her cloister cell. She was professed as a religious in 1933. Exteriorly she was much like any other Sister in the Community, trying to be faithful to the Rule and the religious practices of the Community. She received her assignments to work in various houses, mostly in domestic work. From 1951 to 1954 she taught kindergarten classes in a parish school and enjoyed very much working with the little ones.
About 1938 she began to have what seemed like mystical experiences. They may be described as flights of the spirit, interior locutions, etc. Having these did not disturb nor overawe her in any way. In fact, by her own admission she thought they were a common thing to all religious.
In 1948 these experiences were brought to the attention of her confessor. He prudently advised her to be very cautious, lest it be a case of an overactive imagination. The experiences became more vivid and the messages more pressing. She considered seriously entering a cloister, perhaps to find her fulfillment of God’s Will there. But various events indicated otherwise. Finally, her own Community established a cloistered group within the active, and in May 1958 she was permitted to enter this cloister.
These supernatural happenings, referred to above, included many things that concerned only her own personal spiritual life: special espousals with Christ, designation as the Little White Dove, etc. During all this time there were no external signs that she was different from any other member of the Community.
After some years she began to write down briefly the happenings during these occasions of special communication with God. These were read by one of the other priest to whom she had gone for direction, and in general they never found in them anything contrary to Faith and morals, nor anything to indicate mental debility. On the contrary, some points, especially the great emphasis on the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, showed a theological understanding beyond what this Sister had been able to obtain from her regular courses in Religion.
Finally, in 1954 these visits took on the nature of a specific program of special devotion to Mary which this Sister was commanded to propagate. In fulfillment of these expressions of Our Lady which this Sister is convinced Mary wants her to carry out, she has set down in writing this Message of Mary, who presents herself here as Our Lady of America.
Nihil Obstat: Daniel Pilarczyk, S.T.D.
Imprimatur: + Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General
Cincinnati, OH – January 25th, 1963
OUR LADY OF AMERICA
Our Lord often spoke to me in the past, and already, in the early 1940s, it was made known to me interiorly that my mission was to converge towards the sanctification of the family. I was not further enlightened at that time as to how this was to be accomplished. [Our Lord had said]: “Tell your spiritual father―him whom I have placed over you― to guide and direct you. Tell him that My Heart is pleased with his efforts to make Me loved. I will bless him and make his work fruitful in behalf of all the souls entrusted to his care and priestly ministrations. Tell him if he would please Me more to double his efforts in making known the love of My Heart for poor sinners ... As a priest after My own Heart, I will be with him in all his trials and sorrows. Tell him not to become discouraged at the crosses awaiting him, for I, the great High-Priest, go before him carrying the heaviest part of his cross ... I seek always the humble and lowly of heart … And since I have found two such souls, I have entrusted to them a great mission.”
► 1940s
Our Lord revealed to Sr. Mary Ephrem that her mission was to converge on the sanctification of the family [this is particularly interesting since Sister Lucia of Fatima says that the devil, in his final battle, will focus on destroying the family in any way he can]: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so.”
Our Lord confides His sorrow over sinful man: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part by his own guilt! But, alas, he will have none of My help. Pray, pray, pray, oh My Little White Dove pray and sacrifice yourself for the souls of poor sinners. How many are lost because there are no prayers said for them, no sacrifices made for them.”
► May 22nd, 1954
In the year 1954, however, Our Lord addressed the following words to me. As they coincided in every way with Our Lady’s message concerning the spiritual renewal of souls, I have placed them at the beginning of this manuscript.
“If the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give it life. I am the resurrection and the life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they will find only death and destruction. They fear man-made destroyers of life, yet destruction is in themselves. Man destroys himself through the evil that is in himself. Implements of war kill only that which is external. Man kills that within himself, which none but he can kill. God is light, man is darkness, and unless he comes into the light, he will be forever darkness. The Voice of My Heart is the Voice of Mercy. If man will not listen, there is no more I can do, for he ties My hands.”
► May 29th, 1954
Our Lord says: “My Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh, how gladly would I help him bear the weight of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part, by his own guilt! But alas, he will have none of My help. So I am forced to stand by the side of the road and watch him struggle hopelessly in his agony. O man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid? Do you know what I find most lacking in the world today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without Faith there can be no love. Pray and sacrifice yourself, that Faith may once again find entrance into the hearts of men.”
► July 11th, 1954
Extracts of the words of Our Lord, spoken on July 11th: “My daughter, I am not loved in the homes of men. And because I am not loved, the Divine Trinity refuses to dwell therein. Children are not taught to love Me, because those who have charge over them have no time or patience to do so. My Heart grieves over My children in the world. Their hearts are being drawn farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother, because they have never been taught to listen. I am a Beggar for love, but how few give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept. My Father is angry. If My children will not listen to My Heart, which is a Voice of mercy and instruction, punishment will come swiftly and none shall be able to stop it. The pleadings of My Heart have held back the divine justice about to descend on an ungrateful and sinful generation. Woe to parents who set a bad example to their children! Terrible will be their judgment. I will demand a strict account of every soul entrusted to their care. Woe to parents who teach their children how to gain materially in this world and neglect to prepare them for the next! Woe to children who disobey and show disrespect towards their parents! ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ On this shall they be judged most severely.”
► July 12th, 13th, 14th, 1954
Extracts of the words of Our Lord, spoken over these three days of July 12th to July 14th:
“Blessed are the homes that honor My Name and the Name of My Father. Blessed are the homes where I am loved, for there the Holy Trinity dwells. Blessed are the parents and children who have made a home for God in their hearts. Write these instructions for the sanctification of My people. My Father’s house is a house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves. My children, every home and every soul is My Father’s house, for He made them and they are His. But many of them are no longer sanctified by His Presence. Thieves have entered in and stolen from Him His temples of prayer. It is you, My children, who have let them in. If, My children, you will cleanse your temples, My Father will return and We will come and make our abode with you. Return, My people, for My Heart hungers and thirsts for your love. If you will not return, the just anger of My Father will descend upon you. What do you want―My love or My Father’s anger? Choose, and as you choose, so shall it be done. I will not force your free will, for that is yours to use as you desire.”
► During Fall of 1954
The next incident took place in the fall of the year 1954, when I was stationed at a different house of the Congregation. I do not remember the exact date, as I did not intend ever saying anything about it. I was sitting in the room next to the kitchen with the intention of saying some of my prayers. Almost at the very moment I began to pray, I saw an Angel. I knew this immediately, although the apparition did not reveal itself as such until later. I saw the Angel standing before me towards the left. He was dressed in a white robe or garment, which was perfectly plain and perfectly white. The whiteness of his robe stood out against the darkness about him. It was like a light in the midst of darkness. He was holding a green palm and a drawn sword in his left hand, the tips of both palm and sword resting against his left shoulder. I saw all this at a glance.
The Angel said to me, “Receive the palm of victory.”
I became suspicious. I could not think of any victory of mine that deserved such a reward. Besides, it sounded a bit like flattery to me. I have always been wary of words of praise; they put me on my guard. Why was the palm not given to someone else more deserving of it than I? So I shook my head and resolutely went back to my prayers. But the Angel would not go.
He spoke again: “You do not believe me! Will you accept the cross?”
For me this struck more nearly home. I said: “Yes, I will accept the cross.”
To this he replied: “Then you will accept the palm and the sword. With the sword the saints conquered themselves, the world, and the devil. I am the Angel of Peace. I come to those whose hearts are attuned to the Voice of God. To such as these I remain a perpetual light through blinding darkness. I was sent by Him Who said, ‘I am the Light of the world.’ “
Later it was made known to me that the Angel of Peace was St. Michael.
► During Winter of 1954
In the winter of 1954, Our Lord warns souls not become vain for He has chosen them out of their unworthiness and lack of virtue: “Let this thought be with you always that you may remember that it is I working through you, who sanctify you for His glory and the salvation of souls ... through you a great work will be accomplished. I am the Great Sculptor of souls. With hammer and chisel I form them, that they may glorify My Father by their beauty and perfection. Be pliant in My Hands, and then will you be formed into My likeness and through you, I will be formed in souls.”
Our Lord not only expressed His sorrow at the loss of Faith in the world, but those of chosen souls: “Where are your prayers, O My priests and religious? Where are your sacrifices? Do you not know that sinners will not be converted unless prayer and sacrifices call down the grace of God upon them? My chosen ones, you in particular are responsible for the souls of poor sinners! It is to you I have entrusted them! You their spiritual fathers and mothers you must care for them and by your unceasing prayers on their behalf, lead them safely to My Father’s House!”
► November 8th, 1954
On November 8th, 1954, a short time after the visit of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady spoke to me in these words: “It is the wish of my Son that fathers and mothers strive to imitate me and my chaste spouse in our holy life at Nazareth. We practiced the simple virtues of family life, Jesus our Son being the center of all our love and activity. The Holy Trinity dwelt with us in a manner far surpassing anything that can ever be imagined. For ours was the earthly paradise where once again God walked among men. As in our little home no sin was to be found, so it is the wish of the Heart of my Son and my Immaculate Heart that sin should, as far as possible, be unheard of in the homes of our children. The Divine Trinity will dwell in your midst only if you are faithful in practicing the virtues of our life at Nazareth. Then, you also, my children, you also will become another paradise. God will then walk among you and you will have peace. I need your help to bring peace into the world. Do not disappoint me.”
► November 20th, 1955
The next incident happened at another mission where I was sent the following year. This date was recorded as November 20th, 1955. I found myself in a half-sleeping and half-waking state, which I had often experienced before. It gave one the strange effect of being in two worlds. I find no other way to explain this state. I entered a small room, strange and unknown to me. As I was looking around in a rather bewildered fashion, I sensed another presence in the room. I turned toward the doorway, and confronting me was an angel. He was dressed in white, but his garments were arranged in a different manner from those of St. Michael. Although the room was very light, I saw a bright halo surrounding his head. His arms were extended, bent at the elbows, his fingers pointing upwards. A sort of supernatural dread came over me.
I knelt down, then asked him:, “Who are you?”
He replied: “I am the Angel Gabriel. I have come to tell you that Our Lord is pleased with your effort to do good. He asks that you go to His Mother and learn great purity of heart.”
I awakened gradually. The image of the Angel was so impressed upon my mind that he was as a living person beside me.
► The Vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1956
During a night vigil on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 1956 He reveals the sorrow of His Heart over the ingratitude and indifference shown to Him in the Sacrament of His love. Jesus came to me holding a large cross and a crown of thorns. He said to me: “So I come with My cross and My crown of thorns. Will you accept Me, My spouse?”
Of course I accepted, who could refuse Jesus anything?
On the anniversary of my perpetual union with Jesus, He asked me again:
“Bride of My Heart do you still wish to suffer all things to give Me to souls?”
I answered, “Yes! Yes, dear Lord, I am poor and wretched and unworthy but You know what is in my heart.”
► September 25th, 1956
On the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, September 25th, 1956, as I was making the Holy Hour from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., I was conscious of the distinct and special feeling of the presence of Our Lady. She stood by my side and spoke to me. Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America, the United States in particular, if we would do as she desires.
These are the words she spoke to me at this time: “I am pleased with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working through the power of my Son’s Heart and my Immaculate Heart miracles of grace among them. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul.”
Our Lady emphasized this very much. She is anxiously concerned about our inner [spiritual] life. She continued: “For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.”
► September 26th, 1956
The next morning, September 26th, the feast of the North American Martyrs, Mass had just been concluded and the Community thanksgiving was almost over. There were a few minutes left when suddenly Our Lady appeared before me, enveloped in a soft glow of light. Then solemnly and distinctly, in calm yet majestic tones, I heard these words: “I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives.”
On the afternoon of the same day, during the last half of the Holy Hour between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., the Immaculate Virgin spoke to me at length in these words:
“My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the Soul. They must have Faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of Faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.”
Our Blessed Mother called herself Our Lady of America in response to the love and desire that reached out for this special title in the hearts of her children in America. This title was the sign of her pleasure at the confidence our land places in her and as a reward for its staunch and childlike devotion to her. Her children longed for this personal visit of Our Lady, whether consciously or otherwise, and in her kindness and mercy she responded far beyond all expectations.
Though she came in this manner as a token of her love for us, nevertheless Our Lady of America welcomes her children of all nations to her feet, for there will be found true peace. So she has given me to understand, and such are her desires as she revealed them to me. Our Lady, moreover, often emphasized her desire that the Shrine in Washington, D.C., be made a place of special pilgrimage. She wishes to be honored there as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin. After this date I saw Our Lady frequently. She seemed anxious to impress me with the truth and importance of her appearance.
► September 27th, 1956
On September 27th, 1956, Our Lady again appeared to me while I was at prayer. She held the world in her hands. From her eyes tears were flowing upon it, as though she longed to cleanse it from its guilt. It was then that I heard these words filled with sorrow and longing:
“Behold, O my children, the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Console the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother. These are my words, O my daughter. Make them known to my children. I desire to make the whole of America my shrine by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son.”
[Later, in a letter written to the archbishop, Sister Mary Ephrem outlines Our Lady’s wishes:]
“It is to the Hierarchy, especially of the United States, that Our Lady is making her plea. They are her favorite sons, placed in high offices in order that they might do the most good. She herself has spoken thus to me.”
“Our Lady has made know to me how pleasing to her has been the devoted service with which the hierarchy has so ardently loved and honored her, especially in this country. So she is making her fond appearance to them for the carrying out of this need of spiritual reform. God, dwelling in the soul through grace will sanctify, if the individual makes the right use of His presence. This is Our Lady’s concern, souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of her Son, must become holy through living with Him who dwells within them. In order for this to grow and become more and more fruitful of course there is the necessity of frequent and devout attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Sacraments … Peace will not be given, until we have purified ourselves enough to receive it. If we fail to do this, God Himself will be obliged to do so in His justice and mercy, but the purifying punishment that He will send will be most terrible. It is from this Our Lady wishes to save us … Our Lady has asked that a statue be made as she appeared on September 26th, 1956. After being solemnly carried in procession to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. She desires that there it be enshrined in a place of honor and venerated in a special way as “Our Lady of America”, the Immaculate Virgin. She desires also that a small statue or picture of the same likeness be honored in every home.”
► Early October, 1956
In early October, 1956, about a week after Our Lady’s first appearance, St. Joseph, though I did not see him at this time, spoke to me the following words: “It is true my daughter, that immediately after my conception, I was, through the future merits of Jesus and because of my exceptional role of future Virgin-Father, cleansed from the stain of Original Sin. I was from that moment confirmed in grace and never had the slightest stain on my soul. This is my unique privilege among men. My pure heart also was from the first moment of existence inflamed with love for God. Immediately, at the moment when my soul was cleansed from original sin, grace was infused into it in such abundance that, excluding my holy spouse, I surpassed the holiness of the highest angel in the angelic choir. My heart suffered with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Mine was a silent suffering, for it was my special vocation to hide and shield as long as God willed, the Virgin Mother and Son from the malice and hatred of men. The most painful of my sorrows was that I knew beforehand of their passion, yet would not be there to console them. Their future suffering was ever present to me and became my daily cross. I became, in union with my holy spouse, co-redemptor of the human race. Through compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and Mary I co-operated, as no other, in the salvation of the world.”
► October 5th, 1956
On October 5th, 1956, I felt suddenly urged to write a prayer to Our Lady, Patroness of our land. I knelt by the little table in my room, and as I did so Our Lady came to me. She stood at my right side very close to me. Though I did not hear any words, the thoughts came into my mind one after the other, and I wrote without stopping until the prayer was finished. Then Our Lady disappeared.
► October 13th, 1956
Following is the account of Our Lady’s next visit, which occurred on October 13th, 1956:
Today the Holy Virgin appeared to me as I was working in my room. Our Lady was very beautiful, and she was again smiling in her heavenly way. She was dressed in the same manner as when I first saw her, except that her Immaculate Heart did not appear. Instead of the lily, she held with both hands a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She then began to speak. Her presence overwhelmed me with its holiness. I was compelled to stop my work, for it was impossible to go on. I then knelt down and wrote Our Lady’s words as she desired:
“This is my shrine, my daughter. I am very pleased with it. Tell my children I thank them. Let them finish it quickly and make it a place of pilgrimage. It will be a place of wonders. I promise this, I will bless all those who, either by prayers, labor, or material aid, help to erect this shrine.”
► November 15th, 1956
On the morning of November 15th, 1956, Our Lady taught me this little prayer: “By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.” Our Lady then asked me to draw a picture of her first appearance. She also requested a statue made according to this likeness and placed, after being solemnly carried in procession, in the Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. She wishes to be honored there in a special way as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin.
► January 1957
These are her words spoken in January 1957: “The hour grows late. My Son’s patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God’s peace upon the world.”
To my spiritual director I was asked to send this message: “Hurry, my son, for the time is short but the punishment will be long, and for many, forever. Tell the Bishops of the United States, my loyal sons, of my desires and how I wish them to be carried out. Through him who is head over you, make known the longings of my Immaculate Heart to establish the reign of my Divine Son in the hearts of men and thus save them from the scourge of Heaven, both now and hereafter.”
Our Lady, again addressing herself to me, spoke sadly yet hopefully: “My daughter, will my children in America listen to my pleadings and console my Immaculate Heart? Will my loyal sons carry out my desires and thus help me bring the peace of Christ once again to mankind? Pray and do penance, my sweet child, that this may come to pass. Trust me and love me; I so desire it. Do not forget your poor Mother, who weeps over the loss of so many of her children.”
► February 3rd, 1957
Our Lady, on the morning of February 3rd, 1957: “My Son asks of souls love, that true love willing to sacrifice itself for the One loved. Man fears to sacrifice himself because he is selfish. If souls would place themselves into my keeping, I would teach them the way of true love. If men truly loved my Son, they would not quarrel with each other and they would have peace in their own hearts. Peace is from within, not from without. If mankind were at peace with itself, there would be peace in the world. Man will only have peace if he has in his heart that true love of neighbor that springs from a whole-hearted love for my Son. My sweet child, if love does not have its roots implanted deeply within the soul, it will die out or be rooted up by the first storm that besets it. O child of my Pure Heart, tell my children to come to me and learn this true love of my Son, which is so necessary for their peace of soul.”
Sometime later the same day, Our Lady spoke again: “Reform of life is what I ask as the sign and proof of my children’s love for me. God looks at the heart, and if it resembles the Heart of His Divine Son, it is with the greatest pleasure He regards it. But to make your hearts grow more and more like to the Heart of the Son, you must go to the Mother, whose heart is most like His. From this Pure and Immaculate Heart you will learn all that will make you more pleasing to the Divine Heart of the Son of God. The Holy Trinity looks down with infinite delight upon such souls and makes them Its Heaven upon Earth. Come to me, my children, come to me and learn. There is much I would teach you. It is for your own happiness and eternal salvation. Do not disregard the voice of your Mother. It is the voice of love trying to save you from eternal ruin.”
► March 1957
In March of this same year, Our Lady spoke in the following manner: “O my sweet child, when will my desires be realized? My Immaculate Heart desires with great desire to see the kingdom of Jesus my Son established in all hearts. Now I have pleaded with my children to open their hearts to Him, but most are cold and indifferent. Has ever a mother shown more love and interest in her children’s welfare than I have done? O my little one, daughter of my Pure Heart, you must pray with greater fervor and offer yourself with greater love to the Heart of my Son.”
► April 1957
Our Lord’s words contained this warning: “My sweet child, unless my children reform their lives, they will suffer great persecution. If man himself will not take upon himself the penance necessary to atone for his sins and those of others, God in His justice will have to send upon him the punishment necessary to atone for his transgressions.”
► May 8th, 1957
On May 8th, I was visited by the Archangel Michael, who spoke in these forceful words: “Write! I am Michael, Angel Captain of the Lord God of Hosts. I come to announce the coming of the kingdom, the kingdom of peace. The time is at hand. Repent, bestir yourselves, O sons of men, repent and make ready your hearts that the King may establish His Kingdom within you. Do not delay, or the time of grace will pass and with it the peace you seek. Behold, the Queen of angels and of men comes beforehand to make all things ready for her King-Son. My little sister, the message is a clear one, there is no doubt. Make it known, do not hesitate. I, Michael, have spoken!”
► August 5th, 1957
In the evening of August 5th, the feast of Our Lady of the Snow, as I knelt in my room, Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly, always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him Who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within.
As Our Lady spoke this, she seemed at the time to be deeply occupied. Though the serenity of her countenance never left her, she spoke with a gravity that made her words all the more solemn. She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.
► August 22nd, 1957 (Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Excerpts from Our Lady’s address during her visit on the feast of the Immaculate Heart: “My heart, my Immaculate Heart, is the channel through which the graces of the Sacred Heart are given to men … Time passes and with it wasted graces and constant refusals on the part of man to co-operate with me in the accomplishment of the Divine Will for his own sanctification and salvation … What am I to do, when my children turn from me? The false peace of this world lures them and in the end will destroy them. They think they have done enough in consecrating themselves to my Immaculate Heart. It is not enough. That which I ask for and is most important many have not given me. What I ask, have asked, and will continue to ask is reformation of life. There must be sanctification from within. I will work my miracles of grace only in those who ask for them and empty their souls of the love and attachment to sin and all that is displeasing to my Son. Souls who cling to sin cannot have their hands free to receive the treasures of grace that I hold out to them …
“Behold, behold then my Heart pierced by a cruel sword! Oh, what grief my children have caused me! … We must have more souls who love, love unselfishly and without reserve. Who does anything who does not love? … I wish to gather about me an army of brave lovers, who as my torchbearers will enkindle the fire of Divine Love in the souls of men. Only those who are strong in love can become my soldiers to bear aloft, not the sword of destruction, but the sword of fire, the flaming torch of Divine Charity … My poor child, you have suffered much, but do not fear. Take courage, for soon a haven of rest will be given you―not a refuge from suffering and pain, but a nest of solitude. Patience, sweet child! The Will of the Father must be dearer to you than all else. This is the lesson every soul desiring intimate union with my Son must strive to learn … This is enough now. Other duties call you. Go in peace!”
In the afternoon of the same day I received this directive from Our Lady: “Go to the Bishop. Tell him of the desires of my Heart. He will help you.”
► September 26th-27th, 1957
The words of Our Lady as recorded under the dates of September 26th-27th, 1957: “My dear daughter, write my words carefully, because they are of the utmost importance. I address them to my beloved sons, the priests, dedicated to the most intense and extraordinary imitation of my Son in the perfect carrying on of His Eternal Priesthood. Beloved sons, so cherished and greatly blessed among the sons of men, be careful to uphold the sanctity and dignity of your calling. Let the faithful see in you the favored and especially loved imitators of the Son of God. Be modest in your dress and speech as becomes those of so exalted a vocation. The apparel and manners of a man of the world is not for you, who, though living in the world, must not take on its ways. It is through you that the grace of the Sacraments is given to souls. Strive then to make yourselves more worthy receptacles to receive these graces and transmit them in turn to the souls under your care.
“Dear sons, I ask you to practice self-denial and penance in a special manner, because it is you who must lead my children in the way of peace. Yet this peace will come only by way of the sword, the flaming sword of love. If, therefore, you love my Son and wish to honor me, heed my admonition and be the first to give the example of a life of penance and self-denial. Thus, by sanctification from within you, you will become a bright and burning light to the faithful, who look to you for help and guidance. I am pleased, dearly beloved sons, by the honor and love you have until now accorded me. Will you now go further and honor me yet more by taking my words to your hearts and doing what I ask?”
► October 7th, 1957 (Feast of the Holy Rosary)
On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, October 7th, 1957, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue Rosary of a glass-like quality, I was conscious of the fact that what she was about to say to me was, not only very grave, but of the utmost importance. Our Lady reiterated in a similar manner her first warnings:
“My beloved daughter, what I am about to tell you concerns in a particular way my children in America. Unless they do penance by mortification and self-denial and thus reform their lives, God will visit them with punishments hitherto unknown to them. My child, there will be peace, as has been promised, but not until my children are purified and cleansed from defilement, and clothed thus with the white garment of grace, are made ready to receive this peace, so long promised and so long held back because of the sins of men. My dear children, either you will do as I desire and reform your lives, or God Himself will need to cleanse you in the fires of untold punishment. You must be prepared to receive His great gift of peace. If you will not prepare yourselves, God will Himself be forced to do so in His justice and mercy. Making the Rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so [sadly, only 2% pray the Rosary daily]. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the Rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my Rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him. Write these words upon your hearts, my dear children, because of the compassion I have for you in my Immaculate Heart. Oh, if you knew the punishments I am holding back from you by my pleading and intercession on your behalf! Will you do as I wish at last, my children?”
► November 22nd-23rd, 1957
Our dear Mother showed herself to me in a special way around 11:30 on the morning of November 22nd. The next day, a Saturday, the experience was more detailed as more was shown me, or perhaps I had not noticed details the day before. This vision of herself is very important, as it reveals Our Lady as she really and truly was, the Immaculate Tabernacle of the Indwelling God. A strong beam of light streamed from the Divine Presence within Our Lady onto the globe at her feet. Then halfway around the figure of Our Lady above her head appeared a scroll on which were written in letters of gold the words: “All the glory of the King’s daughter is within.” Though it did not appear that her lips moved, yet I heard these words quite plainly: “I am Our Lady of the Divine Indwelling, handmaid of Him Who dwells within.”
► February 10th, 1958
On the eve of February 11th, 1958 [that is to say, February 10th], Our Lady said: “My Immaculate Heart will win in the end, and the Spirit of Christ will dwell in the hearts of men. Those in whom this Spirit is not found will be condemned to eternal Hell-fire.”
► February 11th, 1958 (Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)
The next day Our Lady spoke again: “My child, nothing is accomplished without pain. Prepare to suffer much. You see the sword in the Heart of your Mother. Suffering completed the work of divine grace in my soul. He who refuses to suffer will never abide in the Spirit of Christ, will never be formed into His image. The Father will never recognize a soul as His own unless He sees in it the likeness of His beloved Son. Souls must attain to the perfection of the Father through the Spirit of the Son. You wonder at the sword and the deep wound it has made in my Heart. It is the sword of grief plunged therein by my children who refuse to let me teach them the true way. There is only one true way to the Father, only one way to eternal union. It is through my Son, the Only-begotten of the Father, that souls attain perfect union with the Divinity, as perfect as human nature is capable of, aided by divine grace. But my children will not heed; they will not listen. Every other way they will take, but not this one. I ask greater sacrifices of the most favored and beloved of my children. I ask in the Name and for the love of my Son, Who so desires this. If I ask for reform of life, it is first from the chosen that I look for it. They must by the example of a sacrificial life lead the way for souls to union with Christ, honoring the Father by putting on His Spirit and His likeness in all things. Prepare yourself by prayer, penance, and suffering for what is to come. Your Mother has many more things to tell you, but this is enough for now. Take your rest now. I wish it. Good night, sweet child.”
Towards evening of February 11th, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the Mother of the sacred humanity [we are made sacred by Baptism and Sanctifying Grace], and it is my special work as co-redemptrix of the human race to help souls reach the sanctity of the Father in eternal union by showing them how to put on Christ, to imbibe His Spirit, and thus become one with Him.”
Further accounts relating to the “mission” given me and to others closely connected with it. Our Lady made known to me that she is particularly interested in the youth of our nation [but the youth of this nation is not interested in Mary―only their smartphones and social media]. It is they who are to be the leaders of this movement of renewal on the face of the Earth. Their ranks will [could have been] be swelled by the youths of other nations whom Our Lady also calls to help in the accomplishment of this great renewal.
But the youth must be prepared, and this must be done by instilling into them, not only the knowledge of the Divine Indwelling, but a serious study of It, living It in such a way that the Divine Presence becomes, as it were, an intimate and necessary part of their life and daily living. From this will flow a great love, a conflagration that will envelop the world in the flames of Divine Charity. This is what Our Lady is working for, because this is the great desire of her Divine Son, and it is to the youth of America that she is holding out this challenge. A medal, which Our Lady asked to be made, is to be their shield against evil, the picture or statue of Our Lady, the protection of the home, the statue at the Shrine in Washington, D.C., a special safeguard for our country. America, the United States in particular, is being given the tremendous, yet privileged, opportunity to lead all nations in a spiritual renewal never before so necessary, so important, so vital. [Sadly, the last 62 years have merely confirmed that America has “blown” its mission. It has been “aborted” and the “rocket” never left the launch-pad! That is why we find ourselves in our current crisis which will only worsen].
► February 1958
St. Michael came to me one evening shortly after Our Lady’s visit, holding an immense flaming torch. He held it towards me saying: “My little sister, you must carry this torch through the world.”
He came again the next night in the same manner.
The next day I was interiorly enlightened during Mass. It was made known to me that those, particularly the youth, who are willing wholeheartedly to follow Our Lady, in her great battle against evil, would bear the special title of “Torchbearers of the Queen.” This torch, of course, is Divine Love, for it is Love alone that will conquer hate and all that hate brings with it [and America has become a hate-filled country―more and more over the years]. As mentioned before, Our Lady also requested a picture or statue of herself as she appeared on September 26th, 1956, to be honored and venerated in every Christian Home.
► June 1958
In June 1958, several weeks after I had entered the Cloister, I was walking in the enclosure courtyard before going to prayer. I felt overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and heaviness of heart. As I gazed towards the heavens, Our Lady suddenly appeared to me as she had done on September 26th, 1956. She said to me: “Do not be afraid. I will keep my promise. Everything will be all right. Do not fear.” These words consoled me very much, and I went to prayer with a peaceful heart.
► February 23rd, 1959
On February 23rd, 1959, Our Lady came to me and admonished me to work on the “message” as soon as possible so that it might be placed in the hands of the Bishops who would be responsible for its fulfillment. In a very serious manner Our Lady warned me that I must not delay any longer to do this, as the time is now.
► July 18th, 1959
On July 18th, 1959, Our Lord spoke these words: “Oh, the pride of souls! How they resist my grace! O My priests, My religious, what would I not do for you if you would only let me? I come daily laden with graces which you daily refuse. What am I to say of you, my best beloved? How long will you resist My love? It is from you I expect everything, and you give Me but the husks of your affections. How long will I bear with you, O My chosen ones? How long will you spurn My approaches? It was this ingratitude on the part of My priests and My religious that caused Me so much sorrow in my passion. Oh, how they resist My grace! How they fight against My love! So fearful are they that I will deprive them of their tawdry trinkets that they turn their backs lest they see the reproach in My eyes.”
► December 20th, 1959
Our Lady came to me again on December 20th, 1959. These were her words to me as I understood them: “O my child, tell your spiritual father that I come again to warn and to plead. Oh, penance, penance! How little my children understand it! They give me many words, but sacrifice themselves they will not. It is not me they love―but themselves. Oh, what blindness, what blindness! How it pierces my heart! See, I weep―but my children show me no compassion. They behold the sword in my heart―but will make no move to withdraw it. I give them love―they give me only ingratitude. Weep, then, weep with your Mother over the sins of men! Intercede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday May 15th & Saturday May 16th & Sunday May 17th
Article 16
Schism and Civil War! How Close Are We?
This is article is still to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Friday May 15th & Saturday May 16th & Sunday May 17th
Article 16
Schism and Civil War! How Close Are We?
This is article is still to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Schism? Civil War? Huh?
Believe it or not―Like it or not―Want it or not―schism in the Church and civil war in the USA (as well as a world war) is on the cards, since many prophecies have spoken of these things. They DO NOT HAVE TO BE on the cards―but they will happen because the Catholic world―like the proverbial frog in the heated pan of water, or the deer standing still and staring into the headlights of the car that is about to hit it―the Catholic world is either over-confidently complacent (“It can’t/won’t happen to us!”) or they paralyzed through anxiety and fear. In both cases, prayer and penance and sacrifice falls by the wayside, and the Catholic ‘deer’ or dear Catholic will also fall by wayside―not because God wants it, but because of the negligence and indifference of Catholics, who prefer to hold their smartphone for hours, but not their Rosary beads for hours―which is not very smart!
It has been said many times before―and it will be said even more times in this perilous future― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). We are not sowing enough Rosaries and sacrifices, not enough prayers and penances―thus we shall reap very little as we starve in famine of grace―which is the only thing that can get us out of the mess that we are being precipitated into ― “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” says Our Lord (John 15:5).
Now, we have to ask the question: “Are these things irrevocably bound to happen?” The answer is quite simply “No! For prophecy is conditional—a case of if you do this, this will happen and help will come; but if you don’t do that, then that won’t happen and help will not come.”
This is clearly seen by Our Lady’s words at the apparitions. At Fatima she places the condition that “IF” Francisco prays many Rosaries, then he too will go to Heaven with the two girls; meaning therefore, that “IF” he doesn’t pray many Rosaries, then he won’t go to Heaven. Also at Fatima, Our Lady places the condition that “IF my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. IF NOT, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecution of the Church. The good WILL BE martyred, the Holy Father WILL have much to suffer, and various nations WILL BE destroyed.” At La Salette, Our Lady says: “IF my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it.” Therefore, IF the people DO SUBMIT, the hand of her Son WILL NOT fall upon them.
Late―But Not Too Late! Better Late Than Never!
It is never too late to start―but it is too late to avoid ALL the consequences. Even back in the 1980’s―almost 40 years ago―Pope John Paul II was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
The Pope said it has not been revealed because with this knowledge comes responsibility and so many people just want to know for reasons of curiosity. So, in order to avoid sensationalism, he did not want to reveal the contents of the Third Secret. But then—and here he reveals that the Secret involves much more than just apostasy in the Church — he also said it is enough for you to know that entire regions of the Earth will be flooded with water and millions will die from one moment to the next. He also said that another reason he did not want to reveal the Third Secret is that he did not want to encourage the Communists to take certain steps. Many have deduced from this that part of the Third Secret is the fact that the Communists would win the Third World War. As Pope John Paul II said in Fulda, Germany, in 1983—we can no longer avert what is coming, but we and mitigate it or soften the blow! It is not the unbelievers, apostates and sinners that are going to respond to Our Lady’s call—it rests in the lap of people like us. Our salvation, our Purgatory, our future depends upon whether we stir ourselves into action, or simply go with the flow!
Open your eyes and ears...
“Jesus stood and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They said to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus, having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him” (Matthew 20:32-34).
Let us open our eyes and ears! Let us pull our heads out of the sand and pull out our Rosaries from our pockets—or more to the point, let us pull out of all the amusements that take up so much of our time, and of which Our Lady bitterly complained of at La Salette: “Man’s only thought will be upon diversions and amusements!” Time spent on amusements, pleasure and socializing would be better spent in prayer and in penance—which is essentially what Our Lady has been trying to say at most of her modern day apparitions.
...and get serious!
Let us get serious about our life, our Faith and our fate! Let us follow the example of Noe, and start building the best ark we possibly can in the time that we have left. That ark is made up of hundreds and thousands of Rosaries, glued together by a sincere and true devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary—which are the two last remedies that God has given us! As Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes: “God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others.”
Sr. Lucia continues: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come―from Rome on the part of the Holy Father―to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call to penance to come from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already very often used these means, and the world has not paid attention. That is why, now, it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also help to save all the souls that God has placed on our path.”
Let us get serious! Seriously serious! Let us not fall into the trap of amusements that Our Lady so bitterly complained about at La Salette. As St Paul warns us: “Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Which is essentially the same thing that St. Lucia said: “Father, the most Holy Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid any attention to her message, neither the good nor the bad.”
Back to the Schism and Civil War
Who needs Catholic prophecy when increasing numbers of the mainstream media oulets and experts are talking about and predicting a future American Civil War?
● The Washington Examiner mentioned a poll released by Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service that found a majority of Americans, 7 out of 10, believed that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war.
● A Rasmussen reports survey found that over 50% of Americans think there will be internal political violence in America.
● According to a Newsweek magazine’s poll, a third of all Americans think a civil war could break out within the next five years in the 2020s with 10% thinking it “very likely to happen.” Newsweek also reported how a history professor at Boston College, Heather Richardson, who is an expert in 19th century America warned that today’s America looks eerily similar to the period before the civil war of 1861.
● Judith Giesberg, the editor of the Journal of the Civil War Era and a Civil War historian at Villanova University, said when you look at the map of red and blue states today and overlap on top of it the map of the Civil War—and who was allied with who in the Civil War—not much really has changed.
● Stanford University professor, Victor Davis Hanson, writing in the National Review, said: “We are now nearing a point comparable to 1860.”
● The Scottish historian and Stanford professor, Niall Ferguson, former professor at Harvard University and New York University, suggested in The Sunday Times of London that if someone were to design a “Civil War Clock” comparable to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock,” the designer would probably now be announcing that it is “two minutes to Fort Sumter.”
● The New Yorker and Foreign Policy Magazine reported how that Keith Mines, an American who has spent his career in public service in the U.S. Army Special Forces, at the United Nations, and then the US State Department, said that he now sees conditions in America that has produced civil wars in other countries abroad. These comments come from someone whose career has been one of navigating civil wars in other countries―including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. And when he was asked to evaluate the risks of a second civil war in America, he concluded that the United States faces a 60% chance of civil war over the next ten years in the 2020s. Based on his experience in civil wars on several continents, he revealed the conditions supporting his prediction―saying America is entrenched national polarization with no obvious meeting place for resolution; there is increasingly divisive press coverage; there are weakened national institutions; an abandonment of responsibility by political leadership; and the legitimization of violence as a way to conduct discourse or solve disputes to which he added: “It’s just like 1859―everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.” Events such as the pipe bombs sent to leading Democratic politicians and supporters, as well as the mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, and a steady and increasing stream of similar events — have only amplified these fears and predictions.
A Divided Nation Cannot Stand
America is moving from being “One Nation Under God” to “One Nation Undermining God” to “A Divided Nation with multiple gods” ― with gods coming and going like fashions and flavors of the month. You could judge America to be increasingly Godless―if we are talking about the One True God. Or you could judge America to be a nation under many gods―if you are referring to many idols that have taken the place of the One True God as objects of love, worship and adoration. In fact, increasing numbers of Americans are gradually replacing the God of the Bible with the god of their own little minds―they are now the judges of what is good and what is evil; which explains the increasing numbers of Catholics (now around or over 50%) who think divorce and remarriage is acceptable, that contraception is acceptable, that abortion is acceptable, that same sex marriages and sexual relations are acceptable, etc. ― and we are speaking of Catholics! Whichever way you look at it ― whether a nation divided from God or a nation divided by many little gods ― a divided nation cannot stand―as Our Lord Himself stated: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25). Thus―the way things are today―it is impossible for America to stand, just as it is impossible for all the nations of Earth to stand, because, as Holy Scripture says: “The Gentiles raged, the people devised vain things. The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ [saying], ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder: and let us cast away Their yoke from us!” (Psalm 2:1-3).
Most people have already “divorced” themselves from God even though―just like a divorced person―they might go and visit God from time to time (Easter, Christmas, baptisms, marriages and funerals). This “divorce” from God might as well be a “civil war” within the Faith: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
By this increasing “social-distancing” or “religious-distancing” from God, we are creating a schism and a civil war of sorts within us: “For sin seduced me … For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want to do―but the evil, which I hate, that I do! To want to do good, is present with me―but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not―but the evil which I want not to do, that I do. I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law within me, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin” (Romans 7:11-23). Notice how sin brings a war within St. Paul. As Scripture says: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23)―and Our Lady of Fatima said that wars are a punishment for sin. Thus, in following sin we become divided within ourselves―call it “two-faced”, call it a “split personality”, call it hypocrisy or call it whatever you want―the reality is there, the division is there―and, just like every divided kingdom, city or house, we will fall unless we make serious efforts to stop living with “a foot in each camp” ― that of the Church and that of the world.
There is no neutral ground ― “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) ― you are either for Christ and against the world, or for the world against Christ. If you think you can delay making your choice, then you have already chosen―whether you realize it or not, admit it or not. The way most people are today, America will drift into oblivion just like Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient Israel did, not to mention the once glorious British Empire of more recent years. You cannot separate from the One True God and hope to survive. We would do well to apply to America the words God once spoke to Israel: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel [America]?” (Ezechiel 33:11). Not just America―but the world as a whole―has declared war on God by rejecting his Laws, Commandments, Religion and Worship. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
A Lesson From History
We are rapidly approaching “decision time” ― where, as in the days of the prophet Elias, he called on the people of Israel to make a choice ― to either side with him, or the false prophets of Baal (whom they had been increasingly following over the years):
“Elias went to [King] Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria. Achab came to meet Elias. And when Achab had seen Elias, he said: ‘Art thou he that troublest Israel?’ And Elias said to King Achab: ‘I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim! Nevertheless, send now and gather unto me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table. Achab sent all the children of Israel and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel. And Elias, coming before all the people, said: ‘How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God―follow Him! But if Baal―then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under―and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first―because you are many―and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under!’ And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked!’ So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
“Elias said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And he built with the stones an altar to the Name of the Lord. [He then had the Israelites drench the bullock with water three times―which would make it harder to set alight]. And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that Thou art the God of Israel, and I Thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! That this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again [back to Thee].’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord! He is God! The Lord! He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:2-40).
What Does Prophecy Say About America?
The role and fate of America is rather sketchy in Catholic prophecy. Sure―there are and have been a lot of Protestant ‘prophets’ out there, ‘prophesying’ “left-right-and-center” but at best, most of those are spurious, or “guesswork” prophecies, or “fertile imagination” prophecies, or even Satanic prophecies.
In his relatively short but informative 1970 published book, Catholic Prophecy and the Coming Chastisement, Yves Dupont (1922-1976) makes several mentions of America or the United States of America. Here are the relevant excerpts from his book:
“The roles of the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. are not clear in the beginning. The U.S.A. may be involved in the Far-East or at home or both.”
Dupont then quotes the prophecy of St. Hildegard, which many people think COULD refer to the United States of America: “A powerful wind will rise in the north carrying heavy fog and the densest of dust by divine command, and it will fill their throats and eyes so that they will cease their savagery and be stricken with a great fear. Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean, that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent, will be devastated by an earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea and lose its colonies. By its tremendous pressure the comet will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from horrible diseases. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the laws of God.”
Dupont them comments: “Many more prophecies mention wind of such velocity and fog and dust of such thickness that men will be forced to stop killing each other. This natural disaster will cause much loss of life and great destruction. After the failure of harvests, many people will starve to death, and their un-buried bodies will cause terrible epidemics. The nation of “many tribes” in the ocean does not seem to be America. In fact, another prophecy names England, a former great colonial power, which was also made up of many different tribes in the beginning.”
Further on in the book, Dupont states: “The American reader may wonder why American troops have nowhere been mentioned so far. Indeed, except for a few prophecies mentioning rather vaguely some overseas soldiers who may or may not be Americans, the presence of the U.S.A. in Western Europe is nowhere clearly indicated in the hagiographical prophecies that I know of. There is some reason to believe that the U.S.A. will have its hands full in the Far-East, and will also have to deal with serious civil strife at home. This may explain why the U.S.A. will not intervene in Western Europe at the beginning. It must also be borne in mind that the coming disaster (which I purposely do not call World War Two) is not likely to start with a conventional foreign invasion, but rather internally through civil war and revolution. In this case, American intervention would be very unlikely indeed.
“Of all the prophecies that I know, there is only one which refers clearly enough to the U.S.A., and it is a non-hagio-graphical prophecy. In one particular passage, this 16th-century prophecy goes as far as naming the U.S.A. — “Americh.” However, I shall not quote that passage because, apart from the word “Americh” (pronounced “Amerik”), it is quite unintelligible. But I shall quote others which, in my opinion, make it clear that the U.S.A. will intervene in the latter half of the Great Disaster which, by then, will have developed into a war properly so-called.”
“Australian and American readers may wonder what the relevance of this prophecy is to their parts of the world. Here is my answer: whereas it is not possible to assert that the same sequence of events will affect Australia and America, there is no doubt that what is happening in Europe will have far-reaching repercussions throughout the world; European affairs have always done so. Moreover, although most prophecies originate from European countries and describe events in those countries, there are some which make it clear that the whole world will be in turmoil, that the revolution will be universal, that persecutions will be waged everywhere on Earth, and that a new political order will be set up everywhere.”
Prophecies of Nostradamus and America
In another section of his book, Catholic Prophecy and the Coming Chastisement, Yves Dupont refers to a part of a prophecy by Nostradamus―which is an abbreviation for John of Our Lady (Jean de Notre Dame), who was born in 1503 and died in 1536. The verse in question reads as:
“Libra shall see the Hesperides reign,
Of Heaven and Earth shall hold the monarchy,
Not to perish under any Asian forces,
Until seven in rank have held the Hierarchy.”
Yves Dupont comments upon it: “A bad start, you may say! It is unintelligible. Not really so, however, once you are fully acquainted with Nostradamus’ symbolism. The Hesperides’ Gardens is that fabulous land of plenty, west of Gibraltar, from which Hercules brought back to Greece the Golden Apples. That land is the United States, and the above quatrain, interpreted, should read thus:
“Under the sign of Libra, America shall reign,
Shall hold power in the sky and on land,
Shall never perish under Asian forces.
Until seven Pontificates have passed.”
Dupont continues: “As a great world power, the U.S.A. began its “reign” during the First World War — but it was not the greatest world power; in 1918, that was France. In 1945, however, the U.S.A. was, by and large, the greatest world power. I think it is from the reign of Pius XII that the seven Pontificates must be counted, and this brings us to the last Pope according to St. Malachy’s list — when the world will end. It is debatable, of course, whether the U.S.A. is still the leading world power; the inane policies of the Washington politicians since 1945 have been quite successful in lowering U.S. prestige and influence, and the Vietnam War seems to suggest that the giant has feet of clay. However, it must be borne in mind that the Washington politicians have never really wanted to win the Vietnam War. That war could have been won within a few months if the U.S. Army had been allowed to land in North Vietnam.
“Finally, in the unlikely event of an all-out war with Soviet Russia, I am inclined to think that the U.S. would prove the stronger of the two. The greatest weakness of the U.S. is moral corruption. But, miraculously, when an all-out war erupts, people pull themselves up by the bootstraps and forget about drugs and sex. On the other hand, the greatest weakness of Soviet Russia is internal discontent, and when a global war breaks out, the dissenters, far from rallying round the Government, may seize this unique opportunity to revolt. We saw this during World War Two when whole Russian armies, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, defected to the Germans and were anxious to liberate their homeland under the leadership of their general, Vlassov. To my mind, this is why Soviet Russia is so careful in its dealings with the U.S. They just do not relish the prospect of a global war. And if the Washington political careerists had taken this into account since 1945, it is fairly certain that Communism would now be a thing of the past — without any war. The history of post-war U.S. diplomacy is a story of missed opportunities.
“I must be pardoned for elaborating on the subject. But this study in prophecy would lose its significance — in fact might become irrelevant if I did not examine the political context of the period to which these prophecies refer. So, let me explain a little further the story of “missed opportunities.” In 1945, the U.S. was the only nuclear power in the world. When the Soviets decided on the Berlin Blockade, what did the U.S. do? At great expense, it organized an air bridge; whereas, the only logical answer worthy of the leading nation was to force the way with tanks through the blockade. No, there would have been no war: the Russians could not afford it. But their loss of prestige in the satellite countries would have been tremendous, and the consequences for them would have been incalculable.
“Next came the Korean War. General MacArthur had a plan to finish it quickly, a plan that would have in the process brought to its knees the rising power of Communist China. But Washington opposed it and recalled MacArthur (as a reward for his genius, no doubt). In 1956 there was Hungary; after the popular uprising, the Russian tanks left the country and remained poised for several days on the other side of the border, waiting to see what action the U.S. would take. Meantime, the newly-formed Hungarian government asked the U.S. for support — which was refused — and they then approached several European countries. Spain offered to send a few planes, but re-fuelling facilities were required in West Germany. West Germany did grant, or was about to grant those facilities, when the U.S. stepped in and threatened West Germany with economic sanctions. Bonn had to back down. Result, the Russian tanks poured back into Hungary and crushed the uprising in a bloodbath.
“Is it the end of the “missed opportunities?” Not in the least! but I cannot review them all: Yalta, Poland, East Germany, the Middle East, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, the list is long indeed. And, except in these last few years, the risk of all-out war with Russia was non-existent. Even now, this risk is minimal if the Washington politicians would but allow the U.S. Army to show its teeth.”
Dupont then once again quotes Nostradamus: “And in that time and in these countries the Powers of Hell shall set up against the Church of Jesus Christ the might of the enemies of His law. This will be the second Antichrist, and he will persecute the Church and its true Vicar through the power of temporal rulers who, in their ignorance, shall have been deceived by high-sounding words that will do more harm than a sword in the hands of a madman.” Could those “high-sounding words that will do more harm than a sword in the hands of a madman” be words like “shutdown”, “lockdown”, “close your businesses”, “quarantine”, self-isolate”, “destroy your crops”, “lose your jobs”, “starve to death”, “receive vaccines”, etc.? Is the prohibition of offering the Sacrifice of the Mass in public merely a "warning shot across the bows" and a foretaste of the persecution and prohibitions to come?
Are We At the Start of It All?
Dupont continues with Nostradamus’s prophecy: “Then shall there be against the Church a greater persecution than ever was. And thereupon such great epidemics shall develop that more than two-thirds of the world shall perish, so much so that no one shall know the owners of the fields and houses, and grass shall grow in the streets of the cities knee-high and even more. In those days of desolation the largest cities will be depopulated, and he who would return therein shall be struck by the wrath of God. And the Sacred Place shall be turned into a stable for cattle, large and small, and put to profane uses. O what a calamitous time shall it be! The holy people of God, the keepers of His law, and all the religious orders shall be grievously persecuted and afflicted, so much that the blood of the true ecclesiastics shall flow all over. One of these horrible temporal rulers shall be highly praised by his followers for having spilled more of the innocent ecclesiastics’ human blood than anyone could do with wine. The said ruler shall commit incredible crimes against the Church, and human blood shall run in the streets and in the churches as water after a heavy rainstorm. And the rivers shall also be red with blood!” Are we at the starting-line of all this? For the prophecy warns that “great epidemics shall develop that [will see] more than two-thirds of the world perish” and that “larger cities will be depopulated” and “all the religious orders shall be grievously persecuted and afflicted.”
This seems to connect with and echo the prophecy of Our Lady of La Salette: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.”
Nostradamus then speaks of an epidemic plague and famine: “Then, within the same year and through the following years, a most horrible epidemic of plague shall break out, caused by the preceding famine, and such great tribulations as never have happened since the foundation of the Christian Church in the Latin regions, not even in Spain where traces remain. Thereupon, the third ruler of Aquila, hearing the cries of anguish of the peoples of his principal title, shall raise up so great an army, and shall retrace the steps of his ancestors in order to put most nations back on their feet again. Then, shall the Great Vicar of the Cope be restored in his former estate.”
Dupont comments on this, explaining that “This is one of the very few references to an American intervention to be found in the prophecies. This intervention will take place toward the end of the holocaust. That this passage refers to America is almost certain. The ‘title’ of the U.S.A. is its being Western and European in culture, even though it lies beyond the ocean. Nostradamus gives the added precision that he ‘shall retrace the steps of his ancestors.’ Moreover, the emblem of the American Coat of Arms is the White Eagle (Aquila in Latin). But why the ‘third ruler of Aquila?’ The most likely interpretation is that there shall rise a great American president, of the stature of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who will thus be ‘the third [great] ruler of Aquila.’ The context, here, makes it clear that Aquila is the U.S.A.”
Dupont then takes another verse from Nostradamus that refers to America:
"As a Griffin the King of Europe shall come,
Accompanied by those of Aquila.
Of Reds and Whites shall lead a great army,
Shall march against the King of Babylon."
Dupont explains that “The Great King is here represented as a Griffin — a mythical creature formed with the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and the dorsal fin of a fish. This comparison may be explained by the fact that his will be a motley army, and we have seen that some seers call him the ‘Lion’ or the ‘Eagle.’ The Great King will receive the assistance of the U.S.A. (Aquila). By that time Communism will have been defeated. Many former Communists troops will defect and join the forces of liberation. This union of Reds and Whites will throw back to the sea the invading Mohammedan forces (King of Babylon).”
Dupont then points to another verse by Nostradamus, where he once more mentions the American intervention, which, of all the prophecies Nostradamus, is the most explicit in this respect:
“The Rodians shall ask for assistance.
Forsaken by neglect of their sons.
Arab Empire shall roll back in its course,
By Hesperides the cause shall be restored.”
Dupont explains: “The Rodians, as stated above, may well mean the Knights of St. John, who, as prominent champions of Christian civilization once more, in dire straits, because its members failed to respond to a call to arms, may invoke their influence with the American government and request American assistance. The Americans will come, and things will be straightened out. That the Americans will finally intervene is beyond doubt. In this case, however, the above interpretation is not absolutely certain. Nostradamus often uses the same word for different things. In some quatrains, it is clear that ‘Hesperides’ means America.”
Believe it or not―Like it or not―Want it or not―schism in the Church and civil war in the USA (as well as a world war) is on the cards, since many prophecies have spoken of these things. They DO NOT HAVE TO BE on the cards―but they will happen because the Catholic world―like the proverbial frog in the heated pan of water, or the deer standing still and staring into the headlights of the car that is about to hit it―the Catholic world is either over-confidently complacent (“It can’t/won’t happen to us!”) or they paralyzed through anxiety and fear. In both cases, prayer and penance and sacrifice falls by the wayside, and the Catholic ‘deer’ or dear Catholic will also fall by wayside―not because God wants it, but because of the negligence and indifference of Catholics, who prefer to hold their smartphone for hours, but not their Rosary beads for hours―which is not very smart!
It has been said many times before―and it will be said even more times in this perilous future― “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). We are not sowing enough Rosaries and sacrifices, not enough prayers and penances―thus we shall reap very little as we starve in famine of grace―which is the only thing that can get us out of the mess that we are being precipitated into ― “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” says Our Lord (John 15:5).
Now, we have to ask the question: “Are these things irrevocably bound to happen?” The answer is quite simply “No! For prophecy is conditional—a case of if you do this, this will happen and help will come; but if you don’t do that, then that won’t happen and help will not come.”
This is clearly seen by Our Lady’s words at the apparitions. At Fatima she places the condition that “IF” Francisco prays many Rosaries, then he too will go to Heaven with the two girls; meaning therefore, that “IF” he doesn’t pray many Rosaries, then he won’t go to Heaven. Also at Fatima, Our Lady places the condition that “IF my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. IF NOT, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecution of the Church. The good WILL BE martyred, the Holy Father WILL have much to suffer, and various nations WILL BE destroyed.” At La Salette, Our Lady says: “IF my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it.” Therefore, IF the people DO SUBMIT, the hand of her Son WILL NOT fall upon them.
Late―But Not Too Late! Better Late Than Never!
It is never too late to start―but it is too late to avoid ALL the consequences. Even back in the 1980’s―almost 40 years ago―Pope John Paul II was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
The Pope said it has not been revealed because with this knowledge comes responsibility and so many people just want to know for reasons of curiosity. So, in order to avoid sensationalism, he did not want to reveal the contents of the Third Secret. But then—and here he reveals that the Secret involves much more than just apostasy in the Church — he also said it is enough for you to know that entire regions of the Earth will be flooded with water and millions will die from one moment to the next. He also said that another reason he did not want to reveal the Third Secret is that he did not want to encourage the Communists to take certain steps. Many have deduced from this that part of the Third Secret is the fact that the Communists would win the Third World War. As Pope John Paul II said in Fulda, Germany, in 1983—we can no longer avert what is coming, but we and mitigate it or soften the blow! It is not the unbelievers, apostates and sinners that are going to respond to Our Lady’s call—it rests in the lap of people like us. Our salvation, our Purgatory, our future depends upon whether we stir ourselves into action, or simply go with the flow!
Open your eyes and ears...
“Jesus stood and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They said to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus, having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him” (Matthew 20:32-34).
Let us open our eyes and ears! Let us pull our heads out of the sand and pull out our Rosaries from our pockets—or more to the point, let us pull out of all the amusements that take up so much of our time, and of which Our Lady bitterly complained of at La Salette: “Man’s only thought will be upon diversions and amusements!” Time spent on amusements, pleasure and socializing would be better spent in prayer and in penance—which is essentially what Our Lady has been trying to say at most of her modern day apparitions.
...and get serious!
Let us get serious about our life, our Faith and our fate! Let us follow the example of Noe, and start building the best ark we possibly can in the time that we have left. That ark is made up of hundreds and thousands of Rosaries, glued together by a sincere and true devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary—which are the two last remedies that God has given us! As Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes: “God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others.”
Sr. Lucia continues: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come―from Rome on the part of the Holy Father―to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call to penance to come from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already very often used these means, and the world has not paid attention. That is why, now, it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also help to save all the souls that God has placed on our path.”
Let us get serious! Seriously serious! Let us not fall into the trap of amusements that Our Lady so bitterly complained about at La Salette. As St Paul warns us: “Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Which is essentially the same thing that St. Lucia said: “Father, the most Holy Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid any attention to her message, neither the good nor the bad.”
Back to the Schism and Civil War
Who needs Catholic prophecy when increasing numbers of the mainstream media oulets and experts are talking about and predicting a future American Civil War?
● The Washington Examiner mentioned a poll released by Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service that found a majority of Americans, 7 out of 10, believed that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war.
● A Rasmussen reports survey found that over 50% of Americans think there will be internal political violence in America.
● According to a Newsweek magazine’s poll, a third of all Americans think a civil war could break out within the next five years in the 2020s with 10% thinking it “very likely to happen.” Newsweek also reported how a history professor at Boston College, Heather Richardson, who is an expert in 19th century America warned that today’s America looks eerily similar to the period before the civil war of 1861.
● Judith Giesberg, the editor of the Journal of the Civil War Era and a Civil War historian at Villanova University, said when you look at the map of red and blue states today and overlap on top of it the map of the Civil War—and who was allied with who in the Civil War—not much really has changed.
● Stanford University professor, Victor Davis Hanson, writing in the National Review, said: “We are now nearing a point comparable to 1860.”
● The Scottish historian and Stanford professor, Niall Ferguson, former professor at Harvard University and New York University, suggested in The Sunday Times of London that if someone were to design a “Civil War Clock” comparable to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock,” the designer would probably now be announcing that it is “two minutes to Fort Sumter.”
● The New Yorker and Foreign Policy Magazine reported how that Keith Mines, an American who has spent his career in public service in the U.S. Army Special Forces, at the United Nations, and then the US State Department, said that he now sees conditions in America that has produced civil wars in other countries abroad. These comments come from someone whose career has been one of navigating civil wars in other countries―including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. And when he was asked to evaluate the risks of a second civil war in America, he concluded that the United States faces a 60% chance of civil war over the next ten years in the 2020s. Based on his experience in civil wars on several continents, he revealed the conditions supporting his prediction―saying America is entrenched national polarization with no obvious meeting place for resolution; there is increasingly divisive press coverage; there are weakened national institutions; an abandonment of responsibility by political leadership; and the legitimization of violence as a way to conduct discourse or solve disputes to which he added: “It’s just like 1859―everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.” Events such as the pipe bombs sent to leading Democratic politicians and supporters, as well as the mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, and a steady and increasing stream of similar events — have only amplified these fears and predictions.
A Divided Nation Cannot Stand
America is moving from being “One Nation Under God” to “One Nation Undermining God” to “A Divided Nation with multiple gods” ― with gods coming and going like fashions and flavors of the month. You could judge America to be increasingly Godless―if we are talking about the One True God. Or you could judge America to be a nation under many gods―if you are referring to many idols that have taken the place of the One True God as objects of love, worship and adoration. In fact, increasing numbers of Americans are gradually replacing the God of the Bible with the god of their own little minds―they are now the judges of what is good and what is evil; which explains the increasing numbers of Catholics (now around or over 50%) who think divorce and remarriage is acceptable, that contraception is acceptable, that abortion is acceptable, that same sex marriages and sexual relations are acceptable, etc. ― and we are speaking of Catholics! Whichever way you look at it ― whether a nation divided from God or a nation divided by many little gods ― a divided nation cannot stand―as Our Lord Himself stated: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand!” (Matthew 12:25). Thus―the way things are today―it is impossible for America to stand, just as it is impossible for all the nations of Earth to stand, because, as Holy Scripture says: “The Gentiles raged, the people devised vain things. The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ [saying], ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder: and let us cast away Their yoke from us!” (Psalm 2:1-3).
Most people have already “divorced” themselves from God even though―just like a divorced person―they might go and visit God from time to time (Easter, Christmas, baptisms, marriages and funerals). This “divorce” from God might as well be a “civil war” within the Faith: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
By this increasing “social-distancing” or “religious-distancing” from God, we are creating a schism and a civil war of sorts within us: “For sin seduced me … For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want to do―but the evil, which I hate, that I do! To want to do good, is present with me―but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not―but the evil which I want not to do, that I do. I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law within me, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin” (Romans 7:11-23). Notice how sin brings a war within St. Paul. As Scripture says: “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23)―and Our Lady of Fatima said that wars are a punishment for sin. Thus, in following sin we become divided within ourselves―call it “two-faced”, call it a “split personality”, call it hypocrisy or call it whatever you want―the reality is there, the division is there―and, just like every divided kingdom, city or house, we will fall unless we make serious efforts to stop living with “a foot in each camp” ― that of the Church and that of the world.
There is no neutral ground ― “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) ― you are either for Christ and against the world, or for the world against Christ. If you think you can delay making your choice, then you have already chosen―whether you realize it or not, admit it or not. The way most people are today, America will drift into oblivion just like Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient Israel did, not to mention the once glorious British Empire of more recent years. You cannot separate from the One True God and hope to survive. We would do well to apply to America the words God once spoke to Israel: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel [America]?” (Ezechiel 33:11). Not just America―but the world as a whole―has declared war on God by rejecting his Laws, Commandments, Religion and Worship. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
A Lesson From History
We are rapidly approaching “decision time” ― where, as in the days of the prophet Elias, he called on the people of Israel to make a choice ― to either side with him, or the false prophets of Baal (whom they had been increasingly following over the years):
“Elias went to [King] Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria. Achab came to meet Elias. And when Achab had seen Elias, he said: ‘Art thou he that troublest Israel?’ And Elias said to King Achab: ‘I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim! Nevertheless, send now and gather unto me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table. Achab sent all the children of Israel and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel. And Elias, coming before all the people, said: ‘How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God―follow Him! But if Baal―then follow him!’ And the people did not answer him a word. And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord―but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under―and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord―and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God!’ And all the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal!’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first―because you are many―and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under!’ And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it―and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped over the altar that they had made. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice! For he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked!’ So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. And after midday was past there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
“Elias said to all the people: ‘Come ye unto me!’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And he built with the stones an altar to the Name of the Lord. [He then had the Israelites drench the bullock with water three times―which would make it harder to set alight]. And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that Thou art the God of Israel, and I Thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things! Hear me, O Lord, hear me! That this people may learn, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again [back to Thee].’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord! He is God! The Lord! He is God!’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape!’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:2-40).
What Does Prophecy Say About America?
The role and fate of America is rather sketchy in Catholic prophecy. Sure―there are and have been a lot of Protestant ‘prophets’ out there, ‘prophesying’ “left-right-and-center” but at best, most of those are spurious, or “guesswork” prophecies, or “fertile imagination” prophecies, or even Satanic prophecies.
In his relatively short but informative 1970 published book, Catholic Prophecy and the Coming Chastisement, Yves Dupont (1922-1976) makes several mentions of America or the United States of America. Here are the relevant excerpts from his book:
“The roles of the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. are not clear in the beginning. The U.S.A. may be involved in the Far-East or at home or both.”
Dupont then quotes the prophecy of St. Hildegard, which many people think COULD refer to the United States of America: “A powerful wind will rise in the north carrying heavy fog and the densest of dust by divine command, and it will fill their throats and eyes so that they will cease their savagery and be stricken with a great fear. Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean, that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent, will be devastated by an earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea and lose its colonies. By its tremendous pressure the comet will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from horrible diseases. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the laws of God.”
Dupont them comments: “Many more prophecies mention wind of such velocity and fog and dust of such thickness that men will be forced to stop killing each other. This natural disaster will cause much loss of life and great destruction. After the failure of harvests, many people will starve to death, and their un-buried bodies will cause terrible epidemics. The nation of “many tribes” in the ocean does not seem to be America. In fact, another prophecy names England, a former great colonial power, which was also made up of many different tribes in the beginning.”
Further on in the book, Dupont states: “The American reader may wonder why American troops have nowhere been mentioned so far. Indeed, except for a few prophecies mentioning rather vaguely some overseas soldiers who may or may not be Americans, the presence of the U.S.A. in Western Europe is nowhere clearly indicated in the hagiographical prophecies that I know of. There is some reason to believe that the U.S.A. will have its hands full in the Far-East, and will also have to deal with serious civil strife at home. This may explain why the U.S.A. will not intervene in Western Europe at the beginning. It must also be borne in mind that the coming disaster (which I purposely do not call World War Two) is not likely to start with a conventional foreign invasion, but rather internally through civil war and revolution. In this case, American intervention would be very unlikely indeed.
“Of all the prophecies that I know, there is only one which refers clearly enough to the U.S.A., and it is a non-hagio-graphical prophecy. In one particular passage, this 16th-century prophecy goes as far as naming the U.S.A. — “Americh.” However, I shall not quote that passage because, apart from the word “Americh” (pronounced “Amerik”), it is quite unintelligible. But I shall quote others which, in my opinion, make it clear that the U.S.A. will intervene in the latter half of the Great Disaster which, by then, will have developed into a war properly so-called.”
“Australian and American readers may wonder what the relevance of this prophecy is to their parts of the world. Here is my answer: whereas it is not possible to assert that the same sequence of events will affect Australia and America, there is no doubt that what is happening in Europe will have far-reaching repercussions throughout the world; European affairs have always done so. Moreover, although most prophecies originate from European countries and describe events in those countries, there are some which make it clear that the whole world will be in turmoil, that the revolution will be universal, that persecutions will be waged everywhere on Earth, and that a new political order will be set up everywhere.”
Prophecies of Nostradamus and America
In another section of his book, Catholic Prophecy and the Coming Chastisement, Yves Dupont refers to a part of a prophecy by Nostradamus―which is an abbreviation for John of Our Lady (Jean de Notre Dame), who was born in 1503 and died in 1536. The verse in question reads as:
“Libra shall see the Hesperides reign,
Of Heaven and Earth shall hold the monarchy,
Not to perish under any Asian forces,
Until seven in rank have held the Hierarchy.”
Yves Dupont comments upon it: “A bad start, you may say! It is unintelligible. Not really so, however, once you are fully acquainted with Nostradamus’ symbolism. The Hesperides’ Gardens is that fabulous land of plenty, west of Gibraltar, from which Hercules brought back to Greece the Golden Apples. That land is the United States, and the above quatrain, interpreted, should read thus:
“Under the sign of Libra, America shall reign,
Shall hold power in the sky and on land,
Shall never perish under Asian forces.
Until seven Pontificates have passed.”
Dupont continues: “As a great world power, the U.S.A. began its “reign” during the First World War — but it was not the greatest world power; in 1918, that was France. In 1945, however, the U.S.A. was, by and large, the greatest world power. I think it is from the reign of Pius XII that the seven Pontificates must be counted, and this brings us to the last Pope according to St. Malachy’s list — when the world will end. It is debatable, of course, whether the U.S.A. is still the leading world power; the inane policies of the Washington politicians since 1945 have been quite successful in lowering U.S. prestige and influence, and the Vietnam War seems to suggest that the giant has feet of clay. However, it must be borne in mind that the Washington politicians have never really wanted to win the Vietnam War. That war could have been won within a few months if the U.S. Army had been allowed to land in North Vietnam.
“Finally, in the unlikely event of an all-out war with Soviet Russia, I am inclined to think that the U.S. would prove the stronger of the two. The greatest weakness of the U.S. is moral corruption. But, miraculously, when an all-out war erupts, people pull themselves up by the bootstraps and forget about drugs and sex. On the other hand, the greatest weakness of Soviet Russia is internal discontent, and when a global war breaks out, the dissenters, far from rallying round the Government, may seize this unique opportunity to revolt. We saw this during World War Two when whole Russian armies, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, defected to the Germans and were anxious to liberate their homeland under the leadership of their general, Vlassov. To my mind, this is why Soviet Russia is so careful in its dealings with the U.S. They just do not relish the prospect of a global war. And if the Washington political careerists had taken this into account since 1945, it is fairly certain that Communism would now be a thing of the past — without any war. The history of post-war U.S. diplomacy is a story of missed opportunities.
“I must be pardoned for elaborating on the subject. But this study in prophecy would lose its significance — in fact might become irrelevant if I did not examine the political context of the period to which these prophecies refer. So, let me explain a little further the story of “missed opportunities.” In 1945, the U.S. was the only nuclear power in the world. When the Soviets decided on the Berlin Blockade, what did the U.S. do? At great expense, it organized an air bridge; whereas, the only logical answer worthy of the leading nation was to force the way with tanks through the blockade. No, there would have been no war: the Russians could not afford it. But their loss of prestige in the satellite countries would have been tremendous, and the consequences for them would have been incalculable.
“Next came the Korean War. General MacArthur had a plan to finish it quickly, a plan that would have in the process brought to its knees the rising power of Communist China. But Washington opposed it and recalled MacArthur (as a reward for his genius, no doubt). In 1956 there was Hungary; after the popular uprising, the Russian tanks left the country and remained poised for several days on the other side of the border, waiting to see what action the U.S. would take. Meantime, the newly-formed Hungarian government asked the U.S. for support — which was refused — and they then approached several European countries. Spain offered to send a few planes, but re-fuelling facilities were required in West Germany. West Germany did grant, or was about to grant those facilities, when the U.S. stepped in and threatened West Germany with economic sanctions. Bonn had to back down. Result, the Russian tanks poured back into Hungary and crushed the uprising in a bloodbath.
“Is it the end of the “missed opportunities?” Not in the least! but I cannot review them all: Yalta, Poland, East Germany, the Middle East, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, the list is long indeed. And, except in these last few years, the risk of all-out war with Russia was non-existent. Even now, this risk is minimal if the Washington politicians would but allow the U.S. Army to show its teeth.”
Dupont then once again quotes Nostradamus: “And in that time and in these countries the Powers of Hell shall set up against the Church of Jesus Christ the might of the enemies of His law. This will be the second Antichrist, and he will persecute the Church and its true Vicar through the power of temporal rulers who, in their ignorance, shall have been deceived by high-sounding words that will do more harm than a sword in the hands of a madman.” Could those “high-sounding words that will do more harm than a sword in the hands of a madman” be words like “shutdown”, “lockdown”, “close your businesses”, “quarantine”, self-isolate”, “destroy your crops”, “lose your jobs”, “starve to death”, “receive vaccines”, etc.? Is the prohibition of offering the Sacrifice of the Mass in public merely a "warning shot across the bows" and a foretaste of the persecution and prohibitions to come?
Are We At the Start of It All?
Dupont continues with Nostradamus’s prophecy: “Then shall there be against the Church a greater persecution than ever was. And thereupon such great epidemics shall develop that more than two-thirds of the world shall perish, so much so that no one shall know the owners of the fields and houses, and grass shall grow in the streets of the cities knee-high and even more. In those days of desolation the largest cities will be depopulated, and he who would return therein shall be struck by the wrath of God. And the Sacred Place shall be turned into a stable for cattle, large and small, and put to profane uses. O what a calamitous time shall it be! The holy people of God, the keepers of His law, and all the religious orders shall be grievously persecuted and afflicted, so much that the blood of the true ecclesiastics shall flow all over. One of these horrible temporal rulers shall be highly praised by his followers for having spilled more of the innocent ecclesiastics’ human blood than anyone could do with wine. The said ruler shall commit incredible crimes against the Church, and human blood shall run in the streets and in the churches as water after a heavy rainstorm. And the rivers shall also be red with blood!” Are we at the starting-line of all this? For the prophecy warns that “great epidemics shall develop that [will see] more than two-thirds of the world perish” and that “larger cities will be depopulated” and “all the religious orders shall be grievously persecuted and afflicted.”
This seems to connect with and echo the prophecy of Our Lady of La Salette: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.”
Nostradamus then speaks of an epidemic plague and famine: “Then, within the same year and through the following years, a most horrible epidemic of plague shall break out, caused by the preceding famine, and such great tribulations as never have happened since the foundation of the Christian Church in the Latin regions, not even in Spain where traces remain. Thereupon, the third ruler of Aquila, hearing the cries of anguish of the peoples of his principal title, shall raise up so great an army, and shall retrace the steps of his ancestors in order to put most nations back on their feet again. Then, shall the Great Vicar of the Cope be restored in his former estate.”
Dupont comments on this, explaining that “This is one of the very few references to an American intervention to be found in the prophecies. This intervention will take place toward the end of the holocaust. That this passage refers to America is almost certain. The ‘title’ of the U.S.A. is its being Western and European in culture, even though it lies beyond the ocean. Nostradamus gives the added precision that he ‘shall retrace the steps of his ancestors.’ Moreover, the emblem of the American Coat of Arms is the White Eagle (Aquila in Latin). But why the ‘third ruler of Aquila?’ The most likely interpretation is that there shall rise a great American president, of the stature of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who will thus be ‘the third [great] ruler of Aquila.’ The context, here, makes it clear that Aquila is the U.S.A.”
Dupont then takes another verse from Nostradamus that refers to America:
"As a Griffin the King of Europe shall come,
Accompanied by those of Aquila.
Of Reds and Whites shall lead a great army,
Shall march against the King of Babylon."
Dupont explains that “The Great King is here represented as a Griffin — a mythical creature formed with the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and the dorsal fin of a fish. This comparison may be explained by the fact that his will be a motley army, and we have seen that some seers call him the ‘Lion’ or the ‘Eagle.’ The Great King will receive the assistance of the U.S.A. (Aquila). By that time Communism will have been defeated. Many former Communists troops will defect and join the forces of liberation. This union of Reds and Whites will throw back to the sea the invading Mohammedan forces (King of Babylon).”
Dupont then points to another verse by Nostradamus, where he once more mentions the American intervention, which, of all the prophecies Nostradamus, is the most explicit in this respect:
“The Rodians shall ask for assistance.
Forsaken by neglect of their sons.
Arab Empire shall roll back in its course,
By Hesperides the cause shall be restored.”
Dupont explains: “The Rodians, as stated above, may well mean the Knights of St. John, who, as prominent champions of Christian civilization once more, in dire straits, because its members failed to respond to a call to arms, may invoke their influence with the American government and request American assistance. The Americans will come, and things will be straightened out. That the Americans will finally intervene is beyond doubt. In this case, however, the above interpretation is not absolutely certain. Nostradamus often uses the same word for different things. In some quatrains, it is clear that ‘Hesperides’ means America.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday May 13th & Thursday May 14th
Article 15
Heed the Fatima Message or Become Enslaved to Totalitarianism
Wednesday May 13th & Thursday May 14th
Article 15
Heed the Fatima Message or Become Enslaved to Totalitarianism
How Long Will I Suffer You?
“How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16), says Our Lord, “O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” (Luke 9:41). “Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). To which Jesus adds: “Why call you me, Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Those same reproaches could also be placed in the mouth of Our Lady―who has been humiliated and rejected by our apparent disregard for her warnings and commands.
Take the Advice or Pay the Price
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds to those reproaches these words: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
Weaponize Your Rosary
St. Padre Pio said that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” Our Lady said that the Rosary is the weapon by which God wants to reform the world (cf. The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort). Sister Lucia of Fatima said that the Rosary has been given a new power to be the solution of all problems. Do you realize and appreciate the fact that you carry the most powerful weapon in the world (outside of the Holy Mass) in your pocket or purse!
Our Lady of Fatima explicitly said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th 1917). Our Lady of Akita, 56 years later, in 1973, repeated that inescapable truth: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita, 1973).
Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
At Fatima, Our Lady informed Francisco that he could only get to Heaven if he prayed many Rosaries! What had a little 9-year-old boy done to merit that command? He had done far less than we have done! The world was also in a state nowhere near the sinful state that it finds itself in today! A meager 2% or 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―and one must seriously doubt that they pray the Rosary as it should be prayed―slowly, respectfully, with intentions and meditatively. Perhaps that is how you pray it―but few do! Yet we expect remedies for a few paltry, distracted, hastily said, non-meditated, half-hearted Rosaries that lack fervor, intensity and immovable Faith! We are deluded fools, complacent idiots, prideful dreamers, spineless soldiers and addicts of the world with our heads buried in the sands of indifference and neglect.
Sin abounds more and more―yet the Rosary is prayed less and less! What do you expect? How can you expect to fight an ever worsening disease by taking less and less medicine? Is that not stupidity? Is that not insanity? Is that not suicidal? Well, then, why are we following such a stupid protocol with our approach to the Rosary and its “medicinal” application to the problems and crises that face us today on all fronts? Let us stop being stupid and start getting more realistic. If Our Lady said that only Our Lady of the Rosary can help us now―and that the Rosary is one of last weapons Heaven has given us―then who the heck do we think we are in ignoring those truths and commands? We are not going to arrest the many crises facing us by merely sharing information, forwarding e-mails, writing articles, signing petitions, protesting to governmental agencies and representatives―we will only change things by using the supernatural weapons Heaven has given. You will not change Heaven’s mind―you can only change your own mind, together with you habits and opinions. If 98 out 100 Catholics do not pray the Rosary, then―just in any family, workplace or battlefield―someone must “pick-up the slack” and make up for that neglect. If not, then we will pay the consequences―and those consequences will be very, very heavy, as Our Lady has warned:
“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Akita) … “Nations will be annihilated!” (Fatima) … “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder … Blood will flow on all sides … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling … Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens!” (La Salette) … “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … There will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed! … Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
What is there about this that you don’t understand? It could be any clearer! We know the remedies―but we refuse to take them, or, we refuse to take them according to the recommended dosages: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended!” If everyone was to spend as much time praying the Rosary against this agenda, this crisis, this demonically created assault on both Church and mankind, then massive and phenomenal things would occur! Just think of the victories of the Rosary against Islam at Lepanto in 1571; or the Rosary’s protection for the Jesuit priests in Hiroshima, Japan, during the Second World War, by emerging unscathed from the dropped atom-bomb; or the Rosary’s victory against Communism in Austria in the 1950s and Brazil in the 1960s [read more about these victories here]. It is proof of its power―yet we refuse to tap into that power and neglect the recommended dosages!
A Powerful Weapon, but …
A bullet that misses the target is a wasted bullet. A missile that misses its target is an expensive waste weaponry. St. Padre Pio said that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” ― but a weapon is only as good as the person who is using it and a bullet or missile that hits the target is also wasted if it is the wrong target―just like a doctor who treats the symptom but fails to attack the cause of the symptom. The COVID-19 Plannedemic is merely a symptom of another hidden more nefarious cause and agenda. That is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly!” He also reports the words of Our Lady to St. Dominic: “Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? In this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Rosary].”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
OUR LADY OF FATIMA, at each apparition, commanded that the Rosary be prayed daily―with the Angel of Portugal, when he saw the Fatima playing, adding: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!”
I Know All That!
Sure you know all the above―but what are you doing with your knowledge? Our Lord says: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Being given the grace of the Traditional or Conservative Catholic Faith, you have received far more than anyone else in this world―just as the man in the parable of the Talents who was given 5 talents! Have you used your talents to much profit, or have you buried your talent? All Catholics are soldiers for Christ―but Traditional Catholics are meant to be an elite fighting force, like the Green Berets, Navy Seals, Marine Snipers, etc. Yet most do not live up to that calling! Once again, let it repeated: “How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16), says Our Lord, “O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” (Luke 9:41). “Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). To which Jesus adds: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Those same reproaches could also be placed in the mouth of Our Lady―who has been humiliated and rejected by our apparent disregard for her constant warnings and repeated commands.
Take the Advice or Pay the Price
SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA adds to those reproaches these words: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT says: “When the Rosary is well said, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer. But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words … Because of the constant repetition of the Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and inclined to sleep, or to turn to other prayers that are more refreshing and less tedious. This shows that one needs much greater devotion to persevere in saying the Rosary … Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions … Even if you have to fight distractions all through your whole Rosary, be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is difficult to say and you have no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be admitting defeat and then the devil, having got what he wanted, will leave you in peace, and on the Day of Judgment will taunt you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT adds: “Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. [also] The stronger our Faith―the more merit our Rosary will have. In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10). (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
“Our Lady also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this MEDITATION IS THE SOUL OF THIS PRAYER.” For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation, would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation. We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put Him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all … The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden … It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. I beg you to restrain your natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which I have marked with a cross, as follows. At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Making Your Rosary a More Powerful Weapon
RECOMMENDED MANNER OF THE PRAYING THE ROSARY PRAYERS ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT
(The Secret of the Rosary, §127)
St. Louis de Montfort suggests a very short pause at each sign of the cross
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, + hallowed by Thy Name, + Thy kingdom come, + Thy will be done + on Earth as it is in Heaven. + Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. + Amen.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, + blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. + Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and at the hour of our death. + Amen.
Glory be to the Father + and to the Son + and to the Holy Ghost, + as it was in the beginning, + is now and ever shall be, + world without end. + Amen.
SHORT INVOCATIONS TO BE INSERTED IN EACH HAIL MARY
There is also a long-lost custom of adding a short invocation midway through each Hail Mary, immediately after the word “Jesus”. For example, in the 1st Sorrowful Mystery of the Agony in the Garden, it could be the words ― “Jesus in agony over our sins!” Hence it would be said thus: “…and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, in agony over our sins! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, etc.”
In the present worldwide escalating crisis, the invocations can be modified to make mention of our present threats and dangers. Choose and use whatever you want. Below are a mere few generic suggestions out of literally thousands of possible invocations. Remember! Our Lady said at Fatima and Akita THAT ONLY SHE CAN HELP US! Stop looking elsewhere! Though some things can be helpful in this crisis, such as the forwarding of information, videos, etc.― it not this which will solve the crisis. The current crisis ultimately has a preternatural cause (the devil) and it can only be overcome with a supernatural solution (Our Lady and the Rosary). That is how God has decided it will be ― we can either take His advice or pay the price! Insert these or any other invocations you like into your Rosaries. Even though they will not make your Rosary as powerful as a truly meditated Rosary, they will nevertheless increase the power of your Rosaries. Above all, DO NOT RUSH! Pray as you would hold a conversation ― which means interspersed with pauses and not a case of verbal diarrhea.
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Annunciation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling Catholics to fulfill God’s will by increased devotion to Mary”
2nd Mystery : Visitation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to personally go and spread devotion to Mary …”
3rd Mystery : Nativity ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, wishing to be truly born into our hearts and rule our daily lives …”
4th Mystery : Presentation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to present ourselves before Him ready for battle …”
5th Mystery : Finding in Temple ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us seek out lost souls and indifferent Catholics …”
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Agony in Garden ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to truly weep over the sins of the world, the ultimate cause of our crisis …”
2nd Mystery : Scourging ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to brave and endure tongue lashings for His sake and the sake of truth …”
3rd Mystery : Crowning with Thorns ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to endure the world imposed thorns of threats and fears …”
4th Mystery : Carrying of the Cross ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to profit from the crosses imposed upon us by the crisis …”
5th Mystery : Crucifixion ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to be ready for martyrdom if we should be called …”
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Resurrection ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, telling us that the triumph over evil will eventually come …”
2nd Mystery : Ascension ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking to look to Heaven and not Earth for help and intervention …”
3rd Mystery : Pentecost ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, sending the Spirit of God to cast out our fears and give us courage…”
4th Mystery : Assumption ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, offering us our place in Heaven if we fight the good fight of Faith …”
5th Mystery : Coronation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, offering us the crown of victory …”
Talking About Remedies
Everyone is talking about remedies for COVID-19 and the official narrative has deified vaccination as being the god that will save the world! Yet the real virus, the real disease, the real threat is the agenda behind this man-made COVID-19 virus. Nobody is speaking about and focusing upon a remedy for the CAUSE of it all, they are only worried about addressing and treating the SYMPTOM (COVID-19), but not the CAUSE (the nefarious agenda).
Heaven has warned of this agenda and Heaven has given us a remedy or a cure for this! We either take the advice or pay the price! Just as Fr. Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, says about the need of an IMMENSE INCREASE in devotion to Mary, likewise, we will fall into the worldwide total Communistic enslavement that Our Lady foretold through Sister Lucia of Fatima, if there is not an IMMENSE INCREASE in the praying of the Rosary and the performance of numerous, countless acts of penance and sacrifice. The era of the armchair Catholic has come to an end―he either falls to his knees in almost constant prayer, or he will be brought to his knees by totalitarianist Communism posing as and hiding behind and within the political parties your own countries.
Our Lady has warned us enough times already―we either take the advice or pay the price. The time is no longer far away in the future. Recent events have shown that what Our Lady foretold is just around the corner. Take the following words of Fr. Faber and simply apply them to our situation today:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants [or lukewarm Catholics] may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! “
Sharing information and enlightening others is good up to a point―but there comes a time when the continual talk must stop and continual prayers must start. Knowing what is going on is only half the job. A patient who goes to a doctor expects, not only to be informed as to what is wrong with him, but he also to expects receive medication to solve the problem. Knowledge without action is like a diagnosis without treatment. ”O, we’ve found out that you have cancer! You can go home now with the full knowledge that you have cancer and not some other disease!” But what about the treatment? What about the solution? How about prayer and penance on an unprecedented scale to match the unprecedented scale of this clearly man-made crisis (which ultimately comes from the devil).
One would hope that Catholics would react to what is a thinly disguised attack upon mankind as a whole and the Catholic Church in particular―for the Catholic Church is the only real church and the only real barrier that stands between Satan and his lust for souls and world domination. Yet, Our Lady’s La Salette warning rings ominously true: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” This brings to mind the equally ominous words of Our Lord: “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3)―to which Holy Scripture further adds: “God hath given him place for penance― and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23) … “I gave her a time that she might do penance―but she will not repent of her fornication!” (Apocalypse 2:21).
“How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16), says Our Lord, “O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” (Luke 9:41). “Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). To which Jesus adds: “Why call you me, Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Those same reproaches could also be placed in the mouth of Our Lady―who has been humiliated and rejected by our apparent disregard for her warnings and commands.
Take the Advice or Pay the Price
Sister Lucia of Fatima adds to those reproaches these words: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
Weaponize Your Rosary
St. Padre Pio said that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” Our Lady said that the Rosary is the weapon by which God wants to reform the world (cf. The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort). Sister Lucia of Fatima said that the Rosary has been given a new power to be the solution of all problems. Do you realize and appreciate the fact that you carry the most powerful weapon in the world (outside of the Holy Mass) in your pocket or purse!
Our Lady of Fatima explicitly said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th 1917). Our Lady of Akita, 56 years later, in 1973, repeated that inescapable truth: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita, 1973).
Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
At Fatima, Our Lady informed Francisco that he could only get to Heaven if he prayed many Rosaries! What had a little 9-year-old boy done to merit that command? He had done far less than we have done! The world was also in a state nowhere near the sinful state that it finds itself in today! A meager 2% or 3% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―and one must seriously doubt that they pray the Rosary as it should be prayed―slowly, respectfully, with intentions and meditatively. Perhaps that is how you pray it―but few do! Yet we expect remedies for a few paltry, distracted, hastily said, non-meditated, half-hearted Rosaries that lack fervor, intensity and immovable Faith! We are deluded fools, complacent idiots, prideful dreamers, spineless soldiers and addicts of the world with our heads buried in the sands of indifference and neglect.
Sin abounds more and more―yet the Rosary is prayed less and less! What do you expect? How can you expect to fight an ever worsening disease by taking less and less medicine? Is that not stupidity? Is that not insanity? Is that not suicidal? Well, then, why are we following such a stupid protocol with our approach to the Rosary and its “medicinal” application to the problems and crises that face us today on all fronts? Let us stop being stupid and start getting more realistic. If Our Lady said that only Our Lady of the Rosary can help us now―and that the Rosary is one of last weapons Heaven has given us―then who the heck do we think we are in ignoring those truths and commands? We are not going to arrest the many crises facing us by merely sharing information, forwarding e-mails, writing articles, signing petitions, protesting to governmental agencies and representatives―we will only change things by using the supernatural weapons Heaven has given. You will not change Heaven’s mind―you can only change your own mind, together with you habits and opinions. If 98 out 100 Catholics do not pray the Rosary, then―just in any family, workplace or battlefield―someone must “pick-up the slack” and make up for that neglect. If not, then we will pay the consequences―and those consequences will be very, very heavy, as Our Lady has warned:
“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead!” (Akita) … “Nations will be annihilated!” (Fatima) … “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder … Blood will flow on all sides … Blood will flow in the streets … A general war will follow which will be appalling … Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens!” (La Salette) … “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings … How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … There will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private … There will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed! … Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
What is there about this that you don’t understand? It could be any clearer! We know the remedies―but we refuse to take them, or, we refuse to take them according to the recommended dosages: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended!” If everyone was to spend as much time praying the Rosary against this agenda, this crisis, this demonically created assault on both Church and mankind, then massive and phenomenal things would occur! Just think of the victories of the Rosary against Islam at Lepanto in 1571; or the Rosary’s protection for the Jesuit priests in Hiroshima, Japan, during the Second World War, by emerging unscathed from the dropped atom-bomb; or the Rosary’s victory against Communism in Austria in the 1950s and Brazil in the 1960s [read more about these victories here]. It is proof of its power―yet we refuse to tap into that power and neglect the recommended dosages!
A Powerful Weapon, but …
A bullet that misses the target is a wasted bullet. A missile that misses its target is an expensive waste weaponry. St. Padre Pio said that “The Rosary is THE weapon!” ― but a weapon is only as good as the person who is using it and a bullet or missile that hits the target is also wasted if it is the wrong target―just like a doctor who treats the symptom but fails to attack the cause of the symptom. The COVID-19 Plannedemic is merely a symptom of another hidden more nefarious cause and agenda. That is why St. Louis de Montfort writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly!” He also reports the words of Our Lady to St. Dominic: “Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? In this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter [the Rosary].”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
OUR LADY OF FATIMA, at each apparition, commanded that the Rosary be prayed daily―with the Angel of Portugal, when he saw the Fatima playing, adding: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!”
I Know All That!
Sure you know all the above―but what are you doing with your knowledge? Our Lord says: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). Being given the grace of the Traditional or Conservative Catholic Faith, you have received far more than anyone else in this world―just as the man in the parable of the Talents who was given 5 talents! Have you used your talents to much profit, or have you buried your talent? All Catholics are soldiers for Christ―but Traditional Catholics are meant to be an elite fighting force, like the Green Berets, Navy Seals, Marine Snipers, etc. Yet most do not live up to that calling! Once again, let it repeated: “How long shall I suffer you?” (Matthew 17:16), says Our Lord, “O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” (Luke 9:41). “Hear, O foolish people and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). To which Jesus adds: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Those same reproaches could also be placed in the mouth of Our Lady―who has been humiliated and rejected by our apparent disregard for her constant warnings and repeated commands.
Take the Advice or Pay the Price
SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA adds to those reproaches these words: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! You must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!”
ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT says: “When the Rosary is well said, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer. But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words … Because of the constant repetition of the Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and inclined to sleep, or to turn to other prayers that are more refreshing and less tedious. This shows that one needs much greater devotion to persevere in saying the Rosary … Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions … Even if you have to fight distractions all through your whole Rosary, be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is difficult to say and you have no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be admitting defeat and then the devil, having got what he wanted, will leave you in peace, and on the Day of Judgment will taunt you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT adds: “Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should … To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace, or at least be fully determined to give up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. [also] The stronger our Faith―the more merit our Rosary will have. In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10). (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
“Our Lady also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this MEDITATION IS THE SOUL OF THIS PRAYER.” For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation, would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation. We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put Him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all … The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden … It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. I beg you to restrain your natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which I have marked with a cross, as follows. At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary).
Making Your Rosary a More Powerful Weapon
RECOMMENDED MANNER OF THE PRAYING THE ROSARY PRAYERS ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT
(The Secret of the Rosary, §127)
St. Louis de Montfort suggests a very short pause at each sign of the cross
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, + hallowed by Thy Name, + Thy kingdom come, + Thy will be done + on Earth as it is in Heaven. + Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. + Amen.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, + blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. + Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and at the hour of our death. + Amen.
Glory be to the Father + and to the Son + and to the Holy Ghost, + as it was in the beginning, + is now and ever shall be, + world without end. + Amen.
SHORT INVOCATIONS TO BE INSERTED IN EACH HAIL MARY
There is also a long-lost custom of adding a short invocation midway through each Hail Mary, immediately after the word “Jesus”. For example, in the 1st Sorrowful Mystery of the Agony in the Garden, it could be the words ― “Jesus in agony over our sins!” Hence it would be said thus: “…and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, in agony over our sins! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, etc.”
In the present worldwide escalating crisis, the invocations can be modified to make mention of our present threats and dangers. Choose and use whatever you want. Below are a mere few generic suggestions out of literally thousands of possible invocations. Remember! Our Lady said at Fatima and Akita THAT ONLY SHE CAN HELP US! Stop looking elsewhere! Though some things can be helpful in this crisis, such as the forwarding of information, videos, etc.― it not this which will solve the crisis. The current crisis ultimately has a preternatural cause (the devil) and it can only be overcome with a supernatural solution (Our Lady and the Rosary). That is how God has decided it will be ― we can either take His advice or pay the price! Insert these or any other invocations you like into your Rosaries. Even though they will not make your Rosary as powerful as a truly meditated Rosary, they will nevertheless increase the power of your Rosaries. Above all, DO NOT RUSH! Pray as you would hold a conversation ― which means interspersed with pauses and not a case of verbal diarrhea.
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Annunciation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling Catholics to fulfill God’s will by increased devotion to Mary”
2nd Mystery : Visitation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to personally go and spread devotion to Mary …”
3rd Mystery : Nativity ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, wishing to be truly born into our hearts and rule our daily lives …”
4th Mystery : Presentation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to present ourselves before Him ready for battle …”
5th Mystery : Finding in Temple ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us seek out lost souls and indifferent Catholics …”
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Agony in Garden ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, calling us to truly weep over the sins of the world, the ultimate cause of our crisis …”
2nd Mystery : Scourging ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to brave and endure tongue lashings for His sake and the sake of truth …”
3rd Mystery : Crowning with Thorns ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to endure the world imposed thorns of threats and fears …”
4th Mystery : Carrying of the Cross ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to profit from the crosses imposed upon us by the crisis …”
5th Mystery : Crucifixion ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking us to be ready for martyrdom if we should be called …”
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
1st Mystery : Resurrection ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, telling us that the triumph over evil will eventually come …”
2nd Mystery : Ascension ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, asking to look to Heaven and not Earth for help and intervention …”
3rd Mystery : Pentecost ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, sending the Spirit of God to cast out our fears and give us courage…”
4th Mystery : Assumption ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, offering us our place in Heaven if we fight the good fight of Faith …”
5th Mystery : Coronation ― “…of thy womb, Jesus, offering us the crown of victory …”
Talking About Remedies
Everyone is talking about remedies for COVID-19 and the official narrative has deified vaccination as being the god that will save the world! Yet the real virus, the real disease, the real threat is the agenda behind this man-made COVID-19 virus. Nobody is speaking about and focusing upon a remedy for the CAUSE of it all, they are only worried about addressing and treating the SYMPTOM (COVID-19), but not the CAUSE (the nefarious agenda).
Heaven has warned of this agenda and Heaven has given us a remedy or a cure for this! We either take the advice or pay the price! Just as Fr. Faber, in the Preface of his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, says about the need of an IMMENSE INCREASE in devotion to Mary, likewise, we will fall into the worldwide total Communistic enslavement that Our Lady foretold through Sister Lucia of Fatima, if there is not an IMMENSE INCREASE in the praying of the Rosary and the performance of numerous, countless acts of penance and sacrifice. The era of the armchair Catholic has come to an end―he either falls to his knees in almost constant prayer, or he will be brought to his knees by totalitarianist Communism posing as and hiding behind and within the political parties your own countries.
Our Lady has warned us enough times already―we either take the advice or pay the price. The time is no longer far away in the future. Recent events have shown that what Our Lady foretold is just around the corner. Take the following words of Fr. Faber and simply apply them to our situation today:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants [or lukewarm Catholics] may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! “
Sharing information and enlightening others is good up to a point―but there comes a time when the continual talk must stop and continual prayers must start. Knowing what is going on is only half the job. A patient who goes to a doctor expects, not only to be informed as to what is wrong with him, but he also to expects receive medication to solve the problem. Knowledge without action is like a diagnosis without treatment. ”O, we’ve found out that you have cancer! You can go home now with the full knowledge that you have cancer and not some other disease!” But what about the treatment? What about the solution? How about prayer and penance on an unprecedented scale to match the unprecedented scale of this clearly man-made crisis (which ultimately comes from the devil).
One would hope that Catholics would react to what is a thinly disguised attack upon mankind as a whole and the Catholic Church in particular―for the Catholic Church is the only real church and the only real barrier that stands between Satan and his lust for souls and world domination. Yet, Our Lady’s La Salette warning rings ominously true: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” This brings to mind the equally ominous words of Our Lord: “I say to you―unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3)―to which Holy Scripture further adds: “God hath given him place for penance― and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23) … “I gave her a time that she might do penance―but she will not repent of her fornication!” (Apocalypse 2:21).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday May 11th & Tuesday May 12th
Article 14
Backs to the Wall! Guns to the Head!
This is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Monday May 11th & Tuesday May 12th
Article 14
Backs to the Wall! Guns to the Head!
This is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
It Won’t Happen to Me!
Whether it be natural warnings or supernatural warnings, most people have the complacent, naïve, ludicrous attitude of: “It won’t happen to me!” Hell is full of such souls! Yet we don’t have to look as far as Hell for this sad attitude of “It won’t happen to me!” to be proved to be misguided and wrong. Many Americans no doubt thought that way with regards to Communism―disregarding the prophecy of Sister Lucia of Fatima that Communism would soon take over the WHOLE WORLD. When asked if that also meant America―she replied: “Yes!” Yet Americans still refused to believe that prediction―or, if they believed it, then they thought: “Not in my lifetime!”
This is the sad phenomenon that produces procrastination and postpones any preparation for what increasingly seems to be―not merely “possible”, not merely “probable”, but positively, painfully, prophetically certain. Communism has progressively taken over America IDEOLOGICALLY and, in light of the totalitarian shutdown and lockdown of almost the entire world, Communism has now left the recesses of the mind and has boldly entered the streets of our lives. If you can’t see it or recognize it―then you have become what Communists call a “Useful Idiot”―and of whom Holy Scripture says: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day … Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see!” (Romans 11:8-10). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
What is to be feared right now is that the progressive, cautious, gradual, “re-opening” of the world will only serve to increase the complacency and believe of those naïve “It won’t happen to me!” types, whom Communists rightly call “Useful Idiots”. Their mentality will be one of “See! The world didn’t end! See! Everything is getting back to normal! There is nothing to fear!” Yes―there is something to fear―it is their stupidity and ignorance!
The enemies of the Church and mankind have been inching ahead with their plans for decades―with each generation seeing only a little advance on the way to fulfilling Our Lady’s prediction that Communism will take over the entire world. Since each generation only sees a little change in their lifetime, there is little anxiety, little reaction, as little by little Satan advances with his plans to destroy the Church, while capturing and damning innumerable souls.
Satan in the Church
We know, of course, that Satan is the prince of the world ― “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30) ― and the world is his instrument and tool that he chiefly uses to damn the vast majority of souls that have ever lived― “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Yet most people imagine themselves to be “saved”, they think that THEY are among the “few” that find the “narrow gate” to salvation―yet Hell is full of souls who thought that way. They imagined they would be saved and, as regards damnation, they thought: “It won’t happen to me!”
Pope Leo XIII ― Yet in these latter days, Satan has pitched his tent and encamped in the Catholic Church. In 1884, after having offered Holy Mass, just as he about to leave the altar, the 74 year old Pope Leo XIII paused, as if he was in a trance for a few minutes, and turned ashen white. Afterwards, the Pope related that he had experienced a sort of vision, in which he heard two voices, one of which he took to be that of Christ, gentle and kind, and the other that of Satan, guttural and harsh. Satan said: “I could destroy Your Church if I had the time, and more power over those who give themselves over to my service.” And then Pope Leo heard Christ to answer: “You have the power, you have the time ―100 years.”
Pope Paul VI ― Less than 100 years later, another Pope, this time Paul VI, spoke several times of Satan having entered the Catholic Church:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world.’”
“In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
Satan in Government
If Satan has entered the Church, then how much more does he not have a grip upon the world and its rulers. If Satan is the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), then you can bet your bottom-dollar or last-dime that he most certainly rules those elements of the world that have opposed and/or rejected the Law of God and the Church of God (the Catholic Church). The recently deceased former chief exorcist of Rome, of over 30 years of experience in exorcism, Father Gabriele Amorth, said: “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office. Evil exists in politics, quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office. Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How do I know? Because they killed millions of people. The Gospel says: ‘By their fruits you will know them.’ Unfortunately, an exorcism on them would not have been enough, since they were convinced of what they were doing. We can’t say it was a possession in the strict sense of the word, but rather a total and voluntary acceptance of the suggestions of the devil.”
Fr. Michael P. Orsi, a priest at St. Agnes Parish in Naples, Florida, also host of “Action for Life TV”― a weekly cable television series devoted to pro-life issues ― recently wrote in a March 13th, 2020, Life-Site-News article: “The devil has made his home among the leadership of the Democratic Party for some time now, and found it a most hospitable environment.” He speaks of a time when he was “in the company of a police officer” who “received a radio call about an alligator prowling the grounds of a nearby hospital.” He accompanied the police to the hospital to “watch how he handled the dangerous beast. When we arrived, we saw clearly that the alligator had been run over by a car.” poked with his club, and nothing happened. The alligator still looked dead. So the officer walked around to the other side of the beast and poked him again. Again nothing ... The officer kicked the alligator’s tail, and suddenly, the frightening creature whipped itself around. It had been injured, but it was alive. There’s a lesson in this little story: Satan is a lot like that alligator. It’s easy to assume he’s dead or not present. But when you least expect it, you suddenly find he’s very present, very conscious, and angry as that wounded alligator was. The devil has made his home among the leadership of the Democratic Party for some time now, and found it a most hospitable environment. This can be deduced from the fact that every prominent Democrat figure is totally committed to abortion — even partial-birth abortion and post-delivery abortion, which is to say infanticide. What else but diabolical influence can explain their determination to block even the slightest impingement upon the murder of children? … Abortion is only the beginning. Here in Florida, there’s already a “death-with-dignity” bill in the legislative pipeline (Senate Bill 1800). “Death with dignity,” of course, is a euphemism that means we can “put people to sleep,” just as we might do to a sick dog or cat (or a wounded alligator) … Satan is tricky! The alligator isn’t dead yet!”
Just as there is no doubt that Satan has entered the Catholic Church and chiefly rules through Freemasonry (there are Masonic lodges for the clergy in the Vatican) and through more blatant Satanic practices ― so too has Satan penetrated civil governments and rules by the same means ― as foretold by Our Lady of Good Success: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church.”
This is why Holy Scripture says: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). Those rulers and princes of the world are opposed to God and Christ―regardless of what lip-service they may pretend to pay to God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying] ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3).
One can indirectly and implicitly associate Satan with most governments of the world by the simple fact of looking at whose commandments those governments follow. God has given us certain Commandments to keep and to follow. The commandments of Satan are commands to break the Commandments of God. God says: “Thou shalt not kill!” Satan says: “Thou shalt kill!” Not to even mention the many surreptitious and nefarious behind the scene killings and deliberately fomented wars―the big killer is abortion, which has passes into law by most of the governments of the world. Christ said: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!” (Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9), and the Satanic desire to break God’s Commandments has led to most governments of the world accepting and passing laws that allow divorce. You could cite innumerable similar cases that show that the world has largely become Satanic in its ideology and pursuits.
We are increasingly living in a modern day Sodom and Gommorha, which has made lawful what God looks upon as being an abomination. The fire and brimstone from Heaven is being once again provoked―yet this time, in a Satanic spite, Satan wishes to beat God to it―thus we see Satan preparing his minions on Earth to pull off a gigantic worldwide slaughter of mankind―under the smoke and mirrors of disease, vaccines, famines, arrests and murders, civil wars and international wars―using all the latest technological devices and weapons that his devilish intellect has helped create over the recent decades. He dupes and drags everyone along with a Satanic smile that pretends to be doing everything for the “common good” ― which is in fact for the good of Hell. There are politicians who see this clearly and willingly follow the Satanic pied-piper. There are others who merely worldly and godless―which makes them blind to reality―of which Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Yet they smile and charm us, they pretend sympathy and beguile us―we vote for them! Yet Holy Scripture says: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Souls Sold to World―Therefore Sold to the Devil
Make no mistake about―despite any protests to the contrary―most souls are sold on the world, most souls love the world, most souls are sunk in mammon up to their eyeballs, most souls spend most of their time in worldly activities. They have fallen for the temptation that Christ refused to fall for: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve!’” (Matthew 4:8-10). Our Lord would later say on the subject of worldliness and the riches that the devil, the prince of world, can offer us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Thus, indirectly and implicitly, perhaps ignorantly and stupidly, most souls love the devil by loving the things he has dangled before them―riches, power, pleasure, possessions, entertainment, sports, fashions, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, immodesty, violence, and especially the web of the internet and all that it leads to. Without explicitly telling God to “push-off” and “get-lost”, they have done so indirectly and implicitly through their love of Satan’s fodder―the glamour and glitz, the things and attractions of the world. As Christ said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). One day Christ will address them with the words He spoke directly to Peter (and indirectly to James and John) in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40) ― but you found time to watch TV and browse the internet and be on the smartphone and social media for hours and hours each and every day! Are these persons possessed by the devil? No, not in the strict sense. However, the words that Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the former chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, applied to Adolf Hitler are equally applicable to these persons, because they follow the suggestions of the devil and his minions ― the godless politicians: “Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How do I know? Because they killed millions of people. The Gospel says: ‘By their fruits you will know them.’ Unfortunately, an exorcism on them would not have been enough, since they were convinced of what they were doing. We can’t say it was a possession in the strict sense of the word, but rather a total and voluntary acceptance of the suggestions of the devil.”
Backs to the Wall―A Gun to the Head
The words of Our Lady of Good Success, regarding our times, seem to be hauntingly and painfully true: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Therefore, clamor insistently, without tiring, and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart. Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times!”
Whether it be natural warnings or supernatural warnings, most people have the complacent, naïve, ludicrous attitude of: “It won’t happen to me!” Hell is full of such souls! Yet we don’t have to look as far as Hell for this sad attitude of “It won’t happen to me!” to be proved to be misguided and wrong. Many Americans no doubt thought that way with regards to Communism―disregarding the prophecy of Sister Lucia of Fatima that Communism would soon take over the WHOLE WORLD. When asked if that also meant America―she replied: “Yes!” Yet Americans still refused to believe that prediction―or, if they believed it, then they thought: “Not in my lifetime!”
This is the sad phenomenon that produces procrastination and postpones any preparation for what increasingly seems to be―not merely “possible”, not merely “probable”, but positively, painfully, prophetically certain. Communism has progressively taken over America IDEOLOGICALLY and, in light of the totalitarian shutdown and lockdown of almost the entire world, Communism has now left the recesses of the mind and has boldly entered the streets of our lives. If you can’t see it or recognize it―then you have become what Communists call a “Useful Idiot”―and of whom Holy Scripture says: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day … Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see!” (Romans 11:8-10). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
What is to be feared right now is that the progressive, cautious, gradual, “re-opening” of the world will only serve to increase the complacency and believe of those naïve “It won’t happen to me!” types, whom Communists rightly call “Useful Idiots”. Their mentality will be one of “See! The world didn’t end! See! Everything is getting back to normal! There is nothing to fear!” Yes―there is something to fear―it is their stupidity and ignorance!
The enemies of the Church and mankind have been inching ahead with their plans for decades―with each generation seeing only a little advance on the way to fulfilling Our Lady’s prediction that Communism will take over the entire world. Since each generation only sees a little change in their lifetime, there is little anxiety, little reaction, as little by little Satan advances with his plans to destroy the Church, while capturing and damning innumerable souls.
Satan in the Church
We know, of course, that Satan is the prince of the world ― “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30) ― and the world is his instrument and tool that he chiefly uses to damn the vast majority of souls that have ever lived― “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). Yet most people imagine themselves to be “saved”, they think that THEY are among the “few” that find the “narrow gate” to salvation―yet Hell is full of souls who thought that way. They imagined they would be saved and, as regards damnation, they thought: “It won’t happen to me!”
Pope Leo XIII ― Yet in these latter days, Satan has pitched his tent and encamped in the Catholic Church. In 1884, after having offered Holy Mass, just as he about to leave the altar, the 74 year old Pope Leo XIII paused, as if he was in a trance for a few minutes, and turned ashen white. Afterwards, the Pope related that he had experienced a sort of vision, in which he heard two voices, one of which he took to be that of Christ, gentle and kind, and the other that of Satan, guttural and harsh. Satan said: “I could destroy Your Church if I had the time, and more power over those who give themselves over to my service.” And then Pope Leo heard Christ to answer: “You have the power, you have the time ―100 years.”
Pope Paul VI ― Less than 100 years later, another Pope, this time Paul VI, spoke several times of Satan having entered the Catholic Church:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
Fr. Malachi Martin, in his book, The Kingdom of Darkness, describes what is meant by “the smoke of Satan”. He tells of an interview that Pope Paul VI gave to his close friend, Jean Guitton, not long before the pope died. When Guitton asked Pope Paul VI about his often-quoted remark regarding “the smoke of Satan”, Paul VI replied: “Yes, the smoke of Satan is in the sanctuary. Due to the presence of Satan, Catholics are destined to become an infinitesimally small part of humanity.”
Father Martin adds: “We must remember this. A new assault has been launched! The assault is very simple. The temptation is: ‘Just be like the rest of men. Adore a general god. Be good. Be compassionate. Be humanitarian. Join the rest of humanity in building man’s earthly world.’”
“In Rome, there is a force which at the present moment is immovable. It cannot be dislodged by ordinary human means. This is where, again, one’s Faith in Our Lady of Fatima comes in, because she said that only she can save the Church, because that is what her Son has willed. It is not so because it was her own choice, but because it what Christ has chosen. Christ chose that His Mother should be the one to come and finally save the Church. If you read carefully what Our Lady told Sister Lucia, you get a strong message that things are going bad. Many of the elect will lose their Faith.”
Satan in Government
If Satan has entered the Church, then how much more does he not have a grip upon the world and its rulers. If Satan is the “prince of this world” (John 14:30), then you can bet your bottom-dollar or last-dime that he most certainly rules those elements of the world that have opposed and/or rejected the Law of God and the Church of God (the Catholic Church). The recently deceased former chief exorcist of Rome, of over 30 years of experience in exorcism, Father Gabriele Amorth, said: “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan … The devil loves to take over those who hold political office. Evil exists in politics, quite often in fact. The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office. Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How do I know? Because they killed millions of people. The Gospel says: ‘By their fruits you will know them.’ Unfortunately, an exorcism on them would not have been enough, since they were convinced of what they were doing. We can’t say it was a possession in the strict sense of the word, but rather a total and voluntary acceptance of the suggestions of the devil.”
Fr. Michael P. Orsi, a priest at St. Agnes Parish in Naples, Florida, also host of “Action for Life TV”― a weekly cable television series devoted to pro-life issues ― recently wrote in a March 13th, 2020, Life-Site-News article: “The devil has made his home among the leadership of the Democratic Party for some time now, and found it a most hospitable environment.” He speaks of a time when he was “in the company of a police officer” who “received a radio call about an alligator prowling the grounds of a nearby hospital.” He accompanied the police to the hospital to “watch how he handled the dangerous beast. When we arrived, we saw clearly that the alligator had been run over by a car.” poked with his club, and nothing happened. The alligator still looked dead. So the officer walked around to the other side of the beast and poked him again. Again nothing ... The officer kicked the alligator’s tail, and suddenly, the frightening creature whipped itself around. It had been injured, but it was alive. There’s a lesson in this little story: Satan is a lot like that alligator. It’s easy to assume he’s dead or not present. But when you least expect it, you suddenly find he’s very present, very conscious, and angry as that wounded alligator was. The devil has made his home among the leadership of the Democratic Party for some time now, and found it a most hospitable environment. This can be deduced from the fact that every prominent Democrat figure is totally committed to abortion — even partial-birth abortion and post-delivery abortion, which is to say infanticide. What else but diabolical influence can explain their determination to block even the slightest impingement upon the murder of children? … Abortion is only the beginning. Here in Florida, there’s already a “death-with-dignity” bill in the legislative pipeline (Senate Bill 1800). “Death with dignity,” of course, is a euphemism that means we can “put people to sleep,” just as we might do to a sick dog or cat (or a wounded alligator) … Satan is tricky! The alligator isn’t dead yet!”
Just as there is no doubt that Satan has entered the Catholic Church and chiefly rules through Freemasonry (there are Masonic lodges for the clergy in the Vatican) and through more blatant Satanic practices ― so too has Satan penetrated civil governments and rules by the same means ― as foretold by Our Lady of Good Success: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church.”
This is why Holy Scripture says: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). Those rulers and princes of the world are opposed to God and Christ―regardless of what lip-service they may pretend to pay to God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ [saying] ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’” (Psalm 2:2-3).
One can indirectly and implicitly associate Satan with most governments of the world by the simple fact of looking at whose commandments those governments follow. God has given us certain Commandments to keep and to follow. The commandments of Satan are commands to break the Commandments of God. God says: “Thou shalt not kill!” Satan says: “Thou shalt kill!” Not to even mention the many surreptitious and nefarious behind the scene killings and deliberately fomented wars―the big killer is abortion, which has passes into law by most of the governments of the world. Christ said: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!” (Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9), and the Satanic desire to break God’s Commandments has led to most governments of the world accepting and passing laws that allow divorce. You could cite innumerable similar cases that show that the world has largely become Satanic in its ideology and pursuits.
We are increasingly living in a modern day Sodom and Gommorha, which has made lawful what God looks upon as being an abomination. The fire and brimstone from Heaven is being once again provoked―yet this time, in a Satanic spite, Satan wishes to beat God to it―thus we see Satan preparing his minions on Earth to pull off a gigantic worldwide slaughter of mankind―under the smoke and mirrors of disease, vaccines, famines, arrests and murders, civil wars and international wars―using all the latest technological devices and weapons that his devilish intellect has helped create over the recent decades. He dupes and drags everyone along with a Satanic smile that pretends to be doing everything for the “common good” ― which is in fact for the good of Hell. There are politicians who see this clearly and willingly follow the Satanic pied-piper. There are others who merely worldly and godless―which makes them blind to reality―of which Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Yet they smile and charm us, they pretend sympathy and beguile us―we vote for them! Yet Holy Scripture says: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Souls Sold to World―Therefore Sold to the Devil
Make no mistake about―despite any protests to the contrary―most souls are sold on the world, most souls love the world, most souls are sunk in mammon up to their eyeballs, most souls spend most of their time in worldly activities. They have fallen for the temptation that Christ refused to fall for: “The devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve!’” (Matthew 4:8-10). Our Lord would later say on the subject of worldliness and the riches that the devil, the prince of world, can offer us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth! … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven! … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Thus, indirectly and implicitly, perhaps ignorantly and stupidly, most souls love the devil by loving the things he has dangled before them―riches, power, pleasure, possessions, entertainment, sports, fashions, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, immodesty, violence, and especially the web of the internet and all that it leads to. Without explicitly telling God to “push-off” and “get-lost”, they have done so indirectly and implicitly through their love of Satan’s fodder―the glamour and glitz, the things and attractions of the world. As Christ said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). One day Christ will address them with the words He spoke directly to Peter (and indirectly to James and John) in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40) ― but you found time to watch TV and browse the internet and be on the smartphone and social media for hours and hours each and every day! Are these persons possessed by the devil? No, not in the strict sense. However, the words that Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the former chief exorcist of Rome for over 30 years, applied to Adolf Hitler are equally applicable to these persons, because they follow the suggestions of the devil and his minions ― the godless politicians: “Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How do I know? Because they killed millions of people. The Gospel says: ‘By their fruits you will know them.’ Unfortunately, an exorcism on them would not have been enough, since they were convinced of what they were doing. We can’t say it was a possession in the strict sense of the word, but rather a total and voluntary acceptance of the suggestions of the devil.”
Backs to the Wall―A Gun to the Head
The words of Our Lady of Good Success, regarding our times, seem to be hauntingly and painfully true: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Therefore, clamor insistently, without tiring, and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart. Implore our Celestial Father that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday May 8th & Saturday May 9th
Article 13
A Culture and Medicine of Death!
This article will begin once the previous one is completed. Apologies for the delay!
Friday May 8th & Saturday May 9th
Article 13
A Culture and Medicine of Death!
This article will begin once the previous one is completed. Apologies for the delay!
Killing with a Smile―Loving Someone to Death
You have undoubtedly heart the expressions: “I love him/her to death!” or “Killing with kindness” or “Killing with a smile”, etc. Which leads one to a related expression: “With friends like that! ― Who needs enemies?”
Now―if you are alert, you will say: “Aha! You are misusing the expression ‘Killing with kindness’―because what it really means is that you show kindness towards your enemies―those who hurt you, harm you or plot against you―and the expression!” ― and that is a true observation. “Killing with kindness”, is based upon the following quotes from Holy Scripture: “But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other cheek! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat, let go of thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee to walk one mile with him, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:39-44).
Those words of Our Lord are in line with the Old Testament, wherein it says: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat! If he thirst, give him water to drink―for thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head!” (Proverbs 25:21-22). To which the words of the New Testament further add: “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat―if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head! Be not overcome by evil―but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:19-21). We would all like to “heap coals of fire” upon the heads of our enemies―but not in the “kind” or “charitable” way Holy Scripture recommends―we want real coals of fire to bury them! That is the typical reaction of our fallen human nature―but “ ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord.” Nobody―at the end of the day―will escape unpunished by God. Yet God knows how to punish far better than we do! We are like a “back-street surgeon” compared to the spiritual master surgeon that God undoubtedly is―let us not play at being God and botch-up operations!
Back to the Point!
Enough of that digression―back to the point! “I love him/her to death!” … “Killing with kindness” or “Killing with a smile” … “With friends like that! ― Who needs enemies?” The world pretends to be a friend of Christians, yet, under that pretence, it seeks to “Love them to death, to kill them with kindness, to kill them with a smile!” Do not delude yourself and do not fall for the illusion that the world has Christ’s Laws and interests at heart! Christ, the Church, the Faith―all are “kindly” and “smilingly” and “lovingly” looked upon as being enemies of the State, enemies of the world―and its prince, the devil. Christ Himself returns the “compliment”, saying: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
To this, Holy Scripture adds: “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
A Fight to the Death in a Culture of Death
If you are one of those Catholics who seeks to have a foot in each of the two camps of the Church and the world―which are essentially the camps of Christ and Satan―then you are not only seeking to prove that Christ is wrong in his words: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), but you are also what the Communists call their naïve supporters, that is to say, “Useful Idiots.” You are trying to live in peace with the very ones that you should be fighting against! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” [not peace] (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4) … “The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour―whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
So why are you looking for ways of living in peace with the enemy? Those who do so are truly “Useful Idiots” ― not only in the eyes of Communists, but also in the eyes of the devil.
The Tree Test & The Duck Test
This point has to be stressed over and over again―just as the Coronavirus Plannedemic Propaganda is stressed over and over again, at all times, in all places, by all mainstream media channels and outlets―because people only start to take on board and believe what is repeated. The more often it is repeated, the more it penetrates their mind and changes their beliefs. The fact that the world is our enemy is not repeated sufficiently―which is clearly seen by the vast numbers of worldly Catholics that surround us. As Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21).
As the proverbial “Duck Test” says: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck―then it probably is a duck!” The test implies that someone or something can be successfully identified by observing that subject’s habitual characteristics. Most Catholics today dress like worldly people, act like worldly people, talk like worldly people―therefore they are worldly Catholics who are trying to prove Our Lord is a liar when He tells us we cannot serve God and mammon. They have become gluttons for what the world offers―gluttons for material things; gluttons for worldly activities (sports, hobbies, etc.); gluttons for TV, internet and social media; gluttons for food; gluttons for drink (especially alcohol); gluttons for drugs (especially the drug of entertainment and socializing), gluttons for lustful images, thoughts, words and actions (which Our Lady of Fatima said was the most common reason for damnation―and that was way back in 1917). As the spiritual masters repeatedly and universally tell us―gluttony and lust are the chief causes of spiritual blindness and spiritual sloth. Such folk refuse to see the truth of Our Lord’s words when He tells that He is not of this world and that we should not be of this world―words which are reinforced by Holy Scripture:
“Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The Deadly Disease of Worldliness and the World’s Culture of Death
Already way back in 1995, even the Liberal and Modernist Pope John Paul II―yes, even Liberal and Modernist can speak the truth at times, as pointed out by Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical on Modernism, who said the Modernist will speak the most sublime one day and pure Modernism the next day, always alternating between the two, which is what fools people―so even Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), correctly condemned a growing and widespread “culture of death” in which moral “crimes” such as abortion and euthanasia are viewed as individual rights. The pope said that “When He presents the heart of His redemptive mission, Jesus says: ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10).” He defines a “culture of death” as one in which the only goal is the pursuit of one’s own material well-being, with quality of life interpreted primarily, or exclusively, as economic efficiency, exaggerated consumerism, pursuit of personal physical beauty and pleasure―while neglecting the more profound purposes of existence. What Pope John Paul II states below is all the more true and much more applicable to our day in general, and the manufactured Coronavirus Plannedemic today, with all of its deadly economic, social, mental and even religious consequences.
The Pope points out “the extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless. In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale” and he condemns the “number of crimes and attacks against human life… Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons ― all these things, and others like them, are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.
“Unfortunately, this disturbing state of affairs, far from decreasing, is expanding! With the new prospects opened up by scientific and technological progress, there arise new forms of attacks. At the same time a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and―if possible―even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern. Broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and, on this basis, they claim not only exemption from punishment, but even authorization by the State, so that these things [crimes] can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems.”
“This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which in many cases takes the form of a veritable “culture of death”. This culture [of death] is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents [Government, Big Pharma, Bill Gates, etc.] ―which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak … A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favored ― such a person tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of “conspiracy against life” is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States.
“In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life―and which, at the same time, are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility.
“It is frequently asserted that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of contraception. When looked at carefully, this objection is clearly unfounded ... Contraception … regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment … [and] is opposed to … the life, which could result from a sexual encounter, thus [that life] becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible response to failed contraception and … is opposed to the virtue of justice and directly violates the divine commandment ‘You shall not kill’.”
The Hypocrisy of the Death Culture Freaks
Once you ignore or reject God’s Law, then everyone becomes “a law unto themselves”―everyone become a “mini-god” or a “demi-god” who decides for himself or herself what is good and what is evil. Inevitably, once the good Laws of God of are ignored and rejected, then the opposite of those good Laws of God takes their place―which means that bad laws or downright evil laws are enthroned and enshrined. That is what you can see in almost every country throughout the world. Bad laws and evil laws rule everywhere―laws that permit abortion, euthanasia, contraception, divorce, multiple marriages, ‘common-law’ which is nothing other than cohabitation or living-in-sin’, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, immodesty, pornography, social-drugs, even Satanism, etc., etc. What else are all these iniquitous laws but the “culture of death”? “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “There is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:15). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “He that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate Me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).
The world―Pope Francis included―speaks out against and abolishes the death penalty for murderers―yet, as the same time, it promotes and passes laws that allow doctors and nurses to butcher and murder innocent babies during abortion. The anti-Christian rabid pursuit for the “I want to be my own god” principle of “Pro-Choice” (which is really “Pro-Death” as opposed to “Pro-Life”) is honored, respected, pushed and protected by many so-called “Catholic” politicians
This “I want to be my own god” virus has diseased so-called “Catholics” like Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden and dozens of other “Catholic” politicians, who have unashamedly supported the death culture of abortion with relative impunity―with very little action being taken against them by the Church. In 1984, then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo (Democrat) appeared at the University Notre Dame to deliver a now-famous address. Cuomo argued that it was possible and defensible for politicians to support abortion rights for all while opposing the procedure personally. This argument, and his political stand on the subject, prompted the archbishop of New York to threaten him with excommunication, the most serious punishment a Catholic can face. Thirty-five years later, Cuomo’s son, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (Democrat), is facing similar calls for excommunication after signing a bill that would expand abortion rights in the state.
From Bat to Man―From Baby to Man
All the propagandist talk about the Coronavirus COVID-19 jumping from a bat onto a man (which is a “tall story” that tries to hide the laboratory origins of COVID-19), brings to mind an appropriate analogy wherein abortion (mass murder of babies) jumps to democide (mass murder of peoples or citizens). Democide is a term proposed by Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor of political science at Indiana University and Yale University, who defined democide as “the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command.” According to Rummel, this definition covers a wide range of deaths, including forced labor and concentration camp victims; killings by “unofficial” private groups; extrajudicial summary killings; and mass deaths due to the governmental acts of criminal omission and neglect, such as in deliberate famines, as well as killings by de facto governments, i.e. civil war killings. This definition covers any murder of any number of persons by any government. For Rummel, democide requires governmental intention. But he was also interested in analyzing the effects of regimes that unintentionally, yet culpably, cause the deaths of their citizens through negligence, incompetence or sheer indifference.
According to Rummel, democide surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death in the 20th century. Democide is the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels need to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. The objectives of democide include the disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups; the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity; and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups. Some examples of democide cited by Rummel include the Great Purges carried out by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, the deaths from the colonial policy in the Congo Free State, and Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, which resulted in a famine that killed millions of people. According to Rummel, these were not cases of genocide―because those who were killed were not selected on the basis of their race, but were killed in large numbers as a result of government policies. Famine is classified by Rummel as democide if it fits the definition above. Quite frankly, you could rename “democide” and call it “demoncide” ― for Satan and sin are the purveyors of death, as Our Lord said: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
Demonic Democide is Where We Are Headed Today
Without a shadow of a doubt, demonic democide or godless murder is where the current Plannedemic strategy is leading the “dumbed-down sheeple” of the world today. You could even call it “dumbocide” or “sheeplecide”! Famines, diseases and wars and civil wars are the tools of the demonic democide trade―and vaccines will be ubiquitous and universal murderous back-up to mop-up what the famines, diseases and wars and civil wars fail to eliminate. Depopulation is goal of the Gates of Hell. Destruction of the Church is what Satan boasted he could and would achieve if Our Lord would only give him enough time (see the vision of Pope Leo XIII, where he heard Satan ask this of Our Lord).
There have been precedents in modern times―one of which occurred in the Ukraine. Some of you may have read of the “Holodomor” ― which was a man-made famine, planned by Josef Stalin, in Soviet Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. It is also known as the Terror-Famine and Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and sometimes referred to as the Great Famine or the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932–33. It was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1932–33, which affected the major grain-producing areas of the country. The word “Holodomor” literally translated from Ukrainian means “death by hunger”, or “killing by hunger, killing by starvation”, or sometimes “murder by hunger or starvation.” It is a compound of the Ukrainian words “holod” meaning “hunger” and “mor” meaning “plague”. The expression “moryty holodom” means “to inflict death by hunger”. The term “Holodomor” emphasizes the famine’s man-made and intentional aspects, such as rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement.
During the Holodomor, millions of inhabitants of Ukraine, the majority of whom were ethnic Ukrainians, died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of Ukraine. Early estimates of the death toll by scholars and government officials varied greatly. According to higher estimates, up to 12 million ethnic Ukrainians out of a total population of 32 million were said to have perished as a result of the famine (2 out of every 5 persons perished). A United Nations joint statement signed by 25 countries in 2003 declared that 7–10 million (from 2 out 9 to 5 out of 16 persons) perished. Research has since narrowed the estimates to between 3.3 million and 7.5 million (from 1 in 10 to 2 in 10 persons) perished. According to the findings of the Court of Appeal of Kiev in 2010, the demographic losses due to the famine amounted to 10 million (1 out of 3 persons), with 4 million (1 in 8) direct famine deaths, and a further 6 million birth deficits.
Whether the Holodomor was genocide is still the subject of academic debate, as are the causes of the famine and intentionality of the deaths. Some scholars believe that the famine was planned by Joseph Stalin to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement. Since 2006, the Holodomor has been recognized by Ukraine and 15 other countries as a genocide of the Ukrainian people carried out by the Soviet government.
Today we are seeing the very same agenda being played out here is the United States and many other parts of the world. Some say it is only a trial-run, a dry-run, a test case scenario to see how the public reacts and that the “real thing” is coming soon. Others are of the opinion that this Plannedemic is that actual start of a modern day Holodomor. That is quite possible when you look at the deliberate, senseless and widespread destruction of food here in the USA. Whichever scenario is being played out, one can be certain that we are not taking the necessary measures to prevent it. We are too naturalistic and too frog-like as lay back complacently in the slowly heated pan of water, failing to realize that soon most of will be boiled and cooked! This culture of death is here to stay, unless we get Heaven to turn it away.
You have undoubtedly heart the expressions: “I love him/her to death!” or “Killing with kindness” or “Killing with a smile”, etc. Which leads one to a related expression: “With friends like that! ― Who needs enemies?”
Now―if you are alert, you will say: “Aha! You are misusing the expression ‘Killing with kindness’―because what it really means is that you show kindness towards your enemies―those who hurt you, harm you or plot against you―and the expression!” ― and that is a true observation. “Killing with kindness”, is based upon the following quotes from Holy Scripture: “But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other cheek! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat, let go of thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee to walk one mile with him, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them that hate you! Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!’” (Matthew 5:39-44).
Those words of Our Lord are in line with the Old Testament, wherein it says: “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat! If he thirst, give him water to drink―for thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head!” (Proverbs 25:21-22). To which the words of the New Testament further add: “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat―if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head! Be not overcome by evil―but overcome evil by good!” (Romans 12:19-21). We would all like to “heap coals of fire” upon the heads of our enemies―but not in the “kind” or “charitable” way Holy Scripture recommends―we want real coals of fire to bury them! That is the typical reaction of our fallen human nature―but “ ‘Revenge is mine! I will repay!’ saith the Lord.” Nobody―at the end of the day―will escape unpunished by God. Yet God knows how to punish far better than we do! We are like a “back-street surgeon” compared to the spiritual master surgeon that God undoubtedly is―let us not play at being God and botch-up operations!
Back to the Point!
Enough of that digression―back to the point! “I love him/her to death!” … “Killing with kindness” or “Killing with a smile” … “With friends like that! ― Who needs enemies?” The world pretends to be a friend of Christians, yet, under that pretence, it seeks to “Love them to death, to kill them with kindness, to kill them with a smile!” Do not delude yourself and do not fall for the illusion that the world has Christ’s Laws and interests at heart! Christ, the Church, the Faith―all are “kindly” and “smilingly” and “lovingly” looked upon as being enemies of the State, enemies of the world―and its prince, the devil. Christ Himself returns the “compliment”, saying: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
To this, Holy Scripture adds: “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5).
A Fight to the Death in a Culture of Death
If you are one of those Catholics who seeks to have a foot in each of the two camps of the Church and the world―which are essentially the camps of Christ and Satan―then you are not only seeking to prove that Christ is wrong in his words: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), but you are also what the Communists call their naïve supporters, that is to say, “Useful Idiots.” You are trying to live in peace with the very ones that you should be fighting against! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” [not peace] (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world! And this is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4) … “The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour―whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
So why are you looking for ways of living in peace with the enemy? Those who do so are truly “Useful Idiots” ― not only in the eyes of Communists, but also in the eyes of the devil.
The Tree Test & The Duck Test
This point has to be stressed over and over again―just as the Coronavirus Plannedemic Propaganda is stressed over and over again, at all times, in all places, by all mainstream media channels and outlets―because people only start to take on board and believe what is repeated. The more often it is repeated, the more it penetrates their mind and changes their beliefs. The fact that the world is our enemy is not repeated sufficiently―which is clearly seen by the vast numbers of worldly Catholics that surround us. As Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:16-21).
As the proverbial “Duck Test” says: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck―then it probably is a duck!” The test implies that someone or something can be successfully identified by observing that subject’s habitual characteristics. Most Catholics today dress like worldly people, act like worldly people, talk like worldly people―therefore they are worldly Catholics who are trying to prove Our Lord is a liar when He tells us we cannot serve God and mammon. They have become gluttons for what the world offers―gluttons for material things; gluttons for worldly activities (sports, hobbies, etc.); gluttons for TV, internet and social media; gluttons for food; gluttons for drink (especially alcohol); gluttons for drugs (especially the drug of entertainment and socializing), gluttons for lustful images, thoughts, words and actions (which Our Lady of Fatima said was the most common reason for damnation―and that was way back in 1917). As the spiritual masters repeatedly and universally tell us―gluttony and lust are the chief causes of spiritual blindness and spiritual sloth. Such folk refuse to see the truth of Our Lord’s words when He tells that He is not of this world and that we should not be of this world―words which are reinforced by Holy Scripture:
“Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
The Deadly Disease of Worldliness and the World’s Culture of Death
Already way back in 1995, even the Liberal and Modernist Pope John Paul II―yes, even Liberal and Modernist can speak the truth at times, as pointed out by Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical on Modernism, who said the Modernist will speak the most sublime one day and pure Modernism the next day, always alternating between the two, which is what fools people―so even Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), correctly condemned a growing and widespread “culture of death” in which moral “crimes” such as abortion and euthanasia are viewed as individual rights. The pope said that “When He presents the heart of His redemptive mission, Jesus says: ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10).” He defines a “culture of death” as one in which the only goal is the pursuit of one’s own material well-being, with quality of life interpreted primarily, or exclusively, as economic efficiency, exaggerated consumerism, pursuit of personal physical beauty and pleasure―while neglecting the more profound purposes of existence. What Pope John Paul II states below is all the more true and much more applicable to our day in general, and the manufactured Coronavirus Plannedemic today, with all of its deadly economic, social, mental and even religious consequences.
The Pope points out “the extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless. In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale” and he condemns the “number of crimes and attacks against human life… Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons ― all these things, and others like them, are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.
“Unfortunately, this disturbing state of affairs, far from decreasing, is expanding! With the new prospects opened up by scientific and technological progress, there arise new forms of attacks. At the same time a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and―if possible―even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern. Broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and, on this basis, they claim not only exemption from punishment, but even authorization by the State, so that these things [crimes] can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems.”
“This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which in many cases takes the form of a veritable “culture of death”. This culture [of death] is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents [Government, Big Pharma, Bill Gates, etc.] ―which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak … A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favored ― such a person tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of “conspiracy against life” is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States.
“In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life―and which, at the same time, are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility.
“It is frequently asserted that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of contraception. When looked at carefully, this objection is clearly unfounded ... Contraception … regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment … [and] is opposed to … the life, which could result from a sexual encounter, thus [that life] becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible response to failed contraception and … is opposed to the virtue of justice and directly violates the divine commandment ‘You shall not kill’.”
The Hypocrisy of the Death Culture Freaks
Once you ignore or reject God’s Law, then everyone becomes “a law unto themselves”―everyone become a “mini-god” or a “demi-god” who decides for himself or herself what is good and what is evil. Inevitably, once the good Laws of God of are ignored and rejected, then the opposite of those good Laws of God takes their place―which means that bad laws or downright evil laws are enthroned and enshrined. That is what you can see in almost every country throughout the world. Bad laws and evil laws rule everywhere―laws that permit abortion, euthanasia, contraception, divorce, multiple marriages, ‘common-law’ which is nothing other than cohabitation or living-in-sin’, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, immodesty, pornography, social-drugs, even Satanism, etc., etc. What else are all these iniquitous laws but the “culture of death”? “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “There is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:15). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “He that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate Me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).
The world―Pope Francis included―speaks out against and abolishes the death penalty for murderers―yet, as the same time, it promotes and passes laws that allow doctors and nurses to butcher and murder innocent babies during abortion. The anti-Christian rabid pursuit for the “I want to be my own god” principle of “Pro-Choice” (which is really “Pro-Death” as opposed to “Pro-Life”) is honored, respected, pushed and protected by many so-called “Catholic” politicians
This “I want to be my own god” virus has diseased so-called “Catholics” like Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden and dozens of other “Catholic” politicians, who have unashamedly supported the death culture of abortion with relative impunity―with very little action being taken against them by the Church. In 1984, then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo (Democrat) appeared at the University Notre Dame to deliver a now-famous address. Cuomo argued that it was possible and defensible for politicians to support abortion rights for all while opposing the procedure personally. This argument, and his political stand on the subject, prompted the archbishop of New York to threaten him with excommunication, the most serious punishment a Catholic can face. Thirty-five years later, Cuomo’s son, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (Democrat), is facing similar calls for excommunication after signing a bill that would expand abortion rights in the state.
From Bat to Man―From Baby to Man
All the propagandist talk about the Coronavirus COVID-19 jumping from a bat onto a man (which is a “tall story” that tries to hide the laboratory origins of COVID-19), brings to mind an appropriate analogy wherein abortion (mass murder of babies) jumps to democide (mass murder of peoples or citizens). Democide is a term proposed by Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor of political science at Indiana University and Yale University, who defined democide as “the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command.” According to Rummel, this definition covers a wide range of deaths, including forced labor and concentration camp victims; killings by “unofficial” private groups; extrajudicial summary killings; and mass deaths due to the governmental acts of criminal omission and neglect, such as in deliberate famines, as well as killings by de facto governments, i.e. civil war killings. This definition covers any murder of any number of persons by any government. For Rummel, democide requires governmental intention. But he was also interested in analyzing the effects of regimes that unintentionally, yet culpably, cause the deaths of their citizens through negligence, incompetence or sheer indifference.
According to Rummel, democide surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death in the 20th century. Democide is the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels need to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. The objectives of democide include the disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups; the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity; and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups. Some examples of democide cited by Rummel include the Great Purges carried out by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, the deaths from the colonial policy in the Congo Free State, and Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, which resulted in a famine that killed millions of people. According to Rummel, these were not cases of genocide―because those who were killed were not selected on the basis of their race, but were killed in large numbers as a result of government policies. Famine is classified by Rummel as democide if it fits the definition above. Quite frankly, you could rename “democide” and call it “demoncide” ― for Satan and sin are the purveyors of death, as Our Lord said: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
Demonic Democide is Where We Are Headed Today
Without a shadow of a doubt, demonic democide or godless murder is where the current Plannedemic strategy is leading the “dumbed-down sheeple” of the world today. You could even call it “dumbocide” or “sheeplecide”! Famines, diseases and wars and civil wars are the tools of the demonic democide trade―and vaccines will be ubiquitous and universal murderous back-up to mop-up what the famines, diseases and wars and civil wars fail to eliminate. Depopulation is goal of the Gates of Hell. Destruction of the Church is what Satan boasted he could and would achieve if Our Lord would only give him enough time (see the vision of Pope Leo XIII, where he heard Satan ask this of Our Lord).
There have been precedents in modern times―one of which occurred in the Ukraine. Some of you may have read of the “Holodomor” ― which was a man-made famine, planned by Josef Stalin, in Soviet Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. It is also known as the Terror-Famine and Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and sometimes referred to as the Great Famine or the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932–33. It was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1932–33, which affected the major grain-producing areas of the country. The word “Holodomor” literally translated from Ukrainian means “death by hunger”, or “killing by hunger, killing by starvation”, or sometimes “murder by hunger or starvation.” It is a compound of the Ukrainian words “holod” meaning “hunger” and “mor” meaning “plague”. The expression “moryty holodom” means “to inflict death by hunger”. The term “Holodomor” emphasizes the famine’s man-made and intentional aspects, such as rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement.
During the Holodomor, millions of inhabitants of Ukraine, the majority of whom were ethnic Ukrainians, died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of Ukraine. Early estimates of the death toll by scholars and government officials varied greatly. According to higher estimates, up to 12 million ethnic Ukrainians out of a total population of 32 million were said to have perished as a result of the famine (2 out of every 5 persons perished). A United Nations joint statement signed by 25 countries in 2003 declared that 7–10 million (from 2 out 9 to 5 out of 16 persons) perished. Research has since narrowed the estimates to between 3.3 million and 7.5 million (from 1 in 10 to 2 in 10 persons) perished. According to the findings of the Court of Appeal of Kiev in 2010, the demographic losses due to the famine amounted to 10 million (1 out of 3 persons), with 4 million (1 in 8) direct famine deaths, and a further 6 million birth deficits.
Whether the Holodomor was genocide is still the subject of academic debate, as are the causes of the famine and intentionality of the deaths. Some scholars believe that the famine was planned by Joseph Stalin to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement. Since 2006, the Holodomor has been recognized by Ukraine and 15 other countries as a genocide of the Ukrainian people carried out by the Soviet government.
Today we are seeing the very same agenda being played out here is the United States and many other parts of the world. Some say it is only a trial-run, a dry-run, a test case scenario to see how the public reacts and that the “real thing” is coming soon. Others are of the opinion that this Plannedemic is that actual start of a modern day Holodomor. That is quite possible when you look at the deliberate, senseless and widespread destruction of food here in the USA. Whichever scenario is being played out, one can be certain that we are not taking the necessary measures to prevent it. We are too naturalistic and too frog-like as lay back complacently in the slowly heated pan of water, failing to realize that soon most of will be boiled and cooked! This culture of death is here to stay, unless we get Heaven to turn it away.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday, May 5th & Wednesday May 6th
Article 12
It's Time to Send a "May Day" Call to Heaven!
S.O.S. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! S.O.S.
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Tuesday, May 5th & Wednesday May 6th
Article 12
It's Time to Send a "May Day" Call to Heaven!
S.O.S. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! S.O.S.
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
No Better Time Than the Present!
“Mayday” is the word used around the world to make a distress call via radio communications. Mayday signals a life-threatening emergency, usually on a ship or a plane, although it may be used in a variety of other situations. Procedure calls for the mayday distress signal to be said three times in a row — “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”
SOS (S.O.S. standing for “save our souls”) is also a distress or emergency signal. S.O.S is generally used with telegraph flashing light (both typically using Morse Code) transmissions.
If you cannot see the worldwide (manufactured) emergency and distress that all countries are increasingly experiencing, then you have a mental emergency of your own and need medical help! Whether this current (manufactured) emergency and distress is merely a “dry-run” or “test-drive” for the “real deal” that is to come, or whether it is actually the “real deal” in its infancy, is really irrelevant. If it does not escalate into the “real deal” over the next 18 months, it merely means that the next step is likely to be the “real deal” ― after all, we are merely 9 years from the centenary of Our Lord and Our Lady officially asking for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Our Lord warned Sister Lucia of Fatima: “They did not wish to heed My request. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Our Lord to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
What’s the Fuss? Where’s the Danger?
The modern mind and the modern Catholic―progressively infected by the gradual absorption of worldliness and worldly principles while sitting like a frog in a pan of slowly heated hot water―has had so much of the principles of the Faith chipped-away, that they are now ready to be ‘chipped’ by Bill Gates and his cronies and puppet-masters. Little by little the attitudes, beliefs, rights, liberties and health of persons has been changed―like changing a word, one letter at a time:
► RICH―RICE―MICE―MIRE―MORE―PORE―PORT― PERT―PEAT―PEAR―PEER―DEER―DOER― DOOR―POOR
► WISE―RISE―ROSE―ROME―SOME―SAME― NAME―LAME―LAMB―LUMB*―NUMB―DUMB
* To be “lumb” is slang for being lame and dumb all at once. Can be used as an adjective, noun, or verb.
► FREE―FRED―BRED―BREW―BROW―PROW―PROD―PLOD―PLOT―SLOT―SOOT―BOOT―BOLT―BELT―BELL―BALL ―BAIL―JAIL
► WELL―WILL―SILL―SILK―SICK
Similarly, the Catholic Faith and Catholic worship and piety has gradually morphed from its traditional and perennial forms, to a new form that resembles Protestantism and Naturalism and even showing elements of Paganism with every advancing year. Many Catholics now think more like Protestants and Pagans than the Catholics they should be, but are not. Most Catholics today accept or even staunchly belief in contraception, abortion, divorce, remarriage after divorce, cohabitation, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages, married-priests, women priests, etc. While, on the other hand, the majority of Catholics no longer believe in that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a true, real, unbloody sacrifice by Christ Himself through the actions of His priests. The majority of Catholics no longer believe that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―instead they believe it is one of a variety of other things―a symbolic presence, a spiritual presence, a commemorative presence, etc.
► MASS―MISS―MIST―MOST―MOAT―MEAT ―MEAL
► PRAY―PLAY
► SIN―BIN―BUN―FUN
► HOPE―HOLE―HOLD―HELD―HEAD―DEAD
► HOPE―DOPE―DOLE―DALE―DAME―DAMN
► SOUL―FOUL―FOOL―FOOT―LOOT―LOST
► LOVE―DOVE―DOTE―DATE―HATE
Little by Little the Crises Grow
As the saying goes― “Little by little one goes far!” Likewise, little by little one loses knowledge the Faith; little by little one loses the desire to pray; little by little one becomes lukewarm; little by little one goes to less and less Masses; little by little one loses the sense of sin; little by little one goes less and less to confession; little by little one accepts what the world offers; little by little one sins more and more; little by little one finally commits mortal sin and loses sanctifying grace; little by little one loses the Faith.
If you do some research on the stats concerning the falling-away from the Catholic Faith, you will see that it is a gradual process that covers many generations. It did not happen overnight―it was a progressive whittling-away and chipping-away at the Faith ever since the French Revolution―even though the devil has been doing this since the beginning of time. The devil―as Our Lord points out―is the “father of lies” and thus you will find the same DNA or genes in the adherents to the world. What Our Lord said to the Jews in general, and to the Scribes and Pharisees in particular, is even more applicable today in the case of the governments with their administrative organs and the mainstream media (90% of which is owned and controlled by a mere 6 companies). Our Lord’s words were:
“You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! … Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins! … You seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you! ... Why do you not know my speech? Because you cannot hear my word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not!” (John 8:23-45).
Little by Little the Lies Grow Bigger
As the people grow “dumber” the godless propaganda grows bolder. As the mind and its intelligence “shrinks”, the lies grow bigger and more frequent. The “sheeple” of the world have degenerated to the point the they will believe almost anything and allow themselves to be “shepherded” anywhere―as this latest Plannedemic has clearly shown―very few sheep are bleating and they are meekly and sheepishly corralled into the sheep pen of their own homes, trembling with fear as they read and listen to fear-mongering mainstream, elite owned, propaganda press.
Some dare to call it for what it is―a Communistic, Fascist, Totalitarian manipulation through carefully concocted lies that uttered through the mouths of the thousands of compromised and complicit scientists and doctors who are on the payroll of the controlling bodies and organizations, or those who risk losing their positions, posts, funding and livelihood if they dared to speak out against the establishment. We now have in the secular sphere of science and medicine the very same schism and heresy that we have between the truths held by the Catholic Faith and errors of the Protestant Christians―and likewise, between the Traditional and Conservative Catholics and the Liberal and Modernist Catholics. There are priests and ministers on both sides of the divide saying contradictory things―just as there are scientists and doctors on opposite side of the COVID-divide saying contradictory things. In the middle of them, you have the poor “dumbed-down-sheeple” who do not know what to think or who to believe, because they have lost the power to think, to analyze and to criticize rationally―having atrophied their thinking muscles by being fed a constant diet of electronic entertainment and signing over their intelligence to the slavery of “AI” or Artificial Intelligence, which is being hoisted upon the “sheeple” as some kind of “all-knowing” messianic savior, to which everyone abdicates their power of reasoning. The USA of today is becoming the Communist RUSSIA of old―as the recent draconian measures and propagandist lies have clearly manifested.
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Coronavirus Pandemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Joseph Goebbels as director. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda.
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed.
However, what does exist is the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill's Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender:
You could just as easily paraphrase those quotes and transport them into the current COVID-19 controversy, applying them to the mainstream media and governmental administrative organs, so that the quote would read as follows: “The primary rules are: (1) never allow the public to cool off―keep up the hype and fear-mongering; (2) never admit a fault or wrong―no matter what sensible scientists and honest doctors and experienced epidemiologists might be saying against us; (3) never concede that there may be some truth in your enemy’s comments; (4) never leave room for alternatives―there is no place for natural cures or alternative cures for COVID-19―it is our way or the highway [self-isolation, lockdowns, business closures, forced vaccinations]; (5) never accept blame or admit you might be wrong; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time―COVD-19―and blame COVID-19 for everything that goes wrong. People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
Psychological Effect of Repetition
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has this to say on the matter: “Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda, says psychologist Tom Stafford. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth―is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists something like this known as the “illusion of truth” effect. Here’s how a typical experiment on the effect works: participants rate how true trivia statements are. Sometimes these statements are true (like “A prune is a dried plum”), but sometimes participants see a parallel version which isn’t true (something like “A date is a dried plum”). After a break ― of minutes or even weeks ― the participants do the procedure again, but this time some of the statements they rate are new, and some statements they saw before in the first phase. The key finding is that people tend to rate items they’ve seen before as more likely to be true, regardless of whether they are true or not, and seemingly for the sole reason that they are more familiar. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from the media to advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this weakness of human psychology. The ‘illusion of truth’ can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a propagandist like Joseph Goebbels
“Recently, a team led by Lisa Fazio of Vanderbilt University set out to test how the illusion of truth effect interacts with our prior knowledge. Would it affect our existing knowledge? They used paired true and un-true statements, but also split their items according to how likely participants were to know the truth. So “The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an example of a “known” thing, which also happens to be true, and “The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an un-true statement, for which people are likely to know the actual truth.”
Their results show that the “illusion of truth” effect worked just as strongly for known as for unknown things―suggesting that having prior knowledge of a truth won’t prevent repetition from swaying our judgments from eventually disbelieving, or at least doubting, what we knew to be true. The researchers also performed one study in which the participants were asked to rate how true each statement seemed on a scale from 1 to 6, and another study where they had to categorize each statement as “true” or “false”. Repetition of a statement pushed it higher up the six-point scale, and increased the odds that a statement would be categorized as true―even it was false. For statements that were actually fact or fiction, known or unknown, repetition made them all seem more believable. If the truth is so powerful that it cannot be overturned―then repetition of the lie can at least weaken our adherence to the truth and cause us to at least doubt the truth or certain aspects of the truth. The implications for daily life, where consumers of news and products are often repeatedly exposed to both plausible and implausible falsehoods, is that even patent lies may slowly become more credible, provided enough repetition.
Because we need to make quick judgments, we adopt shortcuts. Our minds are so vulnerable to the “illusion of truth” effect because our instinct is to use short-cuts in judging how believable something is. Often this works. Sometimes it is misleading. Once we know about the effect we can guard against it. Part of this is double-checking why we believe what we do ― if something sounds plausible―is it because it really is true, or have we just been told that repeatedly? This is why scholars are so insistent about providing references to what is said ― so we can track the origin on any claim, rather than having to take it on blind faith. But part of guarding against the illusion is the obligation it puts on us to stop repeating falsehoods. We live in a world where the facts matter, and should matter. If you repeat things without bothering to check if they are true, you are helping to make a world where lies and truth are easier to confuse. So, please, think before you repeat and double-check before you repeat. There are far too many silly, gullible, intellectually weak and intellectually lazy people around, who “shoot from the hip” and believe almost everything they hear―and the internet is a very useful, productive and profitable web for the “father of lies”―the devil―and his human minions.
COVID-19 Handwashing or Brainwashing?
All we hear is “Wash your hands!” and “Keep six-feet away from everyone!” Yet behind that propaganda is something else―which could be sarcastically stated as: “Let us wash your brain!” and “We want you six-feet under!” The people who are supposedly entrusted with our health are not really interested in our health―they are interested in our sickness. There is no money to be made from healthy people―only from sick people. If you are in the ‘health-care’ business―health can bad for business! Health is not very healthy for your bank account! These very people who pretend to be interested in your health are actually making you sick―and they want you remain sick until the day you die. Many of them don’t want you to die immediately―because they cannot make money from dead people, just as they cannot make money from healthy people. The only profit making market is sick people―so, “Long live the sick!” until no more money can be made from them!
God wants you healthy―and so God has placed in nature all that keep us healthy and make us healthy once again if we lose that health through sickness. Yet, as we all know, NATURE CANNOT BE PATENTED. So money hungry man―a disease in itself―has to stifle nature, strangle nature, tamper with nature, poison nature, modify nature, change nature to the point where it can no longer be called “NATURAL” and thus can be PATENTED. Do you really think that God and His creation cannot handle COVIOD-19? That would be blasphemy! COVID-19 is a “piece-of-cake” for the Great Doctor of Heaven―it was always foreseen, foreknown down to the tiniest detail and always under heavenly control―if we only had Heaven’s Health Insurance! Yet the godless world does not want to pay God the necessary premium to obtain his protection and assistance. God’s Providence is proportionate to our cooperation with His will and the keeping of His Commandments―which is what this mainly godless world does not want to do―if we obey Him, worship Him, then He will undoubtedly look after us. For proof, take time to read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―seriously, go read it! If you “pardon the French”―it will both console you greatly and “scare the Hell out of you!” It should be compulsory reading for our day! Alternatively―not wanting to make Leviticus 26 as part of the main body of this article―we post further below after the empty white space―just scroll down a few inches and you will find it as an addendum or annex to this article.
Bursting the Bubble of Glorified Vaccines
The current “demi-god” and self-appointed savior of mankind in this “man-u-factured” COVID-19 Plannedemic―the messias Bill Gates―speaks words of ‘salvation’ from his “gatesnotes.com” gospel, telling us―like Christ told us to baptize everyone―that we must vaccinate everyone to be “saved”:
Gates writes: “One of the questions I get asked the most these days is when the world will be able to go back to the way things were in December before the Coronavirus pandemic. My answer is always the same: when we have an almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19, or when almost every person on the planet has been vaccinated against Coronavirus. The former is unlikely to happen anytime soon. We’d need a miracle treatment that was at least 95 percent effective to stop the outbreak. Most of the drug candidates right now are nowhere near that powerful. They could save a lot of lives, but they aren’t enough to get us back to normal. Which leaves us with a vaccine. Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for Coronavirus. Realistically, if we’re going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible. That sounds daunting, because it is. Our foundation is the biggest funder of vaccines in the world, and this effort dwarfs anything we’ve ever worked on before. It’s going to require a global cooperative effort like the world has never seen. But I know it’ll get done. There’s simply no alternative!”
Currently we are witnessing a blasphemous brainwashing of the entertainment addicted “sheeple” of this world by the unholy trinity of Big Pharma, Government and Mainstream Media―who vilify, ridicule, deny and reject “God’s natural medicine” in favor of their own peon, pea-brained, propagandist, purposely produced pharmaceutical pills and vaccines, whose success rate or effectiveness percentage is abysmal to say the least, as the United States CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) statistics show in the chart below.
“Mayday” is the word used around the world to make a distress call via radio communications. Mayday signals a life-threatening emergency, usually on a ship or a plane, although it may be used in a variety of other situations. Procedure calls for the mayday distress signal to be said three times in a row — “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”
SOS (S.O.S. standing for “save our souls”) is also a distress or emergency signal. S.O.S is generally used with telegraph flashing light (both typically using Morse Code) transmissions.
If you cannot see the worldwide (manufactured) emergency and distress that all countries are increasingly experiencing, then you have a mental emergency of your own and need medical help! Whether this current (manufactured) emergency and distress is merely a “dry-run” or “test-drive” for the “real deal” that is to come, or whether it is actually the “real deal” in its infancy, is really irrelevant. If it does not escalate into the “real deal” over the next 18 months, it merely means that the next step is likely to be the “real deal” ― after all, we are merely 9 years from the centenary of Our Lord and Our Lady officially asking for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Our Lord warned Sister Lucia of Fatima: “They did not wish to heed My request. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Our Lord to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, at Tuy, June 13th, 1929).
What’s the Fuss? Where’s the Danger?
The modern mind and the modern Catholic―progressively infected by the gradual absorption of worldliness and worldly principles while sitting like a frog in a pan of slowly heated hot water―has had so much of the principles of the Faith chipped-away, that they are now ready to be ‘chipped’ by Bill Gates and his cronies and puppet-masters. Little by little the attitudes, beliefs, rights, liberties and health of persons has been changed―like changing a word, one letter at a time:
► RICH―RICE―MICE―MIRE―MORE―PORE―PORT― PERT―PEAT―PEAR―PEER―DEER―DOER― DOOR―POOR
► WISE―RISE―ROSE―ROME―SOME―SAME― NAME―LAME―LAMB―LUMB*―NUMB―DUMB
* To be “lumb” is slang for being lame and dumb all at once. Can be used as an adjective, noun, or verb.
► FREE―FRED―BRED―BREW―BROW―PROW―PROD―PLOD―PLOT―SLOT―SOOT―BOOT―BOLT―BELT―BELL―BALL ―BAIL―JAIL
► WELL―WILL―SILL―SILK―SICK
Similarly, the Catholic Faith and Catholic worship and piety has gradually morphed from its traditional and perennial forms, to a new form that resembles Protestantism and Naturalism and even showing elements of Paganism with every advancing year. Many Catholics now think more like Protestants and Pagans than the Catholics they should be, but are not. Most Catholics today accept or even staunchly belief in contraception, abortion, divorce, remarriage after divorce, cohabitation, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages, married-priests, women priests, etc. While, on the other hand, the majority of Catholics no longer believe in that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a true, real, unbloody sacrifice by Christ Himself through the actions of His priests. The majority of Catholics no longer believe that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity―instead they believe it is one of a variety of other things―a symbolic presence, a spiritual presence, a commemorative presence, etc.
► MASS―MISS―MIST―MOST―MOAT―MEAT ―MEAL
► PRAY―PLAY
► SIN―BIN―BUN―FUN
► HOPE―HOLE―HOLD―HELD―HEAD―DEAD
► HOPE―DOPE―DOLE―DALE―DAME―DAMN
► SOUL―FOUL―FOOL―FOOT―LOOT―LOST
► LOVE―DOVE―DOTE―DATE―HATE
Little by Little the Crises Grow
As the saying goes― “Little by little one goes far!” Likewise, little by little one loses knowledge the Faith; little by little one loses the desire to pray; little by little one becomes lukewarm; little by little one goes to less and less Masses; little by little one loses the sense of sin; little by little one goes less and less to confession; little by little one accepts what the world offers; little by little one sins more and more; little by little one finally commits mortal sin and loses sanctifying grace; little by little one loses the Faith.
If you do some research on the stats concerning the falling-away from the Catholic Faith, you will see that it is a gradual process that covers many generations. It did not happen overnight―it was a progressive whittling-away and chipping-away at the Faith ever since the French Revolution―even though the devil has been doing this since the beginning of time. The devil―as Our Lord points out―is the “father of lies” and thus you will find the same DNA or genes in the adherents to the world. What Our Lord said to the Jews in general, and to the Scribes and Pharisees in particular, is even more applicable today in the case of the governments with their administrative organs and the mainstream media (90% of which is owned and controlled by a mere 6 companies). Our Lord’s words were:
“You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world! … Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins! … You seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you! ... Why do you not know my speech? Because you cannot hear my word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not!” (John 8:23-45).
Little by Little the Lies Grow Bigger
As the people grow “dumber” the godless propaganda grows bolder. As the mind and its intelligence “shrinks”, the lies grow bigger and more frequent. The “sheeple” of the world have degenerated to the point the they will believe almost anything and allow themselves to be “shepherded” anywhere―as this latest Plannedemic has clearly shown―very few sheep are bleating and they are meekly and sheepishly corralled into the sheep pen of their own homes, trembling with fear as they read and listen to fear-mongering mainstream, elite owned, propaganda press.
Some dare to call it for what it is―a Communistic, Fascist, Totalitarian manipulation through carefully concocted lies that uttered through the mouths of the thousands of compromised and complicit scientists and doctors who are on the payroll of the controlling bodies and organizations, or those who risk losing their positions, posts, funding and livelihood if they dared to speak out against the establishment. We now have in the secular sphere of science and medicine the very same schism and heresy that we have between the truths held by the Catholic Faith and errors of the Protestant Christians―and likewise, between the Traditional and Conservative Catholics and the Liberal and Modernist Catholics. There are priests and ministers on both sides of the divide saying contradictory things―just as there are scientists and doctors on opposite side of the COVID-divide saying contradictory things. In the middle of them, you have the poor “dumbed-down-sheeple” who do not know what to think or who to believe, because they have lost the power to think, to analyze and to criticize rationally―having atrophied their thinking muscles by being fed a constant diet of electronic entertainment and signing over their intelligence to the slavery of “AI” or Artificial Intelligence, which is being hoisted upon the “sheeple” as some kind of “all-knowing” messianic savior, to which everyone abdicates their power of reasoning. The USA of today is becoming the Communist RUSSIA of old―as the recent draconian measures and propagandist lies have clearly manifested.
Using the “Big-Lie” and Sticking to It
The so-called “Big Lie” (in German: Grosse Lüge) is a propaganda technique and logical fallacy. The expression― Grosse Lüge―or Big Lie―was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Just as history is said to repeat itself―so does lying propaganda repeat itself. What the Nazis were doing in the time of Hitler, is being repeated to a large degree by Fascist, Communistic, Totalitarian propaganda and subterfuge that surrounds the Coronavirus Pandemic or Con-all-a-virus Plannedemic.
Propaganda—information that is intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotions—was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power. The Nazis were notable for making propaganda a key element of government―even before Germany went to war again. One of Hitler’s first acts as Chancellor of Germany was to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda―demonstrating his belief that controlling information was as important as controlling the military and the economy. He appointed Joseph Goebbels as director. Through the ministry, Goebbels was able to penetrate virtually every form of German media, from newspapers, film, radio, posters, and rallies to museum exhibits and school textbooks, with Nazi propaganda.
The source of the “Big Lie” technique is found the following extract from Mein Kampf, wherein Adolf Hitler writes: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chapter 10).
Paul Joseph Goebbels―the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945―was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates, who was alleged to have said the following (though no primacy sources have ever been found):
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is exactly what is being seen today with regard to the COVID-19 controversy―those scientists, doctors, nurses and other knowledgeable persons who are speaking out and manifesting the lies, the fake science, the manipulated stats, and the ‘doctored’ death certificates, are finding themselves censored, censured, reprimanded, fired, discredited, ridiculed and any internet posts or videos that they uploaded onto the internet have been quickly removed.
However, what does exist is the following paragraph in an article dated January 12th, 1941―16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase “Big-Lie”―where Goebbels wrote an article entitled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill's Lie Factory”) which was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Goebbels writes:
“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
Hitler’s Methods Resurrected
The United States Office of Strategic Services described Hitler’s manner of operating thus: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: (1) never allow the public to cool off; (2) never admit a fault or wrong; (3) never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; (4) never leave room for alternatives; (5) never accept blame; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; (7) people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
This quote was recorded by Walter C. Langer in his book, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend). A similar quote appears in Henry A. Murray’s book, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender:
You could just as easily paraphrase those quotes and transport them into the current COVID-19 controversy, applying them to the mainstream media and governmental administrative organs, so that the quote would read as follows: “The primary rules are: (1) never allow the public to cool off―keep up the hype and fear-mongering; (2) never admit a fault or wrong―no matter what sensible scientists and honest doctors and experienced epidemiologists might be saying against us; (3) never concede that there may be some truth in your enemy’s comments; (4) never leave room for alternatives―there is no place for natural cures or alternative cures for COVID-19―it is our way or the highway [self-isolation, lockdowns, business closures, forced vaccinations]; (5) never accept blame or admit you might be wrong; (6) concentrate on one enemy at a time―COVD-19―and blame COVID-19 for everything that goes wrong. People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
Psychological Effect of Repetition
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has this to say on the matter: “Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda, says psychologist Tom Stafford. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth―is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists something like this known as the “illusion of truth” effect. Here’s how a typical experiment on the effect works: participants rate how true trivia statements are. Sometimes these statements are true (like “A prune is a dried plum”), but sometimes participants see a parallel version which isn’t true (something like “A date is a dried plum”). After a break ― of minutes or even weeks ― the participants do the procedure again, but this time some of the statements they rate are new, and some statements they saw before in the first phase. The key finding is that people tend to rate items they’ve seen before as more likely to be true, regardless of whether they are true or not, and seemingly for the sole reason that they are more familiar. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from the media to advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this weakness of human psychology. The ‘illusion of truth’ can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a propagandist like Joseph Goebbels
“Recently, a team led by Lisa Fazio of Vanderbilt University set out to test how the illusion of truth effect interacts with our prior knowledge. Would it affect our existing knowledge? They used paired true and un-true statements, but also split their items according to how likely participants were to know the truth. So “The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an example of a “known” thing, which also happens to be true, and “The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” is an un-true statement, for which people are likely to know the actual truth.”
Their results show that the “illusion of truth” effect worked just as strongly for known as for unknown things―suggesting that having prior knowledge of a truth won’t prevent repetition from swaying our judgments from eventually disbelieving, or at least doubting, what we knew to be true. The researchers also performed one study in which the participants were asked to rate how true each statement seemed on a scale from 1 to 6, and another study where they had to categorize each statement as “true” or “false”. Repetition of a statement pushed it higher up the six-point scale, and increased the odds that a statement would be categorized as true―even it was false. For statements that were actually fact or fiction, known or unknown, repetition made them all seem more believable. If the truth is so powerful that it cannot be overturned―then repetition of the lie can at least weaken our adherence to the truth and cause us to at least doubt the truth or certain aspects of the truth. The implications for daily life, where consumers of news and products are often repeatedly exposed to both plausible and implausible falsehoods, is that even patent lies may slowly become more credible, provided enough repetition.
Because we need to make quick judgments, we adopt shortcuts. Our minds are so vulnerable to the “illusion of truth” effect because our instinct is to use short-cuts in judging how believable something is. Often this works. Sometimes it is misleading. Once we know about the effect we can guard against it. Part of this is double-checking why we believe what we do ― if something sounds plausible―is it because it really is true, or have we just been told that repeatedly? This is why scholars are so insistent about providing references to what is said ― so we can track the origin on any claim, rather than having to take it on blind faith. But part of guarding against the illusion is the obligation it puts on us to stop repeating falsehoods. We live in a world where the facts matter, and should matter. If you repeat things without bothering to check if they are true, you are helping to make a world where lies and truth are easier to confuse. So, please, think before you repeat and double-check before you repeat. There are far too many silly, gullible, intellectually weak and intellectually lazy people around, who “shoot from the hip” and believe almost everything they hear―and the internet is a very useful, productive and profitable web for the “father of lies”―the devil―and his human minions.
COVID-19 Handwashing or Brainwashing?
All we hear is “Wash your hands!” and “Keep six-feet away from everyone!” Yet behind that propaganda is something else―which could be sarcastically stated as: “Let us wash your brain!” and “We want you six-feet under!” The people who are supposedly entrusted with our health are not really interested in our health―they are interested in our sickness. There is no money to be made from healthy people―only from sick people. If you are in the ‘health-care’ business―health can bad for business! Health is not very healthy for your bank account! These very people who pretend to be interested in your health are actually making you sick―and they want you remain sick until the day you die. Many of them don’t want you to die immediately―because they cannot make money from dead people, just as they cannot make money from healthy people. The only profit making market is sick people―so, “Long live the sick!” until no more money can be made from them!
God wants you healthy―and so God has placed in nature all that keep us healthy and make us healthy once again if we lose that health through sickness. Yet, as we all know, NATURE CANNOT BE PATENTED. So money hungry man―a disease in itself―has to stifle nature, strangle nature, tamper with nature, poison nature, modify nature, change nature to the point where it can no longer be called “NATURAL” and thus can be PATENTED. Do you really think that God and His creation cannot handle COVIOD-19? That would be blasphemy! COVID-19 is a “piece-of-cake” for the Great Doctor of Heaven―it was always foreseen, foreknown down to the tiniest detail and always under heavenly control―if we only had Heaven’s Health Insurance! Yet the godless world does not want to pay God the necessary premium to obtain his protection and assistance. God’s Providence is proportionate to our cooperation with His will and the keeping of His Commandments―which is what this mainly godless world does not want to do―if we obey Him, worship Him, then He will undoubtedly look after us. For proof, take time to read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus―seriously, go read it! If you “pardon the French”―it will both console you greatly and “scare the Hell out of you!” It should be compulsory reading for our day! Alternatively―not wanting to make Leviticus 26 as part of the main body of this article―we post further below after the empty white space―just scroll down a few inches and you will find it as an addendum or annex to this article.
Bursting the Bubble of Glorified Vaccines
The current “demi-god” and self-appointed savior of mankind in this “man-u-factured” COVID-19 Plannedemic―the messias Bill Gates―speaks words of ‘salvation’ from his “gatesnotes.com” gospel, telling us―like Christ told us to baptize everyone―that we must vaccinate everyone to be “saved”:
Gates writes: “One of the questions I get asked the most these days is when the world will be able to go back to the way things were in December before the Coronavirus pandemic. My answer is always the same: when we have an almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19, or when almost every person on the planet has been vaccinated against Coronavirus. The former is unlikely to happen anytime soon. We’d need a miracle treatment that was at least 95 percent effective to stop the outbreak. Most of the drug candidates right now are nowhere near that powerful. They could save a lot of lives, but they aren’t enough to get us back to normal. Which leaves us with a vaccine. Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for Coronavirus. Realistically, if we’re going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible. That sounds daunting, because it is. Our foundation is the biggest funder of vaccines in the world, and this effort dwarfs anything we’ve ever worked on before. It’s going to require a global cooperative effort like the world has never seen. But I know it’ll get done. There’s simply no alternative!”
Currently we are witnessing a blasphemous brainwashing of the entertainment addicted “sheeple” of this world by the unholy trinity of Big Pharma, Government and Mainstream Media―who vilify, ridicule, deny and reject “God’s natural medicine” in favor of their own peon, pea-brained, propagandist, purposely produced pharmaceutical pills and vaccines, whose success rate or effectiveness percentage is abysmal to say the least, as the United States CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) statistics show in the chart below.
We’ve all been sold on or brainwashed into fearing germs and disease―but the idea that diseases are good for you is scientifically sound. Many Febrile Infectious Childhood Diseases (FICD’s) are found to give a child protection from more serious adult diseases like diabetes, asthma, allergies, and cancers. We are meant to process these germs and, through them, prime and mature our immune systems. If a disease is found to be, in fact, beneficial to the development and maturation of human immune systems, then any prevention of the disease through the use of vaccination cannot be thought of as being “effective.”
The most commonly used flu shots ‘protect’ no more than 60% of people who receive them. In some years, effectiveness plunges to as low as 10% ― a 1 in 10 chance of help. Given that a bad flu season can kill 50,000 people in the United States alone, “10% to 60% protection is better than nothing,” claims Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “But it's a terribly inadequate vaccine for a serious public health threat! It's much more complicated than we thought,” Osterholm says, "I know less about influenza today than I did 10 years ago.”
Examine the evidence for yourself. Vaccines contributed little to the eradication of diseases like smallpox, tetanus or polio. Ask yourself which vaccine it was that eradicated scarlet fever or the plague. There were no vaccines yet and they waned just the same. Medicine was quick to cry victory over diseases like smallpox, tetanus and polio―but they were all well on their way out when vaccines were introduced. One could just as easily take credit for dropping the ocean’s receding tide by bailing buckets of water out it. History demonstrates that it was improvements in hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, clean water and a nutritious food supply that lead to the decline of most infectious diseases.
Just think seriously and logically for a moment―and put aside the “fear” with which you have been “vaccinated” or “injected” with by the media (and their higher-up owners). When God created mankind, the world and all that is in it―do you think that God’s all-knowing mind and all-powerful capabilities FAILED to see all the countless possible illnesses and diseases that could ever occur―either naturally or by the evil experimentations of evil men? Of course not! God is God―and by that it means that, due to His infinite perfections, nothing escapes His attention and nothing is beyond His capabilities: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)) … “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27).
GOD PROTECTS SOCIETY! Man merely destroys society through his sins! The words of Our Lady of Good Success come to mind, where she speaks of the REAL vaccinations that ALWAYS work: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, THE END OF PESTILENCE and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
ADDENDUM OR ANNEX TO THIS ARTICLE
The Book of Leviticus, Chapter 26 in its entirety
THE TWO OPTIONS PRESENTED TO US BY GOD
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
The most commonly used flu shots ‘protect’ no more than 60% of people who receive them. In some years, effectiveness plunges to as low as 10% ― a 1 in 10 chance of help. Given that a bad flu season can kill 50,000 people in the United States alone, “10% to 60% protection is better than nothing,” claims Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “But it's a terribly inadequate vaccine for a serious public health threat! It's much more complicated than we thought,” Osterholm says, "I know less about influenza today than I did 10 years ago.”
Examine the evidence for yourself. Vaccines contributed little to the eradication of diseases like smallpox, tetanus or polio. Ask yourself which vaccine it was that eradicated scarlet fever or the plague. There were no vaccines yet and they waned just the same. Medicine was quick to cry victory over diseases like smallpox, tetanus and polio―but they were all well on their way out when vaccines were introduced. One could just as easily take credit for dropping the ocean’s receding tide by bailing buckets of water out it. History demonstrates that it was improvements in hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, clean water and a nutritious food supply that lead to the decline of most infectious diseases.
Just think seriously and logically for a moment―and put aside the “fear” with which you have been “vaccinated” or “injected” with by the media (and their higher-up owners). When God created mankind, the world and all that is in it―do you think that God’s all-knowing mind and all-powerful capabilities FAILED to see all the countless possible illnesses and diseases that could ever occur―either naturally or by the evil experimentations of evil men? Of course not! God is God―and by that it means that, due to His infinite perfections, nothing escapes His attention and nothing is beyond His capabilities: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)) … “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27).
GOD PROTECTS SOCIETY! Man merely destroys society through his sins! The words of Our Lady of Good Success come to mind, where she speaks of the REAL vaccinations that ALWAYS work: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, THE END OF PESTILENCE and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
ADDENDUM OR ANNEX TO THIS ARTICLE
The Book of Leviticus, Chapter 26 in its entirety
THE TWO OPTIONS PRESENTED TO US BY GOD
“I am the Lord your God! You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it—for I am the Lord your God! Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary—I am the Lord! If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, then …” (Leviticus 26:1-14).
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then I also will do these things to you― I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me―then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
“If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, then I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me―then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! After I shall have broken the staff of your bread―so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and give it out by weight―you shall eat and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me―then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be in the enemy’s land, she shall keep a Sabbath, and rest in the Sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
“And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins.
“But I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, which, when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her Sabbaths, being desolate for them. And they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, May 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Article 11
Mary―Heaven’s Sole Solution to All Our Crises?
Do the penance or have a greater penance forced on you!
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, May 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Article 11
Mary―Heaven’s Sole Solution to All Our Crises?
Do the penance or have a greater penance forced on you!
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Sinful, Stupid, Stubborn, Silent, Sick and Sinking!
That is an apt description of our society today―sinful, stupid, stubborn, silent, sick and sinking. “What things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► SINFUL ― Our sinfulness as a whole, has brought us into this mess. “Sinfulness? Huh? Who? Are you talking to me?” you might ask. Yes buddy! Yes honey! YOU! We are all sinners and not just everybody else but you! Did not Our Lord call everyone “evil”? ― “If you, then, being evil, …” (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13). “Ah! But I was not among the crowd!” you protest, “He wasn’t speaking to me!” Okay, then, how about these words of Holy Scripture: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10) and “All have sinned, and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23).
► STUPID ― The simple definition of stupid is “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.” Would you say that a person who lights a fire in the middle of the floor of the living room in their own home is someone greatly lacking in intelligence and common sense? Of course! Yet the world constantly ignites the fire of sin in their souls each and every day, thinking that there will be no damage or consequences for those sins! The words of Our Lady should dispel such stupidity―but they don’t! At Fatima, Our Lady warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Our Lady echoed the same warning at Akita in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
How stupid can we be? We “just don’t get it”, do we? Do we think those are mere idle words? Do we think Our Lady’s words are like the Coronavirus narrative―full of lies and false statistics and over-exaggerated? Let not our stupidity go untreated and uncured―for that will lead us to the pit of stupidity, which is Hell. The one thing that all the persons in Hell have in common, is that they were all stupid―and Hell has lots of stupid scientists, doctors, professors, lawyers, kings, presidents, governors, counselors, etc.
► STUBBORN ― Our stupidity leads to our stubbornness, which is defined as “dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something.” We have read or heard Our Lady’s warnings countless times―some would say ad nauseam―but we remain in our dogged determination not to change our attitude or position on the matter. So we stubbornly refuse to do anything or very little with regard to Our Lady’s requests and offers of a solution. This stubbornness of ours is clearly seen in what Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed to Fr. Fuentes in an interview on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message and do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent.” That applies to us too! We do very little or even nothing by way of putting into practice the solutions offered by Our Lady.
► SILENT ― The chief silence is in prayer. Most people in the world do not really pray. Those who do pray, often pray to their false gods, or they are heretics. Furthermore, we often pray for the wrong things―our prayers are often selfish and are focused on ourselves and our nearest and dearest, or even petty material, financial, worldly goals. We simply do not pray for what we should be praying for. Our Lady’s messages―the one’s that we ignore―clearly tell us to pray for worldwide needs and goals, things that concern the common good and not so much our personal benefit: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world … Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace” (Fatima). “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Pray in reparation for the sins of men ... Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita).
Later, after Lucia had entered the convent, Our Lord said to her: “You console Me a great deal in asking Me for the conversion of those poor nations: Request it also of My Mother, while saying to her often: ‘Sweet Heart of Mary, be the salvation of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world!’ At other times say: ‘By thy Pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain for me the conversion of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world.’” We are largely silent in our prayers on these matters―our prayers are too selfish.
Another sinful form of silence is in instructing others on the terrible state of the world and the Church. Sadly, how few are the parents (and teachers and priests) who regularly and very comprehensively instruct their children/students/parishioners on the details of the many different worldwide crises afflicting the modern world and show their children/students/parishioners―not only in theory but also in practice―how to tackle these crises, especially from a spiritual perspective! Concerning this silence, Our Lady of Good Success lamented: “Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► SICK ― We spend more time, effort and money looking after our physical health than we spend looking after our spiritual health! Yet which health is the more important? Did not Our Lord say: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21).
When a person is sick, they often lose their appetite for food. Our Lord says: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Too much worldliness makes us sick and we lose that spiritual appetite for the Word of God and all things spiritual. We have stuffed ourselves with belly full of worldly junk that we have no room, inclination, desire or time for the bread of the Word of God. Our souls progressively weaken and collapse due to spiritual malnutrition and spiritual starvation.
► SINKING ― In case you had never noticed over these last 60 years―you must at least be waking up to the fact now with this current worldly crisis―that the world and the Church are sinking! They are sinking into greater depths of godlessness, immorality, materialism, hedonism (pleasure-seeking) and selfishness. Our Lady of Good Success gave us an image of the world today when she said: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!” It is going to take something on the level of The Great Flood (as in Noe’s day) to wash away and finally sink the sinfulness of this sinking world.
Take Our Lady’s Lifebelt―or Sink and Be Damned with the World!
Holy Scripture clearly tells us: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). If we think there is safety in numbers, or that we are safe if we are like most other people, then Our Lord sinks those false hopes: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Let us grab the lifebelt that God has thrown us―“that we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). That lifebelt is Our Lady! Referring to herself, Our Lady said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you.” (Fatima) … “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Akita).
Sister Lucia of Fatima reinforces Our Lady’s words, telling that “She told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.” (Interview with Fr. Fuentes, December 27th, 1957).
As we are increasing sinking into, what Our Lady of Good Success calls this “filthy ocean [of sin], that will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty” ― let us recall the words of St. Bernard on Our Lady: “When the storm of temptation arises, when you are midst the reefs and shoals of tribulation, fix thy gaze upon the Star of the Sea, call upon Mary, If tossed by the rising tide of pride and ambition, if lost upon the troubled waters of scandal and contention, look then at the Star, invoke her name. Do the billows of anger, of avarice, of lust batter against thy soul, cast thine eyes upon Mary. Does the greatness of thy crime fill thy soul with terror, does thy wretched conscience beat thee down in shame and the fear of judgment paralyze thy heart, then, when about to sink to the depths of despondency, to plunge headlong into despair, then think of Mary. In perils and in sorrows and in fears think of her, call upon her name. Let her name be ever on thy lips and the thought of her be ever in thy heart. Follow her that the power of her intercession may attend thee; imitate her, for in her footsteps thou canst not go astray; call upon her and thou canst not despair; think of her and thou canst not fail. If she holds thee by the hand how canst thou fall! Under her protection thou shalt know no fear; under her guidance thou shalt not falter; under her patronage thou shalt surely reach the goal.” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).
Fr. Faber on “The Mary Solution”
The words of Fr. Faber―in his own personal 1862 translation from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary―are universally applicable to all times and all places, with regard to Mary being our “solution” in all things:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has NOT SUCCEEDED. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that SO FEW of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and FOR ALL THESE THINGS PRAYER APPEARS TO BRING SO LITTLE REMEDY.
“But what is the REMEDY that is wanted? What is the REMEDY indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an IMMENSE INCREASE of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an IMMENSE ONE! Here in England [and everywhere else for that matter], Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
[ We can add to Far. Faber’s comment: Hence it is that the enemies of God and His Church are making so much unopposed progress in our very day―as this Coronavirus Plannedemic or Con-all-avirus Scam-demic has proved, with its constant stream of misinformation, misrepresentation, exaggeration and one lie after another being regularly exposed―yet the “sheeple” of the world still, like dumb sheep led to the slaughter, allow themselves to herded into the sheep-pen of their own homes with barely any bleating being heard ].
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! [Which was confirmed by Our Lady of Fatima 55 years later: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world!” … “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart!” June and July of 1917] I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Faber, Preface to his own personal translation from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Blueprint and Footprint
All of the above paints a picture of the “Marian Blueprint” for the world. A blueprint is a guide for making or doing something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. A blueprint helps you figure out what to do. The literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper — which is blue — with plans for a building printed on it. You can also call other guides or plans blueprints. We speak of “a blueprint for success”―well, Our Lady is our heavenly “blueprint for success” as she herself says: “If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita, October 1973).
So a blueprint is a guide for making or doing something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. Are we following the blueprint? Where is our footprint? Are we putting the theory of the blueprint into practice by our footprints in following the guide and putting into practice the theory? Sadly, no―as Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
What is it that “we don’t get”? What do we not understand? How much more simple does Our Lady have to make her message and warning before the proverbial penny finally drops and our eyes are opened, our hearts are moved and we start to walk the road―the narrow road―that she has indicated to us?
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ... Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say? … Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:13-14; 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).
Consecration of USA and Canada to Our Lady
On May 1st, the bishops of the USA and Canada re-consecrated their countries to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a good thing―but, of itself, it should only be a beginning. It should be seen as seed that leads EVERY Catholic to a True Devotion to Mary―otherwise, though good in itself, a mere consecration of the countries on one day of the year, that takes only a few minutes, easily risks falling into the category of mere “lip-service” and no more. We are a generation that seeks “quick fixes” and we have no taste or desire for things that take a lot longer. That is why we prefer “short reads” rather than “long reads”, short sermons rather than long sermons, short Masses that are quickly over rather than Masses that take much longer, etc.
That is why St. Louis writes, speaking of his True Devotion Consecration to Mary: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior [not just the exterior and superficial], which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). Which brings us back to the above words of Our Lord when “a certain man said to Him: “Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But he said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
The Final Remedies to Save the World
In her interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, referring to the vision of Hell that Our Lady showed her and Jacinta and Francisco, Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.
“Also, Father, tell them that my cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices. …
“For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. …
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway. …
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground….
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others….
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother….
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands….
“Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother…
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
“Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon and the sure door to enter Heaven. This is the first part of the Message referring to Our Lady of Fatima, and the second part, which is briefer but no less important, refers to the Holy Father.”
It’s Heaven’s Way or Hell’s Highway!
Don’t mess with the ‘Boss’! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Sister Lucia of Fatima, as already qouted above, said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!... Add to this the words of Our Lady of La Salette, who so forebodingly warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
We are like independence-seeking and stubborn teenagers, who are told to do something by their parents, but stubbornly resist and refuse. We cannot react to Heaven’s commands and requests like an immature, selfish, proud teenager. With God―there is only one winner! It is not us! Do it His way, or take the highway to Hell. “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
What is that Our Stupid, Stubborn, Slothful Minds Fail to Understand?
We grow frustrated with people or students who cannot see and understand a patently obvious, clear and inescapable truth or fact. We repeat it over and over―but all we get is a blank stare. It might be pure stupidity, it might be stubbornness that resists the truth, or it might be slothfulness that sees the truth but is too lazy to do anything about it. A teacher is not going to change the truth on account of unreceptive stupid, stubborn or slothful students. Neither is Heaven going to change the truth on account of stupid, stubborn or slothful mortals.
Consistently and continuously, Our Lady has repeated the same essential truths regarding our increasingly sinful world and the remedies and solutions commanded by Heaven for reversal of the disease or virus of sin. Even a simple, uneducated, young child should be able to grasp the simplicity and clarity of Our Lady’s warnings. There is no excuse for anyone who has heard her warnings, nor is there any excuse for those who cannot be bothered to learn about them, and who bury their heads in the sand of worldliness. The messages and warnings and clear and consistent:
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (late 1500s and early 1600s) ― “No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers! … Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity! … Weep and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened! Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! Communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance and humiliations! Carry with valor and perseverance the cross … I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world.”
To which Our Lord added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!”
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE (1846) ― “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement ... Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. A great famine will come. Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them. The others will do penance through hunger ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ! I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light―you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
► OUR LADY OF LOURDES (1858) ― Twelve years after La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes “cuts to the quick” and gives us a short, sharp, series of slaps in the face, saying: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” Who cannot understand that? You have to be pretty stupid not understand one simple word repeated three times―just to drive the point home, like a hammer on a nail―and it is our sins that are nails Our Lord endured on the cross. Another key phrase of Our Lady’s was: “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” This is not the manner and mode of living of present day and age. There is little or no penance, while the sins continue to escalate.
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA (1917) ― Even before Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima, the Angel of Portugal had appeared to them three times. On one occasion, while they were innocently playing, the Angel appeared and scolded them: ““What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.” What is there that we cannot understand?
Our Lady continued along the same lines, telling them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? (May 1917) … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart! I will never forsake you! (June 1917) … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved (July 1917) … “Make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves for them!” (August 1917) … “God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime” (September 1917). What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now―and as God helps those who help themselves, Our Lady will help those who help themselves by doing more penance!
On the matter of prayer in general and the Rosary in particular, Our Lady commanded at each apparition that the Rosary be prayed every single day: “Pray the Rosary every day!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day! (June 1917) … “I want you to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (September 1917) … “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917). Speaking of Francisco to the two girls, Our Lady said: “He must say many Rosaries!” Our Lady never spoke directly to Francisco, she always passed on messages to him through the two girls. What had little nine-year-old Francisco done to be told that he would have to pray MANY ROSARIES? How much more guilty are we than that nine-year-old boy! How MANY ROSARIES should we be saying each day?
On this matter of the Rosary, Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now!
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady introduces the practice of devotion to her Immaculate Heart―saying that it is both God the Father and God the Son who require this―not just for some, but for everyone: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God” (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (July 1917). What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now!
► OUR LADY TO BL. ELENA AIELLO (1950s and early 1960s) ― To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
“The powers of evil are getting ready to strike furiously in every part of the globe. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The rulers of nations do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. Oh, what torture I feel in my heart, on beholding mankind so engrossed in all kinds of things and completely ignoring the most important duty of their reconciliation with God. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people as well as saintly priests will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak. You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. A great revolution shall break out and the streets shall be stained with blood!”
“Satan reigns and triumphs on Earth! See how the souls are falling into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls who fall into them like flakes of snow, looking like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hate, and of despair! How much pain! See how many priestly souls! Look at the sign of their consecration in their transparent hands! (In the palms of their hands the sign of the cross, in more vivid fire, could clearly be seen!) What torture, my daughter, in my maternal Heart! Great is my sorrow to see that men do not change! The justice of the Father requires reparation — otherwise many will be lost! See how Russia will burn! And all this fire is not that which will fall from the hands of men, but will be hurled directly from the Angels. Therefore I ask prayers, penance and sacrifice, so I may act as Mediatrix for my Son in order to save souls!”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA (1973) ― “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.
“The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests. Pray in reparation for the sins of men! Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much—very much! Pray with fervor! Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together.
“With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of … beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls ...
Encourage each one of you to pray and to accomplish works of reparation. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master. Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Without Mary―It Gets Scary
You can take it or leave it. It’s your life. It’s your choice. It’s your call. It’s your fate. We can remain sinful, stupid, stubborn, slothful, silent―and sink! Or we can kick our complacency away, humble our pride by greatly increased prayer and penance, detach ourselves more and more from the world and its godless worldliness, and show some intensity in our atrophied anemic spiritual lives. It is going to take a hell of a lot more than a paltry, hastily and distractedly said Rosary to make a dent in this satanically manufactured crisis, never mind sinking that infernal ship. This is ten thousand times more threatening and serious than the Battle of Lepanto ever was―and for Lepanto a Rosary Crusade was organized and the Christian soldiers and sailors prayed the Rosary for hours on the morning of the battle and also during the battle. This―as Sister Lucia said―is the devil’s final battle with Our Lady. As Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). St. Paul said: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). If we don’t get up off our sofas and backsides, and put down our smartphones and turn off our TVs, and go into that violent battle (which any idiot should be able to see emerging right before our very eyes), then we might be able to “lay hold of eternal life”.
Our Lady of La Salette called us to battle―will we answer that call, or stay glued to amusements, entertainment and hobbies? “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ! I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light―you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
So will you start to REALLY pray and pray MUCH? Will you start to pray MANY ROSARIES―as the little nine-year-old Francisco was told to do? Will you start to learn about and live out a TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY―and not a LIP-SERVICE DEVOTION? Will you start to really crank-up your penances and sacrifices―and put away many of indulgent pleasures? You can take it or leave it. It’s your life. It’s your choice. It’s your call. It’s your fate.
That is an apt description of our society today―sinful, stupid, stubborn, silent, sick and sinking. “What things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
► SINFUL ― Our sinfulness as a whole, has brought us into this mess. “Sinfulness? Huh? Who? Are you talking to me?” you might ask. Yes buddy! Yes honey! YOU! We are all sinners and not just everybody else but you! Did not Our Lord call everyone “evil”? ― “If you, then, being evil, …” (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13). “Ah! But I was not among the crowd!” you protest, “He wasn’t speaking to me!” Okay, then, how about these words of Holy Scripture: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10) and “All have sinned, and do need the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23).
► STUPID ― The simple definition of stupid is “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.” Would you say that a person who lights a fire in the middle of the floor of the living room in their own home is someone greatly lacking in intelligence and common sense? Of course! Yet the world constantly ignites the fire of sin in their souls each and every day, thinking that there will be no damage or consequences for those sins! The words of Our Lady should dispel such stupidity―but they don’t! At Fatima, Our Lady warned: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!”
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
Our Lady echoed the same warning at Akita in 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
How stupid can we be? We “just don’t get it”, do we? Do we think those are mere idle words? Do we think Our Lady’s words are like the Coronavirus narrative―full of lies and false statistics and over-exaggerated? Let not our stupidity go untreated and uncured―for that will lead us to the pit of stupidity, which is Hell. The one thing that all the persons in Hell have in common, is that they were all stupid―and Hell has lots of stupid scientists, doctors, professors, lawyers, kings, presidents, governors, counselors, etc.
► STUBBORN ― Our stupidity leads to our stubbornness, which is defined as “dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something.” We have read or heard Our Lady’s warnings countless times―some would say ad nauseam―but we remain in our dogged determination not to change our attitude or position on the matter. So we stubbornly refuse to do anything or very little with regard to Our Lady’s requests and offers of a solution. This stubbornness of ours is clearly seen in what Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed to Fr. Fuentes in an interview on December 26th, 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message and do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent.” That applies to us too! We do very little or even nothing by way of putting into practice the solutions offered by Our Lady.
► SILENT ― The chief silence is in prayer. Most people in the world do not really pray. Those who do pray, often pray to their false gods, or they are heretics. Furthermore, we often pray for the wrong things―our prayers are often selfish and are focused on ourselves and our nearest and dearest, or even petty material, financial, worldly goals. We simply do not pray for what we should be praying for. Our Lady’s messages―the one’s that we ignore―clearly tell us to pray for worldwide needs and goals, things that concern the common good and not so much our personal benefit: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world … Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace” (Fatima). “I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful ... Pray in reparation for the sins of men ... Continue to pray very much—very much! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” (Akita).
Later, after Lucia had entered the convent, Our Lord said to her: “You console Me a great deal in asking Me for the conversion of those poor nations: Request it also of My Mother, while saying to her often: ‘Sweet Heart of Mary, be the salvation of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world!’ At other times say: ‘By thy Pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain for me the conversion of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world.’” We are largely silent in our prayers on these matters―our prayers are too selfish.
Another sinful form of silence is in instructing others on the terrible state of the world and the Church. Sadly, how few are the parents (and teachers and priests) who regularly and very comprehensively instruct their children/students/parishioners on the details of the many different worldwide crises afflicting the modern world and show their children/students/parishioners―not only in theory but also in practice―how to tackle these crises, especially from a spiritual perspective! Concerning this silence, Our Lady of Good Success lamented: “Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent” (Our Lady of Good Success).
► SICK ― We spend more time, effort and money looking after our physical health than we spend looking after our spiritual health! Yet which health is the more important? Did not Our Lord say: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21).
When a person is sick, they often lose their appetite for food. Our Lord says: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Too much worldliness makes us sick and we lose that spiritual appetite for the Word of God and all things spiritual. We have stuffed ourselves with belly full of worldly junk that we have no room, inclination, desire or time for the bread of the Word of God. Our souls progressively weaken and collapse due to spiritual malnutrition and spiritual starvation.
► SINKING ― In case you had never noticed over these last 60 years―you must at least be waking up to the fact now with this current worldly crisis―that the world and the Church are sinking! They are sinking into greater depths of godlessness, immorality, materialism, hedonism (pleasure-seeking) and selfishness. Our Lady of Good Success gave us an image of the world today when she said: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!” It is going to take something on the level of The Great Flood (as in Noe’s day) to wash away and finally sink the sinfulness of this sinking world.
Take Our Lady’s Lifebelt―or Sink and Be Damned with the World!
Holy Scripture clearly tells us: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). If we think there is safety in numbers, or that we are safe if we are like most other people, then Our Lord sinks those false hopes: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Let us grab the lifebelt that God has thrown us―“that we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). That lifebelt is Our Lady! Referring to herself, Our Lady said: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you.” (Fatima) … “I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” (Akita).
Sister Lucia of Fatima reinforces Our Lady’s words, telling that “She told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.” (Interview with Fr. Fuentes, December 27th, 1957).
As we are increasing sinking into, what Our Lady of Good Success calls this “filthy ocean [of sin], that will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty” ― let us recall the words of St. Bernard on Our Lady: “When the storm of temptation arises, when you are midst the reefs and shoals of tribulation, fix thy gaze upon the Star of the Sea, call upon Mary, If tossed by the rising tide of pride and ambition, if lost upon the troubled waters of scandal and contention, look then at the Star, invoke her name. Do the billows of anger, of avarice, of lust batter against thy soul, cast thine eyes upon Mary. Does the greatness of thy crime fill thy soul with terror, does thy wretched conscience beat thee down in shame and the fear of judgment paralyze thy heart, then, when about to sink to the depths of despondency, to plunge headlong into despair, then think of Mary. In perils and in sorrows and in fears think of her, call upon her name. Let her name be ever on thy lips and the thought of her be ever in thy heart. Follow her that the power of her intercession may attend thee; imitate her, for in her footsteps thou canst not go astray; call upon her and thou canst not despair; think of her and thou canst not fail. If she holds thee by the hand how canst thou fall! Under her protection thou shalt know no fear; under her guidance thou shalt not falter; under her patronage thou shalt surely reach the goal.” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).
Fr. Faber on “The Mary Solution”
The words of Fr. Faber―in his own personal 1862 translation from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary―are universally applicable to all times and all places, with regard to Mary being our “solution” in all things:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has NOT SUCCEEDED. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that SO FEW of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and FOR ALL THESE THINGS PRAYER APPEARS TO BRING SO LITTLE REMEDY.
“But what is the REMEDY that is wanted? What is the REMEDY indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an IMMENSE INCREASE of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an IMMENSE ONE! Here in England [and everywhere else for that matter], Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
[ We can add to Far. Faber’s comment: Hence it is that the enemies of God and His Church are making so much unopposed progress in our very day―as this Coronavirus Plannedemic or Con-all-avirus Scam-demic has proved, with its constant stream of misinformation, misrepresentation, exaggeration and one lie after another being regularly exposed―yet the “sheeple” of the world still, like dumb sheep led to the slaughter, allow themselves to herded into the sheep-pen of their own homes with barely any bleating being heard ].
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! [Which was confirmed by Our Lady of Fatima 55 years later: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world!” … “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart!” June and July of 1917] I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Faber, Preface to his own personal translation from the French, of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Blueprint and Footprint
All of the above paints a picture of the “Marian Blueprint” for the world. A blueprint is a guide for making or doing something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. A blueprint helps you figure out what to do. The literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper — which is blue — with plans for a building printed on it. You can also call other guides or plans blueprints. We speak of “a blueprint for success”―well, Our Lady is our heavenly “blueprint for success” as she herself says: “If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!” (Akita, October 1973).
So a blueprint is a guide for making or doing something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. Are we following the blueprint? Where is our footprint? Are we putting the theory of the blueprint into practice by our footprints in following the guide and putting into practice the theory? Sadly, no―as Sister Lucia of Fatima lamented: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this Message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently; they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the Message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent!”
What is it that “we don’t get”? What do we not understand? How much more simple does Our Lady have to make her message and warning before the proverbial penny finally drops and our eyes are opened, our hearts are moved and we start to walk the road―the narrow road―that she has indicated to us?
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ... Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say? … Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:13-14; 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).
Consecration of USA and Canada to Our Lady
On May 1st, the bishops of the USA and Canada re-consecrated their countries to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a good thing―but, of itself, it should only be a beginning. It should be seen as seed that leads EVERY Catholic to a True Devotion to Mary―otherwise, though good in itself, a mere consecration of the countries on one day of the year, that takes only a few minutes, easily risks falling into the category of mere “lip-service” and no more. We are a generation that seeks “quick fixes” and we have no taste or desire for things that take a lot longer. That is why we prefer “short reads” rather than “long reads”, short sermons rather than long sermons, short Masses that are quickly over rather than Masses that take much longer, etc.
That is why St. Louis writes, speaking of his True Devotion Consecration to Mary: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior [not just the exterior and superficial], which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). Which brings us back to the above words of Our Lord when “a certain man said to Him: “Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But he said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
The Final Remedies to Save the World
In her interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, referring to the vision of Hell that Our Lady showed her and Jacinta and Francisco, Sister Lucia of Fatima said: “Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.
“Also, Father, tell them that my cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices. …
“For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments, that will certainly come over the Earth, if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity, if we remain fixed in sin. …
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway. …
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground….
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others….
“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother….
“If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting ― with full knowledge and will ― the salvation that is put in our hands….
“Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother…
“Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is ― be it temporal or above all spiritual ― in the spiritual life of each of us, or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations. I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
“Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon and the sure door to enter Heaven. This is the first part of the Message referring to Our Lady of Fatima, and the second part, which is briefer but no less important, refers to the Holy Father.”
It’s Heaven’s Way or Hell’s Highway!
Don’t mess with the ‘Boss’! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Sister Lucia of Fatima, as already qouted above, said: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad―because of their sins―do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, and keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!... Add to this the words of Our Lady of La Salette, who so forebodingly warned: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
We are like independence-seeking and stubborn teenagers, who are told to do something by their parents, but stubbornly resist and refuse. We cannot react to Heaven’s commands and requests like an immature, selfish, proud teenager. With God―there is only one winner! It is not us! Do it His way, or take the highway to Hell. “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life―and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
What is that Our Stupid, Stubborn, Slothful Minds Fail to Understand?
We grow frustrated with people or students who cannot see and understand a patently obvious, clear and inescapable truth or fact. We repeat it over and over―but all we get is a blank stare. It might be pure stupidity, it might be stubbornness that resists the truth, or it might be slothfulness that sees the truth but is too lazy to do anything about it. A teacher is not going to change the truth on account of unreceptive stupid, stubborn or slothful students. Neither is Heaven going to change the truth on account of stupid, stubborn or slothful mortals.
Consistently and continuously, Our Lady has repeated the same essential truths regarding our increasingly sinful world and the remedies and solutions commanded by Heaven for reversal of the disease or virus of sin. Even a simple, uneducated, young child should be able to grasp the simplicity and clarity of Our Lady’s warnings. There is no excuse for anyone who has heard her warnings, nor is there any excuse for those who cannot be bothered to learn about them, and who bury their heads in the sand of worldliness. The messages and warnings and clear and consistent:
► OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (late 1500s and early 1600s) ― “No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers! … Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe! … Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that He might take pity! … Weep and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened! Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! Communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance and humiliations! Carry with valor and perseverance the cross … I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the sinful world.”
To which Our Lord added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!”
► OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE (1846) ― “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement ... Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. A great famine will come. Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them. The others will do penance through hunger ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ! I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light―you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
► OUR LADY OF LOURDES (1858) ― Twelve years after La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes “cuts to the quick” and gives us a short, sharp, series of slaps in the face, saying: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” Who cannot understand that? You have to be pretty stupid not understand one simple word repeated three times―just to drive the point home, like a hammer on a nail―and it is our sins that are nails Our Lord endured on the cross. Another key phrase of Our Lady’s was: “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” This is not the manner and mode of living of present day and age. There is little or no penance, while the sins continue to escalate.
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA (1917) ― Even before Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima, the Angel of Portugal had appeared to them three times. On one occasion, while they were innocently playing, the Angel appeared and scolded them: ““What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.” What is there that we cannot understand?
Our Lady continued along the same lines, telling them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? (May 1917) … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart! I will never forsake you! (June 1917) … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved (July 1917) … “Make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves for them!” (August 1917) … “God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime” (September 1917). What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now―and as God helps those who help themselves, Our Lady will help those who help themselves by doing more penance!
On the matter of prayer in general and the Rosary in particular, Our Lady commanded at each apparition that the Rosary be prayed every single day: “Pray the Rosary every day!” (May 1917) … “Say the Rosary every day! (June 1917) … “I want you to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary!” (September 1917) … “Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (October 1917). Speaking of Francisco to the two girls, Our Lady said: “He must say many Rosaries!” Our Lady never spoke directly to Francisco, she always passed on messages to him through the two girls. What had little nine-year-old Francisco done to be told that he would have to pray MANY ROSARIES? How much more guilty are we than that nine-year-old boy! How MANY ROSARIES should we be saying each day?
On this matter of the Rosary, Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now!
Furthermore, at Fatima, Our Lady introduces the practice of devotion to her Immaculate Heart―saying that it is both God the Father and God the Son who require this―not just for some, but for everyone: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God” (June 1917) … “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (July 1917). What is there that we cannot understand? As Our Lady said―only she can help us now!
► OUR LADY TO BL. ELENA AIELLO (1950s and early 1960s) ― To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
“The powers of evil are getting ready to strike furiously in every part of the globe. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The rulers of nations do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. Oh, what torture I feel in my heart, on beholding mankind so engrossed in all kinds of things and completely ignoring the most important duty of their reconciliation with God. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people as well as saintly priests will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak. You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. A great revolution shall break out and the streets shall be stained with blood!”
“Satan reigns and triumphs on Earth! See how the souls are falling into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls who fall into them like flakes of snow, looking like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hate, and of despair! How much pain! See how many priestly souls! Look at the sign of their consecration in their transparent hands! (In the palms of their hands the sign of the cross, in more vivid fire, could clearly be seen!) What torture, my daughter, in my maternal Heart! Great is my sorrow to see that men do not change! The justice of the Father requires reparation — otherwise many will be lost! See how Russia will burn! And all this fire is not that which will fall from the hands of men, but will be hurled directly from the Angels. Therefore I ask prayers, penance and sacrifice, so I may act as Mediatrix for my Son in order to save souls!”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA (1973) ― “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.
“The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests. Pray in reparation for the sins of men! Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! Continue to pray very much—very much! Pray with fervor! Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together.
“With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of … beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls ...
Encourage each one of you to pray and to accomplish works of reparation. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this … pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master. Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Without Mary―It Gets Scary
You can take it or leave it. It’s your life. It’s your choice. It’s your call. It’s your fate. We can remain sinful, stupid, stubborn, slothful, silent―and sink! Or we can kick our complacency away, humble our pride by greatly increased prayer and penance, detach ourselves more and more from the world and its godless worldliness, and show some intensity in our atrophied anemic spiritual lives. It is going to take a hell of a lot more than a paltry, hastily and distractedly said Rosary to make a dent in this satanically manufactured crisis, never mind sinking that infernal ship. This is ten thousand times more threatening and serious than the Battle of Lepanto ever was―and for Lepanto a Rosary Crusade was organized and the Christian soldiers and sailors prayed the Rosary for hours on the morning of the battle and also during the battle. This―as Sister Lucia said―is the devil’s final battle with Our Lady. As Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). St. Paul said: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). If we don’t get up off our sofas and backsides, and put down our smartphones and turn off our TVs, and go into that violent battle (which any idiot should be able to see emerging right before our very eyes), then we might be able to “lay hold of eternal life”.
Our Lady of La Salette called us to battle―will we answer that call, or stay glued to amusements, entertainment and hobbies? “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ! I call on the true disciples of the living God Who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light―you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay!”
So will you start to REALLY pray and pray MUCH? Will you start to pray MANY ROSARIES―as the little nine-year-old Francisco was told to do? Will you start to learn about and live out a TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY―and not a LIP-SERVICE DEVOTION? Will you start to really crank-up your penances and sacrifices―and put away many of indulgent pleasures? You can take it or leave it. It’s your life. It’s your choice. It’s your call. It’s your fate.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Wednesday April 29th & Thursday April 30th
Article 10
Is the World Possessed?
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Wednesday April 29th & Thursday April 30th
Article 10
Is the World Possessed?
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Is the World Possessed
We finished the previous article with the perhaps controversial statement that the world is possessed, stating that there are even some bishops and priests of the modern Church who think the world is possessed. You have no doubt read several articles about various bishops and priests who have tried exorcise entire cities―some of them flying around above the city and jettisoning gallons of holy water over the city while reciting prayers of exorcism! Even more recently, in this very month of April of 2020, Archbishop Viganò wrote an Open Letter to all the bishops and priests of the world to join him on Holy Saturday, April 11th, 2020, in praying the Church’s exorcism over the world. Here are some excerpts from his Open Letter:
“In these modern times of terrible tribulation, when the pandemic has deprived Catholics of Holy Mass and the Sacraments, the Evil One has gone into a frenzy and multiplied his attacks to tempt souls into sin. These blessed days of Holy Week, which used to be the ideal time to go to Confession to prepare ourselves for our Easter Communion, now see us locked inside our houses, but they cannot stop us praying to Our Lord. Since it is a day of silence, while we await His glorious Resurrection, this Holy Saturday ought to be an ideal opportunity for Sacred Ministers. There is no need to go out, or to breach any of the laws currently in force. I should like to ask you all to pray together, using the form given by Leo XIII, the Exorcism against Satan and the Apostate Angels (Exorcismus in Satanam et angelos apostaticos, Rituale Romanum, Tit. XII, Caput III), at three o’clock in the afternoon, Roman time (15:00 hours, Central European Summer Time) on Saturday April 11th, 2020, so we can all fight together the common enemy of the whole human race … I should like to ask all my brother Bishops and Priests to join me as I recite this Exorcism, knowing the power of this Sacramental ― especially when it is recited together with all other Priests ― to help the Church in Her fight against Satan. I should also like to recommend that all of you wear a stole―the sign of your Priestly power, and [use] Holy Water.” (Archbishop Viganò).
Our Lady of La Salette already warned us: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … They will have great power over Nature―there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God.”
It is sad that the above invitation to bishops and priests to pray a worldwide exorcism, should have come from a mere Archbishop and not from Pope Francis himself―especially since early in his papacy, during the opening months, Francis could not stop talking about the devil!
Popes and Satan
An earlier pope, Pope Paul VI, even admitted that the devil had entered the Church. Here are the pertinent quotes on that subject:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious! One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy―the loss of the Faith―is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the sixtieth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► 1987: During a May 24th, 1987, visit to the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel, Pope John Paul II said: “The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the devil is still alive and active in the world. The evil that surrounds us today, the disorders that plague our society, man’s inconsistency and brokenness, are not only the results of Original Sin, but also the result of Satan’s pervasive and dark action.”
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
The Exorcist Fr. Gabriel Amorth on Satan
Fr. Gabriele Amorth (1925–2016), ordained in 1954 and exorcist for 30 years, from 1986, and also the former chief exorcist of Rome, had the following to say on the subject (the following is a combination of quotes from various books written by him and several interviews with him):
“The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Except this, media have put in the first plan and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians, and so they give publicity to their works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19. Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God.
“The truth of salvation is this: Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to free man from Satan’s slavery, and to establish the Kingdom of God, after destroying the reign of Satan. However, between the first coming of Christ and the Parousia (the second, triumphal coming of Christ as judge), the devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart, ah this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [he says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted, which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress. In biblical terms, I can say that people are abandoning God to give themselves up to occultism. The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses through satanic rock music and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism.
“Spiritualist seances in which the dead are called up to answer certain questions are very widespread. People are now being taught to perform spiritualist seances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that each can practice by himself. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass, which is a veritable spiritualist seance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!
Our Lady’s Measuring Stick For Today
If we go back to the above quoted words of Our Lady of La Salette and use them as a measuring stick to see if our present state in the world measures up to her prophecies, then we will have to admit that this really is the case. The events that she was speaking of are already here! How long will they last and how long will this ever deepening crisis continue? Only God knows the answer to that―but, that answer is linked to what we are prepared to do about it or not do about it. Here are those prophetic words of Our Lady once more:
► “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence.” Less and less Catholics pray―and more importantly, less and less pray the Holy Rosary. It is estimated that only around 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily. Perhaps that has improved a little during these weeks of Coronavirus lockdowns―but if it has, it will drop back down to the usual if things get back to normal. Additionally, less and less Catholics attend Sunday Mass regularly―a worldwide average of less than 20%, with some European ‘Catholic’ countries, like France, as low as 2%. Less and less Catholics go to the Sacrament of Penance or Confession. The Church has even reduced and minimized penance at a time when sin is increasing exponentially! That kind of thinking clearly manifests the reality of which Our Lady speaks: “The devil has bedimmed their intelligence.” Also, that bedimmed intelligence is seen in the superficial knowledge people have of the Faith, some do not even know the First Communion Catechism or Confirmation Catechism that they were taught at ages 7 and around 12. The knowledge of the Faith is truly abysmal these days.
► “They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” As the recently deceased [2016], former chief exorcist of Rome, of 30 years experience said: The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19 … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great, that if the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified.”
Sr. Lucia’s words to Fr. Fuentes in 1957 are echoed by the above words of Fr. Amorth, for Lucia said that “the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!”
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family.” Just look at the division that surrounds us and which escalates from month to month and year to year! Political division becomes more pronounced and volatile. The State has become even more divided from (but more in control of) the Church. Family divisions grow and divorce is often the “get-out” clause option. Children are becoming increasingly divided from their parents. The laity are becoming more and more divided from the clergy―expecting and demanding things that are clearly against the Faith. Today, even the Church division among Liberals, “Conservatives” and Modernists grows―with many mainstream clergy seeming to oppose Pope Francis, or at least publicly question him more and more―which is an unheard reaction and division within the mainstream Conciliar Church! Now, with this Coronavirus, we have seen ever increasing and intense division between sane scientists and doctors with insane scientists and doctors. We are not far off and fast approaching the day Our Lord warned about: “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And unto all nations the Gospel must first be preached. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:8-13).
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God.” Can we not see that today? You have to be blind or insane not realize the ever increasing fulfillment of those words! Less than 20% of Catholics, on average worldwide, regularly attend Sunday Mass. In some "Catholic" countries, such as France, Mass attendance is as low as 2%. As regards prayer, only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima and Akita: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Furthermore, the Faith REALLY HAS BEEN weakened in almost every soul and they are progressing well in their desire to “put an end to the Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God!” Increasing numbers of priests (and laity) no longer believe all the dogmas of the Church and hold opinions that are against Church teaching―picking and choosing which of them they like and agree with. Remember― to be a heretic, you don’t have to refuse ALL that the Church teaches, merely denying JUST ONE dogma of the Church suffices! The same is all the more true of the laity, among whom 60% to 80% no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As much as 90% no longer go to Confession. Over 90% accept contraception. Over 50% accept divorce with remarriage, same sex-marriages and homosexual relationships. The list goes on and on ― check the various surveys for yourself!
► “They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. To be spiritually blind is not to see Christ, and not to see Christ is not to see God. Spiritual blindness is a grievous condition experienced by those who do not believe in God and His Word. It is also the condition of the lukewarm. They choose not to accept the teachings of Christ and His authority in their lives. They are blind to the manifestations of God. St. Peter spoke of such people: “In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). The cause of spiritual blindness is made quite clear in the Scriptures: “The Gospel is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). In that quote, St. Paul refers to Satan as the “god of this world.” Being extraordinarily evil (John 8:44), Satan destroys the flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5), masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and is the cause of all temptations (Luke 4:2; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5). He revels in scheming against and trapping the unbelievers (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:26). Satan’s goal is to devour the weak who fall prey to temptation, fear, loneliness, worry, depression, and persecution (1 Peter 5:8-9). Without God and left to ourselves, we easily succumb to the devil’s schemes. We can become so mired in the affairs of this world and its moral darkness that, in the end, God turns us over to spiritual blindness and eternal condemnation (John 12:40; Romans 1:24-32). This blindness of mind is that which is suffered by all lukewarm souls―they are lacking in interior recollection and the spirit of prayer; they are constantly pouring themselves out through the channels of the senses, without any attentive or constant consideration of divine truths.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Spiritual blindness leads the sinner to prefer, in everything, goods that are temporal rather than eternal goods. It prevents him from hearing the voice of God. Spiritual blindness is a punishment of God which takes away the divine light because of repeated sins. There are sinners who, by reason of repeated sins, no longer recognize the signified will of God manifested in a striking manner; they no longer understand that the evils which befall them are punishments of God, and they do not turn to Him. They explain these misfortunes by natural laws alone, as things that afflict a number of people at the moment. They see in them only the result of certain economic factors, such as the development of machinery and overproduction which results from it. They no longer take into account that these disorders have above all a moral cause and come from the fact that many men place their last end where it is not; not in God who would unite us, but in material goods which divide us, because they cannot belong simultaneously and integrally to a number of people. Holy Scripture often speaks of this spiritual blindness. Christ was saddened and angered by the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees (Mark 3:5) and finally said to them: ‘Woe to you blind guides ... You tithe mint and anise and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and Faith ... Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.’ (Matthew 23:16, 23 ff.). In St. John’s Gospel we read that this blindness is a punishment of God: ‘He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted’ (John 12:40), who withdraws light from such as do not wish to receive it: ‘As it is written: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!”’ (Romans 11:8). It is surprising at times to find among Christians men who have great literary, artistic, or scientific culture, but who have merely a rudimentary and superficial knowledge of the truths of religion, a knowledge mingled with many prejudices and errors. It is a surprising disproportion, which makes them, as it were, spiritual dwarfs.
“At the present time, there are in the world two radically contradictory universal tendencies, over and above the nationalism of different groups nl0re or less opposed to one another. On the one hand, we find the universalism of the reign of Christ who wishes to draw the souls of men of all nations to God, supreme Truth and Life; on the other hand, we see false universalism, which is called Communism, which draws souls in an inverse sense toward materialism, sensuality, and pride. The great problem of today is found in the conflict between the universalism of the reign of Christ and of the Church, which liberates souls, and Communism, which leads them to materialist abjection and to the oppression of the weak under the pride of demagogues and leaders ... The general trend of modern civilization seems to draw it toward the universalism of Antichrist and his rod of iron, rather than toward the universalism of Christ and His liberating law. Thus the cockle grows with the wheat; the capital of sin grows throughout the course of history and the capital of grace also increases and superabounds ... Christian heroism will one day become the only solution for the problems of life. In this conflict we must turn to prayer and penance, no less than to study and apostolic work. This is what the Blessed Virgin declared at Lourdes: ‘Pray and do penance.’” (Fr. Garrigou Lagrange).
► “They will have great power over Nature.” We are already starting to see the tremendous power that man has developed (with the help of the “prince of this world” no doubt) over nature. Today, weather can be controlled, droughts can be produced, torrential rain can be created, forest fires can be ignited, earthquakes can be caused, not to mention the unbelievable technological and electronic surveillance and mood changing apparatus that can be used. Nature is now even harnessed and modified to create bio-weapons and nuclear weapons. Crops have been manipulated. Fake meat is being made. What you need to remember is that the “latest” advances in technology are far from being the latest. It is commonly thought that the “latest” inventions that are introduced to us, are actually ten or twenty years old. Our Lady of La Salette adds: “People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits!”
► “There will be churches built to serve these spirits.” The Church of Satan is a religious organization dedicated to Satanism as codified in The Satanic Bible. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30th, 1966, by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the Church’s High Priest until his death in 1997. La Vey’s church is organized, incorporated and protected under the laws of California. La Vey, 42, stopped giving out membership figures when his followers, who are grouped in local “grottoes,” reached a total of 10,000. Though the 1960s and ’70s saw the introduction of several other concepts called Satanism—from actual religious belief, to a credo used to justify criminality—the Church of Satan did not fade away. In 1978, the U.S. Army even included the group in the manual of “Religious Requirements and Practices” delivered to its hundreds of chaplains. In 2001, Peter H. Gilmore was appointed to the position of High Priest, and the church’s headquarters were moved to Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.
Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, also known as Saint Walpurga’s Eve, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga (Walburga), an 8th-century abbess in the Frankish Empire, and is celebrated on the night of April 30th and the day of May 1st. Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling pest, rabies and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft. Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft. In parts of Christendom, people continue to light bonfires on Saint Walpurga’s Eve in order to ward off evil spirits and witches.
The Satanic Temple is an off-shoot of the Church of Satan. Hail Satan? directed by US film-maker and Satanic sympathizer Penny Lane, follows the Temple’s attempts to curtail what they see as the encroachment of Christianity on US life through its growing political influence. That creeping theocracy results in a monument to the Ten Commandments being offered pride of place at the Oklahoma State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. The Temple’s response is to ask for a space for their own statue of the Satanic deity Baphomet in a bid to restore some kind of cosmic religious balance, all the while preaching a doctrine in support of social justice and human rights. “We want people to evaluate the United States being a Christian nation,” the Temple’s spokesman Lucien Greaves (not his real name, he goes by several aliases to protect his family) says in the film’s trailer. “It’s not!”
The Satanic Temple has earned the same tax-exempt status as a church by the IRS. The group has been around for a half-dozen years and grabbed news attention for its political activism. But the official US government recognition and a recent documentary film are bringing a new level of attention to the group. The United States has no state religion and no state church and no religious bureaucracy. That means it’s really up to the IRS to decide if a new entity claiming to be religious deserves tax-exempt status and the official recognition that comes with it. Thanks in part to the IRS decision and the new documentary, the Satanic Temple is entering a phase of rapid growth. It has over 20 chapters across the US, and affiliate groups in Canada, Australia, Germany and the UK, with more seeking approval from the Satanic Temple. Greaves said the Satanic Temple has grown so much over the last few years because of the way it has harnessed its messaging in response to the current political climate. “In a way, the Satanic Temple has enjoyed such expansive, explosive growth because of the rise of the theocratic right in the United States. Our expansive membership numbers are a response to the Trump administration and Pence being vice president. People are horrified.”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the former chief exorcist of Rome, of 30 years experience in the field, says: “Satanic sects are proliferating. In Italy I would say there are about six to seven hundred, and they must be small groups because that allows them to get together more easily without being noticed. There are four big satanic sects in Italy; the others would be small groups of about a dozen members each. Satanism in Italy, however, involves a great number of people who don’t even belong to a sect. Music is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers. Take satanic rock, for instance. There is a form of rock music known as satanic rock which preaches a terribly negative outlook, and combats the Catholic religion and all forms of social order, and teaches, instead, that everything is permissible and that the individual is god. It leads to hatred of the Church. There are also others forms of Satanism. I recently saw a book ― it belonged to a young girl ― and it contained a rite of consecration to Satan and ways to commit suicide. Suicide amongst adolescents is on the rise. We must not forget that God is God of life, and Satan is the lord of death. St. Augustine said that if it weren’t for God, Satan would kill us all.
“Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith. When there is no more Faith in people they give way to superstition, and particularly today, to the occult. For many, who join a satanic sect, it is just a game. Many, in fact, start because they are bored. The occult and Satanism always have roused people’s curiosity. The new experience, new emotions, new power that people acquire in the sects fascinates them; and Satan really does hand out his gifts of wealth, pleasure and success. In the same way that Christ was tempted: “I will give you the whole world if you prostrate yourself before me,” we also are tempted; and Heaven knows how many fall at Satan’s feet today! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them.”
“Whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest. Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world―usually for very base reasons. In order to have immediate benefits, for example: money, pleasure, success and power. They tie themselves to Satan with real blood pacts. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches. I refer to those who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining Satanic sects. They are secret groups which are difficult to pinpoint but which exist and operate. They are well-organized, they have meeting places, priests and rites which finish in so-called ‘Black Masses’. Every now and then, you read in the papers that tabernacles have been vandalized and consecrated hosts stolen: acts carried out by worshippers of Satan for their ‘Black Masses.’ The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Yes. Today Satan rules the world! The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, compiled from several interviews and books of Fr. Amorth).
So What Will You Do?
As Father Amorth was earlier quoted as saying, “the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!” Those words should be taken in tandem with the words of Pope Paul VI: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack―no, it is not mysterious―from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, Pope Paul VI added: “One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.” And a few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the sixtieth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, October 13th, 1977). To which Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Satan has reached the top of the political sphere, the financial sphere, the social sphere and the ecclesiastical sphere. The solution to all this is not being taken―or at least it is not being taken seriously enough, nor by sufficient numbers, nor is it sufficient in its intensity. The solution is―as Our Lady said at Fatima―devotion to Our Lady, especially under the aspect of her Immaculate Heart. Until we do that in all seriousness and earnestness, until we do that in sufficient numbers, until we do it with high degree of intensity―Satan will continue to conquer, to rule and to enslave the world under his yoke―as we are currently and clearly seeing unfold before our very own eyes. It’s your life! It’s your choice! It’s your fate! It’s your responsibility! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). We are at war! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
We finished the previous article with the perhaps controversial statement that the world is possessed, stating that there are even some bishops and priests of the modern Church who think the world is possessed. You have no doubt read several articles about various bishops and priests who have tried exorcise entire cities―some of them flying around above the city and jettisoning gallons of holy water over the city while reciting prayers of exorcism! Even more recently, in this very month of April of 2020, Archbishop Viganò wrote an Open Letter to all the bishops and priests of the world to join him on Holy Saturday, April 11th, 2020, in praying the Church’s exorcism over the world. Here are some excerpts from his Open Letter:
“In these modern times of terrible tribulation, when the pandemic has deprived Catholics of Holy Mass and the Sacraments, the Evil One has gone into a frenzy and multiplied his attacks to tempt souls into sin. These blessed days of Holy Week, which used to be the ideal time to go to Confession to prepare ourselves for our Easter Communion, now see us locked inside our houses, but they cannot stop us praying to Our Lord. Since it is a day of silence, while we await His glorious Resurrection, this Holy Saturday ought to be an ideal opportunity for Sacred Ministers. There is no need to go out, or to breach any of the laws currently in force. I should like to ask you all to pray together, using the form given by Leo XIII, the Exorcism against Satan and the Apostate Angels (Exorcismus in Satanam et angelos apostaticos, Rituale Romanum, Tit. XII, Caput III), at three o’clock in the afternoon, Roman time (15:00 hours, Central European Summer Time) on Saturday April 11th, 2020, so we can all fight together the common enemy of the whole human race … I should like to ask all my brother Bishops and Priests to join me as I recite this Exorcism, knowing the power of this Sacramental ― especially when it is recited together with all other Priests ― to help the Church in Her fight against Satan. I should also like to recommend that all of you wear a stole―the sign of your Priestly power, and [use] Holy Water.” (Archbishop Viganò).
Our Lady of La Salette already warned us: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … They will have great power over Nature―there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God.”
It is sad that the above invitation to bishops and priests to pray a worldwide exorcism, should have come from a mere Archbishop and not from Pope Francis himself―especially since early in his papacy, during the opening months, Francis could not stop talking about the devil!
Popes and Satan
An earlier pope, Pope Paul VI, even admitted that the devil had entered the Church. Here are the pertinent quotes on that subject:
► 1972: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his election, June 29th, 1972).
► 1972: Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious! One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
► 1977: A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy―the loss of the Faith―is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the sixtieth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
► 1987: During a May 24th, 1987, visit to the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel, Pope John Paul II said: “The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the devil is still alive and active in the world. The evil that surrounds us today, the disorders that plague our society, man’s inconsistency and brokenness, are not only the results of Original Sin, but also the result of Satan’s pervasive and dark action.”
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
The Exorcist Fr. Gabriel Amorth on Satan
Fr. Gabriele Amorth (1925–2016), ordained in 1954 and exorcist for 30 years, from 1986, and also the former chief exorcist of Rome, had the following to say on the subject (the following is a combination of quotes from various books written by him and several interviews with him):
“The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands. This does not mean that he has more power than in the past, but the door is wide open to him. Primarily, today we live in a period of little Faith. It is purely mathematical―when Faith declines, superstition grows. When we abandon God, we give ourselves to practices that open the door to Satan. There is no doubt that today’s media have done much in favor of Satan, first by the immorality of certain shows, the abundance of movies showing violence, horror or sex. Except this, media have put in the first plan and have given popularity to figures of wizards and magicians, and so they give publicity to their works.
“Satan was the most perfect being created by the hands of God. His God-given authority and superiority over the other angels are recognized by all, so he thought that he had the same authority over everything that God was creating. Satan tried to understand all of creation but could not―because all the plan of creation was oriented toward Christ. Until Christ came into the world, God’s plan could not be revealed in its entirety. Hence Satan’s rebellion. He wanted to continue to be the absolute first―the center of creation―even if it meant opposing God’s design. This is why Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19. Beginning with our forefathers, he seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God. He was successful with our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and he hoped to continue with all men with the help of “a third of the angels”, who, according to the Book of the Apocalypse, followed him in rebellion against God.
“The truth of salvation is this: Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to free man from Satan’s slavery, and to establish the Kingdom of God, after destroying the reign of Satan. However, between the first coming of Christ and the Parousia (the second, triumphal coming of Christ as judge), the devil tries to entice as many people as possible to his side. It is a battle he wages with the desperation of one who knows he is already defeated, knowing “that his time is short” (Apocalypse 12:12). Therefore, Paul tells us in all honesty that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“Satan―defeated by Christ―fights against Christ’s followers. The battle against the evil spirits was begun from the very origins of the world, and will continue until the last day―as the Lord has attested. During this time, every man is on battle alert―because life on Earth is a trial of faithfulness to God. Even if this battle against Satan concerns all men and all times, there is no doubt that Satan’s power is felt more keenly in periods of history when the sinfulness of the community is more evident. For example, when I view the decadence of the Roman Empire, I can see the moral disintegration of that period in history. Today we are at the same level of decadence, partly as a result of the misuse of the mass media (which are not evil in themselves) and partly because of Western consumerism and materialism, which have poisoned our society.
“Jesus works through His Church, Satan through his empire of evil. Ignoring these simple truths means not having a true awareness. Unfortunately, Christians no longer believe in these things these days. There is a harmful tendency to remove Satan and the other spirits of evil. But in this way, their power is only increased. This is perhaps why, in this day and age, Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great. If the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity. Satan’s biggest triumph is mankind’s conviction that he doesn’t exist! ― [the world’s governments and mainstream media would probably label a belief in Satan’s existence as a “conspiracy theory”!].
“I believe that Pope Leo XIII, in a vision, received a prophetic warning concerning this demonic attack on our times. How does the devil oppose God and our Savior? By claiming for himself the adoration due to God and by mimicking Christian institutions. Therefore, he is anti-Christ and anti-Church. Satan uses the idolatry of sex, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sin, against the Incarnation of the Word who redeemed man by becoming man. Satan uses his churches, his cult, his devotees (often consecrated through a pact of blood), his adorers, the followers of his promises, to mimic the worship due to God―just as Christ gave His Apostles and their followers specific powers for the good of body and soul, so Satan gives specific powers to his followers for the destruction of body and soul.
“Our Lady’s messages speak about Satan. She often spoke about this. She underlined that Satan is powerful and that he wants to destroy her plans. She invited us to pray, to pray, to pray. Through prayer, we can even stop wars. Maybe we do not pray with the heart, ah this is possible!! We must pray in Faith, not mechanically! Pray with Faith―and prayer increases Faith and charity. According to Our Lady’s words in Fatima, if we had prayed and fasted, there would not have been World War II. We have not listened to her and therefore there was a war. Our Lady speaks often about prayer and fasting. I think that this is very important, because contemporary men are following the spirit of consumerism. Humanity searches how to avoid any kind of sacrifice and so it exposes itself to sin. There is no practice of making sacrifice. Only if we are used to sacrifice ourselves, we will be able to live Christian life. For Christian life, besides prayer, we need a certain austerity of life. If there is no austerity of life, there is no perseverance in Christian life.
“Today the world does not turn from God because it is idolatrous; rather, it pursues pure atheism, so as to put science on the altar. But science does not create; it only discovers that which God has made. In turning away from the Lord, its breakthroughs are put to disastrous use. Without the Lord, progress, too, is misused. We see it in laws that go totally against nature, such as divorce, abortion, ‘gay marriage’ … we have forgotten God! Therefore, God will soon admonish humanity in a very powerful manner, He knows how to remind us of His presence. I think we are close! [he says this in 2015]. More and more so! The Lord will make Himself heard, and the world will respond. I look at all this with optimism, because God always acts for us to obtain a greater good than the punishments inflicted, which are meant to open the eyes of humanity, which has forgotten and abandoned Him.
“Satanism is spreading enormously! The loss of a sense of sin―that characterizes our era―helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and, inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God, weakens the consciences of men and women and leads them toward egoism, closing their hearts, lack of forgiveness, and doing everything for money, power, and sex. When the Faith retreats, superstition makes progress. In biblical terms, I can say that people are abandoning God to give themselves up to occultism. The terrible retreat of the Faith throughout the whole of Catholic Europe makes people throw themselves into the arms of magicians and fortunetellers, and satanic sects prosper. Devil worship is the object of great publicity among the masses through satanic rock music and celebrities like Marilyn Manson. Children are also under attack: there are magazines and comic strips that teach magic and Satanism.
“Spiritualist seances in which the dead are called up to answer certain questions are very widespread. People are now being taught to perform spiritualist seances through the computer, the telephone, the television, the video recorder, but above all through automatic writing. No longer is there a need for a medium: this is a spiritualism that each can practice by himself. According to polls, 37% of students have on at least one occasion played the game with letters and a glass, which is a veritable spiritualist seance. In a school where I had been invited to speak, the students told me that they used to play this game during the religion lesson, under the obliging eyes of the teacher.
“The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified, but some imitate the examples! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them. Consecrated hosts are being stolen all the time; and these are sold! So Satanists believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, more than some Catholics!
Our Lady’s Measuring Stick For Today
If we go back to the above quoted words of Our Lady of La Salette and use them as a measuring stick to see if our present state in the world measures up to her prophecies, then we will have to admit that this really is the case. The events that she was speaking of are already here! How long will they last and how long will this ever deepening crisis continue? Only God knows the answer to that―but, that answer is linked to what we are prepared to do about it or not do about it. Here are those prophetic words of Our Lady once more:
► “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence.” Less and less Catholics pray―and more importantly, less and less pray the Holy Rosary. It is estimated that only around 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily. Perhaps that has improved a little during these weeks of Coronavirus lockdowns―but if it has, it will drop back down to the usual if things get back to normal. Additionally, less and less Catholics attend Sunday Mass regularly―a worldwide average of less than 20%, with some European ‘Catholic’ countries, like France, as low as 2%. Less and less Catholics go to the Sacrament of Penance or Confession. The Church has even reduced and minimized penance at a time when sin is increasing exponentially! That kind of thinking clearly manifests the reality of which Our Lady speaks: “The devil has bedimmed their intelligence.” Also, that bedimmed intelligence is seen in the superficial knowledge people have of the Faith, some do not even know the First Communion Catechism or Confirmation Catechism that they were taught at ages 7 and around 12. The knowledge of the Faith is truly abysmal these days.
► “They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” As the recently deceased [2016], former chief exorcist of Rome, of 30 years experience said: The influence of Satan is immense! Today, Satan has free hands ... Satan continually tries to dominate the world ― “the whole world is in the power of the evil one”, as it says in 1 John 5:19 … He seeks to enslave men by making them obey himself and disobey God … Satan is so powerful and his influence over mankind is so great, that if the people of the Church do not unite themselves with determination against Satan and fight tooth and nail ― then Satan is free to create havoc and destruction with impunity … The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Satanism is on the increase. Today Satan rules the world. The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican! The devil resides in the Vatican. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office! Some people, on hearing these things, are horrified.”
Sr. Lucia’s words to Fr. Fuentes in 1957 are echoed by the above words of Fr. Amorth, for Lucia said that “the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them!”
► “God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family.” Just look at the division that surrounds us and which escalates from month to month and year to year! Political division becomes more pronounced and volatile. The State has become even more divided from (but more in control of) the Church. Family divisions grow and divorce is often the “get-out” clause option. Children are becoming increasingly divided from their parents. The laity are becoming more and more divided from the clergy―expecting and demanding things that are clearly against the Faith. Today, even the Church division among Liberals, “Conservatives” and Modernists grows―with many mainstream clergy seeming to oppose Pope Francis, or at least publicly question him more and more―which is an unheard reaction and division within the mainstream Conciliar Church! Now, with this Coronavirus, we have seen ever increasing and intense division between sane scientists and doctors with insane scientists and doctors. We are not far off and fast approaching the day Our Lord warned about: “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And unto all nations the Gospel must first be preached. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:8-13).
► “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God.” Can we not see that today? You have to be blind or insane not realize the ever increasing fulfillment of those words! Less than 20% of Catholics, on average worldwide, regularly attend Sunday Mass. In some "Catholic" countries, such as France, Mass attendance is as low as 2%. As regards prayer, only 2% to 3% pray the Rosary daily, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima and Akita: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war! ... Francisco must pray many Rosaries!” (Fatima, May 13th) “Say the Rosary every day! … I want you to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, June 13th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war ― because only she can help you!” (Fatima, July 13th) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much!” (Fatima, August 19th) … “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war!” (Fatima, September 13th) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day!” (Fatima, October 13th) … In 1973, Our Lady of Akita adds: “Pray very much … Continue to pray very much—very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
Furthermore, the Faith REALLY HAS BEEN weakened in almost every soul and they are progressing well in their desire to “put an end to the Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God!” Increasing numbers of priests (and laity) no longer believe all the dogmas of the Church and hold opinions that are against Church teaching―picking and choosing which of them they like and agree with. Remember― to be a heretic, you don’t have to refuse ALL that the Church teaches, merely denying JUST ONE dogma of the Church suffices! The same is all the more true of the laity, among whom 60% to 80% no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As much as 90% no longer go to Confession. Over 90% accept contraception. Over 50% accept divorce with remarriage, same sex-marriages and homosexual relationships. The list goes on and on ― check the various surveys for yourself!
► “They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. To be spiritually blind is not to see Christ, and not to see Christ is not to see God. Spiritual blindness is a grievous condition experienced by those who do not believe in God and His Word. It is also the condition of the lukewarm. They choose not to accept the teachings of Christ and His authority in their lives. They are blind to the manifestations of God. St. Peter spoke of such people: “In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). The cause of spiritual blindness is made quite clear in the Scriptures: “The Gospel is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). In that quote, St. Paul refers to Satan as the “god of this world.” Being extraordinarily evil (John 8:44), Satan destroys the flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5), masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and is the cause of all temptations (Luke 4:2; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5). He revels in scheming against and trapping the unbelievers (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:26). Satan’s goal is to devour the weak who fall prey to temptation, fear, loneliness, worry, depression, and persecution (1 Peter 5:8-9). Without God and left to ourselves, we easily succumb to the devil’s schemes. We can become so mired in the affairs of this world and its moral darkness that, in the end, God turns us over to spiritual blindness and eternal condemnation (John 12:40; Romans 1:24-32). This blindness of mind is that which is suffered by all lukewarm souls―they are lacking in interior recollection and the spirit of prayer; they are constantly pouring themselves out through the channels of the senses, without any attentive or constant consideration of divine truths.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Spiritual blindness leads the sinner to prefer, in everything, goods that are temporal rather than eternal goods. It prevents him from hearing the voice of God. Spiritual blindness is a punishment of God which takes away the divine light because of repeated sins. There are sinners who, by reason of repeated sins, no longer recognize the signified will of God manifested in a striking manner; they no longer understand that the evils which befall them are punishments of God, and they do not turn to Him. They explain these misfortunes by natural laws alone, as things that afflict a number of people at the moment. They see in them only the result of certain economic factors, such as the development of machinery and overproduction which results from it. They no longer take into account that these disorders have above all a moral cause and come from the fact that many men place their last end where it is not; not in God who would unite us, but in material goods which divide us, because they cannot belong simultaneously and integrally to a number of people. Holy Scripture often speaks of this spiritual blindness. Christ was saddened and angered by the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees (Mark 3:5) and finally said to them: ‘Woe to you blind guides ... You tithe mint and anise and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and Faith ... Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.’ (Matthew 23:16, 23 ff.). In St. John’s Gospel we read that this blindness is a punishment of God: ‘He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted’ (John 12:40), who withdraws light from such as do not wish to receive it: ‘As it is written: “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day!”’ (Romans 11:8). It is surprising at times to find among Christians men who have great literary, artistic, or scientific culture, but who have merely a rudimentary and superficial knowledge of the truths of religion, a knowledge mingled with many prejudices and errors. It is a surprising disproportion, which makes them, as it were, spiritual dwarfs.
“At the present time, there are in the world two radically contradictory universal tendencies, over and above the nationalism of different groups nl0re or less opposed to one another. On the one hand, we find the universalism of the reign of Christ who wishes to draw the souls of men of all nations to God, supreme Truth and Life; on the other hand, we see false universalism, which is called Communism, which draws souls in an inverse sense toward materialism, sensuality, and pride. The great problem of today is found in the conflict between the universalism of the reign of Christ and of the Church, which liberates souls, and Communism, which leads them to materialist abjection and to the oppression of the weak under the pride of demagogues and leaders ... The general trend of modern civilization seems to draw it toward the universalism of Antichrist and his rod of iron, rather than toward the universalism of Christ and His liberating law. Thus the cockle grows with the wheat; the capital of sin grows throughout the course of history and the capital of grace also increases and superabounds ... Christian heroism will one day become the only solution for the problems of life. In this conflict we must turn to prayer and penance, no less than to study and apostolic work. This is what the Blessed Virgin declared at Lourdes: ‘Pray and do penance.’” (Fr. Garrigou Lagrange).
► “They will have great power over Nature.” We are already starting to see the tremendous power that man has developed (with the help of the “prince of this world” no doubt) over nature. Today, weather can be controlled, droughts can be produced, torrential rain can be created, forest fires can be ignited, earthquakes can be caused, not to mention the unbelievable technological and electronic surveillance and mood changing apparatus that can be used. Nature is now even harnessed and modified to create bio-weapons and nuclear weapons. Crops have been manipulated. Fake meat is being made. What you need to remember is that the “latest” advances in technology are far from being the latest. It is commonly thought that the “latest” inventions that are introduced to us, are actually ten or twenty years old. Our Lady of La Salette adds: “People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits!”
► “There will be churches built to serve these spirits.” The Church of Satan is a religious organization dedicated to Satanism as codified in The Satanic Bible. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30th, 1966, by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the Church’s High Priest until his death in 1997. La Vey’s church is organized, incorporated and protected under the laws of California. La Vey, 42, stopped giving out membership figures when his followers, who are grouped in local “grottoes,” reached a total of 10,000. Though the 1960s and ’70s saw the introduction of several other concepts called Satanism—from actual religious belief, to a credo used to justify criminality—the Church of Satan did not fade away. In 1978, the U.S. Army even included the group in the manual of “Religious Requirements and Practices” delivered to its hundreds of chaplains. In 2001, Peter H. Gilmore was appointed to the position of High Priest, and the church’s headquarters were moved to Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.
Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, also known as Saint Walpurga’s Eve, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga (Walburga), an 8th-century abbess in the Frankish Empire, and is celebrated on the night of April 30th and the day of May 1st. Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling pest, rabies and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft. Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft. In parts of Christendom, people continue to light bonfires on Saint Walpurga’s Eve in order to ward off evil spirits and witches.
The Satanic Temple is an off-shoot of the Church of Satan. Hail Satan? directed by US film-maker and Satanic sympathizer Penny Lane, follows the Temple’s attempts to curtail what they see as the encroachment of Christianity on US life through its growing political influence. That creeping theocracy results in a monument to the Ten Commandments being offered pride of place at the Oklahoma State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. The Temple’s response is to ask for a space for their own statue of the Satanic deity Baphomet in a bid to restore some kind of cosmic religious balance, all the while preaching a doctrine in support of social justice and human rights. “We want people to evaluate the United States being a Christian nation,” the Temple’s spokesman Lucien Greaves (not his real name, he goes by several aliases to protect his family) says in the film’s trailer. “It’s not!”
The Satanic Temple has earned the same tax-exempt status as a church by the IRS. The group has been around for a half-dozen years and grabbed news attention for its political activism. But the official US government recognition and a recent documentary film are bringing a new level of attention to the group. The United States has no state religion and no state church and no religious bureaucracy. That means it’s really up to the IRS to decide if a new entity claiming to be religious deserves tax-exempt status and the official recognition that comes with it. Thanks in part to the IRS decision and the new documentary, the Satanic Temple is entering a phase of rapid growth. It has over 20 chapters across the US, and affiliate groups in Canada, Australia, Germany and the UK, with more seeking approval from the Satanic Temple. Greaves said the Satanic Temple has grown so much over the last few years because of the way it has harnessed its messaging in response to the current political climate. “In a way, the Satanic Temple has enjoyed such expansive, explosive growth because of the rise of the theocratic right in the United States. Our expansive membership numbers are a response to the Trump administration and Pence being vice president. People are horrified.”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the former chief exorcist of Rome, of 30 years experience in the field, says: “Satanic sects are proliferating. In Italy I would say there are about six to seven hundred, and they must be small groups because that allows them to get together more easily without being noticed. There are four big satanic sects in Italy; the others would be small groups of about a dozen members each. Satanism in Italy, however, involves a great number of people who don’t even belong to a sect. Music is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers. Take satanic rock, for instance. There is a form of rock music known as satanic rock which preaches a terribly negative outlook, and combats the Catholic religion and all forms of social order, and teaches, instead, that everything is permissible and that the individual is god. It leads to hatred of the Church. There are also others forms of Satanism. I recently saw a book ― it belonged to a young girl ― and it contained a rite of consecration to Satan and ways to commit suicide. Suicide amongst adolescents is on the rise. We must not forget that God is God of life, and Satan is the lord of death. St. Augustine said that if it weren’t for God, Satan would kill us all.
“Young people receive everything from their parents, except the Faith. When there is no more Faith in people they give way to superstition, and particularly today, to the occult. For many, who join a satanic sect, it is just a game. Many, in fact, start because they are bored. The occult and Satanism always have roused people’s curiosity. The new experience, new emotions, new power that people acquire in the sects fascinates them; and Satan really does hand out his gifts of wealth, pleasure and success. In the same way that Christ was tempted: “I will give you the whole world if you prostrate yourself before me,” we also are tempted; and Heaven knows how many fall at Satan’s feet today! Satanism today receives so much publicity; and internet has become one of its main channels. Access is so easy; and once you’re in, you’re given full instructions, even on how to contact them.”
“Whoever lives in indifference, in absent-mindedness, far from God, is open to an easy satanic conquest. Worse still are those who look for experiences beyond the limit and seek out the satanic world―usually for very base reasons. In order to have immediate benefits, for example: money, pleasure, success and power. They tie themselves to Satan with real blood pacts. In these cases, it is practically impossible to avoid ending up in the Devil’s clutches. I refer to those who deliberately seek out the Devil by joining Satanic sects. They are secret groups which are difficult to pinpoint but which exist and operate. They are well-organized, they have meeting places, priests and rites which finish in so-called ‘Black Masses’. Every now and then, you read in the papers that tabernacles have been vandalized and consecrated hosts stolen: acts carried out by worshippers of Satan for their ‘Black Masses.’ The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Yes. Today Satan rules the world! The masses no longer believe in God. And, yes, Satan is in the Vatican” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, compiled from several interviews and books of Fr. Amorth).
So What Will You Do?
As Father Amorth was earlier quoted as saying, “the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially―just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry. Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan! The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office!” Those words should be taken in tandem with the words of Pope Paul VI: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack―no, it is not mysterious―from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, June 29th, 1972). Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, Pope Paul VI added: “One of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.” And a few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the sixtieth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, October 13th, 1977). To which Cardinal Ciappi, the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Satan has reached the top of the political sphere, the financial sphere, the social sphere and the ecclesiastical sphere. The solution to all this is not being taken―or at least it is not being taken seriously enough, nor by sufficient numbers, nor is it sufficient in its intensity. The solution is―as Our Lady said at Fatima―devotion to Our Lady, especially under the aspect of her Immaculate Heart. Until we do that in all seriousness and earnestness, until we do that in sufficient numbers, until we do it with high degree of intensity―Satan will continue to conquer, to rule and to enslave the world under his yoke―as we are currently and clearly seeing unfold before our very own eyes. It’s your life! It’s your choice! It’s your fate! It’s your responsibility! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). We are at war! “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith” (1 John 5:4). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday April 27th & Tuesday April 28th
Article 9
Why O Why O Why? Where Now?
Monday April 27th & Tuesday April 28th
Article 9
Why O Why O Why? Where Now?
What is the Most Important Question? Why?
Life without questions would be impossible! What is the point of questions? We ask questions because we do not know something or do not understand something. There is a whole hoard of questions that can be asked and some of them overlap and some of them lead to a further question: What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? All of these dig and search for answers to something we do not know, or know little about, or fail to understand, or misunderstand.
No Questions? No Chance!
You could, very broadly or very loosely, say that questions are parts or tools of our intellectual immune system that are activated when we are faced with the virus of ignorance. If we fail to ask questions, we place ourselves not only at serious risk intellectually by have false ideas, wrong opinions and insufficient knowledge―but we also risk further damage to our spiritual, physical, material, financial and social lives. For words follow our thoughts and ideas, and those same thoughts and ideas lead to our actions. If we are wrong, misled, or ignorant―then this can have very serious consequences, not only for ourselves, but also for our family, our relatives, friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, fellow citizens, and even the Church at large and the world at large.
Sleeping the Death of Ignorance
This is why Pope St. Pius stated that, in his opinion, ignorance was the greatest threat to Catholicism―and we are seeing the truth of his words play-out right before our very eyes today! In his papal encyclical [read the commentary here] on The Dangers of Ignorance, entitled Acerbo Nimis, of April 15th, 1905, Pope St. Pius wrote:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, the prediction of the Apostle [St. Paul] to the elders of the Church of Ephesus seems to be verified: ‘I know that ... fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock!’ … Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish!’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’
“There is then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples―but even in those very nations that are called Christian … A man who walks with open eyes may, indeed, turn aside from the right path, but a blind man is in much more imminent danger of wandering away. Furthermore, there is always some hope for a reform of perverse conduct so long as the light of Faith is not entirely extinguished; but if lack of Faith is added to depraved morality because of ignorance, the evil hardly admits of remedy, and the road to ruin lies open … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance!” (Pope St. Pius X, papal encyclical on The Dangers of Ignorance, Acerbo Nimis, April 15th, 1905).
Look at Where Our Ignorance Has Led Us!
Coming back to idea of “questioning in order to gain more knowledge” and some of the chief categories of questions― What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc. ― it is well worth mentioning one of the oldest, and still the most powerful teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking ― it is Socratic teaching. Named after the famous Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who used to teach his students by constantly questioning them and provoking them to debate, in Socratic teaching the focus is mainly on giving students questions, not answers. The Socratic teaching method (also known as Socratic debate), is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions, in order to provoke critical thinking and to draw out ideas that gradually lead to the discovery of truth.
The Socratic teacher seeks to create a “productive discomfort” in the student―not panic and intimidation. The aim is not to strike fear in the hearts of students so that they come prepared to class; but to strike fear in the hearts of students that they either cannot clearly explain or articulate the values that guide their lives, or to create a fear in them that their values and beliefs do not stand up to scrutiny. In other words―tell me what you believe and be ready to answer to the questions “What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.” In other words, the Socratic teacher seeks to demolish “parrot-fashion” learning and knowledge and replace it with a knowledge and understanding that can stand up being scrutinized by questions of all kinds. St. Peter alludes to this when he warns the faithful about “being ready always to satisfy everyone that asketh you for a reason of that hope which is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Sadly, today, most Catholics are “parrot” Catholics who only know how to repeat short “two-bit-phrase”, or superficial facts (or rumors) that are often insignificant or trivial, while leaving more important aspects of study, learning, knowledge and understanding neglected to one side. Our Lord speaks of such persons thus: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:24).
It is strange―or perhaps quite the opposite, it might be only expected―that just as we live in an “off-the-shelf” existence with regard to food, in that we do not grow or process the food ourselves, but buy it with everything already being done for us―similarly it is with thinking, in that “buy” information “off-the-shelf” or “off-the-web” or “off-the-TV” without really thinking about it in a critical or analytical manner. We just “bite-the-byte”, swallow it and believe it. Furthermore, who are we getting our information from? It is, most of the time, from a godless media that is owned and controlled by godless people. We are fed the world’s opinion of things and not God’s opinion of things―and we blindly swallow it hook, line and sinker. Ultimately, you become what you eat!
A Time to Ask Questions―A Time to Question Our Knowledge
Ideas have consequences. Thoughts lead to words and actions. As Our Lord says: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). We could compare our thoughts to trees. Trees begin underground and out of sight as seeds―thoughts also begin ‘underground’ and out of sight in the soil of our minds. Just as the seed needs to sprout and grow roots, so too must the mind ‘sprout’ or think and grow in ideas. That growth in ideas follows naturally upon the asking of questions about all things. “What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.” Good ideas should produce good words and good actions―bad ideas normally produce bad words and bad actions.
The roots that our minds must sprout are questions. Just like roots grow and probe around for minerals―our minds must grow and probe around for truth―especially truth connected with the goodness of God (the “good tree”) and truths connected with the world (the “bad tree”), for, as Our Lord says, the world is opposed to God and its works are evil: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
We Do Not Question the World―We Blindly Love the World
You have no doubt heard the saying: “See no evil! Hear no evil! Speak no evil!” Holy Scripture says something similar: “They have mouths and speak not! They have eyes and see not! They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:13-14). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). That is how we are with the world! We do see the world as being evil―because we do not seek out and question what is happening in the world, we just blindly accept it. We hear only the worldly propaganda―and our minds do not sufficiently penetrate that propaganda in order to try and find out what lies behind it. Neither do we speak evil of the world―because we find the world to be very useful, profitable and entertaining. The problem is that we do not hate the world―we see the world as somewhat desirable, profitable, comfortable and amenable. Some actually love the world―and this recent Coronavirus lockdown and “shelter in place”―which gave Catholics a chance to become modern-day Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers―actually showed how much they love world―for, as they say, “You miss what you’ve got until it’s gone!” The world was taken away for many―and the Mass was also taken away for many. One has to wonder and ask the question if all Catholics missed having the Mass taken away more than they missed having the world taken away?
Back to the Question of Questions
We learn through questioning. Without questions there can be no real learning. There are many questions that can asked about things―“What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.”―but which question stand above them all? In Aristotle’s Metaphysics―which is the study of things like being, cause, substance, identity, etc. To over-simplify, we can say that it is the study of how things came to be and what caused them. Aristotle says that there are FOUR CAUSES that are behind all the changes that take place in the world―they are (1) the material cause, (2) the formal cause, (3) the efficient cause, and (4) the final cause. Confused already? Then ask a question! “Those four causes don’t mean anything to me! What do they mean?”
(1) The Material Cause consists of the “material” of what makes something what it is―thus wood is the material cause of the wooden table; water is the material cause of ice; flesh and blood is the material cause of our bodies; etc. The material cause consists of the physical properties of a thing. It is the stuff that we see, touch, taste, etc. To find the material cause, we ask the question: “What is this thing made of?”
(2) The Formal Cause is the form or structure or shape or design or make-up of the thing. In simple terms, you could call it the blueprint or the plan. The Formal Cause is what makes it one thing rather than another. Many things have the same Material Cause―let us take for example, wooden tables, chairs, boats, cabins or sheds―they are all made of wood and screws/nails, but they all have a different design―thus they all have the same Material Cause, but each has a different Formal Cause (design/plan). Each human being is made of the same stuff (Material Cause), but all human beings are different to each other (they have a different Formal Cause (design). To find the formal cause, we ask such questions as “How does this fit together? How does it work?” etc.
(3) The Efficient Cause is the maker or agent that fashions, makes, creates, changes the object. The word “efficient” comes from the Latin words “Ex” and “Facere” ― literally meaning to “make out of”. Thus the “Efficient Cause” of a painting is the artist, or for the wooden cabin it is the carpenter, for the loaf of bread it is the baker, for the child it is the parents, etc. To find the efficient cause, we ask the question: “Who made this? What made this?”
(4) The Final Cause is the purpose for which something was done or made. It is the goal or end for the sake of which a thing is done. For example, health is the end or goal of exercise; a wage is the end or goal of a week’s or a day’s work; understanding is the goal of learning; hydrating the body is goal of drinking; etc. To find the efficient cause, we ask the question: “Why was this made? What is purpose of this?” etc.
For Aristotle, several answers to the question “Why?” have to be given in order to explain a thing. For example, if asking why a table is such and such, a complete explanation, taking into account the four causes, would sound like this: “This table is solid and brown because it is made of wood (material), it does not collapse because it has four legs of equal length (formal), it is as such because a carpenter made it starting from a tree (efficient), it has these dimensions because it is to be used by men and women for dining (final end).”
Catechism Questions Are More Intelligent Than You Think!
The above example should remind us of our first Catechism questions that we learnt in childhood (and forgot in adulthood)!
● MATERIAL CAUSE: The question: “What is man?” ― looks for the material cause― to which the answer is: “Man is a rational creature made of body and soul.”
● FORMAL CAUSE: The question: “To whose image and likeness did God make you?” ― looks for the formal cause, the design or blueprint of man ― to which the answer is: “God made me to His own image and likeness. This likeness to God is chiefly in my soul.”
● EFFICIENT CAUSE: The question: “Who made you?” ― looks for the efficient cause, the maker, the agent ― to which the answer is: “God made me.”
● FINAL CAUSE: The question: “Why did God make you?” ― looks for the final cause, the purpose, the goal or end ― to which the answer is: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever in the next.”
The Most Important Question―the Most Important Cause
Hopefully, you can see that of all the FOUR CAUSES, it is the FINAL CAUSE THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. It is the question “Why?” that provokes the answer. “Why did God make you?” The ultimate question to anything is the “Why?” Sometimes you have pass through many intermediate “Whys?” before you uncover the answer the FINAL “WHY?” which shows to you and explains to you the TRUE FINAL END.
That is why the Church states that the most important meditations we can make and the most important things that we can focus on is OUR FINAL END ― or, as we sometimes call it, “THE FOUR LAST THINGS”, meaning (1) Death, (2) Judgment, (3) Heaven and (4) Hell.
Possibly or probably what is at the root of the sad fact that most souls end up being damned, is the fact that they were not focused on the FINAL CAUSE or FINAL END of things. Their questions did not go far enough or deep enough. They merely stopped at WHAT something was, or HOW beautifully it was designed, or WHO made it, but they did not venture further into the realm of WHY it was made, or WHY God put it on Earth and in our life, or on our path.
If we understand the WHY of things, then by understanding their purpose or goal, we are more likely to use things according to purpose or goal that God had in mind when He created them. In that way, by knowing the WHY, we can use God’s creation (persons, places or things) according the purpose God had in mind when creating them. Thus, we USE them correctly and DO NOT ABUSE them, DO NOT UNDERUSE them, NOR OVERUSE them, NOR MISUSE them. Virtue stands in the middle between EXCESS and NEGLECT. Once we know the WHY or the TRUE PURPOSE of a thing, then we can use it virtuously by neither overusing or underusing what God has given us.
Mankind Has Lost Sight of Its True Final End
One you lose sight of the “WHY?” Once you lose sight of your final goal, once you lose sight of your destination―then you are lost! That is sadly the case for most souls today. They have lost sight of Heaven and cannot see beyond the end of their nose that is glued to the screen of the smartphone in their hand―or whatever else has distracted them from pursuing their final goal. They are like a marathon runner who loses the race because he decided to stop and browse at a store he was running past and should have run past. Thus God says: “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31)―but we seek first where on earth we put our smartphone! Or some other personal preference that we have clearly put before God. Our Lord said: “The first commandment of all is, ‘The Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!’ This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:29-31). If we really loved God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength―then it would clearly apparent to ourselves and everyone we ever came into contact with! Is that how it is in your case? No! Neither is that the case for anybody we know―least of all in our families and among our friends, work colleagues and fellow parishioners. That is not even the case with 99.99999% of bishops and priests. Therefore, it is easy to become accustomed to mediocrity and pretend that our mediocrity is sanctity because―like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable―we look around at the world and say: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers!” (Luke 18:11). Yet, as Our Lord adds that the Pharisee was not justified in the eyes of God, because of his pride.
As Jesus says elsewhere: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). We have been given―not only the Catholic Faith―but a Conservative and Traditional Catholic Faith. If you want to compare it to the Parable of the Talents, we have been given the five talents―but, instead of producing five more talents with what we have been given, instead we have buried our talents in the ground like the man who was given only one talent! “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:14-18).
Why Are We In A Mess? Because the Why Has Been Forgotten!
That is why we are in the mess that we currently are experiencing―a mess that looks like becoming rapidly and exponentially worse by the month. We do not really know WHY we find ourselves in this precarious position! All we know is WHAT is happening, or WHO is behind it, or WHERE it’s coming from, or WHICH persons are behind it, or HOW it might play out, or to WHOM should be forward the link/email, or WHAT might happen next, etc. Yet in all the constant chatter, blogging, posting, researching and panic the WHY is left in the corner―abandoned and unanswered!
WHAT is even worse is that most Catholics―even good or well-intentioned Catholics―are so sickeningly stupid or incredibly ignorant or insanely indifferent that they stand by like a zombie while their Faith and so many lesser individual rights are being eroded, demoted and destroyed before their very eyes! Again those words of Holy Scripture come to mind: “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). You can add to that: Having the Faith, they use it not! “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). We are told to “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Instead of fighting with spiritual violence against our enemies―we are fighting more amongst ourselves!
O how the devil must be laughing at our sickening stupidity, incredible ignorance and insane indifference! Our Lord said that “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). We do not deserve to stand―and fall we shall! The apostasy will not only come―it has already started smoldering and the smoke is starting to rise! The Catholic world will deserve what it gets―just like the Jews got what they deserved with their Babylonian Captivity, which saw Jerusalem and God’s Temple looted and utterly destroyed. Not that the Church will be entirely destroyed―but that does not mean that there will hardly any Catholics to be found! Did not Our Lord Himself say: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Did not Our Lady of Good Success speak of the “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” and warn of terrible times that would be coming “from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … For Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
The World is Possessed
In a certain sense, most of the world is possessed. The devil is the prince of this world―and if you love the world, then you put yourself in the devil’s clutches. The same is true of mortal sin―the saints and exorcists tell us that mortal sin puts us into the devil’s clutches―and most of the world is living, even most of the Catholic world, is living in mortal sin right now! As Our Lord said, speaking of the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20) … “And He said to them: ‘This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!’” (Mark 9:28). Yet the Church has reduced the requirement for fasting to a ridiculously low level, at a time when sin has increased to an insanely high level! Pope Paul VI, in 1966, in his decree Paenitemini, reduced Lenten fasting by 95% ― from 40 days of fasting, down to piffling 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). Yet in 1973 Our Lady of Akita warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
There are even some bishops and priests of the modern Church who think the world is possessed. You have no doubt read several articles about various bishops and priests who have tried exorcise entire cities―some of them flying around above the city and jettisoning gallons of holy water over the city while reciting prayers of exorcism! Are these bishops and priests lunatics? Far from it! Our Lady of La Salette already warned us: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God.”
Life without questions would be impossible! What is the point of questions? We ask questions because we do not know something or do not understand something. There is a whole hoard of questions that can be asked and some of them overlap and some of them lead to a further question: What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? All of these dig and search for answers to something we do not know, or know little about, or fail to understand, or misunderstand.
No Questions? No Chance!
You could, very broadly or very loosely, say that questions are parts or tools of our intellectual immune system that are activated when we are faced with the virus of ignorance. If we fail to ask questions, we place ourselves not only at serious risk intellectually by have false ideas, wrong opinions and insufficient knowledge―but we also risk further damage to our spiritual, physical, material, financial and social lives. For words follow our thoughts and ideas, and those same thoughts and ideas lead to our actions. If we are wrong, misled, or ignorant―then this can have very serious consequences, not only for ourselves, but also for our family, our relatives, friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, fellow citizens, and even the Church at large and the world at large.
Sleeping the Death of Ignorance
This is why Pope St. Pius stated that, in his opinion, ignorance was the greatest threat to Catholicism―and we are seeing the truth of his words play-out right before our very eyes today! In his papal encyclical [read the commentary here] on The Dangers of Ignorance, entitled Acerbo Nimis, of April 15th, 1905, Pope St. Pius wrote:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning that now, more than ever before, the prediction of the Apostle [St. Paul] to the elders of the Church of Ephesus seems to be verified: ‘I know that ... fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock!’ … Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: ‘And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Thereafter shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth in it shall languish!’ It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’
“There is then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater, not only among uncivilized peoples―but even in those very nations that are called Christian … A man who walks with open eyes may, indeed, turn aside from the right path, but a blind man is in much more imminent danger of wandering away. Furthermore, there is always some hope for a reform of perverse conduct so long as the light of Faith is not entirely extinguished; but if lack of Faith is added to depraved morality because of ignorance, the evil hardly admits of remedy, and the road to ruin lies open … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance!” (Pope St. Pius X, papal encyclical on The Dangers of Ignorance, Acerbo Nimis, April 15th, 1905).
Look at Where Our Ignorance Has Led Us!
Coming back to idea of “questioning in order to gain more knowledge” and some of the chief categories of questions― What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc. ― it is well worth mentioning one of the oldest, and still the most powerful teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking ― it is Socratic teaching. Named after the famous Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who used to teach his students by constantly questioning them and provoking them to debate, in Socratic teaching the focus is mainly on giving students questions, not answers. The Socratic teaching method (also known as Socratic debate), is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions, in order to provoke critical thinking and to draw out ideas that gradually lead to the discovery of truth.
The Socratic teacher seeks to create a “productive discomfort” in the student―not panic and intimidation. The aim is not to strike fear in the hearts of students so that they come prepared to class; but to strike fear in the hearts of students that they either cannot clearly explain or articulate the values that guide their lives, or to create a fear in them that their values and beliefs do not stand up to scrutiny. In other words―tell me what you believe and be ready to answer to the questions “What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.” In other words, the Socratic teacher seeks to demolish “parrot-fashion” learning and knowledge and replace it with a knowledge and understanding that can stand up being scrutinized by questions of all kinds. St. Peter alludes to this when he warns the faithful about “being ready always to satisfy everyone that asketh you for a reason of that hope which is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Sadly, today, most Catholics are “parrot” Catholics who only know how to repeat short “two-bit-phrase”, or superficial facts (or rumors) that are often insignificant or trivial, while leaving more important aspects of study, learning, knowledge and understanding neglected to one side. Our Lord speaks of such persons thus: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:24).
It is strange―or perhaps quite the opposite, it might be only expected―that just as we live in an “off-the-shelf” existence with regard to food, in that we do not grow or process the food ourselves, but buy it with everything already being done for us―similarly it is with thinking, in that “buy” information “off-the-shelf” or “off-the-web” or “off-the-TV” without really thinking about it in a critical or analytical manner. We just “bite-the-byte”, swallow it and believe it. Furthermore, who are we getting our information from? It is, most of the time, from a godless media that is owned and controlled by godless people. We are fed the world’s opinion of things and not God’s opinion of things―and we blindly swallow it hook, line and sinker. Ultimately, you become what you eat!
A Time to Ask Questions―A Time to Question Our Knowledge
Ideas have consequences. Thoughts lead to words and actions. As Our Lord says: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:17-20). We could compare our thoughts to trees. Trees begin underground and out of sight as seeds―thoughts also begin ‘underground’ and out of sight in the soil of our minds. Just as the seed needs to sprout and grow roots, so too must the mind ‘sprout’ or think and grow in ideas. That growth in ideas follows naturally upon the asking of questions about all things. “What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.” Good ideas should produce good words and good actions―bad ideas normally produce bad words and bad actions.
The roots that our minds must sprout are questions. Just like roots grow and probe around for minerals―our minds must grow and probe around for truth―especially truth connected with the goodness of God (the “good tree”) and truths connected with the world (the “bad tree”), for, as Our Lord says, the world is opposed to God and its works are evil: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
We Do Not Question the World―We Blindly Love the World
You have no doubt heard the saying: “See no evil! Hear no evil! Speak no evil!” Holy Scripture says something similar: “They have mouths and speak not! They have eyes and see not! They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:13-14). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). That is how we are with the world! We do see the world as being evil―because we do not seek out and question what is happening in the world, we just blindly accept it. We hear only the worldly propaganda―and our minds do not sufficiently penetrate that propaganda in order to try and find out what lies behind it. Neither do we speak evil of the world―because we find the world to be very useful, profitable and entertaining. The problem is that we do not hate the world―we see the world as somewhat desirable, profitable, comfortable and amenable. Some actually love the world―and this recent Coronavirus lockdown and “shelter in place”―which gave Catholics a chance to become modern-day Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers―actually showed how much they love world―for, as they say, “You miss what you’ve got until it’s gone!” The world was taken away for many―and the Mass was also taken away for many. One has to wonder and ask the question if all Catholics missed having the Mass taken away more than they missed having the world taken away?
Back to the Question of Questions
We learn through questioning. Without questions there can be no real learning. There are many questions that can asked about things―“What? Who? Where? Which? With what? With whom? How? How much? Why? etc.”―but which question stand above them all? In Aristotle’s Metaphysics―which is the study of things like being, cause, substance, identity, etc. To over-simplify, we can say that it is the study of how things came to be and what caused them. Aristotle says that there are FOUR CAUSES that are behind all the changes that take place in the world―they are (1) the material cause, (2) the formal cause, (3) the efficient cause, and (4) the final cause. Confused already? Then ask a question! “Those four causes don’t mean anything to me! What do they mean?”
(1) The Material Cause consists of the “material” of what makes something what it is―thus wood is the material cause of the wooden table; water is the material cause of ice; flesh and blood is the material cause of our bodies; etc. The material cause consists of the physical properties of a thing. It is the stuff that we see, touch, taste, etc. To find the material cause, we ask the question: “What is this thing made of?”
(2) The Formal Cause is the form or structure or shape or design or make-up of the thing. In simple terms, you could call it the blueprint or the plan. The Formal Cause is what makes it one thing rather than another. Many things have the same Material Cause―let us take for example, wooden tables, chairs, boats, cabins or sheds―they are all made of wood and screws/nails, but they all have a different design―thus they all have the same Material Cause, but each has a different Formal Cause (design/plan). Each human being is made of the same stuff (Material Cause), but all human beings are different to each other (they have a different Formal Cause (design). To find the formal cause, we ask such questions as “How does this fit together? How does it work?” etc.
(3) The Efficient Cause is the maker or agent that fashions, makes, creates, changes the object. The word “efficient” comes from the Latin words “Ex” and “Facere” ― literally meaning to “make out of”. Thus the “Efficient Cause” of a painting is the artist, or for the wooden cabin it is the carpenter, for the loaf of bread it is the baker, for the child it is the parents, etc. To find the efficient cause, we ask the question: “Who made this? What made this?”
(4) The Final Cause is the purpose for which something was done or made. It is the goal or end for the sake of which a thing is done. For example, health is the end or goal of exercise; a wage is the end or goal of a week’s or a day’s work; understanding is the goal of learning; hydrating the body is goal of drinking; etc. To find the efficient cause, we ask the question: “Why was this made? What is purpose of this?” etc.
For Aristotle, several answers to the question “Why?” have to be given in order to explain a thing. For example, if asking why a table is such and such, a complete explanation, taking into account the four causes, would sound like this: “This table is solid and brown because it is made of wood (material), it does not collapse because it has four legs of equal length (formal), it is as such because a carpenter made it starting from a tree (efficient), it has these dimensions because it is to be used by men and women for dining (final end).”
Catechism Questions Are More Intelligent Than You Think!
The above example should remind us of our first Catechism questions that we learnt in childhood (and forgot in adulthood)!
● MATERIAL CAUSE: The question: “What is man?” ― looks for the material cause― to which the answer is: “Man is a rational creature made of body and soul.”
● FORMAL CAUSE: The question: “To whose image and likeness did God make you?” ― looks for the formal cause, the design or blueprint of man ― to which the answer is: “God made me to His own image and likeness. This likeness to God is chiefly in my soul.”
● EFFICIENT CAUSE: The question: “Who made you?” ― looks for the efficient cause, the maker, the agent ― to which the answer is: “God made me.”
● FINAL CAUSE: The question: “Why did God make you?” ― looks for the final cause, the purpose, the goal or end ― to which the answer is: “God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever in the next.”
The Most Important Question―the Most Important Cause
Hopefully, you can see that of all the FOUR CAUSES, it is the FINAL CAUSE THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. It is the question “Why?” that provokes the answer. “Why did God make you?” The ultimate question to anything is the “Why?” Sometimes you have pass through many intermediate “Whys?” before you uncover the answer the FINAL “WHY?” which shows to you and explains to you the TRUE FINAL END.
That is why the Church states that the most important meditations we can make and the most important things that we can focus on is OUR FINAL END ― or, as we sometimes call it, “THE FOUR LAST THINGS”, meaning (1) Death, (2) Judgment, (3) Heaven and (4) Hell.
Possibly or probably what is at the root of the sad fact that most souls end up being damned, is the fact that they were not focused on the FINAL CAUSE or FINAL END of things. Their questions did not go far enough or deep enough. They merely stopped at WHAT something was, or HOW beautifully it was designed, or WHO made it, but they did not venture further into the realm of WHY it was made, or WHY God put it on Earth and in our life, or on our path.
If we understand the WHY of things, then by understanding their purpose or goal, we are more likely to use things according to purpose or goal that God had in mind when He created them. In that way, by knowing the WHY, we can use God’s creation (persons, places or things) according the purpose God had in mind when creating them. Thus, we USE them correctly and DO NOT ABUSE them, DO NOT UNDERUSE them, NOR OVERUSE them, NOR MISUSE them. Virtue stands in the middle between EXCESS and NEGLECT. Once we know the WHY or the TRUE PURPOSE of a thing, then we can use it virtuously by neither overusing or underusing what God has given us.
Mankind Has Lost Sight of Its True Final End
One you lose sight of the “WHY?” Once you lose sight of your final goal, once you lose sight of your destination―then you are lost! That is sadly the case for most souls today. They have lost sight of Heaven and cannot see beyond the end of their nose that is glued to the screen of the smartphone in their hand―or whatever else has distracted them from pursuing their final goal. They are like a marathon runner who loses the race because he decided to stop and browse at a store he was running past and should have run past. Thus God says: “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
Our Lord said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31)―but we seek first where on earth we put our smartphone! Or some other personal preference that we have clearly put before God. Our Lord said: “The first commandment of all is, ‘The Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!’ This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:29-31). If we really loved God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength―then it would clearly apparent to ourselves and everyone we ever came into contact with! Is that how it is in your case? No! Neither is that the case for anybody we know―least of all in our families and among our friends, work colleagues and fellow parishioners. That is not even the case with 99.99999% of bishops and priests. Therefore, it is easy to become accustomed to mediocrity and pretend that our mediocrity is sanctity because―like the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable―we look around at the world and say: “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers!” (Luke 18:11). Yet, as Our Lord adds that the Pharisee was not justified in the eyes of God, because of his pride.
As Jesus says elsewhere: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:48). We have been given―not only the Catholic Faith―but a Conservative and Traditional Catholic Faith. If you want to compare it to the Parable of the Talents, we have been given the five talents―but, instead of producing five more talents with what we have been given, instead we have buried our talents in the ground like the man who was given only one talent! “A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:14-18).
Why Are We In A Mess? Because the Why Has Been Forgotten!
That is why we are in the mess that we currently are experiencing―a mess that looks like becoming rapidly and exponentially worse by the month. We do not really know WHY we find ourselves in this precarious position! All we know is WHAT is happening, or WHO is behind it, or WHERE it’s coming from, or WHICH persons are behind it, or HOW it might play out, or to WHOM should be forward the link/email, or WHAT might happen next, etc. Yet in all the constant chatter, blogging, posting, researching and panic the WHY is left in the corner―abandoned and unanswered!
WHAT is even worse is that most Catholics―even good or well-intentioned Catholics―are so sickeningly stupid or incredibly ignorant or insanely indifferent that they stand by like a zombie while their Faith and so many lesser individual rights are being eroded, demoted and destroyed before their very eyes! Again those words of Holy Scripture come to mind: “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). You can add to that: Having the Faith, they use it not! “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). We are told to “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Instead of fighting with spiritual violence against our enemies―we are fighting more amongst ourselves!
O how the devil must be laughing at our sickening stupidity, incredible ignorance and insane indifference! Our Lord said that “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). We do not deserve to stand―and fall we shall! The apostasy will not only come―it has already started smoldering and the smoke is starting to rise! The Catholic world will deserve what it gets―just like the Jews got what they deserved with their Babylonian Captivity, which saw Jerusalem and God’s Temple looted and utterly destroyed. Not that the Church will be entirely destroyed―but that does not mean that there will hardly any Catholics to be found! Did not Our Lord Himself say: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Did not Our Lady of Good Success speak of the “small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith” and warn of terrible times that would be coming “from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century … For Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family!”
The World is Possessed
In a certain sense, most of the world is possessed. The devil is the prince of this world―and if you love the world, then you put yourself in the devil’s clutches. The same is true of mortal sin―the saints and exorcists tell us that mortal sin puts us into the devil’s clutches―and most of the world is living, even most of the Catholic world, is living in mortal sin right now! As Our Lord said, speaking of the devil: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20) … “And He said to them: ‘This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!’” (Mark 9:28). Yet the Church has reduced the requirement for fasting to a ridiculously low level, at a time when sin has increased to an insanely high level! Pope Paul VI, in 1966, in his decree Paenitemini, reduced Lenten fasting by 95% ― from 40 days of fasting, down to piffling 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). Yet in 1973 Our Lady of Akita warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
There are even some bishops and priests of the modern Church who think the world is possessed. You have no doubt read several articles about various bishops and priests who have tried exorcise entire cities―some of them flying around above the city and jettisoning gallons of holy water over the city while reciting prayers of exorcism! Are these bishops and priests lunatics? Far from it! Our Lady of La Salette already warned us: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday, April 25th & Sunday April 26th
Article 8
The All Talk No Action Trap!
Stop Being Passive and Get Aggressive! We are at a Coronovirus Crossroads!
Don’t be a Coronavirus Couch-Potato! Get up and do something for Heaven’s sake!
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Saturday, April 25th & Sunday April 26th
Article 8
The All Talk No Action Trap!
Stop Being Passive and Get Aggressive! We are at a Coronovirus Crossroads!
Don’t be a Coronavirus Couch-Potato! Get up and do something for Heaven’s sake!
This article is currently being writen. Section will posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Don't Say That You Were Not Warned!
When she came to Fatima in Portugal―over 100 years ago, in 1917―in a series of apparitions authenticated by a public miracle without precedent in world history―the miracle of the sun [read more about the miracle here]―the Mother of God warned us about many things. Since that time, the published prophetic warnings contained in the Message of Fatima are either being fulfilled in an ongoing manner, or have already been fulfilled—except for one. It is the statement which Sr. Lucia said Our Lady revealed to them―not just once―but on many occassons! Our Lady said: “Various nations will be annihilated!” Our Lady of Fatima warned with great sadness that this would be one of the most terrible consequences of ignoring or despising her requests.
The first thing that Sister Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes, in the 1957 interview, was: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness and virtue, but without paying attention to the Message of Fatima. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently―they continue on their path of sinfulness, also ignoring the Message of Fatima. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!
“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it.
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said ― repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to myself ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world, if the conversion of that poor nation is not obtained beforehand!”
We could well put into the mouth of Our Lady the words of Our Lord, when He said: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Are You Minding Your Own Business?
Our “work” is synonymous with our “business.” If you work as a medical doctor, your business is health care. If you work as a lawyer, you are in the legal business. If you work as a teacher, your business is education. Work is synonymous with business. Our Lord even spoke of being about His Father’s business: “My Father worketh until now; and I work” (John 5:17). “Jesus answered, and said to them: ‘This is the work of God―that you believe in Him Whom He hath sent!” (John 6:29). “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)―by which He referring to the business of working for the salvation of souls, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Even though Our Lord’s material work was that of carpentry, His spiritual work was placed above that material or physical work: “Jesus saith to them: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work!” (John 4:34). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Thus, Holy Scripture speaks of the “work” and business of salvation: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12), “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Lessons From Below
Sometimes we can learn from those beneath us. Our Lord even acknowledged this, when He said: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). This is patently obvious when we look at zeal, energy and time that worldly people put into their worldly activities, compared to the lukewarm, listless and little time that Catholics put into their spiritual life and their Faith. The Faith and the spiritual live (which is living the Faith) are infinitely more important that the worldly or material or physical life―yet we turn the values upside down by relegating the spiritual and promoting the material.
The fact that you have been given, by God’s kind providence, the Faith and access to things that nourish that Faith, means that you will be judged fare more severely than those who have not been given the Faith by God’s providence― “That servant who knew the will of his lord―but prepared not himself and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not―and did things worthy of stripes―shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
When she came to Fatima in Portugal―over 100 years ago, in 1917―in a series of apparitions authenticated by a public miracle without precedent in world history―the miracle of the sun [read more about the miracle here]―the Mother of God warned us about many things. Since that time, the published prophetic warnings contained in the Message of Fatima are either being fulfilled in an ongoing manner, or have already been fulfilled—except for one. It is the statement which Sr. Lucia said Our Lady revealed to them―not just once―but on many occassons! Our Lady said: “Various nations will be annihilated!” Our Lady of Fatima warned with great sadness that this would be one of the most terrible consequences of ignoring or despising her requests.
The first thing that Sister Lucia said to Fr. Fuentes, in the 1957 interview, was: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness and virtue, but without paying attention to the Message of Fatima. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already falling on them presently―they continue on their path of sinfulness, also ignoring the Message of Fatima. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!
“The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then. I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret. By the will of the Blessed Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima can know the secret. Both have chosen, however, not to open it in order not to be influenced by it.
“This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which still remains secret. Tell them, Father, that the Blessed Virgin said ― repeatedly ― to my cousins Francisco and Jacinta as well as to myself ― that many nations would disappear from the face of the Earth, that Russia would be the instrument of chastisement from Heaven for the whole world, if the conversion of that poor nation is not obtained beforehand!”
We could well put into the mouth of Our Lady the words of Our Lord, when He said: “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Are You Minding Your Own Business?
Our “work” is synonymous with our “business.” If you work as a medical doctor, your business is health care. If you work as a lawyer, you are in the legal business. If you work as a teacher, your business is education. Work is synonymous with business. Our Lord even spoke of being about His Father’s business: “My Father worketh until now; and I work” (John 5:17). “Jesus answered, and said to them: ‘This is the work of God―that you believe in Him Whom He hath sent!” (John 6:29). “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)―by which He referring to the business of working for the salvation of souls, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10). Even though Our Lord’s material work was that of carpentry, His spiritual work was placed above that material or physical work: “Jesus saith to them: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work!” (John 4:34). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Thus, Holy Scripture speaks of the “work” and business of salvation: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12), “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
Lessons From Below
Sometimes we can learn from those beneath us. Our Lord even acknowledged this, when He said: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). This is patently obvious when we look at zeal, energy and time that worldly people put into their worldly activities, compared to the lukewarm, listless and little time that Catholics put into their spiritual life and their Faith. The Faith and the spiritual live (which is living the Faith) are infinitely more important that the worldly or material or physical life―yet we turn the values upside down by relegating the spiritual and promoting the material.
The fact that you have been given, by God’s kind providence, the Faith and access to things that nourish that Faith, means that you will be judged fare more severely than those who have not been given the Faith by God’s providence― “That servant who knew the will of his lord―but prepared not himself and did not according to his will―shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not―and did things worthy of stripes―shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required! And to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday, April 23rd & Friday April 24th
Article 7
Collapsing Compromised Church Collaboration with Conallavirus Plandemic
Thursday, April 23rd & Friday April 24th
Article 7
Collapsing Compromised Church Collaboration with Conallavirus Plandemic
Is the Church Headed for a Stress Fracture?
They say that you show your true colors under stress: “Stress shows the true man!” or “True character is revealed in tough times.” There are various ways to react to stress and danger. One phrase says: “When the going gets tough―the tough get going!” or for the “not-so-tough” you could say: “When the going gets tough―the weak start fleeing!” Yet, sometimes, even the tough must flee―especially flee the occasions of sin: “Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent! For if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:2).
The Church today has not been and is not fleeing from “the face of the serpent”―which is the face of the world of which the serpent, or Satan, is the prince: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). The devil and the world are one―just as Christ and His Church are one. Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body of Christ―the Church. Satan is the prince of his ‘mystical’ body―the world. There can be no love between enemies―either the world turns away from the devil and converts to Christ, or the world overcomes the Church and brings it under the subjection of the devil. That is why Christ says to His Father: “I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me―because they are thine!” (John 17:9). “The Spirit of truth, the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him” (John 14:17). If the world does not have the Spirit of truth, then it automatically has the spirit of lies, the spirit of the devil―and of such people Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Yes, Christ came to save the world―but that meant that the world would have to leave its worldliness and sincerely embrace the Faith: “For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” says Christ (John 12:47). However, as Holy Scripture points-out, most did not want Christ’s style or type of salvation: “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:4-11).
The Church today is under severe stress. That stress comes from both inside and outside the Church. It comes from the enemy who has crept into the Church and from the enemy who is assailing the Church through the modern spirit and ‘laws’ of the world. The Church not will, but already has suffered a stress fracture. For those who know little about “stress fractures”― they are tiny cracks in a bone that are caused by repetitive force. Stress fractures can also develop from normal use of a bone that is weakened by a condition such as osteoporosis. A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced fracture of the bone caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated trauma from overloading, such as repeatedly jumping up and down, or running long distances. Because of this mechanism, stress fractures are common overuse injuries in athletes―and Catholics are supposed to be “spiritual athletes” as Holy Scripture tells us: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but only one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection! Lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Today, there are no prizes for guessing the state of the Church’s athletes! They are not chastising their bodies and bringing them into subjection―but they are indulging their bodies and reducing themselves to slavery. There are far, far more “castaways” than there are “winners”―the “spiritual athletes” have become “spiritual couch-potatoes” and the “soldiers of Christ” have become “slaves of the world.” Just as in Our Lord’s time, the kingdom of Israel had been overrun and overpowered by her enemies (Judea and Jerusalem being occupied and ruled by the Romans)―so too is the Church today overrun and ruled by Her enemies. Just as the Jews of Christ’s time were fractured and fragmented into different groups with different opinions on how to react to the Roman occupation―likewise is the Church today fractured and fragmented into different groups with different opinions on how the Church should proceed in face of the world (which is, as the Bible says, an enemy to God).
Is It Time? Is Now the Time? Are We Making Time?
After His resurrection, the Apostles asked Our Lord if the time for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel had arrived: “They, therefore, who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt Thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). We might well be tempted to ask a similar question in the many different and escalating crises that the Church and world has seen over the last 60 years: “Lord! Has the time arrived for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Thy Mother?” Our Lord could well reply with the words He addressed to His Apostles: “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in His own power!” (Acts 1:6). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come … Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come!” (Matthew 24:42-44). “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). The problem is that we are watching the wrong things, looking in the wrong direction―we are watching our televisions, our movies, our computer and smartphone screens, we are watching sports, we are watching other people (and sometimes watching with sinful intentions). We are watching the world and worldly things and not God and godly things. We have time―but time for the wrong things.
“All things have their season and, in their times, all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
A Time to Fight or a Time to Flee?
Make no mistake about it―we are at war, you are at war, and we will be at war until the day we die: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). Our Lord, along the same lines, says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12)―St. Paul adds: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7)―but there are many who are not fighting and are losing the Faith! In fact, most Catholics are not fighting―apart from fighting each other and fighting within the family―for only 20% on average attend Sunday Mass regularly; only 2% or 3% pray the Rosary; and almost nobody goes to Confession! That is because they cannot see that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12) and that their “adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8)―and it seems as though the devil is “getting the lion’s share” of the souls in the world (and always has done) because those foolish souls are not prepared to take the time needed to fight the devil and fight for their salvation!
There is, then, a time of war and a time of peace, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to destroy and a time to build, a time to fight and a time to flee―“Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:2). A general of an army, if he is wise and not stupidly proud―will always consider the best tactic in each and every scenario. He will analyze each situation, reflect upon it and decided whether to attack or not; whether to sit-tight and wait or not; whether to retreat or not. God has placed within us the “fight-or-flight” response because it evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations. When you are faced with a single attacker, you are more likely to stay and fight than if faced by a mob of 100 persons―in which case you are more likely to flee than fight.
Our Lord and God wants us to be “tough” in a virtuous sense―this is why He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die ― itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it!” (Luke 17:33). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). St. Luke reports the word “daily” in his account: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
In another place, Our Lord says:“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
A Compromised Collaborating Church Cannot Fight
Today, the Church and its Catholic army (that includes you and your family) have laid down their arms and picked up their smartphones―which has proved to be not a very smart choice! Dr. Bella Dodd―the fallen-away Italian-American Catholic and the former American Communist Party member, who later returned to the Faith―testified before the U.S. Senate Committee for Un-American Affairs―that she had managed to place over 1,000 infiltrators into the seminaries, some of whom had become bishops and even cardinals in Rome! However, the devil―using the resources of his princedom (the world)―has managed to place several billion smartphones into the hands of unsuspecting, naïve, dumbed-down people. The vast majority of Catholics have a smartphone in their hands for many, many more hours than they have a Rosary in their hands! Who controls what is accessed by the smartphone? The Church or the world? It is, of course, the world! And what is the world? The world is an enemy of God, Christ and His Church:
“Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Sadly, the majority of the Catholic world has been entangled in the devil’s world-wide-web or www―which interestingly and coincidentally is associated with the number “666”―for the Hebrew and Greek alphabets do not have separate characters or alphabets for numbers and letters. Letters are also used as numbers. So each letter is a numerical value. The Hebrew equivalent of our “w” is the letter “vav” or “waw”. The numerical value of “vav” is “6”. So the English “www” transliterated into Hebrew is “vav vav vav”, which numerically is 666. However, before you start running too far with this coincidence―remember that the mark or character or number of the beast is THAT OF A MAN and not something like the internet. Nevertheless, the idea of “666” and a “web” does conjure up analogous ideas of being caught in the spider’s web!! But do not make more out of it than what it is!
Church Compromised by Infiltration
Our Lord warns us that a divided city cannot stand: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Today―and for a long time before―the Church has been progressively and increasingly divided.
Our Lady of Akita speaks of the devil infiltrating the Catholic Church and many cardinals, bishops and priests being filled with a spirit of compromise: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... The Church will be FULL of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.”
The Catholic Church has been increasingly compromised for a long time―particularly in the years following the 1789 French Revolution, which was aided and abetted by Freemasonry and their “handlers”, and then the revolutions was “exported” throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the world. Which has led to the fulfillment of the words of Our Lady of Good Success: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church.”
We see that Pope Pius IX was involved in a prolonged battle against the Revolution inside the Church. Sadly, however, in the time of the partially Liberal Pope Leo XIII, the internal Church Revolution was allowed to grow―which led to the infiltration of Freemasons to some very high positions within the Church.
By the time of Pope St. Pius X―who reigned from 1903 to 1914―we see that Pope Pius X’s main opponent in the Conclave election in 1903 was Cardinal Rampolla, who was suspected of being a high-ranking Freemason and already held the “Number Two” position or rank in the Church, by being Secretary of State under Pope Leo XIII. At the start of the 20th century, Rampolla was already well-known for championing the errors and spirituality that the future Pope St. Pius X would label “Modernism”. At the conclave after the death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, it was expected that Cardinal Rampolla would be the next Pope, which would have been a great victory for the Modernist faction. Actually, he was leading in votes when his election was suddenly vetoed. The Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, through his representative the Cardinal of Krakow, exercised an age-old privilege and vetoed the election of Rampolla. The Emperor had been presented irrefutable evidence that the Cardinal, besides being a Modernist, was a member of Freemasonry and Grand Master of the secret sect known as the Ordo Templi Orientalis. (Mary Ball Martínez, The Undermining of the Catholic Church, pp. 32-33). Providentially, God saw to it that a “technicality” sank the hopes of Rampolla’s election, even though he was the frontrunner and favorite to be the elected pope.
A while after the election of Pope St. Pius X, Rampolla was eventually forced out of the Curia and appointed Papal Nuncio to Spain. From his Nunciature in Madrid, he had to take steps backward and move his seriously injured Modernist faction underground. In serious Catholic circles there are suspicions that Pope Pius X did not die a natural death, but it was caused artificially. Several circles of the right in Europe sustain this thesis, and the biography of Cardinal Merry del Val on Pope Pius X gives certain hints in the same direction.
After the death of Pope St. Pius X, at at the next conclave, Rampolla was ready to settle scores. This time one of his protégés would sit on the Throne of Peter. It was Giacomo Della Chiesa (who would later become the future Pope Benedict XV)―a perfect candidate. He was a graduate of the Instituto Capranica, the most Liberal seminary in Rome, which was teeming with strange new theological doctrines and Modernist errors. And he had a very close affiliation with Rampolla, who had chosen Della Chiesa as his private secretary. Pope St. Pius X had done his best to “isolate” or “neutralize” Della Chiesa. Under St. Pius X, Archbishop Della Chiesa (the future Benedict XV) had been sent to Bologna, in exile from the Roman Curia, because he was distrusted as a protégé and supporter of Cardinal Rampolla, a known Modernist and Freemason. Further, St. Pius X withheld for seven years, from Archbishop Della Chiesa, the cardinal’s hat that normally went with the Bologna Archbishopric―a clear sign of his distrust and a deliberate humiliation to the arrogant Della Chiesa. Only three months before the conclave did Della Chiesa finally become a Cardinal.
Modernist Masonic Revenge
In revenge, his first act after he became Pontiff was to send the valorous anti-Modernist Cardinal Merry del Val packing, and to choose as Secretary of State the Modernist Pietro Gasparri, another Rampolla protégé and his closest assistant. The Marquis de Franquerie is a secure source, and he states that Cardinal Gasparri, another of Rampolla’s disciples who became the Secretary of State of Benedict XV, was a Mason. Gasparri made many accusations against St. Pius X regarding the organization Sodalitum Pianum, which Pius X had founded to uncover Modernists in the Church throughout Europe. Many of Gasparri’s charges against Pius X were proved false―nevertheless, it shows the kind of venomous intrigues and conspiracies that surrounded and hounded Pope St. Pius X.
Whichever enemy of the Church you care to take―whether it be the Modernists or Liberals, Communists or Freemasons, Atheists or Pagans―ultimately, behind them all, you fill find the devil. Some of these enemies might be collaborating together, others might even hate each other―but to the devil that does not matter, it never has and never will. The only thing all of them have in common is sin. Just as we Catholics have sin in common. The devil, the chief vendor of sin, will use anybody and everybody he possibly can in his perpetual fight against God and His Church and His Religion.
Sin Weakens the Foundations of the Church
The following is a summary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching on sin as found in his Summa Theologica. The summary is taken from the Msgr. Glenn’s Tour of the Summa.
Sin is a human act―a deliberate thought, word, deed, desire, omission―contrary to right reason, and therefore contrary to God. A vice is a habit of sin and therefore is also contrary to order and reason―it is opposed to the rational nature of man. A vice is a habit of sin―meaning it is a disposition to sin, a regular desire to sin. In itself, a bad act is worse than a bad habit (bad disposition or bad desire); for a bad act is a deed done, whereas a bad habit is only a stable disposition to commit bad deeds. Even human law punishes a criminal act, but not a criminal disposition.
One sin does not make it a vice―just as one good action does make it a virtue. One sin does not destroy the opposed virtue as a habit―for example, one sin of impurity does not destroy the virtue of chastity. Nor does one act of charity give a person the virtue or habit of charity. Just as one good act does not establish a virtue, so neither does one bad act establish a vice. But one mortal sin destroys the power of virtues as virtues (as living and active virtues), but not as habits or dispositions or desires of doing good. A mortal sin destroys charity and renders faith and hope inoperative for getting a man on towards Heaven. Mortal sin robs faith and hope of their power as virtues, but it does not expel them as habits. Venial sin neither destroys nor expels charity or other virtues, but weakens the strength of the virtues.
Sins are essentially distinguished one from another depending upon how much they are out of line with right-reason and God’s law. We also distinguish sinful words from sinful actions, and both of these from sinful desires. Sins are also distinguished as: (a) sins against God, such as blasphemy, heresy, and sacrilege; (b) sins against self, such as pride, intemperance, sloth, avarice; and (c) sins against others, such as theft, murder, or slander. Of course, ultimately, all sins are directly or indirectly against God― “As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to me … As long as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 44) ― but those that have this specific name of “sins against God” are directly against God or the things of God.
All mortal sins are the same in the sense that they are deserving eternal punishment, although there are essential degrees of difference in the degree of seriousness among all those mortal sins, as, for example, between blasphemy and murder, contraception and abortion. Mortal sins (all of which deserve eternal punishment) are essentially different from venial sins (which deserve temporal punishment only).
In each kind of sin―whether it be mortal or venial―we distinguish sins of thought (involving imaginings and even desires), sins of word, and sins of deed (also including the ‘deed’ of omission). Thoughts precede words, and words may lead on to actions. Sin may be in thought alone, or in thought united to desire, or in thought united to word, or in all three―thought, word, deed. Sometimes, sins that spring from a single motive, there might be circumstances may change the degree or gravity of sin. Thus a person who steals money from a church to bribe a politician to enact unjust legislation―really commits three different sins against justice and one sin against religion.
Nor are all grave sins equal in gravity. Their gravity is measured by the extent in which they depart from the rule of right reason. Our Lord said to Pilate (John 19:11): “He that hath delivered Me to thee hath the greater sin.” Yet Pilate’s sin was certainly great. The gravity of mortal sin varies―murder is more grave than great theft; abortion is more grave than contraception.
Carnal (sexual and bodily sins such as gluttony, drunkenness, drug-abuse) are, in general, less grave than spiritual sins; yet they bring greater shame on the sinner, and tend more to brutalize him. Carnal sins usually spring from a stronger impulse than spiritual sins―they are a craving or desire for inordinate pleasure, whereas spiritual sins are a direct turning-away from God and right reason.
The most serious illness is that which directly opposes health and tends to utterly destroy it. Minor ailments also oppose health, but not in a totally destructive fashion, they weaken health, they weaken the immune system, they restrict our life in some minor way. The more perfect is health, the more free it is from destructive disease, and the more readily it overcomes minor ailments. Thus also, the more excellent a virtue is, the further away it is from its full opposite vice (as charity is far from meanness), and the more easily it withdraws a person from the minor faults that could lead to that full opposite vice.
A sin is made more grave by the graver harm it does. In sins against others, the status of the person who is being offended or sinned against, may make the sin greater―thus disrespect for parents is more grave than disrespect towards respectable strangers. So too, as in is greater for being committed against a person who, by holiness, or by his official station, is closer to God than others. Similarly, the more excellent the person or status of the sinner, the greater is his sin. For such a person has resources for more easily avoiding sin. Thus, the sin of Catholic is more serious that the exact same sin committed by a Protestant or a Pagan. The sin of a Conservative or Traditional Catholic is greater than the exact same sin committed by a Liberal or Modernist Catholic. The sin of a priest or religious is greater than the exact same sin by a lay person. Besides, in sinning, such a person shows a greater ingratitude to God who has bestowed more excellent gifts on him. Finally, sin in such a person is especially inconsistent with his gifts and his station, and so gives the greater scandal.
They say that you show your true colors under stress: “Stress shows the true man!” or “True character is revealed in tough times.” There are various ways to react to stress and danger. One phrase says: “When the going gets tough―the tough get going!” or for the “not-so-tough” you could say: “When the going gets tough―the weak start fleeing!” Yet, sometimes, even the tough must flee―especially flee the occasions of sin: “Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent! For if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:2).
The Church today has not been and is not fleeing from “the face of the serpent”―which is the face of the world of which the serpent, or Satan, is the prince: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). The devil and the world are one―just as Christ and His Church are one. Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body of Christ―the Church. Satan is the prince of his ‘mystical’ body―the world. There can be no love between enemies―either the world turns away from the devil and converts to Christ, or the world overcomes the Church and brings it under the subjection of the devil. That is why Christ says to His Father: “I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me―because they are thine!” (John 17:9). “The Spirit of truth, the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him” (John 14:17). If the world does not have the Spirit of truth, then it automatically has the spirit of lies, the spirit of the devil―and of such people Our Lord says: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth―because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father of lies!” (John 8:44).
Yes, Christ came to save the world―but that meant that the world would have to leave its worldliness and sincerely embrace the Faith: “For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world!” says Christ (John 12:47). However, as Holy Scripture points-out, most did not want Christ’s style or type of salvation: “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:4-11).
The Church today is under severe stress. That stress comes from both inside and outside the Church. It comes from the enemy who has crept into the Church and from the enemy who is assailing the Church through the modern spirit and ‘laws’ of the world. The Church not will, but already has suffered a stress fracture. For those who know little about “stress fractures”― they are tiny cracks in a bone that are caused by repetitive force. Stress fractures can also develop from normal use of a bone that is weakened by a condition such as osteoporosis. A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced fracture of the bone caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated trauma from overloading, such as repeatedly jumping up and down, or running long distances. Because of this mechanism, stress fractures are common overuse injuries in athletes―and Catholics are supposed to be “spiritual athletes” as Holy Scripture tells us: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but only one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection! Lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Today, there are no prizes for guessing the state of the Church’s athletes! They are not chastising their bodies and bringing them into subjection―but they are indulging their bodies and reducing themselves to slavery. There are far, far more “castaways” than there are “winners”―the “spiritual athletes” have become “spiritual couch-potatoes” and the “soldiers of Christ” have become “slaves of the world.” Just as in Our Lord’s time, the kingdom of Israel had been overrun and overpowered by her enemies (Judea and Jerusalem being occupied and ruled by the Romans)―so too is the Church today overrun and ruled by Her enemies. Just as the Jews of Christ’s time were fractured and fragmented into different groups with different opinions on how to react to the Roman occupation―likewise is the Church today fractured and fragmented into different groups with different opinions on how the Church should proceed in face of the world (which is, as the Bible says, an enemy to God).
Is It Time? Is Now the Time? Are We Making Time?
After His resurrection, the Apostles asked Our Lord if the time for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel had arrived: “They, therefore, who were come together, asked Him, saying: ‘Lord, wilt Thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). We might well be tempted to ask a similar question in the many different and escalating crises that the Church and world has seen over the last 60 years: “Lord! Has the time arrived for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Thy Mother?” Our Lord could well reply with the words He addressed to His Apostles: “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in His own power!” (Acts 1:6). “Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come … Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come!” (Matthew 24:42-44). “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). The problem is that we are watching the wrong things, looking in the wrong direction―we are watching our televisions, our movies, our computer and smartphone screens, we are watching sports, we are watching other people (and sometimes watching with sinful intentions). We are watching the world and worldly things and not God and godly things. We have time―but time for the wrong things.
“All things have their season and, in their times, all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
A Time to Fight or a Time to Flee?
Make no mistake about it―we are at war, you are at war, and we will be at war until the day we die: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). Our Lord, along the same lines, says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12)―St. Paul adds: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7)―but there are many who are not fighting and are losing the Faith! In fact, most Catholics are not fighting―apart from fighting each other and fighting within the family―for only 20% on average attend Sunday Mass regularly; only 2% or 3% pray the Rosary; and almost nobody goes to Confession! That is because they cannot see that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12) and that their “adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8)―and it seems as though the devil is “getting the lion’s share” of the souls in the world (and always has done) because those foolish souls are not prepared to take the time needed to fight the devil and fight for their salvation!
There is, then, a time of war and a time of peace, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to destroy and a time to build, a time to fight and a time to flee―“Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and “Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:2). A general of an army, if he is wise and not stupidly proud―will always consider the best tactic in each and every scenario. He will analyze each situation, reflect upon it and decided whether to attack or not; whether to sit-tight and wait or not; whether to retreat or not. God has placed within us the “fight-or-flight” response because it evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations. When you are faced with a single attacker, you are more likely to stay and fight than if faced by a mob of 100 persons―in which case you are more likely to flee than fight.
Our Lord and God wants us to be “tough” in a virtuous sense―this is why He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die ― itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:24-25). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it!” (Luke 17:33). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). St. Luke reports the word “daily” in his account: “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
In another place, Our Lord says:“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
A Compromised Collaborating Church Cannot Fight
Today, the Church and its Catholic army (that includes you and your family) have laid down their arms and picked up their smartphones―which has proved to be not a very smart choice! Dr. Bella Dodd―the fallen-away Italian-American Catholic and the former American Communist Party member, who later returned to the Faith―testified before the U.S. Senate Committee for Un-American Affairs―that she had managed to place over 1,000 infiltrators into the seminaries, some of whom had become bishops and even cardinals in Rome! However, the devil―using the resources of his princedom (the world)―has managed to place several billion smartphones into the hands of unsuspecting, naïve, dumbed-down people. The vast majority of Catholics have a smartphone in their hands for many, many more hours than they have a Rosary in their hands! Who controls what is accessed by the smartphone? The Church or the world? It is, of course, the world! And what is the world? The world is an enemy of God, Christ and His Church:
“Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in his rage!” (Psalm 2:1-5). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Which is why Holy Scripture adds: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Sadly, the majority of the Catholic world has been entangled in the devil’s world-wide-web or www―which interestingly and coincidentally is associated with the number “666”―for the Hebrew and Greek alphabets do not have separate characters or alphabets for numbers and letters. Letters are also used as numbers. So each letter is a numerical value. The Hebrew equivalent of our “w” is the letter “vav” or “waw”. The numerical value of “vav” is “6”. So the English “www” transliterated into Hebrew is “vav vav vav”, which numerically is 666. However, before you start running too far with this coincidence―remember that the mark or character or number of the beast is THAT OF A MAN and not something like the internet. Nevertheless, the idea of “666” and a “web” does conjure up analogous ideas of being caught in the spider’s web!! But do not make more out of it than what it is!
Church Compromised by Infiltration
Our Lord warns us that a divided city cannot stand: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Today―and for a long time before―the Church has been progressively and increasingly divided.
Our Lady of Akita speaks of the devil infiltrating the Catholic Church and many cardinals, bishops and priests being filled with a spirit of compromise: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... The Church will be FULL of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.”
The Catholic Church has been increasingly compromised for a long time―particularly in the years following the 1789 French Revolution, which was aided and abetted by Freemasonry and their “handlers”, and then the revolutions was “exported” throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the world. Which has led to the fulfillment of the words of Our Lady of Good Success: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church.”
We see that Pope Pius IX was involved in a prolonged battle against the Revolution inside the Church. Sadly, however, in the time of the partially Liberal Pope Leo XIII, the internal Church Revolution was allowed to grow―which led to the infiltration of Freemasons to some very high positions within the Church.
By the time of Pope St. Pius X―who reigned from 1903 to 1914―we see that Pope Pius X’s main opponent in the Conclave election in 1903 was Cardinal Rampolla, who was suspected of being a high-ranking Freemason and already held the “Number Two” position or rank in the Church, by being Secretary of State under Pope Leo XIII. At the start of the 20th century, Rampolla was already well-known for championing the errors and spirituality that the future Pope St. Pius X would label “Modernism”. At the conclave after the death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, it was expected that Cardinal Rampolla would be the next Pope, which would have been a great victory for the Modernist faction. Actually, he was leading in votes when his election was suddenly vetoed. The Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, through his representative the Cardinal of Krakow, exercised an age-old privilege and vetoed the election of Rampolla. The Emperor had been presented irrefutable evidence that the Cardinal, besides being a Modernist, was a member of Freemasonry and Grand Master of the secret sect known as the Ordo Templi Orientalis. (Mary Ball Martínez, The Undermining of the Catholic Church, pp. 32-33). Providentially, God saw to it that a “technicality” sank the hopes of Rampolla’s election, even though he was the frontrunner and favorite to be the elected pope.
A while after the election of Pope St. Pius X, Rampolla was eventually forced out of the Curia and appointed Papal Nuncio to Spain. From his Nunciature in Madrid, he had to take steps backward and move his seriously injured Modernist faction underground. In serious Catholic circles there are suspicions that Pope Pius X did not die a natural death, but it was caused artificially. Several circles of the right in Europe sustain this thesis, and the biography of Cardinal Merry del Val on Pope Pius X gives certain hints in the same direction.
After the death of Pope St. Pius X, at at the next conclave, Rampolla was ready to settle scores. This time one of his protégés would sit on the Throne of Peter. It was Giacomo Della Chiesa (who would later become the future Pope Benedict XV)―a perfect candidate. He was a graduate of the Instituto Capranica, the most Liberal seminary in Rome, which was teeming with strange new theological doctrines and Modernist errors. And he had a very close affiliation with Rampolla, who had chosen Della Chiesa as his private secretary. Pope St. Pius X had done his best to “isolate” or “neutralize” Della Chiesa. Under St. Pius X, Archbishop Della Chiesa (the future Benedict XV) had been sent to Bologna, in exile from the Roman Curia, because he was distrusted as a protégé and supporter of Cardinal Rampolla, a known Modernist and Freemason. Further, St. Pius X withheld for seven years, from Archbishop Della Chiesa, the cardinal’s hat that normally went with the Bologna Archbishopric―a clear sign of his distrust and a deliberate humiliation to the arrogant Della Chiesa. Only three months before the conclave did Della Chiesa finally become a Cardinal.
Modernist Masonic Revenge
In revenge, his first act after he became Pontiff was to send the valorous anti-Modernist Cardinal Merry del Val packing, and to choose as Secretary of State the Modernist Pietro Gasparri, another Rampolla protégé and his closest assistant. The Marquis de Franquerie is a secure source, and he states that Cardinal Gasparri, another of Rampolla’s disciples who became the Secretary of State of Benedict XV, was a Mason. Gasparri made many accusations against St. Pius X regarding the organization Sodalitum Pianum, which Pius X had founded to uncover Modernists in the Church throughout Europe. Many of Gasparri’s charges against Pius X were proved false―nevertheless, it shows the kind of venomous intrigues and conspiracies that surrounded and hounded Pope St. Pius X.
Whichever enemy of the Church you care to take―whether it be the Modernists or Liberals, Communists or Freemasons, Atheists or Pagans―ultimately, behind them all, you fill find the devil. Some of these enemies might be collaborating together, others might even hate each other―but to the devil that does not matter, it never has and never will. The only thing all of them have in common is sin. Just as we Catholics have sin in common. The devil, the chief vendor of sin, will use anybody and everybody he possibly can in his perpetual fight against God and His Church and His Religion.
Sin Weakens the Foundations of the Church
The following is a summary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching on sin as found in his Summa Theologica. The summary is taken from the Msgr. Glenn’s Tour of the Summa.
Sin is a human act―a deliberate thought, word, deed, desire, omission―contrary to right reason, and therefore contrary to God. A vice is a habit of sin and therefore is also contrary to order and reason―it is opposed to the rational nature of man. A vice is a habit of sin―meaning it is a disposition to sin, a regular desire to sin. In itself, a bad act is worse than a bad habit (bad disposition or bad desire); for a bad act is a deed done, whereas a bad habit is only a stable disposition to commit bad deeds. Even human law punishes a criminal act, but not a criminal disposition.
One sin does not make it a vice―just as one good action does make it a virtue. One sin does not destroy the opposed virtue as a habit―for example, one sin of impurity does not destroy the virtue of chastity. Nor does one act of charity give a person the virtue or habit of charity. Just as one good act does not establish a virtue, so neither does one bad act establish a vice. But one mortal sin destroys the power of virtues as virtues (as living and active virtues), but not as habits or dispositions or desires of doing good. A mortal sin destroys charity and renders faith and hope inoperative for getting a man on towards Heaven. Mortal sin robs faith and hope of their power as virtues, but it does not expel them as habits. Venial sin neither destroys nor expels charity or other virtues, but weakens the strength of the virtues.
Sins are essentially distinguished one from another depending upon how much they are out of line with right-reason and God’s law. We also distinguish sinful words from sinful actions, and both of these from sinful desires. Sins are also distinguished as: (a) sins against God, such as blasphemy, heresy, and sacrilege; (b) sins against self, such as pride, intemperance, sloth, avarice; and (c) sins against others, such as theft, murder, or slander. Of course, ultimately, all sins are directly or indirectly against God― “As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to me … As long as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 44) ― but those that have this specific name of “sins against God” are directly against God or the things of God.
All mortal sins are the same in the sense that they are deserving eternal punishment, although there are essential degrees of difference in the degree of seriousness among all those mortal sins, as, for example, between blasphemy and murder, contraception and abortion. Mortal sins (all of which deserve eternal punishment) are essentially different from venial sins (which deserve temporal punishment only).
In each kind of sin―whether it be mortal or venial―we distinguish sins of thought (involving imaginings and even desires), sins of word, and sins of deed (also including the ‘deed’ of omission). Thoughts precede words, and words may lead on to actions. Sin may be in thought alone, or in thought united to desire, or in thought united to word, or in all three―thought, word, deed. Sometimes, sins that spring from a single motive, there might be circumstances may change the degree or gravity of sin. Thus a person who steals money from a church to bribe a politician to enact unjust legislation―really commits three different sins against justice and one sin against religion.
Nor are all grave sins equal in gravity. Their gravity is measured by the extent in which they depart from the rule of right reason. Our Lord said to Pilate (John 19:11): “He that hath delivered Me to thee hath the greater sin.” Yet Pilate’s sin was certainly great. The gravity of mortal sin varies―murder is more grave than great theft; abortion is more grave than contraception.
Carnal (sexual and bodily sins such as gluttony, drunkenness, drug-abuse) are, in general, less grave than spiritual sins; yet they bring greater shame on the sinner, and tend more to brutalize him. Carnal sins usually spring from a stronger impulse than spiritual sins―they are a craving or desire for inordinate pleasure, whereas spiritual sins are a direct turning-away from God and right reason.
The most serious illness is that which directly opposes health and tends to utterly destroy it. Minor ailments also oppose health, but not in a totally destructive fashion, they weaken health, they weaken the immune system, they restrict our life in some minor way. The more perfect is health, the more free it is from destructive disease, and the more readily it overcomes minor ailments. Thus also, the more excellent a virtue is, the further away it is from its full opposite vice (as charity is far from meanness), and the more easily it withdraws a person from the minor faults that could lead to that full opposite vice.
A sin is made more grave by the graver harm it does. In sins against others, the status of the person who is being offended or sinned against, may make the sin greater―thus disrespect for parents is more grave than disrespect towards respectable strangers. So too, as in is greater for being committed against a person who, by holiness, or by his official station, is closer to God than others. Similarly, the more excellent the person or status of the sinner, the greater is his sin. For such a person has resources for more easily avoiding sin. Thus, the sin of Catholic is more serious that the exact same sin committed by a Protestant or a Pagan. The sin of a Conservative or Traditional Catholic is greater than the exact same sin committed by a Liberal or Modernist Catholic. The sin of a priest or religious is greater than the exact same sin by a lay person. Besides, in sinning, such a person shows a greater ingratitude to God who has bestowed more excellent gifts on him. Finally, sin in such a person is especially inconsistent with his gifts and his station, and so gives the greater scandal.
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE
Monday, April 20th & Tuesday April 21st & Wednesday April 22nd
Article 6
Will the World Lockdown & Shutdown Lead to Heaven's Lockout & Shutout?
Monday, April 20th & Tuesday April 21st & Wednesday April 22nd
Article 6
Will the World Lockdown & Shutdown Lead to Heaven's Lockout & Shutout?
What’s at Stake?
These commandments of the world to “lockdown”, shutdown”, “shelter-in-place”, “self-isolate”, “keep-social-distance” and “quarantine” are seen by many as being a calculated destruction of the economy worldwide. Yet even though that may well be true―there is something much more at stake than that! Those who see only that―are not seeing beyond the end of their nose. They are blind and risk leading themselves and others into another pit! “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Have you thought-it-out? Do you see beyond the “smoke-and-mirrors”? Can you see the potential future and the possible disaster?
Little-By-Little One Goes Far!
The phrase, “Little by little one goes far!” or “Little by little one travels far!” ― disputedly attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien ― is a powerful truth, regardless of who first came up with it. It is a truth that is used in all walks of life―education, business, finance, medicine, military, etc.
Children (and even adults) ask for exemptions or permissions “little by little”, for they see it as the best tactic in gaining some personal advantage. Taxes and prices are often increased “little by little” to avoid major discontent. Freedoms are removed “little by little” to avoid rebellion. Truths are changed “little by little” to avoid being caught in a blatant lie. The same applies to our consumption of food and drink, or the time spent on the phone, computer or watching TV. The list could on forever.
The underlying tactic is that you are more likely to get something if you only ask for a little from only a little number of persons ― and then to ask a little more from a few more persons. This serves to “pull the brick out of the wall” and before long―and a some bricks later―the wall will start collapsing. That is how the divorce laws were introduced ― “little by little”’; likewise for contraction and abortion laws ― “little by little”’; likewise for same sex marriage laws ― “little by little”’; likewise for vaccination laws ― “little by little”’; likewise will it be for the obligatory “identity passport” inoculations or tattoos ― “little by little.”’
When you want more―ask for less―and you may be more successful in the long run. Alternatively and similarly, if you want a certain thing―let’s say a certain price for the car you are selling―then initially add a considerable sum to your desired amount, knowing that the price will be rejected as being far too high―and then reduce it to your original hoped for price.
The Power and Psychology of Fear
You could apply this to the current Coronavirus Crisis―whereby you know that people will not accept mandatory (obligatory) vaccinations. So you raise the stakes by inflating the ‘death toll’ and by inflating the degree of fear and panic. You ‘create’ a ‘plandemic’ and forecast millions and millions deaths worldwide―a ‘plandemic’ with a ‘killer’ virus for which there is no known cure! The ensuing panic―among many―which you are no doubt witnessing in your own localities. Panic and fear of something greater will make you accept the evil of something lesser―it is what we call “seeking the lesser of two evils”. Since most people (hopefully most people!) look upon mandatory vaccinations as an evil―then it is necessary to create an evil in their minds that is greater than the evil perceived in vaccinations. They will then “pay the price” that they would previously have not been prepared to pray―which will have been achieved by fear.
It is interesting to read a little on the psychology of fear. Here is what one website―Psychology Today―says on the matter:
“Fear is one of the most powerful forces in your life. It affects the decisions you make, the actions you take, and the outcomes you achieve. Who you are and what you do has at one point or another been influenced by fear … Fear is critical for survival … Survival, in the past, meant staying alive. It meant not getting killed by a predator, a disease, a rival, or a natural disaster. And threats included anything that could literally cause death or serious harm. Fear is what kept our ancestors out of harm’s way.
According to author Karl Albrecht, all fears, regardless of how big or small, fall into five categories: fear of extinction, fear of mutilation, fear of losing autonomy, fear of separation, and fear of ego-death. Consequently, the role of fear is to promote survival in these five domains. To protect from anything that threatens to destroy not only our lives, but also our physical and psychological well-being, our autonomy, and our connection to others.
► BIOLOGICAL SURVIVAL: The need to stay alive remains the highest priority. Without being alive, everything else is futile. [Enter COVID-19 and the fear propaganda―people are dropping like flies! Even babies and healthy young people are dying! We are working on a vaccine that will save your life!!!]
► PHYSICAL HEALTH AND ABILITY: Being healthy and strong is not only a requisite for biological survival, but it is also necessary in order to meet the demands of daily life. This fear has millions of people getting the flu shot every year. [If that fear can be cranked up a few notches for COVID-19, then the whole world will be taking the ‘life-saving’ vaccine!]
► AUTONOMY: We want to be able to make our own decisions, and live our lives the way we choose. We don’t like being restrained. This is what makes being trapped, whether in an elevator or in a horrible job, so scary, and why fear of imprisonment is a good deterrent for breaking the law. [Now―on that score―if you won’t be a ‘good boy’ and let us vaccinate you―then we have no choice but to remove your autonomy, because you will be a risk to both yourself and society, you will be a potential killer―and killers end up behind bars!]
► SOCIAL SURVIVAL: We want to belong and to stay connected. To be accepted and respected by our peers. We try to steer clear of criticism and rejection from people we like, or even total strangers. Being alone and feeling unwanted and irrelevant can be frightening. [If you refuse to be vaccinated and receive your electronic “immunity passport” then you will be outside the herd―you will be a reject!]
► SELF-WORTH: Given how long we have to live with ourselves, we must protect our self-worth at all costs. A shattered self-esteem is a big problem in any context. The fear of feeling worthless and inadequate can be very limiting, as it stops you from thinking big, expressing yourself, and taking risks. This is why the impact of losing a job or getting a rejection letter can last for days or even weeks. [We have an instinctive desire to be part of the herd, part of the gang, we tend to follow the crowd―to stand out as an object of criticism is enough to make most people succumb to the needle of vaccination rather than the ‘needling’ of people].
Our Fears and Failings
Researchers at Chapman University surveyed 1,500 people about the kinds of things they are really afraid of. The fears that made it to the top 5 list included: government corruption, cyber-terrorism, tracking of personal information by government and corporations, terrorist attacks, and bio-warfare.
So what is being talked about right now―not among “Conspiracy Theorists”―but in the MSM (mainstream media), government and medical field? What wonderful humanitarian―or totalitarian―measures are being considered to ‘safeguard’ the human race from mass destruction by ‘plandemics’? What are the various different, yet linked, consequences that await us in the wake of this ‘plandemic’?
► FEAR ― The first and most obvious effect or consequence of this Coronavirus ‘Plandemic’ is that of fear! Just as Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction!” (Proverbs 1:7). Similarly, the fear of COVID-19 is the beginning of foolishness and those fools despise wisdom instruction by wise scientists and wise doctors. We could well apply to COVID-19 the following words of Holy Scripture: “This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole Heaven, so that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble! … And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life!” (Deuteronomy 2:25; 28:66). The propagandists of COVID-19 have successfully hammered the nails of fear into most ignorant, naïve, gullible minds.
► ACCEPTANCE OF LIES ― as the saying goes: “Repeat a lie enough times and it will be believed."
● THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826) truly believed that a free people required a free press. On the other hand, he really loathed newspapers, as illustrated by the following quotes:
“The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of news-writers who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people―who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper …. I deplore ... the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them ... These ordures [dung, obscene, immoral materials] are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food …. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day … As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers.”
In a letter to John Norvell, Thomas Jefferson writes: “To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, ‘by restraining it to true facts and sound principles only.’ Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time; whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected from them―such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will, etc., etc. ― but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false” (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Norvell, June 14th, 1807). [Works 10:417―18]
● WILLIAM JOSEPH CASEY (1913–1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When the veteran covert action operative, William Casey, was newly appointed as Director of Central Intelligence in 1981, he said to President Reagan and the others assembled: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Some may be shocked and find that hard to believe. However, Barbara Honegger, an eye-witness to the incident, has attested:
“I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director William Casey at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to the President. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked Casey what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he replied with this quote ― “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!” ― which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.”
● Writing in the the May–June 1995 Issue of the Harvard Business Review―in an article entitled, “Why the News Is Not the Truth”― Peter Vanderwicken states: “The U.S. press, like the U.S. government, is a corrupt and troubled institution. Corrupt not so much in the sense that it accepts bribes but in a systemic sense. It fails to do what it claims to do, what it should do, and what society expects it to do. The news media and the government are entwined in a vicious circle of mutual manipulation, mythmaking, and self-interest. Journalists need crises to dramatize news, and government officials need to appear to be responding to crises. Too often, the crises are not really crises but joint fabrications. The two institutions have become so ensnared in a symbiotic web of lies that the news media are unable to tell the public what is true and the government is unable to govern effectively. That is the thesis advanced by Paul H. Weaver, a former political scientist (at Harvard University), journalist (at ‘Fortune’ magazine), and corporate communications executive (at Ford Motor Company), in his provocative analysis entitled ‘News and the Culture of Lying: How Journalism Really Works’… The news media and the government have created a charade that serves their own interests but misleads the public. Officials oblige the media’s need for drama by fabricating crises and stage-managing their responses, thereby enhancing their own prestige and power. Journalists dutifully report those fabrications. Both parties know the articles are self-aggrandizing manipulations and fail to inform the public.”
● Nearer to the present day, on December 14th, 2016, in a Standard Examiner article entitled, “Newspapers, other media lie by slanting their headlines”, it states: “It is perfectly possible to tell a lie without saying anything untrue. As a matter of fact, the most effective liars are those who never deliberately say anything that is not so; they simply tell a piece of the truth and refuse to tell all of it. The lying power of partial truth is a mighty mean weapon to wield, but it is so frightfully effective that many men are sorely tempted to use it. They yield all too frequently. Certain newspaper publishers and media, for example, have virtually ruined their personal characters as well as their professional reputations by resorting so habitually to this vile method of misrepresenting causes or persons they dislike. They lie about their opponents―not by saying something that is untrue about them―but by stating just a piece of the truth. Thus, they so twist the truth that it serves all the purposes of a lie. They have a special device—the headline technique. Knowing full well that the vast majority of their readers get their most lasting impression from the headlines; they skillfully slant the news by the way they phrase the captions of their articles. Please note how prevalent is their wicked practice whenever there is a political contest of vital concern. Probably more young people have been victimized by their method than almost any other because it is so widespread, is so often reiterated, and is so seldom challenged and exposed.”
● Even more recently, on May 28th, 2019, in a Market Watch article entitled: “American journalism is suffering from ‘truth decay’ — the media have become more biased over the last 30 years, RAND study says”, there is found the following comment by the RAND Corporation― a no-partisan and non-profit institution that, among other activities, which, through research and analysis, studies policy and decision-making. “American journalism is losing its objectivity― according to a new analysis on news discourse. In the study, released this month, researchers found a major shift occurred between 1989 and 2017 as journalism expanded beyond traditional media, such as newspapers and broadcast networks, to newer media, including 24-hour cable news channels and digital outlets. Notably, these measurable changes vary in extent and nature for different news platforms, it found. RAND is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Santa Monica, California. ‘Our research provides quantitative evidence for what we all can see in the media landscape,’ said Jennifer Kavanagh, a RAND senior political scientist and lead author of the report, the second in a series on the phenomenon of ‘Truth Decay,’ the declining role of facts and analysis in civil discourse and its effect on American life. Journalism in the U.S. has become more subjective and consists less of the detailed event-based or context-based reporting that used to characterize news coverage.”
Both the worldwide governments and media have produced plenty of lies, half-truths, exaggerations, misrepresentations and ‘doctored’ statistics concerning the Coronavirus or COVID-19. It has been a case of the proverbial “Lies, damned lies and statistics!” The Coronavirus or COVID-19 has been portrayed as a killer disease that is rampantly raging and ravaging any and every country in the world―but the surprising fact is that the Coronavirus or COVID-19 has rarely killed anyone directly―it has been of a case that people have died WITH the Coronavirus or COVID-19, and NOT FROM the Coronavirus or COVID-19. There are plenty of extremely reputable scientists, doctors and statisticians who have CLEARY and IRREFUTABLY shown that to be the case. Nevertheless, the bold-faced-lies continue unashamedly.
► COMPULSORY VACCINATIONS ― The next step after the fear and the lies seems to be the promise of compulsory vaccinations―probably at least annually, possibly several vaccinations a year or more, depending upon the whims of the Health Care people who say they ‘care’ for you. If you refuse to be vaccinated, then you will be classified as a threat to society, a potential killer, even a bio-terrorist! This is not a so-called “Conspiracy Theory”― but a “straight from the horse’s mouth”, or a “straight from Gates’ mouth” fact.
As Gates said in a recent interview: “You can’t act like you have a choice! People might not like going to the stadium when they might get infected. It’s not the government who is saying: ‘Okay! Just ignore this disease!’ People are deeply affected by seeing these deaths, by knowing that they could be part of the transmission chain and old people―their parents and their grandparents could be affected by this! And so, you don’t get to say: ‘Ignore what’s going on here!’ There will an ability―particularly in rich countries―to open up if things are done well over the next few months. But―for the world at large―normalcy only returns when we have largely vaccinated the entire global population.”
In a CBS interview, on the “This Morning” show, on April 2nd, 2020, Bill Gates said: “It is so important to get―not just hundreds of millions―but literally billions of those vaccines, because this is a global problem, and, although the United States has the most case right now, as time goes on, the developing countries, where isolation is more difficult, and the health system is very weak, sadly, they are most likely to experience the most pain of all as this goes global … We will probably want to be broadly vaccinated before we are not worried about this.”
In September 2019, just three months before the coronavirus first appeared in China, ID2020, a San Francisco-based biometric company, that counts Microsoft as one of its founding members, quietly announced it was undertaking a new project that involves the “exploration of multiple biometric identification technologies for infants” that is based on “infant immunization” and only uses the “most successful approaches”.
► IMMUNITY PASSPORTS ― Compulsory tattooing or injection of an “immunity passport” that will initially have your immunity rating logged―but will progressively and naturally evolve into having all your medical information, catalogue and calendar of vaccinations received, perhaps driver’s license, even credit card information―a with time (so that they can take better care of you and serve you better) a whole host of other personal information. The Gates electronic “tattoo” passport will inevitably pave the way for more complicated forms of “passport”, ultimately leading to the electronic microchip―which is already being used in many regions worldwide.
As for the initial “ice-breaking” immunity passport, UNITED KINGDOM's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s spokesman, said Britain was completing due diligence in how feasible immunity passports would be. “(An immunity certificate) is an important thing that we will be doing and are looking at but it’s too early in the science of the immunity that comes from having had the disease,” said Matt Hancock, the UK Minister for Health, at a press conference.
In GERMANY, researchers are preparing a study that would see if people already immune to the virus could re-enter the workforce and be granted immunity passports.
In ITALY, the Conservative President of the North-eastern Veneto region, has proposed an immunity passport for people who possess antibodies that show they are resistant to the virus. The former Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has called it a “Covid Pass” for the uninfected who can return to their normal lives.
Immunity passports and “intermittent lockdowns” could become a totalitarian reality in the next few months, or even in the next several years ― since the MSM (mainstream media), governmental and medical Doomsday Prophets say the virus could be around far longer than most people have estimated.
Talk of these special passports surfaced in American politics last week when House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart called on Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, to implement an “Immunity Certificate” for first responders and healthcare professionals. On April 10th, the chief U.S. Coronavirus task force medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stated that Americans could soon be obliged to carry a Coronavirus certificate of immunity. On CNN’s “New Day” program, Fauci was asked if he could “imagine a time where Americans carry certificates of immunity.” Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases replied: “You know, that’s possible. It’s one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and not — this is something that’s being discussed. I think it might actually have some merit under certain circumstances!”
All of this has arisen and has been coordinated worldwide in merely 140 or so days―since the outbreak of the so-called Coronavirus or COVID-19 in China on November 17th, 2019. It is an unprecedented world coordinated campaign of a magnitude never before seen! Those things do not happen by chance!
► DESTROYING THE ECONOMY (CAPITALISM) AND REPLACING IT WITH NATIONALIZATION (SOCIALISM) ― The elite “magicians” (magic is of the devil) have―in the blink of an eye and with sleight of hand―waved their “Plandemic Wand” over the world and suddenly, before our incredulous eyes, the world economy began to crumble! As the Coronavirus or “Conallavirus” ― like the naked Emperor in his new invisible suit of clothes― continues its march around the world, governments have taken measures, such as social distancing, closing of businesses, closing of national borders, to try and physically disrupt the contagion. Yet, doing so has severed the flow of goods and people, stalled economies, and is in the process of delivering a global recession. Economic contagion is now spreading as fast as the disease itself. This rapidly growing global recession raises questions and financial fears about the path of the shock and recovery, and whether or not national economies will be able to return to their pre-shock output levels and growth rates.
Millions of people have lost their jobs―20 million in the US alone; many have lost or are dwindling their lifelong savings. In developing countries, poverty and despair prevail. While the lockdown is presented to public opinion as the sole means to resolving a global public health crisis, its devastating economic and social impacts are casually ignored. The unspoken truth is that the novel Coronavirus provides a pretext to powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians to precipitate the entire World into a spiral of mass unemployment, bankruptcy and extreme poverty. This is the true picture of what is happening. Poverty is growing worldwide. Famines are erupting in Third World countries, and closer to home, in the so-called “richest country on Earth”, there are millions of desperate Americans waiting in long crowded lines for handouts and miles of long lines forming at food banks and unemployment offices across the US over the past week.
What has occurred under the COVID-19 crisis is a “Global Adjustment” in the structure of the World economy. In one fell swoop this Global Adjustment triggers a Worldwide process of bankruptcy, unemployment, poverty and total despair. How is it implemented? The lockdown is presented to national governments as the sole solution to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic. It becomes a political consensus, irrespective of the devastating economic and social consequences.
The partial or complete closing down of a national economy is triggered through the enforcement of so-called “WHO guidelines” pertaining to the lockdown, as well as to trade, immigration and transportation restrictions, etc. Powerful financial institutions and lobby groups including Wall Street, Big Pharma, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were involved in shaping the actions of the WHO pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown together with the curtailment of trade and air travel had set the stage. This closing down of national economies was undertaken Worldwide starting in the month of March, affecting simultaneously a large of number of countries in all major regions of the World. It is unprecedented in World history. Why did leaders in high office let it happen? The consequences were obvious.
This closing down operation affects production and supply lines of goods and services, investment activities, exports and imports, wholesale and retail trade, consumer spending, the closing down of schools, colleges and universities, research institutions, etc. In turn it leads almost immediately to mass unemployment, bankruptcies of small and medium sized enterprises, a collapse in purchasing power, widespread poverty and famine. What is the underlying objective of this restructuring of the global economy? What are the consequences? Who profits? It causes:
● A massive concentration of wealth and corporate capital.
● The destabilization of small and middle sized enterprises in all major areas of economic activity including the services economy, agriculture and manufacturing.
● It facilitates the subsequent corporate acquisition of bankrupt enterprises
● It derogates the rights of workers. It destabilizes labor markets.
● It creates mass unemployment
● It compresses wages (and labor costs) in the so-called high income “developed countries” as well as in the impoverished developing countries.
● It leads to an escalation of the external debt.
● It facilitates subsequent privatization or nationalization―where the rich or the State “buy-out” the poor at “give-away” rock bottom prices.
Avram Noam Chomsky, the American linguist, cognitive scientist, philosopher, historian, social critic, and political commentator, says that the wealthy use free-market rhetoric to justify imposing greater economic risk upon the lower classes, while being insulated from the rigors of the market by the political and economic advantages that their wealth affords to them. He has stated that the rich and powerful “want to be able to run the nanny state” so that “when they are in trouble the taxpayer will bail them out.”
Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor is a classical political-economic argument, stating that in the advanced capitalist societies state policies assure that more resources flow to the rich than to the poor. One of the most commonly raised forms of criticism are statements that the capitalist political economy, towards large corporations, allows them to privatize profits and socialize losses. In other words, they keep the profits and saddle you with the debts. This has been seen in the recent WHO (World Health Organization) suggestion that everyone on the planet give 10% of their income to try and offset the tremendous debt being created by the manufactured Coronavirus Plandemic.
► TOTALITARIAN MEDIA PROPAGANDA ― Governmental agencies with their vague forecasts and deliberately mystifying comments (or even blatant lies) help fuel and fan the flaming forest fires of fear so cleverly ignited by the MSM (mainstream media)―which, as anyone can see who choose to research the matter―is owned by only a handful of companies. The question is: “Who controls the media we rely on for news and information?” Most media are controlled by a limited number of conglomerates. A conglomerate is a corporation made up of a number of companies, organizations, and media networks. In the 1980s, more than fifty companies owned the majority of the thousands of U.S. media outlets, television and radio stations and networks. Now, only six conglomerates control most of the broadcast media in the United States ―now it is the monopoly of only six companies. In the 2019 Forbes Global 2000 list, Comcast was America's largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, with The Walt Disney Company, AT&T, CBS Corporation and Viacom (but both are controlled by National Amusements through super-voting shares) completing the top five.
Anyway, back to the point―these controlled media outlets, whether it be the TV, the internet, the newspapers or journals―are the ones who control and pump-out the propagandist narrative that is desired and concocted by the “higher-ups” ― for it is the “higher-ups” who own the purse strings and puppeteer their puppets, just like any employer controls his employees. While each of these networks has its own programming, in the end, the conglomerate can make a policy that affects all stations and programming under its control.
Thus they able to fan the flaming forest fires of fear and fake news that spread rapidly from one news outlet to another―which lends credence to the fake forest fire, since every media outlet is talking about it! But we forget that those thousands of outlets are owned by a handful of people. Thus whatever propaganda these people want to propagate, the media outlets they own will propagate. Conglomerates can create a monopoly on information by controlling a sector of a market. When a media conglomerate has policies or restrictions, they will apply to all stations or outlets under its ownership, potentially limiting the information citizens receive. Conglomerate ownership also creates circumstances in which censorship may occur.
Thus today, you see Google limit or arrange its search engine to predominantly listing among its finds, those websites that conform to the “politically correct” and mainstream narrative―especially with regard to the Coronavirus or “Conallavirus” Plandemic. Facebook has taken to censoring those social media sites that speak out against the mainstream narrative and question the mainstream propaganda. YouTube is constantly taking down sites or videos that promote an alternative and critical view of the mainstream propaganda. All of this is pure Communism, Socialism or Totalitarianism. Free speech is only free if you speak according “Big-Brother’s Narrative”―otherwise your “tongue” will be tied.
► FALLING INTO THE NET OF MEDIA SURVEILLANCE ― COVID-19 will sweep away many of the barriers that prevent us from spending more of our lives online―as if the hours we already spend online are not enough!! Not everything can become virtual, of course. But in many areas of our lives, we will be encouraged to take up and use many ‘useful’ online tools. We will be encouraged to use, every day, such tools as Skype, Facetime and email to communicate. The resistance—often led by teachers’ unions and the politicians—to allowing partial homeschooling or online learning for K-12 kids has been swept away by the manufactured Coronavirus crisis. It will be near-impossible to put that genie back in the bottle in the fall, with many families finding that they prefer full or partial homeschooling, or online homework. For many college students, returning to an expensive dorm room on a depopulated campus will not be appealing, forcing massive changes in a sector that has been ripe for innovation for a long time. And while not every job can be done remotely, many people are learning that the difference between having to put on a tie and commute for an hour or working efficiently at home was always just the ability to download one or two apps, plus permission from their boss. Yet what many people fail to see is that once you are online, once you are on the phone, then you are also under surveillance―everything is recorded automatically―thus subjecting you to an even greater disclosure of what you think, say and do. All this information is gathered and processed so that the data gatherers know you better than you know yourself in many ways.
Also, The New York Times reported on Mar 17, 2020, that “Google, Facebook, and other major tech companies are reportedly in talks with the US government over a plan to use people's location data from apps and smartphones to help combat the spread of COVID-19. According to a Washington Post report citing unnamed White House officials, the partnership could use aggregated, anonymized data provided by tech companies to determine the likelihood of transmission between different regions in the US … The reported plan comes after several meetings between tech industry leaders and White House officials in the past week.”
► THE CHAINING AND ENSLAVEMENT OF THE DUMB TO THE PSEUDO-SCIENCE EXPERTS ― Create a Coronavirus Crisis, then create Coronavirus confusion, then create confusion for the clueless citizens, then call the clever conmen experts to charm and confuse the clueless confused citizens even more, command clueless citizens to containment and curfews, cunningly close down countless businesses, collapse the economy, then charmingly and cunningly chain the confused citizens to the contrived comeback under Communistic control. You could say that the Coronavirus started with Communism (China) and will lead to Communism―which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said Our Lady had revealed to her.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his book, Our Lady of Fatima. Here is the relevant part about Communism:
“Lucia made it plain … and with deliberate emphasis … that Our Lady wants the Pope and all the bishops in the world [to] consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.” Professor Walsh then asked:
“Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” Lucia replied: “Yes!”
The Communist KGB defector, Yuri Bezmenov, stated: “The main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence … only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. Most of the activity of the KGB Department was to compile huge amount of information on individuals in countries, who were instrumental in creating public opinion―publishers, editors, journalists, actors, educationalists, professors of political science, members of Parliament, representatives of business circles. Most of these people were divided roughly in two groups―those that would accept the Soviet foreign policy, and they would be promoted to the positions of power through media and public opinion manipulation. Those who refused the Soviet influence in their own country would be character assassinated or executed physically, counter-revolution. My instructions from the KGB were to aim high! Try to get into wide circulation, the established Conservative media. Reach filthy rich movie-makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical, egocentric people who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people, people who lack moral principles who are either too greedy, who suffer from self-importance, they feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.
Ideological Subversion is a method of cultural warfare – is a slow method – to change the perception of reality, where citizens of a country cannot make out the reality … The process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be―like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CANNOT SEE it moving. What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American, so that despite the abundance of information and evidence, NO ONE IS ABLE TO COME TO SENSIBLE CONCLUSIONS about the danger of Communism in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow.
“Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and Socialism seems to them to be the best answer. The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, CANNOT THINK creatively and independently. The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 60's, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already. Actually, it is over-fulfilled―because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts say nothing to him―even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That's the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
“You can see it quite clearly that in some ... sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago―when I landed in this part of the world―that the process would go that fast. Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people think they are living at the peacetime. False! The United States is in a state of war―undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, it is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot! If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you. Unlike the present-day United States, there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America.” (Yuri Bezmenov, Communist KGB defector).
► INDEFINITE DETENTIONS FOR DISSIDENTS FOR “THEIR OWN GOOD” ― Psychiatry possesses an inherent capacity for abuse that is greater than in other areas of medicine. The diagnosis of mental disease can give the state license to detain persons against their will and insist upon therapy both in the interest of the detainee and in the broader interests of society. There was systematic political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, based on the interpretation of political opposition or dissent as a psychiatric problem. It was called “psychopathological mechanisms” of dissent. During the 1964 to 1982 leadership of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, psychiatry was used to disable and remove from society political opponents (“dissidents”) who openly expressed beliefs that contradicted the official dogma. The term “philosophical intoxication”, for instance, was widely applied to the mental disorders diagnosed when people disagreed with the country's Communist leaders.
In 1967, a weaker law, Article 190-1 ― “Dissemination of fabrications known to be false, which defame the Soviet political and social system” ― was added to the Criminal Code. These laws were frequently applied in conjunction with the system of diagnosis for mental illness. Together they established a framework within which non-standard beliefs could easily be defined as a criminal offence and the basis, subsequently, for a psychiatric diagnosis. The “anti-Soviet” political behavior of some individuals — being outspoken in their opposition to the authorities, demonstrating for reform, and writing critical books — were defined simultaneously as criminal acts (e.g., a violation of Articles 70 or 190-1), symptoms of mental illness (e.g., having a “delusion of reformism”), and open to a ready-made vague diagnosis (e.g., “sluggish schizophrenia”). Within the boundaries of the diagnostic category, the symptoms of pessimism, poor social adaptation and conflict with authorities were themselves sufficient for a formal diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia.”
The psychiatric incarceration of certain individuals was prompted by their attempts to emigrate, or to distribute or possess prohibited documents and books, or to participate in civil rights protests and demonstrations, and become involved in forbidden religious activities. In accordance with the doctrine of state atheism, the religious beliefs of prisoners, including those of well-educated former atheists who had become adherents of a religious faith, was considered to be a form of mental illness that required treatment. The KGB routinely sent dissenters to psychiatrists for diagnosing to avoid publiс trials that could be embarrassing to the authorities, and in order to discredit dissidence as the product of ill minds. Highly classified government documents which have become available after the dissolution of the Soviet Union confirm that the authorities consciously used psychiatry as a tool to suppress dissent. The political abuse of psychiatry in Russia has continued, nevertheless, since the fall of the Soviet Union and human rights activists may still face the threat of a psychiatric diagnosis for their legitimate civic and political activities.
► LAYING FOUNDATIONS FOR WORLDWIDE TOTALITARIANISM (COMMUNISM) ― Here we are on the slippery slope descending from a social life and social media to social-distancing and Socialism. We are being propelled into a Capitalistic Communist society and economy, one that gives the illusion of private enterprise, personal freedom, private ownership, etc. ― but which in actual fact is all controlled and ultimately owned by the State or government or the oligarchic minority.
Looking at Communist China, we see that in recent times China, propelled by private firms, has transformed itself from Communist poverty into the world’s second-largest economy. Because China is less Communist than it once was, many simply assume it has become Capitalist. But just because China has many private companies, doesn’t mean it’s Capitalist. Few describe the Chinese economic system as “Capitalist” — without adding the word “authoritarian,” or “state,” or “Communist,” etc. China is a hybrid economy in which the state uses many Western tools for Communist-Party ends. To start with, China has more than 150,000 state-owned enterprises, accounting for 40% of industrial assets. However, Chinese state Capitalism is not just about the number and size of such enterprises; it is all about the central role that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays in virtually all aspects of economic life. In fact, CCP officials are part of many Chinese companies “to make sure the company follows the law.”
Communist and Capitalist Oligarchies Are the Real Rulers
An oligarchy is a power structure that allows a few businesses, families, or individuals to rule a country. Their power flows through their relationships with each other. An oligarchy can coexist with a democracy, theocracy, or kingdom. Their wealth and connections allow them to influence public policy behind the scenes. Here's a list of the chief countries that have the most evidence of being oligarchies, and why.
● RUSSIA ― Many people think Vladimir Putin is in charge of Russia. But he is merely part of an oligarchy that has ruled the country since the 1400s. To be rich in Russia, you must have contacts within the government―just as in the United States. If you don't maintain these contacts, you can lose your power. As a result, many Russian billionaires buy assets in other countries. There, the rule of law protects their property. Today's exclusive club includes Igor Sechin, the chief of Rosneft, the state oil company. His main rival is Gennady Timchenko, the former head of the country's largest oil trading company. A third is Roman Abramovich, the owner of the English Chelsea Football Club and the Millhouse investment company. These are just three of a list of Russian oligarchs from A to Z. In January 2018, the U.S. Treasury released a list of 200 Russian oligarchs. It included Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev and aluminum czar Oleg Deripaska. Like Putin, the czars owed their power to an aristocratic group of boyars and bureaucrats. After a devastating civil war, they decided they needed a leader. The czar’s role was to mediate disputes and prevent further unprofitable conflicts. Moscow became the hub of a comprehensive centralized system. It needed to control the people who were spread out across a vast territory rich in natural resources. The Russian oligarchy hasn't changed much since the 1400s because it works. It operates regardless of whether Communists or Capitalists run the country.
● CHINA ― An oligarchy took control of China after the death of Mao Tse-Tung. It is the 103 members of the families descended from the “Eight Immortals.” They manage most of the state-owned corporations, collaborate on business deals, and even intermarry. They are an elite class that has been able to amass wealth and influence, and exploit opportunities unavailable to most Chinese. Bloomberg tracked 103 people—descendants including children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and their respective spouses. The identities and business dealings of these families are often cloaked in secrecy because of state censorship and complex corporate webs.
● UNITED STATES ― A study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern found that policies favored by the richest 10% of Americans passed more often than those of the poorest 50%. If they oppose a policy, it is unlikely to pass. It doesn't matter how many middle-class Americans favor it.
An example of American oligarchs is the Koch brothers. They influence elections by contributing funds to the Republicans and Libertarians. They support less government intervention, which for them includes open borders and free trade. The Koch Family Foundations donate to conservative advocacy groups. They supported the Tea Party and want to repeal Obamacare. They did not support Donald Trump's candidacy because they oppose his protectionism. The Koch brothers also oppose new taxes. As a result, they are against any new plans to build mass transit. But they support taxes that fund new roads and bridges. Perhaps it's because Charles and David Koch's net worth of $100 billion was attained through oil derivatives.
Some say the Silicon Valley has created a new class of American oligarchs. For example, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the founders of a new advocacy group, FWD.us. Its board is comprised of tech leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, and several Silicon Valley investors. Its goal is to push for immigration reform that would allow cheaper immigrant labor and therefore produce more profits for the rich oligarchs.
These commandments of the world to “lockdown”, shutdown”, “shelter-in-place”, “self-isolate”, “keep-social-distance” and “quarantine” are seen by many as being a calculated destruction of the economy worldwide. Yet even though that may well be true―there is something much more at stake than that! Those who see only that―are not seeing beyond the end of their nose. They are blind and risk leading themselves and others into another pit! “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Have you thought-it-out? Do you see beyond the “smoke-and-mirrors”? Can you see the potential future and the possible disaster?
Little-By-Little One Goes Far!
The phrase, “Little by little one goes far!” or “Little by little one travels far!” ― disputedly attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien ― is a powerful truth, regardless of who first came up with it. It is a truth that is used in all walks of life―education, business, finance, medicine, military, etc.
Children (and even adults) ask for exemptions or permissions “little by little”, for they see it as the best tactic in gaining some personal advantage. Taxes and prices are often increased “little by little” to avoid major discontent. Freedoms are removed “little by little” to avoid rebellion. Truths are changed “little by little” to avoid being caught in a blatant lie. The same applies to our consumption of food and drink, or the time spent on the phone, computer or watching TV. The list could on forever.
The underlying tactic is that you are more likely to get something if you only ask for a little from only a little number of persons ― and then to ask a little more from a few more persons. This serves to “pull the brick out of the wall” and before long―and a some bricks later―the wall will start collapsing. That is how the divorce laws were introduced ― “little by little”’; likewise for contraction and abortion laws ― “little by little”’; likewise for same sex marriage laws ― “little by little”’; likewise for vaccination laws ― “little by little”’; likewise will it be for the obligatory “identity passport” inoculations or tattoos ― “little by little.”’
When you want more―ask for less―and you may be more successful in the long run. Alternatively and similarly, if you want a certain thing―let’s say a certain price for the car you are selling―then initially add a considerable sum to your desired amount, knowing that the price will be rejected as being far too high―and then reduce it to your original hoped for price.
The Power and Psychology of Fear
You could apply this to the current Coronavirus Crisis―whereby you know that people will not accept mandatory (obligatory) vaccinations. So you raise the stakes by inflating the ‘death toll’ and by inflating the degree of fear and panic. You ‘create’ a ‘plandemic’ and forecast millions and millions deaths worldwide―a ‘plandemic’ with a ‘killer’ virus for which there is no known cure! The ensuing panic―among many―which you are no doubt witnessing in your own localities. Panic and fear of something greater will make you accept the evil of something lesser―it is what we call “seeking the lesser of two evils”. Since most people (hopefully most people!) look upon mandatory vaccinations as an evil―then it is necessary to create an evil in their minds that is greater than the evil perceived in vaccinations. They will then “pay the price” that they would previously have not been prepared to pray―which will have been achieved by fear.
It is interesting to read a little on the psychology of fear. Here is what one website―Psychology Today―says on the matter:
“Fear is one of the most powerful forces in your life. It affects the decisions you make, the actions you take, and the outcomes you achieve. Who you are and what you do has at one point or another been influenced by fear … Fear is critical for survival … Survival, in the past, meant staying alive. It meant not getting killed by a predator, a disease, a rival, or a natural disaster. And threats included anything that could literally cause death or serious harm. Fear is what kept our ancestors out of harm’s way.
According to author Karl Albrecht, all fears, regardless of how big or small, fall into five categories: fear of extinction, fear of mutilation, fear of losing autonomy, fear of separation, and fear of ego-death. Consequently, the role of fear is to promote survival in these five domains. To protect from anything that threatens to destroy not only our lives, but also our physical and psychological well-being, our autonomy, and our connection to others.
► BIOLOGICAL SURVIVAL: The need to stay alive remains the highest priority. Without being alive, everything else is futile. [Enter COVID-19 and the fear propaganda―people are dropping like flies! Even babies and healthy young people are dying! We are working on a vaccine that will save your life!!!]
► PHYSICAL HEALTH AND ABILITY: Being healthy and strong is not only a requisite for biological survival, but it is also necessary in order to meet the demands of daily life. This fear has millions of people getting the flu shot every year. [If that fear can be cranked up a few notches for COVID-19, then the whole world will be taking the ‘life-saving’ vaccine!]
► AUTONOMY: We want to be able to make our own decisions, and live our lives the way we choose. We don’t like being restrained. This is what makes being trapped, whether in an elevator or in a horrible job, so scary, and why fear of imprisonment is a good deterrent for breaking the law. [Now―on that score―if you won’t be a ‘good boy’ and let us vaccinate you―then we have no choice but to remove your autonomy, because you will be a risk to both yourself and society, you will be a potential killer―and killers end up behind bars!]
► SOCIAL SURVIVAL: We want to belong and to stay connected. To be accepted and respected by our peers. We try to steer clear of criticism and rejection from people we like, or even total strangers. Being alone and feeling unwanted and irrelevant can be frightening. [If you refuse to be vaccinated and receive your electronic “immunity passport” then you will be outside the herd―you will be a reject!]
► SELF-WORTH: Given how long we have to live with ourselves, we must protect our self-worth at all costs. A shattered self-esteem is a big problem in any context. The fear of feeling worthless and inadequate can be very limiting, as it stops you from thinking big, expressing yourself, and taking risks. This is why the impact of losing a job or getting a rejection letter can last for days or even weeks. [We have an instinctive desire to be part of the herd, part of the gang, we tend to follow the crowd―to stand out as an object of criticism is enough to make most people succumb to the needle of vaccination rather than the ‘needling’ of people].
Our Fears and Failings
Researchers at Chapman University surveyed 1,500 people about the kinds of things they are really afraid of. The fears that made it to the top 5 list included: government corruption, cyber-terrorism, tracking of personal information by government and corporations, terrorist attacks, and bio-warfare.
So what is being talked about right now―not among “Conspiracy Theorists”―but in the MSM (mainstream media), government and medical field? What wonderful humanitarian―or totalitarian―measures are being considered to ‘safeguard’ the human race from mass destruction by ‘plandemics’? What are the various different, yet linked, consequences that await us in the wake of this ‘plandemic’?
► FEAR ― The first and most obvious effect or consequence of this Coronavirus ‘Plandemic’ is that of fear! Just as Holy Scripture says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction!” (Proverbs 1:7). Similarly, the fear of COVID-19 is the beginning of foolishness and those fools despise wisdom instruction by wise scientists and wise doctors. We could well apply to COVID-19 the following words of Holy Scripture: “This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole Heaven, so that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble! … And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life!” (Deuteronomy 2:25; 28:66). The propagandists of COVID-19 have successfully hammered the nails of fear into most ignorant, naïve, gullible minds.
► ACCEPTANCE OF LIES ― as the saying goes: “Repeat a lie enough times and it will be believed."
● THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826) truly believed that a free people required a free press. On the other hand, he really loathed newspapers, as illustrated by the following quotes:
“The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of news-writers who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people―who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper …. I deplore ... the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them ... These ordures [dung, obscene, immoral materials] are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food …. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day … As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers.”
In a letter to John Norvell, Thomas Jefferson writes: “To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, ‘by restraining it to true facts and sound principles only.’ Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time; whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected from them―such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will, etc., etc. ― but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false” (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Norvell, June 14th, 1807). [Works 10:417―18]
● WILLIAM JOSEPH CASEY (1913–1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When the veteran covert action operative, William Casey, was newly appointed as Director of Central Intelligence in 1981, he said to President Reagan and the others assembled: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Some may be shocked and find that hard to believe. However, Barbara Honegger, an eye-witness to the incident, has attested:
“I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director William Casey at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration. The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to the President. As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked Casey what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he replied with this quote ― “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false!” ― which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public.”
● Writing in the the May–June 1995 Issue of the Harvard Business Review―in an article entitled, “Why the News Is Not the Truth”― Peter Vanderwicken states: “The U.S. press, like the U.S. government, is a corrupt and troubled institution. Corrupt not so much in the sense that it accepts bribes but in a systemic sense. It fails to do what it claims to do, what it should do, and what society expects it to do. The news media and the government are entwined in a vicious circle of mutual manipulation, mythmaking, and self-interest. Journalists need crises to dramatize news, and government officials need to appear to be responding to crises. Too often, the crises are not really crises but joint fabrications. The two institutions have become so ensnared in a symbiotic web of lies that the news media are unable to tell the public what is true and the government is unable to govern effectively. That is the thesis advanced by Paul H. Weaver, a former political scientist (at Harvard University), journalist (at ‘Fortune’ magazine), and corporate communications executive (at Ford Motor Company), in his provocative analysis entitled ‘News and the Culture of Lying: How Journalism Really Works’… The news media and the government have created a charade that serves their own interests but misleads the public. Officials oblige the media’s need for drama by fabricating crises and stage-managing their responses, thereby enhancing their own prestige and power. Journalists dutifully report those fabrications. Both parties know the articles are self-aggrandizing manipulations and fail to inform the public.”
● Nearer to the present day, on December 14th, 2016, in a Standard Examiner article entitled, “Newspapers, other media lie by slanting their headlines”, it states: “It is perfectly possible to tell a lie without saying anything untrue. As a matter of fact, the most effective liars are those who never deliberately say anything that is not so; they simply tell a piece of the truth and refuse to tell all of it. The lying power of partial truth is a mighty mean weapon to wield, but it is so frightfully effective that many men are sorely tempted to use it. They yield all too frequently. Certain newspaper publishers and media, for example, have virtually ruined their personal characters as well as their professional reputations by resorting so habitually to this vile method of misrepresenting causes or persons they dislike. They lie about their opponents―not by saying something that is untrue about them―but by stating just a piece of the truth. Thus, they so twist the truth that it serves all the purposes of a lie. They have a special device—the headline technique. Knowing full well that the vast majority of their readers get their most lasting impression from the headlines; they skillfully slant the news by the way they phrase the captions of their articles. Please note how prevalent is their wicked practice whenever there is a political contest of vital concern. Probably more young people have been victimized by their method than almost any other because it is so widespread, is so often reiterated, and is so seldom challenged and exposed.”
● Even more recently, on May 28th, 2019, in a Market Watch article entitled: “American journalism is suffering from ‘truth decay’ — the media have become more biased over the last 30 years, RAND study says”, there is found the following comment by the RAND Corporation― a no-partisan and non-profit institution that, among other activities, which, through research and analysis, studies policy and decision-making. “American journalism is losing its objectivity― according to a new analysis on news discourse. In the study, released this month, researchers found a major shift occurred between 1989 and 2017 as journalism expanded beyond traditional media, such as newspapers and broadcast networks, to newer media, including 24-hour cable news channels and digital outlets. Notably, these measurable changes vary in extent and nature for different news platforms, it found. RAND is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Santa Monica, California. ‘Our research provides quantitative evidence for what we all can see in the media landscape,’ said Jennifer Kavanagh, a RAND senior political scientist and lead author of the report, the second in a series on the phenomenon of ‘Truth Decay,’ the declining role of facts and analysis in civil discourse and its effect on American life. Journalism in the U.S. has become more subjective and consists less of the detailed event-based or context-based reporting that used to characterize news coverage.”
Both the worldwide governments and media have produced plenty of lies, half-truths, exaggerations, misrepresentations and ‘doctored’ statistics concerning the Coronavirus or COVID-19. It has been a case of the proverbial “Lies, damned lies and statistics!” The Coronavirus or COVID-19 has been portrayed as a killer disease that is rampantly raging and ravaging any and every country in the world―but the surprising fact is that the Coronavirus or COVID-19 has rarely killed anyone directly―it has been of a case that people have died WITH the Coronavirus or COVID-19, and NOT FROM the Coronavirus or COVID-19. There are plenty of extremely reputable scientists, doctors and statisticians who have CLEARY and IRREFUTABLY shown that to be the case. Nevertheless, the bold-faced-lies continue unashamedly.
► COMPULSORY VACCINATIONS ― The next step after the fear and the lies seems to be the promise of compulsory vaccinations―probably at least annually, possibly several vaccinations a year or more, depending upon the whims of the Health Care people who say they ‘care’ for you. If you refuse to be vaccinated, then you will be classified as a threat to society, a potential killer, even a bio-terrorist! This is not a so-called “Conspiracy Theory”― but a “straight from the horse’s mouth”, or a “straight from Gates’ mouth” fact.
As Gates said in a recent interview: “You can’t act like you have a choice! People might not like going to the stadium when they might get infected. It’s not the government who is saying: ‘Okay! Just ignore this disease!’ People are deeply affected by seeing these deaths, by knowing that they could be part of the transmission chain and old people―their parents and their grandparents could be affected by this! And so, you don’t get to say: ‘Ignore what’s going on here!’ There will an ability―particularly in rich countries―to open up if things are done well over the next few months. But―for the world at large―normalcy only returns when we have largely vaccinated the entire global population.”
In a CBS interview, on the “This Morning” show, on April 2nd, 2020, Bill Gates said: “It is so important to get―not just hundreds of millions―but literally billions of those vaccines, because this is a global problem, and, although the United States has the most case right now, as time goes on, the developing countries, where isolation is more difficult, and the health system is very weak, sadly, they are most likely to experience the most pain of all as this goes global … We will probably want to be broadly vaccinated before we are not worried about this.”
In September 2019, just three months before the coronavirus first appeared in China, ID2020, a San Francisco-based biometric company, that counts Microsoft as one of its founding members, quietly announced it was undertaking a new project that involves the “exploration of multiple biometric identification technologies for infants” that is based on “infant immunization” and only uses the “most successful approaches”.
► IMMUNITY PASSPORTS ― Compulsory tattooing or injection of an “immunity passport” that will initially have your immunity rating logged―but will progressively and naturally evolve into having all your medical information, catalogue and calendar of vaccinations received, perhaps driver’s license, even credit card information―a with time (so that they can take better care of you and serve you better) a whole host of other personal information. The Gates electronic “tattoo” passport will inevitably pave the way for more complicated forms of “passport”, ultimately leading to the electronic microchip―which is already being used in many regions worldwide.
As for the initial “ice-breaking” immunity passport, UNITED KINGDOM's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s spokesman, said Britain was completing due diligence in how feasible immunity passports would be. “(An immunity certificate) is an important thing that we will be doing and are looking at but it’s too early in the science of the immunity that comes from having had the disease,” said Matt Hancock, the UK Minister for Health, at a press conference.
In GERMANY, researchers are preparing a study that would see if people already immune to the virus could re-enter the workforce and be granted immunity passports.
In ITALY, the Conservative President of the North-eastern Veneto region, has proposed an immunity passport for people who possess antibodies that show they are resistant to the virus. The former Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has called it a “Covid Pass” for the uninfected who can return to their normal lives.
Immunity passports and “intermittent lockdowns” could become a totalitarian reality in the next few months, or even in the next several years ― since the MSM (mainstream media), governmental and medical Doomsday Prophets say the virus could be around far longer than most people have estimated.
Talk of these special passports surfaced in American politics last week when House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart called on Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, to implement an “Immunity Certificate” for first responders and healthcare professionals. On April 10th, the chief U.S. Coronavirus task force medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stated that Americans could soon be obliged to carry a Coronavirus certificate of immunity. On CNN’s “New Day” program, Fauci was asked if he could “imagine a time where Americans carry certificates of immunity.” Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases replied: “You know, that’s possible. It’s one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and not — this is something that’s being discussed. I think it might actually have some merit under certain circumstances!”
All of this has arisen and has been coordinated worldwide in merely 140 or so days―since the outbreak of the so-called Coronavirus or COVID-19 in China on November 17th, 2019. It is an unprecedented world coordinated campaign of a magnitude never before seen! Those things do not happen by chance!
► DESTROYING THE ECONOMY (CAPITALISM) AND REPLACING IT WITH NATIONALIZATION (SOCIALISM) ― The elite “magicians” (magic is of the devil) have―in the blink of an eye and with sleight of hand―waved their “Plandemic Wand” over the world and suddenly, before our incredulous eyes, the world economy began to crumble! As the Coronavirus or “Conallavirus” ― like the naked Emperor in his new invisible suit of clothes― continues its march around the world, governments have taken measures, such as social distancing, closing of businesses, closing of national borders, to try and physically disrupt the contagion. Yet, doing so has severed the flow of goods and people, stalled economies, and is in the process of delivering a global recession. Economic contagion is now spreading as fast as the disease itself. This rapidly growing global recession raises questions and financial fears about the path of the shock and recovery, and whether or not national economies will be able to return to their pre-shock output levels and growth rates.
Millions of people have lost their jobs―20 million in the US alone; many have lost or are dwindling their lifelong savings. In developing countries, poverty and despair prevail. While the lockdown is presented to public opinion as the sole means to resolving a global public health crisis, its devastating economic and social impacts are casually ignored. The unspoken truth is that the novel Coronavirus provides a pretext to powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians to precipitate the entire World into a spiral of mass unemployment, bankruptcy and extreme poverty. This is the true picture of what is happening. Poverty is growing worldwide. Famines are erupting in Third World countries, and closer to home, in the so-called “richest country on Earth”, there are millions of desperate Americans waiting in long crowded lines for handouts and miles of long lines forming at food banks and unemployment offices across the US over the past week.
What has occurred under the COVID-19 crisis is a “Global Adjustment” in the structure of the World economy. In one fell swoop this Global Adjustment triggers a Worldwide process of bankruptcy, unemployment, poverty and total despair. How is it implemented? The lockdown is presented to national governments as the sole solution to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic. It becomes a political consensus, irrespective of the devastating economic and social consequences.
The partial or complete closing down of a national economy is triggered through the enforcement of so-called “WHO guidelines” pertaining to the lockdown, as well as to trade, immigration and transportation restrictions, etc. Powerful financial institutions and lobby groups including Wall Street, Big Pharma, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were involved in shaping the actions of the WHO pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown together with the curtailment of trade and air travel had set the stage. This closing down of national economies was undertaken Worldwide starting in the month of March, affecting simultaneously a large of number of countries in all major regions of the World. It is unprecedented in World history. Why did leaders in high office let it happen? The consequences were obvious.
This closing down operation affects production and supply lines of goods and services, investment activities, exports and imports, wholesale and retail trade, consumer spending, the closing down of schools, colleges and universities, research institutions, etc. In turn it leads almost immediately to mass unemployment, bankruptcies of small and medium sized enterprises, a collapse in purchasing power, widespread poverty and famine. What is the underlying objective of this restructuring of the global economy? What are the consequences? Who profits? It causes:
● A massive concentration of wealth and corporate capital.
● The destabilization of small and middle sized enterprises in all major areas of economic activity including the services economy, agriculture and manufacturing.
● It facilitates the subsequent corporate acquisition of bankrupt enterprises
● It derogates the rights of workers. It destabilizes labor markets.
● It creates mass unemployment
● It compresses wages (and labor costs) in the so-called high income “developed countries” as well as in the impoverished developing countries.
● It leads to an escalation of the external debt.
● It facilitates subsequent privatization or nationalization―where the rich or the State “buy-out” the poor at “give-away” rock bottom prices.
Avram Noam Chomsky, the American linguist, cognitive scientist, philosopher, historian, social critic, and political commentator, says that the wealthy use free-market rhetoric to justify imposing greater economic risk upon the lower classes, while being insulated from the rigors of the market by the political and economic advantages that their wealth affords to them. He has stated that the rich and powerful “want to be able to run the nanny state” so that “when they are in trouble the taxpayer will bail them out.”
Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor is a classical political-economic argument, stating that in the advanced capitalist societies state policies assure that more resources flow to the rich than to the poor. One of the most commonly raised forms of criticism are statements that the capitalist political economy, towards large corporations, allows them to privatize profits and socialize losses. In other words, they keep the profits and saddle you with the debts. This has been seen in the recent WHO (World Health Organization) suggestion that everyone on the planet give 10% of their income to try and offset the tremendous debt being created by the manufactured Coronavirus Plandemic.
► TOTALITARIAN MEDIA PROPAGANDA ― Governmental agencies with their vague forecasts and deliberately mystifying comments (or even blatant lies) help fuel and fan the flaming forest fires of fear so cleverly ignited by the MSM (mainstream media)―which, as anyone can see who choose to research the matter―is owned by only a handful of companies. The question is: “Who controls the media we rely on for news and information?” Most media are controlled by a limited number of conglomerates. A conglomerate is a corporation made up of a number of companies, organizations, and media networks. In the 1980s, more than fifty companies owned the majority of the thousands of U.S. media outlets, television and radio stations and networks. Now, only six conglomerates control most of the broadcast media in the United States ―now it is the monopoly of only six companies. In the 2019 Forbes Global 2000 list, Comcast was America's largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, with The Walt Disney Company, AT&T, CBS Corporation and Viacom (but both are controlled by National Amusements through super-voting shares) completing the top five.
Anyway, back to the point―these controlled media outlets, whether it be the TV, the internet, the newspapers or journals―are the ones who control and pump-out the propagandist narrative that is desired and concocted by the “higher-ups” ― for it is the “higher-ups” who own the purse strings and puppeteer their puppets, just like any employer controls his employees. While each of these networks has its own programming, in the end, the conglomerate can make a policy that affects all stations and programming under its control.
Thus they able to fan the flaming forest fires of fear and fake news that spread rapidly from one news outlet to another―which lends credence to the fake forest fire, since every media outlet is talking about it! But we forget that those thousands of outlets are owned by a handful of people. Thus whatever propaganda these people want to propagate, the media outlets they own will propagate. Conglomerates can create a monopoly on information by controlling a sector of a market. When a media conglomerate has policies or restrictions, they will apply to all stations or outlets under its ownership, potentially limiting the information citizens receive. Conglomerate ownership also creates circumstances in which censorship may occur.
Thus today, you see Google limit or arrange its search engine to predominantly listing among its finds, those websites that conform to the “politically correct” and mainstream narrative―especially with regard to the Coronavirus or “Conallavirus” Plandemic. Facebook has taken to censoring those social media sites that speak out against the mainstream narrative and question the mainstream propaganda. YouTube is constantly taking down sites or videos that promote an alternative and critical view of the mainstream propaganda. All of this is pure Communism, Socialism or Totalitarianism. Free speech is only free if you speak according “Big-Brother’s Narrative”―otherwise your “tongue” will be tied.
► FALLING INTO THE NET OF MEDIA SURVEILLANCE ― COVID-19 will sweep away many of the barriers that prevent us from spending more of our lives online―as if the hours we already spend online are not enough!! Not everything can become virtual, of course. But in many areas of our lives, we will be encouraged to take up and use many ‘useful’ online tools. We will be encouraged to use, every day, such tools as Skype, Facetime and email to communicate. The resistance—often led by teachers’ unions and the politicians—to allowing partial homeschooling or online learning for K-12 kids has been swept away by the manufactured Coronavirus crisis. It will be near-impossible to put that genie back in the bottle in the fall, with many families finding that they prefer full or partial homeschooling, or online homework. For many college students, returning to an expensive dorm room on a depopulated campus will not be appealing, forcing massive changes in a sector that has been ripe for innovation for a long time. And while not every job can be done remotely, many people are learning that the difference between having to put on a tie and commute for an hour or working efficiently at home was always just the ability to download one or two apps, plus permission from their boss. Yet what many people fail to see is that once you are online, once you are on the phone, then you are also under surveillance―everything is recorded automatically―thus subjecting you to an even greater disclosure of what you think, say and do. All this information is gathered and processed so that the data gatherers know you better than you know yourself in many ways.
Also, The New York Times reported on Mar 17, 2020, that “Google, Facebook, and other major tech companies are reportedly in talks with the US government over a plan to use people's location data from apps and smartphones to help combat the spread of COVID-19. According to a Washington Post report citing unnamed White House officials, the partnership could use aggregated, anonymized data provided by tech companies to determine the likelihood of transmission between different regions in the US … The reported plan comes after several meetings between tech industry leaders and White House officials in the past week.”
► THE CHAINING AND ENSLAVEMENT OF THE DUMB TO THE PSEUDO-SCIENCE EXPERTS ― Create a Coronavirus Crisis, then create Coronavirus confusion, then create confusion for the clueless citizens, then call the clever conmen experts to charm and confuse the clueless confused citizens even more, command clueless citizens to containment and curfews, cunningly close down countless businesses, collapse the economy, then charmingly and cunningly chain the confused citizens to the contrived comeback under Communistic control. You could say that the Coronavirus started with Communism (China) and will lead to Communism―which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said Our Lady had revealed to her.
On July 15th, 1946, the American Catholic historian, Dr. William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. He recorded the incident in his book, Our Lady of Fatima. Here is the relevant part about Communism:
“Lucia made it plain … and with deliberate emphasis … that Our Lady wants the Pope and all the bishops in the world [to] consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.” Professor Walsh then asked:
“Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country, without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” Lucia replied: “Yes!”
The Communist KGB defector, Yuri Bezmenov, stated: “The main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence … only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. Most of the activity of the KGB Department was to compile huge amount of information on individuals in countries, who were instrumental in creating public opinion―publishers, editors, journalists, actors, educationalists, professors of political science, members of Parliament, representatives of business circles. Most of these people were divided roughly in two groups―those that would accept the Soviet foreign policy, and they would be promoted to the positions of power through media and public opinion manipulation. Those who refused the Soviet influence in their own country would be character assassinated or executed physically, counter-revolution. My instructions from the KGB were to aim high! Try to get into wide circulation, the established Conservative media. Reach filthy rich movie-makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical, egocentric people who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people, people who lack moral principles who are either too greedy, who suffer from self-importance, they feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.
Ideological Subversion is a method of cultural warfare – is a slow method – to change the perception of reality, where citizens of a country cannot make out the reality … The process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be―like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CANNOT SEE it moving. What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American, so that despite the abundance of information and evidence, NO ONE IS ABLE TO COME TO SENSIBLE CONCLUSIONS about the danger of Communism in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow.
“Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and Socialism seems to them to be the best answer. The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, CANNOT THINK creatively and independently. The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 60's, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them.
“The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already. Actually, it is over-fulfilled―because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts say nothing to him―even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That's the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
“You can see it quite clearly that in some ... sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago―when I landed in this part of the world―that the process would go that fast. Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people think they are living at the peacetime. False! The United States is in a state of war―undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, it is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot! If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you. Unlike the present-day United States, there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America.” (Yuri Bezmenov, Communist KGB defector).
► INDEFINITE DETENTIONS FOR DISSIDENTS FOR “THEIR OWN GOOD” ― Psychiatry possesses an inherent capacity for abuse that is greater than in other areas of medicine. The diagnosis of mental disease can give the state license to detain persons against their will and insist upon therapy both in the interest of the detainee and in the broader interests of society. There was systematic political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, based on the interpretation of political opposition or dissent as a psychiatric problem. It was called “psychopathological mechanisms” of dissent. During the 1964 to 1982 leadership of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, psychiatry was used to disable and remove from society political opponents (“dissidents”) who openly expressed beliefs that contradicted the official dogma. The term “philosophical intoxication”, for instance, was widely applied to the mental disorders diagnosed when people disagreed with the country's Communist leaders.
In 1967, a weaker law, Article 190-1 ― “Dissemination of fabrications known to be false, which defame the Soviet political and social system” ― was added to the Criminal Code. These laws were frequently applied in conjunction with the system of diagnosis for mental illness. Together they established a framework within which non-standard beliefs could easily be defined as a criminal offence and the basis, subsequently, for a psychiatric diagnosis. The “anti-Soviet” political behavior of some individuals — being outspoken in their opposition to the authorities, demonstrating for reform, and writing critical books — were defined simultaneously as criminal acts (e.g., a violation of Articles 70 or 190-1), symptoms of mental illness (e.g., having a “delusion of reformism”), and open to a ready-made vague diagnosis (e.g., “sluggish schizophrenia”). Within the boundaries of the diagnostic category, the symptoms of pessimism, poor social adaptation and conflict with authorities were themselves sufficient for a formal diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia.”
The psychiatric incarceration of certain individuals was prompted by their attempts to emigrate, or to distribute or possess prohibited documents and books, or to participate in civil rights protests and demonstrations, and become involved in forbidden religious activities. In accordance with the doctrine of state atheism, the religious beliefs of prisoners, including those of well-educated former atheists who had become adherents of a religious faith, was considered to be a form of mental illness that required treatment. The KGB routinely sent dissenters to psychiatrists for diagnosing to avoid publiс trials that could be embarrassing to the authorities, and in order to discredit dissidence as the product of ill minds. Highly classified government documents which have become available after the dissolution of the Soviet Union confirm that the authorities consciously used psychiatry as a tool to suppress dissent. The political abuse of psychiatry in Russia has continued, nevertheless, since the fall of the Soviet Union and human rights activists may still face the threat of a psychiatric diagnosis for their legitimate civic and political activities.
► LAYING FOUNDATIONS FOR WORLDWIDE TOTALITARIANISM (COMMUNISM) ― Here we are on the slippery slope descending from a social life and social media to social-distancing and Socialism. We are being propelled into a Capitalistic Communist society and economy, one that gives the illusion of private enterprise, personal freedom, private ownership, etc. ― but which in actual fact is all controlled and ultimately owned by the State or government or the oligarchic minority.
Looking at Communist China, we see that in recent times China, propelled by private firms, has transformed itself from Communist poverty into the world’s second-largest economy. Because China is less Communist than it once was, many simply assume it has become Capitalist. But just because China has many private companies, doesn’t mean it’s Capitalist. Few describe the Chinese economic system as “Capitalist” — without adding the word “authoritarian,” or “state,” or “Communist,” etc. China is a hybrid economy in which the state uses many Western tools for Communist-Party ends. To start with, China has more than 150,000 state-owned enterprises, accounting for 40% of industrial assets. However, Chinese state Capitalism is not just about the number and size of such enterprises; it is all about the central role that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays in virtually all aspects of economic life. In fact, CCP officials are part of many Chinese companies “to make sure the company follows the law.”
Communist and Capitalist Oligarchies Are the Real Rulers
An oligarchy is a power structure that allows a few businesses, families, or individuals to rule a country. Their power flows through their relationships with each other. An oligarchy can coexist with a democracy, theocracy, or kingdom. Their wealth and connections allow them to influence public policy behind the scenes. Here's a list of the chief countries that have the most evidence of being oligarchies, and why.
● RUSSIA ― Many people think Vladimir Putin is in charge of Russia. But he is merely part of an oligarchy that has ruled the country since the 1400s. To be rich in Russia, you must have contacts within the government―just as in the United States. If you don't maintain these contacts, you can lose your power. As a result, many Russian billionaires buy assets in other countries. There, the rule of law protects their property. Today's exclusive club includes Igor Sechin, the chief of Rosneft, the state oil company. His main rival is Gennady Timchenko, the former head of the country's largest oil trading company. A third is Roman Abramovich, the owner of the English Chelsea Football Club and the Millhouse investment company. These are just three of a list of Russian oligarchs from A to Z. In January 2018, the U.S. Treasury released a list of 200 Russian oligarchs. It included Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev and aluminum czar Oleg Deripaska. Like Putin, the czars owed their power to an aristocratic group of boyars and bureaucrats. After a devastating civil war, they decided they needed a leader. The czar’s role was to mediate disputes and prevent further unprofitable conflicts. Moscow became the hub of a comprehensive centralized system. It needed to control the people who were spread out across a vast territory rich in natural resources. The Russian oligarchy hasn't changed much since the 1400s because it works. It operates regardless of whether Communists or Capitalists run the country.
● CHINA ― An oligarchy took control of China after the death of Mao Tse-Tung. It is the 103 members of the families descended from the “Eight Immortals.” They manage most of the state-owned corporations, collaborate on business deals, and even intermarry. They are an elite class that has been able to amass wealth and influence, and exploit opportunities unavailable to most Chinese. Bloomberg tracked 103 people—descendants including children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and their respective spouses. The identities and business dealings of these families are often cloaked in secrecy because of state censorship and complex corporate webs.
● UNITED STATES ― A study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern found that policies favored by the richest 10% of Americans passed more often than those of the poorest 50%. If they oppose a policy, it is unlikely to pass. It doesn't matter how many middle-class Americans favor it.
An example of American oligarchs is the Koch brothers. They influence elections by contributing funds to the Republicans and Libertarians. They support less government intervention, which for them includes open borders and free trade. The Koch Family Foundations donate to conservative advocacy groups. They supported the Tea Party and want to repeal Obamacare. They did not support Donald Trump's candidacy because they oppose his protectionism. The Koch brothers also oppose new taxes. As a result, they are against any new plans to build mass transit. But they support taxes that fund new roads and bridges. Perhaps it's because Charles and David Koch's net worth of $100 billion was attained through oil derivatives.
Some say the Silicon Valley has created a new class of American oligarchs. For example, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the founders of a new advocacy group, FWD.us. Its board is comprised of tech leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, and several Silicon Valley investors. Its goal is to push for immigration reform that would allow cheaper immigrant labor and therefore produce more profits for the rich oligarchs.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Saturday Within the Octave of Easter & Low Sunday, April 18th & April 19th
Article 5
A Time for Urban & Suburban Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Saturday Within the Octave of Easter & Low Sunday, April 18th & April 19th
Article 5
A Time for Urban & Suburban Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
A Time for Healthy Hermits and Mighty Monks!
With “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining” being the flavor and order of the day, you would be a fool not to see the parallels with the life of hermits, monks and nuns, religious brothers and religious sisters―who ultimately owe their existence to the lifestyle of the early Christian “Desert Fathers” and “Desert Mothers.”
To the world and the worldly, cloistered religious vocations ― the word “cloistered” meaning that they stay within the monastery or convent walls pursuing a contemplative life, as opposed to having an active ministry preaching, teaching, hospital work, etc. ― such contemplative vocations are deemed to be useless, unproductive, a waste of time and parasitical. That is why, during the French Revolution of 1789, contemplative religious orders were closed and disbanded by the State and the religious were basically told to go and get a job that contributed something to society.
Our Lady of Good Success, however, threw a different light on the matter, saying: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Appreciate the Time
Similarly, in this enforced “cloistering” by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining”, we should not complain so much as appreciate the time that God has given us―even though it may be through the hands of evil people, or at least governments that are radically opposed to God and His Laws. As Our Lady says: “Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be!”
The time that has been given to us is both a time of chastisement and mercy. Chastisement through godless governments? Yes―God has often used His enemies to chastise, correct and bring back into line His chosen ones. Just to mention two striking events out many others―one from the Old Testament and one from New Testament times―we see God use, first the Assyrians to conquer and lead off into captivity the 10 idolatrous tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 700s BC, and then, in the 500s, the same fate befell the Southern Kingdom of Israel (Juda and its capital, Jerusalem) when God used the Babylonians as instrument to punish the idolatrous Jews, in a series of three captivities which saw Jerusalem and its Temple of God utterly destroyed. “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth!” (Proverbs 3:12) … “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth and He scourgeth!” (Hebrews 12:6).
In those times of chastisement and scourging for sin, God expects that “they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that―when they were in the land of their enemies―I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be entirely consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God!” (Leviticus 26:43-44). Which is why Solomon says to God: “If Thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies―for they will sin against Thee―and, being converted, shall do penance, and call upon Thy Name, and pray to Thee in this place, then hear Thou from Heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people! … And return to Thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they were led away, and adore Thee … Then hear Thou from Heaven, that is, from thy firm dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive Thy people, although they have sinned!” (2 Paralipomenon 6:24-25, 6:37-39).
“Then if they do penance in their heart in the place of captivity, and being converted make supplication to thee in their captivity, saying: ‘We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have committed wickedness!’ And return to Thee with all their heart, and all their soul, in the land of their enemies―to which they had been led captives―and pray to Thee … Then hear Thou in Heaven, in the firmament of Thy throne, their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them, and forgive Thy people―that have sinned against Thee―all their iniquities by which they have transgressed against Thee; and give them mercy before them that have made them captives, that they may have compassion on them!” (3 Kings 8:47-50).
Prayers in Captivity and Isolation
We would do well to take note and follow the example of the chastised Israelites in the Old Testament―of which there are lots of examples―and make our attitude and prayers similar to theirs: “And they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We have sinned against Thee, because we have forsaken the Lord our God, and have served Baalim!’” (Judges 10:10). “And the children of Israel said to the Lord: ‘We have sinned! Do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth Thee! Only deliver us this time!’” (Judges 10:15). “And they gathered together and they fasted and they said: ‘We have sinned against the Lord!’” (1 Kings 7:6). “But afterwards they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth! But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies and we will serve thee!” (1 Kings 12:10).
“But I’ve done nothing wrong!” you protest, “I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers― I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! (Luke 18:11). Besides―Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9).” Well, actually, we are the keepers of our brothers and others―that is whole point of the Spiritual Works of Mercy: (1) To instruct the ignorant; (2) to counsel the doubtful; (3) to admonish sinners; (4) to bear wrongs patiently; (5) to forgive offences willingly; (6) to comfort the afflicted; (7) to pray for the living and the dead.
St. John Chrysostom says that at our final judgment, God will judge us on all that happened in the world while we were alive! Of course, we cannot―like God―be omnipresent throughout the world in our physical body, but we can reach the entire world by our prayers and sacrifices. If the world is so sinful―and rapidly increasing in sin at an exponential rate―then part of the blame has to be laid on our doorstep―for Catholics could be said to be the “immune system” of the world. If the immune system is strong and ever working―then there will be little or no disease. If the Catholic “immune system” was strong and ever working, then would be little sin, or much less sin. In Gethsemane, Our Lord told Peter, James and John: “Watch ye and pray―that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38). We have not been watching and praying―but watching TV and playing.
Failure in the Catholic Immune System as Virus of Sin Invades
We are supposed to be the “antibodies” to the world’s pandemic of sin―but we are not producing any (or very few) antibodies. The disease or virus of sin relentlessly continues to propagate and grow―the tsunami of sin floods the world, as Our Lady of Good Success said: “Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!”
Immodesty, impurity and pornography have been pretty much been given a free-rein and reign everywhere, billowing their waves over the whole world. According to a survey published in the Journal of the American Psychological Association, 86% of men are likely to click on Internet sex sites if given the opportunity. 34% of female readers of Today’s Christian Woman’s online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn. Our Lady, already back in 1917 at Fatima, revealed that these kinds of sins are the most common cause of damnation.
Divorce shatters increasing numbers of families―in the USA alone, over 50% of children are born outside of wedlock. In the USA it is estimated that around 50% of married couples divorce―the rate is even higher among those who remarry. If divorce rates have dipped in recent years, it is mainly because people are choosing to live together in sin without marrying. If you’re not married, then you cannot divorce!
Same sex unions have been legalized almost everywhere. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that granted same-sex couples a constitutional right to marry. The first nation to legalize gay marriage was the Netherlands, which did so in 2000. Since then, several other European countries ― including England and Wales, France, Ireland, all of Scandinavia, Spain, Austria, Germany and Malta ― have legalized gay marriage. Outside of Europe, same-sex marriage is now legal in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay, as well as in parts of Mexico. And in May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to allow gays and lesbians to legally wed. Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (37%) favored allowing gays and lesbians to wed in 2009, a share that rose to 62% by 2017. That percentage has remained largely unchanged over the last few years. About six-in-ten Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage in the most recent Pew Research Center survey on the issue, conducted in March 2019. If God does punish soon, then He will owe Sodom and Gomorrha an apology!
Annual abortions are quickly catching up to the death total for adults and children already living in this world―of whom an average of 58 million die each year, while abortions for 2019 were over 42 million. Contraception is practiced by almost everyone―98% of American Catholic women have used contraception in their lifetimes. The Guttmacher Institute published the results of an analysis finding that 99% of all women of reproductive age who have ever had sex—including 98% of such Catholic women—have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning. By their early 20s, some 79% of never-married women—and 89% of never-married Catholic women—have had sex. Presumably, all married women have done so. In short, most American women (including Catholics) have had sex by their early 20s, and virtually all of them have used contraceptives other than natural family planning.
Our Heavenly Mother Issues Warnings and Requests
You could go on and on listing one category of sin after another―it would all come down to what Our Lady told Blessed Elena Aiello in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA: Almost 17 years later, in 1973, Our Lady reiterated that same message and warning at Akita, Japan: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices … in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … can soften the Father’s anger! Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests!”
► THE FATIMA ANGEL: Our current enforced “cloistering”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining” ― is a perfect backdrop or foundation for putting into practice what Our Lady of Fatima and the Angel of Fatima requested of the three young children―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Prior to Our Lady’s first apparition, the Angel of Fatima (a.k.a. the Angel of Portugal) told the children: “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves continually to the Most High … Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA: When Our Lady appeared to them, she spoke along the same lines as the Angel had spoken. Our Lady asked the three children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”
A Time for Urban and Suburban Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers!
“It is time, O Lord, to do! They have dissipated thy law!” (Psalm 118:126) “Cometh the hour―cometh the man!” ― So where are you? The hour is here! “The hour cometh―and now is―when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit―and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth!” (John 4:23-24).
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having indeed an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
“What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
All of this perfectly prefaces the plight Providence has pushed under your nose! You have already been “separated” and “cloistered”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining.” In the above passages, Holy Scripture paints a picture of the kind of people that will be found in the “last days” and says: “Now these avoid! … Go out from among them and be ye separate!” Providentially, that part has been done―it has been forced upon you―which is a good thing, because you would NEVER have decided to do that of your own free will―because you like the world too much! God has―in a sense―dug up the garden for you and tilled the soil―what remains is for you plant an abundance of spiritual seeds, by way of increased time spent in prayer, penance, spiritual reading, meditation, contemplation, improving your devotion to Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart. God has placed you in a potential spiritual gold mine―you can either do nothing and thereby rot and starve to death; or you can start mining that gold and grow spiritually rich. “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
Let it be Stressed that Stress is Important
Who likes stress? Good and true medicine tells us that stress weakens the immune system. Psychologists tell us that stress reveals the true nature of a person. The wife of the former President Theodore Roosevelt―Eleanor Roosevelt said that “a woman is like a tea bag―you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water!” In other words, how you handle whatever is thrown at you, is a reflection of your true personality. Pressure and stress bring out our primal instincts and reveal our inner drives.
Stress is nothing new―everyone is very familiar with it. Some simply call it by a different name – Life! We don’t want it, we don’t like it―but is it possible to live without it? Stress is a natural part of our life. The main problem with stress is that it has no upper limit; we can be as stressed as we want to be. Stress can reach unbearable crippling levels when we don’t observe its daily build-up― excess build-up of stress over time that can affect our normal daily functioning. When we don’t pay attention to it, or take care of it, it can turn into a serious problem. The single biggest cause of excessive stress is a lifestyle that is devoid of adequate physical and mental rest. The root cause of stress is our fast paced and hyper stimulative lifestyle that does not allow us to rest and relax easily. In today’s day and age, where hyper-activity and cramming as much as possible into each waking hour (and stealing hours from sleep) is the norm, we can very easily get stressed unless we make a conscious effort to step-back, step-away and relax.
Stress, however, is not altogether bad. Stress can be beneficial. A little bit of stress helps us to stay alert, plan and be prepared for situations. In fact, Our Lord deliberately puts us under daily stress when He says: “If any man will come after Me, then let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). The cross is a stress―yet the cross can be a beneficial stress. It all depends upon how we look upon it―we can the glass as being half-full or half-empty. By the same token, we can see our “martial law” “quarantining” and “self-isolation” and “house-arrest” as being something positive or negative―we can be thankful for it or we can mutter and complain about it. Usually, negative reactions produce negative results―while positive reactions often produce positive results. You can come out this Coronavirus Pandemic or “Cronyvirus or Conallavirus Plandemic” for better or for worse―it ultimately depends upon how you cooperate with God’s Providence and God’s Grace.
In These Stressful Times It Must Be Stressed That God Has To Be Stressed
If they say you can “Fight fire with fire!”―then, in a certain sense, you can “Stress to fight stress!” We are in a mess―a mess that is ultimately one of our own making by a deliberate negligence―to get out of this mess we have to stress. Stress what? Stress God! Not in the sense that we give God a hard time―that is something that we have done for centuries―but we have to stress God in the sense of stressing His importance in our own personal lives (start with yourself first, as always) and also His importance in the life of the world.
For a long time now―and ever increasingly―God has been diminished in importance and in His usefulness, both personally and globally. In His patience He has tolerated that―but, as Our Lady has repeatedly warned, that patience is “wearing thin” even though it is infinite in itself. It does not take a rocket-scientist to understand the simplicity of the command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:30).
As a side-note to that, Holy Scripture repeatedly says: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). “Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues” (Exodus 23:24). “Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight” (Deuteronomy 5:7). “Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods” (Exodus 34:17). “Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods” (Exodus 23:32). “Neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin” (Deuteronomy 7:16).
The World is Not to Be Loved―But the World Must Be Overcome!
A reason for our mess is that we have messed too much with the world. We rejected, or ignored, or forgot the advice and warnings that have been given us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
“Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Faith Overcomes the World―But Only a Living Working Faith
Holy Scripture tells us that “whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). But not just any old Faith―it has to be a living Faith, a vibrant Faith, a working Faith and a productive Faith―for “Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). Holy Scripture then goes on to say: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
How many of our daily works are REALLY done for God? Yeah! Of course we make our morning offering whereby we say to God something to the effect of: “I offer Thee all my thoughts, words and actions…!” But is that really the case? Is it not true that most of what we think, say or do is first and foremost focused on ourselves, looking for our advantage, our benefit, our comfort, etc. Yes―we say: “I offer Thee all my thoughts, words and actions…!” However, for many―if not most―people, the reply from Heaven is: “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!” For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups: and many other things you do like to these!’” (Mark 7:6-9).
Having been “separated” and “cloistered”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining”―we should have much more time to focus on God, to place God back on the family throne after having uncrowned Him and shoved Him into the closet! But are we finding more time for God? Or is it that we waste our new found time on the usual “idols” that clutter our life and mesmerize our attention?
Monastery or Mall? Circus or Convent?
This enforced “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment of the world should be helping us keep “the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:38)―meaning the loving of God with all our soul, heart, mind and strength and offering Him ALL our thoughts, words and actions―not just verbally, or in theory, but above all in practice. It is only a truly sincere and massively improved spiritual life―which must begin in the home―that will gradually “overcome the world” and lead to the triumph of the Church and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. God could do it without us―but He will not do it without us. God could do it for us without our having to lift a finger―but God will not do it for us until we do lift that finger―and by that is not meant lifting the finger to point and wag it at others.
Our new found time can be well-used or wasted. We can make home life like a Mall or a Monastery. We can spend the day as though at a Circus or in a Convent. We can play or pray. We can practice self-sacrifice or self-indulgence. Our days could be Hell on Earth or Heaven on Earth. Of course, to play is a pleasure―and to pray is a penance. What is it that Heaven wants? Does Heaven want to see us playing and enjoying ourselves? Or does Heaven want to see us depriving ourselves of enjoyment as a penance, and spending our usual “trivia” time in prayer?
Our Lady of La Salette complained to Melanie and Maximin that prayer and penance was forgotten and neglected: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [that also filters down to an includes fathers, mothers, teachers], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars [surfing the internet and social media for trivial things] which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish [in his world-wide-web].”
Likewise, the Angel at Fatima―the Angel of Portugal―chided the three children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, for playing and not praying: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!”
Don’t Bury the Talent of Time
This enforced “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment of the world could be compared to the Parable of the Talents―whereby some have received a greater “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment, while others have less commanded of them. Let us not bury our talent in the ground by failing to profit from the time that has been given to us.
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
With “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining” being the flavor and order of the day, you would be a fool not to see the parallels with the life of hermits, monks and nuns, religious brothers and religious sisters―who ultimately owe their existence to the lifestyle of the early Christian “Desert Fathers” and “Desert Mothers.”
To the world and the worldly, cloistered religious vocations ― the word “cloistered” meaning that they stay within the monastery or convent walls pursuing a contemplative life, as opposed to having an active ministry preaching, teaching, hospital work, etc. ― such contemplative vocations are deemed to be useless, unproductive, a waste of time and parasitical. That is why, during the French Revolution of 1789, contemplative religious orders were closed and disbanded by the State and the religious were basically told to go and get a job that contributed something to society.
Our Lady of Good Success, however, threw a different light on the matter, saying: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Appreciate the Time
Similarly, in this enforced “cloistering” by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining”, we should not complain so much as appreciate the time that God has given us―even though it may be through the hands of evil people, or at least governments that are radically opposed to God and His Laws. As Our Lady says: “Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be!”
The time that has been given to us is both a time of chastisement and mercy. Chastisement through godless governments? Yes―God has often used His enemies to chastise, correct and bring back into line His chosen ones. Just to mention two striking events out many others―one from the Old Testament and one from New Testament times―we see God use, first the Assyrians to conquer and lead off into captivity the 10 idolatrous tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 700s BC, and then, in the 500s, the same fate befell the Southern Kingdom of Israel (Juda and its capital, Jerusalem) when God used the Babylonians as instrument to punish the idolatrous Jews, in a series of three captivities which saw Jerusalem and its Temple of God utterly destroyed. “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth!” (Proverbs 3:12) … “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth and He scourgeth!” (Hebrews 12:6).
In those times of chastisement and scourging for sin, God expects that “they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet for all that―when they were in the land of their enemies―I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be entirely consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God!” (Leviticus 26:43-44). Which is why Solomon says to God: “If Thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies―for they will sin against Thee―and, being converted, shall do penance, and call upon Thy Name, and pray to Thee in this place, then hear Thou from Heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people! … And return to Thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they were led away, and adore Thee … Then hear Thou from Heaven, that is, from thy firm dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive Thy people, although they have sinned!” (2 Paralipomenon 6:24-25, 6:37-39).
“Then if they do penance in their heart in the place of captivity, and being converted make supplication to thee in their captivity, saying: ‘We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have committed wickedness!’ And return to Thee with all their heart, and all their soul, in the land of their enemies―to which they had been led captives―and pray to Thee … Then hear Thou in Heaven, in the firmament of Thy throne, their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them, and forgive Thy people―that have sinned against Thee―all their iniquities by which they have transgressed against Thee; and give them mercy before them that have made them captives, that they may have compassion on them!” (3 Kings 8:47-50).
Prayers in Captivity and Isolation
We would do well to take note and follow the example of the chastised Israelites in the Old Testament―of which there are lots of examples―and make our attitude and prayers similar to theirs: “And they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We have sinned against Thee, because we have forsaken the Lord our God, and have served Baalim!’” (Judges 10:10). “And the children of Israel said to the Lord: ‘We have sinned! Do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth Thee! Only deliver us this time!’” (Judges 10:15). “And they gathered together and they fasted and they said: ‘We have sinned against the Lord!’” (1 Kings 7:6). “But afterwards they cried to the Lord and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth! But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies and we will serve thee!” (1 Kings 12:10).
“But I’ve done nothing wrong!” you protest, “I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers― I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess! (Luke 18:11). Besides―Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9).” Well, actually, we are the keepers of our brothers and others―that is whole point of the Spiritual Works of Mercy: (1) To instruct the ignorant; (2) to counsel the doubtful; (3) to admonish sinners; (4) to bear wrongs patiently; (5) to forgive offences willingly; (6) to comfort the afflicted; (7) to pray for the living and the dead.
St. John Chrysostom says that at our final judgment, God will judge us on all that happened in the world while we were alive! Of course, we cannot―like God―be omnipresent throughout the world in our physical body, but we can reach the entire world by our prayers and sacrifices. If the world is so sinful―and rapidly increasing in sin at an exponential rate―then part of the blame has to be laid on our doorstep―for Catholics could be said to be the “immune system” of the world. If the immune system is strong and ever working―then there will be little or no disease. If the Catholic “immune system” was strong and ever working, then would be little sin, or much less sin. In Gethsemane, Our Lord told Peter, James and John: “Watch ye and pray―that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38). We have not been watching and praying―but watching TV and playing.
Failure in the Catholic Immune System as Virus of Sin Invades
We are supposed to be the “antibodies” to the world’s pandemic of sin―but we are not producing any (or very few) antibodies. The disease or virus of sin relentlessly continues to propagate and grow―the tsunami of sin floods the world, as Our Lady of Good Success said: “Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!”
Immodesty, impurity and pornography have been pretty much been given a free-rein and reign everywhere, billowing their waves over the whole world. According to a survey published in the Journal of the American Psychological Association, 86% of men are likely to click on Internet sex sites if given the opportunity. 34% of female readers of Today’s Christian Woman’s online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn. Our Lady, already back in 1917 at Fatima, revealed that these kinds of sins are the most common cause of damnation.
Divorce shatters increasing numbers of families―in the USA alone, over 50% of children are born outside of wedlock. In the USA it is estimated that around 50% of married couples divorce―the rate is even higher among those who remarry. If divorce rates have dipped in recent years, it is mainly because people are choosing to live together in sin without marrying. If you’re not married, then you cannot divorce!
Same sex unions have been legalized almost everywhere. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that granted same-sex couples a constitutional right to marry. The first nation to legalize gay marriage was the Netherlands, which did so in 2000. Since then, several other European countries ― including England and Wales, France, Ireland, all of Scandinavia, Spain, Austria, Germany and Malta ― have legalized gay marriage. Outside of Europe, same-sex marriage is now legal in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay, as well as in parts of Mexico. And in May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to allow gays and lesbians to legally wed. Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (37%) favored allowing gays and lesbians to wed in 2009, a share that rose to 62% by 2017. That percentage has remained largely unchanged over the last few years. About six-in-ten Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage in the most recent Pew Research Center survey on the issue, conducted in March 2019. If God does punish soon, then He will owe Sodom and Gomorrha an apology!
Annual abortions are quickly catching up to the death total for adults and children already living in this world―of whom an average of 58 million die each year, while abortions for 2019 were over 42 million. Contraception is practiced by almost everyone―98% of American Catholic women have used contraception in their lifetimes. The Guttmacher Institute published the results of an analysis finding that 99% of all women of reproductive age who have ever had sex—including 98% of such Catholic women—have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning. By their early 20s, some 79% of never-married women—and 89% of never-married Catholic women—have had sex. Presumably, all married women have done so. In short, most American women (including Catholics) have had sex by their early 20s, and virtually all of them have used contraceptives other than natural family planning.
Our Heavenly Mother Issues Warnings and Requests
You could go on and on listing one category of sin after another―it would all come down to what Our Lady told Blessed Elena Aiello in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
► OUR LADY OF AKITA: Almost 17 years later, in 1973, Our Lady reiterated that same message and warning at Akita, Japan: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices … in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men … can soften the Father’s anger! Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together ... Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master! … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests!”
► THE FATIMA ANGEL: Our current enforced “cloistering”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining” ― is a perfect backdrop or foundation for putting into practice what Our Lady of Fatima and the Angel of Fatima requested of the three young children―Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Prior to Our Lady’s first apparition, the Angel of Fatima (a.k.a. the Angel of Portugal) told the children: “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves continually to the Most High … Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
► OUR LADY OF FATIMA: When Our Lady appeared to them, she spoke along the same lines as the Angel had spoken. Our Lady asked the three children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort … Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”
A Time for Urban and Suburban Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers!
“It is time, O Lord, to do! They have dissipated thy law!” (Psalm 118:126) “Cometh the hour―cometh the man!” ― So where are you? The hour is here! “The hour cometh―and now is―when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit―and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth!” (John 4:23-24).
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God―having indeed an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof! Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
“What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
All of this perfectly prefaces the plight Providence has pushed under your nose! You have already been “separated” and “cloistered”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining.” In the above passages, Holy Scripture paints a picture of the kind of people that will be found in the “last days” and says: “Now these avoid! … Go out from among them and be ye separate!” Providentially, that part has been done―it has been forced upon you―which is a good thing, because you would NEVER have decided to do that of your own free will―because you like the world too much! God has―in a sense―dug up the garden for you and tilled the soil―what remains is for you plant an abundance of spiritual seeds, by way of increased time spent in prayer, penance, spiritual reading, meditation, contemplation, improving your devotion to Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart. God has placed you in a potential spiritual gold mine―you can either do nothing and thereby rot and starve to death; or you can start mining that gold and grow spiritually rich. “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
Let it be Stressed that Stress is Important
Who likes stress? Good and true medicine tells us that stress weakens the immune system. Psychologists tell us that stress reveals the true nature of a person. The wife of the former President Theodore Roosevelt―Eleanor Roosevelt said that “a woman is like a tea bag―you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water!” In other words, how you handle whatever is thrown at you, is a reflection of your true personality. Pressure and stress bring out our primal instincts and reveal our inner drives.
Stress is nothing new―everyone is very familiar with it. Some simply call it by a different name – Life! We don’t want it, we don’t like it―but is it possible to live without it? Stress is a natural part of our life. The main problem with stress is that it has no upper limit; we can be as stressed as we want to be. Stress can reach unbearable crippling levels when we don’t observe its daily build-up― excess build-up of stress over time that can affect our normal daily functioning. When we don’t pay attention to it, or take care of it, it can turn into a serious problem. The single biggest cause of excessive stress is a lifestyle that is devoid of adequate physical and mental rest. The root cause of stress is our fast paced and hyper stimulative lifestyle that does not allow us to rest and relax easily. In today’s day and age, where hyper-activity and cramming as much as possible into each waking hour (and stealing hours from sleep) is the norm, we can very easily get stressed unless we make a conscious effort to step-back, step-away and relax.
Stress, however, is not altogether bad. Stress can be beneficial. A little bit of stress helps us to stay alert, plan and be prepared for situations. In fact, Our Lord deliberately puts us under daily stress when He says: “If any man will come after Me, then let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). The cross is a stress―yet the cross can be a beneficial stress. It all depends upon how we look upon it―we can the glass as being half-full or half-empty. By the same token, we can see our “martial law” “quarantining” and “self-isolation” and “house-arrest” as being something positive or negative―we can be thankful for it or we can mutter and complain about it. Usually, negative reactions produce negative results―while positive reactions often produce positive results. You can come out this Coronavirus Pandemic or “Cronyvirus or Conallavirus Plandemic” for better or for worse―it ultimately depends upon how you cooperate with God’s Providence and God’s Grace.
In These Stressful Times It Must Be Stressed That God Has To Be Stressed
If they say you can “Fight fire with fire!”―then, in a certain sense, you can “Stress to fight stress!” We are in a mess―a mess that is ultimately one of our own making by a deliberate negligence―to get out of this mess we have to stress. Stress what? Stress God! Not in the sense that we give God a hard time―that is something that we have done for centuries―but we have to stress God in the sense of stressing His importance in our own personal lives (start with yourself first, as always) and also His importance in the life of the world.
For a long time now―and ever increasingly―God has been diminished in importance and in His usefulness, both personally and globally. In His patience He has tolerated that―but, as Our Lady has repeatedly warned, that patience is “wearing thin” even though it is infinite in itself. It does not take a rocket-scientist to understand the simplicity of the command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:30).
As a side-note to that, Holy Scripture repeatedly says: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). “Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues” (Exodus 23:24). “Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight” (Deuteronomy 5:7). “Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods” (Exodus 34:17). “Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods” (Exodus 23:32). “Neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin” (Deuteronomy 7:16).
The World is Not to Be Loved―But the World Must Be Overcome!
A reason for our mess is that we have messed too much with the world. We rejected, or ignored, or forgot the advice and warnings that have been given us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
“Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Faith Overcomes the World―But Only a Living Working Faith
Holy Scripture tells us that “whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). But not just any old Faith―it has to be a living Faith, a vibrant Faith, a working Faith and a productive Faith―for “Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). Holy Scripture then goes on to say: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath Faith, but hath not works? Shall Faith be able to save him? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).
How many of our daily works are REALLY done for God? Yeah! Of course we make our morning offering whereby we say to God something to the effect of: “I offer Thee all my thoughts, words and actions…!” But is that really the case? Is it not true that most of what we think, say or do is first and foremost focused on ourselves, looking for our advantage, our benefit, our comfort, etc. Yes―we say: “I offer Thee all my thoughts, words and actions…!” However, for many―if not most―people, the reply from Heaven is: “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!” For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups: and many other things you do like to these!’” (Mark 7:6-9).
Having been “separated” and “cloistered”― by governmental enforcement of “self-isolation”, “home-confinement”, “social-distancing” and “quarantining”―we should have much more time to focus on God, to place God back on the family throne after having uncrowned Him and shoved Him into the closet! But are we finding more time for God? Or is it that we waste our new found time on the usual “idols” that clutter our life and mesmerize our attention?
Monastery or Mall? Circus or Convent?
This enforced “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment of the world should be helping us keep “the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:38)―meaning the loving of God with all our soul, heart, mind and strength and offering Him ALL our thoughts, words and actions―not just verbally, or in theory, but above all in practice. It is only a truly sincere and massively improved spiritual life―which must begin in the home―that will gradually “overcome the world” and lead to the triumph of the Church and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. God could do it without us―but He will not do it without us. God could do it for us without our having to lift a finger―but God will not do it for us until we do lift that finger―and by that is not meant lifting the finger to point and wag it at others.
Our new found time can be well-used or wasted. We can make home life like a Mall or a Monastery. We can spend the day as though at a Circus or in a Convent. We can play or pray. We can practice self-sacrifice or self-indulgence. Our days could be Hell on Earth or Heaven on Earth. Of course, to play is a pleasure―and to pray is a penance. What is it that Heaven wants? Does Heaven want to see us playing and enjoying ourselves? Or does Heaven want to see us depriving ourselves of enjoyment as a penance, and spending our usual “trivia” time in prayer?
Our Lady of La Salette complained to Melanie and Maximin that prayer and penance was forgotten and neglected: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God [that also filters down to an includes fathers, mothers, teachers], have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars [surfing the internet and social media for trivial things] which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish [in his world-wide-web].”
Likewise, the Angel at Fatima―the Angel of Portugal―chided the three children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, for playing and not praying: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High! Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country!”
Don’t Bury the Talent of Time
This enforced “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment of the world could be compared to the Parable of the Talents―whereby some have received a greater “lockdown”, “shutdown”, “shelter-in-place” commandment, while others have less commanded of them. Let us not bury our talent in the ground by failing to profit from the time that has been given to us.
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Thursday & Friday Within the Octave of Easter, April 16th & 17th
Article 4
Coronavirus Lockdown is an Ideal Time for a Spiritual Resurrection!
(Or a Do-It-Yourself Desert Father Program)
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Thursday & Friday Within the Octave of Easter, April 16th & 17th
Article 4
Coronavirus Lockdown is an Ideal Time for a Spiritual Resurrection!
(Or a Do-It-Yourself Desert Father Program)
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
The Two Wills of God
We want to live all the time in God’s Will, not just during life-changing transitions. We know that whatever happens to us is part of God’s providential love and will for us. At times we may find ourselves in situations which make it impossible to follow God’s will as revealed by discernment. History gives us the example of St. Jane de Chantal, who had discerned under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, that she was called in her widowhood to a life of chastity and withdrawal from the world. But how on earth could that be possible when she had four small children to raise and a father-in-law who threatened to disinherit her children if she did not come and take care of him? God’s full will can exist in both the inspirations that an individual or community receives, as well as in the events, facts, and realities that exist in that individual’s, or community’s, or even Church’s life. We are expected to seek and find “a point of spiritual balance” (virtue stands in the middle between exaggeration and neglect) which will enable us to LIVE BETWEEN THE TWO WILLS OF GOD. This is the advice St. Francis de Sales gave to all souls that under his spiritual direction and that would be his advice to us in our present Coronavirus Pandemic or “Coronavirus PLANdemic”. Like God, we should seek and find any and all good that could be extracted from this evil―whether it be a natural evil (unlikely) or a manufactured evil (more likely).
Wanting and Allowing
In Books 8 and 9 of the Treatise on the Love of God, St. Francis de Sales discusses the two wills of God. Different authors have slightly different names for the two wills of God, but they all come down to the same thing: The Will of God (1) WANTS things to happen, or (2) the Will of God ALLOWS things to happen. God WANTS GOOD to happen, but God will also ALLOW EVIL to happen―but if God allows evil to happen, He will always be seeking to bring GOOD OUT THAT EVIL―in other words, He will be seeking to “turn-the-tables” on evil.
No doubt you have heard of the Serenity Prayer. “God, please give me the strength to change what I can change, the courage to accept what I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Well, one aspect of God’s will refers to things we cannot change, like native ability, temperament, parents and siblings, physical health, etc. These are the gifts―whether limitations or blessings―that define your uniqueness and separates you from other people, making you what you are and who you are. Here you need “the courage to accept what I cannot change.” You may be happy with what you have. You might kick and scream at your fate―but there is very little you can do to change matters.
But when you pray: “Please give me the strength to change what I can change,” you are asking for the grace to act wisely and resolutely in difficult situations. Human nature, being what it is, we find it hard to take an unpopular stand whether we are talking about setting boundaries for children, employees, respecting the rights of others in business dealings, or even such a little thing as mentioning the good qualities of a person who is under criticism by others―or even talking in a non-politically correct way, or talking in a non-establishment accepted way about the Coronavirus.
When you pray “for the wisdom to know the difference,” you are asking God to help you recognize the painful realities in your lives which, even though they may be temporary, are nevertheless inescapable. The challenges, that arise in this category, become a crucible or crucifixion, through which God gradually transforms you into the likeness of His son, Jesus―for God is always seeking to bring good out of evil, even deliberately created evil by evil men. According to St. Francis de Sales, how you endure the pain of these trials―whether physical, mental, psychological, moral, financial, social―is the best measure of your love of God!
Pain and Patient Suffering
We must never think that God SENDS us pain and suffering; He only ALLOWS us to experience the consequences of our own actions or those of others that have repercussions in our lives. God does not interfere with the natural laws He decreed at the beginning of time. If we or others break any of these laws, we reap the fruits of our actions. For example, if you abuse the body, that God has entrusted to you, by overeating, burning the midnight oil, or becoming a workaholic, then you will develop medical problems, the consequence of your own choices. If greed for greater profits causes a company merger in which your job is eliminated, or you lose your job through the Coronavirus business shutdown, then you have to try and find a new job (nearly impossible), for this is the consequence of a choice by others (evil persons) which has infringed upon and crippled your welfare.
Whatever IS, EXISTS OR HAPPENS in our lives is in some way within God’s providence. Everything that happens to us provides us with an opportunity for sanctification, depending upon our response. The old adage, “God writes straight with crooked lines,” reminds us that God even brings good out of evil. All things DO work together unto good for those who love God, Sometimes it takes a while. Will we be patient? You know that the word“patience” comes from “patior,” a Latin word that means “to suffer.” God is very creative in finding ways to transform apparently great misfortunes into opportunities for growth depending on our response in each situation.
It is not for nothing that Our Lord asked us to suffer: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
This is why St. Paul writes: “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity” (2 Corinthians 11:30). “For myself, I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities” (2 Corinthians 12:5). “And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13). “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways
We should sometimes stop trying to play at being and realize that our thoughts and ways of doing things are a million miles away from God’s thoughts and ways of doing things: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The following story illustrates this ‘creativity’ of God in a delightfully painful manner:
An old farmer had just one horse in his possession―which he used for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills―and when all the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills―and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was: “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” Then when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off the horse’s back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” Some weeks later the army marched into the village and drafted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?
We are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good luck and what bad, and thank Him that all things turn out well for those who love Him. “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
Modern-Day Desert Calls For Modern-Day Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
St. Anthony of the Desert made this prediction in the 4th century: “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, Faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day’s problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand because our Divine Master placed a barrier between His things and the things of the world.”
Among the many prophecies concerning our day, there is this interesting one by Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Desert Fathers Flee Evil and Do Good
Why did the desert fathers choose to work out their spirituality in the desert? Initially it was the Roman persecution that drove some to the desert and the desert mountains. It brings to mind the words of Our Lord, when He spoke of future persecution: “When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth, let him understand―then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains!” (Matthew 24:15-16). “When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army―then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea, flee to the mountains; and those who are in the midst thereof, depart out: and those who are in the countries, not enter into it. For these are the days of vengeance!” (Luke 21:20-22).
“When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines! These things are the beginning of sorrows! But look to yourselves! For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake―for a testimony unto them. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up―be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak―but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye! For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost! And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death! And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved! And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not―he that readeth let him understand―then let them that are in Judea, flee unto the mountains! And let him that is on the housetop, not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take anything out of the house! And let him that shall be in the field, not turn back to take up his garment!” (Mark 13:2-16).
Driven into Self-Isolation in the Desert of Your Own Home
Even though it is the godless governments of the world that have enforced a “hermit-like” or “Desert Father-like” existence on much of the world―nevertheless, this could not have happened if God had not WANTED it, or ALLOWED it. God WANTS GOOD and God will also ALLOW EVIL. These days, He seems to be allowing an awful lot of evil! Even back in 1956, Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist and mystic, Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism [money, money, money] marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind!”
If God has ALLOWED the godless governments to “imprison” many people in “self-isolation” or a kind of “solitary confinement”―then that does not mean that God will leave it at that! Despite the many crosses that have been imposed upon people―but crosses are not a bad thing in themselves, especially when Our Lady said: “Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief!”―God still WANTS GOOD to come out of the evil machinations of his enemies: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. They said: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He, that dwelleth in Heaven, shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them!” (Psalm 2:2-4).
The persecutions of old brought much good to the Church. As Tertullian so rightly tells us: “The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, Chapter 50)―which is why Our Lord said: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice―for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Paul of Egypt Flees Persecution and Becomes First Desert Hermit
The young Christian orphan Paul (who would later be known as St. Paul the Desert Hermit) was a native of the Lower Thebais in Egypt, which is the southern region of the country, and had lost both his parents when he was only fifteen years of age. Nevertheless he was very proficient in Greek and Egyptian learning, was mild and modest, and feared God from his earliest youth.
The bloody persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius, disturbed the peace of the Church in 250; and, what was most dreadful, Satan, by his ministers, sought not so much to kill the bodies, as by subtle artifices and tedious tortures to destroy the souls of men.
Two instances are sufficient to show his malice in this respect: A soldier of Christ, who had already triumphed over the racks and tortures, had his whole body rubbed over with honey, and was then laid on his back in the sun, with his hands tied behind him, that the flies and wasps, which are quite intolerable in hot countries, might torment and gall him with their stings.
Another was bound with silk cords on a bed of down, in a delightful garden, where a lascivious woman was employed to entice him to sin; the martyr, sensible of his danger, bit off part of his tongue and spit it in her face, that the horror of such an action might put her to flight, and the smart occasioned by it be a means to prevent, in his own heart, any manner of consent to carnal pleasure.
During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts. Elias and St. John the Baptist had already sanctified the deserts, and Jesus Christ himself was a model of the eremitical (hermit) state during His forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert wilderness―being led there by the Holy Spirit: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert” (Matthew 4:1). It is therefore of no great surprise that the Holy Ghost conducted Paul, even though he was very young, into the desert. It is equally certain that an entire solitude and total isolation of one’s self from human society, is one of those extraordinary ways by which God leads souls to Himself.
Paul was twenty-two years old when he entered the desert. There he found many spacious caverns in a rock, which were said to have been the retreat of money-coiners in the days of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. He chose for his dwelling a cave in this place, near which were a palm-tree and a clear spring; the former by its leaves furnished him with clothing, and its fruit provided Paul with food; and the clear-spring supplied him with water for his drink.
His first intention was to enjoy the freedom of being able to serve and worship God until such as time as the the persecution should cease. However, appreciating the delights of heavenly contemplation, being strengthened by penance, and learning the spiritual advantages of holy solitude, Paul decided to return no more among men, or concern himself in the least with human affairs, and what passed in the world: it was enough for him to know that there was a world, and to pray that it might be improved in goodness. The saint lived on the fruit of his tree for 21 years, until he was forty-three years of age. After that time, for the next 70 years till his death in the desert, like Elias, he was miraculously fed with bread brought him every day by a raven. That is no exaggeration―unlike the Coronavirus Pandemic―but an example of what God can and will do for His beloved and committed servants.
The Benefits of the Coronavirus Lies and Propaganda
However much evil there may be in the world, however grim things may seem to be, we must always remember: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound!” (Romans 5:20) ― in other words, God gives more than enough grace for us to cope with whatever evil the devil and the world might throw against us. “In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me!” (Psalm 55:11). “So that we may confidently say: ‘The Lord is my helper―I will not fear what man shall do to me!” (Hebrews 13:6)―here St. Paul quotes the following verse from the Book of Psalms: ”The Lord is my helper―I will not fear what man can do unto me!” (Psalms 117:6). For even though “the kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, saying: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them! Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage” (Psalm 2:2-5). Sin clearly abounds behind this manufactured Coronavirus―but grace abounds even more. Furthermore, “he who laughs last, laughs longest” and “He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them!” Eternally will God laugh at them and deride them, whilst they will eternally weep and wail in the pit of Hell. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In the meantime, it is up to us to make the most of the predicament that evil men have placed us in―knowing that is could only happen if God allowed it―and thus prove to ourselves “that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
Urban-Suburban Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
Do not waste the grace of this “Cronyvirus Plannedemic” to grow in grace and to turn the tables on evil. Each Catholic home could and should become an Urban Desert Father ‘monastery’ or ‘hermitage’! The Church is a family and the family is a church―the family is miniature version of the larger Church, a microcosm of the macrocosm. Today, that mini-church has been forced into the desert, so to speak, and has become a hermitage (for those who live alone) or a monastery (where there is a family or several persons)―emerging from our “spiritual cells” only for essential things, and meeting other “hermits” or “monks” only occasionally. Remember too, that in the desert, many of the Desert Fathers (those who were not priests) had no access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―yet that did not prevent them advancing in sanctity and holiness by leaps and bounds!
It can be, it could be, it should be―in these days of ever increasing and encroaching evil―a stronghold and bastion of the Faith. Focused increasingly on God, relying increasingly on God, praying increasingly to God and accepting God’s providential punishment as a means of repairing the damage of our own personal sins and the tsunami of sin in the world, which Our Lady of Good Success said was “Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!” Even though evil men―whether by deliberate design or sheer opportunism of the event―have profited from the “Cronyvirus Plannedemic”, God is using their evil plans to give us an opportunity to profit even more by “rolling with the punch” and bringing good out of evil.
Is that what you are doing? Has your daily spiritual schedule seen a massive increase―like the increasing ‘claimed’ deaths for Coronavirus? Are you “washing your soul” like you might be “washing your hands”? Are you “washing your hands” of the sins they might have committed? Our hands hold that smartphone; our hands write letters, type words in text-messages; emails, internet posts, etc. Our hands point and wag their fingers in accusations! Are we rinsing-out our eyes with tears for things we may have looked at―desiring, lusting, envying, hating? Are we keeping our distance from things that usually lead us into sin? Are we focusing on the essentials of life―and less on the accustomed trivia of life?
Or has the household become a residence for Luke Warm and his friends? Lukewarmness is worse than Coronavirus! If you are worried about Coronavirus or Covid-19, then you should be ten times more worried about lukewarmness. If you seriously taking measures to protect yourself from Covid-19, then you be all the more serious about protecting yourself and your family from the virus of lukewarmness―of which God says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee My mouth. Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, so that thou mayest be made rich and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love―I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Are you grateful for having been told to keep a distance from the world? Scripture says: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Our Lord says: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
We want to live all the time in God’s Will, not just during life-changing transitions. We know that whatever happens to us is part of God’s providential love and will for us. At times we may find ourselves in situations which make it impossible to follow God’s will as revealed by discernment. History gives us the example of St. Jane de Chantal, who had discerned under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, that she was called in her widowhood to a life of chastity and withdrawal from the world. But how on earth could that be possible when she had four small children to raise and a father-in-law who threatened to disinherit her children if she did not come and take care of him? God’s full will can exist in both the inspirations that an individual or community receives, as well as in the events, facts, and realities that exist in that individual’s, or community’s, or even Church’s life. We are expected to seek and find “a point of spiritual balance” (virtue stands in the middle between exaggeration and neglect) which will enable us to LIVE BETWEEN THE TWO WILLS OF GOD. This is the advice St. Francis de Sales gave to all souls that under his spiritual direction and that would be his advice to us in our present Coronavirus Pandemic or “Coronavirus PLANdemic”. Like God, we should seek and find any and all good that could be extracted from this evil―whether it be a natural evil (unlikely) or a manufactured evil (more likely).
Wanting and Allowing
In Books 8 and 9 of the Treatise on the Love of God, St. Francis de Sales discusses the two wills of God. Different authors have slightly different names for the two wills of God, but they all come down to the same thing: The Will of God (1) WANTS things to happen, or (2) the Will of God ALLOWS things to happen. God WANTS GOOD to happen, but God will also ALLOW EVIL to happen―but if God allows evil to happen, He will always be seeking to bring GOOD OUT THAT EVIL―in other words, He will be seeking to “turn-the-tables” on evil.
No doubt you have heard of the Serenity Prayer. “God, please give me the strength to change what I can change, the courage to accept what I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Well, one aspect of God’s will refers to things we cannot change, like native ability, temperament, parents and siblings, physical health, etc. These are the gifts―whether limitations or blessings―that define your uniqueness and separates you from other people, making you what you are and who you are. Here you need “the courage to accept what I cannot change.” You may be happy with what you have. You might kick and scream at your fate―but there is very little you can do to change matters.
But when you pray: “Please give me the strength to change what I can change,” you are asking for the grace to act wisely and resolutely in difficult situations. Human nature, being what it is, we find it hard to take an unpopular stand whether we are talking about setting boundaries for children, employees, respecting the rights of others in business dealings, or even such a little thing as mentioning the good qualities of a person who is under criticism by others―or even talking in a non-politically correct way, or talking in a non-establishment accepted way about the Coronavirus.
When you pray “for the wisdom to know the difference,” you are asking God to help you recognize the painful realities in your lives which, even though they may be temporary, are nevertheless inescapable. The challenges, that arise in this category, become a crucible or crucifixion, through which God gradually transforms you into the likeness of His son, Jesus―for God is always seeking to bring good out of evil, even deliberately created evil by evil men. According to St. Francis de Sales, how you endure the pain of these trials―whether physical, mental, psychological, moral, financial, social―is the best measure of your love of God!
Pain and Patient Suffering
We must never think that God SENDS us pain and suffering; He only ALLOWS us to experience the consequences of our own actions or those of others that have repercussions in our lives. God does not interfere with the natural laws He decreed at the beginning of time. If we or others break any of these laws, we reap the fruits of our actions. For example, if you abuse the body, that God has entrusted to you, by overeating, burning the midnight oil, or becoming a workaholic, then you will develop medical problems, the consequence of your own choices. If greed for greater profits causes a company merger in which your job is eliminated, or you lose your job through the Coronavirus business shutdown, then you have to try and find a new job (nearly impossible), for this is the consequence of a choice by others (evil persons) which has infringed upon and crippled your welfare.
Whatever IS, EXISTS OR HAPPENS in our lives is in some way within God’s providence. Everything that happens to us provides us with an opportunity for sanctification, depending upon our response. The old adage, “God writes straight with crooked lines,” reminds us that God even brings good out of evil. All things DO work together unto good for those who love God, Sometimes it takes a while. Will we be patient? You know that the word“patience” comes from “patior,” a Latin word that means “to suffer.” God is very creative in finding ways to transform apparently great misfortunes into opportunities for growth depending on our response in each situation.
It is not for nothing that Our Lord asked us to suffer: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:27). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
This is why St. Paul writes: “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity” (2 Corinthians 11:30). “For myself, I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities” (2 Corinthians 12:5). “And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14). “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13). “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways
We should sometimes stop trying to play at being and realize that our thoughts and ways of doing things are a million miles away from God’s thoughts and ways of doing things: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways!’ saith the Lord. ‘For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!’” (Isaias 55:8-9).
The following story illustrates this ‘creativity’ of God in a delightfully painful manner:
An old farmer had just one horse in his possession―which he used for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills―and when all the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills―and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was: “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” Then when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off the horse’s back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” Some weeks later the army marched into the village and drafted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?
We are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good luck and what bad, and thank Him that all things turn out well for those who love Him. “To them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints!” (Romans 8:28).
Modern-Day Desert Calls For Modern-Day Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
St. Anthony of the Desert made this prediction in the 4th century: “Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, Faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day’s problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand because our Divine Master placed a barrier between His things and the things of the world.”
Among the many prophecies concerning our day, there is this interesting one by Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Desert Fathers Flee Evil and Do Good
Why did the desert fathers choose to work out their spirituality in the desert? Initially it was the Roman persecution that drove some to the desert and the desert mountains. It brings to mind the words of Our Lord, when He spoke of future persecution: “When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth, let him understand―then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains!” (Matthew 24:15-16). “When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army―then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea, flee to the mountains; and those who are in the midst thereof, depart out: and those who are in the countries, not enter into it. For these are the days of vengeance!” (Luke 21:20-22).
“When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not! For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet! For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines! These things are the beginning of sorrows! But look to yourselves! For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake―for a testimony unto them. And when they shall lead you and deliver you up―be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak―but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye! For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost! And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death! And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved! And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not―he that readeth let him understand―then let them that are in Judea, flee unto the mountains! And let him that is on the housetop, not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take anything out of the house! And let him that shall be in the field, not turn back to take up his garment!” (Mark 13:2-16).
Driven into Self-Isolation in the Desert of Your Own Home
Even though it is the godless governments of the world that have enforced a “hermit-like” or “Desert Father-like” existence on much of the world―nevertheless, this could not have happened if God had not WANTED it, or ALLOWED it. God WANTS GOOD and God will also ALLOW EVIL. These days, He seems to be allowing an awful lot of evil! Even back in 1956, Our Lady revealed to the stigmatist and mystic, Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief! These are grave times! The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! Materialism [money, money, money] marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind!”
If God has ALLOWED the godless governments to “imprison” many people in “self-isolation” or a kind of “solitary confinement”―then that does not mean that God will leave it at that! Despite the many crosses that have been imposed upon people―but crosses are not a bad thing in themselves, especially when Our Lady said: “Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief!”―God still WANTS GOOD to come out of the evil machinations of his enemies: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ. They said: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He, that dwelleth in Heaven, shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them!” (Psalm 2:2-4).
The persecutions of old brought much good to the Church. As Tertullian so rightly tells us: “The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, Chapter 50)―which is why Our Lord said: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice―for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Paul of Egypt Flees Persecution and Becomes First Desert Hermit
The young Christian orphan Paul (who would later be known as St. Paul the Desert Hermit) was a native of the Lower Thebais in Egypt, which is the southern region of the country, and had lost both his parents when he was only fifteen years of age. Nevertheless he was very proficient in Greek and Egyptian learning, was mild and modest, and feared God from his earliest youth.
The bloody persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius, disturbed the peace of the Church in 250; and, what was most dreadful, Satan, by his ministers, sought not so much to kill the bodies, as by subtle artifices and tedious tortures to destroy the souls of men.
Two instances are sufficient to show his malice in this respect: A soldier of Christ, who had already triumphed over the racks and tortures, had his whole body rubbed over with honey, and was then laid on his back in the sun, with his hands tied behind him, that the flies and wasps, which are quite intolerable in hot countries, might torment and gall him with their stings.
Another was bound with silk cords on a bed of down, in a delightful garden, where a lascivious woman was employed to entice him to sin; the martyr, sensible of his danger, bit off part of his tongue and spit it in her face, that the horror of such an action might put her to flight, and the smart occasioned by it be a means to prevent, in his own heart, any manner of consent to carnal pleasure.
During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts. Elias and St. John the Baptist had already sanctified the deserts, and Jesus Christ himself was a model of the eremitical (hermit) state during His forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert wilderness―being led there by the Holy Spirit: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert” (Matthew 4:1). It is therefore of no great surprise that the Holy Ghost conducted Paul, even though he was very young, into the desert. It is equally certain that an entire solitude and total isolation of one’s self from human society, is one of those extraordinary ways by which God leads souls to Himself.
Paul was twenty-two years old when he entered the desert. There he found many spacious caverns in a rock, which were said to have been the retreat of money-coiners in the days of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. He chose for his dwelling a cave in this place, near which were a palm-tree and a clear spring; the former by its leaves furnished him with clothing, and its fruit provided Paul with food; and the clear-spring supplied him with water for his drink.
His first intention was to enjoy the freedom of being able to serve and worship God until such as time as the the persecution should cease. However, appreciating the delights of heavenly contemplation, being strengthened by penance, and learning the spiritual advantages of holy solitude, Paul decided to return no more among men, or concern himself in the least with human affairs, and what passed in the world: it was enough for him to know that there was a world, and to pray that it might be improved in goodness. The saint lived on the fruit of his tree for 21 years, until he was forty-three years of age. After that time, for the next 70 years till his death in the desert, like Elias, he was miraculously fed with bread brought him every day by a raven. That is no exaggeration―unlike the Coronavirus Pandemic―but an example of what God can and will do for His beloved and committed servants.
The Benefits of the Coronavirus Lies and Propaganda
However much evil there may be in the world, however grim things may seem to be, we must always remember: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound!” (Romans 5:20) ― in other words, God gives more than enough grace for us to cope with whatever evil the devil and the world might throw against us. “In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me!” (Psalm 55:11). “So that we may confidently say: ‘The Lord is my helper―I will not fear what man shall do to me!” (Hebrews 13:6)―here St. Paul quotes the following verse from the Book of Psalms: ”The Lord is my helper―I will not fear what man can do unto me!” (Psalms 117:6). For even though “the kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ, saying: ‘Let us break Their bonds asunder and let us cast away Their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them! Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage” (Psalm 2:2-5). Sin clearly abounds behind this manufactured Coronavirus―but grace abounds even more. Furthermore, “he who laughs last, laughs longest” and “He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them and the Lord shall deride them!” Eternally will God laugh at them and deride them, whilst they will eternally weep and wail in the pit of Hell. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In the meantime, it is up to us to make the most of the predicament that evil men have placed us in―knowing that is could only happen if God allowed it―and thus prove to ourselves “that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
Urban-Suburban Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
Do not waste the grace of this “Cronyvirus Plannedemic” to grow in grace and to turn the tables on evil. Each Catholic home could and should become an Urban Desert Father ‘monastery’ or ‘hermitage’! The Church is a family and the family is a church―the family is miniature version of the larger Church, a microcosm of the macrocosm. Today, that mini-church has been forced into the desert, so to speak, and has become a hermitage (for those who live alone) or a monastery (where there is a family or several persons)―emerging from our “spiritual cells” only for essential things, and meeting other “hermits” or “monks” only occasionally. Remember too, that in the desert, many of the Desert Fathers (those who were not priests) had no access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―yet that did not prevent them advancing in sanctity and holiness by leaps and bounds!
It can be, it could be, it should be―in these days of ever increasing and encroaching evil―a stronghold and bastion of the Faith. Focused increasingly on God, relying increasingly on God, praying increasingly to God and accepting God’s providential punishment as a means of repairing the damage of our own personal sins and the tsunami of sin in the world, which Our Lady of Good Success said was “Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty!” Even though evil men―whether by deliberate design or sheer opportunism of the event―have profited from the “Cronyvirus Plannedemic”, God is using their evil plans to give us an opportunity to profit even more by “rolling with the punch” and bringing good out of evil.
Is that what you are doing? Has your daily spiritual schedule seen a massive increase―like the increasing ‘claimed’ deaths for Coronavirus? Are you “washing your soul” like you might be “washing your hands”? Are you “washing your hands” of the sins they might have committed? Our hands hold that smartphone; our hands write letters, type words in text-messages; emails, internet posts, etc. Our hands point and wag their fingers in accusations! Are we rinsing-out our eyes with tears for things we may have looked at―desiring, lusting, envying, hating? Are we keeping our distance from things that usually lead us into sin? Are we focusing on the essentials of life―and less on the accustomed trivia of life?
Or has the household become a residence for Luke Warm and his friends? Lukewarmness is worse than Coronavirus! If you are worried about Coronavirus or Covid-19, then you should be ten times more worried about lukewarmness. If you seriously taking measures to protect yourself from Covid-19, then you be all the more serious about protecting yourself and your family from the virus of lukewarmness―of which God says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee My mouth. Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ ― and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire tried, so that thou mayest be made rich and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see! Such as I love―I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-19).
Are you grateful for having been told to keep a distance from the world? Scripture says: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Our Lord says: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE
Tuesday & Wednesday Within the Octave of Easter, April 14th & 15th
Article 3
If You Want the World Situation to Change―You Must Change First!
Tuesday & Wednesday Within the Octave of Easter, April 14th & 15th
Article 3
If You Want the World Situation to Change―You Must Change First!
Change of Perspective to Change the World
“Change”―a six-letter word that evokes a variety of guttural reactions! It all depends upon who you are, what you are, what you want, and where you are going.
► For a Conservative or Traditional Catholic, the word “change” has almost become taboo or heretical, bringing forth cries of “Change? Over my dead body!”―and there are a lot of “dead-bodies” these days and every day, whether it be Coronavirus deaths or other forms of death!
► For a Liberal or Modernist Catholic, the word “change” makes them drool and slather with rabid expectation! Their feverish minds (whether it be a Coronavirus fever or an emotional fever) makes them pine and dry out for more and more changes―like a glutton―trembling (not from a fever), but from a joyous and feverish anticipation of Church blessed same-sex marriages; Church blessed gender changes; married priests; women priests; culturalized Masses; the death and burial of old-fashioned ideas about sin; the liberalization and canonization of human passions, etc. Their heartbeat and pulse pounds away, while they gasp for breath in their paroxysmal euphoria of having finally getting what they have long-dreamed over.
► For a worldly (and consequently godless) person, the word “change” makes their consumerist heart race off to the store (online or retail) for the latest invention or model ‘created’ by the gods of this world. Like a drug addict, they have become accustomed to the latest ‘dose’ of technology, entertainment, etc., and they are risking ‘withdrawal symptoms’ which can only be offset by cramming more and more newly created worldly items (‘drugs’) into their life. The thought of “change” produces and sends a surge of dopamine to the brain which merely serves to increase their frenzied craving for “change” and the “new” or the “latest.”
► For some people, the word “change” does not just mean “material change” or “new things”―but it also applies to “changing people” or “changing partners.” They tire and grow weary of the “old” spouse and want a “newer” model―they want a “change”! Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for their soul and fate), the ever-obliging, changing world has given them the opportunity to “trade-in” their old spouse (or throw them on the scrap-heap) by the ubiquitous divorce laws that are now everywhere in place. You can now change your spouse just like you change your car! Except, little do they know where this is driving them! “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” says Our Lord (Matthew 7:13).
Changing God―Or Changing Gods?
This obsession with changing things also infects our relationship with God and our attitude towards God and the Faith―which inevitably leads to changes in our lives. We have become so fevered, falling into paroxysms of passion (as sudden recurrence or attack of a disease; or a sudden worsening of symptoms), that we feel that the “old” God with His “old” methods is ‘suffocating’ our life―so, like the patient on the ventilator, who feels that it is the fault of the ventilator that is causing his shortness of breath by blocking his nostrils, he pulls out the tubes from his nostrils and casts them aside―many Catholics, likewise, pull the tubes of Faith, that bring truth and grace, out of their souls and cast them aside in the hope that their life will now be less suffocating and open to the air of the world. This is a microcosm (the mini-version) of the macrocosm (the big-version) which was the Second Vatican Council―which, by its so-called “aggiornamento” (Italian for “bring up to date”), sought to change the Church by modernizing the Church. For Pope John XXIII, the word “aggiornamento” meant “bringing up to date,” that is, developing the Church to meet the needs of the modern world. Most Catholics have undergone their own little version of Vatican II, or “aggiornamento”, in their own souls and lives―they have adapted to the world, rather than seeking and hoping that the world adapt to the teachings and demands of the Church.
That is why, today, you have most Catholics agreeing with and advocating―divorce and remarriage, same sex-marriages, cohabitation, married-priests, women priests, contraception, abortion, masturbation, pornography, immodest fashions, drunkenness, drug-use, etc. ―while still thinking they are ‘good’ Catholics! On the point of doctrine, that personal “aggiornamento” is the reason why most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist; no longer believe that the Mass is a real sacrifice and the unbloody re-enactment and perpetuation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary―for the modern-day Catholic it has increasingly become a “meal”, a “commemoration”, a “symbol”, etc.
“All Change!” Or “No Change!”
“To change or not to change? That is the question!” ― playing upon William Shakespeare’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be”, uttered by Prince Hamlet, in the so-called “nunnery scene” of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. So we are faced with the question: “To change or not to change? That is the question!” Is “change” an evil thing? Yes and no! Change can be for either better or worse. There are certain changes in life that are inescapable and other changes that we must escape.
Yet, with God, there is NO CHANGE! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Likewise with Our Lord: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above―coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen―but the word of our Lord endureth for ever!” (Isaias 40:8). “In the beginning, O Lord, Thou founded the Earth and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest! And all of them shall grow old like a garment! And as a garment Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed! But Thou art always the selfsame!” (Psalm 101:26-28). “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19).
Changing God’s Mind?
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 83 on “Prayer”) tells us that our prayers are powerless to CHANGE the Positive Will of God, but that they can only obtain the grace of God to bend and conform our minds and hearts to God’s Positive Will, which is unchangeable: “For we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition [the Divine Will], but that we may beg those things which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers―in other words ‘that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,’ as Pope St. Gregory says” (q. 83, art 2) … “By praying man surrenders his mind to God, since he subjects it to Him with reverence” (q. 83, art 3) … “It befits us so to account for the usefulness of prayer as, neither to impose necessity on human affairs subject to Divine providence, nor to imply changeableness on the part of the Divine disposition … Our motive in praying is not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that, by our prayers, we may obtain [and accept and agree with] what God has appointed” (q. 83, art 2).
Classic theology–especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas–demonstrates that God has two dimensions to His Will–one being positive and the other being conditional. His Positive Will is never “changed”, but that same Divine Will in its Conditional mode, can be “fulfilled” or “non-fulfilled”― depending on the result of the interaction of God’s Conditional Will with the free will of humans or angelic spirits.
Thus, God, by His Positive Will, desires or wills the salvation of all men (1 Timothy 2:4). But His Conditional Will says: “I will save you IF you repent. I will work the miracle of healing that you want, IF you have enough desire, faith, trust, perseverance, etc.” I would have answered Paul’s prayer for healing of the “thorn in the flesh”―the evil spirit of infirmity (a “messenger of Satan,” as Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 12:7)―IF I had not seen a better response in My Divine Mind―which was My Divine Power being more perfectly manifested by working with and through human weakness, instead of curing that weakness” (verse 10).
Notice the “IF” in God’s will―He says: “IF you repent! If you have enough faith, perseverance, etc.! IF My Divine Mind sees a better direction than you see in your human anguished petition, etc., etc.” This makes it seem as if God changes His Mind when a condition is fulfilled. No, that is not true, He does not change His Mind―His Positive Will always remains unchanged, and even His Conditional Will is not really “changed”―it is fulfilled.
Does Abraham Change God’s Mind About Destroying Sodom?
We see a clear picture of this “IFFY” theology in the case of Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom―a city that God wanted (willed) to destroy on account of its overwhelming sins. On the surface of things, the superficial reader of the account will say that Abraham made God change His mind several times―but a little more thought and a little more theology will quickly show that God did not change His mind―for His mind was already made up. He merely ‘toyed’ and ‘played’ with Abraham and brought him round to see that God was right in the first place.
“Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And drawing closer, Abraham said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered, and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for five and forty destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty!’ And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ ‘Lord!’ said Abraham, ‘be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ ‘Seeing,’ Abraham said, ‘I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ ‘I beseech thee,’ Abraham said, ‘be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after He had left speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:22-33).
Abraham may well have had good intentions, but he did not have the knowledge that God had. Abraham imagined that out of the 40,000 to 60,000 estimated population of Sodom and the surrounding area, 50 good and just men could be found, then he drops it to 45 men, then 40 … 30 … 20 … and finally hoping that 10 good and just men could found. Man proposes―God disposes. Man imagines―God knows. God knew from the very beginning that not even 10 good and just men would be found in Sodom―but, nevertheless, God ‘toys’ and ‘plays’ with Abraham, indulging him in his vain hopes and dreams―which in the end were proved to be just that and nothing more than vain hopes and dreams.
Another point that we perhaps forget, ignore or are even totally ignorant of―is the fact that God’s grace inspires all and any good thoughts in us. As Our Lord―Who is also God―said at the Last Supper: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). Theology, in developing and explaining those words, tells us that it is the Actual Grace (not to be mistaken with Sanctifying Grace) of God that inspires us and moves us to do any and all good.
Like the Holy Trinity, the Actual Grace that gets us to do good, can be divided into three parts: (1) Gratia Praeveniens―literally meaning “the grace that comes before” the doing of the good, which is a motivating grace, an inspirational grace, a suggesting grace; then there is (2) Gratia Concomitans―literally meaning “the graces that comes along with” the first type, which is a grace that is meant to ‘spark’ or ‘ignite’ our will into action, to “get us started” and not just left thinking about the inspiration or suggestion; after which is unpacked the third element, (3) Gratia Perseverans―literally meaning “the persevering grace” which follows up on the “igniting grace” and keeps us going, putting forth efforts, despite any obstacles, until the good is done.
Thus we see the (1) Gratia Praeveniens―“the grace that comes before” the doing of the good, the motivating, inspirational, suggesting grace―suggest, inspire and move Abraham to approach God and beg mercy for Sodom. It is not Abraham who is the cause of this―but God, through His Actual Grace. Abraham, having thought about it and liking the suggestion, is them “sparked” into action, or “ignited” by the Gratia Concomitans―“the graces that comes along with”―which gets him up off his backside and gets Him “drawing closer” (Genesis 18:22). One might think that it is ALL ABRAHAM, that is doing this―but, no, it is God’s grace that is “jump-starting” Abraham and making him come closer. Finally, we see the Gratia Perseverans―“the persevering grace”―urging Abraham on to be more and more bold with God. Thus, it is God Who is the ultimate cause of the encounter―God is the cause behind the words and demands that Abraham makes―and it is God Who gives Abraham the growing and persevering boldness in his demands. God knew all along what Abraham did not know―namely, that were not even ten good and just men living in Sodom. However, so as not to come across as “mean”, “nasty”, “intransigent” and “unbending”―God, in a sense, plays a game with Abraham, in which God proves the kind, merciful, reasonable side to His Divine Nature, which would not have been seen by Abraham had God immediately told Abraham to “shut-up” because He was bent on destroying Sodom. God is really in control of everything―it is that we just too dumb and naïve to see and accept that fact.
The next day, God completed Abraham’s lesson and showed Abraham that not even ten good and just men were found to be living in Sodom. “And the Lord rained, upon Sodom and Gomorrha, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now, when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, He delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.” (Genesis 19:24-29). Thanks to God’s painstaking lesson of the previous day, that manifested God’s reasonable, kind and merciful nature, Abraham, when he saw Sodom destroyed, could not be tempted to think that God was merely “mean”, “nasty”, “intransigent” and “unbending”, but that God had actually listened to naïve little Abraham and accepted Abraham’s naïve terms. God had done everything possible and all that was asked of Him―the fault lay with the unrepentant sinners of Sodom.
Modern Day Sodom
That is a lesson for our day too―where there is not just one Sodom, but the entire world has become a modern-day Sodom. We are much like the naïve Abraham―we might recognize the sinfulness of Sodom (the world today), but we are trying to bargain with God over what it would take for Him to postpone or cancel His promised chastisement.
In case you have forgotten, Our Lady has revealed that God is planning a very similar chastisement for our day. In fact, it seems as though it is a blend of the chastisement in Noe’s day (the Great Flood) and the chastisement of Sodom (fire falling from the skies). Our Lady’s account―as pieced together from her revelations at Quito (Ecuador), La Salette (France), Fatima (Portugal) and Akita (Japan)―paints this very foreboding and terrifying picture of what is headed our way, IF WE DO NOT CHANGE!
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption.” (Combination of Our Lady’s warnings from Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
God Expects Change Before Showing His Mercy and Postponing His Chastisements
It is impossible―especially in our day and age―to overstate or quote too often the following warning from Holy Scripture: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). As Our Lady said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Remember the words Our Lady spoke to Blessed Elena Aiello in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
No Change―No Mercy!
Even though God possesses infinite patience and infinite mercy―He is not an infinite ‘doormat’ upon which we and the world can infinitely wipe our sinful dirty boots upon. God is not mocked! There are numerous instances where that infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God threatens terrible chastisements if people stamping all over Him and wiping their dirty sinful boots on Him.
● The Great Flood is an inescapable testimony to the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God saying: “Enough is enough!” Only 8 people of the entire world's population survived that heavenly cleansing of sin.
● Likewise the destruction of all the adult members of the Chosen People who originally left Egypt at the start of the Exodus. Why did the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God keep them wandering in the desert for 40 years until all of them had died? Because He had taken more than enough of the complaining, murmuring, idolatry and other sins.
● Similarly, with the many years of the Babylonian Captivity, we see the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God destroy the prized and beloved city of His Chosen People―Jerusalem and its glorious Temple to God. Why? Same reasons!
● Then, as a result of the Jews, for the most part, rejecting Jesus― the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God saw to it that Jerusalem and its Temple to God would again be destroyed in 70 AD and all the inhabitants―inflated by the many Jews on pilgrimage there for the Passover―were killed, totaling over 1 million Jews!
Thus we see the results of no change―chastisement.
Somehow―since God in infinitely perfect and all-powerful―our human psyche imagines that God is bound to give us things and do things for us without our having to play a role or part in it all! Even though God actually does give certain things without our having asked for them―there are other situations where He will not give anything unless we ask, and, not just ask, but ask in a state of sanctifying grace and after having amended our sinful ways. Once again, Holy Scripture is filled with many examples―but here are some of the most striking ones:
God’s Terms of Contract
Probably the most striking and shocking statement by God (or perhaps we are no longer shocked after watching so many shocking and violent movies) is where God clearly lays down the terms of the contract―right down to the “fine print”―in the Book of Leviticus. Perhaps you could call it GOD’S EXECUTIVE ORDER:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
A Similar Contract
In the Book of the Prophet Ezechiel, we read a similar exposition of God’s “Terms of Contract”, whereby He clearly states:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy and say: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Howl ye! Woe, woe to the day! For the day is near, yea, the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!”‘” (Ezechiel 30:1-3). “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘The affliction, behold an affliction is come! An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee! Behold it is come! Destruction is come upon thee that dwells in the land! The time is come! The day of slaughter is near!’” (Ezechiel 7:5-7).
The following passage refers to the neglect of the watchmen―and we, as Catholics, are the watchmen for the world; we are meant to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth! Thus this passage addresses us also!
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: and the watchman sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people, then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He that heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!”―if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul. Thou, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you have spoken, saying: ‘Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?’ Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: “The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.” Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity―then all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked: “Thou shalt surely die”― and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: then he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live. And the children of thy people have said: “The way of the Lord is not equitable!”― whereas their own way is unjust. For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice―he shall live in them. And you say: “The way of the Lord is not right!” I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel” (Ezechiel 33:1-20).
In another chapter of the Book of Ezechiel, a similar message is echoed: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein―in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
But without that “new heart” and “new spirit”, nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to work! Let’s be honest―if we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, then this mess and crisis, both in the Church and in the world, would not be taking place!
A Change of Heart Before Anything Else Changes
There is too much lip-service―not only towards God, but in many other areas of life―not just in social life, or at the place of work, but even family life. Our Lord complains:
“The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!” For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men!’’” (Mark 7:6-9).
“I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Why do we need a “new heart”? Because our current heart is petrified―the word “petrified” not only means “scared or terrified”, but it also has a more literal an ancient meaning “turned to stone”―coming from the Latin noun “petrus” meaning “stone, rock.” As an aside, you also see “petrus” used by Our Lord, when He says to Peter (Petrus in Latin): “Tu es Petrus―et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam! ― Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church!” Our Lord then adds: “Et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam! ― And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” Well, at this moment in time, the gates of Hell are doing pretty well in the fight to topple the Church of Christ. Petrus is rocking! The Rock is rocking! Catholicism is hitting rock-bottom! Why is Catholicism rocking? Because Catholics are no longer building on rock, but on sand! Our Lord puts it this way:
“And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a ROCK, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a ROCK. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Samson vs. Samsung
Today, the shifting sands and shifting screens of smartphones are preferred to the rigorous rock of religious exercises. Just as Esau traded his father’s inheritance to Jacob just to have a bowl of soup in his hands―Catholics have traded their heavenly Father’s inheritance for a smartphone in their hands (or whatever other idols they have allowed into their lives and which they adore). We have lost our spiritual strength―like Samson, who flirted with the conspiratorial Dalila. You could say that Delila caused Samson to lose his strength―and Samsung (or whatever other Smartphone) causes us to lose our spiritual strength! Dalila distracted Samson from God―and “Samsung” (et al) distracts us from God. Samson chose to give his heart to Dalila over and above giving his heart to God―and we give our hearts to our smartphones (or whatever) instead of primarily giving our hearts to God. We no longer (if we even ever did) “God, with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with our whole mind, and with our whole strength” (Mark 12:30). Samson’s physical strength came from the hairs on his head, our spiritual strength comes from the prayers on our lips. Samson’s hair was cut short and he lost his strength―we have cut short our prayers and thereby have lost our spiritual strength and muscle. Thus we are incapable of turning back the tidal wave of paganism and materialism that has inundated the world, and which is rapidly seeping into the Church.
After being seduced by Dalila―who was put up to it by the Philistines, the enemies of the Jews―Samson though blinded by having had his eyes ripped-out by the Philistines, after having recovered his strength, pulled down the pillars to which he was chained and brought the house to collapse upon his enemies. Likewise, we have had our spiritual eyes―the Faith―ripped-out by the world and we no longer see things spiritually. We are blinded and weak and chained to the world. That is the ultimate cause behind the Church crisis, the various world crises and the Coronavirus crisis. We, if you like, are the immune system of the Church and we are weakened, compromised and not working properly. Hence the virus of worldliness, disbelief and apostasy has entered the Church.
Vatican II Virus
Pope Paul VI, in the wake of the “Vatican II Virus”, said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (which is opening up to the devil in reality, for he is the “prince of this world”) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood―as well as the Faith and grace in souls―has been spilled and wasted. When you lose blood, you become weak. That is why we are―at this moment―powerless against the world.
You Can’t Put Out A Fire With a Cup of Water
Let’s be honest and face up to it―we are minimalists when it comes to our Faith and its practice. We pray as little as we can. We pray as fast as we can. We pray and allow distractions. We pray half-heartedly. We pray mechanically, routinely or on “auto-pilot”. In short―we pray sinfully. The same attitude overflows into our attendance at Holy Mass. We go as little as we can. We make our preparation for Mass and Communion as short as we can. We make our thanksgiving as short as we can. We prefer the Mass to be as short as possible. Likewise with our penances, mortifications and sacrifices. We do as little as we can. We choose the easiest ones we can. We make them as short as we can. How the heck do we expect to have an impact on the crises in the Church and the world? It is like trying put out a blazing, raging fire with a cup of water! Or it is like soldier, trying to win a war by merely firing a few bullets per day and then going off to enjoy himself by doing something else!
Something Has To Change―Or Our Faith and Freedoms Will Be Lost!
Faith and humanity are under attack―and have been for a long time, but we have just been too busy, or too indifferent and disinterested, to notice or to care. “To whom shall I speak? And to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear! Behold, the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach and they will not receive it! Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord! Their houses shall be turned over to others― together with their lands and their wives! For I will stretch for My hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit!” (Jeremias 6:10-14). “And I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early, and sending and saying: ‘Return ye every man from his wicked way, and make your ways good! And follow not strange gods, nor worship them! And you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers!’ ― and you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to Me!” (Jeremias 35:15). “The house of Israel will not hearken to thee, because they will not hearken to Me―for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart!” (Ezechiel 3:7). “My people heard not My voice and Israel hearkened not to Me! So I let them go according to the desires of their heart―they shall walk in their own inventions! If My people had heard Me, if Israel had walked in My ways, then I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid My hand on them that troubled them!” (Psalm 80:12-15).
Our minimalism and indifferentism with matters of the Faith has seen a fitting and angry response from God. Most Catholics―80% on average―no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly! Well, what do you know? God has taken the Mass away through the actions of the enemies of God. No more public Masses! Or, at least, Masses with severely cut-back and restricted attendance allowances! The Mass is―or should be―our most potent and powerful weapon, and God has allowed to be disarmed because we no longer took good care of our weapons! “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of the Earth! And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the Earth even to the other end thereof! They shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried―they shall lie as dung upon the face of the Earth! Howl, ye shepherds, and cry! And sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels! And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves! A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, because the Lord hath wasted their pastures!” (Jeremias 25:32-36).
Yet the Lord is always ready to take us back, heal us and strengthen us. Even though He lets our enemies overrun us and imprison us―He is on the lookout for a change of heart and the performance of penance. When that change of heart takes place―and, as a result of that change, many prayers and penances and poured out to God in contrition and sorrow―then God will turn our enemies back and restore His Church to Her former glories and holiness. With God, you get what you pay for, you reap what you sow, you get what you deserve―that is justice, giving another their due. Yet He is never just without also being merciful. Let us not waste this enemy given opportunity of self-isolation, separation and quarantine! It is a Heaven sent opportunity to detach ourselves from the world and worldliness and live a little like “Modern Day Desert Fathers” in the deserts of our own homes! The result can produce such powerful prayers and penances that God will eventually step-in and quell the storm, or at least mitigate it.
Already way back in November, 1980, Pope John Paull II visited the Cathedral of Fulda, in Germany, and there he spoke of the Third Secret of Fatima to a small group. The relevant text of the Fulda conference was reported in Stimme des Glaubens in 1981:
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
“Change”―a six-letter word that evokes a variety of guttural reactions! It all depends upon who you are, what you are, what you want, and where you are going.
► For a Conservative or Traditional Catholic, the word “change” has almost become taboo or heretical, bringing forth cries of “Change? Over my dead body!”―and there are a lot of “dead-bodies” these days and every day, whether it be Coronavirus deaths or other forms of death!
► For a Liberal or Modernist Catholic, the word “change” makes them drool and slather with rabid expectation! Their feverish minds (whether it be a Coronavirus fever or an emotional fever) makes them pine and dry out for more and more changes―like a glutton―trembling (not from a fever), but from a joyous and feverish anticipation of Church blessed same-sex marriages; Church blessed gender changes; married priests; women priests; culturalized Masses; the death and burial of old-fashioned ideas about sin; the liberalization and canonization of human passions, etc. Their heartbeat and pulse pounds away, while they gasp for breath in their paroxysmal euphoria of having finally getting what they have long-dreamed over.
► For a worldly (and consequently godless) person, the word “change” makes their consumerist heart race off to the store (online or retail) for the latest invention or model ‘created’ by the gods of this world. Like a drug addict, they have become accustomed to the latest ‘dose’ of technology, entertainment, etc., and they are risking ‘withdrawal symptoms’ which can only be offset by cramming more and more newly created worldly items (‘drugs’) into their life. The thought of “change” produces and sends a surge of dopamine to the brain which merely serves to increase their frenzied craving for “change” and the “new” or the “latest.”
► For some people, the word “change” does not just mean “material change” or “new things”―but it also applies to “changing people” or “changing partners.” They tire and grow weary of the “old” spouse and want a “newer” model―they want a “change”! Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for their soul and fate), the ever-obliging, changing world has given them the opportunity to “trade-in” their old spouse (or throw them on the scrap-heap) by the ubiquitous divorce laws that are now everywhere in place. You can now change your spouse just like you change your car! Except, little do they know where this is driving them! “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” says Our Lord (Matthew 7:13).
Changing God―Or Changing Gods?
This obsession with changing things also infects our relationship with God and our attitude towards God and the Faith―which inevitably leads to changes in our lives. We have become so fevered, falling into paroxysms of passion (as sudden recurrence or attack of a disease; or a sudden worsening of symptoms), that we feel that the “old” God with His “old” methods is ‘suffocating’ our life―so, like the patient on the ventilator, who feels that it is the fault of the ventilator that is causing his shortness of breath by blocking his nostrils, he pulls out the tubes from his nostrils and casts them aside―many Catholics, likewise, pull the tubes of Faith, that bring truth and grace, out of their souls and cast them aside in the hope that their life will now be less suffocating and open to the air of the world. This is a microcosm (the mini-version) of the macrocosm (the big-version) which was the Second Vatican Council―which, by its so-called “aggiornamento” (Italian for “bring up to date”), sought to change the Church by modernizing the Church. For Pope John XXIII, the word “aggiornamento” meant “bringing up to date,” that is, developing the Church to meet the needs of the modern world. Most Catholics have undergone their own little version of Vatican II, or “aggiornamento”, in their own souls and lives―they have adapted to the world, rather than seeking and hoping that the world adapt to the teachings and demands of the Church.
That is why, today, you have most Catholics agreeing with and advocating―divorce and remarriage, same sex-marriages, cohabitation, married-priests, women priests, contraception, abortion, masturbation, pornography, immodest fashions, drunkenness, drug-use, etc. ―while still thinking they are ‘good’ Catholics! On the point of doctrine, that personal “aggiornamento” is the reason why most Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist; no longer believe that the Mass is a real sacrifice and the unbloody re-enactment and perpetuation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary―for the modern-day Catholic it has increasingly become a “meal”, a “commemoration”, a “symbol”, etc.
“All Change!” Or “No Change!”
“To change or not to change? That is the question!” ― playing upon William Shakespeare’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be”, uttered by Prince Hamlet, in the so-called “nunnery scene” of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. So we are faced with the question: “To change or not to change? That is the question!” Is “change” an evil thing? Yes and no! Change can be for either better or worse. There are certain changes in life that are inescapable and other changes that we must escape.
Yet, with God, there is NO CHANGE! “For I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6). Likewise with Our Lord: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above―coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen―but the word of our Lord endureth for ever!” (Isaias 40:8). “In the beginning, O Lord, Thou founded the Earth and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest! And all of them shall grow old like a garment! And as a garment Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed! But Thou art always the selfsame!” (Psalm 101:26-28). “God is not a man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19).
Changing God’s Mind?
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 83 on “Prayer”) tells us that our prayers are powerless to CHANGE the Positive Will of God, but that they can only obtain the grace of God to bend and conform our minds and hearts to God’s Positive Will, which is unchangeable: “For we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition [the Divine Will], but that we may beg those things which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers―in other words ‘that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,’ as Pope St. Gregory says” (q. 83, art 2) … “By praying man surrenders his mind to God, since he subjects it to Him with reverence” (q. 83, art 3) … “It befits us so to account for the usefulness of prayer as, neither to impose necessity on human affairs subject to Divine providence, nor to imply changeableness on the part of the Divine disposition … Our motive in praying is not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that, by our prayers, we may obtain [and accept and agree with] what God has appointed” (q. 83, art 2).
Classic theology–especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas–demonstrates that God has two dimensions to His Will–one being positive and the other being conditional. His Positive Will is never “changed”, but that same Divine Will in its Conditional mode, can be “fulfilled” or “non-fulfilled”― depending on the result of the interaction of God’s Conditional Will with the free will of humans or angelic spirits.
Thus, God, by His Positive Will, desires or wills the salvation of all men (1 Timothy 2:4). But His Conditional Will says: “I will save you IF you repent. I will work the miracle of healing that you want, IF you have enough desire, faith, trust, perseverance, etc.” I would have answered Paul’s prayer for healing of the “thorn in the flesh”―the evil spirit of infirmity (a “messenger of Satan,” as Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 12:7)―IF I had not seen a better response in My Divine Mind―which was My Divine Power being more perfectly manifested by working with and through human weakness, instead of curing that weakness” (verse 10).
Notice the “IF” in God’s will―He says: “IF you repent! If you have enough faith, perseverance, etc.! IF My Divine Mind sees a better direction than you see in your human anguished petition, etc., etc.” This makes it seem as if God changes His Mind when a condition is fulfilled. No, that is not true, He does not change His Mind―His Positive Will always remains unchanged, and even His Conditional Will is not really “changed”―it is fulfilled.
Does Abraham Change God’s Mind About Destroying Sodom?
We see a clear picture of this “IFFY” theology in the case of Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom―a city that God wanted (willed) to destroy on account of its overwhelming sins. On the surface of things, the superficial reader of the account will say that Abraham made God change His mind several times―but a little more thought and a little more theology will quickly show that God did not change His mind―for His mind was already made up. He merely ‘toyed’ and ‘played’ with Abraham and brought him round to see that God was right in the first place.
“Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And drawing closer, Abraham said: ‘Wilt Thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming Thee―Thou Who judgest all the Earth, wilt not make this judgment!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake!’ And Abraham answered, and said: ‘Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes! What if there be five less than fifty just persons? Wilt Thou for five and forty destroy the whole city?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty!’ And again Abraham said to the Lord: ‘But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?’ He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of forty!’ ‘Lord!’ said Abraham, ‘be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak! What if thirty shall be found there?’ The Lord answered: ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there!’ ‘Seeing,’ Abraham said, ‘I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord! What if twenty be found there?’ The Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty!’ ‘I beseech thee,’ Abraham said, ‘be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more! What if ten should be found there?’ And the Lord said: ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten!’ And the Lord departed after He had left speaking to Abraham―and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:22-33).
Abraham may well have had good intentions, but he did not have the knowledge that God had. Abraham imagined that out of the 40,000 to 60,000 estimated population of Sodom and the surrounding area, 50 good and just men could be found, then he drops it to 45 men, then 40 … 30 … 20 … and finally hoping that 10 good and just men could found. Man proposes―God disposes. Man imagines―God knows. God knew from the very beginning that not even 10 good and just men would be found in Sodom―but, nevertheless, God ‘toys’ and ‘plays’ with Abraham, indulging him in his vain hopes and dreams―which in the end were proved to be just that and nothing more than vain hopes and dreams.
Another point that we perhaps forget, ignore or are even totally ignorant of―is the fact that God’s grace inspires all and any good thoughts in us. As Our Lord―Who is also God―said at the Last Supper: “Without Me, you can do NOTHING!” (John 15:5). Theology, in developing and explaining those words, tells us that it is the Actual Grace (not to be mistaken with Sanctifying Grace) of God that inspires us and moves us to do any and all good.
Like the Holy Trinity, the Actual Grace that gets us to do good, can be divided into three parts: (1) Gratia Praeveniens―literally meaning “the grace that comes before” the doing of the good, which is a motivating grace, an inspirational grace, a suggesting grace; then there is (2) Gratia Concomitans―literally meaning “the graces that comes along with” the first type, which is a grace that is meant to ‘spark’ or ‘ignite’ our will into action, to “get us started” and not just left thinking about the inspiration or suggestion; after which is unpacked the third element, (3) Gratia Perseverans―literally meaning “the persevering grace” which follows up on the “igniting grace” and keeps us going, putting forth efforts, despite any obstacles, until the good is done.
Thus we see the (1) Gratia Praeveniens―“the grace that comes before” the doing of the good, the motivating, inspirational, suggesting grace―suggest, inspire and move Abraham to approach God and beg mercy for Sodom. It is not Abraham who is the cause of this―but God, through His Actual Grace. Abraham, having thought about it and liking the suggestion, is them “sparked” into action, or “ignited” by the Gratia Concomitans―“the graces that comes along with”―which gets him up off his backside and gets Him “drawing closer” (Genesis 18:22). One might think that it is ALL ABRAHAM, that is doing this―but, no, it is God’s grace that is “jump-starting” Abraham and making him come closer. Finally, we see the Gratia Perseverans―“the persevering grace”―urging Abraham on to be more and more bold with God. Thus, it is God Who is the ultimate cause of the encounter―God is the cause behind the words and demands that Abraham makes―and it is God Who gives Abraham the growing and persevering boldness in his demands. God knew all along what Abraham did not know―namely, that were not even ten good and just men living in Sodom. However, so as not to come across as “mean”, “nasty”, “intransigent” and “unbending”―God, in a sense, plays a game with Abraham, in which God proves the kind, merciful, reasonable side to His Divine Nature, which would not have been seen by Abraham had God immediately told Abraham to “shut-up” because He was bent on destroying Sodom. God is really in control of everything―it is that we just too dumb and naïve to see and accept that fact.
The next day, God completed Abraham’s lesson and showed Abraham that not even ten good and just men were found to be living in Sodom. “And the Lord rained, upon Sodom and Gomorrha, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country―and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now, when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, He delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.” (Genesis 19:24-29). Thanks to God’s painstaking lesson of the previous day, that manifested God’s reasonable, kind and merciful nature, Abraham, when he saw Sodom destroyed, could not be tempted to think that God was merely “mean”, “nasty”, “intransigent” and “unbending”, but that God had actually listened to naïve little Abraham and accepted Abraham’s naïve terms. God had done everything possible and all that was asked of Him―the fault lay with the unrepentant sinners of Sodom.
Modern Day Sodom
That is a lesson for our day too―where there is not just one Sodom, but the entire world has become a modern-day Sodom. We are much like the naïve Abraham―we might recognize the sinfulness of Sodom (the world today), but we are trying to bargain with God over what it would take for Him to postpone or cancel His promised chastisement.
In case you have forgotten, Our Lady has revealed that God is planning a very similar chastisement for our day. In fact, it seems as though it is a blend of the chastisement in Noe’s day (the Great Flood) and the chastisement of Sodom (fire falling from the skies). Our Lady’s account―as pieced together from her revelations at Quito (Ecuador), La Salette (France), Fatima (Portugal) and Akita (Japan)―paints this very foreboding and terrifying picture of what is headed our way, IF WE DO NOT CHANGE!
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption.” (Combination of Our Lady’s warnings from Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
God Expects Change Before Showing His Mercy and Postponing His Chastisements
It is impossible―especially in our day and age―to overstate or quote too often the following warning from Holy Scripture: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). As Our Lady said: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Remember the words Our Lady spoke to Blessed Elena Aiello in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
No Change―No Mercy!
Even though God possesses infinite patience and infinite mercy―He is not an infinite ‘doormat’ upon which we and the world can infinitely wipe our sinful dirty boots upon. God is not mocked! There are numerous instances where that infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God threatens terrible chastisements if people stamping all over Him and wiping their dirty sinful boots on Him.
● The Great Flood is an inescapable testimony to the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God saying: “Enough is enough!” Only 8 people of the entire world's population survived that heavenly cleansing of sin.
● Likewise the destruction of all the adult members of the Chosen People who originally left Egypt at the start of the Exodus. Why did the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God keep them wandering in the desert for 40 years until all of them had died? Because He had taken more than enough of the complaining, murmuring, idolatry and other sins.
● Similarly, with the many years of the Babylonian Captivity, we see the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God destroy the prized and beloved city of His Chosen People―Jerusalem and its glorious Temple to God. Why? Same reasons!
● Then, as a result of the Jews, for the most part, rejecting Jesus― the infinitely patient and infinitely merciful God saw to it that Jerusalem and its Temple to God would again be destroyed in 70 AD and all the inhabitants―inflated by the many Jews on pilgrimage there for the Passover―were killed, totaling over 1 million Jews!
Thus we see the results of no change―chastisement.
Somehow―since God in infinitely perfect and all-powerful―our human psyche imagines that God is bound to give us things and do things for us without our having to play a role or part in it all! Even though God actually does give certain things without our having asked for them―there are other situations where He will not give anything unless we ask, and, not just ask, but ask in a state of sanctifying grace and after having amended our sinful ways. Once again, Holy Scripture is filled with many examples―but here are some of the most striking ones:
God’s Terms of Contract
Probably the most striking and shocking statement by God (or perhaps we are no longer shocked after watching so many shocking and violent movies) is where God clearly lays down the terms of the contract―right down to the “fine print”―in the Book of Leviticus. Perhaps you could call it GOD’S EXECUTIVE ORDER:
“If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
A Similar Contract
In the Book of the Prophet Ezechiel, we read a similar exposition of God’s “Terms of Contract”, whereby He clearly states:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy and say: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Howl ye! Woe, woe to the day! For the day is near, yea, the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!”‘” (Ezechiel 30:1-3). “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘The affliction, behold an affliction is come! An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee! Behold it is come! Destruction is come upon thee that dwells in the land! The time is come! The day of slaughter is near!’” (Ezechiel 7:5-7).
The following passage refers to the neglect of the watchmen―and we, as Catholics, are the watchmen for the world; we are meant to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth! Thus this passage addresses us also!
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: and the watchman sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet and tells the people, then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He that heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!”―if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul. Thou, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you have spoken, saying: ‘Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?’ Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: “The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.” Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity―then all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked: “Thou shalt surely die”― and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: then he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live. And the children of thy people have said: “The way of the Lord is not equitable!”― whereas their own way is unjust. For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice―he shall live in them. And you say: “The way of the Lord is not right!” I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel” (Ezechiel 33:1-20).
In another chapter of the Book of Ezechiel, a similar message is echoed: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered! In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein―in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice―he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities―and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
But without that “new heart” and “new spirit”, nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to work! Let’s be honest―if we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, then this mess and crisis, both in the Church and in the world, would not be taking place!
A Change of Heart Before Anything Else Changes
There is too much lip-service―not only towards God, but in many other areas of life―not just in social life, or at the place of work, but even family life. Our Lord complains:
“The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!” For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men!’’” (Mark 7:6-9).
“I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 11:19). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
Why do we need a “new heart”? Because our current heart is petrified―the word “petrified” not only means “scared or terrified”, but it also has a more literal an ancient meaning “turned to stone”―coming from the Latin noun “petrus” meaning “stone, rock.” As an aside, you also see “petrus” used by Our Lord, when He says to Peter (Petrus in Latin): “Tu es Petrus―et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam! ― Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church!” Our Lord then adds: “Et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam! ― And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” Well, at this moment in time, the gates of Hell are doing pretty well in the fight to topple the Church of Christ. Petrus is rocking! The Rock is rocking! Catholicism is hitting rock-bottom! Why is Catholicism rocking? Because Catholics are no longer building on rock, but on sand! Our Lord puts it this way:
“And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a ROCK, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a ROCK. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Samson vs. Samsung
Today, the shifting sands and shifting screens of smartphones are preferred to the rigorous rock of religious exercises. Just as Esau traded his father’s inheritance to Jacob just to have a bowl of soup in his hands―Catholics have traded their heavenly Father’s inheritance for a smartphone in their hands (or whatever other idols they have allowed into their lives and which they adore). We have lost our spiritual strength―like Samson, who flirted with the conspiratorial Dalila. You could say that Delila caused Samson to lose his strength―and Samsung (or whatever other Smartphone) causes us to lose our spiritual strength! Dalila distracted Samson from God―and “Samsung” (et al) distracts us from God. Samson chose to give his heart to Dalila over and above giving his heart to God―and we give our hearts to our smartphones (or whatever) instead of primarily giving our hearts to God. We no longer (if we even ever did) “God, with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with our whole mind, and with our whole strength” (Mark 12:30). Samson’s physical strength came from the hairs on his head, our spiritual strength comes from the prayers on our lips. Samson’s hair was cut short and he lost his strength―we have cut short our prayers and thereby have lost our spiritual strength and muscle. Thus we are incapable of turning back the tidal wave of paganism and materialism that has inundated the world, and which is rapidly seeping into the Church.
After being seduced by Dalila―who was put up to it by the Philistines, the enemies of the Jews―Samson though blinded by having had his eyes ripped-out by the Philistines, after having recovered his strength, pulled down the pillars to which he was chained and brought the house to collapse upon his enemies. Likewise, we have had our spiritual eyes―the Faith―ripped-out by the world and we no longer see things spiritually. We are blinded and weak and chained to the world. That is the ultimate cause behind the Church crisis, the various world crises and the Coronavirus crisis. We, if you like, are the immune system of the Church and we are weakened, compromised and not working properly. Hence the virus of worldliness, disbelief and apostasy has entered the Church.
Vatican II Virus
Pope Paul VI, in the wake of the “Vatican II Virus”, said: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (which is opening up to the devil in reality, for he is the “prince of this world”) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood―as well as the Faith and grace in souls―has been spilled and wasted. When you lose blood, you become weak. That is why we are―at this moment―powerless against the world.
You Can’t Put Out A Fire With a Cup of Water
Let’s be honest and face up to it―we are minimalists when it comes to our Faith and its practice. We pray as little as we can. We pray as fast as we can. We pray and allow distractions. We pray half-heartedly. We pray mechanically, routinely or on “auto-pilot”. In short―we pray sinfully. The same attitude overflows into our attendance at Holy Mass. We go as little as we can. We make our preparation for Mass and Communion as short as we can. We make our thanksgiving as short as we can. We prefer the Mass to be as short as possible. Likewise with our penances, mortifications and sacrifices. We do as little as we can. We choose the easiest ones we can. We make them as short as we can. How the heck do we expect to have an impact on the crises in the Church and the world? It is like trying put out a blazing, raging fire with a cup of water! Or it is like soldier, trying to win a war by merely firing a few bullets per day and then going off to enjoy himself by doing something else!
Something Has To Change―Or Our Faith and Freedoms Will Be Lost!
Faith and humanity are under attack―and have been for a long time, but we have just been too busy, or too indifferent and disinterested, to notice or to care. “To whom shall I speak? And to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear! Behold, the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach and they will not receive it! Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord! Their houses shall be turned over to others― together with their lands and their wives! For I will stretch for My hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit!” (Jeremias 6:10-14). “And I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early, and sending and saying: ‘Return ye every man from his wicked way, and make your ways good! And follow not strange gods, nor worship them! And you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers!’ ― and you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to Me!” (Jeremias 35:15). “The house of Israel will not hearken to thee, because they will not hearken to Me―for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart!” (Ezechiel 3:7). “My people heard not My voice and Israel hearkened not to Me! So I let them go according to the desires of their heart―they shall walk in their own inventions! If My people had heard Me, if Israel had walked in My ways, then I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid My hand on them that troubled them!” (Psalm 80:12-15).
Our minimalism and indifferentism with matters of the Faith has seen a fitting and angry response from God. Most Catholics―80% on average―no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly! Well, what do you know? God has taken the Mass away through the actions of the enemies of God. No more public Masses! Or, at least, Masses with severely cut-back and restricted attendance allowances! The Mass is―or should be―our most potent and powerful weapon, and God has allowed to be disarmed because we no longer took good care of our weapons! “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of the Earth! And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the Earth even to the other end thereof! They shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried―they shall lie as dung upon the face of the Earth! Howl, ye shepherds, and cry! And sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels! And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves! A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, because the Lord hath wasted their pastures!” (Jeremias 25:32-36).
Yet the Lord is always ready to take us back, heal us and strengthen us. Even though He lets our enemies overrun us and imprison us―He is on the lookout for a change of heart and the performance of penance. When that change of heart takes place―and, as a result of that change, many prayers and penances and poured out to God in contrition and sorrow―then God will turn our enemies back and restore His Church to Her former glories and holiness. With God, you get what you pay for, you reap what you sow, you get what you deserve―that is justice, giving another their due. Yet He is never just without also being merciful. Let us not waste this enemy given opportunity of self-isolation, separation and quarantine! It is a Heaven sent opportunity to detach ourselves from the world and worldliness and live a little like “Modern Day Desert Fathers” in the deserts of our own homes! The result can produce such powerful prayers and penances that God will eventually step-in and quell the storm, or at least mitigate it.
Already way back in November, 1980, Pope John Paull II visited the Cathedral of Fulda, in Germany, and there he spoke of the Third Secret of Fatima to a small group. The relevant text of the Fulda conference was reported in Stimme des Glaubens in 1981:
The Holy Father was asked: “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”
Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the Earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”
The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”
At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”
The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”
He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.”
Monday Within the Octave of Easter, April 13th
Article 2
Never Mind About Him! What About You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 2
Never Mind About Him! What About You?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Talking of Resurrections…
We have just entered the “Resurrection Season” (also known as, a.k.a., the Easter Season). The danger is that we are too familiar with it to extent that we allow ourselves to fall into the proverbial saying of: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” This does not mean that we despise the Resurrection, or hate the Easter Season―but it is more of a case of being so used to it that we no longer think it to all that important, having little significance in our everyday lives―which is actually a symptom of lukewarmness. Are you of the “Warm” family? Is your name “Luke”? Father Ferderick William Faber thinks most people are―and he was writing back in the 1850s!! How much more is that not true of the 2020s? Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness, on the chapter on “Lukewarmness”:
“There is nothing in the spiritual life which arrests our attention so forcibly as lukewarmness, because of the unusual language in which it has pleased God to express His ineffable disgust with it, and the startling doctrine which accompanies the declaration of His loathing, that coldness is less offensive to Him than tepidity. Who is it then with whom God is so exceedingly displeased, that He is sick of His own redeemed creature? We tremble at the answer! … But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him secondhand. Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy. It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly … It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do. It were better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart! … I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” (Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25: “Lukewarmness”).
God is Not Pleased!
Sin of any kind, sin of all kinds, displeases God and merits punishment―read chapter 26 in the Book of Leviticus―in a nutshell, another part of Holy Scripture, sums it up as: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ― Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
If we don’t stop sinning, we won’t stop the chastisement―it is as simple as that! Our Lady of Akita warned: “f sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Our Lady of Good Success warned: “Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people, so numerous that, like a black cloud, with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me” (Our Lady of Good Success).
St. John Chrysostom tells us that “Sin is the only cause of all our sufferings and chastisements!”
Our Lady of La Salette says: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.”
Our Lady of Akita says: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Coronavice Cure
What is there in the above quotes that we cannot understand? Do we expect Our Lady, in her next apparition, to say: “Hey! I was just kidding! Don’t take it seriously!” This Coronavirus Pandemic―or should we call it a Coronavice Pandemic―is the natural fruit of sin. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) (Romans 5:21). Do we want this ever-increasing pandemic of sin to lead to many more physical and moral (spiritual) deaths, which Our Lady has warned us about: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). The resurrection of Christ has happened―but has our (and the world’s) resurrection from sin taken place?
It is sickening to see these false, misrepresented and concocted statistics about Coronavirus deaths―that seek to incorporate almost any possible death―be it due to heart problems, diabetes, lung problems, seasonal flu (which is a Coronavirus too), hypertension, asthma, etc. With hospitals being told to “chalk-it-up” as a Coronavirus death if some symptoms are present, without doing a full examination, investigation or autopsy―a mere assumption based on similarities, probability and the presence of some symptoms (which can also be indicative of other diseases) suffices to record it as a Coronovirus death without looking further for confirmation. If you take that approach and push it to extremes, then you could also argue and say that they died because they were old-aged, or because they were males, or because they were females, or because they smoked, or because they used to pray, or because they watched TV, or because they _ _ _ _ _ (enter whatever you want). The truth is that people may die WITH Coronavirus, but NOT BECAUSE of Coronavirus―the number of people who actually die of the virus is a very, very tiny percentage. When you look at this flu season’s death rate (and Coronavirus is a form of flu), then it is not bigger than that of many previous years.
Yet all those godless governors and godless media governors are inflating the virus in the minds of people. As they say: “Repeat a lie enough times and they will believe it!” That is especially true when the person that you are lying to is already dumbed-down or plain stupid―not having the slightest notion about disease or how to research and verify numbers and stories. Those same liars who are overstating the dangers and ‘ravages’ of the Coronavirus or COVID-19, say nothing of an infinitely worse virus―call it Coronavice or COSIN-666 if you want. The fatality rate of sin―and everyone in world is infected―sees a probable 95% to 99% damnation rate! That is the opinion of a large number of saints! [read about those opinions here] That is the real disaster! That is a real tragedy! Yet who the hell speaks about that? (Pardon the deliberate ‘French’ for effect and linkage to Hell). Hell wants silence of such figures and even greater silence on the remedies that could avoid such carnage―just as the ‘official narrative’ wants silence on what there is in God’s creation by way of food that is really “God’s medicine” that can combat COVID-19, unless it happens to be one of their own man-made vaccines!
There is a “vaccine” or a “cure” for this forthcoming chastisement―of which we are seeing in the Coronavirus Pandemic of Coronavirus Pandemic (Panic), the equivalent of a trailer for a movie―meaning that it is just a taste of what is coming. That “vaccine” against the chastisement is something the devil does not want you to take! The ingredients of that “vaccine” are prayer, penance and an amendment of life―because the ultimate, distant, remote cause of COVID-19 is the sinfulness of world―regardless of the proximate or immediate cause of the virus (natural or man-made). Sin is the cause and prayer, penance and amendment of life is the ultimate remedy that treats the cause and not just the effect of the disease.
Christ has resurrected from the dead―what about you? Have you resurrected from the death of sin? Holy Scripture states: “Shall we continue in sin? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by Baptism into death; so that, as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Know this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed―to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ―knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God! So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin―but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God!” (Romans 6:1-13).
“For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Sickness & Sin―Chastisement of Sickness for Sin can be Removed
In St. Mark’s Gospel, we read of Jesus curing a sick man of palsy―which we assume is a chastisement for his sins―as well as forgiving the palsied man his sins: “And they came to Jesus, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. And when they could not offer him unto Jesus because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where Jesus was, and opening it, they let down the bed whereon the man sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus had seen their faith, He saith to the sick of the palsy: ‘Son! Thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And there were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: ‘Why doth this man speak thus?’ He blasphemeth! Who can forgive sins, but God only?’ Which Jesus, presently knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: ‘Why think you these things in your hearts?’ Which is the easier to say to the sick of the palsy: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!” or to say: “Arise! Take up thy bed and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins―He saith to the sick of the palsy: ‘I say to thee: “Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!”’ And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of also that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:3-12). There is an implicit connection here between sin and chastisement for sin through sickness.
Another such situation― chastisement for sin through sickness, which leads to kind of ‘resurrection’ to health― arises at the Pool of Bethsaida, where a man―sick for 38 years―lay helpless, afflicted and begging. The Gospel again connects his sickness with the sickness of sin. “Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving [agitation] of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved [agitated]. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He saith to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: Sir, when the water is agitated, I have no man to help me to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole―and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more! Lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Speaking of the Dead!
Let us “connect the dots” between miracles, resurrections, sin and penance! We have, just now, entered the “Resurrection Season” or Easter Season―where Our Lord, having died for our sins, resurrects from dead. We know that sin bring death―but the death of Christ brings life. However, that Christ-given life is only given to those who repent of their sins―and repentance involves penance! Though we would more in awe and more stupefied by a physical resurrection of someone from the dead―an even greater resurrection, which is not a physical but a spiritual resurrection, takes place in the confessional when a penitent confesses mortal sins.
Simply saying: “Sorry!” is not enough―repentance not only involves words (the words whereby we confess our sins, admit our guilt, and manifest our sorrow for sin), but repentance also requires penance―much like Faith being dead without works: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself! But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
In a similar way, sorrow expressed by lips is not enough if there is no sorrow in the heart which must be expressed by works of penance. “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice [meaning penance], living he shall live, and shall not die … Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Learning Lessons from Resurrections
Let us consider two miraculous resurrections―as recounted by Fr. Schouppe, S.J.--in his book, Purgatory Explained, in order to see the ingredients we need for making a successful “vaccine” against the chastisement foretold for our times.
Resurrection #1―Drithelm
The Cardinal, St. Robert Bellarmine (Doctor of the Church) quotes from the Venerable St. Bede (also Doctor of the Church). The following is the account of St. Bede. England has been witness in our own days, writes St. Bede, to a singular prodigy, which may be compared to the miracles of the first ages of the Church.
To excite the living to fear the death of the soul, God permitted that a man, after having slept the sleep of death, should return to life and reveal what he had seen in the other world. The frightful, unheard-of details which he relates, and his life of extraordinary penance, which corresponded with his words, produced a lively impression throughout the country. I will now resume the principal circumstances of this history.
There was in Northumberland a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband.
He reassured her immediately: “Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.” Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms. When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time prayer, the hardest labor, and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the whole Psalter of David.
The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
“On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind.
“This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames.
“I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered with out ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said, No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know, he continued, what place this is? No, I answered. Know, he resumed, that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great day of judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.”
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind.
If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England―a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted.
“This fact,” adds the Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine, “appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, ‘Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat’ (Job 29:19). Venerable St. Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.”
Resurrection #2―Angela Tholomei
We read in the life of the venerable servant of God, Angela Tholomei, a Dominican nun (Cf. Rissignoli, Merveilles), that she was raised from the dead by her own brother, and gave a testimony of the rigor of God’s judgments exactly conformable to the precedent.
Blessed John Baptist Tholomei, (Cf. Marchese, Sagro Diario Dominicano, Napoli, 1672. Tom. 13, p. 483, et tom. 6, p. 22) whose rare virtues and the gift of miracles has placed him on our altars, had a sister, Angela Tholomei, the heroism of whose virtue has also been recognized by the Church. She fell dangerously sick, and her holy brother by earnest prayer besought her cure. Our Lord replied, as He did formerly to the sister of Lazarus, that He would not cure Angela, but that He would do more; He would raise her from the dead, for the glory of God and the good of souls. She died, recommending herself to the prayers of her holy brother.
Whilst she was being carried to the tomb, Blessed John Baptist, in obedience, no doubt, to an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, approached the coffin, and, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commanded his sister to come forth. Immediately she awoke as from a profound slumber, and returned to life.
That holy soul seemed struck with terror, and related such things concerning the severity of God’s judgments as make us shudder. She commenced, at the same time, to lead a life which proved the truth of her words. Her penance was frightful. Not content with the ordinary practices of the saints, such as fasting, watching, hair-shirts, and bloody disciplines, she went so far as to cast herself into flames, and to roll herself therein until her flesh was entirely burnt. Her macerated body became an object of pity and of horror. She was censured and accused of destroying, by her excess, the idea of true Christian penance.
She continued, nevertheless, and contented herself with replying, “If you knew the rigors of the judgments of God, you would not speak thus. What are my trifling penances compared with the torments reserved in the other life for those infidelities which we so easily permit ourselves in this world? What are they? What are they? Would that I could do a hundred times more!”
There is no question here, as we see, of the tortures to which great sinners converted before death are subjected, but of the chastisements which God inflicts upon a fervent Religious for the slightest faults.
We have just entered the “Resurrection Season” (also known as, a.k.a., the Easter Season). The danger is that we are too familiar with it to extent that we allow ourselves to fall into the proverbial saying of: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” This does not mean that we despise the Resurrection, or hate the Easter Season―but it is more of a case of being so used to it that we no longer think it to all that important, having little significance in our everyday lives―which is actually a symptom of lukewarmness. Are you of the “Warm” family? Is your name “Luke”? Father Ferderick William Faber thinks most people are―and he was writing back in the 1850s!! How much more is that not true of the 2020s? Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness, on the chapter on “Lukewarmness”:
“There is nothing in the spiritual life which arrests our attention so forcibly as lukewarmness, because of the unusual language in which it has pleased God to express His ineffable disgust with it, and the startling doctrine which accompanies the declaration of His loathing, that coldness is less offensive to Him than tepidity. Who is it then with whom God is so exceedingly displeased, that He is sick of His own redeemed creature? We tremble at the answer! … But why does He hate it so? Let us venture to search for reasons. Because it is a quiet intentional appreciation of other things over God. It cheapens God, and parts with Him secondhand. Meanwhile, as it is not open wickedness, but is even an open profession and exterior practice of His service, it pretends friendship, and takes rank in the world as one of God’s friends; and hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and hypocrisy. It thus has a peculiar ability to wound God’s glory by the scandal it gives. It has God’s honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and cruelly … It is taking a liberty with the majesty of God’s exceeding goodness, which is a terrible thing to do. It were better to play with His thunderbolts, than to make sport with His compassions. And all this is done with knowledge, the double knowledge of God and of evil. What wonder that it turns God’s whole being, and sours even the sweetness of the Sacred Heart! … I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there. It is a great grace, a prophecy of a miraculous cure, to find out that we are lukewarm; but we are lost if we do not act with vigor the moment we make this frightening discovery. It is like going to sleep in the snow, almost a pleasant tingling feeling at the first, and then—lost forever!” (Fr. Faber―in his book, Growth in Holiness, chapter 25: “Lukewarmness”).
God is Not Pleased!
Sin of any kind, sin of all kinds, displeases God and merits punishment―read chapter 26 in the Book of Leviticus―in a nutshell, another part of Holy Scripture, sums it up as: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
In an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ― Our Lady said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
If we don’t stop sinning, we won’t stop the chastisement―it is as simple as that! Our Lady of Akita warned: “f sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Our Lady of Good Success warned: “Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people, so numerous that, like a black cloud, with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me” (Our Lady of Good Success).
St. John Chrysostom tells us that “Sin is the only cause of all our sufferings and chastisements!”
Our Lady of La Salette says: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth.”
Our Lady of Akita says: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
Coronavice Cure
What is there in the above quotes that we cannot understand? Do we expect Our Lady, in her next apparition, to say: “Hey! I was just kidding! Don’t take it seriously!” This Coronavirus Pandemic―or should we call it a Coronavice Pandemic―is the natural fruit of sin. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “The sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). “Sin hath reigned to death!” (Romans 5:21). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) (Romans 5:21). Do we want this ever-increasing pandemic of sin to lead to many more physical and moral (spiritual) deaths, which Our Lady has warned us about: “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973). The resurrection of Christ has happened―but has our (and the world’s) resurrection from sin taken place?
It is sickening to see these false, misrepresented and concocted statistics about Coronavirus deaths―that seek to incorporate almost any possible death―be it due to heart problems, diabetes, lung problems, seasonal flu (which is a Coronavirus too), hypertension, asthma, etc. With hospitals being told to “chalk-it-up” as a Coronavirus death if some symptoms are present, without doing a full examination, investigation or autopsy―a mere assumption based on similarities, probability and the presence of some symptoms (which can also be indicative of other diseases) suffices to record it as a Coronovirus death without looking further for confirmation. If you take that approach and push it to extremes, then you could also argue and say that they died because they were old-aged, or because they were males, or because they were females, or because they smoked, or because they used to pray, or because they watched TV, or because they _ _ _ _ _ (enter whatever you want). The truth is that people may die WITH Coronavirus, but NOT BECAUSE of Coronavirus―the number of people who actually die of the virus is a very, very tiny percentage. When you look at this flu season’s death rate (and Coronavirus is a form of flu), then it is not bigger than that of many previous years.
Yet all those godless governors and godless media governors are inflating the virus in the minds of people. As they say: “Repeat a lie enough times and they will believe it!” That is especially true when the person that you are lying to is already dumbed-down or plain stupid―not having the slightest notion about disease or how to research and verify numbers and stories. Those same liars who are overstating the dangers and ‘ravages’ of the Coronavirus or COVID-19, say nothing of an infinitely worse virus―call it Coronavice or COSIN-666 if you want. The fatality rate of sin―and everyone in world is infected―sees a probable 95% to 99% damnation rate! That is the opinion of a large number of saints! [read about those opinions here] That is the real disaster! That is a real tragedy! Yet who the hell speaks about that? (Pardon the deliberate ‘French’ for effect and linkage to Hell). Hell wants silence of such figures and even greater silence on the remedies that could avoid such carnage―just as the ‘official narrative’ wants silence on what there is in God’s creation by way of food that is really “God’s medicine” that can combat COVID-19, unless it happens to be one of their own man-made vaccines!
There is a “vaccine” or a “cure” for this forthcoming chastisement―of which we are seeing in the Coronavirus Pandemic of Coronavirus Pandemic (Panic), the equivalent of a trailer for a movie―meaning that it is just a taste of what is coming. That “vaccine” against the chastisement is something the devil does not want you to take! The ingredients of that “vaccine” are prayer, penance and an amendment of life―because the ultimate, distant, remote cause of COVID-19 is the sinfulness of world―regardless of the proximate or immediate cause of the virus (natural or man-made). Sin is the cause and prayer, penance and amendment of life is the ultimate remedy that treats the cause and not just the effect of the disease.
Christ has resurrected from the dead―what about you? Have you resurrected from the death of sin? Holy Scripture states: “Shall we continue in sin? God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by Baptism into death; so that, as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Know this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed―to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ―knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God! So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin―but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God!” (Romans 6:1-13).
“For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Sickness & Sin―Chastisement of Sickness for Sin can be Removed
In St. Mark’s Gospel, we read of Jesus curing a sick man of palsy―which we assume is a chastisement for his sins―as well as forgiving the palsied man his sins: “And they came to Jesus, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. And when they could not offer him unto Jesus because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where Jesus was, and opening it, they let down the bed whereon the man sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus had seen their faith, He saith to the sick of the palsy: ‘Son! Thy sins are forgiven thee!’ And there were some of the Scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: ‘Why doth this man speak thus?’ He blasphemeth! Who can forgive sins, but God only?’ Which Jesus, presently knowing in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: ‘Why think you these things in your hearts?’ Which is the easier to say to the sick of the palsy: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!” or to say: “Arise! Take up thy bed and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on Earth to forgive sins―He saith to the sick of the palsy: ‘I say to thee: “Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!”’ And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of also that all wondered and glorified God, saying: ‘We never saw the like!’” (Mark 2:3-12). There is an implicit connection here between sin and chastisement for sin through sickness.
Another such situation― chastisement for sin through sickness, which leads to kind of ‘resurrection’ to health― arises at the Pool of Bethsaida, where a man―sick for 38 years―lay helpless, afflicted and begging. The Gospel again connects his sickness with the sickness of sin. “Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving [agitation] of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond―and the water was moved [agitated]. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. When Jesus had seen him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time, He saith to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ The infirm man answered him: Sir, when the water is agitated, I have no man to help me to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk!’ And immediately the man was made whole―and he took up his bed, and walked … Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more! Lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:2-14).
Speaking of the Dead!
Let us “connect the dots” between miracles, resurrections, sin and penance! We have, just now, entered the “Resurrection Season” or Easter Season―where Our Lord, having died for our sins, resurrects from dead. We know that sin bring death―but the death of Christ brings life. However, that Christ-given life is only given to those who repent of their sins―and repentance involves penance! Though we would more in awe and more stupefied by a physical resurrection of someone from the dead―an even greater resurrection, which is not a physical but a spiritual resurrection, takes place in the confessional when a penitent confesses mortal sins.
Simply saying: “Sorry!” is not enough―repentance not only involves words (the words whereby we confess our sins, admit our guilt, and manifest our sorrow for sin), but repentance also requires penance―much like Faith being dead without works: “Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself! But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
In a similar way, sorrow expressed by lips is not enough if there is no sorrow in the heart which must be expressed by works of penance. “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice [meaning penance], living he shall live, and shall not die … Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … Be converted and do penance for all your iniquities and iniquity shall not be your ruin! Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make unto yourselves a new heart and a new spirit―and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
Learning Lessons from Resurrections
Let us consider two miraculous resurrections―as recounted by Fr. Schouppe, S.J.--in his book, Purgatory Explained, in order to see the ingredients we need for making a successful “vaccine” against the chastisement foretold for our times.
Resurrection #1―Drithelm
The Cardinal, St. Robert Bellarmine (Doctor of the Church) quotes from the Venerable St. Bede (also Doctor of the Church). The following is the account of St. Bede. England has been witness in our own days, writes St. Bede, to a singular prodigy, which may be compared to the miracles of the first ages of the Church.
To excite the living to fear the death of the soul, God permitted that a man, after having slept the sleep of death, should return to life and reveal what he had seen in the other world. The frightful, unheard-of details which he relates, and his life of extraordinary penance, which corresponded with his words, produced a lively impression throughout the country. I will now resume the principal circumstances of this history.
There was in Northumberland a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband.
He reassured her immediately: “Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.” Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms. When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time prayer, the hardest labor, and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the whole Psalter of David.
The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
“On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind.
“This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames.
“I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered with out ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said, No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know, he continued, what place this is? No, I answered. Know, he resumed, that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great day of judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.”
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind.
If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England―a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted.
“This fact,” adds the Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine, “appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, ‘Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat’ (Job 29:19). Venerable St. Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.”
Resurrection #2―Angela Tholomei
We read in the life of the venerable servant of God, Angela Tholomei, a Dominican nun (Cf. Rissignoli, Merveilles), that she was raised from the dead by her own brother, and gave a testimony of the rigor of God’s judgments exactly conformable to the precedent.
Blessed John Baptist Tholomei, (Cf. Marchese, Sagro Diario Dominicano, Napoli, 1672. Tom. 13, p. 483, et tom. 6, p. 22) whose rare virtues and the gift of miracles has placed him on our altars, had a sister, Angela Tholomei, the heroism of whose virtue has also been recognized by the Church. She fell dangerously sick, and her holy brother by earnest prayer besought her cure. Our Lord replied, as He did formerly to the sister of Lazarus, that He would not cure Angela, but that He would do more; He would raise her from the dead, for the glory of God and the good of souls. She died, recommending herself to the prayers of her holy brother.
Whilst she was being carried to the tomb, Blessed John Baptist, in obedience, no doubt, to an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, approached the coffin, and, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commanded his sister to come forth. Immediately she awoke as from a profound slumber, and returned to life.
That holy soul seemed struck with terror, and related such things concerning the severity of God’s judgments as make us shudder. She commenced, at the same time, to lead a life which proved the truth of her words. Her penance was frightful. Not content with the ordinary practices of the saints, such as fasting, watching, hair-shirts, and bloody disciplines, she went so far as to cast herself into flames, and to roll herself therein until her flesh was entirely burnt. Her macerated body became an object of pity and of horror. She was censured and accused of destroying, by her excess, the idea of true Christian penance.
She continued, nevertheless, and contented herself with replying, “If you knew the rigors of the judgments of God, you would not speak thus. What are my trifling penances compared with the torments reserved in the other life for those infidelities which we so easily permit ourselves in this world? What are they? What are they? Would that I could do a hundred times more!”
There is no question here, as we see, of the tortures to which great sinners converted before death are subjected, but of the chastisements which God inflicts upon a fervent Religious for the slightest faults.
Easter Sunday, April 12th
Article 1
Victory over Death, Sin, the World and the Devil
Article 1
Victory over Death, Sin, the World and the Devil
The Multiform Victory of Christ
Attacked from all sides—by the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; by the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; by Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all attacked by the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus Looked a Failure and a Loser as He Died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Victory Over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean!
Who Is This Man?
From the moment Jesus rose from the dead He was unrecognizable! Even His nearest and dearest failed to recognize Him, or at least had a very hard time recognizing Him. Mary Magdalen fails to recognize Him; the Apostles fail to recognize Him; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus fail to recognize Him. Let us take a look at this puzzling factor by first looking at the Scriptural accounts of this problem.
Mary Magdalen Does Not Recognize Him
The first recorded encounter with the resurrected Jesus is that concerning Mary Magdalen: “But Mary stood at the outside the sepulcher, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She saith to them: ‘Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him!’ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him: ‘Sir, if Thou hast taken him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away!’ Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to Him: ‘Rabboni!’ ― which is to say, ‘Master’” (John 20:11-16).
The Emmaus Bound Disciples Do Not Recognize Him
The next recorded account is that of two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They were disconsolate and saddened at the apparent failure of Jesus’ mission, which had been ended by His death.
“Behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him.
“And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom He said: ‘What things?’
“And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’
“Then He said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him.
“And they drew near to the town, where they were going: and He made as though He would go farther. But they constrained Him; saying: ‘Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent!’ And He went in with them. And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:13-31).
Our Lord Appears to Peter
The two disciples, in their excitement, high-tailed back to Jerusalem, to tell all the other followers of Jesus that they had seen Jesus alive—only to have their balloon burst by being told that Jesus had already appeared to St. Peter—though in this case we do not know whether or not Peter recognized Him: “They went back to Jerusalem: and they found the Eleven gathered together, and those that were staying with them, saying: ‘The Lord is risen indeed! And hath appeared to Simon!’” (Luke 24:33-34).
Our Lord ‘Gate-Crashes’
While they were busy exchanging stories of how Our Lord had appeared to (Simon) Peter and then to the two disciples, Our Lord suddenly appears in their midst! “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit … And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But they yet believed not, and wondered for joy” (Luke 24:36-41).
Jesus and Doubting Thomas
While they were still in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared twice to His Apostles—once in the absence of Thomas (see above paragraph), and the second time in the presence of Thomas. “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
“And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:24-29).
Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias
The third time that Jesus appeared to a group of His disciples was in Galilee. Again, they did not recognize Jesus, though some sensed that the person that they saw could possibly be Jesus. It is John, the beloved Apostle of Love, who first senses it might be Jesus. Love somehow knows these things!
“Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And He showed Himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter saith to them: ‘I go a fishing!’ They say to him: ‘We also come with thee!’ And they went forth, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Children, have you any meat?’ They answered Him: ‘No!’ He saith to them: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find!’ They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes.
“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him, (for he was naked,) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship, (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: ‘Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught!’ Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: ‘Come, and dine!’ And none of them who were at meat, dared ask Him: ‘Who art thou?’ knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21:1-12).
A Mountain in Galilee
While they were in Galilee, Jesus also appeared to them upon a mountain. However, not all His disciples believed that what they were seeing was truly Jesus: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored: but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). Once again, in some way, Jesus is unrecognizable.
Attacked from all sides—by the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; by the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; by Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all attacked by the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus Looked a Failure and a Loser as He Died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Victory Over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean!
Who Is This Man?
From the moment Jesus rose from the dead He was unrecognizable! Even His nearest and dearest failed to recognize Him, or at least had a very hard time recognizing Him. Mary Magdalen fails to recognize Him; the Apostles fail to recognize Him; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus fail to recognize Him. Let us take a look at this puzzling factor by first looking at the Scriptural accounts of this problem.
Mary Magdalen Does Not Recognize Him
The first recorded encounter with the resurrected Jesus is that concerning Mary Magdalen: “But Mary stood at the outside the sepulcher, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She saith to them: ‘Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him!’ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ Whom seekest thou?’ She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to Him: ‘Sir, if Thou hast taken him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away!’ Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to Him: ‘Rabboni!’ ― which is to say, ‘Master’” (John 20:11-16).
The Emmaus Bound Disciples Do Not Recognize Him
The next recorded account is that of two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They were disconsolate and saddened at the apparent failure of Jesus’ mission, which had been ended by His death.
“Behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him.
“And He said to them: ‘What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?’ And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: ‘Art thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?’ To whom He said: ‘What things?’
“And they said: ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped, that it was He that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light, were at the sepulcher, and not finding His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. And some of our people went to the sepulcher, and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not!’
“Then He said to them: ‘O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning Him.
“And they drew near to the town, where they were going: and He made as though He would go farther. But they constrained Him; saying: ‘Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent!’ And He went in with them. And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:13-31).
Our Lord Appears to Peter
The two disciples, in their excitement, high-tailed back to Jerusalem, to tell all the other followers of Jesus that they had seen Jesus alive—only to have their balloon burst by being told that Jesus had already appeared to St. Peter—though in this case we do not know whether or not Peter recognized Him: “They went back to Jerusalem: and they found the Eleven gathered together, and those that were staying with them, saying: ‘The Lord is risen indeed! And hath appeared to Simon!’” (Luke 24:33-34).
Our Lord ‘Gate-Crashes’
While they were busy exchanging stories of how Our Lord had appeared to (Simon) Peter and then to the two disciples, Our Lord suddenly appears in their midst! “Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: ‘Peace be to you; it is I, fear not!’ But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit … And He said to them: ‘Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But they yet believed not, and wondered for joy” (Luke 24:36-41).
Jesus and Doubting Thomas
While they were still in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared twice to His Apostles—once in the absence of Thomas (see above paragraph), and the second time in the presence of Thomas. “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them: ‘Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!’
“And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘Peace be to you!’ Then He saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing!’ Thomas answered, and said to Him: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed!’” (John 20:24-29).
Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias
The third time that Jesus appeared to a group of His disciples was in Galilee. Again, they did not recognize Jesus, though some sensed that the person that they saw could possibly be Jesus. It is John, the beloved Apostle of Love, who first senses it might be Jesus. Love somehow knows these things!
“Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And He showed Himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter saith to them: ‘I go a fishing!’ They say to him: ‘We also come with thee!’ And they went forth, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: ‘Children, have you any meat?’ They answered Him: ‘No!’ He saith to them: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find!’ They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes.
“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him, (for he was naked,) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship, (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: ‘Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught!’ Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: ‘Come, and dine!’ And none of them who were at meat, dared ask Him: ‘Who art thou?’ knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21:1-12).
A Mountain in Galilee
While they were in Galilee, Jesus also appeared to them upon a mountain. However, not all His disciples believed that what they were seeing was truly Jesus: “And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing Him they adored: but some doubted” (Matthew 28:16-17). Once again, in some way, Jesus is unrecognizable.